Isaiah 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz Isaiah the son of Amoz This is not Amos the inspired herdsman. It is his glory simply that he was the father of Isaiah. Like many another he lives in the reflected glory of his offspring. The next best thing to being a great man is to be the father of one. (S. Horton.)Isaiah’ s father The rabbis represent his father Amoz as having been a brother of King Amaziah; but, at any rate, if we may judge from his illustrious son’ s name, which means “ salvation is from Jehovah,” he was loyal to the national faith in days clouded by sore troubles, political danger threatening from without, and deep religious decay pervading all classes of the community. (C. Geikie, LL. D.)The vision of Isaiah The word “ vision” is used here in the wide sense of a collection of prophetic oracles (Nahum 1:1; Obadiah 1:1). As the prophet was called a “ seer,” and his perception of Divine truth was called “ seeing,” so his message as a whole is termed a “ vision.” (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The time when Isaiah prophesied Why does the Bible tell us so particularly the time when Isaiah prophesied? Does not the thinker belong to all the ages Does not the poet sing for all time? Why weight the narrative with these thronelogical details? Because you can only judge either a man or his message by knowing the circumstances of his time. If you take a geologist a new specimen he not only wants to know its genus and species, but the matrix out of which it was hewn. The best men not only help to make their times, but their times help to make them. He who is moulded entirely by his surroundings is a human jelly fish--of no account. He who is not influenced at all by “ the play of popular passion” --the set of public opinion--is an anachronism, a living corpse. (S. Horton.)Isaiah’ s manly outspokenness It is a living man who speaks to us. This is not an anonymous book. Much value attaches to personal testimony. The true witness is not ashamed of day and date and all the surrounding chronology; we know where to find him, what he sprang from, who he is, and what he wants. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 1:2-31 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken God finds vindication in nature I well remember two funerals going out of my house within a few brief months during my residence in London. There were cards sent by post and left at the door, in all kindliness; but one dark night when my grief overwhelmed me I looked at some of the cards and could find no vibration of sympathy there. I had not felt the touch of the hand that sent them. I went out into the storm that moaned and raged alternately, and walked round Regent’ s Park through the very heart of the hurricane. It seemed to soothe me. You troy I could not find sympathy there. Perhaps not, but I at least found affinity: the storm without seemed to harmonise with the storm within; and then I remembered that He who sent that storm to sweep over the earth loved the earth still, and then remembered that He who sent the storm to sweep over my soul, and make desolate my home, loved me still. I got comfort there in the darkness, and the wild noise of a storm on an autumn night, which I found not in cards of condolence, sincere as in many instances the sympathy of the senders was. Ah me! when man not only failed to sympathise, but also forgot all gratitude and rebelled against his Heavenly Father, I can imagine God looking out to His own universe, to the work of His own hand, and seeking vindication, if not sympathy, as He spoke of man, his rebellion and folly. (D. Davies.)The sinful nation I. THE OF THE NATION. It was no mean prerogative to become the chosen people of God, but for what was that choice made? Not because of perfect characters surely; but rather to declare among the nations the messages of God; not a nation holy in character, but with a holy errand. When the ten tribes revolted, leaving only a remnant, that remnant must do the errand appointed. Thus did God speak of them as “ My people,” “ My children.” Our privileges cannot save us, and even our blessings may become a curse. God cannot give to us personally what we will not receive. II. THE . What the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans is in the New Testament, that is the first chapter of Isaiah’ s prophecy in the Old. Deeper degradation than that of Israel it would be hard to find. In Isaiah’ s time, gold and silver idols glittered on every street of Jerusalem. By royal authority, worship was given to the sun and moon. At the opening of each new season, snow-white horses, stalled in the rooms at the temple entrance, were driven forth harnessed to golden chariots to meet the sun at its rising. Incense ascended to heathen gods from altars built upon the streets. Vice had its impure rites in the temple itself. The valley of Hinnom echoed the dying screams of children offered as sacrifices in the terrible flames of the hideous Moloch. Words fail in depicting the deep corruption. There is the sting of sin in the plain statement of the awful history, “ They have forsaken the Lord,” etc. III. THE OF RITUAL TO . The more pronounced the ceremonial, the more tenaciously will men cling to it. Thus, in Isaiah’ s day, they who had swung their incense to the sun and moon; who had worshipped Baal upon the high places and in the groves; who had cast their children into the burning arms of Moloch, turned immediately from these heathenish practices to worship in the temple. Of burnt offerings and sacrifices there was no end. The purest spiritual worship, like that of Enoch and Abraham and Melchizedek, did not need it; it was given when a nation of slaves, degraded by Egyptian bondage, could appreciate nothing higher, and it was taken away when the true, light was come. There was neither perfection nor spirituality in such a ritual; yet in such a system God tried to elevate the nation to spiritual truths they could not yet apprehend. The ritual could not make morality. IV. ANY WORSHIP TO PLEASE GOD MUST BE . The Divine appeal claims the undivided attention of the profoundest thoughts; “ Come, now, and let us reason together.” (Sermons by the Monday Club.)The sinful nation The message to the “ sinful nation” with which the book of Isaiah begins has for ourselves the tremendous force of timeliness as well as truth. I. We are led to consider, that STATE AND NATION ARE . The country is “ desolate,” the cities are “ burned with fire, and the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.” We remember indeed that the saints have survived in “ the dens and caves of the earth.” But these victories of truth and righteousness--God’ s power to overrule wickedness--by no means contradict Isaiah’ s vision. If it is true that the Founder of the Church can maintain its strength notwithstanding civil turmoil and decay, let us also consider how God magnifies the Church through days of peace and virtue. Jesus Himself waited until the nations were still And what may be the possibilities for His kingdom of the continued growth and happiness of our own country, it is entrancing to contemplate. The treasuries of love, how full they may be! The pastors and teachers for every dark land,--what hosts there may be prepared! II. Aroused to the consideration of such a problem, we readily appreciate the prophet’ s reference to THE OF RULERS (verse 10). Our own happy visions of the future may all be over clouded if there be but one Ahab in authority. The exhortation, therefore, addresses those who as citizens are to be charged with the duty of placing men in power. III. We find the prophet distinctly TRACING THE TO THE NATION’ S (verses 4-8). IV. THE PROPHET’ S MESSAGE TO HIS IS AGAINST THEIR IMPIETY. They have forms of religion enough, indeed. But out of the people’ s worship the heart and life have departed. Only the husks remain. Perhaps it will be seen in the end that the Pharisee is not only as bad, but as bad a citizen too, as the glutton and the winebibber. The Pharisaic poison works with a more stealthy force and makes its attacks upon more vital parts. We are to look not only for a sinful nation’ s natural decay, but besides for those mighty interpositions of Providence in flood and famine, in pestilence and war, directly for its punishment and overthrow. V. THE VALUE OF A “ REMNANT.” God has been saving remnants from the beginning--Noah, Abraham, Moses, Nehemiah--and the little companies of which such souls are the centre and the life in every age. God’ s plans are not spoiled by man’ s madness. If many rebel against Him, He saves the few and multiplies their power. The leaven leavens the whole lump again. VI. Most impressive, therefore, is THE TENDER AND OF MERCY AND PARDON in this chapter. (Hanford A. Edson, D. D.)I. THE WRITER (verse 1). The sinful nation II. THE OF THE PEOPLE (Isaiah 1:2-6). III. THE FRUITS OF THIS (Isaiah 1:7-9). IV. FALSE EFFORTS TO OBTAIN RELIEF (Isaiah 1:10-15). Murderers may be found at church, making their attendance a cloak for their iniquity or an atonement for their crime. God cannot become a party to such horrible trading. V. THE TRUE WAY OF (Isaiah 1:16-18). God not only describes the disease, but provides the remedy. The fountain is provided; sinners must wash in it--must confess, forsake, get the right spirit, and do right. (J. Sanderson, D. D.)Isaiah’ s sermon The sermon which is contained in this chapter hath in it-- I. A HIGH CHARGE exhibited in God’ s name against the Jewish Church and nation. 1. For their ingratitude (verses 2, 3). 2. For their incorrigibleness (verse 5). 3. For the universal corruption and degeneracy of the people (verses 4, 6, 21, 22). 4. For their rulers’ perverting of justice (verse 23). II. A SAD OF THE OF GOD which they had brought upon themselves by their sins, and by which they were brought almost to utter ruin (rots. 7-9). III. A JUST OF THOSE SHOWS AND SHADOWS OF which they kept up among them, notwithstanding this general defection and apostasy (verses 10-15). IV. AN EARNEST CALL TO AND , setting before them life and death (verses 16-20). V. A OF RUIN TO THOSE THAT WOULD NOT BE (verses 24, 28-31). VI. A PROMISE OF A HAPPY AT LAST, and a return to their primitive purity and prosperity (verses 25-27). And all this is to be applied by us, not only to the communities we are members of, in their public interests, but to the state of our own souls. (M. Henry.)A last appeal The prophets are God’ s storm signals. This was a crisis in Israel’ s history. Mercy and judgment had alike failed. The mass of the people had become more hardened. Judgment alone had now become the only real mercy. The prophet was sent to make a last appeal; to warn of judgment. I. THE CHARGE. They have proved unnatural children. Have disowned their Father. Have failed to meet the claims due from them. Have frustrated the purpose of their national existence. Have, as a nation, wholly abandoned themselves to sin. In spite of exceptional privileges, they have lowered themselves beneath the level of the brutes. Nature witnesses against them, and puts them to shame. II. THE DEFACE. The prophet imagines them to point to their temple services,--so regular, elaborate, costly,--in proof that their natural relations to their Father have been maintained. But this common self-delusion is disallowed, exposed, repelled. Not ritual, not laborious costly worship is required, but sincerity of heart, integrity of purpose, rightness of mind. Acceptable religious observance must be the spontaneous expression of an inward religious life. III. THE OFFER OF MERCY. But the day of grace is not even yet past. One last attempt is yet made to arouse the sleeping spiritual sensibilities of the nation by the offer of pardon. Reconciliation is possible only upon amendment. IV. THE THREAT OF . Fire alone can now effect the change desired. God cannot be evaded. He is as truly merciful in threatening as in offering pardon. The nation shall be purged, yet not destroyed. Evil shall be consumed. But thereto who, like gold, can stand the fire and come out purified shall be the nucleus of an ideal society, and remodel the national life. All social amendment has its roots in complete purification of individual hearts. The prophet’ s dream was never realised. Yet it was not therefore wasted. It was an ideal, an inspiration to the good in after ages. It will one day be realised through the Gospel. (Lloyd Robinson.)I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against MeThe Fatherhood of God in relation to Israel Israel is Jehovah’ s men Exodus 4:22, etc.); all the members of the nation are His children Deuteronomy 14:1; Deuteronomy 32:20); He is the Father of Israel, whom He has begotten (Deuteronomy 32:6; Deuteronomy 32:18). The existence of Israel as a nation, like that of other nations, is effected, indeed, by means of natural reproduction, not by spiritual regeneration; but the primary ground of Israel’ s origin is the supernaturally efficacious word of grace addressed to Abraham (Genesis 17:15, etc.); and a series of wonderful dealings in grace has brought the growth and development of Israel to that point which it had attained at the Exodus from Egypt. It is in this sense that Jehovah has begotten Israel. (F. Delitzsch.)Israel’ s apostasy Two things that ought never to have been conjoined-- I. THE AND FILIAL OF ISRAEL TO JEHOVAH. II. ISRAEL’ S BASE FROM JEHOVAH. (F. Delitzsch.)The Fatherhood of God in the Old Testament Sometimes we imagine that the Fatherhood of God is a New Testament revelation; we speak of the prophets as referring to God under titles of resplendent glory and overpowering majesty, and we set forth in contrast the gentler terms by which the Divine Being is designated in the new covenant. How does God describe Himself in this chapter? Here He claims to be Father: I have nourished and brought up sons--not, I have nourished and brought up slaves--or subjects--or creatures--or insects--or beasts of burden--I have nourished and brought up sons: I am the Father of creation, thefountain and origin of the paternal and filial religion. (J. Parker, D. D.)Ingratitude As the Dead Sea drinks in the river Jordan and is never the sweeter, and the ocean all other rivers and is never the fresher, so we are apt to receive dally mercies from God and still remain insensible to them--unthankful for them. (Bishop Reynolds.)God man’ s truest Friend We are obliged to speak of the Lord after the manner of men, and in doing so we are clearly authorised to say that He does not look upon human sin merely with the eye of a judge who condemns it, but with the eye of a friend who, while he censures the offender, deeply laments that there should be such faults to condemn. Hear, “ O heavens, and give ear, O earth: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me,” is not merely an exclamation of surprise, or an accusation of injured justice, but it contains a note of grief, as though the Most High represented Himself to us as mourning like an ill-treated parent, and deploring that after having dealt so well with His offspring they had made Him so base a return. God is grieved that man should sin. That thought should encourage everyone who is conscious of having offended God to come back to Him. If thou lamentest thy transgression, the Lord laments it too. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The parental grief of God, and its pathetic appeal (with Isaiah 1:3):--I look upon this text as a fragment of Divine autobiography, and as such possessing the greatest significance to us. I. It presents to us in a striking manner THE SOCIAL SIDE OF GOD’ S . It is well for us to remember that all that is tender and lovable in our social experience, so far as it is pure and noble, is obtained from God. The revelation which we have of God presents Him to us, not as isolated from all His creatures, but as finding His highest joy in perfect communion with exalted spirits whom He has created. I love to think that man exists because of this exalted social instinct in God. Further, when God said, “ It is not good that the man should be alone,” methinks I hear but the echo of a Divine, of a God felt feeling. Among the mysteries of Christ’ s passion we find an element of suffering which, as God and man, He felt--“ Ye shall leave Me alone” ; “ My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me!” Our God is to us an object of supremest interest because He holds with us the most sacred relationship. II. Our text represents GOD ON THE SIDE OF HIS . It is the parental rather than the paternal that we see here. The word father does not express all that God is to us. The illustrations of this Book are not exhausted with those that refer to His fatherhood: “ Can a woman forget her sucking child,” etc. (Isaiah 49:15). All that is tender in motherhood,as well as all that is strong in fatherhood, is to be found in Him. It is as a parent that He speaks here: “ I have nourished” --or “ given nutriment.” In other words, “ Out of My rich resources of blessing have I provided for their need; I have nourished and brought up children.” Here we have God’ s grief revealed in the light which can only come through such tender and loving channels as parental patience and wounded love. III. Our text reveals GOD’ S IN ITS ASPECT. The folly is emphasised by the comparison with two creatures, by no means noted for their intelligence. Yet both are domesticated creatures, and feel the ties of ownership. What is it that domesticates a creature? The creature that recognises man as his master, by that very act becomes domesticated. The higher type of knowledge possessed by the domesticated animal is a direct recognition of its master. The finest creatures possess that. There is a lower grade of knowledge, but yet one which stamps the creature as domesticated. That is an acknowledgment, not of the master directly, but a recognition of the provision which the master has made for its need. “ The ox knoweth his owner.” The ass does not do that; but the ass knoweth “ his master’ s crib.” The ass knows the stall where it is fed, and it goes and is fed there. By that act it indirectly acknowledges the sovereignty of its owner, because it recognises his protection. IV. The text presents to us THE TENDER AND SIDE OF GOD’ S . This is God’ s version of human sin. His rebukes are full of pathos. With the great mantle of charity that covers over a multitude of sins, and with the Divine pity that puts the best construction upon human rebellion, He puts all down to ignorance and folly. Observe further, that although they have rebelled against Him, He does not withdraw the name He gave them, Israel--“ Israel doth not know: My people doth not consider.” He does not repudiate them. The last thing that love can do is that. There is something exceedingly pathetic in God here making an appeal to creation relative to His relationship with man. What if it gave a relief to the heart of God to exclaim to His own creation that groaned with Him over human sin, “ Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!” Am I imagining? Do we not find a Divine as well as human feeling in Christ’ s going to the wilderness or the mountain top in the hours of His greatest need? There, amid God’ s creation, He found His Father very near. Here the fact that the child does not know his Heavenly Father is represented as the burden of God’ s grief. But in this case the ignorance was wilful This was the burden on the heart of Christ in His prayer (John 17:1-26). There everything is made to depend upon men knowing God as their Father. That is just why we preach. We seek to make it impossible for you to pass through God’ s world, and receive from His hands blessings great and boundless, and yet not know Him. We seek to make it impossible for you to look at the Cross and listen to the story of an infinite sacrifice, and yet forget that “ God so loved the world,” etc. (D. Davies.)The heinousness of rebellion against God’ s paternal government The criminality of rebellion must, of course, be affected by the nature of the government and administration against which it is exerted. It must be measured by the mildness and propriety of the system whose authority it renounces, and by the patience, lenity, and wisdom with which that system is administered. If the government be despotic in its character, and administered with implacable or ferocious sternness, it can hardly be unlawful, and may be deserving of commendation. If the government be paternal in its character and administered with paternal sensibilities, then criminal to a degree absolutely appalling. I. THE OF GOD. This is seen in-- 1. The object of its precepts. The entire and simple aim of all and every one of His commands, and the motives by which He urges them, appear to be an advancement in knowledge, holiness, and felicity, that we may be fitted for His own presence and intimate communion; for the exalted dignities and interminable bliss of the realms where His honour dwelleth. 2. The length of His forbearance. Who but a father, surpassing all below that have honoured this endearing name, could have borne so long and so meekly, with the thankless, the wayward, the audacious, the provoking! Who but a father, such as Heaven alone can furnish, would return good for evil, and blessing for cursing, hundreds and thou sands of years, and then, when any finite experimenter had utterly despaired, resolve to vanquish his enemies, not by terror, wasting and woe, but by the omnipotence of grace and mercy! Who but a GOD, and a paternal GOD, would have closed such a strange and melancholy history as that of Israel, by sending “ His Son into the world, not to condemn the world,” etc. 3. The nature of His tenderness. The philanthropist commiserates the distresses of his fellow creatures, and magnanimously resolves to meliorate them. But he is not animated by that lively, that overpowering, self-sacrificing tenderness which prompts the exertions of a father in behalf of his suffering child. No; that tenderness shrinks from no expenditure, falters before no obstacles. And such was the tenderness of God, for it is not said that He so pitied, but that “ He so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son,” etc. II. IF SIN BE THE OF THE AND CLAIMS, THE MOTIVES AND , THE GRACE AND MERCY OF ONE WHO HAS GIVEN US SUCH PROOFS OF HIS REGARD AND --CAN IT BE OTHER THAN ? Can it be other than rebellion of a most aggravated character? The consideration should silence every whisper of pretension to meritorious virtue, and stir up the sentiments of profound contrition. It should take every symptom of stubbornness away, and make us self-accusing, lowly, and brokenhearted. (T. W.Coit.) Isaiah 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner . . . but Israel doth not know Isaiah’ s message What does Isaiah teach about God? A prophet of his times had much to do in clearing the minds of the people from the confusion, or something worse, into which, as the history shows, the Jews were only too prone to fall. They were surrounded by idolatrous nations, and there was a danger that they might regard Jehovah as though He were like these gods of the nations. Even when they did not sink to this level they were prone to regard Him as their national God, not as the God of all the earth. I. What the prophet sought to do was to communicate to them something of that view of the MAJESTY OF HIS GLORY AND THE BEAUTY OF HIS which had impressed itself so deeply on his own mind. He had seen God, and he would fain have them see Him also. And where can we search for more sublime conceptions of the spirituality, the holiness, the majesty of God than those which we find in this book? II. But the teaching of the prophet includes another conception of God which we should be still less prepared to find in the Old Testament. If the lofty conceptions of the Divine spirituality surprise, still more are we impressed with the revelation of THE DIVINE AND THOUGHT FOR MAN. This is the basis of all those urgent appeals addressed by Isaiah to his own generation. The first chapter strikes the keynote. Here is not a distant God so absorbed in the care of His vast empire that He has no remembrance of His poor children here, and so far removed that between Him and them there can be no sympathy. The prevailing note is that for which we are least prepared--that of Love. There is no dallying with the sin. The apostasy of the people is set forth in its darkest aspects, and the enormity of the rebellion only serves to make more conspicuous the glory of the grace which is proclaimed to these sinners. All their iniquity, their ingratitude, their pride of heart, their forgetfulness of God have not turned the heart of their God from them. Surely these are wondrous teachings to find in this old world record. Isaiah had them from God Himself. (J. G. Rogers, B. A.)The inconsiderateness of mankind towards God I. A SERIOUS FAULT, common, yea, universal. “ Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider.” 1. Men are most inconsiderate towards God. One would pardon them if they forgot many minor things, and neglected many inferior persons, but to be inconsiderate to their Creator, to their Preserver, to Him in whose hand their everlasting destiny is placed, this is a strange folly as well as a great sin. If it were only because He is so great, and therefore we are so dependent upon Him, one would have thought that a rational man would have acquainted himself with God and been at peace; but when we reflect that God is supremely good, kind, tender and gracious, as well as great, the marvel of man’ s thoughtlessness is much increased. 2. Then, again, man is inconsiderate towards himself in reference to his best interests. 3. Thoughtless man is inconsiderate of the claims of justice and of gratitude, and this makes him appear base as well as foolish. The text says, “ Israel doth not know.” Now, Israel is a name of nobility, it signifies a prince; and there are some here whose position in society, whose condition amongst their fellow men, should oblige them to the service of God. That motto is true, “noblesse oblige,” --nobility has its obligations; and where the Lord elevates a man into a position of wealth and influence, he ought to feel that he is under peculiar bonds to serve the Lord. I speak also to those who have been trained in the fear of God. To you more is given, and therefore of you more is required. 4. One sad point about this inconsiderateness is, that man lives without consideration upon a matter where nothing but consideration will avail. 5. This inconsideration, also, occurs upon a subject where, by the testimony of tens of thousands, consideration would be abundantly remunerative, and would yield the happiest results. II. WHICH ATTEND IT, in many eases. 1. And first, remember that some of these careless persons have had their attention earnestly directed to the topics which still they neglect. Observe in this passage that these people had been summoned by God to consider. The heavens and the earth were called to bear witness that they had been nourished and brought up by the good Father, and in the fourth verse they are rebuked because they continue to be so unmindful of their God. Now, if a person should for a while forget an important thing, we should not be surprised, for the memory is not perfect; but when attention is called to it again and again, when consideration is requested kindly, tenderly, earnestly, and when because the warning is neglected, that attention is demanded with authority, and possibly with a degree of sharpness, one feels that a man who is still unmindful is altogether without excuse, and must be negligent of set purpose and with determined design. 2. The prophet then mentions the second aggravation, namely, that in addition to being called and admonished, these people had been chastened. They had been chastised, indeed, so often and so severely that the Lord wearied of it. He saw no use in smiting them any more. Their whole body was covered with bruises, they had been so sorely smitten. The nation as a nation had been so invaded and trodden down by its enemies that it was utterly desolate, and the Lord says, “ Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more.” I may be addressing someone whose life of late has been a series of sorrows. Know you not that all these are sent to wean you from the world? Will you still cling to it! Must the Lord strike again and again, and again and again, before you will hear Him? 3. It was an additional piece of guiltiness that these people were all the while that they would not consider, very zealous in an outward religion. 4. Yet further, there was an aggravation to Israel’ s forgetfulness of God, because she was most earnestly and affectionately invited to turn to God by gracious promises. “ Come now, and let us reason together saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” A man might say, “ Why should I think of God? He is my enemy.” O man, you know better. 5. As a last aggravation, note that these very people had ability enough to consider other things, for we find that they considered how to get bribes, and were very shrewd in following after rewards; yet they did not know and did not consider their God. Oh, how quick are some men in the ways of evil, and yet, if you talk to them about religion they say it is mysterious, and beyond their power of apprehension. Those same persons will discuss with you the knottiest points of politics, or unravel the abstrusities of science, and yet they pretend they cannot understand the simplicities of revelation. “ I am a poor man,” saith one, “ and you cannot expect me to know much” ; yet, if anybody were to meet that same “ poor man” in the street and tell him he was a fool, he would be indignant at such an accusation, and would zealously prove that he was not inferior in common sense. “ I cannot,” says one, “ vex my brain about such things as these” ; yet that very man wears his brain far more in pursuit of wealth or pleasure. If a man has an understanding, and can exercise it well upon minor matters, how shall we apologise for his neglect of his God? III. THE SECRET CAUSES of human indifference to topics so important. 1. In the case of many thoughtless persons we must lay the blame to the sheer frivolity of their nature. 2. I have no doubt that in every ease, however, the bottom reason is opposition to God Himself. 3. Upon some minds the tendency to delay operates fearfully. 4. Some make an excuse for themselves for not considering eternity, because they are such eminently practical men. I only wish that those who profess to be practical were more truly so, for a practical man always takes more care of his body than of his coat, certainly; then should he not take more care of his soul than of the body, which is but the garment of it? A practical man will be sure to consider matters in due proportion; he will not give all his mind to a cricket match and neglect his business. And yet how often your practical man still more greatly errs; he devotes all his time to money making, and not a minute to the salvation of his soul and its preparation for eternity! 5. I have no doubt with a great many their reason for not thinking about soul matters, is prejudice. They are prejudiced because some Christian professor has not lived up to his profession, or they have heard something which is said to be the doctrine of the Gospel, which they cannot approve of. 6. In most cases men do not like to trouble themselves, and they have an uncomfortable suspicion that if they were to look too narrowly into their affairs they would find things far from healthy. They are like the bankrupt before the court the other day who did not keep books; he did not like his books, for his books did not like him. He was going to the bad, and he therefore tried to forget it. They say of the silly ostrich that when she hides her head in the sand and does not see her pursuers she thinks she is safe; that is the policy of many men. IV. A few words of . Is not your inconsiderateness very unjustifiable? Can you excuse it in any way? (C. H. Spurgeon.)Instinct compared with reason in its recognition of persons Adam, previous to his fall, instinctively recognised the relations in which he stood to God, to his only existing fellow creature, and to the beasts of the field. He recognised God as his Creator and Preserver; Eve as partaker of the same nature and the same sympathies with himself,--as one therefore to whom he owed a debt of benevolence and support; the inferior animals as vassals put under his feet. But no sooner did he fall, than his natural acknowledgment of these several relations forsook him. The relations, indeed, themselves existed still; but he lost all sense (or nearly all sense) of the obligations grounded upon them. Of all the three ruptures which took place at the fall, the first was--not only far the most serious, but also--the most total and complete. We do not assert that the natural man has lost all sense of obligation to his fellow creatures and to the beasts of the field. We do not desire to derogate from this amiability, this considerateness, this benevolence;--let them pass for what they are worth. At the same time it should be remembered that such traits of character, however pleasing in themselves, rather aggravate than extenuate the fact of the man’ s godlessness. What shall we say to man’ s acknowledgment of his family and dependants, but that it gives point to the insult of withholding acknowledgment from God? Nor, although the brute creation revolted from man in the hour of his fall, and became intractable, was this breach of separation total and complete. “ The ox knoweth his owner.” Even those animals whose instinct is less keen, whose very name has passed into a proverb of stupidity and stubbornness, do not fail to recognise the place in which, and the hand from which, they are in the habit of receiving their daily sustenance. “ The ass knoweth his master’ s crib.” (Dean Goulburn.)Man in his relation to God I. COMPARE THE BETWEEN AN AND A WITH THOSE BETWEEN A AND THE CREATOR. And it will at once suggest itself that, though these relations may be susceptible of comparison, yet there is an insufficiency in the lower relation to type out the higher. The distance, in point of faculties, between man and the inferior creatures, if great, is at least measurable. Man has the superiority over the brutes in respect of his reason,--but in respect of our mortal bodies, the subjects of infirmity and decay, we are both entirely on a par. Whereas the distance between finite man and the Infinite God is, of course, incalculable. This inadequacy of the comparison suggested in our text will become more evident, as we enter into a consideration of its details. The dumb creature recognises the master, whose property he is “ The ox knoweth his owner.” What constitutes man’ s right of ownership to the ox? Simply the fact that he has given in exchange for it an equivalent in the gold that perisheth. It was not he who created the ox. If he supports its life, it is only by providing it with a due supply of food, not by ministering to it momentarily the breath which it draws. So much for man’ s ownership of the ox. Turn we now to God’ s ownership of man. What constitutes God’ s right of ownership in us, His intelligent creatures? 1. The fact that we are the work of His hands. This constitutes a claim to our services, a property in all our faculties, whether bodily or mental, which no one creature can have in the faculties of another. 2. But creation is not the only ground on which God’ s ownership of man rests. Of all things which we may be said to own, our property is most entire, in those things which, having been once deprived of them by fraud or violence, we have subsequently paid a price to recover. That claim, grounded originally upon the fact of creation, has been confirmed, and extended by the fact of redemption. “ Ye are not your own,” says the apostle Paul; “ for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’ s.” Where, in the whole realm of nature, shall we seek a claim so overwhelmingly powerful as this, upon the unreserved devotion of our hearts,--of all that we are and all that we have? 3. But our text suggests to us another detail of the claims which our heavenly Owner has upon our allegiance. “ The ass knoweth his master’ s crib.” He knows the hand that feeds him and the manger at which he is fed. It asks no scintillation of intelligence, no high effort of an almost rational instinct, to recognise this claim. If man seems to ignore those claims of God which are established by creation and redemption, it might haply be pleaded in his behalf that he is a creature of the senses, and that the facts of creation and redemption are not cognisable by the senses. These stupendous facts are transacted and past, and as far as our animal life is concerned, we do not seem to derive any present benefit from them. But is not even this paltry justification entirely cut off by the fact here implied, that man is indebted to his God for his daily maintenance, for the comfort and the continuance even of his animal life? Our every period of refreshment and repose, of ease and relaxation from toil, is from the unseen hand of our heavenly Owner. It is not, then, the brute creation in a savage state, whose relations towards man are here drawn into comparison with the relations of man towards God. The inspired writer has chosen, as best adapted to illustrate his argument, instances from the domestic animals, who are domiciliated with man, who share his daily toils, and live as his dependants in the immediate neighbourhood of his home. He mentions not the wild and untamed buffalo, which ranges in the distant prairie, but the patient ox and ass, accustomed from early youth to the restraints of the yoke, and familiarised by long habit with their master’ s abode and ways of life. Neither, on the other hand, in drawing out the contrast, does he mention mankind generally; the charge of ingratitude is here brought against a specific portion of the human race. Israel doth not know--My people doth not consider.” It were, in some measure, excusable that the Gentiles should refuse acknowledgment to the living God. They possess no revelation of His will. If Israel entertain a secret distaste for the things of God, it is not that such things are strange to him,--jar with his old prejudices or grate upon his early associations. And that which enhances so peculiarly the guilt of Israel enhances yet more the guilt of that Gentile who, by the reception of the first sacrament of the Gospel, has become a fellow citizen with the saints and of the household of God. We might reasonably expect, then, that the baptized at least, whatever others may do, will yield to their Creator, Redeemer, Benefactor, and adopted Father some heartfelt tribute of acknowledgment. II. A IS DRAWN BETWEEN THE MADE BY DUMB ANIMALS OF THEIR TO THEIR OWNERS AND ISRAEL’ S REFUSAL OF TO HIS GOD. 1. And first of the dumb animal’ s acknowledgment of his owner. “ The ox knoweth his owner.” I understand the term “ know” in the ordinary sense of recognising. The cattle recognise the voice of their owner. A word, either of menace or of caress, if addressed to them in the well-known accents of their lord, has an instantaneous effect. Not so the menaces or caresses of strangers. What a cutting proof upon the insensibility of God’ s people! 2. “ Israel doth not know” The professing members of God’ s household, the Church, heed not the calls which He is daily addressing to them by the dealings of His providence without, and the pleadings of His Spirit within them. (1) They recognise not God in His warnings, whether those warnings be addressed to themselves as individuals, or to the nation of which they are members. Some of them have been stretched upon a sick bed, where death and judgment and eternity have come very nigh unto them. (2) But, finally, can we allege in his behalf that he habitually acknowledges God in His mercies? God’ s blessings of nature and providence are accepted by the great body of His professing people as a matter of course. “ The ass knoweth his master’ s crib” ; but Israel, more senseless than the dumb creature, recognises not the hand which confers his blessings. “ He doth not consider.” Want of consideration is the root and reason of this strange insensibility. It is not that he lacks the faculty of apprehending God, but he will not be at the pains to exercise that faculty. It is not that he lacks a speculative knowledge of the truths we have set forth, but that he does not lay to heart that knowledge, nor allow it its due weight. The want of impressibility proceeds from deliberate and wilful thoughtlessness. (Dean Goulburn.)The distinction between knowledge and consideration It would appear, from this verse, that the children of Israel neither knew nor considered--but still there is a distinction suggested by it between these two things. And in the Book of Malachi, we have a similar distinction, when the Lord says to the priests, “ If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart.” It is, in fact, possible for a man to do one of these things, and not to do the other. He may know the truth, and yet he may not consider it. He may hear, and yet not lay it to heart. And thus it is that we may gather the difference which there is between knowledge and wisdom. The one is a speculative acquirement. The other is a practical faculty or habit. By the latter, we turn to its profitable use the former. Thus it is that there may be great folly along with great scholarship; and, on the other hand, may an unlettered mind be illustrious in wisdom. You have perhaps seen when there was great wealth, and yet, from the want of judicious management, great want of comfort in a family; and what stands in beautiful contrast with this, you may have witnessed the union of very humble means, with such consideration in the guidance of them, as to have yielded a respectable appearance, and a decent hospitality, and the sufficiency of a full provision. And so, with the treasures of intellect, the acquisitions of the mind, whereof one may be rich, being possessed of most ample materials in all knowledge, and yet have an ill-conditioned mind notwithstanding; and another destitute of all but the most elementary truths, may yet, by a wise application of them, have attained to the true light and harmony of the soul, and be in sound preparation both for the duties of time and for the delights of eternity. All have so learned to number their days as to know the extreme limit of human life upon earth; yet all have not so learned to number their days as to apply their hearts unto wisdom. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)Knowledge and wisdom I. This distinction between knowledge and wisdom is abundantly realised even on THE FIELD OF EARTHLY AND OF . The man of dissipation may have his eyes open to the ruin of character and of fortune that awaits him, yet the tyranny of his evil desires constrains him to a perseverance in the ways of wretchedness. The man of indolence may foresee the coming bankruptcy that will ensue on the slovenly management of his affairs, yet there is a lethargy within that weighs him down to fatal inactivity. The man of headlong irritation may be able to discern the accumulating mischief that he raises against himself, and yet continue as before to be hurried away by the onward violence that seizes him. In all these instances there is no want of knowledge in possession. But there is a want of knowledge in use, or in application. The unhappy man has received the truth, but he does not give heed unto the truth. II. But what we have affirmed, even of those events and consequences that take place along the journey of this world, is still more strikingly apparent of THAT GREAT EVENT WHICH MAKES ITS . There is not a human creature of most ordinary mind, and who hath overstepped the limits of infancy, that does not know of death, and with whom it does not rank among the most undoubted of the certainties that await him. And it is not only that of which he is most thoroughly assured, but it is that of which, in the course of observation and history, he is most constantly reminded. But how is it truly and experimentally? That death of which we all know so well, is scarcely ever in our thoughts. The momentary touch of grief and of seriousness, wherewith we are at times visited, speedily goeth into utter dissipation. It seems not to work the slightest abatement in the eagerness of man after this world’ s interests. It needs no impetuous appetite to overbear the thought of death; for in the calm equanimity of many a sober and aged citizen, you will find him as profoundly asleep to the feeling of his own mortality as he is to any of the feelings or instigations of licentiousness. Death is the stepping stone between the two worlds; and so it somewhat combines the palpable of matter, with the shadowy and the evanescent of spirit. It is the gateway to a land of mystery and of silence, and seems to gather upon it some thing of the visionary character which the things of faith have to the eye of the senses. And so, amid all the varieties of temperament in our species, there is a universal heedlessness of death. It seems against the tendency of nature to think of it. The thing is known, but it is not considered. This might serve to convince us how unavailing is the mere knowledge, even of important truth, if not accompanied by the feeling, or the practical remembrance of it. The knowledge in this case only serves to aggravate our folly. Thus, the irreligion of the world is due not to the want of a satisfying demonstration on God’ s part, for this might have excused us; but to the want of right consideration on ours, and this is inexcusable. III. Let us now pass onwards to THE OF FAITH--to those things which do not, like death, stand upon the confines of the spiritual region, but are wholly within that region, and which man hath not seen by his eye, or heard by his ear--to the awful realities that will abide in deep and mysterious concealment from us, so long as we are in the body. This character of unseen and spiritual is not confined to things future. There are things present which are spiritual also. There is a present Deity, who dwelleth in light, it is true; but it is light inaccessible. And yet, even of this great Spirit we may be said, in one sense, to know, however little it is that we may consider Him. There are averments about God which we have long recognised and ranked among our admitted propositions, though we seldom recur to them in thought, and are never adequately impressed by them. We know, or think we know, that God is; and that all other existence is suspended upon His will; and that He is a God of inviolable sacredness, in whose presence evil cannot dwell. Now, as a proof how distinct this knowledge of God is from the consideration of Him, we will venture to say that even the first and simplest of all these propositions is, by many unthought of for days and weeks together. In the work that you prosecute, and the comforts that you enjoy, and even the obligations of which you acquit yourselves to relatives and to friends, is there any fear of God before your eyes?--and is not the fear of disgrace from men a far more powerful check upon your licentiousness, than the fear of damnation from Him who is the judge and the discerner of men? This emptiness of a man’ s heart as to the recognition of God runs throughout the whole of his history. He is engrossed with what is visible and secondary and he thinks no farther. When he enjoys, it is without gratitude. When he enjoys, it is without the impulse of an obedient loyalty. When he admires, it is without carrying the sentiment upwardly unto heaven. Now, this is God’ s controversy with man in the text. He there complains of our heedlessness. And this inconsideration of ours is matter of blame, just because it is a matter of wilfulness. Man has a voluntary control over his thoughts. IV. But the distinction between those who only know and those who also consider, is never more strongly marked than in THE OF THE GOSPEL. And fearful is the hazard lest knowledge and it alone should satisfy the possessor. The very quantity of debate and of argument that has been expended on theology, leads to a most hurtful misconceiving of this matter. The design of argument is to carry you onward to a set of accurate convictions. And yet, the whole amount of your acquisition may be a mere rational Christianity. There are no topics on which there has been so much of controversy, or that have given rise to so many an elaborate dissertation, as the person and offices of Christ. Yet, let it not be disguised that the knowledge of all these credenda is one thing, and the practical consideration of them is another. First, He is the Apostle of our profession, or we profess Him to be our Apostle. Let us bethink ourselves of all which this title implies. It means one who is sent. How it ought to move us with awe at the approach of such a messenger when we think of the glory and the sacredness of His former habitation! And what ought to fasten upon Him a still more intense regard, He comes with a message to our world--He comes straight from the Divinity Himself, and charged by Him with a special communication. By your daily indifference to the word that is written, you inherit all the guilt, and will come under the very reckoning of those, who, in the days of the Saviour, treated with neglect the word that was spoken. There is one topic which stands connected with the apostleship of Christ, and that stamps a most peculiar interest on the visit which He made to us from on high. He is God manifest in the flesh. In the character of a man hath He pictured forth to us the attributes of the Divinity. And we, by considering this Apostle, learn of God. But this leads us to another topic of consideration, the priesthood of Christ. The atonement that He made for sin has a foremost place in orthodoxy. But, a truth may be acquired, and then,--cast, as it were, into some hidden comer of the mind,--may lie forgotten, as in a dormitory. And therefore would we again bid you consider Him who is the High Priest of your profession we call upon you, ever and anon, to think of His sacrifice; and to ward off the legality of nature from your spirits, by a constant habit of recurrence, upon your part, to the atonement that He hath made, and to the everlasting righteousness that He hath brought in. Without this, the mind is ever lapsing anon into alienation and distrust. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)Inconsiderateness It is not a charge brought against the human family in general. The terms are special, “ My people doth not consider.” If, then, the chiefs and leaders of society have fallen into inconsiderateness, what wonder that the nameless multitude should be giddy? The salt has lost its savour and the high city has concealed its beauty. It was not left for unbelievers and scoffers to bring the severest accusations against the Church; God Himself has marked her shortcomings and loudly charged her with sin! Never has He been the special pleader of His people; He never sought to make out a case for them in spite of facts or even appearances; with solemn fidelity and poignant grief He has shown the Church her corruptness and made her ashamed in the presence of her enemies. We shall dwell on the subject of Inconsiderateness as it bears upon the Church and upon men generally. There are two noticeable points common to both. Why do not men consider? 1. Not for want of opportunity. There are the great heavens which David considered; there are the lilies which Jesus Christ charged men to consider; there are the signs of the times, full of significance; a thousand objects, indeed, daily challenge our thoughtfulness. 2. Not for want of reproof or encouragement. Failures, disappointments, blunders, beyond numbering, have shown us the mischief of inconsiderateness. On the other hand, consideration has always rewarded us with the quietness of a good conscience; yet again and again we cease to be thoughtful. Let us look upon inconsiderateness-- I. IN ITS REASONS. 1. Inconsiderateness saves intellectual trouble. Men do not like to think deeply. They prefer to skim the surface, and instead of working steadily for results, they choose to snatch at anything which may serve them for the passing moment. A decline of thoughtfulness is also a decline of moral strength! The Church thinks but little. Nearly all its propositions have been accepted on trust. Observe! Jesus Christ always challenged the thought of those who beard Him. He never discouraged honest and devout inquiry. He never said a word in praise of ignorance. No authority of His can be quoted for intellectual indolence. Christianity vivifies the intellect. 2. Inconsiderateness mitigates moral compunction. It does this by concealing a man from himself. Men, in many instances, dare not consider themselves. One look at their own hearts would affright them! We may think well of ourselves simply because we do not know ourselves. Pain comes with self-knowledge; but if pain drive men to the Healer, it will be to them as the angel of God. 3. Inconsiderateness escapes social obligation. There is ignorance to be taught; but we don’ t go into the question! There is misery to be alleviated; but we think nothing about it! There is a man dying in the road; but we pass by on the other side! (Proverbs 24:12.) II. IT ITS RESULTS. 1. Practical atheism. God is acknowledged with the lips, but He hath no place in the heart. Things are viewed from the outside, and secondary causes are looked upon as primary and original. 2. Spiritual feebleness. Without consideration no man can be strong. He has no abiding convictions. There is nothing about him or within him which he is unprepared to cast off under pressure. 3. Needless alarm. The man who has spent no time in quiet thinking mistakes the bearing of unusual circumstances. A shadow frightens him. He has no grasp of history. Having eyes, he sees not. 4. Self-deprivation. (J. Parker, D. D.)Fatal inconsideration I shall treat of the charge here brought against the ancient Jews in a double view-- I. AS IT MORE SINNERS. It is the proper character of all the impenitent, that they do not and will not consider. This is the ground of their guilt, and the fatal cause of their ruin. Consideration is the same as attentively applying the mind to things, according to their respective nature and importance, in order to our having the clearer apprehension of them, and knowing how we ought to act in relation to them. And, forasmuch as the things of religion are of the highest nature, and the utmost conceivable importance, our considering these things must imply our looking into them, and pondering them with the greatest care, and seriousness, and impartiality; and this with a view of our being able to form a truer and more distinct judgment concerning them, and concerning the manner in which they ought to influence our actions; to the end we may be effectually led and determined to act as we ought, and as the nature and importance of the things should persuade us to do. We must attend carefully, examine impartially, think and reflect seriously, that we may judge, and resolve, and act rightly. I shall--1. Instance some particulars in which it is manifest the persons I am now speaking of do not consider. (1) They do not consider what their own reason and the Holy Scripture would instruct them in concerning God, His being and providence, His attributes and works. “ The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts” (Psalms 10:4). (2) They do not consider the end for which they were made, and what is their true interest and highest happiness. This is a most important question, of absolute necessity to regulate human life; for as our end is, such will the course of our actions be in pursuance of it. (3) They do not consider the infinite obligations they are under to that God whose commands they disobey. This is the particular ground and instance of the allegation against the people of Judah. (4) They do not consider the vast importance of salvation and what the indispensable terms of it are. (5) The same persons do not consider the nature and tendency of their present course of life. They do not reflect upon their actions and weigh and ponder their steps. They have not the caution of common travellers, to think whether they are right or wrong. (6) They do not consider the uncertainty of life. (7) Or, the certainty of a world to come. 2. Set before you the deplorable consequences of this neglect of serious consideration. (1) Men do not consider, and therefore do not know. (2) Men do not consider, and therefore are without all awakening apprehensions of the guilt and misery of a vicious course of life. (3) Persons engaged in a vicious course do not consider, and are therefore little solicitous to make their peace with God, and to secure an interest in the Saviour, and the salvation proposed to them in the Gospel. (4) They do not consider, and therefore resign themselves to the conduct of appetite and lust and passion. (5) Men do not consider, and for that reason it is the temptations to sin are so invincible. (6) Men will not consider, and therefore support themselves with false and dangerous props, such as these: God is merciful; Christ died for sinners; and it will be time to repent hereafter. Application-- (1) How inexcusable must all those appear who perish in their sins! They perish because they will not consider. (2) Here you see, in case you have any purposes of leading a holy life, where you must begin. You must sit down and consider. “ I thought on my ways,” etc. (Psalms 119:59). (3) Let me therefore exhort you to practise a duty so necessary and of such infinite advantage. II. AS IN A LESSER DEGREE IT TOO AFFECTS PERSONS OF SINCERE PIETY. All that consideration which is necessary to the essence of virtue and piety, they practise; but not always that which is requisite to a state of greater perfection. There are several things which too plainly prove their want of consideration. 1. The errors and failings of which they are too often guilty. I do not mean those which are so incident to human nature in the present state, that it is next to impossible to preserve ourselves entirely free from them; but those which, with due care and circumspection, we might easily enough avoid. 2. Sloth and inactivity in a virtuous and religious course of life is another argument of a defective consideration, even in good men. Akin to this is-- 3. That indevotion in the exercises of religious worship, which Christians are too apt to slide into, and which too visibly argues their disuse of that consideration which would be of admirable service to fan the sacred fire, when it began to grow dull and languid. “ While I was musing,” saith the Psalmist, “ the fire burned.” 4. The love of the world, which has too much the ascendant over some pious minds, and their being so greatly moved, if not unhinged, by the shocks and changes of it, must often be ascribed to the same cause. 5. A misplaced and misconducted zeal; a zeal for opinions and practices we know not why, and this zeal under so little government, as to occasion bitter strife and animosity among Christians, and raise such disturbances in the Church of God, as hinder its flourishing state; this likewise shews that men do not consider. 6. It is many times because they do not consider that they who are religious do not enjoy their religion. (H. Grove, M. A.)Reasons for consideration 1. Consideration is the proper character of reasonable beings: this faculty is the main distinction of the man from the beast; and the exercise of it, of the wise man from the fool 2. We show that we can consider in the things of this life; and why not then in the things of religion? 3. Do your part, and God will not with hold His grace, by which you shall be enabled to do all required of you. 4. By time and use this exercise, however ungrateful at first, will become more easy and pleasant. 5. Consideration is further recommended by its most blessed effects. As, to mention only two of a more general nature: the first, our being converted from the error of our ways; the other, our constant perseverance in the practice of holiness. 6. Were there nothing else but this one motive to engage you to consider, this one should be irresistible, that it is absolutely necessary: it cannot be dispensed with; the consequence of neglecting it is fatal, and never to be retrieved. (H. Grove, M. A.)Man shamed by the lower animals A fine pass man is come to when he is shamed even in knowledge and understanding by these silly animals; and is not only sent to school to them (Proverbs 6:6-7), but set in a form below them (Jeremiah 8:7); “ taught more than the beasts of the earth”Job 35:11), and yet knowing less. (M. Henry.)Inconsideration Inconsideration of what we do know is as great an enemy to us in religion as ignorance of what we should know. (M. Henry.)God’ s grief became His children do not know Him An ancestor of mine was once imprisoned for righteousness’ sake, and among the tenderest traditions which have been handed down to me is this, that when that strong man entered gaol not a nerve quivered, and not a look of sorrow was seen upon his countenance. Again, when he was released and met his friends, he bore up heroically; the joy of deliverance did not break him down: but when he entered his home, and when the little child on the mother’ s knee, that a month or so before had known its father, did not know him, but turned away from him, the strong man wept as a child. He burst into tears and sobs. The grief of God here is that His own children did not know Him. (David Davies.) Isaiah 1:4 Ah, sinful nation God’ s indignation against sin The word “ ah” is not an interjection, indicating a mere sighing of pity or regret; the word should not be spelt as it is here, the letters should be reversed, it should be “ ha,” and pronounced as expressive of indignation. God does not merely sigh over human iniquity, looking upon it as a lapse, an unhappy thing, a circumstance that ought to have been otherwise; His tone is poignant, judicial, indignant, for not only is His heart wounded, but His righteousness is outraged, and the security of His universe is threatened,--for the universe stands in plumb line, in strict geometry, and whoever trifles with the plumb, with the uprightness, tampers with the security of the universe. (J. Parker, D. D.)A sinning nation The original words used in reference to God’ s ancient people are “ a sinning nation,” which denotes a nation sinning habitually. There are three ways in which a nation becomes sinful. I. WHEN THE GREAT BODY OF THE PEOPLE CONSENT TO OR APPROVE OF THE SINS OF FORMER . Thus Christ said to the Jews, “ Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers.” II. WHEN THE GREAT BODY OF THE PEOPLE CONSENT TO THE SINS OF THEIR RULERS. Thus the Jews were a sinful nation, because they approved of the deeds of their rulers in killing the prophets and in crucifying Christ, and these sins are expressly charged against them, and were visited upon them nationally. III. WHEN THE OF THE PEOPLE ARE LIVING IN THEIR OWN REASONS. Such was the state of the Jews when Isaiah charged them with contempt of God, hypocrisy and manifold habitual transgressions. (Original Secession Magazine.)Savonarola and Florence Florence, in the days of Lorenzo the Magnificent, had become practically a pagan city. She had fallen from Christ as Jerusalem from Jehovah. One of her historians descants upon her as being “ hopeless morally, full of debauchery, cruelty, and corruption, violating oaths, betraying trusts, believing in nothing but Greek manuscripts, coins and statues, and caring for nothing but pleasures.” It was into such a city, to which Isaiah’ s prelude would almost literally apply, that Savonarola came. Seeing, as he expressed it, “ the world turned upside down,” he traversed the streets and wandered along the banks of the Arno, musing and weeping over the great misery of the world, and the iniquities of men, and the enormous wickedness of the people of Italy. Then, after a time of probation at the convent of San Marco, he burst upon the Florentines as a prophet of fiery eloquence and uncompromising virtue, of a fearless character, and with Divine insight akin to that of his great prototype, Isaiah of Jerusalem. Through internal troubles, and assaults from without, he warned the people and their rulers, endeavouring to turn their hearts to God, and to stay them upon Him. To the priests he said, that the false and lukewarm among them, the dumb dogs that could not bark, had perverted the people, and prejudiced them against the truth. “ Before all, the wicked priests and servants of the Church are the guilty causes of this corruption as also of the coming calamities.” “ He cried aloud to the populace, Thou knowest, thou knowest, O Florence, that I would have thee a spiritual State. I have always shown thee clearly that a kingdom is only strong in proportion as it is spiritual, by being more closely related to God.” Thus faithfully and boldly spoke out Savonarola what was in him from the Holy Spirit. (F. Sessions.)Corrupters“ Corrupters” Sons that are as cankerworms; sons that throw poison into pellucid water streams; sons that suggest evil thoughts to opening minds. (J. Parker, D. D.)The force of example Have fellowship with the lame and you will learn to limp. (Latin Adage.)The corrupt are corrupters One rotten apple will infect the store; the putrid grape corrupts the whole cluster. (F. Jacox.)Companionship in evil Men love not to be found singular, especially where the singularity lies in the rugged and severe paths of virtue: company causes confidence, and gives both credit and defence, credit to the crime, and defence to the criminal (R. South, D. D.)The contagion of character “ Do you see,” said Dr. Arnold to an assistant master who had recently come to Rugby, “ those two boys walking together? I never saw them together before; you should make an especial point of observing the company they keep;--nothing so tells the changes in a boy’ s character.” (F. Jacox.)Bad company injurious He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas. (Spanish proverb.)Leading others astray A father bade his son set up some bricks endways, in regular line a short distance apart. “ Now,” said he, “ knock down the first brick.” The boy obeyed, and all the others fell with it. “ Now,” said the father, “ raise the last brick and see if the others will rise with it.” But no, once down, they must be raised singly. Said the father, “ I have given you this object lesson to teach you how easy it is for one to lead others astray, but how difficult for him to restore them, however sincere his repentance may be.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)They have forsaken the LordA specific and terrible indictment What have they done? They have done three things. It is no general accusation that is lodged against Judah and Jerusalem, and through them against all the nations of the earth; it is a specific indictment, glittering with detail. I. “ THEY HAVE THE LORD.” By so much their action is negative; they have ceased to attend the altar; they have neglected to read the Italy writing; they have turned their backs upon that towards which they once looked with open face and radiant eye. II. “ THEY HAVE THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL UNTO ANGER.” Observe how the intensity increases, how the aggravation deepens and blackens; they have grown bold in sin; they have thrown challenges in the face of God; they have defied Him to hurl His thunderbolts and His lightnings upon them. III. “ THEY ARE GONE AWAY .” They forsook, they provoked, they apostatised. Sin has its logical course as well as holiness. Men do not stand still at the point of forsaking God: having for a little while forsaken Him, they will find it almost necessary to provoke Him, that they may justify themselves to themselves and to others, saying, Even provocation cannot awaken the judgment of heaven with any sign of impatience; and having provoked the Holy One of Israel, the next point will be universal apostasy, a thorough off-casting of the last traces and semblances of religion. See if this be not so in the history of the individual mind. (J. Parker, D. D.)Moral gravitation There is a law of gravitation, spiritual as well as physical, and now the man who has begun by forsaking will end by going backward, his whole life thrown out of order, decentralised; and he perpetrates the irony of walking backwards, and his crab-like action will bring him to the pit. (J. Parker, D. D.)The Holy One of IsraelThe Holy One of Israel That is, “ He who shows Himself holy in Israel.” (Prof. T. K. Cheyne.) Isaiah 1:5-6 Why should ye be stricken any more?-- The power of evil habits There are no passages in Holy Writ more affecting than those in which God seems to represent Himself as actually at a loss, not knowing what further steps to take in order to bring men to repentance and faith (Isaiah 5:4; Hosea 6:4). Of course, the chastisements may be continued, but the experience of the past attests but a strong likelihood that further afflictions would effect no reform. God, therefore, can only ask, and the question is full of the most pathetic remonstrance--“ Why should ye be stricken any more?” 1. Now, observe that it was a long course of misdoing that had brought the people into such a morally hopeless condition. It was the habit of committing sin, the habit of resisting the admonitions and the chastisements of God that had at last exhausted the resources of Divine wisdom. The words in which Jeremiah states the tremendous power of habit are very striking--“ Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” Yet our text, probably, puts it in a yet more affecting point of view--the considering wherefore it is that men who have long been accustomed to do evil, thereby bring themselves morally into such condition, that God, as if in despair, is forced to exclaim “ Why should ye be stricken any more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.” Now, they can know very little of their moral constitution, and of the tendency of their nature, who are not thoroughly aware how, as a general rule, the doing a thing twice facilitates the doing it again. We have no right to complain of there being such a law, for it is of universal application, and will therefore be every jot as beneficial to us if we aim at doing good, as detrimental if we allow ourselves to do evil. The man who has yielded to a temptation will undoubtedly find himself less able to resist when that temptation assails him again. But if he have overcome, he will as undoubtedly find himself better able to withstand. The inveterate habit and the seared conscience are so far necessary companions, that when we wish to induce a man to abandon a long-cherished practice, we do not reckon on any such keenness of the moral sense, as will make it second our remonstrance, or give point to our advice; and this it is which renders almost; desperate the case of those who have been long living in any known sin. Such men must have won that most disastrous of victories--the victory over conscience. Therefore, we hardly know under what form to shape our attack. Our position takes for granted that there is an internal monitor, so that the voice from without, answered from the voice from within, may force for itself an audience, and cause a present conviction, if not a permanent resolution; but now the internal monitor is wanting; the voice from without calling forth no voice from within, would seem to have no organ to which to address itself, and therefore our words will be as much wasted as though spoken to the air. Hence it is we are so urgent with the young that they put not off to a later day the duties of religion. The young seem to imagine that the question between us and them is simply a question as to the probabilities of life; and that if they could ensure themselves a certain number of years, they should run no risk in delaying, for a time the giving heed to religion. Thus they take no account of the inevitable result of a continuance in sin, namely, that there will be generated a habit of sin, so that when the time shall be reached which they themselves may have fixed as suited to repentance, they will be widely different beings from what they are when resolved to delay--beings tied and bound with fetters forged and fastened by themselves, and wanting in the principle which might urge them to the breaking loose from the self-imposed bondage. It is this which makes the aged sinner so unpromising a subject for the ministrations of the Word--not his being old in years, but his being old in sin. This is the first evidence which we advance as to the truth of that fearful fact which we derive from our text--the fact that habitual sin brings even God Himself into a perplexity as to how to deal with the sinner; makes it difficult for Him to employ further means for recovering that sinner from wickedness. 2. There is a yet worse thing to be said. The man who persists in sinning, till to sin has become habit, alienates from him that Holy Spirit of God whose special office it is to lead us to repentance, and renew our fallen nature. It is not by an occasional act of sin that a man may “ quench” the Spirit; though his every transgression may “ grieve” that Spirit. You will observe what a correspondence there is between quenching the Spirit and quenching the conscience. So connected, if not identified, are conscience and the Holy Spirit, so actually is the one an engine through which the other works, that in proportion as man succeeds in deadening his conscience, he advances towards quenching the Spirit. Why wonder then at the expression of our text? 3. Our text implies a great difficulty rather than an impossibility, and it ought not therefore to be without some measure of hope that the minister addresses even those who are the slaves of bad habits. The Spirit, it may be, does not so depart as to determine that He will not return We may rather regard Him as hovering over the transgressor who has so pertinaciously grieved and withstood Him; and let there be only the least intimation of a wish for His presence, and He may descend, and take up His abode in the soul which He has been forced to forsake. And, if conscience were but roused, there may be a desire for the return of the Spirit. Whilst we do not shut the door even against habitual sinners, our great effort must be that of persuading men against the forming bad habits. (H. Melvill, B. D.)The power of evil habit If a man be a confirmed drunkard or gambler, it has almost passed into a proverb, that there is but little hope of reform, and you regard it as little short of miracle if he be brought to abandon the wine or the dice. In such instances, the habit forces itself on your notice in all its fearful tyranny. The efforts to break sway are made, in a certain sense, in public, and whether they fail or succeed, you are able to observe. But if these be the more notorious cases of striving against the power of an evil habit, you are not to think that the power may not be as actuary, or as injuriously exerted in cases where there is little or nothing of manifest tyranny. There may be habits of mental or moral indulgence; habits of self-indulgence; habits of covetousness; habits of indifference to serious things; habits of delaying the season of repentance--these may be, and often are found in one and the same person; and though, unquestionably, no one of these can be parallel to the habit by which the drunkard or the gambler is enthralled, yet they resemble so many lesser cords tying down a man in place of one massive chain; and the endeavour to break loose will be equally likely to be unsuccessful. (H. Melvill, B. D.)The deceitfulness of sin In this, and in the like cases, it is especially by and through its deceitfulness, that sin produces final obduracy, making “ the whole head sick, and the whole heart faint.” The man is blinded to the fact, that he is being hardened; it is all done underhand; and while there is the rapid formation of an inveterate habit of indulgence, a depraved inclination, or a habit of covetousness, or a habit of selfishness, or a habit of procrastination, there may be great ease and satisfaction, and a feeling of cordial commiseration for those slaves of their passions who may be said hardly to put forth exertion, and to be led captive by Satan at his will. Away then with the limiting the power of evil habits to persons who live in the practice of gross sins. (H. Melvill, B. D.)Sin not self-reformatory It might seem, if sin can be called unnatural and monstrous, that nature could shake it off, and return to her own law. It might seem also that the results of sin would cure the sinner of his evil tendencies, and send him back on the path of wisdom. We grant that a man in a state of sin may be led to abandon some sin, or some excess of sin, from considerations of prudence. We grant also that affliction softens many characters which it fails to lead to sincere repentance, by lowering their pride, or by sobering their views of life. We have no doubt that the seeds of a better life are sown amid the storms and floods of calamity. And for the Christian it is certain that sorrow is a principal means of growth in holiness. Nay, it may even happen that a sin committed by a Christian may, in the end, make him a better man, as Peter, after his denial of Christ. We admit, also, that a life of sin, being a life of unrest and disappointment, cannot fail of being felt to be such, so that a sense of inward want, a longing for redemption, enters into the feelings of many hearts that are not willing to confess it. But all this does not oppose the view which we take of sin, that it contains within itself no radical cure, no real reformation Man is not led by sin into holiness. The means of recovery lie outside of the region of sin, beyond the reach of experience,--they lie in the free grace of God, which sin very often opposes and rejects, when it comes with its healing medicines and its assurances of deliverance. The most which prudence can do, acting in view of the experienced consequences of sin, is to plaster over the exterior, to avoid dangerous habits, to choose deep seated sins in lieu of such as lie on the surface. (T. D. Woolesey, D. D.)Sin not self-reformatory That sin by no process, direct or indirect, can purify the character, will appear-- I. FROM THE SELF- NATURE OF SIN. If sin has the nature to spread and strengthen its power, if by repetition habits are formed which are hard to be broken, if the blindness of mind which supervenes adds to the ease of sinning, if sin spreading from one person to another increases the evil of society, and therefore reduces the power of each one of its members to rise above the general corruption, do not all these considerations show that sin provides no cure for itself, that there is, without Divine intervention, no remedy for it at all? Can anyone show that there is any maximum of strength in sin, so that after some length of continuance, after the round of experiences is run over, after wisdom is gained, its force abates, and the soul enters on a work of self-restoration! II. FROM THE FACT, THAT THE MASS OF THE PERSONS WHO ARE TRULY FROM SIN, ASCRIBE THEIR CURE TO SOME CAUSE,--nay, I should say to some extraordinary cause, which sin had nothing to do with bringing into existence. Ask anyone who seems to you to have a sincere principle of godliness, what it was that wrought the change in his case, by which he forsook his old sins. Will he tell you that it was sin leading him round, by the experience of its baneful effects, to a life of holiness? Will he even refer it to a sense of obligation awakened by the law of God? Or, will he not rather ascribe it to the perception of God’ s love in pardoning sinners through His Son? Nor will he stop there; he will go beyond the outward motive of truth to the inward operation of a Divine Spirit. You cannot make those who have spent the most thought about sin, and had the deepest experience of its quality, admit that spiritual death of itself works a spiritual resurrection. Moreover, were it so, you could not admit the necessity of the Gospel. What is the use of medicine, if the disease, after running its course, strengthens the constitution, so as to secure it against maladies in the future? Can truth, with all its motives, do as much? To this it may be added, that the prescriptions of the Gospel themselves often fail to cure the soul; not half of those who are brought up under the Gospel are truly Christians. This again shows how hard the cure of sin is. III. WE DO NOT FIND THAT DESIRE IS BY THE THAT IT FAILS TO SATISFY THE SOUL. A most important class of sins are those of excited desire, or, as the Scriptures call them, of lust. The extravagance of our desires--the fact that they grow into undue strength, and reach after wrong objects, is owing to our state of sin itself, to the want of a regulative principle of godliness. But no such gratification can fill the soul. How is it now with the soul which has thus pampered its earthly desires, and starved its heavenly! Does it cure itself of its misplaced affections? If it could, all the warnings and contemplations of the moral philosophers might be thrown to the winds, and we should only need to preach intemperance in order to secure temperance; to feed the fire of excess, that it might the more speedily burn out. But who would risk such an experiment? Does the aged miser relax his hold on his money bags, and settle down on the lees of benevolence? IV. THE PAIN OR LOSS, ENDURED AS A FRUIT OF SIN, IS NOT, OF ITSELF, . I have already said that under the Gospel such wages of sin are often made use of by the Divine Spirit to sober, subdue, and renovate the character. But even under the Gospel, how many, instead of being reformed by the punishment of their sins, are hardened, embittered, filled with complaints against Divine justice and human law! We find continual complaints on the part of the prophets that the people remained hardened through all the discipline of God, although it was fatherly chastisement, which held out hope of restoration to the Divine favour. Such was a large experience of the efficacy of punishment under the Jewish economy. Turn now to a state of things where the Divine clemency is wholly unknown or seen only in its feeblest glimmerings. Will naked law, will pure justice work a reform to which Divine clemency is unequal? V. REMORSE OF IS NOT . Remorse, in its design, was put into the soul as a safeguard against sin. But in the present state of man remorse has no such power for the following reasons-- 1. It is dependent for its power, and even for its existence, on the truth of which the mind is in possession. Of itself it teaches nothing; it rather obeys the truth which is before the mind at the time. If now the mind lies within the reach of any means by which it can ward off the force of truth, or put falsehood in the place of truth, sin will get the better of remorse,--the dread of remorse will cease to set the soul upon its guard. 2. Every sinner has such means of warding off the force of truth, and so of weakening the power of self-condemnation, at his command. The sophistries which a sinful soul plays off upon itself, the excuses which palliate, if they do not justify transgression, are innumerable. 3. Remorse, according to the operation of the law of habit, is a sentiment which loses its strength as the sinner continues to sin. 4. But, once more, suppose that all this benumbing of conscience is temporary, as indeed it may well be; suppose that through these years of sinning it has silently gathered its electric power, but, when the soul is hackneyed in sin and life is in the dregs, will give a terrible shock--will this work reform? Will there be courage to undertake a work then for which the best hopes, the greatest strength of resolution, and the help of God are wanted? No! discouragement then must prevent reform. The sorrow of the world worketh death. VI. THE OF SIN BRINGS THE SOUL NO NEARER TO TRUTH. For sin, amongst other of its effects, makes us more afraid of God or more indifferent to Him. The first inward change wrought by sin is to beget a feeling of separation from God. To this we may add that a habit of scepticism is contracted in a course of sinning, which it is exceedingly hard to lay aside. It became necessary in order to palliate sin and render self-reproach less bitter to devise excuses for the indulgence of wrong desires. Is then such a habit easy to be shaken off? Is it easy, when habits of sin have brought on habits of scepticism, to become perfectly candid, and to throw aside the doubts of a lifetime, which are often specious and in a certain sense honestly entertained? The blindness of the mind is the best security against reformation. 1. From the course of thought in this discourse it appears that our present life shows no favour to the opinion that sin is a necessary stage in the development of character towards perfection. The tendency of sin, as life shows, is to grow blinder, more insensible, less open to truth, less capable of goodness. 2. And, again, the experience of this world throws light, or, I should rather say, darkness, on the condition of the sinner who dies impenitent. There is no tendency in the experience of his whole life towards reform. How can it be shown that there will be hereafter! 3. Our subject Points, as with a finger that can be seen, to the best time for getting rid of sin. All we have said is but a commentary on that text, “ Exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Sin is now shapening your character; he is adding stroke after stroke for the final countenance and form. If you wait all will be fixed; his work will be done. (T. D. Woolesey, D. D.)Isaiah a physician as well as a seer He says, you are vitally wrong, organically out of health: the whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint: the chief members of your constitution are wrong. It is a question of the head and the heart. Not, the foot has gone astray, and the hand has been playing an evil game, or some inferior member of the body has given hint of restlessness and treason; but, the head, where the mind abides, is sick; the heart, continually keeping the life current in action, is faint and cannot do its work. Until you see the seriousness of the case you cannot apply the right remedies. (J. Parker, D. D.)What is human nature? Do not consult the sanguine poet, for he takes a roseate view of everything: he sees in leprosy only the beauty of its snowiness; he looks upon the green mantling pool, and sees nothing there but some hint of verdure. Do not consult the gloomy pessimist, for at midday he sees nothing but a variety of midnight, and in all the loveliness of summer he sees nothing but an attempt to escape from the dreariness of winter. But consult the line of reason and solid fact, or undeniable experience, and what is this human nature? Can it be more perfectly, more exquisitely described than in the terms used by the prophet in the fifth and sixth verses of this chapter? Do the poor only fill our courts of law? Are our courts of justice only a variety of our ragged schools? Is sin but the trick of ignorance or the luxury of poverty? Or the question may be started from the other point: Are only they who are born to high degree guilty of doing wrong? Read the history of crime, read human history in all its breadth, and then say if there be not something in human nature corresponding to this description. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 1:8A cottage in a vineyard A lodge in a garden The true point of the comparison will not appear until the crop is over, and the lodge forsaken by the keeper. Then the poles fall down or lean every way, and those green boughs with which it is shaded will have been scattered by the wind leaving only a ragged, sprawling wreck,--a most affecting type of utter desolation--“ as Sodom, and like unto Gomorrah.” Isaiah 1:9 Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very mall remnant.The influence of good men 1. God’ s greatness in the universe. The “ Lord of hosts,” or Jehovah of hosts. Who are His “ hosts” ? Angels. Who shall count the number of these troops? He is their Creator and Sustainer. 2. God’ s authority over good men. He is here represented as having “ left a very small remnant.” whilst an existences are absolutely His, He has a special interest in the good. He keeps good men here as long as He thinks fit. He removes them at His pleasure. I. THEIR IS HIGHLY . From what evil did this remnant deliver the country? The answer will come out with potency by replying to two other questions. 1. What was the moral condition of Sodom and Gomorrah? Their sin was “ very grievous” (Genesis 18:20). 2. What was their doom? (Genesis 19:24-25.) Now, it was from this moral corruption and terrible doom these good people, it is said in our text, delivered others. “ Ye are the salt of the earth,” History abounds with examples of moral declination, and all hearts are conscious of this gravitating force, What is the counteractive? The life of Christ in man. That life flashes a light upon the corrupt heart of society, and makes it blush. But few will dare to sin in the presence of living holiness. Vice cowers under the radiant eye of virtue. II. Their influence is highly beneficent, HOWEVER FEW THEIR NUMBER. “ A very small remnant.” A little goodness on this earth goes a great way. Even one man like Moses, Elijah, Paul, Luther, Whitefield, Wesley, may stop the flow of depravity and turn the destinies of an age. Conclusion-- 1. The criminal ignorance of nations in relation to their true benefactors 2. The supreme value of Christianity. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Beneficial influence of goodness On a hot summer’ s day, some years ago, I was sailing with a friend in a tiny boat on a miniature lake enclosed like a cup within a circle of steep, bare Scottish hills. On the shoulder of the brown sunburnt mountain, and full in sight, was a well with a crystal stream trickling over its lip, and making its way down towards the lake. Around the well’ s month and along the course of the rivulet a belt of green stood out in strong contrast with the iron surface of the rocks all around. We soon agreed as to what should be made of it. There it was, a legend clearly printed by the finger of God on the side of these silent hills, teaching the passer-by how needful a good man is, and how useful he may be in a desert world. (W. Arnot, D. D.)The, Lord of hosts Jehovah of hosts, or of armies, is a favourite expression of the Hebrew writers, and especially of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah and Malachi, by which they recognise Him as the universal governor of heaven and earth, “ who has ordained and constituted the services of men and angels in a wonderful order,” and who employs His kingly and almighty power to rule the nations in righteousness, and, as now, both to punish and to save His chosen people. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.) Isaiah 1:10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom The true prophet deals with the needs of the present It is a very miserable thing for a preacher when he lives wholly either in the past or in the future, and so allows either the one or the other to divert him from the duty he owes to God in the present. What is more pitiful, more unlike the idea of a true prophet, than to find one whose work is to preach to men of the twentieth century occupying his time in discoursing of the sins of the Jews centuries before Christ, or even of those sinners of Jerusalem who crucified the Lord, unless his first care be to warn them lest they fall after the same example of unbelief? And Isaiah would have done a very poor service to the Jews at that time if, instead of holding out to them light for their present guidance and wisdom to direct them in the emergencies of the terrible crisis through which they were passing, he had simply been forever inviting them to contemplate the glories of a future into which they would never enter. He was there to tell men what God’ s will was in relation to themselves, to deal with their own difficulties, to answer the problems by which their hearts were agitated, to cheer them under the reverses by which they were disheartened, to rebuke them for the evil which was separating them from God, and warn them of the judgment which God would bring upon them; but, at the same time, to assure them of His infinite pity and compassion. (J. G. Rogers, B. A.)Plain speaking This is plain speaking; but God never sends velvet-tongued men as His messengers. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Corrupt rulers The fish stinks first at the head. (Turkish proverb.) Isaiah 1:11-15 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me?saith the Lord Hypocrisy and partiality in religion These words are not to be understood absolutely but comparatively, and with respect to the manners of these men. For-- I. GOD COULD NOT REJECT , because they were of His own appointing, as we are abundantly certified in the Books of Exodus and Leviticus. And they were instituted for very good put poses. 1. As federal rites between God and His people, that by eating of what was offered upon His altar they might profess their union and communion with Him, that they were of His family, He their Father, and they His children. And this is what made idolatry so odious to Him, and for which He declares Himself a jealous God, that when they sacrificed to idols they made the same acknowledgments to them. 2. Sacrifices were instituted to expiate sins of ignorance and trespasses of an inferior nature. It is true, St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews affirms, that it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should purify the conscience, so as to wash away the guilt of sin, which only can be atoned for by the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. But yet they availed to the purifying of the flesh, and were accepted of God in lieu of temporal punishments. 3. Sacrifices were designed to teach men that without shedding of blood there could be no remission of sins. They were hereby led to consider that infinite justice properly required the life of the offender, but that infinite mercy accepted of a vicarious life. 4. Peace offerings, or sacrifices of gratitude were offered to God in hope of obtaining some favour, or as a thanksgiving for having received some signal mercy from Him. 5. Sacrifices were instituted for types and representatives of that final sacrifice of the Son of God in whom they all centred and were consummated. (Psalms 40:6; Hebrews 10:5-6) “ He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second,” i.e., the sacrifice of Himself; and consequently Paul calls the law our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, and Christ the end of the law, because it was ended in Him and by Him. In this sense it is that our Lord affirms that He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfil them. He fulfilled the moral law by His perfect holiness and virtue, and the law of sacrifices by His death and passion. From all this I infer that God does not reject sacrifices as such, and therefore we must conclude that-- II. HIS TO THEM WAS BY THE ILL MANNERS OF THOSE THAT OFFERED THEM, who had no concern to accomplish the good ends which were intended by them, nor considered that by these sacraments they laid themselves under renewed obligations to be sensible of their own demerits, to repent and reform whatever they found amiss in their lives, and to abound in the love of God, and the fruits of His Holy Spirit. It appears from the characters of these men, especially in their latter and worst times, that they satisfied themselves with the opus operatum, the external duties of religion, and had no regard to the renovation of their hearts and minds. (W. Reading, M. A.)Religiousness The common man’ s commonest refuge from conscience. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Sin offensive to God 1. The Scripture for our understanding ascribes senses to God, and here we find every sense displeased with their sins. (1) They were offensive to His tasting; for their burnt offerings of rams, with the fat of lambs, etc., He could not relish--they delighted Him not, they were sour to His palate. (2) They were offensive to His smelling; for He tells them that their incense was an abomination unto Him--that precious perfume, which was made with so many sweet spices and pure frankincense (Exodus 30:34-35), did stink in His nostrils, the scent thereof He could not abide. (3) They were offensive to His feeling; for their new moons and appointed feasts were a burden unto Him, He was a weary to bear them. And though He be not weary of bearing the whole world, yet He is aweary of this burden; so heavy is it to His sense, that He complains He is “ pressed under it, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves” (Amos 2:13). (4) They were offensive to His seeing; and therefore He tells them, though they spread forth their hands, He will hide His eyes. His pure eyes “ cannot behold evil,” nor endure to look upon iniquity, and therefore He must turn away His face from them. (5) They were offensive to His hearing; for when they make many prayers He will not hear. Their prayers were as jarring in His ears as if divers distracted musicians should play upon divers bad instruments so many several tunes at one time. 2. Neither were their sins only displeasing to His senses, but also grievous to His mind, and therefore He tells them, their new moons and appointed feasts His soul did hate; which is an emphatical speech, and an argument of God’ s hearty detestation. (N. Rogers.)Dissembled piety Dissembled piety is double iniquity. (M. Henry.)Moral whitewash God is not mocked, and even man is not long imposed upon by a vain show of devotion. We once heard Father Taylor, a noted preacher to sailors in America, pray that men who thought themselves good, and were not, might be undeceived; and he cried, “ Lord, take off the whitewash!” (D. Fraser, D. D.)Religious hypocrisy: Dukes Orleans and Burgundy On the 20 th of November 1407, the two cousins heard mass, and partook of the holy sacrament together at the church of the Augustins. Never was there a blacker instance of sacrilegious hypocrisy. At the very moment when he thus profaned the most solemn rite of Christianity, Jean sans Peur had deliberately doomed his enemy to a bloody and violent death. (Student’s France.)Formal religion Dickens describes how in Genoa he once witnessed “ a great fiesta on the hill behind the house, when the people alternately danced under tents in the open air and rushed to say a prayer or two in an adjoining church bright with red and gold and blue and sliver: so many minutes of dancing and of praying in regular turns of each.” (H. O.Mackey.)Inconsistency Writing of Lorenzo de Medici, Mr. Howells says: “ After giving his whole mind and soul to the destruction of the last remnant of liberty, after pronouncing some fresh sentence of ruin or death, he entered the Platonic Academy, and ardently discussed virtue and the immortality of the soul; then sallying forth to mingle with the dissolute youth of the city, he sang his carnival songs, and abandoned himself to debauchery; returning home with Pulci and Politian, he recited verses and talked of poetry; and to each of these occupations he gave himself up as wholly as if it were the sole occupation of his life.” (H. O. Mackey.)“ Holiness becometh Thine house” When Ruskin was making explorations about Venice, in the Church of St. James, he discovered, engraved on a stone, these words, “ Around the temple let the merchant’ s weights be true, his measures just, and his contracts without guile.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)The Paris Figaro mentions that a curious discovery was made recently when the famous robber gang of Papakoritzopoulo was broken up. In the pocket of this most notorious of European brigands was found a small Bible, neatly bound and wrapped in a clean, silk handkerchief, a prayer book, holy relics in tiny boxes, a cross, and other religious objects. Inconsistency The son of Sirach asks of him that washeth himself after the touching of a dead body, and then touches it again, what availeth his washing? “ So is it with a man that fasteth for his sins, and goeth again, and doeth the same: who will hear his prayer? or what doth his humbling profit him?” (F. Jacox, B. A.)Audacious hypocrisy When Pope Hadrian II consented at last to admit Lothair to the holy communion he warned him, “ But if thou thinkest in thine heart to return to wallow in lust, beware of receiving this sacrament, lest thou provoke the terrible judgment of God.” And the king shuddered, but did not draw back. (F. Jacox, B. A.)Detestable worship Dr. South says of him who, by hypothesis, comes to church with an ill intention, that he comes to God’ s house upon the devil’ s errand, and the whole act is thereby rendered evil and detestable before God. The prayers of a wicked man are by Jeremy Taylor likened to “ the breath of corrupted lungs: God turns away from such unwholesome breathings.” (F. Jacox, B. A.)Smuggler and preacher too The letters of Robert Louis Stevenson tell an astonishing story of smuggling in the Shetlands. The revenue official had great trouble with a man known as Preaching Peter, who, whenever he returned with his spoils, sent round handbills to announce his coming, and went about the country preaching. After he had much prayed and much preached, he gave the benediction, and this was the signal for all who knew him to crowd round. “ How many gallons shall I give you? How many do you want?” Such was the conversation; and so he sold his smuggled spirits and improved the people’ s souls while he filled his own purse. Worship and wickedness:--A famous brigand in Sicily was constantly robbing and sometimes murdering. But he would never go forth on his expeditions without first kneeling at a little shrine in his cave, where he kept an image of the Virgin. (Christian Commonwealth.)Pew holding Emerson, in an essay, refers to “ what is called religion, but is, perhaps, pew holding.” A red-handed religionist There is no name in Scottish history round which darker or grimmer or bloodier associations gather than the name of John Graham of Claverhouse. He hunted and harried the men of the Covenant. He shot some of them with his own hand. He brought misery and weeping, widowhood and orphanhood, to many a lowly and godly home. Yet he was scrupulous in the observance of all religious ordinances. Let me beware of this double life. (A. Smellie, M. A.) Isaiah 1:13 The calling of assemblies, I cannot away with Service not services 1.Many think religion flourishes if services are well attended. But, unless we are “ willing and obedient” our “ fat things” will not make us fat. They will rather harm us. Paul says, “ Ye serve the Lord Christ.” Your vocation is the main part of your service for Him, provided you are in the place where He would have you be. If you are not clear about that point, be sure and inquire of Him. In a well-ordered house there are many servants, and, if one tried to do another’ s work, there would be confusion. Do your work and do it faithfully. If God has special and occasional service, beyond this, He will direct you to it. 2. Again, remember what the apostle says about service, “ Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” --fervent, that is, quite not, boiling. You might as well run a locomotive without steam as try and serve the Lord without fervour. How shall you get it? You can get it in a measure from the influence of those who themselves are warm in God’ s service. Catch fire from such as Samuel Rutherford, whose volume reminds me of a contrivance they had before matches were invented. It was a kind of bottle, containing some mixture, into which you dipped the match, and it immediately took fire. These letters of Rutherford’ s are just like that. When you feel dull, lukewarm, read one or two of those letters, and, provided your heart is sincere, see if it does not set you on fire. But we have better than that. We have Rutherford’ s Master. The central source of holy zeal, of burning love, is there. 3. Again, be willing to do what is humble, what seems useless, if He so direct. It is a great trial of patience. Moses tended sheep forty years. God’ s chief difficulty with us is, not filling, but emptying us; not edifying or building up, as it is pulling us down. Look at the history of the Church, and you will see that most, if not all, of those whom God has employed in a signal manner for His glory, have been, in one way or another, among the most afflicted of men either in heart or in body, sometimes in both. Therefore, do not be afraid of suffering; it helps service. The work of God is mostly hidden work, fully known to Him, known partly to those who are the immediate objects of it, scarcely known to ourselves. I am afraid, nowadays, there is a great deal too much speaking about the work done or doing. I have sometimes thought how well the apostles got on without newspapers--and the work was done all the same! 4. if we are thus doing God’ s work fervently, humbly, patiently, though obscurely, looking to Him alone, we, like our Master, will finish the work that He has given us to do. Only as we abide in Christ, can we be able to complete our work. Mere machinery and outward activity are of no account without this daily dwelling in, and drawing from, Him. (T. Monod.)Acceptable worship To adore God for His goodness, and to pray to Him to make us good, is the sum and substance of all wholesome worship. Then is a man fit to come to church, sins and all, if he carry his sins into church not to carry them out again safely and carefully, as we are all too apt to do, but to cast them down at the foot of Christ’ s Cross, in the hope (and no man ever hoped that hope in vain) that he will be lightened of that burden, and leave some of them, at least, behind him. (C. Kingsley, M. A.) Isaiah 1:14I am weary to bear them God oppressed Wonderful expression this! It suggests the idea that the Almighty is oppressed with the weight of human sins. I. THE MORAL OF GOD. God is not mere force or intellect, He is heart, He is infinite sensibility. All events and actions vibrate on His nature--He is feelingly alive to all. II. THE AMAZING OF GOD. If He is “ weary” why does He “ bear” it? Why does He not quench in the midnight of eternal extinction all the authors of sin. III. THE AGENCY OF GOD. Because sin is so abhorrent, and the sinner so dear, He sent His “ only begotten Son” into the world, in order to “ put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” (Homilist) Isaiah 1:16-17 Cease to do evil; learn to do well An inoffensive life The order in which these words are placed, was evidently designed to teach us, that the foundation of acting right is avoiding everything wrong. Several other parts of Scripture lay down the same rule in almost the same terms (Psalms 34:14; Psalms 37:27; Am Romans 12:9; 1 Peter 3:11); and many express or imply the same doctrine, putting repentance before faith and obedience (Mt Mark 1:15; Acts 20:21; Titus 2:12-13). Even heathen authors, in very distant ages and countries, have given the like direction. And indeed everyone must own the justness of it: but still very few appear to perceive or attend sufficiently to its importance: which, therefore, I shall endeavour to shew you-- I. IN RESPECT OF OUR CONDUCT IN GENERAL. It is plainly the natural and rational method to begin with removing what else will obstruct our progress, and to make unity within our own breasts our earnest care. He who hath only consistent pursuits may follow them with a prospect of success: but a mind, distracted between contrary principles of action, can hope for nothing but to be drawn backward and forward by them continually, as they chance to prevail in their turns. Things, indeed, that do but accidentally give some little hindrance to each other now and then, may be prosecuted together, and the due preference, when they interfere, be adjusted well enough. But sin and duty are so essentially opposite, that their interests can never be reconciled, They flow from different motives, proceed by different means, aim at different ends, and thwart one another perpetually. And it is to men’ s overlooking this obvious truth, that the miscarriage of their good intentions, the irresolution of their lives, the incoherence of their characters, in a great measure, owes its rise. Every one of us knows, in the main, what he ought to do: everyone feels an approbation of it; and so far, at least, a disposition to it. But then he feels also dispositions quite adverse: and though he sees them to be unwarrantable, yet it is painful to root them out, and not pleasing even to take notice of them. So, to avoid trouble, both sorts are allowed to grow up together as they can; and, which will thrive faster, soon appears. Perhaps but one or two sorts of wickedness were intended to be indulged: but these have unforeseen connections with others, and those with more. Or, had they none, when men have once yielded to do but a single thing amiss, they have no firm ground to stand upon in refusing to do a second, and a third: so gradually they lose their strength, God withdraws His help, and they fall from bad to worse. II. IN RESPECT OF OUR TO EACH OTHER. It is a remarkable thing in the constitution of this world, that we have much more power of producing misery in it than happiness. Everyone, down to the most insignificant, is capable of giving disquiet, nay, grievous pain and affliction to others, and often to great numbers, without the least difficulty; while even those of superior abilities in every way, can hardly discover the means, unless it be within a very narrow compass now and then, of doing any great good, or communicating any considerable pleasure. Besides, the effects of kindnesses may always be entirely lost: but those of injuries too frequently can never be remedied. And therefore we ought to watch over ourselves with perpetual care, examine the tendency of all our words and actions, and, not contented with meaning no harm, be solicitous to do none. The harm that we do through heedlessness is certainly not so criminal, as if it were purposely contrived: but may be almost, if not quite, as severely felt notwithstanding: or though it were but slightly, why should we be so inadvertent, as unnecessarily to cause but an hour’ s, nay, a moment’ s vexation or grief to one of our brethren; or deprive him of the smallest of those innocent gratifications, that help to alleviate the sorrows of life, and make the passage through it comfortable? (T. Secker, LL. D.)The Bible art of reforming men I. Its primary principle is, that SHOULD BEGIN AT THE SOURCE OF HUMAN CONDUCT. Change the springs of all action and you change every element of conduct. Ye must be born again. Out of the heart proceed all evils. 1. It does not set aside all forms of outward help--society, industry, family, church, but these are auxiliaries to the central endeavour of the human will. 2. It recognises, too, that the complete work is by stages, gradual--though the purpose may be immediate. II. Not only is the central element of reformation clearly established, but what may be called THE WORKING PLAN OF FROM EVIL IS LAID DOWN. (Daniel 3:27. Compare that with Matthew 3:8-10.) 1. Right-doing is the way to cease wrong-doing. Ephesians 4:28 --not enough to stop getting by stealing, but must do that by learning how to get by working! The way to cure evil, is to set a current of contrary action. 2. The illustration of the inward government of mind--how feelings of one class rise or fall in answer to the excitement or somnolency of another. 3. The two faulty forms. (1) Forming a purpose, without taking practical steps--empty resolves--by repentance--leaves only; no fruit. (2) Reformation by external regulation--mechanical. III. THE OF VICE, OF HABIT, WHEN THEY ARE SIMPLY WATCHED AGAINST. 1. They leave men lonesome--unhappy. 2. The soul develops power to overturn evil only by inspiration of opposite virtues. IV. THE REASON SO MANY PEOPLE BECOME , FEEBLE, AND WHEN THEY BECOME . V. THE REASON SO MANY ARE STRONG, NOBLE, AS WORLDLY MEN IN , BUT WITHOUT FORCE IN . They let loose their whole selves in the one case. They tie up the strong elements in the other, for fear of mischief--and do not let out any other. (Proverbs 3:13-18; also 8:11, etc.) VI. WHEN MEN TURN FROM EVIL LET THEM GO CLEAR OVER TO ! (H. W.Beecher.)The men for the times Men are wanted who are prepared to march in the van of the army of national, civic, and personal reformers,--men with the one thought dominating them that God the Father lives, and loves with an everlasting love every member of the human race,--men who, influenced by this irresistible intuition, seek to purge and purify politics and trade, society and the Church, law and custom, speech and practice, of all things that oppress and injure, and which in any way retard the triumph of the kingdom of God. The watchword still is, “ Cease to do evil,” etc. (F. Sessions.)The prophetic temper in James Russell Lowell The temper that was in James Russell Lowell is the temper we seek for in all our public men--in all leaders of thought in Church or State, of local or general following. “ He sang of the wrongs of the poor and the slave; the emptiness of life without conviction; of the nullity of poetry without purpose; the vapidness of preaching without piety; the shame of law without justice; the blank horror of a world without God.” (F. Sessions.)Holding on to a sin A little child was one day playing with a very valuable vase, when he put his hand into it and could not withdraw it. His father, too, tried his best to get it out, but all in vain. They were talking of breaking the vase, when the father said, “ Now, my son, make one more try; open your hand and hold your fingers out straight, as you see me doing, and then pull.” To their astonishment the little fellow said, “ Oh, no, pa. I couldn’ t put out my fingers like that, for if I did I would drop my penny.” He had been holding on to a penny all the time! No wonder he could not withdraw his hand. (J. McNeill.)The first principle There is no religion--or if there is, I do not know it--which does not say, “ Do good; avoid evil.” There is none which does not contain what Rabbi Hillel called the quintessence of all religions, the simple warning, “ Be good, my boy.” “ Be good, my boy,” may seem a very short catechism; but let us add to it, “ Be good, my boy, for God’ s sake,” and we have in it very nearly the whole of the Law and the Prophets. (Max Muller.)What repentance is Suppose I am to go down to Boston tonight, and I go down to the Union station, and say to a man I sere there, “ Can you tell me, is this train going to Boston?” and the man says “ Yes.” I go and get on board the train, and the superintendent comes along and says, “ Where are you going?” I say, “ I am going to Boston,” and he says, “ Well, you are in the wrong train, that train is going to Albany.” “ But I am quite sure I am right; I asked a railroad man here, and he told me this was the train.” And the superintendent says, “ Moody, I know all about these trains; I have lived here forty years, and see these trains go up and down here every day.” And at last he convinces me that I am on the wrong train. That is conviction, not conversion. But if I don’ t remain on that train, but just get into the other train, that is repentance. Just to change trains--that is repentance. (D. L. Moody.)Evil to be supplanted by good Sin is to be overcome, not so much by maintaining a direct opposition to it, as by cultivating opposite principles. Would you kill the weeds in your garden, plant it with good seed: if the ground be well occupied there will be less need of the labour of the hoe. If a man wished to quench fire, he might fight it with his hands till he was burnt to death; the only way is to apply an opposite element. (Andrew Fuller.)Learn to do wellThe highest education We hear much about various grades of education--primary, secondary, and higher education; by the text we are reminded of that highest education which concerns all, and which it is the main end of life to secure. Moral culture is even more imperative than intellectual development. I. THE FOR MORAL . Numerous definitions have been given of man, but he might justly be defined as the being who learns. Other creatures can scarcely he said to learn; whatever pertains to their species they do instinctively, immediately, perfectly. A lark builds its first nest as skilfully as its last, a spider’ s first embroidery is as exquisite as anything it spins in adult life, a bee constructs its first cell and compounds its first honey with an efficiency that leaves nothing to be desired. We know that naturalists are not altogether agreed on this point, but we may conclude that substantially instinct dispenses with that laborious process which we know as learning. It is altogether different with the human creature. If we are “ to do well,” taking that phrase in its noblest sense, we must “ learn” to do it, acquiring the splendid power through attention, repeated endeavour, and manifold sacrifice. Take, e.g., the virtue of contentment. We, are persuaded of the reasonableness of contentment with the dispensations of Divine Providence; yet the folly of the soul is subdued only through much failure and discipline. Or, take the virtue of sincerity. This virtue, if it be not rather of the essence of all virtues, we all, to some extent, require to learn, some, however, finding in the learning of it the chief task of life. It seems paradoxical to say so, but some men are naturally theatrical; the temptation is always to act a part. Through repeated and hitter castigations of the soul do we master this passion for masquerading, and attain sincerity, simplicity, and thoroughness of life. Take the virtue of veracity. We have much to learn here--to speak the truth, to act the truth, to live the truth. Take the virtue of temper. There is a faculty of wrath in nature, and a faculty of wrath becomes noble men but to harmonise this faculty with reason, and to be at once high-spirited and gentle, is a problem that may demand years for its solution. Or, take the virtue of kindness. We pass through much self-reproach, scourging, and shame in striving to reach the beauteous ideal. St. Paul bears witness of himself, “ I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” Let us remember in the training of our children that virtue is acquired much as intellectual life is. II. THE METHOD OF THIS MORAL CULTURE. Three things are essential to the liberal education of the soul. 1. A pattern. “ Looking unto Jesus.” He is the supreme Pattern. Said an American artist, “ I would give everything I have to see Velasquez paint for one week, one day.” But the splendid privilege is given to us to behold the Lord Jesus live through years! “ Learn of Me,” says the Master, and a loving, thoughtful glance into the New Testament every day is a lifelong vision of perfection. Let us learn of Him in joy and sorrow, in work and leisure, in strength and weariness, in popularity and neglect, in success and failure, in life and death. He best teaches the art of life. 2. Power. We can never become holy except as we have a genius for holiness, and this genius in an adequate degree only the Spirit of God can impart. Let us in prayer seek for more inward vision, receptivity, and energy, more of the Spirit that worketh mightily in fully surrendered souls, and all things will become possible. 3. Practice. We learn to do well through doing well. (W. L. Watkinson.)Life’ s great lesson I. THERE IS NO ROYAL ROAD TO RENOWN. “ You envy me, do you?” said a marshal (Lefevre) of France, to a friend complimenting him on his possessions and good fortune. “ Well, you shall have these things at a better bargain than I had. Come into the courtyard: I’ ll fire at you with a gun twenty times at thirty paces, and if I don’ t kill you, all shall be your own. What, you will not come! Very well; recollect, then, that I have been shot at more than a thousand times, and much nearer than thirty paces, before I arrived at the state in which you now find me!” The marshal’ s friend saw only the success attained; he forgot the toil, the suffering and peril through which it had been achieved. The traveller with ardent love of beauty climbs the rugged hill whence his view, he fancies, will be unobstructed and complete; but the first ascent made, behold, another hill overshadowing him; and that surmounted, behold, still another frowns upon him higher yet. So with the hill of life. One arduous ascent made, one difficulty overcome, another presents itself, another, and still another. It is ever “ Excelsior!” We would not have it otherwise. Without difficulty, there were no display of energy. Without temptation, there were no self-discipline. Without trial and suffering, there were no fortitude and resignation. II. OBSERVE THE OF THIS LESSON OF THE PART OF NATURE THE VERY OF LIFE. We begin life as “ strangers in a strange land.” We bring nothing with us into the world, either of wealth, knowledge, or experience. What we possess, we receive, acquire, or learn. We find the conditions of life already existing We must “ accept the situation” ; meet it as best we may, and each go on to act his part. Beginning to learn, we find nature and her laws fixed, inexorable, demanding recognition sad obedience. Observe these laws, heed nature’ s warnings, and she is a gentle mistress, a kind benefactress; but disregard them, disobey them, and she becomes a terrible avenger. The penalty she never fails to inflict. If not in youth, then in manhood; if not in manhood, then in old age. Though her voice be silent, still nature speaks. And this is her word: “ Whatever and wherever your place in life’ s arena act well your part,--learn to do well.” For the sake of your physical well-being; for the sake of your temporal happiness; for the sake of those to come after you--observe my commandments to do them! III. THE UTILITY OF THIS LESSON AS TAUGHT BY SOCIETY AND IN EVERY SPHERE OF LIFE. The household, the school, the college, the counting room tuitions, the business apprenticeships, civil and political laws and institutions--whatever factors enter in to develop and improve society--are but the outgrowth and exemplification of the precept of “ learning to do well.” They are nature’ s assistants, teaching us how to do well in life. What is self-denial? It is but another word for “ learning to do well; that is, learning to forego the lesser for the sake of the higher good; denying the present moment for the sake of the moment that is to come--all which involves difficulty, cost, pain, persistent effort. Persistent effort in the mastering of difficulties lies at the basis of true advancement and success. Wisdom, skill, mastery in hall of trade or science, in field of politics or war, come not by wishing. IV. BUT, ALONG WITH SELF-DENIAL “ TO DO WELL” TO HIGHER . Who could expect to become an able soldier without first submitting to a tactician’ s guidance? There must be days, weeks, months of weary taxation of eye and ear, nerve and muscle; there must be continued restraint of body and mind; there must be submission to another’ s will--obedience to a master’ s command. But--there it comes again--obedience, self-restraint, is difficult. And what is all this struggle with difficulty for? Why, simply for the sake of “ learning to do well” --to drill well; for the sake of becoming a good soldier! V. But the Bible declares that this life is a period of trial, on the issue of which turns the destiny of our future being. If, then, whatever is worth the having in this present life comes not without conflict with difficulties, IS IT TO SUPPOSE THAT THE OF THE FUTURE LIFE WILL ACCRUE TO US WITHOUT LIKE WITH ? Do nothing, and still inherit eternal life? It is not so cheap a thing as that. VI. Beyond this, THE BIBLE NOT ONLY POINTS OUT THE THAT OPPOSE US--IT SHOWS HOW THE ARE TO BE MET. In the lives of its heroes the Bible individualises every virtue, but in no one of them does every virtue appear till we come to the perfect man, Christ Jesus. He is the Master of goodness. And He says, “ If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” If the way seem too full of obstructions, and old sins hedge us in, and our weakness is very great, He yet kindly says to us as to the apostle Paul, “ My grace is sufficient for thee,” etc. (C. P. H. Nason, M. A.)The struggle between good and evil in the human soul We see what the author has produced, but we do not see what he has destroyed. The book comes out in fair copy, and we, looking upon the surface only, say, How well done! Who can tell what that “ fair copy” cost? We see the picture hung upon the wall for exhibition, but we do not see how much canvas was thrown away, or how many outlines were discarded, or how many efforts were pronounced unworthy. We only see the last or best. So much is to be done in private with regard to learning to do well. We do not live our whole life in public. We make an effort in solitude: it is a failure; we throw it away; we acknowledge its existence tone one: still, we are acquiring skill--practice makes perfect--and when we do our first act of virtue in the public sight people may suppose that we are all but prodigies and miracles, so well was the deed done. Only God’ s eye saw the process which led up to it. This is a characteristic of Divine grace, that it sets down every attempt as a success, it marks every failure honestly done as a victory already crowned. So we are losing nothing even on the road. The very learning is itself an education; the very attempt to do, though we fail of doing, itself gives strength, and encouragement, and confidence. In learning to do well we assist the negative work of ceasing to do evil. (J. Parker, D. D.)“ Learn to do well” 1. We must be doing; not cease to do evil, and then stand idle. 2. We must be doing good; the good which the Lord our God requires, and which will turn to a good account. 3. We must do it well, in a right manner, and for a right end. 4. We must learn to do well, we must take pains to get the knowledge of our duty, be inquisitive concerning it, in care about it; and accustom ourselves to it, that we may readily turn our hands to our work, and become masters of this holy art of doing well (M. Henry.) Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord Further reasoning useless “ You have nothing more to say; all that you have already said has no value; reasoning has done its work; if reasoning is to rule, the case must go against you--there can be no other issue; but if yielding to the force of My reasoning, admitting it is true and fair, you confess yourselves convicted and condemned, then My mercy shall have its free, triumphant exercise upon you; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. ” (W. Perkins.)Reform and pardon “ Cease to do evil,” etc. “ Come now,” etc. As early as the time of Isaiah we find the doctrine of the reformation of character dependent on forgiveness of sin distinctly taught. God’ s remedy for sin is the same in all ages. More prominence perhaps was given to the observance of the law in the olden times, but not to the exclusion of grace; while in the New Testament grace appears the more prominent, but surely not to the exclusion of law. Neither in the one nor in the other was the law the condition of life. Both represent rather two different stages in the same covenant of grace--the one preparatory to the other. I. THE DEMAND HERE MADE. 1. The nature of the demand. It is for reformation of practice. “ Wash you, make you clean,” etc. This is the one Divine call to fallen man. In it everything is summed up. Made in sundry times and in divers manners, it ever remains substantially the same. The essence of moral beauty is goodness. Now goodness is not a quality deposited in the heart and there shut up; nor yet a something to put on as a garment at will. Rather it is the fruit of well-doing--the outgrowth of a righteous life. This is what God requires. This is to be the outcome of His redeeming love. But it cannot be accomplished without the cooperating activity of the human will. While the hands are besmeared with blood--the token of an immoral life--all natural refinements are of very little value in His sight. God is uncompromising here. Our greatest happiness is to do good. By doing good we shall find the highest good. This then is the great lesson of life--“ Cease to do evil; learn to do well.” 2. The word “ learn” suggests a further thought, namely, the ground of this demand for reform. Man is evil and does evil. Even those who take the most sanguine view of human nature admit that there is something wrong in man’ s moral constitution. 3. To estimate rightly, however, this cause, we must consider the justice of the demand. It is God who makes it. But He could not have made it unless it were just to do so; nor would He have made it unless it were possible for man to meet it. II. HOW TO MEET GOD’ S DEMAND. Where is the power to come from? Two answers only are possible: either it is inherent in man--this is the answer of nature or it is supplied from without--this is the answer of grace. 1. The answer of nature. The belief in the ability of man to reform himself is founded either on ignorance of the real nature of his moral condition, as was the case in the pagan world, or on a deliberate refusal to recognise the truth when it is presented concerning that condition, as was the case in Judaism, and is the case at the present day with those who persuade themselves to a belief in the infinite intrinsic capability of human nature. Such is the pride of man, that he is ever slow to admit his own weakness. No, says the modem enthusiast: I regret the new light, for the demands it makes upon me are far too humiliating; I see no reason why a man, given the necessary favourable environments, should not, by a little effort, become perfectly good. Neither the religion of the pagan world, nor the philosophy of the Greeks, nor the power and civilisation of the Romans afford much ground for this belief in human nature. Wisdom then, under the most favourable circumstances, has failed to supply the necessary power to reform the World. Neither the enactments of a Roman senate, nor the Acts of a modern Parliament, nor any power of law, can make man good or even moral. Justice by itself, no more than wisdom, can remove the evil. But nowhere is the inadequacy of wisdom and of law to draw forth the power there is in man to reform his own character, better illustrated than in the case of the chosen people of Israel. They could boast of a wisdom more divine than that of the Greeks, a system of law superior to that of the Romans; while in virtue of their peculiar privileges as a nation they were in an incomparably more advantageous position than any other people, to succeed in their own strength, since they had a will to it. The very possession of their superior privileges, when they abused them, brought upon them a severer punishment. 2. The answer of grace. A power from without is absolutely necessary to enable man to meet the demand for reform. This power is God’ s forgiveness. “ Come now, let us reason together,” or better, “ let us end the dispute” : “ though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Although the demand precedes the offer of forgiveness, we are not to suppose that the work of reforming is to precede the enjoyment of the Divine gift. That indeed were impossible. As every duty of man is summed up in the command to reform, so all the riches of grace are summed up in the gift of pardon. But what peculiar virtue or power does pardon possess for producing a change of life? (1) It is an inducement to repentance, which is the first step in the reformation of character. It induces the resolution to referrer then becomes a power in the penitent man to help him to carry out his resolution. Pardon thus bridges the chasm which exists between a knowledge of duty and the doing of it.. (2) Another function of pardon, and, perhaps, the most important of all in the reformation of character, is that it removes, or rather is itself, as its name implies, the removal of sin. Pardon will convert the criminal into a saint. The pagan world knew nothing of this. It is “ the power of God unto salvation.” (R. E. Morris, B. A.)God reasoning with man The gracious promise that God will make us clean follows immediately on a most distinct commandment that we make ourselves clean. Does this seem to you inconsistent? The Jews are here exhorted to make themselves clean,, by putting away from them the evil of their doings--ceasing to do evil, learning to do well. In fact, they are spoken to just as though it had wholly rested with themselves to acquire moral purity. 1. But I dare say they were ready with their objections: they would plead that it was really of no service to decry and exhort them in one and the same breath. “ Of what use,” they seem to say, “ is it for us to make any effort, unable as we confessedly are to keep the law of God? And even were we able to obey for the future, is there not past disobedience for which we have yet to be reckoned with?” It is much in this way that men still receive exhortations to repentance and amendment; for such exhortations belong to the Gospel as much as to the law. And what do men say in reply? The minister, teaching as he does the doctrine of human corruption and helplessness, it is absurd that he should tell men to repent. Is he not contradicting himself?” It was, we may believe, in the face of such arguments as these, that God challenged me Jews to controversy in the words of our text. “ Is this the way,” the Almighty seems to exclaim. “ in which you treat My urgent admonitions to amendment! Come now, let us reason together!” But with what sort of reasoning are the objectors met? Perhaps you look for some subtle and ingenious argument. Yet you have no argument at all; you have only the promise--a most free and gracious one, but still only a promise--“ Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” But how does the promise do away with the objection? Only thus,--God states this to be His appointed way; He designs to save men in this manner, and therefore is this manner prescribed. The parties to whom He will impart additional grace are those who, in obedience to His call, are straining every nerve to forsake evil ways. It is not that they are able of themselves to work out a moral amendment; but it is that God intends to bestow on them the ability whilst they are making the effort. 2. And, perhaps, the Jews raised more general objections. They may have murmured at God’ s dealings, without selecting this or that particular instance, just as men are now disposed to arraign the appointments of Heaven as severe or unjust. The chapter in which our text occurs is full of indignant rebuke, and vehement threatenings, and it may not be imagined that a haughty people would fail to resent being so sternly addressed, and deny the equity of the judgments which the prophet foretold. If this be supposed, then God invites men to reason with Him on the goodness of His dealings. Come, let us clear the scene for the controversy. Come, all of you who think you are in any way hardly dealt with by God--that His dispensations are not such as might have been looked for--“ Come, let us reason together.” You need not, therefore, hesitate to utter plainly what you think, and to make statement of your grievances. Well, what have you to say? You urge, it may be, that your lot is one of poverty, that troubles are multiplied beyond your power of endurance, and temptations beyond your power of resistance. Some of you, perhaps, plead that, born as you are with corrupt tendencies, and placed where there is everything to incite and strengthen them, you have really no chance of keeping out of vice; that you are summoned to duties which are manifestly too arduous, and threatened, if you fail, with punishments which are manifestly excessive. You expect that God will take your complaints one by one, and either show them to be groundless, or, if He admit certain evils, show them more than counterpoised by blessings. Or, again, you expect that, as far as you have dwelt on trials peculiar to yourselves, God win patiently weigh them, prove them not excessive, or trace out beneficial results which they are calculated to produce. Well, this is very natural; I think it is just what would be, if the debate were with a mere human reasoner. But you will hearken in vain if you expect from God this careful exposure of the fallacy or falseness of your statements. There is heard nothing but the beautiful promise: “ Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (H. Melvill, B. D.)The right use of reason The occurrence of the word “ reason” warrants my speaking to you on the right use of reason, and warning you against mistakes into which some are apt to fall. 1. If you hear some objections to Christianity which you are not able to answer, do not on that account conclude that they cannot be answered,--have the modesty to believe that others may be able to explain what is too hard for you. There is one evidence which I can promise you: if you read the Bible carefully and prayerfully the Bible will speak for itself. 2. And, besides the evidences of Christianity, reason has a great part to perform in regard to the doctrines. It would be as great a fallacy as could be alleged against the Gospel were it to be said that it does not commend itself to man as exactly what he needs, so that when he receives it it must be on the strength of external testimony and not at all in the consciousness of its meeting his necessities. I do not say that reason can trace in every point the connection between the death of Christ and the pardon of sin; but, at all events, reason can clearly make out that, because God’ s honour is provided for by the sacrifice of Calvary, and that this sacrifice must have been of so stupendous a value as to render possible the salvation of every human being,--there is, therefore, nothing to shrink from in the challenge of our text. I am jealous for reason; I will not, indeed, bum an idolatrous incense before reason; as though I held it sufficient for man’ s guidance, wanderer as he is in a darkened world; but let reason keep her right province, and in place of jostling with revelation, she will put revelation on a throne, and then reverently and submissively prostrate herself before it. For it is quite wretched to think how many a man loses his soul because he will not humble his reason. The directions are very plain; do not puzzle yourselves with any difficulties; the directions are--“ Cease to do evil, learn to do well.” Make a beginning. Many a man loses his soul by neglecting to act at once on some truth which has been brought home to his conscience. (H. Melvill, B. D.)Religion rational I. Take that basal truth which lies at the bottom of all reasonable religion--THE BEING OF GOD. The doctrine of the existence of God is reasonable. To believe that there is no self-conscious power behind the world to account for it, is irrational. It argues nothing that all minds do not see God behind nature; all minds do not see the beauty of art; all ears are not ravished with music. II. Again, we are living under A MORAL that is reasonable, one that can be defended and rested in. A moral government is here, which brings evil to its doom, and makes right safe and successful in the long run. It is rational, and can be defended, as it can be understood. All sin is irrational and utterly indefensible. III. Take again some of the TRUTHS OF . 1. The doctrine of the incarnation is reasonable. Whether the incarnation is or is not reasonable depends upon your conception of God. If He is like men generally, a sort of incarnate selfishness, out of sympathy with suffering, indifferent to the miseries of the world, then the incarnation is unreasonable. But if God is love, and loves His children as we love ours, then the incarnation is reasonable, it is inevitable. 2. Then again His life in the flesh is rational The Gospels narrate just what we might expect God to do if He came here. 3. Then it was reasonable that He should die. The principle was in the heart of God from an eternity. The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. Sacrifice was not foreign to the nature of God and suddenly invoked for a specific occasion or emergency; it was eternal with Him. The atonement is the most rational of all rational truths. The principle at its heart is at the heart of nature; it is at the heart of humanity. It is the condition on which rests the world’ s best life. 4. And the same can be claimed for the resurrection. The resurrection of Christ is a rational doctrine. It is the fitting climax to the life behind it, to the mission upon which He came. It was not fitting in the nature of things that death should hold in its grip such a life. It was due to the majesty of truth and virtue that such vindication should be appealed to. IV. Turn now to some of the of the Biblical religion. 1. Take that initial requirement of faith. Faith is reasonable. The best things are out of sight. We rise toward our highest possibilities only as we live by the unseen. 2. Repentance is a reasonable demand. 3. Closely connected with faith and repentance is confession. Confession of sin is rational, but so is the confession of Jesus Christ. 4. The duties of Christianity are reasonable. Prayer is a rational exercise of the soul. If we have a Father in heaven it is reasonable that we should come into touch with Him. And so of the means of grace in their entirety. The use of the means of grace is reasonable and right. Effects come through well-defined causes always and everywhere. The use of the Church to the utmost of its power to serve us is a rational procedure. We have no great saints among those who ignore the Church of Jesus Christ. There is one conclusion: a set of opinions and beliefs that will not bear the test of reason had better be abandoned. A life that you cannot defend and justify had better be given up. We had better put our life on a basis that can be justified at every point. (S. H. Howe.)God’ s argument with man It has been pointed out to us that in the opening verses of Isaiah’ s book we seem to be present in a Law Court, at some Assize, and it is a Crown case that is on. And the Crown is present in person to argue and plead its own cause. God and His people Israel are the parties concerned, and God is heard in argument establishing the charge He makes, sweeping away utterly the pleas and excuses that are offered, until in this verse He seems to sum up the position, and the case comes to a most wonderful and unexpected and Divine conclusion. The people are brought in guilty on every count. Any attempt at justifying their conduct but makes it worse, and covers them with darker guilt. The case has gone so clearly against them, their arguments have proved so utterly worthless, the verdict is so certain, that we are almost waiting in silence for the dread sentence to be uttered. But lo! instead of the sentence of condemnation and punishment, pardon, perfect and complete, is offered. I have given you the case of God versus Israel, but it is a typical one repeated from age to age. It is equally the Case of God versus man, God versus the sinner. It is a case in which we are not spectators, we are ourselves the defendants. God is here in argument with us, in argument against us, and He sums up the whole by the gracious declaration, “ Admit the force of My reasoning, yield yourselves to it, confess yourselves convicted and condemned, and My mercy shall have its free and triumphant exercise upon you.” (W. Perkins.)The reasoning God God reasons with man--that is the first article of religion with Isaiah. God addresses man’ s mind, intelligence, conscience. There are two great falsehoods in the world about God. 1. That He is too great to reason with man; that He never gives any reason for anything He commands or does. 2. That God Himself is not a reasonable Being at all. It is a falsehood not openly declared in so many words, but a practice adopted in the lives of men. Men act as though they believe they could impose upon God. Let us try to follow God’ s reasoning in this chapter. There is a threefold basis of reasoning laid down. I. God reasons with man ON THE BASIS OF MAN’ S WHOLE LIFE. God said to man, “ Come, let us reason together.” “ Very well,” says man, “ let this be the ground of our reasoning. Look at my life as it lies within the circle of its religious action and exercises, the sacrifices I bring to you, the incense I offer, the fasts I make. Let us reason on that basis, let us take our stand there.” And as you will see in this chapter, God utterly rejects reasoning like this, and says, “ No, no; I must deal with you on the basis of your whole life, not any limited and selected part of it which you choose to present and urge.” Now there is great significance in this connection in the opening words of this chapter. God cries out to earth and heaven, and says, “ These are the only limits of man’ s life I can recognise--the earth on which he walks, on the surface of which everything is done, the heavens over his head, which look down upon every transaction of his life; that is the basis of My reasoning, and that alone.” It is well for us to remember this, for today men are trying continually to reason with God on some narrow chosen ground of their own. II. God reasons with men or THE BASIS OF HIS OWN . You will see how in this chapter He reminds all men of it, gives men proofs of it, tells men He has fulfilled it in relation to them. “ Admit,” He says, “ My Fatherhood, and what does your life look like in the light of it? How unnatural and base it becomes. You sink below the brute.” This is God’ s reasoning, and who of us can stand against it? III. God reasons with man or THE BASIS OF SIN’ S RESULTS. He says, “ You have rebelled against Me. Has it justified itself in its success?” And God gives the answer in searching and terrible words “ Why should ye be stricken any more?” etc. (verses 5-8). He points them to the terrible and pitiful results which have come to pass for the Individual and the nation through their disobedience towards God; and He challenges them, and says, “ Now, look at it as I have reasoned it out with you.” This is God’ s argument still. If we would listen, we might hear His voice in His Word, and in our consciences, saying, “ Tell me, O men and women who are living without Me and in sin, what good has your sin ever done you!” There is no answer. And so we are led to the crisis of my text. We seem to be in the presence of a great dilemma. Either God must abate His claims, lower rebellion, or else logic must rule, justice must have its way. The first of these we know God cannot do. It would wreck His universe if God declined from the absolute right, it would bring ruin and shame wherever created and finite beings are found. If that be impossible, what remains? Oh, there seems to be an awful moment between that first clause of the text and what follows. “ Come now, let us bring our reasoning to an end. There is nothing more to be said. The case has gone against you; all your arguments have fallen to the ground.” What remains? We wait to hear, and instead of the dread sentence of wrath and judgment come the words of mercy: “ Though your sins be as scarlet,” etc. Right in between the eternal and infinite righteousness and the sinner’ s doom mercy breaks in, pardon perfect and complete. So great the change that when a man feels the pardon in his heart, he can turn his face and address himself hopefully to that great ideal of life which the law of God presents. “ Wash you, make you clean,” etc. And then, the soul within us rises up and asks, “ Why is this, if God be infinitely reasonable, if He reasons with such force and conclusion, why does He not follow out His reasoning to its logical conclusion? Why does He spare and pardon the sinner taken red-handed in his sin?” Why, simply because there is something more scarlet than the scarlet of a sinner’ s sin, that covers the sinner’ s sin, and makes God’ s pardon a just and rightful thing. “ There is a fountain filled with blood,” etc. (W. Perkins.)Men invited to reason with God 1. God is a moral agent. That He has moral character is sufficiently manifest from the revealed fact that man is made in His image. 2. God is also a good Being--not only moral, but holy and wise. He always acts upon good and sufficient reasons, and never irrationally and without reasons for His conduct. 3. God is always influenced by good reasons. Good reasons are more sure to have their due and full weight on His mind than on the mind of any other being in the universe. I. WHAT IS THAT TO WHICH THIS TEXT INVITES US? “ Come now, and let us reason together.” But what are we to “ reason” about? The passage proceeds to say, “ Though your sins be as scarlet,” etc. In the previous context God makes grievous charges against men Now, He comes down to look into their case and see if there be any hope of repentance, and proceeds to make a proposals “ Come,” etc. Produce your strong reasons why your God should forgive your great sin. II. The invitation, coupled with the promises annexed, implies that THERE ARE GOOD AND REASONS WHY GOD SHOULD FORGIVE THE . Sinners may so present their reasons before God as to ensure success. III. The nature of the case shows that WE ARE TO ADDRESS OUR REASONS AND MAKE OUR APPEAL, NOT TO JUSTICE BUT TO MERCY. We are to present reasons which will sanction the exercise of mercy. (C. G. Finney.)Reasons for pardon and sanctification I. THE REASONS WHICH MAY BE OFFERED WHY GOD SHOULD PARDON OUR SIN. 1. You may plead that you entirely justify God in all His course. You must certainly take this position, for He cannot forgive you so long as you persist in self-justification. You know beyond all question that all the wrong is on your side and all the right on God’ s side. You might and should know also that you must confess this, You need not expect God to forgive you till you do. 2. You may come to God and acknowledge that you have no apology whatever to make for your sin. 3. You must also be ready to renounce all sin, and be able in all honesty to say this before God. 4. You must unconditionally submit to His discretion. Nothing lees than this is the fitting moral position for a sinner towards God. 5. You may plead the life and death of Jesus Christ as sufficient to honour the law and justify God in showing mercy. Pardon must not put in peril the holiness or justice of Jehovah. The utmost expression He could make, or needs to make of His holiness and justice, as touching the sins of man, is already made in the death of Christ, “ whom God did Himself set forth to be a propitiation,” etc. 6. You may also urge His professed love for sinners. 7. He has also invited you to come and reason with Him. Therefore He has fully opened the way for the freest and fullest communion on this point. You may also plead His honour; that, seeing He is under oath, and stands committed before the universe, you may ask Him what He will do for His great name if He refuse to forgive a repentant and believing sinner. You may plead all the relations and work of Christ. You may say to Him, Lord, will it not induce other sinners to come to Thee? Will it not encourage Thy Church to labour and pray more for salvation? Will not Thy mercy shown to me prove a blessing to thousands! You may urge the influence of refusing to do so. You may suggest that His refusal is liable to be greatly misapprehended; that it may be a scandal to many; and that the wicked will be emboldened to say that God has made no such exceeding great and precious promises. You may urge that there is joy in heaven, and on earth also, over every sinner pardoned and saved. You may urge, that, since God loves to make saints happy in this world, He surely will not be averse to giving you His Spirit and putting away your sins--it will cause such joy in the hearts of His dear people. You may also plead the great abhorrence you have of living in sin, as you surely will unless He forgives you. Tell Him, moreover, how wretched you are, and must be in your sins, if you cannot find salvation, and what mischief you will be likely to do everywhere, on earth and in hell, if you are not forgiven and renewed in holiness. II. THE REASONS WHICH MAY BE URGED BY THE SINNER WHO PLEADS FOR ENTIRE . 1. You may plead your present justification. 2. You may plead your relation to Him, to the Church, and to the world--that, having now been justified and adopted into His family, you are known as a Christian and a child of God, and it therefore becomes of the utmost consequence that you should have grace to live so as to adorn your profession, and honour the name by which you are called. You may also plead your great responsibilities, and the weight of those interests that are depending upon your spiritual progress. Plead the desire you feel to be completely delivered from sin. Ask Him if He has not given you this very desire Himself, and inquire if He intends to sharpen your thirst and yet withhold the waters of life. Plead also His expressed will. Appeal to His great love’ to you, as manifested in what Christ has done, etc. Tell Him how you have stumbled many by your falls into sin, and have given great occasion of reproach to the cause you love; tell Him you cannot live so. Tell Him of your willingness to make any sacrifice; that you are willing to forego your good name, and to lay your reputation wholly upon His altar. Be sure to remind Him that you intend to be wholly disinterested and unselfish in this matter; you ask these things not for your own present selfish interest; you are aware that a really holy life may subject you to much persecution. You want to represent Him truly. Then tell Him of your great weakness, and how you entirely distrust yourself. Tell Him you shall go away greatly disappointed if you do not receive the grace you ask and need. Remarks-- 1. Whenever we have considered the reasons for God’ s actions till they have really moved and persuaded us, they will surely move Him. God is not slow--never slower than we, to see the reasons for showing mercy and for leading us to holiness. 2. Many fail in coming to God because they do not treat Him as a rational being. 3. Many do not present these reasons, because in honesty they cannot. 4. When we want anything of God, we should always consider whether we can present good reasons why it should be granted. 5. All who are in any want are invited to come and bring forward their strong reasons. 6. Of all beings, God is most easily influenced to save. He is by His very nature disposed to save the lost. (C. G. Finney.)The cultivation of the reason “ What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god!” In this well-known panegyric on man the great dramatist puts the reason foremost: “ How noble in reason!” and, perhaps, the reason is the prime dignity of man. It is by it, more than ought else, that man is separated from the inferior animals. It is by it that he rules over them. It is by the development of reason that one race outstrips another in the course of progress, and this is the accepted standard by which we measure greatness between man and man. Therefore the cultivation of the reason must be a subject of supreme and even religious interest to all who wish to attain to a noble and well-developed manhood. (J. Stalker, D. D.)The reason I. THE WORK OF THE REASON. 1. The reason is the faculty by which, from things already known, we advance to conclusions which these imply, but which, till the act of reason is performed, are unknown; so the work of the reason is a kind of creative work, and do you not think there is an inkling of that in the kind of exultation with which we complete any difficult act of reasoning, or even hear a speaker completing it? I think every schoolboy feels a touch of this exultation when he sees a sum at which he is working coming right, and every housewife feels it when she sees that the two sides of her accounts are about to balance exactly. In a court of law, at the conclusion of the evidence the facts often appear to the Jury a confused mass, pointing in no particular direction; but when a skilful advocate rises, and taking hold of the evidence, separating one thing from another, and laying this beside that, shows that from the confused mass there emerges a necessary, irresistible conclusion, how delightful it is to listen to that. The whole science of mathematics is deduced from a few simple axioms. To these an ordinary mind might give assent, without observing that anything might be implied; but the practised intellect deducts from them, step by step, a magnificent system of truth. Thus, the reason, bringing its forces to bear on the raw materials of knowledge supplied by the lower faculties, infers from them a more advanced and lofty knowledge of its own. 2. But now, I would like to give a clearer and simpler explanation of what its work is. The reason may be called the faculty of comparison, or the faculty by which we perceive the connections or relations of things. These relations between things with which the reason has to deal are of different kinds, but of whatever kind they are, the reason has to deal with them. (1) One of them is that of means and ends. Something requires to be done, but how? It is the work of the reason to find that out. (2) Another relation between things which is still more important for the reason, is that of cause and effect. The word “ why” is a great word of the reason, and its sister word is “ because.” Wherever “ why” and “ because” are coming into speech, there reason is at work. (3) But this process can be turned the other way. Instead of looking at phenomena, and asking how they come there, we can say, “ Given certain things, what will be the consequence! Suppose there are certain conditions, what will follow from them?” If fire and gunpowder are brought into contact, we know what will follow. If people live in a polluted atmosphere, we know what the result will be to their bodies. But we cannot deal much with such relations without this question arising, How do these relations come to subsist between things? (4) One of the greatest triumphs of the reason is to find out the laws of nature, e.g., the law of gravitation. Newton discovered that law, and applied it first to some trivial things; then he and others applied it to more distant and sublime things, until we now know it to be a law prevailing in the whole system of things, and among the bodies that roll in space; but how comes it that all the bodies in earth and heaven are directed by this law? As the mind thus moves through nature it finds that it cannot go arbitrarily. The divisions which it makes are in nature before it finds them. In short, nature is intelligent--aye, and it is moral, because nature is seen to be so arranged as to encourage certain lines of action, and to discourage certain other lines of action. The stars in their courses, so to speak, fight against evil and on the side of righteousness. And does not that look as if behind nature there were some One who is intelligent, and who, because He orders nature so as to make for righteousness, is good? II. THE OF THE REASON. This faculty is bestowed on different individuals in very different degrees. To those intended by the Creator to be leaders of their fellows, it is given in liberal measure. There are multitudes of others whose ideas are habitually vague and feeble. Reason may be given in different forms, some of which are more conscious, and some more unconscious. Reason in the unconscious form, we call by such names as tact, or common sense. The science of logic has for its aim the making visible to the eye the process through which the mind passes in reasoning, whether it is conscious of this process or not, and at the same time it makes visible, so as to show their absurdity, the different kinds of fallacious reasoning; and there can be no doubt that the study of that science is one of the best means of cultivating the mind. III. THE USE OF REASON. The marks of God are on all things that He has made, and by collecting these from all places where they can be seen, the reason apprehends His eternal power and Godhead, and never in the reason of man so nobly employed as when thus it is collecting the indications of God, so as to convert them into a correct and impressive conception of what He is, or when it is vindicating His existence and His character against the attacks of unbelief. Our text says, “ Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord,” and one of the commonest complaints of the Bible is that people will not reason. “ Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider.” That is the complaint all through the prophets. It is always taken for granted that if people only would think, they would love and obey God. One of the commonest names in the Bible for sin is folly. At the present time we have need of a reasoned Christianity, because Christianity is tending far too much to sentimentalism and sensationalism. Christian work is becoming so absorbing that men have not leisure to think, and if Christians do not think, Christianity will before long suffer the consequences, and they will be hard to bear. (J. Stalker, D. D.)The Gospel of pardoning mercy as preached by the prophets of the kingdom Analyse carefully the picture of the sins which the prophet sets before his people, as preliminary to his glorious, full and free offer of mercy. 1. A marked feature of the portraiture, here drawn, is that they are sinners under the light of Jehovah’ s special revelations and appointed ordinances. 2. These sinners are such in face of every obligation of love and gratitude to Jehovah, arising out of peculiar blessings and privileges. 3. Yet in the midst of all these mercies, sin everywhere abounds. The public men and the people alike are corrupt. 4. All this wickedness clothes itself in the garb of religion. Having considered to whom he speaks, let us consider what it is the prophet says to all such. It embraces three points chiefly. I. A TO STOP AND REASON THE MATTER WITH JEHOVAH. The proposition is very suggestive; both of the cause why men continue to live in sin; and of the means and process whereby Jehovah would bring them back to Himself. The grand cause of the continuance in sin is that men will not reason of the matter. It is not that they do not know enough; but they do not reason concerning what they do know. II. THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THE PARLEY--sin and its consequences. III. THE REMEDY FOR SIN--its effectiveness, certainty, and readiness. (S. Robinson, D. D.)Pardon for aggravated sin “ Though your sins be as scarlet, and red like crimson.” The critics tell us that one of the terms here refers to the outward appearance, glaring, attracting and fixing the attention; the other, from a root signifying double-dipped, refers to the ineffaceable stain of sin upon the soul; a stain that no rain, nor sunshine, nor dew can ever wash out, or bleach. The meaning is, however aggravated your sins may be. What, then, are some of the circumstances that aggravate sin? Sins are aggravated-- 1. When committed against special light and knowledge. 2. When committed against special obligations of gratitude. 3. From the social position of those who sin, or their relative position towards others, or their peculiar gifts and endowments which give them influence over others. 4. As committed against special covenants and vows. (S. Robinson, D. D.)God reasoning with man This text strikes at the root of the wicked notion that man is under an arbitrary government, that he is a mere slave, or a mere machine, and that he is controlled apart from principles that are moral. He is addressed almost as the equal of the Almighty. (J. Parker, D. D.)God reasoning with man The proposition comes from God. It does not arise from the human side at all. 1. God having made this proposition proceeds upon the assumption that He knows Himself to be right in this case. The man who knows himself to be in the right is always the first to make the noblest propositions, and to offer as many concessions as are possible without impairing the law of absolute right, truth, and propriety. If amongst ourselves we do so, it is in an infinitely higher degree true in the case of Almighty God. He makes the proposition to His rebel. This proposition is not only the proof of the grace of God; but that grace itself is the vindication of His righteousness. He knows He is right in the court of reason; that if the case be fully stated the criminal will convict himself, he will burn with shame, and cry out for the judgment that is just. We are not wrong partially, not wrong here and there, with little spots of light and blue, between the errors, but we are wrong altogether,--shamefully, infamously wrong! 2. Yet God knowing this, asks us to reason the case with Him. Showing us, in the next place, that God proceeds upon the assumption that man ought to be prepared to vindicate his conduct by reasons. God says, “ Why do you do this! Let Me know your reasons for having done so. Will you state your case to Me! I give you the opportunity of stating your own casein your own terms.” Observe how wonderfully influential, when rightly accepted, is a proposition of this kind. If men would think more they would sin less. Logic is against you as well as theology. Common sense is against you as well as spiritual revelation. This is the strength and the majesty of the Christian faith, that it challenges men by the first principles of reasoning to defend themselves, as sinners, before the Almighty. 3. But there is something to be remembered at this point. If God could trifle with righteousness in making a case up with us, His own throne would be insecure, His own heaven would not be worth having. In taking care of righteousness He is taking care of us. Herein do men greatly err. Talking upon religious questions, they say, “ Why does not God come down and forgive us all!” That is precisely what God Himself wants to do. Only even God cannot forgive, until we ourselves want to be forgiven. 4. With all this before me I am driven to this conclusion, that now the sinner is left absolutely without excuse. (J. Parker, D. D.)God reasoning with man I. THE PARTIES INVITED. Who are these? They are those of whom it is said, “ their sins are as scarlet, and red like crimson” --terms which clearly convey the idea that there are no sins so heinous that they may not be forgiven, and no men so wicked that they may not be saved. These terms designate bright, glowing, easily-seen colours, teaching most explicitly, in their present connection, that sin, though so large as to fill the public eye, nevertheless may be pardoned. Indeed, I cannot help thinking that the language of the prophet here has also a symbolical meaning, and that as crimson is the colour of the blood, there is set before us the thought that not merely the flagrant transgressor, but the atrocious criminal--the man whose hands have been imbued in the blood of his fellow man--is declared to be within the reach of the Divine mercy. And I am fortified in this persuasion by the words of the Master, “ that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” II. THE GIVEN THEM. “ Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.” What forcibly impresses us in this statement is not only the all-embracing sweep of the Divine mercy, but the singular way in which this mercy is offered. The usual manner in which a superior makes known his will to an inferior is by a command. The master gives his orders to his servant. The parent commands his child, and the language of royal personages is never the language of solicitation. But we have here the King of kings, and Lord of lords, very unlike man, not employing force, authority, command, but condescending to reason with His creatures, and trying, as it were, by argument and persuasion, to induce them to accept His grace. III. THE ON WHICH THE RESTS. When good news is brought to us we sometimes hesitate about receiving it. And why? Because we think it too good to be true, and are not satisfied of the entire truthfulness and fidelity to fact of the person who brings it when it was told Jacob that Joseph, his beloved son, whom he had long mourned as dead, was alive and well, and governor of Egypt, his heart fainted, “ for he believed them not.” But here, the authority is as unassailable as the invitation is cordial, and it is issued on the authority of God Himself. IV. THE PERIOD WHEN THE IS GIVEN. All privileges urged upon your acceptance in the Bible are strictly applicable and limited to the very time when they are offered to you. That mental and moral inaction, so fatal to our spiritual prospects, gets no countenance from the Word of God. On the contrary, it is always denounced as fraught with the greatest dangers to our souls. (J. Imrie, M. A.)Reasoning with God From this passage we infer-- I. THAT MAN, THOUGH , HAS STILL A FACULTY TO REASON WITH GOD. 1. This power exists as an unquestionable fact. It is a fact-- (1) Involved in the existence of a revelation. Would Infinite Reason appeal to us unless we had the power of appreciation? (2) Implied in the considerations addressed to our reason. The Bible abounds in considerations addressed to us as to the wisdom and the folly, the right and the wrong, of our conduct. (3) Attested by the universal consciousness of humanity. 2. This power exists as the chief glory of human nature. What is the chief glory of human nature in itself considered? Not its faculties of contrivance and logical investigation, as you see them developed in the arts and sciences. But man’ s power to reason with the Infinite--to take the thoughts of God and to feel their power. 3. This power exists, notwithstanding the devastations of depravity. II. THAT MAN, THOUGH , HAS NOW AN OF WITH GOD. Whilst all sinners forever will have the power of moral reasoning, only now on earth are they invited to a merciful conference with God. This invitation implies-- 1. The existence of an extraordinary principle in the Divine government of God. Antecedent reasoning would lead us to conclude that whenever a creature rebelled against the righteous government of his Creator, banishment from His holy presence would be the result. “ The angels that kept not their first estate,” etc. God governs humanity through the mediation of Christ. 2. It denotes the astonishing condescension of God. III. THAT MAN, THOUGH , BY RIGHTLY HIMSELF OF THIS , MAY BE OF HIS SINS. “ Though your sins be as scarlet,” etc. Notice-- 1. That sin has taken a very fast hold on human nature. How closely and firmly attached to human nature is sin! It has coloured not only the complexion, but the vital current, of man’ s life. Every thought, feeling, and expression, is tinged with the stain of sin. 2. That though it has taken this fast hold, it can be separated. The scarlet is not a part of the texture. So of sin. Though closely identified with human nature, it is not of it. Human nature can exist without it, has existed without it, will exist without it. There is a moral chemistry that can take the scarlet and the crimson from the texture of human nature. 3. That right attention to God’ s reasoning will certainly and effectively remove the stain of sin. (Homilist.)Desperate characters I. I have to PUBLISH THE LORD’ S TO . The invitation is to those whose sins are double-dyed scarlet and crimson in colour. 1. You have had pious parents. 2. You were once a member of a Christian congregation or Church. 3. I have to give the invitation to those whose sins have made them worse than beasts. 4. And to those who are “ laden with iniquity.” 5. And to those who are “ corrupters” of others. 6. This all-embracing invitation is to those who have “ forsaken the Lord.” II. I am to give REASONS WHY SHOULD ACCEPT THE . 1. You say, “ It is impossible for me to accept of it because my heart is perfectly hardened.” Impossible! If your heart is hard, come and accept the invitation, because God has promised to take away the stony heart and to give you one of flesh. 2. Again, you say, “ I cannot accept it, because I am so wicked.” If you feel wicked it is God’ s Spirit showing His light in your soul in order that you may be led to the Cross of Jesus and have your sins washed as white as snow. 3. Then somebody else answers, “ Well, I would accept it, but I have always failed.” Though you have failed, yet come again, for our heavenly Father is noted for receiving sinners. 4. But another says, “ Before I came tonight I said I would not be converted.” Two men were bidden to do their lord’ s will. One of them said, “ I will do it” ; but he went away, and did it not. And the other was angry and exclaimed, “ I will not do thy will,” but after he had gone away he repented and went and did it. Copy the example of the latter. 5. Perhaps, somebody still answers, “ You have not put your hand on me, for I am sunk in sin.” The Bible tells me that no man can be sunk lower than the reach of the everlasting arms of God. Though you have lost your character, your honour, and your self-control, yet God invites you to be saved. III. AN EARNEST FOR YOU TO COME AT ONCE. (W. Birch.)The Lord reasoning with sinners Let us regard these words-- I. AS TO THOSE WHO ARE LIVING IN SIN. “ Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.” Sinner, bring forth thy strong reasons; then hear the reasons of God. What plea will you make for not turning to God? 1. You say, perhaps, “ This world is all I desire. I am well content with what it gives. Its gains and pleasures suit me well. I wish for nothing beyond. Why not leave me to follow my own way?” What says God in reply? “ The world passeth away, and the lust thereof.” 2. Or, wilt thou reason thus: “ I have years yet before me. At a more convenient season I will seek God” ? What does God answer? “ Thou fool, this night, it may be, thy soul shall be required of thee” 3. Or, dost thou say in thine heart--“ I hate the knowledge of God’ s ways Religion is a weariness to me. I will go on as I am, and take the consequences” ? Dost thou know the end of the terrors of the Lord? 4. Or, is it in thy thought to say to God, “ Wherein have I sinned so much against Thee?” Behold, He answers thee: “ I made thee, O man, and every power thou hast should be devoted to Me--thy life, thy health and strength, thy body and soul. Have these been devoted to Me? Has thy body been kept in soberness, temperance, and chastity? Hast thou always been led by My Spirit?” II. But the text is addressed, in its latter part more particularly, TO THOSE WHO KNOW THAT THEY HAVE DEEPLY SINNED AGAINST GOD, AND WOULD , IF THEY DARED, RETURN TO HIM. What is the feeling of such? It may be, you are tempted to say, “ There is no hope. My sin is too great to be forgiven.” God’ s answer is, “ Come now, and let us reason together,” etc. Is it not well suited to your case? III. THE TEXT IS NOT WITHOUT AND COMFORT TO THE . (E. Blencowe, M. A.)Forgiveness of sin I. THE AND LOVE OF GOD, IN THIS TO SINNERS. Even among friends, the offended party does not first display a disposition to be reconciled. He usually deems that the first overture should proceed from the offender. But behold the infinite condescension and compassion of the most high God toward sinful man. He does not wait till men come to a sense of their delinquencies. II. THE IMPORT OF THE . What is this to which God calls you? He says, “ Let us reason together.” It seems to be an expression borrowed from courts of justice, and is tantamount to saying, “ Let us hear the cause of the defendants.” 1. The sinner must listen to the charge--to the grand indictment, that he may know both the extent of his guilt and feel the hopelessness of his case. This charge is indeed heavy, but it must be heard. The law is holy. Let it operate on you as it did on Saul of Tarsus. 2. Observe, God is willing to hear your defence, if you can make one honestly and truly; but if not He will hear your confession. Which shall it be? III. GOD MAY BE AS THOSE WHO, WITH A AND BROKEN HEART, ARE AFRAID TO VENTURE BEFORE HIM, and who have the sentence of condemnation and death in themselves. IV. Let us complete the whole of this glorious theme of salvation, by calling upon you to observe, and admire, the great principle established by this text, that, THE OF OUR SINS MAY BE, THEY DO NOT EXCLUDE US FROM THE OF THE DIVINE MERCY. (The Evangelist.)Pardoning mercy The pardon of sin has been justly called “ the life blood of religion.” It is this which runs through all parts of the Scripture, like the blood in our veins, and is the foremost object in the glorious Gospel. I. The first thing in the text is A CHARGE IMPLIED, and more particularly expressed, in the former verses of this chapter. The charge is sin--sin the most aggravated. Scarlet and crimson are colours far remote from white, which is the emblem of innocence, or righteousness. (Revelation 19:8.) But here sinners are represented as in garments stained with blood. The bloody, murderous, destructive nature of sin may be intended. Sin has slain its millions. (Romans 5:12.) Some understand by the word “ scarlet,” double-dyed; as deeply tinctured by sin as possible; as when any garment has been twice dyed, first in the wool, and again in the thread or piece. So great sinners are twice dyed, first in their corrupt nature, and then again in the long confirmed habits of actual transgression. It is absolutely necessary that each of us should personally know that this is his own case. II. THE . True religion is the most reasonable thing in the world. 1. Is not self preservation highly reasonable? We account it the first law of nature, and should blame the man who neglects it. Is a house on fire? Let the inhabitant escape for his life. 2. Is it not reasonable for a man to do well for himself? Yes; “ Men will praise thee when thou doest well for thyself.” We commend the honest, ingenious, industrious tradesman. Is it reasonable for a man to mind his own business? Well, “ one thing is needful” ; the care of thy soul is the business of life (Luke 10:42). Is it reasonable to improve opportunities for business, as fairs and markets? Redeem then the time, and catch the golden opportunities of gain to thy soul. Is it reasonable to make a good bargain? The Christian makes the best in the world. Is it reasonable to cultivate friendship with the wise, the good, and the great? Oh, how wise to make Christ our Friend. 3. Is it not reasonable to believe the God of truth? The Word of God has every confirmation we could wish. 4. Is not love to God and man perfectly reasonable? This is the whole of our religion. Is it reasonable or not to love the Best of beings better than all other beings? III. THE PROMISE. “ Though your sins,” etc. The pardon of sin is the first thing in religion. It was the great business of Christ upon earth to procure it. The pardon of sin originates in the free mercy and sovereign grace of God, without respect to anything good in the creature. But we are not to expect pardon from an absolute God. Pardon is an act of justice as well as of mercy. Mercy on God’ s part, but justice on account of Christ. Another thing is, that it is by faith alone we are made partakers of pardoning mercy. Notice, too, the perfection of pardon, which is expressed by making scarlet as snow, and crimson like wool. We are to understand this of the sinner, not of his sins. Pardon does not alter the nature, or lessen the evil of sin. (G. Burder, D. D.)The reasonableness of the offers and terms of the Gospel I. THE OFFERS OF THE GOSPEL. The Almighty here proposes completely to take away the guilt of sin, and consequently to remit the punishment due to it. There are various kinds and degrees of sin; sins of different colours and complexions, more or less aggravated, more or less strengthened by habit and indulgence. But the offer of pardon extends to all alike. Is not this a blessing peculiarly adapted to our need? Nothing but a gratuitous remission of sin can suit our case. God deals with us in the most reasonable manner, and leaves us without excuse, if we attend not to His offer. II. THE TERMS OF THE GOSPEL. 1. With respect to faith. Is not this a perfectly reasonable requisition? Since God has provided a salvation for you, has He not a right to stipulate the means by which you shall apply to yourself the benefit of that salvation? And what easier, simpler way could He have devised? 2. As to repentance. Is there anything unreasonable in this requisition? Can it be considered as a hard condition that we should relinquish those practices which cost the Son of God His life; and which, if He had not died for them, would have cost us our souls? If religion be in itself so reasonable a service, how can you act so unreasonably as not to choose and follow it? (E. Cooper.)Self-scrutiny in God’ s presence I. THE DUTY OF OUR MORAL AND CONDUCT ALONG WITH GOD. There are always two beings who are concerned with sin--the being who commits it, and the Being against whom it is committed. Such a joint examination as this produces a very keen sense of the evil and guilt of sin. When the soul is shut up with the Holy One of Israel there are great searchings of heart. Another effect is to render our views discriminating. Objects are seen in their true proportions and meanings. II. THERE IS WITH GOD. We deduce the following practical directions. 1. In all states of religious anxiety, we should betake ourselves instantly and directly to God. 2. We should make a full and plain statement of everything to god. (W. G. T. Shedd, D. D.)Forgiveness In this passage-- I. THERE IS ASSUMED THE OF GUILT. The aggravations of sin are to be found in their highest form where there are instituted powerful means to deter from its perpetration, and where yet it is committed in spite of restraints eminently calculated to direct the soul to goodness. We turn at once to the country in which we dwell, to find the sins which are as the “ scarlet” or the “ crimson” dye. Ours is a country, signally favoured with means the best adapted to lead from transgression, and excite to obedience. II. THERE IS THE OF MERCY. 1. It might indeed have been imagined, that, after such repeated accusations of iniquity, there would succeed only a threatening of doom. Is God not just? Is He not jealous of His glory? 2. Such a promise as this is made in perfect consistency with the immutable justice and holiness of the Divine nature. 3. It will be proper to observe the manner in which the promised blessing is bestowed. God communicates forgiveness through the atoning sacrifice of His Son. 4. In order to secure the personal application of the sacrifice of Christ, there must be, in yourselves, the production of certain emotions and principles, by the operation of the Spirit of God. 5. Let us further observe, the sufficiency by which this promised blessing of forgiveness is characterised. III. THERE IS DESIRED THE OF WISE . (James Parsons.)Divine expostulation I. THE WHO ARE HERE . We see the Jews charged-- 1. With a gross departure from God. 2. With carrying their abominations into the religious services of the sanctuary. II. THE IN WHICH GOD IS HERE BY THE PROPHET--that, namely, of the most amazing condescension. Various are themethods in which God may be said to reason with us. 1. By family afflictions. 2. By personal inflictions. 3. By awful providences. 4. Through the ministry of His Word. For what does God condescend to reason with us? For the bestowment of pardon. Your reason, in its highest powers, is challenged. (J. Gaskin, M. A.)The silver trumpet I. Our text is addressed to SINNERS OF THE DEEPEST DYE. 1. In the second verse you will perceive that the text was addressed to senseless sinners--so senseless that God Himself would not address them in expostulation, but called upon the heavens and the earth to hear His complaints. 2. The text is given to ungrateful sinners. “ I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me.” Oh, how many of us come under this description! 3. By reading in the third verse, you will perceive again that the text is addressed to men who are worse than beasts. None of us would keep a horse for twenty years, if it never worked but only sought to injure us; and yet there are men whom God has kept these forty and fifty years, put the breath into their nostrils, the bread into their mouths, and the clothes upon their backs, and they have done nothing but curse at Him, speak ill of His service, and do despite to His laws. 4. They were a people “ laden with iniquity.” 5. They were not only loaded with sin themselves, but they were teachers in transgressions. “ Children that are corrupters.” 6. The blessed text we have on hand is addressed to men upon whom all manner of afflictions had been lost and thrown away. It is a great aggravation of our sin when we sin under the rod. 7. The invitation is sent to men who appeared to have been totally depraved from the sole of the foot even to the head. II. The text presents us with OF THE MOST POWER. III. The words of this text contain a PROMISE OF PARDON OF THE FULLEST FORCE. “ Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; and though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” These colours are selected because of their exceeding brilliancy. Now some sins are striking, glaring sins; you cannot help seeing them; and the sinner himself is compelled to confess them. But the Hebrew word conveys the idea of doubly dyed--what we call ingrained colours--when the wool has lain so long in the dye that it cannot be got out; though you wash or wear it as long as you please, you must destroy the fabric before you can destroy the colour. Yet here is the promise of full pardon for glaring and for ingrained lusts. And note how the pardon is put--“ they shall be as snow” --pure white virgin snow. But snow soon loses its whiteness, and therefore it is compared to the whiteness of the wool washed and prepared by the busy housewife for her fair white linen. You shall be so cleansed, that not the shadow of a spot, nor the sign of a sin, shall be left upon you. When a man believes in Christ, he is in that moment, in God’ s sight, as though he had never sinned in all his life. IV. THE TIME mentioned in the text, which is of the MOST SOLEMN . “ Now.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Reasons for parting with sin It is the great joy of our heart that we do not labour in vain, nor spend our strength for nought. Still, there is a bass to this music: there are some, and these not a few, who remain unblest where others are saved. It is obvious that something hinders. What can it be? The real reason why men who have an earnest desire to be saved, and have sincere religiousness of a certain sort, do not find peace, is this, because they are in love with sin. “ Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.” Let us have this matter out, and hear what is to be urged in favour of God’ s demands. I. IT IS A THING THAT SIN SHOULD BE . 1. Because it is most inconsistent to suppose that pardon can be given while we continue in sin. How could the Judge of all the earth thus wink at iniquity? Only fancy what the effect would be upon our country if a proclamation were issued, that henceforth all manner of offences against the law would be immediately forgiven, and men might continue still to perpetrate them. And what would be the effect Upon the sinner himself if such could be the case? Say to a man--you are not to be punished for your sin, and yet you may live in it still, and what worse turn could you do him? This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Isaiah 1:19-20 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land The obligation of all who have received the revealed will of God to conform thereto The text, involving the great truth which is evidently implied therein, is the sanction with which the whole of the chapter is enforced. I. IT IS THE BOUNDEN OF ALL WHO HAVE THE WILL OF GOD, WHETHER NATIONS OR , TO ABIDE BY THAT WILL,--as well in the regulation of their faith and practice, as in the order and management of their affairs, in the formation and execution of their laws; and to admit of no other principle, nor to walk by any other rule whatsoever. Consider-- 1. Whose revelation it is for a devout and universal conformity to which we plead. 2. For what purpose God has been pleased to make known His mind and will to us. 3. The wonderful adaptation of this heavenly will to all our wants and circumstances. 4. The deplorable condition of man without such a light from heaven. 5. It is by God’ s revealed will we shall all be judged at last. II. THE of adhering to, or swerving from, that Divine revelation, in either respect. We can never suppose that God will permit any nation or individual to disbelieve or disregard His Word with impunity; nor can we imagine that He will suffer any nation or individual, obeying His voice, to go without His blessing. III. SOME WHICH MAY BE URGED. 1. All this applies to Israel of old, as a peculiar nation, raised up in a particular manner, for a special purpose. But is not He, who was their God, the God of all the families of the earth? 2. But does the Old Testament equally apply to us as the New? Undoubtedly. 3. Do we meet with any intimation of this kind in the New Testament? Certainly. (Matthew 5:17-18; Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11.) 4. How is it possible, amidst a mixed description of character, to bring about such a state of things? Try and leave the issue with God. 5. But would you have everything to be based upon the Divine Word Yes, everything. I would wish to see the whole nation living in the fear of God, and striving to promote His glory. (R. Shittler.)Sincere obedience accepted He doth not say, If you be perfectly obedient, but willingly so; for if there be a willing mind it is accepted. (M. Henry.)Guilt embitters creature comforts If sin be pardoned, creature comforts become comforts indeed. (M. Henry.)Mistaken economy Close to Port Arthur in the Canadian Dominion there is a little island named Silver Island. It was known that silver was there, and a few Canadian gentlemen united in explorations. Most of them, however, objected to the necessary outlay on works, and sold their claims to an American Company. The Americans began to dig, and found silver not only in rich veins, but also in thick, solid sheets. The Canadians bitterly lamented their folly in not spending the money which would have secured the treasure, but it was too late. There are those who, though called to enrich themselves both for time and eternity, are unwilling to give up the sins they find so pleasant. They will not pay the preliminary price, and discover when too late how much they have missed. Others have paid the price; they have secured the treasure, but when regrets are unavailing, the lovers of the present world see what a fatal mistake they have made, and have a dark eternity in which to meditate on their folly. (Gates of Imagery.)The mouth of the Lord hath spoken itThe infallibility of Scripture What Isaiah said was, therefore, spoken by Jehovah. All Scripture, being inspired of the Spirit, is spoken by the mouth of God. The like valuation of the Word of the Lord is seen in our Lord’ s apostles; for they treated the ancient Scriptures as supreme in authority, and supported their statements with passages from Holy Writ. I. THIS IS OUR WARRANT FOR TRUTH. It would not be worth our while to speak what Isaiah had spoken, if in it there was nothing more than Isaiah’ s thought; neither should we care to meditate hour after hour upon the writings of Paul, if there was nothing more than Paul in them. We feel no imperative call to expound and to enforce what has been spoken by men; but, since “ the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” it is woe unto us if we preach not the Gospel! 1. The true preacher, the man whom God has commissioned, delivers his message with awe and trembling, because “ the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” He bears the burden of the and bows under it. They called George Fox a Quaker, because when he spoke he would quake exceedingly through the force of the truth which he so thoroughly apprehended. Martin Luther, who never feared the face of man, yet declared that when he stood up to preach he often felt his knees knock together under a sense of his great responsibility. Woe unto us if we dare to speak the Word of the Lord with less than our whole heart and soul and strength! Woe unto us if we handle the Word as if it were an occasion for display! 2. Because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken the truth of God, we therefore endeavour to preach it with absolute fidelity. It is not ours to correct the Divine revelation, but simply to echo it. 3. Again, as “ the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” we speak the Divine truth with courage and full assurance. Modesty is a virtue; but hesitancy, when we are speaking for the Lord, is a great fault. Those who fling aside our Master’ s authority may very well reject our testimony: we are content they should do so. But, if we speak that which the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, those who hear His Word and refuse it, do so at their own peril. We are urged to be charitable. We are charitable; but it is with our own money. We have no right to give away what is put into our trust and is not at our disposal. When we have to do with the truth of God we are stewards, and must deal with our Lord’ s exchequer, not on the lines of charity to human opinions, but by the rule of fidelity to the God of truth. 4. Because “ the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” we feel bound to speak His Word with diligence, as often as ever we can, and with perseverance, as long as ever we live. Surely, it would be a blessed thing to die in the pulpit; spending one’ s last breath in acting as the Lord’ s mouth. Dumb Sabbaths are fierce trials to true preachers. Remember how John Newton, when he was quite unfit to preach, and even wandered a bit by reason of his infirmities and age, yet persisted in preaching; and when they dissuaded him, he answered with warmth, “ What! Shall the old African blasphemer leave off preaching Jesus Christ while there is breath in his body!” So they helped the old man into the pulpit again, that he might once more speak of free grace and dying love. 5. If we get a right apprehension concerning Gospel truth--that “ the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” --it will move us to tell it out with great ardour and zeal. How can you keep back the heavenly news? Whisper it in the ear of the sick; shout it in the corner of the streets; write it on your tablets; send it forth from the press; but everywhere let this be your great motive and warrant--you preach the Gospel because “ the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” II. THIS IS THE CLAIM OF GOD’ S WORD UPON YOUR . 1. Every word which God has given us in this Book claims our attention, because of the infinite majesty of Him that spake it. 2. God’ s claim to be heard lies also in the condescension which has led Him to speak to us. 3. God’ s Word should win your ear because of its intrinsic importance. “ The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” --then it is no trifle. God never speaks vanity. No line of His writing treats of the frivolous themes of a day. Concerning eternal realities He speaks to thee. 4. Depend upon it, if “ the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” there is an urgent, pressing necessity. God breaks not silence to say that which might as well have remained unsaid. His voice indicates great urgency. III. THIS GIVES TO GOD’ S WORD A VERY SPECIAL . 1. In the Word of God the teaching has unique dignity. This Book is inspired as no other book is inspired, and it is time that all Christians avowed this conviction. I do not know whether you have seen Mr. Smiles’ life of our late friend, George Moore; but in it we read that, at a certain dinner party, a learned man remarked that it would not be easy to find a person of intelligence who believed in the inspiration of the Bible. In an instant George Moore’ s voice was beard across the table, saying boldly, “ I do, for one.” Nothing more was said. Let us not be backward to take the old-fashioned and unpopular side, and say outright, “ I do, for one.” Where are we if our Bibles are gone? Where are we if we are taught to distrust them! It is better to believe what comes out of God’ s mouth, and be called a fool, than to believe what comes out of the mouth of philosophers, and be, therefore, esteemed a wise man. 2. There is also about that which the mouth of the Lord hath spoken an absolute certainty. What man has said is unsubstantial, even when true. But with God’ s Word you have something to grip at, something to have and to hold. 3. Again, if “ the mouth of the Lord hatch spoken it,” we have in this utterance the special character of immutable fixedness. Once spoken by God, not only is it so now, but it always must be so. One said to his minister, “ My dear sir, surely you ought to adjust your beliefs to the progress of science.” “ Yes,” said he, “ but I have not had time to do it today, for I have not yet read the morning papers.” One would have need to read the morning papers and take in every new edition to know where about scientific theology now stands; for it is always chopping and changing. 4. Here let me add that there is something unique about God’ s Word, because of the Almighty power which attends it. “ Where the word of a king is, there is power” ; where the Word of a God is, there is omnipotence. IV. THIS MAKES GOD’ S WORD A GROUND OF GREAT ALARM TO MANY. Shall I read you the whole verse! “ But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” God has never yet spoken a threatening that has fallen to the ground. It is of no avail to sit down, and draw inferences from the nature of God, and to argue, “ God is love, and therefore He will not execute the sentence upon the impenitent.” He knows what He will do better than you can infer; He has not left us to inferences, for He has spoken pointedly and plainly. V. THIS MAKES THE WORD OF THE LORD THE REASON AND REST OF OUR FAITH. “ The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” is the foundation of our confidence. There is forgiveness; for God has said it. I think I hear some child of God saying, “ God has said, ‘ I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee,’ but I am in great trouble; all the circumstances of my life seem to contradict the promise” : yet, “ the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” and the promise must stand. Believe God in the teeth of circumstances. By and by we shall come to die. Oh, that then, like the grand old German emperor, we may say, “ Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation,” and, “ He hath helped me with His name.” (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot The faithful city a harlot A dirge in dirge metre over Jerusalem. “ Harlot” is unfaithful wife. In Isaiah “ unfaithfulness” is declension from social and civil righteousness. (A. B. Davidson, LL. D.)Spiritual harlotry It is not merely gross outward idolatry, that makes the Church of God a “ harlot,” but the defection of the heart, however this may, at any time, express itself; for which reason Jesus also could call the generation of His time γενεὰμοιχαλίς, in spite of the strict worship of Jehovah carried on in the Pharisaic spirit. For, as shown by the verse before us, the basis of that marriage-relation was justice and righteousness in the widest sense. (F. Delitzsch.)An aggravation of guilt It is a great aggravation of the wickedness of any family or people that their ancestors were famed for virtue and probity; and commonly those that thus degenerate prove the most wicked of all other. “ Corruptio optimi est pessima” --that which was originally the best becomes, when corrupted, the worst (Luke 11:26; Jeremiah 22:15-17). (M. Henry.)Righteousness lodged in itJerusalem, the righteous city Righteousness was not merely like a passing guest in the city, but she who came down from above had there fixed her permanent abode; there she used to tarry day and night, as if it were her home. When the prophet refers to former days, he has in his mind the times of David and Solomon, but especially those of Jehoshaphat, who (about 150 years before Isaiah appeared) restored the administration of justice which had fallen into neglect since the latter years of Solomon and the days of Rehoboam and Abijah,--a point to which the reformation of Asa had not extended,--and who reorganised all in the spirit of the law. (F. Delitzsch.) Isaiah 1:22-23 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water.Silver The silver represents the princes and lords, viewed with reference to the nobility of mind associated with their nobility of birth and rank; for silver--sterling silver--is a symbol of all that is noble and pure, and it is the purity of light which shows itself in it, as in the pure white of byssus and of the lily. The princes and lords formerly possessed the virtues which together are in Latin called candor animi,--the virtues of magnanimity, courtesy, impartiality, and freedom from the influence of bribes; now, this silver has become dross, such base metals as are separated or thrown aside. (F. Delitzsch.)Diluted wine In a second figure, the leading men of Jerusalem in former days are compared to “ choice wine,” such as drinkers like. This pure, strong, and costly wine is now adulterated with water, or weakened; i.e., through this addition, its strength and flavour are diminished. The present is but the dregs and the shadow of the past. (F. Delitzsch.)Impaired The essential idea seems to be that of impairing strength, (J. A. Alexander.)The possible degeneracy of valuable things There are many valuable and good things in the world that through varied causes are rendered comparatively useless. I. THE SILVER OF THY HAS BECOME DROSS BECAUSE OF LITTLE . II. THE SILVER OF THY SERVICE HAS BECOME DROSS BECAUSE OF UNHOLY MOTIVES. III. THE SILVER OF THY MONEY HAS BECOME DROSS BECAUSE OF . IV. THE SILVER OF THY TALENTS HAS BECOME DROSS BECAUSE OF . Silver is bright when kept in use. Talents are valuable when active. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)Sinful compromise and its results “ Thy wine is mixed with water” --that sounds like a compromise. Thy wine diluted; it is the corruption of the ideal. “ Thy princes are rebellions” --that is the corruption of government. “ Everyone loveth gifts and followeth after rewards” --that is the corruption of justice. “ They, judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them” --that is the corruption of the tenderest ties of the heart. Do you see where you begin? You begin by mixing wine and water, you begin by illicit compromise, by lowering and corrupting the ideal, and you end in cruelty, you forget God, then the ideal is forgotten, then yourself is forgotten, you forget your neighbour, and the cause of the widow makes no appeal to you. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.) Isaiah 1:23 Thy princes are rebellious . . . everyone loveth gifts Rebellious princes Instead of suppressing rebellion, they were rebels themselves. (J. A. Alexander.)The rebellious princes I. THE PROFIT OF THEIR PLACES IS ALL THEIR AIM. They love gifts, and follow after rewards; they set their hearts upon their salary, the fees and perquisites of their offices, and are greedy of them, and never think they can get enough. Presents and gratuities will blind their eyes at any time, and make them pervert judgment (Hosea 4:18). II. THE DUTY OF THEM PLACES IS NONE OF THEIR CARE. They ought to protect those that are injured, and take cognisance of the appeals made to them; why else were they preferred? But “ they judge not the fatherless,” take no care to guard the orphans, “ nor doth the cause of the widow come unto them,” because the poor widow has no bribe to give. Those will have a great deal to answer for, who when they should be the patrons of the oppressed are their greatest oppressors. (M. Henry.)Audacious corruption Catiline, being prosecuted for some great offence, corrupted the judges. When they had given their verdict, though he was acquitted only by a majority of two, he said he had put himself to a needless expense in bribing one of those judges, for it would have been sufficient to have had a majority of one. (Plutarch.)Political corruption in England The machinery of both sides [Whig and Tory] was unlimited bribery. The degradation of the briber was as great as that of the bribed. Berkeley writes in 1721:--“ This corruption has become a national crime, having infected the lowest as well as the highest amongst us.” (Knight’s England.)Francis Bacon He was charged by the Commons before the Lords, with twenty-two acts of bribery and corruption. He attempted no defence. He made a distinct confession in writing of the charges brought against him. And when a deputation of peers asked if that confession was his own voluntary act, he replied: “ It is my act, my hand, my heart. O my lords, spare a broken reed.” (Knight’s England.)Corruption in the reign of James I. It was an age of universal abuses. Local magistrates were influenced by the pettiest gifts, and were called “ basket justices.” (Knight’s England.)Corruption checked by Act of Parliament [In 1275 Parliament enacted] that no king’ s officer should take any reward to do his office, such enactment being one of the many proofs of the inefficiency of law to restrain corruption; for within fourteen years there were only two judges out of fifteen who were not found guilty of the grossest extortions. (Knight’s England.) Isaiah 1:24 Ah, I will ease Me of Mine adversaries God’ s enemies and His treatment of them I. WICKED PEOPLE, WICKED RULERS THAT ARE CRUEL AND , ARE GOD’ S ENEMIES. II. THEY ARE A SUDDEN TO THE GOD OF HEAVEN. This is implied in His easing Himself of them. III. GOD WILL FIND OUT TIME AND WAY TO EASE HIMSELF OF THIS BURDEN. (M. Henry.)Salvation through judgment Salvation through judgment is still and ever the only means of reproving and preserving the congregation that takes its name from Jerusalem. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 1:25-27 And l will turn My hand upon thee True reformation the work of God I. THE OF A PEOPLE IS GOD’ S OWN WORK. II. HE DOTH IT BY THEM WITH GOOD AND GOOD OF STATE (Isaiah 1:26). III. HE DOTH IT BY AND AMONG THEM (Isaiah 1:27). IV. THE OF A PEOPLE WILL BE THEIR . Sin is the worst captivity, the worst slavery. V. THE OF A PEOPLE’ S VIRTUE IS THE OF THEIR HONOUR. “ Afterward thou shalt be called, the city of righteousness, the faithful city.” (Matthew Henry.)And purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tinPurging away dross “ Purely” ; R.V. “ thoroughly” ; lit. “ as with lye,” i.e., potash, which was used as a flux to facilitate the separation of the metals. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Dross and alloy Notice the imagery. Here is a community, an individual, that knows and belongs to God; redeemed of the Lord; His own. Yet into life, and into work, and into testimony and service, there has come that which He compares to dross and to alloy in metal The two words in the imagery (dross and alloy) are not precisely the same in idea, Dross suggests to us that which is repulsive, as well as worthless--the glaring inconsistency, crude, and ugly. In the alloy or tin, which looks so much like silver, and yet is different, we see rather the ore, specious and subtle ingredients of evil that enter into the Christian’ s work and life--not crying inconsistencies so much as the more interior and hidden evil of silent self-complacency; of a tacit search for our own glory under colour of the Lord’ s; things which the soul has never fairly traced out, but which it may plainly trace if it will firmly use God’ s tests. And these are the things of which we read: “ I will turn my hand upon them and thoroughly purge them.” (Bp. H. C. G. Moule, D. D.)Dross and alloy “ I will purge away thy dross.” What is the dross? That which is openly flagrant in the life. It is different from the metal, and is comparatively easily separated from it. But God goes further. He says, “ I will take sway all thy alloy.” This is far more wonderful, because the alloy is something which enters into the nature of me metal, as is were, and it requires a chemical process to separate them. God says that He will deal not only with the outcrop of sin in act, but He will deal with the sin of which the act is the outcrop. (G. H. C. Macgregor, M. A.)Moral dross What is the dross which God sees in our heart and life? Lack of truthfulness, showing itself in simple lying, in exaggeration, in fraud, in deceit, in slander, in gossiping, in prevarication, in equivocation, in guile, in evil speaking. Lack of justice and due regard to the rights of others, showing itself in a spiteful temper, in unwillingness to give up our own way to others, in incivility, in rudeness, in disregard of the comfort of others, in thoughtlessness, in ingratitude, in unthankfulness. Lack of wisdom, showing itself in the misuse of the opportunities God gives us, in our ignorance, in our thoughtlessness, in our stupidity, in our blindness to the things of God. Lack of love, showing itself in our pride, in envy, in malice, in hate, in unwillingness to forgive, in unwillingness to apologise for evils which we have done. Lack of self-control, showing itself in our avarice, in covetousness, in sloth, in lethargy, in laziness, in sleepiness, in lust, in sensuality, in gluttony, in self-indulgence in all sorts of ways. What shall we say about our sins against God, our want of prayerfulness, our want of knowledge of God’ s Word, our want of trust in God, showing itself in our worry; our want of love to God, showing itself in our shameful hankering after the things of this world? The case is indeed desperate, and calls for the Divine interference. I should go mad at the sight of my own heart if I did not believe in the power of God to cleanse that heart. (G. H. C. Macgregor, M. A.) Isaiah 1:26 And I will restore thy Judges as at the first A grand ideal Two things are noteworthy in this passage. 1. The ideal is political. The salvation of Israel is secured when all public offices are filled with good men. “ Judges” and “ counsellors.” 2. The ideal will be realised by a restoration of the best days of the past. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Social regeneration I. ALL THE OF SOCIETY ARE IN GOD’ S HANDS. “ I will restore,” etc. No man can overturn, or build up, but by His permission. II. ALL OF SOCIAL ORDER ARE UNDER THE CONTROL OF GOD. III. NO SOCIAL STATE CAN BE BUT BY . There are many philanthropic and political projects which have for their aim national regeneration, but they are all foredoomed to come to nought, because they lack the religious element. IV. THE GREAT NAME WILL FOLLOW THE TRUE . “ Afterward thou shalt be called,” etc. Not first the exalted title, but the illustrative character; not first the splendid renown, but the glorious achievement! (J. Parker, D. D.)National revivification The imperishable kernel that remains becomes the centre to which all demerits of excellence are attracted. (F. Delitzsch.)“ The city of righteousness” With Isaiah, the giving of a name is the perception and recognition of the real existence of what has come into outward manifestation. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 1:27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment Evil in the Church I. WHAT ARE WE TO BY ZION. The word signifies a heap of stones--a monument--a sepulchre. This figuratively describes the literal Zion; and spiritually sets forth the visible and mystical Church. The true members of the Church of Christ are as lively stones, built up a spiritual house; and for their security God Himself has laid a foundation. (1 Peter 2:5.) Every stone of this sacred building is hewn out of nature’ s quarry, and when prepared by the transforming power of God the Holy Ghost is placed in that part of the spiritual edifice which it is appointed to occupy. And the building thus formed is, indeed, as the word Zion signifies, a monument--an everlasting monument of God’ s grace; whilst a mere professing, but not a confessing, protesting, and believing Church may very properly be compared to a sepulchre. Hence Zion of old contained a church within a church; those who were circumcised outwardly in the flesh, and those whose circumcision was that of the heart. According to the New Testament we understand by Zion the Church visible and the Church mystical. II. WHAT MAY BE ZION’ S . If we look at Zion of old, we behold formality manifestly pervading the Church, and the most lofty and presumptuous hypocrisy characterising the outward worship of God. Now, turn your attention to the Church of God in her present state. Such an examination will bring to light many evils, which are serious hindrances to the spread of evangelical truth, and afford ground for sarcasm and opposition, to the enemies of the Church. 1. Pride. 2. Laodicean lukewarmness. 3. Abuse of doctrine and discipline. III. ZION’ S AND . The history of the Church, as well as of nations, affords the most impressive evidence of the truth of that often fulfilled declaration, “ Be sure your sin will find you out.” Romans 11:19-22; Ezekiel 34:2-5; Ezekiel 34:9-10; Revelation 2:15; Revelation 3:1-3; Revelation 3:14-20.) IV. ZION’ S . In the exercise of justice, in the overthrow of the enemies of His Church and deliverance of His people, as well as by the faithful performance of His promises, God has engaged that Zion shall be redeemed with judgment and her converts (or those that return of her) “ with righteousness.” (J. F. Witty.)Redeemed with judgment Jesus lived to die. It was a voluntary necessity. We are redeemed with “ judgment.” The Judge has pronounced the sentence over the sacrifice: “ This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The converted soul is redeemed with “ righteousness.” “ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood,” etc. (T. Davies, M. A.) Isaiah 1:28 They that forsake the Lord shall be consumed Forsaking the Lord I. THE GUILT OF THE SERVICE OF THE LORD. 1. Man is bound by the law of his nature to obey that Almighty Being by whom he was made an intelligent and immortal creature. 2. Many in forsaking the Lord violate their own express and solemn engagements. (Hebrews 10:29.) II. THE FOLLY OF THE SERVICE OF THE LORD. If we do so we shall-- 1. Incur the reproaches of our own mind. 2. Forfeit the esteem and confidence of all good men. 3. Forfeit the favour and incur the wrath of God. And for what are all those tremendous sacrifices made? For “ the pleasures of sin,” which are but “ for a season” ! III. THE DANGER OF THE SERVICE OF THE LORD. “ Shall be consumed.” The threatened doom is-- 1. Awful. 2. Certain. (J. H. Hobart, D. D.) Isaiah 1:29-30 They shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired.God’ s judgment of destruction “ For they shall be ashamed of the terebinths in which ye delighted, and ye must blush because of the gardens in which ye had pleasure” (Isaiah 1:29). The terebinths and gardens are not referred to as objects of luxury (as Hitzig and Drechsler suppose), but as unlawful places of worship (Deuteronomy 16:21), and objects of worship; both of them are frequently mentioned by the prophets with this meaning (57:5, 65:3, 66:17). (F. Delitzsch.)Terebinth “ For ye shall be like a terebinth with withered leaves, and like a garden in which there is no water” (Isaiah 1:30). Their prosperity is being destroyed, and they are thus like a terebinth which is withered in its foliage; their sources of help are dried up, and thus they resemble a garden that has no water and is therefore waste. The terebinth (turpentine pistacia), a native of southern and eastern Palestine, casts its leaves (which are small, and resemble those of the walnut) in the autumn. In this dry and parched condition terebinth and garden, to which the idolaters are compared, are readily inflammable. There is but needed a spark to kindle, and then they are consumed in the flame. (F Delitzsch.) Isaiah 1:31 And the strong shall be as tow The tinder, and the spark “ The strong shall become tow, and his work a spark, and both shall burn together” --a vivid picture of the doom of transgressors, since the mighty man is made combustible, and his own act is that which kindles the flame. (T. W. Chambers, D. D.)The fire of judgment The fire of judgment that consumes sinners does not need to come from without; sin carries within itself the fire of wrath. (F. Delitzsch.)The tow and the spark These terrible words of warning are not levelled-- 1. Against low and vile people (Isaiah 1:23-26). Nor-- 2. Against the avowedly irreligious. The people addressed performed a multitude of sacrifices (Isaiah 1:11), were punctilious in their attendance on the house of God (Isaiah 1:12-14), were full of apparent devotion (Isaiah 1:15). Nor-- 3. Do they refer to the grosser forms of sin. These would, of course, come under the same condemnation. But spiritual sins, though more refined to our perception, are more fatal even than sensual sins. It is preeminently a spiritualism in root, however sensual in fruit, that is here arrived at. It is all summed up in the one evil, “ forsaking the Lord” (Isaiah 1:28). Consider-- I. THE RADICAL CHARGE SIN WORKS IN THE OF THE SINNER. Sin, the prophet says in effect, has a disintegrating, deteriorating, degrading influence upon the man’ s nature who yields to it. “ Tow” is the coarse, broken part of flax or hemp--waste, refuse--It is used here in contrast to that which is strong--also as a pattern of what is inflammable. 1. Sin lowers the tone and tenor of our nature. 2. Sin, depraving and degrading the type and tenor of our nature, enfeebles our powers of resistance to the assaults of external evil. Sin is weakness as well as wickedness; weakness as the result of wickedness. 3. Sin imparts to us an increased susceptibility to evil--makes us more inflammable. II. THE WAY IN WHICH THE SINNER AND HIS SIN FOR THEIR COMMON . Sin is ever multiplying itself between the sinner and his sinful deed. And the issue is irremediable ruin. “ They shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.” The moral is, that if we would keep out of hell, we must keep out of sin. (W. Roberts, B. A.)Sin weakens the strong The Earl of Breadalbane planned the massacre of Glencoe, and carried it out in the most cruel and dastardly manner. Macaulay, speaking of the effects produced upon the mind of the perpetrator of this atrocious deed, says that “ Breadalbane, hardened as he was, felt the stings of conscience, or the dread of retribution. He did his best to assume an air of unconcern. He made his appearance in the most fashionable coffee house at Edinburgh, and talked loudly and self-complacently about the important services in which he had been engaged among the mountains. Some of his soldiers, however, who observed him closely, whispered that all this bravery was put on. He was not the man that he had been before that night. The form of his countenance was changed. In all places, at all hours, whether he waked or slept, Glencoe was ever before him.” (Tools for Teachers.). Isaiah 2:1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem Heading to a small collection (chaps. 2-4), the contents of which are-- Isaiah 2:1-4) All nations shall yet acknowledge the God of Israel. Isaiah 2:5-22; Isaiah 3:1-26; Isaiah 4:1) Through great judgments shall both Israel and thenations be brought to the knowledge of Jehovah Isaiah 4:2-6) When these judgments are overpast, all Zion’ s citizens shall be holy. (A. B. Davidson, LL. D.)A general view of the chapter The Isaiah 2:2-4, it should be premised, recur with slight variations in the fourth chapter of Micah, and are supposed by many to have been borrowed by both writers from some older source. The prophet appears before an assembly of the people, perhaps on a Sabbath, and recites this passage, depicting in beautiful and effective imagery the spiritual preeminence to be accorded in the future to the religion of Zion He would dwell upon the subject further; but scarcely has he begun to speak when the disheartening spectacle meets his eye of a crowd of soothsayers, of gold and silver ornaments and finery, of horses and idols; his tone immediately changes, and he bursts into a diatribe against the foreign and idolatrous fashions, the devotion to wealth and glitter, which he sees about him, and which extorts from him in the end the terrible wish, “ Therefore forgive them not” (verses 5-9). And then, in one of his stateliest periods, Isaiah declares the judgment about to fall upon all that is “ tall and lofty,” upon Uzziah’ s towers and fortified walls, upon the great merchant ships at Elath, upon every object of human satisfaction and pride, when wealth and rank will be impotent to save, when idols will be cast despairingly aside, and when all classes alike will be glad to find a hiding place, as in the old days of Midianite invasion or Philistine oppression (Judges 6:2; 1 Samuel 13:6), in the clefts and caves of the rocks. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Isaiah’ s citizenship in Jerusalem Isaiah’ s citizenship in Jerusalem colours all his prophecy. More than Athens to Demosthenes, Rome to Juvenal, Florence to Dante, is Jerusalem to Isaiah. She is his immediate and ultimate regard, the centre and return of all his thoughts, the hinge of the history of his time, the one thing worth preserving amidst its disasters, the summit of those brilliant hopes with which he fills the future. He has traced for us the main features of her position and some of the lines of her construction, many of the great figures of her streets, the fashions of her women, the arrival of embassies, the effect of rumours. He has painted her aspect in triumph, in siege, in famine, and in earthquake; war filling her valleys with chariots, and again nature rolling tides of fruitfulness up to her gates; her moods of worship and panic and profligacy--till we see them all as clearly as the shadow following the sunshine and the breeze across the cornfields of our own summers. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Judah and Jerusalem There is little about Judah in these chapters: the country forms but a fringe to the capital. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The Word of the Lord “ seen” Though the spirit of man has neither eyes nor ears, yet when enabled to perceive the supersensuous, it is altogether eye. (F. Delitzsch.) Isaiah 2:2-4 And it shall come to pass in the last days Isaiah’ s description of the last days The description of “ the last days” --which in the Hebrew begins, “ And it hath come to pass . . . the mountainof Jehovah’ s house shall be established,” etc. is an instance of the use of the perfect tense to express the certain future. Its explanation seems to be that the structure of such a passage as that before us is imaginative, not logical--a picture, not a statement. The speaker completely projects himself into “ the last days” ; he is there, he finds them come; he looks about him to see what is actually going on, and sees that the mountain of Jehovah’ s house is about to be--still in process of being--established at the head of the mountains; he looks again, and the nations have already arrived at the place prepared for them, yet so freshly that they are still calling one another on; and as they come up they find that the King they seek is already there, and has effected some of His judgments and decisions before they arrive for their, turn. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)An epitome of Isaiah’ s vision (verses 2-4):--Isaiah, “ rapt into future times,” sees the throne of the Lord of Israel established in sovereignty over all the nations of the earth, and they becoming willing subjects to Him, and friendly citizens to each other. The nations attain to true liberty, for they come to submit themselves to the righteous laws and institutions, and to the wise and gracious word and direction of that King whose service is perfect freedom; and to true brotherhood, for they leave their old enmities and conflicts, and make the same Lord their Judge and Umpire and Reconciler. And all this, not by some newly invented device of the nations, some new result of their own civilisation, but by the carrying out of the old original purpose and plan of God, that His chosen people of the Jews should be the ministers of these good things, and that in them should all nations of the earth be blessed,--that “ out of Zion should go forth the law, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.” This is the vocation of the Hebrew people. This, says the prophet, is the key to all our duties as a nation, this is the master light to guide us to right action. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)The supremacy of Mount Zion Transport yourselves for a moment to the foot of Mount Zion. As you stand there, you observe that it is but a very little hill. Bashan is far loftier, and Carmel and Sharon outvie it. As for Lebanon, Zion is but a little hillock compared with it. If you think for a moment of the Alps, or of the loftier Andes, or of the yet mightier Himalayas, this Mount Zion seems to be a very little hill, a mere molehill, insignificant, despicable, and obscure. Stand there for a moment, until the Spirit of God touches your eye, and you shall see this hill begin to grow. Up it mounts, with the temple on its summit, till it outreaches Tabor. Onward it grows, till Carmel, with its perpetual green, is left behind, and Salmon, with its everlasting snow sinks before it. Onward still it grows, till the snowy peaks of Lebanon are eclipsed. Still onward mounts the hill, drawing with its mighty roots other mountains and hills into its fabric; and onward it rises, till piercing the clouds it reaches above the Alps; and onwards still, till the Himalayas seem to be sucked into its bowels, and the greatest mountains of the earth appear to be but as the roots that strike out from the side of the eternal hill; and there it rises till you can scarcely see the top, as infinitely above all the higher mountains of the world as they are above the valleys Have you caught the idea, and do you see there afar off upon the lofty top, not everlasting snows, but a pure crystal table land, crowned with a gorgeous city, the metropolis of God, the royal palace of Jesus the King? The sun is eclipsed by the light which shines from the top of this mountain; the moon ceases from her brightness, for there is now no night: but this one hill, lifted up on high, illuminates the atmosphere, and the nations of them that are saved are walking in the light thereof. The hill of Zion hath now outsoared all others, and all the mountains and hills of the earth are become as nothing before her. This is the magnificent picture of the text. I do not know that in all the compass of poetry there is an idea so massive and stupendous as this--a mountain heaving, expanding, swelling, growing, till all the high hills become absorbed, and that which was but a little rising ground before, becomes a hill the top whereof teacheth to the seventh heavens. Now we have here a picture of what the Church is to be. (C. H. Spurgeon.)A vision of the latter day glories Of old, the Church was like Mount Zion, a very little hill. What saw the nations of the earth when they looked upon it? A humble Man with twelve disciples. But that little hill grew, and some thousands were baptized in the name of Christ; it grew again and became mighty. But still, compared with the colossal systems of idolatry, she is but small. The Hindoo and the Chinese turn to our religion, and say, “ It is an infant of yesterday; ours is the religion of ages.” The Easterns compare Christianity to some miasma that creeps along the fenny lowlands, but their systems they imagine to be like me Alps, outsoaring the heavens in height. Ah, but we reply to this, “ Your mountain crumbles and your hill dissolves, but our hill of Zion has been growing, and strange to say, it has life within its bowels, and grow on it shall, grow on it must, till all the systems of idolatry shall become less than nothing before it.” Such is the destiny of our Church, she is to be an all-conquering Church, rising above every competitor. The Church will be like a high mountain, for she will be-- 1. Preeminently conspicuous. 2. Awful and venerable in her grandeur. 3. The day is coming when the Church of God shall have absolute supremacy. The Church of Christ now has to fight for her existence; but the day shall come when she shall be so mighty that there shall be nought left to compote with her. How is this to be done? There are three things which will ensure the growth of the Church. 1. The individual exertion of every Christian. 2. We may expect more. The fact is, that the Church, though a mountain, is a volcano--not one that spouts fire, but that hath fire within her; and this inward fire of living truth, and living grace, expands her side, and lifts her crest, and upwards she must tower, for truth is mighty, and it must prevail--grace is mighty, and must conquer--Christ is mighty, and He must be King of kings. Thus there is something more than the individual exertions of the Church; there is a something within her that must make her grow, till she overtops the highest mountains. 3. But the great hope of the Church is the second advent of Christ. When He shall come, then shall the mountain of the Lord’ s house be exalted above the hills. We must fight on day by day and hour by hour; and when we think the battle is almost decided against us, He shall come, the Prince of the kings of the earth. (C. H. Spurgeon.)“ All nations shall flow unto it” Observe the figure. It does not say they shall come to it, but they shall flow unto it. 1. It implies, first, their number. Now it is but the pouring out of water from the bucket; then it shall be as the rolling of the cataract from the hillside. 2. Their spontaneity. They are to come willingly to Christ; not to be driven, not to be pumped up, not to be forced to it, but to be brought up by the Word of the Lord, to pay Him willing homage. Just as the river naturally flows downhill by no other force than that which is its nature, so shall the grace of God be so mightily given to the sons of men, that no acts of parliament, no state churches, no armies will be used to make a forced conversion. 3. But yet again, this represents the power of the work of conversion. They “ shall flow to it.” Imagine an idiot endeavouring to stop the river Thames. The secularist may rise up and say, “ Oh, why be converted to this fanatical religion? Look to the things of time.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)The mountain of the Lord’ s house The text calls our attention-- I. TO A PERIOD OF TIME WHEN THE EVENTS OF WHICH IT SPEAKS ARE TO OCCUR. “ The last days.” The phrase means, generally, the age of the Messiah; and is thus understood by both Jewish and Christian commentators. The apostle has put this meaning beyond all doubt. “ God, who spake in times past unto the fathers, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.” 1. The expression intimates, that the dispensations which the prophets of the Old Testament lived, were but preparatory to one of complete perfection. To the future all these ancient holy men were ever looking. The patriarchal was succeeded by the Mosaic age. Prophet came after prophet; but all were looking forward. All things around them, and before them, were typical shadowy. 2. The emphasis which the of last days, intimates, also, the views they had of the complete efficiency of that religious system which the Messiah was to introduce. On that age all their hopes of the recovery of a world they saw sinking around them rested; and in the contemplation of this efficient plan of redeeming love, they mitigated their sorrows. They felt that the world needed a more efficient system, and they saw it descend with Messiah from heaven. 3. The days of the Messiah were regarded by the ancient Church as “ the last days,” because in them all the great purposes of God were to be developed and completed. II. TO THE STATE OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF GOD IN THE LAST DAYS. “ The mountain of the Lord’ s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” Some have considered this as a prediction of the actual rebuilding of the temple, and the restoration of the political and church-state of the Jews, in the close of the latter days of the times of the Messiah. Such an interpretation, if allowed, would not at all interfere with that in which all agree, that, whatever else the prediction may signify, it sets forth, under figures taken from the Levitical institutions, the future state of the general Church of Christ. For the principle which leads to such an interpretation, we have no less authority than that of the apostle Paul, who uniformly considers the temple, its priests, and its ritual, as types of heavenly things; and in one well-known passage, makes use of them to characterise the true Church of Christ. “ But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city” of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. The mountain of the Lord’ s house is no longer covered with ruins, but established in the top of the hills. We learn from it-- 1. That the Church shall be restored to evangelical order and beauty: it shall be as Mount Zion. (1) Zion was the place of sacrifice. And in the last days the true sacrifice shall be exhibited here. (2) Mount Zion was the throne of majesty. And in coming to the evangelical Zion we come to God as the universal Sovereign and Judge. In the latter days Gospel law will shine there as brightly as Gospel grace. (3) Zion was the mountain of holiness. And in these glorious clays holy shall all they be who name the name of Christ. (4) Zion was the special residence of God. On the day of Pentecost He took possession of the Church; but in the latter days there shall be special manifestations of His presence in richer displays of vital power. To this state we are ever to labour to bring the Church, avoiding, ourselves, all that is inconsistent with truth in doctrine and holiness in life. For the richer effusions of grace we are earnestly to pray. 2. In this state the Church shall be distinguished by its zeal. “ Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” So it was in the best estate of the Jewish Church. The Gospel is to be preached in all nations; and till you send forth the law they will not say, “ Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.” We thus see the connection between the best state of the Church and this holy zeal. All history proves it. III. TO CERTAIN SPECIAL OF GOD BY WHICH THE EFFORTS OF HIS CHURCH TO BLESS AND SAVE THE WORLD SHALL BE . Without God, not all the efforts of the Church, even in her best state, can be effectual. 1. He shall judge among the nations. The word “ judge” is not always used in its purely judicial sense, but in that of government,--the exercise of regal power both in mercy and judgment; and in this sense we here take it. He shall so order the affairs of the world, that opportunities shall be afforded to His Church to exert herself for its benefit. And thus is He judging among the nations in our own day. 2. It is a part of the regal office to show mercy; and thus, too, shall He “ judge among the nations.” This He shall do by taking off those judicial desertions which, as a punishment for unfaithfulness, He has inflicted. “ He shall judge among the nations.” He shall do this judicially, yet not for destruction, but correction. Then are two sorts of judgments; judgments of wrath, and judgments of mercy. When grace is given with judgments, then do they become corrective and salutary. 3. It is, therefore, added, “ and shall rebuke many people” ; or, according to Lowth’ s translation, “ work conviction among them.” And may we not hope that this is approaching? Even while waiting for the glorious period described and promised in the preceding prophecy, the Church is called to “ walk in the light of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:5). 1. Walk by this light of truth yourselves. 2. Set the glory of these splendid scenes before you, and let them encourage you to increasing exertions for the spread of truth, holiness, and love throughout the earth. (Richard Watson.)The glorious exaltation and enlargement of Church I. THE GLORY AND . “ The mountain of the Lord’ s house shall be established,” etc. II. THE . “ All nations shall flow unto it.” III. THE of the Church begins to be described in Isaiah 2:4. (J. Mede, B. D.)The Church’ s visibility and glory There are-- I. TIMES WHEN THE CHURCH IS VISIBLE BUT NOT . II. TIMES WHEN IT IS NEITHER VISIBLE NOR . III. TIMES WHEN IT IS TO BE BOTH VISIBLE AND . (J. Mede, B. D.)The mountain of the Lord’ s house I. THE PERIOD TO. The reference is not to the Gospel era as a whole, but to an advanced period of it, even the time of the great millennial prosperity. The golden age of the Greeks and Romans was the past, but our golden age is yet to come. II. THE TRUTH . “ The mountain,” etc. Often has Zion languished, but she is to become a praise in the whole earth. In this striking figure two things are embraced-- 1. Elevated position. 2. Permanent duration. III. THE GENERAL . We have here-- 1. The invitation given. “ And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.” 2. The considerations by which it is enforced. “ And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” It is the seat of Divine instruction on the one hand, and the centre of holy influence on the other. IV. THE HAPPY RESULTS (verse 4). This is-- 1. A consummation most devoutly to be desired. 2. Absolutely certain in its realisation. “ They shall beat their swords into ploughshares.” 3. The means whereby it win be accomplished. By God judging or ruling among the nations, and rebuking or working conviction among them. (Anon.)The future glory and amplitude of the Church 1. The Gospel dispensation was designed to supersede that which was given by the hand of Moses; it was to be exalted above this hill. 2. The Gospel also was destined to triumph over all those corrupt systems of religion which have ever been received among men. 3. The assertion before us is also understood as a prophecy relative to the fulness of the Church when the Jews shall be called in. This important event is foretold by the sacred writers. (S. Ramsey, M. A.)Isaiah’ s wideness of view Consider what that prediction meant in Isaiah’ s time. He lived within well-defined boundaries and limitations: the Jew was not a great man in the sense of including within his personal aspirations all classes, conditions, and estates of men; left to himself he could allow the Gentiles to die by thousands daily without shedding a tear upon their fallen bodies; he lived amongst his own people; it was enough for him that the Jews were happy, for the Gentiles were but dogs. Here is a new view of human nature, great enlargement of spiritual boundaries. (J. Parker, D. D.)The Church of the future--Goethe and Isaiah It is quite the fashion in these days for those who do not believe in the Christian religion to bestow on it their patronage. The Bible is full of delusion and falsehood, but they regard it, on the whole, as a book that deserves notice; parts of it are almost as good as the Rig-Veda. The Church has been the handmaid of bigotry and superstition, yet they find in the history of the Church some passages that are inspiring. Jesus of Nazareth was a teacher in whose doctrine they find many things to set right; yet, so rich were His contributions to ethical science that they feel themselves justified in bestowing on Him a qualified approval. This fashion of patronising Christianity may have been set by Goethe. Into that temple of the future which he describes in his Tale, the little hut of the fisherman, by which he symbolises Christianity, was graciously admitted. “ This little hut had, indeed, been wonderfully transfigured. By virtue of the Lamp locked up in it [the light of reason] the hut had been converted from the inside to the outside into solid silver. Ere long, too, its form changed; for the noble metal shook aside the accidental shape of planks, posts and beams, and stretched itself out into a noble case of beaten, ornamented workmanship. Thus a fair little temple stood erected in the middle of the large one; or, if you will, an altar worthy of the temple.” This is Goethe’ s view of the Church of the future. He has been magnanimous enough to provide a niche for it in the perfected temple of the Great Hereafter; it is to serve as a pretty decoration of that grand structure, as a dainty bit of bric-a-brac. About twenty five centuries before Goethe’ s day another poet, dwelling somewhere in the fastnesses of Syria, had visions of the future in form and colour quite unlike this of the German philosopher. In Isaiah’ s sight of the latter day, the Church of God is not merely a feature--it furnishes the outline, it fills the whole field of vision. It is not merely a trait of the picture--it is the picture. Instead of putting the Church into a niche in the templeof the future, to be kept there as a kind of heirloom--a well-preserved antique curiosity--Isaiah insists that the Church in the temple, and that all stores and forces of good are to be gathered into it, to celebrate its empire and to decorate its triumph. The mountain of the Lord’ s house, the typical Zion on which the spiritual Church is builded, is to be exalted above all other eminences. Toward that all eyes shall turn; toward that all paths shall lead; toward that shall journey with joy all pilgrim feet. For the heralds of its progress, for the missionaries of its glad tidings it shall have many nations; it shall give to all the world the ruling law and the informing word. This is Isaiah’ s view of the Church of the future. When twenty-five centuries more shall have passed it will be easier to tell whether the Hebrew or the German was the better seer. (Washington Gladden, D. D.)The Church of the future Isaiah shows us the Church of the future only in outline; the great fact which he gives us is that in the last days the spiritual Jerusalem shall gather into itself all the kingdoms of the world and all the glory of them. It may be possible for us in some indistinct way to fill in this outline; to imagine, if we cannot prophesy, what the scope and character of the future Church shall be. I. WILL IT HAVE A CREED? A creed is only a statement, more or less elaborate, of the facts and principles of religion accepted by those who adhere to it. Religion is not wholly an affair of the emotions; it involves the apprehension of truth. In the future, as in the past, this truth must be stated, in order to be apprehended. A man’ s creed is what he believes; and there must be creeds as long as there are believers. It is probable, however, that the creeds may be considerably modified as the years pass. Certainly they have been undergoing modifications, continually, through the centuries gone by. It must be remembered, however, that the changes through which theological science has been passing have been changes of spirit rather than of substance, of form more than of fact. The essential truth remains. The great changes in theology are moral changes. Theology is constantly becoming less materialistic and more ethical. This progress will continue through the future. The creed of the future will contain, I have no doubt, the same essential truth that is found in the creeds of the present; but there may be considerable difference in the phrasing of it, and in the point of view from which it is approached. 1. Men will believe in the future in an infinite personal God, the Creator, the Ruler, the Father of men. The abstract, impersonal Force to which Agnosticism leads us has no relation to that which is deepest in man, and can have none. Christ bade us love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind and soul. Can any man ever be perfectly happy until he has found some Being whom he can love in this way? Must not the Being who is worthy to be loved in this way be both perfect and infinite? And is it possible for a man to love with heart and mind and soul, any being, however vast or powerful, that has neither heart nor mind nor soul? 2. Concerning the mode of the Divine existence, men will learn in the future to speak more modestly than they have spoken in the past. It will become more and more evident that it is not possible to put the infinite into terms of the finite. There is the doctrine of the Trinity; there is truth in it, or under it; but can anyone put that truth into propositions that shall be definite and not contradictory? 3. II one may judge the future by the past there is no reason to fear that the person of Jesus Christ will be less commanding in the Church of the future than it is in the Church of the present. 4. The fact of sin will not be denied by the Church of the future. Doubtless organisation and circumstance will be taken into the account in estimating human conduct; but the power of the human will to control the natural tendencies, to release itself from entangling circumstances, and to lay hold on the Divine grace by which it may overcome sin, will also be clearly understood. The supremacy of the moral nature will be vindicated. 5. Punishment, as conceived and represented by the Church of the future, will not be an arbitrary infliction of suffering, but the natural and inevitable consequence of disobedience to law. It will be discovered that the moral law is incorporated into the natural order, and that its sanctions are found in that order; while, in the work of redemption, God interposes by His personal and supernatural grace to save men from the consequences of their own disobedience and folly. Law is natural; grace is supernatural Transgressors will be made to see, what they now so dimly apprehend, that no effect can be more closely joined to its cause than penalty to sin. 6. Whatever the creed of the future may be, however, it will not be put to the kind of use which the creed of the present is made to serve. It will not be laid down as the doctrinal plank over which everybody must walk who comes into the communion of the Church. The Church, like every other organism, has an organic idea, and that is simple loyalty to Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church. There will be but one door into that Church--Christ will be the door. II. WHAT WILL BE THE POLITY OF THE FUTURE CHURCH? It is likely that, of the various sorts of ecclesiastical machinery, each of the several religious bodies will freely choose that which it likes best. Doubtless the Church will have some form of government: it will not be a holy mob; lawlessness will not be regarded as the supreme good, in Church or in State. In whatever ecclesiastical mould the Church of the future may be cast, there will be no mean sectarianism in existence then. The various families of Christians will dwell as happily together as well-bred families now do in society. Though there be diversities of form in the future, there will be real and thorough intercommunion and cooperation among Christians of all names, and nothing will be permitted to hold apart those who follow the same Leader and travel the same road. III. WHAT KIND OF WORK WILL BE DONE BY THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE? It will have many ways of working that the Church of the present has not dreamed of. “ The field is the world,” Christ has told us; and in that better day the Church will have learned to occupy the field. 1. Paul said that as a preacher of the Gospel he magnified his office. There is no office more honourable. But it must not be inferred that there is no other Way of preaching the Gospel except the formal utterance of religious truth, in the presence of a congregation. The truth will be disseminated, in that time, in many other ways. For though the living voice is the best instrument for the proclamation of the truth, so far as it will reach, it cannot reach very far. The art of printing has been given to the world since that day; and by that invention the whole business of instructing and influencing men has been revolutionised. The Church has already appropriated this agency; and it is doubtless true that it will be employed in the future more effectively than in the past. Neither will the range of teaching be so narrow as it has sometimes been in the past. To apply the ethical rule of the New Testament to the conduct of individuals, and to the relations of men in society, will be the constant obligation of the pulpit. Out of Zion must go forth the law by which parents, children, neighbours, citizens, workmen, masters, teachers, pupils, benefactors, beneficiaries, shall guide their behaviour. Science, long the nightmare of the theologians, will no more trouble their dreams; it will be understood that there can be no conflict between truths; that physical science has its facts and laws, and spiritual science its facts and laws; that these are diverse but not contradictory, and that the one is just as positive and knowable as the other. The unfriendliness now existing between the scientists and the theologians will exist no longer, because both parties will have learned wisdom. 2. But the work of teaching will not be the only work to which the Church of the future will address itself. Large and wise enterprises for the welfare of men will be set on foot; many of the instrumentalities now in use will continue to be employed, under modified forms, and many new ones will be devised. It will be understood that the law of the Church is simply this, “ Let us do good to all men as we have opportunity.” (Washington Gladden, D. D.)The magnet which draws the nations The Church is established on the top of the mountain, and all nations are flowing unto it. Yes, flowing up hill! Yes, up the mountain side! When I was a boy I said, “ That is false rhetoric, a mistake--flowing to the top of the mountain; it cannot be.” I went to the workshop of a friend, and I saw in the dust a parcel of steel filings. And he had a magnet, and, as he drew it near to the steel filings, they were attracted to it and kissed the magnet. Then I said, Give me a magnet large enough, place it on the mountain top, and it will draw all the nations unto it. That magnet is the Lord Jesus Christ, for He said, “ If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto Me.” (Bp. M. Simpson, D. D.) Isaiah 2:3 Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord “ Many people” For “ people” read “ peoples. ” So ver. 4. (A. B. Davidson, LL. D.)Desire for spiritual instruction What I intend is to make use of the words as they express a sincere desire in many people of being better informed in the mind and will of God, by some particular revelation from Himself than they could be by the mere natural light of their own minds, reflecting only upon the general works of creation and providence. I. EVERY MAN, WHO A GOD AND A THE WORLD, IS UNDER A NATURAL TO INQUIRE WHETHER GOD HAS MADE ANY OF HIS WILL TO MEN, WHICH THEY ARE ANY WAY TO TAKE NOTICE OF. II. WHOEVER MAKES THIS INQUIRY, WILL FIND IT TO THAT SOME MAY JUSTLY BE FROM GOD, THE GENERAL STATE OF MANKIND. 1. In the nature of things, there is no impossibility that God should make a particular revelation of His will to men. That God should communicate His will to men in a particular manner, implies nothing contradictory, either to the nature of man or God. For if we believe that God is the Maker of mankind, and that from Him they received their reason and understanding, then it is unreasonable to suppose that the mind of man is incapable of receiving any impression of revelation or instruction from the Supreme mind, only because that Supreme mind is of an invisible nature. And it is yet much more unreasonable to suppose any incapacity in the Divine Being, of making such discovery of His will to the mind of man, as His wisdom sees fit; for this would, in effect, be to deny the perfection of His nature, and to make him a Being not acting freely but by necessity, without liberty or choice and this in the end comes to the same thing as denying His Being altogether. 2. Considering our natural notions of the goodness of God, there is no reason to think it incredible that He should at some time or other make such discovery of His will. 3. Considering the general condition of mankind, such revelation is by no means unnecessary. (1) It is evident, that there is a surprising corruption in human nature; that the generality of men have hardly ever attended duly, at any time, to the natural dictates of their own reason. But much the greater part have shewn themselves more prone to extinguish than to improve the light of reason. (2) Suppose they had really known the true state of their own case, yet the true cure for it was more than human power or skill could effect. Some of them had recourse to philosophy. But the disease was too inveterate and epidemical to be cured by so weak a medicine. (3) Supposing the philosophers had been really designed to reform the morals and religion of mankind, they were not sufficiently qualified for such an undertaking, because they them selves were ignorant of many things necessary for it. As they knew not the first cause of the corruption of human nature, so they could know nothing of God’ s design in suffering it, nor of the scheme and order of His providence, by which He designed to conduct mankind out of it, into a more perfect and happy state than that from which they had fallen. (4) In matters of religion, which, naturally, have the greatest influence over the mind of man, and which therefore ought to be under the best and truest direction of all others, they were still more deficient than in anything else. When mankind had once generally fallen from the worship of the one true God, they sunk, by degrees, into the most brutal superstition and idolatry. (5) Divers of the wisest philosophers did themselves confess that they wanted a Divine revelation to set them right, even in matters which were of the utmost consequence. (6) Such men as now think that no revelation was ever necessary, but that the want of it might always have been sufficiently supplied by the use of human reason alone, do not state the matter fairly; because they confound part of that light which we insensibly receive by the revelation of the Gospel, with that light of nature which men had before it: that is, they do not distinguish between those notions which the mere heathen world were in possession of before, and those which they attained to after the preaching of the Gospel. III. IF THIS BE SO, THEN IT IS EVERY MAN’ S DUTY TO USE ALL THE PROPER MEANS HE CAN TO FIND OUT WHAT IS TRUE AND WHAT IS ONLY . (R. Boyle.)“ Let us go up” Those that are entering into covenant and communion with God themselves should bring as many as they can along with them. (M. Henry.)He will teach us of His waysThe ways of God By the ways of God may be meant-- 1. His purposes and counsels, so far as are proper and necessary for His servants to be acquainted with, in order to promote their happiness and salvation. 2. His providential dispensations, so far as is consistent with their duty and interest to know them. That they may understand the loving kindness of the Lord. 3. The ministration of His Spirit and the way of salvation, by which the manifold wisdom of Jehovah is admirably displayed. These are, with great propriety, called the ways of God, as He points them out to us in His Word, and as they are intended to conduct to the enjoyment of Him in the land of everlasting upright ness. (R. Macculloch.)And we will walk in His pathsWalking in God’ s paths The resolution before us-- 1. Plainly implies a free choice of the precepts of the Gospel, in preference to all other ways, and in opposition to every kind of compulsion whatever. 2. It includes a fixed purpose of heart, a firm determination, to cleave unto the Lord, notwithstanding every difficulty and discouragement that may lie in the way. 3. And as walking is an uniform, progressive motion, it comprehends a constant, persevering progress in the good ways of the Lord, wherein they are instructed. (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 2:4 And He shall Judge among the nations . . . neither shall they learn war any more Christ’ s kingdom upon earth 1.When it is said that He should “ judge among the nations,” we must observe that the term is continually used in the Old Testament of the rule of a chief magistrate. Under the theocracy those who ruled the nation, as we read in Judges 2:1-23, and in many other places, were termed “ judges.” Of one of these it is said--“ The Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel, and he judged Israel, and went out to war,” --acted as their supreme ruler. And the same language is employed continually of those who ruled in Israel, under God their King. The prediction is very nearly parallel to one in the seventy-second Psalm respecting the Messiah: “ He shall judge” --or rule--“ the people with righteousness, and the poor with judgment.” Accordingly, in our text it is declared that the Messiah should be a Ruler “ among the nations.” This rule was to take place, according to the language of prophecy, when the Redeemer came into this world. Hence when our Lord was upon earth, He Himself proclaimed that “ the kingdom of heaven was at hand.” He directed His disciples to preach the same truth. And we know that a time is to come, when “ the kingdoms of the world are to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.” When our Saviour was upon earth He allowed the expression used by Nathaniel--“ Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel.” When He came in triumph into Jerusalem, and the people shouted out--“ Hosannah! I blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord,” our Lord did not repress the exultation. All believers, then, have already become subjects of His Kingdom, and He is stated in Scripture to be their King. He has a dominion, indeed, far more extensive than that of the Church; He has “ all power given Him in heaven and earth.” But the passage before us does not refer to this universal dominion, which He exercises in providence, but it speaks of the dominion of grace, His dominion limited to His Church--because it is a dominion that was to result from the promulgation of His Word out of Zion, and a dominion to be co-extensive with the exaltation of His Church of Zion. “ Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations.” (1) Since this dominion was to be established by the promulgation of the Word of God we may learn that no other ways are legitimate for the extension and establishment of Christ’ s Kingdom than this weapon of truth. (2) Till He establishes His dominion over any man’ s heart that man is not a Christian. (3) Christ has a right to rule. (Romans 14:9.) But it is here said, not merely that He shall judge among multitudes, among His universal Church, but, “ He shall judge among the nations,” by which we learn that He means still to multiply the numbers of His people, till nations are born in a day, and irreligion and rebellion against Christ on this earth shall be as rare as they are now general. 2. It was added, as a contemporaneous act of His sovereignty, “ He shall rebuke many people.” By that word “ rebuke” is evidently meant, He shall reprove them for their sinfulness. (1) Wherever He sets up His dominion over any heart He first makes that heart to feel bowed down by the load of its guilt. (2) Nations shall also be rebuked for their sinfulness. The Gospel tends to rebuke all abuses and evils among mankind--in Churches, governments, etc. 3. The effect of the Saviour’ s reign is further described; it is to be universal peace. “ They shall beat,” etc. (B. W. Noel, M. A.)Anomalies in the history of Christendom An obvious reflection which occurs to us, when reading this prediction--or at least which is likely to occur to anyone not well acquainted wire Scripture--is, that the effect of the Gospel, going forth from Zion and from Jerusalem, seemed from the very first to be quite the opposite of this prediction. How can it be said that the effect of the Gospel has been to introduce a universal peace, when it seems man fest from history that it has introduced universal disturbance and confusion? Our Lord Himself, when on earth, by His ministry and life, only led to a universal conspiracy against Him; and when He ascended to His glory, and His disciples began to preach in His name, it was the signal for general confusion. As that Gospel advanced, it was the signal for more savage opposition, till every part of the Roman empire was stained with the blood of Christ’ s followers, till everywhere there was a universal warfare among menu between those who were the advocates of the old system, and those who proclaimed the new. At length, when the empire was conquered, it was only to be the occasion of still wider and more sanguinary disturbances. Many as had perished through popular fury, or by legal interference, during the three first centuries, multitudes more perished, as the indirect consequence of the Gospel in after ages. When the Roman empire was shivered by the shock of barbarian invaders, and the feudal kingdoms of Europe rose in its place, in each of those kingdoms the castle of the noble frowned defiance upon the castle of every good and great man; the wars between neighbouring nations became interminable; and when at last the monarchies were consolidated, and the great modern monarchies rose out of that confusion, it was only to see in every page of history an interminable war fare between Christian nations. So that, for instance, in our own frontiers, the Border warfare between Scotland and England was almost interminable; and yet these were Christian nations; and the Christian nations of France and England were termed hereditary foes, and there was not a monarch of Europe that did not join in some sanguinary strife, to please a minister, or to gratify his own ambition, or for some vain pretence, as corrupt as it was often false. But this has not been the only way in which this prediction appears to have been perpetually frustrated--for there have actually been sanguinary wars that have arisen from no other cause than religion. The wars of Bohemia and the Low Countries, and the civil wars of France and many other countries which long raged in the hearts of nations, for no other cause than a difference in Christian doctrine, seem to be a contradiction of the prophecy in our text, beyond all apology. And even when the disturbances of nations have not risen to actual warfare, how lamentable have been the cruelties exercised over a profession belief in Christianity! See the dukes of Savoy soaking the valleys of Piedmont with the blood of their best subjects; see the rage of the Roman Catholic persecutors exhibiting itself in the massacre of St. Bartholomew; view the remorseless Dragonades in the south of France; see the many enormities which were perpetrated in our own country during the reigns of Henry the Seventh and Eighth, and Charles the First and Second. Carry your views to the northern parts of this island, and there see Claverhouse and his companions reeking with the blood of the guiltless Covenanters; cross the Channel, and see the Roman Catholics of Ireland massacring thousands of Protestants because they were Protestants, and the equally bloody return secured to them by the iron-hearted and relentless soldiers of Oliver Cromwell. So that everywhere massacre and misery have followed the introduction of the Gospel. Is this the fulfilment of the promise--“ They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” ? 1. Let us first notice, that the Gospel is not responsible for the acts of its enemies,--and in all the cases I have named its friends might still be like sheep in the midst of wolves. They might “ be wise as serpents, harmless as doves,” and yet all this slaughter might take place under the name of religion. They have been the enemies of the Gospel, and not its friends, who have thus manifested such savage cruelty and unprincipled cupidity towards their fellow men. 2. And let us notice, in the next place, that the prediction in our text was manifestly not to be fulfilled immediately; it was to take place “ in the last days” --and those “ last days” have not yet transpired. (B. W. Noel, M. A.)War during the Christian centuries, though peace predicted It may be said, that however guiltless the Gospel may have been of these sanguinary results, yet they are facts of history. The prediction was, universal peace to follow from the Gospel, and the experience has been universal war. Does not this seem to contradict the prediction? Nothing is more conclusive than the answer which may be given to this objection. 1. The Gospel was declared to be of a pacific tendency. It forbids all the causes of war in the world--pride, passion, cupidity, etc. It bids all who become the subjects of Christ’ s dominion to be mild and meek and patient as their Master was. 2. There must be the same pacific tendency among nations that are in any degree Christianised. 3. This tendency has not been and could not be wholly counteracted. It is true there have been these shameful wars; but it is no less true that under even the partial influence of the Gospel wars have in our day assumed a humanity which they never before manifested. 4. The influence of each individual Christian and the tendency of Christian institutions combine to secure the fulfilment of these prospects. And if so, may we not reasonably exult in this blessed doctrine of Christ? And if we look back with shame and pain on the history of the nations that call themselves Christian, let us seek our selves to manifest a better spirit and be men of peace. (B. W. Noel, M. A.)God the Arbitrator Here is a prediction of arbitration in case of war. “ He . . . shall rebuke many people.” Read the word “ rebuke” --He shall arbitrate amongst many people; He shall hear their cause; He shall redress their grievances; He shall determine their controversies, and men shall accept His award as final. (J. Parker, D. D.)Learning war no more Not learning war is something more than not continuing to practise it (Calvin), and signifies their ceasing to know how to practise it. (J. A. Alexander.)War I. THE AND CRIMES OF WAR. II. THE SOURCES OF WAR. Many will imagine that the first place ought to be given to malignity and hatred. But justice to human nature requires that we ascribe to national animosities a more limited operation than is usually assigned to them in the production of war. 1. One of the great springs of war is the strong and general propensity of human nature towards the love of excitement, of emotion, of strong interest. 2. Another powerful principle of our nature, which is a spring of war, is the passion for superiority, for triumph, for power. 3. Another powerful spring of war is the admiration of the brilliant qualities displayed in war. 4. Another cause of war is false patriotism. 5. Another spring of war, the impression (and false views of war)we receive in early life. These principal causes of war are of a moral nature. They may be resolved into wrong views of human glory, and into excesses of passions and desires, which, by right direction, would promote the best interests of humanity. From these causes we learn that this savage custom is to be repressed by moral means, by salutary influences on the sentiments and principles of mankind. III. THE OF WAR. Without taking an extreme position, we ought to assail war, by assailing the principles and passions which gave it birth, and by improving and exalting the moral sentiments of mankind. 1. Important service may be rendered to the cause of peace by communicating and enforcing just and elevated sentiments in relation to the true honour of rulers. 2. To these instructions should be added just sentiments as to the glory of nations. 3. Another most important method of promoting the cause of peace is to turn men’ s admiration from military courage to qualities of real nobleness and dignity. 4. Let Christian ministers exhibit, with greater clearness, the pacific and benevolent spirit of Christianity. (W. E. Channing, D. D.)Private war abolished There was a time, not very long ago, when private war was even more universal than public or international war is today. City against city! Baron against baron! Even private persons were entitled to settle their differences by judicial combat if they preferred. Right of trial by combat still survives in some European countries in the form of duelling. But with that solitary exception, private war has now been entirely abolished throughout the civilised world. How has this immense improvement been achieved? The fact to be specially remembered is that the barons of the Middle Ages submitted very reluctantly and slowly to the substitution of judicial arbitration for private war. Kings had not the power to compel, and the barons continually defied the kings. Gradually a more enlightened and moral public opinion grew up in favour of the rational and Christian method of settling disputes. At last the supremacy of law and of courts of justice became established. Private war is now impossible, so absolute is the triumph of Christianity in the internal affairs of the nation. Now, a precisely similar slow and intermittent change is evolving better order in international life. Barbarous and heathen governments still defy the dictates of reason and of conscience as the cities and barons of the Middle Ages did. But slowly and intermittently their ferocity is being overcome. Arbitration has already been substituted for war in a large number of important cases which, in any previous period of human history, would inevitably have deluged the world with blood. (H. P. Hughes, M. A.)War I. THE EVILS OF WAR. There are many evils we have to endure in this life that we cannot avoid. They are unforeseen, indirect, irresistible. Disease, domestic sorrows, adversity, and other evils befall men; but none can equal war. II. IT IS TO SETTLE BY WAR. No argument is necessary to prove that physical force can never settle the right or wrong of any question. The most powerful battalions are not always on the side of the just cause. And when a war is over, who accepts it as a final settlement of the question in dispute? Often a bloody war is followed by conferences and treaties, and after a vast expenditure of treasure and life, after the entrance of sorrow into many homes, the measures which should have been resorted to at first are the measures which decide the question How often one side accepts peace simply because, for the present, it can no longer prosecute war. The only true method of settling quarrels is by reason, the furnishing of explanations, the granting of concessions, the manifestation of a desire and purpose to agree. Two nations may thus settle their misunderstandings without calling in a third party, or they may call in others to arbitrate between them and agree to abide by their decision. A high court of arbitration is in full agreement with enlightened reason and Christian teaching; it seems in the highest degree practicable, and it would prove, in its operations and results, one of the greatest blessings to the nations of the earth. III. ONE OF THE MOST DUTIES OF MEN IS TO EMPLOY ALL MEANS FOR THE OF WAR. We should steadfastly set ourselves against the maintenance of large standing armies. We should leaven public opinion with the principles of peace by the press, in social intercourse, and by using our power as citizens in seeking to purge our Legislature as much as possible from warlike influences. There is no cause in which woman’ s influence may be more appropriately exercised or can have greater weight. Preachers of the Gospel should preach peace. (W. Walters.)Universal peace Let me attempt to do away a delusion which exists on the subject of prophecy. Its fulfillments are all certain, say many, and we have therefore nothing to do but to wait for them in passive and indolent expectation. Now, it is very true, that the Divinity will do His work in His own way, but if He choose to tell us that that way is not without the instrumentality of men, might not this sitting down into the mere attitude of spectators turn out to be a most perverse and disobedient conclusion! The prophecy of a peace as universal as the spread of the human race, and as enduring as the moon in the firmament, will meet its accomplishment; but it will be brought about by the activity of men--by the philanthropy of intelligent Christians. I. THE EVILS OF WAR. The mere existence of this prophecy is a sentence of condemnation upon war. So soon as Christianity shall gain a full ascendency in the world, war is to disappear. We have heard that there is something noble in the art of war; that there is something generous in the ardour of that fine chivalric spirit which kindles in the hour of alarm, and rushes with delight among the thickest scenes of danger and of enterprise; that expunge war, and you expunge some of the brightest names in the catalogue of human virtue, and demolish that theatre on which have been displayed some of the sublimest energies of the human character. One might almost be reconciled to the whole train of its calamities and its horrors, did he not believe his Bible, and learn that in the days of perfect righteousness, there will be no war;--that so soon as the character of man has had the last finish of Christian principle thrown over it, all the instruments of war will be thrown aside, and all its lessons forgotten. But apart altogether from this testimony to the evil of war, let us take a direct look at it, and see whether we can find its character engraven on the aspect it bears to the eye of an attentive observer. Were the man who stands before you in the full energy of health, to be in another moment laid by some deadly aim a lifeless corpse at your feet, there is not one of you who would not prove how strong are the relentings of nature at a spectacle so hideous as death. But generally the death of violence is not instantaneous, and there is often a sad and dreary interval between its final consummation, and the infliction of the blow which causes it. A soldier may be a Christian, and from the bloody field on which his body is laid, his soul may wing its way to the shores of a peaceful eternity. But when I think that the Christians form but a little flock, and that an army is not a propitious soil for the growth of Christian principle; when I follow them to the field of battle, and further think, that on both sides of an exasperated contest the gentleness of Christianity can have no place in almost any bosom, but that nearly every heart is lighted up with fury, and breathes a vindictive purpose against a brother of the species, I cannot but reckon it among the most fearful of the calamities of war, that while the work of death is thickening along its ranks, so many disembodied spirits should pass into the presence of Him who sitteth upon the throne, in such a posture, and with such a preparation. II. Let me direct your attention to THOSE WHICH STAND IN THE WAY OF THE OF WAR, and which threaten to retard, for a time, the accomplishment of this prophecy. 1. The first great obstacle is the way in which the heart of man is carried off from its barbarities and its horrors, by the splendour of its deceitful accompaniments. There is a feeling of the sublime in contemplating the shock of armies, just as there is in contemplating the devouring energy of a tempest; and this so elevates and engrosses the whole man, that his eye is blind to the tears of bereaved parents, and his ear is deaf to the piteous moan of the dying, and the shriek of their desolated families. There is a gracefulness in the picture of a youthful warrior burning for distinction on the field, and lured by this generous aspiration to the deepest of the animated throng, where, in the fell work of death, the opposing sons of valour struggle for a remembrance and a name; and this side of the picture is so much the exclusive object of our regard, as to disguise from our view the mangled carcasses of the fallen, and the writhing agonies of the hundred and the hundreds more who have been laid on the cold ground, where they are left to languish and die. On every side of me I see causes at work which go to spread a most delusive colouring over war, and to remove its shocking barbarities to the background of our contemplations altogether. I see it in the history which tells me of the superb appearance of the troops and the brilliancy of their successive charges. I see it in the poetry which lends the magic of its numbers to the narrative of blood, and transports its many admirers, as by its images and figures and its nodding plumes of chivalry it throws its treacherous embellishments over a scene of legalised slaughter. 2. But another obstacle to the extinction of war is the sentiment that the rules and promises of the Gospel which apply to a single individual, do not apply to a nation of individuals. If forbearance be the virtue of an individual, forbearance is also the virtue of a nation. If it be the glory of a man to defer his anger, and to pass over a transgression, that nation mistakes its glory which is so feelingly alive to the slightest insult, and musters up its threats and its armaments upon the faintest shadow of a provocation. If it be the magnanimity of an injured man to abstain from vengeance, and if by so doing, he heap coals of fire upon the head of his enemy, then that is the magnanimous nation, which, recoiling from violence and from blood, will do no more than send its Christian embassy, and prefer its mild and impressive remonstrance; and that is the disgraced nation which will refuse the impressiveness of the moral appeal that has been made to it. III. IT IS ONLY BY THE OF AMONG THE PEOPLE OF THE EARTH THAT THE OF WAR WILL AT LENGTH BE SWEPT AWAY FROM IT. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)The world’ s deliverance from war Ever since the fall, our world has exhibited much of degradation and misery; and it is lamentably true, that a vast amount of its wretchedness has been produced by the active agency of its own inhabitants. Man has hated and oppressed his fellow man But how delightful is it to think that we have been assured by the word of Divine inspiration, that it is the design of the great Creator of all things, to reclaim our earth from its state of degradation and wickedness and misery, and to make it again the scene of holiness and harmony and happiness! I. THE NATURE OF THE EVIL TO BE REMOVED. This evil is represented to consist in the lifting up of the sword, and in the learning of the art of war. II. THE OF THE CHANGE TO BE . “ They shall beat,” etc. The period is to arrive, in the history of our world, in which the operation of those unholy passions by which so much destruction and misery has been produced, shall be subdued; and in which the principle of love to God and to men shall be delightfully predominant within the human bosom. III. THE MEANS BY WHICH THE HAPPY IS TO BE . Swords are to be beaten “ into” ploughshares, and spears to pruning hooks, and war is no more to be learned, when many people shall go and say, “ Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, for He will teach us of His ways.” Hence, it appears that the change is to be produced by the agency of the Gospel. There may be other instrumentalities era subordinate nature brought into operation, such as the commercial intercourse of nations with each other, and the knowledge which they may acquire of their mutual interests and dependencies; but the religion of Jesus is to be the principal cause of the termination of hostilities in our world, and the introduction of the reign of universal peace and felicity. The Gospel of Christ informs us of the source whence all our enmities and contentions proceed, even from the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of our hearts. The Gospel of Christ first of all reconciles man to his God, and then works within him the dispositions which lead him to be reconciled to his fellow man, and to “ love him with a pure heart fervently.” The Gospel of Christ inculcates those principles of peace and goodwill, the recognition of which composes differences, softens down resentments, inspires with forgiving and kindly feelings, and prompts, to deeds of beneficence. It is the testimony of experience, moreover, that nothing but the Gospel of Christ has ever opposed the system of war, and diminished in any degree the amount of the evil which it occasions. The ancient philosophy dignified with the name of virtues the unholy passions from which it arose, and the poets of the olden times made it the theme of their highest admiration, and of their sweetest praise. The classical heathenism of Greece and of Rome had its god and goddess of war, and represented its deities as mingling in the fray and delighting in the carnage of the battlefield. But Jesus appeared in our world as the Prince of Peace; and one of the most delightful precepts of His meek and gentle faith is, “ Blessed are the peace makers, for they shall be called the children of God.” What was it but the spirit of Christianity which put an end to the cruel gladiator ships of the amphitheatre of Rome? What was it but the spirit of Christianity which subdued the fierceness of the Huns, the Goths, and the Vandals of former times, and made so many of them the soldiers of the Cross and the followers of the Captain of our salvation? (W. M’Kerrow.)The cessation of war an effect of the prevalence of Christianity Notwithstanding any accompanying references, we cannot hesitate to take this for a prediction of times yet to come. Evidently, it has never yet been fulfilled. 1. It is as conjoined with very nearly the beginning of our race, that we have to look upon this direful phenomenon. But how strange, for a creature, come fresh, living, and pure, from the beneficent Creator’ s hands! The least that we can think of that original state of man is, that there must have been in his soul the principle of all kind affections,--a state of feeling that would have been struck with horror at the thought of inflicting suffering. And, from the creature thus originally constituted, all the race was to descend. Can such a nature ever rage with malignity and revenge, and riot in suffering and destruction? Yet, in this original family, in the very first degree of the descent, war and slaughter began. While we think of the deadly conflicts of those early ages, the idea may occur to us of the peculiar atrocity of destroying a life which might, in the course of nature, have lasted so long. Living beings cloven down or mortally pierced or poisoned or burnt that might have lived seven or eight centuries, for improvement, for serving God, for usefulness, for whatever happiness there might have been in this world or preparation for another! 2. The world began anew in the person and family of a selected patriarch, whom alone “ the Lord had seen righteous in that Generation.” Now, then, for a better race,--if the human nature were intrinsically good, or corrigible by the most awful dispensations. But all in vain! The flood could not cleanse the nature of man; nor the awful memory and memorials of it repress the coming forth of selfishness, pride, ambition, anger, and revenge. 3. The sacred history, after Just recounting some successions of names in the different branches of the new race, limits its narrative to the origin and progress of what became the Jewish people--Abraham and his posterity. Their history, however, in proceeding downward, involves much of that of the surrounding nations. And some of the profane histories go far back into the period subsequent to the deluge. And what is so conspicuous over all the view, as wars and devastations? There is one portion of this tragical exhibition which we are to take out of the account of ordinary war, namely, the war of extirpation against the Canaanites. But, setting this portion of the history aside, think of the long course of sanguinary conflicts within the boundary of the selected nation itself, between Israel and Judah. Besides the slaughters, of battle and massacre, within each separately, of these two divisions of that people, add, all their wars with Syria and Egypt, with the Babylonian, Grecian, and Roman powers, closed finally, in that most awful catastrophe, the siege and destruction of Jerusalem. 4. Then glance a moment over the wider view of the whole ancient world; as far abroad and as high up in time as history has made it visible. The human race is exhibited, in some regions, in the form of numerous small states. But their smallness of size and strength was not the measure of their passions. What we are certain to read of them is, that they attacked and fought one another with the ferocity of wild beasts. By some ambitious “ conquering hero” a great number of these were subdued and moulded together into a great kingdom, on one large space of the earth, and the same on another. And then with a tremendous clash, these empires came into conflict. 5. But now if we could take one grand compass of view over the earth, and down through time from that period to this! What a vision of destruction! And to complete the account--as if the whole solid earth were not wide enough--the sea has been coloured with blood, and received into its dark gulf myriads of slain, as if it could not destroy enough by its tempests and wrecks! Reflections-- (1) What a state of the spirit of mankind, of their heart and intellect is here disclosed before us! (2) What a state of their social constitution, and of their national situation, that the mass and strength of nations should, over the greatest part of the world, be at the absolute disposal of a few individuals, for this very business of war! (3) What a state of the moral sense, that there should be whole hosts of men, leaders and followers, capable of holding themselves totally divested of all personal responsibility for right and wrong, in the zealous prosecution of such achievements! (4) What a state of Christianity, as to any real, vital prevalence of it among the nations denominated Christian! (John Foster.)War I. SOME OF THE LEADING OF WAR, AS IN GOD’ S WORD. 1. The cause of war (James 4:1-2). From this passage, we see that just as in domestic broils, just as in strifes between sects and parties, so in strifes between nation and nation--they all proceed from the lusts of men, and from that carnal mind which is enmity against God. 2. We learn from God’ s Word that war is a tremendous evil. What horror filled the soul of the prophet Jeremiah, when he heard the rumour of war--“ My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketha noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war” (Jeremiah 4:19). See again Jeremiah 47:2-3, how the prophet describes the distress and anguish of the Philistines at the approach of an invading army--an anguish so great and so terrible, as to lead them even to forget the common ties of humanity. See again Deuteronomy 28:50-51, how Moses speaks of the devastating force of an invading army; and Joe 2:2, where the prophet describes the day of the Lord as compared to an invading army. 3. God’ s Word shows us that war is one of God’ s scourges, by which He punishes guilty nations for their wickedness. In Ezekiel 14:21, the sword |s distinctly spoken of as one of God’ s four sore judgments. 4. God’ s Word shows us that it is He alone who can bring war to an end. Psalms 46:9.) In every war God has a special design of His own to fulfil--a purpose into which the eye of mortality can never pierce--but untilthat purpose is executed the war can never end. (Jeremiah 47:6-7.) 5. God’ s Word shows that war is to be the immediate precursor of the terrors of the latter days. (Joe 3:9, etc.; Matthew 24:6.) 6. God’ s Word declares that there is a time approaching when wars will forever cease. II. LESSONS. 1. What is our present duty 2. The necessity of being prepared for the things that are coming upon the earth. 3. The awfulness of being overtaken unprepared. You will be speechless. (A. W.Snape, M. A.)The means by which this prophecy is to be fulfilled I. A PROPER OF THE OF WAR must prepare the way for universal peace. II. THE OF THE WORD OF GOD. Nothing but the Word of God can effect the cure of this moral distemper--nothing but the Spirit of God can subdue the native principles of the heart--nothing but the salvation of the Gospel can remove the evil we deplore. There is no other remedy can reach the core of the malady. III. THE PRAYERS OF must accompany the other means used for the establishment of peace. (J. Gray, M. A.)War to cease I. HUMAN IS A FEATURE IN THE BRIGHT PICTURE OF FUTURE . The inhabitants of the earth throughout the millennium, when the globe is to be covered with its first beauty, are not to subsist without some measure of labour. They are to use the ploughshare and the pruning hook; and this use is sufficient to show that the ground will not then yield its fruits, except in return for the toil of the husbandman. It seems to indicate how accurately the world will be put back into its condition before defiled by sin--that a necessity for toiling should be alleged or implied; though all that is painful or exhausting in labour must be supposed to have ceased. We are greatly struck by the carefulness displayed throughout the Bible, to put honour on industry, and to represent labour as in the largest sense an appointment of God. The too common sup position is, that labour was a curse which disobedience provoked, whereas labour was appointed unto man while yet in the full enjoyment of the favour of his God. We are so constituted, that labour is indispensable to our happiness, to the strengthening of our faculties, and to the preservation of a wholesome tone in our spirits. We know not whether the going to the armouries, and ransacking them for the materials of the implements of agriculture, may not mark such increase in the number of the inhabitants of the world, as would require continued effort on the part of the husbandman to keep pace with the growing demand, so that ploughshares and pruning hooks are not furnished fast enough, and swords and spears must be made to do their office. But we now proceed to consider what seems given as the reason for this conversion of the instruments of war into the implements of husbandry. II. THERE WILL BE NO FURTHER USE FOR THE ARMS OF WAR--“ Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” It is Isaiah’ s assertion, that the cessation of war is to result from the general diffusion of Christian principles. And there is no difficulty in tracing the necessary connection between the sovereignty of Christ and the extinction of war; for the tendency of the religion of Jesus is to bind the whole world in brotherhood. III. WAR SHALL NOT ONLY CEASE AS AN , BUT ALSO AS A SCIENCE--“ Neither shall they learn war any more.” They shall not only enjoy the liberty of peace--for peace may be, and too commonly is a season in which war is studied, and preparations are made for future battles; they shall be so secure of peace being permanent, that the arts of attack and defence will fall into oblivion, and the whole array of military tactics pass from the world like the science of the necromancer, or any other exploded and reprobated study. We find no hint in Scripture, but altogether the reverse, that the profession of a soldier cannot harmonise with godliness. The angel sent to the Roman centurion bore no message as to the unlawfulness of his calling. But these admissions are quite in harmony with what we have stated as to the condemnation of war, which is wound up in the sentence that war is a science. That men should not merely have been roused by sudden passion into the doing violence to one another, but that they should actually have studied how best to effect the butchery of thousands, having their schools and establishments in which numbers may be trained in the art of destruction--this, of itself, presents such a picture of human depravity as would serve for the painter who might desire to exhibit it in the darkest possible colours. There is a great difference between a prophecy which should assert the termination of war as an employment, and another which affirms its termination as a science; since the former might only show the existence of a restraining power, whereas the latter indicates such a forgetfulness or renunciation of everything military as requires the supposing the human race universally changed, and all the elements of discord eradicated from every bosom. (H. Melvill, B. D.)William Penn The King of England strongly urged William Penn (the founder of Pennsylvania), out of the king’ s great respect for his father, Admiral Penn, as he was going out with many followers amongst known savages, to take out with him sufficient troops which should be placed at his service. It was averred that William Penn and his followers would speedily be placed in the war kettle of the untutored Indians, if he did not go out well armed to protect himself and his large colony. In the spirit of his Master, the Prince of Peace, he declined to take any soldiers; he went open handed and unarmed to the red men! When the Council of State was held, the red men believed in William Penn’ s professions of amity, and they always thereafter lived in peace! When the Indians disagreed amongst their several tribes they frequently took their differences to be settled “ justly” by William Penn, or their “ Father Onas,” as they became accustomed to call him. (James Withers.)War sometimes justifiable A war undertaken in self-defence is natural and right, and under the rights of self-defence must be included the protection of our countrymen in distant lands and of our interests in the future as well as in the present. It must be carried on with a serious mind, with a consistent purpose, and not without the hope of benefiting other nations as well as ourselves; it can only be justified by the event whether it leaves the world better off than it found it. There are many evils for which war provides the only remedy, and we cannot say that centuries of oppression are better than a struggle for independence. The religion of Christ gives no sanction or encouragement to war. The conscience of mankind acknowledges that while wars continue there is something not altogether right in the world; and yet under given circumstances it may be the duty of a nation to strike the blow; the greatest safety may be the willingness to meet the greatest danger. (Prof. B. Jowett, D. D.)The evils of war--loss of life What a fearful loss of human life it entails! It is computed that Alexander and Caesar caused, each of them, the death of two millions of the human race. Bonaparte’ s campaign in Russia carried death to five hundred thousand human beings, and in the vast majority of that number death was accompanied by the most awful sufferings. At Borodino in one day eighty thousand were sacrificed amid the most horrid cruelties. The next day it was found that a surface of about nine squares miles was covered with the killed and wounded; the latter lying one upon another, destitute of assistance, weltering in their blood, uttering fearful groans, and beseeching any who passed by to put an end to their excruciating torments. During the burning of Moscow, twelve thousand wounded were in the hospitals; and almost all perished in the flames. No tongue or pen can describe the horrors of the retreat. “ Multitudes of these desolate fugitives,” says Sir R.K. Porter, in his Narrative of the Campaign in Russia, “ lost their speech, others were seined with frenzy, and many were so maddened by the extremes of pain and hunger that they tore the dead bodies of their comrades into pieces, and feasted on the remains.” The last Russian war cost this country a hundred thousand human lives. Hundreds of thousands fell victims during the Franco-German war. In one sortie from Metz four hundred wives were made widows, and upwards of a thousand children fatherless, out of a single Prussian regiment in the course of an hour. What barbarities are practised! What disastrous results follow! What desolation to fertile and flourishing districts of country! What a blight shed on commerce! What an increase of taxation! What corruption to public morals! It is impossible to exaggerate, in conception or statement, the evils of war. (W. Waiters.)The enormous cost of war When Napoleon’ s army marched up towards Moscow, they burned every house for one hundred and fifty miles. Our Revolutionary war cost the English Government six hundred and eighty millions of dollars. The wars growing out of the French Revolution cost England three thousand millions of dollars. Christendom--or, as I might mispronounce it in order to make the fact more appalling, Christendom--has paid in twenty-two years fifteen thousand million dollars for battle. Those were the twenty-two years, I think, ending in 1820 or thereabout. Edmund Burke estimated that the nations of thin world had expended thirty-five thousand million dollars in war; but he did his ciphering before our great American and European wars were plunged. He never dreamed that in this land, in the latter part of this century, in four years, we should expend in battle three thousand million dollars. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)Enormous sacrifice of human life through war In one battle, under Julius Caesar, four hundred thousand fell. Under Xerxes, in one campaign, five millions were Slain. Under Jengispham, at Herat, one million six hundred thousand were slain. At Nishar, one million seven hundred and forty-seven thousand were slain. At the siege of Ostend, one hundred and twenty thousand. At Acre three hundred thousand. At the siege of Troy, one million eight hundred and sixteen thousand fell. The Tartar and African wars cost one hundred and eighty million lives. The wars against the Turks and the Saracens cost one hundred and eighty million lives. Added to all these, the million who fell in our own conflict. Then take the fact that thirty-five times the present population of the earth have fallen in battle. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)The greatest peace The greatest peace can only be secured by the entire extinction, as speedily as possible, of the false Gospels of Materialism and Force. Empires built on Force have never persisted. Military kingdoms must pass away. No nation was ever more military than Rome; it was armed from head to foot; it was a great fighting empire, and though it lasted long it had to go. The seven Oriental empires that preceded Rome were military; they, too, have disappeared. Permanence of empire depends on peace, social justice, liberty, and brotherhood. (J. Clifford, D. D.)Christian achier and war There is no reason why a Christian soldier should not as vehemently denounce war as a medical man attacks disease, as a minister does sin. Success would mean in either ease an end of their work, but that in either case were a consummation devoutly to be wished. The sooner the profession of arms becomes unnecessary and impossible, the better for everybody. (H. P. Hughes, M. A.) Isaiah 2:5O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord Mutual encouragement I. FELLOW FEELING. All who are anxious for their own welfare, desire the welfare of others. II. MUTUAL . Two together are stronger than two apart. “ Let us” A weak brother at our side will not only get help but will afford us assistance. III. . “ Let us walk in the light of the Lord.” The light is the place for safety. Light is life, darkness is death. IV. . “ The light of the Lord.” God is the only source of light, but He is an all-efficient source. He never can fail. God is light. (Homilist.)An invitation to repentance I. THIS IS ISAIAH’ S TO HIS TO REPENT. To feel the full force of his appeal we must notice the connection of the text with its context. 1. The prophet commences by quoting (Isaiah 2:2-4) what is probably an ancient prediction, quoted also by Micah (Micah 4:1-3). The people would doubt less look eagerly for the fulfilment of this prophecy, so agreeable to their national hopes. But no sign of its accomplishment was to be seen. They were indeed enjoying in the reign of Uzziah a season of secular prosperity, but they were far from being “ established in the top of the mountains” ; they were surrounded by watchful foes, and certainly there were no signs of the long foretold reign of peace. 2. The light of worldly prosperity had not brought them the fulfilment of the prophecy of peace. Isaiah then bids them “ walk in the light of the Lord” ; for, as he goes on to show, God had forsaken His people on account of those sins which their prosperity had engendered. Therefore it was that this prophecy was not fulfilled to them. Their very prosperity kept them back from greater prosperity (verses 6-9). 3. But this state of things could not continue. If they refuse to walk in the light of the Lord, He will not only withdraw the promised blessings, but will humble them by taking away the prosperity they already enjoyed (verses 10-21). II. THE OF THE CHURCH OF GOD THUS BY ISAIAH REMAINS ALMOST TO THE PRESENT DAY. 1. We still look for the time when “ the mountain of the Lord’ s house shall be established in the top of the mountains,” and the promised “ peace on earth” shall be realised; but we see no sign of its immediate approach. The Church still continues beset with foes, unable to stem the rising tide of rationalism and unbelief; and certainly these are no signs of the long-foretold reign of peace. 2. If we inquire why this is so, the answer is the same as it was in the days of Isaiah. We do not, with a single eye, walk in the light of the Lord. We enjoy a large measure of worldly prosperity. Science and secular knowledge and useful arts make rapid progress, and in their light we walk, too often forgetting that it is but a reflected radiance, borrowed from the one source of all true light. If the Church makes some impression upon the world, the world also makes great inroads upon the Church. 3. But this state of things cannot last forever. Isaiah of old spake of the day of the Lord, which would surely overtake His people if they continued to follow their own inventions and to neglect God. A yet greater and more terrible day of the Lord is at hand. In that day all the pride of our modern civilisation, its wisdom and knowledge, will aid us no more than the idols of silver and gold, unless withal we are found walking in the light of the Lord. (A. K. Cherril, M. A.)Walking in the light of the Lord To “ walk in the light of the Lord” implies-- I. THAT WE AVAIL OF HIS OF TRUTH. II. THAT WE ORDER THE COURSE OF OUR LIVES TO HIS EXAMPLE AND THE OF HIS WORD AND SPIRIT (Jeremiah 10:23). III. . It supposes that we leave behind our former darkness and sin, our slothfulness and error, and march every day some distance on our road to eternal life. IV. LIGHT AND JOY; and if we “ walk in the light of the Lord,” we must have the only true happiness and peace. The truth of the Gospel is enough to cause constant exultation. (Homilist.)Walking in the light of the Lord I. THE IMPORT OF THE WORDS, “ the light of the Lord.” There appears here to be an allusion to that striking token of special guardianship which was vouchsafed to the Israelites in the Shechinah as it appeared to the Church in the wilderness; which, while it was the recognised token of special favour from God, indicated also their course of movement. The expression “ to walk in the light of the Lord,” we regard-- 1. As indicative of a cordial reception of His truth. Light is the general emblem of knowledge; and there are many striking points of analogy between religious knowledge and light. The phrase is applicable to the whole body of Divine revelation, which may be viewed as the light of God, that breaks forth, as it were, from His countenance: His countenance, which is the emblem of His immaculate purity, as well as His infinite intelligence. He is said “ to dwell in the light which no man can approach unto.” And this is also significant of the glory of revealed truth--it is the very light in which the perfections of God stand manifested; the light that develops to us His secret counsels, His plans of government, especially His plan of saving mercy; the light, in allusion to which the prophet elsewhere speaks when he says, “ Arise, shine, for thy light is come,” etc. (1) This expression is applicable to the law--that law which embodied the principles of the truth, indeed the only authenticated truth which then existed in the world. It was the purpose of God that His Church should walk in this light under that preparatory dispensation; that the Church should travel onward to meet the superior splendours of the Gospel dispensation, the dispensation of the Sun of Righteousness. (2) To the Gospel, especially, the expression “ the light of the Lord” is exceedingly applicable. This is that great light which shines in the midst of the darkness of the world. This is the glory of the Lord which is “ revealed.” And this Gospel also threw its light on the future; it abolished death; it proclaimed a resurrection. The Gospel showed, also, the principles on which God governs the world, both moral and providential; that the whole world is under mediatorial government; and that everything is moved for religious purposes--to support the Church, to diffuse the truth. To “ walk,” then, “ in the light of the Lord” with respect to the Jews, was to retain the faith which had been handed down to the Church; to retain it free from all Gentile delusion, from all pagan intermixture, from all rabbinical subtleties. 2. To “ walk in the light of the Lord,” seems to imply the full reception of all the blessings which the light revealed. And there is this idea suggested in this view of the phrase, “ the light of the Lord,” that there is an inseparable connection between the truth of God and the favour of God. Whilst the truth creates piety, the piety of the Church is to react on the Church and preserve it from decline. 3. To “ walk in the light of the Lord” implies the zealous prosecution of all those duties which the light unfolds. (1) It seems to imply that the Church is bound to avow herself, not to put her light under a bushel. (2) Also that there is to be an aggressive spirit in the Church, arising from those views of evil which the light will give, and which while they concern the purity of the Church, are thrown on the mass of darkness which surrounds the Church. (3) To “ walk in the light of the Lord,” is to direct the spirit of enterprise in the Church. The ancient Church itself had an office to perform to the world. That Church had to preserve the primitive theology, to protest against the corruptions of paganism: to show, in the connection of religion with public as well as personal happiness, the folly of Gentile paganism, and to show the absolute necessity of submission to the spiritual government of Almighty God. (Isaiah 2:3.) The Church in her purest ages walked in this light of evangelical enterprise; and her achievements were noble--in beneficence most splendid, in its results the most excellent of the world. And there are in modern times the same decisive evidences of the Divine will as it respects the Church. 4. To “ walk in the light of the Lord” is to walk in the calm contemplation of the final fulfilment of prophecy. II. THE MOTIVES OR WHICH ENFORCE THIS . 1. There is moral obligation, for what is moral obligation but submission to the will of God--and to Him who is the Sovereign, we being the subjects? Therefore it is incumbent on us to submit to, and to recognise His will, to love His law, to mark His rule, and to feel all the force of the sanctions appended to that rule. This may be very appropriately illustrated by the very phrase itself: it is “ the light of the Lord” --the light of Jehovah, sovereign light; the light dispensed by Him for special purposes and the natural light does not more clearly indicate its office than the moral light indicates the special intentions of the God of heaven. This light is given for a special purpose; it is directing light; and saving light; it regulates the degree of personal as well as collective responsibility. 2. Then there is also obligation specially induced by conviction of privilege. Privilege exists wherever light exists. There was nothing in the Jewish Church which bore any comparison to the gift of religious truth to that nation. Any nation that has the light of the Lord and the ability to use it, is signally privileged, and attains the very altitude of human glory. All this is not given us for vain glory; it is conferred that we might preach Christ and bring the world under His government. 3. The blessings attendant on walking in the light of the Lord. There is personal salvation, for instance, diffused to the very greatest possible extent. Then, if you look at the subject simply in reference to Churches, there is a very powerful motive; for, to “ walk in the light of the Lord” is the sole condition for retaining the light. (G. Steward.)Walk in the light From looking into the future Isaiah comes back to his work of trying to amend the present. He neither wastes time in singing funereal dirges over Israel’ s decay, nor spends his life in useless reveries about the future. He saw the sad present, and wept; he saw the bright future, and rejoiced; and then set to work with heart and tongue to arouse the nation, crying, “ O house of Jacob,” etc. So let us all act. I. THE SECRET CAUSE OF THIS PEOPLE’ S GUILT--moral and spiritual gloom. By implication, at least, we learn from this text that moral darkness is the fruitful mother of every species of iniquity. One master stroke of Paul’ s pen gives the secret of the sins of Rome in his day--“ their foolish heart was darkened. The way of the wicked,” says Solomon, “ is as darkness.” I. Let us dwell upon the natural darkness of men-- (1) Observe that sin blinds men as to its own nature. Its solicitations to our first parents were such as to hide from their innocent, unsuspecting minds all knowledge of its own hideous features; and not until it was too late did they know what an evil and bitter thing it was to sin against the Lord. Not till sin has done its work does it allow itself to be seen and known It is in the month honey, but when eaten a deadly poison. It changes its shape like Proteus, and its colours like the chameleon. It has the fascinating voice of a siren, luring to destruction. (2) Sin also deceives men as to their own moral condition. (Isaiah 5:20.) (3) Sin, moreover, hides from man the deep spirituality of the Divine law. He is in the dark as to its inner meaning and far-reaching influence. If he observes the letter of the law he thinks he has done well. He altogether overlooks the fact that “ whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” (4) Sin also darkens the mind and heart of man as to the Divine character. This must be so, because it is only the pure in heart who can see God. 2. This darkness is wilfully and wickedly incurred. If the “ house of Jacob” were ignorant of the character of God, this was their own fault, for God had revealed Himself in manifold and marvellous ways. And if they had sufficient light who dwelt in the dim dawn of revelation, what shall be said of us who have the accumulated light of intervening centuries? II. We have THE ONE REMEDY . “ Walk in the light of the Lord.” Like all Divine remedies it is striking in its simplicity. 1. Get into the light. Con version is the passing of the soul “ out of darkness into His marvellous light.” What is this light? (1) The people to whom this exhortation was first addressed would, I think, understand by it the light of the Divine Word. To Israel the words of the prophet meant, “ Study the law of the Lord, and so come into the light of that law.” To us they mean, “ Search the Scriptures,” and so come into the light of Divine truth. Bible reading of itself will not save, but it reveals the Saviour who can and will. (2) Isaiah also meant by this exhortation that they should get into the light of communion with God. They bad sought fellowship with idols, but now Isaiah calls them to return to fellowship with Jehovah. Every blessing is born of communion. The diamond which sparkles and flashes out rays of light was once but a piece of black coal It had no inherent light. It is as if by some mysterious process the light has become absorbed until it has transformed that black substance into the likeness of its own essence. Thus the nature of the sinner, black and dark through sin, becomes, in communion with the eternal, pure and beautiful with the light of God. 2. Make progress in the light. “ Walk in the light.” Both the Old Testament and the New speak of the daily life of the godly man as a walk, suggesting that it is to be a progressive life. 3. Associate with the children of light. “ Let us walk in the light of the Lord,” says Isaiah. He will not walk in the light alone, but will seek the company of those like minded with himself. He will use his influence to induce others to walk in the light with him. (W. Williams.)The gentle strength of light I have seen the sun with a little ray of distant light challenge all the powers of darkness, and without violence and noise, climbing up the hill, hath made night so retire that its memory was lost in the joys and sprightliness of the morning. If physical light hath such gentle strength, how much more hath spiritual. (Bp. Taylor.)Walking in the light ensures ever-increasing revelation That is the only preparation for further revelation. Walking in the light, we shall receive increase of illumination; thankful for the morning dawn, we shall see the noontide splendour; faithful in a little, we shall be entrusted with much; honest children of the twilight, we shall yet see things in their largest and grandest reality. If we do the will, we shall know the doctrine. (J. Parker, D. D.)Nations prosper as they walk in the light of the Lord There is inscribed upon the pedestal of the statue of Samuel Morley, late M.P. for Bristol, this sentence, quoted from a speech of his, that tallies with the experience of every country, ancient or modern: “ I believe that the power of England is to be reckoned, not by her wealth or armies, but the purity and virtue of the great mass of her population.” (F. Sessions.)National religion Religious Ideas alone have power to transform a nation’ s tendencies and actions. The religious idea is the very breath of humanity,--its life, soul, conscience, and manifestation. (Mazzini.)The light cure Lately we have discovered a new method by which a terrible disease can be cured. It is called the light method, and the cure is wrought by concentrating upon the scarred and diseased form a powerful and peculiar light. The effect of the light is so great that in time the disease is arrested and the skin becomes healthy and natural. (Sunday School Chronicle.)Best things seen in God’ s light Dr. Charles Berry said, in the last pastoral letter he wrote, “ There are some things--the best things--that can only be seen when the lights of life are turned low, and the light of God is left to shine alone.” The limitations of earthly light Clear and brilliant light often brings out exquisite colours, as happens among the Alps and also in the north frigid zone, where the humble little plants called lichens and mosses are in many cases dyed of the most brilliant hues, purple and gold predominating. Warmth, in like manner, will stimulate vegetable growth in the most astonishing manner, but it is growth not necessarily accompanied by the secretion of valuable substances, such as give quality and real importance to the plant. In English hot houses, for example, we have plenty of spice trees, those generous plants that yield cinnamon and cassia, the nutmeg and the clove; but although healthy and blossoming freely, they never mature their aromatic secretions. Though they have artificial heat equal to that of their native islands, which burn beneath the sun of the Indian Ocean, we cannot supply them with similar and proportionate solar light. Our cloudy skies shut us in from the full and direct radiance of the sunshine, and wanting this, heat alone will not avail. (Scientific Illustrations and Symbols.) Isaiah 2:6-9 Therefore Thou hast forsaken Thy people God never forsaken without good reason “ Therefore Thou hast forsaken Thy people. ” The term is logical God never forsakes His people in any whimsical way: He is not a man, or a son of man, that He should treat His creatures arbitrarily, moodily, renew full of sunshine in relation to them, and now covered with great clouds, without giving any reason for the change. It is a most noticeable feature in Biblical revelation that when God forsakes men He gives the reason for abandoning them. The reason is always moral. God never leaves man because he is little, or weak, or self-distrustful, or friendless, or homeless, or broken hearted; when God forsakes man it is because man has first forsaken Him, broken His laws, defied His sword, challenged His judgment, forsaken with ungrateful abandonment the altar at which the life has received its richest blessing. So, never let us neglect the word “ therefore” in reading concerning Divine judgments. God will never forsake the life that trusts Him. (J. Parker, D. D.)A forsaken people Read: “ for Thou hast cast off . . . they strike hands” (make alliances) “ with the children of strangers.” (A. B. Davidson, LL. D.)God claims the sole sovereignty of the life When we are forsaken it is because we have forsaken God. Is God to be the companion of idols? Is the Lord to be invited into darkened rooms, that He may be one of the deities of the universe, and take His place in order of seniority or of nominal superiority? Is He to be invited to compete with the fancies of the human brain for the sovereignty of human mind and the arbitrament of human destiny? Herein He is a jealous God. “ The Lord alone shaft be exalted in that day.” If we make gods we must be content with the manufactures which we produce; but we never can persuade the eternal God to sit down with our wooden deities, and hold counsel with the inventions and fictions of a diseased imagination. “ Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” “ If Baal be God, serve him; if the Lord, serve Him.” (J. Parker, D. D.)God had forsaken them as their Father and Friend God had forsaken them as their Father and Friend, but He comes to call them to account as their Judge. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)A sad sequence: money leading to idolatry Observe how the sequence runs: money in abundance: money will buy horses, and horses stand for power: horses will need chariots, and chariots mean dash, speed, ostentation--money, horses, chariots, can men end there? They cannot; and given money, horses, chariots, without a corresponding sanctification, without the inworking of that spirit of self-control which expresses the action of the Holy Ghost, and you compel men to go farther and to Fall their land with idols. The sequence cannot be broken Men may have money, horses, chariots, and the true God; but when men have money, horses, chariots, and no god that is true, they will make gods for themselves, for they must eke out their ostentation by some sort of nominal piety. (J. Parker, D. D.)Spiritual idolatry Men will build churches; men must have religious rites and ceremonies; and what can suit the worldly man better than an idol that takes no notice of him, a wooden deity that never troubles him with its disciplinary obligations. (J. Parker, D. D.)An honoured yet God-forsaken people I. The house of Jacob is here honoured with the character of THE PEOPLE OF GOD. They were His in a special manner, in consequence of His choosing them for His peculiar people; redeeming them with a strong hand and stretched out arm; and entering into covenant with them, so that they became His property, were called by His name, and professedly devoted to His service. II. Notwithstanding this intimate connection, GOD HAD THEM. He took off the restraining influence of His providence, whereby He prevented their enemies from executing their destruction; He removed the hedge of His kind protection, by which they enjoyed the most agreeable safety. He withheld from them His gracious direction, which had attended them In all their fortunes. The Most High hid counsel from them, so that they groped at noon day. He withdrew from them His Divine favour, which had long compassed them as a shield; He denied them His gracious presence and Holy Spirit, which was the beauty and glory of their assemblies, having In reserve for them the most awful temporal calamities. (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 2:7 Their land also is full of silver and gold An up-to-date inventory There is something startlingly modern about this chapter; if you sit down to analyse it, you feel that there is something startlingly up-to-date about the Inventory. What did this proud people make their boast about? 1. The abundance of their treasure; their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. 2. Their shipping and their active commerce all the ships of Tarshish. 3. Their military equipment; “ their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots.” 4. Their natural defences; “ all the high mountains, all the hills that are lifted up.” 5. Their artificial defences; “ every high tower, every fenced wall.” 6. The wealth of their timber; “ all the cedars of Lebanon, all the oaks of Bashan.” 7. They boasted even of the treasures of their art; “ all pleasant pictures.” (J. H.Jowett, M. A.)Gold may shut out the vision of God An old proverb runs, “ The sixpence in the man’ s eye prevented him from seeing the sovereign at the end of his nose.” And some men allow the passion money to become so all-absorbing that the coin fills all their vision and shuts out God and His heaven. (W. C. Bonner.) Isaiah 2:8 Their land also is full of idols Idols The philosophic theory of polytheism is “ one centre, many emanations. ” Iamblicus and Porphyry defend it on this line against the monotheism of early Christianity. Hermes Trismegistus, according to St. Augustine, says the Egyptians regarded images as being merely the bodies of the gods. In India there may be seen any day of the week the ceremony of praying a spirit of Vishnu or of Shiva Into a statue, or into a symbolic stone, by the Brahmin priest. The priestly theory is one of “ consubstantiation,” like the Lutheran theory of the Eucharist, the difference being between the spiritual indwelling in material bread and material wine In the one case, and material wood and stone in the other. The gods, thus made visible to the common people, are endowed, by the popular consent, with human passions and human prejudices. Each represents one or more of these human propensities. Some are emblems of the reproductive powers of nature--fertilizers of the flocks and fields. Their worship, pure at the first possibly, became beyond all telling, licentious and abominable. (F. Sessions.) Isaiah 2:9 The mean man The mean man “ Mean” there does not mean selfish or stingy, but the man between two extremes, the mean, average, ordinary man. The mean man and the great man are both bowing--what are they bowing to? Something beneath them; they have lost the sense of their dignity, and they have forgotten that they are kings, and now they are bowing down to things that they ought to control. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.) Isaiah 2:10 Enter into the rock and hide thee in the dust The sinner’ s ignominy before the manifestation of God’ s glory No other course is now left open for them but to follow the sarcastic command of the prophet: “ Creep into the rock, and bury thyself in the dust, before the dread look of Jehovah, and before the glory of His majesty!” The nation that was supposed to be a glorious one shall and must creep away and hide itself ignominiously, when the glory of God which it had rejected, but which alone is true glory, is judicially manifested. It must conceal itself in holes of the rocks as if from a host of foes (Judges 6:2; 1 Samuel 13:6; 1 Samuel 14:11), and bury themselves with their faces in the sand, as from the deadly simoom of the desert, that they may but avoid the necessity of enduring this intolerable sight. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 2:11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled . . . the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day Man humbled and Christ exalted The day may be very properly applied to any of those days when the Lord abases the pride of guilty man, or when He makes His presence felt by the power of His Spirit upon the heart; for it is then the lofty looks of man are humbled; it is then the haughtiness of man is bowed down, and the Lord is exalted in the heart. What other than this is God’ s object in the Gospel? It is definitely that self may be humbled, and Christ exalted. I. Let us look at some points on which MEN ARE APT TO BE LIFTED UP and to bolster themselves up in their pride and self-sufficiency. 1. They hold that they have natural ability to understand the Word of God. What saith the Scripture upon this point? (1 Corinthians 2:11, etc.) How many take up the Word of God to read it just as they would any other book, forgetting its character--forgetting its object! They read it merely to know, not in order to be. Whereas the value of the Book is, that it is to tell upon man’ s character. It is to make him altogether a new creature in Christ Jesus. 2. Another point of deep importance is the opinion which men have with respect to their power to save themselves. It is not that they think that they can actually blot out their sins, or that they can perfectly keep God’ s law; but they, in imagination, strike a kind of balance between their good and bad deeds. They think that there is something good in what they do, and that what they fail in Christ will make up; and the consequence is, there is no real humiliation before God while this idea lasts. 3. The foolish thoughts men have of the character of God, as if He were such an one as themselves. You will often hear men speak of what they conceive the justice of God to be, without attending in the smallest degree to the declarations which He makes of Himself in His Holy Word. They speak as though they thought the difference between themselves and God, who is holy, is one of degree merely, and not of nature. They put on one side altogether the fact that God is a Spirit, and that they themselves are carnal, and they speak as if morality would fit a man for heaven, utterly ignoring the words of the Lord, “ Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Men, indeed, form their own opinions; but remember the way in which God speaks of it: “ Thou thoughtest that I was such an one as thyself; but I will reprove thee.” II. Now, all these mistaken views are so many sources of pride in men; but when the Holy Spirit comes into the heart in power, they ARE BOWED DOWN AND HUMBLED BEFORE GOD. One of the effects produced by the Holy Spirit, when He comes upon a man’ s heart, is to make him consider his ways. He looks to himself and sees nothing but sin; that there is not one single ground of hope; and when the Holy Spirit has graciously brought him to this point, then He shows him the salvation of Christ. And then in this exaltation of the Lord Jesus comes the true abasement of the man himself. Lessons-- 1. The object of all God’ s dispensations is to humble us, and to bring us down to the feet of Christ. 2. The nature of true faith. It is humility; it is dependence; it is coming down from all self-confidence; it is resting upon another, and that Christ alone. (J. W. Reeve, M. A.)God exalted 1. By entertaining elevating apprehensions of His infinite majesty, and exercising suitable affections towards Him--fearing Him who pours contempt upon princes, trusting in Him in whom is everlasting strength, and loving Him in whose favour there is life. 2. By celebrating the praises of His Divine excellencies with gratitude and joy. 3. By such conduct as may give the most sensible and lively representation of God--beginning, carrying on, and ending all their businesses in Him; making His love the principle, His law the rule, and His glory the end of all their actions. (R. Macculloch.)Humility Life is a long lesson in humility. (J. M. Barrie.) Isaiah 2:12-17 The day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty Scepticism discomfited by Christ’ s advent I. Among THE CAUSES OF THE SPIRIT OF there are-- 1. An early habit of spiritual negligence. 2. A state of exaggerated and credulous belief. II. Consider THE OF SUCH A STATE, whatever be the peculiar causes out of which it springs. 1. He who is in suspense about the truth of the Gospel cannot pray. “ He that cometh to God must believe that He is.” He who feels that he has sinned, and that God is holy, knows that he needs a mediator; and he that would trust in a mediator must believe that He is. 2. He cannot resist sin. He who is in suspense about the truth of Christ’ s Gospel is as weak as he who denies it, yea, weaker. For the other knows that he is thrown upon the resources of his own unaided strength, and he summons them all together for his support. But the man who doubts is a divided man. He has cast off his other armour; and this, the armour of God, he cannot take, for he has not proved it. III. THINK WHAT THE ADVENT WILL BE TO SUCH A MIND. The day of the Lord of hosts will be “ upon” it, and will bring it low. We inquired whether there was a day coming; and behold, it is come. While we inquired and reasoned and speculated, He of whom we doubted was carrying on His judgment upon us. (C. J. Vaughan, D. D.)The day of the Lord The flood, the destruction of Sodom, the invasion of Judaea in the reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah, the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar or by Titus, were held by the Jewish prophets and preachers--as the like national crises in ancient and in modern history have ever been held by Christian philosophers and historians--to be “ days of the Lord,” in which He has come to judge the earth; and partial anticipations of the last judgment of the world. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)The day of the Lord and the majestic beauty of nature (Isaiah 2:13-14):--Has this language a merely figurative meaning?. . .In order to understand the prophet we must bear in mind what sacred Scripture assumes throughout, that all nature is joined with man to form one common history; that man and the whole world of nature are inseparably connected as centre and circumference; that this circumference likewise is under the influence of the sin which proceeds from man, as well as under the wrath and the grace which proceed from God to man; that the judgments of God, as proved by the history of nations, bring a share of suffering to the subject creation, and that this participation of the lower creation in the corruption and the glory of man will come into special prominence at the close of this world’ s history, as it did at the beginning; and lastly, the world in its present form, in order to become an object of the unmixed good pleasure of God, stands as much in need of a regeneration (παλλιγγενεσία) as the corporeal part of man himself. In accordance with this fundamental view of the Scriptures, therefore, we cannot wonder that, when the judgment of God goes forth upon Israel, it extends to the land of Israel, and, along with the false glory of the nation, overthrows everything glorious in surrounding nature which has been forced to minister to the national pride and love of display, and to which the national sin adhered in many ways. What the prophet predicts was already actually beginning to be fulfilled in the military inroads of the Assyrians. The cedar forest of Lebanon was being unsparingly shorn; the hills and vales of the country were trodden down and laid waste, and, during the period of the world’ s history, beginning with Tiglath-Pileser, the holy land was being reduced to a shadow of its former predicted beauty. (F. Delitzsch.)The Lord of hosts All the creatures in the universe are the hosts or armies of Jehovah; angels, who excel in strength; the sun, the moon, and the stars; the thunder and the lightning; the wind, the hail, and the rain; the storm and the tempest; the most insignificant insects, such as the flies and the caterpillars; yea, the sand of the sea and the dust of the earth. (R. Macculloch.)The day of the Lord upon the proud and lofty Is it personal strength, vigour, and firmness of constitution with which he is elated? Though he be among the sons of the mighty, strong as the children of Anak, the weakness of God is stronger than men; before the Almighty, he is only as a grasshopper, and is easily crushed as the moth. Is it courage and fortitude which hath rendered him valiant, and made his heart as the heart of a lion? He who saith to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, can quickly deprive him of his courage, and render him timorous and faint-hearted, so as to tremble at the shaking of a leaf. Is it riches which are reckoned a strong tower, a defence, and the sinews of strength! The day of the Lord shall blow upon them, and they shall pass away as the flower of the field, or an eagle flying toward heaven. Is it honour and renown that hath lift him up to the pinnacle of earthly glory? God, who overthroweth the mighty, shall bring down all that dignity, on account of which he highly valued himself, and reduce him to the most humiliating condition. History, sacred and profane, confirms the truth of this prediction. (R. Macculloch.)Man humiliated Zedekiah, King of Judah, deprived of his royal dignity, of his sons, who were slain before his eyes, and then of his eyesight, was bound in fetters of brass, and carried to Babylon.. Bajazet, the Emperor of Turkey, was bound with fetters of gold, by the victorious Tamerlane, and carried along with him in his march through Asia, in an iron cage, as an object of ridicule. Henry V, Emperor of Germany, was reduced to such poverty, that he went to the great church which he himself had built at Spires, begging the place of a chorister, to keep him from starving. (R. Macculloch.)Ships of Tarshish Ships of Tarshish are deep sea ships. Possibly Tartessus, west of the straits of Gibraltar. (A. B. Davidson, LL. D.) Isaiah 2:16 Pleasant pictures The proper use of art Sir Joshua Reynolds wisely, stated the canon for artists when, referring to the choice of subjects, he said. “ No subject can be proper that is not generally interesting. It ought to be either some eminent instance of heroic action or heroic suffering. There must be something, either in the action or in the object, in which men are universally concerned, and which publicly strikes upon the public sympathy.” They who are not content to copy what is ignoble, or reproduce what is insignificant--who use art to expound and apply the teaching of God in nature and revelation--who design to address the heart, and so elevate the imaginations and judgments of men, are benefactors of their race--ministers at the altar of truth and righteousness. The work of such artists can be regarded as eminently sacred. (J. H. Hitchens, D. D.)The far-reaching influence of art The preacher’ s voice must be occasionally silenced by weariness, and ultimately hushed by death; but the artist’ s pictures continue to tell their own tale, and enforce their own lessons to all spectators, night and day, so long as they may be preserved. The author’ s book, upon the loftiest possible theme, can be read only by those who are familiar with the language in which it is written, and among the would-be readers will be some who, being unaccustomed to the laws of thought, will lay the book aside as uninteresting; but pictures are biographies, histories, homilies, poems which, without words, can be studied at a glance. (J. H. Hitchens, D. D.)Pictures Pictures are by some relegated to the realm of the trivial, accidental, sentimental, or worldly, but the text shows that God scrutinises pictures, and whether they are good or bad, whether used for right or wrong purposes, is a matter of Divine observation and judgment. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)The prostitution of art That the artist’ s pencil and the engraver’ s knife have sometimes been made subservient to the kingdom of evil is frankly admitted. After the ashes and sconce were removed from Herculaneum and Pompeii the walls of those cities discovered to the explorers a degradation in art which cannot be exaggerated. Satan and all his imps have always wanted the fingering of the easel; they would rather have possession of that than the art of printing, for types are not so potent and quick for evil as pictures. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)Bad pictures should be avoided Pliny the elder lost his life by going near enough to see the eruption of Vesuvius, and the further you can stand off from the burning crater of sin, the better. Never till the books of the Last Day are opened shall we know what has been the dire harvest of evil pictorials and unbecoming art galleries. Despoil a man’ s imagination and he becomes a moral carcase. The show windows of English and American cities in which have sometimes hung long lines of brazen actors and actresses in style insulting to all propriety, have made a broad path to death for multitudes of people. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)The value of Bible pictures I refer to your memory and mine when I ask if your knowledge of the Holy Scriptures has not been mightily augmented by the woodcuts or engravings in the old family Bible, which father and mother read out of, and laid on the table in the old homestead when you were boys and girls. The Bible scenes which we all carry in our minds were not gotten from the Bible typology, but from the Bible pictures. To prove the truth of it in my own case, the other day I took up the old family Bible which I inherited. Sure enough, what I have carried in my mind of Jacob’ s ladder was exactly the Bible engraving of Jacob’ s ladder; and so with Samson carrying off the gates of Gaza; Elisha restoring the Shunamite son; the massacre of the innocents; Christ blessing little children; the Crucifixion, and the Last Judgment. My idea of all these is that of the old Bible engravings which I scanned before I could read a word. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)Gustave Dore’ s pictures In 1833 forth from Strasburg, Germany, there came a child that was to eclipse in speed and boldness and grandeur anything and everything that the world had seen since the first colour appeared on the sky at the creation, Paul Gustave Dore. At eleven years of age he published marvellous lithographs of his own. Saying nothing of what he did for Milton’ s Paradise Lost, emblazoning it on the attention of the world, he takes up the Book of books, the monarch of literature, the Bible, and in his pictures “ The Creation of Light,” “ The Trial of Abraham’ s Faith,” “ The Burial of Sarah,” “ Joseph Sold by his Brethren,” “ The Brazen Serpent,” “ Boaz and Ruth,” “ David and Goliath,” “ The Transfiguration,” “ The Marriage in Cana,” “ Babylon Fallen,” --two hundred and five Scriptural scenes in all,--and that with a boldness and grasp and almost supernatural afflatus that make the heart throb, and the brain reel, and the tears start, and the cheeks blanch, and the entire nature quake with the tremendous things of God and eternity and the dead. I actually staggered down the steps of the London Art Gallery under the power of Dore’ s “ Christ Leaving the Praetorium.” Profess you to be a Christian man or woman, and see no Divine mission in art, and acknowledge you no obligation either in thanks to God or man? (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.) Isaiah 2:18 And the idols He shall utterly abolish The cessation of idolatry In heathen systems of religion, God and nature are not kept distinct. His personality, also, is confounded. The fears and hopes of idolaters are projected into deities. Two things are necessary to destroy idolatry in this its grossest form. I. THE OF THE WORD OF GOD. 1. Within its pages God and nature are carefully distinguished and separated. 2. Here His personality is clearly presented. 3. Here commands against idolatry are fully and solemnly promulgated. 4. Here the true God is set forth in all the glorious attributes that constitute His character, allegiance is commanded, service demanded, and every soul held to a strict accountability. II. THE OF THE . 1. The Bible is indispensable. Heathen science is insufficient to deliver men from idolatry, as witness Rome and Greece. 2. Mere science is in danger of becoming materialistic or agnostic. 3. Science needs to be vitalised by the Bible, the moral law, and conscience. Reflections-- 1. Science is the handmaid of the Bible. 2. There can be no contradiction between the work of God and the Word of God. 3. It is the duty of every Christian to assist in the circulation of the Bible, to the end that every idol on the face of the earth may be speedily destroyed. (Homiletic Review.)The evils of idolatry and the means of its abolition The progress of Christianity in the world has already been so great and wonderful as to carry evidence of its Divine original, and of its promised final triumph over every false religion. I. THE EVIL TO BE . Idolatry. It has been commonly and very properly distinguished as of two kinds, literal and spiritual. Spiritual idolatry is an evil which, by the apostasy of our nature, attaches to all mankind, whether inhabiting Christian or pagan regions, except those individuals whose hearts have experienced a renovation by the Spirit of God. It is to literal idolatry that the prophet refers in the text--this the connection shows, where mention is made of those idols of silver and gold which the converted idolaters would cast away. The progress of Christianity was, from the first, marked by the cessation of idol worship. There are two principal points of view in which we may regard the evil nature and effects of idolatry--its aspect toward God and its aspect toward man. In the former aspect, it appears as a crime; in the latter as a calamity: thus contemplated, it appears as an evil destructive equally to the Divine glory and to human happiness. Man naturally tends to this evil; and one generation after another gradually accumulated the follies of superstition, till it reached the monstrous extreme of gross idolatry. 1. The Word of God everywhere reprobates idolatry as an abominable thing which the soul of God abhors. To provide against it was the principal object in the political and municipal department of the Mosaic law. It is expressly prohibited by the first and second commandments of the moral law. The golden calf was intended as a representative of the God of Israel; and the calves set up by Jeroboam were the same: yet the worship of the golden calf occasioned the slaughter, by the Divine command, of three thousand persons; and the executioners of Divine vengeance were extolled for having forgotten the feelings of nature toward their nearest kindred: every man was commanded to slay his brother or his son, and so to consecrate himself to the Lord. Where the honour of God was so deeply concerned, men were to lose sight of common humanity. When the Israelites were tempted by the artifices of Balaam to commit idolatry at Baal Peer, twenty-four thousand were slain at once; the memory of Phinehas was immortalised on account of the holy zeal he displayed in the destruction of certain conspicuous offenders; and the Moabites were devoted to extermination, because, in this respect, they had proved a snare to Israel. Idolatry is, with respect to the government of God, what treason or rebellion is with respect to civil government. It is the setting up of an idol in the place of the supreme Power; an affront offered to that Majesty, in which all order and authority is combined and concentred, and which is the fountain of all social blessings. Idolatry is an evil which taints every apparent virtue; because it destroys the soul of duty, which is conformity to the Divine command. 2. But we turn to contemplate idolatry on another side; in its aspect toward man, its influence on society. The apostle Paul informs us (Romans 1:19-25) that God hath shown to men what may be known concerning Himself; that His invisible Being, His eternal power and Godhead, may be clearly seen and understood by the works of creation; so that those are without excuse who have changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image in the likeness of corruptible man, of birds and beasts and reptiles. They are without excuse; their conduct admits of no apology. The origin of all the atrocities they committed is to be found in aversion to God; dislike of the spirituality and purity of His character; a desire, like Cain, to retire from the presence of their Maker; a wish to forget a Being whose character they knew to be utterly uncongenial with their own. This disposition originally led men to substitute idols for God. Those idols would, of course, be conceived of a character unlike that of God. II. We must now advert to a brighter scene, presented by the prophet, when he assures us that JESUS CHRIST (of whom he is speaking) WILL UTTERLY ABOLISH , and sweep it from the face of the earth with the “ besom of destruction” In sending the Gospel to the heathen, you offer, as it were, the holy incense, like Moses, when he interposed between God and the perishing Israelites: you stand, like him, between the dead and the living,--the dead and the living for eternity!--and you stay the plague! No sooner did Christianity appear, than its formidable power, as the opponent of idolatry, was felt and manifested. Preaching, an instrument so unpromising in the view of carnal reason, has been the chief instrument employed in producing these moral revolutions. (Robt. Hall.)The downfall of idolatry I wish to invite your attention to some of the reasons which induce me to believe that the heathen kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. I. Consider, in the first place, THE LIGHT IN WHICH IS BY GOD. I am sometimes asked, “ Why do you unsettle the religious convictions of a highly civilised people like the Chinese? Is not the Supreme Governor of the universe pleased with the homage of His rational creatures when proceeding from sincere devotion, whether according to the one mode or the other, of the various religions which He has permitted to be published?” Lord Macartney, the first ambassador to China, in writing to the Chinese emperor, gave this as a reason why the English never attempted to dispute or disturb the worship of others. But in whatever light idolatry is regarded by man, we know that it is a thing on which God cannot look with indifference. When we see idolatry associated with immorality and inhumanity, our instincts are naturally shocked, but where such is not the case, even the missionary finds it difficult to think and feel rightly in regard to it. The spiritual idolatry within us has so distorted our intellectual vision and perverted our spiritual taste that it requires an effort to see the literal idolatry in all its hideous deformity and feel towards it as we ought. The whole of heathendom is under the dominion of the prince of this world, and he and his angels are the powers worshipped by the heathen, however little they themselves may be aware of the fact. The whole fabric of heathenism has been reared under the inspiration of the spirit of darkness, and it is he that sits as God in that vast temple, calling himself God, and receiving oblations, sacrifice, and adoration from his deluded votaries. God sees in idolatry not weakness only, but also sin, positive sin, in its nature God-opposing and soul-destroying. It is an attempt to rob Him of that glory, which is peculiarly His own, and to confer it on the creature. But if this is the light in which God regards idolatry, we may rationally infer that the abomination will not be permitted to pollute the world forever. II. My faith in THE FINAL TRIUMPH OF TRUTH in the progress of the race tends to produce this conviction in my mind. At the commencement of the Christian era the Sun of Righteousness began to scatter the thick darkness with His beams. For some time it rose higher and higher, and thousands were rejoicing in the Divine light which promised speedily to fill the whole earth with life and gladness. But these hopes were no sooner raised than dashed to the ground. Two dark clouds rose between the nations and the sun, which, lowering and spreading, enveloped them in more than Egyptian darkness. These were the Papacy and Mohammedanism. It is estimated that more than eight hundred millions, or about two-thirds of the human family, are idolaters today. But matters shall not remain in this state forever. The light is greater than the darkness; the truth of heaven is mightier than the falsehood of hell, and God is infinitely stronger than the devil. There may be occasionally something like a retrograde movement; the retrogression is only in appearance. The onward course of the race has been compared to that of a ship making way against the breeze; it consists of a series of movements, each of which seems to bear her away from the true direction, yet, in fact, brings her nearer and nearer to the destined haven. But if the race is progressing, and is ultimately to realise the object of its existence, idolatry must pass away. You cannot conceive of such a thing as the progress of the race along with the existence of idolatry. (Griffith John.)The gods and goddesses of mythology Homer, the first who appears to have composed a regular picture of idolatry, paints his Jupiter, or supreme deity, as deficient in every Divine attribute; in omnipotence, in justice, and even in domestic peace. He paints Juno as the victim of eternal jealousy; and with good reason for her jealousy, when the earth was peopled, according to Homey, with the illegitimate progeny of Jupiter, to whom almost every hero traced his pedigree. Mars was the personification of rage and violence; Mercury, the patron of artifice and them. How far such a mythology influenced the character of its votaries, it is perhaps impossible for us to know: nothing could be more curious than to look into the mind of a heathen. But it is certain that the mind must have been exceedingly corrupted by the influence of such a creed: and probably each individual idolater would be influenced by the deity whose character happened to be most accommodated to his own peculiar passions. Achilles would emulate Mars in ferocity and deeds of blood; Ulysses would be like Mercury in craft and stratagem; While the ambitious mind of Alexander or Julius Caesar would aspire to act a Jupiter on earth. What a state of society must that be, in which no vice, no crime could be perpetrated that was not sanctioned by the very objects of religious worship! What a religion that which exerted an antagonist force against conscience itself!--a religion which silenced or perverted the dictates of the moral sense, the thoughts that should either accuse or excuse us within! The temples of Venus, we are informed, wore crowded by a thousand prostitutes, as servants and representatives of that licentious goddess; the very places of their worship were the scenes of their vices, and seemed as if they were designed to consecrate the worst part of their conduct! (Robt. Hall.)Destroying an idol Two young men owned and supported a Hindu temple in a village named Rammakal Cooke. Both, becoming Christians, determined after much prayer to destroy the idol which had previously been worshipped in the temple. When they went to carry out their intention, a vast concourse assembled to hinder them. One of them brought out the idol, and lifting it up, asked if anyone would maintain its cause. The bold words awed the crowd, and then was heard the voice of a woman, saying, “ Victory, victory to Jesus Christ.” Others took up the cry. The idol was broken, the temple destroyed. (J. Vaughan.)J.G. Paton’ s success among idol worshippers After the sinking of the well by Paten on Aniwa, and the discovery of water in answer to prayer, the chief, Namakei, in a striking address, declared for Jehovah. That very afternoon he and several others brought their idols to the mission house. Intense excitement followed. For weeks, company after company came, and, with tears, sobs, or shouts, laid down their cherished idols in heaps, again and again repeating, “ Jehovah!” (Sunday School Chronicle.) Isaiah 2:19 And they shall go into the holes of the rocks No escape from the judgments of God They shall vainly seek to escape, as unarmed peasants or women fly into the nearest cave or hole when they hear the hoofs of some plundering tribe of Edom or Ishmael from the desert; but the judgment of Jehovah shall reach them, as the earthquake (then, as now, not uncommon in Judaea) would bring down the reck on him who sought refuge in it. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)For fear of the LordThe fear of the Lord 1. It is some alleviation of a man’ s misfortune, if he knows the worst of it. For the apprehension of evil is sometimes worse than the evil itself. But this rule holds good only in temporal evils. 2. In the present state of things, men can harden their hearts against all the threatenings and terrors of the Lord: and have so accustomed themselves to dispute and disbelieve everything which is supernatural, that the concerns of another world make but faint impressions upon them. 3. The great foundation, therefore, on which the substance of our religion is built, is the belief of that day when God shall call men to an account for all the works which they have done in this life, and shall deal with them according to the promises and threatenings of His own word. 4. The way not to be afraid of the wrath of God then, is to stand in awe of it now. 5. He hath declared that He hath an extraordinary indignation at proud men, i.e., such as have no regard for His laws, and that He will one day effectually humble them. 6. When we fear God as a merciful and gracious Father, we live easy in His family, and rejoice in His presence; but a guilty fear causes us to fly from Him like our first parent, dreading Him as justly provoked to be angry with us, and ready to execute His threatened judgments upon us. 7. “ The fear of the Lord,” says Solomon, “ is the beginning of wisdom” ; and I will venture to add, that it is the end of it too: for a man can never be denominated wise without this fear; whenever he lays it aside, he certainly plays the fool. 8. There is no man who, by daily reading and hearing of God’ s Word, keeps the rule of his life in his eye, but must see that he has manifold reasons to be humbled for not acting up to it. 9. And as horrible fear, so shall shame and confusion of face be the portion of all those who will not now be restrained by a virtuous modesty from offending against God. 10. Let us, then, wisely make choice of these restraints in due season, and keep up their influence so strong in our minds, that no sinful temptation, even in the closest retirement and most secret corner, may ever be able to prevail against them. (W. Reading, M. A.) Isaiah 2:20 In that day a man shall cut his idols of silver The return to God: idols cast away The most beautiful sight on God’ s earth is a man turning home again to God. What will happen when he comes back? “ They shall fling their idols to the bats and to the moles.” Blind as a mole, blind as a bat, and the idols have to go to them. The man discovers that the thing by which he has been led is itself a blind thing, and he flings it to blind things, to the moles and the bats. He sees that the thing is blind: which means that he has recovered his own sight, and therefore Malachi says, “ They shall return and discern.” When they come back they shall see--see what things are, and what things are not, and no longer shall they be seduced. Their lands shall still be full of silver and gold. I have no wish for my country to be poor. But, when we have said that, we shall be able to alter the other phrase. No longer shall we say, “ The land is full of silver and gold, the land is full of idols” ; but this shall be the refrain, “ The land is full of silver and gold, the glory of the Lord filleth the land as the waters cover the sea” (J. H. Jowett, M. A.) Isaiah 2:22 Cease ye from man.The Septuagint omits this verse. (R. V. margin.)Man’ s insignificance and God’ s supremacy Two things are indispensable to undisturbed tranquillity of mind, namely, humble and distrustful views of ourselves, and supreme and unfaltering reliance on God. So long as a man depends on his own wisdom, power, and goodness, he must be disquieted and unhappy. We can attain to substantial quiet only when we feel that our dependence is on a Being omnipotent, independent, and supreme, as well as abundant in truth and love (Isaiah 26:3). To produce in us this two-fold feeling is the constant aim of Holy Scripture. The grand scheme of redemption is founded on the principle here laid down. Man is sinful, ignorant, impotent to good, and of himself inclined only to evil, and that continually. God, in His infinite mercy, wisdom, and power, hath provided the only means by which he can be restored to holiness, to the favour of his God, and to life everlasting. But while there is in all religiously instructed people a readiness to concede to Christ the merit of salvation, there is too much disposition to rely upon ourselves and our own arrangements for success in temporal and physical things, and to claim the merit of it if we do succeed. There are various things that have a tendency to produce within us a feeling of self-dependence, and lead to the ignoring of the Divine power and efficiency. There is in us too often an idolatry of human agency and natural or artificial instrumentalities, and too often these occupy in our souls the place of God. In the order of nature causes produce their legitimate effects, so that if we can secure certain antecedents we feel confident of corresponding results. To use all wisdom and discretion in the use of means is a plain duty. But the difficulty with us is, that in our reliance on secondary agencies we too often leave God out of the account. We forget that He is above all means, that He can work without them, or He can frustrate all our means and all our best-concerted plans. There is nothing that men are more disposed to confide in than superiority of intellect. Yet God has given us reasons sufficient to abate our idolatry of human talent. For-- 1. The largest capacity of man is really very small. Knowledge with all men is very limited, even in those that know the most. 2. Men of great capacity and uncommon attainments seldom, perhaps never, bear to be examined very closely. If one excel in one thing he is deficient in another. Sir Isaac Newton, great as he was in science and philosophy, failed in the common affairs of life. Laplace, whose extensive range of thought took in the whole mechanism of the planetary universe, did not at all justify the high opinion formed of him by Napoleon, when he, at the emperor’ s invitation, undertook the business of the statesman. 3. Men of the largest pretensions to mind have been and are still guilty of the puerile, the absurd, the degrading crime of idolatry. E.g., Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, modern Hindoos. 4. The comparatively few specimens of unsullied, religious character. 5. We see in the record which God has given of His dealings with our race, a series of illustrations of man’ s inefficiency and God’ s supremacy. He has seldom used the means to accomplish an end that man would have selected or supposed. Egypt saved from perishing by a seven years’ famine by a young, falsely accused slave, wrongfully cast into prison. Naaman. Deliverance of Israel from the Midianites (Judges 7:1-25). Destruction of Spanish Armada, Waterloo, etc., Lessons-- (1) Because means sometimes fail, that is no good reason why we should expect the end without them God ordinarily works by means. (2) We should not rely on the means as being effectual in and of themselves. (3) After having used all the agencies and all the discretion which wisdom and sagacity prescribe, we must still rely upon God for the issue. (4) Apply the same rule to spiritual things. We are to use all prescribed and prudential means; frequent the means of grace, etc. But these are only the means which bring us to God. (J. Holdich, D. D.)Ceasing from man I. CEASE YE FROM TOO GREAT IN MAN. Many are sadly mistaken on this point. They have higher ideas of the excellency of human nature than the Word of God warrants. It is sad that our experience of life should chill its generous sympathies, and that the heart should become cold and selfish as our knowledge of mankind increases. We ought so to live that the more we become acquainted with human wickedness, the more our compassionate feelings should be enlarged; and that person has a Christian spirit whose experience of man’ s depravity and love for man have increased in the same ratio. II. THE RULE OF OUR TEXT WILL APPLY ALSO TO . Cease from expecting perfection in them. 1. The Bible teaches us to regard a Christian as different from others only as the man recovering from disease differs from one who is still under its full power, not as one in perfect health and strength. 2. As Christians we may learn to cease from expecting too much from our fellow Christians. 3. We should cease, too, from making any fellow Christian our model, or measuring our faith by his faithfulness. 4. And let us cease from expecting too much from Christian friendship. Christ was forsaken by the twelve, and at St. Paul’ s first answer before the Roman emperor, no man stood with him, but all forsook him. III. CEASE YE FROM THE FEAR OF MAN is another appropriate application of the text. 1. The Word of God warns us against this. Who can say that he pursues just that path which conscience approves without being drawn aside by the fear of man? And how strong is the antidote to such a fear which the text presents! His breath is in his nostrils! 2. We should be careful, however, that our ceasing from man be not attended with evil feelings towards him. If a poor man is fearless in the presence of the rich because he scorns them, that is wrong. If we go forward in the path of duty, undeterred by the opinion of the world, because we are self-opinionated, and care nothing for any conclusions except our own, that is wrong. IV. CEASE YE FROM MAN AS A SOURCE OF . We build our enjoyments on relatives and friends. We gather around us those who are worthy of our love; our hearts begin to knit with theirs, and we say, This is comfort, here is happiness. But one touch of death crumbles all to the dust, and leaves us to mourn over our disappointed expectations. (W. H. Lewis, D. D.)God man’ s only dependence Our text speaks in a two-fold manner: there is in it warning pointedly expressed; also instruction indirectly conveyed-- I. THE OF MAN. II. MAN’ S AND . III. THE OF EVERY SAVED SINNER. Man cannot save you, whatever he may pretend to do. IV. THE OF THE GOSPEL. Such is man that he will hold the truth with the head, and think he can be saved whilst his heart is in the world. V. THE AND OF DIVINE TRUTH IN THE EARTH. How frequently the necessity of this warning is seen in missionary enterprises! “ Oh,” say some, “ you have got the right missionaries now; their heads are full of learning; they have very strong bodies, able to stand any climate; there is plenty of money in the missionary exchequer” ; and away they go. Ah, “ let not the rich man glory in his riches; let not the strong man glory in his strength; let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, saith the Lord God Almighty.” And then, there is not only work to do abroad, but at home too. If you speak to some men about the infidelity and superstition at home, they will say, the government should do so and so, and make such and such an act of parliament. Do you think that men can be converted by acts of parliament? Oh! “ cease ye from man.” The text does not mean-- 1. That any unconverted person is to say, I will wait till God thinks proper to convert me. 2. That there is no necessity for men to preach the Gospel. Preaching is necessary, because God has ordained it. 3. That it is wrong for rulers or governments to give their legitimate aid to God’ s truth. Finally, we are taught the great duty of prayer to God. (Hugh Allen, M. A.)Ceasing from man I. WHAT THE DOES NOT IMPLY. 1. That God wills our seclusion from the society of man. 2. That we are not to give any confidence to man. 3. That we are to withdraw from the appointed means of grace as being superior to them, or standing in no need of them. II. WHAT THE DOES IMPLY. 1. That we should cease from all that vain admiration of the external appearance in the character and condition of men in which we are so prone to indulge. 2. That we should not indulge the desire of applause from man. 3. That we should not envy man--his popularity, prosperity, etc. 4. That we should cease from all such confidence in man as would supersede confidence in God. 5. That we should cease from the fear of man. 6. That we should cease from all expectations of perfection in the character of men, even of those who profess religion. 7. That we should cease from all inordinate attachment to creatures. III. THE BY WHICH THIS IS . Cease from man-- 1. Because he is a depraved creature, subject to violent and dangerous passions. 2. Because he is a deceitful creature, often deceiving himself as well as others. 3. Because he is a fickle and changeable creature. 4. Because he is a weak and helpless creature. 5. Because he is a dying creature. (E. Parsons.)Man, “ soul and soil” Man is made up, as the old writers used to say, of soul and soil. Alas, the soil terribly soils his soul! “ My soul cleaveth to the dust” might be the confession of every man in one sense or another. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Man, whose breath is in his nostrils One consequence of the prevailing materialism of our corrupt nature is our craving for something tangible, audible, visible, as the object of our confidence. Man is, by nature, an idolater. The people of Isaiah’ s day were like the rest of their race: they showed their unspiritualness and their inability to walk in the light of the Lord by making their own wealth their chief confidence (verse 7). Nations also, like the Israelitish people, are apt to idolise power; even power in the form of brute force. We read: “ Their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots.” These people, in the heat of their idolatry, set up many idols. Idolatry is common even here. May we not easily make idols of ourselves? There is nothing more absurd in the history of human nature than the fact that man is apt to trust in man. The sin is none the less accursed because of its commonness. I. Our first inquiry is, WHAT IS MAN? This question is asked many times in Scripture, end it has been frequently answered with a copiousness of instruction. 1. What is man? He is assuredly a very feeble creature. He must be weak, for “ his breath is in his nostrils.” We measure the strength of a chain by its weakest link. See, then, how weak man is, for he is weakness itself in a vital point. 2. Man, moreover, is a frail creature. It seems as though his life in his breath stood at the gates, ready to be gone, since it is in his nostrils. 3. Man is also a dying creature. Contemplate the dead! What think you now of your idol? 4. The text also reminds us that man is a very fickle creature. His breath is in his “ nostrils.” As his breath is affected by his health, so is he changed. Today he loves, and tomorrow he hates; he promises fair, but he forgets his words. 5. If you read the chapter through, you will also find that man is a trembling creature, cowardly creature, a creature, indeed, who, if he were not cowardly, yet has abundant reason to fear. (Read from verse 19.) “ They shall go into the holes of the rocks,” etc. Think of the days of Divine wrath, and especially of the last dread day of Judgment, and of the dismay which will then seize upon many of the proud and great. Are you going to make these your confidants? II. WHAT IS TO BE OUR TO MAN, or what does the text mean when it says, “ Cease ye from man” ? It implies, that we very probably have too much to do with this poor creature man already. We may even require to reverse our present conduct, break up unions, cancel alliances, and alter the whole tenor of our conduct. 1. “ Cease ye from man” means, first, cease to idolise him in your love. It is very common to idolise children. A mother who had lost her babe fretted and rebelled about it. She happened to be in a meeting of the Society of Friends, and there was nothing spoken that morning except this word by one female Friend who was moved, I doubt not, by the Spirit of God to say, “ Verily, I perceive that children are idols.” She did not know the condition of that mourner’ s mind, but it was the right word, and she to whom God applied it knew how true it was. She submitted her rebellious will, and at once was comforted. Cease ye from these little men and women; for their breath is in their nostrils, and indeed it is but feebly there in childhood. A proper and right love of children should be cultivated; but to carry this beyond its due measure is to grieve the Spirit of God. You can idolise a minister, you can idolise a poet, you can idolise a patron; but in so doing you break the first and greatest of the commandments, and you anger the Most High. 2. “ Cease ye from man “ : cease to idolise him in your trust. 3. Cease to idolise any man by giving him undue honour. “ Honour all men.” A measure of courtesy and respect is to be paid to every person, and peculiarly to those whose offices demand it; therefore is it written, “ Honour the king.” Some also, by their character, deserve much respect from their fellow men; but there is a limit to this, or we shall become sycophants and slaves, and, what is worse, idolaters. It grieves one to see how certain persons dare not even think, much less speak, till they have asked how other people think. The bulk of people are like a flock of sheep; there is a gap, and if one sheep goes through, all will follow. God’ s people should scorn such grovelling. If the Son shall make you free, you will be free indeed. 4. Equally does the text bid us cease from the fear of man. 5. Once more, cease from being worried about men. We ought to do all we can for our fellow men to set them right and keep them right, both by teaching and by example; but certain folks think that everything must go according to their wishes, and if we cannot see eye to eye with them, they worry themselves and us. Let us not be unduly cast down if we cannot set everybody right. The body politic, common society, and especially the Church, may cause us great anxiety; but still the Lord reigneth, and we are not to let ourselves die of grief. He only requires of us what He enables us to do. 6. “ But they say.” What do they say? Let them say. It will not hurt you if you can only gird up the loins of your mind, and cease from man. “ Oh, but they have accused me of this and that.” Is it true? “ No, sir, it is not true, and that is why it grieves me.” If it were true it ought to trouble you; but if it is not true let it alone. Nine times out of ten if a boy makes a blot in his copy book and borrows a knife to take it out, he makes the mess ten times worse; and as in your case there is no blot after all, you need not make one by attempting to remove what is not there. All the dirt that falls upon a good man will brush off when it is dry: but let him wait till it is dry, and not dirty his hands with wet mud. Let us think more of God and less of man. Come, let the Lord our God fill the whole horizon of our thoughts. Let our love go forth to Him; let us delight ourselves in Him. Let us trust in Him that liveth forever, in Him whose promise never faileth. Cease ye from man because you have come to know the best of men, who is more than man, even the Lord Jesus Christ, and He has so fully become the beloved of your souls, that none can compare with Him. Rest also in the great Father as to your providential cares: why rest in men when He careth for you? Rest in the Holy Spirit as to your spiritual needs; why need to depend on man? Yea, throw yourself entirely upon the God all-sufficient, El Shaddai, as Scripture calls Him. III. WHY ARE WE TO CEASE FROM MAN? The answer is, because he is nothing to be accounted of. Every man must cease from himself first, and then from all men, as his hope and his trust, because neither ourselves nor others are worthy of such confidence. “ Wherein is he to be accounted of?” Compared with God man is less than nothing and vanity. Reckon him so, and act upon the reckoning. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God, the Verity of verities Care nothing for the vanity of vanities, but trust in the Verity of verities. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Man’ s morality “ His breath is in his nostrils,” puffed out every moment, soon gone for good and all. Man is a dying creature, and may die quickly; our nostrils, in which our breath is, are of the outward parts of the body; what is there is like one standing at the door ready to depart. Nay, the doors of the nostrils are always open; the breath in them may slip away, ere we are aware, in a moment; wherein then is man to be accounted of? Alas, no reckoning is to be made of him; for he is not what he seems to be,--what he pretends to be, what we fancy him to be.(M. Henry.)Insignificance of men A Sultan, amusing himself with walking, observed a dervish sitting with human skull in his lap, and appearing to be in a profound reverie. His attitude and manner surprised the Sultan, who demanded the cause of his being so deeply engaged in reflection “ Sire,” said the dervish, “ this skull was presented to me this morning, and I have from that moment been endeavouring, in vain, to discover whether it is the skull of a powerful monarch like your Majesty, or of a poor dervish like myself.” (Baxendale’s Anecdotes.)Folly of man It was once remarked to Lord Chesterfield that man is the only creature endowed with the power of laughter. “ True,” said the peer; “ and you may add, perhaps, that he is the only creature that deserves to be laughed at.” (Timba.). Outline of chapter The first part opens with a general prediction of the loss of what they trusted in, beginning with the necessary means of subsistence (Isaiah 3:1). We have then an enumeration of the public men who were about to be removed, including civil, military, and religious functionaries, with the practitioners of certain arts (Isaiah 3:2-3). As the effect of this removal, the government falls into incompetent hands (Isaiah 3:4). This is followed by insubordination and confusion (Isaiah 3:5). At length, no one is willing to accept public office, the people are wretched, and the commonwealth a ruin (Isaiah 3:6-7). This ruin is declared to be the consequence of sin, and the people represented as their own destroyers (Isaiah 3:8-9). God’ s judgments, it is true, are not indiscriminate. The innocent shall not perish with the guilty, but the guilty must suffer (Isaiah 3:10-11). Incompetent and faithless rulers must especially be punished, who instead of being the guardians are the spoilers of the vineyard, instead of protectors the oppressors of the poor (Isaiah 3:12-15). As a principal cause of these prevailing evils, the prophet now denounces female luxury, and threatens it with condign punishment, privation, and disgrace (Isaiah 3:16-17). This general denunciation is then amplified at great length, in a detailed enumeration of the ornaments which were about to be taken from them and succeeded by the badges of captivity and mourning (Isaiah 3:18-24). The agency to be employed in this retribution is a disastrous war, by which the men are to be swept off, and the country left desolate (Isaiah 3:25-26). The extent of this calamity is represented by a lively exhibition of the disproportion between the male survivors and the other sex, suggesting at the time the forlorn condition of the widows of the slain (Isaiah 4:1). (J. A. Alexander.) Isaiah 3:1-3 For behold the Lord . . . doth take away . . . the mighty man.- National leaders removed The Jewish nation, at this time, may be considered as represented by an old building, ready to fall into ruin, to prevent which many props had been added. These supports, on which it leaned, that were derived the authority, the prudence and fortitude of its leading men, God threatens to remove; in consequence of which the State should as certainly become ruinous as a decayed building, when the props on which it rested are taken away. (R. Macculloch.)The death of the renowned There is a tendency to trust in the arm of flesh. It would be most wicked if we were ungrateful for our great deliverers, raised up by that God to whom the shield of the earth belongeth; but, at the same time, it must be sinful to trust in them as if they were the authors of all, and, therefore, deserved all the glory. 1. We need the admonition which precedes this text--“ Cease ye from man (whether prince or senator, soldier or orator, counsellor or captain), whoso breath (whatever his strength or genius, talent or fame) is in his nostrils.” 2. There is no such thing as chance; whether it be a hair which falls to the ground, or a sparrow that drops in its weary way across the field, or a prince smitten from his throne, or a dynasty broken--God is in them, giving, permitting, overruling, and sanctifying; it is not the shot or shell, the wave or wind, incident or accident, but God that “ takes away,” and those things which we suppose to have played the principal part, are merely servants sent out by God to lead the soldier from his duty in the field, to receive the crown of glory and war no more. 3. But not only is it the Lord, but He has right and jurisdiction to do so. He not only reigns, but He rules. Unsanctified interpositions of God are the darkest judgments; whilst therefore, we recognise His hand in giving, let us recognise His hand in taking away. A father and his child walk. They pick up a stone with a green substance, which appears worthless, and fit only to be cast away; but they apply the microscope, and this green substance on the stone he finds to be a magnificent though tiny forest. So it is with any fact that occurs. Man looks at it with his own eyes, sees it uninstructive; but when seen in the light of God’ s truth, he finds in it what is instructive and suggestive. 4. When God removes from a nation its props, pillars, and supports, He does so to lead that nation to see Himself more clearly and to lean on Him more entirely. 5. The Lord thus “ takes away” in order to teach men impressively this lesson which man is very slow to learn--that death must come upon all. Death enters the cabinets of princes and statesmen, the camp of the hero, and the hut of the peasant, without paying the least respect to rank or royalty. (J. Cumming, D. D.)The death of statesmen I. Learn from the death of a great statesman THE WEIGHT OF IN A FALLEN WORLD. For when we see the mightiest minds that our country has produced, a Fox, a Pitt, a Liverpool, a Canning, one after another taking the weight of government upon them, and dropping under its weight into the arms of death--can we avoid thinking of the mighty mass of care that has pressed them down? II. We are taught THE OF THE OF MORTAL MEN. However mighty his shoulders may be, he must be a bold man that would venture to take up a burden that has crushed so many: and yet there are many that will venture on it; for there are those who delight in danger, who sport with difficulties, and who delight in doing what no one else can do. And it is well for society that there are men of moral courage. If all preferred the comfort and quiet of domestic life, how could the affairs of government go on? Yet there are some burdens, the weight of which will crush any mind, for the sons of Anak are not omnipotent. And how knows any man how near he is to this point, when he shall be overwhelmed with his own duties, distracted with his own cares, become a prey to the very thing in which he delighted? III. THE OF ALL HUMAN AFFAIRS. We need to be taught this with a strong hand, for this warm piece of moving clay that is bustling about the earth, ready to drop to pieces every moment, is so swollen with vanity that it would fain fancy it is made of adamant. Therefore God supplies us with strong reasons, at certain seasons, to teach us the contrary. IV. OUR ON THE SUPREME . When we behold the profound counsellor and the mighty orator, and are entranced with their talents and execution, we grow idolatrous, and think these men are more than mortal, and that society could not go on without them; little thinking that He who made them as they are, to be employed as He pleases, and to be laid aside when He pleases, can raise others equally fitted as they are. (Exodus 4:11.) V. Another lesson which we should learn is, THE SACRED DUTY OF PRAYER FOR KINGS AND ALL IN OVER US. We should make our supplications that councils may be assisted, that the cares of government may not overwhelm and destroy, that there may be a reasonable spirit prevalent in the public, so that it may be rendered less oppressive. VI. IN YOUR ZION, THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD. The Church has been compared to a building, and the world to a scaffold placed around it in order to assist in rearing the edifice. VII. LEARN TO PREPARE FOR OUR OWN DEATH. (J. Bennett, D. D.)The death of the renowned excites special attention and interest In the humble cottage on some mountain slope, in some shaded valley or distant forest, or in the living wilderness of some great city, are the young and the old, the brave and the fair, passing away in unbroken procession to the dust of the sepulchre, and to the destinies of the life to come But the great world without does not regard it. Like the leaves of autumn that strew our pathway, they sink into the grave, and their death is crowded from recollection by the never-ending succession of new events. But when the tall and graceful trees of the forest--the monarchs whose heads towered above the general altitude--are brought down by some resistless blow, their fall is attended with a louder crash, and the earth itself trembles beneath the shock: so, when the men who walk upon the loftier heights of place and power, when those whose intellectual stature as they move along the paths of science, of history, of literature, and of art, renders them preeminent above the general mass, are laid prostrate by the stroke of death, the event impresses itself more vividly upon the minds of men, and calls out from its hidden springs in the heart a profounder sentiment of sorrow. (J. A. Todd.)The perils of greatness Every state is set in the midst of danger, as all trees are set in the wind; but the tallest endure the greatest violence of the tempest. (Bishop J. Taylor, D. D.) Isaiah 3:4-8I will give children to be their princes Puerile government Probably an abstract term used for a concrete--puerilities or childishnesses for childish persons.(J. A. Alexander.)Juvenile government a curse If it is in itself generally a misfortune when the king of a country is a lad (Ecclesiastes 10:16), it is doubly so when the princes or magnates surrounding end advising him are also youths or youngsters in the bad sense of the term . . . Varying humour, utterly unregulated and unrestrained, rules supreme. (F. Delitzsch.)A foolish ruler: Justinian II (of Constantinople)The name of a triumphant lawgiver was dishonoured by the vices of a boy, who imitated his namesake only in the expensive luxury of building. His passions were strong; his understanding was feeble; and he was intoxicated with a foolish pride that his birth had given him the command of millions, of whom the smallest community would not have chosen him for their local magistrate. His favourite ministers were two beings the least susceptible of human sympathy, a eunuch and a monk; the one he abandoned the palace, to the other the finances; the former corrected the emperor’ s mother with a scourge, the latter suspended the insolvent tributaries, with their heads downward, over a slow and smoky fire. (Gibbon’s Rome.) Isaiah 3:5 And the people shall be oppressed Tyranny The dissolution of good order and political confusion. Oppression and pride everywhere prevail. (R. Macculloch.)State chaos There is a natural relation of classes. Whilst all that is purely mechanical and arbitrary is to be viewed with suspicion, yet there is a natural sequence in things; there is, indeed, what is called a fitness or harmony of things; and when society is rightly inspired the base man knows that he is base, and his baseness is his weakness, and his weakness defines his position; and the child knows himself to be but a child, and therefore he behaves himself with discretion, and is limited by circumstances which he cannot control. Once let the moral centre be lost, and then you have lost all arithmetical counting, all geometrical relationship, all figure and form and mechanism and security, and the foursquare is thrown out of its parallel, and that which was right is numbered with that which is forbidden, (J. Parker, D. D.)An evil spirit in the nation It is here threatened that God would send an evil spirit among them (Judges 9:23), which would make them-- 1. Injurious and unneighbourly one towards another. “ The people shall be oppressed everyone by his neighbour,” and their princes, being children, take no care to restrain the oppressors, or relieve the oppressed. Nor is it to any purpose to appeal to them. 2. Insolent and disorderly towards their superiors. It is as ill an omen to a people as can be, when the rising generation among them is generally untractable, rude, and ungovernable, when “ the child behaves himself proudly against the ancient” ; whereas he should “ rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man” (Leviticus 19:32). When young people are conceited and pert, and carry it scornfully towards their superiors, it is not only a reproach to themselves, but of ill consequence to the public; it slackens the reins of government, and weakens the hands that hold them. It is likewise ill with a people when persons of honour cannot support their authority, but are affronted by the base and beggarly; when judges are insulted by the mob, and their power set at defiance. (M. Henry.)A lamentable state of society Homo homini lupus--man becomes a wolf to man; jusque datum sceleri--wickedness receives the stamp of law; nec hospes ab hospite tutus--the guest and the host are in danger from each other. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 3:6-7A man shall take hold of his brother Seeking to transfer rulership Here we have the law of primogeniture. By the law of the State it was right that the eldest son should take a certain definite and ruling position. But he was naked; he had not one rag with which to cover his nudity; and seeing one of his younger brethren with a coat on, with a garment on, he sprang upon him and said, By that coat I ask thee to take my place: thou hast at least so much, and I have nothing; come, be head of the family and be prince of the tribe. But the younger son scorned the proffered dignity. The moral base had gone, and therefore the mechanical dignity was of no account; the pedestal of righteousness had been struck away, and the statue of nominal dignity fell into the dust. (J. Parker, D. D.)“ Let this ruin be under thy hand” Or, according to a various reading, making a very good sense, “ Take into thy hand our ruinous state.” Endeavour, if possible, to retrieve our affairs, now in sad disorder, prognosticating our destruction as a people: deliver, if possible, from injustice and oppression, from foreign enemies and domestic troubles; and, in the prosecution of these great and important purposes, we will act as thy dutiful subjects. (R. Macculloch.)Government going a-begging Here-- 1. It is taken for granted that there is no way of redressing all these grievances and bringing things into order again, but by good magistrates, that shall be invested with power by common consent, and shall exert that power for the good of the community. And it is probable this was in many places the true origin of government. Men found it necessary to unite in a subjection to one who was thought fit for such a trust, in order to the welfare and safety of them all, being aware that they must be either ruled or ruined. 2. The case is represented as very deplorable, and things come to a sad pass; for-- (1) Children being their princes, every man will think himself fit to prescribe who shall be a magistrate, and will be for preferring his own relations. (2) Men will find themselves under a necessity even of forcing power into the hands of those that are thought to be fit for it. Nay, a man shall urge it upon his brother; whereas, commonly, men are not willing that their equals should be their superiors; witness the envy of Joseph’ s brethren. 3. It will be looked upon as ground sufficient for the preferring a man to be a ruler, that he hath clothing better than his neighbours; a very poor qualification to recommend a man to a place of trust in the government. It was a sign the country was much impoverished, when it was a rare thing to find a man that had good clothes, or that could afford to buy himself an alderman’ s gown, or a judge’ s robes; and that the people were very unthinking, when they had so much respect to a man in gay clothing with a gold ring (James 2:2-3), that for the sake thereof they would make him their ruler. It had been some sense to have said, Thou hast wisdom, integrity, experience, be thou our ruler; but it was a jest to say, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler. A poor, wise man, though in vile raiment, delivered a city (Ecclesiastes 9:15). (Matthew Henry.)“ I will not be an healer” “ I do not want to be a surgeon” --he does not like to be a binder, namely, of the broken arms and legs and ribs of the ruined State (Isaiah 30:26; Isaiah 1:6; Isaiah 61:1). (F. Delitzsch.)A reason for refusing rulership “ In my house is neither bread nor clothing.” If he saith true, it was a sign men’ s estates were sadly ruined; if he do not speak truth, it was a sign men’ s consciences were sadly debauched, when, to avoid the expense of an office, they would load themselves with the guilt of perjury. (M. Henry.)Clothing in the East It was customary in Eastern countries, where fashions did not vary as among us, to collect immense quantities of clothes and provisions, not only for the person’ s own use, and that of his family, but for presents upon proper occasions. This appears plainly, from the sacred writings, to have been the practice among the Jews. This, as a celebrated writer observes, explains the meaning of the excuse made by him that is desired to undertake the government. He alleges he hath not wherewithal to support the dignity of that station by such acts of liberality and hospitality as the law and custom required of persons in high rank. (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 3:8 For Jerusalem is ruined “ Jerusalem is ruined!” --forfeited privilege What a verse is the eighth! We cannot even now read it without quailing under the awful representation--“ For Jerusalem is ruined. ” We thought Jerusalem never could be ruined: the mountains were round about her, and to the old psalmists those mountains signified the security of the righteous. Is beauty no protection? is ancient history of no account? will not the dead kings of Judah speak for her in the time of her trial? We cannot live upon our past, upon our forefathers, upon our vanished glories; morality must be as fresh as the dew of the morning; our righteousness must be as clear, personal, and definite as the action which we perform at the living moment. A man cannot lay up a character and fall back upon it if his present conduct is out of keeping with it; he himself takes the juice and sap out of the character which he once lived. (J. Parker, D. D.)“ The eyes of His glory” The glory of God is that eternal manifestation of His holy nature in its splendour which man pictures to himself anthropomorphically, because he cannot conceive of anything more sublime than the human form. It is in this glorious form that Jehovah looks upon His people. In this is mirrored His condescending yet jealous love, His holy love, which breaks forth into wrath against all who requite His love with hate. (F. Delitzsch.)The fall of the Campanile at St. Mark’ s, Venice Latterly it had been ignobly used as an office for the State lotteries which are demoralising Italy. In cutting the wall for the purposes of that office, the whole building had been weakened. The event spoke as a parable whose meaning could not be missed. That great, stately tower, with its history of a thousand years, fell, because of the little lottery office which cut into it and weakened it. There is an application of the parable to our own national life. Is it possible that a great empire like ours can fall through the gambling habit--the lowest and meanest of the vices--insidiously spreading through all classes of the community? Is it possible to conceive that such a vice should so undermine the character of the people, that the stately structure, built by heroic men in the past, shall crash down in swift ruin at the end? (R. F. Horton, D. D.)Ruinous effect of sin Its is just like what happens sometimes in a forest. In a calm day, when all else is silent, something crashes heavily through the branches, and we know a tree has fallen, No axe was lifted, no white lightning streamed, there was only a passing breeze. The wind that did but gently sway the little flower, shook down that towering tree, because long before the catastrophe, its vital progress had been disturbed, and millions of foul insects had entered it, which, leaving its bark untouched, and its boughs unshorn of their glory, had slowly, silently, withered its strong fibres and hollowed its core. (C. Stanford.) Isaiah 3:9 The shew of their countenance doth witness against them Character revealed in the countenance What is meant is the insolent look which their sinfulness is stamping upon their faces, without the self-condemnation which in others takes the form of dread to commit sin. (F. Delitzsch.)“ Woe unto their soul” ! 1. The condition of sinners is woeful and very deplorable. 2. It is the soul that is damaged and endangered by sin. Sinners may prosper in their outward estates, and yet there may be a woe to their souls. 3. Whatever evil befalls sinners, it is of their own procuring (Jeremiah 2:19). (M. Henry.) Isaiah 3:10-11 Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him Retribution of the righteous and the wicked In this passage the Sovereign of the universe proclaims to all the subjects of His moral government the great sanctions of His law. Two powerful principles of action in our nature are addressed, namely, hope and fear. By the one we are allured to love and pursue that which is right; by the other, we are restrained from that which is wrong. The combined influence of both of these principles is, in most cases, necessary to the production and security of human virtue. God has established a natural and intimate connection between virtue and happiness, and between sin and misery, and in consequence of this connection, it must necessarily happen that it will be, on the whole, well with the righteous and ill with the wicked. I. Let us inquire what confirmation this doctrine receives from what we know of the present constitution of things, and from what we find to be THE USUAL COURSE OF GOD’ S MORAL OF THE WORLD, If we consult the structure and operations of our own souls, we shall find many striking intimations of this doctrine there. The Author of our nature has made us rational, free, moral, and accountable beings. For the direction and government of our conduct, He has implanted within us a principle, which we call conscience, which distinguishes actions as good or bad, and which always urges us to perform the one and to avoid the other. He has, moreover, enforced the authority of this principle, by annexing present pleasure to obedience to its dictates, and present pain to a violation of them. The passions of hope and fear ever attend on conscience; the one to encourage and reward faithful adherence to its commands; the other to restrain and punish a wilful transgression of them. Now, all this takes place in consequence of that moral constitution which God has given us, and of that intimate connection which He Himself has established between virtue and happiness and between sin and misery. So long, therefore, as the moral constitution of our nature continues the same, and so long as God continues to be the same infinitely wise, holy, and good Being, so long must it necessarily happen that, on the whole, it will be well with the righteous and ill with the wicked. II. This doctrine receives additional confirmation from THE CONSENT OF MANKIND. In consequence of that moral nature which God has given us, by which we cannot but approve that which we know to be right, and condemn that which we know to be wrong, all men are agreed that vice (as far as they know it to be such) should be restrained and punished, and that virtue should be encouraged and rewarded. Hence, in all governments, laws are enacted against wickedness and for the protection and encouragement of the righteous. III. A further confirmation of this doctrine is derived from what appear to be THE UPON WHICH GOD’ S PRESENT MORAL OF THE WORLD IS . We find that, in most cases, present good is connected by Him with virtuous dispositions and habits; and present evil, with sinful tempers and practices. And although this connection is not always so intimate and inseparable, as that punishment immediately follows transgression, and reward instantly attends obedience, yet the natural retributions or effects of virtue and vice are exhibited with sufficient frequency, to show us in what light God regards them. With certain vices, we find that God has connected terrible physical evils, as their proper consequences. Intemperance, in most instances, induces disease, excruciating pains and premature death. It impairs the mind, and is generally attended with the loss of property, and invariably with the loss of reputation. With some other of the vices of sensuality are connected the most loathsome and destructive maladies, in the endurance of which the victim suffers a dreadful retribution. And with regard to other vices, it not unfrequently happens that the events of providence are so ordered in reference to the perpetrators of them that the wicked man becomes miserable, notwithstanding all his worldly possessions and honours, and all that he has can give him neither joy not quietude. On the contrary, God has connected with temperance and industry, health, cheerfulness, and competency. To the godly there is the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. This promise we see fulfilled, in part, in the general esteem and love in which the virtuous are held, and in the usual prosperity of their affairs. If they have not abundance, they have a competency; or, if they are abridged in that respect, they have friends and a contented mind. Besides, the events of providence are, in general, so ordered with regard to them, that they find “ all things working together for their good.” Upon these principles does the course of God’ s moral government of mankind appear now to be conducted. And from what is now known of the principles of His government, we may confidently infer that, during the whole of man’ s continuance in being, it will always be well with the righteous and ill with the wicked. (J. Bartlett.)Objections to God’ s moral government 1. “ Good and evil are often so promiscuously distributed in the present life, that we cannot with certainty infer what are the principles upon which God’ s government of mankind is conducted. The fraudulent and wicked are frequently prosperous and rich and flattered, while the righteous are often poor, neglected, oppressed, and despised.” This is frequently the fact, and were the present the only state in which mankind were to exist, and were worldly riches and honours the only and the proper reward of virtue, and were they, in themselves, that real good which mankind fancy them to be, then, this fact alone would render this whole doctrine suspicious, and the arguments adduced in support of it inconclusive. But it must first be proved that the present is the only state in which mankind are to exist; a position, which few will pretend to sustain, and against which innumerable arguments array themselves, suggested by the structure and operations of our own minds; the desires and hopes which are ever springing up within us; by our capacity of knowledge, goodness, and happiness, which here are only imperfectly attained, and also by that very unequal distribution of good and evil, in the present life, which has been objected to. 2. It is objected that “ the miseries attending upon wickedness in this world are punishment enough for the vicious, and therefore they will be exempted from further suffering hereafter.” It is true that, in the present life, there is much misery attending upon wickedness; but this furnishes not the least ground for the supposition that misery will ever cease to be connected with sin, as its natural and necessary consequence. On the contrary, it affords a very strong proof that this connection will ever exist, and that so long as men are wicked, so long will they be miserable. It is agreeable to the nature of things that it should be so. In the natural world, we find that fruit corresponds to the nature of the tree that bears it; the grain that is reaped to the seed that was sown. 3. It is inconsistent with the Divine mercy that the wicked should ever experience any more suffering than what they endure in this world.” It savours not a little of presumption for creatures of such limited, weak, and erring minds as ours to undertake to decide, with regard to the various measures of the Divine government, what is and what is not consistent with God’ s mercy. No one thinks to arraign the Divine government for connecting with sin, in the present life, distress of mind, disgrace, and suffering. And were our stay on earth prolonged to millions of years it would still be thought just and right, and entirely consistent with the mercy of God, that the same evils should attend the wicked, and the same good should attend the righteous. It is an error, common to many, that they look upon the evils which attend upon sin in this life, as a punishment vindictively appointed by God, to be endured by the transgressor, as a penalty for having violated His law, and that after he has endured it, he has paid the price of his transgression; the sin for which he has suffered is expiated and therefore he thinks it would be unjust that he should be subjected to any more suffering, although his disposition be not changed in the least. There is hardly a sentiment that can be named, more injurious in its influence than this, where it is fully entertained. This error proceeds from misapprehension of the design of God in connecting evil with sin. The miseries which are consequent upon sin are not appointed vindictively, as a punishment; but benevolently, as preventives of it. Our Maker has kindly placed at the entrance of every path of vice, pain, disgrace, and suffering, to deter us from entering therein; or if we have entered, to make us retrace our steps. Every onward step we take in a sinful course, these evils assail us. (J. Bartlett.)The righteous and the wicked, their reward and their woe “ Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” Plainly do we see this exemplified in the history of God’ s once favoured people, the Jews. I. THE REWARD OF THE . 1. We must, before we contemplate their reward, inquire who are meant by the righteous. The Bible elsewhere tells us, “ There is none righteous, no, not one.” All our powers and faculties are represented as disordered and depraved. After the Holy Spirit has convinced anyone of sin, humbled his heart, and won his affections to Christ, that man is “ accounted righteous” --“ righteousness is imputed unto him also,” as it was unto faithfulAbraham. And “ as a refiner’ s fire” will the Holy Spirit gradually purify all those powers and faculties of the now justified sinner that were once prostituted to the debasing service of the flesh, the world, and Satan. 2. And now we are prepared to notice his reward. We cannot, indeed, imagine that an infinitely glorious Creator can ever become obligated to reward a creature’ s faith and service: nevertheless, there is a “ reward of grace.” (1) It shall be well with him in life. Is he young? He shall, in the Spirit of adoption, and through a Saviour’ s mediation, cry unto the eternal God, “ My Father, Thou art the guide of my youth.” Is he engaged in the necessary cares and businesses of the world? He shall be “ kept in the hour of temptation.” Is he “ small and of no reputation” ? Angels shall minister unto him. Is he poor? “ God hath chosen the poor of this world” ; riches of grace below, and riches of glory in reversion, far outweigh in excellence and value every earthly good whatever. Is he “ in sorrow, need, pain, sickness, or any other adversity” ? “ The high and lofty One” will “ make for him all his bed in his sickness.” (2) It shall be well with him also in death. That which to nature is commonly terrible and affrighting, is to the regenerate man--if not always desirable, at least, often so, and never otherwise than safe and happy. (3) It shall be well with him in eternity. II. THE WOE OF THE WICKED. I. And, as before we inquired, Who were meant by the righteous? so here we must ask, Whom are we to understand by the wicked? Although, in a general way, people allow themselves to be sinners, yet even whilst making this admission, there is evidently no consciousness of sin, no apprehension of its adequate desert, no sorrow for it, no hatred to it. 2. Their woe. Here the woe of the wicked is called their “ reward” ; and a reward it is: for while “ eternal life” is bestowed as a “ gift through Jesus Christ,” upon the righteous, the “ woe” of the wicked is paid to them as “ wages” earned. (1) It shall be ill with the wicked in life. The wicked may, as the Scripture says, “ bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst” ; but “ the anger of the Lord and His jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this Book shall lie upon him.” The life of the wicked is one “ woeful day,” nor is there a period of it, however marked either by prosperous or adverse circumstances, wherein it is not “ ill” with him. (2) And can it be otherwise in death? “ I am not afraid to die,” says many a careless man: “ I heartily wish you were so,” is the mental answer of the pious minister. The stupid insensibility of the unhumbled, unawakened sinner, even death itself can scarcely appall. The same self-delusion prevails in the expiring moments as marked the days of life and vigour. (3) It shall be ill with the wicked forever. (W. Mudge, M. A.)Cheering words and solemn warnings The Book of God speaks but little of upper and lower classes; it says but little concerning the various ranks into which civil and political institutions have divided the race of man; but from its first page to its last it is taken up with this grand division, the righteous and the wicked. The line of nature and the line of grace run on the same as ever; the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent contend with each other still. A crimson line runs between the righteous and the wicked, the line of atoning sacrifice; faith crosses that line, but nothing else can. There is a sharp line of division between the righteous and the wicked, as clear as that which divides death from life. There are no “ betweenites” ; no amphibious dwellers in grace and out of grace; no monstrous nondescripts, who are neither sinners nor saints. I. THE WELL-BEING OF THE . 1. Observe the fact mentioned. “ It shall be well with him” ; that is the whole of the declaration; but the very fewness of the words reveals a depth of meaning. (1) We may gather from the fact that the text is without descriptive limits; that it is well with the righteous always. It shall be well with the righteous, especially, in futurity. Well, upon Divine authority. (2) It is well, we may rest assured again, with our best selves. The text does not say it is always well with our bodies, but our bodies are not ourselves,--they are but the casket of our nobler natures. (3) When I looked at the text, I thought,--“ Yes, and if God says it is well, He means it is well emphatically.” (4) It is so well with him that God wants him to know it. He would have His saints happy, and therefore He says to His prophets, “ Say ye to the righteous it shall be well with him.” It is not wise sometimes to remind a man of his wealth, and rank, and prospects, for pride is so readily stirred up in us. But it is not dangerous to assure the Christian that it is well with him. (5) It is no wonder that it is well with the believer when you consider that his greatest trouble is past. His greatest trouble was the guilt of sin. (6) Then, your next greatest trouble is doomed--indwelling sin. (7) With regard to the Christian, he knows that his best things are safe. As for his worst things, they only work his good. (8) It must be well with the Christian, because God has put within him many graces, which help to make all things well. Has he difficulties? Faith laughs at them, and overcomes them. Has he trials? Love accepts them, seeing the Father’ s band in them all. Has he sicknesses? Patience kisses the rod. Is he weary? Hope expects a rest to come. The sparkling graces which God has put within the man’ s soul qualify him to overcome in all conflicts, and to make this world subject to his power in every battle; I mean that he getteth good out of the worst ill, or throweth that ill aside by the majesty of the life that is in him, (9) Then mark how the Christian has, beside what is put within him by the Holy Spirit, this to comfort him, namely, that day by day God the Holy Ghost visits him with fresh life and fresh power. (10) Let me run over a few things which the Christian has, from each of which it may be inferred it must be well with him. He has a bank that never breaks, the glorious throne of grace; and he has only to apply on bended knee to get what he will. He has ever near him a most sweet companion, whose loving converse is so delightful that the roughest roads grow smooth, and the darkest nights glow with brightness. The believer has an arm to lean upon also, an arm that is never weary, never feeble, never ever withdrawn; so that if he hath to climb along a rugged way, the more rough the road the more heavily he leans, and the more graciously he is sustained. Moreover, he is favoured with a perpetual Comforter. It is well with the righteous when he comes to die. It is well with the righteous after death. 2. The ground upon which it is well with the righteous. “ They shall eat the fruit of their doings.” That is the only terms upon which the old covenant can promise that it shall be well with us; but this is not the ground upon which you and I stand under the Gospel dispensation. Absolutely to eat the fruit of all our doings would be even to us, if judgment were brought to the line and righteousness to the plummet, a very dreadful thing. Yet there is a limited sense in which the righteous man will do this. I prefer, however, to remark that there is One whose doings for us are the grounds of our dependence, and, blessed be God, we shall eat the fruit of His doings. He, the Lord Jesus, stood for us, and you know what a harvest of joy He sowed for us in His life and death. II. THE MISERY OF THE WICKED. “ Woe,” etc. You have only to negative all that I have already said about the righteous. But why is it ill with the wicked? It must be ill with him; he is out of joint with all the world. The man has an enemy who is omnipotent, whose power cannot be resisted; an enemy who is all goodness, and yet this man opposes Him. How can it be well with the stubble that fighteth with the flame, or with the wax that striveth with the fire? An insect fighting with a giant, how should it overcome? And thou, poor nothingness, contending with the everlasting God, how can it be anything But ill with thee? It is ill with thee, sinner, because thy joys all hang upon a thread. It is ill with you, because when these joys are over you have no more to come. It shall be ill with the wicked, and let no present appearance lead you to doubt it. (C. H.Spurgeon.)The happiness of the righteous in all circumstances illustrated I. WHO ARE THE AND IN WHAT SENSE IT SHALL BE WELL WITH THEM. 1. In this mixed state, when men are neither perfectly good nor bad, the exact boundaries are not so easily fixed, especially when an application is made of these characters to particular persons, and we judge concerning ourselves, in which case prejudice and self-partiality often mislead men; and superstition, a very prevailing error among mankind, contributes to these errors by leading them to imagine that there is righteousness and religion in those things which have really nothing to do with it. In general the righteous is he in whose heart the morally good or pious, virtuous and pure affections rule, and whose practice is habitually conducted by their direction; the man who loves God above all things; not the person who is altogether free from any infirmities, which, strictly speaking, may be called sinful, and who never, through the whole course of his life, has by ignorance or surprise been drawn into those indeliberate actions, which upon a review he cannot justify. If this were the sense of righteousness, who could pretend to it? 2. In what sense it shall be well with him. The meaning certainly is not that he shall possess all external advantages in this world, whereby his condition shall be rendered more easy and prosperous than that of the wicked. That is contrary to fact and experience, as well as to many plain declarations of Scripture. The stable uniform desire of the good man, is, that God may “ lift on him the light of His countenance,” or grant him His “ favour, which is better than life.” Nor is it to be thought that Divine providence will always interpose to rescue the righteous from those calamities that come upon the world of the ungodly in which they live; it was not the intention of the prophet to assure them, that they should be preserved from the ruin of Jerusalem, and the common fall of Judah, which was to be expected because of their crying national sins, in which the righteous had no share; but that in all events they should be happy, even though they were involved in the common desolation, and perished with the multitude of sinners. We must, therefore, in order to understand fully how it shall be well with the righteous, enlarge our notion of the state of man; we must consider him in the whole of his being, his soul as well as his body and in every condition and period of his existence. It is thus we judge concerning our state within the compass of the present life, and its affairs. A man may be easy and prosperous in the main, when his principal interests are flourishing, although he meets with various disappointments in things which are of lesser moment. In like manner we may justly say, it is well with good men when their souls prosper; they enjoy inward peace and satisfaction, and their future happiness is secured, though they are liable to sufferings in this present time. II. UPON WHAT THE PROPHET’ S RESTS, or how it appears that there is a connection between righteousness and felicity. 1. Consider the state and constitution of human nature as in fact we find it, abstracting from any inquiry concerning the Author of it and His designs and conduct towards us. Scarcely is there any man not conscious, in some measure, of the satisfaction which arises from morally good dispositions; and that this is stronger and more intense than the enjoyments which any sensible object can yield appears from this consideration, that the latter are frequently sacrificed to the other. Who doth not know, on the other hand, the pains of a self-accusing heart? 2. Consider righteousness not merely as the glory of the human mind, and the naturally felicitating exercise and attainment of its powers, but further, as it is approved and recommended to mankind by the Deity, their rightful and supreme Ruler. We have the clearest evidence that He approves the good actions of men, and disapproves the bad; whence we infer that one part of His own character is moral rectitude, which is a perfection that necessarily appears to our minds amiable, and every way worthy of the most excellent nature; and since He is our natural Governor, by whose will we exist, are preserved, and all the circumstances of our condition are determined, here is a sufficient intimation of the rule, according to which He doth, and will always proceed, in His dispensations towards us, making us happy or unhappy. (J. Abernethy, M. A.)All well with the righteous I. WHO THESE ARE. 1. A “ righteous” man before God is made so by the imputation of Christ’ s holy obedience, put to his account. 2. He has a righteous kingdom implanted and set up in his soul. A righteous man has proof of his being such. 3. He can feed upon nothing but God’ s righteous provision. He cannot feed upon his own obedience, or upon the mere letter of the word, or upon his mere judgment. He must have “ precious faith” to “ eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man.” 4. He loves righteous fruits--a holy walk in all godliness and fear. II. THE VERY SPOKEN THEM. It shall be well with them. 1. In providence. 2. In spiritual things. All thy temptations, all thy darkness, all thy perplexities, all thy disquietudes, all thy wanderings, God will overrule. There shall never be a night, but morning shall come; never a day of adversity, but a day of prosperity shall follow; never an emptying, but there shall be a filling; never a bringing down, but He will raise thee up again. (J. Warburton.)The happiness of the righteous I. WHO ARE THE ? 1. Negatively. (1) Not the self-righteous, who have a high opinion of themselves. It cannot be well with them, for they deny the sacrifice of Christ by which sinners are constituted righteous. (2) Not those who deny the necessity and importance of good works Romans 6:1-2). 2. Positively. This leads to a very affecting truth, namely, that all by sin are unrighteous. Observe-- (1) Every true believer is righteous according to the covenant of grace Romans 5:1; Romans 4:3; Romans 4:23-25; Romans 5:18-19). (2) They have an inherent righteousness wrought in them by the Holy Spirit. They are “ born again” --“ renewed in the spirit of their minds,” and are new creatures in Christ Jesus. (3) They declare by their conduct that they are righteous. “ They love mercy, do justly,” etc. They “ have their fruit unto holiness,” etc. II. WHAT IS THEIR ? “ It shall be well with him.” 1. Their present state of justification, etc., already described, proves this: they are free from guilt and condemnation. “ Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven,” etc. This freedom gives hope and is the precursor of blessedness to come. 2. They have a good conscience (Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 10:21-22; 2 Corinthians 1:12). 3. They enjoy all the pleasures of true religion, arising from the possession of Christian graces--the enjoyment of Christian privileges--and the performance of Christian duties. 4. It shall be well with them in all adverse circumstances. 5. In death, the period when the presence of God is most needed. 6. At the resurrection. “ They that have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life.” 7. At the judgment day (Malachi 3:17). 8. For ever in heaven. They shall be “ with Christ.” (Homilist.)It is well with the righteous I. IN EVERY PERIOD OF LIFE. II. IN EVERY IN LIFE. III. IN EVERY OF LIFE. IV. IN DEATH. V. IN . (H. Woodcock.)The end of Christian life “ God hangs great weights on slender wires.” Thus He has made Eternity to depend on Time, and our state in heaven or in hell to be decided by our character on earth. Our whole history, in like manner, often hangs upon a trifle; and that which moulds our character, upon an incident which we hardly notice. Hence even the least actions in themselves and in their connection with others, in leading to results, forming habits and moulding character, are of the highest importance to us, and demand our most thoughtful reflection. I. THEIR WITH ONE ANOTHER. No action stands alone; each is a link in a chain stretching out to eternity. Take the case of an intemperate and unchaste man; his habits are neither without a cause preceding nor an effect to follow. It is quite possible that several generations backward, some ancestor of his, through some so-called trivial accident, some casual meeting, first gave way to drunkenness. Now look onwards a few steps; we will suppose ourselves in a hospital a generation or two hence: as we pass from ward to ward we come to a descendant of the man before us--a poor creature, more miserable than any we have seen dying of some miserable disease. The cause of his suffering is to be found in the intemperance and incontinency of those who have gone before him. Step by step it may be traced back to the trifle which led his forefather to his first night of revelling and drunkenness. Take an instance on the brighter side--the thought which first hit on the art of printing. This too arose from some so-called trivial accident. We do not know what preceded it; but we may be sure it did not come without some connection in its author’ s mind. Every great result strikes its roots deep into the past. But what has followed? has it stood alone, unconnected, the act of one isolated mind? is not the world rather full of its consequences, one of which, perhaps the most blessed, is that men of all kindreds and nations may now read in their own tongues the wonderful works of God? Both good and evil actions fructify, and reproduce themselves in various forms. Whither their roots shall extend, and when shoot up again, whither their seed may be carried, where it may fall, and what it shall produce, who can tell? Sometimes the least promising seed will produce the most abundant return of fruit. So that we may not pronounce upon the importance of an action, for we do not see its connection; neither may we think any action trivial, for it may, I had almost said it must, lead to consequences of importance throughout eternity. II. THE EFFECT OF OUR ACTIONS ON AND ON OTHERS. 1. On ourselves. Every step we take not only brings us forward, but leaves a footprint behind. Every thought, word, action, all we suffer and all we do, not only has its own importance, and leads us forward in the march of life, but also leaves its impression, its foot print upon us, and tends to form, confirm, or change our character. There is a memorable instance in point, illustrating both the weakness of yielding and the nobleness of holding fast to one’ s convictions, in the visit of Henry III of France to Bernard de Palissy in the dungeons of the Bastille. The King desired to give the celebrated potter his liberty, asking as, the price of his pardon the easy condition of giving up his Protestant faith; My worthy friend, said the monarch, “ you have now been forty-five years in the service of my mother and myself; we have suffered you to retain your religion amidst fire and slaughter; I am now so pressed by the Guises and my people, that I find myself compelled to deliver you into the hands of your enemies, and tomorrow you will be burnt unless you are converted.” The old man bowed, touched by the goodness of the King, humbled by his weakness, but inflexible in the faith of his fathers. “ Sire,” he answered, “ I am ready to give up the remainder of my life for the honour of God; you have told me several times that you pity me, and now in my turn I pity you, who have used the words ‘ I am compelled’ ; it was not spoken like a king, Sire, and they are words which neither you, nor the Guises, nor the people shall ever make me utter: Sire, I can die.” By continually yielding, the monarch had become a slave; by continually acting up to his convictions, the potter had become more than a king. “ He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city.” 2. Look next at the effect of our actions upon others. Not only our children, friends, servants, but all we have any intercourse with, are more or less affected by us. Everyone knows the force of example, the impulse we have to imitate. Everyone musk have noticed the contagion, as it were, of opinion, which from house to house influences a whole circle of acquaintanceship. How often have you felt the devotion or the carelessness of the person kneeling by your side in church! How frequently must you have noticed the way in which you catch the habits and manners of those you live with; the way in which you too are watched, and observed, and copied by others. So that, if you did nothing directly to influence others, the effect of your indirect influence is yet incalculable. But you have direct influence also to exercise and give account of. Everyone does act directly upon others. Everyone does hinder or encourage, lead into sin, sin with, or lead away from sin, and walk godly with, others. And where is this to stop? You ruin or, under God, save others. This goes on; their influence ruins or saves others, and so on and on forever. Solemn, indeed, are the words of our Saviour on this subject. (Luke 17:1-2.) On the other hand, it is equally encouraging to know that no virtuous effort is ever lost. It has been said that every pulsation made in the air by the feeblest human effort produces a change in the whole atmosphere; so that the air is one vast library, on whose pages are forever written all that man has ever said or woman uttered. Is it not equally true, that the feeblest effort made for God has an influence on some heart, and that on others onwards and onwards throughout all generations? that, as the air is one vast library of whatever has moved it from eternity, so the hearts and consciences of men are a vast register of every effort made, every word spoken, every influence exerted upon them for God and for His Christ from the beginning to the end of time; a register to be read out on the last great day. (F. Morse, M. A.)An old man’ s hallelujah When Dr. Adam Clarke was an old man he wrote: I have enjoyed the spring of life; I have enjoyed the toils of its summer; I have culled the fruits of its autumn; I am now passing through the rigours of its winter, and I am neither forsaken of God nor abandoned by man. I see at no great distance the dawn of a new day, the first of a spring which shall be eternal. It is advancing to meet me! I run to embrace it! Welcome, eternal spring! Hallelujah!” A Christian gardener’ s hope An old gardener said, “ I trust I cannot be wrong in believing that year by year, as I grow older, I draw nearer to a garden of perfect beauty and eternal rest,--a garden more glorious than that which Adam lost, the Eden and the paradise of God.” (Gates of Imagery.)Heaven, the outcome of godly living When John Bunyan was once asked about heaven, and the glories of heaven, he answered: “ If you want to know more about it, you must live a godly life, and go and see for yourselves.” (D. J. S. Hunt.) Isaiah 3:11 Woe unto the wicked!-- All things conspire for evil to the sinner As all events are to be made public under God’ s moral government, it is for His own interest, as well as for the interest of His creatures, that He should apprise them fully of His character and of the principles of His government. As all events are to be made known, both for the vindication of God’ s character and for the instruction of all moral agents, it follows that the destruction of the wicked will be aggravated by every accession of light to their minds. Every new revelation of God’ s works or ways which is made to them must conspire, (1) to enlighten their minds, and, (2) by consequence, to deepen their guilt and enhance and aggravate their doom. 1. Men will be held responsible for mercies abused. Hence those things which most please sinners, and which they call their good things, are charged to their account, and they must be held to the strictest accountability for their use or abuse of all their good things. 2. If these are facts, then sinners are getting deeply in debt. Everything, therefore, that now pleases the sinner so much will swell the mass of things that shall agonise him at the judgment day, and throughout his eternal existence. 3. The same principle applies to the entire course of God’ s discipline towards you, embracing the various rebukes of His providence. All these are measures taken for your good, but if you will not improve them, they will only work out your deeper ruin. How marvellous that wicked men should suppose that these light afflictions are the proper punishment of sin! No; these are only God’ s means of discipline, employed here in this life for the good of men’ s souls. Instead of being themselves the retribution due for sin, they are only the guarantees sent on beforehand by the great King, involving His pledge that He will punish sin unless He can secure repentance. 4. All your infirmities and all your sins; also the sins of those who live near you so that you can see the course of God’ s dealings with them; indeed, the whole history of sin in the universe so far as known to you,--all conspire to heighten your responsibility and aggravate the guilt of your sin. For all these things serve to show you the real evil and wrong of sin; they serve to reveal God’ s hatred of sin, and to assure you that He must and will punish it. Remarks:-- (1) All things work together for good to the Christian, and ultimately, when he comes to see how all things have had this result, he will regret nothing he has ever done, although he may greatly blame himself for all his sins. It is often the case that Christians here learn lessons of deep experience under their sins. They are deeply affected when they see how God overrules even their sins for good to themselves and to others. But nothing of this sort happens to sinners. They are not of those that love God, and they have no reason to expect that God will make all things work together for their good. Hence they must both blame themselves and also regret everything they have ever done. (2) Sinners have never any good reasons for joy. (3) Sinners procure this result to themselves. God gave you voluntary powers, that, on your own responsibility, you might use them for your own welfare. He gave you His Son, and in Him an offered salvation, that you might lay hold of everlasting life. He gave you a Bible, that you might read it and become wise unto salvation. He gave you these and a thousand other blessings, that they might be improved, and if you will not improve them, you have no right to complain of God. (4) Sinners need not be stumbled by any calamities whatever which befall God’ s real children. Let them not trouble themselves about this matter. The Lord knoweth them that are His, and they shall never lack His constant care. (5) All events that transpire in this world or the next will only make the great gulf fixed between saints and sinners the deeper and the broader--will only make the saints more holy and more happy, the sinners more sinful and more wretched. (6) What an infinite folly is it to judge of things only by their relations to this life! (7) God’ s conduct in all this is just and righteous altogether. (C. G. Finny.)The wicked man digs his own hell We must not think of hell as a Divine invention; may we not say it reverently? it is an invention totally human. All evil digs and eats its own perdition; all evil chokes its throat with brimstone of its own finding. (J. Parker, D. D.)Presumptuous disobedience Steel-headed hammers are not allowed to be used inside powder mills, copper ones being used instead, there being no fear of drawing fires with them. Two carpenters, going into a powder mill to do some repairs, though fully acquainted with the regulations, persisted in using a steel hammer, with the result that a spark flew from the hammer head, and in a moment, with a dull, heavy roar, the mill and the men were blown to atoms. Isaiah 3:12 As for My people A protest A protest against the influence of women and children, concubines and minions (what we should call the harem influence) in the king’ s counsels. (E. H.Plumptre, D. D.)The rule of corrupt women The celebrated Aspasia, first the mistress and afterward the wife of Pericles, had from her extraordinary talents a great ascendency over his mind, and was supposed frequently to have dictated his counsels in the most important concerns of the State. She was believed to have formed a society of courtesans, whose influence over their gallants, young men of consideration in the republic, she thus rendered subservient to the political views of Pericles . . . Such were the powers of her mind and the fascinating charms of her conversation, that even before her marriage, and while exercising the trade of a courtesan, her house was the frequent resort of the gravest and most respectable of the Athenian citizens; among the rest, of the virtuous Socrates. (Tytler’s History.)O My people, they which lead thee cause thee to errThe character of rulers to be proved from the principles they inculcate and the policy they pursue The Divine compassion is not only exercised towards men in reference to the danger of their immortal souls; it is also most strikingly to be witnessed with regard to their temporal miseries The Lord is lamenting, in this chapter, the miseries which were coming upon His professed people as the fruit of their doings; and as the consequence of that course of procedure which He would be constrained to adopt as the only means, devised by infinite wisdom, which could either work for their good, or be consistent with His character and glory. That order of dealing would, in many respects, be exceedingly mortifying and painful How lamentable must be the condition of any nation or people when the words of the text are literally fulfilled in them! I. IT IS OF THE UTMOST THAT THEY WHO ARE WITH THE RULE AND OF OTHERS SHOULD BE RULED AND GUIDED BY THE FEAR AND WORD OF THE LORD. The text is not the only passage in which the Lord speaks of the misery and ruin brought on the people by the errors, vices, and mismanagement of their rulers (chap. 9). Here you see, not only who the leaders of this people are, and how they are led astray by them, but what are the consequences of being under such an erring influence. The leaders are the “ head and the tail; the ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.” Under this two-fold guidance, the people are led astray; and the result is, “ they that are led of them are destroyed.” Advert again to the case before us. How came “ the paths” of the people to be “ destroyed” in the days of the prophet? “ They that led them, caused them to err.” Now, could this have taken place if their lying prophets and wicked rulers themselves had been governed in the fear, and guided by the Word, of God? Psalms 81:13-16.) Now, does not the same truth apply with equal force to ourselves, to our own rulers and our own people? Should anyone be disposed to object to this statement and say, May not a line of policy be good although not founded upon this principle? or, May not a man be a good ruler who follows no other guidance than his own wisdom or will?--we deny the assertion altogether. We deem nothing to be good which is not done in the fear, or according to the truth, of God. Now, can anyone rule in that fear who does not live under its influence? Can anyone lead others in the right way, who is not himself walking in it! Can anyone enforce on others the maxims and precepts of the Divine Word--the only standard of truth and error, and the only test of good and evil--unless that Word be made the light of his own feet, and the lamp of his own path? Morally speaking, the thing is impossible. Or, if he were to attempt to do so, would not indecision, ignorance, uncertainty, and error characterise all his proceedings? II. IT IS NO THING TO THE REAL OF SUCH PERSONS, IN THEIR PUBLIC , WHETHER THEY ARE UNDER SUCH AN OR GUIDED BY SUCH A RULE, OR NOT. How are we to ascertain whether they who are entrusted with the rule and guidance of others are men to be confided in, as being themselves under the rule and guidance of the fear and Word of the Lord? We may ask in return, By what means are we to ascertain the true character of any other person or thing, so far as man is authorised and able to judge, which is brought under our notice, and whose real state and condition it may be of importance to determine? By whatever standard we are directed in the one case, by the same should we be guided in the other. We must be guided in our decision by the conduct and actions which are constantly exhibited before our eyes, and not merely by any fair professions which are totally contradicted, or, at least, exceedingly weakened, and continually to be called in question, by the life and conversation. III. THE MANNER IN WHICH SUCH RULERS AND GUIDES MISLEAD OTHERS IS NOT ONLY IN ITSELF, BUT IS OPEN AND TO ALL . 1. By the inculcation of dangerous and pernicious principles. A man is what his principles are; and his actions and life will of necessity, be according to the principles by which he is governed. But how are we to ascertain the real character of principles? By the same test as we try men and actions. “ To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.” 2. By the introduction of a crooked and perverse course of policy. Principles and policy in the affairs of nations, like faith and works in the things of God, will always go hand in hand together; or, at least, they will be so intimately blended with each other that they can never remain far asunder, because, in fact, as the one is the fruitful cause, so the other is the native effect produced. 3. By the exhibition of a wicked and contagious example. 4. By an unwarrantable abuse of their power, and by the countenance afforded to unworthy characters, and sanction given to wicked measures. Here, then, is a loud call-- (1) To survey and ponder the imminent peril to which we are exposed. (2) To be humbled for our sins, and to sue to God for His mercy. (3) And how does the subject speak to all those who lead the people astray, and destroy the way of their paths! How great must be their guilt! How heavy will be their condemnation! (R. Shittler.)Ungodly national leaders to be deprecated Surely it ought to be for a lamentation, when the present and eternal interests of any nation or people are committed to persons who know not the Lord, and are determined not to walk in His paths! If any spark of proper feeling were in exercise, we should grieve over a family placed under the care of such parents! we should mourn over a parish or diocese entrusted to the hands of such a shepherd! we should lament the fate of the crew of that vessel, which, instead of being steered amidst the perils of the storm, by an experienced and careful pilot, into the harbour for safety, should by some rash and unskilful hand be conducted into the quicksands or dashed upon the rock! We should feel the risings of national indignation, if the admirals of our fleets, or the commanders of our armies, instead of resisting an opposing foe, should sully their character, disobey their orders, disregard their king and their country, and, either from incompetency, or fear, or cowardice, or treason, should play into the enemy’ s hand, betray the honour of the nation, abuse the confidence of their prince, and with reckless indifference sacrifice the lives of their men! Everyone would cry out, and that justly, against them. What then ought to be our feelings--how ought we to be affected--when such a dishonour is cast upon the Majesty of heaven; when His fear is disregarded; when His Word is set at nought; when His authority is despised; and the present and eternal welfare of millions is sacrificed by the wickedness or weakness of those who reject the only rule of all safe guidance--who lead a whole nation into sin, and bring down the wrath of God upon a guilty land! (R. Shittler.) Isaiah 3:13-15 The Lord standeth up to plead God’ s controversy The management of this controversy. I. GOD HIMSELF IS THE . II. THE IS PROVED BY THE OF THE FACT (Isaiah 3:15). III. THE IS ALREADY BEGUN IN THE CHANGE OF THE . To punish those that had abused their power to ill purposes, God sets those over them that had not sense to use it to any good purposes (Isaiah 3:12). (M. Henry.) Isaiah 3:14 The Lord will enter into judgment God, the Friend of the poor Whoever abandons the sanctuary, the poor should never go away; whoever closes the Bible, the poor man should keep it lying widely open; he should always have a Bible that opens easily, not stiffly, because it is well handled, and is the continual defence of men who cannot defend themselves. (J. Parker, D. D.)Isaiah’ s solemn reproof Returning into the city he silently hovers in and out of the courts of revelry and feasting that open on to the narrow thoroughfares, watching the judges and honourable men of wealth, who had just come in from their ceremonial worship at the temple, to eat, to drink, to talk lewdly, and to amuse themselves with soothsayers and necromancers, and the haughty women, with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, and gay and sumptuous dresses, paid for with the money wrung from the impoverished tenantry of their spouses. As he watches and muses, the fire within his bones flames up, and he reminds them as he passes into the darkness, “ the spoil of the poor is in your houses!” (F. Sessions.) Isaiah 3:16-24 The daughters of Zion are haughty Wanton eyes :--Compare the Talmudic witticism, “ God did not create the woman out of Adam’ s ear, lest she might become an eavesdropper; nor out of Adam’ s eye, lest she might become a winker. ” (F. Delitzsch.)The “ wanton” eyes The “ wanton” eyes of A.V., or the “ ogling” eyes of others, introduces an idea foreign to the connection. There seems no reference to immorality. It is the pride of beauty and attire, which has no mind for the Ruler above, which is punished with all that makes loathsome. (A. B. Davidson, LL. D.)A mincing gait The rendering should rather be “ tripping” ; for only such little steps can they take, owing to their pace chains, which join together the costly foot rings that were placed above the ankle. With these pace chains, which perhaps even then as now, were sometimes provided with little bells, they make a tinkling sound, clinking the ankle ornaments, by placing the feet in such a way as to make these ankle rings strike one another. (F. Delitzsch.)Pride of beauty and attire reproved The prophet’ s business was to show all sorts of people what they had contributed to the national guilt, and what share they must expect in the national judgments that were coming. Here he reproves and warns the daughters of Zion, tells the ladies of their faults. I. THE SIN CHARGED UPON THE OF ZION. The prophet expressly voucheth God’ s Authority for what he said, lest it should be thought it was unbecoming him to take notice of such things, and should be ill resented by the ladies. The Lord saith it. Whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, let them know that God takes notice of, and is much displeased with, the folly and vanity of proud women; and His law takes cognisance even of their dress Such a nice affected mien is not only a force upon that which is natural, and ridiculous before men of sense, but, as it is an evidence of a vain mind, it is offensive to God. And two things aggravated it here-- 1. That these were the daughters of Zion--the holy mountain--who should have carried themselves with the gravity that becomes women professing godliness. 2. That it should seem by the connection they were the wives and daughters of the princes who spoiled and oppressed the poor (Isaiah 3:14-15), that they might maintain this pride and luxury of their families. II. THE FOR THIS SIN, and they answer the sin as face answers to face in a glass (Isaiah 3:17-18). 1. They “ walked with stretched forth necks.” But God “ will smite with a scab the crown of their head,” which shall lower their crests, and make them ashamed to show their heads, being obliged by it to cut off their hair. 2. They cared not what they laid out in furnishing themselves with great variety of fine clothes; but God will reduce them to such poverty and distress that they should not have clothes sufficient to cover their nakedness. 3. They were extremely fond and proud of their ornaments; but God will strip them of those ornaments, when their houses shall be plundered, their treasures rifled, and they themselves led into captivity. 4. They were very nice and curious about their clothes, but God would make those bodies of theirs a reproach and burden to them (Isaiah 3:24). 5. They designed by these ornaments to charm the gentlemen, and win their affections, but there shall be none to be charmed by them (Isaiah 3:25). (Matthew Henry.)A Jerusalem fashion plate This is a Jerusalem fashion plate. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)Comely clothing natural That we should all be clad is proved by the opening of the first wardrobe in Paradise, with its apparel of dark green. That we should all as far as our means allow us be beautifully and gracefully apparelled is proved by the fact that God never made a wave but He gilded it with golden sunbeams, or a tree but He garlanded it with blossoms, or a sky but He studded it with stars, or allowed even the smoke of a furnace to ascend but He columned, and turreted, and doled, and scrolled it into outlines of indescribable gracefulness. When I see the apple orchards of the spring, and the pageantry of the autumnal forests, I come to the conclusion that if Nature ever does join the Church, while she may be a Quaker in the silence of her worship, she never will be a Quaker in the style of her dress. Why the notches of a fern ear or the stamen of a water lily? Why, when the day departs, does it let the folding doors of heaven stay open so long, when it might go in so quickly? (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)Costume and morals 1. Much of the worldly costume of our time is the cause of the temporal and eternal ruin of a multitude of men. 2. Extravagant costume is the foe of all Christian almsgiving. 3. Is distraction to public worship. 4. Belittles the intellect. Our minds are enlarged, or they dwindle just in proportion to the importance of the subject on which they constantly dwell. 5. It shuts a great multitude out of heaven. You will have to choose between the goddess of fashion and the Christian God. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)God-defying extravagance of modern society 1. This wholesale extravagance accounts for a great deal of depression in national finances. Aggregates are made up of units, and so long as one-half of the people of this country are in debt to the other half, you cannot have a healthy financial condition. 2. The widespread extravagance accounts for much of the crime. It is the source of many abscondings, bankruptcies, defalcations, and knaveries. 3. It also accounts for much of the pauperism in the country. Who are the individuals and the families who are thrown on your charity? Who has sinned against them so that they suffer? It is often the case that their parents, or their grandparents, had all luxuries, lived everything up, more than lived everything up, and then died, leaving their families in want. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.). Isaiah 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man The climax of Zion’ s ruin This verse should be part of the preceding chapter, the very climax, indeed, of the ruin which Zion has brought upon herself. (Read Isaiah 3:25-26.) In this verse the course of nature is inverted. This is the ruin which sin always works. The picture is that of a country desolated by war, and when the census comes to be taken it is found that there are seven women to one man. The men are murdered, the strong have been taken away, the mighty men have gone down in the shock of war. (J. Parker, D. D.)Social anarchy A companion picture to Isaiah 3:6;--the male population are in search of a ruler; the women in search of a husband. (R. Weir.) Isaiah 4:2-6 In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious The first personal reference in Isaiah to the Messiah If this is a reference to Christ, critics are agreed that it is the first personal reference to the Messiah which Isaiah has yet given. (J. Parker, D. D.)A pleasing contrast What so beautiful as that a branch should appear in this wilderness of lava! Blessed are they who can turn away from the desert and look at the garden. (J. Parker, D. D.)A branch Then the fountains of life and energy are not dried up. (J. Parker, D. D.)A branch That is to say, fruitfulness, beauty, sufficiency, energy, summer. This is what the Son of God same to be and to do--to fill the earth with fruitfulness, to drive away the ghastly, all-devouring famine, and to feed the world with the fruit of heaven. (J. Parker, D. D.)The Branch of the Lord I. THE GENERAL MEANING OF THE PASSAGE. The time spoken of by the prophet is clearly the time of the Christian dispensation, called “ the last days” (ch. 2). And we need not stop to prove that “ the Branch of the Lord” is a name or title of the Messiah. We have, therefore, a prophecy of the glory of Christ’ s kingdom. II. THE INNER MEANING OF THE PASSAGE. (1) Why is it said “ In that day,” specifying a particular time, “ the Branch of the Lord shall be glorious” ? And (2) what is the special force or meaning of the title, “ the Branch of the Lord” ? 1. The glory of Christ is surely the glory which He had with the Father from the beginning. How then can it be said of Him that at any assigned time He is glorious, rather than at another? The word glory, when spoken of God or Christ, cannot have precisely the same sense as when spoken of a man. A man may gain glory by some act above the average of human nature. But starting from infinite perfection, nothing greater or nobler can be conceived. Glory, therefore, with reference to God is not the gaining of any higher excellence, but the manifestation of excellence which existed already. The creation was the first manifestation of the glory of God. And if the glory of God was made manifest in creation, it is yet more fully revealed in those mysteries of redemption which angels desired to look into. 2. But why in this connection is the Saviour called the Branch of the Lord? If the appropriateness of the figure does not at once appear, it will at least remind us of--“ I am the Vine, ye are the branches.” The expression thus sets Christ before us in His character as the Mediator--Himself the Branch of the Lord, and His people branches of that true Vine. Thus we are enabled further to connect the title with the glory spoken of. The glory and beauty of the vine is in its fruit (John 15:8). (A. K. Cherrill, M. A.)God’ s perpetual presence with His people I. THE FOR THE PROMISE. In the earlier verses of the chapter you will find that two things are presented as antecedent to the gifts of blessing--that is, the coming of the Divine Saviour, and His discipline for holiness within His Church. 1. The transition from the gloomy judgment to the grandeur of deliverance is abrupt and striking, as if from a savage wilderness one were to emerge suddenly into green pastures and among gay flowers. And surely this is a true representation of the change which passes upon human destinies when Christ the Lord comes down. We are naturally heirs of judgment. There is not a family, there is not a heart, upon which the curse has not descended in disastrous entail; there is a stain upon the birth, there is a feebleness in the nature of us all. But there comes a sound of help and of deliverance, for a Saviour has been provided--a Saviour who, in the mysterious union of natures, combines perfection of sympathy and almightiness of power. 2. It would at once correct our estimate and restrain our pride if we could remember always that with God the greatest thing is holiness. And then, further, we are told that to work this holiness in His people, God subjects them to discipline, and, if necessary, to the spirit of judgment and to the spirit of burning. Mark the exquisite fitness and the exquisite kindness of the discipline. There are some stains that water can wash away. If the water will avail, there is no need of the fire. There are some stains so deep and foul and crimson that the fire must purge them. II. THE PROMISE ITSELF (verse 5). As we read these words, we are translated to a former scene of deliverance. We go back to the older ages; and there, in the fierce wilderness, where no groves of palm trees wave with shade, a vast host marching steadily, now in their van for guidance, now in their rear for protection, there rises by day a pillar of cloud and by night a pillar of flame; and, as we gaze, we listen to the snatches of their song: “ Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.” This was the vision prominent in the mind of the prophet when he symbolised by it God’ s presence and protection to His chosen Church. 1. The central thought is the presence of God. Then, there are right-hand and left-hand thoughts or aspects in which that presence manifests itself. 2. The presence of God for counsel. 3. The presence of God for defence. (W. M. Punshom.)God’ s promise to the remnant I. THE PERSONS . The remnant, the escaping, the “ evasion of Israel,” as the word signifies (Isaiah 4:2) they that are left, that remain (Isaiah 4:3), who escape the great desolation that was to come on the body of the people, the furnace they were to pass through. Only in the close of that verse, they have a further description added of them, from the purpose of God concerning their grace and glory--they are written among the living, or rather, written unto life; “ Everyone that is written,” i.e., designed unto life in Jerusalem. II. THE WHEREIN THEY WERE. This is laid down in figurative expressions concerning the smallness of this remnant, or the paucity of them that should escape, and the greatness of the extremities they should be exercised withal. III. THE HERE MADE TO THIS PEOPLE are of two sorts: Original, or fundamental; and then consequential thereon. 1. There is the great spring, or fountain promise, from which all others, as lesser streams, do flow; and that is the promise of Christ Himself unto them, and amongst them; He is that Branch of Jehovah, and that fruit of the earth, which is there promised (Isaiah 4:2). He is the foundation, the fountain of all the good that is or shall be communicated unto us; all other promises are but rivulets from that unsearchable ocean of grace and love that is in the promise of Christ. 2. The promises that flow from hence-- (1) Of beauty and glory (Isaiah 4:2). (2) Of holiness and purity (Isaiah 4:3-4). (3) Of preservation and safety (Isaiah 4:5-6). (J. Owen, D. D.) Isaiah 4:3 He that is left in Zion The holy remnant “ Holy” means what is separated from the world and superior to it; the congregation of the saints, or holy ones, who now inhabit Jerusalem, are what remain after a smelting; their holiness is the consequence of a washing. (F. Delitzsch.)God has never yet left the world without a nucleus of heaven He has drowned the world, but left a seed to build an altar; He has burned the Gomorrahs of the world, but He has allowed the faithful to escape, and to become the beginning of a new progeny. There is always a remnant, the one left, the true heart, the faithful among the faithless found. (J. Parker, D. D.)Holiness becomes the Christian We are told that the little creature called the ermine is so sensitive to its own cleanliness that it becomes paralysed and powerless at the slightest touch of defilement upon its snow-white fur. A like sensibility should belong to the Christian, who should abstain from the very appearance of evil. (Sunday School Chronicle.) Isaiah 4:5A cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night The pillar cloud of Israel--Christ, the Leader of His Church (with Exodus 13:21-22):--It was good for the Israelites that they were so long in the wilderness. There the most impressive intimations of a present Deity followed their every step. Miracles were wrought, to feed them when hungry, and to satisfy their thirsty souls. Jesus was in the manna--“ I am the living Bread which came down from heaven.” There, in the form of a vast column of mingled fire and smoke, is the mysterious yet faithful guide of the Lord’ s people. When it is stationary, they rest; when it advances, they journey. The pillar cloud was typical of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ ever liveth as the Church’ s Prophet, Priest, and King. “ And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion,” etc. If the pillar cloud was the shadow of good things to come, Jesus Christ is the glorious substance; and we shall endeavour to show in what manner the Redeemer leads His Church. I. JESUS LEADS THE CHURCH BY HIS WORD. Not more certainly was there one pillar cloud than there is one Bible. The Word stands alone in its authority. It is the sole director of our faith; it is the sole regulator of our walk. The Word is the sole standard in all matters pertaining to the worship of God, and if human opinions or imperial statutes should oppose its high demands, “ we must obey God rather than men.” II. JESUS LEADS THE CHURCH BY HIS SPIRIT. How precious the promise which He made to His disciples. “ The Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” The Word is a lamp to the feet and a light to the path; but what if the hands of men are so feeble that they cannot hold the heaven-sent lamp? What if the darkness which shrouds their minds is so dense that all the rays shining from the Word serve only to render the darkness visible? In such circumstances how desirable to have a living guide to expound the infallible directory! The cloud which was in the tabernacle by day, and the fire by night, formed a guiding pillar, but for which the people of Israel must have wandered and lost their way In the desert. Yet there was an imperfection arising from its very nature. The fiery pillar taught seeing men where to go; but it could not give sight to the blind. It pointed to the direction in which the pilgrims were to advance; but it could not make the lame man leap as an hart. We do not say that the Spirit of Christ did not impart inward light, saving knowledge, in the days of Moses. Wherever holiness adorned any character, He, the Sanctifier, was its source. The crowning excellence of the New Testament economy is, that it is the dispensation of the Spirit. While it does not dispense with forms, it specially inculcates the power of godliness. While it commends the Word, it holds the Word to be powerless without the Spirit of God. III. JESUS LEADS THE CHURCH BY HIS . The Saviour whom we adore, is Ruler of all worlds. Supreme in heaven, He is not less so on earth. The Author of salvation, He is the regulator of all the complicated wheels of providence. Providence is a volume which is often hard to be understood. And the reason why we put providence after the Word and Spirit of Christ is, that no man is able to explain providence aright until he has studied the Word, and been taught by the Spirit of the Lord. (J. Patrick, M. A.)Israel’ s guide and guard I. It refers to the Church of God IN ITS PRIVATE AND . These are denoted by the expressions--“ every dwelling place of Mount Zion.” It is one among the many beautiful descriptions of the true Christian, with which the Bible abounds, not simply that he does approach to God, but that he takes delight in doing so; and having “ tasted that the Lord is gracious,” he will strive to realise, in his own parental character, the exalted qualities, which God ascribed to Abraham, and which doubtless were even then in the course of development, though “ as yet he had no child.” Happy is that parent, happy is that child, with respect to whom it can be truly said, “ The fathers to the children shall make known Thy truth.” II. The second aspect, under which the Church of God is here presented to us, is IN ITS SOCIAL AND . This is indicated by the expressions “ her assemblies.” The expression refers to the union of the servants of God in public worship: corresponding exactly to that of which our Saviour spoke, when He said--“ Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” There can be no doubt, that from the very earliest ages of the Church, the rest of the holy Sabbath was observed; and the more the spirit of genuine religion diffused itself, the more did men of similar tastes and feelings seek pious association with each other. (G. Weight, M. A.)The glory of Christ’ s Church 1. Experience has amply shown the true glory of a Church does not consist in outward pomp or splendour. Even Solomon confessed that the magnificence which adorned his temple in all its untarnished glory was unworthy to become a residence, or to receive the manifested tokens of Jehovah’ s presence. In rich and stately decorations even the heathen may enshrine his lifeless idol, and outvie the splendour of the ancient Jewish sanctuary. On the other hand, the patriarchs in their wandering, and the persecuted Christians, convened in woods and caves and retired chambers, have beheld the manifested light of God’ s countenance, and have seen His power and glory as graciously displayed as in the most splendid sanctuary. 2. The true and essential glory of the Church principally consists in the spirituality, holiness, and unity of its members. 3. The doctrine of the restoration of the image of God in the soul of man, by the agency of the Holy Spirit, challenges for the Church which prominently exhibits it, the title of a glorious Church. 4. Of the varied glories of the Church, none in its early days was more conspicuous than that of unity in government, discipline, worship, and spirit. Long has Satan prevailed in his endeavours to divide and conquer. (G. Almond.)God in His sanctuary I. WORSHIP, WHETHER IN THE FAMILY OR THE , IS BY GOD. II. GOD WILL EXPRESS HIS BY OF HIS . The benefits of the Jews from the Shechinah were a type of the benefits of Jesus among us. What were these? 1. The manifestation of truth--the Urim and Thummim. Jesus Christ is the only medium through which we can have knowledge of God, redemption, and the way of worship. 2. The display of holiness. Wherever the Shechinah appeared there was an impression of holiness. Moses and the bush. The Holy of Holies. So in the Gospel, we have not only a display of truth, hut of holiness also. 3. Communication of comfort. The cloud covered Israel in a heated atmosphere; it dropped dew, and they were baptized in the cloud. Is not this the end of the spiritual manifestation? The Holy Ghost is called the Comforter. III. THESE OF THE DIVINE THE GLORY OF THE CHURCH. What was the temple without it? And how is this house filled with glory? It is not in the altar, the shewbread, the ark, or the manna, but in Jesus’ presence walking among the candlesticks. (J. Summerfield, M. A.)Upon all the glory shall be a defenceA Gospel profession the glory of a nation These words are a recapitulation of the whole verse, and are a Gospel promise given out in law terms, or a New Testament mercy under Old Testament expressions. 1. What is here expressed as to the type and figure. For the glory and defence two pairs of things seem to be intended: the ark and the mercy seat; the tabernacle and the pillar of fire. (1) The ark is oftentimes called the glory of God (Psalms 78:61; 1 Samuel 4:21). The word which we have rendered “ a defence,” properly, signifies “ a covering” ; as was the mercy seat the covering of the ark. So that “ upon the glory shall be a defence,” is as much as, unto you the “ mercy seat shall be on the ark,” or you shall have the mercy represented and intimated thereby. (2) The tabernacle and cloud, or pillar of fire, are also called to mind; so the words are expressive of that figure of God’ s gracious presence with His people, which we have recounted (Exodus 40:34). “ Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” 2. What is here intended, as to the substance of the mercy promised. All those things were typical of Christ. Apply, then, this promise to Gospel times, and the substance of it is comprehended in these two propositions: I. THE OF CHRIST WITH ANY PEOPLE IS THE GLORY OF ANY PEOPLE. This is the glory here spoken of, as is evident to anyone that will but read Isaiah 4:2, and consider its influence unto these words. This is their glory, or they have none. Is it in their number, that they are great, many, and populous? God thinks not so (Deuteronomy 7:7; Psalms 105:12). You know what it cost David in being seduced by Satan into the contrary opinion. There is nothing more common in the Scripture than for the Lord to speak contempt of the multitude of any people, as a thing of nought. Is it in their wisdom and counsel, their understanding for the ordering of their affairs? Is that their glory? Why, see how God derides the prince of Tyrus, who was lifted up with an apprehension hereof; and counted himself as God, upon that account (Ezekiel 27:1-36; Jeremiah 9:23-24). 1. Now, Christ may be said to be present with a people two ways. (1) In respect of the dispensation of His Gospel amongst them, the profession of it and subjection to the ordinances thereof. (2) In and by His Spirit, dwelling in their hearts by faith, uniting them to Himself. 2. This is the glory of any people upon a threefold account. (1) This alone makes them honourable and precious before God. (2) This presence of Christ makes men comely and excellent in themselves (Psalms 16:3)(3) This alone makes any truly useful unto others. Here lies the preservation of any nation from ruin. Prosperity is from hence Micah 5:7) If you desire the glory of the nation, labour to promote the interest of Christ in the nation. Value, encourage and close with them in and with whom is the presence of Christ. II. THE OF GOD IN SPECIAL OVER A PEOPLE ATTENDS THE OF CHRIST IN GRACE WITH A PEOPLE. (J. Owen, D. D.)Christ the Defence of His people I. A OF THE HOME. It is “ upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion” that there shall be “ the cloud and smoke by day,” and the “ pillar of fire by night.” What is a house without Christ? II. A OF THE CHURCH. Upon “ all her assemblies,” as well as in every “ dwelling place,” rose the symbols of His presence. Eli trembled for the ark of God, and men now tremble for the safety of the Church in this wilderness world. But it is safe as the children of Israel under the cloud and the pillar. III. A OF THE PERSON. We need personal protection. A shade in the heat of calamity; a tent in the storm of adversity. This Christ is to His people. 1. In temporal matters. 2. In the interests of the soul. (J. S. H.) Isaiah 4:6 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow A substantial shadow amid the insubstantials The tabernacles of the Old Testament typify the abiding glory of that true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not marl They were taken down. This abideth evermore. The dissolving process of death only developed the capacity of the Divine Redeemer to become a universal tabernacle. Isaiah saw the Divine King in all His beauty and in all His adaptedness for the world’ s deep needs when he declared, “ And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat.” The word shadow is not always attractively employed. Job, in mournful imagery, describes the traveller going to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death. And cheering ideas are not always suggested by the proverb which affirms that coming events cast their shadows before them. But the sublime tabernacle spoken of by Isaiah is a shadow that always attracts. It never hides any sunlight which may be needful for the ripening of celestial fruits. I. This tabernacle is a COOLING SHADOW. The heats of this world will not be so oppressive to him who dwells in this tabernacle. For the soul finds adequate provisions for the wants and aspirations of its largo capacities in this substantial shadow. II. This tabernacle is a LIFE GIVING AND SHADOW. The summer heat of Judaea is intense. Some of the rivers are dried up, and become lanes of burning sand. Near Mount Tabor many of the soldiers of Baldwin IV died through the oppressive heat; and at this very place of Shunem, the son of the Shunamite was struck in the head by the sun’ s rays as he went up to his father to the reapers, and he died. A shadow to impart and preserve life as well as to give a cooling place of resort. The spirit of man dies in consequence of unforgiven transgression, but life is found in the true tabernacle. III. This tabernacle is a SHADOW. Delightful, not only in protecting from evils, but in the direct impartation of pleasure. If there is any delightful state in this world, it is where and when the soul sits down under the shadows of the Beloved and holds sublime communion with the Infinite. IV. This shadow is an ABIDING SHADOW. Unlike that afforded by Jonah’ s gourd. God blasts our cherished gourds in order to lead us out of all narrow and selfish policies. Earth’ s protecting shadows flee away to teach us to abide more constantly and believingly beneath the one perfect and ever-abiding shadow. (W. Burrows, B. A.). Isaiah 5:1-7 Now will I sing to my well-beloved Hopes concerning the vineyard The Lord’ s hopes and disappointment with His vineyard. (A. B. Davidson, LL. D.)Truth to be presented in varied form Aaron’ s bells must be wisely rung. Sometimes the treble of mercy sounds well, at other times the tenor of judgment, or counter tenor of reproof, sounds better: and it often happens that the mean of exhortation sounds best of all. It is wisdom to observe circumstances, and know how to curse as well as bless, chide as well as comfort, and speak war to a rebel as well as peace to a friend. And herein, indeed, lies the wisdom and faithfulness of a teacher. (N. Rogers.)Who was the speaker? It is an interesting question, and one to which the answer is not altogether obvious. And who is the well-beloved to whom these words are addressed? Only two answers seem possible. Either it must be the prophet who speaks, and his God that he is addressing; or else it must be the eternal Father that is addressing His co-eternal Son. 1. If we adopt, as most commentators seem to do, the former explanation, we have to face two very serious difficulties, neither of which can I meet. (1) The prophet here uses a term of endearment which would be strangely inconsistent with his usual style of addressing God, and such a use of the Hebrew term here employed occurs nowhere else in Scripture. It is a term of endearment of the strongest kind, answering very closely to our English word “ darling” ; and it is easy to see that there is something very repugnant to our ideas of seemliness and reverence in the application of such a term to that God with whose majesty Isaiah was himself so profoundly impressed. In every other ease in which this word is used as a term of endearment, it is addressed by the stronger to the weaker, by the superior to the inferior. Thus Benjamin is spoken of as the beloved of the Lord in the blessings of Deuteronomy, the thought suggested being, that as Benjamin himself was Jacob’ s favourite, the darling of his heart, so the tribe was to be specially dear to the great Father of the race. But obviously, while Benjamin might justly he called the darling of Jacob’ s heart, it would have been, to say the least, somewhat incongruous to speak of Jacob as Benjamin’ s darling. The term would have been wholly out of place here; and not less, but even more, out of place must it needs be in the lips of an Isaiah addressing his God. (2) Yet another difficulty has to be faced if we make the prophet the singer; for in that case, his song clearly ends at the close of the second verse, whereas on this hypothesis it must be assumed that there is an abrupt transition from the speech of the prophet to the speech of God. But it seems clear that the whole passage, down to the end of the seventh verse, constitutes the song referred to in the first verse, and it is all spoken of as a song sung to the beloved. 2. Let us adopt the other explanation of the passage, and all at once becomes straightforward and self-consistent, the only difficulty involved being that we have here a marvellously explicit reference to a great theological verity, that was not fully revealed to the world till the Christian epoch--the doctrine of the distinction of Persons (as we are obliged to express it for lack of better terms) in the Divine Unity. This great truth is, however, implied in many other passages of Old Testament Scripture, and therefore its occurrence here need not trouble us. According to this second interpretation, it is the eternal Father that is here addressing His well-beloved Son, the Angel of the Covenant, to whose tutelage the ancient Theocracy was delivered, just as at a subsequent period He became, in the flesh, the Founder and Head of the Christian Church. Here the expression used is just what might be expected, and we are reminded of the voice which fell from heaven in New Testament times: “ This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” In this exegesis the identity of the singer and the unity of the song is preserved throughout, There is no abrupt transition from the utterance of one person to that of another; for He who sings and He to whom the song is sung are one. The Father does Himself that which He does through the Divine Word, and hence the passage from the third person to the first in the third verse ceases to be embarrassing; nay, additional force is added to the Divine expostulation; for the Father is jealous with a holy jealousy for the Person and work of His Son. He knows how well that work has been done, and has all the more reason to complain of its having been denied its proper results and its merited reward. There is something infinitely pathetic in the idea of this song of lamentation, poured forth from the great Father’ s heart of love into the sympathetic ear of His well-beloved Son, and in this enumeration of all that He, the well-beloved of the Father, had wrought for favoured Israel. When man was created, he was created as the result of the decree of a Divine council: “ Let us make man in our own image.” And now when, after years of trial, man has proved himself a miserable failure, the Divine Father and the co-eternal Son are represented as conferring over the disastrous issue. (W. HayAitken, M. A.)The vineyard song There are plaintive songs, mournful songs, as well as songs expressive of joy and delight. I. THE ADDRESS. “ My well-beloved.” Can you call Jesus so? “ If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed at the coming of the Lord.” II. THE SONG. Observe, that whilst this vineyard is the choice of “ my well-beloved,” and His own hand plants it, He has a right to the fruits. Take care and do not rob Him. Do not tell me anything about a sandy and barren Christianity. It is not worth twopence an acre, if you go by the measurement. Do not tell me of a tree in the Lord’ s vineyard that brings forth no fruit; tell me rather of the post in the street. I look for the fruits of the Spirit, that He may be glorified in and by you. III. THE WHICH IS FOR THE SINGERS. (J. Iron.)Unfruitfulness reproved 1. It is natural to ask, Who is this that says, “ I will sing a song to my Beloved” ! I take these words to be spoken, not in the person of Isaiah, but of God the Father to His Son our Lord, who in the evangelical style is called, “ the beloved Son of God, in whom He is well pleased.” But how can the Church of those times be called the vineyard of the Son? I answer, Because as the Father created all things by Him, so by Him He has always governed all things, and more especially His Church. 2. The Church of God is styled a vineyard, which is a very pertinent resemblance of it. For as a vineyard is a plot of ground separated from common field and pasture, in order to be improved with such cultivation as that the vines and grapes it produces may supply the owner with generous wines: so God’ s Church consists of a people chosen by Him out of the rest of the world, that they may worship Him by the laws and rules of His own revealing, and so exercise a purer religion, and abound in the fruits of good living, above other men, who have not the light of the same revelation, nor direction of the same laws. This similitude of a vine, or vineyard, for the justness of the resemblance, is several times used to denote the Church. (Psalms 80:1-19.) 3. This vineyard is said to be situate in a very fruitful hill, alluding to the land of Canaan, which was a high-raised, and a very fertile soil, agreeable to the character which Moses gives of it (Deuteronomy 32:13). 4. God made a fence round about it, i.e., He distinguished His people from all other nations by peculiar laws, statutes, and observances, not only in religion, but even in civil life, in their very diet and conversation, so that it was impossible for them to remain Jews, and to accompany freely with the rest of the world. He also fenced them with a miraculous protection from the invasions of their adversaries, which bordered upon them on every side. 5. God cleared the soil of this vineyard from stones; not indeed in the literal sense, for this country pretty much abounds with rocks and flints, which are so far from being always prejudicial, that they are serviceable, not only for walls and buildings, but even for some parts of agriculture. But this is a proper continuation of the allegory, that as stones should be cast out of a vineyard, so God cast out the ancient inhabitants of Canaan, to make room for the children of Israel. And with them He cast out their idols, made of wood and stone, and demolished the temples dedicated to idolatry, that His own people might have no stumbling blocks left in their way, but might be wholly turned to His service. 6. He planted it with the choicest vine, the true religion, and form of government both ecclesiastical and civil, which He had revealed from heaven. He made excellent provision for the instruction of His people, and the promulgation of His will and pleasure among them. 7. After much cultivation of His vineyard and choice of His vine, He justly expected a plentiful product of the best kind of grapes; but was recompensed for all His pains with no better than the fruits of wild, uncultivated nature; “ grapes of Sodom and clusters of Gomorrah,” as He complains (Deuteronomy 32:1-52). And He gives us a sample and taste of them in some of the following words “ He looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.” The great increase of their fields and flocks, wherewith He had blessed them, afforded them sufficient means of rendering those dues to religion, and loving kindness to their neighbours, especially to the more indigent sort, which by many sacred laws and serious exhortations He had enjoined. But instead of being led by the Divine beneficence to works of liberality and charity, they only studied how to sacrifice to their insatiable lusts and lewd affections. 8. Therefore with good reason God tells them and appeals to themselves for the justice of it, that He would take away the hedge of His vineyard, and my it open to be wasted and trodden under foot. The proper application of all this to ourselves, is briefly hinted by St. Paul (Romans 11:21). “ If God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee.” (W. Reading, M. A.)Britain highly favoured of God The natural advantages of Great Britain have been deemed extremely great; an island (says an early historian) “ whose valleys are as Eshcol, whose forests are as Carmel, whose hills as Lebanon, and whose defence is the ocean.” But our country has to enumerate advantages of a still higher order,--both of a civil and of a religious nature. Our civil constitution is a fabric, which, on account of its symmetry and grandeur, has even called forth the admiration of foreigners. Respecting this invaluable constitution, the late Dr. Claudius Buchanan asks, “ Was it the peculiar wisdom of the Danes which constructed it? or of the Saxons, or of the Normans, or of the natives of the island? What is the name of the great legislator who conceived the mighty plan? Was it created by chance, or by design?. . .We know well by whose counsel and providence our happy government hath been begun and finished. Our constitution is the gift of God, and we have to acknowledge His goodness for this blessing, as we thank Him for life, and breath, and all things.” But should we be less grateful for the benefits of a religious description, which have been conferred in past years upon our ancestors, and so copiously upon ourselves? We have reason to believe that the holy light of Christian truth was introduced amongst the Britons in the apostolic age, and during the captivity of Caractacus; and that numerous churches being gradually formed, the sanguinary rites of the Druids, practised in the dark recesses of their forests, were exchanged for the pure worship of the Gospel. In the sixth century, Christianity, though too much tinctured with the superstition of the age, was introduced amongst the idolatrous Saxons. It was a benefit to many of our ancestors that the dawn of a reformation also appeared, when the doctrines of the Waldenses were brought from France; and when the intrepid Wicliffe--whose writings were of no small advantage to the revival of religion, both in his own country and in Bohemia--protested against the reigning errors. This reformation, though soon crushed, was renewed within about a century afterwards, and established under the auspices of a young monarch whose name should be remembered with the warmest gratitude,--the sixth Edward. The protestant Church was in the next reign greatly oppressed, and many were added to the noble army of martyrs; but in the following reign it acquired a stability unknown before; and notwithstanding the various difficulties with which it has struggled has flourished to this day. (T. Sims, M. A.)Man under the culturing care of Heaven The Eternal employs fiction, as well as fact, in the revelation of His grit thoughts to man. Hence we have in the Bible, fable, allegory, parable. Fiction, used in the way which the Bible employs it, is a valuable servant of truth. It is always pure, brief, attractive, and strikingly apt. The Divine idea flashes from it at once, as the sunbeam from the diamond. The text is one of the oldest parables, and is run in a poetic mould. It is fiction set to music. “ I will sing to my beloved a song touching his vineyard.” Isaiah’ s heart, as all hearts should be, is in loving transports with the absolutely Good One, and by the law of strong affections he expresses himself in the language of bold metaphor and the music of lofty verse. Love is evermore the soul of poetry and song. This parabolic song is not only a song of love, but a song of sadness, for it expresses in stirring imagery how the Almighty had wrought in mercy to cultivate the Hebrew people into goodness, how unsuccessful He had been in all His gracious endeavours, and how terrible the judgment that would descend from His throne in consequence of their unfruitfulness. We have man under Divine culture here set before us in three aspects. I. THE UTMOST . So much had the Eternal done for the Hebrew race in order to make them good, that He appeals to the men of Jerusalem and Judah in these remarkable words: “ What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in it?” What has the great moral Husbandman done towards our moral culture? 1. Look at nature. There is an intelligence, a goodness, a calm, fatherly tenderness, animating, beautifying, and brightening all nature, which is, in truth, its moral soul, that silently works evermore to fashion the heart of humanity for God. 2. Look at history. There is running through all history, as its very life, an Eternal Spirit of inexorable justice and compassionating mercy, whose grand mission it is to turn the souls of men from the hideousness of crime to the beauties of virtue, from confidence in man, “ whose breath is in his nostrils,” to trust in Him who liveth forever, from the temporary pleasures of earth to the spiritual joys of immortality. 3. What are the events of our individual life? Why is our life, from the cradle to the grave, one perpetual change of scene and state? Why the unceasing alternation of adversity and prosperity, friendship and bereavement, sorrow and joy? Rightly regarded, they are God’ s implements of spiritual culture. 4. Look at mediation. Why did God send His only-begotten Son into the world? We are expressly told that it “ was to redeem men from all iniquity.” 5. Look at the Gospel ministry. Why does the great God ordain and qualify men in every age to expound the doctrines, offer the provisions, and enforce the precepts of the Gospel of His Son? Is it not to enlighten, renovate, purify, and morally save the souls of men? II. WORSE THAN . “ He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.” The idea is that the Jewish people, under the culturing care of God, produced instead of good fruit the foetid, noxious fruit of the wild vine. And truly their history demonstrates this lamentable fact. From age to age they grew more and more corrupt, morally offensive, and pernicious, Thus they went on until the days of Christ. Unfruitfulness is bad enough, but pernicious fruitfulness is worse. The history of the world shows that it is a common thing for men to grow in evil under the culturing care of God. Pharaoh’ s heart was hardened under the ministry of Moses; Saul advanced in depravity under the ministry of Samuel; and Judas became a devil under the ministry of Christ Himself. Man growing in evil under the culturing agency of God indicates two facts in human nature. 1. The spontaneity of man’ s action. What stronger proof can there be that our Maker has endowed us with a sovereign power of freedom than the fact that we act contrary to His purpose regarding us, and neutralise His culturing efforts? 2. The perversity of man’ s heart. The disposition to run counter to Heaven, which is coeval with unregenerate souls, is the root of the world’ s upas. How came it? It does not belong to human nature as a constitutional element. It is our own creation, and for it eternal justice holds us responsible. III. SINKING INTO UTTER (verses 5, 6). These words threaten a three-fold curse. 1. The withdrawal of Divine protection. “ I will take away the hedge thereof,” etc. The meaning is, that He will withdraw His guardianship from the Hebrew people. This threat was fulfilled in their experience. Heaven withdrew its aegis, and the Romans entered and wrought their ruin. What thus occurred to the Jew is only a faint symbol of what must inevitably occur in the experience of all who continue to grow in evil under the culturing agency of God. 2. A cessation of culturing effort. “ It shall not be pruned nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns.” The idea is that He would put forth no more effort to improve their condition, that He would cease to send them visions and prophets. The time must come in the case of all the unregenerate, when God will cease His endeavours to improve. His Spirit will not “ always strive with man.” 3. The withholding of fertilising elements. “ I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.” However protected the vineyard might be, and however enriched the soil, and skilfully pruned the branches, if no rain come, the whole will soon be ruined. What a terrible picture of a soul is this!--here is a soul from which its great Father has withdrawn all protection, ceased all culturing efforts, and withholds all fertilising influences! Here is hell. This subject starts many solemn reflections, and has many practical uses. (1) It unfolds the mercifulness of God. How infinite His condescending love in taking this little world under His culturing care. (2) It reveals the morality of life. Man is a moral being, and everything here connected with his life has a moral purpose, and a moral bearing. (3) It explains all human improvement. God, as the great Husbandman, is here “ building fences,” “ digging and pruning,” and thus helping on the world to moral fruitfulness. (4) It urges self-scrutiny. In what state is our vineyard? (5) It suggests the grand finale of the world’ s history. There is a harvest marching up the “ steeps of time.” (Homilist.)Great opportunities I. AS . The vineyard here is represented-- 1. As in a salubrious position. “ In a very fruitful hill.” 2. As subject to culturing care. Canaan was the fruitful hill; the theocratic government was the fence built around it. What rare opportunities has every man amongst us! Bibles in our houses, churches near our dwellings, preachers of every type of mind, class of thought, and oratorio power. II. AS ABUSED. “ When I looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes.” III. AS UTTERLY LOST. (Homilist.)A history of the Jews We have in this parable a summing up of the history of God’ s chosen people. I. GOD’ S CARE FOR THEM--their privileges. II. GOD’ S GRIEF OVER THEM--their Sin and unfaithfulness. III. GOD’ S UPON THEM--their punishment. (C. J. Ridgeway.)Human life in parable I. Here is human life PLACED IN A GOOD . “ In a very fruitful hill.” II. Here is human life AS THE SUBJECT OF CARE (Isaiah 5:2). He stood back and waited like a husbandman. The vineyard was upon a hill, and therefore could not be ploughed. How blessed are those vineyards that are cultivated by the hand! There is a magnetism in the hand of love that you cannot have in an iron plough. He gathered out the stones thereof one by one . . . He fenced . . . He built . . . He made a wine press. It is hand made. There is a peculiar delight in rightly accepting the handling of God. We are not cultivated by the great ploughs of the constellations and the laws of nature; we are handled by the Living One, our names are engraven on the palms of His hands: “ The right hand of the Lord doeth gloriously.” Human life, then, is the subject of detailed care; everything, how minute soever, is done as if it were the only thing to be done; every man feels that there is a care directed to him which might belong to an only son. III. Human life is next regarded AS THE OBJECT OF A JUST . “ He looked that it should bring forth grapes.” Had, He not a right to do so? Is there not a sequence of events? When men sow certain seed, have they not a right to look for a certain crop? When they pass through certain processes in education, or in commerce, or in statesmanship, have they not a right to expect that the end should correspond with the beginning? Who likes to lose all his care? IV. Human life AS THE OF A BITTER . “ It brought forth wild grapes.” (Joseph Parker, D. D.)Life given for culture It is not the best at the first; it has to be fenced, and the stones are to be taken out, and the choice vine is to be planted, and the tower is to be set in the midst of it, and the wine press is to be built therein. The child is but the beginning; the man should be the cultivated result. Culture is bestowed for fruit. Culture is not given for mere decoration, ornamentation, or for the purpose of exciting attention, and invoking and securing applause; the meaning of culture, ploughing, digging, sowing is--fruit, good fruit, usable fruit, fruit for the healing of the nations. The fruit for which culture is bestowed is moral. God looked for judgment and for righteousness. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)God’ s expectation of fruit I. THE MOTIVES OR REASONS US TO . 1. Every creature in its kind is fruitful. The poorest creature God hath made is enabled, with some gift, to imitate the goodness and bounty of the Creator, and to yield something from itself to the use and benefit of others Shall not every creature be a witness against man, and rise up in judgment to condemn him, if he be fruitless? 2. The fruitfulness of a Christian is the groundwork of all true prosperity. 3. If we be fruitful, bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit, there is no law against us (Galatians 5:22-23). 4. The circumstance of time calls upon us to bring forth the fruits of obedience. Forasmuch as the Lord hath year by year, for so long succession of years, sought for fruit of us and found none, it is now high time to bring forth plenty. 5. If all this will not serve to make us fruitful, that which our Saviour saith John 15:2; John 15:6, should awaken us. II. SOME MEANS THAT MUST BE USED TO MAKE US GROW MORE . 1. See thou be removed out of thy natural soil, and be engrafted into another stock. 2. See thou plant thyself by the running brooks. 3. See thou labour for humility and tenderness of heart. The ground which is hard and strong is unfit for fruit. 4. Beware of overshadowing thy heart by any sinful lust, whereby the warm beams of the Sun of Righteousness are kept from it. 5. A special care must be had to the root that that grow well Faith is the radical grace. 6. We must be earnest with the Lord, that He would make us fruitful. III. THE NATURE AND QUALITY OF THAT FRUIT WHICH WE MUST BRING FORTH. 1. Proper. It must be thy own. 2. Kindly, resembling the Author, who is the Spirit of grace. 3. Timely and seasonable (Psalms 1:3). 4. Ripe. 5. A fifth property of good fruit is universalities. Fruits of the first and second table, of holiness towards God and righteousness towards man. Fruits inward and outward. 6. Constant. (N. Rogers.) Isaiah 5:2 It brought forth wild grapes Wild grapes The history of the Jewish nation is written for our warning, and the lessons taught by this parable are sadly needed by the England of today. There is not one word of this description of the vineyard at its best which is not true of this highly favoured land. This, too, is a very fruitful hill. Under the soil, what unheard of mineral riches, mines of wealth! Above the soil and in it what fertility, what productive power! Around us, from port and bay and harbour, our merchant fleets take and fetch and gather the riches of the earth! Here, too, is planted a chosen and favoured vine. Here God has planted the Anglo-Saxon race, so blended with some other tribal blood that, even our enemies being judges, we have been unequalled in hardy daring, conquering energy, splendid enterprise, and universal stretch of power. We, too, have been strangely “ fenced in” by the providence of God. Our iron coasts, compassed by the inviolate sea, have largely made and kept us separate and safe. Out of this land have also been gathered the stones of idolatry, barbarism, despotism, bigotry, slavery. Here, too, the Husbandman hath built His tower and made His wine press. “ The temples of His grace, how beautiful they stand!” Surely the Lord hath not dealt so with any people! To us He says, as well as to Israel of old, “ What more could I do to My vineyard, that I have not done? Why, then, when I looked for grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” Is not this indictment true? Wild grapes, offensive to God, mischievous to others, and ruinous to us, are being produced on every hand. The Husbandman describes some of them. 1. The excessive greed of gain (Isaiah 5:8). The sin lies not in the mere addition of house to house, by fair and lawful means, or a moderate gathering together of earthly good; but in that mad rush and scramble, that strife and struggle to lay hold of all the hand can grasp. Never was Nebuchadnezzar’ s golden god worshipped with half the eager frenzy of today. Utterly reckless of Naboth’ s honest claim to his little vineyard--regardless of the right of poorer neighbours to gain a livelihood, a powerful purse shall buy them out; huge estates shall be enclosed in an ever-expanding ring fence; rampant speculators shall starve the spinner and weaver by the cunning of a “ cotton corner.” It is a moral wrong; it is a national calamity; it is a wild grape which wins a “ woe” from God. The one gleam of hope lies in the fact that the monster will be its own destroyer. “ Of a truth, many such houses, great and fair, shall be without inhabitant.” 2. Another wild grape is the crying sin of intemperance (Isaiah 5:11). 3. Another wild grape is the headstrong rush after pleasure; the follies and frivolities of the tens of thousands whose whole time and tastes and talents are wickedly laid on the shrine of sensual delights. A perpetual round of feasting, junketing, dancing, sightseeing, and sensational enjoyments is the be-all and end-all of their existence (Isaiah 5:12). 4. Another wild grape is sensuality in its grosser and fouler shapes. “ Woe unto them which draw iniquity with cords, and sin as with a cart rope.” In this ease the silken threads which bound them to the gilded chariot of pleasure have been woven by the force of habit into strong cords and cables, and they are drawn by the baser passions into bestial sensuality, and within the veil of secrecy, and under the curtains of night, uncleanness reigns. 5. Another wild grape is infidelity. “ Woe unto them that regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operations of His hands.” They deny His creating power, they question His existence, and as for the operation of His providence, not God but law and nature is the cause of all! And all this in England! 6. Another wild grape here mentioned is fraud and falsehood: and still another is dishonesty. “ Woe to them who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter,” and so on. Again, “ Woe unto them which justify wickedness for reward!” Tricks of trade, scamped handiwork, adulterated goods, lying puffs and advertisements, commercial frauds, haphazard speculations--oh, ‘ tis a sickening list! What shall be the end of it? Must England, like Israel, perish, forsaken of her God? No nation that forgets God shall prosper: look on the ruins of Babylon, of Greece, of Israel, of Rome. No city that forgets God shall prosper: read the sad records of Nineveh, of Tyre, of Jerusalem, of Sardis, of Laodicea. No man that forgets God shall prosper: look at the graves of Pharaoh, of Ahab, of Saul, of Herod, of Napoleon. If England lives on, and grows in lustre as she lives, it must be because the King Emmanuel is undisputed Monarch of the national heart, uncontrolled Director of the national policy and the national will. (J. J.Wray, M. A.)Isaiah an embodied conscience Isaiah was speaking in the first years of the reign of Ahaz, who, by his luxury and effeminacy, was beginning to imperil the splendid results of the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham. Like most men who are embodied consciences, the prophet was looked upon as a busybody. Those are usually most hated who do that which is most needed. Having attracted attention by his parable of the vineyard and the grapes, Isaiah became a remorseless and terrible voice. The man seemed to have disappeared, while the voice spoke the retributions of the Almighty. This embodied conscience was terribly faithful. It is useless to attempt argument with a conscience. It can never be argued with--it must be heard. It utters its imperative, and you are heedless at your peril. Some things may be reasoned about; a matter of conscience, never. Furthermore, conscience is always and of necessity prophetic. Whenever conscience tells you that you are wrong, it tells you more than that--it tells you that you must turn or you will be punished. That is what makes it a terror. Not only does it point the finger of shame; it also points the finger of doom. So is it with the national conscience; it, too, is prophetic, and always speaks of judgment. Isaiah was the conscience of Judah speaking its imperative, as Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison were our national conscience in the days when the Republic protected slavery. Judah had grown rich; she was getting careless; she was trusting in her riches. Judah had been sadly disciplined. There had been earthquakes, loss of territory, defeat, and now there was approaching the spectre of an Assyrian invasion. For all this she boasted of her riches and neglected God. (Amory H. Bradford, D. D.)Old foes with new faces 1. As soon as a people become rich, they usually begin to subvert the natural and Divine order to their own selfishness. The tendency of riches is to lead people to do wrong. That may be why it is so hard for a rich man to get into heaven. He makes the mistake of thinking he can buy his way anywhere, and finds at last that character, not gold, is the currency he needs. 2. The sternness of the prophet continues. Those who have grown rich have also grown luxurious. They have learned the pleasures of the wine cup; they tarry long at the wine. The land question is an old one; the liquor question is equally old. Again I ask, Who shall tell why, as soon as men begin to prosper, they begin to do what is worst for themselves and worst for the world? Read that fifth chapter from Isaiah 5:12-17. How true to life! “ The mean man is bowed down, and the great man is humbled.” The low-bred fellow drinks his fiery liquor and wallows in the gutter; the high-bred and rich say that they can mind their own business, and go to the same disgusting squalor. But Isaiah was speaking of the nation rather than to individuals It was a national shame that such things were tolerated then; it is a disgrace that such things are tolerated now. If Isaiah were alive today, or, better, if Jesus Christ could have your attention for a moment, He would say, How can you justify yourselves in giving so much time to purely economic questions and so little to the devising of means for the abolition of what ruins the finest of our boys, blights homes that would otherwise be beautiful and full of love, and makes so many of our rulers more like swine than the sovereigns they were intended to be? These two old foes are still alive, with new faces--the land question and the liquor question. The lesson which we have to learn is the one which the prophet sought to impress in his time--that both individuals and nations are responsible to God; that responsibility is real; and that there is a judgment seat before which men and nations must stand. “ For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.” Let us not forget that we--our community, our state, our nation--are in the moral order of God; that everything we do is making ourselves and all others better or worse; that we are all called to fellowship with the prophets and apostles and faithful souls in all ages, to do something toward bringing in the time when the good things of the world shall belong to all people. (Amory H. Bradford, D. D.)A reasonable expectation God expects vineyard fruit from those that enjoy vineyard privileges. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 5:3 Judge, I pray you, betwixt Me and My vineyard The unfruitful vineyard I. The way in which the inspired penman is guided to put the question in the text seems to lead us to ONE OF WE OF HUMAN NATURE,--I mean the power which men possess of perceiving general truth without at the same time perceiving its particular bearing on themselves. Often and often are we, all unconsciously, judging between God and His vineyard, and we know it not. There is no general denunciation of the Bible which does not meet with our full assent; but we are too often unable to see that we ourselves come under its terms. And this is one of the dangers attendant on listening to preaching. II. The portion of Scripture under consideration has A MOST DIRECT TO OUR OWN . 1. As members of the Church. 2. As individual souls. (W. Alexander.) Isaiah 5:4-6 What could have been done more to My vineyard that I have not done in it?-- Human responsibility and Divine grace I. In any attempt at the interpretation of the story and the exhibition of its moral and religions uses, its should be considered first. (Isaiah 5:7.) 1. There is a sense in which it may almost be said that Israel was Jehovah’ s vineyard as no other race or nation has ever been. Selected from an ancient stock which certainly does not seem to have greatly distinguished itself before, it had been preserved and cherished century after century; and in its most marvellous history are to be found the purest revelations of God in antiquity, leading up to the “ unspeakable gift” in which men have life. That history proves that the nation had enjoyed every condition of blessedness, every opportunity of fruitfulness and service. 2. The kind of career it chose is sufficiently indicated in this fifth chapter, in the latter part of which the vices seem almost to run riot. But it is even more significant of the state of the nation, that these lurid paragraphs are not perhaps quite an adequate representation. For, threatened with an attack from an alliance of the neighbouring tribes, Ahaz sought the aid of the King of Assyria; and to secure it, he actually consented to govern his country as an Assyrian province. Then followed one of the most dismal periods of Jewish history. The weak king became infatuated with his oppressor, and nothing would satisfy him except the introduction of Assyrian manners and morals and worship into Jerusalem. The example of the court infected the nobles and the priests; and at length, in the beautiful valley of Hinnom, amongst the groves that were kept green by the fountains of Siloah, an altar to Moloch was erected. That was the sort of “ wild grape” this choice vine was yielding,--idolatry of the most cruel and savage kind, varied with sensuality and the oppression of the poor. 3. That such a result should disappoint the Owner of the vineyard was only natural; and accordingly this little story represents Him next as trying to find out the cause, or rather, as appearing to the men of Judah to acknowledge what He and they well knew. He sets them up for the moment as judges, and confronts reason and conscience with the question, “ What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in it?” Everything that could be done and yet leave them free to sin and capable of righteousness had been done. 4. A nation convicted and self-convicted of the most gross offences against God and against morals, offences the entire responsibility of which rests upon itself--what will become of that nation? There are other parts of the Bible, not quite so stern as this, which indicate that further opportunities may be given it, and the final punishment withheld for a time. But it is also true that, in regard of nations as well as of men, the patience of God may be exhausted. We have accordingly, in this song and story, the outline of the history of Judah. God’ s consideration, first of all, with every kind of gracious help and opportunity,--all wasted through the neglect or wilfulness of the nation itself, until it became fruitless and hopelessly corrupt; and then the fulfilment of the Divine words: “ Go to; I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.” Judah, in its origins and early career, is a sufficient illustration of the preliminary stages: Judah, in its dispersion and miseries, is a standing witness to the certainty with which national calamity overtakes national contempt of God. A nation that ignores its past, and just surrenders itself to sin, is manifestly good for nothing, filling no worthy function, but cumbering the earth. II. BUT NO OF THIS PARABLE SEEMS QUITE . The way in which the Bible insists upon the truth that national responsibility does not obliterate but only gathers together and, as it were, organises personal responsibility, has some important bearings upon current modes of speech and thought. There is a disposition sometimes to speak of the conscience of a nation, to imagine that the phrase stands for something that is entirely separate and apart from ourselves, and to regard it as a power outside of a man, to which he may add or from which he may withhold his own influence. At times it has proved a convenient generalisation; but it is well that an exact meaning should be given it. It must denote, not something apart from any man, but either the average personal conscience, or the aggregate of all the consciences; and an average or an aggregate is a figure upon which every unit tells. All morality, indeed, must always be, in its essence and in its appeals, personal, lifting up a nation by lifting up the individuals that constitute it; exposing it to the wrath of God because the individuals expose themselves. The most effective social movements are found to be accordingly those which address themselves in the name of God to individuals, and persuade them one by one to aim more resolutely at the fulfilment of righteousness. 1. If then this passage be taken personally, no one who recalls his past life, and remembers the way in which God has dealt with him, is likely to object to its symbolism. Every one of us has been and is a vineyard of the Lord; and He does for us all that a God can do. 2. What has been the result of it all? Wild grapes in abundance--weakness and bad temper and almost every kind of fault we can show, but little else. 3. The reason of such failure is not far to seek. That God can be blamed for it, is impossible; for there has been no defect of grace or help on His part. Temperament and circumstance might be pleaded, aptitudes we have inherited, and hindrances amidst which we have found ourselves, but for the obvious reply that, whilst these things may involve effort and strain, they never involve defeat. The man who is most embarrassed by his own disposition and surroundings, but for his own fault might be a better man than he is. 4. The consequences of continuing in fruitlessness are shown by the passage to be fatal and hopeless. To waste Divine grace is to run the risk of losing it altogether. That point, however, has not been reached by anyone who retains any aspiration after God, or any desire to be a better man. In Christ there is power for all to shake off every habit of sin, to reverse tendencies to neglect and waste, to evolve in righteousness and peace. (R. Waddy Moss.)God and men I. THE OF GOD WITH US. II. OUR CONDUCT TOWARDS HIM. (A. Roberts, M. A.)Divine disappointment It may seem irreverent to speak of a Divine disappointment, but this is by no means the only passage of Scripture which in its obvious meaning conveys this idea, Perhaps we may have to leave the explanation of such words till we obtain fuller light in higher worlds upon the great mystery of the relation of Divine foreknowledge to human freedom; but clearly such words are spoken to us after the manner of men, in order that we may the better discern the intensity of desire and the warmth of loving interest with which the God from whom we all proceed seeks to raise us to our true functions and our proper place in His universe, and the sorrow and regret with which He witnesses the failure of His gracious purposes concerning us. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)The moral limits of the Divine resources 1. Perhaps it may occur to you to object, this lamentation and apparent disappointment? Surely, this is a confession of impotence on the part of the Omnipotent. If God be really what we call Him--Almighty--why should He waste words in futile expostulations! Surely, He who makes the vine put forth her tender grapes and prepares the autumn vintage the wide world over, could, if He pleased, by the mere exercise of His superior power, constrain men to bring forth the fruit that He desires to see brought forth. Why did He not increase the pressure of His power on Israel until He had constrained the disobedient nation to become obedient, and had practically forced them to bring forth their fruit? Our answer to this very natural difficulty is simply this--that the suggestion involves a contradiction. This will be sufficiently obvious as soon as we begin to ask, What is the special fruit that God seeks at the hand of man? The proper fruit of humanity, the fruit that God seeks in human character and life, is the reproduction of the Divine nature. God’ s purpose in man is answered when He sees in man His own moral likeness formed. But now, inasmuch as God is a free agent, it is only by the possession of a similar moral faculty, and of the capacity of exercising it, and only by its exercise in the highest and best manner, that man can ever be conformed into the Divine image; for no two things are more essentially unlike than an automaton and a free agent. Indeed. I think we might venture to say that even a free agent who uses his freedom badly is morally more like God, just because he is free, than the most perfect automaton--perfect, I mean, in every other particular you can name--could ever hope to become, seeing that he is not, and can never hope to be, free. No doubt God could have arranged that man should be a very different being, and bring forth very different fruit; but then in doing so He would have had to abandon the specific purpose emphatically announced when man was just about to be called into existence--“ Let us make man in our image, after our own likeness.” St. Paul teaches us that the “ gifts and calling of God are without repentance,” and we see this illustrated all through the natural world. God does not alter the functions of particular organisms, and make them produce something totally distinct from their own proper type. Were He to do so He would be admitting failure and inconsistency. And as in the material so in the spiritual world. Man has been originally designed to occupy a certain unique position there, and to exercise certain definite functions, and to bring forth a particular kind of fruit to the glory of God, and therefore we may be quite sure that God will not transform him into a being of another order altogether, just to make him do and be what he in his free manhood wills not to do or to be. 2. But it might still be urged, Would not God be acting a kinder part if He withdrew this faculty of free will which has caused us so much trouble, and sin and sorrow--if He were so completely to override it by His own superior power, and so control it that it should be able to exercise no appreciable influence incur conduct, but that He Himself should always have His way? To this we answer, God loves man too much to do anything of the kind. Man’ s capacity of rising to his proper destiny is involved in his possession and exercise of this faculty of volition. Take it away, and we must needs turn our backs forever upon the thought of rising to the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus; for it is by the use of these wills of ours, and by their voluntary subordination, that we are to be trained, and developed, and educated, and fitted for enjoying that wondrous relation to the Son of God which is spoken of as the spiritual Bridal and Union of Christ and His Church. No; man must remain free, or else his own proper fruit can never be brought forth; and hence there is really and actually moral limit to the Divine resources. 3. Bearing in mind, then, these necessary limitations of the Divine resources, let us each face the inquiry, What more would we have God do for us than He has actually done! I do not my that all are equally privileged, and I can believe that some, in answer to such a challenge, might demand the enjoyment of higher privileges such as others possess. But don’ t you see that, whatever privileges might thus be secured, the necessity for the action of the will would not and could not be evaded! And so long as this were so, what guarantee would you have that your increased privileges might not mean only enhanced condemnation! Others, who occupy the very position of privilege that you might demand, have only turned their privileges into a curse by sinning against them; and who shall say that it would not be the same with you? Nay, is it not even more than probable that it would be so; for does not our Lord Himself teach us that “ he that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much: and he that is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much” ! Here we have laid down one of the great laws of the moral world. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)God employs various means in dealing with men He does not exhaust all the means that He is capable of employing without any inconsistency all at once. Just as He dealt in different ways with Israel of old, sometimes sending a miracle-working prophet like Elijah, and sometimes a man of mighty eloquence such as Isaiah; sometimes raising up a saintly hierarch like Samuel, and sometimes a philosophic moralist like Solomon; sometimes speaking in pestilence, defeat, disaster, and sometimes in prosperity and deliverance, even so He employs first one means and then another in dealing with us. But each of these, when it fails to bring about the end for which it was designed, represents the exhaustion of yet another resource; and when the last which the Holy Ghost can righteously and consistently have recourse to has been exhausted, the soul is lost. (W. HayAitken, M. A.)Thankfulness for past mercies the way to obtain future blessings I. THE FORM AND MANNER OF THE . It runs in a pathetic, interrogatory exclamation; which way of expression naturally and amongst men importing in it surprise and a kind of confusion in the thoughts of him who utters it, must needs be grounded upon that which is the foundation of all surprise, which I conceive is reducible to these two heads-- 1. The strangeness; 2. The indignity of anything, when it first occurs to our apprehensions. II. THE ITSELF; for which there are these things to be considered. 1. The Person complaining, who was God Himself. 2. The persons complained of, which were His peculiar Church and people. 3. The ground of this complaint; which was their unworthy and unsuitable returns made to the dealings of God with them. 4. The issue and consequent of it; which was the confusion and destruction of the persons so graciously dealt with and so justly complained of. (R. South, D. D.)God’ s vineyard With ill men nothing is more common than to accuse Almighty God of partiality and injustice, as if it were in His nature to be austere and cruel, and expect more than can reasonably be done by them in their circumstances. When the earth is unprofitable, and its productions are fit only to be burned in the fire, the fault is neither in the sun nor yet in the clouds, but in those whose business it is to prepare the earth for the influences of the heavens. In like manner, and with equal justice, may God appeal to His people: and this is the purport of the question, “ What could have been done more for My vineyard, that I have not none in it?” 1. The vineyard, with all the circumstances relating to it, is thus described by the prophet (Isaiah 5:1-4). 2. If Christians should at last fall away, the justice of God may then appeal to them, “ What could have been done more for My vineyard, that I have not done in it?” 3. As true religion brings with it the blessing of God upon any nation, and this blessing is the source of inward peace, wisdom, health, plenty, and prosperity; so the decay of Christianity must bring such evils upon us as were brought on the impenitent Jews. (W. Jones, M. A.)The impenitent inexcusable There is something very affecting, very startling, in the assertion that as much had been done as could be done in order to produce from the ancient Church the “ fruits of righteousness.” And, if you only ponder the arrangements of the Gospel, you will feel forced to assent to the reproachful truth which is conveyed in the question of the text. There is a wonderful variety in the arguments and appeals which are addressed in Scripture to the thoughtless and obdurate. At one time they are attacked with terrors, at another acted upon by the loving kindness of God, and allured by the free mercies of the Gospel. In our text there is nothing alleged but the greatness of what God has done for us--a greatness such that nothing more can be done, consistently, at least, with that moral accountableness which must regulate the amount of influence which God brings to bear upon man. Of course, if this be so, then, if we are not convinced and renewed under the existing instrumentality, there is nothing that can avert from us utter destruction. I. This is the first way of vindicating the question of our text--atheism has a far better apology for resisting the evidences of a God which are spread over creation, than worldly-mindedness for manifesting insensibility to redemption through Christ. It is not, we think, too bold a thing to say, that in redeeming us, God exhausted Himself. He gave Himself; what greater gift could remain unbestowed! Therefore it is the fact that nothing more could have been done for the vineyard, which proves the utter ruin which must follow neglect of the proffered salvation. Having shown yourselves too hard to be softened by that into which Deity has thrown all His strength, too proud to be humbled by that which involved the humiliation of God, too grovelling to be attracted by that which unites the human and the Divine, too cold to be warmed by that which burns with all the compassions of that Infinite One, whose very essence is love,--may we not argue that you thus prove to yourselves that there is no possible arrangement by which you could be saved? II. Consider more in detail what has been done for the vineyard, in order to bring out, in all its reproachfulness, the question before us. 1. As much has been done as could have been done because of the agency through which redemption was effected. The Author of our redemption was none other than the eternal Son of God, who had covenanted from all eternity to become the surety and substitute for the fallen. So far as we have the power of ascertaining, no being but a Divine taking to Himself flesh, could have satisfied justice in the stead of fallen man. But this is precisely the arrangement which has been made on our behalf. 2. As much has been done as could have been done for the “ vineyard,” regard being had to the completeness and fullness of the work as well as to the greatness of its Author. The sins of the whole race were laid upon Christ; and such was the value which the Divinity gave to the endurances of the humanity, that the whole race might be pardoned if the whole race would put faith in the Mediator as punished in their stead. The scheme of redemption not only provides for our pardon, so that punishment may be avoided; it provides also for our acceptance, so that happiness may be obtained. Not only is there full provision for every want, but there is the Holy Spirit to apply the provision, and make it effectual in the individual case. 3. There is yet one more method of showing that so much has been done for the “ vineyard” that there remains nothing more which the Owner can do. In the teachings of the Redeemer we have such clear information as to our living under a retributive government,--a government whose recompenses shall be accurately dealt out in another state of being,--that ignorance can be no man’ s excuse if he live as though God took no note of human actions. And we reckon that much of what has been done for the “ vineyard” consists in the greatness of the reward which the Gospel proposes to righteousness, and the greatness of the punishment which it denounces on impenitence. (H. Melvill, B. D.)The Lord’ s vineyard I. THE . II. THE SINS. III. THE of the elder Church. (G. J. Cornish, M. A.)Christmas thoughts I. The solemnity of the present season calls upon us to commemorate in an especial manner THE MERCIES OF GOD IN THE OF THE WORLD, the last and most gracious of all His dispensations. The preceding vouchsafements were preparatory to this, which is therefore to be considered as the completion of the others. Wherefore, if those other dispensations had so much grace in them as to warrant the prophet’ s expostulation in the text and context, the argument will be so much the stronger, and our obligation so much the greater, as the grace in which we stand is more abounding and the advantage of our situation more favourable and auspicious to us. This whole matter will appear in a stronger light to us if we turn our thoughts to those three great periods of religion under one or other of which the Church of God and His Christ hath all along subsisted. In each of these we shall have occasion to reflect upon the merciful care of providence and the shameful negligence and ingratitude of mankind in their returns to it. 1. The patriarchal; 2. The Jewish; 3. The Christian, marked by the personal appearance of Christ, our blessed Mediator, who had all along transacted the great affairs of the Church under the two preceding economies. The two main ends which were here consulted were-- (1) The atonement of past offences. (2) The prevention of future offences. II. THE RETURNS WHICH HAVE BEEN MADE to all this tender indulgence of our merciful Father. (N. Marshall, D. D.)National wickedness in danger of provoking national judgments I. WHAT GOD HATH DONE FOR US AND WHAT RETURNS WE HAVE MADE. 1. In early ages, when we were overrun with heathenism and idolatry, it pleased God to plant the Christian religion among us; a religion every way worthy of the Divine dispensation, and suited to the exigencies of mankind. When this religion had flourished many centuries in its unalloyed purity, in a very dark age it became adulterated with impure doctrines, and quite overgrown with a heap of monstrous absurdities: but it pleased God, by the ministry of His faithful servants, to re-enlighten this land with the beams of truth; to restore Christianity to its original simplicity and sincerity. 2. A thorough disregard to Christianity has prevailed. II. WHAT WE MAY EXPECT AS THE OF OUR AND IMPIETY. Vice, when diffused through a kingdom, must have a fatal influence over the whole community, and at last accomplish the destruction of it. In its universal progress it must be attended with idleness and immoderate expense, the natural parents of poverty. Honest poverty would cast about for honest and unthought of expedients for supporting itself and bettering its condition, but poverty, contracted by the profligate courses of drunkenness, lewdness, and debauchery, takes quite another turn, and preys upon the little industry that is left to the nation, and thereby gives a check to that very industry; for the less secure men grow in their properties the less will they labour to improve them. Hence will it come to pass that among those of higher condition, self-interest will be made the ruling principle. And among the meanest of the people what power can we suppose will the voice of human laws have against the louder calls of poverty, set free from the barrier of conscience, and thereby at liberty to relieve itself by all the methods that wickedness can suggest! In proportion as the hands of the government grow weak will the hearts of its enemies he strengthened, and greater force must still be provided for its support, and the maintenance of that must again fall on the public; and general burdens of that kind, should they ever he felt, would be followed by a general discontent. And this will give a great temptation to our foreign enemies to take the advantage of such fatal opportunities and try to make us no more a nation. In the ordinary course of things then, vice, when it becomes epidemical, is not only the reproach, but bids fair for the ruin of any people. National wickedness never failed, sooner or later, to provoke the Almighty to a national vengeance. III. THE PROPER MEANS WHEREBY WE MAY HOPE TO AVERT GOD’ S . (Jeremiah 18:7-8.) As we make a part of the nation, our sins must make a part of the national guilt; and consequently none of us can think ourselves unconcerned in the important work of a national reformation. (J. Seed, M. A.) Isaiah 5:8-10 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field The selfish landowner Selfishness, or the making self the centre to which all things are to tend, is the great sin in all ages and peoples. As soon as national institutions have awakened the sense of personality and the feeling of self-respect, the desire of accumulating wealth grows with them. And in no form is it more liable to abuse than in connection with the possession of land. Men desire, by an almost universal instinct, to possess property in land, with its healthy occupations and interests, so varied and multiplied by the living powers of nature, and with its important political and social rights which grow up with the duties which are specially connected with it; for this kind of property demands the fulfilment of more, and more obvious duties than any other, while it confers corresponding rights and powers by bringing a man into more complete personal relationship with his neighbours than is possible in the crowd of cities and the whirl of city trades. Yet, since the land cannot be increased in quantity, its possession by one man is the exclusion of another, and the Hebrew laws endeavoured to meet this difficulty by special provisions, the breach or evasion of which the prophet now denounces in his first “ woe” on the selfish landowner. He who can join house to house and lay field to field when he knows, and long has known, face to face, the very man, wife and child whom he has dispossessed, and can drive out by his own simple act his fellow men to be desolate in their poverty, in order that he may be alone in his riches, may expect a punishment proportioned to his crime. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Nemesis The prophet heard, ringing in his ears, the declaration of Jehovah, the King of the land, that the great and fair palaces should become as desolate as the peasants and yeomen’ s cottages which had made place for them--the vineyard of ten acres yield but eight gallons of wine, and the cornfield shall give back but a tenth part of the seed sown in it. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)The Mosaic legislation Moses directed as equal a division of the land as possible, in the first instance, among the 600,000 families who originally formed the nation; and provided against the permanent alienation of any estate by giving a right of repurchase to the seller and his relations, and of repossession without purchase at the Jubilee. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Land laws In the Channel Islands the acreage to be owned by one individual is limited. In Norway the law provides that the heirs of anyone who has parted with his property may buy that property back at sale price within a term of five years. (F. Sessions.)Hebrew land laws The Hebrew legislation further prevented the exhaustion of the soil and the fruit trees, by enforcing fallow and rest during every seventh year. The offerings of first fruits really constituted a kind of land tax, payable to Jehovah as Over-Lord, and tending to prevent the conversion of folk land into “ thane’ s land,” or king’ s land. The legislation placed Jehovah’ s tenants under a poor law, which compelled cultivators to leave the gleanings of the crops, and all that the fallows of the seventh year Sabbaths produced spontaneously in those prolific fields, for the support of the needy. By the limitations of the right of private ownership,--a right that was not denied, and was frequently exercised,--every man was taught his responsibilities to his fellows. The theory was, as someone has written: “ Brotherhood in the enjoyment of a Father’ s bounty.” (F. Sessions.)“ Land grabbing” “ Land grabbing” and “ evictions” may be new terms, but they are century-old sins. (F. Sessions.)The land question The land question is as old as history. The Hebrews were hardly out of the wilderness before laws were enacted to prevent the strong from getting more land than anyone ought to possess. The land laws of Moses occupy a large place in his legislation. The prevention of monopoly in land was clearly in the mind of the Hebrew lawgiver. In Isaiah’ s time the nation had recovered from poverty and grown rich, and the wealthy and ruling classes had begun to grasp the earth. They would have tried to fence in the air and pack the sunlight in barrels, if they could have done so. The spirit that would monopolise land would monopolise light if it could. Against this awful wrong the voice of the Lord rings its condemnation. Four things belong to man as man, and anyone who tries to prevent their being used for the service of humanity is a sinner against the universe and against God. Those four things are: the earth, the air, the water, and the light. Every man has a right to live, and no one can live as he ought without free access to earth, air, water, and light. Isaiah brought the people to this one point--this land belongs to God, and you are using it as if it were yours to do with as you please. And that is all that need be said today. The land, like the air, belongs to God; and if to God, then to humanity; and it is our business to find out, as all easily can if they will, how the great Owner of all the earth would have men use that which must be the home of all His creatures. Of one thing, however, we may be sure. He never intended that a few big lions should get possession of all the forests, so that there should be no comfortable places left for the rabbits, the sheep, and the cattle, except in holes in the ground; and He never intended that a few strong men should get possession of all the fertile, healthful, and beautiful ]portions of earth, so that the rest of humanity--the artists, the artisans, the literary men, and those who work with their hands--should be obliged to live in cellars and attics and hardly know what is meant by that great and dear word home. (Amory H. Bradford, D. D.)A woe on monopolists I. THE SIN. Their fault is-- 1. That they are inordinate in their desires to enrich themselves, and make it their whole care and business to raise an estate, as if they had nothing to mind, nothing to seek, nothing to do in this world but that. They never know when they have enough, but the more they have the more they would have. They cannot enjoy what they have, nor do good with it, for contriving and studying to make it more. They must have variety of houses, a winter house and a summer house; and if another man’ s house or field lie convenient to theirs, as Naboth’ s vineyard to Ahab’ s, they must have that too, or they cannot be easy. 2. They are herein careless of others; nay, and injurious to them. They would live so as to let nobody live but themselves. They would swell so big as to fill all space and yet are still unsatisfied (Ecclesiastes 5:10). II. THE . That which is threatened as the punishment of this sin is-- 1. That the houses they were so fond of should be untenanted, should stand long empty, and so should yield them no rent, and go out of repair. Men’ s projects are often frustrated, and what they frame answers not the intention. 2. That the fields they were so fond of should be unfruitful. (M. Henry.)Unpatriotic monopolies In 1650, while Cromwell was prosecuting his campaign against Charles II in Scotland, he wrote the Speaker of the Parliament, urging the reformation of many abuses and added, “ If there be anyone that makes many poor to make a few rich, that suits not a commonwealth.” (C. Knight’s England.)Greed pauperises the soul A farmer said “ he should like to have all the land that joined his own.” Bonaparte, who had the same appetite, endeavoured to make the Mediterranean a French lake. Czar Alexander was more expansive, and wished to call the Pacific “ my ocean” ; and the Americans were obliged to resist his attempts to make it a close sea. But if he had the earth for his pasture, and the sea for his pond, he would be a pauper still. He only is rich who owns the day. (R. W. Emerson.)Covetous persons are Covetous persons are like sponges, which greedily drink in water, but return very little, until they are squeezed. A covetous person wants what he has, as well as what he has not, because he is never satisfied with it. (G. S. Bowes.)Folly of covetousness If you should see a man that had a large pond of water yet living in continual thirst, not suffering himself to drink half a draught for fear of lessening his pond; if you should see him wasting his time and strength in fetching more water to his pond, always thirsty, yet always carrying a bucket of water in his hand, watching early and late to catch the drops of rain, gaping after every cloud, and running greedily into every mire and mud in hopes of water, and always studying how to make every ditch empty itself into the pond; if you should see him grow grey in these anxious labours, and at last end a careful thirsty life by falling into his own pond, would you not say that such a one was not only the author of his own disquiet, but was foolish enough to be reckoned among madmen? But foolish and absurd as this character is, it does not represent half the follies and absurd disquiets of the covetous man. (Law’s Serious Call.) Isaiah 5:9 Many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant Empty houses (To children):--Empty houses! We all know what they look like. From afar we can see the bills in the windows--“ This house to let,” or “ To be let,” or, still more curtly, “ To let” ; and when we come nearer, the black windows, without blinds or curtains, gape and yawn at us. In the garden the long matted grass has overrun the lawn, and covered nearly all the beds. The door creaks on its hinges as we enter, as though it had been asleep and did not wish to be wakened. There are other houses that are not quite empty. They are comfortably furnished; but the family has gone to the seaside. A servant or an old lady has been kept in the house as caretaker, and as she usually lives in the back part of the house she is often not seen from one week’ s end to the other. I. This world is like a house comfortably and beautifully furnished, and in which we men and women have been placed “ to dress it and to keep it.” But THE WORLD WITHOUT GOD IS LIKE AN EMPTY HOUSE. God is the builder of this house; and He is the tenant too. Cowper, in his “ Task,” speaks of some men who “ untenant the Creator of His universe.” There are some who say that God made this house, and put us in it as caretakers, and then went to live in His own grand mansion in heaven; and there He sits, receiving our letters, which are our prayers, and sending His servants to do His commands. But we believe that God always lives in this house. He is in every room, in England, and in the Continent, and in Africa, and in America. It is God’ s name that is woven into the beautiful carpet of grass and flowers, that is carved into the rocks, and worked into the mossy couches, and painted in the beautiful landscape pictures, and reflected in the mirror-like lakes and ponds and rivers. If God were not in the world it would be like a desolate house, though great and fair. II. But there is another kind of house that is sometimes found to be empty. Life is like a house. Its length, however, is measured, not by feet and yards, but by days and months and years. Some lives are long and some are very short. Its breadth is measured by its sympathy and influence. Sometimes the tenant is not a good one. A selfish purpose takes possession, and then the house is like the house of a miser, long, and narrow, and low. And sometimes the house is like a house of feasting, from which there comes the sound of music and dancing, and the clink of glasses and of plates. That is when the desire for pleasure becomes a tenant. But there are some of these houses that are without an inhabitant. For A LIFE WITHOUT A PURPOSE IS LIKE AN EMPTY HOUSE. Some people do not know why they live. They eat and drink and sleep; but they have no great aims, no noble purposes. Their lives are like empty houses. Take Christ with you into your life. And then your life will grow up like a grand temple, upon which there will be inscribed: “ Holiness unto the Lord” ; in which there will be perpetual peace and happiness; and from which there will ever come the sound of holy chant and psalm. III. And then there is another house of which I thought. It was a small house, but large enough to accommodate one man. It was built in the face of a rock, and a great stone door was placed before it. It belonged to a man named Joseph; but another tenant was put in. He did not remain there long: it was too dark, and cold, and dreary. That house was the tomb of Jesus. And A TOMB WITHOUT A SAVIOUR IS LIKE AN EMPTY HOUSE. There are many houses of that kind built in these days; and they are all full. But a time is coming when a trumpet shall sound, and the doors of these dreary houses shall be opened, and the tenants shall all come out. And then their houses shall be empty like the tomb of Jesus. (W. V. Robinson, B. A.) Isaiah 5:11-12 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink The fruits of drunkenness I. In reference to THE HIMSELF, who is its victim. It may, perhaps, be made a question by some, When may a man be regarded as intoxicated, and what may be the number of offences which would entitle him to the character and name of drunkard? Intoxication essentially consists in the obscuration of the light of reason, so that it is no longer able fully to exercise its functions; and, therefore, the moment this light has become even partially eclipsed, and the moment, perhaps, that that exhilaration begins, which always urges onwards and craves for more--at that moment we may say, that as the individual is in a state of alarming danger, so the process of intoxication has commenced; and, therefore, many a man may be strictly and truly said to be intoxicated, though he does not “ reel and stagger like a drunken man.” No man ever became a drunkard all at once, i.e., in ordinary cases; for some have become so instantaneously through the pressure of affliction, and from the impulse of despair. It is not the intoxicating beverage that allures at first (for, in general, the natural taste rejects it), but the “ harp and the viol, and the tabret and the pipe,” that are in the drunkard’ s feasts--that hilarity which, innocent perhaps in itself, brings at that time a snare, and that good companionship which, while it dispenses its joys, spits its venom. By and by, however, they come to like the beverage, not on account of the company it brings together, but for itself; and remembering its exciting and exhilarating qualities, have recourse to it at other seasons, first along with others, and then in private by themselves--finding on each occasion some excuse to silence conscience, and to keep themselves up in their self-esteem; till, at last, going on in their downward career, their drink becomes as necessary as their daily food, and they live with an appetite always craving, and an intellect seldom clear. And what are the invariable accompaniments and consequences? 1. The intemperate man is brought into contact with the most worthless companions, who have no fear of God before their eyes, and who lead him on, step by step, till they plunge him into irremediable ruin. 2. Indulgence in strong drink tends to the eclipse of intellect. This effect may not be exhibited at first. On the contrary, in the first stages of the sin, the opposite result may appear. Have you never seen these same faculties, which the exhilarating draught awakened for more powerful efforts, by the very same influence, deprived of all their wakeful energy, and steeped in an oblivion the most complete and the most melancholy; so that far from being capable of bursting forth with more than common brilliancy, they become incapacitated for the performance even of their common functions? 3. Look at the effects resulting, when the orb of reason has undergone this dread eclipse. Then is an inlet afforded for all wickedness, and every crime may free a perpetrator. The strong man of the house being bound, the passions arise like robbers, and rifle his goods. The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, are all permitted to riot in unchecked fury. The monarch of the soul being, for the time, dethroned, the subjects spend themselves in the work of anarchy. 4. No one can sin with impunity; and even in this life, we often see transgression closely tracked by its attendant punishment. But of all sins, that of drunkenness seems to be peculiarly visited with retribution here; for the loss of reputation invariably follows indulgence in the habits of intemperance. II. Glance at its results as far as THE ’ S FAMILY is concerned. No ruin can be conceived more tremendous than when the roof tree of a man’ s domestic happiness falls in, and leaves him a home, but without its joys. He is an enemy indeed who casts a brand into that temple, and envelops that altar in destructive flames. But this intemperance does. No one can express the hopes or the joys of a mother, when she sees her son walking in the ways of virtue. But, in proportion is her sorrow, when she sees the son that she has borne and nursed, becoming a worthless profligate, an outcast, and a drunkard. Intemperance is silently but too surely sapping the very foundations of society. Who, then, that has any regard either for the glory of God, or for the welfare of his country, would not gird on his armour to meet the enemy in the gate? (P. M’Morland.)The degradation and ruin of intemperance I. THE SIN, WITH ITS AND , IN THE TEXT. 1. The prophet refers to intemperance and its associate habits of festivity and dissipation. The corrupt condition of social life, springing from the depravity of the heart, has in every age encouraged those stimulants to evil adverted to in this passage, and which are alike felt by the high and the low. The wine mentioned is the date or palm wine, which possessed an inebriating quality; but, whatever be the particular drink--the wine of the wealthy or the beer of the poor--the accompaniments of the festival, metropolitan or rural, are frequently similar both in kind and effect, and tend to evil. Our Lord, it is true, was at a feast of Cana in Galilee; and music, “ the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe,” may minister to an innocent recreation or gratify judicious taste; but we need scarcely adduce the trite distinction between the use and abuse of a thing, to show wherein lies, in the present case, the moral danger. The sin of excess, both in eating and drinking, in the forms of gluttony and intoxication, is peculiarly odious. (1) Intemperance is both bad in principle and degrading in character. Chrysostom and Augustine call it “ a spontaneous fury” ; and Basil, with greater vehemence of expression, says it is “ a voluntary devil, a chosen madness.” -- (2) But while this is the case, it has a greater tendency than almost any other crime to destroy the feeling of shame and to harden conscience. (3) It leads to other great sins. Its name is legion; for, in reality, there is scarcely any vice or folly that it does not either originate or encourage. It is said by Eustathius that “ the nurses of Bacchus were painted with snakes and daggers in their hands, to show that drunkards were beastly and bloody.” (4) Intemperance is dangerous to the peace of society, and puts to hazard the lives of mere Vulgar quarrelling in low life, and polite duelling in high, disturb, separate, and destroy families. How many have been the murderers of others in seasons of intemperate festivity. Ammon was slain by his brother Absalom when indulging in wine. Simon the high priest, and two of his sons, were sacrificed to the inebriation of their brother. Judith slew Holofernes, when the latter was in a state of intoxication. Alexander the Great killed Clitus at a feast, and inflicted upon himself a vain repentance. 2. The prophet points out the connection between intemperance and unhallowed festivity, and an infidel disregard of the works and ways of Deity. Thus are body and soul at once degraded and ruined. Under the influence of intemperance men are led to disregard “ the operations of His hands,” not only undervaluing the works of God, but unmindful of His providential and gracious dispensations. His judgments do not alarm, His mercies do not conciliate them; they despise the one, and disown the other. II. THE WOE BY THE PROPHET UPON THE SONS AND OF . The “ woe” is to be plainly traced in the conscious unhappiness of the delinquent, even though he seem gay and smiling--in the general and almost certain loss of health, that first of earthly blessings--in the diminution and probable loss of property, and of every resource--in the dereliction of friends worth having in the terrors of an unprepared for death, or the even more horrible condition of a moral death unfelt, and a natural death unheeded--and, lastly, in the quenchless burnings of the bottomless pit. Habits of intemperance are progressively formed, and therefore require the exercise of extreme carefulness, self-discipline, and prayer. Beware of the first step--of the first temptation--of the first immoderate indulgence. I conclude by presenting you with three short maxims of human wisdom, and one precept of Divine inspiration. He that will not fear, shall feel the wrath of heaven. He that lives in the kingdom of sense, shall die into the kingdom of sorrow. He shall never truly enjoy his present hour, who never thinks on his last. “ Be not filled with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.” (F. A.Cox, D. D. , LL. D.)Following strong drink 1. The Almighty has set His face solemnly and strongly against the sin denounced in the text. 2. Unquestionably, the surest way of stopping the ravages of strong drink will be by means of total abstinence. The fear of ridicule, the force of habit, the consideration of health, the charge of inhospitality, or the appearance of unsociableness, one or other of these arguments prevail with the vast multitude to induce them to stand aloof from the total abstinence movement. 3. Certain precautions which are within the compass of those who are not prepared to give their adhesion to total abstinence. (1) We may be careful about ourselves and the example we set. (2) We should be very careful of the influence we exercise on those around and connected with us. If we are careful of the example we set, it must be on account of the influence which that example may exert. (3) Let us be exceeding jealous of leading anyone into temptation. (4) Let us be on our guard against making drunkenness a subject of wit, drollery, and fun. (5) Be careful how you yield to the opinion of those friends who would urge you to increase the quantity of stimulant you are in the habit of taking in the course of the day. (6) In all eases within your knowledge, in which persons cannot use without abusing strong drink, exert all your influence to induce them to become total abstainers. (J. Mould, M. A.)The drunkard’ s doom I. THE SIGN OF THE ’ S . In every vice there is a stage beyond which, humanly speaking, recovery is impossible. A time comes when the jaws of the trap snap together and the victim is caught. In intemperance this point is reached imperceptibly, and the victim is ignorant long after others see his danger. II. THE OF THE CAPTIVE . Isaiah describes him as following strong drink. As the obedient dog at his master’ s heels, or as the moth after the light, so the drunkard follows strong drink. At first he thinks he does so for the pleasure he derives from it, but he soon recognises that he is helpless in so doing. As a man swept down towards the rapids looks longingly towards those on the bank who can render no help, so the drinker yearns after virtues and peace which can never more be his. No tyrant was ever more exacting. Though he be prostrate in the morning, yet he must rise at his captor’ s bidding, and by forced marches hasten to his doom. III. THE DOOM THAT AWAITS THE . 1. Moral insensibility. They regard not the work of the Lord. They call good, evil; and evil, good. Drink so blunts the sensibilities that the victim under its influence can commit crimes from which at other times he would shrink. More crimes are committed “ in drink” than out of it. 2. Shamelessness. After obliterating the distinction between right and wrong he turns and defies God and glories in sin. When the prophet warns him that God will visit him, he dares Him to do His worst. “ Let Him make speed, and hasten His work, that we may see it.” 3. Hell. The drinker tempts the devil, for even hell has to enlarge its appetite to receive him. When the destroyer would be satisfied, the drinker stimulates his satiated desire, determining to be lost. So he ends his course with the drunkard’ s grave and the drunkard’ s hell. (R. C. Ford, M. A.)Isaiah’ s testimony to the licentiousness and degeneracy of his age 1. Contrary to modern and superficial notions, which confine intemperance to northern climes, and exclude it from vine-growing countries, the people of Israel, following the example of their chief men, were addicted to the grossest indulgence in intoxicating liquors. The juice of the grape (yayin) and the juice of other fruits (shakar) were drunk in their fermented state; and probably both, certainly the latter, were mixed with pungent and heavy drugs (verse 22) in order to gratify a base and insatiable appetite. Men rose up early and sat up late to prosecute these vicious indulgences, and they boasted of themselves as “ mighty” and “ valiant” (verse 22) in proportion as they were able to gulp down large quantities of these compounds and to “ carry their drink well.” 2. The attendant and in no small measure the consequential evils were of the most aggravated kind. The Divine works were disregarded (verse 12), ignorance reigned (verse 13), sin abounded (verse 18), men’ s moral conceptions were the opposite of the truth (verse 20), self-conceit grew luxuriantly (verse 21), bribery and injustice were rampant (verse 23). The vengeance of God was awakening against them and would take the triple form of famine, pestilence, and invasion, so that their supplies of drink would be cut off (verses 6, 7, 10), the pest-stricken would lie in the streets (verse 25), and hostile nations would ravage the land (verses 26-30). (Temperance Bible Commentary.)Musical merriment silencing conscience “ And the harp,” etc. Better, And guitar and harp, tambourine and flute, and wine constitute their banquet;--as if to drown the voice of conscience and destroy the sense of Jehovah’ s presence and working in their midst. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Edison’ s testimony to the value of abstinence I once asked the greatest of inventors, Thomas A. Edison, if he were a total abstainer; and when he told me that he was, I said, “ May I inquire whether it was home influence that made you so?” and he replied, “ No, I think it was because I always felt that I had a better use for my head.” Who can measure the loss to the world if that wonderful instrument of thought that has given us so much of light and leading in the practical mechanism of life had become sodden with drink, instead of electric with original ideas? (Frances E. Willard.) Isaiah 5:12 They regard not the work of the Lord The providence of God A neglect of God, and a disregard of His wonder-working providence, constitutes the character of man under the influence of his natural corruption of heart. It formed the character of the Jewish Church, notwithstanding its outward privileges and its appointed means of religious improvement. It forms the character of nominal Christians. Covetousness and sensuality are the two great causes of man’ s neglect of God (Isaiah 5:8; Isaiah 5:11-12). I. TAKE A VIEW OF THE OF OUR FATHER. God’ s “ never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and in earth.” This providence is-- 1. Divine. 2. Universal 3. Tender. 4. Watchful. II. Points of practical instruction. 1. This doctrine is quite consistent with your free agency. 2. Think not that your Lord forgets you in the immensity of His works. “ Sanctified afflictions,” says an old writer, “ are good promotions.” 3. Pray that God would by His providence “ put away from you all hurtful things,” and “ give you those things which be profitable for you,” and remember that the welfare of your souls is concerned in all the actions and undertakings of every day and hour. (W. M. Harte.)Sensuality essentially atheistic The sensual reveller simply disregards God’ s constitution and government of society. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.) Isaiah 5:13 My people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge A sermon for Trinity Sunday 1.“ My people.” The Almighty has a people of His own; a people with special privileges and a special work to do. In the Old Testament and the New this is clearly written. “ My people,” says Isaiah; “ My flock,” says Jesus Christ. That is the method of grace. God acts upon some of us that they may act upon the rest. In the days of a school the young influence one another. In a town, in a nation, it is the same. And a whole country has its mission for the world as the Hebrews had. Now, in the text that nation is complained of. Why? Because they had no knowledge. 2. “ My people” is a term which shows us God’ s character. The inferences which arise from it should be dear to Christians. God will not be without a people, because He is a God of love. He must have around Him children to love. But it is a quality inherent in love to love its like. Children may be helpless, or wayward: we can bear with them, love them, not less, perhaps more, for their weakness and dependence; but they must not be reprobate. There must be some affinity of feeling, something lovable in them, or at last we shall not love, or at any rate love will be in abeyance. God, we believe, has not, and never will, disinherit Israel finally. Why did he go so wrong and choose so badly? “ Therefore My people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge.” They had knowledge enough in their head no doubt, but they had not taken it to their heart. 3. Now, as regards ourselves, we are God’ s people--not exclusively, but among other Christian nations of this later time. God has given us great knowledge of His truth. He has even revealed to us deep secrets of His own nature: even the mystery of the Holy Trinity itself. Since God has given knowledge to us, it should be kept by us not in a passive but in a living active state. (2 Timothy 1:13; Titus 1:13; Titus 2:1; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Jude 1:3.) And this knowledge is so efficient and operative a force that it is all-important to keep it “ whole and undefiled.” This “ doctrine” of the Holy Trinity is no speculative thing, but it is closely interwoven with the principles of Christian life. (T. F. Crosse, D. C. L.)“ They have no knowledge” How should they, when by their excessive drinking they make sots and fools of themselves? They set up for wits; but because they regard not God’ s controversy with them, nor take any care as to their peace with Him, they may truly be said to have no knowledge; and the reason is, because they will have none; inconsiderate and wilful, and therefore “ destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (M. Henry.)Inconsideration and ignorance 1. Ignorance is the certain consequence of inconsideration. 2. Inconsideration is the natural effect of luxury and dissipation, which arise from gratified avarice and ambition. (R. Macculloch.)Records of the past The great stone book of nature reveals many strange records of the past. In the red sandstone there are found in some places marks which are clearly the impressions of showers of rein, and these so perfect that it can even be determined in which direction the shower inclined, and from what quarter it proceeded; and this ages ago! So sin leaves its track behind it, and God keeps a faithful record of all our sins. (G. H. Morrison, M. A.) Isaiah 5:14-16 Hell hath enlarged herself . . . the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in Judgment The grave “ Hell,” here, stands not for future punishment. The word “ Sheol” in Hebrew, “ Hades” in Greek, and “ Hell” in this verse, represent the place of the dead--the grave. This place of the dead is spoken of in the Bible as a very deep place (Deuteronomy 32:22; Job 11:8; Psalms 139:7-8). As a very dark place (Job 10:21-22). And as a place having gates into it (Isaiah 38:10). I. THE GROWING POWER OF THE GRAVE. The grave is here represented as having “ enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure.” The words refer, undoubtedly, to a period when, through famine, pestilence, or war, mortality was on the increase. This increase of mortality teaches us-- 1. The fruitlessness of all human efforts to avert death. Men have been struggling against death for six thousand years, and his dominion is wider today than ever. 2. How soon we shall be in the grave world. The mouth is opening for us; it is yawning at our feet. II. THE POWER OF THE GRAVE. “ And their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled.” Learn from this-- 1. How foolish it is to be proud of adventitious distinctions. They are only as flowers of the field, evanescent forms, and hues that variegate the common grass. 2. How important to seek an alliance with the eternally great and good. Seek “ a city which hath foundations,” a kingdom that cannot be shaken. III. THE ETERNAL OF THE GRAVE. “ But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.” 1. He survives all dissolutions. 2. He will be increasingly honoured. “ The Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment.” (Homilist.)God’ s judgments on the Jews This judgment began to come upon the men whom Isaiah addressed, in the reign of Ahaz, soon after the delivery of the warning; but in order fully to understand it, we must (as in the case of all other prophecies) look at it in the light of the whole subsequent history of the Jews and of Christendom. In the final destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, Christ and His apostles saw the selfish and carnal nation brought to its last trial and righteously condemned, and the sentence carried into execution by that Man whom God had appointed to judge the world. They declared, and the event, spread over successive centuries, has proved the truth of the declaration, that God was bringing down the mean man and the mighty man alike throughout the world and exalting Himself and His Son, setting His name up in the world, and causing it to triumph over all opposition. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)God the righteous Judge Though men may slavishly dread an arbitrary will, they can never feel for it that salutary tear which is the beginning of wisdom; and unless we believe that God’ s judgments are righteous--that they are a part of the steady administration of a polity--as well as good in their effects, it will be impossible for us to keep long from superstition, or its opposite, scepticism. And, therefore, we may see the germ of a true historical and political philosophy in the prophet’ s repeated assertion, that God is exalted in executing justice and sanctified in righteousness. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.) Isaiah 5:18-19 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity.Frivolity and profanity Frivolity, he says, is the herald and handmaid of guilt. The cords are cords of vanity bound about us in mere thoughtlessness in the unguarded hours of recreation, in the giddy whirl of society, when talk is gay and free, and no man weighs his words; the cords of vanity bind us on subtly but surely to the calamitous burden of sin. I submit to you that the prophet in thus linking together frivolity and iniquity, commends himself to us as a close and just observer of human society. Profanity is the last term of a series; it is a stage we reach by the unmarked way of frivolous habit, and that unmarked way is the broad way of the general life. Society itself is unfavourable to thought and gravity and depth of character. It makes us of necessity superficial, light, shallow. At best it ministers to the gracious externals of a man’ s conduct, and too often it does this at the cost of his character; for the philosopher said truly that custom is the principal magistrate of a man’ s life; and if, by the ceaseless iteration of frivolous speech and action, we bind upon ourselves the chain of frivolous habit, be sure the mischief penetrates into the very citadel of character. (Canon H. Hensley Henson, B. D.)God’ s woes God’ s woes are better than the devil’ s welcomes. When we get a woe in this book of blessings it is sent as a warning, that we may escape from woe. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Disguises and defiances Society, for its self-preservation and well-being, provides that virtue should be in the ascendant, should sit on the throne, should hold the empire and make the laws of the world. There have been times when vice has ostentatiously unmasked itself in high places, and with a triumphant audacity has made itself the fashion and the social law. Such was the epoch of the decadence of the old Roman civilisation. Such were the times of the restoration of the English monarchy under Charles II. The moral collapse at the Restoration was the inevitable unbending of the bow after the rigours of the Puritan regime. England was tired of unmelodious psalm singing and endless homilies on the sin of eating Christmas pies and dancing around May poles. It welcomed with a strange alacrity and a strange forgetfulness the exiled prince, whose morals, none too good to begin with, had been debauched in foreign courts, and who brought back to the palace of his fathers nothing of royalty, except enchanting manners, graceful wit, and an insatiable thirst for pleasure. But the enthronement of vice was only for a day. Men on the morrow smote it on the face, and hurled it from the seat which gave it power and lustre. This is the history of fashionable and jewelled vice in every age. When those who inherit wealth and polite culture and the accumulated embellishments of life conspicuously trample on the laws of righteousness the insulted world calls them to account, and in self-defence consigns them to social outlawry. So plainly is Virtue the eldest born and the fairest of the daughters of God. If our Lord uttered woe on the heartless and pretentious morality of His day, the prophet uttered woe on the confessed and ostentatious immorality of his time. Isaiah’ s words, as well as Christ’ s, have a bearing on our modern life: “ Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope.” Men hate hypocrisy. A profitable virtue that is not real, or a formal virtue that is not large and loving, moves us to scorn or pity. But, strange to say, the hatred of hypocrisy is not always in the interests of virtue “ I will not be a hypocrite,” says one, and in his horror of hypocrisy he rushes into an open and shameless evil life. This is what the prophet means in his graphic picture, “ Woe unto them that draw iniquity,” etc. He depicts a class of men who have deliberately harnessed themselves to evil, as a horse or mule is harnessed, to a loaded waggon. There are forms of iniquity which are difficult and laborious. Those who get over any ground with them must pull them with a cart rope. It is grievous business, but some men choose it, and take more trouble to be bad than actually is necessary to be good. And they prosecute ostentatiously the business that they have chosen. They take no care to conceal the evil industry of their life. It is the instinct of sin to disguise itself. It usually skulks behind an assumed goodness. It takes to itself virtuous names. It puts on masks to hide itself, not only from the eyes of men, but also from the eyes of conscience. But the man who drags sin with a cart rope boasts only one virtue, and that is a real one: he is no hypocrite. He has thrown appearances to the winds. He drags his iniquity conspicuously on the highway, in the daylight. He does not care to conceal the coat of arms on the carriage, or the livery of the driver who holds the reins and snaps over him the whip. Perhaps no one ever fully commits himself to this sort of life until he has, or thinks that he has, arrived at the conclusion that all goodness in the world is a sham; that the virtue to which men sing praises is simply a convenient fiction, which they affect to believe, and pretend to possess; that, as there is no real righteousness on the earth, so there is no sovereign righteousness in the heavens; that God is simply a dumb force, without moral quality, and indifferent to the moral quality of His creatures. Hence the prophet makes such a one say, in presumptuous taunt and irony: “ Let Him make speed,” etc. Is this rude picture, culled from the page of the old Hebrew prophet, unsuited to these smooth times and this Christianised civilisation? Do none of you ever say: “ I know it is wrong. It is an offence against God, against myself, against my neighbour. It is an unquestionable violation of what is pure and honest. I can See the harm that it works; but I do not disguise it. I do not pretend to be other than I am. I am at least frank. I do not affect a virtue which I do not possess” ? Well, this is one alternative to hypocrisy. Did you ever think that there is another,--to recognise the evil in your nature and the sin in your life; to look at it with keen, brave eyes, illumined by the study of God’ s law to guard against it day by day and moment by moment; and resolutely to fight it, in its first impulses, in its fiercest assaults, by the help of God’ s grace? Is not this a possible alternative? It is not demanded of you that you be sinless; but you need not be the liveried slave of sin. It is not required of you that you be perfect; but you can enlist and do battle on the side of right. (W. W. Battershall, D. D.)Cords and cart-ropes I. Explain the singular description. Here are persons harnessed to the waggon of sin--harnessed to it by many cords, all light as vanity and yet strong as cart ropes. 1. Let me give you a picture. Here is a man who, as a young man, heard the Gospel and grew up under the influence of it. He is an intelligent man, a Bible reader, and somewhat of a theologian. He attended a Bible class, was an apt pupil, and could explain much of Scripture, but he took to lightness and frothiness. He made an amusement of religion and a sport of serious things. He came under the bond of this religious trifling, but it was a cord of vanity small as a packthread. Years ago he began to be bound to his sin by this kind of trifling, and at the present moment I am not sure that he ever cares to go and hear the Gospel or to read the Word of God, for he has grown to despise that which he sported with. The wanton witling has degenerated into a malicious scoffer: his cord has become a cart rope. His life is all trifling now. 2. I have seen the same thing take another shape, and then it appeared as captious questioning. How can he believe in Christ when he requires Him, first of all, to be put through a catechism and to be made to answer cavils? Oh, take heed of tying up your soul with cart ropes of scepticism. 3. Some have a natural dislike to religious things and cannot be brought to attend to them. Let me qualify the statement. They are quite prepared to attend a place of worship and to hear sermons, and occasionally to read the Scriptures, and to give their money to help on some benevolent cause; but this is the point at which they draw the line--they do not want to think, to pray, to repent, to believe, or to make heart work of the matter. If you indulge in demurs and delays and prejudices in the first days of your conviction, the time may come when those little packthreads will be so intertwisted with each other that they will make a great cart rope, and you will become an opposer of everything that is good, determined to abide forever harnessed to the great Juggernaut car of your iniquities, and so to perish. 4. I have known some men get harnessed to that ear in another way, and that is by deference to companions. There is no doubt that many people go to hell for the love of being respectable. It is not to be doubted that multitudes pawn their souls, and lose their God and heaven, merely for the sake of standing well in the estimation of a profligate. He that would be free forever must break the cords ere yet they harden into chains. 5. Some men are getting into bondage in another way; they are forming gradual habits of evil. 6. I fear that not a few are under the delusive notion that they are safe as they are. Carnal security is made up of cords of vanity. II. THERE IS A WOE ABOUT TO THE CART OF SIN, and that woe is expressed in our text. 1. It has been hard work already to tug at sin’ s load. 2. But, if you remain harnessed to this car of sin, the weight increases. You are like a horse that has to go a journey, and pick up parcels at every quarter of a mile: you are increasing the heavy luggage and baggage that you have to drag behind you. 3. Further, I want you to notice that as the load grows heavier, so the road becomes worse, the ruts are deeper, the hills are steeper, and the sloughs are more full of mire. An old man with his bones filled with the sin of his youth is a dreadful sight to look upon; he is a curse to others, and a burden to himself. 4. The day will come when the load will crush the horse. 5. I am sure that there is nobody here who desires to be eternally a sinner: let him then beware, for each hour of sin brings its hardness and its difficulty of change. When the moral brakes are taken off, and the engine is on the downgrade, and must run on at a perpetually quickening rate forever, then is the soul lost indeed. III. Now I want to offer some FOR LOOSE. 1. There is hope for every harnessed slave of Satan. Jesus Christ has come into the world to rescue those who are bound with chains. 2. You are bound with the cords of sin, and in order that all this sin of yours might effectually be put away, the Lord Jesus, the Son of the Highest, was Himself bound. 3. There is in this world a mysterious Being whom thou knowest not, but whom some of us know, who is able to work thy liberty. Wherever there is a soul that would be free from sin this free Spirit waits to help him. 4. Our experience should be a great encouragement to you. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Spiritual cart ropes Cart ropes are composed of several small cords firmly twisted together, which serve to connect the beasts of burden with the draught they pull after them. These represent a complication of means closely united, whereby a people here described continue to join them selves to the most wearisome of all burdens. They consist of false reasonings, foolish pretexts, and corrupt maxims, by which obstinate transgressors become firmly united to their sins, and persist in dragging after them their iniquities. Of this sort the following are a few specimens: God is merciful, and His goodness will not suffer any of His creatures to be completely and everlastingly miserable. Others, as well as they, are transgressors. Repentance will be time enough upon a death bed or in old age. The greatest of sinners often pass unpunished. A future state of retribution is uncertain. Unite these, and such like cords, and, I suppose, you have the cart ropes whereby the persons mentioned draw after them much sin and iniquity. All these pretexts, however, are light as vanity. (R. Macculloch.)The cord of sin These words are at all times, and among every people, of especial interest, were it only on two accounts-- (1) The easy thoughtlessness with which men begin their acquaintance with sin, and (2) The hardness of heart in which they are confirmed by its habits. These are represented under a very lively figure in the former of these two verses; and the desperate rebelliousness of spirit to which they are brought, so as to utter defiance against the judgment of the Almighty, is expressed to the life in the latter. I. THE FIGURE under which the sinner is represented in the former of these verses is that of a rope-maker. He begins with a slight slender thread of flax or hemp, which he can break almost with as much ease as a spider’ s web; but the end of his work is a cart rope, thick and strong enough to bind the strongest man or beast upon earth. So a man begins and ends with sin. He begins with drawing iniquity with cords of vanity. The iniquity upon which he is tempted to enter seems to him a mere trifle at first, to which, if not good, he thinks that he gives a hard name to call it downright had; and if it even do smite his conscience with some evil signs of its real nature, which he can hardly mistake, he is vain enough, in the notion of his own strength, to think, that when he has gone into it he can as easily come out of it again. It is but as flax or tow (he says); it is but a cord of vanity and not of substance. He needs not to go on spinning and drawing it out (he thinks); but he will stop short as soon as he has gone as far as he wants, and that is not far. Alas! how many can fix the beginning of their ruin in this world, and imminent peril of the judgment of the next, on the day when they said in foolish security, and in face of a warning conscience, “ It is but for this once!” Alas! they never said so again. It proved to them to be “ now and forever.” II. The text informs us in the next verse that these men, who, beginning with drawing iniquity with cords of vanity, had ended with drawing sin, as it were, with a cart rope, WENT ON TO MOCK AT TO COME. The thoughts of judgment to come re, of course, very unpleasant to him who knows that he shall have to suffer from it when it does come. His sin, therefore, hardens him into a disbelief of it. (R. W. Evans, B.D.)The growth of sin Sin grows as naturally and as fast as the fire, which lays a city in ruins, comes out of a single spark in some solitary obscure corner; as surely as the rains, which bury a whole country in a flood, begin with a few sprinkled drops, which were not worth talking about; as surely as the river, which must be crossed with ships, begins with a well which you might empty almost with the scoop of your hand; as certainly as the strong thick cart rope begins with a few weak flaxen or hempen threads. (R. W.Evans, B. D.)Strength of habit The surgeon of a regiment in India relates the following incident: “ A soldier rushed into the tent, to inform me that one of his comrades was drowning in a pond close by, and nobody could attempt to save him in consequence of the dense weeds which covered the surface. On repairing to the spot, we found the poor fellow in his last struggle, manfully attempting to extricate himself from the meshes of rope-like grass that encircled his body; but, to all appearance, the more he laboured to escape, the more firmly they became coiled round his limbs. At last he sank, and the floating plants closed in, and left not a trace of the disaster. After some delay, a raft was made, and we put off to the spot, and sinking a pole some twelve feet, a native dived, holding on by the stake, and brought the body to the surface. I shall never forget the expression of the dead man’ s face--the clenched teeth, and fearful distortion of the countenance, while coils of long trailing weeds clung round his body and limbs, the muscles of which stood out stiff and rigid, whilst his hands grasped thick masses, showing how bravely he had struggled for life.” This heart-rending picture is a terribly accurate representation era man with a conscience alarmed by remorse, struggling with his sinful habits, but finding them too strong for him. Divine grace can save the wretch from his unhappy condition, but if he be destitute of that, his remorseful agonies will but make him more hopelessly the slave of his passions. Laocoon, in vain endeavouring to tear off the serpents’ coils from himself and children, aptly portrays the long-enslaved sinner contending with sin in his own strength. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Insidious nature of sin In the gardens of Hampton Court you will see many trees entirely vanquished and well-nigh strangled by huge coils of ivy, which are wound about them like the snakes around the unhappy Laocoon: there is no untwisting the folds, they are too giant-like, and fast fixed, and every hour the rootlets of the climber are sucking the life out of the unhappy tree. Yet there was a day when the ivy was a tiny aspirant, only asking a little aid in climbing; had it been denied then, the tree had never become its victim, but by degrees the humble weakling grew in strength and arrogance, and at last it assumed the mastery, and the tall tree became the prey of the creeping, insinuating destroyer. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Moral slavery James II on his death bed thus addressed his son, “ There is no slavery like sin and no liberty like God’ s service.” (H. Melvill, B. D.) Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil There is a customary mode of talking, in which familiar formulas of praise and censure, as to moral objects, are employed as if by rote, revolving the admission of important principles, and recognising in its full extent the grand distinction between moral good and evil. Such men will speak familiarly of other men and of their acts as right or wrong, as virtuous or vicious, in a manner which implies not only preference of judgment, but of inclination; so that if we draw conclusions from their language merely, we should certainly infer that they not only understood the principles of sound morality, but loved them and obeyed them. The latter conclusion would, in too many instances, be found to be erroneous, not because the person, in his talk, was guilty of deliberate hypocrisy, or even intended to deceive at all, but because his words conveyed more than he meant, especially when phrases used of course, and by a sort of habit, came to be subjected to the rules of a strict interpretation. In all such cases it will soon be found, upon a little observation, that the dialect in question, however near it may approach to that of evangelical morality, is still distinguished from it by indubitable marks. 1. Any one who thus indulges in the use of such conventional expressions as imply a recognition of those principles of morals which are laid down in the Bible, but whose conduct repudiates and nullifies them, avoids, as if instinctively, those terms of censure and of approbation which belong distinctively to Scripture, and conches himself to those which are common to the Bible and the heathen moralists, to Christian ethics and the code of honour. He will speak of an act, or a course of acts, as wrong, perhaps as vicious,--it may even be as wicked, but not as sinful. The difference between the terms, as viewed by such a person, seems to be that vice and crime are referable merely to an abstract standard, and perhaps a variable one; while sin brings into view the legislative and judicial character of God. Sin, too, is associated most minds with the humiliating doctrine of a natural depravity, while vice and crime suggest the idea of a voluntary aberration on the part of one by nature free from taint, and abundantly able to stand fast in his own strength. By tracing such diversities, however slight and trivial they seem to be when in themselves considered, we may soon learn to distinguish the characteristic dialect of worldly moralists from that of evangelical religion. 2. It will also be found that in the use of terms employed by both, there is a difference of sense, it may be unintentional, denoting no small difference in point of principle. Especially is this the case in reference to those important principles of morals which bear most directly upon the ordinary business of life, and come most frequently into collision with the selfish interests and inclinations of ungodly men. Two men, for instance, shall converse together upon truth and falsehood, upon honesty and fraud, employing the same words and phrases, and, perhaps, aware of no diversity of meaning in their application. And yet, when you come to ascertain the sense in which they severally use the terms employed by both, you shall find that while the one adopts the rigorous and simple rule of truth and falsehood which is laid down in the Bible and by common sense, the other holds it with so many qualifications and exceptions, as almost to render it a rule more honoured in the breach than the observance. There can be no doubt that this diversity in the use of language exerts a constant and extensive influence on human intercourse, and leads to many of those misconceptions which are tending daily to increase the mutual distrust of men in one another’ s candour and sincerity. 3. Who pretends to think that men are often, I might almost say ever, better in the bent of their affections and their moral dispositions than in the general drift of their discourse? Who does not know that they are often worse, and that where any marked diversity exists, the difference is commonly in favour of his words at the expense of his thoughts and feelings? Nothing, however, could be more unjust or utterly subversive of impartial judgment in this matter, than to choose as tests or symptoms mere occasional expressions. 4. It must not be forgotten that a rational nature is incapable of loving evil, simply viewed as evil, or of hating good, when simply viewed as good. Whatever thing you love, you thereby recognise as good; and what you abhor, you thereby recognise as evil. When, therefore, men profess to look upon that as excellent which in their hearts and lives they treat as hateful, and to regard as evil that which they are seeking after, and which they delight in, they are not expressing their own feelings, but assenting to the judgment of others. They are measuring the object by a borrowed standard, while their own is wholly different. And if they are really so far enlightened as to think sincerely that the objects of their passionate attachment are evil, this is only admitting that their own affections are disordered and at variance with reason. So the sinner may believe on God’ s authority or man’ s that sin is evil and that holiness is good, but as a matter of affection and of inclination, his corrupted taste will still reject the sweet as bitter, and receive the bitter as sweet; his diseased eye will still confound light with darkness, and his lips, whenever they express the feelings of his heart, will continue to call good evil and evil good. 5. The text does not teach us merely that punishment awaits those who choose evil in preference to good, but that an outward mark of those who hate God, and whom God designs to punish, is their confounding moral distinctions in their conversation. 6. When one who admits in words the great first principles of morals, takes away so much on one hand and grants so much on the other, as to obliterate the practical distinction between right and wrong; when with one breath he asserts the inviolable sanctity of truth, but with the next makes provision for benevolent, professional, jocose, or thoughtless falsehood; when he admits the paramount importance of religious duties in general, but in detail dissects away the vital parts as superstition, sanctimony, or fanaticism, and leaves a mere abstraction or an outward form behind; when he approves the requisitions of the law and the provisions of the Gospel in so far as they apply to other people, but repudiates them as applying to himself;--I ask, whatever his professions or his creed may be, whether he does not virtually, actually, call evil good and good evil? 7. Again, I ask, whether he who in the general admits the turpitude of fraud, impurity, intemperance, malignity, and other vicious dispositions with their practical effects, and thus appears to be an advocate for purity of morals, but when insulated cases or specific acts of vice are made the subjects of discussion, treats them all as peccadilloes, inadvertencies, absurdities, indiscretions, or, perhaps, as virtues modestly disguised, can be protected by the mere assertion of a few general principles from the fatal charge of calling evil good? And, as the counterpart of this, I ask whether he who praises and admires all goodness, not embodied in the life of living men or women, but detests it when thus realised in concrete excellence, does not really and practically call good evil? 8. And I ask, lastly, whether he who, in relation to the self-same acts, performed by men of opposite descriptions, has a judgment suited to the case of each, but who is all compassion to the wilful transgressions of the wicked, and all inexorable sternness to the innocent infirmities of godly men; he who strains at a gnat in the behaviour of the meek and conscientious Christian, but can swallow a camel in the conduct of the self-indulgent votary of pleasure; he who lauds religion as exhibited in those who give him no uneasiness by their example, but maligns and disparages it when, from its peculiar strength and brightness, it reflects a glare of painful and intolerable light upon his own corruptions,--let his maxims of moral philosophy be what they will,--does not, to all intents and purposes, incur the woe pronounced on those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter? (J. A. Alexander, D. D.)The guilt of establishing unscriptural principles of conduct I. Among the most prominent illustrations of the present subject we may produce THOSE PERSONS, WHO AS . By enthusiasm, as applied with a reference to religion, I understand the subjection of the judgment, in points of religious faith or practice, to the influence of the imagination. II. Let us now turn our eyes to the opposite quarter; to MEN WHO . Enthusiasm is on principle busy and loquacious. Lukewarmness, though capable of being roused to a turbulent defence of forms and of its own conduct, is by nature silent and supine. Hence enthusiasm, in proportion to the relative number of its adherents, raises a much louder stir, and attracts far more extensive notice, than lukewarmness. But let the torpid conviction of the lukewarm be contrasted with the illusion of the enthusiast, and the former will prove itself not less dangerous, and generally more deliberately criminal, than the latter. III. Another illustration of the text is furnished by PERSONS WHO A PARTIAL TO THE OF GOD AS THE OF : and thus also by implication THE TRUE AS “ OVER MUCH.” IV. We may in the next place produce as illustrative of the general proposition WITH THE OF ALL AND OF GUILT TO THE . From the mouth of these apologisers no sin receives its appropriate denomination. Some lighter phrase is ever on the lips to cloke its enormity, perhaps to transform it into a virtue. Is profaneness noticed? It is an idle habit by which nothing is intended. Is extravagance named? It is a generous disregard of money. Is luxury mentioned? It is a hospitable desire to see our friends happy. What is worldly-mindedness? It is prudence. What is pride? It is proper spirit, a due attention to our own dignity. What is ambition? A laudable desire of distinction and preeminence; a just sense of our own excellence and desert. What is servility? It is skill in making our way to advancement. What are intemperance and sins of impurity? They are indecorums, irregularities, human frailties, customary indiscretions, the natural and venial consequences of cheerfulness, company, and temptation; the unguarded ebullitions of youth, which in a little time will satiate and cure themselves. Now all this is candour: all this is charity. If a reference be made to religion, these men immediately enlarge on the mercy of God. V. There yet remains to be specified an exemplification of the guilt menaced with vengeance by the prophet: A OF which, while the lower ranks are happily too little refined to be infected with it, taints with a greater or a less degree of its deceitful influence the bulk of the middle and higher classes of the community. By what criterion are applause and censure apportioned? By the rule of honour. “ Honour” reigns, because multitudes “ love the praise of men more than the praise of God.” It reigns, because “ they receive honour one of another; and seek not that honour which cometh from God only.” What is this idol, which men worship in the place of the living God? The votary of honour may delude himself with the idea that, whatever be the ordinary expressions of his lips, his heart is dedicated to religion. But his heart is fixed on his idol, human applause. In the place of the love and the fear of God he substitutes the love of praise and the fear of shame. In the place of conscience he substitutes pride. For the dread of guilt he substitutes the apprehension of disgrace. (T. Gisborne, M. A.)The unchangeable difference of good and evil Moral good and evil are as truly and as widely different in their own nature as the perceptions of the outward senses; and God has endued us with faculties of the soul as well fitted to distinguish them, as the bodily senses are to discern corporeal objects. If any man, notwithstanding this, will obstinately call evil good and good evil, and will deny all distinctions between virtue and vice, he must as much have laid aside the use of his natural reason and understanding as he that would conferred light and darkness must contradict his senses and deny the evidence of his clearest sight. And when such a person falls finally into the just punishment of sin, he will no more deserve pity than one who falls down a precipice because he would not open his eyes to discern that light which should have guided him in his way. I. THERE IS IN THE VERY NATURE OF THINGS A AND ETERNAL BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL, BETWEEN VIRTUE AND VICE, WHICH THE REASON OF THINGS DOES ITSELF OBLIGE MEN TO HAVE REGARD TO. This is supposed in the text by the prophet’ s comparing the difference between good and evil to that most obvious and sensible difference of light and darkness. II. GOD HAS, , BY HIS SUPREME AND , AND BY EXPRESS OF HIS WILL IN HOLY , AND THIS OF THINGS, AND WILL SUPPORT AND IT BY HIS POWER AND IN THE WORLD. “ Woe unto them,” etc. III. WHICH MAY BE OF USE TO US IN . 1. Religion and virtue are truly most agreeable to nature, and vice and wickedness are of all things the most contrary to it. 2. Knowledge of the most important and fundamental doctrines of religion must be very easy to be attained, and gross ignorance of our duty can by no means be innocent or excusable, our minds being as naturally fitted to understand the most necessary parts of it as our eyes are to judge of colours or our palate of tastes. 3. The judgments of God upon impenitent sinners, who obstinately disobey the most reasonable and necessary laws in the world, are true and just and righteous judgments. 4. Whatever doctrine is contrary to the nature and attributes, of God, whatever is plainly unwise or wicked, whatever tends to confound the essential and eternal differences of good and evil, must necessarily be false. 5. Every person or doctrine which would separate religion from a holy life, and make it to consist merely in such speculative opinions as may be defended by an ill liver, or in such outward solemnities of worship as may be performed by a vicious and corrupt man, does greatly corrupt religion. (S. Clarke, D. D.)Good and evil The difference of good and evil is a subject of the highest concern, since upon it is founded the truth of religion, the obligation to virtue, and the peace and satisfaction of our minds. Upon it is founded the knowledge which we can attain of God’ s moral perfections; for we cannot prove that God is good, unless we have antecedent notions of goodness considered in itself, and separated from all law, will, or appointment, Divine or human. I shall, therefore, now proceed to prove the different natures of our actions as to moral good and evil-- I. FROM THE HISTORY OF THE MOST ANCIENT TIMES AS IN THE SACRED BOOKS. From the whole dispensation of providence, as set forth in the Old Testament, it may be collected that the distinctions of right and wrong, good and evil, just and unjust, might always have been evident to those who would make a proper use of their senses and faculties. But that we may not carry this point too far, it is to be observed, that men being frail and fallible, surrounded with temptations, and having passions as well as reason, God did not totally leave them to discover their duty by their own natural abilities. Certain religious traditions were, without question, delivered down by Adam and his sons, and some prophets and pious teachers were raised up in the earliest ages from time to time by the Divine Providence to instruct and correct the world, and to enforce the laws of nature and the moral duties, by declaring that God required the observance of them, and that He would be the rewarder of the good and the punisher of the wicked. Such an one was Enoch, and such was Noah, prophets and righteous men, and preachers of righteousness in their generations. II. FROM OUR TO GOD. That there is a Maker and Governor of the world, who is endued with all perfections, is evident from His works. Without any instructor, besides our own understanding, we know that we are and that we did not make ourselves, and that we owe our being to a superior cause; and then we proceed to the discovery of a First Cause of us and of all other things; and thence we also discern our duty towards Him. It is absurd to suppose that God should have supreme power, and we not be bound to revere Him; that He should have perfect goodness, and we not be bound to love Him. He who gives life and the comforts of life to His creatures, hath a right to their gratitude and to their best services: and if it be absurd not to think ourselves obliged to obey Him, it is right and fit to obey Him, and to conform our will to His. So that, with respect to God, there must be moral good or moral evil in our behaviour. As the foundations of religion are thus fixed and unchangeable, so the continual practice of religion is necessary through the whole course of our lives. They who seem to have little or no value for religion yet will often tell you that they have a great regard for virtue, for honour, for justice, and for gratitude to friends and benefactors. If they would reason consistently, they would find the same obligations in a higher manner to serve God, who is both their Master and their Father. III. Another way to find out the differences of good and evil is FROM THE OF THE FRAME OF HUMAN NATURE. The beasts, though so much our inferiors, fulfil the designs of providence by pursuing the ends for which they were made. But they are no patterns for us whom God hath endued with faculties above sense, and who are able to control and subdue the inclinations which we have in common with brutes. Nature hath limited and determined their appetites within certain bounds, which they have no desire to transgress. Nature hath not so dealt with mankind; for our desires are impetuous and boundless: but then God hath implanted in us understanding and reason to direct them, and to judge what is right and wrong. And thus, as man by the help of reason and reflection, and by moral motives, becomes vastly superior to the brutes; so by vice, and particularly by intemperance and sensuality, he sinks as much beneath them, and runs into excesses which are not to be found in them. Hence the real and moral differences of good and evil may be proved; for the superior faculties in man must have a superior good agreeable to them. And as the inferior faculties, namely, the bodily senses, have always external objects suitable to them, or unsuitable; so it is with those nobler powers of the mind, thinking, reflecting, inquiring, judging, refusing, and choosing. The proper objects of these powers are moral or religious good and evil. No faculty creates its own object, but only discerns it. In like manner, truth and falsehood, right and wrong, are the objects of the understanding; and no man surely is so absurd or stupid as to think that we can make a thing true by believing it, or false by disbelieving it. So virtue or goodness is the proper object of our unprejudiced and reasonable desires. Everyone would infallibly choose it, if he acted according to his nature, to pure and undefiled reason, and were not seduced by sensual motives and temporary views. IV. We may also judge of good and evil BY THE COMMON AND SENSE OF MANKIND. And here we are not to be determined so much by the opinion of this or that person, though eminent perhaps in some respects, as by the general consent of men in approving things praiseworthy and conducing to the common advantage. Some things are so universally esteemed, that even they who do not practise them must approve them; and this shows their intrinsic and invariable excellence. For men are very partial to their own conduct, and therefore when they approve virtue in others, though themselves be vicious, there must be an overbearing evidence in favour of it. The common and public interest cannot be supported by any measures contrary to virtue and goodness. V. FROM THE WILL OF GOD AS BY REASON AND AS TO US BY . (J. Jortin, D. D.)Confusion in men’ s notions of good and evil Whence comes it to pass that men should lose the notions of good and evil so far as to stand in need of a Divine law to reinforce them, whilst yet they never lose the notion of things pleasing or hurtful to their senses? We may answer-- 1. That sense hath usually nothing to corrupt its judgment; but it is not so with the determinations which the mind passeth upon well-doing and evil-doing; for there is often an inclination one way more than another, and this inclination is towards the wrong way, arising from various causes internal and external; so that serious consideration and caution are necessary to go before the judgment. 2. The reasons of good and evil are not usually understood in their whole extent by the bulk of mankind. It is generally agreed that there are some right and some wrong actions; but accurate notions of right and wrong have seldom been found where revelation hath not been received; which should teach us to set a just value upon the Gospel. 3. Great examples have greatly tended to corrupt men’ s notions of good and evil. Many there are who judge not for themselves, but take up with the judgment of others; and seeing men of knowledge, rank, and figure, practising iniquity without fear or remorse, they think they may do the same, and follow their leaders. 4. The prevalence of any vice in any country or society takes away men’ s apprehensions of the evil of it. When a wee is uncommon, men stare at it as at a monster; but when it is generally practised, they are insensibly reconciled to it. (J. Jortin, D. D.)Good and evil 1. Give some general account of the nature of good and evil, and of the reasons upon which they are founded. 2. Show that the way by which good and evil commonly operate upon the mind of man, is by those respective names and appellations, by which they are notified and conveyed to the mind. 3. Show the mischief which directly, naturally, and unavoidably follows, from the misapplication and confusion of these names. 4. Show the grand and principal instances in which the abuse or misapplication of those names has such a fatal and pernicious effect. (R. South, D. D.)The misapplication of words and names I. IN . Religion is certainly in itself the best thing in the world; and it is as certain that, as it has been managed by some, it has had the worst effects: such being the nature, or rather the fate of the best things, to be transcendently the worst upon corruption. II. IN CIVIL , or polities. III. TO THE PRIVATE OF . 1. An outrageous, ungoverned insolence and revenge, frequently passes by the name of sense of honour. 2. Bodily abstinence, joined with a demure, affected countenance, is often called piety and mortification. 3. Some have found a way to smooth over an implacable, unalterable spleen and malice, by dignifying it with the name of constancy. 4. A staunch, resolved temper of mind, not suffering a man to sneak, fawn, cringe, and accommodate himself to all humours, though never so absurd and unreasonable, as commonly branded with and exposed under the character of pride, morosity and ill-nature. 5. Some would needs have a pragmatical prying into and meddling with other men’ s matters, a fitness for business, forsooth, and accordingly call and account none but such persons men of business. (R. South, D. D.)An espied difference between virtue and vice in the nature of things I. I shall first EXPLAIN THE MEANING, AND THEN CONFIRM THE TRUTH OF THIS . Every thing has a nature which is peculiar to itself, and which is essential to its very existence. Light has a nature by which it is distinguished from darkness. Sweet has a nature by which it is distinguished from bitter. Animals have a nature by which they are distinguished from men. Men have a nature by which they are distinguished from angels. Angels have a nature by which they are distinguished from God. And God has a nature by which He is distinguished from all other beings. Now such different natures lay a foundation for different obligations; and different obligations lay a foundation for virtue and vice in all their different degrees. As virtue and vice, therefore, take their origin from the nature of things, so the difference between moral good and moral evil is as immutable as the nature of things from which it results. The truth of this assertion will appear if we consider-- 1. That the essential difference between virtue and vice may be known by those who are wholly ignorant of God. The barbarians, who saw the viper on Paul’ s hand, knew the nature and ill-desert of murder. The pagans, who were in the ship with Jonah, knew the difference between natural and moral evil, and considered the former as a proper and just punishment of the latter. And even little children know the nature of virtue and vice. But how would children and heathens discover the essential difference between moral good and evil, if this difference were not founded in the nature of things? 2. Men are capable of judging what is right or wrong in respect to the Divine character and conduct. This God implicitly allows, by appealing to their own judgment, whether He has not treated them according to perfect rectitude. In the context, He solemnly cells upon His people to judge of the propriety and benignity of His conduct towards them (verses 3, 4; also Jeremiah 2:5; Ezekiel 18:25; Ezekiel 18:29; Micah 6:1-5). In these solemn appeals to the consciences of men, God does not require them to believe that His character is good because it is His character; nor that His laws are good because they are His laws; nor that His conduct is good because it is His conduct. But He allows them to judge of His character, His laws and His conduct, according to the immutable difference between right and wrong, in the nature of things; which is the infallible rule by which to judge of the moral conduct of all moral beings. 3. God cannot destroy this difference without destroying the nature of things. 4. The Deity cannot alter the nature of things so as to destroy the essential distinction between virtue and vice. We can conceive that God should make great alterations in us, and in the objects about us; but we cannot conceive that He should make any alterations in us, and in the objects about us, which should transform virtue into vice, or vice into virtue, or which should destroy their essential difference. II. TAKE NOTICE OF ONE OR TWO which may be made against what has been said. 1. To suppose that the difference between virtue and vice results from the nature of things, is derogatory and injurious to the character of God. For, on this supposition, there is a standard of right and wrong superior to the will of the Deity, to which He is absolutely bound to submit. To say that the difference between right and wrong does not depend upon the will of God, but upon the nature of things, is no more injurious to His character than to say that it does not depend upon His will whether two and two shall be equal to four; whether a circle and square shall be different figures; whether the whole shall be greater than a part; or whether a thing shall exist and not exist at the same time. These things do not depend upon the will of God, because they cannot depend upon His will. So the difference between virtue and vice does not depend upon the will of God, because His will cannot make or destroy this immutable difference. And it is more to the honour of God to suppose that He cannot, than that He can, perform impossibilities. But if the eternal rule of right must necessarily result from the nature of things, then it is no reproach to the Deity to suppose that He is morally obliged to conform to it. To set God above the law of rectitude, is not to exalt, but to debase His character. It is the glory of any moral agent to conform to moral obligation. The supreme excellency of the Deity consists, not in always doing what He pleases, but in always pleasing to do what is fit and proper in the nature of things. 2. There is no other difference between virtue and vice than what arises from custom, education, or caprice. Different nations judge differently upon moral subjects. This objection is more specious than solid. For-- (1) It is certain that all nations do feel and acknowledge the essential distinction between virtue and vice. They all have words to express this distinction. Besides, all nations have some penal laws, which are made to punish those who are guilty of criminal actions. (2) No nation ever did deny the distinction between virtue and vice. Though the Spartans allowed their children to take things from others without their knowledge and consent, yet they did not mean to allow them to steal, in order to increase their wealth, and gratify a sordid, avaricious spirit. They meant to distinguish between taking and stealing. The former they considered as a mere act, which was suited to teach their children skill and dexterity in their lawful pursuits, but the latter they detested and punished as an infamous crime. So when the Chinese expose their useless children, or their useless parents, they mean to do it as an act of kindness both to their friends and to the public. These, and all other mistakes of the same nature, are to be ascribed to the corruption of the human heart, which blinds and stupefies the conscience, and prevents it from doing its proper office. III. It now remains to MAKE A NUMBER OF FROM THE TRUTH WHICH WE HAVE AND . 1. If there be an immutable difference between virtue and vice, right and wrong, then there is a propriety in every man’ s judging for himself in matters of morality and religion. 2. If there be a standard of right and wrong in the nature of things, then it is not impossible to arrive at absolute certainty in our moral and religious sentiments. 3. If right and wrong are founded in the nature of things, then it is impossible for any man to become a thorough sceptic in morality and religion. 4. If right and wrong, truth and falsehood, be founded in the nature of things, then it is not a matter of indifference what moral and religious sentiments mankind imbibe and maintain. 5. If right and wrong, truth and falsehood, be founded in the nature of things, then there appears to be a great propriety in God’ s appointing a day of judgment. 6. All who go to heaven will go there by the unanimous voice of the whole universe. 7. All who are excluded from heaven will be excluded from it by the unanimous voice of all moral beings. It will appear clearly to the view of the universe, that all who are condemned ought to be condemned and punished forever. (N. Emmons, D. D.)Perverting the right ways of the Lord I. NATURE OF THE . 1. Not a mere error or defect of judgment, but a habit, practice or system of perverting right and wrong. 2. Examples of “ calling evil good, and good evil” (Psalms 10:3; Malachi 2:17; Malachi 3:15; Luke 16:15; 2 Peter 2:19). Putting bondage to sin for liberty, and counting Christian freedom to be servitude. 3. Examples of “ putting darkness for light, and light for darkness.” The traditions of men for doctrines of God. Oppositions of science, falsely so called, for truths of Holy Writ. 4. Examples of “ putting bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.” “ Pleasures of sin” counted sweet; the joy of the Lord despised. (Proverbs 9:17) “ Stolen waters (i.e., sins)are sweet.” (Proverbs 5:4.) “ Her end is bitter as wormwood.” (Proverbs 20:17.) II. ORIGIN OF THE . 1. Satan the first on record who thus acted. (Genesis 3:1-5.) It is an old device. 2. As he did, so do his children and dupes (John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15). 3. Men perverted become perverters, “ deceiving and being deceived.” 4. The practice is easy, and seems to be a source of malicious pleasure to those who so do. III. EFFECTS OF THE . 1. The practice is, to a mournful extent, successful, because of our weak and perverted fallen nature. 2. It discredits God’ s words and ways. 3. It distresses the righteous (Ezekiel 13:22). 4. It deceives the young and unstable. 5. It destroys both the perverters and the perverted. IV. ON THESE . “ Woe unto them” (Proverbs 17:15). 1. By these perversions the perverters become such as described in Ephesians 4:18-19; 1 Timothy 4:2. 2. It is too true that men may come at length to say, “ Evil, be thou my good.” 3. They who have done the works of the devil in perverting and confusing right and wrong, will share the devil’ s judgment. V. FROM . 1. How to be kept from sharing with such perverters, and from being seduced or deceived by them; most important to know this. 2. See the example of Jesus in His temptation. Prayer and keeping close to Holy Scripture. 3. Copy His example. 4. Gospel “ light,” “ good,” “ sweet,” here set forth, showing the way of salvation by faith in Christ. 5. Pray that the Spirit may “ guide you into all the truth,” and “ give you a right judgment in all things.” 6. Hereafter good and evil, light and darkness, sweet and bitter, will be known, seen, and tasted, without the confusion and perversion which now prevail. (Flavel Cook, B. A.)Sinful nomenclature Reproof and denunciation, distasteful as they ever must be, have their office. The Word of God is something more than a pleasant song. It is sometimes a fire to scathe, a hammer to dash in pieces, a sword to divide the soul and spirit, the joints and marrow; and therefore it is a great sin to try to blunt the edge of the sword of the Spirit by calling evil good and good evil. I. IT IS A GREAT SIN to disregard or even to underrate in the least degree the eternal distinctions of right and wrong, to view things in their wrong aspects and to call things by their wrong names. “ He that saith to the wicked, ‘ Thou art righteous,’” says Solomon, “ him shall the people curse.” And Paul tells us there are some things that ought not to be so much as named among those who live holy lives. The evil word is a long step beyond the evil thought. Speak of sin in its true terms and you strip it of its seductiveness. Call a vice by its real name and you rob it of half its danger by exposing its grossness. The very guiltiest of sinners is he who paints the gates of hell with the colours of Paradise, and gives names of clear disparagement and dislike to scrupulous honour and stainless purity. II. THE CAUSE OF THIS SIN is due to a fading appreciation of moral evil, to a tampering with it, and to a destruction of that healthy instinct which revolts at it. This is illustrated in the third chapter of Genesis. Light words and careless thoughts are not indifferent things. Character is not cut in marble; it may become diseased as our bodies do. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. III. THE OF THIS SIN is the failure of all life, the waste, the loss, the shipwreck of the human soul. The rose is a glorious flower, but it withers sometimes and produces nothing but mouldering and loathly buds, because there is some poison in the sap or some canker at the root. Careers that might have been prosperous and happy are sometimes cut short, blighted with disgrace, the conscience seared, the distinction between right and wrong lost. They are mortified to painlessness, and this is death. This is the worst woe that can befall those who miscall things which God has stamped with His own signet. (Dean Farrar, D. D.)The sin of confounding good and evil I. Consider the particular species of crime against which we have the warning of the text AS IT RELATES TO THE WHO IS GUILTY OF IT. 1. There is scarcely one of us who does not think himself sufficiently religious; and yet, to what does the religion of many a man amount? 2. If we can be successful enough to persuade men to believe that the slight notion which they have of religion is insufficient, we then find them flying to another subterfuge to screen them from its duties, by affixing the name of evil to what we pronounce to be good, and calling our representation of religion morose and gloomy. 3. Religion being once rendered so slight in the mind, once esteemed so gloomy and unworthy a pursuit, its restraints are neglected, its principles evaded, and the wavering deceitfulness of men’ s hearts made the standard of men’ s actions. 4. To these notions of indifference concerning religion, we may add those arising from misguided zeal in it. Divisions, persecutions, etc. II. Consider those who are not imposing on themselves by believing things to be good, which are really evil, but WHO AND TO DESTROY A TRUE BELIEF IN OTHERS, BY FALSE OF SIN DUTY. 1. How artfully and speciously vice is often portrayed in those numerous works which find the easiest admission to the closets of the young! Into the character of the frail and guilty is thrown a variety of qualities of seeming liberality, honour, and the like; the reader, with an ingenuous tenderness, without deliberation, pities and forgives; and begins to think the crime no indiscretion, or at least no crime at all! 2. You have witnessed the effect of similar principles conveyed, not in books, but conversation. 3. We find many a villain pouring forth his artful tale of constancy and honour, calling all good evil, and all evil good, ridiculing marriage as a useless human ceremony, decrying religion as an idle state invention, painting human nature, its passions and the indulgence of them, in every glowing colour, till he has broken a parent’ s heart, and brought his child to ruin in time and in eternity! (G. Mathews, M. A.)The perversion of right and wrong Nothing tends more to remove the just distinctions of virtue and vice, or to blend the nature of good and evil, than the giving plausible and specious names to what are really great and substantial crimes. 1. The boldest attacks of infidelity are often couched under the plausible name of “ a spirit of free inquiry.” 2. An indifference to all religious worship is often concealed under the specious term of “ a truly religious spirit of universal toleration.” 3. The duel is converted into an “ honourable deed.” 4. Shameless and lawless adultery is denominated gallantry. 5. Is not a certain profusion and expense, which causes a breach of common justice in squandering what men are not able to pay, often described as an enlarged and generous mode of living? 6. If the libertine who indulges in every sensual appetite without control, happen to possess a certain share of vivacity and good humour, or be a man of boundless profusion and indiscriminate liberality, his vices are swallowed up in the sup posed good qualities of his heart; and the worst title perhaps that is bestowed on his worst actions, is that of a thoughtless ease and good nature, which is too apt to be led astray by the example and vices of others. (C. Moore, M. A.)Calling evil good and good evil The real horror of this passage consists in the fact that we have here one of the greatest sins that can be conceived, and, at the same time, one of the most common. To call evil good is practical atheism. To call good evil is practical blasphemy. The words of the passage supply a certain vision of the order of the process. 1. To “ call evil good” is the sin especially of the young and careless--the giddy and wanton in their way. 2. The calling good evil is the sin especially of the earnest and professedly religious--whether or not their religion be of the kind called Christian. This was the great crime of the Pharisees against Christ. This has been the crime of all the persecutors of the Church of Christ from the Roman emperors to the Romish priests. Also, of many theologians of all sides in controversy; and of politicians. 3. Before our eyes the evil and the good are mingled, in characters and acts and institutions, till it is often beyond our power to extricate. And what are we to do? Let us call on the name of the Lord, confessing we are helpless often in the matter, remembering also this, that although it be in ignorance, our error may be great, like the crucifying of Christ. Let the Church be improved from within, seeking rather the resources of the heavenly grace to replenish her heart with charity--its native and original virtue. Let her turn from all the tumult without to Him who is “ the glory in the midst of her.” Let her learn her liberality at the feet of Jesus. For evil rolls into the light of Christ and is detected and abhorred. The good that is in evil is caught by that light and gladly hailed. The love of Christ is the best of teaching here. (J. Cunningham, M. A.)The danger of depraving the moral sense 1. The current conventional standard of society around them is even in this Christian land the main principle by which the great mass of the better sort of people regulate their conduct. For one who refers truly to the law of God, hundreds maybe found who act upon the common maxims of society. This, therefore, it becomes us especially to bear in mind: never can we live for ourselves alone. 2. It is one especial part of their punishment who are thus engaged in lowering the moral standard of society around them, that they must be, in a still greater measure, injuring themselves. How “ shall a man touch pitch and not be defiled” ? We have no other way of transmitting moral evil than by contagion; we must, in the first place, be our selves the victims of that which we convey to others. (1) There is within each of us a power or faculty by which we judge of good or evil, and which we call conscience or the moral sense. Although we cannot by a direct act of the reason alter, or at our immediate volition, silence, the decision and the voice of moral consciousness, we may, by a course of actions, altogether debase, and even for the time extinguish it. (2) It is of great moment to observe how from this it follows that there is a necessary tendency in anyone allowed form of evil to prepare the soil for receiving others. (3) After vicious practice, there is nothing of which they who would preserve their moral sense unclouded should more cautiously beware, than a needless acquaintance with sin. The first and evident form in which this danger meets us is from the company of evil men. There are some remarkable provisions by which the Christian’ s power of discrimination can be formed, without encouraging an evil curiosity or courting any familiarity with vice. For, first, it will grow gradually with the growth of our self-knowledge. Alas! we bear evil always with us; and if we search ourselves we must become acquainted with it. Yet even here we need a word of caution, for our very self-inspection may become the means of self-defilement. At God’ s call we may walk unharmed even in the fire of present sin. And here, again, we may trace the provision God has made for this security in the nature He has given us. For the feelings of grief and shame which are naturally roused by the first sight of sin, and which of themselves will die away with each repetition, if, from curiosity or the love of excitement, we call them into fruitless exercise, these, when they lead us to strive against the evil which we see, grow into a living habit of resisting sin; and this habit keeps the conscience quick and tender, and, through the blessing of God’ s grace, purifies and strengthens the power of moral judgment beyond all other means of wholesome exercise. Thus it is that God’ s especial witnesses have borne, amidst an evil generation, the burden of His holiness and truth. (Bishop S. Wilberforce, D. D.)A shameful doctrine Bellarmine, in his 4 th Book and fifth chapter, De Pontifice Romano, has this monstrous passage: That if the Pope should through error or mistake command vices and prohibit virtues, the Church would be bound in conscience to believe vice to be good and virtue evil. (R. South, D. D.)Straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel A Neapolitan shepherd came in anguish to his priest, saying, “ Father, have mercy on a miserable sinner. It is the holy season of Lent; and while I was busy at work, some whey spirting from the cheese press flew into my mouth, and,--wretched man!--I swallowed it. Free my distressed conscience from its agonies by absolving me from my guilt!” “ Have you no other sins to confess?” said his spiritual guide. “ No; I do not know that I have committed any other.” “ There are,” said the priest, “ many robberies and murders from time to time committed on your mountains, and I have reason to believe that you are one of the persons concerned in them.” “ Yes,” he replied, “ I am, but these are never accounted as a crime; it is a thing practised by us all and there needs no confession on that account.” (K. Arvine.)Defective moral sense It is no exaggeration to assert that Napoleon I--strangely called the Great--had no moral sense. Carlyle tells the storyof a German emperor who, when corrected for a mistake he made in Latin, replied, “ I am King of the Romans and above grammar!” Napoleon’ s arrogance was infinitely greater. He thought himself above morality and really seems to have believed that he had a perfect right to commit any crime, political or personal, that would advance his interests by an iota: and, in truth, he did commit so many it is almost impossible to recount them. (H. O. Mackey.)Little evils making way for greater The carpenter’ s gimblet makes but a small hole, but it enables him to drive a great nail. May we not here see a representation of those minor departures from the truth which prepare the minds of men for grievous errors and of those thoughts of sin which open a way for the worst of crimes! Beware, then, of Satan’ s gimblet. (C. H.Spurgeon.) Isaiah 5:21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes A false estimate of human wisdom The sin reproved (as Calvin well observes) is not mere frivolous self-conceit, but that delusive estimate of human wisdom which may co-exist with modesty of manners and a high degree of real intellectual merit, but which must be abjured, not only on account of its effects, but also as involving the worst form of pride. (J. A. Alexander.)Wisdom and prudence: true and false 1. Persons are accounted wise and prudent who keep in view the most excellent dramas, who govern their potions with moderation, who conduct their affairs with discretion, and proportion their application to their several interests according to the dictates of well-informed minds, and the maxims of sound wisdom. They belong to this description who are possessed of a sound judgment, a quick penetration and extensive knowledge, and improve these accomplishments for attaining the most valuable purposes. The wisdom and prudence of which such persons are possessed cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. According to the apostle James’ description, it is pure, free from the corruptions of sin and error; it is peaceable, disposing those who act under its influence to live in harmony and concord; it is gentle, bearing with meekness the infirmities and injuries of others; it is easy to be entreated by the persuasion of sound reason and good counsel; it is full of mercy toward the offending and the afflicted; it is without partiality in its operations, and without hypocrisy and dissimulation, being sincere in all its exertions. 2. Persons are said in Scripture to have those qualifications in their own eyes or sight, which they vainly reckon they have acquired. People are said to be wise or prudent in their own sight who flatter themselves that these characters indeed belong to them, until the hatefulness of their iniquity is discovered. Though they know but little, they were never sensible of their ignorance; though, in the view of God, and men of understanding, they are foolish, they never were convinced of their folly. Elated with their supposed excellence on every occasion, and even when there is no occasion, they proclaim their own praises, and applaud their own performance. (R. Macculloch.)Self-conceit I. ITS SIGNS. Dogmatism; contempt of others; scepticism. II. ITS CAUSES. Ignorance; vanity. III. ITS FOLLY. It makes a man ridiculous; leads him into error. IV. ITS TO GOD--in spirit; principle; action. V. ITS CERTAIN . (J. Lyth, D. D.)Prayer for Divine enlightenment In Dr. Samuel Johnson’ s diary the following prayer was found, offered in view of his becoming a politician: “ Enlighten my understanding with the knowledge of right, and govern my will by Thy laws, that no deceit may mislead me, nor temptation corrupt me; that I may always endeavour to do good and hinder evil.” Isaiah 5:22-23 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine . . . which justify the wicked for reward Wine-loving lawyers and judges Among the men whom Isaiah denounces as the corrupters and destroyers of the society of which they are the leaders, are the unjust lawyers and judges: he mentions as characteristic of them, that they are heroes at drinking, and spice their wine to make it stronger; by which, perhaps, we are to understand, not that their heads and senses were overcome with wine like the drunkards spoken of above, but that the effect on their hearts and consciences was such as to harden them in their criminal perversion of the law. Perhaps the passage might be illustrated by instances of the professional character of hard-drinking but strong-headed judges of other times. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Aromatites The Romans called this spiced wine “ Aromatites.” (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Drunkenness The woe denounced in the text against those notorious for drunkenness is made up of the unavoidable effects it produces, and these effects are too dear a price to be paid by a reasonable creature for all the sensual pleasures of this life, did they even accompany this single sin. I. THE ’ S EXCUSES. 1. His first excuse is charged to the account of good fellowship. But surely, friendship can never be founded on anything else than an amiable and affectionate disposition, a likeness of temper, and true honesty of heart on both sides. Will strong drink bestow these on us? Can mutual love and confidence be built on vice? And how doth drunkenness pro mote the gaiety of conversation? Does it not rather destroy all conversation, for what is conversation, but the communication of rational and agreeable thoughts? 2. The next excuse for drinking to excess is, that it stupefies the cares and troubles of the drunkard, which arise from three different quarters,--his ill state of health, the unfortunate posture of his worldly affairs, or the stings of his guilty conscience. 3. The drunkard hath other more common and accidental excuses for his vice. He says he is so exposed to company and business, that it is impossible for him to avoid drinking to excess. Then, he is of so easy and flexible a temper, that he cannot resist the importunities of his friends, as he calls them. Thus, he is for softening his vice into a sort of virtue, and calling that mere good nature, which his creditor calls villainy, and his family cruelty. II. THE WOE BY GOD; or, in other words, the miserable effects, as well temporal as spiritual, of his favourite vice. 1. Poverty. 2. Universal contempt. 3. Ill health and an untimely death. 4. These evils are as nothing compared to the spiritual evils that spring from drunkenness. In destroying his health he shortens his life, and so far is guilty of self-murder. In impairing his reason he makes his life useless and burdensome to the world. (J. Skelton.)Mighty to drink wine Strength is a great blessing, but if it is used in the service of sin it becomes a curse. I. THE GREAT of that day were just the same sort of men as they are now here in our country. 1. They are grasping and selfish (Isaiah 5:8). They are often willing to take bribes if they are magistrates (Isaiah 5:23), and to condemn the innocent rather than lose their money or credit. 2. They are dull of understanding of the things of God (Isaiah 5:12). 3. They are greedy of sire Drink makes men pull destruction upon themselves (Isaiah 5:18). 4. They are liars (Isaiah 5:20). It would be difficult to find one lover of drink who was truthful. However kind and generous a sot may be, his word can never be depended upon. “ Deceiving and being deceived” is his exact portrait. 5. Clever in their own eyes (Isaiah 5:21). II. THE WOES the prophet declares are sure to come on these men mighty to drink wine. 1. Poverty (Isaiah 5:9-10). The great and beautiful houses will soon be vacant, and the neglected fields will soon be like the sluggard’ s garden. More than half the empty houses and the farms that are given up in this country represent the doings of drink. 2. Degradation (Isaiah 5:13). Captivity to a Jew meant more than poverty--loss of honour, of position, of hope, grinding toil, pollution, horrid slavery. What can degrade body and mind like drink? (Isaiah 5:15.) 3. Death (Isaiah 5:14). There is a sin unto death. More than 60,000 drunkards go down to their dishonoured graves every year in Britain. Think of death and hell “ gaping” to take in these hosts of slain. (Josiah Mee.)The bane and antidote (with Habakkuk 2:15):-- I. THE EVIL. 1. As affecting the individual. It is no trivial result to demoralise the human spirit. 2. As it ramifies itself throughout the framework of society. (1) As respects the family. (2) The wider circle of the general community. II. THE CURE. 1. Total abstinence. 2. Legislative prohibition. (J. Guthrie, M. A.)The unworthy glorying of the intemperate They gloried in it as a great accomplishment, that they were able to bear a great deal of strong liquor, without being overcome by it. Let drunkards know from this Scripture that-- 1. They ungratefully abuse their bodily strength, which God hath given them for good purposes, and by degrees cannot but weaken it. 2. It will not excuse them from the guilt of drunkenness that they can drink hard, and yet keep their feet. 3. Those that boast of their drinking down others glory in their shame. 4. How light soever men make of their drunkenness, it is a sin which will certainly lay them open to the wrath and curse of God. (M. Henry.)Intemperance a fine art Cyrus, writing the Lacedaemonians for assistance, spoke in very high terms of himself, telling them he had a greater and more prince y heart than his brother; that he was the better philosopher, being instructed in the doctrines of the Magi, and that he could drink and bear more wine than his brother. (Plutarch’s Artaxerxes.)Mighty to drink wine When Bonosus the drunken Roman had hanged himself, it went for a byword that a tun or tankard hung there and not a man. And when one was commended to King Alphonsus for a great drinker, and able to bear it, he answered that that was a good praise in a sponge but not in a prince. (J. Trapp.)Darius, King of Persia, caused it to be engraved upon his tomb, “ I could drink much wine, and bear it bravely.” Perhaps he was proud of it, but it was his shame. (J. Mee.)Intemperance destroys character The title of “ Rois faineants” --“ do-nothing kings” --expresses very aptly the character of the last descendants of the house of Clovis. At the moment when circumstances demanded from the occupants of the Frankish throne a more than ordinary share of talent and force of character, they lapsed into a state of imbecility and insignificance, both bodily and mental. Intemperance and debauchery entailed on them premature decrepitude; few attained the mature age of manhood; they rarely appeared in public, except at the annual pageant of the Champ de Mars. (Student’s France.)A Japanese proverb The Japanese have a true proverb which describes millions of sad cases: “ A man took a drink, then the drink took a drink, then the drink took the man.” Effects of wine drinking:--Whilst the drunkard swallows wine, wine swallows him. God disregards him, angels despise him; men deride him, virtue declines him, the devil destroys him. (Augustine.) Isaiah 5:24-30 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble Sin brings judgment in its train Let not those expect to live easily that live thus wickedly, for the righteous God wilt take vengeance. Observe-- I. HOW this ruin will be, and how necessarily and unavoidably it will follow upon their sins. The prophet had compared this people to a vine (Isaiah 5:7), well fixed and which it was hoped would be flourishing and fruitful. But the grace of God towards it was received in vain, and then the root became rottenness, being dried up from beneath, and the blossom would of course blow off as dust, as a light and worthless thing (Job 18:16). Sin weakens the strength the root of a people, so that they are easily rooted up; it defaceth the beauty, the blossoms of a people, and takes away the hopes of fruit. Sinners make themselves as stubble and chaff, combustible matter, proper fuel to the fire of God’ s wrath. II. How Just the ruin will be. “ Because they have cast away the law,” etc. God doth not reject men for every transgression of His law and word, but when His word is despised and His law cast away, what can they expect but that God should utterly abandon them? III. WHENCE this ruin should come (Isaiah 5:25). It is destruction from the Almighty. 1. The justice of God appoints it. 2. The power of God effects it. “ He hath stretched forth His hand against them. IV. The AND of this ruin. When God comes forth in wrath against a people, “ the hills tremble” ; fear seizeth even their great men, that are strong and high; the earth shakes under men, and is ready to sink; and as this feels dreadful (what doth more so than an earthquake?) so what sight can be more frightful than the carcasses of men torn with dogs, or thrown “ as dung” (margin) “ in the midst of the streets” ? This intimates that great multitudes should be slain, not only soldiers in the field of battle, but the inhabitants of their cities put to the sword in cold blood, and that the survivors should neither have hands nor hearts to bury them. V. The that should be employed in bringing this ruin upon them. It should be done by the incursions of a foreign enemy. When God designs the rum of a provoking people-- 1. He can send a great way off for instruments to be employed in it. “ From the end of the earth” (Isaiah 5:26). If God set up His standard, He can incline men’ s hearts to enlist themselves under it, though, perhaps, themselves know not why or wherefore. 2. He can make them come into the service with incredible expedition. “ With speed swiftly” (Isaiah 5:26). Those that defy God’ s judgments will be ashamed of their insolence when it is too late; they scornfully said (Isaiah 5:19), “ Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work,” and they shall find to their terror and confusion that so He will. 3. He can carry them on in the service with amazing forwardness and fury (Isaiah 5:27-30). (1) Though their marches be very long, yet “ none among them shall be weary” ; so desirous shall they be to engage that they shall forget their weariness and make no complaints of it. (2) Though the way be rough, and, perhaps embarrassed by the usual policies of war, yet none among them shall stumble, but all the difficulties in their way shall easily be got over. (3) Though they are forced to keep constant watch, yet “ none shall slumber or sleep” ; so intent shall they be upon their work in prospect of having the plunder of the city for their pains. (4) They shall not desire any rest or relaxation; they shall not put off their clothes, not “ loose the girdle of their loins,” but shall always have their belts on and swords by their sides. (5) They shall not meet with the least hindrance to retard their march, or oblige them to halt; not a “ latchet of their shoes shall be broken,” which they must stay to mend, as Joshua 9:13. (6) Their arms and ammunition should all be fixed and in good posture (verse 28). (7) Their horses and chariots of war shall all be fit for service (verse 28). (8) All the soldiers bold and daring; “ their roaring,” or shouting before a battle, “ shall be like a lion,” who with his roaring animates himself and terrifies all about him. (9) There shall not be the least prospect of relief or succour. Let the distressed look which way they will, everything appears dismal; for if God frown upon us how can any creature smile? (M. Henry.)Divine judgments as fire and flame They cannot be resisted, their direction cannot be altered, their force abated, nor can the flame be extinguished by human efforts. As threatened calamities cannot be averted, so inflicted judgments cannot be removed, unless by true repentance and earnest supplication to the supreme Disposer of all events. (R. Macculloch.)Root and blossom The posterity of Israel are here compared to a fruit-bearing tree, whose root gives it strength and stability, conveys to it nourishment, and preserves it firm amidst the storms to which it may be exposed. By their root may be meant everything whereby they thought to secure and establish themselves, such as their secret counsels, their deep-laid designs, their strength and riches, their friends and connections, from all which they derived support, and expected to keep their station. Viewing them in their social capacity, by their root we may understand parents, heads of families, judges, governors and princes, who give stability and support to the state and preserve it in a flourishing condition . . . The blossoms denote the beautiful promising appearances among that people, which seemed to presage plenty of fruit; such as their religion, their children, their magnificence and influence as a nation; in short, everything which constituted their excellence, and displayed their glory was to be consumed. (R. Macculloch.)Universal judgment The judgment here foretold was to prove universal; for what remains of a tree when its roots and branches are destroyed! (R. Macculloch.)Sin and judgment Sin doth as naturally draw and suck judgments to it as the loadstone doth iron, as dry stubble and light chaff doth fire. (J. Trapp.)The “ law” and the “ word” The “ law” of Jehovah was given by Moses and embodied in institutions and a code; the “ word” was that exposition of the meaning and life of these which the prophets were, from time to time, declaring in the ears of the people. The nation had cast away this law and despised this word. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Withered roots When all heart and morality are gone from a nation, its roots below ground are rotten, and its flourishing appearance is ready to turn to dust. There is no substance in such a people, nothing which can stand calamity of any kind. It will sweep them away as the fire licks up the stubble which men burn when the crop of corn or hay has been gathered in. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Unfruitfulness: cause and effect The sin of unfruitfulness is punished with the plague of unfruitfulness. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 5:25-30 Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against His people The prophecy explained Jehovah is about to bring foreign armies as the instruments of His judgment; the vision of the worst of human calamities--the invasion of a rich, civilised, luxurious nation by overwhelming hordes of barbarians--rises before the prophet: he speaks of them as present, and his words have a terrible force to him who reads them now, while he thinks of their fearful import then. Jehovah has set up a standard to which He is gathering the nations under the Assyrian rule, and the prophet sees them steadily though swiftly coming on in war-like array--bowmen, horses and chariots: they rush to battle with the roar of lions, they seize and hold down their prisoners and their booty with the growl which marks the lion’ s refusal to give up his prey; they come on like the sea in its rage; and when the helpless in, habitant of Judah turns from this rising tide to the land--his own land--he sees only the darkness of woe; and when he turns again from the earth to look upward he sees only the thick clouds gathering over the heavens above him. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Prophecy perpetually fulfilled This is such a picture of “ the life of things” that it is equally the description of the same judgment of God in whatever age or to whatever nation occurring. In successive ages it told the Jew of the Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Greek and the Roman; to the subject of the Roman Empire it spoke no less clearly of the Goth and the Vandal; the British monk must have recalled it in the days when Gildas learnt its truth from the Dane and the Norman and the Spaniard from the Mohammedan; the Byzantine from Timour “ the incarnate wrath of God” ; the continental nations from the revolutionary armies and Napoleon; and, in our own day, the people of France from the Germans. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)God’ s anger and its manifestation I. IN GOD’ S NATURE THERE IS THE QUALITY OF ANGER. It is not a stormy passion, like wrath in sinful man, but the settled, intense, burning antagonism to moral evil which must necessarily exist in one who is infinitely perfect. The man who most nearly resembles God will be “ angry and sin not?” II. GOD’ S ANGER MAY BE KINDLED BY THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT OF HIS PEOPLE. “ Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against His people.” Guilt is in proportion to the light and privilege abused. III. GOD’ S ANGER MAY ITSELF IN ACTUAL AND FEARFUL . It is an active antagonism to moral evil. “ He hath stretched forth His hand against them,” etc. The hand of God is the symbol of His mighty power. “ It is a fearful thing to fall,” etc. (H. M. Booth.)Hills trembling (Isaiah 5:25):--The words seem to allude to the tremor occasioned by the stroke of the workman’ s hammer upon some hard body. (R. Macculloch.)Horses’ hoofs as flint (Isaiah 5:28):--Therefore he will not shrink from riding them on the rocky soil of Palestine, which was extremely unfavourable to the use of horses (Amos 6:12). Similar allusions are frequent in ancient literature, the shoeing of horses being unknown in antiquity. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)A darkened heaven (Isaiah 5:30):--It is our wisdom, by keeping a good conscience, to keep all clear between us and heaven, that we may have light from above, when clouds and darkness are round about us. (M. Henry.). Isaiah 6:1-13 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord The story of the prophet’ s call--why inserted here Why the narrative of the prophet’ s call was not, as in the cases of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, allowed to occupy the first place in the book, is a question which cannot be certainly answered. One conjecture is that chaps. 1-5 were placed first for the purpose of preparing the reader of the book for the severity of tone which marks the end of chap. 6, and of acquainting him with the condition of things in Judah which led to such a tone being adopted. Or, again, it is possible that chap. 6 may have been placed so as to follow chaps. 1-5, because, though describing what occurred earlier, it may not have been actually committed to writing till afterwards--perhaps as an introduction Isaiah 7:1-25; Isaiah 8:1-22; Isaiah 9:1-7. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Why did Isaiah publish this account of his call? Why was it needful to publish a private transaction between God and Isaiah? The only reason we can conceive of is that the prophet needed to give a justification of his public assumption of prophetic work. And that implies in the community a suspicion of prophetic men, and in the young prophet’ s mind struggles and hesitation such as we can easily conceive. This picture of his call he holds up half before himself, as the answer to all the timid fears of his own heart, and half before his countrymen, as his reply to all the objections they might raise against his prophetic commission. This is strongly confirmed when we proceed to look at the message which the prophet is sent to deliver (verses 9, 10). (P. Thomson, M. A.)The circumstances of the vision Let us try, if we can, and present to our imaginations some idea of this extraordinary scene. The shades of evening are closing in, and all is still within the sacred precincts of the temple. The daily ritual has been duly observed, and priests and worshippers have withdrawn from the hallowed fane. The noise and stir of the great city, hard by is subsiding; a solemn hush and stillness pervades the place. One solitary worshipper still lingers within the sacred courts absorbed a reverie of prayer. He is a religions and devout man; probably a member of the school of the prophets, well instructed in the faith of his fathers, and familiar with the sacred ritual of the temple, and the lessons that it inculcated. There he is, looking forward possibly to a prophet’ s career, yet feeling keenly the responsibilities which it will involve, and perhaps pleading earnestly to be fitted for his mission. He cannot be blind to the unsatisfactory condition of his people. Amidst much outward profession of religiousness and readiness to comply with the ceremonial demands of the faith, he cannot but discern the presence of barren formalism and hypocrisy, and of a latent superstition that might at any moment, were the restraints of authority removed, blossom out into open idolatry. And who shall say what heart searchings may have occupied his own mind as he knelt there in the temple all alone with God. Was he more spiritual than those around him? Was he sufficiently pure and devout to stand up in protest against a nation’ s sins? One moment all is silence and stillness as he kneels in prayer; the next, and lo! a blaze of glory and a burst of song! Startled and awe-stricken, the lonely worshipper raises his head to find himself confronted with a sublime and dazzling spectacle. His bewildered vision travels up through ranks of light till it finds itself resting for a moment, but only for a moment, on an Object “ too august for human gaze.” I saw also, the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Around that dread Presence the forms of vast and wondrous intelligences of glory, the attendant ministers of the Majesty Divine, seem bending in adoration, and the voice of their worship falls like the roll of thunder on his ear, shaking the very pillars of the temple porch with its awe-inspiring resonance, as they echo and re-echo with answering acclamations the antiphon of heaven--“ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.” (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)The vision Isaiah might probably have said, as St. Paul did on a like occasion, “ Whether I was in the body or out of the body I cannot tell,” but he would undoubtedly have confirmed the plain meaning of his words that the vision was a reality and a fact. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)The Symbolism of Isaiah’ s vision There is a variety of opinion among the commentators as to the basis of the symbolism of this vision. Some assert that the imagery by which the prophet sets forth the wealth and splendour of the heavenly kingdom is taken entirely from the scenery and ritual of the temple; that when the worshippers had left, and the sacrifices had been offered, and only a few of the most devout remained for prayer and vigil, Isaiah, lingering with the few, unsatisfied and perplexed, beheld this vision, and consecrated himself to his prophetic activity: In this view the picture presented of the celestial world is the inner features and ritual of the temple idealised and expanded. Dr. Cheyne casts doubt upon this interpretation, and leans to the opinion that not the temple but the palace is the point from which the prophet’ s inspired imagination takes its departure. The figures, the messengers, and the throne are from the court, not from the temple. It is impossible wholly to accept either of these views. There is no reason why we should not blend both in our exposition of Isaiah’ s vision. There are certainly some references to the temple in the altar, the purging away of sin, and the smoke-filled house. In the throne and the train filling the temple there are suggestions of the court. As Isaiah was an attendant on both, it is probable that the ideas under which he sets forth the kingship of Christ, as priestly and yet regal, were drawn from his own observation of the centres of government and worship in his own country. Ideas of righteousness, and sympathy, and sacrifice unite in his conception of the invisible kingdom. (J. Matthews.)Isaiah’ s vision of God Some of you may have been watching a near and beautiful landscape in the land of mountains and eternal snows, till you have been exhausted by its very richness, and till the distant hills which bounded it have seemed, you knew not why, to limit and contract the view; and then a veil has been withdrawn, and new hills, not looking as if they belonged to this earth, yet giving another character to all that does belong to it, have unfolded them selves before you. This is a very imperfect likeness of that revelation which must have been made to the inner eye of the prophet, when he saw another throne than the throne of the house of David, another King than Uzziah or Jotham, another train than that of priests or minstrels in the temple, other winged forms than those golden ones which overshadowed the mercy seat. (F. D. Maurice, M. A.)The inaugural vision of Isaiah The inaugural vision of Isaiah contains in brief an outline of his prophetic teaching. The passage besides this has a singular psychological and religious interest of a kind personal to the prophet. It consists of a series of steps, each one of which naturally follows upon the other. I. There is first A VISION OF THE LORD, THE KING, surprising and majestic, with a singular world of beings and activities around Him (cars. 1-4). II. THIS VISION OF JEHOVAH REACTS UPON THE MIND OF THE PROPHET and makes him think of himself in relation to this great King, the Holy One, whom he had seen; and one thought succeeds another, so that in a moment he lives a history (vats. 5-7). III. Having passed through this history, the beginning of which was terror, but the end peace, AN NEW FILLED HIS MIND, as if the world, which was all disorder and confusion before, and filled with a conflict of tendencies and possibilities, had suddenly, in the light felling on it from the great King whom he had seen, become clear and the meaning of it plain, and also what was his own place in it; and this was accompanied with an irresistible impulse to take his place. This is expressed by saying that he heard the voice of the great Sovereign who had been revealed to him proclaiming that He had need of one to send, to which he replied that he would go. IV. Finally, there comes THE SERVICE WHICH HE HAS TO PERFORM, which is no other than just to take his place in the midst of that world, the meaning of which his vision of the Sovereign Lord had made clear to him, and state this meaning to men, to hold the mirror up to his time and declare to it its condition sad its tendencies, and what in the hand of the great King, God over all, its issue and the issue of all must be (verses 8-13). (A. B.Davidson, D. D.)Isaiah’ s vision I. We have to contemplate A OF GOD. II. WHAT WAS ITS EFFECT ON THE PROPHET? III. THE MEANS BY WHICH THE PROPHET WAS . IV. THE CALL OF THE PROPHET. V. HIS . (T. Allen, D. D.)Realising God A man’ s realisation of the character of God does not depend altogether on his religious experience; it depends also on original capacity, temperament, and on suitable physiological conditions both of body and of mind. (T. Allen, D. D.)An anticipation of the Incarnation This vision was an anticipation of the Incarnation of our Lord. St. John tells us distinctly that the glory which the prophet saw was the glory of the Redeemer. “ No man hath seen God at any time.” God is a spiritual being, and therefore He does not appeal to sense. He reveals Himself to faith, to conscience, and to love. But sense is an avenue through which the soul is reached and influenced, and Almighty God, in revealing Himself to man, has not overlooked this constitutional fact. The Incarnation was a tribute of respect paid to our senses. What the prophet saw only in symbol we realise in the form of a glorious historic Presence. (T. Allen, D. D.)Vision and service I. THE OF THE DEAD FROM EARTH BRINGS US FACE TO FACE WITH THE ETERNAL KINGDOM. We cannot look upon any visible forms, and note their changefulness and yet the permanence of the ideas they illustrate, and not infer the existence of the world of thought, and law, and reality from which they proceed. But while all life is based on the unseen, and witnesses to its presence ever, the procession of the generations of men on the earth more powerfully still reveals the higher kingdom. Think of the populations that have lived in this planet, and received their first schooling and drill here. After a brief preparation and teaching in the knowledge of the laws and facts of existence, they depart. The procession into the pale kingdoms is endless and crowded. The majority the other side becomes greater each day. It is impossible to think of that succession and deny the celestial world. The law of continuity suggests a life beyond. The principle which secures the completion of all great work rightly begun, speaks of it. Our sense of the justice at the heart of things assures us of a realm of compensation for unrequited labour and unexplained sorrow. The union with God that begins here must be consummated elsewhere. Such facts as these would be forced upon the thought of Isaiah as all Israel mourned the death of their leader and king. II. THE SUPREME FACT OF THE KINGDOM IS THE OF CHRIST. After John’ s statement (John 12:41) that Isaiah saw His glory, and spake Of Him, there can be no question with any Christian mind as to the Messianic reference of the manifestation. Isaiah may not have known of the sacrifice and resurrection by which that throne was gained, but the general outlines of the mediatorial kingdom are fully recognised here. “ I saw the Lord, high and lifted up.” All else in heaven was subordinated to that central fact. 1. The supremacy of our Lord’ s rule over heaven and earth, over angels, monarchs, events, the great and the little, the present and the future. 2. The absorbing attraction of that rule. For as prophet, and angels, and men, discern the glory of His love, and mercy, and power, they are constrained to praise. 3. The perfect serenity and sufficiency of His rule are indicated here. Beneath is storm and tumult. He sits above the flood. 4. The universality of His rule is clear. His train fills the temple. Those who went before, and those who came after, cried Hosanna! 5. The design of Christ’ s rule on earth is to bestow pardon and purity. 6. The King who confers cleansing and peace demands service. 7. He does not hesitate to discipline His unfaithful servants until their loyalty is assured. III. THE EFFECT OF THE VISION OF CHRIST’ S ON THE . 1. A deep sense of personal sinfulness. 2. A deep sense of insufficiency for the work of God. 3. The vision that humbles, clothes with power, fills with certitude, directs our steps, inspires with invincible heroism, and makes us partakers of its glory and its resources. (J. Matthews.)The vision of God No truth is more familiar than that God cannot be seen by mortal eye. But God has so manifested Himself that we may say, without impropriety or mistake, that we have seen Him. He did so-- I. , BEFORE THE ERA. We have illustrations of this in the case of the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-22), of Moses on the mount of God (Exodus 34:1-35), of Micaiah, the Hebrew prophet (1 Kings 22:1-53), and in that before us in the text. In such experiences, each one of which may have been unlike the others, a very special privilege was granted to these men; so special and peculiar that they felt, and had a right to feel, that they stood in the very near presence of the High and Holy One Himself. II. , IN THE TEMPLE. The religion of the people of Israel differed from that of the surrounding nations in that there was not to be found in their sacred places any image or statue or visible representation of God. If any such were found it was a marked violation of law, a distinct apostasy. Only one visible indication of the Divine presence was permitted, and that was as immaterial as it could be, and was only beheld by one man once in the year--the Shechinah in the Holy of holies. Once a year the high priest might use the words of our text; for when he entered within the veil, on the great day of atonement, he stood in the presence of manifested Deity. III. ONCE FOR ALL IN THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. All previous historical manifestations were lost in the presence of the Son of God. He manifested the Divine so that those who saw Him did in truth see God. They saw nothing less than-- 1. Divine power, including control over the body and the spirit of man, over the elements of nature, over disease and death. 2. Divine wisdom, reaching to all those truths that concern the nature and will of God, and also the character, life, and destiny of man. 3. Divine purity, shown in an absolutely blameless life. 4. Divine love, shining forth in tender, practical sympathy with men in all their sufferings and sorrows; showing itself in compassion for men in their spiritual destitution (Mark 6:34); culminating in the agony of the garden and the death of the Cross. Well might the Master say that His disciples were privileged beyond kings and prophets, for as they walked with Him they “ saw the Lord.” Conclusion--We can see God in nature, in history, in the outworkings of His providence, in the human conscience and human spirit. But the way in which to seek His face is by acquainting ourselves with, and uniting ourselves to, Jesus Christ, His Son. (W. Clarkson B. A.)The empty throne filled I. THE VISION ITSELF. The centre truth is that the Lord of hosts is the King--the King of Israel II. THE OF LOSS AND SORROW IN THE VISION. If the throne of Israel had not been empty, the prophet would not have seen the throned God in the heavens. And so it “ is with all our losses, with all our sorrows, with all our disappointments, with all our pains; they have a mission to reveal to us the throned God. III. THE TEXT THE THAT IS GIVEN FOR ALL LOSSES. The one God will become everything and anything that every man, and each man, requires. He shapes Himself according to our need. The water of life does not disdain to take the form imposed upon it by the vessel into which it is poured. The Jews used to say that the manna in the wilderness tasted to each man as each man desired, of dainties or of sorrows. And the God who comes to us all, comes to us each in the shape that we need; just as He came to Isaiah in the manifestation of His kingly power, because the throne of Judah was vacated. So when our hearts are sore with loss the New Testament manifestation of the King, even Jesus Christ, comes to us and says, “ the same is my mother and sister and brother,” and his sweet love compensates for the love that can die, and that lass died. When losses come to us He draws near, as durable riches and righteousness. In all our pains He is our anodyne, and in an our griefs He brings the comfort; He is all in all, and each withdrawn gift is compensated, or will be compensated, to each in Him. So let us learn God’ s purpose in emptying heart and chairs and homes. He empties that He may fill them with Himself. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The rectal and mediatorial dominion of God I. OF THIS . 1. The law of belief, or what we may otherwise phrase, the law of intellectual humility. Revelation was never intended to be a revelation to our comprehension or to our reason. The revelation of the Bible is made to faith. 2. The law of evangelical faith. 3. The law of holiness. You will find a great difference between the nature of the obedience which God in the Gospel requires and that which earthly governments require. (1) Earthly governments take cognizance of the outward act, but none at all of the motives, the affections, or the tempers: but God in the Gospel government controls these. (2) Earthly governments are usually backward in interfering with the private arrangements of commercial and domestic life, and with the personal property of their subjects. But Christianity puts everything under law. Its sway is universal, all-pervading, absolute. (3) Earthly governments, earthly systems of ethics, either fail to inculcate, or are at positive variance with, much of the more elevated and spiritual morality of the Bible. The great peculiarity of the government of Jehovah the Saviour in this respect is, that He requires men to be holy and not merely to be moral. 4. The law of disciplinary suffering. II. OF THIS . 1. It is a spiritual government. 2. It us a mediatorial government--a government, therefore, of mercy. 3. The supremacy of this dominion might be adverted to. It is a “ throne high and lifted up” above all the thrones and dynasties of the earth. Let this comfort the people of God. 4. It is eternal. (W. M. Bunting.)The dead king; the living God Israel’ s king dies, but Israel’ s God still lives. From the mortality of great and good men we should take occasion, with the eye of faith, to look up to “ the King eternal, immortal, invisible.” (M. Henry.)Government human and Divine I. THE CHANGE IN CIVIL SOCIETY TAKE PLACE UNDER THE AND OF THE OF GOD. II. THE OF THE DIVINE AFFORDS A TO THE FADING OF EARTHLY . III. THE KINGDOM IN THE HANDS OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST WITH , AND EVEN BY MEANS OF, THESE VARIOUS CHANGES. (R. Winter, D. D.)Seeing God Isaiah saw God: do men see Him today? Was He any nearer to Jerusalem than He is to London and New York? Did that old Hebrew possess faculties different from ours? 1. God can be seen and known. He has been seen and known. Moses, Isaiah, Elijah, Paul, John--all saw Him. He has been seen and known in all lands and among all religions. 2. What do we mean by seeing and knowing God? A spirit cannot be seen with physical eyes. We mean that we are so convinced of the nearness and reality of God that our thinking and living are all determined by that conviction--so sure of Him that we live as if we saw Him by physical sight. 3. But have not men seen their own imaginings, and thought that those were God! Is not a perfect God the noblest work of man! It has not been proved that any have actually known God. It would, in the nature of things, be impossible to demonstrate that to anyone who did not himself possess the same knowledge; but it has been proved that these whom the world always heeds when they speak concerning other things have believed that they had this knowledge; and that faith has been the inspiration of dauntless heroism, most patient endurance, and most sacrificing service. 4. How is God known! Many answers are given. Probably all are partially correct. As each individual sees natural objects from his own standpoint, so must he approach the highest knowledge. We are not asking whether men have known about God, but whether they have known Him. We know about Caesar, but we do not know him; we about the Mikado of Japan, but we do not know him. Many know about God who show no signs of knowing Him. I think that no one has been able to tell how this knowledge is attained: Some say, “ We are conscious of Him” ; others, “ We see Him with the inner eye” ; others, “ Reason leads to Him” ; and others still, “ He is seen and known in the things which are made.” But after all, the most that any can say is, “ I know Him.” Isaiah said, “ I saw the Lord,” but all is hazy and indistinct when he comes to detail 5. All who have learned to love man in the spirit of Christ never can fail of coming to the knowledge of God, “ for whosoever loveth is born of God and knoweth God.” Love is the new life; and love secures knowledge. 6. When we want to know about God we stand before the majesty of an ocean in a storm, before the terrible splendour of Alpine crests and glaciers, beneath the host of the heavens that in solemn silence thread the mazes of the sky, and say: “ Behold the greatness of God!” We study the movement of history, and see how the dispersion of the Jews sent true spiritual ideas into all lands; how the triumphs of Alexander gave a common language to the world; how the supremacy of Rome made nations one; how the carnival of blood called the “ French Revolution” overthrew more abuses than it worked; how the American Civil War ended in the proclamation of freedom, and we say, God is revealing Himself in history. We read the story of the life and death of Jesus, and say, if that is a revelation of God, then He is the One for whom our souls long. But all these revelations may be accepted without personal knowledge. The Father, who is a Spirit, comes to us in spirit; speaks in a still voice in the chambers of memory, conscience, aspiration; and we know Him and yet may not be able to explain “ that knowledge to those who do not have it. I know my Father; He knows His child.” That is the highest human experience. That is eternal life. 7. If eternal life is not a question of dates, of the succession of months and years, but knowing God, then no question is more imperative than, “ Is it possible for me to know Him?” It is a great thing to claim that knowledge. It should never be done irreverently or lightly, but always humbly and with great joy. The mission of the pulpit and the Church is primarily to help men to know God. How, then, may we know Him? However many answers are possible, only one need be given. All who follow Jesus Christ are sure, sooner or later, to realise that, like Him, they, too, are sons of God. (Amory H. Bradford, D. D.)Removing the veil 1. A king must die! There almost seems to be something incongruous in the very phrase. The very word “ king” means power. The king is the man who can--the man who is possessed of ability, dominions, sovereignty; and the shock is almost violent when we are told that the range of kingship is shaped and determined by death. How the one word suffices for all sorts and conditions of men! The registrar deals with us very summarily! We look through his books. His vocabulary is very limited. He has two words, “ born” and “ died,” and between the two he Can fit in all mankind; there is no exception to disturb his little printed form; we all take our place in it, prince and peasant, emperor and slave. And all this irrespective of character. 2. As kings went in those days, Uzziah had proved himself an admirable king, a wise ruler, a good man. He was distinctly a progressive man, a man of action and enterprise. His energies were not absorbed in merely foreign affairs, nor shaped by the lust of mere dominion. He proceeded upon the principle that a successful foreign policy must be based upon a wise domestic policy; that an efficient and stable rulership must begin at home. I like the way in which the chronicler sums up the king’ s motives and gives us the very spirit of his home policy, “ he loved husbandry?” “ He loved husbandry,” and therefore you find him hedging his people about with security as they go about their daily life. He “ digged many wells,” he attended to the requirements of irrigation, he laid the hand of protection and favour upon husbandmen and vine dressers, and in every way he showed that he regarded agriculture as the fundamental and primary pursuit of national life. Upon that home policy he built his foreign policy. If you have peace, security, and contentment at the centre it is easier to extend and widen the bounds of your circumference; and with order and prosperity at home, Uzziah was able to enlarge the borders of his empire. He could raise from his devoted people an army of mighty power. The limits of his kingdom were being continually expanded. “ His name spread far abroad. He was marvellously helped, till he was strong.” Such was the nation’ s king; loved by all his people, feared by all his foes. Is it, then, any wonder that King Uzziah--skilled organiser in home affairs, subtle strategist in foreign affairs--became the pillar of the nation’ s hopes, the repository of her trust, the ultimate security of her prosperity and permanence? 3. Now, there is a strange tendency in human nature to deify any person who gives evidence of possessing any kind of extraordinary power. We place them on the heart’ s throne--the throne on which are centred the soul’ s hopes and which carries with it the ultimate sovereignty and apportionment of life. Extraordinary power of any kind appeals to the godlike within us, and upon the object evincing the extraordinary power we too often fix our trust. Watch the principle in the narrative before us. Here is Isaiah. Before his call and consecration he had lived on the political plane of life. His thought was ever moving among the forces of diplomacy and statecraft. How intensely absorbed he was in the game of national politics! The national problem was to Isaiah a political problem. The ultimate foundation of national prosperity was stable government. The wise handling of political forces was the one essential for the continuity and grandeur of the nation’ s life. That was the plane of thought and life on which Isaiah moved, and on that plane he must find his heroes. He found the hero in Uzziah. What then? He had won Isaiah’ s admiration. Next, he won his confidence, next his love, next his devotion; then Uzziah became Isaiah’ s god! Uzziah filled the whole of Isaiah’ s vision. How now did Isaiah’ s reasoning run? Thus--“ What will become of the world when Uzziah dies? When the master of statecraft is gone, in whose hands will the rulership rest? When the political nave is removed, will not all the spokes of the national wheel be thrown into the direst confusion?” That was Isaiah’ s fear, begotten by his hero worship. Well, Uzziah died. What then! Says Isaiah, “ In the year that King Uzziah died” --what?--“ All my worst fears were abundantly realised” ? No, no! “ In the year that King Uzziah died I had my eyes opened; I saw there was a greater, kingdom with a greater King--I saw the Lord.” The hero died to reveal the hero’ s God. What, then, did the revelation do for Isaiah? It gave him an enlarged conception of all things. It gave him a new centre for his thoughts and life. It taught him this, that the ultimate security for all national greatness is not kings and crowns but God. It taught him this, that big armies, and walled cities, and quiet husbandry, and subtle diplomacy, and complex civilisations am not the fundamental forces on which mankind rests. The eternal centre of all true life, the centre which time cannot weaken and which death cannot corrupt, is not diplomacy, but holiness--not Uzziah, but the Lord. The earthly king had come between Isaiah and his God, and it was only when the earthly king was taken away that Isaiah saw the King of kings. “ I saw the Lord high and lifted up” --a limited interest replaced by a larger one, a low standard supplanted by a loftier one, a loom monarch stepping aside to reveal the universal King. 4. This teaching has a most pertinent application to the life of today. Which is the most prominent in English national life today--King Uzziah or King Jesus, the representative of diplomacy or the representative of holiness? Which are we most concerned about--the science of politics or the science of holy living? What are the forces on which we are chiefly depending for the continuity of our national supremacy? The eternal forces are not material, but spiritual, proceeding not from the earth, but coming down from heaven. Material forces must be kept secondary, because they are transient; spiritual forces must be primary, because they are eternal. What is the conclusion of the whole matter? Don’ t let us lay the stress and emphasis of life upon secondary things--not upon Uzziah, but upon the Lord. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)The “ Uzziahs” of history and the Lord History tells us the stories of nations who have looked no further than King Uzziah, and who have been accustomed to use the temporal and earthly forces which Uzziah represents. And how has it fared with them? Ancient Phoenicia looked no further than King Uzziah. She built her national temple upon the foundation of commerce, and the only binding force among her people was the relationships of trade. Ancient Greece looked no further than King Uzziah. She raised a palatial national structure upon the foundation of literature and art, and the structure was exceeding beautiful, the wonder and admiration of all time. Ancient Rome looked no further than King Uzziah. She raised an apparently solid masonry, compact and massive, upon a political foundation, and all the stones in the building were clamped together by a tie of patriotism, such as the world has elsewhere never known. Now what has become of them--Phoenicia, Greece, and Rome! How has it fared with the nations so constituted, the houses so built? This is the record. They stood for a time, proud, august, radiant with imperial splendour, fair with the smile of fortune, and reflecting the sunny light of the prosperous day. But “ the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon” those nations, and they fell, and great was the fall of them! Surely that is a lesson for today, that national foundations must not be laid by Uzziah but by the Lord. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)The material fleeting: the spiritual enduring I spent a little time in the old castle at Stifling, and in one of the rooms of the tower were two curiosities which riveted my attention. In one corner of the room was an old time worn pulpit. It was John Knox’ s pulpit, the pulpit from which he used to proclaim so faithfully the message of the King: In the opposite corner were a few long spears, much corrupted by rust, found on the field of Banncokburn, which lies just beyond the castle walls. John Knox’ s pulpit on the one hand, the spears of Bannockburn on the other! One the type of material forces, forces of earth and time; the other the type of spiritual forces, forces of eternity and heaven. The spears, representative of King Uzziah; the pulpit, representative of the Lord. Which symbolises the eternal? The force and influence which radiated from that pulpit will enrich and fashion Scottish character when Bannockburn has become an uninfluential memory, standing, vague and indefinite, on the horizon of a far distant time. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)Gain through loss God puts out our little light that we may see Him the better. When you are looking out of the window at night, gazing towards the sky, you will see the stare more clearly if you put out your gaslight. That is what God has to do for us. He has to put out the secondary lights in order that we may see the eternal light. Uzziah has to die, in order that we may see it is God who lives. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)The compensations of life I know a little cottage which is surrounded by great and stately trees, clothed with dense and massy foliage. In the summer days, and through all the sunny season, it just nestles in the circle of green, and has no vision of the world beyond. But the winter comes, so cold and keen. It brings its sharp knife of frost, cuts off the leaves, until they fall trembling to the ground. There is nothing left but the bare framework on which summer hung her beauteous growths. Poor little cottage, with the foliage all gone! But is there no compensation? Yes, yea Standing in the cottage in the winter time and looking out of the window, you can see a mansion, which has come into view through the openings left by the fallen leaves. The winter brought the vision of the mansion! My brother, you were surrounded by the summer green of prosperity. It had become your king. There your vision ended. But the Lord wished to give your thought a further reach. He wanted your soul to see “ the mansion which the Father hath prepared” for them that love Him. So He took away your little king. He sent the winter and stripped your trees; and “ in the year that the little king died you saw the Lord.” (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)Isaiah’ s call I. THE MEDIUM THROUGH WHICH IT WAS GIVEN A VISION. Why was it recorded? Not to indulge the conceit of the prophet, nor even chiefly to certify him to the Jews; but because of the messages to them which it so vividly conveys, and the representative interest of the experience to all spiritual minds. II. THE STATE OF MIND THE VISION . (verse 5.) Fear, dejection, self-humiliation. Both personally and as representative of the Jewish nation he was convicted of sin is the invariable result of close intercourse with God. Our inborn sin is brought to light and rebuked. And the more Christlike we are the more will our brothers’ sin likewise weigh upon our hearts. It is in this very experience that our preparation for service begins. III. HOW THIS WAS DEALT WITH. The fact of sinfulness is not denied by Him to whom it is confessed. It is tacitly confirmed by what takes place. Yet how tender and considerate is the silence of the Judge of all the earth! At once He institutes and sets in operation a mediatorial agency. Such guilt and impurity no water can cleanse: fire is needed, fire from the Consuming Fire. IV. THE CALL. I. Couched first in a universal question,--“ Whom shall I send?” etc. 2. After the prophet’ s response the call is more direct and personal: “ Go, and tell this people,” etc the more general call to us consists, as it did to Isaiah, in the sense of our neighbours’ need and our own duty with regard to supplying it. But if a Christian It in earnest, and willing to surrender himself to the commandment of his Lord, more specific direction will not be wanting. V. THE . (verse 8) “ Then said I, Here am I; send me.” A sacrifice and a petition. (Homiletic Magazine.)Isaiah’ s vision I. THE MAJESTY OF GOD. 1. His Supreme authority. “ Sitting upon a throne, high and lifted ups” He is the high and lofty One. He ruleth over all, matter and mind, the evil and the Good. 2. His magnificent upset. “ His train filled the temple.” This is an allusion to the flowing robes of Oriental monarchs, which signalise their stately grandeur, What is the costume of the Infinite? “ Thou clothest Thyself with light as with a garment.” The flowing robes of His majesty filled the temple of immensity. 3. His illustrious attendants. “ Above it stood the seraphim.” Eastern monarchs had numerous princes and nobles as their attendants; but these fiery ones are the ministers of the eternal King. 4. His absolute holiness. “ One cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.” The repetition indicates the intensity of their conviction. II. THE LOFTY OF . Their services are-- 1. Reverential. 2. Alert. They do not move with a tardy reluctance in the service of their Lord; but with wings expanded they stand ever ready to execute His behest. 3. Individual. “ One cried unto another.” Each was intensely alive to his own responsibility and duty. 4. Harmonious. After the separate cries there was a blending of all in one grand chorus, “ The whole earth is full of His glory.” 5. Enthusiastic. As the peal of a majestic organ sometimes shakes the cathedral, the voice of one worshipper in heaven is represented as moving the posts of the door. The grand solo sends a tremor through the temple. III. THE AMAZING OF THE HUMAN SOUL. Isaiah saw all this, not with the outward eye, but with the eye of his mind. Unlike all other creatures on this earth, man has a capacity to see God. He can see God enthroned in the universe. 1. Sin has injured this capacity. Whilst all men have the power to see God, few men do. 2. The Gospel restores this capacity. It opens the spiritual eye, sweeps away the carnal atmosphere, and shows God filling the temple. (Homilist.)The Trinity in unity (for Trinity Sunday):-- I. AS TO THE OF BELIEF IN THE . The doctrine of the Trinity has always been one of those things, to use the language of St. Luke, which have been most surely believed among us. II. THE PROOF OF THE . It underlies the whole Bible, and is inextricably interwoven with its fabric and its structure. III. THE NATURE OF THIS . We grant at once that it is mysterious, and that it is inexplicable. We walk by faith, not by sight. This great doctrine in its inner being is hidden from us; but it presents a countenance to us full of beauty and loveliness, the features of which are discerned by the eye of faith. It is a golden casket, containing a most precious jewel; locked, if you like, which we cannot open, but enriching us nevertheless. It is a song in a strange language, the meaning of it in a great degree unintelligible, but the melody most exquisite. Practical application of the doctrine-- 1. It is bound up with our duty to God. We have duties to pay to each of the three Persons if we would perfectly know our glorious God, if we would worthily magnify His holy name. 2. It is bound up with our hope of salvation. 3. It is bound up with the fulness of Gospel blessings. Take the apostolic benediction; what more can you conceive of spiritual life and blessing than is contained within that? (R. W. Forrest, M. A.)The command and encouragement to communicate the Gospel The communication of the will of God to others is connected with the manifestation of the excellency of all the perfections of the Deity, but appears in the passage before us in more especial relation to the glory of the Divine holiness. I. THE WHICH GOD HAS MADE TO HIS HIS SUPREME AND PERFECT . The great lesson which the vision taught was the holiness of Jehovah, and that by the manifestation of this the whole earth was to be filled with His glory. This, if not the source and end, has always formed a part, and has often been preeminent in the manifestations God has made to His intelligent creatures. Although inseparably blended with the infinite benevolence and perfect rectitude, we find this perfection more frequently associated with the name, and employed to qualify the attributes of Jehovah, than any other. The arm of the Lord, the emblem of His power, is called His holy arm; His eyes, emblems of omniscience, the eyes of His holiness; His presence, Holy of holies; His majesty, the throne of His holiness; His name, the holy name; Himself, the Holy One. This is equally applicable to the Father, Holy Father,--the Son, Holy Child,--the Spirit, Holy Ghost. All the manifestations God has ever made of Himself, so far as our limited and imperfect knowledge extends, have been those of His holiness. He is holy in all His works. It was because they beheld a new impress of the moral image of Jehovah that the sons of God shouted together for joy. The Divine holiness was also exhibited, under a new aspect, to all orders intelligent creation, in the contrast between the state of the first human pair and that of fallen spirits. All the manifestations which, since the fall the Divine Being has condescended to make to our race, either of His dominion over the affairs of men, the intimations of His will, or the operations of His grace and Spirit on the soul, have been revelations of the Divine holiness. In the human nature of Christ, the glory of Divine holiness was enshrined in a temple more pure than that in which the Shekinah had appeared; here was an altar that sanctified both the giver and the gift; a sacrifice in which Omniscience saw no imperfection; a Priest who needed not to offer sacrifice for His own sins, for He was holy, harmless, and undefiled. The purity of God had been shown in the creation; in the consequences of the fall: the destruction of the old world; and the giving of the law: but on Calvary, though softened by the veil of humanity through which it was revealed, it beamed forth with an intensity and effulgence which rendered it at once the most stupendous and sublime display of the Divine equity and holiness that ever has, or, we have reason to believe, ever will take place. The design of the sacrifice displays more vividly this glorious perfection. It was not simply to redeem from sin, but to redeem to holiness. The dispensation which terminated with the return of the Redeemer to the bosom of the Father, has been followed by another, less imposing, but equally clear and more extensive, manifestation of the Divine holiness, the descent of the Holy Spirit. The volume of inspiration is a revelation of the Divine holiness; all its precepts and promises are holy. With what superiority in moral excellency does this view of the connection between the diffusion of the Gospel and the glorious holiness of Jehovah invest this sacred cause; what impressive instruction does it impart to all engaged in its varied departments, at home or abroad; and how imperative its requirement, that, on every order of agency in its support, direction, and application, holiness unto the Lord should ever be distinctly inscribed! II. THE TO OTHERS OF THE WHICH GOD HAS MADE, IS BY DIVINE . Whatever motives may engage the people of God to communicate to others what He has revealed to them, the Divine command constitutes the foundation, augments the force of every other, and must give vitality and efficiency to all This commission has been either special or ordinary; but the authority has been the same in all, and the obligation equal. III. OF THE DIVINE WILL, AND OF THE DIVINE MERCY, DEMAND AND PROMPT AND . This is strongly and beautifully shown in the vision of the prophet. Many of the communications of the Divine will appear to have been preceded by peculiar manifestations of the Divine glory. Thus Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel; the disciples, after the resurrection, and on the mountain in Galilee; Saul, on his way to Damascus; and the beloved disciple in Patmos, were favoured. This was probably designed to strengthen their minds with vivid and solemn impressions of the greatness and majesty of that God whose message they were to declare, and to encourage their fidelity. It is a humiliating fact, that, with authority equally distinct, motives more numerous and strong, and facilities greater than at any former time, discouragements and difficulties still keep many at home, who ought to be on the broad plains of moral death, pointing the nations to “ the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world.” These difficulties principally arise from the views which are taken of the nature of the work and the qualifications it requires. 1. Physical unfitness. 2. Deficiency of natural or acquired abilities. 3. Moral unfitness. 4. Attachment to home, and the privations and perils of the work. 5. The magnitude and importance of the work. Let us glance at the encouragements to obedience. 1. The dominion and omnipotence of the Redeemer. 2. The grateful import of the message. 3. The measure of success, though not the rule of duty, is cheering. 4. The spirit of the times and the aspect of the world. (W. Ellis.)The idea of God I. ISAIAH’ S VISION OF GOD. This was, in all probability, the greatest incident in his whole life, and it left an indelible mark on his thinking, lust as the thinking of St. Paul, and, in fact, his whole activity, sprang out of what happened to him on the way to Damascus. That day he saw God. That is his own account of the matter. Now, as he prophesies through three reigns after the death of Uzziah, Jotham’ s, Ahaz’ s, and Hezekiah’ s, and probably lived sixty years after this date, he must at the time have been a very young man, and I am strongly inclined to think that this was not only the commencement of his activity as a prophet, but the beginning of his own religious life. It was what, in modern language, would be called his conversion. He says that he “ saw the Lord,” and what better account could anyone give of the crisis by which real religion commences? Before this, Isaiah had heard plenty about God, because he seems to have been the son of a wealthy family living in Jerusalem; but, as another eminent Old Testament writer indicates, there is a vast difference between hearing about God and seeing Him. “ I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye sooth Thee.” It is really just the transition from the religion of tradition to the religion of experience. Religion comes to us all first as a tradition. It is the tradition of our home, the tradition of our Church, the tradition of our country, and so on; but as long as it is merely that, it is vague, unreal, and remote. But some day this God of whom we have heard is realised by us to be here; and this Christ, of whom we have heard that He has saved others, comes seeking for entrance into our own soul; and if we let Him in, our religion passes into an entirely new stage. Now, this was what happened to Isaiah. II. THE EFFECT OF THE VISION ON HIS WORK. One of the seraphim cried to another, and said, “ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.” That is to say, two attributes of God overawed and overwhelmed these supernal beings--His holiness and His omnipotence. The one of these is the inner glory of God; the other is the outer glory. He is holy, holy, holy inwardly--that is perfectly, unspeakably, uncompromisingly holy; and then outwardly, the whole earth is full of His glory; or rather, to put it quite literally, the fulness of the universe--that is to say, all the variety of suns and stars, of heaven and earth, of land and sea--all that is His glory, or the garment by which He is made visible. We are wont in secular things to say that the child is father of the man, and if any man does anything very remarkable in the world it will usually be found that he has seen by the instinct of genius very early what he was intended to do. And this is true of Isaiah in the spiritual sphere. What he saw that day in a moment it took a whole lifetime to write out. Manifold as is the truth in the Book of Isaiah, it may all be deduced from these two things--the holiness of God and the omnipotence of God. The one half of his prophecies may be summed up in this word which I borrow from one part of his writings: “ Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” The book opens with an extraordinary description of the sins of the nation, and this theme occurs all through. And what is all that but just an echo of holy, holy, holy? If God is what the seraphim said that day He was, then sin must be such as Isaiah represents it to be. Then, the other great note of his writings is that which is expressed in the first verse of the opening of the second part of the book: “ Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God.” Isaiah is among all the prophets the prophet of comfort. He was indeed a prophet of calamity, and perhaps in no other book of the Old Testament do we see so clearly as in his the cruel and the irresistible might of the great world monarchs by which the people of that age were surrounded; but mighty as these were, a Mightier was known to Isaiah; One to whom they were just like the dust; One that could call them like dogs to His feet, and wield them as the woodman in the woods wields his axe; and therefore those people whose God is the Lord do not need to fear these great monarchs; let them only trust and hope. That was the Gospel of Isaiah, and who does not see that it is merely an echo of what he heard the seraphim say: “ The whole earth is full of His glory.” For these two ideas about God, Isaiah has two names that recur all through his writings. To denote the holiness of God, he calls Him the “ Holy One of Israel” ; and to denote His omnipotence he calls Him the “ Lord of hosts.” III. THE EFFECT OF THE VISION ON HIMSELF. The revelation made to him that day about God, namely, that He is the Holy One, had an immediate and transforming effect on himself. My idea is that up to this time Isaiah was a man of the world, perhaps indulging in the vices which the young nobility of Jerusalem of that day were famous for; but now, in a moment, in the light of God, he sees the error of his ways and the putridity of his heart, and hence there bursts from him the exclamation: “ Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” You see he felt his sin chiefly on his lips--i.e., it was sins of speech he became conscious of. I should think that few will doubt that when he says, “ I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips,” he means to refer to a prevalence of profanity amongst his companions. Well, is it not the most natural explanation to believe that he had in his previous life given way to that sin, and now that is the sin that burns in on his conscience? But he learned at this point also something very precious about the holy God. As soon as he had confessed his sin, one of the seraphim, doubtless obeying a secret hint from Jehovah, flew to the altar, and, seizing the tongs, lifted from the altar a hot stone, and laid it on the lips of the prophet--on the place where his sin was. The meaning was that his sin was burned away. And this became to Isaiah the cause of one of the greatest features of his work as a prophet in his subsequent life. There is no writer in the Bible that in language more tender and convincing speaks about God’ s willingness to forgive. And where did Isaiah learn that! He learnt it that day when the seraph laid the burning stone upon his own lips and burned his sin away. The other half of the revelation, the omnipotence of God, had its immediate practical effect also. But it was the Maker of Isaiah that was playing on his mind on this occasion for His own purpose. He was playing as an artist might play on an exquisite instrument, and in point of fact the mind of Isaiah was one of the most exquisite instruments that have ever existed in this world. There has hardly ever been a mind in this world, in its native structure, so perfect, and the Maker of it was now touching it to splendid issue. He was needing a messenger to that generation, and He had fixed on Isaiah to be His messenger, and He was making him ready. Isaiah had just realised that God was the Omnipotent, to whom all creatures and he himself belonged, and now that the relief and joy of forgiveness were thrilling through him, he realised in a still higher sense he belonged absolutely to the God who had pardoned. (James Stalker, D. D.)Isaiah’ s vision in the temple God often prepares His servants for special work by special grace. I. The views with which this vision furnishes us concerning GOD. 1. His sovereignty. 2. His holiness. 3. His mercy. II. The views with which this vision furnishes us concerning ANGELS. 1. Their humility. 2. Their obedience. 3. Their devotion. III. The views with which this vision furnishes us respecting MAN. 1. His sinful condition. 2. His gracious recovery. 3. His exalted calling. (G. T. Perks, D. D.)Preparation for the Lord’ s work I. SPECIAL IS FOR A SPECIAL WORK OF GRACE, WHETHER IT BE IN THE HEART, OR IN THE CHURCH. II. THE BLESSED RESULTS OF THE WORK WILL BE LARGELY TO THE AND DEGREE OF THE . (J. Sherwood.)The three-fold vision I. A VISION OF GOD. This can only come to us in our present state indirectly, parabolically, or as here, symbolically. It will include a conception of God’ s-- 1. Authority: “ a throne high and lifted up.” 2. Glory: “ His train filled the temple.” 3. Holiness: seraphic action and seraphic tones proclaimed Him as the Thrice Holy. II. A vision OF . Just as the prophet came to understand that there was a vast spiritual universe behind and beyond the material, and of which the material was but the hint and type, so must we. He saw in the seraphim a revelation of the existence of spiritual beings. III. A VISION OF SELF. There is a vision of his-- 1. Own individuality. The right use of the pronouns “ I” and “ me,” is a lesson worth learning, he finds. 2. Relationship to others: “ I dwell among a people,” etc. 3. Sinfulness. To this-- (1) The vision of God as holy; (2) The vision of spiritual beings as pure; and (3) The consciousness of his own condition, all contributed. 4. Possible purification. Here we have-- (1) The supernatural means of this purification. “ A seraph.” (2) The connection of these means with sacrifice. “ From off the altar,” etc. 5. Life mission. Here we note-- (1) God’ s care for the world. It is He who cries “ Who will go for us?” (2) The godly man’ s response. It is for him eagerly, obediently, loyally to cry, “ Here am I, send me.” --In Isaiah, in Paul, in every godly man, the vision of God leads to unselfish consecration to the good of others. (U. R. Thomas, B. A.)Isaiah’ s vision I. THE VISION WHICH THE PROPHET BEHELD (verses 1-4). 1. Of the Divine supremacy. 2. Of the Divine attendants. Their name signifies “ fiery ones.” There is a remarkable analogy between what is said here, and what is stated of the mysterious beings in the Book of Revelation--“ They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” The holiness of God is the great burthen of the celestial songs. 3. The vision connects holiness with the Divine greatness--“ The whole earth is full of His glory.” All His creatures speak His praise. 4. A remarkable effect is stated to have been produced by this celebration of the Divine majesty and holiness--“ The posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.” This may be intended to show the terrors of the Divine holiness, when it is kindled and brought into exercise by human transgression. Smoke is connected in Scripture with the tokens of rising wrath in the Almighty. Deuteronomy 29:20; Psalms 18:7-8; Revelation 15:8.) And the sequel informs us that He had determined to “ waste the cities, and depopulate the habitations, until there should be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.” Observe from the vision here granted to the prophet, how necessary it is that those who go out on the work of the Lord should have a vision of His glory and greatness that they may have a proper sense of the work in which they are engaged. How can he speak of the glory of God, who has not seen it? Or how can he speak of the holiness of God, of the terrors of me Almighty, who has himself no true idea of either? II. THE EFFECT WHICH THIS VISION UPON THE PROPHET’ S MIND. “ Then said I, Woe is met for I am undone.” etc. The vision of the glory of God which he beheld, became the means of filling him with reverence, humility, and fear. The prophet was filled with an awful sense of his own depravity in two respects-- 1. As a man. Why are the lips mentioned! Not because the depravity, is merely superficial, or resting on the surface; but because the depravity of the heart rends and rages without, and finds vent in the tongue. The vision of the Divine holiness is the best way of impressing our minds with a sense of our own defects and vileness. 2. As an intended messenger of God. He saw how unworthy he was to receive messages from God and go out to the people. If private Christians should feel their depravity and unworthiness, how much more should those who are ministers. He who has not been humbled under a sense of his own unworthiness before God has no right at all to go out to speak to others. III. THE WHICH WAS MADE IN WITH THE EFFECT . To prevent the prophet from sinking into despair, Divine consolation was given. Notice-- 1. The agent sent. “ One of the seraphim.” These are often employed in messages of goodness to man. Observe his celerity--he “ flew.” These celestial beings take an especial interest in the fulfilment of the designs of God. 2. The assurance communicated. “ Thine iniquity is taken away,” etc. 3. The manner in which the assurance is testified. “ Then flew one,” etc. Fire is symbolical of purity. The Spirit’ s influence is compared to fire. This transaction signifies-- (1) The purity of the ministry. (2) The fervour of the ministry. IV. THE WHICH, IN WITH THIS , WAS AND . “ Whom shall I send,” etc. Observe-- 1. That the messenger who goes out, God sends by His own power. 2. Such messengers are fully devoted to God. They may indeed say “ Corban” with respect to all they have. What an honourable work is this! It is also a work of responsibility. 3. The messenger of God must proceed without debate as to the object of his mission. (J. Parsons.)Isaiah’ s vision The scene is Messianic. Christ is in it. I. WHAT THE PROPHET SAW AND HEARD. There is no special stress to be laid on the term Lord, as used here. It is not the incommunicable name of essence, Jehovah; but the title of dominion, of mastership and ownership. The awe of His appearance is in the circumstances or surroundings. 1. He is upon a throne, high and lifted up. It is the throne of absolute sovereignty; of resistless, questionless, supremacy over all. 2. He is in the temple, where the throne is the mercy seat, between the cherubim, over the ark of the Covenant, which is the symbol and seal of reconciliation and friendly communion. And He is there in such rich grace and glory that the whole temple is filled with the overflowing robe of His redeeming majesty. 3. Above, or upon, that ample overflowing train of so magnificent a raiment stood the seraphim. These are not, as I take it, angelic or super angelic spirits, but the Divine Spirit Himself, the Holy Ghost; appearing thus in the aspect and attitude of gracious ministry. In that attitude He multiplies Himself, as it were, according to the number and exigencies of the churches and the individuals to whom He has to minister. He takes up, moreover, the position of reverential waiting for His errand, and in an agency manifold, but yet one, readiness to fly to its execution. The cherubim are on almost all hands admitted to be representative emblems of redeemed creation, or of the redeemed Church on earth. And I cannot think it wrong to give to the seraphim in this, the only passage in which the name occurs, a somewhat corresponding character as representative emblems of the active heavenly agency in redemption. Nor is the plural form any objection. I find a similar mode of setting forth the multiform and multifarious agency of the Spirit in the opening salutation of the Apocalypse--“ the seven Spirits which are before His throne” Revelation 1:4). It is the Holy Ghost, waiting to go forth from the Father, to apply and carry forward the threefold work of the Son, as Prophet, Priest, and King; and to do so as if He were becoming seven Spirits in accommodation to the seven churches; as if each church was to have Him as its own; yes, and each believer, too. 4. With this great sight, voice and movement are joined. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.” It is not necessarily the voice of the seraphim, though that is the ordinary I would rather take the words abstractly and indefinitely. There is an antiphonic cry or song. It is not said among whom. Of course, the readiest reference is come seraphim. But the text does not require that; it is literally “ this cried to this.” And the attendance of an angelic choir, of all hosts of heaven, may be assumed. Assuredly Christ is here. He is here as revealing the Father. And He is here, not merely outwardly, in outward manifestation; but inwardly, in the deepest inward contact and converse of the soul with God. II. HOW THE PROPHET FELT (verse 5). It is a thorough prostration. III. HOW THE PROPHET’ S CASE IS MET. Lo! an altar; the altar of propitiation, on which lies the ever freshly bleeding victim. One of the seraphim--the Holy Spirit in one of His varied modes of operation--flies, as if in haste, with what is as good as the entire altar and its sacrifice to apply it all effectually. And the effect is as immediate as the touch. Nothing comes in between. There is no waiting, as for a medicine to work its cure; no bargaining, as if a price were to be paid; no process to be gone through; no preparation to be made. IV. THE OFFER AND COMMAND (verses 8, 9). Two things are noticeable here. 1. The grace of God in allowing the prophet, thus exercised, to be a volunteer for service. The Lord might issue a peremptory command. But His servant has the unspeakable privilege of giving himself voluntarily to the Lord who willingly gave Himself for him. 2. The unreservedness of the prophet’ s volunteering. It is no half hearted purpose conditional on circumstances; but the full, single-eyed heartiness of one loving much, because forgiven much, that breaks out in the frank, unqualified, unconditional self-enlistment and self-enrolment in the Lord’ s host, “ Here am I, send me.” Hence, accordingly, the crowning proof and pledge of his conversion, his cleansing, his revival, his commission. He now learns for the first time, after he has committed himself beyond the possibility of honourable retraction or recall, what is the errand darkly indicated by the heavenly voice, Whom shall I send? At first there may be secretly the feeling that any mission on which such a master may send me must have in it the elements of intrinsic glory and assured triumph. But as it turns out it is far otherwise than that. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Isaiah 6:2-3 Above it stood the seraphim The seraphim The first question that arises is, Who, or what were the seraphim? They belong to this vision only, and must stand in vital relation to the condition and circumstances of the seer at the time. It is to be noted, further, that the time was that of the greatest crisis in the life of the greatest prophet of the ancient world. It was the time when he was struggling through the portals of spiritual agony into the temple of prophecy. Such visions have no room for superfluous adornment. If ever a picture had a meaning that is worth knowing, it is surely Isaiah’ s picture of the seraphim. In the whole vision, as I have said, there is no sign of drapery. It throbs in all its parts with the struggles and revelations and hopes of the prophet’ s heart. What, then, was that crisis in the prophet’ s life in the light of which the vision will become interpreted? It is pregnantly indicated in the first verse of this chapter--“ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up.” These words indicate the battleground of Isaiah’ s soul. Around this King Uzziah, who was now dead, unusual hopes had gathered. In him many deemed that the Saviour of Israel had at length appeared. He feared God, and waxed mighty in his kingdom. On every hand he extended the realm of Judah, and made the foemen of God’ s people lick the dust. But when Uzziah waxed mighty, he revealed that he was but flesh. He became arrogant, as though the strength and prowess of his own right hand had accomplished all this, Then, forgetting the fear of the Lord, he presumed to carry the sacred censer into the sanctuary, and to usurp presumptuously the holy functions of God’ s anointed priesthood. Then the mighty hand of Jehovah that had upheld him so long struck him, and he fell. And with his fall a thousand hopes were shattered, and a nation’ s faith fell headlong to the ground. This was a critical moment for the young Isaiah. Now his faith must either die or be reborn with a new and more glorious birth. Now it shall be seen whether everything falls for him with the fall of the great Uzziah. The vision is the answer. When Uzziah died, the young prophet saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. The collapse of the Jewish monarch revealed the King Eternal. Now, beyond Uzziah’ s shattered throne, the young seer beholds the throne of God towering high in eternal majesty and splendour. The part that the seraphim play in this new consciousness is not far to seek. They are obviously an express contradiction of the attitude of Israel as typified and exemplified in the self-confident and presumptuous king. They represent the attitude which Israel ought to learn in contradiction of the attitude in which it was now found. They represent the prophet’ s own new ideal. Henceforth he will strive to make the attitude and the message of the seraphim his own. So the seraphim have probably no actual existence as celestial beings. They are here the symbol of a human ideal, wrought out of the struggling heart of a prophet. From the moment that his lips are touched with the glowing stone from the altar, Isaiah also becomes one of the seraphim. So the picture of the seraphim still, remains as an ideal, not only for the ministers of the Word of God, but also for me whole Church of Jesus Christ. Let us, therefore, consider their attitude and their message. I. In relation to THE OF THE , it seems to me that the name by which the prophet designates them is very significant. These seraphim are simply the “ burning” ones. They stand around (not above) the throne, and partake of its burning glory. In this participation in the fires of God the seer sees the starting point of the new way that he is about to mark for himself and the nation of Israel and the peoples of the earth. He, too, will learn to stand in the presence of the glory of God until every fibre of his life is aflame with the same glory. He will learn to be a seraph, one of God a fiery ministers, one or His glorious ones. For such the true prophet must be. “ He was a burning and a shining light,” said our Saviour concerning John the Baptist. It is not enough to be rejectors of a higher light; we must become burners, and have a veritable fire of our own. There is a vaunted morality which is only a cold reflection of the life of Christ, in which the glory of the Christ is made nothing more than a chiselled model. The Christian man should be all on fire, yea, on fire to his very fingertips. Such must be our response to the glory of God’ s throne. We must receive it into our life until we catch fire, and respond to Heaven with a glory like unto its own. Note, in the next place, the perfect reverence which is here pictured: “ Each had six wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet.” Of six wings, four are utilised for the purpose of doing reverence to the majesty of the eternal God. Here lies the central and most emphatic rebuke of the spirit of the Jewish people. Uzziah had no doubt rightly re]presented the prevailing spirit of the people when he dared presumptuously to invade the sacred offices of the temple of the Lord. Prosperity had made them arrogant, and arrogance had made them irreverent. In their own growing splendour they forget to do due homage to the glory of me Lord. The bulking throne of Uzziah had hidden the throne of Jehovah from view. The glory that made the seraphim veil their faces was not felt by the heart of the people. So as Isaiah gazes upon the veiled faces of the seraphim he passes from what is to what ought to be. Reverence is the mark of those that stand in the highest place, and henceforth will take a primary position in the life of Isaiah,. In reverence power begins. The vision of the seraphim with veiled faces and feet is sorely needed again in our day. There are those that make their boast in desecrating the sacred things of life, and in defiling the vessels of God’ s temple. Yet you may be assured that all irreverence is essentially impotence. It have its little day of loud presumption, and then the Spirit of the Lord shall blow upon it, and it shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take it away as stubble. The covering of the feet as well as the face is a striking picture. It is difficult to carry the spirit of reverence into the smaller, minuter, and obscurer details of life. There are many that remember to cover the face before God, yet that forget to cover the feet. We are on our guard on great occasions and in great things. In the sanctuary, with its atmosphere of worship, we bend our into reverent homage, but we forget that the cottage and the villa, the workshop and the office, are also holy ground. There we often walk unveiled. And the world sees us uncovered, and thinks there is no God. The Christian Supper of Communion we treat as holy, but the daily meal is reduced to commonplace. The seraphim teach us also self-effacement. The prophet sees the glory that they send forth, and hears the message that they utter in never-ceasing music, but the seraphim themselves are hidden from view, covered from head to foot with their own wings. They sing the message and flash the glory, but they completely efface themselves. Here again the attitude of the Jewish people as manifested in their king is challenged and contradicted. Uzziah, instead of effacing himself before God, had thrust himself ostentatiously forward, as though his own wonderful presence were necessary to bring glory to the land. If he had learnt to efface himself, he might have done great things for God and His people. But he gave glory to himself, and the Lord smote him. Self-effacement is no easy task, but is one of the fundamental lessons that must be learnt by the prophet of the Lord. There is no sight more contemptible on earth than that of a man parading his own marvellous personality when he has the message of the Lord to proclaim. To reverence and self-effacement the seraphim add readiness for service. “ With twain he covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.” “ What a mistake!” says Mr. Modern Shallowbrain. “ These seraphim are provided with six wings, yet they waste two pairs of them in reverence, and reserve only one pair for service, if they would only give up that other-world sort of thing which is called worship and reverence, and use all their six wings for service, what an increase of good there would be accomplished on the earth.” So some simpletons talk, and act upon their own shallow creed, and for awhile you see nothing but the dust of their wings, as though they were turning the world upside down. Then they disappear, wings and all, and for all their labour nothing but a cloud of dust remains And even that God’ s whirlwind soon sweeps away. With the seraphim is the secret of power. The wings that fly have the strength of ten, because face and feet are veiled by the others. Out of unceasing worship spring forth the currents of power and the energies of service. Four things go together in the life of the seraphim, and they must be found in every good and strong life--participation in God’ s burning glory, profound reverence, self-effacement, and readiness for service. To divide them is disaster. II. The message of the seraphim is important, because it is clearly A MESSAGE FOR ISAIAH’ S OWN HEART, the message that is henceforth to be the keynote of his own teaching. The strain is two fold. The first part is, “ Holy, holy, holy, Jehovah of hosts.” Some would have us eschew all metaphysical conceptions of God, yet Isaiah must needs begin with one, and a very profound one too. If there is to be any conception of God at all, it must be metaphysical. That the standpoint we adopt should be an ethical one does not in the least lessen its metaphysical character. The problem of the Infinite is essentially a metaphysical one, and the question that remains is simply one of little or much. Shall our conception of God be little or great, clear or obscure, definite or indefinite, true or confused? These are the alternatives. We cannot move a step in the sphere of true religion without some conception of God, and the fuller and richer that conception is, the nobler and stronger will be our religious and ethical life. Isaiah, like every true prophet, begins, not with the service of man, but with the nature of God. The source of all inspiration for him lies in the profound conception that the heart of the Infinite and Eternal is holiness, and such a conception has vast unfoldings. The Old Testament “ holy” is a very beautiful term. George Adam Smith appears to say that its primary meaning as applied to God is simply “ sublimity.” If he will change that into “ moral sublimity,” I agree with him. But if not, I must dissent. I do not believe that the word, whatever its origin, is ever applied to God in the Old Testament except with a moral signification. The “ high” place and the “ holy” place do not mean precisely the same thing. “ Jehovah of hosts” is a mark of sublimity. But the thrice “ holy” involves an ethical view of the nature of God. The source of all inspiration for him lies in the profound conception that the heart of the Infinite and Eternal is holiness, and such a conception has vast unfoldings. The Old Testament “ holy” is a very beautiful term. George Adam Smith appears to say that its primary meaning as applied to God is simply “ sublimity.” If he will change that into “ moral sublimity,” I agree with him. But if not, I must dissent. I do not believe that the word, whatever its origin, is ever applied to God in the Old Testament except with a moral signification. The “ high” place and the “ holy” place do not mean precisely the same thing. “ Jehovah of hosts” is a mark of sublimity. But the thrice “ holy” involves an ethical view of the nature of God. But there is another implication in “ holiness,” which the careful student of the Old Testament cannot fail to observe, namely, that of self-communication. That which seems at first an impassable barrier reveals itself as a yearning heart and stretched out hands. “ Be ye holy, for I am holy,” is a golden chain of link within link. Such a conception of God leads to the inspired and inspiring response, “ The whole earth is full of His glory.” Or, to put the song of the seraphim more accurately, “ The fulness of the whole earth is His glory.” These words mean one of two things, and perhaps they mean both. They mean that everything that is of any value on the earth is a ray from God’ s glory. All the fulness of the earth, everything of beauty and of joy, all the products of thought and organisation and energy and life, all the love of human hearts, and all the achievements of the human will, everything, in fine, that is lovely and of good report, belong to Him whose glory fills the heavens, are flaming sparks from the anvil of His brightness. Akin to this, though not identical, is the other signification. The words may mean that the earth can find its fulness only in and through the glory of God. This earth wants filling, for there is now in it many a gaping void; and nothing but the glory of God can fill it. We have now a larger term for the glory of the Lord than Isaiah had, and so can give his words a higher reading. For what is the highest reading of God’ s glory? Here it is: “ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father.” Only in Him can the world receive its power, and The desert places of the earth blossom as the rose. In Him only all fulness dwells. (J. Thomas, M. A.)The worship of the seraphim Three times over in Holy Scripture is heaven so opened to us, and the blessed spirits shown to us adoring; in this sixth chapter of Isaiah, in the first of Ezekiel, and in the fourth of the Revelation. In each passage the vision of Godhead occurs as an introduction to the prophecy that follows. It forms the prophet’ s warrant and commission for his work. It is his strength and preparation for entering on his ministry. The lesson is of universal application. It is when we have shut ourselves up with God; when we have cast down our sins before His throne; when we have called up the vision of His glory--from such a trance of devotion we go out into the world, indifferent to the opinions of mankind; raised above the temptations of the flesh; with grace and power to control the little tempers that arise, and to hold them in submission to our work. 1. Learn, first, to veil our eyes when we approach the glory of the Lord. We must put off curious thoughts at prayer; we are not come to inquire, but to adore, and must strive to be absorbed in the sense of the Presence. Nay, in our studies, too, of the mysteries of religion, the nature of sin, the necessity of atonement, the punishment of eternity, or the Trinity in unity--here often must we restrain our curiosity, limit our speculations. A rayor two of light is all our capacities can receive; the full naked orb of truth is often more than we can bear. 2. Our weakness will teach us to veil our eyes, and our sins to veil our bodies and our feet. 3. “ With twain they did fly.” They exhibit to us the due union of meditative and active piety. Devotion in the temple without labour in the vineyard is not the worship of angels and is not to be the religion of men. While, on the other hand, to engage in the Church’ s work without a habit of earnest prayer, is to sink one’ s self into a toiling slave and run the danger of becoming a self-conceited religious busybody. 4. The seraphim are our pattern for common praise and prayer. They nave suggested the antiphonal chanting of the Church, voice against voice, alternately. 5. Observe, too, that holiness is the attribute upon which they dwell, not the goodness or the greatness, but the holiness of the Lord whom they adore. There are pseudo-philanthropists who prefer to dwell entirely upon the goodness of the Lord, and would run up all His nature into benevolence. There are natural philosophers, again, who are lost in contemplation of the stupendous forces of nature and the vastness of the universe, and from them alone they draw their conceptions of the greatness of the Godhead. The Architect of all things, the Almighty, the Supreme, these are the names they know Him by and talk mostly of worshipping their Maker. But it is not Great, great, great, nor Good, goes, good which is the angels’ song, but Holy, holy, holy. It is in the character of moral Governor and a Judge that we are to contemplate our God. 6. The earth is full of the glory of the Lord, but the temple shakes at the proclamation of His name. The living temples are penetrated with emotion and with awe before the glory of the Most High and the sense of His presence. 7. The prophet is himself moved and disturbed before the glory of God’ s presence, and under the sense of his own unworthiness. Here is the test of a genuine revelation from above. It dazzles not with vanity; it humbles to the dust under the burden of unmeetness for so great a favour from the Lord. Isaiah mentions his own sin first, and then the sin of his people. Let us always accuse ourselves the first. 8. But the sin that is thus deeply felt is thoroughly cured. The light that discovers to us our impurities is a sacred fire as well to burn them out. (C. F.Secretan.)Who are the Seraphim? Canon Cheyne’ s answer in the “ Polychrome Bible” is almost as grotesque as it is uncanny,--“ mythical beings, adopted instinctively by Isaiah from the folklore of Judah” ! On no other ground, apparently, than a disputed etymology, he sees in them only mythical, treasure guarding, serpent-like spirits, erect, gigantic, connected in some inexplicable way with the snake worship of Egypt! Wiser, more consonant with the facts as related by the seer himself, and in stricter accord with the genius of the Hebrew religion and temple service, is the suggestion of the late Professor Maurice, that they represent, not slimy, treasure-loving, serpentine worldliness, but “ those Divine energies and affections of which the zeal, devotion, and sympathy of man are counterparts.” This is the only place in the Bible whore they are mentioned. Their Hebrew name stands for burning radiancy, and in its adjective form may apply to “ fiery” serpents, or “ glowing” angelic appearances, or kinsmen “ burning” dead bodies, or iconoclastic kings who destroy objects of idolatry by “ fire.” Though the visual shapes of these heavenly powers were symbolical, they clearly are not merely symbols, but “ living intelligent creatures, who perform acts of unceasing worship,” and were actual agencies in conveying the prophetic inspiration to the receptive soul of the prophet. (F. Sessions.)The service of the seraphim, contemplative and active That perfect prayer, which our Lord bequeathed to His disciples, sets forth to us angelic service as a model which we shall do well in our services to copy. Not that the services we are called upon to render are the same with those assigned to angels. No, the sphere in which they live is heaven; ours for the present is the earth; and each of these spheres has its distinct and peculiar duties appropriate to the nature and faculties of its occupants. I. THE TWO-FOLD LIFE OF A SERVANT OF GOD, WHETHER HUMAN OR ANGELIC, IS HERE VERY TO US. The seraphim are represented as veiling their faces and feet with their wings while they stand in adoration before the throne of God. But though engaged in ceaselessly adoring the Divine perfections, they lead not a life of barren contemplation. The words “ with twain he did fly” intimate to us that they are also engaged in the active execution of those errands with which God has charged them. 1. Consider, first, the devotional branch of the Christian’ s life, that branch of it which is withdrawn from the eyes of the world, and opened only to the inspection of Him who seeth in secret. In the exercises of the closet and of the sanctuary are to be found the springs of the Christian’ s exertions in his Master’ s cause. The Christian’ s life, like that of the seraphim, branches out into the two great divisions of contemplative devotion and active exertion. It is the life of Mary, who sat at our Lord’ s feet and heard His word, combined with that of Martha, who busied herself in outward ministrations to Him. If even the energies of angels (excelling as they do in power) would be certainly impaired unless they were ever and anon renewed by an adoring gaze on the Divine perfections, how certainly shall ours languish and die if we stir them not up by the diligent and persevering use of all those means of grace which God has put into our hands! 2. The Christian life, although as to its springs and sources hid with Christ in God, yet has an outward manifestation, discernible by the world. Care must be taken not only that the lamp shall be filled with a due supply of off, but also that there shall be a light shining before men. Here is a reproof of what may, without injustice, be termed the monastic principle--a principle which in former ages was deemed correct, and accordingly adopted into the practice of many. It is as if, in the case of animal life, a man should content himself with taking supplies of repose and nourishment, without exhibiting and improving the strength thus gained by the exercise of his limbs. II. Having thus opened the subject generally, LET US SEEK TO ENTER MORE INTO ITS DETAILS, as the text brings them before us. 1. Let us learn from the seraphim a lesson as to the spirit which should pervade all true devotion. (1) These bright and glorious beings are without sin, whether original or actual. Still, such is their sense of the infinite distance subsisting between themselves and Him, of whose hand they are the creatures, that they veil their faces and feet before His throne in token of adoring reverence. The first and most essential element of devotion is a feeling of deep awe, flowing from a sense of God’ s transcendent excellences, and leading to a profound self-abasement. (2) But, if there be ground for a sentiment of deep self-abasement even in the approach of unfallen creatures to the throne of God, with what intense feelings of humiliation should the members of Adam’ s fallen family draw nigh. God hath not left man without the means of such a moral cleansing, as may make him meet to bear part in those hymns of praise which are offered by creatures who still retain their integrity. But this provision would be, to say the least, most inadequate, if it did not involve sanctifying as well as pardoning grace. And this it does involve. 2. Let us follow the Christian’ s steps as he descends from the mount, on which he has held communion with God, once again to grapple with the difficulties and trials of time, and to bear the burden and heat of the day amidst the engagements of the vineyard. “ Son, go work today in My vineyard.” (1) Our own heart is a vineyard into which God hath sent every one of us, to dress it and to keep it, (2) But surely there is an outward no less than an inward work which God has made binding upon all of us. (a) His providence has called almost all of us to a definite sphere of duty, and assigned to us a certain position in life. Every such position involves its peculiar responsibilities, its peculiar snares, its peculiar occupations. (b) But besides the fulfilment of the duties of our station, the Christian has many indirect opportunities offered to him--opportunities which as a Christian he cannot but arrest, and many of which we miss for lack of being on the watch for them--of promoting the cause of God in the world. (Dean Goulburn.)The vision of God the essence of true worship I take it that in the veiling of the head and the feet, the source of conception, the source of action, is represented the act of homage in which all true worship begins. I take it that in the outburst of song is represented the result of all the worship. All worship is meant to bring us nearer to God, and God near to us, so that if we worship truly, to us, as to them, there shall be a revelation of God’ s nature and God’ s truth The object of all worship is not to please God, not even to cave our own souls, though these may be incidents of worship; the object of worship is that, coming into His presence, we may be transformed into His image, as we learn of His ways and work. (Brooke Lambert, M. A.)Commerce and science acknowledging God The vision of Isaiah shall yet receive another fulfilment. Commerce and science shall yet bow their heads before the great Power from which they derive their true energy. And when they do, as with twain of their wings the seraphs flew, bowing the while before the Presence, there shall be an advance in knowledge and material prosperity such as the world has never known. Religion, which did stimulate the arts and the sciences to the creation of works which, with all our knowledge, we cannot rival religion, which did permeate action in days of which history tells us, and stirred men to mighty deeds, shall yet again become a mighty power. And when through the world there goes up the chant, “ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory,” there will be days such as the world has not yet known. (Brooke Lambert, M. A.)The cry of the seraphim I. The first thing that strikes us respecting the seraphim is THEIR OF WINGS. They each had six, only two of which were used for flying; the others, with which they shrouded their faces and their feet, were, apparently, quite superfluous. Why should they have had them when there was no fit employment for them? Was it not sheer waste to be possessing wings that were merely employed as covering, and never spread for flight? And yet, perhaps, without this shrouding of their faces and their feet they might not have answered so well high Heaven’ s purposes, might not have swept abroad with such undivided intentness and such entire abandonment on their Divine errands. We meet sometimes with these seemingly wasted wings in men, in the form of capabilities, knowledges, or skills, for the exercise of which there is no scope or opportunity to their lot. To what end, we ask, have they been acquired? or what a pity, we say, that the men could not be placed in circumstances in which a field would be offered them! And yet, a knowledge or skill gained may not be really wasted, though it be left without due scope and opportunity. The best, the finest use of it does not lie always in what it accomplishes, but often in what has been secretly added to us, or wrought into us, through gaining it; in the contribution which the gaining it has been to our character or moral growth. II. THE HERE BETWEEN THE COVERED FACES OF THE AND THEIR TEMPLE-SHAKING SHOUTS. Feeble, muffled sounds are the most we should have expected to proceed from them. Fancy the posts of the Lord’ s house quivering, and the prophet’ s heart stirred to its depths beneath the cries of those whose heads were bowed and hid behind their wings! Here, however, is an adumbration of much truth. Great, penetrating, inspiring utterances like the utterances of the seraphim of Isaiah’ s vision--are they not always connected with some deep, still inwardness, with some profound withdrawal and retirement of soul? No one speaks with quickening energy, to the rousing of his fellows, who has not dwelt apart, who has not had his moments, his hours, of dumb absorption, with bent brows and folded hands, when thought and feeling have weighed upon him heavily, and held him bound. There is no life of noble activity and influence which does not rest on, and issue from, some inner, hidden life of careful self-discipline and quiet self-communion; which is not fed and sustained from behind with cherishings of faith and contemplation of ideas. III. THE , EFFECT produced by the seraphim; the much commotion they created without in the least aiming at or meaning it. What were they doing, because of which the vestibule of the temple shook, and the prophet awoke to an overwhelming conviction of his unworthiness? Simply crying one to another, saying, “ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.” They were conscious of no audience, were making no appeal, but were entirely absorbed in adoring together, in exchanging with each other their Divine thoughts and emotions. Yet see the deep agitations they caused, the deep stir in a human breast. It reminds me of the incidental effects of intense enthusiasm; how, in pursuing its object, in accomplishing triumphantly what it contemplates and desires, it will often overflow upon spectators, disturbing the idle with new dreams of work, rousing the lethargic, reanimating the faint and weary, moving some to attempt as they had not done, or to feel aspirations which they had not felt; how sometimes, one and another standing by, dull and inert, are caught by and swept on with it, and begin, themselves, to glow! IV. And now, concerning THE ASPECT, THE SALIENT OF THESE BURNING ONES who proclaimed the glory of the Lord, and were such moving powers. They were creatures with six wings: “ with twain they covered their face, with twain they covered their feel and with twain they did fly” --in which composition of them we may see imaged three things which are always involved in real greatness of character, without which no real nobility is attained. “ They covered their face” --it was the expression of humility, the humility of awe and worship, of those who were admiringly conscious of a splendour and majesty, a sublime strength and perfection, in the presence of which they felt their own littleness, their poorness and infirmity. And no lofty excellence is ever reached where there is nothing of this. They only grow fine and do finely who know what it is to kneel in spirit, to have visions before which their heads are bowed. “ They covered their feet” --renouncing the use of these, though they had them, because it was theirs to fly. Meaning to be wholly “ winged” ministers of the Lord, they wrapt up their feet. And, devotion to some chosen life purpose involves always some resolute self-limiting in relation to things lawful enough, but not expedient, and always impels to it. “ With twain they did fly” --swift, so swift, to execute the errands of Jehovah; and faithful velocity, instantaneous and vivid movement in obedience to the voice of the Lord within you, action that drags not, nor halts, that is never reluctant or slow when duty is seen, when conviction speaks, but flashes forth at once in quick and bright response--this is the third of the three essentials to real greatness of character and nobility of life which Isaiah’ s seraphim suggest. (S. A. Tipple.)The six wings I. THE WINGS THAT COVERED THE FEET. When we see the seraph spreading his wings over the feet, there comes a most useful lesson--the lesson of humility at imperfection. The brightest angels of God are so far beneath God that He charges them with folly. II. THE WINGS THAT COVERED THE FACE. Another seraphic posture in the text. That means reverence Godward. How many take the name of God in vain, how many trivial things are said about the Almighty! Not willing to have God in the world, they roll up an idea of sentimentality and humanitarianism and impudence and imbecility and call it God. No wings of reverence over the face, no taking off of shoes on holy ground! Who is this God before whom the arrogant and intractable refuse reverence? Earthly power goes from hand to hand, from Henry I to Henry II and Henry III; from Louis I to Louis II and Louis III; but from everlasting to everlasting is God; God the first, God the last, God the only. Oh! what a God to dishonour! The brightest, the mightiest angel takes no familiarity with God. The wings of reverence are lifted. “ With twain he covered his face.” III. THE WINGS OF FLIGHT. The seraph must not always stand still. He must move, and it must be without clumsiness. There must be celerity and beauty, in the movement. A dying Christian not long ago cried out, “ Wings, wings, wings!” The air is full of them, coming and going. You have seen how the dull, sluggish chrysalid becomes the bright butterfly, the dull and the stupid and the sluggish turned into the alert and the beautiful. Well, in this world we are in the chrysalid state. Death will unfurl the wings. See that eagle in the mountain nest. It looks so sick, so ragged-feathered, so worn out, and so half asleep. Is that eagle dying? No. The ornithologist will tell you it is the moulting season with that bird. Not dying, but moulting. You see that Christian, sick and worn out, on what is called his deathbed. The world says he is dying. I say it is the moulting season for his soul--the body dropping away, the celestial pinions coming on. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)The seraphim The seraphim are not angels; they are rather the expressions of the forces of the universe waiting there beside the throne of God. They are titanic beings, in whom is embodied everything of strength and obedience which anywhere, in any of the worlds of God, is doing His will. Since man is the noblest type of obedient power, these majestic seraphim seem to be human in their shape; but, as if further to express their meaning, there are added to each of them three pairs of wings, whose use and disposition are with particularity described. If the highest attitude of any man’ s life is stand waiting for what use God will choose to make of him, then we have a right to seek for something in the fullest life of consecrated manhood--of manhood standing by the throne of God--correspondent to each indication of temper and feeling which Isaiah shows us in the seraphim. How shall man stand, then, in a world where God sits in the centre on His throne? We gather so many of our impressions of humanity from poor stunted human creatures--poor wingless things who strut or grovel in their insignificance--that it will surely be good if we can turn for once and see the noblest image of consecrated power, and say to ourselves, “ This is what man is meant to be. This it is in me to be if I can use all my powers and let God’ s presence bring out in me all that it really means to be a man.” (Phillips Brooks, D. D.)The wings of the seraphim Each of the three pairs of wings has its own suggestion. Let us see how they represent the three qualities which are the conditions of a complete, effective human life. I. With the first pair of wings, then, it is said that the living creature, standing before God, “ COVERED HIS FACE.” There was a glory which it was not his to see. There was a splendour and exuberance of life, a richness of radiance coming from the very central source of all existence which, although to keep close to it and to bathe his being in its abundance was his necessity and joy, he could not search and examine and understand. There was the incomprehensibleness of God! We talk about God’ s incomprehensibleness as if it were a sad necessity; as if, if we could understand God through and through, it would be happier and better for us. The intimation of Isaiah’ s vision is something different from that. It is the glory of His seraphim that they stand in the presence of a God so great that they can never comprehend Him. No man does anything well who does not feel the unknown surrounding and pressing upon the known, and who is not therefore aware all the time that what he does has deeper sources and more distant issues than he can comprehend. I know, of course, how easily corruptible the faculty of reverence has always proved itself to be. The noblest and finest things are always most capable of corruption. I see the ghosts of all the superstitions rise before me. I see men standing with deliberately blinded eyes, hiding from their inspection things which they ought to examine, living in wilfully chosen delusions which they prefer to the truth. I see all this in history; I see a vast amount of this today; and yet all the more because of this, I am sure that we ought to assert the necessity of reverence and of the sense of mystery, and of the certainty of the unknown to every life. You can know nothing which you do not reverence! You can see nothing before which you do not veil your eyes! But now take one step farther. All of the mystery which surrounds life and pervades life is really one mystery. It is God. Called by His name, taken up into His being, it is filled with graciousness. It is no longer cold and hard; it is all warm and soft and palpitating. It is love. And of this personal mystery of love, of God, it is supremely true that only by reverence, only by the hiding of the eyes, can He be seen. Isaiah says of the seraphim not merely that their eyes were covered, but that they were covered with their wings. Now the wings represent the active powers. It is with them that movement is accomplished, and change achieved, and obedience rendered; so that it seems to me that what the whole image means is this--that it is with the powers of action and obedience that the powers of insight and knowledge are veiled. The being who rightly approaches God, approaches Him with the powers of obedience held forward; and only through them does the sight of God come to the intelligence which lies behind. The mystery and awfulness of God is a conviction reached through serving Him. Behold, what a lofty idea of reverence is here! It is no palsied idleness. The figure which we see is not flung down upon the ground, despairing and dismayed. It stands upon its feet; it is alert and watchful; it is waiting for commandments; it is eager for work; but all the time its work makes it more beautifully, completely, devoutly reverent of Him for whom the work is done. II. Let us pass on to the second element in Isaiah’ s image of a strong and consecrated life. With twain of his wings, he says, each of the seraphim “ COVERED HIS FEET.” The covering of the feet represents the covering of the whole body. As the covering of the face means not seeing, the covering of the feet means not being seen. It signifies the hiding of one’ s self, the self-effacement which belongs to every effective act and every victorious life. Here is a man entirely carried away by a great enthusiasm. His heart and hands are full of it. What is the result? Is it not true that he entirely forgets himself? Whether he is doing himself credit or discredit, whether men are praising him or blaming him, whether the completion of the work will leave him far up the hill of fame or down in the dark valley of obscurity, he literally never thinks of that,. He is obliterated. Consider your own lives. Have you not had great moments in which you have forgotten yourselves, and do you not recognise in those moments a clearness and simplicity and strength which separates them from all the other moments of your life? The man who forgets himself in his work has but one thing to think of, namely, his work. The man who cannot forget himself has two things to think of--his work and himself. There is the distraction and the waste. Efface yourselves; and the only way to do it is to stand in the presence of God, and be so possessed with Him that there shall be no space or time left for the poor intrusion of your own little personality. Here, as before, it may mean something to us that the feet are not merely covered, but covered with the wings. The meaning is that the thought of one’ s self is to be hidden and lost behind the energy and faithfulness and joy of active work. I may determine that I will not be self-conscious, and my very determination is self-consciousness; but I become obedient to God, and try enthusiastically to do His will, and I forget myself entirely before I know it. III. “ WITH TWAIN HE DID FLY.” Here there comes the simpler, and, perhaps, the healthier thought of obedience purely and solely for itself--the absolute joy and privilege of the creature in doing the Creator’ s will. There are two extremes of error. In the one, action is disparaged. The man says, “ Not what I do but what I am is of significance. It is not action. It is character.” The result is that character itself fades away out of the inactive life. In the other extreme, action is made everything. The glory of mere work is sung in every sort of tune. Just to be busy seems the sufficient accomplishment of life. The result is that work loses its dignity, and the industrious man becomes a clattering machine. (Phillips Brooks, D. D.)Reverence, an element of power It is not only a pleasing sentiment, it is a necessary element of power--this reverence which veils its eyes before something which it may not know. What would you give for the physician who believed that he had mastered all the truth concerning our human bodies, and never stood in awe before the mystery of life, the mystery of death? What would you give for the statesman who had no reverence, who made the State a mere machine, and felt the presence in it of no deep principles too profound for him to understand What is more dreadful than irreverent art which paints all that it sees because it sees almost nothing, and yet does not dream that there is more to see; which suggests nothing because it suspects nothing profounder than the flimsy tale it tells, and would fain make us all believe that there is no sacredness in woman, nor nobleness in man, nor secret in nature, nor dignity in life. Irreverence everywhere is blindness and not sight. It is the stare which is bold because it believes in its heart that there is nothing which its insolent intelligence may not fathom, and so which finds only what it looks for, and makes the world as shallow as it ignorantly dreams the world to be. (Phillips Brooks, D. D.)Reverence should be universal To make the sentiment of reverence universal would be the truest way to keep it healthy and pure. It must not seem to be the strange prerogative of saints or cranks; it must not seem to be the sign of exceptional weakness or exceptional strength; it must be the element in which all lives go on, and which has its own ministry for each. The child must have it, feeling his little actions touch the infinite as his feet upon the beach delight in the waves out of the boundless sea that strike them. The mechanic must have it, feeling how his commonest tools are ministers of elemental forces, and raise currents in the air that run out instantly beyond his ken. The scientist needs it as he deals with the palpable and material which hangs in the impalpable and spiritual, and cannot be known without the knowledge of the mystery in which it floats. Every true scientist has it; Newton or Tyndal pauses a moment in his description of the intelligible, and some hymn of the unintelligible, some psalm of delight in the unknown, comes bursting from his scientific lips. (Phillips Brooks, D. D.)A seraph’ s wings This is the only mention in Scripture of the seraphim. I would notice, before I deal with the specific words of my text, the significance of the name. It means “ the flaming” or “ burning ones,” and so the attendants of the Divine glory in the heavens, whether they be real or imaginary beings, are represented as flashing with splendour, as full of swift energy, like a flame of fire, as glowing with fervid love, as blazing with enthusiasm. That is the type of the highest creatural being that stands closest to God. Cold religion is a contradiction in terms, though, alas! it is a reality in professors. I. THE WINGS OF . He covered his face, or they covered their faces, lest they should see. As a man brought suddenly into the sunlight, especially if out of a darkened chamber, by an instinctive action shades his eyes with his hand, so these burning creatures, confronted with the still more fervid and fiery light of the Divine nature, fold one pair of their great white pinions over their shining faces, even whilst they cry, “ Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty!” And does not that teach us the incapacity of the highest creature, with the purest vision, to gaze undazzled into the shining light of God? I, for my part, do not believe that any conceivable extension of creatural faculties, or any conceivable hallowing of creatural natures, can make the creature able to gaze upon God. “ We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” But who is the “ Him” ? Jesus Christ. And, in my belief, Jesus Christ will, to all eternity be the medium of manifesting God. “ No man hath seen God at any time,” nor can see Him. But my text does also suggest to us by contrast the possibility of far feebler sighted and more sinful creatures than these symbolical seraphs coming into a Presence in which God shall be manifest to them; and they will need no veil drawn by themselves across their eyes. God has veiled Himself, that “ we, with unveiled faces, beholding His glory, may be changed into the same image.” So the seraph, with his white wings folded before his eyes, may at once stand to us as a parallel and a contrast to what the Christian may expect. We can see Jesus, with no incapacity except such as may be swept away by His grace and our will. There is no need for you to draw anything between your happy eyes and the Face in which we “ behold the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father.” All the tempering that the Divine lustre needed has been done by Him who veils His glory with the veil of Christ’ s flesh, and therein does away with the need for any veil that we can draw. But, beyond that, there is another consideration that I should like to suggest, as taught us by the use of this first pair of the six wings, and that is the absolute need for the lowliest reverence in our worship of God. It is strange, but true, I am afraid, that the Christian danger is to lose the sense of the majesty and splendour and separation of God from His creatures. What does that lofty chorus that burst from those immortal lips mean: “ Holy, holy, holy!” but the declaration that God is high above and separate from all limitations and imperfections of creatures? We have need to take heed that we do not lose our reverence in our confidence, and that we do not part with godly fear in our filial love. II. THE WINGS OF . “ With twain he covered his feet.” The less comely and inferior parts of that fiery corporeity were veiled lest they should be seen by the Eyes that see all things. The wings made no screen that hid the seraph’ s feet from the eye of God, but it was the instinctive lowly sense of unworthiness that folded them across the feet, even though they, too, burned as a furnace. The nearer we get to God the more we shall be aware of our limitations and unworthiness. And it is because that vision of the Lord sitting on “ His throne, high and lifted up,” with the thrilling sense of His glory filling the holy temple of the universe, does not burn before us that we can conceit ourselves to have anything worth pluming ourselves upon. Once lift the curtain, once let my love be flooded with the sight of God, and away goes all my self-conceit, and all my fancied superiority above others. Get God into your lives, and you will see that the feet need to be washed, and you will cry, “ Lord! not my feet only, but my hands and my head!” III. THE WINGS FOR SERVICE. “ With twain he did fly.” That is the emblem of joyous, buoyant, easy, unhindered motion. It is strongly, sadly contrary to the toilsome limitations of us heavy creatures who have no wings, but can at best run on His service, and often find it hard to walk with patience in the way that is set before us. But service with wings, or service with lame feet, it matters not. Whosoever, beholding God, has found need to hide his face from that Light, even whilst he comes into the Light, and to veil his feet from the all-seeing Eye, will also feel impulses to go forth in His service. For the perfection of worship is neither the consciousness of my own insufficiency, nor the humble recognition of His glory, nor the great voice of praise that thrilled from those immortal lips, but it is the doing of His will in daily life. Some people say the service of man is the service of God. Yes, when it is service of man, done for God’ s sake, it is so, and only then. Now, we, as Christians, have a far higher motive for service than the seraphs had. We have been redeemed, and the spirit of the old Psalm should animate all our obedience: “ O Lord, truly I am Thy servant.” Why? The next clause tells you. “ Thou hast loosed my bonds.” The seraphs could not say that. The seraphim were winged for service even while they stood above the throne and pealed forth their thunderous praise which shook the temple. May we not discern in that a hint of the blessed blending of two modes of worship which will be perfectly united in heaven, and which we should aim at harmonising even on earth? “ His servants serve Him and see His face.” There is possible, even on earth, some foretaste of the perfection of that heavenly state in which no worship of service shall interfere with the worship of contemplation. The seraphs sang “ Holy, holy, holy!” but they, and all the hosts of heaven, learn a new song from the experience of earth, and redeemed men are the chorus leaders of the perfected and eternal worship of the heavens. For we read that it is the four-and-twenty elders who begin the song and sing to the Lamb that redeemed them by His blood, and that the living creatures and all the hosts of the angels to that song can but say “ Amen!” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The use of faculty Is it not strange, that of those parts of an angel’ s figure which seem as if they were made only for action, four out of six are used for an entirely different purpose? It is to teach us, that it is not every power which we have--and which we might think given us for public service, and for the outer life--which is really intended by God for that use. Never think that large faculties are fitted only for large enterprises, and that all your endowments are to be spent on that which is to meet the general eye. Remember that of six wings an angel uses only two to fly with. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)Why is an angel so very humble? 1. An angel is very great, and therefore he grows humble. 2. An angel is always conversant with the great things of God. 3. An angel knows and is sure that he is loved. (J. Vaughan, M. A.) Isaiah 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts The holiness of God We consider holiness as essential to the very being of God. Holiness is originally in God. If angels are holy, God made them so. If believers are holy, God made them so. But the holiness of God is not derived; it was eternally, originally and unchangeably in Him. Let us now produce some evidence of this truth. 1. The holiness of God appears from the positive, uniform, repeated testimony of the sacred writers. 2. We refer to the original state of all rational and immortal beings. When formed by God they were holy. 3. Consider the nature of the law, originally given to man in paradise, and, long after, renewed at Sinai. It is “ holy and just and good.” 4. Let us take a view of the holiness of God as awfully displayed in His anger against sin and sinners. 5. But we must visit Calvary if we would behold at once the most awful and the most engaging display of the Divine holiness. It was because He was infinitely displeased with sin that the Lord was pleased to bruise His Son and put Him to grief. 6. The holiness of God appears in the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers, and in all the means appointed for that purpose. Practical inferences-- 1. Is God so holy? then how base and sinful is the hatred of holiness! 2. Is God so holy? then what cause is there for humiliation! 3. Is God holy? then let us also be holy. (G. Burder.)The holiness of God I. THE SUBLIME WHICH IS MADE OF THE OF JEHOVAH. Holiness is the glory of God’ s nature, and that which entitles Him to the supreme love, confidence, and worship of all His creatures. We may view the holiness of God more particularly-- 1. As that which He has Himself declared and made known in the sacred Scriptures. 2. As that which is displayed in the representations given us of the heavenly world. 3. As exhibited in the punishment of rebellious angels and lost spirits in hell. 4. As made known to the inhabitants of earth in the moral law and in the glorious Gospel. II. THE EFFECTS WHICH THE OF IT SHOULD PRODUCE ON US. It has been revealed for our benefit, and in proportion to its importance and glory should be its influence on our minds and characters. With what feelings of adoring reverence and humility was it beheld by the holy inhabitants of heaven! What was the effect which the vision of it had on the prophet Isaiah? “ Then said I, Woe is me!” etc. A similar impression was made on the mind of Job. (Job 42:5-6) If such impressions were made on the minds of these eminent saints by the discovery of Jehovah’ s holiness, what effects should it produce on us? It should lead-- 1. To the deepest humiliation and contrition of soul. 2. To an immediate application to the blood of sprinkling. 3. Such a believing view of the character of God will produce love to holiness and earnest desire to possess it. The contemplation of the holiness of God should lead-- 4. To earnest supplications for the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. 5. To active efforts for the diffusion of His glory. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)The holiness of God God has been pleased to declare to mankind His views as to what constitutes a holy or an unholy action; consequently, when we say that God is holy, we mean that He is both by nature and character originally, essentially, and infinitely inclined to the approbation and performance of those actions which He has Himself thus pronounced to be holy; and, by converse, that He is originally, essentially, and infinitely removed from the approbation of any action or disposition which He has declared to be sinful. The holiness of God may be established-- I. BY TO THE CONDUCT OF GOD AS IT MAY BE IN . It is of essential importance to remark that, although Divine providence affords many proofs of the holiness of God, yet there are many reasons why we may presume that the whole displeasure of God against sin is not thus exhibited. The present life, amid other purposes, serves that of a state of trial; it is impossible, therefore, that in it a complete exhibition of His holiness can be made. Notwithstanding these considerations, the providence of God affords the most abundant testimony to His holiness. The proof I allude to is this, that evil and misery invariably, in the common course of things, follow the practice of those actions, and of those actions only, which God has declared to be sinful. II. BY TO THE CONDUCT OF GOD AS IT IS IN THE . 1. The event which first claims our regard, as being the first in the order of time, is the condemnation of the apostate angels. 2. The fate of our first parents. 3. The destruction of the world by an universal deluge. 4. The sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. III. BY TO THE EXPRESS OF . Everything too that has the slightest relation to Him is said to be holy, as partaking of this essential perfection of His nature: hence, His name is said to be holy. He is said to sit upon the throne of His holiness, to dwell in the most holy place. The hills on which His people meet to worship Him are said to be holy mountains. His promise, His covenant, His commandment, His law, His sabbath, His people, His prophets, His angels, His Son, His Spirit, are all respectively called holy in numerous passages. (J. F.Denham, M. A.)God’ s holiness and God’ s glory Two of the Divine attributes form the theme of the seraphs’ hymn. I. GOD’ S AS IN HIMSELF. Holiness denotes, fundamentally, a state of freedom from all imperfection, specially from all moral imperfection; a state, moreover, realised with such intensity as to imply not only the absence of evil, but antagonism to it. It is more than goodness, more than purity, more than righteousness; it embraces all these in their ideal completeness, but it expresses besides the recoil from everything which is their opposite. II. AS IT IS IN THE WORLD. “ The fulness of the whole earth is His glory.” By “ glory” we mean the outward show or state attendant upon dignity or rank. The glory, then, of which Isaiah speaks, is the outward expression of the Divine nature. Pictured as visible splendour, it may impress the eye of flesh; but any other worthy manifestation of the being of God may be not less truly termed His glory. It is more than the particular attribute of power or wisdom; it is the entire fulness of the Godhead, visible to the eye of faith, if not to the eye of sense, in the concrete works of nature, arresting the spectator and claiming from him the tribute of praise and homage. 1. Wherein does the world so reflect the being of God as to be the expression of His glory? It is visible (1) in the fact, as such, of creation; (2) in the means by which an abode has been prepared for the reception of life and intelligence, and the majestic scale upon which the process has been conceived and carried out; (3) in the rare and subtle mechanism which sustains the world in every part, and the intrinsic adequacy and beauty of the results. 2. Can we trace any evidence of the moral character of God, or is the earth full merely of the tokens of His power? It is difficult to think that we are mistaken in tracing it in the constitution of human nature, in the affections and aspirations which it displays, in the conditions upon which social life is observed to depend. He who has inspired human nature with true impulses of justice and generosity, of sympathy and love, with admiration for the heroic and noble, with scorn for the ignoble and the mean, cannot but be possessed of a kindred character Himself. Though the rays are broken and the image is obscured, the moral glory of the Creator shines in the world; it is reflected in the verdict of the individual conscience; it is latent in the ethical sanctions upon which the permanence and welfare of society depends. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The doctrine of the Trinity This is a great deep where faith must receive mysteries on the authority of God, and reason be satisfied with the fact that He has revealed it. The objection that it is contrary to reason is weak, for nothing can be contrary to reason except what lies within its boundary. This lies in a region far above it. We can only know so much of God as He reveals. He would not be God if His nature were not mysterious to us. We are mysteries to ourselves. God’ s works are often mysteries to us. Can we expect to comprehend Himself! I. THE IS WITH THE WHOLE TEXTURE OF . Indications of plurality in unity meet us in the first chapter of the Bible (Genesis 1:26-27), “ Our image.” “ His image.” This becomes more definite as we advance (Numbers 6:22-27). Threefold mention of Jehovah, yet “ My name” (see Isaiah 61:1). These Old Testament indications are remarkable because given to a people prone to polytheism. They are inexplicable except on the ground that a mysterious trinity existed in the unity of the Godhead, This mystery was breaking out amidst the shadows of the darker dispensation. A seed of truth only needing fuller light to develop it. It came out most distinctly in the New Testament. Besides many passages which assert the Deity of Christ and of the Spirit take three cardinal passages (Matthew 3:16-17; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14). At Christ’ s entrance on His ministry this truth shines out not so much as dogma but as fact. The very porch of the church, facing the world, has “ the name” (not names) of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost inscribed on it. Dedication to the Trinity in baptism is dedication to the one God. The apostolic benediction invokes a Divine blessing from each Person; indicates their equality and their unity. II. THE PRESENT THIS MYSTERY IN A ASPECT. It is interwoven throughout with the living realities of faith; presented to the heart for affectionate embrace, rather than to the head for intellectual apprehension. Explanations of the infinite would be lost on finite minds: so the Bible reveals the Persons of the Trinity, not in their incomprehensible relations to each other, but in their appreciable relation to us. We find the doctrine underlying every truth, every hope of the Gospel. Take as illustrations Romans 8:9; Romans 8:16-17; 2 Corinthians 3:3; Ga Ephesians 2:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; Titus 3:4-6; Hebrews 9:14; Revelation 22:1. Thus each person cooperates in our redemption: the Father planning, the Son performing, the Spirit applying the work of redeeming love. If angels bowed and adored, with what reverence and gratitude should we exclaim, “ Glory be to the Father,” etc. 1. How much they reject, who reject the Gospel! A whole Trinity of grace, and love, and power! 2. How much they secure, who embrace the Gospel! What a Father, Saviour, Sanctifier! 3. Not a mere orthodox profession will bless us, but the sanctifying power of this creed in our hearts. Christ found and received by faith, through the Spirit, as the Son of God and our Redeemer, will unlock that mystery to the heart, which is beyond our poor reason to comprehend. (W. P.Walsh, D. D.)The Holy Trinity The doctrine of the Trinity teaches us to think of God not in singularity or individuality, but as a harmony of Persons or manifestations. This is best seen when we look at the Divine working in nature, and especially in that human life which is the crown of nature and which He has united with His own. The Jewish Church is often thought to have worshipped God only in His lonely, distant majesty. The word “ Holy” by which He is so constantly described means “ Separate” ; and God was to them the Separate One, far removed in His purity from a sinful world. But there is another side to this teaching. Jehovah was separate or withdrawn from the world--not as a material world, but as a sinful world. Where sin is not, there He abides; and His people are a kingdom of saints--a holy nation. They go with Him, so to speak, into the place into which He is withdrawn, that He may abide among them. And, further, the psalmists and prophets never lost sight of the universal hope; they looked forward to the Gospel times, when the Lord of Israel should sustain the same relation to the whole world which He sustained to His chosen people in their time. Thus it is that Isaiah in our text represents the seraphim as saying of the Holy or Separate God that the whole earth is full of His glory. What is the glory of God? It is the glory of Love. We are not to think of God as One resting in the self-complacency of a solitary majesty, but as Love, which goes forth continually to its object. When we read the highest expression of the conscious union of our Lord with His Father, this doctrine of love again and again appears. “ The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.” And surely it is a worthy conception of the Divine nature which the doctrine of the Trinity presents to us, when it makes us think of the Godhead not as chiefly glorious because of certain abstract qualities which a lonely individual nature might possess within itself, but rather as a fellowship which was self-involved and self-embraced in mystic, eternal love. This Divine love, I repeat, as being the very nature of God, was felt by the prophets of Israel to be dwelling in them, immanent in their nation. “ The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.” Observe what this teaching or this consciousness implies. It is that the Divine nature of love is the soul of man’ s social life, that this is the binding power which draws men together. By unity God realises Himself among men, or draws them into Himself, that He may live out His life of love in their relationships. In this sense it is that the whole earth is full of the glory of the Holy One. When, then, we treat of the Christian doctrine of the Church, or social union of men in God, we are guided by the experience of the older dispensation, which in this, as in all things, finds its completion in our Lord. If God was to the Jews Immanuel, God with us, in Jesus Christ He has come yet closer to us. The loving embrace of the heavenly Bridegroom has taken the human nature into God. The twain are one. He abides in us and we in Him. (W. H.Fremantle, M. A.)The whole earth is full of His gloryGod most fully displays His glory on earth It is certain from the language of these holy beings that they delightfully contemplate the glory of God; and especially in this world, where it is most clearly displayed. I. THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN HAVE ALWAYS BORN WELL WITH THIS WORLD. Though these exalted spirits have always been invisible to mankind except on particular occasions, yet we have abundant evidence from Scripture that they have always been acquainted with the objects and events of this world. When God laid the foundation of the earth, they sang together and shouted for joy. And from that day to this, they have been more or less concerned in executing the purposes of God respecting” mankind. They are “ ministering” spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. It is natural to conjecture that many of them continually reside here, while others are alternately employed on great and extraordinary occasions. (Psalms 68:17; Luke 2:8-14; Matthew 26:53; Luke 13:43; Matthew 28:2; Acts 5:19.) II. THEY HAVE MORE OF THE GLORY OF GOD IN THIS WORLD THAN IN ANY OTHER PART OF THE . It may be presumed that they have explored the whole circle of creation, which, though widely extended, is certainly limited, and capable of being surveyed by finite beings. They have been friendly to God, and taken pleasure in contemplating the displays of His glory. They have always possessed great intellectual powers and capacities, which have enabled them to receive, retain and digest the most extensive and sublime ideas of their Maker and His works. And being spirits, unencumbered by such gross bodies as we have, they have always been capable of passing from world to world, and from one part of the universe to another, with inconceivable ease and rapidity. They say, “ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;” i.e., the Lord of the whole vast number of created beings, in every part of His extensive dominions. They add, “ The whole earth is full of His glory” ; by which they intimate that, after surveying heaven and hell and the whole empire of God, they discover greater displays of His glory in this world than in any other. 1. God has established such a connection between one creature and another in this world as He has not, as we know, anywhere else established. Angels were all created at once, and stood independently of each other. And while some maintained their integrity and attachment to God, others renounced their allegiance and rose in rebellion against their supreme Sovereign. But when God made man, He constituted an intimate and important connection between him and all that should proceed from him, to the end of time. 2. The method which God has devised and adopted to save the guilty and perishing children of men from destruction has given a display of His glory which He has not given in any other part of the universe. 3. In this world God has been constantly increasing the number of His moral subjects. There has been no increase of either good or bad angels; but there has been an immense increase of mankind for nearly six thousand years. If the glory of a prince consists in the multitude of His subjects, then the glory of God must be displayed by the vast numbers of rational and immortal beings which He brings into existence in this part of His dominions. 4. God subjects mankind to greater, more numerous and more surprising changes than He does any other of His intelligent creatures. The angels of light have never been subjected to any great or peculiar changes since their creation; and evil angels have experienced but one great and dreadful change. But all mankind, from their birth to their death, are perpetually subject to great, sudden and unexpected changes. Their bodies, their minds, and all their external circumstances are perpetually changing. Still greater changes and revolutions are frequently passing over whole nations and kingdoms. And as all these are ordered and Drought about by God, so He here gives peculiar displays of His glory, which are not to be seen in any other part of the universe. 5. The angels of God behold Him here forming the moral characters of men for eternity. Though the angels of God have seen their fellow angels changed from holiness to sin in heaven, yet they have never seen any of their fellow creatures changed from sin to holiness anywhere but in this world; which is a distinction among equally guilty creatures that eminently displays the awful and glorious sovereignty of God. 6. The angels of God see Him, in this world, continually calling off mankind from the stage of life and from the state of probation into their eternal states. Improvement-- 1. If angels discover more of the glory of God in this world than in any other part of the universe, then we may justly suppose that this world is, on the whole, better than it would have been if neither natural nor moral evil had ever entered into it. 2. If angels discover the brightest displays of the glory of God in this world, then it is certain that He treats all mankind perfectly right, in all His conduct towards them in the dispensations of providence and grace. 3. If angels view this world as the most important and interesting part of the creation, then secure sinners are extremely stupid. They see the same world, the same objects, the same persons, and the same changes, which angels admire; but they take no notice of the glory of God manifested by them, though they are far more deeply concerned in the objects with which they are surrounded, and the scenes through which they are passing. 4. If the angels of heaven discover the brightest displays of the glory of God in this world, then all real Christians have great advantages, while they are passing through the changing scenes of life, to make constant and swift advances in Divine knowledge. 5. If angels see and admire the glory of God in His conduct towards mankind in this world, then there can be no doubt but they will see and admire the glory of God in His conduct towards them, in their eternal state. 6. If God gives brighter displays of His glory here than anywhere else, then all men, in this life, are in the most important stage of their existence. (N. Emmons, D. D.) Isaiah 6:4 And the posts of the door moved The shaken temple It is stated that, at a musical festival which was held in Westminster Abbey on one occasion, the strains were so powerful in a certain part of the performance, that the whole building was shaken. So it was on this occasion. The sacred edifice trembled at the presence of God, and at the voice of those who were engaged in His praise. Isaiah 6:5-8 Then said I, Woe is me!-- The moral history of a rising soul; or, the way up from depravity to holiness Whilst holiness is the normal, depravity is the actual state of man. A restoration to his spiritual condition is his profoundest necessity. What is the path of the soul up from the depths of depravity to those sunny heights of holiness where unfallen spirits live an exultant life? I. A VISION OF THE GREAT RULER AS THE HOLIEST OF BEINGS. Three facts show this. 1. There can be no excitement of the moral sensibilities and powers without a vision of God. Show me a soul that has never had an inner vision of God, and you show me a soul whose moral powers are in a chrysalis state. 2. The means which the great God has ever employed to restore men are visions of Himself. What is the Bible but a record of Divine visions and manifestations to man? What is the Gospel--“ God’ s power unto salvation” --but the manifestation of the Eternal in Christ? Here He appears to man in the “ face of Jesus Christ.” 3. The history of all restored souls shows that the improvement commences at this stage. II. A OF OUR FALLEN STATE. “ Then said I, Woe is me!” etc. The prophet’ s consciousness included four things. 1. A deep sense of his personality. “ I am undone.” He feels himself singled out from the millions. 2. A sense of personal ruin. 3. A sense of personal sin. 4. A sense of personal sin heightened by a remembrance of his neighbours’ sins. So long as conscience is torpid, men often make the sinful conduct of others an apology for their own; but when conscience awakes, such sophistries depart. III. A REMOVAL OF THE SENSE OF GUILT. “ Then flew one of the seraphim unto me,” etc. Three thoughts are suggested by this. 1. There are Divine means for the removal of sin. 2. The means are something in connection with sacrifice. 3. The means are employed by a Divinely appointed ministry. Let that seraphim stand as the emblem of a true minister, and we see that his work is to take the purifying elements from the altar, and apply them to men. He has to take burning thoughts, and burning thoughts must come from the Cross. IV. AN EVER-OPEN AND EAR TO THE VOICE OF GOD. “ I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Three thoughts will develop the general and practical meaning of these words. 1. The great God has deep thoughts about our race. 2. Just as the soul is cleared of sin does it become conscious of these thoughts. It will hear the voice of God in every sound, and see His glory in every form. 3. This consciousness of the Divine thoughts about the race is a necessary stage in the moral progress of the soul. V. A HEARTY TO DO WHAT THE SUPREME WILL DEMANDS. “ Here am I; send me.” To reach this point is to be in sympathy with the great and good every where; this is heaven. Conclusion--Art thou in the first stage, O my soul? Stay not there; a mere vision of the holy God will only fire thee with remorse; struggle on. Art thou in the second? Stay not there; hell is somewhere in that direction; struggle on. Art thou in the third? Stay not there; freedom from sin is but negative excellence; struggle on. Art thou in the fourth? Happy spirit! thou hast scaled the mountains of difficulty and darkness. Thy jubilee has commenced. Thou art in conscious companion ship and concert with the Infinite. Still stay not there; struggle on. Ascend to the last; and from that supernal altitude, with the vast and beaming universe around thee, look ever, in waiting attitude, to thy Maker, and say, “ Here am I; send me.” (Homilist.)The vision of the King Every man’ s course is shaped by the view that he forms of the Supreme Ruler. If a man has no such view, he has no principle, and he is living either in anarchy or in slavery to some other mind. There are hours in every earnest life, and especially in every powerful leading life, when new truths or new views of old truths breaking in upon the eye of the soul change all the aspects of being, and give an impulse that never loses its force. Such an hour of insight as came to Jacob at Bethel and afterwards at Penuel now came to Isaiah in the temple. I. THE VIEW OF THE SUPREME RULES. Isaiah now passed through a great spiritual excitement, such as marks the hours of conversion, the chief turning point in the careers of great souls. The leading idea is described in these words, “ Mine eyes have seen the King.” A new regal power had arisen within his life. Now, in his first natural, unenlightened, unregenerate state, a man sees no supreme authority that has a right to rule his inner and outer being. But when the light of God dawns upon his soul, then man becomes conscious of a personal will that claims to rule his life, and of a personal mind that knows his downsitting and his uprising, and understands his thoughts afar off. In this vision of the Triune Godhead Isaiah saw the Divine life now more fully and more clearly than he had ever seen it before. In words he paints for us the impressions made by it upon his soul. Hitherto God had been to him a dim floating idea, far away in the clouds, like a distant monarch exercising no constant sway over existence; but now he recognises that the Divine life is everywhere; that all things are united to God; that all the duties, all the energies and the scenes of existence are, as it were, parts of the royal train, wide as the world, filling the vast floor of the temple of being. This change in the spiritual ideas of Isaiah seems to have been very similar to the change that was wrought in the disciples by the power of the resurrection, the sight of the ascension, and the inspiration of Pentecost. They had before acknowledged Jesus as their Master, but their ideas of His Divine authority were dim and uncertain. But when He rose from the grave and ascended to realms out of sight, when He sent down the light and heat of His Spirit into their hearts and minds, then they recognised Him with the sight of the soul as the King; they then realised that all power was given to Him in heaven and in earth, that the height and the depth, that life and death, that sickness and health, that the cross of suffering and the crown of sovereignty, that the earthly course and the silent grave, the temporal home and the great hereafter, were all subject to the sovereignty of His Divine human sceptre. Similar to that is the change wrought in every human soul when religion comes instead of a misty, cloudy, speculative theory, as a living power to rule our daily being. This revelation of Jesus as the King is going on forever through the ages. II. THE EFFECTS OF THIS VISION UPON THE SOUL. 1. It produces an abasing sense of personal sin. Why did the vision of the King create this sense of guilt and misery? In the King is the law of our life; it is only when we see the King’ s life that we know what our own life ought to be. So it is forever. Where there is no vision of excellence there can be no pangs of self-reproach. The village artist, who has never seen any works better than his own, is self-satisfied in his ignorance; but the man who has seen the master works of sovereign genius, recognises in the light his own nothingness in the presence of an ideal unapproached, high-throned, and lifted up: he cries, abased, “ Woe is me! I am nothing, I have everything to learn.” So is it in the moral world. When the vision of a pure life breaks in upon the eyes of the impure it creates bitter self-reproach, and at first rebellious impatience. 2. It quickens the sense of social sin. We cannot separate our personal life from our social life; therefore, in the moment when we begin to desire a nobler personal life we desire also to create around us a nobler social state. So Isaiah, when he saw the King, looked with agony upon the depravity of the society of which he was a member, and cried, “ Woe is me! for I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” And what were the sins that defiled the lips of Israel in those days? We have a description of them in the five preceding chapters. The fountain of all uncleanness, ever the same, is the self-will of our lower nature, that rebels against the King whose higher law is that love which constrains man to sacrifice his baser instincts for the Divine glory and the social good. Sin is not peculiar to any age. Our nation has its great social evil. There are, amongst us sometimes, men who defile their lips with commercial fraud, but still the motto of the British merchant is “ Integrity,” and “ Thoroughness” is the boast of the British workman. But there is one fountain of uncleanness that pours forth a poisonous stream to defile the lips of the nation. The curse of strong drink is an overflowing well of shame, of sin, of vice, of woe. We feel pain at social evil in exact proportion to the clearness with which we have seen the King--in other words, to the strength of our religious convictions, and thesincerity of our religious emotions. If we take low views of human destiny we do not feel much pain when existence around us is without high ends here, or high hopes of hereafter; then we can bear to look with calmness on the masses of human misery. But if we have seen the King; if, in the light of His face, we have learnt what life is to be, and what by His royal grace He will make it to be, then we never can look at these social evils without feeling our own share of responsibility, without feeling a bitter, salutary self-reproach and crying out, “ Woe is me! for I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” 3. It brings to bear upon the life a purifying power. The altar is a place of sacrifice; sacrifice is an expression of love, and love is a leading feature in the countenance of the King, and therefore the power that redeems us into the likeness of the King is the Spirit that brings to bear upon us the burning influence of love from the altar. The altar is the Cross of Calvary, on which the Son of Man gave Himself for the good of many. Love is the source of all personal and of all social good. 4. It gives to the life an ardent mission. (H. T. Edwards, M. A.)The vision of Isaiah There was a veil before the Holy of holies, so that the prophet, who is evidently supposed to have stood in the outer sanctuary, could not ordinarily have seen the throne of the Lord; but the veil is here supposed to be taken away--a circumstance in itself emblematical; for the vision related to the future kingdom of Christ, when the veil of separation was to be removed, and all distinctions destroyed between the Gentile and the Jew. I. THE CONDUCT OF ISAIAH. 1. Observe how affecting a testimony is given to the corruption and alienation of our nature by the fact that a manifestation of the Divine glory could produce in him nothing but dread and confusion. 2. The reason which Isaiah gives for being sorely confounded at beholding the glories of Christ. By specifying his “ lips” and the “ lips” of the people, as unclean, and thus calling to remembrance sins of the tongue rather than any other offences, the prophet appears to have in mind the office to which he had been appointed, and the difficulties which attended its faithful discharge. II. THE ACTION of which the prophet was the subject, and THE WORDS by which he was addressed. It was in consistency with the general course of the Divine dealings that the prophet’ s confession should be followed by an assurance of the Almighty’ s forgiveness. And it was, further, a sort of anticipation of the privileges belonging to believers in Christ, that one of the seraphim should be employed in conveying to Isaiah an assurance of pardon. There was no virtue naturally in the coal--the whole virtue must have been derived from some fire or some burnt offering to which the coal bore a typical relation. And no one living in Christian times and blessed with Christian privileges can doubt for a moment what this typical relation was. And if this were a vision of Christ in His glory, rather than of Christ in His humiliation--a vision more fitted to instruct Isaiah as to the exaltation of the Mediator, than to show him that He might be a propitiation for sins--yet observe, that the scenery of the vision was laid in the temple, all whose furniture and whose every rite was emblematic of the suretyship and offering of Christ. The fire was still burning on the altar, though the Lord was on His throne, clad in that glory which was to be gained by the extinguishing the sacrificial flames--extinguishing them by the one oblation of Himself; and therefore might it justly be said, that the temple, thus lit up and thus crowded with brilliant forms, presented to the prophet a complete parable of redemption. From the altar of burnt offering whose fire went not out, though celestial shinings flooded the sanctuary, might he learn, that the Divinity of the Person of the Mediator would not rescue humanity from the flames of God’ s wrath against sin; from the throne, with all the attendant gorgeousness, might he be instructed, that when the work of suffering was complete, there should be given to the Saviour “ a name above every name,” and that He should sit in heavenly places, the “ Head over all things to the Church.” But then it is as “ a live coal” that Christ acts. He was to baptize “ with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” (H. Melvill, B. D.)Isaiah’ s vision There were two purposes which might be served by this magnificent vision: it could hardly fail to be profitable both to the prophet to whom it was originally given, and to the people to whom he would assuredly reveal it. I. We have, perhaps, the most affecting possible illustration of HUMAN . II. THE SENSE OF IN THE OF DUTY. III. THE OF PARDON. IV. THIS WORK WAS BY AGENCY. One of the burning ones came and took the live coal with the tongs from off the altar and touched with it the lips of the delinquent prophet. And a fair inference from this will land us in the grand New Testament doctrine and privilege of the direct witness of God’ s Holy Spirit to the adoption of the believer not the family Divine. (W. M. Punshon, LL. D.)Sin and its cure “ Then said I, Woe is me!” etc. It is always thus when God draws near to man. When Moses saw that bush in the desert, which burned and was not consumed, he took the shoes from off his feet and hid his face, for it is written, “ He was afraid to look upon God.” At Sinai the people trembled and said, “ Let not God speak with us lest we die.” And when that glorious vision of the living Christ appeared to the apostle in Patmos, he says, “ I fell at His feet as dead.” Revelations of the unseen, of the eternal, of the unnameable Jehovah have filled men always with alarm and with fear. And when the saints of God--men of pure and irreproachable lives--have been going home to heaven, it has been said of many of them, “ They died under a cloud.” The sense of eternity drawing near has filled even them with apprehension. Is it that the unseen, the mysterious, must always be to creatures such as we are, the source of terror? as it was with those disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, of whom revelation records, “ They feared as they entered into the cloud.” It is nothing that you say our fears are vain and foolish under the circumstances, that blessings in disguise coming in this way have filled men with terror, that Jesus Christ Himself drawing near to His tempest-tossed disciples upon the Sea of Galilee, and drawing near to bless them, approached after this fashion and alarmed them in this way--the fear is there, and the trouble is that this bondage of fear is upon some men all their lives, and that we do not leave it behind even in the most exalted moments that come to the saints of God. Men may have their theories which explain, or which contradict, the fact--it is true nevertheless. Isaiah’ s experience sums up that which is noblest and best in human life. I. First of all, it was THE SENSE OF SIN, which moved Isaiah in that hour and in this way; sin in himself, sin in others, sin in the world around, sin which the sense of the nearness of God’ s presence made all the more vivid and real to him, just as the light reveals the darkness and the things of darkness to men who are immersed in it, men who otherwise may not have had and would not have had a thought concerning it. Live away from God, and sin is nothing, lies light as a gossamer upon the conscience; draw near to God, and sin begins to be a trouble, a perplexity, a burden to man. II. In the Divine way of dealing with men there is A MADE FOR THIS FEAR AND PURGING THIS . It is not so much the method which is illustrated here as the fact itself. Sense of sin and unworthiness there must be to that man who comes near to God. But it need not be an abiding sense as of terror. There comes a day, or there ought to come a day, when God says, “ Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” The sense of the remission of sin is as real as the sense of sin itself. (W. Baxendale.)The Holy One the Purifier I. WHAT IS THERE IN THE VISION OF GOD THAT NEED A MAN, AND A MAN, WITH SUCH TERROR. 1. No doubt certain very impressive contrasts are suggested between God and man when the Divine Majesty comes into close contact with His frail and feeble creature; but these are not, at any rate, all of them, of such a kind as to cause alarm. (1) There is the contrast between God’ s greatness and man’ s littleness and insignificance. This is, indeed, humiliating, and should lead us to abandon all foolish feelings of self-importance and self-sufficiency; but it need not induce overwhelming terror and alarm. So far from this, is there not something in our nature that seems to delight in the contemplation of greatness? Do we not go in search of greatness? (2) Or, again, there is the contrast between man’ s weakness and God’ s omnipotence. Yet here, again, we can but notice that in the mere revelation and exhibition of power, as of greatness, there is nothing necessarily alarming. All that we need to know is, that the power is friendly, or, at least, not actually unfriendly. (3) Or, just once more, there is something very humiliating in the contrast between God’ s eternal and ineffable wisdom and man’ s ignorance and blindness. Yet there is nothing alarming in superior wisdom; nay, there is something necessarily attractive in it. 2. What was the thought, then, that broke the prophet down, and what the contrast between God and himself that impressed him so powerfully and so painfully? For an answer we have but to listen to that song of the adoring seraphim that was sounding in his ear at the moment he was seized with this uncontrollable agony of terror. When he heard them cry, “ Holy, holy, holy!” there rushed into his mind the thought of his own unfitness to stand before One to whom the intelligences of glory bore such witness. And it is to this that God brings us when we yield to the convicting influence of the Holy Spirit. There comes in most men’ s lives who yield to God--it is not equally marked in all--a moment of utter breakdown; a moment when all our self-respect seems to be humbled, and our self-confidence to melt away; a moment when the sense of sin seems indeed an intolerable load, that crushes the staggering conscience beneath its weight, and suggests the gloomiest anticipations of judgment, the forecast of despair. Some are led to God through Christ in very early days, and retain no recollection of any such experience, even if it ever occurred with them; though my personal observation leads me to conclude that it often does occur, even with very young children. Such an experience would doubtless occur in many more cases, were it not for our successful efforts at evasion. We endeavour to get away from reality, and take refuge in what is superficial and conventional; we flatter ourselves into the deep stupor of self-complacency by the cry, “ Peace, peace!” when there is no peace. “ He speaks to us just as if we were a pack of sinners,” said the indignant churchwarden of a church in which I once conducted a mission, and yet that man had probably joined in repeating the Litany that very morning! II. But let us look again at this trembling man as he lies there in his terror and anguish. WHAT IS TO BECOME OF ONE WHO IS, BY HIS OWN , GUILTY AND IN THE OF HIS JUDGE? 1. At the very moment when the man felt himself undone, at the moment when the contrast between God’ s dazzling purity and awful holiness and his own uncleanness and sin had taken possession of his moral consciousness, and he could think and speak of nothing else, then flew one of the seraphim, speeding on a congenial errand, to bring the provisions of Divine mercy to bear upon this trembling soul. “ Man’ s extremity is God’ s opportunity.” No doubt the phrase represents a feature of God’ s providence that is, at any rate, frequently illustrated in the incidents of our natural life. But I think we may say the words represent a law of the spiritual world, a great principle from which God seldom, if ever, departs in His dealings with human souls. How often, when men think they are waiting for God, and wondering why He does not intervene on their behalf, is He waiting for them to reach the end of their own resources, in order that He may find His opportunity! 2. Let us notice, too, how Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are alike concerned in the provision of this Divine consolation. It is at the behest of the eternal Father, responsive to the voice of His child’ s bewildered terror, that the great seraph speeds on his mission. God so loved the world that He sent His Son, and God so loves still, that He is ever sending--sending fresh influences of grace, fresh messages of mercy, fresh flashes of spiritual light. But further, notice how the mission of mercy is performed through the Divinely-appointed means. There stands the sacrificial altar where the expiatory sacrifices had that day been offered. Cleansing must reach the guilty in God’ s own appointed way. And as we have the love of the Father, and the sacrifice of the Son, presented to us here as the conditions on God’ s side of the cleansing of the sinner, so have we also a symbolic presentation of the work of the Holy Ghost. The spirit of burning, the “ refiner’ s fire,” that alone can cleanse the heart, and consume the dross and filthiness of our sin, breathing health and infusing purity, approaches us through the sacrificial work of Christ. And thus the night of sorrow and of self-despair melts into the blessed dawn of pardon. 3. As we contemplate this marvellous transformation scene, it is as well to dwell upon the fact that these effects were produced, not only by forgiveness, but by the knowledge of forgiveness. 4. And, most of all, was it not the expression of forgiveness to the heart of the awakened sinner that drew him towards the heart of his God, and led him in grateful love to present himself to God for service? (W. HayAitken, M. A.)The three “ thens” of Isaiah’ s temple vision The prophet commenced his narrative by a note of time, and he makes his time bell ring again and again--striking “ then, then, then.” I. The first “ THEN” occurs thus--The prophet was led to feel his own uncleanness, and the uncleanness of those among whom he dwelt. When was that? For it is important for us to feel the same conviction, and we may do so by the same means. Was it when he had been looking into his own heart, and seeing its dire deceitfulness, and the black streams of actual transgression which welled up from that inward fountain of depravity? He might certainly have said “ Woe is me!” if he had been looking there; but he was not doing so on this occasion. Had he been considering the law of God, had he observed how exceeding broad it is, how it touches the thoughts and intents of the heart, and condemns us because we do not meet its demands of perfect obedience? Assuredly if he had been looking into that pure and holy law he might have well bewailed his guilt, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Or, had he been turning over the pages of memory, and noting his own shortcomings and the sins of his fellows? Had he noted his own failures in prayer, or in service, or in patience? Had he watched himself in private and in public, and did the record of the past bring a consciousness of sin upon him? If so, he might well enough have lamented before the Lord and cried, “ Woe is me! for I am undone.” I might even say, had he been carrying out self-examination for a single day of his life, and had that day been the Sabbath, and had he been acting as the preacher, or had he been sitting under the most stirring ministry, and had he been at the holy feasts of the Lord, he might have found reason for confession. But none of these things are mentioned here as the occasion for this humbling cry. It was “ then” --when he had seen the Lord. If you have never seen God, you have not seen yourselves; you will never know how black you are till you have seen how bright He is; and inasmuch as you will never know all His brightness, so you will never know all your own blackness. Learn, however, this lesson, that to turn your face away from God in order to repent is a great mistake; it is a sight of God in Christ Jesus which will breed humiliation and lowly confession of sin. Now, did I hear you say, “ I am a man that lives very near to God,” etc.? No man who has come fresh from God ever speaks in tones of self-congratulation. What said Job? (See Job 42:5-6.) This was the experience of a perfect and an upright man. II. You see the man trembling; in himself unclean and conscious of it, and surrounded by a people as unclean as himself, and it is while he stands in that condition that we meet with our second “ THEN.” “ Then flew one of the seraphim,” etc. III. Let me now speak of the third “ THEN.” “ Then said I, Here am I; send me.” Knowing that we are now clean in the sight of God, through that altar which sanctifies all that it touches, we shall have all our fears removed, and then with grateful love burst out into the cry of full surrender and complete consecration. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The essentials of true worship These verses teach us the essentials of true worship and of acceptable approach to God. And they seem to indicate these essentials as threefold, involving-- I. A SENSE OF . To worship truly, there must be a sense of our own nothingness and need. The sense of wretchedness is first induced by the contemplation of the holiness and majesty of God. It is relieved by the condescension and mercy of the King. “ Mercy and truth meet together; righteousness and peace embrace each other” ; and in that embrace the man who is undone is folded, and invited to bring forth his offering. II. A SENSE OF PARDON. “ Our God is a consuming fire,” and our first contemplation of Him thus is one which appalls and overcomes us. But a little further prostration before the Holy One shows that the fire is a purging fire, not to consume the man, but only to erase the confessed uncleanness from his lips. With the anointing of the holy fire on the lip there comes the new life into the heart, and now the mortal may mingle his praises with the seraphim themselves. III. But worship is not complete without SERVICE. To the ascription of the heart and lip there must be added the alacrity and obedience of the life. There was service for the seraphim: to fly with the live coal. And there is service for the seer: to fly with the living message. “ Here am I; send me.” Here is the alacrity of obedience. There is no curious inquiry about the nature of the service. The man becomes as winged as the seraph. (A. Mursell.)Isaiah’ s purification I. In the text we have . II. Observe, GOD’ S METHOD OF THIS TO HIS PEOPLE. 1. A vision of Himself. 2. The prophet discovered his corruption by a particular manifestation. “ Unclean lips.” Lips are indicative of character; they reveal the state of the heart. III. THE PROPHET WAS FILLED WITH KEEN when he discovered that there was corruption within him. IV. The text reveals GOD’ S AND ABILITY TO SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM ALL SIN. V. The text points out THE NATURE OF THIS FULL . 1. As to date. “ The year that King Uzziah died.” 2. As to place. The sanctuary. It has been said that of all places in the world there are two which a man never forgets--the place where he was converted, and the place where he got his wife. A sea captain says, “ I was crossing the Channel one day, in command of a passenger steamer, when a person rushed up to me, and said, ‘ Captain, why, that is Jersey! Jersey,’ I said, ‘ I know that, right well, for I have seen it hundreds of times’ ; but the speaker was not to be shaken off with my reply, and, with greater emphasis, repeated, ‘ But, sir,--Captain, that is Jersey!’ I replied, ‘ Well, my good woman, what of that?’ ‘ Why,’ said she, ‘ I was born to God there!’” 3. As to results. Readiness and fitness for service. (H. Woodcock.)The views of the glory of Christ which produce humiliation and penitence I. THE GLORY WHICH EVERY TRUE SAINT BEHOLDS IN JESUS CHRIST. 1. The saints behold the Son of God undertaking, and in the fulness of time accomplishing, the work of our redemption. 2. They contemplate the exalted Redeemer, calling and entreating sinners to accept of the benefits of His purchase as the free gift of God. 3. They behold the great Redeemer setting up that kingdom which shall never be destroyed; taking possession of those by His Spirit, whom He hath purchased with His blood; and adorning and beautifying them with His own image. 4. They behold, with awful reverence, the majesty of Christ, when those who have heard the Gospel, but have not received the truth in the love of it, are given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart. II. EXPLAIN THE MANNER IN WHICH THE TRUE SAINTS BEHOLD THE GLORIES OF “ THE KING, THE LORD OF HOSTS.” 1. The saints, having the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the know ledge of Christ, behold a glory and excellency, and taste a sweetness in Divine things, which other men cannot and do not perceive. 2. The saints alone are spiritually convinced of the reality and certainty of the great doctrines of the Gospel. III. THE OF SUCH VIEWS OF THE GLORY OF CHRIST, AND OF THE SCHEME OF THROUGH HIM, TO PROMOTE THE VARIOUS OF AND SELF-. 1. Such views of the great Redeemer will produce deep and serious thoughtfulness about salvation. 2. They will excite those who receive them to a strict and close examination of their hearts and lives. 3. They will produce low and debasing thoughts of ourselves. 4. They will promote in the mind of a saint a godly sorrow and a holy indignation on account of his personal sins. 5. They will determine those who receive them to turn from sin unto God, and by His grace to devote themselves entirely to His service. 6. They have a transforming or sanctifying influence. 7. They wean the affections from things below and place them on things spiritual and Divine. (J. Erskine, D. D.)Personal responsibility of man as the possessor of speech Like the coins which we daily pass through our hands without reading the superscription or testing the metal, we use language for our momentary needs without thinking whence it came to us, or what is its worth. But words are a great gift of God so man, language is our inheritance from the ages that are gone; it grows richer as generations pass from the accumulations of their thought. Descending to us, it educates us. But if language does so much to fashion us, it is an instrument for us of wonderful power in moulding other minds. God’ s work, or else Satan’ s work, it is forever doing. 1. If we were to decide what was the commonest fault of the tongue amongst ourselves, we should almost all answer that it was the making light of sin. We can allude to any sinful act in three ways: we can speak of it as the Bible speaks, as a sin against the Holy God; or as prudent men of the world speak, as a mistake, and a blunder, and a want of self-command and dignity; or, as the thoughtless speak, as something to be laughed at and forgotten, a natural and admissible thing. Our language is copious enough for any of these. One of the greatest dangers to souls is impurity. What shall we say of one who in that moment of trial when a soul is suspended between life and ruin, steps in, with no interest in the case except the love of evil, to unloose the bands that hold him to life, and so to help his downfall? If there is any retribution for sin, is not this the sin to call it down? Tell him that modesty is weak and boyish, and that a certain measure of dissipation befits the finished character of a man. Disconnect this sin, in all that you say about it, from every thought of God; speak never of fornication and adultery; language is rich in words that soften and disguise the guilt of this sin. Show how common the sin is. Throw on nature and on youth the blame, if there is blame, of passions too strong for restraint. You will extinguish, by such means, the last spark of that shame, which, fostered in a home where all was pure and chaste, has been sustained till now from extinction by a mother’ s pure prayers, by her solicitous efforts to keep enfolded even when far off, her darling in the invisible arms of her chaste affection. You will succeed. It were better that a millstone were hanged about your neck, and you drowned in the depth of the sea, than to reap ouch an accursed success against one of those for whom our beloved Lord died. 2. This brings us to another peril of the tongue. Two of the safeguards against sin are the love of God and the fear of judgment. But they suppose a faith that God indeed is, and that He verily is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. A theology of suppositions has no force as a safeguard. Faith may be strong or weak, but it cannot be faith and not faith at the same time. Through this state of division and doubt men have sometimes had to pass, but to linger in it is death. It is not a phase of religion, but a suspension of it. He for whom nor God, nor Christ, nor conscience, nor the life to come for a reality, has nothing on which he may support himself. But how are these questions, this state of doubt, treated in common talk? People mean no harm when they jest about the last new theory in science, yet when they come to consider what is the tendency of the conversation in the circle in which they live, they may have to confess that its tone tends to encourage doubt, and to make them contour with the darkness. 3. Might not even our religious conversation be more fruitful than it is? St. James, from whose Epistle we might derive a complete code of rules for the government of the tongue, says, “ Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” He is speaking of religions things, of hearing and speaking “ the word of truth,” mentioned in the former verse. Does not religion suffer often from our hot and impetuous advocacy? We are zealous for God, and that, we think, excuses everything; and we are ready with the nickname or the good story against those whose views differ from our own, and we separate readily from those that will not go as far as we; and the lines that separate Church parties are daily more deeply marked God’ s great purposes, in the growth of His kingdom, will gain nothing from our noisy warmth. (Archbishop Thomson.)The making of a prophet I. IF WE SEE GOD WE SHALL SEE OUR SIN. II. Note the second stage here, in the education of a soul for service--THE SIN AND OF IS BURNED AWAY. I would notice about this stage of the process-- 1. That Isaiah singularly passes beyond all the old ritual in which he had been brought up, and recognises another kind of cleansing than that which it embodied. He had got beyond the ritual to what the ritual meant. 2. But far more important than that thought is the human condition that is required ere this cleansing can be realised. “ I am a man of unclean lips.” “ I am undone!” It was because that conviction and confession sprang in the prophet’ s consciousness that the seraph winged his way with the purifying fire in his hands. Which being translated is just this: faith alone will not bring cleansing. There must go with it what we call, in our Christian phraseology, repentance, which is but the recognition of my own antagonism to the holiness of God, and the resolve to turn my back on my own past self. 3. Again, note that we have here set forth most strikingly the other great truth, the two being as closely synchronous as the flash and the peal; namely, as soon as the consciousness of sin, and the aversion from it, spring in a man’ s heart, the seraph’ s wings are set in motion. Remember that beautiful old story in the historical books, of how the erring king, brought to sanity and repentance by Nathan’ s apologue, put all his acknowledgments in these words, “ I have sinned against the Lord” ; and how the confession was not out of his lips, nor had died in its vibration in the atmosphere, before the prophet, with Divine authority, replied with equal brevity and completeness, and as if the two sayings were bits of the one sentence, “ And the Lord hath made to pass the iniquity of thy sin.” That is all. Simultaneous are the two things. 4. Still further, notice how the cleansing comes as a Divine gift. The Lord is He that healeth us. 5. But, further, the cleansing is by fire. By which, as I suppose, in the present context, and at Isaiah’ s stage of religious knowledge and experience, we are to understand that great thought that God burns away our sins; as you put a piece of foul clay into the fire, and the stain melts from the surface like a dissipating cloud, as the heat finds its way into the substance. “ He will baptise with the Holy Ghost and with fire” --a fire that quickens. A new impulse will be granted, and that will become the life of the sinful man’ s life, and will emancipate him from the power of his own darkness and evil. Now, let us remember that we have the fulness of all that was shadowed to the prophet in this vision, and that all these emblems are gathered together, not with confusion, but abundance and opulence in Jesus Christ Himself. Is He not the seraph? Is He not Himself the burning coal? Is He not the altar from which it is taken? All that is needed to make the foulest clean lies in Christ’ s great work. III. The third stage here is--THE PURGED SPIRIT IS READY FOR SERVICE. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The true messenger of God Though the prophecies of Isaiah are amongst the most evangelical portions of the Old Testament, and though we read them with true delight, yet the history of the prophet himself, the writer of this splendid poem, is only very partially revealed. He is like a summer bird who sings sweetly on the branch of a tree, but hides himself from view. In this chapter we have an account, if not of his conversion, at least of his call to the prophetic office. It took place in the year of Uzziah’ s death. That was more than a date, or he would have probably said the year when Jotham began to reign. We find here the essential qualifications of the true messengers of God. I. A VIEW OF GOD’ S . He saw the Lord “ sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,” and heard the heavenly choir chanting: “ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.” The word “ holy” means “ separate” Israel was a holy nation, separate from all the people of the earth, and Canaan was the holy land. But God Himself is the holy, the separate, dwelling in light inaccessible. God is love, but He is holy love. He is a Father, infinitely excelling any earthly parent in kindness and compassion; but He is a “ holy Father.” God’ s holiness was revealed to Isaiah in a remarkable manner. He saw God, not with his natural eyes, but in such a manner as every quickened spirit must see Him. He saw God; that is, had a true conception of His character He had heard of Him before when attending the national festivals, but he never saw Him properly until Uzziah was stricken with leprosy for his presumption. Every prophet and every messenger has a certain truth which has sunk deeper into his soul than any other truth, and it is not strange, therefore, if he enters into a covenant with that truth, as it were, that he will be faithful to it at all costs; and, on the other hand, he will receive great comfort to himself from such a truth, and find shelter under its branches from the heat of the day or the fury of the storm. Every worker for God in order to be successful must first have a vision of God. This must be the foundation of our work and the source of our success. To have a firm building, the foundation must be sound. We have never understood holiness, righteousness, and truth unless we have seen God. We can never have any idea of law except in the light of the Lawgiver. Great reformers have been great believers. This is the place to grow a creed in the sunshine of God’ s presence, and in contemplation of His supreme will. A short creed of thirty-nine letters burnt into our soul by the fire of conviction is better than a long creed of thirty-nine articles conveyed to our mind by traditionalism. A personal contact with God will ever leave its mark on the soul. This was experienced by Augustine, Anselm, Calvin, Bunyan, Jonathan Edwards, and other men of valour in the religious world. When Christmas Evans was once on his travels between Dolgelly and Machynlleth he had such a view of God’ s glory that he felt that the barren mountain of Cader Idris had become a Holy of holies. He wrestled with God for several hours, praying for the Churches and ministers of Wales by name. What wonder that he returned to Anglesey like a giant refreshed, and that a strong religious awakening was the natural result. II. ANOTHER IS A SENSE OF MAN’ S . The vision of God’ s holiness created within Isaiah’ s mind a sense of his own unworthiness. “ Then, said I, Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.” Why does he say unclean lips? Because he was called to speak for God, and therefore he must be, before all things, a man of pure lips, and must utter true words. He is only a voice uttering the thoughts of God, and it requires a clean channel for the waters of God’ s blessings to flow. He appears to be anxious to join the seraphic song, but how could he with his lips unclean? A sense of man’ s sinfulness will naturally follow a true view of God’ s holiness. No one with a light view of sin, viewing it only as mere weakness, the result of circumstances, or the effect of man’ s environment, can effect any real deliverance. III. ANOTHER IS FAITH IN THE OF A MAN’ S RENEWAL. Isaiah looked upon God, the Holy Being, as dwelling apart. On the other hand, the prophet views man in the darkness of his corrupt nature as far from God--the distance being measured, not by miles or geographical distinctions, but by sins and man’ s shortcomings. The prophet, first of all, seeks his own purity, and cries for renewal, and one of the seraphs, the agents of God’ s mercy, becomes the medium of that blessed work. We very often find during the first real awakening of a religious activity that men become very pessimistic in their views They have passed through these two stages--the contemplation of God’ s holiness and man’ s sinfulness--and think of the great gulf between, but before they can expect to effect a great improvement, and turn any portion of the vast wilderness into God’ s garden, they must reach a further stage, and possess faith in the possibility of a man’ s renewal. They must look upon sin as a terrible enemy, but as an intruder in the city of Mansoul; look upon it as a serious blot upon our nature; but still to be removed by the healing influences of the grace of God. Michael Angelo saw in the rough stone at Florence the necessary material for the picture of an angel. So our Saviour looked with a prophetic eye upon all conditions of men, and He saw in Matthew, the publican, the making of an apostle. We need preachers of the Gospel of joy and of hope. John Newton said that he never doubted the power of God to save any, since he himself had been rescued from the bondage of sin. William Carey, studying a map of the world that hung in his workroom, thought with pain how small a portion of the human race had any knowledge of the Saviour; but he determined that something should be done, and he conversed, corresponded, preached, and published in order to awaken men, so as to expect great things from God, and to attempt great things for God. To love God and love our neighbour are two parts of the same law. IV. ANOTHER IS A DESIRE TO PARTAKE IN THE WORK OF . Isaiah heard the voice of God saying, “ Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” This voice is only heard by those who are possessed of an obedient nature. 1. Man does not lose his personality in the work of God. “ Here am I; send me.” He offers himself. Nothing less will do, and nothing more is possible. The grace of God does not destroy man’ s identity, nor his personality. The most solemn thought possible is the responsibility of personal man to a personal God. We should lay our best at the feet of our Saviour, and put every faculty under tribute to Him. There is room in His service for the gifts of the imagination, the strength of the intellect, the power of the will, and the emotions of the heart. Let us do duty first, and then we can leave the consequences to God. Let us say, Send me, and let us consecrate the entire man on the altar of service. 2. The true worker must also feel that he is the object of Divine commission. “ Send me.” He feels, though willing and anxious to do his best, that he can accomplish nothing, unless he receives Divine commission, is endowed with Divine wisdom, and inspired by Divine fellowship. With this equipment a man can weather many a storm, and struggle manfully against many foes. Paul came face to face with God on the way to Damascus, and that made him strong to fight the battle and run the race. (H. C. Williams.)In the temple Jerusalem was the London of the Holy Land, the capital of Palestine. Well, a very dreadful thing had just happened in Jerusalem. The king was dead, and he died in the saddest possible way. The people were very sorry, and talked a great deal about it; and Isaiah, too, was filled with grief and wonder. What could it all mean? But there was nobody in all Jerusalem who could tell him. But God, who had a great work for the youth to do, took him and told him what it all meant. He showed him a vision. Just as we see things with our minds when our eyes are closed, so God taught Isaiah the meaning of the king’ s death, by making him see and hear wonderful things with the eye and ear of his mind. I. WHAT ISAIAH SAW. He saw the Lord sitting on a throne. The King Uzziah was dead, but the eternal King never dies. He was on His throne, high and lifted up, and the glory of His garments filled the temple, so great and glorious was He. And then Isaiah heard angels singing, “ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” If you went into a great picture gallery you would probably come to one room which would be called the “ Rubens room,” where all the pictures would be by Rubens; then in another part of the gallery you would come to the “ Turner room,” and all the pictures in that would be Turner’ s, the great English painter; and so on through room after room. And if you went into a library, on one shelf you would find the works of Shakespeare, on another the works of Bacon, on another the works of Milton. But with regard to God, the angels say you may go up and down the world, and everywhere you go you will find every room, every shelf, filled with the glory of the same One. The whole earth is filled with the glory of One, and that One is God. Now, why does God say that to Isaiah? In order to teach Isaiah reverence; to teach him to fear God--not to be afraid, but to teach him to honour God. Uzziah had dared God, as it were. Uzziah had forgotten the greatness of God, and so the first thing God did with the boy was to stamp upon his mind that he must be reverent. And, dear children, it is one of the greatest lessons that we all need: have your play and fun and laughter in their right time and in the right way; but when you come to this place for worship, for prayer and praise, remember how great God is. II. WHAT ISAIAH FELT. He knew that Uzziah had done wrong; and God taught him that, young as he was, he too had sinned, and so he cried out, “ Woe is me, I am unclean.” He felt that he had sinned, and then lest his heart should be broken with sorrow, God made him feel that He--the God against whom he had sinned, could pardon and cleanse him. It is a grand moment when you find fault with yourselves. That is the finest thing a boy can do, to stand up and, as it were, pitch right into himself, find fault with himself, feeling that he has done wrong. Have you felt that, children--felt that you too have sinned? But if you have sinned it isn’ t hopeless,for God can take your sin away. Ask Him for pardon, ask Him for power not to sin. III. WHAT ISAIAH HEARD. He heard God asking for somebody to carry a message for Him and do work for Him. Well, but you say, “ We never heard God say that.” No, you never heard Him in so many words, but if you know how to listen for God’ s call, you can hear Him calling every day. How does God call? God calls by putting a need before you. When anything wants doing, that is God’ s call to somebody. IV. WHAT ISAIAH SAID. “ Here am I.” He didn’ t look about and say, “ Who is there that will go?” No; he said, “ Here am I; send me,” and God did not refuse him. You know that in arranging their play, the bigger boys choose who shall be on their side, and they always choose the best boys; the poor little fellows who can’ t play well are left for the other side. They are always so anxious to be called; but are always passed by, or left to the very last. God doesn’ t do that; He doesn’ t say, “ Oh no, no, I want somebody else.” He says, “ Come, whosoever will let him come.” (J. M. Gibbon.)Fear, as a preparation for duty I. THE EMOTION WHICH THE MAN . (Isaiah 6:5.) II. THE BEARING IT HAS UPON HIS HISTORY. Inferences-- 1. To make conviction of sin profounder a man needs to come up more and more evidently before the presence of the Divine purity. It never helps anyone to begin desperately to study his wickednesses with a view to outroot them. It is better for him to keep looking at God. The objective study of Christ, His life, character, etc., is far safer and more profitable for growth in grace than any painful act of self-examination. 2. He who has suffered himself to tolerate trivial notions of disobedience has not yet ever had a proper conception of his Maker, who is one day to be his Judge. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)A vision of God humbles The prophet does not come away triumphing in what he has seen; he does not hold the vision as a prize, and mock other men because they have not seen similar revelations; he says, in effect, If ever you see God you will fall down in humility, self-abhorrence and self-helplessness. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)Isaiah’ s true character Only the pure in heart can see God. But he who is sufficiently pure in heart to see God is, by that very vision, convicted of an unspeakable impurity. Isaiah was not a bad man but a good, one of the excellent of the earth in whom God took delight. But the very light that is in him turns to darkness in a glory so ineffable; and he finds a sentence of death in the very life which alone can quicken and renew him. (S. Cox, D. D.)Self-humbling a preparation for service I have noted in my own experience that whenever I have been most blessed in the winning of souls, it has generally been just after I have endured a thorough stripping in my own heart, or when by soul trouble I have been brayed as in a mortar among wheat with a pestle till I seemed ground into dust. Trial has preceded triumph. A wider field has been opened to me by the breaking down of my hedges. I have shrunk into self-oblivion, and then the Lord has moved me to speak in a burning manner to His glory. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God’ s holiness, a revelation of sin Like some searchlight flung from a ship over the darkling waters, revealing the dark doings of the enemy away out yonder in the night, the thought of God and His holiness streaming in upon a man’ s soul, if it is there in any adequate measure, is sure to disclose the heaving waters and the skulking foes that are busy in the dark. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The thought of God in the heart The sleeping snake that is coiled in every soul stirs and begins to heave in its bulk, and wake when the thought of a holy God comes into the heart. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)No heaven possible to the uncleansed man Oh, you who think that you are sure to go to heaven, are you quite sure that you would be happy if you got there? Might not the vision of God produce a similar effect upon you to that which was produced upon one who was probably a better man than you, by this august display? And what would heaven be but a moral hell if you found yourself grovelling in the dust, crying out in anguish and terror, “ Woe is me! for I am undone” ? (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)Consciousness of sin When one turns to look with a steadfast eye upon one’ s own doings, the terrible revelation comes as a sickening fear to each of us, that the dark side of our life is practically limitless. President Edwards used to exclaim for months together, “ Infinite” upon infinite! “ Infinite upon infinite!” And many an awakened soul has felt that the words were hardly exaggerated. (D. M. Mclntyre.)The sense of sin Augustine of Hippo records in his “ Confessions” : Thou, O Lord, while he [Pontitianus] was speaking, didst turn me round towards myself, taking me from behind my back, where I had placed me, unwilling to observe myself, and setting me before my face, that I might see how foul I was, how crooked and defiled, besotted and ulcerous. And I beheld and stood aghast; and whither to flee from myself I found not. Self-revelation a preparation for great usefulness Students of religious biography are familiar with the strange tale of the great mediaeval preacher, Dr. John Tauler, of Strasburg, and know how popular he was while sermons were of the letter only, and not from the Spirit, and how he was set to the child’ s task of learning the very A B C of Christianity ere he could preach with the tongue of fire which reaches the hearts and consciences of the hearers. Falling into great weakness of body and continual sorrow of soul, losing all trust in himself and his own doings, he owned with bitter tears, “ I am wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” It was at that moment he received the blessed knowledge of Christ as the sin offering, and the Spirit of the Lord used him thenceforth in a marvellous manner for the convicting and comforting of the citizens, in the midst of earthquakes and wars and famine and pestilence, so that the great power of God fell upon that town as probably never before nor since. (F. Sessions.)Jonathan Edwards’ conversion Jonathan Edwards was suddenly converted, ms by a flash of light, in the moment of reading a single verse of the New Testament, into contact with which he was brought by a series of unusual circumstances. He was at home in his father’ s house; some ordinary hindrance kept him from going to church one Sunday with the family; a couple of hours in prospect with nothing to do sent him listlessly into the library; the sight of a dull volume with no title on the leather back of it piqued curiosity as to what it could be; he opened it at random and found it to be a Bible; and then his eye caught this verse: “ Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.” He tells us in his journal that the immediate effect of it was awakening and alarming to his soul; for it brought him a most novel and most extensive thought of the vastness and majesty of the true Sovereign of the universe. Out of this grew the astonishing pain of guilt for having resisted such a Monarch so long, and for having served Him so poorly. And whereas, he had hitherto had slight notions of his own wickedness and very little poignancy of acute remorse, now he felt the deepest contrition. Here is a precise reproduction of Isaiah’ s experience. (C. S.Robinson, D. D.) Isaiah 6:6-7 Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand The live coal from the altar These words seem to address themselves in the way of encouragement and consolation-- I. TO THE OF THE WORD . Like Isaiah they feel the importance of the work to which they are called, and their inability to discharge aright the commission with which they are entrusted. The more they contemplate the holiness of Jehovah, the purity and excellency of His Word, the distance between God and the sinner, the awful majesty of the Almighty, and the ineffable glory in which He is enshrined, the more they perceive their own unworthiness, and grieve over the sinfulness which adheres to them. They feel their shortcoming, and are disposed to say with the prophet, “ Woe is me!” etc. But they have consolation. The coal from the altar, when brought in contact with the prophet’ s lips, purged his sin, cleansed his iniquity, and fitted him for the work to which he was Divinely called. II. TO . Not only to the prophet of old, nor yet to the minister of the Gospel, but to every child of Adam, is there need for cleansing of sin in order to effect reconciliation, and make him a child of God. (T. R. Redwar, M. A.)The ceremony of purification It shows that contact with the fire of the Divine holiness is not necessarily destructive even to man. It is possible to “ dwell with devouring fire.” (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The peace of forgiveness in Judaism What was the meaning of this to Isaiah? If I am not mistaken, it is this: Up to this time all that system of sacred rites to which he had yielded all perfunctory obedience had been to him but as dead ceremonies, but now he sees that each of them is a living thing instinct with Divine life and power; each a splendid sacrament of grace to him who in conscious spiritual need will approach not it, but the God of Israel in and through it. And he realises how that, sinner as he is, he is by the providence of God in the midst of a great and glorious spiritual system in which his craving for peace is met, and where the Divine absolution is brought home to him. (Canon Body, D. D.)The peace of forgiveness in Christendom What is it that gives to this great system of Christendom the peace-giving power that by the confession of nineteen centuries it has? It is this. Behind all the ministries of the Church, vocal and sacramental, lies the pleading Priest, at the golden altar in heaven, forever present and pleading before the Father the consummated sacrifice of Calvary. That sacrifice takes the form of a great offering of propitiation. And it is this that lies behind all the Church’ s rites, the powerful pleading by the living Christ of the death died on Calvary, through which pleading comes the living power of the Holy Ghost into the Divine society, holding her in her weird, mysterious life, through which pleading simple rites are Divinely efficacious, through which pleading the coal becomes the coal that burns with living fire. And it is in the midst of this wondrous system of sacred ministries that the blessed Jesus applies to each the peace of reconciliation. (Canon Body, D. D.)The Holy Spirit as fire Fire is something pure, burning, purifying; it lays hold of, penetrates, and, as it were, converts into its own substance whatever is susceptible of its action, thus hallowing the gifts laid on the altar. All these are the attributes of the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to purge and illuminate man, to excite him to the love of God, to affect him with zeal for His glory, to arouse him from sloth to fervour, to inflame him with courage and constancy, with energy and devotion of all his powers to the cause of God, and to enable him to make supplications to God according to His will. And in this place fire signifies the spirit of prophecy, which spirit, like fire, sanctifies men in a peculiar manner to this great work, kindles, inflames, makes them glow with zeal; and, what is true in itself and specially applicable here, converts them into seraphs. (C. Vitringa.)“ A live coal” The rendering of the A.V., “ a live coal,” i.e., a burning log (for of course in those days the fuel was wood), is totally wrong, and, indeed, the conception is too grotesque to be for a moment entertained. (P. Thomson, M. A.)The hot stone A stone kept in all ancient Oriental households as a means of applying heat to household purposes. In order to bake cakes 1 Kings 19:6, “ cake baked on the hot stones” ), or to roast flesh, the stone was first heated in the fire, and the wet dough or the flesh spread out upon it, the stones as they grew cold being exchanged for hot ones fresh from the fire. To boil milk, the hot stone was plunged into it when contained in the leathern skin that served alike as cauldron and pitcher. In short, the heated stone was a primitive means of applying fire wherever fire was needed. The prophet, carrying the similitude of an earthly household into the heavenly palace, assumes the presence of such an utensil on the hearth, which here, of course, must be conceived as an altar on the model of God’ s earthly dwelling place. (P. Thomson, M. A.)The symbolic act of the angel This would, perhaps, be quite intelligible to the contemporaries of the prophet; but it is undoubtedly very obscure to us. The act is intended to shadow forth in some way the cleansing of the prophet from sin; but what is the connection between such cleansing and the touching of Isaiah’ s lips with the stone heated on the altar fire? The stone is a means of applying fire; when, therefore, it is brought to the lips of the prophet, it is the same as if the whole altar fire had been brought there; and that again is the same as if the prophet’ s “ unclean lips” had been laid on the altar. The everyday use of the stone would at once suggest this to the mind of Isaiah’ s hearers. The angel’ s act, therefore, is as much as to say: “ Lo, I lay thy sinfulness on the altar fire; and thou art cleansed from sin thereby.” But how should laying on the altar cleanse from sin? To lay on the altar is to give up to God--to make wholly His. Here, then, the angel says to Isaiah in substance this: “ Thy sin-defiled nature I lay on God’ s altar. I make it all His again. The uncleanness of thy nature consisted in its opposition to God, for all sin is selfish action, as opposed to action for God, and now all the opposition of thy nature to God is taken away. Thy nature is, by this act, devoted wholly to God. By Divine power thou hast been suddenly, miraculously, turned into one from whom all selfish thoughts and words and deeds are taken away, into one whose every thought and desire is toward God; into one wholly consecrated and devoted to God; and therefore into one wholly pure.” All this is done only in symbol, of course; not in reality. What the prophet receives is in truth only God’ s twice-repeated assurance that He looks on the prophet as one thus cleansed and devoted; that He overlooks the prophet’ s past sins; that He imputes to him the purity of consecration; or, in short, that God pardons and forgives him. The essential core of the idea of forgiveness, in the New Testament as well as in the Old, is just this, that God treats guilty but penitent men as if they were not guilty, with a view to freeing them from their guilt and making them righteous. Isaiah conceives of His forgiveness under forms familiar to his time. He, a sinful man, is laid on the altar of God, and made wholly clean in God’ s sight, whatever the imperfections that may still cling to his nature, whatever selfishness or self-will may still mar his reconciliation to the will of God. Of course, however, the change of will does not long continue merely imaginary, or in symbol only; for, in all time, God’ s treatment of men as if their wills were devoted to Him, God’ s loving forgiveness of men’ s sins, has been the chief means of subduing man’ s will to Him in actual fact. (P. Thomson, M. A.)Christ symbolised by fire A traditional saying attributed to our Lord--“ He that is near Me is near fire.” (B. F. Westcott, D. D.)Holiness and service Had the prophet need of a coal? Oh, then grant for me a whole globe of fire, to remove my impurity and make me a fit messenger to Thy people. (Bernard.)Sin and God’ s treatment of it No intelligent man can read the entire Bible without discovering four things-- 1. That God considers sin a positive element in human affairs, to be talked about and dealt with as a fact. 2. That sin is the one abominable thing God says He hates, and will heavily punish. 3. That every sin is inherent in some personal factor. 4. That Almighty God Himself has provided a way by which every sinner can be relieved from the penalty of his transgressions, and graciously restored to holiness. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)John Woolman’ s experience That eminently holy man, “ Saint John Woolman,” as the poet Whittier called him, who struck the first blow against domestic negro slavery in America, notwithstanding the Divine illuminations he had been blessed with in early boyhood, had to pass through an analogous baptism ere he was able to follow the Master’ s call into public service. “ I sought deserts and lonely places, and there with tears did confess my sins to God, and humbly craved His help. And I may say with reverence, He was near me in my troubles, and in these times of humiliation opened my ears to discipline. From an inward purifying, and steadfast abiding under it, sprang a lively operative desire for the good of others. All the faithful are not called to the public ministry; but whoever are, are called to minister of that which they have tasted and handled spiritually.” (F. Sessions.)Stephen Grellet Of all the men of recent generations, Stephen Grellet, the French refugee nobleman, seems to have come nearest to the ancient Hebrew “ evangelical” prophet, and to the apostles of Christ. Pope, emperors, kings, and princes were the objects of his solicitude, and to these exalted personages he was permitted access, and personally delivered messages from God, as straightforward and cogent as those he gave to the veriest offscourings of the slums and purlieus of European cities, or to the formalists of Catholic and Protestant creeds. “ One evening, as I was walking in the fields alone [this was when he was twenty-two years of age], my mind being under no kind of religious concern, nor in the least excited by anything I had heard or thought of, I was suddenly arrested by what seemed to be an awful voice, proclaiming the words Eternity, Eternity, Eternity! It reached my soul,--my whole man shook,--it brought me, like Saul, to the ground. The great depravity and sinfulness of my heart were set open before me, and the gulf of everlasting destruction to which I was verging.” In this state he remained for many days, till it pleased God to deliver him, not by the agency of a hot stone brought by a winged angel from a visible altar, but by that of some loving sentences spoken by a lady preacher from England who was visiting the American home of the exile. “ No strength to withstand the Divine visitation was left in me. Oh, what sweetness did I then feel! It was indeed a memorable day. I was like one introduced into a new world; the creation and all things around me bore a different aspect,--my heart flowed with love to all.” From that “ awful day,” as he calls it, deep convictions laid hold of his mind, which, as he cherished them, led him to a full surrender, and a willingness to devote himself to the life of an ambassador of Christ to the rulers and peoples of the world. (F. Sessions.)Another inward vision He tells us that once again an inward vision came to him. It was during a period of silent worship among the members of the religious body to which this quondam disciple of Voltaire had joined himself. He was here granted such a view and sense of his sinful nature, though he was at that time a converted man, that he was like one crushed under millstones. “ My misery was great, and my cry was not unlike that of Isaiah, Woe is me, for I am undone!” Then there came to him a revelation of perfect salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. (F. Sessions.) Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send?-- Messengers wanted I. THE PERSON WANTED, as described in the questions, “ Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” The person wanted is viewed from two points. The person wanted has a Divine side: “ Whom shall I send?” Then he has a human aspect: “ Who will go for Us?” But the two meet together--the human and Divine unite in the last words, “ for Us.” Here is a man, nothing more than a man of human instincts, but clad through Divine grace with superhuman, even with Divine authority. Let us look, then, at this two-sided person. 1. He is Divinely chosen. 2. Cheerfully willing. 3. Sent by the Three-One. When we tell others the story of the Cross we speak for God the Father. Nor must we forget our tender Redeemer. Moreover, that blessed Spirit, under whose dispensatorial power we live at the present hour, He has no voice to speak to the sons of men audibly except by His people; and though He works invisibly and mysteriously in the saints, yet He chooses loving hearts, and compassionate lips, and tearful eyes to be the means of benediction. II. THE PERSON HIMSELF. “ Here am I; send me.” The person offering himself is described in the chapter at very great length--he must be an Isaiah. Being an Isaiah, he must-- 1. Have felt his own unworthiness. Notice how it was that Isaiah was made to feel his unworthiness. (1) By a sense of the presence of God. (2) Isaiah saw the glory of Christ. (3) It will strike you, too, that the particular aspect in which this humiliation may come to us will probably be, a sense of the Divine holiness, and the holiness of those who see His face. 2. We must possess a sense of mercy. 3. The man who will be acceptable must offer himself cheerfully. “ Here am I.” How few of us have in very deed given ourselves to Christ it is with most professors, “ Here is my half-guinea, here is my annual contribution” ; but how few of us have said, “ Here am I.” 4. The person who thus volunteered for sacred service gave himself unreservedly. He did not say, “ Here am I; use me where I am,” but “ send me.” Where to? No condition as to place is so much as hinted at. 5. He gives obediently, for he pauses to ask directions. It is not, “ Here am I; away I will go,” but “ Here am I; send me.” Some people get into their head a notion that they must do something uncommon and extraordinary, and though it may be most irrational, it is for that very reason that the scheme commends itself to their want of judgment. Because it is absurd, they think it to be Divine; if earthly wisdom does not justify it, then certainly heavenly wisdom must be called in to endorse it. Now, I conceive that you will find that whenever a thing is wise in God’ s sight it is really wise, and that a thing which is absurd is not more likely to be adopted by God than by man; for though the Lord does use plans which are called foolish, they are only foolish to fools, but not actually foolish. III. THE WORK WHICH SUCH PERSONS WILL BE CALLED TO . Isaiah’ s history is a picture of what many and many a true Christian labourer may expect. Isaiah was sent to preach very unpleasant truth, but like a true hero he was very bold in preaching it. “ Isaiah is very bold,” says the apostle. Now, if you are called of God either to preach or teach, or whatever it is, remember the things you have to preach or teach will not be agreeable to your hearers. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Militia-Christians Some people are militia Christians--they serve the King with a limitation, and must not be sent out of England; but others are soldier-Christians, who give themselves wholly up to their Lord and Captain; they will go wherever He chooses to send them. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Copyhold-Christians Some professors appear to belong to God by copyhold. They grant a limited kind of Divine right to their energies and substance; but there are many clauses which limit the holding. I hope that you are God’ s portion upon an absolute freehold. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God’ s call for servants Several questions arise as we read these words. Why is God asking for service instead of discharging the work Himself? He can speak in tones which would make the proudest quail; He can unfold a majesty before which the whole nation should be subdued. Or again, if He needs service, why does He wait for volunteers? Why does He not compel servants to enter upon this mission, as He imposed on Moses the task of leading the people of Israel out of the land of bondage? I. THE DIVINE CALL:--“ Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” 1. Why should God thus ask human service? We cannot doubt for a moment how independent our glorious God might be of all mere human resources. (1) The great purposes which God seeks to accomplish can best be achieved through human instrumentality. God craves from men, not the unconscious response which the mown grass makes to the showers, or dewdrops to the sunlight. He desires intelligent, trustful, loving union with Himself, and it may be that such ends as these are better obtained through human instrumentality than by an overpowering exhibition of the Divine majesty and glory. As the light comes to us through the atmosphere, which lessens its dazzling power, so that we are illuminated instead of being blinded with excess of light, so God gives to us His commands and messages through human tongues and language, lest we should be overpowered. (2) God means to educate His servants by using them for His purposes. When He says, “ Whom shall I send,” it is not that He is destitute of angelic hosts who would thankfully accept the commission. He knows how our human hearts will be educated by the very ministry we render. 2. Notice what is involved in such a call as this. When God says, “ Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us,” He pledges Himself to endue with authority, and to endow with all needful gifts, the man who answers the call. II. THE OF THE PROPHET. “ Here am I; send me.” 1. What could have led the prophet to offer himself for a Divine mission? How had he the courage to step forward and volunteer? Did he not shrink from the vast issues involved in the work? Did he not understand the dangers into which he would plunge? Did he not know how hard it would be to reach men’ s hearts around him with the solemn message? He knew it all, but he stepped forward in the simplicity of a perfect faith, and said, “ Here am I; send me.” You will perceive in the foregoing verse an account of his preparation for receiving this call. He was prepared by a sense of pardoning love. In the fulness of a loving, grateful heart, he stepped forward and accepted the mission. 2. Notice the willingness with which the prophet offered himself. He steps forward as one who feels it an honour, and is ready for any sacrifice which the honour may entail. This is the light in which we may wisely look on Christian service. III. THE DIVINE OF THE PROPHET’ S OFFER. God said, “ Go.” You have just that very simple succession of events. God asking for service, the prophet offering himself, and God accepting his services. If God has given you aptitude in dealing with the experiences of men, go into the homes of the poor and destitute, ministering consolation to their sorrows. If God has given you warm sympathies with the young, go into the ranks of the Sunday school, draw young hearts around you, and win them to Christ. If God has given you influence with men, go to the drunkard and the fallen and seek to reclaim them from the depths of degradation in which they are sunk. If God has given you the tongue of the wise to speak a word in season, which shall be as apples of gold in pictures of silver, go and use the power in private talk with the men you meet in daily life. (C. B. Symes, B. A.)The commission of a sinful but cleansed man “ Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Why does the Lord ask that question with such anxiety when He has all those shining seraphs standing at His side, and each one of them with six wings? Why was Isaiah, the son of Amoz, a man of unclean lips, and a man woeful and undone, so accepted, and so sent? Seraphs, not sinners, should surely be the preachers of such holiness as that of the God of Israel, and the heralds of such a Saviour--that is what we would have expected. But God’ s thoughts in these things are not as our thoughts. This has always been God’ s way in choosing and in ordaining and in sending both prophets, and psalmists, and priests, and preachers for His Church on earth. Only once did God choose a completely sinless preacher. Always, but that once, God has chosen sinful men; and, not seldom, the most sinful of men He could get to speak to their fellow men about sin and salvation. Gabriel might come with his six wings and his salutation to announce to Mary that the fulness of time had come and that the Word was to be made flesh, but it was John, the son of Zacharias, who was not that light, who was sent to preach repentance to the vipers of his day, and to urge them to flee from the wrath to come. And just as for the awakening and the warning of sinners, so for the edification and the comfort of saints. “ For every high priest is taken from among men, who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.” Isaiah, accordingly, of all men on the earth at that moment, and of all angels in heaven, was the man chosen of God to preach repentance to Jerusalem, and to prophesy to her the coming of her Messiah. And he preached on all these matters as no angel in all heaven could have preached, he preached as only a leper could preach to his brother lepers, and as only one undone man could preach to other undone men. Just hear him in his first sermon. “ The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’ s crib. Ah! sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers. Why should ye be stricken any more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores.” All God’ s seraphs taken together could not preach like that. It takes a great sinner to preach as well as to hear like that. You must have a man of men to see, and to feel, and to say things like that. And then, on the other hand, no seraph of them all, with all his wings, had seen down so deep, and had come up so close to the holiness of God as Isaiah had seen and had come close. The seraphs cry Holy, holy, holy, to one another, but they do not know what they are saying. The seraphs are innocent children. And He whom they so innocently praise charges His seraphs with folly. But, “ Woe is me! for I am undone!” The Lord likes to hear that. This young preacher, then, having seen both sin and holiness as no seraph ever saw these terrible things, proceeds in his sermon in this way: “ Wash you, make you clean; cease to do evil, learn to do well; judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Every syllable of all that is out of Isaiah’ s own experience. Preaching like that never yet came out of the schools of the prophets, any more than it ever came out of the mouth of an angel. Isaiah had done it all to himself, and had had it all done unto him of God. (A. Whyte, D. D.)The challenge of service I. THE . “ Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” The Lord’ s ordinary manner of appointing His messengers is to select them Himself, and without consulting them send them to do their work. He commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh with every consideration for Jonah’ s fitness, and no consideration for Jonah’ s tastes. The work is always more important than the man, for the man has a brief life, and the work is immortal. It ought not, therefore, to be expected that the Lord should regard anything in choosing a servant for duty but that servant’ s qualifications for the duty. But there are exceptions to this rule of selection for work. When the task is a peculiarly hazardous one; when the performance of it demands the highest attributes of the intellect, the rarest qualities of the heart, and an extraordinary stimulus of inspiration, it is better that these gifts should go to the work under the impulse of a self-moving passion rather than under the enforcement of command. The General of an army wisely relaxes the routine discipline of duty when in the fortunes of the campaign the troops have to face the desperate service of some forlorn hope. “ Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” is the proclamation from the Commander’ s tent, and a storming party of volunteers is told off, to mount the breach and take the van of danger. 1. In the year that King Uzziah died it seemed as if the last hope of the people of God had expired with him. 2. The nature of the work may be inferred from the condition of the people. They were an old and not a young nation: they were wicked and not ignorant: the two fountains of power, the Church and the State, were corrupt at their sources, authority of every kind was on the side of licentiousness; and since, with all this, the outward forms of order and of piety were preserved, the people grew up to be as remarkable for their hypocrisy as for their immorality. It has always been supposed that, whether in the case of a nation, or an individual, suffering is a powerful moralist; and that a mind which is proof against the humbling and cleansing effects of pain is reprobate and beyond redemption. The people of Israel and Judah had been punished by every species of chastisement; invasion, captivity, pestilence, famine, and sword, nothing that a people loves or a man cherishes had been left untouched; from the sole of the nation’ s foot to the crown of her head, the lash of retribution had been laid on so heavily that nothing was to be seen but “ wounds and bruises and putrifying sores.” Yet they continued to revolt more and more. This was the state of things for which the Lord demanded a voluntary workman. Who will be a bearer of evil tidings? who will reprove kings for My sake? Who will expose and denounce wickedness in high places? Who will proclaim the insincerity of the priests, their robbery of the flock, and the fiction of their ceremonial? Who will go to the market places and declare the dishonesty of their traffic? Who will beard the army and charge the soldiers with cowardice and treason? Who will be hated of all men, and be the victim of the conspiracies of the crafty, of the insults of the street rabble, and of the desertion of false and incompetent friends? Who will endure to fail; to be simply a witness; to speak without convincing; to sow without a harvest? 3. The voice of the Lord cries loudly in the midst of the Churches of today, inviting voluntary service for difficult work; missionary work abroad and missionary work at home. II. THE OF THE , “ Here am I; send me.” Looking at this acceptance by itself, it seems an extraordinary sacrifice on the part of Isaiah. He was a youth, probably not more than eighteen or nineteen, when he answered the Lord’ s challenge; he was a member of the first circle of the Jewish aristocracy, and, according to some authorities, a prince of the royal blood. He was nurtured in the soft and sumptuous luxuriance of palaces. There had been in his training everything to satisfy sense and to kindle ambition. Having great natural parts and a fine genius, and commanding both means and leisure, the career of a great State ruler, or a Church dignitary, or the easy splendour of an intellectual voluptuary, any or all of these distinctions were within reach of the gifted kinsman of Uzziah. Youth as he was, his social position and quick observation enabled him to appreciate the service demanded in the challenge. He knew the people to whom the message would be sent; he conjectured what the character of that message would be; and what kind of service awaited the man who should deliver it; that it would be hard, unthankful, and dangerous; and yet this youth, born to be a fine gentleman, accepted a task which might well have made the strongest and most experienced natures shrink, “ Here am I; send me!” Let us seek the explanation of this simplicity, devotion, and courage in that which went before the acceptance of the challenge. (E. Jenkins, LL. D.)Visions of God I. THE VISION OF GOD TO THE SOUL. The vision of God to the soul implies these two facts, namely, that God can communicate, speak, and make Himself manifest and known to the soul, and that the soul has capacity to receive what God makes known, or communicates to it. This capacity has been impaired, more or less, in all human beings. II. THE VISION OF GOD HAS EFFECTS UPON THE SOUL. It has a creative power that calls several new forces into action. 1. The sense of sin. 2. The sense of forgiveness. 3. The sense of duty. 4. Power to perform duty. (W. Thomas.)The Divine call for missionaries I. Let us gaze upon THE VISION OF GLORY which Isaiah saw. It was necessary for him to see it in order that he might be brought into the condition of heart out of which should come the full consecration expressed in--“ Here am I; send me.” Observe what he saw. 1. The supreme glory of God. See the patience of His infinite majesty,--He sits in calm glory upon His eternal throne. Nor is it a mean throne either, nor one of little dignity; it is “ high and lifted up.” It is not merely above all other thrones by way of greater power, but over them all by way of supreme dominion over them. 2. The court of the great King. He beheld the glorious attendants who perpetually perform homage, nearest to His throne. 3. The perpetual song, for these sacred beings continually cried, “ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” While you praise His holiness do not forget His power, but adore Him as “ Jehovah of hosts.” And then dwell, that you may feel a missionary spirit, on that last part of the song, “ The whole earth is filled with His glory,” for so it really is in one sense. “ Jehovah of hosts is the fulness of the whole earth.” Turn this ascription, for it may be so read, into a wish: “ Let the whole earth be filled with His glory.” Read it, if you please, as a prophecy: “ The whole earth shall be filled with His glory,” and then go you forward, O ye servants of the Most High, with this resolve, that in His hands you will be the means of fulfilling the prophecy by spreading abroad the knowledge of His name among the sons of men. II. Let us now turn our thoughts to THE VISION OF . This man Isaiah was to go forth in Jehovah’ s name, but in order to preparation for so high an embassage he must undergo a process peculiar but necessary. III. When a man is prepared for sacred work he is not long before he receives a commission. We come, then, to think of THE DIVINE CALL. Notice the particular kind of man for whom this voice is seeking. It is a man who must be sent, a man under impulse, a man under authority--“ Whom shall I send?” But it is a man who is quite willing to go, a volunteer, one who in his inmost heart rejoices to obey--“ Who will go for Us? “ What a strange mingling this is!” Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel,” and yet “ taking the oversight of the flock of God not by constraint but willingly.” IV. Now comes the last point, THE EARNEST . “ Here am I; send me.” 1. I think I see in that response a consciousness of his being in a certain position which no one else occupied, which rendered it incumbent upon him to say, “ Here am I.” 2. Then, he makes a full surrender of himself. Isaiah gave himself up to the Lord none the less completely because his errand was so full of sadness. He was not to win men, but to seal their doom by putting before them truth which they would be sure to reject. 3. Then comes Isaiah’ s prayer for authority and anointing. If we read this passage rightly we shall not always throw the emphasis upon the last word, “ me,” but read it also thus, “ Here am I, send me.” He is willing to go, but he does not want to go without being sent. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Here am I; send meWhole-hearted service “ Here am I; send me.” These few simple words express the crisis, the turning point in the life of Isaiah. If he had never uttered these words you would never have heard of him. But the uttering of these words in profound sincerity from the bottom of his heart made him one of the greatest of the prophets of God. The very first condition of whole-hearted service is the conviction that the cause which we serve will ultimately prevail. The day is coming when the Christian religion will prevail everywhere, when the will of God will be done on earth as literally and really as angels do it in heaven. Even now things are not as they seem. Even now the glory of God fills the whole earth. So young Isaiah realised in days much darker and more ominous than these. (H. P. Hughes, M. A.)The birth of the true missionary In the fellowship of the cleansing, the fellowship of the Cross, the missionary is born. (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)Seeing and saying Men must see before they can say. (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)Ecstasy and self-immolation Bless God for any ecstasy that leads to self-immolation. (J. Parker, D. D.)Seers and servants We must become seers before we can become servants. (S. Cox, D. D.)Experience to be used for the benefit of others Isaiah saw the King that he might serve the King. He was convinced of sin that he might convince his fellows, he was purged from his iniquity that he might proclaim the love, the sacrifice, which takes away the iniquity of us all. (S. Cox, D. D.)The whole life should be devoted to God Though at times he had to rebuke princes and to pronounce the doom of nations, yet it was his whole life that he dedicated to God, with all its petty details of daily conduct. It was part of his work to live with the prophetess he took to wife according to a Divine law; to name and train his children so that little Immanuel and little Maher-shalal-hash-baz should be “ for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts.” And, in like manner, God sends us to our own people, to our kinsfolk and acquaintance. (S. Cox, D. D.)“ To let the love out” If there were no humanity to save, none but our own, yours and mine, the fellowship of the cleansing would still be ours, but we would be seeking for something to do to express to the Christ our sense of what that fellowship had brought. Two sisters brought this fact home to me. One was weak, suffering, dying, though the other did not know it at the time. The one who was watching by the bedside said, “ It seems dreadful to be so helpless, to feel I can do so little to assuage the suffering of the dear one. I can do nothing whatever. If I only could do something that hurts, hurts me, I think I should feel better, to let my love out.” I know what she meant quite well--to let the love out. The love that we bear the dear Redeemer compels us to see the Divine in mankind. There is a sweet and holy sympathy born of that urgent desire to let the love out which was born in the fellowship of the cleansing. (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)Every church member should be a missionary In looking over a certificate of membership which I had received from a church in New York, concerning one of its members who was a sailor, I was pleased to observe that at the back of the certificate there were directions given to the member; and the first one was this, “ You are to remember that as a member of this church going upon a voyage, you are sent by us as missionary. You are to understand that you and every other member of the church are bound to spread abroad the Saviour’ s name.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)“ Ready to obey” Of a man chosen by the church council of a Uganda mission, to act as father to the boys and see that they kept out of mischief, a missionary writes: “ An ordination candidate, whose name is Jacob the elephant, an extremely nice, sensible man, was suggested, and I was much struck by his reply when asked if he would undertake the post. He at once said, ‘ Is it for me to choose my work? You tell me what to do, and I am ready to obey.’” (Christian Endeavour.)The missionary spirit General Booth once wanted fourteen recruits for India. He had his whole company about him, and he said: “ This is very dangerous work, and it requires great self-sacrifice. I might detail you for the work, but I will not detail any one of you. I will tell you what I will do: if any of you want to volunteer for it, you will have the privilege to do so after one hour. Go away now and pray about it.” They went away and prayed about it, and at the end of the hour General Booth said, “ Are any of you willing to undertake this work?” And fourteen stalwart men stepped forward and said, We are ready to sad tomorrow morning. (A. H. Bradford, D. D.)A true missionary Speaking at Exeter Hall, in 1886, James Chalmers said, in reference to his New Guinea experiences: “ Recall the twenty-one years; give me back all its experiences, give me its shipwrecks, its standings in the face of death; give it me surrounded by savages with spears and clubs; give it me back again with spears flying about me and the club knocking me to the ground; give it me back, and I will still be your missionary.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)“ Send me:” David Brainerd prayed for such a complete absorption in the Divine will that he might become utterly indifferent to every outward circumstance of discomfort and trial, if only he could make known the love of Christ. He says in his journal:--“ Here am I, Lord, send me; send me to the ends of the earth; send me to the rough and savage pagans of the wilderness; send me from all that is called comfort in the earth; send me even to death itself, if it be but in Thy service and to promote Thy kingdom.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)Save one A man once rose in one of Mr. Moody’ s meetings, and gave his experience. “ I have been for five years on the Mount of Transfiguration.” “ How many souls did you lead to Christ last year?” was the sharp question that came from Mr. Moody, in an instant. “ Well, I don’ t know,” was the astonished reply. “ Have you led any?” persisted Mr. Moody. “ I don’ t know that I have,” answered the man. “ Well,” --said Mr. Moody, “ we don’ t want that kind of mountain-top experience. When a man gets so high that he can’ t reach down and save poor sinners, there is something wrong.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)Every Christian should be an evangelist Dr. Howard Crosby used to say, “ When will New York city be evangelised? I’ ll tell you--when every Christian becomes an evangelist.” (Christian Endeavour.)God’ s call: the anti-slavery and other crusades Those who do the best work in the world’ s redemption, and yet may never preach a sermon, have had a “ call” to accomplish it. The “ call” may have been felt only as an overwhelming and disinterested desire to accomplish some noble end, but it has been as truly there as if seraphim had announced it. Such great movements as the anti-slavery crusade are full of instances. Of Thomas Clarkson it is recorded that when about twenty-four years of age, after having composed and read a Latin prize essay at Cambridge University, he travelled to London to assist in founding a society for the suppression of the slave trade. Overwhelmed with the awfulness of the traffic he had been denouncing, he alighted from his horse, and sitting by the roadside prayed that God would raise up some devoted champion of the oppressed African. Suddenly the thought flashed into his mind that he should offer himself to this cause. How he, under this overmastering feeling, ultimately surrendered the clerical life for which he was preparing, how he laboured till the slave trade was excised from the body politic, and how he was followed in a true “ apostolic succession” by William Wilberforce, in the further attack upon domestic slavery, is recorded in the pages of history. Wilberforce, too, passed through times of deep self-conflict till the necessary new habits of mind and life were formed. He, in turn, gave place to such men as Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton and Joseph Sturge, who also were “ called” and “ ordained” by the Spirit of God to the Christlike work of securing liberty to the captive. Prison reformers and uplifters of the criminal, like John Howard, Elizabeth Fry, and Sarah Martin, passed through periods of probation, when there seemed to be in their minds “ a prophetic stir of coming duties outside the usual sphere” of their daily lives. (F. Sessions.)Richard Knill’ s call I was studying for the ministry, with a view to labour in England; it happened that there was a missionary meeting in the neighbourhood, and one of the ministers said to me, Come to me over, and bring “ the students with you, it will do them good,” --and as one inducement he said, “ There is an eminent Scotch minister in town, Dr. Waugh, who is to preach.” We went--and, I have no doubt, we went praying to receive a blessing. Dr. Waugh took for his text that beautiful verse in Isaiah, “ It shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” In the first part of his subject he spoke of the perishing condition of the man who was ignorant of the Gospel, and he said, “ It is a fact, there are four hundred millions of our fellow creatures in this deplorable condition, without God, and without hope.” After he had dwelt on this, he spoke of the infinite wisdom and goodness of God, which had provided a remedy for perishing sinners. After speaking on this for some time he stopped, and looking around on the congregation, he said, “ This trump cannot blow of itself, we must have men to blow it,--pardoned sinners--redeemed men--those who have tasted the love of Christ, and who feel for their fellow creatures--those who know what a precious Saviour Christ is, from sweet experience. We want such men--the heathen are perishing, and will perish, unless God’ s remedy is sent to them--that remedy is in your possession.” He then paused again, and looking around, as if wanting to fix his eyes on some object, he said in a moving manner, “ Is there one disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ who has love enough for his Divine Master in his heart to say, Here am I; send me?” Oh, when he said that, I felt it thrill through my soul, and I silently said to Him who searcheth my heart, “ Lord, I will go.” It was a memorable day to me, I can never forget it. The sermon was soon ended; the congregation was broken up; my friends went to dine; I was invited to dine with my fellow students; I had no appetite for food, my heart was full--and I said to a friend, Can you procure me a garret, where I can spend the remainder of the day in fasting and prayer? He procured it for me; and in that garret I spent some of the happiest and most solemn moments of my life; and seeing the agony of Him whose blood was shed a sacrifice for my sins, I said, “ Lord, I will go.” (R. Knill.)Ready for service When the Moravian Brethren in Germany were carrying on their great mission work in heathen lands, Zinzendorf, their distinguished leader, sent one day for one of the ministers, and said to him, “ Will you go to Greenland tomorrow as a missionary?” The minister, after a moment’ s hesitation, said, “ Yes, if the shoemaker can finish the boots which I have ordered of him by tomorrow, I will go.” (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)God’ s call: Cobden and Bright Cobden and Bright believed--to quote the language of the former - that “ a moral and even religious spirit might be infused into the question of the repeal of the Corn Laws.” The story of Mr. Bright’ s dedication to this most beneficent idea is admirably reproduced in Vince’ s life of the great Tribune. There came to his soul’ s vision no forthshadowing of God’ s glory in any manmade temple, but the story is thus told by himself: “ I was at Leamington when Mr. Cobden called upon me. I was then in the depths of grief,--I might almost say of despair,--for the light and sunshine of my house had been extinguished. All that was left on earth of my young wife, except the memory of a sainted life and of a too brief happiness, was lying still and cold in the chamber above us. Mr. Cobden called upon me as a friend, and addressed me, as you may suppose, with words of condolence. After a time he looked up and said, ‘ There are thousands of homes in England at this moment where wives, mothers, and children are dying of hunger. Now,’ he said, ‘ when the first paroxysm of your grief is passed, I would advise you to come with me, and we will never rest till the Corn Law is repealed.’ I accepted his invitation. I knew that the description he had given me of the homes of thousands was not an exaggerated description. I felt in my conscience that there was a work that someone must do. From that time we never ceased to labour hard on behalf of the resolution we had made.” In this case a Lancashire manufacturer brought the “ call,” but surely the angels of sorrow and sympathy assisted in the “ consecration,” and the Holy One of Israel worked with His servant. (F. Sessions.) Isaiah 6:9-13 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not Isaiah: his heaviness and his consolation 1. Isaiah summed up his whole future life in those two words, “ Behold me; send me.” Then on his ardent soul was poured the heavy message, “ Go, and thou shalt tell this people” (God speaks of them no more as His own), “ Hear ye on, and understand not; and see ye on, and know not. Make thou dull the heart of this people, and its ears make thou heavy, and its eyes close thou; lest it see with its eyes, and with its ears hearken, and its heart understand, and it return and one heal it.” Startling office for one so sanguine and so young! Heavy burden to bear for probably sixty-one years of life, to be closed by a martyr’ s excruciating death! Outside of that commission there was hope: hope, because the promises of God could not fail of fulfilment: hope, because in the worst times of Israel there had been those seven thousand which the prophet knew not of, but whose number God revealed to him, who had stood faithful to God amid the national apostasy; hope, because when God pronounces not a doom, we may take refuge in the loving mercy of Him who swears by Himself, “ As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure individuals: the people, not to individuals, only as they were such as the mass of the nation was, as they themselves made up that mass. This, in all seeming, was the thankless office to which Isaiah was called, to be heard, to be listened to, by some with contempt, by others with seeming respect, and to leave things in the main worse than he found them. 3. Isaiah’ s office was towards those, in part at least, who were ever hearing, never doing, and so never understanding. And so (so to speak) he was only to make things worse. So St. Paul says, “ The earth which drinketh in the rain which cometh oft upon it--if it bring forth thorns and briars, is accounted worthless and nigh unto cursing,” not yet accursed, yet nigh unto it, “ whose end” --if it remains such unto the end--“ is to be burned.” There were better among the people; there were worse; but such was the general character; it was an ever-hearing,--hearing,--hearing (such is the force of the words, “ hear ye hearing on,” evermore), never wearied of hearing, yet never doing; ever seeing, as they thought, yet never gaining insight; and so becoming ever duller, their sight ever more and more bleared, until to hear and to see would become well-nigh, and to man, impossible. The more they heard and saw, the further they were from understanding, from being converted, from the reach of healing. Such they were, a little later, in Ezekiel’ s time. So it was when He came of whom Isaiah prophesied. They thought that they knew the law, but only to allege their interpretation of it against Him. The more they heard, the more they were blinded. And their imagined seeing and their real blindness, was their condemnation (John 9:41). This is inseparable from every revelation of God, from every preaching of the Gospel, from every speaking of God inwardly to the soul, from every motion of God the Holy Ghost, from every drawing or forbidding of that, judge which He has placed within, our conscience, from every hearing of God’ s Word. All and each leave the soul in a better condition or a worse. Not by any direct hardening from God, not through any agency of the prophet, but by man’ s free will, hearing but not obeying, seeing but not doing, feeling but resisting, the preaching of the prophet would leave them only more hopelessly far from that conversion, whereby God might heal them. 4. And what said the prophet? Contrary as the sentence must have been to all the yearnings of his soul, crushing to his hopes, he knew that it must be just, because “ the Judge of the whole world” must “ do right.” He intercedes, but only by those three words, “ Lord, how long?” He appeals to God. Such could not be God’ s ultimate purpose with His people. The night was to come; sin deserved it; but was it to have no dawn? Hope there is yet, but meanwhile a still-deepening night, a climax of woe; and that in two stages. In the first, “ cities left without inhabitants” ; and not cities only, as a whole, but “ houses” too “ tenantless” ; nor these alone, but “ the whole land desolate, and God removes the inhabitants far away, and there shall be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.” Nor this only, but when, in this sifting time, nine parts should be gone, and one-tenth only remain, this should be again consumed: only, like those trees which survived the winters and storms of a thousand years, while the glory, wherewith God once clad it, was gone, its hewn stem was still to live; “ a holy seed” was to be the stock thereof. The vision, opened before him, stretches on until now and to the end. His question, “ How long? Until when?” implied a hope that there would be an end; the answer “ until,” declared that there would be an end. We have, in one, that first carrying away, the small remnant which should return; its new desolation; the holy seed which should survive; the restoration at the end, of which St. Paul says, then “ all Israel shall be saved.” 5. And this message fell on one of the tenderest of hearts in its early freshness. As he is eminently the Gospel-prophet, the evangelist in the old covenant, so he had already been taught by the Holy Ghost the Gospel lesson, “ Love your enemies.” He denounces God’ s judgments; but he himself is the type of Him who wept over Jerusalem. 6. Yet where there is desolation for the sake of God, there is also consolation. Wherein was Isaiah’ s? Not in the solace of his married life. His daily dress was like John Baptist’ s, the hair cloth pressing upon his loins, wearing to the naked flesh, although mentioned only when he was to put it off and himself to become a portent to his people, walking naked and barefoot (Isaiah 20:2). His two sons were, by their names, the continual pictures of that woe on his people. What, then, was his solace? Isaiah had seen, as man can see, Christ’ s Deity (John 12:41). He had seen Him, the brightness of the Father’ s glory and the express image of His person. Yet he had not seen the Son alone. He himself says, “ Mine eyes have seen the King,” Him who is the Lord of hosts. And the Holy Ghost says by St. Paul that He spake by Isaiah in these words (Acts 28:25-27). It was a human Form which he beheld, sitting enthroned as the Judge, and receiving the worship of the glowing love of the seraphim. How should not this vision live in him for those threescore years? So God prepared him to be, above all “ the goodly company of the prophets,” the evangelic prophet, in that he had seen the glory of the Lord. He, too, was a man of longing. His darkest visions are the dawn streaks of the brightest light. He lived in a future for himself, a future which God had promised to the remnant of His people He looked on beyond this world of disappointment and shadows. God Himself is the everlasting bliss of those who wait for Him. 7. Be not dismayed, then, though men who think that they see, see not, or though they see not, because they think that they see. It is but the condition of the victories of faith over the soul, free, if it will, to disbelieve. Be not discouraged, if iniquity abound, or mankind seem to deafen itself in its pleasures or gains, or at the stupidity of an intellect which will not acknowledge a God whom it does not see, or own its own free will, which it has used against God continually, and, by repeated choices of its own evil against God’ s good, has well-nigh enslaved to its master passion, which God would have subjected to it. Jesus foretold at once His victories and His sorrows; His victories in those who willed to look to Him as their Master, their Saviour, their Regenerator, their Life, their Resurrection, their Immortality of joy; His sorrows, in those who would not be redeemed. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)The prophet’ s thoughts at this period The prophet’ s thoughts at this period are few, if great. They are in the main these three: 1. His though of the Lord, the King. 2. His thought of the people in their insensibility to the majesty and rule of the King. 3. These two thoughts when brought together inevitably create the third--that of the annihilation of the people down to a remnant, that the Lord may be exalted in that day. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)The importance of understanding truth The vast importance of people’ s understanding what they hear, our blessed Saviour frequently inculcated upon those who attended His ministry. He often introduced His subject by calling upon them to hear and understand: after discoursing to them He sometimes asked if they understood what they heard? He blamed them if they did not understated, and commended those who were so happy as to know the things which were freely given them of God. (R. Macculloch.)Israel’ s punishment necessary We, reading this prophecy in the light of history, can say that if it were anywhere necessary thus to assert God’ s righteousness against sin, most especially was it so in this the chosen nation of Israel. Israel had been set apart that in him all the nations of the earth should be blessed; and if he became reprobate, where were this promise to the world? “ If gold rusteth, what should iron do?” Therefore the cities were to be wasted without inhabitant, and the land utterly desolate; and even after a partial recovery from this punishment, and a humble restoration of a small part of their ancient glory, the stern process should be repeated again and again: the invasion of Pekah and Rezin would be repaired only to be followed by that of Sennacherib; the captivity of Manasseh would succeed the peaceful reign of Hezekiah; Josiah would restore the kingdom only to be laid waste by the Egyptian and the Assyrian; the Roman would come after the Greek, and even Hadrian after Titus, All thought of an earthly glory of the nation must give way before such a, prospect. If the prophet could have looked so far forward, and with a patriot’ s hopes alone, there was nothing but humiliation and despair before him; he could, at most, expect but such temporary alleviation and restoration as might enable him to do his work while he was there. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)The meaning of the message intrusted to Isaiah Did it represent the ministry to which he was solemnly deputed as a forlorn hope, because, from the moral temper and confirmed habits of the people, an unfavourable result was antecedently certain? This seems the sense in which it was understood by the authors of the LXX, and its form, if Hebrew idiom be taken into account, is by no means inconsistent with this meaning. It is a mode of expression, very characteristic of Hebrew thought, to represent the result of a course of action as designed which is only foreseen or confidently anticipated. Familiar with forms of government in which the sovereign power appeared wholly without control, the Hebrews transferred ideas derived from this source to the government of God. They had a conviction that the Judge of all the earth must do right, but the conception of the rights of the creature and correlative responsibilities of the Creator did not lie within the horizon of their thought. Their overwhelming sense of the Divine power, absolutely ordering all events and giving no account of its dealings, permitted them to say, without any idea that they were imputing evil to God, “ Why hast Thou made us to err from Thy ways, and hardened our heart from Thy fear?” (E. W. Shalders.)The message from God It may be said that in the passage under consideration the utterance is not the prophet’ s, but God’ s. But this makes no difference, since Isaiah’ s mind was the field of revelation; and, strictly speaking, there is no more difficulty in the idea of God’ s accommodating Himself to modes of human thought than in His employing our modes of speech. It is a necessity limiting the absolute truth of revelation. If men’ s minds are to be reached, the Spirit must use such avenues of approach as have been thrown up for other occasions. God’ s communications to Isaiah would be tinctured by Isaiah’ s habits of thought as inevitably as the prophet’ s publication of them. (E. W. Shalders.)Incidental penalty A college professor would not be doing his duty towards his conscientious and diligent students if he forbore to proceed to the higher branches of the subject of his prelections, because his teaching would have the inevitable effect of confusing and discouraging the idle men who had failed to master his elementary course. So it is the appointment of Isaiah’ s mission, notwithstanding its foreseen failure in the case of all but a remnant of the nation, which gives it a judicial character, and makes it a menace of judgment. (E. W. Shalders.)Judgment and mercy Hence our Lord’ s use of the passage to justify His having recourse to parables while prosecuting His ministry in the midst of a nation that had already shown a strong disposition to reject Him. He puts His teaching into a form in which it could be apprehended by such as were willing to do the will of His Father, but which would hide it from those whose disobedience to known truth had deprived them of spiritual insight. This was a chastisement upon their perverse and prejudiced minds, because a virtual withdrawal of His saving ministry from them. It was like closing their day of visitation. Yet in another aspect the adoption of this course was an act of mercy; for teaching, the meaning of which is obscure to the unwilling hearer, is less hardening than plain truth, because it does not provoke such obstinate resistance. So also there was mercy in Isaiah’ s ministry to his hardened fellow countrymen. It was to be continued until their cities were desolate, without inhabitant, and the Lord had removed men far away. Then its gracious purpose to them would become manifest, for when suffering Divine judgments they would be thrown back upon neglected warnings. Though so long unavailing, as unavailing as if their very design had been to confirm them in their disobedience, these warnings would eventually become weird fingers pointing to the cause of their sufferings, and indicating the way of salvation through repentance and turning to God (verses 11-13). For the severest lines of the prophet’ s message plainly imply that, even after a course of obstinate impenitence, to turn to put a constraint upon God’ s mercy, and draw forth His forgiveness: “ lest,” He says, “ they convert and be healed.” (E. W. Shalders.)A loud call to repentance Four the prophet to represent God as actually no longer inviting men to repent, but only desiring their greater condemnation, was a new and most forcible call to repentance for men who had rejected many previous calls. It was like digging a grave for a man in his own sight, after you have failed to convince him by word that his course of conduct must end in death. It brought the far-off results of men’ s behaviour most vividly before their eyes. It roused them to thought by the unwonted cry that the hour of repentance was past. (P. Thomson, M. A.)God vindicating Himself It is most important, when a boy at school is careless, and makes little or no progress in learning, that his teacher should put himself in a right position--that he should be able to declare that he paid attention to him, and did his utmost to promote his education. It is most important, when a son turns out badly, that the parents should put themselves in a right position--that they should be able to declare that they did their duty by him. In like manner, it was most important that, relative to the people of Judah, God should put Himself in a right position, or in a position to appeal to facts; that He should be able even to appeal to themselves, as to whether He had not interested Him self in them, borne patiently with them, and wrought with them in every possible way to guide their feet into right paths. But if Isaiah had not been sent to them, would God have been in a position to appeal to facts? He would not. It is not strange, then, that he was commissioned to go to them in the character of a prophet, and deal with them in order to their reformation. (G. Cron, M. A.)Opposite effects from the same agencies The same fire reddens the gold and burns the dross. Under the same threshing sledge the grain is cleansed and the chaff crushed out. By the same press beam the oil is separated from the dregs. The same sunshine and rain which cause the living tree to grow and flourish, are the most potent influences to bring the dead tree to decay. (Sunday School Chronicle.)A hard ministry “ On the morning before I was licensed,” says the late Rev. John Brown, “ that text was much impressed on my spirit.” He said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not, etc. Since I was ordained at Haddington, I know not how often it hath been heavy to my heart to think how much this Scripture hath been fulfilled in my ministry. Frequently I have had an anxious desire to be removed by death, from being a plague to my poor congregation. Often, however, I have checked myself, and have considered this wish as my folly, and begged of the Lord, that if it were not for His glory to remove me by death, He would make me successful in my work.” See ye indeed, but perceive notSight without insight (with Mark 8:18):--They had sight, but no insight. They exercised the power of observation, but had no imagination. They were ritualistic, but not poetic. In their company could be found scribes, but no prophets. They had many politicians, but no statesmen. Eyes had they, but no vision. Life to these people was a superficies, not a profundity. Facts were planes, not cubes. Everything was a surface phenomenon, a mere skin with no wondrous internal ministry to arouse the imagination and to fill the being with awe. Now the suggestion of the Scriptures is this: Life is cubical, every fact being a cube. To see only the surface is elementary and primitive. The crown of life consists in being able to comprehend with all saints what is the length, and breadth, and depth, and height, of every fact which we encounter in the common paths of daily life. The practical which we can measure with a foot rule has mystical relationships; the material has spiritual significance. To see the larger relationships of things, to discern their spiritual pose and set, to peer into their possible issues, is vision. “ Thousands of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see.” (J. H.Jowett, M. A.)Two ways of looking at things: the superficial and the cubical Let me illustrate a little more clearly these two ways o flocking at things, the superficial and the cubical; the so-called practical and the imaginative; the way of sight and the way of vision. 1. There are two ways of looking at a little child. “ Sight” exercises the power of observation and beholds a little animal, compounded of material atoms in varying quality, a cunning product of material forces; a little bundle of hungers and thirsts. “ Insight” beholds in the child a germ of wondrous possibility, a promise of the eternal, a vehicle of unnamed endowments, a possible image of Christ. 2. There are two ways of looking at a flower. There is the way of “ sight” -- A primrose by the river’ s brim A yellow primrose was to him, And it was nothing more. And there is the way of “ insight” -- Flower in the crannied wall, I pluck you out of the cranny. I hold you here root and all, in my hand, Little flower, but if I could understand What you are, root and all, and all in all, I should know what God and man is. 3. There are two ways of looking at a book: “ sight” and “ insight.” Here is a book. It is a dictionary. A man gave years of ceaseless labour to its creation. What is it? A Chinese dictionary. Who compiled it? A missionary. And this when he might have been teaching the multitude, feeding the hungry, carrying consolation to the terrified and depressed. To what purpose is this waste? Why were not these years invested and given the poor? So says “ sight;” How does “ insight” regard the labour! The dictionary is a door of hope, the carrier of light, the key to an empire, a living way into the thought and heart of a vast people. 4. There are two ways of looking at the fabric of this building in which we at present worship. “ Sight” says, “ How plain the structure, made of common brick! And the windows! nothing about them tasteful and refined.” “ Insight” gazes at the building and recalls the men and women who have found their Saviour here. A panorama of spiritual ministers passes before it, the consecration of wedlock, the dedication of little children, the illumination of death, the transfiguration of sorrow, the heightening of joy! To the soul’ s vision this plain brick house is an earthly vessel, precious because of the heavenly treasure of which it has been, and is, the shrine. 5. There are two ways of looking at the bread upon the Communion table. To “ sight” it is common baker’ s bread, bought at so much a loaf, and there is much more like it. To “ vision” it is a token of a broken body and of shed blood. By vision we realise the spiritual significance of things, and by fixing our regard upon them we appropriate their contents into our own spirits. (J. H.Jowett, M. A.)Religious, but without spiritual discernment Now let me mention an astounding thing. This word of the prophet’ s, and the stern warning as to the perils of blindness with which this book abounds, are addressed not to the men of the world, the jauntily irreligious, the men who treat the affairs of the Highest with levity or derision. They are addressed to the religious, to the regular churchgoers, to the recognised adherents of the synagogue and the temple. They are addressed to men and women who are religious but who have no vision, who pay scrupulous attention to ritual but who are devoid of spiritual discernment. They had given undue emphasis to the formal. Their life had been lived on the superficies. In the realm of religion they were geographers, not geologists; registrars, not poets. They lived and moved on the piano of rules, they did not enter into the roomy depths of principles. They were great at surface measurements; the measure of a Sabbath day’ s journey, the length of a rope, the hang of a tassel, the fixing of a pin, the duration of a fast. Now when the formal is unduly emphasised it is at the expense of the moral. When ritual is obtrusive the spiritual is impaired. These exalted the trellis and forgot the fruit! But when the spiritual is minimised, life becomes callous. We become indurated by worship of form. What therefore do we find? We find that in the speech of the prophets it is the formally religious people who are denounced for their senselessness; the formal have become the brutal. They have lost their spiritual refinement, and with it their sympathy for their kind. And when the refinement has gone from the spirit, men lose their insight, their power of seeing the invisible. “ They have eyes, but they see not.” (J. H.Jowett, M. A.)Conditions of spiritual vision How can we gain and keep the power of vision? 1. Let us seek our answer in the Book of Revelation: “ Anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see.” Mark the connection of this passage. The anointing follows an adorning; before the eyes are mentioned attention has been drawn to the garments. The garment must be changed; the raiment must be made “ white.” The life must attain unto purity. Then, succeeding the purity, comes the vision--the insight. First, there is the “ washing of regeneration” ; then “ the vision and faculty Divine.” “ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” “ Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things.” 2. And there is one other condition which must be named. It is suggested to us by a word of the Apostle Paul: “ I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” When we have discerned a heavenly meaning, when we have seen the Divine significance of things, when we have entered into the spiritual purpose, we are to be true to what we have seen. I must bring my life into conformity with my light. “ Hold fast that which thou hast.” I must not batter the gates of heaven for more light if I am rebellious to the light already given. I must be true to what I see. If I live truly I shall see truly. Obedience is the way to the larger vision. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)Israel’ s detective insight The great objects which were presented to the view of this people were, the astonishing wonders which were brought before their eyes, the many terrible judgments inflicted upon their enemies, the signal victories with which they were crowned, the glorious deliverances and remarkable interpositions of kind Providence in their behalf. (R. Macculloch.)Responsibility of having the Gospel A writer says, “ You may buy a New Testament for a few pence, yet it may be to you at last the most costly possession you ever had.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)Petrifaction The petrifying well at Knaresborough well known, and may illustrate this subject. It is a cascade from the river Nidd, about fifteen feet high and twice as broad, and forms an aqueous curtain to a cave. The dripping waters are used for petrifying anything that may be hung up in the drip of the water ledge, which flows over, as it were, the eaves of the cave. This ledge of limestone rock is augmented unceasingly by the action of the water--which flows over it. In the cascade a great variety of objects are hung up by short lengths of wire, and these are petrified, turned into rock, by the water trickling over them; sponges, books, gloves, veils, animals, and birds subjected to the action of the shower are changed into stone. A sponge is petrified in a few months; some things require a year or two. Petrifying streams threaten our spiritual life, and unless duly resisted, steal away our vitality and leave us with the coldness and hardness of stone. (W. L.Watkinson.) Isaiah 6:10 Make the heart of this people fat The power of self-cursing “ Make the heart of this people fat,” etc. By this it is not meant that Isaiah was to aim at and put forth what power he possessed to lead the people of Judah deeper and ever deeper into error and sire That was an errand on which God was morally incapable of sending him. His business was to teach them, not error, but truth; to set them an example not of rebellion, but obedience to the Divine win; to diminish and do away with their moral insensibility and wickedness, not increase them. The meaning is, that they would so act that the effect of all his diligence and ingenuity to instruct and reform them would be to render them still more stupid and wicked, and still more the objects of the Lord’ s displeasure. Accordingly, both in Matthew 13:14-15 and Acts 28:25-27, we find the passage so quoted and interpreted as to bring out the guilt of the people themselves, and constrain us to throw all the blame on them. (G. Cron, M. A.) Isaiah 6:11 Then said I, Lord, how long?-- The state of the Church I. NOTICE A FEW THINGS THE STATE OF THE CHURCH AND OF THE WORLD WHICH ARE TO EXCITE THE AND GRIEF OF THE . 1. The little progress which Christianity has made after a lapse of eighteen hundred years. 2. The prevalence of irreligion in those parts of the world which are professedly Christian. 3. The low state of religion in the Church itself. 4. The obstacles which the Church presents to the increase of vital piety. II. HOW LONG THIS STATE OF THINGS IS TO , or when we may reasonably expect another, and a better. 1. There is a connection established between the spirit or the state of mind generally prevailing in the Church and its prosperity, or the extension of religion in the world. As soon as the Church is thoroughly alive and truly devoted to God, the time of her enlargement is at hand. 2. The second point respects the inquiry, what is that state of mind which must generally prevail in the Church in order to the extension of religion in the world? (1) It is absolutely necessary that the Church should realise her position and feel her responsibility. (2) It is absolutely necessary also that the Church should feel sympathy with her Lord in His intense solicitude, or in the accomplishment of the great purpose of His mediation. (3) Until this state of mind prevail in the Church our efforts will not be of such a character as God can greatly bless. III. HOW MAY THE CHURCH BE BROUGHT INTO THAT STATE OF MIND WHICH APPEARS TO BE IN ORDER TO HER AND TO THE OF THE GOSPEL THE WORLD! Every man should begin with himself, and everyone who is awake should endeavour to awaken his brother. (J. J.Davies.)Isaiah’ s attitude towards his message The prophet cannot venture to intercede for the people, nor does he dare to give vent to his sorrow over the need of this stern message save by the words, “ How long, Lord?” How long shall I have this painful and fruitless duty to perform! (P. Thomson, M. A.) Isaiah 6:13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return The remnant In the worst of times God has a little remnant that kept their garments clean, and in the midst of the most sweeping and desolating calamities He will take special notice of it for good. 1. The remnant will be but small. “ A tenth.” A certain number put for an uncertain. The tenth was God’ s proportion under the law, consecrated for His use. 2. They shall return; i.e., from their sins and backslidings and the common defections of the Church of Israel. They shall return also from their captivity in Babylon to their native land. 3. It is asserted of this remnant that it shall be eaten; that is, say some, after they return they shall be devoured a second time by the kings of Assyria. God’ s remnant, when they are delivered out of one trouble, must lay their account with another. Or, as some understand it, shall be accepted of God as the tithe was which was meat in God’ s house. The saving of this remnant shall be meat to the faith and hope of them that wish well to God’ s kingdom and interest. 4. It is said of this remnant, that it shall be “ as a teil, and as an oak whose substance is in them, even when they east their leaves.” As if He had said, Though they may be stripped of their outward prosperity, and share in the common calamity; yet they shall recover like a tree in the spring, and sprout and flourish again: although they fall, they shall not be utterly cast down. 5. This distinguished remnant shall be the stay and support of the public interest. “ The holy seed shall be the substance thereof.” (E. Erskine.)How the religious of a nation are the strength of it I. WHAT ARE WE TO BY THE OF A NATION? 1. Those who, as to the doctrine of Christianity, “ hold the Head.” 2. Those who, as to the practice of Christianity, “ fear God and work righteousness.” II. HOW, AND IN WHAT , THEY MAY BE SAID TO BE ITS . “ The holy seed” is here called “ the substance,” or “ stock,” of a people; so that in what respects the strength of a tree is in its stock, in those, or several of them, the strength of a people is in the religion of them. 1. The stock of a tree is the most firm and durable part of it. 2. The stock is that which propagates its kind. Cut off all the boughs, and yet the stem will shoot forth again, send out new leaves and fruit and seed, from which other trees will come. So here the righteous propagate their righteousness, communicate to others, beget children to God. 3. The stock of the tree is that for the sake of which the tree is dressed and watered and looked after. Men take care of the tree so long as there is life in the stock; they not only do not grub it up, but prune it, and bestow upon it what cost and labour is fit for it. III. ON WHAT ACCOUNT THE OF A NATION MAY BE SAID TO BE ITS , or what influence they have on the welfare and security of a people. 1. As they are God’ s favourites. 2. As they improve their interest with God for a people. 3. As they are a means many times to stop the current of wickedness, which is ready to overflow a land with judgments, and to bring swift destruction on it. 4. As they not only check the progress of sin, but propagate goodness to others, as well as promote it in themselves. This they do by their counsels, admonitions, example. 5. Sometimes the religious of a nation may have an influence upon its public welfare, by doing some eminent service, wherewith God is much pleased, and to which He hath a special respect. “ Phinehas stood up, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed” (Psalms 106:30). 6. God may sometimes spare a people for the sake of His children among them, that they may be useful and helpful to them in His work. This end God had in sparing the Gibeonites; He intended they should be “ hewers of wood and drawers of water” for His sanctuary, and so assistant to the priests and Levites in their service (Joshua 9:27). So, Isaiah 62:5, 7. God can make even Moab “ hide His outcasts” (Isaiah 16:3-4); “ the earth help the woman” (Revelation 12:16); Ahab favour a good Obadiah, that he may hide the Lord’ s prophets (1 Kings 18:3-4); a heathen Cyrus “ let go His captives and build His city” (Isaiah 14:13); a Darius, an Artaxerxes, an Ahasuerus, countenance and prefer a Daniel, a Nehemiah, a Mordecai, public instruments of good to His people. Sometimes God may so twist and combine the interest of worldly men with the interest of His children, that they cannot promote their own, without helping on the others’ . IV. . 1. If the religious of a nation are the strength and defence of it, then the same may be said of the religious of the world,--they are the substance of it, the support, the strength of it. The world itself is preserved chiefly for the sake of the godly in it, “ the holy seed.” 2. The religious of a nation are not its enemies. 3. The sinners of a nation are really the weakness of it. 4. It is the interest of any people where God hath a seed of righteous ones to favour them and make much of them. 5. It is folly in any people to persecute them that are truly religious. For by this means they lose-- (1) the benefit of the saints’ prayers; (2) the help of the saints. (J. Collins, M. A.)The doctrine of the remnant an antidote to discouragement Though it belongs to the very essence of Biblical revelation, we find, we moderns, a strange difficulty in laying hold of it. In spite of the pathetic beauty of its exposition in Isaiah it never lays hold of us in our reasonable thinking, in our habitual imagination, as the truth of all truths in estimating and justifying the ways of Providence. We read these great and beautiful passages which tell of the remnant which shall return, to come again to Zion with joy and singing, and yet it does not fasten on us as the exhibition of a principle which should govern our conduct, and determine our growth, and solve our practical perplexities, and disperse depression and feed hope. Yet this is what it did to the prophets, and this is what it did to St. Paul. In every darkest hour, under every bewilderment, at every blow that smote the spirit of faith or wounded the heart of love, back they turned to this one prevailing theme--Never fear! Never give up! The remnant shall return; the remnant shall be saved. God has not forgotten His remnant, and in the safety of the remnant all is once more possible. The whole jeopardised salvation of Israel and the Church may yet be recovered. (H. Scott-Holland, D. D.)Practical application of the idea of “ the remnant” Practically, in conduct, in handling your own lives, in dealing with your neighbours, surely this method of God’ s should be yours also. 1. You are inclined to denounce the wickedness of the world, to despair of human nature, to abandon someone as hopeless, to see nothing in him that you can like or respect. Look again, consider it once more. Is there no place in that man’ s heart where you may touch him, no point at which he will reveal a good side? It is strange how men we thought to be the very worst surprise us here; constantly we come upon something generous that they do, some touch of loyalty, some sign of tenderness and devotion. There it is; that is the one hope! God need not despair of the man so long as he has one spot left on which to work. One saith: “ Destroy it not, for its blessing is in it” --the blessed words of mercy said over the dead trunk of a tree, bare and wasted and burned with fire, a stump charred to the naked ground, yet destroy it not; its seed, its substance is in it! So long as that can be said over a man, strive for him, pray for him, work for him at that spot to rescue it, to enlarge it, to save it. 2. And do the same with yourself when you are despairing, when you review your life and condemn it at every point, when you can see no use whatever in renewing resolutions which you are sure to break, and efforts which already foretell their own disaster. Nevertheless, go back on the holy substance--“ Christ is in you, the eternal hope of honour.” “ Yes,” you will say, “ all else would have been lost but for that; verily, if God had not left me that seed, I should have been even as Sodom and Gomorrah, but, thanks be to God, it is not so; it never can be so if only I will believe it.” (H. Scott-Holland, D. D.)The leafless tree The application-- I. TO THE JEWS. What a chequered history has been the history of the Jewish nation! Why is it that the Jewish race is preserved? We have our answer in the text: “ The holy seed is the substance thereof.” There is something within a tree mysterious, hidden and unknown, which preserves life in it when everything outward tends to kill it. So in the Jewish race there is a secret element which keeps it alive. We know what it is; it is the “ remnant according to the election of grace.” II. TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, whereof the Jewish people are but a dim shadow and an emblem. The Church has had its trials; trials from without and trials within. Why is it that the Church is still preserved, when she looks so dead? For this reason: that there is in the midst of her--though many are hypocrites and impostors--a “ chosen seed,” who are “ the substance thereof.” Let me draw your attention, as a Church connected with this place, to this point--that the holy seed is the substance of the Church. A great many of you might be compared to the bark of the tree; some of you are like the big limbs; others are like pieces of the trunk. Well, we should be very sorry to lose any of you; but we could afford to do so without any serious damage to the life of the tree. Yet there are some here--God knoweth who they are--who are the substance of the tree. By theword “ substance” it meant the life, the inward principle. The inward principle is in the tree, when it has lost its leaves. Now, God discerns some men in this Church, I doubt not, who are towards us like the inward principle of the oak: they are the substance of the Church. Note here, that the life of a tree is not determined by the shape of the branches, nor by the way it grows, but it is the substance. The shape of a Church is not its life. In one place I see a Church formed in an Episcopalian shape; in another place I see one formed in a Presbyterian shape; then, again, I see one formed on an Independent principle. Here I see one with sixteen ounces to the pound of doctrine; there I see one with eight, and some with very little clear doctrine at all. And yet I find life in all the Churches, in some degree--some good men in all of them. How do I account for this? Why, just inthis way--that the oak may be alive, whatever its shape, if it has got the substance. Observe, again, that the substance of the oak is a hidden thing; you cannot see it. Thou art a Church member. Let me ask thee--art thou one of the holy seed? Some will say, “ How is it that good men are the means of preserving the visible Church?” I answer, the holy seed doth this, because it derives its life from Christ. III. This is true of EVERY : his substance is in him when he has lost his leaves. 1. Christian men lose their leaves when they lose their comforts. The faith of the Christian, when shrouded by doubts and fears, is just as much there as when he rejoiceth devoutly in the display of it. 2. Some Christians lose their leaves not by doubts, but by sin. Many a child of God has gone far away from his Master, but His substance is in him. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Life in the root A gentleman had a beautiful shrub in his garden. He set great store by it as the pride of his place. At the time of the great blizzard it was blasted and withered. The life of it seemed wholly gone. He did not give up hope, though there was nothing that gave him encouragement. But he loved that shrub, and longed to save it if he could. So what did he do? Tended it more than ever. Opened its roots to the genial sun, pruned it patiently and with care, cherished it all he possibly could. A year or two passed away. It was a slow and cheerless business, and he came near losing hope. But, one day, what was his joy to see signs of life returning. The sap began to rise, the stems to recover their spring, it put on fresh leaves, bloomed anew, and filled his heart with thankfulness. Be patient. God sees deeper than we do. (Sunday School Chronicle.)A tall tree . . . an oakThe terebinth and the oak The two most common forest trees of Palestine were the terebinth and oak. They were strong hardy trees. It was a matter of difficulty to kill them, so to cut and maim them as to take the substance or vitality out of them. So long as the trunk or stem was allowed to remain in the soil, they were sure, in course of time, to grow and flourish anew; and Isaiah was taught by God Himself that His people would be equally tenacious of life. The red rough hand of war might shake off the leaves and lop off the branches; It might also reduce the stem to the slenderest proportions; but the tree of Judah, at times a large fair tree, would not fall into a state of utter decay, and vanish away. Period after period there would be a tenth--a remnant, however diminutive, as many as would, by the blessing of Heaven, once more develop into a prosperous nation. Sooner or later, the judgments of God would have the desired effect, and the tree that had been hurt and peeled would give indications that it had not been deprived of all its substance or vitality. (G. Cron, M. A.)The terebinth, The terebinth, a beautiful tree, the Pistacia terebinthus, growing to a large size in the countries around the east end of the Mediterranean, and in countries further to the east, especially in Syria, Palestine, Arabia, and Persia. It is also called the “ turpentine tree,” and a transparent, pleasant-smelling resin of high value is procured in small quantities from slits made in the bark of branches and stems. Its blossoms bloom in April, and its fruit is a small bluish nut with an edible kernel, much used and relished especially by the Persians. In Palestine it wag found in valleys, not in woods, but generally isolated. The name does not occur in the A.V., but the Hebrews elah, rendered in Isaiah 6:13 “ teil,” and in Hosea 4:13 “ elm,” is most probably the terebinth. (J. Macpherson, M. A.)So the holy seed shall be the substance thereofThe substance of a nation “ The holy seed” is the substance, the body, the life, the worth of any nation, any community, or any church. I. First, therefore, we must contemplate “ THE HOLY SEED” that we may know who they are. 1. This seed of God are they whom He has created anew by His Spirit, whom He has adopted into His family. 2. But this seed are evidenced and demonstrated by their holiness; they are “ the holy seed.” Holiness signifies separation, seclusion, setting apart. II. Our main point is to prove that THIS “ HOLY SEED” IS, IN ANY OR CHURCH, “ THE ” OF IT. The holy seed is the substance of a nation-- 1. Because God regards all beside in a nation but as dross and foliage--dross without gold, foliage without fruit. 2. Because the holy seed alone diffuses a sanctifying, a saving and a savouring efficacy upon the land in which it is found. 3. Because for their sakes God spares a guilty land when otherwise His whole displeasure would be allowed to rise against it (ch. 1:9; Genesis 18:23, etc.). 4. Because the holy seed are the spiritual warders of a nation, who watch with prayer, and stand in the breach and implore God that He should not destroy it. (H. Stowell, M. A.)The holy seed I. GIVE A OF THE REMNANT spoken of in the text. 1. A remnant is a small piece taken from a greater. The Church of Christ is a remnant separated from the rest of mankind. 2. This remnant is different from the rest of mankind in their character. 3. They are also under a different government. 4. They also stand on a different foundation. 5. They are under the influence of another spirit. 6. They are travelling quite a different road. 7. They come to a different end. II. SHOW WHY THEY ARE CALLED A SEED. Because-- 1. They owe their spiritual origin to God. 2. They bear His likeness. As every tree bringeth forth its natural fruit, he that is born of God will be like God. 3. They are in respect to their dependence on God. God grafts us into Jesus Christ, and we are therefore dependent upon Him for nourishment and strength, as the branch depends on the stock of the tree for support and sap to grow thereby. 4. Because they are of the family of God. 5. Because they are heirs of His estate. III. SHOW WHY THEY ARE CALLED A “ HOLY” SEED. 1. They are holy by sanctification. They are set apart. 2. Because of their purification. 3. Because the Spirit of God dwells in them. IV. WHAT IS MEANT BY THIS SEED BEING THE “ ” OF A LAND OR CHURCH? 1. By the word “ substance” I think the prophet means treasure, or the chief part, or that which constitutes the welfare of a land--that in which the chief excellency or support or wealth of a nation consists. This is true of the people of God. 2. Further, it implies that they are God’ s only inheritance in the world. 3. This seed is called a substance because it is the support and stay of a land or a church. V. SHOW IN WHAT RESPECT THIS SEED MAY BE SAID TO BE THE STAY AND SUPPORT OF A LAND OR OF A CHURCH. For their sakes ruining calamities are withheld from those nations which deserve to be visited with the judgments of God (Genesis 19:22; 2 Samuel 5:12; Genesis 30:27; Genesis 39:3; Malachi 3:11). This remnant shall be the strength of the land by their prayers (Jeremiah 29:7; 1 Samuel 7:9). (T. Bagnall-Baker, M. A.)The present obligations of pious men I. WHAT IS THE CONDUCT WHICH IT NOW BECOMES PIOUS MEN TO AND DISPLAY. In order that they may sustain the honourable station which is assigned to them, they are to cultivate and display certain habits of thought and character appropriate to the season in which it is their lot to live. 1. Pious men should cultivate and display uncompromising separation from the practical wickedness which is around them. 2. Pious men ought to cultivate and display firm and unwavering attachment to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith. 3. Pious men ought to cultivate and display cordial, fraternal attachment towards each other. 4. Pious men ought to cultivate and display zealous exertion for the promotion of Christian truth and influence throughout the land. II. WHAT ARE THE RESULTS WHICH, FROM THE AND DISPLAY OF THIS CONDUCT, MAY BE . “ The holy seed shall be the substance thereof.” Pious men are to be the safeguards of the national interests; and when the time of calamity has passed, those interests are to be maintained in security and in honour. God preserves nations for the sake of the pious men who are in them, and who duly display and vindicate their character. 1. Observe the anticipated results as they bear upon what is temporal and civil. There has not been a dynasty holding the reins of empire since genuine Christianity took its root amongst us, and there has not been a single reign of any one of those dynasties, but what might be summoned, as affording living testimony to the truth, that the temporal interests of the nation have been bound up with the piety of its people. Pious men will preserve-- (1) The order of our land. (2) The freedom of our land. (3) The peace of our land. (4) The prosperity and honour of our land. 2. Notice the anticipated results as they bear upon matters spiritual and religious. Here the promise is more distinct and the consequences are more palpable. (1) The defeat and destruction of erroneous opinions will be secured. (2) The salvation of multitudes of immortal souls will be secured. (3) Vastly increased facilities for the promotion of the Saviour’ s kingdom throughout the earth will be secured. Conclusion-- 1. The vast importance of being numbered amongst the “ holy seed” yourselves. 2. Let us endeavour to arise to the performance of our obligations. (J. Parsons.)The holy seed 1. The seed, like the tithe, is but little in respect of the rest of the field. Yet-- 2. It is a numerous seed, absolutely considered in itself Revelation 7:9). 3. It is an honourable seed. 4. A costly seed unto our glorious Redeemer. 5. A flourishing and fruitful seed. 6. A troubled and persecuted seed in this world. 7. Yet a very durable seed (Psalms 89:28-29). 8. In this world a scattered seed. 9. A holy seed. (E. Erskine.)The holy seed the substance This imports-- 1. That the wicked of a land are but a heap of lumber in God’ s reckoning, whatever be their station, quality, or estate. 2. That the saints, the truly godly, in a land are excellent and valuable persons (Psalms 16:3; Proverbs 12:26; Revelation 3:4; Hebrews 11:38). 3. That the saints of are His inheritance and portion in a land. He has a peculiar right and property in them beyond the rest of mankind; they are so much His that they are not their own, and therefore have not power to dispose of themselves, but for His glory. 4. That as they are His portion and property, so He has a great deal of pleasure in them, even as a man takes delight and pleasure in that which is his substance. 5. That there is something in and about the godly that is not to be found among other men. The wicked, when laid in God’ s balance, are found wanting solidity; but the holy seed are the substance, they bear weight. 6. That the remnant of truly godly in a land are the riches thereof, for a man’ s riches is his substance. 7. That the truly godly are the stay and support of the land where they live. (E. Erskine.)The judgments threatened We do not suppose that the prophet means to say that all the wicked men will be removed from captivity and the good men only left. (See on the contrary Jeremiah 24:5-7.) He is dealing with the nation as representing the kingdom of God, and means to say that the coming judgments will weed out the worldliness and carelessness that prevail at present, will deepen true spiritual religion in Israel, and fit her to be the centre from which the truth and grace of God shall go forth to all the world. (P. Thompson, M. A.). Isaiah 7:1-9 Rezin . . . and Pekah . . . went up toward Jerusalem to war against it The confederacy against Jerusalem The reason of this war is not stated: but from the desire of those kings to dethrone Ahaz, and place on the throne in Jerusalem another, even Ben Tabeal, it may be inferred that Ahaz refused to join these two powers in a general rising against Assyria. Obviously, Ahaz was well advised in not taking a step of such decided opposition to Nineveh: for had he done so, the legions of that empire would only have spread desolation in Judah twenty or thirty years earlier than they did. To a certain extent, the policy commended by Isaiah was adopted: Ahaz did not take up his stand against Assyria. The prophet, of course, wanted more. For he urged an absolute and complete neutrality, in which Ahaz would have nothing at all to do with this power. So far as Ahaz acted on the prophet’ s advice, he was successful: for this confederacy against Jerusalem proved a failure. (B. Blake, B. D.)Ahaz and Isaiah, a contrast Ahaz is timid and helpless, takes no position, and displays no promptitude or courage. Isaiah, on the contrary, steps forward with assurance: he is collected and calm: and his complete control of the political situation impresses us forcibly. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Isaiah’ s interview with Ahaz At the date of Isaiah’ s interview with Ahaz the application to Assyria was meditated, but not actually carried into effect. To understand this interview two things must be borne in mind. Firstly, Isaiah is aware of the king’ s intention to solicit aid from Assyria, but it is not openly admitted between them. Secondly, the power and resources of the allied kings, especially of Rezin, so impressed the popular imagination that they were held to be practically invincible; Isaiah views both differently; describes them as “ smoked out firebrands,” and intimates that he considers the terror of the people to be unreasonable. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The prophet and the king God speaks comfort to many who not only are not worthy of it, but do not so much as inquire after it. (M. Henry.)Unsuccessful attacks upon the Christian stronghold “ We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth” : clever arguments, witty retorts, brilliant repartees, criticisms that dazzle by their brightness and exasperate by their acerbity, come and go, and Jerusalem stands, sunlit, fair, invincible. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 7:4 Take heed and be quiet Take heed, and be quiet That is, be on your guard and do not act precipitately, rather keep at rest. I. A WARNING AGAINST SELF-WILLED ACTING. II. AN TO . (P. Delitzsch. D. D.)The true attitude of life This is the attitude we should observe in all this human life--on the one hand, vigilance, determination, earnestness; and on the other silence, resignation, hope. Just as we observe in due proportion the active and passive aspects of life will our character become complete and our heart find rest. I. ALL TRUE LIFE IS A . 1. “ Take heed,” i.e., be attentive, alert, susceptible. Light will not come to careless, inattentive souls. We must hearken, which really means the concentration of all the powers of the soul that we may detect the significance of things. (1) This is true in relation to nature. The light does not shine into our soul irrespective of our gazing; the secret does not disclose itself to us irrespective of our listening. (2) This is true in relation to revelation. The Bible is a great whispering gallery; but God’ s whisper is often lost because men come with souls full of noises, or because they do not lend their ear patiently and systematically. (3) It is so with our personal life. Our personal history is a revelation of the mind of God; but we often miss the precious instructions. 2. And when you have given full place to observation and reflection, “ be quiet,” for you will find plenty of room and reason for suspense, resignation, silence. When you have carried criticism to its final limit, see that no place is left in your heart for anxiety, unbelief, and despair. II. ALL TRUE LIFE IS A . “ Take heed.” Be cautious, vigilant, circumspect. There is no room in life for presumption. But when we have felt the need of earnest prayer, when we have cultivated the habit of prayerful watchfulness, let us “ be quiet.” Many Christians feel the need of walking softly, of being on the alert, their soul is full of solemn caution; but they never know how to combine with this that strong confidence in God which brings the sensitive heart assurance and peace. Let us remember that when we have done our best God will do the rest. III. ALL TRUE LIFE IS A . “ Take heed.” Life must be full of effort, aspiration, strenuousness, perseverance. The policy of many is the policy of drift. But this is not the true idea of life. We are perpetually called upon to consider, to discriminate, to decide, to act. And yet with all this we are to be “ quiet.” Calm amid tumult, tranquil in severest effort, full of peace and confidence when life is most difficult and denying. Let us remember this-- (1) In all our worldly life. God has not promised the things of this life to the lazy. We must be earnest, discreet, economical, prudent, painstaking. But when we have done our best to provide honest things we must be quiet. No painful, misgiving thoughts or words. (2) In all our religious life. We shall never moon and dream ourselves into spiritual knowledge, strength, beauty, completeness. But having given ourselves to God’ s service and glory with a single, purposeful heart, let us for the rest “ be quiet.” (W. L. Watkinson.)“ The crooked serpent” True rationalism not only investigates, but is cautious, reticent, patient, hopeful. Much about us is very mysterious and bewildering. 1. It is so with nature. Ages ago the patriarch Job found this out. “ By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens; His hand hath formed the crooked serpent.” “ Garnished the heavens!” --that we can understand, that we can admire. The vast, the balanced, the magnificent, the beautiful, the benign--this is what we expected from the wise and generous Source of allthings. “ His hand hath formed the crooked serpent.” Nature contains the mean, the unharmonious, the dark, the grotesque, the bloody; and this we did not expect. The thoughtful man is sorely puzzled in the presence of these confusions and contradictions. 2. It is so with revelation. We are often greatly delighted with the contents of the Bible. It is a firmament full of stars of light, speaking to us eloquently of the glory of God. We cry with rapture as we scan successive constellations which gleam with truth and love and righteousness. “ By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens.” But it is not long before the problems of nature reappear in revelation; there are teachings obscure and painful, in fact, the crooked serpent wriggles across the page. People who read cursorily-and think loosely may glide over such pages, but thoughtful souls are often sorely troubled. 3. It is the same in our personal history. There are times in our life when all things go smoothly with us--our health is good, in business we are in the swim, we are socially popular, and, full of gratitude and thanksgiving, we wonder how anybody can ever be fretful, or call into question the government of God; we feel that the Spirit that garnished the heavens has brought order and beauty into our persona! lot. But soon circumstances change: our health fails, we are called to attend two or three creditors’ meetings, our popularity wanes; and then we are staggered, and begin to ask sceptical questions touching the ways of heaven. What is the matter? The crooked serpent crawls across our path of roses. Now what are we to do when these dark enigmas reward our study, when we witness the contradictions of nature, the tragedy of history, when we endure the pathos of our own life? Are we to take refuge in scepticism, cynicism, despair? Surely not. “ Be quiet.” (W. L. Watkinson.)A New Year’ s motto I. A WORD OF CAUTION. “ Take heed.” It is as though Isaiah called a halt; as though, to use another metaphor, he swung the red light in front of the rushing train as though he put a detonator on the rails in the time of mist and fog. Saith he, “ Take heed; you are very busily preparing, your mind is filled with a multitude of thoughts.” He does not speak ill of these preparations and these plans, but he does say, “ Proceed with caution; look before you leap, think before you act. Do nothing till you have thought it over and prayed about it. You will discover, Ahaz, that whereas some of your precautions are legitimate, others of them are dishonouring to God and to the throne of David.” Well now, is there not a word for you and for me just here? Take heed!--do not rush blindly on, wait to be guided, slip your hand into God’ s. Ye people of God, take heed! Worldliness is gradually creeping into the Church and fastening its fangs upon her. Doctrine of all sorts is at a discount, except false doctrine. Take heed lest you sip of the poisoned cup or ever you are aware. And ye shepherds of the flock, take heed! Ministers are too busy nowadays “ getting up” this, that, and the other Be it ours to bring the blessing down. Sunday school teachers, take heed that you do not merely amuse or only instruct the children. Win them for Christ. Take heed, ye who profess to follow Jesus! Look where you are going; ponder the paths of your steps. II. THEN THE PROPHET QUIET. “ Be quiet.” It is not the easiest thing in the world to be quiet, especially when there are two confederate armies coming up against you. It is ever easier to assault than to “ sit tight.” I do not believe there is anything that more honours our holy religion than self-possession in the time of stress and storm. It is then that the worldling says, “ Why, I could not do that!” What is the secret of that wonderful composure! The secret is God. That heart is kept quiet that is stayed on Him. III. Then Isaiah says, “ FEAR NOT.” He has spoken of the outward attitude and action; now he refers to the reward emotion. Know you not that fear is fatal? I suppose that, humanly speaking, almost as many people die of fear as of anything else. Many of our best hopes are thwarted, not because there was any real necessity they should suffer so, but because we were afraid from the first that they would. Many of our high ambitions come to nought because we were never very confident that they would have any other ending if the work be of God, trust God to see it through. We may have our fears, but we must not cherish them. There were words of cheer accompanying this message. The prophet said, “ These great flaming firebrands that you fear are going out. Already they are smoking. They are only the tails of firebrands. A little patience and you will see an end of this trouble.” We do not ask a sign of God that Ha will give us the victory in our warfare, and success in our work for Him. He gives it without asking. We would believe without a sign. “ Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” But if God offers us a sign we do not refuse it. Ahaz did. He said--suddenly posing as a saint--“ No, I will not tempt God.” When God offers us a sign it is not reverence to refuse it; it is gross irreverence. But He has granted us the best sign of all, the sign to which I do not doubt that Isaiah made reference. Christ has come; nay, God has come, for Christ is God. “ If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.” John Bunyan used to call unbelief a white devil. (T. Spurgeon.)Tails of smoking firebrands The two allies are at once designated as what they are before God, who sees through things in the future. They are two tails, i.e., nothing but the fag ends of wood pokers, half-burned off and wholly burned out, so that they do not burn any longer, but only still keep smoking. (F. Delitzsch.)Caution with confidence Life is danger. The more precious anything is the more enemies it has. You rarely see any lice on the wild rose in the hedgerow, but the prize rose in the garden will soon be covered with them if the gardener remits his severe attention; crab apple trees on a common may be left with confidence to take care of themselves, but the husbandman must watch by night and day an orchard full of sweetness. Man has the most enemies of all, they swarm on every hand, he walks in jeopardy every hour. But we often forget all this and act with strange heedlessness. Awhile ago, from the flowery cliffs, I was watching the beautiful gulls as they flashed between the sun and the sea uttering cues of joy, when some wretched sportsmen appeared on the scene and began to fire at the lovely creatures. I thought that at the first shot the birds would have vanished into space, but, strangely enough, as if they were enchanted, they continued to whirl around the very focus of destruction. Fortunately they were not hit, the marksmen’ s aim was as bad as their temper; but at any moment the glorious birds might have dropped shattered, bloody things, into the sea. It is very much the same with men. They go negligently, presumptuously, although moral dangers are thicker than all other dangers, and any moment might see the glory and hope of life quenched in midnight darkness. (W. L. Watkinson.)Morbid nervousness We all know suspicious souls whose nervousness gives them not a moment of peace. If they are going on a railway journey, they anxiously look out for the middle compartment of the middle carriage, fancying that the safest place, and there is no telling how many trains they miss looking for that carriage; if they are in the country, they will not drink a drop of milk until they have ascertained whether the foot and mouth disease has been in that district; and at the railway station they cross-examine the driver to know whether he has conveyed in that cab any passenger having an infectious malady. Now, if you once give way to a morbid nervousness of this sort, there is positively no end to the thing, and every bit of comfort is taken out of life. (W. L. Watkinson.)God the sure Protector of His people The sensible voyager lays his head on the pillow and goes to sleep, although the gleaming teeth of sharks are only a few inches away; the thickness of the plank or plate is practically the thickness of a planet: and although hell is always nigh., let us remember that God is still nigher, and that a bit of tissue paper in His hands is the munition of rocks to those who trust in Him. (W. L. Watkinson.)Vigilance and gladness The bird on the branch is intensely sensitive and tremulous; it looks around, above, beneath; all the world might be a fowler, a mare, a eat, and yet at the same time it goes on pouring out its happy soul in music. Let us be like it in watchfulness and gladness. (W. L.Watkinson.)Morbid introspection When I was a growing lad I was always measuring myself to see how much I had gained every week or two. Sometimes there was a distinct gain, and then another testing seemed to indicate that I was standing sty; so I fed my hopes and fears. But I did very well on the whole, and it would have been a great deal better if I had let the measuring tape alone and attended to my learning and my business. Do not afflict your souls with morbid solicitudes. (W. L. Watkinson.)God’ s contempt for Rezin and Pekah God will have those in derision who set their shoulders against His throne for the purpose of overturning it. (J. Parker, D. D.)Harmfulness of fear There is a legend which is in itself instructive concerning the time of plague in a certain Eastern city, to the effect that 20,000 people having died therein, a traveller entering the gates spoke to the plague as it was leaving, and said, “ I understand that you have slain 20,000 people within these walls.” “ No,” said the plague, “ I have slain but 10,000; the rest have died of fear.” It is an instructive story. (T. Spurgeon.)Injurious struggling Once I remember I picked up a small bird which had fallen on the pavement by my feet. I sought to reinstate it among the branches overhead; but the creature could not appreciate my generosity, and with passionate eagerness struggled to escape. I began unconsciously to talk aloud to it, “ Poor, silly thing; why do you not trust your best friend? All I want is to get you up again in the fork of the tree. You are making it harder for me, by dashing so against my fingers; for I am obliged to hold you firmly, and you do all the hurting yourself.” Why is it we all struggle so, when the Lord is giving us help (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)Be quiet Phoebe Simpson said to Ellice Hopkins, “ I think, miss, religion is doing things still.” Stillness of spirit is like the canvas, for the Holy Spirit to draw His various graces upon. (Dr. Love.)The happy people are calm The really and substantially happy people in the world are always calm and quiet. (Recreations of a Country Parson.)Christian serenity The child of God should live above the world, moving through it, as some quiet star moves through the blue sky,--clear, and serene, and still (Hetty Bowman.) Isaiah 7:9 If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established Faith in the Divine Word and promises the alone ground of the believer’ s establishment and happiness There are only two sources from which human hope or happiness can be derived, and these are sense and faith. I. SENSE AS THE SOURCE OF HUMAN . It is self-evident from the history of what is past and from observation and experience of what is present that, amidst all the enjoyments, whether more gross or more refined, the objects of sense can possibly furnish to flatter or gratify the passions, nothing is to be found that can give establishment to the human heart, or settle and compose the restless spirit. There are three things which render it impossible that any mere worldly object or pursuit should render us happy. 1. The difficulty of acquiring what, in imagination or forethought, we have placed our happiness upon, and in the possession of which we have fondly dreamed of enjoying all that our hearts could desire. 2. When with infinite labour we seem to have surmounted every difficulty and to have gained the point we had in view, our promised happiness is snatched from us in a moment, and we feel our disappointment and distress rendered more poignant from the flattering prospects that lay before us, and the ideal estimate we had formed of what we have lost. 3. But let us suppose that we could acquire with ease, and enjoy with security, for a limited time--to our dying day--the objects we so eagerly pursue; how do we know that we shall preserve our relish for them? “ Our very wishes give us not our wish.” II. FAITH ALONE HOLDS FORTH THOSE OBJECTS THAT CAN THE HUMAN HEART OR QUIET THE SPIRIT. Nothing can give establishment to the mind of man but what can effectually remove the cause of our present disordered state and prove a never-failing source of inward peace and self-enjoyment. 1. What is the cause of this disorder; of this disquietude and restlessness, amidst all the objects of sense; of this vacancy of the human mind, amidst all the profusion of nature? The cause is evidently a departure from the original constitution of our nature. For no creature can be unhappy, continuing in that state, in which, he was placed by perfect wisdom and goodness. 2. The remedy which faith provides for the cure of this evil. It directs us to the righteousness of God, manifested without the law, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe; for there is no difference. The doctrine that holds forth a finished salvation by the blood of Christ, as the alone ground of a believer’ s hope, is, of all others, the best fitted to beget not only a humble submission, but a cheerful resignation to our gracious Lord in the various allotments of His providence concerning us. Who that believeth all this with all his heart could for a moment entertain a doubt that his bodily and temporal concerns would be safe in His hands? (T. Gordon.)Stability through faith 1. The promises of God are not at all times easily, steadily, and firmly believed. 2. God, in the communication of His Word, does not regard us as mere machines. The Word cannot profit unless it be mixed with faith in those who hear it. In the Christian’ s life there are three kinds of stability. I. THERE IS A OF . This regards the truths of religion. It is of great importance to have a judgment clear and fixed as it respects the great concerns of the soul and eternity, and the doctrines of the Gospel of Christ; for as we think we feel, as we feel we desire, as we desire we act, and as we act our characters are formed, and our conditions determined. There are some things in revelation concerning which a man’ s mind, so to speak, need not be made up. Little or no injury will arise from his hesitation or suspense. But this is not the case with all. There are some things which must be fundamental, and therefore sustain others; and according to the firmness of the foundation will be the firmness of the whole superstructure. Now what is to lead us into this stability but faith? It cannot be human authority among men. What one patronises another denies, and here you would soon find yourself like a man in a labyrinth, who on this side and on that is calling out, “ Is this the way?” and knows not what direction to take with safety and comfort. Or, if you depend upon reason, this may do something from observation and analogy; but if you receive the revelation of God only as far as you can understand it, you will make your faith commensurate with your knowledge. Thus obstructions and difficulties will arise continually, and you will be strangers to all satisfaction and repose. No, we must believe all that the Lord has spoken to us in His Word, and because He has spoken it. “ I had a little talent and a little learning,” said Dr. Watts before his death; “ but now I lay them all aside, and endeavour to receive the Gospel as the poor and unlearned receive it.” II. THERE IS A OF . This regards the duties of religion. By faith we stand. In order to see the strength and beauty of the sentiment contained in our text, let us place the believer in three positions. 1. In a place of secrecy. When alone, how do we act? Faith is a principle that always operates alike upon the mind, i.e., its motives are the same in private as in public. Faith shows us the future and eternal consequences of our actions. Faith brings God and places Him before us Hence the closet is visited as the temple. The good fight of faith is carried on amidst many struggles, unobserved by any human being, but all well known to Him who is the Captain of our salvation. 2. In cases of prosperity and indulgence. How easily is a person drawn aside from the path of duty by the honour which cometh from men, by a regard to the friendship of this world, or by earthly riches! We are therefore told that the prosperity of fools destroys them. But the believer in Christ is not a fool: faith makes him wise unto salvation, wise both for time and eternity. “ This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” 3. In a condition of suffering and danger. What an agonizing trial was Abraham called to endure, when God bade him take his only son Isaac, whom he loved, and offer him up for a burnt offering! yet faith enabled him to do it. Moses had a hard task to accomplish, when he went and stood before Pharaoh, but we are told, “ he had respect unto the recompense of the reward” ; “ by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” And how was it with Daniel? There was something dreadful in being cast into the den of lions; but what was this to a man who saw that God would shut the lions’ mouths, so that they should not hurt him? What was this to a man who by faith heard the voice of Him who said, “ Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do; but fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell; yea, I say unto you, fear Him.” Faith also views the Saviour as acting and as suffering for us. III. THERE IS A OF HOPE. This regards the comforts of religion. How is it that Christians can rejoice amidst their sorrows? The Scripture assigns the reason when it tells us of the joy of faith. Faith appropriates. (W. Jay.)Isaiah’ s commission and King Ahaz Isaiah had a very heavy commission from God. He was to go and speak to people who would not hear him, and to be to them a messenger rather of death than of life. Though the message itself would be full of life, yet they would refuse it, and so bring upon themselves a ten-fold death. As a sort of experiment in his work, he was called upon first to go and speak to King Ahaz, that wicked king. He knew in his own soul that what he had to say would be rejected; but, nevertheless, at the command of God, he went to speak to the king. He was told where he would meet him. God knows where to send His faithful servants. He knows how to adapt the message with great speciality to the individual case of each person who is within sound of the preacher’ s voice; and He knows how to adapt even the voice itself to the ear of every hearer. (C. H. Spurgeon.)No fixity without faith These words furnish us with a warning and an encouragement. I. GOD TO BE . 1. He is God; and being God, He cannot lie. 2. His Word always has been true. 3. He has no motive for being untrue. 4. The honour of God is involved in His veracity. 5. Suppose even for a moment that we could not trust in the truthfulness of God, what would be left for us to trust to? When rocks move, what stands firm? II. SOME ARE NOT WILLING TO BELIEVE GOD. That is clear by the fear expressed in the text: “ If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.” Believing is a matter of the will. God’ s grace works faith, not upon us, but in us. God works in us to will and to do; and in the willing He leads us up to believing. We voluntarily believe; and certainly men voluntarily disbelieve. Why is this, this strange unwillingness of some men, nay, in a sense of all men, to believe in God? 1. They are willing to believe other things. 2. Another thing is significant, that men cling tenaciously to faith in themselves. 3. Instead of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, some prefer an emotional religion. 4. Some stubbornly suffer under unbelief. 5. I notice, too, that such people demand this and that of God, beyond what He has revealed. III. FAITH IS NOT A THING TO BE . Have you never heard people say, “ Oh, they preach up faith, you know” ? “ Well, what is faith?” “ Well, it is just believing so-and-so.” Faith is a most wonderful thing, for-- 1. It is a fair index of the heart. 2. A sure proof of a change of mind. 3. It inaugurates purity of life. 4. It is faith that leads to prayer, and prayer is the very breath of God in man. 5. It is faith that glorifies God. IV. THOSE WHO REFUSE TO FAITH WILL MISS MANY GREAT . I might mention many, but the text gives us the one which I will dwell upon: “ If ye will not believe, surely he shall not be established.” 1. It means, first, that those who believe not will miss establishment in comfort. 2. Ye shall never enjoy establishment in judgment. There are many persons who do not know what to believe; they heard one man the other day, and they thought that he spoke very cleverly, and they agreed with him. They heard another the next day, who was rather more clever, and he went the other way, so they went with him. Poor souls, driven to and fro, never knowing what is what! “ If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established” ; you shall be like the moon, that is never two days alike; you shall seem to believe this, and to believe that, and yet really believe nothing. 3. Next, we want an establishment in conduct. 4. So it is also with establishment in hope. 5. We want to be established in spiritual vigour and strength. (C. H.Spurgeon.)The principle of true permanence The principle of true permanence is here shown to be a holding of Divine truth. “ He who confides in God will abide.” (B. Blake, B. D.)Holding and being held If Judah does not hold fast to his God, he will lose his fast hold by losing the country in which he dwells, the ground beneath his feet. (F. Delitzsch.)Ahaz a representative of double-mindedness Ahaz was a mixed character. He has been convicted in history of being an idolater as well as a professor of the true religion. He was therefore the representative of double-mindedness, a halting between two opinions, that double-mindedness which is unstable, and which cannot excel. Probably Isaiah, marking the workings of his countenance under the delivery of this communication, saw signs of fear, doubt, hesitancy: the king did not spring at the word with access of energy and with the confidence of inspiration; so the prophet, quick to detect all facial signs, blessed with the insight that follows the spirit in all its withdrawment, said instantly, “ If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.” (J. Parker, D. D.)Unbelief undermines character To take an illustration from architecture, materialism cuts out the foundation of the soul structure just where the strain comes. We are told that the lamentable disaster to the Campanile of St. Mark’ s at Venice was due to the action of the Loggia architects in cutting out the stone coping in its whole length, thus making a wound on the side, where the pressure was severest, half a yard deep and half a yard high. If this be true, it is not remarkable that the massive tower came down bodily. Neither is the downfall of many a man remarkable to us when we come to know how his faith in God had been utterly destroyed. (Sunday School Chronicle.)The power of faith Lord Wolseley said, “ Give me 20,000 fanatics and I would march across Europe.” Grotius, in describing the success of the Dutch in snapping the Spanish yoke, gives this as the secret of their prowess, “ Believing that they could do it they did it.” (Sunday School Chronicle.) Isaiah 7:11 Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God God’ s grace towards the wayward Jehovah does not scorn to call Himself the God of this son of David who so hardens himself. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)A critical moment In this hour when Isaiah stands before Ahaz, the fate of the Jewish people is decided for more than two thousand years. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 7:12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask Why did Ahaz refuse to ask a sign? Ahaz who looked on Jehovah not as his God, but only (like any of his heathen neighbours) as the god of Judaea, and as such inferior in the god of Assyria, and who had determined to apply to the King of Assyria, or perhaps had already applied to him as a more trustworthy helper than Jehovah in the present strait, declines to ask a sign, excusing himself by a canting use of the words of Moses, “ Thou shalt not tempt Jehovah.” He refused the sign, because he knew it would confirm the still struggling voice of his conscience; and that voice he had resolved not to obey, since it bade him give up the Assyrian, and trust in Jehovah henceforth. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)A secret disaffection to God A secret disaffection to God is often disguised with the specious colours of respect to Him. (M. Henry.)Making a decision How often men, like Ahaz, arrive at decisions which are irrevocable and unspeakably momentous! 1. To have to make decisions that may be solemn in both these senses is one of the things that make the position of a ruler or statesmen so serious. 2. Every man is at some juncture celled to make a decision, the results of which to him individually will be of unspeakable importance; e.g., the young ruler. Every one of you will at some moment be called to decide for or against Christ, and the decision will be final and irreversible. The test may come to you in the shape of a temptation, appealing to some passion of the mind or lust of the flesh, and your eternal destiny may be determined by the manner in which you deal with that one temptation. 3. Like a railway train we are continually arriving at “ points,” and the manner in which we “ take” them affects our whole after career. (R. A. Bertram.) Isaiah 7:13 Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary thy God also?-- Wearying God The work and experience of the prophet and the Gospel minister in dealing with men are similar. I. IT IS NO SMALL SIN TO WEARY GOD’ S AND . They are His ambassadors. II. IT IS WORSE TO WEARY GOD, whose hand holds their life and destiny. God is patient. This is evident from Scripture and observation. Exodus 34:6-7; 2 Peter 3:9.) Consider also the history of nations and individuals and of our own life. III. GOD’ S MAY BE WEARIED OUT by indifference, obstinacy, procrastination, backsliding. The sinner is in present danger of doing this. Others have done it in Scripture and history. Application--The axe is laid at the root of the tree; make haste to repent. (Homiletic Review.)Wearying God Ahaz refused to ask a sign, probably wishing to avoid as much as possible further intercourse with Isaiah, who, he feared, would reprove him for his vices and idolatry. 1. That which seems specially to have wearied God in the instance of Ahaz was, the sinning yet more in a season of distress. 2. There is a likelihood that his offence may be copied, and that, too, not merely in the general, but even in minute particulars. God became wearied by a repetition of the sin when He had tried by calamities to produce its abandonment. It does not seem that there was ever the least pause in his wickedness. God smote him, but he went on frowardly. (H. Melvill, B. D.)Wearying God The house of David weary the long suffering of God by letting Him exhaust all the means of their correction without effect. (F. Delitzsch.)Wearying God 1. The great God is pleased to consider the indignities and injuries done to His servants as done to Himself. 2. Beware then of wearying God by refusing to comply with the administrations and offers He gives you by His servants; but now, while it is called today, hearken to His voice and obey His call. (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign God’ s sign to King Ahaz Perhaps more perplexity has been produced among commentators by this passage than by any other in Old Testament prophecy. The chief difficulties of the passage may be stated as follows: Does the prophecy refer to some event which was soon to occur, or does it refer exclusively to some event in the distant future? If it refers to some event which was soon to occur, what event was it? Who was the child intended, and who the virgin who should bring forth the child? 1. The first step toward the unravelling of the prophet’ s meaning is to determine the exact significance of the words. What, then, is the meaning of the word ΰεΙσ, which is translated “ sign” ? Delitzsch defines the word as “ a thing, event, or act which may serve to guarantee the Divine certainty of some other thing, event, or act.” It does not of necessity denote a miracle. For example, in Genesis 17:11, circumcision is said to be a “ sign,” or token. The context, together with the nature of the thing, event, or act, must decide whether the ΰεΙη is a miracle or not. All that is necessary to constitute a “ sign” to Ahaz is that some assurance shall be given which Jehovah alone can give. And the certain prediction of future events is the prerogative of Jehovah alone. 2. We turn now to the word ςΗμΐρΘη, translated “ virgin” and shall try to find its exact meaning. The derivation of it from ςΘμΔν, to hide, to conceal, is now generally abandoned. Its most probable derivation is from ςΘμΔν, to grow, to be strong, and hence the word means one who has come to a mature or marriageable age. Hengstenberg contends that it means one in an unmarried state; Gesenius holds that it means simply being of marriageable age, the age of puberty. However this may be, it seems most natural to take the word in this place as meaning one who was then unmarried and who could be called a virgin. But we must guard against the exegetical error of supposing that the word here used implies that the person spoken of must be a virgin at the time when the child is born. All that is said is that she who is now a virgin shall bear a son. 3. Let us now proceed to consider the interpretation of the prophecy itself. The opinions which have generally prevailed with regard to it are three-- (1) That it has no reference to any Messianic fulfilment, but refers exclusively to some event in the time of the prophet. (2) That it has exclusive and immediate reference to the Messiah, thus excluding any reference to any event which was then to occur. On this view, the future birth of the Messiah from a virgin is made the sign to Ahaz that Jerusalem shall he safe from a threatened invasion (3) That the prophet is speaking of the birth of a child which would soon take place of someone who was then a virgin; but that the prophecy has also a higher fulfilment in Christ. This last view we regards the only tenable one, and the proof of it will be the refutation of the other two. The following reasons are presented to show that the prophecy refers to some event which was soon to occur. 1. The context demands it. If there was no allusion in the New Testament to the prophecy, and we should contemplate the narrative here in its surrounding circumstances, we should naturally feel that the prophet must mean this. If the seventh and eighth chapters, connected as they are, were all that we had, we should be compelled to admit a reference to something in the prophet’ s time. The record in Isaiah 8:1-4, following in such close connection, seems to be intended as a public assurance of the fulfilment of what is here predicted respecting the deliverance of the land from the threatened invasion. The prediction was that she who is a virgin shall bear a son. Now Jehovah alone can foreknow this, and He pronounces the birth of this child as the sign which shall be given. 2. The thing to be given to Ahaz was a sign or token that a present danger would be averted. How could the fact that the Messiah would come seven hundred years later prove this? Let us now look at the reasons for believing that it contains also a reference to the Messiah. 1. The first argument we present is derived from the passage in Isaiah 9:7. There is an undoubted connection between that passage and the oneunder consideration, as almost all critical scholars admit. And it seems that nothing short of a Messianic reference will explain the words. Some have asserted that the undoubted and exclusive reference to Messiah in this verse (9:7) excludes any local reference in the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14.But so far from this being the ease, we believe it is an instance of what Bacon calls the “ springing, germinant fulfilment of prophecy.” And we believe that it can be proved that all prophecies take their start from historical facts. Isaiah here (Isaiah 9:7) drops the historical drapery and rises to a mightier and more majestic strain. 2. The second and crowning argument is taken from the language of the inspired writer Matthew (Matthew 1:22-23). (D. M. Sweets.)Who was the “ virgin” and who the son? 1. Some have supposed that the wife of Ahaz was meant by the “ virgin,” and that his son Hezekiah was the child meant. There is an insuperable difficulty against this view. Ahaz’ s reign extended over sixteen years (2 Kings 16:2), and Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he succeeded 2 Kings 18:2). Consequently, at this time Hezekiah could not have been less than nine years old. It has been supposed that Ahaz had a second wife, and that the son was hers. This is a mere supposition, supported by nothing in the narrative, while it makes Isaiah 8:1-4 haveno connection with what precedes or follows. 2. Others have supposed that some virgin who was then present before Ahaz was designated, and they make the meaning this: “ As surely as this virgin shall conceive and bear a son, so surely shall the land be forsaken of its kings.” This is too vague for the definite language used, and gives no explanation of the incident in chap. 8. about Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 3. Another opinion is that the virgin was not an actual but an ideal virgin.” “ Michaelis thus presents this view: “ By the time when one who is yet a virgin can bring forth (i.e., in nine months), all will be happily changed and the present impending danger so completely passed away that if you were to name the child you would call him Immanuel.” Surely this would not be a sign or pledge of anything to Ahaz. Besides, it was not a birth possible, but an actual birth, which was spoken of. 4. But the view which is most in keeping with the entire context, and which presents the fewest difficulties, is that the prophet’ s own son is intended. This view does require the supposition that Isaiah married a second wife, who at the time of this prophecy was still a virgin and whom he subsequently married. “ But there is no improbability in the supposition that the mother of his son, Shear-jashub, was deceased, and that Isaiah was about again to be married. This is the only supposition which this view demands. Such an occurrence was surely not uncommon. All other explanations require more suppositions, and suppositions more unnatural than this. Our supposition does no violence to the narrative, and certainly falls in best with all the facts. We would then identify Immanuel (as Ahaz and his contemporaries would understand the name to be applied) with Maher-shalal-hash-baz. With this view harmonises what the prophet says in Isaiah 8:18 : “ Behold, I and the children whom Jehovah hath given meare for signs and for wonders in Israel from Jehovah of hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion.” It is no objection to this view that another name than “ Immanuel” was given to the child. It was a common thing to give two names to children, especially when one name was symbolic, as Immanuel was. Jesus Christ was never called Immanuel as a proper name, though almost all scholars agree that the prophecy referred to Him in some sense. (D. M. Sweets.)A double tolerance in Isaiah’ s prophecies The careful, critical student of Isaiah will find this thing common in his writings, namely, that he commences with a prophecy having reference to some remarkable delivery which was soon to occur, and terminates it by a statement of events connected with a higher deliverance under the Messiah. His mind becomes absorbed; the primary object is forgotten in the contemplation of the more remote and glorious event. (D. M. Sweets.)The virgin The Hebrew word rendered “ virgin” in the A.V. would be more accurately rendered “ damsel.” It means a young woman of marriageable age, and is not the word which would be naturally used for virgin, if that was the point which it was desired to emphasise. (Prof. A. F. Kirkpatrick.)Our English word “ maiden” comes as near, probably, as any to the Hebrew word. (Speaker’s Commentary.)The Hebrew lexicons tell us that the word almah, here translated virgin, may denote any mature young woman, whether a virgin or not. So far as its derivation is concerned, this is undoubtedly the case; but in Biblical usage, the word denotes a virgin in every case where its meaning can be determined. The instances are, besides the text, that in the account of Rebekah (Genesis 24:43), that of the sister of Moses (Exodus 2:8), the word used in the plural (Psalms 68:25-26; Son 1:3; Son 6:8), its use in the titles of Psalms (Psalms 46:1-11; 1 Chronicles 15:20), and its use in Proverbs 30:19. The last passage is the one chiefly relied on to prove that the word may denote a woman not a virgin; but, “ the way of a man with a maid” there spoken of is something wonderful, incapable of being traced or understood, like the way of an eagle in the air, a serpent on a rock, a ship in the sea, and it is only in its application to that wonderful human experience, first love between a man and a virgin, that this description can find a full and complete significance. The use of the word in the Bible may not be full enough in itself to prove that almah necessarily means virgin, but it is sufficient to show that Septuagint translators probably chose deliberately and correctly, when they chose to translate the word, in this passage, by the Greek word that distinctively denotes a virgin, and that Matthew made no mistake in so understanding their translation. (Prof. W. J. Beecher, D. D.)Deliverance by a lowly agent Not Ahaz, not some high-born son of Ahaz’ s house, is to have the honour of rescuing his country from its peril: a “ nameless maiden of lowly rank” (Delitzsch) is to be the mother of the future deliverer. Ahaz and the royal house are thus put aside; it is not till Isaiah 9:7 --spoken at least a year subsequently--that we are able to gather that the Deliverer is to be a descendant of David’ s line. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)God’ s sign to Ahaz The king having refused to ask a sign, the prophet gives him one, by renewing the promise of deliverance (Isaiah 7:8-9), and connecting it with the birth of a child, whose significant name is made a symbol of the Divine interposition, and his progress a measure of the subsequent events. Instead of saying that God would be present with them to deliver them, he says the child shall be called Immanuel (God with us); instead of mentioning a term of years, he says, before the child is able to distinguish good from evil; instead of saying that until that time the land shall lie waste, he represents the child as eating curds and honey, spontaneous products, here put in opposition to the fruits of cultivation. At the same time, the form of expression is descriptive. Instead of saying that the child shall experience all this, he represents its birth and infancy as actually passing in his sight; he sees the child brought forth and named Immanuel; he sees the child eating curds and honey till a certain age. But very different opinions are held as to the child here alluded to. Some think it must be a child about to be born, in the course of nature, to the prophet himself. Others think that two distinct births are referred to, one that of Shear-jashub, the prophet’ s son, and the other Christ, the Virgin’ s Son. Yet others see only a prophetic reference to the birth of Messiah. (J. A. Alexander.)A prediction of the miraculous conception of Jesus Christ While some diversity of judgment ought to be expected and allowed, in relation to the secondary question (of the child of the period that is referred to), there is no ground, grammatical, historical, or logical, for doubt as to the main point, that the Church in all ages has been right in regarding this passage as a signal and explicit prediction of the miraculous conception and nativity of Jesus Christ. (J. A. Alexander.)The figure of Immanuel an ideal one The language of Isaiah forces upon us the conviction that the figure of Immanuel is an ideal one, projected by him upon the shifting future--upon the nearer future in chap. 7, upon the remoter future in chap. 9, but grasped by the prophet as a living and real personality, the guardian of his country now, its deliverer and governor hereafter. The circumstances under which the announcement is made to Ahaz are such as apparently exclude deliberation in the formation of the idea; it is the unpremeditated creation of his inspired imagination. This view satisfies all the requirements of the narrative. The birth of the child being conceived as immediate affords a substantial ground for the assurance conveyed to Ahaz; and the royal attributes with which the child speedily appears to be endued, and which forbid hit identification with any actual contemporary of the prophet’ s, become at once intelligible. It is the Messianic King, whose portrait is here for the first time in the Old Testament sketched directly. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Immanuel, the Messiah It is the Messiah whom the prophet here beholds as about to be born, then in chap. 9 as born, and in chap. 11 as reigning. (F. Delitzsch.)What sign could the distant birth of Christ be to Ahaz? The answer is plain, as evidenced by the prophet turning away from the king who repudiated, his privileges to the “ house of David,” to which in all its generations the promise was given. The king was endeavouring to bring about the destruction of “the land,” but his efforts in that direction would be useless until the destiny of the house of David was fulfilled. The virgin must bear the promised Son; Judah is immortal till that event is accomplished. It matters not whether it is near or far, the family and lineage of David must survive till then. Hence the sign was plain enough, or ought to have been, to Ahaz and the people in general. The closing portion of this section of Scripture fully discloses the destruction that should befall Judah as well as Israel, but the final fall of Judah is after the birth of Immanuel. (F. T. Bassett, M. A.)The virgin mother To maintain that Isaiah did not mean to say that a certain Person in the future was to be born of a virgin, is not the same thing as to hold that Christ was not so born as a fact. (F. H. Woods, B. D.)The mystery of the sign The “ sign” is on the one side a mystery staring threateningly at the house of David, and on the other side it is a mystery rich in comfort to the prophet and all believers; and it is couched in such enigmatic terms in order that they who harden themselves may not understand it, and in order that believers may so much the more long to understand it. (F. Delitzsch.)A new thing in the earth (Isaiah 7:10-16):-- I. THE PLEDGE . 1. The condescension which God displayed on this occasion was very remarkable. 2. There may be a semblance of regard for the honour of God, while the heart is in a state of hostility against Him. 3. God may sustain a certain relationship to those who are not His in reality. II. THE REBUKE . (Isaiah 7:13.) 1. The persons to whom it was addressed. Not the king only, but the whole nation; which shows that they, or a large portion of them, were like-minded with their ungodly ruler. They are called “ the house of David,” a designation which was doubtless intended to remind them of his character, and the great things which God had done for him. Well would it have been if he by whom David’ s throne was now occupied had been imbued with David’ s spirit, and walked in David’ s ways; and that his influence had been exerted in inducing his subjects to do so likewise. 2. The feeling by which it was prompted. It was evidently that of holy indignation. 3. The grounds on which it rested. There were two things especially by which God was dishonoured on this occasion. (1) Unbelief. Nothing casts a greater indignity upon the Divine character than for His word to be distrusted. (2) Hypocrisy. Far better to bid open defiance to the Most High, and say with Pharaoh, “ Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?” than pretend to serve Him while we are resolved to act in opposition to His will. III. THE EVENT . As to this striking prediction, in itself considered, there are several particulars which it sets before us-- 1. The miraculous conception of Christ. 2. The essential Deity of Christ. 3. The design of the coming of Christ. For Him to be called “ Immanuel, God with us,” shows that He appeared to espouse our cause. 4. The lowly condition of Christ. “ Butter and honey shall He eat,” etc. 5. The moral purity of Christ. Although the expression, “ before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good,” has literal reference to His attaining the age of discernment, yet it may be applied with special propriety to the spotless sanctity of His character. He knew, in a sense in which no one else ever knew, how to refuse the evil and choose the good. (Anon.)The birth of Christ I. THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 1. We see here a miraculous conception. 2. Notice next, the humble parentage. Though she was not a princess, yet her name, Mary, by interpretation, signifies a princess; and though she is not the queen of heaven, yet she has a right to be reckoned amongst the queens of earth; and though she is not the lady of our Lord, she does walk amongst the renowned and mighty women of Scripture. Yet Jesus Christ’ s birth was a humble one. Strange that the Lord of glory was not born in a palace! Let us take courage here. If Jesus Christ was born in a manger in a rock, why should He not come and live in our rocky hearts? If He was born in a stable, why should not the stable of our souls be made into a habitation for Him? If He was born in poverty, may not the poor in spirit expect that He will be their Friend? 3. We must make one more remark upon this birth of Christ, and that remark shall be concerning a glorious birthday. With all the humility that surrounded the birth of Christ, there was yet very much that was glorious, very much that was honourable. No other man ever had such a birthday as Jesus Christ had. Of whom had prophets and seers ever written as they wrote of Him? Whose name is graven on so many tablets as His? Who had such a scroll of prophecy, all pointing to Him as Jesus Christ, the God- man? Then recollect, concerning His birth, when did God ever hang a fresh lamp in the sky to announce the birth of a Caesar? Caesars may come, and they may die, but stars shall never prophesy their birth. When did angels ever stoop from heaven, and sing choral symphonies on the birth of a mighty man? Christ’ s birth is not despicable, even if we consider the visitors who came around His cradle. II. THE FOOD OF CHRIST. “ Butter and honey shall He eat, that He may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.” Our translators were certainly very good Scholars, and God gave them much wisdom, so that they craned up our language to the majesty of the original, but here they were guilty of very great inconsistency. I do not see how butter and honey can make a child choose good, and refuse evil. If it is so, I am sure butter and honey ought to go up greatly in price, for good men are ver much required. But it does not say, in the original, “ Butter and honey shall He eat, that He may know to refuse the owl, and choose the good,” but, “ Butter and honey shall He eat, till He shall know how to refuse the evil, and choose the good,” or, better still, “ Butter and honey shall He eat, when He shall know how to refuse the evil, and choose the good.” We shall take that translation, and just try to elucidate the meaning couched in the words. They should teach us-- 1. Christ’ s proper humanity. When He would convince His disciples that He was flesh, and not spirit, He took a piece of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb, and ate as others did. 2. The butter and honey teach us, again, that Christ was to be born in times of peace. Such products are not found in Judea in times of strife; the ravages of war sweep away all the fair fruits of industry. 3. There is another thought here. “ Butter and honey shall He eat when He shall know how to refuse the evil, and choose the good.” This is to teach us the precocity of Christ, by which I mean that, even when He was a child, even when He lived upon butter and honey, which is the food of children, He Knew me evil from the good. 4. Perhaps it may seem somewhat playful, but I must say how sweet it is to my soul to believe that, as Christ lived upon butter and honey, surety butter and honey drop from His lips. Sweet are His words unto our souls, more to be desired than honey or the honeycomb. 5. And perhaps I ought not to have forgotten to say, that the effect of Christ’ s eating butter and honey was to show us that He would not in His lifetime differ from other men in His outward guise. Butter and honey Christ ate, and butter and honey may His people eat; nay, whatsoever God in His providence gives unto them, that is to be the food of the child Christ. III. THE NAME OF CHRIST. “ And shall call His name Immanuel.” 1. The Virgin Mary called her son Immanuel that there might be a meaning in His name 2. Would you know this name most sweetly you must know it by the teaching of the Holy Spirit. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The responsibility of revelation 1. This Annunciation to Ahaz was a great opportunity for him--a crisis in his spiritual life. He was getting entangled in idolatrous ways, involved in disloyal relations with the Assyrian monarchy, and had already seriously compromised himself in sacrilegious appropriation of temple treasure. And here was a golden opportunity to break through his bends, and cast himself loose, once for all from his unworthy associations. He was only asked to trust on for a little while longer, to watch events, and, as they fell out in a certain direction, to recognise that they were of God’ s special ordering, and that they constituted a claim on his obedience and trust in God. But he was incapable of profiting by God’ s goodwill towards him. He rejected the Divine overtures of prosperity and peace; and, while God still carried out the dictates of His purpose, they came to Ahaz without blessing and without relief. His enemies were removed, but a direr foe stood in their place; he could not but learn that God was faithful, but the word that he compelled God to keep was a word of retribution. 2. And if we were capable of the combined mental and spiritual effort that such a course would require, and were to sit down calmly and without prejudice to dissect our past lives, and with unerring judgment were to separate cause from effect in every case, and to trace each important issue of life to its true turning point, how often, probably, should we find that the unsatisfactory features of the past were largely due to our neglect of some revelation--some annunciation--of God! By experience, by example, by warning, by discipline; by difficulties significantly placed in our path, or by clearances unexpectedly but unmistakably made; by words in season, out of season; by a thousand things, and in countless ways, we have had annunciations from God--plain indications of His will and pleasure concerning us, and no indistinct prophecies of things that shall be hereafter. And our judgment upon a review of the whole is this--that our true happiness and our genuine success have been in very exact proportion to our faithfulness or our unfaithfulness in reading the signs of God. (E. T. Marshall, M. A.)The mercy of God The first word of this text joins the anger of God and His mercy together. God chides and rebukes the king Ahaz by the prophet; He is angry with him, and therefore” He will give him a sign--a seal of mercy. I. GOD TAKES ANY TO SHOW MERCY. II. THE WAY OF HIS MERCY HERE. “ The Lord shall give you a sign.” III. WHAT THIS SIGN WAS. “ Behold a virgin,” etc. (J. Donne.)Miracle of miracles King Ahaz saith, I will not tempt God, and, making religion his pretence against religion, being a most wilful and wicked man, would not. We may learn by this wretched king that those that are least fearful before danger are most basely fearful in danger (Isaiah 7:2). We may see the conflict between the infinite goodness of God and the inflexible stubbornness of man; God’ s goodness striving with man’ s badness. When they would have no sign, yet God will give them a sign. Behold. (1) As a thing presented to the eye of faith. (2) As a matter of great concernment. (3) As a strange and admirable thing. It is atheistical profaneness to despise any help that God in His wisdom thinketh necessary to support our weak faith withal. The house of David was afraid they should be extinct by these two great enemies of the Church; but, saith Isaiah, “ A virgin of the house of David shall conceive a son,” and how then can the house of David be extinct? Heaven hath said it; earth cannot disannul it. God hath said it, and all the creatures in the world cannot annihilate it. How doth friendship between God and us arise from hence, that Christ is God in our nature? 1. Sin, the cause of division, is taken away. 2. Our nature is pure in Christ, and therefore in Christ God loveth us. 3. Christ being our head of influence conveyeth the same Spirit that is in Him to all His members, and, little by little, by that Spirit, purgeth His Church and maketh her fit for communion with Himself. 4. The second person is God in our nature for this end, to make God and us friends. (R. Sibbes.)Christ in prophecy You will find that the presence of one Person pervades the whole book If you go into a British navy yard, or on board a British vessel, and pick up a piece of rope, you will find that there is one little red thread which runs through the whole of it--through every foot of cordage which belongs to the British government; so, if a piece of rope is stolen, it may be cut rote inch pieces, but every piece has the mark which tells where it belongs. It is so with the Bible. You may separate it into a thousand parts, and yet you will find one thought--one great fact running through the whole of it. You will find it constantly pointing and referring to one great Personage. Around this one mighty Personage this whole book revolves. “ To Him give all the prophets witness.” (H. L. Hastings.)ImmanuelShear-jashub; Maher-shalal-hash-baz; Immanuel The three names taken together would mean this--the Assyrians would spoil the countries of Syria and Ephraim, and though they would threaten Judah, God would be with His people, and save them, and so a remnant would For left which would return at once to religious faith and to national prosperity. For these two last are almost always associated in the prophet’ s view. (F. H. Woods, B. D.)A prophecy of the Messiah When Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, the Jews saw quite clearly that this was indeed nothing less than the claim to be Divine, and they cried out that this was blasphemy. And what was His reply? Jesus reminded His hearers that the earliest judges and leaders of the people of Israel, as testified by the language of their Scriptures, had been called gods. “ Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods? If He called them gods, unto whom the Word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken; say ye of Him, whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?” The judges and rulers of the early days of Israel had been called gods because their office and function was just this--to represent God on earth to men, to reflect His character, and do His will, and lead His people. They often failed to do this because they were merely human. In some cases they were false to their trust, and then God’ s vengeance overtook them. Yet they pointed to that one far-off Divine event when One who should perfectly fulfil that name was to interpose for the world’ s deliverance. And thus, just as the implied prophecy in calling men gods was to be one day fulfilled, so the prophecy of Isaiah before us was also a prophecy of that same later far-off event, when one who was in every sense “ God with us” should come to satisfy the needs and the longings of the human heart. (Canon Ainger.)Immanuel, the Sympathiser “ God with us.” This means omnipotence with us, omniscience with us, perfection with us, and the love that never fails. Some of us, perhaps, have tried, in conformity with the passion for getting rid of the supernatural that marks the latest struggle of the scientific world, to construct a new religion out of the old, in which the same pathetic and lovely figure as before shall be placed beside us for our example, but from whom the aureole of Deity has been taken away; they have been trying to find all that life needs in the presence only of a fellow man, however superior to ourselves in holiness and purity. There are moments in our lives when we feel ourselves face to face with sin, in the presence of sorrow or of death from which no man can deliver us. In the sad hours of your life, it has been said, the recollection of that Man you read of in your childhood, the Man of sorrows, the great Sympathiser with human woes and sufferings, rises up before you. I know it is a reality for you then, for you feel it to be not only beautiful but true. In such moments does it seem to you as if Christ were merely a person who eighteen hundred years ago made certain journeying between Judea and Galilee? Can such a recollection fill up the blank which some present grief, the loss of some friend, has made in your heart? It does not. It never did this for you or for anyone. But the comfort that came to you from the thought of Him may be safely trusted not to betray you, for that voice that came to you in your anguish says, “ You may trust Me, you may lean upon Me, for I know all things in heaven and earth. I and My Father are one.” (Canon Ainger.)Immanuel Nature, God, and Jesus are words often used to designate the same power or being, but are suggestive of very different associations. The word “ nature” veils from our view the glory of the Godhead, and removes His personality from our consciousness. It removes the Deity to a distance from us, but Jesus, the newer and better name, the latest revelation, brings Him nearer to us. The associations of the name Jesus, as a name of God, are most tender and endearing. Jesus does not remind us of blind power or unfeeling skill, as the word nature does; nor yet of overwhelming greatness, distant force and vast intelligence, the conception of which strains our faculties, and the realisation of which crushes our power, as the word God does. The name of Jesus reminds us chiefly of sympathy, kindheartedness, brotherly tenderness, and one-ness with ourselves. The word God presents a picture of the Deity to the mind, in which those attributes of the Divine character which are in themselves most removed from us, occupy the most prominent position, and are bathed with a flood of light, while those features of character, by which the Divine Spirit touches the delicate chords of human affections, are dimly seen amid the darkening shadows of the background. The picture is reversed in Jesus. The great attributes are buried in the light of love, as the stars are covered by the light of day. (Evan Lewis, B. A.)“ Immanuel,” a stimulus to the prophet himself Isaiah may have meant the Name to speak to him as well as to the nation. He may have desired to bring the message of the Name into his personal and family life. For, after all, a prophet is but a man of like passions with” ourselves, subject to the same infirmities and fluctuations of spirit, “ warmed and cooled, by the same winter and summer.” There were times, no doubt, when even Isaiah lost faith in his own function, in his own message, when the very man who had assured a sinful nation that God was with them could hardly believe that God was with him or could even cry out, “ Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man!” And in such moments as these, when, weary of the world and weary of himself, he lost courage and hope, he may have felt that it would be well for him to have that in his very household which would help to recall the truths he had recognised and taught in hours of clearer insight, help to restore the faith with which he had first sprung up to greet the Divine message. We may believe that there were many darkened hours in his experience, hours of broken faith and defeated hope, when he would fall back on his earlier faith and brighter hopes; when he would call his little son to him, and, as he fondled him, would repeat his name, Immanuel, Immanuel--God-with-us, God-with-us,--and find in that Name a charm potent to restore his waning trust in the gracious presence and gracious will of Jehovah. (“Niger” in Expositor.) The child Immanuel Isaiah may have felt, as we feel, that God is with a little child in quite another sense, in a more pathetic sense, than He is with grown men. To him, as to us, their innocence, their loveliness, and, above all, their love, may have been the most exquisite revelation of the purity and love of God. “ Heaven lies about their infancy” ; and in this heaven the prophet may often have taken refuge from his cares, despondencies, and fears. Every child born into the world brings this message to us, reminds us that God is with us indeed and of a truth; for whence did this new, pure, tender life come if not from the central Fountain of life and purity and love? And from this point of view Isaiah’ s “ Immanuel” is but the ancient analogue of our Lord’ s tender words: Of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (“Niger” in Expositor.) Immanuel The text is prophecy of the Messiah (Matthew 1:23). I. THE UNDER WHICH IT WAS SPOKEN. II. ITS . For more than seven hundred years devout Jews waited for the Divinely predicted sign. Then came the day which Christmas commemorates, III. ITS IMPORT. To Christians this prophecy is significant of those blessings which are pledged to us in Christ. In Him we have the assurance of God being-- 1. With us in the sense of on our side. Nature shows us God as above us; law shows us God as against us, because we have made ourselves His enemies; but the Gospel shows us God with us to defend us from the power of sin and to deliver us from the penalty of sin. 2. With us in the sense of in our nature. “ The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” ; became one of ourselves, shared with us-- (1) The trials of a human life; (2) The temptations which assail us; (3) The penalty of sin--death of the body, the hiding of God’ s countenance. And so in Christ Jesus we the pledge of the three cardinal blessings of all Divine revelation-- (a) The Divine sympathy, because He is “ touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” (b) The Divine salvation, because He has “ put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” (c) The Divine succour, because He “ ever liveth to make intercession” for us; and His parting word to His Church is, “ Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” (T. H. Barnett.)God with us, though His presence is not always realised Professor Tyndall has told us how, as he wandered through the higher Alpine pastures in the earlier months of the present summer (1879), he was often surprised to find at evening lovely flowers in full bloom where in the morning he had seen only a wide thin sheet of snow. Struck with the strange phenomenon, unable to believe that a few hours of even the most fervent sunshine had drawn these exquisite flowers to their full maturity, he carefully scraped away the snow from a few inches of pasture and examined the plants that were growing beneath it. And, to his surprise and delight, he found that the powers of life had been with them even while they seemed wrapped in death; that the sun had reached them through the snow; that the snow itself had both held down the rising warmth of the earth upon them, and sheltered them from the cold biting winds which might else have destroyed them. There they stood, each full grown, every flower maturely developed, though the green calyx was carefully folded over the delicately coloured petals; and no sooner was the snow removed, no sooner did the rays of the sun touch the green enfolding calyx, than it opened and revealed the perfect beauty it had shrouded and preserved. And so, doubtless, we shall one day find that God, our Sun, has been with us even during the winter of our self-discontent, all through the hours of apparent failure and inertness, quickening in us a life of which we gave but little sign, maturing and making us perfect by the things we suffered; so that when the hindering veils are withdrawn, and the full light of His love shines upon us, at that gracious touch we too may disclose a beauty of which we had not dreamed, and of Which for long we gave no promise. (“Niger” in Expositor.) Life’ s best amulet A Mohammedan negro in Africa was once taken prisoner in war. He wore suspended around his neck an amulet or charm. When this was taken from him he became almost frenzied with grief, and begged that it be returned to him He was willing to sacrifice his right hand for it. It was his peculiar treasure, which he valued as life itself. It was a very simple affair--A little leather case enclosing a slip of paper on which was inscribed in Arabic characters one word--“ God.” He believed that the wearing of this charm secured for him a blessed immunity from ill. When it was returned to him he was so overjoyed that the tears streamed from his eyes, and falling to the ground he kissed the feet of the man who restored to him his treasure. That poor negro had but the bare name--we have God! Not a distant monarch seated lonesomely away from any human voice or footstep. There is one name that ought to be dearest of all to every Christian--“ Immanuel.” It means not a Deity remote or hidden, but “ God with us.” (Christian Endeavor.)God with us An old poet has represented the Son of God as having the stars for His crown, the sky for His azure mantle, the clouds for His bow, and the fire for His spear. He rode forth in His majestic robes of glory, but one day resolved to alight on the earth, and descended, undressing Himself on the way. When asked what He would wear, He replied, with a smile, “ that He had new clothes making down below.” (Gates of Imagery.) Isaiah 7:17-25 The Lord shall bring upon thee . . . even the king of Assyria The prophecy fulfilled The calling in of Assur laid the foundation for the overthrow of the kingdom of Judah not less than for that of the kingdom of Israel Ahaz thereby became a tributary vassal of the Assyrian king, and although Hezekiah again became free from Assyria through the miraculous help of Jehovah, nevertheless what Nebuchadnezzar did was only the accomplishment of the frustrated undertaking of Sennacherib. (F. Delitzsch.)Assyria and the Jews If Isaiah here, in chaps, 7-12, looks upon Assyria absolutely as the universal empire (2 Kings 23:29; Ezra 6:22), this is so far true, seeing that the four empires from the Babylonian to the Roman are really only the unfolding of the beginning which had its beginning in Assyria. And if, here in chap. 7, he thinks of the son of the virgin as growing up under the Assyrian oppressions, this is also so far true, since Jesus was actually born in a time in which the Holy Land, deprived of its earliest fulness of blessing, found itself under the supremacy of the universal empire, and in a condition which went back to the unbelief of Ahaz as its ultimate cause. Besides He, who in the fulness of time became flesh, does truly lead an ideal life in the Old Testament history. The fact that the house and people of David did not perish in the Assyrian calamities is really, as chap. 8 presupposes, to be ascribed to His presence, which, although not yet in bodily form, was nevertheless active. Thus is solved the contradiction between the prophecy and the history of its fulfilment. (F. Delitzsch.)Judah’ s loss of national independence From this application of Ahaz to Tiglath-Pileser was to date the transition of Judah “ to a servile state from which it was never permanently freed, the domination of Assyria being soon succeeded by that of Egypt, and this by that of Babylon, Persia, Syria, and Rome, the last ending only in the downfall of the State, and that general dispersion which continues to this day. The revolt of Hezekiah, and even longer intervals of liberty in later times, are mere interruptions of the customary and prevailing bondage.” (J. A. Alexander.)The perspective of prophecy God makes what was announced by prophecy separate itself in reality into different stages. (E. Konig.)History and prophecy Prophecy never seems to forsake the ground of history. However extended the vista which stretches before him, that vista begins at the prophet’ s feet. (Bishop Perowne.)Bees and flies Bees and swarms of flies are used as a Homeric image for swarms of peoples (Il. 2.87). Here the images are likewise emblematic. The Egyptian people, being unusually numerous, is compared to the swarming fly; and the Assyrian people, being warlike and eager for conquest, is compared to the stinging bee, which is so difficult to turn sway Deuteronomy 1:44; Psalms 118:12). The emblems also correspond to the nature of the two countries; the fly to slimy Egypt, which, from being such, abounds in insects (chap. 18:1), and the bee to the more mountainous and woody Assyria, where bee-culture still constitutes one of the principal branches of trade in the present day. (F. Delitzsch.)Hissing for the fly and the bee To hiss for them, is to call or summon them, derived from the practice of the bee keepers, who, with a whistle, summoned them from the hives to the open fields, and, by the same means, conducted them home again We are assured by St. Cyril that [the practice] subsisted in Asia down to the fourth and fifth centuries. (J. Kitto, D. D.)A sentence of doom I. GOD IS IN THE WHOLE EARTH. All governments are but instruments which He uses when and as He pleases (Isaiah 7:17-21). A thought full of comfort for the righteous, of horror for the unrighteous. II. THE OF ALL THAT IS NOT BASED UPON, AND OF, (Isaiah 7:23). Britain will be “ Great Britain” only so long as God pleases. III. GOD MAY HAVE , HE HAS ALWAYS A MORE ONE BEHIND (Isaiah 7:17). IV. Seeing that all these things were threatened against and inflicted upon God’ s chosen people, learn that NO MERCY THAT GOD HAS SHOWN US WILL FURNISH ANY FOR US, IF THAT MERCY, WE SIN AGAINST HIM. There is a tendency in our evil hearts to think that because God has been specially good to us, we may sin with less risk than others; but the teaching of the Bible is, that those who “ turn the grace of God into lasciviousness” shall be visited with a sorer doom than others. (R. A. Bertram.) Isaiah 7:20 In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired The hired razor There is involved the bitterest sarcasm for Ahaz; the cheap knife which he had hired for the deliverance of Judah is hired by the Lord in order to shave Judah wholly and most shamefully. (F. Delitzsch.)Shaving the beard The most shameful of all. The beard is the sign of manly vigour, manliness, and manly dignity. (F. Delitzsch.)The Lord’ s razor The Bible is the boldest book ever written. There are no similitudes in Ossian or the Iliad or the Odyssey so daring. Its imagery sometimes seems on the verge of the reckless, but only seems so. The fact is that God would startle and arouse men and nations. A tame and limping similitude would fail to accomplish the object. While there are times when He employs in the Bible the gentle dew and the morning cloud and the dove and the daybreak in the presentation of truth, we often find the iron chariot, the lightning, the earth quake, the sword and, in my text, the razor. This keen-bladed instrument has advanced in usefulness with the ages. In Bible times and lands the beard remained uncut save in the seasons of mourning and humiliation, but the razor was always a suggestive symbol. David says of Doeg, his antagonist: “ Thy tongue is a sharp razor working deceitfully that is, it pretends to clear the face, but is really used for deadly precision. I. If God’ s judgments are razors, WE HAD BETTER BE CAREFUL HOW WE USE THEM ON OTHER PEOPLE. In careful sheath the domestic weapons are put away, where no one by accident may touch them, and where the hands of children may not touch them. Such instruments must be carefully handled or not handled at all. But how recklessly some people wield the judgments of God. If a man meet with business misfortune, how many there are ready to cry out, “ This is a judgment of God upon him because he was unscrupulous, or arrogant, or over reaching, or miserly.” How I do dislike the behaviour of those persons who, when people are unfortunate, say: “ I told you so--getting punished--served him right!” With air sometimes supercilious and sometimes Pharisaical, and always blasphemous, they take the razor of Divine judgment and sharpen it on their own hard hearts, and then go to work on men sprawled out at full length under disaster, cutting mercilessly. They begin by soft expressions of sympathy and pity and half praise, and lather the victim all over before they put on the sharp edge. II. Again, when I read in my text that the Lord shaves, with the hired razor of Assyria, the land of Judea, I bethink myself of THE OF GOD’ S . A razor swung the tenth part of an inch out of the right line means either failure or laceration, but God’ s dealings never slip, and they do not miss, by the thousandth part of an inch, the right direction. III. Further, my text tells us that GOD SHAVES NATIONS. “ In the same day shall the Lord shave with the razor that is hired.” With one sharp sweep He went across Judah, and down went its pride and its power. Assyria was the hired razor against Judah, and Cyrus the hired razor against Babylon, and the Huns the hired razor against the Goths, and there are now many razors that the Lord could hire if, because of our national sins, He should undertake to shave us. IV. But notice that God is so kind and loving, that WHEN IT IS FOR HIM TO CUT, HE HAS TO GO TO OTHERS FOR THE SHARP-EDGED WEAPON. “ In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired.” God is love. God is pity. God is help. God is shelter. God is rescue. There are no sharp edges about Him, no thrusting points, no instruments of laceration. If you want balm for wounds, He has that. If you want salve for Divine eyesight, He has that. But if there is sharp and cutting work to do, which requires a razor, that He hires. God has nothing about Him that hurts, save when dire necessity demands, and then He has to go to someone else to get the instrument. (T. De W. Talmage, D. D.)Allies and razors You thought you were buying an ally when you were only hiring a razor by which you were to be rendered naked and made contemptible. (J. Parker, D. D.). Isaiah 8:1-4 Maher-shalal-hash-baz Maher-shalal-hash-baz Four words, or rather two sentences, form now the burden of this message; and they are embodied in the name of a boy. Maher-shalal,--this first sentence means that quickly shall trophies be taken--the prophet thus seeing the army of Samaria in full and disgraceful flight. While Hash-baz, the second, tells us about booty being taken, as the Assyrian forces shall enter Damascus in 732 B.C., and help themselves to its wealth. (B. Blake, B. D.)Unconscious testimony I. GOD MEANT BY THIS CHILD. II. GOD HAS A MEANING OF HIS OWN WITH EVERY LIFE. (J. R. Howard.)God’ s writing God hath a large print in some of His books. Verily, He can write a small hand too, which men can only see through the microscope of tears. (J. Parker, D. D.)A man’ s pen They that write for men should write with a man’ s pen, and not covet the pen or tongue of angels. (M. Henry.)A help to memory It is sometimes a good help to memory to put much matter in few words, which serve as handles by which we take hold of more. (M. Henry.)Naming children from passing events In 1900 many a helpless infant was saddled for life with a name drawn from South Africa, and reminiscent of certain towns and certain individuals conquered or conquering by the might of British arms. However patriotic we may be, we feel sympathy for these little innocents with the reverse of euphonious names, for their trials in after days when they become Miss Ladysmith Tomkinson and Mr. Pretorius Simpkinson, will not be light. An additional burden for the feminine portion of this sorry community will be, that their mere names will be as definite as a census paper and as plain as a birth certificate, as a declaration of age. In the year 1926, Mr. William Smith will have no need to inquire diligently the approximate age of Miss Methuen Redvers Robinson; he will at once be able to fix the glorious year when her presence began to usher a happy springtime into this wintry world--at least, for him. Strange and unforeseen results may follow from the naming of the little children from the crimsoned fields of war. But the custom of naming the children from passing events is by no means new. The old Hebrews, with their religious intensity, and fervent patriotism, usually found names for their children that had a very distinct meaning and a very distinct message, quite unlike the stolid English, who may by chance stumble upon the fact that Irene means peace, and Theodore, the gift of God, but who never trouble themselves overmuch about such un-English things. (W. Owen.)Maher-shalal-hash-baz One very distinct difference between this old Hebrew name and any recent English battle name is this, that the latter is a cry of triumph, and the former an announcement of trial, and in this difference there may be seen a difference in the temper of these name makers. “ Let us remember the past,” say the English, let us perpetuate our victories and immortalise them, but let defeat be forgotten, and let the future take care of itself.” “ No, let us look onward,” said the Hebrew prophet, “ let us face the facts, and realise that no past victory at the Red Sea can make us conquerors now, if we lose our faith in God.” Of course, as the result of such an utterance, Isaiah was deemed a pessimist (as is every man who is far-seeing enough to discern the cloud in the distance, even if it be no bigger than a man’ s hand, and brave enough to tell what he has seen), and it was easy enough then, as now, and satisfactory enough to the majority, to label him a pessimist and then ignore him! But, on the other hand, it is not the easiest of things to listen to the men who prophesy smoothly of continual summer, while, round them as they speak, the leaves are falling in autumn, and the trees stripping themselves bare to face the unseen icy wind. There is room for the cry, “ Maher-shalal-hash-baz!” (W. Owen.) Isaiah 8:5-8 This people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly Consolation amidst predictions of judgment Isaiah does not find himself surrounded merely by the very wide circle of an incorrigible people ripe for judgment. He does not stand alone, but is surrounded by a small band of believing disciples who need consolation and are worthy of it. It is to these that the promising other side of the prophecy of Immanuel belongs. Maher-shalal cannot comfort or console them; for they know that when Assyria has done with Damascus and Samaria the troubles of Judah are not over, but are only really about to begin. The prophecy of Immanuel is destined to be the stronghold of the believers in the terrible judgment time of the worldly power which was then commencing; and to turn into the light and unfold the consolation it contained for the believers, is the purpose of the discourses which now follow (Isaiah 8:5-12). (F. Delitzsch.)Judgment and salvation 1. Vision of a terrible devastation of the country, north and south, by the Assyrian. 2. The salvation and Saviour that rise to view behind the desolation Isaiah 9:1-7). (A. B. Davidson, LL. D.)The waters of Shiloah The waters of Shiloah took their rise on Mount Moriah, “ the hill of the Lord,” the hill on which the temple was built. Indeed, the spring is said to have risen within the very precincts of the temple, and to have supplied its courts and cisterns with the abundant water required for its innumerable washings and sacrifices. From the summit of the hill it now flows gently to its base, not along any external channel however, but through a secret tunnel which it seems to have worn for itself through the solid rock. Its waters, therefore, flow underground, running fax before they meet the light of day. And, when they re-emerge, they rise and flow without noise or turbulence. They form no brawling torrent, no swift and angry stream, sweeping away its banks and carrying havoc before it. Softly and gently they rise and fill the pool. Softly and gently they overflow into a placid stream, a stream that does not fail even in times of drought; a stream that quickens all it touches into life, and reveals its presence only by the beauty and fertility which mark its course. This is no imaginary description adapted to the requirements of the passage before us, but a description given by a traveller who stood on its margin and tracked its course only a few years since. And yet how admirably it illustrates the prophet’ s words--“ The waters of Shiloah that go softly” ; or, as the Hebrew word also means, secretly. They do go both secretly and softly. They flow unseen for a while; and when they emerge from their rocky tunnel, they do not rush and fret and whiten in their course as most hill streams do, but lapse gently on, carrying with them a belt of verdure to the very margin of the Dead Sea. The words of Isaiah describe the waters of Shiloah as they remain to this day. (S. Cox, D. D.)Shiloah and the Euphrates, or mercy and judgment The history of the Jewish nation mirrors the life of the individual man. I. THAT THE MERCIES OF OUR PRESENT LIFE FLOW “ SOFTLY” BY AS A GENTLE STREAM. 1. They flow vivifyingly. The waters of Shiloah were the life of Jerusalem. The stream of mercy here is our life. 2. They flow constantly. The streams of Shiloah are flowing now. The stream of mercy is constantly rolling by us from infancy to our mortal gasp. 3. They flow softly. It rolls by us almost unheard. II. THAT THE ABUSE OF THIS STREAM OF IS AN IMMENSE CRIME. The text teaches that the crime of the Jew in relation to his privileges was two fold: 1. Rejection. “ They refused the waters of Shiloah,” which means, they refused to avail themselves of those means of national improvement and defence which the munificent reign of Jehovah under which they lived afforded. They refused to trust Him in their dangers. 2. Presumption. These people “ rejoiced in Rezin and Remaliah’ s son.” Their minds ever occupied by the failures and successes of wicked men, their hope of safety rested on the confidence they had in mere worldly alliances; they trusted in an arm of flesh. We abuse God’ s mercy when we allow it not to inspire us with unshaken confidence in His protecting love and power. III. THAT THIS CRIME WILL BRING ON THE RIVER OF . “ Behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many,” etc. 1. The abuse of mercy leads to retributive misery. 2. The streams of retributive misery stand in awful contrast with them of mercy. (Homilist.)Shiloah a type of Gospel grace There are more reasons than one why Siloam, rather than the other waters of Jerusalem, is selected by the prophet as a type of Gospel influences and Gospel grace. It filtered clear from the temple rock,--emblem of grace in its source,--and for a time ran its unseen course underground,--emblem of grace in its secrecy. Then it sparkled out and along a broad band of silver, till it reached the gardens and the vineyards, beyond, where it divided into a hundred tiny courses that covered the sward with their shining network, and filled the air with their gentle music,--emblem of grace in its power to refresh and fertilise. Add to this the fact that Siloam played a part in Jewish religion, and entered once and again into Jewish story. It was there that the temple vessels were cleansed. There, once a year, at the Feast of Tabernacles, the priests went in solemn procession, and fetched water in golden goblets, to pour as an offering to the Lord. There, in later times, dwelt virtue to heal. It was by the brink of Siloam that the impotent man lay till He of whom Siloam testified wrought the cure he had waited so long for in vain. It was in the waters of Siloam that the blind man washed and received his sight. And it was close to Siloam that our Saviour most probably stood, when He spoke of a better store than gushed from its mossy fountain, or rippled in its pebbly bed, and uttered that greatest of all Gospel invitations, “ If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.” The figure is fruitful in striking analogies, suggesting, much as to the nature and progress of Christ’ s kingdom of grace beyond the main fact of its gentleness. The Gospel of Christ as a matter that comes not by observation,--the prime and outstanding illustration of that gentleness of God which makes great,--an agency which pursues its peaceful process and accomplishes itspeaceful results, not by might nor by power, but by God’ s own Spirit whose operations are generally noiseless and often unseen,--is the subject before us. 1. When we speak of the gentleness of the Gospel, it is not denied that there may be a great deal of stir in the means and the circumstances that precede and prepare for the Gospel. That, however, does not interfere with the truthfulness of the figure; the figure, on the contrary, suggests it. When you wish to dig a bed for a stream, and lead its waters through a region hitherto dry, you must be prepared for a certain disturbance. Rocks may have to be blasted, trees to be torn up, long accumulations to be removed, as rough places are made smooth and crooked places plain, and a channel prepared for the fertilising current. But the stream when it comes may flow softly all the same, gurgling gently past the seams, of the pickaxe and the stones that the powder has stained. The fact is, all God’ s saving work is gentle. He may smite like the hammer, but He heals like the dew; His severities may crush, but it is the gentleness that comes after that makes great. 2. Nor, in speaking of the gentleness of the Gospel, do we forget that a great deal of stir may follow it. Most true it is that the Gospel fits a life for outward processes of activity, expenditures of effort and of energy, feats of work and of warfare, which may be far from being secret or noiseless. Just so with a stream. You may have the industry and stir of the mill on its banks, when the wheels whirl and the looms hum, as corn is bruised for man’ s food, or cloth is prepared for his raiment; and you may have at the same time the quiet of the stream that turns it, whose current flows softly, and whose ripple is all but unheard as it steals brimming through the lush, level meadows, or hides beneath the overarching elms. Yes, the outcome of the Gospel may mean stir. But the Gospel itself, the secret and spring of it, that is always as the waters of Shiloah that flow softly. 3. Nor, once more, when we speak of the gentleness and equality of the grace and influences of the Gospel, do we fail to remember that even the Gospel itself has its periods of quickening and enlargement. Every now and then the stream of its influences is more copious, and the evidence of its existence more visible and obtrusive. Again the figure fits in at this point,--for Siloam was intermittent. Every few hours or so the calmness of its surface was broken, the speed of its current was hastened, by a richer jet of water from its spring. But no perception of the good to be gained at such epochs is to blind our eyes to the fact that the blessing may exist, and exist to fertilise and enrich at other times, when the course of God’ s dealings is more ordinary, and their effects more regular and unseen. After all, the waters of Shiloah flow softly, and, even when stillest and most secret, they are visible enough for thirsty souls to discover their existence, abundant enough for them to dip their pitchers, and drink. (W. A. Gray.)The choices of life Are we not all more or less in the position of the Jews whom Isaiah addresses, with perils surrounding us, and with the need of protection and assistance pressed home on us? Have we not all, too, an alternative of the same kind presented us,--between Gospel grace and Gospel influences on the one hand, and worldly advantages and alliances on the other,--between the waters of. Shiloah that go softly, whose very silence and secrecy may offend us, and the noisier rapids of earth, which attract, like the Euphrates in the prophet’ s figure, only to disappoint or betray? Every man’ s life yields an opportunity for choosing, and every man’ s life is shaped and conditioned by the choice which he makes. I. Let me exemplify the alternative before us by a reference to THE EXAMPLE WE FOLLOW. Our example has been given us. It is the example of one whose existence while here was a living embodiment of the figure of the text It ran its course through this earth of ours like the waters of Shiloah that go softly. The stream of Shiloah was a picture and a prophecy of Christ. The mystery lies wrapped in the very name, and John, the evangelist, who was ever quick in discerning such references, and ever ready in expressing them, intends the analogy to be marked when he says: “ The pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation, Sent.” And was not the sending of Christ, to begin with, and His life all throughout, characterised by the aspect of the text! What of His youth? For thirty long years, His life ran its hidden course,--through a self-restraint that may well be called marvellous, making music and greenness, no doubt, in the mountain retreat where it flowed, but known nowhere besides; scarcely recognised, as it seems, even there. And when solitude and secrecy had accomplished their work, and His hour for disclosure had come, and the stream that had hitherto hid itself took its way through the glare of publicity, as He wrought and spoke among men, was it otherwise? Still, as before, His life, like the waters of Shiloah, flowed softly. Take His mien and bearing among men. Popularity did not elate Him; difficulty did not bewilder Him; insult did not ruffle Him. He was never unquiet; He never made haste; He was never surprised. Or take the nature of His kingdom and His sway. It was a powerful sway that He exercised even while on earth, but how was it manifested, and to what did it owe its might? No flaunt of banner nor beat of drum accompanied His progress. Victor and King though He was, He did not cry nor lift up His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He did not break; the smoking flax He did not quench. Whatever of tumult and confusion He experienced, it was in His circumstances and not in His life. Have you found your ideal of life in a picture of purity, of charity, of self-restraint and self-sacrifice such as this? If your heart’ s real creed is, Blessed are the rich, blessed are the joyful, blessed are the self-aggrandising, blessed are they of whom all men speak well,--your choice is the choice of the Jews; you have pitched by the rivers of Assyria, with their treacherous waves for protection, and their turbid stores for supply. II. We pass from the examples men follow, to THE AND THE THEY RELY ON, and try to illustrate how the alternative holds there. And the choice is just as before, between such agencies as are unobtrusive and gracious, and those that are pretentious and human; between the aids of religion and the aids of the world. Most men have an eye to success; especially have the young; and how often do they, in the choice of the agencies they depend on and the means they adopt, choose wrong. The thought applies to communities and to Churches as well as to individuals. III. Let us apply the principle of the text to THE MODES OF WE ADOPT. There, too, there is the difference between what is unobtrusive on the one hand and what is ostentatious on the other; between what is satisfying and secure and what is disappointing and unsafe; between what is true and what is false. “ The waters of Shiloah that go softly” ; does not the phrase remind us-- 1. Of the Gospel’ s simplicity. 2. Of its secrecy and noiselessness? Phases of religion may come and go, and those who imagine that religion is real only where its instrumentalities are special, and its outward manifestations demonstrative, may have their hopes dashed and their faith staggered, as they watch these manifestations disappear. But religion itself, the kingdom which cometh not by observation, may be pursuing its quiet course, and extending its beneficent influences notwithstanding, and that in ways and in quarters which are unseen and unguessed of now, but which the last great day will in due time declare. (W. A. Gray.)“ By cool Siloam’ s shady rill” Not only because of their usefulness had the waters of Shiloah endeared themselves to the heart of Israel. There were other and more hallowed associations which they suggested. I. The waters of Shiloah represented to the Jew the idea of . Both Israel and Judah were in danger of forgetting the true ideal of patriotism which David had fostered, and were fast degenerating into a spurious imitation of it, a mere feverish militarism. How are we to translate this message into the English of the twentieth century? Does it not mean that the springs of our national greatness are not the matters which bulk most largely in our newspapers, are not the doings of courts and kings, of diplomatists and statesmen, of generals and armies, though these have an influence on a nation’ s destiny, and often one not to be despised? But far more important are the more unobtrusive factors of a nation’ s greatness; its care for the moral nurture and intellectual equipment of its children, its fostering of the arts and sciences and industrial training, the quality of its manufactures and the honesty of its commerce, its care for the moral and material condition of the workmen who produce its wealth, the freedom of its subjects, the equity of its laws, the purity and loftiness of its literature, the respect for religion, for home, for marriage bonds,--these are the things that make a nation great, though they are as “ the waters of Shiloah that go softly” little seen and regarded The penalty for refusing these softly flowing waters of Shiloah is obvious to Isaiah’ s mind. The instinct of the statesman in him, apart from any predictive faculty, would be quite sufficient to show him the inevitable end of such fatuity. The king of Assyria, at first invited to interfere in Judah’ s interest, would be sure finally to interfere in his own, and both Israel and Judah, weakened by mutual jealousy and strife, and by internal dissensions, would fall an easy prey. So do God’ s retributive providences ever fall on the nation which forgets the true sources of its greatness, relies on the arm of flesh while inward corruption is working unheeded at its vitals, forsakes an enlightened patriotism which strives to be great for a spurious one which labours to appear so. II. These waters of Shiloah suggested to the Jew, not only his Fatherland, but his . It was a sacred stream, for it rose in a spur of Mount Zion, near the temple. And at the Feast of Tabernacles, on “ the last great day of the feast,” a priest brought water from the Pool of Siloam in a golden vessel, and poured it on the altar amid the rejoicings of the people. It was on this annual occasion that the Immanuel prophesied by Isaiah stood and cried, “ If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.” Judah, in Isaiah’ s time, was fast deserting the religion so closely associated with this stream. Such apostasy from God brings its own retribution before long, whether on the nation or the individual that practises it. Some such loosening of moral fibre is often seen, not only in the man who loses his hold on religion itself, but who loses his loyalty to the Church which nurtured him. III. The waters of Shiloah also represented to the Jew the sanctities of HOME, and the prophet here reproves him because he had rejected these sanctities and beauties of religious family life for polygamy and foul idolatry, which broke up the family, and embittered and destroyed its hallowed relationships. The word “ home” is one in which we English have a special heritage. Be careful where you go outside the home for your enjoyments. Do not cast aside the healthful restraints of home, and reject those quiet waters, lest there rise upon you “ the waters of the river, strong and many,” remorse and unavailing repentance, self-contempt, lost character, and a hopeless future. (C. A. Healing, B. A.)God’ s gentle care The brook which flowed by the base of Mount Zion, and down by the side of the temple-covered Moriah, was an emblem of the help and defence which the God of Zion and of the temple supplied to His people in Jerusalem. And it was no angry or noisy torrent, but water that flowed softly. So for communities and individuals now who trust in Him, there is a quiet but most potent protection from the Lord. Let us show this in the case of an individual. I. TROUBLE WITHOUT. Say that gloom or pain, or both together, fall upon you. Your heart, like that of the king and people referred to by the prophet Isaiah, is agitated “ as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.” You seek God in your affliction: you hearken to His prophets; you look to Him for deliverance. And from some unexpected quarter help arises. Your burden is lightened; your disaster is retrieved. Do not call it good fortune. You do well to seize what helps and remedies are brought within your reach; but give the glory to God. It is His secret will, His noiseless care that has been your true defence. You are not hurt because of “ the waters of Shiloah that go softly.” II. TROUBLE WITHIN. The spiritual life is invaded and endangered by unseen foes and spiritual wickednesses; and against such adversaries the appeal to God may still be made--“ Strive Thou, O Lord, with those that strive with me: fight Thou against them that fight against me.” In such cases of spiritual temptation, God knows how to help. But do not look for any mere show of power. It is the enemy that “ comes in like a flood.” Yet far greater than the power of the enemy is the power of Him who is to His people as cool Siloam’ s shady rill.” Fussy Christians are feeble. The calm and strong are they who trust God simply and fully, and are content with “ the waters that go softly.” The Lord will beautify the meek with salvation. In new covenant faith and privilege we are come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem. It becomes us to be calm, because that Living One is our defence. (D. Fraser, D. D.)The Jewish temptation to a false trust All the Hebrew prophets, and Isaiah among them, use the kingdoms of Syria and of Assyria as types of the great world power, of those external forces of every kind in which it is our constant temptation to trust rather than in the Maker of heaven and earth. To the Jewish people, dwelling in their scattered village communities, with their self-elected judges and leaders--to this people, who were held together by religious rather than by political ties, the vast organised despotisms beyond their borders were a strangely impressive and terrible spectacle. It is impossible to read the inspired prophecies and chronicles without perceiving that the national imagination was dominated, that it was now attracted and now daunted, by the immense power of these great instruments of conquest and oppression; without perceiving that in the minds both of prophets and of the people these despotisms came to stand for all the hostile and seductive forces of that world which is without God and even opposes itself against Him. (S. Cox, D. D.)A virtual renunciation of the Consolation of Israel In preferring the alliance of Syria and Assyria to the help of God, these men were virtually renouncing their special prerogative, the peculiar hope and consolation of Israel For just as those ancient despotisms were prophetic types of the forces of the outward world, so the son of Isaiah was a type of the true Immanuel, and the waters of Shiloah a type of the quickening and cleansing ministry of Him who was sent of God to take away the sin of the world. To refuse the waters of Shiloah for the sake of Rezin and Remaliah’ s son, to pay so little heed to the promises and significance of the birth of Immanuel, was virtually, therefore, to reject the God whom they professed to worship, and to renounce the hope to which they had been called. It was to prefer man to God. It was to be conformed to the world, and alienated from the Christ. (S. Cox, D. D.)Choice and its consequences If we refuse gracious ministries we must encounter judicial judgment. (J. Parker, D. D.)Wise and unwise choices Let us be vest pleased with the waters of Shiloah, that go softly, for rapid streams are dangerous. (M. Henry.)Christ the true Shiloah No sooner has St. John told us (John 9:1-41) that Jesus declared Himself to be “ sent” of the Father, than he also tells us that Siloam means “ sent” ; the implication being that just as Christ was sent, so also the waters of Siloam were sent by God, and were His gift to the world. The commentators are agreed that the apostle adds this parenthesis in order to teach us that the cleansing, healing spring, which gave sight to the blind and kept the temple pure, was a symbol of the Messiah and of His cleansing and enlightening ministry. He tells us that Siloam meant “ sent of God” in order that we may recognise in Christ the true Siloam - Him by whose virtue the sick are healed and the service of God is sanctified. So that, in fine, to refuse the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and to dread or to glory in Rezin and Remaliah’ s son, is, in the last resort, to put our trust in the forces of this visible and passing world, instead of trusting in Christ, the Sent One of God and the Saviour of the world. A very beautiful and suggestive meaning is thus reached. For the passage, so obscure at first, sets Christ before us--I. AS THE SENT ONE OF GOD, the true Siloam. He is the Fountain of Life in the spiritual temple. II. IN THE MIGHT OF HIS . The waters of Shiloah go softly, secretly. In like manner, Jesus did not strive nor cry, nor make a home in the streets. His course through life, like that of the sacred hill stream, was to be traced by the blessings He shed around Him, the added life and fruitfulness He carried to prepared and fertile hearts, the new life and fruitfulness He carried to barren hearts. III. AS BY HIS OWN. They refused the waters of Shiloah--refused them precisely because they ran softly. Had Jesus come to reveal His power instead of to display His mercy, blazing fierce wrath upon His enemies and smiting hostile nations to the earth, the Jews would probably have received Him and rejoiced in Him. But He came not with observation. (S. Cox, D. D.) Isaiah 8:11-15 For the Lord spake thus to me God’ s overpowering hand The hand is the absolute Hand which, when it is laid upon a man, overpowers all his perception, feeling, and thinking. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)“ With strength of hand” (Isaiah 8:11):--That is, seizing him and casting him into the prophetic trance (2 Kings 3:15; Ezekiel 1:3; Ezekiel 3:14; Ezekiel 8:1). (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Warning and encouragement The cry in Judah had been, “ There is a conspiracy against us, a formidable combination, which can only be met by a counter-alliance with Assyria” (such appears to be the best interpretation of this difficult verse): Isaiah and his little circle of adherents had been warned not to join in it, not to judge of the enterprise, or probable success, of Rezin and Pekah, by the worldly and superficial estimate of the masses. A truer guide for action had been revealed to them. “ Do not,” such is the lesson which he has been taught, “ do not follow the common people in their unreasonable alarm” (verse 12): “ Jehovah of hosts, Him shall ye count holy; and let Him be your fear, and Him your dread,” i.e., in modern phraseology, “ Do not be guilty of a practical abandonment of Jehovah; do not sacrifice principle to expediency. If you do not lose faith, “ He will be for you a sanctuary” (verse 14), i.e., (apparently) He will be as a sanctuary protecting the territory in which it is situated, and securing for those who honour it safety and peace; “ but” (it is ominously added) “ a cause of stumbling and ruin to both the houses of Israel,” to you of Judah not less than to those of Ephraim, to whom alone you think that the warning can apply. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Principle and expediency Translated into modem language, the prophet’ s lesson is this--that those who in a time of difficulty and temptation sacrifice principle to expediency, sad abandon the clear path of duty for a course which may seem to lead to some greater immediate advantage, must not be surprised if the penalty which they ultimately have to pay be a severe one. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.) Isaiah 8:12-14 Neither fear ye their fear.Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself Sanctifying the Lord To sanctify Jehovah is in mind and in practice to recognise Him as the holy God, the Lord who is absolute, free from the limitations which hinder all other beings from carrying their wills into full operation; and to believe with the whole heart that God can and does govern all things according to the counsel of His own will, and that what He determines does certainly come to pass, however probabilities and appearances may be against the belief. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)God should be a sailor’ s supreme regard Isaiah’ s--or rather the Divine--policy was one of non-alliance and non-intervention. It did not forbid kindly commercial and literary intercourse with foreign nations. On the contrary, it ever looked hopefully forward to a time when all kings and their subjects should acknowledge Jehovah, and flow into His house. It was a policy of justifiable and absolute trust in the protecting care of the living God, who holds the nations in the hollow of His hand. It was a policy of the highest and truest patriotism, because it first insisted on the internal purification of the nation from sin and disobedience, from idolatry, drunkenness, oppression of the poor, unrighteous trading, luxury and lust, from hypocrisies and shams of ceremonial religion; and then, upon the uselessness and irrationality of standing armies and warlike weapons. (F. Sessions.)The true remedy against fear I. SPEAK AGAINST GIVING WAY TO FEAR. In periods of alarm the reports that are spread always much outstrip the truth. Fear is a very inventive passion; it creates to itself many causes of alarm which have no existence, and greatly magnifies those which really exist. II. POINT OUT THE PROPER AND ONLY REMEDY AGAINST . There is no rationality in being free from fear, or relieved from fear, otherwise than by true piety towards God. “ Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself,” etc. III. SHOW HOW THIS RELIEF OUGHT TO BE. And in doing this, I shall place before you a few passages of Holy Scripture showing what is proposed to you, what may be hoped for and ought to be aspired after. “ The name of the Lord is a strong tower,” etc. The perfections of God are our never-failing resource and security. “ Come, My people, enter into thy chambers,” etc. (Isaiah 26:20). “ Be careful for nothing,” etc. “ Cast thyburden on the Lord,” etc. Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace, etc. They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion,” etc. (J. Scott, M. A.)The fear of God I. THE WHOLE SUBJECT OF GODHEAD IS ONE OF AWE, and if of awe, then “ dread.” The more you know of God, the more you feel the unfathomableness of the mystery of Godhead. And all mystery is awe. It is a rule of our being, that we must tremble when we stand on the margin of the unknown. Therefore they who know most of God will most “ fear,” not His anger, but simply His amazing greatness. II. THE SENSE OF MERCY AND HEAPED UPON US HAS AN UPON THE MIND. Do not you know what it is to tremble at a danger when you have escaped it, much more than you did when you encountered it? That is exactly the “ fear” and the “ dread” of a pardoned sinner. It is the contemplation of a thundercloud which has rolled over your head. III. IS THE GREAT LESSON WHICH OUR AGE HAS TO LEARN. Be suspicious of the love which is without awe. Remember that our best acquaintance with God only shows us more the immensity of the fields of thought which no mind can traverse. IV. “ HE SHALL BE FOR A .” Do you recoil at the idea of dreading God? That which makes the dread makes the hiding place. To those who fear, He shall be for a sanctuary. 1. To a Jewish mind, the first idea of the sanctuary would be refuge. 2. The sanctuary of safety becomes the home of peace. “ Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.” 3. God is the fountain of your holiness. The Shechinah shines you become familiar with the precincts of that holy you catch some of its rays, and reflect its glory. (J. Vaughan.)Fear I. AN EVIL . “ Fear not their fear, neither be afraid.” Sinful fears are apt to drive the best men into sinful compliances and indirect shifts to help themselves. Their fear may be understood two ways-- 1. Subjectively. A fear that enslaved them in bondage of spirit, a fear that is the fruit of sin, a sin in its own nature, the cause of much sin to them, and a just punishment of God upon them for their other sins. 2. Effectively. Let not your fear produce in you such mischievous effects as their fear doth; to make you forget God, magnify the creature, prefer your own wits and policies to the almighty power and never-failing faithfulness of God. II. AN REMEDY . “ Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself,” etc. The fear of God will swallow up the fear of man, a reverential awe and dread of God will extinguish the slavish fear of the creature, as the sunshine puts out fire, or as one fire fetches out another. When the Dictator ruled at Rome, then all other officers ceased; and so, in a great measure, will all other fears, where the fear of God is dictator in the heart. III. A . “ He shall be for a sanctuary.” (J. Flavel.)Fear and it, remedy I. THE BEST MEN ARE TOO APT TO BE WITH SLAVISH FEARS IN TIMES OF AND DANGER. II. THE FEAR OF GOD IS THE MOST MEANS TO THE SINFUL FEAR OF MAN AND TO SECURE US FROM DANGER. (J. Flavel.)Different kinds of fear There is a threefold fear in man, namely-- I. NATURAL, of which all are partakers that partake of the common nature. It is the trouble or perturbation of mind, from the apprehension of approaching evil or impending danger. 1. To this natural fear it pleased our Lord Jesus Christ to subject Himself in the days of His flesh (Mark 14:33). 2. This fear creates great trouble and perturbation in the mind; in proportion to the danger is the fear, and in proportion to the fear, the trouble and distraction of the mind; if the fear be exceedingly great, reason is displaced. 3. Evil is the object of fear, and the greater the evil is the stronger the fear must needs be; therefore the terrors of an awakened and terrified conscience must be allowed to be the greatest of terrors, because in that case a man hath to do with a great and terrible God, and is scared with apprehensions of His infinite and eternal wrath, than which no evil is or can be greater. 4. Yet evil, as evil, is rather the object of hatred than of fear. It must be an imminent or near approaching evil that provokes fear. 5. All constitutions and tempers admit not the same degrees of fear. II. SINFUL. Not only our infelicity but our fault. The sinfulness of it lies in five things. 1. In the spring and cause of it, which is unbelief (chap. 30:15-17). 2. In the excess and immoderacy of it; for it may be truly said of our fears, as the philosopher speaks of waters, it is hard to keep them within bounds. 3. In the inordinacy of it. To exalt the power of any creature by our fears, and give it such an ascendancy over us as if it had an arbitrary and absolute dominion over us, or over our comforts, to do with them what it pleased--this is to put the creature out of its own class and rank into the place ofGod. To trust in any creature as if it had the power of a God to keep us, or to fear any creature, as if it had the power of a God to hurt us, is exceedingly sinful (Matthew 10:28). 4. In the distracting influence it hath upon the hearts of men, whereby it discomposes and unfits them for the discharge of their duties. Under an extraordinary fear both grace and reason, like the wheels of a watch, wound above its due height, stand still, and have no motion at all. 5. In the power it hath to dispose and incline men to the use of sinful means to put by their danger, and to cast them into the hands and power of temptation (Proverbs 29:25; Isaiah 57:11). There is a double lie occasioned by fear, one in words and another in deeds; hypocrisy is a lie done, a practical He, and our Church history abounds with sad examples dissimulation through fear. III. . This is our treasure, not our torment; the chief ornament of the soul; its beauty and perfection. It is the natural passion sanctified, and thereby changed and baptized into the name and nature of a spiritual grace. This fear is prescribed as an antidote against sinful fears; it devours carnal fears, as Moses’ serpent did those of the enchanters. 1. It is planted in the soul as a permanent and fixed habit; it is not of the natural growth and production of man’ s heart, but of supernatural infusion and implantation (Jeremiah 32:40). 2. It puts the soul under the awe of God’ s eye. It is the reproach of the servants of men to be eye servants, but it is the praise and honour of God’ s servants to be so. 3. This respect to the eye of God inclines them to perform and do whatsoever pleaseth Him and is commanded by Him; hence, fearing God and working righteousness, are linked together (Acts 10:35; Genesis 22:12). 4. This fear engageth, and in some degree enableth, the soul in which it is, to avoid whatsoever is displeasing to God (Job 2:3). (J. Flavel.)The use of natural fear If fear did not clap its fetters upon the wild and boisterous lusts of men, they would certainly bear down all milder motives, and break loose from all bonds of restraint. Men would become like the fishes of the sea (Habakkuk 1:14), where the greater swallow up a multitude of the smaller fry alive at one gulp; power and opportunity to do mischief would measure out to men their lot and inheritance, and consequently all societies must disband and break up. It is the law and fear of punishment that keeps the world in order; men are afraid to do evil because they are afraid to suffer it. If the severest penalties in the world were annexed to, or appointed by, the law, they could signify nothing to the ends of government without fear. This is that tender, sensible power or passion on which threatenings work, and so brings men under moral government and restraint (Romans 13:3-4). (J. Flavel.)The use of sinful fear The Lord knows how to overrule this in His providential government of the world to His own wise and holy purposes. And He does so-- 1. By making it HIS scourge to punish His enemies. If men will not fear God they shall fear men. There is scarce a greater torment to be found in the world than for a man to be his own tormentor, and his mind made a rack and engine of torture to his body. It is a dreadful threatening which is recorded in Deuteronomy 28:65-67. When fear hath once seized the heart, you may see death’ s colours displayed in the face. 2. By fear God punishes His enemies in hell. 3. Providence makes use of the slavish fears and terrors of wicked men to scatter them, when they are combined and confederated against the people of God (Psalms 78:55, and Joshua 24:11-12. See also Psalms 9:20). (J. Flavel.)The use of religious fear 1. By this fear the people of God are excited to and confirmed in the way of duty (Ecclesiastes 12:13; Jeremiah 32:40). 2. Another excellent use of this fear is, to preserve the purity and peace of our consciences by preventing grief and guilt therein (Proverbs 16:6; Genesis 39:9; Nehemiah 5:15). 3. A principal use of this fear is, to awaken us to make timely provisions for future distresses, that whensoever they come, they may not come by way of surprise upon us (Hebrews 11:7; Proverbs 14:16). (J. Flavel.)The causes of sinful fear I. The sinful fears of most good men spring out of their ; all darkness disposes to fear, but none like intellectual darkness. You read Son 3:8) how Solomon’ s lifeguard had every man his sword upon his thigh, “ because of fear in the night.” The night is the frightful season, in the dark every bush is a bear; we sometimes smile by day to see what silly things those were that scared us in the night. So it is here; were our judgments but duly informed, how soon would our hearts be quieted! There is a fivefold ignorance out of which fears are generated. 1. Ignorance of God. Ignorance and inconsiderateness lay at the root of the fears expressed in Isaiah 40:27. 2. Ignorance of men. Did we consider men as they are in the hand of our God we should not tremble at them as we do. 3. Ignorance of ourselves and the relation we have to God (IsaGe 15:1; Nehemiah 6:11). O that we could, without vanity, but value ourselves duly according to our Christian dignities and privileges, which, if ever it be necessary to count over and value, it is in such times of danger, when the heart is so prone to sinking fears. 4. Ignorance of our dangers and troubles. We are ignorant of-- (1) The comforts that are in them. Paul and Silas met that in a prison which made them to sing at midnight, and so have many more since their day. (2) The outlets and escapes from them (Psalms 68:20; 2 Peter 2:9; 1 Corinthians 10:13). 5. Especially ignorance and inconsiderateness of the covenant of grace. II. Another cause of sinful fear is GUILT UPON THE . No sooner had Adam defiled and wounded his conscience with guilt, but he trembles and hides himself (Proverbs 28:1; Isaiah 33:14). To this wounded and trembling conscience is opposed the spirit of a sound mind 2 Timothy 1:7). An evil conscience foments fears and terrors three ways. 1. By aggravating small matters. So it was with Cain (Genesis 4:14), “ Every one that meets me will slay me.” Now every child was a giant in his eye, and anybody he met his over-match. 2. By interpreting all doubtful cases in the worst sense that can be fastened upon them. If the swallows do but chatter in the chimney, Bessus interprets it to be a discovery of his crime; that they are telling tales of him and saying, Bessus killed a man. 3. A guilty conscience can and often does create fears and terrors out of nothing at all (Psalms 53:5). III. No less is the sin of the real and proper cause of most distracting fears (Matthew 8:26). Fear is generated by unbelief, and unbelief strengthened by fear, as in nature there is an observable circular generation, vapours begetting showers and showers new vapours. 1. Unbelief weakens the assenting act of faith, and thereby cuts off from the soul, in a great measure, its principal relief against danger and troubles Hebrews 11:27). 2. Unbelief shuts up the refuges of the soul in the Divine promises, and by leaving it without those refuges, must needs leave it in the hand of fears and terrors. 3. Unbelief makes men negligent in providing for troubles before they come, and so brings them by way of surprises upon them. 4. Unbelief leaves our dearest interests and concerns in our own hands; it commits nothing to God, and consequently must needs fill the heart with distracting fears when imminent dangers threaten us (1 Peter 4:19; 2 Timothy 1:12; Proverbs 16:3). IV. Many of our fears are raised by THE OF in this world (Ecclesiastes 9:2; Ezekiel 21:3; Habakkuk 1:13). The butcheries of the Albigenses, Waldenses, etc. 1. We are apt to consider that the same race and kind of men that committed these outrages upon our brethren are still in being, and that their malice is not abated in the least degree. Cain’ s club is to this day carried up and down the world, stained with the blood of Abel, as Bucholtzer speaks. 2. We know also that nothing hinders the execution of their wicked purposes against us but the restraints of providence. 3. We find that God hath many times let loose these lions upon His people. The best men have suffered the worst things. 4. We are conscious how far short we come in holiness of those excellent persons who have suffered these things, and therefore have no ground to expect more favour from providence than they found. The revolving of such considerations in our thoughts and mixing our own unbelief with them, creates a world of fears, even in good men, till, by resignation of all to God, and acting faith upon His promises (Romans 8:28; Ps Isaiah 27:8; Revelation 7:17), we do, at last, recover our hearts out of the hands of our fears again, and compose them to a quiet and sweet satisfaction in the wise and holy pleasure of our God. V. OUR LOVE OF LIFE AND THE AND THEREOF may be assigned as a proper and real ground and cause of our sinful fears, when the dangers of the times threaten the one or the other (Revelation 12:11; Acts 20:24-25). 1. Life is the greatest and nearest interest men naturally have in this world, and that which wraps up all other inferior interests in itself (Job 2:4; Genesis 25:32). 2. That which endangers life must, in the eyes of the natural man, be the greatest evil that can befall him. 3. Though death be terrible in any shape, yet a violent death by the hands of cruel and merciless men is the most terrible form that death can appear in. VI. Many of our sinful fears flow from THE OF SATAN upon our phantasies. By putting men into such frights he weakens their hands in duty, as is plain from his attempt this way upon Nehemiah (Nehemiah 6:13), and if he prevail there, he drives them into the snares and traps of his temptations, as the fisherman and fowler do the birds and fishes in their nets, when once they have frighted them out of their coverts. (J. Flavel.)Effects of slavish and inordinate fear I. OF MIND IN DUTY (Luke 1:74). 1. Hereby Satan will cut off the freedom and sweetness of our communion with God in duties. 2. So distracting fears cut off the soul from the reliefs it might otherwise draw from the promises. 3. We lose the benefit and comfort of all our past experiences (Isaiah 51:12-13). II. AND . Abraham (Genesis 20:2; Genesis 20:11); Genesis 26:7); Peter (Matthew 26:69, etc.) 1. By these falls and scandals religion is made contemptible in the eyes of the world. 2. It greatly weakens the hands of others, and proves a sore discouragement to them in their trials, to see their brethren faint for fear, and ashamed to own their principles. 3. It will be a terrible blow and wound to our own consciences. III. THE OF IN TIMES OF DANGER Proverbs 29:25). Aaron (Exodus 32:1-35) ; David (1 Samuel 21:12). It was fear that prevailed with Origen to yield so far as he did in offering incense to the idol, the consideration of which fact brake his heart to pieces. 1. Sinful fear drives men out of their place and duty. 2. Fear is usually the first passion in the soul that parleys with the enemy, and treats with the tempter about terms of surrender. “ The castle that parleys is half won” (French proverb), e.g., Spira. 3. Fear makes men impatient of waiting God’ s time and method of deliverance, and so drives the soul into the snare of the next temptation. IV. AND . You find it joined frequently in the Scriptures with discouragement (Deuteronomy 1:21; Deuteronomy 20:3, etc.). V. . It is not so much from the fury of our enemies without, as from our fears within, that temptations become victorious over us Matthew 24:9-10). VI. GREAT BONDAGE OF SPIRIT. Sinful fear makes death a thousand times more terrible than it would otherwise be (Hebrews 2:16). 1. Such a bondage as this destroys all the comfort and pleasure of life. 2. It destroys our spiritual comforts. 3. It deprives us of the manifold advantages we might gain by the calm and composed meditations of our own death. (J. Flavel.)The security of the righteous under national calamity I. A CAUTION (Isaiah 8:12). 1. It will be necessary to explain the emotion against which the caution is directed. Taking the caution in its comprehensive import, it is addressed to men, not to submit the government of the soul to the influence of excessive terror, arising from the approach of temporal calamity and distress. It is an universal disposition, among the children of men, in the prospect of evil, to admit such fears and such emotions as these. The thought, for example, of national distresses, such as those which were now about to be poured out on the people of Israel; the thought of personal trials in the common relations of life, from domestic distress, from disease, from bereavement and death, are causes that often inspire the emotion we contend against, as existing in former ages, and which we are aware is often witnessed now. 2. We must consider also, the reasons on which the propriety of this caution is founded. (1) The origin of this emotion of fear is always degrading and improper, proceeding, as it invariably does, from ignorance or forgetfulness, or a disbelief of God as a God of providence and grace. (2) Its workings always fill the mind with unnecessary agitation, alarm, and anguish, and disturb it from, and entirely unfit it for, the right and adequate performance of the existing and the varied duties of life. (3) It opens the way for the entrance of many dark and dreadful temptations, and thus drives men to seek a shelter in those means which are forbidden by God; to propose an alliance, on any terms whatever, with adversaries whom, as idolaters, and the avowed and open enemies of God, they ought entirely to have foiled. (4) It is often directed to means of increased danger and trial, or to resort to those refuges which are but the means of increasing calamity. Thus, when we find that a confederacy of this unholy description, under the influence of slavish fear, had been formed by Israel with the people of Egypt, that very plan was the means of their downfall. God, at the commencement of the thirty-first chapter of Isaiah, exclaims, “ Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help,” etc. II. A . “ Sanctify,” or select and set apart, “ the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him,” so selected and set apart, “ be your fear, and let Him be your dread.” 1. In this recommendation there is a call upon man to honour Jehovah, by recognising the presence and the action of His perfections in the various calamitous visitations which He permits or sends. His knowledge, His power, His holiness, His justice, His wisdom-- 2. Here is a call upon men to honour Jehovah by repenting of their past transgressions, and by devoting themselves to a practical obedience to His commandments. It is remarkable to observe, especially in the Old Testament, how often the fear of God is connected with repentance, and with obedience to God. 3. Here is a call upon men to honour Jehovah by resorting and trusting to His mercy, as that which will grant spiritual blessings, and give final salvation to their souls. III. A PROMISE. “ He shall be for a sanctuary.” The ordinary meaning which is ascribed to the word “ sanctuary” is simply a place of religious worship; in this case, however, as in many others of the sacred writings, it signifies a place of religious worship, devoted also as a place where endangered persons may receive security. Amongst the heathen, religious temples were places of refuge; and when men endangered by misfortune or even crime ran within the threshold of the place called holy there was no possibility of grasping the offender; so long as he remained in the sanctuary he was safe. So it was amongst the Jews. When it is said that “ God shall be for a sanctuary,” it is intended that God shall be as a holy building where men endangered by temporal calamity may find shelter and repose. The instances are singularly numerous in which God is presented in the character of a refuge (Psalms 18:1-2; Psalms 46:1; Psalms 46:11; Proverbs 18:10; Isaiah 4:6; Isaiah 26:1; Isaiah 26:3; Isaiah 26:20). 1. God shelters those who resort to Him as their sanctuary from the perturbation of slavish fear. The fear of God is strictly what is called an expulsive emotion; it banishes from the mind of man a vast quantity of other modifications of feeling, from which he could derive only sorrow and anguish and pain (Proverbs 14:26). 2. The Lord of hosts shelters those who resort to Him as their sanctuary from temporal judgments. There is provided, on behalf of the righteous, a remarkable exemption from those temporal calamities and judgments which God inflicts upon men directly as the consequence of sin. And if it sometimes does happen that the righteous suffer in those judgments as well as the wicked, it is not because of failure in the promises of God, but because the righteous will not come out and be separate. If a man will stay in Sodom when God has threatened to devour it with fire, the man who so stays must be destroyed. But when there is a separation from all the ungodly confederacies of the world, and a solemn and determinative sanctification to the Lord, by causing Him to be our fear and dread, the Scriptures plainly state that there shall, as the result, be an exemption from all those calamities which fall upon the world for sin (Ezekiel 9:4-6). 3. With regard to those calamities which are the common allotments of life, we are not to say that from these there is an exemption; they must suffer death in its most sudden, and its most awful power. But there is a Spirit that “ guides the whirlwind and that rides upon the storm” ; there is a hand of mercy in these calamities of providence, transforming them into a new class of blessings. 4. The Lord of hosts shelters those who resort to Him as their sanctuary from the perils and perdition of final ruin. (James Parsons.)The Lord a sanctuary I. THE DUTY. “ Sanctify the Lord of hosts,” etc. II. THE PROMISE. “ He shall be for a sanctuary.” Consider the preciousness of this promise in the time when all human help will be vain. We refer to the last day, when Christ shall come “ to judge both the quick and the dead.” (W. Horwood.)The true sanctuary, and how to get there I. THIS PASSAGE TELLS US WHAT TO DO WITH OUR NATURAL FEARS. God is in the believer’ s life as He is not in the life of another. He has come to him in the wilderness to be his guide, into the storm to be his pilot, into the battle to be his captain. All difficulties are nothing before Divine wisdom, all opposition nothing against Divine strength. The Christian’ s great danger is unbelief or unfaithfulness to God, which would make him lose for a time the means of safety and victory. He is like one closely following a guide in the darkness over pathless mountains, whose one concern is to keep him in sight who will thus secure to him a safe and successful journey; and again he k like a child who does not burden himself with any cares, but that of pleasing the father whose love and power have supplied all his need in the past and will supply all in the future. It is thus that the Christian fears his foes, only as the possible causes of the one misfortune of estrangement from his God. The treacherousness of his own heart and the subtlety of those enemies who are ever seeking to break the union which makes him too strong for them, exercise his thoughts and his feelings, but all in relation to God, so that He alone may be truly said to be the fear of HIS people. All this is true for a Church as it is true for the individual Christian. II. THIS PASSAGE TEACHES US WHAT IS, OR SHOULD BE, TO US TRULY HOLY. III. THIS PASSAGE OFFERS THE MOST EXALTED NOTION OF A . Man dwelling in God is the realisation of our happiness and of the Divine glory. It speaks to all of purity, safety, peace, but it speaks of much more, according to the spiritual capacity of those to whom it is made known. But few among the thousands of Israel knew anything of abiding in that house of God, which, whether they knew it or not, represented Jehovah Himself. Most of them visited it at intervals more or less rare, and left to the priestly family the duty and privilege of regarding it as their home. And in this the great mass of professors are aptly represented by the nation of Israel. They seek the Divine sanctuary as a house of defence or a place for pardon, when specially pressed by trouble or a sense of sin; but, if they would be Christians indeed, they should remember that the Church of Christ is the spiritual priesthood; that the members of it are expected to “ offer the sacrifice of praise continually” ; that to do this they must “ dwell in God,” they must “ abide in Christ” ; and that no less close and no less constant union than this can be natural to faith which has learnt that “ we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.” IV. THIS PASSAGE US FOR WHAT WOULD HAVE SEEMED WITH THE IT SPEAKS OF--the sight of others stumbling at that which has become our glory, finding Jehovah Himself to be a rock of offence. How is this? A very simple law will answer. We stumble through ignorance. It is not what we know, but what we do not know that offends us. The rock of offence is a thing misunderstood, for which our philosophy had not prepared us. Now nothing is more misunderstood than goodness among the bad, than God among those who have fallen from the knowledge of Him. He Himself has said, “ My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways.” This stumbling of the natural mind at God may be seen in all His manifestations. Men deny His government because they do not see in it what they think worthy of His hand; they grumble or rage at His distribution of goods; they reject or explain away His revelations of the future; and, above all, they refuse to believe in salvation through His crucified Christ. But in all this they are fulfilling His sure Word of prophecy, and while they continue to exhibit the depravity of fallen man, and so the riches of Divine grace, they do not prevent humble, believing souls from sanctifying God in their hearts and proving Him to be their sanctuary. (J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.)The fear of God steadying the soul in worldly loss Augustine relates a very pertinent and memorable story of Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, who was a very rich man both in goods and grace: he had much of the world in his hands, but little of it in his heart; and it was well there was not, for the Goths, a barbarous people, breaking into that city, like so many devils, fell upon the prey; those that trusted to the treasures which they had were deceived and ruined by them, for the rich were put to tortures to confess where they had hid their monies. This good bishop fell into their hands, and lost all he had, but was scarce moved at the loss, as appears by his prayer, which my anther relates thus: Lord, let me not be troubled for my gold and silver: Thou knowest it is not my treasure; that I have laid up in heaven, according to Thy command. I was warned of this judgment before it came, and provided for it; and where all my interest lies, Lord, Thou knowest. (J. Flavel.)The fear of God delivers from the fear of death Mr. Bradford, when the keeper’ s wife same running into his chamber suddenly, with words able to have put most men in the world into a trembling posture: “ Oh, Mr. Bradford! I bring you heavy tidings; tomorrow you must be burned, and your chain is now buying” ! he put off his hat, and said, “ Lord, I thank Thee; I have looked for this a great while, it is not terrible to me; God make me worthy of such a mercy.” (J. Flavel.)True courage The following prayer was found in the desk of a schoolboy after his death: “ O God, give me courage to fear none but Thee.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)The exaggerations of guilty fear The rules of fear are not like the rules in arithmetic, where many nothings make nothing, but fear can make something out of nothing. (J. Flavel.) Isaiah 8:14 And He shall be for a sanctuary Sanctuary in God I suppose that what all of us mourn over most in a bustling age, is a loss of sacredness in life. We have no wish to secure the false-sacred--that which is merely ascetic; nor that which is merely solemn-sacred--the dull monotony of darkened church or gloomy retreat. We naturally say, if this is God’ s world; if civil and civic duties, social and relative responsibilities, are all God-ordained ones, it is likely, at least, that here, we may be able to secure a heavenly citizenship amid earthly cares and customs. God will not call us to the wear and worry, the strain and temptation, of a life in the world, and leave our souls without sacred home and spiritual retreat in Himself. How often this idea recurs in the sacred writings. God is our refuge and rest--our hiding place, our dwelling place. I. THE THAT A HEART DESIRES. Our Lord lived and worked amongst men, dined with the Pharisee, dwelt with the quiet family at Bethany, consecrated the marriage feast, and went to the publican’ s home. We, too, may secure sacredness for our lives. II. THE THAT MAKES IN GOD HIMSELF. This is so beautiful: He shall be for a sanctuary. He whom wicked men dread and flee from--flee from, indeed, because He is a sanctuary; for, as of old, darkness cannot dwell with light, nor irreverence with reverence, nor mammon worship with devotion to God. We may carry very bad hearts into very beautiful places. Place is easily made unsacred. But the Divine nature must be spiritual Into fellowship with God there can enter nothing that is false or worldly or vile. 1. Sanctuary in a person. Yes; for even here, in this dim sphere of earthly friendship, our best sanctuaries, apart from our Saviour Himself, have been those who bear His likeness, and who do His will. If asked where the fountains of our reverence have been best nourished, and where the noble thoughts that make us men indeed, have been most wondrously fed, we should think of friends that have received us into the sanctuary of their love and friendship, and helped to diminish the dross of our character and to brighten the gold of our faith. 2. We abide in Him who says, “ I am He that liveth, and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore.” And if by His own Divine nature He is a sanctuary, He is so by experience too. He has been tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. “ He suffered, being tempted.” III. THE OF ALL THE FUTURE DAYS. “ He shall be.” Names vary concerning what God is to suit need and experience. We translate the want, and then God’ s name is translated to meet it. I am hungry, He is Bread; I am thirsty, He is Water; I am faint, He is Wine; I am heated in the way, He is a Rock Shadow in the weary land. We can suppose, therefore, that the word “ sanctuary” meets special wants. Life is not always a seeking for a refuge, but it is so especially at certain times and in strange and desolate experiences. In 1 ooking forward, therefore, ourselves to life’ s future seasons, we see what the soul within us cannot do in itself, and what nature can never perfectly be to any of us. Christ, and He alone, will be now and forever--a sanctuary. IV. THE OF LIFE IN GOD. We cannot say, as mediaevalism said, Enter the Church and be saved. We want to obey God’ s sweet will--to seek more and more for union with Himself through Christ Jesus. (W. M. Statham.) Isaiah 8:16 Bind up the testimony “ Bind up the testimony” There is evidently a reference in the text to wares or merchandise which are very valuable, and which must be bound up and sealed, to preserve them from being injured or lost, and to convey them in safety to those to whom they belong. The meaning of the text is, that we should, by searching the Scriptures, and by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, ascertain what truths and duties are contained in them, and carefully preserve and maintain these like that which is bound up and sealed. In acting in accordance with the instructions given in the text, the once bearers of the Church should take the lead, to encourage and direct the people of Christ; and His people must concur with them in binding up the testimony and sealing the law. Brad up the testimony, seal the law among, or along with, My disciples. I. IN WHAT MANNER the testimony must be bound up, and the law sealed, among Christ’ s disciples. 1. By their faith in His Word. 2. By their profession of the faith. 3. By obeying the truth. 4. By suffering for the truth. 5. By religious covenanting. II. FOR WHAT ENDS the testimony is bound up and the law sealed among Christ’ s disciples. 1. For their preservation. 2. For their transmission to posterity. (Original Secession Magazine.)Divine revelation It is a great instance of God’ s care of His Church and love to it, that He hath lodged in it the invaluable treasure of Divine revelation. 1. It is a testimony and a law. 2. This testimony and law are bound up and sealed, for we are not to add to them or diminish from them. 3. They are lodged as a sacred depositum in the hands of the disciples (2 Timothy 1:13-14). (M. Henry.) Isaiah 8:17 And I will wait upon the Lord Waiting upon the Lord In the practice of this becoming resolution, Jehovah is the object of-- 1. Intense desire. 2. Diligent attention. 3. Earnest expectation. 4. Constant dependence. In this all-important exercise, humility and hope, patience and perseverance, are happily combined with an agreeable serenity of mind, which stands in direct opposition to turbulence of spirit and uneasy emotions of soul. It cheeks every opposite passion, and preserves the mind in a pleasing tranquillity, satisfied with the sovereign good pleasure of God, and attentive to the diligent improvement of all the means appointed for attaining the end in view. In every change, affliction, and trial it disposes wholly to rely upon God, for all the blessings He hath promised to bestow, in the season He sees most proper to confer them. Hence, in the last clause of this verse, the same resolution is thus expressed, “ I will look for Him.” (R. Macculloch.)Waiting on the Lord in desertion and gloom I. THE OF JEHOVAH. “ The God who hideth Himself.” II. THE IMPLIED OF HIS WITH HIS PEOPLE. III. THE RESOLVE OF THE UNDER THIS . (G. Smith, D. D.) Isaiah 8:18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me Names as signs The Hebrews, like most Eastern races, were very quick to see the omen in the nomen, the sign or portent in the name. (“Niger” in Expositor.) Isaiah and his children as signs If one of these names implied judgment, three of them implied mercy. The omen in the name “ Speed-spoil Hasten-booty” was doubtless full of terror; for the Assyrians were the most fierce and cruel race of ancient times, and would sweep through the land like a destructive storm; but, if this one name was so terribly ominous and suggestive, all the others speak of an untiring and inalienable compassion. “ Shear-jashub” predicted that God would bring back a faithful remnant even from the cruel bondage of Assyria; “ Immanuel” assured them that God would be with them in all their perils and reverses; while the name of Isaiah himself pointed to the end of all Jehovah’ s dealings with them--“ salvation” from all evil. (“Niger” in Expositor.) Christian nurture There are some things which if we can give them place and power in our own lives, win lucre great influence in enabling us to carry through our work as parents to a blessed issue of success. I. . The meaning of this word is explained by the resolve of the Psalmist when he says: “ I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way; I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.” Always when we try to do good to others we are thrown back upon ourselves; we are reminded that high work must have fit instruments, and that our influence is likely to be as our character is. As the man is so will be his strength. This is peculiarly the case as between us and our children. They know us much better than others, are much nearer to us, see us more clearly. For our children’ s sakes we are bound to be the best we may. Nothing that we can say or do will have half the force of that invisible and almost irresistible power which comes right from our souls, and goes at once and straight into theirs. This power, issuing from the depths of our own being, is an involuntary thing on our part. We cannot make it this or that by an act of will. This sincerity on our part ought to take as one of its forms a firm, steady family rule--an exercise of wise parental authority. On the other hand, parents mar their own influence, hinder their prayers, and injure their children, although they are very far from meaning it, by over-indulgence. They never command--never rule calmly and firmly--all is softness, liberty, or even license. Such parents tell us in defence of their system: “ It is not for us to command; our best influence is, as has been said, that of personal character; if that be not right, commands from us will be of little use.” On the same principle it might be said that God does not need to command; that He only needs to reveal to His creatures what He is, and they will love and serve Him. He has revealed Himself to us. And yet this same God, this Father of mercies, commands, legislates, and duly brings penalty upon those who do not obey. Law and love, these make the whole revelation of God. II. . A mother’ s tenderness! It is one of the continual wonders of the world. It is really a greater thing than a father’ s constancy, a soldier’ s courage, or a patriot’ s love. Yet the world is full of it. III. Such feelings will lead to PRAYER. In prayer for our children we are putting ourselves in the line of God’ s laws. “ Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” It is not our nurture, it is His, and in prayer we cast it over on Him. IV. We are thus naturally led to the last word--. We ought to cherish a feeling of cheerful confidence in God as to the result of our endeavours for our children’ s good. Discouragement, and despondency even, will come to us soon enough, and darkly enough, if we will permit them. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)“ I and the children” Turn to the New Testament and the text will be no mystery to you; its key hangs on its proper nail (Hebrews 2:18). We have evidence that it is our Lord who speaks, and speaks of His people as His children. This clue we will follow. The context sets forth, as is most common throughout the whole of Scripture, the different results which follow from the appearance of the Saviour. He is rejected by many, and accepted by others. I. Here is A . Jesus is called a Father. This is not according to precise theology, or according to the more formal doctrinal statements of Scripture. 1. Still, the title of Father is very applicable to our Lord Jesus Christ for many reasons. (1) Because He is our federal Head. We speak correctly of “ father Adam,” and Jesus is the second Adam who heads up our race anew, and is the representative man of redeemed mankind. (2) Our Lord is also Father of the golden age of grace and glory. (3) There is a sense in which Christ is our Father, because by His teaching we are born unto God. Just as the minister who brings a soul to Christ is said to be the spiritual parent to such a soul, and is, indeed, instrumentally so, so the Lord Jesus, as the author of our faith, is our spiritual Father in the family of God. 2. Now, let us see whether there is not much of teaching in this metaphor by which we are called children of the Lord Jesus. The expression denotes-- (1) That we derive our spiritual life from Him as children take their origin from their father. (2) They have a likeness to His nature. (3) The text has in it very clearly the idea of charge and responsibility. Children are a charge always; a comfort sometimes. Wherever conscience is lively, fatherhood is regarded as a solemn thing. (4) In our relationship towards our children there is involved very often a great deal of care and grief. (5) The possession of children involves a very near and dear love. (6) Children, when they behave aright, bring to the heart of their parent sweet solace and dear delight. II. A AVOWAL “ Behold I,” etc. 1. The Lord owns His children Sometimes they are ashamed to own Him; and He might always be ashamed to own them, but He never is. 2. He glories in them as being God’ s gift to Him. “ Whom Thou hast given Me” ; as if they were something more than ordinary children. 3. He challenges inspection. “ Behold! look at them, for they are meant to be looked at; they are set ‘ for signs and wonders’ throughout all generations.” 4. And do notice again--for it affects my mind much more powerfully than I can express, “ Behold, I and the children.” I can understand a mother speaking thus about herself and children, but for Christ the Lord of glory to unite His glorious name with those of such poor worms of the dust is very wonderful. Now, if Jesus owns us so lovingly, let us always own Him: and if Christ takes us into partnership--“ I and the children” --let us reply, “ Christ is all.” Let Him stand first with us; and let our name be forever joined with His name. III. A COMMON . Christ and His people “ are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts which dwelleth in Mount Zion.” Both Christ and His people are set for a purpose. 1. They are to be “ signs and wonders” by way of testimony. 2. By way of marvel. Genuine Christians will generally be reckoned by the world to be singular people. 3. When the believer’ s testimony for good becomes marvel, it is not wonderful if he afterwards becomes an object of contempt. Hold on, brother t and hold out to the end; be humbly and quietly faithful Do not try to be a wonder, but be a wonder. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Children have a mission Infancy is the perpetual Messiah which comes to the arms of men and pleads with them to return to Paradise. (R. W. Emerson.) Isaiah 8:19-20 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits Wizards Wizards and “ they that have familiar spirits,” are what we should now call “ mediums,” through whom the dead speak. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)Wizards that peep and mutter “ Peep” (i.e., chirp) and “ mutter” refer to the faint voice, like that of a little bird, which antiquity ascribed to the shades of the departed: “ The sheeted dead did squeak and gibber in the streets of Rome” (see Isaiah 29:4). The LXX suggests that the voice of the ghost was imitated by ventriloquism, which is not unlikely. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Religion and superstition Religion and superstition contrasted (Isaiah 8:19-20). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Should not a people seek unto their God?--Gripping old truths and seeing new visions We must learn to recognise the friends and foes of our life even when they are presented to us in an Oriental and old-world dress. I. WE HAVE HERE A PLEA FOR THE LIBERTY AND OF THE LIVING PRESENT. “ On behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead?” Such is the sarcastic question that the disciples of the great prophet are required to ask the people when the latter desire to resort to wizards and witches to help them out of their straits. The retort goes much further than merely striking a blow at the silly superstition of seeking by enchantment to bring back and question the shades of the dead. It contains a principle which lies at the very foundation of the world’ s development,--a principle the reverent recognition of which will enable us to work out unfettered the full mission of our lives, and give us unbounded faith in the future of the race which Christ has come to redeem. Every new generation has its own special mission to fulfil; it is a new life charged with the duty of working out its own salvation. It is a new stage in the manifestation of the Divine through the human. The living present claims for itself a dignity and a mission, and, if we are lax in upholding the former, we are likely to fall short of fulfilling the latter. There is a way of worshipping the past, and of appealing to it which puts the present in chains, or, at least, compels it to be stationary. Has human life in very deed exhausted the thought of God? Surely the very history of the past itself ought to teach us the essential liberty and power of life. What epochs of the past are those that call forth our highest admiration and homage! Not such a period as that of the middle Ages when the living fortified and entrenched themselves in the sepulchres of the dead; but rather such times as those of the Lutheran reformation, when men felt the holy freedom of their own life, cast away the swathings of the past, and fearlessly took a new step in the name of God. I believe that God reigns through the rich movements of life, and not through traditional and external fetters. Given an earnest generation, awake to the responsibilities of its own life, and I can trust God to direct the flowing tide to a sacred shore. We cannot assert that an active and earnest generation will not make any mistakes. Every age has its own peculiar dangers, the vices which are the excess of its virtues. There are shallow lives that lose their gravity with the slightest movement, and dash themselves into thin vapour around the deeper movement of the time. And there are the men that pride themselves upon being fearless spirits in the realm of thought; which often means that they take advantage of a new movement to rush into one-sided and extreme conclusions upon the most precarious basis--conclusions which a truer judgment will anon reverse or correct. And even the most earnest and reliable spirits find it difficult to discover the golden mean between the bondage of the old and the violence of the new. II. THAT THE TRUE LIFE OF THE PRESENT CAN BE ONLY BY LIVING CONTACT WITH THE LIVING GOD. The prophet’ s message has not ended with the declaration that life is essentially movement and a force, having a Divine right to cast off the encrusting forms of the dead past. In order to prevent this awful liberty from being abused, and this vast movement from being misdirected, he must supply it with a guiding Spirit, and a directing force. It is a dangerous thing for men to become suddenly conscious of a vast and unused power unless they at the same time feel the grip of the eternal principles along which this power should move. Every movement of life presupposes an appointed orbit, without which it runs wild, and ends in a crash. The prophet, therefore, directs the people to root and ground their liberty in living contact with God--“ Should not a people seek unto their God?” In examining, therefore, any particular case of movement in the moral and religious sphere it is all-important to inquire whether it exhibits the living energy of the Divine life in the human, whether it enriches men with a profounder apprehension of the beating, quickening life of God here in our very midst; in fine, whether the movement is marked with the sacred brand of living contact with the living God. Every true life movement brings God nearer--never drives Him further away. Let us apply this test in one particular and crucial case--the great question of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. Perhaps our formal deflations may undergo a slight change; but of this I feel sure--that it will never be necessary or rational for me to accept a theory of inspiration which will make the Bible less Divine than I hold it to be at present. There is no truly onward movement which is not also upward. Life’ s true mission is fulfilled and life’ s true path pursued, only in proportion as a people seek to their God. III. So we are led to our last thought: THAT THE TRUTHS WHICH WERE THE BASIS OF THE BEST LIFE OF THE PAST MUST BE THE BASIS OF THE LIFE OF THE PRESENT. “ To the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.” So the cycle of thought is completed. True progress and true conservatism are not opposed to one another, but are rather supplementary. The only true liberty is that which runs along the lines of eternal law. The world was not begun yesterday, and we have not been deputed to lay its foundations anew. So Isaiah’ s last position is not only consistent with his first; it is necessarily involved in it. The living, says the prophet, need not consult the shades of the dead, for they have a living God to guide them and to give them ever larger supplies of power. True; but God is one. He does not change with each new generation. The great principles by which He ennobles human life are well known, for they have been writ large in His self-manifestations in the past. God will not reveal Himself in the present to those that are too blind to recognise His glory as revealed in the past. God has revealed Himself to the world long ago. If we would have more light in the present, we must be true to the radiance that lights up the history of the past. (J. Thomas, M. A.)God to be sought by nations The history of our own coronary coincides with the record which the Holy Spirit has given of the history of Judah and of Israel, in illustrating the important fact that God in the dispensations of His providence, deals with nations in their collective capacity according to their faithfulness in His service. The condition of Judah in the time of Isaiah demanded this remonstrance. There prevailed much of avowed irreligion and immorality. I. IN WHAT MANNER CAN WE THE AND CONDUCT OF THE NATION AT LARGE? The nation is made up of the aggregate of its individual members. Each person, therefore, may justly consider his own character and conduct in a two-fold view: as it affects himself, and as it affects the whole country. The influence of each distinct member on the whole community, as contributing to the formation of its character, whether for good or for evil, is a subject of deep importance. In this respect, indeed, the more prominent the station in which a man is placed, the greater is his responsibility. But the religious character of the nation does not rest with these alone: piety or impiety in all other men of influence, of wealth, of talent, are likewise the constituent parts of the nation’ s excellence or the nation’ s, guilt, while they are also productive of a corresponding character in the various subordinate ranks of life. Nor is there any single person, however subordinate his station, who does not in the same manner contribute towards the formation of the general character of the nation of which he constitutes a part. II. IN WHAT DOES THIS SEEKING UNTO GOD CONSIST? Nations and individuals seek unto the Lord-- 1. By applying to Him for true knowledge and instruction (verse 20; John 5:39). 2. By taking refuge in Him as their confidence and hope. (1) Nationally, we have examples of this confidence in God, in the sacred records concerning Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah, in sevens of public alarm, and difficulty. (2) Every man is called on to seek to the Lord for the foundation of his personal hope and comfort, not merely as to the concerns of this life, but in reference, also, to his eternal welfare. And, according as the hope of the people in general is well or ill grounded, will be the state and condition of the Church or of the nation professing the religion of Christ. 3. By following His guidance as to their character and conduct. (J. Hill, B. D.)The duty of seeking unto God I. THE REASONS WHY WE OUGHT TO SEEK UNTO OUR GOD. 1. We should seek to Him for light and guidance in perplexity and doubt. No state is more painfully trying to man than to have the mind tossed and agitated like a bark on the stormy waves, without chart and compass. There is an eager impatience in such a state, which lays men open to imposition. They become the easy dupes of crafty deceivers. Hence magicians and necromancers, in an age of ignorance and credulity, gamed such an ascendency over the vulgar. You have read what history records of the oracles of Greece, and the sibyls of Italy. But a superstition, very similar, prevailed over all Asia, and at times penetrated into Judea. Now all such practices were dishonouring and forsaking Jehovah. The mind of a sincere believer may, both on points of faith and practice, be in a state of doubt and suspense. And to whom should he look, but to the Father of lights who can scatter every cloud? 2. For support and consolation in sorrow and distress (Job 5:8; Psalms 50:15). 3. For protection and defence amidst difficulties and dangers. 4. For strength to fit us for all the active duties of life and religion. II. HOW WE ARE TO SEEK UNTO OUR GOD. 1. By diligently and impartially consulting His revealed will in the Holy Scriptures. 2. By constantly and seriously frequenting the public ordinances of His house. 3. By carefully marking and observing the openings and leadings of Providence. “ In particular cases,” says Mr. Newton, “ the Lord opens and shuts for His people, breaks down walls of difficulty which obstruct their path, or hedges up their way with thorns, when they are in danger of going wrong, by the dispensations of His providence. They know that their concernments are in His hand; they are willing to follow whither and when He leads, but they are afraid of going before Him.” 4. By offering up humble sad earnest petitions at the throne of His heavenly grace. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)From light to darkness: from darkness to light (Isaiah 8:18-22; Isaiah 9:2):--The experience of Israel is here described in three pictures, eachmarking a distinct stage in that experience-- I. ISRAEL THE LIGHT. The prophet comes with a Divine message to his people. The people will not believe-- 1. From inability, being unused to exercise simple trust in God. 2. From pride, for the mingling of judgment with mercy in Isaiah’ s message offends them. 3. Disbelieving Isaiah, and finding no help in human wisdom, they turn like Saul in his extremity, with the proverbial credulity of unbelief, to the oracles of necromancy. The old watchword, of religion, “ To the law and to the testimony!” “ Should not a people, seek unto their God?” are forgotten. “ For those who act thus,” says Isaiah, “ there is no morning dawn,” for they wilfully turn from the light. II. A TIME COMES WHEN ISAIAH’ S ARE . Calamity, famine, distress drive the people to despair. Them is no voice of hope from their wizards and soothsayers. Haunted by the memory of the time when the watchword of faith might have saved them, they feel that they have grieved the Spirit and He is gone! “ Hardly bestead and hungry they pass through the land and curse their king and their God.” III. IN THE MIDST OF THEIR DESPAIR THEY LOOK UPWARDS, SCARCE KNOWING WHY. All other helpers failing, they direct towards heaven a despairing glance, as if hardly daring to think of God’ s help, and then at last light shines through the gloom. IV. SUCH ALSO MAY BE THE OF AN SOUL. First, the Divine warning is despised, and the Word of God neglected, set aside as a worn-out superstition. The voice of religion seems to have lost its hold upon such a soul. Then all manner of refuges are tried, alliance with the world power--immersion in secular business; the superstition of unbelief, agnosticism, etc. All in their turn fail to alleviate the weary heartache which prompts the cry, “ Who will show us any good?” The whole universe seems out of joint, and the soul hardly bestead and hungry curses its king and its God, the whole order of things in the world, and every form of religion the fake and the true. At length, in very despair, as if feeling it is no use, “ for me there is no morning dawn;” the soul looks upwards. The darkness is past, the true light now shineth, the soul that walked in darkness and the shadow of death sees the salvation of the Lord. (Hugh H. Currie, B. D.)Superstition In the years which preceded the French Revolution, Cagliostro was the companion of princes--at the dissolution of paganism, the practisers of curious arts, the witches and the necromancers, were the sole objects of reverence in the known world; and so before the Reformation, archbishops and cardinals saw an inspired prophetess in a Kentish servant girl; Oxford heads of colleges sought out heretics with the help of astrology; Anne Boleyn blessed a bason of rings, her royal fingers pouring such virtue into the metal that no disorder could resist it; Wolsey had a magic crystal, and Thomas Cromwell, while in Wolsey’ s household, “ did haunt to the company of a wizard.” These things were the counterpart of a religion which taught that slips of paper, duly paid for, could secure indemnity for sin. (A. Freud) Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony The written Word of God the only standard of truth I. THE LAID DOWN IN THE TEXT, namely, that we are to take the Scriptures, the inspired Word of “ the true and living God,” as the only standard of truth. II. SEE HOW SADLY THE CHURCH OF ROME, BOTH IN AND , HAS FROM THIS . At the Council of Trent, where the Pope, bishops, and other ecclesiastics were assembled, in the middle of the sixteenth century, to put into definite form the articles of their Church, it was unanimously decreed, that traditions should be received as “ of equal authority with the Scriptures” : and at the same Council it was also agreed to make all the books, apocryphal as well as others, “ of equal authority.” The reason of their adding traditions to the Scriptures is given by Pope Plus IV, in these words: “ all saving truth is not contained in the Holy Scriptures, but partly in the Scripture and partly in unwritten traditions; which whosoever doth not receive with like piety and reverence as he doth the Scriptures, is accursed.” We have a reasonable instance of their readiness to set aside the Bible, in order to establish their own opinions at the Council of Augsburg. It was there that the Protestant confession of faith, drown: Up by Melanchthon, was presented to the Emperor. After the reading of it, the Duke of Bavaria, who was on the Popish side, asked Eckius, one of his party, whether he could overthrow the doctrines contained in it, by the Holy Scripture. “ No (replied Eckius), we cannot by the Holy Scriptures, but we may by the fathers.” III. SEE HOW THE ACTING ON THIS , IN TO THE CHURCH OF ROME, LED TO THE , and produced those blessed consequences which we are now reaping the advantage of. It is not a little remarkable that the art of printing, about the year 1450, very greatly contributed to the work which followed. It revived the study of classical literature; and thus the Bible, which even clergymen and others acquainted with learning, had been very little used to read before, was now studied by them; and it was that that led in the first instance to a discovery that the religion in which their fathers had been brought up could not be proved by the New Testament. IV. TEST THE BY THIS RULE, AND PROVE THEREBY THE OF ITS . The Reformation has not founded a new Church, it has corrected an old one; and the religion which we now profess is the religion of primitive Christianity. See, in our sixth article, how the Church of England places herself on the ground of the Scriptures. She says, against the Church of Rome, that “ Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation, so that whatever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.” (W. Curling, M. A.)Holy Scripture, without tradition, man’ s sufficient guide to salvation This passage embodies the truth that in the difficulties and questions that arise in the Christian Church, and which are frequently presented to the mind of Christian persons, the Holy Scriptures are the last appeal to which the Christian shall have recourse. This subject branches out into a vast variety of inquiries; but we shall consider it in connection with the sixth article of our Church of England. I. THE which asserts the sufficiency of Holy Scripture in all things requisite or necessary to salvation To men who have read the Holy Scriptures, it will seem strange that there ever should have arisen a question, as to their sufficiency in things requisite to salvation. They see that the Holy Scriptures are large and full, that they develop innumerable truths of mighty magnitude--that they unfold mysteries beyond the grasp of the human intellect--that they propound a series of the most pure and hallowing precepts--that they narrate the history of God’ s dealings with His people, so far as they are known to human knowledge--and that they enter upon an ample detail of all those things which God hath revealed of His future purposes for mankind. They see that the Scriptures unfold the fall of man, God’ s purpose to save a people to Himself, God’ s love in the gift of His Son Jesus Christ in order to save them, the incarnation of the Word, the atonement of the Cross, the resurrection and triumph over death, the ascension into heaven, the descent of the Holy Ghost, the judgment of the last day, and the everlasting glories that shall follow. They see that the Holy Scriptures contain all this; and still further, that they contain all those rules and principles that should govern man in his duty to God and in his duty to his fellow man, and entering rote such detail of relative duties, of husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, princes and subjects, that every honest man, from the monarch to the peasant, shall find in the Holy Scriptures a sufficient guide and enlightener in the duties of a Christian life. But in the spirit of the words of our text, let us “ to the law and to the testimony.” Let us take counsel of our God, and ask of Him in the record of His own Word, whether the Holy Scriptures be sufficient unto salvation (Deuteronomy 11:16-21; Deuteronomy 31:11; Deuteronomy 13:12; Psalms 119:9-11; Isaiah 8:20; Luke 1:1-4; John 5:39; John 20:30-31 Acts 17:10-12; 2 Timothy 3:14-17). The Romanists reply to these Scriptures in a body by stating that they prove too much, inasmuch as they prove either that the Old Testament Scriptures are sufficient, or that one or more Gospels are sufficient for our salvation. We reply, that, if this be true, then, a fortiori, if a part of the Scriptures contain sufficient unto salvation, the whole of the Scriptures as a matter of course must be admitted to contain all things necessary to salvation. II. THE in the article, namely, that “ whatsoever is not read in Holy Scripture, nor may he proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the faith, or thought requisite or necessary to salvation.” The position upon which the Romanists have erected their whole system has been, that besides the written Word them is also an unwritten word--that besides the Holy Scriptures them is another vehicle for conveying religious truth, and that other vehicle they have named tradition. The nature of tradition is this. They state that our Lord Jesus Christ taught many things to His apostles and disciples, which they did not commit to writing in the sacred Scriptures, but, instead of committing them to writing, they committed them by oral communication to those men whom they appointed as bishops throughout the Church universal; they add that those bishops have in a similar manner communicated these doctrines and practices to the bishops and priests that wore to come after them, and that thus there is a mass of floating doctrine and practice pervading the Church universal, partly written in the books of Romish priests and partly deposited in the breasts of Romish bishops. There are certain difficulties and objections to this system. 1. A historical objection derived from the history of God’ s dealings with His people. The original revelation made to our first parents, being dependent upon tradition, soon became corrupted and lost. And this inefficacy of tradition is the more remarkable, when we consider that the life of man in the ante-diluvian world was extended far beyond the life of man in the post-diluvian world. Nor is this the whole of the historical argument or objection against tradition, because after the waters of the deluge had rolled away, the first fact that is narrated is that man had so lost the knowledge of the true God again, that he built the tower of Babel; and the next fact we read is that the world was so sunk in ignorance that it was necessary that God should choose Abraham and elect one family to Himself, in order that in that family He might take certain steps, by which to secure forever the remembrance of His name in the earth. 2. A Scriptural objection. This is founded upon a conversation narrated in the Gospel history (Mark 7:1-9). Our Lord states that His disciples were justified in rejecting the traditions of the elders because they made the law of God of none effect. 3. An objection arising out of the nature of tradition. With the most anxious desire only to speak the truth, the best men will sometimes vary in their narrative of facts--there is a defect in human memory; there is in the colouring of the minds of men, and there is in the degree of knowledge or ignorance of various men, that which leads to their varying more or less in their statements of fact. Now, if this be the ease in reference to fact, how much more is it the case in reference to abstract doctrines! In order to show that this difficulty still more exists in reference to doctrine, we have but to reflect how few there are in the world, who agree in all things precisely in the same views of doctrine. We regard, therefore, everything that is purely traditionary as necessarily unsound. (M. H. Seymour, M. A.)The rule of faith There is a strong tendency in man to flee from the voice of his Maker. Whey should any of us be afraid to hear the voice of God, or to have either our principles or actions judged by His Word Conscience makes us afraid; it tells us that neither the one nor the other will square with the Divine law. Therefore, man forsakes the Word of his God and has recourse to those who will speak to him “ peace, peace, when there is no peace” (Isaiah 8:19). I. OUR is, that Holy Scripture is the only standard whereby to judge of controversies in matters of faith. II. We now proceed to THIS . It is proved by a two-fold line of argument,--negative, by denying the claims put forward on behalf of the addition to this rule; positive, by bringing evidence in favour of the rule itself. 1. The negative evidence. (1) God’ s design in furnishing His Word in writing was to guard us against the uncertainty of tradition, and lead us, through the truth revealed in that Word, to eternal happiness. (2) Tradition is an incompetent channel for the conveyance of truth. (3) In all our Lord’ s discourses, whether to the people or to His apostles, or in His disputation with His adversaries, He never made a single appeal to tradition. (4) Our Lord not only never appealed to tradition, but He expressly condemned it, and that in the most unqualified manner. 2. The positive evidence. (1) The Scriptures contain the superstructure that is reared upon faith. They contain exhortations to every possible good word and work. Faith is the means, the foundation, the source of every good word and work. (2) The Scriptures assert their own sufficiency as a rule. (3) Whenever the written Word has been laid aside, everything has gone astray; and whenever a reformation has taken place, all has been restored in accordance with the written Word (2 Kings 22:8; 2 Kings 23:2; 2 Kings 23:21). Take yet another instance--the re-establishment of the worship of God after the rebuilding of the temple. By perusing the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah you will find that everything was done in accordance, not with any tradition preserved among them, but with the written Word. (4) The greatest question which can concern the human race has ever been decided by an appeal, not to tradition, nor to the priesthood, but to the written Word. The greatest question that can concern us is, whether Jesus is the true Messiah (Matthew 11:2-6). It was as if our Lord had said, Let John bring these, My actions and My preaching to the written Word, and he cannot be mistaken. He will there find whether I am the Messiah or Acts 17:2; Acts 17:11; Acts 18:27-28). (5) The denial of this truth, that the Scripture is the only rule whereby to judge of controversies in matters of faith, has been the cause of grievous errors and many heresies. (6) The end for which this new rule is pretended is, to say the very least, more than presumptive evidence against it, and consequently in favour of our rule. III. I proceed now to notice A FEW that are brought against our position. 1. “ If the Scripture be your rule of faith, there could be no rule of faith, consequently no faith and therefore no salvation, until the canon of Scripture was complete. But for sixty years after the death of Christ the canon was not complete; therefore for sixty years after the death of Christ there could have been no salvation in the Church of God.” This plausible; but the reply is simple. We will try the soundness of the argument upon their own principles. If Scripture and tradition be, as they say, their rule of faith, there could not have been a rule of faith until this one was complete. The argument is as good one way as the other. The sophism lies in this,--that, because God may give more light at any particular period, therefore there was no adequate light before! 2. It is objected that controversies cannot be determined by our rule of faith. But, if the Word of God be not competent or sufficient to decide controversies, we ask one simple question--How, then, shall the controversies concerning the Church be determined? 3. “ The Scriptures are (say they) difficult and liable to be misunderstood and perverted.” We may say the same respecting Scripture and tradition. “ But,” says Dr. Milner, “ we have an unerring judge of controversy” (i.e., they bring in the infallibility of their Church)“ to decide in the matter, and he must be understood.” But how can he be understood! We must, as Chillingworth remarks, have an infallible interpreter to expound his interpretation, and so on ad infinitum. But this infallible interpreter has never yet spoken. Then, further, if Scripture be so difficult, the interpretation of the judge is not less so; for the decrees of councils and popes cannot possibly be more intelligible than those writings which were read in the hearing of men, women, and children; than the sermons which were addressed by our blessed Lord to the simple and ignorant; than that Word of which we read that it is so plain that a wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err therein. (J. R. Page, M. A.)The Word of God the only rule of faith and practice When men are in some measure impressed with the nature and importance of the end for which they have been made, and when they see that this end respects matters which do not come under the cognisance of their senses and observation, that it has reference mainly to God and to eternity, they will naturally inquire whether any certain rule of standard exists which, when rightly used, and faithfully followed, may guide them to the attainment of this end. Writings possessed of such a character, proceeding from such a source, and resting on such an authority, it must, of course, be most important for us to know, that we may be enabled rightly to apply them for our direction. There are many who profess to regard the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as containing a revelation of God’ s will, and of course us being so far a rule to guide us in matters connected with our highest interests, who yet deny that they constitute the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy God. There are other rules which they would exalt to a co-ordinate place with the Word of God. (1) The adherents of the Church of Rome add to the Old Testament the apocryphal books, as if they too were inspired. They also believe that oral tradition has conveyed to us truths taught, and observances enjoined, by Christ and His apostles, which are not mentioned in the sacred Scriptures. (2) Those who call themselves rational Christians, practically take their own reason as the chief, if not the only, rule to guide them in matters connected with God and eternity; because, while they may profess to admit that the Scriptures are the Word of God, they practically set up their own reason not only as the instrument of interpreting Scripture, but as entitled to judge of the truth of its doctrines, and to determine what statements of Scripture may be received as true, and what as being irrational and incomprehensible, must be explained away, or virtually denied. There are two general observations deserving of attention, as affording strong presumption against the pretensions which have been put forth. 1. If the Bible be the Word of God, we have no need of any other rule. The Bible is able to make men wise unto salvation. 2. The attempts which have been made to set up other rules as co-ordinate with the Word of God, have generally had the effect of superceding practically the sacred Scriptures; and this constitutes a fair and legitimate presumption against them. I. THE BOOKS are certain writings composed in the interval between the time of Malachi and our Saviour’ s appearance in the flesh. They were not written in the Hebrew language, like the books of the Old Testament Scriptures, and exist only in Greek. The Jewish Church never acknowledged them as inspired; and when the apostle says (Romans 3:2), “ that unto the Jews were committed the oracles of God,” he seems to intimate, not merely that the possession of the sacred oracles was conferred on them as a privilege, but that the custody and preservation of them was imposed upon them as a duty, so that they being, as it were, the authorised depositories of the oracles of God, their testimony as to their authenticity is to be regarded as essentially important, if not of itself absolutely conclusive. The authority of these books was not in any instance acknowledged, directly or by implication, by our Saviour or His apostles, while they plainly acknowledged the authority of the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets, the three classes into which the Jews usually distributed the canonical Scriptures. There is not a vestige of evidence that these books were composed by men who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, or that their authors were regarded in that light by any of their contemporaries. There are not a few statements in these books which, by no skill and learning, can be reconciled with each other, and which, therefore, cannot have proceeded from one and the same Spirit of truth. II. The Church of Rome further professes to receive and venerate with equal piety and reverence as the written Word. In support of the authority of tradition, Papists commonly refer to the injunction of the apostle (2 Thessalonians 2:15), “ to hold fast the traditions which they had been taught, whether by word, or by his epistle.” Of course, it was the duty of the Thessalonians to hold fast all that they had been taught by the apostle, whether orally or by writing. And our answer to Papists, when they urge from this passage the authority of tradition, is just this, that if the Church of Rome will put us in the same situation with regard to her pretended traditions as the Thessalonians were in regard to the traditions to which the apostle refers; i.e., if she will give us as good evidence as the Thessalonians had that these traditions really came from an apostle, and were delivered by him as public instruction to the Churches, we will implicitly submit to them, but not otherwise. III. Let us now advert to the claims which some who call them selves rational Christians put forth in behalf of HUMAN REASON, to be received along with the Word of God as a rule of faith and practice. Men are certainly bound to exercise their reason most fully upon a matter so momentous as the end for which they were made. It is by their reason alone that they come into contact with truth, so as to discover, to apprehend, and to establish it. When the Bible is pressed upon their attention, as containing a revelation from God, they are bound to bring their whole faculties to bear upon the examination of the evidence on which its claim to that character rests, and to come to a clear and decided determination upon that point. If they come to the conclusion that the Bible does contain a revelation from God, then they are further bound to use their reason in discovering the meaning and import of its statements, and in ascertaining from them what is the standard of belief and practice which they ought to follow. And here in right reason the province of reason ends. There can be no more satisfactory reason for believing any doctrine, no more conclusive evidence that it is true, than the fact that God has revealed it. This is a position to which the reason of every rational man assents, and it plainly supersedes the mere unaided efforts of our own reason upon any point on which God has made known to us His will. Men have no right to regard their own reason as the measure or standard of truth, or to suppose that they are capable of discovering much, by its unaided efforts, in regard to an infinite God and an invisible world. (W. Cunningham.)Is conscience the supreme rule of life? There is, indeed, another notion very prevailing in the present day, which seems to hold up conscience as the supreme rule by which men ought to be guided in regard to religion, although it has scarcely been propounded as a distinct and definite doctrine. This is evidently a mere fallacy, although we fear it produces extensively very injurious affects. When men talk of their own conscience as being the rule which they are bound to follow, they can mean by their conscience only the opinion which they sincerely entertain, and seem to forget that while, in a certain sense, they may be bound to follow their own conscientious convictions, and while it is undoubtedly true that God alone is Lord of the conscience, that is, is alone entitled to exercise jurisdiction over their opinions, or to require them to believe and act in a certain way merely because they are so required, it may still be a question, whether their conscience is well or ill informed, whether the opinions they conscientiously entertain are well or ill founded. Now this very obvious consideration shows that there must be a higher standard than conscience by which men should try all their opinions, however conscientiously they are held, and that therefore conscience cannot be regarded as a standard of opinion and practice in any such sense as to interfere with the supreme and exclusive authority of the Word of God, or to release men from the obligation to regulate their whole opinions and practice by its statements. (W. Cunningham.)Search the Scriptures I. Permit me to urge upon you THE CERTAIN THINGS “ TO THE LAW AND TO THE .” 1. The ideas engendered in you by your early training. 2. The preachers of the Gospel. 3. There is another class of men. These men are their own preachers; they believe no one but themselves. 4. Just do the same with all books that you read. II. THE GOOD EFFECTS that you will derive from a careful study of the law and testimony of God. 1. Unless you study the Word of God you will not be competent to detect error. 2. When you are in a matter of dispute you will be able to speak very confidently. 3. Search the Scriptures, because in so doing you win get a rich harvest of blessing to your own soul. III. OTHER REASONS. Many false prophets are gone forth into the world. There is a solemn danger of being absolutely misled. Read your Bibles to know what the Bible says about you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The evils resulting from false principle of morality There are three erroneous principles of morality prevalent among ourselves, expediency, honour, and custom. 1. Expediency, borrowed from the storehouse of sceptical philosophy, and placed, by its wisest defenders, as nearly as might be done, on a Christian foundation, pronounces that an action is right or wrong according as it tends to promote or to diminish general happiness. Whatever is expedient is right. Every moral precept is subject to exceptions. And of the expediency of regarding or disregarding the precept every man is in every case to judge for himself. 2. Honour, as a principle of action, refers to the estimation of the class of society in which the individual moves, and especially to the sentiments of the higher ranks, whose opinions will ever be of the most preponderating influence. Its concern respecting moral actions is limited to such as are useful in fashionable intercourse: and is particularly bestowed on those which have somewhat of splendour, commonly of false splendour, in their exterior appearance. 3. Custom is the general guide of those persons who give little thought to the investigation of principles, and take their moral opinions upon trust from others. No one of these is the Scriptural standard of conduct. They all depart from “ the law and the testimony.” “ They speak not according to this word” : therefore “ there is no tight in them.” Let us now advert to their effects. I. One effect will be this: THE WILL BE AND . From a survey of the variable morality produced by these false principles of morals, turn to the morality of the Scriptures. Behold it firm, consistent, immutable: not committing its precepts to the jurisdiction of man, and investing him with a dispensing power to suspend or to abrogate them at his discretion; but commanding him universally to be faithful in obeying them, and to leave consequences with God. II. Another effect of the erroneous principles under examination is, that THE IS LOW IN DEGREE. From the view of the debased morality originating in false principles direct your eyes again to the Word of God. Behold the morality which it teaches, worthy of Him, suited to man I Behold it manifesting itself by its holiness to be a transcript of the holiness of God! Behold it as a branch of that “ godliness,” which “ has the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come” : behold it conducing to the happiness of men, present no less than future. Behold it not partially confining its benefits to select classes of society; but with outspread arms showering them down upon all. Behold it displaying from age to age its hallowed truths, uncorrupt, unsullied, as the source from which it flows. Behold it exemplified in the fulness of perfection, by, Him who is the cornerstone of Christian morality; by the incarnate Son of God, even by Him who was “ God manifest in the flesh.” III. THE BY FALSE OF WILL BE BEYOND MEASURE . it is on moral dispositions and moral conduct that these principles operate. And it is in the government of moral dispositions, and in the exercise of them in moral actions, that much of the employment of life consists. If religion be weakened in one point, it is weakened in all points, it is endangered in all. Ii then you are anxious, in discharging the duties of morality,” faithfully” to follow the. Divine commandments, and to tread in the steps of your Lord, “ search the Scriptures. By them shall every moral deed be tried at last: by them let it be directed now. (T. Gisborne.)The best guide book When Sir David Wilkie was setting out for an artistic tour in the Holy Land, he was asked what guide book he was taking with him. He held out the Bible, saying, “ This is the best guide book.” We are pilgrims to the heavenly Canaan. What guide book will be so helpful to us as the Bible? It will shed light on our way. (Gates of Imagery.)The Bible and superstition After Henry the Eighth’ s rupture with the Pope the following order was issued, to counteract if possible” the advance of sacerdotal superstition: Every parson or proprietary of every parish church within this realm, shall provide a book of the whole Bible, both in Latin and in English, and lay the same in the choir, for every man that will to read and look therein; and shall discourage no man from reading any part of the Bible, but rather comfort, exhort, and admonish every man to read the same, as the very Word of God and the spiritual food of man’ s soul.” (H. O. Mackey.) Isaiah 8:21-22 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry Unsanctified suffering I. SIN LEADS TO . II. THERE IS IN NO POWER. It may harden men in iniquity. III. DOES NOTHING IN ITSELF TO ABATE GOD’ S ANGER AGAINST SINNERS. Nothing will turn away that anger but a genuine repentance Isaiah 9:13). (R. A. Bertram.)Nemesis He reads the doom of those that seek to familiar spirits, and regard not God’ s law and testimony. There shall not only be no light to them, no comfort; or prosperity, but they may expect all horror and misery. 1. The trouble they feared shall come upon them. They shall pass to and fro in the land, unfixed, unsettled, and driven from place to place by the threatening power of an invading enemy. 2. They shall be very uneasy to themselves, by their discontent and impatience under their trouble. 3. They shall be very provoking to all about them, nay, to all above them. When they find all their measures broken, and themselves at their wits’ end, they will forget all the rules of duty and decency, and will treasonably curse their king, and blasphemously curse their God. 4. They shall abandon themselves to despair, and, which way soever they look, shall see no probability of relief. They shall look upward, out heaven shall frown upon them; they shall look to the earth, but what comfort can that yield to those whom God is at war with? (M. Henry.)Hardly bestead Embarrassed with difficulties, oppressed with anxieties, distressed with bitter reflections and desponding thoughts, not knowing what to do or whither to go. (R. Macculloch.)Hungry Destitute not only of necessary provision |or their personal support, but of the Word of the Lord, which is the nourishment of the soul Amos 8:11-12). (R. Macculloch.)Fretfulness Through hunger and poverty is indeed a great calamity, yet fretfulness of spirit is a still greater one; and when both are united, it is evident that the mind is as empty of spiritual good as the body is of necessary provision. (R. Macculloch.)No good without God Them that go away from God, go out of the way of all good. (M. Henry.). Isaiah 9:1-7 Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation The prophecy explained Let me venture to give what I conceive to be the true rendering of the prophecy--a rendering which at least in its main particulars has the support of the best modern interpreters--and the striking beauty and force and consistency of the whole will become evident. The prophet has been speaking in the previous chapter of a time of terrible distress and perplexity which was close at hand. King and people had forsaken their God. Ahaz had refused the sign of deliverance offered him and was hoping, by an alliance with Assyria, to beat off his enemies. The people in their terror were resorting to wizards and to necromancers for guidance instead of resorting to God. And the prophet warns them that the national unbelief and apostasy shall bring its sure chastisement in national despair. They will look around them in vain for succour. The heavens above and the earth beneath shall be wrapt in the same awful gloom. Nothing can exceed the dramatic force of the picture; it is a night at noonday, the very sun blotted from the heavens; it is a darkness which might be felt. But even while the prophet’ s gaze is fixed upon it he sees the light trembling on the skirts of the darkness. The sunrise is behind the cloud. “ The darkness,” cries the prophet, “ is driven away.” So I venture to render the last words of the eighth chapter. “ For there shall no more be gloom to her (i.e., to the land)that was in anguish. In the former time He made light of (not ‘ lightly afflicted’ as our A.V. has it), poured contempt upon the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, but in the latter time He hath made it glorious by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee (the circuit) of the nations.” Take this rendering and you have a perfectly exact end very striking prediction. It was not true that the land had first been lightly afflicted and afterwards was more grievously afflicted. But it was true that in the former time the land had been despised; Zebulun and Naphtali and Galilee of the nations had been a byword among the Jews; their territory had been trampled under foot by every invader who had ever entered Palestine. In the former time He did make light of it, He did abase it, but in the latter time He made it glorious with a glory far transcending the glory of any earthly kingdom. For it was here, amid this despised half heathen population, that the true Light shined down, here the Lord of Glory lived, it was here that He wrought His wonderful works and uttered His wonderful words, it was here that He gathered fishermen and tax gatherers to be His first disciples and missionaries to the world. This land was of a truth made glorious by the feet of Jesus of Nazareth. Well may the prophet continue, “ The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, on them hath the light shined. Thou hast multiplied the nation, Thou hast increased their joy.” The insertion of the negative is an unfortunate mistake which, though found in our present Hebrew text, can be easily explained, and indeed has been corrected by the Hebrew scribes themselves. “ They joy before Thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men exult when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden, and the staff upon his shoulder, the rod of his oppression Thou hast broken, as in the day of Midian. For the greaves of the greaved warrior and the battle tumult and the garments rolled in blood shall be for burning for fuel of fire.” The A.V., by the insertion of the words “ but this,” introduces an antithesis which destroys the whole force and beauty of the picture. Strike out those words and all becomes clear and consistent. The meaning is that at the advent of the Prince of Peace all wars shall cease. The soldier’ s sandals and the soldier’ s cloak and all the bloodstained gear of battle shall be gathered together and east into the fire to be burned. The heir of David’ s throne is no earthly warrior; He does not win His kingdom by force of arms. “ For a Child is born unto us, a Son is given unto us, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; He shall wear the insignia of royalty. And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with judgment and with righteousness, from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this.” Such is the majestic vision of light and Peace that dawns upon the prophet’ s soul in the midst of the national apostasy. (Bishop Perowne.)“ Nevertheless” There is in this world mercifully a compensating balance to all Divine denunciations, a “ nevertheless” to all God’ s judgments, and a Gospel of grace appended to every message of doom. It is this that makes this world, amid all its tragic scenes, a world of mercy. (D. Davies.)Clearest promises of Christ in darkest times It is noteworthy that the clearer promises of the Messiah have been given in the darkest hour? of history. If the prophets had been silent upon the Coming One before, they always speak out in the cloudy and dark day; for well the Spirit made them know that the coming of God in human flesh is the lone star of the world’ s night. It was so in the beginning, when our first parents had sinned, and were doomed to quit the paradise of delights. When Israel was in Egypt, when they were in the sorest bondage, and when many plagues had been wrought on Pharaoh, apparently without success; then Israel saw the Messiah set before her as the Paschal lamb, whose blood sprinkled on the lintel and the two side posts secured the chosen from the avenger of blood. The type is marvellously clear, and the times were marvellously dark. I will quote three cases from the prophetical books which now lie open before Isaiah 28:16, you read that glorious prophecy: “ Behold, I lay inZion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” When was that given? When the foundation of society in Israel was rotten with iniquity, and when its cornerstone was oppression. Read from Isaiah 28:14 : “ Wherefore hear the Word of the Lord, ye scornful men,” etc. Thus, when lies and falsehoods ruled the hour, the Lord proclaims the blessed truth that the Messiah would come sad would be a sure foundation for believers. Next, look into Jeremiah 23:5 : “ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch,” etc. When was this clear testimony given! Read the former verses of the chapter, sad see that the pastors were destroying and scattering the sheep of Jehovah’ s pasture. When the people of the Lord thus found their worst enemies where they ought to have met with friendly care, then they were promised happier days through the coming of the Divine Son of David. Glance at Ezekiel 34:23, where the Lord says, “ And I will set up one shepherd over them, sad he shall feed them, even My servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.” When came this cheering promise concerning that great Shepherd of the sheep! It came when Israel is thus described: “ And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd,” etc. Thus, in each case, when things were at their worst, the Lord Jesus was the one well of consolation in a desert of sorrows. In the worst times we are to preach Christ, and to look to Christ. In Jesus there is a remedy for the direst of diseases, and s rescue from the darkest of despairs. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Phases of Divine purpose Let us look at some of the abiding doctrines and illustrations suggested by this noblest effort of the prophet’ s imagination. Isaiah’ s wing never takes a higher flight than it does in this prevision of the centuries. 1. The Divine purpose has never been satisfied, if we may so say, with darkness, judgment, desolation. When God has judged a man He would seem to return to see what effect the judgment has had, if haply He may see some hope of returning feeling, of loyalty sad filial submission. God’ s feeling has been always a feeling of solicitude to bless the nations. We shall do wrong if we suppose that pity comes in only with the historical Christ, that compassion was born on Christmas Day. 2. The Divine movement amongst the nations has always expressed itself under the contrast of light sad darkness (verse 2). No contrast can be more striking; therefore this is the one God has chosen whereby to represent the Divine movement. God is associated with light, and all evil with darkness. The fulfilment of Divine purpose has always been associated with incarnation, idealised Humanity. 3. Look at the Deliverer as seen by the prophet (verse 6). The Deliverer is to come as a child, a son, a governor, a name; He is to sit upon the throne of David, sad upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment sad with justice from henceforth even forever. Say there was a secondary application of the terms, there can be no objection to that; but no living man ever filled out in their uttermost spheral meaning all these names but one, and His name is Jesus. 4. Then comes rapture upon rapture. And the pledge of the fulfilment of all is, “ The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” (J. Parker, D. D.)The remedy of the world’ s misery I. THE VIEW TAKEN BY THE PROPHET OF THE MORAL STATE OF THE WORLD TO THE CHANGE WHICH MAKES THE SUBJECT OF HIS . 1. The people are represented as walking in darkness. The prophet contemplates the world at large. Light is an emblem of knowledge; darkness of ignorance and error. 2. But darkness alone appears to the mind of the prophet only a faint emblem of the state of the heathen. He adds, therefore, “ the shadow of death.” In Scripture this expression is used for death, the grave, the darkness of that subterranean mansion into which the Jews supposed the souls of men went after death. Figuratively, the expression is used for great distress; a state of danger and terror. It is an amplification, therefore, of the prophet’ s thought. Experience has justified this representation of the prophet. The religion of the heathen has ever been gloomy and horrible. II. THE BLESSED (Isaiah 9:2). 1. As darkness is an emblem of the religious sorrows which had overcast the world, so light is an emblem of the truth of the Gospel The Gospel is “ light.” This marks its origin from heaven. This notes its truth. It is “ light” because of its penetrating and subtle nature. It is called “ light,” “ a great light,” because of the discoveries which it makes. It is life and health to the world. Where it prevails, spiritual life is inspired, and the moral disorders of the soul give place to health and vigour. 2. As in the vision light succeeds to darkness, so also joy succeeds to fear and misery. III. SO VAST A CHANGE MUST BE BY CAUSES : and to the means by which this astonishing revolution is effected the prophet next directs attention (Isaiah 9:4-5). These words speak of resistance and a struggle. In the conduct of this battle two things are, however, to be remarked: the absolute weakness and insufficiency of the assailants, and their miraculous success. The weakness of the instruments used in breaking the rod and yoke of the oppressor is sufficiently marked by the allusion to the destruction of the host of Midian by Gideon and his three hundred men. But it may be said, “ Is not all this a splendid vision? You speak of weak instruments effecting a miraculous success; of the display and operation of a supernatural power, touching the hearts of men, and changing the moral state of the world; but what is the ground of this expectation?” This natural and very proper question our text answers. IV. “ FOR UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN,” etc. (Isaiah 9:6-7). (R. Watson.)Light out of darkness We are not left in doubt as to what the end of this great prophecy was. In Matthew 4:15-16, we have it expounded to us. I. THE GREAT . The prophet first saw the people utterly overwhelmed by the ruthless hand of merciless war. It had been once a prosperous land, but now darkness dense had come over it till it was a veritable “ shadow of death.” Turning from the immediate political significance of this to its spiritual import, we can easily see in it a picture of the spiritual condition of the world when Jesus came. The whole world was lying in the wicked one. The Jewish people, though they had the living Word of God, had in the darkness of their carnal ambition and lifeless formality lost all true vision of God. The Gentile world was no better. The best which they had was, on the one hand, a sensuous and godless Epicureanism, and on the other a cold and hopeless Stoicism. Turning to the condition of the unconverted people of our own day, we see also darkness and the shadow of death. What light for the soul has all our modern philosophical thinking and scientific research given? II. THE GREAT LIGHT. The light which the prophet saw was the intervention of God for the deliverance of the people from political bondage and physical misery, with some spiritual return to God. That which it typified was the advent and work of Christ. How this light shone upon the darkened world when He came! Truly it was a “ great light.” The light seen in the face of Jesus Christ is the glory of God, revealing His eternal purposes of grace to all sinful men. Christ lights the world by loving it, i.e., by revealing the love of God to sinners. III. THE GREAT . With the coming of the true light came wonderful blessings to the people. This is described in the language of the prophet under several figures of speech. 1. “ Thou hast multiplied the nation.” If we look to the real fulfilment of this prophecy, what a vast increase in the people of God there has been! 2. “ And increased their joy.” Of old the people of God rejoiced at their best periods in mere national prosperity. But under the spiritual reign of Jesus the people shall rejoice in better things. The joy of salvation. 3. “ According to the joy in harvest.” The happiest festival of the Jews was the harvest feast, when the fruits of the earth were all gathered in, and the people blessed God and rejoiced in their riches. But now He gives us a new and better harvest, the ingathering of souls, the first fruits of which were gathered on the day of Pentecost. There is no such pure joy as that which arises in the heart when God’ s salvation is being accepted by men and women, and His harvest is being gathered. What will it be in that day when the glad harvest home is accomplished? 4. “ And as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.” This is a figure borrowed from the triumphant joy of the victorious warrior, who, having overthrown the enemy, and taken possession of his goods, divides them as spoil among the victors. Well, so shall, and so do, God’ s people rejoice over the victories which the Gospel wins over “ the god of this world.” 5. “ Thou hast broken the yoke . . . and the staff.” Hitherto the people had boon under the iron yoke of their oppressors, and beaten by the rod of their taskmasters, as in the old slavery times of Egypt. How happy when that yoke shall be broken, and that cruel staff or rod done away! Under Messiah’ s reign the cruel bondage of Satan’ s yoke is broken, and the taskmaster’ s staff done away. IV. HOW CHRIST . In earthly conflicts battles are fought “ with confused noise and garments rolled in blood.” The captives were delivered of old by these terrible and sanguinary methods; but Christ delivers His captives by the power of the Spirit of God, “ with burning and fuel of fire.” The fire is the Holy Ghost, and the fuel of fire is the Word of truth. (G. F. Pentecost, D. D.)The nativity of our Lord I. LIGHT OUT OF . II. JOY BECAUSE OF THE LIGHT. 1. Because Jesus was born. 2. Because in His incarnation God and man were united. 3. Because through His birth “ the yoke” of man’ s burden has been broken (Isaiah 9:4), and the power of his oppressor destroyed. III. THE GROUNDS OF THIS JOY (Isaiah 9:6-7). (Clergyman’s Magazine.)Good things in the days of the great Messiah If it be asked, What the great design of God is in the Scriptures? I answer, To bring a lost world to the knowledge of a Saviour all the prophecies, promises, histories, and doctrines of the Word, do point us to Him, as the needle in the mariner’ s compass points to the pole star. “ To Him bore all the prophets witness.” And when apostles under the New Testament were sent unto all nations, with the silver trumpet of the everlasting Gospel in their mouths, what was the great theme of their sermons! It was just to make Christ known among the nations All the lines of religion meet in Him as their centre. The prophet in the close of the preceding chapter, having spoken of dark and dismal days of trouble and distress, comes in the beginning of this, to comfort and encourage the hearts of true believers, with the good things which were coming in the days of the great Messiah. I. There are THREE GREAT NEW he condescends upon. 1. Great light should spring up to a lost world (Isaiah 9:2). 2. Joy in the Lord (Isaiah 9:3). 3. Spiritual liberty (Isaiah 9:4-5). II. It any should ask WHO IS HE, AND WHERE IS HE, THAT SHALL DO ALL THESE GREAT THINGS? You have an answer in the words, “ For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder,” etc. In the words we may notice these things following. 1. The incarnation of the great Messiah; for here the prophet speaks of His birth. 2. His donation. He is the gift of God to a lost world. “ Unto us a Son is given.” 3. His advancement to the supreme rule and authority. “ The government shall be upon His shoulder.” 4. His character and designation, in five names here given Him, which show that He has a name above every name, “ Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” 5. The relation He stands in to lost sinners of Adam’ s family. He is born “ to us,” He is given “ to us,” and not to the angels which fell. 6. The application and triumph of faith upon all this; for the Church here lays claim to Him, and triumphs in her claim; for the words are uttered in a way of holy boasting. “ Unto us this Child is born, unto us this Son is given.” (E. Erskine.)Fulness of Christ There is that in Jesus Christ alone which may and can afford sufficient comfort and relief in the worst of times and conditions. I. WE WILL INQUIRE INTO THE TRUTH OF IT (Colossians 2:9). 1. If you look into Scripture you shall find that the promises and prophecies of Christ are calculated and given out for the worst of times. 2. If there was enough in the types of Christ to comfort and relieve the people of God under the Old Testament in the worst of their times; then there must needs be enough in Christ to comfort the people of God now in the worst of our times. In the times of the Old Testament, in ease they had sinned, what relief had they? A sacrifice to make an atonement Leviticus 4:20), and so a type of Christ the great Sacrifice Hebrews 9:26). In case they were in the wilderness and wanted bread, what relief had they? Manna, a type of Christ, “ the true Bread that came down from heaven.’ In case they wanted water, what relief had they? The rock opened, and “ that rock was Christ.” In ease they were stung wire the fiery serpents what relief had they? They had the brazen serpent, and that was a type of Christ (John 3:15). 3. If all the promises of good things made to us were originated in Christ, and if all the promises that were made unto Christ of good things to come, do descend upon us, then surely there is enough in Christ to succour in the worst of times. For what are the promises but Divine conveyances? 4. If all our want of comfort and satisfaction doth arise from the want of a sight of Christ’ s fulness and excellency, and all our satisfaction and comfort doth arise from the sight of Christ’ s fulness and excellency, then this doctrine must needs he true. II. WHAT IS THAT IN CHRIST THAT MAY OR CAN COMFORT, SUCCOUR AND BELIEVE IN THE WORST OF TIMES AND ? 1. Look what that good thing is which the world can either give or take away, that is in Christ in great abundance; and if that be in Christ in great abundance which the world can neither give or take away, then there is that in Christ that may or can succour, comfort, and relieve in the worst of times. Can the world take away your estate, gold, or silver? Then read what is said in Proverbs 3:1-35, concerning wisdom, where Christ is called wisdom (verse 13). Can the world take away your liberty? Then you know what Christ says, “ Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.” Can the world take away your life? You know what Christ saith, “ I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” On the other side, what can the world give to you? Can the world give you peace, rest, quietness? Then you know what Christ saith (Matthew 11:28; John 14:27). Can the world give you happiness? I am sure Christ can. 2. There is in Jesus Christ the greatest excellency under the best propriety, “ My Lord and my God.” 3. There is in Jesus Christ the greatest fulness joined with the most communicativeness. 4. The sweetest love under the greatest engagement. Is not a brother engaged to help his brother? A father his children? A husband his wife! Now, suppose there were one person that could stand under all these relations--a brother, a father, a husband; how much would that person be engaged to help? Thus Christ doth; He stands under all these relations. 6. There is that in Jesus Christ that suiteth all conditions. III. HOW FAR THIS US. (W. Bridge, M. A.)Immanuel the Light of Life I. There is to be a light breaking in upon the sons of men who sit in darkness, and this light is to be found only in the incarnate God. Let me THIS FACT BY THE CONTEXT. 1. I must carry you back to Isaiah 7:14. The sign of coming light is Jesus. 2. Further on we see our Lord Jesus as the hold fast of the soul in time of darkness. See in Isaiah 8:8, the whole country overwhelmed by the fierce armies of the Assyrians, as when a land is submerged beneath a flood. Then you read--And he shall pea through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of Thy land, O Immanuel.” The one hope that remained for Judah was that her country was Immanuel’ s land. There would Immanuel be born, there would He labour, and there would He die. He was by eternal covenant the King of that land, and no Assyrian could keep Him from His throne. If you are a believer in Christ, you belong to Him, and you always were His by sovereign right, even when the enemy held you in possession. We might exultingly have gloried over you, “ Thy soul, O Immanuel.” Herein lay your hope when all other hope was gone. Herein is your hope now. 3. Further on in the chapter we learn that Jesus is our star of hope as to the destruction of the enemy. The foes of God’ s people shall be surely vanquished and destroyed because of Immanuel. Note well in Isaiah 8:9-10, how it is put twice over like an exultant taunt: “ Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for Immanuel.” Our version translates the word into “ God with us,” but it is “ Immanuel.” In Him, even in our Lord Jesus Christ, dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and He has brought all that Godhead to bear upon the overthrow of the foes of His people. 4. Further on we find the Lord Jesus as the morning light after a night of darkness, The last verses of the eighth chapter picture a horrible state of wretchedness and despair: “ And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry:” etc. But see what a change awaits them! Read the fine translation of the R.V. “ But there shall be no gloom to her that was in anguish.” What a marvellous light from the midst of a dreadful darkness! It lean astounding change, such as only God with us could work. There am some here who have traversed that terrible wilderness You are being driven as captives into the land of despair, and for the last few months you have been tromping along a painful road, “ hardly bestead and hungry.” You are sorely put to it, and your soul finds no food of comfort, but is ready to faint and die. You fret yourself: your heart is wearing away with care, and grief, and hopelessness. In the bitterness of your soul you are ready to curse the day of your birth. The captive Israelites cursed their king who had led them into their defeat and bondage; the fury of their agony, they even cursed God and longed to die, It may be that your heart is in such a ferment of grief that you know not what you think, but are like a man at his wits’ end. Those who led you into sin are bitterly remembered; and as you think upon God you am troubled. This is a dreadful ease for a soul to be in, and it involves a world of sin and misery. You look up, but the heavens are as brass above your head; your prayers appear to be shut out from God’ s ear; you look around you upon the earth, and behold “ trouble and darkness, and dimness of anguish” ; your every hope is slain, and your heart is torn asunder with remorse and dread. Every hour you seem to be hurried by an irresistible power into greater darkness. In such a case none can give you comfort save Immanuel, God with us. Only God, espousing your cause, and bearing your sin, can possibly save you. See, He comes for your salvation! 5. Once more, we learn from that which follows our text, that the reign of Jesus is the star of the golden future. He came to Galilee of the Gentiles, and made that country glorious, which had been brought into contempt. That corner of Palestine had very often borne the brunt of invasion, and had felt more than any other region the edge of the keen Assyrian sword. It was a wretched land, with a mixed population, despised by the purer race of Jews; but that very country became glorious with the presence of the incarnate God. That first land to be invaded by the enemy was made the headquarters of the army of salvation. Even so at this day His gracious presence is the day dawn of our joy. Here read and interpret Isaiah 9:3.Then shall your enemy be defeated, as in the day of Midian. When Jesus comes you shall have eternal peace; for His battle is the end of battles. “ All the armour of the armed man in the tumult, and the garments rolled in blood, shall even be for burning, for fuel of fire.” This is the rendering of the Revision; and it is good. The Prince of Peace wars against war, and destroys it. Now is it that the Lord Jesus becomes glorious in our eyes; and He whose name is Immanuel is now crowned in our heart with many crowns, and honoured with many titles. What a list of glories we have here! What a burst of song it makes when we sing of the Messiah (Isaiah 9:6). Each word sounds like a salvo of artillery. II. I want to PRESS HOME CERTAIN TRUTHS WITH MY THEME. Immanuel is a grand word. “ God with us” means more than tongue can tell It means enmity removed on our part, and justice vindicated on God’ s part. It means the whole Godhead engaged on our side, resolved to bless us. 1. Jesus is Immanuel (Matthew 1:21). 2. Perhaps you wish to know a little more of the incident in the text which exhibits Jesus as the great light. Our Lord made His home in the darkest parts. He looked about and saw no country so ignorant, no country so sorrowful, as Galilee of the Gentiles, and therefore He went there, and lifted it up to heaven by priceless privileges! 3. We will turn back to where we opened our Bibles at the first, and there we learn that, to be God with us, Jesus must be accepted by us. He cannot be with us if we will not have Him. Hear how the prophet words it: “ Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” Be sure that you go on with the verse to the end--“ and the government shall be upon His shoulder.” If Christ is your Saviour He must be your King. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Lux in tenebris One evening last week I stood by the seashore when the storm was raging. The voice of the Lord was upon the waters; and who was I that I should tarry within doors, when my Master’ s voice was heard sounding along the water? I rose and stood to behold the flash of His lightnings, and listen to the glory of His thunders. The sea and the thunders were contesting with one another; the sea with infinite clamour striving to hush the deep-throated thunder, so that His voice should not be heard; yet over and above the roar of the billows might be heard that voice of God, as He spake with flames of fire, and divided the way for the waters. It was a dark night, and the sky was covered with thick clouds, and scarce a star could be seen through the rifts of the tempest; but at one particular time, I noticed far away on the horizon, as if miles across the water, a bright shining, like gold. It was the moon hidden behind the clouds, so that she could not shine upon us; but she was able to send her rays down upon the waters, far away, where no cloud happened to intervene. I thought as I read this chapter last evening, that the prophet seemed to have stood in a like position, when he wrote the words of my text. All round about him were clouds of darkness; he heard prophetic thunders roaring, and he saw flashes of the lightning of Divine vengeance; clouds and darkness, for many a league, were scattered through history; but he saw far away a bright spot--one place where the clear shining same down from heaven. And he eat down, and he penned these words: “ The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” ; and though he looked through whole leagues of space, where he saw the battle of the warrior “ with confused noise and garments rolled in blood,” yet he fixed his eye upon one bright spot in futurity, and he declared that there he saw hope of peace, prosperity, and blessedness; for said he, “ Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful.” (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 9:2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light The true Light The prophet’ s vision has been fulfilled. The true light now shineth; Jesus Christ as the Word made flesh is the true Light which lighteth every man. There is no light in any real sense but that which comes to man through Him. I. Christ sheds light upon SIN. By His words and by His life He testifies to the reality of sin. 1. In Him was exhibited for the first and only time a life perfectly obedient to the will of God, a life the one inspiring motive of which was love to God and love to man, a life in which every thought, every word, every act was influenced only by a regard to the glory of God, a life in which was manifested in perfect union and in perfect harmony every human virtue. Thus Christ has shown us what we ought to be, and in showing us this has shown us what we are. In the presence of His awful purity how deep our impurity appears. 2. And He has tracked sin to its secret hiding place. He has discovered the fountain in the heart, the evil thought, the murderous hate, the impure desire, the covetousness, the malice, the bitterness which lurk within, and which no human law can touch. He has made us discern not only the evil done and the evil thought, but the good left undone. There is no part of our nature which He has not explored. Never had it been so profoundly, so truly judged, never had man been so discovered to us. 3. Is the light which Christ casts upon sin only a condemning light? Is it a light which shows us our misery only to leave us without hope, which shows us what we ought to be, but gives us no power to attain to the ideal set before us! No, the light which reveals to us our sin, reveals to us also the mercy of God, a love greater than our transgressions, a pardon greater than our sin. It is the light of the Cross that gives us hope. Never does God appear in more perfect holiness than when He pardons sin, and the sinner looking upon the Cross feels the malignity of that sin which nothing but the sacrifice of the Son of God could take away. All other religions, all other philosophies have failed here, all have made some compromise with sin, all have concealed its deep malignity; the Cross alone dares to reveal it, because the Cross alone takes it away. II. And so, too, of HUMAN . The Cross consoles sorrow, because it manifests to us a power of sympathy in God such as man had never dared to dream of. There is no suffering for which the Cross is not a precious balm, because there is no suffering which it does not surpass and consecrate. III. And much more Christ’ s light is a light cast upon DEATH. Or rather let me say the light which He came to bestow is the light of life. He came that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Beyond the Cross there is the Resurrection. “ Because I live, ye shall live also.” This is the grand prerogative of the Gospel All other religions have failed here. All have spoken with stammering lips of the world beyond the grave. (Bishop Perowne.)Experiences on a sick bed We are accustomed to conceive of our experience of bodily affliction as a land of “ the shadow of death.” Just as there was a preparation for receiving good in the moral shadow which enveloped the Galileans, so is there also good in the pain and abasement of bodily suffering. There is a breaking down of pride, and a clearer insight into our own utter weakness. There is new openness to spiritual realities, and in this, at least a preparation for being dealt with according to the light of our relation to eternity. I. One almost invariable sight revealed to us in the shadow of death is THE OF THE PAST. I remember reading some years ago an account of an exploration of one of the pyramids of Egypt. The impression of the darkness upon the explorers at first was very oppressive. On every side and overhead, piled one above another in prodigious lengths and masses, rose the polished blocks of granite which formed the walls and ceiling. There was not a window, nor open chink from top to bottom. The torches of the guides only deepened the sense of awe, blinking as they did like mere glow worms in the gloom. As the travellers crept and slid along the dismal passages, through the almost solid darkness, an undefined and painful consciousness of something like terror arose within them, from the felt want of any really satisfactory knowledge of the purpose which could be intended in such a building. At length they came to what seemed to them a coffin of stone. When they struck it, it rung like a bell. Everything else had had a baffling and perplexing effect on their minds. Here was one object they could thoroughly understand--the monument of a purpose, even if not the main purpose, which the building was intended to serve. And in the midst of that darkness they found their minds summoned by that coffin into the presence of the past. Something not very unlike this takes place when we are sent in, under some serious illness, to explore the land of the shadow. At first we are oppressed by the mere darkness--the deepening out on every side of the possibilities of the disease. Then, the ignorance of the purpose for which we are afflicted perplexes us. But at last, more or less in every case, we find our minds settling upon the past. Sometimes it is our instinctive forward looking, our attempt to penetrate the dim, unsounded future which thus leads us back into the past. The consciousness that we are passing onwards into its territory will not let sleep the question, “ What sort of past am I carrying thither with me?” More frequently it is the consideration of unfinished purposes which recalls the past. Often, however, there is something in the very circumstances of the affliction, some appropriate word, perhaps, suggested and pressed upon our attention, which leads us in this direction of the past. Joseph’ s brethren, e.g., in the Egyptian prison, by the simple utterance of the words, “ Your youngest brother,” had the past which related to themselves and Joseph recalled to their minds. It was this which Job complained of when he cried to God: “ Thou makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.” His youth was not dead as he had supposed; nor had its actions altogether passed. The threads of these were still in His hand who was afflicting him. And now, in his distress, they are drawn up and placed like network around his soul. But there is good in this revision of the past. For one thing, the very sight of the fact is good that nothing of our lives passes utterly into oblivion. It is good to know that the past as much as the present is real, that our deeds lie there, imperishable, dormant, but yet dead. For a second reason it is good. The remaining hours of our time here are more likely to be encountered and occupied with serious hearts. But, for a third and still deeper reason, it is good to have made this discovery. One of the main purposes of redemption is to deal with this imperishableness of the past, and solve the problems which arise out of that and our responsibility. Our Redeemer came to put away the guilt of our past lives, and to lift us into a position from which the consequences of our guilt would shut us out forever. But nothing more disposes us to listen to the offers of Divine mercy, than a clear unambiguous view of the actual past of our lives. II. Another and most important sight vouchsafed to us in serious illness, is THE SIGHT OF THE WORLD WE LIVE IN DWARFED TO ITS TRUE . It is a great loss to anyone to see the world he lives in only from the side of health. The true proportions of things are almost sure to be hidden from his view. This is especially the case with respect to the common pursuits of life. It requires the discipline of a sick bed to reveal our error--to discover to us that we have transgressed the bounds of mere necessity, and have been giving them more thought than they demand. I would liken the false value which we put on our lower vocations to the shadow cast by a manor house on the lawn. The house itself may represent the actual legitimate thought, which we may put into our daily toils. The shadow of the house is the added, illegitimate thought--the burdensome, down crushing care, thrusting and pushing from their centres our higher affections and hopes. At two different moments there is no shadow. There is none when the sun is in the centre of the heavens, and pouring his light down upon the roof of the house; there is none until he bends from the centre. But then the shadow begins to lengthen out its neck. The sunlight comes forth in horizontal beams, and the shadow stretches out its arms and spreads its wings, and lies prone and black on all the colour of the neighbouring field. At last the sun goes down, and the shadow has disappeared again. Night has rolled its shadow over the land, and the greater has swallowed the less. The house is there, but not its shadow. A most true picture this of the different values we put on our pursuits in the hours of health and at the gates of the grave! For with us also there are two moments when no shadow falls. There is no false estimate so long as God is in the centre of our heavens. At last death is rolling his shadow over our earthly life. And we are enveloped in the gloom of that. And then, looking outward, we discover how all other shadows have disappeared, and have been to us but vanity and vexation of spirit. III. A third experience in serious illness is, that AWAY FROM THE OF CHRIST, THERE IS NO LIGHT FOR THE WORLD TO COME. The lights which surround us in our daily walks, when all is well with us, forsake us in the shadow. The light of friendship, for example. It cannot pierce the blackness of the shadow of death, nor search forward into the dimness of unrevealed futurity. Next to our friends, as lights of life to us, are our books. They are our inner lights. But away from the Book which specifically tells us of the resurrection of the Son of God, the light of no book in our keeping abides with us in the shadow to give us one gleam of hope. But it is worth while being sent into the shadow, if we come out with this experience. IV. A fourth experience is generally reached in serious illness, of which it is not so easy to see the good. This is THE OF . Our spirits are gadders about too much. Our lives spread themselves too far upon society. A serious illness carries us away from this folly. It takes us out into the solitude, and leaves us there. This loneliness of great suffering is the shadow sent forth to bring us home. Society is not our home. The dearest, innermost circle of it is not our home. God is our home--our present home. V. TO THE OF GOD IS IN EVERY WAY A GOOD. Its shadow is a retirement for renewed and deeper insight into the character and purposes of their Father. As much as unspiritual sufferers they feel the distress of their circumstances. The difference is, that over and through this distress they discern the loving purpose towards themselves of Him who chasteneth. Every way their condition is different. The world which death is bringing close to them is the habitation of their best and most beloved Brother. Sustaining promises are suggested to them by the Spirit, which have new and unthought of appropriateness to their case. Light from heaven, in inexpressible fulness, comes down into familiar passages of the Bible, revealing unimagined depths of Divine love for human souls. There is a nearer, sweeter, more experimental view of the Cross of Christ. Sin is felt to be the evil thing on which God cannot look, in a way to deepen the abhorrence of it, and to excite a more cleaving love to Him who is making all things work together to deliver us from its marks and power. And glimpses of the sinless land, holy, beautiful as morning light, come glowing and reddening through the clouds. And the hour of weakness is changed into an hour of strength. (A. Macleod, D. D.)Christ as light I. HOW THIS LIGHT MAY BE TO CHRIST. 1. Light is an all-necessary thing. 2. It separates--divides the night from the day. 3. It cheers. 4. Christ stands preeminently glorious as a great light. There is a fulness in Him commensurate with His Divinity; there is a brightness in Him that knows neither change nor diminution. II. THE OF PERSONS TO WHOM THIS LIGHT HAS BEEN, OR SHALL BE, . 1. In darkness. 2. Walking in darkness. 3. In the shadow of death. (F. G. Crossman.)Christ the true Light I. THE reigning in the world beforehand was to be traced even in the land of Judaea itself. At the period of Christ’ s nativity, there was the darkness of types, the shadows and mere secondary images of Divine truth. Some few only were partially enlightened to believe and understand the truth, and these exulted in the coming light, e.g., Simeon and Anna. But if some few in Jerusalem looked for redemption, what was the state of the heathen world! They, indeed, by all their wisdom, knew not God; they were immersed in the darkest idolatries and most cruel superstitions. There was, in all this mass of external darkness, something congenial to the inner corruption, the shadow of death, resting on our common sinful nature: never could the one have existed or taken effect without the other. We must look within our own hearts for that guilty ignorance, that wilful blindness and hardened indifference to God and His truth, which was the source Mike of Jewish perversions and heathen abominations. II. Christ was THE LIGHT spoken of by the prophet. To the Jews, how well calculated was His appearance to clear up the obscurities of their own Mosaic ritual and prophetic declarations! To the Gentiles, no less did the coming of Christ present a religion able, for the first time, to resolve all their doubts, to satisfy all their wants, and unite the whole family of man under one great Head of all. 1. It was a sudden light; unexpected by most, and undeserved by all, the Sun of Righteousness, Jesus Christ, rose upon a benighted world. 2. It was a great light. 3. This was verily the true light. “ It shines with a ray which,” saith St. John, “ lighteneth every man that cometh into the world.” It is that which is adapted to man as man, beaming with an evidence only to be resisted by wilful blindness, and convincing all with a force which leaves the wanderer without excuse, who perishes in his sin. 4. It is a Divine light; one shining as if from the very throne of God Himself. (C. J. Hoare, M. A.)Darkness and the shadow of death Picture to yourselves a traveller fallen into a defile, the heavens concealed from his view by clouds and darkness; and as he turns in his passage he hears the ravening beasts of night yelling around him, and ready to devour him; conceive his heart sinking within him, and seeking a refuge in vain! If to this man’ s glimmering light was raised from a distant cottage where he might find security, oh, what joy, what hope of escape would burst across his mind! But yet this will but faintly represent the scene, for the light here spoken of is not a transitory light which may soon be extinguished, but it is a bright light that arises in the land; a light that is raised in heaven to shine on benighted man. (J. Burnett, LL. B.)Walking in darkness Concerning the people it is affirmed-- I. That they walked IN . Darkness must he understood in the figurative sense in which it is often used in Scripture to signify a state of ignorance, sin, and misery. Ignorance, like a veil, continues upon their hearts until the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ shines into their minds. In this uncomfortable state they act under the influence of corrupt principles, committing those enormous transgressions which are justly denominated the works of darkness. From hence arise distresses and miseries of various kinds, which terminate in utter darkness and everlasting woe, unless prevented by the illumination of the true light. II. In this condition the people are described as WALKING, which, in the Word of God, frequently denotes the whole course of man’ s life, in which every action makes a step towards that everlasting state to which we are journeying. 1. Walking is a voluntary motion, the consequence of preceding choice and deliberate resolution 2. Walking is a continued motion, in which one step regularly follows another, until the ground intended is gone over. 3. Walking is a progressive motion, by which a traveller still goes forward until he arrives at the end of his journey. (R. Macculloch.)The Light of the world In the Arctic regions, after the long dark night of winter, the rising of the sun is especially welcome. So should Christ be to us. I. THE WORLD WITHOUT CHRIST SITS IN . 1. The minds of the heathen are dark. 2. Their religion is dark and gloomy. 3. Their conduct is dark. 4. Their prospects after death are dark. II. JESUS CHRIST IS A “ GREAT LIGHT.” He is-- 1. Great in Himself, for He is God. 2. He is a perfect light. 3. He shines into the heart (2 Corinthians 4:6). 4. He gives happiness and healing as well as light (Malachi 2:2; John 15:11). 5. This light cannot be put out (Isaiah 55:20). 6. It is the light of heaven as well as of earth (Revelation 21:23). III. IT IS THE WILL OF GOD THAT THE HEATHEN AS WELL AS SHOULD SEE THIS GREAT LIGHT (1 Timothy 2:1-6; 1 John 2:2; Mark 16:15). (R. Brewin.)The land of darkness and the great light I. WHO ARE THE PEOPLE WHOM THE PROPHET SAW WALKING IN ? By darkness, Scripture means spiritual alteration. Our normal condition is light; for God is light and we were made in His image. But this primitive state no longer exists; an astounding fact has overthrown Divine order; sin has changed all things. The alteration produced by sin is-- I. An alteration of truth Our intellect is darkened “ through the ignorance that is in us, because of the blindness of our heart.” The knowledge of God and of ourselves, which in the origin was pure, has been perverted by a spirit of error and replaced by a veil of darkness. Man has ceased to know God and to know himself. What light would you kindle to dispel these shadows of death! 2. An alteration of life. A false life has invaded the soul and driven away the light of life. The source of life is in God, but it is no longer God who holds dominion over the soul; it is self, the world, and sin 3. An alteration of joy. Light and joy are synonymous, in Scripture: “ Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.” But what becomes of joy if it is deprived of truth and life! It is turned into sorrow. Our earthly joys are but disguised sorrows. II. WHAT IS THE LIGHT SPOKEN OF BY THE PROPHET? Revert to the fall of the first man and woman in Eden; a promise shines. This promise henceforth accompanies humanity. (Homiletic Magazine.)Darkness exchanged for light The North American Indians used to hold a New Year’ s feast with revolting ceremonies, the sick and aged being neglected, or even killed, to avoid trouble. But missionaries have taught them the Gospel They are Christians, and their New Year’ s feast is kept in a different way. Before it begins a list is read of aged and sick unable to come. Bundles of good things are packed up and sent to each by the fleetest runners, who think it a joy and not a burden. Surely these people “ have seen a great light.” (Egerton Young.) Isaiah 9:3 Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the Joy National power and national character The difference between national power and national character, between the success and the worthiness of a State, is suggested by these words. Scientific insight shows us that a planet is under the dominion of the law of gravitation precisely as a pebble is; and religious insight leads us to study the life, and estimate the merits and the perils, of an empire in the same light and by the same standards that we should apply to any single person. And so religious insight prevents us from accepting the mere numbers, opulence, prominence, and power of a State as sufficient justification for joy in its existence, just as it forbids us to acknowledge such tests for private persons. If a man is a sensualist, a knave, a gambler, or a ruffian, no honest mind thinks of praising him because he is strong limbed and in florid health, because he lives in a handsome house, is worth a million, and adds largely every year to his meadows and park. These splendid circumstances only furnish a pedestal for a piece of incarnate depravity to make its vileness conspicuous and repulsive. And a nation may be vigorous in physical health, and may be gaining thus, while it is going backward and downward in character. The noble elements which a nation embodies and represents, and which gleam as expressions upon the lineaments which its countenance will wear in history, constitute its glory. Mere numbers, as of the Chinese, Hindoos, or Turks, awaken no satisfaction in the competent student. The brawny energy that tugs at the conquest of nature; that pushes out pioneers whose axes mow the wilderness, and whose ploughs furrow the prairies; that quarries counties for coal, and tames the torrents for its wheels, and makes the air over wide longitudes buzz with furious and cunning mechanism,--this, in contrast with lazy content or nerveless beggary, properly awakens joy in the aspect of a nation. And when, out of this groundwork of enthusiastic strength, an intellectual force is born that dots the land with schools which lead up to academies, and in turn are crowned with colleges, from which literatures blossom and shed the fragrance of culture and poetry in the social air, there is new and higher call for satisfaction and gratitude. And if a religious spirit presses for utterance out of the widening life of the State, so that churches grow as naturally from its soil as courtrooms, capitols, and schools; and if the religion of the people, instead of being a selfish commerce with Infinite power for private insurance against suspected peril, is a reverent and glad recognition of the Infinite mind as the source of truth, and the Infinite heart as unspeakable love, so that, if poverty begins to border the general plenty, the national genius turns to study for the wisest relief of it by the quick impulse of duty, and when vice and crime burst to the surface the conscience of the State is moved as quickly to devise cures as to build prisons; then a spectacle is seen grander than any miracle of genius, any individual heroism, any personal sanctity; for then a nation stands out with intellect on its forehead, chivalry in its carriage, and Christianity in its heart. (T. Starr King.)They Joy before Thee according to the Joy in harvestJoy in harvest We may look upon the words of our text as a kind of double picture set in a single frame, so that its component parts may be contrasted as well as compared together. On one side is placed before us a merry harvest scene--just like what you might see going on in many a smiling cornfield of this happy English land. On the other side is depicted the confused noise of battle, and warriors with garments rolled in blood, exulting in that fierce joy which foemen feel in prospect of hard earned victory. Gradually the tumult passes on, and the ground is strewn with the dead and dying, with here and there a broken chariot and many a shivered spear. And then the camp followers issue forth to strip the slain, and to carry off the spoil to their tents until the pursuers shall return, when it shall be divided share and share to every man with boisterous mirth and songs of revelry. You will see, therefore, that our attention is directed first of all to the joy of harvest--man’ s triumph in the labours of the field. And then we can almost fancy that we hear the ringing shout of victory as the battle sweeps across the plain. Dissimilar though such things may be, yet there is more than one connecting link between them. For “ peace hath her victories no less renowned than war.” We might even say that they are more real, more complete, more generally shared in. The rejoicing after some successful campaign is often loud and great; the news comes in, the cities are illuminated, the joy bells are rung, the excitement is intense, and outwardly there is every appearance of extreme delight; but it is only a one-sided gratification after all. For many feel, alas! how keenly, that the victory has been purchased at the cost of many a valued life, and that warfare is always accompanied by desolation, and mourning, and woe. But in harvest joy this is not the case. Here we have an unmingled glad mess; especially in a year when the crops are reported from all quarters to be unusually good--the triumphant result of toil and industry rewarded by the fruits of the ground. (E. Bell.)Harvest joy among the Jews To a commercial people the expression is not so significant as it would be to a Jew. The Jews were essentially an agricultural people. God did not encourage them to trade with surrounding nations, lest they should fall into idolatry; and so we find that they were not a manufacturing community, and, except in the time of Solomon, they made no pretensions to a navy. The arts and sciences were but little cultivated; but the fields and vineyards gave them abundant occupation, and the soil and climate were favourable to the growth of the corn and the vine. God took special interest in their agricultural pursuits. He laid down minute laws respecting sowing and gleaning, and He reminded the people in the feasts which He appointed that they were dependent on Him for the gift of food, and should receive it with a devout and thankful heart. It has been well observed respecting the three chief Jewish festivals that one opened the harvest, the second marked a stage in it, and the third closed it. Joy occupied an important place in the religion of the Jews; and never, I suppose, was it so loud in its expression as at the Feast of Tabernacles, when they looked upon their full granaries, and brought in the last clusters of their fruitful vines. (F. J. Austin.)Harvest joy Christian people should be characterised by joy. While rejoicing on account of our spiritual blessings, we ought not to be indifferent to our daily temporal blessings. I. THE NATURE OF THIS JOY. Joy in harvest is-- 1. A reasonable joy. The prosperity of a nation depends very largely upon the character of its harvests; and, therefore, it is most natural that when the harvest is plenteous, our praise should ascend to God the Father, from whom this, even more directly than many blessings, has surely come. We have been taught to pray: “ Give us this day our daily bread.” If we thus recognise our dependence on God, is it not fitting that we should thank Him when He answers our prayer? Consider what would be the result of a complete failure of our crops for one year, notwithstanding that the balance might be restored, to some extent, from foreign lands. Or, consider what would be the result if there were failure in those countries from which we could draw our supplies. 2. A universal joy--a joy in which all sections of the Christian Church, all classes of the community, all nations and races may unite together. There are some occasions for joy which only affect small and select circles. But a good harvest hurts no one, and brings blessings to all. And surely anything that tends to soften prejudices, annihilate differences, break down the barriers of caste and sect is a national boon. 3. A holy joy. “ They joy before Thee,” says the prophet, “ according to the joy in harvest.” Among the Jews, joy in harvest was an act of worship. The first fruits were presented before the Lord with thanksgiving. And the joy of harvest should be regarded by us as a religious festival. Agriculture, more than any other branch of human industry, is seen to be under the superintendence of God. To rejoice in a good harvest, therefore, and to forget the Being to whom we owe it, would be an act of impiety. II. THE GROUNDS OF THIS JOY. A bountiful harvest is-- 1. A sign of God’ s activity. Very beautiful is the harvest festival hymn which David wrote and sang. Everything is there attributed to Divine agency (Psalms 65:9-13). Now, we are apt to forget sometimes how much we really owe to God. We talk of the laws of nature until we seem to lose sight of the Law maker. It is easy to say that the corn grows. But what is growth? It is, as one has described it, “ the increase of a living body according to a fixed pattern, and by materials derived from without--materials changed into its own substance or substances. Here, then, are three wonders--the power of absorbing fresh materials from the earth and air; the power of changing them into living and vegetable substance, and the power of arranging these new materials according to a fixed pattern. But how does all this come to pass? Has the plant a mind? The more we reflect, the stronger is the conviction that there is some intelligent, powerful agent at work, to whom all nature is subject, and whose will it readily obeys. And for whom does God make this yearly provision of golden grain? For us who so constantly forget Him, and who, at best, serve Him in a half-hearted way. 2. A proof of God’ s fidelity. Once, long ago, God gave a promise Genesis 8:21-22). On the strength of that promise the farmer sows his seed. He may not always think of the promise. But it is, nevertheless, in accordance with this promise that his crops arrive at maturity. He must sow in faith, whether it be a blind faith or an intelligent faith. He can only fulfil certain rules and conditions. And when he has done this he must wait. If the rain does not fall he cannot bring it down. If the sun shines too powerfully he cannot ward off its scorching rays. But he is in the hands of a faithful God; and though here and there the fields may not look very promising, and in some districts there may be occasional scarcity, the harvest is always plentiful in some regions, and we are thus able to assist each other and ward offer mitigate human suffering and distress. Let us remember-- (1) That God’ s faithfulness in providing for our physical necessities is only an illustration of His general character. (2) Every Christian is a husbandman. But, as in sowing corn, we have to work in faith and sometimes with sore discouragement. It was so with Christ. But we have promises, and upon these we must rest. (3) There is a grand harvest day approaching, when we shall have abundant evidence of the faithfulness of our God; and though there is a dark side to that picture, which we dare not conceal, we must not overlook the bright side, which is as plainly revealed “ The harvest is the end of the world. The reapers are the angels. Then shall He say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into My barn.” What an ingathering of souls will be then! Oh, happy day! when those that sowed and those that reaped shall rejoice together. Oh, happy day! when much of the seed which we feared was lost shall prove to have been good and fruit bearing. (F. J. Austin.)The analogy between the joy of harvest and spiritual joy I. THE HARVEST. 1. Its import. Seasonable gathering of fruits yielded by the earth, according to established natural laws--fruits of the field, orchard, vineyard, or the garden. 2. Its antiquity. It began with the dawn of created life. It is older than any human form of government, and it has the charm of having existed anterior to the division of humanity into tribes and nations, and before the formation of any landed estates. It is one of nature’ s first bonds to assure every living creature the right of existence. 3. Its universality. It is the heritage of all countries, according to their climates. 4. Its constancy. It is as firm from age to age as the Word of God, and an infallible witness to His faithfulness, as well as to the plenitude of His goodness. II. THE JOY OF CHRIST. The harvest songs are no pretence without reality. 1. Its intensity. Joy of harvest signifies great joy. 2. Its reasonableness. It is grounded on realised goodness. 3. It is grounded on realised goodness in abundance. III. THE ANALOGY BETWEEN THE JOY OF HARVEST AND THE JOY WHICH SPRINGS FROM WITH GOD. 1. Both are God’ s gifts. 2. Both are sequels of human industry. 3. Both are teachers of impressive moral lessons. (1) The goodness of God in providence and grace. (2) The continual duty of gratitude. (3) The real dignity of labour. (4) The wisdom of looking for and hasting to the heavenly harvest home. 4. They differ in that one is temporal and the other eternal in its duration. Joy centred in God will never end. (Homilist.)The joy in harvest The joy in harvest is the joy of the reward, the joy of victory. I. THE REWARD OF LABOUR. God gives us comparatively few things ready for use. The world is much more like a manufactory than a storehouse of ready made goods. God gives us the raw material, but we must work it up into the manifold forms in which we require it for the purposes of life. God does not give us bread, but the possibility of bread. Even so God gives His Word, not as life, but as the possibility of life. The seed stored in a cellar, though it has in it the possibility of life for a city, is valueless until it is sown broadcast in the fields; and the Word of God, though it has in it the promise of life eternal for the whole world, may be concealed in a convent cell or buried in a dead language, whilst all around the souls of men are perishing for lack of knowledge. Man lives by bread, but not by bread alone. As there is a life which bread sustains, so there is a life which truth sustains. To sow the truth, to prepare for its harvest, is as truly to save spiritual life as the sowing of corn in its season is the saving of natural life. Every man is a sower, and every man in due season shall be a reaper. “ Whatsoever a man soweth,” etc. Is not this the solemn lesson of the harvest time, that he who would reap hereafter must sow now, that he who would rest hereafter must work now? II. THE REWARD OF . If the earthly husbandman has need of long patience, how mush longer patience does he need who seeks a spiritual harvest! The corn of wheat grows slowly, but God’ s truth grows more slowly still. What are the uncertainties of the changeful skies compared with the uncertainties of the changeful human life! Yet if he will let patience have her perfect work he shall have no need to complain of his harvest. III. THE REWARD OF FAITH. Faith and patience always go together. The man who believes can wait. When a child puts seed into the ground, he does so without any of that strong conviction of its vital power which experience has given to his father, and so from want of faith in the seed he appeals to sight, and digs it up to see how it is getting on. There are many older children who make a similar mistake as to spiritual sowing. The Gospel sower must have faith in his seed. We cannot feel too strongly the truth that the power lies in the seed, not in the sower. This is as true in the Church as it is in the cornfield. (A. E. Gregory.)Christian joy I. THE FACT OF THEIR JOY. “ They joy.” Who? Those who, embracing the light of the Gospel, and renouncing the hidden works of darkness, are made the children of the light and of the day. 1. It is Divine in its nature. The joy of the men of the world, however diversified it may be, has its spring and source in the world. The joy of the ambitious has its rise in the pride of the world. The joy of the miser has its spring in the riches of the world. The joy of the sensualist is derived from the pleasures of the world. But believers are taught better. 2. It is extensive in its grounds. God--their Christian privileges--their Christian principles--their Christian prospects, 3. Salutary in its effects. Its tendency is good. II. THE OF THEIR JOY. “ Before Thee.” This is an expressive term and intimates several things. 1. It is spiritual It is a joyful state of mind, connected with that Divine Being who is a Spirit. Every exercise of the mind that unites us to Him must be spiritual. 2. It is sincere. The Christian’ s joy is real, not imaginary. It will bear inspection. 3. It is secret. As the world knows not the extent of our sorrows, so it is unacquainted with the abundance of our joys. III. THE OF THEIR JOY. To what may it be likened? The sacred writers have used various similitudes. It may be compared to the joy of the captive, released from bondage; to the joy of a patient, after his recovery from a severe illness; to the joy of a mariner, after a storm. Two figures are here employed to set forth the Christian’ s joy-- 1. The husbandman in the field of harvest. “ According to the joy of harvest.” (1) It is a joy that results from labour. (2) Connected with anxiety. (3) Requires patience. 2. The soldier in the field of battle. Conclusion--This subject gives as a view of two things with regard to Christianity. 1. Its requirements. It is no easy thing. There is much to be done and suffered. 2. Its rewards. These are inestimable. Present and future--exceeding description and baffling conception. (E. Temple.)Harvest joy To some minds, and to all of us, perhaps, in some moods, autumn brings gloom, harvest sadness; but to others autumn brings rest--harvest, joy. (1) There is a joy in the harvest of agriculture. (2) In the harvest of commerce. Such is the often honest joy of the man who, after years of industry or enterprise, feels that he has realised a fortune, abundant in its provision for himself and his dear ones. (3) In the harvest of literature. As when, after the toils of intellectual endeavour, the mind is at home amongst “ the fairy tales of science, and the long results of time.” (4) There is a harvest of love, when parents rejoice over the maturity of filial affection; when friends approach the completeness of intelligent and sympathetic communion. (5) In the harvest of religion. In personal experience it is a glad some thing to reach the autumn of faith, resignation, peace, after the earlier seasons of doubt, murmur, tumult. In Christian activities it is wondrous happiness to reap the results of sorrowing, anxious sowing in enlightened, comforted, and converted souls. I. WHAT IS THE ESSENCE OF THE JOY IN HARVEST? Is not the cause of joy the same in all these instances? For there is-- 1. Joyful retrospect. 2. Joyful anticipation. II. WHAT IS THE MEASURE OF THE JOY IN HARVEST? Do not two things regulate the measure of the joy that any feel, in any harvest? 1. The amount of its cost. The wheat field on which the farmer has expended most will be the one whose yield will the most interest him. So is it in every kind of harvesting, and so especially in what are distinctively the harvests of religion. In our own personal experience we value most in reaping that which has cost us most. The creed that we have fought out against doubts and difficulties, is inestimably more precious to us than that which has been handed down and adopted as a matter of course. The character which is pure after battle with impurity, sacrificial after contact with selfishness, peaceful after provocations to revenge and anger, is of far greater moral worth than that which has been seldom or feebly assailed. In our work for others, those results on which we have spent most time and thought and prayer are dearest to us. Harvest is valuable according to-- 2. Its intrinsic value. In our English harvest homes there is rejoicing because of the intrinsic value of the wheat that is reaped and garnered. This is so because of-- (1) Its necessariness. So ever the most joyful harvest will be the obtaining the greatest necessary. What is that! Is it mere wheat, or wealth, or learning, or even human love? No, a thousand times, no, for a man can be without food, or gold, or earthly knowledge, or human love, and yet live. “ A man’ s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” Religion is the greatest necessary. Christ is the Bread of Life. A harvest is of worth according to-- (2) Its sufficiency. The results of an abundant corn harvest last on until, and even past, another harvest tide. Through successive seasons its bounties are being enjoyed. Because thus the permanence of the result of harvest is one measure of its value, the harvest of knowledge is worth far more than the harvest of gain, and that of religion most of all. Its ingatherings are “ treasures in heaven, which neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” Two conclusions arise-- 1. We ought to have some of “ the joy in harvest” now. With souls it is not in every respect as with the soil For in them some sowing and reaping, dropping in of seed, and quickening of germ, springing of one blade of promise, and reaping of another harvest of result, go on contemporaneously. 2. We must have joy or sorrow in harvest by and by. There will be unmistakable, unavoidable harvest with us all soon. “ The harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels.” In solemn expectation of that harvest let us remember-- (1) We shall reap what we sow. (2) We shall reap more than we sow. What an unparalleled, almost infinite, contrast between the grain carried from the field in harvest, to that which had been deposited there in the seed time. (3) We shall reap as we sow. “ He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; but he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully.” Be careless in sowing, and you will be ashamed in reaping. (U. R. Thomas, B. A.)The joy of harvest This joy is used as a picture of the joy God designs for His Church. I. OBSERVE A GREAT IN THE WORDS “ BEFORE THEE.” All true joy is “ before God” --in His presence--with conscious reference to Him. 1. One use of harvest thanksgivings is to bring out this principle, to connect the gift of the harvest with the Giver. 2. All the joy of life is to be sanctified in the same way. Make it be “ joy before God.” Let it be deepened, purified, ennobled by the thought of the love that gave it, and the presence and sympathy of the Giver. 3. We learn from the same principle the limit of innocent joy. It must be “ before God.” Can you connect your pleasure with Him? Use this as a test. II. THE PURPOSE OF GOD IS THAT HIS PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE JOY, DEEP, FULL, . You wish to be happy. God wishes it infinitely more than you do. 1. Are you happy? Yes? Because you have health, comforts, etc.? Is this all! Poor joy! Enough for animals, but not for immortal spirits. Not like the joy of harvest; no rest in it, no noble achievement, no permanence. God is not satisfied with this JOY for you. 2. Are you happy? No? Wishes unfulfilled, cares, bereavements, dissatisfaction with self, yam endeavours after goodness, sense of guilt, etc.? Your Saviour knows your sorrows, offers you joy. 3. Purpose accomplished in the final harvest. “ Joy before Him” ; the “ rest” ; the “ well done” ; the “ evermore.” (F. Wynne, M. A.)The joy of spiritual ingathering I. It is the JOY OF . Harvest is the realisation of faith, of hope, and of labour. So with the conversion of souls. II. It is the JOY OF . Let us congratulate one another that the Spirit of God is with us. Let us congratulate one another that our prayers, notwithstanding all the faults that mar them, and the infirmities that cleave to them, are being heard. III. It is the JOY OF . I envy not the man who can see the Church increased and yet not feel a sacred home felt joy. IV. It is the JOY OF . V. And may I not ask you to REJOICE BECAUSE THERE IS ONE WHO LOVES SOULS better than I do, better than you do, who rejoices more than any of us? (C. H. Spurgeon.)The joy of harvest I. WHAT IS THE JOY OF HARVEST, which is here taken as the simile of the joy of the saints before God? 1. Sometimes the farmer only rejoices because he sees the reward of his toils, and is so much the richer man. 2. The joy of harvest has another element in it, namely, that of gratitude to God for favours bestowed. 3. To the Christian it should be great joy, by means of the harvest, to receive an assurance of God’ s faithfulness. 4. To the Christian, in the joy of harvest, there will always be the joy of expectation. As there is a harvest to the husbandman for which he waiteth patiently, so there is a harvest for all faithful waiters who are looking for the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our joy of harvest is the hope of being at rest with all the saints, and forever with the Lord. II. WHAT JOYS ARE THOSE WHICH TO THE ARE AS THE JOY OF HARVEST? 1. One of the first seasons in which we knew a joy equal to the joy of harvest,--a season which has continued with us ever since it commenced--was, when we found the Saviour, and so obtained salvation. Nohusbandman ever shouted for joy as our hearts should when a precious Christ was ours, and we could grasp Him with full assurance of salvation in Him. The joy of harvest generally shows itself by the farmer giving a feast to his friends and neighbours; and, usually, those who find Christ express their joy by telling their friends and neighbours how great things the Lord hath done for them. 2. It is the joy of answered prayer. 3. We have another joy of harvest in ourselves when we conquer a temptation. Those know deep joy who have felt bitter sorrow. As the man feels that he is the stronger for the conflict, as he feels that he has gathered experience and stronger faith from having passed through the trial, he lifts up his heart, and rejoices, not in himself, but before his God, with the joy of harvest. 4. Again, there is such a thing as the joy of harvest when we have been rendered useful. 5. Another delight which is as the joy of harvest is, fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Our condition matters nothing to us if Christ be with us. (C. H.Spurgeon.)The joy in harvest Is a joy-- I. FOR HOPES . In the midst of all his anxieties the farmer had never abandoned hope. His fears were ended and his hopes realised, when the last sheaf was gathered into his garner. Thus the Christian, who has throughout his pilgrimage gone on through fears and doubts and infirmities, yet still cheered by hope, shall stand before his Saviour at the great morning of the resurrection. II. FOR LABOUR REPAID. No matter how abundant the crop may be, so long as it stands in the field it is unprofitable to the farmer. But, when he looks at his well-filled barns, he feels that his labour has not been in vain. If this be true respecting the things of time, how much more with respect to those of eternity. The Christian’ s labour here is a labour of self-denial in hope of future glory. It is true that he has not the same uncertainty with respect to futurity which characterises the labours of the husband man. But, when the conflict is at last over, and he receives that for the sake of which he had renounced all earthly objects and lusts, and finds that his labour has not been in vain in the Lord, he “ joys before Him with the joy of harvest.” III. FOR REST . The farmer’ s year had been a year of labour, and often of very severe labour too; and when the period of harvest had commenced, his exertions were necessarily redoubled. At length, however, his heavy toil was for a season ended, and in that rest which is doubly sweet after labour, he “ joys according to the joy in harvest.” The rest of the husbandman is but for a time, and a short time, but the rest of the Christian shall be eternal. He has had his time of labour, such as far to exceed in its constancy and its steadfastness that of the husbandman. IV. FOR . Notwithstanding all the care of the husbandman, he is constrained, from time to time, to acknowledge that the entire process of the growth and ripening of the corn has depended on circumstances over which he has had no control Had he been left to dispose of the seasons as he might have thought right, he would, in all probability, have destroyed his crop. Many a time had he complained that the frosts were too severe, the rain too heavy, the wind too strong, the sun too hot--measuring the goodness of the all-wise God by his own limited understanding. But now he admits that his fears were groundless, and that all things have worked together for good. May we not in this picture see the progress of the Christian whilst he is the object of Divine Providence here on earth; whilst, now sorrowing and now rejoicing, he is ready to murmur at every salutary check which he receives from the head of a Heavenly Father? But at the harvest time the “ God who hideth Himself” shall he made manifest as having caused all these things to work for His own glory in the good of His people. V. FOR . The husbandman has one promise whose fulfilment gladdens him, the Christian has thousands. VI. FOR MEETING WITH FRIENDS. Now the harvest home is proclaimed, and friends long absent meet together. We go to meet the friends whom we have known and loved in the Lord. And in this meeting with the dearest objects of the affections of the Christian’ s soul, there is One “ whom having not seen, we love” ; Him, we shall then meet and “ know, even as we are known.” If then these be the joys in harvest, how desirable it is that we should examine whether we are such as shall partake of them. Let me briefly call your attention to the character of those who shall partake of this joy. 1. The ignorant, self-conceited husbandman, who neither knows how or what to sow nor when to reap, shall not have “ the joy in harvest.” 2. Nor is there joy in harvest to the slothful. 3. And should we see anyone who laboured as though it were his design to make his land barren and unproductive we should at once declare him mad, and predict that beggary and starvation must be the inevitable lot of himself and his family. 4. Those who are indeed preparing for that great harvest are those who are applying to heavenly things the same diligence, the same care, the same watchfulness, and the same energy which the husbandman applies to this earthly tillage. (R. M. Kyle, B. A.)Harvest joy, and how we may share in it The idea of national prosperity being dependent on agricultural prosperity, true as applied to Israel, is really universally true. There may be many an industry that brings more wealth to a nation in the shape of money--as the coal industry, the iron industry, the shipping industry--but the primal industry is the agricultural industry. “ Moreover, the profit of the earth is for all; the king himself is served by the field,” says the writer of Ecclesiastes, thereby giving expression to the eternal truth that all wealth comes ultimately from the soil; even the king himself is not independent of it. One cannot help rejoicing over the ingathering of the harvest, for nature itself seems musical with joy. “ The valleys are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.” This joy is-- I. THE JOY OF SECURED. We can joy before the Lord--not before the world, for that would mean pride; nor before ourselves, for that would mean selfishness; but before the Lord, for that means thankfulness over provision secured. There is nothing meaner than to boast of one’ s prosperity before the world, or before one’ s own heart; but we can derive joy from it before the Lord, for the Lord means us to rejoice in all His gifts--material as well as spiritual. II. THE JOY OF . III. THE JOY OF LABOUR . What kind of harvest is your life to have? (J. Mackie, B. D.)The joy of harvest Harvest crowns the year with God’ s goodness. When the harvest is abundant there is universal joy. Everybody rejoices. The owner of the land is glad, because he sees the recompense of reward; the labourers are glad, for they see the fruit of their toil; even those to whom not a single ear may belong nevertheless sympathise in the common joy, because a rich harvest is a boon to all the nation. It is a joyous sight to see the last loaded wain come creaking down the village road, to note the youngsters who shout so loudly, yet know so little what they are shouting about, to mark the peasant on the top of the wain as he waves his hat and gives vent to some gleeful exclamation, and to see them taking it all into the stack or barn. There is joy throughout the village, there is joy throughout the land, when the harvest time is come. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Harvest rejoicing among the Jews It was a common saying of the Rabbis that he who had not seen the rejoicing of the people at that glad time had yet to learn what true joy was. (J. Mackie, B. D.)The joy of finding the Saviour My heart was fallow, and covered with weeds; but on a certain day the great Husbandman came and began to plough my soul. Ten black horses were His team, and it was a sharp ploughshare that He used, and the ploughers made deep furrows. The Ten Commandments were those black horses, and the justice of God, like a ploughshare, tore my spirit. I was condemned, undone, destroyed, lost, helpless, hopeless,--I thought hell was before me. Then there came a cross ploughing, for when I went to hear the Gospel it did not comfort me; it made me wish I had a part in it, but I feared that such a boon was out of the question. The choicest promises of God frowned at me, and His threatenings thundered at me. I prayed, but found no answer of peace. It was long with me thus. After the ploughing came the sowing. God who ploughed the heart made it conscious that it needed the Gospel, and the Gospel seed was joyfully received. Do you recollect that auspicious day when at last you began to have some little hope? It was very little--like a green blade that peeps up from the soil: you scarce knew whether it was grass or corn, whether it was presumption or true faith. It was a little hope, but it grew very pleasantly. Alas, a frost of doubt came; snow of fear fell; cold winds of despondency blew on you, and you said, “ There can be no hope for me.” But what a glorious day was that when at last the wheat which God had sown ripened, and you could say, “ I have looked unto Him and have been lightened: I have laid my sins on Jesus, where God laid them of old, and they are taken away, and I am saved.” I remember well that day. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The icy of spiritual ingathering I cannot help being egotistical enough to mention the joy I felt when first I heard that a soul had found peace through my youthful ministry. I had been preaching in a village some few Sabbaths with an increasing congregation, but I had not heard of a conversion, and I thought, “ Perhaps I am not called of God. He does not mean me to preach, for if He did He would give me spiritual children.” One Sabbath my good deacon said, “ Don’ t be discouraged. A poor woman was savingly impressed last Sabbath.” How long do you suppose it was before I saw that woman? It was just as long as it took me to reach her cottage. I was eager to hear from her own lips whether it was a work of God’ s grace or not. I always looked upon her with interest, though only a poor labourer’ s wife, till she was taken away to heaven, after having lived a holy life. Many since then have I rejoiced over in the Lord, but that first seal to my ministry was peculiarly dear to me. It gave me a sip of the joy of harvest. If somebody had left me a fortune it would not have caused me one hundredth part of the delight I had in discovering that a soul had been led to the Saviour. I am sure Christian people who have not this joy have missed one of the choicest delights that a believer can know this side heaven. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Joy of realisation Dickens describes how he dropped his first published paper stealthily one evening at twilight, with fear and trembling, into a dark letter box up a dark court in Fleet Street: and his agitation when it appeared in all the glory of print. “ On which occasion I walked down to Westminster Hall, and turned into it for half an hour, because my eyes were so dimmed with joy and pride, that they could not bear the street, and were not fit to be seen there.” (H. O. Mackey.) Isaiah 9:4 For Thou hast broken the yoke of his burden Deliverance from the burden of sin I. SIN IS A BURDEN (Psalms 38:4). Sinners are heavy laden with this insupportable load, which detains them from God, who alone can relieve them; enfeebles their minds; and harasses them with perplexing fears, and the most uneasy reflections. A proper sense of its powerful influence, its polluting nature and dreadful guilt, like a crushing weight, depresses the spirit, becomes irksome and grievous, and if not happily removed, will prove the means of irremediable ruin. II. THE LAW IS THE YOKE OF THIS BURDEN (Acts 15:10). III. HAS BROKEN THE YOKE (Colossians 2:14). (R. Macculloch.)The Gospel a liberating power 1. The design of the Gospel, and the grace of it, is to break the yoke of sin and Satan, to remove the burthen of guilt and corruption, and to free us from the rod of those oppressors, that we might be brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 2. This is done by the Spirit working like fire (Isaiah 9:5). It is done as in the day of Midian, by a work of God upon the hearts of men. Christ is our Gideon. (M. Henry.)Encouragement from the past If God makes former deliverances His patterns in working for us, we ought to make them our encouragements to hope in Him. Isaiah 9:5 For every battle of the warrior Significance of Isa 9:5 The verse is more noteworthy for its connection than for its contents. As it stands it suggests a not very vivid contrast between two sorts of battle, which contributes nothing to the progress of the prophet’ s thought as well as quite misrepresents the original. The true rendering, according to all interpreters, is substantially this: “ For all the armour of the armed man in the onset, and the garments rolled in blood, shall be for burning, shall be the food of fire.” Thus understood, the verse admirably concludes the picture of prosperity given in the previous context by declaring that even the implements of warfare and the blood-stained clothing they cause shall be utterly consumed. Thus considered, the passage appropriately introduces the famous Messianic prophecy that follows: “ For unto us a Child is born,” etc. Such a wondrous triumph of peace can be adequately explained only by the appearance of One whose name is Wonderful. (T. W. Chambers, D. D.)Destroying weapons of war After the suppression of the Sepoy revolt, the British Government spent a week in melting down the vast array of weapons of all sorts accumulated by the disarming of a large portion of the people of Northern India. (T. W. Chambers, D. D.)Burning implements of war The prophet foretells a time when out of these wars and tumults there should come a period of deep peace, when these warlike implements should be burnt to ashes, according to the practice of ancient times which heaped sword, spear and armour as on a huge funeral pile, when the victory was won, to proclaim that the strife was over, that the chariots were burnt with fire, and the spears broken asunder. And he saw that this peace would come, because within his own time or hereafter--he knew not clearly which--a Son, a King, should be born, who would be the Prince of Peace, the founder of a new and eternal kingdom, clothed with a majesty which should put to silence the contentions of men, and with a power which should compress and unite the most divergent elements. (Dean Stanley.)The accoutrements of the warrior only fuel for the fire It has been submitted that a better rendering is this: “ Every boot of the warrior that tramps noisily and the cloak rolled in blood shall be for burning as fuel for fire.” The soldier wears his tall boot, and as his foot comes down on the earth he makes it ring again: and hearing an army pass by who could suppose that the earth will survive the cruel tramp? Religious inspiration lifts men so high as to enable them to despise the pomp and circumstance of war: every boot of the warrior that tramps noisily, and the cloak rolled in blood which men would gather up and preserve in museums, and show to admiring ages, shall be gathered up by the hand of time and thrust into the middle of the hottest fire. All such relics were made for burning. In our patriotic folly, our exuberant and intoxicated zeal, we gather the boots of warriors and the cloaks of conquerors, and the tattered banners of famous fields, and all but worship them: underneath the whole pile should be written, “ These are for burning as fuel for fire.” (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 9:6-7 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given The “ child” Hezekiah--yet someone else I am unable to form any distinct notion of Isaiah as a man and a Hebrew, and as a prophet of Jehovah in contrast with those muttering wizards he denounces, without supposing that, at this period of his life and ministry, he must have connected the thought of “ the child” with Hezekiah, on whom the name of the Mighty God had been actually named , and who (being now a boy nine or ten years old) may already have given promise of the piety which afterwards distinguished him: and that he would not, at this time, have considered that his prediction would be quite inadequately realised if the youthful prince should, on his accession to the throne of David and Solomon, renew the glories of their reigns, in which peace and justice were established at home and abroad, through trust in Jehovah and His covenant:--reigns of which the historical facts must be studied in the light which the Book of Psalms and such passages as 2 Chronicles 9:1-8 throw on them. I say at this time, because we shall have occasion to inquire what was the effect on Isaiah’ s mind when he did see a restoration under Hezekiah of such a reign of righteousness and prosperity; and whether his expectation of the Messiah did not eventually assume a very different form from what could have been possible to him at the time we now speak of. There is a method through this whole Book of Isaiah’ s prophecies which reflects a corresponding progress in the prophet’ s own mind; and this method offers us a clue through difficulties which are otherwise impassable, if we will only hold it fast and follow its guidance fairly. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)A prediction of an ideal king Such language speaks of an ideal king, even a Divine ruler, and only in a very poor degree found its fulfilment in Hezekiah or any Jewish king. (B. Blake, B. D.)The way that led to Christ In the crooked alleys of Venice, there is a thin thread of red stone inlaid in the pavement or wail, which guides through all the devious turnings to the Piazza in the centre, where the great church stands. So in reading the Old Testament we see in the life of many a personage, illustrious or obscure, and in many a far off event, the red line of promise and prophecy which stretches on unbroken until the Son of Man came. (Sunday School Chronicle.)The Messianic prophesies Dr. Gordon, of Boston, had a large dissected “ puzzle map,” which he gave to his children, saying, “ Don’ t press the parts into their places; you will soon know when they fit.” Coming again into the room, very soon after, he was surprised to find the map complete. He felt like saying, as Isaac to Jacob, when the latter returned with the venison, “ How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son?” “ Why, father,” was the reply, “ there was a man printed on the back; we saw where the feet, the eyes, the arms, and the rest of the body came, and so it was easy to watch it and fit all in.” So, if we know the Bible, we see “ the Man on the back” ; we put together the prophecies of the Old Testament by “ the Man Christ Jesus.” (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)The prophet’ s supernatural prevision It is not necessary to suppose that the prophet knew the literal meaning of his own words. He is but a poor preacher who knows all that he has said in his sermon. Had the prophet done so, he would be no longer the contemporary of his own epoch. It is the glory of prophecy to feel after. It is the glory of science to say long before the planet is discovered--there is another world there: no telescope has seen it, no message of light has been received from it consciously, but keep your telescope in that direction, there must be a starry pulse just there. The botanist knows that if he finds a certain plant in a given locality there will be another plant of another name not a mile away. He judges from one plant to another; he submits himself to inferential logic: he has not seen that other plant, but he tells you in the morning that because yesternight he found this leaf growing not far from the house in which he resides no will find another leaf of a similar pattern, or a diverse pattern, not far away; and at night he comes home, radiant as the evening star, and says, Behold, I told you this morning what would be the case, and there it is. So with the larger astronomy, and the larger botany: there is another planet somewhere yonder; when it is discovered call it the Morning Star, and inasmuch as there is triacle, treacle, in Gilead--a balm there--there shall be found another plant not far away; whenyou find it call it by some sweet name, such as the Rose of Sharon, or the Lily of the valley. It is the glory of the prophet to see signs which have infinite meanings--to see the harvest in the seed, the noonday in the faintest tint of dawn, the mighty man in the helpless infant, the Socrates in the embryo. This prevision made the prophets seemingly mad. Their knowledge was to them but a prison, so small, so dark, yet now and again almost alive with a glory all but revealed. The horizon was loaded with gloom, yet here and there a rent showed that heaven was immediately behind, and might at any moment make the dark cold earth bright and warm with eternal summer. (J. Parker, D. D.)The great Deliverer Look at the Deliverer as seen by the prophet--“ For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called--.” Now, the English punctuation seems to fritter away the dignity of the appellation The compound name really falls into this classification: first, Wonderful-Counsellor, as one word, as if, indeed, it were but one syllable; second, God-the-Mighty-One, not four words, but hyphened together; third, Father-of-Eternity, also hyphened and consolidated; fourth, Prince-of-Peace, that likewise an instance of the words run into one another, and in this four-fold classification we have the mysterious name of the Deliverer. This is no evidence that Isaiah saw the birth of Christ as we understand that term, but what he did see was that the only deliverer who could accomplish the necessary work must fill out the whole measure of these terms; if he failed to fill out that outline, he was not the predicted Messiah. Let us see. 1. He must fill the imagination--“ Wonderful.” Imagination cannot be safely left out of any religion; it is that wondrous faculty that flies to great heights, and is not afraid of infinite breadths; the faculty, so to say, that lies at the back of all other faculties, sums them up, and then adds an element of its own, using the consolidated mind for the highest purposes of vision and understanding. Is this name given for the first time? Where do we find the word “ Wonderful” in the Scriptures? We may not, perhaps, find it in the English tongue, but it is really to be found in Judges 13:18 : The angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, “ Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing, it is secret?” --the same Hebrew word that is rendered in the text “ Wonderful” ; so we might read, “ The angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after My name, seeing it is Wonderful?” 2. He must satisfy the judgment. His name, therefore, is not only Wonderful, but “ Counsellor,” the fountain of wisdom and understanding, the mind that rules over all things with perfectness of mastery, that attests everything by the eternal meridian, and that looks for righteousness. 3. He must also satisfy the religious instinct, so He is called “ The Mighty God.” It is not enough to describe God without epithetic terms. Sometimes we say, Why utter such words as, Thou infinite, eternal, ever-blessed God? Because we are so constituted in this infantile state of being that we need a ladder of adjectives to get up to our little conception of that which is inconceivable. 4. Not only so, there must be in this man a sense of brotherhood, so He is called “ The-Prince-of-Peace.” He will bring man to man, nation to nation; He will arbitrate amongst the empires of the earth and rule by the Sabbatic spirit. Christianity is peace. 5. He is to be more still. He is to be “ The Everlasting Father,” otherwise translated, The Father of Eternity; otherwise, and better translated, The Father of the age to come. Therein we have misinterpreted Christianity. We have been too anxious to understand the past. The pulpit has had a backward aspect--most careful about what happened in the second century, dying to know what Tertullian thought and what Constantine did. Christ is the Father of the age to come. If He lived now He would handle the question of poverty; He would discuss the great uses of Parliament; He would address Himself to every church, chapel, and sanctuary in the kingdom; He would come into our various sanctuaries and turn us out to a man. Christianity is the prophetic religion. It deals with the science that is to be, with the politics yet to be developed, with the commerce that is yet to be the bread-producing action of civilised life. (J. Parker, D. D.)The birth of Christ I. LET US EXPLAIN THE . The grandeur of the titles sufficiently determines the meaning of the prophet; for to whom, except to the Messiah, can these appellations belong This natural sense of the text is supported by the authority of an inspired writer, and what is, if not of any great weight in point of argument, at least very singular as a historical fact, it is supported by the authority of an angel (Matthew 4:12, etc.; Luke 1:31, etc.). To remove the present fears of the Jews, God reminds them of the wonders of His love, which He had promised to display in favour of His Church in ages to come: and commands His prophet to say to them: Ye trembling leaves of the wood, shaken with every wind, peace be to you! Ye timorous Jews, cease your fears! let not the greatness of this temporal deliverance, which I now promise you, excite your doubts! God hath favours incomparably greater in store for you, they shall be your guarantees for those which ye are afraid to expect. Ye are in covenant with God. Ye have a right to expect those displays of His love in your favour, which are least credible. Remember the blessed seed, which He promised to your ancestors (Genesis 22:18). “ Behold! a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). The spirit of prophecy that animates me, enables me to penetrate through all the ages that separate the present moment from that in which the promise shall be fulfilled. I dare speak of a miracle, which will be wrought eight hundred years hence, as if it had been wrought today, “ Unto us a Child is born,” etc. II. LET US SHOW ITS . Who is a king? What is a throne? Why have we masters! Why is sovereign power lodged in a few hands? And what determines mankind to lay aside their independence, and to lose their beloved liberty? The whole implies some mortifying truths. We have not knowledge sufficient to guide ourselves, and we need minds wiser than our own to inspect and to direct our conduct. We are indigent, and superior beings must supply our wants. We have enemies, and we must have guardians to protect us. Miserable men! how have you been deceived in your expectations? what disorders could anarchy have produced greater than those which have sometimes proceeded from sovereign authority? You sought guides to direct you: but you have sometimes fallen under the tuition of men who, far from being able to conduct a whole people, knew not how to guide themselves. You sought nursing fathers, to succour you in your indigence: but you have fallen sometimes into the hands of men, who had no other designs than to impoverish their people, to enrich themselves with the substance, and to fatten themselves with the blood of their subjects. You sought guardians to protect you from your enemies: but you have sometimes found executioners, who have used you with greater barbarity than your most bloody enemies would have done. Show me a king who will conduct me to the felicity to which I aspire; such a king! long to obey. Such a king is the King Messiah. You want knowledge: He is the Counsellor. You want reconciliation with God: He is the Prince of Peace. You need support under the calamities of this life: He is the Mighty God. You have need of one to comfort you under the fears of death, by opening the gates of eternal felicity to you: He is the Father of Eternity. (J. Saurin.)Titles of Christ I. THE NAMES AND TITLES OF THIS CHILD. II. FOR WHOM HE WAS BORN. III. THE , WHICH IS IN OUR TEXT THIS CHILD, namely, that the government shall be upon His shoulder. 1. In the Revelation the Church is figuratively represented under the similitude of a woman, and this woman is represented as bringing forth a man-child, who should rule all nations with a rod of from The same may be said of the Child whose birth is foretold in our text. All power is committed to Him in heaven and on earth; and God’ s language respecting Him is, I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. This kingdom, which is usually styled Christ’ s mediatorial kingdom, includes all beings in heaven and hell, who will all, either willingly or by constraint, finally submit to Christ; for God has sworn by Himself that to Christ every knee shall bow, of things in heaven and things in the earth and things under the earth; and that every tongue shall confess Him Lord. He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. Agreeably, our text informs us, that of the increase of His government there will be no end. He will go on conquering and to conquer. 2. But in addition to this mediatorial kingdom of Christ, which is set up in the world, He has another kingdom, the kingdom of His grace, which is set up in the hearts of His people. This kingdom consists in righteousness and peace and holy joy, and of the increase of this kingdom also and of the peace which accompanies it, there shall be no end. This kingdom is compared to leaven hid in meal till the whole be leavened. Even in heaven there shall be no end to the increase of His people’ s happiness. Thus of the increase of His government and peace, there shall be no end. (E. Payson, D. D.)Christ presented to mankind sinners It is “ to us,” the sons and daughters of Adam; we are His poor relations; and to us as His poor relations on earth, sons of Adam’ s family, whereof He is the top branch, this Child is presented born, for our comfort in our low state. I. WHAT IS IN THIS OF CHRIST AS A BORN CHILD. 1. His birth was expected and looked for. 2. Christ is now born. He was really born; a little Child, though the Mighty God; an Infant, not one day old, though the Everlasting Father. 3. Some have been employed to present this Child to the friends and relations; and they are still about the work. (1) The Holy Spirit. (2) Ministers. 4. This Child is actually presented to us on His birth. II. TO WHOM IS CHRIST ? 1. Not to the fallen angels. 2. To mankind sinners, those of the house of His father Adam. (1) Embrace Him, with old Simeon, in the arms of faith. (2) Kiss the Son, receiving Him as your Lord and King and God. III. HOW IS CHRIST ? 1. In the preaching of the Gospel. 2. In the administration of the sacraments. 3. In the internal work of saving illumination. IV. WHAT IS THE IMPORT OF HIS BEING TO US? 1. Our special concern in His birth--as the birth of a Saviour to us. 2. Our relation to Him. Sinners of mankind have a common relation to Christ. (1) In respect of the nature He assumed. “ We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones” (Ephesians 5:30). (2) In respect of His office--the Saviour of the world. 3. An owning of our relation to Him. “ He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2:11). 4. The comfortableness of His birth to us. Children are presented on their birth to their relations, for their comfort; and so is Christ to sinners of mankind. V. IS CHRIST TO US ON HIS BIRTH? 1. That we may see the faithfulness of God in the fulfilling of His promise. 2. That we may rejoice in Him. 3. That we may look on Him, see His glory, and be taken with Him John 1:14). 4. That we may acknowledge Him in the character in which He appears as the Saviour of the world and our Saviour. (T. Boston.)A prophecy of Christ I. WE SHALL VIEW THESE , IN THEIR TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AS TO US HIS NATURE AND WORK, AND THEIR FULLEST IN HIM. They are not mere empty names, assumed for the purposes of pomp and impression, but appropriate descriptions of living realities. When it is said, “ His name shall be called,” the meaning is that He shall be such, for in the Hebrew language “ to be called” and “ to be” frequently mean the same thing. Every name He bears is the Divine exponent of a corresponding attribute, or office, or work, and so it is here. 1. He is the Wonderful. The proper idea conveyed by this appellation is something miraculous, and it means that the great Personage to whom it is here applied, in His nature and works, would be distinguished by supernatural qualities and deeds, would be raised above the ordinary course and laws of nature, and would stand out before angels and men as a unique and splendid miracle. In this sense, it applies with great force and accuracy to the Redeemer, and to Him alone. 2. He is the Counsellor. (1) This appellation points to Christ, not as a Counsellor among others, but as Counsellor, Counsellor in the abstract, the great Counsellor of the vast universe, one of the glorious persons in the Godhead, who was concerned in all the acts and counsels of past eternity. Hence the Septuagint translates it, “ the Angel of the mighty counsel” ; and the Chaldee, “ the God of the wonderful counsel.” (2) As “ the Counsellor,” He directs and instructs His people in all their temporal, spiritual, and eternal concerns; if He did not do so, they would soon be involved in disorder and ruin. (3) And He is “ the Counsellor,” inasmuch as He is the Advocate of His people, and has carried their cause into the high court of heaven 3. He is “ the Mighty God” ; an appellation impressively sublime, which no serious mind can approach without feeling the most profound reverence and awe. It naturally and obviously denotes a person possessing a Divine nature. 4. He is “ the Everlasting Father,” or, “ the Father of Eternity.” The emphasis of this appellation is not on the word “ father,” but on the word “ eternity.” It was customary among those who spoke and wrote the Hebrew language, to call a person who possessed a thing, the “ father” of it: hence, a strong man was called “ the father of strength” ; a wise man, “ the father of wisdom’” ; a wealthy man, “ the father of riches” ; and so on. Now, the phrase, “ the Father of Eternity,” seems to be here applied to Christ in a similar way--He possessed eternity, and, therefore, He is called the Father of it. It is a Hebraism of great poetic strength and beauty, employed to express duration--the duration of His being--the essential eternity of His existence past and future--and, perhaps, there could not be a more emphatic declaration of His right to this wonderful attribute of the Deity, strict, proper, and independent eternity of being. 5. He is the “ Prince of Peace.” This appellation seems intended to teach us, that the Messiah would be invested with the prerogatives and honours of royalty, and that His kingdom, in its essential laws and principles, would differ from all the kingdoms of men, past, ,present, and future. While other kings were despots and warriors, He would be peaceable Prince. While other kingdoms were acquired by physical violence and force, and were cemented with human tears and blood, His would consist in righteousness, peace, and joy, and would win its way among men by the inherent power of its own excellence, would gradually terminate war and conflict, and restore love and order to the whole earth. But His reign was to achieve higher ends still, for it was to establish peace between man and his own conscience, between man and all good beings, between man and all the physical and moral laws of the universe, and between man and his insulted and offended Maker. Hence, prophecy foretold that, in His days there should be abundance of peace; that, in His reign, justice and mercy should meet together, righteousness and peace Should embrace each other; that the chastisement of our peace should be on Him; that He should be the peace; and that, of the increase of His peace there should be no end. II. LESSONS. 1. Hold fast the divinity of Christ. 2. How great is the sin and how fearful is the condition of those who reject the Saviour. He is “ the Wonderful” --the admired of God, of angels, and of saints; and yet He has no attractions for you. He is “ the Counsellor” ; and yet you never “ wait for His counsel,” but follow your own vain imaginations. He is “ the Mighty God” ; and yet you trample on His authority, defy His power, and risk His awful displeasure. He is “ the Father of Eternity” ; and yet you seek no place in His heavenly family, and are in imminent danger of being forever banished from His presence, and the glory of His power. He is “ the Prince of Peace” ; and yet you voluntarily live in a state of hostility to Him and His kingdom, and refuse to be reconciled by the blood of His Cross. 3. How secure and happy is the state of believers. (W. Gregory.)The nurses and titles of the Messiah I. The first description that is here given of the Redeemer is in these words--UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN. This may denote either the infancy of His state, when He appeared in our world, or the reality of His human nature. 1. With regard to the infancy of His state, the apostle says, it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren. 2. With regard to the reality of His human nature, the Scripture assures us, that it was of the same kind with ours, consisting of a human body and a human soul. II. The next description of our Redeemer is in these words--UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN. is spoken of His Divine nature. He is often called in Scripture the Son of God, His own Son, His only-begotten and well-beloved Son, and as such is said to be given to us. A son always means one, not of an inferior, but of the same nature as his father. III. It is added, THE SHALL BE UPON HIS . Taken in its most extensive sense, the government of our Lord extends over all The whole universe is under His dominion. But what we are chiefly to understand here is the kingdom of grace, the administration of mercy, the government of which in a peculiar manner is intrusted to Him. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven were phrases familiar to the Jews, by which they always understood the Messiah’ s kingdom. The immediate design of erecting this kingdom on earth is the salvation of believers, of the guilty race of men. All parts of the universe are concerned in this glorious design. The angels of heaven rejoice in it, and are ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation. The powers of darkness unite their force to disappoint the hopes of the heirs of this kingdom, but in vain; the King of Zion has bound them in chains of darkness, and will turn their malicious designs to their greater condemnation. All men do not indeed submit to the laws of this government, but all are nevertheless the lawful subjects of it. But the Redeemer has also many voluntary subjects. The right of Jesus to His mediatorial kingdom is founded upon promise, conquest, and purchase, even the price of His own precious blood; and we have the utmost assurances in His Word, which cannot fail, that He will one day take to Himself His great power and reign in a more illustrious and extensive manner than He has yet done. IV. The next thing asserted of the Redeemer is, HIS NAME SHALL BE CALLED . And the Redeemer is indeed Wonderful. 1. In the constitution of His person, as Immanuel, God in our nature. 2. The preparations for His birth, and the manner and circumstances of it, were also wonderful. 3. Jesus was also wonderful in His life. 4. And in His death. 5. And in His rising from the grave, and in His ascension to heaven. V. The next title which the Redeemer has, is that of . He is fully instructed in the counsels of God the Father, for He lay in His bosom from eternity; and as the execution of the plans of the Divine administration is committed to Him, He cannot but be well acquainted with them. Besides, our Lord, by His office and appointment, is the great Counsellor or Prophet of the Church. VI. He is also THE MIGHTY God. The same expression is used in chap. 10:21 concerning Jehovah, the God of Israel. All the perfections of theMighty God are ascribed to the Redeemer in Scripture. And worship, which only belongs to the Mighty God, is given to Christ. VII. The next thing asserted of our Redeemer is, that He is THE FATHER. The LXX renders these words, the Father of the world to come, or final dispensation of mercy and grace, as the Gospel is often called. And Christ may be called so-- 1. As He has chosen His people, in His eternal purpose, that they might be sharers in His bliss and glory. 2. Christ is the Father of all true believers, in a spiritual sense. They are all His spiritual seed. The great outlines of His features are drawn upon them, and when they arrive at heaven, they shall attain to the likeness of Jesus in an eminent degree. VIII. The last thing asserted of the Redeemer is, that He is THE PRINCE OF PEACE. Melchisedec was an eminent type of the Son of God, in this respect. He was King of Salem, which is by interpretation, King of Peace. And peace is the disposition for which the Saviour was renowned; the blessing which He died to purchase, and lives to bestow. Conclusion: 1. What an honour did the great and mighty God, our Saviour, put upon our nature by taking it into a personal union with His own Divine nature! 2. We may see from hence, how well the Redeemer was qualified for His office. What arm so powerful to save as that of the Mighty God? 3. What a fund of consolation does this passage of Scripture exhibit! 4. This subject speaks terror to the wicked. 5. We ought to entertain adoring and admiring thoughts of the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. (J. Ross, D. D.)The Incarnation I. We are led to inquire, HOW OUR SAVIOUR BECAME AND TOOK OUR MORTAL NATURE UPON HIM. Before Christ could become incarnate, He would have to lay aside His glory--the glory, Christ took a human soul, took our humanity upon Him, together with our form, and was made in the likeness of man. Nevertheless, Christ is not, and was not, two persons, but one. II. We have now to inquire WHY CHRIST BECAME . To say that Christ died to save sinners is true enough, but it is not the whole truth. The question we have to answer is this: Why Christ became a man? He came to nave, but why not in another form? 1. To take away the consequences of the fall, to raise man to a higher estate even than he originally possessed, to save him from eternal ruin, and vindicate the love and wisdom which made man originally righteous, but not immaculate or impeccable, it was necessary for the Son of God to become the Son of Man, and to acknowledge a human parent; to “ bear our griefs and carry our sorrows” (Hebrews 2:9-18). For only as a man could He undo the evil which man had brought upon himself; only as one of those He came to save, could Christ perform what man had left undone. 2. Moreover, Christ came to fulfil God’ s law, and that for us, though not to supersede our obedience. That law was designed for man, and alone in the form of man could Christ obey it. And having fulfilled His own broken law on their behalf to whom He had given it, He is enabled to help them to observe and do it. By His perfect obedience He has become our Pattern, and has procured and purchased for us the strength to enable us to walk in the steps of His most holy life. 3. In the next place, by assuming our nature, Christ is enabled to sympathise with us. 4. Again, it was necessary for Christ to become man in order to reveal His Father to us. Men, untaught by the Spirit of God, are apt to think that God is altogether such as themselves. Such we find was the case with the heathen philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome; if they taught otherwise, they taught in vain. 5. Christ also became man to make us love God, for to know Him is to love Him. 6. Christ became man to unite man to God. (G. E. Watkins.)The Child born: the Son given I. THE SAVIOUR IS IN HIS HUMAN NATURE. “ Unto us a Child is born.” Having respect to the connection of the passage, and to the object for which the announcement is made, we feel that it is impossible to look on at the birth of this Child that was predicted, without seeing that a greater than one born of woman is there. 1. Still the main object of the first clause of the verse is, undoubtedly, to show forth that human nature in which He was to be manifested in order that He might do the work of salvation for His people. To be born is as truly the evidence and characteristic of humanity as to die. Not less in the simple but impressive fact of His birth of a human mother, than in the fact of His dying a human death, do we recognise the proof of our oneness with the Son of God in the same nature. 2. And why was it necessary for the hope and consolation of those whom He came to redeem, that they should be taught by the prophet that the Redeemer must be one with them in their very nature; and that the Eternal Son of God should be born of a woman? (1) It was necessary that the Son of God should be made man, because otherwise He could not have stood in man’ s place and dealt with God on man’ s behalf, nor suffered and died, as it was needful to suffer and die, in order to offer a true atonement for human guilt. (2) It was necessary that the Son of God should become man in order that He might be qualified to enter into our human feelings and fears, and to furnish us with a pledge of His sympathy in all our infirmities and temptations. II. We find the prophet in the second clause making reference to THE DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST. “ Unto us a Son is given.” And this view of the Person of Christ, as the Son of God as well as the Son of man, is not less necessary than the truth of His proper humanity to furnish a ground of hope and consolation to the Church of God in coming to Hun as a suitable and all-sufficient Redeemer. III. But passing from the description of Christ’ s Person, the prophet next proceeds to give an account of the OFFICE WHICH BELONGS TO HIM, and which He executes as the Saviour. “ The government shall be upon His shoulder.” Borrowing its language from ancient customs, it is quite plain that the statement of the prophet contains in substance a declaration that the predicted Deliverer, whose advent was to shed light and blessedness on those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death, was to exercise a supreme and unlimited authority, and to employ this authority for accomplishing the great purpose for which He was born as a Child and given as a Son. 1. In the case of believers--i.e., of those who are already subjects of Christ’ s kingdom--it is a blessed privilege for them to be assured that He reigns, alone and supreme, in the world and the Church. 2. On the other hand, in the case of mere nominal professors, such a truth, if in any degree realised, is fitted to fill them with anxiety and dispeace. (J. Bannerman, D. D.)The predicted names of Christ In interpreting the peculiar language employed, it is impossible to enter into its true significance without remembering that in ancient times, and more especially in the practice of the Jews, names had oftentimes, when applied to individuals, a significance which they have not when given, as among ourselves, upon no principle except family custom or personal preference. Among the Jews especially, they were often selected and given on the ground of some peculiarity in the circumstances or character of the person named; so that they ceased to be empty and arbitrary signs of the parties thus designated, and became truly descriptive of something in their history or condition. It is in this way that the name of God Himself is used as a synonym for the character of God Exodus 23:21; Exodus 34:5-7; Proverbs 18:10). And it is in this way, undoubtedly, that we are to understand the language of the prophet when he tells us, in refer once to the coming Deliverer, that “ His name shall be called, Wonderful,” etc. (J. Bannerman, D. D.)The great Deliverer I. THE DIGNITY OF CHRIST’ S PERSON. He is the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God. II. THE DEPTH OF HIS LOVE. He is born unto us a Child--given unto us a Son. III. THE SUCCESS OF HIS . He is become the Father of the everlasting age--the Prince of Peace. IV. HIS TITLE TO OUR . The government is on His shoulder. (G. Innes.)The nativity of Christ I. THE OF MESSIAH’ S BIRTH by the prophet. 1. The Person announced. 2. The terms of the announcement. Not for angel, nor for archangel, was the mighty scheme devised; it is for the human race--for man though rebel of his God; for man ruined and desolated by sin. 3. The confidence with which this announcement is made, as immediately taking place. “ To us a Child is born; to us a Son is given.” Faith pierces the vista of time, and beholds events, anticipated hundreds of years before, the birth of that glorious Redeemer who was slain from the foundation of the world; which had been promised by the word and oath of Jehovah Himself; and who, therefore, in the fulness of time should assuredly be granted. II. THE OFFICE AND THE TITLES WHICH THE SAVIOUR SHOULD ASSUME. (D. Wilson, M. A.)The child Jesus I. HIS . II. HIS EMPIRE. III. HIS NAMES. (W. Jay.)The message of hope To us, as we begin to wonder whether the entire movement of human life is not by some evil inspiration gone after a false scent, taken some terrible misdirection, shut itself up in a blind path that arrives at no goal and has no out way; to us, so heavily laden and so entangled, so fondly hoping; to us, as we walk on still in darkness and seem entering the very shadow of death; to us this Child is born, to us a Son is given,--a Child who shall be the issue, the justification, the consummation of all the long and weary story; a Son who is Himself the goal of our pilgrimage, the fulfilment of our imperfections, the crown of our endurance, the honour of our service, the glory of our building. There, in this Son of God, is an offer made by God, by which He will justify all suffering, retrieve all failure, redeem all fault; He gives us, in Him, an end for which to live. Here is His mind; here is His plan for us--for us, not only in our simple individual troubles and worries, but for us in the mass, as a race, as a society, as a civilisation. God has a scheme, an issue prepared for which He worketh hitherto, and that issue is His Son. In Him all will be gathered in and fulfilled, and “ the government shall be upon His shoulder,” “ of His kingdom there shall he no end, His name shall be called Wonderful, the Mighty Counsellor, the Prince of Peace.” And in the power of this message we are told not to faint or fail. (Canon H. Scott-Holland.)A Christmas question The principal object is to bring out the force of those two little words, “ unto us.” I. IS IT SO? 1. If this Child is born to you, then you are born again. “ But,” saith one, “ how am I to know whether I am born again or not?” (1) Has there been a change effected by Divine grace within you? (2) Has there been a change in you in the exterior? (3) The very root and principle of thy life must become totally new. 2. If this Child is born to you, you are a child; and the question arises, are you so? Man grows from childhood up to manhood naturally; in grace men grow from manhood down to childhood, and the nearer we come to true childhood, the nearer we come to the image of Christ. 3. If this Son is given to you, you are a son yourself. 4. If unto us a Son is given, then we are given to the Son. Are you given up to Christ? II. IF IT IS SO, WHAT THEN? If it is so, why am I doubtful today? Why are we sad! Why are our hearts so cold? III. IF IT IS NOT SO, WHAT THEN? 1. Confess thy sins. 2. Renounce thyself. 3. Go to the place where Jesus died in agony. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Christ the Revealer of God and the Asserter of man I. Christ took to Himself human flesh to furnish us with AN OF THE MORAL OF GOD. II. The incarnation of Jesus is also A OF WHAT MAN IS IN HIS IDEAL AND HIS MORAL DESTINY. (A. Maclennan, M. A.)“ Unto us” As if Heaven would underline the words to catch the eye, as if it were the keynote of its love, and should be the keynote of our song of praise, the words are twice repeated--“ Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” (A. Maclennan, M. A.)The nativity I. THE SUBJECT OR MATTER OF THE . “ A Child,” “ a Son.” II. THE MANNER OF ITS . “ Born, given.” III. OUR IN IT. “ Unto us,” in our behalf all this, and to our benefit and advantage. (A. Littleton, D. D.)Redemption from within humanity This promise of a Deliverer has lit up the march of all human generations; it has been the fountain of the fairest gleams which have crossed the darkness of the heathen world. And it is out of the bosom of Humanity that the Redeemer must be born--the Christ must be the human Child. The essential point lies here--redemption is not a process wrought by the right hand of power, so to speak, from without; the act of a Being of almighty power, who, seeing man in desperate extremity through sin and frustrating utterly the purposes and preparations of Heaven, stooped to lay hold on him, to lift him out of the abyss in which he was sinking, sad to place him by a sovereign act on a foundation where he might rest in safety, and work and grow. It is from within the bosom of humanity that the redemption is to be wrought which is to save humanity. It is by the outward sad upward pressure of a life which is truly and fully human, which has buried its Divine force in the very heart’ s core of our nature, and is “ bone of our bones, and flesh of our flesh,” that man is to be lifted to the levels which are above the sphere of tears and death forever. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)Christ’ s birthday Christ’ s birthday has been a day through all ages so solemn and sacred, that Justin Martyr, a father and saint of the second century, calls it ἡβασίλισσαἡμερα, the Queen day in the calendar. We do not owe this solemnity then to the rubric of the Roman Church. (A. Littleton, D. D.)The need for the incarnation Man can suffer, but he cannot satisfy; God can satisfy, but He cannot suffer; but Christ, being both God and man, can both suffer and satisfy too; and so is perfectly fit both to suffer for man and to make satisfaction unto God--to reconcile God to man, and man to God. (Bishop Beveridge.)Human redemption by the Divine man The humanisation of God is the divinisation of man. (Novalis.)The preparation of the world for Christ A few generations before the Advent the word would have been meaningless. Jew and Gentile, Greek and Barbarian, freeman and slave, were terms full of meaning; but “ man,” what could that mean? Even Aristotle found it hard to discover a common term which would cover the life of the freeman and the slave. But as the hour of the Advent, “ the fulness of the time,” approached, through a very wonderful chain of agencies and influences, in the linking together of which the Hand which guided the culture of the Jewish people to the fulfilment of the primal promise is very palpably manifest, the idea of a common human nature, with common attributes, common sympathies, needs, and interests, and capable of a common life, the life of the universal human society, began to haunt the minds of men. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)The world into which Christ was born Here are two very distinct features of human development during the ages which preceded the Advent of the Lord. Men were feeling after the ground and the conditions of a universal human society; and they were searching for the bask and the law of personal conduct, as beings endowed with moral and intellectual faculties which might be a rich blessing or a terrible curse to them and to man kind. To this point humanity had progressed, moved from within, led from on High. Was the higher progress possible to heathen society! Was there power in heathenism to lift man into this sphere of universal brotherhood, and, to expound the mystery of his being and destiny! None, absolutely none. Heathen society, with all its brilliant civilisation, was utterly, hopelessly exhausted. The Lord was born into a world of wreck. But for Christ all must have perished. The world which the Lord came to save was groaning beneath the wrecks of most of the most hopeful political, philosophical, and religious efforts and achievements of mankind. And yet there had been splendid progress. Man’ s life was enlarged in every direction but the highest. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)Christ the Revealer of God “ Seek fellowship with Zeus,” cried Epictetus, in a last, eager, desperate appeal Alas! it was the Zeus that was wanting; and to find Him Epictetus must pass on his disciples to a higher school. There was a yearning for God, for personal fellowship with God, for personal likeness to God, unknown to the older ages; marking a grand advance in the aspiration and effort of the noblest and most far-seeing spirits. “ But who is the Zeus, the god of whom you talk, that may believe on Him,” was the cry which grew more hopeless and agonising generation by generation; to which tradition had no answer, to which philosophy had no answer, to which religion had no answer; to which no answer was possible until One stood on the earth and said, “ No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him,” Then man began to look up and live. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)Christ the new life of humanity When that Child was born to humanity, when that Son took His place by its hearth fire, a new life entered into the world. That age of the Advent is very manifestly the age in which some transcendently stimulating, quickening influence penetrated the life of men, and began to make all things new; than the old civilisation decayed, the new power reorganised and restored. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)Important births Now and then a birth occurs of such momentous portent to man, that men are constrained by the influences which proceed from it to fix it in memory, and give to its anniversary fitting commemoration. There are births which are like the introduction of new forces and energies into human society, which pour the current of their power down through the ages with ever-widening and deepening volume. When Confucius was born, half of the human race had a father and a teacher given them. When Moses was born, not only a few millions of slaves found a deliverer, but the great underlying, eternal principles of morality and piety found a spokesman. With Socrates, Greece had given to her the opportunity of goodness. With Caesar came into human history the embodiment of ambition. The birth of Wilberforce was the beginning of a philanthropic education to Christendom. Howard demonstrated that the extremest feelings of a kindly humanity were practical and serviceable to society. With Washington came to mankind the ideal of unselfish patriotism; while Lincoln embodied the first century of the American Republic. These were noted men, extraordinary beings; and the names of these are all memorable. Their names have passed into history, and remain as certainly fixed as the stars beaming in the sky; and, like the stars, their glory is abundant to attract unto them the observation of men. When the date of their birth, or the supposed date of their birth, is reached, as with the movement of time we swing round the circuit of the year, men instinctively pause; thought is quickened; the depths of gratitude are stirred with benign remembrance; and thanksgiving naturally ascends unto God, who has given unto men, unto them and theirs, such a beneficent gift. (W. H. Murray.)Christmas celebrates a personality Wherever you find love, you find a personal being connected with it as its object, We do not love motherhood, we love mother. We do not love family government, we love the persons who compose the family. We do not love theology, we love God of whom it treats. We commemorate today, therefore--not the birth of a system, but the birth of a man. It is a sweet and innocent babe, and not a collection of doctrines, in praise of whom our songs are sung today, and unto whom our hearts are lifted in holy gladness. (W. H. Murray.)Jesus had universal connections We celebrate the birth of a man with universal connections; you and I were born connected with but a few. A little group absorbed us, and a little spot bounded us within its limits. Other men, of larger mould than we, were born with larger connections. The chief is connected with his tribe at his birth; the king with his kingdom; the patriot and leader with his country or party; the priest with his Church. Around all these walls are builded, over which they never pass until death lifts them above the local, and multiplies their associations. But Christ was born with universal connections. His little family did not absorb Him. He was not the son of Mary and Joseph, He was the son of humanity; He was the Son of Man the world over. (W. H. Murray.)Jesus meets universal wants The reason that Christ had these universal connections was because He came to assist men in reference to those conditions of want that are universal. In Him the perfect constitution had organisation. In feeling, in thinking, in suffering and gladness, in mourning and joy, in every capacity which men have, in every condition in which men stand, He was akin to them. From every bosom a sympathetic chord ran up into His, and He could, therefore, sense the needs of every bosom. He sympathised with every phase of humanity, because His humanity was perfect enough in its sensitiveness to be intelligent with every phase. (W. H. Murray.)An infant’ s birth a great event The birth of any infant is a far greater event than the production of the sun. The sun is only a lump of senseless matter: it sees not its own light; it feels not its own heat; and, with all its grandeur, it will cease to be: but that infant beginning only to breathe yesterday, is possessed of reason--claims a principle infinitely superior to all matter--and will live through the ages of eternity! (W. Jay.)A Christmas day sketch I. GOD CAME TO US IN THAT CHILD. His parents were instructed to call Him “ Immanuel” --“ God with us.” Such a fact is big with meaning; pregnant with vital, jubilant truth. Why did God come to us thus in a babe? He must have had some wise and loving purpose that He wished to secure thereby. What For ages men had been taught to fear God, their thoughts of Him filled them with dismay; hence the gods of the heathen nations. The large body of the Jewish nation was not much in advance of the heathen. This dread of God was universal. To correct all such ideas, and remove all such feelings from the minds and hearts of men forever, God came to us as a child. Are you afraid of a babe? II. GOD CAN COME TO US IN THE THINGS. We generally look for God in the great, vast, mighty, terrible. We expect something to strike the eye, etc. Will you remember that God came to us in that quiet, loving, unpretending babe, that lay in that, manager and nestled in His mother’ s bosom? And so God comes to us in the little, simple, humble, noiseless, common things of life, if we only look for Him. Especially He comes to us in our children. They bring love with them, and “ love is of God,” etc. We might in a far higher sense than we think for call every child “ Immanuel.” In our child God comes to us, God is with us. Do we believe this? If so, should we not oftener look for and educate the God in them? We should do far better with them if from the beginning we sought to bring out, nourish, educate, develop the good, the God that is in them, instead of making it our chief concern to correct the wrong, to restrain the evil. III. THE WHOLE OF LIFE IS SACRED AND SHOULD BE TO GOD. God came to us in that Child. The whole of life is sacred, open for the operations, possession, enjoyment of God. God was in that Child notwithstanding all its infantile wants, weaknesses, complaints. And so God was in that boy, notwithstanding all His playfulness and vivacity. Indeed, that was the boyish, outward manifestation of God; the boyish way of declaring God’ s glory If God was in that Child, “ God manifest in the flesh,” His whole life, from His birth to His death, was God life. IV. GREAT ENDINGS HAVE LITTLE . Who shall measure the magnitude, height, depth, length, breadth of the work which Christ accomplished as Saviour of the world? Yet it has all to be traced back to the birth of that Child. God’ s method is evolution from the small to the great. (B. Preece.)The Child Divine Pure Christianity owes its power to the fact that it comes to us as a little child, beautiful in innocence and simplicity. The pure spirit of Christianity is the essence of kindness. Christianity owes its power to its spirit of gentleness. Christianity is forgiving like a little child. Christianity, however, like a little child, is often misunderstood. Alas! that Christianity should be hated, by some people. Not only did Herod seek its life eighteen hundred years ago, but there are men today who, Herod-like, seek to strangle the infant Christ. (W. Birch.)Unto us a Son is givenChrist, the Son of God, gifted to sinners I. THE GIFT ITSELF. Many precious gifts have come from heaven to earth, yea, all we have is Heaven’ s gift (James 1:17). But this is the great gift. 1. What this gift is. (1) A Person. Persons are more excellent than things. A soul is more precious than a world. So this gift is more precious than the whole world. (2) A Divine Person. (3) The Lord Jesus Christ. 2. Wherein this gift appears and comes to us. Those who send precious gifts to others, wrap them up in something that is less precious. And a treasure sent in earthen vessels is the method of conveyance of the best gifts from heaven to earth. The Son of God, being the gift, was sent veiled and wrapped up in our nature. This veil laid over the gift sent to poor sinners was (1) less precious than the gift itself. The human nature of Christ was a crested thing, His Divine nature uncreated. (2) However, it was a cleanly thing. The human nature of Christ, though infinitely below the dignity of His Divine nature, yet was a holy thing Luke 1:35). This gift appeared and was sent to us in the veil of the human nature-- (a) that it might be capable of the treatment it behoved to undergo for our relief--to suffer and die; (b) that it might be suited to the weakness of the capacity of the receivers. The Son of God in His unveiled glory would have no more been an object for our eyes to have looked on, than the shining sun to the eyes of an owl. A few rays of His glory, breaking out from under me veil, made His enemies fall to the ground. 3. What a gift this is. Singular for (1) the worth of it. If it were laid in the balance with ten thousand worlds, they would be lighter than vanity in comparison of it; nay, balanced with the gift of created graces, and the created heavens, it would down weigh them; as the bridegroom’ s person is more worth than his jewels and palace. (2) The suitableness of it (Acts 4:12; Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 5:12). (3) The seasonableness of it. (4) The comprehensiveness of it (Romans 8:32; Colossians 2:9-10; 1 John 5:11). (5) The unrestricted freeness of it. What is freer than a gift? The joint stock of the whole world could not have purchased this gift. (a) Beware of slighting this gift. (b) Take heed ye miss not to perceive this gift. Most men see no further into the mystery of Christ than the outward appearance it makes in the world, as administered in the Word, sacraments, etc.; and they despise it. (c) Admire the wisdom of God, and His infinite condescension, in the manner of the conveyance of this gift. (d) See here how you may be enriched for time and eternity. II. THE GIVER. 1. Who is the Giver? God. And to exalt the Giver’ s free love and grace herein, observe from the Word three things there marked about it. (1) It was His own Son that He gave. (2) It was His beloved Son. (3) It was His only-begotten Son. 2. What has He given sinners, gifting His Son to them? The tongues of men and angels cannot fully express this. (1) He has given them Himself. (2) Eternal life. Here is legal life, moral life, a life of comfort; and all eternal. (3) All things (Romans 8:32; 1 Corinthians 3:21; Romans 8:17; Revelation 21:7). III. THE PARTY TO WHOM HE IS GIVEN. 1. To whom He is given. To mankind sinners indefinitely. 2. In what respects Christ is given to them. (1) In respect of allowance to take Him. (2) In respect of legal destination (1 John 4:14). If ye had an act of parliament appointing a thing for you, ye would not question its being given you; here ye have more. (3) In respect of real offer. (4) In respect of the freeness of the offer. (5) In respect of exhibition. This gift is held forth as with the hand, God saying, He, sinners, here is My Son, take Him. And God doth not stay the exhibiting of His Son to sinners till they say they will take Him. 3. In what character Christ is given to sinners, A Saviour; a surety; a physician; a light; an atoning sacrifice; a crowned King, mighty to destroy the kingdom of Satan and to rescue mankind sinners, his captives and prisoners. IV. . 1. Believe that to us poor sinners the Son of God in man’ s nature is given. 2. Receive the gift of Christ, at His Father’ s hand. (1) Consider ye have an absolute need of this gift. (2) Them are some who have as much need as you, to whom yet He is not given, namely, the fallen angels. (3) Ye must either receive or refuse. (4) Consider the worth of the gift (5) Consider the Hand it comes from. (6) Consider that others before you have received it, and have been made up by it forever. (7) Consider that this gift will not always be for the taking as it is now. (8) Your not receiving will be very heinously taken, as a deepest slight put upon both the Giver and the gift (9) It will set you at greater distance from God than ever. (T. Boston.)The Son given I. WHO IS THE SON GIVEN AND WHAT IS HIS PURPOSE? It is our Lord Jesus Christ. The verse begins with His humanity; and, mounting upwards, it rises to the height of His Divinity. The prophet conducts us to Bethlehem and its stable, to the desert and its hunger, to the well and its thirst, to the workshop and its daily toil, to the sea and its midnight storm, to Gethsemane and its bloody sweat, to Calvary and its ignominious death, and all along that thorny path that stretched from the manger to the Cross; for in announcing the birth and coming of this Son and Child, he included in that announcement the noble purposes for which He was horn--His work, His sufferings, His life, His death, all the grand ends for which the Son was given and the Child was born. II. BY WHOM WAS THIS SON GIVEN? By His Father. Man has his remedies, but they are always behindhand. The disease antedates the cure. But before the occasion came God was ready. Redemption was planned in the councils of eternity, and Satan’ s defeat secured before his first victory was won. The Son gave Himself, but the Father gave Him; and there is no greater mistake than to regard God as looking on at redemption as a mere spectator, to approve the sacrifice and applaud the actor. God’ s love was the root, Christ’ s death the fruit. III. TO WHOM WAS HE GIVEN? He was given “ to us.” (T. Guthrie, D. D.)The advent of Jesus joy producing A poor little street girl was taken sick one Christmas and carried to a hospital. While there she heard the story of Jesus’ coming into the world to save us. It was all new to her, but very precious. She could appreciate such a wonderful Saviour, and the knowledge made her very happy as she lay upon her little cot. One day the nurse came around at the usual hour, and “ Little Broomstick” (that was her street name) held her by the hand, and whispered: “ I’ m having real good times here--ever such good times! S’ pose I shall have to go away from here just as soon as I get well; but I’ ll take the good time along--some of it, anyhow. Did you know ‘ bout Jesus bein’ born!” “ Yes,” replied the nurse, “ I know. Sh-sh-sh! Don’ t talk any more.” “ You did? I thought you looked as if you didn’ t and I was goin’ to tell you.” “ Why, how did I look?” asked the nurse, forgetting her own orders in curiosity. “ Oh, just like most o’ folks--kind o’ glum. I shouldn’ t think you’ d ever look gloomy if you knowed ‘ bout Jesus bein’ born.” (Faithful Witness.)“ The joyful quarter” Part of the city of Florence was called “ The Joyful Quarter.” It was through a picture painted by Cimbrie of Jesus as a baby seated on His mother’ s knee. When finished, the grand old painter did not make a charge for people to see it, but had it carried into the poor quarters, and through the streets slowly, in the sight of all the people. Before this, they had thought of Jesus as far too grand for them to love. In this picture He looked so sweet and good that people broke into surprised thankfulness and joy. (Sunday Magazine.)A son and a brother A respectable family becomes very reduced in its circumstances; the mother finds it difficult to make the meagre provision suffice for her hungry little ones; their clothes get more ragged; the father’ s threadbare coat makes it less and less possible for him to obtain the situation which his qualifications deserve. But a child is born into that home, quite unlike the rest of the children--beautiful in feature, quick in intelligence, winsome, gifted, spirituelle. As he grows up, he manifests unusual powers; rapidly distances his compeers; passes from the elementary school to the college, and thence to the university. Presently tidings begin to come back of his success, his growing fame, his prizes, the assured certainty of his becoming a great man; and as they arrive in letter, and rumour, and newspaper, the mother’ s eye gets brighter; the father no longer evades the associates of earlier days; the home becomes better furnished and the table better spread; the other children are better clothed and educated and put forward in life; and the one glad explanation of it all is found in the words, “ Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” And as the years go on, whilst money pours in as a golden tide to the successful student, it will find its way increasingly to the family in the old home; and each member of it will reap the benefit of association with its child and son, all that is needed being to prove a distinct need, and to put in an appropriate claim. What a mine of wealth would be opened up in the counsel, strength, resources, influence, and position, of that beloved and trusted son and brother! This will illustrate the prophet’ s thought. As the oppressed Jews, groaning in their brick kilns, were glad for Moses, given to lead them forth from the house of bondage; as England, travailing under the cruel exactions of the Danes, was glad for our great Alfred; as the Netherlands were glad when William the Silent arose to arrest the bloodthirsty rule of Alva; as Italy was glad when her Victor Emmanuel overthrew the dark misrule of the Papacy--so may we be glad because God has given Himself to us in Jesus. Why should living men complain? Granted that Adam was our father, the second Adam is the Son of Man. If tears and toil and pain and death have come by one, glory and honour and immortality are ours by the other. If we are sons, and therefore younger brothers of the Son; if we have the right to call His Father our Father, we gain from our association with Him more than enough to compensate us for our association with the gardener who stole his Master’ s fruit in the garden of Paradise. Christian people do not enough appreciate this connection, or avail themselves of its benefits. (F. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end The missionary work I. WHAT IS THE WORK TO BE AND WHOSE AGENCY SHALL IT? 1. The missionary work is the increase of Messiah’ s government and peace: the proclamation of Messiah as King of kings and Lord of lords throughout the universe; the establishment of peace among men, because He hath made peace for them through the blood of His Cross. 2. “ The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” II. WHAT ARE THE WHOM THE LORD OF HOSTS WILL EMPLOY in the accomplishment of this seemingly impossible work? They are themselves subjects of the Kingdom which they aim to extend, and adorers of the one name which they desire to exalt, believers in the Word which they combine to diffuse, holding substantially the same truths, maintaining steadfastly some fellowship with those to whom the Lord Jesus proclaimed in the days of His flesh, “ Go ye,” and to whom He graciously declared, “ Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.” III. WHAT IS OUR OWN DUTY AND IN TO THIS WORK? As we are Britons, the missionary work belongs to us from our country; as we are Christians, from our profession; as we are churchmen, it appeals to us from our very prayers, for how can we implore our blessed Lord to bring home to His flock the infidel, the heretic, the beguiled Romanist, the benighted idolater, unless we are prepared, as far as in us lies, to “ prepare the way of the Lord, and make in the desert a highway for our God” ? But neither as Britons, nor as Christians, nor as churchmen, shall we ever learn our duty from any teacher but God’ s Word, or perform it through any power but that of God’ s Spirit. Besides, while the missionary work, being a work of faith, is therefore acceptable to God, it is also profitable to ourselves; it awakens brotherly affections, it kindles a holy zeal, it expands Christian charity, it brings us into communion with “ the excellent of the earth,” it cements our fellowship with each other, and with Christ; by engaging in it heart and soul, we not only apprehend the brotherhood of man, but we anticipate the brotherhood of heaven, when they shall “ come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.” Nor is the missionary work profitable only to the heathen and to our own souls, but to those who dwell immediately around us. What we attempt abroad we shall never be content to leave undone at home. (T. Dale, M. A.)The increase of His government I. THE OF HIS . This implies-- 1. The extended diffusion of the knowledge of His Gospel. 2. The triumphs of His grace over the sin and misery of man. 3. The diffusion of the peaceful influence of the Gospel in calming the passions, and allaying the violence of unhappy men. 4. The annihilation of all that opposes His progress. II. HOW IS THE OF CHRIST TO ? By the agency of miracles? No; the age of miracles is gone. By the distribution of the Bible, and suitable tracts, by pious individuals? Doubtless this may be the means of great usefulness. By the education of the young? We look for something more than all this. How then shall it be increased? By the instrumentality of the preached Gospel accompanied by the influences of the Holy Spirit. III. WHERE IS THE OR OF THIS OF THE SAVIOUR’ S ? 1. In the Divine appointment. 2. In the claims of His mediatorial sacrifice (Philippians 2:8-11). 3. In the very nature of His exaltation (Ephesians 1:21-22). 4. In the events which have taken place in the theatre of the world Haggai 2:7). 5. In the proofs with which we are furnished of the final evangelisation of the world. (E. Parsons.)The government of the Prince of Peace I. THE VAST AND GROWING EXTENT OF THE MESSIAH’ S KINGDOM. II. THE MEANS BY WHICH THE KINGDOM IS GROWING. (R. Macculloch.)Christian peace conditional “ His government and peace.” Note that combination. It contains a truth much needed in these times. There is no peace without government. Liberty and independence are our favourite watchwords; liberty for the community, liberty for the individual. Obedience, order, self-control, are less enthusiastically praised. Yet we cannot have the one without the other. We need no appeal to history, no a priori conjectures, to convince us of the truth, that peace and government must go hand in hand. The experience of our own times, the experience of each man’ s daily life, is ample to teach us that. Every newspaper we take up is full of such lessons. Every reproach of conscience tells the same. 1. Is it not so in the State? Whence comes the want of peace in our sister island? Whence come the perplexity and the insecurity which are such a stain on our civilisation, and which make statesmen well-nigh despair? Is it not because government has become impossible, while law is neutralised and defiled by the unscrupulous opposition of a rival and self-constituted power? 2. Is it not so in ourselves? Whence comes the want of peace in our own hearts? Is it not because of the want of government there; while passion, and self-indulgence, and the fashion of the world, usurp in turn the authority of conscience? What we fancy, what comes easiest to us, what other men do, these constitute our rule of life: not the dictates of conscience, not the will of God, not the example of Jesus Christ. We most of us wish for peace, as we most of us wish for heaven; but we take little means of winning either the one or the other. The cry for personal freedom, for liberty of thought and conscience, is on every lip; but we are most of us more eager to win the power of doing what we choose, than careful to choose what is best. Self-knowledge, self-control, self-renunciation--this is the only road. And while you pursue it, liberty will come unsought; for the highest liberty of all is to be free from the tyranny of self. Self-government is only another name for that service which is perfect freedom. Perfect peace is found in the absolute surrender of self to One who cannot abuse so tremendous a trust. And with this peace in your own hearts you will almost without effort, almost without knowing it, bring peace to others. (A. Plummer, M. A.)“ He will do it” Charles, King of Sweden, father of the great Gustavus Adolphus, was an ardent Protestant, and purposed for his country more good than he was able to accomplish. His son, who gave early promise of his brilliant qualities, was his father’ s great hope. Often when a scheme of reformation, yet impracticable, was referred to, the king would lay his hand upon the boy’ s head and say to the bystanders, “ He will do it.” So with respect to all which cannot now be accomplished, our faith should look confidently to “ Great David’ s greater Son,” in whose reign it will surely be effected. (Sunday School Teacher.)“ The empire is peace” Napoleon, standing amid the ambassadors of Europe, reassured the entire continent by the utterance of his New Year’ s motto, “ The empire is peace.” But with far greater truth may we apply the words to Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, whose rule over the soul is the synonym of peace unspeakable and full of glory. And as His government spreads further and further over the soul, with its growing area there is growing peace, until they shall both become complete to all the heights, and depths, and breadths of blessedness. Of the increase or his government, and of our peace, there is no end. (F. B. Meyer B. A.)Christ’ s influence ever increasing Speaking on the day of Mr. Gladstone’ s funeral, the Rev. F.B. Meyer said: “ One of the marks which distinguish Jesus Christ from every human teacher and reformer is the fact that His influence is ever increasing. The influence of Gladstone, today so great, will diminish year by year, but Jesus Christ’ s influence was never so great as it is now.” The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform thisThe zeal of the Lord “ The zeal” translates our English version, but no one English word will give it. It is that mixture of hot honour and affection to which “ jealousy” in its good sense comes near. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Claiming and reckoning. If we ask anything according to His will, we know that He hears us; and if we know that He hears us, we know that we have the petition that we desired of Him--not only that it will be our, but that it is our, to be used forthwith for His glory, because the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform it. 1. Are you in need of counsel? Reverently and thoughtfully claim the wisdom of the “ Counsellor;” reckon that you have it, and act to the best of your judgment, believing that His wisdom is threading it with its unseen direction. And when you have acted, whatever be the results, dare to believe that you were directed to do the best thing, and never look back. 2. Are you in need of strength? Reverently and believingly claim the power of the “ Mighty God,” and reckon that it is yours; and go forth to any work to which He may call yon, believing that you are adequately equipped. You will not know what power you have till you begin to use it. 3. Are you in need of unchanging love and affection, in a world of incessant disappointment, in which the warmest friendships cool/ and the dearest friends die? Reverently and gladly avail yourself of the love of me “ Father of the Ages,” the I AM, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 4. Do you want peace? Reverently and trustfully claim His peace, who is the “ Prince of Peace; and know that it is yours in the depths of your soul, though the surface of your life be still swept by storms. These are two great words--“ claim” God’ s fulness, and “ reckon” that whatever you can claim is yours, although no answering emotion assures you that it is. Dare to act in faith, stepping out in the assurance that you have what you have claimed, and doing just as you would do if you felt to have it. But this is only possible when you have put the government, where God the Father has placed it, on the shoulders of Jesus. It is there by right, but it must be also there by choice and acquiescence. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.) Isaiah 9:10 The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones A drinking song It has been conjectured that these words are a fragment of a drinking song actually sung in Ephraim. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Israel’ s presumption In the first strophe Isaiah depicted the Ephraimites’ proud superiority to danger, and their placid, assurance after defeat: “ The bricks,” they say, “ are fallen, but we will build with hewn stone; the sycamores are cut down, but we will put cedars in their place” : no sooner, in other words, has one scheme miscarried than they are prepared with a more magnificent one to take its place; no sooner is one dynasty overthrown than another rises in its stead. The proverb gives apt expression to the temper habitually displayed by the northern kingdom. (Prof. S. H. Driver, D. D.)The sycamore The commonest tree in the lowlands of Palestine, by the Mediterranean Sea (1 Kings 10:27). (Prof. S. H. Driver, D. D.)Beautiful words of varying import There cannot be two opinions about the beauty of these words. What, then, will be your surprise, when you find that they express nothing more than a wicked thought on the part of Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria? This circumstance gives us our first point. Noble mottoes may be written upon unworthy banners. Religious words may be pronounced by irreligious lips. We must always look at the surroundings of a circumstance in order to understand its full value. Every circumstance, like every globe, has an atmosphere of its own, hence the wisdom of looking at the context as well as at the text itself. How needful it is to inquire into the surroundings of anything that may charm us. If you have seen a man in church, his mouth opened in praise, his head inclined in prayer, surely you have a right to argue from that individual circumstance to the whole circle and bearing of his daily life. It is impossible that a man can have bowed his head in prayer, and then allow the devil to roam through the whole circle of his intellect, there to inspire evil thoughts. He cannot allow anything that is mean and unworthy to touch and debase the life that has been consecrated by prayer. You know how fallacious would be such reasoning! But the rule should be applied impartially, and therefore I hasten with the noblest interpretation which my judgment can approve to those who may have been caught in some moment of evil passion. Surely a man is not a bad man utterly because he has once been in high excitement. If the one little beauty does not redeem the whole sterile place, in the midst of which it was found, surely the one act of evil cannot spoil the whole paradise of the life, and blight a heart beautiful as a garden in summer. We may learn from these words that wickedness is not mitigated by the beauty of the language in which it is expressed. Is there anything lovelier in all the universe, possible to the inspired imagination, than poetry, painting, and music? Do they not carry with them all elements of beauty and all qualities of high and noble strength. Yet even they have been uncrowned, robbed of their nobleness, and bound down to do menial work in the devil’ s service. Let me guard the young, therefore, along this line. They will come from certain places and will say, “ the music was so beautiful!” No doubt of it. They will come again and say, “ the whole scene was so lovely!” No one questions its loveliness. “ The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars,” --what language, what music could be more beautiful! And yet through this beautiful speech, Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria indicated their ambitious purpose to thwart the God of the universe! What would you say if I told you that this hand of mine was the hand of an assassin, but yet pleaded for it because of the jewel which flashed upon its fingers! Would you kiss a hand so decorated? Now, take the other view, and let us imagine beautiful words expressing a beautiful purpose. Then we shall have the wedlock which God loves. (J. Parker, D. D.)Building with hewn stone There are three classes of you who are building with bricks, and I will ask you if you had not better build with hewn stones. 1. Take those who make good vows limited by time. There are many such. A man, for example, has said to his father, “ I promise I will go to church once a week, for twelve months.” It is very good so far as it goes, but it is building with bricks, not with hewn stones. A young man has said, Give me thin paper, and I will pledge myself to abstain from everything that can intoxicate for six months.” Very good. I do not pour contempt upon such a resolution; so far as it goes, it is good. But the very limitation of the vow is a source of weakness. Thus--for the first few days you are strong in your purpose, but gradually you begin to count the days that you have yet to serve. The last week comes, and the vow is like a pale figure gradually disappearing; the last day but one comes, where then is the vow? tomorrow you say you will be free. Free what to do? To become a slave again! Now I want you to change that brick wall of temporary resolution for the hewn stone of an eternal vow. 2. Then there is another class building with bricks instead of hewn stones, namely, those who are inspired by inadequate motives. Where the motive is insufficient, conduct must go down. We live in motive. When the motive force fails the machinery must of necessity stand still There is a man who says he will do a certain thing to obtain a reward. That man’ s virtue is only suppressed vice. He who will do a good thing simply because he will earn a reward, will do a bad thing if you double the premium. The motive is insufficient, and the last state of that man will be worse than the first. Others will come to church to please an admirer. That is not church going. Would that I could speak in sufficiently forceful language to the young about this! Where the motive of church going is inadequate it will always be intermittent, and in the end it will expire. If you go to church because you love to be there, and would have Sunday doubled in its golden hours, then you will always be strong in your religious attachments, affections, and convictions. Then there are those who attempt to do right in order to escape a penalty. This is an insufficient motive. I know that fear plays a very important part in the constitution of the human mind, and in the direction of human conduct. But man can outlive fear. Man can become accustomed to the unexpected. There is but one true motive--a hearty love of God! 3. Then there is the third class to which I refer,--those who have not calculated the full force and weight of temptation. When you build a house, you build for the roughest day in the whole year. That should be the sovereign rule, in the building of the life house. The ship that left for the United States yesterday, probably took out three or fourfold the necessary provisions, according to the season of the year, and probably took out coal sufficient for a double journey. Why this excess? Why take more than is needed for the ten days’ voyage? Because of the unforeseen. If, therefore, in such things men make such arrangements, they condemn themselves--I do not hesitate to say the word--as fools, if they leave the spiritual life and the spiritual destiny without more than a transient consideration. Herein is the glory of Christianity, that it builds with hewn stones. Christ’ s Gospel is full of soundness, life, and indestructible virility. (J. Parker, D. D.)Wise lessons from wicked lips Jesus said, “ The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light,” meaning by the statement that they excel them in the shrewdness and tact with which they manage their business when that has taken an adverse turn. Men of the world do not readily submit to defeat and failure, but strive to convert defeat into victory, and failure into success. Of this the text affords illustration. I. These children of this world PROCEED WITH A DEFINED PURPOSE, and in this are worthy of imitation. The bricks mentioned as having fallen down were not a heap of burned clay which had got piled up, no one could tell how. They had been built by human hands, and the builders had heads as well as hands. We are not told what sort of buildings they were which “ Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria” had constructed, and which had “ fallen down.” They may have been dwelling houses, or a temple, round which the sycamores would be planted for groves in which idolatrous Israel worshipped the gods of her own evil devising and choice, and for which she had forsaken the God of her fathers. But let this be as it may, now that the bricks had fallen, and the sycamores were out down, in making up their minds as to what should be done--being anxious to repair the ruin and desolation--they proceed with a defined purpose. The architect precedes the builder: the head leads the hand. So when they set to work they know what they are about. Now, the same principle should underlie the building up of all Christian character and work. Knowledge and zeal should ever be in partnership. II. These children of the world WERE WITH , and, therefore, are worthy of imitation. Their bricks fell down, but their spirits fell not into the pit of despair. Their sycamores were cut down, but their ambition was not. Is not that the spirit of the world today as then? In 1865 men said England and America shall be connected by the electric telegraph, and they went to work. But the cable snapped, and for the present the enterprise failed. Were the promoters daunted, and persuaded that their scheme was beyond the reach of possible things? No, not they. The next year saw them again at their work, and saw not only a new cable successfully laid, but the broken one, searched for in the great “ wilderness of waters,” at length found, after which it was lost and found again several times over, until the 2 nd September, when it was at last secured, and the following telegram flashed along its wire. I have much pleasure in speaking to you through the 1865 cable.” So the Christian ought to be hopeful. You have fallen! Say, I will rise again. Your schemes have failed! Say, I will try again. You are afraid you have laboured in vain! Say, In labours I will be more abundant. You have stormed the citadel of indwelling passion and evil, and still you have to confess, “ The good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not that I do.” Say again, By the grace of God I shall meet my spiritual foes. Have you with earnest soul entered the Holy of holies, desirous to know “ the deep things of God,” and where you expected light, lo! great darkness; and where you sought for peace, and sunshine, and beauty, and harmony, lo! seeming contradiction, the howling waste, cloud, and storm? You searched for a way out of your intellectual doubts and difficulties, and behold mystery has added itself to mystery. Still hope thou in God. III. These children of this world SHOW A SPIRIT OF , and are therefore worthy of imitation. Their hands responded to the impulse of their hearts. They dreamed not that by mere wishing their ruined walls would rise again, or their gardens, laid waste, would blossom with the rose, and be made beautiful with the cedar. The moral here is plain. “ Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord (so hoping to enter), shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father.” Hoping will not do everything. It must be backed by earnest effort. IV. These children of the world IMPROVE MATTERS, and are, therefore, worthy of imitation. These tumble down buildings were, after all, but brick; but now they would build, not with bricks, but with hewn stones. Around them had flourished the sycamores, but now that these were cut down, they would plant no more sycamores. They would do better than that; they would plant cedars. In three different places (1 Kings 10:27; 2 Chronicles 1:15; 2 Chronicles 9:27) the value of the sycamore as compared with the cedar is given as the value of stones compared to that of silver. Such is the spirit of the world. Is not this the spirit which ought to animate us Never to rest satisfied with present attainments in self-culture or success in our work. (A. Scott.) Isaiah 9:11 Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him Oppositions “ The Lord shall set up the adversaries. ” This accounts for many oppositions which otherwise would be without explanation. We wonder why such and such people should be opposed to us. Ask them questions about this opposition, and they will confess themselves bewildered; they daily look round for causes, and find none; yet they say they cannot restrain the dislike, and they must force it into forms of opposition about whose urgency and determinateness there can be no mistake. How is all this? Is it not the Lord reigning even here? God means to chasten us, to make us feel that there are other people in the world beside ourselves, and that we have no right to all the room, and no claim that can be maintained to all the property. Thus we teach one another by sometimes opposing one another. We are brought to chastening and sobriety and refinement by attritions and oppositions that are, from a human point of view, utterly unaccountable. The Bible never hesitates to trace the whole set and meaning of providence to the Lord Himself: He sends the plague, the pestilence, the darkness, all the flies and frogs that desolated old Egypt; He still is the Author of gale., and flood, and famine, and pestilence We have amused ourselves by deceiving ourselves, by discovering a thousand secondary causes, and seeking, piously or impiously, to relieve providence of the responsibility of the great epidemic. Within given limits all we say may be perfectly true; we are great in phenomena, we have a genius in the arrangement of detail; but, after all, above all, and beneath all, is the mysterious life, the omnipotence of God, the judgment between right and wrong that plays upon the universe as upon an obedient instrument,--now evoking from It black frowning thunder, and now making it tremble with music that children love, and that sweetest mothers want all their canes to hear. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 9:12-13 For all thin ms anger is not turned away The end of judgments and the reason of their continuance I. THE DESIGN AND OF GOD IN SENDING UPON A PEOPLE; that is, to reclaim them from all their sins, implied in these words, “ for the people turneth not to Him that smiteth them.” This, indeed, is the intention of all God’ s dispensations towards us in this world. The end of all His mercies is to take us off from our sins and win us to our duty Romans 2:4). This is the way wherein God delights to deal with us. The way of judgment is that which He is more averse from. Though the judgments of God be evils in themselves, yet considering the intentions of God in them, they are no real objections against His goodness, but rather arguments for it. 1. The judgments of God are proper for the cure of a far greater evil of another kind--the evil of sin. We take wrong measures of things, when we judge those to be the greatest evils which afflict our bodies, wound our reputation, and impoverish our estates. For those certainly are far the greatest which affect our noblest part; which vitiate our understandings, deprave our wills, and wound and defile our souls. Now it is very agreeable with the goodness and mercy of the Divine providence, to administer to us whatever is proper for the cure of so great an evil. 2. The judgments of God are likewise proper for the preventing of far greater evils of the same kind; I mean, further punishments. In sending temporal judgments upon sinners God usually proceeds by degrees. 3. The judgments of God are not only proper to these ends, but in many cases very necessary. Our condition many times is such as to require this severe way of proceeding, because no other course God hath taken, or can take with us, will probably do us good. The providence of God makes use of hunger and extreme necessity to bring home the prodigal (Luke 15:1-32). II. THE REASON OF THE OF GOD’ S --because the people were not reclaimed by them. And how can t be expected it should be otherwise, when incorrigibleness under the judgments of God is a provocation of so high a nature, a sign of a most depraved temper, and an argument of the greatest obstinacy in evil? (2 Chronicles 28:22; Leviticus 26:22, etc.; Deuteronomy 28:58-59; Isaiah 1:4-5;Hosea 7:9-10; Amos 4:11-12; Psalms 18:26.) (J. Tillotson, D. D.)God’ s judgments God hath invited us to Him by many blessings, but we would not come; so (to borrow an apt illustration from Bishop Sanderson) we have forced Him to deal with us as Absalom did with Joab: he sent one civil message to him after another, but he would not come; at last he set on fire his cornfield to try whether that would bring him: this course God hath taken with us; we would not be persuaded by messages of kindness (by His many blessings and favours) to return to Him, and therefore hath He sent amongst us the terrible messengers of His wrath. (J. Tillotson, D. D.) Isaiah 9:13 For the people turneth not unto Him that smiteth them God’ s rod should be kissed “ The people turneth not unto Him that smiteth them. ” That is one element of the cause of this judgment. They do not kiss the rod: they see it to be a rod only; they do not understand that judgment is the severe aspect of mercy, and that without mercy there could be no real judgment. There might be condemnation, destruction, annihilation, but “ judgment” is a combined or compound term, involving in all its rich music every possible utterance of law and grace and song and hope. When a man kisses the hand that wields the rod, the rod blossoms, and God’ s judgment becomes God’ s grace. (J. Parker, D. D.)Turning to God Sin is described in. Scripture as departing from God. Repentance, therefore, is returning to Him. To “ seek” God, in the idiom of Scripture, is to pray to Him (Isaiah 55:6), to consult Him (Isaiah 8:19), to resort to Him for help (Isaiah 31:1), to hold communion with Amos 5:4-5). Hence it is sometimes descriptive of a godly life in general (Psalms 14:2). So here it includes repentance, conversion, and new obedience. (J. A. Alexander.)God’ s purpose in affliction should be considered A very holy man, who was working on behalf of the sufferers in the recent plague at Bombay, wrote home to ask certain of his friends not to pray that God would remove the plague, but to pray that whatever was His purpose and intention in sending it might be done. It was a true and lofty view. (C. H.Sharpe.)Chastisement should bring the soul to God A Christian friend visiting a good man under great distress and afflicting dispensations, which he bore with such patient and composed resignation as to make his friend wonder and admire it, inquired how he was enabled so to comfort himself? The good man said, “ The distress I am under is indeed severe; but I find it lightens the stroke very much to creep near to Him who handles the rod!” (J. Whitecross.) Isaiah 9:14 Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tall, branch and rush, in one day God giving account of His actions I. THE GROUND OR OF THE in the particle “ therefore.” Wherefore? (Isaiah 9:13). The cause which is here expressed may be conceived to proceed in the way of a three-fold gradation. 1. Of their simple impiety. Sin is the meritorious cause of all punishment. 2. Of their additional impenitency. Those that sin and so thoroughly provoke God’ s anger against themselves, by repentance may happily divert and appease it. But the people in the text “ turned not to Him that smote them.” And this made their judgment to be so much the surer to them. Impenitency seems in a manner to own and justify sin and stand in the commission of it. Further, it does in a manner trespass upon all the attributes of God, which it either questions or vilifies. The omniscience of God, as to the deserts of sin (Psalms 94:7). The truth of God, as to the threats of sin (2 Peter 3:4). The justice of God, as to the punishing of sin, The power of God, as to me executing of judgment. 3. Of their continued obstinacy. They did not “ seek the Lord of hosts.” II. THE ITSELF. (T. Horton, D. D.)God’ s judgment on Israel I. THE OF IT. 1. The Author of it. “ The Lord.” (1) His sovereignty and power. It is He only that is able to punish; it is He only that hath all men and creatures under His command. (2) His purity. There are none who are so fit to punish others as those who are innocent persons. 2. The nature of it. “ The Lord will cut off.” From correction He passes to destruction. First, He cuts them short; and if that will do no good upon them, He cuts them off. First the pruning knife, then the axe. There is a two-fold sword which God makes use of for cutting with, before He proceeds to cut off; the sword of His mouth, i.e., the Word of God, and the sword of His hand, i.e., the rod of God. “ He will.” (1) A word of premonition. Despise not God’ s gracious hints and admonitions of judgment beforehand. (2) A word of procrastination. God is slow to anger. (3) A word of resolution. God will not be always willing; He will be at last doing. 3. The subject of it. If Israel shall provoke God by their impenitency and obstinacy against Him, even Israel shall be punished and cut off by Him 1 Peter 4:17). II. THE EXTENT OF IT. That we have expressed in a double metaphor; the one from the nature of the head and the tail; the other from the nature of a tree, in the branches and roots: both of them coming to one and the same purpose. Whereby we have signified to us the universality and impartiality of the destruction which is here threatened; it shall be of so general an extent, as to reach to all sorts of persons, high and low, rich and poor, great and small, to one as well as to another. 1. The metaphor taken from a body in the head and the tail. We may reduce it by way of explication to a threefold rank of-- (1) Age: old and young. (2) Estate: rich and poor. (3) Place or authority: governors and governed; magistrates, ministers, and those who are subordinate and in subjection to them. 2. The metaphor taken from the nature of a tree or plant: the branch and the rush. It is not said the branch and the root, because the Lord reserved a remnant which should be spared by Him. But the branch and the rush; the branch as an emblem of usefulness--persons of parts and employments; the rush as a note of unfruitfulness--idle and unprofitable persons. The branch is a note of strength and solidity; the rush of weakness and inconstancy. The branch (in like manner as the head) is a note of supremacy, the rush of meanness, In the execution of public judgments for the impenitency and incorrigibleness of a nation, God’ s hand is indifferent and impartial; He will spare no ranks or sorts or conditions of people at all III. THE TIME OR SEASON OF IT. “ In one day.” It is a day-- 1. In regard of the certainty of it, as that which is set and fixed. 2. In regard of the suddenness, as that which is speedy and soon accomplished. (T. Horton, D. D.)Judgment obliterates classifications “ Branch and rush--the allusion is to the beauteous palm tree: it shall be cut down notwithstanding its beauty; and the “ rush” --the common growths round about it, entangled roots, poor miserable shrubs that crowd and cumber the earth--branch and rush cannot stand before God’ s sword and fire: everything that is wrong goes down in a common destruction. Judgment obliterates our classifications. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 9:16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err Leaders misleading Render: “ And the leaders of this people have become misleaders. ” (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Leaders’ responsibility for the people’ s faults 1. By conniving at their wickedness. 2. By countenancing wicked people. 3. By setting them ill examples. (M. Henry.)Unfaithful physicians It is ill with a people when their physicians are their worse disease. (M. Henry.)A shameless ruler (Charles II):--A king might be pardoned for amusing his leisure with wine, wit, and beauty, but it was intolerable that he should sink into a mere saunterer and voluptuary; that the gravest affairs of State should be neglected, and that the public service should be starved, and the finances deranged in order that harlots and parasites might grow rich. (Macaulay’s England.)The responsibility of leaders The ancients placed the statues of their princes and patriots near the fountains, to show that they were the spring heads of good or evil to the public. (J. Trapp.)Leadership I. The world is so constituted that LEADERS OF THE PEOPLE ARE AT PRESENT A . II. FOR THE LEADERS THE HIGHEST HONOUR OR THE DEEPEST SHAME. 1. The man who leads his fellow men well is entitled to the highest honour. 2. But leadership does not necessarily involve any honour at all. 3. Through leadership a man may reach the most utter degradation and shame. (1) Through his incompetence. (2) Through his dishonesty. III. FOR THE LED OR . (R. A. Bertram.) Isaiah 9:17 Therefore the Lord shall have no Joy in their young men “ The Lord shall have no joy in their young men” The meaning is full of suggestion God delights in the young. God has made the young a ministry of instruction and comfort to old age. God keeps the world young by keeping children in it, and helpless ones. But God shall cease to see in young men any hope for the future. Henceforth God withdraws from the young, and they become old; He takes from them His all-vitalising and all-blessing smile, and they wither as flowers die when the sun turns away. (J. Parker, D. D.)General corruption followed by general desolation The desolation should be as general as the corruption has been, and none should escape it. 1. Not those that were the objects of complacency; none shall be spared for love. “ The Lord shall have no joy in their young men.” etc. 2. Not those that were the objects of compassion; none shall be spared for pity. He shall not “ have mercy on their fatherless and widows.” They had corrupted their way like the rest; and if the poverty and helplessness of their state was not an argument with them to keep them from sin, they could not expect it should be an argument with God to protect them from judgments (M. Henry.) Isaiah 9:18-21 For wickedness burneth as the fire Wickedness as fire Wickedness, i.., the constant willing of evil, is a fire which man kindles in himself. And when the grace of God, which stifles and checks this fire, is at an end, it breaks forth The fire of wickedness is nothing else but God’ s ςΖαΐγΘδ for so wrath is called as breaking forth from within and spreading itself inwardly more and more, and then passing outwards into word and deed; it is God’ s own wrath; for all sin carries this within itself as its own punishment. (F. Delitzsch.)Sin compared to a great fire The prophet affirms that there are resemblances between a fire and sin. It is not a common fire to which he refers, such as is employed for domestic or public purposes. It is a great conflagration which burns the humble shrubbery, the gigantic forest, extends over the land, and sends a mighty column of smoke and flame up to heaven I. THE ORIGIN OF A GREAT FIRE. Recently we read an account of a great fire, and the paragraph closed with these words: “ the origin of the fire is unknown” The same with the origin of sin. We know it had a beginning, for God only is from everlasting. We know it had a beginning before Eve and Adam felt its power, since they were tempted: We know it began with him who is called Satan and the father of lies. Still, there are three questions about it which we cannot answer. (1) Where did it begin? (2) When did it begin! (3) How did it begin? II. THE OF A GREAT FIRE. Place one spark amid combustible material in London. Let it alone. It will leap from point to point, house to house, street to street, until the whole city is in flames. Sin has spread in as exactly similar way. One sin, to the individual; one wrong action, to the family; one immoral look, to thousands; one crime, to a kingdom. III. THE POWER OF A GREAT FIRE. Wood, coal, etc., it transforms into its own essence, because it makes fire of these. It is even so with sin. It turns everything, over which it gains the slightest control, into its own nature--that is into a curse. The desire to possess, sin has turned in a different direction, and made it an autocratic passion. Take the principle of ambition in the same Way. Take commerce in the same way. Thus the richest blessings, yea, all the which God has given to us, sin can so transform that they shall become curses. IV. THE ENERGY OF A GREAT FIRE. Who can calculate the amount of property in London alone, which has been destroyed by fire! But the destruction which sin has caused in London is infinitely greater and more momentous. Some have bodies, once beautiful, now bloated and withered by sin. Some have feelings, once tender, now petrified by sin. Some whose intellectual powers were once strong, now feeble by sin. Some, who were once full of hope, now hopeless by sin. The destruction Which sin has caused is awful. V. THE OF A GREAT FIRE. It terminates when an the material is reduced to ashes. Can the fire of sin ever he put out in this way? The body in the grave is scorched by it no more; but what of the soul? Look at the rich man. He is tormented, in pain, not by a literal flame, but by the fire of sin. He will be so forever, because the soul is immortal. A great fire has been terminated by a superior quenching power. There is also an element which can completely remove sin from the soul. What is it? Ask those in heaven, and those on earth, who have been saved. They all say that they “ have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (A. M’Auslane, D. D.)Sin mirrored as fire The Bible is full of the figurative and analogic. I. SIN IS LIKE FIRE IN THE FORMS IN WHICH IT EXISTS. Fire is found to exist in two states--the insensibly latent, and the sensibly active. 1. In an insensible state, heat is everywhere. Even in solid masses of ice it is to be found. Sir Humphrey Davy, it is said, quickly melted pieces of ice by rubbing them together in a room cooled below the freezing point. It is so with sin. It is found in every part of the human world; it sleeps, perhaps, even in the most innocent of our kind. All it wants is the contact of some tempting circumstance to bring it out into an active flame. The virtue of some men is but vice sleeping. As savages light their fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together, so men stir up the latent of depravity by mutual contact. There is sufficient latent fire around us to burn up the globe, and there is sufficient latent sin in humanity to turn earth into hell 2. But fire is active as well as latent. In its active state you see it flaming on your hearths, illuminating your cities, working your manufactures, propelling your fleets, drawing your carriages, flashing in the lightning and thundering in the earthquake. Sin is terribly active in our world, active in every department of life:--in commerce, in politics, and religion To use the language of the text, “ It mounts up like the lifting up of smoke” : the smoke of this fire of sin pollutes and darkens every sphere of life. II. SIN IS LIKE FIRE IN ITS TO SPREAD ITSELF. What a great fire a little spark will kindle! Fire is essentially diffusive; so is sin. How true it is that “ one sinner destroyeth much good.” III. SIN IS LIKE FIRE IN ITS POWER OF TO ITS OWN NATURE. It has turned alcohol into intemperance, merchandise into fraud, government into tyranny, aggression into the demon of war. When Archimedes, to gratify his vengeance on the Romans, brought down the genial rays of heaven by magic glass to burn up their ships, he only dramatised the universal fact that sin ever strives to turn the greatest blessing to the greatest curse. IV. SIN IS LIKE FIRE IN ITS ENERGY. Philosophers tell us that fire is that principle in nature which counteracts attraction, and keeps the various particles of matter at their proper distance. It is that repulsive force which prevents atoms from coming into close contact, and sometimes drives them far apart. It turns the solid bodies into liquids and liquids into vapours. Apply fire to the compact tree, and it will break it into a million atoms, and send these atoms abroad on the wide fields of air. Were it not for heat, all parts of the universe would rush together into one solid mass, whose parts would press together in closer contact than the heaviest stone. Sin is a repulsive principle. It separates man from man, family from family, nation from nation--all from God! V. SIN IS LIKE FIRE IN ITS . It consumes something far more valuable than the most beautiful forms of material nature, or the most exquisite productions of human art--it consumes man. You cannot walk the streets of any great city, without meeting men whose bodies are being consumed by sin. Sin devours the soul. It dries up its fountain of Divine feeling, it sears its conscience, it withers its intellect, it blasts its prospects and its hopes. VI. SIN IS LIKE FIRE IN ITS POWER TO INFLICT PAIN. There is no element in nature capable of inflicting more suffering on the body than fire. But sin can inflict greater suffering: the fires of remorse are a thousand times more painful than the flames that enwrapped the martyrs. “ A wounded spirit who can bear?” The fire of sin in the soul will “ burn to the lowest hell.” Ask Cain, Belshazzar, Judas, concerning the intensity of moral suffering. VII. SIN IS LIKE FIRE IN ITS OF BEING . You have seen a raging fire go out from one of two causes; either because it has consumed the body on which it fed and reduced it to ashes, or because of the application of some quenching force. The fire of sin will never go out for the former reason--the object on which it feeds is indestructible: if it is ever to be destroyed, it must be extinguished by some outward force. Thank God! there is a moral element on earth to put out sin; the river of mediatorial influences that rolls from the throne of God has quenched the fire of sin in the case of millions, and is as efficacious to do so now as ever. (Homilist.)Wickedness as fire I. . Of this wickedness there are divers sorts, each of which may be distinguished by the objects on which it terminates. 1. When immediately directed against God, it is discovered by an absurd contempt of His providences and ordinances, His commandments, promises, and threatenings, and a virulent opposition to the interests of His kingdom and glory. 2. When its operations are aimed against men, it is perpetrated by harassing, oppressing and persecuting those who are entitled to acts of justice, beneficence, and charity, and by disturbing the peace and good order of human society. 3. When it chiefly respects the persons themselves by whom it is acted, the most daring iniquities are committed, forbidden by the law of nature, the law of nations, and the law of God, in order to gratify their ungovernable desires, and to promote their interest, honour, or pleasure. II. BURNETH AS FIRE. The amiable endowments of the person in whom it burns, the good dispositions and laudable desires with which his mind is furnished, will fall a sacrifice to its rage. It will enfeeble the understanding, harden the conscience, deprave the heart, hurt the memory, weaken the senses, debilitate the whole frame; it will entirely eat away peace of mind, and lead on to contention, confusion, and every evil work. It will devour the strength and vigour of the body, bring on untimely old age, and shorten the now short life of man. It will consume his honour and reputation, and leave behind it indelible marks of disgrace and reproach, that shall not be wiped away. It will burn up his riches and possessions; for by means of it a man is often brought to a piece of bread, and a nation involved in irremediable destruction. (R. Macculloch.)Wickedness is destruction There is to be internecine war: Manasseh shall fly at Ephraim, and Ephraim at Manasseh, and they who could agree upon nothing between themselves always agree in flying together against Judah. This is what wickedness will bring the world to--to murder, to mutual hatred and distrust, to perdition. We do not understand the power of wickedness, because at present, owing to religious thinking and action and moral civilisation, mere are so ninny mitigating circumstances, so many relieving lights; but wickedness in itself let loose upon the earth, and the earth is no longer the abode of green thing of fair flower, or singing bird, of mutual trust and love: it becomes a pandemonium. If we could consider this deeply, it would make us solemn. We do not consider it; we are prepared to allow it as a theory or a conjecture, but the realisation of it is kept far from us. The wicked man kills himself; puts his teeth into the flesh of his own arm, and gnaws it with the hunger of a wild beast. That is what wickedness comes to! It is not an intellectual error, not a slight and passing mistake, not a lapse of judgment, or a momentarily lamentable act of misconduct which can easily be repaired: the essence of wickedness is destruction. Wickedness would no sooner hesitate to kill a little child than to snap a flower. The thing that keeps the world from suicide is the providence of God. Were God to take away the restraining influences which are keeping society together, society would gall into mutual enmity, and the controversy could only end in mutual death. “ For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.” Do not blame the judgment, blame the sin; do not say, How harsh is God, say, How corrupt, how blasphemous is man! (J. Parker, D. D.)Injury inflicted on the body politic A nation is sometimes spoken of as a person constituted of a soul, and the various parts of a human body. In this political body there are those who act the part of the arms, by whom its strength is exerted, and its safety preserved. On this principle I explain this prediction, they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm. Every one almost was to be employed in cruelly harassing and devouring those whose business it was to support and defend the interests of the nation. Unmindful of the laws of nature, the ties of friendship and gratitude, they would vex and destroy those useful members of the community with whom they were nearly connected, and to whom they were obliged for their efforts in their behalf. (R. Macculloch.). Isaiah 10:1-4 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees Crime under colour of law The prophet has described the sins of Ephraim in a general manner; but on the mention of Judah he proceeds to denounce what we know from the whole tenor of his discourses he felt to be the worst form of the guilt of his own people, with a particularity which it is perhaps not fanciful to attribute to his thoughts being now directed homewards. The Ten Tribes were far more ferocious and anarchical than the men of Judah; there are more indications in the latter of that national respect for law which so characterises the English, that it has been observed (by Lord Campbell), that though history attributes to us our share in national wickedness, our crimes have almost always been committed under colour of law, and not by open violence,--as in the series of judicial murders in the reigns of Henry VIII, Charles II, and James II. And thus Isaiah, recurring to Judah, denounces the utmost severity of God’ s wrath in the day in which He, the righteous Judge, shall come to visit “ an hypocritical nation,” whose nobles and magistrates decree, and execute, unrighteous decrees,--“ to turn aside the needy from judgment,” etc. (verse 2). They are satisfied, that they are safe in their heartless selfishness, with peace at home and protection abroad restored by their statecraft and their alliance with Assyria. But while they thus rejoice at home, “ desolation cometh from afar.” To whom will they fly for help when God has abandoned them? Under whose protection will they leave their wealth, their dignities, their glory, which they have been heaping up for themselves? Captivity or death are the only prospects before them. And yet, as though no judgments could sufficiently condemn and punish their utter wickedness, me prophet repeats--“ For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand stretched out still.” (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)God against all unrighteousness The Lord’ s voice is always for righteousness, What is it that is denounced? It the very thing that is to be denounced evermore. There is nothing local or temporary in this cause of Divine offence. The Lord is against all unrighteous decrees, unnatural alliances, and evil compacts. This is the very glory of the majesty of omnipotence, that it is enlisted against even form of evil and wrong. Then, “ Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed” --scribes or registrars who preserve all the forms of the court, and keep their pens busy upon the court register, writing down every case, and appearing to do the business correctly and thoughtfully; and yet, all the while, these very registrars were themselves plotting “ to take away the right from the poor, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless.” The court of law was turned into a means of robbery, as it is in nearly every country under the sun. The scribes who wrote down the law were men who secretly or overtly broke it; the judge used his ermine as a cloak, that under its concealment he might thrust his hand farther into the property of those who had no helper. “ For all this His auger is not turned away.” Blessed be His name! Oh, burn Thou against us all; mighty, awful, holy God, burn more and more, until we learn by fire what we can never learn by pity. The Lord speaks evermore for the poor, for the widow, for the fatherless, for the helpless. (J. Parker, D. D.)Oppressors of the poor and needy I. THE drawn up against these oppressors (Isaiah 10:1-2). They are charged-- 1. With making wicked laws and edicts. Woe to the superior powers that devise and decree these decrees; they are not too high to be under the Divine check; and woe to the inferior officers that draw them up, and enter them upon record, “ the writers that write the grievousness,” they are not too mean to be within the Divine cognisance. Principal and accessories shall fall under the same woe. 2. With perverting justice in the execution of the laws that were made. No people had statutes and judgments” so righteous as they had; and yet corrupt judges found ways to turn aside the needy from judgment, to hinder them from coming at their right. 3. With enriching themselves by oppressing those that lay at their mercy, whom they ought to have protected. II. A given them, with all their pride and power, to outface the judgments of God (Isaiah 10:3). Will there not come a desolation upon those that have made others desolate? Perhaps it may come from far, and therefore may he long in coming, but it will come at last. Reprieves are not pardons. 1. There is a day of visitation coming, a day of inquiry and discovery, a searching day which will bring to light, to a true light, every man and every man’ s work. 2. The day of visitation will be a day of desolation to all wicked people, when all their comforts and hopes will be lost and gone. 3. Impenitent sinners will be utterly at a loss, and will not know what to do in the day of visitation and desolation. 4. It concerns us all seriously to consider what we shall do in the day of visitation--in a day of affliction, in the day of death and judgment, and to provide that we may do well. III. PASSED UPON THEM, by which they are doomed, some to imprisonment and captivity. (Matthew Henry.)Legalised injustice I. AND RULERS ARE TO GOD. II. THEIR WILL BE REVISED. III. THEIR WILL IN MANY BE . IV. THE OF THEIR WILL RETURN BACK UPON . (J. Lyth, D. D.)Oppression resisted (Taxation of Henry VIII):--In every county a tenth was demanded from the laity and a fourth from the clergy by the royal commissioners. But the demand was met by a general resistance . . . A revolt actually broke out among the weavers of Suffolk; the men of Cambridge banded for resistance; the Norwich clothiers, though they yielded at first, soon threatened to rise. “ Who is your captain?” the Duke of Norfolk asked the crowd. “ His name is Poverty,” was the answer, “ for he and his cousin Necessity have brought us to this doing.” There was, in fact, a general strike of the employers. Cloth makers discharged their workers, farmers put away their servants. “ They say the king asketh so much that they be not able to do as they have done before this time.” Such a peasant insurrection as was raging in Germany was only prevented by the unconditional withdrawal of the royal demand. (J. R. Green’s English People.) Isaiah 10:3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation?-- The day of visitation In Scripture style the season in which God is pleased to draw near to a person or people, that He may accomplish various important purposes, is called a day of visitation. 1. Sometimes His visitation is intended to afford deliverance and consolation to the oppressed, by extricating them from servitude and misery, and introducing them into a happy and comfortable condition. In this sense the Lord is said to have visited His people Israel, when He delivered them from Egyptian bondage (Exodus 4:31); and to have visited and redeemed His people when He bestowed upon them the greatest mercy (Luke 1:68). 2. Sometimes it is designed to manifest His tender care and constant inspection of His people, over whom He exerciseth the most vigilant attention, that He may effectually promote their best interests (Psalms 89:32). Such times are indeed days of visitation, wherein God sensibly draws near with the proofs of His kindness and favour, which He most undeservedly confers; and in which He appears with His rod of correction, that He may administer necessary chastisements, and restore those who had forsaken His laws from their wanderings. 3. At other times, God visits those who have not profited by the many warnings they have received, nor repented of the sins they have committed, notwithstanding the repeated corrections that He hath administered, to execute upon them desolating judgments and terrible vengeance Jeremiah 5:9). In this last sense, I suppose, the day of visitation is here meant. (R. Macculloch.)The day of visitation So far from God having abandoned the world, He is continually calling it to account. Not only has He fixed in His eternal mind a period of final visitation, but days of visitation are repeatedly coming. And who knows how many may come to us? I. THE SOLEMN PERIOD SPOKEN OF. God is said to “ visit” men when He comes to them, or reveals Himself, either in mercy or judgment. Christ Himself calls the days of His ministry among the Jews the day of their visitation--their Gospel day of mercy. But the term, as used in our text, is to be understood in the contrary sense, to denote a period of judgment. There are several periods which are days of Divine visitation. 1. The day of trouble. 2. The day of affliction. 3. The day of death. 4. The day of judgment. II. THE SOUL- APPEAL MADE. ‘ What will ye do? To whom will ye flee for help?” This language implies that something has need to be done--that help will be required. Self-sufficient as we may wish to thinkourselves when all is bright, whenever either of the days of Divine visitation comes, we shall find that “ help” will be needed in order to stand the trial well. If so, what will you do? 1. What in the day of trouble? Many are then overwhelmed thereby; in these circumstances many die in despair, fade away in melancholy, or lay violent hands on themselves. When every draught of life’ s cup is the very gall of bitterness, where will ye go for sweetness? 2. Should afflictive visitations come on, what then will ye do? You may flee to the physician, but he can do no more than the God means may permit him. 3. And then, when the day of dissolution, that awful day of “ visitation” comes, what will ye do? Will you send for your minister to pray for you? But what avail his prayers, if your do not pray for yourself? 4. And when the last great day--that day of all days--comes, oh, what then shall we do? And where shall we flee for help? Now, bring all this to a point. (1) Settle it in your minds that days of visitation will come. (2) How necessary, now in the time of our merciful visitation of Gospel offers and encouragements, to make the Almighty God our friend by faith in Christ. (3) If we do not, must we not expect to be abandoned and left to everlasting ruin, without help or hope? (Essex Remembrancer.)What will ye do in the day of visitation? However wicked men may flatter themselves, or be flattered by others, God will not do it. I. Let us notice TWO OR THREE IN THE TEXT, before we pursue the principal inquiry. 1. The persons originally addressed were the children of Israel, a rebellious people; but the words are applicable to sinners of every description. 2. For the people of Israel “ a day of visitation” was appointed, and the same may be said of us. There are days Of visitation to individuals as well as to whole nations. II. PURSUE THE INQUIRY: “ What will ye do?” etc. 1. Will you plead and expostulate with God? At a throne of grace the sinner may indeed plead with God, but what arguments will avail at the tribunal of His justice? 2. Will you attempt to resist Him! 3. Will you fly from Him! Whither? 4. Will you harden yourselves against Him; and seeing you cannot escape punishment, endeavour to support yourselves under it as well as you can; saying, with impenitent Israel, “ Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it” ? Jeremiah 10:19). “ Who can stand before His indignation?” (JoelNa 1:2-6). 5. Will you cast yourselves at His feet, and adopt the humble and submissive language of David: “ If He say, I have no delight in thee, here am I; let Him do to me as seemeth good in His sight” ? This certainly would be highly proper, before the decree is gone forth, and such humiliation would be accepted; but it cannot be done afterwards, or if done, it would not avail Propose then to yourselves another question: What shall I do before this day of visitation come, that I may avoid the tremendous consequences? (B. Beddome, M. A.)The day of visitation and preparation for it I. A DAY OF IS COMING UPON ALL MEN. II. IT IS OF THE TO BE FOR THIS DAY. 1. Because your happiness, when the day of visitation comes, will depend upon it. 2. It will be positive misery to be unprepared. 3. You have an invaluable treasure in peril. 4. If you come to judgment unprepared it will be too late forever. III. GOD IN HIS MERCY PRESSES THIS SOLEMN UPON OUR SERIOUS AND DEVOUT . 1. It appears clear that God does sincerely desire the happiness of all men. 2. His thus pressing this solemn thought upon men’ s consideration shows that they are unwilling to obey God. 3. Man’ s want of happiness is entirely with himself and not with God. (N. M. Harry.)Where will ye leave your glory?-- The vanity of earthly glory The principal word in this short question seems, by its very sound, to bring before the mind indistinctly, a vision of something great and magnificent, yet unsubstantial and vain. When we bring our thoughts upon it more distinctly, we recognise it as the most conspicuous favourite term of heathenism. We mean a heathenism of all times and countries; that action and passion of the human mind, by which notions and feelings of greatness, transcendent value, have been attached to certain things of but imaginary worth; which things have been coveted, adored, toiled for, fought for, lived for, died for--as glory. “ Glory,” therefore, has been the name of vanity turned into a god. And how vast the dominion of this idolatrous delusion! What it consists of--the world’ s glory--is readily apprehended. That a man be conspicuous among and above his fellow mortals; be much observed, admired, even envied as being that which they cannot be. I. Where will ye LEAVE your glory? It is, then, after all, not really united to the man. He expends the ardour of his soul to combine it with his being--to make it his very substance--but it is extraneous still! He may have to go where it will not accompany him. II. And WHERE will they leave their glory? Where, that it can in any sense continue to be theirs--theirs, for any beneficial or gratifying effect to them? What will it be to them how it falls to other mortals? Nothing is more mournful than parting with what is passionately loved, under a perfect certainty of possessing it no more. III. As the concluding part of these meditations, let us briefly APPLY THEM TO SEVERAL OF THE FORMS OF THIS WORLD’ S GLORY. There is presented a Christian, a heavenly, an eternal glory. When the lovers of glory are invited to this, and scorn it, and reject it, what is it that they take? 1. The most common form of the idolised thing is--what may be called the material splendour of life; that which immediately strikes the senses. But they must leave their glory. 2. It is, in part, a different and additional form of the world’ s glory, when we mention elevated rank in society. All know how vehemently coveted and envied is this glory,--how elated, for the most part, the possessors of it feel. But the thought of leaving it! With what a grim and ghostly aspect this thought must appear, when it will sometimes intrude! 3. The possession of power is perhaps the idol supreme; to have at control, and in complete subjection, the action and the condition of numbers of mankind; to see the crowd, whether in heart obsequious or rebellious, practically awed, submissive, obedient. But it is not that voice that is long to command! 4. We might have named martial glory,--the object of the most ardent aspiration, and of the most pernicious idolatry. There is often an utter delusion in this expectation. 5. In the last place might be named intellectual glory,--that of knowledge, talent, and great mental performance. If, in that passion for renown, you have exerted great powers of mind to do fatal mischief--to overwhelm truth--to corrupt the morals--to explode religion--to degrade the glory of the Redeemer--what then? If you can, in that world, have any vital sympathy with your fame, your influence remaining in this, the consequence would but be a quick continual succession of direful shocks, conveyed to your living spirit from what your works are doing here. Contrast with all them forms of folly, the predominant aim of a Christian--which is “ glory” still; but a glory which he will not have to leave; aglory accumulating for him in the world to which he is going. (John Foster.) Isaiah 10:5-34O Assyrian “ O Assyrian” “ Ho Asshur,” the name both of the people and its national god. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The judgment of the world power The leading idea of the passage is the contrast between the mission assigned to Assyria in the scheme of Jehovah’ s providence, and the ambitious policy of universal dominion cherished by the rulers of that empire, Assyria was the instrument chosen by Jehovah to manifest His sole Deity by the extinction of all the nationalities that put their trust in false gods. But the great world power, intoxicated by its success, and attributing this to its own wisdom and resource, recognises no difference between Jehovah and other gods, but confidently reckons on proving His impotence by the subjugation of His land and people. Hence, it becomes necessary for Jehovah to vindicate His supreme Godhead by the destruction of the power which has thus impiously transgressed the limits of His providential commission. And this judgment will take plebe at the very moment when Assyria seeks to crown its career of conquest by an assault on Jehovah’ s sanctuary on Mount Zion, the earthly seat of His government. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Assyria an instrument of vengeance We must not omit the reflection that this was a terrible thing for Assyria. What man likes to be an instrument through which righteousness will punish some other man! Who would willingly accept a calling and election so severe? (J. Parker, D. D.)Nations instruments in the hands of God What are the nations but instruments in the hands of Him who made them? So we are puzzled and perplexed by many an imperial policy; we do not like it, and yet still it proceeds to work out all its mysterious issues--now severe, now beneficent. We are in tumult and darkness and perplexity, thick and that cannot be disentangled; and how seldom we realise the fact that all this may be a Divine movement, clouding of the Divine presence, and an outworking of Divine and eternal purposes. (J. Parker, D. D.)Our Assyria may be the world Our Assyria may be the world in Christ’ s sense, that flood of successful, heartless, unscrupulous, scornful forces which burst on our innocence, with their challenge to make terms and pay tribute, or go down straightway in the struggle for existence . . . It is useless to think that we common men cannot possibly sin after the grand manner of this imperial monster. In our measure we fatally can. In this commercial age private persons very easily rise to a position of influence which gives almost as vast a stage for egotism to display itself as the Assyrian boasted. But after all the human Ego needs very little room to develop the possibilities of atheism that are in it. An idol is an idol, whether you put it on a small or a large pedestal. A little man with a little work may as easily stand between himself and God as an emperor with the world at his feet. Forgetfulness that he is a servant, a trader on graciously intrusted capital--and then at the best an unprofitable one--is not less sinful in a small egoist than in a great one; it is only very much more ridiculous than Isaiah, with his scorn, has made it to appear in the Assyrian. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Our Assyria may be the forces of nature Our Assyria may be the forces of nature, which have swept upon the knowledge of this generation with the novelty and impetus with which the northern hosts burst across the horizon of Israel. Men today, in the course of their education, become acquainted with laws and forces which dwarf the simpler theologies of their boyhood, pretty much as the primitive beliefs of Israel dwindled before the arrogant face of Assyria. The alternative confronts them either to retain, with a narrowed and fearful heart, their old conceptions of God, or to find their enthusiasm in studying, and their duty in relating themselves to, the forces of nature alone. If this be the only alternative, there can be no doubt but that most men will take the latter course. We ought as little to wonder at men of today abandoning certain theologies and forms of religion for a downright naturalism--for the study of powers that appeal so much to the curiosity and reverence of man--as we wonder at the poor Jews of the eighth century before Christ forsaking their provincial conceptions of God as a tribal Deity for homage to this great Assyrian who handled the nations and their gods as his playthings. But is such the only alternative? Is there no higher and sovereign conception of God, in which even these natural forces may find their explanation and term? Isaiah found such a conception for his problem, and his problem was very similar to ours. Beneath his idea of God, exalted and spiritual, even the imperial Assyrian, in all his arrogance, fell subordinate and serviceable. The prophet’ s faith never wavered, and in the end was vindicated by history. Shall we not at least attempt his method of solution? We could not do better than by taking his factors. Isaiah got a God more powerful than Assyria, by simply exalting the old God of his nation in righteousness. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.) Isaiah 10:7-9 Howbeit he meaneth not so Man proposes, but God disposes “ He meaneth not so. ” 1. The wise God often makes even the sinful passions and projects of men subservient to His own great and holy purposes. 2. When God makes use of men as instruments in His hands to do His work, it is very common for Him to mean one thing, and them to mean another; nay, for them to mean quite contrary to what He intends Genesis 50:20; Micah 4:11-12). Men have their ends, and God His; but we are sure “ the counsel of the Lord that shall stand.” (M. Henry.)God’ s use of evil men As in applying of leeches the physician seeketh the health of his patient, the leech only the filling of his gorge, so is it when God turneth loose a bloody enemy upon His people; He hath excellent ends, which they think not on. (J. Trapp.)It is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a fewAssyrian conquests The significance of Isa 10:9 appears when the dates of the events alluded to are considered . . . The application to Jerusalem is obvious . . . It is true the conquests alluded to in Isaiah 10:9-11 are not those of Sennacherib, and Isaiah 10:13, etc., would be in his mouth an exaggeration; and hence the prophecy has been referred by some to the period of Sargon. But the subject in Isaiah 10:7-11 is “ Assyria” (see Isaiah 10:5), and though Isaiah may have regarded the king (verse 12) as being here the speaker, yet verses 5, etc., show that he speaks, not with reference to his personal achievements, but as an impersonation of the policy of his nation. And this policy Sennacherib in 701 was truly maintaining. The language of these verses does not, therefore, in reality militate against a date which in other respects is in entire accordance with the contents of the prophecy. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Foolish ambition Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, having enlarged his dominions by the conquest of Macedonia, was bent upon subduing Italy, and adding it to his empire. Asking the advice of his counsellor Cineas, he inquired of the prince what he meant to do after he conquered Italy? “ Next,” said he, “ I mean to invade Sicily, which is a rich and powerful country and not far off.” “ When you have got Sicily,” said Cineas, “ what then?” “ Africa,” replied the king, “ containing many fine kingdoms, is at no great distance, and through my renown and the valour of my troops, I may subdue them.” “ Be it so,” said the counsellor, “ when you have vanquished the kingdoms of Africa, what will you do then!” Pyrrhus answered, “ Then you and I will be merry to make you and me merry: had you all the world you could not be more merry, nor have better cheer.” (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 10:12 When the Lord hath performed His whole work upon Mount Zion God’ s two-sided providence 1. God designed to do good to Zion and Jerusalem by this providence. When God lets loose the enemies of His Church and people, and suffers them for a time to prevail, it is in order to the performing of some great good work upon them; and when that is done, then, and not till then, He will work deliverance for them. 2. When God had wrought this work of grace for His people, He would work a work of wrath and vengeance upon their invaders. (M. Henry.)Stoutness of heart The “ stout heart” here threatened is entirely different from true magnanimity or greatness of mind, arising from good principles and accompanied with other virtues, which excites to the most laudable and renowned actions. It is an odious, stubborn disposition, which acts in direct contrariety to lowliness of mind and poverty of spirit, whereby people are inclined to think modestly of their abilities and performances; it proceeds from pride, is strengthened by external grandeur and dignity, and discovered by vain self-conceit and foolish boasting of past exertions and successes, and future intended enterprises. The fruit of the king of Assyria’ s stout heart was a daring expedition against Jerusalem, undertaken in proud contempt of the true God, and accompanied with blasphemous insults, repeatedly offered to the Most High over all the earth. (R. Macculloch.)Penalty in apparent success When the scum is at highest, it falls in the fire. (J. Trapp.) Isaiah 10:13 For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it The ungodliness of worldly pursuits 1. Let us reflect on the total forgetfulness of God, and the unwillingness to recognise His power and presence, with which objects of human interest and ambition are frequently prosecuted and enjoyed. 2. Let us dwell on the spirit with which worldly men engage in the pursuit of their favourite objects, the temper and disposition of mind with which they encounter disappointment, and the kind of happiness which they derive from the success of their enterprises. (1) The ardour with which they prosecute these is virtually a declaration that they are determined to be happy independently of God; the firmness and perseverance with which they struggle with adversity, and labour to retrieve their losses, are so many attempts to dispute with Him the determination of events, and to wrest from His hand the government of the universe; and when they have been successful almost or altogether to the extent of their expectations, and when they contrast the success that has rewarded them with the failure and disappointment that have befallen others in similar circumstances,--the principle which lies at the foundation of all their enjoyments, and gives zest to every other gratification, is substantially that which is expressed in our text, “ By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent.” (2) It is not, however, to those only who place their chief good in a given portion of this world’ s wealth, that these observations are applicable. They will be found to hold equally true in the case of those who can find in the exercise of high intellectual endowments a gratification which mere worldly wealth never could furnish,--but who have not yet acquired any capacity for the purer and more permanent happiness of a growing conformity to the Divine image in this world, and the enjoyment of eternal communion with God in the world to come. Elevated as such pursuits may be, and profound as is the homage of respect which the world is called upon, and readily consents to pay to them, yet, wherever they constitute the only portion that the soul seeks after, and occupy that place in the affections which God claims as His own, then they bear upon them the same impress of ungodliness which characterises the schemes of worldly aggrandisement, and may ultimately be traced to the very same principle. (3) The same remark is applicable also to the man who, by the benevolence of his character and the irreproachable regularity of his life, has secured the world’ s respect, and who builds with confidence on his many virtues as a sure foundation of hope for the future; for when such a man contrasts his own character with that of multitudes around him, it will be with feelings of self-complacency. 3. It would be easy, by entering on the detail of particular cases, to show how the principle in the text pervades all the business and the pleasures of an unregenerate world. 4. The sentiment is as foolish with regard to the sinner, as it is impious with respect to the Almighty; for as well might it be supposed that the movements of the material universe would remain undisturbed, though the principle that is essential to its stability were annihilated, as that an intelligent and moral creature could be permanently blessed, if released from the law of dependence on his Creator. (R. Gordon, D. D.)“ Remover of boundaries” A title assumed by the Assyrian kings. They claimed to be king of kings, and lord paramount or superior. (B. Blake, B. D.)Robbing treasure Great conquerors are many times no better than great robbers. (Matthew Henry.) Isaiah 10:14 And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people A proud boast of utter subjugation The Assyrian conqueror has gathered all the earth as one gathers the eggs from which he has first driven off the terrified hen bird. But she would hover round her rifled nest and its plunderer with a trepidating flight and piercing cry, than which no movements and sounds in the brute creation express more anguish; while these spoiled nations dare not show even such instinctive signs of a broken heart, but know a depth beyond that depth--“ there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or chirped.” (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Easy conquest “ I have taken by my might the riches of the people, with as great ease as a countryman takes young birds out of a nest; yea, as one taketh and gathereth eggs which the bird hath forsaken” --which is easier than to take birds. (W. Day, M. A.)Unholy brag Strange that ever men, who were made to do good, should take a pride and take a pleasure in doing wrong or doing mischief to all about them without control, and should reckon that their glory which is their shame. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 10:15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?-- The Divine supremacy All the various orders of creatures, natural and supernatural, animate and inanimate, are under the control of the Divine Being, who uses them for the accomplishment of His own purposes. The Assyrians were not conscious of being the Lord’ s servants; it was, therefore, no virtue in them to be employed in His service. Mark the speech of the king of Assyria, it is vain and fulsome enough. Here observe-- I. THE OF GOD. 1. This is a doctrine of Scripture. 2. The term sovereignty is suitable here, since it is significant of the supremacy of the Divine Being. Where shall we go for manifestations of the Divine sovereignty? (1) To creation. (2) The moral government of the world furnishes the most striking illustration of the Divine sovereignty. II. THE OF MEN. 1. Man is not a merely passive instrument, but an active being, dependent upon and under the control of his Maker. 2. Man is a voluntary agent, has in possession a power which we call will, and an awful power it is either for good or evil. It imports responsibility. 3. Still, whatever may be said about the will of man, or the will of a nation, considered as a power, it must be allowed that man and his circumstances, that nations with all their complicated affairs, are under the control of the Divine Being. 4. The Divine Being is still at the head of the nations of the earth, directing and controlling all their affairs, for the accomplishment of His own ends; just as a man directs and controls the mountain stream, for the working of his mill, or the watering of his lands. III. THE SIN OF THE DIVINE BEING. 1. It is obvious that man has no choice as to whether or no he will have to do with his Maker. Man’ s choice is as to whether or no he will pursue a line of conduct befitting the relation in which he stands to God; whether he will obey or disobey, honour or slight God. 2. It is in the very nature of a creature to be dependent; man is a creature, and therefore dependent upon God for everything essential to his temporal welfare; and certainly not less so for everything essential to his spiritual welfare. 3. It is therefore irrational, and indeed grossly sinful, for those who excel others in station, in fortune, in respect to anything that may be justly deemed an advantage, to ascribe the difference altogether, or even mainly to their own skill and efforts; as though there were no God, or as though He were unable, or unwilling, to interfere with human affairs (1 Corinthians 4:7). 4. God is jealous of His honour. He cannot give His glory to another. 5. The case of Nebuchadnezzar, as recorded in Daniel 4:1-37, furnishes a remarkable illustration of the supremacy of the Divine Being, and of the sin of alighting it. We infer-- (1) That it is the will of God that there should be various distinctions among men with regard to circumstances; that some should be above others. (2) It is the imperative duty of man, whatever his rank or position in society, to acknowledge the Divine Being uniformly and constantly. (3) The Divine supremacy ought to be cheerfully acknowledged in every, household. (4) Let the nations of the earth acknowledge the Divine authority. (5) The Church especially is bound to honour God. (W. Winterburn.)The worker and his tools These words describe one of the common temptations of strong men in every sphere of action. Pointing to power in the sphere of human industry, we say, “ Shall the earn boast itself against him that heweth therewith?” I. THE REAL OF HUMAN WITH GOD. Useful and fine art belongs to the original idea of man as a working being. Man is conformed to the design of his nature when muscle and nerve, mind and heart, are taxed in the productions of human industry. 1. This is made evident by the constitution of man. Sinfulness does not belong to the Divine ides of man. Hence man’ s inward nature does not approve of sin. But industry produces no such stress and confusion in the soul. 2. This is further seen in the kind of world which God has made our present home. Some things He has hidden, and others so constituted that we must search, discover, adapt, apply, and manufacture, before we can get from the earth (although full of God’ s riches) what we really need. The toil and sorrow which are now connected with labour do not pertain to the original ordinance of labour. But even this discipline is merciful. In prison labour the criminal is sometimes required to turn a wheel connected with a loaded crank. The power is applied to no useful purpose, but is merely intended to weary the prisoner, and thus to punish him. And one bitter element in this correction is this, the prisoner knows that his labour produces nothing. Now, God has superadded toil to work, but with toil He has connected increase. 3. The mode in which Scripture speaks of the arts sustains the doctrine we now propound. Not one word is written in the Bible against the highest development of human industry. On the contrary, much is to be found in the Scriptures of the nature of sanction. When the desire to possess the products of industry becomes lust, and when the possession involves pride, then the creations of art assume a position and sustain a relation which is of the world, and not of the Father. But this shows that the evil is in the excess, and not in the thing itself. The New Testament confirms our remarks. Jesus Christ was the reputed son of an artisan, and, though He chose a condition of poverty, He did not clothe Himself in sackcloth nor refuse to partake of the luxuries of the rich. Not a word did He say against human industry, although He reprobated and denounced every vice and feller of His times, and at the time of His death He was wearing an entire woven coat, for which Roman soldiers cast lots. The apostles trod in the steps of the Saviour. Paul does not require Lydia, a seller of purple, to change her occupation. Let us learn to separate human handiwork from human sin. Art is safe when God is recognised in it. II. THE OF FROM GOD IN THE MINDS OF MEN . Men have either excluded God entirely from art, or they have worked as if on Divine sufferance. And because God has not been in their thoughts, they have felt that God was not in their craft, and they have taken to themselves all the glory. While idolaters have had a God for every art and for all important branches of human enterprise, Christians have too often thought that they must call art the world, and while they use and enjoy its varied products, verbally abuse them. We do not so read human nature. We do not so read Divine providence. We do not so read our Bible. And we are warned against this spirit by the words before us. Man is made a producer; and when he produces by his labour he fulfils one part of his mission. Now in this shall God be forgotten! God! whose earth this is? God! whose are the precious and the useful metals, and to whom belong the trees of the forest and the cattle upon the hills? Shall God be forgotten? God! we are His workmen; we use His tools; we employ His materials, and we labour in His factory. God forgotten? How unseemly and ungrateful is this! 1. The evil complained of in the text may exist either in a negative or a positive state. Say that God is not in the thoughts. There is no rejection of God, but God is not present. The man thinks of himself--he does not think of God. 2. The sources of this evil are religious ignorance and alienation from God. 3. The forms in which this evil is developed are such as these--God’ s law is not applied to human labour. Work is not performed in a devotional spirit. God’ s honour is not sought thereby. And you have one of two things--a man in appearance everywhere irreligious, or a man in appearancereligious everywhere but in his business. And then what have you? A whited sepulchre, a man-lie, or a rebel, open and avowed, against God the Creator. Trace this to its results. Banish religion from human industry, and you remove the chief salutary restraint! Then man will hold his brother in slavery; then men will cheat and lie and overreach and keep back the hire of the labourer. 4. The doctrine of what is commonly termed Justification by faith, has a most intimate connection with this subject. The substance of that doctrine is, that when a sinner truly repents and believes in Jesus Christ, God, instead of putting him upon a probation, immediately receives him to childlike communion. This shows that a Christian may at once have communion with God on every subject that concerns him. 5. Pride, covetousness, oppression, and cruelty are the four transgressions, chiefly named as God’ s reason for the overthrow of Nineveh and Babylon, Egypt and Tyre. Without true religion the progress of art fosters these evils. 6. The duties especially incumbent upon the Christians of this land, in connection with their daily labour, are, the unfailing recognition of Divine providence, humility, justice, and kindness. There are no colours so brilliant, no forms so graceful, no combinations so complete, no products so perfect and abundant as those which exist apart from human skill and toil. Man, in comparison with the Great Worker, has done nothing. 7. You will not have failed to mark God’ s calling the mightiest by this name, “ axe and saw” ; also God’ s intimating the uselessness of all boasting, “ as if it were no wood” ; and God’ s threatening to teach the axe and saw their real position; and you will take this lesson--if we do not make God of infinitely more consequence than man, He will make us feel how much lower than man His curse can sink us; and then, when like Nebuchadnezzar, we feel less and lower than man, we may, in this severe school, “ learn to praise, and extol, and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and all whose ways are judgment, and who is able to abase those that walk in pride.” (S. Martin.)Proud boastings not overlooked by God God keeps an account of all men’ s proud and haughty words, with which they set heaven and earth at defiance. They that speak great and swelling words of vanity shall hear of them again. (Matthew Henry.)Absurd brag Oh what a dust do I maker said the fly upon the cart wheel, in the fable. What destruction do I make among the trees! saith the axe. (Matthew Henry.)God to be honoured Bengel, when a tutor, addressing a letter to an old pupil, said, “ Either refrain, dear Reuss, from writing to me, or do not apply to me such superlative expressions. I should quietly, like a fond father, place it all to the account of your love, were I not afraid that my allowing it will bring upon me a heavy responsibility. For the same reason I wish it were not said here at daily prayers ‘ our most reverend tutors.’ I believe that if Herod had been displeased with the acclamation, ‘ It is the voice of a god and not of man,’ he would not have been struck dead in such a horrible manner. God’ s honour is an awfully tender thing, and may be injured before we are aware.” Napoleon Bonaparte’ s presumption When Bonaparte was about to invade Russia, a person who had endeavoured to dissuade him from his purpose, finding he could not prevail, quoted to him the proverb, “ Man proposes, but God disposes” ; to which he indignantly replied, “ I dispose as well as propose.” A Christian lady, on hearing the impious boast, remarked, I set that down as the turning point of Bonaparte’ s fortunes. God will not suffer a creature with impunity thus to usurp His prerogative. It happened to Bonaparte just as the lady predicted. His invasion of Russia was the commencement of his fall. (J. Whitecross.) Isaiah 10:17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire The light of Israel A name of Jehovah, who was represented by the Shekinah glory. (B. Blake, B. D.)The collapse of the Assyrian enterprise Isaiah’ s genius supplies him with a splendid figure under which to depict the collapse of the Assyrian enterprise. The serried battalions of Assyria appear to his imagination as the trees of some huge forest, irresistible in their strength and countless in their number; but the Light of Israel kindles majestically into a flame; and at the end of a single day a child may count them. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.) Isaiah 10:18 They shall be as when a standard bearer fainteth A different rendering “ As the pining away of a sick man,” better suits a connection in which there is no reference to battle. Assyria shall be utterly consumed. Thorns and thistles, lordly woods and fruitful fields shall alike perish; or, if any remain, they shall waste away as a man smitten by an incurable disease. (Talbot W. Chambers, D. D.)The Christian standard bearer Let me endeavour to present to you one or two features by which a leader in the Christian army ought to be distinguished. I. THERE MUST BE FIXED AND STRONG . The man who is to bear the standard in any army must be devotedly attached to the cause for which the army is contending. The man who is to be a guide and leader in the Christian Church ought certainly to have very definite convictions as to what Christianity is, and as to what the Church is. There are other qualities which may be of eminent service to him--a capacity to take a broad view of all questions, a ready sympathy with all who are struggling after truth, though they may be at present in darkness. II. THE SECOND OF A BEARER IS COURAGE. A true standard bearer may be described in a single epithet, taken from one of the prophets, as “ valiant for the truth.” That means that truth is his law. Truth is not with him a thing to be toyed with. It is not so much his possession, but rather he is possessed by the truth; it has laid hold of his reason, enthralled his affections, quickened and inspired his conscience. III. THERE IS A STILL HIGHER ELEMENT, A STILL NOBLER, FORCE BY WHICH THE BEARER IN THE ARMY IS AND , AND THAT IS TO CHRIST. Christ is to him the truth, and Christ only is his law. The most illustrious of the standard bearers of the Christian army, I suppose it would be universally confessed, was the apostle of the Gentiles; and if we study his life and character, we shall perhaps arrive at the best and truest conception of an ideal leader in the Christian army. (J. G. Rogers, B. A.)A standard bearer In a sermon on the death of the Rev. G.M. Murphy preached by the Rev. P.J. Turquand, Mr. Turquand said: He carried-- 1. The standard of the Cross. 2. The standard of temperance. 3. The standard of education. 4. The standard of justice. (Christian World Pulpit.) Isaiah 10:20-23 The remnant shall return “ A remnant shall turn” (Isaiah 10:21):--Thus shall be fulfilled the prophecy embodied in the name of Isaiah’ s son, Shear-jashub. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)A happy conversion Consider-- I. WHAT IS SAID OF THEIR FORMER ERROR. When it is said that they “ shall no more stay upon him that smote them,” it surely implies that they had done this before: this was their error. 1. They had exercised an improper dependence. 2. Their dependence had been disappointed. 3. Their folly was to be corrected by their Sovereign. II. WHAT IS SAID OF THEIR RENEWED . “ Shall stay upon the Lord,” etc. 1. It is an enlightened confidence. It is foolish to trust without inquiry, and to refuse to trust the trustworthy. 2. Their confidence is very extensive. It covers all times; all events that can awaken our anxiety; all that appertains to life and godliness, etc. 3. It is a blessed confidence. III. THE REALITY OF THEIR CHANGE. “ In truth.” That is the important thing. This confidence is distinguishable-- 1. From mere pretensions. 2. From imaginary confidence. (W. Jay.)Adversity may reach the hard heart The four seasons once determined to try which could quickest reach the heart of a stone. Spring coaxed the stone with its gentle breezes, and made flowers encircle it, and trees to shoot out their branches and embower it, but all to no purpose. The stone remained indifferent to the beauties of the spring, nor would it yield its heart to its gentle caresses. Summer came next, and caused the sun to shine on the stone, hoping to melt its obdurate heart; but though the surface of the stone grew warm it quickly became cold again when not under the influence of the summer sun’ s rays. Summer thus being unable by any degree of warmth to penetrate the flinty nature of the stone, gave place to autumn. Believing that the stone had been treated with too much kindness, the autumn withered the flowers and stripped the trees of their leaves and threatened and blustered; but still the stone remained impassive. Winter came next. First it sent strong winds which laid the stone bare; then it sent a cold rain, and next a sharp frost, which cleaved the stone and laid hare its heart. So many a heart which neither gentleness, warmth, nor threats can touch is reached by adversity. (Nye’s Anecdote.)God’ s two-fold work on Judah The prophet had said (Isaiah 10:12), that “ the Lord would perform His whole work upon Mount Zion and upon Jerusalem,” by Sennacherib’ s invading the land. Now here we are told what that work should be, a two-fold work-- I. THE OF SOME, to whom this providence should be sanctified, and yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness, though for the present it was not joyous but grievous. This remnant of Israel is said to be such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, such as escaped the corruptions of the house of Jacob, and kept their integrity in times of common apostasy. Therefore they escape the desolations of that house. 1. This remnant shall come off from all confidence in an arm of flesh; this providence shall cure them of that; they “ shall no more again stay upon him that smote them.” “ Sufferings teach caution.” They have learned, by dear-bought experience, the folly of leaning upon that staff as a stay to them which my perhaps prove a staff to beat them (Hosea 14:3). 2. They shall come home to God, to the Mighty God, one of the names given to the Messiah (Isaiah 9:6), to the Holy One of Israel. They shall return to God and shall stay upon Him. Those only may with comfort stay upon God that return to Him. II. THE OF OTHERS. They shall be wasted away by this general decay in the midst of the land. Observe-- 1. It is a consumption of God’ s own making. 2. It is decreed, not the product of a sudden resolve. It is particularly appointed how far it shall extend, how long it shall continue, who shall be consumed by it and who not. 3. It is an overflowing consumption, that shall overspread the land, and like a mighty torrent or inundation, bear down all before it. 4. Though it overflows, it is not at random, but in righteousness. (Matthew Henry.)The remnants of society Did you ever ponder the disintegrations that are going on in human society? The number of those who fall out of the ranks of society is infinitely greater than the number of those who ever fell out of any army that was gathered on the field of battle. We usually take statistics of the prosperous men in society. But who stands to take an accurate account of all the weak? Who cares for the remnants of society? God does. Let us look at some of these remnants. 1. Those who are broken in health, and are utterly turned away, by that reason, from all that they sought. They count as ciphers. The only thing they seem to be good for is to serve as memorials of a mother’ s patience, of a sister’ s goodness, or of a wife’ s fidelity. How many men are like a man-of-war, that is staunchly built of the best material, but that on its first voyage is so handled by the winds and waves that it becomes unmanageable, and makes haste to come to port again, and anchors at the navy yard, and is an old receiving hulk for the rest of its days! 2. Then, how many remnants there are in society on account of the misapplication of their powers and their utter failure therefrom. How many second and third-rate men there are who undertake to perform functions which require the exercise of the faculties in their best estate. 3. Then there are remnants from the overtaxing of men who are adapted to their work, but have not the endurance which their circumstances require. There are some men who, when they break down, are like those who ride in low waggons, and who if the waggon breaks do not fall far, but can get up and mend it, and go on; but there are other men who when they break down are like those who cross a dark chasm on a high bridge, and who, if the bridge break, fall a great distance into the stream below, and have no power to get backs, and repair the damage and proceed on their journey. 4. A great many more persons break down from a secret mismanagement of themselves. I see men who use more wind to waft a cookie boat across a pond than would be required to carry a man-of-war across the sea. 5. Besides these, who are perpetually breaking down and falling in the rear, are those who violate the laws of society; who are detected, and convicted, and branded with shame. I think the most piteous thing in the world is to see a man, no worse than we are, who, under the influence of company, or through temptation, has committed s great wrong, and has been branded by society. His life is not worth anything after that. For the laws of society are like the laws of a fort, which when a man is inside defend him against all attack, but which when he is outside open all the artillery of the fort upon him if he attempts to get back. Many men have a conscience under a prison jacket. God judges with the justice of love, and not with the injustice of hatred. To all those who are cast down and suffering, I say, There is a God that is sorry for you. Beware, then, of desperation. If you have failed for this life, do not fail for the other too. There is very much that my yet be done, even in the afternoon and twilight of men’ s lives, if they are hopeful and active. (H. W. Beecher.)Remnants Think a moment of what is meant by “ a remnant.” It does not mean simply a few; neither does it mean merely the last things; though it includes both of these ideas. When one has cut out a garment from a web of cloth there is a selvedge, there ate the side pieces, of curious shapes, and there is at last the tail piece--a little hit left. The main and best parts have been taken out and used. Although they are of as good substance as the rest, there are these edges, the intermediate bits, and the final remaining part; and all these are called “ the remnants.” They are not exactly waste, but they are parts that are left over after the good has been principally taken out. Out of no carpenter’ s shop does the timber ever come as large as it went in. The chips, the shavings, the slabs, the edges, the intermediate pieces--they are the remnants of the carpenter’ s work--the parts which have not been used up for commercial objects. Look in upon a household after all the children have been fed, after all the servants have eaten, and the table is cleared off, and see what is left. See the hones; the gristle; the scraps of meat that are stringy and not easily chewed; the bits of potato; the pieces of confection; the heap of fragments. These are the remnants of the meals. Look at the remnant in the harvest--all those stray stalks of wheat in the blackberry edges of the uncomely farm; all those that have fallen by the way; the gleanings; the refuse of the field. So, in all the phases of society--in the army, in the navy, in business circles, in the household, everywhere--there is a remnant constantly coming up. It is the portion which is left after the better or more favoured has been culled out and used. (H. W. Beecher.)Society’ s treatment of the weak Who thinks of the poor and fallen? Society! The most bungling work society ever does in this world, it does when it attempts to be merciful Society is a machine, at best of patches and expedients. When men fall out of their places, and need to be tenderly dealt with, then the hands of society are clumsier to deal with than a lout’ s, a yeoman’ s hand, in the field, is clumsy to take care of the newborn babe. (H. W.Beecher.) Isaiah 10:24-34O My people, that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian Forbidden fear It is against the mind and will of God that His people, whatever happens, should give way to that fear which has torment and amazement. They that dwell in Zion, where God dwells, and where His people attend Him, and are employed in His service, that are under the protection of the bulwarks that are round about Zion, need not be afraid of any enemy. Let their souls dwell at ease in God. 1. The Assyrian shall do nothing against them but what God hath appointed and determined. “ He shall smite thee” by the Divine permission, but it shall be only with a rod to correct thee, not with a sword to wound and kill. Nay, “ he shall but lift up his staff against thee,” threaten thee and frighten thee, and shake the rod at thee, “ after the manner of Egypt,” as the Egyptians shook their staff against your fathers at the Red Sea, when they said, “ We will pursue, we will overtake,” but could not reach to do them any hurt. We should not be frightened at those enemies that can do no more than frighten us. 2. The storm will soon blow over (Isaiah 10:25). God’ s anger against His people is but for a moment; and when that ceaseth, and is turned away from us, we need not fear the fury of any man, for it is impotent passion. 3. The enemy that threatens them shall himself be reckoned with. The rod with which He corrected His people shall not only be laid aside, but thrown into the fire. The prophet, for the encouragement of God’ s people, quotes precedents; and puts them in mind of what God had done formerly against the enemies of His Church that were very strong and formidable, but were brought to ruin. It is good to observe a resemblance between God’ s latter and former appearances for His people, and against His and their enemies. 4. They shall be wholly delivered from the power of the Assyrian, and from the fear of it (Isaiah 10:27). (M. Henry.) Isaiah 10:26 According to the slaughter of Midian Assyria and Midian 1. As the hand of God was seen in the slaughter of the Midianites, so it was in the slaughter of the Assyrians. 2. As the Midianites were slain without loss of any of the Israelites, so were the Assyrians without any loss of the men of Judah. 3. As the whole army of the Midianites was overthrown, so was the whole army of the Assyrians. 4. As the Midianites were overthrown on a sudden, when their thoughts mind at the highest, so was the whole army of the Assyrians. (W. Day, M. A.) Isaiah 10:27-34 His burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder A picturesque representation of the invasion of Judah (Isaiah 10:28-34):--The description here given, when looked at aesthetically, is one of the most picturesque and magnificent representations that human poetry has ever produced. “ He comes upon Ayyath, marches through Migron, in Michmash he leaves his baggage. They march right across the ravine;--let Geba be our night quarters! Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul flees; scream loud, O daughter of Gallim! O only listen, Laysha! Poor Anathoth! Hurries Madmena, the inhabitants of Gebim rescue. Today he still makes a halt in Nob,--swings his hand over the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. Behold, the All-Lord, Jehovah of hosts, lops down the branches with terrible force, and those of towering growth are hewn down, and the lofty are laid low. And He fells the thickets of the forest with the iron; and Lebanon, by a majestic One it falls.” (F. Delitzsch.)The actualities of faith The prophetic confidence in a Divine must be leads to the description of it as an actuality. Faith sees not the difficulties that reason emphasises; but laughs at impossibilities, saying, “ It shall be done.” (B. Blake, B. D.)God’ s providence critical and retributive This is the providence, then, under which we live. Facts prove it. We are under law and criticism of a moral kind: our conduct is examined, our motives are inquired into and pronounced upon by the just One; every morning is as a white throne set in the heavens; every noonday is as an eye of fire watching the ways of men; every night is a pavilion of rest, or an image of despair. The axe of heaven is lifted up against all the thick trees that suppose themselves to be independent of God. All moral loveliness is cherished as the pearl greater in value than all others. This is the economy under which we live! We are not left without law, judgment, supervision, criticism; every one of us must give an account of himself to God. “ Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing.” If for a few years we grow towards strength, we soon turn the growing point, and go down into old age and weakness, that we may know ourselves to be but men. Life is a great triumph up to middle age, because the man may be always wen; he may grow in strength and in prosperity, and he may represent himself as a successful fowler; but after that grey hairs are here and there upon him, and he knoweth it not, and presently men may say as he passes by, He stoops a little more; his memory will begin to be a little blurred and clouded, and though he can keep good reckoning, yet he must trust to paper more than he ever trusted before. If we plant vineyards and forests, and subdue wildernesses by generous culture, we die whilst we gaze on our success, and are buried under the very flowers which have rewarded our toil. This is the economy under which the nations have ever lived, and under which every little life works out its little day. (J. Parker, D. D.). Isaiah 11:1-16 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse A prophecy concerning Messiah the Prince I. HIS RISE OUT OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID (Isaiah 11:1). II. HIS FOR HIS GREAT (Isaiah 11:2-3). III. THE JUSTICE AND EQUITY OF HIS (Isaiah 11:3-5). IV. THE OF HIS KINGDOM (Isaiah 11:6-9). V. THE OF THE TO IT (Isaiah 11:10). VI. And with them THE REMNANT OF THE JEWS that should be united with them in the Messiah’ s kingdom (Isaiah 11:11-16). (M. Henry.)The picture of the future The picture of the future which fills the eleventh chapter is one of the most extensive that Isaiah has drawn. Three prospects are unfolded in it. I. A OF MIND (verses 2-5). The geography of a royal mind in its stretches of character, knowledge, and achievement. II. A OF NATURE (verses 6-9). A vision of the restitution of nature--Paradise regained. III. A OF HISTORY (verses 9-16). The geography of Israel’ s redemption. To this third prospect chapter 12. forms a fitting conclusion, a hymn of praise in the mouth of returning exiles. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Three great ideals 1. The perfect indwelling of our humanity by the Spirit of God. 2. The peace and communion of all nature, covered with the knowledge of God. 3. The traversing of all history by the Divine purposes of redemption. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Assyria and Israel: a contrast We should connect the opening of the eleventh chapter with the close of the tenth in order to feel the full force of the contrast. There we read: “ And He shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty One.” Then comes the prophecy that “ there shall come forth a rod,” etc. The cedar of Lebanon was the symbol of Assyrian power. It was a poor symbol. Looked at botanically, it very vividly represented the passing pomp of a pagan empire. It is of the pine genus, and sends out no suckers, and when it is cut down it is gone. The oak is the symbol of Israel’ s power, and though it be cut down it grows again--“ there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots” --out of the very lowest stump that is left in the ground. (J. Parker, D. D.)Eternal youthfulness What is the symbol of our power? Is ours an influence that can be cut down and never revive? or are we so rooted in the Eternal that though persecution may impoverish us, and we may suffer great deprivation and depletion of every kind, yet we shall come up again in eternal youthfulness? (J. Parker, D. D.)Prophecy: a very good transition It is a very good transition in prophecy (whether it be so in rhetoric or no) and a very common one, to pass from the prediction of the temporal deliverances of the Church to that of the great salvation, which, in the fulness of time, should be wrought out by Jesus Christ, of which the others were types and figures. (M. Henry.)The Branch The word translated “ Branch” is in the Hebrew Netser. The word is said to be derived from a root which means “ bright” or “ verdant.” And this agrees with the character of the valley in which the town of Netzer or Natsoreth (Nazareth) stands. “ The bushes and aromatic shrubs, and especially the brilliant wild flowers, take away from the bleakness of the landscape.” It is from this title, then, Netser or the Branch, that St. Matthew quotes when he says, “ He shall be called a Nazarene” Matthew 2:23). (Expository Times.)The rod out of the stem of Jesse Let us go back to the humblest point, the very starting line, and learn that this Son of God was not the son of a king only, but the son of a king’ s lowly father. Christianity is the religion of the common people. The Gospel appeals to all men, rich and poor, in every zone and clime, and is most to those who need it most. (J. Parker, D. D.)Christ the fruitful Branch “ A shoot out of its roots brings fruit.” The sprout shooting out below the soil becomes a tree, and this tree gets a crown with fruits; and thus a state of exaltation and completion follows the state of humiliation. (F. Delitzsch.)The qualifications of Christ for His mediatorial office I. The first verse of the text foretells THE BIRTH AND FAMILY OF THE MESSIAH. The Messiah was to be born of the house of David, the son of Jesse. But why is Jesse mentioned here, rather than David, his more illustrious son? Partly to point out the birthplace of the Messiah. Jesse appears always to have lived at Bethlehem, and was known as the Bethlehemite; whereas, David resided the greater part of his life at Hebron and Jerusalem. Jesse was in a more humble rank of life than Jesse’ s son; and so Jesus, though superior to David, as a royal king, being David’ s Lord, as well as David’ s son, yet, in the actual circumstances of His life, was nearer to the humble rank of Jesse than the royal state of David. It was also out of the stem of Jesse that the rod was to come forth--from a stem where there was nothing but stem and root remaining; not out of a noble tree, with its wide-spreading branches. “ And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” It is intimated here, and elsewhere more clearly foretold, that the Branch should spring from the family of Jesse, when it was in lowly circumstances, at a time when the house of David should be much reduced, and that slender expectations should be formed of it at first, but that in process of time it should grow into a beautiful and glorious Branch. How exactly all this describes the birth and lineage of Jesus Christ. Yet was ever branch so glorious in its increase? What noble fruits have hung on that Branch l What Churches have clustered around it! II. HIS FULL FOR HIS OFFICE, as described in this prediction (Isaiah 11:2). “ The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him.” On Him was poured the unction of the Holy One in all its fulness. But, remember, the Spirit of the Lord rested on Him in His office of Mediator. Now, this is a public office, an office which Jesus sustains for the benefit of His people; and therefore the Spirit of the Lord rests upon Him for His people. 1. “ The spirit of wisdom.” He had wisdom in full measure. He must have had a perfect comprehension of God in His nature, qualities, attributes, works, and Ways; He must have had a thorough understanding of the only method by which wretched man could be saved; He must have known what was in the mind of man, for He answered the Pharisees and Sadducees, and knew the difficulties and doubts of His disciples, even before they gave them utterance in words. How wise were all His provisions for His Church! How wise to win souls was Jesus Christ! And remember He has wisdom for you. 2. “ The spirit of understanding.” This is enlarged on in the following verse. The Saviour had a quickness in understanding what might be for the glory or dishonour of His heavenly Father. No tinsel could hide from Him the foul deformity of sin; no hypocrisy could yell from Him the pride and corruption of the Pharisee. When Satan came with his temptations, and baited his snare with all the kingdoms of the world in all their glory, Christ instantly understood the deceit, and, “ Get thee hence, Satan,” was His indignant language. 3. “ The spirit of counsel.” “ This,” says our prophet, “ is the name whereby He shall be called, Wonderful Counsellor.” Christ is able to give the wisest counsel in the kindest manner. He has advice suited to every case. He counsels the sinner. He says to the Church in a Laodicean state, “ I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich.” He counsels the Christian warrior how to maintain the fight against sin with persevering faith. 4. “ The spirit of might.” He is a Lamb in meekness; He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah in strength. His work required a very undaunted spirit, and He never quaked with fear, nor trembled with alarm. And He has the spirit of might for you also. 5. “ The spirit of knowledge.” In Christ dwells all knowledge--the knowledge of Jehovah, His heavenly Father, of His holy will, His righteous claims, the blessedness of knowing God as Father. And this same knowledge of His Father He is able to impart to you. 6. “ And of the fear of the Lord.” “ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” and it is also one of the highest attainments of wisdom, and one of the best effects of the Holy Spirit on the heart. (J. Hambleton, M. A.)The kingdom of Christ We may well study this picture of the Messiah’ s reign on earth, drawn by a Divine hand and painted with unfading colours, because through it we see, as we cannot otherwise, what we are daily praying for. History does not fully interpret prophecy for us. If we knew just the changes in the nations before the fulness of the times comes, if we could be assured where and when and how Jesus would reign in an earthly way among men, still we should not have what the vision of Isaiah furnishes us. He saw nothing of this. And what did he see? First of all a mighty forest, whose tall trees sent their roots down deep into the earth, and whose branches east wide shadows. These were the proud nations that were oppressing Israel, and seemed strong enough to stand forever. But they were to lose their glory. Among them there was a stump, sending up from its decay and humiliation a small, tender, but vigorous shoot. This was the ancient but fallen house of David; and the green shoot coming up was only in fulfilment of the old covenant that there should always be one to sit on David’ s throne. As we look, through the seer’ s vision, we see the young tree dissolve into the form of a Man, a Man on whom the Holy Spirit rests with seven-fold gifts of wisdom and knowledge and counsel and might and understanding in the fear of the Lord. This Man is full of righteousness, and His robes are girdled with righteousness as He sits and judges among the people. And again, as we gaze, we see that the Man dissolves into a mountain--the mountain of the Lord which shall be established in the top of the mountains in the last days. This mountain is full of peace and security. Once more, as if to express in a sentence the whole thought and hope of the prophet, we see the whole earth filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Interpreting this vision there are two truths that may well be dwelt upon. I. THE CHIEF FACT ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST IS CHRIST HIMSELF, WHO MAKES HIS KINGDOM BY IN THE HEARTS OF MEN. II. HIS REIGN IS LIKE THE REIGN OF THE LITTLE CHILD IN THE MIDST OF THE ANIMALS THAT HATE AND DEVOUR ONE ANOTHER. It is a reign of childlikeness and innocence, the power of weakness and purity over brute force. (E. N. Packard.)The kingdom of Christ in the world is only the presence of Christ in the world The kingdom of Christ in the world is only the presence of Christ in the world, repeating His acts of mercy and love, uttering His eternal truths, scorching hypocrisy and error with the breath of His mouth, changing unruly wills ever into docile ones, cleansing and making glad everything everywhere. There is no reign of Christ of which we can form any idea but this. When men are holy, through His indwelling among them, that is Christ’ s reign. Let us forget the scenic and dramatic elements in millennial glories and simply think of the kingdom as being the presence of the King. Here we see the difference between His reign and that of any earthly monarch who can transmit his power to his son and he to his posterity, and so, with precedent and law and tradition, there may be some approach to security and peace Frederick the Great dies, but his empire goes on and holds him in memory. But Christ has no successors, and there is no royal family save that which is made from all who are named after His name. Christ must be as truly among men at one age as another, and where He is not a living and controlling presence there is nothing but a name. What we call Christianity--the sum total of the influences that emanate from Christ and touch the complex life of man--has no inherent vitality of its own. It cannot abide upon traditions of One who founded it ages ago. Christ’ s perpetual presence alone makes Christianity possible. The same is true of the Church. (E. N. Packard.)Messiah’ s reign I. THE PERSON. II. THE . III. THE KINGDOM of Messiah. (D. Brown, D. D.)The stem from the rod of Jesse That this refers to the Lord Jesus is undoubted. I. HIS DESCENT. Three ideas seem to be involved. 1. Meanness or obscurity. 2. Progression. How decayed soever the tree might appear, yet a Branch was to shoot and grow up out of its roots. For a time, the growth was far from being rapid, but at length it appeared as a Plant of everlasting renown, a Secret and mysterious operation. The metaphor is taken from vegetation, that process of the wonder-working God which none can explain, yet the existence of which none can dispute. II. HIS AND . 1. Their nature (Isaiah 11:2). They were-- (1) Diversified in their character. (2) Unlimited in their range. The Spirit was imparted to Him without measure. (3) Continuous in their possession. “ The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him.” 2. The purposes for which them endowments were conferred. (1) That He might discriminate the characters of men. “ And shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord,” etc. (2) To defend the cause of the oppressed. “ But with righteousness shall He judge the poor,” etc. (3) To punish the workers of iniquity. “ And He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth,” etc. III. THE BLESSED STATE OF THINGS WHICH WILL BE UNDER HIS . We dare not lose eight of the truth, that He is mighty to destroy; but how encouraging is it to remember, that He who speaks and acts in righteousness is also mighty to save. And the concluding portion of this prophecy shows in how signal a manner His saving power will be exerted. 1. The condition described. “ The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,” etc. We have here two leading ideas. (1) Peace and harmony. (2) Security. 2. In order thereto the most marvellous transformations will be effected. 3. The means of this transformation will be the universal diffusion of Divine knowledge (Isaiah 11:9). Conclusion-- 1. Let us pray that the Redeemer’ s kingdom may come. 2. To us, personally, the great thing is to possess the knowledge of the Lord ourselves. (Anon.) Isaiah 11:2-5 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him The Spirit of the Lord ηψιρ is the Divine Spirit as the bearer of the whole fulness Divine powers. Then follow in three pairs the six spirits comprehended by δψεδ, the first pair of which relate to the intellectual life, the second to the practical life, and the third to the direct relationship to God. (F. Delitzsch.)The Spirit of God The Spirit of God is absolutely the heart of all; it corresponds to the shaft of the seven-flamed candlestick, and the three pairs to the arms that stretched out from it. (F. Delitzsch.)The great Preacher Here it is distinctly prophesied that our Saviour, when He should come into the world, would be peculiarly endowed by the Holy Spirit, with wisdom, discernment, and might in speech, such as should make Him a remarkable preacher. I. WHAT A MASTER JESUS WAS OF REAL . Of course I do not refer to the petty arts and studied rules of the professional orator and actor. He needed none of these to aid Him; He was infinitely above them all. His whole demeanour was perfectly simple and natural, though earnest, discriminating, and impressive, as the pure love and complete appreciation of truth could make one. Aside from earnestness and naturalness, His great power of eloquence consisted-- 1. In the clearness and completeness of His views. 2. In His perfect command, through language, of all the powers and passions of the human soul II. HOW PLAINLY AND OUR SAVIOUR THE GREAT OR FACTS OF THE GOSPEL SYSTEM. III. THE MANNER AND AMAZING POWER OF THE SAVIOUR’ S . (E. P. Marvin.)The Spirit of Whitsuntide This is Isaiah’ s description of the Spirit of Whitsuntide; the royal Spirit which was to descend, and did descend without measure, on the ideal and perfect King. Let us consider what that Spirit is. 1. He is the Spirit of love. God is love; and He is the Spirit of God. 2. He is the Spirit of wisdom. Now, is the spirit of wisdom the same as the spirit of love? (1) Sound theology, which is the highest reason, tells us that it must be so. To suppose that God’ s wisdom and God’ s love, or that God’ s justice and God’ s love, are different from each other, or limit each other, or oppose each other, or are anything but one and the same eternally, is to divide God’ s substance; to deny that God is one. (2) But more; experience will show us that the spirit of love is the same as the spirit of wisdom; that if any man wishes to be truly wise and prudent, his only way is to be loving and charitable. The experience of the apostles proves it. They had the most enormous practical success that men ever had. They, twelve poor men, set out to convert mankind by loving them: and they succeeded. Remember, moreover, that the text speaks of this Spirit of the Lord being given to One who was to be a King, a Ruler, a Guide, and a Judge of men; who was to exercise influence over men for their good. This prophecy was fulfilled first in the King of kings, our Lord Jesus Christ: but it was fulfilled also in His apostles, who were, in their own way and measure, kings of men, exercising a vast influence over them. And how? By the royal Spirit of love. Our own experience will be the same as the apostles’ experience. If we do not understand our fellow creatures we shall never love them. But it is equally true that if we do not love them we shall never understand them. 3. Next, this royal Spirit is described as the “ spirit of counsel and might,” i.e., the spirit of prudence and practical power the spirit which sees how to deal with human beings, and has the practical power of making them obey. Now that power, again, can only be got by loving human beings. My experience is this: that whensoever in my past life I have been angry and scornful, I have said or done an unwise thing, I have more or less injured my own cause; weakened my own influence on my fellow men; repelled them instead of attracting them. 4. And next: this Spirit is “ the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord.” They both begin and end in love. (1) If you wish for knowledge, you must begin by loving knowledge for its own sake. And the more knowledge you gain, the more you will long to know. And if this be true of things earthly and temporary, how much more of things heavenly and eternal? We must begin by loving whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, honest, and of good report. We must begin by loving them with a sort of child’ s love, without understanding them. But as we go on, as St. Paul bids us, to meditate on them; and “ if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, to think on such things,” and feed our minds daily with purifying, elevating, sobering, humanising, enlightening thoughts: then we shall get to love goodness with “ a reasonable and manly love,” to see the beauty of holiness; the strength of self-sacrifice; the glory of justice; the divineness of love; and in a word--to love God for His own sake, and to give Him thanks for His great glory, which is: that He is a good God. (2) This Spirit is also the “ spirit of the fear of the Lord.” That, too, must be a spirit of love not only to God, but to our fellow creatures. For if we but consider that God the Father loves all; that His mercy is over all His works; and that He hateth nothing that He has made: then, how dare we hate anything that He has made, as long as we have any rational fear of Him, awe and respect for Him, true faith in His infinite majesty and power? If we but consider that God the Son actually came down on earth to die, and to die, too, on the Cross, for all mankind: then, how dare we hate a human being for whom He died! (C. Kingsley, M. A.)Gifts of the Spirit from Christ to His Church It was as Head of His Church that the Spirit was shed forth upon Him, and from Him descends upon His members. If we would, then, know what are the graces we are to expect of this kind, we must inquire what our Lord received. I. THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT UPON CHRIST, FITTING HIM FOR HIS OFFICE. Three several branches of grace seem intended: wisdom, might, intelligent devotion to God’ s Word. II. HOW THE GRACES OF FLOW FROM CHRIST TO HIS PEOPLE. 1. They first descended on the apostles when, assembled at Jerusalem, they waited for the promise of the Father. 2. These gifts were not confined to the apostles. Multitudes, through their preaching, were turned from the idolatry of the Gentiles or the superstition of the Jews to serve the living God; and on them, too, the Spirit was bestowed. 3. Neither are these rich streams exhausted. The Saviour still bestows with liberal hand the spiritual influences we need. (J. Ayre, M. A.)The Spirit of the Lord has always been in human history It accounts for all heroisms, noble darings, self-sacrifices, for all labours meant, not for the blessedness of the labourer himself, but for the gratification and progress of other ages. (J. Parker, D. D.)Spiritual endowments for earthly rulers Modern expositors have often restricted this gracious description of royal enrichment to the ideal King of Israel, the coming Messiah. This application is, no doubt, its ultimate designation, but there is more than sufficient evidence to warrant the discrimination of mediaeval teachers, who boldly selected this heroic passage concerning the seven Spirits of God as a perfect epitome of the gifts that might be rightly claimed for those, and by those, who are Divinely called to wear an earthly crown, and to rule in temporal affairs. Dean Plumptre has suggested that these verses may well represent the programme which Isaiah himself set before his pupil, Hezekiah, on his accession to the throne, which his weak predecessor had suffered to degenerate into a vantage ground for abuse of justice and laxity of morals such as had deteriorated the faith and moral fibre of his people. And, as Dr. George Adam Smith points out, in the theology, art, and worship of the Middle Ages, this text was constantly and consistently associated with the assumption of royal responsibilities, and with the judicial administration of magistrates. It was known as “ the mirror for magistrates,” and was commonly employed at the coronation of kings and the fencing of tribunals of justice. “ What Isaiah wrote for Hezekiah of Judah became the official prayer, song or ensample of the earliest Christian kings in Europe. It is evidently the model of that royal hymn--not by Charlemagne, as is usually supposed, but by his grandson, Charles the Bald--the Veni Creator Spiritus.” So deeply did this sense of the need and privilege of the gifts of the Spirit for the ruling class pervade the life of the times that Henry III’ s order of knighthood, “ Du Saint Esprit,” was restricted to political men, and particularly to magistrates. (F. Platt, B. D.)Coronation gifts We may, there fore, claim abundant precedent in using the text to correct two perilous tendencies in the national and religious thought of our own day--one brought about by a mistake made by men of the world in the affairs of State, and the other the result of a misapprehension by men of God in the affairs of the Spirit. 1. The first tendency, which is to depreciate the operation of the Spirit of God in civic life and duty, may be illustrated by a simple fact. In the Speech from the throne, at the opening of Queen Victoria’ s last Parliament, the customary reference at the close to the blessing of Almighty God upon the labours of her faithful Commons was omitted. It was afterwards explained by a responsible Minister of the Crown that the omission was accidental, but the omission marks nevertheless a tendency. The recognition of the Divine in political life has become formal. Its symbols linger, but it is assumed that thoughtful men smile at them and lay the burthen of their survival upon the substantial emoluments of office, or upon the popular love of the spectacular symbols of dignity. In depreciating the “ Divine right” of kings, have we diminished the assurance, “ By Me kings reign and princes decree justice” ? Do the splendours of a coronation impress us more than its solemnities! Does the sense of widening empire attract us more than a growing sensitiveness to the supremacy of spiritual obligation! Are we more responsive in national movements to the solicitations of sensual excitement than to the inward suggestions of the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord! It was in the midst of social and political conditions strangely analogous to our own that Isaiah set forth his inspired conception of the spiritual qualifications of true kingship amongst men. 2. Between the tendency to depreciate the place of the Divine in national life, and the further tendency in religious thought to limit the sphere of the activities of the Spirit of God unduly to what are termed spiritual as opposed to temporal affairs, there is an inner correspondence that is very significant. There is a mode, popular amongst the religious, of speaking of the work of the Spirit of God as “ supernatural,” and as thus excluding processes known as natural or rational, that is distinctly perilous. This distinction implies that we may feel and know the presence of the Spirit of God at the Keswick Convention, but fails to expect His influence in the Convention at Bloemfontein. It asserts His inspiration in Holy Scripture, but has no sure place for His control or suggestion in the leading articles of the “ secular” press. His gifts may be possessed by the “ spiritually minded,” but the man immersed in political affairs thinks and toils in quite another sphere. His presence is invoked at the councils of the Church, but at the councils of industry it is regarded as a negligible quality. In the problems of the soul His guidance as the Spirit of truth may be consciously expected, but in the problems of science men must follow the light of nature. It was against a similar conception in his time that Isaiah’ s declaration of the Spirit’ s seven-fold gifts was announced. Israel had made the fatal distinction between secular and sacred that is at the root of so much of our own disregard of God. We do not wonder that with national emergencies and necessities such as these pressing upon him, Isaiah reveals the source and strength of political sagacity and regal authority as dwelling with these august prerogatives of the Spirit of the Lord that are prevailingly intellectual, “ the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.” They display a marvellous coordination of the intellectual and practical life with the sense of the direct relation of the life to God. They cannot be too closely studied and applied as the Divine provision for the governing and political mind, and the scientific temper of our own day. “‘ Wisdom’ is the power of discerning the nature of things through the appearance; ‘ understanding’ the power of discerning the difference of things in their appearance; ‘ counsel’ is the gift of forming right conclusions, and might’ the ability to carry them through with energy. ‘ The knowledge of the Lord’ is knowledge founded on the fellowship of love; and ‘ the fear of the Lord’ is fear absorbed in reverence.” These are the hidden springs of the genius for statesmanship. The Spirit is the true historic glory of royalty, and the secret of citizenship in all abiding developments of popular liberties and imperial expansion; and to accept any statute of limitations in the opulence of His energies in national life is as fatal to permanence as to progress. (F. Platt, B. D.)The Spirit of God in patriotism and judicial administration True patriotism is an inspiring variation of the work of the Spirit of God. Judicial administration is a part of religious life and faith. “ The Lord of hosts is for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.” (F. Platt, B. D.)The hallowing of the secular life Whilst we are heedful of the richer revelation of the grace of the Holy Spirit disclosed in the New Testament, the Old Testament interpretation of His gifts is of essential importance. This may be summed up generally as the hallowing of the secular life, the fertilising contact of the Spirit of God with matter and mind in their organisation in nature and in human society. Joseph as an administrator is recognised as His product--“ a man in whom the Spirit of God is.” It was the equipment of Moses’ colleagues in the judicature, “ God took of the Spirit which was upon him and gave it unto them.” Of Bezaleel and his weavers and craftsmen the record runs, “ I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom and understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship to devise cunning work.” Samson’ s might was the Spirit of the Lord, and “ the Spirit of the Lord clothed itself with Gideon” for the prowess of his great military enterprise. The story of the coronation of Saul, Israel’ s earliest king, is the progressive history of the movements and endowments of the Spirit of God. And time would fail to tell of David and the long line of kings whom the same Spirit anointed and established in government. (F. Platt, B. D.)Christ is full of light Going into a village at night, with the lights gleaming on each side of the street, in some houses they will be in the basement and nowhere else, and in others in the attic and nowhere else, and in others in some middle chamber; but in no house will every window gleam from top to bottom. So it is with men’ s faculties. Most of them are in darkness. One shines here, and another there; but there is no man whose soul is luminous throughout. But Christ presented a perfect character. Every room in His soul was filled with light. He is light. (H. W. Beecher.) Isaiah 11:3 And shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord “ Of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord” “ Of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord” a word which relates to the power of smell or scent; He is to have that keen sense which the hound has when the game is not far away, and yet is deeply hidden; He is to know wisdom and right and truth as the thirsty hart smells the water brooks; or, by another etymology, He is to draw His breath in the fear of the Lord; i.., the fear of the Lord is to be His native breath. Religion is to be no burden to Him, no superimposition which He must carry, whether He will or no; His religion is His breath, He will pray because He breathes, He will speak because He breathes; it is part of Himself, of His very nature; it belongs to a great system of voluntariness, which constantly and continually gives itself out for the benefit of those who are within the range of its influence. (J. Parker, D. D.)Christ’ s penetrating insight This prediction was fully verified in our Lord Jesus Christ, who was of such quick discernment and acute understanding in the dispositions of the human heart, that He could infallibly determine with respect to men’ s characters, of which some memorable instances are recorded in the New Testament. Such was His penetrating sagacity that, at first sight, He could easily discover a true Israelite in whom was the fear of the Lord, from those that were wicked, hypocritical or formal, and destitute of this internal qualification (John 1:47-48). He showed that He was perfectly acquainted with the character of the woman who was a sinner. According to this prophecy the Messiah, in admitting persons into His kingdom, was not to have respect to their external advantages, their descent or their riches, their reputation and condition in the world, or their exterior appearances of feigned piety; but to judge of them simply by their fear and reverence of the Lord, which forms the beauty of the inward man, and is inseparably connected with every other Divine grace and the exercises of dutiful obedience to God. (R. Macculloch.)Christ and the fear of Jehovah “ Fear of Jehovah is fragrance to Him.” It is not meant that He has as regards Himself pleasure in fear of God, but that fear of God when He perceives it in men is fragrance to Him Genesis 8:21); for the fear of God is a sacrifice of adoration, continually ascending to God. (F. Delitzsch.)Religion quickens the intelligence 1. Those are most truly and valuably intelligent that are so “ in the fear of the Lord,” in the business of religion; for that is both the foundation and topstone of wisdom. 2. By this it will appear that we have the Spirit of God if we have spiritual senses exercised, and are “ of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord.” Those have Divine illumination that know their duty and know how to go about it. 3. Therefore Jesus Christ had the Spirit without measure, that He might perfectly understand His undertaking. (M. Henry.)The fear of the Lord The fear of the Lord may here denote the devout affection of reverence, which arises in the mind by means of the contemplation of the grandeur and dominion, the power and righteousness, with the other Divine excellences of Jehovah. It adores His greatness; it venerates His purity; it respects His omniscience; it does homage to His goodness; it stands in awe of His power; it honours His justice, and is solicitous to avoid His displeasure. It is such a profound reverence for God as is accompanied with love, and a becoming concern to yield an exact obedience to all His commands; it resembles the affection which a dutiful son discovers towards his esteemed parent, and faithful subjects entertain for a good prince. (R. Maccolloch.)Effects of the fear of the Lord When this principle reigns in the heart it produces the most powerful effects, and hath an extensive happy influence over all the purposes, affections, desires, and actions. It dispels the fear of man that bringeth a snare, and renders superior to all the threatenings and terrors of the world; it restrains from sin, and closely adheres to God and His ways; it renders cautious and circumspect, and proves the watchful guardian of the heart; it presides in every act of worship, and excites to the performance of every duty that may please the Lord. (R. Maccolloch.)The relation of the fear of the Lord to other graces This filial fear and reverence of Jehovah is the fruit of the Spirit; the offspring of faith, whereby it is cherished; the concomitant of love, which preserves it from degenerating into slavish dread; the companion of hope, which it keeps from falling into presumption, whilst hope preserves fear from sinking into despair; it qualifies joy and keeps it from levity, whilst joy shows that fear is genuine, and of the right kind. (R. Maccolloch.)And He shall not Judge after the sight of His eyesChrist’ s impartial judgment Impartial judgment and equitable reproof are foretold to be administered by Him. In the exercise of His penetrating judgment He was impartially to pronounce upon the characters of those who were to be admitted to participate in the privileges of His people, to determine according to the perfect rules of equity the differences that might arise among them respecting their conduct and interests, to defend them from the injuries to which they might be exposed, and to avenge the wrongs which they sustained. (R. Maccolloch.) Isaiah 11:4 But with righteousness shall He judge the poor The righteousness of Christ’ s kingdom As it may in many ways be shown that the Church of Christ though one Church with the Jewish, differs from it as being a kingdom, so now let me dwell on this point: that though a kingdom like empires of the earth, it differs from them in being a Church, i.., a kingdom of truth and righteousness. That Scripture speaks of the kingdom of Christ as not an earthly kingdom, not supported by strength of arm or force of mind or any other faculty or gift of the natural man, is plain. But consider some objections to which the circumstances of its actual history and condition give rise. I. IT MAY BE SAID THAT THE EVENT HAS NOT THE ; that the kingdom has indeed been large and powerful, but it has not ruled according to justice and truth; that at times it has had very wicked men among its rulers, and that great corruptions, religious and moral, have been found in it; and that worse crimes have been perpetrated under colour of religion than in any other way. But this may be granted in the argument; yet the Scripture account of the Church remains uncompromised. It is a kingdom of righteousness, because it is a kingdom founded in righteousness. II. IN THE GOSPEL, CHRIST’ S ARE AS POOR, , WEAK, AND . Such preeminently were the apostles. But in the prophets, especially in Isaiah, the kingdom is represented as rich and flourishing and honoured, powerful and happy. If the Church of Christ were to seek power, wealth, and honour, this were to fall from grace; but it is not less true that she will have them, though she seeks them not--or rather, if she seeks them not. Such is the law of Christ’ s kingdom, such the paradox which is seen in its history. It belongs to the poor in spirit; it belongs to the persecuted; it is possessed by the meek; it Is sustained by the patient. It conquers by suffering; it advances by retiring; it is made wise through foolishness. III. POWER AND WEALTH, THOUGH NOT TO THE CHURCH, ARE ALMOST ON IT. (J. H.Newman, D. D.) Isaiah 11:5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins and faithfulness the girdle of His reins The right girdle I. We have the Saviour here represented in His . The Saviour was abstractedly, in and of and from Himself, righteous. But the righteousness here means the actual accomplishment of His mission. He saith of Himself. “ Ought not Christ to suffer these things?” But He was not only righteous in His work, He was righteous on all sides. “ Righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins” ; go all round Him. That cannot be said of us except by faith. By faith we put on the girdle of righteousness. But personally we are compassed with infirmity. Not so the Saviour. He was tempted or tried, but never showed a weak part anywhere. Not only was He righteous, He was also strong. II. We have the Saviour here represented in His . By the “ reins,” as Cruden well observes, the vital affections of the soul are meant. Did Christ’ s vital affections ever give way? No! How faithful He was in love! (James Wells.)Girdles Girdles of various kinds, made of valuable materials, were anciently worn by persons of high rank, which distinguished them from those of inferior station, by whom girdles of some sort were likewise worn. The girdles which the priests put on were made of gold, of blue, of purple, scarlet, and fine-twined linen. The military girdle was sometimes of considerable excellence and value, as is plainly intimated in what Joab said to the young man who informed him he had seen Absalom hanging in a tree (2 Samuel 18:11). (R. Macculloch.)Righteousness and faithfulness Righteousness and faithfulness, agreeably blended together, compose the girdle of the Messiah. These two amiable qualities cannot be separated, and serve mutually to illustrate each other; faithfulness is necessary to fulfil the promises of God, and righteousness is no less requisite to discern the characters of those to whom they ought to be fulfilled, in what measure, and in what time they should be accomplished. (R. Macculloch.)Christ's girdle 1. As a girdle surrounds a man’ s whole body, and is seen to advantage whithersoever he turn himself, so, in like manner, these two Divine excellences should every way appear most conspicuous in the Messiah’ s administration of the affairs of His kingdom. 2. As the girdles which were anciently worn, served to fasten the loose and flowing garments that were then used and to strengthen the loins of those who were girt with them, so these glorious perfections complete the character of the King of Israel and give vigour to the honourable and successful exercise of regal authority. 3. As girdles served in ancient times for ornaments to the illustrious persons who put them on, so righteousness and faithfulness were eminently to adorn the personal conduct and public character of the Prince of Peace, the King of kings, and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:11). (R. Macculloch.)The trilogy of the prophetic figures of the Messiah The trilogy of the prophetic figures of the Messiah as about to be born, as born, and as ruling--is now complete. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 11:6-9 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb A portrait of humanity I. THE MORAL OF THE RACE. Men are here represented by irrational creatures, differing immensely in their organisations, their habits, and their tempers--the “ wolf,” the “ lamb,” etc. The physical differences between men are great. The mental differences are also great. But the moral varieties are, perhaps, greater still. There are men everywhere about us as ferocious as the “ lion,” as savage as the “ bear,” as snarling as the “ wolf,” as cunning as the “ leopard,” as venomous as the “ serpent,” as harmless as the “ kid,” the “ lamb,” or the “ little child.” II. THE GOSPEL OF THE RACE. These creatures are here represented as having passed through a wonderful change in their instincts and habits, and this change is ascribed to the advent and reign of Messiah. It is not a change in their physical constitution. The wolf, the leopard, the bear, the lion, and the serpent retain their constitutions intact, though they dwell with the kid, the lamb, and the little child. The change is in their temper--in their ruling instincts. Such is the change that the Gospel works in man. The change is simply in the temper--the heart. It does two things. 1. It extracts social antipathies. 2. It implants social sympathies. This is the only reformation that will meet the case. III. THE SOCIAL HARMONY OF THE RACE. These creatures, once antagonistic, are here eating together, lying down together, playing together. All are wedded in spirit. Christianity is essentially pacific in its spirit, its teachings, its tendencies and results. (Homilist.)The fruits of Christ’ s kingdom 1. In every soul which shall come to heaven there must be a change. 2. The change is not of the substantial parts of the body, but of the corrupt qualities of the mind, or soul. 3. The change is made upon the Church of God in this world. 4. The change cometh from the grace of God, and floweth to us by Jesus Christ our Lord. 5. The means by which the change is wrought, namely, by the know ledge of the law, etc. 6. The marks of the change. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)The touchstone of regeneration It is an eminent mark of regeneration to have the violence and fierceness of our cruel nature taken away. The signs of regeneration contained in our text are-- I. . This, though it runs along the body of the text and is last mentioned, may be named first, for it is implied in all. How can a man say he is renewed unless in some sort he be like unto God in mercifulness? It is a prime quality in the wicked to do mischief; it is a property of God’ s child to be harmless. There are two signs of this sign. 1. If we would not do evil, though we might do it unseen of any creature: as when a little child shall lay his hand on the cockatrice’ s den, the serpent might sting, and yet, unseen of any, pull in the head again. 2. Though we have provocation, we will abstain from doing evil. The little child plays on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child lays his hand upon the cockatrice’ s den. Is not here provocation? “ Bless them that curse you,” etc. II. . With whom is it that this society holdeth? Not of wild beasts with wild beasts; but there is implied here not only a simple society, as among wild beasts, but a sociableness, as it were, among those of another generation. Naturally all of us have been lions, bears, and wolves, and unsociable haters of goodness in others. This sociableness with those former servants of God, who have been called thus, is a very sure mark of this change in us (1 John 3:14). 1. No man can love a saint, as a saint, but a saint. A true trial of sociableness is when men will joy to sort themselves with those with whom formerly they have been most unsociable, and whose company they have most loathed. 2. A second sign of this sign is, to love every brother, yea, though it were to lay down our life for a brother. III. . How is this implied! By dwelling and lying together. You shall have many companions go with a man for fashion’ s sake to the church, and yet leave going ere it be long. You shall have some men sick, and then like a serpent frozen in winter, which casts his skin, you shall have them cast their skin a little; that is, send for s preacher, make confession of their sins, saying, “ Oh! if God will spare me, I will become a new man.” But when he is well, within a month after, you will find him not with the lamb, but with the bears and the wolves. IV. . Their little ones--dear unto them, and of whom they are so jealous and tender--shall lie down together (Acts 4:32). V. . A little child shall lead them and rule them. It is a true sign of grace when we become easy to be ruled, and brought in compass (Job 31:13). VI. . “ The lion shall eat straw like the ox.” Cain was bloody, and fed upon blood; therefore, as it is (John 4:32) when a man is come thus far, that he hath meat which one seeth not. Uses-- 1. For consolation. Look which religion makes a man most mild, and tames his fierce nature--there is the Church. If we be fierce and savage, let us not deceive ourselves; we are not come to the mountain of which it is said, “ They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain.” 2. For exhortation. There is yet a little of the lion and the bear remaining in every one of us--our tree yet bears, on one side of it, crabs. See what minds we must have if we look for a habitation in God’ s holy mountain. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)The splendour and amplitude of Christ’ s kingdom I. THE MEANING OF THIS . What is meant by the wolf, the leopard, and the rest of the creatures here mentioned? Christ shall come to make the world so happy, that princes and people, the mighty and the meaner sort; the violent, and they that have no power, or no will to resist; the soldier, and the peaceable countryman; the waspish people, and they that are of a sweet disposition, shall all be brought under the same discipline, and submit to the same laws; not to hurt or molest one another, but to promote the common good of the whole body to which they belong. II. THE TRUTH OF IT; or, that it was exactly fulfilled in our Lord and Saviour. 1. It was the apparent design of our Saviour’ s coming to make such a happy accord among men. 2. The nature of His religion is such as is apt to produce this effect which He designed. This will be evident to everyone’ s satisfaction who will seriously weigh these three things. (1) The principles of His religion, together with the ways and means whereby these principles were established in men’ s minds. He taught them that there is but one God, the disbelief of which had set the world at such enmities one with another as they confessed was among the deities. He revealed Him as His and their Father, full of kindness and goodwill to all His children; which St. Paul thought a bond so strong and a motive so efficacious that it concludes the great heap of arguments whereby he persuades Christians to unity of the spirit and peace (Ephesians 4:6). They are taught to worship this one God, by one Mediator alone. He sent His apostles to baptize all nations into one simple faith (Ephesians 4:5). The world was to be governed and judged by one common law, and that not the law of Moses, but the plain rules of righteousness, sobriety and godliness. (Ephesians 2:14; Ephesians 2:19). All, both Jews and Gentiles, were indifferently endued with one and the same Spirit. (2) The precepts of His religion. Exact justice (Matthew 7:12). Mercy. Meekness and patience. To bless our enemies and do them good, which hath a strange power in it to charm and conquer even the most fierce and barbarous natures. He would have us contented with such things as we have: which evidently destroys that envy, emulation, and ambition, from whence no small stirs and confusions arise in the world. In questions about matters of liberty, He charges those that are satisfied, not to despise such as are not; and those that are not satisfied, not to judge those that are Romans 14:3). In all manner of differences which are apt to arise among us, He would have “ the peace of God rule in our hearts,” so that having this umpire there, we should rest in the determination of what will make most for peace. He instructs likewise our behaviour in our several relations, teaching husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, pastors and people, to demean themselves so to their mutual satisfaction, as to take away the cause of all discord, not only in families and parishes, but in the larger societies of Church and State. The root and foundation of all these our Lord hath laid in much humility and charity. (3) The obligations He laid upon men to receive these principles and observe these precepts. His doctrine excels that of the best philosophers, who taught many excellent lessons, but could not enforce them with such an assured hope of immortal life or fear of eternal death as our Saviour and His apostles have done. 3. This effect was actually produced in those that heartily embraced His religion (Acts 4:32; 2 Corinthians 8:3-4). It is to be hoped that the time is coming when Christianity will end, as it began, in abundance of truth and peace, by a right understanding of the will of God and a hearty submission thereto. Let every soul of us do his part that the place where he lives may be in peace--princes and governors, ministers of the Gospel, etc. (S. Patrick, D. D.)A picture of what the world is to be It is not a photograph. The poet never photographs, he pictures. And this poet is no exception. He does not wish us to believe that wolves and lambs will one day be friends, and that what Burns calls “ Nature’ s social union” is to be realised by the transfiguration of a lion into a domestic pet or into a beast of the stall. He is not photographing, but picturing a scene which never was and never shall be, in order to represent a splendid spiritual and social reality which must be--the reign amongst men of perfect union and peace on earth. You can see how true this is when you turn over to another picture by this same prophet artist intended to illustrate the same theme. There the wilderness is to be glad, the desert is to blossom as the rose and rejoice, the lame man is to leap as the hart, the highway usually infested by lions and beasts of prey is to be safe as a strong tower, for the obvious reason “ no lion shall be there.” Plainly the prophet is not photographing, but picturing. (R. J. Kyd.)“ Nature’ s social union” : a picture of heaven upon earth I. We have A PICTURE OF THE INNER UNION AND PEACE WHICH GOD IS IN EVERY MAN’ S BOSOM. In man all animalism sums itself up in subtlest composition; but there is a Divine element also in his bosom represented by a little child, an elemental force which is placed there to reign over fierce passions and carnal lusts, a force which is destined to be master. Paul gives us insight into this subject. He recognises in man’ s composite nature the wolf and the lamb, the lion and the child. The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. The word “ flesh” is Paul’ s term for that nature in us which loves self and self only, a nature which is characteristic of the whole animal world. The term “ spirit” is a term for that Divine nature in us which loves and cares for others and takes little or no thought of self. As things are, these two natures are at variance more or less in us all. But there should be no war in our bosom. Peace is the ideal state. Love of self and love of others should not clash, but cooperate as they do in the maternal breast. Self-love must not hurt the spirit, the conscience, the finer and higher feelings of charity. This harmony pictured by Isaiah and ethically set forth by Paul is the heaven which has begun to be in our bosom, but only begun. The Child-heart must reign. He who has begun the good work in us will carry it on until the day of Christ. II. We have A PICTURE OF MAN’ S SOCIAL UNION. His social union is the result of inner spiritual union. When a man is constantly quarrelling with himself, his conscience taunting his cupidity and selfishness, and the child in him leading him to toil and self-sacrifice whilst the animal in him demands ease and pleasure, this picture of union and brotherhood is not possible of realisation. The first thing to be done if we would realise it is to get each man’ s bosom put right. The wolves of society, the serpents, the land sharks, the men who devour widows’ houses, the foxes or Herods who are ever looking after Number One, the hypocrite with the slimy lie on his lip whilst the crocodile tear is in his eye, will all be changed into men of honour and kindness, men of purity and righteousness. Social quarrels will end. The labour and capital problem will be solved, and capital and labour will dwell together, like Isaiah’ s wolf and lamb, in peace. The poor and the weak will not be driven to the wall. Even the innocent child will be safe in the dark. The policeman’ s footstep will cease to be heard in the land, and the soldier will beat his sword into a ploughshare. Blessed outlook! III. THIS PICTURE IS TO BE BY THE CHRIST THAT WAS AND IS TO BE. From the power Christ has shown in transfiguring men and raising the tone of society to what it is, we are persuaded that He will succeed in accomplishing His Herculean labour of turning earth into heaven. Surely He must be Divine who proposes to undertake such a work! Let us look at the Divine Man who is able to accomplish what seems to us to be impossible. He has a child-heart in Him. “ He is,” says Isaiah, “ a Rod out of the stem of Jesse. On Him rests the Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and understanding.” The Good Shepherd’ s music which brings about the peace of God in our bosom is at first a summons to war. It is a call to the child in us to awake and lead into a glorious captivity the lower animal nature which ever lusts to be first. It is a call to the higher in us to hold in check the lower and bring it by confidence and obedience into union and cooperation. We are summoned to accept the blessed task of being peacemakers in our own breasts, and peacemaking there must begin by a proclamation of war. Strange work for a child! Impossible work! do you affirm? God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” It is God’ s way by “ things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.” (R. J. Kyd.)The wild beasts We, who live in countries from which wild beasts have been exterminated, cannot understand the insecurity and terror that they cause in regions where they abound. A modern seer of the times of regeneration would leave the wild animals out of his vision. They do not impress any more the human conscience or imagination. But they once did so most terribly. The hostility between man and the beasts not only formed once upon a time the chief material obstacle in the progress of the race, but remains still to the religious thinker the most pathetic portion of that groaning and travailing of all creation which is so heavy a burden on his heart. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Not exterminated, but tamed Isaiah would not have the wild beasts exterminated, but tamed. There our Western and modern imagination may fail to follow him, especially when he includes reptiles in the regeneration, and prophesies of adders and lizards as the playthings of children. But surely there is no genial man, who has watched the various forms of life that sport in the Southern sunshine, who will not sympathise with the prophet in his joyous vision. Upon a warm spring day in Palestine, to sit upon the grass, beside some old dyke or ruin with its face to the South, is indeed to obtain a rapturous view of the wealth of life with which the bountiful God has blessed and made merry man’ s dwelling place. How the lizards come and go among the grey stones and flash like jewels in the dust! And the timid snake rippling quickly past through the grass, and the leisurely tortoise, with its shiny back, and the chameleon, shivering into new colour as he passes from twig to stone, and stone to straw,--all the air the while alive with the music of the cricket and the bee! You feel that the ideal is not to destroy these pretty things as vermin. What a loss of colour the lizards alone would imply! But, as Isaiah declares,--whom we may imagine walking with his children up the steep vineyard paths, to watch the creatures come and go upon the dry dykes on either hand,--the ideal is to bring them into sympathy with ourselves, make pets of them and playthings for children, who indeed stretch out their hands in joy to the pretty toys. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The mystery of the brute creation What are these animals? Who made them? Who can explain them? Who knows their future? This is a gracious mystery at all events, and may be accepted as a fact--that when man is right with God, the animals will be right with man; when man is right with God, the earth will be right with man, and will feel as if she could not do enough for him in growing him all the bread he wants, and then giving him more than he needs. “ Let the people praise Thee, O God; let all the people praise Thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.” (J. Parker, D. D.)The redemption of nature It is one of those errors, which distort both the poetry and truth of the Bible, to suppose that by the bears, lions, and reptiles which the prophet now sees tamed in the time of the regeneration, he intends the violent human characters which he so often attacks. When Isaiah here talks of the beasts, he means the beasts. The passage is not allegorical, but direct, and forms a parallel to the well-known passage in the eighth of Romans. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The legend of St. Blaise The legend of St. Blaise is of Greek origin. He was bishop over the Christian Church at Sebaste in Cappadocia, and governed his flock for many years with great vigilance, till the persecution under Diocletian, A.D. 289, obliged him to fly; and he took refuge in a mountain cave at some distance from the city. This mountain was the haunt of wild beasts (bears, lions, and tigers); but these animals were so completely subdued by the gentleness and piety of the good old man, that, far from doing him any harm, they came every morning to ask his blessing. If they found him kneeling at his devotions, they waited duteously till he had finished, and, having received the accustomed benediction, they retired. Now, in the city of Sebaste, and in the whole province, so many Christians were put to death, that there began to be a scarcity of wild beasts for the amphitheatres. And Agricolaus, the governor, sent his hunters into the mountains to collect as many lions, tigers, and bears as possible; and it happened that these hunters, arriving one day before the mouth of the cave in which St. Blaise had taken refuge, found him seated in front of it, and surrounded by a variety of animals of different species. The lion and the lamb, the hind and the leopard, seemed to have put off their nature, and were standing amicably together, as though there had been everlasting peace between them; and some he blessed with holy words, knowing that God careth for all things that He has made; and to others that were sick or wounded he ministered gently; and others he reprehended because of their rapacity and gluttony. And, when the hunters beheld this, they were like men in a dream: they stood astonished, thinking they had found some enchanter. And they seized him, and carried him before the governor; and, as they went, the good bishop returned thanks to God, and rejoiced greatly, that, at length, he had been found worthy to die for the cause of Christ. (Mrs. Jameson.)Man to blame for the wildness of the beasts We may take on scientific authority a few facts as hints from nature, that after all man is to blame for the wildness of the beasts, and that through his sanctification they may be restored to sympathy with himself. Charles Darwin says: “ It deserves notice that at an extremely ancient period when man first entered any country the animals living there would have felt no instinctive or inherited fear of him, and would consequently have been tamed far more easily than at present.” And he gives some very instructive facts in proof of this with regard to dogs, antelopes, manatees, and hawks. “ Quadrupeds and birds which have seldom been disturbed by man dread him no more than do our English birds the cows or horses grazing in the fields.” Darwin’ s details are peculiarly pathetic in their revelation of the brutes’ utter trustfulness in man before they get to know him. Persons who have had to do with individual animals of a species that has never been thoroughly tamed, are aware that the difficulty of training them lies in convincing them of our sincerity and good heartedness, and that when this is got over they will learn almost any trick or habit. The well-known lines of Burns to the field mouse gather up the cause of all this, in a fashion very similar to the Bible’ s. (Prof. O. A. Smith, D. D.)Man’ s relation to the lower animals The practical “ uses” of such a passage of Scripture as this are plain. Some of them are the awful responsibility of man’ s position as the keystone of creation, the material effects of sin, and especially the religiousness of our relation to the lower animals. (Prof. O. A. Smith, D. D.)A little child shall lead themThe child to the front The Bible, when it speaks as it does in these verses, always means something better than it says. Many things come to children much worse than being destroyed by a lion, or eaten by a wolf, or poisoned by a serpent’ s fang, only, I am sorry to believe, neither children nor grown up people think them worse things, nor anything like so dreadful. Perhaps that is the most doleful evil of all. Had I not faith in God’ s great wisdom, love, and justice, I should feel that for tens of millions of children in this world it would be infinitely better that they were never born; and that, being born, the next preferable event would be that they should die as soon after birth as possible, even though it were a hungry wolf that should slay them. They come into places more terrible than a wild beast’ s lair or a cockatrice’ s den. They come into places full of ignorance and iniquity, where they have no opportunity of growing up good, or even of knowing what good is. Now, this text says that in the good time coming all this shall be changed. The day is coming in our country when the child, because of his weakness and his wants, shall be the most cherished and cared for person either in the home, the Church, or the State. I. From these words, then, we get the idea THAT AS THE WORLD GETS ON, AND MEN GROW WISER, TRUER, AND HOLIER, RISE IN THEIR REGARD. The care for children becomes exalted; it ceases to be a merely natural affection, and is intensified and purified into a moral and spiritual passion. The Bible teaches us that love of children is a note of moral culture, and all history shows that in the measure the claims of the little ones are lightly regarded the moral tone is low. There may be strength and courage for war, there may be art and philosophy, there may be an abundance of physical and intellectual display, but the higher morals--those that are the very graces of the soul, those which perfect men and go to the root of the world’ s sins and sorrows--are exceedingly scarce. II. These words teach us THAT ARE ABLE TO IN THAT WHICH IS HIGHEST AND MOST DIVINE--that they can share the best and highest with the best and highest men. The philosophy of the highest good may be far beyond the reach of their reason, but the blessing of it may be realised by them and enjoyed. The sunshine is as warm and delightful to them without any theory of light and heat as with one. III. Another word we have to speak is, THAT THEY WHO ARE WORKING FOR THE ARE ON THE LINES OF THE WORLD’ S . The world follows the children--they are always in front. (W. Hubbard.)Ministry of children God’ s ministers are varied. Children teach many lessons. 1. They purify--by their innocence, teachableness, and purity. 2. They elevate--appealing to our highest and best instincts. 3. They stir. They move us to better living, and stimulate our best qualities. 4. They instruct--e.g., Samuel and Eli. 5. They console--helping to take our minds off trouble. 6. They reconcile. A mother is cheerful for the sake of the children. A father is strengthened by his home life. 7. They gladden. Children are the poetry, flowers, and sunshine of life. 8. They soften and make tender,--for their helplessness appeals to us; the touch of a tiny hand thrills us with pity. 9. They lead Godward. 10. They are a powerful ministry for good.. (Seed for Busy Sowers.)Led by a child 1. We have no right to sink an interval of many centuries between the verses of this brief prophecy, and to say that while one part of it was fulfilled at the Advent, the other will only be fulfilled in the still distant Millennium. We are rather bound to say: “ If the Lord Jesus was the Branch that shot forth from Jesse’ s root, and the Spirit of the Lord did really come upon Him that He might rule and reprove the people, then, from that moment, the wolf began to dwell with the lamb, the leopard to lie down with the kid, the lion with the calf; and the little Child went before them, leading them to the holy mountain in which they neither hurt nor destroy.” We need fix no date to these words. They are not for an age, but for all time, and for eternity too. They describe the universal reign of Christ. They tell us what the spirit, what the distinguishing characteristics, of that reign always have been and always will be. 2. The beast tamer is distinguished by a quick eye, a prompt punishing hand, a courage and self-possession that never falter; and how should we look for these features and qualities in a child? But may not a child have other qualities quite as potent, and even more potent? Is brute force the only force by which even brutes are ruled? Surely not. Baby lies on the rug with dog and eat. He is not so strong or lithe or quick as they are, or even as you are. Yet he takes liberties with them which you cannot take,--and remember, the cat is of one blood with the leopard, and the dog with the wolf. Nor are even wild beasts insensible to his claim and charm. Else what mean all those stories of helpless and abandoned children suckled, fed, guarded by wolves and bears and lions; or of children chosen by caged wild beasts, the more savage for their captivity, to be their playmates and companions? Many of these stories are quite true, and show what power a little child may have, a power beyond that of man. 3. But when the prophet tells us that in the kingdom of Christ, a little child leads the wolf and the leopard and the lion, as well as the lamb and the kid and the calf, he cannot simply mean that an innocent babe may have more power over the brutes than a grown man. He also meant, no doubt, that in proportion as Christ reigns on the earth the primal order will be restored; that men, reconciled to God and to each other, will also be at peace with all the forces of nature, will rule over them, and bend to their service even those of them which are the most fierce, lawless, hostile, and untameable, and thus regain all, and more than all, that Adam lost. 4. Has not the prediction been verified again and again, and that even on the lower levels of our life! Here, salt, is a bad man,--brutal, fierce, ungoverned and ungovernable. God sends him a little child. And the rough man and the abandoned woman, as they lean over it, are touched, softened, purified. God leads almost all men by their children, leads them to the “ holy mountain,” i.e., to higher levels of life where they breathe a purer air and gain a wider outlook. He sends the “ little child,” and forthwith even the hard and selfish grow tender and unselfish, at least in some of their aims. They will follow him even to the house and worship of God--for many a man repairs to the house of God for his children’ s sake who would not come for his own,--and find themselves in “ the holy mountain” or ever they are aware. 5. So that when God sent the Holy Child Jesus to lead men into the kingdom of heaven, He took no new untried way with us, but a way long tried and approved. But, for us, the Lord Jesus is not the Holy Child only at Christmas, or only because He was once a babe in Mary’ s arms. When He grew to be a man, He Himself took a child in His arms, and taught His disciples that to enter His kingdom they must become as little children, and that whosoever most fully possessed himself of the childlike spirit would be greatest in that kingdom. But to enter His kingdom is to begin to grow like Christ; and to become great in it is to grow as like Him as we can. To grow childlike is, therefore, to grow Christlike. But how can that be unless Christ Himself is like a little child? 6. “ A little child shall lead them.” But does he not lead them already? When the little ones come to them, who is it for whom they think, and work, and plan? Who is it that determines the amount of their toil, and even the kind of amusements in which they indulge, and often determines also the very aims and methods of their lives? 7. “ A little child shall lead them.” These words refer to the future as well as to the past and the present. There is a promise in them even for us who are in the kingdom of the Holy Child. And the promise is that as the kingdom of God comes we shall be more and more animated by the child spirit which was and is the Spirit of Christ Himself. (S. Cox, D. D.)What is the child spirit? But what is this blessing, and why is it so great? Consider how fearless a child is, so that it can play and take liberties with many a fierce creature whose talons or teeth keep you at a respectful distance. Consider how innocent a child is as compared with you, and what you would give to be equally clear of stinging memories and impure desires. Consider how friendly a little child is, responding with smiles and caresses to every genuine and tender advance. Consider how cheerful it is, with how little it is pleased; how unworldly, making no distinction between beggar and prince, loving its poor nurse better than the fine lady in all her bravery. Consider how free from care a child is, because it trusts in a wisdom, an ability, a goodness beyond its own retaking no thought for what it shall eat or drink or wherewithal it shall be clothed. Consider, too, how lordly a child is. Hardly anything strikes one in little children so much as their calm assumption that all the world was made for them, and that all the men and women in it have nothing else, or nothing else so important, to do as to wait on their will and minister to their whims. (S. Cox, D. D.)Child leading I. The text suggests some thoughts about the AND OF HIM WHO CAME TO US AS A CHILD. Never was a child born into this world in humbler fashion than the Child who came to redeem it. Fit prelude to that strange, solemn, sorrowful, yet infinitely beautiful life! Surely, If humility depends at all on outward circumstances, this “ little Child” was humble indeed. But the inward spirit was in perfect keeping with the outward circumstances. The little Child was never lost in the Man. II. WAS THIS NOT IN MANY WAYS BY THE CHILD OF ? He led the herald angels from their highest ministrations in the realms of glory down to the plains of Bethlehem. He led the star that travelled ever westwards until it “ came and stood over where the young Child was.” He led the sages who came with their typical offerings of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. He led the aged prophet, who, in the temple of Jerusalem, caught up the young Child from His mother’ s arms, and burst into that glad Dismission Hymn which has become incorporated with the liturgies of the Christian Church. Think what marvellous leading is here! III. DOES NOT THE STILL RECEIVE DAILY in the history and experience of the world? What is it that brings and binds men to Christ? Is it the Divinity of His person, the glory of His miracles, the thunder of His power, the attraction of heaven, the terrors of hell? Ask a missionary who has laboured for many years among the heathen what has been the element in the Gospel which has drawn men away from their idols to Christ. He will tell you that it was not the Divine power, but the human tenderness that won their hearts. Stern warriors become gentle in His presence. This is He for whom the world has been waiting, and before whom it will bow. IV. Perhaps YOUR OWN will help you to understand the prophet’ s words. Think of your own personal relation to Christ. What was it that first drew you to Him, and now keeps you in His track? It was the gentleness and beauty of His character--the “ little Child” that is forever enshrined in the person of Christ. Or look around you, and see the marvellous power of child leading in the familiar experience of life. V. It may be that the words will touch for some of us THE SPRING THAT UNLOCKS SECRET AND VERY SACRED . We said, with the stricken parent of old, “ I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” But are we very sure of this? Are the mysteries of life and death so clear to us, that we’ dare not think of child ministers and child leadings continued in spite of death? VI. “ A little child shall lead them.” The words may have yet ANOTHER , IN “ THE LAND THAT IS VERY FAR OFF.” “ Of such is the kingdom of heaven,” the Saviour said, as He took the children in His arms. Perhaps when our children sing, “ Little children shall he there,” they touch a truth which their elders are too slow to believe. It may be among the child ministries of heaven to give the first greetings to those who received them in the helplessness of their earthly infancy; and many a weeper may begin to gather “ the far-off interest of tears,” when “ a little child shall lead them” through the forum of the elders to the throne of the King. (J. C. Cameron.)The power of the children I. I am going to show you THE POWER OF THE . Again and again great changes have been brought about, history has been made, gown up people have worked and have suffered because of this strange power of the children. If children have power they can use it. II. THE GOOD THINGS CAN DO. (E. Medley, B. A.)The child not to rule but to lead I don’ t think it is good for children to rule, but I do think it very good for children to lead. (E. Medley, B. A.)A little child may disarm anger A missionary on the great River Congo had pushed up on a little steamer into a part where no white man had ever been before. The anchor was let down, and the steamer brought to. Food was needed for the men, and firewood for the engines. The natives came crowding down to the bank to look at this wonderful boat; they were armed with arrows, and big, ugly spears. The missionary tried to talk to them, and made signs of peace. But nothing that he could do seemed to touch them; it was plain that they were partly angry, partly suspicious, and partly afraid, and when savages are in that state they are very dangerous. What was to be done? A happy thought flashed across the missionary. He had his wife and a dear little baby on board; he got the baby, took it up in his arms, and showed it to the people. Now the baby was a really sensible baby, it seemed to understand the situation, and instead of crying, or pretending to be shy, it laughed and crowed as merrily as could be, and when the poor savages saw the baby they felt themselves safe; they understood in a moment that no harm was meant, and so they laid down their arms, and became quite friendly. Even in Africa we can say--a little child shall lead them. (E. Medley, B. A.)A mother led to Christ by her child Some years ago, a good woman came to a minister, wanting to join the Church, and confess herself a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. She was asked how it was that she had come to think of Him, for she had lived a rough, bad life. “ Oh,” said she, “ it was in this way: I didn’ t care for good things, I had to slave all day long, I was too busy and too hard hearted and too miserable to care for such things at all. But my little girl, she goes to the Sunday school, and when she comes home she just singe some of the hymns she has learnt--not to me, for I never asked her, but to herself. But I couldn’ t help hearing, and one of them went to my heart; do what I would, I couldn’ t forget it, until I began to ask myself whether It too, could not sing-- I heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto Me and rest. I did hear Him, and though I am very dark still, I do love Him.” A little child shall lead them; so it is. (E. Medley, B. A.)Little Lord Fauntleroy Some of you may have read a very beautiful children’ s story called Little Lord Fauntleroy. The pith of it is just this: A noble, open hearted boy is thrown into the company of his grandfather, a proud, hard hearted, selfish, old nobleman, who knows as well as those about him do, what a mean, cynical old tyrant he has been. The earl is thoroughly miserable, only he is too proud to own it. But the lad, who has been brought up in pure and holy ways, insists on thinking well of the old man, attributing to him all sorts of good deeds. In the honest simplicity of his little heart he believes his grandfather to be a very fine man, and says that when he grows up he means to be like him. The trustful love of the boy touches his grandfather’ s stony heart just as opening spring sunshine touches the winter ice, and it begins to melt; without knowing it the little fellow leads the old man in good ways, and he is won. As to the boy, he is still the merry-hearted fellow he was, not in the least priggish, or goody goody, or conceited, but he has done a work that shall never die. (E. Medley, B. A.)A child’ s voice settling a great question Many years since the see of Milan was vacant, and the position was eagerly sought by two parties who disputed the election with strong and bitter feelings. The prefect of the town, who was a celebrated young lawyer, was called in to quell disorder and settle the dispute. In very earnest and affectionate strains he addressed the excited assembly. But, during one of the momentary pauses in his speech, a child’ s voice was heard exclaiming, “ Let Ambrose be our bishop!” That tender utterance was accepted like a Divine instruction; the youthful lawyer was forthwith chosen to the occupancy of the episcopal chair, and became a useful servant of the Church. Thus a little child led the assembled electors and secured the ministry of St. Ambrose; St. Ambrose became the means of the conversion of St. Augustine, and St. Augustine by his writings still speaks to Christendom. (J. H. Hitchens, D. D.)The children leading A man commonly lives, if possible, nearer to the school to which he sends his children than to his own place of business. It is the children who commonly fix the hour at which he shall dine and often even what he shall have for his dinner, their health and convenience being consulted before his own. He often goes shabby that they may be well clothed, and sometimes hungry that they may be well fed. His very home is furnished with an eye to them; and the new carpets or the costly furniture which he would like to have are postponed till the children are grown up, or the good piano which his wife would like till the children have got through their practising. Where shall the summer holiday be spent? is a question in which the children have the casting vote. How many a man, too, long after he has laid by enough for himself and his wife, and craves retirement and rest, goes labouring on, either that he may provide for children who cannot provide for themselves, or that he may leave them a little more money when he dies! And when the children grow up into young men and women, is it not they who lead the world as once they led their several households. The ruling and shaping spirit of the world changes with every generation. (S. Cox, D. D.)Age and youth. Are we, then, to discrown age, experience, authority, and enthrone youth, inexperience, and insolence? Are we to listen to whatever our children may say, and let them lead us where they will! By no means. That would be as injurious to them as to us. But we are to realise the fact that God is educating the race; guiding every generation, and conducting it to a point beyond that of the generation which preceded it. This reverence for youth as the new element, the progressive and advancing element, of the world, is, I believe, peculiar to Christianity, and even in some measure to the Christianity of the present day. (S. Cox, D. D.)Children’ s influence I heard the other day in the north of England of a large school where the older scholars came together and asked the superintendents that there should be no prizes and no Christmas trees and no ordinary gifts, but that the money should be given to the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Fund. No one had put them up to it. What was the result? All round that district everybody rose up at once to a sense of their responsibility, and the gifts received there exceeded the gifts from other places. (Canon Wilberforce, D. D.)A beautiful epitaph In a certain grave yard a white stone that marks the grave of a little girl bears these words: “ A child of whom her playmates said, ‘ It was easier to be good when she was with us.’” Is not that a beautiful epitaph, little ones? “ My darling” One instance wherein the prophet’ s words were fulfilled in spirit, if not in letter, is reported in an American exchange; “‘ My darling.’ These tender words were painted in large letters on the dashboard of a big truck in the street. The thoroughfare was jammed with vehicles and drivers were filling the air with profanity. But the driver of this particular truck sat silent and motionless. No word of his offended the ears of the patient: plodding beast over which he held the reins. During the din of curses a curious man stepped forward and inquired: ‘ You seem to take things very easy in this blockade.’ ‘ Yes, mister; I’ m used to ‘ em,’ was the laconic reply. ‘ Besides,’ he added, ‘ it don’ t help a bit to swear.’ ‘ I notice that you have a name for your truck.’ ‘ Yes,’ and the stoical man’ s face brightened and assumed an expression born of a tender heart ‘“ My darling” was my dear little daughter. She’ s dead now. Just before she died--but you don’ t care to hear any part of this -’ ‘ Indeed, I do,’ interrupted the listener. ‘ Well, you see it was this way: Nellie, my darling, took sick, and we couldn’ t save her; but just before she died she put her thin little arms around my neck and whispered in my ear; “ Papa, your Nellie is going to die; please promise me that you will be kind to good old Dexter, and don’ t swear at him. Will you do that for me?” Well, sir, I used to be pretty tough and rough, and I could curse with the best of ‘ em, but,’ and the man’ s voice trembled, ‘ I loved my Nellie, and--and I promised her that I would do what she asked.’ ‘ Yes, sir; I’ ve kept my word. That’ s going on three years now, but I haven’ t cussed once since. That’ s why I’ ve named my truck “ My darling” ; it always reminds me of my Nellie and her sweet blue eves.’ Just then the blockade was raised, and ‘ My darling’ rumbled on.” (Christian Age.)The effect of a child’ s prayer In a Southern hospital a little girl was to undergo a dangerous operation. She was placed upon the table, and the surgeon was about to give her ether when he said, “ Before we can make you well, we must put you to sleep.” She spoke up sweetly and said, “ Oh, if you are going to put me to sleep, I must say my prayers first.” So she got on her knees, and said the child’ s prayer, “ Now I lay me down to sleep.” Afterward the surgeon said that he prayed that night for the first time in thirty years. (Christian Endeavour Times.) Isaiah 11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain The golden age Poets have sung of a golden age, saints have prayed for one, the Bible distinctly teaches that one will come. This passage gives us the characteristics of this “ good time coming.” I. THE WHOLE EARTH SHALL BE THE OF WHAT MOUNT ZION WAS BUT THE SYMBOL. What were the great ideas that Mount Zion of old symbolised They were especially two-- 1. Man’ s meeting place with God. 2. Entire consecration to worship. It was for worship and worship only. These ideas will be fully realised in the last days. The whole earth will be man’ s meeting place with God, the Shechinah will gleam everywhere, light up every social circle, radiate from every institution, etc. Every spot, too, will be sacred to worship. Man will worship in everything, handicraft, commerce, politics, literature. II. THE WHOLE EARTH SHALL BE FREED FROM AND . “ They shall not hurt nor destroy.” 1. They shall not hurt. They shall not hurt by any unkind word, or any ungenerous deed, by any species of mean conduct. Exquisite delicacy of conduct shall distinguish all. Every man shall deal with his fellow with the loving tenderness of a brother. 2. They shall not destroy. They shall not destroy the property, the reputation, or the life. There shall be no wars. III. THE WHOLE EARTH SHALL BE FLOODED WITH . “ As the waters cover the sea.” Full as the waters roll through the channels of the Mediterranean, will Christianity roll through every district of human life. But whilst this universal diffusion of Christianity is a characteristic of the golden age, the text suggests that it is the instrumental cause. We infer-- 1. That Christianity is essentially pacific. 2. That every philanthropist should use Christianity as his grand instrument. There is no other panacea for the world’ s woes. (Homilist.)Messiah’ s peaceful reign I. THE PACIFIC SPIRIT THAT SHALL BE IN THE WORLD IN MESSIAH’ S REIGN. II. THE CAUSE OF ITS . The knowledge with which the world will be filled. (J. Summerfield, M. A.)For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LordThe great Gospel and millennial kingdoms of Christ our Lord 1. The declaration of the word before us has never yet been fulfilled. 2. God is now about speedily to fulfil it. I. We shall open the whole chapter which contains our text, in order to explain WHAT THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST IS of which it speaks, and we shall bring before you the great events with which the introduction of that kingdom of our Redeemer shall be attended. 1. The chapter commences with a glorious description of the Person and the office of the blessed Redeemer of men. 2. Proceed we now to open unto you the Gospel kingdom of Christ, which is contained in the following portion of the chapter. The design of the figure (Isaiah 11:6-9) is to show that in the great day when Christ shall execute His office in a more full and wide extent over the earth there shall be a marvellous concord and union and love among all the children of men by their being brought to worship the one Redeemer, through the one Gospel of His grace and through the sameness of His blessed Spirit. 3. With reference to the expression in our text--“ For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” --we have here set before us both the extent of the knowledge of the Lord, which shall characterise this kingdom of our Lord, and the depth of that knowledge also; for both are represented by this similitude of the ocean. We are to believe, therefore, that the knowledge of God which shall then prevail, shall as far surpass, in extent and in depth, the knowledge of every preceding Church state, as the waters of the ocean exceed, in width and profundity, the common lakes in the midst of kingdoms. 4. One great event that shall immediately precede this glorious issue of things shall be the conversion of God’ s ancient people, the Jews; their gathering from out of all the nations of the earth into the land of their fathers; and, as I believe, their becoming the preachers of the Gospel of Christ to all those nations of the earth, which shall now be converted unto Him. This glorious event is immediately appended, in this chapter, to the description of the Gospel kingdom of the Redeemer (Isaiah 11:11, etc.). 5. Another mighty reality which shall accompany the introduction of the coming kingdom of our Lord and Saviour is the destruction of the anti-Christian church (the papacy). 6. The destruction of antichrist. II. We shall present to your view THE MEANS WHICH YOU MAY THE MOST SAFELY ADOPT FOR THE KINGDOM OF OUR amidst the kingdoms of the world. (H. Cole.)The millennium I. THE NATURE OF THE . It is generally believed, by judicious divines-- 1. That the millennial blessedness shall consist of an extraordinary degree of spiritual knowledge. 2. That holiness shall prevail to an unexampled extent. 3. That the millennial period will be distinguished by happiness and peace altogether unexampled in any previous period of the history of the Church of Christ. II. SOME WHICH SEEM PLAINLY TO THAT SUCH A PERIOD SHALL ARRIVE (Psalms 72:1-20; Isaiah 55:1-13; Romans 11:12; Romans 11:15; Revelation 14:6). III. EXHIBIT THE OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST DURING THE DAYS OF . (A. Fletcher, D. D.)The moral certainty of the earth being filled with the knowledge of the Lord This prophecy was partially fulfilled when the Christian dispensation was instituted, and “ the Gospel of the kingdom” produced the most wonderful effects on the hearts and lives of multitudes who had been the most determined enemies of the Cross. But the expression looks forward to a far more illustrious day, when the prediction will have its complete accomplishment, and the whole family of man will be blessed with the” knowledge of the Lord.” I. THE IMPORT OF THE PHRASE, “ THE OF THE LORD.” 1. It implies an acquaintance with the character of the true God. 2. An acquaintance with the plan of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. 3. An acquaintance with God’ s will. II. THE MORAL THAT THE EARTH SHALL BE FILLED WITH THE OF THE LORD. Reason renders it probable, but revelation declares its certainty. 1. I argue this from a consideration of the nature of the Christian religion. Christianity is a religion of benevolence. It has nothing exclusive in its character. It is designed for man, considered as such, and is adapted to every latitude under heaven. It presents us with a worship which is simple, a faith which is easily understood, ordinances few in number, sacrifices that are unbloody, doctrines and precepts which lead to God, promises which are joy and peace, and hopes which centre in the throne of God! It is reasonable to conclude that God, who is good to all, will not limit blessings of such magnitude and so universally necessary for human happiness, to anyone particular nation or age, but that He will, in His own way and at His own time, extend the benefits of Christianity to the whole family of man. 2. The covenant relation between God and His beloved Son furnishes another guarantee that the prediction will be fulfilled. 3. We ground our hopes on the character of the Saviour as Mediator. 4. Think also of the prophetic record. III. OUR DUTY AT THE PRESENT TIME IN WITH THE OF THIS . The work is very great. How is it to be accomplished? By the agency of miracles? No. May we expect the Saviour to visit our earth and organise a system for the conversion of the heathen? He has done so already. He has made it our duty to use the means He has appointed. (John Hill, M. A.)“ As the waters cover the sea” The expression is remarkable for its force. In looking over the face of the ocean, there are no differences to be perceived: one part is not fuller than another; one part is not covered, and another left dry; but all is one unbroken stream, filling and covering the whole. So shall it be with the Word of God among men. It shall not be known to some, and hidden from others. It shall not be fully declared in one place, and only partially set forth in another. This is not the whole purpose of the Almighty. But rather, whatever knowledge it pleases Him to give at all, shall be given equally, and without distinction. (H. A.Sullivan, M. A.)A picture of the moral condition of the world without the knowledge of God If the waters of the ocean were suddenly drained, and the channels of the great deep laid bare, rugged, unseemly spectacle would meet the eye. The elements of sublimity and beauty might then be seen, but strangely disfigured, and blended in rude chaotic masses: profound valleys and dark ravines, the pathways of the monsters of the deep; gloomy caverns, never visited by the light of day; towering mountains, abrupt headlands, and precipitous rocks, the cause of many disasters to the adventurous seaman, would form an uncouth, repulsive scene. All these are hidden now by a veil which the Almighty has thrown over them; He has covered them with a fluid, bright, transparent, elastic, filling all the depths, smoothing all the asperities, reducing mountains and valleys to one level, and spreading from the equator to the poles, ever in motion, ever obedient to His will, whether He bids its mountain billows utter His praise in awful tones, or its unruffled surface reflect His glories to the tranquil heavens bending over it. Like the dark, rude bed of ocean, emptied of its waters, has been the moral aspect of our world in all ages and countries since the fall. If we look abroad over the nations today, what disorder, misery, and ruin meet the eye and pain the heart! But the text speaks of a blessed change to be realised ere long: of a coming day, when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (W. J. Armstrong, D. D.)The far-spreading grace of the Holy Spirit 1. Most exactly have the figures which the Holy Spirit condescended to apply to Himself been fulfilled in the course of the dispensation; nay, even to this day. His operation has been calm, equable, gradual, far-spreading, overtaking, intimate, irresistible. What is so awfully silent, so mighty, so inevitable, so encompassing as a flood of water? Such was the power of the Spirit in the beginning, when He vouchsafed to descend as an invisible wind, as an outpoured flood. Thus He changed the whole face of the world. The ark of God moved upon the face of the waters. 2. And what the power of the Spirit has been in the world at large, that it is also in every human heart to which it comes. (1) Any spirit which professes to come to us alone, and not to others, which makes no claim of having moved the body of the Church at all times and places, is not of God, but a private spirit of error. (2) Vehemence, tumult, confusion, are no attributes of that benignant flood with which God has replenished the earth. That flood of grace is sedate, majestic, gentle in its operation. (3) The Divine baptism, wherewith God visits us, penetrates through our whole soul and body. It leaves no part of us uncleansed, unsanctified. It claims the whole man for God. Any spirit which is content with what is short of this, which does not lead us to utter self-surrender and devotion, is not from God. 3. The heart of every Christian ought to represent in miniature the Catholic Church, since one Spirit makes both the whole Church and every member of it to be His temple. As He makes the Church one, which, left to itself, would separate into many parts, so He makes the soul one, in spite of its various affections and faculties, and its contradictory aims. (J. H.Newman, D. D.)The knowledge of the Lord “ As the waters cover the sea.” How do they cover it? 1. Completely. There are no gaps or interspaces. The sailor is glad to get out into the open sea. Near the land he is watchful, but when his pathless track lies far from the shore he is more at ease. 2. They cover it, too, abundantly. There is nothing scanty about the sea The average depth, geographers tells us, is about thirteen times the average height of land above sea level. 3. They also cover it helpfully. The waters seem to sever country from country, but, really, they are the best means of bringing far separate lands into communication with each other. What a grand picture, then, is here suggested with regard to the knowledge of God! It will cover the earth completely. All shall know Him from the least to the greatest. It will be an abundant knowledge. As it is, the earth is full of the glory of the Lord. Everywhere, God. The cataract utters forth God. “ Every common bush afire with God,” but too often we only “ sit round it and pick blackberries.” It is one thing for God to be everywhere, it is another thing for God to be recognised everywhere. It will also be a helpful knowledge. It will not lead us to make less of this world’ s duties, but more. As the waters that seem to separate, yet connect all the more closely, remote lands, so the more truly men know God, the better will they know each other, and the grander will seem the duties of the common day. One great blessing resulting from that knowledge is specially mentioned in the chapter--“ They shall not hurt nor destroy.” It is something one can hardly imagine, that beautiful time when nature shall no more be “ red in tooth and claw.” It may be but a poetical description of the peace and harmony of the Messiah’ s kingdom. But there is one part, at least, will be literally true. However it be with regard to the attitude of beasts to men, or to each other, man’ s attitude to the beasts will be one of thoughtfulness, gentleness, and mercy. It is said that a man’ s dog should be the better for his Christianity, and so it will. “ A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast.” And, of course, still more will it be true that man’ s attitude to his fellow man will be what it ought to be. One of the saddest thoughts in connection with this earth of ours, as it is, is the frightful callousness and unconcern with regard to human life where God, as revealed in Jesus Christ, is not known. Think of a country like Dahomey, where the most prized ornaments are human heads stuck on poles along the highways. The Church of Christ may be far from perfect in our own day, but, at least, it stands for much that is beautiful and helpful among men, and it labours and prays for the fulfilment of its hope that righteousness and peace shall at last e universal. One comprehends that the Church--even the visible building of stone and lime--stands for some measure of realised blessing among men, by even such a simple story as that of the shipwrecked mariners, in doubt as to what sort of coast they had been cast upon,--whether the inhabitants were cannibals, or with some humanity in them,--and whose fears were quite relieved when one of their number, who had climbed a neighbouring hill, came rushing back, shouting, “ It’ s all right. We are safe. I saw a church spire in the distance.” The most practical and visible result of the universal knowledge of the Lord will be that men’ s relationship to each other will be of the happiest and most helpful kind. (J. S. Maver, M. A.)Things must be seen through the right medium “ Seeing is believing.” But no man sees. Nearly every man is befooled by his own eyes. We see nothing as it really is. We are the gulls and the dupes of appearances. Said a friend to me, whilst we lived in the Alps, “ Can you see any living things on the side of that mountain?” Whereupon I answered, “ There is no living thing there.” It was a reckless speech. I was then the victim of incomplete sight. I was deluded, as all men are deluded, by the naked eye. Said my, friend, “ Look through this telescope.” And I looked, and, behold! the chamois and the shepherds--the beautiful little creatures feeding on abundance of grass on the slopes of the hill. I should have looked through the telescope before I gave my judgment. Things are not all given in revelation to the naked eye. We must look through the right medium if we would see things with any approach to reality. Is this world going to be converted to Christ? “ Never!” Why say you, never? “ Because there are more drunkards than pure men; there are more brothels than altars; there are more dishonest gamblers on the Exchange than there are honest men.” Now look through this telescope--the Divine promises, the Divine oaths, the repeated and emphatic assurances. Look! What seest thou now, O man? “ I see multitudes turning unto the Lord, Ethiopia stretching out her hands unto God to receive the vessel that shall carry the news of the eternal kingdom to all places on the face of the earth.” That is how we view things. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)A sure word of prophecy On Sabbath, 15 th May 1836, we saw the sun seized, on the very apex of his glory, as if by a black hand, and so darkened that only a thin round ring of light remained visible, and the chill of twilight came prematurely on. That mass of darkness within seemed the world lying in wickedness, and that thin round ring of light, the present progress of the Gospel in it. But not more certain were we then, that that thin round ring of light was yet to become the broad and blazing sun, than are we now, that through a Divine interposal, but not otherwise, shall the “ knowledge of the glory of the Lord cover the earth as the waters the sea.” (G. Gilfillan.) Isaiah 11:10 There shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people Messiah, the root of Jesse If, through the infallible guidance of the Divinely inspired apostles and evangelists, we can find the Messiah spoken of in many passages of the Old Testament, in which we should not otherwise have found Him; in many others He is so evidently intended and set forth, that, even without that guidance, no intelligent person, possessed of any degree of spiritual discernment, can fail of discovering Him Psalms 2:7-8; Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 61:1; Isaiah 35:4-6; Isaiah 50:6; Psalms 22:16-18; Psalms 69:21; Isaiah 52:13; Isaiah 53:2; Isaiah 35:3; Daniel 9:26; Zechariah 6:12-13). This paragraph is so manifestly meant of Christ, and of His kingdom, that it is perfectly incapable of any other application. I. THE PERSON AND ONE OF THE OFFICES OF THE MESSIAH,--“ A ROOT OF JESSE” ; “ AN ENSIGN OF THE PEOPLE.” 1. In the preceding verses, He is set forth in His human nature, as the “ Rod” which should “ come forth out of the stem of Jesse,” “ the Branch which should grow out of his roots” (Jeremiah 23:5; Zechariah 3:8); but here, in His Divine nature, in which alone He could be the “ root of Jesse” ; the creating “ word” (Colossians 1:16). The word here rendered “ root,” is properly so translated, and never means branch, or rod. This is the case likewise in Revelation 5:5. In Revelation 22:16, we find both natures mentioned and distinguished; and also in Romans 1:3, 4:2. His office. “ He shall stand for an ensign of the people.” Where theymay take oath and swear allegiance to the great King and bind themselves by covenant to be His loyal subjects. Where they may enlist, and engage to be His faithful soldiers to their life’ s end. But how is He an ensign, a banner, or standard, visibly displayed? By manifestation of His real character, and showing Himself to be the very Messiah that should come. By unfurling and unfolding the truth in His doctrine. By exerting and displaying His power in miracles. By manifesting His love in all His actions and sufferings. As lifted up upon the Cross (John 12:32). As exalted to the Father’ s right hand (Acts 2:33). As preached and declared to every creature, to every nation under heaven, for the obedience of faith. As coming in the clouds of heaven, gathering His elect, gathering “ all nations and tongues,” to see His glory. II. THE THAT IS TO BE MADE TO HIM BY THE . “ To Him shall the Gentiles seek.” He Himself came to seek and save the lost, and He is often found of those that before sought Him not. Those, however, that are first found of Him do themselves also seek Him. 1. But for what purposes? As an infallible Teacher, for truth and grace. As a Mediator, for pardon, etc. As an all-sufficient Saviour, expecting deliverance from the power and pollution of sin, from the flesh, the world, and the devil. As their rightful Sovereign, to give law to them, to rule, protect, and exalt them. As the Captain of their salvation, to go before them and conquer for them, to enable them to conquer, and to crown them as victorious. 2. But how do they seek Him? By desire, earnest, constant, increasing, restless (Isaiah 55:1; John 7:37; Revelation 22:17). By prayer Joe 2:32; Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13; 1 Corinthians 1:2). By faith and trust (Isaiah 28:16; Romans 10:11; Romans 15:12). III. THE EFFECTS THAT SHALL FOLLOW. “ His rest shall be glorious.” As a Teacher, the “ light of the world,” and as made of God to His people “ wisdom,” He gives rest to the understanding from the uncertainties of error, by the clear and satisfactory knowledge of the truth, and faith therein, or “ the full assurance of understanding.” As a Priest, and as made of God to us “ righteousness,” He gives rest to the conscience. As a Saviour from sin, and as made of God unto us “ sanctification,” He gives rest to the will, affections, and passions, humbling our pride, subduing our rebellious dispositions (Matthew 11:29). As a King, by delivering, defending, governing, ordering, disposing, and making all things work for good, and setting up His kingdom in our hearts, He gives us rest from cares, fears, and anxieties. As the Captain of our salvation, He gives the rest consequent on victory over our enemies, in deliverance from all tormenting fear of them, even the fear of death, and enabling us, while on earth, to live in peace, love, and harmony, with one another. He gives rest to the earth during the millennium (Isaiah 11:6-9; Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 32:15-19; Micah 4:1-4; Zechariah 14:6-9). (J. Benson, D. D.)The root of Jesse I. THE WITH WHICH THE WOULD BE . He was to be “ a root of Jesse.” Elsewhere in his prophecy Isaiah speaks of Him as “ a root out of a dry ground.” The dry ground in which this root yielded the Plant of renown was the barren soil of a corrupt age, a worn out civilisation, a depraved humanity. His descent from Jesse associated Him vitally with a notable family of the Jews. But centuries had passed since the descendants of Jesse had made themselves conspicuous. The energy of that vigorous family had expended itself in the luxury and the frivolity of many kings. Joseph of Nazareth, the village carpenter, and Mary his espoused wife, were the living representatives of an illustrious ancestry; and they were so poor and so humble that Bethlehem, their native city, had no welcome for them when they went thither to be enrolled. The Child Jesus shared their lot. He could not have frequented the schools, for His townsmen were astonished at His wisdom when He began to teach. He evidently had the Old Testament Scriptures in His hands, and He had the swat influence of His mother, and the wise counsels of Joseph, and He had the synagogue. That was His environment--so far as His environment was helpful. He could draw no inspiration from the ordinary Jewish life of Nazareth, and still less from the Greek or Roman life of Galilee. His Jewish lineage is unquestioned, and yet there is nothing Jewish about Him. He is larger than the nation, larger even than the race. None of the important laws of heredity can explain Him. II. THE WHICH THE WOULD ASSUME. He was to “ stand for an ensign of the people.” Ideas are symbolised by standards. A national flag represents a national idea. Isaiah declared that Jesus would “ stand for an ensign of the people” --not of the Jews merely, but of the Gentiles also; and Jesus made a similar declaration concerning Himself. “ And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,” etc. He anticipated universal supremacy. This is surely a very remarkable expectation to be cherished intelligently by an ordinary Jew of that period of history. Racial lines were then sharply drawn. Yet Jesus--a Jew, and a Jew in a small provincial town, rose to an appreciation of the essential oneness of humanity, and presented Himself, with His idea, as the ensign of the people, so that Paul, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, was able to write to the Gentiles of Ephesus: “ Ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” This expectation was not cherished by one who was marching at the head of an invincible army, but by a very humble young man in the quiet village of Nazareth. He had never been abroad. He had enjoyed but little contact with the world. Yet He made this claim of universal authority. The sobriety of His claim will appear, and the wisdom of His purpose will be evident, if attention is directed to the characteristics of His idea, and if the trend of human progress is regarded. The idea of Jesus, the idea illustrated by His character and life, the idea around which Christendom is crystallising, is clearly expressed in the words, “ not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” This idea, the service of self-sacrifice, is one which is capable of transforming life. Now that idea is beginning to assert its power. III. THE WHICH THE WOULD EXERT. “ His rest shall be glorious.” This is the promise of peace which Jesus Himself repeated. Very simple are the terms, and yet men draw back from their simplicity. They want the rest, but they do not want to kneel at the feet of Christ. This work--so glorious--is not an experiment. It has approved itself. In Christ, all men may find rest. (H. M. Booth, D. D.)I. MUSTERS HIS FORCES FOR THE BATTLE. Under the Old Testament dispensation, Jehovah revealed Himself as the Lord of hosts--as a man of war; and God manifest in the flesh was the Captain of salvation, and set up His standard for men to rally around, that they might overcome sin without and sin within. As soldiers of the Cross, we are to muster around our great Ensign, for discipline, drill, and for battle. The royal proclamation has gone forth; war has been declared against the powers of darkness; the trumpet of the Gospel has sounded, calling upon “ all the world” and “ every creature” ; to it the Gentiles have come, and the Church militant is going forth in this holy war. The holy war Our Lord as an Ensign--II. MARCHES WITH HIS FORCES TO THE BATTLE. He goes in front as Leader and Commander, to guide, stimulate, and cheer. The strength of His arm and the light of His eye are to act as inspiration to His troops. 1. He goes before in His example. He fought with Satan, and He overcame the world. He conquered its frowns and smiles, and always went His way. “ He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” 2. He goes before us in precept. He has given us commandments how we shall march and how we shall fight; and He is ever present to give power to His Word by the illumination and demonstration of His Holy Spirit. The early Christians were heroic and successful in battle, for they realised the presence of the great Ensign with them. III. MINGLES WITH HIS FORCES IN THE BATTLE. “ His rest shall be glorious.” It shall not be a doubtful or drawn battle; it shall end in complete victory. The Saviour, when He finished the great atonement, ascended up on high, and “ sat down” in peace and power,--He entered into glorious rest. (F. W. Brown.)Jesus the Ensign I. THE WORK OF CHRIST. 1. Jesus may be called an ensign because He is a gathering or rallying point for men. There always have been persons who have stood forth prominently from their fellows, in travel, in science, in ethics, in art, in song. These have founded particular schools of thought or philosophy, and men have claimed them as leaders, ranged themselves round their standards, and been proud to be called by their names. Such individuals have been “ ensigns of the people,” gathering or rallying points for their own followers. Just so is Jesus preeminently “ an ensign for the people.” 2. An “ ensign,” is a banner to fight under. The watchword of the true believer in Jesus is, “ Jehovah nissi!” There are different regiments enrolled in the Lord’ s sacramental host, and therefore are they spoken of as “ an army with banners” ; but every sectional flag droops and dips in the dust as it is borne before the “ Captain of our salvation.” 3. An “ ensign” is a guide to travellers. And such is Christ to the travellers from earth to heaven. II. THE REST OF CHRIST. “ His rest shall be glorious.” 1. Because it will be the rest which follows victory. 2. The rest of abiding peace. In 1815, when the British Parliament were voting honours and emoluments to Wellington, and considering “ the measures necessary towards forming a peace establishment,” suddenly all their plans were interrupted and their peace projects dissipated by the intelligence that Napoleon had escaped from Elba. Nothing like this will occur during the rest of Christ; His enemies once subdued will be subdued forever. 3. Because it will be the rest which follows successful attempts at salvation. Like the rest of the life boat crew, when the mariners have been all brought from the tempest tossed and torn and tottering wreck; like the rest of the firemen when they have rescued the last inmate who was ready to perish from the burning building. His rest shall be glorious, for “ He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.” 4. Because it shall be the rest of social enjoyment, unmarred by pain or sickness, by separation or death. 5. The rest of joyous activity. 6. A rest of unending duration. (J. W. Cole.)Christ the Ensign for His people I. THE PERSON OF CHRIST. II. THE EMBLEM BY WHICH HE IS . III. . 1. The need we have of the Holy Spirit’ s work. Christ may be faithfully and constantly preached, but it is by the Holy Spirit convincing us of our need, and giving us a living faith, that we range ourselves under His banner. 2. We must expect a conflict. 3. Christ will come to take His saints to Himself, to claim that glory which He has purchased by having died for them. (E. Auriol, M. A.)His rest shall be gloriousThe Christian’ s glorious rest I. WHEREIN THIS REST . 1. In that great obedience which Christ has rendered unto God, in the human nature, for man. There is a rest of conscience to those who are in Christ. 2. Another ground of this rest of the spirit is in the victory that Christ has obtained over all His enemies. Death, sin, Satan, the world. The enemies of the believer are vanquished through Christ Jesus. II. IN WHAT SENSE IT MAY BE CALLED . 1. It is glorious to God the Father; whose wisdom and love it manifests. It is glorious to God the Son; who obtained it for His whole spiritual Church by His incarnation and toil and agony. It is glorious to God the Spirit; who foretold it, who described it, who reveals it, and seals them for it. It is glorious, because all God’ s attributes are honoured in it. His justice is satisfied: His mercy also is infinitely displayed. 2. The rest is glorious and honourable to all those who are brought into it. For they are washed from their sins wholly, through the blood of the Lamb, and stand as candidates for heaven in those blessed garments, which grace has purchased for them and called them to wear. They cease from the impious intention of asking heaven for their own obedience, from a deep and heart-felt conviction of God’ s infinite holiness and their own unworthiness. They place the crown of honour on the head, where God would have it placed--even on that head that wore the crown of thorns. 3. There remains a more glorious rest hereafter. (T. Snow, M. A.) Isaiah 11:11-12 The Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people The restoration of the Jews to their own land, and conversion to the faith of Christ I. THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE AND OF THE JEWS. The past history of the Jews has been very remarkable, more so than that of any other nation. They have been remarkable in their origin; in the miraculous events which befell them; in their separation; in their preservation; and in their punishment. II. WHAT IS TO BECOME OF THESE MEN FOR THE FUTURE? 1. Every part of their history is wonderful. This would lead us to expect that their future history should be remarkable also. We generally find this to be the rule of Providence. The restoration and Christianisation of the Jews would be thus remarkable, and of a piece with His other dispensations towards them. It would not be so wonderful that they should continue to be punished as they are at present; but that they should be restored and converted, in spite of so many obstacles in the way of both, how singular!--that they should be honoured in those respects in which they have beenmost dishonoured, how remarkable and how worthy of the other wonderful events of the Jewish history! 2. We have to remember, and it strengthens the foregoing consideration, that the Jews are capable, by the events supposed, of adding much to the illustration of God’ s glory. In accomplishing these events there would be a mighty manifestation of power and wisdom, forbearance and compassion, not to speak of truth. The very length of time that the Jews have lain under the curse of God, and the severity of their punishment, and the mystery which overhangs their condition and prospects, would render their deliverance, and consequently the manifestation of Divine glory, more illustrious when it came. 3. With God the past is a pledge of the future; and how large is the honour and goodness of which He has made the Jews partakers in former times! 4. The actual circumstances of the Jews, at present, betoken a propitious change. There are circumstances in their feelings and condition which intimate that, at least, their temporal state shall be improved. The Jews themselves expect that one day they shall be restored; and this expectation is not the vague idea of a few individuals, got up as a refuge from present pain--it is the prevailing idea of the Jewish nation in every age, and it is persevered in, in spite of the hardest experience which should damp and destroy it. So strong is the impression, that many Jews, when dying, make provision that their bodies, and those of their friends, shall be buried in the land of their fathers; and some repair thither in the decline of life, that they may lay their bones within the borders of Canaan, in the full expectation that one day that land is to be inhabited by, and to form the sepulchre of, their children. 5. The Jews are visibly separated from all other nations. This was predicted of them, and it has been strikingly realised. Now, what is the object and use of this remarkable separation? Possibly to make the punishment fall more heavily upon the sin of the Jews; but this will not explain the whole. It will not explain the continued distinction, now that the punishment is becoming less severe. There seems to be no way of explaining it, but by believing that some great and wonderful event awaits them in the future; and what can that be but their restoration and conversion? It cannot be their amalgamation with other nations, for this would not be very wonderful. It would not be worthy of so singular and protracted a separation; and besides, were this what was contemplated, we would expect that there should be some approach to amalgamation now. 6. In their pursuits and mode of life the Jews are eminently a movable people. They count no country their home. It is their business to travel from country to country. They are not tied down to fixed pursuits, such as those of agriculture, which cannot be readily parted with. Even in Poland, where they are most numerous and stationary, they are chiefly engaged in trade and commerce, and cannot be prevailed upon to engage in anything else. As a whole, they are most remarkable as dealers and exchangers in money--their property is convertible in the easiest manner. They are, so to speak, upon the wing--they could change their abode at a moment’ s warning. 7. And if, from the Jews themselves, we turn co the land of their fathers, we find it in a condition above all others most apt and likely to change masters. It is very partially inhabited--inhabited, where there are a people, only by the wandering Arab, almost as migratory as the Jew. The government is fast hastening to dissolution. It is the interest, humanly speaking, of no great or powerful nation to hinder the establishment of the Jews in Palestine. It is rather for their advantage to promote it. The Jews are sufficiently able to purchase the land with money, were this the stipulation. 8. We must now betake ourselves to the Scriptures, and see what they declare upon the subject. (J. G. Lorimer.)Restoration of the Jews--obstacles to be overcome All obstacles, even the most formidable, to the restoration of God’ s people, shall be overcome or taken away by His almighty power. This idea is naturally expressed by the dividing of the Red Sea and Euphrates, because Egypt and Assyria are the two great powers from which Israel had suffered and was yet to be delivered. (J. A. Alexander.) Isaiah 11:13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart Judah and Ephraim Jacob, in his prophetic statement of the fortunes of his sons, disregards the right of primogeniture, and gives the preeminence to Judah and Joseph, and in the family of the latter to the younger son Ephraim. Hence, from the time of the exodus, these two were regarded as the leading tribes of Israel. Judah was much more numerous than Ephraim, took precedence during the journey in the wilderness, and received the largest portion in the promises land. But Joshua was an Ephraimite; and Shiloh, where the tabernacle long stood, was probably within the limits of the same tribe. The ambitious jealousy of the Ephraimites towards other tribes appears in their conduct to Gideon and Jephthah. Their special jealousy of Judah showed itself in their temporary refusal to submit to David after the death of Saul, in their adherence to Absalom against his father, and in the readiness with which they joined in the revolt of Jeroboam, who was himself of the tribe of Ephraim. This schism was, therefore, not a sudden or fortuitous occurrence, but the natural result of causes which had long been working. The mutual relation of the two kingdoms is expressed in the recorded fact that “ there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, and between Asa and Baasha all their days.” Exceptions to the general rule, as in the case of Ahab and Jehoshaphat, were rare, and a departure from the principles and ordinary feelings of the parties. The ten tribes, which assumed the name of Israel after the division, and perhaps before it, regarded the smaller and less warlike state with a contempt which is well expressed by Jehoash in his parable of the cedar and the thistle, unless the feeling there displayed be rather personal than national. On the other hand, Judah justly regarded Israel as guilty not only of political revolt, but of religious apostasy, and the jealousy of Ephraim towards Judah would, of course, be increased by the fact that Jehovah had “ forsaken the tabernacle of Shiloh,” that He “ refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion which He loved.” (J. A. Alexander.) Isaiah 11:15 The Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea.The Egyptian sea and the river The “ tongue,” i.e., the bay (cf. Joshua 15:2)of the Red Sea (the Gulf of Suez) will be “ banned,” i.e., rendered harmless to those who would cross it, by being dried up; “ the river” (the Euphrates), swift and too deep to be forded as it is, will be split into seven separate channels, which separately may be forded without danger. (Prof. Driver, D. D.). Isaiah 12:1-3 And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise Thee.Praise for redemption As the Israel that was redeemed from Egypt raised songs of praise on the other side of the Red Sea, so likewise does the Israel of the second redemption when brought not less miraculously over the Red Sea and Euphrates. (F. Delitzsch.)A song in the night It is time we had a hymn in this prophecy of Isaiah, for the reading has been like a succession of thunderstorms and earthquakes. (J. Parker, D. D.)Did Isaiah write this song? Some say Isaiah did not write this song. It is of no consequence to us who wrote it: here it is, and it is in the right place, and it expresses the right thought, and there is probably more evidence for the authorship of Isaiah than for the authorship of any other man. Some have said it is not like his style: but what is his style? What is the style of the sky? Is it for two days alike? Who could write the history of the sky simply as it appears to the vision of man? The accounts would seem to contradict one another, for the sky passes through panoramic changes innumerable, infinite, and all beautiful where they are not grand. So with the style of this great statesman Isaiah. He handles things with the infinite ease of conscious power; he is as strong in his music as he is in his prophecy. (J. Parker, D. D.)Praise for redemption by the individual and by the Church In that day-- I. EVERY shall sing a song of praise for his own interest in that salvation (Isaiah 12:1-3). “ Thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise Thee.” Thanksgiving work shall be closet work. II. MANY IN CONCERT. shall join in praising God for the common benefit arising from this salvation (Isaiah 12:4-6). “ Ye shall say, Praise the Lord.” Thanksgiving work shall be congregation work. (M. Henry.)A new song for new hearts The text is many sided. We shall find out the very soul of the passage if we consider it as an illustration of what occurs to every one of God’ s people when he is brought out of darkness into God’ s marvellous light. I. THE PRELUDE of this song. Here are certain preliminaries to the music. “ In that day thou shalt say.” Here we have the tuning of the harps, the notes of the music follow after in the succeeding sentences. 1. There is a time for that joyous song which is here recorded. The term, “ that day,” is sometimes used for a day of terror, and often for a period of blessing. The common term to both is this, they were days of the manifestation of Divine power. “ That day,” a day of terrible confusion to God’ s enemies; “ that day,” a day of great comfort to God’ s friends. Now, the day in which a man rejoices in Christ, is the day in which God’ s power is revealed on his behalf in his heart and conscience. 2. A word indicates the singer. “ Thou.” It is a singular pronoun, and points out one individual. One by one we receive eternal life and peace. You fancy that it is all right with you because you live in a Christian nation; it is woe unto you, if having outward privileges, they involve you in responsibilities, but bring you no saving grace. Perhaps you fancy that your family religion may somewhat help you, but it is not so; there is no birthright godliness: “ Ye must be born again.” Still, I know ye fancy that if ye mingle in godly congregations, and sing as they sing, and pray as they pray, it shall go well with you, but it is not so; the wicket gate of eternal life admits but one at a time. This word, “ thou,” is spoken to those who have been by sorrow brought into the last degree of despair. 3. The next thing to be noted in the preliminaries is the Teacher. It is God alone who can so positively declare, “ thou Shalt say.” If any man presumes to say, “ God has turned His anger away from me,” without a warrant from the Most High, that man lies to his own confusion; but when it is written. “ Thou shalt say,” it is as though God had said, “ I will matte it true, so that you shall be fully justified in the declaration.” 4. Here is another preliminary of the song, namely, the tone of it. “ Thou shalt say.” The song is to be an open one, avowed, vocally uttered, heard of men, and published abroad. It is not to be a silent feeling, a kind of soft music whose sweetness is spent within the spirit. II. IN THE SONG ITSELF, I would call to your notice-- 1. The fact that all of it is concerning the Lord. It is all addressed to Him. “ O Lord, I will praise Thee: though Thou wast angry, Thine anger is turned away.” When a soul escapes from the bondage of sin, and becomes consciously pardoned, it resembles the apostles on the Mount Tabor--it sees no man, save Jesus only. God will be all in all when iniquity is pardoned. 2. The next thing in this song is, that it includes repentant memories. “ Though Thou wast angry with me.” There was a time when God was to our consciousness angry with us. In the Hebrew the wording of our text is slightly different from what we get in the English. Our English translators have very wisely put in the word “ though,” a little earlier than it occurs in the Hebrew. The Hebrew would run something like this, “ O Lord, I will praise Thee; Thou wast angry with me.” Now we do this day praise God that He made us feel His anger. 3. The song of our text contains in itself blessed certainties. “ Thine anger is turned away.” Can a man know that? can a man be quite sure that he is forgiven? Ay, that he can; he can be as sure of pardon as he is of his existence. 4. Our song includes holy resolutions. “ I will praise Thee.” I will do it with my heart in secret. I will praise Thee in the Church of God, for I will search out other beliers, and I will tell them what God has done for me. I will cast in my lot with Thy people. I will praise Thee in my life. I will make my business praise Thee; I will make my parlour and my drawing room, I will make my kitchen and my field praise Thee. I will not be content unless all I am and all I have shall praise Thee. I will make a harp of the whole universe; I will make earth and heaven, space and time, to be but strings upon which my joyful fingers shall play lofty tunes of thankfulness. 5. This is a song which is peculiar in its character, and appropriate only to the people of God. I may say of it, “ no man could learn this song but the redeemed.” It is not a Pharisee’ s song--it has no likeness to “ God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men” ; it confesses, “ Thou wast angry with me,” and therein owns that the singer was even as others; but it glories that through infinite mercy, the Divine anger is turned away, and herein it leans on the appointed Saviour. It is not a Sadducean song; no doubt mingles with the strain. It is not the philosopher’ s query, “ There may be a God, or there may not be” ; it is the voice of a believing worshipper. It is not, “ I may be guilty, or I may not be.” It is all positive, every note of it. (C. H.Spurgeon.)The heart’ s diapason It is a full song--the swell of the diapason of the heart. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Grace upon grace “ Thou comfortedst me.” Persons may be liberated from slavery by the arm of power; they may be rescued from oppression by the exercise of justice; they may be relieved from want by the hand of bounty; but to pour reviving consolation into the dejected mind is the kind office of pure affection and pity (Isaiah 66:13). (R. Macculloch.)The song of the ransomed Such will one day be the song of a ransomed nation, and such is even now the song of the ransomed soul. Until we can sing this song we do not know what praise really means. It is a striking contrast indeed. (1) It is a stern and terrible fact that there are some persons on whom the wrath of God does rest (John 3:36). There are few more startling expressions in the whole Bible than this. Think of the wrath of God abiding on you! You rise up in the morning, and there it is--hanging over you. You go forth to your work, the sun is shining in the outer world, making all nature jubilant, and over you this dark funereal pall is still hanging. You surround yourselves with all the pleasing scenes of a comfortable home. In the very midst of your comfort and prosperity still that cloud is there. You lay your head upon your pillow at night, and if you should think at all, your last thoughts might well be: If I never wake again here on earth, I must certainly wake to find the wrath of God abiding on me. This is not the only passage in which such an affirmation is made. (2) How did this great change indicated here take place? If you refer to the immediate context, you will learn a valuable lesson. In the previous chapters we meet with a very mournful refrain: “ For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.” These sorrowful words come after a description of terrible and overwhelming judgment. This points to the solemn conclusion that, although it is perfectly true that sin always brings punishment in its train, the punishment which we endure, as the result of our sin, does not expiate its guilt. What was it that turned away the anger of God from Israel? The tenth chapter is merely a parenthesis. It is when the Rod of the stem of Jesse has appeared, and the eye of God, looking down upon His own nation, sees something within that nation that He is well pleased with, that a complete change comes over the aspect of things. The anger of God disappears, the sunlight of Divine pleasure bursts upon a rejoicing nation, and the next moment we are introduced to this song of triumphant praise. The moment that the eye of God, gazing down upon you, sees in your nature that which He beheld of old in the sacred land, and which He will behold again one day on a consecrated earth, the Plant of renown--Christ received into your nature, Christ growing in the thirsty, barren soil of your fallen humanity, like a root in a dry ground, and making all things fertile and fruitful by His presence--when God, gazing down, sees within you a received Christ, He has noanger, no judgment for that. You will be able to say, “ Thou wast angry; Thine anger is turned away: Thou comfortedst me.” I. In reaching this point the soul proceeds to make the most astonishing and glorious discovery it is possible for us to make. “ Behold, God is my .” I suddenly discover that I have no longer anything to fear in God. He bridges over in His own blessed Person the vast chasm between my sin and His purity, and as I step upon this wondrous bridge I find that it will bear my weight. God Himself brings me to God. This salvation is offered to us for nothing. But it cost the Son of God something. This salvation is to be appropriated by simple trust. “ I will trust, and not be afraid.” II. But not only does the happy soul find out that God is his salvation; he goes on to find out that the Lord Jehovah is his . The very title which the prophet gives to God suggests the eternal immutability of the great “ I Am.” As we obtain salvation by taking God for our salvation, so we obtain strength by taking God for our strength with equally simple, childlike faith. III. When you have made the discovery that the Lord Jehovah is your strength, no wonder if you go on to make yet a third. He is our SONG. God designs that from this time forth you shall be perfectly happy; but, if you want to be really happy, God must be your song. When we think upon God there is always something to sing about. His faithfulness and truth; His unchanging love; His readiness to be to us all that we want; the hope that He holds out to us, blooming with immortality. IV. And, as the result of this, we shall “ WITH JOY DRAW WATER OUT OF THE WELLS OF .” Some have sat beside the wells of salvation, from time to time, as a matter of custom and habit, and yet have never known what it was to draw water out of the wells with joy. You have come to church on Sunday because it happened to be Sunday. You were expected to be there, and there you were. Some of you have read your Bible because it is a proper thing to do. Your life has been a life of legal performances. Your prayers have been little better than superstitious incantations. Now all that is changed. It is with joy, and not with murmuring, that we are to find our wells. On more than one occasion the Israelites applied for water in this spirit, and found a curse mingled with their blessing. Let us dig our wells as they dug the well of old at Beer, when, though they lacked water, they were wise enough to leave the matter in the Lord’ s hands. Then it was God undertook for them. (Anon.)The present happiness of God’ s people set before the unconverted God, in His infinite mercy, has addressed the most various motives to sinners in general, to induce them to turn to Him. He has been pleased to set before sinners in His Word the immediate happiness that they may enjoy in His service, as incomparably greater than any they can hope to have in this world while absent and alienated from Him And this truth is not before us most strikingly in these words. I. We have to consider THE JOY THAT FLOWS FROM THE SENSE OF SIN. 1. The first thing here declared to us is, that God does pardon the penitent believer. He was originally angry with him. God is, and must be, according to His Divine perfections, angry with those who are living in a state of rebellion against Him. But when a person is brought to believe in Christ that anger is gone. 2. And as this is the blessing itself, so is the believer, when faith is strong, assured of that blessing. But when I speak of this as a constraining motive why sinners in general should turn to God, they may feel that ungodly persons have no such burden. Yet though now the sinner may not feel his need of such a consolation, he may be assured that it is a consolation surpassing in value and in peace and in joy all that he has ever experienced in a life of indifference and ungodliness. II. THERE IS A JOY ARISING FROM TRUST IN GOD FOR FUTURE . “ Behold, God is my salvation,” etc. 1. God is become the “ salvation” of a penitent believer. That is, He accomplishes His entire deliverance from sin and its consequences. 2. God is his “ salvation” from all present evil, and introduces him to the possession of all real good (Psalms 121:7; Psalms 84:11; Romans 8:28). Hence, then, the Lord does not reserve all the blessings of His people for the eternal world, but pours out His treasures of mercy upon them even now. And as God bestows upon His people this assurance that He is “ their strength and their salvation,” it must fill them with abiding joy. (B. W. Noel, M. A.)The joy of salvation At the Southport Convention, 1901, the Rev. W.Y. Fullerton told an amusing incident of a friend of his, not a Methodist,but with enough fire for two, who wrote a post card to a friend, and having filled up the back, wrote a closing message on the front of the card, “ Be of good cheer, brother.” And the Post Office authorities not only surcharged the recipient, but stamped beneath the message, “ Contrary to regulations.” Christian joy is legitimate, and not opposed to the regulations of heaven. (Methodist Times.)Assurance of salvation Assurance of salvation makes the firmest, the most active, the most useful, the holiest, the happiest, the most even and regular Christians. (John Bate.) Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation Rejoicing in God These words are used by the prophet, in the name of the Church, to set forth the happiness and salvation of the Jews when they shall be gathered in with the fulness of the Gentiles. They also express the experience of a believer-- I. WITH RESPECT TO HIS MORAL STATE. “ God is my salvation.” Some would have the aid, the consolation, and the favour of God, but refuse His salvation, and remain in sin. This, however, is vain and impossible. The privileges of a believer are unspeakably great, but they all are founded on that change which the grace of God makes in his nature, here called salvation. Salvation is deliverance, and how does this show itself in a believer? He is delivered from darkness (2 Corinthians 4:6). From insensibility (Ezekiel 36:26). From pride. From creaturely dependence. From a sense of condemnation (Romans 8:1). From slavery (JohnRo 6:22). He is delivered from misery, into union with God, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost; no longer a stranger and foreigner, but a fellow heir, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and in the hope of His glory. Observe, to whom the believer refers us as the Author of this salvation--“ God.” II. WITH RESPECT TO HIS AID. “ The Lord Jehovah is my strength.” If we have not yet learned that our own strength is weakness, and that we shall never be sufficiently strong until the Lord Jehovah Himself strengthens with ‘ all might in our inner man, we have learnt little of Christianity. But he who knows that God is his salvation, knows also that God is his strength. Dost thou fall? “ Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.” Art thou faint? “ He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” Art thou wounded? A touch of the Divine hand shall heal thee. Art thou buffeted by Satan? God shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. In one word, behold a Divine and almighty power everywhere, and always surrounding you, sufficient for all purposes to bless, support, deliver. III. WITH RESPECT TO HIS . “ And my song.” Here is an allusion to the ancient custom of composing and singing sacred odes or songs upon occasions of any signal deliverance, or the communication of any peculiar blessing. Such were the songs of Moses and Miriam, when Pharaoh and his host were swallowed up in the Red Sea; of Moses, after he had brought the Israelites to the borders of the promised land; of many of the Psalms of David, etc. Observe, the subject of his song, “ the Lord Jehovah.” His nature; His dispensations. IV. WITH RESPECT TO HIS . “ I will trust, and not be afraid.” (J. Walker, D. D.)Salvation of the Lord The physician may be the means of restoring to health, but it is God who performs the cure. The counsellor may give good advice, but it is God who guides by His counsel and conducts to glory. Soldiers may fight our battles, but it is God who crowns them with victory. Friends may try to assist, relieve, and comfort us, but their success depends entirely upon God. From providences and ordinances we may derive much benefit, but for this purpose it is absolutely requisite that they be accompanied with the Divine blessing. In this manner we are taught that salvation is of the Lord. (R. Macculloch.)Salvation The word “ salvation” is too narrowly defined in many instances. People suppose that it means a kind of spiritual selfishness which, being expressed in more words, would run in some such fashion as this: Thank God I am safe, whatever may become of anybody else! Any man who can say that, or mean that, or be in any way under such a delusion, simply knows nothing whatever about the spirit of the Gospel. “ Salvation” is one of the largest terms in human speech. Emancipation does not mean--you are now no longer under obligation to serve your old tyrant or your old master. That is but a negative aspect of emancipation. The true meaning is--you are invested with all the responsibilities of organised liberty; you have conferred upon you an opportunity of developing your whole manhood; you may now show the very best aspect of your character, and unless you do it, then slavery were for you better than freedom. It is so with the fullest meaning of this word salvation. Saved people are generous people, beneficent, charitable, anxious about others; nay, the only explanation of their anxiety about others is that they themselves are conscious of having been saved--not saved from fear only, but saved into life, liberty, and conscious possibility of doing great and small things. (J. Parker, D. D.)The Old Testament interpreted by the New “ Behold, God is my salvation.” Jerome translates this, “ Behold, God is my Jesus.” Jerome was right in going back to the Old Testament with the key of the New. In fact, we are entitled to begin at Genesis after we have perused the whole Gospel story with the profoundest interest and have received its spirit into our heart. The Gospels explain the Pentateuch. There are arithmetics which are awful in their initial hardness. They are all questions. Arithmetic is the most audacious interrogator I ever knew. But at the end of the arithmetic, in some cases, there is a key. What different reading! There is not a question in the whole key unless it be at the beginning of an answer, and who, having read the answer, does not feel how easy it was to have worked out the sum after all if one had only taken pains enough at the beginning? At the same time there is a strong disposition just to appropriate what the key says, and then, perhaps, to appear before the spectacled master as if we had never heard of such a thing as a key. That would be illegitimate in arithmetic. There have been young arithmeticians who have been guilty of that meanness. But we are called to look at the key in open day; we are referred to the key; we are invited and challenged to peruse it, and then to go back with the key in our hand to work out all the mystery of the lock. This is what Jerome did; so he did not hesitate to take out the word “ salvation” in the second, verse and put in the word “ Jesus,” and say with unction and thankfulness, Behold, God is my Jesus.” “ His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.” (J. Parker, D. D.)Salvation, the possession of God If there is a man or a woman that thinks of salvation as if it were merely a shutting up of some material hell, or the dodging round a corner, so as to escape some external consequence of transgression, let him or her learn this the possession of God is salvation; that and nothing else. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)God our salvation The prophet has been looking forward through times of darkness and captivity to the coming day of light and freedom; and in the hymn of which our text is the keynote he shows what will be the spirit of the new age, what the prevailing thoughts and emotions of the time. It is an exultant song, but without a word of self-congratulation. It is the keynote of the kingdom of heaven; and the regeneration of society for which ardent spirits long will not be reached until this old song become again a voice of the time. 1. We are far enough from it now. We have the song in our Bibles, we quote it in our pulpits, we sing it in our church services, but it is not in our modern life. There is nothing of it in the current literature. It is the function of the poet to give voice to the nobler thoughts and emotions of his time. Now can you imagine a poet of our times bursting out into a song like that; and if he did, would the editors of our first-class reviews be eager to glorify their pages with it? Instead of exultation in the name of God, there is all eagerness to avoid it. It is not that the age is indifferent: there is much real earnestness. The word “ salvation” is not much in vogue; but the thing meant is by no means despised. If the spirit of earnestness now abroad had been foreseen fifty years ago, men would have thought that the kingdom of heaven was verily at hand at last. But now, here all around us, is the earnestness--philanthropic, moral, even spiritual, earnestness to a considerable extent; but where is the kingdom? Alas, it still seems very far away! 2. We are better than we were. Year by year there is some improvement. But not nearly enough. The end will not be brought within sight till the spirit of this old song comes back to us; till the nation as a nation, not one here and there among the people, but the people as a people, look upwards to the hills from whence cometh their aid; till the inhabitant on every side cries out, “ Behold, God is my salvation.” 3. Let it be remembered that trust in God does not mean neglect of ordinary means. We who believe in God are thoroughly with the humanitarians so far as they go. We believe with them in heredity and in its power for evil and for good; only we do not believe that there is any inheritance of evil so terrible that the grace of God cannot reach and save its victim, nor any inheritance of ancestral nobleness so excellent that the grace of God is not needed to make and keep pure, and to raise to still higher things. We believe in education, in refinement, in progress of all kinds, in all processes of evolution which are moving in the right direction, onwards and upwards; only we recognise that none of these, nor all of them together, quite meet the case, or mean salvation. There remain with us mystery, unsolved; sin, crying for forgiveness and cleansing; sorrow, scarce abated or diminished; death, with all its victory--mystery, sin, sorrow, death: all present, patent facts, not to be disputed, not to be conquered by the freest education, or the highest culture; and then there is judgment to come, to which the con science is a witness not in any case to be forever silenced, though it may be hushed and quieted for a time; and there is the great eternity, the thought of which God has put into our hearts. When we look at these things we see our need, not of education merely, but of salvation, and heart and flesh cry out for God. 4. But is not this the watchword of the Churches? Do not they sufficiently represent the Divine factor in the world’ s salvation? Would that they did. Look, first, at the national Church. What is its great message? Is it, “ Behold, God is thy salvation” ? What we all want is to be so filled with the Spirit of God, and so thoroughly saved ourselves, that the keynote of every minister’ s sermon, and of every Christian’ s life shall be, “ Behold, God is my salvation.” 5. There is, indeed, a human side of Divine truth which is of very great importance. If God is to be my salvation, He must be in touch with me. If He show Himself to me, it must be in my likeness; if He speak to me, it must be in my language; if He act on me, it must be through my faculties and in accordance with the laws of my being. He is the God of nature as well as of grace. But important as it is to show the Gospel natural, it is far more important to hold fast to the supernatural. (J. Monte Gibson, D. D.)God the soul’ s salvation A character in a modern book says, “ I said I would leave the saving of my soul to Him that made my soul; it was in right good keeping there I’ d warrant.” Man’ s Saviour Divine Dr. Mason of America said--“ I need such a Saviour; for I would not trust my soul to the hands or heart of the brightest seraph that burns before the eternal throne.” Full assurance of salvation Mrs. Edwards, wife of President Edwards, says, “ In 1742 I sought and obtained the full assurance of faith. I cannot find language to express how certain the everlasting love of God appeared; the everlasting mountains and hills were but shadows to it. My safety and happiness and eternal enjoyment of God’ s immutable love, seemed as durable and unchangeable as God Himself. Melted and overcome by the sweetness of this assurance, I fell into a great flood of tears, and could not forbear weeping aloud. The presence of God was so near and so real that I seemed scarcely conscious of anything else. My soul was filled and overwhelmed with light and love and joy in the Holy Ghost, and seemed just ready to go away from the body. This exaltation of soul subsided into a heavenly calm and rest of soul in God, which was even sweeter than what preceded it.” I will trust, and not be afraidOur liability to fear, and the power of faith to overcome it Naturally any creature must be liable to fear. The finite nature, however exalted, must always feel itself transcended and surrounded by the infinite Unknown. There can be only one Being in the universe absolutely and forever free from that liability--He who knows everything, and who controls everything--who knows all beings, agents, facts, possibilities, and rules them. We are manifestly far more liable to the inroads of this fear than those creatures who have never fallen. I. THE GREAT OF HAVE A TO PRODUCE FEAR. Something depends, of course, on the susceptibility of the individual; a strong practical nature is not so much affected by mysteries; but there are few thoughtful persons who do not sometimes feel the shadow of them on the path; and the continual contemplation of them does not irradiate or dissolve them; they become only more impenetrable and more densely dark, and then comes the fear lest this aspect of them should never be relieved, lest they should be unfathomable and unconquerable forever. 1. Has not every thoughtful mind bowed and almost trembled before the great mystery into which so many others may be resolved--the existence of evil in the universe, under the government of an infinitely powerful and infinitely benevolent Being? We have, indeed, to consider that along with sin was introduced the Gospel--the glorious, all-sufficient remedy, by which sin is to be taken away and purity restored; but they exist together. The remedy, although we have the utmost confidence in its perfect sufficiency, does not destroy the disease in a moment; it struggles with it, and overcomes it only by slow degrees, and in some instances the disease seems to return with increasing virulence, and to reassert its supremacy after the cure has been more than half effected; while, in a multitude of other instances, the remedy never takes effect; at all, and whole generations of human beings are swept away by death, in a moral condition that augurs ill for any future happiness. He who can say that he has had no difficulties with such a subject, only shows that he has had no thoughts about it. And yet it is not at all desirable to be under the influence of this oppression of evil; it is very desirable, and quite possible, to rise superior to it. But how? “ I will trust, and not be afraid.” Many have tried to reach the ground of satisfaction by knowledge. They have said, “ I will know, and not be afraid” ; but they have had no success. 2. There is great mystery also about the plan of Divine providence in this world. We see glimpses of Divine meaning shining out of the plan at intervals, and we make our way with certainty to some of the leading principles of that providence. We are sure, e.g., that God is the friend and protector of the righteous man, and yet, see how some righteous men are tried! And see, on the other hand, how ungodly men rise into influence sometimes. If we gaze upon God’ s great providence in the hope of being able to scan its parts and explain all its movements, we shall be sadly disappointed. But if we cease from the vain attempt to understand the complexities of providence and, looking above all its visible movements, rest our faith on Him who conducts them all, we shall begin to have peace. It would be easy to mention many other providential mysteries which are very appalling and perplexing to the natural understanding. Do you say, It is all according to law? But are you not afraid as you see how stern and unrelenting law is? Where is your relief? Will you try to vanquish nature and providence by thought? Will you resist and seek deliverance by strength? Will you be wiser and trust? Ah, that is relief! II. THERE ARE CERTAIN , THE THOUGHT OF WHICH HAS A TO DARKEN THE SPIRIT WITH FEAR. Unsatisfied with past and present, we cast our hopes always within the veil of the great tomorrow; but our fears go with our hopes. And it is not merely that there are such bare possibilities in every man’ s future, but these are always shaping themselves into probabilities. Perhaps there is no one person who cannot fancy, and who is not sometimes almost compelled to expect, some particular form of ill, something which he shrinks from. What is the remedy? “ I will trust, and not be afraid.” There is yet one dread possibility, the contemplation of which is more appalling than the very worst of earthly calamities--the possibility of spiritual failure, ending in a final exclusion from the presence of God and the joys of the blessed. There is but one way of grappling with and overcoming this great fear. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)Trust in relation to the will A Christian lady of my acquaintance was at one time in her life an apparently hopeless victim of doubts and fears. She knew she ought to trust the Lord, and longed to do it, but she seemed utterly unable. After a long period of suffering from this cause, she finally con tided her difficulties to a friend, who, as it mercifully happened, understood this secret concerning the will, and who told her that if in her will she would decide to trust, and, putting all her will power into trusting, would utterly ignore her feelings, she would sooner or later get the victory over all her doubts. The poor doubter listened in silence for a few minutes, and then, drawing a long breath, said with emphasis, “ Yes, I see it. If I choose in my will to trust, I really am trusting, even though all my feelings say contrary. I do choose to trust now. I will trust; I will not be afraid again.” As she came to this decision, and thus deliberately put her will on the side of God’ s will, all the darkness vanished, and her soul was brought out into the glorious light of the Gospel; a light which was never dimmed again, until her eyes were opened in the presence of the King. (Mrs. H. W. Smith.)Trust in God “ How do you know that you are ready to appear before God?” was once asked of one dying; and the answer was, ‘ Sir, God knows that I have taken Him at His word.” (Prof. Laidlaw, D. D.)Trusting I once illustrated the act of faith by the experience of a friend who was in an upper room of a hotel at night when the building took fire. He seized the escape rope that was in his room, swung out of the window, and lowered himself in safety to the sidewalk. He had a good opinion of that rope during the day when he saw it coiled up by his bedside, but it was only an opinion; when he believed on the rope, and trusted himself to the rope, it saved his life. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)A definition of faith An intensely interesting incident was related lately by Dr. J.G. Paten of a discovery of a term in the language of Aniwa for “ Faith.” It seems that for a long time no equivalent could be found, and the work of Bible translation was paralysed for want of so fundamental and oft recurring a term. The natives apparently regarded the verb “ to hear” as equivalent to belief. For instance, suppose a native were asked whether he heard a certain statement. Should he credit the statement he would reply, “ Yes, I heard it,” but should he disbelieve it, he would answer, “ No, I did not hear it,” meaning not that his ears had failed to catch the words, but that he did not regard them as true. This definition of faith was obviously insufficient--many passages, such as “ faith cometh by hearing,” would be impossible of translation through so meagre a channel; and prayer was made continually that God would supply the missing link. No effort had been spared in interrogating the most intelligent native pundits, but all in vain; none caught the hidden meaning of the word sought by the missionary. One day Dr. Paten was sitting in his room anxiously pondering. He sat on an ordinary chair, his feet resting on the floor; just then an intelligent native entered the room, and the thought flashed to the missionary to ask the all-absorbing question yet once again in a new light. Was he not resting on that chair? Would that attitude lend itself to the discovery? “ Taea,” said Dr. Paten, “ what am I doing now?” “ Koihae ana, Misi” , the native replied. Then the missionary drew up his feet and placed them upon the bar of the chair just above the floor, and, leaning back upon the chair in an attitude of repose, asked, “ What am I doing now? Fakarongrongo, Misi” (“ You are leaning wholly,” or, “ You have lifted yourself from every other support” ). “ That’ s it,” shouted the missionary, with an exultant cry; and a sense of holy joy awed him as he realised that his prayer had been so fully answered. To lean on Jesus wholly and only is surely the true meaning of appropriating or saving faith. And now, “ Fakarongrongo Iesu ea anea moure” , is the happy experience of those Christian islanders, as it is of all who thus cast themselves unreservedly on the Saviour of the world for salvation. The Lord Jehovah is my strength and my songJehovah the strength of His people 1. He is the strength of my understanding, whereby I discern and acknowledge the great mysteries of salvation, and am enabled to perceive the way in which I ought to go. 2. He is the strength of my heart, of which He takes the direction, working in me to will and to do of His good pleasure; giving the willing mind, which makes His work go forward with alacrity and cheerfulness. 3. He is the strength of my affections, which tie preserves from becoming languid and feeble, and fixes them upon the proper objects on which they ought to terminate. 4. He is the strength of my graces, who establisheth my faith, enliveneth my love, animateth my hope and patience; who enableth me to resist my spiritual enemies, to vanquish temptations, to mortify corruptions, to perform duties, to sustain afflictions, and to surmount all the obstacles that lie in the way to the kingdom of God. (R. Macculloch.)The joy of the Gospel At least twenty-one times in his letter to the Philippians, written in prison, does St. Paul use such words as joy, rejoice, gladness, while the whole letter is charged with the spirit of joy. This is the real spirit of the Gospel. (Great Thoughts.)Rejoicing in God When the poet Carpani asked his friend Haydn how it happened that his church music was so cheerful, the beautiful answer was: “ I cannot make it otherwise; I write according to the thoughts I feel. When I think upon God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes dance and leap, as it were, from my pen; and since God has given me a cheerful heart, it will be pardoned me that I serve Him with a cheerful spirit.” (Great Thoughts.)Jehovah His people’ s song The wife of Hawthorne, the American writer, said in a letter to her mother: “ Sunday afternoon the birds were sweetly mad, and the lovely rage of song drove them hither and thither, and swelled their breasts amain. I kept saying, ‘ Yes, yes, I know it, dear little maniacs, I know it! There never was such an air, such a day, such a God! I know it! I know it.’ But they would not be pacified. Their throats must have been made of fine gold, or they would have been rent with such rapture quakes.” Human beings are compelled to declare in song the ecstasy which is at times in their souls because of the goodness of God. They cannot help being tunefully demonstrative when the Infinite Being comes into their souls, and makes Himself known as a gracious visitant by the plenitude of blessing He bestows. If the great visitation be to them on the week day, they give praise for it in the music which attested their jubilant enthusiasm on the Sabbath. If the great visitation comes to them on the Sabbath, they can scarcely tell whether they belong to earth or to the paradise never darkened by evening shadows, and in their singing they endeavour to emulate “ the voice of harpers, harping with their harps.” (Gates of Imagery.) Isaiah 12:3 Therefore with Joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation Drawing water from the wells of salvation The Talmudists refer the words, “ With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation,” to the custom of making an oblation of water on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. But as it is not prescribed in the law of Moses, it has been doubted whether it dates back earlier than the times of the Maccabees. It is, however, at least as probable that the Asmonean princes should have restored an ancient as ordained a new rite; such a rite, to acknowledge God’ s gift of the water without which harvest and vintage must have failed, would always have been a likely accompaniment of the feast in which these were celebrated; and the like acts of Samuel and Elijah, though for different purposes, perhaps go in confirmation of the ancient existence of such a practice. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)The prophecy and its fulfilment Two events, separated from each other by fifteen hundred years, bear upon these words. One was the origin of the peculiar form of this prophecy, the other contains its interpretation and claims to be its fulfilment. 1. The wandering march of the children of Israel had brought them to Rephidim, where there was no water. Their parched lips opened to murmur and rebel against their unseen Leader and His visible lieutenant. At his wits’ end, Moses cried to God, and the answer is the command to take with him the elders of Israel, and with his rod in his hand to go up to Horeb; and then come grand words, “ Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it.” It is not the rock, nor the rod, nor the uplifted hand, but it is the presence of God which makes the sparkling streams pour out. How the thirsty men would drink, how gladly they would fling themselves on the ground and glue their lips to the glancing blessing, or dip their cups and skins into it, as it flashed along! Many a psalm and prophecy refer to this old story, and clearly Isaiah had it in his mind here, for the whole context is full of allusions to the history of the Exodus, as a symbol of the better deliverance from a worse bondage, which the “ Root of Jesse” was to effect. The lyric burst of praise, of which the text is part, carries on the same allusion. The joyful band of pilgrims returning from this captivity sing the “ Song of Moses,” chanted first by the banks of the Red Sea, “ The Lord is my strength and song and He is become my salvation.” This distinct quotation, which immediately precedes our text, makes the reference in it which we have pointed out, most probable and natural. The connection of these words with the story in the Exodus was recognised by the Jews at a very early period, as is plain from their use in the remarkable ritual of the Feast of Tabernacles. That festival was originally appointed to preserve the remembrance of Israel’ s nomad life in the wilderness. In the later days of the nation, a number of symbolical observances were added to those of the original institution. Daily, amidst loud jubilations, the priests wound in long procession down the slope from the temple to the fountain of Siloam in the valley beneath, and there drew water in golden urns. They bore it back, the crowd surging around them, and then amidst the blast of trumpets, and a tumult of rejoicing, they poured it on the altar, while thousands of voices chanted Isaiah’ s words, “ With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” 2. So much for the occasion of the prophecy; now for its meaning and fulfilment. Nearly eight hundred years have passed. Again the festival has come round. For seven days the glad ceremonial has been performed. For the last time the priestly procession has gone down the rocky road; for the last time the vases have been filled at the cool fountain below; for the last time the bright water has been poured out sparkling in the sunlight; for the last time the shout of joy has risen and fallen, and as the words of the ancient chant were dying on the ear, a sudden stir began among the crowd, and from the midst of them, as they parted for his passage, came a young man, rustic in appearance, and there, before all the silence-stricken multitude, and priests with their empty urns, “ in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.” Surely such words, in such a connection, at such a time, from such lips, are meant to point the path to the true understanding of the text. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The wells of salvation I. Consider what we have to understand by THE WELLS OF . 1. We are not to be content with any shallow and narrow interpretation of either idea in that phrase. No doubt “ salvation” in the Old Testament often means merely outward deliverance from material peril. We shall not strain the meaning here, if we take salvation almost in the fully developed New Testament sense, as including, negatively, the deliverance from all evil, both evil of sin and evil of sorrow, and, positively, the endowment with all good, good both of holiness and happiness, which God can bestow or man receive. 2. Then if so, God Himself is, in the deepest truth, the Well of Salvation. The figure of our text does not point to a well so much as to a spring. It is a source, not a reservoir. So we have but to recall, the deep and wonderful words of the psalmist” : “ With Thee is the fountain of life, and others not less profound of the prophet: “ They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,” in order to be led up to the essential meaning of this text. Salvation has its origin in the depths of God’ s own nature. It wells up as of itself, not drawn forth by anything in us, but pouring out as from an inner impulse in His own deep heart. Surely, too, if God be the fountain of salvation, the essence of salvation must be His communication of Himself. The water is the same in the fountain as in the pitcher. But, God being the true fountain of salvation, notice that Jesus Christ plainly and decisively puts Himself in the place that belongs to God: “ If any man thirst,” etc. Think of the extraordinary claims involved in that invitation. Every craving of heart and mind, all longings for love and wisdom, for purity and joy, for strength and guidance, He assumes to be able to slake by the gift of Himself. 3. One other remark may be made on this part of our subject. The first word of our text carries us back to something preceding, on which the drawing water with joy is founded. That something is expressed immediately before: “ The Lord Jehovah is my strength and song,” etc. These words are quoted from Moses’ song at the Red Sea, and there point to the one definite act by which God had saved the people from their pursuers. In like manner, we have to look to a definite historical act by which the fountain of salvation has been opened for us, and our glad drawing therefrom has been made possible. The mission and work of Jesus Christ, His incarnation, passion and death, are the means by which the sealed fountain has been opened. For men, Jesus Christ is as the river which flows from the closed and land-locked sea of the infinite Divine nature. He is for us the only source, the inexhaustible, the perennial source--like some spring never hot or muddy, never frozen, never walled in,never sinking one hairbreadth in its basin, though armies drink, and ages pass. II. Consider again, what is THE WAY OF DRAWING from the wells of salvation. 1. Christ has taught us what “ drawing” is. To the Samaritan woman He said, “ Thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.” So then Drawing is Asking. To the crowds in the temple courts He said, “ Let him come unto Me and drink.” So, then, Drawing is Coming. To the listeners by the Sea of Galilee He said, “ He that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.” So Coming, Asking, Drawing, are all explained by Believing. 2. Now that faith which is thus powerful, must fasten on a definite historical fact. The faith which draws from the fountain of salvation is not a vague faith in generalities about God’ s goodness and the like, but it grasps God as revealed and becoming our salvation in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. 3. The words preceding our text suggest another characteristic of the faith which really draws water from the fountain: “ He is become my salvation.” That is to say, this believing grasp of Christ manifested in a definite historical act is an intensely personal thing, 3. Consider, too, THE JOY OF THE WATER DRAWERS. The well is the meeting place in these hot lands, where the solitary shepherds from the pastures and the maidens from the black camels’ hair tents meet in the cool evening, and ringing laughter and cheery talk go round. Or the allusion may be rather to the joy, as of escape from death, with which some exhausted travellers press towards the palm trees on the horizon that tell of a spring in the desert, and when they have reached it, crowd to the fountain and drink greedily, no matter how hot and muddy it may be. So jubilant is the heart of the man whose soul is filled and feasted with the God of his salvation, and the salvation of his God. Such a man has all the sources and motives for joy which the heart can ask. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Salvation: how to get it People have given many answers to the question, If God be the fountain of salvation, how are we to get the water? if I may say so, pumps of all sorts have been tried, and there has been much weary working of arms at the handles, and much jangling of buckets and nothing brought up. The old word is true, with a new application to all who try in any shape to procure salvation by any work of their own: “ Thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.” But there is no need for all this profitless work. It is as foolish as it would be to spend money and pains in sinking a well in some mountainous country, where every hillside is seamed with watercourses, and all that is needed is to put one end of any kind of wooden spout into the “ burn” and your vessels under the other. The well of salvation is an artesian well that needs no machinery to raise the water, but only pitchers to receive it as it rises. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Christ’ s ordinances I. WHAT IS BY A MEANS OF . It is that by and through which the Lord Jesus doth by His spirit convey grace and salvation into a soul. These means are some outward, some inward; some ordinary, others extraordinary. II. WHAT THESE MEANS OF ARE. 1. The inward means is faith (Hebrews 4:2). This ordinarily requires an outward means to work it by. But being wrought, it is the great inward means of communication betwixt Christ and the soul. 2. Extraordinary means are whatsoever the Lord in His sovereign wisdom is pleased to make use of extraordinarily for conveying grace into the hearts of His elect, as He did a voice from heaven for the conversion of Paul. 3. The outward and ordinary means are the Lord’ s own ordinances Romans 10:14-15). (1) In general, all the ordinances of God without exception, which He has set up in His Church for that end. (2) The most special means of grace and salvation are the Word, sacraments, and prayer. III. WHAT MAKES ANY A MEANS OF GRACE, a well of salvation, out of which one may in faith look to draw water for his soul, or get spiritual good by. 1. No ordinance whatsoever can avail without a particular blessing; for the efficacy of ordinances is not natural, or from themselves. 2. Men’ s institutions or ordinances, in respect of God, are forbidden, and condemned by the Lord’ s word, namely, in the second commandment. 3. Men’ s use of them is not only useless, but worse, not only to no good purpose, but to ill purpose. That which makes any ordinance a means of grace or salvation, is Divine institution only (Matthew 28:20). Therefore the first question in all ordinances ought to be, Whose is this image and superscription? IV. TO WHOM THE LORD’ S ARE MADE . 1. Not to all who partake of them. “ Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” Many come to these wells who never taste of the water. I think it an unwarrantable expression, that all God’ s ordinances do attain their end, in the salvation or damnation of all that come under them; for damnation is not the end of any of God’ s ordinances, but salvation. 2. But to all the elect they are effectual, unto whom they come (Acts John 10:26). V. WHENCE THE OF . It does not proceed from any virtue in themselves, or in him that administers them, but from the Spirit of the Lord working in them and by them (1 Corinthians 3:7). (T. Boston, D. D.)The wells of salvation I. THE WATER. The entire text refers to the great work of God in saving sinners by the obedience and death of His Son. 1. Water is essential to life. 2. Water is purifying in its influence. 3. It has refreshing and fertilising properties. In this country where water abounds we can hardly appreciate this. In the East a draught of cold water was frequently invaluable. It was not only valuable to the body of man, but fertilising to the earth. In this part of the world we have too much water, and our ingenuity is taxed to drain the land, but in the East ingenuity would be stretched to irrigate it. 4. It is a thing of universal adaptation. There are some persons who cannot take milk, others cannot take different kinds of food, and some cannot take vegetables to any amount; and so on. But you never found anyone who could do without water. It is a fact that not only can none of the human race do without it, but all the human race can take it. In like manner, the Gospel is for every class and condition of men. II. THE WELLS OF . Wherever the pure Gospel is preached, it may be considered one of the wells of salvation. 1. Properly speaking, the Deity is the well of salvation. Christ is the great medium, the great procuring cause, the great efficient cause, and the Holy Ghost is the water of life. 2. Again, the Scriptures of truth may be considered wells of salvation. We moreover observe that in an emphatic manner, all through the Holy Scriptures of revealed truth, Christ is preached, and they are thus wells of salvation. 3. Further, Christ is essentially and emphatically the well of salvation. III. THE DRAWING OF THE WATER. 1. If you want to draw water, you must come near to the well. If you want to understand something about Christ, you must come to the Bible; you must listen to the Gospel faithfully preached, or, rather, you must come to Christ Jesus Himself. 2. There must be a personal application. 3. This drawing of the water must be continuous. That is a remarkable passage in 1 Peter 2:4 --“ To whom coming.” “ Coming” denotes continued application. We must not only come for justification and sanctification to Christ, but we must continue to come. IV. THE JOY. “ With joy,” etc. No wonder when you consider-- 1. The unrestricted freeness of the Gospel. 2. The gratuitousness of this great blessing. 3. That this joy inspires a glorious hope of eternal bliss. (Hugh Allen, M. A.)A discovery of God's mercy in Christ Let us consider the feelings which a discovery of God’ s mercy in Christ awakens in the breasts of believers. I. IT GIVES JOY TO THE SINNER WHEN HE FIRST IT. II. IT YIELDS JOY TO HIM THROUGH HIS WHOLE LIFE . (G. Innes.)Wells of salvation I. THE BY WHICH IS HERE . “ Wells of salvation.” Water is a favourite emblem in the sacred Scriptures for setting forth the blessings of salvation, especially in the writings of the Old Testament prophets. Salvation, like a well, is-- 1. Invisible in its source. God prepares the water for the wells in hidden springs. Man can make a well, but he cannot make a spring; so men may form systems of religion of their own, but they are only wells without water. Salvation is a well of God’ s own construction, and He alone from His own hidden resources can supply the life-giving water. There is much mystery in the source of an ordinary well of water, yet we do not allow our inability to fully understand it to present an insuperable barrier in the way of accepting its great blessings; let us exercise the same common sense in our treatment of the wells of salvation. 2. Inexhaustible in its supply. A stream may be dried up, a river may fail to flow, a cistern may be exhausted, but a well is fed from hidden deep springs. In the Gospel of Christ there is enough for each, enough for all, enough for evermore. 3. Inestimable in its service. II. THE MEANS BY WHICH IS TO BE . “ With joy shall ye draw,” etc. It is not enough for the thirsty to draw near to a well, not enough to look into it, and listen to the music of its waters--an effort must be made, it must be appropriated. 1. We must “ draw.” God provides the well, but we must use the hand of faith; by the rope of effort we must let down the pitcher of desire--and as we draw the blessing up, we shall not thank the instruments by which we obtain the water, but we shall thank Him who provided it so freely for us. 2. We must drink. Not enough to draw the water to the edge of the well, not enough to lift it to the lips, the water must be drunk as well as drawn. III. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH IS TO BE . “ With joy,” etc. The teaching of our text harmonises with the inductions of reason, and with the dictates of common sense. For how else could we draw water out of the wells of salvation? Will not the sufferer go gladly to the physician who has the ability and willingness to heal? Will not the fainting traveller go with joy to the well he discovers close by? (F. W. Brown.)Drawing water from the wells of salvation The question naturally arising from these words is, What will make us draw water with joy from these wells? In general we might remark, that these being styled the wells of salvation is a sufficient reason for this joy, provided it is kept properly in view. But more particularly, I remark-- I. That these wells must be KEPT OPEN for this purpose. The Church of Christ, because devoted to Him, and accessible to none other, is like a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Not so the ordinances of grace: they are accessible to all. To keep these open, ministers must labour, travail as in birth, preach the Word, be instant in season, out of season. Pointed careful attention on the part of the hearers, accompanied with fervent prayer, must keep them open. II. They must be KEPT PURE, living, running clear from the throne, No admixture to foul them must be allowed. No addition of ours, nothing kept back. III. These waters must be TASTED. IV. We must HIGHLY VALUE these wells, if we would draw water from them with joy. V. A REWARD to these wells is necessary to our spiritual comfort. We must continue hungering and thirsting after righteousness. This application may be made at all times, and in every state. In the public and private and secret exercises of religion, in health and sickness, in the prison or the palace, wherever God is, public ordinances must be preferred. Application: (1) To those who are employed in drawing water for others; and who, in order to this, should draw for themselves, that they may be successful in their work. Do we make it our study to speak from the heart to the heart? (2) To those who think these wells are dry to them. What is the reason of this? Has it proceeded from the ministry? Have you expected from them what you should have from their Master? Have you never thought on your own misimprovement? Have you prayed that these wells might be opened to you? (3) To those who have drawn, or think they have with joy drawn water from the wells of salvation. How ardent will your desires be. He that drinks of this water will not thirst again. Inordinate desires after the world will be quenched--they will be subdued. And here the fullest satisfaction will be obtained. (A. Brown.)The wells of salvation I. THE WELLS OF . The value of the water yielded by these wells is found in the saving effects to be met with in those who come hither to draw and to drink. These waters impart strength to the worker, courage to the timid, joy to the mourner, refreshment to the weary, and satisfaction to the dry, and the thirsty. There is no evil in the spirit that this water will not cure. It would be a world’ s wonder if God’ s own Spirit could not make man’ s spirit as lively and happy as its inherent limits will allow; as happy for man as God, as been happy in Himself from eternity. Observe now that the great salvation which is in God--nay, which is God in us by His Spirit--finds its way outwards to thirsty drinkers through many outlets and notthrough one only. There are as many of these precious wells as there are distinctly revealed truths on the page of Scripture. Every promise of blessing, every call to duty, every story of God’ s dealings with Israel and the nations, every prediction, every verse of sacred song, every miracle and parable of Christ, every word, indeed, that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, is, through the Spirit, a well of salvation. In a transferred sense, there are as many wells of salvation as there are living Christians on earth at a given time. The heart that draws water from the wells above mentioned, becomes itself a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Every Christian worker is, in an especial sense, a well of this kind. II. THE JOYFUL OF THE WATER found in these wells. 1. The drawer of water from any well of salvation is anyone anywhere who chooses. “ Whosoever will, let, him take the water of life freely.” 2. The drawing and drinking impulse is the inward thirst of spirit, which, in a general form, characterises all mankind, and shows itself in spiritual minds in the form of thirst for this water in particular. “ Let him that is athirst come.” 3. The drawing power is communicated by the Holy Spirit acting in His character as the promised Comforter and helper of our infirmities. In one point of view He is the power through which we draw and drink, as in another aspect He is the water we work with in this way for the refreshment of our souls and their true life. 4. The drawing apparatus includes all outward means available for help in our endeavours after the truth expressed in this or in that part of revelation, parallel passages containing like ideas or identical expressions, sound and able expositions, and along with these the lives and deeds of our Lord’ s faithful and enlightened followers. The intimation in hand lays special stress upon the joy with which the drawing of this water is begun and kept up. This joy comes of the thought that the water is pure, life giving, and refreshing; of the ease with which the drawing machinery is used when all is right with the man who works it, and when the hallowed practice is maintained; of the fulness and constancy of the stream which flows toward us, after it has been drawn up from the depths of the well that is being worked at the time; and of the exhilarating effects of the water when taken freely. The joy prompts and helps the work of drawing. The drawing enlarges and maintains the joy. (David Lowe.)The wells of salvation I. THE WELLS. A well differs from a spring in this: a spring is a natural outlet for the waters in the earth; a well is an artificial one made by man. The well is the result of design. So the wells of salvation represent a Divine design. These wells are the varied “ means of grace” provided by God for our highest welfare. Two cautions deserve our serious thought. 1. We must not ignore, or neglect, any of these wells, for God in wisdom has caused them to be dug. 2. We must not substitute for these wells any cisterns of mere human digging. II. THE WATERS of these wells of salvation. Jesus Himself called it “ living water.” It is elsewhere called “ the water of life” --a very expressive way of representing that salvation which one receives through the appointed means of grace. For-- 1. Like living water, this salvation is very refreshing to the thirsty soul. 2. Like water, this salvation cleanses. 3. Like water, this salvation is free. 4. And this water is inexhaustible. III. THE JOYFUL DRAWING. (E. H. Witman.)The wells of salvation I. THE WELLS. God, in carrying on His government, has seen it wise to act usually through agencies and means. He has provided means for carrying out His great and gracious purposes in redemption. These are here presented to us as “ wells.” II. THE DRAWING OUT OF THESE WELLS. 1. The existence of the means of grace is not enough. 2. We never will appropriate those blessings until impelled by a sense of need. III. THE JOY. There are many things in Christ fitted to inspire joy. 1. His adaptation to the wants of the sinner. 2. His fulness. 3. He is an eternal Christ. 4. There is cause of rejoicing in the terms on which He is tendered. The Gospel is brought within the reach of the poorest, the most abject, the most hopeless. Its language is not “ Do,” or “ Give,” but “ Take.” And if Christ be so free, is it any wonder if the sinner should appropriate Him with joy? Application: (1) What a wilderness this land would be without its Sabbaths, its Bibles, its sermons, its communions! (2) The danger of polluted wells. We dare not mingle anything with Christ. (3) If we have Christ in the ordinances, let us strive to partake of His fulness. (T. Maclauchlan, LL. D.)The means of grace to be diligently used Drawing water is an employment which requires strength, labour, and diligence, to which some means or instruments of conveyance are indispensably requisite. From these and other circumstances attending this operation we learn the import of the spiritual exercise here intended. The blessings communicated by the Holy Ghost are obtained by diligent application of the mind to prayer, attentive reading, hearing, and meditation; and by rightly disposing and digesting the subjects read, heard, and contemplated, so as believingly to apply them for the great purposes of spiritual improvement. (R. Macculloch.)The wells of salvation The plural is used because God is as many wells, inexhaustible. (W. Day, M. A.)Wells of salvation: the Word of God A young girl, going to be servant in a grand house, was discovered one day in the servants hall reading her Bible. Her mistress, richly attired in satin, with dazzling jewels, stood amazed at the sight of her poor domestic, who had but one spare evening a month, employing it in the study of Scripture. “ Maggie,” she said, “ what are you doing with that Book? It is not right that you should read it tonight. You should be out, girl.” The mistress, though thoroughly worldly, yet had a kind heart, and put her hand on the shrinking girl. Maggie looked up with sweet and steadfast eyes. “ This is enjoyment, ma’ am,” she said timidly. Wells of salvation: the house of God The camel, weary with his hundred miles’ travel across the burning sands, eats a few dried leaves, drinks at the well, lies down on the hot earth, and rolls about awhile, and is ready for another dash across the arid plain. So the tired burden bearer comes to the house of God, drinks from the fountain of life, and is renewed in soul and body too. (King’s Highway.) Isaiah 12:4-6 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord Congregational praise I. WHO ARE HERE CALLED UPON TO PRAISE GOD. The inhabitants of Zion and Jerusalem, whom God had in a peculiar manner protected from Sennacherib’ s violence (Isaiah 12:6). Those that have received distinguishing favours from God ought to be most forward and zealous in praising Him. The Gospel Church is Zion; Christ is Zion’ s King; those that have a place and name in that should lay out themselves to diffuse the knowledge of Christ, and to bring many to Him. II. HOW THEY MUST PRAISE THE LORD. 1. By prayer. “ Call upon His name.” As giving thanks for former mercy is a decent way of begging further mercy, so begging further mercy is graciously accepted as a thankful acknowledgment of the mercies we have received. 2. By preaching and writing we must speak to others concerning Him--not only “ call upon His name,” but (as the margin reads it) “ proclaim His name” ; let others know something more from us than they did before concerning God, and those things whereby He has made Himself known. “ Declare His doings” --His “ counsels,” so some read it. The work of redemption is according to the counsel of His will and in that and other wonderful works that He hath done, we must take notice of His “ thoughts which are to usward.” Declare these “ among the people” --among the heathen, that they may be brought into communion with Israel, and the God of Israel. When the apostles preached the Gospel to “ all nations, beginning at Jerusalem,” then this Scripture was fulfilled, that His doings should be declared among the people, and that what He hath done should be known in all the earth. 3. By a holy exultation and transport of joy. “ Cry out and shout.” III. FOR WHAT THEY MUST PRAISE THE LORD. 1. Because He hath glorified Himself. “ His name is exalted,” is become more illustrious and conspicuous, and every good man rejoiceth in that. 2. Because He hath magnified His people. He “ hath done excellent things” for them, which makes them look great and considerable. 3. Because He is, and will be, great among them. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 12:6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion Rapturous enthusiasm should characterise religion Here is a call for enthusiasm, rapture, and what would generally be denominated madness. Still, the words are here, and they are perfectly clear as to their meaning and purpose, and a reason is given for the cry and for the shout; that reason is--“ for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.” Men have been infuriated by earthly deliverances, and rightly so, and brought into paroxysms of thankfulness and joy why not so in their religious natures? It is recorded by Plutarch that when the Romans delivered a certain people from the tyranny of the Macedonians and the Spartans, the cry of the delivered men was so great that it dissipated the very air, and birds flying across that plane of the hemisphere fell down amazed. Have we ever rent the air with our cries and shouts of delight and thankfulness? Our Christianity may have been formal, and our atheism may have been the atheism of respectability. Respectability can never be earnest. It is limited by a smaller word. If Sydney Smith said the Church is dying of dignity, we may apply the rebuke to ourselves, and ask if we are not falling into torpor through the opiate of respectability. Are we called to silence? Who can describe the feeling of those who were imprisoned during the Indian Mutiny? Is there not a page in the history of that rebellion which makes every human heart thrill with excitement? We remember how the Europeans were shut up, being beleaguered and invested, and within a hand breadth of extinction; and we remember hearing of the deliverers’ approach, and of those who were suffering catching the strains of music; they heard the pibroch and the slogan, and their hearts came again, and every soldier was a hero, and every woman a saint, and as the deliverers came on could you have said to those who had been shut up in terror and darkness, Now restrain yourselves; avoid everything sensational, and maintain a decorous and proper attitude in all things--what answer would they have returned to your inane and unseasonable address? We must pass through a certain class of circumstances before we can understand the feelings of those who express gratitude for deliverance. The singing of the Church should be loud, joyous, and sweet; all instruments should accompany it now the clash of bells, now the blare of trumpets, now the lilt of lutes, and now the throb of drums; strong men, gentle women, merry children should unite their voices in one glad burst of religious joy. Thank God for music. That will unite the Church when theology will divide it. There is no disputable argument in music. The vanity of opinion is not touched by music. The demon of heresy is left without a chance in music. Pedantic criticism is ignored. The heart has it all its own way. All is harmony. All is praise. All is love. If ever preaching be displaced or superseded, may it be by music! (J. Parker, D. D.)“ Thou inhabitant of Zion” The Hebrew is feminine: the appeal is to a woman’ s heart--Cry out and shout, thou daughter of Zion! Without the womanly element the Church is without charm, and without the Divinest passion. The woman must lead us, in song, in music, in praise, and by the contagion of her enthusiasm must warm others into responsive and cooperative zeal. (J. Parker, D. D.)God’ s precede with His people Among the ancient people of God, Jehovah vouchsafed His immediate and manifest presence, both in the continuance of His visible glory between the cherubim, and, upon extraordinary occasions, in an extraordinary manner. Such miraculous indications of the Divine presence are not to be expected in these latter days. Now that God has blessed us with a revelation, so clear, so completely suited to our necessities, and in all its doctrines and precepts so manifestly Divine, that our own consciences cannot but acknowledge it as the truth, He has withdrawn those miraculous tokens of His favour by which He upheld the confidence of His ancient people, requiring us to walk by faith and not by sight. The glory of the spiritual Zion does not consist in outward manifestations of the Godhead, but in the real though invisible presence of the King of Zion, according to His gracious promise, “ Lo, I am with you alway.” He is present by His Spirit in the hearts of all His faithful followers. What is implied in this promise of the Holy One of Israel in the midst of Zion? 1. That God is ever with His people to strengthen and sustain them. 2. God, through Christ, is ever present with His people, to succour and defend them. 3. Jehovah is ever present with His people to lead and direct them. 4. God is ever with His people to comfort them. 5. Jehovah is ever present with His people to command a blessing upon the appointed means of His grace. Without this, the Scriptures are a dead letter. (W. Ramsay.)The Church of the living God Civilised countries have many institutions of a voluntary kind for useful purposes. There is, however, an institution in the world, where men are laid under direct obligation to Him who has established the institution, namely, the Church of God, in relation to which the earnest appeal in the text is made. I. THIS CHURCH TO US THE WAY, UNDER GOD’ S HAND, TO TRUE . Men devise many recipes to correct evils and excite to virtue. But Zion accomplishes all these results by one simple method. To be in the Church of God is to be in the way of all goodness. Well may the inhabitants of Zion rejoice, for all spiritual blessings of God’ s kingdom are given to it. II. Another logical conclusion follows, namely, that ALL OF US OUGHT TO BE IN THAT ZION. We are to be in it, not because the Church itself demands it; not because the minister calls for it; not because the influences around us have inculcated it. We are to belong to the Church because God, who founded the Church and created us, has laid this obligation upon us. And we are not to be simply visitors to His Church, or occasional attendants, and especially not to be patrons. We are to be inhabitants, dwelling in it; being in it with our whole souls, and complying with the obligations that are incumbent upon its inhabitants, if we would be pure men. And this is no unreasonable command. 1. The way in which the word came is both significant and instructive. 2. Another consideration is that, “ Great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of her.” That is the culminating and crowning glory of God’ s Zion. Practical reflections-- 1. We must see that this Zion is a home of great dignity. It is more than a home, it is God’ s kingdom. 2. If this be God’ s Zion, then what have we to do to be in His Zion and to feel the pleasures incumbent upon members of His Zion? We are to obey Him. It is His presence, His power, His relation to us, that give sanctity to God’ s house and service. 3. Let me speak a word to any who are without God and without hope of eternal life. This King summons you from rebellion; He summons you to peace and goodwill to Him. (J. Hall, D. D.)The character, privilege, and duty of the people of God I. THE here given of the people of God, couched in Old Testament language, in that they are called inhabitants of Zion. To understand the meaning of the words, “ inhabitant of Zion,” as describing the people of God in every age, we should first remember that Zion was literally a hill in the land of Judea. There was a hill in the southern part of the promised land, on which, or on part of which, the city of Jerusalem was built, and this hill had two peaks, the one called Zion proper, and the other called Mount Moriah, and while Jerusalem stood on one of these peaks, or Zion proper, the temple was built by appointment on the other of these peaks, or Mount Moriah, but the whole together was called the hill of Zion, of Mount Zion, and accordingly in the 2 nd Psalm we read, “ Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion,” and again, “ Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth; is Mount Zion,” plainly showing that this was a hill in the land of Judea. But, as I have said, on one peak or top of this hill the temple of Solomon was placed, and hence the word “ Zion” came by a common figure of speech to be transferred from the mountain to the temple, the most prominent feature on the mountain, and in this sense I think we have it in the 87 th Psalm, “ The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.” Understanding, then, by the word “ Zion” the temple, an “ inhabitant of Zion” now calls up the idea of a person who lives in and about the temple; and, indeed, the will of God was, that all His ancient people should live as much as may be in and about the temple. But we must remember that the temple was intended to be a type of the human nature of our Lord, or of God in our nature (John 2:19-21). An inhabitant of Zion is one who is much versant with Christ. II. THE connected with this character. “ Great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.” The Holy One of Israel, or the God that went out and in among the people of Israel, the God that brought them out of the land of Egypt, and through a variety of vicissitudes landed them at last in the Canaan of promise, was no other than the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Corinthians 10:9). But it is particularly the privilege of all the inhabitants of Zion, that they have the protection of Him at all times who is the Almighty, and who is, “ therefore, able to prevail against all opposition.” Great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. These last words convey the idea of a garrison, which, being in the very centre of a place fortified, contains armed men ready to run out from this central point, whenever they are called or required. So Christ, the Holy One, is in the midst of the Church, in the midst of the believer individually, because quite prepared to run out to any point where His people are weak and unprotected. If any of God’ s people be poor in this world, they need not have recourse to unlawful methods to secure for them and their families bread to eat, and raiment to put on, for their Heavenly Father knows they need these things, and He will give them to them, in the use of the lawful means put in their power. It intimates God reconciled in Christ to provide for their souls. He will provide for them the means of grace. But once more, it makes part of the privilege of God’ s people, that they are to see the greatness of the glory of God ultimately. Now God says that the very greatness of His glory shines out in the work of redemption--that there is more of that great invisible God brought out to intelligent creatures, by the work of redemption, than by any work which God created. III. THE DUTY that God expects of His people, in consequence of their understanding this. “ Cry out and shout.” And here we are taught-- 1. That courage is our duty--boldness. “ Cry out and shout.” Why? Because there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. 2. Cheerfulness. 3. Holding forth the Word of life. Concluding remarks-- 1. How very far below their privilege do some professing Christians live! 2. Privilege always goes before duty. 3. The words are spoken to individuals. (J. Muir, D. D.)Loyal joy Speaking of the early days of Queen Mary’ s reign, Mr. Froude says: “ When the lords with the mayor and heralds went to the Cross at Cheapside to proclaim Mary as Queen, there was no reason to complain of a silent audience. Pembroke stood out to read, and could but utter one sentence before his voice was lost in the shout of joy which thundered into the air. ‘ God save the Queen,’ rang out from ten thousands of throats. ‘ God save the Queen,’ cried Pembroke himself when he had done, and flung up his jewelled cap and tossed his purse among the crowd. The glad news spread like lightning through London, and the pent up hearts of the citizens poured themselves out in a torrent of exultation. Above the human cries, the long silent church bells clashed again into life: first began St. Paul’ s, where happy chance had saved them from destruction; then, one by one, every peal which had been spared caught up the sound; and through the summer evening and night, and all the next day, the metal tongues from tower and steeple gave voice to England’ s gladness.” Isaiah 13:1-5 The burden of Babylon The prophet’ s burden Whenever we find the word “ burden” in this association it means oracle, a speech of doom; it is never connected with blessing, hope, enlarged opportunity, or expanded liberty; it always means that judgment is swiftly coming, and may at any moment burst upon the thing that is doomed. (J. Parker, D. D.)The power to see “ Which Isaiah did see.” How did he see it? The word “ see” needs to be defined every day. Blind men may see. We do not see with the eyes only, else truly we should see very little; the whole body becomes an eye when it is fun of light, and they who are holiest see farthest. “ Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Men see morally, intellectually, sympathetically, as well as visually. How could Isaiah see this burden of Babylon when it did not fall upon the proud city for two centuries! Is there, then, no annihilation of time and space? Are we the mean prisoners we thought ourselves to be is it so, that we are caged round by invisible iron, and sealed down by some oppressive power, or blinded by some arbitrary or cruel shadow? We might see more if we looked in the right direction; we might be masters of the centuries if we lived with God. Isaiah is never weary of saying that he “ saw” what he affirms. He does not describe it as having been seen by some other man; having written his record he signs it, or having begun to deliver his prophecy he writes it as a man writes his will; he begins by asserting that it is his testament, his own very witness, for he was there, saw it, and he accepts the responsibility of every declaration. (J. Parker, D. D.)“ Babylon” stands for the spirit of the world In the New Testament, Babylon, more than any other city, stood for the personification of the forces of the world against God. In the history of Israel Babylon was the scourge of God to them. They were as grain under the teeth of the threshing machine. In the Captivity the Jews felt the weight of Babylon’ s cruelty, so that in the prophetic literature of the Exile, Babylon became the type of oppression and of the insolence of material force. Thought is carried back to primitive times in the Book of Genesis, in which Babylon is pictured in the vain and arrogant attempt to rival God: “ Go to, let us build us a city, and tower whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” So deeply had the experience of Babylon’ s cruelty entered into the heart of Israel that even in the New Testament, St. John, in the Book of Revelation, uses the word “ Babylon” to describe the material power of Rome. He could not get a better word than just the old word “ Babylon” to represent the overwhelming force of the great Roman Empire, with its legions of soldiers, with its policy which made the whole world a network of nerves running back to their sensitive centre in the haughty city on the Tiber. St. John saw past the glitter and the conquest, and recognised in pagan Rome the mighty Babylon which lifts her impious head against God. To him she was the “ scarlet woman” ; he heard, her say in the pride of her heart, as the prophet had heard Babylon say, “ I sit a queen and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” Thus the very name “ Babylon” came to take on the religious signification of the spirit of the world; it stood for the dead weight of the material which resists the spirit. (Hugh Black, M. A.)The doom of Babylon Here the prophet pronounces doom upon the bloated empire which seemed to stand so secure, and notes the evidence of weakness in spite of apparent prosperity and careless trust in material resources. Disregard of human rights, lusts, and selfishness and pride of life, and the impious atheism which disregarded all this he declared would all exact their inevitable price. Cruelty and oppression would react upon the tyrant after their usual historic fashion. The huge accumulations on which they rested would only attract the foe, would weaken her hands in her hour of trial, and make her, in spite of her wealth, an easy prey to the spoiler. To Babylon would come a time when she would have more money than men. It is a picture of absolute ruin which the prophet gives, when the great city would be depopulated (Isaiah 13:12). (Hugh Black, M. A.)The Babylonian spirit The Babylonian spirit has not left the world, and every great civilisation (for it is not confined to one) is menaced in the same way by the temptation of forgetfulness of God, cruelty of sheer force, insolence of pride, and the empty trust of wealth. Our foes are the old foes with a new face on them. (Hugh Black, M. A.) Isaiah 13:12I will make a man more precious than fine gold Dearth of men a judgment from God When God caused His scythe to swing through the harvests of Babylon it was not expected that a single ear would be left in the devastated field. Thus the utterance is a menace, a judgment; it is not part of a lecture upon the dignity of human nature, it is an illustration of the vastness of the sweep of the judgments of God. (J. Parker, D. D.)The worth of man Our text is a promise in the guise of a threat. It is a threat to one nation, but a promise to mankind. 1. A true prophetic insight led to the insertion of this poem in the story of the troubles of Assyria. Babylon was in her full career of conquest when Assyria was trembling to her fall. But the history of Babylon was already written; in that contempt of man, which at the first her pride and lust of possession revealed, was hidden her own doom. The nation so lavish of human life was to die utterly out; the empire which sets no value on men, for lack of men shall perish. 2. How often has this story been repeated! The Italian Campagna was once the home of a multitude of farmers; the conquests of Rome demanded that legions should be hurled against the barbarian tribes. Because there were not men to till the ground, the Campagna has become a foul marshland, the haunt of fevers, desolate and uninhabitable. Spain sent out her brave and stalwart sons to ravage the lands of the Indians, to seize on Mexican and Peruvian gold; and Spain has never since been able to produce and nourish the men who should enable her to hold her place among the foremost nations. 3. There are other ways in which want of regard for men is evinced beside that of conquest, and the doom is ever the same. “ Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war” ; the victories are, alas! too often equally immoral, equally fatal. In the heat of business competition, professed philanthropists, and men personally humane--these two expressions do not always mean the same thing--become as reckless of lives as the general in the field. We feel a man to be more precious than gold in the face of sickness and suffering; if we did but habitually recognise it, much sickness and suffering would be spared. The ladders are reared against a burning house; one after another of the inmates is rescued; and when the fire is at its fiercest, and all are supposed to be out of danger, the frightened face of a child appears at an upper window. There are tears among the crowd, and wringing of hands. “ A thousand pounds,” says someone, “ to him who will rescue that child!” A few years after, the child is an engine driver, and, drowsy through long hours of work, he misreads a signal, wrecks his train, and dies, himself the involuntary instrument of an appalling calamity. And it may be that the very man who offered the reward, and would have doubled it, made it fivefold, for the saving of the child, is a director of the railway company whose increasing exaction of toil from its servants has been the cause of the disaster. And we all are responsible for these things; we keep up the pressure which compels directors, managers, merchants, to work their business at full strain. We humane Englishmen need to he scourged into habitual practical humanity. God has, by His judgments, to “ make a man more precious than fine gold.” 4. In our discussions of what we call “ the population question,” there is a great deal of unconscious inhumanity which will assuredly entail its curse upon our country. The population of these islands is ever pressing more and more on the means of the people’ s support. In two ways the pressure may be lightened. Emigration is one of them. But we might do much by the amendment of our laws, by alteration of our social customs and personal habits, by a check on extravagant expenditure, and by a juster distribution of the strain of living, to lighten the pressure at home. It is an anxious question whether we are encouraging emigration in the best and wisest mode. Consider whom we are sending out and the result on our future. 5. Our text is prophetic, moreover, of the doom and discipline of the exclusive spirit. Tennyson has given us a parable of this in the “ Palace of Art.” Browning, too, in his story of Paracelsus, the gifted man who degenerated into a quack, has marked it as one of the sins of that strangely complex soul that he would be a philanthropist, but without sympathy, without dependence upon others. No life of pride or self-sufficiency or exclusiveness is possible to us, either in the Church or the nation. Nothing on earth is valuable when man has lost his value. The worth of wealth is what you can do with it for your fellows. The loftiest prince would gladly mate with the humblest beggar were they cast alone on some desert island. 6. How wonderful is the fulfilment of our text in the Gospel! It is the worth of lost humanity which is revealed to us in the redemption by Christ. Christ will not let us love Him if we love not our brethren for whom He died. If men are not more precious to us than gold, Christ becomes to us of none effect. 7. The passion which Christian humaneness becomes in the heart of Christians is the final earthly fulfilment of our text. The first feeling of the saved man is gratitude for the grace of God which saved him; and it is a feeling that abides. To it is added, in the maturity of Christian life, an abounding confidence that the grace which saved him can save any and every man. (A. Mackennal, B. A.)The value of human life Probably it is not true that human life is held more dear in times of war; but some sense of the value of the lives sacrificed is apt to dawn upon the people after the war is over, when the nation finds its resources wasted, and the people sit desolate in their homes, waiting for the strong and the brave who shall return no more. It is a hard school in which to learn this lesson of the preciousness of man; but if it can be learned in no other way it may well be enforced upon the world, even by such fiery tuition. (W. Gladden, D. D.)“ How much is he worth?” One who listens to the talk of the street and the shops, might easily get the impression that the value of man is a subject of general interest. “ How much is he worth?” is a question often heard. What answers do you hear? He is worth five thousand dollars; ten thousand; a million; ten millions. And of one and another it is said with a mixture of pity and contempt, “ He is not worth anything!” Before the war men and women were actually bought and sold for money. How much is he or she worth, was then in some quarters a question simply commercial; a question to which a perfectly literal answer could be given. May it not be well to go a little deeper than the common usage goes into the meaning of this phrase, and ask, with all seriousness, not concerning this man or that man, but concerning man, any man, every man, “ How much is he worth?” I. MAN IS WORTH MORE THAN HIS . Many persons have supposed that the chief end of man was to support certain institutions. We get many a hint of this error in our study of the people whose history is contained in the Bible. They thought that their ceremonial law was vastly more sacred than the men who worshipped by means of it. If their ritual obstructed human growth, crippled virtue, or killed charity, no matter; these must stand back and let the ritual be exalted. And when Christ told them that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath--that men were of more account than all this ritual machinery, they were astonished and scandalised; they called Him a blasphemer. This is no singular phenomenon. History is full of the outworking of this tendency. All over the world, all along the ages, men have been made the slaves of systems. When Christ came, His teachings were so entirely out of harmony with this notion that the people were fairly bewildered by them. What has been said of religious systems is equally true of political systems. There is now and always has been a prevalent notion that people were made for governments, and not governments for people; that it is more important that certain dynasties should reign, or that certain political institutions should be kept intact, or that certain parties should remain in power, or that certain policies should be adopted, than that men should be free and wise and good and prosperous. It is not true that human institutions are of no value; they are often of great value. But they are not ends; they are instruments. It follows that those systems are best which best assist the development of manhood. II. MAN IS WORTH MORE THAN HIS . This is another of those truths, often on our lips, but not more than half believed. Evidence of this is visible in the respect paid to wealth, even when it is joined to one who is but a caricature of manhood; even when it is the spoil that has been won by the debasement of manhood. How plain are the proofs before our faces every day that the multitudes do not believe a man to be more precious than gold! It is not the rich alone whose judgment in this matter goes astray; the poor fall into the same error. They say that money does not make the man, say it angrily and bitterly, not seldom; but their conduct often shows that they think, after all, that money does make the man. Their envy of the rich convicts them. Are there not in our own conduct, sometimes, clear illustrations of this fact? Do we not often find ourselves preferring gold to manhood; labouring more diligently to enlarge our possessions than to improve ourselves? It is not true that property is of no consequence; man’ s belongings are good just in proportion as they assist in the development of his character. III. IT IS BECAUSE OF HIS KINSHIP TO GOD THAT MAN IS OF SUCH WORTH. And nothing seems more certain than that these powers may, by disuse or misuse, be impaired and finally lost. And so cut off by his own act from the source of all light and love, he is deserted by all generous impulses, by all holy aspirations, and is left to grovel in the mire of selfishness and carnality. “ How much was he worth when he died? “ some man may ask. What if the seer must answer: “ He was the heir of immortality, but he sold his birthright for a song.” (W. Gladden, D. D.)The end of civilisation The end of civilisation is not money, but men. (Hugh Black, M. A.)The true history of a man The true history of a man is the history not of his wars and conquests, not even of his commerce; the true history of a man is the history of his conscience, the history of his moral development; for only that can give permanence and security to his other achievements in science, art, invention, thought. (Hugh Black, M. A.)Faulty civilisation If, in Bacon’ s phrase, the “ breed and disposition of the people be not stout,” its civilisation is a dismal failure. (Hugh Black, M. A.)Christianity dignifies man: agnosticism tends to decade him In the teaching of Christ man is so dignified by his connection with God and by his immortal destiny, that everyone who really believes this creed must feel himself condemned if he treats his brother ill. But strip man, as agnosticism does, of all the greatness and mystery with which Christianity invests him--cease to believe that he comes from God, that he is akin to beingsgreater than himself who care for him, and that his soul is of infinite worth because it has before it an unending development--and how long will it be possible to cherish for him the reverence which wins him consideration and help? The brevity of man’ s existence gives him, according to the present teaching of agnosticism, a pathetic claim to instant help; but who knows whether in a society given over to unbelief the argument might not tell the other way, the selfish heart reasoning that sufferings which must end so soon do not matter? It was in the generation preceding the French Revolution that atheistic philosophy took its rise. The prophets of the time were predicting an age of peace and brotherhood, when selfish passion should disappear and cruelty and wrong no more vex the world. But, when their teaching had done its work, its fruit appeared in the Revolution itself, whose unspeakable inhumanities afforded our race such glances into the dark depths of its own nature as can never be forgotten. It is painful to recall that Rousseau himself, the most eloquent and, in some respects, the noblest apostle of the new faith, while preaching universal brother hood, sent his own children one by one, as they were born, to the Foundling Hospital, to save himself the trouble and expense of their support. The Revolution did much destructive work for which the hour had come; but it was a gigantic proof that the love necessary for the work of reconstruction must be sought in a superhuman source. (J. Stalker, D. D.)John Ruskin on the value of manhood With this accords the great lesson of John Ruskin’ s teaching and of his life--one of the greatest of Englishmen, greatest of all as a political teacher, with somewhat of the passion and power of a prophet. He never wearied of insisting upon this distinction between money and men. It is at the root of all his economical writings. He has been rated as a fanatic, as opposed to machinery and railways and it is not necessary to accept his teachings on money on all points; all this is but a misunderstanding of him by unthinking and casual readers. The best of his thought is just a protest against the prevailing materialistic creed. He lived and died protesting that man is more precious than discoveries or engineering appliances or electrical contrivances. He said in his noble language: “ It may be discovered that the true bases of wealth are spiritual and not in rock but in flesh. Perhaps even the time will come when it will be seen that the consummation of all wealth is in producing as many as possible full-blooded, bright-eyed human creatures. In some far-away extremity I can even imagine that England can cast all thoughts of possessing wealth back to barbaric nations, and that while the suns of Indus may flash from the turban of the slave, she as a Christian mother may at last attain to the virtues and treasures of the heathen one, and be able to lead forth her sons, saying, ‘ These are my jewels.’” (Hugh Black, M. A.)Men more valuable than money Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay. (O. Goldsmith.)Money for men The preacher was promising a day of trouble for great Babylon. “ Behold,” he cried, “ the day of the Lord cometh, cruel,” etc. Then he came to the very abyss and extremity of their desolation. Bad enough to have the land shorn of its harvests, and all the standing grain trampled under the feet of war horses; bad enough to have the consuming fire lay hold upon its houses; bad enough to have pride turned into shame, wealth into poverty, power into captivity. But, thus far, hope was left, for men were left. Leave us men, and we may live. Leave us men, and you may do your worst; the day will pass, and tomorrow we will repair the damage, and begin over again, and get our revenge upon you yet. But there shall be no men. The widows and fatherless children shall search about the ruined streets, and a man shall be as rare a sight as a purse of gold. The text sets the emphasis, not on money, but on men. And that is Christianity. That is what the Master taught. What we all need, whether we have great possessions or small possessions, is to be interested in men. The part of a Christian man or woman is to set about making somebody’ s life better. The best good is got when one helps one; when a man goes to his neighbour and gets acquainted with him, and becomes his personal friend, and sympathises with him, and uplifts him. You won’ t have to go very far to find somebody who is worse off than you are. Take that somebody up. Interest yourself in that unhappy life. Perhaps it will take money; perhaps it will take time; perhaps it will take yourself. Give yourself, anyhow, and as much else as you need to. But, above all, be generously interested. One of the most helpful people I know lives in a back, street, in an unpleasant neighbourhood, in a small house. Everybody in that neighbourhood knows her, and she knows them and their children. They go to her in their troubles, and she gives them her sympathy. As for money, she would give that too if she had any to give. She gives herself. The whole street is better because she lives in it. But if she had the means which some have, what would she do, I wonder? Would she fall before the temptation of a comfortable life? Would she get, perhaps, to thinking that because she had plenty of butter on her bread, so had everybody else? and because she was contented, all the mutterings of discontented people were but needless grumblings? Anyhow, it is true that the kindest, most thoughtful, most helpful people, quickest to bear the hardest inconveniences for a neighbour, readiest to lift up those that are down, are the poor. It is not your money that we want so much as your interest. We want your own personal, hand to hand and heart to heart endeavour. The best use that can be made of money is to use it for the uplifting of men. (George Hedges, D. D.)Christ discovered the human soul I have heard that one of the diamond fields of South Africa was discovered on this wise. A traveller one day entered the valley and drew near to a settler’ s door, at which a boy was amusing himself by throwing stones. One of the stones fell at the stranger’ s feet, who picked it up and was in the act of laughingly returning it, when something flashed from it which stopped his hand and made his heart beat fast. It was a diamond. The child was playing with it as a common stone; the peasant’ s foot had spurned it; the cart wheel had crushed it; till the man who knew saw it and recognised its value. Was it not the same careless treatment the soul was receiving when Jesus arrived in the world and discovered it? A harlot’ s soul, sunk in the mud and filth of iniquity! why, a Pharisee would not stain his fingers to find it. A child’ s soul! the scribes used to discuss in their schools whether or not a child had a soul at all. (J. Stalker, D. D.)Manhood more than belongings Have you ever seen the Apollo Belvedere? It is the statue of a man, chiselled out of marble, one of the noblest figures that art has ever produced. Do you think that this statue would be made any nobler or more beautiful if men should put gold rings on its fingers and gold bracelets on its wrists, and strings of gold beads upon its neck, and should trick it out with ribbons and buttons and fringes! Would not these tawdry ornaments detract from the simple dignity and majesty of that model of manly grace and strength! Well, the accidents of wealth and rank and office and station cannot add much more of ornament or value to a true man than could trinkets like these to the beauty of the Belvedere Apollo. His manhood itself, to all clear insight, is something infinitely grander and diviner than these belongings. (W. Gladden, D. D.)The wealth of manhood A Highland chieftain on a visit to England was taunted with the poverty of his country, at the table of his host, the occasion being when the large silver candlesticks were lighted in the spacious hall of the English castle, and in a gust of mistaken patriotism (common enough in a Scot) the Highlander declared he had seen better candlesticks in his own castle in Scotland. A wager was put up, and he could not draw back. The laird’ s brother, who understood the terrific fix his brother was in, placed at the table on either side a gigantic Highlander holding in his right hand a drawn sword and in his left a blazing torch, and ere the strangers had recovered from their surprise, he said, “ Behold the chandeliers of my brother’ s house! Not one of these men knows any law but loyalty. Would you compare to these the riches of gold? How say you, cavaliers, is your wager won or lost?” (H. Black, M. A.) Isaiah 13:17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them The Medes The Medes care not for gold, but for blood, though it be the blood of boys and infants. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)The Medes and gold “ Ye Medes and others who now hear me, I well know that you have not accompanied me in this expedition with a view of acquiring wealth.” --Speech of Cyrus to his army. (Xenophon, Cyrop. V.)The Medea The worst terror that can assail us is the terror of forces, whose character we cannot fathom, who will not stop to parley, who do not understand our language nor our bribes. It was such a power with which the resourceful and luxurious Babylon was threatened. With money the Babylonians did all they wished to do, and believed everything else to be possible. They had subsidised kings, bought over enemies, seduced the peoples of the earth, The foe whom God now sent them was impervious to this influence. From their pure highlands came down upon corrupt civilisation a simple people, whose banner was a leathern apron, whose goal was not booty nor ease but power and mastery, who came not to rob but to displace. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.) Isaiah 13:19-22 Babylon . . . shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah The re-entries of nature All this we may say is historical and local. On the other hand, all this is moral and suggestive. This process may take place in the Babylon of the mind. The greatest mind is only safe whilst it worships. The most magnificent intellectual temple is only secure from the judgment and whirlwind of heaven in proportion as its altar is defended from the approach of every unworthy suppliant. If we hand over God’ s altar, whether mental or ecclesiastical, to wrong custodians, or devote either to forbidden purposes, then make way for God’ s judgments: wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and the houses that were full of beauty and colour and charm shall be full of doleful creatures; and the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces. This may happen to any one of us. Beware of arrogancy, pride, worldliness, self-sufficiency; beware of the betrayal of trusts: nature will re-enter if we be unfaithful. We speak of our wisdom in putting cautionary covenants into all our legal documents, and especially a man assures himself that he is doubly safe when he has secured the right of re-entry under certain breaches of agreement; he says to himself with complacency, That is justifiable; I have arranged that in the event of certain things failing I shall re-enter. Nature always puts that clause into her covenants. She re-enters in a moment. If the gardener is too late by one day with his spade or seed or other attention, nature begins to re-enter; and if he tarry for a week he will find that nature has made great advances into the property. It is so with education, with the keeping up of intelligence, with the maintenance of healthy discipline; relax a month, and nature re-enters, and nature plays the spoiler. Nature is not a thrifty, careful husbandman. Nature has a function of desolation; she will grow weeds in your richest flower beds if you neglect them for a day. God re-enters by the spirit of judgment and by the visitations of anger. Herein His providence is but in harmony with the kingdom which He has instituted within the sphere which we call husbandry, and even within the sphere which we denominate by education or discipline. It is one government. Neglect your music for a month, and you will find at the end that nature has re-entered, and you are not wanted; you have not brought with you the wedding garment of preparation up to date. There must be no intermission; the last line must be filled in. Nature will not have things done in the bulk, in the gross: nature will not allow us simply to write the name; she will weave her web work all round the garment if we have neglected the borders, and paid attention to only the middle parts. (J. Parker, D. D.)Babylon: an Arab superstition It is said that at this very day the Bedouin or wandering Arab has a superstitious fear of passing a single night on the site of Babylon, and that the natives of the country believe it to be inhabited by demons in the form of goats. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Satyrs There seems to have been an ancient belief among the Jews themselves that demons took the form of goats--appeared as satyrs in fact. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Satyrs The word which most versions and commentators agree with the LXX in rendering “ demons” or “ satyrs” is used in Leviticus 17:7 2 Chronicles 11:15 for demons which the Jews worshipped. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.). Isaiah 14:1 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob God’ s mercy and Israel’ s converts I. THE OF GOD’ S MORAL --Mercy. This people had grievously sinned. 1. They had sinned against light. The direct revelation of heaven had been given to them as a nation 2. They rebelled amid privileges. The Mighty God interfered to protect them from their foes. 3. They had sinned in spite of rebukes and punishments. The rebellious people had been carried captive into a heathen nation. II. THE OF DIVINE --“ I will yet choose,” etc. Notwithstanding all their rebellion I will yet have mercy on them. Nothing can separate from the love of God. III. THE OF . When God takes a man in hand, He restores him. In paradise he was the image and associate of God. Salvation will make him nothing more. Heaven will contain additional elements of joy, but the man will be restored. IV. THE OF . When the Jews should return, many of the heathen, leaving their own country and their idols, would return along with them. “ And the strangers shall be joined with them.” This was part of God’ s design in the Captivity. It was not only to punish His people for their sin, but also to render them a blessing to others. God often appoints the afflictions of His people for His own glory, and we must not mourn but rejoice if we are counted worthy of forwarding His cause. V. THE OF . It commands affection and regard. It is our duty to render it attractive so as to win others. (Homilist.)God’ s passion to Israel We have here in nuce the comforting substance of chaps. 40-46. Babylon falls in order that Israel may rise. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 14:3 The Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow Sorrow’ s crown I. SORROW IS THE COMMON LOT. Though nobody is always sorrowful, there is in every life many a time when the mind is sore and the heart bruised. Yet people with a sore heart often sing; they find relief in breathing a hymn of prayerful trust. How beautiful is a good man under affliction! A child is often sore in mind because he is not understood and has not the heart-felt sympathy of those who direct him, Women also are sorrowful. Though a man be (n the most fortunate state of life he will have something to bruise his heart. I have heard of a lady whose husband was the worship of both her mind and heart; and when he was killed in a railway accident, her grief was so terrible that in a moment she seemed ten years older. A short time afterwards, she lost her children, and later on, through the failure of a bank, her fortune disappeared; but she endured these misfortunes with calmness, and her minister once asked, “ How is it that you can bear up so well after the loss of your children and your money?” She replied, “ In the death of my husband the greatest wound came the first.” It is unwise to meet sorrow halfway. But there is one sorrow that we should seek and cultivate; it is the sorrow that we are not more godly. There is another sorrow which is worth having; it is that pain of heart which feels for the man or woman who is wounded in the conflict of life. In the ancient world, sorrow was considered to be God’ s curse, but the early Christians saw that God meant it as a sacred discipline: and therefore when sorrow came to them, they called it “ tribulatio,” using the word and image to set forth an elevating truth, namely, the separation of the evil in them from the good. II. Let us notice ONE OR TWO SORROWS IN WHICH SOME OF YOU ARE MORE OR LESS . 1. If you are sore in mind because you have done wrong, let your first thought be one of gratitude, that God can and does forgive your sins. 2. Many good people are sore in mind through a physical or temporal trouble. What is more unpleasant than to hear a cart wheel screeching every time it turns? So, you have in your lot something like a screeching wheel, and every move makes you feel the affliction. But the oil of Divine grace will cure it. III. THE CROWN OF SORROW IS GOD. “ In all thy ways acknowledge Him,” etc. IV. Let us learn THE OBJECT OF SORROW. It is to teach us to be patient and kindly. If you put roses into a cracked pot of commonest clay, it will breathe forth perfume; and from the most prickly plant, the thorn, we gather the sweetest flowers, So if the peace of God perfume your sorrowing heart, the thorns and briars of your affliction shall make your life bright with the flowers of godliness and charity. Bear your sorrow with true courage and sublime cheerfulness, not only for your own sake, but for our sake who look on you; for we wish to learn the way to bear our pain. (W. Birch.)God an island when fortunes are wrecked Let me tell you of a man who went home one day, and sitting down in his armchair, put his hand on his brow as if in great trouble. His little child went up to him, saying, “ Father, what’ s the matter?” Looking down upon her with eyes of despair, he replied, “ Ah, little Mary, I’ m ruined!” She said, “ Ruined, father, what’ s that?” He answered, “ Why, my child, I’ m like a man in a boat on the sea, and during a storm the boat has upset, and he is east on a desolate island.” She climbed on his knee, stroking his face, and after awhile, exclaimed. “ Well but, father, you know, you have only lost the boat; you haven’ t lost yourself, have you?” With tears in his eyes, he said, “ Ah, no, thank God! I have only lost the boat; my heart and my life remain!” Then she asked, “ Father, what’ s the name of the island?” He replied, “ That is the worst of it Mary.” “ I don’ t know.” She said, “ But, father, I know; yea, I know the name of the island you are on; why, father, it is a nice island!” The wretched man tried to smile, and drawing the dear little face to his breast, said, “ Mary, dear, tell me the name of the island!” She replied, “ Oh, father, don’ t you know? you are dull tonight! why, father, the name of the island is God!” The sorrowful man was very, still, and little Mary looking up in his face, put her arms round his neck, saying, “ Poor father, what makes you cry? Why don’ t you go upstairs and tell God about it?” Then he gently lifted the dear child down, and went to tell out his heart’ s sorrow to God. It is true his business had fallen but a Divine hand upheld him. (W. Birch.)Trusting God in affliction A coloured preacher was in the habit of exhorting his people when they were in affliction to “ Truss de Lord.” When they were in sore distress, he had only one remedy, “ Brudder, truss de Lord!” One day, however, while the old parson was crossing a river, the boat upset, and being unable to swim, he made a great splutter and screamed like a madman. After much trouble, he was got out and brought safely to the river bank, when one of his congregation said, “ Masea Preacher, why didn’ t you truss de Lord; why did you holler and scream when you were in de river; why didn’ t you truss de Lord, and be patient?” The dark minister exclaimed, “ Ah, you know, brudder, It is truss de Lord on de land, not on de water.” Of course, anybody can trust in the Lord when they are on the land of peace and comfort; but it needs Christian faith and fortitude to be contented in the waters of affliction. (W. Birch.)The Christian attitude towards trouble Christians who give up their special religious work because they are in sorrow, may be likened to rusty nails in a bag under the counter of the ironmonger’ s shop; while the man who keeps on doing his best, believing that God is with him, is a man in a sure place, ready to bear all the weight that is hung on it. (W. Birch.) Isaiah 14:4-23 Thou shalt take up this proverb against the King of Babylon The “ proverb against the King of Babylon” Lowth is generally thought not to speak with exaggeration when he calls it the finest [song] of its kind extant in any language. It is a song of triumph in the form of a dirge, and therefore involves an undercurrent of sarcasm or irony. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)An ode of triumph This ode, if it is to be admired as it deserves, must be read as a whole: its perfection as a work of art, its picturesque imagery, the delicate and subtle vein of irony by which it is penetrated--it is called a “ taunt song” --will not endure partial quotation or paraphrase. The line of thought is as follows. In the first strophe (Isaiah 14:4-8), the prophet declares exultingly how at length the tyrant is stilled, the earth is at peace; only the sound of rejoicing is heard. In the second (Isaiah 14:9-11), he accompanies in thought the Shade of the King of Babylon as it journeys to the Underworld, and imagines the ironical greeting which there meets it from the lips of the other kings--still, as on earth, supposed to be invested with the panoply of State. The third strophe (Isaiah 14:12-15) depicts the abasement of the Babylonian monarch in its full magnitude: he who would have joined the ranks of the gods, is east down to the inmost recesses of the pit. In the fourth and last strophe (verse 16-20), the prophet’ s thought passes to the battlefield--from the feeble Shade to the unburied, dishonoured corpse: the passers-by express their amazement at the contrast which its fate presents to that of other kings after their death; it is excluded from the royal burial place, flung aside as a worthless bough, hidden amongst the bodies of slain, common soldiers, The prophet concludes with an epilogue, spoken in his own person, and re-asserting emphatically the final and irretrievable ruin of the great city (Isaiah 14:21-23). The best commentary on this prophecy is the long and impassioned invective against Babylon contained in Jeremiah 50:1-46; Jeremiah 51:1-58.(Prof. E. R. Driver, D. D.)Destruction of the King of Babylon The Babylonian monarchy bade fair to be an absolute, universal, and perpetual one, and in these pretensions vied with the Almighty; it is, therefore, very justly not only brought down, but exulted over when it is down. (M. Henry.)“ The golden city” (Isaiah 14:4) is a graphical description of that city, which was renowned for its immense riches and intern parable splendour. (R. Macculloch.)Deliverance from an evil dominion If the nations rejoice at the overthrow of a haughty, tyrannical prince, and the re-establishment of tranquillity and liberty, how much greater ought to be the triumph of those who are delivered from the dominion of divers impetuous lusts, and enjoy the earnests of spiritual and eternal rest! (R. Macculloch.)“ Hell” (Isaiah 14:9), as always in the Old Testament = the Greek Hades; not a place of torment, but the “ meeting place of all living” (Job 30:23). The prophet’ s representation is based upon the ideas current among the people. See Bishop Lowth’ s “ Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews,” Lecture 7. The same idea is elaborated in greater detail by Ezekiel 32:17-32. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)An image of the soul The mythological idea of Hades proceeds on the two-fold truth, that what and how man has been in this world is not obliterated in the other world, but becomes essentially manifest, and that there is an immaterial self-formation of the soul in which all that the individual man has become through his own self-determination under God-given relations is reflected as in a mirror, and that in an abiding figure. This image of the soul, to which the dead body is related as the shattered form of a mould, is the shadowy corporeity of the inhabitants of Hades, in which they appear essentially, although in the condition of spirits, as what they were in this life. (F. Delitzsch.)“ Hell” “ Hell” is moved as a city is moved when a great king is brought prisoner thither, and everyone runs out of his house to see him. (W. Day, M. A.)Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12):--In his splendour [the King of Babylon] is likened to the morning star, which was worshipped by the Babylonians under the name of Istar. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Impious expectations disappointed (Isaiah 14:13-15):--That he should go to Sheol at all was a fate never contemplated by his soaring and self-deifying pride. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Pride Pride and ambition know no bounds (Isaiah 14:14). (R. Macculloch.)“ The bittern” (Isaiah 14:23), Hebrews kippod. The word occurs also in chap. Zephaniah 2:14. It has been rendered otter, tortoise, owl, beaver, porcupine (R.V.). No one of the renderings proposed is satisfactory. “ Bittern” is freer from objection than any other bird which might be proposed. It is a solitary bird, and loves such haunts as would be supplied by the marshes which were found in districts of Edom and Babylon and Nineveh, as the fruit of the desolation sent on them. It feeds at night, and hides during the day among the long grass and rushes of its favourite habitats. (J. Duns, D. D., F. R. S. E.)“ The bosom of destruction” (Isaiah 14:23):--When a people have nothing among them but dirt and filth, and will not be made clean with the besom of reformation, what can they expect but to be swept off the face of the earth with “ the bosom of destruction” ? (M. Henry.)The Church’ s exultation over her foes Surely, in some such terms as these, the Church shall one day exult over all her foes, and especially over the great apostate power of Babylon the Great, the City of the Seven Hills. And still more, over the cast out prince of this world, of whom the King of Babylon and other princes of this world have been the types and representatives. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.) Isaiah 14:9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee The first five minutes after death There is a very well-known story told of a man who had served his king and country in many a distant land, and in many a strange experience, coming back home, and talking to his friends of the wonderful sights which he had seen, and the wonderful experiences which he had gone through. And when they remarked to him on the sort of wonders he had experienced and known, he checked them with saying, “ There is something more wonderful than anything I have yet known, which I still have to experience,” and when they asked him what it was, he said, “ It is the first five minutes after death.” The first five minutes after death! It was upon what happens in the first five minutes after death that the prophet was exercising himself here in this particular prophecy. (Davey Biggs, D. D.)Life beyond the grave 1. The prophet believed that for those who pass through the gate of death there would be recognition in the strange life beyond the grave. He believed that those who were inhabiting that world before other individuals entered into it would know them, would be there ready to greet them, greet them as in this ease with horror, with dismay, with, as it were, congratulations that what had been tyrannical in the world of life before death had now, as it were, found its level, the opportunity of tyranny gone. The prophet pictures the expectation that there was in the hearts of those who had known what it was to be cruelly oppressed in this world when their oppressor came to join them. He shows that the attitude of those who were within the grave in the unseen world was one of expectation. 2. There is memory there, memory not only of our past selves, but about other people; memory, too, of those living on the earth. (Davey Biggs, D. D.)Recognition beyond the grave We know that what was only conjecture in the mind of the prophet when he painted hell stirring up the dead to meet Belshazzar, King of Babylon, has become certainty through the revelation given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. I do not know how anybody can read through the parable of the rich man and Lazarus and not feel that, whatever the intention was with which the parable was spoken, incidentally our Lord does teach us that in the life beyond the grave the personality which we have known here in this life continues. As personality shows itself in self-consciousness, so our Lord shows that the rich man and Lazarus are conscious of their own existence. There is mutual recognition too. The rich man has not any doubt whatever who it is in whose bosom Lazarus was reposing; and I suppose at the very least fifteen centuries parted them. In the same mysterious way Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration knew that it was Moses and Elijah who were talking with the Messiah. There is a wonderful power of recognition of even those whom we have never met. We shall know, and our Lord Jesus Christ wishes us to know that we shall know, the great people in the past to whom we owe such great debts. (Davey Biggs, D. D.) Isaiah 14:24 Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass God’ s infinite intelligence To think and to purpose are the attributes of all rational beings, whether created or uncreated. I. God is such an infinitely perfect being, that His thoughts and purposes are CO-ETERNAL WITH HIMSELF. God cannot possibly exist Without His thoughts and purposes. A child at school in France, was asked whether God reasoned or not. The child paused awhile, and answered, “ No: God is too perfect to reason. He knows everything without reasoning.” Newton himself could not have given a better answer. Everything that exists in God now, has existed in Him from eternity. II. As His thoughts and put poses flow exclusively from Himself, they are ; they are, primarily considered, unconditional. This is a necessity that does not militate, in the least degree, against the accountability of man. They must have been absolute, or no being could possibly have existed. III. The thoughts and purposes of the Almighty are ; in other words, are infinitely worthy of Himself. It is in the fulfilment of His own thoughts and purposes that He develops all the beauty of His own perfections; it is in the development of all the beauty of His own perfections, that He confers every good on the creature. Take two axioms in divinity. All good is from God--all evil is from the creature. Do justice to these truths, and they will, as two keys, unlock some of the most difficult passages in Scripture. IV. The purpose of God is REPLETE WITH LOVE AND . The sovereign purpose of God, properly speaking, involves nothing but good. Evil is to be traced to another source. But what does it comprise chiefly? A Saviour. We were suffered to fall into the deepest guilt, that God might display His glory to the utmost in our salvation. (W. Howels.)God’ s purposes must be fulfilled The wheels in a watch or a clock move contrary one to another, someone way, and some another, yet all serve the intent of the workman, to show the time, or to make the clock to strike. So in the world the providence of God may seem to run cross to His promises. One man takes this way, another runs that way. Good men go one way, wicked men another. Yet all in conclusion accomplish the will, and centre in the purpose of God, the great Creator of all things. (R. Sibbes, D. D.) Isaiah 14:29-32 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina Philistia Philistia was the southwest coast of the land of Canaan, to the whole of which it afterwards gave its name in the Greek form of Palestine, and was nominally included in the tribe of Judah. It was originally inhabited by the Avites, who were expelled by the Caphtorim, a race of Egyptian origin, but supposed to have come immediately from Crete or Cyprus, and who, under the name of Philistines, continued as a distinct, and for the most part independent nation, in spite of the efforts of Israel to subdue them. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)The Philistines The Philistines were very formidable enemies to Israel in the days of Samuel and of Saul. The strong kings, David, Solomon, and Jehoshaphat, kept them in subjection, but in the days of Jehoram they invaded Judah 2 Samuel 5:17-25; 2 Samuel 21:15; 2 Chronicles 17:11; 2 Chronicles 21:16-17). Uzziah again repressed them, and crippled their power, dismantling their walled cities, and building fortresses of his own to command them (2 Chronicles 26:6-7); and no doubt they continued tributary during the still vigorous government of his successor Jotham. But during the weak reign of Ahaz, they “ invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah” ; and not only invaded, but settled themselves in them and their neighbouring villages (2 Chronicles 28:18): and to this state of things Isaiah addresses himself in this prophecy. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)The rod of the taskmaster The rod of the taskmaster is Isaiah’ s frequent image for the control of a dependent and tributary nation: all Philistia had rejoiced when the rod of David and of Uzziah fell broken from the hands of Ahaz, and expressed their joy by wasting or taking possession of their former master’ s lands; but Isaiah warns them that the old root of Israel, which from the days of Samson had sent forth many a rod with a serpent’ s life like the rod of Moses, would soon again produce a basilisk with its royal crest, its inevitable spring, and its mortal bite, to take vengeance on his enemies. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Hezekiah and the Messiah The basilisk is Hezekiah, and the flying dragon is the Messiah (such is the explanation of the Targum); or, what is the same thing, the former is the Davidic kingdom of the immediate future, and the latter the Davidic kingdom of the ultimate future. The figure may appear inappropriate, because the serpent is a symbol of evil; but it is not a symbol merely of creaturely evil, but also of the Divine curse; the curse, however, is the energy of penal justice, and as the executor of this justice as a judgment of God on Philistia, the Davidic king is here called a serpent in a climax rising through three stages. Perhaps the choice of the figure was suggested by Genesis 49:17; for the saying concerning Dan was fulfilled in Samson the Danite, the sworn enemy of the Philistines. (F. Delitzsch.)The law of conquests and exterminations If the spread of civilisation, knowledge, justice, virtue, religion, and whatever else distinguishes men from beasts, is a good and not an evil, then it is good for men to use all the means which are really necessary to effect that end, even though some of them be never so rough and unpleasing; and it is not less base in public than in private morals to shrink from the responsibility of ourselves doing that which we know it is good to have done. If a weak, effeminate, degenerate nation can be improved by subjection to a stronger, manlier, more virtuous nation, then it is not only the right but the duty of the latter to bring it into subjection, whenever the indications of God’ s providence, be they of peace or war, show that the time has come. And if the nation is not merely degenerate but hopelessly corrupt, then it is not only the right but the duty of some worthier nation to destroy it, and rid the world of its abominations. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)The Gospel a means of national salvation The Gospel has given to us, in modem Christendom, means of reclaiming nations who would have been irreclaimable by any measures which Greeks or Romans or even Jews could apply; and we are bound to act with corresponding gentleness and forbearance. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)“ The first born of the poor” (Isaiah 14:30) seems to be a Hebrew idiom for the “ really, eminently poor,” like that of “ Son of Man” to express the man. Or the prophet may mean that the first of the next generation, the children of the present depressed Israelites, shall he delivered from the miseries which the Philistines are now inflicting on their fathers. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.) Isaiah 14:32 What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation?-- God’ s work in founding Zion The kingdom of Judah was low and broken; foreign invasions and intestine divisions had made it so. In this state of things God takes notice of the joy and triumphing of the Philistines. To take them off from their pride and boasting He lets them know that from the people whom they despised their desolation was at hand, though they seemed to be perplexed and forsaken for a season (Isaiah 14:29-31). I. There is AN INQUIRY. “ What shall one answer,” etc. They come to make inquiry after the work of God among His people, and it is fit that an answer be given to them. Two things are observable in this interrogation. 1. The nations about will be diligently inquiring after God’ s dispensations among His people. There are certain affections and principles that are active in the nations, that will make them restless, and always put them upon this inquiry. The people of God, on one account or other, shall be in all seasons a separated people. No sooner, then, is any people, or portion of them, thus dedicated to God, but all the nations about, and those amongst them not engaged in the same way with them, instantly look on them as utterly severed from them, having other ways, ends, and interests than they; being built up wholly on another account and foundation. They reckon not of them as a people and a nation. The conclusion they make concerning them is, that of Haman (Esther 3:8). (1) They are full of enmity against them. (2) A second principle, whereby they are put upon their inquiries, is fear. They fear them, and therefore will know how things stand with them, and what are the works of God amongst them (Habakkuk 3:7; Psalms 48:1-6). Fear is solicitous and inquiring; it will leave nothing unsearched, unlooked into; it would find the inside and bottom of everything, wherein it is concerned. Though the more it finds, the more it is increased; yet the greater still are its inquiries, fearing more what it knows not than what it knows. 2. The issues of God’ s dispensations amongst His people shall be so evident and glorious, that everyone, anyone, though never so weak, if not blinded by prejudice, shall be able to give a convincing answer concerning them to the inquiries of men. II. THERE IS THE GIVEN OF THE INQUIRY. Hereof are two parts-- (1) What God hath done. (2) What His people shall, or ought to do. Wrap up at any time the work of God and the duty of His people together, and they will be a sufficient answer to any man’ s inquiry after the state of things among them. 1. The great design of God in His mighty works and dispensations is the establishment of His people, and their proper interest, in their several generations. To make this clear some few things are previously to be considered-- (1) The proper interest of the people of God is to glorify Him in their several places, stations, and generations: none of us are to live unto ourselves. (2) God is the only proper and infallible judge, in what state and condition His people will best and most glorify His name, in their several generations. (3) Providential dispensations are discoveries of the wisdom of God in disposing of the condition of His people, so as they may best glorify Him. These things being premised, it is easy to give light and evidence to the assertion laid down. 2. It is the duty of God’ s preserved remnant, laying aside all other aims and contrivances, to betake themselves to the work of God, founding Zion, and preserving the common interest of His people. “ God hath founded Zion, and the poor of the people shall trust therein,” or betake themselves unto it. We are apt to wander on hills and mountains, everyone walking in the imagination of his own heart, forgetting our resting place. When God was bringing the power of the Babylonian upon His people, the prophet Jeremiah could neither persuade the whole nation to submit to his government, nor many individuals among them to fall to him in particular. And when the time of their deliverance from that captivity was accomplished, how hardly were they persuaded to embrace the liberty tendered! (J. Owen, D. D.)God’ s care for His people 1. The great things God doth for His people are, and cannot but be, taken notice of by their neighbours (Psalms 126:2). 2. Messengers will be sent to inquire concerning them. Jacob and Israel have long been a people distinguished from all others, and dignified with uncommon favours; and therefore, some for goodwill, others for ill-will, and all for curiosity, are inquisitive concerning them. 3. It concerns us always to be ready to “ give a reason of the hope” that we have in the providence of God, as well as in His grace, in answer to everyone that asks it, “ with meekness and fear.” 4. The issue of God’ s dealings with His people shall be so manifestly glorious that anyone, everyone, shall be able to give an account of them to those that inquire concerning them. (M. Henry.)The Church founded for a refuge At first sight the prediction which closes the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah seems of temporary interest only, and to speak of judgments which within a very few years were destined to fall upon one of the most inveterate enemies of God’ s ancient people; and yet I cannot but think those commentators right who, following the opinion of divers of the fathers of the Church, have found in the passage an allusion to the Gospel and Church of Christ. I. That the prophecy would be one of AND TO THE OF THE PROPHET is obvious from the manner in which it is ushered in: “ In the year that King Ahaz died was this burden” (or, as we should nowadays say, this denunciation of wrath) against the Philistines. After bidding the inhabitants of Palestine howl for the judgments that were impending, Isaiah, speaking as he was moved by the Holy Ghost, makes the inquiry and gives the answer of the text. It was usual for neighbouring nations, who were friends and allies, to send ambassadors, and congratulate each other on success. When, therefore, the coming triumph over the Philistines should be known abroad, and the envoys of friendly states should inquire of Judah into the circumstances of his success, “ let this answer,” said the prophet, “ suffice: that the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of His people shall trust in it.” II. No one can read that promise and not feel that it was TO HAVE AN AMPLER SCOPE for its fulfilment than in the personal security of a handful of Jewish peasants; the whole turn of expression is redolent of Gospel times. Such words were never fully verified till Christ, the Son of David, had founded the Christian Church, and made His gracious offer to a world enslaved in the most cruel of all bondage: “ Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (F. E.Paget, D. D.)The Church’ s heavenly origin and beneficent mission I. “ The Lord hath founded Zion” ; THIS IS THE OF HIS LOVE AND HER . The strongest, most fundamental title of protection is creation. Even among ourselves, no one frames an object to destroy it; he who makes, makes that he may preserve. And if this be so in human nature, shall there be nothing to compare with it in the Divine? God, indeed, who is eternal, can require no successor to whom to devise His purposes of love; but all the claims that the thing framed can have on Him who framed it, hold with tenfold force when the object is not, as in our humbler works, the mere apposition of pre-existing materials, in which nothing is ours except the order of arrangement, but is itself, alike in matter and in form, the direct offspring of His own inexhaustible power and goodness. 1. Behold, then, how as His own “ God loved the world” ; how as not only His own, but His own in pain and anguish, and endeared to His inmost heart as such, God hath loved His Church. He spoke to bid the one, He died to make the other, exist. 2. In this Church of His is His own honour pledged. He hath not covenanted with the world that now is to immortalise it; but He has passed His own word for the perpetuity of His Church. Nothing so framed was ever framed to perish; He has infused into it His own Spirit, and His Spirit is life. 3. Is not the Church in its ultimate perfection set forth as the very reward of all the sorrows of its Lord; and shall He be defrauded of His recompense? 4. There is more than creation to bind the Church to Christ, more than promise, more than reward; there is communion, oneness, identification. A man may desert his child; he cannot desert himself. With such a union there can be no separation; if Christ be immortal, the Church is so; when He dies she shall perish, but not till then. II. “ The poor of her people shall trust in it” --or, as the margin has it, shall betake themselves unto it: THIS IS ONE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH’ S MISSION UPON EARTH--the care, the teaching, the education, the guidance of the poor. (W. Archer Butler, D. D.)God the Protector of His Church We tell our Lord God that if He will have His Church, He must keep it Himself, for we cannot do it; and it is well for us that we cannot, else we should be the proudest asses under heaven (M. Luther.). Isaiah 15:1-9 The harden of Moab The Moabite stone From the inscription of Mesha (c. 900 B.C.), found at Dibon in 1869, and commonly known as the “ Moabite stone,” we learn that the Moabites spoke a language differing only dialectically from Hebrew; and it is probable also that, in matters of material prosperity and civilisation, Moab stood hardly upon an inferior level to Israel itself. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The prophet’ s pity for Moab There is no prophecy in the Book of Isaiah in which the heart of the prophet is so painfully moved by what his spirit beholds and his mouth must prophesy. All that he prophesies is felt as deeply by him as if he belonged to the poor people whose messenger of misfortune he is compelled to be. (F. Delitzsch.)In the nightAr and Kir of Moab The seizing of them laid the whole country open, and made all the wealth of it an easy prey to the victorious army. 1. Great changes, and very dismal ones, may be made in a very little time. Here are two cities lost in a night, though that is the time of quietness. Let us, therefore, lie down as those who know not what a night may bring forth. 2. As the country feeds the cities, so the cities protect the country, and neither can say to the other, “ I have no need of thee.” (M. Henry.)God works in the night time 1. Man has but a little day to work in, but God’ s working hours never cease; man becomes weary with his day’ s work, and lies down to rest, and whilst he is in slumber destruction swiftly overtakes him, so that the morning looks upon a branch cut off, a city laid to waste and brought to silence. 2. Men should diligently consider this in musing upon the judgments of providence. They cannot always be awake; they cannot always be upon the walls defending the fortress; they must retire for a time to renew their strength, and whilst they are resting the enemy acquires additional power, and comes down upon their boasted masonry, and hurls it to the dust. 3. Only the Christian man has confidence in the night time. He says, He that keepeth me will not slumber nor sleep. 4. God is against evil-workers, and it delights Him to trouble them by nightly visits, so that in the morning they cannot recall their own plans and purposes, or give an account of that which has happened whilst their eyes have been closed in sleep. 5. Have we any safety in the darkness? Have we made no provision for the night time? If not, then woe will fall upon us, and when the morning comes it will rise upon a scene of desolation. Remember what God said to the fool in the parable who was counting his riches, and forecasting the happy years which his soul was to enjoy--“ Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required of thee.” 6. Ponder deeply upon the moral of night; the darkness should instruct us, remind us of our exhaustion, helplessness, and dependence upon others for security and rest, and should, above all things, lead us to put our confidence in Him to whom the darkness and the light are both alike. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 15:2 He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep The helplessness of heathen gods We have a picture of men going to old altars, and finding there nothing but silence. Bajith may be regarded as the temple of the Moabite god. 1. So they were reduced to a state of helplessness; their very gods had forsaken them, and had thus revealed their own character as deities. It is under such circumstances--namely, of desertion and sorrow--that men find out what their religion is really worth. The Lord taunts all the heathen nations because their gods forsook them in the hour of calamity. One prophet exclaims, “ Thy calf hath cast thee off, O Samaria.” The Lord Himself is represented as going up and down throughout the temples of heathenism, mocking and taunting the gods with which they were filled, because they were merely ornamental or decorative gods, and were utterly without power to assuage the sorrow of the human heart. 2. Whilst, however, all this is true of heathenism, there is a sense in which even Christian men may go back to old altars and find them forsaken. The Lord, the living One, the Father of the universe, is not pledged to abide at the altar forever to await the return of the prodigal. In the very first book of the Bible we read, “ My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” There is a day of grace, so measurement can be determined with sufficient nearness to excite alarm, lest its golden hours should be lost. When the door is once shut it will not be opened again. Men may so live that when they go to the sanctuary itself, where the sweetest Gospel is preached in all its purity and nobleness, they find no comfort in the place that is devoted to consolation. The fault is to be found in themselves; they have sinned away their opportunities, they have enclosed themselves within walls of adamant, they have betaken themselves to the worship of their own vanity and the pursuit of their own selfish purposes, so that when they return to the house of God they find that the Lord has abandoned His temple. “ They shall call upon Me, and I will not answer.” This is more than silence; it is silence aggravated, silence intensified, silence increased into burdensomeness. (J. Parlour, D. D.)Signs of mourning The sorrow of those who mourn is represented by a very, graphic figure:--“ On all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.” The primary reference is probably to some sacrificial ceremony. At a very early period baldness was regarded as a symbol of intensest sorrow amongst Eastern nations. Baldness was forbidden to Israel, for the probable reason that it was identified with the sacrificial worship of heathen deities. The picture of lamentation is continued in the third verse. In Eastern countries, when men were afflicted with great sorrow, they betook themselves to the fiat roofs of their houses, and there publicly and loudly wailed on account of their agony. (J. Parlour, D. D.) Isaiah 15:5 My heart shall cry out for Moab The burden of souls Too often have God’ s servants spoken with dry eyes and hard voices of the doom of the ungodly; and have only made them more obdurate and determined. We never need so much brokenness of spirit as when we utter God’ s judgments against sin. In his autobiography, Finney says, “ Here I must introduce the name of a man whom I shall have occasion to mention frequently, Mr. Abel Clary, He was the son of a very excellent man, and an elder of the Church where I was converted. He had been licensed to preach; but his spirit of prayer was such, he was so burdened with the souls of men, that he was not able to preach much, his whole time and strength being given to prayer. The burden of his soul would frequently be so great that he was unable to stand, and he would writhe and groan in agony. I was well acquainted with him, and knew something of the wonderful spirit of prayer that was upon him The pastor told me afterwards that he found that in the six weeks I was in that church five hundred souls had been converted.” (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)The prophet’ s distress concerning Moab (see also Isaiah 16:9):--These are the men who prevail with men. In the early part of the sixteenth century there was a great religious awakening in Ulster, which began under a minister named Glendinning. He was of very meagre natural gifts, but would spend many days and nights alone with God, and seems to have been greatly burdened with the souls of men and their state before God. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that, under his pleading, multitudes of hearers were brought into great anxiety and terror of conscience. They looked on themselves as altogether lost. They were stricken into a swoon by the vower of God’ s Word. A dozen in one day were carried out of doors as dead. These were not women, but some of the boldest spirits of the neighbourhood “ some who had formerly not feared with their swords to put the whole market town into a fray.” This revival changed the whole character of northern Ireland. Would that God might lay on our hearts a similar burden for our Churches and our land! (F. B. Meyer, B. A.). Isaiah 16:1 Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land A message to Moab The fugitives are supposed to have found a temporary home in Edom. The verse may be spoken by the prophet, or (as Prof. Cheyne suggests) it may proceed from the Moabite chiefs themselves, exhorting one another to take this step. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Tribute demanded of Moab A very terrible humiliation had already been inflicted on Moab in the reign of Jehoram, King of Israel (2 Kings 3:4; 2 Kings 3:25). During Ahab’ s reign, Moab had been compelled to pay a very heavy annual tribute, even 100,000 lambs and 100,000 rams. Refusal to pay led to war from time to time; war resulting, however, invariably in the defeat of the Moabites. In such circumstances the prophet urges upon Moab the wisdom of paying this tribute without trouble or demur. (Buchanan Blake, B. D.)Gospel submission It is applicable to the great Gospel duty of submission to Christ, as the Ruler of the land and our Ruler. 1. Send Him the lamb, the best you have, yourselves a living sacrifice. 2. When you come to God, the great Ruler, come in the name of the Lamb, the Lamb of God. 3. Those that will not submit to Christ, nor be gathered unto the shadow of His wings, shall be as a bird that wanders from her nest (Isaiah 16:2), that shall either be snatched up by the next bird of prey, or shall wander endlessly in continual frights. Those that will not yield to the fear of God shall be made to yield to the fear of everything else. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 16:2 As a wandering bird, cast out of the nest The unrest of the sinner The picture represents the distress and bewilderment of the wrong-doer. He does not know whether to go back to the old door and knock at it in the hope that it may be opened to him again by some kindly hand, or to flee away into the land of darkness and silence. “ There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 16:4 Let Mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab God’ s outcasts in Moab An injunction is given to Moab to shelter the Jewish fugitives. I. GOD OWNS HIS PEOPLE WHEN ALL THE WORLD OR OPPOSES THEM. No doubt Sennacherib thought the “ outcasts” to be his victims, his prey; but God claims a personal interest in them, watches over them when they wander, supplies them in their need, and protects them by His guardian providence. They are His: His as the subjects of His government; His as the objects of His regard; His as the children of His grace. II. GOD RAISES UP FRIENDS AND FOR HIS CHURCH IN STRANGE AND . Here He provides for them a shelter before the storm comes on, and makes Moab, one of the most powerful of the Church’ s enemies, a near and a present friend. God proves to Moab that it was their interest to do so, because the Jews would soon be in a condition to requite the favour, when their country should be invaded, and their daughters should wander without a home (Isaiah 16:2). The providence of God often makes the hostile feelings of bad men the occasion of good to the righteous. III. GOD CAN , WHICH NOTHING BUT TO HIS CHURCH, INTO THE MEANS OF FAITH AND HOPE. God’ s outcasts in Moab learned many a useful lesson there, and when they returned it was to uphold the government of Hezekiah, and to promote the welfare of the people with whom they had sojourned. “ And the throne shall be established in mercy, and He shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David” (Isaiah 16:5). Sennacherib’ s invasion, which scattered his subjects in exile, threatened the overthrow of Hezekiah, but it really tended to establish him, for never was his kingdom more secure than after the overthrow of the Assyrian army. The same thing obtains in the experience of the Christian. As the birds sing most sweetly after a tempest; as torches shine brighter for shaking; as the flowers shed forth their fragrance at the close of a troubled day, so the graces of a Christian, his faith, his patience, and his hope, are matured by the trials that threatened their utter extinction. In the kingdom of Christ, a kingdom which is established in mercy, you find perpetual progress amidst perpetual storm, and a noontide of brightness often succeeds the darkest night. IV. AMIDST ALL GOD WOULD HAVE HIS PEOPLE THEIR AND PREPARE FOR RETURN. They were to dwell in Moab, but only for a season, and always to bear the heart of a stranger. It is a great thing in days of worldly compliance and conformity, when everyone seems to live as if he were to live here always, to have in exercise a better hope, and for Christians to preserve the distinctness of their character. The Divine hand that created our frame and put life into it, has provided us with other resources than are found in feeble self, or in creatures feeble as ourselves. Besides this earth and these lower skies, there is an invisible world, and a kingdom of spirits. Let Christians seek to be in the world, but not of it. (Homiletic Magazine.) Isaiah 16:5 In mercy shall the throne be established The moral purpose of judgment The moral purpose of judgment is never concealed in the Divine writings. God is always seeking to bring about the time when in mercy His throne shall be established, and when there shall sit upon it in truth one who will represent the ideal judgment and blessing of God. The fifth verse might be rendered, “ In mercy shall a throne be established, and One shall sit upon it in truth.” The prophet has constantly kept before his mind the image of an ideal king. The ideal was partially fulfilled in Hezekiah, yet only partially; the prophet was sure One was coming who would fulfil it in its utmost meaning, and he steadfastly kept his eye on the bright day when God’ s throne should be established among the nations, and His sceptre should be extended over all. God does not exist merely to destroy, nor does He rule only in order that He may humble and crush; His purpose is one of equity, righteousness, blessing, cultivation. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 16:12 He shall come to his sanctuary to pray Fruitless supplications This line in this dark picture reminds us of two fasts in the life of the men of our own time, who see clearly the folly of idolatry. I. IN TIMES OF SORROW THEY ARE OFTEN SEEN IN THE . II. MANY OF THE THAT ARE OFFERED IN THE ARE OFFERED IN VAIN. How is this to be explained? In such ways as these-- 1. Many of the suppliants have little or no faith, and faith is the essential condition of blessing. 2. Many of the suppliants are not really in earnest, and lukewarmness is an offence to the Divine Being. 3. Many of the suppliants are not really penitent. (W. Manning.). Isaiah 17:1-5 The burden of Damascus . . . The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim The oracle concerning Damascus and Israel The curse pronounced upon it [Damascene-Syria] falls also upon the kingdom of Israel, because it has allied itself with the heathen Damascus against their brethren in the south and the Davidic kingdom. From the reign of Hezekiah we are here carried back to the reign of Ahaz, and indeed back far beyond the death year of Ahaz (Isaiah 14:28) to the boundary line of the reigns of Jotham and Ahaz, soon after the conclusion of the league which aimed at Judah’ s destruction, by which revenge was taken for the similar league of Asa with Benhadad against Israel (1 Kings 15:9). When Isaiah incorporated this oracle in his collection, its threats against the kingdoms of Damascus and Israel had long been fulfilled. Assyria had punished both of them, and Assyria had also been punished, as the fourth strophe (verses 12-14) of the oracle sets forth. The oracle, therefore, stands here on account of its universal contents, which are instructive for all time. (F. Delitzsch.)The fall of Damascus When cities do not pray they go down. (J. Parker, D. D.)The loss of faculty as a judgment It is possible for a man to moralise about the fate of a city, and forget that the principle of the text is aimed at all life. Life poorly handled means loss of life; faculty fallen into desuetude means faculty fallen into death. (J. Parker, D. D.)The cities of Aroer The cities of Aroer represent the land to the east of the Jordan, in which the judgment on Israel, executed by Tiglath-Pileser, began. There were, in fact, two Aroers; an old Amorite Aroer, which fell to the tribe of Reuben, situated on the Amon (Deuteronomy 2:36; Deuteronomy 3:12, and elsewhere); and an old Ammonite Aroer, which fell to the tribe of Gad--Aroer before Rabba (Rabbath Ammon, Joshua 13:25). The site of the ruins of the former is Arair, on the high northern bank of the Mugib; the situation of the latter has not yet been ascertained with certainty. The “ cities of Aroer” are these two Aroers along with the cities on the east of Jordan like them, just as the “ Orions” in Isaiah 13:10, are Orion and stars like it. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 17:6 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it Autumn: the diminutions of life The prophet is here predicting a season of national calamity. He represents the condition of the people under the figure of an autumnal scene. Armed hosts from the north have invaded the country like a sharp wind. The substance of its inhabitants has been carried away before their rapacity, “ as when the harvest man gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm.” With this difference, however, that it has been destroyed by the violence of strangers, instead of being garnered for the use of those who had tilled the soil; and the sickle is the sword. The population is thinned, like the trees in the waning part of the year. Only that the wrath of man, unlike the severity of nature, has no benevolent purpose in it. The comforts and blessings of life are shaken down as faded leaves. Only it is without any sign from experience, that they shall be replaced by a new spring. A desolated prospect rises before his sight. “ Two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough; four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof.” The Word of the Lord was a “ burden” in those days, and he felt its weight upon his own heart as he held it over the heads of his people. He comforted himself at least with the thought that the visitation itself, if not his warning, would bring them to a more faithful mind (Isaiah 17:7-8). There lies in the text, apart from its historical reference, this general truth,--that circumstances of decline and destitution are suited to wean the heart from its vanities. In the day of adversity men “ consider.” And when time and fortune have made the enjoyments of the world fewer, and thrown a longer shadow and a paler tint upon those that remain, the soul naturally remembers its truer and more enduring portions. 1. With some the change relates to their worldly goods and the general prosperity of their affairs. 2. A second class of diminutions concerns the bodily ease and health. 3. The third instance of diminutions to which our attention is called, is found in the encroachments of age. 4. One more instance of destitution is when companions and friends drop off like the foliage of summer, and we are more and more frequently bereft. (N. L.Frothingham.) Isaiah 17:7-8 At that day shall a man look to his Maker Sanctified affliction We are led to consider the designs of God in the afflictions of His people. I. TO RECALL THEIR HEARTS TO HIMSELF. “ A man will look to his Maker-- 1. With a suppliant eye, to find in Him sources of consolation and a rock of defence such as the world cannot furnish (Psalms 123:1-2; Jh 2:1). 2. With a penitent eye (Luke 22:62; Zechariah 12:10). 3. With a confiding and believing eye (chap. 8:17). 4. With a rejoicing eye (Romans 5:11; Habakkuk 3:18). II. TO RAISE THEIR OF THE OF THE DIVINE AND THE OF THE DIVINE . “ Shall have respect unto the Holy One of Israel.” III. TO THEM FROM ALL SINFUL AND . “ He shall not look,” etc. IV. TO ENDEAR THE MERCY THAT MINGLES WITH THE TRIALS. This appears-- 1. In the moderate degree in which God’ s people are corrected, compared with the final and exterminating judgments which fall upon the wicked. Damascus was to be utterly destroyed (Isaiah 17:1), but a remnant was to be left to Israel (Isaiah 17:5). God’ s people always see that He has afflicted them less than they deserve (Lamentations 3:22). 2. In the alleviations of their trials. 3. In the triumphant issue of the whole. (S. Thodey.) Isaiah 17:10-11 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation.Forgetfulness of God punished I. THE OF THE SIN HERE SPOKEN OF. Forgetfulness of God. 1. What is this forgetfulness of God? It has been defined as “ such a habitual inattention to His existence and character, as leads the individual under its influence to a mode of thinking, feeling, and acting, which would be consistent only on the supposition that there were no God, or that God is a very different Being from what the Scriptures represent Him to be.” 2. It is a startling sin. Everything around us is designed and fitted to remind us of God. The Bible unfolds the moral character of God. Sharp dispensations of providence remind us of His existence. Preachers enforce His claims. Each returning Sabbath, with its closed shutters, the sound of the church going bell, and the voice of praise from the lips of the pious, says, Worship God. But many would rather think about anything, or nothing, than about God. 3. It is a fearfully prevalent sin. 4. It is an ungrateful sin (Isaiah 1:2-3). 5. It is a highly punishable sin. Many people imagine that none are sinners but those who openly sin. But what of the moral man, who does his duty towards his fellow men, but who forgets God? II. THE RESULTS OF THIS OF GOD. 1. Dwarfed powers. Men cannot, if they wish, be totally inactive. If activity be not devoted to God, it will be devoted to the world, to “ planting pleasant plants.” 2. Secular knowledge is a pleasant plant. 3. Wealth is a pleasant plant. 4. Ambition is a pleasant plant. 5. Amusement is a pleasant plant. 6. Hence observe the ultimate result of this conduct. “ The harvest shall be a heap,” etc. Sooner or later men reap what they sow. Sin and suffering are bound together by an unbreakable chain. “ The gods are just,” says Shakespeare, “ and of our pleasant vices make instruments to scourge us.” Galatians 6:7-8.) Men break God’ s physical laws, and they suffer in their bodies and circumstances. They violate His moral laws, and personal debasement ensues. George Eliot says, “ That is the bitterest of all--to wear the yoke of our own wrong-doing.” (H. Woodcock.)Evils of forgetting God I. OF GOD IS AN EVIL WHICH TOO AMONG MEN. The text does not so much charge with positive wickedness (though it is implied) as forgetfulness of God, which supposes folly, because He is the God of salvation, and the Rock of strength. Consider these relations-- 1. The God of thy salvation. (1) He is infinitely able to save His creatures, whether the salvation required be temporal, spiritual, or eternal. (2) He is always willing to save them. How inexcusable is maul How criminal to forget, to be unmindful of Him! 2. The Rock of thy strength. Here we may build, and the fabric will never be shaken. Here we may shelter, as in the cleft of a rock, and no evil shall prevail against us. For so helpless and weak a creature as man to have such a refuge, such a support, and to be unmindful of it, how great is his folly! But when may we be said to forget, and to be unmindful of God? When we live without thinking of Him--without praying to Him--without seeking His glory--without surrendering our souls, bodies, and all our cares into His hands. II. THE THUS DRAWN FROM GOD AND HIS SERVICE IS TO WORLDLY AND SENSUAL . The soul of man in this case strives to supply its want of happiness from the world: “ therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants.” Infinitely varied are the objects of the attention or culture of men, but they all proceed from the above principle, or rather have the same end in view. Some seek their pleasure in learning, others in the arts, riches, honours, employments, amusements. But they are “ strange slips,” not natural, not designed to answer the intended purpose. The sons of men are determined to prove what the world can do for them. “ In the day THE OF SUCH CONDUCT. “ The harvest shall be a heap,” etc. (J. Walker, D. D.)Prosperity in the seeming only These occasional sun gleams may foretoken the thunderstorm. God can mock, God can lead the bullock to the knife by the way of a fat pasture. There is, therefore, a promise here, but the promise is limited. You shall have mushroom growths, you shall see wonderful things within the span of a single day; but what shall the harvest be? The meaning is, we may be infatuated by appearances, by immediate successes, by flowers and strange slips growing up within the compass of one little day. (J. Parker, D. D.)God’ s righteousness in His dealings with men Happily, this is only one aspect of the Divine government; we are entitled to reverse this text, and say, Because thou hast remembered the God of thy salvation, and hast been mindful of the Rock of thy strength, therefore shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses burst out with new wine. Thou hast not withheld from God the gladness and the service of thine heart, and He will not withhold from thee the music and the rapture and the abundance of harvest.. The way of the Lord is equal. (J. Parker, D. D.)Pleasant plants and strange slips They made for themselves all kinds of sensuous cults in conformity with their heathen inclination. (F. Delitzsch.)The temporary success of an evil alliance The foreign slip has shot up like a hothouse plant, i.e., the alliance has rapidly become a happy agreement, and has also already shot forth a blossom, which is the common plan directed against Judah. (F. Delitzsch.)Lives of disappointment The world is full of people who are engaged in planting their slips. Fortunes, luxurious homes, great reputations--such are some of the slips; but what disappointment succeeds--“ desperate sorrow.” The egg turns cue to be rottenness; the fair landscape a Sahara, from which the mirage is gone; the beautiful globe of changing colour, only a drop of dirty soap and water. We remember the story of Faust, who sold himself to Satan, but the day of bitter reaping came. We remember the cry of Byron over his wasted years; of Laurence Oliphant, the bright versatile son of Piccadilly, who in his varied career had tasted life in many of its brightest aspects; of Solomon, whose Ecclesiastes is one long record of slip planting. Nothing less than God, our Maker, can suffice the souls which He has made. Apart from Him life may at first promise well, but the end, inevitably, will be desperate sorrow. (P. B. Meyer, B. A.)The harvest shall be a heapThe harvest of sorrow A harvest field is a suggestive place. I. TO EVERY LIFE THERE IS A HARVEST, EITHER OF JOY OR OF SORROW. Life on earth is introductory and probationary. It is but the seed time for eternity. All our actions, words, thoughts, have a bearing upon the future. God is our moral Governor, as well as our loving Father. We are, therefore, accountable to Him for the disposal of every moment of our existence. Belonging to a depraved and fallen race, we are necessarily sinners; but this has been provided for. To every life there is a harvest. When? Sometimes in this world. Both the righteous and the wicked reap on earth to a certain degree that which they have sown. But still it is most strictly true that the great and final harvest commences when life on earth terminates and life in eternity begins. This great fact invests life with unspeakable grandeur. Every day and hour we are preparing for the realities of eternity. This should moderate our expectations concerning the present life. That which is probationary is necessarily incomplete. We should, therefore, expect trials and disappointments. II. THE HARVEST OF SORROW MAY, IN EVERY CASE, BE TRACED TO ONE GREAT CAUSE--forgetfulness of God. The ruin of the Ten Tribes is traced to this (Isaiah 17:10-11). Jeremiah brings the same charge against them Jeremiah 2:12-13). Hosea also says (Hosea 8:14), “ For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples.” At first, it seems impossible that they could ever have done this. Had they not the history of the great and eventful past? Did they not know they were depending on Him for everything they enjoyed? Surely, those who had such a God should never have forgotten Him. The fact stated in the text is one of deep significance. It shows us the desperate wickedness of the human heart. The Israelites were so estranged from Jehovah that they acted as though He did not exist. It is so in every such case. Forgetfulness of God always leads to this terrible result. No one can be unmindful of Him with impunity. Forgetfulness of God produces in the heart such feelings and induces men to follow such a line of conduct, that their lives must be a failure. It is, however, worthy of notice, that these persons are as anxious to be happy during life, and at its end, as any of their fellows. They do not resign themselves to despair. On the contrary, they fancy that all is well. Their hearts beat high with hope. True, they have not the help and protection which the Lord’ s people enjoy, but they do all they can to supply its place. The people of Israel did all they could to make their position a strong one. They made an alliance with Syria, and thought, with her help, they would be able to overcome their foes. So men in the present day, who forget God, avail themselves of the dictates of worldly prudence. In the day they make their plant to grow, and in the evening they make their seed to flourish. Here we have an affecting description of the anxiety and feverish effort of the men that know not God. We may plant pleasant plants, we may set strange slips, but they will not compensate us for the absence of the plants of righteousness. He who forgets the God of his salvation, and is unmindful of the Rock of his strength, must be without His favour, and at last must reap a harvest of grief and desperate sorrow. III. THE HARVEST OF SORROW THE SOUL IN UTTER AND RUIN. It is no slight matter--it is the loss of all things or the failure of every effort--the disappointment of every hope, the destruction of every joy, the development and perpetuation of every sorrow. The language of the prophet is very striking. The common idea of harvest is that of a joyous nature. But here we have an idea of the very opposite character. The harvest is a heap. There is no golden grain worthy of being housed in everlasting habitations. The soul sees with amazement that all her efforts have been fruitless, and cries, “ Is this all; has my life on earth produced nothing more than this?” And the answer is, “ Nothing more; and that which it has produced is only fit for the burning.” (H. B.Ingram.)God’ s love in the deprivations of life There is only one way of getting at some men. Once we could have appealed to their higher nature; once they were subject to the pleasure and the eloquence of reason; once they had a conscience tender, sensitive, responsive; now they are spiritually dead, no conscience, no reason, no unselfishness; the whole nature has gone down in volume and in quality into a terrible emaciation: what shall be done? Smite their harvest! then like beasts they will miss their food. God does not delight in this; it is the poorest violence, it is the feeblest department of His providence; but He knows that it is the only providence some men can understand. (J. Parker, D. D.)Reclamation by punishment God got you back to the Church through inflammation, through fever, through paralysis, through pain, through loss, through desolation; you came back over the graveyard. No matter, said God; when He got you into His house again He said, This My son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. It is in the reclamation, not in the punishment, that God takes pleasure. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 17:12-14 Woe to the multitude of many people A short triumph These verses read the doom of those that spoil and rob the people of God. If the Syrians and Israelites invade and plunder Judah--if the Assyrian army take God’ s people captive, and lay their countrywaste,--let them know that ruin will be their portion. They are here brought in-- I. OVER THE PEOPLE OF GOD. They rely upon their numbers. They are very noisy, like the noise of the seas; they talk big, hector and threaten. II. OVER BY THE OF GOD. God can dispirit the enemies of His Church, when they are most courageous and confident, and dissipate them when they seem most closely consolidated. This shall be done suddenly (Isaiah 17:14). (M. Henry.)The punishment of the wicked I. THE WHICH THE DAY OF REVEALS THE CONDUCT AND OF THE WICKED. Verse 12 shows us the vast and varied host in fancied security; we have a magnificent picture of a state of might, pomp, vainglory, self-confidence; but ere we reach the end of Isa 17:13, we see it scattered. We see the same contrast in everyday life; wicked men secure, strong, boastful--the next moment utterly cast down (Psalms 73:18-20); or, by the near approach of death, transformed into the subjects of a pitiable despair. II. THE OF THE OF DOOM. III. THE WITH WHICH THE OF DOOM IS (Isaiah 17:14). It is true that the punishment of the wicked often seems to be delayed (Ecclesiastes 8:11); but-- 1. Sin and punishment are inseparable. 2. Whenever the punishment comes it is sudden. Such is the blinding and delusive power of cherished sin that its penalty always finds the sinner unprepared to receive it; it is always a surprise and a shock to him. Conclusion-- (1) Nations and armies cannot successfully evade the penalties of their sins; how much less can the individual sinner do so! (2) The certainty of the punishment of all unrepented sin should lead us seriously to reflect upon the attitude we are assuming before God. (3) The subject should lead to repentance, but not to despair (Psalms 130:7). (W. Manning.) Isaiah 17:14 Behold at evening tide trouble The night God fights some battles between evening and morning. The black night is the field of war. The darkness fights for God. The night is needed for more than rest. How busy the angels are on the fields of darkness! Men are fetched at night by the invisible constable. Who reckons the night when he adds up his time? It may go for nothing to us because of our unconsciousness, but God sleeps not. Speaking of the wicked we may apply the figure of night so as to find in it terror and fear, sorrow and judgment, and death; speaking of the good man, we may say, Dry thy tears, thou foolish unbelieving weeper, or shed them gratefully to get rid of a needless burden; for sorrow endureth but for a night, joy cometh in the morning: take in the black guest, do what thou canst for him, he is sent of God for holy purposes; he can live but for a night, thou mightest afford to be kind to him; it were but one night in a long life. (J. Parker, D. D.). Isaiah 18:1-3 Woe to the land shadowing with wings The Ethiopians The people here peculiarly described are the Ethiopians, and the prophet prophesies the effect on Ethiopia of the judgment concerning Assyria which Jehovah executes, as Drechsler has convincingly proved, and as is now universally recognised. (F. Delitzsch.)Ethiopia What land is it of which the prophet speaks? It is no doubt Ethiopia itself, a great kingdom in the olden time. For although he says “ beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,” that is the Blue Nile, and the White Nile, and the Astaboras, the meaning is perhaps more accurately “ beside” those rivers. In any event the ancient land of Ethiopia reached out to the south far beyond the confluence of those rivers in the mighty Nile, including probably all upper Egypt beyond Philae, Nubia, and the northern portion of modern Abyssinia. It was a fertile country, very rich in gold, ivory, ebony, frankincense, and precious stones. A country thickly inhabited by a stalwart well-formed race, “ men of stature” the prophet calls them, who if they were black were yet comely. It was a mighty kingdom for many centuries, a rival of Egypt, sometimes its enemy, and apparently even its conqueror; a kingdom able to make war against the Assyrians, and a kingdom, too, carrying on a great trade by means of abundant merchandise with many people. (A. Ritchie.)“ The land shadowing with wings” 1. Full of poetic suggestion is the expression “ shadowing with wings.” The thought is of tender protection, as the mother bird hovers over and shields her young. The Psalmist is never tired of crying out to God, “ Hide me under the covering of Thy wings.” It was right that Israel and Judah should cry thus to Jehovah for protection, but not that they should look to the shadowing wings of Ethiopia. Just as it was pathetically true that in later times our Lord should say of the Holy City, “ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not” --so seven hundred years earlier it was true that Judah would not seek refuge under the wings of the Lord, but under the shadowing of Egypt and the covering of Ethiopia. 2. In the Revised Version we have the passage rendered, “ Ah, the land of the rustling of wings.” Some of the old commentators find in this an allusion to the multitude of bees and the swarms of flies in Ethiopia, so that there the hum of wings was never absent. More picturesque is another suggestion, that the reference is to the ever plashing waters of the rivers, hurrying along with swift current, in rapids and through cataracts until the broad bosom of father Nile was reached. The swish and lapping of the rushing waters seemed to the poet like the noise made by the swift flight of many birds, beating the air with strong pinions, as they sweep on towards the horizon. 3. If we turn to the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, we read the text thus: “ Woe to you, ye wings of the land of ships.” What are the wings of the land of ships but the many sails whereby those ships flit hither and thither? One sees before him a new picture. The graceful dahabiehs with their long yards and triangular sails, dotting the water everywhere, and naturally suggesting great sea birds, with outspread wings, shining in the starlight white and ghostly on the calm surface of the mysterious river which is Egypt’ s life. 4. Some of the more acute Hebrew scholars point out that it is possible to understand the prophet’ s language in yet another way: “ Woe to the land where the shadow falleth both ways,” that is, of course, near the Equator, where sometimes the shadows stretch out to the south and sometimes to the north, according to the time of the year. If we understand our text so, it is natural to see in it an allusion to the fickleness of the Ethiopians, a nation which Judah vainly trusted in, since today it would be found an ally and tomorrow an enemy. (A. Ritchie.)The prophet’ s charge to the Ethiopian ambassadors Ethiopia corresponds generally to the modern Soudan (i.e., the blacks). Egypt and Ethiopia were at this time ruled by Tirkakah (704-685). His ambassadors are in Jerusalem offering an alliance against the Assyrian; and the prophet sends them back to their people with the words, “ Go, ye swift messengers,” etc. Jehovah needs no help against His enemies. (A. B.Davidson, LL. D.)Note Full stop at “ waters” (Isaiah 18:2), and omit “ saying.” The prophet speaks: “ Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth . . . a nation all-powerful and subduing, whose land rivers divide (intersect).” “ Smooth” may refer to the glancing, bronzed skin of the people. (A. B.Davidson, LL. D.)Vessels of bulrushes It is well known that timber proper for building ships was very scarce in Egypt: to supply this deficiency, the Egyptians used bulrushes, or a reed called papyrus, of which they made vessels fit for sailing. Ships and boats built of this sort of materials, being extremely light, and drawing very little water, were admirably suited to traverse the Nile, along the banks of which there were doubtless many morasses and shoals. They were also very convenient and easy to be managed at the waterfalls, where they might be carried with no great difficulty to smooth water. From such circumstances as these, we may conclude, that they would sail exceeding fast, and afford a very speedy conveyance of all kinds of intelligence from one part of the country to another, and from Egypt to neighbouring nations. In them, therefore, ambassadors or messengers were often sent to different places with various kinds of information, after having received their orders in terms such as these, “ Go, ye swift messengers.” (R. Macculloch.)They were made for folding together, so that they could be carried past the cataracts. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 18:3 All ye inhabitants of the world . . . see ye Missionary exertion Our whole hope of success rests on the prophecies of the Word of God, declaring it to be His will. We must first accurately examine what is the object we have in view, for if it be not in unison with the prophets it must be disappointed. I. THE OF THE NEW ON THIS SUBJECT. What does that give us reason to expect under the present dispensation? An elect Church, though in one sense it is called an universal Church, because it is gathered out of all nations on the earth. II. THE OF THE CHURCH AS THIS . For long years the Gospel has been preached, and what is the result? But is it not written in the Scriptures that all flesh shall see the salvation of God, etc.? Do we not, then, rightly expect the conversion of all the people on the earth? Yes, it is written, and shall come to pass. But the means are also written, and the time. What are the means? What is the time? “ All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye!” When? “ When He lifteth up an ensign on the mountains, and when He bloweth a trumpet, hear ye!” I will read you an extract from a missionary sermon preached by Dr. Buchanan shortly before his death: “ The ensign to be lifted up is the Jewish Church restored to Zion; and the Gospel trumpet is to be sounded by Jewish missionaries, for to them is reserved the evangelising of the heathen.” But before this will be the coming of the Son of God. (Hugh M’Neile, M. A.) Isaiah 18:4-5 For so the Lord said unto me, I will take My rest The rest of providence Although much diversity of opinion exists among commentators in regard to the primary design of the prophecy from which this passage is taken, there can be but one sentiment as to the sublime moral which it teaches concerning the mode in which the Almighty conducts His government. There are times, probably, in every man’ s life, when he feels the temptations to scepticism unusually strong. They are the times of personal suffering, or of prosperous iniquity. I. How often has the sincere Christian mourned in bitterness of spirit, BECAUSE NO ANSWER SEEMED GIVEN TO HIS PRAYERS. In such circumstances, the assurance that providence is only taking its rest and considering, is in the highest degree consolatory. It is not in judgment, but in tender mercy, that God apparently suspends His answer to His people’ s prayers. Thus does He exercise their faith, and the trial of it is more precious than gold. Thus does He convince them of their needs, and the conviction leads them to greater self-abandonment. Thus does He call forth in them the feeling of Christian sympathy for those who are similarly tried, and this is better for them than heart’ s desire. Thus does He give unto them those experiences which, it is not improbable, may contribute to their felicity in heaven itself. II. A second example of providence taking its rest, is to be seen in THE SLOW AND LIMITED WHICH THE BLESSED GOSPEL OF CHRIST HAS YET MADE IN THE WORLD. The march of His administration is not the less sublime, because it is occasionally invisible. III. Providence takes its rest WHEN AGAINST THE EVIL WORKS OF MEN IS NOT . When the mystery of God is finished, His ways will appear at once marvellous and right. This “ rest of providence” is beautifully illustrated by similitudes taken from nature--“ a clear heat upon herbs, and a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.” You have observed, on a fine summer day, the sunshine resting calmly on the cornfield, or the dew covering the plants at eventide. All is peaceful and serene. It seems as if the winds had forgotten to blow, or the thunder to utter its voice. Thus calmly and silently does the Almighty “ rest in His dwelling place,” till the time comes for interposition. The patience of God is a demonstration of His power, and His slowness to wrath a testimony to His infinite wisdom. The metaphor in Isaiah 18:5 is to be regarded as a continuation of the preceding one, and may be understood as intimating the utter disappointment of those plans which wicked men form against God, and which He so forbearingly allows them to mature. “ Afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, He shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.” The meaning is, that at the very moment when the likelihood is, humanly speaking, greatest, that their projects shall be successful, He will awake to overturn them. Conclusion-- 1. The passage under consideration, while it ought to alarm the enemies, may well enough bring comfort to the people of God. Let them look up for their redemption draweth nigh. 2. On the other hand, let not the impenitent flatter themselves into security because their Lord delayeth His coming. (J. L. Adamson.)Stillness “ A figure of perfect stillness.” (A. B. Davidson.)The arrest of evil men It is as though Jehovah were quietly looking on, and permitting the Assyrians to do their worst. So far from arresting them, He seems even to favour their plans. He is to them, as the dew to the growth of plants. But before the bud is formed, He arises to cut them off. This probably refers to the fatal blow which overwhelmed Sennacherib’ s army in a single night. The gratitude of surrounding nations for so great a deliverance would cause them to bring sacrifices to Jehovah’ s temple (Isaiah 18:7). (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)God’ s secret words How striking are those secret words, whispered by God to His favoured servant, “ The Lord said unto me.” It was as though He had called Isaiah aside, and spoken to him confidentially of matters which must not be uttered to uncircumcised ears. It was thus that God spake of old to Abraham and Moses. And in modern days it is remarkable, in reading the journals of George Fox, to find how conscious he was of similar confidences reposed in him by his ever-present and faithful Friend. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)God resting in His dwelling place I. THE PLACE OF GOD AND HIS REPOSE. Let me ask where the queen rests in her love: You must pass and press beyond the regalia, beyond the throne-room, beyond the council, beyond the levee, there in the family, amidst her children, in a charmed family circle,--there she rests in love. And has not God such a circle, such a dwelling place, and home? “ The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him.” God has revealed to us this great thing, that He, too, lives in the sympathies and affections of His intelligent creatures. God’ s Church is His dwelling place. God descends to dwell in us, as we ascend to dwell in Him. I have been struck with a thought like this, when I have been on some quiet village hill, or in the deeps of some country forest, when, beneath me, or away from me, all the villagers were in the booths of some fair. I saw it, perhaps, at my feet, or heard the sounds dying away on my ear. So it is, as we rise to rest in God. At our feet the uproar the vice--the vanity--of the Babel booths--the dissoluteness and the song,--but with us deep peace, and quiet, and the rest of heart and soul, and the prospect of the glory and the vistas beyond; it is even so, as the world lies beneath us, and above us spreads the calm--when the soul possesses God, and God sinks into the soul--what does the soul look out upon: what does the soul look down upon? what does the soul look in upon: the soul one with God. II. “ I WILL .” “ So the Lord said unto me, I will take My rest.” Exceedingly sublime are all those magnificent passages in which the calm of the Divine mind is contrasted with the passion and the agitation of human affairs. This is the connection of the preceding verses (chap. 17:12, 13). It is amidst that turbulence of the oceans of the population that God says, “ I will take My rest, and consider.” III. THE OF DIVINE , the loving and beautiful result. (E. Paxton Hood.)God’ s all-sufficiency There is that in God which is a shelter and refreshment to His people in all weathers, and arms them against the inconveniences of every change. Is the weather cool: There is that in His favour that will warm them. Is it hot: There is that in His favour that will cool them. Great men have their winter house and their summer house Amos 3:15); but they that are at home with God have both in Him. (M. Henry.)When the bud is perfectThe flower bud B--U--D--bud. Beauty; use; design, shall be our three points. I. BEAUTY. Among the many kinds of beauty nature gives us, three are very noticeable-- 1. Beauty of form. 2. Beauty of colour. 3. Beauty of scent. And to these man has added-- 4. Beauty of association. II. USE. 1. Food. In the economy of nature flowers are useful as food for insect and bird and man. Groundsel for the birds of the air! The honeysuckle really belongs to, and is the early home of, a green moth, brown round the edges, with transparent wings. It also belongs to a caterpillar, which afterwards becomes a brown and white and dull blue butterfly. And so list after list might be given of flowers upon which the insect world feeds, and by which it is nourished. Again, it is from flowers that the bees collect the honey! Thus the flowers may be said literally to feed man. 2. Medicine. 3. Fruit. Flowering is a stage on the way to fruit. What Christian graces will you have to show when the time of the ingathering comes: III. DESIGN. Nature works on a plan. Who made the plan, the design? There cannot be a plan without someone to plan; nor a design without a designer. The Christian looks from nature to nature’ s God. (C. H.Grundy, M. A.). Isaiah 19:1 The burden of Egypt The prophecies concerning Egypt The kingdom to which all the three prophecies (chaps. 18, 19, 20) refer is the same, namely, the Egypto-Ethiopian kingdom; but it is so dealt with that chap. 18 refers to the ruling people, chap. 19 to the ruled people, and chap. 20 embraces them both together. (F. Delitzsch.)Egypt interwoven with the history of the kingdom of God The reason why the prophecy occupies itself so particularly with Egypt is that no people of the earth was so closely interwoven with the history of the kingdom of God from the patriarchal time as Egypt. (F. Delitzsch.)The oracle concerning Egypt: promise as well as threatening Because, as the Thora impresses it, Israel must never forget that it long resided in Egypt, and there grew great, and enjoyed much good; so prophecy, when it comes to speak to Egypt, is not less zealous in promising than in threatening. Accordingly, the Isaianic oracle falls into two distinct halves; one threatening, Isaiah 19:1-15, and one promising, Isaiah 19:18-25; and between judgment and salvation there stands the terror in Isaiah 19:16-17, as the bridge from the former to the latter. (F. Delitzsch.)Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloudThe way of the Lord Here is one way in which the Lord comes, namely, “ upon a swift cloud” (Isaiah 19:1). The intimation is one of mystery. No man can tell which way the Lord will come today. Let us keep our eyes upon every point of the horizon; let us distribute the watchmen wisely and assign to each his sphere of observation; for by what door the Lord may enter the field of vision no man can tell,--by a political event, by some new movement in foreign policy, by the discovery of new riches in the earth, by great shocks which try men’ s strength, by grim sorrow, by cruel death, by judgments that have no name, by mercies tender as the tenderest love, by compassions all tears, by providences that are surprises of gladness: watch all these doors, for by any one of them the Lord may come into the nation, the family, the heart of the individual. This Divine policy, if it may be so named, baffles the watchers who trust to their own sagacity. If men will say they will circumvent God and know all the ways of His providence, behold God forsakes all ways that are familiar and that lie within the calculation of the human mind; and He startles those who watch with light from unexpected quarters with shakings and tremblings never before felt in the vibrations of history. “ Clouds and darkness are round about Him” : the cloud that appears to be nothing but vapour may enshrine the Deity; the bush, yesterday so common that any bird might have alighted upon it, today burns with unseen, infinite energy. The Lord will come by what way He pleases,--now as if from the depths of the earth, and now as from the heights of heaven; blessed is that servant who is ready to receive Him and to welcome Him to the heart’ s hospitality of love. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 19:2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians Divine providence in civil strife This method of administration, we say, obtains and prevails in all ages. This is the meaning of many a controversy, of many a quarrel, of many a dissension, in cabinets, in families, in nations. Men are surprised that they should turn upon their brothers with disdain, and even with cruel hatred. It is indeed matter of surprise and great sorrow, and if looked at within narrow limits it would seem to be a reflection upon Providence: but when does God ask to be judged within the four comers of human imagination or criticism? He not only does the deed, He does it within a field which He Himself has measured, and within the range of declarations which have about them all the mystery and graciousness of evangelical prophecies. We must, therefore, look not only at the incident, but at all its surroundings and to all its issues. When we are puzzled by household difficulties, by commercial perplexities, by unions that only exist for a moment and then dissolve or are turned into sourness and alienation, we must never forget that there is One who rules over all. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 19:11 How say ye . . . I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?-- On the pride of birth The charge which the prophet makes upon the Egyptian nobles may, with some justice, be extended to those in modern times who are perpetually reminding the world, directly or indirectly, of the dignity of their ancestors; and who, because they have no living merit to boast of, are ever shrining themselves in the glories of the dead. 1. Not only does the world set a high value upon illustrious birth, but it commonly obtains the preference over talents and virtues. There must be a certain rule of precedence in society, an arrangement of those pretensions we all exhibit for public notice and respect; and those causes which confer superiority must be obvious and not liable to be mistaken; not chemical distinctions, discoverable upon analysis, but natural marks, perceptible to the eye. Such, in some degree, are wealth and birth, the notoriety of which is much greater than that of talents and virtues. 2. But how comes birth to be respected at all? History teaches us to connect courage to one name, and counsel to another; to connect them even to an eye or a look; and it is difficult to behold the son or the descendant of an eminent man without deluding ourselves into an idea that some share of the virtues as well as some trait of the features has been transmitted from one to the other. A person placed in a liberal situation of life, above the necessity of increasing his fortune, is supposed to have derived from education a cultivated understanding and correct moral taste; to be careful of reputation and worthy of trust; and, when a family has been long in this situation, we associate these qualities to them much more strongly, and are apt to conceive that a certain propriety of sentiment has been transmitted, with hereditaments and lands, from one generation to another. It is therefore well to recollect that the reverence mankind pay to birth is founded upon its supposed connection with great and amiable qualities; that it is unjust to inhale the incense without possessing the attributes to which it is offered up; and that no disapprobation is so complete as that which succeeds to detected imposture and misplaced regard. 3. Pride of birth, in common with every other species of pride, is utterly incompatible with the Christian character, the very essence of which is lowliness of spirit, and, in common with every other species of pride, is marked by narrow and erroneous views of human nature. The peculiar objections to it are, that birth may frequently prove a source of the most serious misfortunes; that, at a certain period of depravity, it gives splendour to shame, and inflames the contempt of mankind; that it justifies the painful suspicion of being beloved from name, and not from nature; that, considered singly by itself, without the virtues which sometimes do, and are always expected to, accompany it, it is of all causes of self-approbation the least rational and just. 4. Though pride be the excess of self-approbation, it can only rest ultimately upon the approbation of others. It is always upon the esteem of others, present and future, or upon a title to it, conceived to be extremely strong, that pride is founded. A proud man may not possess esteem, but he must believe that he does possess it, or shall possess it, during life, or after death, or that he deserves to possess it; for, if he conceives himself justly contemptible, he must cease to be proud. Now, all pride proceeds from a wrong, notion of the method by which the approbation of others is secured; from a misappreciation of ourselves, and of the sagacity of mankind, who are so far from adopting a man’ s standard of himself as their own, that they commonly value a human being inversely as he values himself. It proceeds from an ignorance of that captivating modesty which lulls rivalry to sleep, and gives all the benevolent affections their free influence upon the judgment. Pride, then, is only another name for ignorance, because it takes the most shortsighted and inefficacious means to effect its object. 5. Travellers tell us that there is a tree, the roots of which afford bread or poison, according as they are managed and prepared. Such is the doubtful nature of illustrious birth: it may be a blessing or a curse, the source of virtue or the cradle of shame; eminence it must ever give, eminence of infamy or eminence of good. God forbid we should not think of ancient days, if thus doing we can add virtue or happiness; forbid us to stifle that solemn pleasure which we feel in gazing at the dead, if that solemn pleasure teach us to live aright. If you will look upon nobleness of birth as a promise to be fulfilled and a debt to be paid to society; if you will recompense mankind, by your personal merit, for their fervent love to your name and fathers, and think exalted birth a solemn pledge for exalted virtue, a covenant for honourable labour and unspotted faith, an oath taken to the shades of the dead, never to pollute their blood or sully their fame; if you hasten to fix this admiration of words and sounds upon some more solid foundation, to reflect more lustre on your race than you take from it, and to be the chief of the people in thought and action as well as by chance and law--then think forever on the greatness of your name, and the splendour of your father’ s fathers; and when a prophet shall ask you, yea, when more than a prophet, when God shall ask you, “ How have ye said upon earth, I am the son of wise counsellors and ancient kings?” ye may answer, “ We have so said, not ignorant that all things on earth are the shadows of a shadow, and the dust of the dust; but hoping like them to walk in the pure and perfect law of Him who made us, and to do the good and righteous things which our fathers have done of old time, that we may draw down upon us Thy blessings, and finally partake of that dear and unknown world which Thy blessed Son has promised us in Thy name.” (Sydney Smith, M. A.) Isaiah 19:18 The language of Canaan Converting grace Converting grace by changing the heart, changeth the language; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (M. Henry.)The language of Canaan 1. To speak the language of Canaan is to discourse on sacred subjects in a manner peculiar to those who enjoy Divine revelation, and are taught of God. 2. It is to treat of spiritual matters in that dialect which is best suited to their nature and importance, and which hath been employed for this purpose by patriarchs and prophets, by Jesus Christ Himself, His apostles and disciples in all ages. 3. This language of the people of God hath in it somewhat peculiar, whereby it may be distinguished from all other kinds of speech. It is quite free from vanity, detraction, falsehood, impurity, and folly, with which all other conversation is more or less tinctured; whilst much is said concerning the only true God, the great Messiah, the promises, ordinances, and commandments of Jehovah, with many other such delightful topics. (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 19:20 He shall send them a Saviour and a great one A Saviour and a great one The literal coincidences between the promise of a “ saviour” and a “ great one,” and the titles of Alexander the Great and Ptolemy the Saviour are noticeable and interesting. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Alexander the Great Alexander the Great delivered them from the grievous Persian yoke, and he and his successors greatly favoured the people and improved the country. He settled a great many Jews in Alexandria, giving them equal privileges with the Macedonians; and this Hebrew immigration was still further promoted by Ptolemy Soter, so that Philo reckoned that in his time there were a million Jews in the country. The temple of Onias, the LXX version of the Bible, the books of the Apocrypha, the philosophy and theology of Philo, indicate not only what these Jews were in themselves, but enable us to infer with certainty how great must have been their example and influence in humanising the Egyptians, and bringing them to the knowledge and worship of the true God. And still more were these results apparent, still more amply was this prophecy fulfilled, when Alexandria became one of the great centres of the Christian Church. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Who was the great Saviour promised to Egypt? Even if the language of this verse by itself might seem to point to a particular deliverer, the comprehensive language of the context would forbid its reference to any such exclusively. If the chapter is a prophecy not of a single went but of a great progressive change to be wrought in the condition of Egypt by the introduction of the true religion, the promise of the verse before us must be, that when they cried God would send them a deliverer, a promise verified not once but often, not by Ptolemy or Alexander only, but by others, and in the highest sense by Christ Himself. (J. A. Alexander.)The Messiah a great Saviour I. GREAT IN HIS PERSON. “ God over all, blessed forever:-- II. GREAT IN THE HE . III. GREAT IN THIS WORKS HE . IV. GREAT IN THE HE BESTOWS. V. GREAT IN THE GLORY TO WHICH HE IS NOW EXALTED. (R. Macculloch.)A great Saviour provided An old Mexican monk, in his dingy cell, once painted an allegorical picture, representing a beautiful maiden standing on an island, with only room for her feet to rest upon, while all around dashed and surged a lake of fire. The angry flames almost touched her, and yet she smiled, all unconscious of danger. More dreadful still, on each billow’ s crest rides a malignant fiend, and they are closing around the seemingly defenceless girl, seeking to fasten chains about her limbs, that they may drag her into the burning lake. The maiden still smiles serenely, for she sees them not. A golden cord of grace, descending from above, is twined amidst her sunny hair, but death appears ready to cut the slender thread. A hand of help is reaching down to her, which she must take, or be lost in the fiery abyss. A company of attending angels anxiously await her decision, and this group completes the picture. This is no fancy sketch of the old painter’ s brain, but it is your condition unless you have laid hold on Christ Jesus to deliver you. (J. N. Norton.) Isaiah 19:23-25 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria Israel, Egypt, and Assyria Israel is no longer alone God’ s people, God’ s creation, God’ s inheritance, but Egypt and Assyria are each a third sharer with Israel. In order to express this, Israel’ s three names of honour are mixed together, and each of three peoples receives one of the precious names, of which “ inheritance” is assigned to Israel as pointing back to the beginning of its history. This essential equalisation of the heathen peoples with Israel is no degradation to the latter; for although henceforth there exists no essential distinction of the peoples in their relation to God, it is nevertheless always Israel’ s God who attains recognition, and Israel is the people which, according to the promise, has become the medium of blessing to the earth. (F. Delitzsch.)The significance of the prophecy These nations represent to the prophet the heathen world which was “ eventually to be incorporated in the kingdom of God. The prediction can never be realised for those nations, because they have ceased to exist; but it will yet be realised in that great peace of the world, which is the hope of all the nations of mankind.” (C. A. Briggs, D. D.)A forecast of the triumph of Christianity Never had the faith of the prophet soared so high or approached so near to the conception of a universal religion. (Prof. Robertson Smith.)The holy triple alliance The two great powers which have hitherto met only as foes are to meet in the worship of Jehovah. And in consequence of this there is to be fellowship between them. And this is brought about by the little central state. Israel has reached the grand end of its calling; it becomes a blessing to the whole circuit of the earth. It is a grand prophecy destined to find its full accomplishment in the latter days. I. IT IS GOD’ S PURPOSE TO PERFECT THE RACE THROUGH AND . Chronic national antagonism is not Heaven’ s design. Neither is the design of God respecting the various peoples that they should dwell in a state of isolation. The Divine purpose is manifestly that the several nations shall complete each other through sympathy and reciprocity. 1. Geography indicates this. The good things of nature are not all found in any one land; reciprocity is designed and necessitated by the very dispositions of soil and climate. 2. Ethnology also gives a reason for national sympathy and intercourse. No one national type includes all perfections. The nations need one another. History shows us the solidarity of the race and how wonderfully any one people is enriched by the contributions of the rest. Take our own nation. In our gardens are the flowers and fruits of all climates. In a thousand ways our neighbours have contributed to make us what we are. The Italians and French taught us silk weaving. The Flemings taught us our fine woollen trade. The Venetians showed us how to make glass. A German erected our first paper mill. A Dutchman began our potteries. The Genoese taught us to build ships. And so history reveals that through successive generations the several nations have enriched each other in art, industry, literature, jurisprudence, language, philosophy, government, and religion. The thought of God is the brotherhood of man, and all things prove it. II. THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IS THE SUPREME POWER OF THE RACE. In the fulness of its meaning this is what our text signifies. The lesson here for us is that the marriage of nations will take place where other marriages are celebrated--at the altar of God. In other words, the unifying power of the race is the highest religious faith--the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1. Some suppose that the ameliorative reconciling influence will be found in commerce. But there are malign influences which defeat the benign influences of trade. 2. Others think that the principle of unity will be found in the cultivation of cosmopolitan literature. The influence of great literature is pacifying, but it must also be remembered that such literature feeds patriotism, which is a peril. 3. Many build great hopes on science. Science reveals the unity of nature, but it teaches also that all nature is full of strife, and civilisation itself is built on antagonism. It is only as a great faith changes the spirit of man that discords will resolve themselves into harmonies. III. GOD HAS IN A VERY SPECIAL MEASURE UNTO US THE VERY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. To a large extent England in this age occupies the position that Israel occupied of old--it is our special calling to bring all nations to the obedience of the faith. As Palestine came between Egypt and Assyria so this island comes in a wonderful manner between the Old World and the New. God gave spiritual gifts in a remarkable degree to Israel, and God has given us richly the treasure of His Gospel. God has also given to us special powers for the diffusion of the Gospel. (W. L. Watkinson.)The missionary religion This was the glorious vision of the statesman prophet, a new world arising out of the confusions and struggles of the old, a redeemed humanity, of which these now extinct peoples are the symbol, united by the benediction of God. I. WE MUST NOT READ INTO THESE WORDS ANY WITH THE OF EGYPT AND ASSYRIA. He did not mean that the faith of Israel was the third with the faiths of the Nile and the Euphrates. Perhaps the most insidious foe of the missionary spirit is the suggestion that Christianity is only one among many religions and rival creeds. It is contradicted by all the facts of Scripture and of human experience. The study of comparative religion so far from blinding us to the gleams of truth and the broken lights of heathenism, enables us to feel more deeply how faint and broken they are. The stars are invisible to us in the glory of the noon. Yet if we descend into some deep pit we lose the daylight and we see the stars. So in all ages some elect souls, sunk in the deep and horrible pit of heathenism, have seen shining far above them the pure, peaceful stars of God. Their faint light has not been enough to live by, not enough for guidance or hope, only enough to reach the remoteness of heaven and God, enough for aspiration and to keep alive the great questions of human existence and destiny. Some of our modern teachers have gone down into the deep pit, and they have forgotten that they themselves are the children of the day. We solemnly deny that any religion is suited to any people, either East or West, which cannot give cleansing to the conscience, or power to the will, or peace to the heart, which is silent where it should speak most clearly, which can cast no light beyond the grave, which does not honour womanhood and protect childhood. Heathenism is man seeking God. The Gospel is God coming down to seek man. In its essence the Gospel is unchangeable, yet there is much in our religion which is capable of adaptation to the conditions, tastes, and temperaments of different races. II. We see in our text THE WIPING OUT OF AND RACIAL IN A COMMON . Egypt was the ancient foe and oppressor of Israel. The pages of Isaiah are full of warnings against the broken reed of Egypt. The prophet saw the gathering storm and knew that Assyria should scatter the nation and destroy the city and the temple. Yet he spoke of both as resting with Israel under the blessing of God. But, more than that, the known world of Isaiah’ s day was bounded on the west by Egypt and on the east by Assyria. They stand for the world, because they were then the confines of the world. Six centuries later the world of St. Paul was larger still Our world is the whole world, but it has not outgrown the love or the promise or the duty. This larger outlook rests upon three chief grounds. 1. The brotherhood of man. 2. All the great redemptive facts are toy humanity. 3. The purposes of God are for mankind. III. It only remains to ask whether this promise of a redeemed humanity is only a dream, and a glowing but unsubstantial vision, or IS IT A DIVINE REALITY? If it rested upon an obscure word in an ancient prophecy we might fear to press it. But it is the burden of Scripture. It was the vision of Christ as He rejoiced in spirit and cried, “ And if I be lifted up I will draw all men unto Me.” But it is the method of God to use human instruments. He accepts the tribute of His people’ s love, and He makes the wrath of man to praise Him. (J. H. Shakespeare, M. A.)God’ s purposes worked out 1. God intends that each single nation of the earth shall make the most of itself for the good of all other nations. 2. God is ruling over all the nations, and is working out His great and glorious purposes through them. (D. Gregg, LL. D.)God’ s converting grace These are mysterious words, which certainly have not been fulfilled. There was a partial fulfilment of them on the day of Pentecost, when we learn that Medea, Parthians, Elamites, together with dwellers in Mesopotamia, joined with those of Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, and Judea, in acknowledging the power of the exalted Saviour, and the mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit. But just beyond the veil which hides the immediate future, we are doubtless destined to see greater things than these. In any case, we may take the prophet’ s words as illustrating the truth, that none are beyond the pale of Divine mercy; that God can change persecutors into apostles, and that the elements that make men bad will, beneath converting grace, be the constituents of strong and holy lives. God rejoices to take those who have been strong in the service of Satan, and make them lowly and devoted servants of the Cross. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Isaiah’ s wide outlook and cosmopolitan sympathies We shall never do the Jewish religion justice till we pay attention to what its greatest prophets thought of the outside world, how they sympathised with this, and in what way they proposed to make it subject to their own faith. 1. There is something in the very manner of Isaiah’ s treatment of foreign nations which causes the old charges of exclusiveness to sink in our throats. Isaiah treats these foreigners at least as men. Take his prophecies on Egypt or on Tyre or on Babylon--nations which were the hereditary enemies of his nation--and you find him speaking of their natural misfortunes, their social decays, their national follies and disasters, with the same pity and with the same purely moral considerations, with which he has treated his own land. When news of those far away sorrows comes to Jerusalem, it moves this large-hearted prophet to mourning and tears. He breathes out to distant lands elegies as beautiful as he has poured upon Jerusalem. He shows as intelligent an interest in their social evolutions as he does in those of the Jewish State. He gives a picture of the industry and politics of Egypt as careful as his pictures of the fashions and statecraft of Judah. In short, as you read his prophecies upon foreign nations, you perceive that before the eyes of this man humanity, broken and scattered in his days as it was, rose up one great whole, every part of which was subject to the same laws of righteousness, and deserved from the prophet of God the same love and pity. To some few tribes he says decisively that they shall certainly be wiped out, but even them he does not address in contempt or in hatred. The large empire of Egypt, the great commercial power of Tyre, he speaks of in language of respect and admiration; but that does not prevent him from putting the plain issue to them which he put to his own countrymen: If you are unrighteous, intemperate, impure--lying diplomats and dishonest rulers, you shall certainly perish before Assyria. If you are righteous, temperate, pure, if you do trust in truth and God, nothing can move you. 2. But he who thus treated all nations with the same strict measures of justice and the same fulness of pity with which he treated his own, was surely not far from extending to the world the religious privileges which he so frequently identified with Jerusalem. In his old age, at least, Isaiah looked forward to the time when the particular religious opportunities of the Jew should be the inheritance of humanity. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The dominating influence of national righteousness The moral is this: When the leading nation of the world is true to God and His principles, knowing no compromise and no hesitation; when it lives these principles, incorporates them into its laws and institutions, builds them into the code by which it governs its international relations, makes them part of its foreign policy, and, so far as it has it in its power, insists upon other nations honouring them and administering their affairs by them kit is always sure to win the day, and to rule as a mighty influence among all the nations of the world, and to lift them up toward the level of its own high civilisation. (D. Gregg, LL. D.)A transformed world No one who has seen the lovely Bay of Naples can ever forget it. The magnificent stretch of waters, the twenty or thirty miles of memorable coast that girdle it, the vast city with its painted palaces, its domes and spires, Vesuvius with nodding plume of fire and vapour, and over all the sky blue as Aaron’ s mantle. Now, geologists tell us that that lovely bay is really the crater of an extinct volcano. In primitive ages it was a vast and awful abyss of flame and fury, but the fires died down, the lava ceased to flow, the smoke rolled away, the glorious sea overflowed the crater, and now the lovely waters sleep and dream, reflecting the lights and colours of the sky. This world, for ages, has been a veritable mouth of hell. But its fires are slackening, its wrath abates, its darkness is less dense, its desolations and miseries come to a perpetual end, and truth and justice, mercy and kindness, are covering it as the great deep profound. (W. L. Watkinson.)One Gospel for all God’ s Gospel is made not for Englishmen, but for all men. Many think the Gospel is a very beautiful thing--if you would only keep it at home; but the moment you try to apply it to anybody else, it will not suit them. Try it upon the negro; he is too low. Try it upon the Hindoo; he is too high. Each of these must have a religion of his own; one would not suit them all. The rice that forms a suitable food for the natives of hot climates is not suitable for the bleak north. The food that is suitable for the north, the clothing and house suitable for the north, are not suitable for the tropics, and so with religion. “ A man looked into the eye of an Anglo-Saxon,” says William Arthur, “ and found it blue, and into the eye of a negro and found it black, and he said, ‘ These are different organisations; you are not so bewildered as to think you can enlighten both these eyes with the same sun. You must have a sun for each of them; you must have different suns, you see, because the eyes are differently organised.’” Very well, that is exceedingly fine in theory, but try it--try whether the sun which God put in the heaven will not illuminate the pale eye of the northerner and the dark eye of the southerner. (Sunday School Chronicle.)The universal language When Haydn was prevailed upon to visit England for the first time, Mozart said to him, “ You have no training for the great world, and you speak too few languages.” Haydn replied, “ My language is understood by all the world.” The power of the name of Jesus is, however, more universal in its appeal than the power of great music. (Sunday School Chronicle.). Isaiah 20:1 In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod The purpose of the chapter Judah, alarmed by the capture of Samaria, and the rapid extension of the Assyrian invasion, looked for assistance from Egypt. And the aim of this brief chapter is to recall king and people from any such reliance, by the announcement that the King of Assyria would shortly prevail against Egypt, and lead into captivity multitudes of prisoners. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)The date of the prophecy The date of the prophecy is assured. The expedition mentioned took place in 711 B.C., and is minutely related in two of Sargon’ s own inscriptions. See Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions, vol. 2. (Cambridge Bible for Schools.)The Tartan, The Tartan, Assyrian, turtanu, i.e., Commander-in-chief. (A. B.Davidson, LL. D.) Isaiah 20:2 Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins Isaiah stripped and barefooted Owing to the great importance which is attributed to clothing from the standpoint of Oriental culture and manners, anyone who appears without the upper garment is already regarded as naked and bare. Isaiah has to lay off the garment of the preacher of repentance and of the mourner, so that only his tunic remains; and in this dress, and moreover barefooted, he has to appear in public. It is the costume of a man who had been robbed and disgraced, of a beggar, it may be, or a prisoner of war. (F. Delitzsch.)God’ s appointment magnifies mean things The appointment of God renders those things and actions which in themselves seem mean and contemptible, momentous and useful: it stamps them with real dignity and importance, and makes them truly instructive. View the ceremonial institutions of the Old Testament, such as circumcision, abstinence from particular kinds of food and of raiment, uncleanness contracted by touching certain objects, and sprinkling the tabernacle with blood, and they appear trifling and ridiculous. Contemplate them again as the ordinances of God, infinitely wise and gracious, and you may discern their excellence and extensive utility. Look at our prophet as he is here described, and you see an odd appearance; but consider him acting by Divine commission, that he might represent to his countrymen the future naked and destitute condition to which those nations were to be reduced in whom they foolishly placed their confidence, and every circumstance acquires new consequence. (R. Macculloch.)Isaiah’ s obedience When we are in the way of our duty we must trust God both with our credit and with our safety. (M. Henry.)God’ s purpose dignifies what might otherwise be scandalous If the dress was scandalous, yet the design was glorious. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 20:5 They shall be . . . ashamed of . . . their expectation Unreasonable expectations A great deal of the discomfort, a large proportion of the disappointments of the world, may be traced to unreasonable expectations--to the fact that men will persist in expecting what they have no right to expect at all, or to expect in that precise form or degree. Indeed, so many of the expectations cherished in this world are so vain and unreasonable, involving those who entertain them in such necessary disappointment, that someone has sardonically observed, “ Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.” But, while we would not take so gloomy a view of human life as this, we cannot help feeling that much of the worry and mortification of life may be accounted for by our expecting what we have no right to expect. We all suffer from the same complaint, in larger or lesser degree. The symptoms differ in different individuals; the disease is radically the same. Young and old, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, masters and servants, buyers and sellers, husbands and wives, parents and children, pastors and people--all, in some way or other, and to some extent or other, are the victims of unreasonable expectations. Life with all of them would be a brighter, smoother, pleasanter thing, if they expected less. As we grow older we ought to grow wiser in this respect. Having regard only to the ordinary intercourse and social relationships of life--how many complaints would be hushed, how much irritation would be allayed, how much needless mortification be averted, how much resentment cease, how many fancied slights and injuries appear inconsiderable, if, instead of brooding over our rights, which we imagine have been withheld or invaded, we were to sit down, and quietly, dispassionately consider what, living in a world like this, we might, on the whole, reasonably expect. If we were thus to inquire we should find that we were getting more than we deserved; and that, for the most part, we were being treated by others quite as fairly, honourably, and tenderly as we were in the habit of treating them. (T. M. Morris.)Unreasonable expectations in relation to religion The subject of unreasonable expectations is of almost illimitable extent, and in further dwelling upon it I would limit my remarks to three points-- I. THE THINGS WHICH GOD’ S PEOPLE EXPECT. Nothing can be more plain than that our expectations as Christians should be limited by the teaching and promise of God’ s Word. We are safe so long as we rest in the promise of God. I. It is unreasonable to expect that you can place yourselves in any false position, form any unworthy association, engage in any questionable occupation, and be saved from the natural consequences of so doing. Lot was a very good man, but he made a very great mistake. If, in your legitimate business,--if, in sustaining any of the just relationships of life, you meet with danger or temptation, you may reasonably expect that God will grant you all the necessary assistance and protection. But if the danger or temptation be of your own seeking, it is likely that God will teach you wisdom by leaving you to endure the consequences of your rashness or perversity. It is unreasonable for you to expect that you can touch pitch and not be defiled, take fire in your bosom and not be burned, nourish a viper and not be stung. 2. It is unreasonable to expect that you should grow in grace, or realise any very high degree of enjoyment in the Divine life, if all the while you are neglecting or insufficiently using the means of growth, the sources of enjoyment which are placed within your reach. 3. It is unreasonable to expect in Christian life what our Master expressly warns us against expecting. Many seem disappointed because they do not find the way of Christian pilgrimage perfectly smooth and pleasant from its commencement to its close. Your Master tells you plainly that you have to lay your account with suffering and trial, with disappointment and danger. The Christian life is never represented as one of ease and self-indulgence, but rather as a state of warfare. You are treading in the footsteps of those who, in uninterrupted succession, have walked in the same rough way. 4. I might easily enumerate many other unreasonable expectations in which Christians are tempted to indulge. It is unreasonable to expect results from unassisted human nature which can only flow from Divine grace. It is unreasonable to expect from an attempted conformity to the law what can only be secured by a simple dependence on the Gospel. It is unreasonable to expect that we shall find on earth what can be only realised in heaven, or that we can derive from any inferior and created source what can only be found in the centre and sum of all excellency, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. II. THE THINGS WHICH ARE OF GOD’ S PEOPLE. 1. There are those who make it a matter of reproach against religion, and prefer it as an excuse for their unbelief, that the Gospel, the religion of the Cross, does not come up in sundry particulars to their idea of what a religion which claims man’ s acceptance and confidence ought to be. Such objections we may dismiss as the fruit of unreasonable expectations, for all, save the most shallow and pretentious of such objectors, are ready to confess that there are “ more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in their philosophy.” 2. There are those who do not go so far as to object against religion as unreasonable, who seem to resent it as an injury that any measure of mystery should attach to any of the statements of Scripture. In reply to this, several things may be said. It might be said that, taking into account what this revelation professes to be, it was reasonable to expect that the truths communicated, while intelligible on the one side, should lose themselves in mystery on the other. And it might be further remarked, in reference to many of those who thus object, that they make but very little use of such light as they confessedly have. Is it not the part of reason first of all to inquire whether the Bible be an authentic and authoritative revelation from heaven to earth, and then, if its claims to be so regarded are substantiated to the satisfaction of reason, is it not the very part and office of reason to sit submissively at the feet of the Divine Teacher and learn of Him? 3. There are many who but very slightly interest themselves in the truth which Christians hold, who seem to take much pleasure in narrowly scrutinising the lives which Christians live. The real or alleged inconsistencies of professing Christians do not afford any ground of reasonable objection against the Gospel, or any valid excuse for its continued rejection. In judging of any practical system, we must have reference to what it professes to be, and to accomplish. If you confine attention to those who are the sincere and genuine followers of the Lamb, it is unreasonable to expect that they should manifest in this world an absolute perfection of character. Such perfection, we believe, can be only realised when this body of sin and death shall have been laid aside. III. THE THINGS WHICH THOSE WHO ARE NOT GOD’ S PEOPLE EXPECT FOR . 1. It is unreasonable to expect that anything which the world contains can meet the need, or satisfy the desire, of man’ s immortal soul. 2. It is unreasonable to expect that in religion anyone can serve two masters. No such thing as neutrality is possible in religion, and, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as indecision. 3. It is unreasonable to expect that sinful men can satisfy the requirements of the law, and avert its penalty, by any obedience they can render, by any penance they can endure. 4. It is unreasonable to expect that those who, enjoying Gospel light, die despising Gospel grace, will be in any wise benefited by the uncovenanted mercies of God. 5. It is unreasonable to expect that you can spend a sinful, worldly life, and men have a comfortable death and a happy eternity. 6. It is unreasonable to expect that, because you pass muster in this world, and occupy a moderately creditable position among your fellow men, that therefore you will do moderately well ]n another world; and that, if you do not shine forth conspicuously with the best, you will go through the gates into the city, unnoticed among the crowd. 7. It is unreasonable to expect that, because sentence is not speedily executed against an evil work, that therefore it never will be; and that, because the present order of things has continued so long, that therefore it will continue forever. (T. M. Morris.). Isaiah 21:1-10 The burden of the desert of the sea The desert of the sea This enigmatical name for Babylon was no doubt suggested by the actual character of the country in which the city stood. It was an endless breadth or succession of undulations “ like the sea,” without any cultivation or even any tree: low, level, and full of great marshes; and which used to be overflowed by the Euphrates, till the whole plain became a sea, before the river was banked in by Semiramis, as Herodotus says. But the prophet may allude also to the social and spiritual desert which Babylon was to the nations over which its authority extended, and especially to the captive Israelite; and perhaps, at the same time, to the multitude of the armies which it poured forth like the waters of the sea. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)The prophecy against Babylon It is a magnificent specimen of Hebrew poetry in its abrupt energy and passionate intensity. The prophet is, or imagines himself to be, in Babylon. Suddenly he sees a storm of invasion sweeping down through the desert, which fills him with alarm. Out of the rolling whirlwind troops of armed warriors flash into distinctness. A splendid banquet is being held in the great Chaldean city; the tables are set, the carpets are spread; they eat, they drink, the revel is at its height. Suddenly a wild cry is heard, “ Arise, ye princes, anoint the shield!” --in other words, the foe is at hand. “ Spring up from the banquet, smear with” oil the leathern coverings of your shields that the blows of the enemy may slide off from them in battle. The clang of arms disturbs the Babylonian feast. The prophet sitting, as it were an illuminated spirit, as a watchman upon the tower calls aloud to ask me cause of the terror. What is it that the watchman sees? The watchman, with deep, impatient groan, as of a lion, complains that he sees nothing; that he has been set there, apparently for no purpose, all day and all night long. But even as he speaks there suddenly arises an awful need for his look-out. From the land of storm and desolation, the desert between the Persian Gulf and Babylon, he sees a huge and motley host, some mounted on horses, some on asses, some on camels, plunging forward through the night. It is the host of Cyrus on his march against Babylon. In the advent of that Persian host he sees the downfall of the dynasty of Nebuchadnezzar and the liberation of Judah from her exile. On the instant, as though secure of victory, he cries out, “ Babylon is fallen.” And he, that is, Cyrus the Persian king, a monotheist though he be, a worshipper of fire and the sun, has dashed in pieces all the graven images of the city of Nimrod. Then he cries to his fellow exiles in Babylonian captivity, “ O my people, crushed and trodden down” --literally, “ O my grain, and the son of my threshing floor” --“ this is my prophecy for you; it is a prophecy of victory for your champions; it is a prophecy of deliverance for yourselves.” (Dean Farrar, D. D.)The Persian advance on Babylon (Isaiah 21:7; Isaiah 21:9):--It is a slight but obvious coincidence of prophecy and history that Xenophon represents the Persians advancing by two and two. (J. A. Alexander.)The Persian aversion to images The allusion to idols (Isaiah 21:9) is not intended merely to remind us that the conquest was a triumph of the true God over false ones, but to bring into view the well-known aversion of the Persians to all images. Herodotus says they not only thought it unlawful to use images, but imputed folly to those who did it. Here is another incidental but remarkable coincidence of prophecy even with profane history. (J. A. Alexander.)“ The burden of the desert of the sea” There is a burden in all vast things; they oppress the soul. The firmament gives it; the mountain gives it; the prairie gives it. But I think nothing gives it like looking on the sea. The sea suggests something which the others do not--a sense of desertness. In the other cases the vastness is broken to the eye. The firmament has its stars; the mountain has its peaks; the prairie has its flowers; but the sea, where it is open sea, has nothing. It seems a strange thing that the prophet, in making the sea a symbol of life’ s burden, should have selected its aspect of loneliness. Why not take its storms? Because the heaviest burden of life is not its storms but its solitude. There are no moments so painful as our island moments. One half of our search for pleasure is to avoid self-reflection. The pain of solitary responsibility is too much for us. It drives the middle-aged man into fast living, and the middle-aged woman into gay living. I cannot bear to hear the discord of my own past. It appalls me; it overwhelms me; I fly to the crowd to escape my unaccompanied shadow. (G. Matheson, D. D.) Isaiah 21:5 Anoint the shield “ Anoint the shield” The ancient shields being mostly of stout leather stretched over a frame or rim of metal or wood, it was necessary to rub them with oil, lest they should become hard and crack, or lest they should become so rigid that an arrow or spear might easily penetrate them. Shields of this kind are still much in use, and still require the same treatment, in Western Asia; and we have ourselves frequently seen them on sale in the bazaars, and in use among the Arabs, the Kurds, and the Caucasians. (J. Kitto, D. D.)Things that did not happen What is a shield? It is a very peculiar part of God’ s armour. It is not a strength in calamity; it is something which prevents calamity from coming. My strength is my power to bear; but my shield is my escape from bearing. My strength lifts me when the blow falls; my shield catches the blow before it falls. My strength supports what is; my shield wards off what might have been. I have often praised God for the strength; but I have seldom anointed the shield. I have recognised a thousand times His songs in the night; but I have not sufficiently thanked Him that the night itch has not been deeper. (G. Matheson, D. D.) Isaiah 21:10O My threshing, and the corn of My floor God’ s threshing Babylon is the instrument employed by the Divine wrath to thresh with. But love takes part also in the work of threshing, and restrains the action of wrath. A picture likely to give comfort to the grain lying for threshing on the floor, i.e., to the people of Israel which, mowed down as it were and removed from its native son, had been banished to Babylon, and there subjected to a tyrannical rule. (F. Delitzsch.)Comfort for God’ s afflicted people I. THE CHURCH IS GOD’ S FLOOR, in which the most valuable fruits and products of this earth are, as it were, gathered together and laid up. II. TRUE ARE THE CORN OF GOD’ S FLOOR. Hypocrites are but as the chaff and straw, which take up a deal of room, but are of small value, with which the wheat is now mixed, but from which it shall be shortly and forever separated. III. THE CORN OF GOD’ S FLOOR MUST EXPECT TO BE by afflictions and persecutions. IV. EVEN THEN, GOD OWNS IT FOR HIS --it is His still; nay, the threshing of it is by His appointment and under His restraint and direction The threshers could have no power against it but what is given them from above. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 21:11-12 The burden of Dumah The burden of Dumah Like Moab, Edom had once formed part of David’ s dominions, but in the days of disruption and weakness both had rebelled. What about Edom now? When Moab was so soon to fall--when the Assyrian was spreading devastation all around--what was to be Edom’ s fate? The prophet hears the appeal addressed to him as God’ s watchman and with anxious repetition. The words, “ Watchman, what of the night? How much of the night has passed?” contain the cry of perplexity and a demand for light and guidance. But the answer is an oracle of silence. Not yet is Edom to be told what is God’ s will concerning her future. She is assured that there will be alternations of light and darkness for her as for all in the time of their probation. Meanwhile, patience is to have its perfect work; and after a little while she may inquire again. A later prophecy shows the work of Divine judgment on this land. (Buchanan Blake, B. D.)Dumah It lay to the south of Palestine, thus bordering on the inheritance of Judah. It was a wild mountainous district, inhabited by a race whose character reflected the rugged nature of their surroundings. They were constantly at war with their neighbours, especially the Jews, and spent a large portion of their time making inroads into southern Palestine for the sake of plunder and conquest. On account of these invasions, and also because they joined the Chaldeans against the Jews, the most sweeping denunciations were pronounced against them. In course of time these denunciations were followed by disasters, in consequence of which the Edomites became a vanquished people, and were finally incorporated with the Jewish nation. Then, when at a later period the whole of that region passed into the hands of the Greeks and Romans, it became known by the Greek name of Idumea--Dumah being the old Hebrew name. Hence the “ burden of Dumah” means the prophecy concerning the fate of Idumea or Edom. (D. Merson, M. A. , B. D.)The oracle of Dumah The land of Edom pleads for some vision to her also. Judah is to be rescued. The prophet has seen the Persian host in its varied array--troops of chariots and horsemen crashing through the brazen gates of idolatrous Babylon, extinguishing its feasts in blood, issuing from it with the cry of victory. It is good news for Judah, but what shall it be for Edom? It is as if the voice of Esau cried out once more, “ Hast Thou but one blessing, O my Father. Bless me, even me also, O my Father.” And as the prophet stands in imagination on the peak of the hill, he hears a voice calling to him out of Seir, the stronghold of the Edomites, a sharp, agitated cry, “ Watchman, how far in the night? Watchman, what hour of the night? Does the darkness still linger, is the morning near?” Well might Edom be in terror; the sons of Esau had behaved to Judah in her hour of affliction with malignant hatred which had wounded her to the heart. In Obadiah, in Amos, in Ezekiel, in Jeremiah, you may read traces of their crime. When the Jews fled before the advances of Nebuchadnezzar, the Edomites, true to their miserable destiny, their hand against every man and every man’ s hand against them, had cruelly massacred and intercepted the helpless fugitives, and had urged Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the Holy City. It is to this that the sad Psalmist of the Exile alludes when he says: “ Remember, O Lord, against the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem, how they cried, ‘ Down with it, down with it, even to the ground.’” Naturally, therefore, in the approaching hour of Judah’ s emancipation, the prophet has not much comfort to bestow on these cruel and treacherous” sons of the desert. All he can say to the Edomites at first is a riddling message of which not much can be made. But then, after this stern and dubious answer, as though somewhat relenting, the watchman cries, “ If ye wish to inquire again, inquire ye,” and then, very briefly, “ Return, come.” In other words. “ The oracle for you, sons of Edom, is no vaticination about a mere earthly future.” It may be summed up in two words--in the warning, “ Repent,” and in the invitation, “ Come.” (Dean Farrar, D. D.)Edomites and Jews: a hostile world attacking the Church It may help us to the true meaning of this question, if we keep in mind the relation in which the Edomites stood the Jews. That relation was one of the closest, if we have respect to origin or birth; but if we have respect to friendship, then the feelings existing between them were of the most hostile kind. Descended from a common stock, they kept alive the family animosities. The Edomites, who were the descendants of Esau, hated the Israelites on account of the deceitful conduct of Jacob their father. The sight of the prosperity of the sons of Jacob perpetuated the old grudge in the breast of the less favoured sons of Esau; and their seasons of adversity were made the occasions of bitter sneers. These two nations have become associated in our minds, the one with the people of God, the other with their enemies. The sons of Jacob were chosen, in preference to the sons of Esau, to be the medium of carrying the Divine blessings to all nations. The Edomites were in consequence filled with envy and hatred towards their brethren, lost no opportunity of attacking them in the most envenomed spirit, and thus they may justly be regarded as a type of the hostile world attacking the Church of God. Here, then, we seem to have a clue to the interpretation of the passage before us. If we regard the Jewish nation as a type of the Church or people of God, and the Edomites as a type of the hostile world, we have here a question addressed to the Church by the world, and we have the Church’ s reply. (D. Merson, M. A. , B. D.)Eastern watchmen It was the custom in the regions of the East in ancient times, to erect lofty watchtowers, so high as to be above all surrounding buildings, and to place watchmen on them, who should observe all that came within their view and report accordingly. The design of this custom was to prevent the approach of an enemy unforeseen. The watchman in his lofty tower observed in the distance the gathering of armies and the mustering of hosts; he could see in the far-off horizon the glistening of weapons and the waving of the banners of war; and then he gave warning and the people prepared for the event. There is very frequent allusion to this custom in the Scriptures; and it is in reference to it, that the ministers of the Church of God are described as the Lord’ s “ watchmen.” It is their duty to stand upon the walls and upon the watchtowers of the Church that they may see the approaching danger, and to give warning, that the people perish not (Isaiah 62:6; Ezekiel 33:2, etc.). (M. H. Seymour, M. A.)Watchman A different word from that in Isaiah 21:6, and signifying not one who spies or looks out, but one who guards or keeps (Psalms 130:6). (Prof. Driver, D. D.)The burden The burden is in two respects-- 1. Of the prophets that bear it. The Word of the Lord is a heavy burden till they are delivered of it; there is no rest to the surcharged conscience. The ministry is a matter of both honour and burden. Are there none that catch at honour, but will not meddle with the burden. 2. Of the people that were to suffer it. The judgments of God are heavy on whomsoever they light. It is true of them what the philosopher said of himself, Perieram nisi periissem,--they are undone that are not undone. Security is the very suburbs of hell. An insensible heart is the devil’ s anvil, he fashioneth all sins on it, and the blows are not felt. (T. Adams.)The burden of Dumah I. THE HERE GIVEN OF THE PROPHET. II. THE OF THE PEOPLE TO HIM. III. HIS ANSWER. 1. We may tender the prophet’ s answer to any who would perplex themselves or others with inquiries respecting the existing state of this world’ s affairs. 2. The wicked, walking after their own lusts and counsels, sometimes, in a scoffing manner, inquire of ministers, “ What of the night? What think ye of my state and prospects? What of the truth of religion? What of the uses and importance of godliness? My wickedness thrives, and you said that it would be my ruin; my vices are pleasant, and you said that they would be bitter; my mind is at ease, and you said that I should be harassed in conscience. Where is the truth of your words? where the severity of judgment?--what evidence of a day of retribution?” The awful answer again is, “ the morning cometh, and also the night.” 3. The prophet’ s answer was given to persons in trouble; and thus applied, its import is various. To some who demand of us, in seasons of their distress, “ Watchman, what of the night?” the answer is, Time is fast passing, and your sorrows are fast passing with it. To others, “ The morning cometh,” but as yet it is profound night to you, many and heavy sorrows still await you. Your spiritual condition is such, that our Heavenly Father will seek to bring you to Himself by many grievous visitations; hateful indeed, to the natural will, but most salutary for the soul’ s health. Or else, perhaps, as you have approved yourselves to God in the season of prosperity, it is the Divine pleasure to make experiment of you in the fiery furnace of adversity, to see whether “ tribulation can separate you from the love of Christ.” To others again, the answer is, It is the seventh hour, the midnight of your affliction is already past, and if passed by a little only, you have already suffered the extreme of your earthly portion of endurance; all that follows shall be comparatively light, and work for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, if in patience ye possess your souls. (A. Williams, M. A.)The watchman’ s report and advice I. WHO IS THE TO? II. THE INQUIRY . 1. The whole state of the world demands of the servants of God that they should prayerfully and diligently regard the signs and movements of the times. 2. There are personal inquiries which ought to press upon all who are rightly impressed with a sense of their responsibility to God. “ How is the period of my probation passing? What is the progress of the night, which is to be succeeded by a morrow which knows no change or ending? How speeds the night in which my soul’ s salvation is to be determined?” III. THE ’ S REPORT IN ANSWER TO THE . “ The morning cometh, and also the night.” This report is most comprehensive, and may convey the following ideas-- 1. That there will be nothing settled or permanent: changes may be expected. (1) There has always been a mixture of light and darkness in the Church--in its perceptions of truth, and in the events connected with it. (2) So in the case of the individual Christian, in times of sorrow and distress: darkness has appeared to compass his path; yet he has not been without gleams of comfort and light. 2. But the report without doubt is designed to indicate a period of coming joy to believers, of misery and woe to the wicked--to the one the morning cometh, to the other night. 3. There is one other observation in the watchman’ s report worthy of attention, namely, that the morning and the night are said to come together; “ the morning cometh, and also the night.” It may seem strange to many that these periods should be said to come simultaneously. But if you look at the characters to whom they thus come, the difficulty is removed. That which will be a time of light and comfort to the righteous, will be one of darkness and dismay to the ungodly. Indeed, it is partly so in the present imperfect state of things. The very blessings of the impenitent are turned into curses; their day of mercy and grace becomes a night of darkness and calamity; whilst, on the other hand, all that appear night and trouble to the people of God, are means of increased light and joy to them. Their sorrow is turned into joy; their tribulation worketh patience and experience and hope. IV. THE ADVICE WHICH THE GIVES IN OF THE REPORT. 1. Inquiry is the first duty recommended. We look for nothing, and expect nothing so long as there is indifference. It was the great sin of God’ s professing people of old, that “ they would not consider.” It is only when we can excite a spirit of serious inquiry that we can hope for lasting good from our efforts. 2. But to diligent inquiry, return to God is recommended. All inquiry in fact is for this purpose, and it would be useless if it did not issue in an actual return to your Father. 3. The prophet closes with one more observation, and it is used by way of encouragement--“ Come.” (T. Dealtry, D. D.)The watchman’ s report and advice I. THE ’ S REPORT. 1. As it may be supposed to respect the public affairs of our country. 2. The state of virtue and piety among us. II. THE ’ S ADVICE. The doom of Dumah was not inevitably fixed; she would yet be indulged with a morning of opportunities; and the only sure ground of hope was in a returning to God. We have as a nation something of Dumah’ s morning--some farther space for reflection and repentance. It must be of the greatest moment to know what an offended God expects. “ Inquire; return; come.” The inquiring, returning, coming, so kindly and seasonably urged on Dumah, in her night, are recommended to us on every ground, whether human or Divine. 1. Nothing can be more fit and proper in itself. 2. It is the subject of a Divine command. 3. In the patience and forbearance of God, and in the wonderful method He has devised for the pardon and salvation of a guilty people, we have a loud call and a most powerful motive to “ inquire, return, and come.” 4. And there are important and happy consequences resulting from a sinful people’ s inquiring, returning’ , and coming to God. (N. Hill.)“ Watchman, what of the night?” I. THE . 1. Some ask the report of the night with utter carelessness as to the reply. 2. Some ask in contempt. 3. Some ask in horror and anguish of heart. II. WHAT IS STILL THE DUTY OF HIM WHO HOLDS THE OF IN THE CITY OF GOD? 1. He did not turn away from the question, in whatever spirit it was asked. 2. He uttered with equal assurance a threat and a promise. 3. He pressed the necessity of care in the study and earnest inquiry after the nature of the truth. 4. He summed up all by an anxious, a cordial, and a reiterated invitation to repentance and reconciliation with an offended but pardoning God. Thus, the single verse might be regarded as an abstract of the duties of the ministerial office. (W. Archer Butler, D. D.)The world’ s challenge and the Church’ s response I. This is THE WORLD’ S TO THE CHURCH. From the midst of that darkness which, by reason of the limitation of our knowledge, encompasses us all; and from thy midst of that double darkness which enwraps those who are untouched and unchanged by the love of Christ Jesus, this challenge is continually coming to the Church. This is-- 1. The cry of scepticism. The scepticism of our day is, in some instances, evidently the error of noble but misguided spirits, who, having discovered that in some matters of belief concerning which they had thought themselves very sure, they were wholly in the wrong, and having in other cases been baffled in the search for certainty, have too hastily given up all hope of obtaining saris faction and rest with respect to many of the most momentous questions of human life. There is, however, a shallower scepticism. It addresses the Church in tones of equal incredulity, but breathing the spirit of vanity, hostility, and contempt. 2. The cry of the world’ s worldliness. Men who are living for this life only, ask the question. There is a terribly close connection between worldliness and scepticism of the scoffing and contemptuous sort. The tendency of a life in which there is no regard for God and eternity, is to produce an unbelief far more blighting than that disbelief which is the result of misguided thinking. And with all the wild recklessness or supercilious scorn or stolid indifference of old times, they ask, “ What of the night? You prophets of darkness, who take so gloomy a view of the condition of the world, who warn us of a perpetual darkness for those who live so heedlessly, what of the night? You who profess to believe that your religion can do such great things, where are the signs of its power, and of the accomplishment of its work? What signs of the dissipation of the darkness of which you speak, and of the coming of the day?” 3. The cry of the world’ s agony. From the darkness of the sin which is shutting out of the life all joy and purity and hope, from the woe which is crushing them, men make their appeal to the Church of God. They ask for the causes of this darkness and for the means by which it may be removed. But there are many who are conscious that the agony they feel is attributable to their sin; and in the sense of their alienation from God they ask of the Church, pleadingly, What of the night? It is not simply the apprehension of darkness, but the consciousness of it, the darkness of being sinful. “ Oh tell us if there be forgiveness, peace, purity, and rest, for guilty, storm-tossed, polluted, and wearied hearts!” 4. The cry of the world’ s hope. Many have felt the dawn of a new day in their own hearts, and now they continually pray, “ Thy kingdom come.” Although they have light within, they see the darkness around them. But because of what they have themselves experienced, they cannot despair of the case of humanity. II. THE WITH WHICH THE CHURCH IS , and which she is bound urgently and confidently to deliver. “ The morning cometh, and also the night.” 1. The Church’ s message to the world is a message of mingled mercy and severity, of joyous and of sad import. We look at what Christianity has done and is doing in the world; and the result of the examination is a deep and growing conviction that the evidences of Christianity never were so strong or convincing as today. (1) And this is our answer to scepticism. Account for Christianity. See what it has done for nations, what for a single life! (2) This, too, is our answer to the cry of the worldly. However blind men may be to the fact, however incapable of reading the signs of the times, assuredly the course of human history proclaims “ the morning cometh” ; the morning of a day which shall reveal the falseness of every mode of life which involves forgetfulness of God; the morning of a day when every heart unconsecrated to God shall declare its dissatisfaction, and when every cherished lust of wrong shall reveal its insatiable appetite, by the cry, “ Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” (3) And this is the message of the Church to the agonised: “ The morning cometh” of the day when the wounds of humanity shall be forever healed; when the sorrow of men shall be turned into joy. We see signs of this already, in the present amelioration of man’ s condition which Christianity produces. (4) And in the brightness of that morning, which many signs proclaim cometh for the world, the hopeful shall find all, and more than all, for which their hearts have ever yearned, and more than all of which their imagination ever dreamed. 2. But alas! if it be true that the morning cometh, it is not less necessary that we should add, “ and also the night.” The dawning of the day of Christ will leave some in profounder darkness. 3. Therefore, we close with the urgent personal appeal of the prophet: “ If ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, come.” Let this be the commencement of an earnest inquiry as to the claims Christianity, and we do not fear for the result. Let the value of the world be estimated, and compared with the value of the favour and the life of God; and there can be but one issue. Let this be the day of earnest seeking for the light, the peace and the pardon of God; and the agony of a troubled heart and the burden of a guilty conscience shall be taken away, and the spirit shall know the life and liberty of Christ Jesus. “ Inquire ye,” and in this truth as it is in Jesus ye shall find all you need. (T. Stephenson.)The burden of Dumah I. TO EXPLAIN IT. II. EXHIBIT THE LESSONS WHICH IT TEACHES; or, apply it to the friends and the foes of God. 1. We have an illustration of the conduct of a taunting world; a world often disposed not to reason, but to make derision of religion; a world always finding occasions, in some peculiar state of the Church, or in some aspect of religion, for the exhibition of irony or scorn. 2. We have in the response of the watchman, “ The morning cometh,” an illustration of the times of light and prosperity in the Church destined to succeed those of calamity. We may apply it to the individual Christian in the midst of calamity. Thus, too, it is of the Church universal. In her darkest hours, it was true that brighter days were to dawn. So it is now. The night of sin is to be succeeded by a long bright day. There is one thing only that is certain in the future history of this world--its conversion to God and to the true religion. 3. In like manner we have an illustration of a third important fact--the night of calamity that is coming on a sinful and scoffing world. 4. There remains one other idea. That is, if you--the despiser--will inquire in a humble manner; if you will come with proper reverence, and will turn from your sins, light will stream along your path; and the sun of prosperity will ride up your sky, and pour down his noontide radiance upon you also. (A. Barnes, D. D.)“ Watchman, what of the night?” I. THE AS TYPICAL OF EVERY TRUE OF THE CROSS. 1. He occupied vantage ground. He was selected for the office; placed in an appropriate position--where, unhindered, he could carry on his observations. 2. He possessed knowledge of the ground he surveyed a mere enthusiast would not do, nor a novice, nor an enemy; a patriot would be the best, with a clear head and a warm heart. 3. He would expect implicit obedience to his cries. If he said “ All well!” people might rest; if, “ To arms!” people must be up. Apply these points to the office of the Christian ministry. II. THE OF THE AS TYPICAL OF THE ANXIOUS SEEKER AFTER . 1. He was painfully conscious of the darkness. Every awakened sinner feels the darkness of ignorance, and danger, and guilt, and wonders what of the night--how, and when will it end? 2. He was anxiously desirous of the light. The anxious seeker after salvation longs for the Light of the world--the light of the glorious Gospel to shine into his heart. III. THE ANSWER OF THE AS TYPICAL OF THE RISE AND OF THE SOUL IN . 1. The morning cometh--the morning of day, of newness of life, of glorious opportunity. 2. “ Also the night.” The day will not last forever, let us work while it is called day. (F. W. Brown.)The world’ s interrogation and the Church’ s response I. WHEN NIGHT HANGS HEAVILY ON THE CHURCH, IT HANGS STILL MORE HEAVILY ON THE WORLD. The Assyrian oppression lay like a cloud on Judah, but in lying on Judah it projected a still heavier cloud upon Edom. The world is so bound up with the Church that, consciously or unconsciously, it rises with the Church’ s rising, falls with the Church’ s falling, rejoices in the Church’ s freedom, pines in the Church’ s bondage, is lightened by the Church’ s sunshine, is shadowed by the Church’ s clouds. And this, take the world in what aspect you may, as the world of society, the world of business, the world of pleasure. What is the practical lesson? Do not leave the Church because the Church may be wrapped in adversity; if you do, a deeper adversity is awaiting you in the quarter to which you repair. And the same law holds good in a wider sense. We are compassed with mystery. Some persons, impatient with the obscurities of faith, take refuge in the greater obscurities of unbelief. Restless under the clouds of Judah, they seek relief amidst the heavier clouds of Edom. There never was a greater mistake than to suppose that because Christianity is bound up with problems, the abandonment of belief is the abandonment of mystery. II. And the fact is, the world realises this; for note as the next thought we deduce from the passage, THAT IN THE MIDST OF THIS COMMON NIGHT, BOTH CHURCH AND WORLD, THE WORLD TURNS TO THE CHURCH FOR LIGHT. It is very suggestive that in the general pressure of the general gloom the Edomite is represented as appealing to the Jew, a representative of the Jewish God., Was there none to consult nearer home? Where were the seers of Idumea? Through all ages the principle is the same. Ever, in the midst of the cloud that surrounds us all, the world puts its questions to the Church. Sometimes, indeed, the question is ironical. Sometimes it is curious. Often, however, the question is earnest. III. And thus we come up to the next plain lesson, THAT WHEN THE WORLD THE CHURCH, THE CHURCH MUST BE READY TO ANSWER. That implies-- 1. That the Church has an answer to give. It is conceivable that, in some cases, professing Christian men may have no answer. When the question comes, they are nonplussed; it embarrasses, puzzles them. What is the reason? With one class, want of perception of the difficulty. And for another class, the reason may be that, while feeling the pressure of the difficulty, they have not obtained a solution for themselves. Wherefore, when face to face with the world’ s questions, let us see to it that we have material for an answer. 2. And let us give the answer we have. Let the possession of truth be followed by the communication of it, as often as opportunity arises. IV. And yet, let it always be remembered that WHILE THE CHURCH SHOULD BE READY TO ANSWER THE WORLD’ S , THE NATURE OF THE ANSWER MUST BE BY THE MORAL STATE OF THE . Look once more at the prophet. So long as the attitude of Edom is an attitude of general inquiry, the prophet has only a general statement. “ The morning cometh,” he says, “ and also the night.” It is when this attitude of general inquiry passes into the attitude of personal repentance, that he promises a personal and particular revelation corresponding. “ Cleanse your hearts,” he says, “ reform your ways, turn to the Lord, and then come back again, and I will tell you more.” And here we turn from the duty and responsibility of those that are questioned to the spirit and character of those that question them. You ask if sorrow will pass, doubt dissolve, providence unfold itself, Scripture become plain, heaven be won. Our answer is, “ Yes--in the experience of some” ; whether in your experience we cannot say, until we know more. If yours is the sensitive conscience, the tender heart, the submissive will, if you sorrow for sin, if you turn to righteousness, if you cleave to God, then we can tell. For you the night is departing, but if the night is not vanishing in your own heart, it is useless, it is trifling, to ask how the night goes elsewhere. How apt are some men to divert attention from the state of matters within by directing it to the state of matters without--the prospects of neighbours, the words of Scripture, the controversies of the Church, the mysteries of Providence! He who will know of the doctrine must do the will. (W. A. Gray.)The coming dawn (A Christmas homily) (with Romans 13:12):--“ The night is far spent; the day is at hand.” But for the fact which Christmas commemorates, we should have no reply to that question save one: “ Though the morning cometh, the night cometh also.” It is only the advent of Christ, and the prophecy latent in that advent, which enable us to add in the full assurance of faith: “ The night is far spent, and the day which has no night is at hand.” 1. That you may see that both these answers to the question which the world and the Church have so long been asking are true, and in what sense they are true, let us consider how far St. Paul’ s answer to it has been fulfilled; whether the day which he foresaw did not really come, but also whether this day was not followed by a night and the promise of its dawn overcast. When he stood on his watchtower and surveyed the horizon, he had much reason to believe that the night of heathenism was far spent; that the day of the Lord, the day on which Christ would take to Himself His great power and rule in all the earth, was close at hand. But as we look back on the period to which he looked forward with such confident hope, we can see that the end was not yet, although it seemed so near; that, though a morning came, a night came also. The apostolic day, or age, was hardly over before the night came rushing back; and in a few centuries the dogmas and superstitions, the vices and crimes, of heathenism were to be found in the very Church itself, where, alas, too many of them still linger. Yet even in “ the dark ages there was a remnant who had light in their dwellings, and did not altogether lose hope. And when the day of the Reformation dawned on Europe, Luther and his compeers had little doubt that the true day of the Lord had come at last, that a light had arisen which would speedily renew the face of the earth. And a day had come, but not the great day of Christ. The end was not even yet. Over its larger spaces, even Europe still lies in darkness, the darkness of superstition, or sensuality, or indifference; while in Africa, Asia with its teeming millions, and South America, we can discern only distant and twinkling points of light which are all but lost in the surrounding darkness. So that when we in our turn ask, “ Watchman, what of the night? Is it almost gone? Will it soon pass?” we, too, can often hear none but the old reply, “ If a morning is coming, so also is a night.” We try to hope, but the verdict of history is against us. Analogy is against us. How long it took to make the world! how slowly it was built up, inch by inch, before it was ready for the foot of man! And how intolerably slow is man’ s growth and development! Reason and experience are against us. Think what the world is like,--how nation makes war on nation, and class on class, how common and unblushing vice is even among those who should be best fortified against it by education and position, how much of our virtue is but a prudent and calculating selfishness! Think how hard we ourselves know it to be to wean even one heart from selfishness and self-indulgence, and to fix it in the love and pursuit of whatsoever is true and fair, good and kind; how slowly we advance in godliness even when we have the grace of God to help us and are working together with Him! And then tell me whether you must not say, “ The dawn may be coming, but as surely as the day comes, the night will come also; many days and many nights must still pass, many alternations of light and darkness must sweep across the face of the earth, before the great day of the Lord can arise and shine upon us.” 2. If that be your conclusion I have good tidings for you. The very meaning and message of advent is, that all these mornings and evenings are gradually leading in the day of the Lord; that He is preparing for the coming of His kingdom in the darkness as well as in the light, by every night through which we pass as well as every day, by every disappointment and every postponement of hope as well as by every fulfilment. Many forms of wrong, cruelty, and vice are impossible now which were possible, and even common, before the Son of God and Son of man dwelt among us; nay, even before the Reformation carried through Europe a light by which such deeds of darkness were reproved. The individual man may stand little higher, whether in wisdom or in goodness, than of old; but the number of men capable of high thoughts, noble alms, and lives devoted to the service of truth and righteousness, incomparably larger. The world took long to make, and may take still longer to remake; but its re-creation in the image of God is just as certain as its creation. The darkness of ignorance and superstition may still lie heavily over the larger spaces of the world; but the points of light are rapidly increasing. As we count time, the end is not yet; but as God counts time, the end is not far off. (S. Cox, D. D.)National responsibility The prophet has here nothing to predict; his function is only to repeat the oft unheeded warning that all things in this universe of God go on by unchanging law and in regular succession; “ the morning,” as in the apparent revolution of the sun round the earth, so also in the revolutions of states and kingdoms and empires, “ the morning cometh, and also the night.” Like causes produce like events; the course of providence may be foretold from the action of those with whom it deals. And what is history, but the exhibition of this great but much neglected truth? e.g., Egypt, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. In each case we may distinctly trace their more or less speedy downfall to the operation of the same eternal law of justice; requiting on each the iniquities of each, and making those iniquities the very causes of their overthrow. What likelihood, then, is there of the same principle not being carried out again; of its not being carried out in the case of nations and kingdoms in which we feel more than an antiquarian interest? To them, too, will come, as the morning, so also the night. It is, of course, most difficult to appraise the fortunes, to calculate the probable destiny of any nation of which we ourselves form component parts. The human mind, like the human eye, must see things somewhat at a distance in order to get them into due perspective and appreciate their exact proportions. But this difficulty does not affect our power of evaluating the principles of conduct on which we see men or nations act. Those principles are broad and clearly marked, and it is easy to perceive how far justice and right dealing, truth and soberness, self-devotion for the common good and real, not mock, philanthropy are practised: or, on the other side, how far oppression and cowardice, luxury and vice, falsehood and selfishness, are the real rulers of the nation. It was the true function of the Hebrew prophets to rouse the conscience of the nation to what they spake. If, then, we wish to acquire some idea of the probable future of the great empire to which we belong, it will be well carefully to review the aspects of life prevailing in it, and to see in what way the eternal obligations of the Divine law are observed, or how far they are despised and violated. (Archbishop Reichel, D. D.)“ Watchman, what of the night?” I. GOOD MEN . The pious Jews were now in deepest sorrow. It was their night. The good have often a night. Physical suffering, secular difficulties, social bereavements, spiritual temptations, conscious imperfections, often turn the sky of a good man into night. II. WICKED MEN . The voice from Mount Seir was, “ What of the night?” The language is sarcastic and contemptuous. The wicked, instead of sympathising with the good in their sufferings, often treat them with heartless ridicule. The spirit is seen now in various questions that are addressed to the Church. (1) Where is your superior happiness? (2) Where are the triumphs of your cause? (3) Where is your spiritual superiority to other men? III. THE GREAT GOD TO BOTH. “ The morning cometh and also the night.” 1. His voice to the good. “ The morning cometh.” There is a morning for the Church on this earth. There is a morning to the good in eternity. 2. The voice to the wicked. “ The night cometh.” “ Where is Edom now? The night cometh, sinner: the shadows are gathering already,” etc. (Homilist.)“ What of the night?” I. “ Watchman, what of the night” of SENSE AND SIN? “ The morning cometh” --the morning of sinlessness. “ Also the night.” Sin now, sin then; sin on sin, sin forever and ever! II. “ Watchman, what of the night” of AND SORROW? “ The morning cometh.” “ God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” “ Also the night” --the night of eternal suffering and sorrow. III. “ Watchman, what of the night” of MOCKING AND MYSTERY? “ The morning cometh,” when the mocking mystery will vanish. “ They shall see His face.” “ Also the night” --“ the outer darkness,” the black profound, where the soul wanders forever Christless, restless, lost. IV. “ Watchman, what of the night” of AND ? In this world we have never met. Men of science tell us that there are in this universe no two atoms in real contact. “ The morning cometh,” the morning of meeting for the first time in the never parting of the revelation of God. “ Now we see in a mirror darkly,” etc. “ Also the night,” the night of a separation eternal. Let another natural law be traced in this spiritual world. If you took away all contrary and opposing forces from a propelled cannonball, and if you secured a perfect vacuum in boundless space, by vis inertiae, the ball would go on forever. If this is the first law of motion in mechanics, it is as really the first law of motion in the wrath of God on an eternally separated lost soul. (J. Bailey, M. A.)Visions of the day and night The great beauty and power of the Word of God lies in this, that it is never obsolete and never out of date. I. THE in our text. Night is the emblem of ignorance, sorrow, sin, crime, danger, and disaster; as in the natural night there are different degrees of light and shade, of gloom and darkness, so it is with the spiritual night. II. THE ANSWER. “ The morning cometh.” 1. To nations. 2. To individuals. It comes to the awakened and accepted sinner in the form of pardon and deliverance from the power and burden of sin and guilt. It comes to others in the form of deliverance from some secret, instinctive, but crushing sorrow, which has pressed the poor heart down for years; which has made them, some from physical and some from spiritual weakness, walk for a long period in gloom and darkness, crying, “ Oh! when will it end?” 3. The morning cometh to others in declining years; to the aged, the afflicted, the dying. 4. “ And the night cometh,” when the long-abused love and compassion, and patience of God shall be at length exhausted; when the plea of mercy shall be exchanged for the penalty of justice, and the shield of the Advocate give way to the sword of the Avenger. It cometh to nations; it cometh to individuals. (G. Davenport.)Alternations of morning and night The morning cometh in the appearing of Messiah, the Prince; and also the night of the exclusion of the Jews. The morning cometh, in the spread of the Gospel among the Gentile nations; and also the night, in the tenfold persecutions which wasted the Church. The morning cometh, in the reign of Constantine the Great over the Roman empire; and also the night of Arian blasphemy and persecution. The morning cometh, in the reformation of religion from popery; and also the night of a fearful falling sway. The morning cometh, more bright and glorious than all which have preceded, in the glory of the latter days; and also the night of another falling sway before the general judgment. And then shall a morning burst upon the universe, which shall never be overcast. (W. Taylor.)The burden of Dumah I. THE WORLD’ S . In the first instance it is a question put by the Edomites of Mount Seir to Israel’ s watchman. It is worth noting that a people animated with such hostile feelings should thus open up communication with the objects of their hostility. Two expiations might be given. It may be they asked the question tauntingly in a spirit of mockery, or they may have asked it earnestly in a spirit of anxious inquiry. Either of these views will fit the historical conditions. I. If we adopt the first, we must suppose the Jews to be in captivity and the Edomites prospering, and we know from history that they did prosper during the Babylonish captivity, At that time they got possession of a portion of Jewish territory in southern Palestine, having been permitted to settle there as a reward for their services to the Babylonians during the struggle that preceded the captivity. While occupying this new settlement, their fortunes rose, and in the exuberance of success they retaliated on their now oppressed brethren, as much as to say, You who boasted of being the special favourites of Heaven, where is now your God? Your night of oppression has continued long enough, is there any sign of deliverance? Surely it is time for your God to show His hand! The picture is something like this: On Mount Seir, the highest eminence in the land, the Edomites are convened, elated by their fleeting prosperity; while in a foreign land are the captive Jews, groaning under the yoke of the oppressor, and their watchman or prophet standing on his watchtower, eager to catch the first ray of deliverance. From the one to the other passes the taunting, call, “ Watchman, what of the night?” And the watchman returns the reply, “ The morning is coming, and also the night. Do not deceive yourselves, ye taunting Edomites, your momentary prosperity will become a night of gloom and our present calamities will be followed by a glorious day. The morning of deliverance will come to the captive Jews, but the night of desolation to the mocking Edomites.” The question is still thrown out by the unbeliever with a fling of scorn, “ Watchman, what of the night?” “ Tell us what progress you are making, etc. There are not wanting in these days men who affect to throw discredit on Christian and missionary effort. Look, say they, how little has been accomplished by these means in the past, and how much remains to be done. Instead of the Gospel, let us try civilisation, the spread of commerce, and the wider diffusion of knowledge, and the morning will soon dawn. Now, if this were so, it would indeed be a serious charge. But what are the facts! Let it he conceded that the visible marks of Christian progress are not overwhelming; at the same time no one who will cast his eyes over the earth can fail to see that the nations most advanced in civilisation and what is called modern culture are also the most Christian. 2. Let us think of the question as being asked in a spirit of anxious inquiry. In this case, the once captive Jews must be regarded as a prosperous people, living in their own land, and the once prosperous Edomites as an oppressed People. In their distress they cry to those whom they previously mocked. But their cry has a different meaning now that the tables have been turned. “ What of the night” now means an earnest desire to know how long their calamities are likely to last. As if they had said, It has been a night of dire adversity with us, tell us, you who are a watchman in Zion, is that night nearly past? We have suffered much, and are longing for relief. Are our sufferings nearly at an end? If this view is adopted, it is still a question addressed by the world to the Church; no longer, however, in mockery, but in a spirit of anxious inquiry. There do come times in the history of godless nations and individuals, when, in the midst of trouble, they are constrained to pay homage to the Church, and call upon her for advice. There are in the Bible several instances of the wicked consulting God’ s ministers in times of calamity. And have we not seen examples of men calling on God in the hour of calamity, who never bowed a knee to Him in the hour of their prosperity! When such a question is asked with a true motive, that of itself is an indication to the watchman that the morning is coming. It is the duty of the spiritual watchman to declare to the people the whole counsel of the King, to discern wisely the signs of the times, so as to be able to impart the needed instruction. II. THE CHURCH’ S REPLY, whether the question is asked by way of taunt or in an earnest spirit. In either case, the inquirer is assured that the morning of a glorious deliverance will come to the oppressed Church, while a night of awful desolation will fall upon her foes. 1. This prophecy was unmistakably fulfilled in the after history of the Edomites. The morning did come, as the watchman said, and for a short period the Edomites were a flourishing people in the land of Seir; but they refused to inquire, they did not return, they wandered further from the path of righteousness, and the long night of desolation overtook them. The prophecy regarding it, in Isaiah 34:12-13, has been literally fulfilled. And this is the inevitable doom of those who will not improve the day of their merciful visitation--“ the night cometh.” 2. But while the watchman’ s message to the enemies of the Gospel is one of woe and warning, he has a message of encouragement to the people of God. “ The morning cometh.” Night and morning! Unlike air, and yet they go hand in hand. What will be morning to some will be night to others. 3. Yet again, the watchman says, “ If ye will inquire, inquire ye.” Addressed originally to the inquiring Edomites, the words still apply to their modern successors whether they put their questions in jest or in earnest. The inquiring spirit here meets with no rebuff, for it is a healthy sign. History records instances of men who studied the Christian evidences in order to refute them, and ended by becoming devoted Christians. Religion, so far from shunning investigation, rather invites it. And if there is a sure solution of his -perplexities awaiting the critical investigator, there is also an answer that will satisfy the inquirer after salvation. 4. There is another class of persons to whom the watchman’ s commission extends. To them he says, “ return” --a word which may he taken to refer to backsliders. 5. The text contains one other word--a word of encouragement to all. This word is, “ come” ; a word that Jesus, when on earth, was never weary of uttering, and which He has left behind Him as the Church’ s invitation call to Gospel privileges. (D. Merson, M. A. , B. D.)The night watchmen Mount Seir The double question and the doubting reply are well suited to the changing aspects of nature in a mountain land. To the inhabitants of such countries, inquiries for the winds and the clouds, the morning and the night, are as familiar as the words of daily salutation. And the variable condition of human society, the advance and decline of nations, the concealments and revelations of Providence, are well illustrated by the darkness and the day, the shadows and the sunshine among mountains. Such was the history of the Hebrew nation under the especial guidance of Divine providence in ancient times. Such has been and still in the history of peoples and opinions in the European world. The good and the glorious days of Samuel, and David, and Solomon, and Hezekiah, were followed by the dark and evil days of Saul, and Jeroboam, and Ahab, and Manasseh- Athanasius and Augustine, Luther and Calvin, Cranmer and Knox, Whitefield and Wesley, the great champions of truth and reformation, found their dark shadow and counterpart in Arius and Pelagius, Loyola and the Inquisition, Voltaire and the French Revolution. The bright dawn of a better day has always been overcast with dark and angry clouds. And yet the providence of God is wiser and mightier than the policies of man. The night which comes with the morning is partial and temporary, although it seems for a time to devour the day and cut off the hopes of mankind. In the darkest periods of human history, we need only the clear vision of faith to see the day approaching. It is ever God’ s way to bring light out of darkness, joy out of sorrow, rest out of weariness, for the waiting and longing soul. (D. March, D. D.)Sin the great silencer The word Dumah means “ silence,” “ the land of silent desolation.” It is a very suggestive thought. Sin is the great silencer. The end of sin is silence. Assuredly that was true in the case of Edom. It was true of it at the time when the prophet spoke, it was to be true of it still more completely in the ages to follow. Travellers tell us that if we want to know how Providence can turn a fruitful land into barrenness, and make a defenced city a heap, for the iniquity of the inhabitants thereof, we have only to look at Edom, with its hills and plains picked clean of every vestige of vegetation, and its ruined palaces, once the home of busy men, now the haunt of vultures and the lair of scorpions, all human sound gone--the voice of mirth, the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, the voice of the bride! But why go to Edom for an illustration? Look nearer home. Go to any city churchyard. Pass through the iron gates that divide those strangely contrasted crowds, the throng of the living and the congregation of the dead. How still! Everything may be orderly, everything trim--winding walks, flowery borders, spreading shrubs, grassy mounds, careen monuments white and clean, but all so still, no sound nor motion anywhere, save the wind that shudders through the yew trees, and the measured chime of the steeple clock as it tolls its hourly reminder that we too shall be still, still as the throngs beneath. What makes that stillness? Sin. Sin is the great silencer, and death is the climax of the silence that it makes. (W. A. Gray.)The silence of God It is really a terrible answer, for there can be nothing so terrible for us on earth as to know that God has nothing to say to us. “ O, my God!” cried Martin Luther, “ smite me with famine, with want, with pestilence, with all the sore diseases on earth, rather than Thou be silent to me.” Yet God is sometimes thus silent to wicked men and to wicked nations; He is so for their punishment. “ Ephraim is turned unto idols. Let him alone.” (Dean Patter, D. D.)Mount Seir; false confidences Be not too confident in thy Mount Seir! Every wicked soul has her Mount Seir to trust in; they that have no assurance of rest in heaven, have their refuges and mountains of help on earth. David so returns it upon the wicked (Psalms 11:1). “ In the Lord put I my trust: how then say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?” Why should I seek to foreign helps, that have settled myself in the bosom of rest itself? Riches are a Mount Seir to the covetous; they rest on them. Honour is a Mount Seir to the ambitious, against all the besiegings of rivals. Sensuality to the voluptuous, against all the disturbances of a clamorous conscience. Pride, fraud, drunkenness, are a Mount Seir to the lovers of them; but alas, how unsafe! If stronger against, and further removed from the hand of man, yet nearer to God’ s hand in heaven; though we acknowledge no place procul a Jove, or procul a fulmine,--far from God, or from His thunder. But we say, it is not the safest sailing on the top of the mast; to live on the mountainous height of a temporal estate is neither wise nor happy. Men standing in the shade of humble valleys, look up and wonder at the height of hills, and think it goodly living there, as Peter thought Tabor; but when with weary limbs they have ascended, and find the beams of the sun melting their spirits, or the cold blasts of wind making their sinews stark, flashes of lightning or cracks of thunder soonest endangering their advanced heads, then they confess, checking their proud conceit, the low valley is safest; for the fruitful dews that fall first on the hills stay least while there, but run down to the valleys. And though on such a promontory a man further sees, and is further seen, yet in the valley, where he sees less, he enjoys more. Take heed, then, lest to raise thy Mount Seir high, thou dejectest thy soul. If we build our houses by unrighteousness, and our chambers without equity, though as strong as Mount Seir, they shall not be able to stand in the earthquake of judgment. God so threatens Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 22:15).Think not your houses to be fortresses, when your souls are unarmed of Christian weapons--faith and obedience. (T. Adams.)Edomite scorners I will single you out four sorts of these Edomites, scorners,--for I justly parallel them-- 1. Atheists: such as have voluntarily, violently, extinguished to them selves the sunlight of the Scripture, moonlight of the creature, nay, the sparks and cinders of nature, that the more securely, as unseen and unhidden of their own hearts, they might prodigally act the works of darkness 2. Epicures: that deny not a God and a day of judgment, but put it far off Amos 6:3), with, Give me the present, take thou the hope of future joys. 3. Libertines: that neither affirm no night, nor put it far off, but only the strength of sin prevails over all; and, come sorrow, death, grave, hell, they must have their pleasures. 4. Common profane persons: that will suffer themselves to wear God’ s livery, though they serve the devil. (T. Adams.)Watchman, what of the night?-- The duty of examining the signs of the times I. The first thing which, in reference to this inquiry, the words before us suggest, is, that IT IS OF THE LORD HIMSELF THE INQUIRY MUST BE MADE. His eye alone seeth under the whole heaven; and He only knoweth the end from the beginning. Nothing can be more utterly fallacious than any mere calculation of human probabilities in regard to the future progress of Divine truth--in regard to the course it may be destined to run. When Jesus of Nazareth had been put to an ignominious death, His few and obscure disciples dispersed in terror, and when the handful of peasants and fishermen who had been the companions of His ministry were shut up, unnoticed and unknown, in an upper chamber at Jerusalem, who could have foreseen that the blast of the trumpet, blown by this small and feeble band, was to shake down the mighty Jericho of that universal heathenism which then overspread and enslaved the benighted earth? When, fifteen hundred years thereafter, a poor, emaciated Augustinian monk was wearing himself out in his gloomy cell in the terrible conflict of an awakened conscience, which all his self-righteous austerities could not satisfy or soothe, who could have foreseen that in that single man the Lord was training a soldier, who should confront, single-handed, the gigantic power of the man of sin, and liberate the half of Europe from his galling and destructive yoke? But if human sagacity would thus have been baffled on the one hand by unlooked-for triumphs to the cause of truth, would it not have been equally confounded on the other by unexpected defeats? When the day of Gospel light was breaking forth in such glorious splendour upon the world in apostolic times, who would have ventured to anticipate that so bright a day was to be succeeded by the dark ages, the long, dismal, dreary centuries during which the few remaining witnesses prophesied in sackcloth, amid bonds and stripes, and imprisonments, and death? Again, when the Lutheran Reformation, like a strong wind out of the clear north, was sweeping off from the nations the dense cloud of papal superstition, and revealing once more to their wondering eyes the long-hidden Sun of righteousness, who would have thought that the horrid cloud would again return to spread its murky folds over so many of its ancient fields, and that men, choosing darkness rather than the light, would love to have it so? It is to the Lord we must turn if we desire to know what is in the womb of time. II. However discouraging the aspect of things may, in many points, appear, “ THE MORNING COMETH” --a day of unprecedented brilliancy and joy, when the kingdom and dominion under the whole heaven shall be given to the Son of man, and when, emancipated from the strife and turmoil of incessant wars, and enjoying and exhibiting a foretaste and emblem of the heavenly state, the rest of Zion shall be glorious. III. WE MUST REJOICE WITH , FOR WHILE THE MORNING COMETH, THERE COMETH ALSO THE NIGHT. When the year of recompense for the controversy of Zion shall have come, it will be a night to her adversaries and oppressors; but to Zion herself it will be a bright and glorious day. (R. Buchanan, D. D.)The watchman’ s office I. A watchman must be DULY AND TO THE STATION. It is not left to any man to mount the watchtower at pleasure--to take his round through the streets--or to challenge the citizens, except he can show a regular commission for the service. Ezekiel, with all his zeal for his country, and love to his own people, could not occupy the post of a watchman among them till the God of Israel made him one (Ezekiel 3:17). Thus a call, a commission, is indispensably necessary to the exercise of any office in the Church of Christ, especially of the office of the ministry. But when the call is given and the appointment conferred, the watchman ought, without gainsaying, to repair to his box. II. A watchman ought to be AND QUICK-SIGHTED. A simpleton, or a blind man (Luke 6:39), would be altogether unfit for a watchman. He could neither descry the enemy as he approached the city, nor penetrate his mischievous designs, nor alarm the citizens of the impending danger. The ministers of Christ are accordingly represented in the Revelation as “ full of eyes” ; and they have need of all the eyes ascribed to them, that they may take heed to themselves, and watch over others. III. . An indolent and sleepy watchman is a most dangerous officer in a city, especially in a period of warfare. For, while men sleep, the enemy may occupy the gates, or mount the walls. The ministers of Christ ought to be very vigilant in watching over the people; and other officers are to exert themselves in watching along with them. For, “ while men sleep,” the enemy sows his tares of error, of heresy, and division. IV. . A spirited watchman, ever upon the alert, to detect the disorderly, and to suppress them in their first appearances, is an eminent blessing in his station. By the spirited exertions of an active watchman, much disorder and tumult in the streets of a city may be prevented, especially during the night. So ought the minister of Christ to display a firm and spirited determination to suppress disorder and vice of every kind, although it should cost him much trouble, and the strife of tongues against him, in accomplishing his object. It is also part of the constitutional duty of every good citizen, to assist the watchman, by all the means in his power, to suppress riot, and check the unruly. Let private Church members attend to this. V. Watchmen ought to be STEADY. They are to occupy their station, to maintain their post, and in no instance to neglect their duty. The ministers of Christ, in like manner, are to “ be steadfast, unmovable,” etc. (1 Corinthians 15:58). They are “ to watch, to stand fast in the faith, to quit themselves like men and to be strong.” VI. Watchmen are to be . A coward would, of all others, be a most unfit person for a watchman, especially in the night, and when the enemy was at the gates. Such ought unquestionably to be a prominent qualification of the minister of Christ, and of all who bear rule in the Church along with him. A trimming, truckling, temporising humour, to please men, and a dread of giving offence in the discharge of positive duty, is altogether unsuitable to the condition of those whose chief attention is to please and honour God. VII. Watchmen are to be . They are neither to betray their trust, by conniving with the disorderly, nor to expose the city, by keeping silence, while they perceive danger approaching. This part of the watchman’ s character may be often perverted, as, indeed, what part of it may not? Men may make a great noise and parade about being faithful and honest, who, in truth, have nothing so much at heart, as to gratify their own vanity, interest, pride, humour, or favourite plans of action. But the faithfulness intended by this particular chiefly respect? plain and honest dealing with the consciences of men. The faithful servant of the Lord is to warn the transgressor of the error of his ways, and of the danger of persisting in error. VIII. Watchmen are to be FRANK IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE, either to inform the citizen of the hour of the night, or to guide him on his way. The watchmen of the Old Testament gave the time of night under that dispensation, and laid themselves out to collect every information (1 Peter 1:11). The watchmen of the New Testament are to continue the inquiry into the mind of the Spirit; that they may tell what of the night--what is the part of prophecy which applies to the present times--and what the signs of the breaking light of the coming glory. Such is a very tender and useful department of the spiritual watchman. He is to guide the bewildered--to encourage and protect such as apprehend themselves in danger--and to tell them, to the best of his information, concerning the Friend of sinners. (W. Taylor.)Aspects of the times I. The Christian man has still before him THE AND OF THE NIGHT, and yet there are streaks of sunny dawn. II. The Christian man has MUCH IN HIS OWN HISTORY THAT SPEAKS OF THE NIGHT, and yet there is morning there too. III. The Christian man sees that IN NATIONS WHERE THE PURE GOSPEL OF CHRIST THE PEOPLE, WE HAVE THE HOPE OF THE WORLD. IV. THE MAN MAY ASK, “ WHAT OF THE NIGHT?” as well as the Christian. (W. M. Statham.)A momentous inquiry I. Let us see how this inquiry will apply to THE WORLD IN GENERAL The world commenced with a bright and sinless morning. But early in the history of our race, the power of the tempter was so successfully wielded, that the bright morning was succeeded by a day of dark clouds and desolating storms. With the growth of the world’ s population the overspreading darkness grew until God could bear with the wickedness of the world no more. After the deluge the world started anew from another head. Old crimes, old corruptions, quickly regained their sway. Long centuries came and passed away. The moral heavens grew darker as time rolled by, and as the world’ s inhabitants increased in numbers. Here and there only was there a ray of light shining amid the abounding darkness. Outside of Judea there was not much to dispel the darkness. Greece, somewhat enlightened, furnished a Socrates and a Plato. But Greece, because of her crimes and vices, soon went down to ruin. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Isaiah 21:13-17 The burden upon Arabia Arabia The term “ Arabia,” in the Old Testament, is not used in such a wide sense as in modern English, and denotes merely a particular, tribe, having its home in the northern part of what is now known as the Arabian peninsula, and mentioned in Ezekiel 27:20-21, by the side of Dedan and Kedar as engaged in commerce with Tyre. Isaiah lines a tide of invasion about to overflow the region inhabited by these tribes, and addresses the Dedanite caravans, warning them that they will have to turn aside from their customary routes and seek concealment in the forest. In verse 14, he sees in imagination the natives of Tema bringing food and water, to the fugitive traders. Tema was the name of a tribe settled in the same neighbourhood, about 250 miles S.E. of Edom, on the route between Damascus and Mecca, in a locality in which some interesting inscriptions have recently been discovered. Within a year, the prophet concludes, the glory of the wealthy pastoral (Isaiah 9:7) tribe of Kedar--here used so as to include by implication its less influential neighbours--will be past, and of its warriors only an insignificant remnant will survive. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The Bedawin These were the carriers of the world’ s commerce in the days before railways were introduced. As country after, country was feeling the consequences of the advance of Nineveh, these merchantmen would be the first to hear the news wire rearm, and in many cases to give timely assistance. But these weakly defended caravans would not stand long before the armies of Sargon. (B. Blake, B. D.) Isaiah 21:16-17 Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, sad all the glory of Kedar shall fail End of the year: a warning and a lesson I. A . We have here a prophecy of the fall of a nation, which had held a proud position by reason of prowess and skill in war. But glory founded on physical strength, upon wealth, or upon power, may speedily fade away. With all the study of economics we seem to know but little even now, and we have found, many times of late, how trifling a matter may lead to the overthrow of existing engagements and conditions. Much less stable is the glory of a nation built upon the strength of its arms. A nation’ s glory is safe only when it is founded upon righteousness and obedience to God. II. A TIME FIXED. “ Within a year.” How different the feeling in looking back over a year and looking forward! The retrospect--bow short a time, how quickly passed, how little done, and yet what changes have taken place! How the number of the mighty have diminished! The prospect--what a long time, what hopes we have, what possibilities are in it! To us as a nation, to us in our families, to us as persons. Are we prepared for them! The fall of the glory of Kedar was announced to come within the year. Forbearance must have its limits. A boundary to life, to sin, to indulgence; but within a given period the time of reckoning must he fixed. III. THE WE SHOULD ADOPT. Standing on the threshold of a new year, let us consider our position. Certain it is that some will fall “ within the year.” Men shall be diminished. Let our influence, by example and precept, be exerted to found our national glory, not upon our skill in arms, on our insular position, on our wealth, but upon true obedience to God. The number of those who form the glory of the Church will be diminished this year. Are the younger people preparing themselves to fill the vacant places? There is a warning here, that those who trust in aught but in Jehovah will find their glory naught but folly. There is also encouragement. “ The God of Israel hath spoken it.” To him that walketh uprightly and serveth God humbly, shall glory be revealed from day to day, until the full glory of God is revealed to us in the life beyond. (Frank Mabin.)“ According the years of an hireling” In a year’ s time, calculated as exactly as is the custom between employers and employed, Kedar’ s freedom, military strength, numbers, and wealth shall have vanished. (F. Delitzsch.)“ The number of archers” They [the sons of Kedar] are numbered hero, not by heads, but by bows, so specifying the fighting men--a mode of numbering common, e.g., among the Indians of America. (F. Delitzsch.)“ Within a year” A sensible person said he could never covet the office of chief magistrate of London, because that honour continued only one year. Might not the idea be justly extended to all the honours and enjoyments of this life? None of them are permanent. (Anon.). Isaiah 22:1 The burden of the valley of vision “ The valley of vision” This expression is applied to Jerusalem, where Jehovah was pleased to give visions concerning His will to His servants. (B. Blake, B. D.)The valley of vision It is quite in place, in so far as round Jerusalem there are mountains, and the very city, which in relation to the country occupied an elevated position, in relation to the mountains of the immediate neighbourhood appeared to stand on a low level. Because of this two-fold aspect Jerusalem is called (Jeremiah 21:13) the “ inhabitant of the valley,” and immediately on the back of this the “ rock of the plain,” and (Jeremiah 17:3) the “ mountain in the fields,” whereas Zephaniah 1:11) not all Jerusalem, but a part of it (probably the ravine of the Tyropaeum) is called the mortar, or as we say, basin. If we add to this that Isaiah’ s house was situated in the lower city, and that therefore the point of view from which the epithet was applied was there, the expression is perfectly appropriate. (F. Delitzsch.)Jerusalem, the valley of vision Furthermore, the epithet is intended to be more than geographical. A valley is a lonely, quiet depression, shut in and cut off by mountains. Similarly is Jerusalem the sheltered, peaceful place, closed against the world, which Jehovah has chosen in order to show there to His prophets the secrets of His government of the world. (F. Delitzsch.)The valley of vision spiritualised Where Bibles and ministers are, there is a valley of vision, from which is expected fruit accordingly. (M. Henry.)The inexpiable sin of Jerusalem The key to this passage (Isaiah 22:1-14)--the most lurid and minatory of all Isaiah’ s prophecies--is theirreconcilable antagonism between the mood of the prophet and the state of public feeling around him. In a time of universal mirth and festivity he alone is overwhelmed with grief and refuses to be comforted. In the rejoicings of the populace he reads the evidence of their hopeless impenitence and insensibility, and he concludes his discourse by expressing the conviction that at last they have sinned beyond the possibility of pardon. The circumstances recall our Lord’ s lamentation over Jerusalem on the day of His triumphal entry. (J. Skinner, D. D.)The historical allusion It may be regarded as certain that the prophecy belongs to the period of Sennacherib’ s invasion (701), although it is difficult to select a moment when all the elements of the highly complex situation with which it deals might have been combined. There is just one incident that seems to meet the requirements of the case, namely, the raising of the blockade of Jerusalem, in consequence of Hezekiah’ s ignominious submission to the terms of Sennacherib. It must be noted that this was not the last episode in that memorable campaign. The real crisis came a little later when the Assyrian king endeavoured by threats to extort the entire surrender of the capital. It was only at that juncture that Hezekiah unreservedly accepted the policy of implicit trust in Jehovah which Isaiah had all along urged on him; and it was then that the prophet stepped to the front with an absolute and unconditional assurance that Jerusalem should not be violated. That the earlier deliverance should have caused an outbreak of popular joy is intelligible enough; as it is also intelligible that Isaiah should have kept his eye fixed on the dangers yet ahead. The allusions to the recent blockade are amply accounted for, and the prophet’ s expectation of a terrible disaster yet in store is obviously based on his view of the continued and aggravated impenitence of his countrymen. (J. Skinner, D. D.)What aileth thee now?-- A mad holiday In these words we can hear the old man addressing his fickle child, whose changefulness by this time he knew so well. We see him standing at his door watching this ghastly holiday. “ What are you rejoicing at in such an hour as this, when you have not even the bravery of your soldiers to celebrate, when you are without that pride which has brought songs from the lips of a defeated people as they learned that their sons had fallen with their faces to the foe, and has made even the wounds of the dead borne through the gate lips of triumph, calling to festival?” (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)A new year’ s question I. It specially designates “ THEE.” There is an identity in human experience. But there is at the same time an intense personality in each one of us, secrets in our experience--secret struggles, failures, motives, emotions. II. A TIME--“ NOW.” Not the past--or the future--but the present. III. THE AILMENT. IV. THE QUERY is suggestive, as though the prophet’ s inquiries were made with a view to a remedy. What is the specific for the ailment? Wealth, etc.? No! personal salvation. (Preachers’ Magazine.) Isaiah 22:11 Ye have not looked unto the Maker thereof A godless prudence They take measures to supply the city with water during its siege, and to cut it off, if possible, from the besiegers. “ Why,” as it is written in the history which gives us the fulfilment of this prophecy, “ should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?” Where this fails everything fails, for water, next to the air we breathe, is the first necessity of human life. There are, it seems, certain streams or pools of water fed with springs outside the city, and these they manage to divert, so that they flow now away from the besiegers and in favour of the besieged. The city has two watts, and between these two--the inner and the outer--a ditch or trench is dug, and the water of the old pool made to flow into it, forming at once as a moat some kind of protection for the inner wall, should the outer be broken down, and also a supply for the use of the inhabitants. All this was right and reasonable, and no blame could be laid upon the authorities for taking these precautions. But there is blame in this, that notwithstanding they are the Lord’ s chosen people, and have ever been taught that they owe all they have to Him, yet they do not recognise Him as the bountiful Lord and gracious Giver. (J. W. Lance.)Man’ s use of God’ s gifts We have here a kind of type and pattern of the infirmity so common to human nature, namely, forgetfulness of God in the use and appropriation of those things which He has provided for us. I. Look, e.g., at the Divine provisions in THE GREAT OF NATURE. See how by invention and discovery we turn these to account, perceiving in some instances forces which, though old, are new to us, and in others ingeniously applying old and well-known forces to new purposes in the advancement of civilisation and for the comfort and convenience of life. It is written concerning man in the Book of Psalms, “ Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands.” II. Let us take up the more familiar theme of DAILY . We can see God in clouds, we can hear Him in the wind; He is sometimes near to us in the earthquake and the fire, as well as in the still small voice; but we often fail to see Him in those common mercies which are yet new every morning and fresh every evening. Consider that loaf of bread on your table. It should be to you a revelation; and that it may be so, find out its genesis. It was flour yesterday or the day before, and it came, perhaps, from France, or Spain, or America, where it was grown as wheat--came to you across the ocean, God’ s own highway in the wilderness of waters. Long ago He fashioned those grains of wheat, and put into them such force of life that a handful or less, found in an Egyptian mummy three thousand years old, when planted in English soil, have grown and brought forth thirty, sixty, or a hundred fold. “ Givens this day our daily bread,” simplest of all prayers as it seems, is really asking that nature’ s forces may continue to be filled and sustained by Him who made them; and that the industries of life may go on working harmoniously with the gracious providence of God, for without these links human and Divine in the great golden chain, our daily bread would cease. III. IN , too, we may see how the Divine gifts have been used, and, alas! too often abused, in blind forgetfulness of the Divine Giver. Man is a creature who can no more do without “ religion” than he can do without money, without clothing, without houses, or without food. But though naturally religious, it does not follow that he is godly. We may make to ourselves a religion without God. One of the charges brought by the apostle Paul against those who had formed the most elaborate and complex religious systems was, that they did not “ like to retain God in their knowledge.” The religious faculty, God-given, in some sort they exercised, but they lost sight of Him the Giver. They lost His unity among their myriad gods and goddesses, and so Israel’ s mission was to declare, “ Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.” They lost sight, too, of His justice; for though they said, “ The gods are just,” yet when we read the story of their lives, their vices, and their crimes, every idea of justice is shocked and revolted; and as to these gods, they that make them are like unto them. It may be, too, that in our own theologies we have not been in this respect free from fault. Even in Christian theology the “ Theos,” the personal God, may have been too much lost sight of. It may ye, as is sometimes charged upon us, that we think of God as a “ bundle of attributes,” rather than as a living Father revealed to us in the Christ. IV. IN let us always see the Giver. Unless we do so, use in them there is none. (J. W. Lance.) Isaiah 22:12-14 And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping . . . And behold joy and gladness A call to repentance I. THE CALL TO (Isaiah 22:12). 1. The day here referred to was a season of abounding iniquity. A day of sore trouble (Isaiah 22:4-5). II. THE IT MET WITH. (Isaiah 22:13). There is no room to suppose that they had given no attention to the message delivered by the prophet. It would rather appear that they had attended to it with accuracy, nay, studied its meaning on purpose to counteract it; for a contrast so minutely exact, a scheme of contradiction so completely adjusted, could hardly have been stumbled upon by mere accident. And indeed the latter part of the verse puts this beyond all doubt, “ Let us eat and drink,” said they, “ for tomorrow we shall die.” We are not to imagine that these words were spoken seriously, by one of those presumptuous and boasting rebels. The most daring amongst them must have been conscious that the aspect of the king of terrors, at their most sumptuous entertainments, would leave them no appetite either for flesh or wine. They meant it as a scoff, a witty saying, for turning rote ridicule the warning they had received, but which they did not believe. It is common enough to condemn the same faults in others which we easily forgive, nay, cherish in ourselves. III. THE OF WRATH against those perverse and obstinate transgressors (Isaiah 22:14). IV. . What concern have we in these things? (1 Corinthians 10:11). God is always the same. And therefore, in His past acts of government, as they are explained by His Word, we behold a plan of righteous administration, from whence we may learn, with some degree of certainty, what kind of treatment, in similar circumstances, we ourselves have reason to expect. (H. Blair, D. D.)God’ s call to repentance The awful state of Jerusalem forces this truth upon our minds--that no privileges, civil or religious, can give immunity to a depraved and guilty people, from the threatened judgments of an angry God. In how many instances do the circumstances and the conduct of the ancient Jews strikingly resemble ours! I. THE DUTY TO WHICH GOD CALLS US. We are called to “ weeping and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth” --these expressions being indicative of the ancient” forms of mourning.” We are called by our calamities to it; we are called by our God. II. THE CONDUCT WHICH IS . “ And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” --a sensualist notion, which may be taken here either as the language of despair--“ Since we must die tomorrow, let us eat and drink today; or, in the way of sneering--They say we shall die; let us eat and drink then, and enjoy as much as we can of the good things of this life.” III. THE WHICH IS (Isaiah 22:14). God’ s threatenings are not idle declamations. (G. B. Macdonald.)Judah’ s great folly They were entering on the terrible issues of the struggle with Assyria with as light a heart as the Parisians did on the Franco-German war. They were spending, as it were, the night before the battle in the revelry of drunken mirth, as the Saxons spent the night before the battle of Hastings. (E. H. Plumptre, D. D.) Isaiah 22:15-19 Shebna Shebna In the councils of Hezekiah there was a strong party favourable to an alliance between Judah and Egypt. At the head of the party stood Shebna. He occupied a post corresponding to that of our prime minister, and was treasurer, or chief adviser of the king. His tenure of office bode no good to Jerusalem: his pro-Egyptian policy, like the pro-Assyrian policy of Ahaz, was utterly displeasing to Jehovah, and alien to the best traditions of David’ s house. Against this policy Isaiah is specially commissioned to raise his voice. In the discharge of this mission he singles out Shebna, a stranger apparently, who had by ambition raised himself to high office, and was devoid of religious principle. He had been securing honour for himself, establishing his family in the land, as he thought, and, as the custom was, hewing out for himself a sepulchre. But from that high office he would soon be disgracefully ousted, when king and people would alike come to see the unworthy Character of an Egyptian alliance. And it is worthy of remark that this prophecy was speedily fulfilled. For when the Rabshakeh is met by Hezekiah’ s messengers, Shebna does not occupy the first place. (B. Blake, B. D.)The prophecy concerning Shebna This prophecy illustrates the influence wielded by Isaiah in the domestic polities of Judah. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Shebna a foreigner To judge from the form of his name he was probably a Syrian. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Shebna’ s vain expectation In the rock of [the east slope of Zion] from the top downwards, the tombs of the kings were hewn. So high a position, does Shebna occupy, and so great does he think himself, that he hopes after his death to be laid to rest among kings, and by no means far down. (F. Delitzsch.)Shebna’ s tomb The mention of the height of Shebna’ s new tomb is supposed to indicate his extreme pretension to pomp and dignity. The ancients, not excepting the Jews, attached much more importance than we do to everything connected with the burial of the dead, because they were so much less able to distinguish the human person from the earthly body, or to apprehend the substantial reality of the former a part from the latter. Our burials symbolise, and express our faith in, immortality and a resurrection; but the Jews shared more or less the common feeling of antiquity that there was some real connection between a man’ s due obsequies and his state after death. Still their faith, though obscure, was in me main spiritual and elevating, when held as it was by David, Hezekiah, or Job. But the worldly and sense-bound man then, as indeed he does now, contemplated the costly preparations for his burial, and for the preservation of his embalmed and entombed body, as the last possible act of regard for that sensual existence which he alone cared for. It was but the consistent maintenance to the last of his sensual creed, “ Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (Sir E. Strachey, Bart) Isaiah 22:18 He will surely violently turn and toss the like a ball Shebna’ s doom To this unfamilied intruder, who had sought to establish himself in Jerusalem, after the manner of those days, by hewing himself a great sepulchre, Isaiah brought sentence of violent banishment: “ Behold, Jehovah will be hurling, hurling thee away, thou big man, and crumpling, crumpling thee together. He will roll, roll thee on, thou rolling stone, like a ball thrown out On broad, level ground; there shalt thou die, and there shall be the chariots of thy glory, thou shame of the house of thy lord. And I thrust thee from thy post, and from thy station do they pull thee down.” This vagabond was not to die in his bed, nor to be gathered in his big tomb to the people on whom he had foisted himself. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Shebna’ s doom For him, like Cain, there was a land of Nod; and upon it he was to find a vagabond’ s death. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Shebna’ s ejection The ideas suggested are those of violence, rapidity, and distance. (J. A. Alexander.)Retribution Those that, when they are in power, turn and toss others, will be justly turned and tossed themselves when their day shall come to fall. Many that have thought themselves fastened like a nail may come to be tossed like a ball, for here have we no continuing city. Shebna thought his place too strait for him, he had no room to thrive; God will, therefore, send him into “ a large country,” where he shall have room to wander, but never find the way back again. (M. Henry.)The irresistibleness of God’ s judgments Learn-- I. THE EASE WITH WHICH GOD EFFECTS HIS . II. THE UTTER OF ANY TO THE DIVINE . As surely as a ball must follow the line of projection, so surely must we go whither the judgments of God carry us. III. THE OF FALLING INTO THE HANDS OF THE LIVING GOD. (W. Manning.) Isaiah 22:20-25 My servant Eliakim “ My servant Eliakim” Who was he? Nobody can tell. Where else is he referred to in Holy Writ? Probably nowhere. Was he then a man without renown? That depends upon what you mean by renown, for he is indicated in the text by terms which imply infinite fame, Say “ Eliakim,” and nobody knows him; say “ My servant Eliakim,” and obscurity rises up into eminence unrivalled and never to be surpassed. (J. Parker, D. D.)Renown, nominal and moral Renown, then, may be nominal, or it may be moral. Nominal renown is a thing that comes and goes, a coloured cloud, a bubble on the river, a noise in the air, nothing that is substantial, nothing that is beneficent in itself; but moral renown, the renown of goodness, the fame of character, the reputation associated with deeds of sacrifice or valour--that is a renown which lives in heaven. (J. Parker, D. D.)Eliakim and Christ The language here used about Eliakim finds its perfect fulfilment only in Him whose supreme prerogative it is so to open that no man can shut, even Jesus Christ. (B. Blake, B. D.)The power of the keys (Isaiah 22:22) consists not merely in supervision of the royal chambers, but also in the decision as to who was and who was not to be received into the king’ s service. (F. Delitzsch.)Eliakim: the nail and the throne A nation’ s rulers (Zechariah 10:4) stand in the same relation to the community as a tent peg to the tent which it holds firmly and keeps up. As the tent peg is driven into the ground in such a way that a person can, if necessary, sit on it, so by development of the metaphor the peg is changed into a seat of honour. As a splendid chair adorns a room, so Eliakim graces his hitherto undistinguished family. The closely connected thought, that the members of his family in order to attain to honours would sit on this chair, is expressed by a different figure. Eliakim is once more presented to us as a “ nail,” now, however, as a high one, somewhat like a pole on which coats are hung up, or as a peg driven into the wall at a distance from the ground. On this pole or peg they hang--i.e., one hangs or there hangs--the whole heavy lot (as in chap. 8:7) of the family of Eliakim. The prophet proceeds to split up this family into its male and female components, as the juxtaposition of masculine and feminine nouns shows. (F. Delitzsch.)The kingdom and government of the glorious Messiah typified by Eliakim’ s preferment and promotion I. ELIAKIM’ S CALL unto his honourable employment, whereby is represented Christ’ s call unto His mediatory work and office (Isaiah 22:20). Christ did not run unsent. II. THE BADGES OF HONOUR bestowed upon Him in consequence of His call (Isaiah 22:21-22). 1. He is clothed with a royal robe. So Christ is clothed (Revelation 1:1-20) with a garment down to the foot, that serves to cover and adorn Himself and all His members. 2. He is strengthened with a girdle, a girdle of truth and faithfulness; He is always ready girded for the execution of His work. 3. He hath the keys of the house committed to Him, and the sole government; He opens, and none shuts, etc. The keys of the heart, and the keys of hell and death are in His hand. III. HIS IN HIS OFFICE AND STATION. He is “ fastened as a nail in a sure place.” Christ is nailed in His mediatory work and office by an eternal decree (Psalms 2:7), and by the oath of God Psalms 110:4); and all the powers of hell and earth shall never loose this nail. IV. We are here told TO WHAT HE SHOULD HIS TRUST. “ He shall be for a glorious throne to His Father’ s house.” God manifested in the flesh is the throne of grace to which we are called to come with boldness; and this may well be called a glorious throne,” because there is, in this dispensation of grace, the brightest display of the glory of God. Christ is the ornament of His Father’ s house, the brightness of His glory, and the brightest crown that ever adorned the human nature. V. CHRIST’ S IN GOD’ S FAMILY, and the dependence of all the domestics upon Him (verse 24). 1. The designation given unto the Church of God; “ the house of the God and Father of Christ.” 2. The nature and quality of the house; there is “ glory” in it. 3. The high and honourable station that Christ hath in His Father’ s house; He is the great Master household, and the whole family is committed to Him, and is said to “ hang upon Him as a nail fastened in a sure place.” 4. The common consent of the whole family unto His management; they shall hang upon Him all the glory, etc.; i.e., the Father of the family, and the whole offspring of the house, concur amicably that He should have the sole management. 5. Some account of the furniture of the house, committed to the management of the great New Testament Eliakim. (1) The glory. (2) The offspring and issue. (3) The vessels of small quantity, from vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons. By which we are to understand believers, for they are the children of God, and the seed of Christ by regeneration; and likewise called “ vessels,” because they are the recipient subjects of Divine grace, which is the wine, milk, and honey of the house. (E. Erskine.) Isaiah 22:23 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place The fastening hold of Christ The fastening force of Christ upon the soul of humanity is seen-- I. IN HIS HOLD UPON THE GENERAL MIND OF THE WORLD. Who, throughout the history of the ages, have laid such a firm grip upon mankind as Christ has? It is true that Buddha, Zoroaster, Confucius, Mohammed, have had--and still have--a firm hold on millions of souls. Some of them have afar wider influence than that of Christ, but they are not fastened so firmly. 1. Philosophy shows this. Their systems--if systems they can be called--only appeal to certain faculties in human nature; Christ grasps the entire man--intellect, imagination, conscience, hope, fear, love. 2. History shows this. Heathenism does not encroach upon Christianity. Christians are not converted to Zoroaster, Confucius, etc., but their followers are converted to Christianity every day. Heathendom is contracting, Christendom is extending on all hands. Its language, its literature, its institutions, are pushing themselves everywhere. The “ nail” is made so fast, that to extract it would be to tear the world to pieces. II. IN HIS HOLD UPON THE MIND OF HIS . His hold here is far firmer than His hold on the general mind. He goes deeper into humanity, He takes hold of the entire soul, and makes it captive. Or, to change the figure, He strikes His roots into every faculty of the soul. He becomes to the human spirit in this case what the sap is to the tree. You must tear the soul to pieces--nay, you must annihilate it--before you can extract his “ nail.” (Homilist.)A nail in a sure place I. THE LESSON OF THE NAIL; that little things may be very important things. We read when David prepared for the building of the temple, “ he prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates.” So all preparation for training, for education, for the formation of character, is a kind of holy iron, hereafter to be fashioned into nails for the “ sure place.” And if you turn to Ezra 9:8, you will find the good man even makes this a matter of prayer, that “ God would give him a nail in His holy place” --that is, that he and his might have a place of security, howeverinsignificant it might be; for a nail, small as it is, speaks of security, it fastens things. There is an old proverb which says how, “ for want of a nail the shoe was lost, for want of a shoe the horse was lost, for want of a horse the rider was lost.” II. THE SURE PLACE. From which you learn, that even things good in themselves must be in a good place, in order that they may be of any good. For instance-- 1. Good words, in order that they may do good, need good memories; and the good memory is the “ sure place.” 2. A good example in a fruitful life is “ a nail in a sure place.” 3. Faith fixed on a good object is “ a nail in a sure place.” Faith is not always good; people may believe lies. If you look to Christ and trust in Him there will be the “ nail in the sure place.” III. THE LESSON OF THE . 1. In order to the fastening a nail needs guiding. You will need strength, help, and guidance from God. 2. Fastened. Some things, once fixed, are fixed forever. What a dreadful thing it is, to think that this applies, so far as we are able to say and to see, to bad things! Habit fixes a man like “ a nail in a sure place,” fixes his ways of thought and life so that it seems as if he is immovable; for every time we repeat a wrong thing, it is driven farther and farther into our life. See to it, as you value your happiness for time and eternity, that, if you are fastened as “ a nail in a sure place,” it shall be a good place. 3. In a good place, fastened. “ Be steadfast, unmovable” : act in such a manner that the bad people shall never have any hopes of getting you over on their side, or of drawing you out of your sure place. (Homilist.)Nails in Eastern houses These nails, or pegs, when employed in houses, were not driven into the walls after the building was finished, but were worked in while the building was going up. The strong hooks, or spikes, thus secured in the mortar answered the double purpose of clamp irons to hold the walls together, and of nails on which anything could be hung. (J. N. Norton.)The nail in a sure place The promise concerning Eliakim amounts to this: “ I will so build him up into My spiritual temple (so the Almighty may be supposed to say), that he himself may be securely fixed in it, and that others also may safely depend on him for help and counsel.” As Eliakim was a type of Christ, we have in this similitude an instructive lesson, both of our duty and our happiness. On Him we must hang our hopes and interests, both with respect to our own salvation, and to the peace and prosperity of the Church. I. Eliakim was a type of Christ IN BEING THE OF ONE WHO HAD PROVED HIMSELF OF HIS OFFICE. As the haughty and unprincipled Shebna gave place to a man whom no selfish interests could possibly influence, so were the corrupt and evil-minded rulers of the Jewish nation to be set aside at the appearance of the Messiah who was to govern the world in righteousness. II. Again, Eliakim was a type of Christ, IN THE TO HIM. As the successor of the faithless Shebna was honoured by having “ the key of the house of David laid upon his shoulder,” in token of the unlimited authority which he was thenceforth to exercise, so was the Lord Jesus to be entrusted with “ all power in heaven and earth;” and we find Him adopting the same lofty terms to describe His own regal attributes Revelation 3:7). III. A third particular in which Eliakim may be considered as a type of Christ, is IN THE AND SECURED BY HIS RULE. Eliakim, we are told, was “ a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah,” but the benefits of the wisest administration of man are few and insignificant, when compared with those which are secured to the world by the glorious reign of the Prince of Peace. (J. N. Norton.) Isaiah 22:24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’ s house Eliakim’ s family The vessels, large and small, are figures of the various members of Eliakim’ s family. As vessels of every kind are suspended upon a nail, so will Eliakim’ s connections, rich and poor alike, support themselves upon his new dignity. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Oriental display of wealth A large part of the wealth of the ancients consisted of gold and silver vessels, and in changes of showy raiment, of which they made an ostentatious display, by hanging them on the spikes along the walls. It was also common to suspend in houses and temples, suits of armour, swords, shields, and helmets; the spoils of war, or the heirlooms of honoured ancestors (Son 4:4). (J. N. Norton.)Christ the sole Manager of the Church I. THE CHURCH IS THE HOUSE OF GOD (Isaiah 2:2-3; Hebrews 3:6; 1 Peter 2:5). 1. He is the Founder of the house. 2. The Purchaser. 3. The sole Proprietor. 4. Here He hath His abode. Hence, it must be a very glorious structure. The plan of it was laid by infinite wisdom from all eternity (Proverbs 9:1). (1) The foundation of the house is glorious. (2) The form. (3) The door (John 10:9). (4) The pillars (Proverbs 9:1). These are the perfections of the Divine nature as they are manifested in Christ. (5) The ordinances. II. CHRIST IS THE GREAT MANAGER OF HIS FATHER’ S HOUSE. 1. In the council of peace, from eternity, He was chosen to be the Builder of the house (Zechariah 6:12-13). 2. He is the everlasting Father of the family (Isaiah 9:6). 3. The great Oracle and Counsellor (Isaiah 9:6). 4. The great Priest (Hebrews 10:21). 5. The great Lord-Treasurer, yea, the treasury (Colossians 1:19; John 1:16). 6. The great Lord-Steward or Dispenser. 7. The Lawgiver. III. CHRIST IS FIXED IN THE OF THE HOUSE OF GOD, as a nail in a sure place. 1. There is an irreversible decree passed in heaven that He should be the sole Manager and Governor of the house (Psalms 2:6-7). 2. He is fixed in the administration of the house with the solemnity of a covenant transaction (Psalms 89:3). 3. With the solemnity of an oath taken by the great Jehovah. 4. In His oath He pledges the most dazzling perfection of His nature. He will as soon cease to be a holy God, as suffer His Son’ s authority in His house to be overturned. 5. He is fixed in the management by a solemn call and investiture. 6. By an actual possession of the throne (Philippians 2:9-11). 7. By a complete victory over all His and His Church’ s enemies, so that none of them are capable to give Him the least disturbance. IV. THE WHOLE HOUSE, WITH ALL ITS , HANGS OR DEPENDS UPON THIS BLESSED NAIL THAT IS IN A SURE PLACE. 1. All the glory of the house hangs upon our Lord Jesus Christ. (1) God’ s presence in a Church makes her glorious. It is owing to Christ that the tabernacle of God is with men. (2) The revelation of the mind and will of God in the Scriptures of truth, is the glory of the Church. Christ is the Alpha and Omega of the whole Scriptures. (3) A faithful ministry is the glory of a Church. (See Ephesians 4:11-13.) (4) The ordinances of the Gospel, dispensed in purity by faithful ministers of Christ, are the glory of a Church. Well, all hang upon the great Manager, such as word and sacrament, prayer and praise. (5) The judicatories of a Church, higher and lower, constituted in His name, and moulded according to His appointment for the government and for the exercise of the keys of discipline, are the glory of a Church. All this glory hangs upon the nail fastened in a sure place, for He it is that gives the keys of the kingdom of heaven unto His office bearers, and promises that “ what they bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and what they loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven” ; and where they assemble in courts for discipline, He “ will be in the midst of them.” (6) The covenants of a Church are her glory; God’ s covenant of grace and promise, and their covenants of duty and gratitude. The covenant, and an the blessings and promises of it, hang upon this blessed nail; they are all in Him, and “ in Him yea and amen.” Our covenants for duty, obedience, and gratitude, hang upon this blessed nail. When men engage to duty in a legal way, they do only make to themselves ropes of sand. All our funds of grace lie in Him. (7) The multitude of real converts is the glory of a Church. Of His own will He begets us by the word of grace. (8) The purity, holiness, and faithfulness of Church members are the glory of a Church. This glory hangs upon this blessed nail; for it is by virtue of their union with Him, that they derive sanctifying influence from Him. 2. The offspring and issue of the house are also said to hang upon Christ. By the offspring and issue I understand all true believers. (1) Their very being, as they are new creatures, hangs upon Him Ephesians 2:10). (2) Hence, their life hangs upon Christ. The second Adam is a quickening Spirit. (3) Have the offspring and issue of the house anything of the light of saving knowledge of God? This hangs upon Christ; for He is the true Sun of Righteousness. (4) The offspring and issue of the house of God enjoy a glorious liberty. This hangs upon Christ; for “ if the Son makes us free, then are we free indeed.” (5) They have all the best robe put upon them, when they return from the far country to their Father. Christ is the “ end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.” (6) Have they anything of the beauty of holiness! Christ is made unto them sanctification. (7) Have they strength for work or warfare! They are “ strong in the Lord.” (8) Am they heirs of God and of glory! They are “ joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.” 8. The vessels of the house hang upon this nail fastened in a sure place, from vessels of cups to vessels of flagons. (1) By the vessels of the house we are to understand believers (2 Timothy 2:20-21; Acts 9:15). (2) These vessels are of different sizes. In God’ s family there are saints of different stature. V. REASONS OF THE . Why is Christ constituted sole Manager of His Father’ s house? why doth He hang the offspring and issue, and all the vessels, upon Him, as upon a nail fastened in a sure place? 1. He only had ability for bearing such a weight. 2. Christ voluntarily undertook it. 3. Hereby a new revenue of glory is brought in to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 4. Hereby all men are brought to honour the Son, as they honour the Father. 5. This was for the safety and comfort of the saints and children of God. VI. THE OF THE . (E. Erskine.)“ Vessels of cups” A word to weak believers who are designated “ vessels of cups.” 1. It is a high privilege to occupy the least room in the house of our God. 2. God has service for the least vessel of His house, as well as for the largest. 3. The least vessel is God’ s property, and He will not disown, but maintain His property, and own it before men and angels, saying, “ They are Mine,” in the day when He makes up His jewels. 4. The bands, by which you hang upon the nail fastened in a sure place, are as strong as those by which the vessels of flagons are secured; for He has said as to both, “ They shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand.” 5. The weakest measure of grace is a pledge of more; for “ to him that hath be given.” 6. Although you are not to envy or grudge at God’ s bounty liberality to others, in making them vessels of flagons, yet you may and ought earnestly to covet more grace than you have yet received. (E. Erskine.)The vessels of flagons, The vessels of flagons, i.e., believers of a higher stature. 1. Be not proud of grace received, but walk humbly with your God. “ What hast thou that thou hast not received?” 2. Instead of despising others that are not come your length, study to be helpful and serviceable unto them. The vessels of cups are ordinarily filled out of the flagons; so study to impart and communicate of your grace, of your faith, love, hope, knowledge, and other graces, unto those that are weak ingrate. The strong children in a family are helpful to the young and weak. 3. Whatever grace you have received, be not confident therein, like Peter; but be strong in the that is in Christ Jesus, sad let the life you live be by faith in the Son of God. (E. Erskine.)Christ the glory of His Father’ s house By Christ’ s Father’ s house is meant His Church. I. ON CHRIST JESUS HANGS ALL THE GLORY OF THE OF HIS FATHER’ S HOUSE. II. ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST HANGS ALL THE GLORY OF THE OF HIS FATHER’ S HOUSE. There is a two gold light which the Lord Jesus imparts to the members of His Father’ s house. There is the light of His Word, those Scriptures which testify of Him as “ the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” The Scriptures, however, are not, of themselves, sufficient for spiritual illumination. The light of the Spirit must accompany the truth revealed in the Word, that it may become effectual for salvation. The Holy Spirit is the fruit of the Redeemer’ s purchase. It is His glorious office to take of the things of Christ and show these to the soul. It is in the light of the Divine Word and Spirit that we discern aright the way of acceptance and the path of duty. III. ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST HANGS ALL THE GLORY OF THE OF HIS FATHER’ S HOUSE. When He ascended on high, He received gifts for men; even the seven Spirits before the throne--the Holy Ghost, in His quickening, renewing, and sanctifying grace. These gifts are bestowed, let it be carefully noted, in virtue of the believer’ s union with the Lord Jesus Christ, through the instrumentality of living faith. IV. ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST HANGS ALL THE GLORY OF THE OF HIS FATHER’ S HOUSE. They are under law to Christ as the sole Ruler of the house. We must take order from Him; for “ One is our Master, even Christ.” V. ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST HANGS ALL THE GLORY OF THE OF HIS FATHER’ S HOUSE. The Christian Church, both collectively and in its individual members, is in an enemy’ s country on this side heaven. It is the Christian’ s solace to be assured that he has not been sent a warfare on his own charges. Apart from the clear and full revelations of Scripture, no subject of human contemplation is so saddening as death. He, on whom hangs all the glory of His Father’ s house, is Himself the Resurrection and the Life. Conclusion--Let us seriously inquire whether we are members of that house. Mere external relationship to it will avail us nothing. We must be united in the bonds of faith and love to the Lord Jesus. (J. Smyth, D. D.)The glory of the Mediator The idea in the text seems to embrace this statement: That every attribute belonging to God is concentrated in the Saviour, as “ God manifest in the flesh,” and that the Father is most glorified when we give in our services all the glory to His Son. I. UPON HIM HANGS ALL THE GLORY OF HIS FATHER’ S HOUSE OF . “ By Him were all things made, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” II. UPON HIM HANGS ALL THE GLORY OF HIS FATHER’ S HOUSE OF . And what is providence but creation continued, in upholding, governing, and guiding all things to accomplish their predestined end? Jesus Christ is on the throne; every painful feeling is anticipated, every tear is bottled, every anxiety alleviated, every distress sanctified. He is our Saviour, our Friend, our Refuge and Strength. III. UPON HIM HANGS ALL THE GLORY OF HIS FATHER’ S HOUSE OF GRACE. Christ’ s kingdom is a spiritual one, set up within the believer’ s soul. IV. UPON HIM HANGS ALL THE GLORY OF HIS FATHER’ S HOUSE OF HEAVEN. “ I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” “ Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing” ; and thus the ransomed and renewed universe will “ hang upon Him all the glory of His Father’ s house.” (F. Newman, D. D.) Isaiah 22:25 In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed Elevation is only held on good character Even God who drove in the nail can take it out again. No nail once driven in can do without God, saying, I am driven in now, so I care not what may happen. The highest lives in obedience; the strongest man becomes weaker than the weakest when he ceases to pray. Genius cannot keep a man in a high moral elevation. His genius will soon be discovered to be but cleverness, not the blooming out of a life that is hidden in the very mystery of God. Leader of the people! even thou mayest be dispossessed of thy leadership. Great statesmen are in the hands of God. Journalists, thinkers, the advance guard of every name, all these hold their position on their good conduct. Let them be good and faithful servants; let there be no selfishness in their ambition, no vain conceit because of the influence with which God hath clothed them; even the nail that is fastened in the sure place may be removed, the very beam in which it finds a place may be cut in two and burned in unquenchable fire. So, then, we are nothing but in God. (J. Parker, D. D.)Nepotism Eliakim comes to ruin in the exorcise of the plenary power attaching to his office by giving way to nepotism. His family makes a wrong use of him, and with an unwarrantable amount of good nature he makes a wrong use of his official position for their benefit. He therefore comes down headlong, and with him all the heavy burden which the peg sustains, i.e., all his relations, who, by being far too eager to make the most of their good fortune, have brought him to ruin. (F. Delitzsch.)Eliakim and Shebna: a couple of tragedies We have not one, but a couple of tragedies. Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, follows Shebna, the son of Nobody. The fate of the overburdened nail is as grievous as that of the rolling stone. It is easy to pass this prophecy over as a trivial incident; but when we have carefully analysed each verse, restored to the words their exact shade of signification, and set them in their proper contrasts, we perceive the outlines of two social dramas, which it requires very little imagination to invest with engrossing moral interest. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.). Isaiah 23:1-18 The burden of Tyre The prophecy against Tyre: lessons The Tarshish of this chapter is Spain. Chittim is the island of Cyprus. The word “ merchant” is the same word that is rendered in other places “ Canaanite.” The Canaanites were the most energetically commercial men of their time. To be a merchant was to be a Canaanite; to be a Canaanite was to be a merchant, substantially. I. The world must come, however slowly, to recognise the fact that RULERS ARE RULED; that the Lord reigneth. There can only be one Supreme. What a glorious dawn is that which will shine above the eastern hills when the world begins to feel that it is reigned over, governed, guided in all its march of progress. The world grows warmer under that recognition. At first the recognition is terrible enough, but it becomes more and more beneficent as things shape themselves. II. The world must come to recognise the fact that EVEN EMPIRES ARE UPON FOR THEIR . For Tyre we may substitute London, Paris, New York, or the countries which they indicate. It is only the letter of this chapter which is ancient; the principle is energetic evermore. (J. Parker, D. D.)The prophet’ s attitude towards cities and states When the Spirit of God is in a man he cares for no city, how great soever it may be, though he himself may not have whereon to lay his head. There is, however, a spirit in him which makes him greater than all the capitals of the world were they added to one another and constituted into one great avenue of capitals, each house in all the vista crowned or starred with a sceptre thrust from every window. The Galilean fishermen cared nothing for the pomp of Jerusalem; old prophets with ragged mantles on their stooping shoulders hurled Divinest judgment against proud kings. (J. Parker, D. D.)The Church’ s love of worldly patronage The Church has lost this prophetic inspiration, and now she bows down to worldly greatness and tells with delight that a chariot and pair has driven up to her front door. To what cent of indignity has she sunk, even in her very speech! She is now an influential Church, a respectable Church, an intelligent Church, a Church possessed of exceptional advantages, and most careful about her reputation! So the world pays its copper tribute, and says to the Church, Behave yourself! let us do what we like, and you sing your hymns and go up to heaven like any other vapour. Where are the men who can do without food, clothing, shelter? Where are the men who would spurn any offer of patronage?--sons of thunder, sons of judgment; men who never sit down to eat, but snatch their apple as they hasten along the road that they may keep their next appointment to thunder judgment upon unrighteousness, and break in pieces with an iron rod the vessel of impurity. (J. Parker, D. D.)Tyre Tyre’ s celebrity dates first from the time of David. In the Assyrian era, however, Tyre had already attained to a kind of supremacy over the rest of the Phoenician cities. It lay on the coast, rather more than twenty miles from Sidon; but being hard pressed by enemies, it had transferred the real seat of its trade and wealth to a rocky island, three miles farther north, and only 1200 paces from the mainland. The strait that separated this insular Tyre (Τύρος) from ancient Tyre (Παλαίτυρος) was, upon the whole, shallow, and the ship channel in the neighbourhood of the island was only about eighteen feet deep, so that a siege of insular Tyre by Alexander was carried out by the erection of a mole. Luther refers the prophecy to this attack by Alexander. But earlier than this event was the struggle of Tyre with Assyria and Babylon, and first of all the question arises, Which of these two struggles has the prophecy in view? In consequence of new disclosures, for which we are indebted to Assyriology, the question has entered a new phase. Down to the present, however, it still permits of only a hypothetical and unsatisfactory solution. (F. Delitzsch.)The Phoenicians The Phoenicians were simply carriers and middle men. In all time there is no instance of a nation so wholly given over to buying and selling, who frequented even the battlefields of the world that they might strip the dead and purchase the captive. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.) Isaiah 23:3 The harvest of the river The harvest of the river The valley of the Nile was the field for sowing and reaping. The ships of Tyre trafficked far and wide, and by purchase or by barter the corn supplies of Egypt were fetched in to fill the barns and granaries of the merchant city, and were thence resold with profit to many nations. The harvest of the Nile most accurately describes and stands for all the resources and the wealth of Egypt, which depend entirely upon the Nile. This river brings down from the mountains of Abyssinia a great quantity of decayed vegetable matter and rich alluvial deposit, which in flood time it spreads over the land. A failure in the rise of the Nile means famine in Egypt, and it was lately computed that one foot difference in the height of the annual flood makes a difference of £2,000,000 to the income of the country. So little in this respect have things changed since the days of Isaiah. (P. T. Bainbrigge, M. A.)The harvest of the river We need not, however, restrict the term to the importation of corn. The harvest of the river was the merchandise of the world, which the ships of Tarshish conveyed to the city of the isle--Tyre. The harvest of the river, then, is the commerce of the city built upon its banks. God is equally the God of the harvest of the river as He is the God of the harvest of the field, and though He made the country He ordained that men should form themselves into communities and dwell together in cities, and He has laid down laws for their guidance as members of a great society which must be followed, that order may be maintained and prosperity achieved. The merchant is as much engaged in doing God’ s work as the farmer is. There may not be so much romance and poetry about his occupation. But God may be glorified in the fires as well as in the green fields and the pleasant woods. It is He who assigns to every man his proper place--implants within him a desire to do his duty in his appointed sphere of action, and so contrives that while a man does his duty and provides for his own interest and welfare, he by so doing contributes at the same time to the happiness and well-being of all. (W. Rogers, M. A.)God the great World-Provider When the Shah of Persia some few years ago visited this country, he was taken through the docks down the river, and while contemplating the great harvest reposing on its bosom, and witnessing the crowds of people eager to see the Eastern potentate and to do him honour, he asked a pertinent question of the nobleman who accompanied him. It was this: “ How are these vast multitudes fed?” It is a question which showed the thoughtful intelligence of the barbarian, but it is one which few pause to ask, and which few are able to answer, because few look beyond the surface and attempt to unravel the great mystery by which we are enshrouded, and recognise the agency of the invisible One in all the affairs of men. (W. Rogers, M. A.) Isaiah 23:4 The sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea The voice of the sea God, through the wildly wailing winds, and loudly surging waves, has often uttered a voice of warning and of woe to cities filled with corruption and vice. And how, too, through these winds and waves, has the sea spoken in its strength to crushed and broken hearts, when its surface has been thickly strewn with shattered wrecks, and the floating and sinking bodies of its helpless victims. I. But the sea often speaks to us in other language than this, addressing us, as it does, through the eye as well as the ear, and CALLING UPON US TO ADORE AND LOVE GOD for the beauty with which He clothes and overhangs it, and for the blessings which, by means of the sea, He conveys to us, no less than to tremble and bow down before Him in view of the vastness and the majestic grandeur of the ocean in its more excited and terrific moods. II. The sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, by ITS AND FORCE AND OF ITS . III. The sea hath spoken, too, and will, we trust, thus ever speak, through THE WIRE, which here and there lies far down in its lowest depths, and which, in coming years, will be more widely extended abroad. IV. Yet again the sea hath spoken, in that IT APPEALS TO OUR KIND AND in behalf of those who, as seamen, go forth upon the deep. V. When the sea in its strength thus speaks to us, with the voice of wailing, lamentation, and woe, HOW OUGHT WE TO PRAY FOR SEAMEN AND THOSE WITH THEM, with all the power of faith which God shall give us, that He would save them from a watery grave, or, if they thus perish, that He would comfort those who mourn their loss, and that in the day in which the earth and the sea shall give up the dead that are in them, they may all together enter the haven of eternal rest. So, too, should we ever pray that the time may soon come when the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto God, and the isles shall wait for His law. (C. Rockwell.)The violent in the serene The sea, as a rule, is tranquil. Yet what awful power it possesses when it is aroused to fury! Blocks of stone weighing over thirteen tons have been known to be hurled by it a distance of more than thirty feet, and blocks of three tons to more than one hundred yards. Jetties and bridges are dashed about like toys. The entire harbour of Fecamp was destroyed by its rage, and the mass of earth torn from the north side of Cape la Heve was estimated at more than 300,000 square yards. Yet these are only among the trifling achievements of the sea when it passes from its peaceful to its furious mood. Violence often slumbers under an appearance of serenity. A crowd of joyous holiday makers today may become tomorrow a foaming mob of insurrectionists! (Scientific Illustrations and Symbols.)Power of the sea That part of Hey Head; in Orkney, which is called the Brow of the Brae, is one sheer unbroken crag of 1150 feet. The Orcadians told me that in a hurricane they have seen an Atlantic wave strike this headland in such volume and with such power, that it has rushed half-way up the cliff, throwing itself in its great but impotent rage to the height of nearly 600 feet. Hurled by such a sea against such a crag, a man-of-war, though built of the strongest oak, and bound with the toughest iron, would be shattered like a ship of glass. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)The sea He that will learn to pray, let him go to sea. (George Herbert.) Isaiah 23:8 Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes Tyre, “ the crowning city” The speaker cannot drop his satire: he has got accustomed to it now; he is in his best vein of mockery. The crowning city was Tyre because she distributed crowns to the Phoenician colonies,--so to say, she kept a whole cupboard full of crowns, and took one outafter another, and gave to the little colonies that they might play at being kingdoms (Ezekiel 27:23-25). (J. Parker, D. D.)The ancient estimate of trade This passage reveals to us the estimation in which merchants were held in ancient time. Tyre was celebrated for her commerce. Her traders were renowned because of their wealth. The treasure they amassed gave them rank and position. They were influential and honoured. Trade was not regarded in old time as a menial, but a noble pursuit. The ambitious entered into it as a means to gratify their ambition. It furnished them with a field in which to exercise their faculties and develop their powers. Subsequently the sword gave rank and power,--valour, and not ability, lifted men to thrones: but before the feudal age, in the ancient time, and among the older civilisations, “ merchants were princes, and traffickers were the honourable of the earth.” (W. H. Murray.)The origin of commerce It is not difficult to ascertain the origin of commerce. It was born of men’ s necessities, and was characterised by the spirit of accommodation. Its birth dates back to the first family that existed on the earth. One had what another needed, and for it he had something to give in exchange. From this mutual need sprang trade. It was a family institution, a method by which the several members of the household could benefit themselves and each other. As families increased and population multiplied, trade enlarged the circle of its operations, became more complex and multiform in its action and agents, and at length grew to be a vast system of exchange; the means of universal accommodation by which every person in the community received and bestowed benefits, and acquired the facilities of a larger and happier life. But it still kept its original significance and family spirit. Such was the origin of trade. There was nothing selfish about it; it was not mercenary, it was benevolent and humane. Centuries later, when it had become a profession, and its agents a class among other classes, there was nothing in its parentage of which it need be ashamed, no reason why those who were engaged in it should not be called “ the honourable of the earth.” (W. H. Murray.)Trade gave birth to our modern cities If we would realise more fully the noble part that merchants have played in the history of the world, and the close relation that commerce has always sustained to human progress, we hare only to investigate the origin of cities and consider the forces that pushed them upward in their growth. It was trade that gave birth to our modern cities; a knot of traders beneath the wails of a castle, feeding the castle and protected by it, adding booth to booth and house to house,--so cities arose, so have they been builded. The same is true today. Commercial facilities and necessities are the forces that build our cities. They represent the material forces and results of civilisation. Each city is a hive, and ships and railways are the bees that bring honey to the hive, bringing it from all the world. They fly everywhere,--these bees with sails and wheels for wings,--their flight girdles the earth, and the rush and roar of their going and returning fill the whole air. Now, cities represent progress. In them you see the results of human invention and skill. Here the artist brings his canvas and the sculptor his marble. Hero the loom is represented by the finest fabrics, and architecture lifts the pillars of her power. In cities oratory finds her school, and eloquence her platform; music her applause, and the poet his wreath. Every city is a record, a testimony, an advertisement. In its congregated forces and results you behold the people who built it. (W. H. Murray.)Commerce and discovery Nor would it be well to overlook the use that God has made of commerce in relation to discoveries. The pioneers of civilisation have been ships and traders. The race has, as it were, sailed to its triumphs. (W. H. Murray.)God in commerce I. GOD’ S PLAN IS TO GIVE EVERY MAN WHAT HE NEEDS , , AND . II. TO THE FAMILY AMONG MEN. (W. H. Murray.)God’ s design in commerce It is not that individuals may be enriched,--that is only an accidental result, one of the minor consequences; the realobject on the part of God, the great result to be achieved, is and will be this: that every man on the face of the whole earth may be supplied with what he needs, in body, mind, and spirit, to the end that he may stand at last clothed in the original beauty and excellence, the likeness of which has for so many ages been lost from the earth. (W. H. Murray.)Merchants I. MANY ARE MUCH TRIED WITH LIMITED CAPITAL. II. MANY ARE TEMPTED TO AND ANXIETY. III. ARE TEMPTED TO NEGLECT THEIR HOME DUTIES. IV. MANY ARE TEMPTED TO MAKE GAIN OF MORE THAN THE SOUL. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)The folly of reckless speculation If ever tempted into reckless speculation, preach to your soul a sermon from the text: “ As a partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not, so riches got by fraud; a man shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at the end he shall be a fool.” (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)Rivalry in business Go where you will, in town or country, you will find half a dozen shops struggling for a custom that would only keep up one. And so they are forced to undersell one another; and, when they have got down the prices all they can by fair means, they are forced to get them lower by foul, and to sand the sugar, and sloeleaf the tea, and put, Satan--that prompts them on--knows what, into the bread; and then they don’ t thrive--they can’ t thrive. God’ s curse must be on them. They began by trying to oust each other and eat each other up, and, while they are eating up their neighbours, their neighbours eat them up, and so they all come to ruin together. (C. Kingsley, M. A.) Isaiah 23:9 The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory God abases pride In this message there is a revelation of the Divine method in dealing with men and nations. For here the Divine purpose is to show how stained is all human pride, and how contemptible are those whose honour comes from men only. What God brings about is a gradual uncovering of things, a discovering of their true character, and therefore the manifestation of the utter unsoundness and instability of anything not based on the:Divine will. (B. Blake, B. D.)God exalts the humble and abases the proud A philosopher, being asked how God was employed, gave for answer, “ In exalting the humble and abasing the proud.” The reply was good, and agreeable to Scripture. (R. Macculloch.)The great sin of pride Other sins are violations of the law of God, this acteth in direct opposition to His very existence and sovereignty; it not only despiseth His commandment, but it arraigneth the dispensations of His providence and grace, and proves the fruitful source of all other transgressions. (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 23:15 Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years Tyre forgotten seventy years Tyre shall be forgotten “ seventy years, like the days of one king” ;--a Hebrew idiom, obscure to us, though probably plain enough to Isaiah’ s hearers; but of which the most probable sense is, that the round number here, as elsewhere, indicates an indefinite, though considerable time, and that the prophet either farther limits this by a phrase equivalent to “ for about a whole generation,” or else implies that the seventy years--the long time of oblivion--shall be as monotonous, and perhaps as short to look back upon, as those of a single reign. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.) Isaiah 23:17-18 And it shall come to pass, after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre The revival of Tyre In the fourth and last strophe, the prophet dwells upon the revival of Tyre in the ideal future. After seventy years of enforced retirement and quiescence, Tyre will resume her previous activity, but with the significant change, that her gains will now be consecrated to Jehovah, supplying food and stately clothing to the people of Israel who dwell in His immediate presence (Isaiah 23:18). The figure under which Isaiah expresses this thought, appears to us a strange one; but it is suggested by the reflection that devotion to gain as such, unrelieved by any ennobling principle, is an unworthy occupation, which may easily degenerate into spiritual prostitution. The prophet, having once made use of the figure, retains it to the end. Disengaged from its singular garb, the truth which he enunciates is an important one. Tyre was preeminently, in Isaiah’ s day, the representative of the spirit of commerce: and the prophet here anticipates the time when this spirit may be elevated and purified. Isaiah pictures to himself the future growth of religion among the different nations with which he was acquainted under figures consonant to the peculiarities of each; in the case of Tyre, it takes the form of a purification of the base spirit of commerce; the old occupation of Tyre is not discarded, it is only purged of its worldliness, and ennobled. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The mercenary spirit a prostitution of the soul In so far as commercial activity, thinking only of earthly advantage, does not recognise a God-appointed limit, and carries on a promiscuous traffic with all the world, it is a prostitution of the soul. (F. Delitzsch.)Phoenician harlotry Moreover, at markets and fairs, especially Phoenician ones, prostitution of the body was an old custom. (F. Delitzsch.)Commercial harlotry The harlot converts into a matter of traffic what should be a sacred relationship: so trade brings men together merely as buyers and sellers, not as brethren; and consequently rapidly degenerates from self-interest into selfishness, unless it be perpetually counterbalanced by other and nobler aims in the man. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.) Isaiah 23:18 And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord Mercantile life I. We are reminded that THE MARKET IS A DIVINE . In this chapter it is not commerce that is doomed to destruction but commercialists. When one thinks of the innate tendency of human nature to exchange commodities, a tendency discoverable even in children and barbarians: the distribution of the necessaries of human subsistence and progress over every zone of the globe, each zone supplying a something which the other does not, and the provisions of each zone, if not essential to human life, essential to human civilisation and comfort; the facilities which nature has provided in rivers, and oceans, and winds for conveying these commodities from one part of the globe to another, and the fact that the social unity and happiness of mankind can only be advanced by the principle of mutual interdependence, and that commerce is essential to this--it is impossible to escape the conclusion that trade is of Divineappointment. The principle is as old as the race, as wide as the world, as operative as life itself. II. The chapter reminds us that THE MARKET IS UNDER THE OF THE OF THE WORLD. Though the Tyrian traders pursued their daily race for wealth, and indulged in the luxuries which their wealth could supply, utterly regardless of God, He was not regardless of them. So now, God is as truly in the market as in the temple, and as truly demands worship at the stall of the one, as at the altar of the other. III. The chapter reminds us that IS NO FOR THE SAFETY OF A COUNTRY. If commercial prosperity could have saved a people, Tyre would have remained. But where is Tyre now? As she rose in wealth, she sank in vice. “ Righteousness alone exalteth a nation.” IV. The chapter reminds us that THE MARKET SHOULD BE TO THE TEMPLE. This indeed is the grand subject of our text. (Homilist.)True religion in Tyre The prophecy does not mean that this would take place immediately after the rebuilding, but subsequently to the seventy years of its desolation. After the return of the Jews from Babylon they penetrated different countries and everywhere endeavoured to proselyte their inhabitants. That the Christian religion was established at Tyre, is not only indicated by the fact that Paul found several of his disciples there on his way to Jerusalem (Acts 21:3-4), but from the statement of subsequent historians. Eusebius says, that when the Church of God was founded in Tyre “ much of its wealth was consecrated to God.” And Jerome says, “ We have seen churches built to the Lord in Tyre.” So not only has the prophecy of its destruction been fulfilled, but the prophecy in the text, namely, its restoration and consecration to God, has also to some extent been realised. (Homilist.)Business In relation to this subject there are several popular errors. 1. One is, that which makes business an end in itself. The pursuit of wealth for its own sake eats up the soul and reduces the man to a grub, it may be a bloated and a decorated grub, still a grub. 2. Another error is the using of the market as a means of ultimate retirement. What is this but to grasp at a shadow? The man who spends his best energies and days in accumulating riches becomes utterly unfit for the enjoyment of a retired life. 3. Another error is the regarding business and religion as antagonistic elements. Man is a moral being, and everywhere and everywhen his moral obligation meets him. There is no more opposition between business and religion than there is between the body and the soul. It is by the body only that the soul can be truly developed. 4. There is yet another error that is noteworthy, that of making religion subservient to business. There are men who make gain of godliness. (Homilist.)The subserviency of the market to the temple The market should be subordinate to the temple. This will appear if we consider the following things-- I. THE OF MAN TO BOTH. 1. His relation to the market or to business is material. But his spiritual part is related to religion. It hungers for spiritual knowledge, for moral holiness, for communion with God. It does not live by bread alone. Now, as the spiritual part of man is confessedly of more value than the material, should not that work which is necessary for the latter be made subservient to the interest of the former? 2. Again, his relation to the market is temporary. How short is man’ s mercantile life? But his relation to spiritual engagements is abiding. Ought not the market, therefore, to be rendered subservient to the interests of the temple? II. THE OF THE MARKET TO THE OF . 1. Commerce is suited to promote religious discipline. Neither inactivity nor exclusive solitude is favourable to spiritual development. The duties of the market properly discharged tend to quicken, test, and strengthen the eternal principles of virtue. Those principles, like trees, always require the open air, and oftentimes storms to deepen their roots, and strengthen their fibres. In the market, man has his integrity, patience, faith in God put to the test. 2. Not only is the market a good scene for spiritual discipline, but for spiritual intercourse as well In it there is not only the exchange of material commodities, but an exchange of thoughts and emotions and purposes. Mind flows into mind, and the souls of nations mingle their ideas. What an immense influence for good or ill can men exert in the market! One impious mind in the market may pour its poisonous influence far into the civilised world. On the other hand, what an opportunity has the godly man for spiritual usefulness! The apostles often went into the market place to preach because of its opportunities for diffusing the truth. It seems that the Author of our being made an exchange of temporal commodities necessary for us in order that we may exchange the spiritual commodities of true thoughts and high purposes. 3. Once more, it is one of the best scenes for the practical display of religious truth. When does piety appear to the best advantage? On its knees in the closet? No one sees it there. In the temple, in the presence of the great congregation, going out in song and sigh? No. But in the market, a thing of life and strength. The man who stands firm in the market to principles in the midst of temptation, who stoops not to the mean, the greedy and the false, but who governs his spirit with calmness amidst the annoyances and disturbances of commercial life, gives a far better revelation of genuine religion than is contained in the grandest sermon ever preached. The British market is almost the heart of the world: give to it a holy and healthy pulsation, and its sanitary influence shall be felt afar. Conclusion-- 1. The principles of righteousness should govern us in the discharge of commercial duties. 2. Spiritual prosperity is the only true test of commercial success The more a man succeeds in the accumulation of wealth apart from the growth of his soul, the more really disastrous is his business. He becomes a moral bankrupt. Nay, more, the real man is lost--lost in the clerk, the shopkeeper, the merchant. (Homilist.)Undue devotion to business There are too many people in England on whose gravestones the French epitaph might be written, “ He was born a man and died a grocer.” (C. Kingsley, M. A.). Isaiah 24:1-5 Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty “ The earth,” “ The earth,” not the “ land” (R.. marg.) of Judah or Palestine. “ The prophecy leaps far beyond all particular or national conditions.” (J. Skinner, D. D.)The sources and consequences of anarchy I. THE FATAL OF ANARCHY. Of these we may be convinced, by viewing the greatness of the blessings which anarchy destroys. Happy the prince, happy the people, when lawful government is well established, wisely administered, duly honoured, and cheerfully obeyed! The persons, characters, and properties of the innocent are protected; good order is preserved; and the duties of every different situation, employment, and rank are faithfully discharged. The political body is healthy and safe. Distinguished genius and penetration, improved in wisdom by careful attention and long experience, are as eyes to the community: while the hands of the mechanic and labourer supply its necessities. These blessings are interrupted when the power of such a government is suspended; and, when it is destroyed, they cease. Anarchy, by levelling all ranks, transgresses a great law of nature, and of the God of nature; and stops a chief source of social happiness. Where abilities, dispositions, situations, and enjoyments differ, power and influence cannot be equal. A land, where there is no order, is a land of darkness and of the shadow of death. A community, which hath no eyes and guides, must wander and perish in the paths of destruction and misery. II. THE SOURCES OF ANARCHY, in rulers, or subjects, transgressing the laws, and neglecting the maxims, which reason or revelation prescribes, for securing the happiness and peace of society. 1. Anarchy is occasioned by violating the laws which prescribe patriotism, public spirit, love of liberty, and regard to the rights of mankind. 2. Neglect of the maxims of wisdom, taught by reason or Scripture, is sometimes the immediate, and sometimes the remote, source of anarchy. 3. Anarchy is occasioned, and the power of preventing or removing it diminished, by rulers and subjects transgressing the precepts of industry and frugality. 4. Anarchy is occasioned by neglect of the laws of reason and revelation, which prescribe peaceableness and union. Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. 5. Anarchy is occasioned by transgressing the great laws of religion. Religion produces the most perfect union: for it inspires, with the same general principle of action, supreme regard to the glory of God, unfeigned affection to our neighbour, and a willingness to sacrifice, whatever in its own nature opposes, or, through peculiar circumstances, becomes incompatible with these. (J. Erskine, D. D.)National desolation I. THE NATURE OF THE WHICH SHOULD COME UPON THE LAND--the emptiness or desolation of the earth. This is one of the rods which God holds over the heads of people, to make them stand in fear of Hun Leviticus 26:19; Deuteronomy 28:38). II. THE AUTHOR OR CAUSE OF SUCH is God. It does not happen by say blind chance. III. THE MEANS OR SECOND CAUSES whereby God makes a land waste. Pestilence, sword, fire, unseasonable weather, noxious creatures, etc. IV. THE CAUSE (verse 5). (W. Reading, M. A.) Isaiah 24:2 And it shall be, as with the people, go with the priest The mutual assimilation of minister and people The minister makes the people and the people make the minister. I. THE ’ S . 1. As a preacher and teacher--upon the conceptions of truth and duty, the understanding of the Word of God, and the practical conduct of the people. 2. As a man, in his own example and life. 3. As a pastor, in his pastoral intercourse with his flock. 4. As a public leader of reforms, etc. II. THE PEOPLE’ S . 1. In getting him audience. Giving him their own ears and attention and gathering in others. 2. In making him eloquent. Gladstone says, “ Eloquence is pouring back on an audience in a shower what is first received from the audience in vapour.” 3. In making him spiritual. They can encourage him to spiritual growth and culture; to earnest and edifying preaching. They can pray for him and help him to feel that they want and wish only spiritual food. 4. In making him a power for good. Aristotle says, “ Truth is what a thing is in itself, in its relations and in the medium through which it is viewed.” Goethe says, “ Before we complain of the writing as obscure we must first examine if all be clear within.” In the twilight a very plain manuscript is illegible. So the attitude of a hearer largely limits the power of a preacher; the cooperation of a Church member may indefinitely increase the effectiveness of a pastor’ s work. (Homiletic Review.)Preachers affected by their congregations A few years ago, after a minister had been preaching in a Wesleyan chapel not far from my house, one of the older officials of the circuit began to talk to him of the glories of a past generation, and said with some fervour, “ Ah, sir, there were great preachers in those days.” “ Yes,” was the reply of the minister, “ and there were great hearers in those days.” The answer was a wise and just one. If preachers form and discipline their congregations, it is equally true that congregations form and discipline their preachers. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)As with the buyer, so with the sellerBuying and selling Buying and selling are of very ancient date. The earliest instance we read of occurs in the history of Abraham. The purchase made was a burying place; and is connected with the death of Sarah, Abraham’ s wife. Various nations and states have distinguished themselves at different times by their trade and commerce. In ancient times we may enumerate Arabia, Egypt, and especially Tyre--the crowning city where “ merchants were princes--where traffickers were the honourable of the earth.” In more moderntimes we may mention Greece, Rome, Venice, the Hanse, Spain, Portugal, and above all Great Britain. Well might Napoleon Buonaparte call us a nation of shopkeepers. (R. W. Overbury.)The relative duties of buyers and sellers I. POINT OUT SOME OF THE EVILS BY WHICH THE BETWEEN BUYER AND SELLER IS . This relation is violated by every violation of those two important principles that lie at the foundation of all society--justice and truth. Justice consists in giving everyone his due; and truth or veracity in keeping our engagements, and avoiding lying and dissimulation. These principles and the relative duties arising out of them are violated-- 1. By the practice of any and every kind of fraud in the transaction of business. 2. By the contracting of debts without any reasonable prospect of being able to pay them. (1) But what is an individual to do who in the course of regular business finds himself, through the fluctuation to which every branch of trade is liable, insolvent at the end of the year? If he be a man of an honourable character and standing in trade, he will not want friends who are willing to lend him a sufficient sum to extricate him from his present difficulties, and to enable him to make a fresh trial under the blessing of God to succeed in that line of business which he has hitherto followed. But if, after having renewed the attempt, Divine providence does not see fit to succeed his endeavours, then from a false shame of appearing what he is in worldly circumstances before his fellow men, to keep on in business till he involve many others in ruin is most unjustifiable. (2) Further, if an individual who has failed in another’ s debt, should at any future time possess the means of paying his debts, we hold it that justice requires that he should so pay them. 3. Another way in which the relation between buyers and sellers is violated is, by making ourselves responsible for the debts of others, when we are not in possession of sufficient capital to warrant it. 4. By the very prevalent practice of underselling. Where does the injury fall? First, upon the poor operatives, who labour day and night by the sweat of their brow, to furnish conveniences and luxuries for the higher ranks of society, whilst their labour is remunerated at a price that hardly keeps them and their families from starving. The other party upon whom the injury falls is other tradesmen in the same line, who, shrinking from the use of such unscrupulous and oppressive means of realising large profits, lose either a part or the whole of their custom. II. SHOW THE OF THE SUBJECT. 1. In a secular view. The permanent prosperity of our trade, and consequently the temporal welfare of society depend upon the principles which pervade our business transactions. Every deviation from right principles inflicts injury somewhere, and in proportion to the extent of that deviation contributes to augment the sum of national distress. Nations, as such, are punished in this life--individuals hereafter. An invisible Being, too little recognised in the marts of trade, presides over our national affairs, and distributes or withholds national blessings in proportion as the principles of eternal truth and justice are practically acknowledged. 2. In a religious view. It has been well said, that “ a Christian is the highest style of man.” (1) A man who cares not by what means he obtains money, provided he succeeds in making a fortune, cannot be a Christian. The character and doom of such are too plainly written in Scripture to be mistaken for a single moment. (2) We do not, perhaps, sufficiently reflect that the predominance of the love of gain is equally incompatible with true piety; although a feeling of justice and benevolence, joined with self-respect, may lead us to abhor and reject all that is dishonourable in business. (3) Nor must we omit to observe, that whilst the habitual predominance of a worldly spirit is incompatible with personal piety, the too great prevalence of it is highly injurious. It either lifts a man up with vanity and pride, or it depresses him with anxiety and care; both of which unfit him for the service of God. In proportion as the spirit of the world prevails over the people of God, it stints their piety and usefulness, and counteracts the end for which they are constituted “ a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people,” --“ that ye should show forth the praises of Him, who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.” (R. W. Overbury.) Isaiah 24:5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof The earth polluted by sin The inhabitants of the earth pollute it by their sins: the children of Israel defiled God’ s land by filling His inheritance with the carcasses of their abominable things, with their idolatries, with their wicked inventions and corrupt ways. (R. Macculloch.)Transgression “ They have transgressed the laws” of nature, of conscience, and of nations--the ceremonial, judicial, and moral laws, delivered to them by Jehovah Himself. These laws, stamped by the sacred authority of the one great Lawgiver, which they ought to have religiously observed, they presumptuously transgressed, omitting to do what He required and committing what He had forbidden. (R. Macculloch.)The earth cursed for man’ s sake The Bible gives no support to the theory that matter itself is evil. God created all things; “ and God saw everything that He had made; and, behold, it was very good.” When, therefore, we read in the Bible that the earth is cursed, we read that it is cursed for man’ s sake; when we read of its desolation, it is as the effect of man’ s crime. (G. A. Smith, D. D.)The everlasting covenant The covenant is that with Noah, and the law that against bloodshed (Genesis 9:5-6). (A. B. Davidson, LL. D.) Isaiah 24:15 Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires Glorifying the Lord in the fires The suffering child of God will glorify Him in the fires-- I. BY HIS POWER. The same Almighty One who fed Elijah, in the terrible days of dearth, and who delivered Daniel from the power of the lions, still watches over and provides for His people. II. BY HIS WISDOM. He knows (as no short-sighted mortal can) when it is safe for us to enjoy prosperity, and when it is needful for our soul’ s health to endure disappointment and trouble. III. BY A FRANK OF HIS . If Our Heavenly Father had ceased to feel an interest in our welfare, He would not have employed the means to do us good. (J. N. Norton.)I. WHO ARE TO GLORIFY THE LORD. 1. “ to glorify” is exemplified in 1 Chronicles 29:10-18. Then the wicked cannot do that (Job 20:5). 2. But the Church triumphant does (Revelation 7:11-12). 3. And the Church militant ought to have this one aim. Let us take as an example, St. Paul (Philippians 3:10-14). The Lord glorified by His suffering people II. WHAT THE FIRES ARE IN WHICH WE GLORIFY GOD. 1. Determined self-humiliation, etc.; duties unpleasant, but religious. 2. Personal troubles are often perplexing. Faith is given, not to annihilate these, but to endure them. 3. Others’ trials. 4. Our bodily afflictions. 5. Amongst the hottest “ fires” are fiery darts. Paul was thus tried. 6. Enmity against our beloved Church. Foes within and without. 7. Fear of death. III. BUT ONE IS EVER PRESENT IN THE FIRES. 1. In them once, alone. 2. Leads others safely through. IV. THE FIRES ARE BURNING BY GOD’ S . Like powerful remedies of surgeon or physician. 1. To manifest His chosen. 2. To purify. 3. To strengthen. Opposition invigorates. (W. W. Tyler.)How to honour God in trouble “ Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” What an extensive admonition is this! And yet even this does not include the whole of God’ s claim upon us. We are required to honour Him, not only in all we do, but in all we suffer. I. THE STATE HERE . “ In the fires.” Stripped of metaphor, the passage supposes a state of suffering. In this state we may be found-- 1. As men. “ Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.” 2. As Christians. “ Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” II. THE DUTY HERE . “ Glorify ye the Lord in the fires.” The glory of God is essential or declarative. We cannot add to the former. But, “ the heavens declare the glory of God.” All His works praise Him. How? By the impressions and displays of His perfections; by showing us what He is, and what He deserves. Thus, Christians are appointed to “ show forth the praises” --virtues--excellences--“ of Him who hath called them,” etc.; which is done by their language and their lives. Hence, we glorify God in our afflictions when we verbally and practically acknowledge-- 1. His agency. 2. His rectitude. He is “ righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.” 3. His wisdom. 4. His goodness. 5. His power. III. THE REASONS. 1. Because you have the finest opportunity. The scene naturally awakens attention. Nothing is so impressive as the graces of a Christian in trouble. 2. The obligations you are under to the blessed God. 3. Hope should influence you. “ Verily there is a reward for the righteous.” (W. Jay.)Glorifying God in affliction “ There never was such affliction as mine,” said a poor sufferer, restlessly tossing on a sick bed, in a city hospital. “ I don’ t think there ever was such a racking pain.” “ Once,” was faintly uttered from the next bed. The first speaker paused for a moment, and then began, in a still more impatient tone: “ Nobody knows what I pass through; nobody ever suffered more pain.” “ One,” was again whispered from the adjoining bed. “ I take it you mean yourself, poor soul! but--Oh! not myself--not myself,” exclaimed the other, her pale face flushing as if some wrong had been offered, not to herself but to another. There was a short pause, and then the sweet, gentle voice uttered the sacred words, “ When they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand: and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon Him, and took the reed, and smote Him on the head. And when they came unto a place called Golgotha, they gave Him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall. And they crucified Him. And, about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” The voice ceased, and the nurse handed a cup of barley water, flavoured with a grateful acid, to the lips of both sufferers. “ Thank you, nurse,” said the last speaker. “ They gave Him gall to eat, and vinegar to drink.” “ She is talking about Jesus,” said the other sick woman, “ but talking about His sufferings can’ t mend mine.” “ But it lightens hers,” said the nurse. “ I wonder how?” Hush!” said the nurse. The gentle voice began: “ Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” Verily, even in the midst of affliction and suffering God’ s true children will learn to glorify Him. (J. N. Norton.)Galileo’ s recognition of God in his blindness How touching that saying of blind Galileo, “ It has pleased God that it shall be so, and it must please me too.” (J. N. Norton.)“ The fires” The term “ fires” is a local designation meaning the east, as the land of sunrise, or of dawning light, and so standing in opposition to the west, which is represented in the next clause as “ the isles of the sea.” The deliverance is one that calls for a chorus of praise from one end of the earth to the other. (T. W. Chambers, D. D.) Isaiah 24:17 Fear and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee Fear, and the pit, and the snare The expressions here used seem to have formed a proverbial saying, as appears from their being repeated by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 48:43-44). They allude to the different methods of taking wild beasts that were anciently in use. The fear, or terror, was a line strung with feathers of different colours, which was so constructed as to flutter in the air and to make a terrifying noise, that frightened the beasts into the pit, or the snare, that was prepared for them. The pit was digged deep in the ground, and covered over with boughs or turf, in order to deceive them, that they might fall into it unawares. The snare was composed of nets, enclosing a large space of ground that the wild beasts were known to haunt, which was drawn gradually narrower, until they were at last entangled and shut up. Our prophet, addressing himself to the inhabitants of the earth, declares, that calamities corresponding to each of these ways of destroying wild beasts, were to seize upon them, and that they should be so ordered, that those who escaped one sort would be arrested by another. (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 24:18-20 The foundations of the earth do shake The religious improvement of earthquakes (preached in 1756):--The works of Creation and Providence were undoubtedly intended for the notice and contemplation of mankind, especially when God “ comes out of His place,” that is, departs from the usual and stated course of His providence to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquities; then it becomes us to observe the operation of His hands with fear and reverence. To this the Psalmist repeatedly calls us: “ Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations He hath made in the earth.” “ Come, and see the works of God; He is terrible in His doing toward the children of men.” This world is a state of discipline for another; therefore chastisements of various kinds and degrees are to be enumerated among the ordinary works of Providence--pain, sickness, losses, bereavements, disappointments. But when these are found too weak and ineffectual for their reformation; or when, from their being so frequent and common, men begin to think them things of course, and not to acknowledge the Divine hand in them; then the universal Ruler uses such signal and extraordinary executioners of His vengeance, as cannot but rouse a slumbering world, and render it sensible of His agency. These extraordinary ministers of His vengeance are generally these four: the Famine, Sword, Pestilence, and Earthquakes. I. Let the majestic and terrible phenomenon of earthquakes put you in mind of THE MAJESTY AND POWER OF GOD AND THE OF HIS . II. This desolating judgment may justly lead you to reflect upon THE OF OUR WORLD. III. This melancholy event may carry your minds gratefully to reflect upon THE OF HEAVEN towards our country, in that it was not involved in the same destruction. IV. That which I would particularly suggest to your thoughts from the devastations of the late earthquake, is THE LAST OF OUR WORLD AT THE FINAL . Of this, an earthquake is both a confirmation to human reason, and a lively representation (S. Davies, M. A.)“ Removed like a cottage” (Isaiah 24:20):--“ Swayeth to and fro like a hammock.” Such is the more literal rendering. The hammock (the same word as in Isaiah 1:8) is still used throughout the East by the night-watchers of vineyards. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.). Isaiah 25:1O Lord, Thou art my God.--This chapter looks as pleasantly upon the Church as the former looked dreadfully upon the world. (M. Henry.)Calm after storm We can only understand the highest, sweetest meaning of this chapter in proportion as we enter into the spirit of the chapter which precedes it. That chapter is full of clouds, and darkness, and judgment. The very terribleness of God is a reason for putting trust in Him. Probably this view of the Divine attributes has not always been sufficiently vivid to our spiritual consciousness. We have thought of God, and have become afraid; whereas when we hear Him thundering, and see Him scattering His arrows of lightning round about Him, and behold Him pouring contempt upon the mighty who have defied Him, we should say, See! God is love. What does He strike? No little child, no patient woman, no broken heart, no face that is steeped in tears of contrition. On what does His fist fall?--on arrogance, on haughtiness, on self-conceit, on self-completeness. He turns the proud away with an answer of scorn to their prayer of patronage. God is only terrible to evil. That is the reason why His terribleness should be an encouragement and an allurement to souls that know their sin and plead for pardon at the Cross. (J. Parker, D. D.)Song of assurance I. THE THAT IS CLAIMED. “ O Jehovah, Thou art my God.” This affinity was predetermined by God the Father; it is exhibited in the most conspicuous manner in the person of God the Son; it is revealed, beyond the possibility of doubt, to the heart of God’ s elect by God the Holy Ghost II. THE WONDERS . “ Thou hast done wonderful things.” will only select three out of myriads: His vicarious work, the extension of the Redeemer’ s kingdom, and the deliverance of precious souls individually by con version to God. III. THE ETERNAL FIRST CAUSE AVOWED. “ Thy counsels of old.” (J. Irons.)The faithfulness of God That Divine perfection which the prophet celebrates is a fountain of consolation to everyone that “ thirsts after righteousness.” I. SEVERAL PAST OF THE OF GOD. 1. Connected with the history of the deluge. 2. His conduct towards the people of Israel. 3. His promise to the father of the faithful, that “ in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed,” --a promise afterwards repeatedly confirmed by prophets. 4. In the fulness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, etc. Galatians 4:4-5). Having thus produced an instance of the faithfulness of God from each of the several kingdoms of nature, providence, and grace, I proceed to-- II. DEDUCE SUCH AS THE SUBJECT APPEARS TO SUGGEST. 1. We should cherish gratitude. 2. It is the privilege of devout Christians to maintain unshaken confidence in God--with reference both to the Church of Christ and the circumstances of individual believers. (1) Of the perpetuity and future prosperity of the Church we are not permitted to doubt. (2) Since the Lord is faithful, let the Christian who is in a state of poverty, re member that his Saviour hath said, “ Take no thought saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed . . . Your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things,” etc. (3) Since God is faithful, let those who feel the strength of indwelling sin in their hearts, remember that it is promised, “ sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” (4) To fearful Christians the subject is also calculated to administer great relief. It should inspire a cheerful and affectionate confidence. (5) In short, this illustrious attribute presents an asylum, whatever storms you are called upon in the path of duty to endure. 3. The subject should awaken salutary fear. For the faithfulness of God to His word and purpose is an attribute no less to be dreaded by the impenitent than valued by believers. (T. Sims, M. A.)“ My God” Thou art my God, who hast invited me to sacred intercourse with Thee: who hast inclined me to surrender myself and all my concerns into Thy hands, and to choose Thee for my God. Thou art my Father, who hast nourished and brought me up among Thy children. Thou art my Friend, who hast loaded me with a rich profusion of favours. Thou art the Portion that I have chosen, in the possession of which I shall enjoy the most permanent felicity. Thou art my God, and therefore my happiness shall be complete. I humbly claim from Thy all-sufficiency the supply of all my wants; from Thy wisdom, direction and conduct; from Thy power, assistance and protection; from Thy love, refreshment and consolation; from Thy mercy, forgiveness and blessing; from Thy faithfulness, stability and support; and from Thy patience, forbearance and long suffering. I cheerfully resign myself and all my interests to Thy direction and disposal; and, with dutiful affection, I consecrate all my powers and faculties to Thy honour, whose I am, and whom I serve, that they may be employed in promoting Thy glory. (R. Macculloch.)Exalting the Lord To exalt the Lord our God is-- 1. To proclaim the glorious honour of His majesty. 2. To extol the exceeding riches of His grace. 3. To magnify His transcendent excellences. 4. To celebrate, with affectionate gratitude, His wonderful loving kindness. (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 25:4 For Thou hast been a strength to the poor “ Poor” and “ needy” Among the names applied to God’ s people there are three which were destined to play an enormous part in the history of religion. In the English version these appear as two: “ poor and needy” ; but in the original they are three. In Isaiah 25:4 : “ Thou has been astronghold to the poor and a stronghold to the needy,” “ poor” renders a Hebrew word, “ dal,” literally, “ wavering, tottering, infirm,” then “ slender” or “ lean,” then “ poor” in fortune and estate; “ needy” literally renders the Hebrew “‘ ebhyon,” Latin “ egenus.” In Isaiah 26:6 : “ The foot of thepoor and the steps of the needy,” “ needy” renders “ dal,” while poor renders “‘ ani,” a passive form--“ forced, afflicted, oppressed,” then “ wretched,” whether under persecution, poverty, loneliness, or exile, and so “ tamed, mild, meek.” These three words, in their root ideas of “ infirmity,” “ need,” and positive “ affliction,” cover among them every aspect of physical poverty and distress. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Poverty in the East In the East poverty scarcely ever means physical disadvantage alone; in its train there follow higher disabilities. A poor Eastern cannot be certain of fair play in the courts of the land. He is very often a wronged man, with a fire of righteous anger burning in his breast. Again, and more important, misfortune is to the quick, religious instinct of the Oriental a sign of God’ s estrangement. With us misfortune is so often only the cruelty, sometimes real, sometimes imagined, of the rich; the unemployed vents his wrath at the capitalist, the tramp shakes his fist after the carriage on the highway. In the East they do not forget to curse the rich, but they remember as well to humble themselves beneath the hand of God. With an unfortunate Oriental the conviction is supreme, God is angry with me; I have lost His favour. His soul eagerly longs for God. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Israel’ s poverty of heart These were four aspects of Israel’ s poverty of heart, a hunger for pardon, a hunger for justice, a hunger for home, and a hunger for God. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)A refuge from the stormA refuge from the storm The conditions of our earth, and its varied phenomena, are employed by the sacred writers to represent many circumstances of human life. Troubles, especially when heavy and expressive of Divine displeasure, are represented in Holy Scripture as storms. I. THIS IS A WORLD WHERE STORMS OFTEN GATHER AND ON THIS PLANET ARE NEVER OUT OF PLACE. The storm has its mission as well as the calm. Among men, adversity of all kinds is a powerful agent in accomplishing necessary spiritual operations. II. THIS IS A TIME OF STORMS AND HERE ARE NOT OUT OF SEASON. The days of man upon earth are as the winter of his life. Death is the seed time, and immortality is the spring and summer and harvest. When the spring and summer have come, snow and hail are out of season; but during the winter of our being, hail and snow and rain are in season. III. EVERY STORM IS RAISED AND GUIDED UNDER THE EYE AND HAND OF GOD. The stormy wind does not surprise Him. He determined that it should blow at such a moment, from such a quarter, with such a force, and with particular effects. Neither does it master Him. The stormy wind simply accomplishes His word. IV. THE OBJECT OF EVERY STORM IS GOOD, THE PRESENT OF IT IS NOT JOYOUS, BUT . Hence the need of a refuge to the man of God. Have you marked how frequently God is spoken of as “ a refuge” ? V. A PLACE TO BE A REFUGE MUST BE OUT OF THE STORM, OR, IF IN THE MIDST OF IT, MUST BE THAN THE STORM. But how is it that we children of men come to take refuge in God? The Gospel reaches us with its wooing voice. In the mediation of Jesus, in His sympathy, love, and power we find refuge. And we come to make all the covenants and promises of God distinct refuges. There is a harbour or haven at every point of danger. Do you come to poverty? There are promises to the poor. Are you a widow? There are promises to the widow. And all the hopes which these covenants awaken become in turn so many refuges. In this world, quietness of mind and heart is a thing utterly impossible to a man who does not rest in his God. If you feel the need of a refuge, you may in that sorrow which another professes to despise find the very refuge which you seek in your God. And why? Say that your sensitiveness springs from weakness. Well, God has sympathy with your weakness. (S. Martin.) Isaiah 25:6-9A feast of fat things The Gospel feast I. THE FEAST. 1. Spiritual blessings are here, as in other places, set forth under the emblem of feast (Proverbs 9:2-5; Luke 14:16-24; Matthew 22:4). In Christ, and in His Gospel, provision is made for our refreshment in various respects. (1) Truth is afforded for the understanding. (2) Beauty (the amiable perfections of God and Christ), goodness, love, hope, joy. (3) Provision is also made for the sustenance of the Divine life in the soul John 6:32-33; John 6:47-57). (4) In the Gospel there is not barely provision, but “ a feast” ; abundant provision. A rich variety of truths, and clear and satisfactory discoveries concerning them. Abundant mercy, to remove the most aggravated guilt, and to give assurance of pardon, reconciliation, and peace. Abundant grace, to purify from all defilement, and enrich with holiness and comfort. There is most agreeable, rich, and delightful provision. But, for whom? For those who have their spiritual taste rectified, and have spiritual discernment 1 Corinthians 2:14). “ A feast of fat things.” Bishop Lowth reads, “ of delicacies” ; “ of fat things full of marrow,” or, “ of delicacies exquisitely rich.” The truths of the Gospel are enlarging, ennobling, and consoling to the mind; the grace of it enriching, invigorating, and comforting to the spirit; its doctrines, precepts, promises, exhortations, sweet and precious. Cheering, exhilarating provision. “ Wines on the lees” ; or, old wines (Lowth). The truths of the Gospel give the fullest satisfaction and comfort to believers. “ Well refined.” Refined from every impure and carnal mixture. 2. But where is the feast made? “ In this mountain” This is said in allusion to Judaea, a mountainous country, and especially to Jerusalem and Mount Zion, whore this provision was first made. There Christ died and rose again, the Spirit was first poured out, the Gospel first preached, and the Christian Church first formed. But the Christian Church itself is often figuratively described under the terms, Jerusalem and Mount Zion Hebrews 12:22). 3. Do we further inquire, for whom this feast is made, and on what terms such may partake of it! It is made “ for all people,” on the terms of repentance and faith. 4. To this feast we are invited. But we neither know by nature our want of these blessings, nor the worth of them, nor the way of attaining them. To remedy this evil we have-- II. A PROMISE. “ He will destroy the face,” etc. The “ face of the covering” is put by a hypallage, for the “ covering of the face.” The expression has a reference to the veil that was upon the face of Moses, or to that of the tabernacle and temple, both emblematical of the obscurity of that dispensation. But much darker was the dispensation the heathen were under. The veil of unbelief is also intended (Romans 11:32); and that of prejudice. These veils are removed by the plain and powerful preaching of the Gospel (2 Corinthians 3:12-13). By the circulation of the Scriptures. By the “ spirit of wisdom and revelation” (Ephesians 1:17-19). By the “ heart turning to the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:16), and faith in Jesus (John 12:46). Here we have a manifest prophecy of the illumination and conversion of both Jews and Gentiles, and of the universal spread of religion. III. THE EFFECT (verse 8). The Messiah, who is the “ light of the world,” is the “ light of life.” 1. “ He will swallow up death in victory.” (1) Spiritual death, introduced by the sin of Adam, is swallowed up in victory Hence, “ he that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (2) Temporal death. 2. “ The Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces.” He will remove sufferings and sorrows, and the causes of them forever (Revelation 21:4). 3. “ And the rebuke of His people,” etc. This implies, that the people of God have been, and will be more or less, under reproach, in all ages, till the glorious period here spoken of arrive. IV. THE JOY AND TRIUMPH OF GOD’ S PEOPLE (verse 9). Their enemies now reproach them, “ Where is your God?” But what will then be the reply of the Lord’ s people? “ Lo, this is our God” ; we have trusted, hoped, waited for Him, and now He hath saved us. Henceforth we shall have the everlasting fruition of His glorious presence. The presence of God shall remain with the Church (verse 10). (J. Benson, D. D.)A feast of fatness This prophecy spans the Gospel dispensation. First, it presents to us the Gospel dispensation in its present state of grace. The prophet says “ In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things.” By “ this mountain” the prophet intends Mount Zion; and from the literal Mount Zion it was that the Word of the Lord went forth, being preached in the first instance by the forerunner of Christ, and then by the incarnate Son of God Himself. And all the blessings which have flowed to the Church and to the world have come to us from Jerusalem--that Jerusalem which is the type of the Christian Church And you will observe that this Gospel dispensation, with its blessings and its privileges, is spoken of under the familiar imago of a feast. This imagery is eminently calculated to present to us an idea of the fulness of the grace of the Gospel. It is not as if God was offering provision to starving men just enough, as we should say in common parlance, to keep body and soul together. It is not a scanty provision: it is not a provision simply of bread and water. Now, in order to see what is meant let us apply this, in the first place, to the Gospel dispensation in its bearing upon sinners to whom the invitation is first addressed. You mark, in the first verse, that it is a feast of fat things. It is a feast of wine in the very best condition--wine which is old, settled upon its lees, and which by reason of its age has now attained its very best and choicest flavour. Now, let us observe how aptly this illustrates the provision of the Gospel in its aspect to those to whom the message and the invitation are still addressed. When we, for instance, as ministers, are called upon to deliver this invitation under any circumstances, we feel that we are entirely unhampered by any limitation as to persons, or by any limitation as to the question of sufficiency and adaptation to those who are invited. It is not, I mean, a scanty hospitality which God has provided. It is not such that he who has to deliver the invitation in this church, or anywhere else in the midst of the streets of London, has to consider, “ Well, the Gospel is only intended for a certain class of sinners; the Gospel is only intended for certain kind of sins; and before I deliver this invitation I have to decide whether this is a case which it will suit,--whether this is a case which is included in the provision that is made,--whether I may not be deceiving and disappointing this man.” No such thing. It is a feast; it is a feast of fat things; and it is a feast of the very choicest wines. What does all this mean when we strip off the imagery,--when we look at this not as a beautiful piece of prophetic poetry, but in its reality, in its actual bearing upon men to whom the Gospel is addressed? It means to say that there is abundant rich provision for every sinner. It means to say that God in His love has provided for the case of every man. It means that the blessings of salvation which we have to offer in Jesus Christ are not scanty blessings,--that they are not such blessings as leave us any doubt as to whether they will meet the case of this particular man, but that the salvation which is in Christ is a feast, and a feast of fat things. And then, again, take the aspect of this Gospel towards those who have already received the invitation, and who are, so to say, sitting down at the feast table. Every believing man who is in Christ is as a man sitting down at a perpetual feast. Everyday is, in this sense, a feast day to him. Every day is a day upon which he is to be feeding upon Christ, and to be nourishing his soul with the rich and costly blessings of salvation. Better to have the feeblest faith than to be an unbeliever. But is this the condition in which God would have His believing people to be? I say, no such thing. God intends that you should receive, and receive without doubting, and receive without reserve, when you come to Christ, the fulness and the freeness of His grace. He intends that you should believe Him when He says “ Thy sins are forgiven.” He does not expect of you that you should be content with saying “ Ah, at some time or other God will forgive my sins: there is hope that my sins will be forgiven.” He intends to make you feel, and desires to have you realise from day to day, that it is not simply bread and water, but that it is wine and milk. There is this unbroken continuity between what we call “ grace” and what we very properly call “ glory.” You observe how this appears clearly in the end of the passage, because the prophet flows from one thing into the other as naturally as possible. What I want you particularly to mark, as one of the chief things I would impress upon you, is how, beginning with this Word of the Lord in Jerusalem--beginning with the taking away of the yell from off the faces of all people--beginning with the invitation to repent and believe and receive the remission of sins through our Lord Jesus Christ--the prophet goes on to what we find ultimately to be at the very end of the dispensation; how naturally, as if there was no break, as if it was just one flow of grace until, if I may so express it, the river of grace is lost in the vast expanse of the ocean of glory. There seems to be no chasm. Indeed, wherever there is in any young man or in any old man, in any woman or in any child, a work of grace--real, saving grace--that is the beginning, and glory with all its details and all its blessedness, all its companionships and all its occupations, will be nothing more than the full efflorescence and the full development and the full consummation of that work of grace which is begun. Well now, you see, these are blended together in the text; and the apostle says that God will in that day fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah, and that He will “ swallow up death in victory.” He will not do it before. Death is not swallowed up in victory, even when the triumphant Christian dies. But the apostle says, interpreting the words of the prophet, “ Then shall be brought to pass the saying which is written” ; that is, when the voice of the archangel shall be heard, and the trumpet shall sound, and when the graves shall give up their dead, and when they that have gone down to the grave in a natural body, in dishonour, in corruption, in feebleness, shall be raised in power and in incorruption and in glory,--“ then shall be brought to past the saying which is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” And this is to be followed by the fulfilment of the declaration of the prophet, interpreted by the figure of the Apocalypse. God is then to wipe away all tears. Tears, as we know, on earth, have many sources. There are the tears of penitence: we shall have to shed them no longer. There are the tears of anguish on account of temporal sorrow and bereavement and bodily suffering: we shall have to shed them no more. There are the tears of anxiety amid all the pressing cares of life. There are the tears of despondency and disappointment. We shall have to shed them no more. There is another source of tears while we are yet in the body. You and I have often shed tears from another cause--tears of joy. And why do we shed tears of joy? Because the joy is sometimes so sudden, it is so deep, it is so great, it so thoroughly overmasters us and transports us, that the feeble body cannot bear it; and the result is that tears course down our cheeks, and, as we say not infrequently, we “ weep for joy.” There will be no weeping for joy after the resurrection. Because, though we shall have the joy, we shall be capacitated to bear it: we shall have the joy, even the joy of our Lord, but our whole nature will be strong enough to enjoy that joy, and so there will be no more tears. (J. C. Miller, D. D.)“ In this mountain” A poet’ s imagination and a prophet’ s clear vision of the goal to which God will lead humanity are both at their highest in this great song of the future, whose winged words make music even in a translation. No doubt it starts from the comparatively small fact of the restoration of the exiled nation to its own land. But it soars far beyond that. It sees, all mankind associated with them in sharing its blessings. It is the vision of God’ s ideal for humanity. That makes it the more remarkable that the prophet, with this wide outlook, should insist with such emphasis on the fact that it has a local centre. That phrase “ in this mountain” is three times repeated in the hymn; two of the instances have lying side by side with them the expressions “ all people” and “ all nations,” as if to bring together the local origin and the universal extent of the blessings promised. The sweet waters that are to pour through the world well up from a spring opened “ in this mountain.” The beams that are to lighten every land stream out from a light blazing there. The world’ s hopes for that golden age which poets have sung, and towards which earnest social reformers have worked, and of which this prophet was sure, rest on a definite fact, done in a definite place, at a definite time. Isaiah knew the place, but what was to be done, or when it was to be he knew not. You and I ought to be wiser. History has taught us that Jesus Christ fulfils the visioned good that inspired the prophet’ s brilliant words. We might say, with allowable licence, that “ this mountain,” in which the Lord does the good things that this song magnifies, is not so much Zion as Calvary. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The source of the world's hope I. WHERE DOES THE WORLD’ S FOOD COME FROM? Physiologists can tell, by studying the dentition and the digestive apparatus of an animal, what it is meant to live upon, whether vegetables or flesh, or a mingled diet of both. And you can tell by studying yourself, what, or whom, you are meant to live upon. Look at these hearts of yours with their yearnings, their clamant needs. Will any human love satisfy the heart hunger of the poorest of us? No! Look at these tumultuous wills of ours that fancy they want to be independent, and really want an absolute master whom it is blessedness to obey. The very make of our being, our heart, will, mind, desires, passions, longings, all with one voice proclaim that the only food for a man is God. Jesus Christ brings the food that we need. “ In this mountain is prepared a feast . . . for all nations.” Notice, that although it does not appear on the surface, and to English readers, this world’ s festival, in which every want is met, and every appetite satisfied, is a feast on a sacrifice. Would that the earnest men, who are trying to cure the world’ s evils and still the world’ s wants, and are leaving Jesus Christ and His religion out of their programme, would ask themselves whether there is not something deeper in the hunger of humanity than their ovens can ever bake bread for. II. WHERE DOES THE THAT GIVES LIGHT TO THE WORLD COME FROM? My text emphatically repeats, “ in this mountain.” The pathetic picture that is implied here, of a dark pall that lies over the whole world, suggests the idea of mourning, but still more emphatically that of obscuration and gloom. The veil prevents vision and shuts out light, and that is the picture of humanity as it presents itself before this prophet--a world of men entangled in the folds of a dark pall that lay over their heads, and swathed them round about, and prevented them from seeing; shut them up in darkness and entangled their feet, so that they stumbled in the gloom. It is a pathetic picture, but it does not go beyond the realities of the case. There is a universal fact of human experience which answers to the figure, and that is sin. That is the black thing whose ebon folds hamper us, and darken us, and shut out the visions of God and blessedness, and all the glorious blue above us. The weak point of all these schemes and methods to which I have referred for helping humanity out of the slough, and making men happier, is that they underestimate the fact of sin. There is only one thing that deals radically with the fact of human transgression; and that is the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, and its result, the inspiration of the Spirit of life that was in Jesus Christ, breathed into us from the throne itself. III. WHERE DOES THE LIFE THAT DEATH COME FROM? “ He will swallow up death in victory.” Or, as probably the word more correctly means, “ He will swallow up death forever.” None of the other panaceas for the world’ s evils even attempt to deal with that “ shadow feared of man” that sits at the end of all our paths. Jesus Christ has dealt with it. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Needy man and his moral provision I. IS MORALLY -- HAS . “ A feast of fat things,” etc. The feverish restlessness and the earnest racing after something not yet attained, show the hungry and thirsty state of the soul. Christianity has the provisions, which are-- 1. Adequate: “ for all people.” 2. Varied: “ wines and fat things full of marrow.” 3. Pleasant: “ wines on the lees well refined.” II. IS MORALLY -- HAS . “ He will destroy in this mountain,” etc. Men are enwrapped in moral gloom; they have their, “ understanding . . . darkened” Ephesians 4:18). “ The veil is upon their hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:15). Physical darkness is bad enough, intellectual darkness is worse, moral darkness is the worst of all. It is a blindness to the greatest Being, the greatest obligations, and the greatest interests. Christianity has moral light. Christ is “ the light of the world.” Indeed, Christianity gives the three conditions of moral vision:--the visual faculty; opens the eyes of conscience; the medium, which is truth; and the object, which is God, etc. III. IS MORALLY DEAD-- HAS LIFE. “ He will swallow up death in victory.” Men are “ dead in trespasses and sins” The valley of dry bones is a picture of moral humanity. Insensibility, utter subjection to external forces, and offensiveness, are some of the characteristics of death. Christianity has life. Its truths with a trumpet’ s blast call men up from their moral graves. Its spirit is quickening. “ You hath He quickened,” etc. IV. IS MORALLY UNHAPPY-- HAS . There are tears on “ all faces.” Go to the heathen world, and there is nothing but moral wretchedness. The whole moral creation groaneth: conflicting passions, remorseful reflections, foreboding apprehensions, make the world miserable. Christianity provides blessedness. V. IS MORALLY -- HAS HONOUR. “ And the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth.” Man morally rebukes himself; he is rebuked by his fellow man; he is rebuked by his Maker. He is under “ condemnation.” And the rebuke is just. Christianity removes this. “ There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” It exalts man to the highest honour. (Homilist.)Veils removed and souls feasted I. THE PLACE . “ In this mountain.” Mountains are often spoken of in the Scriptures, and wonderful things were done on some of them. The ark rested on a mountain; Abraham offered up his son Isaac on a mountain, etc. The Church may be compared to a mountain-- 1. Because of its conspicuousness. 2. Because of its exposure to storms. 3. Because of its stability. 4. Because it is beautiful and beneficial. Mountains break the monotony of the landscape, are good for shelter, and rich with valuable substances. The Church is a thing of moral beauty, and should be rich in faith, love, and zeal. II. THE TO BE DONE IN THIS . Face coverings and veils have to be destroyed. People have to be prepared for a feast: and with veiled faces and muffled mouths they can neither see nor eat. The coverings which sin has thrown over all people are-- 1. Ignorance. Sin made Adam so ignorant that he tried to hide himself from the presence of an omnipresent and omniscient God by creeping among the trees in the Garden of Eden. And his children are also as ignorant of God. 2. Shame and slavish fear. This drives men from God as it did their first father. 3. Unbelief; causing men to reject Christ, and to stagger at God’ s promises. From thousands of minds such coverings, thick and strong though they be, have been torn and destroyed. III. THE FEAST THAT IS TO FOLLOW. The Church is not a place of amusement merely, or a lecture room, but the soul’ s feasting place, where all the dainties of Heaven can be had. At a feast there is generally found-- 1. Variety. 2. Plenty. God’ s stores can never be exhausted. 3. Good company is expected. At this feast you have God’ s nobility on earth, princes and princesses, kings and priests, and you are favoured with the presence of the King of kings Himself. Nowhere out of Heaven can the company be more select. 4. Here all is gratis. (“V” in Homilist.) Tire marriage feast between Christ and His Church These words are prophetical, and cannot have a perfect performance all at once, but they shall be performed gradually. I will show why Christ, with His benefits, prerogatives, graces, and comforts, is compared to a feast. I. In regard of THE CHOICE OF THE THINGS. In a feast all things are of the best; so are the things we have in Christ. They are the best of everything. Pardon for sin is a pardon of pardon. The title we have for Heaven, through Him, is a sure title. The joy we have by Him is the joy of all joys. The liberty and freedom from sin, which He purchased for us by His death, is perfect freedom. The riches of grace we have by Him are the only lasting and durable riches. II. There is VARIETY. In Christ there is variety answerable to all our wants. Are we foolish? He is wisdom. Have we guilt in our consciences 7 He is righteousness, and this righteousness is imputed unto us, etc. III. There is FULL . There is abundance of grace, and excellency and sufficiency in Christ. IV. A feast is for COMPANY. This is a marriage feast, at which we are contracted to Christ. Of all feasts, marriage feasts are most sumptuous. V. For a feast ye have THE , as at the marriage of the Lamb, “ white and flue linen” (Revelation 19:8). VI. This was IN OLD TIME BY THE JEWS. 1. In the Feast of the Passover. 2. Manna was a type of Christ. 3. The hard rock in the wilderness, when it was struck with the rod of Moses, presently water gushed out in abundance, which preserved life to the Israelites; so Christ, the rock of our salvation, when His precious side was gored with the bloody lance upon the Cross, the blood gushed out, and in such a manner and such abundance, that by the shedding thereof our souls are preserved alive. 4. All the former feasts in times past were but types of this. 5. In the sacrament you have a feast, a feast of varieties, not only bread, but wine--to shew the variety and fulness of comfort in Christ. VII. Because there can be no feast where the greatest enemy is in force, HE UP DEATH IN VICTORY. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)The Gospel feast In the single circumstance that the feast foretold by the prophet was to be a feast “ to all people,” there is an obvious reference to the Gospel dispensation; for feasts among the Jews were more or less exclusive, and in no instance, not even on occasions of the most intense interest and joy, were they made accessible to the Gentiles by open and indiscriminate invitation. Besides, in the subsequent context, there is a prediction respecting the conquest of death by believers, which is quoted by St. Paul (1 Corinthians 15:1-58), and is directly applied by him to that most blessed and triumphant result of the death of Christ. This quotation gives to the whole prediction a New Testament aspect. I. WHO IS AS MAKING THIS FEAST. “ The Lord of hosts.” This is one of God’ s names, which calls up the majesty of His nature. He dwells amidst the bright angels, controls the stormiest tide of battle, prescribes their courses to the great lights of the firmament; yet though thus almighty, independent, supreme, He makes a feast for guilty, polluted man. Nor is it a feast in the ordinary sense of the term. As the world is now constituted, He may be said to have spread, out such a feast in the riches of that universe which He has so skilfully contrived, and so munificently adorned. There is a feast in its aspects of beauty and grandeur--in its vastness and variety--in its perfection and magnificence--in its wondrous laws and minute provisions. Still more; there is a feast in the comforts, the privileges, and pleasures of civilised life--in the means of acquiring knowledge--in the protection of righteous laws--in the blessings of the domestic constitution--in the progress of nations--and in the triumphs or reason. But far different is the feast foretold in the text. It is a spiritual feast; a feast for the undeserving; a feast which required important arrangements to be made before it could be provided. II. THE SCENE OF . “ On this mountain.” “ This mountain” means Zion or Jerusalem, which was the select scene of Divine manifestation and worship to the chosen people. Zion came to be identified with the Church of God; and in the Old Testament it is frequently employed as synonymous with it. It is emphatically styled “ the mountain of the Lord’ s house” Its great distinction consisted in this--it was the scene where the Divine presence was manifested in a visible glory, and where answers were vouchsafed to the prayers of the faithful. In one sense, the feast might be said to have been prepared at the period the prediction of the text was announced. As the believing Jews waited on the spiritual services of the temple, they partook of this feast. Truths of unspeakable importance occupied their attention; their minds were elevated, comforted and soothed by them; and, as they descended from the sacred hill, again to engage in the ordinary duties and cares of life, it must have been with refreshed and joyful hearts, with conscious satisfaction, and with a settled tranquillity. The full revelation of the Gospel, however, was more appropriately and emphatically the time of festivity. Now this full revelation might be said to have been made on Zion or in Jerusalem. It was in the temple of Zion that the infant Redeemer was first recognised by aged Simeon; there He was dedicated to the Lord by His mother, Mary. From time to time, He appeared within its gates, addressing the people; while, on one memorable occasion, He asserted His authority as its master by driving forth the dove merchants and the money changers, by whom it had been recklessly profaned. There, too, it is to be remembered, was the scene of His last suffering--there He shed the blood of atonement, and there He abolished death by dying. When He had left our world, it was in Jerusalem that His apostles first began to preach; it was “ in an upper room” there that they met with one accord, and engaged in prayer, the Spirit came plentifully down, and by means of one sermon, three thousand converts were added to the Church. Jerusalem continued to be the scene of amazing triumphs. The city of the prophets was shaken to its centre; the feast of grace was spread out; the invitation was freely announced; multitudes from distant heathen lands heard the Gospel sound, and crowded to the scene of entertainment. There is a peculiarity respecting this feast which requires to be considered. It is not, like other feasts, restricted as to time or place; it is a feast for all times and for all places. III. THE FEAST ITSELF. It is a feast of best things. We consider this figurative language as strikingly descriptive of the peculiar blessings the Gospel offers to guilty, ruined man. This provision grows by distribution; like the miraculous loaves in the Gospel, the fragments after every participation are more abundant than the original supply. IV. THE GUESTS FOR WHOM THE FEAST IS MADE. “ All people.” There is no distinction, and there is no limit. This feast presents a striking contrast with the feasts usually made by men. When men invite to a feast, they select a class--kindred, friends, or, perhaps more frequently, rich neighbours. But the feast foretold in the text, is to be a feast “ for all people.” The vastness of its extent strikingly illustrates the power and the mercy of the Divine Entertainer. Conclusion:--There is one question of immense importance, Have you accepted the invitation to come to this feast! (A. Bennie, M. A.)Good cheer for Christmas God, in the verse before us, has been pleased to describe the provisions of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Other interpretations are all flat and stale, and utterly unworthy of such expressions as those before us. When we behold the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose flesh is meat indeed, and whose blood is drink indeed, offered up upon the chosen mountain, we then discover a fulness of meaning in these gracious words of sacred hospitality. Our Lord Himself was very fond of describing His Gospel under the self-same image as that which is here employed. I. THE FEAST. It is described as consisting of viands of the best, nay, of the best of the best. They are fat things, but they are also fat things full of marrow. Wines are provided of the most delicious and invigorating kind, wines on the lees, which retain their aroma, their strength, and their flavour; but these are most ancient and rare, having been so long kept that they have become well refined; by long standing they have purified, clarified themselves, and brought themselves to me highest degree of brightness and excellence. 1. Let us survey the blessings of the Gospel, and observe that they are fat things, and fat things full of marrow: (1) Complete justification. (2) Adoption. (3) Every child of God is me object of eternal love, without beginning and without end. (4) Union to Christ. (5) Resurrection and everlasting life. 2. Changing the run of the thought, and yet really keeping to the same subject, let me now bring before you the goblets of wine. These we shall consider as symbolising the joys of the Gospel. (1) One of the dearest joys of the Christian life is a sense of perfect peace with God. (2) A sense of security. (3) Communion with God. (4) The pleasures of hope, a hope most sure and steadfast, most bright and glorious. (5) These joys of the believer are ancient in their origin. Old wines are intended by “ wines well refined” ; they have stood long on the lees, have drawn out all the virtue from them, and have been cleared of all the coarser material. (6) The fulness of their excellence, because the wine on the lees holds its flavour, and retains its aroma; and there is a fulness and richness about the blessings of Divine grace which endear them to our hearts. (7) Their refined nature. Gospel joys are elevating. (8) How absolutely peerless are the provisions of grace. II. THE HALL. “ In this mountain.” There is a reference here to three things--the same symbol bearing three interpretations. 1. Literally, the mountain upon which Jerusalem is built. The reference is here to the hill of the Lord upon which Jerusalem stood; the great transaction which was fulfilled at Jerusalem upon Calvary hath made to all nations a great feast. 2. Frequently Jerusalem is used as the symbol of the Church of God, and it is within the pale of the Church that the great feast of the Lord is made unto all nations. The mountain sometimes means the Church of God exalted to its latter day glory. III. THE HOST of the feast. In the Gospel banquet there is not a single dish brought by man. I know some would like to bring a little with them to the banquet, something at least by way of trimming and adornment, so that they might have a share of the honour; but it must not be, the Lord of hosts makes the feast, and He will not even permit the guests to bring their own wedding garments--they must stop at the door and put on the robe which the Lord has provided, for salvation is all grace from first to last. The Lord provides sovereignly as “ Lord of hosts,” and all-sufficiently as Jehovah. It needed the all-sufficiency of God to provide a feast for hungry sinners. If God spread the feast it is not to be despised If He provide the feast, let Him have the glory of it. IV. THE GUESTS. “ For all people.” This includes not merely the chosen people, the Jews, whose were the oracles, but it encompasses the poor uncircumcised Gentiles, who by Jesus are brought nigh. (C. H. Spurgeon.)A rich feast for hungry souls The prophets of old prophesied of the grace of Christ which should come unto us (1 Peter 1:10); and of these none more than our evangelical prophet. I. THE MAKER AND MASTER OF THE FEAST, the Lord Himself. It is a royal feast, with which the King of Zion entertains His own subjects. Particularly, it is the Lord Christ, the Son of God, who, pitying the famished condition of poor sinners, was at the expense of this costly feast for them; for the Maker of it is the same who swallows up death in victory (Isaiah 25:8). A warlike title is ascribed to Him, the “ Lord of hosts” for there is a banner in Christ’ s banqueting house; and this feast looks both backward and forward to a war. II. THE GUESTS FOR WHOM THIS FEAST IS . It is made for “ all people.” The invitation is given to all who come in its way, without distinction or exception of any sort of persons. III. THE GUEST CHAMBER WHERE THIS FEAST IS HELD. “ In this mountain,” namely, Mount Zion, that is, the Church. IV. THE MATTER OF THE FEAST. A feast imports abundance and variety of good entertainment; and here nothing is wanting which is suitable for hungry souls. In this valley of the world lying in wickedness, there is nothing for the soul to feed on but carrion, nothing but what would be loathed, except by those who were never used to better: but in this mountain, there is a “ feast of fat things,” things most relishing to those who taste them, most nourishing to those who feed on them; and these are “ full of marrow,” most satisfying to the soul. In this valley of the world there is nothing but muddy waters, which can never quench the thirst of the soul, but must ruin it with the dregs ever cleaving to them; but here, on this mountain, are “ wines on the lees well refined.” (T. Boston, D. D.)The feast prepared by Jesus Christ I. SHOW THE NEED THERE IS OF THIS . A lost world, by Adam’ s fall, the great prodigal, was reduced to a starving condition. The King of Heaven set down Adam, and his posterity in him, to a well-covered table in paradise, in this lower world, making a covenant of friendship with him, and with them in him. But man being drawn into rebellion against God, Adam and all his posterity were driven out of the guest chamber, the family was broken and scattered, having nothing left them. 1. In point of need, Adam left us with hungry hearts, like the prodigal Luke 15:16). Every one finds himself not self-sufficient, and therefore his soul cleaves to something without itself to satisfy it. He left us also with thirsty consciences, scorched and burnt up with heat. 2. In point of supply, he left us without any prospect, for all communication with Heaven was stopped. War was declared against the rebels, so that there could be no transportation of provisions from thence. Adam’ s sons, abandoned of Heaven, fell a-begging at the world’ s door, if so be they might find rest and satisfaction in the creature. The natural man is born weeping, lives seeking, and will die disappointed, if not brought to the feast of fat things. II. EXPLAIN WHAT THE IS WHICH CHRIST HAS FOR THE SOULS OF SUCH A WORLD. This, in a word, is His precious self; the Maker of the feast is the matter of it. III. WHAT SORT OF A FEAST IT IS. 1. It is a feast upon a sacrifice (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). 2. It is a covenant feast (Hebrews 13:20-21). 3. It is a marriage feast (Matthew 22:1-4). The Lord Christ is the Bridegroom, and the captive daughter of Zion the bride. 4. It is a feast which has a respect to war. The Lord of hosts made it. It looks backward to that terrible encounter which Christ had with the law, with death, with hell, and the grave, upon the account of His ransomed ones, and that glorious victory which He obtained over them, by which He wrought the deliverance of His people. It is provided for and presented to His people to animate and strengthen them for the spiritual warfare against the devil, the world, and the flesh; and none can truly partake of it, but those who are resolved on that battle, and are determined to pursue it, till they obtain the complete victory at death. 5. It is a weaning feast. There is a time prefixed in the decree of God, at which all who are His shall, by converting grace, be weaned from their natural food. IV. CONFIRM THAT ALL PEOPLE WHO WILL COME, MAY COME, AND PARTAKE OF THIS FEAST. 1. Christ invites all without distinction, even the worst of sinners, to this spiritual feast. 2. For what end does Jesus send out His messengers with a commission to invite all to come, if they were not welcome? (Matthew 22:9). 3. He takes it heinously amiss when any refuse to come. V. . (T. Boston, D. D.)The Gospel feast In this sacred feast there is-- I. VAST . The unsearchable riches, and all the fulness, that it hath pleased the Father should dwell in Jesus Christ. Here the saints receive large measures of knowledge; such degrees of holiness as shall gradually carry them forward to be perfect as their Father in Heaven is perfect; and such plentiful consolations as shall fill them with joy unspeakable and full of glory. II. RICH VARIETY. Pardon of sin, etc. The Holy Spirit to renew, sanctify, comfort, etc.; strength for the performance of duty, support under affliction, etc. Here is the milk of the Word for babes, strong meat for them whose senses are exercised to discern both good and evil, the water of life for such as are thirsty, the bread of life for those that are hungry, and the choicest fruits for them that are weak and languishing. III. MOST . “ Fat things, full of marrow,” etc. IV. These are joined with GREAT AND JOY among those who partake of the feast. (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 25:7-8 And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over an people The removal of the covering I. THE GOSPEL THE WHICH HIDES THE TRUE NATURE OF MAN. The covering of sin has ever concealed the nature, the nobility of nature, the capabilities of nature, and the possibilities of nature in mankind. The covering is thick and coarse. Ignorance, brutality, discord, war, barbaric customs, plunder, and gross immoralities are the threads of the textile. They are so closely woven that the very features of human nature are hidden. Take off the covering. You have seen the earth when winter has possessed its vales, its forests, its gardens, and its fields. The frost has ploughed the ground. The sleet has destroyed every vestige of verdure. Even the ivy leaf is covered with the snow. Spring will destroy that covering, and life will shoot up from the roots to the highest boughs. So the advent of Christ introduced revivifying influences, and the true nature of man is discovered in kind words and deeds of goodness. Our forefathers never thought that nature had concealed such precious ores in the hearts of the mountains. A few years ago even we had no conception that down deep in the bosom of the earth wells of oil waited to be drawn to the surface. The covering has been taken away since, and these valuables have seen the light. Jesus Christ sunk shafts through the outward crust of sin, and brought forth precious ores to be smelted in the furnace of His love, moulded in His example, and circulated through the ages. II. THE GOSPEL THE WHICH HIDES THE TRUE NATURE OF GOD. Communion with the source of peace was broken by the first shadow of guilt. Man in the dark is seized with fear Of the God who made him. This fear grows into dislike, and dislike into indifference, and indifference into defiance. The fool desireth in his heart that there might be no God, and the dislike grows into a positive refusal of entertaining God in his thoughts. But sin has not succeeded to remove all traces of God item the human mind. The sinner cannot altogether close his eyes and ears to those manifestations and voices which force the idea of God upon him. Under the covert of sin conceptions of Him are entertained at variance with His nature, and in opposition to His dealings. Christ came to reveal the Father. The power of reconciliation is in that word. III. THE GOSPEL THE WHICH HIDES THE TRUE BETWEEN MAN AND MAN. “ Unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.” The basis of the Church is union with the Father. We meet in Him befogs we meet in one another. National prejudice and society caste, family feuds and personal animosity will perish under the influence of the Cross; humanity will be raised into union with the Father, and “ God will be all and in all.” IV. THE GOSPEL WILL DESTROY THAT WHICH HIDES THE FUTURE. “ He will swallow up death in victory.” It was a new declaration when One said, “ I am the resurrection and the life.” (T. Davies, M. A.) Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death in victory Death swallowed up in victory I. THE TEXT SETS CHRIST BEFORE US IN THE OF A OVER DEATH. “ He shall swallow up death in victory,” it is said, and again in Hosea, “ O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction” ; whilst still more strikingly in Timothy, we read, “ But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.” But what is the kind of death of which the advent of Christ was to be the swallowing up? Not spiritual death, for how many are lying under its power now--many who have seen the day of Christ--but who yet have neither rejoiced in its light, nor yielded to its power! Neither does it ever attain to His covenant undertakings to swallow up death eternal. This too has its permitted victims, as well as the death spiritual, the one being, in fact, both the sequence and the penalty of the other. It is manifest, therefore, that the expression is to be limited to the death of the body--that death, which on account of the first transgression, was to pass upon all men, the penalty and the fruit of sin. Now this death is to be swallowed up--quenched, absorbed, as the original word implies--just as somethingwhich the sea might bury in its depths, or the fire decompose into its elemental forms. II. BUT HOW IS THIS UP OF DEATH BY CHRIST ? To this we have a full answer returned by the apostle Paul. “ The sting of death,” he says, “ is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here it is first assumed that death has a sting, that there is a pungency of dread and horror arising from the contemplation of death, merely as a penalty, as something indissolubly linked with evil beyond itself, and a sense of the deserved frown of God. Hence, in order to show that Christ had made a conquest over death, we must show that He was victorious over the sting of death, and hath swallowed up sin in victory. 1. And this He did in His life. In this way did Christ obtain His victory over sin--obtained it too, not by the putting forth of the hidden powers of Godhead, not by any invoked succours which would be given at His bidding from the angelic world, but by means within the reach of the humblest of His followers to command. Thus, in the destroyed sting of death, was laid the foundation for its final abolition. Mortality was no longer the terrible thing to look upon it once was. Believers are bound up in the Saviour’ s conquests. “ Because I live, ye shall live also; because I have overcome, ye shall overcome also: sin shall have no dominion over you, because I withstood its power in the wilderness, because death and the sting of death have been swallowed up in victory.” 2. Again, Christ is said to swallow up death, because He has discharged the obligations of that law to which death owes all its authority. As death could have had no sting if it had not been for sin, so sin could have had no existence, if it had not been for the law. “ The law is the strength of sin,” says the Word. Why? Because where no law is, there is no transgression. “ The law entered that the offence might abound.” And this law never relaxes, never can relax. Holy, it can endure no blemish; just, it can tolerate no remission of penalties; good, it will not encourage disobedience in the many by misplaced compassions to the few; and they who are under this law must be eternally under it. Hope for us there is none, nor yet help, unless we can be redeemed from its curse, released from its thrall, discharged from its obligations by One who shall both magnify its claims and make it honourable; and Christ has done all this, and in doing it, He swallows up death, at least death as death, for the strength of this last enemy is now departed from him. The law which was Satan’ s only title deed thereto, is nailed to the Cross. It is all Emmanuel’ s land now--earth and paradise, seen and unseen, life and immortality. “ He hath swallowed up death in victory.” 3. And then, once more, we must include the grave as part of the conquered things spoken of in the text. Like death it has its victory--an all but universal victory. Distinctions it knows not, age it regards not: it is the house appointed for all living. “ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with Him.” “ O grave!” says the apostle, “ where is thy victory!” Where, when thy keys are in the hands of the Saviour, when thy dust is a guarded deposit, when the bodies of the faithful committed unto thee are century by century throwing off their gross materialism, in order that in the regeneration of a glorified and spiritual body they may stand at the latter day upon the earth? For, that the prophet’ s ken looked thus far, is evident from what he says a little further on in the next chapter, “ Thy dead men,” Isaiah 26:19). Thus shall Christ swallow up death in victory; and it is added, the “ Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces.” The same forbidden tree whose mortal taste brought death into our world, brought therewith all our woe. If we had not known death, we had not known tears. The whole “ body of sin will be destroyed” ; the glorified spirit can neither falter nor fall again: all corrective discipline will be over: there will be neither lessons to learn, nor infirmities to subdue, nor murmurings to keep down, nor mistaken attachments to correct. No erring spirit will ever seek to escape from those holy mansions, neither can any graces languish which are fed from that eternal spring, but the whole company of the redeemed, sanctified throughout by the power of an Almighty Spirit, and made one with Christ through thee blood of the everlasting covenant, shall wait in devout ministrations on the King of saints in a service that shall know no weariness, and in a kingdom that shall know no end. “ He shall swallow up death in victory, and wipe away all tears from off all faces.” And now let us glance at one or two practical conclusions to be derived from our subject. 1. Thus, one effect of it should be to fortify us against the fear of death. This fear, I have said is an instinct with us--is incorporated as it were upon our lapsed and fallen nature; it is not necessarily connected with any anticipation of what is to follow, but springs from an apparently universal feeling that death is a punishment for sin; that originally man was not made to die, that some wrong has been done to the beneficent purposes of the Creator of which our dying is the bitter fruit. Then it is a part of Christ’ s victory to have the rule not only over death, but over all that region of the invisible to which death leads. 2. Again, our subject should suggest to us the wisdom of instant submission to the Saviour’ s authority. A two-fold end would seem to be contemplated in giving this absolute dominion over death, namely, that He should be omnipotent to conquer as well as mighty to save--a terror to His enemies as well as a protector to His friends, and one or other of these we all are. The whole world of responsible beings is divided into those who are under the sceptre, and those who are under the rod. But why should we make a foe of Him who hath assumed universal empire only that He might be our friend, only that nothing might be wanting to the completeness of His own work? 3. Is it needful that I should remind you that this blessed promise we have been considering, like all our Advent promises, belongs to believers, and to believers only! As there is a death which Christ has not swallowed up, so there are tears which the Lord God has not promised to wipe away, but which in righteous displeasure at His despised compassions, He will leave to flow on forever. (D. Moore, M. A.)Victory in death I. He who hath swallowed up death in victory is THE LORD GOD. II. THE OF THE PROMISE. But for God’ s eternal purpose in Christ Jesus, every son and daughter of Adam must have drunk forever of the cup of wrath which is without mixture, as a just reward for their enmity to God. III. THE PERSONS AND THEIR or descriptions that shall say, “ Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us,” etc. (F. Silver.)Light in darkness I. THE TRUTH . “ He will swallow up death in victory.” The redemption of Jesus Christ deals with both parts of man’ s nature, his soul and his body. But the application of redemption to the body is as yet deferred. There is-- 1. The removal of all sorrow. “ The Lord God shall wipe away,” etc. 2. There shall be the removal of the rebuke of God’ s people; by which I would understand death, which surely is the greatest reproach which God’ s people now lie under. II. THE HYMN OF TRIUMPH which is sung by the risen saints at the time referred to in our text. “ And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us,” etc. It is impossible for us fully to enter into the triumphant feeling contained in this verse, whilst we are ourselves in the valley of humiliation and woe. The language is the language of victory, and that we have not yet received. There are parts, however, in this hymn which we may already join in. The language of our text is the language of present realisation of expected triumph. “ Lo, this is our God.” There is the manifestation of Jehovah. “ We have waited for Him.” In times past “ we have waited for Him.” In sorrow, in distress, in agony of spirit, “ we have waited for Him.” When death has entered our family, and when bitter grief has entered our hearts, “ we have waited for Him.” And the darkness, the mist, and the cloud have all cleared away. “ We have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” The double truth, then, presented to us in our text is the assertion of coming victory and the assurance of the joy which shall be ours when that victory is achieved. (E. Bailey, M. A.)Death swallowed up How can those who are in the mountain banquet house be happy while death is ravaging down below? The Lord says in reference to that, that He “ will swallow up death in victory.” We must not amend that expression--“ swallow up.” There is a sound in it which is equal to an annotation. We hear a splash in the infinite Atlantic, and the thing that is sunk has gone forever. It was but a stone. Death is to be not mitigated, relieved, thrown into perspective which the mind can gaze upon without agony; it is to be swallowed up. Let it go! Death has no friends. (J. Parker, D. D.)The graciousness of death Yet in another aspect how gracious has death been in human history! What pain he has relieved; what injuries he has thrust into the silent tomb; what tumult and controversy he has ended. Men have found an altar at the tomb, a house of reconciliation in the graveyard, music for the heart in the toll and throb of the last knell. Even death must have his tribute. (J. Parker, D. D.)Victory over death There are four degrees of this victory. I. THE FIRST WAS BY CHRIST IN HIS OWN PERSON, in single combat with death and hell. Christ taking upon Himself our sins, death assaults Him with all his strength and terror, and appears, at first, to get the better. It kills Him and lays Him in the grave. But as Samson arose by night, and carried away the “ gates of Gaza, bars and all,” so Christ, though shut up in the grave, and a great stone rolled upon it, arose in the night, and carried away the gates and bars of death and the grave, and bare them to the top of Mount Zion, to be His footstool in heaven. II. The second degree of this victory is THE OF ITS NATURE TO ALL GOD’ S PEOPLE. Before, it was a passage into prison; now, it is a passage out of prison. It was the way to darkness, misery, despair, and torment; now, it is the way to light, peace, triumph, and immortal joy. Before, it was loss, as he who died lost all his possessions; now, it is gain. III. The third degree is THE OF OUR , , AND DEATH, which is often strikingly seen in the dying experience of believers. IV. The last is in THE GENERAL . “ Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written.” (The Evangelist.)Christ’ s victory I. THE HOLY AND VICTOR. “ He,” the King of glory; “ He,” the Lord Christ; “ He,” the Father’ s co-equal and co-eternal Son; “ He,” who is called in the 6 th verse, “ the Lord of hosts” ; “ He,” who, though He “ thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross,” that He might obtain the victory over death specified in the text. 1. The victories of His life and death in His own person. (1) His single-handed combat with the tempter. (2) We find Him attacked by the devil’ s sharpshooters--the Sadducees, the scribes, and the Pharisees. (3) Our glorious Victor now enters the very territory of “ the king of terrors,” that He may vanquish him in his own dominions. (4) Let us advance from this point, just to mark His victorious proceedings in the invincible operations of His grace; for, you must know, when He comes down on earth to carry on the triumphs of His redemption, He finds all the persons for whom He shed His precious blood, “ dead in trespasses and sins” ; and “ He will swallow up” that “ death in victory.” (5) This glorious Victor will carry on a civil war in the hearts of His people. II. THE SECURED BY THESE . 1. The interests of the tribes of Israel, and we may just write upon these interests one sweet passage of Scripture: “ So all Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.” 2. Moreover, the official character of Christ is herein honoured, and that is an interest peculiarly His own. 3. While the honour of Christ is to be maintained by His victory, and emblazoned before all worlds, the relationship existing between Him and His Church is dear to His heart. III. THE SACRED, THE SWEET PEACE, SETTLED BY THE OF OUR VICTOR. Sovereigns generally profess that the object of their fighting is to settle peace upon honourable terms, so that it shall not be easily disturbed; and they do not care for proclaiming peace until it has been settled upon such terms that it is not likely again to be easily broken. Now, our glorious Conqueror has settled peace for His whole Church; nay, He Himself has become her peace. (J. Irons.)The progressive march of death a Conqueror In nature God is constantly “ swallowing up death in victory.” In spring He opens a million graves and floods the world with life. Indeed everywhere He makes death the minister of life. Death generates, nurtures, and develops life. But the text points us to His victory over the mortality of man, and let us trace the march of the triumphant Conqueror in this direction. I. WE SEE HIS FIRST IN THE OF CHRIST. The strongest victim death ever had was Christ. The Jewish Sanhedrim cooperated with the Roman power and did all they could to keep his Victim in the grave. But the Conqueror of death appeared, invaded the territory of mortality, broke open the prison doors, snapped the fetters, and led the prisoner out into a new and triumphant life. II. WE SEE HIS NEXT IN IN THE FEAR CF DEATH. The essence, the sting, the power of death, are not in the mere article of dissolution of soul and body, but in the thoughts and feelings of men regarding the event. To overcome, therefore, in the human mind all terrible thoughts and apprehensive feelings concerning death, is the most effective way to triumph over it. III. WE SEE HIS IN THE GENERAL . 1. There is nothing incredible in the general resurrection. 2. There are circumstances that render the event exceedingly probable. 3. The declarations of God render it absolutely certain. (Homilist.)Death I. THE ENEMY is so formidable that he is justly termed “ the king of terrors.” The conquerors of the earth have themselves been conquered by this universal destroyer. Though he is nature’ s destruction, and consequently nature’ s aversion, nature knows no method of resisting his violence. You cannot avoid the approaches of this enemy; but you may prevent them from issuing in your destruction. II. THE OF DEATH. The dignity of His person, and the greatness of His power capacitate Him for this conquest. The Prince of life, who had life in Himself; who had power to lay down His life, and power to take it up again; He, and He alone, could conquer death. III. THE WONDERS OF THIS . That our Lord might fairly and in the open field encounter the king of terrors, He came into the first Adam’ s world, where this formidable foe had carried his conquests far and near, and where none was found able to withstand him. He came into it an infant of days. This gave death and hell a strange, though but seeming, advantage over Him. They flattered themselves that they should be able to destroy Him, while a helpless infant. They attempted it. They murdered all the other infants in Bethlehem, from two years old and under. The Child Jesus alone, who came to fight with death, and triumph over hell and the grave, escaped their hands. Death and hell, though foiled in their first onset, do not despair. He appeared “ in the likeness of sinful flesh.” Hence, they flattered themselves that, though they had not destroyed Him, when an infant, by the sword of Herod, they might destroy Him, when become a man, by enticing Him into sin, which gives to death its destroying power. The prince of this world tempts Him to despair, to presumption, to self-murder, to worship the devil. But, though he set upon Him with all his power and policy, he could find no corruption in Him, to kindle by his temptation. Had He appeared, which He one day will do, as the brightness of the Father’ s glory, and the express image of His person, death and hell would have fled from Him. But He came to this world, “ a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” The powers of darkness hoped that the toils, the anguish and perplexity which He endured, would sink and discourage Him, or would lead Him to leave His work unfinished. Here again they are disappointed. What occasioned the most exquisite anguish, did not occasion one irregular desire, or one repining thought. By a few years’ obedience, performed in such trying circumstances, He brought in an everlasting righteousness, and accomplished what all the angels of heaven could not have done in millions of ages. God made Him sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). The Prince of life is laid in a grave. There His enemies hope to detain Him. But the joy of the wicked was short. He, who, by dying, had fully paid our debts, in being raised from the dead receives a public and ample discharge. Such was the wonderful victory obtained by Jesus. For believers is this victory obtained. IV. THE OF CHRIST’ S OVER DEATH. 1. The great things which He accomplished on earth. (1) There was not one criminal action, one sinful word, one irregular thought or desire, of which His people were guilty, which He did not expiate. (2) Jesus hath not left one precept, one jot or tittle of the law unfulfilled. The law is friendly to the believer, for the believer’ s best Friend and Head has done it infinite honour. (3) Christ hath redeemed His people from every part of the curse. (4) The devil hath the power of death; and there is not one devil who was not overcome and led in triumph by Christ on the Cross, where the powers of darkness certainly thought to have triumphed over Him (Hebrews 2:14). (5) Christ, by His righteousness, hath obtained the power to overrule death and the grave, with all that precedes, accompanies, or follows them, for the spiritual and everlasting good of His people, in a blessed subordination to His own glory. 2. The completeness of Christ’ s conquest over death, as demonstrated by His exaltation and His glory. He was raised from the dead by His God and Father, as a just God and a Saviour. God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name above every name. The height of His exaltation speaks the greatness of His victory. Had it been otherwise, He would not have been invested with a full authority, and a sufficient power to raise from the dead, in glory, all the bodies of His saints, wheresoever they have died, or how long soever they have been buried in the grave; and to change their bodies also, who shall be found alive, at His second coming. The second coming of Christ will be the fullest demonstration that He hath completely conquered death. (J. Erskine, D. D.)Victory over death I. I propose to make SOME REMARKS ON THIS ,--“ He will swallow up death in victory.” The very sound of the words conveys the idea of a terrible conflict. A poor expiring worm of the dust is the occasion and subject of the contest. But, while we awaken and humble ourselves by just views of the formidable nature of death, let us rise to confidence by observing how the expression of the text brings into this conflict the infinite zeal of Deity. The effect, in the experience of dying Christians, must be an abundant sensation of victory. II. Let us inquire BY WHAT METHODS THE WISE AND GOD RAISES HIS PEOPLE TO THE OF VICTORY OVER DEATH. 1. This is done by a clear and powerful revelation of the glory of God. 2. By a powerful application of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to the conscience. Such has been the uniform experience of Christian martyrs, grappling with Satan, and with death in every terrific form (Revelation 1 Corinthians 15:55-57). 3. The heavens are opened over every dying believer. Your God swallows up death in victory by showing you the fair fields, rivers, fruits, of His paradise in the heavens. 4. He discovers to you the vanity of all earthly objects, He impresses you with the unavoidable imperfection and misery of your sojourning condition. In that new birth, which brings the sinner near to God through Christ, the soul rises into a new world, and is no longer capable of grossly idolising earthly objects, as it once did. At the same time, the true enjoyment of lawful, created things commences. 5. In order to the final triumph, the Lord grants to His people a blessed finishing of their sanctified desires, respecting objects within time. This fulfilment of desires within time, relates either to particular points of inward, spiritual attainment, or to subjects of special concern respecting the cause and kingdom of Christ upon earth; and, in some cases, to blessings and deliverances, bestowed in reference to individuals with whom the Christian is peculiarly connected. 6. That this work of God may become perfect, the soul is raised up above the pains of the body. 7. The uncouth strangeness of the world of spirits is taken off, by faith’ s piercing views of the invisible God; the Mediator reigning in human flesh; the character of redeemed spirits; and of spotless angelic beings, with whom the Christian, about to be unloosed from earth, feels a kindred alliance. III. THE PERIODS AND IN WHICH VICTORY OVER DEATH IS ENJOYED BY THE SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH. 1. This blessed victory is enjoyed, by a gradual anticipation, from the day of their effectual calling and conversion to God. 2. This anticipated enjoyment of victory tenderly and powerfully impressed on the Christian soul by sympathy with his dying friends and brethren. 3. At length the solemn, appointed period arrives. It is the happiness of the established Christian to know that no new, untried course is now to be sought for. He has only to go over his old exercises of faith, resignation, patience, and spiritual desire. 4. This victory over death is enjoyed by the soul during the period of its separation from the body. 5. We now advance to that scene of victory, which the tongues of men and of angels cannot describe (1 John 3:2). Application:--From this subject various duties open to view, which peculiarly bind those who are in any degree assured that they are in the way towards such victory (2 Peter 3:14). (J. Love, D. D.)Victory over death I. THE VICTORY BY WHICH DEATH IS UP. The words refer to that encounter which the Redeemer had with the king of terrors, when He suffered in the room of sinners. Here, among other things, the following, in an especial manner, deserve our attention. 1. His exhausting the power of death by submitting to its stroke. When He died, it was under the pressure of Divine wrath; but that sacrifice was sufficient, and no more can be demanded. The stroke by which the Redeemer fell left no remaining strength in His enemy. 2. His manifesting, by His resurrection, that He was completely delivered from its dominion. 3. His enabling His people to overcome the fear of death. 4. His preserving His people safe in death, so that they are not hurt by its sting when their bodies must submit to its power. 5. His delivering His people completely from every remains of its power, by the resurrection of their bodies at the last day. II. THE HAPPY of this victory in the swallowing up of death. The phrase “ swallowing up” is expressive of the most complete destruction. 1. Death is swallowed up in the victory of Christ, so as that it can never appear as an enemy to hurt Himself. The guilt with which He was charged as the surety of sinners gave death all its power over the Redeemer. By expiating that guilt, however, the power of death is taken away. 2. Death is swallowed up in the victory of Christ, inasmuch as it is by this victory deprived of all power to hurt any of His people. There is now no death of which the people of God have cause to be afraid. (1) Death cannot separate believers from God. (2) Death cannot deprive believers of the society of their brethren in Christ. (3) Death cannot rob the children of God of their spiritual privileges. (4) Death cannot prevent believers from the full enjoyment of that happiness and glory which Christ hath put chased and prepared for them in the heavenly state. (G. Campbell.)Jesus victorious over death I. THE ; the two mightiest that ever encountered. Upon the one hand is death, with his devouring mouth, a champion who never yet could find his match among the children of men, till the great “ HE,” in the text, entered the lists against him, even Jesus Christ, who being man, was capable of feeling the force of death; but being the Lord of hosts also (Isaiah 25:6), could not but be conqueror at length. II. THE OF THE , implied in these words, “ He will swallow up death in victory.” Though death could not then reach Him the deadly blow, it pursued Him, shot out its poisonous arrows against Him all along, till they came to a close engagement on the Cross, where it wrestled Him down even into the grave, the proper place of its dominion. So the Mediator got the first fall. III. THE ISSUE OF THE BATTLE. Death, who in all other battles wins whatever party loses, loses the day here; the victory is on the side of the slain Mediator. The slain Saviour again revives, gets up upon death, stands conqueror over it, even in its own territories, breaks the bars of the grave, takes away the sting it fought with against Him, and puts it and all its forces to the rout; so that it can never show its face against Him any more Romans 6:9). IV. THE ’ S PURSUIT OF THE VICTORY, till it be complete for those that are His, as well as for Himself. The vanquished enemy has yet many strongholds in his hand, and he keeps many of the redeemed ones as prisoners, that they cannot stir; others of them though they can stir, yet can go nowhere, but they must drag the bands of death after them. But the Mediator will pursue the victory till He totally abolish it out of His kingdom, that there shall no more of it be seen there forever, as a thing that is swallowed up is seen no more at all. (T. Boston, D. D.)Jesus victorious over death I. THE BATTLE. 1. Under what character has the Lord of life fought this battle? (1) As the Head and Representative of the elect world. (2) As their Redeemer and Deliverer (Hosea 13:14). The prey could not be taken from the Mighty One, without both price and power. (3) An a Captain or General at the head of His people (Hebrews 2:10). 2. The attack made upon Him by death. (1) Death brings up its strength against Him, i.e., the law. (2) Meanwhile he that has the power of death (Hebrews 2:14) advances against Him; Satan sets upon Him in the wilderness with most grievous temptations. (3) The congregation of men dead in trespasses and sins stir up them selves against Him (Isaiah 53:3). Judas betrays Him, the Jews gape onHim like a lion, crying, Crucify Him; Pilate condemns Him; He is scourged, crowned with thorns, smitten on the crowned head; His body, racked till it was all out of joint, nailed to the Cross, hangs there mocked, and pierced with a spear. (4) Death comes with its sting upon Him, and pierces Him to the heart, and casts Him down dead. II. THE VICTORY CHRIST . 1. How it was obtained. (1) By His death. This was the decisive stroke. “ That through death He might destroy death, and him that had the power of death.” It was such a victory as Samson’ s last victory over the Philistines, when he pulled down the house, and died himself with the Philistines in the fall of it; and therefore He cried upon the Cross, “ It is finished.” (2) By His resurrection. 2. What sort of victory it is Jesus hath obtained over death. (1) A dear bought victory; it cost the glorious Conqueror His precious life. (2) A complete victory in respect of Himself, though not yet in respect of His members (Romans 6:9). (3) A glorious victory, saints and angels singing the triumphant song. (4) An everlasting victory. Death’ s power is irrecoverably broken. III. THE PURSUIT. 1. Christ looses the bands of spiritual death. 2. He looses the band of legal death. 3. He destroys the body of death in the believer. (1) It is crucified, and its destruction is ensured in the conversion of the soul to God (Romans 6:6; Galatians 5:24). (2) It is weakened and mortified more and more, in the gradual advances of sanctification (Romans 8:13). (3) At the death of the body, the body of death is utterly destroyed. 4. He dries up all the sorrows of death. 5. He brings all His people safe through the valley of the shadow of death. 6. Now, death has nothing of Christ’ s but the bodies of the saints, not a foot of ground in His kingdom but the grave; and these He will also wrest out of his hand at the resurrection. 7. In consequence of the absolute victory over death, it shall be shut up, and confined for the ages of eternity to the lower regions (Revelation 20:14). IV. . 1. Be lively Christians, as those that are alive from the dead through Jesus Christ. 2. Join issue with the Conqueror in pursuing the victory in your own souls. 3. Join issue with the Conqueror in pursuing the victory in the world, especially in the places where ye live. 4. Believe this truth with application in all your endeavours after holiness. 5. Be weaned from the world, and long for the day when death shall be swallowed up in victory. (T. Boston, D. D.)Death abolished We shall have no more to do with death than we have with the cloak room at a governor’ s or president’ s levee. We stop at such cloak room, and leave in charge of a servant our overcoat, our overshoes, our outward apparel, that we may not be impeded in the brilliant round of the drawing room. Well, when we go out of this world we are going to a King’ s banquet, and to a reception of monarchs, and at the door of the tomb we leave the cloak of flesh, and the wrappings with which we meet the storms of this world. At the close of an earthly reception, under the brush and broom of the porter, the coat or hat may be handed to us better than when we resigned it, and the cloak of humanity will finally be returned to us improved, and brightened, and purified, and glorified. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)The resurrection of the dead The far-up cloud, higher than the hawk flies, higher than the eagle flies, what is it made of? Drops of water from the Hudson, other drops from the East River, other drops from a stagnant pool out on Newark flats--up yonder there, embodied in a cloud, and the sun kindles it. If God can make such a lustrous cloud out of water drops, many of them soiled and impure and fetched from miles away, can He not transport the fragments of a human body from the earth, and out of them build a radiant body? (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)The Messiah the Victor over death What is very curious is that most of the Hebrew seers saw in their Messiah the Victor over death. And what makes it curious is that the Jews did not, as a rule, look forward to a life beyond the grave. The life eternal, the life which, as a mere incident in its career, can match itself against death and conquer it, was unknown to them; they were not conscious of it even when they possessed it. To only a few rare souls was this great truth, this great hope revealed, and that only in their rarest and most exalted moments. To obey the commandments of God, to render the service He demanded of them, and to enjoy His favour here and now was enough for them. Even the prophets themselves were mainly taken up either with this present life, with its urgent tasks and duties; or, if they travelled beyond it, it was the future life of the nation on earth on which they speculated, and on the discipline by which it was to be purified and broadened till it embraced the whole family of man. But when they looked forward to the advent of the Messiah, all the horizons of their thought were enlarged. Whatever might change and perish, He must remain, to be forever the Lord and Friend of men. (S. Cox, D. D.)The Jewish prevision of immortality And this prevision of immortality does not seem to have been a mere inspiration, a secret revealed to them by the Spirit of all wisdom and knowledge. Apparently, it was also the result of a logical process, an inference from moral facts with which they were familiar. For all the prophets held that the Messiah would come to redeem men--first the Jew, but also the Gentile--from their sins, to establish them in the service and to draw them into the family of God. But death is simply the wage and fruit of sin. To redeem from sin is, therefore, to abolish death, to pluck it up by the root, to cut it off at the fountainhead. This appears, so far as we can trace it, to have been the foundation of their hope in the Christ as the Conqueror of death. And hence, in proportion as they were sure that He would save men from their sins, they were the more fully persuaded that, in overcoming sin, He would also overcome and annihilate death. No one of the goodly fellowship has given a nobler utterance to this animating and sustaining hope than the prophet Isaiah in the words, “ And He shall destroy in this mountain,” etc. (S. Cox, D. D.)The veil and web of death destroyed by Christ The prophet speaks of death as “ a veil” which dims the perceptions of men, or even blinds their eyes to facts which it is essential to their welfare that they should know; and as “ a web” in which their active powers are entangled and paralysed; and he declares that in the day on which God, instead of asking feasts and sacrifices of men, shall Himself provide a sacrifice and feast for the world, this blinding “ veil, this fettering and thwarting net, shall be finally and utterly destroyed.” He shall destroy death forever. How true these figurative descriptions of death are to human experience, what a fine poetic insight and firm imaginative grasp they disclose--as of one with both eye and hand on the fact--is obvious at a glance, and becomes the more obvious the more we meditate upon them. Always the veil which darkens the eyes is also a web which entangles the feet, as we have only to watch the motions of any blind man to know. Failing sight and impaired activity go together of necessity; while blindness involves, at least, a partial paralysis of all the active powers. As to be without God is to be without hope, so to be without the hope of immortality is to suffer a mental eclipse which cannot fail to limit our scope and impair our moral energies. We have only to consider the moral conditions, the moral collapse of men and nations, from whom the future life has been hidden, or over whom it had no practical power, to learn how terribly, in the absence of this hope, the moral ideal is degraded and the moral energies enfeebled. I am far from denying that even men to whom this life is all have risen, by a marvellous and most admirable feat of wisdom and natural goodness, into the conviction that to be wise is better than to be rich, to be good better than to be wise, to live for others better than to live for one’ s self. But not only are such men as these rare and heroic exceptions to the general strain, but even they themselves, admirable as their spirit may be, can know no settled cheerfulness, no abiding peace. Human life is and must be full of injustice, as well as misery, to those who do not believe in a hereafter in which all wrongs are to be righted, all sorrows turned into joy, all loss into gain. And when they bury their dead out of their sight, with what bitter and hopeless pangs must their hearts be torn! how horrible must be the darkness, unbroken and unrelieved, which settles down upon them! (S. Cox, D. D.)Imperfect conceptions of Christ’ s victory over death their effect on practical life Nor even now that Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light, is there any misconception of this Divine achievement into which we fall that does not become a veil, dimming our eyes, and a web, entangling our feet. 1. Those, for instance, who while professing to entertain this great hope, practically put it away from them, and who therefore sacrifice the future to the present;--is not the veil still on their hearts, the web about their feet? 2. So, again, in a less but sufficiently obvious degree with those who so misconceive of life and death as to sacrifice the present to the future; who miss or forego all the sweet and wholesome uses of the world because they have not learned, what yet the Gospel plainly teaches, that wisely to use and enjoy this present world is the best of all preparations for the world to come. 3. And even those who, despite the Gospel teaching, will think of dissolution as death rather than as victory over death, or as separating and alienating them from the dear ones of whom they have lost sight, rather than as bringing their “ lost ones” nearer to their true life and binding them to them by closer because by invisible and spiritual ties,--even these have their eyes still dimmed by the veil which Christ came to lift, and their feet still entangled in the net from Which He came to deliver their feet. (S. Cox, D. D.)Has Christ destroyed death? Death, as a mere phenomenon, was in the world before sin; and therefore, as a mere phenomenon, it may and does remain in the world after sin has been taken away. But are we, who have discourse of reason, even if we have not the more piercing insight of faith, such victims of the visible and the apparent that we cannot distinguish between substance and phenomena, between the mere act of dissolution, which seems to be the inevitable condition of higher spiritual development, and all that makes death really death to us? (S. Cox, D. D.)Christ’ s victory over death Of this victory over all that is worthy to be called death Christ has given us two proofs on which our faith may lean; one in His transfiguration, and the other in His resurrection from the dead. (S. Cox, D. D.)Victory over death and sorrow “ He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces” --a passage of which the poet Burns said that he “ could never read it without weeping.” I. THE PROMISE OF UP DEATH IN VICTORY. This promise, as well as that which follows it, may have a primary allusion to the resuscitation of the Jewish people after their captivity, but this is only an allusion, as in Hosea 13:14. What the ultimate meaning is we learn from the glowing words of St. Paul: “ So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,” etc. It was a glorious promise when first given, but its full meaning was not known, nor will it be completely understood till it shall be actually fulfilled. Yet the revelations of the Gospel enable us to form an enlarged idea of what that fulfilment will be. 1. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ, as an expiation for sin and a homage to the claims of law, has removed, to His people, that which chiefly makes death terrible. That with man, the lord of the inferior creatures, the body should die just as they do, is sufficiently humbling. Yet, serious as this is, it is not the most solemn feature of the case. “ After death the judgment,” and, to a godless soul, how terrible that audit! But to a believer sin is forgiven. “ The strength of sin in the law.” But the law is satisfied, yea, magnified by the Redeemer’ s expiatory work. Peace may now, therefore, take the place of that apprehension which before was the only alternative to senseless unconcern. 2. As the Saviour’ s death not only obtains deliverance for believers from guilt and condemnation, but is the channel by which grace “ reigns through righteousness unto eternal life,” death becomes to them the gateway of life and the passage to Heaven. Here God educates them by the discipline of life, and often of the chamber of sickness, for His kingdom and the receiving of the promise. Then He calls them home to the possession of it, and it is death which brings the summons. 3. Still the earthly house lies in ruins. Death seems as yet to triumph there. But even those ruins are to be built again. II. THE WIPING AWAY THE TEARS OF SORROW. The two things are intimately related, and the second springs out of the first. Death is one of the prolific causes of sorrow. Whilst unreconciled to God, the thought of mortality, if a man thinks seriously of the great problems of his being at all, casts a dark shadow over his anticipations of the future. And even among Christians the separations which death occasions are a frequent cause of sadness. (E. T. Prust.)Christ the Conqueror of death Tennyson tells, in the “ Idylls of the King,” of a knight who fought with death. And when he had overcome him and pierced through his ghastly trappings, “ there issued the bright face of a blooming boy.” So Christ has conquered death for us, and, penetrating its terror, has brought, not death, but “ life and immortality to light.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)Fear of death removed Whitfield, the prince of sacred orators, was preaching to a crowd concerning the love of God: its height, its breadth, its infinity. A poor, ignorant, neglected child heard him, and drank in all he said with open eyes and open heart. Some little time afterwards the poor girl was smitten with a deadly disease. A Christian visited her bed of straw. “ Child,” said he, “ are you afraid to die?” “ No,” she replied, “ I am not afraid to die, I want to go to Mr. Whitfield’ s God.” (P. Norton.)D.L. Moody on death Mr. Moody once said, “ Some day you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead. Don’ t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all; gone out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal, a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body like unto His own glorious body.” Robert Hall’s death:--Mrs. Hall, observing a change on the countenance of her husband, became alarmed, and exclaimed. “ This cannot be dying!” He replied, “ It is death; it is death--death!” Mrs. Hall then asked him, “ Are you comfortable in your mind?” He immediately answered, “ Very comfortable--very comfortable!” And exclaimed, “ Come, Lord Jesus, come--” He hesitated, as if incapable of bringing out the last word. One of his daughters anticipated him by saying “ Quickly,” on which her departing father gave her a look expressive of the most complacent delight. (King’s Highway.)The Lord God will wipe away tears from off all facesThe lake of tears It would be a sum for an arithmetician to tell the size of the lake that all the tears shed by humanity would have made. I. Let us notice THE TEARS ON SOME FACES. 1. How many little children weep when they might have been made to rejoice! We often expect more from children than they have either wisdom or strength to perform. Many a child weeps himself to sleep when he might have sung had he been rightly treated. 2. There have been rivers of tears upon the faces of the wives of our country. 3. There are many tears shed by widows. 4. There are the tears of the bereaved. 5. Then there are the tears of that class of people that the world does not like to talk of--the “ unfortunate.” 6. And then there are many who were once members of our Churches, who have wandered out of the way; and there has been no kind hand to fetch them back. 7. Remember the tears caused by the crushing weight of the mountain of poverty. Charity organisations are excellent systems, but it is unwise to overdo it. Because there are so many deceivers, it does not prove that there are not some who suffer. Let us be just to the poor. 8. There are many tears shed by women whose faces are very plain. They are passed by in favour of those who have better figures and prettier faces. 9. A large proportion also of those about us are crippled, and they often are neglected. II. THE TEARS OF THE WORLD HAVE NOT BEEN SHED IN VAIN. The tears of slavery have brought about freedom; the tears of ignorance have been the cause of education being placed within the reach of every healthy child in our land; the tears caused by pestilence have compelled us to cleanse our towns and villages; and the tears shed under the scourge of oppression have given to us freedom of conscience. The tears of poverty have given to us the desire to alleviate it. The tears of pain and sickness have brought about our splendid medical system--the hospitals and dispensaries of our country. Tears often lead to joy. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy often cometh to us in the morning. III. THE TEARS OF AND TRIAL ARE NEEDFUL. If affliction had not been necessary, Christ would have borne it upon His own head. Afflictions are to us like sandpaper, to make us smooth and polished to take our place in the society of Heaven. Trials are to us in the testing of iron. A heavier weight is placed upon the iron in the workshop than it has to bear in its service outside; and so a heavy weight is placed upon you here. IV. THE TENDER HAND. It is the hand of a Father, of a Lover, of a Saviour, of a Friend; it is the hand of the Lord God! (W. Birch.)Man born to trouble There is a fable that when Affliction was listening to the roar of the sea, she stretched out a willow branch and brought to the shore a beautiful body. As it lay upon the sand, Jupiter passed by, and, entranced with its beauty, he breathed into the body life and motion, and called it man. There was very soon a discussion as to whom this man should, belong. Affliction said, “ I am the cause of his creation” ; Earth answered, “ I furnished the materials” ; and Jupiter urged, “ I gave him animation.” The gods assembled in solemn council, and it was decided that Affliction should possess the man whilst he lived; that Death should then receive his body, and Jupiter possess his spirit. This is the fable--pretty well-nigh true. (W. Birch.)God’ s power to wipe away tears Of all the qualities we assign to the Author and Director of nature, by far the most enviable is to be able “ to wipe away all tears from all eyes.” (Robert Burns.) Isaiah 25:9 And it shall be said in that day, To, this is out God Waiting for God in times of darkness Isaiah is thinking, first of all, of Hezekiah’ s victory over Sennacherib. It was no ordinary day which saw the discomfiture of the Assyrian host before the walls of Jerusalem. We can scarcely understand the terror and dismay with which a religious Jew must have watched the growth of those mighty Oriental despotisms which, rising one after another in the great valley of the Euphrates and the Tigris, aspired to nothing less than the conquest of the known world. The victory of a conqueror like Sennacherib meant the extinction of national life and personal liberty in the conquered people; it meant often enough violent transportation from their homes, separation from their families, with all the degrading and penal accompaniments of complete subjugation. It meant this by the conquered pagan cities; for Jerusalem it meant this and more. The knowledge and self-worship of God maintained by institutions of Divine appointment, maintained only in that little corner of the wide world, were linked to the fortunes of the Jewish state, and in the victory of Sennacherib would be involved not merely political humiliation, but religious darkness. When, then, his armies advanced across the continent again and again, making of a city a heap, and of a fenced city a ruin, and at last appeared before Jerusalem, when the blast of the terrible ones was as a storm against the wall, there was natural dismay in every religious and patriotic soul. It seemed as though a veil or covering, like that which was spread over the holy things in the Jewish ritual, was being spread more and more completely over all nations at each step of the Assyrian monarch’ s advance, and in those hours of darkness all true-hearted men in Jerusalem waited for God. He had delivered them from the Egyptian slavery. He had given them the realm of David and Solomon. He who had done so much for them would not desert them now. In His own way, at His own time, He would rebuke this insolent enemy of His truth and His people, and this passionate longing for His intervention quickened the eye and melted the heart of Jerusalem when at last it came. The destruction of Sennacherib’ s host was one of those supreme moments in the history of a people which can never be lived over again by posterity. The sense of deliverance was proportionated to the agony which had preceded it. To Isaiah and his contemporaries it seemed as though a canopy of thick darkness was lifted from the face of the world, as though the recollections of slaughter and death were entirely swallowed up in the absorbing sense of deliverance, as though the tears of the city had been wiped away and the rebuke of God’ s people was taken from earth, and therefore from the heart of Israel there burst forth a welcome proportionated to the anxious longing that had preceded it: “ Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him; He will save us.” (H. P. Liddon, D. D.)God in history The recognition of God’ s presence in the great turning points of human history is in all ages natural to religious minds. God, of course, is here in quiet times, when all goes smoothly, as though it were regulated by unchangeable law. But His presence is brought before the imagination more vividly when all seems at stake, when the ordinary human resources of confidence and hope are clearly giving way, when nothing but a sudden, sharp turn in what looks like the predestined course of events can avert some fatal catastrophe. This is what was felt by our ancestors in the days of the Spanish Armada. This is what was felt in every religious mind throughout Europe when the power of the First Napoleon was broken, first at Leipsic, and then at Waterloo. (H. P. Liddon, D. D.)A forecast of the last judgment But beyond the immediate present Isaiah sees, it may be indistinctly, into a distant future. The judgment of Assyria, like that upon Egypt in a previous age, like that upon Babylon afterwards, foreshadowed some universal judgment, some judgment upon all the enemies of God. The visible Divine action upon a small scale was itself a revelation of the principles upon which the world is governed, and which one day will be seen to have governed it in the widest and most inclusive sense, and thus Isaiah’ s prediction of the song which would be sung by Israel at the defeat of Sennacherib is a prediction of the song which will be sung by the redeemed when Christ our Lord comes to judgment. (H. P. Liddon, D. D.)Christ our God But between the days of Hezekiah and the final judgment, there is another event ever close to the thought of the prophet--the appearance of the great Deliverer in the midst of human history.“ Lo, this is our God.” Christ is not for us Christians merely or chiefly the preacher or herald of a religion of which another being, distinct from Himself, is the object. The Gospel creed does not run thus, “ There is no God but God, and Christ is His prophet.” The Author and Founder of Christianity, He is also at the same time its subject and its substance. We may say, with truth, that Christ is Christianity. (H. P. Liddon, D. D.)Waiting for God I. Contemplate THE OBJECT we are here invited to behold. “ Lo, this is our God.” The words express strong emotions of pleasure, admiration, and joy, arising from the merciful interpositions made in behalf of His people, whereby Jehovah manifested Himself present among them. Though God is invisible to our bodily eyes, we behold Him when we sensibly discern those visible effects which cannot be produced by any other than His omnipotent arm. There subsists between Him and us a reciprocal endearing relation, a mutual tender affection, a continued delightful intercourse, a most agreeable concord, and an intimate union of interest and design. II. Consider THE in which the Church was employed. “ We have waited for Him.” The repetition of the words plainly intimates the great earnestness and persevering diligence with which the saints had waited upon the Lord their God. This duty includes-- 1. Earnest desire. 2. Lively expectation. 3. Holy serenity of mind (Lamentations 3:26; Isaiah 30:15). This sacred tranquillity of soul represses those uneasy disquietudes and tumultuous thoughts, which disturb the mind, and unfit for the right performance of this or any other duty. It composes the soul attentively to observe every symptom of the Divine approach, every appearance from which may be deduced favourable consequences, and every opportunity that ought to be diligently improved. It gives a seasonable check to that precipitation and haste which springs from uneasiness at our present condition, and from hurtful anxiety about immediate deliverance. III. Attend to THE ASSURED in God which the Church expressed in these words: “ He will save us.” In every age they have viewed the Lord as their Saviour. Salvation from the hands of their enemies, which was doubtless primarily intended in the words before us, is employed as an image, to shadow out a salvation of an infinitely higher and more important nature. IV. Examine THE adopted by the Church. “ We will be glad, and rejoice in His salvation.” In this salvation, which is admirably suited to our character and circumstances, we ought to be glad and rejoice. (R. Macculloch.)Third Sunday in Advent (1) In this lesson there is an interlacement of praise and prophecy. (2) The words “ we have waited for Him,” describe the posture of the Church at all times, but especially at this season. In the Old Testament, the Jews waited for the first coming of Christ. The light of the first prophecy became wider and brighter as the fulfilment drew nigh. The Church waits for the second coming. I. WHAT DOES WAITING IMPLY? 1. Faith. Christians believe in the promise of His coming (1 Corinthians 1:7). Those who have reduced the Christian creed to its smallest dimensions have included in it the belief in Christ’ s second coming as Judge. 2. Desire (2 Timothy 4:8; Revelation 22:20; Philippians 3:20; Romans 8:19). 3. Patience (James 5:7). 4. Preparation. II. WHY WAIT SO LONG? 1. The question was discussed in the Middle Ages. Why was the Incarnation so long delayed? Why was not the remedy at once applied to the disease? It is not for us to question the ways of God; but, although we accept them in the spirit of faith, yet, having done so, we should reverently exercise our reason, so far as we can, upon matters of faith. 2. One reason for this delay of the Incarnation is drawn from the condition of man. He had to be humiliated by a sense of his sinfulness in order that he might feel his need of a Deliverer. The remedy has not only to be vouchsafed, but to be accepted, and for this human pride must be broken down. We see the same providence in individual sinners as in a microcosm. God allows the prodigal to pursue his downward course until he is brought to his senses, and misery brings him to the turning point. 3. All delays in the approaches of God are for the sake of man that he might prepare to receive Him. The ministry of the Baptist is a visible setting forth of this need of preparation. III. WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR? “ Lo, this is our God,” etc. 1. That there is a primary reference to wonderful interventions of God on behalf of His people, whether in contemporary or subsequent deliverances, is admitted. Whatever may be the historic application, it cannot be more than a type of the full accomplishment of the prophecy in the Person of Christ. He alone “ swallows up death in victory” ; and “ wipes away tears from off all faces.” 2. The text is fulfilled by the Incarnation. “ This is our God.” It points to the mystery that our Lord is a Divine Person, and that therefore He can “ save us.” This stirs the hymn of joy, “ We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” This is no mere temporal deliverance, but freedom from the powers of darkness--the salvation of the soul, pardon for sin, gift of grace, hope of glory; these deep inward gifts awaken such chords of praise in the redeemed, that all joy and thanksgiving for earthly deliverances are but a faint prelude to their exultation. The great mystery, “ The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” ; the great truth “ Unto you is born a Saviour” ; the great experience, “ Ye were sometime darkness, now are ye light in the Lord;” --by these is fulfilled the blessed promise, that the veil of darkness and the wail of sorrow through Christ shall be done away, and the voice of rejoicing and salvation be in the tabernacles of the righteous. IV. LESSONS. 1. The text impresses on us the right use of Advent as a season of preparation for the coming of Christ. 2. This preparation to consist in repentance for sin, and faith in Christ. 3. The words of the text express the joy of an earnest Christmas Communion. “ This is our God; we have waited for Him” ; for “ he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me” (John 6:57). 4. They express also a true belief in the Incarnation, that realisation of the Divine and human united forever in the One Person of the Son of God, which thrilled the soul of St. Thomas when he cried out, “ My Lord and my God!” (The Thinker.)Waiting for God Interwoven with all human experiences there is the consciousness of a conflict, an oppression, a captivity. But men expect deliverance. If it were not so, effort would be paralysed, and history would end. This hope is not illusive; the God who has implanted in the hearts of all men an anticipation of deliverance is a God who will give deliverance. But deliverances do not come when men desire them, hope for them, expect them. Often there is long delay. I. GOD KEEPS MEN WAITING. I. Let us notice how true this is of the history of our race. The race is wrestling with a mighty sorrow. We look through the ages, and we see that every age has its burden of woe. We go among the diverse peoples of mankind, and we find that there is not a tribe which does not exhibit tokens of the strife. The eternal God has spoken, and His voice has told the world that the secret of the world’ s sorrow and strife and pain is the world’ s sin. And the honest conscience echoes back the truth of God but the same Voice which tells the world of sin, tells also of a Saviour. But how long man had to wait before his hope was realised! And, even now that Christ has come, His advent proves to be, not some grand final stroke of triumph, but only the beginning of another waiting that, perhaps, must be longer still. 2. How true is this principle with respect to the history of the Church. God is fashioning to Himself a new race out of the ruins of the old. But think how the Church has had to wait. 3. How true is this same principle of the history of the nations. Each nation reproduces, on a smaller scale, the history of the race; and each has its burden and evil, each has its hope. But the nations likewise wait for their deliverance from thrall and pain. How impressive an example of waiting is the history of the Jews! Our England, too, is only gradually emerging from what it has been to what it shall be. So of the various nationalities of Europe, of the swarming multitudes of Asia, of the tribes of dark Africa, and the rest--who would dare to think that the goal of their history is reached! 4. But this principle is still further true in regard to individual men. Men of science, like Galileo; men of enterprise, like Columbus; men of letters, like Milton--these, who have done the most permanent work for the world, have often not been duly recognised as benefactors till they were gone. Does not our own spiritual history illustrate the same truth! How long it is, sometimes, before we reach a settled peace, an unquestioning faith; how long before we gain an established strength of purity, and are made perfect in love! II. WHY DOES GOD KEEP MEN WAITING? 1. It is in accord with God’ s universal way of working, so far as we know. We could conceive of a universe in which everything should be immediate and final; but that is certainly not the method of our universe. The records of geology tell of the earth’ s slow development; the researches of biology attest the gradual unfolding of life; the annals of history show civilisation, science, and culture only progressing by degrees. So when God, in His providential and spiritual dealings with men, keeps them waiting, this is only in harmony with His general method and plan of work. 2. We must remember the bearing, on this subject, of man’ s own free will. Even when on God’ s part all is ready, this sometimes interferes to cause long delay. 3. Great moral purposes are served by God’ s law of waiting. It accomplishes a three-fold result: it is for the discipline of effort, of patience, of faith. Of course, we may fail to abide the test; but if we yield ourselves to it rightly, God’ s principle of delay tends to the working out of one or more of these results. III. THE WAITING DOES END SOME TIME. Otherwise, the problem would be insoluble, the instincts of man’ s own nature would belie themselves, and the very government of God itself would be purposeless. And while, unless man’ s own perverseness frustrates God’ s designs, the waiting will end some time, it is suggested by these words of Isaiah that the deliverance, when it does come, will be a glad surprise. It is said that the poet Cowper, so much of whose life had been passed in bitter bondage, and who died at last in despair, wore on his face after death an expression of astonished joy. So it is true of the lesser deliverances of life, that God surprises His people at last with the swift removal of their fears, and with His more abundant benediction. And of the great deliverance which the day of God shall usher in at last, it is said, “ As the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of Man” Matthew 24:27)--so sudden, so swift, so full! What a paean shall then be sung over a transfigured world! (T. F. Lockyer, B. A.)Connection between the confidence and the character of the true Christian I. NOTHING WILL INSPIRE US WITH JOY AND IN THE DAY OF BUT A REAL IN JESUS CHRIST. I might go further, and say, that nothing but a good hope of an interest in Christ can give us real, abiding, exalted enjoyment in this life. II. NONE WILL IN THAT DAY HAVE A REAL IN JESUS CHRIST, AND WILL REJOICE IN HIS , BUT THOSE WHO ARE NOW WAITING FOR HIS COMING. This expression of “ waiting for Christ,” or other expressions of a like meaning, are frequently used in the New Testament, as descriptive of the character of Christians. 1. To “ wait for Christ,” implies a firm belief of His second coming, and of the infinitely momentous consequences which will follow that event. The true Christian is one who “ walks by faith, and not by sight.” 2. To “ wait for Christ” implies constant endeavour to be prepared for that event. 3. It implies a “ patient continuance in well-doing.” (E. Cooper.)Nativity I. THE PERSON HERE : who is made known to us in the prophet’ s description of Him, by His actions and by His names. The greatest wonder in this subject is the dignity of the Person who should submit to redeem His Church. II. THE OF HIS COMING. However strange it may appear, it is certainly true, that a Saviour was expected both by Jews and heathens, however they might be mistaken with regard to some particular circumstances. III. THE WORKS THE SAVIOUR WAS TO PERFORM AT HIS COMING. The particulars are recounted in the course of the chapter (Isaiah 25:4; Isaiah 25:6-8). IV. With this hope we are to COMFORT AND ONE ANOTHER. “ We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” The day of His nativity was a blessed day: but what will that other day be! That will be our nativity; for then only we may be said to live, when the last enemy is conquered. When He shall appear again, He will appear as our life and we shall be clothed with His immortality. (W. Jones, M. A.)The glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ I. THIS MAY BE SAID OF THE OF GOD. Emmanuel, God with us, in one word conveys the same truth. Christ came not fortuitously; He came not in a passing current of compassion; but with full, unshaken continuity of purpose (Galatians 4:4-5). II. IN THE ABIDING OF HIS SPIRIT can we most joyously exclaim, “ Lo, this is our God.” III. Another intermediate sense in which we may consider Christ as coming to us--intermediate between His offering Himself up, and the bestowal of the influences of His Spirit--is THE FREE OFFER OF HIS GRACE IN THE GOSPEL. IV. IN HIS OF IN TIME. 1. Truly of Jerusalem might it be said, that not one stone was left upon another; and now she is not Jerusalem; though called still the Holy City, where is her glory? Where are her children! 2. On antichrist, too, the first shoot of present judgment has arisen. 3. Christ also comes to judgment in time, by many of what appeared to be temporal accidents. 4. And in His afflictions and deprivations He often judges the abuse of a possession, or deficient appreciation of it, and often in mercy executes this temporal judgment, in order that its effects upon the awakened conscience may obviate, and cause to be avoided, that dreadful punishment which knows no reversion. V. In one sense, Christ has still to come. HE HAS TO COME TO FINAL . (I. Hutchin, M. A.)National thanksgiving I. Let us consider WHAT WE ARE TO BY WAITING FOR GOD. 1. Almost innumerable instances might be referred to wherein the Jewish nation did evidently wait for God to be their salvation. 2. The same may be observed with regard to mankind in general. (1) The inseparable difficulties attending our situation as dependent creatures are sometimes of so severe and pressing a nature, attended with such intricate consequences, and even in the eye of human wisdom so plainly productive of fatal events, that reason will naturally show us the necessity of applying for relief from a power more unlimited than our own, and cannot, when properly improved, but teach us to make our appeal to that Supreme Being who disposeth all things according to the infallible counsel of His will. (2) And if we attend to the satisfactory instructions of revelation, this will not only show us the necessity of such a dependence, but also make us sensible of its usefulness and advantage. II. IN WHAT WE MAY BE SAID TO HAVE WAITED FOR GOD. III. THE NATURE OF THAT WHICH HE HAS WROUGHT FOR US, and the beneficial tendency of such a deliverance. IV. SOME USEFUL . 1. It is Our duty to acknowledge those favourable interpositions of Omnipotence, by which either national calamities are removed or national distress prevented. 2. It would be highly base and ungrateful not to rejoice in His salvation which He has so seasonably enabled us to obtain. 3. Consider what abundant advantages may arise, if we do not foolishly neglect to improve it, from the blessing of peace. (R. P. Finch, M. A.) Isaiah 25:10 Moab shall be trodden down under Him God’ s judgments manure After the process of primary ploughing has been completed our fields are covered with some appropriate manure, that the earth may be enriched, and larger crops gathered into our barns. In the world at large which is God’ s husbandry, His judgments, which deface and destroy countries and nations, are clearly intended, in their remoter influence, to effect the subsequent fruitfulness of those very spots: and the products of righteousness, in larger abundance, have been gathered among those people where the full measure of Divine vengeance had been previously poured. “ When His judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants will learn righteousness.” (W. Clayton.)The ground manured Our text will furnish us with an occasion to establish and illustrate the fast that Divine vengeance shall overwhelm the enemies of the Church; and from their disgraceful ruin shall result advantage to the cause, and glory to the perfections of Deity. I. GOD HAS HIS WRATH FROM HEAVEN AGAINST ALL AND OF MEN; and although slack in executing His threatenings, as some men count slackness, the expected day of the Lord’ s vengeance will certainly and suddenly arrive. 1. However exalted among the great ones of the earth offenders have been, the just displeasure of God has been displayed, and vengeance has overwhelmed them. 2. As no person, however elevated, is exempt from the judicial control of the Most High; so no part of the world is found where this truth has not been proclaimed. 3. In every successive age have these truths received an awful confirmation. II. THESE SIGNAL PROOFS OF GOD’ S PROMOTE THE BEST OF ZION, and consequently redound to His glory. 1. A large accession to the Church on earth is stated to be the immediate consequence of the ruin of Moab (Isaiah 26:1-2). In a degree infinitely more astonishing shall the final destruction of Zion’ s foes precede the period of her destined perfection on earth. 2. It is pleasant to see the strength and establishment of Zion resulting from the demolition of the schemes which were formed for her ruin. 3. The rich and abundant fruitfulness of the Church--the field which God blesseth--is advanced by these displays of His vindictive wrath III. . 1. We are taught to whose culture we are exclusively indebted, if these fruits of righteousness are in our case the results of beholding God’ s judgments. Manure spread on the ground will only render weeds, its natural product, of more luxuriant and disgusting growth; nor will the Divine judgments, but for the subsequent care and cultivation of the Great Husbandman, promote the salutary change which is desired. 2. Do not our minds, necessarily, when contemplating any species of suffering, revert to Him who was bruised or threshed for our sakes; who, bearing the indignation of the Lord because we have sinned against Him, was trodden down as mire in the streets by ungodly men, and finally suffered without the camp; and to those also who, being conformed to His death, were esteemed the off-scouring of all men, of whom the world was not worthy? 3. Estimate aright the invaluable privilege of being interested in the cultivating care of the great Husbandman. (W. Clayton.)Moab As the name “ British” in our own revolutionary war became equivalent to “ hostile,” without losing its specific sense, so might the prophets threaten Moab with God’ s vengeance, without meaning to exclude from the denunciation other like-minded enemies. (J. A. Alexander, U. S. A.) Isaiah 25:11 And He shall spread forth His hands in the midst of them Explanation In Isaiah 25:11 a the figure is Moab, vainly struggling to save himself in the water of the dung pit; in 11 b “ he” is, of course, Jehovah, who frustrates the efforts made by Moab. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Swimming to save This text represents God as a strong swimmer, striking out to push down iniquity and save the souls of men. I. OUR RACE IS IN A SINKING . You sometimes hear people talking of what they consider the most beautiful words in our language. One man says it is “ home,” another man says it is “ mother,” another says it is “ Jesus” ; but I will tell you the bitterest word in all our language, the word saturated with the most trouble, the word that accounts for all the loathsomeness and the pang, and the outrage, and the harrowing; and that word is “ Sin.” Give it a fair chance, and it will swamp you, body, mind, and soul forever. II. THEN WHAT DO WE WANT? A SWIMMER, a strong, swift swimmer! In my text we have Him announced. 1. You have noticed that when a swimmer goes out to rescue anyone he puts off his heavy apparel. And when Christ stepped forth to save us He shook off the sandals of heaven, and His feet were free; He laid aside the robe of eternal royalty, and His arms were free; then He stepped down into the wave of our transgression, and it came up over His wounded feet, and it came above the spear stab in His side--ay, it dashed to the lacerated temple, the high-water mark of His anguish. Then, rising above the flood, “ He stretched forth His hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim.” 2. If you have ever watched a swimmer, you notice that his whole body is brought into platy. The arms are flexed, the hands drive the water back, the knees are active, the head is tossed back to escape strangulation, the whole body is in propulsion. And when Christ sprang out into the deep to save us He threw His entire nature in it. We were so far out on the sea, and so deep down in the waves, and so far out from the shore, that nothing short of an entire God could save us. 3. If anyone is going to rescue the drowning, he must be independent, self-reliant, able to go alone. When Christ sprang out into the sea to deliver us, He had no life buoy. “ Of the people there was none to help.” “ All forsook Him and fled.” Oh, it was not a flotilla that sailed down and saved us. It was one Person, independent and alone. 4. When one is in peril, help must come very quickly, or it will be of no use. That is just the kind of relief the sinner wants. The case is urgent, imminent, instantaneous. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.). Isaiah 26:1-10 In that day shall this song be sung Periods of restoration If it be demanded, what period of time is this which the prophet speaks of? we must answer, that it is the time when the people, who for their provocations were thrown into the furnace of affliction, and had continued in it till they were purged from their sins, were delivered from it, and restored to the favour of God, and the enjoyment of His former mercies. Of which restoration there are three kinds or degrees plainly spoken of by the prophet Isaiah. 1. The Jews’ return from the land of their captivity, especially that of Babylon. 2. The restoration of the family and kingdom of David in the person of the Messiah. 3. The perfect felicity of that kingdom in astute of future glory. (W. Reading, M. A.)Three elements in prophecy All true prophecy, seems to have in it three elements: conviction, imagination, inspiration. The seer speaks first of all from his knowledge of, and experience with, the inherent vitality of right and righteousness. He is sure that the good in the world is destined to conquer the evil. Then when he attempts to tell how this victory is to be brought about he uses his imagination. He employs metaphors and figures which from the necessities of the case may not be literally fulfilled. And then, in addition to this, his prophecies have in them a certain comprehensiveness of plan and structure, and a certain organic relation to history, such as can be revealed only by the Divine Maker of history Himself. It took a man of large parts to see above the wreck and ruin, and through the darkness of his age, such visions of hope and promise as Isaiah saw. Everywhere around him were sensuality and oppression. The Church of the true God had been almost swallowed up by the foul dragon of paganism. And yet the prophet, with his eye upon the future, beheld a day when this song was to be sung in the land of Judah: the song of salvation. Sure he was that God must triumph, and with the poet’ s instinct he clothed his assurance in the language of metaphor, and set it to the rhythm of song. (C. A. Dickinson.)The triumph of goodness 1. Those who study this song in the light of succeeding history find in it the picture of the ultimate triumph of the Church. The central figure is the strong city, the walls and bulwarks of which are salvation, and through whose open gates the righteous nation which keepeth the truth is allowed to enter. This picture reminds us at once of that vision of the new Jerusalem which fell upon the eyes of the seer of Patmos many years after, and which was evidently the type and symbol of the perfected kingdom of Christ. To attempt to give to this strong city and this new Jerusalem a literal and material significance is to involve ourselves in inextricable difficulties. 2. There are two views concerning the progress and ultimate triumph of Christianity in the world. In some respects these views are the same; in others they differ radically. (1) The first theory is that there is to be in the near or remote future a sudden, visible appearance of Christ in the clouds of heaven to take His place upon the throne of David at the earthly Jerusalem, where He will reign with His saints for a thousand years. Meanwhile the world is to come more and more under the Satanic influence. (2) The other theory is that of a gradual development under the spiritual forces which began to be dominant in the world on the day of Pentecost, when Christ, according to His own promise, began His reign in His new kingdom. This I believe to be the true view: the one which Christ Himself propounded when He said His kingdom should be like the seed that should “ grow” up. 3. I am well aware that those who claim that the world is fast ripening in evil for its final catastrophe can point to many facts which seem to substantiate their theory. But just here, it seems to me, comes in one of their greatest mistakes. There is, of course, danger of generalising too much, but there is certainly great danger of allowing some near fact to blind the eyes to the great general truth which lies beyond it; to hold the sixpence so near the eye that we cannot see the sun. There is danger of confining our thoughts so exclusively to certain specific texts as to get a wrong conception of the real truth of which these special texts may be only a small part. Now, what are some of the signs that we are living today in an age of conquest? (1) Take that law of decay which you find written upon evil everywhere, whether in the individual or the nation. “ He bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, He layeth it low.” Rome in her arrogance was the first great organised power to make war against the new kingdom. But Rome fell, and over the ruins of her pagan temples the Christian walks today. France posed as the haughty oppressor of the weak and unfortunate, as the instigator of the horrors of St. Bartholomew’ s day, and following close upon her dreadful sin came the death and desolation of the Revolution. Our own great nation allowed to ripen in her very heart the malignant curse of slavery, and for her sin was obliged to suffer the pangs of a civil war. These are only a few of the conspicuous illustrations of the great truth that righteousness is surely, though perhaps slowly, vindicating her everlasting strength. (2) I might call your attention to the other side of this conquest: to the rapid increase in the present days of that strong City whose wails are salvation. I might show you a whole library filled with missionary literature which tells that the kingdom of the new King has extended its bounds into almost every habitable part of the earth. I might point you to the Year Books of our Churches, and show you what armies of men and women are yearly marching through the gates of the strong City. I might show you how the spirit of the Cross, having taken possession of the civilised nations of the world, has materialised into churches and hospitals and asylums and charitable institutions and temperance guilds and myriads of Christian homes. (3) But further, I might speak of another phase of this conquest. “ When Thy judgments are in the earth,” says the prophet, “ the inhabitants of the earth will learn righteousness.” These Divine judgments appear as a subtle tonic atmosphere pervading the whole world, and, like the ozone of the mountains, invigorating almost unconsciously every age and generation. (4) The influence of the Gospel is pervasive. In a certain sense we have a right to say that a community is a Christian community even though but a small minority of its inhabitants profess to accept Christ as their personal Saviour. The spirit of Christ is in that community; the leaven of the Gospel is leavening it. The new kingdom is established there, and even they who deny allegiance to it are in many ways better than they who are without it. The principles of Jesus Christ are the standard principles of morality throughout Christendom today, and men are inevitably judging them selves and being judged by others according to these standards. 4. I believe that we are in the midst of mighty spiritual forces which are working successfully for the redemption of this world from sin; and I have two great incentives to spur me on to earnest effort. (1) The one is faith in humanity and Christ. I say humanity and Christ, because I believe they are one. That, to me, is the meaning of His incarnation. The mighty forces of righteousness are moving with their slow, crushing power as the steam roller moves over the newly macadamised road, breaking and levelling everything before it, that the chariot of the King may ride smoothly on to its destination. But this is only a part of the truth. The other part is that the new kingdom is open to all. (2) The other thing which spurs me on is hope--that blessed hope which the apostle had of the glorious consummation of this age of conquest. (C. A. Dickinson.)We have a strong cityA city the emblem of security To understand this figure of a city we must remember what a city was in the earlier ages; i.e., a portion of land separate from the general surface, in which the people of a locality gathered, and put their homes into a condition of safety by building walls of immense strength, which should both resist the attacks of enemies and, to a great extent, defy the ravages of time. Such a city, then, was the emblem of security. (R. H. Davies.)The song of salvation I. THE GROUND OF . Salvation; and consequently eternal security. “ We have a strong city.” All God’ s people are represented as citizens; the whole sainthood is represented as a corporate assemblage of people possessed of peculiar privileges, connected with an eternal condition, and as such are to dwell in some region of safety and bliss. Here they find not such an abode. Here they have “ no continuing city, but seek one to come.” And, when they shall be gathered together in the presence of their Lord, they will constitute the body to form a city. II. THE OF THOSE WHO ARE TO PARTAKE OF THESE . “ The righteous nation which keepeth the truth.” (R. H. Davies.)Salvation Salvation, i.e., freedom and safety. The original sense of the word rendered “ salvation” (as Arabic shows) is breadth, largeness, absence of constraint. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Saving health (1) Political theorists have been fond of picturing an ideal State, the government of which would be perfect. (2) The ideal State in the mind of the average Hebrew was limited to his own race, but in the writings of the inspired psalmists and prophets it could not be so restricted, but widened itself out so as to embrace the whole world. Thus was the way prepared for the grand conception of the kingdom of heaven as first proclaimed and then established by the Son of God. (3) But it is a difficult thing, except in moments of great exaltation, to put much intensity of feeling. Into a conception so vast. It was a great deal easier to conceive an ideal State than an ideal world, and an ideal city was still more manageable for the imagination. We need not wonder, then, that even after the great proclamation about all the kingdoms of the world becoming the kingdom of God, the seer of Patmos should fondly return to the thought of the city, and revel in anticipating the advent of the New Jerusalem. Nor shall we be astonished that the prophets, though they had the wider outlook, should even in their moods of highest exaltation cling fondly to the thought of a holy city as the best picture, the more serviceable that it was a miniature of the coming kingdom of God. (4) In these early days of insecurity, the first requisite of a city was strength. So it is natural that this should be the feature on which the prophet here lays special stress. But wherein does its strength lie? He speaks not of ramparts or forts, of fleets or armies, but of salvation as the bulwarks of the city. We find this word salvation in other places translated by the more suggestive rendering “ health,” or “ saving health.” 1. The first thought suggested in this connection is that the city should be a clean place to live in, healthy from end to end and in every corner, each house in it a fitting abode for sons of God and daughters of the King. When we pass from the sanitation of the city to the saving health of the citizen, we think first of his body, and recognise the necessity of having all the conditions as conducive as possible to its health. 2. But clearly we cannot stop there. We must have the “ mens sana in corpore sane” ; hence the need of universal education, to secure intellectual sanity. 3. Nor may we end here, for moral sanity, a sound conscience, is even still more important. The nation must be a righteous nation. 4. Clearly, there must be sanitation for the will before we have reached saving health; and inasmuch as the will is swayed by desire, the sanitation must reach the heart. What sanitary measures could we here summon to our aid? The purest water will not cleanse the heart; the most bracing air will have no effect upon the soul. There must be a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, and some breath of God for inspiration to the soul. 5. And here we reach the prophet’ s highest, dominating thought. “ In that day,” the passage begins. What day? Look back (Isaiah 25:9). “ It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God, we have waited for Him, and He will save us.” And look forward (Isaiah 26:4), “ Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” “ Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us; for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us” (Isaiah 26:12). This introduces us to one of the most important questions of the day. There are many, sound and strong on the subject of righteousness, who yet fail to realise that righteousness is so bound up with saving truth--that truth of God and His salvation through Jesus Christ His Son, and by His Holy Spirit breathed in human hearts, which they sometimes offensively set aside as mere dogma--that the one cannot be had where it does not exist already, and cannot be retained long where it does without the other. “ Open ye the gates that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.” 6. How can we open or help to open these gates of national strength and saving health? For individual action the answer would be such as this: First, by loving truth and keeping righteousness ourselves; next, by doing all we can to help others to a life of godliness and righteousness; further, by earnest and frequent prayer to Him who gave of old the promise, “ I will open to you the two-leaved gates” ; and lastly, by the faithful exercise of the privileges of citizens, seeing to it that in the forming of our opinions, in the giving of our votes, in the use of all our influence, not selfish interest, or class interest, or even party interest, but the interests of righteousness and truth be the determining factor. But individual action is not enough. We must combine; we must bring our united force to bear. And here the main reliance must be on the Church of Christ, on which is laid the responsibility of carrying on His great work of salvation. (J. M.Gibson, D. D.)Our strong city There are three things here-- I. THE CITY. No doubt the prophet was thinking of the literal Jerusalem, but the city is ideal, as is shown by the bulwarks which defend, and by the qualifications which permit entrance. And so we must pass beyond the literalities of Palestine, and must not apply the symbol to any visible institution or organisation if we are to come to the depth and greatness of the meaning of these words. No Church which is organised amongst men can be the New Testament representation of this strong city. And if the explanation is to be looked for in that direction at all, it can only be the invisible aggregate of ransomed souls which is regarded as being the Zion of the prophecy. But, perhaps, even that is too definite and hard. And we are rather to think of the unseen but existent order of things or polity to which men here on earth may belong, and which will one day, after shocks and convulsions that shatter all which is merely institutional and human, be manifested still more gloriously. The central thought that was moving in the prophet’ s mind is of the indestructible vitality of the true Israel, and the order which it represented, of which Jerusalem on its rock was but to him a symbol. And thus for us the lesson is that, apart altogether from the existing and visible order of things in which we dwell, there is a polity to which we may belong, for “ ye are come unto Mount Zion, the city of the living God,” and that order is indestructible. There is a lesson for us, in times of fluctuation, of change of opinion, of shaking of institutions, and of new social, economical, and political questions, threatening day by day to reorganise society. “ We have a strong city” ; and whatever may come--and much destructive will come, and much that is venerable and antique, rooted in men’ s prejudices, and having survived through and oppressed the centuries, will have to go, but God’ s polity, His form of human society, of which the perfect ideal and antitype, so to speak, lies concealed in the heavens, is everlasting. And for Christian men in revolutionary epochs the only worthy temper is the calm, triumphant expectation that through all the dust, contradiction, and distraction the fair city of God will be brought nearer and made more manifest to man. To this city--existent, immortal, and waiting to be revealed--you and I may belong today. II. THE . “ Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.” This “ evangelical prophet” is distinguished by the fulness and depth which he attaches to that word “ salvation.” He all but anticipates the New Testament completeness and fulness of meaning, and lifts it from all merely material associations of earthly or transitory deliverance into the sphere in which we are accustomed to regard it as especially moving. By “ salvation” he means, and we mean, not only negative but positive blessings. Negatively, it includes the removal of every conceivable or endurable evil, whether they be evils of sin or evils of sorrow; and positively, the investiture with every possible good that humanity is capable of, whether it be good of goodness or good of happiness. This is what the prophet tells us is the wall and bulwark of his ideal real city. Mark the eloquent omission of the name of the builder of the wall. “ God” is a supplement. Salvation “ will He appoint for walls and bulwarks.” No need to say who it is that flings such a fortification around the city. There is only one hand that can trace the lines of such walls; only one hand that can pile their stones; only one that can lay them, as the walls of Jericho were laid, in the blood of His first-born Son. “ Salvation will He appoint for walls and bulwarks,” i.e., in a highly imaginative and picturesque form, that the defence of the city is God Himself. The fact of salvation is the wall and the bulwark. And the consciousness of the fact is for our poor hearts one of our best defences against both the evil of sin and the evil of sorrow. So, let us walk by the faith that is always confident, though it depends on an unseen hand. “ Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks,” and if we realise, as we ought to do, His purpose and His power to keep us safe, and the actual operation of His hand keeping us safe at every moment, we shall not ask that these defences shall be supplemented by the poor feeble earthworks that sense can throw up. III. THE . Our text is part of a “ song,” and is not to be interpreted in the cold-blooded fashion that might suit prose. A voice, coming from whom we know not, breaks in upon the first strain with a command, addressed to whom we know not. “ Open ye the gates” --the city thus far being supposed to be empty,--“ that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.” The central idea there is just this, “ Thy people shall be all righteous.” The one qualification for entrance into the city is absolute purity. Now, that is true in regard of our present imperfect denizenship within the city; and it is true in regard to men’ s passing into it, in its perfect and final form. They used to say that Venice glass was so made that any poison poured into it shivered the vessel. Any drop of sin poured into your cup of communion with God shatters the cup and spills the wine. Whosoever thinks himself a citizen of that great city, if he falls into transgression, and soils the cleanness of his hands, and ruffles the calm of his pure heart by self-willed sinfulness, will wake to find himself not within the battlements, but lying wounded, robbed, solitary, in the pitiless desert. “ The nation which keepeth the truth,” --that does not mean adherence to any revelation, or true creed, or the like. The word which is employed means, not truth of thought, but truth of character; and might, perhaps, be better represented by the more familiar word in such a connection, “ faithfulness” A man who is true to God, that keeps up a faithful relation to Him who is faithful to us, he, and only he, will tread and abide in the city. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The walls and bulwarks of a city Accepting the vague but universal idea that there is an abundance of sin of every sort massed together in any great city, our inquiry concerns the main lines of work by which the welfare of the city may be promoted. To the eye of the prophet there comes a vision of a strong city; and the walls and bulwarks of that strength is said to be salvation--that is, the strength and safety of a city is in the men and women in it who are saved through the atoning sacrifice of Christ. I know there are many to turn a deaf ear to any such claim as this. They reject it as being too sweeping. They say that there are many sources from which the life-giving waters come. Let us take a look at some of these things which are supposed to give safety. I. And perhaps the first thing to be mentioned is Law. It need not be any highly moral or religious enactment, but simply plain, everyday, matter-of-fact law. The city needs it. People in the simplicity of country life, where there is an abundance of room, can get on without much law. But the city needs law. And no one will decry the beneficent effect of righteous laws. It must be said, however, that the good effect of law is very much diminished by the many bad laws which are enacted. Are we claiming too much when we say that largely the efficiency of law is due to the Christian men and women who are in the city? Righteous laws follow in the train of progress made by Christianity. The bulwark which at first seemed to stand out alone and distinct becomes identified with that bulwark in the vision of the prophet whose foundation stone, as well as its lofty capstone, is salvation. II. We are led on to speak of another bulwark for the city. It is A AND PUBLIC OPINION. But again, I assert that very largely all this safety is due to the presence in the city of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is the public conscience itself, and where did it come from but through Christianity? III. But again, look at another so-called secular bulwark. Call it THRIFT, the genius of success, the ability to get on in the world. Thrift is consistent with pure selfishness. Find a society in which everybody is only thrifty, where no man cares for his neighbour, where the human heart feels nothing of the flow of generosity and love, and, while you may be able to point to fine and well-kept houses, neat little cottages, well-dressed, clean children, you are really looking upon a hollow, lifeless sham. I do not want to live there, A sea of poverty with a little stream from Calvary flowing into it would be far better. Just a touch of human sympathy and love would transform the whole. (J. C. Cronin.)A song of salvation I. What is the PERIOD referred to? A day which was to he remarkable for the destruction of the Church’ s enemies, for the salvation of her friends, and for the glorious extension of the Gospel through all the nations of the earth. II. What is the SUBJECT of this song? “ We have a strong city: salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.” The inviolable security of the Church was to be the subject. III. WHERE is this song to be sung? “ In the land of Judah.” It was sung when the great salvation was accomplished by the one offering of Christ upon the Cross; and the risen Saviour said to His disciples, “ Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” ; and the tidings were sent abroad; and the Gospel, which was first preached at Jerusalem, was sounded forth into all lands. And we cannot but indulge the confident persuasion, that among the Jews, though they are for the present cast out, this song shall be sung in due time, which shall be “ as life from the dead.” But as that people have long since been cut off because of their unbelief, we remark, that the words will apply to others also; “ for he is not a Jew which is one outwardly,” etc. So that this song comes down to us. (G. Clayton.)The Church not in danger I. THE WHICH IS HERE GIVEN OF THE CHURCH. 1. It is a city; from which metaphor we obtain three ideas respecting it-- (1) Its amplitude. It is not a family, or a village, or a hamlet, or a provincial town; but a city. It includes as its inhabitants, all the good both in heaven and in earth, who form “ an exceeding great multitude.” The dimensions of this city are such as comport with the largeness of the Father’ s designs, the transcendent value of the Saviour’ s merits, the variety and immensity of the Holy Spirit’ s influences. (2) Its order No city ever flourished long without rule. Christ is the King of this city, and He establishes His laws in the midst of it. (3) Its magnificence. We are not to look for the magnificence of the Church in outward splendour and glory, but in its sanctity--its holy principles and practices. 2. But this city has an important appellative;--it is “ a strong city.” And this will appear, if you consider-- (1) The foundation on which it rests. “ Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (2) The protection it enjoys. God Himself dwells in this city; and His presence is our stay and our defence. All His attributes and promises are connected with this safety. (3) The principles by which its unity is cemented. Unity is strength. And the unity subsisting between the members of this city is so strong as not to be dissolved by any earthly power. The principles by which the members of the Church of Christ are united are these two--truth and love. “ We have a strong city.” (4) The rude assaults it has sustained, uninjured. We hardly know the strength of anything till it is put to the test. The Church has been exposed to the opposition of earth and the fury of hell. II. ITS SAFETY. How do I know that this city shall continue, and its interests be advanced, until its glory is consummated? Why, for this reason: “ Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.” 1. Hostility is implied. 2. The means of preservation and defence are amply provided. 3. It implies a glorious issue. All these means shall prove effectual III. HOW MAY WE HAVE A THAT WE HAVE AN IN THIS CITY OF THE GREAT KING? You may have this-- 1. If you have chosen Jesus Christ as the ground of your dependence for salvation. 2. If you are visibly incorporated with the inhabitants of this city. 3. If you are enabled to exemplify the distinguishing character of those who are citizens of Zion. 4. If you find that you have truly merged all your interests in the interests of the Church, and have identified your happiness with her successes. 5. If you find your thoughts and affections much engaged on that future State of which the Church on earth is but a type. Conclusion-- 1. Let me call upon you to be thankful to God, who has afforded you such an asylum. 2. Let me invite you to enter this city. 3. Let us dismiss our fears, when we have once got within the walls of this city. 4. Endeavour to bring as many as you can to be inhabitants of that Zion, the privileges of which you enjoy. (J. C. Cronin.)The saving arm of God a sure defences to the Church of Christ against all her enemies I. Mention some of those ENEMIES against whom the Church is fortified. 1. She is fortified against all the attempts of Satan. 2. A wicked world is always disposed to take part with Sam against her. 3. The Church has enemies within her own walls; and is often in the greatest perils by false brethren. 4. The Church has enemies even in the hearts of her best friends and sincerest members. That principle of corruption that is not totally subdued in the best Christians, as it is inimical to God, must also be inimical to the Church; and, as far as it prevails, its effects must be always hurtful to her. II. Speak of that which God has promised to appoint for walls and bulwarks to the Church. 1. Salvation bears an evident relation to misery and danger. 2. It is but a partial salvation that she can hope to enjoy in this world:-- 3. But her salvation shall one day be complete. From every salvation that God has already wrought, faith draws encouragement: considering it as a pledge of what He will work in time to come. III. WHAT ABOUT THE CHURCH IS SECURED AGAINST THE OF ENEMIES BY THE OF GOD. She may lose much of what may appear to a carnal eye as most valuable to her. But in the eye of the Church herself, and of all her genuine children, all this perfectly consistent with the all-sufficiency of that salvation by which she is defended. An is still safe that is necessary either to her being or her well-being, and all that is essential to the happiness of any of her citizens. 1. Her foundation is always safe. She is “ built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.” 2. Her existence is always safe. The Church may be driven into the wilderness; but she shall never be driven out of the world. 3. Her particular citizens are all safe, under the protection of God’ s saving arm. 4. Her privileges and immunities are all safe. These having been purchased for her by the blood of Christ, and bestowed upon nor by His God and Father, are also preserved by Divine power and grace; and none shall ever be suffered to deprive her of them. 5. Her treasures are all safe. She has a two-fold treasure: a treasure of grace, and a treasure of truth. Both these are lodged in the hand of Christ. 6. Her real interests are all safe and secure: and that to such a degree, that neither shall she suffer any harm, in the issue,--nor shall her enemies gain any advantage, by all their apparent success. 7. In a word, her eternal inheritance is perfectly safe and secure. IV. Conclude with some of what has been said. 1. The Church of Christ has but little occasion for the favour and protection of earthly princes, and little cause to regret the want of it. 2. It is neither upon ordinances nor instruments, upon her own endeavours nor those of her members, nor upon any created assistance that the Church of Christ ought to depend for safety or prosperity. 3. Neither the Church of God, nor any particular Christian, has anything to fear from the number, the power, the policy, or even the success of their enemies, 4. This subject informs us what it is that really brings the Church of Christ into danger. Nothing but her own sin can bring her into real danger; because this, and nothing else, tends to deprive her of her protection, or to cause her defence to depart from her. 5. We may here see plentiful encouragement to every member of the Church, as well as to those who bear office in her, to continue strenuous and undaunted, in opposing every enemy, in defending every privilege, that God has bestowed upon the Church, every ordinance that He has instituted in her, and every truth that He has revealed to her. 6. We have here an ample fund of consolation to all those who are affected with the low condition of the Church of God in our day. (J. Young.)The city of salvation In the Scriptures we read of some very strong cities, that are now levelled with the dust. But the “ city” mentioned in the text is stronger than all the rest. The state of nature may be called the city-of-destruction; and the state of grace, the strong city, or the city of salvation. I. The NAME of this city. “ Salvation.” It is a very old name, it has had this name a great many thousands of years; it has never changed its name; it is a durable name; it is an unchangeable name. II. What KIND of a city it is. 1. It is a large city. It would hold all the inhabitants of the earth for thousands of generations. 2. It is a free city. The Lord Jesus Christ welcomes you to come and live in it. 3. It is a wealthy city. The treasures of free grace are in the city of salvation. 4. It is a healthy city. They breathe good air who live in it. The Physician is the Lord Jesus Christ, who heals every disease. 5. It is a happy city. 6. This city will last foe ever. Where is Babylon? Where is Tyre? Where is Nineveh? Where are the cities of Egypt? Those mighty cities are levelled with the dust, but this city will last through all eternity. III. The BUILDER of this city. The Lord Jesus Christ. In London there is a constant succession of streets for many miles in length, and the whole was built by man. IV. Who are the of this city? They are good men, women, and children. 1. They are called “ saints.” The word “ saint” means a holy person. 2. Another name given to the inhabitants of this city is righteous. 3. Another name is believers. 4. Another name is sons and daughters. V. The of the city. There are watchmen placed upon the walls of Zion--parental watchmen, teaching watchmen, and ministerial watchmen. VI. The GUARDS of the city. Angels guard you while you sleep and while you are awake. They are wise guards; powerful guards; affectionate guards. VII. The WAY which leads to this city. The road of repentance. VIII. The WALL of this city. It is so high that no enemy can scale it; it is so strong that no enemy can break or injure it. IX. The of this city. The righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. X. The STREETS of this city. There are some very remarkable streets. 1. The high street of Faith. This street runs from one end of the city to the other. In almost every town and city, we find a street of this name--“ High Street.” But there is no such street, as this high street of faith; it is a very long and beautiful street. It connects the gate of conversion and the gate of Heaven. This high street is frequented by all who live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 2. The street of Humility. It lies alongside the high street of faith. 3. The street of Obedience. The inhabitants are very partial to this street. This street is divided into ten parts. The ten parts are the ten commandments. This is a very broad street. “ Thy commandments are exceeding broad.” It is a remarkably clean street. 4. A fourth street is Worship street. XI. We may now take a view of the SCHOOLS of the city. 1. Providence. 2. Revelation. 3. Affliction. 4. Experience. XII. Come and see the PALACES of the city. When anyone gets to London, they want to see the palace of the king. I will show nobler palaces than palaces or earthly Kings. These palaces are ordinances; such as prayer, praise, reading and hearing the Holy Gospel, baptism and the Lord’ s Supper, meditation and self-examination. Consider the reason why they are called palaces. A palace is a place where the king is to be seen. It is a place where petitions are presented; where the king bestows wealth and great gifts. Here petitions are presented and received; here King Jesus bestows wealth and honour. It is a place for conversing with the king; and here we may converse with Jesus. In a palace grand feasts are held; so in the ordinances noble feasts are provided for souls immortal, where they may eat abundantly of heavenly provisions. XIII. The ARMOURY of the city. A beautiful piece is hanging up called the helmet--the helmet of salvation. Not far from the helmet is a breastplate--the breastplate of righteousness. Near the breastplate is a girdle or sash,with this inscription--truth. The next piece of armour is a pair of shoes with this name--“ preparation of the Gospel of peace.” Next is “ the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” The shield of faith. XIV. The GARDEN of the city. 1. The walks in the garden. The walks of meditation and holy fellowship. 2. The fountains. The Lord Jesus Christ is the principal fountain. There is another fountain, called the consolation of the Holy Ghost; the water is delicious. All the inhabitants drink of it. 3. The flowers. There are the flowers of the promises and doctrines; they are odoriferous flowers, and never failing. 4. The trees. The tree of knowledge; not the tree of knowledge which was in Eden, but of knowledge and wisdom. There is not a poisonous tree in the garden. The tree of life, the Lord Jesus Christ, is there--“ whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.” XV. The BANK of this city. The name of this bank is written on the door; it is--the covenant of grace. It is so free, all may come and apply; and all who apply, receive. The bank, too, is very rich; and it is free for the poorest sinner. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Proprietor, and He is willing to give to poor sinners as much as they need. This bank cannot fail; it cannot break. Whatever is drawn out during the day, it is as full again at night. It is full of “ the unsearchable riches of Christ.” XVI. There is a GATE through which the inhabitants of the city pass, when they enter Heaven. It is the gate of death. There is a valley leading to the gate called the valley of the shadow of death. It is illuminated with the light of the Sun of Righteousness. Pious children pass through that valley, leaning on the arm of Jesus. (A. Fletcher, D. D.) Isaiah 26:2 Open ye the gates A bunch of keys (to children):-- 1. The gate of healing. What would you say is the key of that gate? Is it not our need? What, e.g., would give you admission into any hospital? Would it not be your need of the help that could be obtained there? Just so is it with Jesus, the good Physician. We have no claim except His own exceeding love and our exceeding need. There are no incurables so far as the Lord Jesus is concerned. 2. The door of hope. The key for that is promise. You may read about it in the “ Pilgrim’ s Progress” (Christian and Hopeful in Doubting Castle). 3. The door of help. The key is sympathy. Sympathy, as the meaning of the word implies, understands the situation. “ Thou shalt not oppress a stranger,” was one of God’ s commands to the Israelites, “ for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” That was sympathy as the key to the door of help. They knew what it was to be strangers in a strange land, and therefore they could understand how a stranger among themselves would feel, how he would appreciate a friendly spirit, and how sensitive he would be to any coldness of treatment. Is it not His sympathy that makes Jesus the perfect Saviour? 4. The door of communion. For that we need two keys, just as in your house doors two keys are required to open them--the key that turns the lock and the key that lifts the latch. Prayer and obedience are the two keys. 5. The door of change, that door that stands at the end of “ the well-trodden path to the grave.” What is the key for this door? We have none. God keeps it in His own hands. (J. B. Mayer, M. A.)The righteous nation which keepeth the truthTruth, and its influence upon society Truth was not intended to be brought before the world by the God of truth for the mere purpose of influencing individual character. Hence we find the passage before us inviting not separate men in their respective capacities, but the righteous nation to enter in that keepeth the truth. I. WHEN THE TRUTH SPREADS THROUGH SOCIETY IT WILL GIVE NEW VIEWS OF MORAL . Looking at society as it stands at present where the truth has made but little way, we find those views of moral obligation that are adopted and acted upon, accommodated to the selfishness of individuals, and society has but little place in their consideration. But let the truth as it is in Christ influence society, and they will then begin to feel that the great source of moral obligation is not what they owe to themselves but what they owe to God. II. If we find, therefore, that our sense of moral obligation is influenced by these higher considerations when we come to the truth, we have, in the next place, to look at THE WORKING OF TRUTH UNDER THIS HIGH SENSE OF MORAL TO GOD. There is an enlargement of feeling from the man to his own family--from his own family to his own relatives--from his own relatives to his own social circle--from his own social circle to his nation--from his nation to the body of nations round him--there is an enlargement of feeling in the still widening circle to regions beyond these--an enlargement of feeling that carries the mind onward in a morally spiritual expansion to the whole human race, and after the feelings of the man under the power of truth have been thus far extended, his feelings experience still a desire for further enlargement. He looks unto another and an eternal world and feels that there is a fellowship due to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to angels that seek to learn from his condition the manifold wisdom of God. And while his mind is thus enlarged under the working of truth, there is the reflection back again of truth in all the peace that it propagates, in all the glories that it conveys, in all the safety that it confers, in all the spirituality that it kindles, in all the communion which it permits between the creature and God, which will be found to tell upon the man, so that instead of living in a sphere of selfishness where his light burns but dimly, and where the discoveries of the power of truth are very limited, he feels that he lives in a blaze of spiritual illumination, and when he finds so many kindred souls sympathise with him, and striking up an anthem to God, whence all has come, he feels that he is a greater man, a happier man, a holier man, than if he were to stand aloof even in solitary perfection in his insulated condition, to worship God alone. Instead of a community of nations, we find a community of parties, and each frowning upon the other, and each watching the other with an unworthy yet a constant and an anxious jealousy. But when the truth does begin to operate upon the condition of the nations generally, how will their temporal circumstances be changed! What a rising of a new spirit in the human community! If we find truth thus raising our sense of moral obligation, if we find truth thus calculated to open so many sources of happiness, let us look to the source whence this mighty element derives all its power. It is not the truth itself regarded merely as conveyed by so many propositions that can accomplish this mighty wonder. But it is the truth applying these propositions by the Spirit of glory and of God. Looking, therefore, to all these mews of truth upon society, we have another great reason to induce us to endeavour to “ buy the truth, and sell it not.” (J. Burnet.)National responsibility (with Proverbs 14:34):--From these and suchlike passages it is evident that nations may be and ought to be righteous and truth keeping, and that nations which are of this character occupy the highest position in relation to other nations, and in the estimation of Him by whom kings reign, and to whom national as well as individual homage is due. That nations can possess such a moral character, and render such homage is denied by those who do not admit that nations, in their corporate capacity, are subjects of God’ s moral government. They hold that nations or states are impersonal, that they have no will and no conscience, and that therefore no responsibility attaches to national action, if indeed there can be such action at all. This is a serious mistake, and one which cannot but prove most pernicious in its influence and consequences. For nothing can be clearer, alike from the teaching of God’ s Word and the facts of universal history, than that nations are responsible subjects of Divine government; that they are dealt with by God according to their character and conduct, punished when they do evil, and blessed and prospered when they do well (Jeremiah 18:7-10). (Original Secession Magazine.)National righteousness I. Let us inquire WHAT THAT IS which should characterise a nation, and by which a nation is exalted. How does it manifest itself? 1. This righteousness has as its root--its essence--the foundation principle of all true religion--“ the fear of God,” in the hearts of the people, of rulers and ruled. This must be the prevailing character of the persons of whom it is composed. 2. It includes, as one of its leading elements, the due observance of the worship of God, according to the rules lain clown in the Divine Word. 3. It includes a national keeping of the truth. 4. It includes the regulation of all national affairs, in the departments of legislation and administration, by the principles of God’ s Word, which should be the rule of faith and practice to the nation as well as to the Church, the family, and the individual. 5. It includes the prevalence of Christian morality, or righteous dealings between man and man in the business of life, and the practice of all those moral virtues by which society is sweetened and adorned. II. HOW EXALTS A NATION. A two-fold exaltation results from national righteousness--exaltation in the estimation of men, of other nations, and exaltation in the estimation of God. III. HOW THIS NATION- MAY BE AND OUGHT TO BE . 1. By attending to the cultivation of personal godliness. 2. By attending to the duties of family religion. 3. By diffusing the Word of God and stirring up the people to read and study it for themselves in secret and private, and by securing that it be taught in all our schools. 4. By the faithful preaching of the Gospel by ministers of religion. 5. By the forth-putting of all legitimate moral efforts to counteract and suppress whatever is contrary thereto. 6. With all such means must he mingled fervent prayer for the blessing of God, which can alone make them efficacious for the advancement of the cause of righteousness. (Original Secession Magazine.) Isaiah 26:3-4 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee Perfect peace The Scriptures are full of priceless secrets, and here is one of them--the secret of trust in God as revealed to us in Jesus Christ, as the sole method and means of that peace which we all desire. “ Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace” ; or, as the original expresses it still more forcibly in its Semitic simplicity, “ Thou shalt keep him in peace, peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee.” It is not the promise of freedom from sorrow; it is not, by any means, a promise of success or prosperity on earth: but it is a promise of that inward peace--of that heart’ s ease in the breast--with which sorrow itself is a tolerable burden, and without which prosperity itself is a questionable boon. The existence or the absence of peace in our hearts is no slight indication of our true condition, for, as peace must exist with the righteous even in the midst of adversity, it cannot exist in the hearts of the wicked, however smiling, however prosperous their lot. “ There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” There is, I know, a false, as well as a true peace. There is the simulated contentment of a hard indifference. There is the cynical self-complacency of a moral blindness. There is the deep infatuation of a false security. There is the dull stupefaction of an obstinate despair. But who will call this peace? The carelessness of a traveller by night, who knows not that he is walking all the time along the edge of a frightful precipice--is that peace? For, just as we must not be deceived by the false semblance, or by voices which cry Peace, peace, when there is no peace, so let us neither be robbed of the deep reality by external appearances, or by passing troubles. 1. Take, for instance, the case of personal anxieties. Most--perhaps everyone--of us suffer from these anxieties for ourselves; anxieties about our families; anxieties for the present; anxieties of a still deeper kind about the future. Though we are children of God, yet the cares of life come to us which come to all. They are the necessary incentive to our efforts. They are the necessary impulse to make us treasure otherwhere than on earth our hopes. But, oh, how differently do they happen to the Christian and to the sinner! But to be absorbed in merely private agitations is the characteristic of a mean soul, and the lives of many men who rise far above these personal and domestic egotisms are yet deeply troubled by the world’ s agitation and unfit, by the perils of institutions to which they are devoted, by the perplexities of nations which they love. We have heard how Augustus, the ruler of the world, constantly moaned in his sleep for the loss of his three legions. We remember how the sad English queen, who lies with her great sister in this Abbey, said that when she died the word “ Calais” would be found written on her heart. We have known how, in his later days, the good and great Lord Falkland fell into deep melancholy, ever murmuring the words “ Peace, peace,” because his heart bled with the bleeding wounds of his country. We recall how the wasted form and shattered hopes of William Pitt were laid, in a season dark and perilous, at the feet of his great father, Chatham, with the same pomp, in the same consecrated mould, and how, grieved to the soul with the news of Austerlitz, he died, with broken exclamations about the perils of his country. Well, we should not be human if we did not suffer thus with those whom we see suffer. We may say to the fools, “ Deal not so madly,--and to the ungodly. “ Lift not up your horn on high; but the issues of all these things we must leave humbly,” calmly, trustfully, with God. The earth is not ours, nor the inhabiters of it; neither do we hold up the pillars of it. Let us not think much of our own importance. Ah, yes, for the anxieties of the statesmen, and the churchmen, and the patriot, here again is the remedy. We know that the angels of the Churches and the angels of the nations gaze on the face of God. Troubled was the life of David, yet he could say, calmly and humbly, “ God sitteth above the water floods, and God remaineth a King forever.” 2. Again, the lives of how many of us are troubled by the strife of tongues! And yet even amid these flights of barbed arrows; amid these clouds of poisonous insects; amid these insolences of anonymous slander, what peace--what perfect peace--may we find if our minds be stayed on God. Letthem say what they will,” said a good man, now gone into his rest, “ they cannot hurt me; I am too near the great white throne for that.” Yes, “ Thou shalt hide them privily by Thine own presence from the provoking of all men. Thou shalt keep them secretly in Thy tabernacle from the strife of tongues.” “ Thou shalt keep him in peace, peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee.” 3. There is yet another, the heaviest of all life’ s troubles in which this promise of peace comes to us like music heard over the stormy waters. It is when we are most overwhelmed with shame and sorrow for the past,--when our sins have taken such hold upon us that we are not able to look up. Who shall count the number of the men whose lives are ruined by the consequences of the past, but who, even in the midst of that ruin, are far more embittered by shame than by calamity, and who feel the sickness or the downfall far less than they feel the remorseful accusing of the evil conscience. It is the lost Heaven which torments no less surely than the present hell. In Michael Angelo’ s great picture of the last judgment, one of the evil spirits has seized upon a doomed transgressor, and is dragging him downwards; and as he drags him in down rushing flight the demon is driving his furious teeth into the sinner’ s flesh; but, with a touch of marvellous spiritual insight, the great painter has represented the poor wretch as wholly unconscious of that agony--as so unaware of it that his clasped hands and his eyes gazing upwards in agony on his offended Lord, show that, in the absorbing sense of having forfeited the blessing of the forgiven, he has no anguish left to thrill at the torture of the condemned. Yes, it is the worst sting of misery to have once been happy,--the worst pang of shame to have once been innocent,--the most fearful aggravation of punishment that men do not forget the Heavens from which they fall. Lock at the white water lily, in its delicate fragrance, as it lifts from its circle of green floating leaves the immaculate purity of its soft sweet flower. Its roots are in the black mud; its resting place is on the stagnant wave. Not from its mean or even foul surroundings--not assuredly from the blackness of the mud, or the stagnation of the wave--did it draw that pure beauty and that breathing beneficence, but from some principle of life within. And cannot He who gave to the fair blossom its idea of sweetness draw forth from us, the souls whom He made when He breathed into our nostrils the breath of life--oh, though we have debased those souls with the stagnancy of idleness, and blackened them with the mud of sin--cannot our God still bring forth frown those souls that He has made His own sweetness and purity again? He can, if we trust in Him. The alchemy of His love can transmute dross to gold, and, though our sins be as scarlet, the blood of His dear Son can wash them white as snow. Let the very depth of your remorse, if God grants you to feel remorse and a shameful and sinful past--let the very depth of this remorse be your protection from despair. Seek God, and that remorse may be but the darkness which is deepest before the dawn. (Dean Farrar, D. D.)Peace Peace is the balance of a thousand forces in that centre of all things--the human heart; and, if we regard the question apart from revelation, such a balance seems quite unattainable. History discovers the successive generations plagued by inquietudes--mental, moral, and political. And the most popular philosophy in the world, taking for its basis the common experience of mankind, teaches that peace is logically impossible; that all nature is full of blind and endless striving; that existence means desire, and desire means misery; that thus the world and life are fundamentally and essentially evil, and there is no escape from discontent, except in insensibility and extinction. In opposition to all this, revelation teaches that the world is a cosmos, not a chaos; that human nature is intrinsically noble and only accidentally base; and that the Lord Jesus Christ waits to restore the lost balance in the hearts of all who trust in Him, bringing their life into accord with the infinite music of God’ s perfect universe. (W. L.Watkinson.)Perfect peace Let us trace the method of God’ s operation in securing to us the peace which passeth all understanding. I. THERE IS THE BETWEEN OUR AND HISTORY. We recall all we have been and done, and of how little in past years can an instructed conscience approve! From a certain historical character came the sad outburst: “ My whole life has been one great mistake” ; and this confession is wrung from all when the law comes home and we know ourselves as we are known of God. Not simply an intellectual mistake to be condoned on grounds of infirmity, but a profound moral mistake also, for which we are and ought to be accountable. Now there can be no rational peace until we are freed from this dead, accusing past. Here Christ becomes most precious to all who believe. This peace in Christ is of the noblest. The law of Heaven is not relaxed one jot or tittle. Neither is the tone of conscience lowered to ensure us peace, but, on the contrary, He who gives us a new heart gives us a new conscience; conscience in evangelical penitence becomes more acute and authoritative than ever, and yet in its utmost majesty and tenderness is satisfied with God’ s reconciling work and word in Jesus Christ. And yet how few pardoned ones have entered rote the enjoyment of “ perfect” peace! “ Being justified by faith, let us have peace with God.” II. THE SECOND SERIOUS OF LIFE IS THAT BETWEEN OUR FLESH AND SPIRIT. The apostle describes this feud in language which brings the sad fact home irresistibly. “ For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” This is the fundamental, fatal discord. There can be no true peace until this internecine war ends in the utter breaking down and final extinction of the law in our members. The supremacy of the flesh would not ensure rest; such triumphant usurpation would bring all hell with it. Any alliance between the rival powers is also impossible. They greatly err who argue that the law in the members and the law of the mind are simply disturbed polarities of our nature between which harmony may be established; that they correspond to the antithetical laws we find in creation, and whose just mutual action is altogether beneficent. That conflict of the soul in which all other fightings--elemental, national, or social--have their origin, and out of which spring the manifold miseries of human life, is not the result of powers, properties, and laws altogether good and pure having fallen through ignorance and accident into displacement and misrelation, and needing only the correction of culture; but our nature has lost its purity, that is, its homogeneity; an exotic element, an alien power, an abnormal law has found place within us, working our destruction, and this the grace of God only can master and extirpate. Christ pours into us the light, energy, joy of His own glorious nature, breaking the tyranny of the law in the members, giving ascendency to the law of the mind, and thus brings back the paradisiacal calm. Perfect peace goes with perfect purity. III. A FURTHER OF LIFE IS THAT BETWEEN FEELING AND REASON. One of the most painful and perplexing phases of life is the conflict between instinct and logic; our reflective reason contradicting our spontaneous reason on many of the greatest questions of existence. A primitive intuition apprehends the goodness of the Supreme, but the intellect pondering this sad world cannot confirm the intuition. A constitutional principle prompts us to prayer, implies the intervention of God in all our affairs and the validity of supplication, yet our dialectics often disown our devotions, and it seems as unphilosophical to pray as it is natural. Our consciousness assures us of our freedom and responsibility, giving grandeur to thought and life; but science contradicts consciousness, degrading us into mere mechanism. The fact of immortality is a truth found in the depth of our mind, a glorious instinctive hope lending the colour of gold to all the sphere; but science is at variance with sentiment; and we look into the black grave with dismay. If we dare trust that feeling in us which is at once deep, noble, and positive, we could welcome all the glorious articles of the creed and rest in them with unmixed delight, but reason enters another verdict, and we are overwhelmed in the dilemma. Here, once more, Christ is our peace, giving us rest by giving us light. We are far from asserting that the New Testament formally harmonises syllogism and sentiment, that it demonstrates agreement between intuitionalism and rationalism; but it suspends the bitter polemic by mightily reinforcing the brightest convictions and aspirations of our nature. It shows us the greatest, wisest, holiest Teacher the world has ever seen--He who spake as never man spake--giving direct and ample authentication to the grand creed of the heart; and this is surely an adequate reason for waiting in hope the final solution of the apparent antagonism between feeling and philosophy. Here also many who believe in Christ have not the “ perfect” peace. We argue these questions away from Christ, and our soul is troubled. “ Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” It is perfectly quiet at the centre of the whirlwind. Jesus Christ is the centre of the whirlwind of modern controversy, and whilst our lame interpretations of the universe, our little systems of philosophy put forth with so much pride and hope, are being driven about and driven away like the chaff of the summer threshing floor, with Christ at the centre reason finds lasting quiet. IV. THE FINAL OF LIFE IS THAT OF AND . No sooner are we what we ought to be than we painfully feel the world is not what it ought to be, and the more nearly we are right the more we realise how deeply the world is wrong, and how hard a thing it is to carry into effect high principles and convictions. Life is one long severe trial. We are tried in every possible way--in principle, temper, affection, and faith. Here again, however, Christ becomes our peace by giving us power. He makes us to share in His own triumphant spirit and might, thus enabling us to over come the trial and temptation, the allurement and sorrow of life. We are filled with wisdom, love, power and joy as He was. How few in the friction and strain of this worldly life attain this “ perfect peace” ! We have solicitude, fretfulness, misgiving, and sorrow. And we explain this to ourselves by regarding our circumstances as specially harsh and afflictive, which is an explanation very wide of the truth. The blame of our lack of peace is not to be laid on our severe environment, but on the inner defect of power which, in its turn, is caused by our qualified faith. If we fully identified ourselves with the world-conquering Christ we should know no more irascibility or fear, but in fiery trials prove abiding equanimity and imperturbation. (W. L. Watkinson.)The blessing attendant upon having the mind stayed on God I. THE STATE OF MIND HERE SPOKEN OF. The soul may be said to trust, or stay, upon anything, when it relies upon it for its present comfort and future salvation. The soul that possesses the blessing here spoken of, has for the object of its trust and stay the Lord Jehovah. It confides in His name and character as revealed in the Scriptures of truth: it relies upon His promises of mercy and grace declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord and derives its support and consolation from viewing God as “ in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” This confidence in the Almighty stands opposed to various false refuges and deceitful grounds of confidence. 1. It is opposed to that confidence which men are often apt to place in an arm of flesh, in human wisdom, experience, power, interest, etc. 2. This affiance in the Lord Jehovah is likewise directly opposite to all reliance on our own services and performances. 3. This trust in Jehovah is very different from confidence placed in any feelings, or what are usually termed frames of mind. These are, at best, very uncertain, often very deceitful. II. THE PROMISE OR HERE SPOKEN OF. “ Perfect peace.” 1. There is an energetic simplicity in the original expression: it is “ peace, peace” ; intimating that the soul which steadfastly reposes itself on God, may expect every kind of peace as its portion. Whether you understand by the word, reconciliation with God, amity with men, composure in the conscience, resignation to the appointments of providence, rest from the turbulency of sinful passions and appetites, or finally, that everlasting state of rest and felicity which remains for the people of God; rain all these senses peace is the happy lot of those whose minds are stayed on God. 2. But the thing especially intended here seems to be composure of mind, as opposed to distraction or disquietude. 3. This may be properly termed, “ perfect peace,” not because it actually excludes every degree of disquietude from the soul; nor, as if in the measure in which it is enjoyed, it never met with any interruption; but it is perfect peace, when compared with any satisfaction or composure of mind which this world, or anything in it, can administer, and as proceeding from Him from whom cometh every good and every perfect gift; as being the best preparative for, and support under, the troubles of life, and, probably, the choicest foretaste that can be communicated to us of the peace of God’ s eternal kingdom. 4. This blessing will be enjoyed, this peace will be experienced in the soul, in proportion to the degree of its confidence in God. III. ENFORCE THE here given. “ Trust ye in the Lord forever” : to which is subjoined the encouraging declaration, “ for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” Such an exhortation as this supposes their state to be distressing and dangerous, and that either through ignorance they are likely to betake themselves to false refuges, or through fear may be deterred from venturing upon what they believe to be the true one. 1. God calls upon you to do this. 2. Whatever your wants and necessities may be, you will thus obtain a rich and full supply of them. 3. Take the precious promises which He has caused to be recorded for this purpose. 4. Examples might also be produced from Scripture, in abundance, of those who looked unto Him and were lightened. (S. Knight, M. A.)Peace out of trust I. AN OF IN GOD. It is characteristic of Jehovah-- 1. That He seeks the trust of His people. Heathen gods, all gods that are the men creations of men’ s minds or hands, seek the service of things; they want our gifts; they claim, not the man, but that which the man only has. Jehovah seeks the service of love and trust. 2. That He rewards the trust of His people. And this He does-- (1) By giving them the perfect peace, which is inward peace. (2) By giving them the outward peace of circumstances, so far as may be consistent with higher than individual ends. If we can see that the true issue of the discipline of life is character; then we shall see that the very highest reward God can give us is that soul-triumph over surrounding circumstances, that soul mastery over the very self, which goes into the expressive word “ peace.” Outward things are to us according as we are within us. II. AN APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE FOR IN THEIR TRUST IN GOD. “ Trust ye in the Lord forever,” etc. We cannot keep on trusting if our trust is in things; for the “ fashion of this world passeth away.” We cannot keep on trusting if our trust is in man; “ for the pain of living is our disappointment in our best loved friends.” We can keep on trusting in God. His very name implies a basis of confidence. (Weekly Pulpit.)The inhabitant of the Rock If we may suppose the invocation of the preceding verses to be addressed to the watchers at the gate of the strong city, it is perhaps not too fanciful to suppose that the invitation in my text is the watchers’ answer, pointing the way by which men may pass into the city. At all events, I take it as by no means accidental that immediately upon the statement of the Old Testament law that righteousness alone admits to the presence of God, there follows so clear and emphatic an anticipation of the great New Testament Gospel that faith is the condition of righteousness, and that immediately after hearing that only “ the righteous nation which keepeth the truth” can enter there, we hear the merciful call, “ Trust ye in the Lord forever.” I. THE INSIGHT INTO THE TRUE NATURE OF TRUST OR FAITH GIVEN BY THE WORD HERE. The literal meaning of the expression here rendered “ to trust” is to lean upon anything. And that is the trust of the Old Testament; the faith of the New. II. THE OF TRUST. (See R.V. margin.) It is the steadfast mind, steadfast because it trusts, which God keeps in the deepest peace that is expressed by the reduplication of the word. And if we break up that complex thought into its elements it just comes to this-- 1. Trust makes steadfastness. No man can steady his life except by clinging to a holdfast without himself. 2. The steadfast mind is rewarded in that it is kept of God. The real fixity and solidity of a human character comes more surely and fully through trust in God than by any other means; on the other hand, it is true that, in order to receive the full blessed effects of trust into our characters and lives, we must persistently and doggedly keep on in the attitude of confidence. 3. Then, still further, this faithful, steadfast heart and mind, kept by God, is a mind filled with deepest peace. There is something very beautiful in the prophet’ s abandoning the attempt to find any adjective or quality which adequately characterises the peace of which he has been speaking. He falls back upon the expedient which is the confession of the impotence of human speech worthily to portray its subject when he simply says, “ Thou shalt keep in peace because he trusteth in Thee.” The reduplication expresses the depth, the completeness of the tranquillity which flows into the heart. Such continuity, wave after wave, or rather ripple after ripple, is possible even for us. For the possession of this deep, unbroken peace does not depend on the absence of conflict, of distraction, trouble, or sorrow, but on the presence of God. III. THE OF THE DIVINE NAME TO EVOKE AND THE POWER OF THE DIVINE TO REWARD THE TRUST. “ In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” I. The words feebly rendered in the A.V., “ everlasting strength,” are literally “ the Rock of Ages” ; and this verse is the source of that hallowed figure which, by one of the greatest of our English hymns, is made familiar and immortal to all English-speaking people. 2. But there is another peculiarity about the words, and that is that here we have, for one of the only two times in which the expression occurs in Scripture, the great name of Jehovah reduplicated. “ In Jah Jehovah is the Rock of Ages.” In the former verse the prophet had given up in despair the attempt to characterise the peace which God gave, and fallen back upon the expedient of naming it twice over. In this verse, with similar eloquence of reticence, he abandons the attempt to describe or characterise that great name, and once more, in adoration, contents himself with twice taking it upon his lips, in order to impress what he cannot express, the majesty and the sufficiency of that name. What, then, is the force of that name? (1) Jehovah, in its literal grammatical signification, puts emphasis upon the absolute, underived, and therefore unlimited, unconditioned, unchangeable, eternal being of God. “ I am that I am.” In that name is the Rock of Ages. (2) That mighty name, by its place in the history of revelation, conveys to us still further thoughts, for it is the name of the God who entered into covenant with His ancient people, and remains bound by His covenant to bless us. 3. The metaphor needs no expansion. We understand that it conveys the idea of unchangeable defence. IV. THE SUMMONS TO TRUST. We know not whose voice it is that is heard in the last words of my text, but we know to whose ears it is addressed. It is to all. “ Trust ye in the Lord forever.” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Peace Peace has ever been praised and desired by the majority of mankind. It is generally supposed to be near, to be possible; but it moves before or follows men like the shadow of themselves, which cannot overtake them, which they cannot overtake. The schoolboy sees it in release from his lessons and his school. The man of mid-life sees it in his childhood, and by the fireside of an honoured successful age. But when old he looks back with regret to the appetite for repose which accompanied an active life. There is no more peace in twilight than at noon. In the morning we say, “ Would God it were evening” ; and in the evening, “ Would God it were morning.” I. THERE IS MUCH PEACE WHICH IS . 1. There is the peace of ignorance. The child plays by the coffin of its mother. The peasant fool stands quietly beneath the tree which draws the lightning stroke. But this peace, we need not stop long to see, passes away. We learn, our eyes are opened, and we regret or shudder at our insensibility. 2. There is the peace of corruption. Dead bodies make no stir, ask no questions, have no doubts. Dead minds are quiet and peaceable enough. Their peace is that of quiet, painless stagnation; but we cannot call it perfect. 3. There is the dependent peace: when we leave other people to think and act for us. This is pleasing enough till they make some fatal irremediable mistake. It is bad enough to lose a few bank notes; but it is a far more serious thing to find that your conscience keeper has embezzled your soul. 4. There is the peace of success. When the action is over then comes reaction. The peace it gives is not perfect. It needs patching and polishing as soon as it is obtained. It entails labour and involves additional anxiety. 5. All these kinds of mock peace die out, or break down, or run dry. If not that, they hinder our being what we might be; they keep us down. II. WHAT WE MOST WITH THE WORD PEACE. It is the opposite to war. It is freedom from disorder, disturbance. But it is by no means idleness. The time of peace is the time of work. The surest advance and most abundant plenty may be made in the time of the profoundest peace. There is most life where there is least disorder. It is thus in nature. What can be more quiet than a field of wheat on a still summer day? and yet an important work is going on then; there God is making bread for man. Again, what suggests more repose than a silent, cloudless night? And yet the globe on which we stand, and the brightest of the stars we see, and which seem so still, are really whirling through space at a prodigious speed. Their perfect peace is perfect fulfilment of the win of God. III. IS THERE SUCH A THING FOR US--PEACE WHICH CAN NEVER BE , NEVER DIE OUT? “ Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee.” On Thee--there is the point. On God Himself. We are not the masters of this world, or time. We can neither make nor destroy it. By quietly doing our own work we do our share, and the Great Master will look after us and the rest. Peace is found only along with Him, by straying upon Him. Those who do the work He plainly sets them need not be distressed about the main chance and the great end and course of life. The sailor who has confidence in his captain and pilot is at peace; he knows the ship is in good hands. So if we would believe that we were in good hands ourselves, how full of comfort we should be. An explorer is searching for a new country. He sails over the seas, here and there, in vain; he is deceived by low lying clouds which look like land, but are dispersed as he approaches them. At last, after many disappointments, he spies the shore, sails to it, finds he is not mistaken this time; he sets his foot upon the beach, he sees new trees, animals, plants. He returns to his ship, night comes and he can perceive nothing. Nevertheless the discovery is made; the sought for land is found. There is an end to his surmises, expectations, guesses, watchings. The land is found, though he leave or lose sight of it. He has fulfilled his object; it is a fact; it is there. So the man who has been beating about in vain in the waves of this troublesome world, looking for peace, steering this way and that, but has at last laid hold of the great immovable fact that peace is in God, and not to be got from himself or his fellow creatures, may often seem solitary and disturbed; but he has made the discovery, and all is well. (H. Jones, M. A.)The sustaining power of faith I. THE SOURCE OF FAITH IS DIVINE. “ Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength” 1. Faith is Divine in its inception. God is author and object thereof. 2. Faith is Divine in its inspiration. Trust in God is not a single act, but a condition of restfulness. There are occasions when special acts are called forth, but these are the trials of faith. When Abraham was called to offer up Isaac on Moriah, God proved him there. II. THE SEAT OF FAITH IS MENTAL. “ Whose mind (or thought) is stayed on Thee.” Mr. Ruskin says, “ The power, whether of painter or poet, to describe rightly what he calls an ideal thing depends upon its being to him not an ideal but a real thing. No man ever did, or ever will, work well but either from actual sight or sight of faith.” The sight of faith is no less keen, or complete, or perfect, than actual sight. There are many thoughts which agitate the human heart--faith is the solution of these. 1. One thought is our acceptance before God. We are perplexed by many aspects of this all-important subject. Take one of them--how can the death of Jesus Christ atone for our sins? Faith alone can make the matter plain. How is it done? By taking the mind to God to be saved by the acceptance of this great truth. Faith never says, How is it? but, Let it be. God Himself is the solution of the difficulty. 2. Thoughts concerning our guidance in life. We are the creatures of circumstances, and often fail to see their bearing. Faith brings forth tranquillising influences, and speaks with firmness. “ Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” All wrongs will be avenged. All stolen possessions will be restored. Therefore, take no thought for the morrow: He who measures the minutes fills them with mercies. III. THE OF FAITH IS . “ Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose thought is stayed on Thee.” 1. Faith is our strength in duty. To do the right is not always easy. We are often tempted to do as other people do, and sometimes we are chided because we do not follow the way of the world. Whatever may be the temptation to do wrong, or whatever may be the adverse criticism for doing right, trust in God will sustain us in the effort. 2. Faith is our stay in trouble. 3. Faith is our prospect in death. Charles Wesley said, “ Satisfied! Satisfied!” Benjamin Abbot said, “ I see Heaven opening out before me.” Baron Humboldt was full of peace, and said, “ How sweet these rays; they beckon me up to Heaven.” Robert Wilkinson exclaimed, “ The lovely beauty! the happiness of paradise.” Mrs. Hemans bade this world adieu by saying, “ The visions cannot be told; the mountaintops are gleaming from peak to peak.” We believe in the same Saviour. God will be with us in the person of the Good Shepherd to lead us safely home. Why do the gracious impressions received by many, while listening to the Gospel, die out? Because they are not sustained by faith. (T. Davies, M. A.)The source of true peace I. A STATE OF MIND to be described. “ Whose mind is stayed on Thee.” This is an act that includes in it-- 1. A renunciation of dependence on the creature. 2. The exercise of filial dependence on God. 3. This is a frame of mind exercised on evangelical principles. It is the shadow of that throne where the Saviour appears as the Lamb in the midst of it beneath which true faith causes us to repose. II. A to be considered. “ Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace.” This does not refer to external peace, but to mental peace and serenity in trying circumstances; and this is very great. 1. Reflect on the Author of it. “ Thou wilt,” --the very Being on whom the soul reposes, who is the Lord God all-sufficient. 2. Consider the extent of this peace. As the Redeemer once said to all the elements of nature that were convulsed, “ Peace, be still; and there was a great calm” ; thus He speaks to all the agitated and perturbed powers of the human mind. III. AN to be established. “ Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee; because he trusteth in Thee.” This connection is established-- 1. By the dictates of reason. It is reasonable to expect that he who reposes on a rock should feel himself immovable. 2. In the promise of Scripture. 3. In the experience that trust in man has often been deceived; but the benefits of having the mind reposed on the infinite and eternal God can be attested by thousands. (C. Gilbert.)Confidence in God composing the mind I. WHAT WE ARE TO BY STAYING THE MIND ON GOD. It simply means relying upon Him or trusting in Him. II. THIS STAYING OF THE MIND ON GOD KEEPS IT IN PEACE. 1. This alone can calm the mind when convinced of sin, and searching in dreadful distress for pardon. 2. This confidence also calms the mind under delays. 3. This confidence composes the mind in the events of life, and this is the thing principally intended. III. THE PEACE THAT FLOWS FROM THIS TRUST IN GOD IS SAID TO BE PERFECT. It is not indeed absolutely so, as if it were incapable of addition; but it is so-- 1. Comparatively. What is every other peace to this? What is the delusion of the Pharisee, the stupidity and carelessness of the sinner, the corn and wine of the worldling--what is everything else, compared with this peace? 2. In relation to this confidence. It is true this peace rises and falls; but it is only because this confidence varies. (W. Jay.)Peace the result of confidence in God I. THE HERE . “ Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace.” We take it for granted that the prophet is referring to the blessings of the Gospel. Christ is called, by this same prophet, the Prince of Peace; and apart from Him, true peace of mind can never be attained. 1. The word peace at once suggests the cessation of hostilities. It is true there never was any hostility in the mind of God towards man. But when we look at the aspect of man towards God, we see him in an attitude of rebellion. It became necessary that some means should be adopted by which his enmity might be destroyed, and reconciliation affected. The wondrous plan, devised in the mind of God for the accomplishment of this purpose, was the sacrifice of His own dear Son, who thus became our Mediator between God and man. 2. The peace which God bestows arises not merely from a consciousness of pardon and restoration to the Divine favour, it springs further from the calming influence which He exerts on the mind by the transforming of the affections from things earthly to things heavenly. 3. But the peace which God bestows is a “ perfect peace” ; by which we understand peace, ever-flowing like a river, broad, deep, and calm,--peace, including all spiritual blessings, and available under every circumstance of Christian trial 4. Mark the expression, “ Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace.” It is not a mere transitory feeling, a sun flash on the storm presently to be lost behind the cloud, but an abiding principle, which God keeps for His people and in His people, that they may be preserved from dismay whatever may befall them. II. THE MEANS OF IT. Who is the happy possessor of this inestimable blessing of peace? He whose mind is stayed upon God, because he trusteth in Him. We cannot take a single step in religion without trust, or faith. As this trust is essential to the first acquirement of peace, so is it equally necessary to its continued possession. It is enjoyed only so long as the mind is “ stayed” upon God. But all men have not peace; and some never will have peace. “ There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” There is no peace to them who stay their minds on the world, on worldly objects and worldly pleasures. There is no peace to them who keep away from Christ. (W. J. Brock, B. A.)Trust in God brings peace That almost every man is disappointed in his search after happiness is apparent from the clamorous complaints which are always to be heard; from the restless discontent which is hourly to be observed, and from the incessant pursuit of new objects, which employ almost every moment of every man’ s life. As men differ in age or disposition, they are exposed to different delusions in this important inquiry. I. WHAT IS MEANT BY THIS TRUST IN GOD, TO WHICH PERFECT PEACE IS PRESSED? Trust, when it is used on common occasions, implies a kind of resignation to the honesty or abilities of another. Our trust in God ought to differ from every other trust, as infinity differs from an atom. It ought to transcend every other degree of confidence, as its object is exalted above every degree of created excellence. We know that He is infinite in wisdom, in power, and in goodness; that therefore He designs the happiness of all His creatures; that He cannot but know the proper means by which this end may be obtained; and that, in the use of these means, as He cannot be mistaken, because He is omniscient, so He cannot be defeated, because He is almighty. He therefore that trusts in God will no longer be distracted in his search after happiness; for he will find it in a firm belief, that whatever evils are suffered to befall him, will finally contribute to his felicity. II. HOW THIS TRUST IS TO BE . There is a fallacious and precipitate trust in God--a trust which, as it is not founded upon God’ s promises, will, in the end, be disappointed. Trust in God, that trust to which perfect peace is promised, is to be obtained only by repentance, obedience, and supplication. (John Taylor, LL. D.)The source of peace In considering the great event of the Saviour’ s first advent, there is one circumstance of which we should never lose sight--the peculiar character in which He then came to earth. He was pleasedto veil His more awful attributes behind His humanity; and, instead of showing Himself as our future Judge, to reveal Himself as our “ Prince of Peace.” Hence this is the peculiar characteristic of the Gospel, that in looking to it the sinner finds it to be a message of peace. And not only this, but he finds, as he proceeds in the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, that whilst glory is the prospect which it holds out for eternity, in time it corresponds with what might well be called the Redeemer’ s dying legacy to His Church: “ Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: no as the world giveth, give I unto you.” I. WHAT IS MEANT BY HAVING OUR MIND STAYED ON GOD? Nothing is more evident than the fact that man always needs someone on whom to lean. But there are cases in which it must appear peculiarly necessary to stay our minds on the Lord, because there are cases in which man can absolutely do nothing to help us. Look at the various sorrows, the various doubts, the various fears by which we are liable to be assailed, and say whether any but a Divine power can assist us there. Our natural state being enmity with God, we are, whilst still unconverted, more inclined to forget Him or flee from Him, than to draw near to Him and depend on Him for assistance or protection. But the believer has been led by the Holy Spirit to see how ruinous is his alienation from God. He has therefore turned to the God against whom he had sinned; he has entrusted himself to the mercy and faithfulness of God; and, having done so, he feels that it is a little matter to trust to Him for support and comfort in that conflict here, which a few years or hours may change into the triumphs of eternity. The more advanced he is, the more humble will he be; and in the hour of trial, instead of depending on his former attainments, or looking to be upheld by his past experience, he will continue, at each fresh assault of his enemy, to look for strength according to his day. II. THE TO HIM WHOSE MIND IS THUS STAYED ON THE LORD. “ Perfect peace.” 1. Peace with God (Romans 5:1). 2. Peace of conscience. 3. Peace with the world. I do not say that the world has peace with him. But the Christian has received the spirit of gentleness and love. (R. M. Kyle, B. A.)Peace the perfect and assured portion of the believer There is a sweetness in the very word “ peace” ; it fills the mind with a number of pleasing thoughts, and oven by its very sound seems to convey something which attracts and charms us. But if the mere sound of peace be thus pleasing, how much more so must be the substance. Peace is what everyone may be said to prize, and to be in search of. Why is it so seldom found? Because we are always seeking peace, and saying peace, where them is no peace; we seek it anywhere, and in anything, rather than in Him, and from Him, who alone can give it. I. THE brought before us in the text is that of the man whose mind is stayed on God. The word “ stayed” denotes-- 1. Firmness. It is that kind of leaning or resting which shows full confidence in the strength of the foundation which has been chosen. 2. Calmness and quietness. 3. An unchanging trust; a resolution of the soul to abide by its choice under all circumstances; a fixed adherence to its God. II. THE AND SECURED TO THOSE TO WHOM THE REALLY BELONGS. “ Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace.” 1. The blessing itself: “ perfect peace.” Perfect, because-- (1) Present. He who gives it is about our path and about our bed. (2) Future. (3) Eternal. 2. The way in which this blessing is said to be secured to every believer. The Lord, on whom his mind is stayed, will keep him in it. III. THE OF HIS WORD in the case of him whose remains have so lately gone down into silence. (F. Lear, B. D.)Peace for the careworn In the description given of the state of the ungodly in Romans 3:1-31, the apostle Paul says: “ The way of peace have they not known.” There are many ways in this world--ways of sin, of disappointment, of pleasure, of death, of misery, but beside all these there is “ the way of peace.” I. THE PERSON WHO IS KEPT IN PEACE. He is a person whose mind is stayed on God, and who trusts in God. A man’ s self, and sin, and pleasure, and false religion, and vain hopes are every one of them troubled waves in one common ocean of disquietude, and no soul can stay itself upon these, though many souls have sought to be stayed upon them. Mark the mighty Rock on which such an one lieth down and findeth repose. That rock is God. Yet it is a most certain fact that our God is a consuming fire, out of Christ. Ah, you say, some of you, “ I trust in God,” but you know not the God you trust in. What is the sole object of faith? It is the God-man. II. THE POWER WHICH KEEPS THE IN PEACE. Not the power of his own faith, as some would think at first sight; not the power of his own effort, struggling to obtain confidence, as some would suppose; but the power of God. III. THE PEACE IN WHICH SUCH A PERSON IS KEPT. It is called here “ perfect peace.” It is like the Redeemer with his head on the pillow, with His eyes closed, with His mind in conscious repose and sleep, in the midst of the wild storm at night upon the lake of Galilee, when the waves beat upon the trembling vessel, and the clouds rolled over head, threatening to beat the waves still higher, and engulf them all. He slept secure and Peaceful amidst the storm. So does the soul of the believer, afterwards, that stayeth itself upon God. Upon what lay that peaceful head of Jesus but on the unseen arm and bosom of God? Men said of Christ mockingly, “ He trusted in God.” He did trust in God, as the most exalted believer, and far more than the most exalted believer; and in that simplicity of faith, amidst contending elements He was kept in peace, sleeping amidst the storm. So with the believer. And he that thus trusteth in God findeth not only that peace in life; for death to him, what is it? It is as a peaceful sunset. (H. G. Guinness.)Hindrances to a mind stayed on God There are two hindrances to a steady mind. 1. The loving of unlawful things. 2. The loving of lawful things with inordinate affection. (J. Summerfield, M. A.)Perfect peace I. THE GIFT. “ Peace.” Not freedom from sorrow, not assured prosperity, not a certainty of success, but inward tranquillity, ease of heart, without which even prosperity would be a burden. Not the simulated contentment of indifference. Not the cynical self-complacency of moral blindness. Not the dull stupefaction of despair. There is peace-- 1. Amid personal anxieties. These come to God’ s people as well as to the world. But the effects they produce in each are very different. 2. Amid the contests of the world. The nations are at strife. Good is at war with evil. The noblest institutions are threatened. Lawlessness stalks forth threatening all that is true. But the Christian has peace in his dwellings. 3. Amid the struggles of sin and the assaults of the evil one. The remorse of sin, the anxieties of sin, all disturb the soul, but here is peace. 4. In the conflicting emotions of sickness, the pain of death, and the realities of a future world. II. THE EXACTED. Faith. “ Whose mind is stayed on Thee.” This act assures us of the promise-- 1. Because it is the carrying out of the Divine requirement. It is God’ s own condition, God’ s own plan, and unless that is complied with no man can hope to obtain the fulfilment of the promise. 2. Because it is in itself a calming, sanctifying act. The man who casts all his cares upon God, feels no responsibility resting on himself. He who leaves his sins on Christ ceases to trouble about the consequences of those sins, so far as he himself is concerned. The man who leaves all events in the hands of One who knows all, feels that whatever happens all is for the best. How can such feel anything but peace? The great thing wanting is the power to place such unreserved confidence on an unseen Being. III. THE SAFE . Thou wilt keep. Here is a sure ground of confidence--the promise and power of the Author and Ruler of the universe. “ Thou.” 1. Here is the source of all strength; He is therefore able. 2. Here is the source of all love; He is therefore willing. 3. He is the supplier of all comfort, the refuge of all the oppressed. If peace exists at all, surely It can be obtained from Him. (Homilist.)The song of a city and the pearl of peace I. WHAT IS THIS PERFECT PEACE? 1. This “ peace, peace” means, an absence of all war, and of all alarm of war. 2. This perfect peace reigns over all things within its circle. 3. No perfect peace can be enjoyed unless every secret cause of fear is met and removed. 4. Peace in a city would not be consistent with the stoppage of commerce. Where there is perfect peace with God, commerce prospers between the soul and Heaven. Good men commune with the good, and thereby their sense of peace increases. If you have perfect peace, you have fellowship with all the saints; personal jealousies, sectarian bitternesses, and unholy emulations are all laid aside. 5. It consists in rest of the soul ; a perfect resignation to the Divine will; sweet confidence in God; a blessed contentment. 6. It means freedom from everything like despondency. 7. There we are kept from everything like rashness. II. WHO ALONE CAN GIVE US THIS PEACE AND IT IN US? How does the Lord keep His people in peace? 1. By a special operation upon the mind in the time of trial (Isaiah 26:12). 2. By the operation of certain considerations intended by His infinite wisdom to work in that manner. 3. By the distinct operations of His providence. III. WHO SHALL OBTAIN THIS PEACE? The whole of our being is stayed upon God in order to this peace. IV. WHY IS IT THAT THE LORD WILL KEEP THAT MAN IN PERFECT PEACE WHO STAYS HIMSELF ON HIM? “ Because he trusteth in Thee.” That means surely-- 1. That in faith there is a tendency to create and nourish peace. 2. His faith is rewarded by peace. 3. This peace comes out of faith because it is faith’ s way of proclaiming itself. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Peace not from nature, but from God Man alone of all created beings of whom we know anything seems strangely out of harmony with the circumstances with which he is surrounded, and the conditions of his existence. Everything around us, and much within us, seems specially designed to militate against the possibility of peace. 1. If man is to be at peace, why does he hold his very life, and everything else that he values best, on the most precarious tenure? The lower animals are exposed to nothing like the same number of uncertainties; they, for the most part, live out their own appointed span of existence, while, on the other hand, their incapacity for reflection saves them those gloomy apprehensions of possible disaster, and that still sadder certain anticipation of ultimate dissolution, which cast so dark a shadow over the experience of man just because he can and must think, Man’ s affections are immeasurably more intense than theirs, and yet he knows what they do not, that at any moment he may be robbed of all he loves most; thus the very strength of his affections militates against his peace. They seem incapable of care, and what they need usually comes to them without any laborious provision. He has to exercise forethought and skill, and to expend much patient labour before he can hope to obtain so much as the bare necessaries of life; and even then he cannot make sure of these, owing to the apparent caprices of nature. 2. And the worst of it is that these are not the only causes of our disquiet and unrest. There are disturbing influences within as well as without. Peace is broken by inward war, the conflict of one element of our nature with another. 3. All this shows us that either we are to be denied even such a peace as the animals apparently enjoy, and that their condition in this respect is to be vastly preferable to ours, or else that some higher provision must have been made for inducing this feature in our experience--some provision that they know nothing about, and that does not lie upon the surface of outward nature; some provision that has to be otherwise made known than by the ordinary phenomena of the outer world. And this is one of the most cogent amongst many proofs, that a supernatural revelation is absolutely necessary to supplement the phenomena of the world known to sense, unless nature is to be found guilty of strange and anomalous inconsistencies. The “ God of peace” knows that we need peace, and He has provided it for us. He who has blessed His lower creatures with a restful uncarefulness, that renders existence not only tolerable, but pleasant to them, has not left His highest creature to be the victim of his own greatness, and to be tossed about aimlessly upon a sea of troubles, until at last the inevitable shipwreck comes upon the pitiless shoals of death. Our great Father, God, dwells Himself in an atmosphere of eternal calm, and His love makes Him desire to share His peace with us “ the peace of God which passeth all understanding.” (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)Peace Let us ask, What is it that hinders peace? in order that we may better understand the things that belong to our peace. Here, I think, we shall discover three distinct sources of mental disturbance by which man is affected--three distinct and terrible discords that mar the harmony of human life until they are resolved by redemption. Man is, to begin with, out of peace with God; he is, in consequence, out of peace with nature, or the order of things with which he is surrounded; and, in the third place, he is out of peace with himself. These other discords which break in upon and destroy his peace are dependent upon and spring from the first. It is because man is not at peace with God that he finds himself at war with nature, and the victim of internal feuds. The conditions of his existence in this material world seem of a kind to militate against his peace; but this is only so when they are viewed apart from any higher and ultimate object to which they may be designed by infinite benevolence to contribute. Once let me see that the trials and uncertainties of life are intended to enforce upon my attention the true character of my present position and its relations to the future, and I no longer quarrel with them. I confess that I am a stranger and a sojourner, and I see wisdom and love in the very circumstances which impress this upon my mind. And even so is it with those moral discords that disturb my peace within. They spring from the controversy that exists between man and God. Here we see how the Gospel is adapted to the deepest needs of the human heart, and how skilfully it is designed to deal with cause and effect in their own proper order in the moral sphere. The Gospel is primarily a proclamation of peace between God and man, a revelation of a wondrous method of reconciliation. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)The way of peace The text contains the open secret of a spiritual life, which is peace, and discloses the sure way of attaining it. The person spoken of is one whose mind is stayed on God. The man has become fixed upon this centre, and he cannot be moved therefrom. To this man God is omnipotent, omniscient, and all-loving. God commands his entire nature. There is a prevalent disposition amongst men to be stayed upon themselves, but the Scriptures declare that “ he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.” A self-centered man is always a weak man. There is another class of men who desire to be stayed upon riches But God says, “ Labour not to be rich, for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle towards Heaven” (1 Timothy 6:9-10). The man referred to in the text, if he have money, does not stay himself upon it. This man does not stay himself on his fellow men. There is a prevalent disposition amongst men to pin their confidence to some human sleeve, and when that proves unfaithful, as it often does, such people are thrown into confusion. Peace flows alone from trust in God. But faith never stands alone. Peace never stands alone in the heart of man. Trust brings peace, but it brings other graces besides. Trust does not put a man to sleep. It does not alienate a man from the source of power. It does not scatter a man. It unites him and unites him to God. It animates him. It sets him in motion. The ear of the trusting disciple lies close to the mouth of his beloved Master, whose words are the sweetest messages that can possibly break upon his consciousness. The feet of faith tremble with desire to run upon the errands of its Lord. Obedience is the corollary of faith. Without obedience, peace would become discord in the soul. Trust stirs us to industry and success in prayer; it makes us cheerful and faithful in obedience; it makes us patient in affliction; it makes us resolute in trials; it consoles us in desertions; it makes us fruitful in life, and triumphantly victorious in death. (L. R. Foote, D. D.)Trust gives steadfastness How can a willow be stiffened into an iron pillar? Only--if I might use such a violent metaphor--when it receives into its substance the iron particles that it draws from the soil in which it is rooted. How can a bit of thistledown be kept motionless amidst the tempest. Only by being glued to something that is fixed. What do men do with light things on deck when the ship is pitching? Lash them to a fixed point. Lash yourselves to God by simple trust, and then you will partake of His serene immutability in such fashion as it is possible for the creature to participate in the attributes of the Creator. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Perfect peace a medium of revelation When you have a really calm sea, what rare things the placid waters reveal! Sculptured coral, whorled shells, iridescent fish, pearls--snowflakes of the deep not one moment white but white forever, gems whose strange e the floods cannot quench, with glorious plants and blossoms, as if the silver water mirrored the flowers of Heaven as well as its stars. And what rare things the unstirred sea reflects! The ambient blue, with all its treasures of light and colour; the devious coast, with all its fantasy of rock forestry and mountain. But let one ripple pass over the glassy tide, and the matchless spectacle is sadly marred. So in “ perfect” peace we realise the glory of our own being, the glory of higher worlds, as no language can tell; but the first ripple of passion, or care, or doubt, spoils the magic of the picture and the joy. (W. L.Watkinson.)The human soul needs support When the mind leans for strength upon itself it cannot be at peace. Conflicting thoughts are ever passing through the brain, and we need something solid on which to stay ourselves. The mind may be compared to ivy, which, if it is to grow vigorous, needs to cling to an upright support. The mind may be also likened to a lever, which without a fulcrum is almost useless; and to a ladder, which when placed upright will fall, but when stayed against a building is steady and strong enough to bear your weight. (W. Birch.)Perfect peace in peril A respected brother in the ministry once told me that he was at Villa Franca in Italy, when a shock of an earthquake was felt. The various members of a family with which he then was all showed alarm or uneasiness in different ways, with the exception of one, who merely smiled at perceiving the effect produced on them. That one was a dying man--in about a week after he died in the Lord--and he knew that the time of his departure was at hand. It mattered little to him whether he were summoned by the slow wasting hectic, or by the crush of an earthquake. His mind was stayed on the Lord, and was therefore kept in perfect peace under circumstances which would have made most of us tremble. (R. M. Kyle, B. A.)Membership in the ideal city Verse 3 (see R.V. margin) states the conditions of membership in the ideal Zion; a “ steadfast mind” may share the “ peace” which the ideal city is to enjoy. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Freedom from care A ship is made to go in the water, and no matter how deep the sea nor how wild the tempest, all goes well so long as the water does not get into the ship. The problem of managing a ship is, not to keep the ship out of the water, but to keep the water out of the ship. The problem of true Christian living is, not to keep ourselves out of cares and trials and temptations, but to keep the cares and temptations from getting into our souls. (J. R. Miller, D. D.)God between the soul and circumstances A great difference comes into the life when, instead of putting circumstances between ourselves and God, we put God between ourselves and circumstances. Then when annoyance and fret, unkind speeches and unjust treatment, worries about money and helpers and procedure accumulate, they seem like the passage of crowds up and down a London thoroughfare, whilst we sit quietly within and pursue our work behind the double windows, that render the room almost impervious to sound. Happy the soul which has learned to live inside the film of God’ s invisible protection, poured around it by the Spirit of peace! (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)Mr. Gladstone’ s text It is said that Mr. Gladstone, for forty years, had on the wall of his bedroom this text: “ Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.” These were the first words on which the great statesman’ s eyes opened every morning, and they were one of the sources of his calm strength. (Sunday School Chronicle.)Trust in God reasonable George M’ Donald says somewhere that it is more absurd to trust God by halves than it is not to believe in Him at all. Stonewall Jackson’ s faith At a battle in the American Civil War, a general asked Stonewall Jackson how it was he kept so cool while the bullets literally rained about him. Jackson instantly became grave, and earnestly answered, “ My religions belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time of my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready.” After a pause, he added, looking his questioner in the face, “ That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave.” Worry Every time a man worries, physiologists say, he changes a portion of his nervous system. Sometimes the change is serious; sometimes it is permanent; sometimes it is fatal. What worry does for the body, it does also for the spirit. It is the destruction of energy, the ruin of that serenity which is half of power, and the fruitful cause of a large of life’ s failures. The bicycle is useful because, on a level or a down grade, it relieves a man not only of the weight of his burdens, but even of his own weight, and he can put all his strength into the matter of getting along. Now that is precisely what the Christian’ s trust will do for him. God never intended that we should carry the burdens He lays upon us. He never intended even that we should carry the burden of our own evil nature and sinful tendencies, no is willing, nay, eager, to carry them all for us, emancipating all our strength for pure progress (A. R. Wells.) Isaiah 26:4 Trust ye in the Lord forever Trusting in the Lord I. THE DUTY ITSELF. 1. It implies an acquiescence or submission to the will of God, whatever it may be--trusting in Him, assured that He is doing, and will do, what is right. This was the spirit of Eli of old, who, though under great family trial, still said, “ It is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth Him good.” This was the spirit of the patriarch Job, who under all his trials could say, “ Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” 2. It implies also an application to the Lord, with confidence that the application will not be in vain. Perhaps the best passage I can give you upon this subject will be that which contains the character given of Hezekiah. In 2 Kings 18:5, we are told, “ He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.” There was habitual confidence in the Lord, which led Hezekiah to apply to the Lord in his hours of trial; and therefore, when he was in danger of being besieged, he instantly felt that his whole confidence must be in the Lord! So he took the letter, and in close communion with God read aloud that letter, trusting that the Lord would deliver him from all the threatenings which the letter contained. 3. Closely connected with these two explanations is that which I may call dependence and expectation; so that we may say, in our hours of anxiety, “ Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will provide.” All this is perfectly compatible with the energetic use of means for deliverance out of our trials. Indeed, wherever there is the neglect of means, there is simple presumption. 4. Notice, again, in the description of the duty set before us in the text, that it is to endure forever. We read here, “ Trust in the Lord forever.” This revolves both time and circumstances. II. THE . The text tells us, “ For in the Lord Jehovah there is everlasting strength” ; or, “ The Lord Jehovah is the Rock of Ages.” The encouragement, therefore, is based on the everlasting strength of God. (H. M.Villiers, M. A.)Trust in God I. AS A DUTY. God, in our view, either in His wisdom, power, grace, love, or fidelity, must always be the object of religions trust and confidence; and I think it will be found that all these great qualities and perfections in God are peculiarly exercised for the benefit and happiness of believers. It is not merely in these abstract qualities that the Christian is to trust, but in their exercise and development, for his own benefit and advantage. II. WHAT IS TO THE OF TRUST IN GOD. 1. It will be essential for you to cultivate scriptural knowledge. The more the mind is brought under the illumination of the Spirit and the Word of God--the more we are in the habit of connecting time with eternity, taking a large and extended view of both--the more we consult the nature of Divine providence, as developed in the history of His ancient people, in every age of the world, and the manner of His dealings with them--the better we become acquainted with the nature and spirit of His own work, the work of religion in the human heart, and, certainly, the more confidence we shall be enabled to exercise in God. We are very often brought into a state of darkness, doubt, perplexity, bondage, and suffering, for the want merely of enlightened and scriptural views of God, and the method of His dealings with His church. 2. Another state is also necessary-that is, living in a reconciled state with God. III. THE EXTENT TO WHICH WE OUGHT TO CARRY THIS IN GOD. And first of all we may say, we ought to trust Him with everything. But then, there is this remark to be made--that we ought to engage in nothing that is unlawful and sinful; for we cannot trust God with that which is evil. Let us not classify events, and consider some little and some great, some to be reposed on God and others not. The fact is, we ought to take everything to Him in the spirit of humble prayer and confidence, imploring His blessing upon it. Let me remark, too, that we ought to trust God for everything, as well as with everything. (J. Dixon, D. D.)Unchanging trust in an unchanging God The grandest and profoundest truths of the Old and New Testament with regard to the Divine nature are always presented as the bases of exhortations to conduct and to emotion. There is no such thing in Scripture as an aimless revelation of the Divine character. That great “ for” of my text links together the two clauses. I. Observe THE NAME OF JEHOVAH here given as the ground of invitation to our trust. “ In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength,” or “ the Rock of Ages.” The expression that is here employed, the singular reduplication of the name, which only occurs in one other place in Scripture, is no doubt intended to emphasise the idea that underlies the name. We find here the same singular appellation which occurs in one of the Psalms, where we read of God as “ riding in the Heavens by His name Jah.” So here the name appears as “ Jah, Jehovah” --the former name being, as I suppose, the abbreviated form of the latter, and the purpose of employing both being to call attention emphatically to the name and what it means. What does it mean It speaks-- (1) Of unchangeableness. (2) Of a sure asylum and safe dwelling place and inexpugnable fortress into which we may all retreat. “ His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks,” and high above all possibility of escalade and safe from all fear of assault or of change they may dwell who dwell in the secret place of the Most High. (3) And besides the thought of a safe asylum is the other thought of a rock for a foundation; who builds on it builds secure. II. THE TRUST which corresponds to, and lays hold of the Rock. “ Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is the Rock of Ages.” The word which is here rendered “ trust” is an extremely graphic and significant one, and teaches us a great deal more of the meaning and essence of the act of faith than many more elaborate treatises would do. It simply means “ to depend.” Charles Wesley, in his great hymn, has, with the Christian poet’ s unerring instinct, laid his finger on the precise meaning of the word when he says-- Hangs my helpless soul on Thee. Incongruous as the metaphor hanging on the rock may seem, It conveys to us the true idea of the trust which is peace and life. But did you ever notice that in our use of the word “ depend” we have two different expressions, which convey two different though kindred meanings? To be dependent on gives a different shade of signification from to depend on. The former acknowledges inferiority, takes a position of receptivity, and recognises that from another, who is conceived as being above us, there flow down upon us all good things, strengths, and graces that we may require. So, in this hanging upon God, there is the consciousness of utter emptiness in myself and of my need of receiving all that I can have or want from His full hand. But in faith or trust we hang on God in that other sense too. We are not only consciously dependent upon Him, as conscious of our emptiness and of His fulness, but we depend upon Him, as being calmly and completely certain of Him and of His being and doing all that we need. In other words, trust is reliance. Dependence and reliance are both metaphors. Both picture resting one’ s whole weight on some person or thing beyond one’ s self, but dependence pictures the weight as hanging from and upheld by a fixed point above, and reliance pictures it as reposing on and upheld by a fixed point beneath; and each sets forth in graphic fashion the act of the soul which Old and New Testament alike regard as the condition of vital union with God. That trust is reasonable. People pit faith against reason, as if the two things were antagonists. Faith is the outcome of reason. The only difference between it and reason, in the narrow sense of the word, is that faith has got longer sight than reason, and can see into what is dark to it. There is nothing so reasonable as to trust utterly in Him whose name is Jehovah, and in whom is the Rock of Ages. III. THE OF THE which corresponds with the eternity of the Rock. “ Trust ye in the Lord forever.” It is a commandment and a promise. An unchanging God ought to secure an unchanging trust. “ Forever!” Amid all the fluctuations of our minds and dispositions, there ought to be this one steadfast attitude of our spirits kept up continuously through a whole life. “ Forever!” Whatever may happen in the way of changing conditions and altered circumstances, for the same unchanging purpose brings all changes. The same diurnal motion brings day and night. The same annual revolution brings summer and winter. It is the same unchanging purpose of the steadfast God that creates the wintry darkness through which the orb of our lives has to pass, and the long summer hours of sunshine. But my text, like an God’ s commandments, carries a promise hidden in its bosom. All that build on the Rock of Ages build imperishable homes, which last as long as the Rock on which they are founded. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Strong by trusting the strong Readers of Darwin will recall the description he gives of a marine plant which rises from a depth of one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet, and floats on the surface of the water in the midst of the great breakers of the Western Ocean. The stem of this plant is less than an inch through; yet it grows and thrives and holds its own against the fierce smitings and pressures of breakers which no masses of rock, however hard, could long withstand. What is the secret of this marvellous resistance and endurance? How can this little, slender plant face the fury of the elements so successfully, and, in spite of storms and tempests, keep its hold, and perpetuate itself from century to century? It reaches down into the still depths, where it fixes its grasp, after the fashion of the instinct that has been put into it, to the naked rocks; and no commotion of the upper waters can shake it loose. (Weekly Pulpit.) Isaiah 26:8 Yea, in the way of Thy Judgments, O Lord, have we waited for Thee God’ s people waiting for Him in the way of His judgments I. THE WORDS CONTAIN A SOLEMN --a protestation, on the part of these faithful people of the Lord, to Himself, in reference to His “ judgments.” “ Yea,” say they, “ Verily Thou, O Divine Searcher of hearts, knowest that we lie not, when we declare that in the way of Thy judgments we have waited for Thee.” What a happy state of mind and heart is this! There may be a multiplication of observances, lastings, solemn assemblies, where, on the part of multitudes, there is nothing but form. II. THESE GODLY JEWS SPEAK TO THE LORD OF HIS “ .” If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without. Thy knowledge and permission, how much more is Thy agency to be traced in those mighty desolations that have moved the earth, and come down with such appalling fury on the land of Thine own people! III. THESE GODLY PEOPLE, IN THEIR SINNING AND LAND, SPEAK TO GOD OF “ THE WAY” OF HIS . We read of Jehovah’ s “ way” in a gracious sense--His way of mercy to lost sinners--the wondrous and glorious path along which He has passed, and is still passing, in saving sinners of our fallen race through the atonement of His own beloved incarnate Son (Psalms 67:1-2). Blessed, most blessed, are they who are Divinely taught this “ way” of the Lord! A far other “ way” of Judah’ s God is that to which her mourning children refer in the verse before us. It is His judicial way--the wrathful way in which He is provoked to “ come out of His place,” and move towards highly favoured but deeply sinning and guilty lands. IV. Let us contemplate and imitate the exercise of this “ small remnant” of the fearers of the Lord in the land of Judah. THEY WAITED FOR HIM IN THE WAY OF HIS . What are the elements which should enter into the exercise to which we are this day called? 1. Solemn recognition of God. 2. Solemn adoration of this high and holy Lord God. 3. Justification of God. 4. Humiliation of soul before God. 5. Pouring out the heart in earnest supplication before the Lord. (W. Mackray, M. A.)The right improvement of public or private calamities I. IN EVERY OF DIVINE IT BECOMES US TO THE HAND OF THE LORD. They are “ Thy” judgments. In doing this we imitate the example of the wise and good in every age. II. EVERY , WHETHER PRIVATE OR PUBLIC, SHOULD BE AS A OF THE DIVINE AGAINST SIN. They are Thy “ judgments.” III. IN EVERY THE MIND OF THE SHOULD BE TO GOD. “ The desire of our soul is to Thy name, and to the remembrance of Thee.” 1. This part of the passage expresses the most anxious solicitude that the Divine glory might be promoted by all the dispensations of His providence towards the children of men. 2. This part of our text seems to intimate also to whom the afflicted believer should apply for support. “ The desire of our soul is to Thy name, and to the remembrance of Thee.” 3. This part of our text exhibits the believer finding a source of encouragement under present trouble, or in the anticipation of future difficulties, in a reference to his former experience of the power, the faithfulness and grace of his covenant God. “ The desire of our soul is to the remembrance of Thee.” IV. IN OF , WHETHER PRIVATE OR PUBLIC, IT IS THE DUTY AND OF THE TO BE FOUND WAITING UPON GOD. “ In the way of Thy judgments have we waited for Thee, O God.” The verb “ to wait,” as used in the text, denotes desire, expectation, patience, and perseverance. Learn-- 1. That it is an evil thing and bitter to sin against God. 2. The infinite value of that system, which opens the way for the sinful creature to return to God, with the certain hope of being pardoned, adopted, and eternally blessed. 3. Let the sinner he exhorted to seek that Divine blessing which turns the curse into a blessing. 4. Let the believer labour to live in the exercise of the high and glorious privilege--waiting on God. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)Christians, and their communion with God (with Isaiah 26:9):-- I. THERE IS, IN THE PEOPLE OF GOD, A OF WITH GOD. 1. This is where their spiritual life begins. 2. This is where the life of the real Christian grows. 3. It becomes to the believer the tenor of his life to please God. 4. This principle of communion with God becomes the very flower of our lives. 5. This is the hunger and thirst of the Christian. 6. This proves that there has been a Divine renewal wrought in us. 7. This proves your sonship. 8. This proves your holiness, too, in a measure, for like will to like. 9. This proves your heavenliness, too, for that same desire which draws you to God is drawing you to Heaven. II. THIS ITSELF AND WORKS IN VARIOUS WAYS. “ Yea, in the way of Thy judgments,” etc. We are longing for God, and it is dark and cloudy. What shall we do then? 1. Why, wait for Him. Sometimes, the way of God’ s judgments may mean the appointed way, the regular way. Whenever thou hast a great trouble, expect a great mercy. 2. This communion leads to desiring. The desire of our soul, etc. 3. Your desire is to remember the Lord. “ And to the remembrance of Thee.” I wish that I had a memory that was so narrow that it could only hold the things of God. 4. This principle of communion shows itself in a personal yearning. The eighth verse is in the plural, the ninth in the singular. 5. This principle of communion takes one other form, that of personal seeking. “ Yea, with my spirit within me,” etc. III. THE LORD TAKES IN THIS WITH HIS PEOPLE (Isaiah 26:20). (C. H. Spurgeon.)The desire of our soul is to Thy nameThe desire of the renewed soul What is personal religion, and what is personal evidence of it? One single word, in my text is a key to all--“ desire.” The sum and substance of a believer’ s longings towards God is to know more of God, to enjoy more of God, to live more upon the fulness of the Son of God, and to become abstracted from all but God Himself. A sound creed is contained in these three things: I am a guilty wretch, deserving hell; Jesus is everything I want, for time and for eternity; I am His, and He is mine. Now, keeping this in view, let us descant upon-- I. THE OBJECT OF THE SOUL’ S DESIRE. Look at this as it relates to the Holy Three in One. The soul may be longing for another sight of his Bible. But why? Because he longs to meet with God there. He may be longing to hear another Gospel sermon. Why? Because it sets forth the perfections of the God he loves, and therefore he expects to meet Him there. He may be longing for another ordinance day. Why? Because Jesus is often made known to him in “ breaking of bread.” And so whatever means and ordinances are used, whatever externals are laid before the child of God and employed by him, it is not these that will satisfy him. It is God in them. I pass on to show-- II. WHAT WEANING WORK IS TO THIS. Until there is a great deal of weaning in the Christian’ s experience there will not be a very great deal of spirituality. III. THE THAT ARISE OUT OF THIS. If the earnest desire of my soul is after the enjoyment of God, I cannot grow careless about using means (J. Irons.) Isaiah 26:9 With my soul have I desired Thee in the night The religious craving and seeking of the soul at night There is no work so momentous, me influential, as the work of the soul in the sleepless hours of night. Busy in calling up departed friends and interchanging thoughts again, busy in recalling the past and foreboding the future, busy in reflections concerning itself and its God. In these words we have-- I. The soul’ s religious LONGING in the night. The soul has many instinctive cravings, cravings for knowledge, for beauty, for order, for society.; but its deepest hunger is for God. “ My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.” For what in God does it hunger? 1. For the assurance of His love. We are so formed that we crave the possession of the object of our love. Were all the works of God ours, we should be hungry without Him. He who gives His strongest love to us gives Himself. 2. For revelations of His mind. It yearns for ideas from the great Fountain of intelligence and love. II. The soul’ s religious in the night. “ With my spirit within me will I seek Thee early.” The soul seeking for God implies-- 1. A consciousness that it has not got Him. All have God’ s works everywhere, God’ s influence everywhere, God’ s presence everywhere; but only a few have Himself, the assurance of His love. Hence the searching. 2. A belief that He may be obtained. We may all have God as our portion by seeking Him in Christ. Men hunger for some things they can never get--wealth, power, social influence, the distinctions of genius, etc. But allwho hunger for God obtain Him. Conclusion--God is the great want of the soul. Without Him what are we? Planets detached from the sun, wandering stars for whom are reserved blackness and anarchy. “ Whom have I in Heaven but Thee?” etc. (Homilist.)Death and judgment The judgments recorded in the Old Testament by the special inspiration of God, showing them to be, as common centres, retribution on the sons of men, are intended to lead us to the belief in that final judgment after death of which we read in the New Testament. These early judgments of nations and states were the shadows, “ the going before,” of that awful time when all mankind shall appear to receive the sentence with its eternal consequences for good or evil. Now, here we see the power of religion in sustaining the soul of man under the awfulness of Divine retribution and the expectations of God’ s anger on the sons of the world; we see the expression, by those who have passed through such time, set before us as indications of the mind we are to cherish and the hopes we may entertain in view of that final judgment, and it shows the power of religious faith to maintain the soul in peace against the two greatest fears which darken the soul of man. 1. The fear of death. How nature shrinks from what teems to be an annihilation of this life! 2. Yet there is a greater fear than this--the thought of meeting God in the solitary going forth into what seems the dark night. It was not always so with man’ s soul He did not fear God in his original creation. But as soon as sin was committed observe the change; he shrank from the thought and the presence--from the approaching sound of the Divine appearance. That was the effect of one sin, and since that sin has spread through the whole of nature and has caused sinfulness to taint the whole being of men. Men shrink from their follow creatures when they are better than themselves. Those children who have committed faults shrink from their parents’ eyes, however fond they may be of them. Men shrink from themselves when conscious of their own sin, and often it leads them to commit self-murder. Now, religious faith raises a man above these two dark fears haunting the soul, produces peace, and kindles brightest hopes. (T. T. Carter, M. A.)The desire of the soul in spiritual darkness Night appears to be a time peculiarly favourable to devotion. Its solemn stillness helps to free the mind from that perpetual din which the cares of the world will bring around it; and the stars looking own from Heaven upon us shine as if they would attract us up to God. I shall not speak of night natural at all, although there may be a great deal of room for poetic thought and expression. I. I shall speak to ; and I shall bring one or two remarks to bear upon their case, if they are in darkness 1. The Christian man has not always a bright, shining sun; he has seasons of darkness and night. It is a great truth, that the true religion of the living God is calculated to give a man happiness below as well as bliss above. But, notwithstanding, experience tells us that if the course of the just be “ as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day,” yet sometimes that light is eclipsed. (1) Sometimes it is night over the whole Church at once. Of course each Christian participates in it. (2) At other times this darkness over the soul of the Christian rises from temporal distresses. (3) “ But oh!” says another, “ you have not described my night. I have not much amiss in business; and I would not care if I had--but I have a night in my spirit.” “ Oh,” says one, “ I have not a single evidence of my Christianity now. I was a child of God, I know; but something tells me that I am none of His now.” 2. A Christian man’ s religion will keep its colour in the night. “ With my soul have I desired Thee in the night.” What a mighty deal of silver slipper religion we have in this world. Men will follow Christ when everyone cries “ Hosanna!” But they will not go with Him in the night. There is many a Christian whose piety did not burn much when he was in prosperity, but it will be known in adversity. 3. All that the Christian wants in the night is his God. “ With desire have I desired Thee in the night.” By day there are many things that a Christian will desire besides his Lord; but in the night he wants nothing but his God. 4. There are times when all the saint can are is to desire. We have a vast number of evidences of piety: some are practical, some experimental, some doctrinal; and the more evidences a man has of his piety the better. We like a number of signatures, to make a deed more valid, if possible. We like to invest property in a great number of trustees, in order that it may be all the safer; and so we love to have many evidences. But there are seasons when a Christian cannot get any. He can scarcely get one witness to come and attest his godliness. But there is one witness that very seldom is gagged, and that is, “ I have desired Thee--I have desired Thee in the night.” II. Speak to NEWLY SOULS. 1. The first question they would ask is this--How am I to know that my desires are proofs of a work of grace in my soul? (1) You may tell whether your desires are of God by their constancy. (2) By their efficacy. If your desires lead you into real “ works meet for repentance,” then they come from God. (3) By their urgency. 2. But you say, “ If I have desired God, why have not I obtained my desire before now?” (1) You have hardly a right to ask the question; for God has a right to grant your petition or not as He pleases. But since thine anxiety has dictated the question, let my anxiety attempt to answer it. (2) Perhaps God has not granted thy desire because He wishes thine own profit thereby. He designs to show thee more of the desperate wickedness of thine heart, that in future thou mayest fear to trust it; He wants thee to see more of the blackness of darkness under the horrible pit of sin, that like a burnt child thou mayest shun the fire forever. He lets thee go down into the dungeon, that thou mayest prize liberty the better when it comes. And He is keeping thee waiting, moreover, that thy longings may be quickened. (3) Besides, God keeps thee waiting, perhaps, in order that He may display the riches of His grace more fully to thee at the last. I believe that some of us who were kept by God a long while before we found Him, loved Him better perhaps than we should have cone if we had received Him directly; and we can preach better to others, we can speak more of His loving kindness and tender mere (4) One thought more. Perhaps it has come already. I fancy some of you think you will have a kind of electric shock--that a sort of galvanism, or something or other, will pass through you, such as you never had before. Do not be expecting any miracles now. If you will not think you are pardoned till you get a vision you will have to wait many a year. 3. But there is one more serious inquiry: and it is, Will God grant my desire at last? Yes, poor soul, verily He will. It is quite impossible that you should have desired God and should be lost. (C. H. Spurgeon.)With my spirit within me will I seek Thee earlySeeking God early 1. Early, in the morning of life, which is the most proper season for this employment, your faculties being then most active and vigorous. 2. Early, in preference to all other objects which solicit your attention, seeking first, and above all things, the kingdom of God and His righteousness. 3. Early, in every day of life, after you are refreshed with rest; before you engage in company, in business, or amusement; determined, with the man according to God’ s own heart, that your voice the Lord shall hear in the morning. (R. Macculloch.)When Thy Judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousnessThe judgments of God I. THE AUTHOR OF THOSE WITH WHICH WE ARE VISITED; THE ENDS FOR WHICH THEY ARE SENT; AND THEIR FITNESS TO US IN . 1. Judgments come from God. Judgments that would crush us when proceeding from any other source, can be borne when viewed as coming from the hand of God. 2. But why does God visit us with judgments? Not that He delights in the miseries of His creatures. “ He afflicteth not willingly, nor grieveth the children of men.” He would rather “ draw them by the cords of love” ; and “ by His goodness lead them to repentance.” 3. A few plain considerations are sufficient to show that the judgments of God have a natural tendency to awaken men from their security and to teach them righteousness. Man is a depraved and corrupted creature. The very multitude of Divine favours hides the hand which confers them, and makes us forget our Benefactor; intoxicated and blinded by enjoyment, in the bosom of peace and abundance, piety languishes, our passions are inflamed, and we cease to “ hunger and thirst after righteousness.” In this situation, what does the mercy, the compassion of our Father, require from Him? To visit us with His judgments. Then we see the impotence of the idols which have seduced us; conscience wakes from its lethargy, and retraces to us in accents awfully impressive all our wanderings from God and righteousness. (1) The judgments of God deeply affect us and lead us to repentance, because they are rarer than mercies. (2) The judgments of God address powerfully that passion which has most influence on the greater part of mankind--the passion of fear. (3) These judgments of God lead to righteousness because they teach in that most compendious and efficacious mode, by example. On beholding them we feel that the threatenings of God are not a mere dead letter, which need fill us with no dismay. (4) Judgments lead to righteousness because they present God in such a character that even the most stout-hearted sinners tremble to oppose Him. When He comes to plead with them, clothed with grace and compassion, they may abuse these attributes to their destruction; but to sport with Him when “ He maketh His way in the whirlwind and the storm” ; when He comes armed with the thunders of omnipotence, and dressed in the robes of vengeance, requires a depravity worse than diabolical; since, on such occasions, even “ devils tremble.” But although judgments have thus a natural tendency to lead men to God, although they have often in an eminent degree taught righteousness, yet have they invariably this effect? Alas, no! there are some who can resist judgment as well as mercies. II. INQUIRE WHY THE OF GOD DO NOT ALWAYS HAVE THIS HAPPY EFFECT, which they are designed and calculated to produce. Judgments are frequently rendered useless because of our insensibility. (H. Kollock, D. D.)The judgments of God I. THE OF GOD ARE BY HIM, AND IN THEIR OWN NATURE DO TEND TO TEACH THE OF THE WORLD TRUE AND . 1. They are apt to work on our minds a stronger conviction of the providence of God. 2. They most powerfully awaken in us the thoughts of the great day of judgment. II. INQUIRE WHETHER THEY DO ALWAYS PRODUCE THIS EFFECT. And here experience acquaints us that there is something in the corruption and acquired wickedness of some men’ s hearts that baffles this as well as other methods of God’ s dealing with them; they are so far from repenting and learning righteousness by the corrections of God that they many times add impiety to their immoralities, and deny that He concerns Himself in the government of the world. III. EXHORT YOU TO LEARN FROM THE PRESENT OF GOD. (T. Manningham, D. D.)The judgments of God By the term, “ judgments of God,” the Scriptures sometimes denote the decisions, whether favourable or adverse, which God passes upon the conduct of men. But more frequently this phrase is employed to denote the effect of such decisions when they are unfavourable--to denote those remarkable punishments by which the Almighty chastises the wickedness of guilty individuals and the crimes of guilty nations. In the course of God’ s providential procedure, we often see His judgments; we see misfortune and distress following so closely and visibly the conduct of men, that we can have no doubt whatever concerning the connection that, by His appointment, subsists between them. But there are many eases where the precise object of the Divine visitation is unknown. In such eases it would therefore be rash and uncharitable to interpret particularly, and with reference to individuals, the views of Divine judgment when affecting a multitude. It is enough for us to know that these judgments, whatever be their kind, their nature, or their degree, are instruments of God’ s government of His moral and rational offspring, and that the inhabitants of the earth may learn from them lessons of righteousness. I. The judgments of God, whatever their form and degree, are found powerfully to excite OF WARM PIETY AND DEEP toward that God from whom these judgments proceed. There are various principles of our constitution, by which the judgments of Heaven contribute to a salutary effect upon the minds of a thoughtless world. Unexpected revolutions, either in the natural or moral world, naturally arrest our attention. They demonstrate, in the most sensible manner, to our consciences, our own weakness, and the incompetency of our powers, either to produce or control the changing events around us; and to every mind that is not totally enfeebled and darkened, through corruption, such revolutions suggest with irresistible force the notion of a powerful Supreme Ruler; they alarm our fears at His displays, and awaken all those sentiments (this is at least their natural tendency, or ought to be their constant effect) of humility and penitence, which form the beginning of a pious and devout temper. And we learn from Scripture that this is not only the tendency of the Divine judgments when rightly improved, but often the very purpose for which they were sent by the providence of God. II. If, then, the judgments of God be both fitted and designed to awaken us to the ways of His providence, HOW SHOULD WE LABOUR TO REGARD AND IMPROVE THEM! (G. H. Baird, D. D.)National judgments I. THAT THIS COUNTRY HAS BEEN VISITED BY THE OF GOD. 1. Our nation has, indeed, been a scene of many and extraordinary mercies. The rise and establishment of free institutions, and that wonderful balance of constitution which has prevented both the extremes of government,--royal despotism on the one hand, and popular anarchy on the other,--deserve our grateful recognition. Our own soil has long been e, stranger to the desolating ravages of war, and the shouts and confused noise of battle have been heard only at a distance. The discoveries of science and the attainments of art have been unparalleled; and useful knowledge has been diffused to an unexampled extent over the various classes of society. We have had the benefits of a Divine religion, reformed from the corruptions which had accumulated with the course of ages; we have had an almost universal diffusion of the pure Word of God, the inspired oracles of truth. “ The lines are fallen to us in pleasant places; yea, we have a goodly heritage!” 2. Yet it is also true that the judgments of God have been abroad in the land. That mighty hand is the hand of God; that mysterious and invisible power is the power of God. There is indeed a sinful and fatal disposition abroad, to account for things only by speaking of fortune and chance, or by referring, at most, to the passions and principles of those human agents by whom the management of national interests is conducted. This forgetfulness of the Most High, amounting to a practical atheism, and spread widely over the habits of men, is one of the worst signs of the times in which we live. II. WHETHER, BY THE OF THIS COUNTRY, A RIGHT OF ITS HAS BEEN MADE. “ When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” We do not imagine this to be a positive assertion, that the learning of righteousness is the invariable consequence of the Divine judgments, but a statement that such ought to be their result. If it be true that the Divine judgments are poured forth in consequence of transgression, it must be clear that the right conduct to be pursued by those who feel them is to repent and to reform. III. THE BY WHICH AN OF PAST IS URGED. 1. Consider what must be expected as the public consequences of continued impenitence and transgression. (1) The removal of religious privileges is an event scarcely to be doubted; and it seems but just and right that when the means of spiritual guidance and blessing have been for a protracted period undervalued and abused, they should be withdrawn (Revelation 2:5). (2) The removal of religious privileges will be the harbinger of national desolation. 2. Consider what will doubtless be the results of the desired amendment and repentance. “ Iniquity shall not be our ruin.” New glories will then arise upon our land. (James Parsons.)Instruction from the judgment of God It is an act of righteousness to give everyone their own; to God, the things that are God’ s; to do right to all men, and a man’ s self also. I. PIETY TOWARDS GOD consists in these six particulars-- 1. Reverence and awful regard of the Divine majesty. 2. The admiring and adoring Him, in His height, excellency, and perfection. 3. Love and delight in Him, because of His grace and goodness and free communication; with thankfulness for His benefits. 4. Trust in God, because of His faithfulness and to give Him credit, because of His approved truth and goodness. 5. Submission to Him, because of His superiority and sovereignty. 6. Duty and service, because of His dominion and property. II. TOWARDS MEN. That doth comprehend in it good behaviour and equal dealings. 1. In general, it doth take in the obedience and subjection that all inferiors owe to their superiors and governors. 2. That fairness and complacency which ought to be between all those that converse upon terms of equality. 3. That tenderness that ought to be used towards inferiors, or in a worse condition than ourselves. 4. Thank, fulness, where we are beholden. 5. Uprightness with all with whom we have to do. (1) In our speeches, truth and honesty. (2) Fidelity, where we are credited and trusted. (3) Performance of our engagements and undertakings. (4) Candour in all our judgments and censures. (5) Fair and benign representations of men, and handsome constructions and interpretations: always being ready to take things in the best sense; and to interpret other men’ s words, as we would they should interpret ours. (6) Lowliness and courtesy in our transactions with others. (7) Clearness and integrity in all our converse. (8) Moderation in our demand of reparation, in case of wrong received. (9) Gentleness and calmness, in case of provocation. (10) Clemency and compassion towards those that have done us evil. (11) Bounty and charity towards those that are in necessity. (12) Love and goodwill towards all men. III. TO . 1. It doth comprehend in it modesty and humility: that is the soul’ s temper. 2. Sobriety: that is the mind’ s balance. 3. Temperance and chastity: that is the body’ s security. More particularly-- (1) The mind equally poised, free from vanity, conceit, intoxication; and the body ordered according to the rules of reason and virtue. (2) The soul discharged of corroding envy and biting malice; and the body gently used. For as we should not live to feed the beast, which is done by epicurism, and giving way to sensual pleasure: so are we to be merciful to our bodies. 4. The whole man at heart’ s ease, through Christian courage and resolution; reposing in God’ s protection and providence; charging ourselves only with the use of lawful means; and when we have done our-duty, leaving the success to God, acknowledging our dependence upon Him, and the need of His blessing. These are instances of righteousness, wherein the inhabitants of the world are to be instructed, when God’ s judgments are upon the earth. (B. Whichcote, D. D.)The judgments of God 1. The judgments of God ought to drive the open transgressor of God’ s law from his sins and criminal indulgences. 2. The judgments of God ought to stimulate every individual, who is destitute of personal religion, to attend to his spiritual interests without a moment’ s delay. Religion is a personal concern, and essential to extensive usefulness and real happiness. 3. The judgments of God ought to excite in every Christian more of the spirit and exercise of prayer both for himself and others. (Alex. Harvey.)Fast-day sermon The faculties of man are too limited to comprehend the nature of the Divine judgments. The direction of events in the moral government of the world baffles his investigation. With respect to individuals, those afflictions are improperly called “ judgments” which may be merely instances of trial or discipline, or even of highly beneficial example. Yet we can seldom err in calling those evils which visit a nation by the name of “ judgments.” We may justly consider them as the penalty and correctives of a people’ s sin. For, as such collective bodies may have national iniquities of a flagrant kind, and as they can exist in that collective capacity of sinning as nations only in this world, we may conclude that such wide visitations of evil are nothing less than national chastisements, or a general penal discipline of the people so afflicted: Still their object is always some ultimate good. 1. The perversion of great wealth in a life of dissipation and voluptuousness, idleness and uselessness, as it is a spectacle by no means uncommon, so is it a most offensive and insulting sight in the eyes of Him “ who maketh poor and who maketh rich.” 2. This leads me to another crying sin, that seems to pervade all the ranks of modern society--“ the love of money” : that which the apostle calls “ the root of all evil,” and, by another name, the most offensive to a jealous God, who claims for Himself and His service the powers of the mind, the strength of the body, and the yearnings of the heart, namely, “ idolatry.” It is habitual covetousness, which early blights and mildews the tender shoots of religion in the breast, hardens every finer feeling, and concentrates every thought and care and wish upon self. 3. Another alarming sin of our country is pride. 4. This leads me next to our ingratitude. 5. The virtual unbelief, the practical infidelity of the present day. National sins are, after all, the collective vices of individuals; and every man has his own peculiar sins, which must weigh also upon his country’ s welfare. For the removal, therefore, of present, and the prevention of future judgments, we must look to the correction of individual character. (A. B.Evans, D. D.)Affliction a school of instruction I. Let us consider WHAT THAT IS WHICH MUST US. Our sufferings and afflictions. And they are here described in a threefold notion. 1. In their nature and propriety; what, and whose they are. They are no other than God’ s “ judgments.” 2. By their time and season; that is implied in this particle of time, “ when.” 3. By the circumstance of place, where they are inflicted. That which God makes the school of correction; “ the earth.” Are our afflictions God’ s “ judgments” ? Then-- 1. They are deserved by us; God doth justly inflict them upon us. 2. They are wisely ordained. 3. They are proportioned in a just and holy manner, with a due measure and moderation. II. THE LESSON WE MUST LEARN BY THEM. “ Righteousness.” 1. Who are the scholars? They are the inhabitants of the world. 2. What is their duty? They must be learners. 3. What is their lesson? They must learn righteousness. (Bishop Brownrig.)The teaching of ordinary life Persons are apt too much to separate spirituality of mind from the teaching of ordinary life, and the lessons which the facts of this world convey. Undoubtedly the mind may be spiritualised without this teaching, and even before it can be had; at the same time, in the case of the great majority of men, the spiritual temper is not attained without this teaching. (J. B. Mozley, D. D.)The world a great monitor The world is the great tempter, but at the same time it is the great monitor. It is the great saddener, the great warner, the great prophet. (J. B. Mozley, D. D.)God’ s judgments best awaken sinners I. I shall endeavour to confirm the truth of THE GENERAL IN THE TEXT, of the good effects of God’ s judgments upon mankind. 1. The end and design of God, in His judgments, is to do good to men; to make the bad good, and the good better. God has told us, in His Holy Word, that He is love, and that fury is not in Him. Now, it is demonstration that from love nothing but love can flow. 2. The judgments of God have a natural tendency and efficacy to convert and reform sinners, and to perfect the righteous. The two predominant and ruling passions in human nature are the fear of evil and the desire of happiness; and nothing is more proper to work upon these, and direct them to and fix them upon their right object, than the judgments of God. 3. And that thus it has been in fact I come now to prove by examples. The Ninevites were so terrified with the threatening of the prophet Jonah that they repented, and escaped the judgment. The same did Ahab upon the threatening of Elijah, and had the same success, etc. II. THE EXAMPLE of the good effect the judgments of God had upon those whom the prophet personates, and in whose name he speaks in the text. In which expressions we have the description and characters of the most sincere, excellent, and acceptable conversion of the soul to God which are-- 1. To turn the whole bent and force of our desire wholly to God alone. 2. To turn the attention and application of our soul inward, to God dwelling within us, by endeavouring to live in a constant sense of His presence, and in a continual seeking Him and lifting up our hearts to Him in prayer. (Val. Nalson.)God’ s relation to evil There is a very dark side to human history: calamity, disappointment, disease, death are facts and factors in human history that no one of us can deny. And the minds of men have always been attempting a solution of this dark aspect of human experience. There have been three solutions which have been suggested: (1) We have been told that this is the work of chance, that man is forced up and down on the capricious waves of fate. (2) A second attempt at solution has been made by those who tell us that there are two powers in the universe, one good and one evil: that to the good power all benevolent developments of human history are to be traced; that to the evil power all male relent activities are to be traced, and that there is no telling which is the stronger, the benevolent or the malignant--that now it seems as though the good triumphed, and now it seems as though the evil triumphed; and so the old Persians embraced what has been called the dual theory, Ormuzd and Ahriman, the good and the evil. (3) The Holy Scriptures teach us quite another solution, and it is the only one that brings comfort to a human soul. That solution is, that human history is the unfolding of the plan of God; that in the darker and in the brighter aspects of human experience God is still ruling; that He governs absolutely; that there is a moral purpose in things evil: that success comes out of failure, and prosperity out of adversity, and that therefore we are to rejoice evermore, because He occupies the throne; and when clouds and darkness are round about Him, be assured that, within the clouds and behind the darkness, righteousness and judgment inhabit that throne. (A. T.Pierson, D. D.)The Divine sovereignty If you take the Bible, and study this subject from Genesis to Revelation, it will grow upon you how magnificently awful is this sovereignty of God. Take the ten plagues of Egypt; they were an early lesson in human history about this sovereignty of God, that reaches through all things as well as to all creatures. In these ten plagues, for instance, we have examples of God’ s control over the forces of nature. In those same plagues we have illustrations of God’ s control over animated nature. And we have illustrated God’ s control over those subtle and mysterious influences that we cannot define, and the nature of which we do not understand, but which lie at the bottom of disease--the murrain among cattle, the boils and the blains, the death of the firstborn. Now, if we pass along in this remarkable history we shall next meet, in Exodus 23:1-33, the declaration, “ I will send the hornet before you, and drive out the people of the land of Canaan, that ye may take possession.” We go still further, and we read, in the Book of the Psalms, that He “ called for the famine” ; as though the famine were an obedient servant, summoned to the Master’ s presence, to go forth and do the Master’ s bidding. In these Psalms we are likewise told that He makes the winds His messengers, and the flames of fire His ministers. In Isaiah 54:1-17 we are told distinctly, “ I have created the waster to destroy.” We pass to the Book of Jonah, and Jonah is a revelation of the sovereignty of God in human affairs. For instance, we are told here, in four separate places, how the Lord had “ prepared a great fish” to swallow Jonah, and He “ spake unto the fish.” “ The Lord prepared a gourd,” and made it to come up over Jonah. “ The Lord prepared a worm,” that it might smite the gourd. The Lord “ prepared a vehement east wind,” that it might smite upon the head of Jonah. Notice the comprehensiveness of these declarations. God controls the wind, which is not an intelligent form of life; God controls the gourd, which belongs to the vegetable kingdom; God controls the worm that is among the insects; God controls the great fish that is among those that swim the waters. Turn now to the Book of Joe 1:4. And what does he say in 2:25? “ And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, My great army which I sent among you.” There is no more sublimely awful verse in the whole Old Testament than that--“ My great army which I sent among you.” And just think what an army is this going forth in four detachments one after the other! The student of history will observe that about three times in a century there comes among men some form of disease with regard to which science is utterly ignorant and impotent. No one knows how to prevent it, no one knows how to cure the disasters which it engenders. And it is another remarkable fact, that just as soon as science begins to have a limited control over these forms of scourge a new plague develops about which they know nothing; simply shewing that Almighty God has not surrendered the throne of the universe, nor given up His control even over the malignant and destructive forces of nature. If God did not keep the scourges of nature doing their work, the human race would rot in its own iniquity. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)God’ s judgments and their lessons What are we to understand by “ judgments of God” ? Judgments are the activities of a judge, and a judge is one that scans the conduct of men, and visits it accordingly. We do not say, of course, that every individual instance of suffering from this chastisement is an individual instance of judgment for personal sin. We are bound up in society, and it is impossible that a scourge shall come down upon the human family that does not involve the good as well as the wicked; for we are dependent upon one another, and intimately associated in social life. Why are these judgements of God visited? 1. There is judgment on the sin of dirt, on the sin of physical uncleanness, unwholesome habits, unwholesome diet, clothing, habitation; and for that reason the most of these scourges originate in those districts where humanity is most thickly congregated, and where all sanitary laws are set at defiance. 2. There are God’ s judgments on moral iniquity. 3. These scourges are God’ s judgments on the sin of greed and selfishness. Think how many forms of social evil there are in the various communities that are upheld by the greed and selfishness of man. 4. There are two sorts of judgments: one the temporal, which is corrective and preventive; the other the eternal, which is punitive and retributive only. It is to the former that the reference is made these judgments that are “ in the earth,” not in the next world or in the next life. And these judgments are designed not to be retributive, but to be corrective of iniquity and preventive of further sin. Therefore, just as soon as these judgments come upon the people, they should begin to inquire what laws of God have been violated that ought to be obeyed. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)The God of judgment In the Catskill Mountains, about a quarter of a century ago, an infidel got up on one of those heights, and, in the presence of some atheistic companions, defied the God of heaven to show Himself in battle. He swung his sword to and fro, and challenged the Almighty to meet him in single combat. The Almighty paid no attention to him, of course; but He just commissioned a little gnat, so small that it could scarcely be seen by a microscope, to lodge in his windpipe and choke him to death. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)God’ s judgment on American slavery It reigned in the United States of America for a hundred years. It was defended by almost the entire body of preachers in the southern States--defended and upheld, and its extension vindicated and advocated. And then God brought an awful war of four years’ duration upon the United States, and Mr. Lincoln, that heroic man in the midst of that country, made this significant announcement: “ It would not surprise me if, in view of the long-continued oppression of the slave in this country, it should please Almighty God that this war shall not cease until the life of one freeman has been exacted for the life of every slave that has been sacrificed during these hundred years.” And the cost of that American war was 500,000 people killed, 300,000 people maimed, 300,000 women made widows, 700,000 children made orphans, and 3000 millions of dollars, or 600 million sterling expended. God’ s judgment on the sin of greed and selfishness! (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)Pestilence and prayer Minnesota is the centre of the great western granary of the world. There came down upon those splendid fields that extend over thousands of acres, without even the division of a fence, an awful scourge, known as the grasshopper scourge. Nothing could be done by man to remove the scourge. The grasshoppers laid their eggs, and the next year, as soon as the wheat appeared, the destructive insect appeared alongside of it, and the utmost zeal and effort of the farmers failed even to abate this dreadful pestilence. The governor of Minnesota, who was a very high-toned Christian gentleman, called upon the people of the State to observe a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer for the removal of the plague. Secular papers, and especially the infidel papers, scouted the idea of reaching this natural visitation of insects by an appeal to God. They made the thing as ridiculous as they could make it, but still the Christian people assembled in their places of prayer, and many came together on the appointed day. Spring came, the wheat began to appear in the furrow, and the grasshopper appeared alongside of the wheat; and then the secular papers, that had scorned the idea of prayer to Almighty God, said, “ Where is the result of your day of prayer, and fasting, and humiliation?” The grasshoppers developed, but at the same time there developed a parasite that attached itself to the grasshopper and accomplished two results. In the first place, it made the grasshopper impotent to harm the wheat; and in the second place--which was more important--it made the grasshopper impotent to reproduce itself. And from that year there has been no scourge of grasshoppers in the State of Minnesota. And so the righteous have seen it and rejoined, and all iniquity has stopped her mouth in the presence of the manifest interposition of God. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.) Isaiah 26:10-11 Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness Insensibility of the wicked God has written, and spread before mankind, three large books, all of which are legible and intelligible to such as have eyes to see and a disposition of mind to read them with attention. These are, the books of Nature, of Scripture, and of Providence. None of these books should be despised, overlooked, or neglected. To this last our attention is called by the words of the text. I. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN . It is true righteousness which is here meant. 1. Not hypocritical righteousness, like that of many of the Pharisees. 2. Not ceremonial righteousness, like that of most of the Jews, who confided in circumcision and other ceremonies of their law. 3. Not partial and inconstant righteousness, such as the tithing of “ mint, and anise, and cummin,” and the neglecting of “ the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith” (Matthew 23:23). 4. Not merely external righteousness, such as that of St. Paul before his illumination, and that of all unawakened sinners. 5. Not our own righteousness (Philippians 3:9); a righteousness proceeding from and terminating in ourselves, performed by the mere strength of nature, and in obedience to an outward law; which implies neither forgiveness of the past, nor renovation for the present, nor holiness for the future, but leaves the soul under guilt, and in its natural state of depravity and weakness. 6. True righteousness is intended: that which was possessed by “ righteous Abel” and others. It is that righteousness through which “ grace reigns unto eternal life” (Romans 5:21). This righteousness must be learned by experience and practice. We must be heartily convinced of our unrighteousness, humbled on that account, and brought to repentance. We must cordially embrace Christ by faith. Consider the vast importance of learning righteousness in this sense. All other learning, as of sciences, arts, gaining wealth, or power, or honour, is, compared to this, insignificant. This is the end of all providential dispensations, and especially of God’ s judgments in the earth: to teach us righteousness. II. WHEN IT IS TO EXPECT MANKIND WILL LEARN . “ When Thy judgments are in the earth.” The judgments of God in Scripture often mean His ordinances, or His laws (Psalms 119:7; Ezekiel 5:6-8; Ezekiel 5:10). These, if attended to, would teach us righteousness. But, alas! they are neglected or abused. It becomes, therefore, necessary God should give us judgments of another kind, and such as are here chiefly meant, as the sword, the famine, and the pestilence (Ezekiel 7:15; Ezekiel 14:12-21). These visitations cause thoughtfulness. They cause a spirit of prayer for Divine light and grace; the rectifying of our mistaken views of God’ s government of the world, and of the nature and obligation of holiness; the acknowledgment of His righteousness in thus correcting us; humiliation and contrition; hatred to sin, the evil of which we are now so severely taught; reformation of life; deadness to the world, the vanity and misery of which we now see and feel. They cause us to seek all our happiness in God, as the only certain source of felicity, and they cause subjection to His will; these judgments naturally tending to subdue us. They actually do produce this effect on the people of God, and on persons disposed to be His people (Isaiah 26:8-9). It is, moreover, highly reasonable they should have this effect. Those thus chastised may hereby see that God governs the world, and that He does not connive at sin, but severely punishes it; and that “ it is an evil thing and bitter to forsake the Lord God,” whether as individuals, families, or as a nation. But it may be asked, Will not gentler methods answer the same end? To answer this inquiry brings me to show-- III. IF THEY DO NOT LEARN THEN, THERE IS REASON TO FEAR THEY NEVER WILL (Isaiah 26:10). (J. Benson, D. D.)Man’ s wickedness provokes God’ s wrath I. SINNERS WALK TO GOD, and refuse to comply with the means used for their reformation, and to answer the intentions of them. 1. Favour is showed to them. Yet it is all in vain. They will not learn righteousness; will not be led to repentance by the goodness of God. 2. They live in a “ land of uprightness,” where religion is professed and is in reputation, and the Word of God preached, and where they have many good examples set them; yet there they will deal unjustly, and go on frowardly in their evil ways. They that do wickedly deal unjustly both with God and man, and with their own souls. God’ s majesty appears in all the dispensations of His providence, but they regard it not, and therefore study not to answer the ends of those dispensations. 3. God lifts up His hand to give them warning, that they may, by repentance and prayer, make their peace with Him; but they take no notice of it, are not aware that God is angry with them, or coming forth against them; “ they will not see” --and none so blind as those that will not sea--who ascribe that to chance or common fate which is manifestly a Divine rebuke. II. GOD WILL AT LENGTH BE TOO HARD FOR THEM. When He judgeth He will overcome. “ They will not see, but they shall see.” They will not see the evil of sin, and particularly the sin of hating and persecuting the people of God; but they shall see, by the tokens of God’ s displeasure against them for it, and the deliverances in which God will plead His people’ s cause, that what is done against them He takes as done against Himself, and will reckon for it accordingly. “ They shall see” that they have done God’ s people a great deal of wrong, and therefore shall “ be ashamed” of their enmity, and envy towards them, and then in usage of such it deserved better treatment. (Matthew Henry.) Isaiah 26:11 Lord, when Thy hand is lifted up they will not see Man’ s blindness to the Divine working Modern scepticism seeks to undeify the Deity; and yet, feeling that man must have a god of some sort, it deifies nature, and invests matter and the laws of the universe with the attributes of Divinity. This is no new form of scepticism. The same evil existed among the Jews in the days of Isaiah. To this the prophet emphatically refers in our text. The lifting up of the hand refers to the gracious and loving tokens He had given of Himself; but a wilful blindness hid the Divine glory from the people. I. MAN’ S TO THE DIVINE WORKING-- 1. In the realm of matter. There are men who, while they behold and admire the work, care not to see or own the Worker. 2. In the realm of history. Men who look at events, whether small or great, in the lives of individuals or of nations, and are content to account for them by alluding simply to second causes, without learning to trace the hand of God, are guilty of the sin to which the text refers. National sins bring national judgments. One wicked king is often employed to scourge another, and when the scourger has done his work, then he himself in turn is also scourged. One wicked nation is employed to punish another for its sins, to humble its pride, and to check its guilty ambition. 3. In the realm of spirit. A vile and wicked person enters the sanctuary. His character is notoriously bad. He takes his seat in the pew beside you. During the service, God by His Spirit comes down upon him with mighty power. In answer to his prayer he experiences a renewal of heart. He announces the fact to you. And yet you think little or nothing about it. This does not affect you half as much as if you were told that you had made a hundred pounds by some fortunate speculation. Look at the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane. The ease is unique. Innocence is in agony. A merciful God pours the sorrows of abandonment and death into the soul of our holy Substitute. Yet His friends, His disciples, for whom He suffers, are fast asleep. But the disciples are only types of other men. II. THE CAUSES OF THIS . 1. Ignorance. The heathen, having no direct written revelation, are in darkness, and know not the truth. But their blindness to the supernatural can scarcely be pronounced wilful or criminal; it must be regarded as the fruit of ignorance. But as ignorance cannot be pleaded in our case, with our fulness of light, our blindness is wilful. 2. Indifference. 3. Absorption of thought in other things. 4. Pride of intellect. This reason reveals itself in the undue homage rendered to human reason. “ Thus saith the Lord” must give way to “ Thus saith human reason.” 5. Pride of heart. It develops itself in an obstinate refusal to submit to the authority of God. III. THE REMOVAL OF THIS . “ They shall see, and be ashamed,” etc. 1. Sometimes men are brought to see by sad calamities and sore judgments. 2. Men are also brought to see by the agency of the Holy Spirit. 3. Many will see God in the hour of death. At the moment of dissolution, who will venture to say what strange visions of the supernatural will people the whole scene around them? Every object then will seem full of God. 4. In the day of judgment all men shall see. God will vindicate Himself, and overthrow the unbelief of His deniers by a personal revelation of Himself. 5. The result of all this unveiling will be shame and envy. (1) Whether the discovery of God is made here or hereafter, shame must inevitably be the result. In the one ease it will be the shame of the penitent returning to God, full of conscious guilt; in the other it will be the shame of utter despair. It is to the latter our text refers. It is the shame of those who shall discover that they have wronged God, when there is no possibility of repairing the wrong. When the man discovers in the light of the future how full everything is of God, how God pervades all, he will be covered with shame--shame at his folly in resisting evidences so clear and conclusive; shame for having denied and rejected so reasonable and so elevating a system as Christianity; shame for having espoused so unreasonable and so degrading a theory as infidelity. (2) Another result will be envy. They shall “ be ashamed for their envy at the people.” In the margin it is rendered, “ Ashamed of their envy toward Thy people.” It seems a startling truth, that the wicked, at some future period of their history, shall have such an insight into the glorious inheritance of the good as to have a clear conception of what they themselves might have obtained by grace, and of what they have lost by sin. This solemn truth is alluded to several times in the sacred Scriptures. Our Saviour saith, “ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.” The rich man saw Lazarus in Abraham’ s bosom. When the unbelieving shall see the glorious portion of those who have believed, and contrast it with their own degrading wretchedness, they will envy the glorified, and be ashamed of that very envy. (R. Roberts.) Isaiah 26:12 Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us God ordaining peace The expression seems to allude to the action of a commander-in-chief in the army, who marshals his soldiers according to the plan he had formed, and assigns to each the proper station which he is to occupy in carrying into execution his projected enterprises. It plainly intimates the lively hope which they felt that the supreme Disposer of all persons and events would be graciously pleased to assign for them both outward and inward tranquillity. (R. Macculloch.)National peace the gift of God (1814):-- I. WHAT THERE IS IN THE OF PEACE, , TO EXCITE OUR . 1. The first consequence of peace which naturally presents itself to our attention is, that the effusion of human blood is stayed. 2. The injurious effects produced by war upon the human character afford another reason for thanksgiving on the return of peace. It is impossible that a state of warfare should be long continued without greatly deteriorating, in some important respects, both individual and national character. War is unfriendly to humanity. Tender as the heart may naturally be, the frequent recurrence of scenes of suffering tends to harden it. During the state of warfare, too, communities are usually distracted by intestine dissensions; and political strife gives birth to no virtues. Another effect of war is, that, when long-continued, it embitters the animosities of nations, and tends to confirm those national antipathies which, if unchecked by peace, would settle into a confirmed and malignant hatred. 3. A third reason for gratitude with reference to the peace is, that it has been produced by the signal triumph of a righteous cause. Peace is not always a blessing. In some cases it is only a term for the stillness, the quiet of desolation and death. Peace is often the result of the superiority acquired by the aggressor. The cause of right does not always at once prevail. 4. We rejoice in peace as the completion of a course of providential dispensations highly conducive to the instruction of the world. II. WHAT THERE IS IN THE OF THIS COUNTRY TO WARRANT US IN THE AS OF SPECIAL AND VALUE. 1. We have preserved our national honour. 2. The peace was seasonable. 3. The peace may be considered indicative of the Divine favour and approbation. 4. We see a particular reason to be thankful for peace, as it will increase our means of promoting the kingdom of Christ in the world, and thus establish our national prosperity by continuing to us the blessing of God. III. THE REASON OF OUR OF GOD. He is the giver of the blessing of peace. “ Thou hast ordained peace for us.” This is a most important principle; and if our hearts be not firmly grounded in it, our thanksgivings are mockery; for why do we thank Him, if we ascribe the work to second causes? (R. Watson.)Peace from God A tourist writes of a spring as sweet as any that ever gushed from sunny hillside, which one day he found by the sea when the tides had ebbed away. Taking his cup he tasted the water and it was sweet. Soon the sea came again and poured its bitter surf over the little spring, hiding it out of sight. When the tide ebbed away again, the tourist stood once more by the spring to see if the brackish waves had left their bitterness in its waters; but they were sweet as ever. This is a picture of the peace in the heart of the Christian when floods of bitter sorrow and trial sweep over his life. From secret wells the sweet waters flow, crystal and fresh as ever. They have their source in the heart of God. (J. R. Miller, D. D.) Isaiah 26:13-14 Other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us The captivity and the return About five hundred years before the birth of Christ an event occulted which stands almost alone in the world’ s history. After a long period of exile a whole nation, at least so much of it as was disposed, was freely permitted to return to its own land. The despotic king under whose sceptre they were then living not only issued an edict to that effect, but gave up the sacred vessels of the Holy House which had been brought away as trophies by previous monarchs, empowered the leader of the host to draw on the royal treasury for whatever might be necessary to refurnish the Holy House, and supplied him liberally with money, corn, wine, and oil for the homeward journey. For three days that mighty host of returning exiles rested in their tents on the banks of the Ahava. A solemn and sacred fast succeeded. Then came the marshalling of the enormous caravan. At last, on the dawning of the fifteenth morning from their first setting out, they began in real earnest their homeward march. Four long and wearisome months did that great caravan of exiles creep on towards their beloved land. At the beginning of the fifth month, with their ranks greatly swelled by others who had joined them during their progress, they stood in sight of Jerusalem. The song now broke forth, “ We have a strong city: salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks” ; to which a chorus of many thousand voices responded, “ Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth truth may enter in.” Then followed the declaration of the first voices, “ Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” So the mighty song of praise rolled on, until, with all voices blending as the voice of many waters, the words were heard, “ O Jehovah our God! other lords beside Thee have ruled over us; but henceforth Thee, Thy name only, will we celebrate. They are dead, they shall not live; they are shades, they shall not rise; because Thou hast visited and destroyed them, and hast made all their memory to perish.” In effect these words describe the whole history of that nation in its exile, and its purpose now it had come back to Judah. (J. J. Goadby.)Bondage and freedom A nation is, after all, only an aggregate of single units; and that which is thus declared of a whole nation was equally true of each separate man of whom that nation was composed. It is the history and purpose of a single soul. I. Here is an illustration of THE BONDAGE OF THE SOUL. The Jews had bowed before many idols. They had served under many kings. Each idol and king had ruled them according to the caprice of the hierophants or viziers. There are also many lords who rule over the souls of men; whose dominion is capricious, despotic, and even destructive. 1. There is worldliness, one of the hardest of tyrants. 2. Closely akin to worldliness is frivolity; the disposition which shows itself in a strong dislike to anything grave in thought, or speech, or life; a vague belief, so far as frivolity can entertain belief, that the chief end in life is to be amused. 3. Others are in the thralls of doubt. One man doubts concerning all goodness whatsoever. He has been bitterly deceived by some unworthy man who had won his confidence, and he refuses to believe now that disinterestedness is possible in any quarter. Another man doubts whether it be possible to discover truth amidst such a wrangle of apparently conflicting opinions, upon it. Perhaps he has allowed his mind to be biassed in one direction, and has never seriously set himself to get free from his bias. Or, he may never have struggled after the truth with any deep and true wrestling of soul. A third has doubts concerning evangelic Christianity. A fourth doubts of the possibility of his own salvation. 4. There are other forms of tyranny over the soul; e.g., the slavery of that which is known to be sin. The particular kind of sin differs with different mere. 5. Does it not become of unspeakable interest to know if deliverance can actually be secured; by whom it is to be effected, and by what means; and what are the signs that freedom has been actually obtained? To all these questions the song of the liberated exiles points to the sufficient answer. “ O Jehovah our God! other lords beside Thee have ruled over us,” etc. II. Jehovah was the Author of the Jews’ liberation: GOD ALONE EFFECTS THE OF THE SOUL. 1. He conceived the plan of that redemption, not as a temporary expedient, a Divine after thought, but as an “ eternal purpose which He purposed in His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” 2. The method of this deliverance is also depicted in the words of the exiles. “ Thou hast visited and destroyed them.” “ Visited,” that is, searched out with the keenest scrutiny, examined, exposed. How, then, deem God “ visit” these tyrants of man’ s soul? He reveals their true character to those who are under their dominion. God lays bare the worthlessness and the wickedness of worldliness, frivolity, and sin. Sometimes He does this, by the force of contrast, bringing in close proximity the brightness of an opposite life to the life which w ourselves are living. Sometimes He awakens a seed of Divine truth that has long been buried in our hearts. Sometimes the revelation is made by creating a sense of satiety, or of nausea. Sometimes the change is produced by incidents of God’ s good providence. But the one great means which Divine wisdom has set apart for the spiritual liberation of man is--the Gospel of His love. 3. There are, therefore, certain criteria by which men may surely know that they have actually entered this condition of freedom. One is, their relation to the past. The Jews did not forget the hard usage they tad received from those idol priests and capricious tyrants who had “ ruled them with a rod of iron.” But the grave closed over their oppressors, one after another. They were extinct tyrants; “ shades,” not men; powerless phantoms, fallen to rise no more. They were remembered, but as dead men. Nor can anyone who has obtained spiritual deliverance utterly forget the past. The recollection of what that past was flits across the mind, like a cloud over the face of the sun at noonday. But there is no desire to return to that condition. The past has lost its power of attraction, and has become hateful. The old tyrants are dead; and so long as we keep ourselves in the love of God they shall live no more. There is, further, the soul’ s relation to the future. But henceforth Thee, Thy name only, will we celebrate. Whatever allegiance may have been rendered to others in the past, the allegiance is now to be given alone to God. We have also the idea of service. The “ celebration” is incomplete without this, the worship a solemn and offensive pretence. But he who worships most sincerely is certain to live most uprightly. He is bound to faithful service by the strongest of all ties--the tie of a grateful love. 4. “ But,” says someone, “ is not this mere poetic exaggeration? Where are the proofs that this freedom has actually been won?” Where? In every age of the Church’ s history, from the day when publicans and sinners crowded about the pathway of the Divine Redeemer, until this hour. The Gospel is not an exhausted force. It is “ the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believeth.” (J. J. Goadby.)The moral history of the soul Here we have the soul under the sway-- I. OF MANY DEITIES. “ Other lords beside Thee.” The Jews in Babylon had knelt at the shrine of many false deities, and rendered allegiance to a succession of kings. Many “ lords” had ruled them. This is true of all souls in an unregenerate state. Who is the real Lord or God of the soul? Unhesitatingly and emphatically, the chief love. Whatever man loves most, is his spiritual monarch, the deity of his life. The chief love of some is money. The chief love of others is pleasure--sensual indulgence. “ Their god is their belly.” The chief love of others is power. Ambition is their god. II. OF ONE GOD. “ By Thee only will we make mention of Thy name,” or, as some render it, “ Henceforth Thee, Thy name, will we celebrate. They had left heathen altars, and come back to the altar of Jehovah. What a blessed change from many masters to one, and therefore free from spiritual distraction. From worthless masters to the supremely good, and therefore realising all that the soul craves for or requires. 1. The rule of this one God is the rule of right. 2. The rule of peace. From the moral constitution of man no peace of soul can be experienced under the sway of any other. Under no other will the various sympathies flow into one channel, the faculties blend in harmonious action, the heart fix itself in a centre. 3. The rule of growth. Can vegetation grow and flourish under the reign of stars, however numerous or brilliant? No; it must have the empire of the sun. And can the soul advance under the sway of any infinite powers, however illustrious? No; it must have the rule of God, the “ Sun of Righteousness.” Here we have the soul-- III. PASSING FROM THE SWAY OF THE MANY TO THE ONE. It is that great moral experience which is represented in the New Testament as a new birth, a resurrection, a conversion, a repentance, etc. (Homilist.)Confession, resolution, and dependence I. . “ O Lord our God, other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us.” There are two things connected with this confession; one is recollection, and the other adoration. II. . “ Henceforth we will make mention of Thy name.” God’ s name is His character,--what He is in Himself, and what He is to His people. And it is a name not to be ashamed of: it is connected with every thing that is excellent, glorious, and sacred. It is a “ name that is above every name.” Not only so, it is a name you need not be afraid of with a slavish fear; but you may well be afraid of it with a holy fear. It is a name that you ought to love with all your hearts! III. . “ By Thee only will we make mention of Thy name” ; as much as if it was said, We are full of sin, but Thou art full of grace and mercy; we are not worthy to take Thy name upon our lips--to stand before Thee, or to enter into covenant with Thee, but we do it depending upon Thee, and upon Thee alone. (T. Mortimer, B. D.) Isaiah 26:15 Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord The increase of the true Israel On the first preaching of the Gospel, the Lord greatly increased the nation of them that are Israelites indeed. In following ages the Lord still continued to increase them; hence the remarkable words of an ancient apologist for Christianity (Tertullian), who openly told the heathen “ that this despised sect had filled their cities and provinces, their councils and camps, the palace and the senate house, and what not,--that such was their multitude that should they have withdrawn themselves into some remote part of the world, the empire would have been depopulated and left in dismal solitude and silence.” (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 26:16 Lord, in trouble have they visited Thee God a harbour of refuge It is a blessed loss that makes us find our God! What we gain is in finitely more than what we have lost. What a mercy that God is willing to hear us in the time of trouble, that all our putting off and rejection of Him do not make Him put us off! I remember one who wished to hire a conveyance to go to a certain town, and he went to the place where he could hire it, and asked the price; he thought that it was too much, so he went round the town to other people, and found that he could not get it any cheaper; but when he came back to the place visited first, the man said to him, “ Oh, no, no! I will not let my horses to you. You have been round to everybody else, and now you come back to me because you cannot get what you want elsewhere; I will have nothing to do with you.” That is man’ s way of dealing with his fellow man; but it is not the Lord’ s method of dealing with us. When you and I have gone round to everybody else, the Lord still welcomes us when we come back to Him. Yes, just as harbours of refuge are meant for ships in distress that would not have put in there except for the storm and danger, such is the mercy of the Lord God in Jesus Christ. If you are forced to accept it, you are still welcome to it. If you are driven to it by stress of weather, you may come in, for the harbour was made for just such as you are. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 26:19 Thy dead men shall live The Jewish hope of resurrection Granted the pardon, the justice, the temple, and the God which the returning exiles now enjoyed, the possession of these only makes more painful the shortness of life itself. This life is too shallow and too frail a vessel to hold, peace and righteousness and worship and the love of God. St. Paul has said, “ If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” What avails it to have been pardoned, to have regained the Holy Land and the face of God, if the dear dead are left behind in graves of exile, and all the living must soon pass into that captivity (Hezekiah’ s expression for death, Isaiah 38:12) from which there is no return? It must have been thoughtslike these which led to the expression of one of the most abrupt and powerful of the few hopes of the resurrection which the Old Testament contains. This hope, which lightens Isaiah 25:7-8, bursts through again--without logical connection with the context--in verses 14-19 of chap. 26. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The resurrection of the life to come I. THE OF THE BODIES OF . “ Thy dead men shall live,” etc. II. THE CAUSE OF THE . “ Thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” In Eastern countries the dew is extremely heavy and almost entirely supplies the place of rain. It is frequently referred to in Scripture (Psalms 133:3; Hosea 14:5). The “ dew” means the influence of the Holy Spirit, which is the great efficient cause of the raising of the bodies of believers; not the primary cause--that is the atonement made by our Lord Jesus. But the text adds, “ The earth shall cast out the dead.” The word “ cast out” means to travail. The earth shall put forth them that are now buried. The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together; but when the Spirit shall come forth with His mighty influence, the earth shall be no longer able to retain its dead. III. THE JOY OF THIS . Without doubt the joy of departed saints is exceeding great; but the joy will be so much greater at the resurrection that the Church may with propriety sing in concert, “ Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust.” They will then see the full glory of Christ established; they will see sin and Satan in chains; they will see hell subdued, death quite swallowed up. (R. W. Sibthorp.)The dust of death If one has seen a place of graves in the East, he will appreciate the elements of this figure, which takes “ dust” for death and “ dew” for life. With our damp graveyards mould has become the traditional trappings of death; but where under the hot Eastern sun things do not rot into lower forms of life, but crumble into sapless powder, that will not keep a worm in life, dust is the natural symbol of death. When they die, men go not to feed fat the mould, but “ down into the dust” ; and there the foot of the living falls silent, and his voice is choked, and the light is thickened and in retreat, as if it were creeping away to die. The only creatures the visitor starts are timid, unclean bats, that flutter and whisper about him like the ghosts of the dead. There are no flowers in an Eastern cemetery; and the withered branches and other ornaments are thickly powdered with the same dust that chokes and silences and darkens all. Hence the Semitic conception of the underworld was dominated by dust. It was not water nor fire nor frost nor altogether darkness which made the infernal prison horrible, but that upon its floors and rafters, hewn from the roots and ribs of the primeval mountains, dust lay deep and choking. Amid all the horrors he imagined for the dead, Dante did not include one more awful than the horror of dust. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Dew for dust For dust there is dew, and even to graveyards the morning comes that brings dew and light together. As, when the dawn comes, the drooping flowers of yesterday are seen erect and lustrous with the dew, every spike a crown of glory, so also shall be the resurrection of the dead. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dustThe Divine call to moral grovellers This call may he addressed-- I. To the . All his thoughts and activities are directed to the pampering of his animal appetites and the gratification of his animal lusts. To such the word may be fairly addressed, “ Arise from the dust.” Why live in mud, when you ought and might live in “ heavenly places” ? II. To the . By a worldling, I mean a man who gives his heart and energies and time to the accumulation of wealth; a man who had no idea of worth but money; no idea of dignity apart from material parade and possessions; a man whose inspiration in everything is love of gold. Such a man is literally in the dust. He is a grub. Now, to such a man the call come with power: “ Arise from the dust; break away from that wretched materialism that imprisons thy spirit.” A man’ s life “ consisteth not in the abundance of the things of this world.” . All unregenerate men are in the dust. “ He that is born of the flesh, is flesh” --is flesh in experience, in character, known by his compeers only by fleshly or material characteristics. “ He that is born of the Spirit, is spirit” --the spirit has been liberated from the bondage of the flesh, called up to his true regal position, and is known hence on, not by material features, but by high mental and moral characteristics. (Homilist.)Souls sleeping in the dust There are two senses in which men may be considered dead while yet living inhabitants of the earth. (1) They may be civilly dead: utterly deprived of all political rights and privileges. To this the prophet refers undoubtedly. Ezekiel in a vision saw them as a “ valley of dry bones.” Here is a call for the restoration. “ Thy dead men shall live” --live politically, restored to their own country, reinstated in all their rights, placed again amongst the nations of the earth. (2) Another sense in which men may be considered dead whilst living inhabitants of the earth is spiritually; Observe then-- I. THE of unregenerated men. They “ dwell in the dust.” 1. Scientific materialists are in the dust. All their attention is taken up with material substances, combinations, forces, operations, laws. They have no world outside beyond the tangible and the visible. 2. Mercenary worldlings are in the dust. 3. Voluptuous sensualists are in the dust. 4. Ceremonial religionists are in the dust. II. THE URGENT CALL MADE on unregenerate men. “ Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust.” But why awake? 1. Because the sleep is injurious. Physical sleep is refreshing, but spiritual sleep is pernicious; it enervates the powers; it is a disease that wastes and destroys. 2. Because the sleep is sinful. It is a sin against our constitution, against the ordination of Heaven, against the well being of the universe. 3. Because it is perilous. In their dreams they feel that they are “ increasing in goods and have need of nothing, whereas they are poor and wretched, blind and naked.” (Homilist.)Dwelling in the dust I. AN OR ADDRESS. “ Ye that dwell in dust.” To whom is this designation applicable, and to whom does it in point of fact apply? 1. All men, without exception, may be described as dwelling in dust. They live in houses of clay; their foundation is in the dust; they are crushed before the moth. They are made of the earth, earthy. 2. This address is still more descriptive of mankind, as it refers to their sin and guilt in the sight of God. They are sunk in the depths of abject servitude. 3. But it is not to sinners in their natural state that the words of our text are addressed. God directs them to His chosen people, and says even unto them, “ Ye that dwell in dust.” Nor is the expression inappropriate. For humble and lowly is the spiritual estate even of the believer. His home is in Heaven, his treasure is there, his heart is there, his Redeemer is there; and though he wishes to be in thought and feeling continually there, the opposing influences of sin, Satan, the world, and the flesh, retard his efforts, and cloud the sunshine of his joys with ever-recurring darkness. Is it not strange that an heir of immortality, a participant in Christ’ s everlasting redemption, a member of the Saviour’ s ever-living body, a being who is destined for eternal glory should drink the cup of humiliation and suffering in the dust? There is another sense in which God’ s people may be described by this epithet. They dwell in dust, inasmuch as their life in this world is a life of affliction. 4. But, lastly, the address contained in our text refers literally to those who dwell in the dust--who reside in the cold and cheerless tomb. II. A SUMMONS OR COMMAND. “ Awake and ring.” The passage is not addressed to all who dwell in dust, as the context clearly shows, but only to those who are God’ s chosen and willing people. There is a night of death that has no morning, but it is yet future, distant, and unseen. All who are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and shall come forth, they that have done evil as well as they that have done good. But it is only to the righteous that the voice of Omnipotence shall say, Awake and sing! Brightly and beautifully on them will dawn the resurrection morning. III. THE REASON WHY GOD THEM THAT DWELL IN DUST TO AWAKE AND SING. It is because their dew is as the dew of herbs. Dew in countries such as Judea, where rain seldom falls, is the grand agent that fertilises, fructifies, and waters the earth. They that dwell in dust have their dew. Their dew is the beneficent law of Heaven, which seals them up in the grave, until such time as the fructifying influence of the Spirit shall quicken them into a resurrection life. IV. THE RESULT OF THE COMMAND, Awake and sing. The earth shall cast out the dead. The subject presents to us-- 1. A ground of comfort amidst all the distresses of life. 2. A most powerful motive to holiness and duty. (A. Nisbet.)Thy dew is as the dew of herbsResurrection preservation I. AGAINST . One of the great difficulties connected with the resurrection is the fact that the bodies of the dead decompose, and that oftentimes some of their parts go to make up the growth of plants and animals. But is not this difficulty removed by the law of the text; the law that governs the reproduction of plants, and which is so forcibly presented by the apostle in his argument to the Corinthians for the resurrection of the dead? II. AGAINST . Other dangers threaten the bodies of the dead. Being on the surface of the earth and mingled with its particles, they must necessarily be moved about. The winds may waft them to other regions; birds or animals or men may carry them abroad; the rivers may float them in their rapid currents; the ocean may heave them on its mighty billows. How then shall they be preserved? God has purposely made many of the seeds so that they are wafted on the winds, not that they may be destroyed, but may be brought into better positions for their preservation and subsequent prosperity. And shall we disbelieve the fact that the great God who performs these wonders in the ordinary operations of nature, is able and willing so to control winds, and birds, and beasts, and living men, and flowing rivers, and heaving oceans, as to preserve and carry to safer or better places the germs of those bodies which He has taught us shall rise at the resurrection of the last day? III. AGAINST OR LOSS OF . Take the many hundreds of plants that exist about us--there are computed to be more than 80,000 kinds on the globe--with their millions of seeds. The God of nature never mixes them up. Whatever may be true about the amalgamation of growing plants, when their seeds or germs are perfected it is impossible so to mix them as to confound them. And think you that the God who works such wonders of infallible certainty in the identification of the untold millions of these varieties of plant seeds, every year and through so many centuries, however they may be mixed up, cannot or will not, even when He has promised it, preserve the identity of each different human body, so that it shall be enstamped with all the characteristics of its own individuality, though it be mingled with so many other human bodies through so many centuries? IV. AGAINST BY FORCES. The seeds of many species resist the destructive power, not only of cold but of great heat, and of drought and moisture, in a wonderful manner, not only through the lapse of one season, but of centuries. And as God does thus preserve these inferior and feebler creations of His, amid such great and long continued action of the elements of destruction, will He not much rather preserve against all accidents and all assaults of the forces of destruction, those nobler creations of His for whose use and control the inferior things of earth were made and preserved? V. AGAINST THE “ GNAWING TOOTH” OF TIME. So far as the law of life has been developed, it is evident that mere lapse of time has no effect to destroy life, so long as circumstances are favourable to its continuation. Some Celtic tombs were discovered not very long since in France, which had been filled nearly two thousand years ago. Under the Lead of each corpse was found a tile, and under each tile a circular hole covered with cement, and containing a few seeds. These seeds were planted, “ they soon vegetated; and the heliotrope, the trefoil, and the cornflower were seen rising to life again, and expanding their flowers in the light of spring with admirable display, after their seeds had slept two thousand years beneath the pillows of the dead in the dust of the tomb.” Can we believe less of the power and willingness of God, with reference to the preservation through the onstretching centuries, of the bodies of men whom He made in His own image, and whom He rescued from destruction by the death of His well-beloved Son, who “ is risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept” ? VI. AGAINST . But, says a persistent objector, if all these things are true, why do we not have some evidence of it; why do we not find such occasionally appearing in the body? We know that there are plants in tropical countries called “ air plants,” which grow from the sustenance they receive out of the atmosphere. One species of these--the “ live-forever” plant,--grows in the temperate zone; and some of us may remember seeing these plants suspended from the beams of houses and flourishing there. Suppose a man who had never seen an oak grow, but who was told that an acorn contained the germ of an oak, should fasten that acorn by the side of his air plants to a beam of his house, or fasten ten, or twenty, or a hundred acorns there; and then, when he saw his air plants growing, and his acorns remaining dry and unsprouted, should declare to you that there was “ no such fact as that oaks would grow from acorns, or that, anyhow, those acorns would never produce oaks” ; what would be your reply? You would say to him, “ There is a law of germination and growth belonging to those acorns; and whenever you bring them into the position where that law is met, they will grow.” We are ignorant equally of the facts in what the identity or germ of a human dead body consists, and what conditions are necessary to bring it into active resurrection life; these are the affairs of the Author of existence. But we do know, that whatever it is that constitutes the identity of the dead body’ s existence, cannot and will not develop itself in a resurrection life power, until the great Keeper of man brings it into a position and condition where the laws of its development are fulfilled. (N. D. Williamson.) Isaiah 26:20-21 Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers A gracious invitation I. THE FORM OF THE , including in it the qualified subject. “ Come, My people.” God’ s own peculiar people, who have chosen God for their protection, and resigned up themselves sincerely to Him in the covenant, are the persons here invited, the same which He before called “ the righteous nation that kept the truth” (Isaiah 26:2). He means those that remained faithful to God in Babylon. The form of invitation is full of tender compassion. “ Come, My people.” Like a tender father who sees a storm coming upon his children in the fields, and takes them by the hand. II. THE INVITED TO. “ Enter thou into thy chambers.” The Divine attributes engaged in the promises and exercised or actuated in the providences of God--these are the sanctuaries of God’ s people in days of trouble. III. A NEEDFUL CAUTION far the securing of this privilege to ourselves in evil times. “ Shut thy doors about thee.” Care must be taken that no passage be left open for the devil to creep in after us, and drive us out of our refuge; for so it falls out too often with God’ s people when they are at rest in God’ s name or promises. Satan creeps in by unbelieving doubts and puzzling objections, and heats them out of their refuge back again into trouble. IV. Note with what OR MOTIVES they are pressed to betake themselves to this refuge. 1. A supposition of a storm coming. The indignation of God will fall like a tempest; this is supposed in the text, and plainly expressed in the words following. 2. Though His indignation fall like a storm, yet it will not continue long; better days and more comfortable dispensations will follow. (J. Flavel.)The righteous man’ s refuge Doctrine--That the attributes, promises, and providences of God are the chambers of rest and security in which His people are to hide themselves when they foresee the storms of His indignation coming upon the world. Propositions-- 1. That there times and seasons appointed by God for the pouring out of His indignation upon the world. 2. That God’ s own people are concerned in, and ought to be affected with, those judgments. 3. That God hath a special and particular care of His people in the days of His indignation. 4. That God usually premonishes the world, especially His own people, of His judgments before they befall them. 5. That God’ s attributes, promises, and providences are prepared for the security of His people, in the greatest distresses that befall them in the world. 6. That one but God’ s people are taken into those chambers of security, or can expect His special protection in evil times. For the right stating of this proposition, three things must be heedfully regarded-- (1) That all good men are not always exempted from the stroke of outward calamities. (2) That all wicked men are not always exposed to external miseries Ecclesiastes 7:15). (3) But none but the people of God have right, by promise, to His special protection in evil days; that all such shall either be preserved from the stroke of calamities, or from the deadly sting, namely, eternal ruin by them. (J. Flavel.)Chambers for God’ s people Let us view our chambers, and see how well God hath provided for His children in all the distresses that befall them in this world. I. The first chamber which comes to be opened as a refuge to distressed believers in a stormy day is the attribute of DIVINE POWER. 1. Consider the power of God in itself. Omnipotent, supreme, everlasting. 2. In the vast extent of its operations. You will find it working beyond the line (1) of creature power; (2) of creature expectation; (3) of human probability. 3. In its relation to the promises. If the power of God be the chamber, it is the promise of God which is that golden key that opens it. If we win consult the Scriptures, we shall find the almighty power of God made over to His people by promise, for many excellent ends and uses in the day of their trouble. 4. As it is continually opened by the hand of Providence, to receive and secure the people of God in all their dangers (2 Chronicles 16:9). II. The next chamber of Divine protection into which I shall lead you is, THE WISDOM OF GOD--the original, essential, perfect, only wisdom. The wisdom of God makes advantage out of your troubles. 1. In fortifying your souls and bodies with suitable strength when any eminent trial is intended for you (2 Corinthians 1:5). 2. The wisdom of God can, and often doth, make your very troubles and sufferings so many ordinances to strengthen your faith and fortify your patience. III. A third chamber of safety for the saints’ refuge is, THE OF GOD--His sincerity, firmness, and constancy in performing His word to His people in all times and cases. Let us behold with delight the faithfulness of God making good six sorts of promises to His people in the days of their affliction and trouble, namely, the promises of-- 1. Preservation. 2. Support. 3. Direction. 4. Provision. 5. Deliverance. 6. Ordering and directing the event to their advantage. IV. The faithfulness of God leads into a fourth much like unto it, namely, THE OF GOD. V. THE CARE OF GOD FOR HIS PEOPLE in times of trouble is the fifth chamber of rest. It is-- 1. A fatherly care. 2. An universal care, watching over all His people, in all ages, places, and dangers. 3. Assiduous and continual (Lamentations 3:22-23). 4. Exceeding tender (Isaiah 49:15). 5. Seasonable. VI. THE LOVE OF GOD is a resting place to believing souls. (J. Flavel.)Trust in God’ s protection induces calmness The heart of a good man should at all times be like the higher heavens, serene, tranquil, and clear, whatever thunders and lightnings, storms and tempests trouble and terrify the lower world. If a man have a good roof over his head, where he can sit dry and warm, what need he trouble himself to hear the winds roar, see the lightnings flash, and the rains pour down without doors? Why, this is thy privilege, Christian (Isaiah 32:2). (Chrysostom.)Religious retirement The retreat from the world which the Scripture recommends, is temporary and not total; it is advised, not indeed that we become disjoined from the world, but that we may be the fitter for intercourse with it. I. IS TO SELF-. It is only by a searching inquiry into the purity of his motives, and the tendencies of his actions, that the Christian can be enabled to discern and correct what in them has been amiss, and to “ walk worthily of the high vocation, whereunto he hath been called.” II. IS TO THE , AS IT ENABLES HIM TO RECOVER THAT TONS OF MIND SO TO HIS , which, in his unavoidable collision with the world, must necessarily have been disturbed, as well as to take off that tendency to evil which its presence always generates. As the health of the plant is affected by its soil, and the nature of the animal by the pasture on which he feeds and couches, so must the character of man catch a line from what is immediately about him, and his mind be tinged by the circumstances in which it lives and has its being. But in solitude we are in a world of our own, where we can to a great extent command our ideas and feelings. III. IS TO THE , AS AN FOR PRAYER. IV. IS FOR THE OF GOD. V. IS FOR THE OF THE AND LOVE OF HIM WHO HATH BROUGHT “ LIFE AND TO LIGHT, THROUGH THE GOSPEL.” VI. IS FOR THE OF YOUR ETERNAL DESTINY. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)The advantages of religious retirement Although man was made for action, he was also intended for contemplation. There is a time when solitude has a charm for the soul; when weary of the world, its follies and its cares, we love to be alone, and in silence to commune with our heart. Such a retirement, when devoted to pious purposes, is highly useful to man, and most acceptable to God. I. TAKES OFF THE WHICH THE OF EVIL EXAMPLE HAS A TO MAKE UPON THE MIND. II. THIS DEVOUT IS FOR FIXING PIOUS IN THE MIND AND OUR HABITS OF VIRTUE. III. BY MEANS OF THOU WILT BE BROUGHT TO THE OF THYSELF. Here wisdom begins. IV. AND WILL OPEN A SOURCE OF NEW AND BETTER THAN YOU MEET WITH IN THE WORLD. You will soon find that the world does not perform what it promises. The circle of earthly enjoyments is narrow, the career of sensual pleasure is soon run, and when the novelty is over, the charm is gone. But the wise man has treasures within himself. (J. Logan, F. R. S.)The hour of solitude The hour of solitude is the hour of meditation. He communes with his heart alone. He reviews the actions of his past life. He corrects what is amiss. He rejoices in what is right, and, wiser by experience, lays the plan of his future life. The great and the noble, the wise and the learned, the pious and the good, have been lovers of serious retirement. On this field the patriot forms his schemes, the philosopher pursues his discoveries, the saint improves himself in wisdom and goodness. Solitude is the hallowed ground which religion in every age has adopted as its own. There her sacred inspiration is felt, and her holy mysteries elevate the soul; there devotion lifts up the voice; there falls the tear of contrition; there the heart pours itself forth before Him who made, and Him who redeemed it. Apart from men, you live with nature, and converse with God. (J. Logan, F. R. S.)“ Enter thou into thy chambers” The entering rote the chambers may, not improbably, allude to the command that the children of Israel should not go out during the night of the destruction of the first born of Egypt. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Duty of reflection on God’ s judgments I. THE PEOPLE . “ My people.” 1. The Lord addresses, in these words, all, in general, who profess His name, and are named from Him; who receive His Word as the rule of their faith and practice; who attend His ordinances, and use the means of grace. 2. Therefore His true people are more especially meant in this passage. But who are these! They are described by St. Peter, who, having termed them “ a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people,” says, they “ are translated out of darkness into His marvellous light.” II. THE ADVANCE HE GIVES THEM. “ Come, My people.” Come to Me, and-- 1. Make confession. 2. Utter your complaint. 3. Exercise trust and dependence upon Me. 4. Praise Me for My long suffering and mercies, and devote thyself to Me afresh. “ Come with Me into thy chambers.” The word means retired, secret, and safe places. “ Let the storm which disperses others bring you nearer together, to Me and to each other” (Henry). Withdraw into the changers of defence. The attributes of God are the “ secret of His tabernacle” (Psalms 27:5). His name is “ a strong tower” (Proverbs 18:10). III. THE REASON OF THIS ADVICE (Isaiah 26:21). God “ comes out of His place” when He shows Himself in an extraordinary manner from heaven. The expression is borrowed from the usage of princes who come out of their palaces, either to sit in judgment, or to fight against their enemies. (J. Benson, D. D.)God’ s care for His people Suppose your child is out of doors, and you see danger--a storm gathering, or something about to cross his path that may be fatal to him, what do you do? You hasten forth. You call out with anxious voice, “ Come in! Come in, my child! There is danger where you are! Make haste into the house, and stay here safe until the storm is over past!” The great Father of the Church is not less watchful of His children. Look at Noah’ s case just before the flood broke forth. Look again at Israel’ s case on the night of the Passover. Behold, in my text, a third instance of the Lord’ s fatherly care over His people. It is an instance which extends even to ourselves. I. THE DANGER POINTED OUT. The words are applicable, in some measure, to every instance of almighty vengeance. But they seem to refer to some more sweeping act of vengeance than ever yet has taken place. It is the day of judgment that we must cast our eyes upon. It is then that, in the fullest sense, “ the Lord will come out of His place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.” An awful phrase that! “ The Lord will come out of His place.” For what is His place--the place He occupies at present? It is a mercy seat. He sits there as a Saviour--to receive and bless applying sinners. But on that day He “ will come out of His place.” He will leave the mercy seat for a throne of judgment. II. THE COUNSEL GIVEN. How tender this invitation! For such it is. Look at the first word of it. “ Come” --not” go. Not “ go and seek a shelter where you can” ; but “ Come.” “ Come” is an inviting word. “ Come, My people” ; that is a general invitation. “ Enter thou into thy chambers” ; that is an invitation addressed to each particularly, calling them in one by one. III. THE IMPLIED. “ Hide thyself,” etc. These words are a command so worded as to convey, at the same time, three comfortable promises 1. “ Hide thyself.” What is this but to assure them that by doing what He had just been telling them to do they shall be hid? We may safely view this as a promise of security to all who separate from the world and flee for refuge to a Saviour. 2. “ For a little moment.” Here is another comfortable hint thrown out for the believer. As soon as this short life is over with him, all danger shall be past. There will be nothing more to hide from. He will have a broad Heaven to move about in, where there are no enemies to fear, no wrath to apprehend. 3. “ The indignation shall be over past” --there is the third encouraging assurance. The clouds will be dispersed forever; and, having put all enemies under His feet, He will bless all those that are about Him with His constant smile. (A. Roberts, M. A.)Good advice for troublous times I. BEFORE OR IN TIMES OF TROUBLE IT IS WELL TO DRAW NEAR TO GOD. As the hen gives her peculiar “ cluck” when the hawk is in the air, to bid her chicks come and hide under her wings, so does God here give a gentle, loving note of alarm, and a gracious call of invitation. We should come-- 1. To spread our case before God. 2. To consider His mind about such a case. 3. To make sure of the greatest matters. The world may come and take away many of our external and temporary comforts, but we have a treasure that it never gave us, and cannot take away from us. 4. Having made sure of the great things, you may leave all the little things with God. II. IT IS WISE TO ENTER INTO THE OF WHICH GOD HAS FOR US. 1. The store chamber of Divine power. 2. The council chamber of Divine wisdom. 3. The drawing room of Divine love. 4. The muniment room of Divine faithfulness. 5. The strong room of Divine immutability. 6. The best chamber of Divine salvation. III. WHEN WE ENTER THOSE IT IS TO SHUT THE DOOR. 1. To shut out all doubt. 2. To shut ourselves in with God. IV. IT IS TO THINK THAT TROUBLE WILL NOT LAST LONG. “ A little moment.” (C. H. Spurgeon) Isaiah 26:21 For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place Associations in judgment 1. Few circumstances of our life are more mysterious and few more important than the influence of associations. 2. The language suggests a subtle sympathy between the earth and the earth born; the earth, it is suggested, has been the reluctant witness of human guilt: within her bosom she holds the memorials of human crime, and in due course, when her Creator summons her to His bar, she will confess her fatal secrets. 3. This notion of the repugnance of nature to human crime underlies the constant association of physical portents and disturbances with exceptional crimes. They strain the tolerance of nature to breaking point; she proclaims her horror. This involuntary association emerges in the record of the Redeemer’ s Passion. “ The darkest hour that ever dawned on sinful earth” was dark naturally, as well as morally. 4. There is something higher than rhetoric, something deeper than poetry, in the prophetic habit of bringing into their moral witness appeals, earnest to the point of passion, to the familiar features of the country. The patriot’ s affection is blended with the mystic’ s sympathy and the seer’ s insight Micah 6:1-2; Jeremiah 22:29; Joshua 24:26-27). 5. I have said that there is more in all this than rhetoric and poetry, and my justification lies in the power over men of associations, their origin in human volition, and the witness they are able to bear to men’ s character and experience. The dramatic language of the prophet conveys, and perhaps, to modern ears, conceals, a truth which we can ill afford to forget. We may express it in this way. Every man is at once the author and the victim of the associations with which he invests material things; so that, if we could know what associations these possess for him, what thoughts they set in motion in his mind, what coercion they exercise upon his will, what appeals they address to his affections, we should be well informed as to his past life, and his present character. In truth, we may judge ourselves, we ought to judge ourselves, by habitual associations. What is the moral furniture of our earthly environment! Be sure it is the faithful reflection of ourselves. “ To the pure,” says St. Paul, “ all things are pure: but to them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.” The prophet suggests that associations will appear as accusing witnesses in the day of the Lord. Here they are written in cipher, and each man keeps his own key; but then the cipher shall be open and manifest. The origin of associations will be confessed. “ The earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” Before us an lies exposure, inexorable and complete. 6. Associations so potent, so relentless, so minatory in their suggestiveness, may be redeemed, cleansed, transformed. The scenes we desecrated with our sins may be purged by our penitence, and reconsecrated by our sacrifice. History records the reclaiming of associations, the transmutation of the symbols and scenes of evil into the very beacons and homes of goodness. But do not underrate the cost of this great conversion. It is no light task to strip off one set of associations and to invest with another. Yet one final stage. Memories of evil may themselves become transmuted into allies of goodness. Christian history is full of this paradox. The protagonists of virtue are, not the flawless saints, but the great penitents. There are who find in their abandoned sins perpetual incitements to service, as she of whom He said, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” (H. H. Henson, B. D.)The earth disclosing her blood In a characteristic passage Lord Macaulay has described the impression made on observers by the rank growth of scarlet poppies on the battlefield of Landen. “ During many months the ground was strewn with skulls and bones of men and horses, and with fragments of hats and shoes, saddles and holsters. The next summer the soil, fertilised by twenty thousand corpses, broke forth into millions of poppies. The traveller who, on the road from St. Tron to Tirlemont, saw that vast sheet of rich scarlet spreading from Landen to Neerwinden, could hardly help fancying that the figurative prediction of the Hebrew prophet was literally accomplished, that the earth was disclosing her blood, and refusing to cover the slain.” (C. H. Spurgeon). Isaiah 27:1 The Lord . . . Shall punish leviathan The Church has formidable enemies The Church has many enemies, but commonly someone that is more formidable than the rest. So Sennacherib was in his day, and Nebuchadnezzar in his, and Antiochus in his. So Pharaoh had been formerly; and he is called “ leviathan,” and the “ dragon” (Psalms 74:14; Isaiah 51:9; Ezekiel 29:3). And the New Testament Church has had its leviathans; we read of a “ great red dragon, ready to devour it” (Revelation 12:3). Those malignant, persecuting powers are here compared to the leviathan in bulk and strength, and the mighty bustle they make in the world; to dragons, for their rage and fury; to serpents, piercing serpents, penetrating in their counsels, quick in their motions, that if they once get in their head, will soon wind in their whole body; “ crossing like a bar,” so the margin, standing in the way of all their neighbours and obstructing them; to crooked serpents, subtle sad insinuating, but perverse and mischievous. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 27:2-3A vineyard of red wine The Church a vineyard of red wine The Church of God is here compared to a vineyard. The vine is a tender plant, needing continual care; and if the vineyard is not well fenced and guarded, the enemies of the vine are sure to get in and destroy it. The Church is called “ a vineyard of red wine,” because the red grape happened to be the best kind grown in Palestine; and, in like manner, God’ s Church is to Him the best of the best, the excellent of the earth, in whom is all His delight. But what is true of the whole Church is also true of every member; the same God who keeps the vineyard also protects every vine, nay, not only so, but His care extends to every little branch, to every-spreading leaf, and to every clinging tendril of that vine which He undertakes to keep night and day. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The vineyard of red wine In what day? The day of threatening and punishment of the wicked. The Church needs encouragement amid danger and darkness. And God gives it when required. I. WHAT SHE IS. A vineyard of red wine. A common figure of the Church. It is to intimate-- 1. That members are separate from the world and enclosed around. 2. That they are cultivated and eared for. They differ from the world as flowers from weeds, a garden from a wilderness. 3. That they are owned. Believers are God’ s people, His chosen inheritance, His private property. 4. That they are profitable. A vineyard yields fruit, and so adds to the advantage of its owner. It is a vineyard of “ red wine.” A vineyard from which is extracted the richest juice. Everything of God’ s doing is not only perfect, but superior. Everything with which He supplies His people is the best. “ Their peace passeth understanding.” Their joy is “ full of glory.” II. WHAT SHE IS TO POSSESS. “ I, the Lord, do keep it,” etc. Here is-- 1. Guardianship. The Keeper gives His whole attention to Its protection. How wise a guardian is God! “ Lest any hurt it.” His whole army of angels act as a guard with their flaming swords. 2. Provisions. “ I will water it.” The act of watering means all the necessary provision required for the nourishment of the vines and the production of fruit. The Holy Spirit is likened to the water of life, which Christ has promised to give freely to all who ask Him. There are also His ordinances and sacraments. 3. Vigilance. “ Keep it constantly” --night and day. The great God slumbers not nor sleeps. His eye is ever on His people. No foe can elude His guardianship. (Homilist.)The Church as God’ s vineyard What a contrast between the vineyard here spoken of and that whose history was given in the fifth chapter of this prophet. That was a favoured vineyard. Everything was done for it to promote its fruitfulness; but what sort of fruit did it produce? “ God looked that it should bring forth grapes: and it brought forth wild grapes.” What happened then? His indignation fell upon it. By that unfruitful vineyard was represented the Jewish people. But now turn and behold the other vineyard - that which is brought before us by my text. This vineyard is the real,spiritual Church of the Redeemer. I. THE GIVEN OF THIS . The spiritual Church of Jesus is “ a vineyard of red wine.” 1. By this “ red wine” may be intended, perhaps in part, the faith of Christ’ s elect people. “ Red wine” was in great esteem amongst ancient Jews, as appears in Proverbs 23:31. 2. The Lord may call His Church “ a vineyard of red wine,” in reference to the love she bears to Him. 3. Christ’ s Church is a “ vineyard of red wine,” because she “ abounds in all the fruits of righteousness.” II. THE WHICH IT IS AS . The vineyards of the Jews were carefully kept and cultivated. The vines in the country of the Jews appear to have needed constant watering. The Lord’ s spiritual vineyard needs perpetual watering from above. These natural vineyards in which the Jewish land abounded required, however, something more than cultivation. A chief part of the duty of the “ keepers of the vineyard” was to protect the vines from depredation. And is the spiritual vineyard less exposed? (A. Roberts, M. A.)God’ s care for His vineyard a subject for song To them who are ready to conclude that God hath forgotten to be gracious these words may prove a source of encouragement. They-- I. THE PEOPLE OF GOD AS A . As God values His vineyard for the same reasons that men value their vineyards (because of its fruit), it behoves us to inquire what sort of fruit it is which makes His vineyard valuable to Him. All the asperities of disposition and all the want of spiritual excellence, which we may suppose are designed by wild grapes, must give place to “ whatsoever things are true; whatsoever things are honest; whatsoever things are just; whatsoever things are pure; whatsoever things are lovely, and whatsoever things are of good report.” “ Love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,” must adorn and beautify your character. II. GOD’ S CARE FOR HIS . The care of God for His vineyard is manifested in two ways: by His unceasing attention to the culture and growth of these heavenly fruits, and by His unremitting vigilance in preserving it. The soil is not congenial with a plant of heavenly origin. For the heart of man is hard and unfruitful. The clime of this world is cold and variable: the atmosphere tainted with sin; and every wind of passion blights and withers the vine. If the sun of persecution and trouble smites it too often it is scorched. He, therefore, who has planted it for His own glory, and who is always glorified when it brings forth much fruit, watches over it, tends it with solicitude. There is not one moment when you who love and serve God cease to be the objects of His care, and of His renovating influence. III. A SUBJECT FOR SONG. This song implies, that the people of God have the knowledge and enjoyment of His care and protection. It is not the will of God that you who have repented, and are doing works meet for repentance; who have believed in Christ, and have a faith which worketh by love, should continue in doubt and uncertainty respecting your state. As the song should be appropriate to the occasion and suitable to the subject, the song which we are to sing is-- 1. A song of adoring admiration. 2. Of joyful gratitude. 3. Of holy confidence. 4. Of deep humility. You are called upon to be humble because you have nothing that you have not received, but also because, after having received so much, and after being laid under obligations so many and so distinguishing, you make returns so inadequate and so unsuitable. (M. Jackson.) Isaiah 27:3I, the Lord, do keep it The Lord the Keeper of His people There is nothing to which we are naturally more prone, nothing more dangerous, nothing so difficult to eradicate as self-confidence. And yet there is nothing so delightful as to feel that we have not anything in ourselves in which we can be confident. For the moment we have arrived at that experience we are prepared to turn to Him without whom we can do nothing.” I. IN WHAT SENSE THE LORD IS THE KEEPER OF HIS PEOPLE. 1. In one sense the Lord is the keeper of all; for “ in Him all live, and move, and have their being.” And the Apostle Paul (1 Timothy 4:10) speaks of Him as “ the Saviour, or preserver, of all men, specially of those that believe.” 2. He speaks of keeping them as a city from an enemy. 3. He speaks again of keeping them as a vineyard from foxes. In Son 2:15 we read, “ Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” Those things which may appear gentle and innocent have a tendency to undermine the work of indwelling grace. 4. Again, the Lord speaks of keeping His people as the apple of His eye. 5. I might speak again of the fires of persecution, through which His people are called to pass. For here again the Lord is the Keeper of His people. 6. He not only defends and preserves His people, but He keeps them refreshed in seasons of drought by continual and plentiful supplies of mercy and grace. So in the text He says, “ I will water it every moment?” II. WHEN IS IT THAT HE KEEPS THEM? “ By day and by night.” He watches over them continually, in the bright day of prosperity and in the dark night of adversity. III. HOW IS IT THAT THE LORD KEEPS HIS PEOPLE? 1. By His angels (Hebrews 1:14). 2. By His ministers; by their warning voice in public; or by that advice and reproof, and instruction which they give in private. 3. By His providential dispensations. 4. By His own omnipotent arm. His people are “ kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” IV. WHAT WARRANT WE HAVE AS HIS PEOPLE TO EXPECT THAT THE LORD WILL BE OUR KEEPER. 1. The first plain proof of this is, that as His people we are not our own, but given to Christ. 2. Coupled with this, we may consider the faithfulness of Jesus (2 Thessalonians 3:3). 3. Connect with this, the consideration of the love of Jesus for His people. 4. Indeed, we have as believers the warrant of the Triune Jehovah for believing that the Lord will be our keeper. Bear in mind that, until the time when knowledge shall be increased, and faith and hope end in sight and enjoyment, we shall never be aware of the full extent of our obligations to Him as the Keeper of His people. Yet, while we thankfully lay hold of the comfort which this truth is calculated to give, let us remember that our own responsibility is not overthrown. On the contrary, it is increased. For though encouraged to trust in the Lord as our keeper, there is no excuse for neglect of duty on account of our own weakness; but rather encouragement to say with the apostle, “ I can do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth me.” (M. Villiers M. A.)God’ s care of His vineyard God takes care-- I. Of the SAFETY of this vineyard. “ I, the Lord, do keep it.” II. Of the of this vineyard. “ I will water it every moment,” and yet it shall not be over watered. (M. Henry.)The keeper of the vineyard I. THE KEEPING which the Lord promises to His vineyard. 1. Do I need keeping? 2. Can I not keep myself? 3. Do I enjoy this keeping? II. THE LORD’ S . 1. Do I need watering within as well as keeping without? Yes, for there is not a single grace I have that can live an hour without being divinely watered. Besides, the soil in which I am planted is very dry. Then, the atmosphere that is round about us does not naturally yield us any water. The means of grace, which are like clouds hovering over our heads, are often nothing but clouds. The beauty of the text seems to me to lie in the last two words: “ I will water it every moment.” 2. Have we all realised, as a matter of experience, that the Lord does water us every moment? (C. H. Spurgeon.)Kept and watered God is both a wall and a well to His people. (C. H.Spurgeon)God’ s vine needs keeping 1. There is the arch enemy; how he longs to lay the axe at the roots of God’ s vines! 2. There is a wild boar of the woods, that would fain tear us up by the roots; I mean, that wild boar of unbelief that is constantly prowling around us. How does it seek with its sharp tusks to bark our vines and fig trees! 3. Then, the vine is often subject to injury from various kinds of insects. We have the fly of pride. 4. Then, the vine is subject to the attacks of the little foxes that Solomon speaks of,--I mean, false doctrine and sceptical teaching. 5. Besides, when we have a few grapes that are beginning to ripen there are the birds that come and try to pick the fruit,--those dark-winged thoughts of worldliness and selfishness which come to us all. (C. H. Spurgeon)God the Keeper of His vineyard A vineyard will engross the whole of a man’ s time--perhaps the time of many men. The nourishing of the soil, the pruning of the branches, the syringing of the leaves, the thinning of the grapes, the support of the heavy clusters--all demand constant and assiduous care. There is a tendency in all cultivated things to go back to their original type. However it may be made to agree with the modern ideas of development and evolution, it is nevertheless a fact that the fairest results of human skill are not in themselves permanent; but tend ever backward to the rudest and simplest forms of their species--the apple tree to the crab, the vine of Sorek to the wild vine of the hills. Therefore the keeper of the vineyard is ever engaged in fighting every tendency towards deterioration with unwavering patience. With similar care, but with much more tenderness, God is ever watching over us. With eager eyes He marks the slightest sign of deterioration--a hardening conscience; a deadening spirituality; a waning love. Any symptom of this sort fills Him with--if I may use the words--keen anxiety; and His gentle but skilful hand is at once at work to arrest the evil, restore the soul, and force it onward to new accessions of that Divine life which is our only true bliss and rest. Let us not carry the responsibility of our nurture. It is too much for us. Better far is it to devolve the care of our keeping on our faithful Creator. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)God the great Preserver It is not with God as it is with carpenters and shipwrights, who make houses for other men to dwell in, vessels for others to sail in, and therefore after they are made look after them no more; God, who made all things for Himself, looks after the preservation of all. (John Arrowsmith, D. D.)God’ s solicitude for His people The tear water, constantly flowing over our eyes, removes the grit and dust that alight on them, impairing our power of vision. The eager mother shields her children from any polluting words or influences that might approach them from child companion or school fellow. The physician is eagerly solicitous that no germ of disease should enter an open wound, and lays his instruments in carbolic that they may carry no spore on their keen edge. And may we not count even more certainly on Him who says, “ I, the Lord, do keep it,” etc. (Christian Endeavour.)I will water it every momentA refreshing promise In warm climates irrigation is essential to fertility; hence travellers see on all sides pools and watercourses, wheels and cisterns, and channels for the water to flow in. I. There is a great for the watering promised in the text. 1. This we might conclude from the promise itself, since there is not one superfluous word of promise in the whole Scriptures, but it becomes more evident when we reflect that all creature life is dependent upon the perpetual outgoing of Divine power. 2. Moreover, the truth is specially certain as touching the believer, for a multitude of agencies are at work to dry up the moisture of his soul. 3. Neither have we any other source of supply but the living God. “ All my springs are in Thee.” 4. Our need of Divine watering is clearly seen when we consider what drought, and barrenness, and death would come upon us if His hand were withdrawn. Without watering every moment the most faithful among us would be cast forth, and be only fit for the fire; every prophet would become a Balaam, every apostle a Judas, every disciple a Demas. II. THE MANNER in which the Lord promises to water His people--“ I will water it every moment.” 1. Our first thought is excited by the perpetual act--“ every moment.” Mercy knows no pause. Grace has no canonical hours, or rather all hours are alike canonical: yea, and all moments too. 2. The Lord’ s watering is a renewed act. He does not water us once in great abundance, and then leave us to live upon what He has already poured out. 3. A personal act. “ I will water it.” III. THE that the Lord will water every plant that His own right hand hath planted. Here a vast number of arguments suggest themselves, but we wilt content ourselves with the one ground of confidence which is found in the Lord Himself and His previous deeds of love. Our souls need supplies so great as to drain rivers of grace, but the all-sufficient God is able to meet the largest demands of the innumerable company of His people, and He will meet them to His own honour and glory forever. Here, then, we see His truth, His power, and His all-sufficiency pledged to provide for His chosen, and we may be sure that the guarantee will stand. If we needed further confirmation we might well remember that the Lord has already watered His vineyard in a far more costly manner than it win ever need again. The Lord Jesus has watered it with a sweat of blood, and can it be supposed that He will leave it now? Hitherto the sacred promise has been fully kept, for we have been graciously preserved in spiritual life. Droughty times have befallen us, and yet our soul has not been suffered to famish; why, then, should we question the goodness of the Lord as to years to come! One thing is never to be forgotten--we are the Lord’ s. Therefore, if He do not water us, He will Himself be the loser. An owner of vine lands, if he should suffer them to be parched with the drought, would derive nothing from his estate; the vineyard would be dried up, but he himself would receive no clusters. With reverence be it spoken, our Lord Himself will never see of the travail of His soul in untended vines, nor in hearts unsanctified, nor in men whose graces droop and die for want of Divine refreshings. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 27:4-5 Fury is not in Me.--Of all the senses put upon this difficult verse there are only two which can be looked upon as natural or probable. The first may be paraphrased as follows:--It is not because I am cruel or revengeful that I thus afflict My people, but because she is a vineyard overrun with thorns or briars, on account of which I must pass through her and consume her (i.e., burn them out of her). The other is this: I am no longer angry with My people; oh, that their enemies (as thorns and briars) would array themselves against Me, that I might rush upon them and consume them. (J. A. Alexander.)Liberty and discipline I. A BLESSED ABSENCE IN THE NATURE OF GOD. “ Fury is not in Me.” Fury seems to be uncontrolled and uncontrollable anger. A vessel in a storm, with its rudder gone or its screw broken, is passive in the power of winds and waves. A lion, who for hours has been disappointed of his prey, is passive under the dominion of his hunger. In both cases no influence, internal or external, is able to resist the onward course. And when a man is so in the hand of anger that no consideration from within or intercession from without can mollify him, when he is passive in its power, he is in a state of fury. But no such estate is possible to our God. His anger is always under control, and we have plentiful evidence that, in the height of His displeasure, He is accessible to intercession on behalf of His creatures. Nevertheless-- II. THIS BLESSED ABSENCE IN THE NATURE OF GOD IS WITH WITH THE . “ Who would set the briars and thorns against Me in battle?” etc. Imagine a father and son at variance, the father being in the right and the son in the wrong, There are two ways of reconciliation: either the son must comply with the conditions of the father, or the father must lower his standard to the level of the son. But what a wrong would the father do to himself, his family, and society if he were to adopt this course. He ought not, will not. If the son resolves to fight it out, reconciliation is impossible. This is the relative position of God and the ungodly man. God declares His conditions, “ Let the wicked forsake his way,” etc. Consider what is involved in the conditions of the ungodly. Nothing less than the inversion of the whole moral law. God says, “ I am Jehovah, I change not.” It is a blessed impossibility. But the unrepentant man ought, can, must! If not, the fire of goodness must be set against the briars of wickedness, a contest as hopeless, and of which the issue is as certain, as that of the devouring flame with briars and thorns. III. THE ABSENCE OF FURY IN GOD LEADS HIM TO PREFER PARDON TO , AND TO PROVIDE MEANS FOR THE FORMER. “ Let him take hold of My strength,” etc. Men, churches, and nations are lovers of peace in proportion as they are righteous (Psalms 72:3). The preference of God for peace depends upon the very attribute of which the ungodly would rob Him--namely, His righteousness. What is God’ s strength? How take hold of it? When a man falls overboard at sea, the appointed means of rescue is the life belt which is thrown to him. Seizing that, he takes hold of the strength of the vessel to save him. When the man slayer, fleeing from the avenger of blood, entered the city of refuge, he took hold of God’ s appointed means of shelter. God’ s strength is His pardoning prerogative, exercised to us through Christ, the “ arm,” or “ strength,” of the Lord. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)Fury not in God I. FURY IS NOT IN GOD. But how can this be? Is not fury one manifestation of His essential attributes--do we not repeatedly read of His fury--of Jerusalem being full of the fury of the Lord--of God casting the fury of His wrath upon the world--of Him rendering His anger upon His enemies with fury--of Him accomplishing his fury upon Zion--of Him causing His fury to rest on the bloody and devoted city? We are not, therefore, to think that fury is banished altogether from God’ s administration. There are times and occasions when this fury is discharged upon the objects of it; and there must be other times and occasions when there is no fury in Him. Now, what is the occasion upon which He disclaims all fury in our text? He is inviting men to reconciliation; and He is assuring them that if they will only take hold of His strength they shall make peace with Him. Fury will be discharged on those who reject the invitation. But we cannot say that there is any exercise of fury in God at the time of giving the invitation. There is the most visible and direct contrary. This very process was all gone through at and before the destruction of Jerusalem. It rejected the warnings and invitations of the Saviour, and at length experienced His fury. But there was no fury at the time of His giving the invitations. The tone of our Saviour’ s voice when He uttered, “ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” was not the tone of a vindictive and irritated fury. There was compassion in it--a warning and pleading earnestness that they would mind the things which belong to their peace. Let us make the application to ourselves. II. GOD IS NOT WANTING TO GLORIFY HIMSELF BY THE DEATH OF SINNERS. When God says, “ Who would set the thorns and the briars against Me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together,” He speaks of the ease wherewith He could accomplish His wrath upon His enemies. They would perish before Him like the moth. Why set up, then, a contest so unequal as this? God is saying in the text that this is not what He is wanting. In the language of the next verse, He would rather that this enemy of His, not yet at peace with Him, and who may therefore be likened to a briar or a thorn, should take hold of His strength, that He may make peace with Him--and as the fruit of his so doing, He shall make peace with Him. Now tell me if this do not open up a most wonderful and a most inviting view of God? It is the real attitude in which He puts Himself forth to us in the gospel of His Son. What remains for you to do? God is willing to save you: are you willing to be saved? III. THE . “ Or let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.” “ Or” here is the same with “ rather.” Rather than that what is spoken of in the fourth verse should fall upon you. We have not far to seek for what is meant by this strength, for Isaiah himself speaks (Isaiah 33:6) of the strength of salvation. 1. We read of a mighty strength that had to be put forth in the work of a sinner’ s justification. Just in proportion to the weight and magnitude of the obstacle was the greatness of that strength which the Saviour put forth in the mighty work of moving it away. A way of redemption has been found out in the unsearchable riches of Divine wisdom, and Christ is called the wisdom of God. But the same Christ is also called the power of God. 2. But there is also a strength put forth in the work of man’ s regeneration. 3. When you apply to a friend for some service, some relief from distress or difficulty, you may be said to lay hold of him; and when you place firm reliance both on his ability and willingness to do the service, you may well say that your hold is upon your friend--an expression which becomes all the more appropriate should he promise to do the needful good office, in which case your hold is not upon his power only, but upon his faithfulness. And it is even so with the promises of God in Christ Jesus--you have both a power and a promise to take hold of. (T. Chalmers, D. D.) Isaiah 27:5 Let him take hold of My strength Taking hold of the Divine strength I. THE . “ Let him take hold of My strength.” This becomes an imperative duty--a duty universal in its application. II. THE REASON of this invitation--“ that he may make peace with Me.” 1. Observe how very unselfish it is, if we may so call it with reverence, on the part of God. It is not that He Himself may be benefited, but that the sinner might. 2. Consider, too, the cogency of this reason, resting as it does in that which all men most need, and most of us long for--“ peace.” 3. Regard also the sublimity of this reason--peace with “ God.” III. THE , or the certainty of the promise. “ And he shall make peace with Me.” Nothing shall prevent it. Comply with the conditions, and then all is certain. Even the greatest enemies to God among men are permitted to make peace with Him. (W. Horwood.)Man, seizing the strength of Omnipotence Some substitute the word “ protection” for “ strength” here, and suppose the words refer to the horns of the altar which fugitives often laid hold of as an asylum. But the refuge of safety for any moral intelligence is nothing without God’ s strength. For an insignificant creature like man to lay hold upon the strength of Omnipotence seems at first not only an absurd, but a blasphemous thought, and yet the thought is not without support in the Word of God. What meaneth the expression, “ Let Me alone, Moses,” etc.? I. It is for man to lay hold on the strength of Omnipotence. In what does the real strength of a moral intelligence consist? Not in material bulk or muscle, if he has them; but in the leading disposition of his heart. This is the soul of strength, the sap in the oak, the steam in the engine, the vis in the muscle. He that can take hold of this in a man takes hold of his strength. Vanity is the leading disposition in some men; and if you would take hold of their strength you must flatter them. By adulation you will grasp them body and soul. Greed is the leading disposition in others. Avarice controls them, works their thoughts, and concentrates their energies. Minister to this greed and you will take hold of their strength, you will have them in your hands. Philanthropy is, thank God, the leading disposition of others. Present to them the claims of down-trodden slaves, of broken-hearted widows and starving orphans, and you will take hold of their strength. Now, the leading disposition of God, if I may so say, is benevolence. He not only loves, but is love. He, therefore, who appeals to His compassion takes hold of His strength. See how Omnipotence halted as Abraham prayed. See how in Christ it stood still on the road when two blind beggars said, “ Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy upon me.” Thus let the poor sinner go stricken in penitence and appeal in all his misery to the Great Father, and he will take hold of His strength. II. It is for man to lay hold on the strength of Omnipotence. The only hope of sinful, dying man is to appeal to God’ s compassion. “ If My people which are called by My name shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin.” “ Ye shall seek Me and find Me when ye search for Me with all your heart.” Elijah prayed, and God unsealed the heavens for him. Stephen prayed, and the Father drew the curtains of the invisible world and revealed to him the Son of God in all His glory. (Homilist.)Seizing the strength of the Almighty How can a man take hold on the strength of God? The following facts may give meaning to the phrase. I. The pleading of the PROMISE OF ONE WHO IS will take hold of his strength. If a man of incorruptible truthfulness were to make me a promise, and I pleaded the fulfilment of that promise, should I not, in a very emphatic sense, “ take hold of his strength” in pleading it before him? I should seize not his mere limbs or any particular faculty, but himself, his inflexible sense of truthfulness. II. The pleading of a RIGHT CLAIM TO ONE WHO IS will take hold of his strength. If you have a righteous claim upon a righteous man you lay hold of him by urging it. You do not want law with such a man to enforce your obligation. He yields it by the necessity of his nature. There are claims which all moral beings who are commanded to love God with their hearts, souls, and strength have upon Him. III. The pleading of MISERY TO ONE THAT IS LOVING will take hold of his strength. Thus the cry of a babe will take hold of the strength of a father, though he be the commander of armies, or the monarch of mighty peoples. By suffering and sorrow you can take hold of the most noble men on earth, and the most noble are the most loving. (Homilist.)Strength taken hold of Coriolanus was a mighty man. He is thus described by Shakespeare: “ The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes. When he walks he moves like an engine, and the ground shrinks before his treading. He is able to pierce a corset with his eye, talks like a knell, and his hum is a battery. He sits in his state as a thing made for Alexander. What he bids be done is finished with his bidding. He wants nothing of a god but eternity, and a heaven to throne in.” And yet his mother and wife, by appealing to the love in his nature, took hold of his strength; and hence we hear him exclaim, “ Ladies, you deserve to have a temple built you. All the swords in Italy and her confederate arms could not have made this peace.” (Homilist.) Isaiah 27:6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root The future prosperity of the Church the effects of Divine influence I. IN RESPECT OF NUMBER. Under the ancient dispensation, the spiritual Israel were comparatively few. But at the commencement of the Christian dispensation the wall of partition was broken down, and the boundaries of the Church were greatly enlarged. II. IN RESPECT OF VIGOUR. Others remain in a state of spiritual death. But concerning them “ that come of Jacob,” it is here asserted that they shall take root. III. IN RESPECT OF BEAUTY. Christ Himself, “ the branch of the Lord, is beautiful and glorious” (Isaiah 4:2); and believers in Christ are made comely through His comeliness put upon them (Ezekiel 16:14). IV. IN RESPECT OF . Believers are denominated in Scripture, “ trees of righteousness,” to intimate that they should “ bring forth fruit unto God.” They abound “ in every good word and work.” V. IN RESPECT OF JOY. It is when the dews of heaven “ drop upon the pastures of the wilderness” that it is said, “ the little hills rejoice on every side.” The abundant joy of New Testament times, especially of the times referred to in the passage before us, is often spoken of in Scripture. VI. IN RESPECT OF . It is here promised that the Lord “ shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root” The vicissitudes which take place in human affairs teach us the vanity of the world, and the perishing nature of all that seems most durable in this region of shadows. The Church of God, however, has been like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved. VII. IN RESPECT OF EXTENT. (R. Jack.) Isaiah 27:8 He stayeth His rough wind in the day of the east wind The rough wind stayed Here we are taught two things: that God permits calamities to come upon man, but that He restrains them in moderation for some wise and merciful design. It would by no means be difficult to trace out historic parallels illustrative of this truth, both in the history of nations and the annals of the Church. But the words of the text seem capable of a closer application to ourselves and the various calamities which so often overtake us. In Judea the east wind was extremely violent and destructive; allusions to which are not unfrequent in the sacred writings Job 27:21; Jeremiah 18:17). How many a one has struggled through years of difficulty, buoyed up with the warm hope of gaining some desired object; and just as his hopes are brightening, and the bow is expanding with promises of realisation, the east wind comes and shrouds the whole in darkness. The met wind has blighted your hopes and your joys, but the rough wind has been restrained. 1. Your trials, though great, have not been inflicted with intolerable severity; they have been dealt out to you with moderation for some wise and gracious design. 2. The moderation of our trials will appear, if we compare them with what is endured by others. What are our utmost trials in these highly favoured days compared with those of the early saints? What are our trials compared with those endured by “ the noble army of martyrs” ? And what are our trials compared with many of our brethren in the present day, who endure suffering and privation, and even death, in their intense love for souls, seeking to advance the Redeemer’ s kingdom? 3. The moderation of our trials will further appear if we contrast them with what we have deserved. (W. J. Brock, B. A.)Compensations God determines very exactly the measure of our tribulation, ever mingling mercy with judgment, and permitting trial no further than our moral perfecting requires. He sometimes sifts by a violent wind; but He only sifts, He does not mar and destroy. I. LIFE AT LARGE furnishes us with an illustration of the text. Through human sin the whole world has been filled with disorder and suffering. Wherever we look--whether in nature or the race--we witness scenes of confusion and misery. God did not threaten us in vain; the power of His displeasure has been bitterly felt throughout the whole creation. Yet are we sure that judgment has not come upon us to the uttermost. The world is dark enough to justify a very sad philosophy, and yet the regulations restrictive of evil, the restorative forces, the system of compensations, the wide spaces for positive pleasure which we find in nature and human life, show the world to be far from a condition of unmixed and hopeless evil. The fact is, the central truth of revelation, the redemption of the world by the Son of God, tells at every point. II. GOD’ S WITH HIS illustrate abundantly the same law of mercy. It is essential to the unlearning of our errors, and the perfecting of our spirit in holiness, that we should be familiar with tribulation; but it is deeply interesting to observe the various methods by which God reduces the whirlwind to a winnowing breeze. 1. Sometimes this is effected by educating us against the day of adversity. Most likely we are totally unaware of the process; it is only when we have passed through the ordeal that the discipline of years stands revealed. Then we perceive why our mind has been specially directed to given truths; why we have been led in prayer to seek special gifts and graces; why we have formed certain friendships and associations. 2. On other occasions the force of disaster is broken by the graduation of trial Is not this exemplified in the instance of Job? Successive messengers bring to the patriarch their sad tidings, but the crowning woe comes last. The same order has been observed in the sufferings of the Primitive Church. “ So when they had further threatened them, they let them go” Acts 4:21). “ And laid their hands on the Apostles, and put them in the common prison” (Acts 5:18). “ When they had called the apostles and beaten them” (Acts 5:40). “ And they stoned Stephen” (Acts 7:59). Menaces prepared them for captivity; fetters inured them for the scourge; the scourge ascertained their royalty, and left them strong enough to claim the martyr’ s diadem. 3. Again, tribulation is often relieved by counterbalancing advantages. Be sure, where there is a “ but” against us there are, as in the case of Naaman, several grand “ buts” for us, and it will be most to our good to ponder these. In nature we constantly see this compensatory action--see the rod of God, like that of Aaron, breaking into flowers. Losing eyesight, our other faculties forthwith acquire preternatural acuteness. 4. In that law of sympathy which prevails throughout society we see once again the sword of judgment crossed by mercy’ s sceptre. The sick and suffering are objects of special sympathy and succour. Macaulay writes of John Bunyan: “ He had several small children, and among them a daughter who was blind, and whom he loved with peculiar tenderness. He could not, he said, bear even to let the wind blow on her.” III. IN GOD’ S KINGDOM AND we find our last illustration of the inspiring truth we seek to inculcate. In the kingdom of grace are special equivalents for life’ s losses, special inspirations for the passage of flood and flame. In dark periods we acquire a special interest in the Word of God. Times of adversity bring out multitudes of precious promises, as night brings out the stars. And not only so, but in the bitter conflicts of life we gain a fuller, clearer vision of truth in general, and realise its peculiar preciousness. This fuller, richer apprehension of the mind and purpose of God imbues us with new, strange qualities, and the fire forgets its power to burn. In dark periods we also receive special measures of the grace of God. We must ever gratefully acknowledge the mercy which ameliorates the world about us and makes its conditions gentler; but we must hold firmly the truth that the rough wind is stayed in the day of His east wind, chiefly through the sanctification and exaltation of the human mind in Christ Jesus. Here we often err. We plead for the rectification and amelioration of circumstances; that our path may be smoother, our load lighter, our sky brighter, We are anxious for better health, improved trade, the restoration of friends, the reduction of life’ s cares, griefs and losses. We want life tempering by making our environment less exhaustive; by adjusting the world more nearly to our weakness. But this is not God’ s most approved method. He does not modify the universe about us so much as He raises the mind within us; giving us relief and victory in knowledge, power, faith, hope, love, and the joy which is inseparable from a soul so richly dowered, “ In the day when I cried thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.” Lessons-- (1) We gain an affecting view of the love of God. (2) We see in this a reason for submission and gratitude. (3) We see the justification of confidence and quietness. (4) Let us go forth again with renewed courage and hope. It is generally allowed that Dante has pictured Inferno more ably than Paradiso; and the critics explain this on the ground that the poet’ s gloomy genius made him more skilful in depicting a dark theme than a cheerful one. The measure of Dante’ s genius is rare; the kind very common indeed. Most of us are clever at painting black pictures. (W. L. Watkinson.)Troubles as storms Troubles are compared in Holy Scripture to storms. As storms are not constant, not the normal state of the atmosphere, so troubles, except in some cases, are but occasional. As storms disturb the ordinary course of the elements, so troubles interfere with our usual mode of life, with our duties, with our joys, with all our habits. As storms are useful in the hand of the Great Ruler, so troubles fulfil the good purpose of the Divine will. As storms are not pleasant while they last, but promote discomfort, and awaken fear and apprehension, so troubles are not for the present joyous, but grievous. As storms are often destructive in their influence, so troubles break up and break down things that we would not have touched--precious things, hoarded things, cherished things, things upon which the eye and the heart rest, things which the hand grasps firmly, things in which we rest, and on account of which we rejoice. (S. Martin.)Sorrows as winds I. SORROWS ARE STRONG FORCES. They act as winds; they are forces before which we bend and bow. II. SORROWS HAVE THEIR TIME. “ In the day of the east wind.” There are certain winds that blow at particular seasons. Just so sorrows have their appointed times in a man’ s life. There is a time to mourn. Blessed be God, in the life of Heaven’ s children, sorrows have their day, their morning, their noon, and their night. They are here, and the day of their real dance may be long, but every hour of that day tells of the day’ s approaching end when the trouble will be no more. Now, it occasionally happens that people in trouble say, “ This affliction could not have come upon me at a worse time.” But that is never true, unless by any wilfulness you bring your own sorrows upon yourselves. If the trouble came at a time when you would not feel it at all, why, the trouble would be useless to you, and you would have to be placed in those circumstances again and again. III. SORROWS ARE GOD’ S . “ He stayeth His rough wind in the clay of the east wind,” just because the winds are His. He holdeth them in His fist so long as He pleases to hold them--and then sendeth them forth from the hollow of His hand when He pleases to send them forth, and calleth them back into His own hand when He pleases to recall them. Just so is it with troubles. (S. Martin.)The adaptation of trial to the state of the afflicted I. ADAPTED BY WHOM. “ He stayeth His rough wind,” etc. Adapted by the Almighty Father. If God could not adapt a rough wind to a feeble nature, He would not be almighty. The very omnipotence of God involves power to do the tender and the gentle. II. ADAPTED TO WHAT. 1. The strength of the sufferer. There is no man who thoroughly knows his own strength--certainly not until it has been developed by circumstances. There are people who overrate it; and they will say to you that they can bear such and such a thing easily, and they look upon others, and they wonder that they should be bowed down by events of a certain class. They are placed in circumstances corresponding to those of their fellow men, and they find that their strength is absolute weakness. Other persons say, “ Oh! I could never bear such a trial.” The former cannot do what he thinks he can do; the latter can do what he thinks he cannot do. Now God makes no such mistakes. He knows just what we are. “ He knows our frame: He remembers that we are but dust.” 2. He moderates it, moreover, according to the work which has to be accomplished. Sometimes trouble is chastening. Then trouble is intended to do a preparatory work. Or there is something that a man has to do either down here or yonder--some work for which he is not educated--and God sends a trouble to educate the man. Now God moderates affliction according to the work to be accomplished. If there be a fault to be corrected, then the trouble must have great force in it--it must be rough in its character; whereas, if it be irately educational--just simply to bring out some dormant faculty--then it need not be rough in its character, but it requires to be longer continued. 3. Adapted to the time during which this work should be finished. 4. Adapted to the power and resources, moreover, of fellow sufferers--because in most cases others suffer with us; and you do not suppose that God does not look at the entire family when He sends sorrow unto that family. III. HOW DOES GOD DO THIS? Sometimes by removing one trouble before another comes. By lightening the affliction itself, or by so strengthening the heart of the sufferer, that the affliction is relatively lighter, or by pouring through the soul of the troubled one rich and abundant consolation. IV. FOR WHAT PURPOSE DOES GOD DO THIS? He does it for present peace and joy. Moreover, for your enduring benefit, and in manifestation of Himself to you as a tender Father, “ He stayeth His rough wind in the day of the east wind.” Now this is the testimony of God concerning Himself; but it is also the testimony of God’ s children concerning Him. Isaiah could say this from his own experience and observation; and he addressed the words of our text to those who could acknowledge them to be true. Now, tell this to one another. God intends you to comfort each other, as well as to instruct and edify one another. Then we say to others of you, be not afraid of the rough wind. Those of you who have not felt it will feel it. (S. Martin.)A grand symbolic picture of the world The critics find fault with Rubens’ picture of the Crucifixion--they say he has painted Golgotha like a garden where, you can scarcely see the skulls for the flowers. This may, perhaps, be a defective picture of Golgotha, but it is a grand symbolic picture of our world; the things of sadness, pain, and death being half-hidden by the flowers which mercy has caused everywhere to grow. (W. L.Watkinson.)God’ s thoughtfulness in imposing burdens Let a ponderous weight drop suddenly on a machine, and the jerk brings it down with a crash; graduate the strain, and no harm is done. How easily the delicate mechanism of the moral man might be broken down! but whilst the engineer is imperfectly versed in “ the theory of strains,” and often sadly miscalculates the “ breaking point” of materials entering into his constructions, He who made us knows perfectly the strength and frailty of each, and with a faultless delicacy lays upon us the burdens of life. (W. L.Watkinson.)Life’ s roses and life’ s thorns In countless ways God makes His suffering people to know that if the roses of life bear thorns, the thorns of life also bear roses. (W. L. Watkinson.)God’ s angels--judgment and mercy The Jewish tradition relates that after the Fall the two angels of God--judgment and mercy--were sent forth together to do their office upon the sinning but redeemed race, and together they act to this day. Where one afflicts, the other heals. Where one makes a rent, the other plants a flower. Where one carves a wrinkle, the other kindles a smile. Where one scowls a storm, the other spreads a rainbow. Where one poises the glittering sword, the other covers our naked head with succouring wing. It is ever thus. His tender mercies are over all that His hands have made, and although we have brought upon ourselves awful sorrows, yet He so administers the world that by countless devices He softens our lot and saves us from despair. (W. L. Watkinson.)More affliction, more grace Miss Havergal writes her mother: “ More pain, dearest mother? May it be more support, more grace, more tenderness from the God of all comfort, more and more? May we not expect the ‘ mores’ always to be in tender proportion to each other?” (W. L.Watkinson.)The compensatory element in life Plants of great splendour have usually little fragrance, and plants of much fragrance usually little colour; birds of brilliant plumage have no music, and musical birds little glory of feather; strong animals ordinarily lack speed, swift animals strength. Now that would be a very disordered state of things in which the brilliant plant ever grieved over its defect of sweetness, and the sweet flower its lack of colour; in which the bird of paradise should lament its vocalism, and the nightingale sigh over its plumes; in which the camel should fret its slowness, and the gazelle deplore its frailty. And yet this error is common to man. We look on the side of our limitations and bereavements, quite overlooking or undervaluing the particulars in which we are rich or strong. (W. L.Watkinson.) Isaiah 27:9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged God’ s end in sending calamities and afflictions on His people Motives to enforce this duty of complying with the Lord’ s end, in afflicting and bringing calamities upon us. 1. Otherwise our calamities are like to continue. 2. This may increase the affliction upon you, add more weight, and put more sting into it. 3. This may multiply your afflictions, and make them come in upon you as waves and billows in a storm. 4. This may bring more grievous evils upon you than any you have yet met with. 5. The Lord may give you over and refuse to correct any more. 6. He may leave you to spiritual judgments. Outward afflictions are His rods, but these are His swords; and when upon incorrigibleness under those, He takes up these, His wrath is raised to the height. 7. This is the way to be rejected of the Lord; for those that are not His to be rejected wholly, for those that are His to be in part rejected Jeremiah 7:28-29). 8. This provokes the Lord to bring destruction. (D. Clarkson.)Mortifying sin If you would subdue your iniquity and mortify your sin-- 1. Get mortifying apprehensions of it. 2. Get mortifying resolutions. Get your hearts resolved against sin; to prosecute it to the death; to engage all the strength you have, and can procure, in such a prosecution of it; resolve not to spare it; not to forbear it in the least; not to tolerate it, nor suffer it to have any quiet abode in any part of heart or life; not to enter into a parley or treaty with it; not to yield to any cessation, much less to make any peace with it, no more than the Israelites with those whom the Lord had devoted to destruction. 3. Get mortifying affections--affections which carry the heart from sin, or set it against it. 4. Get mortifying graces, three especially, love to God, faith in Him, and fear of Him. 5. Use mortifying means, those which the Lord has appointed for this end. (D. Clarkson.) Isaiah 27:11 It is a people of no understanding A dreadful denunciation of judgment I. THE . 1. Great desolation as to their outward state (Isaiah 27:10, and former part of Isa 27:11). 2. Utter destruction, final ruin. “ He that made them will not have mercy on them.” It is the highest severity, where no Saviour is to be found, where “ judgment” is executed “ without mercy.” And this is amplified by the consideration-- (1) Partly of the inflicter of the judgment. “ He that made them,” They were not to fall into the hands merely of men like themselves, their fellow creatures; but “ into the hands of the living God.” (2) Partly of kindness formerly received from Him. “ He that made them; He that formed them” ; that is, He that created them, gave them their being, or He that not only made them as His creatures, but formed them to be His servants, formed them into a State and into a Church, and so had given them their being, not only a natural one, but a civil and ecclesiastical one: He that had formerly done so much for them, vouchsafed them such choice mercies, yet now would renounce all kindness to them. II. THE CAUSE OF THE TO BE . “ It is a people of no understanding,” a sottish, ignorant people, such as take no notice of anything, know not God, observe not His works, understand not their duty. Other sins, no doubt, they were chargeable with; but the Lord takes notice especially of their ignorance, and it is for that they are here threatened. Hence we take notice, that,-- 1. Ignorance of God, His truths or ways, is no security against His judgments (Jeremiah 10:25). 2. The knowledge of the will and ways of God is necessary for them that expect to find favour with God. They that desire God would save them, must labour to know Him. (E. Veal, B. D.)Spiritual knowledge I. WHAT IS THAT WE ARE TO SEEK AFTER. II. FOR IT. (E. Veal, B. D.)Spiritual knowledge necessary 1. Supposing it were certainly defined, how much knowledge, and the knowledge of what truths, were sufficient to salvation; yet no man, that is in a capacity of getting more knowledge, ought to acquiesce in just so much. 2. Men should in their seeking knowledge first study those truths which are most confessedly necessary to salvation before those which are apparently less necessary. 3. Men should labour after such a knowledge of the truth, as that they may be able to give “ a reason of the hope that is in them.” 4. Men should especially give themselves to the study, and labour after the knowledge of the present truths (2 Peter 1:12), i.e., those which are the special truths of the times, and ages, and places in which men live. 5. Men should labour for such knowledge as may defend them from the errors of the times and places in which they live. 6. Men should seek especially for such knowledge, and study such truths, as have the greatest influence upon practice. 7. Every man should labour to get as much spiritual knowledge as he can, by the means of the knowledge he hath gotten, and as he can get without the neglect of other necessary duties. (E. Veal, B. D.)Man’ s forfeiture of the love of his Creator I. THE OF A CREATOR ENGAGES GOD TO PUT FORTH ACTS OF LOVE AND FAVOUR TOWARDS HIS . This is clear from the strength of the antithesis in these words, “ He that made them will not save them” : where, for the advantage of the expression, it is redoubled, “ He that formed them will show them no favour.” As if He should have, it may seem strange to you that your Creator, which very name speaks nothing but bowels of love and tenderness, should utterly confound and destroy you. Yet thus it must be; though the relation make it strange, yet your sins will make it true. The strength of this obligement appears in these two considerations. 1. It is natural; and natural obligements, as well as natural operations, are always the strongest. 2. God put this obligement upon Himself; therefore it must needs be a great and a strong one: and this is clear, because the relation of a Creator is, in order of nature, antecedent to the being of the creature; which not existing, could not oblige God to create it, or assume this relation. There are three engaging things that are implied in the creature’ s relation to God, that oblige Him to manifest Himself in a way of goodness to it. (1) The extract or signal of the creature’ s being, which is from God Himself. It is the nature of every artificer to tender and esteem his own work: and if God should not love His creature, it would reflect some disparagement upon His workmanship, that He should make anything which He could not own. God is not a heathen god, a Saturn, to devour His children. Now the creature’ s denying its being from God, includes in it two other endearing considerations. It puts a certain likeness between God and the creature. Whatsoever comes from God, by way of creation, is good; and so, by reason of the native agreement that is, between that and the will of God, there naturally does result an act of love: for where there is nothing but goodness on the creature’ s part, there can be nothing but love on God’ s. (2) The dependence of its being upon God. (3) The end of the creature’ s being is God’ s glory. Now God, that loves His own glory must needs also respect the instrument that advances it. II. SIN AND TAKES OFF GOD FROM ALL THOSE ACTS OF FAVOUR THAT THE OF A CREATOR ENGAGED HIM TO. 1. It turns that which, in itself, is an obligation of mercy, to be an aggravation of the offence. True it is, to make a creature, to give It being upon a rational ground, is an argument of love. But for a creature to sin against Him from whom it had its whole being; and that a puny creature, the first born of nothing, a piece of creeping clay, one whom, as God created, so He might uncreate with a breath; for such a one to fly in his Creator’ s face, this gives a deeper dye to sin. 2. Sin disengages God from showing love to the creature, by taking away that similitude that is between God and him, which was one cause of that love. The creature, indeed, still retains that resemblance of God that consists in being; but the greatest resemblance that consists in moral perfections, this is totally lost and defaced. 3. Sin discharges God from snowing love to the creature, by taking off the creature from his dependence upon God. It cannot dissolve his natural dependence (Acts 17:28). But our moral dependence, which is a filial reliance upon God, this it destroys. For in sin the creature quits his hold of God, and seeks to shift for himself and to find his happiness within the circle of his own endeavours. 4. Sin disengages the love of God to the creature, because it renders the creature useless, as to the end for which it was designed. The soul, by reason of sin, is unable to act spiritually; for sin has disordered the soul, and turned the force and edge of all Its operations against God: so that now it can bring no glory to God by doing, but only by suffering, and being made miserable. Application-- 1. First use is to obviate and take off that usual and common argument that is frequently in the mouths of the ignorant, and in the hearts of the most knowing; that certainly God would never make them to destroy them; and therefore since He has made them, they roundly conclude that He will not destroy them. God formed thee: true; but since thou hast sinned agent so dear a relation, this very thing is an argument that He should destroy thee; God has imprinted His image upon thee, but sin has defaced it. Thou art God’ s possession, a creature designed for His use: true; but sin has made thee totally useless. Now the reasons whence men frame these kind of objections may be these two. (1) A self-love and a proneness to conceive some extraordinary perfection in themselves, which may compound for their misdemeanours. (2) Our readiness to think that God is not so exceeding jealous of His honour, but He may easily put up the breach of it without the rum of His creature. Nay, we are even apt to doubt whether or no our sins make any breach upon it at all. 2. Second use: This may serve to inform us of the curse, provoking nature of sin. Certainly there is something in it more than ordinary, that should make the great and merciful God take a poor creature, and shake it almost into nothing, to rid His hands of it, to disown and let it fall out of His protection into endless unspeakable woe and misery. 3. Third use: This may inform us under what notion we are to make our addresses to God; not as Creator, for so He is noways suitable to our necessities. He is offended and provoked, and we stand as outlaws and rebels to our Maker. What shall poor sinners do? whither shall they repair? Why there is yet hope: God’ s wisdom has reconciled His justice to His mercy, and consequently us to Himself. And now He represents Himself under a more desirable relation, as a reconciled God. And although, under the former relation, He drives us from Him; yet, under this, He tenderly invites us to Him. (R. South, D. D.)A class of sinners excluded from mercy I. THE HERE are described as persons of no understanding. But what is here meant by understanding! No one can suppose that the persons here censured and threatened were idiots or madmen. Had this been their character, they would have been incapable of sin, and consequently undeserving of punishment. The word “ understanding” is obviously used in this passage, as in very many others, to signify spiritual understanding, or a knowledge of religious truth. But some may ask, if all men are naturally without spiritual understanding, and if, as the text asserts, God will not have mercy on such as sustain this character, will it not follow that He can have mercy on none? Though all men are naturally without spiritual under standing, this declaration does not refer to all. It refers to those only who, like the Jews, have long enjoyed, but have abused or neglected means of grace and opportunities of acquiring religious knowledge. II. THE OF THIS . There is something terrible in its very sound. But its meaning is much more terrible. It includes everything, dreadful, everything which man has reason to deprecate. This threatening implies-- 1. That God will either deny them the common blessings of His providence, or grant them those blessings in anger, and send a curse with them. 2. That God will either deprive sinners of their religious privileges, means, and opportunities, or withhold His blessing and thus render them useless. Thus He dealt with the Jews. He still sent them messengers and instructions and warnings, but did not send a blessing with them. 3. That God will withhold from such characters the awakening, enlightening, and sanctifying influences of His Spirit. 4. That at the judgment day God will condemn such characters to depart accursed into everlasting fire. There is no medium between mercy and condemnation. III. IT IS JUST. 1. Because the persons against whom this threatening is denounced never ask for mercy, never seek the favour of God. 2. These persons have long rejected and abused the offered mercy and grace of God. 3. This threatening is just because the characters to whom it refers must be guilty of many other aggravated offences. They must have been destitute of the fear of God; for to fear Him is the beginning of wisdom. They must have refused to renounce their sins; for to depart from evil is understanding. They must have loved darkness rather than light; for they rejected the latter and chose the former; and the reason was, their deeds were evil. They must have followed and imitated sinners; for this all do who are void of understanding. They must have disobeyed God’ s commands; for all who obey them have a good understanding. (E. Payson, D. D.) Isaiah 27:12 Ye shall be gathered one by one The one-by-one principle This principle is developed-- I. IN THE OF . II. IN THE OF THE GOSPEL. III. IN THE OF THE LAW OF GOD. (F. Greeves.)Gathered one by one 1. There is a country whose mysterious shores are visited each year by thousands from every continent of earth, and not one of them ever returns to detail its marvels. It is called in Scripture “ a land of darkness, and the shadow of death.” It is a great republic, though it has a despot for its ruler; and it is the only one in which the dream of human equality can be fully realised. There “ the rich and the poor meet together,” and are on a perfect level; there the cheek of beauty, the form of grace, and the withered limbs of age, are alike the banquet of the heedless worm; “ there the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice, of the oppressor; the small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. There, side by side, in peaceful slumber, lie “ kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and the judges of the earth: both young men and maidens; old men, and children.” Mysterious land! And oh! how densely peopled! But does it not throw a fearful solemnity over this thought, when we consider that to it we shall be gathered one by one? We live together; we act together; but we must die alone. Shall not this consideration lead you to remember your individuality now, and one by one to prepare for that hour by working out your salvation with fear and trembling? 2. Solemn, however, as is this gathering of the grave, it derives, fresh importance from the fact, that we need not fear, and we must not hope that it will be the last gathering. “ Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and we shall be raised incorruptible.” What a gathering that shall be! They shall come, the dead of all generations--from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to David, from David to the Saviour, from the Saviour to us, from ourselves to the judgment; all shall come; the sea shall give up the dead that are in it, and the earth the dead that are in it, and death and hell the dead that are in them; and the whole posterity of Adam, young and old, rich and poor, countless as the sands on the seashore, or the stars of Heaven--all, without exception, shall be gathered there. But let us not forget the principle before us. Each individual of that mighty gathering will retain his own personal identity. 3. This, however, is but the opening scene of a yet more tremendous tragedy. It is but the lurid dawning of “ the great and terrible day of the Lord.” There shall be yet another gathering, the most momentous gathering of our race, and the last. Each one of us shall give account of himself to God. 4. Learn thus that you have an individuality. Each one of you has powers, duties, talents, responsibilities, which you cannot share with any other being in the universe of God. You may commit sin in a crowd; but when you are judged for it you must stand alone. 5. Will ye be gathered now, gathered to the Saviour’ s arms, “ gathered one by one” ? (F. Greeves.)Gathered in death one by one We often ask why should we die alone? It is not for us to give an answer for God. The Judge of all the earth will do right. Our entrance into the world is one by one; it is not unnatural that our departure should be the same. Each one’ s conversion, marriage, all the great events of life, are passed through, not in the mass, but each by himself, one by one. I. The individuality of God’ s dealings with men in their highest and most solemn experiences is AN HONOUR AND A FAVOUR. Each is thus made His special care. The most precious fruit is gathered by hand. II. THE SHOCK OF IS THUS ; a sparing mercy to those who are left to mourn. III. OF THE HOUR ARE THUS , that survivors may prepare. (Homiletic Review.)“ Gathered one by one,” “ Gathered one by one,” i.e., ye shall carefully gathered together, and brought safe into your own land. The words are taken from olives or apples or the like fruits, which are gathered one by one, and so laid up in some place appointed; which olives or apples or other fruit so gathered last better than they which are beaten off or shaken down from the tree. He seems to oppose this gathering one by one, to that “ beating off” mentioned in this verse. (W. Day, M. A.) Isaiah 27:13 The great trumpet shall be blown The Gospel trumpet I. THE OF THE GOSPEL IS HERE TO THE BLOWING OF A TRUMPET. 1. This figurative expression may allude to the trumpet which sounded upon Mount Sinai, at the solemn promulgation of the law. And though the ministers of Christ must not blend the law and the Gospel together, yet they are not Gospel ministers who do not preach the law, both as a ministration of wrath and as a rule of duty. 2. The words may allude to the trump of jubilee, which was sounded throughout the land of Israel at the end of every forty-nine years, proclaiming redemption and liberty to all prisoners and slaves, and causing the following to be a year of national festivity and joy (Leviticus 25:8-13). This interesting period having been prefigurative of our redemption by Christ, of our deliverance from the curse of the law and the dominion of sin, and of our introduction to the glorious liberty of the children of God, it is with great propriety that the proclamation of the Gospel is compared to the trump of jubilee. 3. Trumpets were also used on other occasions, which may bear some allusion to the proclamation of the Gospel. The Jews had an annual solemnity, which by way of distinction was called the feast of trumpets, and which introduced the new year (Leviticus 23:24). And these demonstrations of joy, like the rest of that typical dispensation, were only the shadow of good things to come; all had a reference to the promulgation of the Gospel. 4. Whatever be the immediate allusion in the text it is evident that the principal design of a trumpet is to sound an alarm; and such is the direct object of the Gospel ministry. 5. The preaching of the Gospel is compared to a “ great trumpet.” Great things were contained in God’ s law, but still greater things are made known by the Gospel. 6. The great trumpet which was sounded by the first heralds of salvation, continues still to proclaim the same good tidings. II. THE EFFECT WHICH WAS TO FOLLOW UPON THE OF THE GOSPEL TRUMPET. “ They shall come which were ready to perish.” Men as sinners are in a perishing condition. But those only who see and feel their perishing condition actually “ come.” 1. This “ coming” implies repentance towards God. 2. Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; for with this, all true repentance is invariably connected. 3. All that come unto God by a Mediator, will also come to Zion with their faces thitherward, openly professing their attachment to Christ, and devoting themselves to His service. The text, indeed, seems to be a prophecy of the union that should take place between Jews and Gentiles, under the Gospel dispensation, when they should be formed into one body, and equally participate in the blessings of salvation. The trumpet of the Gospel is still sounding in our ears, proclaiming the great jubilee, the day of salvation, and inviting us to seek the Lord in this welcome and accepted time. Have we embraced the invitation, and answered to the call? (B. Beddome, M. A.)The Gospel trumpet I. We make TWO REMARKS. 1. The prediction primarily refers to the proclamation of Cyrus for the deliverance of the Jews from captivity. 2. This prophecy has an ulterior reference to the times of the Messiah, and the inbringing of the Jews in the latter days. II. We consider THE AND OF THE GOSPEL here represented by a great trumpet. Trumpets were of very common use among God’ s ancient people. They directed their journeys, animated them on the march, reused them to arms against the invader, and sounded the dreadful onset to battle, proclaimed the tidings of victory, and summoned the people to divide the spoil. The chief use of the instrument is to give strength to the human voice, that warnings or invitations might be more extensively heard. No kind of wind instrument was in more general use, and therefore no symbol could have been selected with which they were more familiarly acquainted. Their solemn assemblies were convened by its sound; and surely the greatness and the grandeur of the Gospel is hereby strikingly and significantly symbolised. 1. The greatness of the Gospel will appear from the dignity and moral grandeur of its Author. 2. From the gracious tidings it proclaims. 3. From the objects it hath already accomplished and is destined to achieve. III. We notice that THE OF THE GOSPEL IS THE GREAT OF GOD FOR THE OF MEN. “ The great trumpet shall be blown.” Its sound shall be long and loud, that the proclamation of “ the glad tidings of great joy” shall be universal. Conclusion-- 1. Let Christians appreciate their advantages and highly prize the Gospel Psalms 89:15). 2. Let Gospel despisers fear, and flee for refuge to the hope set before them in the Gospel (Hebrews 2:2). 3. Let all rejoice in the glorious results already secured and yet to be achieved by the preaching of the Gospel. (W. M Queen.)The blast of the Gospel trumpet I. THE PERIOD to which this promise or prophecy refers. That day. In the prophetical parts of Scripture, this phrase is often to be understood of New Testament times. II. THE GREAT MEANS that God promises to employ in New Testament days for accomplishing His design among the Gentiles. “ The great trumpet shall be blown.” 1. The Gospel intimates to all that hear it, the offering of a great sacrifice. 2. The Gospel contains an indication of a joyful and solemn feast. 3. The Gospel is the appointed means of gathering a solemn assembly. As me silver trumpets were used for gathering the assemblies in Israel, so the Gospel is employed, according to Christ’ s appointment, for gathering a Church to Himself. 4. The Gospel is the great means of directing the march of the armies of the spiritual Israel, through the wilderness of this world. When the priests sounded an alarm with the trumpets, the tribes of Israel were to decamp, and set forward in their journeys, in that order which God had appointed. 5. The Gospel is the great means of calling forth the armies of the living God to that spiritual warfare in which they are engaged under Christ,--of directing their motion in the day of battle,--and of animating them to continue the combat, amidst all the dangers and terrors with which they often find themselves surrounded. The silver trumpets were also to be used to blow an alarm when Israel was called to go to war against any enemy that should oppress them in their land. 6. The Gospel proclaims an universal jubilee to all that hear it. III. THE PERSONS UPON WHOM THE SOUND OF THIS GREAT TRUMPET SHALL TAKE EFFECT are described by two circumstances. 1. They are persons ready to perish. The original worn is still more emphatical--there shall come “ the perishing in the land of Assyrian” All mankind are, by nature, in a perishing condition. Situated in desert land, which affords no provision but empty husks, we faint for spiritual thirst and hunger, and are ready to perish for want. Led captive by a cruel enemy, we are ready to perish by the weight of our chains. Enslaved by a tyrannical master, and employed in the vilest drudgery, we are ready to perish through fatigue and weariness. Sunk into a fearful pit, and struggling, without a possibility of extricating ourselves, in the miry clay, we must quickly perish without supernatural help. Above all, being condemned to death by a just sentence of the Court of Heaven, we are every moment in danger of perishing by the hand of justice. 2. They are outcasts. There seems to be here an allusion to the situation of the Hebrew children in Egypt, who, by Pharaoh’ s inhuman decree, were all to be cast out into the river. IV. THE PLACES FROM WHICH THESE PERSONS WERE TO BE , by the sound of the great trumpet, are also two. “ The land of Assyria” and “ the land of Egypt.” These two countries are mentioned as examples: and what is here said of them has been verified, and will again be verified in all other countries resembling them. Perishing sinners have been gathered from every quarter. V. THE END TO BE GAINED by the blast of this trumpet among them. This also is set before us in two particulars. 1. They shall come. (1) They shall come to Christ by faith. (2) They shall, come to the holy mount at Jerusalem. Jerusalem was of old the place of God’ s solemn worship. Every person who feels the efficacy of the Gospel becomes a genuine citizen of the New Jerusalem. And from that time forth he takes pleasure in attending upon God’ s ordinances; accounting a day in His courts better than a thousand. (3) They come to God Himself who dwells in the holy mount. 2. As they come, they worship. This imports-- (1) Their cordial renunciation of all idolatry and false worship. (2) Their careful and diligent observance of all those ordinances by which God has required Himself to be worshipped. (3) Their carefulness to perform every act of worship in the manner that the Word of God has prescribed. (J. Young.)The blowing of the great trumpet I. THE BLOWING OF THE GREAT TRUMPET. II. THE IN WHOSE EARS AND HEARTS THIS GREAT TRUMPET IS TO BE BLOWN. III. THE EFFECT WHICH THE BLOWING OF THE GREAT TRUMPET UPON THEM. (J. C. Philpot.)The great trumpet I. SEE HOW A OF WITH WILL ENABLE US TO THE WORD “ TRUMPET.” II. THE BLOWING OF THE TRUMPET. III. THE RESULTS OF THAT BLOWING. (J. H. Crowder, M. A.)The Gospel trumpet I. THE OF THE GOSPEL. “ The great trumpet.” It is elsewhere called a great light--a great salvation There is a grandeur in the glorious Gospel of God which soars far beyond all finite excellency and conception. 1. The period of its introduction is called “ the fulness of time.” 2. The Gospel regards immediately the soul and eternity--the only two things in the world which are absolutely great. 3. The Gospel abounds with exceeding great and precious promises; it unfolds blessings that are incomprehensible in their nature and excellency. 4. Everything, compared with the Gospel, is trifling and mean. II. THE OF THE GOSPEL. The great trumpet is to be “ blown.” 1. Who is to blow this trumpet? Men, and not angels. There is a difference here between the administration of the law and the dispensation of the Gospel. 2. How is this trumpet to be blown? Common sense says, in such a way as to answer the design of its being blown. There must be no ambiguity in our preaching. It should be blown courageously. III. WHAT IS THE OF THOSE TO WHOM THE GOSPEL IS ? “ Outcasts, and ready to perish.” This is the figure; and what is the fact? “ Remember that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise; having no hope, and without God in the world.” You are not heathen; but turn to Scripture, and you will find that you are all by nature the children of wrath, even as others. IV. Its must be noticed. “ They shall come.” Whatever knowledge the heathen had, they were utterly unable to carry it into effect, both for want of evidence and want of authority. None of them could speak in the name of that God who calleth the things that are not as though they were. Hence, we find Plato complaining that he was unable, by all his instructions, to bring over the inhabitants of a single village. Now, go to Thessalonica, to Corinth, to Colosse, to Ephesus; survey the character of the inhabitants before they received the Gospel: it is largely described by the apostle; we cannot suppose that the devil himself could make or wish them worse. Yet the apostle stands forth, and says, “ Such were some of you; ye were sometimes far off; ye were dead in trespasses and sins” ; but, “ you hath He quickened. Our Gospel came unto you, not in word only, but in power also; the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” Accordingly, the Gospel is expressed evermore by images which indicate its efficacy. It is called a two-edged sword--leaven, which commences its operations in the centre, and extends them to the circumference until the whole is leavened--seed, which, though it looks dead, yet fills the earth with its fruit, thirty, sixty, a hundred fold. This success God Himself has ensured, or we could not reckon upon it. The Gospel never leaves people as it finds them: it enlightens their understandings; it prevails on their wills; it purifies their affections; it makes them new creatures. How can we honour the Gospel so much as by showing what it can do? The trumpet is blown; but it is heard--it is answered--they “ come.” 1. How do they come? With weeping and with supplication; they come eagerly, hastening, running, flying like doves to their windows when they behold the approaching storm. 2. From whence do they come? From the dark dens of ignorance--from the lurking holes of hypocrisy--from the false refuges of pharisaism--from the service of sin--from the bondage of Satan. 3. To whom do they come! Christ is the only resource. What is faith, what is religion, but the soul in motion to Him, and negotiating all its affairs with Him! V. THE EFFECT OF ITS . “ They shall come and worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” We ever find this dedication of themselves to God, in connection with the spread and influence of the Gospel. “ All the ends of the world shall hear, and shall turn unto God; all nations whom Thou hast made, shall come unto Thee and worship Thee; from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, in every place men shall offer incense and a pure offering.” The “ holy mount” means the Church of God. And in this mount all who partake of Gospel grace, worship. They do so habitually, in the shop--in the warehouse--in the field; for “ where’ er they seek Him, He is found.” They do so in private. All these worship God in their families too. In His sanctuary also. -- 1. This Scripture has been fulfilled. Myriads in Heaven have exemplified its truth, the numbers that rejoice in it in our day are wonderful; but soon there shall he vaster accessions still. A nation shall be born in a day. Have you heard the sound of this trumpet? Have you obeyed? 2. If the sound of this peaceful trumpet is despised, I must remind you that another great trumpet will be blown. Ere long shall be heard the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God. 3. But, here are some who are alive to the text. You have heard the sound of this trumpet; you have come. What are you doing? Surely, you are giving thanks unto Him who has called you out of darkness into light; who has made you meet for the inheritance of the saints. Surely, you are endeavouring to bring others into the same condition. (W. Jay.)The silver trumpet As when the front and back doors of a barn are open, a gust of wind scatters the dust and chaff, so the Jews had been swept every whither--some wandering in Assyria, and some exiled in Egypt; but their coming back, as by the call of a trumpet, is here predicted. The passage is strongly descriptive of the exiled and perishing condition of sinful men, and of their return at the trumpet call of the Gospel. 1. Need I stop to prove that out of God we are in exile? Who here is at home in his sins? Does he not wander about looking for a home? You have been expatriated. You are in worse than Siberian exile. The chains are harder. The mine is darker. The climate is colder. The gloom is ghastlier. “ Lost in the land of Assyria! “ If a man has missed his way, the more he walks the more he is lost. He starts off and goes ten miles in the wrong direction. Nor can you find your way out of this spiritual confusion. Lost, and without food. Lost, and without water. Ingenious little children sometimes tell you how, with a few letters, they can spell a very large word. With three letters I can spell “ bereavement.” With three letters I can spell “ disappointment.” With three letters I can spell “ suffering.” With three letters I can spell “ death.” With three letters I can spell “ perdition.” S-i-n, Sin. That is the cause of all our trouble now. That is the cause of our trouble for the future. 2. But upon this dark background of the text a light falls. Amidst the harsh discords there sound the sweet and thrilling notes of a great trumpet. A trumpet, God made, yet needing no giants to use it, but suited to faint lips and trembling hand and feeble lungs; so that sick Edward Payson, leaning against the pulpit, might hold it, and Frederick Robertson, worn out with ulcers and spinal complaints, might breathe through it. This Gospel trumpet is great in its power. On a still night you may hear the call of a brazen trumpet two or three miles; but this is so mighty that it is not only heard from heaven to earth, but it is to arrest the attention of all nations. (1) This trumpet is great in its sweetness. In some musical instruments there is noise and crash and power, but no fineness of sound. Others can not only thunder, but weep and whisper and woo. Like that is the Gospel trumpet. In all tenderness and sweetness and sympathy it excels. (2) The Gospel trumpet is a trumpet of alarm. (3) It is one of recruit. War is declared. Who is on the Lord’ s side? There is no neutral ground. (4) The Gospel trumpet is one of assault. “ Let the wicked forsake His way,” etc. (5) This Gospel trumpet is also one of retreat. It is the part of good generalship sometimes to blow the trumpet of retreat. There is no need of your trying to face certain temptation; you are foolhardy to try it. Your only safety is in flight. (6) This Gospel trumpet is one of victory. (7) One of reveille. We, who are the soldiers of Christ, cannot always be marching and fighting. The evening will come; the shadows will gather; and we must go to the white tents of the grave. There we shall sleep soundly. But the night will pass along, and the first thing we shall hear will be the trumpet call sounding the reveille of the resurrection; and we will come up and fall into a long line of light, the sword of Christian conflict gleaming in the unsetting sun. The roll shall be called, and we shall answer to our names; and then we will go to the morning repast of heaven. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)Blowing of the great trumpet We shall look at the text as applying to heathens as well as Jews, even to all who are ignorant of and are rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. With regard to these there are three things to be looked at-- I. THEIR URGENT NEED. They are described as “ ready to perish.” The word is literally “ lost.” The idea is that of a lost sheep. Or of a lost child who has left his home and wandered into the fields, or into the woods, and been overtaken by night and darkness. There is no one to care for him, no one to guide him, no one to shelter him. He is left to himself. A hundred things may happen that may be death to him. Without knowing it, he may be on the point of falling over a precipice or into a river. Now, a child or a man who has gone astray from God is ready to perish too. Still more is it true of everyone who is not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is true, alas! of many even in this highly favoured land of ours. It is true of the Jews. And what shall I say of the heathen. II. THE HELP WANTED. What is to be done to meet this terrible state of things? If it were a dying man--a perishing child--we should ask, Is there anything that will save the dying one--any medicine or food--anything we can give--anything we can do? And that should be our question about the perishing millions all over the world. 1. The sounding of the trumpet may be regarded as typical of the preaching of the Gospel, by which both the outcasts of Israel and the “ ready to die” of all nations are to be saved. 2. But there must be someone to sound the trumpet. It cannot sound of itself. It must be “ blown.” And who are to do this, but those who have heard it and complied with its call themselves, and who, with hearts full of love and thankfulness, can sing, “ Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound” ? It is as much our duty to blow the trumpet as to hear it. 3. How, then, are we to blow the trumpet? None of us are too young or feeble to sound the trumpet ourselves. In our own way we can tell the story of redeeming love. (1) The best that any of you can give is yourselves. He gives by far the largest contribution who gives himself. (2) But where you cannot give yourselves you can do something by giving your money. III. THE SUCCESS . “ They which were ready to perish shall come.” The return from the Jewish captivity was wonderful in its own way; but more and better is in store, for “ all Israel shall be saved.” Already many Jews and Jewesses have been converted to Christ. And as regards the heathen world, the history of the progress of the Gospel in recent times reads almost like a chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. And yet it must be owned that anything like a complete fulfilment of the promise is still a thing of the future. What is to be done? The great trumpet must be sounded as it never has been. (J. H. Wilson, D. D.)The urgency of missions Are not missions to Jews and heathens and Mohammedans hopeless? They don’ t want them; they won’ t have them. But does it not only make the case the stronger if they do not know their need and their danger, and do not ask for help? Perhaps, in some cases, they refuse help when it is offered. And what of that? As I pass along the banks of a stream, I see something in a pool. On going nearer, I see it is the body of a boy. There is no cry for help, there is no outstretched hand. He is past all that. Am I, on that account, not to give help! Is not the call all the louder and more urgent? (J. H. Wilson, D. D.). Isaiah 28:1-6 Woe to the crown of pride Chapter twenty-eight is the first of a great group of representative discourses, chaps.28-32, all dealing with the relation of Judah to Assyria, and all enforcing the same political principles. (Prof. Driver, D. D.)Overcome with wine Words are scarcely possible with which to express greater sorrow and calamity falling on those who are overcome with wine. God is said to be against them. Their beauty and pride shall fade away. They shall err in judgment; shall have dim vision of truth and duty; shall lose all susceptibility of moral and religious impressions; shall speak with stammering tongue; shall be ensnared with all evil. Their condition shall be heart sickening and hopeless. I. A . Ephraim in this passage stands for the kingdom of the ten tribes: the drunkards of Ephraim for its dissipated and dissolute people; the crown of Samaria for its capital city; though there is possibly reference here to the magnificent hill on which the city stood. Its site was a “ chosen one,” than which, according to Rawlinson, none could be found, in all Palestine of greater “ combined strength, fertility, and beauty,” having in these respects largely the “ advantage over Jerusalem.” It was, however, full of drunkards. Intemperance was not only the prevailing iniquity of the place, but a form of sin and shame which was the fruitful source of innumerable afflictions and calamities. The figure is of a people “ smitten, beaten, knocked down” with wine, as with a hammer; laid prostrate and helpless on the ground in utter bewilderment, and unconscious as to what would happen to them, their homes, or their nation. This was the doom represented as a Divine judgment upon them; but really the natural and inevitable result of their being overcome with wine. Let all men be warned, especially the young. The loss of everything desirable goes with the loss of control over appetite. But the contrast is as terrible in communities, cities, and nations where drunkenness prevails! In the place of industry, indolence obtains; in the place of intelligence, ignorance abounds; in the place of thrift and comfort, poverty and wretchedness exist; in the place of honour and virtue, dishonour and vice run riot; until life becomes scarcely endurable for one who would keep his “ crown of pride” and preserve the “ glorious beauty” of true manhood. II. THE POWER OF . It is absolutely destructive of the whole man! It is a giant bringing his captive into complete subjection. All goes wrong with a man when he is under the influence of strong drink! He cannot walk as a man; cannot work as a man; cannot talk as a man; cannot think as a man; nor is he capable of accurate judgment in matters of small or large concern. He tramples under his feet the most sacred associations and obligations of life; he loses his love as a husband, father, son; he breaks hearts that cling to him more fondly than to aught else in all the world; he finally becomes so bound as to render it practically impossible for him to cast off his chains! All this comes not only to such as may be termed the ignorant and naturally vicious, but to the learned and naturally virtuous. Men of culture and refinement, of education and position, of inheritances and attainments, of rank and station, give way to the same indulgences and fall into the same deeps! Fathers send the consuming currents through the veins of their sons. Mothers give birth to children whose feverish bodies flame with hidden fires. III. THE DUTY OF EARNEST AND WARFARE AGAINST . We read here of a “ residue of the people,” to whom the Lord of hosts would be for a “ crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty,” for a “ spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.” The literal meaning of this is that after the pride of the apostate tribes had fallen, they who remained true to God and to themselves should glory and delight in Jehovah as their chief privilege and honour. This was the prophecy, and it was blessedly fulfilled. When Israel was finally ruined, Judah rose to power under Hezekiah. He resisted all enticements, and in every way sought the reformation of his people. Many were held back from being overcome with wine. These were “ the residue of the people,” and for their sake God endued the magistrates and counsellors with the spirit of discernment and equity; also gave courage to the captains who led forth their troops from the gate of Jerusalem and forced the war even to the gates of their enemies. The lesson here is one of united and fearless opposition to intemperance, and to whatever exposes the people to its ravages. While all practicable efforts should be made to reform those who are addicted to their cups, special care should be taken of children and youth that they may be kept from forming the drink habit. 1. The home should present no temptation on this line. 2. Each Sunday school should be a temperance society, organised and equipped for work. 3. The physical effects of intemperance should be taught in all our public schools. 4. Pastors, too, have a duty on this line. (Justin E. Twitchell)Samaria The beautiful city of Samaria crowning a low hill rising from the valley is like a garland on the brow of the revellers. The crown is already faded. (A. B. Davidson, LL. D.)Overcome with wine Literally, “ struck down.” Hard drinking is compared to a combat between the toper and his drink, in which the latter is victorious. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)“ Dry drunkenness.” Men are drunk, but not with wine; sometimes they are drunk with prosperity, with vanity, with evil thoughts, passionate desires. Men may be sober, and yet may be drunk. Men may be total abstainers from wine, and may yet go straight down to hell. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 28:6 For a spirit of Judgment The spirit of judgment Next to the enactment of just and wholesome laws, the due administration of them is of the highest importance to a community. If the distribution of justice in secular kingdoms, and in relation to the affairs of this life, is of so great moment, it must be of still greater importance in that society which is styled “ the kingdom of heaven,” and in relation to things connected with the eternal interests of men. I. THE AND NATURE OF . Religious society has its foundation in the very nature of man considered as a social being. Christ, as King of His Church, hath appointed a government in her, and committed to office bearers, under Him, a power to execute His laws, and pronounce judgment according to them, for the preservation of order and peace, and the promoting of the interests of truth and holiness to His glory. The overlooking of the important ends to be served by the Church as a visible society is a capital error, or at least has been the source of many hurtful mistakes in our own as well as in former times. To ecclesiastical judges belong the interpretation of the laws of Christ, by a judicial declaration of truth in opposition to prevailing error, and of duty in opposition to prevailing sins; and the application of these laws to such cases as occur. 1. Ecclesiastical judgment is spiritual, in distinction from that which is civil or secular. 2. Ecclesiastical judgment is ministerial and executive, not lordly or legislative. Christ is the sole lawgiver in His spiritual kingdom; and the proper business of the office bearers whom He hath appointed is to interpret and carry into execution those laws which He has given forth and enrolled in His statute book. 3. It is public and authoritative. There is a right of private judgment, called by divines the judgment of discretion, which belongs to all the members of the Church, and extends to every thing connected with religion, and among others to the decisions of ecclesiastical judicatories. But there must be also lodged, in every well-ordered society, a power of pronouncing by its proper organs, a public judgment for deciding disputes and controversies which may arise, and for determining the manner in which its affairs shall be conducted. 4. It is to be exercised by select persons set apart for this purpose, and not by the community of the faithful. “ In the multitude of counsellors is safety,” in opposition to the danger incurred by him who relies on his own judgment, of the advice of one or two favourites; but counsellors consist of a select number taken from many. 5. It is to be exercised by them jointly, and in parity. The only monarchical power in the Church is exercised by Jesus Christ. II. THE SPIRIT WHICH IS FOR THE OF , and which is promised in the text. Jesus Christ is not only the exemplar, but also the foundation of all qualifications for ruling in the Church (Isaiah 11:2-4). 1. I begin with the fear of the Lord, or a deep sense of religion. This is the ground into which all the other qualities must be wrought. 2. The spirit of wisdom and understanding. A good heart and upright intentions are not enough here. Knowledge, prudence, and discernment are peculiarly requisite for the management of public affairs. Those who are invested with office in the Church must be men “ full of wisdom,” as well as “ of the Holy Ghost.” 3. The spirit of disinterestedness and impartiality. This is “ the spirit of judgment” --when the individual is sunk in the public functionary--when on crossing the threshold of the sanctuary and ascending the seat of judgment he forgets self and all worldly considerations. 4. A spirit of patience and meekness. 5. The spirit of holy resolution and courage. 6. The spirit of humility and dependence on God. III. LESSONS. 1. The great importance of ecclesiastical discipline, and of preserving it in its scriptural purity and primitive vigour. Evangelical and vital religion cannot flourish generally or permanently in any Church where this is neglected. 2. We may see one duty incumbent on those who have devoted themselves to the public service of the Church. To preach the gospel is a principal part of their employment, but it is not the whole of it. It is possible that a person may be able to make a sermon which shall be both acceptable and edifying, and, after all, be but poorly qualified for “ taking care of the Church of God.” 3. We may learn what care ought to be exercised in choosing and setting apart those who are to bear office in the Church. 4. We may see the scriptural grounds of subjection to the authority, and obedience to the determinations of church rulers. These are, the Divine institutions of ecclesiastical government, the connection between it and the regal glory of Christ, and the salutary influence which it is calculated to exert upon all other Divine institutions, as well as upon the peace, unity, order, purity, and general prosperity of the Church as a visible and diffusive society. 5. Our subject suggests suitable exercise on occasion of the meeting of ecclesiastical judicatories. It was a custom in the better times of our Church to set apart a day for fasting and prayer before the meeting of a General Assembly, to entreat the Divine countenance to its deliberations. (T. M’Crie, D. D.) Isaiah 28:7-8 But they also have erred through wine “ Swallowed up of wine” This is how all debasement continues, aggravates itself, and brings itself to shameful issue. No man begins at the point of being swallowed up in any evil: he approaches it almost stealthily, he touches it experimentally, he retains for a certain time his self-control in relation to it,--he will handle it, but easily, so that he can set it down again should it so please him. But at the end there is swallowing up, destruction--death is in the cup, and death must be drunk up by those who put their lips to the forbidden vessel. When Edward IV condemned his own brother, George Duke of Clarence, to be killed, we are told that the duke desired to be drowned in a butt of Malmsey, and the historian well adds, “ as became so stout a drunkard.” To this end may men come who never dreamed of coming to it, who meant to show the world how easy it would be to toy with the devil, to touch him, set him back, smile at him, laugh at him, use him as a dog, bind him as a slave; and to all these initial usages will the devil submit himself, knowing that at some fatal unsuspected moment he will lasso the man who supposes he can take him captive, and he will carry him away to the chambers of death. (J. Parker, D. D.)Erred through wine Preaching in London, the Rev. Egerton Young, so long a missionary to the Hudson Bay Indians, said he would like to bring some of his converts to this land, but he dared not until the temperance cause was more advanced. One native preacher had been brought over, but kind friends thought that he required a little stimulant after the fatigue of the meeting, and the poor Indian had gone back with such a taste for spirits that he had to be expelled from his office, and finally died a drunken outcast. (Australian Sunday School Teacher.)Intemperance a pestilence No pestilence has ever destroyed so many millions of men, women, and children as intemperance; for a pestilence comes and goes, and often at long intervals, but intemperance is a fixed and permanent plague, always spreading, and always destroying our people, body and soul. (Cardinal Manning.)Intemperance a peril to national life On the east coast of our country the sea has been encroaching for centuries. Acre after acre of corn land has tumbled down into the waves, and churches, threatened by every high tide, are pointed out which, at the time of their erection, stood a mile from the sea. And by a similar process of encroachment and destruction fruitful sections of our national life are broken down and churned in the raging flood of this terrible curse, and places are not unknown in which the very church itself threatens to topple into ignominy and ruin. (T. G. Selby.)Drunkenness degrades Dr. Louis A. Banks tells how a drunkard in New Orleans was reformed. A friend of his, who was a stenographer, sat down in a corner of the saloon in which he was carousing, and made a full shorthand report of every word he said. The next morning the stenographer copied the whole thing neatly and sent it round to his office. In less than ten minutes he came tearing with his eyes fairly standing out of their sockets. “ Great heavens,” he gasped, “ what is this?” “ It’ s a stenographic report of your monologue at the restaurant last evening,” and gave him a brief explanation. “ Did I really talk like that?” he asked faintly. “ I assure you it is an absolutely verbatim report,” was the reply. He turned pale and walked out. He never drank another drop. (Christian Age.)The degradation of drunkenness It is told by Victor Hugo that in the capital of Burgundy the corporation had four silver goblets. When a prince or any distinguished person passed through their city they were offered wine in these silver goblets. The wine of Burgundy is very famous, but the people knew not only its merits, but its dangers. On the first goblet was inscribed a monkey, on the second a lion, on the third a sheep, and on the fourth a swine. This meant to denote the degrees of drunkenness which their wine produced. (G. H. Morrison, M. A.) Isaiah 28:9-13 Whom shall He teach knowledge?-- The scoffing drunkards They scoff at the prophet, that intolerable moralist. They are full-grown and free; he need not teach them knowledge Isaiah 11:9), and explain his preaching to them; they know of old what he is driving at. Are they mere weaned babes, who need to be tutored? (F. Delitzsch.)The occasion The occasion of this remarkable encounter was probably a feast held to celebrate the renunciation of allegiance to Assyria. Isaiah has surprised the drunkards over their cups, and administered some such rebuke as we read in verses 7, 8. (J. Skinner, D. D.)The angry false priests and prophets What really angered these burly scorners was that the prophet treated them as though they were children only lust weaned, and not as masters in Israel, giving them the most elementary instruction in the simplest words--words of one syllable, as they put it. They were weary of hearing him repeat the first rudiments of morality, and apply them to the sins and needs of the time. How dared he tutor them who were themselves teachers! How dared he treat them as babes who were grown men, distinguished men, the foremost men and statesmen of the empire! A pretty figure he made too! No one listened to him, or hardly anyone. It was their advice which was taken, not his; their policy which was followed, not his. And yet he dared come to them, day after day, with the same simple message, the same trite moralities, the same dismal warnings and rebukes! (S. Cox, D. D.)Isaiah’ s righteous indignation In effect he said to them “ You mock at the simple Divine words I have been moved to speak, and lisp out your base and drunken imitations of them,--you, who should be the first to welcome and enforce the word of God. Know, then, that God will punish your sin by a people of lisping lips and an alien tongue. He has taught you, by the words you deride, where you might find rest and freedom, how you might give peace to the people who are weary of war and its calamities; but you would not hearken and do. The word of the Lord has become to you a mere ‘ bid and bid, forbid and forbid,’ at which you jest. Know, then, that that word, which might have been a light to your path, shall blaze up into a consuming fire.” (S. Cox, D. D.)Retribution The prediction was fulfilled. The fierce Assyrians, when they heard that the Hebrews had allied themselves with Egypt, once more swept through the land. The very men who had lisped their scornful imitations of Isaiah’ s words, who had affected to think that he used the broken and imperfect dialect which mothers employ to their babes, were destroyed or taken captive by the Assyrian troops, whose language, while it closely resembled that of the Hebrews, had just those differences which made it sound to them like an imperfect and barbarous dialect. So terrible and so exact was the retribution that fell on their sin. (S. Cox, D. D.)“ With another tongue” They shall have change of ministry; the Assyrians do not talk piously, whiningly; they do not give precept upon precept; theirs is a terse eloquence, a bullock-like rhetoric; when they come they will make these drunkards sober by the power of terror. This is God’ s way in all providence; if we will not hear the gentle voice, the interpreting, persuasive, gospel voice, we shall have to listen to thunder, and feed our souls upon lightning. “ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee,. . .your house is left unto you desolate.” (J. Parker, D. D.)Divine wisdom “ That the soul be without knowledge, it is not good.” A lamentable instance of this truth is exemplified in the preceding part of the chapter. I. THE OF THE TEACHER. God, whose wisdom is infinite, is our only teacher; for whatever others we may possess, either in the works of nature, of providence, or of grace, originate entirely from His bounty. II. THE SUBJECT OF . Two things are to be learned, namely, knowledge and doctrine; the one that we may know ourselves, the other that we may know God. III. THE PERSONS TO BE TAUGHT. “ Them that are weaned,” etc. We must be like little children in humility of mind and teachableness of disposition. (J. Wright, B. A.) Isaiah 28:10 For precept mast be upon precept . . . line upon line A drunken jibe The passage is commonly used in a sense the very opposite to that in which it was originally employed. It is commonly taken as a grave description of the abundance and variety of the means of grace which God has vouchsafed to the Church; whereas it is, really, a drunken sneer at the poverty and simplicity of the means vouchsafed to the Church of Isaiah’ s time. No sooner do we turn to the original and study it than the case becomes clear; we see that, beyond a doubt, we not only have here a jibe at Isaiah from the lips of drunken men, but that the verse is so constructed as to imitate their thickened and difficult pronunciation. (S. Cox, D. D.)The Divine method of instruction “ Here a little, there a little.” This, though it was said in scorn by the haughty revellers, is really the true, the Divine method of all instruction. What is the difference that distinguishes the musician or the painter from the mere amateur? What is it but the long-continued discipline of hand, of ear, of eye, which has made all the faculties of body and mind subservient to the purposes of the art? (F. Temple, D. D.)The precept, the line and the little I. THE LESSON OF THE PRECEPT is in order that we may be right and do right. God tells us the same thing over and over again. A precept is a warning, a command, which says, “ Take care,” “ Mind,” “ Keep in the way.” II. THE LESSON OF THE LINE. That is, in order that we may be right and do right, we must try over and over again. God helps all honest trying. An old proverb says, “ God helps those who help themselves” ; and another says, “ Practice makes perfect.” “ Line upon line,” --that is the way we all learn and have learnt all that we know or are able to do. It is so in learning to write. So it is in learning arithmetic. So in learning to draw. III. THE LESSON OF THE LITTLE. That is, in order that we may be right and do right we must not be discouraged if we do not make great advances; we must remember that it is “ here a little and there a little.” How slowly most great and valuable things grow! The harvest does not spring up in a field in a night. A step at a time mounts the tallest ladder at last, but it must be a step at a time. How long an oak is before it comes to its prime; yet if they could speak they would each say “ I am coming on. Here a little and there a little” makes a learned man, a prosperous man, a useful and a good man. “ Here a little and there a little” makes the perfect needle woman, and sets the most untidy house to rights at last. How great some ships are! What holds the mighty anchor which holds the ship in a storm? A cable. And what is a cable made of? Why, of ropes coiled over ropes, and every rope made out of little threads. So it is with the habits of life, good or bad; “ here a little and there a little,” so trifling as they seemed at first, they become at last such mighty and unconquerable affairs. (Anon.)Christian education I. THE TRUE NATURE OF . 1. As regards Christian doctrine, it will probably be within the recollection of meet of us that it formed the dullest part of our early instruction; and who can be surprised at it who recollects that, in addition to the natural repugnance of the human heart to all Divine things, the instruction was such as neither to enlighten the head, to touch the heart, or to interest the imagination? Let me express my profound conviction that the great human cause of the growth of error among our young people, and the falling off of many into perilous superstition, or no less perilous rationalism, is to be found here. Men have been contented to comprise in their religious knowledge only a few bald, bare truths, which perhaps they have received without personal inquiry from their parents, and have naturally thought it sufficient to hand down the same hereditary belief, the same bald truths, to their children after them. Truth consequently has had no aspect of reality, has been no living thing to them. Meanwhile times have changed, and the mental coldness of other days has given place to the intellectual activity of our own day. 2. Doctrinal truth is only one half, after all, if it be even that, of religious teaching. There remains the practical part of the faith; that by which, on the one side, it touches the conscience, and by which, on the other, it regulates the life. II. THE MEANS OF . 1. The influence of example. 2. The influence of love, and of that confidence which springs from love. (E. Garbett, M. A.)Precept upon precept Suppose you were walking from London to Brighton; well, as you go upon your way you meet with many fingerposts, or milestones, at distances not far apart, the fingerposts often at less than a mile apart; and they repeat the same thing--“ To Brighton--To Brighton” ; and the milestones, they say so many miles to Brighton or from Brighton. You do not feel angry at this; you do not say, “ Why ever did they put up so many fingerposts, or so many milestones?” On the contrary, if you were in any doubt about the road, you would feel exceedingly thankful for such guides, and hardly think you could have too many. So God guides and warns. (Anon.)Here a little and there a little“ Here a little and there a little” We take this text because it seems to express with extraordinary conciseness a principle in God’ s procedure and in His ways towards man. 1. Have you considered the manner of God’ s revelation to His people in the olden time? Have you considered with what marvellous patience and consideration it was conducted? The will of God was not flashed, as in a moment, upon the minds of His people, but unfolded by degrees as they were able to receive it. And when through unbelief and disobedience they lost it, it was brought back to them by fresh messengers from God. Is not the Old Testament full of kind and various and gracious repetition? That is because it is the record of the Divine training and instruction of the people who were, alas! stiff-necked and, too often, proved themselves, as the martyr Stephen told them, uncircumcised in heart and ears. 2. Obviously the same principle runs through the New Testament also. Jesus Christ did not deliver His message, or doctrine, once for all, in a studied manner. He spoke to His followers as they were able to receive. 3. I have just said those things in regard to the two testaments and the construction of the Bible, desiring to go on and try, if I can, to show that this is a principle of God all through His works, and all through His training of His people. Shallow minds are apt to think much more of bold and rapid effects; but those who have observed most widely, and reflected most deeply, know this well--that Omnipotence works slowly. It is impotence that is in hurry. Now, what I want to put before you is that, it being so, it should be expected, and it turns out to be true, that the supreme wisdom of God will, on the very same principle, carry on the work of human enlightenment in the truth. Now take a lesson from this earth on which we dwell. The earth was not built up suddenly. In its history, as expressed in the records that science can decipher on its caves and its seashores, there have been some sudden changes, but, far more generally, long, long processes, small in detail, but working out immense effects. Lands, slowly sunk beneath the water, slowly rose again. Ice patiently rounded off our mountains and shaped our valleys. Great strata slowly formed themselves--deposited themselves--grain by grain, during prodigious periods of time. Innumerable plants and trees flourished and died, and, after death, prepared--how deliberately--those vast coal measures that make so much of England’ s prosperity. Look at man. Look at that microcosm--that little world of man. How is a man built? Of body, and mind, and heart, and character. Is it not by little and little the frame grows from its first beginning? Take him after birth. See how he grows by repetitions of natural processes--repetitions--constant repetitions. A little sleep, a little food, a little exercise. Over again, a little sleep, a little food, a little exercise. And again, a little sleep, and so on. Well, so grows his mind--by observation--by comparison of objects--by comparison of objects near him--by asking questions. What a thing it is to teach a child the letters, and to teach a child to read! What a business--little by little--repeating over, and over, and over again! Now, then,raise the subject a little. Take the question of moral culture, and then we will take the subject of spiritual advancement; but no otherwise than on this principle can moral culture or spiritual advancement be attained. There are some moral natures, if I may so speak, much stronger and healthier to start with than others, just as there are physical natures that are stronger; but it is not always the very strong child that grows up the very strongest man, is it? You see some poor delicate child grow fast; and so it is with the moral nature. They gain habits of self-control, and integrity becomes inseparable from their life. There is no real moral strength till that is reached--till integrity is wrought into the character so that it cannot be taken out of it. It is inseparable from the character and life, and thus, “ line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little,” are needed to form an honest man, that “ noble work of God.” And if it be so with moral progress, is it not also so with what we call spiritual advancement? Real spiritual qualities are given from heaven, but they are given upon the same principle upon which God gives moral strength, and upon which He even gives physical strength to His people. How is a Christian made? I say, by a process to which these words before me, “ here a little and there a little,” may be very well applied. Let us just study this a little. Let us develop thin” inquiry,” “ for it is full of practical importance. And to be the clearer I will put four questions. (1) How does a Christian receive the truth through the faith of which he is purified? And I answer, not by one lesson but by many lessons. He sees his sin. The Spirit of the Lord shows you the way of pardon and peace through the blood of Jesus crucified for our sin. By and by you see that more clearly. You get a glimpse; you get another glimpse; you get a longer look; you get a steadier vision of Christ crucified. (2) How does a Christian get rid of indwelling sin? And my answer to that again is, by little and little. (3) How is it that a Christian learns practical wisdom and sobriety of mind, so much needed in this intoxicating world? Not at a bound. It is not a miraculous infusion into him of another mind than his own. It is his own mind that must be made wise; and a man can never be made wise, I think, but by repeated exposures of his folly. (4) How does a Christian gain likeness to Jesus Christ? By little and little. Have you seen a painter at work--a portrait painter, we will say? After the great outlines of the picture are placed upon the canvas, have you noticed how gradually and how minutely he produces the required likeness? A touch of the brush here, and then a pause. Then he looks at it, and looks at it; and then another touch, and then another touch. (D. Fraser, D. D.)“ Here a little, and there a little” The application of the text is, first of all, to the impressions produced by the Word of God, and the efficacy of constant religious instruction. But it is in this same way, by little and little, that all great and lasting impressions are made, and the mightiest results accomplished. Habit, which is the strongest thing in nature, and which forms a second nature, is thus produced. So it is in the invisible growth of all things, gradual and imperceptible, yet constant and sure. So it is in all the processes of nature. 1. It is by little and little that every man’ s character is formed. Most persons’ guilty character is made of little sins. They may be scarcely noticed at the time, but a constant succession of them makes a great weight. Christian character, too, is made up of little things. The Christian spirit must enter into all things, and then all things become great in the light of Heaven. But the Christian character may be almost spoiled by little sins, or what are called such. Almost every important thing depends upon little things often repeated. It seems a very little thing to live near to God one day; it is a very great thing; but still, to do it for one day does not seem so great a task; not so great a thing but that the Christian, by the help of God, may easily accomplish it for one day. But if this little thing were accomplished every day, every one day in the year, then the whole would be infinitely glorious. On the other hand, to a man forgetful of God it seems but a very little evil which is wrought with the character in one day, perhaps none at all, if there be no marked crime. Nevertheless, a certain number of those imperceptible advancements bring him to his destiny, both of character and retribution, for eternity. 2. It is by little and little that in such a world as this we must do the greater part of the good that we ever accomplish. He that is faithful in great things is faithful also in the least; and if he be not faithful in small things, God will not give him the opportunity to be so in large ones. What is surer than God’ s great promise in regard to children, that if you train them up faithfully for Him, He will take care of them and bless them and make them His? But the result of good character and heavenly habit with them depends upon the daily, familiar, minute, but ever-recurring examples set before them, and influences brought to bear upon them. But, I say, God’ s providence takes care of single little things also, and oftentimes makes much out of them, or hangs much upon them. Nothing can be lost that is done for God. (G. B. Cheever, D. D.)Great results from a simple remark It is said to have been a single remark of Rev. Chas. Simeon in regard to the blessings which had resulted from the labours of Dr. Carey in India that first arrested the attention of Henry Martyn to the cause of missions. His mind began to stir under the new thought, and a perusal of the “ Life of Brainerd” fixed him in his resolution to give himself to his Redeemer in the service of preaching the Gospel to the dying heathen. (G. B. Cheever, D. D.)Little ways and great service Joseph Dunman kept a small seed shop in Lambeth Walk, in the midst of a crowded population of the poor. He was a faithful witness for Christ. He found many opportunities during business hours of testifying to the truth by word and by distributing tracts. He could not preach, but he felt he could invite others to hear. Every Sunday evening, for about an hour before and at the beginning o, service, he used to walk up and down in front of Christ Church (Revelation Newman Hall’ s), and invite strangers to enter, offering them a seat and a hymn book. During the year hundreds have thus been brought under the sound of the Gospel, of whom several have testified that they have yielded their hearts to God through him. At the after prayer meeting he often addressed young men with simple and touching effect. His own conversion illustrated the good results of little efforts. He used to be a toll keeper on Waterloo Bridge. The minister of Surrey Chapel, on crossing the bridge, frequently gave him a little book, and exchanged a few words with him. When the toll was given up, and he was at liberty on Sunday, he went to hear the preacher who had thus become known to him, and so he was led to Christ. He was not fifty years old when, after a few days’ illness, he was called home; yet his life was long if reckoned by usefulness. (The Christian.) Isaiah 28:11 With stammering lips Assyrian speech “ By men of strange lips” Jehovah will speak Assyrian to them; and with a more frightful iteration than the prophet used. (A. B.Davidson, LL. D.)A great moral principle We gather from Isaiah that God speaks twice to men, first in words and then by deeds, but both times very simply and plainly. (G. A. Smith, D. D.) Isaiah 28:12 This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest Rest in Christ That these words are to be interpreted as relating to Jesus Christ is manifest both from the preceding and subsequent context, and from the general tenor of the Word of God. The doctrine of salvation through the Messiah opens the sources of genuine happiness to believing men. This is eminently the rest,--it is here alone that they can find satisfaction. I. THE NATURE OF THAT REST WHICH IS ENJOYED IN CHRIST. The term “ rest” is here employed to denote spiritual enjoyment: it imports that unspeakable delight and satisfaction with which a believing soul reposes itself in Christ Jesus, as its portion and happiness, its all and in all. This is a rest far more refreshing than the most seasonable relief from bodily labours or temporal troubles--no created good can at all be compared with it. It exclusively deserves the name of “ the” rest, as everything else which assumes the appearance of rest is ideal, and this only is real and substantial. 1. What are the sources of spiritual rest? This rest arises from-- (1) A spiritual discovery of the infinite excellence of the Redeemer’ s person. When the enlightened believer is possessed with a sense of the glories of Christ’ s person, all created glory vanishes, as the stars do before the sun. (2) A view of the all-atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christi Consider three important particulars in the sacrifice of Christ,--its inherent and infinite merit, the authority by which it is appointed, and the public declaration which has been given of its acceptance. 2. The effects with which this rest is accompanied. (1) Pardon of sin. (2) Acceptance with God, and the enjoyment of His special favour and love. (3) Deliverance from the reigning power and dominion of sin. (4) The delightful prospect of eternal happiness in Heaven. II. THE OF THE PERSONS FOR WHOM THIS REST IS . “ The weary.” Under this description we may include-- 1. All unregenerated sinners to whom this rest is offered. They are represented as wearying themselves with very vanity (Habakkuk 2:13), wearying themselves to commit iniquity. (Jeremiah 9:5), and as wearying God (Isaiah 7:13; Isaiah 43:24). To all persons of this description spiritual rest is offered; but it will never be relished till the sinner is united to the Saviour. 2. We are principally to understand by the term “ weary,” all the children of God who are heavy laden with their spiritual burdens. They are weary-- (1) With a sense of aggravated guilt. (2) With the conflict which they maintain with sin and Satan. (3) With their crying under the hidings of God’ s face (Psalms 13:1; Psalms 77:7-10). (4) With those disquieting fears of death where: with they are harassed. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)Christ the rest-giver Talleyrand said, “ Life is one long fatigue.” Christ wishes to make it one long rest. (Mrs. Skinner.)Rejecters of the Gospel admonished Isaiah was one of the most eloquent of preachers, yet he could not win the ears and hearts of those to whom he spoke. It was not the fault of the preacher that Israel rejected his warnings: all the fault lay with that disobedient and gainsaying nation. The people to whom he spoke so earnestly were drunken in a double sense. (1) They were overcome with wine (verses 7, 8). (2) They were also intoxicated with pride. The two forms of drunkenness are equally destructive. I. THE OF THE GOSPEL. This Scripture does not allude to the Gospel primarily, but to the message which Isaiah had to deliver, which was in part the command of the law and in part the promise of grace; but the same rule holds good of all the words of the Lord; and, indeed, any excellence which was found in the prophet’ s message is found yet more abundantly in the fuller testimony of the Gospel in Christ Jesus. 1. The excellence of that Gospel lies in its object, for-- (1) It is a revelation of rest. (2) It is the cause of rest. (3) This rest is especially meant for the weary. (4) In addition to bringing us rest, the message of mercy points us to a refreshing. If the rested on should grow weary again, the Good Shepherd will give him refreshing; if he wanders, the Lord will restore him; if he grows faint He will revive him. Note, that Isaiah did not come to these people to talk about rest in dubious terms. No; he puts his finger right down on the truth, and says, “ This is the rest, and this is the refreshing.” So we, when we come with a message from God, come with definite teaching. Nor did he preach a rest of a selfish character. That secret something which your own heart possesses shall enable you to communicate good cheer to many a weary heart, and hope to many a desponding mind. 2. The other excellence of the Gospel lies in its manner. (1) It comes with authority. (2) It was delivered with great simplicity. Isaiah came with it. “ precept upon precept,” etc. It is the glory of the Gospel that it is so plain. (3) It is taught us by degrees. (4) The Gospel is repeated. (5) It is brought home to us in ways suited to our capacity. II. THE WHICH ARE TAKEN TO THE GOSPEL. 1. They are most wanton. Men object to that which promises them rest. 2. Wilful. “ This is the refreshing, yet they would not hear.” 3. Wicked, because they are rebellion against God, and an insult to His truth and mercy. 4. These people raised objections that were the outgrowth of their pride. They objected to the simplicity of Isaiah’ s preaching. They said, “ Who is he? You should not go to hear him; he talks to us as if we were children. Besides, it is the same thing over and over again.” Too many wish for a map to Heaven so mysteriously drawn that they may be excused from following it. III. THE DIVINE OF THESE . 1. The Lord threatens them with the loss of that which they despised. In verse 20 he warns them that the shall have no rest henceforth “ For thy bed is shorter,” etc. 2. They shall be punished by a gradual hardening of heart (verse 13). A fall backward is the worst kind of fall. 3. This is to be followed by a growing inability to understand (verse 11). 4. Whatever refuge they choose for themselves shall utterly fail them (verse 17). (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 28:14-22 Hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men Isaiah’ s response The prophet replies that when the storm does sweep over the land, as it assuredly will, these “ refuges of lies” will prove no shelter to their builders; they have been tried by the plummet of honesty and righteousness and found to be so out of line that they must come down: but meanwhile, nay, from of old, Jehovah has Himself founded a really serviceable house for His people, namely, the ancient constitution and polity of which He Himself is the chief cornerstone; and the man who trusts in that foundation, believing that it really is there, will not be urged to any impatient acts of panic, whatever may be the apparent danger. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Scornful rulers It is bad with a people when their thrones of judgment become the seats of the scornful. (M. Henry.)Incongruous scorning That the rulers of Jerusalem should be men of such a character is very sad. Who will be mourners in Zion if they are scorners? (M. Henry.)Scorners I. HOW THESE MEN LULLED ASLEEP in carnal security, and even challenged God Almighty to do His worst (Isaiah 28:15). II. HOW GOD AWAKENS THEM OUT OF THIS SLEEP, and shows them the folly of their security. 1. He tells them upon what grounds they might be secure. He doth not disturb their false confidences till He hath first showed them a firm bottom on which they may repose themselves (Isaiah 28:16). This foundation is-- (1) The promises of God in general. (2) The promise of Christ in particular (1 Peter 2:6-8). 2. He tells them that upon these grounds which they now built on they could not be safe, but their confidences would certainly fail them (Isaiah 28:17-21). III. HERE IS THE USE AND OF ALL THIS (Isaiah 28:22). (M. Henry.)We have made lies our refugeRefuges of lies Let us assemble in classes the excuses of a score or more of people who have told me frankly why they had decided not to become Christians. 1. First of all, is a class who excuse themselves because the Church has stood for bigotry, narrowness, and cruelty. It is said that in all ages the Church has included hypocrites among its members. But can anything be more unfair than these excuses? Granted that Peter cursed and denied with vulgar oaths his Master, what has that to do with the beauty of Christ’ s character or the claim of His kingdom upon your life? Confessedly, John Calvin was simply an organised syllogism, an animated argument, bloodless as a stone. Even if he did play the traitor like Peter, and refuse to forgive his enemy and forgot the God who makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, how does his recreancy make right yours? Here is the world of business and commerce. Tomorrow merchants will adulterate their goods, traders will tamper with the weights, clerks will steal money from the bank, assistants will rob their employers. Since you do not care to associate with hypocrites, withdraw tomorrow morning from business. Give up all physicians, because some are quacks. Draw down the shades over your windows, because there are spots on the sun; and give up the summer, because there are stormy days in July; and give up the fruits, because there are blemishes on the apples. 2. There is another class that emphasise the uncertainty and disagreements concerning Christianity. Since it is all so hazy, and at best only a probability, they are unwilling to commit themselves to the Christian life. It is not necessary that we should understand all doctrines and the philosophy of duty, in order to fulfil the moral obligations. Life is governed by probability. There may be a thousand disagreements as to theology, but there is no disagreement as to what it is to be a Christian. We are asked to show the fruits of love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness. 3. Others there are who urge that becoming a Christian puts restraints upon the individual, narrows the range of his enjoyments, shuts up certain highways of happiness. “ I want always to feel perfectly free,” exclaims the youth. “ I am afraid that I might find myself somewhat cabined and confined by taking upon myself these obligations.” But becoming a Christian is simply to obey the laws of Christ. This objection is based upon a false theory of liberty. Liberty is obedience to law. It is sin that narrows the life. It is disobedience that cabins men and confines them; it is loyalty to God’ s laws that breaks down the walls, pushes back the horizons and makes the soul a citizen of the universe. (N. D. Hillis, D. D.) Isaiah 28:16-17 Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone The stone laid in Zion The prophet borrows his figure from the huge and costly foundation stones upon which the temple rested (1 Kings 5:17); and the thought which he desires to enforce is that in Zion there is an element of permanency, a constitutional fabric capable of resisting all shocks. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Foundation stones The force of the figure in this verse is much enhanced by the statements of modern travellers in relation to the immense stones still remaining at the foundation of ancient walls. (J. A. Alexander.)The element of permanency The element of permanency to which Isaiah here looks is, of course, the theocracy centred at Zion, and represented by the Davidic dynasty, the continuance of which had been promised long since by Nathan to David 2 Samuel 7:13; cf. 2 Samuel 23:5; 1 Kings 11:36). As the people of Israel, in Isaiah’ s view, is indestructible, so is the dynasty, which, since it was established, became the centre and pivot of the national life. (Prof. Driver, D. D.)Is this prophecy Messianic? The element of security to which the prophet appeals is opposed to the plan of an Egyptian alliance, and hence must be something not pointing entirely to a distant future, but having some reference to present needs. But it is true that a Messianic reference is included in the terms of the prophecy, as it was included similarly in the promise of permanency to David’ s dynasty. (Prof. Driver, D. D.)The tried stone (Festival of St. Simon and St. Jude):--It is the first chapter out of the six which form the “ Book of Woes” (Delitzsch). The Messianic prophecy, though full of consolation, “ turns its dark side” --for it has one--to the scoffing magnates of Jerusalem (Isaiah 28:14). The zeal of the prophet, manifested in this lesson, against vice and unbelief, may have led to its selection for this festival of St. Simon and St. Jude. The Church has combined them together--these two apostles--in one commemoration, perhaps, among other reasons, because they shared in an especial degree the same spirit of zeal. St. Simon was called the Zealot, it may be, because the quality of zeal was very marked in his temperament; and St. Jude has the name Thaddaeus, probably for the same reason. At any rate, his Epistle is one of denunciation--a “ Book of Woes” against ungodly persons. I. THE IMAGE. 1. No one person can satisfy the “ majestically unique description” but Christ. The Divine purpose is spoken of as if already accomplished. Behold, I “ have laid” in Zion. It was eternally decreed. It is the acme and explanation of Israel’ s election and history. 2. It was no new figure. Isaiah himself had spoken of Jehovah as “ a stone of stumbling” (Isaiah 8:14). We must go back to Jacob’ s partingblessing upon his sons to find the same figure in patriarchal days Genesis 49:24). Joseph’ s history was a picture of the rejecting of “ the stone” and of its final triumph. The Psalmist foretold the same vicissitude Psalms 118:22). Our Lord alluded to “ the stone” as signifying Himself Matthew 21:42). St. Peter, when brought before the council, denounced the Jews for setting at nought this “ stone” (Acts 4:11). The same apostle quotes the text in his first Epistle (chap. 2:6) with a variance, and St. Paul a portion of it (Romans 9:33). 3. The frequency of its use or reference shows some especial fitness in the designation. At once the ideas of solidity and strength suggest themselves. Other ideas are connected with “ the stone” as a figure of our Lord, by Zechariah. It is “ a stone of seven eyes,” meaning doubtless that the seven gifts of the Spirit rested upon Him, and setting Him before us as a Being full of light and knowledge. II. THE OF THE STONE. 1. A “ tried” stone. We miss this in the quotation of the text in the New Testament. Both St. Peter and St. Paul cite the LXX, which omits it, and cite it freely, one of them blending it with another prophecy. The word “ tried” may be interpreted also “ trial stone” or “ stone of probation.” Both interpretations are true of Jesus Christ. Christ was tried and “ tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin,” and through His sufferings was not only proved, but “ approved of God” (Acts 2:22). He is also a stone which puts others to the test, like the Lydian stone, which was said to distinguish the genuine metal and to detect the presence of alloy--to separate the true from the false (Luke 2:34). Throughout our Lord’ s life we see, as He came in contact with men, this discerning of spirits, but especially during His Passion. 2. A “ precious cornerstone.” St. Peter says, “ elect, precious” --chosen, that is, of God, and precious both in itself and in relation to the building of which it was the cornerstone. A cornerstone is the stone of junction, where the walls meet. The expression in its highest sense may indicate the union between the Divine and human natures in the One Person of the Word; or, in a less elevated sense, it may refer to the union of Jews and Gentiles in the one Body of Christ (Ephesians 2:15). 3. A “ sure foundation.” A foundation stone implies a building--implies here the Church, and the “ cornerstone” does the same (Ephesians 2:20, ἀκρογωνιαῖος)--the stone at the extreme corner. The image is somewhat different--the one points to the base, the other to the extreme angle of the building. Christ is “ Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last” (Revelation 22:13). There is no contradiction between the statement that the Church is “ built upon the foundation of the apostles,” and that “ no other foundation can be laid” “ than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). Christ is, St. Augustine explains, “ Fundamentum fundamentorum.” We are built upon the apostles, because through the apostles we are built upon Christ. He is a “ sure” foundation, so that the gates of hell, though they may war against, yet can they not overcome the Church. The foundation is “ most surely laid” by “ the Lord God Himself.” III. LESSONS. 1. As Christ is the foundation stone, so each Christian is a stone built upon Him, and deriving his spiritual life from Him. St. Peter speaks of Christ as a “ living stone.” The apostle passes here from the metaphor to the reality. “ Dead as a stone” is a common saying; but the stone which the builders rejected came forth from the tomb, not only living, but life giving. Each Christian, “ baptized into one body,” and living in fellowship with Christ, is a living stone from contact with Him (1 Peter 2:5). See, then, that we are living in union with Christ. 2. We are not only built upon Christ, but are cemented together with other stones in the walls of the “ spiritual house.” We are members of a Divine society, and not isolated Christians. Hence love of the brethren is a duty which devolves upon every Christian--union with them as well as with Christ, as we are cemented together by the Spirit of the Lord. 3. Though living stones differ from ordinary stones in that the latter have no wills or powers of motion, but are simply passive in the hands of the quarryman or mason; yet the living stone depends for its vitality upon the absolute surrender of the will into the hands of God, so that it may be hewn and shaped and polished, by the trials of this life, as the Master. Builder thinks best. (W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)The foundation stone of the Church I. THE OF JESUS CHRIST AS THE SUPPORT AND OF HIS CHURCH. 1. A stone. (1) To convey the idea of stability. The hopes of God’ s people in all ages were to have the most substantial foundation to rest upon. (2) Because of the ides of its durability. It has endured through all ages to the present day, and it will endure to the end of time. (3) Life is also attributed by the apostles to this stone. 2. “ A tried stone.” Completely, adapted to answer all the ends for which it is laid. 3. “ A precious cornerstone.” Examine its excellences. What Solomon said of true wisdom is strictly applicable here--“ it is more precious than rubles.” “ Precious” for the situation which it occupies; because it is the bond which unites the Church of God in all ages. The patriarchal, the Levitical, the Christian Churches are all one in Christ Jesus. All the people of God, however denominated--wherever placed--in whatever age or circumstances--feel the uniting power of this cornerstone. And it binds and unites the Church militant and the Church triumphant. 4. To complete and give greater interest and solidity to the hopes of His people, it is called “ a sure foundation.” Observe by whom it is laid. Not by mortal hands, but by the Founder of the universe. “ Sure!” How vain have been all the assaults of infidelity. II. IT IS THAT WE SHOULD OUR , and see by those tests which God has furnished, whether we have built on this foundation. Christians are related to Christ after the analogy of stones to the foundation. And what does this imply? 1. Separation from all other purposes. Those who are thus separated are-- 2. Appropriated to the especial purpose for which this stone is laid in Zion, namely, the building of a spiritual house. The manner in which Solomon’ s temple was built, was a type of the manner in which this building is to be erected. Each stone was previously squared and polished before it was placed in its permanent situation. It is expressly said of these stones, that they were made ready before they were brought thither; so that no sound of either hammer or axe was heard in the house. This is to teach us that every living stone, to occupy a place in the celestial temple, must be hewn out of nature’ s quarry, by the ministration of God’ s Word, by Christian communion, etc., and squared and polished before it is placed in the temple. 3. These stones are themselves endued with spiritual life. By their conjunction with Christ, they obtain a spiritual, celestial life. Do you ask, what is the ultimate design of all this? It is that all the stones may be brought together, and form a fit habitation for Deity Himself Ephesians 2:19-22). III. THE BY WHICH WE COME TO THIS LIVING STONE, are attached to the building, and become partakers of the privileges. “ He that believeth.” What is the believing here spoken of! We must look at the analogy. It is the resting of the soul on the foundation God has laid. IV. WHAT ARE TO RESULT FROM THIS OF THE SOUL TO CHRIST? “ He that believeth shall not make haste.” (S. Warren, LL. D.)Jesus Christ the only foundation I. THE OF THIS . 1. It is a stone; for solidity, stability, and durableness. 2. A tried stone. (1) His obedience was tried, and it appeared upon trial that it was perfect and universal. His meekness was tried by the abusive treatment He met with from men. His patience and resignation to the Divine will were tried, when the bitter cup of the wrath of God was put into His hand. His love to His Father and His zeal for His honour were tried, and they were found an unquenchable flame, that glowed, without once languishing, through the whole of His life. His love to men--to sinners, to enemies, was tried; tried to the uttermost; it was put to the trial whether His own life or theirs was most dear to Him. In short, this stone was thoroughly tried by God and man, and it still remained firm without a flaw. Jesus also has been tried under the capacity of a Saviour, by millions and millions of depraved, wretched, ruined creatures, who have always found Him perfectly able, and as perfectly willing, to save to the very uttermost all that come unto God through Him. (2) It may be rendered, “ a stone of trial” ; or, a “ trying stone” ; this is the true touchstone of men’ s characters. Only propose Jesus Christ to them as a Saviour, and according as they receive or reject Him, you may know their true character, and their everlasting doom. This touchstone has discovered many glittering virtues to be but dross. The Pharisees and scribes had a high character among the Jews for piety, till this trying stone was applied to them; and then it appeared what they were. This test made strange discoveries also in the heathen world. Many of the sages of Greece and Rome had a high reputation for wisdom and virtue. But when this stone was pointed out to them as the only foundation of their hopes, they rejected it with proud disdain, and thought it much more safe to depend upon their own virtue and merit, than upon the virtue and merit of one that was crucified like a malefactor. And thus it appeared they were not truly good and virtuous. Let this touchstone be applied likewise to the men of this generation, and it will discover a great many counterfeits. As this is a trying-stone with regard to men’ s present characters, so it will be also as to their final doom and everlasting state. 3. This is a precious stone. 4. This stone is a sure foundation. “ Such (says Mr. Hervey) as no pressure can shake; equal, more than equal to every weight; even to sin, the heaviest load in the world. The Rock of Ages, such as never has failed, never will fail those humble penitents who cast their Burden upon the Lord Redeemer; who roll all their guilt, and fix their whole hopes upon this immovable basis.” The foundation is sure, because it is of Divine appointment. 5. This is a cornerstone. Jesus Christ may be called a cornerstone, to signify His peculiar importance in this spiritual building. II. THIS STONE IS A . Jesus Christ must lie at the bottom of all, or the superstructure cannot stand. To join our own righteousness with His in our justification, is to form a foundation of solid stone, and hay, straw, and stubble, blended together. III. WOULD YOU THEN KNOW WHETHER YOU ARE REALLY BUILT UPON THIS SURE ? 1. Have you ever seen the utter insufficiency of every other foundation? You will never build upon Christ, while you can build anywhere else with hopes of safety. 2. Have you ever been sensible of the preciousness, the excellency, and the stability of this Divine foundation? If you have ever built upon Christ, it has Been at once an act of the last necessity, and of the most free choice. 3. Where is your habitual dependence? Is it upon Jesus Christ alone? Or is it upon something else? 4. Have you been formed into proper stones for this spiritual kingdom? (S. Davies, M. A.)The sure foundation I. THE LORD THAT HE HAS LAID THIS GREAT . “ Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation.” Here, as in many other parts of Scripture, the great work of the salvation of sinners is traced up to its fountainhead. II. THE LORD THE BLESSED AND OF THIS . III. THE LORD SETS FORTH THE OF THOSE WHO BUILD UPON IT. “ He that believeth shall not make haste.” (W. Hancock, B. D.)The ground of a sinner’ s hope In the preceding context the prophet speaks of unsafe refuges. To bring sinners to the apprehension of the Saviour, God announces the declaration of the text. I. THE WHICH GOD TO THE which He was about to make. He introduces it with the solemn asseveration, “ Therefore, thus saith the Lord.” This is further apparent from the solemn manner in which He calls the minds of all to it. “ Behold, I lay.” He thus summons the attention of men and angels. It can be no trivial matter to which the infinitely wise God thus summons the attention of all. The truth is, He is about to erect a stately temple, unspeakably more glorious than either of the temples that stood once on Mount Moriah. They were only types and obscure shadows of this splendid structure. It is a temple which shall be built up forever. The stones of it are lively stones, being the immortal souls of men. It shall be filled with the glory of the God of the whole earth. Never shall “ Ichabod, the glory is departed,” be written upon its walls. But to employ another figure of the same signification, God is about to build a glorious city. But what is meant by the temple and city? They refer to the Church of the living God, which is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. The words have also a reference to sinners of mankind. God may be viewed as laying the foundation stone of a gracious plan for redeeming them from sin and hell. II. IT IS GOD WHO HAS LAID THE IN ZION. “ I lay.” None else had sufficient knowledge to discover a safe and suitable method of acceptance. Besides, He alone had it in His power to lay such a foundation. Here is matter of comfort. Had it been laid by another, how could we have had the same evidence that it was safe? Might it not have been disallowed by God? But since it is the doing of the Lord,. who may prohibit, us from building upon it? and who shall cast any reflection upon its security? Here a question suggests itself, and it is, When was this foundation laid? God speaks of it as if He was laying it at the time when He used these words. But it will be remembered that there is no succession of time with God. It was laid in decree from all eternity. The saints of the former dispensations sought it and relied upon it for safety. But again, this foundation was laid, in the fulness of time, by Christ’ s coming into the world, and offering Himself a sacrifice for sin. III. THIS STONE IS LAID IN ZION,--in the Church. Christ is the foundation upon which it is built. Without His mission and death no Church could have been erected. And from Him proceeded all the ordinances and institutions by which the blessings of redemption are communicated to her members. From Him likewise proceeds all the invisible grace which is necessary to gather, edify, and purify a Church. Again, it is in the ordinances and assemblies of the Church that He is chiefly to be found. IV. THE STONE LAID FOR A HAS BEEN TRIED. Though Christ had not been tried, the fact that He was God as well as man would have been sufficient to warrant our strongest confidence in Him. But in what respects was Christ tried and proved? 1. Like Adam, His innocence was tried. His temper was severely tested it was tried by His disciples. 2. Christ’ s confidence in the promises made to Him was greatly tried. God had promised that to Him would be the gathering of the people, and that the heathen and the uttermost parts of the earth would be given Him for His possession; but, instead of witnessing the fulfilment of these promises, He was rejected and despised of men; and His retinue often amounted to no more than twelve fishermen; and yet He continued to trust that all would be accomplished in due time. 3. His qualifications to act the part of our Saviour have likewise been proven. (1) His mercy has been tried. It has been proven by all who have applied to Him for deliverances of any kind; and they have always found it very tender. (2) Christ’ s readiness to hear prayer has been tried. (3) His power has been likewise proved. He has completely demonstrated His ability to save. What comfort is here for the awakened! In coming to Christ for peace and salvation, they incur no risk. V. CHRIST IS A . 1. It is easy to see some reasons why He is called precious. (1) He is precious to God on account of the ineffable love that subsists between Him and the Son, who is His delight. (2) He is precious to the Father, likewise, on account of the work of redemption which the Father gave Him to do, and which He cheerfully undertook and faithfully performed. (3) To believers He possesses transcendent excellence on account of the nature and perfections of Deity with which He is invested, and because He is a suitable and compassionate Saviour. 2. But why is He also termed a cornerstone? This seems intended to teach us that Christ must be all in all in the work of our salvation. VI. CHRIST IS A SURE . 1. God has laid Him for a foundation, and the foundation of the Lord standeth sure. 2. That Christ is a sure foundation is evident from the fact that He stood His trial. 3. It is manifest also, from the many promises and oaths made to Himself, and to His people, through Him. 4. In addition to all other grounds of security, be it remembered, that while our first representative was a creature, the second is the Lord from heaven, the Creator. VII. HE THAT ON CHRIST SHALL NOT MAKE HASTE. This mode of expression is evidently borrowed from the idea of a house about to fall--the inmates making haste to get away from under it. When anunexpected inundation has sapped away the sand or earth on which the house was built, then there is a running to and fro: everyone tries to secure his own safety, and to give warning to his relatives. And confusion and haste far greater than this will attend those who now cover themselves with lies and falsehood. There are three seasons of this haste--the season of death, the season of the resurrection, and the season of judgment. These are times of the greatest alarm and confusion to all who stumble upon the stone laid in Zion; but the case is very different with him that trusteth in the Lord. (A. Ross, M. A.)God’ s foundation I. MAN NEEDS A ON WHICH TO BUILD HIS HOPES FOR TIME AND FOR . Because of his nature, the nature of sin, the character of God; man’ s duties and responsibilities; the faculties and capabilities of his immortal soul. II. MAN CANNOT LAY A . The history of the world shows that humanity has ever been trying to do this. The various systems of religion. Human reason has been deified. Reliance on God’ s abstract mercy. Correct creeds, good works--all fail in the time of man’ s necessity. III. GOD HAS LAID A . While men and angels would have failed, God gave His Son, foundation for pardon, purity, peace, heaven. IV. THIS HAS BEEN TRIED. 1. By persecution--Church and individual. 2. By trust--all classes, all times, under all circumstances, in life and in death. V. THE OF THE TEXT. “ Shall not make haste.” No guilt too deep for pardon; no trial and temptation too great for consoling grace; nothing beyond the power of Christ. (J. T. Murrish.)The foundation of God I. THE . Christ. In a very deep sense Jesus Christ is the foundation of the whole of the Divine dealings with us; and historically, since the day on which He appeared on earth, He has more and more manifestly and completely been the foundation of the whole of the history of the world. But passing these aspects, let us rather fix upon those which are more immediately in the prophet’ s mind. Jesus Christ is the foundation laid for all men’ s security against every tempest or assault. We may look at the same thought under somewhat different aspects. 1. He is the foundation for all our thinking and opinions, for all our belief and our knowledge. In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom, and whatsoever of solid fact men can grasp in their thinking in regard of all the most important things with which they come into relation, is to be found in the life and death of Jesus Christ, and in the truths which that reveals. He is the foundation of all our knowledge of God, of all our true knowledge of ourselves, of all our true knowledge of duty, of all our true knowledge of the relations between the present and the future, between man and God. And in His life, in the history of His death and resurrection, is the only foundation for any real knowledge of the awful mysteries that lie beyond the grave. Certitude is in Him. 2. He is the foundation of all restful love. 3. He is the foundation for all noble and pure living. He is the fixed pattern to which it may be conformed. Otherwise man’ s notions of what is virtuous and good are much at the mercy of conventional variations of opinion. 4. As the one sufficient motive for holy and beauteous living, He is the foundation. “ If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” They that find the reason and the motive for goodness and purity in Christ’ s love to them and their answering love to Christ, will build a far fairer fabric of a life than any others, let them toil at the building as they may. II. THE TRIED OF THE . Because it is a tested stone, it therefore is a precious stone. There are two kinds of testing--the testing from the assaults of enemies, and the testing by the building upon it of friends. And both these methods of proof have been applied, and it has stood the test. III. THE PROCESS OF . The metaphor seems to be abandoned in the last words of our text, but it is only apparently so. “ He that believeth shall not make haste.” The act of building is simple faith in Jesus Christ. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)God’ s foundation for man This passage represents in a word just very much the contrast between God’ s way and man’ s way of doing things. Man, according to his natural ideas, is all for doing things by his own efforts. What he has and what he does he must and shall produce from himself. He must invent, he must devise, he must judge, he must plan, he must execute, and God is to be ignored. His science is to be a science from which God is excluded, and His name is not to be mentioned. His social theories are to be social theories rounded off and complete in themselves, and God is not to be allowed to touch them. His moral life is to be built up upon its own foundations, and God is not to be called in for help. God’ s way of doing things is the very opposite of this. In His way of doing things men also are called upon to put forth all the efforts they can, but it is in building up on the foundations He has laid for them, not in laying a foundation for themselves. He calls on them to put forth their efforts in doing, what they can do, and not in attempting to do what they never can accomplish. (Prof. J. Orr, D. D.)The sure foundation I. If history teaches us anything, it is surely this--that MAN NEEDS GOD TO LAY HIS FOR HIM, and that he cannot dispense with God’ s help. 1. In the matter of thought man is laid under this very peculiar condition--that, on the one hand he needs a foundation of certainty in regard to the great questions and subjects of existence,--those great questions on which men’ s minds have tortured and perplexed themselves in all ages--the questions of God, the soul, and the hereafter, on which to build up his life; and, on the other hand, he cannot give himself this certainty. Men need a foundation of assurance on these great questions in order that their individual lives, their institutions, their societies even, may be built upon a strong and stable basis. “ I dare say you feel as I do,” says one of the speakers in a conversation with Socrates, “ how very hard, or almost impossible, is the attainment of any certainty about questions such as these in the present life. And yet I should deem him a coward who did not prove what is said about them to the uttermost, or whose heart failed him before he had examined them on every side. For he should persevere till he has achieved one of two things, either he should discover or be taught the truth about them; or, if this is impossible, I would have him take the best and most irrefragable of human theories, and let this be the raft upon which he sails through life--not without risk, as I admit, if he cannot find some word of God which will more safely and surely carry him.” 2. It is the same in regard to moral life. Men seek to build up their own moral life and the morality of their societies on a basis which shall be independent of religion; but how little they succeed, how abortive have been their efforts, all history might again be cited to prove. God lays the foundation of the true moral life in that new nature He bestows on us in Christ, in the light and power that are imparted to us through Him, and without this divinely laid foundation the builders build in vain. 3. Is it otherwise with religion, with the relation of man to God, and the state and standing of men before God? Here, too, men have ever been found, and are found still, putting forth painful efforts to secure their own peace; going about, as Paul said, to establish their own righteousness, not knowing that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Yet how hollow, and temporary, and uncertain is the peace gained by all such efforts; how far removed from the glorious certainty of reconciliation and acceptance with God which the Gospel of Jesus can impart! II. It is the great central assertion of the Christian faith THAT GOD HAS LAID FOR MANKIND SUCH A AS IT NEEDS, and that this foundation has been laid in Jesus Christ. With Christ’ s coming into the world a new era began in the history of the world, a new direction was given to the thoughts of men, a new revelation of God was made to them, a new gospel of sonship was preached to them, a new light was thrown on human nature, human needs, and human destiny, new hopes and prospects were opened up for humanity. On this foundation the race has gone on building up ever since. But there are those who tell us that this is passing away--that this may have done for the past, but will not do for the future; that this foundation stone is becoming obsolete, and that men must have done with it, and leave it behind. They must, in obedience to truth and the advance in the world’ s ideas, part with it. Well, the text itself does not anticipate that this stone laid by God, being planted there, will remain there without being put to test and trial. It is not a stone which God is to lay, and no one dispute the laying of it--which God is to lay, and no one refuse to build upon it--which God is to lay, and no one contest its right to be there. III. THIS SUBJECT HAS A TO THE . We are told in the text that it is God who is laying, and has laid, this foundation stone on which everything is to be built up. It is the preacher’ s function to unite himself with this great purpose of God. His function is to exhibit and commend this foundation stone. It is the preacher’ s duty to clear it of the human rubbish which from time to time may have been heaped upon it; to stand upon it himself, and to induce others to stand upon it too, and to rear their life, their work, everything, upon this foundation. IV. BUT THE TEXT BESIDES HAS A TO THE HEARER. It is a matter of infinite importance for hearers of the Gospel to recognise the preciousness and importance of this stone which God has laid; for us all that we should ourselves come to this stone and build our lives and hopes upon it. How great the comfort to those in spiritual darkness and perplexity to know that it is not left to them to lay the foundation stone of their spiritual peace; but that God has laid it for them, and that all they have to do is to build on that sure and tried foundation! Jesus Himself has identified Himself with this stone, and has warned us that men cannot come into collision with Him and not suffer grievous spiritual harm. (Prof. J. Orr, D. D.)God’ s foundation for the stability of His Church 1. This foundation was planned in the eternal counsels of Jehovah. 2. It was actually laid in the incarnation and sufferings of Jesus Christ. 3. It is proclaimed in the preaching of the Gospel (J. Sherman.)True character I. CHRIST IS THE OF A GOOD . II. IS THE REARING OF A TRUE . III. GOD IS THE JUDGE OF A TRUE . 1. He measures it by the law of rectitude. He lave “ judgment” to the line, etc. 2. He tests it by the dispensation of His government. “ Hail shall sweep away,” etc. Truly, “ other foundation can no man lay,” etc. (Homilist.)A tried stoneA stone of proof “ A tried stone,” literally, a stone of proof; and that may be regarded in either of two senses or in both. 1. It is a stone of proof, because it stands every test that can be applied to it. Praise no stone until you have tested it. Laud no doctrine until you have tried it in the marketplace, in the sick chamber, in the valley of the shadow of the deepest distress; then come forward and say what the stone was worth. When you hear the last patented religion praised, pay no heed to the trivial eulogium; it is a patent that has not been put to the proof; it has done nothing for the world; it has no long, noble, dignified history behind it; it glitters, but it has not been proved in life’ s long night of pain and restlessness and sorrow. Herein it is true that antiquity signifies experience, uses that can be employed for purposes of inference and solid deduction. In this sense Jesus Christ was a stone of proof: He was tried morning, noon, and night, in the cold and in the heat, in all the variation of life’ s changeful scene; and this is the record which is made of Him by those who have followed Him throughout. “ Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever,” --most precious when most needed, strongest when the enemy is most importunate, completest in all attribute, faculty, and grace when hell gathers itself up for final tremendous onslaught upon His dignity and worth. Is it too much to ask that those who have tested Christ and known Him to be s stone of proof should say so publicly, privately, quietly, emphatically, and gratefully? 2. Then, the second sense in which the test would hold good would be that Jesus Christ tries every character. Not only is Jesus Christ Himself tried, but He tries every man. Therefore many have left Him. He tries whether the heart is giving itself in full consecration to His service, or whether it is trifling with the occasion, yielding to the spirit of compromise and concession. In the Church there is but one badge, one symbol, one password; it is not genius, learning, intellectual capacity, profound acquisition in difficult subjects,--it is the Cross. Therefore so few men understand Christianity. He is a Christian who has no self; he has denied himself; he has said “ No” to himself. This is a conquest which is only won in solitude; this is a victory of which a man need not speak, because his whole life tells the tale in simplest eloquence. (J. Parker, D. D.)The tried stone I. JESUS CHRIST IS THE STONE OF THAT SYSTEM OF WHICH GOD HAS IN HIS WORD. In every age of the world too many have been found who employ all their time in laying the foundation, without being able to build thereupon with any pleasure to themselves or advantage to others. And the reason is, rather than build on the “ Rock of Ages,” they are for associating with the foundation, stones which are only designed for the superstructure. Now, the foundation is to be laid of mere grace, in the atonement of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is the chief doctrine of Christianity, and is the basement of all the others. This foundation is impregnable. II. JESUS CHRIST IS A TRIED STONE. The word “ tried” bears three meanings in Holy Scripture. Sometimes it means to elect or choose, sometimes to prove or put to the test, and sometimes to approve. Answerably to these views, Jesus Christ was, from eternity, “ chosen of God” to be the basis of the Christian system, the foundation of individual faith, and the “ cornerstone” of His believing people in their collective and corporate character. In these capacities He has been openly, solemnly, severely experimented and put to the test. And the result of the whole has been His complete approval. 1. He has been “ tried,” in point of true and faithful attachment to all the great interests which we have mentioned, by the sufferings to which He subjected Himself in support of them. 2. He has been “ tried” in reference to the strength and security of the fabric, by the unfailing success of all attempts to build upon it. 3. He has been “ tried” by the entire failure of all attempts to undermine the foundation or shake the building. (H. Clare.)Jesus Christ the tested foundation This is historically true and verifiable. In science we have a process called verification. A law of nature, however strong the induction by which it is supported may seem to be, is not regarded as scientifically or perfectly established till it is brought to the test of verification--that is, until men by experiment or new experience have put it to the trial, and found that their induction holds the field. And so in a sense we may say it has been with Jesus Christ. This stone has been tested by time, and we have now centuries of verification to fall back upon. In many ways, in nearly all possible ways, this stone has been tested, and it has come victoriously out of them all. It has been tried by the upheavals of society in times of the greatest social and political convulsion. It has been tried by the fires of persecution; for often have the rage and enmity of man done their worst against it. It has been tried by error and corruption--by the faithlessness of the builders themselves, who sought to remove it from its place, and put some other stone in its stead. It has been tried in the fires of controversy, and by the corroding influences of scepticism. All that the intellect or wit of man could do has been employed to destroy it. It has been tested in a negative respect by the failure of men to find an adequate substitute for it. Men have tried from the beginning to remove this stone, and find a substitute for it. They have sought for substitutes in science, in philosophy, in culture, but they have not been able to find them. I could quote the confessions of many of our leaders of modern unbelief who think they see the old foundations going, but who sorrowfully confess that they have nothing adequate to put in the place of Christianity, or to restore to man the hopes of which they have deprived him. Finally, this stone has been tested in the most effectual way of all by men actually coming to it, and trying whether it will bear the weight they need to lean on it. And who that has thus tried the religion of Jesus experimentally has not found that it can do all, or more than all, for them that their highest spiritual life requires? (Prof. J. Orr, D. D.)The tried foundation I. JESUS CHRIST IS THE . 1. He is the foundation of Christianity as a theological and religious system. (1) Of all Christian doctrine. (2) Of all the authentic institutions of Christianity. He is the foundation of all the public worship of Almighty God. (3) So He is the pillar and ground of the morality of the Christian system. 2. He is the foundation of personal confidence and salvation. 3. He is the “ cornerstone” of the general Church--of His people in their associated character. (1) As the “ cornerstone” of His Church He sustains to it a natural relation. (2) He unites the various parts of the building. (3) He supports the system. “ On this rock will I build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (4) He is the ornament and glory of the Church, fitly, neatly, gracefully, beautifully “ framed together in Him, it groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord,” and shall finally be presented “ a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.” II. JESUS CHRIST IS “ A TRIED STONE.” (W. M. Bunting.)The well-tested Friend of humanity Man’ s destiny depends upon his character. In it are the germs of Paradise and the elements of Tophet. It is our blessedness to know that He who came to give the world a new and holy character is no empirical or charlatanic reformer, but one who has been thoroughly “ tried” in the glorious work. I. HE HAS BEEN “ TRIED” BY THE MISSION HE . He came here to give such a knowledge of the nature, the love, the relations, and the claims of God as would effect a moral restoration of the world. Salvation consisteth in the knowledge of God. But in His God-revealing mission, how was He tried? His love, the root of all excellence, was tried in its two great branches of piety and philanthropy. In prosecuting His Divine undertaking He became so completely the victim of human and hellish malignity that He seemed to be forsaken of His Father. Was not this trying to His piety?--trying to His loving confidence in the everlasting Father? Yet He bore the test. He was tried in His philanthropy also. What had He to gain for Himself for His amazing self-sacrifice? Nothing but the Cross. And yet these sufferings, instead of cooling the ardour or dimming the lustre of this heavenly fire, made it more intense and more radiant. II. HE HAS BEEN “ TRIED” BY OF HIS ENEMIES. 1. The scrutiny of His contemporaneous enemies has done so. He lived His public life under a system of keen-eyed and vigilant espionage. The eye of malignant scrutiny glared on Him at every turn. Every test that could be invented was applied in order to convict Him of wrong. But how triumphantly He passed through the ordeal! Even Pilate, who, overborne by public clamour, pronounced the sentence, confessed belief in His innocence by washing his hands in the open court. The day of Pentecost brought new and resistless testimony to His rectitude. 2. The scrutiny of His succeeding enemies has done so. He has had keen-eyed enemies from Celsus, the Epicurean who wrote his “ Logos Alethes,” down to the hostile critics of the present day. Strauss of Germany, and Renan of France, men of signal ability and high attainments, stand prominently amongst those who have submitted Christ to the most crucial of hostile criticism in order to prove Him unworthy of the unbounded faith of man as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. But who that has read the works of Neander, Rothe, Tholuck, Ullmann, Dorner, Lange, Hengstenberg, including not a few able French and English authors who have answered those hostile critics, does not feel that Christ has stood well the severest of these tests? III. HE HAS BEEN “ TRIED” BY THE HE HAS EXERTED ON . If every tree is to be judged by its fruits, it is natural to ask, what has been the fruit of Christ’ s history upon the world? And here we may raise two questions-- 1. What has been His influence upon His faithful followers? Ask them if Christ has been to them according to His Word. We fear not the reply. Those of His followers who have studied Him most profoundly, and followed Him most loyally, have ever uttered with the greatest emphasis, “ Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 2. What has been His general influence upon the world? Has His influence been as unique as His personal character revealed in the Evangelists? Undoubtedly, yes. And this wide, ever-growing influence is, on the whole, salutary. It has always been in favour of the highest intelligence, liberty, morality, social order, and true progress. He stands today, in the mind of humanity, more powerful and more glorious than ever! Why this? One reason is, His character answers to the highest ideal of moral excellence that rises to the souls of men. Another reason is, His spirit gives to man the highest life. Conclusion: The subject suggests-- 1. An encouragement to Christians. Our religion is no experiment. We are resting on one for our guidance and happiness who has borne the test of ages. 2. A warning to infidels. (1) In the light of the thoughts we have propounded does not your opposition to Christ appear impious? (2) To oppose Him is to set yourself against the heavens, against omnipotence itself. To oppose Him is futile. (3) It is inhuman. In opposing Him you are sinning against the interest of your species. Who has helped your race as Jesus has? 3. An invitation to all. Your character is your spiritual house, your spiritual world, that in which you will spend an existence either of misery or of bliss. The only true foundation of that house is Christ. (D. Thomas, D. D.)A foundation of rock When the men of Ely contemplated building their cathedral they distrusted the loose, unstable fen country; and in order to have a foundation they dug deep into the fenny soil, and laid stones and mortar and cement there in great abundance, and upon this foundation they reared their noble cathedral. It stood decade after decade, but of late years it showed signs of settling down, and men tried to remedy its precarious condition without full success. But lately they made a most important discovery, so we have read. They dug deep through the concrete foundation that had been laid of yore, and there, some twenty feet beneath it, they found rock, rock which had always been there, but which the builders had not known or found. And today works are on foot to unite the cathedral with the rock. When this has been done they know the cathedral will stand. (J. A. Davies, B. D.)Human systems no foundation for the soul There have been systems offered to men as the basis of life; but time has tested them, and they have been “ found wanting.” Men had not gone deep enough. Positivism, secularism, humanitarianism, and such systems fail because they do not go deep enough. They do not reach, nor build upon, the rock. And men have made foundations for themselves other than those that are laid, but find these cannot bear the weight of all the years. Time has told against their foundations; and they must dig down through them, dig deeper, and unite their lives to the “ Rock of Ages.” Down through the man-laid, deceptive foundations of self-righteousness, self-will, and self-sufficiency, or of a profession of faith that has no substance in it, or of worldly and intellectual possessions, right down through these they must dig until they reach the rock, and there by faith they must fix and fasten their lives upon Christ. (J. A.Davies, B. D.)Building on the rock I would rather have a mere shanty of deal boards, if it was safe on s rock, than I would have the most pretentious building if it only rested on quicksand. (John Wesley.)The stability of Christian faith and hope Macaulay once imagined that in some far distant day a “ traveller from New Zealand might, in the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul’ s.” Such may happen. Neither London, nor St. Paul s, nor aught that is human on the earth is proof against the mouldering breath of time. How blessed the knowledge, how soul-inspiring the assurance that He on whom we are building our all for eternity will remain “ the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)Christ the one solid foundation Men who stand on any other foundation than the Rock, Christ Jesus, are like birds who build their nests in trees by the side of rivers. The bird sings in the branches and the river sings below, but all the while the waters are undermining the soil about the roots, till in some unsuspected hour, the tree falls with a crash into the stream, and then the nest is sunk, the home is gone, and the bird is a wanderer. But birds that hide their young in the clefts of the rock are undisturbed, and after every winter coming again, they find their nests awaiting them, and all their life-long brood in the same places, undisturbed by stream or storm. (H. W. Beecher.)Jesus Christ a stone Two Jews, one recently converted to Christ, the other strongly opposed to and incensed against his brother because of his renunciation of Judaism, were walking together in warm debate. Being much angered, the opponent of Christ said to his companion, “ As for your Jesus of Nazareth, I think no more of Him than of this stone that is in our path.” Grieved, but not disheartened, the disciple of Christ said, as he picked up the stone and held it in his hand, “ And I, too, think of Jesus Christ as a stone; but to me He is the Foundation stone laid in Zion, the Elect stone, the Tried stone, the precious Cornerstone. But to you, my brother,” he added in deep sorrow, “ Jesus is a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence, that may fall in judgment upon you, even as I build upon Him in safety and mercy.” (Nye’s Anecdotes.)He that believeth shall not make hasteThe equanimity of the believer If you observe attentively the works of God you will perceive what may be called a leisurely growth. But this ill accords with our natural inclinations. We would fain be at once what we can only become by degrees. Neither is such a remark limited in its application to matters which are wholly terrestrial. It may be said to hold good in a still greater degree when spiritual concerns are brought under review. But God, who precisely knows what is most for our advantage, has determined against any sudden transition. Many of the most brilliant promises of the Bible are made to those who “ wait upon the Lord.” I. THE THRIVES BETTER FROM NOT BEING TO MAKE HASTE IN . The passage is directed against anything of hurry or bustle. It does not so much declare that the believer can never advance rapidly, as that he shall never move with that agitated step which betokens insecurity. It does not denote a sluggish pace to be unavoidable, but simply implies that what is hasty and sudden will not be allowed. And s little reflection will convince you of the advantages which result from such an arrangement. It holds good in almost everything, that what is done hastily is seldom done well. In mental acquirements the more especially, that which is speedy is likely to be showy rather than solid--so that what is gained in time is lost in strength. The case is just the same in regard of religion. Where the Spirit of God actually, and in good earnest, takes a man in hand, it will not allow him to make haste through the preliminaries of righteousness; he shall be brought down to the dust, so as to abhor himself for his countless iniquities; he shall be reduced to the position of one who is thoroughly conscious that, unless God interfere, he must eternally perish. And it will ordinarily be after this process that the Gospel in all its beauty is expanded before him. This is for the advantage of the believer. Take the experience of Christians, and you will find that where progress has been most rapid, the commencement has been most arduous. And neither is it only at the beginning that the Christian thrives better from not being allowed to “ make haste.” Take him at any other stage of his course, and you will find that he advances rapidly by walking slowly. Suppose him under affliction, then patience must have its perfect work. II. EXAMINE CERTAIN OF THE AND WHICH ARE ENSURED TO THE BY THE PROMISE THAT HE “ SHALL NOT MAKE HASTE.” We reckon as chief amongst these that he has a Protector always at hand, so that in seasons of emergency he need not run to and fro in search of succour. “ God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble.” The believer has nothing to hasten from, for he is shielded against every assault; he has nothing to hasten to, for he is already enclosed within a rampart of security. It is only by bartering away or forgetting my rights or my duties as a Christian that I can possibly make what is termed a false step. The believer ought to take no step without prayer; and if he ask God’ s counsel, he shall not go wrong. Then, in respect of the termination of life, the believer may feel it far better to depart and be with the Lord. He may sometimes be tempted to long for the time when the earthly house shall be taken down, in order to be rebuilt for eternity; but he cannot forget that his times are in God’ s hands; that it would not be good for him to die whilst his heavenly Father sees it fit that he should live; and thus he keeps down what is impatient in desire, and makes not haste to be emancipated from the flesh. He longs, moreover, for the final triumph of Christianity, the time “ when the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and His Christ.” But there will be mixed with this longing no fraction of impatience (H. Melvill, B. D.)The quieting antidote to haste Is not this making haste, this restless hurrying, turning, questioning a quite precise picture of too many modern thoughts and lives? How many people are waveringly making haste about doctrine, duty, etc. But our Scripture is the quieting antidote. I. FAITH’ S OBJECT. “ He that believeth” ; but he must have somewhat or someone as the object of belief. Notice faith’ s object as disclosed in our Scripture. 1. An object given of God. 2. An object sure. 3. Tried or tested. 4. Precious, worthy. II. THE RESULT OF FAITH. “ Shall not” worryingly, nervously “ make haste.” 1. As to doctrine, Christ is the truth. 2. As to the forgiveness of sins, Christ’ s word is pledged. 3. As to the issue of things, the helm is grasped by the pierced hand. 4. As to death, the risen Christ is death’ s master. (Wayland Hoyt, D. D.)The objective ground of faith 1. Two things are necessary to give stability to a man. (1) A principle of faith within his own mind. (2) An objective ground of faith, real or imaginary. The man thus believes in something. In itself it may be unreal, but to him it is a reality. Therefore he follows after it with constancy. Take away his belief in this something and he is immediately at sea, without compass or rudder, the sport of the winds and waves. And precisely in proportion to the grandeur and the durability of that on which his faith rests, and to the simplicity and entireness of his faith itself, will he be found to be steadfast and immovable, full of energy, full of hope, full of perseverance. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Isaiah 28:17 Judgment also will I lay to the line God’ s judgments I. The Lord PONDERS, with most exact attention, all the distinctions of characters, times, and circumstances; all the various motives both to lenity and severity. II. He ACTS in a manner suited to His perfect knowledge. (R. Macculloch.)Mercy and judgment Upon the roses of grace grow the thorns of justice. Whenever the Lord bares His arm for mercy towards believers He gives a back stroke to His enemies. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Privilege and responsibility A great privilege involves a great responsibility. It is a very high favour to see the foundation which God has laid in Zion and to be exhorted to build upon it; but of those who reject that foundation vengeance will be exacted. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Refuges of lies and what will become of them I. THE LORD JUDGING MAN’ S REFUGES. He says, “ Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet.” Observe that, however carelessly we may judge ourselves, God will not so judge us. His survey is performed with the utmost accuracy. There are three ways by which we may judge whether our confidences are refuges of lies or not. (1) If they are safe hiding places they are founded upon Christ. “ Behold, I lay in Zion,” etc. (2) If our confidence be a right one it comes to us through faith (Isaiah 28:16). If your hope is grounded upon sight, or feeling, or working, it will one day fail you. (3) A third test seems to me to be proposed in my text. “ Judgment will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet.” Here, then, is the test of righteousness. If our hope is sound, it is a holy, sanctifying hope, which purges us from sin, and breeds in us all that is true and good. We shall now apply these tests to certain refuges which I am sure will turn out to be refuges of lies. 1. The first is the hope which some men ground upon their own moral goodness. It will not stand trial by the first plummet; it is not based upon the foundation which God has laid. Try the second touch stone as to faith. Your hope is not based on faith in Jesus; you have no faith except in yourself. Moreover, is not this plea of moral goodness a falsehood from top to bottom? Recollect that even if your outward life may have been correct, God regards the heart, and takes account of the inner life. 2. A number of persons make a refuge for themselves out of the notion of fate. This would not endure one of the tests and assuredly not the last, for its tendency is to deny all moral obligation, and hence it is no friend to holiness. It deliberately charges God with the creature’ s sin, and makes out the sinner to be the injured person. 3. The third shelter of lies which many fly to is a hope based upon novel doctrines. So far as my observation goes, these modern notions go with looseness of life, with world linens of heart, with decay of prayerfulness, and with backsliding from the living God. 4. We have another brood of men whose refuge is that they make a profession of religion. 5. Let me speak a word concerning certain who have a hope of being saved which does not sanctify them. 6. Some, too, make a refuge of their old experience. A true experience continues and grows day by day. II. PICTURE THE OF THESE REFUGES OF LIES. A man has been very comfortable in one or other of these refuges for a good number of years, but at last he is getting old, and is laid aside to think; infirmities are increasing death is drawing nigh, and he takes a look into the dark future. He finds himself facing an eternal state, and has need of all his confidences and hopes to sustain him. Now, what happens? His spirit undergoes a great storm, and what is the result? Does he dwell in a fortress which defies the hurricane? No, his shelter is so frail, that, according to the text, “ the hail” shall sweep away the refuges of lies. A cold, hard truth falls from Heaven like a hailstone, and crashes right through the glass roof of his false confidence. He looks up astonished and, in! another and another forgotten truth descends with like violence and crushes through all opposition till it smites his soul. Down falls all his comfort and peace of mind, as hailstone after hailstone pounds all his hope to pieces. “ After all, I never was born again, and the Scripture hath well said, ‘ Ye must be born again.’ I never yielded up my selfishness, and I cannot be saved unless Christ is my King. I did not really close in with Christ and cast my naked soul on Him.” Another impressive picture is set before us. “ The flood shall overflow his hiding place.” Imagine one who, in the time of Noah’ s flood, does not choose to enter into the ark, for he does not care to be tied down to God’ s way of deliverance. He wants a more philosophic way. Besides, he does not care to be cooped up with Noah and a handful of narrow-minded people, who shut themselves in and shut everybody else out. He has broader views, and therefore he has found a shelter on the side of the hill, in a great cave where thousands can assemble, and enjoy a liberty denied them within the pale of the ark. It is utterly preposterous to suppose the flood will ever reach so high as this elevated cave. After a day or two Of extraordinary rain the man would look down from his hiding place and see the waters covering all the lower area, and creeping up the valleys foot by foot, and he would remark upon the abundance of rain, but scoff at the idea of a general deluge. He would be easy, hoping that the rain would cease, but as it continued he would begin to think, “ I may not be quite so safe after all.” Imagine his horror when the flood at last fills up the ravine, and creeps up the rocky steep. With cruel lip, seeking his destruction, the water threatens the cave wherein he thought to dwell so safely. At last it penetrates his hiding place, it climbs to the very roof, it sweeps over his head, and his false confidence has proved his ruin. Such will be the end of all who hide themselves, but hide not in Christ. I will tell you in what fashion this overthrow will come. First, the mirth of the mind is damped with doubt. The man does not feel so easy as he used to be; he is afraid that God’ s Word may be true, and that things will go amiss with him. Soon the doubt has oozed into his refuge, and become a pool of fear: the man is sadly afraid, and the dread saturates and dissolves all his joy. The truth of God’ s Word still further comes home to his conscience, and he begins to be more and more alarmed: nor does he continue long in one stay, for he is growingly distressed, the waters are evidently advancing upon him and he cannot escape. He has come to be altogether dismayed, he hardly knows what will become of him; and within a little while, unless God’ s mercy shall prevent and enable him to find the true shelter, he win be drenched in despair and washed away in terror. At last he cannot believe that there is any salvation possible for him. III. THE LESSON ON WARNING. Let us build on God’ s foundation. He knows better than we do what is right and safe. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God’ s careful tests of character An ordinary builder who should be sent to examine a house would probably content himself with hastily looking to see whether the walls were perpendicular, and whether the work was of the quantity and quality specified in the contract; he could tell this pretty nearly with his eye, or by measuring with his foot; but if a very careful and scientific survey was wanted, he would then produce his plummet and his line, and try everything by the regular accepted tests of builder’ s work: hence our text describes the Lord as laying judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet; that is to say, He makes a deliberate trial of our confidences, compares our hopes with our conduct, our beliefs with the truth, and our expectations with the facts of the case. Oh, that we might have grace to invite such a test at once by praying, “ Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts.” If the Lord will help us to know ourselves now it will save us from a sad discovery at the last. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The hail shall sweep away the refuge of liesRefuges of lies It is very remarkable to what an extent men will deceive themselves on the subject of religion. In connection with this subject, more than any other, we find the most remarkable cases of self-delusion: they are so very remarkable sometimes, as to appear altogether incredible. I. A false refuge in which many indulge is a SELFISH . Selfishness in any form is in exact opposition to religion. It makes no difference as to the type which selfishness puts on. The question is, does a man make his own interest the object of pursuit? If so, such conduct is the exact opposite of that benevolence which Christ manifested, when He laid Himself out for the good of mankind and the glory of God. We should love God for what God is, and we should love our neighbours as ourselves. Where there is true religion it will manifest itself in prayer, praise, and obedience. It will manifest itself with respect to God in efforts to please Him, to honour Him, and to glorify Him, and an earnest desire to secure the love, confidence, and obedience of all men. It is not selfishness for a man to have a proper regard for his own salvation; but it is for him to regard his own salvation only, and care not for the salvation of his neighbour. Further, this is the true way for a man to secure his own salvation; by caring for the salvation of others. “ Whosoever will save his life,” said Christ, “ shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.” II. Another refuge of lies to which mankind betake themselves is IMPULSE. This is a prevailing form of selfishness. This delusion consists in appealing to the feelings instead of to God’ s law as developed in the conscience and reason. Such persons as these think themselves very religious, because they feel deeply upon the subject. Let the circumstances subside which excited their feelings, and you see that they have not the root of the matter within them. III. Others have a MERE OF OPINION, which is just the opposite of a religion of impulse. These opinions do not mould their lives. IV. Another refuge of lies is the OF . V. Another refuge of lies is HAVING REGARD TO WHAT IS OUTWARD, the performance of certain external actions without love to God in the heart. There are a great many men who think themselves very religious because they pay their debts. (C. G. Finney.)Refuges of lies It is certain that, from the time of Adam down to the present day, thousands have taken refuge from the threatenings of God’ s wrath beneath the lies of the Evil One. I. You say, “ If I am elect I shall be saved, do what I may; but if I am not elect I must be damned, do what I will; and, therefore, there is no use in my trying to do anything.” Election is not iron fate, but unutterable love. Do you act in this manner about carnal things? A friend invites you to dinner; the table is spread before you. You are asked to sit down. “ Stop,” you say, “ does not God know everything?” “ Yes,” says your friend. “ Well,” you say, “ God knows whether I shall eat this food or not: so it’ s all fixed, and I can’ t alter it; and if I am not to eat that dinner, I cannot eat it, even though I were to try to eat it: whereas, if I am to eat it, I must eat it, even though I were to rise and leave the room and try to go without it; and, therefore, I will sit still and do nothing.” Would you reason thus? If not, why say, when God lays the “ Bread of Life” before you, “ If I am to eat of the Bread of Life, I must, do what I may; if I am not to partake of it, I cannot, do what I will; and, therefore, I will sit still and do nothing” ? If Christ does not really offer to save you I have nothing further to say, but you admit He does. II. “ I trust in the mercy of God.” If that is all your trust it is “ a refuge of lies” You answer, Is not God merciful? More merciful than you can conceive, but it will not do to trust in the mere mercy of God. God’ s mercy will not save you till you are inside the tower of refuge, Christ Jesus. III. “ We do the best we can.” What! You do the best you can? Then you are safe. If you really have done the best you could to this present hour, you are this moment as safe as the angel Gabriel. But will you solemnly declare that you have never sinned? Ah no! The best thing you can do is to look to what another has done for you, even Jesus! IV. Some are flattering themselves that they believe in Jesus Christ, and are in the road to Heaven, while they are without that faith which alone can save the soul. Let me ask you who say, “ I do believe,” what it is you believe that can justify you? You say, “ I believe that Jesus Christ came into the world to teach us the way to Heaven.” So did that young man who came to Christ of old. You answer, “ I believe in the great judgment to come.” So did Felix, when Paul stood before him “ and reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come.” You answer, “ I believe that Jesus was the innocent sufferer for the guilty, and that He is truly the Son of God.” So did Judas. You answer, “ I believe that Jesus died that He might save sinners, and rose to glory everlasting.” So did Ananias and Sapphira. Do you ask, at last, what am I to believe, that I may be saved? What did that dying thief believe who went to Heaven? More than either Judas or Satan. Did he not believe that Jesus was his own Saviour, and did he not confidently trust in Him that He would bear him in everlasting remembrance, and did he not call Him “ Lord” ? V. “ I must wait God’ s time.” The solemn truth is, Christ is waiting for you. Did you ever read His own words? “ Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” Is not that waiting? VI. “ We know all this is true, and we mean to turn, but there is time enough yet.” Oh, the unreasonableness of your course! Why would you turn by and by? 1. Because Christ beseeches you? And does not He as much beseech you now? And will you not grieve and insult Him by delaying? 2. Because God commands you? And does He not as much command you now? And are you not disobeying and defying Him by delaying? 3. Because danger threatens you? And is not death behind your back even now? (H. Grattan Guinness.)Refuges of lies All men know themselves to be sinners against God. They know also that, as sinners, they are in peril. Hence their anxiety to find some refuge for safety. They know they might find this in the way of forsaking sin and turning to the Lord; but they do not choose to forsake their sins. Hence there seems to be no convenient resource but to hide themselves under some refuge. It is obvious that men who resort to lies for a refuge regard those lies not as lies, but as truth. This fact leads us to raise the primary fundamental question, Have we any rule or standard which will show what is truth, and what is falsehood? Men have countless opinions about religion; how can we determine which are true and which not true? We have an infallible test. Salvation, to be real and available, must be salvation from sin. Again, if it does not beget prayer, does not unify us with God, and bring us into fellowship and sympathy with Him, it is a lie. If it does not produce a heavenly mind, and expel a worldly mind, it is a lie. Here I must notice an objection. It is said, The Gospel does not, in fact, do for men all you claim. It does not make professed Christians heavenly minded, dead to the world, full of love, joy, and peace. I reply, Here is medicine which, applied in a given disease, will certainly cure. But it must be fairly applied. So with the Gospel. I. I will now proceed to NAME SOME THINGS THAT LACK THIS . They do not save the soul from sin. 1. An unsanctifying hope of Heaven. 2. An old experience, that is all old. 3. There are two forms of self-righteousness--the legal and the Gospel--both of which are refuges of lies. The legal depends on duty doing--evermore trying to work out salvation by deeds of law. The Gospel form sets itself to get grace by works. 4. Universalism. II. And now TAKE NOTICE OF WHAT GOD SAYS. “ The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.” This hail is the symbol of God’ s displeasure. It is fit that God should be displeased with these refuges of lies. He loves truth too well to have the least sympathy with lies. He loves the souls of men too deeply to have any patience with agencies so destructive. The waters, He declares, shall overflow the hiding places. Every resort that leaves the soul in sin is a hiding place. 1. All religious affectation is such, and is nothing better. 2. So of all religious formality--going through the forms of worship, being in the Church, being baptized--what avails it all unless their piety be instinct with life and that life be the soul of real holiness 3. A great many people hide in the Church. 4. Others hide under the plea of a sinful nature. They are naturally unable to do anything. 5. Some dodge under professors of religion. (C. G. Finney.) Isaiah 28:20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it The short bed and the narrow covering The Jewish beds were only mattresses, laid on the floor; and the cover was s sheet, or carpet, laid over it, in which the person wrapped himself. In this adage, there is an allusion to the condition of one who, being weary and inclined to rest, goes to bed, that he may get refreshing repose. Having betaken himself to a bed that is too short for him, and having got a covering that is too narrow to wrap himself in, he is disappointed of the comfortable rest that he expected to enjoy; and, instead of getting agreeable warmth and refreshment, he becomes cold, restless, and uneasy. This painful state represents the distressed, disappointed condition of those who hide themselves under falsehood and refuges of lies, in order to obtain either temporal or spiritual deliverance. The truth of this aphorism, thus explained, was exemplified in the Jews, who resorted to other expedients for safety than Divine wisdom had ordained, and found all their expectations frustrated. (R. Macculloch.)The growth of religious conception This proverb of Isaiah about the growth of religious conception has had many applications. Again and again it has happened since Isaiah’ s time that the framework of theological theory formed by the intellect has become too narrow for the growing knowledge and spirit of man; and there has followed the discomfort, the strain, the struggle, the stretching or the dissolution of conventional beliefs, and out of them the reconstruction on a larger scale of a theology that somewhat inadequately expresses the actual revelation to man of the Unseen and the Divine. The foundations of religion are ever the same--the elementary force in the heart of man, the sense of weakness, of sin, of fear; the upward reaching of man to the unattainable God, and the blessed shining downwards of God into the heart of man. But the speculations, the imagery, the language of theology have varied with human knowledge, and are varying now before our eyes. (J. M. Wilson, D. D.)The expansion of the Jewish conception of God It was in Isaiah’ s age that, for the first time, the Jews became pressingly conscious of their own littleness compared with the vast nations that pressed on them from either side. They lay between the vast continental empires of Assyria and Egypt, and in the grasp of these great barbaric, almost inhuman forces, they felt themselves as nothing. There was, for the first time, a painful contrast between the political insignificance of the Jews and their boundless pretensions to the favour of Jehovah, the Lord of hosts. They were stricken with terror. But Isaiah was inspired with heavenly wisdom to see that the agony of the terror sprang rather from the theology of the Jews than from the might of their enemies, for their theology was, in brief, this--that Jehovah was the God of the Jews only, and that the Assyrian was the foe of God. They now saw that he might be the victorious foe. To them the victory of the Assyrian would be the defeat of God and the shattering of their faith, and it seemed inevitable. It was the undivine, the material, relentlessly crushing God that they deemed Divine; it led straight to practical atheism, Now, Isaiah dared to think and to see that God was the God of the Assyrians also, that He wielded their forces in His hand, and that His one supreme aim was righteousness, and not favour to Israel; it was an extension of their theology, beyond what they could bear. It was not only latitudinarian; it was absurd. They ridiculed him and his message, and finally, it is said they put him to death. But, nevertheless, Isaiah had a vision of a truth which the world has now made its own--that God’ s providence extends to all mankind, and that no nation and no Church can monopolise God’ s blessing and protection, and that God has one moral aim only--the growth of righteousness and the coming of His kingdom on earth. He thus extended his conception of God. (J. M. Wilson, D. D.)Present day need: a larger conception of God The terror of our time to those who feel it is the aggregate of the brute unspiritual powers of nature, whether of human passion or material force, in whose ceaseless whirl man seems to be a mere plaything. Our Assyria is materialism. We may learn from Isaiah how to meet it,--not by denying the existence of these forces, or underrating them or their mystery, but by enlarging our conception of God. Perhaps if God would give England an Isaiah now, his message would be the consecration of natural forces, a declaration that all things are working towards spiritual end for the coming of the kingdom of God. (J. M. Wilson, D. D.)Expansion in theology and religion We need to expand also our whole conception of theology and of religion, giving it a wider foundation in human nature and in facts, and thus making faith more obviously compatible with intellectual honesty. (J. M. Wilson, D. D.)The lengthening of the bed The lengthening of the bed, the widening of the covering, is generally effected without a fracture or a rent. It is altered partly by the infusion of new life and meaning by the spiritual interpretation of what were thought to be physical and scientific statements, partly by the transference of emphasis from worship to life, partly by the ever-varying meaning assigned to old words and old forms. Jehovah did not cease to be Jehovah when the Jews ceased to regard Him as the God of the Jews only. (J. M. Wilson, D. D.)A word of caution to the enthusiast for an enlarged and scientific theology A word of caution to the enthusiast for an enlarged and scientific theology and for what might seem to him a rational religion. It cannot be invented prematurely; it must grow as daylight grows, and this is a very slow and gradual process. (J. M. Wilson, D. D.)The bed and its covering God has so made men, that there are two things essential for their comfort, if not for their very existence, namely, sleep and clothing. Man’ s body is, after all, only a picture of his inner being; just what the body needs materially, that the soul needs spiritually. It requires rest, which is pictured to us in sleep. And it needs covering; the naked soul would be unhappy, noxious to the eye of God, and utterly miserable in itself. I. MEN TRY TO MAKE BEDS ON WHICH THEIR SOULS MAY REST. One of the most uncomfortable things in the world, I should think, would be a spare bed--a bed so spare that a man should not have room to stretch himself on it. But that is just the condition of all men while they are seeking a rest anywhere else but in the “ rest that remaineth for the people of God.” 1. As to the present world, how many beds are there of man’ s own invention. (1) One man has made himself a bedstead of gold; the pillars thereof are of silver, the covering thereof is of Tyrian purple, the pillows are filled with down, such as only much fine gold could buy him; the hangings he hath embroidered with threads of gold and silver, and the curtains are drawn upon rings of ivory. Lo, this man hath ransacked creation for luxuries, and invented to himself all manner of sumptuous delights. He becomes a merchant prince, a millionaire, and he says unto himself, “ Soul, take thine ease; eat, drink, and be merry; thou hast much goods laid up for many years.” If he makes riches his God, and seeks in them his happiness, you never find the man has money enough, his lands are still too narrow and his estate too small The soul is wider than creation, broader than space; give it all, it would be still unsatisfied, and man would not find rest. (2) Other men have been ambitious. “ Oh,” says one, “ if I might be famous, what would I not do? Oh, if my name might be handed down to posterity, as having done something, and having been somebody, a man of note, how satisfied would I be!” And the man has so acted, that he has at last made for himself a bed of honour. He has become famous. But did you ever read the history of famous men, or hear them tell their tale in secret? “ Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown,” even though it be the laurel coronet of honour. When the man is known, it is not enough; he asks for wider praise. (3) There is another bed on which man thinks he could rest. There is a witch, a painted harlot, who wears the richest gems in her ears, and a necklace of precious things about her neck. Her name is Madam Wanton. She keeps a house wherein she feasteth men, and maketh them drunken with the wine of pleasure, which is as honey to the taste, but is venom to the soul This witch, when she can, entices men into her bed. (4) You may have all the vices and pleasure and mirth of this metropolis, and when you have it all you will find it does not equal your expectation nor satisfy your desires. When the devil is bringing you one cup of spiced wine, you will be asking him next time to spice it higher; and he will flavour it to your fiery taste, but you will be dissatisfied still, until at last, if he were to bring you a cup hot as damnation, it would fall tasteless on your palate. Now think of the Christian, and see the picture reversed. In the Christian religion there is a rest that no one can enjoy elsewhere. And now let me stretch myself upon this bed. Let me think of the largest desire that heart ever had, and I find it not at all greater than this bed. I pant to be God’ s child, I have it here. I pant to be rich to all intents of bliss, I have the promise here, and I shall have the fruition of it hereafter. I long for perfection. Is not that a stretch indeed? And that I have, “ perfect in Christ Jesus.” 2. Now, think of this bed in the sense of another world. And here we may say of all the sinner’ s hope, that it is a bed shorter than that he can stretch himself upon it. Let conscience strain you, let death put you on the rack, and pull you out a little, and the bed is not long enough for you. You are uneasy. There is no man who has a solid peace, a perfect satisfaction in his own mind, but the man who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, trusts Him entirely for his soul’ s salvation, and puts his hopes and his expectations only in the Lord his God. II. MEN MUST HAVE A . And here we are told that there are some people who make a covering, but it is narrower than they can wrap themselves in it. There is one garment that never is too narrow, though the sinner be the hugest sinner that ever trod this earth, and that is the perfect righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The short bed and its scanty covering You can hardly imagine a more unpleasant position for a man to find himself in. A traveller has just come a long journey, weary, footsore, cramped; he longs for “ tired nature’ s sweet restorer, balmy sleep.” On reaching his bed, however, he finds it altogether inadequate for purposes of rest. Man has been so constituted by his Almighty Creator that sleep and clothing are essential to his existence. Angels, for aught we know to the contrary, may be eternal watchers, sleepless workers. “ They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.” It is otherwise with man. He must sleep or die. Inability to sleep has often been the punishment inflicted by the Almighty Avenger upon the murderer, as foretaste of the pains of hell. Between him and placid sleep a great gulf has been fixed. Pausanias, from the hour Cleonice fell pierced by his sword, is a haunted man. “ Sleep no more,” is the dread fiat of Him who maketh inquisition for blood. The spectre of his victim, says the historian, disturbed him every night. Now, as every reader of the Bible knows well, God has seen fit to illustrate and set forth the needs of the soul by referring to the well-known wants and necessities of the body. Therefore, just as man’ s corporeal frame needs sleep and clothing, so the seal, the spiritual part of man, needs rest and covering, without which it can be neither happy nor safe. The prophet’ s complaint in the context is not that man seeks for these things if haply he may find them, but seeks for them in wrong places, and in wrong ways--fashions for himself beds which are too short to give him comfortable repose, and weaves coverings which are too narrow to conceal his spiritual nakedness. Favour me with your company while I walk forth and watch some of these spiritual bed makers. We have not gone very far before our steps are arrested by the spectacle of a man who is fashioning for himself a golden bed. A very splendid piece of workmanship it is, and we can hardly wonder at the incredulous look and compassionate smile with which the maker turns upon us when we whisper, Too short, you’ ll never be able to find soul rest there! Solomon lay in just such a bed as that, and he tossed and rolled from side to side, exclaiming, “ All is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Over the front of this bed is written a text out of the Bible: “ Money answereth all things.” Wait a moment: the splendid piece of upholstery is just receiving its finishing touch, the owner will lie down on it presently, and we shall hear what he thinks of his work. Hush! what is that you say, sir? No rest, no peace! Sleep is a shy goddess, which all this magnificence cannot woo. Do you really mean to tell us that you slumbered more peacefully and soundly when, a poor apprentice lad, you lay beneath the counter of your master’ s shop, ere you had heaped up all these thousands of gold and silver? Ay, ay, he says, it is even so. Oh, replies one of my hearers, I think I should be happy and satisfied if I only had a little more. Keep the wolf of poverty at a respectable distance from my door, give me all the necessaries of life, and a few of its comforts, and I should be as happy as the day is long. I must be rude enough to contradict you; you would not, you do not know yourself. If your affections and desires are of the earth, earthy, you would find your appetite growing with every fresh indulgence. The human heart is like the horse leech, ever crying, Give, give. “ Did you not assure me that your ambition would be satisfied with a revenue of one hundred thousand crowns?” said Charles the Ninth, to a lordly abbot who was begging further preferment. Having been already made Bishop of Auxerre, Grand Almoner of France, and holder of numerous rich abbacies, the king thought his greed was inexcusable. How suggestive the reply of the insatiable pluralist: “ True, sire, but there are some appetites which grow as you feed them.” Oh, here another dainty looking couch, it belongs to the man of ambition, worldly ambition. This man is an enemy to all greed and avarice. He says public opinion serves the money grubber right, when it fixes on him the stigma of miser, which, being interpreted, is wretch. Thank God, he says, I can give, and spend, and lend. The accursed thirst for gold has not struck its fangs into me. No, this man despises money, but he pants for fame. Oh, he says, that I could become famous. If my name were only handed down to posterity as the great , I should be satisfied. He thirsts for fame as the fever-stricken patient thirsts for the cool refreshing fountain. Well, after a while his wish is granted. The world gladly prepares his bed of honour, and bids her favourite lie down and rest. But, lo! the thorns are there. “ Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” although it be the laurel coronet of honour and worldly fame. Oh, he says, these thorns, they pierce to the very quick--let me return to my original obscurity. I can get no rest here, the bed is too short, the covering is too narrow! Let them pursue the history of Alexander the Great; the life of Napoleon Buonaparte, of whom it was said by a companion in arms, when at the very zenith of his prosperity, “ He has gained everything, and yet he is unhappy” ; the life of Cardinal Wolsey, whose advice to Cromwell might well have been, as our great poet represents it, I charge thee, fling away ambition. By that sin fell the angels; how can man then, the image of his Maker, hope to win by it?” and whose dying regret was that he had not served his God as faithfully as he had served the king who had forsaken him, and left him to die unhonoured and unwept. The truth is, the soul cannot live upon the incense of human applause any more than the body can exist upon the fumes of smoking frankincense. But look once more. See this pretty and, one would think, sleep-enticing couch, the bed of worldly pleasure. There are men who despise saving and hoarding, nor do they care to climb the slippery ladder of earthly fame. The cares of popularity are not for them. But they are seeking rest too, and they hope to find it in the pleasures of the world. Let us eat and drink,” is their maxim, “ for tomorrow we die.” “ A short life and a merry one.” is their motto. Let us have our fill of pleasure. Let the most successful pleasure seekers relate their experience. Suppose we take the evidence of the celebrated Chesterfield. He was no fox crying sour grapes because the fruit was out of his reach. Probably s more fortunate man, so far as this world is concerned, never lived. He was high-born, wealthy, and honoured. In almost everything he undertook he was successful He was one of the most brilliant speakers in the House of Lords, a most accomplished gentleman, and one of the best scholars of the day. He had troops of friends, honours were showered upon him, ribbons, royal approbation, and diplomatic appointments. Prime ministers honoured him as the ablest of their supporters; princesses and peeresses gave him their smiles, and called him the greatest of men. In all history there is no greater instance of worldly success. All that the world could give of pleasure--he had good measure, shaken together, pressed down, and running over--men poured into his bosom. Did he fine] rest on this sumptuous couch? Hear his own testimony. “ I have recently read Solomon with a kind of sympathetic feeling. I have been as wicked and vain, though not as wise, as he; but I feel the truth of his reflection, ‘ All is vanity and vexation of spirit.’ I have been behind the world’ s gaudy scenes, have smelt the tallow candies, and seen all the clumsy machinery by which the raree-show is worked, and the spectators deceived; I have no desire to repeat the nauseous dose.” “ I have tried both services, God and the world,” said Captain Hedley Vicars, who perished gallantly leading on his regiment in the war with Russia. “ For twenty-four years I lived under the yoke of sin. The retrospect of my past life is now miserable to me, and yet I thought and called it a life of pleasure. The very name, when applied to sin, makes my heart sicken; even then? could never enjoy reviewing the occupations of a single day.” All who have tried this daintily spread couch assure us that soul rest comes not there. Is there a couch in all this wide world whereon man, wearied, deceived, disappointed, can find repose? There is a bed on which the sinner, were he as tall as the pole, and as broad as the earth, could not fail to find rest. Rest and peace are only to be found in God. In that dread yet sweet name is found the answer to man’ s sin, man’ s sorrow, and man’ s yearnings after something better, truer, and holier. Believe me, you will find that rest nowhere else. What a comfort it must be to stretch one’ s self upon this bed and to feel that all is well, for time and for eternity. (W. H. Langhorne.)Delusive expectations A proverb contains soul of truth for every age and people. The words apply to-- I. THE WORLD’ S OFFERS OF TO MAN’ S NATURE. II. FALSE . 1. Self. In the expression “ self-help” there is much that is commonly suggestive; but when it comes to religious interests we may soon make mistakes. Sin is too much for a man. 2. Mere formal religion. 3. Comparison with others. “ Common sins I shudder at; the self, indulgent, disgraceful life of many I hate. I love culture; am a good husband--wife--sister--brother.” God looks at the heart. III. SELF-EXCUSES. 1. Temptation was so subtle and my nature weak. Remember, the key of the door is inside. You must consent. Did you pray? 2. I was surrounded by bad examples and influences. But were there no times when conscience corrected and truth attracted? no means by which you may have been fortified? 3. I have no time for piety. If piety consisted in a succession of onerous duties this plea might stand. But it is the spirit of a life, the heart centred in Christ. 4. I have no power for self-renewal. Have you availed your self of impressions; allowed the attractions of Christ on your heart? IV. VAIN HOPES. 1. After all, it may be otherwise than preachers say. Will a man be so mad as to trust his life to a peradventure? 2. I may feel more inclined as I advance in life. Are you likely to do so in resistance of impressions? 3. I may repent at the last. That is, you will sin no more when you have no more power to sin. May not accident or disease suddenly overtake you? Can anyone who has a spark of generosity or right feeling think such conduct a fit return to Christ? (G. M’Michael, B. A.) Isaiah 28:22 Be ye not mockers A warning to mockers Enough is recorded in the chapter before us to justify this serious admonition. I. A SOLEMN WARNING. “ Be ye not mockers.” 1. Are there no mockers in our religious assemblies Let us pursue the inquiry. God has given us His Word; but how is that Word regarded? (1) The Word of God denounces threatenings. But if no rousing effect is produced, can it be that the awful sentence is believed? Faith invariably produces an effect corresponding with the nature of the truth it receives: a consolatory truth yields comfort, an alarming truth creates dread: if then by the threatenings of the Bible, you are not excited to “ flee from the wrath to come,” and “ warned to escape the damnation of hell,” how is it accounted for? Are ye not “ mockers” ? (2) This Word is also enriched with promises. How are these promises regarded? When the message of grace is disregarded; when its joyful tidings are heard with unconcern; when no need of the Saviour is felt, no desire of His salvation indulged; what does it prove? Are ye not “ mockers” ! (3) The Bible contains, likewise, a variety of precepts. But if unfeeling selfishness be the temper we cherish; if fraud and extortion be the practices we allow; if “ the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life” he the element we love, are we not mockers? (4) In this Holy Book sin is severely censured. But are there not persons to be found who make light of this malignant, destructive evil? 2. Who can utter the egregious folly of this? Fools mock, while God frowns. They mock at that which cast angels down from Heaven, which excluded Adam from paradise, and which spread disorder through all the works of creation. They mock at that which is the spring of all the miseries of man--at that which is their own disease and disgrace--at that which procures their own death, which kindles the flames of hell. As many as are guilty of this deepest folly mock at all the sorrows and suffering of the compassionate Redeemer. Can you wonder at this earnest expostulation, this solemn and faithful warning? II. A to enforce the warning. It is founded on the danger which evidently attends the indulgence of this evil, and is well adapted to interest and affect the mind. “ Be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong.” It implies that mockers are in “ bands,” already in a state of bondage. And what is this bondage? They are “ tied and bound with the chain of their sins.” Now the danger is, perpetuating this bondage; so securing the cords, and riveting the fetters, as that destruction becomes inevitable. In tracing the fatal progress of this danger, observe-- 1. The sin against which you are warned weakens every virtuous restraint. 2. The sin of mocking strengthens vicious propensities. This naturally results from the relaxing of restraints: as the one declines, the ether gains ground. 3. This sin gives great advantage to your worst enemies. Among these are improper companions. Every compliance you grant only emboldens their demands and facilitates their conquest. But there is a worse enemy than these: “ the spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Resist him, and he will flee from you; but invite his attacks, by parleying with temptation, and you inevitably fall--“ your bands are made strong.” 4. It exposes to peculiar marks of the displeasure of God. 5. It terminates in remediless ruin. III. We attempt an of the subject, by recommending the opposite of what is reproved in the text. (T. Kidd.)Mocking Mocking the messengers of the Lord was Jerusalem’ s measure-filling sin. (M. Henry.)Lest your bands be made strongGrowing bands In the tropical forests of South America, where everything climbs, and everything seeks to overcome everything else, there is a curious class of plants, to which the natives give the name of lianas or bush ropes. They are creeping plants, and twine round large trees in order to be lifted up above the dense mass of vegetation into the pure air and bright sunshine overhead. The lianas do not belong to the same family of plants; often there are great differences between their leaves and flowers; but they have this peculiarity in common, that they all climb round certain trees to reach the full, unbroken sunshine above the billowy top of the forest. When the seed of one of them, say the one known to the natives as the Sipo Matador, or Murderer Liana, is dropped by the wind or by a bird at the foot of a tree that is suitable, it begins to grow at once. At first it sends forth a slender, thread-like stem, that leans upon the tree for support. At this stage it is soft and brittle, and looks like a vein of sap flowing and hardening as it flows, and a child’ s finger could snap it across with ease. But as it grows and lengthens it becomes thicker and tougher, and twines itself round the tree like a strongly twisted cable, composed of several strands. Its grasp of the tree becomes tighter the older it grows; and by and by the tree becomes strangled by its thick bands, which it would require an axe to cut. The leaves of the poor victim wither and fall off, the veins cannot circulate the sap through the branches, and thus it slowly dies and becomes a mere mass of dry, rotten wood, still clasped by its cruel enemy, which flourishes, green and vigorous, upon its decay. Ephraim was the noblest of the tribes of Israel But it suffered certain evil habits to grow around it. It indulged in idolatry, and covetousness, and drunkenness. And these evil habits, which might at first have been given up without any great difficulty, became at last so strong that they could not be broken, and completely bound and enslaved the people. (H. Macmillan, D. D.) Isaiah 28:23-29 The ploughman The parable of the ploughman and the thresher 1. The general drift of the parable is obvious. The husbandman does not forever vex and wound the tender bosom of the earth with the keen edge of the ploughshare or the sharp teeth of the harrow. He ploughs only that he may sow; he harrows the ground only that he may produce a level and unclodded surface on which to cast his seeds. And when he sows, he gives to every seed its appropriate place and usage. He scatters the dill and strews the cummin broadcast; but the wheat he sets, according to the Oriental fashion, in long rows, and the barley in a place specially marked out for it, so marked as to exclude the borders of the field: and here, along the edges of the field, where it is most likely to be bitten or trampled by passing beasts, he sows the less valuable spelt. And this he does because God has given him discretion. Is God, then, less wise than the husbandman whom He has taught? So, again, when the harvest is gathered in, the wise husbandman still varies and adapts his means to his end. He does not go on threshing “ forever” ; his single aim is to separate the chaff from the wheat, to save as much of the grain as he can, and to save it in the best condition he can, that it may be gathered into his garner. And he thus varies his modes of treatment, and adapts them to the several kinds of seeds, because God has given him sagacity and wisdom. Will God, then, who gave the husbandman this sagacity, be less observant of time and measure? Will He crush and waste the precious grain of His threshing floor? 2. Nor is the historical application of the parable difficult to recover. Isaiah had to warn and admonish the chosen nation at a period in which they were utterly corrupt, when the judges took bribes and the priests mocked at the Word of the Lord, and the very prophets saw “ lying visions,” or pretended to see them, and the people had made a covenant with Death and Hades. He had to threaten them with disaster on disaster. So corrupt were they, however, that they made a jest of him for his fidelity to their King and God. In their drunken carousals the priests and prophets mimicked and burlesqued the simplicity and directness of his speech, and turned his warnings into a theme for laughter and derision. But even in this godless and scoffing age there was a “ remnant” faithful among the faithless, who were true to God and to the Word which He sent by the prophet. Were they to be consumed in the fire of the Divine indignation against the popular sins? Or, if they were preserved, were they to stand by and see the elect nation destroyed out of its place? Was there no hope for them? none even for the nation at large! There was hope; and that they might see it and be sustained by it in the cloudy and dark day of judgment, Isaiah discloses to them, in his parable, the secret of the Divine administration, namely, that judgment is mercy, and that it prepares the way for a mercy more open and full than itself. But the prophet has a message to the faithful remnant, as well as to the nation at large. And to them his message is, that even the good grain must be threshed, that even those who are faithful to Jehovah must share in the judgments which are about to fall on the entire nation. They cannot be exempted from the misery of the time; they must suffer, as for their own sins, so also for the sins of their neighbours. But this is their comfort, that the Divine Husbandman measures out His strokes with wisdom and grace. God is but separating that which is good in those whom He loves from that which is evil and imperfect in them; and, even in this process of separation, He will not lay upon them more than they are able to bear. 3. So that, in this parable, the mystery of the Divine providence is laid open, its secret disclosed. All ploughing is for sowing; all threshing is intended for the preservation of the grain. When God chastens us, it is not because He means to destroy us, but because He has set His heart on saving us, because He has appointed us to life and not to death. Nor are the ordinances and chastening of His providence arbitrary and without discrimination. He employs various methods, sends “ sorrows of all sorts and sizes,” that He may adapt Himself to every man’ s needs, and to all our varieties of place, time, and circumstance. “ Cure sin and you cure sorrow,” say the reason and conscience of the world: and the sorrow comes that the sin may be cured, adds the prophet; the very miseries that spring from evil are intended to eradicate the evil from which they spring. It was in the strength of this sublime conception of the ministry of pain and sorrow that the Hebrew prophets met the terrible miseries they were called to endure and behold. (S. Cox, D. D.)The spiritual power A knowledge of agriculture is almost essential to the right appreciation of many portions of the Bible. I. THE PROCESS OF SOWING IMPLIES A SOIL FOR THE SEED. The reception of the Gospel implies preceding thought, reflection, and resolution; which may be beautifully and characteristically expressed by the agricultural term, cultivation. II. THE PROCESS OF SOWING IMPLIES SEED ADAPTED TO THE SOIL. There is a variety of seed mentioned in the text, and modem as well as ancient agriculture verifies the truth of the prophet’ s description. 1. Let the seed for the mind be marked as with a seal. As the ancients chose the best of their crops for seed, so let the truths selected for the mind be of the highest and holiest description. 2. Let the seed for the mind be varied. The Word of God, independent of other sources, furnishes a great variety of truths to suit the soul in every conceivable state. And the same truth is set forth in many different ways, and couched under many different figures, to fit all descriptions of minds. III. THE PROCESS OF SOWING IMPLIES A SEASON. Men do not sow at all times. “ There k a time to sow, and a time to reap.” So there is a season for sowing the good seed of the kingdom. Life is that season. IV. THE SOWING PROCESS IMPLIES SKILL AND FAITH. All are sowers in the moral sense. Some, however, are not skilful sowers; and what an abundance of seed they destroy! They have great privileges, high immunities, transcendently over towering those of their fellow men; and yet it is to be feared they will reap but a poor harvest. But it is delightful to know, that others, with few privileges, and comparatively few opportunities, am sowing in their own minds, and the minds of others, the seeds of truth; and by their skilful sowing will reap a great harvest of future glory. (A. Gray, M. A.)The discreet ploughman The drift of these words is to comfort God’ s children in afflictions; and, because when one is sorrowful, weak, taken up and over pressed with grief, we are then unfit and incapable of instruction, the anguish of the suffering destroying our attention, He therefore says, doubling it four times, “ Give ye ear,” “ hear My voice,” “ hearken ye,” and “ hear My voice” ; wherein He insinuates that the matter He is about to deliver requires attention. 1. The only way to quiet one’ s heart, and pacify one in all distresses, is to hearken what God says. (1) Because God’ s Word will work faith, which does purify the heart, overcome the world, and quench the fiery darts of Satan. (2) It will teach a man wisdom, whence and why it comes, and that struggling with God is in vain, and that in so doing we shall have the worse. (3) It will be a means to work patience in the heart. (4) It will make us go to God and pray, and prayer will bring comfort and ease to the heart ere long. 2. All God’ s children must be ploughed. 3. God will make a sweet and seasonable end of afflicting His children. He doth correct us for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 4. When the Lord hath made us plain, and hath filled us with hearts to receive good seed, then is the time of rest. 5. When God hath humbled us by His Word, then He will furnish and arm us with His Word, and enable us with strength that way. Many heaths do meet with streams and floods of water, and yet are nothing the better nor more fruitful; but God’ s arable, the saints, are ploughed and instructed, as the Psalmist speaks: “ Blessed is the man whom Thou correctest, and teachest in Thy law,” etc. To have the one without the other is nothing, and does no good, but when correction and teaching go together, then one sees all the good of affliction, and why God sent it upon him. 6. Skill in husbandry is the gift of God; wisdom must come from Him. 7. All God’ s grain needs threshing and ploughing, and as they need it, so they shall have it. 8. The best grain shall have the sorest trial and hardest pressure. The fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, but are beaten with a staff; neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin, but beaten with a rod; but the wheat must have the wheel go on it. The meaning is an allusion unto that manner of the ancient Jews in treading their wheat, as appears by that precept: “ Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox or the ass that treadeth down thy corn” (Deuteronomy 25:4), for then the oxen, drawing a wheel over the wheat, did so bruise it, but not break it. 9. God Almighty knows best, and He appoints what shall be the means, time, and measure of the trials of His children. 10. God, in the chastisements, trials, and afflictions of His elect, hath wonderful wisdom and power beyond our understanding. He knows not only which is the best way to lead us to Heaven, but also He is excellent in working, to bring His counsel to pass. See it in examples. As in Joseph, appointed to be the greatest, save Pharaoh, in all Egypt. So David, after he was anointed king, in a state of honour and all pomp and pleasure, how was he vexed and ploughed with many crosses! 11. Nothing can stay Him from working, to hinder our comfort and deliverance in due time. Why? Because He is “ the Lord of hosts,” and all the creatures must do what He wills. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)The voice of God in the tillage of the field The Scriptures are full of the fresh air of the country; it is easy to see that many of the writers of them were country people, or, if not, at least went about the world with their eyes open, and had a keen interest in those matters of the street and the field that make up the life of the people. When Moses described the Land of Promise to the Israelites it was a husbandman’ s description that he gave of it. It was “ a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olives and honey.” The Psalmists looked out upon the open face of nature, and saw in it a world eloquent of God--the dew and the rain, the valleys and the hills, the lilies and the cedars spake of Him. He made the earth soft with showers, and blessed the springing thereof. One prophet describes the evil case of the people in this way: “ The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Another calls the same people to repentance: “ Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you” The great Lord Himself, standing in the midst of His worlds, bade men “ consider the lilies of the field,” and in His doctrine said, “ Behold, a sower went forth to sow.” And when Isaiah, in the words before us, draws out a detailed account of the operations of husbandry, in order to drive home lessons in Divine things, he was well within a long line of precedents. (E. Medley, B. A.)God’ s processes of moral and spiritual husbandry I. THERE IS AN ELEMENT OF IN GOD’ S WORKING. Doth the ploughman plough continually to sow? “ Doth he continually open and break the clods of his ground?” That is, is the man always at one thing, forever engaged in one line of work? Is there not order, is there not succession, are there not appointed seasons? Men do not plough at midsummer, and reap at Christmas. There is a time, a day, an hour, and the careful husbandman, who would make the most of his opportunity, must submit to this element of timeliness. He must have his spells of hard work, and his days of comparative inaction. And herein he is not exceptional, this tidal system holds good in all spheres. Is it not so very evidently in the general life of man! Is there not there a sowing time, a most blessed spring tide; is there not a period of watching and waiting, and anxious carefulness, and then, by and by, the harvest? Ay; and when the spring time is neglected, then by no effort, and by no tears, can the loss be retrieved. It is so in the fife of the spirit. Looking at the facts as we find them, and they are of God, is there not the element of timeliness there? There are tides of the Spirit; seasons when repentance and faith are easy; seasons when Heaven seems very near to this world, and by a step we find ourselves in the presence of Christ. There are days of the Son of Man, the dew sparkles upon the grass, the sun rises without clouds, and sheds a tender light. God and Christ, indeed, are no more real, no more actual than they always are, but they are more real to us. And then all is different, we come into another world. But what are all these facts of life but so many expressions or the higher fact, that there is an element of timeliness in the working of God Himself? The urgent lesson from this fact is this--let us work while we work, let us catch the opportunity on the wing. II. THERE IS AN ELEMENT OF VARIETY IN GOD’ S WORKING. Through multiplied detail does the prophet enforce this fact. Different sorts of seed are sown in a different fashion. And a like variety obtains when the harvesting comes; one is dealt with after this manner and another after that. And has not the Creator therein given us a visible example of the methods He pursues in that great field wherein He is the husbandman, and we are me husbandry? He has no fear of precedent, He works out His end in every variety of method. The life of Christ, as that stands recorded in the Gospels, supplies the confirming illustration! Run over in your thought His dealings with Nathanael, and Peter, and Thomas, and John. See how He handled Nicodemus and Mary of Bethany. He cast truth into their minds in a different way, and wrought for the spiritual harvest just as variously. From all of which there comes the Divine voice that bids us, above all things, be simple, be natural, not striving after another type and style of experience than that which is our own. If we are true to ourselves and to our God, we shall have our own experience, that which for us is most fitting and the best. III. GOD’ S WORKING IS A PROCESS. Your parable is full of method, of succession, of processes. And every ploughing time, every sowing, and every reaping, are but visible examples of what happens in the higher field of God’ s activity in the spirits of men. Conscience grows, character grows; light comes slowly, there is dawn, twilight, the mellow morning, and the golden day. There is no antagonism between nature and grace, between God speaking in nature and God speaking in the life and death of His Son. (E. Medley, B. A.)Physical husbandry the effect and emblem of Divine teaching I. THAT IS THE EFFECT OF DIVINE . How did man come to know that by depositing a seed in a soil which had been dressed after a certain fashion, that solitary seed would produce thirty, sixty, or a hundred, fold? We are familiar with the operation now, and the wonderfulness does not strike us; but, antecedently, nothing seems to us more marvellous. Whence, then, came this great agricultural truth? It is not innate, nor of necessary discovery. The text gives the most satisfactory answer: “ His God doth instruct him.” The point suggested: and which we wish to insist upon, is that all true secular ideas, as well as spiritual, are from God. Christians refer true ideas of worship to God, but not true ideas of commerce, agriculture, navigation, medicine, architecture, and the like. In fact, they do not regard God as having much to do with the practical mind of this working world. 1. Our position is suggested by a priori reasoning. One might justly infer that He who gave us an organisation, which so connects us with the material world as to render a certain course of conduct indispensable to our physical well-being, would give us some ideas to guide us in the matter, and the more so when we remember that the welfare of the soul itself greatly depends upon the condition of the body. 2. Our position is sustained by Scripture. There are specific examples in the Bible, of God’ s condescending to teach men secular work, such as the building of the ark and the tabernacle, and the passages are numerous which imply that God acts upon the genera mind of mankind. 3. Our position is implied in the doctrine of providence. How does God interpose on behalf of men now? Not miraculously, but by giving us directing ideas. A good man is brought to a painful crisis in his business. He is filled with anxiety. One step will decide his commercial fate. What will help him? A true directing idea would dispel his darkness and clear his path. Or, a government is brought to a solemn crisis in its history. The fate of nations depends upon the next act. How can providence help it at that moment? By suggesting an idea that will reveal the true and safe path. Ideas are our guides in all the labyrinth walks of life, and all our true ones come from God. This doctrine should lead us-- (1) To recognise God in all the true developments of mind. (2) To seek His aid in all secular undertakings. II. THAT IS THE EMBLEM OF DIVINE . The prophet here describes the operations of the husbandman in order to illustrate God’ s method of training humanity. Two thoughts are here implied-- 1. That moral fruitfulness is the great end of God’ s dealings with man. What is moral fruitfulness? Right heart qualities (Galatians 5:22-23). 2. That to realise this end, God employs a variety of instrumentalities. Does not thin subject impress us with the divinity of life? Man is the organ of Divine thought, and the object of Divine operation. Away with all frivolous ideas of life! Life is solemn and sacred. We are ever in close connection with the Infinite: He besets us “ behind and before.” (Homilist.)Breaking clods I. THE VARIOUS WAYS IN WHICH GOD DEALS WITH HIS PEOPLE. 1. He ploughs the ground, i.e., He breaks up the hard, natural heart. For this purpose He employs-- (1) The terrors of the law, (2) Judgments in providence. 2. The second process is harrowing. “ Doth He open and break the clods of His ground? When He hath made plain the face thereof,” etc. The object is to bring the ploughed ground into such a condition as will best secure me proper reception of the seed. There are many clods in the human heart, too, which need to be broken. (1) The clod of prejudice. (2) Of pride. 3. The third process is that or sowing the seed. 4. The threshing. In order that the Christian may become useful as well as fit for Heaven, affliction is necessary. II. THE SKILL IN THESE VARIOUS . 1. The skill is not expressly referred to in connection with the ploughing. But it may nevertheless be seen. Farmers know that there is such a thing as ploughing too deep, and also ploughing too shallow. In the one case the gravel may be reached and turned up to the surface, and so render the seed to be afterwards sown comparatively useless. Or, the too cold soil may be turned up, and thus the seed sown will perish. In the other case, the proper depth of the soil is not reached, and the crop will therefore be but a thin and sickly one. So it is with God in His dealings with His people. Some natures need to be thoroughly aroused, some hearts to be opened up to their very depths, in order that the Word may take root and bring forth fruit. No superficial work will do here And although God’ s messengers may and often do err, God Himself never will, for “ He is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” Again, other natures need to be dealt with in a different way. They require to be dealt with gently and lovingly, and the wise Husbandman acts accordingly: 2. But the skill of the farmer is referred to in this passage in connection with the sowing of the seed. Different soils require different kinds of seed, if there is to be a good crop. So does God act too. Some souls need doctrine, others history. Some need words of Divine love and pity, others the Divine warnings and threatenings. 3. The skill of the farmer is seen, too, in employing different kinds of threshing instruments for the different kinds of grain. So also does God deal with His people. Some need only a comparatively light affliction, their natures being of such a kind that treatment of a different kind would utterly overwhelm them and drive them to despair. Others need to be put into the furnace seven times heated. And it is to be observed that as the bread corn, or most precious material, gets as it were the roughest treatment, so it is God’ s choice ones that are subjected to the greatest trials. (D. Macaulay, M. A.)Inspiration in common life Observe-- I. HOW GOD GUIDES THE OF HIS IN ALL THE AFFAIRS OF THEIR WORLDLY LIFE. Why should we be surprised to read of inspiration in common life! 1. It arises from the fact that we distinguish between intellectual life and vulgar life, and exclude God from the latter. Inspiration is not limited to the world of scholars, scientists, painters, and musicians; God is equally in the so-called vulgar world, giving the lowliest toiler mastery in all that relates to his sphere of life. The vulgar world is vulgar no more. The whole world of human duty is one kingdom, the working out of one Divine purpose. 2. Because of our habit of distinguishing between influential life and insignificant life, and excluding God from the latter. We are not surprised to hear of God inspiring princes; it seems quite in order when God gives to Solomon supernatural enlightenment. But the ploughman seems utterly insignificant, his affairs so few and simple. But is the ploughman so utterly insignificant! The fact is, he is one of the most important characters in the world: if things go wrongly with him, they go wrongly with us all We might do without a king; we could not do without a ploughman. 3. Because of our habit of distinguishing between sacred life and secular life, and excluding God from the latter. We readily think of God inspiring the prophet and the priest. Yet the passage before us makes us feel that the ploughman’ s realm is not lees spiritual than that of the prophet. II. HOW GOD GUIDES THE OF HIS IN ALL THE AFFAIRS OF THEIR INNER LIFE. There is a great spiritual nature in the lowliest of men. We have heard of the epitaph once put over s peasant: “ Only a clod.” I do not know whether that epitaph was written in a pathetic or in a cynical temper, but it was really very full of suggestion. What wonderful things are in a clod! All possibilities of music, colour, light, fragrance, are there, “ So you think you know what a clod is, do you?” archly asks Schopenhauer. Indeed, we do not. It will astonish you on the morning of the resurrection to see what God will bring out of that clod. And God is ever ready to guide and save His lowly children. He makes them to know the deepest truths of revelation and spiritual life (Matthew 11:25-26). All through life God continues the same gracious guidance. “ The Lord preserveth the simple.” (W. L.Watkinson.)Agriculture Agriculture is the most ancient o fall pursuits, for Adam was a gardener, Cain a farmer, Abel a herdsman, and Cain did not go to live in a city or attempt to build one until after he had committed his great crime. It is not only the most ancient, but also the most necessary, and all other pursuits could be more readily spared than this. The most careless observer who walks through an agricultural show must be forcibly struck with the great importance of agriculture. All kinds of inventions, yea, almost all sciences, are consecrated to this pursuit--the products of the mine, the forest, the quarry, the hammer, forge, saw, and engine have been pressed into its service. How many kinds of toilers and artisans have brought their inventions and labour to make tilling the ground profitable? How many sciences wait reverently upon husbandry? For it geology ransacks the bowels of the earth; chemistry proclaims what nutriment certain plants absorb from soil, and what enrichment certain alkalis will give; botany collects her varied grasses to make possible the permanent pasture, on the principle of the survival of the fittest; astronomy smiles on it, and causes the sun to do morn for its prosperity than any king, however gracious, and the clouds more than any landlord, however beneficent. (F. Standfast.)The value of agricultural labour How foolish and sinful it is for those who possess wealth acquired by the toil of others, and who are designated independent, to despise or oppress those on whose humble toil they are indeed most dependent. What would be the value of the broad acres, if left without culture? It is the toil of the peasant which makes them productive, and which wrings from the soil those ample revenues that sustain the proprietor in luxurious ease. Of what benefit would be those pieces of silver, gold, or paper which we call cash, without indefatigable industry producing the necessaries and comfort which money brings? Would shillings and sovereigns satisfy the cravings of hunger! No more than molten gold could assuage thirst. The painter must lay down his brush and palette, the poet his pen, the philosopher suspend his experiments, and the voice of the orator be dumb, the jewelled crown become a worthless bauble, the most stately palace become a region of desolation, but for the labour of the agriculturist and fisherman. (F. Standfast.)Interdependence of the man of leisure and the son of toil Labour is the foundation on which the mighty fabric of human society rests, and none but the vain, proud, and foolish will overlook their obligation to the toilers. Acknowledged reciprocity of advantage should bind all classes together in one strong common bond of mutual support; for if the man of leisure is dependent on those sons of toll for the very necessity of existence, it is equally certain that to such the toilers are indebted for the social order which preserves liberty and life, for the books which inspire to intellectual elevation, and for the sciences which indefinitely expand the compass of our being. If the arch be indebted to the foundation stone for its very existence, it could not retain its graceful sweep or strength one moment without its keystone. (F. Standfast.)Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow?--The ploughman I. OUR TEXT MAY BE IN THE . “ Yes, the ploughman does plough all day to sow.” When it is ploughing time he keeps on at it till his work is ache; if it requires one day, or two days, or twenty days to finish his fields, he continues at his task while the weather permits. 1. So doth God plough the heart of man, and herein is His patience. The team was in the field in the case of some of us very early in the morning, for our first recollections have to do with conscience and the furrows of pain which it made in our youthful mind. It is a dreadful thing to have remained all unbeliever all these years; but yet the grace of God does not stop short at s certain age. 2. The text teaches perseverance on our part. “ Doth the ploughman plough all day?” Yes, he does. (1) Then if I am seeking Christ, ought I to be discouraged because I do not immediately find Him? (2) The same is true in seeking the salvation of others. Ploughing is hard work; but as there will be no harvest without it let us put forth all our strength, and never flag till we have performed our Lord’ s will, and by His Holy Spirit wrought conviction in men’ s souls. Some soils are very stiff, and cling together, and the labour is heart breaking; others are like the unreclaimed waste, full of roots and tangled bramble; they need a steam plough, and we must pray the Lord to make us such, for we cannot leave them untilled, and therefore we must put forth more strength that the labour may be done. I heard some time ago of a minister who called to see a poor man who was dying, but he was not able to gain admittance; he called the next morning, and some idle excuse was made so that he could not see him; he called again the next morning, but he was still refused; he went on till he called twenty times in vain, but on the twenty-first occasion he was permitted to see the sufferer, and by God’ s grace he saved a soul from death. “ Why do you tell your child a thing twenty times?” asked someone of a mother. “ Because,” said she, “ I find nineteen times is not enough.” We prize that which costs us labour and service, and we shall set all the higher value upon the saved ones when the Lord grants them to our efforts. It is good for us to learn the value of our sheaves by going forth weeping to the sowing. Start close to the hedge, and go right down to the bottom of the field. Plough as close to the ditch as you can, and leave small headlands. What though there are fallen women, thieves, and drunkards in the slums around, do not neglect any of them; for if you leave a stretch of land to the weeds they will soon spread amongst the wheat. When you have gone right to the end of the field once, what shall you do next? Why, just turn round, and make for the place you started from. And when you have thus been up and down, what next? Why, up and down again. And what next! Why, up and down again. You have visited that district with tracts; do it again, fifty-two times in the year--multiply your furrows. We must learn how to continue in well-doing. II. THE TEXT MAY BE IN THE . “ Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow?” No, he does not always plough. After he has ploughed he breaks the clods, sows, reaps, and threshes. In the chapter before us you will see that other works of husbandry are mentioned. The ploughman has many other things to do beside ploughing. There is an advance in what he does. 1. On God’ s part, there is an advance in what He does. He will not always make furrows by His chiding. He will come and cast in the precious corn of consolation, and water it with the dews of Heaven, and smile upon it with the sunlight of His grace; and there shall soon be in you, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear, and in due season you shall joy as with the joy of harvest. But what if the ploughing should never lead to sowing; what if you should be disturbed in conscience, and should go on to resist it all? Then God will make another advance, but it will be to put up the plough, and to command the clouds that they rain no rain upon the land, and then its end is to be burned. 2. This advance is a lesson to us; for we, too, are to go forward. Don’ t be making furrows all day; get to your sowing. Let the ministers of Christ follow the rule of advance. Let us go from preaching the law to preaching the Gospel. You cannot get a harvest if you are afraid of disturbing the soil, nor can you save souls if you never warn them of hell fire. Still, we must not plough all day. The preaching of the law is only preparatory to the preaching of the Gospel. 3. Another lesson to those of you who are as yet hearers and nothing more. I want you to go from ploughing to something better, namely, from hearing and fearing to believing. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Spiritual husbandry 1. Never was seed or plant better adapted to the soil than the Word of God is adapted to universal man. 2. Since the Bible is adapted to our moral nature, it is ours to adapt our lives to its great teachings. If we find unseemly pride springing up in the soul, let us go and see the terrible effects of self-confidence by the Red Sea, as Pharaoh and his army sink into its depths; or by the plains of Babylon, as Nebuchadnezzar herds among the beasts. Ii you find any vice growing in rank deformity in your soul, go and look at the Deluge or the Dead Sea. If you find self-sufficiency springing up in the heart, and condemn the shortcomings of others, go and listen to the claims of God. How penetrating! far-reaching! and absolute! If everywhere around you, you see tokens and footprints of the king of terrors, in mourning garbs and joyless faces, in darkened earthly prospects, go listen to the promises of immortality, the doctrine of the resurrection. If you mark manifestation? of the being of an awful Deity, go find a near, visible, and all-beneficent Deity whose presence makes the earth itself a heaven; get proofs of His low by its being shed abroad in your own heart. Ii you see around you all nature in bondage, groaning and waiting for its redemption, go see a new heaven and a new earth, in which shall dwell righteousness. (F. Standfast.)Beneficent ploughing When the plough of God’ s providence first cuts up a man’ s life, what wonder if the man should exclaim a little, yea, if he should give way to one hour’ s grief, and say he thought he had escaped all that kind of treatment! But the man may come to himself ere eventide and say, Plough on, Lord; I want my life to be ploughed all over that it may be sown all over, and that in every corner there may be golden grain or beautiful flowers: pity me that I exclaimed when I first felt the ploughshare, Thou knowest my frame, Thou rememberest that I am but dust, but now I recollect, I put things together, I see Thy meaning; so drive on, Thou Ploughman of eternity! (J. Parker, D. D.)The principal wheatThe principal wheat I. The prophet mentions it as a matter of wisdom on the part of the husbandman that HE KNOWS WHAT IS THE THING TO , and makes it his principal care. Here let us learn a lesson. Do keep things distinct in your minds. Sort things out, and divide and distinguish between the precious and the vile. The farmer, who finds that wheat ought to be his principal crop, makes it so, and lays himself out with that end in view: learn from this to have a main object, and to give your whole mind to it. 1. This farmer was wise, because he counted that to be principal which was the most needful. His family could do without cummin, which was but a flavouring. They certainly must have wheat, for bread is the staff of life. That which is necessary he regarded as the principal thing. Is not this common sense! A creature cannot be satisfied unless he is answering the end for which he is created; and the end of every intelligent creature is, first, to glorify God, and next, to enjoy God. Other things may he desirable, but this thing is needful Other herbs may take their place in due order, but grace is the principal wheat, and we must cultivate it. 2. This farmer was wise, because he made that to be the principal thing which was the most fit to be so. Of course, barley is useful as food, for nations have lived on barley bread, and lived healthily too; and rye has been the nutriment of millions: neither have they starved on oats and other grains. Still, give me a piece of wheaten bread, for it is the best staff for life’ s journey. And what is there that is so fit for the heart, the mind, the soul of man, as to know God and His Christ! Other mental foods, such as the fruits of knowledge, and the dainties of science, excellent though they may be--are inferior nutriment and unsuitable to build up the inner manhood. 3. Moreover, this farmer was wise, because he made that the principal thing which was the most profitable. Our grandfathers to rely upon the wheat stack to pay their rent. The figure holds good with regard to spiritual religion. That is the most profitable thing. II. The husbandman is a lesson to us because HE GIVES THIS THING THE PLACE. I find that the Hebrew is rendered by some eminent scholars, “ He puts the wheat into the principal place.” That little handful of cummin for the wife to flavour the cakes with he grows in a corner; and the various herbs he places in their proper borders. The barley he sets in its plot, and the rye in its acre; but if there is a good hit of rich soil he appropriates it to the principal wheat. He gives his choicest fields to that which is to be the main means of his living. Hero Is a lesson for you and me. Let us give to true godliness our principal powers and abilities. 1. Let us give to the things of God our best and most intense thought. 2. Be sure, also, to yield to this subject your most earnest love. 3. Towards God and His Christ also turn your most fervent desires. 4. Then, let the Lord have the attentive respect of your life. 5. We should give to this principal wheat our most earnest labours. 6. This should also take possession of us so as to lead to our greatest sacrifices. III. THE SELECTS THE SEED CORN WHEN HE IS SOWING HIS WHEAT. When a farmer is setting aside wheat for sowing, he does not choose the tail corn and the worst of his produce, but if he is a sensible man he likes to sow the best wheat in the world. Let me learn that if I am going to sow to the Lord and to be a Christian, I should sow the best kind of Christianity. 1. I should try to do this by believing the weightiest doctrines. I would believe not this “ ism,” nor that, but the unadulterated truth which Jesus taught; for a holy character will only grow by the Spirit of God out of true doctrine. 2. Next to that, we ought to sow the noblest examples. 3. We should sow the best wheat by seeing that we have the purest spirit. 4. And then, we should endeavour to live in closest communion with God. It should be our desire to rise to the highest form of spiritual life. IV. THE GROWS THE WHEAT WITH THE CARE. It is said that the large crops in Palestine in olden time were due to the fact that they planted the wheat. They set it in lines, so that it was not checked or suffocated by its being too thick in one place, neither was there any fear of its being too thin in another. The wheat was planted, and then streams of water were turned by the foot to each particular plant. No wonder, therefore, that the land brought forth abundantly. We should give our principal care to the principal thing. Our godliness should be carried out with discretion and care. V. Do this, because FROM THIS YOU MAY EXPECT YOUR CROP. If religion be the principal thing, you may look to religion for your principal reward. The harvest will come to you in various ways. You will make the greatest success in this life if you wholly live to the glory of God. The Eastern farmer’ s prosperity hinges on his wheat, and yours upon your devotion to God. In the world to come what a crop, what a harvest will come of serving the Lord! (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 28:26-29 For his God doth instruct him Chastising with judgment More literally and with better significance, “ And he chastiseth it with judgment; his God doth instruct him. ” This judgment is shown in two ways. (1) In the choice and adaptation of the mode of threshing. There were four modes in use among the Jews; first there was the wain, a very ponderous and formidable instrument brought out only for the heavier and harder kinds of fruits; then there was the cart, the wheels of which also were for the same purpose; then there was the horse or the ox, whose feet were employed to tread out the corn; and then there was the staff, an instrument corresponding with our flail. Well, says the prophet, fitches, the lighter kinds of seeds, are not threshed with a wain, nor is a cart wheel turned upon the cummin; upon these the farmer, using sound judgment, employs only a staff or flail. Bread corn requires a heavier threshing, and bread corn is therefore bruised. But (2) he does not go on threshing it forever, nor does he continue so long turning the wheel of his cart upon it, or crushing it with his horses, that it is broken into pieces and spoiled; in the measure of his threshing no less than in its mode does he exercise discretion; in the amount which he inflicts no less than in the form which he selects. “ This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” (R. H.Roberts, B. A.)Tribulation Though not a parable in form, the passage is intended to be parabolically interpreted by us. The unsown land indicates human nature in its native condition; the fruit of that land after it has been sown indicates human nature taken possession of by the Word and Spirit of God. I. Just as the corn, after it has grown up from the seed sown, needs the c causing process of threshing, so THE SOUL, AFTER IT HAS THE GRACE OF GOD IN THROUGH FAITH, NEEDS TO BE AND AND BY . It used to be a great puzzle with some of the Old Testament saints why a man of God should be subjected to trial Perhaps their bewilderment arose out of the exceeding dimness which surrounded a future life; but the life and immortality brought to light in the Gospel has made this all clear to us, and the suggestion contained in the figure of the text, whilst it cannot be pressed too strictly, may be taken to remind us that in our first salvation we have not reached our final development. The corn is not grown for itself, it is meant for something beyond; and that beyond can only be attained through bruising. It must be beaten into its future life. Even so our salvation is only a step in the onward, heavenward progress; and into that higher kingdom we must enter through the narrow pass of tribulation. This is Christ’ s teaching. “ Every branch in Me that beareth fruit, He purgeth it.” This is brought out, too, in the words of John the Baptist regarding Christ. “ I,” he says, “ baptize you with water, but He will baptize you in the Holy Ghost and in fire.” When first we are separated from the rock of nature and raked out of the pit of corruption, we are like iron ore, having in us a vast deal of dross which must become slag and refuse, and we need the blast furnace not only that this dross may be removed, but that we may be in a condition to run into the mould, and so take the shape which the Master desires, and be prepared for the utilities unto which He destines us. It often happens, too, that the more noble the elements which exist in a man, the more severe is the process required unto the perfecting of their possibilities. Corn wants heavier threshing than cummin, not because it is less valuable but because its superior value gives it a greater power of resistance and makes it worth while to accept the heavier toil. II. THE BY THE PEOPLE OF GOD WILL BE SUCH AS IS BEST ADAPTED TO SECURE THE HIGHEST ENDS. It is being administered and superintended by One who, whilst He sets much value upon them, is distinguished by the profoundest wisdom. And we may be sure that His wisdom will be applied to the adaptation of the discipline to the character with which He has to deal; the husbandman does not “ thresh fitches with a wain, nor is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.” You look at your children and you discriminate; you say that boy has a sensitive, gentle, yielding nature, and I must be careful that I do not handle him too roughly, lest I brush the bloom off and spoil the possible beauty which, by careful training, may be made to blossom in the kingdom of God. And that lad is made of a coarser grain, which is not readily injured, and with a dash of self-will and obstinacy in it, upon which I must lay a firm and strong hand. And so, it may be, you put your arm around the one, and you have a rod for the other; and yet all the while you mean the same by both. He who is wonderful in counsel is also wonderful in working. (R. H. Robert, B. A.)The, ploughman taught of God Let us contemplate the method of the Divine teaching. The ploughman teaches us--I. A LESSON OF . God prepared much for man before He introduced him into Eden. God would not bring His favourite creature man into a dreary, cheerless world, but into one glowing with beauty, impressive in magnificence, overflowing with goodness. II. A LESSON OF . The ploughman has passed the time of deliberation; he has decided, and decision has led to action. There is much truth in Bacon’ s complaint, “ That some men object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home.” This aphorism applies, alas, to too many alike in the world and the Church. Ulysses could not discover a happier method of making his foes believe in his insanity than by ploughing up the sand by the seashore. How much quick-witted invention degenerates to the same folly! Often within the Church, where heavenly wisdom ought to shine, matters are not much improved. How many are at ease in Zion! How many shirk the ploughing altogether! How many let noxious weeds grow apace! How many miss the time of open-handed sowing, and yet expect to wake up when the song of harvest home fills the air, and to gather their own golden sheaves! There is still a sense in which the children of the world are wiser than the children of light. Many of these count years not wasted to acquire proficiency in mere vanities and trivialities over which angels well may weep. III. A LESSON OF . “ God giveth him discretion” All toil that is honest, is honourable, but that is the most honourable which employs the greatest variety of our powers. How much of the service offered to pomp, pride vanity, and fashion lacks discretion! This faculty of discretion men are called upon to exercise daily. Prudence or discretion is a good commander-in-chief: it has won battles over the stubbornness of the soil, the inclemency of the climate, the stormy elements. If we thoughtfully and prayerfully take care of our own actions, God will take care of results. We have no right to tempt providence in any part of its wide domains. He who walks in dangerous ways will perish in them, even as Josiah--favourite of God though he was--was wounded unto death, because he pressed further against his enemies than the words of God permitted. IV. A LESSON OF ORDER. The discreet husbandman ploughs in the proper season in order that the Lord’ s plough, the frost may pulverise the soft a thousand times finer than any human implement. And is not order one of the greatest of Heaven’ s appointed laws? The Church itself is to be an army with banners, to consist of governors and governed, some to tend, some to serve, some to hear. Evolve your heaven in due order, out of holy desires, pure affection, spiritual principle, full consecration. (F. Standfast.)The need and measure of afflictive dispensations I. THE NEED OF TRIAL TO THE OF GOD. To the wicked afflictions may come as present manifestations of Divine displeasure, and most unwelcome earnests of future judgment. And God may cause the very pleasant vices in which they indulged to become whips and scourge them. As for the children of God, however,--the corn, the fitches, and the cummin, it is not so with them. Every providential dealing of their Heavenly Father is linked with the intentions of His grace, and subserves them. The grain is beaten, the corn is bruised, that they may become useful to man, in providing him with food. Even so, afflictions may be for the good of others, as well as for the glory of God. II. THE WISE AND MANNER IN WHICH GOD LAYS ON HIS . The text beautifully exhibits the skilful and tender adaptation of means to their end. (B. P. Buddicom, M. A.)Threshing I. WE ALL NEED . What is the object of threshing the grain? Is it not to separate it from the straw and the chaff? 1. About the best of men there is still a measure of chaff. There is something superfluous, something which must be removed. Either in spirit, or motive, or lack of zeal, or want of discretion, we are faulty, if before an action we are right, we err in the doing of it, or, if not, we become proud after it is over. If sin be shut out at the front door, it tries the back gate, or climbs in at the window, or comes down the chimney. Those who cannot perceive it in themselves are frequently blinded by its smoke. They are so thoroughly in the water that they do not know that it rains. 2. Threshing is useful in loosening the connection between the good corn and the husk. If it would slip out easily from its husk, the corn would only need to be shaken. But there’ s the rub: our soul not only lieth in the dust, but “ cleaveth” to it. As the work of threshing is never done till the corn is separated altogether from the husk, so chastening and discipline have never accomplished their design till God’ s people give up every form of evil, and abhor all iniquity. Threshing becomes needful for the sake of our usefulness; for the wheat must come out of the husk to be of service. Eminent usefulness usually necessitates eminent affliction. 3. The threshing instrument is a prophecy of our future perfection. II. GOD’ S IS DONE WITH GREAT . 1. Reflect that your threshing and mine are in God’ s hands. Our chastening is not left to servants, much less to enemies; “ we are chastened of the Lord” ! How roughly some ministers, some good men and women will go to work with timid, tender souls; yet we need not fear that they will destroy the true-hearted, for, however much they may vex them, the Lord will not leave His chosen in their hands, but will overrule their mistaken severity, and preserve His own from being destroyed thereby. As the Lord has not left us in the power of man, so also He has not left us in the power of the devil. Satan may sift us as wheat, but he shall not thresh us as fitches. He may blow away the chaff from us even with his foul breath, but he shall not have the management of the Lord’ s corn. “ The Lord preserveth the righteous.” 2. The instruments used for our threshing are chosen also by the great Husbandman. The Eastern farmer has several instruments, and so has our God. No form of threshing is pleasant to the seed which bears it; indeed, each one seems to the sufferer to be peculiarly objectionable. 3. God not only selects the instruments, but He chooses the place. Farmers in the East have large threshing floors upon which they throw the sheaves of corn or barley, and upon these they turn horses and drags; but near the house door I have often noticed in Italy a much smaller circle of hardened clay or cement, and here I have seen the peasants beating out their garden seeds in a more careful manner than would naturally be used towards the greater heaps upon the larger area. Some saints are not afflicted in the common affairs of life, but they have peculiar sorrow in their innermost spirits: they are beaten on the smaller and more private threshing floor; but the process is none the less effectual 4. It is interesting to notice in the text the limit of this threshing. The husbandman is zealous to beat out the seed, but he is careful not to break it in pieces by too severe a process. In the same way the Lord has a measure in all His chastening. The wisdom of the husbandman in limiting his threshing is far exceeded in the wisdom of God by which He sets a limit to our griefs. We see that our God uses discretion in the chastisement of His people; let us use a loving prudence when we have to deal with others in that way. Be gentle as well as firm with your children; and if you have to rebuke your brother do it very tenderly. Do not drive your horses over the tender seed. III. THE WILL NOT LAST FOREVER. The threshing will not last all our days even here. “ Bread corn is bruised, but He will not always he threshing it.” Oh, no! “ He will not always chide, neither will He keep His anger forever.” “ Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Threshing is not an operation which the corn requires all the year round; for the most part the flail is idle. Then, we shall soon be gone to another and better world. (C. H. Spurgeon.)How the Lord threshes us I. IT IS NO TO US IF WE ESCAPE GREAT TRIAL. II. GOD OUR TRIALS TO WHAT WE CAN BEAR. III. GOD KEEPS TRIAL ON US UNTIL WE LET GO. The farmer shouts “ whoa!” to his horses as soon as the grain has dropped from the stalk. The farmer comes with his fork and tosses up the straw, and he sees that the straw has let go the grain, and the grain is thoroughly threshed. So God. Smiting rod and turning wheel, but cease as soon as we let go. We hold on to this world with its pleasures, and riches, and emoluments, and our knuckles are so firmly set that it seems as if we could hold on forever. God comes along with some threshing troubles, and beats us loose. IV. SORROW IS GORING TO HAVE A SURE . (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)The wisdom of God in discipline Some men require very little hard usage. A tap will do, a gentle stroke, a touch that hardly amounts to a blow, a ministry that may be wrought out with the tips of the fingers. Other men require flail, and iron instrument, and harrow, and cart wheel and rough treatment: they are differently organised, they are differently constituted. What would be thought of a man who blew up birds’ nests with gunpowder? Who would not say, There is great want of proportion in that man’ s method of looking at things; he is expending far too much energy upon the object? So with regard to the Divine discipline. Some men could be almost brought to fulness or fruition by a smile. Of some men God says, Thou art not far from the kingdom of heaven; one little step would bring thee right home. God whispers some men into heaven. But what thunder He needs for others! God treats character according to the variety of character. (J. Parker, D. D.)Chastisement not pleasant There is no pleasing us in the matter of chastisement. When I was at school, with my uncle for master, it often happened that he would send me out to find a cane for him. It was not a very pleasant task, and I noticed that I never once succeeded in selecting a stick which was liked by the boy who had to feel it. Either it was too thin, or too stout; and in consequence I was threatened by the sufferers with condign punishment if I did not do better next time. I learned from that experience never to expect God’ s children to like the particular rod with which they are chastened. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Moral threshing We all go through, some kind of threshing process. The fact that you may be devoting your life to honourable and noble purposes will not win you any escape. Wilberforce, the Christian emancipator, was in his day derisively called “ Doctor Cantwell.” Thomas Babington Macaulay, the advocate of all that was good long before he became the most conspicuous historian of his day, was caricatured in one of the Quarterly Reviews as “ Babble-tongue Macaulay.” (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)The higher nature requires the more force “ Bread corn is bruised.” There are more blows given by the sculptor to carve a saint or angel man by the mason to square a paving stone. (F. Standfast.)Tribulation Tribulation comes from the word “ Tribulum,” and tribulum means a threshing instrument. Whatever the man used who was treating the growth in its latest phases was called a tribulum, and he tribulated the harvest into bread. The seed did not go from the field into the oven; it had to undergo the action of the tribulum. Watch it there: what is that seed now undergoing! Tribulation. This is the bread that came out of much tribulating, tribulation, tearing asunder, shaking, beating. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 28:29 The Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel God’ s presidency over all things Let us consider this point as related to-- I. THE BIBLE AND ITS . This Book, to the secular world, is a perpetual puzzle. What amazing power it has exerted in the world, and what exalting energy! Yet it is the literature of a people comparatively insignificant, to whom we are not drawn as we have been toward the august grandeur of Roman genius, or to the poetic and philosophic Greek. It is the oldest of books, large, obscure in some things, but bold in its challenges to geologist, astronomer, and men of science; provoking discussion at a thousand points. Think of the mysteries of doctrine--the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the future life--what can we do? A tone of authority over our convictions and judgments is assumed. The thoughts of the Bible are God’ s thoughts. II. THE OF CHRIST. This is too vast, grand, marvellous to be understood without this illuminating truth. III. IN THE SPHERE, in the soul of man. We act on man’ s feelings through his judgment, or upon his judgment through his sensibilities. Yet how feebly! But all these are open to the royal, inspiring Spirit of God. IV. THE METHOD AND OF IN THE WORLD. Gathering up some of the results of this survey, we may see-- 1. How Christendom is builded. Coleridge speaks fitly of “ the miracle of Christendom,” for the tendency of society, unilluminated by the Gospel, ever has been downward. 2. We should read the future in the same light. If God be behind all the movements of history, there is no room for discouragement. At important crises He will interfere, putting forth silent forces, perhaps, but terrific in energy. 3. There is a city of God for me. His promises, thick as the fragments of the jasper floor, will all be redeemed. (R. S. Storrs, D. D.)The wonderfulness of God’ s counsel The context presents to us physical husbandry in two very different aspects. (1) As the effect of God’ s teaching. (2) As the emblem of God’ s teaching. God’ s counsel is wonderful in all His departments of action as Creator, Sovereign, and Redeemer. Our illustration shall be taken from the nature, formation, and propagation of the redemptive system. I. ITS NATURE IS . What is it? One word, perhaps, will best describe it. Reconciliation. To see its wonderfulness think of four things. 1. That the reconciliation originates with the offended party. 2. The offended party, who seeks the reconciliation, is infinitely superior to the offender. 3. The offended party, who is infinitely superior, offers reconciliation to the lowest class of His foes. There are two great classes of enemies to God--fallen angels and fallen men; men are the inferior. Yet He passed by the angels and took hold upon the seed of Abraham. 4. The offended party, who is infinitely superior, offers reconciliation to the lowest classes of HIS foes at a most stupendous sacrifice. II. ITS IS . How is this system of reconciliation formed? There are two things as to the mode which show the wonderfulness of the arrangement. 1. Its gradualness. We, when we have a work to do, to which we attach importance, hurry at it, and are impatient for its accomplishment; but God, to ripen this scheme, took four thousand long years. 2. Its instruments. When we have a work to do, we select the best men we can get. God employed the agency of wicked men in the working out of His great reconciling plan. “ Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,” etc. III. ITS IS . Three things show the wonderfulness of its propagation. 1. The character of the persons to whom its propagation was first entrusted. To whom did He commit the ministry of this wonderful scheme! To the magnates, or the literati of His age? No, to a few poor fishermen. 2. The class of persons to whom it was first offered. The greatest sinners on earth; the sinners at Jerusalem, who imbrued their hands in the blood of His only begotten Son. 3. The pressing of it on the attention of those who frequently reject it. (Homilist.)A feast for faith (1) The sentiment of the text on the surface is, that the art and science and skill of man, are the gifts of God. (2) Ii God thus instructs man in wisdom, how wise must He be Himself! I. Let us behold THE VISION OF GOD WHICH IS TO US IN THE TEXT. 1. God does not work without a plan. 2. This plan is wonderful in itself, and is found to be excellent when it is carried out. (1) This is illustrated in nature. (2) In providence. (3) In personal experience. (4) In the great economy of redemption. (5) In the Gospel. This Gospel is suited to the most abject and depraved. Many preachers have had to confess the uselessness of mere moral preaching; one of them said he preached up honesty till his parish swarmed with thieves. (6) The experience d every Christian k, in some respects, different from the experience of every other, but it is the result of God’ s plan. (7) The use of instrumentality. It is a wonderful design of God to use one man to be the means of the conversion of another, because the man who does the work is as much benefited as the man upon whom the work is done. (8) The grandest illustration of all will be when, at the last, God’ s counsels shall be perfectly fulfilled. II. SOME OF THE LESSONS FROM IT. 1. I have a word to say to those unconverted persons who have some desire after salvation. I would to God that, seeing His counsel is so wondrous, you would agree to it. It is in His counsel that sinners shall be saved by grace through believing in Christ. 2. Another word to you, the people of God. Agree to this in your own particular case. You say, “ I cannot understand God’ s dealings with me.” As if it were expected that you should! But you also add, “ I cannot believe that God has good designs in it.” John said that if a man did not believe God, he made God a liar, and so you who do not believe in God’ s wisdom make Him a fool! Do you not shrink from that? 3. I now desire to speak to my fellow workers. When we are going to work for God do not let us be in such a mighty hurry. Let us have a well-formed plan, and let it be God’ s plan. 4. When we know God’ s plan we must carry it out. 5. Expect singular assistance. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God’ s council chamber and workshop The Lord of hosts is seen by the enlightened eye, first of all in His council chamber, and then in His great workshop. He is “ wonderful in counsel” ; He is “ excellent in working.” (C. H.Spurgeon.)The husbandman taught by God Some may remember the story of a Rugby public school boy, who heard when studying at Oxford of the sudden death of Dr. Arnold, his old headmaster, and lamented it bitterly, as indeed everyone who had known him did, but turned to a companion who sat by, and remarked that, after all, he perhaps owed more personal benefit to a dearly loved school friend, then dead, than to his master’ s influence. “ You did not know, then,” said his companion, “ that Dr. Arnold chose him for you, and gave him to you purposely for your sake?” This was a revelation to the youth which completely overcame him, and after which he was ready to fall down and worship his good headmaster’ s memory. A strong feeling often exists in a manly, vigorous farmer and hard working men employed under him to this effect at harvest time: “ We raised those good crops, we raised and thatched those fine stacks, and we deserve what we have got.” Yes, you did, replies the text, for Divine providence taught and instructed you. (C. S. Bird, M. A.)The Almighty the all-methodical This last word of the chapter is very expressive. It literally means furtherance, help, salvation, and then the true wisdom or insight which ensures these: the wisdom which carries things through. It splendidly sums up Isaiah’ s Gospel to the Jews, cowering like dogs before the coming calamity: God is not mere force or vengeance His judgments are not chaos. But “ He is wonderful in counsel,” and all His ways have “ furtherance” or “ salvation” for their end. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Jehovah wonderful in counsel In one of the squares of the Public Garden in Boston is a unique granite monument On it are several devices symbolic of its design. On one side are the words, “ To commemorate the fact that the inhaling of ether produces insensibility to pain; first proved to the world at the Massachusetts General Hospital in October A.D. 1856.” On another side is a quotation from Isaiah, “ This also cometh from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” On another side are the Revelator’ s words, “ There shall be no more pain.” The monument is a testimony that relief from suffering is an outcome of the Gospel, and that the means thereto are from the Lord. (Sermon by the Monday Club.)God wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working When you see a plan in an architect’ s office that is very new and very pretty to look at, you say, “ Ah! nothing has been done with it” ; but when you see a plan that is smudgy and torn and almost broken through where it has been folded, you know that the man has done something with it. When Dr. Guthrie wanted his ragged schools founded, he called on a certain minister, who said, “ Well, you know, Mr. Guthrie, there is nothing very new in your scheme; I and Mr. So-and-so have been thinking over a similar plan to yours for the last twenty years” “ Oh, yes,” said Dr. Guthrie, “ I dare say; but you have never carried it out.” So some people are always thinking over some very fine plan of their own; but while the grass grows the steed starves. Now me God who plans, also works. (C. H. Spurgeon.). Isaiah 29:1 Woe to Ariel Ariel The simplest meaning of “ Ariel” is “ lion of God” ; but it also signifies “ hearth of God” when derived from another root. In the former sense it comes to mean “ a hero,” as in 2 Samuel 23:20; Isaiah 33:7;and in the latter it occurs in Ezekiel 43:15-16 for the brazen hearth of the great altar of burnt offerings, thence commonly called “ the brazen,” though the rest of it was of stone. There is no doubt that Jerusalem is pointed out by this enigmatical name; and the immediate context, as well as the expression in Isaiah 31:9 --“ Jehovah, whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem” --makes it probable that Isaiah intended to involve both meanings in the word, as though he had said, “ Woe to the city of heroes, woe to the city of sacrifices: it shall now be put to the test what God and what man think as to both.” (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Jerusalem, “ the lion of God” David, that lion of God, had first encamped against Jerusalem, and then made it the abode of his royal house, and the capital of his kingdom; so that it became itself an Ariel, the lion of God, in the land (Genesis 49:9-10). (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Jerusalem, “ the hearth of God” By David’ s pitching his camp and then bringing the sacred ark there, Jerusalem became God’ s hearth. (F. Delitzsch.)Ariel The Rabbins combine the two explanations of the Hebrew word by supposing that the altar was itself called the lion of God, because it devoured the victims like a lion, or because the fire on it had the appearance of a lion, or because the altar (or the temple) was in shape like a lion, that is, narrow behind and broad in front. (J. A. Alexander.)Ariel In either case applied as a symbol of hope. “ But she shall be unto Me as an Ariel,” i.e., in the extremity of her need I will enable her to verify her name (Cheyne). (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Woe to Ariel After the vicissitudes of 300 years, and in the midst of present dangers, the people of Jerusalem were still confident in the strength of their “ lion of God,” and year by year came up to the public festivals to lay their accustomed offerings on the “ altar of God” ; though with little remembrance that it was not in the altar and the city, but in Jehovah Himself, that David put trust, and found his strength. Therefore Jehovah will bring Ariel low; the proud roar of the lion shall be changed for the weak, stridulous voice, which the art of the ventriloquising necromancer brings out of the ground; and the enemies of Jehovah shall be sacrificed and consumed on the hearth of this altar. First, His spiritual enemies among the Jews themselves, but afterwards the heathen oppressors of His people; and the lion shall recover his God-derived strength; and thus, both in adversity and in success, “ it shall be unto Me as Ariel.” (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Woe to Ariel The prophet has a very startling message to deliver: that God will besiege His own city, the city of David! Before God can make her in truth His own, make her verify her name, He will have to beleaguer and reduce her. For so novel and startling an intimation the prophet pleads a precedent: “ City which David” himself “ beleaguered.” Once before in thy history, ere the first time thou wast made God’ s own hearth, thou hadst to be besieged. As then, so now. Before thou canst again be a true Ari-El I must “ beleaguer thee like David.” This reading and interpretation gives to the enigma a reason and a force which it does not otherwise possess. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)“ The city where David dwelt” We consider it every way remarkable that David should be mentioned in connection with the woe about to be uttered. If it had been, “ Woe unto Ariel, the city where flagrant sins are committed, the city which is overrun with idols, and filled with all kinds of abomination,” we should have seen at once the force of the sentence, and must have felt the wrath warranted by the alleged crimes. But why bring it as a chief accusation against Jerusalem--indeed, as the only charge that was to justify God in pouring out His vengeance--that it was the city where David had dwelt? We can hardly think that the definition is meant as nothing more than a statement of fact. David had long been dead; strange changes had occurred, and it would be making the essential term too insignificant to suppose it to contain only a historical reference to an assertion that no one doubted, but which is quite unconnected with the present message from God. We must rather believe that the city is characterised, “ where David dwelt,” in order to show that it deserved the woe about to be denounced. This is evidently mentioned as aggravating the guiltiness of the city. (H. Melvill, B. D.)Good men increase the responsibility of a community We seem warranted in concluding that, its having been made eminent by the piety of the servants of God, by their zeal for God, and by their earnestness in preserving the purity of their worship, entails a weighty responsibility on a city or country; so that if, in any after time, that city or country degenerate in godliness, and become, by its sins, obnoxious to vengeance, it will be one of the heaviest items in the charge brought against it, that it was dwelt in by saints so distinguished. (H. Melvill, B. D.)National mercies I. THE BETWEEN THE WOE OF AND BEING THE CITY WHERE DAVID DWELT. There are other considerations, over and above the general one of the responsibility fastened on a people by the having had a king of extraordinary piety, which go to the explaining why the woe upon Jerusalem should be followed by a reference to David. David was eminent as a prophet of the Lord; he had been commissioned to announce, in sundry most remarkable predictions, the Messiah, of whom, in many respects, he was, moreover, an illustrious type. It was true, there had been others of whom the prophet might think. There is a peculiar appositeness in the reference to David, because his writings were the very best adapted to the fixing themselves on the popular mind. These writings were the national anthems; they were the songs to be chanted in those daily and annual solemnities which belonged to the Jews in their political as much as in their religious capacity, in which the princes were associated with the priests, so that the civil was hardly to be distinguished from the ecclesiastic. So beloved as David was of God, he must have bequeathed a blessing to the nation: for righteous kings, like righteous fathers, entail good on a nation. Indeed, it is evident, from other parts of Isaiah, that the memory of David was still a tower of strength at Jerusalem, so that, for his sake, was evil averted from the city. When Sennacherib and his hosts encamped against the city, and the heart of Hezekiah was dismayed, it was in terms such as these that God addressed Israel, “ I will defend this city, to save it for Mine own sake, and for My servant David’ s sake.” Was it not like telling the Jews that they were no longer to be borne with for the sake of David, to pronounce, “ Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt” ? Was it not declaring, that the period was drawing to a close, during which the conservatism of the monarch’ s piety could be felt? The prophet might be considered as showing both how just and how terrible those judgments would be. He showed their justice, because the having had amongst them such a king and prophet as David, made the Jews inexcusable in their wickedness: he showed their severity, because it was the city of David which God was about to punish. II. MAKE AN OF THE SUBJECT. We pass at once to the Reformation, and substitute the reformers for David, and England for Ariel. We must consider what it was that the reformers did for us; from what they delivered us; and in what they instructed us. (H. Melvill, B. D.)Ariel “ It will be to Me as an Ariel” (Isaiah 29:2), i.e., through My help it will prove itself a hearth of God, consuming its enemies like a fiery furnace, or these enemies finding destruction in Jerusalem, like wood heaped on an altar and set ablaze. (F. Delitzsch.)Love and chastisement The Lord has never spared the elect. Election gives Him rights of discipline. We may inflict punishment upon those who are ours, when we may not lay the hand of chastisement upon those who do not belong to us. Love has its own law court. (J. Parker, D. D.)Add ye year to year; let the feasts come round (R.V.)Links in a golden chain (from R.V.)Speaking of the gay temper of the Greeks, Quinet describes them as “ a people who count their years by their games.” In a more serious spirit the Jews counted their years by their religious festivals, We have a Christian year whose festivals celebrate the great events in the life of our Lord. We are adding year to year, the feasts come and go, and it behoves us to inquire what we are doing with them, what they are doing for us. I. THERE IS AN WAY OF THE YEARS. The implied complaint of the text is that the inhabitants of Jerusalem failed to benefit by their recurring privileges, and that the lapse of time brought them nearer to destruction. The trumpet of the new year in vain called them to a new life; the day of atonement passed leaving them with uncancelled sin; the Feast of Tabernacles and that of Pentecost awoke in them no love, constrained them to no obedience to the Giver of the harvest. Is this not true of thousands of those over whom pass the festivals of the Christian year? They are, indeed, all the worse for the lengthening days and multiplying Opportunities. II. THERE IS A TRUE WAY OF THE YEARS, and that is in enjoying and improving this life in the fear of God and in the light of eternity. Victor Hugo speaks of an old man as “ a thinking ruin.” Paul the aged was such a “ ruin,” and he had something grand to think about. (W. L. Watkinson.) Isaiah 29:7-8 As a dream of a night vision The visions of sin There are two grand truths of a most stirring import unfolded in the text. 1. That wicked men are frequently employed to execute the Divine purpose. The Almighty determined to humble Jerusalem, and He employed Sennacherib as the engine of His justice. “ He makes” the wrath of man to praise Him. What a revelation is this of His absolute command over the fiercest and freest workings of the most depraved and rebellious subjects! 2. That whilst wicked men execute the Divine purpose, they frustrate their own. Sennacherib worked out the Divine result, but all his own plans and wishes were like the visions of the famished traveller on the Oriental desert, who, hungry, thirsty, and exhausted, lies down and dreams, under the rays of a tropical sun, that he is eating and drinking, but awakes and discovers, to his inexpressible distress, that both his hunger and thirst are but increased. Hell works out God’ s plans and frustrates its own; Heaven works out God’ s plans, and fulfils its own. Let us look at the vision before us as illustrating the visions of sin. I. IT IS A DREAMY VISION. It is “ as a dream of a night vision.” There are waking visions. The orient creations of poetry, the bright prospects of hope, the appalling apprehensions of fear--these are visions occurring when the reflective powers of the soul are more or less active, and are, therefore, not entirely unsubstantial and vain. But the visions which occur in sleep, when the senses are closed, and the consciousness is torpid, and the reason has resigned her sway to the hands of a lawless imagination, are generally without reality. Now, the Scriptures represent the sinner as asleep. But where is the analogy between the natural sleep of the body and the moral sleep of sin? 1. Natural sleep is the ordination of God, but moral is not. 2. Natural sleep is restorative, but moral is destructive. 3. In both there is the want of activity. The inactivity of the moral sleep of the sinner is the inactivity of the moral faculty--the conscience. 4. In both there is the want of consciousness. With the sinner in his moral slumbers--God, Christ, the soul, heaven, hell, are nothing to him. II. IT IS AN VISION. What is the dream of the man whom the Almighty brings under our notice in the text, who lies down to sleep under the raging desire for food and water? It is that he was eating and drinking. His imagination creates the very things for which his appetite was craving. His imagination was the servant of his strongest appetites. So it is ever with the sinner: the appetite for animal gratifications will create its visions of sensual pleasure: the appetite for worldly wealth will create its visions of fortune; the appetite for power will create its visions of social influence and applause. The sinner’ s imagination is ever the servant of his strongest appetites, and ever pictures to him in airy but attractive forms the objects he most strongly desires. III. IT IS AN VISION. The food and water were a mirage in the visionary desert, dissipated into air as his eye opened. All the ideas of happiness entertained by the sinner are mental illusions. There are many theories of happiness practically entertained by men that are as manifestly illusive as the wildest dream. 1. Every notion of happiness is delusive that has not to do more with the soul than the senses. 2. Every notion of happiness is delusive that has not more to do with the character than the circumstances. 3. Every notion is delusive that has not more to do with the present than with the future. He that is preparing intentionally for happiness is not happy, nor can he be: the selfish motive renders it impossible. “ He that seeketh his life shall lose it.” Heaven is for the man that is now blessed in his deeds, and for him only. The present is everything to us, because God is in it, and out of it starts the future 4. Every notion is delusive that has not more to do with the absolute than the contingent. IV. IT IS A VISION. In the text, the supposed dreamer was led to feel the illusion which his wayward imagination had practised upon him. “ He awaketh, and his soul is empty.” Every moral sleeper must awake either here or hereafter; here by disciplinary voices, or hereafter by retributive thunders. (Homilist.)Dreaming As the army of Sennacherib were dreaming, literally or figuratively, of a conquest which had no real existence, so are there multitudes of persons now dreaming that they are accomplishing the great object of their existence who are no more doing so than if they lay wrapped in the slumbers of the night. I propose to speak of them under three heads. All three are capable of being substituted, and often are substituted, for the real and proper business of life. I. . 1. How comes it to pass that people can live such lives, dreaming all the while that they are fulfilling the true purpose of their existence, or, at least, without any uneasy sense that they are criminally failing to do so? (1) One cause of it is that the thing in question is pleasure. “ Nothing succeeds like success.” (2) Another explanation is, that many of the pleasures for which men live make great demands on their exertions. Some kinds of play are harder than work. Men, therefore, feel it difficult to believe that what bears so near a resemblance to work is not work, and that very work which they were sent into the world to do. (3) A great many of the pleasures of life are enjoyed in association with others. And amidst the exhilaration of spirits, the brisk laughter, the friendly encounters, it is very difficult to believe that a life made up largely of such occupations is not the life we were intended to live. (4) Then, a great deal of the pleasure is intimately associated with fashion. (5) The alleged innocence of the pleasures indulged in contributes also to the deception. (6) Again, it is sometimes said that, however censurable a life of pleasure may be for those in advanced life, it is innocent and even suitable for the young. 2. But it may be said, What is there to show that such a life is only a dream-like substitute for our real life? (1) It leaves our best faculties unused. (2) A life of pleasure, moreover, is a selfish life. (3) A life of pleasure also exposes to temptation. (4) A life devoted to pleasure, too, unfits men for another world. II. WORK. By “ work” is meant some secular occupation by which money, or its equivalent, is gained. The Bible praises work. Work keeps us from being dependent on others. It tends to the benefit of those dependent on us. And work is good as furnishing a man with the means of helping his neighbours, and of contributing to the support of the great movements in operation for lessening the suffering and the sin of the world. And work is good, as giving a man influence by means of the wealth it produces. It is also in favour of a life of diligent employment, that it keeps from much evil. And yet neither is work, any more than pleasure, the great end of man; and those who deem it so are indulging in a baseless dream. The moral value of work is to be measured by its motive and its influence. A life of excessive devotion to work is hostile to the higher life of a man. It leaves but little time for those exercises which are found so essential to a life of godliness. It indisposes for such employments. It shuts out the other world by the undue prominence it gives to this. It banishes God from the thoughts. It is a practical neglect of the soul. Others suffer also. Such a life makes us indifferent to the interests of others. III. . And this time, you will perhaps say, they are likely to be right. On the contrary, there is more danger of their going wrong here than in either of the previous cases. And for this reason--that the sacred name of religion disposes men to think all is as it should be if they can persuade themselves that they are religious. Religion assumes a great variety of forms, and some of them not only worthless, but pernicious. 1. Can it be questioned that a great deal of the religion of England now is nothing more than amusement, and often amusement of the most childish nature? 2. If religion in other cases seems to go deeper, it is too often only another name for superstition, where chief importance is attached to the conventional sanctity of the persons who officiate, the garments they wear, the sacraments they administer, the postures they adopt, the seasons they observe. 3. Then there is the religion of sentiment, of which the chief object is to awaken certain emotions. 4. There is also a religion in which the intellect performs the principal function. 5. We might speak of that religion which is hereditary, where a man adopts a particular faith or worship because his ancestors did so before him. 6. We might speak of the religion of fashion, where the fashionable gathering forms the great attraction. 7. We might speak of the religious observances in which men engage to fill up time which they are forbidden by custom to employ in secular pursuits; or of the religion which is only occasional and spasmodic; or of that which consists in bustle and superficial activity. These religions all agree in being good for nothing. Some of them do harm. Religion is a life. Religion has two sides. On the one it turns toward God, on the other toward man. But all dreams must come to an end. There is a dread awaking in prospect. Think of the disappointment that will attend the awaking! Let us not be deceived by the apparent reality of the life we are leading. What can seem more real than a dream? yet what more unsubstantial? With the feeling of disappointment will be mingled one of contempt. As a dream when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when Thou awakest, Thou shalt despise their image.” We experience a sort of resentment on finding that we have been so deceived by that which had no reality. Will there be nothing like this on awaking from a life wasted in trifling? (D. P. Pratten, B. A.)The disappointments of sin The general truth taught by these words is this: wrong-doing promises much, but it certainly ends in bitter disappointment. The good to be gained by sin is seen and tasted and handled only in dream. It is never actually possessed, and visible disappointment is the bitter fruit of transgression. I. THE VERY NATURE OF SIN THIS FACT. 1. Sin is a wandering from the way which God has appointed for us--the way which was in His mind when He made man--the only way which has ever been in His mind as the right way. There is no adaptation in man’ s real nature to any way but one, and that is obedience to a Father in Heaven, the result and fruit of true love for that Father. 2. Sin is a practical withdrawing from the protection of Divine providence. It thus wounds, sometimes instantly, and always eventually, the transgressor himself. It is as when a hungry man dreameth, and awaketh, and behold, he is faint. II. LOOK AT A FEW FACTS ABOUT SIN. 1. The angels who kept not their first estate left their own habitation. So far as we can understand the matter they sought freedom, but they found chains. They sought light; they found darkness. They sought happiness; they found misery,--as when a hungry man dreameth and eateth, and awaketh and finds himself famishing. 2. Our first parents, in yielding to the first temptation, soughs equality with God; but they soon found themselves fallen below the natural human level 3. The general history of sin is found in epitome in the life of every sinner. In families and Churches and nations, in societies of all kinds, we see illustrated the truth that sin everywhere, by whomsoever committed, is the occasion of most bitter disappointment. (S. Martin.)Life a dream Lord Brougham relates an occurrence which strikingly shows how short a thing a dream is. A person who had asked a friend to call him early in the morning, dreamed that he was taken ill, and that, after remedies had been tried in vain by those about him, a medical man was sent for who lived some miles away, and who did not arrive before some hours had elapsed. On his arrival he threw some cold water upon the face of the patient. Thereupon the sleeper awoke. The water was, in fact, applied by his friend, for the purpose of awaking him. The inference is that this apparent dream of hours was the affair of a moment. Such is human life. (D. P.Pratten, B. A.)A dream The figure of the dream is applied in two ways. 1. Objectively, to the vanishing of the enemy. 2. Subjectively, to his disappointment. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Disenchantment (Isaiah 29:8):--A more vivid representation of utter disenchantment than this verse gives can scarcely be conceived. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Disappointing fancies No sooner had I shut my eyes than fancy would convey me to the streams and rivers of my native land. There, as I wandered along the verdant bank, I surveyed the clear stream with transport, and hastened to swallow the delightful draught; but alas! disappointment awakened me, and I found myself a lonely captive, perishing of thirst amid the wilds of Africa. (Mungo Park’s Journal.) Isaiah 29:9-12 Stay yourselves, and wonder, they are drunken, but not with wine Spiritual drunkenness By spiritual drunkenness (Isaiah 29:9) we are probably to understand unsteadiness of conduct and a want of spiritual discernment. (J. A. Alexander.)Spiritual drunkenness worse than bodily, and more prevalent Drunkenness in itself is a horrible vice, and it is the mother of innumerable more. But besides this there is a spiritual drunkenness. I. This worse drunkenness, says the text, is , , OR . In this respect it resembles the other drunkenness. The man who is drunk has eyes, but he cannot see; ears, but he cannot hear; a heart that has not ceased to beat, but he cannot understand. He mistakes one person and thing fur another. So it is with the spiritual sort in regard to the spiritual world. Look at a few of the varieties. Drunkenness-- 1. From ignorance of the truth. 2. From perversion or profanation of the truth. 3. From rejection of the truth. II. WHAT IS THE QUALITY OR CURSE OF THIS , compared with the other? Compare it-- 1. In regard to the drunkard’ s intelligence or powers of perception. 2. In regard to the drunkard’ s life, affections, passions, habits. 3. In regard to the drunkard’ s state before God, the salvation of soul and body. What shall we say, if we discover the terrific truth? (1) That the spiritual is more besotting and blinding to the spirit. (2) That it is more maddening and brutalising to the drunkard’ s life. What crime will the drunkard not perpetrate? But what is the life of the spiritual drunkard who goes on in his wickedness? One lifelong defiance of God. (3) That it is a drunkenness still more infernal, more devilish, and more deadly to both soul and body. (R. Paisley.)Judicial blindness The Jews are represented as given over by God to a judicial blindness. Now, we regard it as a fixed principle in the interpretation of Scripture that God never does more than leave men to themselves; doing nothing directly to harden them in wickedness, or to place them out of the reach of forgiveness. (H. Melvill, B. D.)Drunken, but not with wine Are there, then, other forms of insobriety and resultant demoralisation distinct from that of the familiar cup? The phrases which suggest this abnormal state are continually in our mouths. Thus, we speak of people being intoxicated with delight, with fanaticism, with political excitement, or with the spirit of gambling. Wendell Holmes speaks of people who become intoxicated with music, with poetry, with love, with religious enthusiasm. He remarks how convalescents are sometimes made tipsy by a beef steak. It is said of one that he was too intoxicated with certain good news to be able to imbibe anything else. Indeed, it is told of certain company that it was so intoxicating that some of the circle were compelled to drink to keep themselves sober. (J. J.Ingram.)Intoxication What are the main characteristics of intoxication? The drunken man is one who has lost his power of self-control, one to whose eye and thought the proportions and relationships of life have become disordered, one whose vigour, both physically and mentally, has become enfeebled and inefficient. He is a man who for the time being loses his true relation to the things of outer life. He is abnormal. His appetites are deranged, his engrossments disproportionate, his views beclouded or oblique. (J. J. Ingram.)For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleepThe spirit of a deep sleep “ The Lord hath poured out,” etc. That is an appalling judgment. What have been the steps which have led up to so terrible a consummation? Men do not lose their moral sensitiveness by a stroke; it is the ultimate issue of a process. Drowsiness precedes sleep; the twilight ushers in the night. We do not reach moral abysses by a precipice; we reach them by a gradient. We do not drop into bondage; we walk into it. 1. Here are the men of my text; what was the first step in the degradation? We have it clearly indicated in the thirteenth verse. If we take the thirteenth verse, and place it before Isaiah 29:9, we have unfolded before us the process of degeneracy, which is re-enacted in multitudes of lives in every succeeding age. The first step towards moral benumbment is the evisceration of religious worship. Take the heart out of worship, and you will take the life out of morals. “ And their fear of Me is a commandment of men which has been taught them.” What does that mean? The man-made has supplanted the God-born. And what does that further mean but the intrusion of the casuist into religion? The casuist is he who turns a shining principle into a dull maxim, who makes breaches and loopholes of escape in the great moral law, who changes the searching inwardness of religion into an easy external ordinance, who removes the fearful sense of the eternal, and makes us feel perilously at home in the small demands of his own commandments. 2. Now let us mark the progress of the degeneracy. Religious formalism issues in moral laxity. Note the analysis of the process which is given in the ninth verse. First there is dimness of moral vision. “ Tarry ye and wonder.” The figure is that of a man who pulls himself up in bewilderment. He does not remember quite clearly whether this is the way, or whether he should take the next turning. Moral law does not stand out in clear bold relief. His conscience does not act readily. There is hesitancy. He “ tarries” ! There is confusion He “ wonders” ! “ Take your pleasure and be blind.” With dimness there comes wilfulness. The little truth they saw they resented. The people liked the restfulness of the dulness. There was nothing searching or self-revealing in the adulterated light. They preferred the twilight in which they can partially hide. Let us go on with the analysis. Moral dimness; moral wilfulness; what is the next step in the degeneracy? Moral stupor. “ They are drunk, but not with wine. They stagger, but not with strong drink.” 3. Now let us proceed to the third step in the appalling gradient. When a man has eviscerated his religion, changing its inwardness to a thin superficialness, and from this proceeds to moral laxity, I am told by the words of my text that by a judicial act of God his stupor becomes fixed. If a man will not, he shall not! Ye have taken the cup of wilfulness, and drugged yourselves into sin, and “ the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep.” 4. What is the next step in the awful gradient? “ And all vision is become to you as a book that is sealed.” The great writings of the great books have no illuminating message. The books are sealed! What books? There is the book of conscience. “ Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.” That book is sealed. There is the book of experience, the teachings of yesterday, the witness of history. “ Ask now of the days that are past.” That book is sealed. There is the book of nature. The book of nature began to be read by William Wordsworth when the atmosphere of English life had been warmed by the evangelical revival. When the evangelical is dead nature’ s inner significance is concealed. Let us therefore watch, with intensest vigilance, against the intrusion of all insincerity into our worship. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.) Isaiah 29:11-12 The vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed The universality of spiritual blindness What is affirmed in these verses holds so strikingly true of God’ s general revelation to the world, that we deem the lesson contained in them to be not of partial, but permanent application. I. There is A uttered in these verses (1) by the learned, (2) by the unlearned. 1. If a book be closed down by a material seal, then, till that seal be broken, there lies a material obstacle even in the way of him who is able to read the contents of it. Is there any hindrance in virtue of which the critics, and the grammarians, and the accomplished theologians of our age, are unable to reach the real and effective understanding of the words of this prophecy? Yes, and it is wonderful to tell, how little the mere erudition of Scripture helps the real discernment of Scripture. The learned just labour as helplessly under a want of an impression of the reality of this whole matter, as the unlearned; and if this be true of many a priest and theologian, with whom Christianity is a science, and the study of the Bible the business of their profession, what can we expect of those among the learned, who, in the pursuits of a secular philosophy, never enter into contact with the Bible, either in its doctrine or in its language, except when it is obtruded on them? To make the wisdom of the New Testament his wisdom, and its spirit his spirit, and its language his best-loved and best-understood language, there must be a higher influence upon the mind, than what lies in human art, or in human explanation. And till this is brought to pass, the doctrines of the atonement and of regeneration, and of fellowship with the Father and the Son, and of a believer’ s progressive holiness, under the moral and spiritual power of the truth as it is in Jesus, will, as to his own personal experience of its meaning, remain so many empty sounds, or so many deep and hidden mysteries: and just as effectually, as if the book were held together by an iron clasp, which he has not strength to unclose, may he say of the same book lying open and legible before him, that he cannot read it, because it is sealed. 2. As for the complaint of the unlearned, it happily, in the literal sense of it, is not applicable to the great majority of our immediate countrymen, even in the very humblest walks of society. They can read the book. There may remain a seal upon its meaning to him, who, in the ordinary sense of the term, is learned, while the seal may be removed, and the meaning lie open as the light of day to him, who in the same sense is unlearned. In pressing home the truths and overtures of Christianity on the poor, we often meet with the very answer of the text, “ I am not learned.” They think that there is an ignorance which necessity attaches to their condition, and that this should alleviate the burden of their condemnation, in that they know not God. Now we refuse this apology altogether. The Word of the Lord is in your hands, and you can at least read it. The Gospel is preached unto you as well as unto others--and you can, at least, attend to it. II. Let us now proceed to EXPLAIN A which stands associated in our text with the incapacity both of learned and unlearned to discover the meaning of God’ s communications--that is the spirit of deep sleep which had closed the eyes of the people, and buried in darkness and insensibility the prophets, the rulers, and the seers, as well as the humblest and most ignorant of the land. The connection between the one circumstance and the other is quite palpable. If a peasant and a philosopher were both literally asleep before me--and that so profoundly, as that no voice of mine could awaken them--then they are just in the same circumstances, with regard to any demonstration which I addressed to their understandings. Neither would it at all help the conveyance of my meaning to their mind, that while dead to all perception of the argument which issued from my lips, or even of the sound which is its vehicle, the minds of both of them were most busily alive and active amongst the imagery of a dream--the one dreaming too, perhaps, in the style of some high intellectual pursuit, and the other dreaming in the style of some common and illiterate occupation. Such, it is possible to conceive, may be the profoundness of this lethargy, as to be unmoved by the most loud and terrifying intimations. That the vast majority of the world are, in truth, asleep to all those realities which constitute the great materials of religion, may be abundantly proved by experience. Now, the question comes to be, how is this sleep dissipated? Not, we affirm, and all experience will go with us, by the power of natural argument--not by the demonstrations of human learning, for these are just as powerless with him who understands them, as with him who makes his want of learning the pretence for putting them away. There must be a something equivalent to the communication of a new sense, ere a reality comes to be seen in those eternal things. It is true, that along the course of our ordinary existence, we are awake to the concerns of our ordinary existence. But this is not a wakefulness which goes to disturb the profoundness of our insensibility as to the concerns of a higher existence. We are in one sense awake; but in another most entirely, and, to all human appearance, most hopelessly and irrecoverably asleep. We are just in the same condition with a man who is dreaming, and so moves for the time in a pictured world of his own. And the transition is not greater from the sleeping fancies of the night to the waking certainties of our daily business, than is the transition from the daydreams of a passing world to those substantial considerations which wield s presiding authority over the conduct of him who walketh not by the sight of that which is around him, but by the faith of the unseen things that are above him, and before him. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)The voices of life Here, we find the picture of the two great classes of excuses men make today, when duties are urged upon them. I. The first great answer of human nature to the call of duty--the first and readiest excuse which the easy-going, self-indulgent life has to offer--is this first excuse of the men of Jerusalem to the unpleasant vision of the future. It is as a book which is sealed, and he who is able to read it does not read it, simply because it is closed, or sealed. Here we have a definite excuse given, which looks plausible enough, but which only means, after all, the lack of will power, which so frequently lodges behind some prominent excuse. OF WILL! Who does not make this excuse in life? II. The other great excuse which is so freely given is the LACK OF . He who has the will has not the one requisite, the one condition of success, the longed for opportunity. The poor man with his tastes envies the rich their command over the forces of life. The struggling student by his midnight lamp, with his book borrowed from the library, sighs as he sees the elegantly bound but unopened volumes of those who have abundant opportunities but no appreciation of their hidden treasures, or will to read them. The invalid upon the bed of pain, whose life is a dream of impossible realities, cherishing noble yearnings for the strife, sees life passing by, padlocked and bound, with every aspiration chained and fettered by the hopeless impossibility of ever achieving anything. Practical lessons-- 1. This very incompleteness of our nature shows us the soul’ s rightful demand for another life without these limiting human conditions. 2. Right in the midst of these voices of life, these excuses for our failure, from whatever source these excuses come, the religion of Jesus Christ appears as a new creation of power. 3. Just when we feel that our motive power is failing us, or that we are helpless in our surroundings, and are lacking an opportunity for the exercise of our suppressed faculties, the Spirit of God, who is the Comforter of the sanctified heart of man and the Inspirer of his better nature, appears with His Divine mission, and opens the way out of dead levels and land-locked vistas, into new and unforeseen stretches of existence. What a power there is in this thought of the soul’ s higher deliverance by the interposing hand of the Spirit of God, lifting us out of our poor everyday life! (W. W. Newton.)Bible neglect reproved The general division of “ the learned” and “ the unlearned” is introduced as offering an excuse for the not understanding the revelation of God. There is diversity, indeed, in the excuse itself, but there is thorough agreement upon the point, that, from some reason or another, the Bible is unintelligible; the one class taking refuge in the alleged obscurity of Scripture, and the other in their own defective education. None are represented as actually throwing scorn upon the book, but all render it a kind of involuntary homage. And we believe that no truer description could be given of the great body of men, considered relative to the light in which they view Scripture. If there were anything like a general suspicion that the Bible is not what it professes itself--a revelation from God, there would be nothing to surprise us in the general neglect with which it is treated; we should quite expect that if there were doubt as to the origin there would, for the most part, be indifference as to the contents; but with the great body of men its origin is no more brought into question than is the duty of preparing for eternity. And here we have a manifest inconsistency, to be accounted for only on the supposition that men have provided themselves with some specious apology. I. We shall consider, therefore, THE CASE AND APOLOGY OF THE LEARNED. There is something of truth in the representation that the Bible is a sealed book. We always regard it as a standing proof of the divinity of the volume, that it is not to be unfolded by the processes which we apply to a mere human composition, and that every attempt to enter deeply into its meaning, without the assistance of its Author, issues in nothing but conjecture and confusion. But in all these excuses, however specious, and however, in a certain sense, grounded on a truth, there is nothing to warrant that refusal to examine Holy Writ which they are invented to justify. We know of no conclusion which can be fairly drawn from the confessed mysteriousness of Scripture, and the consequent need of a superhuman interpreter, but that the volume should never be approached in our own wisdom, and never without prayer for the teaching of God’ s Spirit. If it would be our duty to study the volume were it not sealed, it must be equally our duty to study it when, though sealed, the way is prescribed in which it may be opened. We have only to bring this consideration into the account, and there is an end of all arguing from the obscurity of the study of Scripture. II. THE CASE AND APOLOGY OF THE MAN. Here, again, the excuse is based on a truth, but nevertheless, it in no degree justifies neglect. It is of vast importance that the poor be set right in this matter, and that they be taught that there is no necessary connection, as they seem to suppose, between scholarship and salvation. It is easier for the educated man to become, what is called a skilful divine, but it is not one jot easier for him to discover and follow the narrow path of life. Indeed, if there be advantage at all, it is on the side of the unlearned. If the understanding the Bible, so as to become morally advantaged by its statements, depend on the influences of the Holy Ghost, it is clear that the learned may read much and gain no spiritual benefit, and the unlearned read little and yet be mightily profited. (H. Melvill, B. D.)Learned and unlearned The passage is interesting as illustrating the diffusion of literary education in Isaiah’ s time (Jeremiah 5:4-5).(Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Gradual revelation Sir Joshua Reynolds says that when he first visited Italy to make the acquaintance of the celebrated masterpieces of art he was much cast down. The renowned masters maintained towards him quiet and dignified silence; they refused to confide to him their thoughts. He gazed steadfastly at the wondrous pictures whose fame had filled the world, and could not behold their glory. Persevering, however, in his studies, the pictures gradually began, one after another, to raise their veils and permit him to have an occasional peep at their rare beauty; they softly whispered to him a few of their secrets; and as he continued unwavering in his devotion, they at last flung away their reserve, showed themselves with an open face, and revealed to him the wealth of beautiful ideas that was lodged in them. (J. C. Jones.)The Holy Spirit the Illuminator I remember to have heard from one who was a spectator at the time, of his having once seen a little child playing upon a headland over the sea, who took a telescope from the hand of one near him, and handed it to a blind old sailor who was sitting on the cliff, and the child asked the blind man to sweep the far horizon and tell him with the glass what ships were them. The old man, however, could only turn bitterly towards the child with those sightless eyes of his; and, it seems to me, that you might as well give a telescope to a sightless man as to give the Bible to a man whom you do not suppose to possess the guidance of the Spirit. (Bp. W. Alexander.) Isaiah 29:13-14 This people draw near Me with their mouth Ritualism When any form so obtrudes itself as to be a hindrance instead of a help to the worshipper, that is ritualism. (Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone.)Formalism All vice is said to be an abuse of virtue; all evil, good run mad. Generosity may become extravagance. So formalism really consists in the abuse of that which, up to a certain point, is absolutely necessary, which, up to a further point, may be helpful, but which, carried to an extreme, becomes a snare and a sin. (D. Jones Hamar.)Formalism in doctrine and life That we may see clearly who the formalist is, think of this truth: that there are formalism of doctrine, and formalism of life and practice, distinguishable and yet connected. 1. Formalism of doctrine--what is that? In one of its lowest phases we frequently meet with it. Have you not come across men who say “ Yes” to every assertion of truth that you make; men who make you almost angry by their persistency in declaration of agreement? There are very few of all the thousands who are not, and know they are not, servants of Christ, who take the pains to deny what they nevertheless do not really accept. What can you say to such men? You cannot argue, for they agree with you already. You cannot appeal to them, for their creed seems to compass all that you hold as true. 2. There is such a thing as formality of worship and life. Just as truth must be put into words, but the word is not the truth, so worship has to be put into some expression, but the expression is not the worship. Isaiah’ s great charge against the people was that they had reversed the thing entirely. (D. JonesHamar.)Formalism unsatisfying What must be the creed of the formalist in worship and in life! This: that what is said to be the means of grace is grace itself; that the mechanical reading of the Bible, without any reverent, hungering spirit, communicates in some mysterious fashion heavenly truth; that the prostration of the body, while another offers prayer, brings blessing; that to sing a hymn, be its meaning felt or not, is an expression of praise; that these things, with the enduring of the infliction of half an hour’ s sermon, constitute Christianity. There is too much of formalism in the best of us. What is the creed of the formal worshipper This: “ God doth not know, neither is there knowledge in the Meet High” ; that He who receives the humble adorations of archangels will accept from men not only the imperfect praises they can render, not only the scarce articulate waiting of the troubled spirit, panting forth its prayer for help, but the sound of song without the spirit, the utterance of petition without desire; that He who searches all hearts is deceived, as men prostrate their bodies, and accepts that as homage; or that He cares for nothing, and to mock His presence is no insult. Does that creed shape itself in accordance with your ideas of God? Yet it is just an interpretation of the practice of the man whose worship is nothing more than a form. And as it affects yourself is it satisfactory? Does it do you any good? The sin in the heart is not to be cured by any sort of outward observance. The truth of God is not to be reached by any sort of mechanical contrivance. This Book has no mysterious sanctity in its paper and print, or in the sound of its words. It is the meaning and the spirit that alone are valuable. Our faith passes on the wings of the things that are seen and temporal, up to the things that are unseen and eternal, through the word to catch the revelation, through prayer and praise to hold communion with God. Why trifle with your nature’ s deepest wants? Why mock the everlasting love? There is a reality in prayer. There is an expression of gratitude which Inspires praise. There is a Saviour of sinners. Come to Him. He only, appearing and speaking through the means He has appointed, can take away the burden and the sting of sin, and give to the weary rest. (D. Jones Hamar.)The danger of formal worship The best commentary on our text is just the history of the reigns during which Isaiah prophesied. I. IT WAS NO SLIGHT CRIME WITH WHICH THE PEOPLE OF JUDAH WERE --it Was, indeed, a denial of God’ s sovereignty, although by that very sovereignty it was that they and their fathers had for seven hundred years been in possession of the land of Canaan. Though they might make an outward profession of respect for the ordinances of God, yet the spirit by which they were actuated was essentially an atheistical spirit, inasmuch as with all the outward observance of Divine ordinances they looked for continued prosperity or deliverance from adversity, not to the wisdom of God, but to their own counsels, and the help promised to them by their idolatrous allies. II. THE . Was in accordance with the nature and manifestation of their sin. They were not to be overwhelmed with irresistible calamity, in order to punish their flagrant idolatry; but they were to be left to the effect of their own devices. They were to work by their own skill, and in so doing to be working their own ruin: and when all their plans were brought to their completion, the effect was to be to bring utter desolation on the land (verse 14). III. MANKIND, WITH ALL THEIR OF , ARE SO MUCH THE SAME IN ALL AGES, and the Scriptures do, on the one hand, so graphically portray the leading features of human nature, and, on the other, set forth so clearly the great unchangeable principles of the Divine administration, that none who read that book with soberness and attention, and look around them on the world with ordinary observation, can fail to see that the sins of individuals or of nations there reproved are, with some modifications it may be, the same sins which are still prevalent, and that, if unrepented of and unforgiven, their consequences must in the end be the same. No nation, it is true, is precisely in the same circumstances with the kingdom of Judah, but still the great principles of the Divine government are unchangeable and eternal. It is one of these, that sin is the reproach of any people. If there be among us, possessing as we do a full revelation of the will of God, a disposition to deny or overlook His supremacy as Sovereign Disposer of all events, and to trust to the wisdom of human counsels for national deliverance or prosperity, without any devout recognition of absolute dependence upon Him, are we not chargeable with the very sin with which Judah of old was charged, and which was the source of all their multiplied offences? And if, along with this, there be a profession of faith--an external compliance with the ordinances of the Gospel, are we not in the condition of drawing near to God with our months, and honouring Him with our lips, while our heart is far removed from Him? (R. Gordon, D. D.)A wrong religious attitude This spiritual insensibility of the people is the outcome of its whole religious attitude, which is insincere, formal, and traditional. (J. Skinner, D. D.)Plain speaking Let us use these words (Isaiah 29:13) as Jesus Christ used them in Matthew (Matthew 15:7). There are three points-- 1. The importance of plain speaking on all questions affecting the interests of truth. Jesus Christ was preeminently a plain speaker. 2. The far-seeing spirit of prophecy. Jesus Christ said to the men of His day, “ Esaias prophesied of you.” Observe the unity of the moral world; observe the unchangeableness of God’ s laws; see how right is ever right and wrong is ever wrong; how the centuries make no difference in the quality of righteousness, and fail to work any improvement in the deformity of evil. If any man would see himself as he really is, let him look into the mirror of Holy Scripture. God’ s book never gets out of date, because it deals with eternal principles and covers the necessities of all mankind let us then study the Word of God more closely. No man can truly know human nature who does not read two Bibles,--namely, the Bible of God as written in the Holy Scriptures, and the Bible of God as written in his own heart and conscience. Human nature was never so expounded as it is expounded in holy writ. 3. The high authority of the righteous censor. When Jesus Christ spoke in this case He did not speak altogether in His own name. He used the name of Esaias. All time is on the side of the righteous man; all history puts weapons into the hands of the man who would be valiant for truth. The righteous man does not draw his authority from yesterday. The credentials of the righteous man are not written with ink that is hardly dry yet. It draws from all the past. (J. Parlor, D. D.)True prayer The power of a petition is not in the roof of the mouth, but in the root of the heart. (J. Trapp.)Lip service Panchcowrie, a Hindu convert, thus spoke one day in the market: “ Some think they will avert God’ s displeasure by frequently taking His name on their lips, and saying, ‘ O excellent God!’ ‘ O Ocean of Wisdom!’ ‘ O Sea of Love!’ and so on. To be sure, God is all this; but who ever heard of a debt being paid in words instead of rupees!” (Sunday at Home.)The best treasure A rabbi, who lived nearly twenty years before Christ was born, set his pupils thinking by asking them, “ What is the best thing for a man to possess?” One of them replied, “ A kind nature” ; another, “ A good companion” ; another, “ A good neighbour.” But one of them, named Eleazer, said, “ A good heart.” “ I like your answer best, Eleazer,” said the master, “ for it includes all the rest.” (Christian Age.)Heartless prayers “ I met in India an intelligent Sikh from the Punjab, and asked him about his religion. He replied, ‘ I believe in one God, and I repeat my prayers, called Japji every morning and evening. These prayers occupy six pages of print, but I can get through them in little more than ten minutes.’ He seemed to pride himself on this rapid recitation as a work of increased merit.” Fashionable church going M. went to church because it was the right thing to do: God was one of the heads of society, and His drawing rooms had to be attended. (G. Macdonald, LL. D.)Their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of menA fear of God taught by the precept of men I. THERE IS A FEAR TOWARDS GOD WHICH IS TAUGHT BY THE PRECEPT OF MEN. It is unquestionable that, although it is nothing but the recklessness of infidelity which would speak of religion as an engine of state policy, still no state policy can be effective which looks not to religion as an auxiliary. If there could be taken off from a community those restraints which are imposed on it by the doctrine of the soul’ s immortality, and of a future dispensation of rewards and punishments, there would be done more towards the introduction of a universal lawlessness and profligacy than if the statute books of the land were torn up and the courts of justice levelled with the ground. But if religion be thus susceptible of being employed with advantage as an auxiliary, there is a corresponding risk of its being resorted to as a human engine and not as a Divine. All inculcations of religion which are dictated by the consciousness that it is politic to stand by religion would turn into inculcations of infidelity the moment it should appear that it would be politic to stand by infidelity. It is a possible case that rulers might do on the political principle what Hezekiah did on the God-fearing principle--they might busy themselves with exacting from their subjects attention to the laws of the Almighty, and so might bring round great outward conformity to many commands of the Bible. The result in the two eases might be similar: the tokens of the absence of God’ s fear might be swept from the land; and there might, on the contrary, be seen on the whole outspread of the population, appearances of the maintenance of that fear. What is to be said of that fear of God which seems to discover itself in its attention to ordinances, but which is only dictated by habit--or respect for appearances--or concern for religion as an engine of state! If we could mark each individual, as he enters the house, who is only brought hither by custom--by the feeling that it is decorous to come--by the sense that it is right that old institutions should be upheld, why, since in the whole assemblage of such motives there is no real recognition of the authority of Jehovah, we should be bound to say of all those who thus render to God a spurious and inferior homage, that their fear towards Him was “ taught by the precept of men.” The motive or sentiment which is the prime energy in producing that fear towards God which is not according to His word is the opinion of merit, the attachment of worth to this or that action, which is ordinarily described as self-righteousness. The cases of the fear towards God, which is taught by the Precept of men, might be further multiplied. If you went the round of even the religious world you would find much of a restless endeavour to bring down godliness to something of the human standard. II. THE FEAR TOWARDS GOD, TAUGHT BY MAN’ S PRECEPT, IS MOST IN THE SIGHT OF THE . We conclude the fact of the offensiveness from God’ s express determination of punishing the Jews with a signal punishment. Our simple business is therefore to search after the reason of this offensiveness. 1. The fear must be a defective fear. If you take your standard from aught else than the Bible, you will necessarily have a standard which is low and imperfect; and although you may act unflinchingly up to this standard, where it is the standard of other men’ s opinions or long practice or custom, you stand accountable for the adoption of the standard. 2. This fear involves a contempt of revelation; and on this account as well as on the former most peculiarly incurs the wrath of Jehovah. (H. Melvill, B. D.)“ Their fear toward Me” R.V. “ Their fear of Me,” i.e., their piety, religion. “ Is taught by the precept of men.” Better as R.V. “ is a commandment of men which hath been taught” ;--a human ordinance learned by rote (Matthew 15:1-9). This pregnant criticism expresses with epigrammatic force the fundamental difference between the pagan and the biblical conceptions of religion. Religion, being personal fellowship with God, cannot be “ learned” from men, but only by revelation Matthew 16:17). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.) Isaiah 29:15-16 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord The folly of acting separately from God I. THEIR (Isaiah 29:15). The consultations they had about their own safety they kept to themselves, and never asked God’ s advice concerning them. See what foolish, fruitless pains sinners take in their sinful ways; they seek deep, they sink deep, to hide their counsel from the Lord, who sits in heaven and laughs at them. A practical disbelief of God’ s omniscience is at the bottom both of the carnal worship and carnal confidences of the hypocrites (Psalms 94:7; Ezekiel 8:12; Ezekiel 9:9). II. THE OF THEIR (Isaiah 29:16). Your inverting the order of things, and thinking to make God’ s providence give attendance on your projects, and that God must know no more than you think fit, which is perfectly “ turning things upside down,” and beginning at the wrong end,--“ it shall be esteemed as the potter’ s clay” ; i.e., God will turn and manage you, and all your counsels, with as much ease, and as absolute a power, as the potter forms and fashions his clay. They that think to hide their counsels from God-- 1. In effect deny Him to be their Creator. 2. Or, which comes to the same thing, deny Him to be a wise Creator. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 29:17-19 Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field The fruitful field and the forest The comparison is evidently not between the high and the low, but between the cultivated and the wild, the field and the forest. (J. A. Alexander.)The first last and the last first The only natural interpretation of the verse is that which regards it as prophetic of a mutual change of condition, the first becoming last and the last first. If the previous context has respect to the Jews under the old dispensation, nothing can be more appropriate or natural than to understand the verse before us as foretelling the excision of the unbelieving Jews and the admission of the Gentiles to the Church. (J. A. Alexander.)Jew and Gentile I. I shall show HOW THE LORD HAS BEEN PLEASED TO VERIFY THIS . II. THE SIGNS THAT MUST THE WORK IN THESE LATTER DAYS. 1. The deaf shall hear the words of the book. 2. The blind shall see out of obscurity and darkness. 3. “ The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord,” etc. III. IMPROVE THE SUBJECT. (F. G. Crossman.) Isaiah 29:18-19 The deaf . . . the blind . . . the meek . . . the poor The Gospel day I. We may regard these words as containing A OF THE STATE IN WHICH THE GOSPEL FINDS THOSE TO WHOM IT IS . The epithets are designed to be descriptive of their spiritual character. II. THE WHICH THE TEXT OF THEIR TO A BETTER AND HAPPIER . “ In that day the deaf shall hear, and the blind shall see.” That is, the spiritual ignorance and insensibility of men shall be subdued, and the delusion and stupidity of idolatrous Gentiles in particular, shall be succeeded by a clear and saving knowledge of the truth. 1. This prophecy may be considered as receiving its fulfilment, impart in every instance in which an individual is savingly converted to God. 2. But the prophecy refers to something on a more extensive and general scale. 3. The words, besides intimating the fact of their recovery, appear also to intimate the means by which their recovery shall be effected. “ They shall hear the words of the book.” What is “ the book” the hearing of whose “ words” is connected with results so wondrous and delightful? (1) Is it the book of nature? Alas, that book, all radiant as it is with the Divine glory of its Author, conveys little or no instruction on spiritual subjects to those whom sin has covered with its dark and stupefying shade. (2) Or is it the book of human philosophy and arts and sciences? The history of all past ages, to say nothing of the present times, laughs to scorn all such pretensions on the part of “ the wisdom of this world.” (3) An inspired apostle tells us that “ the mystery” of God is to be “ made known to all nations for the obedience of faith, by the scriptures of the prophets” ; and “ the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believeth: to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (4) And though not designed, perhaps, to intimate so much, yet does not the expression “ they shall hear the words of the book” serve to remind us of the mode in which, chiefly, this “ book” is intended to diffuse among mankind the experimental knowledge of the “ truth and grace” which it reveals? Does it not remind us that, for that purpose, it is to be proclaimed by the oral teaching of a living ministry? III. These latter words we may suppose to be descriptive of CERTAIN WITH WHICH THE OF MEN IS FOUND TO BE . 1. As well as the preceding words, they are applicable to cases of individual conversion. In this view they remind us of the state to which the sinner’ s heart is humbled when, having heard “ the words of the book,” he is made to tremble under the threatenings which it thunders forth against the guilty and impenitent; and when, having begun to “ see out of obscurity and out of darkness,” he discovers the tremendous ruin on the brink of which he has been standing. 2. But then, besides describing the state to which the sinner’ s mind is humbled in the first instance, these words remind us also of the blessedness of that state to which, when he is once made truly meek and poor in spirit, he is designed to be exalted. For the “ meek shall increase their joy in the Lord.” At first, indeed, this joy may not be anything beyond the joy of hope. But this joy he “ shall increase.” It shall grow “ brighter and brighter to that perfect day” in which it shall become a “ fulness of joy” at God’ s right hand for evermore. 3. If these words be more extensively applied, as having reference to those nations and communities of men amongst whom the Gospel is already known, or as having reference to the whole of that world throughout whose wide extent it must ultimately be proclaimed, they still point out the circumstances under which this Gospel shall be “ the power of God unto salvation,” and the delightful effects which shall ensue on its reception, in the increase of human happiness, and in the turning of men from a vain confidence in “ lying vanities,” to faith in the one living and eternal God. 4. It would appear also to be intimated, that these delightful results of evangelical instruction should be especially exemplified in the case of the most despised and degraded of mankind. For they are “ the poor amongst men,” who shall especially “ rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” 5. These things are delightful to contemplate; but let us not forget, in the pleasure of such contemplations, the personal and practical interest which we are called to take in them. (J. Crowther.) Isaiah 29:19 The poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel Reasons why the poor may rejoice in God One of the most striking proofs of the Divine origin of Christianity is its universal adaptation to the condition and the wants of the whole family of men. It is not designed to be the religion of a sect or an age, but the religion of the whole world. The universality of its character proves that it comes from Him who sustains all, preserves all, feeds and blesses all. We propose to assign reasons why the poor may well “ rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” I. BECAUSE CHRIST IN HIS TO BE POOR AND THUS AND THE OF THE POOR. Who of all the legislators, moralists, and teachers that have appeared in the world ever conferred such honour on humanity, or displayed such regard for the poor? Who, after this, shall dare to look down upon honest poverty! Who, after this, shall dare to convert want into a crime? Let the poor, then, “ rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” He can enter into your sorrows, and feel for your wretchedness. II. BECAUSE THE OF CHRIST’ S ARE AND , AND ARE THUS ADAPTED TO THE OF THE POOR. 1. Money has been paid down for the imperial purple of Rome,--the empire of the Caesars has been sold to the highest bidder; but were salvation only to be purchased with money, or did it require resources in man himself, black despair might seize and petrify the heart of every poor man. 2. Or were salvation a work that required expensive and tedious elaboration at home,--were it like the erection of a palace, or the building of a pyramid, or the construction of such vast works as those by which you cross a gulf or span a sea,--alas for the poor! for then their souls must perish. But let the poor among men rejoice, for the salvation which the Holy One of Israel provides and bestows is a salvation “ without money and without price.” 3. There is another circumstance which ought mightily to enhance these Gospel blessings in the estimation of the poor; namely, the exclusion from many earthly privileges to which poverty subjects them. It is very true that many of the simpler, purer, and more exquisite pleasures of life are as free to the poor as to the rich. But in this world poverty does exclude from some privileges. But, oh! how does my heart, as that of a poor man, exult in the free salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ! Here, in the Gospel of Jesus, is full compensation for all the contumely and scorn cast on humble poverty. III. BECAUSE, IN TO ALL THAT HE HIMSELF HAS DONE FOR THEM, HIS , AS A , ENJOINS SPECIAL , CHARITY, AND TOWARDS THE POOR. IV. BECAUSE THE OF POVERTY IS MORE THAN THAT OF RICHES TO THE OF CHRIST AND TO THE DISPLAY OF . The Saviour’ s language seems fully to warrant this sentiment when He says, “ How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” --and again: “ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Poverty seems to be the favourite element in which religious principle k produced and nurtured. It is in the atmosphere of the Poor that the light and heat of Divine truth love to radiate. (J. French.) Isaiah 29:20-21 For the terrible one is brought to nought Scorners and their punishment Observe what had been the wickedness of these scorners, for which they should be cut off. 1. They ridiculed the prophets and the serious professors of religion. They despised them, and did their utmost to bring them into contempt; they were scorners, and sat in the seat of the scornful. 2. They lay at catch for an occasion against them. By their spies they watch for iniquity, to see if they can lay hold on anything that is said or done that may be called an iniquity. Or, they themselves watch for an opportunity to do mischief, as Judas did to betray our Lord Jesus. 3. They took advantage against them for the least slip of the tongue; and if anything were never so little said amiss, it served them to ground an indictment upon. They made a man, though he were never so wise and good a man, though he were a man of God, an offender for a word, a word mischosen or misplaced, when they could not but know that it was well meant. They cavilled at every word that the prophets spoke to them by way of administration, though never so innocently spoken, and without any design to affront them. They put the worst construction upon what was said, and made it criminal by strained innuendos. 4. They did all they could to bring those into trouble that dealt faithfully with them and told them of their faults. Those that reprove in the gates, namely, reprovers by office, that were bound by the duty of their place as prophets, as judges, and magistrates to show people their transgressions, they hated these, and laid snares for them. It is next to impossible for the most cautious to place their words so warily as to escape such snares. 5. They pervert judgment, and will never let an honest man carry an honest cause; they “ turn aside the just for a thing of nought,” i.e., they condemn him, or give the cause against him upon no evidence, no colour or pretence whatsoever. They run a man down, and misrepresent him by all the little acts and tricks they can devise, as they did our Saviour. But wait a while, and God will not only bring forth their righteousness, but cut off and consume these scorners. (M. Henry.). Isaiah 30:1-3 Woe to the rebellious children A foolish mission In chapter 30 the negotiations with Egypt are represented as having reached a further stage: an embassy, despatched for the purpose of concluding a treaty, is already on its way to the court of the Pharaohs. Isaiah takes the opportunity of reiterating his sense of the fruitlessness of the mission, and derides the folly of those who expect from it any substantial result. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The only Counsellor These words contain a most important lesson for all such as have anything to do with managing the affairs of nations: and it would be well for the world if its rulers would give heed to that lesson, and keep guard against the sins on account of which the prophet here denounces woe against the rulers of Judah. They entered into an alliance with Pharaoh, with the view of gaining assistance from him which might enable them to cope with Sennacherib in the field. This is just what a statesman, who plumed himself on his wisdom in these days, would do. Yet it is for doing this very thing that the prophet Isaiah in the text denounces woe against them. Their conduct therefore must have been sinful. Let us try to discover in what their sin lay. 1. They were making use of human means to ward off the danger which threatened them. Not that thins in itself is altogether wrong in God’ s eyes. On the contrary, we are so placed here on earth, in the midst of so many wants and necessities, and so helpless by ourselves, that we are compelled to be forever making use of human and earthly means. Only, we ought to make use of these means with the conviction that they are merely instruments in the hands of Him who can alone endow them with the power of being of use to us. This is what the rulers of Judah forgot and entirely lost sight of. They trusted in Pharaoh. We are all apt to take counsel of ourselves, of our own understandings, our own wishes, our own convenience, our passions, our interest, our sloth, our purses, our appetites. Or we take counsel of our friends, of our neighbours, of such men as are esteemed to be quick and far-sighted, of every person, and of every thing, except of God. His counsel is the last we seek. Therefore does the prophet’ s woe fall upon us also. And why is it that we are so loth to take counsel of God? Our unwillingness can only proceed from an evil heart of unbelief; from that unbelief which loses sight of the Ruler and Lawgiver of the world, and which is prone to worship whatever dazzles the senses and flatters our carnal nature. 2. But there was another feature in the conduct of the princes of Judah which deepened their sin. They were not merely putting their trust in an arm of flesh,--they who had been so strongly forbidden to trust in such vanities, and who had the living God to trust in such vanities, and who had the living God to trust in: but the arm they were trusting to was the arm of Egypt. Egypt had from the first been the deadly enemy of the Israelites, and of their God. Egypt was the source from which all manner of idolatrous abominations had flowed in upon them: out of Egypt they had been called; and they were no longer to hold any intercourse with it. Therefore the prophet goes on to cry, “ Woe to those who walk to go down into Egypt, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt:” and he declares that, because they do so, “ the strength of Pharaoh shall be their shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt their confusion.” Nor will it be otherwise with us. If we are guilty of their sin we shall not escape their woe. And alas! how often in moments of fear, of distress,--when some danger starts up suddenly in our path, when the enemy seems to be hard at hand, and just ready to overwhelm us,--do we feel tempted to go down into Egypt, in the hope of strengtheningourselves with the strength of Pharaoh, and of sheltering ourselves with the shadow of Egypt! Satan at such moments is always close at our ear, whispering to us, that, if we will but take counsel of him, and do as he bids us, he will help us out of our difficulty. It should be borne in mind that, every time we sin we weaken our souls, we cripple our good feelings, we blunt our conscience, we drive away the Spirit of God from our hearts. Therefore, instead of our being better able to meet the next temptation, the odds against us are increased. (J. C. Hare, M. A.)The Jews’ dependence on Egypt The advantages which the Jews promised themselves from their alliance with Egypt were these-- 1. The Egyptians abounded in chariots and horses, which the Jews were destitute of. For Palestine, being a country full of steep hills and narrow difficult ways, was in many places impassable by horses, and therefore their beasts of burden were camels, asses, and mules, which are not apt to start, but tread sure in dangerous ways. These served them very commodiously in times of peace. But when they were invaded by armies of the Assyrians and Chaldeans, who had troops of horse, and multitudes of chariots, they wanted the like forces to oppose them; and such the Egyptians could very well supply them with. 2. Besides, the Assyrians and Chaldeans were at that time the most formidable Powers of the East, ambitious of universal monarchy, and threatening to subdue Egypt as well as other rich kingdoms. On which account the Egyptians were jealous of them, and therefore were most easily prevailed upon, and more cheaply engaged to assist the Jews, or any other people in their wars against them. (W. Reading, M. A.)God’ s prohibition of alliance with Egypt The reasons why God prohibited His people to confederate with the Egyptians, are these-- 1. He had delivered their forefathers out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, stretched out from Heaven, and unassisted by any human means. He had manifested Himself to be far above all their gods, in that He triumphed over them in the ten plagues, and drowned their king and army in the Red Sea. Notwithstanding all which sufficient convictions, the Egyptians still persisted in their gross idolatry; which might justly provoke God to forbid His people any dealing with them. 2. Their applying to Egypt for aid against their enemies, was derogatory to the honour of God, who having anciently demonstrated His ability to save His people, and having promised still to vouchsafe them His protection in proportion to their obedience, these idolaters might be apt to conclude that His former power was now decayed, and that their gods had gained the ascendant over Him, since they were called in to the protection of His people. 3. An Egyptian had proved fatal to Israel in their happiest state; I mean the daughter of an Egyptian king, who was one of the wives of King Solomon, and helped with other strange women to entice him to idolatry. The immediate consequence of which, by the just judgment of God, was the division of the twelve tribes into two kingdoms, who often waged unnatural wars one with another. 4. God had, in general, forbidden His people to make confederacies with any of the nations round about them, lest they should defile themselves with their idolatrous principles and abominable practices; or lest they should put their trust in man and make flesh their arm, and their heart depart from the Lord. (W. Reading, M. A.)“ Cover with a covering” Perhaps, “ weave a web,” hatch a scheme. (A. B.Davidson, LL. D.)R.V. marg gives two translations between which it is difficult to choose. The latter is perhaps preferable, although the noun does not occur elsewhere in the sense of “ libation.” The allusion would be to drink offerings accompanying the conclusion of a treaty. (J. Skinner, D. D.)Adding sin to sin The sin of forsaking God, and trusting in the arm of flesh, to their sin of drunkenness (Isaiah 28:8), and their other sins. (W. Day, M. A.) Isaiah 30:7 Their strength is to sit still A policy in an epigram Sometimes a policy is summed up in an epigram, or in an easily quotable sentence; and it can be used as a war cry or as an election cry; it can be adapted to political uses of many sorts. Thus it was said of the Bourbons that “ they forgot nothing, and remembered nothing.” It was said of an illustrious statesman in Europe that his policy was “ blood and iron.” In relation to many persons we are recommended to use “ masterly inactivity” --to be appearing capable of doing miracles, and yet to take infinite care not to attempt the performance of one of them. This is precisely the spirit of the text. The peoples to whom the words were addressed were mocked, and the paraphrase which the spirit of the text would justify is this:--They have great mouths, but say nothing; the hippopotamus cannot make his voice heard; the ox mouth is closed: their energy is inaction; when they are about to come forward to do wonders they shrink back and do nothing. It is a taunt--an exclamation wholly ironical thrown in the face of a detested enemy, or an absconding friend, or one who has great appearance of energy, and yet is unable to move the tiniest of his fingers. (J. Parker, D. D.)“ Rahab, that sitteth still” So full were Egyptian politics of bluster and big language, that the Hebrews had a nickname for Egypt. They called her Rahab--“ Stormy speech,” “ Blusterer,” “ Braggart.” It was the term also for the crocodile, as being a “ monster,” so that there was a picturesqueness as well as moral aptness in the name. Ay, says Isaiah, catching at the old name, and putting to it another which describes Egyptian helplessness and inactivity, I call her “ Rahab sit-still,” “ Braggart-that-sitteth-still,” “ Stormy-speech stay-at-home.” Blustering and inactivity, blustering and sitting still, that is her character. “ For Egypt helpeth in vain and to no purpose.” (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Strength and stillness The context reveals two things. (1) A great national danger. (2) A great national sin. Wherein is the truth of the statement, that man’ s strength is in sitting still? or, rather, what is meant by sitting still? It is not the stillness of indolence. Indolence is weakness--is ruin. Activity is the condition of strength. Industry is essential to progress in all that is great and happy. What, then, is the stillness? It is the stillness of unbounded trust in God. I. OF IN TO GOD’ S IS . The sacrifice of Christ is all-sufficient. II. OF IN TO YOUR FUTURE HISTORY IS . “ Take no thought for the morrow,” etc. III. OF IN TO PRESENT TRIALS IS . The Israelites, with piled mountains on each side of them, the sea rolling before them, and Pharaoh and his host approaching them, were exhorted by their leader to “ stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” Peter slept between two soldiers; and Paul said, “ None of these things move me.” (Homilist.)Strength in sitting still I. SOME THINGS TO WHICH THE OF THE TEXT WILL NOT APPLY. 1. It will not apply when we have to get our daily bread. We are to be diligent in business, as well as fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Neither do we say so when learning is to be acquired. This is to be sought by application, and earned by incessant toil. Neither is our preaching by sitting still. If any think to enter the ministry that they may sit still, and spend a life of ease, they utterly mistake the office. 3. Nor when any temptation is to be resisted, or any evil overcome. You are to resist the tempter. And you are to maintain that particular virtue, which is in direct defiance of the particular temptation. If you are tempted, there is another thing which you can do. You can flee. Safety is often in flight. Joseph fled. “ Flee youthful lusts.” 4. Nor does the text apply when duties of any kind are to be done. Idleness is a base condition. Better dig a hole and fall it up again. Better roll a stone up and down a hill, than pass your time in listlessness and languor. There are duties belonging to every state of life. Let them be attended to in promptitude and despatch. 5. Nor is the text applicable when good works are to be undertaken. We have many instructions in Scripture on this subject. “ Be not weary in well-doing,” etc. “ Be steadfast, unmovable,” etc. “ These things,” says St. Paul, “ I will that ye affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God, may be careful to maintain good works.” 6. We do not say it when the heavenly prize of eternal life is to be contended for. II. STATE THE OF THINGS TO WHICH THE AXIOM DOES APPLY. 1. It will apply to many important questions concerning the salvation of the soul. It will apply to the expiation of guilt. So respecting regeneration. “ Ye must be born again.” There must be wrought an inward change. It will be wrought of God. And the Spirit of God works when, how, and where He pleases. 2. There are some matters belonging to our daily and nightly life, in which the principle is likewise of great value and importance. For example, the evening is come. The day’ s labour is finished. It is time to cease. God says to you, Lie down; go to sleep. And when you sleep, “ Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” Be not afraid. God will keep both the city and the watchman. Then, here is God’ s own day. This is the day when God emphatically says, “ Sit still” ; and in quietness and rest is your strength. Be not afraid. Commerce will be uninjured, and none the worse for your being quiet on this day. You will return to your occupations with augmented might and vigour on the morrow. 3. Then, again, there are providential conjunctures, in which we can do nothing, in which every effort and interference of ours is of no avail. And now the end of all this is manifest. Man’ s chief wisdom is-- (1) To be active and diligent in all his appointed fields of labour and exertion. (2) To be tranquil, and resigned, and passive in matters over which he has no control. (3) To trust God, and acquiesce in the Divine will in everything. (J. Straiten.)Passive hours I. The enjoined by the text. What is it to “ sit still” ? 1. It indicates a condition of silence. Times occur for silence before men--when it is best to refrain from all vindications touching our character and doings. There are seasons for silence before God--times when our lips are neither opened in complaint nor importunity. “ Rest in the Lord (be silent to the Lord), and wait patiently for Him.” 2. A condition of resting is suggested. We must resign our opinions, anxieties, merit, strength, and resources, looking simply into heaven. 3. It is also the attitude of waiting. “ I bide my time,” is the motto of one of our noble families, and he who can bide his time, or, to speak more accurately, can bide God’ s time, is perfect in the sublime art of sitting still. 4. The text also sets forth a condition of expectation. Sir Thomas Lawrence painted the portrait of the Duke of Wellington, and when the portrait was half finished, the Duke was represented as holding a watch in his hand, waiting for the Prussians at Waterloo. When the great soldier understood what the watch was intended to indicate, he observed, “ That will never do. I was not waiting for the Prussians at Waterloo. Put a telescope in my hand, if you please, but no watch.” The temper here enjoined is very different to stoicism, involving no sacrifice of sensibility; it is distinct from fatalism, because it recognises the good and righteous God freely acting in all the government of the world; and it cannot be confounded with despair, for its inspiration is faith and hope. II. The SEVERAL when the admonition before us is specially applicable. 1. In the development of our religious life we may sometimes remember the text with advantage. Spiritual life commences in the passive mood. 2. But “ justified by faith” “ we often forget we must “ live by faith,” and by pure and simple faith pass into the highest stages of spiritual life. 3. There are two sides to a complete Christian life--the contemplative and enterprising, the hearkening and speaking, the receptive and communicative and it is of prime importance that both sides receive full attention. 4. Distressed by the problems and tribulations of life we may justly rest in the passive mood. Sometimes we are bitterly bereaved. In these days when our eyes are full of heartbreak let us not go down into the Egypt of carnal reason for light or help--only be still. God does not even expect us to say big words in such crises--only to be still. Sometimes we are prostrated by extreme physical suffering. Said a poor afflicted woman, “ All that God requires from me now is to lie here and cough.” Yes; simple suffering and quiet confidence--that, and nothing more. Sometimes we are defamed. When our reputation is unjustly eclipsed, are we to agitate and worry ourselves? Let us rather exemplify the maxim of Lavater: “ I can wait” ; let there be no impatience, no fretfulness, no bitterness. In the days of sorrowful surprise, of overwhelming misfortune, of sore dilemma, let us not go down into Egypt for wisdom to explain, or strength to bear, or consolation to soothe, but looking up to the everlasting Love, a whole army of fiery cars and coursers shall shelter and deliver us. 5. The counsel of the text is applicable to us when oppressed by spiritual conflict and darkness. “ Who is there among you that feareth the Lord,” etc. Isaiah 50:10). 6. This monition is applicable to us also when we are discouraged in our evangelistic enterprises. The Indian juggler is said to contrive to make a flower grow from a seed to maturity before the eyes of the spectators in a few moments; and thus we expect the truth we sow to spring forth speedily bearing its rich crown of beauty and fruit. But alas! we wait, wait long, and sometimes sink into a state very like despair. Then again, when the triumph of the truth is delayed, workers are tempted to alloy it, with a view to its speedier popularity; hoping that in its debased form it may secure an entrance denied to pure doctrine. And yet once more, when the faith of Christ has not forthwith run and been glorified, the Church has been tempted to form political, artistic, and worldly alliances, which in the end only betray and mock. Paradoxical as it may seem, it is a grand thing for workers to “ sit still” ; having with both hands toiled for God, calmly and confidently to wait the issue (James 5:7-8). The difficulty of rendering obedience to this injunction is really great. There is a sitting still easy enough and common enough, but to rest in God with an absolute faith is neither easy nor common. (W. L. Watkinson.)Over-solicitude injurious Our solicitudes, intermeddlings, overdoings ruin us, or, at least, bring us into many and sore distresses. 1. They do in regard to our character. When shall we understand we are clay in the Potter’ s hand, and our grand business the simple yielding of ourselves to the fashioning of God’ s sovereign Spirit? How often our overweening care, our intrusive curiosity, our vanity and self-will have spoiled God’ s grand handiwork, and arrested the growing completeness of our spirit! 2. And so in regard to our circumstances--our safety is in quietness. In days of tempest the helm is safest in charge of the pilot; in moments of alarm the reins are best in the driver’ s skilful grasp; and if the man overboard will only be still all the Waves of the sea shall not drown him. Oh! when shall we learn the blessedness of resignation, the power of passivity, the victory of faith? (W. L. Watkinson.)The secret of spiritual power I. REST IN ANOTHER IMPLIES THAT WE MUST LEARN TO REST IN . No man has a right to say that he is living the Divine life, without faith, without patience, without trust in God, without that spirit of waiting upon God, to which all the Scriptures exhort and encourage us. The patient places himself in the hands of a physician, but he will keep meddling with the physician’ s prescriptions; he will keep taking nostrums of his own. And the physician says very properly, “ Not so; this must not be. I can do nothing for you if it is so.” And men who put their salvation into God’ s hands, as Israel ought to have done, must stand by that--stand by it always. II. As arising from this, WE ARE STRONG IN LIFE JUST AS WE LAY HOLD OF THIS and learn to restrain ourselves. (W. Baxendale.)The stillness of faith (with Isaiah 30:15):--Does this expression embody a universal principle--one applicable under all possible circumstances? The least consideration will convince us that this cannot be the case. 1. You are naturally, it may be, somewhat apathetic. I fear we all are so in religion--in the concerns of the soul. And this natural indolence is sometimes greatly strengthened by a false theology, a one-sided, overstrained evangeliser, which, by forever insisting on the one point of human inability, has a tendency to lull men asleep. And thus it is that multitudes sit down with folded hands, in an attitude of waiting, as they say, for I know not what mysterious influence from on high to visit their souls. The error is a very grievous one. Scripture bids us awake out of sleep, it bids us flee from the coming wrath, it bids us turn from sin unto God, avoid temptation, resist Satan, restrain our own evil tendencies; it bids us repent, and believe, and pray, and use the means of grace. 2. There is another class, however, who are likely to fall into an opposite error. They are not apathetic, their natural constitution of mind is the very reverse of this. These are your active, bustling, restless people. There is no quietness about them, no repose, no calmness. You read their character in their very look. There is an uneasy air, a feverishness, a fretfulness, characterising them and all their actions, which distinguish them from others, and place them in a class by themselves. When the Gospel comes to one of this class, saying, Cease from all efforts of your own for acceptance;--“ your strength is to sit still, to rest in God, to believe in Jesus; inreturning and rest thou shalt be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength,” --is there no risk that there be a temporary recoil from a system that thus comes so directly into collision with his individualism of character? His first prompting is to something quite different. Let him have his own way, then; it is humbling he needs. It is not necessary we should follow him in his efforts; they are the same as the efforts of those who “ go about to establish their own righteousness.” We know what the result must be; nor are we mistaken, for by and by we find him by the Cross--he has sunk down there exhausted. Yet there are other occasions on which his natural constitution--strong, because deeply rooted--will rise up, and place itself in antagonism with the dealings of God; and chiefly, perhaps, in these two ways--duty and suffering. (1) Suffering. He is now a child of God, but not on that account exempt from chastisement; nay, rather on that very account exposed to it as part of that salutary discipline by which he is training up for Heaven. Perhaps such a man as he needs a severer discipline than that of a more quiet, subdued, restful disposition, to humble him, and wean him from all vain confidences; and so affliction comes in some shape or other--such as will touch him most acutely. We need not think it strange if he go down to Egypt for help; if he have recourse to false physicians; if, instead of looking to God, he trust in an arm of flesh to deliver him; if he weary under God’ s chastening hand, and wish it removed ere the end in view has been answered. He finds no rest till he returns to God, and says, He hath put me into the furnace, and here will I lie quietly till He take me out again. (2) Passing now from the sphere of suffering to that of duty, we find him maintaining the same conflict between the Divine authority and his own will. Remember he is essentially active. He loves a conspicuous position. It is not exactly that he is vain or ambitious, but something within him stimulates him to come forward; he feels as if he were formed for a position of usefulness and eminence; and perhaps he is right. Only he must wait God’ s time for this; he must suffer God to choose for him; and this is what he is rather unwilling to do. (A. L. R. Foote.)The strength of the Church in troublous times I. . 1. The strength of the Church in troublous times is not in listening to carnal counsel. 2. Nor in trusting in carnal confidences. II. . 1. The strength of the Church in troublous times is to sit still in the way of seeking and obeying Divine direction. 2. To sit still in the way of exercising a humble dependence upon Divine aid (Isaiah 30:15). 3. To sit still in the way of holding fast all her scriptural attainments. 4. To return to the Lord in those respects in which she has departed from Him. 5. To go forward in the performance of whatever work God is laying to her hand. (James Patrick.)Strength perfected in weakness When we sit down, God stands up; when we are silent, He speaks; when we have laid down our reeds, He Himself becomes our shield and salvation. (W. L. Watkinson.)Difficulty of spiritual passivity Theatrical performers affirm that to play at statues, which, of course, require perfect motionlessness, is the hardest trial of human nature; and all who have sat for their photograph know something of this experience. The difficulty of physical stillness may serve to represent the extreme difficulty of spiritual passivity under the truth and discipline of God. (W. L. Watkinson.)The albatross a symbol of power The albatross sailing over the sea with vast unstirring wings is a symbol of power, not of weakness; and the soul which sustains its flight in the empyrean without noise or flutter, does so in the fulness of power, in the perfection of life. (W. L. Watkinson.)Waiting may contribute to victory The Duke at Waterloo ordered certain regiments to form and wait. For many hours this order remained in force, and only late in the day were the obedient warriors led to victory. We may be sure those hours of waiting were the hardest hours in those soldiers’ lives. In that space of anxious suspense the Duke was winning the battle for them, but they would much rather have been doing something to the winning of it for themselves. So is it frequently with us in the strife of life. (W. L. Watkinson.) Isaiah 30:8 Note it in a book Keeping a journal (for children):-- I. THE JOURNAL YOU MAY KEEP. You may spend your pocket money in a book, pen and ink, and set up a journal. If so-- 1. Its nature. (1) Not about self. Do not write much about yourself, your own thoughts and feelings. Let there be but few capital I’ s. (2) Not a dreary, lifeless chronicle. If you can do no better than the following, day after day, do not keep a journal at all: “ Got on all right through the day, went for a walk at night, came home and went to bed at nine,” which was the constant entry in the diary of a boy I know. (3) But a record of facts and events. Do as did Doyle and Dickens when lads--record in a journal fresh places seen and persons men--the substance of new books read, things heard new to you, sights and scenes in town and country. 2. Its use. (1) It assists observation and expression. Two most important things to you. Develops faculties of attention, memory, reproduction. Prepares you for science, poetry, writing, and speech. (2) It is helpful in afterlife. Not only from above considerations, but also because it will awaken tender and pleasant memories, evoke gratitude to God, and keep you in touch with boys when a man. II. THE JOURNAL YOU MUST KEEP. 1. For yourself. Your brain is a self-acting journal. In its cell lies hidden, all unknown to you, a register of all your past deeds, words, and thoughts. Sometimes the door of recollection flies open, and you see this record of the past. The record is written in invisible ink, but the fire of memory brings it out. And if sometimes now, how much more at the last! 2. And partly for others. Every day you also write something down in the brain--journals of others, of parents, brothers and sisters, playfellows, teachers. The words and deeds which they hear and see. Be careful to write down for them good and pleasant things--things sweet and helpful. III. THE JOURNAL GOD KEEPS. 1. Instance in the text. Prophet to write that Jews were “ lying children--children that will not hear the Word of the Lord” (Isaiah 30:9), and to write it “ that it may be for the time to come, forever and ever” (Isaiah 30:8). A terrible entry in God’ s journal. May no such entry be written concerning us! 2. God’ s journal complete. He makes no omissions. He puts all in, good and bad. We make selections to our own advantage. We may deceive ourselves--we may hide much from our friends, but not from Him. “ Thou God seest me” ; and when at the judgment “ God’ s books are opened,” His will be a check diary to supply all our omissions. Therefore, let us wisely number our days, and see that our names are written in the Lamb’ s Book of Life. (S. E. Keeble.) Isaiah 30:9-11 This is a rebellious people Dislike to ministerial fidelity The Jews have very many followers under the Christian dispensation. I. STATE THE TRUTHS WHICH ARE USUALLY TO SUCH PERSONS. There are many doctrines to which every faithful preacher of God’ s Word feels bound to give ample room in his stated ministry, that are by no means welcome to many of his hearers; such, for instance, as the spirituality and unbending strictness of the Divine law, the deep depravity of human nature, the exceeding sinfulness of man’ s conduct, the universal necessity of regeneration, the inefficacy of works for justification, and the indispensable obligation to a separation from the world. The Scriptures, not only of the Old Testament, but of the New, abound with the most appalling descriptions of the Divine displeasure against sin. It is a striking fact, that He who was love incarnate--who was named Jesus, because He was to be the Saviour of His people--delivered, during the course of His personal ministry, more fearful descriptions of Divine justice and the punishment of the wicked, than are to be found in any other part of the Word of God. No man can fulfil his ministry, therefore, without frequently alluding to the justice of God in the punishment of sin. But such a subject frequently calm up all the enmity of the carnal mind. II. THE CAUSES TO WHICH WE MUST TRACE THIS DISLIKE OF , and this love of smooth and delusive preaching. 1. In some cases it is occasioned by absolute unbelief. Multitudes who admit in gross the authority of the Bible, deny it in detail. 2. The refinements of modern society and taste lead many to ask for smooth things. There is no respect of persons with God; before Him the distinctions of society have no place. 3. Wounded pride is with some the cause of a dislike of faithful preaching. They hate the doctrine which disturbs their self-complacency, and revile the man who attempts to sink them in their own esteem. 4. But in by far the greater number of instances, this dislike of the truth, and this love of smooth things, is the result of painful forebodings of future misery. III. THE FOLLY, THE SIN, AND THE DANGER OF A DESIRE TO THE VOICE OF TRUTH, and to be flattered with the soothing language of deceit. 1. Its folly is apparent from the consideration that no concealment of the situation of the sinner can alter his condition in the sight of God, or change the relation in which he stands to eternity. 2. The sin of this disposition is equal to its folly. It is sinful alike in its origin, its nature, and its consequences. Why does a person wish to have a false representation of his state? For this one reason, that as he is determined to go on in sin, he may be left to sin with less reluctance and remorse. As it is sinful in its origin, it is manifestly so in its nature, for it is the love of falsehood; a desire to confound the distinction between sin and holiness. Nor is this all; in aiming to suppress the voice of warning and the note of alarm, he acts the part of that infatuated and cruel wretch, who would bribe the sentinel to be silent when the foe is about to rush, sword in hand, into the camp; or would seduce the watchman to be quiet, when the fire had broken out at midnight, and was raging through the city. For thus saith the Lord, “ O son of man, I have set thee a watchman over the house of Israel,” etc. (Ezekiel 33:7-8). 3. The danger of such a disposition to the individual himself, is as great as its sin and its folly. The man who is unwilling to hear of approaching misery, is not likely to use any means by which it may be averted. By way of I infer, how great are the importance, responsibility, and difficulty which attach to the ministerial office, and how anxious should those be who sustain it, to discharge its duties with uncompromising fidelity. 1. The conversion of sinners should be the leading object of every minister of Christ. 2. This must be sought by suitable means. The means for awakening the unconverted are, of course, various. What might be called the alarming style of preaching is most adapted to convert the impenitent. 3. Ministers are under a great temptation to preach smooth things, and to shrink from what may emphatically be called the burden of the Lord. A false charity leads them, in some instances, to be unwilling to disturb the peace or distress the feelings of their hearers; or, perhaps, there are some in their congregation who may feel an objection to what they contemptuously call the harrowing style. But most of all are those in danger of compromising their duty, who are appointed to minister to well educated and wealthy audiences. 4. A word of admonition is here needed for professing Christians. Are there not many who are dissatisfied with everything but words of comfort and statements of privilege? They object to everything of a searching and practical tendency. (J. A. James.)Church and world I. A chief part of the work of the pulpit is THE PLAIN AND FERVENT OF DAILY LIFE . There is no Gospel without morality, and the morality of Christ, i.e., a morality whose inspiration is the Spirit of Christ, is a very large part of the Gospel indeed. What of our Lord’ s own teachings? Are they chiefly moral teachings or theological? It is needless to answer the question. What do we mean when we talk of being saved from sin? Just what the words say,--that sin shall be taken away; that is, that men shall obey God’ s law instead of the devil’ s; that is, that they shall live pure, virtuous, and moral lives. II. And do not MORALS OCCUPY A VERY PLACE IN THE WELFARE OF MANKIND. What is it makes the world often so miserable? It is sin, that is, immorality; and if we can do away with the sin and immorality, and bring in virtue and morality, then we shall do much to diminish the miseries of our fellow men. And if it is important that morals should be taught for the welfare and happiness of mankind, who are to teach morals, if not the ministers of religion! It is for us to educate the public conscience, until men feel each moral distinction as a solemn fact, until the force of public opinion fall heavily upon him who violates the moral law, until a fairer morality take its place among us. III. But why have we succeeded so ill? WHY IS THE GENERAL SO LOW! It is because the people have said, “ Speak unto us smooth things,” and we have yielded to their words. If you tell men the faults which are diseases in their characters, slowly but surely bringing them down to the grave, they cannot bear it, but keep the disease and dismiss the physician. Whether it hurts or not, the truth must be said, if men are to be saved from the error of their ways. (W. Page-Roberts, B. A.)Speak unto us smooth thingsThe smooth things by which men are apt to be deceived I propose to instance a few of these smooth things which teachers may address to the people who love to be deceived, or wherewith the people themselves lay a flattering unction to their own souls. I. The first of these, which though not generally ranked among the smooth things, I hold to be the universal deceit, and that in virtue of which we so MAGNIFY THE PRESENT WORLD, give such an exaggerated importance to things present and things sensible, regard time as if it had all the worth and endurance of eternity, and look on eternity as a thing of remote and shadowy insignificance, the care and consideration of which may be indefinitely postponed. II. A MEAGRE AND OF THEIR GUILT, AND TO THIS, A SLIGHT OF THEIR DANGER. III. A man who feels his disease so slight, will be satisfied with a very slight remedy; and accordingly the remedy which men are satisfied with, is RESTING ON THE GENERAL MERCY OF GOD. God is represented as a Being full of tenderness, thus making it the whole character of the Godhead, and in this way lulling themselves into a deceitful security--not thinking of one set of attributes, justice, truth, and righteousness, but keeping these in the background, and bringing in the foreground, God being of universal tenderness and benignity, and who will not be severe on the follies of His poor erring creatures. IV. A CERTAIN which they connect with the doctrines of grace and justification by faith. When we see people reposing on their orthodoxy, and making use of it as a soporific to lull themselves, we should ply them with questions founded on the true representation which the New Testament gives. Are they running so as that they may obtain? Are they fighting so as that they may gain a hard won victory? Are they striving so as that they may force an entrance at the strait gate? (T. Chalmers, D. D.)The craving for the entertaining What did the speakers want? They wanted what is desired by every age, namely, to be entertained. It is entertainment that is often frittering away the noblest courage and finest faculty of the Church. There may be parts of the service which are instructive, and they are tolerated that the entertainment may be enjoyed: entertain us with ritual, with music, with stories, with something that will give us intellectual excitement and even a degree of intellectual delight: but do not prophesy, do not teach, do not become rigorously moral: let the day of judgment alone; if we have to go to hell let us go down a bank covered with velvet moss. The people make the pulpit. (J. Parker, D. D.)The demand for smooth things What was the utility of the Hebrew prophet, and what were the errors to which he was more particularly exposed? I. It was THE DUTY AND THE OF ISRAEL to keep alive monotheism in the world. It was no less the duty of the prophetic school to preserve in the chosen nation itself the spirituality of religion. Both agents were in the same relative position--a hopeless minority. And both had but an imperfect success. Yet the nation and the institution served each an important purpose. Monotheism languished, but did not die. And though the prophets were not very successful in imbuing the nation generally with their own spirituality, yet they kept the flame alive. They served to show to the people the true ideal of spiritual, not ritualistic, Judaism, and thus supplied a corrective to priest taught Judaism. II. WHAT WAS THE GREAT SOURCE OF ERROR IN THE PROPHET’ S ? What was the great pressure that pushed, or tended to push him aside from the path of duty? The text has told us. “ Prophesy not unto us right” things, speak unto us smooth things. The desire of man--king or peasant--to hear from the prophet, or the courtier, or the demagogue, not truth, but flattery,--it was that fatal longing which led them to put a pressure on the prophet which often crushed the truth within him. III. EXISTS STILL. If nations have not prophets to flatter them, they have those whom they trust as much. Far from attempting to correct their faults, the guides whom they trust are constantly labouring to impress on them that they are the most meritorious and the most ill-used nation in the world. Eyes blinded to present faults; eyes sharpened to past wrongs,--there is no treatment which will more completely and more rapidlydemoralise the nation which is subjected to it. There will be no improvement where there is no consciousness of fault; and no forgiveness where the mind is invited, almost compelled, to a constant brooding over wrong. With the growth of such feelings no nation can thrive; and he who encourages them is not the saviour but the destroyer of his country. (J. H.Jellett.)Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before usThe Holy One of Israel repudiated The meaning is not, of course, that the people disown Jehovah as the national Deity, but that they repudiate Isaiah’ s conception of Him as the Holy One of Israel, and the teaching based on that conception. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Flattery Smooth talk proves often sweet poison. Flattery is the very spring and mother of all impiety. It unmans a man, it makes him call black white, and white black; it makes a man change pearls for pebbles, and gold for counters; it makes a man judge himself wise, when foolish; knowing, when he is ignorant; holy, when he is profane; free, when he is a prisoner; rich, when he is poor; high, when he is low; full, when he is empty; happy, when he is miserable. (J. Bate.)Truth sometimes unpopular An animated debate took place whether Martinelli should continue his “ History of England” to the present day. Goldsmith: “ To be sure he should.” Johnson: “ No, sir; he would give great offence. He would have to tell of almost all the living great what they do not wish told.” Goldsmith: “ There are people who tell a hundred political lies every day, and are not hurt by it. Surely, then, one may tell truth with safety.” “ Johnson: Why, sir, in the first place, he who tells a hundred lies has disarmed the force of his lies. But besides, a man had rather have a hundred lies told of him than one truth which he does not wish to be told.” Goldsmith: “ For my part, I’ d fen the truth, and shame the devil.” Johnson: “ Yes, sir; but the devil will be angry. I wish to shame the devil as much as you do, but I should choose to be out of the reach of his claws.” Goldsmith: “ His claws can do you no harm when you have the shield of truth.” (Boswell’s Johnson.)Harmless preaching Two Chinese jugglers have been making a public exhibition of their skill. One of these is set up as a target, and the other shows his dexterity by hurling knives which stick into the board at his comrade’ s back, close to the man’ s body. These deadly weapons fix themselves between his arms and legs, and between his fingers; they fly past his ears, and over his head and each side of his neck. The art is not to hit him. Are there not to be found preachers who are remarkably proficient in the same art in the mental and spiritual departments? (C. H. Spurgeon.)Faithful preaching Our preaching must not be general, but particular. “ It is not lawful for thee to have her to wife.” This was John Baptist’ s style. We must collar men. “ Thou art the man--I mean you, sir.” We are not half enough convinced of the evil of general preaching. The beef must have the salt of truth, and the saltpetre of life, but it must be rubbed in by particular application, and rubbed into every part by a comprehensive mind, and rubbed in by clean hands. (R. Cecil.) Isaiah 30:13 As a breach ready to fall.- A retributive crash The best translation seems to be: “ Therefore this guilt shall be to you as a rent descending (and) bulging out in a high wall, whose crash comes,” etc. The slight beginnings of transgression, its inevitable tendency to gravitate more and more from the moral perpendicular, till a critical point is reached, then the suddenness of the final catastrophe,--are vividly expressed by this magnificent simile. Psalms 62:3. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Nemesis 1. The people, on account of the eminence and grandeur to which they were elevated, are compared to a high wall. 2. The sin whereby they despised the Word of the Lord, the instructions of His servants, and even the name of the Holy One of Israel, and sought assistance from Egypt, was to prove ruinous to them, as the swelling out in a high wall. The breach, or bulge, which is supposed to have been in the lower part of the wall, as often happens in old buildings, might signify the insolence and pride whereby the posterity of Israel were puffed up in the confidence of being aided by the Egyptians. (R. Macculloch.)Nemesis I. WHO IT IS THAT GIVES UPON THEM. “ The Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 30:12). See Isaiah 30:11. Faithful ministers will not be driven from using such expressions as are proper to awaken sinners, though they be displeasing. II. WHAT THE GROUND OF THE IS. “ Because ye despise,” etc., (Isaiah 30:12). III. WHAT THE IS THAT IS PASSED UPON THEM. The ruin they should bring upon themselves should be-- 1. A surprising ruin, coming suddenly. 2. An utter ruin, universal and irreparable (Isaiah 30:14). (M. Henry.) Isaiah 30:14 He shall break it as the breaking of the potter’ s vessel A pottery mound One of the most curious objects in Rome is a huge artificial mound called Monte Testaccio. It stands near the gate of St. Paul’ s, between the Aventine Hill and the Tiber . . . It is a conspicuous object, being nearly one-third of a mile in circumference, and about a hundred and fifty feet high, commanding from its top an extensive view of the most desolate and historical parts of the Eternal City, and the Campagna a beyond. It is an easy task to climb it, for on different sides there are well-worn tracks from the base to the summit. The surface covered in a few places with a little sprinkling of soil, and a sparse vegetation of grass and coarse weeds; but a close examination reveals the remarkable fact that the mound is almost entirely composed of fragments of broken earthenware. Specimens of ancient pottery of all kinds may be found lying loosely on the surface of the heap, or by digging a little way into the mass . . . Not one vessel was whole, nor could the broken pieces be united to form even the least important part of any vessel. The mound, from the nature of its materials, is evidently of very ancient origin, nothing having been added to it since the early Christian ages; but it must have taken many centuries to form it by slow accumulation. Various theories have been proposed regarding it; but the most plausible conjecture is that which connects it with the neighbouring emporium or custom house, where all the goods that were landed at the ancient quay of Rome were stored up for a time. It was the practice in those days to import not only wine and oil, and other fluids, but also corn and solid articles of food and of domestic use into the imperial city in earthenware jars for more convenient carriage. In the act of unloading, immense quantities of these fragile vessels would be broken, and the fragments carried away to this spot, where they would accumulate in course of time into the huge heap which now astonishes every spectator. This explanation, however, is only a partial one; for were it complete we should expect to find in the mound only vessels of one kind, fitted for storage purposes. But it contains, as I have said, fragments of the most varied assortment of vessels for household use and for ornamental and even for sepulchral purposes . . . It became, in fact, the general receptacle for the broken pottery of the whole city. That this was carefully collected into this one spot, instead of being thrown out anywhere, and that no other rubbish was allowed, except accidentally, to ruing o with it, shows clearly that the heap was intended for some economical use. We have indeed reason to believe that this broken earthenware, ground into smaller fragments and pulverised, formed an ingredient in the famous Roman cement employed in the construction of buildings whose hardness and durability were proverbial. But it is not in Rome only that such ancient mounds of broken pottery are found. Similar heaps of potsherds, not on quite so large a scale, may be seen outside the walls of Alexandria and Cairo. The sites, indeed, of many ancient towns, especially those built of crude, sun-dried bricks, are often covered with great quantities of such fragments exposed to view and collected together by the disintegrating action of the weather upon the ruins, giving them the appearance of a deserted pottery rather than that of a town. Parti-coloured heaps of broken pottery are common in the neighbourhood of old villages and towns in Palestine. They are especially abundant in one or two places near Jerusalem. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)The shivering of the potter’ s vessel The passage is literally, “ And its shivering ωΖΡαΖψ shever, from which perhaps comes our ‘ shiver’ ) shall be like the shivering of a potter’ s vessel, a shattering unsparingly; so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a potsherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water out of the pit.” Bearing in mind the size and strength of many potters’ vessels in Palestine, it is clear, that a mere dashing out of the hand upon the ground would fail to effect a “ shivering” anything like this. To what then do the prophets refer? We think the matter admits of a very clear explanation. One of the most constant features of the land is the well or “ beer,” which, as no rain falls for many months together, and springs and streams are rare, becomes an essential adjunct to every house. In these large underground structures rainwater is collected from surface drainage, and stored for use during the year. The “ Moabite stone” records an act, passed by Mesha, King of Moab, so far back as the days of Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, directing every man to make a “ beer,” or rain cistern, in his house. But such testimony would not be needed to establish the great age of these huge artificial cisterns. They abound everywhere, and many of them, In fine preservation, mark the sites of very ancient cities, where no other structure remains. There are no less than thirty of them, some of vast size, built on piers, and arched like the crypt of a church, to be found within the precincts of the temple area at Jerusalem. They are specially numerous in the fine olive grove to the north of the city, where they are in such a ruinous condition, apparently from extreme age, that they now form a series of dangerous pitfalls. In addition to these wells is to be found a system of immense artificial pools, or rain reservoirs, which are often referred to in the Bible, and of which no less than seven may now be traced in and around Jerusalem itself. To all these cisterns and reservoirs, whether cut in the rock, or built of rough masonry, one thing is common. To render them perfectly watertight, a peculiar cement has to be used. This cement is composed partly of lime and partly of a large admixture of what is called in Arabic, “ homrah.” This “ homrah” is nothing else than broken pottery of every description, ground down generally into very small pieces, and sometimes into powder. It answers excellently the purpose for which it is employed. Every year it grows harder; until, in the case of those wells and pools where it is presumably many hundred years old, it is as firm as the rock to which it adheres. This “ homrah” is consequently an article of daily commerce throughout the country. Its preparation by the peasants still remains the same simple and striking sight that must always have been familiar to the dwellers in every Judean town, but especially to those who lived within the waterless precincts of Zion. (J. Neil, B. A.)Shivering the potter’ s vessel It may be seen now every autumn in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Upon the upper terrace, on the side adjoining the city, several “ fellahin” (peasants), both men and women, sit on the ground in front of small brown heaps. They have under their hands a huge stone or rather rough piece of rock slightly rounded, about a foot in diameter, which they push backwards and forwards over the mounds before them. These mounds consist of broken pottery, which they have purchased in the city, or picked up from the heaps outside. Here we may see the whole of this simple but very effective process of shivering or crushing the “ potter’ s vessel.” (J. Neil, B. A.)The potter’ s vessel It could hardly be expected that a custom so ancient and so suggestive as this should have remained unutilised by the spiritual teachers of Israel to point a moral. It lent itself so easily and naturally to the peculiar didactic method of instruction which the Orientals affect, that it was early taken advantage of for this purpose. Throughout the Bible there are numerous direct and indirect allusions to it. In the second Psalm it is said of those who oppose the Messianic kingdom of God that they shall be dashed in pieces like a potter’ s vessel; and Isaiah foretells that a similar fate should happen to those who despised God’ s Word and placed their confidence in Egypt. They should be like one of those high mud walls--like the cob walls of Devonshire, said to be derived from the East--which so often decline from the perpendicular, and bulge out in different parts. (H. Maxmillan, D. D.) Isaiah 30:15 In returning and rest shall ye be saved The vanity of earthly help in time of trial, and the profit of patient waiting I. THE OF ALL HUMAN . The records of the Jewish nation, which have come down to us, abundantly prove this truth. 1. These words were especially spoken to the Church of old time. We must gather therefore great instruction herefrom, in respect to the community of God’ s people in all after time, and perhaps in our own days especially. 2. What is true in respect of the Church, considered as a community, is equally true in respect of all its members, if we consider them in their individual character. God teaches them separately, as He teaches the Church collectively, that upon Him they are to depend, and not upon human help. And in order that they may learn the lesson the more certainly, and that it may stay with them the more abidingly, God oftentimes brings them down into circumstances where human assistance can render them no avail. II. THE NATURE AND THE PROFIT OF PATIENT WAITING. In this way it is that God gives the instruction which the hearts of His people want. He suffers them oftentimes to lean upon other helps, and to cast their dependence upon other agencies, than His appointed one. Then, when they have found that these have been but as a broken reed to trust to, they come back again to Him--their faith confirmed--a precious lesson learned in the time of their wandering, which henceforth they shall find in the establishment of their souls. Faith has indeed oftentimes its best exercise in the time of the heaviest trial It is made to bring forth its richest and rarest fruits. (S. Robins, M. A.)National salvation Let us ponder the four words which the prophet here uses to indicate in what direction their salvation lay, and upon what terms they might be sure of the Divine interposition and abiding protection. 1. “ Returning.” Instead of going to Egypt for help, and impoverishing themselves by an alliance forbidden, senseless, and unprofitable, they might be assured of God’ s forgiveness and favour by returning in brokeness of spirit to Him. The place of confession is the place of forgiveness. 2. “ Rest.” The meaning is, or course, such a resting in God as would prove the genuineness of their return to Him. Vain was their reliance on the multitude of chariots and the strong body of cavalry to which they would point as a valuable addition to the fighting strength of Judah (Isaiah 31:3). 3. “ Quietness.” How the very word rebukes the haste, excitement, and trepidation with which they had prepared for the siege of their city! 4. “ Confidence.” (J. G. Mantle.)In quietness and in confidence shall be your strengthThe strength obtained from quietness and confidence I. THE STATE OF MIND HERE NOTICED. 1. Consider “ quietness” of mind. It means strength of purpose, combined with calm collectedness of thought as well as of word and act. 2. Consider “ confidence” as another feature of true Christian character. Confidence is something more than a dead theory of belief; it is faith in exercise. And is there not something very sublime and beautiful in “ confidence,” as we see it linking the heart of man to the Creator and Redeemer of the world? II. THE TO BE DERIVED FROM THE STATE OF MIND . 1. The promise expressed in the words, “ shall be your strength,” is very encouraging and full of meaning. It points to the Deity as the only source of strength. 2. The strength here spoken of is Divine, granted to us through the instrumentality of quietness and confidence 3. This strength, too, implies safety. 4. But the strength promised is conditional. (W. D. Horwood.)The promise associated with quietness and confidence I. THE FRAME OF MIND which God encouraged His people to have under all these circumstances--“ quietness and confidence.” 1. Observe what the fault of Israel had been. God had said one thing, and Israel thought another. God had told them that He would be their refuge. 2. Their warrant for their confidence was the Word of God. Here is the distinction to be made between what is presumption, and what is faith. 3. Observe, next, the peculiar relation in which Israel stood to Jehovah, which made their unbelief so reprehensible. The Lord seems to bring this before their minds, as that which should cause the most stinging conviction in their hearts. “ Thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel.” II. THE PROMISE THAT IS HERE ANNEXED. God says, “ In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” Take, for instance, Hezekiah’ s history (2 Kings 18:1-37). Again, remember the story of Israel’ s deliverance, as recorded Exodus 14:1-31. I might refer you to other passages, such as that beautiful narrative in Daniel 3:1-30, where we are told of three believing men being cast into a burning fiery furnace. Look at their quietness and confidence, which was their strength. There is a direct promise upon this subject in Deuteronomy 32:1-52. “ The Lord shall judge” (avenge, or come to the help of) “ His people, and repent Himself for His servants, when He seeth that their power is gone” If you want a New Testament promise to the same effect, you have it in that word which was spoken by our Lord--“ Come unto Me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Do you say then, are we not to use means? There may be as much unbelief when men despise means, as there may be in their over-anxiety to use means. (W. H. Krause, M. A.)The duty of conservatives in a time of theological conflict 1. It is our duty to recognise the inevitable margin of difference among those who substantially agree. It is only in the exact sciences that a formula has absolutely the same value for all men and for the same man at all times. But theology is not an exact science 2. It is the second duty of conservatives in a time of theological conflict to recognise the margin of error in all human views of truth. If the writers of the Bible were infallible, the readers of it are not. But have we not, it may be asked, the promise of the Paraclete to lead us into all the truth? Yes, and wonderfully has the promise been fulfilled. But here again two things should be observed. (1) That promise was not given to any particular branch of the Church. (2) It guarantees infallibility, to no one. 3. It is especially the duty of conservatives at the present moment in the history of the Church to discriminate between those who are seeking defend and those who are seeking to overthrow the fundamental principles of Christianity. Criticism must be met by criticism, scholarship by scholarship. 4. We should beware of testing the views in regard to the Bible, which are now more and more freely expressed, by what seem to be their tendencies. (1) One of these is the tendency to unsettle the minds of simple and devout believers. They certainly have such a tendency, and it is much to be regretted. But the questions are here. We are not responsible for their presence. They are forced upon us. (2) Another thing concerning which no little apprehension is entertained is that these discussions may tend to diminish the reverence which is felt for the Bible, and to weaken the faith of men in Christianity itself. The apprehension is natural. So Erasmus felt concerning what he called “ the noisy quarrel of religion” that had broken out in his day, when (as he says) “ I wrote frequently and industriously to my friends, begging that they would admonish this man (Luther) to observe Christian meekness in his writings, and to do nothing to disturb the peace of the Church.” The true conservative is always prone to apprehend the worst results from anything that disturbs the ancient order of ideas and practices. But how many times over has experience shown these fears to be groundless? In quietness and in confidence is our strength. Let us be honest. Let us not be afraid. “ If this counsel or this work be of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of God, ye will not be able to overthrow it, lest haply ye be found even to be fighting against God.” (E. B. Coe, D. D.)Quietness and confidence “ Quietness” is just collectedness, repose, equanimity, freedom from excitement and boisterousness. “ Confidence” is trust, reliance, upon God, producing, if not implying, a calm and steadfast courage. I. “ Quietness and confidence” are OF . They bespeak the existence of thought, reflection, judgment; they evidence self-control; they mark a nature that is not superficial; they show a superiority to influences which rouse the stormy passions of other men, and leave them the victims of blind impulse; and all this implies true strength of character. II. “ Quietness and confidence” are FOR WORK AND . The quiet, steady, hopeful man--other things being equal, and sometimes when they are very unequal--will prove, far away, the best workman. For one thing, such a man will lose no time in vain speculation, in daydreams about his work, in clearing away self-imposed hindrances, the result of his own hurry or forgetfulness or preoccupation. Calm and thoughtful, he will always settle to his employment at once, while another man will have to give himself time to acquire the proper mood for it. “ Confidence” will also yield him resolution, and that will “ make him proof against interruption,” which often defers the results of men’ s endeavours and chafes their temper as well. Nearly all the men who have won renown in the sphere of successful toil, whether secular or sacred, have been men of quiet energy, rather than men of powerful impulses; of steadfast reliance upon a Power above them, rather than of mere human enthusiasm. And in fact, such are the discouragements and trials that wait upon all kinds of labour, whether for ourselves or others--such the sameness, the dryness, the weariness, that only quiet confidence will enable a man to persevere. It was this that kept Moses at the head of the chosen tribes till they reached the borders of Canaan. It was this that carried St. Paul through his almost superhuman toils and exertions. It was this that sustained such men as Columbus and Newton, Washington and Wellington, and a host of others, in carrying out enterprises, differing, indeed, in their objects, but all encompassed with difficulties that would have driven weaker men to despair at their outset. And, if we would do any real work for God and our fellow men, we must seek more to possess the quietness and confidence of me text, than those more shining qualities which gain popular applause, but often leave no real impress upon a man’ s age and sphere. III. Quietness and confidence are FOR . Restlessness, impatience, distrust, do but aggravate trials, and intensify suffering. Like the struggles of a prisoner in his fetters--like the beating itself against the wires of the poor caged bird, they only serve to augment pain, and to bring on the dejection and weariness that follow fruitlessly expended energy. But to have a mind stayed on God is to take the most certain method to lighten every burden, to diminish the bitterness of every sorrow, to modify and transmute every curse into a blessing, and to make even the path of tribulation pleasant and attractive. IV. “ Quietness and confidence” are specially the OF . All religious progress depends, primarily and efficiently, upon the grace of God. But the order of God’ s working is such that this process may be very much helped or hindered by ourselves. The growth of plants and flowers depends materially upon the nature of the soil in which they are set, and upon their capacity for receiving the influences of air and sunshine, dew and shower. And it is much the same as to the growth of holy character; it is checked or advanced by our prevailing moral dispositions. Now, “ quietness and confidence” imply a state of mind the most favourable to Divine operations. The subject may he viewed in another light. In the endeavour to live a holy life, we are all conscious of our exposure to hindrances, arising from our lapses and failures. We go on, it may be, somewhat well for a time; but a temptation overtakes us, unwatchfulness supervenes, and we fall, not into any great sin, but from the vantage ground that we thought ourselves to have reached. Now, what will be the effect of this upon a Christian person of excitable, impulsive, unsteady mind! Why, ceremony he will be discouraged and dismayed. But it will not be thus with the Christian who is marked by “ quietness and confidence.” He will say, “ Rejoice not over me, O mine enemy; for though I fall, I shall rise again.” (C. M. Merry.)Rev. John Keble’ s motto In Poet’ s Corner, at Westminster Abbey, there is a medallion erected to the memory of John Keble, upon which is inscribed the prophetic utterance which was the motto of his simple, beautiful, well-ordered life: “ in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” (R. Hebbron.)Faith and introspection In quietness and confidence is our strength, but not in thinking of quietness and confidence, or grieving that we have so little of either, but in simply assuring ourselves of the ground that we have to believe that God is our Friend now and ever, and that He can be nothing else, and that the forgetfulness of this and nothing else has been our sin and our shame. (F. D. Maurice to his mother.)The triumph of simple trust I am to be like General Gordon in Khartoum during the last weeks of the long siege. He built himself a tower of observation, from the top of which he could command the whole country round. At dawn he slept; by day he looked to his defences, and administered justice, and cheered the spirit of his people; every night he mounted to his tower, and there, as one of his biographers says, “ alone with his God, a universal sentinel, he kept watch over the ramparts, and prayed for the help that never came.” He could not work out the deliverance himself, but he had childlike confidence in God. And the Divine help did come--the martyr’ s crown, the everlasting rest, the good soldier’ s welcome from his Commander-in-chief. (A. Smellie, M. A.)Settling down upon God What can explain the confidence of Judson and many another noble missionary, working steadily on for years without any sign of visible success, but the settling down of the spirit upon God--an attitude which had, with them, become a habit of life? (J. G. Mantle.)Working with Divine resources “ I used to think I had to do it,” says one of the most successful evangelists of the nineteenth century, “ and the result was great physical strain and exhaustion; but now I feel He has to do it through me: the responsibility His; the message His; the strength His.” (J. G. Mantle.) Isaiah 30:17 Till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain Israel’ s past, present, and future I. THE PAST. 1. Sins of God’ s people (Isaiah 30:1-2; Isaiah 30:9-12). Rejecting His Word; trusting in arm of flesh. 2. Judgment on them (Isaiah 30:16-17). 3. Mercy to them in things spiritual and temporal (Isaiah 30:19-21; Isaiah 30:26; Isaiah 30:29; Isaiah 23:1-18; Isaiah 24:1-23). Deliverance from their enemies (Isaiah 30:30-33). Especially destruction of Sennacherib’ s army (Isaiah 30:31). 4. Glory to God, who is “ exalted” --in His judgments--in His mercies. II. THE PRESENT. 1. The people now left as a “ beacon.” upon the top of a mountain . Condition bare, and seen of all. “ And as an ensign, on an hill.” Word for ensign same as “ sign” in Numbers 26:10. The people “ cannot be hid.” 2. Now God waits for the set time, for the filling up of His people’ s sins Hosea 5:15); for the filling up of His judgments; for the fulness of the Gentiles to be come in (Romans 11:25); for the showing mercy in the end. III. THE FUTURE. It will be as the past, but greater. 1. Sin still continues in unbelief of Messiah, in pride, worldliness, and self-righteousness. 2. Judgment on these sins up to the end. 3. Mercy when they “ cry.” Deliverance from their enemies, as prophesied Isaiah 66:13-16. 4. Glory to God, the “ God of judgment,” the Father of mercies. He shall be “ exalted,” as prophesied in Isaiah 2:10-11; Isaiah 2:17-22. 5. “ Beacon” and “ ensign” --refer to again. Israel conspicuous now, will be more so in the last days, as a landmark amidst waves of trouble and strife. “ Ensign,” the same word as rendered “ pole” in Numbers 21:8-9. See again in Exodus 17:15, “ Jehovah-Nissi.” See Isaiah 31:9; Isaiah 11:11-12; Isaiah 18:3; Isaiah 49:22; Isaiah 62:10. Israel the rallying centre of the nations, in the midst of them the royal standard of the King, high on “ God’ s hill, in the which it pleaseth Him to dwell” (Psalms 60:4; see Zechariah 8:2-3; Zechariah 8:22-23). IV. THE . 1. “ To the Jew first.” 2. “ And also to the Gentile.” 3. Note the correspondence between God’ s waiting and His people’ s waiting. (Flavel Cook, B. A.) Isaiah 30:18 And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you The waiting hours of life We are all familiar with the waiting hours of life, when the stream hardly seems to move, or the air to stir; when the heart grows sick with deferred hope. There are hours on languid summer days when all nature seems to have become stagnant--the aspen leaf does not quiver; the fish does not rise in the pool; the hum of the bee becomes less frequent and more drowsy; and the shadow hardly moves on the dial--and these hours in nature find their counterpart in the monotony of life’ scommon round, the commonplace routine of its daily task. Such waiting times were wearily passing over the godly at Jerusalem while the invader was drawing his coils ever nearer to the doomed city, and the ambassadors were being cajoled in Egypt by false hopes; and ceaseless prayers to God were apparently bringing no response. To such the prophet addressed these words, encouraging them to believe that God was not unmindful of their case, but was waiting that He might act more graciously towards them than He could by answering them at once. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)God’ s delays He waits that He may be gracious; i.e., until there is such a combination of circumstances, and such a refining of character, that He can do ever so much better than if He had interposed in the first moments of our agonised appeal. I. HE DOES NOT DELAY BECAUSE OF ANY CAPRICE. Heaven has no favourites, who are always served first. II. HE DOES NOT DELAY BECAUSE OF ANY NEGLECT. A woman may forget her sucking child, but our Saviour cannot forget us. III. HE DOES NOT DELAY BECAUSE HE DENIES. The remittance is not sent as asked; yet that does not prove that it is not there in our name, but only that it is being kept at interest, accumulating till it reach a higher figure, and be more of service, because coming at a time of greater need. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)Reasons for God’ s delays What results are served by this prolonged delay! 1. The energy of the flesh dies down. There is nothing which so tames and subdues us as waiting. And there is no kinder thing that God can do for us than to destroy the egotism, the self-assertiveness of our life, and to bring its pride to the dust. Waiting with mountains on either side, the sea in front, and the lee behind, is enough to empty the stoutest heart of its self-confidence, and to make it cry out to the strong for aid. 2. We often cease to want the very things on which we had set our hearts. Thus it has happened, as the years have passed, that we have seen reason to admire and adore the wise love which withheld that on which we had set our hearts with passionate intensity. 3. Our character also becomes riper by waiting. It is better for the young man to accumulate his fortune slowly, because he learns to value his money rightly, and to spend it well Better for the student to acquire knowledge by degrees, because he gains habits of industry which are simply invaluable. Better for the saint to grow to goodness by long and insensible progress, that he may be able to sympathise with those who are beginning to take the upward path. 4. Moreover, we secure larger results by waiting. If the Egyptian farmer is too impatient, and sows his seeds before the Nile has reached its full flood, they will not be carried to the furthest limit of his ground, and his harvest will suffer. So often there is a result which may be gained by patient waiting, which would defy us if we snatched at it. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)God’ s gracious purpose towards His people I. THE OF GOD TOWARDS HIS PEOPLE. He “ waits, that He may be gracious” ; He is “ exalted, that He may have mercy.” The Jewish people are here supposed to be in a state of suffering; and they are assured that when the design of these sore judgments was fully answered, God would have mercy upon them. In what manner the Lord will be gracious unto them, the prophet unfolds (chps. 19-21). To these promises of spiritual blessings and permanent prosperity others are added; and the passage closes with this munificent prediction,--“ The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun,” etc. (Isaiah 30:26). This splendid prophecy points to a period which is yet future, and to which the Church is still looking forward. II. THE OF GOD IN TO THESE PURPOSE. In all our undertakings we have encouragement from the character of God. The text speaks of Him as “ a God of judgment,” --a title which is calculated to awaken the most useful reflections. He does as He pleases, and all He does is right. The word also implies deliberation--prudence: the will of God is not an arbitrary determination, but the will of deliberation. The word is opposed to haste and inconsideration. The term is applicable to all God’ s proceedings. III. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH WE SHOULD LOOK FOR THE OF THIS PURPOSE. If the question be now asked, What is the posture the Church, which has been gathered from among, the Gentiles, should assume in reference to the rich provision made for the Jews? the answer is, They should “ wait for Him.” 1. In a spirit of patient expectation. 2. In the use of diligent exertions. 3. In the exercise of fervent prayer. (T. Thomason, M. A.)Mercy acknowledged God sets forth Britain amid the nominal Christian nations, as He set forth Israel of old amid the heathen world, as a mighty field in which He displays His dispensations and dealings towards nations in professed and visible covenant with Himself. We are, therefore, not only warranted, but bound to take the words addressed to the ancient people of God, and to apply them to His people in modern times. I. The spirit and attitude which God is here represented as sustaining toward a guilty and corrected, though not forsaken people, is ASPECT AND OF LONG AND PATIENT . II. But there is yet another feature in the attitude and aspect of God towards a land that He waits to see repenting--for GOD IS A GOD OF . III. LET US APPLY ALL THIS VIEW of the aspect of God towards nations to His recent dealings with ourselves. IV. Lot us not pass lightly by what constitutes THE GREAT MORAL LESSON that springs from the view of God we have been taking. “ Blessed are they that wait for Him.” We are not to become impatient under God’ s hand; we are not, because His chastisement yet remains, to forget His mercies. (H. Stowell, M. A.)Strange, but true Some have thought, “ Oh, how I wait upon God.” It will be nearer the truth if you think, “ How marvellous it is that God should wait upon men!” I. THE of this Bible truth. 1. It is quite contrary to our common experience, that favours should be kept waiting out of doors. Favours do not generally wait for clients, but clients have to wait for favours. 2. You will be struck with the strangeness of this statement if you keenly watch the early experiences of an anxious soul. The man determines to be a seeker after God, and you would suppose that immediately the soul turned to God it would be flooded with light, whereas it very often happens that God never seems so far away from a man as when, first of all, the man begins to seek Him. Yet, all the while, God upon His throne waits to be gracious. 3. I doubt whether we Christian men are not a little to blame for the strangeness of this beautiful text. Do we not often pray as if we were praying into an unwilling ear? Do we not often cry as if we were crying to a hard heart? We have failed fairly to represent in our prayers the great readiness of our Father’ s heart, and so we have in the matter of our Christian standing. How few of us know well our standing in Christ Jesus, and have a life and death confidence in it. And then in our relationship to others, where are the abounding compassions of Christ? where the undying energy with which a man who knows the heart of the great Father, will seek to reclaim His erring sons and daughters, His children far away upon the wild? II. THE BLESSED of this Bible truth. 1. We have first of all the testimony of Isaiah, a testimony given with a boldness that indicates that behind this testimony there is, first of all, a Divine inspiration; that behind it there is, in the second instance, a God-given experience. Here is a man whose testimony ought to be received. Of all the men of the Old Testament I believe there was not one who was more sensitive to the nation’ s sin than Isaiah. Not a man who was more sensitive to the righteousness of God, who went down lower into himself, who rose higher unto God, than Isaiah. For spiritual insight he stood upon a par at least with his contemporaries. He was the salvation of Jehovah: that is his name. The man ought to know. 2. His testimony, too, is abundantly and blessedly confirmed, not by detached experiences or single events. If you judge about God you must have something more than a single experience; you must take some experience that has been rounded off and Divinely finished. We have such experiences in this book. We may come down to more modem times and more recent experiences. Take the poets of the past century, the men whose hymns we sing service after service. They do not all belong to one Church or to one school of thought or theology, but their testimony is uniform upon this great subject. 3. We have evidence that God waits to be gracious in this present service. His Word is near to us this moment; the Gospel is here with its pleadings and its overtures of mercy. (J. R. Wood.)The waiting Lord Notice two or three times in which God is compelled to wait that He may be gracious unto us. I. THE TIME OF . II. THE TIME OF FALSE (Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 30:15-18). III. THE TIME OF APATHY. (J. Brash.)A waiting God and a waiting people I. A WAITING GOD. 1. A wonderful reason for waiting. “ Therefore” --mark the word! The Lord Jehovah does as He wills both in heaven and earth, and His ways are past finding out; but He never acts unreason ably; He does not tell us His reasons, but He has them; for He acts “ according to the counsel of His will.” God has His “ therefores,” and these are of the most forcible kind. Full often His “ therefores” are the very reverse of ours: that which is an argument with us may be no argument with God, and that which is a reason with Him might seem to be a reason in the opposite direction to us. For what is there in this chapter that can be made into a “ therefore” ? Whence does He derive the argument? Assuredly it is a reason based on His own grace, and not on the merit of man. (1) The chapter contains a denunciation of the false confidences of the people, and because of these one might have concluded that the Lord would cast them off forever. If they will have Egypt to lean upon, let them lean on Egypt, till like a spear it pierces their side. (2) Further, these people were rebels against God, and the Lord was waiting to let them fully manifest their rebellious spirit, and be made ashamed of it. The chapter begins that way: “ Woe to the rebellious children.” Further on He calls them “ a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord” --was that a reason for waiting to be gracious? Yes, with the Lord sin shows the need of grace, and so becomes a reason for grace. I think the Lord permits many sinners to go to the full length of their tether in order that they may know in future what stuff they are made of, and may never trust in themselves. (3) The Lord would wait for yet another reason, namely, to let them suffer somewhat the effect of their sin. It is well that they should see what kind of serpent is hatched from the egg of evil. Perhaps some of us were left in the same way, and we shall never forget what we thus learned. We put our hand into the fire until it was burned, and now we dread the fire. (4) I do not doubt that the Lord waited in this case to be gracious until the people should begin to pray, for that seems to be the turning point in this affair. The prophet says, “ He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry.” The Lord is listening for the sinner’ s prayer. 2. The singular patience of God in that waiting. What does it mean when we are told that the Lord waiteth that He may have mercy upon us? (1) It means that He kept back the sword of justice. (2) It means the continuance of privileges; for the Lord told these people that, although He might give them the bread of adversity and the water of affliction on account of their sins, yet He would not take away their teachers from them any more; they should still be instructed, and warned, and invited to come to Him. (3) So singular was God’ s patience that He even increased His holy agencies to lead the people to Himself. He says, “ Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.” Do we not remember how when the public ministry seemed to miss us we began to be bestirred by an inward force more powerful than visible ministries? Conscience cried aloud and accused us from within doors. (4) This is not all; for all this while God was passing by our rejections of Him, blotting out our sinful refusals, and insulting despisings of His goodness. (5) Please remember that all this while God has been waiting but everything has been ready, ready for the sinner to come to Him. 3. A most remarkable action which follows upon the waiting. After the Lord had displayed His patience to His people, He resolved to go further, and proceeded to a most notable matter which is thus described--“ Therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you.” You and I would have turned the text round the other way, and said, “ Therefore will He have mercy upon you, that He may be exalted” : that would be true, but it is not the truth here taught. The picture represents the Lord as it were as sitting still, and allowing His people through their sin to bring suffering upon themselves; but now, after long patience, He arouses Himself to action. Methinks I hear Him say, “ They will not come to Me, they refuse all My messengers, they plunge deeper and deeper into sin, now will I see what My grace can do” ! It also bears this meaning. When a man is about to deal a heavy stroke he lifts up himself to give the blow: he exalts himself to bring down the scourge more heavily upon the shoulder. Even so the Lord seems to say, “ I will put forth all My might, I. will exercise all My skill, I will display all My attributes up to their greatest height, that I may have mercy upon these hardened, stiff-necked sinners--I will be exalted that I may have mercy upon them.” 4. There is a final success to all this waiting (Isaiah 30:19-22). See what free grace can do: it is no enemy to holiness, but the direct cause of it. II. We have A WAITING PEOPLE. “ Blessed are all they that wait for Him” 1. God’ s waiting people wait upon God only. 2. Expectantly. 3. What are they waiting for? For many things. Sometimes they wait for the tokens of His grace. Sometimes for the fulfilment of His promises. Every promise will be kept, but not today nor tomorrow. God’ s word has its due season, and His times are the best times. We may also have to wait for answers to our prayers. Frequently we may have to wait for temporal blessings. There may be somewhat in your character which cannot be perfected except by suffering and labour and it is better that your character be perfected than your substance increased. Wait cheerfully. If God sees fit to say “ Wait,” do not be angry with Him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The Lord is a God of Judgment“ A God of judgment is the Lord” “ A God of judgment is the Lord” is an unfortunately ambiguous translation. We must not take “ judgment” here in our familiar sense of the word. It is not a sudden deed of doom, but a long process of law. It means manner, method, design, order, system, the ideas, in short, which we sum up under the word “ law.” Just as we say of a man, “ He is a man of judgment,” and mean thereby not that by office he is a doomster, but that by character he is a man of discernment and prudence; so simply does Isaiah say here that “ Jehovah is a God of judgment,” and mean thereby not that He is One whose habit is sudden and awful deeds of penalty or salvation, but, on the contrary, that, having laid down His lines according to righteousness and established His laws in wisdom, He remains in HIS dealings with men consistent with these. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The Lord is a God of judgment The Lord is a God of judgment in the several important senses in which the word is used in Scripture. 1. His understanding is infinite; so that He is intimately acquainted with all the characters, the actions and circumstances of mankind. 2. The decisions which He forms, concerning their condition and conduct, are perfectly equitable and just. 3. All the punishments which He inflicts and the deliverances which He works, are conducted with the highest wisdom and prudence, executed at the fittest season, in the most proper measure and for the best purposes. When He corrects them for their faults, He does it not in anger but in judgment, with affection and moderation; not in His hot displeasure, with unrelenting severity, but with kindness and forbearance. They may therefore be assured that, at the very time wherein He knows His own glory and their real benefit will be most effectually promoted, He will interpose in their behalf and send them deliverance. (R. Macculloch.)The God of judgment What are all our histories but God manifesting Himself, that He hath shaken and tumbled down and trampled upon everything that He hath not planted! (Oliver Cromwell.)Blessed are all they that wait for HimWaiting for God 1. In steadfast faith. 2. In living hope. 3. In patient humility. 4. In active preparation. (Homiletic Review.)The spiritual waiter and his blessing I. THE REAL WAITING AND TO SHOW WHAT IS REAL WAITING. 1. The real waiter is a person who does not possess something he wants. A real waiter is a real beggar. 2. But; then, the real waiting man must not only be poor but needy 3. When a man is thus brought into experimental poverty, and experimental need, he will also be led into experimental helplessness; he is delivered from looking to his prayers, his Bible reading, his alms doing; he is brought to feel he needs another refuge, he is brought to feel these waters cannot cleanse away his pollution, that these webs cannot become garments, that these are works with which he cannot cover himself. But what is true waiting? 1. Not working, 2. Nor sleeping. 3. Nor stealing. There are many who do not trust in works, but like a thief take the blessings into their hands the Lord has never put there. How many presume all is well without having had the atonement applied, or even without ever having been truly Drought to feel the need of reconciliation to God by the blood of Jesus. 4. Neither is it despairing. II. WHERE DOES THE TRUE WAITER WAIT? He goes to the means, saying, “ Oh, let not the oppressed return ashamed; let the poor and needy praise Thy name.” Mercy’ s door is the place at which he waits. III. What DOES HE WAIT FOR? “ Blessed are all they that wait for Him.” IV. THE OF TRUE WAITERS. (S. Sears.)I. THE NATURE OF RIGHT WAITING UPON GOD. Waiting for God 1. There must be continual waiting. “ Turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.” Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day.” Not that we are always to be engaged in formal acts of devotion. Waiting upon God is not wholly comprehended in praying to Him. By inward meditation, by heartfelt desires, by continual supplications as suggested to us in the Church, or as carried on in the closet, or the family, we must never fail to wait upon God for those blessings generally, which He has promised; or particularly, which we know that we individually require. We must be constant expectants; unawed by the suggestions of Satan, the coldness and apathy of our own hearts, or the low and unchristian standard of those around us. 2. There must be importunate waiting. We are not to suppose that “ waiting” implies a sitting still in listless supineness, as if no exertion were to be made. The waiting upon God which will prove successful, is a waiting that will take no denial. It springs from a heartfelt sense of the necessities of the soul; and it calls into exercise all the energies of the whole man. 3. There must be patient waiting (Psalms 40:1; Psalms 37:7). 4. There must be waiting on the name of Jehovah. David has a remarkable expression: “ I will wait on Thy name; for it is good before Thy saints.” The name of God imports His attributes and perfections. A calm, serious contemplation of the Divine character is an important part of waiting upon God. 5. The soul must wait upon God. Many mistake here. They satisfy themselves with the external homage of the body, without the inward bending of the soul. 6. There must be waiting only upon God. 7. We must wait God’ s own time and way. II. THE OF THUS WAITING UPON HIM. 1. “ The Lord is good to them that wait for Him: to the soul that seeketh Him.” 2. He is good beyond conception. 3. The blessedness of waiting upon God appears likewise in the increase of spiritual strength. 4. They who thus wait shall at length take up the language of holy triumph. “ Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him,” etc. Application-- 1. Our subject condemns many amongst you. 2. Let the faithful learn their duty. (Carus Wilson.)Waiting should be expectant We must not cower in the dark closet, but climb to our watchtower and scan the horizon. We must look out for God’ s carrier pigeons; lest they come to the cote with messages under their wings which we may miss. We must go down to the quay; or God’ s heavily freighted ships may touch there, and go away again without discharging their cargoes. We must imitate the shipwrecked sailor, who keeps the fire lit by night, and is incessantly on the outlook for passing ships; else a search expedition may come near his poor islet and miss him. Those who wait thus cannot be ashamed. It is impossible that God should disappoint the hope which He has instilled and nourished in the heart of His child. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.) Isaiah 30:19 He will be very gracious unto thee Encouragements for faith Observe the kind of prayer which is here said to move the Divine pity and win the Divine favour. It is designated a cry, i.e., it is a very fervent, earnest, importunate prayer. It is a prayer that comes out of the depths of the heart. It expresses a very deep sense of need. It utters a very longing desire after God. There is very good reason why our prayers should very often tale this form. Our sins are such that they should work in us a penitence that may fitly take expression in a cry. Our spiritual needs are so urgent that we may give utterance to them in a cry. The strife is, sometimes at least, so hot, and the battle seems so going against us, that it may very reasonably be expected from us that we should cry unto God for His help. And God is such a necessity to these natures of ours, and God as a possession is so sufficing, that our desire for Him may well be intense enough to require this language to give expression to our prayer. I. There is encouragement for faith in prayer to be found in THE NATURE OF GOD HIMSELF, as we cannot help conceiving of it. Goodness enters into His very nature. We find it necessary to believe that. It is too dreadful to believe the contrary. If I apprehend Him as perfectly good He must be pitiful, He must be tender in His pity; and if so, He is surely likely to be very gracious when He hears the voice of our cry. II. There is encouragement, too, in THE WHICH WE MUST GOD AS TO US. He is our Creator, and there is no reason at all in the suspicion that He who has made us is looking with indifferent eyes upon us or listening with indifference when the voice of our cry reaches His ear. He is our Father. He has communicated to us of His own nature, and so has become our Father as He is not the Father of other creatures that live on the face of this earth. But how does He fill up your idea of Father if, when you are in want, He does not heed? if, when you express your want of Him and of His help by a cry, He is not moved? III. THE OF PRAYER which we have offers encouragement to us that He will be moved when we call. We are in pain; some One is near who can relieve us, and we instinctively cry for relief at His hands. Your child is in imminent peril, and there is a man near who can rescue him; you instinctively call for the help of that man. And so we feel great wants which God only can supply. We are in great peril, from which God only can deliver us. There is something which instinctively moves us to appeal to God, to cry to Him. If God has put that instinct in our nature, He mast have intended to gratify it. There is no instinct of human nature for the gratification of which God has not in some way provided. IV. We have encouragement, too, in THE ANALOGY TO ALL HUMAN GIVEN TO GREAT NEED. It is not to children only that we give our compassion when they appeal to us in great distress; we are moved by the lower animals when in their great trouble they make an appeal to us. But you are not more pitiful than God. There is no love or pity in man that was not first in God. V. We have the highest encouragement to this faith in God in THE OF HIM IN THE . It is a positive command of His that we should call upon Him when we need Him, that we should cry unto Him when we are in distress. His command means His purpose to hear; His command involves a promise in it. What do we find given in the revelation? Explicit promises without number, and in every form--proofs and illustrations and examples without number of God’ s readiness to be very gracious unto those that cry unto Him. What do we see in the revelation of God in the Christian Scriptures? God showing what He is through a man. He went about in the form of a man. The sinning, and the needy, and the suffering came to Him, surrounded Him, tracked His steps, and cried to Him for His pithy and for His help. And was He not very gracious! When He was suffering, dying Himself, there came a cry from another who was in great distress, saying to Him, “ Remember me” ; and He was very gracious at the voice of that cry. But some are thinking that it is all true about the nature of God, but that they are guilty, and there are God’ s law, and God’ s government, and God’ s justice, in the way of His nature expressing itself in His pitifulness to them in answer to their cry. Whatever hindrance they put in the way has been taken away by Christ. (D. Thomas, B. A.)Encouragement to trust and pray I. THIS IS TO CERTAIN . 1. This is applicable and comfortable to all afflicted people. 2. To those who are troubled on account of sin. 3. To backsliders filled with their own ways, who are alarmed and distressed at their grievous departures from their God. 4. To all believers in Christ who are at all exercised in heart. II. THE HERE GIVEN IS VERY FIRMLY BASED. The words of our text are no old wives’ fable, they are not such a pretty tale as mothers sometimes tell their children, a story made to please them, but not actually true. What is the ground of this assurance? 1. The plain promise of God. 2. The gracious nature of God. 3. The prevalence of prayer. “ He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry.” 4. Personal testimony as to the result of faith in God and supplication to III. THE OF THE TEXT BEING SO WELL SHOULD BE AT ONCE. 1. Let us renounce all earthborn confidences. 2. Refuse despair. 3. Try the power of prayer and childlike confidence in God. (C. H.Spurgeon.) Isaiah 30:20 Thine eyes shall see thy teachers Trouble making the heavenly Teacher real The siege shall surely come, with its sorely concrete privations, but the Lord will be there, equally distinct . . . Real, concrete sorrows,--these are they that make the heavenly Teacher real! It is linguistically possible, and more in harmony with the rest of the passage, to turn “ teachers,” as the E.. has it, into the singular, and to render it by “ revealer.” The word is an active participle, “ moreh,” from the same verb as the noun “ torah,” which is constantly translated “ law” in our version, but is, in the Prophets at least, more nearly equivalent to “ instruction,” or to our modern term “ revelation” (Isaiah 30:9). Looking thus to the One Revealer, and hearkening to the One Voice, “ the lying and rebellious children” shall at last be restored to that capacity for truth and obedience, the loss of which has been their ruin. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Unseen teachers There are troubled hours in life, in which we long to see our teachers; to know what certain things mean; and to have it explained why some special trials have been put upon us, and to what end events, now inexplicable, are tending. Devout men and women suspect, or feel sure, already; they think that the hand of the Lord is in all thin They rest assured that what seems wrong now will be made right by and by: that all is for the best; and, more than this, they are persuaded that some time or other, perhaps as death approaches, perhaps in the shadowy and thoughtful place of departed spirits, perhaps at the last great day of God, they shall see their teachers, and comprehend it all. (Morgan Dix.)The blessing of Christian teachers Though the Gospel first began to be preached by the Lord, yet, as it was expedient that He should go away, He has instituted, and in every age preserved an order of men, for guiding others in the way of faith, of holiness, and of peace. I. A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE WHICH MEN DERIVE FROM THIS . 1. Attend to the thousands who devote themselves to the service of the sanctuary, and whose characters are improved and ennobled by their previous studies. With what diligence and success, prompted by motives of piety and benevolence, do they search for the good way, that they may walk in it themselves, and teach and recommend it to others with advantage! Their gifts ripen and expand; their moral and religious excellences become distinguished. Giving themselves to the Word of God and to prayer, and, in subserviency to these, to inquiries after truth, to meditation, and to the perusal of useful human writings, their good resolutions strengthen; and their knowledge, wisdom, activity, and usefulness increase. 2. Public teachers often refine the taste, improve the genius, civilise the manners, and promote the literary pursuits of a nation. 3. Instructions from the pulpit greatly promote a virtuous behaviour. 4. Attend to the gentle, penetrating, beneficent effects of pastoral instruction, on the sorrowful, the disconsolate, the tempted, the doubting, the feeble-minded, the sick, and the dying. 5. Teachers are profitable as they spread and defend the doctrines of religion, and excite and cherish just sentiments of Divine things. 6. Pastoral instruction is a chief means which God hath appointed to rescue sinners from the ruins of their apostasy, and to interest them in His favour and friendship. II. But, must it not be acknowledged that DERIVE LITTLE OR NO BENEFIT FROM SERMONS, and that to their teachers much of the blame belongs? 1. Bad men regard the effect of what they preach with cold indifference, except in so far as worldly honour or interest is advanced by their seeming success; and efforts naturally are feeble and ineffectual, where desire is languid. 2. Sometimes a clergyman’ s behaviour is not visibly influenced by the doctrines and duties of religion. Men of small sagacity discern it, infer his craft and disingenuity, or conclude that they may imitate him without hazard. 3. The natural abilities, extent of knowledge, and persuasive talents, highly important in a teacher of religion, do not always accompany true piety. (J. Erskine, D. D.) Isaiah 30:21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee The Bath kol The voice is evidently that of a faithful guide and monitor; according to the Rabbins the Bath kol or mysterious echo which conducts and warns the righteous. (J. A. Alexander.)A voice behind thee The direction of the voice “ from behind” is commonly explained by saying that the image is borrowed from the practice of shepherds going behind their flocks, or nurses behind children, to observe their motions. A much more natural solution is the one proposed by Henderson, to wit, that their guides were to be before them, but that when they declined from the right way their backs would be turned to them, consequently the warning voice would be heard behind them. (J. A. Alexander.)The way of life and the ways of death This world is full of ways, as it is of men; and one way only is right. One only is the straight way of God’ s commandments, that leadeth to eternal life. The rest are the ways of men, that lead to destruction; and the most deceitful of them all are those which branch off from this one, going, some of them more, some of them less in its direction, and then by a sudden turn forsaking it. So that amid the multitude of ways many travellers through life never find the right one at all. And too many, after they have been graciously set upon it, forsake it for the many byways of sin. But the promises of God are found on His one way only; there alone their light guides amid darkness, on that alone will men meet their Saviour. (R. W. Evans, B. D.)Care needed in going through the world We should never forget our true position in this mortal life. We have to pick our way in it. The best known road in the world may be missed by such want of proper attention. (R. W.Evans, B. D.)Good company in the right road What words do we hear behind us? what company is following us? If it be not good company, can we be on the right road? If a person going (as he thought) towards London, heard persons behind him talking as if they were going towards Manchester, would he not be alarmed, suspecting that he had missed his way? How then can he be on the right road to Heaven, who hears the company that treads on his steps, talk of very different places, of very different ends of their journey? (R. W. Evans, B. D.)The guiding word I. THE SINNER’ S BEFORE GOD IS AND . “ A word behind thee.” A man who hears a word behind him has his back to the speaker. He is, for some reason, not in a friendly attitude. 1. The fact is implied, in the context, that the sinner has not only his back turned to God, but is actually going away from Him. And that the going away is not an inadvertency or oversight, but the result of a set purpose. 2. That he is self-willed, stubborn, and persistent in his efforts; he continues his course of separation, in spite of the constant overtures and entreaties of love. II. GOD’ S AND ARE SIMPLE AND EASILY . “ A word behind thee.” Not a confusing, rapidly uttered discourse--not a cold philosophical, or logical treatise; not a metaphysical disquisition, couched in scientific phrase--bewildering and vague, but, “ a word.” Not a mysterious echo from the hilltops, or an unknown voice speaking from afar, but, “ a word behind thee.” “ Thine ears shall hear.” God is not unreason able in His demands. When He calls, man possesses the God-given capacity to hear and obey. III. A OF HIS DUTY IS NOT WITH THE SINNER. “ Thine ears shall hear.” A man’ s knowledge of his duty is not conditioned by his conduct, as are the blessings of religion. God never gives any man up until he becomes so wedded to his sins that he indignantly spurns all efforts for his salvation, both human and Divine. IV. GOD’ S AND ARE AND AMPLE, THE SINNER IS WITHOUT EXCUSE. “ This is the way, walk ye in it.” In His teachings, Jesus Christ always presents duties as well as doctrines,--practice as well as principles. 1. Here we have doctrine. “ This is the way.” Not one of a number of ways, or an improvement on the old. No; it has neither duplicate nor substitute. 2. We have also the practical. “ Walk ye in it.” V. THE LIFE OF THE SINNER IS NOT FIXED AND . “ When ye turn to the right hand, or to the left” The tremendous prerogative of free agency leaves it with every man to formulate and determine his own activities. 1. Notice the broad sphere open to the sinner, and from which he is to select the pathway of his activities. (1) He may go straight ahead. This may involve very little that is specially good or bad. (2) He may “ turn to the right hand.” There is such a thing as right-hand sins. “ Popular, paying iniquities,” which evoke but little human condemnation. (3) He may also turn to the left. There is such a thing as “ left-hand” sins, awkward, unseemly, embarrassing. Conduct that destroys reputation, health, character, destiny. The forger, the liar, the thief, the drunkard, the sensualist, all come in here. Everything sacred, noble, manly, valuable, is sacrificed to the absorbing demand of the present. 2. Notice the grandest possibility within reach of the sinner. Right about face. This grand movement at once brings to an end both his conduct and character as a sinner. (Thomas Kelly.)The guiding word Man is a traveller. He has lost his way. He needs a guide, both to bring him back to, and keep him in, the right path to the end of the journey. Where is that guide to be found? It is referred to in the text. “ A word behind thee.” The following remarks are suggested concerning this guiding word. I. It comes to man from WITHOUT. There are inner guides placed there by our Maker in our constitution. Reason. Conscience. But both these have failed us. They themselves are lost in the haze of depravity. Hence the need of a guide from without; such a guide as “ the word.” It comes from God to man-- 1. Through nature. 2. Through Christ. II. It comes to man in . “ This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” There is no indefiniteness here, no vagueness, and no uncertainty; no suggesting a choice between different ways. The word reveals the right and only way, and that way is Christ. “ I am the way” --“ Follow Me.” III. It comes to man from MYSTERY. “ Behind thee.” Thou dost not see the speaker. The voice breaks out from the dark past. It comes from “ behind.” Behind all that is seen and heard, behind all the phenomena of nature, behind the universe, from God Himself, the Mysterious One. IV. It comes to man, BUT HE MUST LISTEN. “ Thou shalt hear.” This hearing is the want. Men’ s spiritual ears are deaf. The guiding word is everywhere. “ There is no speech nor language where His voice is not heard.” Open thine ear: listen and thou shalt catch the guiding directions. (Homilist.)Diving guidance and admonition The text may be applied to the abundant means of grace, and the plentiful effusion of the Holy Spirit, under the Gospel dispensation--to the privileges which we enjoy, and the assistance promised to us. I. THE WAY, referred to in the text, may be applied-- 1. To God’ s method of saving sinful men, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was said of the apostles, “ These men are the servants of the Most High God, who show unto us the way of salvation.” We must walk in it, actually choosing Him to be our Redeemer and Advocate, committing ourselves entirely to Him, and earnestly seeking the continual supplies of His Spirit, that we may be saved from sin. 2. The text may be applied to the way in which the sanctification of the believer is, through Divine grace, effected. We are not only to receive Christ Jesus the Lord, but also to walk in Him; and to prove that we live in the Spirit, by walking in the Spirit. It is by daily prayer, and the daily improvement of Scripture, of Divine ordinances, and providential occurrences, and a steadfast adherence to the will of God, that we must expect to grow in grace, and go from strength to strength. 3. It may be applied to that particular course of service to which each Christian is called, by the circumstances in which he b placed, the talents committed to him, or the relations he bears to others. Knowing that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps--how liable he is to mistake the path of duty on various occasions, he will pray, “ Teach me Thy way, O God” (Psalms 27:11; Psalms 119:33-37). II. THE PROMISE meets all the cases which have been mentioned. 1. It is a promise of the direction which God will afford to all who really seek it. 2. It is a promise of Divine grace to incline us to walk in God’ s way. “ Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee,” etc. 3. It is a promise that He will quicken us in the path of duty. 4. It is a promise that the Lord will preserve His people, and enable them to endure unto the end. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)The teachings of the past I. THE VALUE OF EVERY THAT BEFALLS US. II. THE SOLE ROAD TO , TO PEACE, TO JOY, TO TRUE OF LIFE, IS . III. GOD’ S OF THE SOUL. (H. Varley, B. A.)The word behind thee I. THE MONITOR in these words. “ Thine ears shall hear a word,” etc. II. THE ITSELF. “ This is the way,” etc. III. THE . “ When ye turn to the right hand,” etc. (T. Horton.)The Divine monitor It is a promise-- 1. Of ministerial opportunities. 2. Of the continuance of spiritual suggestions. (T. Horton.)The voice behind 1. It is a pursuing and overtaking word; a word that follows us and comes at our heels. 2. A revoking and recalling word. A word of restraint. 3. An impulsive and provoking word. A word that puts thee forward, that furthers thee and promotes thee in thy way. (T. Horton.)The admonition “ This is the way, walk ye in it.” 1. A word of correction and reformation in case of miscarriage. It is very fitly said to those who wander and are out of the way, to bring them again into it. 2. A word of direction and instruction in case of ignorance. 3. A word of strengthening and confirmation in case of unsettledness. It is very suitably said to those who are doubtful and wavering and uncertain in themselves whether they be right in the way or no, to encourage them to persevere and go on in those good ways which they have made entrance upon. (T. Horton.)Turning to the right hand or to the left The expression plainly intimates that there are dangerous bypaths on both hands, into which the people of God are apt to turn aside. I. ON THE RIGHT HAND, there are erroneous principles and practices which are mistaken for that truth and holiness whereof they are really destitute. Such are-- 1. Professed confidence in God’ s pardoning mercy, disjoined from the acknowledged necessity of His sanctifying grace. 2. High pretensions to faith which are not verified by solicitude to maintain good works. 3. Flaming profession of piety toward God, unaccompanied with the exercises of justice, mercy, and charity toward men. 4. Great pretended zeal against public vices, attended with indifference as to secret personal transgressions. 5. Loud approbation of discourses that expose infidelity, hypocrisy, and iniquity, whilst these sins are indulged in heart and life. II. ON THE LEFT HAND there are also pernicious principles and dangerous practices into which men are prone to deviate. Such are-- 1. The confession that holiness is indispensably requisite to the enjoyment of God, whilst the necessity of atonement for sin is denied or overlooked. 2. Strenuous assertions of the importance of good works, separate from a proper regard to faith, the active principle from which they proceed. 3. High respect for the duties of justice, mercy, and charity, joined with criminal indifference and neglect of the exercises of piety and devotion. 4. Partiality to their own favourite sins and unaffectedness with the transgressions of other people, whereby God is offended, His law transgressed, and His truth dishonoured. (R. Macculloch.)Virtue Virtue lies in the middle, between two extremes, which are equally to be avoided. (R. Macculloch.)The voice behind thee I. THE OF THE to whom this special blessing comes. How does God find men when He declares that they shall hear a word behind them? 1. With their backs turned to Him. The wanderer seeks not God, but God seeks him. Man turns from the God of love, but the love of God turns not away from him. 2. They were going further and further away from Him. Of course, when you have once turned your back upon the right, the further you travel the more wrong you become. 3. They were pursuing their course in spite of warning. Read the twentieth verse: “ Thine eyes shall see thy teachers” : there they stood, good men, right in the way, entreating their hearers to cease from provoking their God and destroying their own souls. 4. They had many ways in which to wander. Sometimes they roamed to the right hand, at other times they wandered to the left, but they never turned face about. Some men have right-hand sins, respectable iniquities which challenge little censure from their fellows. Others have left-hand sins; they plunge into the sins of the flesh; no vice is too black for them. II. THE CALL OF MERCY. 1. It is a call that is altogether undesired, and comes unsought to the man who has gone astray. 2. “ A word behind thee” : it is the voice of an unseen Caller whose existence has been almost forgotten. It is not the teachers that speak in this powerful way. The teachers you have seen with your eyes, and they have done you no good; but some One calls whom you never saw, and never will see, till He sits on the throne of judgment at the last great day; but still He utters a word which cannot be kept out of your ears. It will come to you mysteriously at all sorts of hours crying, “ Return, return, return.” 3. This voice pursues and overtakes the sinner. 4. That voice when it comes to sinners is generally most opportune, for they are to hear this voice behind them when they turn to the right hand or to the left. 5. It is absolutely necessary that the potent word should be spoken, and should be heard. For the man had seen his teachers, but they had not wrought him any good. III. WHAT WAS THE WORD OF THAT CALL? It is stated at full length. “ This is the way, walk ye in it.” 1. It contains within itself specific instruction. “ This is the way.” There is a kind of preaching which has nothing specific, definite, and positive in it: it is a bit of cloud land, and you may make what you like out of it. 2. This definite instruction may also be said to be a special correction. It as good as says the opposite path is not the way. 3. It is also a word of sure confirmation. “ This is the way.” 4. This is followed up by a word of personal direction. Do not merely hear about it, but “ walk ye in it.” 5. This takes the form of encouraging permission. “ This is the way.” Do not sit looking at it: “ walk ye in it.” “ But I am so big a sinner.” “ Christ is the way; walk ye in it.” There is room enough for big sinners in Jesus. “ But I have been so long coming.” Never mind: this is the way, “ walk ye in it.” “ But I am afraid my feet are so polluted that I shall stare the way.” “ This is the way, walk ye in it.” IV. THE SUCCESS OF THE WORD. “ Thine ears shall hear.” God not only gives us something to hear, but He gives us ears to hear with. This is effectual grace. 1. This means that the message of Divine love shall come to the man’ s mind so as to create uneasiness in it. 2. After awhile there gets to be a desire in his heart. 3. As that voice continues to sound, it pulls him up and leads to resolve. (C. H.Spurgeon.)This is the way, walk ye in itThe right way The right way is possessed of every qualification and advantage that you can possibly desire. 1. It is a highway, open to persons of every description. 2. It is the way of holiness, wherein the unclean shall not walk. 3. It is a patent way, wherein the wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err. 4. It is a safe way, wherein you shall be protected from the hostile attacks of your enemies. 5. It is a pleasant way, wherein you shall enjoy sacred peace. 6. It is an infallible way to arrive at fulness of joys, and rivers of pleasures for evermore. (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 30:23 Then shall He give the rain of thy seed The effusion of the Holy Spirit These words are, in their literal sense, a promise of a bountiful supply from God of the showers of dew and rain, by which the earth would be made abundantly fruitful. The promise is given with reference to the casting away of their idols by the Jewish people. But the words are capable of a larger interpretation. The whole chapter looks to blessings greater than any that can be counted by the numbers of time. The plentiful effusion of the Holy Spirit of God, which is so often spoken of under the emblem of “ rain” and “ dew,” is hereby intended. As the rain and dew could elicit no fertility without preparation of the ground, and industrious tilling upon the part of man,--as the concurrence of both these conditions is requisite in order to secure a produce,--so is it true likewise with regard to spiritual husbandry. There must be on the part of man the use of means, as well as the bestowing of His gifts on the part of God. But it may be asked, How is God’ s grace to be obtained? Have any means or channels been appointed for its supply? 1. Prayer is one appointed channel. 2. So is hearing the Word of God. 3. The sacraments. (H. J. Hastings, M. A.) Isaiah 30:26 The Light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun Faith’ s astronomy It is worthy of closest observation that the Bible standpoint is as distinct from the astrologer’ s position as it is from that of the modern observer. It differs equally from each in this respect, that God’ s believing children are ever taught to regard these mightiest natural powers as our servants, and not as our sovereigns. Instead of their regulating our destiny, it is our destiny which regulates their continuance and perpetuity. So in this passage we have an example of faith’ s astronomy. I. We have here A VISION OF INTENSE GLORY. We are told that even now the moonlight in the lands with which Isaiah was familiar is far more brilliant than that with which we are favoured. It is the strength of those moonbeams that gives significance to the promise, “ The sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night.” And yet the prophet, with all his acquaintance with brighter heavens than ours, ventures upon the conception of still further splendour both by night and by day. It is evident that he is not looking at these things from a bare mundane standpoint. But he is in an ecstasy over the blessed intents of love which God has or His people, and he finds all the ordinary accounts of well-being too scant and meagre to portray the good which is in store; and so, in a bold flight of descriptive eloquence, he tells of sevenfold suns and of sun-like moons diffusing through renovated skies all the myriad benefits of their beams with unfailing profusion. We observe that this forecast of increased glory is the reverse of that which natural calculation would give. The natural theory that finds favour is that the sun once shone more potently than now he does, and that in the future his ray will become still feebler, until night and death settle down upon the entire solar system. While science, then, tells us of exhausting power and expiring energy, it is the province of revelation and of faith which accepts it to speak of superior founts of being, those original sources from which the sun itself and all on which it shines first derived their existence. We observe, again, that human calculation, if it did foresee such an augmentation of sunlight, would be ready to account it disastrous rather than welcome. A seven-fold sun would only emit one flash, and anon this globe would be drawn into its flaming vortex, and the brightness would be but that of conflagration and ruin. Again, then, we have to hall another wisdom besides that of men, which contemplates exaltation where sense only detects degradation, and which effects felicity where carnal reason would only anticipate evil. For “ the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man.” There was as much disposition in Isaiah’ s day as there is in ours to think that the world and the sun are wearing out and growing old, and also to think that an intense blaze would be obnoxious rather than welcome. But Isaiah was moved by the Holy Ghost to tell us of a light that should be at once of surpassing effulgence, and yet of sweet and benign influence; a light that should shine, not upon a trembling and alarmed race, but upon those whose breach had been bound up and whose wound had been healed. A vision this, then, of fuller light, of fairer sight, and of people with capacities of beholding and revelling in these sun-like moons and seven-fold suns. Intellectually this promise is accomplished in our days by our discoveries in the structure of the heavens. The moon is for us a grander object than the sun was to the beholders of ancient days, and the sun now strikes our minds as sevenfold, yea, as we speak now, a thousand fold, more magnificent than they thought him then. But the benefit of these discoveries to our spirits was all vouchsafed to Isaiah when the Holy Ghost moved him to contemplate in believing rapture the great resources of God and the beneficence with which He would unlock those resources for the enrichment of men upon whom He would shine with other light than that of suns and moons in the day when the Lord shall bind up the breach of His people. The seven-fold sun is the visage of God Himself; the moon equalling the sun is the glory of the Lamb illuminating the Holy City. II. This glory is set forth as FOR A CERTAIN DAY. Our temptation is to think that our circumstances make our characters. But there is more of truth in the contrary thought, that our characters make our circumstances. The land of Palestine has become barren, but this did not produce the degeneracy of her people, but the people degenerated first and the land subsequently. God “ turneth a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.” So material things may lend their aid to spiritual results, but really it is the spiritual that regulates the material. The first great change must happen in us, then we shall be qualified to behold and to enjoy the splendour that God will disclose without us. “ The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun” on a certain day at a date which is determined, not by the chronology of suns and moons, but by that of quickened spirits and broken hearts in the day that the Lord shall bind up the breach of His people. III. Notice, ON WHAT IT IS THIS VISION OF GLORY IS THUS . There is “ joy amongst the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth,” and it is no exaggeration to say that the events that transpire within human hearts are of more account in God’ s eyes than the vastest convulsions of nature. And the wonder is that sin has not altered that. The story of Joshua’ s command over the heavenly orbs is not too severe a demand upon my faith when once I have a firm grasp of the truth that the sun has a personal Maker and Maser. But that when we have erred and offended, when the constancy and regularity which the heavenly masses show is found wanting in us, and we become like shooting stars, wandering on a devious way without settled orbit or consistency of course, that God should still track us with His pity, that He should still reserve Lines of gracious attraction for us, and that even for such offenders as we He should submit an entire universe to reconstruction--is not this the most incredible thing of all? Two practical interpretations may be assigned to this imagery. (1) The joy of the new convert may be depicted thus. The exultation of the delivered one often causes all outward sights to appear brighter because of the soul’ s quickened enjoyment. (2) Or, again, the prosperity that attends upon Christian union and concord may be delineated by this imagery. (J. M. Stephens, B. A.)The seven-fold light of the sun There is a glory above the brightness, of the midday sun; it is the more excellent glory of the “ Sun of Righteousness.” There is a beauty softer and more tender than the pale splendour of the queen of night; it is that of the Church, walking in the beauty and light of her Lord. Taking it all in all, the Church, even now, is the glory of humanity, and the light of the world. And better days are in store for her, when the clouds and shadows shall flee away, and a more glorious illumination shall break forth upon her and from her. This promise, in common with many other texts of Isaiah, shines out like a sun from an angry and troubled sky. But the gathering clouds only add to the intensity of the splendour. God’ s richest love ever shines on the blackest clouds of sorrow and sin. We have here-- I. THE CHURCH’ S UNHAPPY . “ The breach of His people, and the stroke of their wound,” may represent more than internal division or disunion; but it may well stand for that, as being among the most grievous of the Church’ s wounds, and the invariable outcome and index of other maladies. 1. As a cause of pain. All the Christians of most Christlike spirit have mourned over these divisions, and have had great searchings of heart because of them. 2. There is also the disfigurement of a wound, in the marring of a most perfect and glorious creation by these internal divisions. 3. There is also fatal weakness for work and service from these wounds. II. GOD’ S OF HIS CHURCH. “ The Lord shall bind up the breach of His people, and heal the stroke of their wound.” We know that the wounds of the body are healed, not by external applications, but by the vigour of the vital forces within itself pouring out their overflowing life, bringing the parts together, and making them whole; and the Church’ s wounds are to be healed by the Lord’ s infusion of a larger measure of spiritual and Divine life; of more piety, more power, more zeal, more affection. III. THE BLESSED OF THE HEALING OF THESE WOUNDS. “ The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven fold, as the light of seven days.” 1. These images denote an immense increase of the Church’ s light, or future glory, as the consequence of the healing of the Church’ s wounds. Where there is more love there will be more light. 2. The healing of the breach would bring an immense increase of light to the Church within her actual boundaries. This light of the various portions of the Church when brought together, will be more intense--will shine with a mightier fulness, than when separated. 3. The healing of the Church’ s wounds would bring increase of light beyond the boundaries of the Church. The Church is destined to be the light of the world. “ Seven fold!” There are days that have a seven-fold fulness of light in comparison of other days, when the summer sunshine has a splendour, and a glory, and a fulness, that are equal to the light of many cloudy and dark days. And what is it that makes the difference? It is the intervening atmosphere that is different; it is the thick and murky air that intercepts and weakens his light. Only let the Church be in a right condition, and the revealed Christ will shine forth in gladness, and the revelation will discover itself in all its fulness. There is no glory of the Church that is not made up of individual excellence, and the only way to promote its splendour and glory is to elevate individually the Christian spirit. (J. Riddell.)The transfiguring power of righteousness As men grow in godliness and righteousness so will the glory of all things be revealed and heightened. Just as men realise the grace of God will human nature itself be uplifted and all things be transfigured with it. I. The text finds an illustration in the direction of NATURE. How wonderfully science has enlarged our conception of the magnitude of the universe; it is always pushing back the sky. How wonderfully, too, has science raised our conception of the orbs which fill the infinite abyss! To us also the sea has become mysterious and magnificent as an inverted sky. And the earth itself has become a veritable wonderland. The microscope, the spectroscope, the telescope, have discovered unexpected treasures. But someone asks, What have godliness and righteousness to do with that science which is ever more fully interpreting the world? I reply, Godliness and righteousness make science possible. Godliness creates that infinite curiosity of soul which is the life of science, and righteousness secures that condition of things which makes the prosecution of science possible. Galileo was a Christian, and it was whilst he was worshipping in the Cathedral of Pisa that the swinging of the lamp set him thinking aright about the sublime forces and laws of the universe. Which historical fact is a parable, for again and again has science lit her torch at the lamp of the temple. Faith and righteousness make science possible. And the more pure in heart men become the more vividly do they see and appreciate the beauty and grandeur of the world. II. The text will be illustrated in THE OF . As the Spirit of God frees us from unbelief, fear, passion, and puts us into fellowship with our Heavenly Father, so does our nature unfold all its wonderful faculties. Just as men become spiritual and righteous so do they gloriously realise themselves. 1. The fact is that our bodily organs are growing, they are ever becoming enlarged in range and heightened in ability. Our senses are becoming sevenfold. What a wonderful ear the telephone has given us! What a penetrating quality the telegraph has imparted to our voice! What a splendid eye the telescope, the microscope, and camera have given us! What marvellously manifold and facile hands we have acquired in the scientific and mechanical apparatus of our times. All this is equivalent to the enlargement of the bodily organs themselves. 2. A higher moral and spiritual life will realise most gloriously our intellectual faculties. Ruskin assures us that none of the great masters had faults of character but those faults told in their work, mysteriously staining and darkening the prismatic splendours of their masterpieces. 3. Man’ s highest moral possibilities are being attained in Jesus Christ. III. The text finds fulfilment in THE OF SOCIETY. By the action of the Spirit of God society is being purified and uplifted; instead of being a mere convention for selfish ends it is becoming a brotherhood, its spirit the spirit of kindness, its law the law of love. And how wonderfully will this change, silently, deeply working, ennoble and glorify everything. Nothing glorifies like unselfishness. How a noble, unselfish spirit will exalt government! And ennoble commerce! And all industrialism! And so everything else will be uplifted and beautified as you get more of the spirit of love into it. All culture, all pleasure, all domesticity, all friendship. I heard a brother say in a love feast that when he walked home after his conversion he thought that all the sign boards in the street had been freshly painted. Yes, indeed, love will paint everything fleshly, both the commonplace and grand; paint them with the hues of heaven, gild them with untarnished gold. Today we have to apologise for government whenever we mention it; we have to confess the vulgarity of trade and industrialism; we have sorrowfully to acknowledge how much there is in social life that justifies cynicism and satire; we have to blush for pleasure; there is little poetry and greatness in these things, but it shall not be always so. Poor sentiments are yielding; nobler thoughts are prevailing; and the prophecy in our text is being fulfilled every day. (W. L. Watkinson.)The Christian should cherish large expectations concerning the Church and the race God has done wonderful things, but He will do greater yet. A brother in York told me that one day he noticed an American eagerly scanning one of their ancient buildings. Said the visitor: “ I am looking at your grand cathedral.” “ Our cathedral,” said the citizen; “ Stranger, come with me,” and taking the pilgrim a little distance, he pointed him to the magnificent pile, and said, “ That is our cathedral, sir.” We are always being tempted to pause at some miserable shanty or other as if it were the final shrine of God. We look at our nation as if it were about the embodiment of ultimate civilisation. We look at our Church as if it were the perfected Church of God. But the Spirit is ever showing us beyond all the poor present an idea home, Church, nation, an ideal full of righteousness. (W. L. Watkinson.) Isaiah 30:29 Ye shall have a song Communion memories These Jewish wayfarers returned to their several homes to resume their usual occupations. So it is with us. After the most sacred festal and sacramental seasons, the world’ s business and cares necessarily reassert their claims. But, would these old Jewish worshippers in casting off their holiday attire, cast off also their holiday and festive spirit? In the midst of the coarse contacts of daily existence, would the recollections of the Jerusalem festival no longer linger in their memories? Nay, rather, would not these songs of Sion still haunt their ears and hang upon their lips?--would not the shepherd be heard chanting them in the midst of his fleecy charge by green pastures and still waters?--would not the fisherman warble them in his night watch on the lake? and the sailor as he bounded over the great sea, and the dim mountains of his fatherland were receding from view?--would not the cottager, as he reached his home among the hills of Kedesh or on the spurs of Hermon, evening after evening, in returning from his toil, gather his little ones by his knee, and rehearse to them the joyful remembrances of the holy season? Be it ours, while we leave the New Testament feast, and engage in our daily avocations, to carry the hallowed memories of it along with us. (J. R.Macduff, D. D.)The song of God’ s redeemed I. A . This is represented under two figures. 1. A holy service. “ The night when a holy solemnity is kept.” (1) Observe the time, the “ night.” It is not until the day of life is past and the turmoil of earth is done, that the great and solemn assembly shall be convened. (2) Observe the character, “ holy.” Impurity is done away. There shall nothing enter which can pollute or mar or injure. (3) Observe the proceedings, “ a solemnity.” Our meetings with God lack proper solemnity. But how great and solemn will be the eternal service! A joyous meeting. “ As when one goeth forth with a pipe to come to the mountain of the Lord.” Here are subjects going forth to meet their King, who is good and great. Here are friends going forth to meet their Brother, whom they have long desired to embrace. Here are guests going forth to the banquet of their Beloved. II. A STATE OF MIND. “ Ye shall have a song and gladness of heart.” 1. Ye shall have a song. There are two things, revolved “ in” this. (1) There is a subject to sing of. He hath put a new song in my mouth.” (2) There shall be a disposition to sing. The redeemed soul will be filled with praise. 2. Ye shall have gladness of heart. It will be caused by-- (1) The presence of God. (2) Happy surroundings. (3) Blessed reunions. III. A PRESENT . This future promise may be now realised by faith. And what a different aspect will this give to the present life! We may not sing the full chorus of the songs of Heaven, but we can hear the echo. We cannot see our Lord, but we can feel His arms and hear His voice. IV. A . The text affords a most urgent stimulus to our present life. It speaks of a song which the people of God will be enabled to sing with confidence when their Lord’ s judgments are abroad. Let us endeavour to realise the confidence, the peace, the happiness of that future time. (Homilist.) Isaiah 30:33 For Tophet is ordained of old The annihilation of the Assyrian power The annihilation of the Assyrian power is graphically set forth as one great funeral obsequy, such as were well known among Eastern nations. The Divine command prepares the Tophet or pyre; and in its flames all the glory of Assyria shall consume away. What had been prepared by human wisdom for the idolatrous worship of Moloch, shall now by Divine decree be used for Assyria’ s destruction: her king shall be the great victim. (Buchanan Blake, B. D.)The destruction of Assyria in Tophet The description is, of course, figurative; and the details, as is often the case in prophecy, are not to be understood literally; they merely constitute the drapery in which the prophet clothes his idea. No such scene as is here described was ever actually enacted; Sennacherib, in point of fact, perished twenty years after his invasion of Judah, in his own land being assassinated by his own sons Isaiah 37:38). (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The wicked man warned I. The first doctrine that we have is--that THERE IS A HELL. 1. Justice requires it. If a man sins, doth not justice require that he should be punished? 2. But more than this, doth not Divine benevolence require it? Would it be benevolent in any man to propose to take away our police, to pull down our gaols, to abolish our penal settlements, and to stop forever all imprisonment and punishments for sin? It might appear to be liberal and charitable, but the fate of the rest of the community would be so direful that verily we might say, “ Build up the gaols once more! Let it be seen that sin cannot go unpunished here, and that the ruler beareth not the sword in vain!” 3. We ask, If there were no hell for the wicked, where are they to be put to? The answer is, “ Why, let them all go to Heaven.” But have you never heard me expose the absurdity of the idea of a wicked man being carried to Heaven as he is? 4. O sinner! why need I argue that “ Tophet is ordained of old” ? Is there not something within thyself which tells thee that there is such a place? 5. How is it that so many people in the world are always laughing at the idea of hell? I will tell you. The worse men are, the less they like hell. Scorning is sweet to the mouth, but it is bitter afterwards. II. THE SIZE OF THIS PLACE. It is “ deep and large.” We do delight in the thought that Heaven is great and large; that there will be more saved than there will be lost. But this is a sad thought to us--that hell is “ deep and large.” Persons say that “ if the heathen lives up to his light and knowledge, will he not be saved by the blood of Christ?” The heathen does not live up to his light and knowledge, and, therefore, it is an assumption that is not correct. Tophet is deep and large. There is room for you great sinners, room for you rich sinners, room for you proud, stiff-necked sinners, room for the whole mass of sinners, for though you should join in hand, yet shall not the wicked go unpunished. III. THE FUEL OF IT. “ The pile thereof is fire and much wood.” The wicked are their own woodmen; they find their own fuel for their own flame. IV. THE FLAME OF IT. “ The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.” What kind of breath will that be? 1. It will be His condemning breath. God on high will breathe out sentences of condemnation against the wicked perpetually. 2. His reproving breath. For He will be always saying, “ Son, remember, remember such s time you heard a sermon; such a time you sinned; such a time your conscience smote you; such a time in your life you attended Sabbath school; such a time you cursed Me to My face; such a time you blasphemed My day; such a time you spoke ill of My servants; such a time you did this; such a time you did that.” 3. The eternal life of God Himself shall kindle the flame breath of God shall keep the flame burning. (C. H. Spurgeon.). Isaiah 31:1 Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help The abundance of horses in Egypt The abundance of horses in Egypt is attested, not only in other parts of Scripture, but by profane writers. Homer describes Thebes as having a hundred gates, out of each of which two hundred warriors went forth with chariots and horses. Diodorns speaks of the whole country between Thebes and Memphis as filled with royal stables. The horses of Solomon are expressly said to have been brought out of Egypt. This kind of military force was more highly valued, in comparison with infantry, by the ancients than the moderns, and especially by those who, like the Hebrews, were almost entirely deprived of it themselves. Hence their reliance upon foreign aid is frequently identified with confidence in horses and contrasted with simple trust in God (Psalms 20:7). (J. A. Alexander.)Seeking God: To “ seek Jehovah” is not merely to consult Him, but to seek His aid, resort to Him, implying the strongest confidence. (J. A. Alexander.)Looking I want you to remember how much often depends in life on a straight and steady “ look.” A few weeks ago there was a great rehearsal of Sunday-school choirs. All the children were assembled in a vast building, and away in front of them stood a man holding a little stick in his hand. And he said a few words to them. “ To succeed,” said he, “ you must keep your eyes on me and watch the movements of my hand.” Every now and then part of the choir went wrong in the time; they had taken their eyes off the conductor; they were not steadily, earnestly, intelligently looking to him. (C. Silvester Horne, M. A.)Unholy alliances I. THE UNHOLY which the Jewish people formed with Egypt. God had promised to be their Protector; He had also prohibited alliances with heathen nations (Exodus 23:32; Deuteronomy 7:2). This alliance with Egypt was a violation of this command. 1. This unholy alliance is an old sin. They could see and feel the horses and chariots of Egypt. They allowed their senses to be their sovereigns, instead of making them their servants. Has not this been the ruin of the race? Fleshly lusts “ war against the soul.” History is crowded with examples. Eve in Eden; Esau; the Israelites in the wilderness; David. 2. This unholy alliance is marked by peculiar features. (1) It was a wretched choice. “ Egypt.” What good thing had Egypt ever done for them? Not one. Yet they chose Egypt in preference to God. (2) They were influenced by sensuous motives. They were carried away by the strength of the horses and the beauty of the chariots of Egypt. (3) It led them to reject God. 3. This unholy alliance incurred severe punishment. “ Woe,” &c. Sin leads to punishment. The safety of a nation does not consist in the strength of her army, nor in the extent of her commerce, but in her loyalty to God Proverbs 14:34; Isaiah 60:12). II. This unholy alliance is COMMON IN THE PRESENT DAY. This unholy alliance is formed-- 1. When relief is looked for from wrong sources in the day of trouble. God is a refuge and helper to all true souls in trouble who trust in Him. Yet how common it is for many in the day of trouble to enter into a league with sin and make a covenant with death! A woe follows such, and sooner or later will overtake them. 2. When happiness is sought in wrong paths. True happiness is obtained when our will is brought into harmony with God’ s will. Many look for it in other directions. E.g., the miser, the sensuous, the ambitious, the worldling. 3. When salvation is expected in any other way than through Christ. 4. When unworthy means are employed to spread the Gospel. Conclusion:--True loyalty to God will bring safety, happiness, heaven. Horses may bestrong, numerous, and swift; but they shall die and be forgotten. Chariots shall become lighter than dust; but they who do the will of God abide for ever. “ Some trust in chariots,” &c. (J. Wileman.) Isaiah 31:2 Yet He also is wise God works in history You have been clever and successful, but have you forgotten that “ God also is wise,” that He too has His policy, and acts reasonably and consistently? You think you have been making history; but God also works in history, and surely, to put it on the lowest ground, with as much cleverness and persistence as you do. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Forgetfulness of God The forgetfulness, against which Isaiah directs this shaft of satire, is the besetting sin of very religious people, of very successful people, and of very clever people. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The religion that ignores God It is the temptation of an ordinary Christian, churchgoing people, like ourselves, with a religion so full of marvellous mercies, and so blessed with regular opportunities of worship, to think of God only in connection with these, and practically to ignore that along the far greater stretches of life He has any interest or purpose regarding us. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Man no match for God After Moscow, Napoleon is reported to have exclaimed, “ The Almighty is too strong for me.” (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.) Isaiah 31:3 Men, and not God . . . flesh, and not spirit Spiritual existences the chief forces of the world It is here evidently implied that a spirit is mightier than a horse. The ancients attached the idea of immense force to a well-trained war-horse. I. SPIRIT IS THE POWER We see power everywhere around us. We see it in the inanimate world, as the effect which one element produces upon another, and in the motion which one body, in a certain relation, produces upon another. We see it, also, in the world of life: in the plant that turns to its use, and transmutes into its own essence, the elements that play about it; in the beast that drags along the farmer’ s harvest-wain, and in the bird that rises on the wing, and chants its victories over that force that binds the earth and links it to the sun. All these powers are manifestly effects, not ultimate causes--are derived, not primal. All true science suggests this, and the Bible declares it. Spirit is the fontal force. It was spirit that gave to the elements the proclivity to act and re-act on each other; and that so poised the masses of the universe that one should gently press its fellow into lines and ratios of motion, and thus conduce to the harmony and well-being of all. And the forces of life too, whether in the fibres of plants or the muscles of flesh, are but the breathings of that Spirit which “ reneweth the face of the earth.” “ He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.” “ By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens; His hand hath formed the crooked serpent.” II. SPIRIT IS THE POWER. The horses of the Egyptians were “ flesh and not spirit.” Implying, probably, the fact, that the Egyptian cavalry lacked that intelligence and skill necessary to render the noble animal of service in the field of battle. The value of the steed in the strife is ever in proportion to the skill of the rider. “ Wisdom is better than weapons of war.” Reason is mightier than brute force. What force is there on earth that man cannot subordinate to his will? Man can press every element into his service as well as every living creature. Let us rise to a sense of the greatness of the nature with which God has endowed us. We are spirit; emanations of the Infinite Mind, and members of that spiritual system for which matter, in all its functions and forms, was made. Let us assert our supremacy over the material--“ use the world as not abusing it.” In one sense we can never think too highly of ourselves. “ what shall it profit a man?” &c. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Spirituality of the Divine nature In these words we are reminded of an important and infinite disparity between God and man, arising from a great peculiarity in the character of the former, which rendered the Egyptian monarch and his cavalry infinitely inferior to Him in power, and Gall those other qualities which entitle the possessor of them to confidence and trust. I. The spirituality of the Divine nature is intimately connected with THE OF POWER. The vulgar notion which would restrict the exercise of power to what is corporeal, and deny it to that which is spiritual and immaterial, is a mere prejudice, founded on gross inattention or ignorance. If we inquire after the original seat of power, we shall invariably find it in mind, not in body; in spirit, not in flesh. The changes we are able to effect in the state of the objects around us are produced through the instrumentality of the body, which is always previously put in motion by the mind. As we can move certain parts of our bodies at pleasure, and nothing intervenes betwixt the volition and the corresponding movements, so the great original Spirit impresses on the machine of the universe what movements He pleases, and without the intervention of any other cause. “ He speaks, and it is done; He commands, and it stands fast.” II. His spirituality is closely connected with His . “ The King eternal, immortal, invisible,” “ whom no man hath seen, nor can see.” Whatever is the object of sight must be perceived under some determinate shape or figure; it must be, consequently, bounded by an outline, and occupy a determinate portion of space, and no more; attributes utterly incompatible with the conceptions of an infinite being. He was pleased formerly, indeed, to signalise His presence with His worshippers by visible symbols, by an admixture of clouds and fire, of darkness and splendour; but that these were never intended to exhibit His power, but merely to afford a sensible attestation of His special presence, is evident, from the care He took to prevent His worshippers from entertaining degrading conceptions of His character, by the solemn prohibition of attempting to represent Him by an image or picture. III. That God is spirit, and not flesh, is a view of His character closely connected with His . Matter is subjected to a local circumscription; God, as a Spirit, is capable of co-existing with every other order of being. IV. Because God is spirit and not flesh, He is possessed of WISDOM AND . Thought and perception are the attributes of mind, not of matter; of spirit, not of flesh; and, for this reason, the original and great Spirit possesses them in an infinite degree. V. The spirituality of the Divine nature lays A FOR THE MOST BETWEEN THE PART OF THE AND HIMSELF. He is emphatically “ the Father of spirits.” VI. The spirituality of the Divine nature FITS HIM FOR OUR ETERNAL PORTION AND SUPREME GOOD. (Robert Hall, M. A.) Isaiah 31:4 Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey A Homeric passage There is no passage in Isaiah which is so Homeric in ring as this; cf. Iliad, 18.161 f., 12.299 ft. (F. Delitzsch.)The lion and the shepherds Is it an unworthy figure of the Divine Claimant for this city, who kept unceasing hold upon her after His own manner, mysterious and lionlike to men, undisturbed by the screams, formulas, and prayers of her mob of politicians and treaty-mongers? For these are the “ shepherds” Isaiah means--sham shepherds, the shrieking crew of politicians, with their treaties and military display. God will save and carry Jerusalem His own way, paying no heed to such. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The lionlike mercies of God If it is God who is the lion, then it is for the best. For “ though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” ; and, after all, it is safer to rely on the mercies of God, lionlike though they be, than on the weak benevolenees and officious pities of the best of human advisers. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.) Isaiah 31:5 As birds flying Three pictures of one reality I. THE VERY AND . There are three of them. 1. “ As birds flying,” &c. The original shows that it is the mother-bird that is thought about. And the picture rises at once of her fluttering over the nest, where the callow chickens are unable to fly and to help themselves. It is a kind of echo of the grand old metaphor in the song that is attributed to Moses, which speaks of the eagle fluttering over her nest, and taking care of her young. Jerusalem was as a nest on which, for long centuries, that infinite Divine love had brooded. It was but a poor brood that had been hatched out, but yet “ as birds flying” He had watched over the city. Can you not almost see the mother-bird, made bold by maternal love, swooping down upon the intruder that sought to rob the nest, and spreading her broad pinion over the callow fledglings that lie below? That is what God does with us. It is a poor brood that is hatched out. That does not matter; still the Love bends down and helps. Nobody but a prophet could have ventured on such a metaphor as that, and nobody but Jesus Christ would have ventured to mend it and say, “ As a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,” when there are hawks in the sky. So He, in all the past ages, was the One that “ as birds flying . . . defended” His people, and would have gathered them under His wings, only they would not. Now, beautiful as this metaphor is, as it stands, it seems to me, like some brilliant piece of colouring, to derive additional beauty from its connection with the background upon which it stands out. For just a verse before the prophet has given another emblem of what God is and does. “ Like as a lion,” &c. Look at these two pictures side by side; on the one hand the lion, with his paw on his prey, and the angry growl that answers when the shepherds vainly try to drag it away from him. That is God. Ay! but that is only one aspect of God. “ As birds flying, so the Lord will defend Jerusalem.” We have to take that into account, too. This generation is very fond of talking about God’ s love; does it believe in God’ s wrath? Has it pondered that tremendous phrase, “ the wrath of the Lamb” ? The lion that growls, and the mother-bird that hovers--God is like them both. 2. The second picture is not so obvious to English readers, but it is equally striking. The word that is translated in our text twice “ defend” and “ defending,” means literally “ shielding.” Thus we have the same general idea as that in the previous metaphor of the mother-bird hovering above the nest. God is like a shield held over us, and so flinging off from the broad and burnished surface of the almighty buckler, all the darts that any foe can launch against us. 3. “ Passing over, He will deliver.” The word that is there rendered “ passing over” is almost a technical word in the Old Testament, because it is that employed in reference to the Passover. And so you see the swiftness of genius with which the prophet changes his whole scene. We are swept back to that night when the Destroying Angel stalked through the land, and “ passed over” the doors on which the blood had been sprinkled. II. THE REALITY MEANT BY THESE . They mean the absolute promise from God of protection for His people from every evil. III. THE WAY BY WHICH WE CAN MAKE THE REALITY OF THESE OURS. All the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament are conditional, and there are many of them that were never fulfilled, and were spoken in order that they might not be fulfilled, because the people took warning. 1. Put thou thy trust in God, and God is to thee the hovering bird, the broad shield, the angel that “ passes over.” 2. But having thus fled thither, we must continue there, if we would continue under His protection. Such continuance of safety because of continuous faith is possible only by continued communion. 3. Another condition of Divine protection is obedience. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)A twofold representation of God Like a lion descending from the mountains (Psalms 76:4) to seize its prey, whom the shepherds are impotent to dismay, so Jehovah at the head of the Assyrian battalions, will advance against Jerusalem; the city is already within His grasp--when suddenly the image changes, and the impetuous lion is transformed into a bird protecting and shielding its threatened nest. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)God’ s care for His people Egyptian horses cannot fly, but “ as birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem.” The image is clear and impressive. There lies the fair city, more a thought than a thing, a poem in architecture, God’ s poetry set forth in types and letters of stone, and the Lord Himself is as a thousand birds, curling, circling, watching, protecting His loved Zion. No figure is to be driven to its furthest issues; we are to take out of it that which is substantial in reason and in truth: and from this figure we extract the doctrine that God hovers about His people, cares for them, watches them, sometimes sends a raven, it may be, to help them when they come out of their dream-sleep, wondering in daze and bewilderment what the universe was made for, and what they themselves can do, Any image that brings God nearer to us is an image that the memory should treasure. The Lord knows what the issue of trusting in Egyptian horses will be, and what the end of all idolatry will be. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 31:9 The Lord, whose fire is in Zion The Lord’ s furnace This very remarkable designation of God stands ere as a kind of seal set upon the preceding prophecy. It is the reason why that shall certainly be fulfilled. And what precedes is mainly a promise of a deliverance for Israel, which was to be a destruction for Israel’ s enemies. We shall not understand these great words if we regard them as only a revelation of destructive and terrible power. It is the very beauty and completeness of this emblem that it has a double aspect and is to less rich in joy and blessing than pregnant with warning and terror. I. IN THE CHURCH GOD IS PRESENT AS A GREAT OF FERVID LOVE. Every language has taken fire as the symbol of love and emotion. He dwells in His Church, a storehouse of blazing love, heated seventy times seven hotter than any creatural love, and pouring out its ardours for the quickening and gladdening of all who walk in the light of that fire and thaw their coldness at its blaze. Then, how comes it that so many Christian Churches are ice-houses instead of furnaces? If God’ s blazing furnace is in Jerusalem, it should send the thermometer up in all the houses of the city. But what a strange contradiction it is for men to be in God’ s Church, the very focus and centre of His burning love, and themselves to be almost down below zero in their temperature! A fiery furnace with its doors hung with icicles is no greater a contradiction and anomaly than a Christian Church or a single soul which professes to have been touched by the infinite lovingkindness of God, and yet lives as cold and unmoved as we do. There is no religion worth calling so which has not warmth in it. We hear a great deal about the danger of an “ emotional Christianity.” Agreed, if by that they mean a Christianity which has no foundation for its emotion in principle and intelligence; but not agreed, if they mean to recommend a Christianity which professes to accept truths that might kindle a soul beneath the ribs of death and make the dumb sing, and yet is never moved one hair’ s-breadth from its quiet phlegmaticism. If there is no fire, what is there? Cold is death. We want no flimsy, transitory, noisy, ignorant, hysterical agitation. Smoke is not fire. If the temperature were higher, and the fire more wisely fed, there would not be any. But we do want a more obvious and powerful effect of our solemn, glorious, and heart-melting beliefs on the affections and emotions of professing Christians, and that they may be more mightily moved by love to heroisms of service and enthusiasms of consecration which shall in some measure answer to the glowing heat of that fire of God which flames in Zion. II. GOD’ S OF HIMSELF, AND IN HIS CHURCH, ARE AN OF . Fire purifies. In our great cities now there are “ disinfecting ovens,” where infected articles are taken, and exposed to a high temperature which kills the germs of disease, so that tainted things come out sweet and clean. That is what God’ s furnace in Zion is meant to do for us. The true way of purifying is by fire. To purify by water, as John the Baptist saw and said, is but a poor cold way of getting outward cleanliness. Water cleanses the surface, and becomes dirty in the process. Fire cleanses within and throughout, and is not tainted thereby. The Hebrew captives were flung into the fiery furnace; what did it burn? Only their bonds. They themselves lived, and rejoiced, in the intense heat. So, if we have any real possession of that Divine flame, it will burn off our wrists the bands and chains of our old vices, and we shall stand pure and clear, emancipated by the fire which will burn up only our sins, and be for our true selves as our native home, where we walk at liberty and expatiate in the genial warmth. III. GOD, IN HIS GREAT OF HIMSELF BY WHICH HE DWELLS IN HIS CHURCH, IS A POWER OF . Fire turns all which it seizes into fire. And so God, coming to us in His “ Spirit of burning,” turns us into His own likeness, and makes us possessors of some spark of Himself. IV. This figure teaches that THE SAME DIVINE FIRE MAY BECOME . The emblem of fire suggests a double operation, and the very felicity of it as an emblem is that it has these two sides, and with equal naturalness may stand for a power which quickens and for one which destroys. The difference in the effects springs not from differences in the cause, but in the objects on which the fire plays. We may make the furnace of God our blessedness and the reservoir of a far more joyful and noble life than ever we could have lived in our coldness; or we may make it terror and destruction. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The fiery ordeal of the Church I. Let us endeavour to understand THE NAMES BY WHICH GOD’ S CHURCH IS , particularly under the Old Testament--“ Zion” and “ Jerusalem.” They are very significant. Some tell us that the word “ Zion” simply signifies a monument or heap of stones in memorial. Nothing could be more significant with reference to the Church of God--a chosen monument of grace, constituted of a heap of stones. “ Jerusalem.” It is very evident from the termination of it--Salem--that it signifies “ peace” ; and it is conjectured by some to have been the capital of Melchizedec; but one thing is certain, it was the organised city of the great King, the King of peace, and so is the Church of the living God. No city on the face of the earth was ever so warred against as Jerusalem. And, in this respect, Jerusalem was exactly the picture of the Church of God. What was her paramount glory? Not her extent; she never was a large city. Not the tractableness and teachableness of her sons, for they were very rebellious against even the Lord their God. What then was the glory of her city? The name and presence of her God there. This is our stay, this is our confidence, this is our joy, this is our constant expectation. His presence must be sensibly enjoyed, in order to know that He is here. II. THE ORDEAL THROUGH WHICH THE CHURCH OF GOD MUST PASS. “ His fire in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem.” The saints of the living God may expect, and whether they expect or no, they are sure to meet a succession of trials, both in a temporal and a spiritual sense. I would take another view of the subject: if there were no “ fire in Zion,” and no “ furnace in Jerusalem,” there would be no sacrifice, no burnt-offering, no clouds of incense; and therefore God says, it shall ever be burning. In this sense, it is the emblem of life Divine, the Holy Spirit’ s work. I would name three things which God is doing with the “ furnace.” (1) He is melting; (2)He is manifesting; (3) He is making useful. These are the main purposes for which a furnace is used. III. THE AND THE OF THIS PROCESS. The tendency is the exercising of all the graces in personal religion; the termination is to demonstrate Divine love and faithfulness in the deliverance and ultimate glorification of His saints. (J. Irons.). Isaiah 32:1-8 Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness Asayria and Judah Such (Isaiah 31:8-9) will be the ignominious end of the proud battalions of Assyria. For Judah a happier future immediately begins. There should be no break between the two chapters. The representation which follows (Isaiah 32:1-8) is the positive complement to Isaiah 31:6 f., and is parallel to Isaiah 30:23-26, completing under its ethical and spiritual aspects the picture of which the external material features were there delineated. Society, when the crisis is past, will be regenerated. Kings and nobles will be the devoted guardians of justice, and great men will be what their position demands that they should be--the willing and powerful protectors of the poor. All classes, in other words, will be pervaded by an increased sense of public duty. The spiritual and intellectual blindness (Isaiah 29:10) will have passed away (Isaiah 30:3); superficial and precipitate judgments will be replaced by discrimination (Isaiah 30:4 a); hesitancy and vacillation will give way before the prompt and clear assertion of principle (Isaiah 30:4 b). The present confusion of moral distinctions will cease; men and actions will be called by their right names. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)A new era For Judah--sifted, rescued, cleansed--a new era opens. I. JUST IN TO THE PEOPLE is the first good fruit (Isaiah 32:1-2). II. The second is AN OPEN AFTER THE CURSE OF (Isaiah 32:3-4). III. A third good fruit is CALLING AND TO HIS TRUE (Isaiah 32:5-8). Nobility of birth and riches will give place to nobility of disposition, so that the former will not be found, nor find recognition without the latter. (F. Delitzsch.)A flourishing kingdom It may be taken as a directory both to magistrates and subjects, what both ought to do. It is here promised and prescribed-- I. THAT SHOULD DO THEIR DUTY IN THEIR PLACES, and the powers answer the great ends for which they were ordained of God (Isaiah 32:1-2). 1. There shall be a king and princes that shall reign and rule; for it cannot go well when there is no king in Israel. 2. They shall use their power according to law, and not against it. 3. Thus they shall be great blessings to the people (Isaiah 32:2). “ A man” --that man, that king that reigns in righteousness--“ shall be as a hiding-place.” II. THAT SHALL DO THEIR DUTY IN THEIR PLACES. 1. They shall be willing to be taught, and to understand things aright (Isaiah 32:3). When this blessed work of reformation is set on foot, and men do their part towards it, God will not be wanting to do His. Then “ the eyes of them that see” --of the prophets, the seers--“ shall not be dim,” &c. 2. There shall be a wonderful change wrought in them by that which is taught them (Isaiah 32:4). (1) They shall have a clear head, and be able to discern things that differ, and distinguish concerning them. (2) They shall have a ready utterance. 3. The differences between good and evil, virtue and vice, shall be kept up and no more confounded by those who put darkness for light, and light, for darkness (Isaiah 32:5). (Matthew Henry.)Reformed society Though Isaiah s words are only perfectly ful-filled in Jesus Christ, it was not concerning Christ that they were spoken. The prophet is speaking of the religious future and social progress of his people. He is presenting a picture of regenerated Judah. He points to the essential elements of all national stability and greatness. He speaks first of the righteousness that shall be exalted, and exemplified in the government of king and rulers; and then he goes on to speak of the moral conditions of real blessedness and progress, as they shall appear among the people. Great characters are the outstanding feature in the reformed society that he anticipates. Through them the progress of the nation is secured; in them the greatness of the nation will consist. But great characters can only exercise their full and proper influence when they move among those who are able to discern their greatness. Hence Isaiah declares that in that glorious time for which he confidently looks the moral blindness of the people, over which he had so often and so deeply mourned, the moral insensibility dulness, with all the confusion and false judgment it occasioned, shall have ceased (verse 3). Men shall know true manhood when they see it, and honour the manhood that they see. They shall no longer debase the moral currency, and make false use of terms denoting moral qualities. The great men shall be seen in all their greatness, and shall raise others to a moral elevation like their own. They shall protect the weak, and encourage the faint-hearted; they shall foster the growth of all goodness, and be an unfailing source of noblest inspiration. As they stand there in all their moral grandeur, rooted and grounded in the eternal righteoushess, they are indeed--and they are known to be--“ as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rook in a weary land.” (E. A. Lawrence.)Isaiah’ s Utopia The first eight verses of this chapter are like the sudden opening of a window. The hall behind you resounds with the clamour of fierce contentions; the window before you frames in the prospect of a fair country, all bathed in rosy light, a land of corn and wine and oil, a land of plenty and peace. Isaiah is not the only politician who has found relief from the anxieties of a stormy time in a Utopia of his own imagining. The air was full of the noise of change, the Reformation was in full career on the Continent, and the ground-swell of the great movement already trembling on the shores of England, when Sir Thomas More wrote his description of the ideal state. When, as they think, everything is going wrong, men often have brightest visions of what the world would be if everything were going right. Isaiah’ s Utopia has three grand characteristics: 1. The triumph of righteousness in government. His programme for the ruling power is this: “ A king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.” 2. The new state shall be broad-based, not upon the people’ s will, but upon the people’ s character. Men shall not be, as they have been, weak and unstable, and ungenerous; but, rock-like and river-like, they shall be strong and bountiful. 3. The ideal Israel, themselves judged justly, shall be just judges of others. They shall be able to discriminate character, and to recognise and honour the truly good. “ The quack and the dupe,” says Carlyle, “ are upper and under side of the same substance.” So, in the kingdom of the future, “ the vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.” There will be no quacks, because there will be no dupes. Those who are liberal themselves are not likely to err in what constitutes liberality in others. (W. B. Dalby.) Isaiah 32:2A man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind A hiding-place from the wind In the East, the following phenomenon is often observed. Where the desert touches a river, valley, or oasis, the sand is in a continual state of drift from the wind, and it is this drift which is the real cause of the barrenness of such portions of the desert, at least, as abut upon the fertile land. For under the rain, or by the infiltration of the river, plants often spring up through the sand, and there is sometimes promise of considerable fertility. It never lasts. Down comes the periodic drift, and life is stunted or choked out. But set down a rock on the sand, and see the difference its presence makes. After a few showers, to the leeward side of this some blades will spring up; if you have patience, you will see in time a garden. How has the boulder produced this? Simply by arresting the drift. Now that is exactly how great men benefit human life. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The true shelter/or the world A Saviour who does not seek first to improve man’ s condition, but to improve man. (W. C. E. Newbolt.)A man The prophet here has no individual specially in his view, but is rather laying down a general description of the influence of individual character, of which Christ Jesus was the highest instance. Taken in this sense, his famous words present us-- I. WITH A OF HISTORY. Great men are not the whole of life, but they are the condition of all the rest; if it were not for the big men, the little ones could scarcely live. The first requisites of religion and civilisation are outstanding characters. II. But in this philosophy of history there is A GOSPEL. Isaiah’ s words are not only man’ s ideal: they are God’ s promise, and that promise has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the most conspicuous example--none others are near Him--of this personal influence in which Isaiah places all the shelter and revival of society. This figure of a rock, a rock resisting drift, gives us some idea, not only of the commanding influence of Christ’ s person, but of that special office from which all the glory of His person and of His name arises: that “ He saves His people from their sins.” For what is sin? Sin is simply the longest, heaviest drift in human history. “ The oldest custom of the race,” it is the most powerful habit of the individual. Men have reared against it government, education, philosophy, system after system of religion. But sin overwhelmed them all. Only Christ resisted, and His resistance saves the world. III. In this promise of a man there is A GREAT DUTY AND IDEAL for every one. If this prophecy distinctly reaches forward to Jesus Christ as its only perfect fulfilment, the vagueness of its expression permits of its application to all, and through Him its fulfilment by all becomes a possibility. 1. We can be like Christ the Rock in shutting out from our neighbours the knowledge and infection of sin, in keeping our conversation so unsuggestive and unprovocative of evil, that, though sin drift upon us, it shall never drift through us. 2. We may be like Christ the Rock in shutting out blame from other men; in sheltering them from the east wind of pitiless prejudice, quarrel, or controversy; in stopping the unclean and bitter drifts of scandal and gossip. How many lives have lost their fertility for the want of a little silence and a little shadow! 3. As there are a number of men and women who fall in struggling for virtue simply because they never see it successful in others, and the spectacle of one pure, heroic character would be their salvation, here is a way in which each servant of God may be a rock. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Humanity greater than all distinctions of class In the first and second verses of this chapter we have suggested to us the three great forms of government or social power, in accordance with which society has been constructed, and under which men have lived; namely, the monarchy, the aristocracy, and the democracy. A king shall reign, princes shall rule, and a man shall be as a hiding-place. First, there is a throne, then a palace, and then the common earth. It seems to be a descent from a king to princes, and from princes to a man; but it is also an ascent, for the man is the climax rather than the king. The king and the princes disappear in the man. Humanity or the common nature is greater than all distinctions of class. A king exists for men, rather than men for a king; and the salvation of society consists in the elevation of the common substratum of the race. In this elevation all the three powers may play a part--the power of the throne, the power of the nobles, and the power of the people themselves. All these three forms of government may exist in the same constitution. In the heavenly, or eternal government, there is a King with different orders of subjects. But since, in this heavenly kingdom, He who is King of kings and Lord of lords became a man, and a poor man, that He might serve all, and lift up all to citizenship in His kingdom, and to sit even on His throne, the great moral and spiritual law has been laid down, that every one, from the ruler on the throne to the humblest subject, rises in moral character and dignity just as he stoops to the help of others. If it is by the gentleness of God that we are made great; if He who is over all became servant to all, we cannot hope to become great on a different principle; that is, by seeking to be ministered unto rather than to minister. (F. Ferguson.)Christ the shield of the believer It is probable that the prophecy had some reference to Hezekiah, who, as the successor of the iniquitous Ahaz, restored the worship of God, and re-established the kingdom of Judah. The very striking deliverance vouchsafed by God to His people, in the reign of this monarch, when the swarming hosts of the Assyrians fell in one night before the destroying angel, may justly be considered as having been alluded to by the prophet in strains which breathe high of the triumphs of redemption. And when “ a king” is spoken of as “ reigning in righteousness,” and there is associated with his dominion all the imagery of prosperity and peace, we may, undoubtedly, find, in the holy and beneficent rule of Hezekiah, much that answers to the glowing predictions. But the destruction of the army of the Assyrians may itself be regarded as a figurative occurrence; and Hezekiah, like his forefather David, as but a type of the Lord our Redeemer. There are to be great and fearful judgments ere Christ shall finally set up His kingdom on earth. We shall consider the text as containing a description--metaphorical, undoubtedly, but not the less comforting and instructive--of what the Redeemer is to the Church. I. The first thing which may justly strike you as remarkable in this description of Christ, is THE WHICH SEEMS LAID ON THE WORD “ MAN.” A man” shall be this or that; and Bishop Lowth renders it “ the man,” as if he were man by distinction from every other--which is undoubtedly St. Paul’ s statement when he writes to the Corinthians: “ The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.” It is the human nature of Christ to which our text gives the prominence; it is this human nature to which seems ascribed the suitableness of Christ’ s office prophetically assigned. What our blessed Saviour undertook was the reconciliation of our offending nature to God; and of this it is perhaps hardly too much to say that it could not have been effected by any nature but itself. II. Let us now proceed to consider WITH WHAT JUSTICE OR THE SEVERAL HERE MADE MAY BE APPLIED TO OUR SAVIOUR. There are four assertions in the text, four similes used to represent to us the office of our Redeemer, or the benefits secured to us through His gracious mediation. These assertions or similes are not, indeed, all different; on the contrary, there is great similarity, or even something like repetition. Thus, “ a hiding-place from the wind” does not materially differ from “ a covert from the tempest.” The idea is the same; there is only that variety in the mode of expression which accords with poetic composition. Neither is “ the shadow of a great rock in a weary desert” altogether a different image; the idea is still that which shields--shelter from the heat, if not from the tempest. It may, perhaps, be more correct to say that there are two great ideas embodied in the text, and there are two figures for the illustration of each. The first idea is that of a refuge in circumstances of danger; and this is illustrated by “ a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.” The second idea is that of refreshment under circumstances of fatigue; and this is illustrated by “ rivers of water in a dry place, and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” There is one thing, according to the three illustrations, which should be separately and carefully considered. The “ hiding-place,” the “ covert,” and the “ rock,” give shelter and relief, through receiving on themselves that against which they defend us. It were a dull imagination, nay, it were a cold heart, which does not instantly recognise the appropriateness of the figure, as taken in illustration of the Lord our Redeemer. These Scriptural figures while under one point of view they represent Christ, under another they represent ourselves. And it is simply because there is so little feeling of our own actual condition that there is so little appreciation of the character under which Christ is described. (H. Melvill, B.D.)Jesus, the hiding-place There is not a want, not a need, but we find Jesus enough for it. I. MAN’ S NEED OF A HIDING-PLACE. 1. What a tempest will sharp afflictions sometimes raise, particularly if one follows another in quick succession. 2. There are other storms--national judgments. 3. What a storm can the Eternal Spirit raise in a man’ s own conscience when the poor Christless sinner catches his first glimpse of God! 4. What a burning wind has oft withered the mere professor when the Eternal Spirit has in a dying hour forced him to the fearful review of the past. II. THE HIDING-PLACE WHICH THE GOSPEL POINTS OUT. As God-man, who can describe the hiding-place? What a hiding-place is His Person! What a hiding-place is His intercession! What a hiding-place is His deep sympathy! What a hiding-place is His fulness of grace! What a hiding-place, that has all the power, strength, and merit of Deity in it, and all the tenderness, love, and sympathy of humanity in it! The great question is, Have we really entered in? (J. H. Evans, M. A.)A covert the tempest We cannot easily imagine the fury of whirlwinds in the East. Granite and iron columns are snapped in two; the largest trees are torn up by the roots; houses are tossed about like straws, and at sea whole fleets are cast away. But Eastern storms are most terrible in the desert. There mountains of sand are lifted up and dashed down, sometimes burying whole caravans, and even whole armies. Picture a traveller in such a case. After a strange stillness, he sees a cloud of sand arising in front of him. At once the sky is darkened, and earth and heaven seem confounded. The angel of destruction rides on every blast, and claims the whole desert as his own. The poor man stands appalled, as if the clay of doom had come. Oh, for a shelter: it is his one chance for life! Lo! a gigantic rock rears its head; he runs under it. The storm spends its fury upon the sheltering rock, not upon the sheltered pilgrim. (J. Wells, M. A.)Our hiding-place I. IN THE SAVIOUR THERE IS SHELTER FOR OUR SOULS. What are the storms from which the Saviour shields us? The Bible speaks most about two: the storm of God’ s wrath against sin, and the storm of life’ s trials. II. IN THE SAVIOUR WE HAVE SAFETY. Shelter and safety are different things, though we may not see the difference at once. About eighteen hundred years ago there was a town in the south of Italy, called Pompeii, which owes its fame to its destruction. It was buried under streams of boiling mud from Vesuvius, and showers of dust and ashes. Most of the people escaped by flight. The priests, having no faith in their idols, seized their treasures and fled. But some poor folks ran to the temples, hoping that their gods would save them. They found shelter, and--a grave. Since many are more anxious about shelter than real safety, Christ is at great pains to warn us against a mistake as common as it is dangerous. You remember Christ’ s story about the two builders; the one building upon the sand, and the other upon the rock. Very likely the two houses were equally fair to look upon, and both the wise man and the fool found shelter enough in sunny weather. But the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon the fool’ s house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof. The poor man found shelter-and death. Many “ refuges of lies” --man-made refuges all--would lure us away from our true safety. III. IN THE SAVIOUR THERE IS . Shelter and safety are often found without sympathy. The fortress that gave the besieged safety from their foes has often been a hateful prison, in which famine and pestilence slew more than the sword. The dens and caves which were the hiding-places of our martyrs were equally wretched and safe. The Alpine traveller, overtaken by snowstorms, hurries to the nearest shelter, and finds only four bare walls. No cheerful fire, no kind host welcomes and revives him; and often he faints on the threshold, and dies within. But the soul’ s hiding-place is the soul’ s banqueting-house. You must lay the stress on the word “ man.” To the Jews before Christ it was no news to be told that God was a hiding-place. But that a man should be their hiding-place and covert, their overshadowing rock and water of life--that was a very surprising and glorious prophecy. And what a man! The Man of men, the alone perfect Man, of all men the most gracious and tender-hearted the God-man. And He is a man by His own choice. More, He is a man from love to us. Had He been only God, we sinful, trembling creatures might not have dared to draw near; had He been only man, we should have doubted His power; but being both God and man, we can approach Him with equal confidence and affection. Your safety is not a hard, cold, empty thing. No, it is like the safety of the young eagle, covered with the feathers, and drawn close to the warm, ,beating side of the parent bird. IV. IN THE SAVIOUR THERE IS . Tis thorough satisfaction, as when the desert-traveller, perishing with thirst, finds “ rivers of water in a dry place.” Among men, Beasts, and birds, how boundless is the delight the thirsty find in fresh water! Every one has a craving for happiness, that never can The conquered, but lives while the soul lives. The Bible is ever declaring these” two truths-- 1. Your soul cannot get true satisfaction away from Christ. 2. You may find it in Him. (J. Wells, M. A.)The hiding-place I. THE HOLY GHOST IT IS “ A MAN THAT SHALL BE THE HIDING-PLACE FROM THE WIND.” II. IN WHAT RESPECT OUR BLESSED LORD IS THAT “ HIDING-PLACE.” III. THE MANY THAT ARE GIVEN IN GOD’ S SACRED WORD TO THE POOR AND WEARY TEMPEST-BEATEN TO ENTER INTO THAT “ HIDING-PLACE.” 1. The commandment of God, on the one side. 2. The freeness of invitation, on the other. 3. The open door. 4. The testimony of all those who are in heaven, and all those who are on earth, under the teaching of the Eternal Spirit, that never did any go thither and have a negative, but that as many as went were freely welcomed by the Lord of life and glory. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)The value of true man-hood Change the emphasis of your policy. You have been busy making alliances; now make a man. That was the teaching of this statesman-prophet. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)The variety and urgency of human need What a revelation is here of the wants of men! The very supply indicates the depths and urgency of the need which craves for satisfaction. “ Hiding-place!” “ Covert!” “ Fountains of water!” “ The shadow of a great rock!” Each of these beautiful images serves to accentuate the impression of urgent and pitiful need. Lighthouses and harbours are always terribly suggestive. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Human need met in Christ I. WIND. How apt a symbol of our lives is here! Often when all seems fair, suddenly a wild storm envelops us in a furious melee. A calumnious story is circulated, which is absolutely without foundation; a well-meant act is misconstrued; a love suddenly cools; a dam which had warded off the wild North Sea breaks; a life which had been dearer than our own fails; our whole nature is plunged into a bath of agonising pain; the mind is cast into a tumult of perplexity; the heart is rent. Then we know bitterly the spiritual side of the words, No small tempest lay upon us. II. STORM. We are exposed not only to great and crushing sorrows, which threaten to suddenly engulf us, as it is said the old seats of human life were engulfed in the midst of the Indian Ocean; but we have to suffer from the accumulations of little stinging irritations, which are like the grit or sand grains of the desert. The rasping temper of some one with whom we have to live; the annoyances and slights which are daily heaped on us; petty innuendoes and insinuations that sting; trifles which we could not put into words, but which hurt us like acid dropped into a sore. III. A DRY PLACE. Our lot is sometimes cast, as David’ s was, in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is. There are few helps in our religious life; we are cast into a worldly family; we are obliged to attend an uncongenial ministry; we are too driven with occupation to have quiet times for fellowship with God, and communion with His saints; or we are so lonely that we long unutterably for some kindred soul, some one to love, or to be loved. The eye ranges day after day over the same monotonous landscape. IV. A WEARY LAND. Weary people--there are plenty of them! Weary of life, with its poverty from which there is never a moment’ s respite; with the love of the life unrequited; with the light of life hidden beneath a bushel; with common-place duties and monotonous routine! The demands are so incessant, the pressure so constant, the heartache so wearing, the pain so cruel! The eyes weary of looking for one who never comes; the ears weary of listening for a step that never greets them; the hearts weary of waiting for a love that never comes forth from the grave, though they call never so loudly. But all these many-sided needs may be met and satisfied in The Man Christ Jesus.” No one man could perfectly meet even one of them; but Jesus perfectly meets them all. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Christ the perfect Man Have you not often wished to take the characteristic qualities from the men in whom they are strongest, and put them all together into one nature, making one complete man out of the many broken bits, one chord of the many single notes, one ray of the many colours? But this that you would wish to do is done in Him-in whom the faith of Abraham, the meekness of Moses, the patience of Job, the strength of Daniel, the love of the apostle John, blend in one complete symmetrical whole. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Christ our hiding-place I. THE STORMS. 1. The storm of adversity. 2. Of conviction. 3. Of temptation. 4. There is an eternal storm. II. THE HIDING-PLACE. “ A man,” &c. 1. What man? The Man Christ Jesus. 2. A suitable refuge. While He feels for you as a man, He helps you as a God. A refuge from-- (1) A broken law. (2) A raging devil. (3) A persecuting world. III. . As rivers of water,” &c. 1. Refreshing. 2. Purifying. 3. Free. 4. Free to all. IV. NEEDFUL SHELTER. “ As the shadow,” &c. (W. Jackson.)Offices of Christ I. Christ came to be A HIDING-PLACE PROM THE WIND. This part of our text may be regarded as referring to the lesser evils of human life; to those which chiefly affect our temporal condition. Who does not feel, in his measure, the winds of adversity, which never fail to blow upon this lower world? The widow mourns over her bereavement, and sits alone, as a sparrow upon the housetop. The orphans look in vain for a parent’ s sympathy and protection. The poor man stands aghast at the prospect of penury. The sick languish under the appointment of painful days and wearisome nights. The mourners go about the streets, telling the sad tale of their desolation, and refusing to be comforted, under the loss of some endeared object. But let us not imagine that even our most trivial sufferings are beneath the notice of Jehovah. He became a man that He might make Himself acquainted with the afflictions of humanity, and thus be able to afford His sympathy. 1. There is the shelter of His gracious declarations. 2. Of the promises. 3. Of Christ’ s example. See Him weeping with those that wept. See Him providing for the hungry multitude. See Him ever ready to alleviate human misery, and, during the whole period of His life, going about doing good. Is it possible to study the life of Jesus, and not derive succour from the view of His sympathy and compassion? II. The second clause of our text leads us to the consideration of those greater evils, from which Christ protects His followers. He is spoken of as A COVERT FROM THE TEMPEST. 1. There is the tempest of God’ s wrath, roused by man’ s transgression. 2. Of Satan’ s buffetings. 3. Of indwelling sin. But, amidst all these tempests, Christ is a covert for His people. Consider how it is that He shelters them. It is by bearing Himself the stormy wind and tempest. III. Christ is spoken of as RIVERS OF WATER IN A DRY PLACE. To the renewed mind, what is the whole world but a dry place? IV. Christ is spoken of as THE SHADOW OF A GREAT ROCK IN A WEARY LAND. What are we but pilgrims toiling over the sandy desert of this weary world? We have various burdens to carry, and labours allotted to us; and now are we straitened in our work! With one hand we have to fight continually against our enemies, as we hasten onward to our home: with the other, we have to labour diligently, both for ourselves and others. We have to bear the burden and heat of the day. But shall we faint because of the way? No, we have a grand support. We have the shadow of a great rock in this weary land. (Carus Wilson.)Christ a refuge I. We are reminded here of our DANGERS. These are set forth by images which we in our climate can only half understand. Except at sea, we have little to fear from winds and tempests. At the worst, they are inconveniences to us, seldom dangers. But in other countries they are at times the causes of great havoc. Besides these, there are gentler winds sometimes blowing in them, that are almost as fearful. Hot and debilitating, they cannot be breathed without much suffering, and instances, it is said, have been known in which they have been so noxious as to occasion death. Is not this a true picture of our situation? There are storms of outward affliction for us in the world. And there are inward storms also--storms of conscience, storms of temptation; and still worse storms than any of these--the ragings of our own corrupt affections. And yet what are all these? They are all nothing compared with one storm yet to come. There is the wrath of God awaiting us. II. The text tells us of A FROM OUR DANGERS. And who is He? If we understand what our dangers are, we shall all say He must be the great God. But the text does not say this. It tells us that He is a man. But how, we may ask, can this be? We have tried often enough to get help from men. This man is such as never before was seen or heard of, the everlasting Jehovah manifest in our mortal flesh, God and man united in one Christ. But why is the Lord Jesus called so emphatically a man in this passage? Perhaps for three reasons. 1. To lead the ancient Church to expect His incarnation. 2. To encourage us to approach Him. We naturally are afraid of God. But here, says this text, is God appearing before you in a new character and form. His mere appearance in our world as a man, proclaims Him at once man’ s Friend and Saviour. 3. To show us the importance of His human nature to our safety. III. THE OF THAT WHICH THE LORD JESUS AFFORDS US. Imagine yourselves in such a desert as the prophet has here in his mind. Suppose yourselves asked, what kind of shelter you wished for. 1. You would naturally say, in the first place, it must be a secure one. And Christ is a secure hiding-place. 2. Then you would say, the refuge I want must be a near one. And who so near at hand as the Lord Jesus. 3. But, you may ask, Can I gain admittance into this refuge if I flee to it? The answer is, You can. It is an open refuge, a refuge ever open, and open to all who choose to enter it. 4. He is a well-furnished hiding-place. There is provision and plentiful provision in this stronghold for all who enter it. Conclusion-- 1. What think ye of this hiding-place? What use have you made of it? Have you fled to it? 2. But there are those who are out of this hiding-place. Oh, brethren, have mercy on yourselves! (C. Bradley, M. A.)The suffering world and the relieving Man I. THE WORLD. The world’ s trials are here represented by the imagery of-- 1. A “ tempest.” Tempests in nature are often most terrible and devastating. Spiritually, the world is in a tempest. It is beaten by the storm of-- (1) conflicting thoughts, (2) sinful passions, (3) guilty memories, and (4) terrible foreboding. 2. A drought. “ A dry place.” The Oriental traveller under a vertical sun, and on scorching sands without water, is the picture here. He has a burning thirst and is in earnest quest for the cooling stream. Is this not a true picture of man spiritually as a traveller to eternity? He thirsts for a good which he fails to get. 3. Exhaustion. “ In a weary land.” The Oriental traveller has exhausted his strength, and lies down in prostrate hopelessness. Man, spiritually, is “ weary and heavy laden,” “ without strength.” Without strength to discharge his moral obligations, to please his Maker, to serve his race, and reach his destiny. II. THE MAN. “ A man shall be,” &c. Hezekiah did much to relieve Israel in its political troubles, but Christ does infinitely more. He relieves the moral troubles of humanity. 1. He is a shelter from moral storms. What a secure, accessible, capacious refuge is Christ. 2. He is the river in moral droughts. Christ refreshes and satisfies souls by opening rivers of holy thoughts, &c. (Homilist.)The humanity of the way of salvation I. A PICTURE OF THE STATE OF THE WORLD. We may view this picture of the world under four aspects-- 1. A picture of the natural world. The four elements of nature are brought into view--earth, air, water, and fire; and each in its turn may become a blessing or a curse to man. Man has lost the dominion of nature, and is no longer at home in it. He fights an unequal battle, and is obliged to succumb. 2. A picture of the moral world. Although war, famine, and pestilence are physical evils, their causes are moral. They fall more directly on man than other natural evils. They are the storms of human society. 3. A picture of the spiritual world. This earth is the platform, not merely of a natural and political moral strife; it is the arena, as well, of a spiritual strife. To realise this, and to know it as the most certain of all facts, the soul must be awakened by the Spirit of God to the true meaning of life. We must feel the battle within ourselves in order to see it around us. 4. Something that reminds us of a condition of existence in the eternal world. All the storms of which we have spoken are but the foreshadowings of the wrath of God. II. A OF THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD. This is represented under the figure of a hiding-place, a covert, rivers of water, and the shadow of a great rock. 1. The blessedness of the prophecy. In proportion as we have realised the world to be what the word here describes it as being, Will the announcement of the text appear most acceptable and blessed. 2. The wonderfulness and apparent contradictoriness of the prophecy. It says that a “ man” shall be a hiding-place. Man is the creature who is in want of salvation. 3. The prophecy itself, more directly and particularly. We accept the statement as at once referring primarily to Christ Jesus, the Saviour of the world. Only in Him is the prophecy fully realised, and delivered from its apparently contradictory character. Believers look upon Him as the only one who can save from physical, moral, spiritual, and eternal evil. 4. How the man Christ Jesus is such a hiding-place. (F. Ferguson.)The hiding-place I. There underlies this prophecy A VERY SAD, A VERY TRUE OF HUMAN LIFE. 1. We live a life defenceless and exposed to many a storm and tempest. 2. “ Rivers of water in a dry place!” And what is the prose fact of that? That you and I live in the midst of a world which has no correspondence with nor capacity of satisfying our truest and deepest selves--that we bear about with us a whole set of longings and needs and weaknesses and strengths and capacities, all of which, like the climbing tendrils of some creeping plant, go feeling and putting out their green fingers to lay hold of some prop and stay--that man is so made that for his rest and blessedness he needs an external object round which his spirit may cling, on which his desires may fall and rest, by which his heart may be clasped, which shall be authority for his will, peace for his fears, sprinkling and cleansing for his conscience, light for his understanding, shall be in complete correspondence with his inward nature--the water for his thirst, and the bread for his hunger. 3. And then there is the other idea underlying these words also, yet another phase of this sad life of ours--not only danger and drought, but also weariness and languor. II. But another thought suggested by these words is, THE HOPE WHICH SHINES THROUGH THEM--that one of ourselves shall deliver us from all this evil in life. “ A man,” &c. III. THE OF THE MYSTERY IN THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Christ a refuge I. In the day of earthly . II. In times of . III. In the day of TRIAL. God tries our faith, our hope, our patience, our principles. IV. In the day of FEAR. V. From the torments of an accusing . VI. In the day of FINAL WRATH. (J. M. Sherwood.)The covert of Divine love There are two very distinct methods and aims in the Bible. A very large portion of the Scriptures are in the form of appeals to duty, to service. But there is another part of the Bible that appeals to exactly the opposite sentiment, and is a call to rest, to quiet, to ease, to everything but action--to contemplation, to silence. And there are times in our experience when we need the call to rest as absolutely as at others we need the call to duty. I desire, then, to call your thought to the rest side of religion. I. PRAYER, as revealed to us in Scripture, is beautifully illustrated by the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. II. THE WORDS THAT ARE GIVEN US IN THE are offered to us like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land--the Scripture is full of these delightful surprises. “ Come unto Me,” &c. “ Let not your heart be troubled,” &c. “ Lo! I am with you alway,” &c. Such doctrines as Divine Providence; the idea of God giving you work to do; the idea that trouble comes to us as a dispensation from our Father’ s hand, &c. III. HOPE is also like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Rest, in the Word of God, is like rest in nature. The night is very blessed for the weary one, but the morning follows the night, and rest is given that we may be strong to labour. (A. D. Vail, D. D.)The wayworn pilgrim’ s hiding-place (with Isaiah 32:3):-- I. Who THE are, on their homeward march, and the dangers and difficulties which beset their path. The way to heaven is often spoken of in Scripture as a journey, and this by no flowery meadow or purling brook, through no over-arching bowers or verdant shade, but through a wilderness. 1. The first peril mentioned is the wind. By “ the wind” here, I understand the pestilential wind, sometimes called the simmom, or samiel, which at certain seasons passes over the desert, blasting and withering all it touches, and carrying death in its train. But what is there in the spiritual desert corresponding to this pestilential wind? Sin. 2. The second peril in the wilderness is “ the tempest.” This we may characterise as the thunderstorm, which differs from the pestilential wind in being from above, not from beneath; violent, not subtle; destroying by lightning, not by poison. And what so aptly corresponds to this as the manifested anger of God against sin? 3. But there is a third peril in the wilderness--one in a measure peculiar to it, and rarely absent from it, “ the want of water,” for the wondrous man here spoken of is promised to be “ as rivers of water in a dry place.” The wilderness is especially dry. What an expressive emblem, then, is thirst of the desire of the soul after Christ! 4. The last peril of the wilderness here mentioned is the wearisomeness of the way. What poetry and beauty there are in the expression, “ a weary land” ! As if the land itself were weary, weary of its own wearisomeness, weary of being such an uncultivated waste, and of wearing out the lives of so many travellers. One main, perhaps the chief, element of the weariness of the desert is the unclouded sun, ever darting his beams down upon it. What does the sun here, then, represent? Temptation. II. THE HIDING-PLACE AND COVERT--the refreshment and shade which the Lord has provided for these travellers in the Son of His love. 1. “ A hiding-place from the wind.” This wind we have explained as the pestilential breath of sin. A hiding-place is wanted, lest it should destroy body and soul in hell. Where shall we find it? In the Law? That is going out of the wind into the storm. In self? That is the very thing we most want shelter from. Jesus is the hiding-place, the only hiding-place from sin and self. But three things we must know and experionce before we can enter into the beauty and blessedness of Jesus as a hiding place from the wind. (1) We must feel our need of such a shelter. (2) We must be brought to see the hiding-place which God has provided in the Son of His love. (3) Then follows the third step--the entering into the hiding-place. 2. But the same wondrous man is also “ a covert from the storm.” This we explained as referring to the law. How a shelter is needed from its condemnation and curse! Where is this refuge to be found? In Jesus. He has redeemed us from its curse. 3. From this springs the third character which Jesus sustains to the pilgrim in the wilderness. “ As rivers of water in a dry place.” How graciously does the blessed Spirit, by this figure, set forth the suitability of the Lord Jesus Christ to travellers in the wilderness. The Lord Jesus is spoken of as “ rivers of water.” The very thing in the desert which we need. In the wilder ness we do not want strong drink; that would only inflame the thirst, make the blood boil in the veins, and smite the frame with fever. As it toils through the desolate wastes of sand it is water that the fainting spirit wants. It is water--the well of water springing up into everlasting life--that is provided. The fulness of the Lord Jesus is not a rill, but a river; not only a river, but “ rivers.” 4. But the Lord Jesus is spoken of also as “ the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” He has been tempted in all points like as we are; but as the rock bears uninjured the beams of the hottest sun, and yet, by bearing them, shields in its recesses the wayworn pilgrim, so did Jesus, as man, bear the whole fury of Satanic temptations, and yet was as uninjured by them as the rock in the desert. And having borne them, He shields from their destructive power the tempted child of God who lies at His feet under the shadow of His embrace. III. THE OPENING OF THE EYES TO SEE AND THE OF THE EARS TO HEARKEN to the blessings thus promised. 1. “ The eyes of them that see shall not be dim.” Our text speaks rather of dimness than blindness. There is a difference between the two. The dead in sin are blind; the newly-quickened into life are dim. How true is this of the wilderness pilgrim! The breath of the pestilential wind, the thick clouds of the tempest, the hot and burning sand, and the glare of the mid-day sun, all blear and dim the eye. But the hidingplace from the wind, the covert from the tempest, the rivers of water, and the shady rock heal the dimness. 2. “ And the ears of them that hear shall hearken.” The persons spoken of in the text are not totally deaf, for they “ hear.” Yet there is a difference between hearing and hearkening--a difference almost analogous to that between the eyes being dim and seeing. To hearken implies faith and obedience. When the pilgrim in the wilderness reaches the hiding-place from the wind, and the covert from the tempest; when he drinks of the rivers of water, and lies under the shadow of the great rock, he not only hears but hearkens--believes, loves, and obeys. (J. C. Philpot.)Men as hiding-places from the wind The sandstorms of the desert margin have their counterparts in human history and society. Here also the victories of faith and effort are won painfully, and often, after a little time of security, are overswept by some blighting evil influence. Isaiah himself, St. Paul, Luther, Wesley, are examples of the rock-like men of history, who have withstood the storm, and made the good things of life--faith, hope, and charity--possible to others. Isaiah’ s bold stand against a disposition and a policy which would have made Israel the plaything of the greater nations around, preserved the national existence and made possible the great revival of religion which took place in the reign of Josiah. St. Paul’ s protest against the Judaisers saved the infant Church of Christ to be a worldwide faith instead of a feeble sect. Luther’ s great work of reformation broke one of the strongest currents of history--the dead set of things towards superstition and lifeless formalism. And when in England religious indifference and a cold, heartless scepticism lay on the land like a nightmare, it was the work of Wesley and his helpers which gave a new opportunity to Christian enterprise and fervour. The great value of these lives is not only in their own intrinsic nobleness and beauty; they make space for others. Thousands of hearts pining in secret for the opportunities of service, for the inspirations of faith and courage, gather to them, take shelter in their greatness, and are vitalised and transformed by their personal power. (W. B. Dalby.)The rock-like man Who is the rock-like man? 1. He is always a man of great strength of will. A purely natural quality? Yes; but one which is nourished on prayer and striving. 2. Another virtue of the rock-man is moral courage. He dares to do right when right-doing is dangerous, when it carries with it probabilities of loss and suffering. 3. But that which adds the crowning value to the true moral hero is that he is always a man of faith, i.e the unseen is real to him. He has many ways of realising the unseen, differing according to the age in which he lives, the influences which have moulded him, the manner and form in which the Divine revelation has come to him; but this one thing is of the essence of his life, whether he be a Socrates, a Marcus Aurelius, a St. Bernard, a Dante, or a Martin Luther-that he shall have felt and known that “ man’ s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth,” that “ man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (W. B. Dalby.)Rock-men It was said of one who even as a boy showed the promise of his later years, “ it was easy to be good when he came to the school.” A man may be a rock to his fellows at school, in the office, in the home life, in the world, wherever his influence falls, a fertilising shelter, a healing shade, an opposing barrier--the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. (W. C. E. Newbolt.)Christ’ s human sympathy Once when addressing children upon this text, I asked what word in it proved the sympathy of the Saviour. A boy, in his eagerness forgetting where he was, started to his feet, and, waving his right hand, made the whole church ring with, “ A man, a man.” (J. Wells, M. A.)Brotherhood in adversity I was one of five or six who, the other day, under a tree sought shelter from a passing shower. I noticed that, though strangers to one another, we seemed then more friendly than friends usually are. The storm gave us a sense of fellowship as well as of danger. The common deliverance from the common peril, trifling though it was, had power somehow, I thought, to awaken friendly feeling. The least easily suggests the greatest. There is a sad want of love in the world, but brotherly love would reign everywhere, if we only remembered that we are all fellow-travellers through the desert, that the same storms may any moment sweep down upon us, and that we have the same hidingplace in the man Christ Jesus. (J. Wells, M. A.)As rivers of water in a dry placeReligion a river This chapter is a prophetic photogram of a bright age that awaits this world. The dry places are unregenerated souls--souls scorched with the drought of sin, dusty and leafless, without any vestige of spiritual life or verdure. Without figure--a soul unrenewed by heavenly influence, is, in a moral sense, “ a dry place,” barren and unfruitful. What is the river that is to run through it, irrigate its barren districts, clothe it with living beauty, and enrich it with fruit? It is Christ’ s religion. Let the river then stand, not for objective Christianity, but for Christianity in the soul, for experimental godliness; and we have four ideas suggested concerning it. I. . So necessarily do we associate life with a river, that the ancients traced the universe to water as the first principle of all things. Life, in all its forms, follows in profusion the meandering course of rivers. Even all the races of men crowd to their banks and settle on their shores. The Euphrates made Babylon; the Tiber made Rome; and the Thames makes London. Water is life. “ Everything shall live whither the river cometh.” Religion, which, in one word, is supreme love to God in the soul, is life; it quickens, develops, and brings to fruition all the powers of our spiritual nature. II. MOTION. The river is not like the torpid pool or the stagnant lake, resting in the quiet of death. It is active, essentially and perpetually active. So with real godliness in the soul. It is in perpetual flow; it keeps all the powers of the soul in action. Thought is ever at work, gathering elements to feed the fire of devotion, and brighten the lamp of duty. The spirit is always abounding in the work of the Lord. III. . A river is an outflow--it has a fountain-head somewhere. It has no independent existence; there is a force that started it at first and feeds it every hour. A river is an emanation; so is true godliness in the soul. 1. There is a Divine fountain from which it emanates. What is its primal font? The love of God. This fountain lies far back in the awful depths of eternity. 2. There is a Divine channel through which it flows- Christ. 3. There is a Divine agent to let it into the heart. The Spirit of God does this in connection with means. IV. . In a river there is twofold progress. 1. Progress in its volume. As the river meanders on its way, it grows in bulk by the contributory streams that flow into it. At length it gets force enough to sweep everything before it and to give a character to the district. So with godliness in the soul. Holy currents of thought, sympathy, and purpose, deepen their channels and rise in the strength and majesty of their flow, as years and ages pass on. 2. Progress towards its destination. So with the godly soul. Godward it ever moves. (Homilist.)Christ the source of refreshment 1. Christ relieves His people from their feelings of dissatisfaction, inspired by the vanity of earthly things. 2. Christ may be described as the source of refreshment to His people, in consequence of the comforts He vouchsafes to them amidst the toils and sorrows of their Christian pilgrimage. (J. B. Patterson, M. A.)Rivers of water in a dry place I. As setting forth the benedictions which come to us through the incarnate God, LET US STUDY THE of rivers of water in a dry place. This means-- 1. Great excellence of blessing. A river is the fit emblem of very great benefits, for it is of the utmost value to the land through which it flows. 2. Abundance. Jesus is full of grace and truth. 3. Freshness. A pool is the same thing over again, and gradually it becomes a stagnant pond, breeding corrupt life and pestilential gases. A river is always the same, yet never the same; it is ever in its place, yet always moving on. We call our own beautiful river, “ Father Thames,” yet he wears no furrows on his brows, but leaps in all the freshness of youth. 4. Freeness. We cannot say this of all the rivers on earth, for men generally manage to claim the banks and shores, and the fisheries and water-powers. Yet rivers can scarcely be parcelled out, they refuse to become private property. See how freely the creatures approach the banks. 5. Constancy. Pools and cisterns dry up, but the river’ s song is-- Men may come and men may go, But I go on for ever. So is it with Jesus. The grace to pardon and the power to heal are not a spasmodic force in Him; they abide in Him evermore. 6. The text speaks of “ rivers,” which implies both variety and unity. 7. Force. Nothing is stronger than a river; it cuts its own way, and will not be hindered in its course. II. A SPECIAL which the text mentions. “ Rivers of water in a dry place.” In this country we do not value rivers so much because we have springs and wells in all our villages and hamlets; but in the country where Isaiah lived the land is parched and burnt up without rivers. When the man Christ Jesus came hither with blessings from God, He brought rivers into the dry place of our humanity. What a dry place your heart was by nature! Do not many of you find your outward circumstances very dry- places? III. THE LESSON from it all. 1. See the goings out of God s heart to man, and man’ s way of communing with God. Other rivers rise in small springs, and many tributaries combine to swell them, but the river I have been preaching about rises in full force from the throne of God. It is as great a river at its source as in its aftercourse. Whenever you stoop down to drink of the mercy which comes to you by Jesus Christ you are having fellowship with God, for what you drink comes direct from God Himself. 2. See what a misery it is that men should be perishing and dying of soul-thirst when there is this river so near. Millions of men know all about this river, and yet do not drink. 3. Let us learn, if we have any straitness, where it must lie. Our cup is small, but the river is not. 4. Is Christ a river? Then drink of Him, all of you. To be carried along on the surface of Christianity, like a man in a boat, is not enough, you must drink or die. 5. And if you have drunk of this stream, live near it. We read of Isaac, that he dwelt by the well. It is good to live hard by an inexhaustible spring. Commune with Christ, and get nearer to Him each day. 6. If Christ be like a river, let us, like the fishes, live in it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Infinite fulness in Christ I always feel very fidgety when theologians begin making calculations about the Lord Jesus. There used to be a very strong contention about particular redemption and general redemption, and though I confess myself to be to the very backbone a believer in Calvinistic doctrine, I never felt at home in such discussions. I can have nothing to do with calculating the value of the atonement of Christ. Appraisers and valuers are out of place here. Sirs, I would like to see you with your slates and pencils calculating the cubical contents of the Amazon: I would be pleased to see you sitting down and estimating the quantity of fluid in the Ganges, the Indus, and the Orinoco; but when you have done so, and summed up all the rivers of this earth, I will tell you that your task was only fit for schoolboys, and that you are not at the beginning of that arithmetic which can sum up the fulness of Christ, for in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. His merit, His power, His love, His grace, surpass all knowledge, and consequently all estimate. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Freeness of grace in Christ I took pleasure the other gay in seeing the cattle come to the river to drink. The cows sought out a sloping place, and then stood knee deep in the stream and drank and drank again t I thought of Behemoth, who trusted he could snuff up Jordan at a draught, they drank so heartily, and no one said them nay, or measured out the draught. The dog, as he ran along, lapped eagerly, and no tax was demanded of him. The swan was free to plunge her long neck into the flood, and the swallow to touch the surface with its wing. To ox, and fly, and bird, and fish, and man, the river was alike free. So thou ox of a sinner, with thy great thirst, come and drink; and thou dog of a sinner, who thinkest thyself unworthy even of a drop of grace, yet come and drink. I read near one of our public ponds a notice, “ Nobody is allowed to wash dogs here.” That is right enough for a pond, but it would be quite needless for a river. In a river the foulest may bathe to his heart’ s content. The fact of its fulness creates s freeness which none may restrict. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Rivers of water in a dry place Isaiah’ s moral ideal is not exhausted in a single picture. The scene is changed, The desert is indeed a “ dry place” ; but so also is every place in Palestine when the hot season is reaching its close. The whole land is thirsting for the coming rain. The harsh, dry air shimmers over the rocks and dusty roads. The heavens are as brass. Every evening when the red sun sinks below the western horizon one can imagine him sullen and weary. The grass is no longer green, hut of a dull dead brown. In the vineyard the vine leaves hang sapless and limp, or drift wearily to the ground. The figs, the oranges, and the pomegranates have all been gathered; the last flower has withered upon its stem. The reservoirs are rapidly becoming exhausted; the diminished Jordan wanders sluggishly along its southward course; its tributary streams have long since ceased to run. The land is a “ dry and thirsty land, where no water is.” But by-and-by the watchers on Carmel see the light clouds rising out of the Great Sea. Soon the heavens are overspread, and the first heavy drops begin to fall. The rain comes at length in sheets, in torrents. The water-courses fill as by magic. Kedron, Cherith, Kishon, and Jabbok are now no longer mere names, but “ rivers of water in a dry place.” The change wrought in a few days is wonderful. The hot earth drinks in the living stream, and gives it out again in life, abundant, exuberant. Everywhere the grass grows green, the fields are carpeted with flowers. Soon the orange trees mingle the silver of their blossoms with the golden glow of their fruitage, and the dark leaves of the oleanders are relieved by the rich red or snowy white of their flowers. The air is clear and the horizon luminous. It is a land of rejoicing now; the song of the birds is heard around, on high, fitting accompaniment to the sounds of happy labour--labour which will soon result in the abundance of vintage and harvest, when Palestine shall literally be “ a land flowing with milk and honey.” (W. B. Dalby.)The fertilising power of a gracious character Where is the life that answers to the comparison, “ as rivers of water in a dry place” ? Any life which is rich in the softer virtues--unselfishness, gentleness, purity, patience, charity. There are some people whose natures overflow in blessing. To have known them is an education m morals and religion. They are strong: they have will, courage--especially the courage which endures; they have a lofty faith. But these are not the things which most impress you in them. Their sphere, it may be, is a narrow one; their gifts of the quiet, homely order. It is not so much what they say or do, it is what they are, that so penetrates you with a sense of sweetness, graciousness, and charm. They are women with no particular idea that they have a “ mission.” Or they are men of quiet, self-contained nature, very high-principled, though they never tell you so; of sensitive honour, though they never call attention to the fact. When trouble comes, they meet it calmly; loss and sorrow are to them merely experiences which profit to the increase of their hopefulness. If you make demands upon their patience, upon their self-sacrifice, they are ready to endure hardness, to go all lengths to succour any brother human being broken by the world. Their lives are lovely and pleasant in themselves, fruitful in blessing to others. It is said of the late Clerk Maxwell, the great natural philosopher, that “ he made faith in goodness easy to other men.” You never heard of him as a public advocate of religion or philanthropy. His life was absorbed in what are called “ secular studies,” yet the character rang the true note of Christian purity and graciousness. “ Rivers of water in a dry place” : that is a very affluent description of these quiet lives; but not any too much so, for without them the work of the great moral reformer would be in vain. Each type has its place and power; each is needed for the work of God in the world. (W. B. Dalby.)Shelter and refreshment in Christ During the Crimean War a bombshell was fired from the fortifications of Sebastopol by the Russians, which buried itself in the earth, and burst on the side of the hill on which the British troops were encamped. Strange to say, immediately from the ragged hole which it made in the ground came out a copious stream of clear, cold water. The shell had tapped a hidden fountain in the dry and thirsty land, and broken the rocky cover which hid it. And thus, in a most extraordinary fashion, the British soldiers, who were complaining of thirst, and had great difficulty in getting water, had their want supplied; and the enemy’ s shot that was meant for their destruction, proved their salvation. And so the wounds inflicted by your sins upon the Rock of Ages, not only produced a place of safety for you, but also opened up a fountain of refreshment in it. And a Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is your hiding-place from the wind, and your covert from the tempest--the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, and rivers of water in a dry place. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)As the shadow of a great rock in a weary landComfort in Christ This is the agreeable truth to be illustrated: that saints may always find comfort in Christ in this wearisome world. I. THIS WORLD IS TO SAINTS. Their treasure is in heaven, and they are only passing through the world to take possession of it. 1. This is a laborious world. “ All things are full of labour.” Employment was originally enjoined upon man. But since the apostasy servile labour has become a burden. 2. This is a troublesome world. Trouble attends every stage and condition of life. 3. This is a dark world. What is past, what is present, as well as what is to come, lies involved in darkness. Good men are often weary of conjectures, and despond under the darkness of Divine dispensations. 4. This is a sinful world. II. WHEN SAINTS ARE WEARY OF THE WORLD THEY MAY FIND COMFORT IN CHRIST. They are then prepared to receive comfort; and Christ is always ready to bestow comfort upon those who are prepared for it. In particular-- 1. They may always find compassion in Christ, which is a source of comfort. Christ has gone through the heat and cold, the storms and tempests, the labours and troubles of this world. He knows what it is to be faint and weary. He knows the heart of a pilgrim and stranger. And He has the tenderest compassion for His friends in distress or want. 2. Weary saints may find comfort in the intercession of Christ. 3. When saints are weary of the world, they may always find comfort in the strength of Christ. 4. They may find comfort in the government of Christ. Since Christ has the government of all things in His hands, His people may safely confide in His wisdom, power, and compassion to defend His own cause and repel every weapon formed against it. 5. They may find comfort in the promises of Christ. Improvement 1. May the friends of Christ always find comfort in Him when they are weary of the world? Hence we may see the reason why He forbids them to be conformed to it, or seek to derive their supreme happiness from it. 2. If those who are weary of the world may find comfort in Christ, then the more they become weary of the world, the better they are prepared to enjoy His promised peace and comfort. 3. If Christians who are weary of the world may always find rest and comfort in Christ, then they may enjoy more happiness than sinners do, even in this life. 4. If saints, when weary of the world, find comfort in Christ, then we may readily believe that those who have lived in the darkest times, met with the greatest troubles, and experienced the severest trials, have often arrived at the greatest degrees of holiness and happiness in the present life. 5. Since all real saints who are weary of the world may always find rest in Christ, they have no reason to murmur and complain under any of the troubles and afflictions in which they are involved. 6. Since all true believers may always find rest in Christ, when they are weary of the world, they have no more reason to be anxious about future, than to be impatient under present, troubles and trials. 7. Since saints may find rest in Christ when they are weary of the world, we may easily account for their being sometimes stronger and sometimes weaker than other men in adversity. 8. Since weak and weary saints may always find rest in Christ, they have a much brighter prospect before them than sinners. (N. Emmons, D. D.)Beneficent interposition A traveller, recently returned from Africa, relates that one day, overcome by intense heat, he fell asleep on the baked earth, but on awaking had the sensation of freshness, and found it was caused by the thoughtfulness of his attendants, who were standing around him, receiving upon themselves the fierce glare, and sheltering his recumbent body from the ardent rays of a vertical sun. In truth, the whole world rests in the shadow of Him who stands between us and the consuming fire of outraged law, and in virtue of His interposition a thousand blessings are ours. “ A man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind,” &c. (W. L. Watkinson.)Jesus the Rock Of Jesus, the believer can truly say that life on this side of Him is very different from life on that. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)An emblem of our gracious God The rock and its shadow. Look at it! It is the mingling of all that is most massive and immovable with all that is gentlest and tenderest. The rock going down to the very depths of the solid world, rooted and grounded, it is the very figure of all that is enduring and abiding. Yet its shadow is a thing almost spiritual; noiseless in its fall, it creeps as if it feared to disturb those whom it has lulled to rest, like a mother who fears to stir lest she awaken the little one that she has hushed to sleep. The shadow--is it not the perfection of gentleness?. The breeze whispers of its coming and grows boisterously playful sometimes; but the shadow will not add a burden to the flower bell. The rock and its shadow--it is power and pity. It is the fit emblem of our God and Father. Thegreat Creator of heaven and earth, from everlasting to everlasting He is God--yet how gracious and pitiful is He, how gentle! (M. G. Pearse.)Weariness in life O! the weariness felt by us all, of plod, plod, plodding across the sand! That fatal monotony into which every man’ s life stiffens, as far as outward circumstances, outward joys and pleasures go! the depressing influence of custom which takes the edge off all gladness and adds a burden to every duty! the weariness of all that tugging up the hill, of all that collar-work which we have to do! (A. Maclaren, D. D.)A many-sided Christ Applying the language of the whole verse to the Lord Jesus Christ, the King in Zion, we are struck with the number of the metaphors. He is not merely a hiding-place, and a covert, and a river, but He is a shadow of a great rock. Yes, if we attempt to set forth our Lord’ s glories by earthly analogies, we shall need a host of them, for no one can set Him forth to perfection, each one has some deficiency, and even altogether they are insufficient to display all His loveliness. It is very pleasant to see that our Beloved is such a manysided Christ, that from all points of view He is so admirable, and that He is supremely precious in so many different ways, for we have so many and so varied needs, and our circumstances are so continually changing, and the incessant cravings of our spirit are so constantly taking fresh turns. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 32:3-4 The eyes of them that see shall not be dim Four tests of character The whole of this chapter refers to the state of the world during the time of the millennium. The happiness which shall be the lot of God’ s children in that period will be only an increase of our present state of happiness and holiness. Therefore this passage may be fairly taken as furnishing tests of our conversion at the present time. I. There are to be hereafter CLEAR VIEWS. If we are converted, we have clearer views than we once had. II. The second test is, THE HEARING EAR There is a great difference in the manner in which persons listen to the Word of God. III. There will be . It forms part of the promise of God that His people shall be taught of Him. And what is it they are taught? They are taught to see the excellence of the person of Christ Jesus their Saviour. IV. There shall be BOLD OF JESUS, for “ the tongue of the stammerers,” &c. Can you say your character will bear these tests? (M. Villiers, M. A.) Isaiah 32:5 The vile person shall be no more called liberal Vile person (Hebrews, nabal):--Compare 1 Samuel 25:1-44. (A. B.Davidson, LL. D.)The conventional abuse of moral terms “ Liberal” and “ bountiful” were conventional names. The Hebrew word for “ liberal” originally meant exactly that--open-hearted, generous, magnanimous. In the East it is the character which, above all, they call princely. So, like our words “ noble” and “ nobility,” it became a term of rank--“ lord” or “ prince” --and was often applied to men who were not at all great-hearted, but the very opposite: even to the “ vile person.” “ Vile person” is literally the “ faded,” or the “ exhausted,” whether mentally or morally--the last kind of character that would be princely. The other conventional term used by Isaiah refers to wealth, rather than rank. The Hebrew for “ bountiful” literally means “ abundant” --a man blessed with plenty--and is used in the Old Testament both for the rich and the fortunate. Its nearest English equivalent is, perhaps, “ the successful man.” To this, Isaiah fitly opposes a name, wrongly rendered in our version “ churl,” but corrected in the margin to “ crafty” --the fraudulent, the knave. When moral discrimination comes, says Isaiah, men will not apply the term “ princely” to “ worn-out” characters, nor grant them the social respect implied by the term. They will not call the “ fraudulent” the “ fortunate,” nor canonise him as successful who has gotten his wealth by underhand means. “ The worthless character shall no more be called princely, nor the knave hailed as the successful.” But men’ s characters shall stand out true in their actions, and by their fruits ye shall know them. In those magic days the heart shall come to the lips, and its effects be unmistakable. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.) Isaiah 32:6-7 For the vile person will speak villany The outer life according to the inner A vile person and a churl will do mischief; and the more if he be preferred, and have power in his hand. His honours will make him worse, and not better. See the character of these base, ill-conditioned men. 1. They are always plotting some unjust thing or other; designing ill either to particular persons or to the public, and contriving how to bring it about; and so many silly piques they have to gratify, and mean revenges, that there appears not in them the least spark of generosity. Observe, there is the work of the heart, as well as the work of the hands. As thoughts are words to God, so designs are works in His account. See what pains sinners take in sin; they labour it, their hearts are intent upon it, and with a great deal of art and application they work iniquity. They devise wicked devices with all the subtlety of the old serpent. 2. They carry on their plots by trick and dissimulation. When they are meditating iniquity, they practise hypocrisy, feign themselves just men. The most abominable mischiefs shall be disguised with the most plausible pretences of devotion to God, regard to man, and concern for some common good. Those are the vilest of men that intend the worst mischief when they speak fair. 3. They speak villany. When they are in a passion, you will see what they are by the base, ill language they give to those about them, which no way becomes men of rank and honour. Or, in giving verdict or judgment, they villainously put false colours upon things to pervert justice. 4. They affront God, who is a righteous God and loveth righteousness. They utter error against the Lord, and therein they practise profaneness. They give an unjust sentence, and then profanely make use of the name of God for the ratification of it. Nothing can be more impudently done against God than to patronise wickedness with His name. 5. They abuse mankind, those particularly whom they are bound to protect and relieve. 6. These churls and vile persons have always ill instruments about them, that are ready to serve their villainous purposes--“ the instruments of the churl are evil.” (M. Henry.) Isaiah 32:8 The liberal deviseth liberal things Liberality, natural and gracious The liberal man is one who is generous and benevolent in his feelings--a man of large views and public spirit--one far above covetousness and selfseeking--ever desirous to promote the welfare of his country, and the best interests of his fellowmen. 1. There is a certain kind of liberality which may be considered natural and constitutional. Some there are who, from their earliest days, evince a benevolent and generous disposition. The liberality which is natural will be found to operate chiefly, if not exclusively, in promoting the temporal welfare of mankind. And in this department of philanthropy the labours of such are often entitled to highest commendation. But such rarely evince any interest about the precious undying soul, and the eternity towards which we are all so rapidly hastening. 2. The person described in the text, we may well suppose, is indebted to a higher source than himself for a mind so enlightened and a heart so enlarged. As water cannot rise higher than the fountain, so man cannot in himself develop a character higher than he has inherited. There are some feelings of natural amiability which have survived the ruin of the fall. These may, along with certain external causes, form a character in which there is much to admire and love. But just as, to borrow the words of a great writer, “ all the complexional varieties of the human countenance, from exquisite beauty to revolting deformity, have the one universal attribute of decay, so, amid all the varieties of human character, from the most lovely to the most hideous, there is a heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” There is a constant tendency In the world to overlook the agency of God s Spirit, and to put to the credit of something human--such as good education, or good example, or sound philosophy--what, in reality, is the fruit of the Spirit.(W. Runciman.)The liberal man I. THE OF THE LIBERAL MAN. “ He deviseth liberal things.” It is not said he doeth liberal things. This is implied. If he has the means, he has the heart and the will to practise large and wide liberality. There is a far greater expenditure both of mind and labour in devising, than in doing liberal things. It is an easy thing for one who has abundant wealth to give largely in aid of any scheme of philanthropy. But to originate and carry forward any plan for the improvement of mankind, requires much wisdom, and energy, and patience, and benevolence. The one is liberal; the other directs and stimulates the liberality of others. The one is as the hand, the other the mainspring of the watch. Of the multitude who cheerfully give, how few have the capacity to devise! And one intelligent head, conjoined with a benevolent heart, can open the purses of a whole community. II. THE OF THE LIBERAL MAN. “ By liberal things shall he stand” ; or, as rendered in the margin, “ shall he be established.” This statement does not mean that there is anything about the most enlightened and generous liberality which has anything meritorious, and which in any way is the procuring cause of God’ s favour. 1. The possession of this beauteous character is a clear indication of possessing God’ s favour, and an important means of preserving that privilege. 2. A liberal man is, by liberal things, established in the estimation of the wise and good. 3. Devotion to the good of others establishes and secures much happiness to the liberal man. The greater the outgoing of benevolence, the greater the influx of peace. (W. Runciman.)Liberality The picture drawn has a twofold aspect. I. THE OF . 1. The liberal man is he whose mind has been freed and enlarged by the truth of the Gospel. You cannot make a man liberal so long as a violent craving for more sways his heart; neither will a man be liberal, though he may count himself rich, if he disintegrate himself from the great community of which he is a member. We are made free indeed by the Son when we see that all things are ours, and that it is ours also to fulfil our mission as part of that all of which God is the sum and substance. 2. The liberal man is he whose mind premeditates acts of liberality--“ he deviseth liberal things.” There are instincts of pity and charity in human nature which may be brought into accidental action. There are moments of weakness which make the miser even to relax his hold of his hoardings. Many are terrified by the approach of death to make large bequests. There are others who are naturally tender-hearted, and they give alms most feelingly, but not from thought. There are some seasons of the year, such as Christmas-tide and harvest, when many make a small display of their charity. These are the once-a-year liberal folk. The text refers to a much higher class of liberality than such can possibly be--the liberality of thought. The goodness of God is not fitful or forced, but the outcome of His Fatherly care and providence. Liberality in thought emanates from the Spirit of Christ in us. 3. The liberal man is he whose acts are liberal. The subject is far wider than almsgiving. Our Sunday-school teachers and the leaders of religious and temperance movements; our tract distributors, and those who visit the poor, the afflicted, the dying, and the sinful--are greater benefactors than those who can spare silver and gold. Alexander gave, not according to the merit of the man, but according to the honour and resources of a king. Jesus gave. How much? Time, and energy, and wisdom, and sympathy, and power? Much more. He gave Himself. Let all yours be love-gifts. II. THE REFLEX OF . “ And by liberal things shall he be established.” There is a power in liberality which strengthens our faith and character. Whatever Christian work we engage in, the influence on ourselves is as great as on others. 1. The liberal man, by his liberality, cultivates the Spirit of Christ in himself. 2. The liberal man, by his liberality, increases the store of his wealth Proverbs 11:24). Many Christians are poor because they are not liberal. 3. The liberal man, by his liberality, obtains the approval of God. That approval we now receive in our consciences, but hereafter the judgment will demonstrate it, when the Judge will say, “ Well done, good and faithful servant.” 4. The liberal man, by his liberality, will conquer the hardness of the human heart. If we look forth to the mission field, liberality has been the vanguard of civilisation and religion. Or if we look nearer home, at the liberal changes which have been made in the punishment of criminals, we have ample proofs that crime has decreased in proportion as we have humanised jurisprudence. The highest note of liberality is this, “ For God so loved the world,” &c. (T. Davies, M. A.)Liberality and its reflex advantages I. THE SUBJECT, or person spoken of. II. THE ascribed to him. “ He deviseth liberal things.” 1. The act. “ He deviseth” --the bent and inclination of his mind is set this way. The word may denote two things. Either-- (1) Serious deliberation about it; or (2) readiness of mind to it. Such an one doth not stay till he be provoked or necessitated by others to such kinds of work. 2. The object. “ Liberal things,” such as become a person of a large and bountiful heart, redounding to the good of mankind. III. THE BENEFIT or advantage of it. “ By liberal things shall he stand.” Such persons shall not only be not ruined by their bounty, but shall hereby be confirmed and advanced in all kinds of prosperity. (Bp. J. Wilkins.)The virtue of liberality I. THE NATURE OF THIS VIRTUE: what it is and wherein it consists. 1. The several names whereby it is described--generosity, &c. The periphrastical descriptions of it are such as these,--Opening our hands Deuteronomy 15:8); drawing out our souls (Isaiah 58:10);dispersing abroad (2 Corinthians 9:9); being enriched in everything to all bountifulness (2 Corinthians 9:11); to be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate (1 Timothy 6:18). 2. The nature of it. Extended to persons in a state of suffering and misery, it is styled mercy or pity. To persons in a condition of want it is styled alms or charity. 3. The qualifications or conditions required to the due exercise of it. (1) It must be done willingly, with spontaneity, with forwardness of mind 2 Corinthians 9:2). Not grudgingly, but cheerfully (verse 7). “ Thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest to thy brother” Deuteronomy 15:10). (2) It must be done freely, without expecting reward. “ Do good--expecting nothing again; freely you have received, freely give.” He that is liberal upon design may be styled mercenary. Such kind of gifts are not benevolence, but a bargain; not a dole, but a bait. That is a remarkable Proverbs 22:16), “ He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.” (3) It must be done readily, without delay (Proverbs 3:28). (4) Besides these several qualifications for the manner, it must likewise be done freely and liberally for the measure--according to our several abilities. ‘ Tis for a brother of low degree to give sparingly: they that are rich in this world must be rich in good works also. Goats’ hair and badgers’ skins may be a suitable gift for the people, and a mite for a poor widow; but the rich are to give purple, and gold, and jewels. And in this sense is that Scripture to be fulfilled, that “ to whom much is given, of them much shall be required.” 4. The opposites to it, which (as of all other moral virtues) are of two kinds--redundant, and deficient. (1) The exceeding extreme is styled prodigality, profuseness, riotousness, which observes neither the due manner nor measure in keeping or giving. (2) The deficient extreme is churlishness, tenacity, shutting up the bowels of compassion, being greedy of filthy lucre. It hath these particular characters given to it in Scripture; it is a kind of idolatry, inconsistent with religion. “ No man can serve God and mammon.” He that “ loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” It is the root of all evil, leading men into temptations and snares. It is hateful to men, amongst whom it will render a person vile and contemptible; and it is abominable to God Psalms 10:3). II. THE OF IT, or the grounds of our obligation to it from Scripture and reason. 1. Scripture proofs. (1) The precepts for it (Deuteronomy 15:7-8; Deuteronomy 15:10-11; Ec Matthew 5:42; Luke 6:33; 1 Timothy 6:18; Titus 3:8). (2) The commendations of it. That which we translate “ a liberal soul” Proverbs 11:25) in the Hebrew is “ the soul of blessing.” As the virtue of charity is frequently celebrated for one of the most excellent amongst all the rest, and set forth by many peculiar commendations as being better than sacrifice; the fulfilling of the law; the bond of perfectness; the great commandment; the royal law: so is bounty one of the top branches of charity. “ It is more blessed to give than to receive.” It is both the evidence and the ornament of our religion. It is the chief fruit whereby we are to judge of our sincerity. Men do vainly pretend to faith and religion, without the proof of such good works. Obadiah doth urge this to the prophet as an evidence of his fearing God, that he had been careful to relieve others in distress. And the centurion was for this reason styled a man of worth. “ Pure religion and undefiled,” is to abound in works of this nature, “ to visit the fatherless and the widow” (James 1:27). (3) The promises made to it. (4) The threats and judgments denounced upon the neglect of it. 2. The arguments from reason. (1) From equity. (a) In respect of God, who bestows upon us all that we have, and therefore may well expect that we should be ready to lay out some of it for His use, according to His appointment. (b) In respect of the poor, who by reason of their relation to us, and their need of us, may reasonably expect assistance from us. (c) In respect of ourselves. We can hope for nothing from God but upon the account of bounty. Now, the rules of congruity require that we should be as ready to show mercy to others as to expect it for ourselves. (2) Justice. In God s law, the not doing a kindness when we have a fitting occasion is counted injustice, and He will arraign us for the omission of such occasions. The apostle, having said (Romans 13:7), “ Render to all their dues,” subjoins in the next verses, “ Owe no man anything, but to love one another,” implying that, in the Scripture sense, charity is a debt, and the not paying of it an injustice. It is such a debt as we can never fully discharge, but though we are always paying it, yet we must still be in arrest whilst there shall remain any ability and occasion for our exercising it. (3) Advantage. “ By liberal things shall he stand.” III. . By way of-- 1. Doctrinal inference. 2. Practical inference. (Bp. J. Wilkins.)The advantages of liberality I. FOR THIS LIFE. It is the most effectual way both to improve and preserve our estates, and to render us honourable and amiable in the esteem of others. 1. For the increasing of our estates, the apostle compares it to sowing, which refers to a harvest. 2. For the preserving them safe. The Jews call alms by the name of salt, for its preserving power. It is laying up treasures in heaven, where rust cannot corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal. Saith the epigrammatist, “ A man can be sure only of that wealth which he hath given away.” II. FOR THE FUTURE LIFE. Works of beneficence are called by St. Paul, Θεμέλιον--the foundation of that reward we shall receive in the world to come (1 Timothy 6:19). (Bp. J. Wilkins.)Liberality I. THE . II. THE . III. THE . (J. Donne.)True liberality I. STATE THE TRUE NOTION OF . True liberality by no means intends profuseness, or a wasteful, thoughtless scattering of our substance, without judgment or economy. Neither is it consistent with the account the Scriptures give us of liberality, nor indeed with the laws of nature and reason, that a man should abound in acts of generosity to more remote objects, while he neglects those under his special care (Matthew 15:3 - 1 Ti 5:4; 1 Timothy 5:8; Galatians 6:10). But it is most of all inconsistent with the liberality recommended in the Word of God, that we should give that to others which is not our own; or distribute among the poor that which should pay our just debts. 1. By a liberal man, we are to understand a man of a kind, compassionate, benevolent disposition; one who observes, with admiration and delight, that profusion of bounty with which the great Creator of the world blesses the works of His hands; is truly thankful for the share he enjoys of it; and as he sees his “ heavenly Father makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust,” so he is charmed with the Divine pattern, and labours, according to his measure, to imitate it. 2. But his benevolence must, according to his ability, be put in practice. 3. His charity is very diffusive; indeed, it can bear no limits but such as are prescribed by Scripture and sound reason. The stranger must partake of it as well as those of his own country and kindred. 4. To finish the character of the truly liberal man, it is necessary that his disposition and practice should be founded in religious principles, and be the blessed fruit of the saving work of the Spirit upon his heart. II. THAT PART OF THE LIBERAL MAN’ S WHICH IS, IN A SPECIAL MANNER, IN THE TEXT. He “ deviseth liberal things.” It is commendable to have a readiness of soul to such works as these, when they are proposed and marked out to us by others. It is well to have a mind easily impressed with the condition of the indigent, and willing to submit to the dictates of conscience, the importunity of the necessitous, and the advice of good men. But the charitable character rises much higher when we devise liberal things ourselves. It supposes a heart greatly set on doing good. 1. The liberal man wisely manages his own affairs to this good end. 2. He employs all his wisdom and prudence in order to dispose of his bounty in the best manner and to the most advantageous purposes. He is so far from hiding his face from his brother who is in want, that he searches diligently to find him out. He will lay himself out in the service of every community to which he stands related, and will labour what in him lies to promote the true peace and welfare of the whole world. 3. He will also call in all proper assistance in this good work. He will consult about these things with such of his pious friends as have generous souls and good judgments. 4. The liberal man contrives how he shall diffuse and promote the spirit of liberality. 5. He persists in this course. III. SOME ACCOUNT OF THAT AND REWARD WHICH SHALL ATTEND THE LIBERAL MAN. “ By liberal things shall he stand.” 1. In some good degree in this life. (1) In the opinion and regard of mankind. (2) This temper and conduct are the most likely way both to secure and enlarge our estates, as well as give us the truest enjoyment of them. (3) This conduct will certainly afford him a pleasure in his own mind that cannot easily be described. (4) What is still more valuable, he shall be supported, maintained, and established by the liberal things of Divine grace. 2. What will crown all, is the blessedness which shall follow in the life to come. (Joseph Stennett.)Liberality I. THE TRUE SOURCE OF . II. THE OF THE LIBERAL. III. THE OF LIBERAL MEN. (A. Brandram, M. A.)The Christian liberal The name liberal comes from the Latin word liberalis, meaning free, open-handed, generous-hearted, and well-bred; it implies also a nature which acts according to its own desire, and yet is neither selfish nor narrow, being of pure mind and noble soul. 1. The genuine, Christ-inspired liberal loves freedom in the highest sense of the word. 2. He embraces other interests than his own. 3. He should be unselfish, broad, and catholic in his character. 4. To be liberal-natured after the standard of Christ is not so easy as it seems; it is the work of a life-time. (W. Birch.)Saving and giving He that locks up may be a good jailer, but he that gives out is His steward. The saver may be God’ s chest, the giver is God’ s right hand. (J. Donne.)Devising liberal things One of the most liberal and lavish givers to charitable objects said to a friend who spoke of his generosity, “ You mistake: I am not generous. I am by nature extremely avaricious: but when I was a young man I had sense enough to see how mean and belittling such a passion was, and I forced myself to give. At first, I declare to you, it was hard for me to part with a penny; but I persisted until the habit of liberality was formed. There is no yoke like that of habit. Now I like to give.” (W. Baxendale.)A liberal heart desired Sir Thomas Sutton, the founder of the Charter House, was one of the wealthiest merchants of his day. Fuller tells how he was overheard one day praying in his garden: “ Lord, Thou hast given me a large and liberal estate; give me also a heart to make use of it. (Tinling’ s Illustrations.) Isaiah 32:9 Rise up, ye women, that are at ease Female complacency reproved Isaiah turns aside abruptly from his main theme. His eye, we may suppose, was arrested by the spectacle of some women, sitting down perhaps at a little distance from where he stood, and testifying their indifference to his words. In chap. 3. it was their vanity and love of display which called forth the prophet’ s censure: here it is their complacency and unconcern. (Prof. S. B. Driver, D. D.) Isaiah 32:11 Be troubled, ye careless ones Besetting sins may be the defects of virtues The besetting sins of either sex are its virtues prostituted. A man’ s greatest temptations proceed from his strength; but the glory of the feminine nature is repose, and trust is the strength of the feminine character, in which very things, however, lies all the possibility of woman’ s degradation. (Prof g. A. Smith, D. D.)The careless sinner reproved I. I am to WITH THOSE WHO ARE IN THE OF AND THEIR SOULS. The following things are submitted to your consideration:-- 1. The importance of religion, which is neglected by you. 2. The beneficial proofs of the Divine agency which surround you. 3. Your personal obligations to God are neither few nor small. 4. The grand display of the love of God in giving His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, &c. 5. The certainty of judgment and a future state. II. We are now to ADDRESS THESE TO THE OF YOUTH, MANHOOD, AND AGE. (A. Shanks.)An alarm to the careless To be careless in temporal things is generally regarded as a very serious defect or offence. How much more so when one is careless in spiritual things! Yet this is characteristic of great numbers who hear the Gospel. Is there no cause for alarm? A careless attitude and habit towards God and Christ and salvation are-- 1. Unreasonable, 2. Hazardous. 3. God-provoking. (J. M. Sherwood.) Isaiah 32:13-19 Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers The outpouring of the Spirit As the communication of the Spirit is necessary to produce a reformation, so a large communication or outpouring of the Spirit is necessary to produce a public general reformation; such as may save a country on the brink of ruin, or recover one already laid desolate. Without this remedy, all other applications will be ineffectual; and the distempered body politic will languish more and more, tin it is at length dissolved. Until this outpouring of the Spirit, says the prophet, “ briers and thorns shall come up upon the land; and the houses of joy, the palaces, and towers, shall be heaps of ruins, dens for wild beasts, and pastures for flocks.” Until that blessed time come, no means can effectually repair a broken state, or repeople a desolate country. But when that blessed time comes, then what a glorious revelation--what a happy alteration follows! (Isaiah 32:15-19). (S. Davies, M. A.)The Holy Spirit in prophecy I. THE BLIGHT OF SIN. It is contrasted here with the beauty of holiness; and this contrast makes the deep gloom more apparent than if it were viewed by itself. II. THE DARK OUTLOOK which Isaiah beheld. There is gloom first, and then gladness--confusion first, then comfort--darkness first, then light. Sin brings suffering and sorrow, either in this world or in the world to come. III. THE . In proportion as the Church prays for, and expects, and receives the more abundant outpouring of the Spirit, the work of the world’ s conversion will proceed apace. We speak of a Pentecostal effusion; but the Church prays and waits for a yet more abundant outpouring: and, when it comes, the glory of the latter day will be fully realised. IV. THE BRIGHT FUTURE. As the result of the pouring out of the Spirit, “ the wilderness shall become a fruitful field.” It has been said that this part of the prophecy is “ luminous, rather than lucid; full of suffused, rather than distinct meanings.” This much, however, is clear, that the good fruits of the Spirit’ s outpouring will be both material and moral. (P. Mearns.) Isaiah 32:15-17 Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high Spiritual influences I. THERE IS IN WITH THE ECONOMY, THE OF ON MANKIND. 1. In what manner is the Spirit poured from on high? It cannot but be expected that there must be not a little of mystery on such a subject. Yet the information we possess is distinct and important. There was a distinct communication of this influence made to the apostles, which was accompanied by immediate and visible signs. But it was intended that this Spirit should influence the hearts of men in general: an arrangement was made, in the Divine goodness, by which the Gospel should be rendered powerful and effectual to produce great moral results in the hearts and on the lives of men. We speak of this influence as common and permanent. We pretend not to state how this Spirit comes down to influence the minds of men: “ the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.” But we do regard it as an essential principle, that the Spirit of God is poured out upon mankind; and we declare that to reject this doctrine is most perilous to the immortal soul! 2. For what purposes is the Spirit poured from on high? One effect of this influence on the minds of the apostles at first was a great and a public one; it was intended to endow them with those miraculous gifts and graces which were commensurate with the divinity of their claims--the truth of their mission--the importance of their object. But the more ordinary influences of the Spirit are still poured out, and are most important to effect the salvation of the soul. He is the Spirit of repentance--of faith--of power--of knowledge--of “ wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ” roof holiness--of comfort--of love--of anticipation. 3. To what extent is the Spirit poured from on high? It is evidently the design of God that there should be a very wide extension of this influence. 4. Under what necessity is the Spirit poured from on high? Excepting it were the case that such an arrangement had been made, in the mercy of God, for changing the state of mankind, there could have been no prospect of happiness on earth, or of everlasting glory hereafter. II. THE FACTS THE OF UPON MANKIND OUGHT TO PRODUCE ON OUR MINDS THE MOST EFFECTS. 1. We ought carefully to ascertain whether we have the communication of this influence of the Spirit. 2. Pray that there may be an outpouring of this communication. Pray for this gift for yourselves--for your families--for the Church of God--for the world. (James Parsons.)The pouring-out of the Spirit Whoever has paid any serious attention to religion must be convinced of his natural weakness and inability to fulfil even his own wishes and resolutions. It is to meet this undoubted fact of man’ s natural inability to do the will of God that the Divine influence of the Holy Spirit was arranged and promised. I. THE OF THE SPIRIT IN THE OF THE GOSPEL. The Bible shows us our dependence on God as Creator, Preserver, and Lord. 1. On the first page we find the creation, with all its wonders, recorded. “ The earth was without form, and void.” But the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters, and forthwith light and order proceeded, life appeared, the heavens and the earth, and all was very good. 2. Sin came and devastated the social world. The evil spirit of temptation was at work. 3. During the times of the prophets the limited range of the Spirit was felt and more favoured days proclaimed. 4. These promises were revived in the words of Christ, who more particularly entered into the offices and working of the Holy Ghost and its influence on the future Church as well as on the individual lives of Christians. On Him also the Spirit descended in a bodily form. He gives definite promises of the particular gift--promises which the disciples did not rightly apprehend. 5. In subsequent history all was made plain and clear. On the day of Pentecost was the great promise fully realised. 6. The apostles, in all their writings, enter fully into its power and influence. Do the converts need wisdom? The Father will give the Spirit of wisdom. Or, deliverance from corruption? The Spirit works in them to “ will and to do” the good pleasure. The distinguishing marks of a Christian are that he “ walks after the Spirit” ; is “ spiritually minded” ; that the Spirit dwells in a man as a Spirit of adoption, confidence, and love; while the apostle glories in tribulation “ because of the Holy Ghost,” and prays that the disciples may be “ filled with hope” by the power of the Holy Ghost. Thus we see the nature and office of the Spirit. II. ITS TO . All persons are divided into two classes. 1. Those who have no adequate apprehension of the nature or value of divine things. “ The natural man receiveth not the things of God, for they are foolishness unto him.” They are therefore ignorant for want of spiritual illumination. “ But,” continues the apostle, “ God hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” This reveals to us the knowledge of ourselves as ruined and lost. 2. But as there may be light without heat, so there may be knowledge without practice. The Word of God may be received with joy, but it may not take root in the soul. It is the glory of the Gospel that it not only inculcates what is right, but gives strength to perform it: it teaches what is evil, and helps to subdue that evil. All this is wrought by the Holy Ghost. (Homilist.)A national Pentecost I. THE IMPORT OF THESE WORDS. That the thought of Isaiah was national, and not individual, may easily be gathered from his opening words, and from the whole burden of his message. It is of a king he speaks, and of the effects of a righteous rule. The words of our text are especially addressed to women, and reveal the sad state of society as it was when Isaiah addressed it. There is no hope for the nation when its women are “ careless daughters,” and contemptible of holy things. Woman is the last bulwark of godliness. If women are lost to God, all is lost. Yet though the prophet’ s heart groans under the lamentable state of the women of his day, he sees a glad day coming, when the Spirit shall be so outpoured, that society will be purified. Upon the outpouring of the Spirit, three things are to take place. 1. There is to be a godly revolution. It may be silent and natural, but is to be very real. The very wilderness is to become a fruitful field. The desert is to blossom as the rose. If we study the prophecy of Joel, we see the signs are revolutionary. And no language employed by Carlyle in his French Revolution is more potent, more expressive. “ I will show wonders in the heaven and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke; the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood.” It is the recreation of the nation that the prophet has in his mind. Ezekiel’ s valley of dry bones is to be re-animated. The national identity as well as the national life is to be restored. 2. There is to be an outburst of new life. The wilderness is to blossom, the fruitful field is to become a forest. Mazzini must foster a “ Young Italy” to-day if he is to create a new Italy to-morrow. The Spirit generates new life. The visions of possibilities in the young, the fresh dreams of the old, all make for a new existence. 3. There is also to be a newly organised government. A king rules in righteousness. And even the wilderness, type of lawless oppression, is to be under a just government. Judgment shall rule in the wilderness. Righteousness is the basis of peace. Pascal says, “ Philosophy says, know thyself. Christianity says, know thy God.” That is all the difference between the maxims of the world and the new force that Pentecost created in the world. When men fall into right relationship with God, they will soon fall into right relations with one another. II. THE EFFECT OF THE OF THE HOLY GHOST. Pentecost was only a promise, a first-fruit, a miniature fulfilment of the prophet’ s great words. 1. There is in our prophecy a restoration of blessing. Acquainted as Isaiah was with vast reaches of arid desert, he sees it a fruitful field. Out of death life comes, and into barrenness, fruitfulness. 2. There is to be a multiplication of blessing. That vast, dreary stretch of desert in the East is to be as the Vale of Carmel, luxuriant and beautiful, and Carmel’ s valley is to be as precious as Lebanon’ s forest. And righteousness is to sway its sceptre over all. The effect of righteousness is to be quietness and assurance for ever. The Church of apostolic days was a beautiful miniature of still larger things, of richer spiritual results. 3. There is to be a social betterment for all. Wherever Christianity goes it uplifts the races. Unbelief may sneer at Christianity, but it still remains the greatest civilising force in the world. III. THINGS TO THE NEW ORDER. The Holy Spirit is to effect regeneration, by convicting men of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. By breathing into them a new life, and by Divine illumination. Three things are essential to a new kingdom. Power to create it, authority to govern it, a cause for its existence. Garibaldi found his cause in the degraded condition of his people. Jesus finds His cause not only in the lost condition of the human race, but also in the Father’ s eternal love and purpose. Christ is said to be seated at the right hand of power. That word power is the same as that from which we get dynamics. The very strength of power, a mighty force. Christ is at the right hand of Almighty power. There are certain powers in the world which we call forces; such as gravity, steam, hydraulics, liquid air, electricity. These forces operate along definite lines, just as surely as a train of railway carriages runs along the track of its lines of steel. It is said, “ Whenever you obey the law of power, the law of power obeys you.” Now, in fact, this is just what Peter says. The Holy Ghost is given “ to them that obey Him.” If the Holy Spirit is to use a man, work through and by a man, he must obey the laws of the Spirit. He must be conformed to God’ s will. Let me now quote to you some cases where men have been obedient to the Holy Spirit, and as a result have been filled with power from on high. In each case they have obeyed Christ’ s word--“ Tarry ye . . . until ye be endued with power from on high.” Jonathan Edwards, a quiet, strong intellect, strongly Calvinistic, whose influence in the world has been most mighty, says, “ I found from time to time an inward sweetness that would carry me away in my contemplations. This I know not how to express otherwise than as a calm, sweet abstraction of the soul from all the concerns of the world, and sometimes a kind of vision of being alone on the mountains, far from all mankind, sweetly conversing with Christ, and wrapped and swallowed up in God.” Then there is John Flavel, who one day journeying alone, had such concentration of mind, such ravishing tastes of heavenly joys, that he utterly lost sight and sense of this world, and for some hours knew no more where he was than if a deep sleep had fallen upon him in the night. Thus we see that these men wholly consecrated to God, obeying His will, placing themselves in direct communication with the Spirit of God, leaving their whole being open to the Spirit’ s operations, were filled with a Divine power that is inexpressible. And may we not thus lie open to His gracious incoming, and wait daily upon God “ until the Spirit be poured out upon us from on high” ? IV. THE NATURE OF THE SPIRIT’ S . The Holy Spirit’ s presence is seen in His conviction of the sinner. When He is among us, men realise their sinfulness, and cry unto God. (F. James.)Judgment and mercy Some time ago, amid a very heavy thunderstorm, I heard, between two of the heaviest peals, the carolling of a lark! It was a strange and welcome contrast. All around us the thunder was growling and roaring, but in one of the brief interludes there came this burst of bird-song. And all about this chapter one hears the growl of the threatening thunder. There is a gathering storm of judgment. The future is full of menace. And yet, in the midst of all the approaching terror, there sounds out this sweet little paean about fruitful fields, and righteous relationships, and peaceful homes, and happy, restful days. It was ever the way of this great prophet. The hard note of judgment was alternated with the softer note of mercy. The lark’ s song is frequently heard amid the thunder. (J. H.Jowett, M. A.)The Spirit poured out I. Here is A GREAT PROPHET THE OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD. That in itself would be interesting, but it is rendered doubly so by the fact that-- II. HE TO NAME THE RESULTS WHICH WOULD FOLLOW THE (Isaiah 32:15-17). (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)Results of the outpouring of the Spirit Here is the problem: If the Spirit of God were to be poured out upon a nation, what would happen? 1. The unfolding of creation in accordance with the fullest design of God. “ The wilderness a fruitful field,” &c. Is that to be taken literally or only figuratively? Shall we interpret it as only meaning that the wilderness of meanness and niggardliness and greed shall break into the fruitful field of benevolence and philanthropy, or shall we interpret it according to its literal meaning that nature itself shall pass into larger bounteousness and perfection? I think the literal interpretation is the right one. I think Isaiah means just what he says, that the beautifying of humanity will elicit higher beauty in the world about us. Throughout the whole book you will find this doctrine taught, that the perfection of nature is involved in the redemption of men. Nature cannot put on all the fulness of her beautiful garments until man puts on the beauty of holiness. The unfolding of one awaits the evolution of the other. Scripture affirms that nature is held in bondage. She is fettered, and unable to realise the full glory of her design, and this because of the moral and spiritual bondage of man. This is not the teaching only of the prophet Isaiah. It is apostolic teaching. Have you ever paused at that profound word of the Apostle Paul, where he says that, “ the earnest expectation of creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God” ? English translation does not in any degree express the extraordinary force of the figure which the apostle employs. What is the figure? It is this. Paul represents nature standing bound, “ with uplifted head, scanning with longing eyes the horizon from which she looks for help, her hands stretched out to grasp and welcome the redemption into freedom and perfection which she yearns for and confidently expects.” That is the figure: creation, bound and imperfect, yearning and waiting for her redemption and perfection, which is to come through redeemed man. 2. Judgment and righteousness shall dwell among them as abiding guests. Righteousness shall “ dwell” there! It shall not be an occasional visitor, a spasmodic impulse, an inconstant and irregular desire. It shall dwell there as a permanent disposition. It shall not be a weak emotion. It shall be a mighty passion. When the Spirit of God is poured out upon a people, that people shall hunger for righteousness. You know how it is with mountain air. Down in the sultry valley we are sluggish and languid. We are indifferent about our food. We come to it as a custom; we take it as a task. But if we get up into the pure, strong air of the higher moorlands, our languor drops from us, and our appetite awakes, and we turn to our food with hunger, and take it with relish. 3. The creation of social peace. Put things right, and peace will come. Maladjustments always produce unrest in the physical and moral life. (J. H.Jowett, D. D.) Isaiah 32:17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace The true work of life I. THE NATURE OF TRUE LIFE WORK--the work of righteousness. What is righteous work? 1. Working by right law. God has established a law to regulate all action and motion throughout His empire. What is the law by which mind is to be regulated? The will of God, not expediency. Of expediency, we are no safe, no correct judges. (1) This will is revealed in nature. But the revelation is difficult to interpret. (2) It is revealed in Christ. There it can be clearly read and easily appreciated. He embodied the great moral code. 2. Working by a right law from a right motive. A mere conformity to the letter of the law, if it could be obtained, is not righteousness. We must keep the law not from the fear of hell, or the hope of heaven, but from a predominant affection for the Lawgiver. It is noteworthy that the work of righteousness is not a work to be limited to any department of action. Righteousness must run through all personal and social relationships. II. THE OF TRUE LIFE WORK. “ Peace.” This is true. 1. Of individuals. 2. Of families. 3. Of churches. 4. Of nations. Conclusion--Learn the transcendent worth of the Gospel. The great object of Christ’ s mission was to promote righteousness. His life was a revelation of righteousness, His death a demonstration of righteousness, His whole history one great motive to righteousness. This is the supreme want of humanity. Legislation, philosophy, poets, priesthoods, civilisations, have tried to supply it and have failed. Christ alone can establish righteousness. (Homilist.)Righteousness and peace Peace is not a root, but a fruit. It is not the beginning of a process, but its end. It is not the summary creation of an imperial fiat; it is the matured product of the spiritual order. We cannot command peace; we can only grow it. If we would have the reapings we must attend to certain sewings. To obtain peace we must plant righteousness. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)The spiritual order The first bugle-peal proclaims not the advent of peace but the enthronement of right! The herald withholds the word “ peace” until “ righteousness” is established. “ Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness!” That is the voice of the first trumpet, and it is only when certain great redemptions have been wrought, certain perversities corrected, certain degraded monarchies restored, certain pure and muscular dispositions recovered, that we hear the sound of the second trumpet, “ And the work of righteousness shall be peace,” &c. That is the expression of the spiritual order as contained in the teaching of the Divine Word. (J. H.Jowett, D. D.)Peace Peace is the general glow of health resulting from the inter-related life of many members, each of whom occupies his appointed place in the spiritual order, and is possessed by the spirit of equity and truth. Peace is the spirit of communion, the genius of co-operation, the cohesion of many members into one pure and indissoluble whole. Now there can be no cohesion among the unclean. Dirt is always divisive. (J. H. Jowett, D. D.)Righteousness and peace Before iniquity intruded King Arthur’ s court was whole, and the angel of peace abode in the temple. But when the iniquitous stole into the court, the rare communion was broken, and the angel of peace flew away into distant exile. (J. H. Jowett, D. D.)Maladjustments Maladjustments always produce unrest whether it be in the physical or moral life. You say, “ I cannot rest at night.” How is that? “ I have a great deal of pain.” Where? “ In this hand.” How are you treating it? “ Oh, I bathe it very frequently, and I use a little ointment.” But your finger is out of joint! There is a maladjustment. Your finger is not where God intended it to be. Your finger will have to be set right. Physical righteousness, physical rightness must be the first step to physical rest. The truth is analogous in the moral sphere. There are mal-adjustments there, disjointings there. (J. H.Jowell, D. D.)Goodness and joy “ Why are you singing?” a lady asked a little girl. “ Oh, I don’ t know, unless it is because I have tried to be good to-day,” was the answer. Isaiah 32:18-19 My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation The safety of believers in time of judgment I. THE COMING OF THE LORD. II. THE BLESSED MADE TO HIS SEEKING PEOPLE. III. THE PERIOD WHEN THESE SHALL HAVE THEIR . Read the first verse of this chapter, and what is there stated is enough to answer all inquiries upon this head. “ Behold, a king, &c.” I expect this when the King of righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ, reigns. The personal improvement of this subject consists-- 1. In directing you to the safety of believers. 2. In considering the conduct becoming those who have so high a destiny. Watch and pray. Pray for yourselves, pray for your country. Be valiant for the truth, continue in persevering faith. (J. Wilcox, M. A.)The peaceable habitation I. I believe I shall not be doing justice to the prospective design of all Old Testament truth, if I do not represent to you all peace--all true moral peace--as founded in and on, not only THE MADE BY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, but on the nature of that atonement. “ The peaceable habitation,” in which only we have “ a sure dwelling,” and “ a quiet resting-place,” is made of the wood of the Cross. II. Having said this, I must say, that no doubt “ the peaceable habitation” is found in MORAL CREATED WITHIN BY DIVINE GRACE. There is, first, the chamber of holiness. Oh, the sweet tranquillity of a holy life! This is the deep centre of peace. There is a hallowed chamber in the same palace of holy dispositions--a “ quiet habitation” --resignation to the Divine will. From these chambers we climb the stairs and rise higher. Trust in God’ s providence-this is the observatory; and like all observatories, it is high and clear. Other observatories boast that from them you may see the stars in the day-time; but from this, you may see the sun in the night-time! A quiet habitation indeed! Scripture speaks of a “ peace which passeth all understanding.” The grave is a hallowed cavern, a blessed hiding-place. (Paxton Hood.)A quiet life George Herbert, thinking of his former ambitions in the court of James I., in contrast with his quiet life of prayer and song, could write: “ I now look back upon my aspiring thoughts and think myself more happy than if I had attained what I then so ambitiously thirsted for.” Quiet resting-placesThe Christian in temporary retirement from business To speak of cessation from business, to urge retirement, will sound very strange and, perhaps, very ridiculous to some. “ What,” they exclaim, “ sacrifice opportunities of getting money? To get what we can, and keep what we get, is our motto.” But, has it ever occurred to you that you may so pursue business as to destroy the power of doing it? Besides, if thou be getting the chief good, is getting all? Is there to be no enjoyment of it? And no use of it? But, the gain on which thou hast set thine heart, and which thou thinkest it a great mistake and weakness to forego in any measure, will not last long. Does it accord with reason to let thy nature be neglected for the sake of temporary possessions? I. LET US THOSE WHICH ARE ON THE IN THE MIDST OF SECULAR LIFE. 1. I shall omit the compulsory, and confine myself to the voluntary; and shall treat of these in relation rather to their ends than to their seasons. (1) The first end is health. This I put on the ground of duty. If a man kill himself, or if he deprive himself of some bodily organ, we pronounce him a grave offender. Why? Because he has no right to do it. He is not his own proprietor. A man may kill himself by excessive toil and care, just as well as by poison or the knife. And if he who maims his body is a sinner, is not he who destroys the vigour and elasticity of his powers, physical or mental? There is no law more clear and indubitable than that rest is necessary to health. And if this ordinance be violated, it will tell somewhere. (2) Enjoyment is another end. We were made for happiness, for various kinds of pleasurable sensations and emotion. Benevolence must contemplate that end. Now, he who gives himself to unremitting toil cannot enjoy the gifts of providence, as it is meant he should. He may have much pleasure in the very exercise of his faculties; but there is a pleasure in the calm contemplation of the Divine bounty, in the unbending and relaxation of the soul, and in the gratification of its varied tastes by the means afforded by success, which is impossible to him. He feasts at God’ s table, but it is a hurried and an unquiet meal; he rests on God’ s pillow, but it is a dreamy and disturbed slumber. He lives wholly without, and not within. He is like one who labours only in the sun, and never seeks the calm cool shade. The bow is kept bent till its spring is lost. He obtains a portion, but does not “ rejoice in it.” He holds property, but does not possess it. He builds a house, but does not inhabit it. He has gorgeous apparel, but does not wear it. His connection with his lot is that of title and outward law, not of fresh and joyous interest. (3) The general cultivation of faculty is an end. Business requires and sharpens some faculties; and, in connection with other things, it may exercise a sanitary and invigorating influence upon many faculties. But when it is pursued, as it must be by him who does nothing else, it has but a limited influence for good, and a powerful influence for evil. It is well known, that the powers necessary to the greatest secular success are none of the highest, and that they may have but a small range. His only reading may be the “ city article” ; his only meditation, the state of the market; his only estimate, profit; his only aspiration, gain. He may have, in high perfection, the activity, the cunning, the quickness, the perseverance, which belong to many portions of the animal world, and be almost entirely destitute of the distinguishing endowments of a rational and moral being. Now, retirement from business should be sought in order that the mind be furnished and expanded with knowledge; that it be refined and elevated by literature; that noble affections be nourished by the study and contemplation of noble natures; that social sympathies be developed by intercourse; and that principles more lofty and disinterested than those which rule the world of commerce may be fed and fostered by thought and service. (4) Religion is an end of retirement. Devotional engagements have the same relation to active life that food has to exercise. The world is the place in which to exercise and apply spiritual principles, rather than the place in which to get or increase them. If exercise does strengthen, it cannot do so without truth and grace, to be obtained elsewhere. It is by the study of the book of life, by deep meditation on spiritual things, by intercourse with Christ, by earnest prayer, by severe self-examination, that we must minister to the principles and habits of holiness, that we must “ exercise ourselves unto godliness.” (5) Benevolent activity is an end of retirement. We may not stop at personal religion. Can it be doubted that the salvation of men would be largely promoted, if those Christians who give themselves wholly to secular life were to devote a portion of their time to good works, to intercourse with the sinful, to earnest endeavours to teach and warn them? Need I specify the family? By incessant work how is that defrauded! Need I mention the school; the neighbourhood; the Church, whose wants and spheres are neglected by the over-busy saint? 2. I must say a few words on the relations of retirement from business to business. (1) In retiring from business, do not take business with you. (2) Do not bring the spirit of business into your retirements. (3) Look at business from those points of view which are accessible only in retirement. We cannot properly estimate our pursuits, when actively engaged in them. It is often necessary to withdraw from an object in order to get a proper view of it; and we must come out of the world to see it clearly and fully. (4) Use your retirement, at least in part, with a view to your return to it. I do not mean that you should make your retirement a mere means of more effectually prosecuting worldly pursuits. I mean that you should seek for a counteracting influence to business. It may be that you have failed in the exercise of some moral virtue, that you have wronged some brother, that some particular sensibility is in danger of being injured, that some care is becoming engrossing and benumbing; then, let your retirement be, in part, directed to this matter. II. I did intend to speak on another point, THAT FROM WHICH IN A FINAL OF IT, IN A OF ITS ; not that which takes place at death, but that which takes place, though a voluntary act, in consequence of the obtainment of competency, on the growth of infirmities, or the influence of other circumstances. 1. This retirement may be a duty. It may be a duty in order that you may give place to others. It is a selfish thing for a man to go on getting as much as he can, simply because he can. But the duty becomes still plainer when considered in relation to a man’ s own well-being. If God has prospered secular diligence so that there is enough and to spare, it is a loud call to modes of activity and service that are impossible, to any great extent, in the heat and absorption of worldly pursuits. 2. When a Christian has retired from business, he should form some settled plan of life. (A. J. Morris.)“ Nothing to do!” I know that many find retirement a burden and a snare, and that many have returned to business after having left it, because they were oppressed by having nothing to do. But what a condemnation is this of their past life; what a rebuke of their treatment of the immortal mind! Nothing to do; and yet living in a world of mysteries! Nothing to do; and yet surrounded with the images and works of God! Nothing to do; and yet belonging to a race which has seen six thousand years, and to a system of redemption which has been a Divine gift and power for nearly two! Nothing to do; and yet the works of countless mighty dead extant, and full of glorious things and thoughts! Nothing to do; and yet possessing a nature which is the reflection of Deity, and the heir of immortality! Nothing to do; and yet the world in its sin and suffering calling for the utmost tenderness of human compassion, and the utmost activity of human energy. He who pleads that he has nothing to do after business is abandoned, what has he been doing in the long years devoted to its pursuits? (A. J. Morris.)Quiet resting places It is impossible to doubt that the prophet, now and again, in describing those nearer scenes obtains and reveals glimpses of a higher glory, and refreshes his readers and himself with anticipations of Messiah’ s times. The closing verses of the chapter are full of the Gospel, penetrated with the very spirit of evangelical peace. “ My people” seems to make the promise general, and to hold it out to us sealed with the “ yea and amen” which is attached to every promise of God. “ Shall dwell” seems to import some settled order of Divine procedure. If Solomon said in his day, “ all things are full of labour,” what would he say in ours? How fierce and keen are the conflicts of life! Where shall rest be found? Only in some of those quiet resting-places which God makes and keeps for His pilgrim people. They have soul-quietness for city strife. I. THE EVENING. A sacred time even in Eden was “ the cool of the day.” Isaac went out into the field to meditate “ at eventide.” Jesus often left His disciples about sundown, and wandered up among the Syrian hills to find some sequestered spot where He might feel himself alone in the full presence of God. The breeze that fanned the leaves of Paradise will touch our cheek, and make coolness at the close of our day, if we will but cease from care and sin. We read in the Scriptures that day and night are the “ ordinances” of God. Can anyone suppose that He has established them for only material ends? Surely a higher end is found in the trial, nurture, and purification of souls. To a devout soul the evening is like “ the secret place of the Most High.” It is “ the shadow of the Almighty.” It is a closet of which God builds the walls and shuts to the door. Think, then, as the evening comes round--for thought is the soul’ s rest--of the day that is gone with gratitude, for every hour of it has been overflowing with the goodness of God; with penitence, for you will easily discover that it has been a day of shortcomings and sins; with wisdom, aiming to understand it better than when you lived it; with tenderness and holy fear, as feeling how good and how grand a thing it is to be permitted to live on, and to hope to live better. Think of to-morrow which will come so soon, with its unknown and yet probable events--of the task that will await you then; of the persons who will be around you, of their words, their looks, their influence; of the peril you will have to brave; of the weakness you will feel; of the strength you will need; of the failure you fear, that by your thought and prayer it may be the less likely to come; and of the goodness which will certainly enrich and crown to-morrow as it has filled and now closes to-day. Think of the evening of life itself. Think any such thoughts with prayer and faith, and your soul must be lifted at least somewhat above the dust and drudgery of this vexing and down-dragging world. II. THE SABBATH. In the beginning God rested from His work, and blessed and hallowed the day for all time, and never has there been a Sabbath on earth in which men have not been entering into the very rest of God. III. THE CHANGE may be of such a character as to lead us at once into a “ quiet resting-place.” It may be a change of locality, or of occupation, or of condition. Any considerable providential change has something of the same character. An infant is born, and in his first sleep sheds through the house something of the solemnity of being. A child is “ recovered of his sickness,” in which the little pilgrim seemed to be wandering away from all your care and love. A son has gone out to a foreign land. A daughter has been married. Anything that breaks the continuity, that alters the relationships, that makes a pause in life--an open space in the forest of its toils and cares--anything of that kind is God’ s voice, saying, “ Here is relief for you. Enter this quiet resting-place which My hand has made.” Or, let the change, be from health to sickness, then the “ quiet resting-place” is made in the retirement of the chamber, or the “ stillness” of the bed. IV. THE GRAVE. “ There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master. There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest.” It is not our mere human fancy that invests the burial-place of the Christian dead with such a sacred charm, that wraps it as in the peace and silence of God. It is Christ who thus hallows the grave. He has been a sleeper there; He has taken the harshness, the disquietude, the terror away. V. HEAVEN is the quietest resting-place of all. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)God’ s thoughtful loving-kindness In eastern countries, where the habit of hospitality is stronger than with us, the traveller is sometimes surprised and regaled by much-needed but unexpected wayside comforts. Yonder husbandman who is now a-field at his work was here in the early morning to leave by the wayside that pitcher of water that the passing traveller might drink. This clump of trees which makes a thick and welcome “ shadow from the heat,” was planted by one who expected neither fame nor money for his toil, and who now lies in a nameless grave. Hands now mouldering in dust scooped out this cool seat in the rock. Some “ Father Jacob gave us this well after drinking thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle.” Travellers from the west are much affected by such instances of pure humanity and unselfish kindness. And yet these are but feeble types, mere dim shadows of Divine thoughtfulness and care. The heavenly benefactor comes down in preventing loving-kindness upon the earthly pathway of His people. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)True rest in persons; specially in God We need one great complemental truth--we do not find our true rest in places at all, but only in persons. The living soul must have a living portion. What were the fairest prospect if a man were condemned to behold it for ever alone? What even the higher things of this human life, the duties, and the interests, and the struggles, if there were not intermingled with them all a sense of the nearness of other human beings, and if there were not the continual reciprocal action of these affections and sympathies which make life so sacred and dear? But no human being, no assemblage of human beings, can meet the wants and fulfil the longings of even one human soul. Your heart is waiting, and aching while it waits, for an infinite sympathy, for an everlasting strength, for a grace that will cancel sin and restore purity, in one word, for the love of God; for the love of God in Christ. (A. Raleigh, D. D.) Isaiah 32:20 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters Times of peace should be improved The war is now over; Asher has been crushed like a serpent, and this sweet voice is heard when the enemy has been driven out of the land. Understand that times of peace are to be times of cultivation. We are not to be great only in war. (Jos. Parker, D. D.)Moral cultivation The allusion in this verse is supposed by some to be to pasturage, by others to tillage. Lowth follows Chardin in applying the words to the practice of treading the ground by the feet of cattle before planting rice; Henderson to the act of setting them at liberty from the rope with which they were tied by the foot. Knobel understands the verse as contrasting the condition of those who lived at liberty, on the seaside or by rivers, with theirs who were pent up and besieged in cities. Hitzig supposes a particular allusion to the case of those who had escaped with their possessions from Jerusalem. Hendewerk applies the verse to the happy external condition of the people in the days of the Messiah. Henderson says it beautifully exhibits the free and unrestrained exertions of the apostles and other missionaries in sowing the seed of the kingdom in every part of the world. Ewald explains it exclusively of moral cultivation, as implying that none can expect to reap good without diligently sowing it. Of all these explanations the last may be considered as approaching nearest to the truth, because it requires least to be supplied by the imagination. Taking the whole connection into view, the meaning of this last verse seems to be, that as great revolutions are to be expected, arising wholly or in part from moral causes, they alone are safe, for the present and the future, who with patient assiduity perform what is required; and provide, by the discharge of actual duty, for contingencies which can neither be escaped, nor provided for in any other manner. (J. A. Alexander.)Missionary operations in the Christian dispensation It has been granted to Isaiah to look into the future, and he foresaw the call of the Gentiles and the Christian dispensation. There he beheld the messengers of the Lord receiving their commission, “ Go ye and teach all nations” ; and he pronounced them to be blessed as compared with himself, sent to a single people, rebellious and gainsaying. This he expresses in metaphorical language, and by reference to a process of husbandry, or to the manner of sowing grain, particularly rice, which still prevails in Eastern countries, and with which the Israelites were familiar. The mode of proceeding is thus described:--The sowers cast their seed upon the waters, when, by the swelling of the river, the waters cover the land. Beasts of burden are employed to tread down the mud or slime, to render it capable of receiving the seed as it sinks. (W. F. Hook, D. D.)Sowing beside all waters There is spiritual seed to be sown. It is to be sown by the side of all waters. It is, however, sown in vain, unless the moral soil be cultivated in which it is designed to take root. I. THE NATURE OF THE SEED WE HAVE TO SOW. Our Lord and Master, when explaining the parable of the Sower and the seed to His disciples, saith, the seed is the Word o God. 1. The ministers of Christ are the sowers of the seed. 2. But they are not so exclusively. To sow the seed is in some measure the duty of all who name the name of Christ; of the parent especially to his child, and of every Christian in his daily conversation and walk. II. THE OF THE TIMES, AND OF OF THE OPENED TO US, FOR SOWING THE SEED. In every nation, and in every clime, it is indeed as much the farmer’ s duty to watch the seasons as it is to sow the seed. And in spiritual husbandry, this it is that distinguishes the sober-minded Christian from the mere fanatic. But this is not the only lesson that we are to deduce from our text. We are to sow beside all waters. III. THE UNDER WHICH THE SOWING OF IT RESULTS IN A MORAL, , AND HARVEST. God requires the spiritual seed to be sown; He requires the spiritual seed to take root in the heart, before the harvest of grace can be realised, or the fruit be produced. It is by meditation that we tread down the seed into the heart and soul. (W. F. Hook, D. D.)The blessedness of communicating the privileges of the Gospel to others I. Blessed are they in this work; for in acting thus THEY ARE OF GOD’ S MERCY TO MEN. II. Blessed are they, IN TO THE STATE OF WITHIN . III. May we not add, as another ground of blessedness, THE PRAYERS OF THOSE WHO ARE BROUGHT TO THE OF THE SAVIOUR BY EFFORTS? (H. Raikes, M. A.)The work of the evangel I. It is a SOWING WORK. Of all mere human works, this is-- 1. The most Divine. The seed, the soil, are all of God. 2. The most righteous. Statesmen, merchants, warriors, may question the rectitude of their work, but the agriculturist has no reason to doubt. 3. The most useful. The farmer feeds the world. 4. The most believing. The man who commits the precious grain to the earth has strong faith in the laws of nature. II. It is a BLESSED WORK. “ Blessed is he.” 1. He is blessed by the gratitude of society. All are indebted to his services. 2. He is blessed with the approval of his own conscience. He feels that in sowing he is doing his duty. 3. He is blessed by the smiles of his God. III. It is an WORK. “ All waters.” The meaning is, all well-watered places. The word “ beside” would be better translated “ upon.” Scatter seed upon all suitable spots. The evangel has unlimited scope for his operations. His field of labour is the world, and he is commanded to be instant in season and out of season. (Homilist.)The blessedness of sowing beside all waters I. They who wish to be useful should never forget the many favourable opportunities for sowing good seed on THE CLEAR AND WATERS OF . II. Another opportunity for scattering precious seed is on THE WATERS OF STRIFE. III. Another opportunity is upon THE AND MUDDY WATERS OF DOUBT AND . IV. If we are really anxious to do good in our day and generation, there will be times when WORDS OF COMFORT MAY BE SPOKEN TO SOULS ABOUT TO EMBARK UPON “ THE NARROW SEA” WHICH DIVIDES THIS WORLD FROM THE NEXT. (J. N. Norton.)Sowing beside all waters 1. Here is an assertion of that universal law that operates in the whole domain of human life--the law of consequent following precedent, of effect being the child of cause, of our sowing determining our reaping, of our character and conduct evolving our destiny. 2. “ Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters.” Why? Not because the sowing is itself an absolute benediction. Oftentimes it is attended with a great deal of pain, and labour, and anxiety, and sacrifice. It is the casting away of that which is in itself of great value. The sowing is blessed because it is a prophecy of the increase of that which we sow, the promise of the reward of our labour and our sacrifice. 3. We are very apt to say, “ I shall attain this and that, acquire this and that by the goodness of God.” We do well to say this. But we must not forget that the mercy and goodness of God alone will do nothing for us. It is God’ s mercy and goodness, plus our own will, energy, and conduct, that will determine our destiny, and evolve our circumstances, and ripen our harvests. 4. The skill of the farmer lies in his knowledge of the relation of his seed to the soil, to the season, and the atmosphere, and the conditions of the growth and development of the seed. The highest wisdom of life is the knowledge of the relation of conduct to character, and of character to destroy: the perception of the conditions under which h e s highest elements are perfected and its fruit-bearing qualities ripened. That is the mystic meaning Of the benediction of my text: there is the secret of the blessedness of every Sower. 5. Do we know what God’ s purpose in our life is? Along what lines would He have us develop? What does He wish human life to be? I would answer these questions first, and then show how the working of the human with the Divine fulfils the purposes and plans of God. I do not think that He wants us to go hungry or poorly clad in the biting cold; I do not think that we are fulfilling His purpose when we sigh over accidents that are traceable to human causes. It is anything but piety to sit down in poverty, rags, and dirt, and say, “ The will of the Lord be done.” His will is our wellbeing--body, soul, and spirit. I want to point out what lines of conduct will contribute to the forming of such a Character and the developing of such circumstances as God approves. I. I would speak of as fruit-bearing seed that ripens into a harvest of blessedness. I do not mean busyness in any realm of life that may present itself. What I mean is activity in righteous pursuits, in holy ambitions, in legitimate callings; activity in things that pertain to human improvement, human comfort and well-being; things that belong to the many phases of life’ s wondrous economy; things that tend to the uplifting of human lives, to the amelioration of human woes, to the lightening of human burdens, to the redeeming of human souls from tyranny, falsehood, and wrong. II. The next fruit-bearing quality of which I would speak is . There is a trite old saying, “ Never too late- to learn,” which in most lives has little or no practical application. Do not let learning end at the schoolroom, net yourself some task to learn that shall explain some of the mysteries of life to you. Go apart from the “ madding crowd’ s ignoble strife,” and there open the windows of your mind, till that “ light which never was on sea or land” shall flood it and make it luminous as with the sunshine of God. Every task you set yourself to learn, and learn it; every mystery that you make plain to yourself by processes of reasoning and study; every new fact that you gain by search and research in the domain of knowledge will not only make you wiser, but better; and, perhaps, after much pain and labour, you shall find the task ripening into a harvest that shall make the autumn of life golden. III. I would mention also THE OF HEALTH as that which will bear abundant fruitage in our happiness and well-being. “ A sound mind in a sound body” is doubtless God’ s will concerning us. And towards attaining that we can do more for ourselves than all the physicians in the world can do for us. Blessed is every man that sows his life’ s seeds in fertile places; he is promoting the Divine economy, he is carrying out the purposes of God on earth. (W. J. Hocking.)Sowing beside all waters I. THE HERE . Sowers. A sower implies seed. There is only one granary in which the living seed of the kingdom is treasured, namely, the Bible. 1. The true spiritual sower, having first of all received himself the seed, will manifest a real love for the work. He will go forth willingly, conscientiously, and lovingly, to scatter broadcast the precious treasure, not merely on well-cultivated patches of human soil, but “ beside all waters,” finding very often his chiefest joy in sowing the unlikeliest patches. 2. The true, spiritual sower will also have faith in his work. 3. He will not only have faith in the seed, but also in the soil. The farmer who does not believe the soil capable of producing fruit will certainly not waste time in its cultivation. If we did not believe that between every human heart and the Gospel seed there was such affinity that it could not help taking root therein, we should most certainly give up our toil. 4. The true, spiritual sower will often encounter difficulties in his work. 5. The spiritual sower is earth’ s truest philanthropist. II. OUR SPHERE OF . “ Beside all waters.” Wherever there is a solitary spot capable of receiving the good and living seed--whether at home or abroad, in dens of squalor or palaces of luxury and ease, in the crowded city or the rural village--we are commanded to go and plant it there. III. THE HERE . “ Blessed are they that sow beside all waters.” 1. The work itself is its own reward. 2. The spiritual sower enjoys the benediction of others. 3. He has the smile and benediction of Him in whose service he is engaged. (J. W.Atkinson.)Sowing beside all waters Isaiah ever had an eye to the golden age. In view of the successful issue of the coming struggle, he intimates the wisdom of going on with seed sowing. They are blessed who are not hindered by fear. May we not learn the wisdom of hopefulness? The man who believes in Divine faithfulness has every reason to be an optimist. This subject is capable of application in various ways. The optimism of Isaiah, Christ, Paul, and John needs cultivation. 1. Those who give any thought to the social problems of the age are met by many difficulties and discouragements. So much want to be relieved, so many wrongs to be righted. Pessimism says, “ Society is going to the dogs; let it go.” Optimism says, “ I’ ll save it if I can.” Present social inequalities and woes should not make us hopeless. Jehovah was more mighty than Sennacherib. He is more mighty than all the forces arrayed against true liberty. Having faith in God we may sow the seeds of social reform. 2. In evangelistic and missionary work a spirit of optimism is essential. With Divine promises of power and blessing we may hopefully sow. Concerning foreign missions, Pessimism says, “ It is a waste of life, money, energy” ; but the man whose faith in God is strong, points to the golden age when all shall know the Lord. 3. Considering our own life and experience this same hopefulness is essential. Is life worth living? Yes, if for no other reason because in it we may sow for a golden harvest. (T. S. Williams, M. A.)Selfishness in service Some one tells of a physician, who, at the beginning of his career, made a resolution that he would undertake no cases but those with which he was certain he could succeed. While this would mean the loss of a good deal of money, he shrewdly calculated on getting it back a hundredfold in the reputation of skill which such a course would bring him. The idea is wholly selfish. He preferred to let men, whom he might possibly have saved, die, rather than run the risk of having the brightness of his reputation dimmed. (Christian Endeavour.)Usefulness! Is there a word in our language which expresses more than that? What images of the good, the devoted, and the self-sacrificing does it not bring up vividly before us! We see Thomas Cranfield, the tailor, labouring among the bricklayers in the cause of Sunday schools; John Pounds, the cobbler, who founded ragged schools; Sarah Martin, the dressmaker of Yarmouth, the devoted visitor to the workhouse and the jail; and Thomas Dakin, the Greenwich pensioner and distributor of tracts. Among these, in the higher walks of life, we recognise Howard, the philanthropist, over whose grave, in Russia, was engraved the motto which kings might envy, “ He lived for others” ; Clarkson, Wilberforce, and a host of honoured statesmen; the Thorntons, and a multitude of other merchant princes; Washington and Wellington, and Havelock and Scott, who, while they were leaders in the armies of this world, were proud to be humble privates in the armies of the Lord of hosts. (J. N. Norton.)Where shall we sow? “ Beside all waters.” Some waters are clear and sparkling, and the murmur of their ripple gladdens the ear, sow there, of course. But there are turbid, angry waters, fouled and polluted, sow beside them also. Into the bright, sunny, prattling lives of the little ones cast the precious seed, but also, all the more lovingly and skifully, when the swollen torrents of sin rush past. God is able to make it grow and take root there; and also beside the stagnant pools of stolid atheism. “ Thou canst not tell whether shall prosper, either this or that.” (G. Soltau.)The catechism Many striking incidents are related of good “ Father Nash,” one of the early heralds of the Cross in the more destitute and neglected regions of the “ Diocese of New York,” who has been made to figure with such effect in Fenimore Cooper’ s famous romance, The Pioneers. On a certain occasion, when a number of clergymen were assembled for some purpose, and conversation began to flag, one of them, who was almost too diligent a farmer for the good of the Church, entertained the company with an account of his agricultural operations, and, among other things, of his successful management of sheep. Father Nash, whose whole heart was devoted to his Heavenly Master’ s work, felt little interest in all this, and when the enthusiastic farmer-pastor turned to him and asked, “ What do you feed your lambs with?” the worthy missionary could not resist the temptation of administering a mild rebuke, and answered--“ With Catechism!” (J. N. Norton.)Tact in seed-sowing A young friend was invited to spend the evening with Dr and Mrs. Horace Bushnell. She was a girl of fine intelligence and character, but not at that time religious. When, therefore, she was invited to tea by Mrs. Bushnell, she accepted with considerable misgiving, lest the evening should be made the occasion of such exhortations as were then too commonly the only subject of ministerial intercourse with the unconverted. To her great relief, however, the time was spent in the pleasantest social intercourse, free from all remarks of a personal nature. Dr. B., of course, saw her safely home when the evening was over, and as the night was one of brilliant starlight, the talk on the way was naturally of astronomy, and of the law-abiding order of the universe. He spoke eloquently of the great harmony of the spheres, and of the perfect manner in which each little star fulfilled its destiny, and swung in the Divine order of its orbit. “ Sarah,” he said, turning to her with a winning smile, “ I want to see you in your place.” No other word turned the suggestion into a homily, and her quick intelligence was thrilled and won by a thought which seemed in that quiet hour to have dropped upon her from the skies. He had simply let the occasion speak its own thought. (Dr. Bushnell’ s Life.). Isaiah 33:1 Woe to thee that spoilest Isaiah 33:1-24 The most beautiful of Isaiah’ s discourse [in which] the long conflict of Israel’ s sin with Jehovah’ s righteousness is left behind, and the dark colours of present and past distress serve only as a foil to the assured felicity that is ready to dawn on Jehovah’ s land. (W. Robertson Smith, D. D.)Treacherous Assyria The course of Assyria was that of a treacherous dealer--no confidence whatever could be reposed in this people. They were born to spoil, and the moment they ceased spoiling they would be spoiled in turn. (B. Blake, B. D.)Aggravated sin The less provocation we have from men to do an ill thing, the more provocation we give to God by it. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 33:2O Lord, be gracious unto us An appropriate prayer They pray-- 1. For those that were employed in military services for them. “ Be Thou their arm every morning.” In our spiritual warfare our own hands are not sufficient for us, nor can we bring anything to pass unless God not only strengthen our arms (Genesis 49:24), but be Himself our arm. If God leave us to ourselves any morning we are undone; we must, therefore, every morning commit ourselves to Him, and go forth in His strength to do the work of the day in its day. 2. For the body of the people. “ Be Thou our salvation,” &c.,--ours that sit still, and do not venture into the high places of the field. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 33:6 Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times The advantages of Sunday Schools I. THE . IN THE ART OF READING WHICH THEY HAVE TO MANY WHO COULD NOT HAVE IT. II. THEY HAVE BEEN USEFUL IN THE OF THE ORDERS, AND IN A AND TO AND . III. THEY HAVE BEEN IN THE YOUNG FROM MANY CRIMES WHICH ARE OF THE PEACE AND ORDER OF SOCIETY. IV. The higher and more important effects which have resulted from these schools, IN A SPIRIT OF PIETY AND VIRTUE AMONG THEIR PUPILS. (J. Brown, D. D.)Christianity promotive of knowledge and of social well-being The general principle is, that wisdom or practical religion and knowledge are the best elements of the stability of any people,--the best defence of any nation,--and that irrespective of the difference between a nation under the ordinary providence of God, and one enjoying a theocracy. I. WISDOM AND . That Christianity promotes wisdom and knowledge we might conclude from facts which lie on the face of it, even before ascertaining the connection between the cause and the effect. We may assume Jesus Christ to be the living type of His own system, and He is the very impersonation of wisdom and knowledge. Then, wisdom and knowledge may be regarded as synonymous with practical Christianity. They are at least essential to its existence. We shall take them separately, and ascertain-- 1. How the Gospel of Christ promotes wisdom, or that practical religion of which the fear and love of God are the principles. The God whom the Bible reveals is the fit object of reverence and love. The mere manifestation of the Divine character, however, invested with every possible perfection, is not enough to rekindle the flame of piety in a fallen world. It is otherwise with holy beings. But in our case the revelation is made to a race of apostates, partially acquainted with God, but estranged from Him in heart and will. Christianity provides, in the great facts through which it conveys the knowledge of God, the means of reducing men to contrition and restoring them to love. The Gospel is adapted to convert the soul. Any scheme whereby you would regenerate must contain a provision of mercy. And thus far the Gospel is adapted to produce practical piety. But this is not enough. The Gospel reveals a most glorious expedient for the vindication of the law, for the manifestation of the Divine righteousness, and of the demerit of sin, while it offers a free and eternal pardon. It opens the door of hope to the guiltiest criminal, but by the mode of doing it, it impresses his mind with a sense of his sinfulness, it moves him to repentance, and inspires him with all the zeal to obey that can arise from his conscious obligation to Divine grace. 2. Christianity promotes knowledge. Christianity contains the only true system of Divine knowledge. But further, Christianity promotes general knowledge. It is itself a system of truth and not of error, a system of knowledge and not of ignorance, a system of intelligence and not a mere bodily ceremonial or a dark superstition. The very commission it has received from heaven is, “ Go and teach all nations.” Revealing God, it makes known the highest truths; and promotes and facilitates inquiry into every other. From this conviction we deduce principles which seem to possess all the simplicity of axioms. There cannot be any real contrariety between the doctrines of Christianity and the truths of reason or the facts of science. II. BY WISDOM AND , A PEOPLE. In support of the proposition before us, we might reason a fortiori Christianity, by promoting wisdom and knowledge, purifies and elevates society,--how much more will it establish or give the elements of perpetuity to society. Take society in any of its lowest states, and you will find Christianity an adequate power to raise it. For example, it is an acknowledged fact, that the Gospel makes men unfit for a state of slavery. If Christianity thus elevates, how much more will it establish! But what are the means of the stability of a nation--what the elements of perpetuity? Religion, virtue, freedom, and good order. (J. Kennedy.)National security and peace I. TRUE WHAT WOULD AND PEACE. II. WHILE WHAT WOULD BE IN PUBLIC LIFE, IT ALSO WHAT, IN OTHER , IS AND . III. It is drawn from AND . No argument is more valid or conclusive in confirmation of a fact. A single well-conducted experiment in philosophy may demonstrate the truth of a general principle; and, similarly, in morals and religion, the experience of a single nation, or the uniform experience of the ages, may attest the inutility or value of any particular theory or scheme. (T. S. Cartwright.)Christian knowledge the source of other excellent knowledge As Christianity introduced religious light, so did that light become the parent of every other kind of useful and excellent knowledge. When once the powers of the human mind are brought into acquaintance with evangelical truth, they acquire vigour, a strength and expansion in their exercise before unknown. And hence it is that the knowledge which the revealed truth of God communicates will be found in all ages to produce that discipline of mind which ministers so much to its strength, and places it in the most favourable circumstances for the discovery and acquisition of truth generally. So little opposition, in fact, is there between Christianity and true science, that all the most important discoveries of a scientific nature, all the knowledge whence nations derive power and refinement, have occurred in Christian nations, and Christian nations only. (R. Watson.)The importance of religious knowledge There appears no real connection between mere scientific knowledge and moral influence; the opinion that such a connection exists is false in its foundations and injurious in practice. No moral influence is exerted, except by the truths revealed to us in the Scriptures. I. I AM TO MAKE AN APPEAL TO THE OF , in support of the proposition that we have no right to expect any moral improvement from the influence of any kind of knowledge except that of Divine truth. It ought to be stated, that this sacred Book is altogether in favour of the cultivation of all useful knowledge, and its general circulation through society. 1. We turn to the Old Testament. We are there expressly required to view religion as wisdom. “ Wisdom,” we are told, “ is the principal thing” ; and it is urged upon us that we “ get wisdom,” yea, that “ with all our getting, we get understanding” When the attainment of wisdom is thus inculcated and enjoined, we may well inquire, “ What kind of wisdom is it to which so many moral effects are ascribed?” It is not to scientific wisdom, but to moral wisdom: to the knowledge of God and His will; to the knowledge of our own obligations and duties; to the knowledge which applies to man as an accountable creature, destined to a future judgment; to the knowledge of the way in which man, as a sinner, may find pardon, and peace, and holiness from God, whom he has offended. All this is included in the scriptural idea of wisdom; and it is to this only that moral results are ascribed. 2. We find the same sentiment in the New Testament. Jesus Christ never drops a word from which it might be gathered that mere knowledge, knowledge of any and every kind, is sufficient to exert a moral influence on the mind and character. On the contrary, there are passages in which He represents it as operating to the hindrance of salvation. So that solemn declaration in Matthew: “ I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” So in the writings of the Apostles. The Gospel, which gives moral knowledge, they declare to be” the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; while of the wisdom of the world, so long tried among the heathen, they only declare, that “ the world by wisdom knew not God.” When St. Paul points to the injurious effects of “ philosophy and vain deceit,” he tells us that he means that which is “ after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of this world, and not after Christ.” Such philosophy could not be depended upon to conquer a single vice, or implant a single principle of virtue, and therefore he pronounces it to be but vain deceit, empty and powerless. II. Let us now consider THE MANNER BY WHICH TO PRODUCE THESE MORAL RESULTS. That such results are produced will appear-- 1. From the truths which it presents to the mind; God, &c. 2. The law of God presents a standard of duty, binding on the conscience; for there can be no authoritative standard of right and wrong except by revelation from God Himself, the supreme Lawgiver. 3. We have appealed to the Scriptures. Now, these assure us that, along with the truth of God, there goes an accompanying influence; the words that are spoken to you are “ spirit and life.” This is because the illuminations of the Holy Ghost go along with them. III. BY NO OTHER SPECIES OF THAN THAT WHICH WE HAVE BEEN CAN THIS MORAL BE EXERTED. 1. Though many seem to take for granted that, if we circulate knowledge, we improve society, it is nevertheless true that there are many kinds of knowledge which do not contribute to the improvement of morals. 2. All experience is against the supposition I am combating. 3. But let us even suppose that morals are taught. What then? I am aware that there are often some moral instructions added to systems of education; some moral precepts in which all will agree are, perhaps, even selected from the Book of God; still, if this Book be true, even such teaching must fail. This Book has its doctrines and promises, as well as its moral precepts; and its morals are connected most intimately both with its doctrines and promises. Man must be taught not only what is right, but why it is right; and he must be shown that he is bound to do it. The term “ duty” refers not merely to the action which is to be done, but to the obligation to do it. Take, then, the morality of the Bible away from that with which God has connected it, and you make it powerless. (R. Watson.)The education of the poor We seem to have here something like a prophetic sanction for the propagation of knowledge Isaiah, in speaking of the future prosperity of the Jewish empire, rests the stability of its fortunes, not upon wealth, nor extensive dominion, but directly upon knowledge. 1. The most common objection to the education of the lower orders of the community is, that the poor, proud of the distinction of learning, will not submit to the performance of those lower offices of life which are necessary to the well-being of a State. Our poorer brethren do not toil because they are ignorant; neither would they cease to toil because they were instructed; the fabric of human happiness God has placed upon much stronger foundations; they labour, because they cannot live without labour; this has ever been sufficient to stimulate, and to continue the energy of man, and will, and must ever stimulate it, and secure its continuance, while heaven and earth remain. 2. The next objection urged against the education of the poor is, that the most ignorant poor, in country villages, are the best; and that the poor of large towns, as they gain in intelligence, lose in character, and become corrupt as they become knowing; but the country poor, it should be remembered, are the fewest in number; they are not exposed to all those innumerable temptations which corrupt the populace of large towns; this, and not their ignorance, is the cause of their superior decency in morals and religion. 3. In considering the effects of educating the poor, we must not merely dwell upon the power, but upon the tendency which we have created to use that power aright; not merely ask if it is a good thing for the poor to read, but to read such books as are full of wise and useful advice. A mere instrument for acquiring knowledge may be used with equal success, either for a good or a bad purpose; but education never gives the instrument without teaching the proper method of using it, and without inspiring a strong desire to use it in that manner. 4. Education may easily be made to supply, hereafter, the most innocent source of amusement, and to lessen those vices which proceed from want of interesting occupation; it subdues ferocity, by raising up an admiration for something besides brutal strength, and brutal courage. 5. We must remember, in this question, that all experience is in our favour. 6. There are many methods in which a community is considerably benefited by the education of its poor; a human being who is educated is, for many purposes of commerce, a much more useful and convenient instrument; and the advantage to be derived from the universal diffusion of this power is not to be overlooked in a discussion of this nature. 7. I would ask those who place such confidence in the benefits of ignorance, how far they would choose to carry these benefits? for, if the safety of a State depends upon its ignorance, then, the more ignorance the more safety. (S. Smith, M. A.)Education Education is the chief defence of nations. (Edmund Burke.)Education The schoolmaster is abroad! I trust more to him, armed with his primer, than I do to the soldier in full military array, for the upholding and extending the liberties of his country. (Lord Brougham.)Education contributes to the welfare of the State The ravages of the Danes had totally extinguished any small sparks of learning, by the dispersion of the monks, and the burning their monasteries and libraries. To repair these misfortunes, Alfred (the Great), like Charlemagne, invited learned men from all quarters of Europe to reside in his dominions. He established schools, and enjoined every freeholder possessed of two ploughs to send his children there for instruction. He is said to have founded, or, at least, to have liberally endowed the illustrious seminary afterward known as the University of Oxford. (Tytler’ s History.)The fear of the Lord is his treasureThe fear of the Lord There is a servile fear of God which wicked men possess, but that which distinguishes the believer is filial and reverential. He fears, not because he has sinned, but that he may not sin; and dreads not so much the punishment of sin as the commission of it. He fears God as a friend, and not as an enemy; as a father, and not as a judge. The Scripture speaks of a natural and constitutional fear, arising from pusillanimity and want of courage, whereby persons are alarmed at the least appearance of danger, and sink under the slightest affliction. They fear where no fear is, and flee when no one pursueth. There is also a superstitious fear, which is forbidden as inconsistent with the fear of God. There is likewise a fear which tends to desperation, and sometimes ends in it; a fear which hath torment, and is attended with a spirit of bondage. In distinction from this, there is a fear arising from distrust, the fruit of unbelief, which good men too frequently betray in this imperfect state, but which the Scripture justly condemns. The fear of the Lord is a gracious principle wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit, and consists in a reverential regard for the Divine authority and glory. I. Enquire WHEREIN THE FEAR OF THE LORD . God is the immediate object of it; and it consists in a mixture of admiration and love, arising from an apprehension of His incomparable excellences and infinite superiority, joined with a humble hope of interest in His favour and regard. 1. The greatness and majesty of God may well excite our fear, and fill us with the deepest reverence and awe. 2. His omnipresence and allseeing eye are a sufficient ground of fear to sinful and erring creatures. 3. The justice and holiness of God are adapted to excite our fear. 4. There is something awful even in the Divine goodness (Psalms 130:4). II. THE ARISING FROM THIS HOLY . “ The fear of the Lord is his treasure.” 1. It is in its own nature exceedingly precious, and all the things of this world are base and mean in comparison of it. 2. It answers the most valuable purposes. 3. Its advantages are permanent. 4. It is called a treasure in order to teach us the following things-- (1) The necessity of seeking after it that we may fully possess it. (2) That we may be taught highly to value and esteem it. (3) That we may be careful to cultivate and preserve it. (4) We are hereby taught to impart this inestimable treasure to others, and to enrich the world with it, by endeavouring to inspire them also with the fear of God. (B. Beddome, M. A.)The great value of the fear of the Lord It keeps the conscience tender, and the mind spiritual, and is the enemy of arrogance and pride. Hence the apostle joins these two together: Be not high-minded, but fear (Romans 11:20). If we fear the Lord, we shall dread all formality and hypocrisy, and shall serve Him in sincerity and truth (Joshua 24:14). It will also inspire us with courage and fortitude, and enable us to say as Nehemiah did in the face of the greatest danger, Should such a man as I flee? All lesser fears are swallowed up of this great fear, the fear of God. A heart fully impressed with it can neither sink into stupidity, or indulge in any unbecoming levity; will neither be too much elated with prosperity, or depressed by adversity. The fear of the Lord will also guard us against evil compliances, and criminal indulgences. It stands as a sentinel over the soul, warns it of approaching dangers, and suppresses the first risings of corruption, before they break forth into actual sins. I will do you no hurt, says Joseph to his brethren, for I fear God. Though at the utmost distance from presumption, it produces a holy confidence in God (Psalms 147:11). The same Divine excellences which are incitements to fear are also attractives to love; so that these kindred graces are not only planted but flourish together, and the same promises are made to both. The Lord will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him; He also preserveth all them that love Him. (Psalms 145:19-20). A servile fear contracts the mind; but an ingenuous fear of God enlarges the heart in His service. The one diverts us from the path of duty, the other disposes us to walk in it; the one is slothful and indolent, the other active and persevering. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in His commandments (Psalms 112:1-10. I). And when David himself prayed to be taught God’ s ways, so as to walk in the truth, he added, Unite my heart to fear Thy name (Psalms 86:11). The fear of the Lord is indeed a universal good; it affords peace of conscience, support under affliction, and comfort in the view of death. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life, a long life, a comfortable life, and life everlasting. As the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy towards them that fear Him; like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. Oh how great is His goodness, which He has laid up for them that fear Him; which He has wrought for them that trust in Him, before the sons of men (Psalms 31:19; Psalms 103:11-13). (B. Beddome, M. A.) Isaiah 33:7 The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly The weeping ambassadors Tell me not of the removal of statesmen, the falling of generals or admirals in warfare, the removal of princes or monarchs from palaces and thrones--all these may take place and leave, comparatively, no chasm in society, when contrasted with the removal of an ambassador for Jesus. I. WHAT ARE WE TO BY OF PEACE? An ambassador of peace must come under a threefold description of character. 1. He is a minister sent of God. 2. He is instructed in the terms of peace. 3. He has to negotiate with sinners who are at war with God. II. THE THESE . They “ shall weep bitterly.” Not the departed one, but the surviving ones. 1. Because of the impression which they have of the loss of their brother. 2. For sympathy with the Church. III. THE OF THEIR SORROW. We are not to sorrow as those who are without hope. 1. The election of grace is sure. 2. The redemption of the Church by Christ Jesus is complete. 3. The succession of the ambassadors of peace remains unbroken. (J. Irons.)Ministers weeping over non-success The ambassadors of Hezekiah wept bitterly because their embassy was rejected, and because they were sent back by the haughty and imposing invader without accomplishing their object of peace. And very few form any ideas of the deep anxieties, the soul-travail, the spiritual concern, of God’ s ambassadors when they see not, as the result of their embassy, the message they have delivered received by precious souls. (J. Irons.) Isaiah 33:14-15 The sinners in Zion are afraid “ The sinners in Zion” What a contradiction in terms! what a shock to the fancy! Zion! fair Zion, a dewdrop, a glittering star, a garden of beauty, a sweet flower, porcelain without a flaw, honey without wax--Zion! Then, “ sinners in Zion” --sinners out of place; they spoil the situation; they are an evil blot in the fair landscape. Sinners in the wilderness, sinners in polluted cities, sinners in hell--there you have a kind of music that has an accord and consonance of its own; but sinners in Zion! (J. Parker, D. D.)The devouring fire I. THE TO. “ Sinners in Zion,” and “ the hypocrites.” Those who are in Zion by a mere profession of religion. The self-righteous. Proud formalists. II. THEIR PRESENT STATE. “ Afraid,” &c. If temporal judgments, like those which God wrought upon the Assyrian army, had such an effect upon the sinners in Zion, what will be the terror of transgressors in prospect, of the everlasting judgments of God? III. THE . “ Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?” &c. (J. E. Starey.)Security in testing times It is certain that no man shall find his profession to be of use to him in testing times but he that is true in it, he that is thorough in it, he that is neither a sinner nor a hypocrite in the sense in which those words are here used. Safety in Zion belongs to those born in her by regeneration, reared in her by sanctification, enfranchised in her by faith in the Son of God, settled in her by fixed principles, confirmed in her by obedience to her laws, and bound to her by intense love of her King and her citizens. Such “ shall dwell on high” secure from danger, and only such: the aliens and foreigners within her gates shall ere long be driven forth with shame. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The hypocrite The man that stole the livery of heaven to serve the devil in. (Robert Pollok.)Hypocrisy detected A large price was demanded for a picture as being the work of an old master. It was on a panel, and some one looking behind it saw that the panel was mahogany. The picture was at once seen to be a fraud, for mahogany was not known in Europe until long after the death of the artist who was said to have painted it. A man by craft and hypocrisy may make himself look beautiful to his fellowmen, and be honoured for saintliness of character, but God looks behind the goodly show and detects the imposture at a glance. Only what is real will bear His inspection. (Gates of Imagery.)Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?-- How to dwell in the fire of God :--These two passages, striking as is the contrast, refer to the same subject, and substantially preach the same truth. A hasty reader, who is more influenced by sound than by sense, is apt to suppose that the solemn expressions in my first text--“ the devouring fire” and the “ everlasting burnings” --mean hell. They mean God, as is quite obvious from the context. The man who is to “ dwell in the devouring fire” is the good man; he that is able to abide the “ everlasting burnings” is “ the man that walks righteously and speaks uprightly,” that “ despises the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.” So that, plainly, here the fire is the destructive side of that Divine nature which, in its flashing brightness of holiness, cannot but burn up and consume evil. And the question of my text is in effect equivalent to this question: “ Who among us can abide peacefully, joyfully, fed and brightened, not consumed and annihilated, by that flashing brightness and purity?” The prophet’ s answer is the answer of common sense. Like draws to like. If the fire of God be the holiness of God in its lustrous brilliance, then a holy God must have holy companions. But that is not all. The fire of God is the fire of love as well as the fire of purity; a fire that blesses and quickens, as well as a fire that destroys and consumes. So the Apostle John comes with his answer, not contradicting the other one, but deepening it, expanding it, letting us see the foundations of it, and proclaiming that as a holy God must be surrounded by holy hearts, which will open themselves to the flame as flowers to the sunshine, so a loving God must be clustered about by loving hearts, who alone can enter into deep and true fellowship with Him. The two answers, then, are one at bottom; and when Isaiah asks, “ Who shall dwell with the ever-lasting fire?” --the perpetual fire, burning and unconsumed, of that Divine righteousness--the deepest answer, which is no stern requirement but a merciful promise, is John’ s answer, “ He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God.” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The fire of God I. THE WORLD’ S . Frequently in the Old Testament the emblem of fire is employed to express the Divine nature. In many places, though by no means in all, the prominent idea in the emblem is that of the purity of the Divine nature, which flashes and flames as against all which is evil and sinful. So we read in one grand passage in this very book, “ the Light of Israel shall become a fire.” And we read, too, in the description of the symbolical manifestation of the Divine nature which accompanied the giving of the law on Sinai, that “ the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain,” and yet into that blaze and brightness the Law-giver went and moved in it. There is in the Divine nature a side of antagonism and opposition to evil, which fights against it, and flames against it, and labours to consume it. But then, on the other side, the fire is also the fire of perfect love that quickens and blesses. And these two are one. God’ s wrath is a form of God’ s love; God hates because He loves. Well, that being so, the question rises to every mind of ordinary thoughtfulness: “ Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” A God fighting against evil; can you and I hope to hold familiar fellowship with Him? To “ dwell with everlasting burnings” means two things--first, to hold familiar intercourse and communion with God. What sort of a man will do that? Can you? Is it likely that you should? The second of the things that it means is to face and bear the action of the fire, the judicial action, the judgment of the present and of the future. II. THE PROPHET’ S ANSWER. He says if a man is to hold fellowship with, or to face the judgment of the pure and righteous God, the plainest dictate of reason and common sense is that he himself must be pure and righteous to match. And the details into which his answer to the question runs out are all very homely, prosaic, pedestrian kind of virtues, nothing at all out of the way, nothing that people would call splendid or heroic. If you will turn to the Psalms 24:1-10. you will find there two other variations of the same questions, and the same answer, both of which were obviously in our prophet’ s mind when he spoke. The requirements of the most moderate conscience are such as none of us is able to comply with. And what then? Am I to be shut up to despair? am I to say, then, nobody can dwell with that bright flame? III. THE APOSTLE’ S ANSWER. “ God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God.” Now, to begin with, let us distinctly understand that the New Testament answer, represented by John’ s great words, entirely endorses Isaiah’ s; and the difference between the two is not that the Old Testament, as represented by Psalmist and Prophet, said: “ You must be righteous in order to dwell with God, and that the New Testament says: You need not be!” Not at all! John is just as vehement in saying that nothing but purity can bind a man in thoroughly friendly and familiar conjunction with God as David or Isaiah was. What, then, is the difference between them? It is this, for one thing. Isaiah tells us we must be righteous; John tells us how we may be. And now you have got to the very bottom of the matter. That is the first step of the ladder--faith: the second step is love, and the third is righteousness. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)God’ s anger If you will only remove from that word “ anger” the mere human associations which cleave to it, of passion on the one hand, and of a wish to hurl its object on the other, then you cannot, I think, deny to the Divine nature the possession of that passionless and unmalignant wrath without striking a fatal blow at the perfect purity of God. A God that does not hate evil, that does not flame out against it, using all the energies of His being to destroy it, is a God to whose character there cleaves the fatal suspicion of indifference to good, of moral apathy. If I have not a God to trust in that hates evil because He loveth righteousness, then “ the pillared firmament itself were rottenness, and earth’ s base built on stubble” ; nor were there any hope that this damnable thing that is killing and sucking the life-blood out of our spirits should ever be destroyed and cast aside. It is short-sighted wisdom, and it is cruel kindness, to tamper with the thought of the wrath of God, the “ everlasting burnings” of that eternally pure nature wherewith it wages war against all sin! (A. Maclaren, D. D.)God’ s justice in human life To Isaiah, life was so penetrated by the active justice of God, that he described it as bathed in fire, as blown through with fire. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.) Isaiah 33:15-16 He that walketh righteously The citizens of God’ s kingdom I. THE of the true citizens of God’ s kingdom is expressed in general terms. “ Walketh righteously” ; “ speaketh uprightly.” II. The DETAILS are given in which the character is revealed. “ Despiseth the gain,” &c. (Prof J. Skinner, D. D.)The good man I. THE GOOD MAN’ S , which he preserves even in times of common iniquity. II. THE GOOD MAN’ S COMFORT, which he may preserve even in times of common calamity (Isaiah 33:16). (M. Henry.)The rocky fortress and its inhabitant We are going to look at the favoured people. I. Let us NOTE THEIR . They are described in part in the words of our text, but I am obliged to go a little farther afield for one essential part of their character. 1. The true people of God who in the time of danger will be preserved are a people who display a humble, patient, present faith in God. They reveal their character in Isaiah 33:2, when they pray, “ O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for Thee,” &c. They are a praying people, who make their appeal to God under a sense of need: they are not fatalists, neither are they self-sufficient. They beseech the Lord to bless them not according to their own merit, but according to His grace. They are not a people who think that God will be gracious necessarily, for they are found crying to Him in earnest prayer. They are a trustful people. Furthermore, they are a waiting people: “ We have waited for Thee.” If the Lord does not seem to hear their prayer at once, they nevertheless expect that He will do so. They are a people who have a present faith, which they exercise every day, saying, “ Be Thou their arm every morning!” Every step they are depending, every morning they are looking up to the hills whence cometh their help. The description in our actual text is the portrait of their outer life; but a living faith is the secret basis and foundation of it all. 2. This being understood, our text gives a description of these people, setting out their various features. (1) It first describes their feet, or how they walk: “ He that walketh righteously.” When a man believes, his faith affects every part of him; it operate-s upon-his actions, thoughts, wishes, and designs; and it affects both his private and public life. One of the first evidences of a true belief in God is that a man walks righteously. He tries to act rightly towards his God and towards his fellow-men. The rule of right is the rule for him; not policy, nor the hope of gain, nor the desire to please, much less the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. (2) The next feature that is described is his tongue--“ he speaketh uprightly.” A man whose words are arrogant and boastful, cruel and slanderous, unreliable and deceptive, unchaste and impure, is no child of God. The grace of God very speedily sweetens a man’ s tongue. The doctor says, “ Put out your tongue,” and he judges the symptoms of health or disease thereby; assuredly there is no better test of the inward character than the condition of the tongue. “ Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee” is a fair decision. (3) The next feature is the heart--“ he that despiseth the gain of oppressions.” Not only does he not oppress any man, nor wish to gain anything by extortion; but he thinks such gain as might be made in that fashion to be utterly contemptible--he despises it. It little matters what our outward life may be, or even what our speech may be, if our heart is not affected by our religion. If grace only lies skin deep in thee, it has only saved thy skin, but not thy soul. Until grace touches the mainspring, it has done nothing to purpose: the heart must despise evil, as well as the lips denounce it. Until the well-head is sweetened, the streams are foul. Not only must I do right, but love right; not only must I avoid wrong, but hate wrong. (4) The portrait does not omit the hands--those prominent actors both for good and evil. In Isaiah’ s day bribery was connected with every government office high and low; but the good man shaketh his hands from holding of bribes.” If money was slipped into his hand before he was aware of it, he shook it off with indignation. (5) Now comes the ear--“ that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood.” Men who delighted in war in olden time were apt to regale one another with their cruel deeds--whom they slew, and how they slew them. In Hezekiah’ s times, I warrant, tales were told blood-red with horror that would have made our ears to tingle, and these were greedily listened to by those of a coarse spirit; but the good man in Jerusalem would not hear them. Now it is not the hearing of blood alone that you and I must avoid, but the hearing of anything that is tainted, prurient, sceptical, depraving. The Christian wisely shuts the gate, lets down the portcullis, and pulls up the drawbridge, so that no filthy communication may come in by Ear-gate. The same sacred prudence prevents our reading books which are corrupt, or false. The righteous man knows that an ill tale cannot injure him if he never hears it, and therefore he denies his curiosity that he may preserve his memory undefiled. He is deaf to news about which a good man would be dumb. He has the blood upon his ear, to signify that his Lord has bought him with a price in that member, as well as in every other; yea, his ear is bored to the doorpost of truth, that he may hear it, and it only, with full intent of heart. (6) The picture is complete when the eyes are mentioned--“ he shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.” He cannot help seeing it as he goes along his pilgrimage through life; but he seeks not such a sight, and as much as he can he avoids it. Shortly, the text means just this, that a true believer is a man who has himself well in hand, having mastery over his whole manhood. He has a bit in the mouth of all the steeds which draw the chariot of life, and he holds them under due control. The true Christian is a man who keeps himself clear of the common sins of the age, the popular vices which flourish uncondemned. The sins mentioned in the text were those current in Jerusalem. The child of God was out of the fashion. II. We OBSERVE THEIR . 1. As it is pictorially described. The times are those of war: the battle rages in the plain, but “ he shall dwell on high” ; aloft upon the craggy rocks shall be his citadel. In times of invasion men resorted to the highest mountains and rocks, that there they might be sheltered among the lofty fastnesses. While others flee, this man shall dwell at ease, in permanent peace; and that dwelling shall be on the heights, far beyond the reach of the invader. Is not this glorious? The bands of robbers ravage all around, but they cannot plunder him; he looks down upon them, and defies their power. A believer dwells on the heights, his life is hid with Christ in God, he cannot be reached by the darts of the adversary. “ Yet,” saith one, “ though he dwell on high, the enemy may reach him by scaling ladders, or by some other means of assault.” By no means shall they smite him, for he shall have a “ place of defence.” “ Yet,” crieth one, “ these walls may be dashed down, or may fall into decay.” Not so, for “ his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks.” Immutable strength shall gird him around both by day and by night for ever and ever. “ Yet,” saith one, “ the enemy may starve a man out of his citadel: rock cities have been captured at last because the inhabitants have been pinched with hunger. But this also is provided for--“ His bread shall be given him. As the Lord’ s chosen cannot be driven out, so they shall not be starved out; “ Ah, well, saith one, but even if bread could be conveyed into the fortress, yet these elevated positions cannot be readily supplied with water, and by thirst they may be forced to yield.” The promise has thought of that also, for it is written, “ his waters shall be sure.” It is a poetical description, but it is true in every jot and tittle, and so I ask you to accompany me while-- 2. We consider this thing as it may be actually experienced. The man who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, and lives as a Christian should live, dwells on the heights. His mind is lifted up above the common cares, and worries, and vexations of life. You have also found that you have had a place of defence in time of trouble. Though often assailed you have never been really injured. The poetic utterance, “ Thy bread shall be given thee,” is also literally true. You may frequently reach the end of your provision, but you can never exhaust your Provider. The meal may come by handfuls, and the oil may only drip out drop by drop, but what matters? “ His bread shall be given him,” refers also to heavenly bread. As for the waters, the living waters of grace and of the Holy Spirit, these shall always flow: in summer and winter shall the still waters be found at your side; yea, they shall be within you, “ a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.” III. SEEK THEIR . 1. Shall I need to say, “ Do not try to obtain it by hypocrisy” ? Since they are so happy whom God favours, do not think that by getting your name into their church-book you will necessarily be favoured too. 2. Do not hope to win the bliss of the righteous by self-righteousness. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Shutteth his eyes from seeing evil--Shutting the eyes to evil “ And shutteth his eyes from seeing evil” --a wonderful expression in the original: so shutting his eyes as not even to wink, that is, not to open the lids for one transient moment that he may see where evil is, or know what evil is like, or what evil is doing, but shuts his eyes fast, and will not look at the devil’ s image: he shall be calm in the storm. (J. Parker, D. D.)Bad literature 1. It is not essential that a man should know all things; some knowledge is hurtful. 2. Thought moulds character: As a man thinketh, so is he. 3. The press should enlarge upon helpful knowledge, and give the least space to reports of depravity. 4. Hope, faith, visions of beauty and of virtue, are powerful educators. (Homiletic Review.) Isaiah 33:16-17 He shall dwell on high The life of surrender and trust I. A LIFE OF . “ Shall dwell on high.” Those who are kept safe, are kept rejoicing, and that constantly; it is not an intermittent experience. “ He shall dwell.” The same thought is given in Psalms 91:1, and in John 15:11. It is always constant because it does not depend on circumstances, but on God. The surrendered man has learned to live in God, and in His presence is fulness of joy. II. A LIFE OF SAFETY. “ His place shall be the munition of rocks.” Because of the safety there is perfect peace. III. A LIFE OF . “ His bread shall be given him.” There is no leanness in the surrendered life; it is fed with the very Bread of Life. One of the greatest blessings of this life is the deeper communion, the greater reality of spiritual things, as the soul learns to feed on Christ. “ His waters shall be sure.” IV. A LIFE OF BEAUTY AND OF . Jeremiah speaks of the same life under the figure of a tree planted by the river, whose leaf is sways green. Continual freshness and perennial beauty. The “ beauty of the Lord our God upon us,” and the “ fruit of the Spirit” manifest. V. A LIFE OF VISION. The unmistakable sign of the fulness of the Holy Ghost is the power to look into the glorified face of Jesus Christ (John 17:24). VI. A LIFE OF OUTLOOK. “ Shall behold the land of far distances.” As we stand and look down the vistas of eternity we learn a little of what this life means. (G. H. C. Macgregor, M. A.)Dwelling on high In the ascent of a mountain, the objects which we leave beneath us become insignificant as we ascend, until the things we at first passed become as mere specks in the distance, and we get into prate, clear air, and see the extent of land around us, of which we had never dreamed. So in the spiritual life, as we “ dwell on high” with the holy God, the things of earth are of less importance to us, even earthly friendships becoming insignificant as we “ behold the King in His beauty,” and all around us is the “ far-stretching land” of His full, unlimited salvation. (J. G.Govan.)Rest in God A man in some high hill-fortress looks down upon the open where the enemy’ s ranks are crawling like insects across the grass, and he scarcely hears the noise of the tumult, and no arrow can reach his lofty hold. So up in God we may dwell at rest, whate’ er betide. Strange that we should prefer to live down amongst the unwalled villages, which every spoiler can harry and burn, when we might climb, and by the might and the magic of trust in the Lord, bring round about ourselves a wall of fire which shall consume the poison out of the evil, even whilst it permits the sorrow to do its beneficent work upon us. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Sale in the rock Two birds went out to build their nests. One found a tree by the river’ s edge, and made her nest among its branches. The river murmured below, and the sunshine played among the leaves. But one night there was a storm, and the tree was torn out, and carried away in the floods--nest and nestlings and all. The other bird found a crag in a mountain, and built its home in a cleft of the rock. The storm swept over it, and the floods rushed through the valley, but the nest with its nestlings was safe in the rock. (Westminster Teacher.)Hidden in the rock In the Pitti Palace at Florence hangs a picture which represents a stormy sea, with wild waves and black clouds and fierce lightnings flashing across the sky, Wrecks float on the angry waters, and here and there a human face is seen. Out of the midst of the waves a rock rises, against which the waters dash in vain. It towers high above the crest of the waves. In a cleft of the rock are some tufts of grass and green herbage, with sweet flowers blooming, and amid these a dove is seen, sitting on her nest, quiet and undisturbed by the wild fury of the storm, or the mad dashing of the waves below her. The picture fitly represents the peace of the Christian amid the storms and trials of the world. He is hidden in the cleft of the Rock of Ages, and nestles securely in the bosom of God’ s unchanging love. (J. R. Miller, D. D.)The Christian should be joyful I have been so long away from England that I do not know where our Queen is residing just now; but if I had the wings of a dove, and could mount into the upper air, I would soon find out. I should look for the Royal Standard. I should see it floating over Windsor or Osborne, and by this token I should espy the royal abode. Fling out the banner to the breeze when the King is within. Is the King at home with you, dear brother? Do not forget to display the standard of holy joy. Hoist it, and keep it firing. The Prince of Peace is enthroned in our hearts! The Lord is exalted, for He dwelleth on high (Isaiah 33:5), and we dwell on high with Him. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 33:17 Thine eyes shall see the King in ms beauty The King in His beauty Jerusalem was surrounded by the army of Sennacherib. The relief gained when Hezekiah paid over the three hundred talents of silver and the thirty talents of gold, emptying thereby the royal treasury and stripping the gold from the doors and pillars of the Temple, had not lasted long. Rabshakeh, the chief envoy of Assyria, had been sent with another army to demand the unconditional surrender of the city. A great change, however, had taken place in the spirit and faith of the people. No further mention was made of an alliance with Egypt. The prophet Isaiah, instead of being ridiculed and despised, was at once appealed to by the king, and his counsel followed. Hope and confidence in Jehovah had been restored, and this second attack of the treacherous Assyrian, instead of plunging the nation into despair, seemed rather to rouse them to defiance. It was God’ s forgiveness which had wrought the change. The departure of the Assyrian, at a time when Jerusalem was absolutely in his power, was a manifest proof of God’ s forgiving mercy and a striking confirmation of Isaiah’ s words. So, though the enemy returned, the prophet’ s encouraging and reassuring messages did not fall upon deaf ears. The chapter opens with a plain forecast of the speedy destruction that should overtake the treacherous spoiler of God’ s people. Then follows a graphic picture of the disappointment of the ambassadors of peace, and the deserted and downtrodden state of the country districts that had resulted from Sennacherib’ s breach of the covenant of peace. But from verse 10 to the end the sufficiency of the championship of Jehovah is unfolded, and the chapter closes with promises of victory and pardon, “ the lame shall take the prey,” “ the people shall be forgiven their iniquity.” Yes, the presence and leadership of Jehovah would change everything. The glorious Lord would be unto them a place of broad rivers and streams. But as we read these Scriptures, “ Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty” ; “ thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation,” we feel that their primary application by no means exhausts their full meaning. A greater than Hezekiah is here. The King in His beauty is for us the very Prince of Peace Himself. Once for our sakes He was covered with shame, mocked and buffeted and handcuffed. Now by faith we see Him crowned with glory and honour, and one day our eyes shall see Him as He is in His beauty. As yet the new Jerusalem is hemmed in by foes. Enemies far more treacherous and destructive than the Assyrians are seeking to enslave and despoil the people of God. But our eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle so peaceful and steadfast that not one of the stakes thereof shall be removed nor any of its cords broken. Yes, the story of the siege of Jerusalem is only a parable of the life of God in the soul of man. “ God’ s forgiveness is much more than a clean slate.” It brings His people into the joy and strength of a living union with Himself. It gave new national life to Judah. It gives new spiritual life to the pardoned sinner. Once the Divine forgiveness is realised the whole man is born again. But this does not make us free from temptation. The Assyrians will surely return and menace the city. But the Lord is our sure defence. 1. The beauty of the King passes all man’ s understanding. There is the beauty of His personal character. It is unfolded to us in the Gospel story. There we see His goodness and truth. His purity is so strong and incandescent with the fire of love that it cannot be marred by the defilements of earth. His sympathy and compassion are so tender and real that the most needy and outcast are attracted to Him. Christ has no beauty in the eyes of the carnal and worldly. He pours contempt on the wisdom of the flesh, the wisdom of this world. Have ye eyes to see the beauty in Jesus? There is the beauty, too, of His perfect sacrifice. This was set forth in the Old Testament Scriptures in the passover lamb, in the brazen serpent, and in all the sacrifices connected with the old covenant. The Lamb without spot or blemish was slain that His atoning blood might cover our sins. The beauty and perfection of the personal character secures the beauty and perfection of the precious sacrifice. Is that blood-stained Cross the most beautiful sight in the world to you? Have you seen the love of God triumphing there over the sin of man, and the Son of God reconciling God and man by the sacrifice of Himself, and laying a righteous foundation for the exercise towards guilty sinners of God’ s sovereign mercy and grace? But, again, there is the beauty of His perpetual intercession and His abiding presence in our hearts. Christ is no longer on the Cross--He is on the Throne, seated at the right hand of God. From that vantage ground of infinite power and resource He watches all that transpires here below. And He not only watches from a distance, He is with us to save and succour and defend. Have you seen the King in His beauty as He walks with us along life’ s highway? Or are your eyes still holden? 2. To see the King in His beauty is the essence of all true religion. The world cannot understand the things of God. It cannot receive the Comforter because it seeth Him not. The veil of sense shuts out the glories of the unseen world. Have you seen the Son and believed on Him? Or is there still some veil or prejudice or disobedience upon your heart? Is personal religion still a mystery to you? Does conversion seem to you a strange and doubtful experience? Does the earnestness of some Christians seem altogether extravagant and fanatical? When you have truly seen the King you will find it impossible to exaggerate His beauty, and you will find it equally impossible to set a limit to your obedience. The King must have all. Loyalty cannot measure out its service. It delights in sacrifice. As the veil of sense is penetrated by the vision of faith the victory of life begins. This is the object of all the means of grace. They are to help us to see the King. All life becomes worth living when the humblest duty performed aright may be rewarded with a sight of Him whom you love. This gives new zest to worship. For this we pray and study our Bibles, for this we come to church and join in the Lord’ s Supper, that we may see the King. This helps us to live a detached and separate life. (F. S. Webster, M. A.)The heavenly King and the privileges of His subjects I. THE OF THE KING. 1. The situation of a king is most respectable; he is the head of his people. God is Head of all things; King of kings, and Lord of lords. 2. Kings ought to be wise men, to rule in wisdom. God is all-wise, omniscient. 3. Kings ought to possess power, to be ready to oppose any foe of their people. God is Almighty. 4. Kings should he good men, kind and benevolent. God is good and kind; He feeds, clothes, &c., He is the Fountain of goodness. 5. Kings should be just men, to enforce the laws and punish offenders. God is just, and will not suffer His laws to be infringed, but will punish the guilty. II. THE EXTENT OF HIS . 1. Heaven is His throne; here He manifests His glorious presence; angels, &c., are His servants. 2. Earth is His foot-stool; things animate and inanimate are subject to His control. 3. Hell is His prison, where He confines His foes, and here He is enthroned in vengeance. 4. He has a kingdom among men; this is His universal Church, all who fear God, and work righteousness. 5. He has a kingdom in men; every true believer is a little kingdom in himself, the heart is His throne, and the passions and affections are the subjects. 6. He reigns that He may conquer all, save all. III. THE PERSONS THIS MAY BE APPLIED TO. “ THEY.” 1. Those who have an experimental knowledge of the King’ s favour. 2. Such as feel a profound reverence towards Him. 3. Who love Him, from a sense of His love to them. 4. And obey Him from this principle of love. IV. WHAT IS IMPLIED BY THE , “ They shall see the King.” 1. Not with their bodily eye. God is a Spirit. 2. If we could see Him as a Spirit with our bodily eye, yet we could not as God. He is immensity. 3. They shall see Him by the eye of faith--in creation, providence and grace. (John Overton.)The blessedness of heaven These words may more immediately refer to the restoration of Hezekiah to his former splendour and dignity, by the destruction of Sennacherib’ s army, which would establish peace in the land of Judea, and enable the exiles to return home, without fear or danger. But the Holy Spirit in this passage seems also to refer to the initial happiness of all true believers in this world, and their complete felicity in the world to come. I. THE SOURCES OF FOR TRUE . These in general are two-- 1. The King in His beauty. All that is to be seen of God with joy and satisfaction, is visible only in the Mediator. 2. The land that is very far off. In the present life our chief happiness arises from hope; hereafter it will consist in vision, and in full fruition. The heavenly glory is here compared to the land of promise, which abounded in population, and yet was so fruitful as to be well able to support all its inhabitants. (1) It is a land that is very far off from the earth, and farther still from hell. (2) The views which good people have of the Land of Promise are at present very distant and imperfect. II. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE SAINTS SHALL ENJOY THE BLISS THAT IS FOR THEM. “ They shall see and behold it.” 1. This may either refer to the partial view which Christians have of future glory upon earth, or to the beatific vision of heaven. We see something of God in the works of creation and providence, and especially in the great work of human redemption. We have also seen the power and glory of God in the sanctuary, in the Word and ordinances, and have sometimes been filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. But these views, however refreshing, are not only transient, but very narrow and contracted, in comparison of what they will be hereafter. Then the powers of perception will be raised to the highest pitch, our contracted minds will be enlarged and rendered more retentive, and we shall be able to “ gaze in thought on what all thought transcends.” 2. The sight which believers have of spiritual objects is essentially different from that of the unregenerate, either in this world or that which is to come. 3. There is an intuitive certainty in the knowledge which Christians have of invisible realities, and which is peculiar to themselves only. 4. A sight of the King in His beauty will be attended with a clearness and a comprehension far surpassing all that we have experienced in the present life. 5. The celestial vision will be ardent and intense. 6. Views of heaven will take place immediately after death, and more fully after the resurrection. 7. There will also be a possessive intuition, or such a sight as includes converse and enjoyment. 8. The vision will be perpetual and without end. There is an entrance into heaven, but no exit out of it. (B. Beddome, M. A.)Christ’ s life a poem There are human lives which are poems, as there are lives which are prose. They give pleasure, as poetry gives it by the expression of the beautiful. Such a life, at its very highest range, was the life of Christ. We seek its poetry to-day, and we weave our thoughts of it round that profound phrase of Milton’ s, that poetry must be simple, sensuous, and passionate. I. That which is in art is purity in a perfect character. The beauty of Christ’ s purity was in this-- 1. That those who saw it saw in it the glory of moral victory. 2. From this purity, so tried and so victorious, arose two other elements of moral beauty--perfect justice and perfect mercy. II. The word “ ,” in Milton’ s sense of it, was entirely noble in meaning. As the poet produces beautiful work out of the multitudinous world of images and things which he has received, so the exquisiteness of the parables and of the words of Christ, both in form and expression, was the direct result of the knowledge He had gained from the quality of sensibility. III. The third element of great poetry is PASSION. We may transfer it directly to a character as an element of beauty. It is best defined as the power of intense feeling capable of perfect expression. It was intense feeling of the weakness and sin of man, and intense joy in His Father’ s power to redeem, which produced the story of the “ Prodigal Son,” where every word is on fire with tender passion. See how it comes home, even now, to men; see how its profound humanity has made it universal! “ Come unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” How that goes home to the deepest want of the race; how deep the passion which generalised that want into a single sentence; how intense, yet how pathetic, the expression of it; how noble the temperance which stayed at the single sentence and felt that it was enough! (Stopford A. Brooke, D. D.)The beautiful God The blessed God who infinitely possesses every amiable excellency, and from whom proceeds all that is lovely in the universe, must Himself be adorned with the most exquisite beauty. In Him is concentred the sweetest assemblage of every Divine perfection. In Him, they all shine forth with the brightest lustre, without any superfluity or deficiency. He is consummately righteous, yet full of compassion; He is perfectly holy, yet rich in mercy; He is supreme in majesty, yet infinitely gracious; wisdom, power, and faithfulness, with every glorious attribute that can excite admiration and love, are united in the supreme Lord of heaven and earth. In the various important characters He sustains, He acts with the most endearing condescension and approved fidelity, assiduously performing every office and duty that love can dictate. (R. Macculloch.)Is beauty ascribed to Jehovah? “ Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty.” Cheyne asserts that this king cannot be Jehovah, for beauty is never ascribed to Him. This is a shallow argument. Can an epithet never be given to God once, but must every epithet be repeated in order to be true? But if one sees Jehovah in Jesus there will be no trouble in finding beauty ascribed to the Messiah, and so to Jehovah Jesus is Jehovah, and we find in the Messiah every form of beauty ascribed to Him in the Canticles, which the Church has always cherished as the song of Christ’ s love and loveliness to His redeemed people. Again in the forty-fifth Psalm we find the King Messiah described as “ fairer than the children of men” ; and there is no great difference between assigning beauty to holiness (Psalms 29:2; Psalms 96:9) and assigning beauty to the holy God. Moreover, in Zechariah 9:17 we find Jehovah thus referred to by the prophet, “ How great is Hisgoodness, and how great is His beauty.” Here the identical word is used (yephi) that is found in our Isaiah text. In this last passage to refer the singular pronoun to God’ s people when they are spoken of with plural pronouns and verbs in the whole context is hardly a fair way to prove the proposition that beauty is never ascribed to Jehovah, But even if beauty is never ascribed to Jehovah anywhere else, is that a substantial reason why it cannot be here so ascribed? (H. Crosby, D. D.)The beautiful Christ I cannot but regard it as a great misfortune that in all ages the art, the literature, and the worship of the Churches should not only have fallen so far short of the true ideal of our blessed Lord and Master, but should even have gone so far astray in their conceptions of Him. They have represented Him as a partial Christ, whereas He is the universal Christ; as an ecclesiastical Christ, whereas He is a spiritual Christ; as a Christ of gloom and anguish, whereas He is a Christ of love, and joy, and peace in believing; as a dead Christ, whereas He is the risen, the living, the ascended Saviour; as a distant Christ, a Christ who has gone far away into the dim realms of space, whereas He is a present Christ, with us now, with us always, with us individually, with us as a perpetual comforter, a very present help in trouble, with us even to the end of the world; as a Christ of wrath, and vengeance, and dreadfulness, whereas He is loving, tender, and of infinite compassion. (F. W. Farrar, D. D.)The King in His beauty The “ King” is probably the Messiah “ They shall behold a far-stretching land” --Messiah’ s kingdom is from sea to sea. (Prof. A. B. Davidson, LL. D.)The Jews’ deliverance from the Assyrian invasion When the Assyrians had invaded Judea with an immense army, and were about to attack Jerusalem, Rabshakeh was sent with a railing message to the king and his people. When Hezekiah heard of the blasphemies of the proud Assyrian, he rent his clothes and put on sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord, and sent the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth to consult with Isaiah the prophet. The people of Jerusalem, therefore, had seen their king in most mournful array, wearing the garments of sorrow, and the weeds of mourning; they were, however, cheered by the promise that there should be so complete a defeat to Sennacherib, that the king should again adorn himself with the robes of state, and appear with a smiling countenance in all the beauty of joy. Moreover, through the invasion of Sennacherib, the people had not been able to travel; they had been cooped up within the walls of Jerusalem like prisoners. No journeys had been made, either in the direction of Dan or Beersheba, even the nearest villages could not be reached; but the promise is given, that so completely should the country be rid of the enemy, that wayfarers should be able to see the whole of their territory, even that part of the land which was very far off; it should be safe for them to make the longest voyages; they should no longer be afraid of the oppressor, but should find the highways, which once lay waste, to be again open and safe for traffic. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Christ victorious: His people free We have seen our well-beloved Monarch, in the days of His flesh, humiliated and sore vexed; for He was “ despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” He whose brightness is as the morning, wore the sackcloth of sorrow as His daily dress; shame was His mantle, and reproach was His vesture. None more afflicted and sorrowful than He. Yet now, inasmuch as He has triumphed over all the powers of darkness upon the bloody tree, our faith beholds our King in His beauty, returning with dyed garments from Edom, robed in the splendour of victory. We also, His joyful subjects who were once shut up and could not come forth, are now possessed of boundless Gospel liberty. Now that we see Jesus crowned with glory and honour, we freely possess to its utmost bounds the covenant blessings which He has given to us; and we rejoice that if the land of happiness should sometimes seem to be very far off, it is nevertheless our own, and we shall stand in our lot in the end of the days. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The King in His beauty I. WE HAIL THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AS OUR KING. 1. His right to royalty lies in His exalted nature as the Son of God. 2. Jesus has a right to reign because He is the Creator. 3. The Preserver of all men. 4. He governs by virtue of His Headship of the mediatorial kingdom. 5. He has the rights of Divine designation, for God has made Him King. 6. Certain princes have delighted to call themselves kings by the popular will, and certainly our Lord Jesus Christ is such in His Church. Now it behoves us, since we thus verbally acknowledge Him to be King, distinctly to understand what this involves. (1) We look upon the Lord Jesus as being to us the fountain of all spiritual legislation. He is a King in His own right--no limited monarch--but an autocrat in the midst of His Church, and in the Church all laws proceed from Christ and Christ only. (2) He alone gives authority to that legislation. (3) He is the Captain in all our warfare. II. WE DELIGHT TO KNOW THAT OUR KING BEAUTY. III. THERE ARE SEASONS WHEN WE SEE THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY. 1. We saw Him in that day when He pardoned all our sins. 2. Jesus Christ was in His beauty seen by us more fully, when, after being pardoned, we found how much He had done for us. 3. There are times when, in our contemplations, we see His beauty. 4. It is very probable that we shall have such a sight of our glorious King as we never had before, when we come to die. IV. THE GLORY OF THIS SIGHT. V. THIS SIGHT OF CHRIST AFFORDS LIBERTY TO THE SOUL. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Seeing the King in His beauty These words plainly promise to every follower of Christ, if he shall persevere unto the end, that in the resurrection he shall see the Lord Jesus Christ in His beauty, and in the glory of His kingdom. What, then, is this beauty which shall be revealed to all who attain that world and the resurrection of the holy dead? I. It would seem to be THE BEAUTY OF HIS COURT. About Him and before Him are the companies of heaven, the hosts and hierarchies of the blessed, and the saintly multitude of God’ s new creation. Armies of martyrs, companies of prophets, the majesty of patriarchs, the glory of apostles, each one in the full transfigured beauty of his own perfect spirit, and all revealing the warfare of faith, the triumph of the Church, the power of the Cross, the election of God,--these are the degrees and ascents leading upward to the throne of bliss. II. But if such be the beauty of the King’ s court, what is THE BEAUTY OF THE KING HIMSELF? We shall not be dangerously out of the way if we believe that He who is the brightness of His Father’ s glory and the express image of His person, did take unto Himself our manhood as His revealed presence for ever, in its most perfect image and likeness; that in Him two natures were united, and both were perfect, both were beautiful. There is a beauty we know Him to possess in fulness--the beauty of perfect love. In His face will be revealed all the love of His holy incarnation, of His life of sorrow, of His agony and passion, of His cross and death. The wounds of His hands and feet and of His pierced side are eternal seals and countersigns of the love which has redeemed us for Himself. 1. The King whose beauty is the bliss of heaven is ever drawing and preparing us for His presence by all the mysteries of His Church. 2. By a special and particular discipline, varied and measured for the necessities of every faithful soul, He is making us ready for the vision of His presence. (H. E. Manning, D. D.)The beautiful King and the far-off land I. THE SUPREME OBJECT OF VISION. “ The King in His beauty.” II. THE . “ The land that is very far off.” (F. Ferguson, D. D.)The King in His beauty It is astonishing how much comfort can be packed up in a few words. If one were asked to put into a single sentence the entire body of Scriptural prophecy, of Old and New Testament prophecy combined, he could not easily find a more complete condensation of the whole than in the text. There are two points of view from which we may look at the text. I. THE ASPECT, or the vision as it is set before us; the moral and spiritual ideal yet to be realised. 1. The text is a prediction as to a glorious Person and a far-off land, both of them entirely beyond the calculations of men. “ The King in His beauty” is Jesus Christ, The words are striking. It is not exactly the King in His majesty, or grandeur, or glory, or power, but “ the King in His beauty.” We speak of the good and the beautiful and the true. And there is a singular accordance between those three super-excellent realities. We think of them in connection with the Persons in the Godhead. While it is true that all glory and power of the one aspect of the Divine Being belongs to the other, still we are permitted to make a distinction in our thoughts, and we think of the Father as that One in whom we see pre-eminently the good; and the Son as that One in whom we see specifically the beautiful; and the Spirit as that One in whom we see pre-eminently the true. 2. When we turn our thoughts to the beautiful alone, we are met by this conception--that the beautiful is but another word for the becoming. A beautiful action is an action which it becomes one to do. A beautiful character is one, all the elements of which are in sweet accordance; when part is adapted to part, as the colours of the rainbow blend together; when one line of the form gracefully runs into another; when one sound is the harmonious concomitant and perfect sequel of another--there you have beauty, the beauty as a spirit breathing through the whole and informing all its parts--such a whole that one part may become the other, and pass and repass into the other. The beauty is translucent, elastic, perfect. Now apply this conception to Jesus Christ, and you will see with what amazing propriety the beautiful in Him is the same as the becoming. Consider the harmony of the Divine Being as the eternal source of all the beauty we can ever know. Consider the essential beauty of our human nature as made in the image and after the likeness of God; consider, further, the absolutely harmonious combination and indissoluble union of those two natures in Christ with the amazing self-sacrifice of the Son of God for our redemption, and the adaptation of His work to all the wants of our case, and you have such a conception of the becoming--of all that it becomes both God and man to do--as explains to us the emphasis and the propriety with which Christ is spoken of as “ the King in His beauty.” No one can be beautiful apart from Him. 3. Society is at present a hideous discord, at least to a very large extent. We cannot say that it is beautiful. But it is not more certain that Jesus Christ is King; it is not more certain that He is the centre of heaven’ s harmony, than it is certain that the far-off land will yet be brought nigh and made visible upon the earth; and that God’ s will shall be done upon the earth, even as it is done in heaven. II. THE ASPECT, or what is implied in seeing the vision, in realising the ideal. The time is coming when every human being shall actually look upon Jesus Christ. But to look is not always to see all that can be seen. To see the King in His beauty implies a deeper seeing than that of merely looking upon Him. It implies a being made like Him. In order to see the kingdom of God, or to enter into it, we must actually be born again. We must ourselves (in other words) be a part of that which we truly see. We shall see Him at last because we shall have been made like Him. It is the pure in heart who see God This seeing of God is our heaven in its highest and most complete form; and it is by faith in Christ that we are brought to this perception. As faith grows and develops, as it passes into the life, it turns the abstract ideal into the concrete reality. On the other hand, the result is certain from the Divine side. It is secured by the fact that the King in His beauty is there. The heavenly Bridegroom is waiting for the perfection of His Bride. And as He waits He works, tie rules over all things for the accomplishment of the Divine purpose. Make, then, the goal of your life quite clear, and lay down all your lines of thought and action directly for that goal. Let us thank God that such is the Christianity of Jesus Christ. (F. Ferguson, D. D.)Reverence, a belief in God’ s presence 1. Though Moses was not permitted to enter the land of promise, he was vouchsafed a sight of it from a distance. We too, though as yet we are not admitted to heavenly glory, yet are given to see much, in preparation for seeing more. Christ dwells among us in His Church really though invisibly, and through its Ordinances fulfils towards us, in a true and sufficient sense, the promise of the text. We are even now permitted to “ see the King in His beauty,” to “ behold the land that is very far off.” The words of the Prophet relate to our present state as well as to the state of saints hereafter. Of the future glory it is said by St. John, “ They shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads.” And of the present, Isaiah himself speaks in passages which may be taken in explanation of the text: “ The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” ; and again, “ They shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God.” 2. Such a view is strange to most men; they do not realise the presence of Christ, nor admit the duty of realising it. Even those who are not without habits of seriousness, have almost or quite forgotten the duty. This is plain at once: for, unless they had, they would not be so very deficient in reverence as they are. There are two classes of men who are deficient in awe and fear, and, lamentable to say, taken together, they go far to make up the religious portion of the community. It is not wonderful that sinners should live without the fear of God; but what shall we say of an age or country in which even the more serious classes maintain, or at least act as if they maintained, that “ the spirit of God’ s holy fear” is no part of religion? (1) Those who think that they never were greatly under God’ s displeasure. (2) Those who think that, though they once were, they are net at all now, for all sin has been forgiven them;--those on the one hand who consider that sin is no great evil in itself, those on the other who consider that it is no great evil in them, because their persons are accepted in Christ for their faith’ s sake. (J. H. Newman, B. D.)The land that is very far off“ The land that is very far off” “ A far-stretching land,” i.e., a land no longer “ diminished” (to use Sennacherib’ s own expression) by spoliation or hemmed in by foes. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The distant land As it is in the margin, “ the land of far distances.” A land cleared of enemies as far as the eye can reach and the foot carry. I. THIS WILL APPLY TO THE OF GOD, WHICH THE SOUL SHALL POSSESS IN HEAVEN. Here we know but little of the great Father of our spirits. But in heaven we shall know God more fully. Know Him not in His essence, but in the glorified human nature of Christ; in His relation to ourselves and the universe. II. THIS WILL APPLY TO THE VIEWS WHICH HEAVEN WILL GIVE US OF THE WORK OF CHRIST. At present there are many questions which the devout soul proposes in relation to this mighty work, but no response is given. What disclosures will heaven make on these points! III. THIS WILL APPLY TO THE WHICH HEAVEN WILL AFFORD OF THE SECRETS OF NATURE. Nature, like the fabled traveller, has given the casket to the highwayman, but kept the jewels. She has given us names, but kept the power. IV. THIS WILL APPLY TO THE WHICH HEAVEN WILL GIVE OF THE OF . V. THIS WILL APPLY TO OUR OF DIVINE . Here the vessel is narrowed by its conditions. It cannot receive much, it cannot bear much. Here we sip of the river of God, there we shall drink of its fulness. 1. Learn the limitations of this life. We know in part. It doth not yet appear what we shall be. 2. The boundless wisdom and goodness of God. The best things are yet in store. 3. See here the encouragements to a life of faith (J. Hoyle.)Glances at the future Do you ask what are the waving outlines of this “ land of far distances” that begins directly a man begins to live a Christly life, and that stretches away after death into the Infinite? I answer-- I. . II. . Our work here is bounded by many things. 1. There is the finishing of the enterprise. 2. There is the failure of our powers. 3. There is the ceasing of inclination. Sometimes fuel has not been added to fire of flickering motive; sometimes fellow-workers have been cold, unwelcome, or harshly discouraging; sometimes repeated failure and mocking disappointments have driven a man back from seeking his own higher education or the world’ s welfare, and “ desire ceases,” and there is an end of work. But in contrast with all this that is of the earth earthy, the true worker for himself and for others, yearns after and will inherit “ a land of far distances.” There the work will never be completed, for a universe is the sphere of labour, eternity is the period, and the infinite the problem. Labour--the putting forth of power: sacrificial labour--the putting forth of power in the spirit of the Lamb, who is the central life of the heavenly world; this is the far-reaching hope of every Christly soul. And this without the decay of powers, for then will be fulfilled the promise of perpetual morning dew, immortal youth, a world without pain, and never needing a night. Nor will want of inclination bring these occupations to an end, for there is realised the full power of the quenchless inspiration of love to the Lamb who was slain. So, for our highest, noblest labours, there is a limitless hope. III. THOUGHT. For the inquirer this human life is not “ a land of far distances.” Thinkers often weep in their sense of mental poverty. But we are to believe in the lifting of veil after veil as we go on through the ages, till the fair face of Truth shall be seen in Divinest beauty. IV. . (U. R. Thomas, B. A.)The King in His beauty I. Our first concern is with THE SETTING of this verse. II. THE . To see the King,--Jesus, I mean,--is one of the best blessings of His people. There is a further promise, “ Thine eyes shall behold the land that is very far off,” i.e., “ a far-stretching tract of country.” We must abide by the metaphor; this stands, I think, for the great multitude of exceeding great and precious privileges which God has given us in Jesus Christ. III. THE FINAL OR THIS PROMISE. All the things God’ s people know on earth are but feeble foretastes of the joys of heaven. (Thos. Spurgeon.)Heaven anticipated It is recorded of the celebrated John Howe, that in his latter days he greatly desired to attain such a knowledge of Christ, and feel such a sense of His love, as might be a foretaste of the joys of heaven. After his death, a paper was found in his Bible recording how God had answered his prayer. One morning (and he noted the day) he awoke, with his eyes swimming with tears, overwhelmed with a sense of God’ s goodness in shedding down His grace into the hearts of men. He never could forget the joy of these moments: they made him long still more ardently for that heaven which, from his youth, he had panted to behold. (Light in the Dwelling.)Samuel Rutherford’ s dying utterances Some days before he died, he said: “ I shall shine, I shall see Him as He is, I shall see Him reign, and all His fair company with Him; and I shall have my large share, my eyes shall see my Redeemer, these very eyes of mine, and no other for me; this may seem a wide word, but it is no fancy or delusion; it is true, it is true; let my Lord’ s name be exalted, and if He will, let my name be grinded to pieces, that He may be all in all. If He should slay me ten thousand times ten thousand times, I’ ll trust.” One of his friends, Mr. Robert Blair, who stood by, his bed, said to him: “ What think ye now of Christ?” To this he replied: I shall live and adore Him; glory, glory, to my Creator, and to my Redeemer for ever; glory shines in Immanuel’ s land.” In the afternoon of the same day he said: “ Oh, that all my brethren in the public may know what a Master I have served, and what peace I have this day; I shall sleep in Christ, and when I awake I shall be satisfied with His likeness. This night shall close the door, and put my anchor within the veil, and I shall go away in a sleep by five of the clock in the morning.” Words which received their exact fulfilment. His soul was filled with rapture as he lay dying, and he cried, “ Oh, for arms to embrace Him! Oh, for a well-tuned harp!” So he passed away, declaring as he went that in the love and presence of his Lord he had found heaven before he entered within the gates. (King’ s Highway.)“ Not all over" When a medical man visited a young woman who was on her death-bed, he uttered the common thought of the world when he said to her weeping mother as he grasped her hand, “ It will soon be all over with your daughter.” She who was about to depart heard the announcement, and, raising herself on her arm, drew aside the curtain, and looking into the face of the doctor with that peculiar look that characterises those who are being loosened from the hither side of existence said, “ All over, sir! all over--no, mother, believe him not. When I die, it will not be all over with your daughter, it will only be all beginning. For this present span of existence is not worthy of being compared with the life which shall thrill my whole being in the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and the Lamb.” (W. Adamson, D. D.)Death a mean, of vision One Sunday morning a friend--a deacon of my church--came to me and said, speaking of his father, a dear old minister and a blind man, “ My father can see this morning.” “ I congratulate you!” I exclaimed; “ I am glad and surprised to hear it.” “ Ah,” he replied, “ you misunderstand me. My father is dead.” (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)The beautiful God “ How beautiful it is to be with God!” Miss Willard whispered as she died. Miss Havergal’ s experience A most interesting chapter in the biography describes her visit to Switzerland. On her return home she had typhoid fever, and was laid aside for a long time. This is how she talked of her experience during her illness: F. “ Sometimes I could not quite see His face; yet there was His promise, ‘ I will never leave thee.’ I knew He said it, and that He was there.” M. “ Had you any fear at all to die?” F. “ Oh no, not a shadow. It was on the first day of this illness I dictated to Constance, ‘ Just as Thou wilt, O Master, call!’” M. “ Then was it delightful to think you were going home, dear Fan?” F. “ No, it was not the idea of going home, but that He was coming for me, and that I should see my King. I never thought of death as going through the dark valley or down to the river; it often seemed to me a going up to the golden gates and lying there in the brightness, just waiting for the gate to open for me.” She was brought back, in answer to many prayers, from the gates of the grave. (King’ s Highway.)The Delectable Mountain Then they went on till they came to the Delectable Mountains, which belong to the Lord of the country towards which they were journeying. So they went up the mountains to behold the gardens and orchards, the vineyards and fountains of water. Now there were on the top of these mountains shepherds feeding their flocks. The pilgrims, therefore, went to them and asked: “ Whose Delectable Mountains are these? and whose sheep be they that feed on them?” And the shepherds answered “ These mountains are Emmanuel’ s Land: and they are within sight of His city; the sheep are His. ‘ He laid down His life for them.’” Then said the shepherds one to another, “ Let us show the pilgrims the gates to the celestial city, if they have skill to look through our perspective-glass.” Then the pilgrims lovingly accepted the motion; so they led them to the top of a hill called Clear, and gave them the glass to look through. Then they tried to look; but the remembrance of the last things that the shepherds had showed them made their hands shake; by means of which impediment they could not look steadily through the glass: yet they thought they saw something like the gate, and also some of the glory of the place. (Bunyan’ s Pilgrim’ s Progress.) Isaiah 33:20-24 Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities--Isaiah’ s imagery Among the images which crowd the concluding verses of this chapter, we may perhaps, without fancifulness, distinguish an under-current of thoughts suggested by the circumstances of the times at which this prophecy was delivered; the promised “ quiet” seems to point to the existing commotion; the “ tabernacle which shall not be taken down,” reminds us not only of the fast-founded Temple which had replaced the tabernacle, and become the fixed centre of their ‘ solemnities,’ but also of the tents of Sennacherib s hosts, then, as now, made of black camels’ or goats’ hair, now blackening the valleys round Jerusalem, but soon to be swept away “ like the thistle-down before the whirlwind” ; the broad “ rivers and streams” suggest the thought that though Hezekiah’ s precautions would have secured the absolutely necessary supply of water for the beleaguered city, they felt the want of that abundance of it which is still more grateful in an Eastern climate than in our own; while the promise that “ the inhabitants should no longer say, I am sick,” favours the conjecture that the illness of Hezekiah may have been one instance of the disease which usually attends on the confinement and discomforts of a city shut-up against an enemy in the field. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)The privileges and stability of the Church Jerusalem, after this period, was never long preserved from hostile invasions, therefore our attention is turned from it to that glorious city against which the gates of hell shall never prevail. Let us-- I. TAKE THOSE VIEWS OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST WHICH OUR TEXT . 1. As a solemn city. “ The city of our solemnities.” The Church of the Lord on earth is called “ the holy people” ; “ the redeemed of the Lord” ; “ sought out, a city not forsaken.” It is “ that great city, the holy Jerusalem.” It is “ Mount Zion, the city of the living God.” It is “ the holy city, which is the mother of us all.” The orders and laws necessary for the city of Zion are contained in these lively oracles, which may also be considered as the charter of the privileges of its happy and active citizens. Peace is within its walls, and prosperity within its palaces; and everything is conducted well, being managed by Him who is the God of order, and not of confusion. Its great King ever dwells in the midst of it, and its walls are continually before Him. The immunities, for which its inhabitants are distinguished, are numerous and inestimable; including deliverance from the bondage of corruption and sin, together with a full enjoyment of a right to the tree of life, and to all the blessings they can need. Its “ walls are called salvation, and its gates praise” ; its streets are all pleasant, and its towers may well strike the eye with admiration. It is well called “ the city of our solemnities.” This name may be applied to Jerusalem on account of the most solemn feasts that were there made; the solemn assemblies that were there held; and the solemn sacrifices which were there offered. Nor is the term at all inapplicable to the Church of God, which consists of serious believers, who enter into the most solemn engagements with Jehovah; who are employed in the most solemn exercises of mind that can possibly be imagined; and whose minds are peculiarly affected with the solemnities of death and judgment. Real religion is altogether a solemn thing. 2. As a quiet habitation. It is “ builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” God Himself is the householder, for He hath chosen Zion, and desired it for His habitation; and here, too, dwell all the faithful, There is something very consolatory in the idea, that all the worthies now in glory, that ever trusted in Christ, were all members of that Church which is one; and that all real believers are considered by Jehovah as forming a part of it. This dwelling-place of the just is remarkable for the security which is there enjoyed, and the peace which pervades the whole. It is “ a quiet habitation” ; here the Prince of Peace takes up His residence, and reigns: here “ the work of righteousness is peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever” ; and God’ s people dwell here in a peaceable habitation. 3. An immovable tabernacle. “ A tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.” The Church militant is but a tabernacle when contrasted with the inconceivable excellencies of the paradise of God. Divine glory is manifested to us, and known by us here, but in part; but there “ we shall know even as we are known.” The Church of God may often change its place. This is shown us by the state of those cities in which once the cause of our Redeemer prospered, but where now His name is never heard. The Jerusalem Church, though it might verify the promise in the text, by experiencing a long space of peace, and season of rest from war, together with the restoration and continuance of their sacred privileges, has now lost all its excellence, and Ichabod (the glory is departed) may evidently be seen inscribed upon it. The true Church typified by it, shall never be taken down whilst the world itself remains. II. ENFORCE THAT TO THE CHURCH OF GOD WHICH THE TEXT DEMANDS. “ Look upon Zion.” 1. Look upon it, angels, with complacency and delight! 2. Look upon it, sinners, with astonishment and desire! 3. Look upon it, Christians, with wonder, love, and praise! (T. Spencer.)God’ s promises to His Church To our Zion, to the Church of Christ, are promised explicitly such gifts as those of the text--unity, truth, success. Of which of them, it may be asked, can we make our boast? I. THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH WAS TO BE ONE CHIEF NOTE OF ITS DIVINE ORIGIN. What is our state? Visible unity seems to be no more a mark of the Church of Christ. Of those whose faces are all turned one way, to the place where Jesus the crucified sits on the right hand of God, the east and west have been rent asunder, so that none can re-knit the torn garment of the Lord. And west and east are again divided, each within itself; and we, that are but a section of the Western Church, are torn and torn again. God’ s promise cannot have been in vain. Man must have hindered it; God hath not forgotten it. II. But if unity has been lost, TRUTH HAS BEEN TO US. And this is our consolation. If the Church be not the great ocean--vast, bright, fresh, a counterpart of the blue heaven above it--still she is like the hundred lakes that nestle among the sheltering hills; they know not each other, but every one of them reflects, and truly, the firmament above. So far as salvation by Christ is brought home to men by the teaching of the churches, so long there is an underlying bond of agreement which outward misunderstanding cannot cancel. III. Humiliating to us are those OF GREAT SUCCESS which are a part of our charter. The power of the truth we teach, the presence of the Holy Ghost, to turn the outward word into an inward life, seem to assure us of great success in gathering in souls to Christ. There is much love amongst us, even with our strife; there is a warm and growing zeal in works of good. Without the presence of the Spirit these things could not be. (Archbishop Thomson.)Jerusalem imperilled yet secure (Isaiah 33:20-23):--As the existence of Jerusalem was imperilled, the first promise of Isaiah was that Jerusalem should still exist--“ Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation,” and so on; but, further, inasmuch as during the siege many unbelieving persons had found fault with the position of Jerusalem, because it was not surrounded by a river, the promise is given that she shall have a glorious position--“ There the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams” ; nay, more than this, as a climax of blessing, she is promised perpetual triumph over all her enemies, since in her streams “ shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby” ; or, if they come they shall prove a wreck--“ Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)The Church of God I. The first promise made to the Church of God in our text is one TO HER AN . The Church is not a temporary institution; it shall never be removed. 1. The Jerusalem of God shall exist as she is. What was she in those days? “ The city of solemnities” ; the place where prayer and praise were wont to be made. So is she to continue throughout all generations. 2. As a quiet habitation, which we would desire it to be. (1) The Church of God is always a quiet habitation, even when her enemies surround her. Some of you may have seen in the Exhibition a Belgian picture representing the reading of the statute of the Duke of Alva in the Flemish towns, establishing the Inquisition. Godly merchants are listening in deep solemnity of sorrow; the young maiden weeps upon her sister’ s bosom; the aged woman turns her streaming eyes to heaven. All this the painter could depict, but he could not paint the deep heaven-born peace which still possessed the souls of the threatened ones. (2) But how quiet is she when her enemies are not allowed to prey upon her! “ Then had the churches rest,” says the Holy Ghost in the Acts of the Apostles. (3) We know what quiet means in our communion with one another. 3. Our text seems to indicate that there were some persons who doubted all this, and said, “ Well, but you speak of this city as though it could stand an attack. It cannot; it is such a feeble place; it is like a tent; it can soon be stormed; a gust of wind can blow it over.” The Lord anticipates this difficulty, and shows that the feebleness of Jerusalem should be no reason why she should not still continue to exist. She is a tabernacle--a mere tent; but she is a tabernacle that shall not be taken down. The Church’ s feebleness, because it drives her to God, is the Church’ s strength. 4. To complete this part of the promise, the city, notwithstanding all her feebleness, is to be for ever complete. (1) If I understand the last two sentences,--“ Not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken,” we learn here that all the true members of the Church are safe. Some of them may be driven into the earth as the stakes are driven, with a heavy mallet; but the strokes of tribulation shall only give them a better hold, and minister stability to the whole structure. (2) This also relates to the doctrines of the Gospel. (3) The ordinances. II. THE PRE-EMINENT (verse 21). III. ETERNAL SAFETY (verses 22, 23). (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 33:21-22 The glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams The glorious Lord, the only security and consolation to His people I. THE LORD HIMSELF IS THE OR CAUSE OF THE SAINTS’ SAFETY AND . “ For there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams.” This is a consideration which may well allay our fears, excite our hopes, and confirm our faith. 1. The Lord is here called “ glorious.” He is glorious in His personal excellence, glorious in His essential attributes, glorious in His works of creation and providence. Above all, He is glorious to the believer’ s view, in the marvellous work of redemption, where He displays the glorious perfections of His nature, His power, faithfulness, truth, holiness, mercy, love, and grace. His glory is manifested in the Church where His glorious Gospel is preached, where He grants His gracious and glorious presence, and where saints meet together to see and speak of His glory. “ In His temple doth every one,” saith the Psalmist, “ speak of His glory.” Yea, “ In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory.” 2. This glorious Lord will be unto His Church and people “ a place of broad rivers and streams.” God promises to be that to His Jerusalem, which will be instead of, and vastly superior to a river, however broad its streams. This is expressive of the abundance of His grace, and the freeness of it for the supply of His Church, and for the purification, consolation, refreshment, and confirmation in the faith of all its members. The streams of this river are the everlasting love of God, Father, Son, and Spirit; the covenant of grace, its blessings and promises; the provision and mission of Christ as a Saviour, and the blessings which flow from these, called “ streams” because they flow from the fountain of divine love, and because of the rapidity, force, and power of the grace of God in the application of these blessings in conversion, which carries all before it; and because of the abundance, continuance, and freeness of them, and the gratefulness and acceptableness of them to those who see the worth of them, and feel their interest in them. II. THIS RIVER OF GOD ALSO SERVES FOR THEIR DEFENCE AND AGAINST ALL ENEMIES. The glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, &c. It was the case with literal Jerusalem, that although it had no river for its pleasure, profit, and protection, yet it had this advantage from the circumstances, that no enemy could approach it in this way. And the Lord, though He be indeed instead of a broad river to His people for their supply and safety, yet He is such an one as will not admit any enemy, great or small, signified by the “ galley with oars,” and the “ gallant ship,” to come near to hurt them. III. The text adds, as a further AND PROOF OF THE AND TRIUMPH OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD, that “ the Lord is our Judge.” All their wrongs will be righted and their injuries avenged. IV. The text states, as a FURTHER , that “ the Lord is our Lawgiver.” He hath not only enacted wholesome laws for the government of His Church and people, in keeping of which there is great reward; but He writes them on their heart, and puts His Spirit within them to enable them to keep His commandments, and walk in His ways. V. THE LORD IS ALSO OUR KING. He is King of Zion and King of saints. “ The government shall be upon His shoulder.” He manages and directs all the concerns of His people. “ His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and His dominion endureth throughout all ages.” VI. The text concludes with an EPITOME OF THE WHOLE in a few words, “ He will save us.” Whom will He save? Those who receive Him as their Lawgiver and King. (J. Shore, M. A.)The water-supply of Jerusalem One great peculiarity of Jerusalem which distinguishes it from almost all other historical cities, is that it has no river. Babylon was on the Euphrates, Nineveh on the Tigris, Thebes on the Nile, Rome on the Tiber; but Jerusalem had nothing but a fountain or two, and a well or two, and a little trickle of an intermittent stream. The water-supply to-day is, and always has been, a great difficulty, and an insuperable barrier to the city’ s ever having a great population. That deficiency throws a great deal of beautiful light on more than one passage in the Old Testament. Isaiah’ s great vision is not, as I take it, of a future, but of what the Jerusalem of his day might be to the Israelite, if he would live by faith. The mighty Lord. “ the glorious Lord,” shall Himself “ be a place of broad rivers and streams.” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The rivers of God I. This remarkable promise suggests how IN GOD THERE IS THE SUPPLY OF ALL . The city was perched on its barren, hot rock, with scarcely a drop of water, and its inhabitants must often have been tempted to wish that there had been running down the sun-bleached stones of the Kedron a flashing stream, such as laved the rock-cut temples and tombs of Thebes. Isaiah says, in effect, “ You cannot see it, but if you will trust yourselves to God, there will be such a river.” In like manner every defect in our circumstances, everything lacking in our lives, everything which seems to hamper us in some aspects, and to sadden us in others, may be compensated and made up, if we will hold fast by God. II. Take another Bide of the same thought. HERE IS A OF GOD AND HIS SWEET AS OUR TRUE DEFENCE. The river that lay between some strong city and the advancing enemy was its strongest fortification when the bridge of boats was taken away. One of the ancient cities is described by one of the prophets as being held as within the coils of a serpent, by which he means the various bendings and twistings of the Euphrates which encompassed Babylon, and made it so hard to be conquered. The primitive city of Paris owed its safety, in the wild old times when it was founded, to being upon an island. Venice has lived through all the centuries because it is girded about by its lagoons. England is what it is largely because of the streak of silver sea. So, God’ s city has a broad moat all round it. If we will only knit ourselves with God by simple trust and continual communion, it is the plainest prose fact that nothing will harm us, and no foe will ever get near enough to shoot his arrows against us. That is a truth for faith, and not for sense. Many a man, truly compassed about by God, has to go through fiery trials of sorrow and affliction. But no real evil befalls us, because, according to the old superstition that money bewitched was cleansed if it was handed across running water, our sorrows only reach us across the river that defends. III. Take, again, another aspect of this same thought, which suggests to us GOD’ S AS OUR TRUE AND . The waterless city depended on cisterns, and they were often broken, and they were always more or less foul, and sometimes the water fell very low in them. The rivers in northern Tartary all lose themselves in the sand. Not one of them has volume or force enough to get to the sea. And the rivers from which we try to drink are sand-choked long before our thirst is slaked. So if we are wise, we shall take Isaiah’ s hint, and go where the water flows abundantly, and flows for ever. IV. THE VARIETY IN THE RESULTS OF GOD’ S . It shapes itself into many forms, according to our different needs. “ The glorious Lord shall be a place of broad rivers.” Yes; but notice the next words--“ and streams.” Now, the word which is there translated “ streams” means the little channels, for irrigation and other purposes, by which the water of some great river is led off into the melon patches, and gardens, and plantations, and houses of the inhabitants. So we have not only the picture of the broad river in its unity, but also that of the thousand little rivulets in their multiplicity and in their direction to each man’ s plot of ground. It is of no profit that we live on the river’ s bank if we let its waters go rolling and flashing past our door, or our garden, or our lips. Unless you have a sluice, by which you can take them off into your own territory, and keep the shining blessing to be the source of fertility in your garden, and of coolness and refreshment to your thirst, your garden will be parched, and your lips will crack. We may, and must, make God our very own property; it is useless to say “ our God,” “ the God of Israel,” “ the God of the Church,” the great Creator, the Universal Father, and so on, unless we say “ my God and my Saviour” ; “ my refuge and my strength.” (A. Maclaren D. D.)The glorious Lord I. THE OF THE GOSPEL. Its value is shown-- 1. In the riches of the blessings that it confers. “ There,” i.e., in the church, “ shall the Lord be unto us a place,” &c. (1) The first idea suggested to the mind of a Jew by the neighbourhood of a great river, would be that of unfailing plenty. By this the salvation of the Gospel is especially distinguished. (2) The next idea suggested by “ a place of broad rivers and streams” is that of beauty. Running water is everywhere a great addition to the beauty of the landscape. The richest herbage clothes the banks of every stream, &c. The highest qualities of man are brought out only by Christianity; and all that is good thrives best under its influence. (3) After plenty and beauty, the chief idea is perpetuity. The river rolls on with the same calm and even current from age to age, and yields to the successive generations of mankind the same unfailing supply. 2. The salvation of the Gospel is remarkable for its freedom from attendant evils. All the blessings of the present life have some considerable drawback to their full enjoyment. The possession of wealth is apt to lead either to wastefulness and dissipation, or to avarice; power tempts to arbitrary and despotic conduct; and those who are gifted with genius are exposed to the assaults of malice and envy;--most worldly good things lead their possessor into danger, and all of them are attended by care. But it is not so with the salvation of the Gospel: “ The blessing of the Lord maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it” ; or, as it is expressed in the text, it resembles “ a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.” (1) The good of the Gospel salvation is unmingled with evil, because it requires man to do nothing injurious to himself. (2) The pleasures of the Gospel are attended and followed by no sting, while it extracts their bitterness from all ordinary griefs. II. THE GLORY OF GOD AS IN HIS ON HIS PEOPLE. He is “ glorious,” because He is unto us a place of broad rivers. &c. (W. Dickson.)Broad rivers and streams The meaning of this promise. 1. Fertility. 2. Abundance to the inhabitants. Places near broad rivers produce a great variety of plants. The children of Israel regretted that they had left the leeks, and garlic, and onions, and cucumbers, and melons of Egypt--plants that grew by the rivers. Besides, where there are rivers there is an abundance of fish of all kinds, and in the fat pastures, such as Goshen, which was well watered by the Nile, abundance of cattle are reared, while the abundant harvests which are there produced through the admirable irrigation make the lands blessed with broad rivers and streams the sunniest of climes. Well, now, our God is all this to His Church. 3. Broad rivers and streams in like manner point to commerce. In Holland especially the broad rivers and streams make that nation what it is; the harbours are so safe, the rivers so broad, and the canals so innumerable, that in every place commerce is easy, and the ends of the earth are linked to the nation by its broad rivers and streams. In that country we find curious importations hardly known to any other people, because they have gathered up the treasures of the far-off lands and there was a time when their broad rivers and streams enabled them to engross the mercantile power of the whole universe. Well, beloved, our glorious Lord--keep the adjective as well as the noun--is to be to us a place of commerce. Through God we have commerce with the past; the riches of Calvary, the riches of the covenant, the riches of eternity, all come to us down the broad stream of our gracious Lord. We have commerce, too, with the future. What galleys, laden to the water’ s edge, come to us from the millennium! What visions we have of the days of heaven upon earth. Through our glorious Lord we have commerce with angels; commerce with the bright spirits washed in blood that sing before the throne; nay, better still, we have commerce with the Infinite One, with eternity, with self-existence, with immutability, with omnipotence, with omniscience; for our glorious Lord is to us a place of broad rivers and streams. 4. Broad rivers and streams are specially intended to set forth security. (C. H.Spurgeon.)The Church’ s enemies 1. To the eye of faith the Church has no enemies at all. “ Wherein shall go no galley with oars.” You ramble in your garden, perhaps, in the summer-time, and a spider has spun its stoutest web across your path; you walk along and you never think that there is anything to hinder you, and yet there are those spider’ s strong webs, which would have caught a thousand flies, but they do not impede you. So is it with God’ s glorious Church: there are barriers across her path, but they are only spider’ s webs; on she walks; she has no adversaries, for she counts her adversaries to be nothing. 2. When we are compelled to see that the Church has adversaries, yet, according to the promise, those adversaries shall be put to confusion. They have launched the bark; the galley with oars is on the sea. The text does not say that no galley with oars shall ever be there, but “ no galley with oars shall go there.” Now, in order to make it “ go” they must fix the mast; they must gird the tacklings, or how shall they spread the sail, and how shall they proceed on their way? Ah! but they cannot (Isaiah 33:21). 3. And then faith not only sees the confusion of her adversaries, but she also believes they are so utterly destroyed that she may go out and spoil them. 4. What is to be the end of it all? Glory to a Triune God (Isaiah 33:22). (C. H.Spurgeon.) Isaiah 33:22 For the Lord is our Judge . . . lawgiver . . . king Salvation in harmony with Divine relations The advent of sin into the world is one of the greatest mysteries of the universe. It was the introduction of a mighty force for evil in direct antagonism to God, and to everything God ever made. Now that sin had found a footing in this world, it became a problem, perhaps the most perplexing and difficult ever known: How the Divine government should deal with sin to prevent its spread, to restrain its action, to subdue its power, and, if possible, to expel it from the throne it had usurped. Known to us are two methods in which the Divine government has dealt with sin. The first is that of stern, vigorous, prompt justice. This was the principle adopted in the case of the fallen angels. Sin in them became at once its own punishment. In the case of man God adopted another method of dealing with sin--a method of merciful and mediatorial intervention. By redemption He proposes to meet evil in its own temple, even in the heart of man, and there restrain, subdue, destroy, and abolish it. How can this be done? If done at all, it must be done in perfect harmony with the attributes and the character of God. He can do nothing contrary to His nature, or dishonouring to His law. If He saves, pardons, and acquits the guilty, it must be in perfect harmony with His law and government. Jehovah King, Jehovah Lawgiver, Jehovah Judge is our Jehovah Saviour. All the four offices blend and harmonise in one glorious Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. I. JEHOVAH IS OUR KING, and although we are rebels against His kingly authority, yet He can save us. His right to govern us is based on His creatorship. He made us and not we ourselves. All our powers of body, mind, and spirit are gifts--His gifts. Not one of them is of our own production. He hath made all things for Himself, for His service, for His will. Had the race of man continued obedient to His will, we should have continued happy and safe under His benevolent and holy rule. But the reverse of this has taken place. We have rebelled. Had He doomed us to woes unrelieved and unending, every attribute of His nature, every law in the universe, every being in creation would have given the acquiescing Amen, just and true are all Thy ways. Yet, when retribution with unrestrained force was about to fall, when truth and justice demanded the execution of the dread sentence, the curse was rolled back, wrath suspended, punishment deferred, guilty man spared, and complete eternal deliverance provided and freely offered. How came this to pass? Not by a mere act of arbitrary sovereignty. There are things which God cannot do. He cannot do an injustice. He cannot deny His Word; He cannot deny Himself. He cannot come into the midst of a rebel world armed to the teeth against His majesty, and say, “ I know that all men are traitors to My rule, rebels against My authority; all deserve to die, and without exception ought to die, for I have solemnly declared that death is the penalty of rebellion; but as sovereign Lord, I select some from amongst them who shall not die, who shall escape the penalty, who shall be treated as if they had never rebelled, and ultimately be crowned with glory and immortality, like all loyal beings in My dominions. I give no reason for thus acting. I claim the right to do it by an act of sovereign will.” We must all feel that this was impossible to God. This would be to abolish all distinction between virtue and vice, between obedience and rebellion; this would be to overthrow law and right, to enthrone lawlessness, and reward crime: God could never do this. Notwithstanding that He is our King, and that we are traitors who have dared to lift our hand to smite the Majesty on high, yet He saves us. Jehovah is our King, and He will save us. But how? If He saves us, it must be in perfect harmony with His Kingship. And so He does. The Son of God equipped with human nature steps into the breach, stands between the rebels and the Majesty they have offended. The naked sword in the hand of the angered King is about to fall and smite, but Jehovah’ s Fellow bares His breast to receive the smiting. The strongest condemnation of sin which even God Himself could give was given when He sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. II. IN HARMONY WITH LAW. Jehovah is our Lawgiver, and He will save us. This clause teaches that God sustains towards us the relation of Lawgiver, but the difficulty in the way of saving us is in the fact that we sustain towards Him the relation of lawbreakers. There can be no question as to our guilt. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. If then we have all sinned, the law cannot justify, nay, the law condemns us. The penalty of disobedience is death. The Lawgiver cannot by an act of mere sovereignty remit that penalty. He cannot ignore or override the law which He Himself has made. If this were done, the Maker of the law would become the breaker of the law. This can never be. Salvation in order to be satisfactory to the sinner himself must be bestowed in harmony with law, and must have the consent of the law. To secure for me abiding peace I must have the assurance that the law consents to my pardon, to blot out my sins from her book of remembrance, and to cancel the sentence of condemnation. I must be assured that the law will never lift up her voice to condemn me, nor stretch out her hand to smite me, nor throw open the sources of wrath to overwhelm me. Redemption through atonement meets this difficulty. Jehovah Lawgiver becomes Jehovah Saviour. But how? Within the ark were the tables of the law; over the law was the lid, the covering, called the propitiatory or mercy-seat; over that again the cherubim in bending thoughtful attitude; between the cherubim the Glory, the uncreated symbol of the Divine Presence seated in majesty on the mercy-seat. This then is the teaching of this profound symbolism. Mercy has built her throne on law; so that when the transgressor approaches God to plead for pardon, and when God graciously bestows it, the law is present, not to condemn, but to approve, not to object but to acquiesce in the pardon: that pardon proceeds from mercy and that mercy is founded on law. Jesus was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. Now that the law has vindicated her own majesty and purity by smiting our Substitute, the law can not only acquiesce, but also triumph in your pardon, and be more signally magnified by your salvation than by your condemnation, so that we can challenge you to come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy, for Jehovah Lawgiver is also Jehovah the Saviour. “ If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.” Here Jesus Christ is spoken of as an advocate or pleader. What is He pleading for? Forgiveness. The sinner cannot deny or disprove the accusation. But the Divine Advocate is there and shows Himself as newly slain, saying, I have endured the curse for him, I have been wounded for his transgressions, the chastisement of his peace has been laid upon Me, and I claim for him forgiveness. The plea is admitted, the Advocate prevails, the sinner is free; in the presence of the sacrifice the law is magnified and announces the acquittal of the penitent believer: “ Neither do I condemn thee, go in peace.” III. IN HARMONY WITH . Jehovah Judge is also Jehovah Saviour. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. But is not every man judged at the hour of death and his eternal destiny then irrevocably fixed? Yes. What need then of a general judgment? One important, if not the most important purpose is this--the general judgment will give the Judge of all the opportunity of vindicating Himself. He must be justified when He speaks; He must be cleared when He judges. Assembled worlds on that day must be satisfied that every decision is in perfect harmony with truth and righteousness For father and mother to enter heaven with even the shadow of a suspicion that the sentence pronounced upon their son was unjust or severe, would mar heaven to them for ever. For His own sake and for the sake of all His subjects throughout His vast dominions, God must silence every objection, dissipate every suspicion. How will the Judge clear Himself? Not by pleading sovereignty. We cannot conceive of Him saying to assembled worlds on that great day: “ I am sovereign disposer of all events, of all beings, of all worlds. I do as I will with each and all without giving any reason. I have endowed you with reason but I intend to treat you as though you had none. You may be dissatisfied with your destiny, or with the destiny of some in whom you are lovingly concerned; you may suspect Me of having done you or your loved ones an injustice, but that will not concern Me. You may carry your suspicion with you to your doom, it may cleave to your spirit for ever; I will not attempt to remove it or to convince you that I am right.” This would be an unreasoning despotism, and one shudders at the thought of the righteous Judge dealing thus with His rational creatures. He will justify Himself when He speaks, and clear Himself when He judges. But how? When the dividing line is drawn between the righteous and the wicked, the one placed on the right, the other on the left of the judgment throne, the Judge will be able to say: “ Notwithstanding that all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God, yet, in infinite compassion I made a provision for the removal of sin, for the deliverance of every man from its power, guilt, and pollution, and for his complete restoration to purity and bliss. These on My right availed themselves of that provision, fulfilled its conditions, sought with true repentance and faith the application of that redemption to their heart, and they stand here to-day without sin. Who will lay anything to their charge?” Turning then to the other side the Judge will be able to say: “ All these on My left I have loved with an infinite compassion, I have died to redeem them, My salvation was as free to them as to the others, and would have been as effectual had they received it, but they spurned it. I shed My blood for them, but they trampled it under foot. I can do no more for them. They have chosen death and they must have it.” What then is the inference? If you perish it will be your own fault; the entire responsibility of your lost condition is with yourself, and will rest on you alone, and for ever. “ God so loved the world,” &c., so that if you perish, it will not be because you are sinners, but rather because you spurn the remedy, and reject the only Redeemer. Sin and punishment are inseparable. You cannot divorce them. Where the one is, the other must be. If sin remain, you cannot escape punishment; for sin is its own punishment. The only method to avoid punishment is to abolish sin. God’ s system of redemption provides for this. “ For this purpose was the Son of God manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.” Nothing that God ever made is to be annihilated. Matter may change its form, its appearance, its relations, but science teaches us that not an atom will ever cease to be. God has, however, provided for the annihilation of sin in the believer through atonement. This is the mystery of redemption, it destroys that which destroys humanity. It saves the sinner by destroying his sin. (Richard Roberts.)The restoration of judgment, God’ s way of salvation to the Church The broken and divided condition of the Christian Church is, to every right-thinking man, a subject of uneasy reflection. 1. It is in the nature of things impossible for a multitude of men to live together, or subsist as a community without the occurrence of differences, disputes, and questions of a greater or a less degree of importance. 2. The institution by which God meets and provides against this unavoidable circumstance in human life is that of the judge, the fullest general idea and true theological definition of which office is contained in these words, “ If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood,” &c. (Deuteronomy 17:8-13). 3. The provision of a judge with absolute and conclusive authority, is God’ s way of meeting that evil to which human society is exposed. He demands from men that they shall bring their controversies and have them determined by the person whom He appoints; and they are to yield to the award of the judge, through submission to God, by whose voice or in whose providence he has been appointed, and through faith that God is with the judge, and is at hand to give him wisdom and discernment Proverbs 29:4; Judges 2:18). 4. The taking away of judges is one of the last and severest punishments that God inflicts upon a people. When God gives men children to be their princes and babes to rule over them--so that the people are oppressed everyone by another and everyone by his neighbour, so that the child behaves himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable--it is in His anger that He does so (Amos 2:3). 5. Again, when God recovered His people, or spake of doing so, the restoration of the judge is one of the main acts or promises (Isaiah 1:26). 6. To set judgment in the earth is declared to be one of the offices of Christ: and His kingdom is characterised as that in which “ a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment” ; when the people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting-places. But of peace and quiet security and well-being without the office of the judge, there is no mention in all scripture, either prophetical or historical. 7. This method and ordinance of God for the preservation of peace and righteousness among men is continually alluded to in the language of the New Testament; alluded to and recognised, and therefore shown to be perpetual. Our blessed Lord always refers to the judge as the ordained ultimate decider in all human quarrels and contentions; and although He would have His disciples to be reconciled everyone to his adversary before an appeal to the judge shall have become unavoidable, yet He clearly points out the absoluteness and peremptoriness of the ordinance, as one which God will ordinarily guide, and one which He will not suffer any man with impunity to despise. 8. The duty of those whose matter is brought before the judge is to do according to the sentence of the judge, not declining from it to the right nor to the left. This, of course, is on the supposition that the judge spoken of is the ultimate one, from whom there can be no appeal. So the general peace of society, and the comfort and quietness of the individual himself are ensured. 9. Moreover, it is through the judge that law becomes a living thing, capable of continual enlargement, and of application to the varying conditions of human society; which is itself a living thing, its character always in progress, with new interests springing up, and liable to new difficulties and complications. 10. The Church of Christ is the widest and most comprehensive society of men that can exist. How much more than all other societies of men must the Church be liable to causes of division! 11. And shall God’ s ordinance for peace not be found in the spiritual corporation? And if there be in the Church such an ordinance of ultimate appeal, and peremptory decision, shall not the same implicit submission be required which God commanded that men should render under the law--a submission more intelligent than under the Jewish dispensation, and therefore more voluntary, yet not less absolute--and shall not the penalty be as severe as it then was for the despiser and the presumptuous? 12. There has been no Catholic judgment in the Church since the removal of the apostles; and we are conscious of the condition to which we have been reduced by the want of judgment. Questions, doubts, disputes, discontents, hatreds, divisions, rebellions have accumulated. 13. And when God’ s people fall into such depths as these, how does He act towards them? “ He repenteth Himself for His servants, when He seeth that their power is gone” (Deuteronomy 32:36). Such as God was to Israel the same is He for ever, the same shall He show Himself unto His Church. And unto Israel He hath said, “ I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellers as at the beginning, afterward thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city” (Isaiah 1:26). Those judges and counsellors, shall not they be peacemakers for the long-vexed Church--by whom the winds and the sea shall be rebuked and there shall be agreat calm? (W. Dow, M. A.)Our best safety I. OF GOD’ S IN THE AFFAIRS OF LIFE. “ The Lord is our Judge.” These words do not refer to the final judgment, but to the verdict of the Judge in this life. 1. This decision is made known in reference to nations, as in this chapter. God judged between Israel and the Assyrians by destroying the Assyrian host. He showed that the Jews were His people, and He was their God. 2. The same may be said of Churches, as is shown by the history of the seven Churches of Asia. 3. So likewise of individuals, though the Divine decision in this case is not always so manifest. II. OF GOD’ S WILL AS THE RULE OF LIFE. “ The Lord is our Lawgiver.” We are liable to take our own passions, inclinations, and desires as the rule of life. Sometimes the maxims of society and the examples of others. But the only safe rule is the will of God. 1. It is benevolent in its intentions--it aims at our happiness here and hereafter. 2. It is safe in its action--always the same. Human wisdom changes. 3. It is elevating in its effects, ennobles, enriches, exalts. 4. It is eternal. We must ever live under the rule of this Lawgiver. If we accept it as the rule of life here, it will be the delight of heaven to live under the same hereafter. III. OF GOD’ S . “ The Lord is our King.” He is a worthy King. 1. A King who is infinite in power, and wisdom, and love. 2. A King who ever thinks of, and provides for, the welfare of His subjects. 3. A King whose dominion extends to all things; to every element and every creature; to all men and spirits, good and bad; to all regions--earth, heaven, and hell. 4. A King whose kingdom shall have no end. No revolution will ever disturb the security of His throne, and that because the sceptre of His kingdom is a right sceptre. Let us earnestly and devoutly say, “ Thy kingdom come.” IV. OF SAFETY. “ He will save us.” A result arising from the acceptance of the Divine under the three foregoing aspects--as Judge, as Lawgiver, and as King. (Homilist.)The Lord is our KingOur King Let the great day at Hebron when David was made king by a united nation be to us a type of that greater day when a united world with a perfect heart shall crown Jesus King of men. 1. Jesus is our King by Divine anointing. 2. Jesus received regal honours without any protest on His part. 3. When Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven there was another crowning there. 4. Though Jesus was the King of men, He refused to possess universal empire. 5. Our King has two great things to do. (1) To recover men from sin. He had to bear the penalty. Jesus recovers us also by delivering us from our inclination to sin. And by giving penitence to the human heart. (2) To make us kings like Himself. He bids every man hope in God. 6. Our King is powerful. 7. He is an active King. 8. What shall we do for our King? (W. Birch.)Israel’ s King Two distinct benefits stand out as soon as we compare the condition of Israel under the judges with that under King David and King Solomon. Under the king was obtained-- 1. Unity. One nation with one national life, instead of isolated tribes living under their own judges, and having little cohesion with the other tribes. 2. Salvation from their enemies, and prosperity at home. (Hubert Brooke, M. A.) Isaiah 33:23 Thy tacklings are loosed Thy tacklings are loosed The tacklings may denote the good counsels of wise senators; a strong, well-disciplined army; and money, which is necessary to supply the exigences of the State. These tacklings are loosed, when few prudent men can be found to manage public affairs, and to form the manners of the citizens; when the soldiery become weak and timid, and there is a scarcity of finances to carry into execution the salutary measures that are requisite to be adopted. (R. Macculloch.)They could not well strengthen their mast The mast of the ship may signify the most eminent person or persons in the kingdom who were exalted above all the others. The mast, in this figurative sense, could not be well strengthened; when the proper means of aiding and supporting the chief magistrate were wanting or were greatly deficient, he could not receive the succours that were requisite to maintain the dignity and prosperity of the empire. Persons in power are incapable by themselves to advance the public welfare, unless supported by the wealth, the interest, the advice, and courage of those over whom they preside. (R. Macculloch.)They could not spread the sail The sail may denote the means that were necessary to be applied and vigorously extended without delay, in order to promote the purposes to which they ought to be subservient, for the benefit of the State. These the people employed in managing public affairs were unable immediately to use, so as to give effect to the measures whereby the common interest might have been forwarded. (R. Macculloch.)The prey of a great spoil The power whose situation resembled a ship in distress is supposed to have met with a terrible storm, whereby she had been dreadfully shattered, her cables and ropes loosed or broken, her masts disabled, so that she was almost a wreck. When in this forlorn condition, deserted by the mariners, who had lost hopes of her being able to stand out the tempest, the valuable cargo wherewith she was laden becomes a prey to the fraudulent and rapacious. (R. Macculloch.)The ship of state The abrupt transition from the glorious future to the present or the past, is somewhat surprising at this point. It is not Assyria but Zion which is compared to an unseaworthy ship. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Seems to describe the fate of a hostile ship. (Prof. A. B. Davidson, LL. D.)The lame take the preyThe prey-taker Men labour under seemingly great disadvantages, and amid the most unfavourable circumstances, yet making grand achievements, getting great blessing for themselves, great blessing for the world, great blessing for the Church; and so “ the lame take the prey.” (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)The disabilities of successful men Do you know that the three great poets of the world were totally blind? Homer, Ossian, John Milton. Do you know that Mr. Prescott, who wrote that enchanting book The Conquest of Mexico, never saw Mexico, could not even see the paper on which he was writing? A framework across the sheet, between which up and down went his pen immortal. Do you know that Gambassio, the sculptor, could not see the marble before him, or the chisel with which he cut it into shapes bewitching? Do you know that Alexander Pope, whose poems will last as long as the English language, was so much of an invalid that he had to be sewed up every morning m rough canvas in order to stand on his feet at all? Do you know that Stuart, the celebrated painter, did much of his wonderful work under the shadow of the dungeon where he had been unjustly imprisoned for debt? Do you know that Demosthenes by almost superhuman exertion first had to conquer the lisp of his own speech before he conquered assemblages with his eloquence? Do you know that Bacon struggled up through innumerable sicknesses, and that Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott went limping on club-foot through all their life, and that many of the great poets, and painters, and orators, and historians, and heroes of the world had something to keep them back, and pull them down, and impede their way, and cripple their physical or their intellectual movement, and yet that they pushed on and pushed up until they reached the spoils of worldly success, and amid the huzzas of nations and centuries “ the lame took the prey” ? You know that a vast multitude of these men started under the disadvantage of obscure parentage. Columbus, the son of the weaver; Ferguson, the astronomer, the son of the shepherd. America the prey of the one, worlds on worlds the prey of the other. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)The advantages of invalidism What is true in secular directions, is more true in spiritual and religious directions. There are in all communities many invalids. They never know a well day. They adhere to their occupations, but they go punting along the streets with exhaustions, and at eventime they lie down on the lounge with aching beyond all medicament. They have tried all prescriptions, they have gone through all the cures which were proclaimed infallible, and they have come now to surrender to perpetual ailments. They consider they are among many disadvantages, and when they see those who are buoyant in health pass by, they almost envy their robust frames and easy respirations. But I have noticed among that invalid class those who have the greatest knowledge of the Bible, who are in the nearest intimacy with Jesus Christ, who have the most glowing experiences of the truth, who have had the most remarkable answers to prayer, and who have most exhilarant anticipations of heaven. The temptations which weary us who are in robust health, they have conquered. They have divided among them the spoils of the conquest. Many who are athletic and swarthy loiter in the road, while these are the lame which take the prey. Robert Hall an invalid, Edward Payson an invalid, Richard Baxter an invalid, Samuel Rutherford an invalid. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)Physical disability attended by spiritual advantage Through raised letters the art of printing has been brought to the attention of the blind. You take up the Bible for the blind, and you close your eyes, and you run your fingers over the raised letters, and you say, “ Why, I never could get any information in this way; what a slow way of reading. God help the blind.” And yet I find among that class of persons--among the blind, the deaf, and the dumb--the most thorough acquaintance with God’ s Word. Shut out from all other sources of information, no sooner does their hand touch the raised letter than they gather a prayer. Without eyes, they look off upon the kingdoms of God’ s love. Without hearing, they catch the minstrelsy of the skies. Dumb, yet with pencil or with irradiated countenance, they declare the glory of God. A large audience assembled in New York at the anniversary of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, and one of the visitors, with chalk on the blackboard, wrote this question to the pupils, “ Do you not find it very hard to be deaf and dumb?” And one of the pupils took the chalk and wrote on the blackboard this sublime sentence in answer: “ When the song of the angels shall burst upon our enraptured ear we will scarcely regret that our ears were never marred with earthly sounds.” (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)Spiritual compensation for physical blindness A lad who had been blind from infancy was cured. The oculist operated upon the lad, and then put a very heavy bandage over the eyes, and after a few weeks had gone by the bandage was removed, and the mother said to her child, “ Willie, can you see?” He said, “ Oh, mamma, is this heaven?” The contrast between the darkness before and the brightness afterwards was overwhelming. And I tell you the glories of heaven will be a thousandfold brighter for those who never saw anything on earth. (T. De Will Talmage, D. D.)Poor, yet rich There are those in all communities who toil mightily for a livelihood. They have scant wages. Perhaps they are diseased, or have physical infirmities, so that they are hindered from doing a continuous day’ s work. A city missionary finds them up the dark alley, with no fire, with thin clothing, with very coarse bread. They never ride in the street car; they cannot afford the five cents. They never see any pictures save those in the show window on the street, from which they are often jostled and looked at by someone who seems to say in the look, “ Move on! what are you doing here looking at pictures?” Yet many of them live on mountains of transfiguration. At their rough table He who fed the five thousand breaks the bread. They talk often of the good times that are coming. This world has no charm for them, but heaven entrances their spirit. They often divide their scant crust with some forlorn wretch who knocks at their door at night, and on the blast of the night wind, as the door opens to let them in, is heard the voice of Him who said, “ I was hungry and ye fed Me.” No cohort of heaven will be too bright to transport them. By God’ s help they have vanquished the Assyrian host. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)Ordinary Christian, may accomplish great good There are those who would like to do good. They say, “ Oh, if I only had wealth, or if I had eloquence, or if I had high social position, how much I would accomplish for God and the Church.” You have great opportunities for usefulness. Who built the Pyramids? The king who ordered them built? No; the plain workmen who added stone after stone, stone after stone. Who built the dykes of Holland? The government that ordered the enterprise? No; the plain workmen who carried the stuff and rung their trowels on the wall. Who are those who have built these vast cities? The capitalists? No; the carpenters, the masons, the plumbers, the plasterers, the tinners, the reefers dependent on a day’ s wages for a livelihood. And so in the great work of assuaging human suffering, and enlightening human ignorance, and halting human iniquity. In that great work the chief part is to be done by ordinary men, with ordinary speech, in an ordinary manner, and by ordinary means. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)The lame take the prey A long, long while that has puzzled one, why the prophet should say, “ The lame take the prey.” Our experience of human life goes to show that lame people seldom succeed in taking the great prizes of life. If a man is lame in his power of calculation, and cannot easily count up columns of figures; if he is lame in his caligraphy, if he is lame in his memory, and cannot easily recall names and faces; if he is lame in the power of touch, and cannot detect the difference between two apparently identical fabrics; if a man is lame in any faculty, he is crushed to the wall in the busy rush of human life and arrives at the end of the crowd to take the leavings of the rest. In human life a man who is lame anyhow misses the prey, misses the spoil, misses the prize. But in God’ s world, in God’ s Book, in God’ s dealings with men, “ The race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong.” Weakness has a fascination for God; and those who have lost everything that this world can give are they who come off best with our heavenly Father. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Henry Fawcett, Postmaster-General One great Postmaster-General of England was lame in his sight. Mr. Fawcett was blind, but he took the prey of a great office which he fulfilled with great success. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)The weak favoured I got an illustration of this when I happened to be staying in a farm-house. With one exception the family consisted of robust, hearty children, but there was one little lame boy. Whilst I was staying, there came in a great hamper of apples, and at once all the boys and girls in the family, having eyed them wistfully, proceeded to appropriate, and to appropriate very lavishly, the apples. The little lame fellow, with his puny, wan face, looked forward eagerly as those apples disappeared, and no one thought of him, till mother came, a bustling, quick-tempered woman. She said, “ What is that you are doing? Put all those apples back again, I tell you.” And very ruefully they replaced them. “ Now,” she said, “ Jimmy, you come and take your pick.” And the little lame fellow on the crutch pushed his way up to the table, took the ripest and juiciest, and filled his pockets as full as they would hold, and then went back with a flush upon his pale cheeks. Then mother said to the other children, “ Now do what you like with the rest.” I saw how in mother’ s love the lame take the prey! (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)The weak specialty cared for I came afterwards into the house of a workman, a smith, one whose closed fist could fell any man. He had an ailing child, A little, puny thing lay and cried in the cradle. There was no chance to rear it; it must die. And he came in from his smithy--a strong, brawny man, with black hair. And I tell you that child dragged that man down to the level, and its poor, weak, puny frame was able to do for that strong man what the strongest in the village could not--it could fell him! And at once there came upon me the conception, in dealing with God, at any rate, it is not the strong man who can shoulder his way and fight the brunt and take what he will in this world, every one waiting behind him, but it is the weak who get the tenderest blessings. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)The lowly are enriched When I began to preach I thought all God’ s best things were on the tall shelf, and when I got very good I should be able to reach them down. Now I find all the best gifts are on the low shelf, that the babes can get at. And it is only when we become as little babes, only when we become simple, natural, and our stiff backs get bent, that we get low enough to take God’ s benefits. (F. B. Meyer, M. A.) Isaiah 33:24 And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick The bliss of heaven Two principal circumstances are dwelt upon, as constituting the bliss of heaven. I. THERE IS NO SORROW IN HEAVEN. “ The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick.” It is otherwise in this world, ruined as it has been by sin. Here “ the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.” And what men universally feel, they with one consent complain of. In one way or other, every child of Adam is exclaiming, I am sick!” With some-- 1. The body is sick. But in heaven there is nothing of all this. 2. The heart is sick--sick of “ hope deferred,” of rash and ill-judged wishes, of continual disappointments. In heaven, no heart saith, “ I am sick.” No disappointment, there, of former hopes. Even hope finds no admission there. “ We hope for that we see not.” But in heaven all is sight, and knowledge, and solid experience. 3. The soul is sick. In heaven no indwelling sin will remain, to suggest evil, when we “ would do good” : no tempter, to recommend to us forbidden pleasures: no apostate, rebellious world, to revile, ensnare, or persecute the friends of God. Still--as there can be no doubt that memory will accompany the soul into its heavenly habitation--it may be imagined by some that the recollection of sins committed on earth must interfere with its entire felicity. But the apprehension is groundless. That a deep sense of unworthiness will exist, there is no doubt; even the sinless angels feel this. But the painful sense of guilt will be for ever excluded. II. THERE IS NO IN HEAVEN. “ The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.” 1. The forgiveness of sin will be more certain. Forgiveness is certain to the real believer; but who is certain of himself? 2. The forgiveness of sin will then be more complete,--not so much the forgiveness itself, as the consequences of it. (J. Jowett, M. A.)Healing and pardon This whole chapter was a gracious message from God to a people who were in extremis. When the worst had come to the worst, He laid bare His arm and brought deliverance for His people. Is not this a general rule with God? The peril of Jerusalem serves as a dark background to bring out the brightness of my text. I. THERE IS SUCH A THING AS PRESENT . There must be a present, conscious, enjoyable pardon of sin-- 1. Else there would be no joy in the world for thoughtful minds. 2. Else the main motive and fountain of love would be dried up. Forgiveness begets gratitude, gratitude creates love, and love brings forth holiness. 3. Else we should always be in bondage through fear of death. 4. Else the whole system of grace would be a dead letter, and its glorious privileges would be mere shells without a kernel. Let us bend our thoughts to a consideration of this great blessing as it is treated of in this chapter. (1) It is plainly promised in the text. (2) If we wish to obtain this free pardon it will be granted in answer to prayer. Read the second verse: “ O Lord, be gracious unto us.” (3) Pardon is given in connection with the exaltation of God. Read the fifth verse: “ The Lord is exalted.” He does not grant this forgiveness until we begin to regognise that He is a great God and a Saviour. We must see that He is great in justice, and we must bow in penitence, and honour that justice. (4) God grants pardon when men are humbled. See the seventh verse: “ Their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.” (5) God grants this pardon also when the heart is searched. Read the fourteenth verse: “ The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?” When we begin to examine ourselves, to fear because of sin, and to turn from all hypocrisy, then the Lord will accept us. (6) God will also pardon us when He is acknowledged to be our Ruler and Lord. Look at the twenty-second verse: “ The Lord is our judge,” &c. (7) He will also forgive us when we put our trust in Him. Read the last clause of the twenty-second verse: “ He will save us.” Faith must look for salvation from the Lord alone, and then salvation will come to it. II. WHEN SIN IS , THE OF SIN ARE ALSO REMOVED. Sin had made these people sick, as Isaiah saith in his first chapter--“ The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.” But when iniquity is forgiven, then “ the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick.” Special chastisement is usually removed when any peculiar sin is forgiven. In the case of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, if some of the temporal results of sin do not cease, yet it is only in appearance that they remain: or rather they remain for other purposes, benign and useful, and not as wrathful inflictions. III. THIS MAKES A CHANGE IN THE OF THE PEOPLE. “ The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick.” 1. They have no need to say it when the Lord comes and dwells with them; for the Sun of Righteousness hath risen upon them with healing in His wings. 2. They shall have no thought of saying, “ I am sick.” He that feels the joy of pardoned sin forgets all his pains and griefs. 3. These people did not say they were sick, since they had a motive for not saying so. The three lepers who went out and divided the spoil did not say, “ We are lepers” : that was forgotten, and they entered the tents as if they had been in health. They went into one pavilion and ate and drank, and then they went into another. Men free from leprosy could not have made themselves more at home. They took away gold and silver and hid it; though they were lepers. So when the Lord pardons our sin there is a prey to be taken: riches of grace are at our disposal. 4. Pardoned people shall not say they are sick, for by a little anticipation they shall declare the very contrary. In a little time we shall be where the inhabitant shall never be sick again. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Sickness and sin I. Let us speak of THOSE “ ILLS THAT FLESH IS HEIR TO.” Wherever man exists in this world, the cry is heard, “ I a m sick.” It is so because wherever man exists there is sin. Disease has been sent to reprove the sins of men, and to correct them with salutary pain. We are not competent to decide what specific connection there is between disease and sin in the case of our fellow-men. Endurance of sickness is more often a mark of God’ s goodwill than of His severe displeasure. 1. Pain removes us out of the way of temptation, gives us time for reflection, when we were hastily running into danger. 2. How much a formidable sickness has helped a believer in drawing out his thoughts to the heavenly country and the passage into glory! But these considerations do not remove this original and humbling fact that sickness is a disorder in God’ s world and that it is connected with that moral disorder which we call sin. II. THE REMOVAL OF BOTH THESE. AS sickness and sin entered together, so shall they depart together. (D. Fraser, D. D.)Pardon does not involve immediate deliverance from all evil Upon one other point connected the forgiveness of sins we get instruction from the experience of Jerusalem. Pardon does not change the outside of life; it does not immediately modify the movements of history, or suspend the laws of nature. Although God has forgiven Jerusalem, Assyria comes back to besiege her. Although the penitent be truly reconciled to God, the constitutional results of his fall remain: the frequency of temptation, the power of habit, the bias and facility downwards, the physical and social consequences. Pardon changes none of these things. It does not keep off the Assyrians. But, if pardon means the return of God to the soul, then in this we have the secret of the return of the foe. Men could not try nor develop a sense of the former except by their experience of the latter, Had the Assyrians not returned, the Jews would have had no experimental proof of God’ s restored presence, and the great miracle would never have happened that rang through human history for evermore--a trumpet-call to faith in the God of Israel And so, still “ the Lord scourgeth every son whom He receiveth,” because He would put our penitence to the test; because He would discipline our disorganised affections, and give conscience and will a chance of wiping out defeat by victory; because He would baptize us with the most powerful baptism possible--the sense of being trusted once more to face the enemy upon the fields of our disgrace. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)“ Nobody is quite well” A friend who met Lord Beaconsfield soon after that statesman had lost his helpful wife hoped that he was quite well. In a hollow voice Beaconsfield answered, “ Nobody is quite well.” This is true. (Quiver.)Forgiveness and healing A brother had grievously offended, and had been put out from Church fellowship for his sin; and he so behaved that his pastor thought of him with pain, and was glad to avoid an interview with him, for it only produced a sad attempt at self-justification. At length the Lord brought him to a better mind. He sought his pastor, and said, with tears, “ Will you shake hands with me?” The pastor replied, “ Right gladly. I rejoice to feel that the past is all forgiven. How are you?” The repentant one made this reply, “ I am quite Well now that you restore me to your esteem.” The poor man was extremely ill, but the joy of being once more in his old place in his friend’ s thoughts made him refuse to say, “ I am sick.” (C. H.Spurgeon.)Forgiveness “ Thy sins be forgiven thee.” It is a beautiful figure. It is as if a boat was moored to a filthy mainland and could not get away. There comes a man who cuts the cable, and the boat floats away down stream. That is the figure given. The Lord comes and cuts the cable that binds me to the filthy mainland of the past, and my boat goes free. (J. H.Jowett, M. A.). Isaiah 34:1-17 Come near, ye nations, to hear.--The subject is, as in chap. 13., the Lord’ s judgment upon all the nations; and as chap 13. singled out Babylon for special doom, so chap. 34, singles out Edom. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D,D.)Edom Edom represents here all the powers hostile to the Church of God as such, and is thus an idea of the profoundest and widest cosmical significance. (F. Delitzsch.)Edom’ s punishment The eternal punishment falling on the Edomites is depicted (Isaiah 34:8-10) in figures and colours suggested by the nearness of Edom to the Dead Sea, and the volcanic character of this mountain-land; it suffers the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jeremiah 49:18). (F. Delitzsch.)Isaiah 34:1-17; Isaiah 35:1-10 These are two wonderful chapters, and great use is made of them by Jeremiah and by Zephaniah. This use of the Bible by the Bible is of great consequence; not only is it interesting as a literary incident, but it is full of suggestion as to the range and certainty and usefulness of inspiration. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 34:5 My sword shall be bathed in heaven The sword bathed in heaven The text draws back the curtain which separates the visible world from the invisible. It reveals celestial regions, in which there are also great struggles going on. It lifts up our eyes to the grander movements of the world of spirits; and then it declares that the sword which is to be used in fighting what seem to be the petty wars of the Hebrews and the Edomites, is the same sword which has been used in these celestial conflicts; that the means and instruments of righteousness upon the earth must be the same with the means and instruments of righteousness in the heavens. I. ALL GOOD IN THE WORLD IS REALLY GOD’ S BATTLE, and ought to recognise itself as such. Every special victory of human progress--the victory over slavery, superstition, social wrong, nay, even thevictory over tough matter, the subduing of the hard stuff of nature to spiritual uses,--each of these is but a step in the great onward march of God taking possession of His own. Fight your battle with the sword bathed in heaven; so you shall make it victorious, and grow strong and great yourself in fighting it. II. One of the most marvellous things about Jesus is the UNION OF FIRE AND . He saw His Father’ s house turned into a place of merchandise, and instantly the whip of small cords was in His hands, and He was cleansing the sacred place with His impassioned indignation. And yet He walked day after day through the streets of Jerusalem, and saw the sin, and let the sinners sin on with only the remonstrance of His pure presence and His pitying gaze. Only in God’ s own time and in God’ s own way can the battles of the Lord be fought. There is no self-will in Jesus. He is one with His Father, and lives by His Father’ s will. His sword was always bathed in heaven. III. THE BATTLE WHICH GOES ON WITHIN IS GOD’ S BATTLE, and is of supreme importance. If the battle be God’ s, it must be fought only with God’ s weapons. You want to get rid of your selfishness. You must not kill it with the sword of another selfishness, which thenceforth shall rule in its place. Selfishness can only be cast out by self-forget-fulness and consecration. To count sin God’ s enemy, and to fight it with all His purity and strength, that is what it means for us that our sword should be bathed m heaven. (Phillips Brooks, D. D.) Isaiah 34:16 Seek ye out of the Book of the Lord The Scriptures the Book of the Lord, to be diligently studied I. THE HOLY IS THE BOOK OF THE LORD. II. THE IS A BOOK TO BE READ; carefully and diligently searched, consulted and sought unto. (T. Watson, D. D.)The Holy Scripture is the Book of the Lord 1. This Book discovers what no mortal could ever have done, and nowise could be had but by Divine revelation. 2. The perfect holiness of the doctrine. 3. The efficacy of the doctrine in its searching and convincing the conscience (Hebrews 4:12); converting souls from their most beloved lusts, even when nothing can be expected from the world for such a change Psalms 19:7); rejoicing the heart under the deepest distresses (verse 8). This is not from any virtue in the letters or syllables, but from the Spirit, whose instrument it is. 4. The miracles wherewith it has been confirmed. 5. There is an inward sensation of this in the spirits of those that have their senses exercised. (T. Watson, D. D.)Seeking out of the Book of the Lord What is presupposed in this seeking out of the Book of the Lord? 1. That man has lost his way, and needs direction to find it. 2. That man is in hazard of being led further and further wrong. 3. That men are slow of heart to understand the mind of God in His Word. 4. That the Book of the Lord has its difficulties which are not to be easily solved. 5. That we need highly to understand it; otherwise we would not be bidden search into it. 6. That we may gain from it by diligent inquiry. (T. Watson, D. D.)Reasons for searching the Book of the Lord 1. Because the way of salvation is to be found only therein (John 5:39). 2. It is the only rule of our faith and lives (Isaiah 8:20). The lawyer studies his law books, the physician his medical books; and shall not a Christian study the Book of the Lord? 3. The Lord Himself dictated it and gave it us for that very end (2 Timothy 3:16-17; Romans 15:4). 4. We must be judged by the Scriptures at the great day (John 12:48). (T. Watson, D. D.)The systematic investigation of Christianity I. UNLESS THE GOSPEL BE MADE THE SUBJECT OF MUCH AND EARNEST IT CANNOT BE RIGHTLY . Are those truths which have a reference to the grandest objects in existence so very easily to be comprehended as to require less attention than the ordinary facts and principles which are connected with business or literature? II. Universally human nature is in a state of moral disorder and rebellion against God; and AS HAS BEEN SENT FROM HEAVEN WITH THE EXPRESS DESIGN OF THAT AND A BETWEEN GOD AND MAN, IT IS THAT ALL SHOULD KNOW IN WHAT IT . (W. Keith)Reading the Scriptures I. The Scriptures should be read with A SERIOUS MIND. The argument by which Moses urged the Jews to attend to the laws of God may be applied to Scripture at large--“ It is not a vain thing: it is your life.” When we read our Bible we stand in the presence of God: we are receiving His communications. II. The Scriptures should be read with EARNEST PRAYER. Divine influence is needful to impress them upon our understandings and hearts. III. Scripture should be read with PURE . “ If any man will do His will,” &c. Nothing resists the evidence or dislikes the principles of the Bible but sin. IV. The Bible should be read with AND DESIRES. We cannot place too much confidence in its authority, or anticipate too much comfort from its influence. All that may be expected from God may be expected from His Word. There He opens His resources and declares His will; there we read what He is, and what He can do, and what He intends to do. To read the Bible and expect nothing from its influence is to reflect dishonour upon it. V. The Bible should be read with . It is intended not so much for present entertainment, as for future wisdom and holiness: its contents, therefore, should be stored and classed in the memory, to be drawn forth and applied as the different circumstances of life require. This study of the Scriptures produces incalculable advantages; it will afford-- 1. The most valuable instruction. 2. The best impressions. There is an energy in the Bible which no man of feeling can withstand. The words which it contains are “ spirit and life.” Under Divine influence it has counteracted carnal affections and vicious propensities; it has raised men’ s minds to God: it has filled them with love to mankind. So as Scripture makes men holy it makes them happy. In the midst of trouble they have an unfailing refuge. (Homilist.). The recurrence of the figures of Isa 35:1-10. Many of the figures in this beautiful prophecy of Israel’ s restoration recur in the course of chaps, 40-66.,-- Isaiah 35:10, for instance, is repeated verbatim in Isaiah 51:11.(Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The manifold application of Isa 35:1-10. Without any change of its essential meaning it may be applied to the restoration of the Jews from Babylon, to the vocation of the Gentiles, to the whole Christian dispensation, to the course of every individual believer, and to the whole blessedness of heaven. The ground of this manifold application is not that the language of the passage is unmeaning or indefinite, but that there is a real and designed analogy between the various changes mentioned which brings them all within the natural scope of the same inspired description. (J. A. Alexander.)A joyous chapter This chapter contains thirty-five distinct promises, among them twenty-two “ shalls” --nine “ shalls” of blessing and comfort; eight “ shalls” of deliverance; five “ shahs” of joy. It begins and ends with “ joy.” (E. J. Banks.) Isaiah 35:1-10 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them The blessings of the Gospel The thirty-fourth and the thirty-fifth chapters of Isaiah are by the best scholars supposed to constitute one entire and complete prophecy, not connected specially, or at least organically, with what goes before or follows. It is a masterpiece of poetry. A single poem divided into two parts; in the first part, the prophet sets forth in lurid colours the universal judgments of God upon all the nations of the earth which have arrayed themselves against Him and oppressed His people. As an instance of what shall come upon all, he selects a single nation, that of the Edomites, and shows forth in them what shall come upon all. This awful storm of wrath passes away; and we see in the “ clear shining after rain” the beautiful prospect which is opened up to both earth and man, when God’ s enemies cease from troubling and His people are gathered unto Himself. The almost universal habit of spiritualising this, and all like prophecies, and allegorising them into an exclusive application to present Gospel blessings, has served to hide the chief significance of the passage from the eyes of the ordinary reader. The promise of this glorious chapter is without doubt primarily and chiefly to the Jews, referring to their final restoration to their own land in the last days. That it has a preliminary reference to the return from the Babylonian captivity is possible, but it looks far beyond that time to the return from the dispersion which the Jews are now suffering. Even the joy of that first return did not fulfil the glorious promises of this vision. God’ s day of vengeance, and the year of His redeemed, are thus set side by side. (Compare with 61:2; and 63:4, with Matthew 24:27-31; Luke 21:25-28.) I. THE . It is almost impossible not to associate the magnificent opening words of this chapter with the hope held out to the “ whole creation which groaneth and travalleth in pain together until now, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, when it shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-23). “ The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them.” This is a beautiful picture of the sympathy of the earth with man. Not only do the beautiful parts of the earth rejoice with the home-coming of man from his wanderings from God, but the very wilderness and solitary places rejoice and are glad for them, because also in man’ s redemption the creation which was cursed for man’ s sake is set free from that curse. The gladness which is here ascribed to the inanimate creation corresponds with the songs and everlasting joy which crown the redeemed of the Lord on their return. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto them and the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. Two other things are ascribed to the creation. They are represented as consciously participating in the great goodness of God to man. They rejoice even with joy and singing; and they see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God. It is the habit of our prophet thus to invest nature with consciousness and intelligence. It is the habit of-all scriptural writers to put man and nature into close sympathy with each other, declaring that God is the maker of both. There is a great spiritual as well as poetic truth in this. How powerfully are we affected by plastic nature! How responsive the soil, the fruits of earth, and trees of the forest to the loving touch and sympathy of man! Who does not know how wonderfully different all nature seemed to us when we were first converted to God. What a world of beauty this will be when the curse is removed and man and nature, so manifestly made for each other, shall rejoice and be glad together! II. THE OF . The outline of blessing which the prophet sets before us is not complete, but simply consists of a few bold strokes, serving to fill us with the hope of perfect and complete recovery to God. 1. Men shall see God. The vision of God has already been ascribed in a metaphorical sense to the inanimate creation. It is certainly true that, among the chiefest blessings of salvation, is the vision of God When Jesus came into the world, we are told that in Him we beheld the glory of God, full of grace and truth We are also told that the first effect of the new birth is the ability of the sinner to see God. The purification of the heart which comes with the new life of God in the soul, carries with it the promise of seeing God (John 1:14; John 3:3; Matthew 5:8; 2 Corinthians 3:18). But there is manifestly something more than this meant. “ They shall see the glory of Jehovah and the excellency of our God.” This can refer to nothing else than that beatific vision of God spoken of by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:12; by John in the Revelation 22:4. Yet again, if we are to include the saints of the Church in this prophecy, then we shall also have to look for a more literal fulfilment still. When the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven in power and great glory (Matthew 26:64; Daniel 7:13; John 1:51; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 1:7), then the scattered Jews shall see their long-rejected Lord, as Saul of Tarsus saw Him on the way to Damascus (Acts 9:3), and be instantly converted, and start on their homeward way, greeted by all the smiling and rejoicing flowers and trees and pools and newly fertilised wildernesses and waste places of the earth. During all these dark centuries the veil has been over the eyes of the Jews, but in this time the veil shall be taken away and they shall see the face, the glory, the excellency of Jehovah-God. 2. They shall strengthen and encourage each other. This is most probably a retrospective exhortation. In view of this promise and the certain coming of Jehovah and their restoration, they are exhorted to strengthen and encourage each other. There are those whose hands are weak, whose knees are feeble. They cannot fight the good fight of faith with courage, they cannot run with patience the race that is set before them. The long delays and afflictions experienced during the time of waiting has taken not only the courage out of many, but has filled them with despair. Therefore they were to say to those of a fearful heart or of a hasty tendency to unbelief: “ Be strong, fear not; behold your God will come with vengeance; even God with a recompense; He will come and save you. Thus the prophet calls upon the strong to impart theft strength to the weak and their faith and courage to the faint-hearted. The new Testament writers transfer the spirit, and in part, the very words of this exhortation to the saints of the Church of God. “ We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak” Romans 15:1). 3. Infirmities shall be removed. Not only shall the earth be restored to primitive beauty, clothed with redemption glory, and tided with an almost conscious sympathy and joy, but all the infirmities which sin has entailed on our poor sinful human nature shall be removed. In view of this entire deliverance from all the consequences of sin, along with the people of Jehovah, the sore spots of earth shad be healed too. Waters in the wilderness, streams in the desert, pools covering the parched sand, and springs bursting out of thirsty lands; no longer a mirage thrown up from a few turfs of dried herbage, but veritable grass with reeds and rushes shall greet the returning and healed pilgrims. The beginning of this marvel of redemption came when Jesus was first here, opening blind eyes, healing lame limbs, unlocking deaf ears, and loosing silent tongues. Surely, if we have the will to do the will of God, we shall know of this doctrine whether it be of God. III. THE WAY HOME. Now follows a wondrous picture of the way of the return for the long absent wanderer. The way of the transgressor is hard, and the world away from God is a barren and thirsty land; but so soon as the face is set toward God and heaven, heaven’ s God makes the way of return easy and sure. The dispersion of the Jews was a way of misery. In the return of the Jews to God and their own land we behold the truth of the spiritual way which God has prepared for every sinner to return to Him, and by Him to heaven. 1. It is a highway. “ An highway shall be there.” A broad and open way, cast up and distinguished from all ether roads and tracks. It has both breadth and narrowness. Broad enough for all the world to travel over,--and He will have all men to be saved,--and yet m the highway there is a “ narrow way,” in which every man must walk for himself, alone and yet not alone--alone in that he must believe for himself; not alone, in that others are walking with him on the same terms and surrounded by the same conditions. 2. It is a way of holiness. That is, it is a way clean in itself, and only for the clean to traverse. “ The unclean shall not pass over it.” Drunkards, liars, adulterers, fornicators, covetous, idolaters, and extortioners may not walk in that way. For none of these sins shall see or enter into the kingdom of heaven. When the scoffer points to such characters in the “ visible” Church, the sufficient answer is that the Church is not the way, but Jesus Himself is the Way, and all that are in Christ Jesus are new creatures, old things having passed away and all things having become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). 3. God is with them in the way. For such is the meaning of the expression. “ It shall be for those.” God’ s children have in a sense to walk alone, and entering this way, they have to break with many who in the days of their flesh were their companions, but the presence and companionship of God with them in the way will more than compensate. No man who knows the fellowship of God and the saints ever misses the company of the world. 4. It is a way of perfect plainness. No one need fear getting lost in this way. It is so simple and straightforward, so guarded and marked, that the simple and unlearned need not err therein. “ He that followeth Me,” said Jesus, “ shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Besides, God has promised to hold us by our right hand, and to keep us from falling Isaiah 41:13; Jude 1:24). 5. It is a safe way. No lion or any ravenous beast shall be there, nor be permitted to go up thereon. God has cleared the way of enemies, so far as their ability to harm us is concerned. It was only when” Christian” turned out of the way that he met the devil and had to fight him, and even when the lions fiercely growled at him, he discovered that, by keeping in the middle of the path, they could not approach him, being chained. IV. SAFE AT HOME. What a picture is here presented to the poor outcasts of Israel! There had been a dispersion and a home-coming from Babylon. There was to be yet another far wider and more prolonged dispersion, and then at last a final homecoming. In view of this the prophet bursts out with a triumphant exclamation of victory, in which he sets all the redeemed singing for joy. He sees the wanderers and outcasts gathering from every quarter of the earth (Isaiah 11:12; Isaiah 51:3). They come with songs of everlasting joy on their lips, bursting from their glad and happy hearts. It has been a long night to them, but joy has at last come with this thriceblessed morning. Is not this a blessed picture, too, of the triumphant entrance into the presence of God of those who have fought a good fight, kept the faith, and finished their course? (G. F. Pentecost, D. D.)Transformation The prophecy before us is one of those in which the so-called secondary meaning is, in truth, the primary. The spiritual takes precedence of the natural. I. THE SAD OF THE ON WHICH THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IS TO OPERATE. Let us gather into one cluster all that is said of them. “ A wilderness,” “ a solitary place,” “ parched ground,” “ thirsty laud,” “ a habitation of dragons.” With the exception of the last-mentioned, all the desolation seems to turn upon the absence of one element--water. What simile could so vividly depict the moral barrenness and desolation, whether of the individual, or of the world at large, apart from the glorious Gospel of the blessed God? What a wilderness the heart is, that has not God dwelling in it! The idea of “ solitariness” may seem to disappear when this word “ habitation” comes into view. But what a habitation it is! “ A habitation of dragons.” That, and that only, was wanting to complete the picture--the foul serpent brood, with their huge encircling folds, prepared to crush the life out of every creature that may cross their dreaded path. To a heart which has within it that “ well of water springing up into everlasting life,” there is no sadder scene than the unutterable desolateness of these moral wastes presented by hearts that are unchanged. What is true of the individual is equally true of the aspect presented by the world at large. It may, perhaps, be imagined that the one element which is wanting to turn all this desolation into smiling fertility is Civilisation. That has been already weighed in the balances and found wanting. What the wilderness, and the solitary place, and the desert, and the parched ground, and the thirsty land require is--the Water of Life, gushing from the smitten rock, Christ Jesus. II. THE EFFECTS BY THE KINGDOM OF JESUS. Even to us, in a country where water is plentiful, the beauty and appropriateness of the image are at once apparent. What a charm it adds to the landscape, whether in the form of the great ocean, bearing on its bosom the treasures of the world, or of the river winding through the pleasant meadows, which drink in fertility and beauty from the living stream! The like with its mirror-like surface basking in the sun, suggests, too, the theme of the prophet’ s song. But it was with an appreciation more intense that the inhabitants of these Eastern lands regarded this emblem of the life that is in Jesus Christ. Water spoke to them of deliverance from death. Hence, wherever this glad Gospel is spoken of, we find this emblem employed to bring before the mind the joy-giving results of the kingdom of Christ. Note the results as these are brought before us in our text. 1. Gladness. It requires no great effort of imagination to realise the glad aspect of nature refreshed by copious rains, after a heat that has scorched the grass, and dwarfed the corn. Fitting emblem, this, of the great joy which the Gospel of Jesus brings with it to human hearts. 2. Fertility. “ It shall blossom abundantly.” This fertility not only stands connected with life, it is the outcome of its existence. The desert is always barren. But the mighty power of the Gospel of Jesus converts this moral wilderness into a fruit-bearing garden of the Lord. 3. Beauty. “ It shall blossom as the rose.” One has only to picture to himself a part of this earth’ s surface, parched, desert, and barren, and to think of the marvellous change which would be produced upon it were he, on revisiting the scene, to find it covered with the fairest flowers that our gardens know. The first and most striking impression made upon the mind would be that of surpassing beauty. Even so is it with the marvellous moral transformation which the prophecy before us contemplates. The glorious annals of missionary effort render it unnecessary to draw on the imagination. What a beauty is unfolded in a Christ-like life! 4. Glory and majesty. “ The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel.” To live under the power of Jesus is the true secret of a noble life. Whatever the sphere of life which the man occupies, he is in closest alliance with the majesty of heaven, and in virtue of that alliance is raised to regal dignity. 5. A vision that extends into the Holy of holies. “ They shall see the glory of Jehovah, and the excellency of our God. (J. Kay.)The transformative field and force of the Gospel I. THE SPHERE IN WINCH THE GOSPEL . 1. The condition of depraved humanity is that of solitude. It is in a state of awful isolation. It is away from God and from fellowship with all holy spirits. Between corrupt souls there is no true fellowship, and there cannot be. 2. The condition of depraved humanity is that of wildness. It is a wilderness. Depraved souls are productive, but it is the productiveness of the wilderness. II. THE WHICH THE GOSPEL EFFECTS. 1. The Gospel makes the sphere joyous. “ The wilderness shall be glad,” &c. What gladness the Gospel brings into the soul when received in full faith, the gladness of gratitude, love, hope, communion with infinite goodness. 2. The Gospel makes this sphere beautiful. “ It shall blossom as the rose.” The Gospel imparts to the soul beauty of the highest kind--moral beauty, the beauty of the Lord. 3. The Gospel makes the sphere grand. “ The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it.” As Carmel and Lebanon tower above the plains of Palestine, so the soul into which the Gospel enters is raised above its unconverted contemporaries. Christliness makes man great in moral strength, elevation, and majesty. 4. The Gospel makes the sphere glorious. “ They shall see the glory of the Lord.” (Homilist.)Christianity finally triumphant I. THE THAT THE NEEDED OF TRUE WILL BE . Man is always animated to the performance of duty by the hope of success; and in the onerous duties to which Christians are summoned, we must be animated by the assurance, proceeding from the highest authority, that our efforts shall be crowned with success. Before stating the grounds upon which the certainty as to the diffusion of our religion is founded, we shall notice some matters which have appeared to render it equivocal, but which do not really interfere with it. 1. The certainty of this diffusion is not interfered with by the obstacles against which religion in its advancing progress has to contend. The obstacles are numerous and formidable; arising from the long-indulged defects of its own disciples; the varieties existing amongst men, of language, of national character, and of social habits; the public jealousies and antipathies which so often bar intercourse, and which have sometimes been kindled into desolating wars; the inveterate depravity of the human heart, nursed into rancorous maturity by the impostures, whether barbarous or refined, which have so long prevailed, and by the malignant influence of the god of this world. To many agencies such obstacles as these would be undoubtedly fatal. But our religion possesses resources which elevate it far above and beyond them. 2. The certainty of which we speak is not interfered with by the differences existing in the professing Church as to the mode in which the anticipated diffusion shall come. Some aver that the diffusion is to take place in consequence of the personal appearance of the Saviour upon the earth; others hold that it is to come by the ordinary instrumentalities already existing in the Christian system, rendered effectual by the abundant outpouring of the Spirit. How can the ignorance of a private soldier in an immense army, as to the plan of the great chieftain, argue against the fact that that plan when developed and carried out shall secure a final and glorious victory? 3. The certainty is not interfered with by obscurity as to the time at which the anticipated diffusion shall be effected. Obscurity resting over the time when the desires of the Church shall be fulfilled and when the wants of the world shall be supplied, is a direct appointment of God, not to be the object of curiosity on the one hand, nor the source of scepticism on the other. II. THE GROUNDS OR UPON WHICH WE MUST THAT AS RESTING. It is to be deduced-- 1. From general principles as to the character and government of God. Let it be admitted that God exists, that He is the moral Governor and Sovereign of the universe, that He is supremely concerned for the maintenance of His own honour, and that while powerful, and just, and holy, He is also kind and benevolent, desiring and resolved upon the well-being of His creatures, and then the conclusion which we now advocate appears to us reasonable and unavoidable. If our religion be the instrument by which He will act upon the hearts of men, so as to turn them “ from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,” then, that religion will advance and proceed until every purpose of the Divine majesty and love shall have been conducted to delightful accomplishment. 2. From the constitution and progress of our religion itself. The religion of the Gospel is formed with capacities for, and with a direct view to, universal diffusion. It does not admit of any ceremonial restrictions; it takes no note of national preferences or peculiarities; it owns no distinction of rank, clime, or co]our; it addresses men on grand, comprehensive principles, dealing with them in the common wants and properties of their nature; it is founded on a redeeming provision of boundless sufficiency--a propitiation for the sins of the world; and its commission is universal as mankind. If, from the constitution of our religion you pass to its history, you find that history always bearing us onward to precisely the same conclusion. There is no class of obstacles over which it has not achieved triumphs, no order of beings among whom it has not acquired converts. 3. From the expressed testimony of the Sacred Volume. III. THE RESULTS WHICH FROM THE NEEDED OF OUR WILL ARISE. 1. Happiness in the world. “ The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them,” &c. By the disciples of scepticism Christianity has often been slandered as the cause of sorrow. But the true spiritual religion of the Gospel can produce nothing but what is accordant with its sublime and munificent nature. Christianity never spake a word but to utter a promise, never took a step but to bring a boon, never struck a blow but to emancipate a captive, never exerted an agency but to elevate and redeem a soul. As Christianity advances, there will be the full development of results, of which now we have instances. There will be happiness to individuals, to families, and to communities or nations. Yet, what is this to the happiness of the life which is to come? 2. Supreme honour to God. “ They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.” In connection with the diffusion of our religion God will display and magnify the majestic attributes of His nature. In connection with the display and magnifying of the Divine perfections, God will receive the homage and the highest praise of all created beings. The happiness is the happiness of gratitude. Earth, with ten thousand times ten thousand voices, will celebrate His praise; the angels of heaven and “ the spirits of the just made perfect” will join in the long and loud acclaim, and redemption will constitute the noble theme of their noblest songs. (J. Parsons.)Christmas blessings I. THE WORLD WITHOUT THE GOSPEL IS A , a “ desert,” a “ solitary place.” What though the bright promise of the spring, the warm glow of summer, the rich maturity of autumn, the quiet rest of winter, are full of beauty! What though Nature’ s broad plains are watered by noble rivers, though her mountains rise with majesty and grandeur, though her valleys “ stand so thick with corn that they laugh and sing,” and though a teeming population give animation to every habitable spot; yet, to the spiritual eye and apart from the Gospel, all is but a desert and a solitary place! And if it be so in our own fair land, which is the glory of all lands, what of the heathen nations? Men have broken loose from God. Sin has overspread the world. There is nothing to sustain the Divine life, nothing to insure spiritual health, nothing to promote the soul’ s eternal welfare. II. WHAT, THEN, IS THE CHANGE WHICH THE GOSPEL ? It is the same in one and all when it comes with “ demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” All things become new. The “ fruits of the Spirit” spring up, the solitary place is made glad, the desert rejoices and blossoms as the rose. Conclusion-- 1. Has my heart been made glad by the Gospel? 2. What am I doing to make the hearts of others glad? These are questions which demand prompt answers, because-- 3. The time is short. (Josiah Batsman, M. A.)The wilderness made glad I. A DESERT MAY BE AS BARREN AND . So, in general, are heathen countries. But, instead of unfruitfulness and barbarism, Christianity would introduce culture, civilisation, and everything which, in connection with these, tends to promote the substantial comforts of life. The Bible and the plough go together. II. A MAY BE AS A PLACE OF DREARY . But the Gospel would introduce the endearments of society; or, at all events, sweeten solitude itself. Among even the more numerous tribes of savages, social enjoyment is but small. They have, indeed, their feasts; but these are seasons of diabolical, rather than of human mirth. Their habitual character, undoubtedly, is retiredness, melancholy, and taciturnity. On the other hand, true religion gives birth to those feelings which prompt man with confidence to seek man; while, at the same time, it enlarges the mind, and furnishes many rational and enlivening topics on which men delight to speak out of the abundance of the heart. III. A MAY BE AS A PLACE OF AND CRUELTY. And such are heathen countries (Psalms 74:20). IV. When we hear of a wilderness we think of A PLACE OF SORROW. The heathen world contains not within itself the means of soothing the sad distress with which it is filled. But such a wilderness would be gladdened by the Gospel, which would bring home to the afflicted and dying “ the peace of God which passeth all understanding.” V. LIKE A , THE HEATHEN WORLD IS A PLACE OF AWFUL DANGER. “ I was in perils,” said the apostle Paul, “ in the wilderness” (2 Corinthians 11:26). “ Where there, is no vision the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18). Improvement-- 1. Let us improve the subject as furnishing ourselves with ground of gratitude and admonition. How thankful ought we to be when we contrast our own happy situation with the state of those who “ sit in darkness, and in the region and shadow of death” ! 2. It becomes us to consider whether we have personally embraced the Gospel. 3. Let us improve the subject in reference to the heathen. 4. According to God’ s wise determination human instruments are necessary (Romans 10:14-15). 5. The means of support must be furnished. 6. Already, He who is to be crowned Lord of all has gained some of His most signal triumphs in modern times, through this instrumentality. (James Foote, M. A.)Nativity Here are three things to be considered. I. THE ITSELF. The world before the appearance of the Gospel was dry as a wilderness, being destitute of God’ s holy Spirit, which is the water of life, and the immediate cause of all righteousness. The heathen were without the good Spirit, they were exposed to the assaults of evil spirits, whose employment it is to go “ to and fro in the earth” as wild beasts in a wilderness, seeking whom they may devour. And it has ever been the way of wicked men, agitated by those furious passions implanted in their nature, to become beasts of prey to one another, biting and devouring one another. But the beast which is noxious and cursed above all others is the serpent, in which we have the most perfect representation of the devil himself, and of all his children, who are called the seed of the serpent. In a place infested with such inhabitants there could be no real comfort; but on the contrary vexation, misery, disappointment, and despair. The evil that prevails among men who live without God renders this world a miserable place. II. THE CHANGE THAT WAS TO BE WROUGHT UPON IT. The knowledge of Christ engrafted in the hearts of men, soon made them green and fruitful in righteousness, and they abounded in good works, even to the astonishment of their enemies. III. THE CAUSE OF THIS BLESSED CHANGE. “ They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.” The glory of the natural world is the sun, whose presence it is that makes the day so superior to the night. But above all, the change of the winter into the spring, shows the power and excellency of this marvellous instrument. Therefore Christ, who performs the same things in the kingdom of grace as the sun doth in nature, is all respects the Sun of Righteousness. (W. Jones, M. A.)The desert blossoming The desert shall blossom when Christ is in it, as the narcissus, the meadow-saffron, the rose. 1. There is a desert of separation from ordinary means of grace. I may be deprived, in God’ s providence, of my Christian surroundings. I may have to travel far from the homeland and the sound of the Sabbath bells. But Jesus may dwell in my heart by faith. And then the wilderness will be a garden. 2. There is a desert of trial. Perhaps I lose my substance. Perhaps I lose my health. Perhaps I lose my friend, the half of my own soul. How desolating the affliction is! But Jesus can bless me through it. He makes the sweetening tree grow beside Marsh. 3. There is a desert of apparent disaster to the cause of God. The Church has its periods of adversity when all things seem to be against it. But Jesus teaches it to be more serious then, more patient, more devout, stronger in faith, richer in feeling, purer in aim. 4. There is a desert of death. To go out from the world which I know so well into the world which is mysterious and strange--how my heart shrinks from it v But Jesus shows me by His Word and His Spirit and His own experience, that death is the road to glory and the path to fruitfulness and the gate into life. The solitary place shall be glad. (A. Smellie, M. A.)The rose According to the old versions and many commentators “ the narcissus” or the autumn crocus is the plant intended. (W. Houghton, M. A.)The rose The name points to a bulbous plant. (P. Delitzsch, D. D.)Life out of death The valley of Chambra, in India, is rich in its fertility and beauty. The cause of all this fertility is a wonderful spring of water which flows from a hillside, and furnishes water for the irrigation of the whole valley, and for the use of the people who live there. Once, says the legend, the valley was without water, and there was desolation everywhere. The plants and trees were all withering, and the people were dying of thirst. The princess of the place took the sorrows of her subjects much to heart. She consulted the oracle to learn how the constant curse of drought could be removed. The oracle said that if the princess of the land would die for the people, abundant water would be given. She hastened to give her life. Her grave was made, and she was buried alive. Then forth from her tomb came a river which flowed down into the valley, restoring all languishing life in field and garden, and sending water to every door for the famishing people to drink. Ever since, the streams have continued to flow from the wonderful spring, carrying their precious benediction to every home. This old heathen legend beautifully illustrates what Christ did. The world was perishing for want of the water of life; Jesus died and was buried, and from His Cross and broken grave poured out the river of the water of life for the quenching of the world s thirst. Its streams run everywhere, and wherever they flow the wilderness has been made to blossom like a garden of roses. Beauty blooms wherever they run. (J. R. Miller, D. D.) Isaiah 35:3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.Weak hands and feeble knees I. I shall attempt to show THE OF HANDS AND KNEES IN GOING TO HEAVEN. The hands and knees are those parts of the body in which the effects of fear are the most easily seen. Of course, the root of despondency and fear must lie in the heart; it is that which is first moved with terror. But afterwards these extremities, these limbs of action begin to feel the weakness also. Just so the prophet means that wherever the Christian displays most his timidity and his dismay there we must be careful to apply the remedy of comfort. 1. The hands and knees are of the first importance because they represent active duty and supplication. Hence, if the knees be weak and the hands be weak, it is little that we can do. 2. We may readily see what the prophet means by hands and knees if we observe that a Christian, although his hopes are in heaven, stands upon the earth. It is with the hand of faith that the Christian lays hold upon that which is not seen, and endeavours to climb upwards to the skies; it is with his foot that he spurns the earth and all that it calls good or great. Let the Christian’ s foot be weak, and he cannot then despise the things that are seen: but he will be fixing his affection on things on earth and not on things above. Let his hand of faith grow weak, and he cannot lay hold of the things that are in heaven. 3. But you will remember also that there are certain parts of the spiritual pilgrimage where hands and knees are absolutely required. John Bunyan represents Christian as coming to the foot of the hill Difficulty, and he says. “ I looked then after Christian, to see him go up the hill, where I perceived he fell from running to going, and from going to clambering upon his hands and knees, because of the steepness of the place.” Every Christian who knows much about Divine experience will understand what this means. II. THE ILL EFFECT OF WEAK HANDS AND KNEES. 1. We have already hinted that one ill fruit of a Christian having weak hands and knees is this, that he will not himself be able to make much progress in the Divine life. When I sit down and read the biographies of saints who have gone to heaven, I am astonished at myself, and I can only weep to think how far I am behind these men, and then how much further I must be behind my Divine Master. Surely the examples of eminent saints should spur us onward. But weak hands and feeble knees are the reasons why so few Christians attain to any eminence in the ways and works of God. 2. Weak hands and feeble knees have another ill effect. They prevent our doing any great wonder for the good of the world 3. Again, weak hands and feeble knees very much dishonour Christ. Suppose you have a friend, and you say to him, “ My friend, I have such confidence in you, that I will trust you with the title-deeds of my estate, and with all I have. Nay, more; I will trust you with my health, with my life. Do what you will with me; I have such faith in your goodness and your wisdom that I am sure you will not be unkind, and will not err. I trust you “ There is something honourable in faith to the object in whom it is reposed.” Now, if you are able, with the strong hand of faith, to bring all you have and give it entire unto God, then He is glorified; but if your hand is weak, and you are hiding away some choice thing that you cannot give up to Him, if you do not stand fully to the surrender, but keep back something from Him, then that weak hand brings dishonour upon God. So also does the feeble knee. When the believer goes to his closet and bows there with his feeble knee, and asks God to bless him, and does not half believe that He will, he dishonours God. But, when a man falls on his knees, and cries, “ Lord, Thou knowest all things: Thou knowest that such a thing is necessary to me; there is Thy promise; do as Thou hast said, Lord; I know Thou wilt give it me:” and when he rises from his knees, goes down and says to his friends, “ The blessing will come; I have asked for it, and God will hear me;” why, such a man honours God. III. THE CAUSES OF WEAK HANDS AND FEEBLE KNEES. 1. Some Christians have weak hands and feeble knees because they are only infants. God’ s family is like every other family; we do not expect the new-born convert to run alone at first. God will not overdrive His lambs. He does not expect long marches from feeble feet. As you are but weak, you shall have lighter duties. 2. A more frequent cause of weak hands and feeble knees is starvation. 3. But, again, fear is the great weakness of men’ s knees; doubt and distrust are the great relaxers of the strength of men’ s hands. 4. Sloth may make a man weak in his hands and in his feet. Arms become strong by using them. The blacksmith gets a brawny hand by constantly using his hammer. He who climbs the mountain or walks many a mile a day, becomes strong in his feet. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Weak knees Earthly life should be a spiritual race or pilgrimage to Mount Zion. We need strong knees to climb with ease steep and rugged hills; and as our spiritual journey may be likened to climbing hills, we need spiritual strength to enable us to do it with comfort to ourselves. If we have weak knees, our journey will be a series of groans, and, perhaps, a succession of grumbles; but when our weak knees are strengthened and our lungs expanded by the delicious atmosphere of the hills, the journey can be done comfortably with sacred songs and continual joy. I. Weak knees are often caused by MENTAL . In these mental depressions, human aid is not of much account; we need the presence and comfort of God. Prayer is the best medicine; and if, at the same time, we can get away from the town to the sweet, pure air of the country, and climb a hill, we shall return home with a buoyant heart and an elastic tread. 1. God may allow depression to visit us to subdue our pride. It acts like a “ scotch” on a wheel, or a “ brake,” which prevents the horses dragging the carriage so swiftly downhill as to overbalance themselves. At such times, we are taught that, after all, we must keep pace with our weak brethren. 2. Such times of spiritual depression give us a nature to sympathise with the troubled. As the proverb says, “ They are of a tender nature who have been skinned themselves.” 3. Heaviness of spirit is also needed to give us time for meditation and review of mercies. When you are climbing, you see nothing more than the hill before you; but when you are weary and resting, you can see the glorious landscape for miles. Ah, when weak knees are caused by toiling upwards to get nearer to God, it is a sacred token, which shall result in everlasting strength. When compelled to slacken speed, we see the goodness of God and learn to trust His direction. II. Our knees are sometimes weakened by MANY . But though we have afflictions which make our knees bend in weakness, yet God has undertaken to give us strength according to our day. If we bear our afflictions with patience, our knees shall be strengthened to do great things for God. III. Weakness of spiritual knees may be caused by THE WEIGHT OF . (W. Birch.)Solicitude for the sorrowful It as the duty of all men to be careful of the sons of sorrow. There be some who from their very birth are marked by melancholy as her own. The silent shades of sorrow are their congenial haunts; the glades of the forest of grief are the only places where their leaf can flourish. Others there are who through some crushing misfortune are brought so low that they never hold up their heads again, but go from that time forth mourning to their graves. Some there be, again, who, disappointed in their early youth, either in some fond object of their affections, or else in some project of their young ambition, never can dare to face the world, but shrink from contact with their fellows, even as the sensitive plant curls up its tendrils at the touch. In all flocks there must be lambs, and weak and wounded sheep; and among the flock of men, it seems that there must necessarily be some who should more than others prove the truth of Job’ s declaration, “ man is born to trouble even as the sparks fly upwards.” (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 35:4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not Comfort for the fearful Presumption and fear are the Scylla and Charybdis of the Christian life, and it requires Divine guidance, together with all our own watchfulness, to steer safely between them. My object is, to suit the case of those who are well entitled to hope for the Divine mercy through Christ Jesus, but are disquieting themselves, or are disquieted by the enemy with needless fears. 1. “ I cannot indulge the hope that I am a Christian,” one will say, “ because I have never passed through the same religious exercises and experiences that others profess to have felt and enjoyed; have known no such deep convictions; have no such clear assurance of my acceptance with God.” God has brought many sons to glory, but I do not suppose that any two of them have been led thither in precisely the same way, or have been exercised with precisely the same feelings. If in the main, our experiences correspond with the Word of God, in the great points of faith and love, it need not disquiet us though we never heard of another case exactly like our own. 2. But another desponding one says, “ If I were truly a child of God, sin would not prevail against me as I find it does.” So long as there is determined war against sin, there is ground for hope. 3. Still one may be ready to reply, “ I find that sin not only prevails against me, but I seem to be worse than when I first strove against it; my heart appears to grow more wicked; my corruptions, stronger, and my strength to resist to be less.” To perceive more of our sin than usual, does not always prove that we are more sinful, but often the reverse; just as when one cleanses a room, though the air is filled with dust floating in the sunbeams, there is no more of it actually there than before, and there will soon be less of it as the operation goes on. We do not know the strength of our evil passions until we begin to oppose them. When one is making a special effort to lead a Christian life, then he is especially tempted and hindered. 4. Another class of disquieted ones affirm that they cannot hope they are true Christians, because they seem to love everything else more than God; If this were really true, we should have no encouragement to offer, for if God be not loved supremely we cannot be His children. But, in estimating our love to God, compared with our love to earthly things, we are not to conclude that we love that most which most excites our affections. It has well been remarked, “ that a man may be more moved when he sees a friend that has long been absent, and seem to regard him more for the moment than he does his own wife and children, and yet none would think that the friend was loved the most” ; so neither must we conclude, because when we are abroad in the world we find our affections vehemently stirred towards its various objects, that therefore they are supreme in our hearts. We should judge of our comparative affection by asking ourselves soberly, which of the two objects we should prefer to part withy 5. Again, it is urged by some that there is great danger of self-deception; that a person may, in appearance, be like a Christian, and yet be really destitute of any true piety, and they fear lest they should fall into the same error. The fear is usually the best remedy against the thing feared, and none are farther from the danger of making a false profession than those who are most afraid of it. 6. Some, again, have fears that they are not true Christians, because they come so far short of the attainments of some eminent Christians of their acquaintance. We reply, that the worst part of the character of those exalted saints may not be known to us, or they may not have our hindrances, or they may have been long in growing up to that state, while we are only babes in Christ. 7. Another class may say, that they cannot think any real Christian ever was so tempted and distressed with evil thoughts as they are. We reply, Job was tempted to curse God, and Christ Himself to worship Satan. We may have very wicked thoughts entering our minds, but if we do not delight in them, if we strive against them, and they are painful to us, they are no evidence against us. The very fact that they grieve us and we resist them, is in our favour. 8. Another class of the discouraged and fearful say, that they have doctrinal difficulties, that certain things in the Bible do not appear clear to them, and they fear to make any public confession of Christ till these are made plain. The best way to solve doctrinal difficulties is to engage in practical duties. But it would be endless to recount all the ways in which doubts and fears assail us. Their name is Legion, and our prayer should be that Christ would command them to come out of the man who is troubled with them, and to enter no more into him. Many seem to think that they show a commendable spirit by cherishing such fears. But there is no humility in doubting God’ s promises. (W. H. Lewis, D. D.)The ministry of consolation Let us consider the text-- I. AS A AGAINST OUR SECRET FEARS. “ Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Fear not.” The language is not uncommon as addressed to God’ s children. “ Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thine exceeding great reward.” “ Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, fear not.” “ Fear not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God.” The language seems to intimate that those who are truly seeking Christ are yet liable to be oppressed by many fears. But the Lord says, you are not to be thus afraid. 1. Fear not on account of the greatness of your sins. Fathomless as are the depths of your iniquity,” there is one depth,, which is deeper still. “ Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” 2. Fear not on account of remaining infirmities and indwelling tendencies to evil. How many are deterred from taking any decisive step in religion because they have not attained to a certain point of spiritual advancement; forgetting that the act of taking the step is to be one of the means for attaining to this point. 3. Be not of a fearful heart through anything adverse or disquieting in your spiritual experience. Many form rash conclusions on this subject from unsound and unworthy premises, and from only partial views of Scripture. II. AS AN TO LAY HOLD UPON THE OF GOD. “ Be strong.” The advice is of frequent occurrence in Scripture. But what are we to be strong in?. Why., strong in the Lord, strong in His strength, safe through His holding up. Again, by the exhortation, Be strong, we must understand an injunction to seek and pray for the strengthening aids of God the Holy Spirit. 1. There is the strength of preventing grace in the hour of temptation, when not permitted to come upon us; when some power we know not of keeps us out of harm’ s way; when the dominion of our besetting sin appears for the time to be got under, and without a struggle or a blow we conquer in the might of God. 2. Then, there is the strength of supporting grace when the struggle does come, when we have to do battle with hard thoughts in adversity, or rebellious thoughts in disappointment, with sinful thoughts in solitude, with proud and envious thoughts in the world, with unbelief and impatience, and a little willingness for prayer, and we cannot shake off these things. 3. And then there is the strength of enlightening and sanctifying grace. We grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ at the same time; and all this is through the imparted strength of the Comforter. 4. But I must not omit to notice the chief thing we are to be strong in, that which gave the prayer of Jacob power to prevail with God, namely, that we be as Jacob was, strong in faith, giving glory to God. Guard against all confused and imperfect notions of the offering of the Gospel plan, or of the power and willingness of Christ to save. Remember there is virtue enough in His blood, power enough in His arm, and grace enough at His disposal to sanctify and save a whole world of sinners. Apply to Him by faith and prayer. Place no limits where God has placed none. “ The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin,” and if from all, why not yours? (D. Moore, M. A.)An old malady and an old remedy I. A COMMON TROUBLE. “ A fearful heart.” Think of some of the causes. 1. Life itself is a cause. A little child does not fear. But the little child has not yet reached into the consciousness of its own personality--has not been awed by the mystery of its own existence. Wrapped in such consciousness there is always a certain fear. 2. Sin is another source of a fearful heart. The ideal relation between God and the soul is that of utmost intimacy, but sin breaks this relation. 3. The sad things emerging in life are causes of a fearful heart. 4. The difficulties of duty. 5. The monotony of duty. Sometimes when dreary stretches of duty, the same thing day in, day out, fill the vision, a real fear comes lest one fail in duty because of its uninteresting routine. 6. The revelation of man’ s own nature under some great surprise or disappointment is a cause of a fearful heart. The strength one fancied himself to have, turns out under some great strain to be but weakness after all. The heart in Scripture stands for the whole man--intellect, affection, will. The thing needed is that a man see clearly, love wisely, will strongly; but when fear wraps one about with mists, this is the outcome; a weak heart--no strength for doing; feeble knees--no power of purpose. II. THE OLD AND YET NEW REMEDY for this common trouble. 1. A personal God. “ Behold your God.” 2. A God appropriated--your God. 3. A God active. “ He will come.” God is not an inert passiveness, having no hand in things. Our Scripture is prophecy; God has come in the Incarnation. 4. A God for your help. “ He will come and save you.” 5. A rewarding God. “ He will come with recompense.” Think more of God than of the causes of your fearfulness, and also appropriate God. (Homiletic Review.)Fears 1. These words brings before us very delightful thoughts concerning God’ s nature and purposes. We gather from them His compassion He graciously sends the message unsolicited. His mercy. He does not desire His people to suffer needless trouble or anxiety. His power and care, for He is able to save them from danger and so guarantee the needlessness of their fear. 2. But they remind us of a very painful condition of man, which is his tendency to fear amid the discouragements of life. These consist in many things. I. FEARS WITH TO . 1. Men dread that which is greater or more powerful than themselves. Hence they fear the material forces of nature, the mighty convulsions of creation, the strength of their fellow-man, and the power of God. 2. Men dread that which to them is mysterious and unknown. Thus there is an innate fear of darkness, of death, of the future. 3. Men dread that which is more evil than themselves. Evil men, evil combinations of men, evil spirits, and the machinations of Satan. 4. Men dread those circumstances which can adversely affect their interests. That which can bring them material loss, that which checks their external advancement, that which spoils their amusement or gratification. II. FEARS WITH REGARD TO . 1. There is our relationship to God. As an all seeing observer, as a just Judge, as an avenging King. We stand before Him as an Almighty Jehovah, who knows our thoughts, sins, and desires. 2. There is our future state of existence. Guilt makes cowards of us all. 3. There are our domestic relationships. The broken cord of affection, the ruptured friendship, and the lost treasures. 4. There is the mental, moral, and bodily anguish and suffering. Great and terrible do they appear as they enshroud our existence and threaten our future. Now, as these things brood over the soul, and darken the horizon of life, there is heard speaking to the soul of the faithful, earnest believer in Christ the trumpet word of our text--“ Fear not.” There are many reasons why we should not fear. 1. There is the fact of our Father’ s love. He does not willingly afflict the children of men. 2. There is the fact of our Father’ s power. He is able to support and to overrule all adverse circumstances. 3. There is the fact of our Father’ s presence. He is always near. The true antidote to fear is faith. (Homilist.)He will come and save you It is no abstract salvation that we hope and wait for, but a Saviour--a Saviour before whom no enemy can stand. His coming will be the deliverance. Danger, bondage, weakness, and sorrow shall be done away, and in the consciousness of the grand release, “ The eyes of the blind shall be opened,” &c. (W. Hubbard.) Isaiah 35:5-6 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened Good hope for the afflicted I. This joyful prediction was literally fulfilled in the CURES WHICH OUR LORD IN THE DAYS OF HIS FLESH. II. The cheering prediction is spiritually fulfilled, in THE OF SINNERS, IN THE DAY OF . III. This pleasing prediction is also accomplished, in a spiritual sense, in THE OF THE , IN THE DAY OF REVIVAL, AFTER A SEASON OF . IV. The delightful prediction is gloriously fulfilled in THE DAY OF THE ’ S DEATH, AND AT THE OF THE JUST. (D. Fraser, D. D.) Isaiah 35:6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart A threefold promise 1. Banished crutch. 2. Accentuation of speechless tongue. 3. Irrigated Sahara. (T. De Wilt Talmage, D. D.)And the tongue of the dumb singDumb singers I. NOTE THE PERSONS WHOM GOD HAS CHOSEN TO SING HIS SONGS FOR EVER. “ The tongue of the dumb shall sing.” Their singing does not come naturally from themselves; they were not born songsters. No, they were dumb. How this ought to give you encouragement in seeking to do good to others! If you have neighbours who are profaners of the Sabbath, haters of God, unwilling to come to the house of God, despising Christ; if you find them as far gone as you can find them, recollect He maketh the dumb sing, and therefore He can make them live. II. Now I am to enter into some rather more lucid OF THESE DUMB PEOPLE. Who are they? Sometimes I get a good thought out of Cruden’ s Concordance. As I opened it at this passage, I found Master Cruden describing different kinds of dumb people. He says there are four or five different sorts, but I shall name only four of them. 1. Those who cannot speak--that is the usual acceptation of the word dumb--the others are, of course, only figurative applications of the term. Now, spiritually, the man who is still in his trespasses and sins is dumb. He is dead, and there is none so dumb as a dead man. “ Shall the dead arise and praise Thee? Shall Thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave, or Thy faithfulness in destruction?” As “ no man can call Jesus Lord, except by the Holy Ghost,” these people cannot do so truly. But, all hail sovereign grace! They are dumb by nature, but He will not leave them so; they cannot now sing His praises, but they shall do it; they will not now confess their sins, but He will bring them on their knees yet, and make them pour out their hearts before Him. 2. But there is a sort of dumb people that will not speak. They are mentioned by Isaiah. He said of preachers in his day, they were “ dumb dogs that would not bark.” 3. I will now introduce you to a third sort of dumb people. They are dumb because they dare not speak; and they are good people. Here is one of them: “ I was dumb with silence; I opened not my mouth, because Thou didst it.” And it is so blessed to be dumb in that fashion. The Lord’ s servant will often have to be dumb under trials and troubles. You are, it may be, in the deepest trouble now, and obliged to be silent; well, you shall sing yet for all that. If you cannot cheer the darkness with “ songs in the night,” yet He shall “ compass you about with songs of deliverance.” We are not always to be silent with affliction. The saints have known joy, unspeakably great, in the midst of trial intolerably hot. Their murmuring has been silenced, and their thanks-giving has become vocal. An old Puritan said, “ God’ s people are like birds; they sing best in cages.” 4. We have one more kind of dumb people--those who have nothing to say. I will give you an instance; Solomon says in the Proverbs--“ Open thy mouth for the dumb” ; and he means those who in the court of judgment have nothing to plead for themselves, and have to stand dumb before the bar. Like that man of old, who, when the king came in to see the guests, had not on a wedding garment; and when the king said, “ Friend, how earnest thou in hither?” he stood speechless; speechless, not because he could not speak, but because he had nothing to say. Have not you and I been dumb, and are we not now, when we attempt to stand on law terms with God, when we forget that Jesus Christ and His blood and righteousness are our full acquittal? We can now sing this anthem: “ Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’ s elect?” Not God, for “ He hath justified.” “ Who is he that condemneth?” Not Christ, “ He hath died, yea rather, hath risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, and maketh intercession for us.” III. THE WHEN THE TONGUE OF THESE DUMB PEOPLE SINGS THE BEST. I think it sings always, little or much. If it is once set at liberty, it will never leave off staging. (C. H. Spurgeon.)In the wilderness shall waters break outThe figure of the wilderness The lovely poetry of this passage is almost thrown away upon us who have had no actual experience of the wilderness. Our imagination has been largely helped by the vivid and pathetic descriptions from travellers who have been through it; but the most powerful imagination cannot enable us to feel its awful reality. The interminable expanse, the distressing sameness, the horizon for leagues on leagues unbroken by a solitary tree or shrub. The burning sand blinding our eyes and scorching our feet. The very pathway, confused and often obliterated by the blast of the burning wind, is strewn with the bleached bones of the poor creatures who have fallen victims to the heat and drought. Not a bird flying over our heads, nor a harmless animal to be seen browsing a scanty pasture. The night is made terrible and the gloom is deepened by the roarings of the lion and the howlings of the jackal and the hyaena. Not a scrap of food of fruit or root to be obtained, and, worst of all, not a drop of water to quench the fiery thirst. Our parched lips can scarcely close. And this dreadful place is so interminable that it takes days and weeks to traverse; only here and there at long intervals does the exhausted and almost demented traveller come upon the green oasis and the priceless well of water. In the Old Testament the horrors of the desert are often used to figure the miserable aspect of life, and the privations of the human soul. “ My soul is athirst for Thee, in a barren and dry land where no water is.” “ As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so longeth my soul after Thee, O God.” “ My soul is athirst for God, yea even for the living” God; when shall I come to appear before the presence of God?” “ I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground.” And here Isaiah, wishing to show the glory and beauty of a true vision of God, compares the change out of the darkness and misery or soul to the transformation of the wilderness into a garden. (C. Voysey, M. A.)The wilderness of existence The heart of man is the real wilderness, where dearth and drought and quenchless thirst torment and destroy him until he get the vision of the glory of God, which is His love. When man sees that, the waters break forth m the wilderness of his soul, and streams in the desert. His heart shall blossom as the rose and blossom abundantly; and not only flowers but fruit shall he bear for the healing of the nations. When man learns how God loves us all, then shall he find joy and gladness; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. That is the essence of the poem. But it teaches yet a great deal more. When man’ s heart is turned from a wilderness into a garden by the knowledge of God’ s love, he is not only happy in himself, but he is a fountain and stream of happiness to others. “ Then the eye of the blind are opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then doth the lame man leap as an hart and the tongue of the dumb can sing.” His love for others is kindled and set aglow by the sight of the love of God. So we get three distinct ideas out of the poetry before us. The knowledge of the love of God as the source of all blessedness--first, to bring joy and gladness into individual souls, and then to make them fruitful in bringing joy and gladness into the hearts of their fellow-men. (C. Voysey, M. A.)God alone the satisfaction of humanity If we would only believe it, we should see that in proportion as we regard our surroundings as a desert, we are giving proof that we belong to a higher order of existence than those who can be satisfied with the common pleasures, the bread and water of merely animal life. If we belong to that higher order, if our true realm is not of this world, we shall not be able to satisfy ourselves with all that this world can possibly furnish. Our thirst will only be inflamed and not quenched by every effort to allay it with earthly gratification. And I do not think it unreasonable to ask you to take the next step--which is more like a leap than a step--and to admit that God never intended us to be perfectly happy here on earth, in and through only the satisfaction of our earthly desires. He has so made us that the world and human life, lovely and delicious as these are, shall yet be to us a very wilderness full of weariness and hunger and thirst, until we have found our true satisfaction in Him and His love. (C. Voysey, M. A.)The joys of the godly The whole secret of our happiness lies in this knowledge of the love of God. 1. It adds enormously to every lawful pleasure and indulgence. We take our joys in company with God. In our recreation, in our games, in our mirth and laughter, we revel all the more freely and heartily because we never forget that He is there, never forget that it is from Him that have come our varied powers of enjoyment and the numberless resources which minister to it. We set God always before us, and therefore in all the so-called blessings and comforts of life we are free from sin in the using. We will not enjoy any pleasure for which we cannot give Him thanks. And it is amazing what a large extra number of pleasures we is in consequence. 2. A still greater wealth is poured upon us by the sight of the love of God. It turns all our pains and sorrows into joy. It gives us perfect contentment with our lot. We know it could not have come against His will. We know it has come, then, to do us good. If we will only be patient and bear it like a man, we shall soon see the blessing which God had wrapped up in it; when our God comes to us in the wilderness of our woe, the water breaks forth and we are satisfied and refreshed. He is our living fountain of peace and hope and joy unspeakable; His love touches the strong rock of our heart’ s rebellion, and lo! the streams of gladness flow forth and we are like a well-watered garden. Then our poor blind eyes are opened to see only good, where we thought there was only evil. Then our deaf ears are unstopped, and we listen joyfully and thankfully to His soothing and cheering whisper of peace. Then our palsied limbs leap up at His call and we do the duty that lies nearest to us; we begin to make the best of our altered conditions and tread cheerfully the path of thorns in which His hand is leading us. And the tongue of the dumb shall sing. Our stubborn lips fast closed in anger and resentment, our tongue cleaving to the roof of our mouth in distress and despair, shall now move in harmony with the gladness awakened by the sight of His love. We shall glorify Him in the fires of tribulation; we shall sing of His great salvation. (C. Voysey, M. A.)The desire to bless others And yet more and more comes out of that inexhaustible fountain of goodness and joy. The sight of the love of God not only transfigures the life of each individual, but makes us do our best to convert the wilderness around us into a garden. Atheists have confessed to me how barren of any practical good atheism is, how absolutely deficient in any inspiring motive for kindly endeavour to help others. But we know, by our own experience, that the sight of God’ s love which has turned our own wilderness into a garden, has likewise stirred us up into an enthusiasm of brotherly love and has borne fruit in practical endeavours to bring streams into the desert of lives not our own. (C. Voysey, M. A.)Streams in the desert The streams are spiritual, and refer to the diffusion of the Gospel and the manifold blessings of salvation over the world. I. A FEW OF THE WHICH THESE STREAMS IMPART. They are a source of-- 1. Spiritual fertility. No other streams are possessed of the same fertilising power. Modern writers show a tendency to ascribe to the influence of civilisation and knowledge all our social, moral, and religious blessings. But how do they reconcile their theories with the comparatively barren effects of Egyptian science and civilisation, Greek philosophy and art, and Roman law and discipline? Be the influence of these latter what they might, they wrought no radical change on man’ s moral and spiritual character. 2. Spiritual beauty. Wherever streams flow in such lands as Judaea, there luxuriance waves, but in an endless variety of appearance. Not less diversified is the influence of Divine grace on the character. Religion does not obliterate nature, but works in harmony with it, preserving all its innocent idiosyncrasies, so that as in the natural world are to be seen the cedar, the palm; the fir, and the rose, so in the Church, along the streams of Divine grace, are to be seen a John and a Peter, a Martha and a Mary. 3. Spiritual joy. Every one has experienced the refreshing influence of water. This is an image of the deep satisfaction and joy which true religion is fitted to impart. No other streams convey the same joy. II. SOME OF THE BY WHICH THE STREAMS ARE . 1. They are full and abundant. 2. They are free to all. Men have tried to fence round these streams, and to reduce them to the limits of their own selfish hearts and narrow creed; but God’ s thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor His ways as ours. While this is cheering, it is also a solemnising, thought, laying the responsibility of our own ruin on ourselves. 3. They are near and accessible. If a visit to such rivers as the Ganges or the Nile were requisite to our salvation, how many would be unable to comply with the condition. But these streams flow wherever the Gospel comes. 4. They are ever spreading in their influence. What is the garden of the Lord compared with the desert of this world? It is seen blooming in little oases here and’ there. But these streams are destined to spread and multiply, and to cover the whole earth with spiritual verdure and beauty. Conclusion-- 1. These streams are at present accessible, but may not be so long. Come to them now. 2. Remember that Jesus is the only channel through which they can reach us. (W. Johnston.) Isaiah 35:7 And the parched ground shall become a pool The mirage of the desert We must understand these words as they would be understood in the East. The parched ground is rich in what is known as mirage--the image of water, a sheen that cheats the eye, and so successfully cheats it that the thirsty traveller says, I see rivers! It is the mirage--(from mirari, to wonder at)--a beautiful thing: water on every hand: presently we shall drink and be glad. The traveller moves, the mirage recedes; the traveller would seize the blessing, but the blessing was only in clouds: an optical delusion; the eye has deceived the appetite. In the reign of Jesus Christ the parched ground shall become a pool of real water, and the thirsty land springs, fountains: the period of mirage has vanished, the period of reality has set in. (J. Parker, D. D.)The mirage and the pool The mirage--what is that! In place of an enticing lake, the traveller finds only ground “ dry as a bone,” as my Arab guide expressed it. So the mirage stands as the emblem of the sham, the pretence. And the pool--what is that? It is the patch of real water found in the desert; an oasis, around which may be found palms, shade, and refreshment. The pool is the real thing; it offers refreshment and contentment. To an Oriental the mirage becoming a pool meant a transformation from illusion to reality. The entire picture is a permanent mirror of human life. I. Let us look at THE MIRAGE. It appeals to a need of our nature. To the thirsty traveller the mirage offers water and fruit. Our nature is full of needs. We are not self-contained; we must continually receive help from without. Our senses, our minds, and our hearts cry out for their food, and their cry is natural In reply to their cry, both the real food of our nature and the mirage present themselves. The real and the sham are before us, and we have to choose between them. Alas! too many follow the mirage. In vain old travellers warn the younger ones. II. Let us look at THE POOL. No one would go after the mirage if they knew it was the mirage. Men want reality, and they think they seek it until a humiliation reveals the fact that they have been chasing an illusion all the time. Now, the message of the Gospel is a message of reality. The Gospel offers to transform our illusions into realities, by offering to transform us. Bring God into life, and the traveller sees reality everywhere. The reality touches every part of his nature. 1. His senses. He is neither ascetic nor libertine, but remembers ever that his body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Because God’ s temple he will seek, by proper exercise, to preserve its beauty. The senses, being the transitory and lower part of our nature, will never be allowed to occupy the dominant place in life. 2. His mind. He to whom God is the supreme reality will take care that he never allows a partial knowledge of any subject to interpose itself as a thick veil between his soul and God. 3. His heart. When a man finds God he finds Him who is love, and when he rests in that love he experiences no shock of disappointment. And the other loves that are permitted to us, when exercised within the circle of the larger love, are harmonious with it, and so bring us peace and joy without ahoy. (F. C.Spurr.)The mirage a reality The real translation of these words is not “ The parched ground shall become a pool,” but “ The mirage shall become, a pool.” The thing that you believed, would be the satisfaction of your life, the sight of which had brought new vigour to your limbs and strengthened your mind for the onward journey of the pilgrimage, that, says the prophet, shall become true. The mirage, the illusion of your life, shall become a reality. What has been the mirage that humanity has seen in its journey? The prophet enters into certain details that we might glance at for our profit. The first thing that such men would want would be the slaking of their thirst, the satisfaction of some desire. Might we not go back to the beginning of the history of man, and see that it has been a series of efforts succeeded by failure to gain satisfaction? We have all of us, as humanity at large, been struggling from the beginning to be satisfied. And the soul has said to itself, If I can once lay hold upon that particular thing, then I shall be satisfied. It may be wealth, it may be honour, it may be physical strength, it may be popularity. And we have reached it, but we were not satisfied. We found that the same want began all over again; year after year, men have seen a mirage, and said to themselves, If I could reach that, my soul would be satisfied. Many a man, grown old and weary with repeated failure, has said to his soul, in the secret communion of his own heart, “ What is it that thou dost desire, O my soul? I have made a home. I have gathered about me those I love. I have increased knowledge. I have widened the circle of my friendships. But I am not satisfied. Still there is something that does not slake the thirst of my soul.” And while these men so long ago thought as we do now, one man stood up in the midst of them all, and shouted aloud, as if it were a great discovery, “ My soul is athirst for God.” That is the trouble with humanity. It is athirst for God, and it has supposed that it could satisfy its longings with the things that are touched and seen. And the prophet, knowing the long struggle and the repeated failure, looked in the faces of these men, and said, “ The mirage shall become a pool,” your satisfaction shall be met. But such a prophecy as that called men’ s minds away from themselves to the thought of others. Individual salvation, if it could be brought to any one of us here to-day, would not be enough. The woman who knows that she stands in the light of the love of God, but that her husband is in the outer darkness, the man who knows that he has led an upright and true life, but that his son is turning away to wickedness, cannot be satisfied. We are bound one to another. Hear the word of the prophet: “ And a highway shall be there, and a way, and the wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err therein.” There shall come, says the prophet, a day when in the desert a highway shall be built, and men shall know that they are not wandering in this trackless waste, with no knowledge of the home from which they have come, and no understanding of the end and object of the pilgrimage. But their feet shall stand on the way that others have travelled before them, and they shall hear the voice of the past saying to them, This is the way, walk ye in it. And walking in that path, united with the great company of pilgrims who have been through the same experiences, known the same sorrows, been beckoned on by the same mirage, they shall have strength and hope and comfort in the consciousness of this great companionship of the redeemed who walk on the highway of their God. Again, we look back over the long history of the race, and we find that something else is needed. If we could see to-day the camp in which the earliest forms of civilisation were gathered, before cities were built, or roads were laid, or empires dreamed of, we should find that the camp encircled itself at night with fire, while without were the beasts roaring for their prey, causing the little children to nestle close to the father who could protect them, causing the women to shudder, and even strong men to ask themselves, May the fiery barrier be broken down, and the beasts that are outside the camp invade us and destroy what we love? Oh the illusion, the mirage, as it must have seemed to them, of stately cities and strong walls, and beasts for ever banished from the land! But the prophet said, “ No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.” The day will come when the people shall know that they are protected, when fear shall be taken away from them. The fear of what? Of beasts? Not that alone, for when the beasts were banished from the land, there was man to be afraid of. And the children said, Who will protect us from the enemy? And the father said, I will. And then the father came to die. And he rolled despairing eyes and cried, Ay, but who will protect me now? I must go into the unseen land, and face the shadows that I now behold. Who will protect me now? Who will protect me,--not from the beast, not from men, not from the spirits that may haunt me, not from hell, but from sin? Who will keep me from the corruption of sin,--worse than any evil that the world has ever seen or dreamed of? The prophet said, The mirage shall become a pool. That which seems impossible shall surely come to pass. Once more. On the journey much was lost, much was suffered, much endured. And the pilgrim who stepped out so blithely at the beginning of the march was found at the end to be an old man with the hope deferred that maketh the heart sick, the disappointment and weariness and sorrow, the hatred of those whom he had tried to help along the journey, the fear in his own heart that it was all an illusion. So at the last there was something more needed for these weary men. Was all that had been dropped on the journey to be gathered up again? Was all that had been suffered to have its reward? The prophet said, The mirage shall become a pool. What you have dreamed of joy and peace and glory shall be your portion. For “ the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads.” The mirage, the illusion, shall become a reality. These words were spoken thousands of years ago. What I would like to ask you is, How shall we read them to-day? Is it true that the thirsty soul has been satisfied? Is it true that there is a highway in the desert, and that the wayfaring man need not err therein? Is it true that no lion is there, nor any ravenous beast, but that in the consciousness of safety men are making their journey? Is it true that the redeemed do return and come to Zion with everlasting joy upon their heads,, and that sorrow, and sighing flee away? Are these things true? Why, look into your own experiences, and think for a moment, not of your sorrows nor trials nor temptations, not of the weariness and disappointment of life, but of its glory, and see if what the prophet said be not true. See if it is not true that things that in that day seemed an illusion are to-day the realities of life. Why, multitudes of men and women know what it is to have the satisfaction of the soul, God with us; the knowledge that our sins have been pardoned, that they shall never rise up in judgment to meet us; the assurance of God’ s undying love; the knowledge of the sympathy of Him who was crucified for us; the consciousness that God is about us and by us and in us,--is the pool at which our thirsty souls do drink. And the way. Have we not that way? There are men and women who are lost, men and women who are wandering through this world, not knowing where they came from nor whither they are going. But is it true of those who have been drawn to the company of Jesus Christ? Are their feet not upon the way that leads to eternal life? Who would give it up? Those who do not know it think that it is a mirage. You know that your feet are on the highway, and though you may be a fool in many things, yet you shall not err from the way of salvation. It is the way that comes from God and leads to God, the way of Jesus Christ the Saviour. And protection. It is hard for us to picture to ourselves what it must have been for the camp to hear the roar of the beasts. We are not afraid of death, for Jesus died. We are not afraid of hell, for He descended into hell. We are not afraid of God nor of God’ s judgment, for it is the judgment of a father. We are not afraid of anything but sin, and says the apostle, “ Sin shall not have dominion over you. You are not under the law; you are under grace.” Christ is personally helping every one of us. Nothing shall separate us from His love. We have no cause for fear. “ No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast, but the redeemed shall walk there.” The promise and prophecy of joy,--have we not known it? It is not true that sorrow and sighing have left the world, but has not the sorrow and has not the sighing fled away from you, as you have entered into the communion of your God? Have you not come to Zion with everlasting joy upon your head, as you have remembered, not the special things for which you ought to be thankful, but as it has been borne in upon you that you belong to God and God to you, and that the glory and beauty of life is not in doing God’ s will as a hard law, but in doing God’ s will because you have come to love God’ s will? The prophecy is not to come true; the prophecy has come true. What the prophet said was that these things should come,--the satisfaction of human want, the consciousness that the feet were on the everlasting way, the protection from all evil, and the everlasting joy of Zion in the days of the Messiah. And now if you ask me whether this prophecy rests upon any principle, and whether its fulfilment has got anything back of it but the individual hope that may be true, I answer you, Yes, it has. It has the revelation of God in the incarnation of Jesus Christ that man and God are one. And because man and God are one, therefore the mirage that humanity has beheld is the reflection of the refracted rays of the will of God passing through the medium of human life. And every man who has purified himself is, in his own day and according to his capacity, some sort of revelation, not of his own will, but of God’ s will revealed through him. “ The mirage shall become a pool.” The satisfaction of your soul you shall know, because you are God’ s and God is yours. Is not that what St. John meant, when he wrote, in that wonderful fifth chapter of his First Epistle, “ And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him” ? Because your will, your prayer, purified from selfishness, is no longer your will or your prayer. “ The Spirit helpeth our infirmities,” and “ maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” The prophecy has come true, and yet it is as nothing compared with that which shall be in the day when we know Him more than we know Him now. What should be our attitude? One of unbounded thankfulness that He has seen fit to reveal Himself to us as our Father, and ourselves as His sons. One of unflinching courage, one of undying hope; for every glorious vision that humanity has had upon its pilgrimage of personal joy, of larger truth, of nobler civilisation, of human glory, shall, in God’ s good time, be fulfilled, because it is not the will of man, it is the will of God. (Leighton Parks.) Isaiah 35:8-10 And an highway shall be there Highways Highways are among the characteristic features of civilisation in a country, since they are the means of regular and easy communication between the opposite parts, and especially of all with the capital; but in times of foreign invasion they fall first into the power of the enemy, and are most completely deserted by the inhabitants (Judges 5:6); and in Judaea, or any other country where wild beasts still exist, these keep aloof from the roads as long as they are kept open by traffic, but reappear in them if unfrequented, as in the story of the old prophet who met the lion on the way from Bethel. And this highroad shall not only be so well marked and made that the most ignorant and inexperienced shall keep his way there without difficulty, but neither shall it be appropriated by the unclean heathens, nor stopped by any roaring lion,--any Sennacherib, or spiritual archetype of Sennacherib. It shall be called, for it shall really be, “ the holy way,” the road set apart for the use of Jehovah’ s own chosen and consecrated people, whom He has redeemed and brought back from bondage; it shall be entirely for those. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)The way to heaven In describing the happiness of the Christian pilgrim, the prophet looks to the natural inconveniences of a wilderness, which are chiefly three--the want of water, the want of proper roads, and exposure to danger, particularly from beasts of prey; and he meets these with corresponding promises of abundance of water, an excellent highway, and complete protection. I. THE NATURE AND OF THIS WAY FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD, in their journey heavenward. 1. It is a way of Divine appointment, being like the king’ s highway, established by authority. 2. Like a highway, this path is designed for general use. 3. This way is denominated, “ The way of holiness,” or, the separated way. “ Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate,” &c. The path of Christians is not merely a new path, among the many with which the broad way is filled. They have not changed one mode of sinning for another--they have chosen the way of holiness. 4. The prophet says, further, of the way to Zion, “ the unclean shall not pass over it.” When the Israelites left Egypt, a mixed multitude went with them Exodus 12:38). This mixed multitude a great snare to Israel. 5. This is a way remarkable for its plainness, and there is also the privilege of a guide (verse 8, marg.) II. THE AND FOR BY THE WAY. “ And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water,” &c. Give a thirsty man what you may, if you do not give him what will assuage his thirst, you have not relieved him. There must be a suitableness in the object to his state, else it cannot profit him. III. THE THEM. Is not the pilgrimage of Christians a journey of danger? But though the highway to Zion is through the habitation of the most ferocious of animals, yet those beasts of prey, though on the right hand and on the left, shall not enter on this highway. While the redeemed keep this way, they are safe: it is only when they leave it, that they are in danger. We have no example in Scripture of the Lord forsaking His people while they kept this way. The history of the people of Israel furnishes an illustration of this subject. Their males were required to go up to Jerusalem three times a year, to observe the great festivals of the law. Now, on such occasions, they had to leave their frontiers, their wives and children, and all their property, exposed to surrounding enemies. But God gave them a promise, that no man should desire their land, when they went up to appear before Him thrice in the year (Exodus 34:24). Accordingly, though they were surrounded by the most hostile nations, not a man of them felt the least inclination to touch a thing that belonged to Israel, so long as the law of God was observed. But when Israel forsook the law of their God, and had recourse to the help of idols and of men for their security, then the restraint which had been put upon their enemies was removed, and their land became the prey of invaders. (David Russell.)The road to the city I. This road of the text is THE KING’ S HIGHWAY. In the diligence you dash on over the Bernard Pass of the Alps, mile after mile, and there is not so much as a pebble to jar the wheels. You go over bridges which cross chasms that make you hold your breath; under projecting rock; along by dangerous precipices; through tunnels adrip with the meltings of the glaciers, and, perhaps for the first time, learn the majesty of a road built and supported by governmental authority. Well, my Lord the King decided to build a highway from earth to heaven. It should span all the chasms of human wretchedness; it should tunnel all the mountains of earthly difficulty; it should be wide enough and strong enough to hold fifty thousand millions of the human race, if so many of them should ever be born. It should be blasted out of the “ Rock of Ages,” and cemented with the blood of the Cross, and be lifted amid the shouting of angels and the execration of devils. The King sent His Son to build that road. He put head and hand and heart to it, and after the road was completed, waved His blistered hand over the way, crying, It is finished. II. This road spoken of is A CLEAN ROAD. Many a fine road has become miry and foul because it has not been properly cared for; but the unclean shall not walk on this one. III. The road spoken of is A PLAIN ROAD. “ The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.” That is, if a man is three-fourths an idiot, he can find this road just as well as if he were a philosopher. The pardon is plain. The peace is plain. Everything is plain. IV. The road to heaven is A SAFE ROAD. “ No lion shall be there.” V. The road spoken of is A ROAD. God gives a bond of indemnity against all evil to every man that treads it. “ All things work together for good to those who love God.” No weapon formed against them can prosper. VI. THIS WAY ENDS IN GLORY. I do not care how fine a road you may put me on, I want to know where it comes out. “ The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion,” &c. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)The way to heaven I. THE WAY ITSELF. There is only one way that leads to heaven. 1. Jesus Christ is the way. 2. It is by faith that we enter into, and make progress in this way. II. THE OF THIS WAY. Christ is divinely, infinitely excellent. III. THE OF THOSE WHO ARE WALKING IN THIS WAY. 1. They are all, by nature, in the same circumstances with the rest of mankind. 2. From this situation they are redeemed by the obedience and death of the Son of God. 3. They are all holy persons. 4. They are constant, regular, and progressive in the way of holiness--they walk there. 5. They are all happy persons. They “ come to Zion with songs,” &c. (W. S. Smart.)The King’ s highway I. THE OF THE WAY. 1. An open way though narrow. 2. A holy way though gladsome. 3. A safe way though simple. II. ITS . 1. The Lord of the way Himself (see margin). 2. His ransomed ones. Good company, sympathetic, pilgrim songs and converse. 3. Angel-escort. Jacob. “ He shall give His angels charge . . . to keep thee in all thy ways.” III. ITS . Path of just brighter to “ completion of day.” Heavenly Jerusalem Zion’ s templed hill. Farewell to pilgrim’ s staff and worn sandals. Welcome endless rest, wide open gates, greetings of the glorified, the bosom of God, and coronation of joy. (Homiletic Review.)The way to Zion Viewed as a description of the way of salvation through Christ, this prophecy calls upon us to consider-- I. THE of whom it speaks. 1. They were once journeying along a very different path. They are called “ the redeemed,” and the term implies that they were once in bondage. This is the natural condition of us all. 2. But these travellers have been delivered from this state of bondage. 3. There are three ways of redeeming a captive--by exchange, by a forcible rescue, or by ransom. It is by the last of these that the people of God are here said to have been liberated. II. THE WAY along which they are journeying. III. THE HOME to which it is leading them. To return to Zion implies, in the first instance, to be admitted into the visible Church of God, and to a full participation of all its privileges. But it implies also much more. It directs our eyes upward to that holy hill on which the heavenly Jerusalem is built, the city of the living God.’ Of this unseen residence of the just, the earthly Zion was a type; and we may find it a profitable subject of meditation to trace-- (1) The resemblance; (2) the contrast between them. 1. The hill of Zion was the peculiar residence of God. There His temple was erected, and there the mercy-seat, the visible symbol of His presence, stood. In heaven also Jehovah has a temple, and “ the way of holiness” leads to it. 2. The Jews were taught to regard their sacred mountain as the source of all their blessings. When salvation was promised them, it was to come “ out of Zion” ; when they were to be strengthened and blessed, “ the Lord out of Zion” was to strengthen and bless them. Hence we find Daniel turning towards Jerusalem when he prayed in Babylon, and Jonah looked towards the holy temple of his God when he cried amidst the waves for deliverance. And what real happiness is there, which comes not from above? 3. Zion also was the place in which the people of the Lord assembled. And who can describe the blessedness which will flow from the fellowship of heaven? 4. The earthly Jerusalem was a splendid city; “ beautiful for situation, and the joy of the whole earth, was mount Zion” ; but even in the height of her greatness, when the glory of the Lord rested on her tabernacle, she afforded but a poor emblem of the heavenly city. At the time, however, to which the words of the prophet primarily relate, the contrast was peculiarly striking. The Zion to which the liberated Jews so joyfully returned, was “ a wilderness, and Jerusalem a desolation.” And where is Jerusalem now? Where is its temple? The heavenly Zion, however, knows no destruction and fears no change. It is “ a city which hath foundations” ; an abiding city. (C. Bradley, M. A.)The King’ s highway I. THE KING’ S HIGHWAY IS A PLAINLY MARKED ROAD. In the Bible we have an accurate map of the country and all its roads. From first page to last, one name is conspicuous--Jesus Christ. 1. There is the great Patriarchal road; travelled by Adam; in bad repair in Noah’ s time; a broad way of promises to Abram, who travelled along it out of Ur; broader still to his children. 2. Then there is the great Mosaic road. Great pains taken to make it a good road; scores of workmen, called laws, upon it; hedges of immense height to keep people from the dangerous jungles of heathendom. Sign-posts everywhere. Most people murmured at it as rough or steep. But some, like Moses and Aaron, and Caleb and Joshua, saw “ Christ” written up all along the way; upon their sacred buildings and altars; upon their religious teachers; even upon the garments of the people. 3. By and by the road widened into the great Prophetical road. David and Solomon, Isaiah and Jeremiah, and others, repaired the road. But after their time the road was sadly neglected. Few were found upon it. The fences were broken, and the people wandered in by-paths, until things became so bad that it seemed as though the road would be shut up altogether. 4. But “ suddenly” (Malachi 3:1) the King sent and put it into a thorough state of repair, so that it was like a new road, and it was called “ the new and living way” ; and though very rugged and narrow at times, it has always,, been kept open until this day. II. THIS HIGHWAY IS “ THE WAY OF .” It leads to God. They who travel along it bear His image. Dwelt in, and led by the Holy Ghost, they exercise themselves to have always a conscience void of offence, so that men can see that they walk holily, justly, and unblameably. III. THIS HIGHWAY IS A SAFE WAY. “ The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.” IV. THIS HIGHWAY IS A WAY OF JOY. “ The ransomed of the Lord shall return,” &c. The captives of Babylon, concerning whom this was primarily written, rejoiced because they had passed through the wilderness, and had survived the dangers of that journey; because they were re-instated in their former home, and the smile of God once more rested upon them. And we,--delivered from wrath, cleansed from sin, returned from banishment,restored to our proper home in the heart of God, dwelling in peace and safety as members of His household, the church,--have not we abundant cause for rejoicing? (W. J. Chapman, M. A.)Holiness, under the old dispensation and under the new We can hardly make a greater mistake in our theology than to suppose that the gospel dispensation has been designed by God in order to bring down the standard of the divine claims to the level of human infirmity: So far from this being the case the gospel dispensation has been inaugurated and designed specially in order that human infirmity may be raised to the level of the divine claims. The prophet was looking forward, as it would seem, to the glories of the Christian dispensation, and this was the characteristic of this new era that he contemplated with the most complete satisfaction: “ An highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness.” But it may occur to some to ask, “ Had there been no knowledge of the ‘ way of holiness’ under previous dispensations? Does holiness of life belong only to the gospel age?” I reply, Undoubtedly there were holy and humble men of heart before the Incarnation--men who lived in advance of their age. These were the bold pioneers of spiritual progress, who made their way through the pathless forest and the trackless wastes ere the King’ s great highway was opened for our feet. It was with them as with the pioneers of civilisation in our own days. Hardy travellers have made their way right across the continent of Central Africa, exploring in almost all directions the vast and unknown region; but there is no highway across the continent of Africa: and those, therefore, who have crossed it, or attempted to do so, have had to face great and untold difficulties, and endure a vast amount of hardship and privation. By and by, if the world lasts long enough, and civilisation progresses, there may be a grand trunk road right across that continent, and by and by perhaps railways may be laid, and easy communication established, with that remote and barbarous region. It is even so with regard to the highway of holiness. Before the Christian dispensation earnest and devoted men attained to various degrees of holiness, but the King’ s highway to holiness was not yet open. It was not yet revealed to the world what true and perfect holiness was, nor how we are to rise to it. “ Righteousness” rather than holiness was set forth in the law. It needed the Incarnation of the Son of God to reveal it to man. And not until the Word of the Father was clothed in human form, and lived among His fellow-men in fashion as a man, did human eyes contemplate the true ideal of holiness, the standard and type of absolute perfection. In the life and conduct of Christ that standard was embodied and revealed; by the death and resurrection of Christ the spiritual power was secured to us by which it becomes possible for us to rise to the level of conduct so indicated. The highway of holiness was thus opened; and it now becomes possible for “ the wayfaring men, though fools,” to walk therein. There are two thoughts, then, specially suggested to our minds in this connection. 1. In order to open the high way of holiness it was necessary that a perfect example should be given to mankind, so that men could understand what perfect holiness means; and that has been presented to us in the human life of Jesus. 2. Christ also imparts to us the secret of all true spiritual power by bringing us into close and blessed connection with God. The same power which rendered it possible for Jesus Christ as a man to be perfectly holy is thus brought within our reach by the Incarnation, and death and resurrection, of Jesus Christ. Thus we may say, not only have we the map and the chart of the highway of holiness placed in our hands, but also the highway itself opened up to us by the communication of a spiritual ability to tread therein. But if those advantages are real, they carry with them enhanced responsibilities. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)The highway of holiness Let us consider some of the characteristics of the life of holiness to which the prophet here calls our attention, and the conditions which are attached to the right of way. I. It is the WAY OF THE . “ The unclean shall not pass over it.” Until we are cleansed from our “ old sins” we are not in a position to pass over the King’ s highway of holiness. Some people who desire to live holy lives are no better than legalists. They cannot love much, because they have not had much forgiven them; thus they lose the true motive of a Christian life, while they are crippled in their efforts to attain to the proper standard of holiness, both by the weight of unforgiven sin and by absence of that spiritual power which flows to us through reconciliation. We must pass through the gate before we can pass along the way, and that gate is the Cross, where the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. Nor is it difficult to find a mason for this necessity. Indeed, this passage gives us a sufficient reason if we are to accept the marginal rendering--“ For He shall be with them.” It is quite true that Jesus Christ was the Friend of publicans and sinners; but He was their Friend because He saved them from their sins. And it is so now; those only who hate their sins, and who come to Christ to be delivered from their sins, can walk along the highway of holiness, because He is sojourning with those who sojourn there, and He cannot walk with the unclean. But having called attention to this statement as a reason for the necessity of cleansing, let us now dwell upon it as a characteristic of the way of holiness, and of the experience of those who pass along it. II. The highway of holiness is THE PATH OF WITH THE DIVINE. When Christ was here on earth He ever moved along this way, and He is still to be found there by those who pass along it. Indeed, so closely is His presence and our fellowship with Him connected with true spiritual holiness, that we can scarcely say whether the holiness is the fruit of the fellowship, or the fellowship the effect of the holiness. It is only while we walk in the light, as He is in the light, that we have fellowship with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit. These two elements in our experience act and react upon each other. III. It is THE WAY OF RIGHT . “ Wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.” Here is a promise that may well comfort us in the perplexities of life. The reason why we make such great mistakes as we sometimes do is surely that we get off the King’ s highway of holiness. We begin to pursue our own pleasure, or to gratify our ambition, or, we seek to please other people, and to avoid the cross. But when the wayfaring man is on the highway of holiness this promise will be fulfilled. He may seem to make mistakes, but God will overrule what appears to be a blunder to His own glory. There is yet another thought suggested by this clause which may serve to explain some of our errors. The prophet here speaks of those who are fools as being assured of right doctrines. May not one cause of mistakes sometimes be that we are not content to take the place of fools? We feel too much confidence in our own sound judgment and commonsense, and so we scarcely regard it necessary to inquire of the Lord. I do not mean to say that we ought not to use our natural faculties. They are a trust from God, and we are bound to use them. But we are warned not to lean to our own understanding, and he who gives us this advice would have been a much happier man and made much fewer practical mistakes if he had only taken it himself. But there is yet another reason why we sometimes err, suggested to us by this clause. And this other reason brings before our minds the fourth characteristic of the way of holiness. IV. It is only THE WAY OF RIGHT TO THOSE WHO ARE MEN. Do we not sometimes err because we have so little of the wayfaring man about us? Living as we do in a luxurious age, how many of us surround ourselves with luxury, and lay ourselves out for self-indulgence! We are called to use the world as not abusing it; surely it is the abuse of the world when we allow it to take the place of heaven. There is a quaint old Latin proverb which tells us, “ The penniless travellers shall sing before the robbers.” No wonder; for what can the robbers take from them? And many a Christian might sing defiance of all enemies--even of the great robber himself, if only we made over our all to its proper Owner, and regarded it as a sacred trust to be used for Him. V. It is THE WAY OF SAFETY. “ No lion shall be there,” &c. Is Satan, then, really to lose his power to do us harm? He may come to the hedge which fences in the highway from the rest of the world; he may growl and roar, and do his best to terrify you, but so long as your eye is single, and you are moving on the King’ s great highway of holiness, the lion cannot lay a paw upon you or inflict a single wound. VI. It is THE WAY OF JOY. VII. It is THE WAY THAT LEADS HOME. (W. HayAitken, M. A.)The highway of the King of kings I. Isaiah proclaims that this way shall be A HIGHWAY. Not a way confined, as the Old Testament way was, to one particular people. Not a way confined to any particular class of persons, rich in preference to poor, learned in preference to unlearned. Not a way confined to any particular sect, or any particular communion of persons. But a way open and public to all Then, woe to the man who presumes to set up a turnpike upon this highway. And yet this is what is done. Some would even have us believe that we cannot set our feet upon this way except through the help and invocation of saints and angels. Others tell us that we must have a priest at our elbow. Others say that we must belong to some particular sect of Christians. And others say that we must belong to some particular class of persons, such for instance as the learned. Such are the turnpikes, such are the barriers, which men presume to set up upon the highway of the King of kings. II. Though it is clear that this way is accessible to all sects, classes, and conditions of men, yet THERE IS ONE , and that one exception is not due to God, but to man himself. “ It shall be called the way of holiness: the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those,” viz., for the holy. III. Here is A SPECIAL TO THE MEN--men who have not the advantage of learning, education, and accomplishments. It is the guidance of God’ s Holy Spirit, without which even the best acquirements are nothing, which makes up to wayfaring men for the absence of all the advantages of learning, education, station, and leisure, which are the privileges of those who occupy the higher grades of life. IV. On this Christmas Day WE THE OPENING OF THAT WAY which Isaiah describes. V. AT THE VERY END OF THIS GREAT VIADUCT IS HEAVEN. (E. Girdlestone, M. A.)Simplicity of the religion of Jesus It is impossible to transport ourselves back to a time when the New Testament was not, and when the civilisation which has come forth from the New Testament had not even been hinted at. 1. In that old time the choicest wisdom of the world did little else than puzzle itself over problems which are now known in their solution to the children in our schools. Whether man was anything more than an animal; whether with the death of his body a man did not cease to be, was an undecided question. But the mystery touching fife was almost as great as the mystery touching death. The best impulses of men to do that which was wise and good had no direction. A hundred teachers taught a hundred different ways of living. The interrogation of ages was: What is truth? Men sought it with a patience that would appal a modem disciple; sought it until they died, and died with the infinite sadness of knowing that all their seeking had been in vain--that they were no wiser than they were when they started their career of investigation. 2. The duty of all men that teach or can teach is to make things plain, simple, easily discerned by the popular perception, readily felt by the popular conscience, and easily appropriated by the popular emotion. It was largely because the language of Jesus was easily understood, and hence sympathetic, that the common people heard Him so gladly. 3. Well, the old prophet, looking along the fine of his craving, in which he represented the craving of humanity, the craving for light as to what death meant and of instruction in human duties, saw a happy day ahead. He saw a day when ignorance should give place to understanding, and the fear born of it, and the torment born of the fear, should harass men no more. He saw a day when the way of holiness should be so plain that the wayfaring man, though a fool, should not err therein; that is, when not only the wise should find it readily, but when those whose intellects were unassisted by education, and whose abilities to discern between right and wrong were not extraordinary, should easily distinguish between good and evil. When Christ was born, the sun arose; when Christ came up from the grave and brought life and immortality to light in His resurrection, the clock of ages struck the hour of mid-day, and the Sun of Righteousness stood full-orbed, armed on all sides with beams, in the spiritual zenith of the world. 4. If you desire to see the fulfilment of the old prophet’ s prediction, look at your own age, and you behold it. In the fact that the Bible lies waiting perusal in your own homes, see and recognise that the day has come in which all that any man can long for in the way of knowledge as to his duty of life, in the way of the destiny of his soul after death, is realised. 5. The way to judge a system of instruction is not by listening to what men say about it, but by studying what the author of it said and did. If you wish to know what the system of salvation is, as included in the coming of the Christ, go to your New Testament record and ascertain from His own lips what it is. 6. Do not go expecting that His system is mysterious, for we often fail to see the simplicity of a thing, by having a previous impression that it is profoundly complex. This is the old blunder which both Jew and Greek made centuries ago. The ritualists of our day match the Jew, and the man of supreme culture types the aesthetic Greek. If you will go to the Master Himself, and not to His disciples, past or present, you will be struck as much by what is not in His system, as by what is in it. 7. One of the proofs of the fine wisdom of the Saviour is seen in His studiously keeping out of sight whatever would lead the minds of His followers in speculative directions. All questions of casuistry, such as the scribes and lawyers were continually tempting Him to discuss, He brushed aside as incompatible with the object of His mission. He came simply to establish divine connections with men, to teach the race virtues, and implant in their souls the germ of simple piety. (W. H. H. Murray.)The holy road I. THE WAY to the heavenly Zion, the dwelling-place of God. Zion of old was the place of the one altar of sacrifice and the one mercy-seat, where the Lord in manifest glory communed with His covenant people. Pilgrimage to the holy place was an important part of Israel’ s religious fife. During the invasions of the land, and especially during the captivity, the solemn festivals were neglected, and there seemed to be no way up to the house of God. Then godly men sighed for the tabernacles of God. How much they longed for a highway by which they could march to Zion! We speak of another Jerusalem which is above. 1. There is a way to God and heaven. It is noteworthy that this road is one, a highway and a way. Many roads lead to ruin, but only one to salvation. Years at the University of Utrecht, several Christian students met together from various nations, and on one occasion it was agreed that four persons, representing Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, should describe the work of grace upon their hearts. The earnest brother from New England, and the friend from the Cape of Good Hope, and the missionary student from India, all found that their stories agreed with that of a young nobleman of Holland. Scenes and circumstances widely differed, but the joys and sorrows, the struggles and the victories of each, were the same, and one hope filled every heart. We differ in the pace with which we traverse the way, but the way itself is one. Jesus saith, “ I am the way.” He is not only way, but end to all who put their trust in Him. This way is made through the wilderness: “ a highway shall be there” --where the sand is always shifting, where if the traveller once loses his bearings he is doomed to certain death, with the vulture’ s maw as his only sepulchre. A way is made for us through the deserts of sin, and the wildernesses of sorrow, over hills of doubt and mountains of fear. That way runs close at thy feet, poor wanderer! This way was cast up at great expense; for road-making over a long and rugged country is a costly business. Who could make a way over the mountains of our iniquities but Almighty God? It cost the great God the Jewel of heaven. This road has lasted now these thousands of years; it is still in good travelling condition, nor will it ever be closed till all the chosen wayfarers shall have reached the many mansions of the Father’ s house. This way, being made by Divine power, is appointed by Divine authority to be the King’ s highway. Whosoever travels by this road is under the protection of the King of kings. This highway has conducted already to God. It is said to be “ a highway and a way” : it is not only a highway by appointment, but it is a way by use and traffic. 2. The name of this way. The way of faith is not contrary to holiness, but it is “ the way of holiness.” If you are ever in a doubt about which is the right path, remember those words of the Saviour: “ Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, and few there be that find it.” Prefer strictness to laxity. God’ s way is the way of holiness, for He has founded it upon holy truth. He is not unholy in the saving of any sinner. Those who follow that road do so by a holy trust. We must not believe that Christ will save us in our sins--that would be unholy faith; but we must look to Him to save us from our sins; for that is holy faith. It is also the way of holy living. 3. This way is a select way. “ The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those.” Literally this may mean, “ The uncircumcised and the unclean.” These were excluded from the house of the Lord, and here they are excluded from the sacred way of Israel: of this the spiritual meaning is that unless we are washed in the blood of Christ, and renewed in the spirit of our minds by the Holy Spirit, we are not in the way of God. It is a select way, for it is reserved for a select people “ it shall be for those.” Who are they? Look backward, and you will read of memo who make the wilderness and the solitary place to be glad: of some whoso blind eyes were opened, whose deaf ears were unstopped. You read of the lame men who were made to leap as an hart, and of dumb men who began to sing. This highway is reserved for those upon whom a miracle of grace has been performed. This way is for the ransomed. “ The redeemed of the Lord shall walk there.” Another fact makes it very select. “ He shall be with them” (marg.). 4. It is a plain way. The true Gospel is as plain as a pikestaff. 5. It is a safe way. “ No lion shall be there.” There is one lion which those who make Jesus their way need never be afraid of: that is, the lion of unpardoned sin. Another lion also roars upon us, but cannot devour us, namely, temptation: you shall not be tempted above what you are able to bear. As for that grim lion of death of which some speak, it does not exist. II. OUR DUTY IN WITH THIS WAY OF . 1. The first thing is carefully to discriminate between road and road. When you see a road which looks broad, smooth, pleasant, and well-bordered with flowers, say to yourself, “ There are many ways, but since only one of them leads to eternal life, I must be careful. I will pray, ‘ Lord, be my guide, even unto death.’” Do not believe that sincerity is enough; you need truth as well. 2. When you know the road, you should scrupulously keep in it, for many ways branch from it. 3. Are we in the way? Then let us be very earnest in telling other people of it. Travelling the other day by a country road the traveller wished to know the way to a certain spot. He inquired of one who sat by the roadside, but all the answer he got from him was a vacant stare, and a shake of the head. A little time after he found that the poor man was deaf and dumb. I am afraid there are many such Christians nowadays: they are spiritually deaf to the woes of others, and dumb as to giving them either instruction or encouragement. All they seem to do is to shake their wise heads, as if they knew a great deal more than they meant to tell. I asked a person, the other day, the road to a certain place, and in the politest possible manner he answered, “ I beg your pardon, but I am quite a stranger in these parts.” That was a very sufficient reason for not directing me. He could not tell what he did not know. If any of you do not know the way, and are strangers in these parts, do not tell anybody; bat let this mournful reflection go home to your consciences: “ I cannot tell another the way to heaven because I am a stranger in these parts.” God grant that we may never stretch the arm of our testimony beyond the sleeve of our experience! 4. If you are not in the road, may the Lord help you to get into it this morning. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The Appian Way and the highway to heaven You have heard of the Appian Way. It was three hundred and fifty miles long. It was twenty-four feet wide, and on either side the road was apath for foot passengers. It was made out of rocks cut in hexagonal shape and fitted together. What a road it must have been! Made of smooth, hard rock, three hundred and fifty miles long. No wonder that in the construction of it the treasures of a whole empire were exhausted. Because of invaders, and the elements, and Time--the old conqueror who tears up a road as he goes over it there is nothing left of that structure excepting a ruin. But I have to tell you of a road built before the Appian Way and yet it is as good as when first constructed. Millions of souls have gone over it. Millions more will come. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)The pilgrim and his destination Dean Alford’ s grave is shaded by an old yew tree in St. Martin s churchyard, and these words are recorded on the headstone: “ The Inn of a traveller on his way to Jerusalem.” (J. N. Norton.)The way of salvation plain I remember the story of s Swedish king in years gone by who, when he was ill, was greatly concerned about his eternal state. There chanced to come to the palace an old farmer, known to his majesty for his piety; the king called him to his bedside, and said, “ Tell me, what is the faith that saves the soul?” The peasant explained it out of his heart in plain language, much to the king’ s comfort. The king remained ill for months, and again fell into doubt and fear. Those about him urged him to send for the Archbishop of Upsala, as a learned prelate who could allay his fears. The bishop came to the royal couch, and gave his majesty a logical and theological definition of faith in most proper terms. When he was gone the king said, “ It was very learned, no doubt, and very ingenious, but there was no comfort in it for me; the peasant’ s faith is the faith that can save my soul.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Holiness can be understood by the unlettered A minister was speaking to a disciple of Jesus, not much versed in the terminology of the schools, on the subject of entire holiness. At last she turned to him and said, “ I don’ t know what you mean in the way in which you speak of it, but if you mean constant readiness for heaven, I’ ve got that.” She was a Christian woman, who habitually rested on Jesus for full salvation, and into whose heart there was poured the comfort of conscious readiness to do or suffer God’ s will, as He might direct. (W. G. Pascoe.)The highway of holiness The highway of holiness is along the commonest road of life--along your very way. In wind and rain, no matter how it beats--it is only going hand in hand with Him. (M. G. Pearse.) Isaiah 35:9 No lion shall be there Human animalness I. MAY OF THE ANIMAL NATURE. That man by nature has animal desires and passions is no fault of his own, nor is it a misfortune to the possessor if these are inherited in harmonious proportion with the mental and spiritual propensities. They are all from the Divine Creator. They are all essential to man’ s enjoyment, and symmetrical development. The Creator wastes no material. As the watch contains no unnecessary spring, wheel, cog, or screw, so every passion, emotion, affection, from the lowest to the highest, as coming from God, is of account. II. When the animal nature is fed and strengthened to the neglect and at the expense of the other and higher faculties and tendencies of the human make-up, then the animal appears in a great variety of forms. III. MAN IS FOR HIS OF HIS ANIMAL NATURE. It is not to be crucified, or wholly exterminated, but kept in subordination, subject to the ruling of the mental and spiritual. Some by nature have a great deal more to contend with on this line than others. The first nature, the animal, can be transformed into the “ second nature,” the man; and if made “ a new creature in Christ Jesus,” such must necessarily be the result. (W. G. Thrall.) Isaiah 35:10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return Marching to music My object will be to give the text its highest practical appropriation as setting forth in glowing language the return of God’ s spiritual Israel, His ransomed ones, from every land. I. WHO THEY ARE. 1. “ The ransomed of the Lord.” To ransom signifies to redeem or free from captivity or punishment by paying down an equivalent, to rescue from danger and death, to deliver from the possession of an enemy either by/exploits of warfare or purchase by gold. The Lord’ s ransomed people are, therefore, those who have been spiritually rescued, emancipated, delivered. They are the purchased property of God by the precious blood of Christ. 2. The ransomed of the Lord are the regenerate of the Holy Ghost. They have been quickened into new life as well as redeemed. 3. The ransomed of the Lord are the adopted into the family of God. What a unique and beautiful sequence we have here. Life purchased, life begotten, life ennobled. II. WHITHER ARE THEY ? “ To Zion.” The old-time Zion was typical of the “ city which hath foundations, whose maker and builder is God.” Let us glance at the parallelism. 1. Zion of old was the seat and scene of worship. The ransomed of the Lord in returning are going to Zion above, to join the immortal worshippers in the “ temple not made with hands.” We shall worship, but we shall also serve in multifold ministries of good. 2. Zion of old was the seat of royalty. “ There were set,” we are told, “ thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.” Jerusalem was the metropolis of the nation--the centre of monarchy, authority, power, and splendour. Heaven is the city of the Great King. On its sapphire throne, belted as with a rainbow of mercy and grace, sits the Mediator-King of the New Covenant, crowned with many crowns, holding the sceptre of righteousness. To His ransomed ones He says, “ Verily, I say unto you, that ye which follow Me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye shall also sit upon, thrones.” “ To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me on My, throne. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.” 3. Zion of old was the seat of rest. It was the terminus of the pilgrim-worshippers’ journey. With the ransomed of the Lord it is now the pilgrimage; but daily they pitch their moving tents a day’ s march nearer home, heaven, rest. What a magic word is “ rest.” What volumes of meaning it holds! Rest from conflict, rest from sorrow, rest from suffering, rest from self and sin, rest from all the ills of the time-life! Rest in the Lord in holy contemplation, holy worship, holy service, holy visions, holy companionships, holy pleasures for evermore! III. WHAT IS THE SPIRIT IN WHICH THEY JOURNEY? “ With songs and everlasting joy upon their heads.” They march to music made in the sanctuary of the soul. Undoubtedly the allusion is to the Songs of Degrees or of the Ascents, which the rejoicing tribes sung on their way to the great festive celebrations at Jerusalem, or to the paeans of deliverance the emancipated exiles rang out as onward they pressed to the laud of their fathers and God. Thus the homeward-bound hosts of God on the highway of holiness are urging their way. They are like soldiers returning from the scene and spoils of a great victory, with heart and step keeping time to jubilant melody. But the ransomed not only sing on the way home, they also “ Come to Zion with songs.” It is a jubilant arrival. IV. WHAT DO THE OF THE LORD REALISE ON THEIR ARRIVAL HOME? “ Joy and gladness”--i.e outward and inward joy. The joy of holy retrospect; the gladness of present possession of glory; the joy of fulfilled hope, perfected manhood, satisfied life, prospective progression, intellectually and morally, for ever and ever. It is the “ joy and gladness” -- 1. Of heavenly reunions. 2. Of perfected knowledge. 3. Of the beatific vision. This “ joy and gladness” will mean the exclusion of “ sorrow and sighing.” As light expels darkness, and day excludes the night, so the rapture of joy prevents the sighings of sorrow. (J. O. Keen, D. D.)Deliverance from the burdens of life 1. What are the real sources of that deep power of sorrow which broods so heavily over life? There is, first, over our bodily life and the world of nature which subserves it, the continual blight of pain and suffering. In nature’ s highest beauty, even to our power of imagination, there is always some imperfection. But it is no mere pious imagination to declare that its burden is absolutely as nothing in comparison with the burden of the spiritual evil, the blindness, the weakness, and the sin of man. These are the two great burdens which are so heavy upon our human life, and they are worst in this--that they seem to separate us from our Father in heaven, alike by themist of doubt and by the gloom of fear. 2. Need I remind you how the Gospel meets both these things and scatters them to the winds? That law of suffering and of death it hallows doubly by the revelation of the Cross, because, it overrules it to our own good, because it makes it a condition of our saving others. The Gospel deals still more decisively with the burden of sin. In it lies the very essence of redemption. But you will ask me, “ Is that promise realised after all?” Remember, that by the very nature of the case the kingdom of Christ here is seen only in the first stages of its conflict against the power of evil. What it can offer us is only a true but an imperfect earnest of a perfect future. Has it given us, and does it give us now, that which it thus professes to give? I answer unhesitatingly, Yes. These things are no dream. They are a present and blessed reality, and we feel sometimes as if they were the only reality in a very fleeting and unsubstantial world. But the reality is yet imperfect. Joy and gladness may be ours, but sorrow and sighing have not yet fled away. There is a heaven hereafter in which alone all these promises shall be quite fulfilled. (A. Barry, D. D.)“ Everlasting joy upon their heads” This expression may allude to the ancient custom of wearing crowns in seasons of mirth and festivity, which were considered as marks of honour and dignity; or, it may refer to the practice of anointing the head on joyous, festive occasions, which probably gave rise to the phrase used by the royal poet of “ the oil of gladness” Psalms 45:7). (R. Macculloch.)Sorrow and sighing shall flee awayThe flight of sorrow I. WHAT IS IN THE that sorrow and sighing shall flee away? The susceptibility of sorrow and the power of expressing sorrow will not be destroyed; but there shall be no appeal to the susceptibility, and no use for the power of sorrowful expression. 1. The sorrow of bodily disease shall pass away with the pain, the languor, the weakness which disease imposes, the nervous excitement which it often sets up, and the debility which it so frequently creates. Disease shall pass away, with all its interruptions of domestic and social intercourse, with all its power to mar our enjoyment, and to interfere with our work. It will flee before a new constitution, before the health and vigour and young rich life of a body, raised in incorruption--raised in glory--raised in power--raised in Christ-like spirituality. 2. The sorrow of dying will pass away. The fear of death--the pains of death--the separations of death--the material consequences of death--the abasement of death. 3. The sorrow of bereavement will pass away. And with it widowhood, orphanage, the loss of wife and children, and every painful farewell which death so often and so rigorously exacts. 4. The sorrow of poverty will flee away, with its hunger and thirst, its nakedness and cold, its homelessness and wretchedness, and all the neglect and contempt, the painful dependence, the degradation and dishonour, which it too often brings. 5. The sorrows caused by the sins of others will flee away. The wicked, whatever now may be their power, through relationship or through position, shall cease to trouble. Slavery, oppression, and persecution will utterly cease. The sorrows caused by the hell-fired tongue, by the fist of wickedness, by the feet swift in running to do mischief, shall flee away. Nothing shall enter the sorrowless world that defileth, that worketh abomination or maketh a lie. 6. The sorrows produced by the fear of evil, by dark imaginations, and by blighted hopes, shall flee away. The flat, “ Peace, be still,” shall be spoken to every soul. 7. The sorrows of this life’ s illusions and delusions shall pass away. Everything shall, by and by, far exceed your hopes. 8. The sorrows of sin will pass away. The smart of the conscience, remorse, dread, discord between the passions and the sanctified will, chastisement, even temporary Divine desertion. 9. Every “ heart knoweth its own bitterness.” The own bitterness of the heart shall flee away. Secret sorrow--sorrow that you hardly admit to yourselves--sorrow upon which you have never put the raiment of speech--the sorrow that you have never groaned out to the nearest friend you have--nameless sorrow, “ my sorrow” --sorrow in all its roots, in all its branches, sorrow in all its blossomings and fruits, in all its depths, and in all its manifestations, shall flee away. And this fleeing away of sorrow will leave the channels of the emotions open only to the streams of enjoyment. What a mighty effect this will have upon the character and the entire life! The flight of sorrow will enlarge the love of the heart: for suffering often makes us self-enclosed and self-engrossed; it will help, moreover, to secure uninterrupted intercourse and unbroken activity; it will be the departure of correction no longer needed--the withdrawment of discipline not further required--it will be like the fleeing away of winter when the time of the singing of birds has come. II. WHEN SHALL THIS BE? The text points to Hezekiah’ s reign--to that portion of his reign through which God blessed the people whom he governed with remarkable prosperity. But does this exhaust the text? We think not. I you think it does, there are other words from the mouth of God on this subject (Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 7:17). When shall this be? It shall be to the individual saint when his earthly career terminates. To the saints as a body, this will be realised at the times of restitution of all things. III. BY WHAT SIGNS MAY WE BE ASSURED THAT OUR SORROWS WILL FLEE AWAY? There are five sure signs. 1. Personal faith--not in King Hezekiah, but in King Jesus. 2. Acknowledged and avowed citizenship in the kingdom of the Saviour. We lay stress upon avowal, because where there is no avowal there must always be reason for doubting and suspicion. 3. The fleeing away of sin--the being cleansed from sin. 4. The present effect of sorrow. If sorrow bends the will and subdues the affections, then it is sanctified, and herein is a sign that sorrow will flee away. 5. A living hope--hope born of faith--hope the child of God’ s promises--the hope which is the anchor of the soul. Write on your hearts this onesentence concerning your sorrows and sighs, they shall flee away. The love of God, like the sun upon the snow-drift, which melts the snow, raises it in vapour and then disperses it, shall make sorrow flee away. The power of God, like the north wind, which driveth away the rain, shall constrain sorrow to flee away. (S. Martin.)Sorrow and sighing shall flee away There is consolation in this very form of expression--“ flee away.” It shows an instability as characterising sorrow in the case we contemplate. Sorrow to the redeemed man is not the sea which is found in its appointed bed in summer and in winter; but it is the crested wave which is here to-day and gone to-morrow. It is not the mountain which stands in its place year after year, and century after century; but it is the clouds which rise rein the valley, and travel up the sides of the mountain, and sometimes cap and completely hide it, but which from their very nature must flee away. The sorrows of the saints are sorrows which from their very character must pass away. (S. Martin.). Isaiah 36:1 Sennacherib King of Assyria came up Sennacherib Sennacherib was one of the most magnificent of the Assyrian kings. He seems to have been the first who fixed the seat of government permanently at Nineveh, which he carefully repaired and adorned with splendid buildings. His greatest work is the grand palace at Koyunjik, which covered a space of about eight acres, and was adorned throughout with sculptures of finished execution. He built also, or repaired, a second palace at Nineveh, on the mound of Nebbi Yunus, confined the Tigris to its channel by an embankment of brick, restored the ancient aqueducts which had gone to decay, and gave to Nineveh that splendour which she thenceforth retained till the ruin of the empire. (G. Rawlinson.)Sennacherib’ s invasion of Judah Lessons:-- 1. That a people may be in the way of their duty, and yet meet with trouble and distress. Hezekiah was reforming, and his people in some measure reformed; yet their country is at that time invaded, and a great part of it laid waste. Perhaps they began to grow remiss and cool in the work of reformation, were doing it by halves, and ready to sit down short of a thorough reformation; and then God visited them with this judgment, to put life into them and that good cause. We must not wonder if, when we are doing well, God sends afflictions to quicken us to do better, to do our best, and to press towards perfection. 2. That we must never be secure of the continuance of our peace in this world, nor think our mountain stands so strong as that it cannot be moved. Hezekiah was not only a pious king, but prudent, both in his administration at home and his treaties abroad. His affairs were in a good posture, and he seemed particularly to be upon good terms with the King of Assyria; for he had lately made his peace with him by a rich present (2 Kings 18:14), and yet that perfidious prince pours an army into his country all of a sudden, and lays it waste. It is good for us, therefore, always to keep up an expectation of trouble, that when it comes it may be no surprise to us, and then it will be the less a terror. 3. That God sometimes permits the enemies of His people, even those that are most impious and treacherous, to prevail far against them. The King of Assyria took all, or most, of the defenced cities of Judah, and then the country would, of course, be an easy prey to him. Wickedness may prosper a while, but cannot prosper always. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 36:2 And the King of Assyria sent Rabshakeh Invasion of Judah by Assyria In chaps, 36-39, a historical part follows, which retiring from the ideal distances of chaps, 34. , 35. into the historical realities of chap. 33., begins with the statement that “ at the conduit of the upper pool in the road of the fuller’ s field,” where Ahaz preferred the help of Assyria to that of Jehovah (Isaiah 7:3), stands anembassy of the King of Assyria with a section of his army. (F. Delitzsch, D.D.)Rabshakeh Rabshakeh or Rab-Sak, the chief cup-bearer, or general staff-officer in the Assyrian service, entrusted with diplomatic business. It is the title of an office, and not the name of a person. The “ Tartan” was the supreme military officer, or commander-in-chief, while the “ Rab Saris” was the chief of the Eunuchs, and a confidential officer. Rab-chief. (B. Blake, B.D.)The Rabshakeh, Sennacherib’ s Bismarck. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D.D.) Isaiah 36:4-20 Rabshakeh said unto them War orators We have a class of speakers in this country who are silent on all great social and cosmopolitan topics, but make themselves heard and felt the moment any matter of warlike fascination comes to the surface. All other questions float down the stream of public opinion without causing them even to indicate their existence. But let a question involving blood appear, and with marvellous celerity all these pugilistic men come from the obscurity of barracks and service clubs, and from no one knows where, often fuming about no one knows what. They remind one of those animals noted for their bloodthirstiness in the warm regions of Africa--the caribitos (Serrasalmo)Their haunts are at the bottoms of rivers, but a few drops of blood suffice to bring them by thousands to the surface; and Humboldt himself mentions that in some part of the A pure, where the water was perfectly clear and no fish were visible, he could, in a few minutes, bring together a cloud of caribitos by casting in some bits of flesh. With equal ease we can collect our war orators if we only give them one sanguinary pretext. (Scientific Illustrations and Symbols.) Isaiah 36:5 Now on whom dost thou trust?--Trust in others sometimes dishonoured That question may not be without importance in matters of ordinary life. We have all to trust our fellows, more or less, and I suppose we have all had to smart in some degree, as the result of it. We may trust the mass of men in trifles without any serious consequences; but when it comes to large sums, when the whole of a man’ s fortune, for instance, is staked upon the character and reputation of someone else, then it is not altogether an unimportant question, “ On whom dost thou trust?” Many have rested on some choice friend, and found him play the Judas! How often have our dearest counsellors turned away from us as Ahithophel did from David! How frequently have we confidently rested upon the integrity, friendship, and fidelity of some person whom we thought we knew and could trust, and we have found that “ Cursed is he that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm.” Use discretion in all your transactions in life, as to how far you will trust the sons of men. (C. H. Spurgeon.)In whom art thou trusting? I. Let us put this question, and collect A LITTLE BUNDLE OF ANSWERS. 1. I think I hear some answer, “ I do not know that I have thought about the matter at all; I hope it is a long time before I shall die, and there is no need to trouble myself before it is necessary, and, therefore, I put the matter off.” Do not you think that you are very foolish? There is a gate to death, ay! and to hell, too, from the place where you are now sitting. Suppose you were sure of a long life, would you wish to delay being happy? 2. I hear one say, “ I thank God I am about as good as most people; when my poor neighbours have needed charity, they have never found a churl in me. I hope I can say it will go well with me, and if it does not, sir, it will go badly with a good many.” I am afraid it will go badly with a great many; but I do not see what consolation you ought to get out of that, for company in being ruined will not decrease, but rather increase the catastrophe. The sum and substance of your confidence is, that you are trusting in yourself. Now, do you really and honestly think that you are of yourself sufficient to bring yourself safe to God’ s right hand? I think your conscience can remind you of some slips and flaws. 3. “ I trust in my priest; he has been regularly ordained; he belongs to an Apostolic Church; he tells me that he will forgive my sins if I confess them to him, and that when I come to die he will give me my viaticum.” Do not be misled; your priest might as well trust in you as you trust in him. 4. “ Well, God is merciful. He is not so severe as to be unkind towards us, and we dare say, though we may have a good many faults, yet as He is a very good and gracious God, He will forgive our sins and accept us.” If you go to God out of Christ, you will find Him to be a consuming fire, and instead of mercy you shall receive justice. 5. “ Well, sir, I do not say that I can trust to my works, but I am a good-hearted man; I am a man of good intentions, and though I have a great many faults, yet I am good-hearted at bottom, and I think God will look at my heart, and will put me right at the end, notwithstanding my slips and wanderings by the way.” It will turn out, I am afraid, to be a delusion and a snare. Your heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Do not talk about its goodness any more, for when you do, you give God the lie, and how can you expect to go to the heaven where God is, when you are thus insulting Him all the while? II. THE ’ S ANSWER. “ I trust,” says the Christian, “ a triune God-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” To some this does not look like a real trust. “ Why, we cannot see God,” says one. “ How do we know all about this Trinity? Is this a real trust?” Cannot you trust in a thousand things you have never seen or heard? Some of you may be earning your living by electricity, but you never saw it. Some have said, “ But does God interfere to help His people? Is the trust you impose in Him so really recognised by Him that you can distinctly prove that He helps you?” Yes, we can. We can say, also, by way of commending our God to others, that we feel we can rest upon Him for the future. III. SOME WORDS OF ADVICE TO THOSE WHO ARE SO . 1. Drive out all unbelief. If we have such a God to trust to, let us trust with all our might. 2. Let us seek the Holy Spirit’ s help in this matter. The Author of our faith must be the Finisher of it also. 3. Let us try to bring others to trust where we have trusted. 4. We must prove our faith by our works. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Unregenerate human nature bad all through: That is a very silly thing which people say of men when they die, “ Oh, he was rather loose in his morals, but he was a good-hearted man at bottom.” It reminds me of Rowland Hill’ s saying, “ Yes, but when you go to market to buy apples, and you see a number of rotten ones at the top, if the market-woman says, ‘ Oh, never mind, it is only the rotten apples at the top, they are very good at bottom,’ you will say to her, ‘ My good soul, I will be bound to say the best are on the top, and they will not improve as you go down, for generally they will get far worse.’” And so if a man is bad on the surface, I cannot tell how much worse he may be down below. It is said there was a man who used to swear and drink, who, nevertheless, applied for membership with Mr. Hill, and gave this reason for it, that though he did drink occasionally and frequently swear, yet he was good at bottom. Mr. Hill said, “ Then you think I am going grovelling down through the dirty foul filth of your life to get the little good that is somewhere at the bottom of you! Why, sir, it will not pay for the risk of digging out, and I am not going to do it.” (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 36:11 The Syrian language The Syrian language The Syrian language i.. Aramaic, spoken between Palestine and the Euphrates, the language of international intercourse and commerce in those days. (A. B. Davidson, D.D.) Isaiah 36:13-21 Hear ye the words of the great king The bland insinuations of the enemies of God’ s people When Satan would tempt men from trusting in God and cleaving to Him, he doth it by insinuating that in yielding to him they may better their condition; but it is a false suggestion, and grossly absurd, and therefore to be rejected with the utmost abhorrence, when the world and the flesh say to us, Make an agreement with us, and come out to us, submit to our dominion and come into our interests, and you shall eat every one of his own vine, they do but deceive us, promising liberty when they would lead us into the basest captivity and slavery. One might as good take Rabshakeh’ s word as theirs for kind usage and fair quarter; therefore, when they speak fair, believe them not. Let them say what they will, there is no land like the land of promise, the holy land. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 36:19 Where are the gods?--Hamath Hamath at the north border of the Holy Land, a large town on the Orontes, depopulated by the Assyrian in 720. Arpad, Aradus, a town on the coast, now a heap of ruins. Sepharvaim, or Sipar, a town to the north of Babylon, built on both sides of the Euphrates. (B. Blake, B.D.)Inquiry for gods: These inquiries may, by a slight accommodation, be used as showing some characteristics of false gods, and showing, by implication, the glory and worship which are due to the one living Lord. Men have a distinct right to inquire for their gods. Almighty God Himself does not shrink from this test of personality and nearness. He will be inquired of. He has proclaimed Himself accessible. “ Come now, let us reason together.” God is within reach of the heart of man; and religion, as well as bringing with it a Divine fear, brings with it also a Divine companionship. Men cannot live on mere sublimity. Man cannot get hold of infinitude. He must have something that he can lay the hands of his heart upon. God must give miniatures of Himself, which little children even can put away in the hiding-places of their love as their chief jewels. (J. Parker, D.D.)What is a man’ s god? A man’ s god is whatever is the supreme object of his admiration and trust. It may be beauty, it may be strength, it may be money, it may be fame, it may be self-righteousness, it may be self-confidence. Now there are times in life when a man instinctively or by force inquires for his god; and he who cannot, in such critical hours, find his god, has made the profoundest and saddest spiritual mistake in the bestowment of his affections and the gift of his trust. There are times when you are dissatisfied with yourself; when you feel your utter nothingness. Take a season of utter prostration, when the strong man is withered. At such a time we look out for something greater than ourselves. Is there no one who can meet us in this extremity of feebleness, who can come down to us, not in the thunder of His great power, but in the condescension of His almightiness? Look at a time of commercial panic, business distress, when no man knows whom to trust. Man cannot be satisfied then without the supernatural; he may even drift into superstition. Atheists pray when they are in extreme pain or peril. There are times when all men either come quietly, with reverence and tenderness, to seek God who has withdrawn for a moment, or when they are startled, are frightened into momentary devotion. (J. Parker, D.D.)Man-made gods 1. Some people have made money their god, and there is not a more helpless god in all the temples of idolatry. He will never come to you in the crisis of your life. He will make little compromises with you, help you over divers stiles, solve certain little problems for you. But when your soul is in agony, when your life has wrought itself down to the one last spasm, he will be a dumb god. We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. If you could take a five-pound note with you across the grave into yonder invisible mysterious world, nobody would know what it was. You would have to explain it, and nobody would believe you. You might hold it up, and show the watermark, and lecture upon it, and turn it round and round, and nobody could change it. 2. There is another god that some men are making. Its name is Luck! Some men say, “ Things will not turn out so badly after all. I have always been able to get upon the sunny side of the road, and something will occur to get me upon that side again. I have trusted the chapter of accidents. My chances have always turned out right, and they will turn out right again.” There never was so mocking an idol as luck. The young man who throws in a game of that kind and is lucky, will have another game to play. He has another competitor who will force him, and say, “ Now you must have the dice out again.” The name of that last competitor is Death, and he will play you. The young man says, “ I do not want to play.” Death grasps him by the throat, and says, “ You shall play!” Now he gets hold of his dice-box, and Death always wins. 3. Some men’ s god is a well-favoured countenance. They trust to their shape, figure, bearing, expression. They say, “ My face is an introduction, a certificate, a guarantee: wherever I go a space is cleared for me.” A very superficial god! I can imagine such persons brought into circumstances which will try their god severely. Yonder is a man lofty in stature, portly in bearing, commanding in all the attributes of external person. He says that he feels a pain piercing him. He is taken home, and betakes himself to his bed. His physician comes to his room and says, “ This is a case of small-pox.” That god of his will be dug in the face till the man’ s own mother will not know him, and the sister who loved him best will pray to escape from his presence. God can blotch your skin! God can send poison into your blood! And you, who sneered at ungainly virtue, at unfavoured honesty, may be a corrupt, worm-eaten, pestilent thing in the dirt! What, then, if any man should say to you, Where is thy God? (J. Parker, D.D.)The revelation of the true God in times of human need This part of the subject is not free from difficulty. Many a man has felt the most intense pain on observing what he supposed was God’ s absence from the scene of human affairs. This difficulty must be grappled with if we would be honest to all sides of our great subject. In reply to this difficulty I suggest three things. 1. As a mere matter of fact, attested by a thousand histories known in our own experience, God has appeared in vindication of His name and honour. 2. As a first principle in sound theology, it must be admitted that God Himself is the only true judge as to the best manner and time of interposition. By so much as He is God this point at least must be conceded. Let us be fair to the Almighty, as we would be fair to man. Stephen was taken by the mob, dragged out and stoned. “ Where was his God then?” was once the mocking inquiry of a well-known freethinker. Go to Stephen himself for an answer; and when he, outraged and dishonoured, said with his dying breath, “ Lord, lay not this sin to their charge,” --to have wrought in the human soul, under circumstances so tragic and terrible, a desire like that, was to do more for Stephen than if he had been lifted up by myriads of angels out of the hands of his murderers and set in the sun! Do not let us forget God’ s spiritual gifts to us. Though the stones were falling upon him and he was in the last agonies, he said in a whisper, the sound of which shall survive the voices of all thunders and floods, “ I see heaven opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” It is only in crises, in extremities such as these, that the highest reach of faith is realised, and that faith itself becomes victory. 3. Then the very absence of God, being dictated by wisdom and controlled by love, must be intended to have a happy effect upon human faith. When God is absent, what if His absence is intended to excite inquiry in our hearts? It is in having to grope for God we learn lessons of our own blindness and weakness and spiritual incapacity. (J. Parker, D.D.). Isaiah 37:1 Hezekiah . . . rent his clothes . . . and went into the house of the Lord The distress, of Hezekiah Hezekiah was probably weak in body, and therefore had lost true courage of soul. (J. Parker, D. D.)Peril should drive the soul to God The best way to baffle the malicious designs of our enemies against us is to be driven by them to God and to our duty, and so to fetch meat out of the eater. Rabshakeh intended to frighten Hezekiah from the Lord, but it proves that he frightens him to the Lord. The wind, instead of forcing the traveller’ s coat from him, makes him wrap it closer about him. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 37:3 This day is a day of trouble Hezekiah’ s day of trouble Ahaz the father and immediate predecessor of Hezekiah on the throne of Judah, engaged himself, and virtually his successors, to pay tribute to the kings of Assyria. Such a state of vassalage Hezekiah no doubt rightly though hazardously declined to continue, and this is what is meant when it is said of him that “ he rebelled gains the king of Assyria and served him not” (2 Kings 18:7). Any such refusal on the part of Hezekiah to acknowledge the despotic king of Assyria as his lordparamount we may be sure would not be allowed to pass unchallenged, and hence Sennacherib’ s invasion of the kingdom of Judah in order to compel submission to what the king of Judah objected to and declined to do. This is what constituted Hezekiah’ s day of trouble. (W. Alnwick.)Days of trouble 1. Hezekiah but represents what has been the general experience of man, for there has probably never lived a man on the face of the earth whose lot it has not been to have some days of trouble and annoyance. 2. If we cannot entertain a reasonable hope of any such thing as immunity from trouble, we can, however, endeavour to live and act so that our troubles may not be more than they need to be. It cannot be doubted that many bring much trouble on themselves, and subject themselves to many heart-aches and heart burns, which they ought never to have known, and probably would not have experienced had a different course of conduct been pursued, a course, perhaps, pointed out to them by those gifted with greater wisdom, prudence, and foresight than they themselves were possessed of, but which by their obstinacy of will and unjustifiable determination to take their own way, they were led to reject. 3. We are not, of course, to think that because many and great troubles fall to the-lot of a man, he has necessarily acted foolishly, acted in opposition to any law of God, either natural, religious, or spiritual. This was just the grievous mistake Job’ s friends fell into. 4. It is only in heaven that trouble will be a thing unknown, and where all tears will for ever be wiped away. 5. We cannot but see the importance of being well prepared for days of trouble before we are made sensible of their presence with us. If we are wise enough to prepare ourselves for them their approach will be no surprise to us, and we shall be the better able to battle with them, and to turn that which is an evil in itself into a blessing, and so much help to us in our journey heavenward. 6. There can be no doubt that troubles are often sent by a wise and gracious providence for this very purpose. 7. It now only remains for me to make a few further remarks on how to deal with days of trouble when from being matters of prospect or future contingents, they have become translated into actual and stern facts. In dealing with such days we shall find much instruction and guidance afforded us by the example of Hezekiah in dealing with his day of trouble. As soon as Hezekiah became acquainted with the invasion of Sennacherib, he went into the house of the Lord, the sure resort of God’ s people in the time of distress, there in prayer to lay both his trouble and its cause before God, and at the same time he sent Eliakim and Shebna unto the prophet Isaiah to desire that man of God to lift up his prayer in behalf of the remnant that was left. We are informed what was the blessed result of this union of prayer on the part of the king and the prophet. The day of trouble was removed, and the sun, which one day was shrouded in darkness, the next, shone forth bright and clear, every cloud being swept from the sky. The course taken by the king of Judah in his day of trouble and distress must commend itself to all who are found in similar circumstances by its marvellous success. It is a fact, in spite of the sneering scepticism of some people, that prayer is a really great power, and that as a means for the attainment of ends consistent with and approved by infinite wisdom and goodness, it will succeed when other means, such as men in their ignorance sometimes elect to employ as the best and fittest, utterly fail to reach the end aimed at. (W. Alnwick.)Hours when prophets have influence In the midst of his distress Hezekiah sent “ unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.” So far Hezekiah was right. He might have gone himself directly by an act of faith to the living God, but he had regard to the constitution of Israel, and he availed himself of the ordinances and institutes appointed of Heaven. Hezekiah made through Eliakim a pathetic speech to Isaiah--“ This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy.” There are hours when prophets come to the enjoyment of their fullest influence. Isaiah had been despised and derided, but now his hour has come, and he stands up as the one hope of Judah. The question was, What can you, Isaiah, do to extract Israel from all the peril which now presses upon the people of God? In the sixth verse we see how nobly the attitude of Isaiah contrasts with the attitude of Hezekiah. Instead of the word of inspiration proceeding from the, king it issued from the prophet. (J. Parker, D. D.)A dangerous crisis “ The children are come to the birth,” &c. Obviously a proverbial expression for a crisis which becomes dangerous through lack of strength to meet it (Isaiah 66:9; Hosea 13:13). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.) Isaiah 37:4 Lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left Efficacious prayer I. THE PERSON WHO WAS TO ENGAGE IN THE WORK OF Was one of great eminence in the Church and commonwealth, a great and good man, a prophet of the Lord, and one who was indulged with peculiar nearness to Him. Persons of eminent piety will not be contented with ordinary applications to the throne of grace; they will seek till they find, and wrestle till they prevail. This was a day of trouble, as Hezekiah calls it; and therefore, it ought to be a day of prayer. Intercession is the duty of all saints. But herein ministers should take the lead. They are the Church’ s watchmen, and God’ s remembrancers. Zedekiah, who at one time cast Jeremiah the prophet into a dungeon, at another time desired an interest in his supplications, and sent messengers to him, saying, “ Pray now unto the Lord our God for us.” And God often spares the wicked for the sake of the righteous, and in answer to their requests, even as the intercession of Abraham was accepted for the inhabitants of Sodom. II. THOSE FOR WHOM THE PROPHET WAS TO PRAY were “ the remnant that was left” ; a certain number known unto God, and who remained after the rest were scattered or destroyed. This should teach us, that though in our prayers we should be forgetful of none, yet we are to be particularly mindful of our fellow-Christians, especially when in a state of adversity. It becomes us also to be attentive to public and national calamities, as well as to those which are personal and private, and to spread them before the Lord in prayer and supplication. III. There is something observable as to THE MANNER IN WHICH THE PROPHET’ S IS . “ Lift up thy prayer.” This expressive form of speech may teach us to remember-- 1. That the glorious object of prayer is infinitely exalted. 2. The low and mean condition of the worshipper. 3. The secrecy of prayer, according to our Lord’ s direction, “ When thou prayest, enter into thy closet,” &c. Lifting up a prayer may denote the same thing as David expresses by the lifting up of the soul to God, in mental and silent ejaculation. 4. The importunity and ardour of prayer. In lifting up our prayer to God, our affections should rise high, though our voice may be low and feeble. 5. The spirituality and heavenly-mindedness of the person engaged. 6. Boldness and confidence, accompanied with the hope of being heard and answered. 7. The proper end of prayer, which is not to draw the Divine Being near to us, but ourselves to Him. (B. Beddome, M. A.) Isaiah 37:10 Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee A piece of satanic advice I. LET US WEIGH THIS PIECE OF SATANIC ADVICE. It is a very dangerous temptation for three reasons. 1. Because it appeals to the natural pride of the heart. There is a universal instinct which makes a man abhor the idea of being deceived. There is something in the very idea which rouses all the pride that lies latent in every heart. 2. There is no disguising the fact that if God did deceive us we are in a hopeless plight, and therefore there is force in the temptation. 3. The methods of God’ s government being beyond our comprehension, sometimes appear to incline towards the tempter’ s suggestion,--from appearances one might say, “ God is going to leave us in the lurch.” II. LET US TURN ROUND AND TEAR THE ADVICE UP. 1. We may tear it up because it comes too late. If God be a deceiver we are already so thoroughly deceived, and have been so for years, that it is rather late in the day to come and advise us not to be. 2. We may tear it up, because if God deceive us we may be quite certain that there is nobody else that would not. From all we know of our God, His holiness, His righteousness, and His faithfulness, if He can deceive us, then are we quite certain that there are none to be trusted 3. There is not one atom of evidence to support the libel. Search the world through, and see if you can find a man who will deliberately say, “ I have tried God, I have trusted Him, and He has deceived me.” 4. There is overwhelming evidence to refute it. Never yet did man trust his God and be put to shame. Heaven and earth and hell declare that Jehovah never hath deceived and never can deceive. (A. G. Brown.)Sennacherib versus Jehovah Never before in his experience had Sennacherib heard of a God who could resist his progress; he believed in the almighty power of Asshur. (B. Blake, B. D.) Isaiah 37:14-38 And Hezekiah received the letter . . . and read it . . . and spread it before the Lord Hezekiah’ s prayer and deliverance In the struggles, defeats, and final triumph of the ancient people of God in their conflicts with the surrounding nations, we have a key to the purposes of God in respect to the kingdom of Christ and the kingdoms of this world; a key to the interpretation of the principles and powers underlying the conflict between the people of God and the unbelievers of this world. God’ s hand is in this earth’ s history; His eye is upon all men and His ear open to their ,counsels; at the proper time and in the proper place He will frustrate all the combinations of evil and bring to pass all His purposes of righteousness. It is not by might nor by power that believers triumph over their spiritual enemies or win their victories, but by the interposition of God s almighty arm. The preceding chapter is so closely connected with that from which our present study is taken, that the two must be read together. Jerusalem was under siege, or at least was threatened with siege and capture by the Assyrian king. In spite of all Hezekiah’ s efforts to buy a peace for himself and his kingdom, the greedy, haughty, and most powerful king was determined to be satisfied with nothing short of entire and full possession of Jerusalem itself. (For further historical setting let the reader consult 2 Kings 18:13--19.; 2 Chronicles 32:1-21.) The first peremptory message, with the proud and blasphemous boasts of Sennacherib, threw Hezekiah into great distress of mind and profound dismay. He appealed to the prophet Isaiah, who encouraged him to keep silence and trust in God (verses 1-7). A sudden rumour of an army marching in his rear caused a diversion of the Assyrian’ s purpose, but meantime he sent another haughty message to Hezekiah, warning him that he was powerless to resist, and intimating his return presently to capture the city This was a written message (verse 14), and it again disturbed Hezekiah, but apparently his faith in God was not shaken, and so he resorted again to the temple and spread the whole matter out before the Lord and sought help and deliverance. I. THE PRAYER OF . Hezekiah was a righteous, though not a perfect man. He was habituated to prayer. 1. The place and attitude of prayer. “ Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord.” This was the proper standing-ground on which to make petitions. God had promised to meet His people there, and hear and answer their prayers (2 Chronicles 7:14-15). We have not now any particular place in which to pray, but we have a Name which to plead--the name of Jesus, and “ whatsoever we ask in His name,” other conditions being also fulfilled, “ shall be done unto us.” Jesus is the true “ meeting-place” between God and His people; He is the true ground on which prayer is to be made. By Him we have access to God (Ephesians 2:14). Then Hezekiah did another thing. He took the haughty and insolent letter of Rabshakeh and “ spread it before the Lord.” So should we take God into our confidence, and “ in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make our request known unto God” (Philippians 4:6). We too often plan our own deliverance or our own work and then ask God to ratify it, whereas the first thing to do is to spread the matter at once fully before God, reverently submitting to His plan and will, seeking in His wisdom the right thing to do. 2. The address. Here was a reverent remembrance of His majesty and a silent appeal to His power, in which also Hezekiah renewed his own confession of faith: “ O Lord of hosts, God of Israel.” Israel was in trouble, and God was Israel’ s God, not a mere titular deity, but the great God of hosts. This is a familiar designation of God and Jehovah, and refers to His universal sovereignty and power. “ That dwellest between the cherubim.” This is a reference to the fact that God had been pleased to make His dwelling-place on the mercy-seat between those mysterious figures called the cherubim, from which place He was always graciously inclined towards His people. If the cherubim symbolise the incarnation (of which I, at least, have no doubt), then the reference to God’ s position between them, or, as we would now say, “ God in Christ,” is very significant. David made a similar appeal to now say, “ God on behalf of Israeal: “ Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel; Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth. Stir up Thy strength and come and save us” (Psalms 80:1-2). “ Thou art the God, Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth.” The views of Sennacherib were that each nation and kingdom had their own gods (36:18-20), but Hezekiah ascribes to God not only aloneness in His being, but oneness, and universal sovereignty over all the kingdoms of the earth. He therefore could interfere in the plans of the Assyrian king for the purpose of frustrating them, as well as come to the defence of His own peculiar people; besides, there was a refutation and repudiation of the boasted idol gods who had been compared to Him. “ Thou hast made heaven and earth.” It is a favourite thought of Isaiah and the old prophets, and indeed all the Jews who were instructed in the knowledge of God, to couple His redemptive with His creative power. Thus did Hezekiah throw himself on all the great attributes of God before he began his petition. 3. The supplication. “ Incline Thine ear and hear, open Thine eyes and see.” Shall all the doings of this vain and proud braggart go past without Thine observation? Shall all his scandalous words in which he has openly derogated Thee pass by Thine hearing? True prayer has always reference to the glory of God, however much our own personal desires and needs may be involved in the things asked for. “ Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee” (verse 10). “ Lord, refute and roll back that scandalous speech and reproach.” 4. Confession. Hezekiah was not unmindful of the difficulties that opposed themselves to him, of the dangers that confronted him, nor of the truth of the statements of the letter concerning the power of Sennacherib. “ Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their countries, and have cast their gods into the fire.” For two centuries they had had a steady career of conquest. There was no denying this; and many of the countries and kingdoms that had succumbed to their power were much stronger than that of Hezekiah at this time. There was therefore some show of truth in what they said (2 Kings 15:19-20; 2 Kings 15:29; 2 Kings 16:9; 2 Kings 17:5-6; Isaiah 20:1). Faith does not ignore difficulties nor close its eyes to precedents in which the enemy has triumphed, but then it is bold in the belief that God is able; and that what may seem to be failure is due to other causes than the lack of power or covenant faithfulness on the part of God. 5. The faith in which the prayer was made. Hezekiah having admitted the prowess of the great enemy, proceeds to say to the Lord that the triumph of Sennacherib over other nations and their gods proves nothing in this case, from the fact that the gods of the nations were no gods at all, but mere idols of wood and stone, the work of men’ s hands. Hezekiah in thus declaring his faith in God above all idols, seems also to call on God to make this truth apparent to the Assyrians. Here his jealousy for God momentarily rises above his anxiety for Jerusalem. 6. The petition. “ Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand.” This is the simple, brief, and comprehensive petition. Just save us. We do not dictate the means, we do not dictate the nature of the salvation. Sometimes the most effective prayers are the shortest. “ God be merciful to me, a sinner,” was a very brief prayer. So was “ Lord save me,” but both were heard and answered; so was Hezekiah’ s. 7. The argument. Hezekiah’ s argument is all gathered up into this consummation, “ that the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art Jehovah, even Thou only.” True believers long always that others may know their God. It is right for us to desire that our own may know God, and even our friends, but it is the part of the true Christian spirit to desire that even our enemies might know God, to long to see even all the nations of the earth brought to a saving knowledge of the truth. This was a true missionary prayer of Hezekiah. Sometimes the knowledge of God can only be spread by the overthrow of some great political power, or the removing of some gigantic enemy, such as Assyria and Sennacherib. It proved to be so in this case. II. THE . After his prayer (we do not know how long after) Isaiah, who seems to have been supernaturally informed of the prayer, and in like manner put in possession of Jehovah’ s reply, “ sent word to Hezekiah,” that inasmuch as he had submitted the matter concerning Sennacherib to God for help and deliverance, his request would be heard and answered. The following verses give an account of the answer. 1. The promise. The first part of this promise is to the effect that the “ virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee” (verses 22, 23). This seems to be not only an answer to Rabshakeh for his vain and blasphemous boasting, but also an assurance to Hezekiah. The daughter of Zion, like a virgin maid, was in herself weak and helpless; nevertheless she held all the threatening of the Assyrian in scorn and contempt, and would shake her head in derision at him, either in defiance of his onset or following him with mockery in his retreat from the city. Then follows a message to the Assyrian direct, in which God rebukes him for his boastful blasphemies, and reminds him of how in the ages past God has overthrown and destroyed the nations which had presumed to oppose themselves to Jehovah. Then he is told that God’ s eye has been upon him, and that now Jehovah was about to “ put a hook in his nose” and lead him away out of the country in contempt, not even giving him the glory of a battle. Then follows another promise to the remnant of Judah that they should again “ take root downward and bear fruit upward” (verses 24-32). Then comes again God’ s “ Therefore,” concerning the Assyrian. (1) “ He shall not come into the city,” not even near enough to shoot the first preliminary arrow at it, much less near enough to use shields, or even raise an embankment against it for the purpose of a siege. Sennacherib’ s army was not then under the walls, but only gathering in the distance, when the “ letter” came to Hezekiah. God now assures the king that it shall not approach the city. He should be delivered, and that without even a siege. (2) “ I will defend this city to save it for Mine own sake.” This of course meant that, without even the secondary help of man, He would in a supernatural way defend it, and that for His own sake. Rabshakeh had defied God and put contempt upon His name, while boasting his own prowess, or that of his king. God would vindicate His name and save His city by such a demonstration of supernatural power, without the immediate agency of man, as would leave no doubt in the mind of the Assyrian as to the fact that the Lord was God indeed. Now and again God has done such things just to clear up the testimony and leave men no excuse for their opposition on the ground of ignorance. He did it with Pharaoh, who challenged His power. 2. The fulfilment. “ Then the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians, an hundred and four score and five thousand; and when they arose early in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses.” This was an awful visitation. All the more so that it was done in the night and with perfect silence (2 Kings 19:35). Who can withstand His judgments? Who is strong enough to fight against God? Let the wicked wonder before they perish at the rebuke of His countenance and the breath of His mouth. 3. Sennacherib’ s humiliation. It must have been an awful humiliation for this proud king to take his march over the same route by which he had approached Jerusalem, not laden with the spoil of the captured city, leading thousands of the chief men and princes, and King Hezekiah himself in his triumphal captive train, but with his shattered army to be the gazing stock of the countries he had subdued, and a by-word among his own people. We must fancy that he entered Nineveh with muffled drums, or no drums at all, with trailing or furled banners. When God does rise up to humble the proud, He does it thoroughly. A further humiliation awaited him. He went after up into the house of his idol to worship, not immediately, for he appears to have lived some twenty years after this defeat. But, at any rate, instead of his god defending him, much less giving him assurance of further victories, his own sons, who should have stood by and comforted their father, conspired together and slew him. So ended the career of this proud boaster, and so began the decline of this great Assyrian power. (G. F. Pentecost, D. D.)Hezekiah’ s prayer and deliverance It is said of Hezekiah that “ he trusted in the Lord God of Israel.” Let us with reference to this side of his character notice some lessons suggested by this story of his trouble and his deliverance. I. FAITH GOD. The king of Judah needed such discernment to be sure that God was on his side. He must have been surprised when the Assyrian commissioner said to him, “ Do not believe that Jehovah will take your part; this is my master’ s message to you: ‘ The Lord said to me, Go up against this land to destroy it.’” That was not the first time nor the last when bad men have claimed Divine authority. II. FAITH ASKS GOD FOR . The army of Judah understood very well that they were no match for the Assyrians: they were far weaker in numbers and were demoralised by a long experience of defeat and servitude. Sennacherib had taken pains to increase this impression. When this letter reached Hezekiah, he “ went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.” That was his privilege--that is the right of every one who believes; it is our prerogative as God’ s children. He offers us help in every extremity, only requiring that we feel our need. III. FAITH FAITH. Hezekiah “ trusted in the Lord,” but not always. Like most men he found it easier to believe when he could see the way. When the Assyrian army was moving toward Jerusalem, in the early part of his reign, he was frightened: he forgot his God and so forgot himself, even sending to the invader this humiliating message: “ I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear (2 Kings 18:14). And his unbelief spread. The people, who had little enough of spirit at the best, now, following their leader, gave up in despair. But there came to the king in his distress an inspiration--a friend had been raised up for his deliverance. It was the prophet Isaiah; a man who knew how to trust in the Lord at all times; when the sky was darkest he could see the stars beyond. When, after Samaria fell, leading men proposed an alliance with the Egyptian king, “ No” he said “ woe to them that go down to Egypt for help.” “ As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also He will deliver it.” That faith inspired Hezekiah, giving him a reinforcement of courage which he very soon needed. He rallied and organised his forces for defence, and then went personally among the people, with the cheering exhortation, “ Be strong and courageous,” &c. His faith inspired faith in them. IV. FAITH (verses 33-36). What delivered Hezekiah? Not his generalship; not his army it was “ the angel of the Lord. (T. T. Holmes.)Sennacherib’ s letter It is bad to talk proudly and profanely, but it is worse to write so, for that argues more deliberation and design; and what is written spreads farther, and lasts longer, and doth the more mischief. Atheism and irreligion written will certainly be reckoned for another day. (M. Henry.)Hezekiah’ s prayer Professor Cheyne refers to a striking parallel in the Egyptian version of Sennacherib s overthrow. “ On this the monarch (Sethos) greatly distressed, entered into the inner sanctuary, and before the image of the god (Ptah) bewailed the fate which impended over him. As he wept he fell asleep and dreamed that the god came and stood by his side, bidding him be of good cheer, and go boldly forth to meet the Arabian (Assyrian) host, which would do him no hurt, as he himself would send those who should help him.” (Herodotus.)Prayer a way of escape I know an ancient castle on a high rock, which used to be garrisoned by soldiers. From inside the castle a long, winding passage, cut out of the solid rock, and called Mortimer s Hole, leads right away under the town, and opens up at a great distance. It was the way of escape for the garrison in a case of extremity. Prayer is such a door of deliverance, and no man can shut it. (I. E. Page.)Prayer for help answered “ When,” Sir Josiah Mason once said, “ I have done everything I can and see no clear way, I say to myself, God help me. I have brought out all my judgment, my brain can do no more, so may it please Thee to give me a push.” “ And,” he added, “ I get the push, for as sure as I ask for help, help comes.” (Sunday School Chronicle.) Isaiah 37:23 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed?--Isaiah’ s saving idea of God Isaiah in his day saved Jerusalem by teaching the people a better idea of their God. For forty years he had been witnessing to a truer thought of God, and at last the crisis and the triumph of his religious statesmanship came. Jerusalem would have surrendered to Assyria had not Isaiah at last brought king and people, in their despair, to the faith in God to which for forty years he had borne witness. At an hour when the Assyrian was making his rapid march towards the city, two props of the people’ s confidence had entirely given way: their reliance upon Egypt, and their confidence in their religion. Isaiah had told them over and over again that these supports were rotten, and would give way when the crash came. And they did when at last came the scourge of the nations which had swept other cities before it reached Jerusalem. For a moment the luridness of the popular despair was lit up by a wild light of passion and revelry: “ Let us eat and drink,” they said, “ for to-morrow we shall die.” Then the hour for the triumph of the prophet’ s lifelong truth was come. He led a sobered people and a humbled king to the Holy One of Israel (Newman Smyth, D. D.)The Divine holiness and Fatherhood The historic truth is that wherever a better idea of God prevails men are delivered. The deep, permanent, at all times greatly needed lesson is, that the prophet’ s truer teaching of God is for the salvation of a city. The subject for us to inquire concerning is, whether we are being saved by any truer, stronger ideas of our God? Are we saving our society, our neighbour-hood, our city, our land by nobler knowledge of God? 1. Do you hope to work out the redemption of men by education? It is a means, a sharp instrument for good or evil, but Rabshakeh could blaspheme in two languages. We have to face the question: “ What leaven is to keep the school itself from moral corruption?” 2. But much, it is said, may be accomplished through sanitary and political science. Undoubtedly. Even Ahaz did a good thing when he looked after the water supply of Jerusalem in fear of a siege, although he would not hear a word that Isaiah was saying to him by the upper pool in the fuller’ s field. But if Isaiah had not been the heart and the soul of the city in its critical hour, all the work that the kings had done in repairing the walls and looking after the watercourses, would never have kept the Assyrian out. Sooner or later we shall have to go down to the God on whom we depend, if we are to build anything of permanent worth. 3. What, then, is our better saving thought of God? (1) We are coming to know better the Divine Fatherhood of men. (2) Yet, this first truth of the Divine Fatherhood of men, and His special Fatherhood towards the son of His trust and love, does not exhaust our redeeming knowledge of God. Our text exalts the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah’ s vision of Him whose glory fills the whole earth was the vision of the Holy One. In the holiness of the prophet saw the falsehoods of the court and the people burning as with everlasting fire. And when Jesus Christ in that sublime moment to which St. John has borne witness in the seventeenth chapter of his Gospel, summed up His whole lifelong teaching in His last prayer for the disciples, He lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, Holy Father, O righteous Father. (3) There is one way in particular by which we, with all our worldliness, may be brought more fully into the saving power of these truths of God. It is through our increasing sense of God’ s omnipresence, of the Divine immanence, of Immanuel, God with us. (Newman Smyth, D. D.)God His people’ s defence A magistrate in Hamburg once held up his finger and said to Mr. Oncken, the Baptist preacher: “ Do you see that finger, sir? As long as I can hold up that finger I shall put you down.” “ I can see,” said Mr. Oncken, “ what you cannot see; I can see the mighty arm of God, and as long as that arm is held up for my defence, you will never be able to put me down.” (Christian Age.) Isaiah 37:31-32 The remnant The root and fruit of Christianity I. THE REMNANT THAT ARE SAID TO HAVE ESCAPED. Truly this is a description of the Lord s Church in every age. Strait is the gate, &c. Even so now also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” This remnan that is left is in great distress. A peculiar characteristic of this very small remnant is that they have escaped. They are apart from the great bulk of professors. They have escaped from the reigning power of sin; from the sentence of the law; from self and self-confidence, and from all apprehension of the Second death. II. Glance at THEIR BEING THE OF A TRIBE. Although Joseph had an exuberance of blessings pronounced upon him by his fond father, and he probably realised them all, both in a temporal and spiritual point of view; yet the true dignity rested upon the house of Judah. Mark here the Gospel sense of this declaration, that Judah, the little chosen few, the Lord’ s own living Church, have the sceptre among them--the sceptre of righteousness of their glorious Lord who sprang out of Judah, and is ruling and reigning among them. His presence is enjoyed, His love tokens are felt, the joys of His salvation are experienced amongst those that are a minority, the little flock that He has chosen and redeemed for Himself. III. THE ORIGIN OF THEIR LIFE. They have a root. What is a root? It is a concealed, hidden life. If you have no more religion than what is seen, it is not worth your possessing. The real Christian has a hidden life. It is an abiding and downward growing principle. Even in wintry seasons and trying times, there should be at least the fruits of humility and self-abasement and meekness and gentleness, the fruits of the mind of Christ. And this is taking root downwards. IV. THEIR UPWARD WITH . The believer in Jesus has a life which is always tending upwards. If earth content you, your religion is not worth a straw. The fruits which this tribe bear upwards are diverse and profuse. “ The fruits of the Spirit,” are said to be “ love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, gentleness, faith; against such there is no law. They are outlaws--there is no law for them. “ The fruits of righteousness are by Jesus Christ.” Mark their upward tendency--“ to the praise and glory of God.” (J. Irons.)The remnant The sacred writers are frequent in speaking of a “ remnant” as alone inheriting the promises. The word “ remnant,” so constantly used in Scripture, is the token of the identity of the Church, in the mind of her Divine Creator, before and after the coming of Christ. (J. H.Newman, D. D.)God’ s remnant We may learn-- 1. Not to entertain mean thoughts of our Lord, because there are but few sincere Christians. 2. To value the true religion and the professors of it. 3. God’ s zeal for His children in working such marvellous deliverances for them, though they are so few in number. 4. Let us own our dependence upon God, and regard Him as our only defence and salvation in time of trouble, seeking to Him, as Hezekiah did here, by devout prayers and supplications, and craving the assistance of His Church and ministry, as this king did of the prophet Isaiah, to obtain of Him an answer of peace and love. (W. Reading, M. A.)Rooting and fruiting This is a promise for the encouragement of a downcast people. It is the seer’ s way of looking through the clouds and finding the sunshine. Judah had stood like a splendid tree, with roots deep and branches wide. The hurricane had struck it, and it was plucked up by the roots. The kings of Assyria had swept down on the people of God like a very besom of destruction. Their cry to God brought back the assurance that His hand was still on the kings of Assyria and that He had a large hope to offer Judah, the hope that the remnant should grow again, taking root downward and bearing fruit upward. It does not take a large start to come to large growth. Rooting for the sake of fruiting--it is a familiar scriptural thought. “ He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, which bringeth forth his fruit in his season.” In the parable, the seed that grew so quickly withered away because it had no root. The fig-tree which bore no fruit was dried up from the very root. And so on, probably twenty times in Scripture, where rooting and fruiting are connected. Of course you observe the simple naturalness of it. That is what we are accustomed to everywhere else. That is what we are to expect in the spiritual life. Trees and plants take root downward and bear fruit upward. So do souls; each in its appropriate soil and each in its appropriate fruit, but by processes that are as natural in one case as in the other. You cannot explain the process in either case without God; you need Him at the start of it, and in the progress of it, and at the end of it. And you find Him working through the laws He has made. The spiritual life is not an exception to the rest of the round of life; it is the same natural life, has its laws as native to it as the natural laws are native to the rest of life. Then you observe how the rooting is unseen, underground, unthought of, and the fruiting is above ground, in evidence, out in the light. Here is a laying bare of the necessity of the inner life and the outer life as well. Neither is indifferent to the other. You do not want roots for their own sake, and you cannot have fruit Without them. If you are going to improve the quality of the fruit, you must often start in a better care of the root. In that fact lies one of the puzzles of history and of human life. It is not difficult to find when the fruit began to appear, but the root is always baffling. So it is difficult to find the influence of the fruit already borne on the fruit that is riper and richer. Take the sphere of education. It is not difficult to find when the first school that might fairly be called a public school appeared; but it is quite impossible to find who first originated the idea of which it is the fruit--the idea of the equality of the mental rights of men. It is quite certain that there was a time when that idea was not fruit-bearing, if it existed. And it is evident, too, that the fruit borne through the years of the schools has reacted on the root idea, enlarging it and making it better. We have better schools now because we have a better root idea out of which to grow them. And so we come to a word about the two parts of our personal lives--this unseen root-life we are living, and the seen fruit-life we are meant to live. There is always peril that one may be neglected in the care of the other. On the one hand there are many who are seeking to develop the inner life, as though for its Own sake, seeking to gain new inner beauty and grace and assurance, without letting that inner life assert itself in outer seen life. On the other, there are some who are caring well for the outer life, doing much for the Master, active in every good work, but caring little for the inner life, the root-life, out of which must grow the seen life if it be a secure life. Both are to be commended for what they do; each is to be warned for what he does not do. The life that is hid with Christ in God is meant to be seen of men for the glory of Christ. There is to be, do you not see, a measure of concealment and a measure of publicity, a certain hiding of life and a certain revealing of life, a degree of secrecy and a degree of openness? The men whom you most admire, I suspect, are men who always seem to have a measure of reserve power, but they are not men who live behind barriers, whom you never approach with any sense of companionship. They have an inner life, a taking root downward, out of your sight, and you do not forget it in your dealing with them; but they have also an outer, assertive life, the fruit of that inner life. Carry it just a little farther in the personal life into the fundamentals of religion. Every man of us carries about with him a certain bundle of convictions, a certain set of creed-articles, which are his personal and inviolable property. They may be like or unlike anybody else’ s bundle. There are some of us whose possessions in this way are very small, and we tend to think that creeds and doctrines are not important; we go in for action, for conduct. We say that the world does not judge you by what you believe, but by what you do. And there is a measure of truth in it, of course: But are we so ignorant as not to know the power of a mighty conviction? Do we not realise the tremendous energy o| a fruit-yielding root of belief? It is not enough, therefore, that we say we do this or that that is good. That is bearing fruit upward; hut the power to bear fruit and the quality of the fruit, its power to feed and refresh the world, will be limited, be sure of it, by the amount of strength the roots of the life have gathered. They must go deep and far, or the branches will soon be stunted and starved. This same principle of root and fruit applies to the church of Christ. There have been times of a mistaken accent on either of the two phases of life. Sometimes the church has seemed to exist for its own sake, caring for itself, counting its task ended when it had done so, and careless of that true fruit-bearing which is meant to be its glory. Then there have been times when, in the joy of fruit-bearing, the inner strength of the church has been neglected. That is a strong accent on the root of the church, its creed, its inner life. On the other hand, who has not observed the weakness of the mere gathering together of people around no particular standard? That is one extreme. There are not a few churches which touch the other extreme. The preaching is faithful and truthful, the people are well indoctrinated in the faith, they hold the great truths of the gospel without wavering, but they make no successful onslaught on the world. And the same need and the same danger are not only in the pulpit, but also in the pew. I suppose there are few churches whose people are not called to constant care in maintaining the balance between the demands of their own church, which is root-work, and the demands of the kingdom at large, which is fruit-work. It appears markedly in the matter of benevolence. There are always a few to whom it is almost positive pain to see money going away from the church. Some resent all that goes to foreign missions; some all that goes out anywhere. They rejoice far more in a large gift for local expenses than they do in a large gift for charity or missions. On the other hand, there are some who neglect the demands of the home church, chafe under calls for it, are attracted by the outlying thing. I have not described the rank and file of any church in these extremes, but I have stated the two brood lines of peril to which a church is subject. For each is a peril. One is a magnifying of the root and a stunting of the fruit; the other is a magnifying of the fruit and a neglect of the root. But you cannot express the essential fact of rooting and fruit-bearing in terms of money. It yields to no terms except that of life. Leaving the church as an organisation, let your mind turn again to yourself as a living Christian, meant to take root downward and bear fruit upward. The Word makes plain what the rooting soil of the Christian must be “ That ye being rooted and grounded in love, may grow up into Him in all things.” Of the early Christians it was said, “ See how they love one another.” The strength of the church in history has been the intimate fellowship that has bound its people together and made them one body. Its inner power has been in large part in its being rooted in love. But not in that alone. The Word again bids us be rooted and built up in Christ Himself. Therein lies real power, the sending of the life root down deeper and deeper into Him, until the nourishment of life comes from Him. We have seen numberless enterprises start in the name of religion, flourish as did the seed of the parable and presently wither away, their root not running down into feeding soil. And what has thus appeared in a large way appears in many a life in the small way. Men individually also are striving to bear fruit without rooting in Christ, without drawing the very life sap of their beings from Him. God keep His church true to its soil, rooting it in love, rooting it in Him who is the very life of God revealed to us men for our salvation. (C. B.McAfee, D. D.) Isaiah 37:33 He shall not come into this city The momentous issues involved in Sennacherib’ s defeat We do not, perhaps, realise the magnitude of the crisis, not alone in the life and fortunes of Isaiah, but in the history of the Jews, and, inbreed, of the world at large. It is not too much to say that if Sennacherib had taken Jerusalem, in all human probability the Jews would have ceased to exist as a nation, and the world would not have been prepared for the coming of Christ. They had not yet reached a point in their training at which the national life and religion could have survived such a calamity as that which a century later overtook Jerusalem in the time of Jeremiah; and there is every reason to believe that had they been carried captives now, they would simply have been absorbed into heathenism, as the ten tribes doubtless were. (Edward Grubb, M. A.)Jerusalem and Leyden The siege of Jerusalem reminds us of the siege of Leyden in later days. William the Silent (as Hezekiah had done before him) put his sole trust for deliverance in God. On the last night of the siege, and when help from man seemed hopeless, God came to their aid, and with His ocean and tempest delivered Leyden, and struck such terror into their enemies, that when the morning dawned, the Spaniards had fled, panic-struck, during the darkness. Leyden was relieved, and every person within its walls repaired to the great church to return thanks to Almighty God. (Sunday School Chronicle.)Deliverance The history of God’ s people is one oft-repeated story of deliverance. Years ago, the Sultan of Turkey declared that every Christian missionary would be banished on a certain day. The Christians met in earnest prayer, and one said, “ The great Sultan of the universe can change all this.” He did. The Sultan of Turkey died on the very day he had named for the expulsion of the missionaries, and they were allowed to remain. (J. S.Drummond.) Isaiah 37:36 Then the angel of the Lord went forth The destruction of Sennacherib’ s army The narrative does not say here (but see Isaiah 30:30-31) what secondary means, if any, were used.it does not exclude the use of secondary means. As Dean Plumptre remarks, a modern historian would dwell on the details of the pestilence. To Isaiah, who had learnt to see in the winds the messengers of God Psalms 104:4), it was nothing else than the “ angel of the Lord.” (Expository Times.)A parallel in English history In English history there is a striking parallel to the events of this period of Jewish history. Edward VI., under the guardianship of Cranmer, had established a pure form of religious worship in England. On his death, Queen Mary upset everything, and drove into retirement those who escaped the fires of Smithfield for their allegiance to the Protestant faith. With Elizabeth a new era dawned, and the religious life of the country displayed itself in great enthusiasm, resulting in the overthrow of the Armada. The reign of Ahaz was like unto that of Mary; with the accession of Hezekiah begins a reign like unto that of Elizabeth, having in its course the magnificent defeat of Sennacherib’ s hosts by the arm of the Lord. (B. Blake, B. D.) Isaiah 37:38 His sons smote him with the sword Sennacherib’ s ignominy The sacred history would seem to imply that this disastrous end came at once; but here twenty years of ignominy count for nothing. “ The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind to powder.” Sennacherib died in 681 B.C., some twelve years after Hezekiah. (B. Blake, B. D.)Sennacherib’ s sons The two parricides fled to the land of Ararat, therefore to Central Armenia; Armenian history derives the tribes of the Sassunians and Arzrunians from them. From the royal house of the latter, among whom the proper name Sennacherib was common, sprang Leo the Armenian, whom Genesius describes as of Assyrio-Armenian blood. If this is so, no fewer than ten Byzantine emperors may be regarded as descendants of Sennacherib. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Humiliation of Napoleon I. Napoleon said that “ God was always on the side of the biggest battalions,” and God flung the lie back into his teeth. (S. K. Hocking.)The end of worldly ambition Take the greatest rulers that ever sat upon a throne. Alexander, who wept because there were no more nations left to conquer, at last set fire to a city and died in debauch. Hannibal died from poison administered by himself. Caesar, having conquered three hundred cities, was stabbed by his best friends. (G. S. Bowes.). Isaiah 38:1-8 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death Hezekiah’ s sickness: the historical framework It cannot surprise us now to be carried back to the time when Jerusalem was still under the despotic sceptre of Assyria, since the purpose of the concluding piece Isaiah 37:36-38) was merely in anticipation to complete the picture ofthe last Assyrian troubles, by relating their termination as foretold by Isaiah Isaiah 31:8). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The parallel passage (2 Kings 20:1-11) varies more from that before us than in the preceding chapter. So far as they are parallel, the narrative in Kings is more minute and circumstantial, and at the same time more exactly chronological in its arrangement. On the other hand, the Psalm is wholly wanting in that passage. All these circumstances favour the conclusion that the text before us is the first draft, and the other a repetition by the hand of the same writer. (J. A. Alexander.)Hezekiah’ s sickness and recovery This sickness and recovery of Hezekiah from the gates of death, was an event of such national importance as made it properly find a place here, as well as in the historical books. For the throne of David, as far as we know, was without an heir at this moment; and Hezekiah’ s death might have been followed by some such interregnum, anarchy, and seizure of the crown by a soldier, as hastened the downfall of the kingdom of Ephraim. Such a failure in the succession, in times of national depression and disorganisation, would be pregnant with evil even in England now; and we must remember that in Judea then, as in all Eastern and patriarchal governments still, the personal character of the hereditary sovereign was of an importance to the people which it has to a great degree, though not utterly, lost in every country of Europe except Russia, Let us contrast the character and acts of Hezekiah with those of his immediate predecessor and successor, and we shall see of what moment it was that the interval by which his reign separated theirs should be prolonged fifteen years; and especially when the country needed a hand disciplined by experience and guided by faith to recover it from the moral and material disorganisation into which (as we know from Isaiah’ s discourses) it had fallen during the Assyrian supremacy. And thus this crisis in the personal life of Hezekiah--the fact cannot be denied, though here, as in so many like cases, our philosophy cannot trace out the connection of cause and effect became the type and symbol of the like crisis in the life of the nation: it, too, was sick unto death, and was granted a new period of life by God after it was past the help of man. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)Hezekiah’ s disease When the prophet first came to him he addressed him in words clearly indicating the gravity of the disease. “ Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order,” &c. We cannot, therefore, think that it was an ordinary simple boil with which the king was affected. Nor have we any ground for supposing, as some have suggested, that the disease was bubo-plague, which does not occur as an isolated case, and we have no evidence to lead us to think that any epidemic of such a disease prevailed. But it might have been, and probably was, a carbuncle, which is often a most severe and painful thing, endangering and often terminating the life of the sufferer. For this a poultice of figs would be an appropriate local remedy, as in the present day are cataplasms of various kinds. But doubtless the recovery of the king was through Divine interposition, by which the danger to life was averted, and of which Isaiah’ s prescription was but a symbol. The answer to his prayer, accompanied by the promise that on the third day he should go up to the house of the Lord, is sufficient evidence that the cure of a disease by which he had been brought to death’ s door, was not brought about by natural means. (Sir Risdon Bennett, M. D. , LL. D.)What was Hezekiah’ s disease? My friend, Dr. Lauder Brunton, tells me that he has been led to view the disease as “ tonsillitis,” from the similarity of the symptoms described by Isaiah with those of some cases of quinsy (tonsillitis). “ In many cases,” says Dr. Brunton, “ that I have seen, the pains in the bones have been so severe as to attract the attention of the patient, to the exclusion of all mention of sore throat. If Hezekiah suffered from tonsillitis, his comparison of a lion breaking his bones is a very apt one, and the swelling, of the tonsils would also explain the alteration in his speech, which made him ‘ chatter like a crane or a swallow.’ The dried figs would be almost the only poultice that could be applied to the boil in his fauces, and the rapid maturation of the inflamed boil in the throat affected by the poultice would explain the rapid recovery.” (Sir Risdon Bennett, M. D. , LL. D.)Every disease is a little death I have heard it said that every disease is a little death; therefore God sends us many little deaths to instruct our preparation for the great death. The oftener a man dies, the better he may know how to die well. (T. Adams.)A sick man’ s glass I. THE MESSAGE sent to Hezekiah while he was sick. 1. The time. 2. The person to whom it was sent. 3. The person by whom it was sent. 4. The message itself. “ Set thine house in order.” 5. The reason why the king is advised so to do. Thou shalt die, and not live. II. THE OF when he had heard the message. 1. He turned his face to the wall. 2. He prayed. 3. He wept sore. (R. Hachet, D. D.)Hezekiah’ s sickness 1. These words present to our view a person (1) of the highest rank (2) in the prime of life (3) and the full tide of prosperity, seized with a mortal disease: a case which ought strongly to remind the securest of us all, how uncertain our condition is here on earth. 2. By the goodness of God, a prophet was sent to him, to admonish him of the preparation that his state required: and the same goodness hath provided that you shall all be frequently admonished of the same thing, by the ministers of His Word. 3. The admonition given him was the means of prolonging his days in peace and comfort: and those given you, if received in a right manner, may, both naturally and providentially, contribute to procure you longer and happier lives in this world; and will certainly lead you to a life of eternal happiness in the next. (T. Seeker, LL. D.)The duties of the sick The text mentions the obligations of sick persons-- I. THEIR FELLOW-. “ Set thine house in order.” This direction may well be enlarged to comprehend-- 1. Due regulation of all affairs in which the sick are interested. (1) The principal point at which men should aim in settling their temporal affairs is justice; and one of the most evident branches of justice is paying debts. (2) Besides those who are commonly called creditors, there is another sort--I mean those to whom we have done injuries, and owe restitution. (3) But as we have all, more or less, need to ask pardon, another of our duties evidently is to grant it in our turn: when others have used us ill, not to “ recompense” or wish them “ evil for evil.” The expedient to which, it is said, some have had recourse, of forgiving if they die, and being revenged if they live, is as foolish a contrivance to deceive themselves, and to mock God, as the human heart can frame. (4) The next thing, after providing for the payment of our debts, and which, like that, should be done in health, but much rather in sickness than not at all, is disposing of the remainder of our substance. The principal rule is, that we ought not to be governed in it by fanciful fondnesses, much less by blamable resentments. 2. Proper advice to all persons with whom the sick are connected. II. MORE GOD AND THEIR OWN SOULS. “ Then Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord.” His prayer, indeed, if the whole of it be recorded in Scripture, was only that he might recover; a request which for the public good he had urgent reasons to make in the first place. And that being instantly granted, he had no need to apply further to God, in relation to his sickness, otherwise than by thanksgiving, which he did. But they who have more extensive wants at that time are both authorised and bound to enlarge in proportion the subject of their addresses to the throne of grace; and therefore I shall endeavour to comprehend under this head all the religious duties of the sick. 1. The first principle of all regard to God is faith. There are indeed very good persons who, m illnesses, are tempted to partial, or even total unbelief. And if any seeming reasons for it be suggested to their minds, they ought to inquire after, and oppose to them reasonable answers. 2. Self-examination. 3. Such repentance as our case requires. 4. The sick ought to be very constant in every other exercise of private piety. For as they are cut off from active life, they have more leisure for religious contemplation. And as they want all the improvement and comfort which they can have, so they will receive the most of both by frequent lifting up of their hearts to “ the God of patience and consolation.” (T. Seeker, LL. D.)Hezekiah’ s sickness and recovery I. THIS WAS VERY , upon several accounts. 1. For the nature of the disease, which is supposed to have been pestilential. 2. The pain of his distemper was aggravated with the sentence which the prophet passed upon him in the name of God. The hope of recovery, which contributes very much to the cure of any distemper, was taken away from him. 3. Hezekiah’ s sickness and sentence of death were embittered with this consideration, that he was going to be cut off in the strength of his age. This shortening of life was always esteemed as one of the calamities of our mortal condition; especially in so high and happy a station as that of a king. David prayed against it, saying, “ O my God, take me not away in the midst of my age.” 4. That which made Hezekiah more lath to leave the world at this time was, that he had no child to succeed him in his throne. II. HIS REQUEST he enforces with the following arguments. 1. He begs God to remember how he had walked before Him in truth and with a perfect heart. 2. Whereas other kings had been too apt to consult their ease and carnal interests in the practice of religion, Hezekiah had a true and thorough zeal for the glory of God in all that he did. III. He urged it with importunate cries and tears, WHICH WITH GOD TO HEAR HIM AND GRANT HIS REQUEST. (W. Reading, M. A.)Supreme attention to spiritual concerns (with Luke 10:42):--Let us reflect-- I. ON “ THE ONE THING NEEDFUL,” i.e., living religion. II. ON THE DUTY OF “ SETTING OUR HOUSE IN ORDER, knowing that we shall die, and not live.” (W. Graham.) Hezekiah’ s sincerity This verse (Isaiah 38:3) is not an angry expostulation, nor an ostentatious self-praise, but an appeal to the only satisfactory evidence of his sincerity. (J. A. Alexander.)Set thine house in order.Human mortality I. We have here set before us THE FACT OF OUR . “ Thou shalt die, and not live.” How apt we are to think of other people’ s death, but not of our own. We are ready to say, “ O! it was no wonder that little, weak infant died--it was no wonder that worn-out, aged man or woman died--it was no wonder that sickly person died.” And when we hear of suddendeaths, by some strange disease or accident, we have a secret feeling that the same thing is not likely to happen to ourselves. There was something peculiar in their condition or circumstances, which made them more open than ourselves to that awful visitation. Yet why all this foolish hiding of the truth? Until we are able boldly and peacefully to face this truth, there is no real comfort for us in this world. When our Almighty Father in heaven sends to us such a message as this, “ Thou shalt die, and not live,” it is not to vex and to distress us, but only to awaken in us those thoughts which are needful for us in our present state of being. II. HOW WE ARE TO “ SET OUR HOUSE IN ORDER,” so as to be able to meet with calmness both the actual coming of death and the thought of its coming. With the best of men, the near approach of that last dread hour is a time of deep solemnity. 1. The first point in this work is to see that our hope for eternity is placed upon a right foundation; and none other can be found but that which God Himself has laid for us to build on--namely, His own free mercies in His dear Son, Jesus Christ. 2. If we would “ set our house” truly “ in order,” we must remember that there is a work to be wrought in us, as well as for us. “ Without holiness no man shall see the Lord!” (J. W. Colenso, D. D.)Preparation for the end of time I. THE URGED. “ Set thine house in order.” We refer-- 1. To temporal affairs. This is evident from the more literal translation: “ Give charge concerning thine house.” 2. To spiritual matters. II. THE REASON. “ For thou shalt die, and not live.” 1. Death is certain for all. 2. The time is uncertain; therefore, it is every one’ s duty to be prepared. 3. The time may be very near. 4. The best of men need special preparation. Hezekiah was not a bad man, but he had a special message. So God often scuds a time of sickness as a special warning. How much better and happier will every man be if he has set his house in order! (Homilist.)New Year’ s thoughts The first Sunday in the new year is surely, with every minister of Christ who watcheth with the eye and love of a true shepherd over his flock, a time for-- 1. General rebuke. 2. Remonstrance. 3. Godly encouragement. I. THE OF THE . It came directly from God at the mouth of His prophet; and whatever comes from God must be characterised by God’ s attributes, must bear the impress of His wisdom, must be pregnant with the purposes of His love. II. THE OF THE . How it must have startled the king on his bed! III. THE OF THE . “ Set thine house in order” --this is the direction; “ for thou shalt die, and not live” --this is the doom. Thou art the man upon whom the mark is set, this carries the reflections home. When shall I die? How shall I die? Shall I die a hard or a peaceful death? Shall I die as an impenitent and despairing sinner, or as a pardoned, a redeemed, a rejoicing saint? (T. J. Judkin.)Preparation for death Our being ready for death will make it come never the sooner, but much the easier; and those that are fit to die are most fit to live. (M. Henry.)Contemplating the time of death Perhaps the most awful moment of our lives is when we first feel in danger of death. All our past life then seems to be a cloud of words and shadows, altogether external to the realities of the soul. Not only childhood and youth, happiness and sorrow, eager hopes and disturbing fears, but even our communion with God, our faith in things unseen, our self-knowledge, and our repentance, seem alike to be but visions of the memory. All has become stern, hard, and appalling. It is as if it were the beginning of a new existence; as if we had passed under a colder sky, and into a world where every object has a sharpness of outline almost too severe for sight to bear. Let us see what we ought to do when God warns us. I. WE MUST ASK THIS , Is there any one sin, great or small, of the flesh or of the spirit, that we willingly and knowingly commit? This is, in fact, the crisis of our whole spiritual life. By consent in one sin, a man is guilty of the whole principle of rebellion. A holy man is not a man who never sins, but who never sins willingly. A sinner is not a man who never does anything good, but who willingly does what he knows to be evil. The whole difference lies within the sphere and compass of the will. II. WE MUST NEXT SEARCH AND SEE WHETHER THERE IS AN IN WHICH OUR HEART IN ITS SECRET IS AT WITH THE MIND OF GOD; for if so, then so far our whole being is at variance with His. III. A third test by which to test ourselves is THE OF OUR BEING FOR THE BLISS OF HEAVEN. When St. Paul bids us to follow after “ holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord,” he surely meant something more than a negative quality. Doubtless he meant by “ holiness” to express the active aspirations of a spiritual nature, thirsting for the presence of God. IV. There are TWO SHORT which it may be well to add. 1. That we strive always to live so as to be akin to the state of just men made perfect. 2. That we often rehearse in life the last preparation we should make in death. (H. E. Manning, D. D.)Hezekiah warned 1. He was warned. 2. He was religiously warned. Isaiah was charged with the intelligence. 3. He was considerately warned. He was not to die on the morrow, he was to have time to set his house in order. Sometimes we feel as if we would rather not have that time, and yet there is a merciful dispensation in the arrangement which gives a man an opportunity of calmly approaching the end. (J. Parker, D. D.)“ Set thine house in order” What does this injunction signify? I. THAT WE ARE TO GIVE ACCOUNT OF OUR . II. THAT WE ARE TO BE IN OUR DAILY WORK III. WE MUST LEARN TO LEAVE OUR , AND HOLD READY TO DEPOT. (C. Schwartz.)The habitual thought of death not painful The time will of necessity come when to every man that lives these words will be spoken: God Himself will speak them in the manifest dealings of his providence, making this known to us in some way which our own hearts will instinctively interpret. Why should we be afraid to think of death! 1. Do you reply that there is in man a natural love of life? No doubt there is. But what, then, is that true life which lies beyond, and to which the act of departure, which we call death, is but the entrance? 2. Or, do you say that we are naturally repelled from mortality, and that we shrink from thinking of the lifeless and decaying flesh? I admit it, and there is a necessary and wholesome lesson in the bitterness of it, for how should we know what sin was without some little conception of what death was? But I plead that this is but for a time, till the body shall rise again in glory. The horror is to those who live and watch the dead. 3. Or, do you say that you fear death because it will stop for ever all the schemes and activities of life? Do you think that the state into which we shall enter will be a passive calm? Every hint and word in Scripture appears to me to point to something very different. 4. Or, do you say that you shrink from the idea of never seeing again the blue skies and the sweet flowers, and losing all the sights and sounds that make this world beautiful? Again, I think that you are wrong. Certainly all the imagery of the Bible suggests a different conclusion. 5. Or, do you say that you dread death because you cannot bear to think of parting from those you love, and losing that sweet intercourse, and that happy interchange of mutual affection, which spring from love? Well, all separation is painful; but in itself, and of necessity, this separation need only be for a time--a brief parting, with an eternal reunion beyond it, when, free from the little hindrances that mar a perfect love on earth, we shall renew a pure affection, consecrated for ever by the seen presence of God. 6. Do you say that you dread to think of death because you are not certain of your state before God? Ah! here we reach the deepest secret of all, the true source of the uneasiness with which men think of their mortality. “ The sting of death is sin,” &c. The Eternal Father is ready to forgive; the Eternal Son sufficient to atone; the Eternal Spirit almighty to convert and sanctify; all ready; nay, all pleading, inviting, expostulating, entreating. 7. Do you say that you dread to think of death because the thought saddens and darkens life? Surely this is no longer true, if, accepted in Christ Jesus, we have peace with God. (E. Garbett, M. A.)Preparing for the end I. Preparation for death is an immediate duty, because YOU CANNOT TELL WHAT A DAY MAY BRING FORTH. II. IT OUGHT TO BE A CALM, , AND . Not with panic, or haste, or gloom. III. THERE IS A GOD TO MEET, whose eyes will inspect the house. IV. THERE ARE MATTERS TO BE ARISING FROM OUR HUMAN . (Homiletic Review.)Thou shalt dieDeath I. DEATH. 1. In its causes. The primary cause of death was sin. But the immediate and acting cause of mortality is the frailty of our bodies. 2. In its nature. What is it to die! It is not to terminate our existence. We are well assured that nothing in being can cease to be, either of itself or by the influence of other finite beings, but only by an exercise of the almighty power of the Creator. To die is to undergo a solution of our present mode of existence, in which the immaterial soul is severed from the material body, and exists thenceforth for a time alone; whilst the body, bereft of life, loses the qualities necessary to preserve its substance, and becomes disorganised, and resolved into its primitive elements. How near is this world to the next! God’ s wisdom and goodness have appointed a bed of sickness to be the general precursor of death. By this He repeats solemnly, and enforces, His thousand other warnings to us, and, in our seclusion from the engagements and pleasures of time, gives us a further opportunity of becoming familiar with the things of eternity, and making our peace with Him. But His wisdom discovers in what ways our deceitful hearts will teach us to abuse His mercy, and He provides against the evil. Had we always the warning and opportunity of sickness, we might neglect God till it was given to us; and God has, perhaps, therefore, appointed that death should sometimes come unwarned. 3. In its consequences. I will not view them as they affect the body: let us leave it, lifeless and cold, in the narrow coffin and the quiet grave, awaiting the trumpet of the archangel. The effects of death on the soul include, doubtless, the enlargement of its capacities, as well as its entrance on eternal joy or misery. II. ITS . “ Thou.” The young. Those in the prime of life. Those of mature years, &c. III. ITS . “ Thou shalt die.” 1. What has become of all our race--Adam, Noah, &c.? 2. Where are the multitudes that have peopled your town in past days? All who have lived before us have died, and all now living are dying. (J. Badcock, LL. B.)Death sometimes sudden and unexpected I have known the bride to expire on her bridal day, the shopkeeper when serving his customers, the player on the stage, the clergyman in his pulpit, the lowly Christian on his knees in prayer, the swearer uttering his curse, the thief with his plunder at his side. (J. Badcock, LL. B.)The human body, beautiful yet frail The beautiful frame of man it is impossible to consider unaffected by its frailty. A distinguished philosopher, on rising from the study of the human frame, was so impressed with this and With the complicated nature of its machinery, and the numberless parts that must all duly discharge their functions to continue existence, from moment to moment, that he trembled and feared to move, lest, by disordering some one of them, he should fall on the floor a corpse. (J. Badcock, LL. B.)“ The biography of death” “ The biography of death” was the title of a sermon preached by a famous London minister. For death has had a parentage, birth, history, a career of conquest and victory, a coronation and kingdom, a ghastly dining-hall and retinue of hired servants, and, finally, a record of disaster, defeat, and death! The last enemy to be destroyed is Death. (Homiletic Review.)Hezekiah warned Is there any peculiar significance in the announcement? There ought not to be. All life is a warning that we are going to die. (J. Parker, D. D.)Facing death When the physician told General Grant that his disease was fatal, and might quickly do its dire work, for a little while he seemed to lose, not courage, but hope. It was like a man gazing into his open grave. He was in no way dismayed, but the sight was still appalling. The conqueror looking at his inevitable conqueror: the stern soldier to whom armies had surrendered, watching the approach of that enemy to whom even he must yield. (H. O. Mackey.)Looking over the brink A godly minister who was fond of visiting his sick and dying people on Saturday afternoons, was asked by a brother minister, who met him on this errand one day, why he did this, instead of staying at home and preparing his sermons. He replied, “ I like to take a look over the brink.” Sometimes it is a blessing to a man to be brought suddenly to the brink in his own life, to look over it seriously and prayerfully, and then to take back into life the lessons he has learned there. (Sunday School Chronicle.)Death, the ringing of the curfew bell William the Conqueror established the ringing of curfew bells. The meaning of that curfew bell, sounded at eventime, was, that all the fires should be put out or covered with ashes, all the lights should be extinguished, and the people should go to bed. Soon for us the curfew will sound. The fires of our life will be banked up in ashes, and we shall go into the sleep, the cool sleep, I hope the blessed sleep. But there is no gloom in that if we are ready. The safest thing that a Christian can do is to die. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)A true life the best preparation for death An old slave, when told by his doctor that he was near death, said: “ Bless you, doctor, don’ t let that bother you; that’ s what I’ ve been living for.” (Sunday School Chronicle.) Isaiah 38:2-3 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall Hezekiah’ s face turned to the wall The obvious meaning is the wall of the room, towards which he turned, not merely to collect his thoughts, or to conceal his tears, but as a natural expression of strong feeling. (J. A. Alexander.)Self-retirement The sick man turns his face to the wall in order to retire into himself and God. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)A natural shrinking from death The voice sounded naturally as it pleaded with the Lord. The old man wants to die; he says, I am living amongst strangers: who is he! and who is she? what are those people? what is their occupation! I do not know where I am: I will live in the sacred past. But the young man in middle life does not want to die. The child does not want to go to rest at nine o’ clock in the morning. We feel as if we had a call to work. (J. Parker, D. D.)Hezekiah’ s face turned to the wall The place of honour in an Eastern room is an angle of the apartment, so that whichever side Hezekiah turned upon, his face would be to a wall, and screened from observation. (E. W.Shalders, B. A.)A good man’ s plea 1. Holy men did sometimes make mention of their good deeds before the Lord, in their prayer to Him (Nehemiah 13:14; Jeremiah 15:15-17). 2. When they did make mention of their good deeds before the Lord, they did it, for the most part, when they were in trouble. 3. They did not mention them as meritorious causes of whet they prayed Nehemiah 13:22). 4. The reason why they mention their good deeds at such time is-- (1) That they might the more incline the Lord to mercy; for the Lord is more ready to show mercy to those who endeavour to live according to His laws than to those who neglect them. (2) That they might sustain themselves against the faint-heartedness which might assail them, being prone by nature thereto; for the testimony of a good conscience produceth boldness towards God (2 Corinthians 1:12; 1 Peter 3:21). Besides, Hezekiah might have a special reason to move him to mention his good deeds, and it is this, because the Lord had made a promise to David (1 Kings 2:4). At this time Hezekiah had not a child to succeed him in the throne. (W. Day, M. A.)And Hezekiah wept soreHezekiah’ s tears In these tears we can discover-- I. A DREAD OF DEATH COMMON TO HUMAN NATURE. 1. This dread of death has a moral cause. What is the cause? A consciousness of sin, and an apprehension of its consequences. On the assumption that man would have died, had he not sinned, his death, we presume, in that case, would have been free from all that is terrible. 2. This dread of death has a moral antidote. “ O death, where is thy sting?” &c. Those who apply this remedy hail rather than dread mortality; they “ desire to depart,” &c. II. THE OF THE WORLD TO RELIEVE HUMAN NATURE. Hezekiah was a monarch. His home was a palace, and the great men of the nation were his willing attendants. Whatever wealth could procure, he could get at his bidding; and yet with so much of the world, what could it do for him? Could it raise him from his suffering couch? Nay! Could it hush one sigh, or wipe one tear away? No! In truth, the probability is that his earthly possessions and splendour added to the awfulness of the idea of death. The world has no power to help the soul in its deepest griefs and wants. The soul weeps in palaces. III. THE POWER OF PRAYER TO HELP HUMAN NATURE. These tears were the tears of prayer as well as of fear, and his fear stimulated his prayer. And what was the result of this prayer? “ I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.” This is a remarkable instance of the power of prayer, and is recorded here to encourage our suffering nature to direct its cries to heaven. (Homilist) Hezekiah’ s distress and prayer Hezekiah had tried to serve God faithfully, and had been taught to expect length of days as his reward. The very consciousness of his integrity, and of his desire to honour the Lord in the presence of his people, must have added to his distress. What had been the fatal flaw in his service that had brought upon him this unexpected doom? Life and immortality had not been brought to fight. Death, for him, seemed banishment from the presence of the Lord. In the grave he could not praise Him; dead, he could not celebrate His glory (Isaiah 38:11; Isaiah 38:18). Twice he says, “ Thou wilt make an end of me.” We seldom realise how much we owe to that resurrection which lifted the veil that was spread over all nations. But Hezekiah teaches us how much strength, consolation, and joy may be found in communion with God in this life. His earthly experience, which he thought was to come to an end, was, after all, part of the life eternal. The Hebrew’ s vivid sense of God’ s presence with him in this life, were it more generally ours, would make our fear more reverent, our obedience and submission more complete, and would put an end to much of that practical atheism which prevails in the world of to-day. Let us not miss the consolation of the message Isaiah brought to his king, “ I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears.” Our prayers may be ignorant and shortsighted, we may not know what to pray for as we ought, but our tears are not overlooked. When our sadness is speechless, the scalding tears that tell our heart’ s woe, move the Divine pity, and plead for us more eloquently than any words we can put into frame. “ In all our afflictions, He is afflicted” --to believe this is to be consoled. (E. W. Shalders, B. A.)Hezekiah’ s prayer in affliction I. THE THAT LED TO THE OF THIS PRAYER. 1. Hezekiah was sorely afflicted. The exact nature of his disease may be difficult to determine. There is no ground for the vague supposition that he was afflicted with the plague which destroyed the Assyrians. The malady was probably “ a fever boil” (Ewald), or “ a single carbuncle formed under the back of the head” (Thenius), or “ fever terminating in abscess” (Meade). The word shechin, translated boil, means strictly inflammation. The crude state of medical science then would make many diseases fatal which are now easily removed. The body is subject to multifarious maladies. Few have perfect health. Doubtless better health would come from wiser habits and simpler faith. But many causes of disease are indefinable. A sick body often ministers to the growth of the soul. It casts the shadow of eternity over the fife. It awakens prayer in the most callous. It brings the prayerful nearer God. 2. Hezekiah believed that his affliction would be “ unto death.” He probably encouraged a hope of recovery until Isaiah came; though, as Josephus informs us, “ the physicians despaired of him, and expected no good issue from his sickness; as neither did his friends.” Hope dies hard in a sick man’ s breast. Isaiah, perhaps, did what, none of Hezekiah’ s physicians or courtiers were prepared to do. He faithfully delivered the Divine message. It was a painful duty. The dying should be warned. Not to do so is an unkindness and a sin. All have some preparations to make when death comes unexpectedly. The house of the soul needs to be set in order as well as the estate. 3. Hezekiah met death with great reluctance. Men generally shrink from death at its first approach. Dr. Johnson held that no man met death willingly. Many doubtless have. But to meet death without reluctance is no direct proof of meetness for eternity. Remember Bunyan’ s “ Weary of the World.” The good may be unwilling to die. Hezekiah was not spiritually unprepared. He was reluctant to die-- (1) From the natural disinclination which men feel towards death. He was in the prime of life. His hold of all earthly things was firm. Age loosens the grasp. He saws time of quiet and prosperity dawning upon his kingdom, and he desired to live to enjoy it. (2) He had no heir. It is certain that Manasseh who succeeded him was not then horn, for twenty years later he was but twelve years old; and the land had not yet begun to recover from the late ravages, so that his death would have left the nation in a distracted condition, and would probably have exposed it to many new calamities” (Kitto). (3) He had not that clear revelation of immortality which we as Christians possess. He would look upon death as being “ cut off from the land of the living,” as going down into silence. Christ had not opened the kingdom of immortality to the eyes of men. This life was all to him, and he clung to it. II. ’ S PRAYER. 1. He does not utter the desire that was uppermost in his mind. We may not have recorded all that he prayed: probably his prayer was broken off abruptly in weeping. He knew God could interpret his broken words, his sighs, his tears. Many prayers are too elaborately expressed. They prove their shallowness by the smooth elegance of the language in which they are uttered. Strong feeling makes the tongue falter. Much in prayer may be left to God’ s omniscience, justice, wisdom, tenderness, and love. Like a father He interprets the heart of His child. 2. Hezekiah appeals to his past life as a reason why his life should be prolonged. Few can do this. Most lives are so marred, so imperfect, so sinful, that they can furnish no argument before God. But, it has been asked, was there not in this prayer a spirit of self-commendation contrary to the spirit of the Gospel? Not a conscious self-clothing of deceit, but a pernicious self-ignorance? We think not. Hezekiah lived under a dispensation of religious thought that led him to believe that a man’ s character and conduct were the grounds upon which God’ s favour or displeasure was bestowed. And this is true under a dispensation of grace; though we, under that dispensation, realise as Hezekiah could not that all our virtue is by the help of God’ s Spirit, and can merit little in His sight. The modern habit of self-analysis and eagerness to find some evil to condemn at every turn, so as to describe ourselves as the vilest of the vile, was unknown to him. Many merely attempt to descend to some imaginary standard of vileness which they suppose is the proper depth of self-humiliation to reach to secure God’ s favour. Much of this confession of being miserable sinners is but miserable cant. Sick-bed confessions are exposed to this danger. Such lip-service may be, as Lynch says, “ most suspicious and affrighting.” What God desires is an honest expression of our heart’ s convictions. This Hezekiah gave. This prayer was uttered with true humility. Whatever had been his sins--and he recognised them (verse 17)--he could claim-- 1. Sincerity. He had walked before God in truth. He was conscious of no deceit, no inward angularities, no warping of conscience, no sophistical coverings, no histrionic attitudes. He lived out the verities of his soul. 2. Simplicity of purpose. His heart was perfect in its consecration to the Divine glory. He had no double aims. In building up the religious life of the nation he had not sought his own honour but God’ s. 3. That his acts had been regulated as in God’ s sight, and had been to increase goodness in the earth. His life was indeed his prayer. Life will have to be reviewed. A life of sin makes a death-bed terrible. III. THE WITH WHICH THIS PRAYER WAS OFFERED. 1. Hezekiah was filled with grief. But while grief prostrates the mental and physical energies it often gives great potency to prayer. The gaze of Hezekiah’ s almost speechless soul was fixed on God with beseeching earnestness, and the poignancy of his grief arrested the Divine arm. 2. There was in Hezekiah’ s mind a feeling of bitter disappointment. He expected to live, and his expectation rested upon his religious belief. In his day, under the incompleted revelation of t he Divine purposes, centering in human life and destiny, which was then possessed, longevity was regarded as one of the peculiar rewards of piety (Psalms 90:16). Hezekiah had fulfilled the conditions and he now looked for the reward. He was disappointed in God. To be disappointed in God is the direst disappointment that can fill a man’ s soul with bitterness. If God fail him, what is there in the universe that is firm? God sometimes permits men to think that He has not been faithful to them. This is, perhaps, the severest test that the human heart can bear. Christ descended to that “ profundity of woe” when He uttered His agonising cry upon the cross. Many fail in such hours. But true faith can enable us to triumph even then. It will enable us to lie weeping before God, waiting for the explanation that it assures us God can and will give; clinging to His garments even when His face seems turned away, and His form, once so near and trusted, has changed, and seems moving steadily away from us. Thus Hezekiah waited, weeping Sore. 3. There was also within him the feeling of utter helplessness. All earthly resources had failed him. When he turned his face to the wall, he felt that no power on earth could help him. His physicians, his attendants, his most trusted counsellors, could render no assistance. He had only God. Hezekiah, even in such circumstances, found God nigh to help and to save. Isaiah was speedily sent back to comfort him with the Divine message: “ I have heard thy prayers, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.” Learn-- 1. That true piety will enable us to seek and find God m life’ s most painful extremities. 2. That in our hours of bitterest grief prayer will reach God’ s ear and bring us relief and deliverance. (Homiletic Magazine.) Isaiah 38:4-5I have heard thy prayer Was Hezekiah’ s recovery an unmitigated blessing? Most of us who have had some experience of life, have seen instances in which a man who has set his heart too fondly upon one object, has gained that object, and with it (to use the language of St. Paul to his shipmates) “ much harm and loss.” He has won the position which he coveted; but perhaps he finds himself saddled with the burden of a crushing responsibility; or perhaps his health--the one condition of enjoyment--breaks up just as he grasps the prize; or perhaps he is snatched away by death, “ while the meat is yet in his mouth” ; and those who knew him are unpleasantly reminded of the end of Israel’ s lusting in the wilderness, “ He gave them their desire, and sent leanness withal into their soul.” And thinking men say, when they hear of this result, “ Strong wishes for earthly blessings are to be avoided.” The Book of God, as being the book of Truth, gives an exact echo of human experience in this matter. God acceded to Hezekiah’ s request, and added fifteen years to his life. But now comes the grave question, Did the fifteen years thus added prove, in the issue, a blessing to Hezekiah personally, or to the nation over which he so worthily presided? The sacred narrative gives an emphatic negative to both branches of the question. 1. Hezekiah, when God had originally proposed to take him to Himself, and had sent Isaiah with the message, “ Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live,” was at the zenith of his spiritual prosperity. And now Hezekiah was to be gathered to his fathers, full, if not of years, yet of honours, spiritual and temporal. But by his prayers and his tears he succeeded in prolonging his span; and the first result of this, which the history brings before us, points to a spiritual decline in Hezekiah (chap. 39.). The sweet ointment of Hezekiah’ s graces was flawed and corrupted by the dead fly of vanity. Had Hezekiah died when God proposed to take him, he would have died humble; as it is, he dies after being humbled by God; and all those who read the narrative thoughtfully will surely say, “ Better far he had died at first.” 2. But more than personal interests are at stake in the life of princes; and we are led to inquire what, as far as it is given us to know them, may have been the effects upon the Jewish nation of the addition of fifteen years to Hezekiah’ s life? The answer is conveyed in these words: “ Manasseh (Hezekiah’ s son, who succeeded to the throne) was twelve years old when he began to reign;” so that if Hezekiah had died when God intended he should, Manasseh would never have existed. Now who was Manasseh? and what part did he play in Jewish history? Manasseh, by his extraordinary wickedness, surpassing that of all who had gone before him, involved the nation which he governed in ruin. Manasseh’ s crimes cried to heaven for vengeance, and were heard, long after Manasseh s body had mingled with the dust, and long after Manasseh’ s soul had become, through Divine grace, profoundly penitent. For when the author of the Books of Kings traces up the captivity to its originating cause, thus he writes: “ Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of His sight, for the sine of Manasseh, according to all that he did; and also for the innocent blood that he shed (for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood), which the Lord would not pardon.” Possibly, then, if Manasseh had not existed, the great national de gradation of the Jews by the captivity, and the demolition of the city and temple, would never have taken place. (Dean Goulburn.)Ministers should have access to the sick Besides its other important lessons, this history teaches the propriety of admitting the minister of God into the chamber of sickness. His soothing words and the prayer of faith, always secure to the sufferer some blessing, which he could little afford to lose. No intelligent, right-minded medical man will bar the door of the sickroom against the physician of the soul. (J. N. Norton.)Hezekiah a life prolonged He had an interview with the Giver of life. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 38:7-8 And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord The shadow on the sun-dial of Ahaz We are not to imagine that in this miracle any effect was wrought upon the motion of the earth round its axis. A miraculous refraction of the sun’ s rays was effected by God on a particular sun-dial, at the prayer of King Hezekiah. It was a miracle, wrought on a particular dial, in a particular place, showing that it concerned a particular person; and it was not wrought on the solar orb, but on the solar light. (Bp. Wordsworth.)The shadow reversed on the sun-dial of Ahaz This astounding miracle could only have been affected by a light. “ brighter than the sun,” rising on the other side of the sun-dial. We all know how electric light reverses the shadow of gas light. At St. Paul’ s conversion, “ the light from heaven,” the Shechinah brightness of Immanuel, outshone the splendour of the noonday sun. In the heavenly city there is no need of the sun to shine on it, nor of the moon to lighten it, for the glory of God and the Lamb is the light thereof. Unfortunately, we cannot tell on which side of the temple at Jerusalem the sun-dial of Ahaz was situated. It was probably a monolith or obelisk, resembling that on the Thames embankment, elevated on steps--translated “ degrees” --and intended to regulate the hours of public worship. The setting sun had thrown the shadow across the steps; it had gone down ten degrees, when suddenly from the gate or window from the mercy-seat behind the veil of the naos, or temple proper, there flashed forth the majestic light of Divine glory that dwelt between the cherubim, reversing the shadow of the natural sun, and converting for Hezekiah the shadow of death into morning. (R. Balgarnie, D. D.)The Light of the Mosaic past To the ardent eyes of the old prophet the light that had reversed the shadow on the sundial was the old “ Light” of the Mosaic past. It had illumined the land of Goshen in the days of supernatural darkness that overspread the rest of Egypt. It had flashed out with more than electric brightness upon the hosts of Israel as they struggled on through the night and the sea to escape the pursuing army of the Pharaoh. It had “ glided” as a fiery pillar before the tribes through the rocky desert, warning off their enemies, and guiding the pilgrim army homeward to the fatherland. It had synchronised their movements with those convulsions of nature that arrested the Jordan at harvest flood, and shook down the walls of Jericho at the moment when they were prepared to cross and capture the devoted city. And it had stood over Gibeon as a sun that would not go down, and as a moon that would not withdraw, while Jehovah fought for Israel, and gave them their “ crowning victory” over the idolatrous Canaanites. Isaiah knew the Light. (R. Balgarnie, D. D.)Christ the glory of His people Israel Was it this, I wonder, that evoked from Isaiah that unwonted outburst of enthusiasm in the chapter beginning, “ Arise, shine, for thy Light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee” ? “ Thy sun shall no more go down . . . for Jehovah shall be unto thee an everlasting Light, and thy God thy glory” ? If so, how appropriate the words to the occasion. It is easy to identify the Light of Israel with Christ, the Light of the world. (R. Balgarnie, D. D.)Christ dispels and reverses life’ s shadows I do not consider that I am putting any undue strain upon the text in applying it to Christ. The Shechinah was the recognised token to Israel of the presence of her covenant God. It led the Magi to Bethlehem. It shone around the shepherds on the night of the nativity. It overwhelmed Saul of Tarsus on the way to Damascus. Christ is the Light that dispels and reverses our shadows. Christ has dispelled and reversed-- I. THE SHADOW OF, SIN. II. THE SHADOW OF GRIEF. III. THE SHADOW OF DEATH. “ If He be in thee,” wrote John Pulsford, “ who is the Light of Life, very Light and very Life, then, when the candlelight of ,thy body’ s life goes out, the sunlight of thy soul’ s life shall be bright about thee. ‘ (R. Balgarnie, D. D.)The great miracle The miracle is how God Himself began. Why will men always attack the wrong point, as if it were a wonderful thing that a man should have fifteen years added to his life; and yet we omit the stupendous miracle that man ever began to live. Thus attack what mystery we may we only go backward and upward until we come to Deity Himself. That is the great mystery, and there is none other. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 38:9-20 The writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah Hezekiah’ s recovery 1. He was sick, and then he prayed. 2. He is recovered, and now he gives thanks. (R. Harris, D. D.)Hezekiah’ s song I. THE acquaints us-- 1. With the author of the song. 2. With the nature of it--a poem written. 3. With the argument of it--a song of thanksgiving for the removal of sickness, and restoring of health. II. THE presents unto us the parts of it. 1. An aggravation of Hezekiah’ s former misery. 2. An amplification of the present mercy. (R. Harris, D. D.)Hezekiah’ s experience In the first part of this psalm, he describes the views and feelings which occupied his mind when he saw himself apparently on the brink of the grave. 1. Though he had been one of the best kings with which God ever blessed a nation, he viewed his sins as great and numerous, and felt that he was, on account of them, justly exposed to the Divine displeasure. 2. Hence death appeared dreadful to him, and his dread of it was increased by the darkness which, at that time, before Christ had brought life and immortality to light, hung over a future state. 3. Hence, too, he was assailed by fearful apprehensions of God’ s anger (Isaiah 38:13). 4. In consequence of these apprehensions he could neither look nor ask for help from God with confidence, as he had been accustomed to do. “ My eyes,” he exclaims, “ fail upward;” that is, I cannot look upward, cannot look to heaven for relief and consolation, as I formerly could. 5. And when he endeavoured to pray, he found that he offered nothing which deserved the name of prayer; for unbelief and despondency prevailed. “ Like a crane or a swallow,” says he, “ so did I chatter;” that is, my prayers were little better than the complaints of a bird entangled in the snare of the fowler. 6. Finally, he gave up all hope, and cried in bitterness of soul, “ I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living.” 7. But to the righteous there ariseth light in the darkness. There did in this case. And as soon as it began to dawn, faith revived, and he cried, though still with a feeble voice, “ O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me;” that is, be my help and deliverer, make my cause Thine own, and do all that for me which Thou seest to be necessary. (E. Payson, D. D.)The prayer of Hezekiah It is a strain most natural and pathetic. It is the simple expression of one who has found this life beautiful and desirable, and who would fain be permitted to remain till the limit of human existence has been reached. Its very simplicity, the very honesty with which it depicts the clinging to life and the shrinking from death, has been a stumbling-block to many--has been at complete variance with their preconceived notions as to the frame of mind in which a good man would meet such an hour. He appealed to the life which he had led, to the work which he had done, to the integrity of purpose with which he had done it. He also ventured to recall, as it were, to the Hearer of his prayer, that in his removal there would be one worshipper the less. “ The grave cannot praise Thee,” &c. There would be--such is the daring argument which he employs:--loss to God as well as to himself: if Hezekiah lost all that he had prized and hoped for, God would likewise be deprived of praise and honour which would have been His in days to come. It is a method of expostulation which we who have, through Christ, boldness to enter into the holiest, would hardly venture to employ. Then, on the other hand, the unfeigned alarm with which he contemplates the approaching change--the evident superiority which he assigns to the present life compared with what lies beyond the grave--is not in accordance with the language which would be used by one who cherished the glorious hope which Christ has enkindled. But, with all this admitted--it may even be on this very account--we find in this poem the expression of a human heart like our own, brooding over the great mystery of life and of death, uttering, without reserve, its sorrow and complaint; shrinking, yet trusting; resisting, yet submitting; delighting in life, but finding in God its only portion. The poem is but the record of what any human spirit would feel in being confronted with death, and in seeing death again withdraw. (P. M. Muir.)The fear of death What are the main elements of this fear in the writing of Hezekiah? Why is his spirit oppressed and overwhelmed as the great change approaches? Some of the reasons are what we all have experienced; others of them may be only too strange to us. I. One reason is that HE MUST BID TO THE JOYS OF LIFE. He was deprived of the residue of his years. Life had been to him full of interest and of beauty. In this respect there were even elements of weakness in his character. His love of case and of display showed itself in various ways. II. Another and a nobler reason for the sadness of Hezekiah, is to be found in the fact that HE WAS ABOUT TO BE CUT OFF FROM THE WORK ON WHICH HIS HEART WAS SET. That is a sorrow which is apt to overcloud a lofty mind. The idolatry which he had sought to crush might again lift up its head. The ritual which he had restored might again be suffered to decay. The bondage from which he had kept his country might lay hold upon it. Because, after his day, the hand of the spoiler might seize the wealth which he had amassed for the good of the nation, he might well desire that his day should be prolonged. III. He shrank from death as AN ON AN UNKNOWN SPHERE. It is an exaggeration to say that kings and righteous men of the Old Testament had no conception of a future state. There are sayings which infer that the thought of life was not bounded by the grave, that there was a conviction of union with Him who is eternal. But the sayings are comparatively few: there is no greater difference between the Old Testament and the New than the difference of the way in which they speak of the life hereafter. So dim, so fluctuating, so uncertain are the allusions in the Old Testament, that the revelation of the New may well be called the bringing of life and immortality to light. Even with that revelation, “ our knowledge of that life is small, the eye of faith is dim” ; but, without it, the horror of a great darkness may naturally oppress the soul. IV. The reason which, most of all, produced the regret of Hezekiah in the thought of quitting the visible world is to us the strangest of all. It was that HE SHOULD BE MORE DISTANT FROM GOD. “ I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living.” This is to us a strange contradiction, an evidence of marvellous ignorance. It was exactly in that world, to the confines of which he was drawing near, that he would find God. This is true, and there is ground for our astonishment. But might not Hezekiah, in his turn, be astonished at us? Does his lamentation convey to us no lesson, no reproach? He was mournful at the prospect of seeing God no more in the land of the living, of seeing Him no more in the glories of the world around, of seeing Him no more in the worship of His temple. Were we honest with ourselves and with one another, might we not confess that our talk of seeing God hereafter is all the more voluble because we have not seen Him here? We too much forget that He is here at all. And one element of terror in our imagination of the hereafter consists too often in the reflection that He is there. (P. M. Muir.)Hezekiah’ s return to health If we may learn something from Hezekiah even in his imperfect, hopeless mode of looking on impending death, much more may we learn from him in his joyous mode of welcoming returning health. That he should be glad is no cause for wonder. 1. There is perhaps no keener sense of enjoyment than that which attends convalescence, when simple pleasures, which may once have palled, are felt again in all their freshness, when strength is actually felt to be reanimating the enfeebled frame. For the man who has been tossing and turning in restlessness and pain, the restoration of peace and ease brings a pleasure before unknown 2. But it was not simply this delight in outward things which inspired Hezekiah. It was that the vision of God would again be granted, that the worship which he loved could again be offered, that the work which had been interrupted might again be taken up, that his recovery was a pledge of Divine favour, of sin forgiven and forgotten, and must awake the gratitude of his heart, the service of his whole life. Whatever has been our past, whatever is to be our future, the present is ours to use, to improve, to spend in the service of God and of man. (P. M. Muir.)Hezekiah’ s sickness and recovery I. THE AND DANGER OF . This writing records his affliction. From his previous character, you perhaps expect to find that he will welcome the message which announces his release from suffering, or at least receive it with calmness and submission. But there are two principles on which we account for this emotion. 1. From that love of life which is the strongest instinct of our nature. 2. Hezekiah was engaged in a great and important work. II. THE WROUGHT ON HIS BEHALF. 1. He traces his recovery to God. 2. He desires to retain the salutary impressions he had received (Isaiah 38:15). 3. He acknowledges the beneficial influence of affliction (Isaiah 38:16). 4. He gratefully commemorates the Divine goodness (Isaiah 38:17). (H. J. Gamble.)The wisdom of keeping a record of one’ s life It is well, for the purpose of frequent review, to keep a record of the principal events of our lives, and of the thoughts which in trying circumstances have most deeply impressed us. This is the way both to multiply and prolong the advantages of experience. Such a record may be of great use also to our successors, and especially to our children. Of all the periods of life pregnant with materials for such an instructive memorial, that of sickness, for the supports attending it, the thoughts that arise out of it, and the influence to be exercised by them upon the subsequent course of our lives, seems to have a pre-eminent claim to notice. It is to a record of this kind, penned by the pious monarch of Judah, and which was probably- of great service to his son Manasseh, that our text refers; and the consideration of which may serve to remind us of what we should aspire after, and what we should cautiously avoid, in a similar situation. (J. Leifchild, D. D.)Sickness and recovery I. THE GENERAL CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF BODILY . Man is much more liable to attacks of this nature than the mere animals. The peculiar organisation of the human being, and the wearing effect of mental excitement upon the corporeal system, may m part account for this. But moral causes must also be taken into consideration. Sin is the great parent of our bodily maladies. Though some conditions of human society are more exposed to disease than others, yet no station in life forms any certain security against the interruption of health. Even piety itself, though a preservative against spiritual ills, and a preventive of many bodily ailments, is far from being a shield against the shafts of disease. We have a vivid picture, in Hezekiah’ s complaints, of the humiliating state both of body and mind to which sickness reduces us. While much importance should not be attached to what persons in sickness think of themselves, yet we may learn the desirableness of avoiding those dispositions and practices, while in health, which would furnish just and solid occasion for uneasiness in our duller hours. We may invite God to our sick chamber with confidence, when we have not driven Him away from us by impiety and neglect in our more joyous and prosperous seasons. II. THE OF A PIOUS MIND UNDER , AND THE GOOD EFFECTS OF PRAYER AND . The message of Isaiah to Hezekiah was indeed calculated to produce alarm and despondency as to his recovery. In this situation, his desire of life moved him to make the most earnest and passionate entreaties. The good men of that age felt a strong attachment to life, which was far more excusable in their case than in ours. III. THE AND DIVINE WITH WHICH FROM MAY BE IN THE CASE OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD. The removal of the bodily ill was the least part of his deliverance; it was accompanied and followed with a sweet sense of the removal of guilt from his soul, and with the presence of the gladdening beams of the Divine favour. It is sometimes one end of God, in the case of the affliction of His people, to prepare them for such manifestations, and to prove the power of Divine principles in conferring a sublime superiority to all the impressions of the surrounding scene. IV. THE WHICH THE OF , THE UNDER IT, AND OUT OF IT, IN THE CASE OF GOOD MEN, SHOULD HAVE UPON THEIR FUTURE CONDUCT. The beneficial effects of such visitation are too often confined to the hours of its endurance, or extended only to a short period after its termination. This arises from the influence of outward scenes and circumstances upon the mind, and the natural tendency of a change in the one to operate a similar change in the other. It is only to be prevented by a due resistance to such tendency, and a careful effort to preserve, by frequent meditation and review, the just discoveries made by us in our affliction, and the proper feelings then entertained, in reference to the character of human life, and the importance of religion. Probably the great cause of sinful relapses is to be found in a forgetfulness of our mercies. Application-- 1. The subject may be useful to such as have not yet been afflicted. We see in the sufferings of others how precarious is the continuance of our comforts, and our vigour and health to enjoy them. 2. Such as have been afflicted in vain, may be furnished with a salutary remonstrance. Affliction is often amongst the last resources employed by infinite wisdom and mercy for our benefit. 3. Such as are labouring under the pressure of disease may, especially if Christians, learn how to turn it, while it lasts, to good account, as well as to gain a benefit from it for the future. There are many consoling and reconciling considerations. It is fraught with a benevolent design on the part of Him who permits or causes it. (J. Leifchild, D. D.)Face to face with death 1. However death is feared and resisted, it is most by those who are in the midst of their days. The reasons for this are worth looking into. 2. Man’ s most solemn words are uttered when he stands face to face with death; then, if ever, he forms a right estimate of life, and of preparation for dying. 3. Prayer is a real power. (W. Wheeler.)Hezekiah’ s poem The poem, or psalm, in which Hezekiah describes his experience, may be divided into two parts. I. HOW DEATH LOOKED (Isaiah 38:10-15). There is a point in the sun’ s daily climb of the heavens when it seems to stand still, a pause before descending the western slope. Hezekiah felt he had reached just such a meridian of his life. In the tranquillity, or noontide, of his days, he was to enter the gates of the grave. Loss of God’ s presence, loss of human companionships and interests--this was what death meant for him. His age, his natural term of life, was to be carried away like a shepherd’ s tent that had been struck--his life rolled up like a piece of cloth cut from the thrums of the weaver’ s loom. The dreary night of his pain, when his very bones seemed broken, and he could only moan and mourn like some lonely, crying bird, how well he remembered it, what a bitter experience it was! His eyes failed with looking upward, but he did look upward; weighed down with pain and weakness, his soul still cried,. “ Be Thou my surety.” He knew not what to say, because God had done it all. Never, through all the respite of years allotted to him, could he forget his bitterness of soul. The memory of it would always chasten him. Some of us have never known what it is to spend hours of pain and weakness, with death apparently near at hand, and, in the absence of this experience, the sick king’ s account of his dreary night will be hard to understand. But anyone who has been in the shadowed valley will recognise the truthfulness of the picture, and the sincere piety of Hezekiah’ s looking upward to God. II. HOW LIFE LOOKED (Isaiah 38:16-20). First of all, he is sensible of the preciousness of his chastisement. He had learned in those dark and terrible hours lessons never learned before. It was in deep experiences of need and of God’ s present help given him then, that he had found the true life of his spirit. He had discovered God’ s love to his soul, and obtained an assurance of forgiveness which was a joy unspeakable. Blessed is he who, looking up to God in the face of Jesus Christ, can say, “ Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.” Whoever went back of God? Life for him is an opportunity to praise God, to make known His truth, to testify before all the Lord’ s readiness to save. This story is a chapter out of an ancient biography, a story of a soul in close personal dealing with God. It reminds us that He is a very present help in trouble, and that none who turn to Him in trust and hope will ever be refused. (E. W. Shalders, B. A.) Isaiah 38:10I shall go to the gates of the grave Views of the grave 1.It was doubtless from veneration for the dead, that the practice first arose of depositing their ashes around the temple where the living worship. That dust, which once was tenanted by an immortal spirit,--that dust, through which once the intelligence and the feelings of an immortal spirit shone,--becomes in itself hallowed to the fancy. Collecting it around the place which most we honour, we trust that we remove it beyond the reach of profane intrusion. 2. To the Christian there appears a peculiar propriety in this simple and affecting arrangement. The dust of the departed is doubly valuable in the Christian’ s regard, who knows that “ this mortal” is destined to “ put on immortality.” In placing it near the temple of our God, we seem to express our humble confidence in the promise which He hath given; we seem to leave it under His own especial protection. 3. The practice which arose from reverence for the dead, is powerfully enforced by its usefulness to the living. If we would listen to the thought, there is in it eloquence irresistible, that around the place where we assemble to worship our God, the ashes of our fathers and of our brethren sleep. We act the part of fools when we banish from our minds any theme, uninviting though its aspect be, by which our spiritual welfare might he so essentially advanced. (A. Brunton, D. D.)Appeals of the grave 1. Come hither, ye proud! Look around you on this scene of universal stillness, and show us the trace of those distinctions in which you glory. Tell us which is noble and which is vulgar dust l 2. Come hither, ye who value yourselves upon the graces of your outward form. Have you courage to meet the aspect here of that which late was lovely? 3. Come hither, ye votaries of wealth; and show us in this receptacle of human dust, what advantages have gone down to the grave with him who preceded you in your anxious labours. The riches of this world descend not into the grave. But there are treasures of which the value outlives the tomb. 4. Children of intemperance and folly, those who once were your associates in riot, are laid in the grave. Silent is now the wit that was to charm for ever; and quenched the smile that was never to fade! Are you prepared for a change like this? 5. Son of wisdom, and holiness, and piety, thine associates also are sleeping here. 6. Come hither, and stand by this new-formed grave. It is the grave of thine enemy. He cannot harm thee now. Thou mournest to think that the remembrance of injuries which he had done or suffered may have agonised his deathbed. Thou shudderest at the thought, either that he died execrating and abhorring thee, or suing for reconciliation and peace in vain; that the departing spirit may have gone hence, unforgiving or unforgiven. Is there, then, one to whom, at this moment, thou bearest enmity? “ Go,” while yet the lesson is warm upon thy heart, “ leave thy gift before the altar,” &c. 7. Reverence and attachment lead thee onward to the spot where the instructor of thy youth, the guide of thy childhood, lies. All the lessons of his wisdom rush upon thy remembrance, as thou standest by his grave. Improve the moment,--it is rich in usefulness. 8. The scene around may well rouse thee to self-examination. For, see, here is laid thine equal in age. He began with thee the career of life, gay and careless as thyself. The same with thine own were his pursuits. The same with thine own were his hopes. Seest thou that vacant space by his side? God only knows, how soon thou mayest be called to fill it. In this land of shadows one thing is certain,--it is death; “ one thing is needful,” --it is an interest in Him who hath vanquished death and the grave. (A. Brunton, D. D.)The gates of the grave The region of the grave is bounded. God keeps the gates. I. ALL MEN’ S DREAD. Through-- 1. Sin. 2. Natural fear of the unknown. 3. Want of faith. II. ALL MEN’ S DESTINY. 1. Certain. 2. Men may approach these gates and return, but once passed they are passed for ever. 3. They are the portals of endless joy or woe. (W. O. Lilley.)I am deprived of the residue of my yearsThe shortening of human life The words of the text naturally suggest this general observation: that God deprives many of the human race of the residue of their years. I. WHEN GOD DOES THIS. 1. God deprives all those of the residue of their years whom He calls out of the world before they have reached the limits of life which are to be found in Scripture. 2. Whom He calls out of the world before they have reached the bounds of life fixed by Providence. Though the Scriptures limit life to seventy or eighty years, yet Providence oftens extends it to a longer period. 3. Who die before they have reached the bounds of life which are imposed by the laws of nature. Nature sets bounds to every kind of life in this world. All, therefore, who die by sickness, or accident, or violence, or any other cause than the course of nature, are really deprived of the residue of their days. II. Inquire WHY GOD THUS THE LIVES OF MEN. 1. To teach the living that He is not dependent upon them in the least degree. 2. To teach mankind their constant and absolute dependence upon Himself. 3. To teach the living the necessity of being continually prepared for another life. 4. To teach the living the importance of faithfully improving life as long as they enjoy it. 5. God may sometimes cut short the days of the wicked to prevent their doing evil in time to come. 6. God may sometimes shorten the lives of His faithful servants to prevent their seeing and suffering public calamities. III. . 1. If God does not always deprive men of the residue of their years, but allows some to reach the bounds of nature, then there is propriety in praying for the lives of the aged as well as of the young. 2. If God so often deprives men of the residue of their years, then it is extremely unreasonable and dangerous to flatter ourselves with the hopes of living a great while in the world. 3. We ought to beware of placing too much dependence upon the lives of others, as well as upon our own. 4. Long life is a great as well as distinguishing favour. 5. If God always has wise and good reasons for depriving men of the residue of their years, then it is as reasonable to submit to His providence in one instance of mortality as another. (N. Emmons, D. D.)The residue of years Life has crises. Men often feel as if life were re-given. Wisdom is born in such hours. The residue of life is regarded with reverence. The residue of year I. ARE, WITH US, . II. SHOULD BE GUIDED BY THE OF PAST YEARS. III. SHOULD BE MOST SERENE AND HAPPY. IV. SHOULD BE MOST PIOUS AND IN GOOD TO OTHERS. (W. O.Lilley.) Isaiah 38:11I said, I shall not see the Lord Hezekiah’ s distress I. ’ S AT THE THOUGHT OF NOT SEEING GOD. This manifested-- 1. True affection towards God. 2. Fervent desires for the revelation of God’ s glory. 3. Spiritual power to apprehend God. II. ’ S AT THE THOUGHT OF NOT SEEING GOD ON EARTH. He would see Him-- 1. In deliverances wrought out for His people. 2. In Divine manifestations in the temple. 3. In Divine benediction upon himself and nation. Happy they who desire to see God. He may be seen in this land of death. In the true land of the living men ever behold Him face to face. (W. O. Lilley.)I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the worldOne, and only one probation, a benevolent arrangement (with Luke 16:26):--There are two facts that give death profound solemnity. 1. It separates a man for ever from his connections in this world. Hezekiah felt this now. Job felt this. “ When a few years are come,” &c. What living man has not been impressed with this idea! The old scene of his first impressions, anxious labours, tender friendships, and dear associations is left for ever. However trying this world may be, it contains very much that is dear to us. Here we felt the first sensations of life; here the first trains of thought arose; here we have received the elements of our character; here all our joys have been experienced, our trials endured, and our labours prosecuted. Here sleep the dust of our parents and our friends. To leave all this for ever is a sad thought. 2. It separates a man for ever from all probationary means of improvement. Abraham gave this idea to the rich man in the world of perdition: he assured him there was an impassable “ gulf” fixed between him and all remedial means. After death character seems stereotyped. This is a more solemn fact than the other, though perhaps not so deeply and generally felt. To be cut off for ever, if we are wicked, from Bibles, sanctuaries, and all mediatorial influences and helps; to have an impassable gulf between all that is bright and fair in the universe and one’ s self;--how solemn this! This fact, which is profoundly solemn, is neither cruel nor unjust, but on the contrary highly benevolent. I. THERE IS MORE IN THIS TO THE HIMSELF. Three facts will illustrate this. 1. In case a man had a second probation, and it failed, his guilt and misery would be considerably enhanced by it. (1) Punishment will be propertioned by the privileges and opportunities abused. “ He that knoweth his Master’ s will, and doeth it not,” &c. “ If I had not spoken to them,” said Christ, “ they had not had sin.” What is the guilt of a heathen compared with a man living in Christian lands? (2) The privileges and opportunities connected with his first probation are such as to impose incalculable responsibility. “ He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy,” &c. What, then, would be the guilt of a man who had not only lived through a first probation, but a second? 2. The man who abused the first probation would be most likely to abuse the second. If a man pass through all remedial influences of the first probation nature, sacred literature, sanctuaries, the counsels and admonitions of the pious, the Gospel ministry--and not be saved, but hardened, by all, would there not be a certainty that, if he entered upon a second probation, the second would also fail? (1) Because he would enter upon the second with hardened sensibilities. He did not so the first. We began our existence here with tender consciences. (2) He would enter on the second with confirmed habits. H it be asked, May not some new influences be brought to bear upon the soul in the second probation that did not act upon him in the first?--We ask, What new influences are possible? We can only conceive of two kinds--the penal and the merciful. Will penal sufferings convert? And as to merciful influences--can there be any more merciful power brought to bear upon the soul than now? Can God give a more moving and mighty expression of His love than in sending His only-begotten Son? 3. Man’ s knowledge of a second probation would tend to counteract upon his mind the saving influence of the first. (1) It would strengthen that procrastinating principle in his nature which leads him now to postpone the question of his salvation. (2) It would strengthen that presuming tendency of his nature which induces him to run the risk of the future. (Homilist.) Isaiah 38:12 As a shepherd’ s tent The inconstancy of earthly life He saith “ a shepherd’ s tent,” because that represents the inconstancy and uncertainty of our life, more than any other tent. The soldier’ s tent may stand pitched long in a place, as in sieges and the like; but shepherds change the place of their tent every day, because of the opportunity of fresh pasture for their cattle. (W. Day, M. A.)As a shepherd s tent I. MAN’ S LOT HAS NO . II. IT IS EASILY REMOVED. III. IT MAY BE REMOVED. IV. IT IS OFTEN REMOVED . V. IT IS REMOVED TO ANOTHER PLACE. (W. O. Lilley.)I have out off like a weaver my lifeThe art of weaving The art of weaving seems to have been coeval with the first dawn of civilisation. We do not know where or at what time it was invented; but we find that at an early age in the world’ s history the Egyptians manifested great skill in it. The vestures of fine linen such as Joseph wore were the product of Egyptian looms, and the existing specimens of the mummy cloth of Egypt are said to compare favourably with the finest cambric of modern times. There are various incidental references to this art in the Scriptures. We are told that the staff of Goliath’ s spear was like a weaver’ s beam. Job says that his days are swifter than a weaver’ s shuttle. And among the experiments which Delilah tried in ascertaining the secret of Samson’ s strength, we find one that consisted in weaving the seven locks of his hair with the web of her loom. “ She fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson; and he awaked out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam, and the web.” Here we have references to some of the parts of the loom as it exists in the present day, the beam, the shuttle, the pin to which the web was attached. Indeed, we learn on reliable authority that though the introduction of machinery has made some important changes in the loom as used by the ancients, yet the essential features of it remain unaltered. (W. V. Robinson, B. A.)Man as a weaver We need, therefore, but a slight acquaintance with the art of weaving in its present state to enable us to understand the meaning of our text. Let us suppose that a man is standing before his loom. The warp has been supplied to him by his master, and fixed to the weaver’ s beam. The threads pass over the loom, and the weft is shot through by means of the shuttle. The web is then complete, and is rolled on to another beam. When the required length of cloth has been woven, the threads of the warp are cut, and if the master has no more work for the weaver, he is dismissed from his employ. (W. V. Robinson, B. A.)The web of life Life is like a web of which man is the weaver, and the threads may at any moment be cut by the master, and the weaver dismissed from the loom. I. LIFE IS LIKE A WEB, OF WHICH GOD THE , AND OF WHICH MAN IS THE WEAVER. 1. God supplies the warp of life. (1) This consists partly of a man’ s capacities and partly of a man’ s circumstances. It is different in almost every case; but in each case it forms the material which lies at the basis of a man’ s life. No two men are exactly alike. One man enters life with a strong physical constitution. Another, perhaps his brother, enters into life a cripple. One man inherits a strong intellect, which in his boyhood puts him at the top of his school, and in his later years makes him the leader of his fellows. Another is born with a slow, dull comprehension. One man is born with tastes and tendencies which will make him an artist or a poet; another with passions which will sink him into the criminal class if they are allowed to develop. One man is weak in character, veering like the weather-cock with every breath of public opinion. Another has a strong character. He is firm and persistent, and allows no difficulty to discourage or distress him. How very different is the warp of life in these cases! (2) The warp of life comprises, moreover, a man’ s early surroundings his parentage, his social position, his early education, his religious training. One men is born with a silver spoon in his mouth, another has the fiery liquid poured down his throat before he is many weeks old. One is surrounded by the sunshine of love and affluence; another enters life in the cold winds of adversity and cruel oppression. One man is born in a country village, and his early life is full of experiences of the external world in all its purity and beauty; another is born in a large town, amid the roar of traffic and the bustling excitement of city life. One is born in a land where the air is heavy with idolatry; another is surrounded with Christian influences. How different is the warp of life in all such cases! Now God supplies this; and it is not for any one of us to murmur at His arrangements. For this, at least, we know, that God requires of a man no more than he possesses. 2. The weft of life, as we conceive of it, consists of the desires and purposes and resolutions that we bring to bear upon our capacities and circumstances. There are some who weave with the coarse yarn of selfishness, who use their strong physical natures for the gratification of their bodily appetites, who allow their strong reasoning powers to lift them up in rebellion against God, who oppress and crush their weaker brethren with their firm wills and imperious natures. When a coarse thread is woven into a fine warp, the cloth is not good. Neither can that life be good which has a selfish purpose woven into the Divine plan. But there are others who weave with the fine yarn of Christian consecration, and the web of their lives cannot but be well pleasing in the sight of God. It is true that the weft of life is supplied to us as well as the warp, and yet each man possesses the power to choose the thread that he will weave into his life. It is ours to choose either the selfish purpose or the Christ-like purpose. Any weaver may lay aside the yarn that his master has supplied to him, and substitute for it an inferior yarn and work with that. And that is exactly what many are actually doing. On the one side, the Divine Spirit is prompting him to all that is noble and good; and on the other side are the spirits of darkness, who cannot compel one single man to choose the wrong, but who can, and do tempt him to it; and if a man, either through indifference or presumption, allows himself to be influenced by that which is evil, for the life that is thus marred he is accountable to God. II. GOD KNOWS BEST OF ALL WHEN THE WEB OF LIFE IS REALLY . The Greeks believed that the fates were spinning the web of human life, and that they determined when it should be cut off from the loom. Ours is a truer and a more comforting creed. It is no cruel fate but a loving Father that determines for us the length of life’ s fabric. 1. We sometimes think that some lives are ended before they are completed. What means the broken column, so frequently to be seen in our cemeteries, but that some mourning friend thinks that one life, perhaps dearer than any other life, has been cut off before it is completed. But God knows best when a life is really finished. Every life is finished when God’ s purpose in that life has been fulfilled. The life of Jesus only reached over thirty-three short years; but no one thinks of suggesting that it would have been better if He had lived to be sixty. His work was finished. 2. Again, are there not many who seem to us to have lived long after their work on earth was over? It may be that in the patient waiting of their lives, in the dim glory of their eventide, He has some threads for them to weave into the warp that He has supplied. 3. But after the fabric has been rolled up, it must be unrolled again. How few are there who can, without emotion, take a retrospect of their past life! To some it is a punishment greater than they can bear! And is there any man, however good, who can think of the past without regret? The memory of God’ s goodness, indeed, may fill him with gratitude, and joy, and wonder; but the recollection of his share in life’ s fabric must fill him with grief and shame. And this life must be Unrolled before the searching eye of the Great Master, in the fierce light that beats about His throne. “ For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ.” How can we bear to present such imperfect and sin-stained lives to God? Let us take courage. For are there not some standing before the throne whose lives were no better than ours? How can they stand there? “ They have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” And we, too, can receive forgiveness and cleansing where they received it. The Great Master might well say that such clumsy and faithless weavers as we are should have no place in His service and in His home. But He will receive us for the sake of His dear Son. (W. V. Robinson, D. D.)Two typical cases: Judas Iscariot and Paul Judas Iscariot was a man of whose capacities we know little. We may infer, however, that he possessed some valuable gifts, or his brethren in the apostolate would never have assigned to him the important office of purse-bearer and almoner to the little band. His circumstances, we know, were unusually good. He was drawn, with the other apostles, to the feet of Jesus by the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth. For three years he accompanied our Lord in His journeys. He heard the discourses to which He gave utterance, and he lived under the influence of His character. This was the warp of his life. But what does he weave into it? Is it avarice, or is it vindictiveness, or is it a conceited idea that he can force the triumph of his Master, or is it bitter disappointment at the spiritual character of Christ’ s kingdom, that forms the weft of his life? Whatever it is, it is a dark, coarse thread. Satan enters into him. He betrays his Master even with the kiss of loyalty and affection. And when he comes to look at the web that he has woven, he himself is so overwhelmed with grief and remorse, that he cuts himself off from the loom. “ He went, and departed, and hanged himself.” Saul of Tarsus was a very different man; a man of weak physical constitution, but of strong intellect; a man of deep conscientiousness and rousing enthusiasm. Drought up in a comfortable home and trained in the Pharisaism of his day, he weaves into his early life a simply lurid thread of persecution of the Christians. Jesus meets him on the way to Damascus, and he gives himself up completely to the influences that are brought to bear upon him. How changed his life is! He has severe physical sufferings to endure; he has persecutions innumerable to face; but inwoven into all the threads of the Divine providence is the grand purpose of consecration to Christ’ s service. Henceforth the motto of his life is, “ To me to live is Christ.” Christ is the aim of all his labours, of all Iris sufferings, of all his successes. And now that that life is unrolled for us in the Scriptures it is acknowledged to be one of the noblest and best ever lived upon earth. (W. V. Robinson, D. D.)The life of Jesus But even that life pales before the resplendent glory that streams forth from the one perfect life upon earth, the life of Him who was at once the Son of Mary and the Son of God. Born in the stable of the inn at Bethlehem, bred in the humble home of Nazareth, pursuing the calling of a carpenter, He possessed little that men would covet. But that life was glorious, not because of its circumstances, but because of its high and holy purpose. “ My Father’ s business,” that was the aim that He set before Himself from the beginning; and that was the aim that He pursued to the close of His career. When at last the supreme moment has come, He can shout triumphantly, “ It is finished.” He has glorified God on the earth, He has finished the work that was given Him to do. Like His own seamless robe, His life was of one piece throughout. And He lived for us, He died for us. Trusting in Him, following in His footsteps, our lives may, in some measure, be like His. Humbler they can scarcely be; but are there any that are so full of glory? (W. V. Robinson, D. D.)Human life a weaving I. IT IS WORTH WHILE LOOKING AT THE WORK ITSELF. Now what is this? The formation of personal character. There are two great elements which might well correspond with the weaver’ s warp and woof. The first may represent the principles of scriptural trust in God; pardon, providence, hope, &c. These, like the weaver’ s warp, are strong and firmly fixed. The second are our own dally deeds. Each is a thread, woven into the character; both are necessary in cloth making: so are faith and works, in character weaving. Now observe about this work what it is. 1. The weaver’ s own. I do not mean that the materials, either before or after they are made up, belong to him, but the work itself. A thousand weavers may use the same wool in common, while the work of each will be the product of each individual workman. Now this is a solemn fact in character weaving. Every man is making, and must make, his own; nobody can make it for him, nor can God give it him. 2. It is a work of increasing progress. We have to choose, not whether the work shall go on, but only whether the work shall be good or bad. 3. It is a work of growing ease. It is difficult at first, but soon, and in proportion to the weaver’ s assiduity, he becomes dexterous, and may sing all day at his loom; ay, he shall have plenty to sing about too! So it is with character weaving. 4. It is a work of changeful feeling. We may be full of joy or grief, gaiety or gloom, only let the work go on. The finest cloth is often woven while we Job 7:6). Poor Job! You little thought what was in your loom then! Every age admires that work of yours! Christian weaver, do not think too much of your frames and feelings. II. IT IS WORTH WHILE LOOKING AT THE . These are the doctrines of truth, all the agencies of the Spirit, and particularly all the events of life, all the calls to self-denial, duty, trust and righteousness which our lot furnishes. Observe of them-- 1. They are like the weaver’ s wool, all supplied by the Master. And the Master gives that material which best suits the workman. 2. They are only materials after all. They are valuable for the cloth’ s sake, rather than for themselves. The man that works the worst material best, shall have the best pay and praise, and vice versa. Always remember that the part you play in life’ s drama is the choice of God, the manner of playing it alone is yours. These materials are abundant. The master never lacks them so that work should be short. Every workman has his hands full. III. IT IS WORTH WHILE LOOKING AT THE END. “ I have cut off,” &c. Observe-- 1. The fabric lasts for ever. Cloth wears out, character does not. 2. The work is over at death. The loom must then stop for ever. No unpicking bad work, finished or unfinished, bad or good. The shuttle is still, and the shears cut off the cloth, and it is delivered up. 3. The Master inspects it. Here, reputation will be nothing; character, all. It will be held up to the sun, ἐιλικρίνεια. 4. The Master disposes of it according to its worth. In reviewing all this, think-- (1) What a mercy it is we are spared and furnished for this work! (2) What a motive to begin the work early! (3) How soon shall we have nothing but our work left! Wealth, poverty, health, sickness, &c., all will be left behind! (W. Wheeler.) Isaiah 38:14I did mourn as a dove “ I did mourn as a dove” The possessions of the world are often the means of lightening life’ s sorrows, and of increasing its enjoyments. What experience teaches us in this respect the Word of God allows. Prosperity is recognised by it as a subject for gratitude. But that riches in themselves are insufficient to make us happy is undeniable. At all seasons the limitation of their power is obvious; but at no time does it appear more strikingly than when the king of terrors gives challenge to an earthly potentate, and he finds that “ there is no discharge in that war.” The history connected with our text will furnish us with an instance. I. THE CAUSES OF . This image of mourning as a dove is not confined to this one passage (Isaiah 59:11; Ezekiel 7:16; Nahum 2:7). Now the plaintive mourning notes of the dove we will suppose to be descriptive of various classes of men of sorrow. 1. We will begin with those mourning from the same cause as the author of our text. It was pining sickness which wounded the monarch’ s spirit, and the prospect which it presented to him of certain dissolution. If, while as a dove you mourn plaintively, your mourning be dove-like because it is meek and submissive, still your mourning will be real. 2. Another source of mourning is the untowardness of worldly circumstances 3. Other sources of sorrow are to be found in the coldness of former friends, the treachery of those whom you trusted, or persecution from those who should encourage and support. 4. Another common cause of mourning like a dove is the departure of endeared ones. 5. A further source of mourning is remembrance of iniquity. II. THEIR OR RELIEFS. 1. To the afflicted in body there is an obvious consolation--the possibility of their cure. The ease before us is thus encouraging. Another support in bodily affliction is the conformity which it gives us to our Lord. Again, Jesus Christ hath “ brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.” 2. What, next, is our relief in case of the wreck of worldly circumstances? The possession of wealth is no sure criterion of God’ s approval. If your earthly losses have brought you to reflection, and led you to a right judgment of worldly goods; if the changes and chances of this mortal life have induced you to set your affection on things above; if they have broken your proud spirit, brought you to Christ, and ensured you an interest in His “ unsearchable riches,” then mourn not as a dove, but sing as a lark. 3. We touch next on the grief which springs from dishonour done to us by familiar friends. We account this a curse: God may turn it into a blessing. We were wont to trust in man; we loved the creature with too ardent an attachment. Henceforth we think more of that Friend “ who sticketh closer than a brother” ; “ who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever” ; concerning whom it is our privilege to exclaim, ‘ Whom have I in heaven but Thee? “ &c. If the ill-treatment of which we complain consists in persecution for righteousness’ sake, our Lord’ s words in the beatitude supply all necessary consolation: “ Blessed are ye when men shall revile you,” &c. “ As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.” 4. Separation from those we love was the fourth cause of mourning for which we were to seek for a relief. Though in lands remote, they tread the same earth. The rough ocean is kind to each of us: he bears on his bosom the swift messengers carrying the interchange of tokens that many waters cannot quench our love. The weeds of widowhood may be twined with flowers of cheerfulness; for “ a defender of the widow is God in His holy habitation.” The orphan’ s lamentation may be hushed; for God is “ a Father of the fatherless.” God can give “ a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters.” And is it a small thing that “ the righteous are taken away from the evil to come” ; that “ they rest from their labours” ; that they are “ present with the Lord” ? 5. The last source of mourning which we noticed was the remembrance of iniquity. Is the wound incurable? “ Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?” (T. W. Thomson, M. A.)Affliction the occasion of murmuring “ Like a crane,” &c. I. OFTEN LEAD TO RASH AND FOOLISH . They often-- 1. Obscure God’ s goodness. 2. Lead us to forget past mercies. 3. Darken our future. II. LEADING TO RASH AND FOOLISH EXPOSE US TO GREAT MORAL DANGERS. We may, then-- 1. Wrongly interpret God’ s providence. 2. Lose the benefit which God intended. 3. Dishonour Him. 4. Bring discredit upon our religious profession. III. HAVING LED TO RASH AND FOOLISH , SUCH SHOULD BE . This will-- 1. Show our sense of the evil of our conduct. 2. Tend to repair the injury we may have done. 3. Obtain pardon from God. (W. O. Lilley.)O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for meThe oppressed soul seeking Divine interposition If language was ever uttered by man, which all men ought to adopt; if a petition was ever presented by man, which all men ought to present before the mercy-seat, it is this. I. YOU ALL NEED SOME ONE TO FOR YOU. Some one to make your cause his own, and to assist you in performing that work on the performance of which your everlasting happiness depends. You need some one to undertake-- 1. To support and comfort under the trials of life, and carry you safely through them. 2. To be your guide through life. You need a guide, a counsellor, who knows not only what is in man, but what every man will prove to be in future life. But if you need such a guide as it respects this world, how much more as it respects the world to come I 3. Still more do you need some one who will undertake to afford you effectual assistance in subduing your spiritual enemies, the enemies which oppose your salvation. 4. Most of all do you need some one who can and will undertake to plead your cause in heaven, and effect a reconciliation between you and Four justly offended God. II. THERE IS NO ONE ON EARTH OR IN HEAVEN WHO IS BOTH ABLE AND WILLING TO FOR YOU, EXCEPT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. (E. Payson, D. D.)The Christian’ s grand resource There is scarcely any feeling more painful than that of desolation. The Scriptures frequently refer to it. Micah 7:1-2.) When this feeling first comes upon us, there is as it were a total prostration of strength. Consider-- I. THE UNDER TRIAL. The text is applicable-- 1. To the young Christian just entering upon the duties of life. 2. To the young man entering upon his religious course. 3. To the Christian perplexed in the path of duty. 4. To the Christian under conviction of sin. 5. To the Christian in a state of grief for the loss of one near and dear to him. 6. To the Christian on his dying bed. 7. To the Christian as he stands before the Lord at His second advent. II. THE ’ S . The world has many resources. The Christian has but one. But that one is of infinitely greater worth than all those possessed by an unconverted and ungodly world. (M. Villiers, M. A.)The burdened soul’ s relief I. WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF YOUR ? 1. Is it some burden of sadness that has fallen upon you--some loss, or cross, or disappointment, that has shown you the fleeting uncertainty of all earthly treasures? 2. Is it some persecution of the ungodly? 3. Or do you stand perplexed by the foiling of some well-laid plan; or the unsuccessful issue of your efforts to remove the prejudices and enlighten the ignorance and improve the hearts of men? 4. Or do temptations beset you, almost too strong for flesh and blood to bear? 5. Is it not merely at the deceitfulness of your heart, but at its “ desperate wickedness” that your heart sinks within you? II. WILL YOU NOT GO ON TO SAY, “ O LORD, FOR ME” ? 1. How doth God undertake for us? Is it by removing from the sinner all temptation to sin? Is it by taking from the afflicted and mourner the immediate cause of his affliction, and restoring all things according to his shortsighted wish? No, it is by a far different process. He will suggest to his heart good resolutions, and holy impulses; and if he cherish these, the spirit of Jesus will afford him measures of special grace. And as to him that is bowed down with sorrow--it is not God’ s way to reverse His sentence, and at once remove the cause. But He gives us such faith in Him, that we believe that “ the thoughts which He thinketh towards us, are thoughts of peace, and not of evil.” And in proportion as faith makes herself heard, the voice of fretting dies away. 2. What ground of confidence we have that God will undertake for us. (1) Have we not His own most sure promise? (2) Have we not the experience of all the servants of the most High? (3) But besides and beyond the Word of God and the experience of the saints--both of which the Israelites shared of old--we have the knowledge of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of all the fruits and consequences which grow out of that blessed doctrine. (D. A.Beaufort, M. A.)The yearning for sympathy met in Christ There is such a vast disproportion between a man and some of his own feelings--between the inner and the outer life of a man--that the wonder is not that we should sometimes feel the burden of existence, but that there should be any man who should not be always saying, “ I am oppressed.” I. THERE ARE FEW MINDS WHO DO NOT LOOK OUT FOR . It is an instinct of our nature, that we must lean somewhere. Almost all error, all superstition, all worldliness, resolves at last into the feeling that a man must lean; but he is leaning on a wrong base. It is upon this great principle in the man’ s breast that the Gospel lays hold and points it to Christ. It sets Him forth as the one great Undertaker for all His people’ s wants. II. WHAT ARE CHRIST’ S FOR US? 1. He has undertaken to pay all our debts: they are very great. 2. He has undertaken that we shall never be alone. “ I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” 3. He has undertaken that you shall never be really overcome. “ My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 4. He has undertaken to place you on the sunny side of everything all life through; for “ He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” 5. He has undertaken that you shall always have a place of refuge. “ Come unto Me, all ye that labour,” &c. 6. He has undertaken that death shall be to you only a name, not a reality. “ He that believeth on Me shall never die.” (J. Vaughan, M. A.)“ Undertake for me” Hezekiah here represents his disease as a bailiff that had arrested him and was carrying him to the prison of the grave, and therefore prays that the Lord would bail him or rescue him out of his hands. (J. Gill, D. D.)God needed in the dying hour Ten days before the late Dean Burgon died he said, “ Nothing but the Everlasting Arms can support me now.” (F. Harper, M. A.)The cry of an oppressed spirit Our individuality is strong in suffering. The ego rises to throw off the chains that bind it. I. A CRY OF AN SPIRIT. The human spirit is oppressed with-- 1. Sin. 2. Circumstance. 3. Trouble. 4. Mysteries of life. II. A CRY TO THE TRUE HELPER. 1. God alone can undertake the cause of the soul. 2. He alone can bring true deliverance. 3. He will deliver those who seek Him. 4. His deliverances are eternal (W. O. Lilley.) Isaiah 38:15 What shall I say?-- A bewildered soul Such an exclamation escaped from the lips of Joshua, and it was the language of bitter disappointment, for Israel fled before their enemies (Joshua 7:8). The same words were uttered by our adorable Lord when His soul was overwhelmed with grief in the prospect of His agonies and bloody sweat, His cross and sacrificial death (John 12:27). Here it is the language of one who was filled with perplexity by the dispensations of Divine Providence. Such is the case with us sometimes; our circumstances are so painful, so different from what we anticipated, that in bewilderment we exclaim, “ What shall I say?” We must say-- 1. That God’ s dealings are very mysterious. 2. That the words of Jesus are still true, “ In the world ye shall have tribulation.” 3. That some of God’ s promises require strong faith to believe them. 4. That God will do just as He pleases with His own children. 5. That the trial of faith is often very severe, exceedingly painful. 6. That patience and perseverance are required under our trials. 7. That when Satan hinders, none but God can effectually help; therefore we must look to Him. 8. That however rough the road, the end will more than make up for its toils and trials, for the end shall be blessed. (James Smith.)I shall go softly all my yearsPast troubles remembered The Revised Version has it: “ I shall go softly all my years, because of the bitterness of my soul.” The marginal reading of the Revised Version is: “ I shall go in solemn procession all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.” That “ because of” means--since I hold in memory the bitterness of my soul. So that we may state the significance of our Scripture thus: I will walk henceforth in solemn, subdued, reverent way, remembering always and thankfully the bitterness out of which my soul has been delivered. (W. Hoyt, D. D.)Escape from death gives a new meaning, to life Hereafter he should walk with the step and the mien of a conqueror; or with the carefulness of a worshipper who sees at the end of his course the throne of the Most High God, and makes all his life an ascent thither. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Outlook in affliction I. A wise RESOLVE. Reckless ambition is folly. Our stage of action is polluted, insecure, and vanishing. We are weak and dying. To walk in humility, self-distrust, and holy fear is wisdom. II. ITS CAUSE. Afflictions change our views of life. They change us. Wisdom is often born out of soul-bitterness. A severe affliction should be an epoch in a man’ s life. It should pluck out his follies, and make his future a more tender, gentle, lovable thing. (W. O. Lilley.) Isaiah 38:16O Lord, by these things men live Affliction as related to life The conception and quality of life as affected by the discipline of any form of trial--that is the topic. I. Take THE OF LIFE AS A WHOLE, and see how that is modified or altered by experiences like those through which Hezekiah passed. They who have had no such critical experience in any form have never fully awakened to the difference which there is between mere existence and life. In sleep there is as real existence as when we are awake; but what a paltry thing life would be if it were to be a constant sleep! Yet there are those among us in whom, though their time may be busily occupied, and though their intellects may be keen and vigilant, the spirit slumbers. They are like the landowner on whose estate there is an undiscovered silver mine, who is no richer for his hidden wealth, and who cannot be said even to possess it. Nothing has come to reveal them to themselves, or to give them any vivid sense of the existence of God and their relationship to Him. Nothing has opened their eyes to the possibilities of life that are yet undeveloped in them. One day has been to them like another; and the unbroken monotony of their experience has fostered in them the expectation that things will always continue with them as they have always been. Thus they verify the psalmist’ s words, “ Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.” But when something like that which came to Hezekiah comes to them, then there is a thorough, if also a rude, awakening, and they discover that they have yet to begin to live. One may easily see this exemplified in the votary of pleasure. Or take the case of him whose object in existence has been the accumulation of wealth. II. Passing to THE QUALITY OF THE LIFE, we may see how that also is affected by such experiences of affliction. Here many features of character are evoked or developed by trial. 1. There is the element of strength, whether in its passive exercise as patient endurance, or in its active manifestation as persevering energy. The poet has caught the truth when he bids his readers “ learn to suffer and be strong.” He who has known no affliction is easily worn out. The old sailor, who has been all but shipwrecked, is not dismayed by a summer squall. It is the same with life as a whole. You will find the strongest characters always among those who have been most sorely afflicted. We ought, then, to be reconciled to the afflictions by which alone it can be developed. 2. We can see that experiences like this of Hezekiah have a great influence in producing unselfishness in a man. When a man has been in the grip of the last enemy, and has recovered; or has been within a little of losing all he had, and has escaped, you can understand how such an experience sends him out of himself. It intensifies for him the idea of life as a stewardship for God, and he sees the folly of making all the streams of his effort run into himself. Howard’ s life of benevolence was the outcome of a critical illness; and of multitudes more than of him it can be said that they sloughed off their selfishness in the crucible of trial. 3. But it is only a broadening out of this remark when I affirm that sympathy is born out of such experiences as those of Hezekiah. He who would be a helper must first be a sufferer. He who would be a saviour must somewhere and somehow have been upon a cross. 4. Experiences like Hezekiah’ s have much to do with the usefulness of a man’ s life. Usefulness is not a thing which one can command at will. It is, in most cases, the result of a discipline; and is possessed by those who, in a large degree, are unconscious that they are exercising it. It depends fully more on what a man is than on what he does, or, if it is due to what he does or says, that again is owing very much to what he is, and what he is now has been determined by the history through which he has been brought. You see that in the case of a physician. His experience goes far more to the making of him than his college training has done. It is so, also, in spiritual things. The helpfulness of another to us in the prosecution of the Christian life is determined more by his personal experience than by his intellectual pre-eminence. Here is the secret of the difference between one man and another in the matter of pulpit power. I must add one word of caution. It is not every affliction that works out such results; and whether any trial will do so or not depends entirely on the spirit in which it is borne. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)Luther’ s life enriched by trial Luther was wont to say that his three great teachers were prayer, study, and trial; and any reader of his life can perceive that if he had been required in the early part of his career to face some of the dangers which menaced him at a later date he would have faltered in his course. But through the minor experience he gained strength for the severer ordeal; and so it came about that what would have appalled him at the outset made almost as little impression on him at the last as “ the whistling of the idle wind that he regarded not.” (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)Sympathy engendered by trouble Those of us who have lost little children feel a prompting within us to speak a word of comfort to every parent who is passing through a similar experience. Indeed, it was in connection with an affliction of that sort that my attention was first drawn to this text. I had just a few weeks before buried a beloved daughter, the light of the household, and had gone to attend a meeting of Synod where an honoured minister, who had been through the same trial oftener than once before, came up to me and took me by the hand, and said to me, with a reference to my sorrow, “ By these things men live.” That was all, but each successive year since then has given a new verification of his words, for oh! how often in the interval have I been enabled to comfort others with the comfort with which I have been comforted of God, and the efficacy of the consolation lay largely in the fact that it was offered by one who had proved its value for himself. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)The life of the spirit Whosoever is really alive, that is, has life in his spirit, the life of man and not a beast, the only life which is worthy to be called life, then that life is kept up in him in the same way that it was kept up in Hezekiah. Let us see, then, what things they were which gave Hezekiah’ s spirit life. 1. Great joy, great honour, great success, wealth, health, prosperity, and pleasure? Not so! 2. Trouble upon trouble came on Hezekiah. 3. Death looked to him an ugly and an evil thing--as it is; the Lord’ s last enemy. He conquered death by rising from the dead: but nevertheless we die. Hezekiah lived before the Lord Jesus came to bring life and immortality to light by rising from the dead; and, therefore, he dreaded it, because he knew not what would come after death. He prayed hard not to die. 4. What was the use of his sickness and his terror if, after all, his prayer was heard, and after the Lord had told him, “ Thou shalt die, and not live” --that did not come to pass; but the very contrary happened? Of this use,at least; it taught him that the Lord God would hear the prayers of mortal men. Is not that worth going through any misery to learn? Hezekiah did not pray rightly. He thought himself a better man than he was. But he did pray. And then he found that the Lord was ready to save him; that what the Lord wished was not to kill him but to make him live more really and fully and wisely and manfully. 5. What Hezekiah saw but dimly we ought to see clearly. For the Gospel tells us that the same Lord who chastened and taught and then saved Hezekiah, was made flesh, that He might in His own person bear all our sickness and carry our infirmities; that He might understand all our temptations and be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He who made, He who lightens every man who comes into the world, He who gave you every right thought and wholesome feeling that you ever had in your lives--He counts your tears; He knows your sorrows; He is able and willing to save you to the uttermost. Therefore do not be afraid of your own afflictions. (C. Kingsley, M. A.)Spoil from the fight with death Hope and joy returned with restored health, and we see (Isaiah 38:16-20) what Hezekiah brought back with him from his fight with death 1. A new peace. 2. Forgiveness. 3. A new sense of the dignity of life, and of the encompassing eternal realities. 4. A joyful sense of God’ s personal love for him. (E. W.Shalders, B. A.)Physical benefit may accrue from sickness Strange as it may appear, it is no less true that life is often lengthened and health invigorated by a sharp illness. Like a ship put in dock for repairs, an illness or an accident lays a man aside for a time out of the reach of work and worry, and the rest of mind and body restores the balance of his exhausted energies. Typhus fever successfully treated often clarifies the whole system, just as a chimney is cleansed by setting it on fire; and a severe illness often acts as a solemn warning, leading men to consider their ways and their work, and to diminish the strain which is overtaxing the system, or to give up some vicious habit of self-indulgence which is laying the axe to the root of the tree. (W. Johnston, D. D.)The uses of affliction The allusion of our text is not to the life of the body, but to that which is far more important, the life of the soul. In what manner does severe sickness or affliction of any kind conduce, by the blessing of God, to the creation and development of our spiritual life? I. TEACHES US OUR ENTIRE UPON GOD. II. US OF SELF-. Hezekiah yielded to the insidious promptings of self-righteousness and self-glorification. Affliction was the disrobing process through which he was called upon to pass, the school in which he must learn his unworthiness as well as his weakness. And in this disrobing of all self-righteousness there was the life of his spirit. III. BRINGS US TO REALISE AND ENJOY THE FULNESS OF CHRIST. When Hezekiah was awakened to a sense of his want of righteousness before God, he expected to go softly in the bitterness of his soul all the years of his life. But the self-righteous idea of innocence and excellence is no longer the broken spear on which to lean and pierce his hand. The Sun of Righteousness has arisen with healing in His wings; bitterness and disquietude pass away together, and Hezekiah is made to see what he had never seen so clearly before--that in love to his soul, the Lord, his God in covenant, had afflicted his body, had thus delivered his soul from the pit of corruption, and had cast all his sins behind His back. IV. US IN WORK. Hezekiah learned on the bed of sickness that there are but twelve hours in the day, that the night cometh when no man can work, and that the brief period of life must be diligently and devoutly improved. And it is when laid upon the bed of severe sickness, with time in the past and eternity in the near future, that we shall realise in all its solemnity the importance and responsibility of life, and resolve, if spared like Hezekiah yet a little longer to recover strength before we go hence to be no more, that our chief end shall be to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever. (W. Johnston, D. D.)The life of the spirit Hezekiah was a rich and prosperous king. Surrounded by the dignities of rank, the refinements of elegance, and the gratifications of voluptuousness, he, doubtless, viewed these as the very end and delight of his being, and wished for nothing, knew of nothing better or beyond them. No; very different was his character; very different were the things of which he spake. These words were not uttered in “ the house of his armour,” but in the chamber of his sickness; not at the festive table of his royal banquets, but upon the couch of lassitude and pain. Let us endeavour, by a few examples, to verify his pensive contemplation; and this, that we may learn “ so to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” 1. Take the case of a professed scoffer at religion. He is arrested, we will suppose, by the arm of Omnipotence, in his profligate course; he is thrown by a stronger hand than his own upon the couch of pain and dejection; he learns for the first time to tremble; we will suppose him humbled, converted. Sanctified affliction was the first step. This softened the stony ground: this prepared the heart for holy impressions. Will not such a one be ready to exclaim with Hezekiah, “ By these things men live, and by these is the life of the spirit” ? 2. Imagine a man careless and indifferent to religion, though not a hardened scoffer. He is too busy with the world to spend a thought upon his eternal safety. But God brings him low. In the silence and solitude of affliction he is forced to think. What cause will such a one have for ever to bless Him who wounds that He may heal, who kills that He may make alive! 3. Let us imagine an inconsistent backsliding Christian brought into deep affliction. He returns to Him whom he had forsaken. 4. Look at the Pharisee. God brings him within sight of death and eternity. He is unmasked to himself, and begins to exclaim, “ What must I do to be saved?” What a blessing has affliction been to such a character! 5. The dejected Christian. How often has such a one had reason to exclaim of afflictions, that “ by these things men live” ! The season of weakness and distress is often that which God selects for the brightest manifestations of His love and tenderness. (Family Sermons.)The restoration of belief In the especial ease of Hezekiah, belief was restored by a great shock, which brought him into contact with reality. God appeared to him--not as to Adam, in the cool of the day, but as He came to Job, in the whirlwind and the eclipse--and Hezekiah knew that he had been living in a vain show. The answer of his soul was quick and sad: “ By these things men live, O Lord.” I. THE BLOW WHICH SOBERED WAS A COMMON ONE. It did nothing more than bring him face to face with death. The process whereby his dependence on God was restored was uncomplicated. But there are far worse shocks than this, and recovery from them into a Godlike life is long and dreadful. There are things which at first seem to annihilate belief, and change an indifferent or a happy nature into earnest, even savage bitterness. One of these is the advent of irrecoverable disease, protracted weakness, or protracted pain. God forgives our human anger then, but we speak roughly to Him at first. It is a dark anger, and may grow in intensity till faith and love are lost for this life; but it will not reach that point if we have some greatness of soul, if we are open to the touch of human love. One day the Gospel story in all its sweet simplicity attracts and softens the sufferer’ s heart. He reads that Christ’ s suffering in self-sacrifice brought redemption unto man. Surely, he seems to dream this is no isolated fact. I too, in my apparent uselessness, am at one with the Great Labourer: I bear with Christ my cross for men. This is not only the restoration of belief, it is the victory of life. II. BUT THERE ARE MORE THINGS THAN LONG DISEASE. There is that shipwreck which comes of dishonoured love. Many things are terrible, but none is worse than this. In some there is no remedy but death, and far beyond the immanent tenderness of God. But there are many who recover, whom God leads oat of the desert into the still garden of an evening life of peace and usefulness and even joy. Lapse of time does part of the work. In the quietude of middle life we look back upon our early misery, and only remember the love we felt. Faith is restored, hope is renewed, when, like Christ, you can turn and say, Father, forgive him, forgive her, for they knew not what they did. III. There have been and are many of us who are conscious that, as we have passed into the later period of life and mingled with the world, OUR EARLY FAITH HAS ALSO PASSED AWAY. We have lost belief because our past religion was borrowed too much from others. If we wish for perfection, and are not content to die and love no more, the restoration of belief may be attained by the personal labour of the soul. It is worth trying what one personal effort to bring ourselves into the relation of a child to a father, in all the naturalness and simplicity of that relation, will do towards restoring faith and renewing life with tenderness. (S. A. Brooke, D. D.) Isaiah 38:17-19 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness Hezekiah’ s return of praise for his recovery I. A SAD, HEAVY . “ Behold, for peace,” &c. The affliction is aggravated-- 1. By a description of it in its own nature. (1) In the quality of it--“ bitterness.” (2) In the quantity of it--“ great bitterness.” 2. By opposition of the blessing which is removed--“ peace” ; a word that comprehends an temporal blessings, and more particularly is taken, in Holy Writ, for health--a blessing without which all other blessings have no relish in them. 3. By the surprise of it--“ Behold!” as a strange thing. 4. And this further aggravated it, if we understand it, as we must in a spiritual sense--that, his sickness calling his sins to remembrance, and causing some distrust of God’ s love, instead of that peace of conscience he had had heretofore, his spirit was now troubled and greatly embittered. And “ a wounded spirit, who can bear?” II. A OUT OF THIS . “ Thou hast in love,” &c. The mercy of the deliverance wants not its heightening circumstances; as-- 1. From the efficient cause. It was God delivered him. 2. From the motive or impulsive cause--“ love.” 3. From the danger he was delivered out of, and that no ordinary one--“ a pit” --“ the pit of corruption,” even the grave. III. A BLESSED OF THIS MERCY. “ For Thou hast cast,” &c. This is the crown of mercies, when temporals are thus accumulated with spirituals; this a recovery indeed, of the whole man, when health is improved unto salvation, and strength of body accompanied with pardon of sins. This is right “ saving health.” IV. A OF THIS MERCY. That is set forth-- 1. By showing the impossibility for the dead to perform this duty. 2. And then showing, not the possibility only, but the probability, that the living will, i.e., such as Divine mercy continues in life, and especially such as are by that mercy preserved from imminent danger of death. 3. Exemplified in himself. “ As I do this day.” (A. Littleton, D. D.)The pains and pleasures attending religion I. THE OF THE GOOD IN THE OF PEACE. Shall I speak of him as a man enjoying health in his body; as a king blessed with prosperity and tranquillity through all his dominions? These are invaluable privileges. Rather let us consider him as a sinner whose, conscience has been sprinkled with the blood of Christ, by virtue of which he enjoys that peace which consists in a sweet sense of the Divine friendship. II. ATTEND WHEN HIS PEACE IS BY TROUBLE. III. REFLECT ON THE LOVE OF GOD, TOWARDS in lengthening out his life and pardoning all his sins. (John Rippon.)The assurance of faith I. THE Hezekiah was in before our Saviour spoke peace to him, and delivered him from his sins. II. THE he had of being pardoned and accepted by his Heavenly Father and saved; and how boldly he testifies that this must be the case with all the children of God. III. THE CAUSE OF ALL, which he says was the love of Jehovah to him. (John Cennick.)The purpose of God’ s love The purpose of God’ s love is to draw us away from all pits, dejections, humiliations, prostrations, and to give us life, vigour, triumph, sense and guarantee of immortality. (J. Parker, D. D.)Love’ s medicines and miracles I. . You have it in the first sentence, which runs in Hebrew very nearly as follows: “ Behold, to peace (or to health) my bitter bitterness.” This means-- 1. That Hezekiah underwent a great, sad, and unexpected change. Let us never boast ourselves of to-morrow, for we know not what a day may bring forth. 2. Hezekiah’ s condition was one of emphatic sorrow, for he says, “ Behold, to peace, Marah, Marah--bitter, bitter.” Marah was a notable spot in the journeys of the children of Israel, and Hezekiah had come spiritually to a double Marah. Have you ever passed that way and drank of double bitterness--the wormwood and the gall? Some of us know what it means, for we have had at the same time a body racked with pain, and a soul full of heaviness. Perhaps the double Marah has come in another form: it is a time of severe trouble, and just then the friend in whom you trusted has forsaken you. Or, peradventure, you are in temporal difficulties, and at the same time in great spiritual straits. The flying fish is pursued by a fierce enemy in the sea, and when it flies into the air birds of prey are eager afar it; in like manner, both in temporal and spiritual things we are assailed. “ Deep calleth unto deep.” 3. The meaning of our verse is not at all exhausted by this explanation; we find in it a better meaning by far. “ Behold, to peace bitter bitterness” --that is to say the king’ s double bitterness wrought his peace and health. Take the word in the sense of health first. Many a time when a man has been exceedingly ill the medicine which has met his case has been intensely disagreeable to the taste; but it has operated as a strengthening tonic, it has purged away the cause of the malady, and the man has recovered. Hezekiah bore witness that God had sanctified his bodily sickness and his mental sorrow to his spiritual health. While he lay with his face to the wall, he read a great deal upon that wall which he had seen nowhere else. The king’ s bitterness of soul led him to repent of his wrongdoing, as he saw wherein he had sinned. 4. This bitter bitterness made Hezekiah see the need of his God more than ever he had seen it before. II. LOVING . The original runs thus: “ And Thou hast loved my soul from the pit of destruction.” Taken in its first sense, the king ascribes to the love of God his deliverance from death and the grave, and praises God for his restoration to the land of the living. But the words of inspired men frequently have a deeper significance than appears upon the surface, and indeed they often conceal an inner sense which perhaps they themselves did not perceive, and hence the king’ s words are as dark sayings upon a harp full of meaning within meaning. At any rate, taking the language out of the mouth of Hezekiah, we will use it for expressing our own emotions, and give to it a wider sense if such be not the original range of its meaning. Let us notice three things. 1. The deed of grace: “ Thou hast brought my soul from the pit of corruption.” (1) From the pit of hell. (2) Of sinfulness, as horrible a pit as hell itself; indeed, under some aspects it is the same thing, for sinfulness is hell, and to live under the power of sin is to be condemned. (3) From the awful consciousness of wrath under which we once groaned. 2. The power which performed it. Love. Divine love is a catholicon, a universal medicine. No spiritual disease can resist its healing power. 3. The modus operandi of this love. “ Thou hast embraced my soul out of the pit of corruption.” Yonder is the child in the pit, and the father, wishing to save it, goes down into the pit and embraces his beloved one, and so brings him up to life and safety again. After this manner dig Jesus save us. He embraced us by taking our nature, and so becoming one with us. All our lives He communes with us, and embraces us with arms of mighty love, and so uplifts us from the pit of corruption. III. PARDON. “ For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.” This King Hezekiah mentions as the cause of his restored peace and health. Sin was the foreign element in his spiritual constitution, and as long as it was there it caused fret and worry and spiritual disease. Notice-- 1. The burden. Sins. 2. The owner of this burden. “ My sins.” 3. The comprehensiveness of the burden. “ All my sins.” The Lord comes to deal with them. He casts them behind His back. Where can that be? It means annihilation, non-existence. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Thou hast in love to my soul delivered itMiracles of love “ Thou hast loved my soul out of the pit of corruption” (margin). I. We were in the beginning LOVED INTO GRACE. 1. The love of Christ to sinners was the topic which arrested our solemn attention to the Gospel. 2. We sat in the region of the shadow of death, and would have remained there had we not been loved into faith. 3. At the time when faith came into our hearts, there came with it the sister grace, namely, repentance. II. We have been LOVED INTO GROWTH IN GRACE. The great motive power urging us onward has always been the self-same love of God. The Lord loves us out of love to sin. He loves us out of the pit of idolatry. There is another pit of corruption into which children of God sometimes fall, namely, that of sluggishness. The only effectual cure for a slumbering Christian is to let him have the love of Christ shed abroad in his heart. The same is true of that abominable pit of selfishness and self-esteem and pride and self-seeking, into which our feet so easily glide. The love of Christ is equally a cure for despondency and unbelief. Many a child of God can bear witness that the Lord has loved him out of his impatience. III. The Lord will LOVE US OUT OF GRACE INTO GLORY. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Deliverance from destruction I have heard a story of a man, who, travelling late and being in drink, rode over a narrow footbridge where there was a great, deep water underneath, that the least trip of the horse’ s foot would have posted the rider to his long home. Next morning, when he came to himself, being asked which way he came, and brought to the place, the apprehension of his last night’ s adventure did so astonish his sober thoughts, that he fell down dead in the very place at the sight of it. And when we look back upon the follies and vanities of our past lives, how can we but be justly startled, when almost every step we have trod has been upon the brink of destruction! (A. Littleton, D. D.)Soul-pits abound I. THE PIT. 1. Horrible. 2. Nigh to every man. 3. Treacherous at its edge. 4. Bottomless. II. ONE OF FROM IT. 1. He attributes his deliverance to God. 2. That it was God’ s love, and not his merit, that originated his deliverance. 3. That all may possess this consciousness of deliverance. 4. That unless the soul is delivered it will sink into this pit eternally. (W. O.Lilley.)Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy backA sense of pardoned sin I. A SENSE OF PARDON AS GIVEN BY GOD TO THE SINNER. 1. We are not to wait for this sense of pardon before we come to Christ. 2. This consciousness of pardon includes many things, although it is not alike comprehensive in all souls. 3. But, saith one, “ How does this sense of pardon come?” It comes in different ways and forms. Many men receive their consciousness of pardon in an instant. With others it is of slower growth. This conviction is sometimes conveyed to us in the most extraordinary manner. I have known it brought home to the soul by some singular saying of a minister. At other times, some strange providence has been the singular means of giving joy and relief. 4. Permit me to dwell upon the joy which this sense of pardon creates. It is but taking God at His word, when the soul knows that as a necessary consequence of its faith it is saved. But, besides that, the Spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that we are born of God. II. A SENSE OF ENJOYED BY MAN, NOT AS A SINNER, BUT AS A CHILD. I have sometimes heard uninstructed Christians ask how it is that when a man is once pardoned he has nevertheless to ask every day that his sins may be forgiven. The difficulty lies in a forgetfulness of the relationship which Christians sustain to God. As a sinner I come to Christ and trust Him. God is then a Judge; He takes the great book of the court, strikes out my sins, and acquits me. At the same moment, out of His great love, He adopts me into His family. Now I stand in quite a different relationship to Him. I am not so much His subject as His child. He is no longer to me a Judge, but has become a Father. And now I have new laws, a new discipline, new treatment; now I have new obedience. I go and do wrong. What then? Does the Judge come and at once summon me before His throne? No! He is a Father, and that Father brings me up before His face, and frowns on me--nay, takes the rod and begins to scourge me. He never scourged me when He was a Judge. Then, He only threatened to use the axe. If I do that which is wrong, I am bound to go to Him as on a child’ s knees, and say, “ Our Father which art in heaven, forgive me these trespasses, as I forgive them that trespass against me.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Pardon realised The strangest story I ever remember to have read, with regard to peace given after a long season of despondency, is the case of Mrs. Honeywood. Living in puritanic times, she had been accustomed to hear the most thundering of its preachers. She became so thoroughly broken in peace with the consciousness of sin, that for, I think, some ten years, if not twenty years, the poor woman was given up to despair. It seemed that in this case, a kind of miracle must be wrought to give her peace of mind. One day, an eminent minister of Christ, conversing with her, told her there yet was hope. Grasping a Venice glass that stood on the table, made of the thinnest material that can be conceived, the woman dashed it down on the ground, and said--“ I am lost, as sure as that glass is broken into a thousand pieces.” To her infinite surprise, the glass suffered no damage whatever, but remained without a crack. From that instant she believed that God had spoken to her. She opened her ears to hear the words of the minister, and peace poured into her spirit. (W. O.Lilley.)Sins behind God’ s back The back of God! Where is that? I. A MAN’ S SINS. May be-- 1. Many. 2. Various 3. Heinous. (1) They are his curse. (2) He cannot east them away. (3) He must own them for ever unless Divine mercy interpose. II. THEIR DIVINE REMOVAL. 1. God alone has the right to east them away. 2. God alone can. 3. He removes them so as to see them no more for ever. 4. He casts all sin away that is repented of. (W. O. Lilley.) Isaiah 38:18-19 For the grave cannot praise Thee The praiseful life Bacon says, “ Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, adversity is the blessing of the New. ” He would have been nearer the truth had he said, that temporal blessings were the promise of the Old Testament, spiritual blessings the promise of the New. The remark, however, suggests thoughts introductory to the consideration of our text from a Christian standpoint. 1. The Jews were for the most part influenced by the prospect of temporal rewards and punishments. Hezekiah in this place seems to have no thought of a future life, and to be moved only by the prospect of leaving this. There is a development in revelation, in this as in other matters. 2. When our Lord came, the germ of the doctrine of the future life, only dimly discernible to the spiritual mind, was developed. I. THE DEAD CANNOT PRAISE GOD. 1. This is true of natural death. The hands once strong to labour are now nerveless and still, there is no “ disquisition” in the eyes, and the heart is unmoved by the things of joy and grief that thrilled it in life. 2. It is true of spiritual death, of which natural is in the New Testament the constant type. II. THE LIVING MUST PRAISE GOD. 1. The natural duty of praising God is recognised by Hezekiah; and it would be strange if it were not so, for we have a loathing of ingratitude from man to man. (1) The pagans would shame us if we did not praise God; for they gave the first fruits of their corn and the best of the prey taken in hunting as offerings to their gods, and before a feast made libations to them. (2) The Psalmist is an eminent example of a praiseful spirit. 2. But those who have been partakers of the spiritual resurrection can alone truly praise God, for they alone can fully realise all His bounty. (1) God has designed all things to His praise, and looks for it in His people. (2) We must thank Him for all things, for “ the blessings of this life, but above all for His inestimable love in the redemption of the world.” Nay, for miseries as well as for mercies. (3) A stimulus to praise will be found in the remembrance of God’ s bounty. In the Greek mythology, Mnemosyne was the mother of the Muses; memory is the mother of praise. 3. But the most perfect praise will be in the spiritual body after the resurrection. (J. G. Pilkington, M. A.)Hezekiah in prospect of death Hezekiah was, in the full sense of the word, a good king. His piety is shown-- (1) In his conduct with reference to idolatry. (2) In his conduct in the matter of the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib. But there are two passages in his life which show the weak side of his character. One is his parading his treasures before the ambassadors of the king of Babylon; the other is his conduct in the matter of his severe illness. I. The essence of the history is this, that IN THE OF DEATH ’ S OF MIND QUITE BROKE DOWN. He looks upon death as a thing to be dreaded and shunned; he speaks of it in a way in which no Christian who has learned the Lord’ s prayer could ever venture or even wish to speak of it. Hezekiah knew that he must serve God while life lasted; he had manifestly no express revelation beyond, and therefore he looked upon the grave with dismay. II. WE HAVE GREATER HELP THAN , and brighter light, and clearer grounds of hope, and it is incumbent on us to act, not like those who groped their way in the twilight of the old dispensation, but like those upon whom the brightness of the knowledge of the glory of God has shined in the face of Jesus Christ. (Bp. Harvey Goodwin, D. D.) Isaiah 38:19 The living, the living, he shall praise Thee The right life The right life is a praise-giving life. Such a life is-- I. THE MOST . II. THE MOST TO THE MAN HIMSELF. III. THE MOST TO OTHERS. “ The father to the children shall make known Thy truth.” IV. THE OF THE OF LIFE OUGHT TO INDUCE US TO SPEND OUR TIME IS GOD. Hezekiah felt that the years given him to live on the earth would soon come to an end, hence the emphasis placed on “ the living, the living.” (Homilist.)The praise of the living I. THE . “ The living.” II. THE OBJECT AND NATURE OF THE PRAISE . The prolongation of life is a legitimate cause for Christian thanksgiving. It is only in our state as “ the living” that we have an opportunity of uttering that which we may term practical and generative praise--a praise which induces others to join us in our work--a praise which begets praise, and tends to propagate itself, by God’ s blessing, throughout the length and breadth of an ungrateful world. It is evident that Hezekiah referred to such praise as this; for he says, “ The father to the children shall make known Thy truth.” (D. F.Jarman, B. A.)The value and use of life I. THE DUTY OF ON OUR BEING SPARED among the living. It is right and rational to rejoice in this prolongation of your life; but such rejoicing is useless, unless it be founded on a serious thought of the blessing received. To rejoice in being alive, for the sole selfish enjoyment which you hope to derive from life, is nothing better than the natural instinct of a mere animal. II. THE OF SUCH A . There is nothing in creation more amazing than what is called life; a miracle, indeed, perpetually witnessed, and therefore generally overlooked; but curious to be contemplated, and most difficult to be comprehended in its various attendant circumstances. 1. As a mere object of curiosity, a mere piece of machinery, the lowest living creature is above the utmost reach of human intelligence. 2. But how much more important is life when considered as a means of enjoyment. 3. How much higher still does life rise in its interest and importance when considered in connection with an understanding mind. 4. Yet all this is the least of the matter; and if the life of man were nothing more than what we see of it here, wonderful as it is, it would be only as an empty show, or as a fleeting meteor, bursting on the view and gazed at for a moment, but gone for ever, even before it could be understood. 5. But this very fleeting nature of life imparts an additional value to its possession, when viewed in its true light, namely, as connected with an eternal state. 6. How much more exalted still does our idea of life become, when it is connected with salvation! III. THE WAY IN WHICH YOU SHOULD EXPRESS THIS AND USE THIS . “ He shall praise Thee.” 1. Nothing can possibly be more clearly right and reasonable than this, that we are bound to live to the praise of that gracious Being by whose power and providence we do live. 2. This, indeed, is the great, the express end for which you were brought into the number of “ the living” ; the only occupation also m which you will find any solid happiness m life, namely, to praise or glorify God; to make His will the rule of your life, to make His glory the aim of your life. 3. But these words do evidently express something more than merely the duty of living to the praise of God, and of praising Him the more fervently the longer that He spares us among the living. They seem particularly to proclaim the importance of life on this account alone, that it affords us an opportunity of showing forth the praises of God. So the devout believer feels a relish in life, altogether distinct from his natural instincts or personal enjoyments; namely, in the power which it puts into his hands of praising the gracious Author of his spiritual privileges and eternal hopes. Nor is it enough to say, that he might still better praise God m the heavenly courts. There are calls for this praise more urgent, and opportunities of this praise more direct, even in this mortal scene, than in the eternal state; occasions for bearing your testimony to God’ s perfections, which are not required in heaven above; occasions for exercising your great Christian graces of faith and charity, which are not afforded, and which cannot be afforded in a state of perfect holiness and felicity. (J. Brewster.)The Jew valued the present life The Jew, in all his thought and religion, showed a keen sense of the value of the present life. The very deficiencies in his religious conceptions seem to arise from this cause. The presence of God in this world seemed to obscure the future from his eyes, just as in later ages the bright vision of the future has thrown the present into the shade. But as the Jewish spirit became saddened by experience the sense of the presence of God in the world became weaker. The Jew did not relax his hold on practical righteousness, but the faith of childhood began to lose its simplicity. His thoughts took a wider range, and began to be directed to the future. The revelation of Christ completed the change for which other influences had helped to prepare the way; and the new faith stood opposed to the old, as the spiritual to the carnal. (W. W. Jackson, M. A.)The importance of the present life But has the central conception of early Jewish religion disappeared, or has it only been matured and purified? Is not human life, as we have experience of it here, in the present, with all its cares, and joys, and sorrows, still the great concern of religion? Does it not still afford us the best means of drawing Dear to God, and realising His presence? Does not Christ Himself teach us that our first business is in this life, when He prays to the Father that He should not take the disciples out of the world, but that He should keep them from the evil? (W. W. Jackson, M. A.)The Christian view of life 1. The feeling which the Jew had entertained on the subject of death differs as widely as possible from that entertained by St. Paul. The change of sentiment had been consummated by Christ, who had “ abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.” The life of the Christian was thenceforth “ hid with Christ in God.” The affections were thenceforth to be “ set on things above.” The opposition between the things of the world and the things of God had been declared. But as soon as the Christian asked himself what was the means by which he could make this view his own, there could be only one reply. He must live after it. He must take the spirit of Christ into the world. But he could rise to the height of his duty here, only by keeping his eye fixed on the pattern in the heavens. 2. This conception of Christian life suggests reflections of two different kinds-- (1) If religion brings harmony and law into human life, then the life which aspires after the ideal of religion is the most complete. (2) On the other hand, do we always fully accept the human revelation which the teaching of life itself offers to us? Do we recognise the divinity which resides in the pursuits and institutions of secular life? (W. W. Jackson, M. A.)The peculiar mercy and business of life I. THE MERCY OF LIFE. “ The living, the living, he shall praise Thee,” &c. II. WHEREIN THE MERCY OF IT . 1. Ask the carnal man where lies the mercy of life. And-- (1) If he is in prosperity, he reckons the mercy of life lies in that the living man may enjoy the pleasures of sense, mirth, and jollity, and may lay up wealth for him and his; all which stern death robs a man of. But there is not one word of this here. (2) If he is in adversity, poverty, and sore sickness, he cannot see the mercy of life at all, but thinks they are well that are away, that are out of poverty and pain, and fie at ease in the dust. So crosses make him wish to be away, At best, he reckons it the mercy of life, that he is not where it may be he would be worse, namely, in hell. But there is not a word of all this either in the text. 2. Ask the renewed man in an ill frame of spirit, where lies the mercy of life. If he is in outward prosperity he will be ready to reckon it lies in the comforts of this life. If he is in adversity, the troubles of life are so great, that the mercy of it is small in his view; only heaven bulks in his eyes, and that as a place of rest from trouble. But there is nothing of this either in the text. 3. The decision is, the mercy of life lies in the business of life, to wit, being serviceable for God in the world. “ The living, the living, he shall praise Thee,” &c. Which speaks a high esteem of God and His service, as men count it a favour to serve their prince; and an ardent love to Him, as men delight to serve the interests of those they dearly love. Now, the business of life for which it is desirable, is twofold. (1) To praise or glorify God in the world. (2) To propagate His name and praise: “ The father to the children shall make known Thy truth.” It is the special business of life to endeavour that the name of God may bye and be glorified in the world when we are dead. Consider-- (a) What he has access to do for that end; namely, to praise God to the younger sort, that are likely to five after he is gone; especially to his own children. (b) How he may do it, namely, by making Him known to them as an object worthy of their faith. “ Shall make known Thy truth.” (T. Boston.)Praising God I. WHAT GOD IS. It is the acknowledging and declaring the glorious excellencies of God, as He has manifested Himself in His word and works, and imports 1. Belief of the Being of God. 2. The knowledge of God. (1) Of who He is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one God. (2) Of what He is. (3) Of what He has done. 3. The love of God. Love is the mother of praise. 4. The admiration of God, which is love and esteem raised to a high pitch. 5. Expressing that love and admiration to Him. This is twofold-- (1) Vocal. (2) Real, by actions, though not accompanied with words. II. WHAT ARE THE OF THE PRAISES OF THE LIVING. 1. They are the praises of the whole man, in soul and body too (1 Corinthians 6:20). 2. They are praises which may spread among the living (Colossians 3:16). 3. They are praises raised by the way to the heavenly kingdom. 4. They are praises of faith, not of sight. 5. They are praises to God amidst much dishonour done to Him. (T. Boston.)Motives 1. God is the Author of thy life. 2. The Preserver of thy life. 3. The Giver of all thou hast, whereby thou mayest honour Him. 4. God puts opportunities in thine hand for honouring Him. 5. There are some who are deprived of those abilities or occasions ye have to honour God. The pagan world, &c. 6. Ye have forfeited by sin all your abilities, opportunities, and your very life. His patience has suffered us long, &c. Should not this engage us to live to His honour? 7. This was the design of the redemption purchased by Christ (Titus 2:14). 8. It is the design of the sanctification of the Spirit (1 Peter 2:9). 9. It is a lost life that is not lived to the honour of God. (T. Boston.)Thanksgiving and thanksliving Thanksgiving is good, but thanksliving is better. (M. Henry.)Ingratitude common A lady who had heard a great many prayers offered for sick people, in a large city church, said to her husband, “ Do all the sick people who are prayed for in our church die?” “ Why, no,” he answered, “ of course not; but why do you ask?” “ I supposed that they all died,” she said, “ because I hardly ever heard of one who had got well enough to give thanks!” (J. N. Norton.)The father to the childrenPropagating religion What is it to propagate religion, God’ s name and praise, to the rising generation? It implies-- 1. The having religion ourselves. 2. The profession of religion. 3. A desire to continue and spread religion in the world. 4. Contributing our endeavours to bring others, and particularly the rising generation, to the knowledge and practice of religion. (T. Boston.)“ The father to the children” 1. Fathers of the State, to their political children (Isaiah 49:23). 2. Fathers in the Church, ministers, and other Church officers, to their ecclesiastical children. 3. Fathers of families, to their children, servants, &c. 4. Fathers in gifts or graces to those who are children in these respects in comparison of them (1 John 2:12-13). 5. Fathers in years to those who are children in respect of age to them 1 Timothy 5:1-2). (T. Boston.)The obligation to propagate religion 1. Divine authority (Deuteronomy 4:10; Deuteronomy 11:19). 2. Gratitude to God. 3. Justice to former generations, who have propagated religion to us. 4. Our own interest. 5. Charity to the rising generation. (T. Boston.)Claims of children Socrates once said, “ Could I climb to the highest place in Athens, I would lift my voice and proclaim, Fellow-citizens, why do ye turn and scrape every stone to gather wealth, and take so little care of your children, to whom one day you must relinquish it all?” (Family Circle.)Parental relationship a medium of Divine revelation Revelations of God’ s faithfulness are precious. They are the ground of human hope. Every life has some peculiar revelation of God’ s truth in it. The parental relationship, with its tender solicitudes and loves, furnishes a means of transmission. This duty should be conscientiously performed-- I. THAT THE OF GOD MAY FROM AGE TO AGE. II. THAT THE OF ONE SHOULD GLORIFY GOD BY TO THE MORAL LIFE OF THE NEXT. III. THAT THE MAY HAVE A SAVING OF GOD, AND TRUST IN HIM. (W. O. Lilley.) Isaiah 38:21 He shall recover Christ in the sick room I. The Holy Ghost shows us a king and ruler of men, a dweller in palaces, a possessor of all that money can obtain, a good man, a friend of God, laid low by disease like the poorest man in the kingdom. 1. This is the old story. After all there is nothing wonderful in this. The tabernacle in which our soul lives is a most frail and complicated machine. I do not wonder so much that we die as that we live so long. 2. But whence comes this liability to sickness, disease, and death? There is only one book that supplies an answer to this question. That book is the Bible, The fall of man at the beginning has brought sin into the world, and sin has brought with it the curse of sickness, suffering, and pain. Here lies one among many proofs that the Bible is given by inspiration of God. It accounts for many things which the Deist cannot explain. II. Learn from this chapter that sickness is not an unmixed evil. Hezekiah received spiritual benefit from his illness. Sickness ought to do us good. And God sends it in order to do us good. 1. Sickness is meant to make us think, to remind us that we have an immortal soul; and that if this soul is not saved we had better never have been born. 2. Sickness is meant to teach us that there is a world beyond the grave, and that the world we now live in is only a training-place for another dwelling, where there will be no decay, no sorrow, no tears, no misery, and no sin. 3. Sickness is meant to make us look at our past lives honestly, fairly, and conscientiously. 4. Sickness is meant to make us see the emptiness of the world, and its utter inability to satisfy the highest and deepest wants of the soul. 5. Sickness is meant to send us to our Bibles. 6. Sickness is meant to make us pray. 7. Sickness is meant to make us repent and break off our sins. 8. Sickness is meant to draw us to Christ. 9. Sickness is meant to make us sympathising towards others. (Anon.)A fig-plaster The application of figs leaves it uncertain whether a boil (bubon) or a carbuncle (charbon) is to be supposed. Figs were a popular emolliens or maturans; they were used to hasten the rising of the swelling, and therefore the mattering-process. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 38:22 What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?-- Seeking a sign Real religion is the same in every country and every age. Hence we have so much of the history and experience of the people of God recorded in the Scriptures of truth, that we may compare our experience with theirs. Let us take these words and consider them four ways--I. AS THE OF A MAN OF LIFE. There are persons who can talk lightly of death; but it is a solemn thing to die. What was the fortitude of Hume when dying, joking of Charon and his boat, but like “ whistling aloud to keep his courage up” ? But we have to observe that death is not always inviting even to a good man. 1. We live under a blessed dispensation; but, though the revelation of God’ s will is complete, there are those who are not yet led into all its truths. 2. Sometimes a good man’ s connections draw him back and attach him still to life. A minister may wish “ to depart and be with Christ,” but he sees a congregation which hang upon his lips; a husband and father may be looking for that blessed hope, and rejoicing in it, but he knows that his death will make the wife a widow and the children fatherless. You talk of self-denial! Who is it that denies himself like that man who is assured of heaven, and yet is willing to forego the blessedness from year to year, who is willing to weep on and war on for the sake of usefulness to others? 3. A good man’ s evidences of glory are not always clear; this will affect his experience. 4. There may be an event to which the believer may attach some importance, that has not taken place, and which may produce some hesitation in his mind. There was something of this kind, surely, in regard to David; he therefore pleaded for sparing mercy--“ O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more seen.” Simeon, too, had the assurance that he should not see death till he had seen the Lord’ s Christ. 5. There is also a constitutional timidity in some. If they are not afraid of death itself, they are afraid of dying. The very apostles wished to enter heaven, if possible, without being unclothed, and therefore said, “ We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality may be swallowed up of life.” The fear of death is not sinful. Nature must abhor its own destruction, and if there be anything that can reconcile us to it, it must be supernatural. II. AS THE OF A MAN TO THE HOUSE OF GOD: for he does not inquire, “ What is the sign that I shall ascend my throne?” or “ that I shall give audience to ambassadors, or commands to generals? What is the sign that I shall head my army, or that I shall travel through my country?” No, but “ What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?” What is it that attaches a good man so much to the house of God? 1. Perhaps ‘ tis his birthplace: we refer to his second birth; and if you are not born twice before you die once, it would have been well if you had never been born at all. 2. It is a place of intercourse. 3. It is a place of instruction. 4. It is also a place of devotion. “ My house shall be called the house of prayer.” If Hezekiah loved the house of God before, you may be sure he did not love it less now, having been detained so long from it by sickness. We commonly know best the worth of our mercies by the want of them. How pleasing is the morning after the darkness of the night! How alluring is the spring after the dreary winter! How health is sweetened after the bitterness of pain! and how is liberty endeared by the sufferings of bondage! III. AS THE OF A MAN TO SHOW HIS FOR MERCIES . He wished this, not only for the enjoyment of a privilege, but for the performance of a duty. Having experienced delivering mercy, he knew he ought to praise God, by acknowledging His goodness publicly, and dedicating himself afresh to His glory. So did David Psalms 66:13, &c.). This is not always the case. There are many whose only concern when in affliction is to escape from it: whereas, a good man dreads the removal of it, unless it be sanctified, and the end of God be answered in bringing him nearer to Himself. A proper improvement of deliverance from sickness does not lie simply in the offering up of a single thanksgiving: it requires a great deal more than this, which will be mere formality and mockery in the sight of God, unless accompanied with real gratitude, and thankful views and feelings; and unless the actions and the life correspond therewith. Hezekiah had a sad falling off. “ Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up.” IV. AS THE OF A MAN WHOSE FAITH . “ What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?” Why? Had he not been assured of this by good Isaiah? He ought to have been satisfied. He did not believe it, and he did believe it. Ah, Christians! you know how to explain such an experience as this. (W. Jay, M. A.)Fear of dying The excellent Dr. Conyers often said, “ I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid of dying; I am not afraid of the end, but of the passage.” He therefore often said in prayer, “ O Lord, if it be Thy blessed will, let me die in Thy blessed service!” And his wish was granted, for he sank down in the church, and even in the pulpit. (W. Jay, M. A.). Isaiah 39:1-8 Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, King of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah Merodach-baladan Marduk-apal-iddina, son of Yakin, is the Chaldean ruler who more than any other vassal embittered the life of the Assyrian suzerain, because as a rival suzerain he was always renouncing obedience to one whom he felt to be a disgrace to the ancient renown of his country. Lenormant, in his Anfangen der Cultur, has devoted a beautiful essay to him under the title, “ A Babylonian Patriot of the Eighth Century B.C.” The chief matter told about him by the monuments is this: In the year 731 he did homage at Sapiya to the Assyrian ruler Tiglath-pileser IV. In Sargon’ s first year (721) he, who was properly king of South Babylonia only, brought also North Chaldea into the range of his rule; war ensued, but although beaten, he still maintained himself on the throne, and from that time count the twelve years given to him by the Ptolemaic canon as king of Babylon. In Sargon’ s twelfth year (710) he shook off the Assyrian yoke; only a year afterwards (709) Sargon succeeded in capturing and burning to ashes the fort Dur-Yakin, into which he had thrown himself; he himself, being required to surrender unconditionally, vanished. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Marduk-apal-iddina The name means: Marduk (written also Maruduk) has given a son. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The embassy to Hezekiah The embassy to Hezekiah was in all probability one of those undertaken by Merodach-Baladan for the purpose of providing himself with allies. Inasmuch now as there was at this time in Judah a party straining its utmost to combine all elements antagonistic to Assyria, there is nothing unreasonable in supposing that some understanding was arrived at between the ambassadors from Babylon and Judah. Upon this view of the circumstances of the occasion, Hezekiah’ s motive in displaying his treasures will have been to satisfy the embassy that he had resources at his disposal; and Isaiah’ s rebuke gains in significance and force. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Hezekiah and the embassy from Babylon I. OF BODY AND SORROW OF MIND ARE PRONE TO BE AND BY THOSE WHO HAVE THEM 2 Chronicles 32:25). The historian says of Hezekiah, that “ his heart was lifted up.” The very deliverances which God wrought for him worked upon his vanity--the special mercies he had received elated his mind. What are we without grace? II. AT THIS TIME WAS BY TO VANITY AND (2 Chronicles 32:31) III. AN OF STRANGE OF DUTY TO OTHERS BY NOT TO THEM . IV. WAS OF HIS SIN BY THE SPECIAL MESSAGE SENT TO HIM BY GOD THROUGH THE PROPHET. V. GOD, IN THE MIDST OF ALL HUMAN AFFAIRS AND DESPITE THE CONDUCT OF , IS OUT HIS OWN OF WISDOM AND OF LOVE. (D. K. Shoebotham.) Isaiah 39:2 And Hezekiah was glad of them Hezekiah’ s great mistake Look at Hezekiah; as he takes the men round he says in effect, What an ally I would make if Babylon should ever be in trouble! Or, What an opponent I would make if ever Babylon should be insolent! Or, You see I am one of the great powers of the world. We want large quotation marks for “ great powers” ! This is the danger of all uncontrolled and unsanctified power, or position, or possibility of dominion: much would be more, more would be most, and most would explode because of its own dissatisfaction. (J. Parker, D. D.)Character superior to material good Was this all Hezekiah had to show? There is nothing in it then. All these things can be stolen. A half-educated thief could take away the silver and the gold; a very young felon could take away the spices and the precious ointment; a man with very poor resources could carry off the armour. Hezekiah laid up his riches where thieves could break through and steal. Ah me, how like us all this is! What should he have shown to the men from Babylon? What we ought to show to every inquirer into our method of life--individual, domestic, municipal, and national: he should have shown them character, high citizenship, large education, self-control developed to its highest point of discipline,--these are things which no king of Babylon can take away. (J. Parker, D. D.)A misimproved opportunity What a missionary Hezekiah might have been! How he would have astounded the Babylonian delegates had he said to them: I receive you with respect, courtesy, and thankfulness, but I must tell you of this miracle; come within, and you shall hear how it was, how it began, continued, culminated; this will be something for you to tell when you go home again. In this way every man might create a home missionary field for himself. “ Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul.” (J. Parker, D. D.)A city to plunder The Babylonian ambassadors had probably somewhat of the feeling which led Blucher to say, as he walked through the streets of London, “ Himmel! what a city to plunder!” (E. H. Plumptre, D. D.) Isaiah 39:3 Then came Isaiah the prophet unto King Hezekiah The prophet higher than the king It is well to have Isaiahs in society, for Hezekiahs could never keep it together. This is the tone we want. The prophet should be higher than the king. The Christian teacher should stand upon the topmost place. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 39:4 What have they seen in thine house?--The disciple at home 1. The parties of whom the prophets inquired, “ What have they seen?” were Babylonians. Foreigners, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, ignorant of the true God, and, therefore, parties before whom it was specially important to exhibit nothing which was calculated to bring dishonour upon God. These strangers might have been greatly edified had they remarked a deeply chastened and humble spirit in the king. There is nothing so greatly hinders the propagation of the Christianity of England among foreigners as that practical irreligion which they observe among the English. 2. The subject may suggest to us some general reflections upon the kind of aspect which the house of a professing Christian should present to any stranger as a man of the world. What would such a man naturally expect to see in a Christian’ s house? Clearly that which he looks for in other houses--namely, a general style and conformity with the particular profession orcharacter of the inmates. He would reckon upon finding there, what St. Paul calls “ the Church that is in thy house” --the pervading air of heavenly-mindedness, and the symptoms of devotional exercises in all its sanctified “ chambers of imagery” --“ the treasures” of parental piety, of filial obedience and decorum; a well-ordered household extending its influence and sanction, like the sacred comprehensions of the law of the Sabbath, from the man himself, to his son and daughter, manservant and maidservant, and even cattle and stranger. Night and morning, it would seem to him to be the natural and consistent rule, that the offering of prayer and reading of the Word should be there presented to “ the God of all the families of the earth.” In every room and chamber of the house, the ready Bible should suggest by its silent presence the privilege of secret study of the Holy Scriptures; some good books, to the use of edifying, should strew the tables, like little trophies, in incidental evidence of the triumph of religion in that place; the peace, and cheerfulness, and mutual harmony of Christian influence should breathe its airs from Heaven on every happy, thankful heart; the music of habitual concord should sound, like an AEolian psalm, in every aisle of that homely church; and family love, the instinctive antepast of the universal love of Heaven, should spread the sweet odour of its charity, like Aaron’ s off, from the head of the house down to the very skirts of the living garment with which his blessed heart is clothed. This is what the worldly man should see in the house of the Christian; but, alas! is it always to be seen there? 1. “ What have they seen in thine house?” Have they seen there the spirit of the world, in the shape of expensive apparel, or costly furniture, or ornaments beyond your means or your station in society? A Christian man may adorn his house or apparel his person in moderation with the accustomed decencies of life and even the beautiful things of art, for Christianity is no enemy of taste nor patron of vulgarity. But when a man of the world observes in a Christian professor that inordinate affectation of style and sumptuousness in furniture and dress, which leaves no external mark of difference between “ him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not,” then such a professing Christian may well tremble for the stability of his principles. The ambassadors of the spiritual Babylon are visiting him, and they will have to report to their dark master that there is something to seize in the household of his divided heart. The remark is equally applicable to the humbler classes. Sin is sin, and vanity is vanity, whether it assume a vulgar or a refined shape. 2. “ What have they seen in thine house?” Have they seen the continual eagerness to grasp and hoard up money, the absorption of every abused faculty of the mind and every overstrained energy of the body to extend business, increase capital, and multiply speculations, though at the expense of a neglected soul and a forsaken God? And is this done in the face of better convictions of duty and responsibility? Is the heart becoming hardened as the very metal it grasps so eagerly? There is much in the proper and becoming habits of Christian men which is calculated to aid their success in life, but this success should not be permitted to become a snare to them. 3. “ What have they seen in thine house?” Have they marked the professing disciple of the self-denying religion of Jesus yielding to a habitual fretfulness and irritability at every trifling trial of temper, keeping wife, children, and servants in a perpetual ferment tending to the ultimate exacerbation of every temper in the household? Have they seen the man at one time discoursing in quiet tone and serious terms on the meek and lowly one, “ who, when He was reviled, reviled not again,” at another time terrifying all around him with unrighteous ebullitions of anger? The Babylonians, the strangers, see it, and shake their heads, saying, “ Deliver me from that man’ s religion, if it cannot even curb his temper” ; and thus a stumbling-block is cast in the way, that offends some poor, “ weak brother for whom Christ died.” The children in such a house learn to despise a religion with the remembrance of their early terrors and discomforts; and the servants, or others employed about it, thank God that they have escaped their poor master’ s supposed hypocrisy, even at the sacrifice of his real Christianity. Whereas if, on the other hand, the irascible spirit were to be seen only to be subdued before them; if its occasional outbreak is timely checked, and obviously striven against, and candidly mourned over, if they mark the man struggling against the buffetings of his infirmity, and honestly and earnestly doing painful violence to his besetment, there is a natural sympathy kindled in their hearts which God may vouchsafe to deepen into the conviction that the religion must be real which could generate such an inward contest, and must be influential, too, which could obtain such I victory. 4. “ What have they seen in thine house? Have they seen the immoderate banqueting, excess of wine, revellings, and such like” ? 5. “ What have they seen in thine house?” Perhaps some of you have been mercifully restored from a serious illness: what did those about you see as the effect of your being spared? Did they see a thankful man, a subdued man, a man bearing the spiritual marks of the stripes of the rod of chastisement, more in earnest for God, less inclined to murmur at his lot, to cavil at religious obligations, or depreciate spiritual privileges, or to lower the personal standard of Christian life and conversation? If the world saw this in your house, you have got good yourself and done the world good; if they saw it not, in whatever degree it was not the visible effect upon you, in that proportion you have yourself forfeited the grace of your personal dispensation, missed and abused an ordinance of the Lord, and wronged your brotherhood. 6. And you, heads of families, who make no profession of religion, who have no particular anxieties at stake either way, “ what have they seen in your houses?” Have they marked no family prayer, no godly conversation, no effort with the means of moral and evangelical influence? Have they seen children growing up in carelessness and irreligion, whose parental indulgence provoked that destructive judgment which the real love and tenderness of a timely discipline might have averted? If so, consider, you who have the solemn responsibility of a family of immortal souls laid upon you, how Hezekiah’ s folly was visited upon his children, and tremble at the prospect of the heartrending anguish you may be laying up in store for yourselves in the spectacle of an ungodly and abandoned household. 7. “ What have they seen in thine house?” Well, no matter what they have seen; be resolved by the grace of God as to what shall be seen for the time to come. (J. B. Owen, M. A.) Isaiah 39:5-7 Hear the word of the Lord of hosts Isaiah’ s prophecy of the Babylonian captivity Jarchi directs attention to the exact correspondence of the punishment with the offence. As the Babylonians had seen all, they should one day take all; as nothing had been withheld from them now, so nothing should be withheld from them hereafter. (J. A. Alexander.)A costly gratification Benjamin Franklin, when a lad, was greatly enamoured of a whistle he saw for sale. Swept away by the desire to possess the toy, he gathered all his money and offered it to the vendor, who at once took it and handed over the whistle to the eager boy. For a time the sense of a craving gratified shut out all other consideration. Then, gradually, the lad realised how he had been fooled; and in after-days the wise man, as he observed men and their foolish ways, would remember his own early experience, and say of this man and of that, “ He has paid too dear for his whistle.” (W. C. Bonnet.) Isaiah 39:8 Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.“ Good” The word “ good” is here used, neither in the sense of “ gracious” nor in that of “ just” exclusively, but in that of “ right” as comprehending both. (J. A. Alexander.)Hezekiah’ s acceptance of his punishment Hezekiah’ s reply expressed neither the highest magnanimity nor the mere selfish egotism which some commentators have seen in it; but a mixture of feelings in accordance with all that we know of his character. His appreciation of his position and duties as a king is shown in his restoration of the national worship, and his final resistance to Sennacherib, as well as in his general and successful care for the prosperity of his country. But though a religious sense of duty, or the pressure of necessity, could occasionally stir him to master circumstances by a great effort, we may infer from the domination of Shebna, and from his own demeanour and language when supplicating Sennacherib’ s pardon, after the receipt of Rab-shakeh’ s message and Sennacherib’ s letter, in the time of his own sickness, and on the present occasion, that his natural and habitual disposition was rather to submit to the guidance of circumstances, with a gentle and pious confession that this weakness of his character was beyond cure, and to accept the consequences with pious and affectionate resignation to God’ s will, and thankful acknowledgment of any mitigation of them. He could enter into the meaning of the Psalmist’ s words, “ Thou wast God that forgavest them, though Thou tookest vengeance on their inventions.” And though he had not, like Moses or Paul, the stern courage which could ask that the punishment might be to himself, and the forgiveness to his people; but on the contrary was thankful to learn that there should “ be peace and truth in his days” ; it must not be overlooked that it was peace and truth to his country as well as himself, and not merely selfish security that he was thankful for. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)A contrast: Hezekiah and St. Paul There is certainly submission here, resignation to the Supreme will, readiness to accept the sentence of chastisement by this will. The sentiment thus far is that of Eli when he heard the doom of his house from the lips of the child-prophet: “ It is the Lord: let Him do what seemeth Him good.” But the reason given by Hezekiah in the text itself is deeply disappointing in two ways--first, the selfishness, and, secondly, the earthliness of the consolation. Enough for him if he is spared the personal experience of the retribution; enough if he may live out his fifteen added years in the peace of an outward tranquillity, and in the truth, or, as it is otherwise given, in the continuance of an accustomed and unbroken prosperity. “ There shall be peace and truth in my days,” would have had no meaning for St. Paul. All days were his days; days of time and days of eternity--all were his. (Dean Vaughan.). Isaiah 40:1 Comfort ye, comfort ye My people The great prophecy of Israel’ s restoration In passing from chaps, 36-39, to chap. 40. we find ourselves introduced into a new world. The persons whom the prophet addresses, the people amongst whom he lives and moves, whose feelings he portrays, whose doubts he dispels, whose faith he confirms, are not the inhabitants of Jerusalem under Ahaz, or Hezekiah, or Manasseh, but the Jewish exiles in Babylonia. Jerusalem and the Temple are in ruins (Isaiah 44:10), and have been so for long Isaiah 58:12; Isaiah 61:4 --the “ old waste places” ): the proud and imposing Babylonian empire is to all appearance as secure as ever; the exiles are in despair or indifferent; they think that God has forgotten them, and have ceased to expect, or desire, their release (Isaiah 40:27; Isaiah 49:14; Isaiah 49:24). Toarouse the indifferent, to reassure the wavering, to expostulate with the doubting, to announce with triumphant confidence the certainty of the approaching restoration, is the aim of the great prophecy which now occupies the last twenty-seven chapters of the Book of Isaiah. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The Gospel of Isaiah Here beginneth the Gospel of the prophet Isaiah, and holdeth on to the end of the book. (J. Trapp.)Does Isaiah 40:1-31. treat of the return from Babylon? The specific application of this chapter to the return from Babylon is without the least foundation in the text itself. The promise is a general one of consolation, protection, and change for the better, to be wrought by the power and wisdom of Jehovah, which are contrasted, first, with those of men, of nations, and of rulers, then with the utter impotence of idols. That the ultimate fulfilment of the promise was still distant, is implied in the exhortation to faith and patience. The reference to idolatry proves nothing with respect to the date of the prediction, although more appropriate in the writings of Isaiah than of a prophet in the Babylonish Exile. It is evidently meant, however, to condemn idolatry in general, and more particularly all the idolatrous defections of the Israelites under the old economy. (J. A. Alexander, D. D.)A comforting message There is evident allusion to the threatening in Isaiah 39:7. Having there predicted the captivity in Babylon, as one of the successive strokes by which the fate of Israel as a nation and the total loss of its peculiar privileges should be brought about, the prophet is now sent to assure the spiritual Israel, the true people of Jehovah, that although the Jewish nation should not cease to be externally identified with the Church, the Church itself should not only continue to exist, but in a far more glorious state than ever. (J. A. Alexander, D. D.)God’ s return to a pardoned people The beginning of the good tidings is Israel s pardon; yet it seems not to be the people’ s return to Palestine which is announced in consequence of this, so much as their God’ s return to them. “ Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make straight a highway for our God. Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come.” (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)“ My” people; “ your” God All the prophecy we are about to study may be said to hang from these pronouns. They are the hinges on which the door of this new temple of revelation swings open before the long-expectant people. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)A storehouse of Divine promise This portion (chaps. 40-66.) of the great prophet’ s writings may well be regarded as the Old Testament Store house and Repertory of “ exceeding great and precious promises,” in which Jehovah would seem to anticipate His own special Gospel name as “ the God of all comfort.” (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)Jehovah and His Church 1. A glorious change awaits the Church, consisting in a new and gracious manifestation of Jehovah’ s presence, for which His people are exhorted to prepare (Isaiah 40:1-5). 2. Though one generation perish after another, this promise shall eventually be fulfilled, because it rests not upon human but Divine authority (Isaiah 40:6-8). 3. Zion may even now see Him approaching as the conqueror of His enemies, and at the same time as the Shepherd of His people (Isaiah 40:9-11). 4. The fulfilment of these pledges is insured by His infinite wisdom, His almighty power, and His independence both of individuals and nations (Isaiah 40:12-17). 5. How much more is He superior to material images, by which men represent Him or supply His place (Isaiah 40:18-25). 6. The same power which sustains the heavens is pledged for the support of Israel (Isaiah 40:26-31). (J. A. Alexander.)“ Comfort ye, comfort ye” The double utterance of the “ Comfort ye,” is the well-known Hebrew expression of emphasis, abundance, intensity;--“ Great comfort, saith your God.” (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)God’ s great comfort At the close of the prophecy, the prophet tells us what the strength and abundance of that comfort is. Earth’ s best picture of strong consolation is that of the mother bending over the couch of her suffering and sorrowing child (Isaiah 66:13). (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)A Divine art When the soul is in the period of its exile and bitter pain, it should do three things. I. LOOK OUT FOR COMFORT. 1. It will come certainly. Wherever the nettle grows, beside it grows the dock-leaf; and wherever there is severe trial, there is, somewhere at hand, a sufficient store of comfort, though our eyes, like Hagar’ s, are often holden that we cannot see it. It is as sure as the faithfulness of God. “ I never had,” says Bunyan, writing of his twelve years’ imprisonment, “ in all my life, so great an insight into the Word of God as now; insomuch that I have often said, Were it lawful, I could pray for greater trouble, for the greater comforts’ sake.” God cannot forget His child. 2. It will come proportionately. Thy Father holds a pair of scales. This on the right is called As, and is for thine afflictions; this on the left is called So, and is for thy comforts. And the beam is always kept level The more thy trial, the more thy comfort. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth through Christ. 3. It will come Divinely. God reserves to Himself the prerogative of comfort. It is a Divine art. 4. It will come mediately. What the prophet was as the spokesman of Jehovah, uttering to the people in human tones the inspirations that came to him from God, so to us is the great prophet, whose shoe-latchet the noblest of the prophetic band was not worthy to unloose; and our comfort is the sweeter because it reaches us through Him. 5. It will come variously. Sometimes by the coming of a beloved Titus; a bouquet; a bunch of grapes; a letter; a message; a card. There are many strings in the dulcimer of consolation. In sore sorrow it is not what a friend says, but what he is, that helps us. He comforts best who says least, but simply draws near, takes the sufferer’ s hand, and sits silent in his sympathy. This is God’ s method. II. STORE UP COMFORT. This was the prophet’ s mission. He had to receive before he could impart. Thy own life becomes the hospital ward where thou art taught the Divine art of comfort. Thou art wounded, that in the binding up of thy wounds by the Great Physician thou mayest learn how to render first-aid to the wounded everywhere. III. PASS ON COMFORT. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)The Divine ministry of comfort There are ministries in the world. 1. There is the Divine ministry of instruction. In this ministry nature, history, and the Bible are constantly employed. 2. There is the Divine ministry of Justice. Nemesis is always and everywhere at work, treading on the heels of wrong, and inflicting penalties. 3. In the text we have the Divine ministry of comfort. The words suggest three thoughts concerning this ministry. I. It implies the existence of . Bright and fair as the material world often appears, a sea of sorrow rolls through human souls The distress is of various kinds. 1. Physical suffering. 2. Social bereavement. 3. Secular anxieties. 4. Moral compunction. II. It implies the existence of SPECIAL MEANS. All this distress is an abnormal state of things. Misery is not an institution of nature, and the creation of God, but the production of the creature. To meet this abnormal state something more than natural instrumentality is required. 1. There must be special provisions. Those provisions are to be found in the Gospel. To the physically afflicted there are presented considerations fitted to energise the soul, endow it with magnanimity, fill it with sentiments and hopes that will raise it, if not above the sense of physical suffering, above its depressing influence. To the socially, bereaved it brings the glorious doctrine of a future life. To the secularly distressed it unfolds the doctrine of eternal providence. In secular disappointments and anxieties it says, “ Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.” 2. There must be special agency. A physician may know the disease of his patient, but if he does not know the precise mode of application he will not succeed. So it is with the Gospel. A man to give comfort to another requires a special qualification. The comforting elements must be administered-- (1) Not officially, but humanly. (2) Not verbosely, but sympathetically. III. It implies a LIMITED SPHERE. “ My people.” The whole human family is in distress, but there is only a certain class qualified to receive comfort, those who are here called God’ s “ people,” and who are they? Those who have surrendered themselves to His will, yielded to His claims, and dedicated themselves to His service. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Comfort for God’ s people I. THE SPEAKER. It is the God of comfort, the God of all comfort that here speaks comfortably to His people. There is a danger of our thinking too much of comfort, and one may only value the word preached as it administers comfort; this is a great error, because all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, and reproof, as well as for comfort. One great end which even the Scriptures have in view, is not only to lead us to patience in suffering, but to comfort us under suffering. It is one thing for man to speak comfort, it is another thing for God to speak comfort. II. THE PERSONS THAT ARE HERE SPOKEN TO. “ Comfort ye, comfort ye My people.” 1. The Lord has a people upon earth--He has never been without a people. 2. The Lord has a people; and if He has a people He will try them, and they shall not be found summer flies just resting on the surface of things, but they shall be found to be those that know the truth in the power of it, and they shall be made to feel and experience the worth of it. It shall not be enough for them to say, I am a sinner, but they shall feel the wretchedness of being a sinner, they shall not only confess that Christ is precious, but they shall be placed where they shall know Him to be precious. 3. The Lord has a people; and it is a most blessed consideration to reflect that while He has a people, He is their God. Talk not of your wretchedness and your poverty and your disease, of your weakness; if God be your God, not only heaven is your home, but you have that without which heaven would not be worth the having. 4. God has a people; no wonder then He comforts them--His eye is upon them from the beginning to the end of the year. They are the salt of the earth to Him, and he that touches them touches the apple of His eye. III. THE LORD’ S MESSAGE UNTO HIS . “ Comfort ye,” etc. The-great cause of comfort to a child of God may be summed up in a little sentence--through eternity he never shall come to the close of it. Let me point out some few of those great mercies that flow to a child of God in consequence of his having Christ as his portion. 1. He has that which made David glad (Psalms 32:1-2). The great contest Satan has with our consciences is about the pardon of our sins. Well might the people of God then be comforted by this truth, that their sins have all been blotted out as a cloud. 2. Do you ask for another ground of comfort? See it in a covenant, ordered in all things (2 Samuel 23:5). 3. But the Psalmist found another source of comfort. “ It is good for me to draw near to God” (Psalms 73:1-28.). There is no mercy on earth greater than to have a God in heaven, to have an Intercessor at the right hand; to have the heart of God; to have the promise of God: to have Jehovah Himself as my portion. 4. One comfort more is the bright prospect that is before the child of God. (J. H.Evans, M. A.)Comfort for Zion It was once said by Vinet, that the three great objects of the preacher were the illumination, consolation, and regeneration of men. The work of comforting is surely an important one, but it is God’ s people whom we are to comfort. We are not to say, Peace, peace! where there is no peace. Stoical indifference is not real comfort, but peace alone is found in God. I. Notice what a discovery is made in the text of GOD’ S NATURE. He has not hidden away from men; He is not asleep or tied down by law, but His tender mercies are over all His works. He is near to every one of us, seeking our love and confidence. II. HUMAN SOULS NEED COMFORT. Constitutional characteristics render us susceptible to consolatory truths. Even those hardened in sin have been melted by a woman’ s tears, or have yielded to the persuasiveness of a child. III. Look at the GROUNDS ON WHICH THIS COMFORT IS . Not those of philosophy. When the Greeks, under Xenophon, caught sight of the Euxine, they jubilantly cried, “ The sea, the sea!” The discoveries of Divine grace--a sea without a bottom or a shore--elicit profounder joy. (G. Norcross, D. D.)“ Comfort ye, comfort ye My people The words of this passage (1-11) look on to the captivity. The people, afflicted, chastened, broken in spirit, are called upon to listen to the strains of consolation which God had breathed for them in His word. I venture to think that they were laden with a richer consolation in that they came down a vista of nearly two hundred years. Old words are precious to mourners. That which is spoken at the moment is apt to be coloured by the thoughts and the doubts of the moment; an old word spoken out of the region of these present sorrows has double force. It seems to bring that which is absolute and universal to bear on that which is present and passing. This is why the Scripture is so precious to mourners. It belongs to all time. And these words rule all its declarations. It is comfort throughout and to the end. The mercies of judgment is a subject we too little study. Yet mercy is the deepest element in every judgment with which God afflicts mankind. Stern, hard, unfaltering to the eye, but full of rich mercy to the heart. It was in tender mercy that man, the sinner, was sent forth to labour. In society we see on a large scale how God’ s judgments are blessings in disguise. Great epidemics are healing ordinances. They purify the vital springs. They leave a purer, stronger health when their dread shadow has passed by. Catastrophes in history are like thunderstorms; they leave a fresher, brighter atmosphere. Reigns of terror are the gates through which man passes out into a wider world. May we pray, then, in calamities for deliverance, when they are so likely to be blessings? Yes, for prayer is the blessed refuge of our ignorance and dread. But Isaiah had the profoundest right to speak o| comfort, because he could speak of the advent of the Redeemer to the world. He not only preaches comfort, but discloses the source from which it springs--“ Emmanuel, God with us.” (J. B. Brown, B. A.)Divine comfort 1. Living in the midst of sorrow, and himself personally its victim, the Christian has need of comfort. Whatever form the affliction may take, it is hard for flesh and blood to bear; it runs contrary to all the tastes and desires of the natural man. Often under its pressure, especially when long continued and severe, is he tempted to faint and despond; it may be, even to repine and murmur; to doubt the faith fulness of God; to ask, in bitterness of heart, why such woe is appointed to man? 2. With what power, then, do words like these reach him in the midst of his sorrow, coming from God Himself, “ Comfort ye, comfort ye My people!” No sooner are they heard than hope revives, and the assurance of Divine sympathy at once soothes his trouble, and allays his fears. (1) Here is the first light from heaven which breaks upon human sorrow, and which removes from it, for the Christian, its keenest sting. God knows your suffering and thinks of it, and seeks to comfort you under it. You are not the sport of inexorable fate, or blind and reckless chance; still less are your afflictions proof that God has abandoned you in wrath. (2) How sweet is the solace of human sympathy! But here we have Divine sympathy; sympathy from One both able and willing to deliver,--from the God of all comfort. (3) Not afar off, does the voice of God reach us, from an inaccessible heaven, telling us we are His people and that He cares for us. He has come and made us His people, by taking our nature, and being born and living as a man. (J. N. Bennie, LL. B.)I. GOD HAS A PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. The Lord’ s people comforted II. I proceed TO COMPLY WITH THE IN THE TEXT. To this end, I will endeavour to obviate some few of the most common causes of that want of comfort to which the people of God are liable. 1. One cause is their misunderstanding the nature and extent of that pardon of sin, which the Gospel provides. 2. Another cause arises from their seeking comfort where it is not to be found. You can never find it from poring into your own hearts. Look in faith to Jesus Christ--His glorious person and gracious offices, etc. 3. Another cause arises from their mistaking the proofs and marks of a really religious state. They suppose that it consists in warm and rapturous feelings. Your salvation is grounded on the faithfulness of Him who cannot lie. (E. Cooper.)The trials of business men These words came to the prophet in the olden time, but they come just as forcibly to any man who stands to-day in any one of the pulpits of our great cities. A preacher has no more right to ignore commercial sorrows than any other kind of sorrow. I. A great many of our business men feel ruinous trials and temptations coming to them FROM SMALL AND LIMITED CAPITAL IN . This temptation of limited capital has ruined men in two ways. Despondency has blasted them. Others have said, “ Here I have been trudging along. I have been trying, to be honest all these years. I find it is of no use. Now it is make or break. II. A great many of our business men are tempted to OVER-ANXIETY AND CARE. God manages all the affairs of your life, and He manages them for the best. III. Many of our business men are tempted TO NEGLECT THEIR HOME DUTIES. How often it is that the store and the home seem to clash, but there ought not to be any collision. If you want to keep your children away from places of sin, you can only do it by making your home attractive. We need more happy, consecrated, cheerful Christian homes. IV. A great many of our business men are tempted to PUT THE OF MONEY ABOVE THE VALUE OF THE SOUL. The more money you get, the better if it come honestly and go usefully. But money cannot satisfy a man’ s soul; it cannot glitter in the dark valley; it cannot pay our fare across the Jordan of death; it cannot unlock the gate of heaven. Treasures in heaven are the only uncorruptible treasures. Have you ever ciphered out in the rule of Loss and Gain the sum, “ What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?” Seek after God; find His righteousness, and all shall be well here and hereafter. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)Religious comfort I. SHOW WHAT THE COMFORT IS which the Gospel of our Lord conveys to mankind. Whenever we speak of comforting another, the very expression implies that he is in tribulation and distress. Without the Gospel of Christ the condition of men must be wretched. II. THE PERSONS WHO ARE TO TAKE THAT COMFORT TO . Evangelical obedience is to be the foundation of evangelical comfort. (T. Gisborne.)Comfort for God’ s people “ Comfort ye My people” -- 1. By reminding them that I am their God. 2. By reminding them that their captivity in this world is nearly over, and that they will soon be home. 3. The Saviour is coming to this world, and is on His way to show His glory here. He will come and fill the world with His victories. (C. Stanford, D. D.)Comfort proclaimed What a sweet title: “ My people!” What a cheering revelation: “ Your God!” How much of meaning is couched in those two words, “ My people!” Here is speciality. The whole world is God’ s. But He saith of a certain number, “ My people.” While nations and kindreds are passed by as being simply nations, He says of them. “ My people.” In this word there is the idea of proprietorship. In some special manner the “ Lord’ s portion Is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.” He has done more for them than others; He has brought them nigh to Himself. How careful God is of His people; mark how anxious He is concerning them, not only for their life, but for their comfort. He would not only have us His living people, His preserved people, but He would have us be His happy people too. He likes His people to be fed, but what is more, He likes to give them “ wines on the lees well refined,” to make glad their hearts. I. TO WHOM IS THIS COMMAND ? The Holy Spirit is the great Comforter, and He it is who alone can solace the saints; but He uses instruments to relieve His children in their distress and to lift up their hearts from desperation. To whom, then, is this command addressed? 1. To angels, first of all. You often talk about the insinuations of the devil. Allow me to remind you that there is another side of that question, for if evil spirits assault us, doubtless good spirits guard us. It is my firm belief that angels are often employed by God to throw into the hearts of His people comforting thoughts. 2. But on earth this is more especially addressed to the Lord’ s ministers. The minister should ask of God the Spirit, that he may be filled with His influence as a comforter. 3. But do not support your ministers as an excuse for the discharge of your own duties; many do so. When God said, “ Comfort ye, comfort ye My people,” He spake to all His people to comfort one another. II. WHAT ARE THE REASONS FOR THIS COMMAND? 1. Because God loves to see His people look happy. The Roman Catholic supposes that God is pleased with a man if he whips himself, walks barefooted for many miles, and torments his body. When I am by the seaside, and the tide is coming in, I see what appears to be a little fringe, looking almost like a mist; and I ask a fisherman what it is. He tells me there is no mist there; and that what I see are all little shrimps dancing in ecstasy, throwing themselves in convulsions and contortions of delight. I think within myself, “ Does God make those creatures happy, and did He make me to be miserable? Can it ever be a religious thing to be unhappy?” No; true religion is in harmony with the whole world; it is in harmony with the whole sun and moon and stars, and the sun shines and the stars twinkle; the world has flowers in it and leaping hills and carolling birds; it has joys in it; and I hold it to be an irreligious thing to go moping miserably through God’ s creation. 2. Because uncomfortable Christians dishonour religion. 3. Because a Christian in an uncomfortable state cannot work for God much. It is when the mind is happy that it can be laborious. 4. Again, “ Comfort ye” God’ s people, because ye profess to love them. III. God never gives His children a duty without giving them THE MEANS TO DO IT. Let me just hint at those things in the everlasting Gospel which have a tendency to comfort the saints. Whisper in the mourner’ s ear electing grace, and redeeming mercy, and dying love. Tell him that God watcheth the furnace as the goldsmith the refining pot. If that does not suffice, tell him of his present mercies; tell him that he has much left, though much is gone. Tell him that Jesus is above, wearing the breast-plate, or pleading his cause. Tell him that though earth’ s pillars shake, God is a refuge for us; tell the mourner that the everlasting God faileth not, neither is weary. Let present facts suffice thee to cheer him. But if this is not enough, tell him of the future; whisper to him that there is a heaven with pearly gates and golden streets. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Comfort for England I will make one little change in the translation, taking the words of Dr. George Adam Smith, “ Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem.” “ Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God! Speak ye to the heart of England, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished.” Had the Hebrew prophets no other claim upon our regard we ought to hold them in everlasting respect for their patriotism. For Israel the prophet thought a man might well die. Israel was also God’ s people. The strength of Israel in every time of trouble was the Lord of hosts. And the prophet’ s interest was not confined to the sacrifices of the temple, nor to the coteries of pious people, but swept into its heart everything that concerned the welfare of the community. 1. Why should not our faith go farther afield and have a more generous range? We also carry in our hearts, not only as citizens, but also as Christians, this England which God gave to our fathers, and has continued in its glory unto their children. Why should we not take our courage in both our hands and, looking at the history of the past and comparing it with the history of the present, recognise in our own people another Israel called of God in a special manner, set apart by God for a special mission, and gather into our soul all the promises of God, and also make our boast in Him as the prophets did? What did they depend on, the Hebrew prophets, for this great conception that God had called the nation, and had a great work for that nation to do? They depended on the facts of history behind them creating in their soul an irresistible conviction. And I ask you whether the right arm of the Most High has not been as conspicuous in English history? From what perils in past centuries has He not delivered this country when the whole world was against us and was put to confusion! Have not we been surrounded by the sea, our national character formed, for purposes that we can recognise? What nation has ever planted so many colonies, explored so many unknown lands, made such practical contributions to civilisation, set such an illustrious example of liberty? Within our blood is the genius for government, the passion for justice, the love of adventure, and the intelligence of pure faith. Our Lord came of the Jewish stock, and therefore that people must have a lonely place, but when it comes to the carrying out of those great blessings, physical, political, social, and religious, which have been conferred upon the world by the Cross and the pierced hand of the Lord, I challenge anyone to say whether any nation has so extended them within her own borders, or been so willing to give them to the ends of the earth as God’ s England. 2. I do not forget England’ s sins, for we have sinned in our own generation by inordinate love of material possessions, by discord between the classes of the commonwealth, by a certain insolence which has offended foreign peoples, and also by hideous sins of the flesh. Our sins have been great, and it becomes us to acknowledge them. Does our sin destroy our calling? Does our sin break the Covenant which the Eternal made with our fathers? No people ever sinned against God like Israel. And between the sin of Israel and the sin of England, God’ s chosen people of ancient and modern times, there has been the similarity which arises from the sin of people in the same position. Both boasted themselves over-much against other peoples. Both were intoxicated with prosperity. Both depended upon it instead of utilising and conserving the favour of the Most High. When we desire to confess our sins where do we go? We go to the confessions of the Hebrew prophets. And when we ask mercy for our sins, what are the promises we plead? The great promise of mercy declared by the evangelical prophet and now sealed by the life and death and resurrection of our Lord! Because the Hebrew prophet believed that his people were God’ s people, he had the courage to speak plainly to them. He is not a traitor to his country who on occasions points out his country’ s sins. When Israel sinned there was no voice so loud as that of Isaiah or Amos, but they delighted not in the work, any more than their God delighted in judgment. If God sent them with a rod they took the rod and gave the stroke, but the stroke fell also on the prophet’ s own heart, and he suffered most of all the people. When the people repented and turned again to God, when they brought forth works meet for repentance and showed humility, there was no man so glad as the prophet. 3. When the prophet takes up the work of consolation he has no bounds, he makes the comfort of God to run down the streets like a river. It is not enough to say it once, but twice must he sound it, till the comfort of God shall run like lightning through Jerusalem. And when he takes to comforting he is not to be bound by theories of theology or arguments of the schools. He is not going to ask questions--whether a man can expiate his sins, or whether a nation can win repentance. He flings all this kind of argument to the wind, for he has come out from the presence of the Eternal, who does not keep accounts like that, and he cries, “ Speak ye home to Jerusalem; her warfare is accomplished.” Accomplished! More than that! God hath now repented! It was His people repented first, now He is repenting. They repented of their sins; behold, God has begun to repent of His judgment! “ I have,” he makes the Eternal say--“ I have been over-hard with these people, and I have punished them more than they have deserved. Go and comfort them. Comfort them royally. Give it out with a lavish hand--they have received double for all their sins.” When the prophet speaks in this fashion he is not referring to material prosperity, for the words were spoken to the exiles in Babylon. He comforted the exiles because they had repented and been reconciled unto God. The comfort I preach is not based on arms. It is based on the nobler spirit which God has given England during the progress of the war in South Africa. We sinned, and according to our sin was our punishment. We have repented. Through our churches and through our homes, and individually, we have laid the lessons of the Eternal to heart; and according to our repentance shall be the blessing of God. (J. Watson, M. A.)“ Comfort ye My people” This command is adapted to the needs of the country in which we live. There is a good deal of weariness and depression in modem life. If the blessings of an advanced civilisation can make people happy, there are multitudes who ought to be enraptured, for they are surrounded by material comfort. The gospel of recreation is preached to them. Outward nature is enjoyed and reverenced. Music and painting are filling them with sensibility; literature is contributing to their intellectual gratification; and church privileges abound. Worship to-day gratifies the artistic faculty, without putting a very great strain on the spiritual nature of man. There never was so much ingenuity displayed as now in the manufacture of forms of enjoyment. People never waged such a successful war as to-day against physical and social discomfort. And yet, if you watch them closely, you can see that they are not really satisfied. Affection to-day is not at rest, intellect is not at rest, conscience is not at rest, faith is not at rest. Thank God, there is sweet satisfaction of soul to be found. “ Comfort ye,” etc. I. There is a message in this text for ALL WHO ARE UNDER ON ACCOUNT OF SIN. The connection between sin and punishment is never really broken. Men were never so clever as they are to-day in the efforts they have put forth to evade the penalties of wrong-doing, and they very often succeed so far as outward effects are concerned, But the inward penalty is always sure. Loss of self-respect, loss of faculty, and deterioration of nature itself. “ Thy warfare is accomplished,” thy discipline may come to an end. It is the spirit of rebellion which lengthens the period of discipline. Lay down your weapons, give up fighting against God, and He will forgive you now, and the consequences of your wrongdoing shall inwardly be done away. Further, your pardon will tell at once on the outward consequences of your wrong-doing. You forfeited the confidence of your friends by your sin; that will come back to you. You damaged your health; that will improve. You injured your social position; that will be retrieved. Just as there is no decree in God’ s mind as to the length of time during which a man’ s discipline shall be continued, so there is no decree as to the amount of suffering man can endure. The suffering, like the time, may be relieved by speedy submission and penitence. II. There is a message in this text for ALL WHO IN HAVE NEVER GOT BEYOND . Beyond conviction there is the forgiveness of God. Beyond the sin there is purity. Beyond doubt there is faith; and beyond all this miserable weariness of spirit there is rest. III. There is a message here, also, for ALL TIMID . They feel it would be presumption to expect conscious pardon and Christian perfection. Cultivate your capacity to take in the comfort of God. IV. There is a message here for ALL . You want new ideas, the old ones are about worn out. Thy warfare with weariness is accomplished. V. There is a message here for . The Jewish Church was disconsolate at the time of the captivity, and there are Churches to-day which are in a sort of captivity. They have made exceptional provision for the needs of the people, yet they are declining. The declension of Churches in great populations is due to many causes, but due to one cause that is a great deal overlooked, and that is the very peculiar temperament of the generation in which your lot has been east. Competition, in particular, has led to a vast amount of advertising. But disconsolate Churches may be comforted. We are coming out of the captivity of those habits and conditions which have come down from the restrictive ages of society. Modern evangelism has grown steadily in the elements of truth and spiritual intelligence. It is resulting to-day in the deepening of spiritual life, and in the expansion of the kingdom of God. VI. There is a message here for THE NATION AND THE EMPIRE. The return from captivity was the beginning of a new spiritual movement, which was destined to extend over many countries. The classical period of human history was about to begin. My text is the new strain with which the prophet greets the expanding prospect. As one has said, It is the keynote of the revived and purified Israel, and the reason of the hold of Christendom on Europe and on modern times. There is a wonderful correspondence between that period and ours. England is the centre to-day. Judaism at the time referred to was rational-ised by being brought into contact with forms of Roman and Greek thought. Christianity is being rationalised by contact with natural religion. But who is the leader of the improvement of the modern world? “ Who is this that cometh from Edom?” etc. (chap. 63:1). Was it some king ruling the nations with a rod of iron? No. Some soldier with a two-edged sword? No. Some philosopher ruling the intellect of the race? No. Jehovah s righteous servant and witness it was: “ that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” And the Lord Christ, the Son of God, never spoke to the race as He is speaking to-day, and He needs His messengers to prepare His way. (T. Allen, D. D.)Conviction and comfort A quaint Scotch preacher said that the needle of the law opens the way for and carries the thread of the Gospel. I once quoted this saying in a tent-meeting, and a hearer remarked to me afterwards: “ Yes, you’ re right; but the needle should be pulled out and not left behind.” (H. G. Guinness, D. D.) Isaiah 40:2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem Voices that speak to the heart This is one characteristic of the voices that reach us from God: they speak home to the heart (R.., marg.). The phrase in the Hebrew is the ordinary expression for wooing, and describes the attitude of the suppliant lover endeavouring to woo a maiden’ s heart. Love can detect love. I. THE VOICE OF . The first need of the soul is forgiveness. It can endure suffering; and if that suffering, like the Jewish exile, has been caused by its own follies and sins, it will meekly bow beneath it, saying with Eli, under similar circumstances, “ It is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth good to Him.” But the sense of being unforgiven! This bitterness of heart for sin is the first symptom of returning life! And before God can enter upon His great work of salvation, before He can clear away the debris and restore the ruined temple, before He can reproduce His image, it is needful to assure the penitent and believing soul that its time of service is accomplished, that its iniquity is pardoned. In dealing with the question of sin and its results, let us always distinguish between its penal and natural consequences. The distinction comes out clearly in the ease of drunkenness or criminal violence. Society steps in and inflicts the penalties of the fine, the prison, or the lash; but in addition to these, there is the aching head, the trembling hand, the shattered nervous system. So in respect to all sin. The natural consequences remain. David was forgiven, but the sword never left his house. The drunkard, the dissolute, the passionate, may be pardoned, and yet have to reap as they sowed. The consequences of forgiven sin may be greatly sanctified; the Marah waters cured by the tree of the Cross--yet they must be patiently and inevitably endured. It was thus that Jerusalem was suffering, when these dulcet notes reached her. The backsliding and rebellious people were doomed to serve their appointed time and captivity, and suffer the natural and inevitable results of apostasy. Hence the double comfort of this first announcement. II. THE VOICE OF . Between Babylon and Palestine lay a great desert of more than thirty days’ journey. But the natural difficulties that seemed to make the idea of return chimerical, were small compared with those that arose from other circumstances. The captives were held by as proud a monarchy as that which refused to let their fathers go from the brick-kilns of Egypt. Mountains arose in ranges between them and freedom, and valleys interposed their yawning gulfs. But when God arises to deliver His people who cry day and night unto Him, mountains swing back, as did the iron gate before Peter; valleys lift their hollows into level plains; crooked things become straight, and rough places smooth. III. THE VOICES OF DECAY AND . As man’ s soul is still, and becomes able to distinguish the voices that speak around him in that eternal world to which he, not less than the unseen speakers, belongs, it hears first and oftenest the lament of the angels over the transcience of human life and glory. In a stillness, in which the taking of the breath is hushed, the soul listens to their conversation as they speak together. “ Cry,” says one watcher to another. “ What shall I cry?” is the instant inquiry. There is, continues the first, “ but one sentiment suggested by the aspect of the world of men. All flesh is grass, and all its beauty like the wild flowers of the meadow-lands, blasted by the breath of the east wind, or lying in swathes beneath the reaper’ s scythe.” The words meet with a deep response in the heart of each thoughtful man. But listen further to the voices of the heavenly watchers. The failure of man shall not frustrate the Divine purpose. “ The Word of the Lord shall stand for ever.” IV. VOICES TO HERALD THE -KING. The Old Version and the margin of the R.V. are, perhaps, preferable to the R.V. Zion, the grey fortress of Jerusalem, is bidden to climb the highest mountain within reach, and to lift up her voice in fearless strength, announcing to the cities of Judah lying around in ruins that God was on His way to restore them. “ Say unto the cities, Behold your God! Behold the Lord God will come.” All eyes are turned to behold the entrance on the scene of the Lord God, especially as it has been announced that He will come as a mighty one. But, lo! a Shepherd conducts His flock with leisurely steps across the desert sands, gathering the lambs with His arm, and carrying them in His bosom, and gently leading those that give suck. It is as when, in after centuries, the beloved apostle was taught to expect the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and, lo! in the midst of the throne stood a Lamb as it had been slain. Do not be afraid of God. He has a shepherd’ s heart and skill. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)God the Comforter of His people The skill of a physician is shown, in the first place, in selecting out of many diseases that under which his patient suffers; and, in the second place, in choosing, out of many remedies, that which is most likely to effect his cure. There is as great variety in the diseases of the soul as in those of the body. And if there be this variety in spiritual diseases, and this variety of remedy, then evidently, in ministering to a mixed people, the preacher of Christianity will have to decide in each separate case what is the precise form of sickness, and what the exact medicine best adapted to its cure. Where the soul is utterly insensible to the truths of religion, there must not be the same process as where the conscience is busy in remonstrance. There are spiritual patients with whom we must try argument; but there are others with whom argument would be altogether out of place, whose disquieted minds totally incapacitate them for any process of reasoning; who require the cordials of the Gospel, that they may be strengthened for the trials and endurances of life. There is the lowering medicine for the over-sanguine and presumptuous; and there is the stimulating for the timid and mistrustful. I. In our text, there is a specification of one large class of medicine; and therefore, by inference, ONE LARGE CLASS OF . “ Comfort” is the staple of the prescription. And what was the condition of these patients? We may ascertain this from the subsequent words, “ Cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’ s hands double for all her sins.” Here evidently the condition of Jerusalem is one of distress and anxiety and distraction; and this accords most exactly with a passage in the Psalms, and with which we shall connect our text--“ In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Thy comforts delight my soul.” Here there is the same medicine--“ comfort” ; but you have the disease more clearly defined--a “ multitude of thoughts.” Bishop Austin’ s version is, “ The multitude of my anxieties within me” ; whilst the representation in the original Hebrew would seem that of a man involved in a labyrinth, from whose intricacies there was no way of escape. All this agrees precisely with the case of Jerusalem in the text. And what cause of distressing anxiety would there be whilst there was warfare unfinished, and sin unforgiven! A multitude of thoughts is a very common symptom; but in different patients it requires very different medicines. A man might be “ a man after God’ s own heart,” and yet subject to the invasion of a crowd of anxieties. It is not uncommon for religious persons to erect standards of excellence, failing to reach which they become uneasy and doubtful as to their spiritual state. Reading the promises of the Bible, which speak of the righteous as “ kept in perfect peace,” which breathe tranquillity, abstraction from earthly cares and foretastes of the blessedness of heaven, they conclude that what they ought to experience is perfect serenity of mind; and when they often experience distracting anxieties which the spirit is unable to throw off altogether, and when in times of approaching in prayer the Lord God of heaven and earth, they find their attention broken, then they will add to every other grief a worse grief than all--they will suspect their own sincerity in religion. And never can it be a part of our business to lessen the extent of what is blameworthy, or to endeavour to persuade the righteous that freedom from anxiety is not a privilege to be sought for, or that the concentration of the whole soul is not to be attempted, and failure therein not bitterly lamented. But we know that amid the turmoil of this busy world there will often be such an invasion of the altar of the Lord as when the birds came down on Abraham’ s sacrifice. “ The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” And whilst we could not wish men to regard their infirmities as sufficient excuses, or to be content with imperfection, as though unavoidable; still, where there is the honest endeavour to stay the mind on God, and abstract it from earth, we may tell them that piety may consist with anxiety, and sincerity of prayer with a multitude of thoughts. God is speaking to those who were sorely distracted, and yet He still calls them “ My people.” It is not every failure which should fill you with apprehension as to your state before God. So wonderfully are we made, so many are the inlets into the mind, so great are the facilities with which evil angels can ply their suggestions, so difficult, moreover, is it to keep that attention to worldly business which is required from us as members of society, from being deformed by that carefulness which is forbidden us as members of Christ’ s Church; that, indeed, it were vain to hope, however it be right to desire, that anxiety shall never harass us in a world that teems with trouble. So far from being necessarily a cause of despair or despondency, the Christian may rise superior to all these intruders, and prove that they do but heighten the blessedness of the blessing, though invaded by the influence of earth. God speaks to those as still “ His people” who are wearied and worn down with warfare and toil; and in place of speaking to them reproachfully He has only soothing things to utter--“ Comfort ye,” etc. II. Our latter observations have somewhat trenched on THE OF THE which should be tried when the disease is a multitude of thoughts; but we must now examine with attention, and endeavour to determine its faithfulness and its efficiency. The case is that of a righteous man on whom cares and sorrows press with great weight; and whose mind is torn with anxieties and thronged by a crowd of restless intruders distracting him even in his communings with God. Now, the very disease under which this man labours incapacitates him in a great measure for any process of argument. His distracted mind is quite unfitted for that calm and searching inquiry which is required into the matter of the evidences of Christianity for strictly convincing him of the inspiration of Scripture. His mind is evidently unfitted for duly considering, and examining with that singleness of purpose which is demanded by their solemnity, mysteriousness, and importance such truths as those of the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Atonement. Ask ye what these comforts are? There are the rich assurances of God’ s forgiving love; there are the gracious declarations of His everlasting purpose of preserving to the end those whom He has chosen in Christ; there are the multiplied promises which make to the eye of faith the page of Scripture one sheet of burning brightness, always presenting most radiantly what is most suited to the necessity. There are the foretastes of immortality. You may without sinfulness and merely through infirmity be invaded and harassed by a multitude of thoughts. But the evil is that when thus invaded and harassed the Christian is apt to attempt a critical examination of his spiritual state, to encourage doubts as to his acceptance with God, and to try and satisfy himself by some process of reasoning as to whether he has indeed believed unto the saving of his soul, whereas his very state is one which unfits him for reasoning, for sitting in judgment on himself, and delivering an accurate verdict. He is sick, and requires God’ s comfort. III. The comforting message is to be delivered to Jerusalem, and annexed is a statement of her warfare being accomplished; and if you connect with this the exclamation of St. Paul--“ I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course,” you will see that we make no far-fetched application of the text, if we affirm it as ON THE OF THE LAST ENEMY, DEATH. Never is it likely that there will be a more tumultuous gathering of conflicting emotions than when the mind fixes itself on approaching death. It is here that the power of all mere human resources must eventually fail. Christianity furnishes an abundance of what is needed for allaying the fear of death, and soothing man’ s passage to the tomb. (H. Mevill, B. D.)Her warfare is accomplishedThe Christian’ s warfare The acceptableness of any announcement will depend very much upon the state of mind and feeling in which we are found in respect to the subject of such announcement. Go to the soldier, wearied with a long campaign, and many a hazardous engagement, longing for a sight of his beloved home--to him how welcome will be the announcement, “ Thy warfare is accomplished!” It was on this principle that the prophet Isaiah was directed to take a message of consolation to the ancient people of God. The language of the text may, without any impropriety, be applied to the termination of any state of anxiety, hardship, and grief. I. THE LIFE OF THE TRUE IS A WARFARE. Frequently is it represented to us in the Holy Scripture by this form of military phraseology. Hence, says the apostle, “ Fight the good fight of faith” ; and, writing to Timothy, “ That by these thou mightest war a good warfare” ; “ I have fought a good fight,” etc. 1. The great principle of the conflict is faith, founded and implanted in the mind by a super-natural agency. No man will ever in a Christian sense contend, until he is united by a living faith to Jesus, the Son of God: for faith acquaints him with his spiritual enemies; faith is the principle of the new life which puts itself into an attitude of resistance against all that is hostile to itself. “ This is the victory that over-cometh the world, even our faith.” When a man is slumbering in his sin, nothing is further from his thoughts than to maintain a spiritual conflict with invisible, spiritual existences; but, under the influence of faith, he will find he is surrounded by a legion of foes. He looks within, and there he finds the corruption of fallen nature. Besides the corruption of an evil nature, there are the powers of darkness. The world, even in its lawful form, is a very serious enemy to our spiritual progress and our spiritual peace. 2. This contention will continue as long as life shall last. II. THE HOUR OF DEATH THE OF THIS WARFARE. 1. Death is the instrumental means of separating us from our connection with the present evil world; it strikes at once a line of demarcation, which throws us beyond the reach of all the elements of this present sensible life. He upon whom death has performed his solemn office, has no further interest in the possessions, the endearments, the gains, the business, the pleasures, and the satisfactions of this vain world. 2. Then, death terminates the strife of sin. 3. Death confesses that the believer is a conqueror over himself, and fields the palm of victory at the moment when he inflicts the blow (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). III. THE AND OF THIS BLESSED . 1. When the warfare ends, the rest begins. 2. This state of rest is also a state of peculiar and inexpressible delight. It is something more than rest, as implying a cessation from toil and from contention; it is a joyful rest. Think of the place of rest into which the departed spirits of the just are received. They are where Christ is; they behold His glory. And then, consider the society to which the ransomed spirits of the just are admitted. Think of the employments to which they are advanced. They serve God day and night in His temple, and His name is in their foreheads. 3. This felicity is evermore increasing. 4. This felicity will be for ever and ever. “ So shall we ever be with the Lord.” (G. Clayton.)Undeserved grace “ Fulfilled is her warfare, absolved her guilt, received hath she of Jehovah’ s hand double for all her sins.” The very grammar here is eloquent of grace. The emphasis lies on the three predicates, which ought to stand in translation, as they do in the original, at the beginning of each clause. Prominence is given, not to the warfare, nor to the guilt, nor to the sins, but to this, that “ accomplished” is the warfare, “ absolved” the guilt, “ sufficiently expiated” the sins. It is a great At Last which these clauses peal forth; but an At Last whose tone is not so much inevitableness as undeserved grace. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Grace masked by grace How full of pity God is, to take so much account of the sufferings sinners have brought upon themselves! How full of grace to reckon those sufferings “ double the sins” that had earned them! It is, as when we have seen gracious men make us a free gift, and in their courtesy insist that we have worked for it. It is grace masked by grace. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Double for all her sins“ Double for all her sins” It is not to be pressed arithmetically, in which case God would appear over-righteous, and therefore unrighteous. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 40:3-5 Prepare ye the way of the Lord The way of the Lord prepared I. THE JEWISH . It is a favourite statement with those who seek to account for Christianity on entirely mundane principles, that Christ grew, as it were, out of His age. The age was waiting for some such Teacher, some such Gospel--and Teacher and Gospel came. Just as the wreck of the Roman Republic demanded a hand and brain like Caesar’ s, and they appeared at the critical moment and reorganised the State, so the Great Preacher of the universal Gospel was called for by His times, and He came. There is something in the spirit of an age, we are told, which creates the heroes and teachers of the age. This is very interesting, and has a large measure of truth in it. Men of high genius are singularly sensitive to the influences around them, and are created while they create; but it is blankly impossible to account for Christ and Christianity by natural evolution, with the Jewish theocracy, a grand prophetic system which for nearly two thousand years looked unto and prophesied of the Messiah, standing in the way. There was existing for ages in the world, kept alive by marvellous interventions of a higher hand, a national community, whose function was distinctly, from first to last, to prepare the way for the Advent, for the Divine kingdom which was to rule over and to bless mankind. These Jews were set to bear witness of the reality of the Divine rule, and its necessity, if states were to be saved from chaos, and the whole world from wreck. There was a period, when Moses led them in the wilderness, when the theocracy came out with wonderful clearness. Then there was a period, under their kings, when, through their worldly conformity to the life of surrounding nations, the theocracy was obscured. But the captivity ended that conformity in sorrow and in shame. From the time of the captivity the idea of the theocracy was restored. The prophets are throughout its great witnesses. The expectation, as matter of history, grew intense as the Advent approached. The expectation of the Advent of a Being, a Person, who should fulfil the promise and the prophecy with which their national life and literature were charged; who should bring, what Christ has brought--a Gospel of salvation to the world. It is a wonderful feature of thepreparation, that just as the nation which exhibited the theocracy was dying away as a nation its belief in the theocracy grew more intense, and its witness grew more clear and impressive to the approaching Advent of the great world theocrat--the Christ. II. THE JEWISH . It was a very wonderful chain of providential agencies which, before the Advent, scattered that people, these witnesses so charged with the promise and the prophecy, through the civilised world. Up to the time of the captivity the Jews kept themselves in a kind of stem, or, as the heathen around them called it, a sullen isolation. They cherished the sense of a lofty superiority. But, after the captivity, they displayed a singular facility of dispersion, a happy art of settling and flourishing among the Gentile peoples, which makes them to this day, pace the Anglo-Saxon, the first settlers of the world. In every chief city of the empire which Alexander founded a colony of Jews was sure to be settled; and the same state of things afterwards obtained in the far wider empire of Rome. In order to appreciate the significance of this, you must estimate the utter confusion of human beliefs and ideas about Divine things and beings which had been the fruit of the Greek and Roman conquests. Neither Greek nor Roman had belief enough in his gods to impose them on the conquered nations; nor did they find anything Divine among the conquered nations which seemed better worth worshipping than their own. This confusion of religious ideas and systems and deities, none of which had power to emerge with absolute or even strong claims to belief, was profoundly detrimental to moral earnestness, and indeed to any high-toned belief about Divine things. There was an utter confusion and decay of faith. But here were communities settled among them who had an absolute and indestructible belief in their Revelation. They had a God to worship of whom they could give intelligible account. The Jews lived among the heathen in isolation still; but the isolation was visibly based on a religious faith, and on religious records. These Jews, scattered abroad, were witnesses everywhere of the reality and necessity of Divine revelation to, and Divine legislation for, man. They familiarised men with the ideas which Christianity proclaimed, and on which it rested its authoritative claim to the homage and the obedience of mankind. III. THERE WAS A VERY CHANGE WITHIN THE BOSOM OF HEATHEN SOCIETY ITSELF, IN ITS AND MORAL IDEAS, WHICH NOT ONLY OPENED THE WAY FOR THE TRUTH OF , BUT SEEMED TO DEMAND SOME SUCH OF TRUTH TO MANKIND. Students of philosophy note a very decided progress between the age of Socrates and the age of Seneca in the consideration of questions bearing on man’ s individual life and destiny. The supreme interest of a man’ s life in the golden age of Greek philosophy lay in his relations, as a member of a society, as a citizen of a State. Within the little circle of Athenian society men realised a closeness of relation to each other, which made the State something of a household. The conquests of Alexander created an entirely new order of things. The Greek became, not the citizen of a State almost domestic in its magnitude and character, but the subject of a great Empire, lost in an undistinguished mass of fellow-subjects, and quite cut adrift from the landmarks and the moorings by which he had been wont to steer and stay his life. The Greek must think about himself and his world, and Alexander led him out into a world too big for him, which oppressed and distracted him, and overthrew all the traditions of his schools. It was a world, too, of ceaseless conflict and change. The state of the Greek world between Alexander’ s conquests and the establishment of Roman supremacy, say, roughly, two hundred years, was such as to throw the thinker back upon himself, to lead him to realise his individual responsibility, to force on him the question, “ What, after all, am I? Whence did I come? For what am I here? Whither do I tend? I am in a world full of confusion and misery--how am I to regulate my life, so that my happiness may not become a wreck?” So the great thinkers increasingly concerned themselves with questions which had to do with the individual man, his duty, his responsiblilty, his destiny, his means of arming himself for the battle of life, his means of saving himself from utter and hopeless loss. Thus there was a growing tendency in men to consider very much the question which Christianity came to treat of as salvation. The thoughts of man, the longings and aspirations of man, seem to be led up step by step to the point in which the cry, “ Lord, save, or I perish!” was ready, did he but know all the meaning of his dumb pain, to fashion itself on his lips. All was waiting for the proclamation, “ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor,” etc. When men went abroad and proclaimed the Advent of a Saviour, they found a ready entrance to the world’ s sad, wistful heart. IV. THE ROMAN EMPIRE. Incomparably the most important secular herald of the Advent was the Empire--an Empire under whose sceptre such a decree could go forth (Luke 2:1). There are many points of view from which the Empire may be regarded as the herald of the kingdom which was destined to master it, and found on it the edifice of Christian society. We are working and building on the foundations of the Empire still. The whole of modern European society is but the fully developed Empire of Rome. It is the centre of the secular, as the Advent of Christ is the centre of the spiritual, history of mankind. I might say much about the universal peace, which made the preaching of a universal Gospel possible. About the universal law and language, which made the career of the preachers, at any rate, far easier and more rapid than it could have been in any previous state of society. The fundamental question opened by the Empire is also a fundamental question of Christianity, the relation of men to each other. Is it enmity? is it brotherhood? Is the struggle for existence the ruling principle of progress, or brotherly sympathy, care, and love? The state of natural enmity and constant war gave way to a state in which peace, good-fellowship, and mutual ministries were regarded as the natural condition of society. Briton and Egyptian, Syrian and Spaniard, formed together a great political unity; and were drawn into bonds of relation to each other, the nature and bearings of which men were eager to explore. There rose on the minds of men the idea of human brotherhood. Men began to speculate about a common good in which civilised humanity was to share, and a duty of the whole human community to its weaker members, its sick, its poor, its wretched. Men wanted to know why and how they were brethren, why and how they were to love. And so arose perhaps the greatest herald of the Advent in secular society, the longing for a kingdom which should fulfil the promise which Rome in the nature of things was constantly breaking; and give peace, concord, love to a distracted world. Thus the way was prepared, the highway through the desert was made. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)The Divine glory revealed in Christ I. ITS LITERAL . 1. In the appearance of John the Baptist. Ages rolled away, and no such preparing voice was heard in the desert of Judea. But it was at length heard. 2. Following the footsteps of the servant, comes the Master. And as John had said, “ Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” then was the glory of God manifested; and all flesh, living at that time in Judea, saw it together: the glory of God in human nature. Jesus Christ was the visible image of the glory of God all the time He was on earth. The visible image-- (1) Of the power of God. His works were Divine; His word was power. See His power over the elements. (2) Of the truth of God. The doctrine of Christ has brought us nearer to the unclouded truth of the Divine mind than men were ever brought before. (3) Of the holiness of God; and that even while He was man upon earth. (4) Of the justice of God. Though this is not so frequently adverted to as other attributes, yet it is important. Why did Christ die so willingly? If, then, the glory of God was revealed even in the lowliness and sufferings of the Saviour, I ask if the coming of Christ had not in it more real pomp than if He had come with all the grandeur of an Eastern monarch, to a people who waited for Him? II. ITS . This is seen in the manifestation of Christ to the hearts of men. In this there is both preparation and manifestation; for Christ, in mercy, no more bursts upon the soul at once than He did upon the world; He sends His messenger to prepare the way before Him; this is the first part of the process. That preparing herald, figured by John the Baptist, is repentance. Consider what repentance is, and you will see how it prepares the soul for Christ, for pardon, happiness, and purity. 1. The first element is a deep and serious conviction of the fact of our sin. For if we justify ourselves, there will be no preparation. 2. The second element is a conviction of the extreme danger of sin and its infinite desert. 3. The third element is a burdened and disquieted spirit. This supposes a feeling that we are not able to deliver ourselves. The way of the Lord is then plain; all obstructions are removed when we come to this; for all true repentance, like the preaching of John the Baptist, concludes by saying, “ Behold the Lamb of God!” It is here alone that we see the glory of God. For what is the happiness of a pardoned soul, but one of the brightest manifestations of the glory of God upon earth? Here is a visible manifestation of the glory of the Divine patience; that man, amidst all his repeated provocations, should at last be saved and made happy. The glory of the grace of God! What a comment on the words of the apostle, “ By grace are ye saved!” And then, see the glory of that working of the Divine power by which the soul is finally brought into the enjoyment of all the mind that was in Christ; the soul changing from glory to glory, and the work completed by an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom. This is the manifestation of Christ to the soul. III. ITS . It is seen in the establishment of Christ’ s kingdom upon earth. He sends forth His heralds. It is by the ministry of His Gospel that His dominion is established. The doctrine to be preached is that of repentance. So St. Paul preached at Athens. The manifestation of the master follows. Here is a manifestation of the glory of the heavenly wisdom, raising, exalting, and purifying the human intellect; of the Divine righteousness, putting a stop to all cruelty and injury. The glory of peace and harmony; the union of man’ s heart to man, the extinction of external wars, and the diffusion of internal harmony. The glory of that order among families, and societies, and nations, preserved, and sanctified, and so regulated that no part infringes on the other, but the whole proceeds harmoniously, like a piece of sound mechanism. The glory of mercy and charity: teaching men to remember those that are in afflictions, as being themselves in like manner afflicted. This is a glory peculiar to the Christian revelation. (R. Watson.)Preparation for the Advent Messiah A positive preparation of the race itself was necessary, before the plan of redemption could be successfully revealed. This preparation was gradually going forward at the same time that our moral helplessness was so amply illustrated. If we reflect upon the nature of the Christian revelation we shall be convinced that its conceptions belong to an advanced period of civilisation. It addresses itself exclusively to the spiritual nature of man. But, in the earlier periods of our race, our conceptions are all from without; they have to do almost exclusively with sensible objects. The Gospel has to do with thought, feeling, sentiment, motive, and all their various attributes; and it could not be well understood until the mind of man had become somewhat at home in these conceptions. Nor is this all. The Christian religion addresses itself to the moral nature, the conscience of man. I. Hence, a remedial dispensation would naturally be delayed, until the moral character of man, both individual and social, had been fully displayed; and MANKIND HAD BECOME IN SOME DEGREE CAPABLE OF THE FACTS THUS TO THEIR NOTICE. But, besides this, the Gospel is a revelation communicated to man by language, and its authenticity, as is meet, is attested by miracles. Now, considerable progress must have been made in civilisation before such testimony could be given as we would be willing to receive on a question of so vital importance. Until the laws of nature are to some extent known, we cannot determine whether the Creator has or has not in a particular case departed from them. And this leads us to observe, again, that a revelation from God to man, informing him of this wonderful change in the conditions of his probation,--a revelation designed for all ages to the end of time, and destined towork a perfect transformation in the moral character of our race,--could not have been completed until language had arrived at a considerable degree of perfection. It was necessary that the doctrines and motives peculiar to the new dispensation should be promulgated with all possible explicitness, and yet guarded from all tendency either to incompleteness or excess. Amidst all the agitations of society, throughout all the overturnings of empire, the human mind, during this long period, had been gradually attaining maturity. Each nation, during its brief existence, had either added something to the stock of human knowledge, or made some contribution to the materials for human thought. Every revolution had illustrated in some new phase the principles of conduct, and had bequeathed the lesson to succeeding generations. II. We see, then, that God not only prepared a language in which this revelation for all coming ages could, be written, but HE THAT OVER THE WORLD. He created a suitable vehicle for the truth, and He made that vehicle, as far as was necessary, universal. And this work was accomplished by means of the ambition of Alexander, and the all-grasping love of dominion of the citizens of Rome. Men ignorant of the existence and character of the true God, bowing down to the senseless images which their own hands had fashioned, indulging without restraint their own corrupt passions, were thus advancing His purposes, and opening the way for the advent of His Son. III. One other condition remains yet to be observed. The nations inhabiting the shores of the Mediterranean were originally distinct in government, dissimilar in origin, diverse in laws, habits, and usages, and almost perpetually at war. To pass from one to the other without incurring the risk of injury, nay, even of being sold into slavery, was almost impossible. A stranger and an enemy were designated by the same word. It was necessary that these various peoples should all be moulded into one common form; that one system of laws should bind them all in harmony. This seems to have been needful, in order that the new religion might be rapidly and extensively promulgated. In order to accomplish this purpose WAS THE ROMAN EMPIRE RAISED UP, AND WITH THE SCEPTRE OF . In many respects it resembled the dominion of Great Britain at the present day in Asia. We perceive that the overturnings of forty centuries were required in order to prepare the world for the advent of the Messiah. The same omniscient wisdom has ever since been engaged in carrying forward the work which was then commenced. (D. Wayland, LL. D.)Vox clamantis It were surely a vain thing for a voice to cry in the wilderness where none can hear but the startled wild animals; where there are no sympathetic human hearts that can thrill with its message. But we must remember that of old the wilderness had a strange, weird attraction for many who aspired to live a holy life. And other souls who had similar longings, but did not possess the means or the courage to gratify them, would resort to the hermit of the wilderness for counsel and benediction. 1. The metaphor, so wild and striking, of a voice crying in the wilderness, is as appropriate as metaphor could be for representing the man of God who, in a degenerate age, lifts up his voice to declare the truth, to reprove sin, to call men to a new life. Rocks are not harder than hearts sometimes; the wandering blustering winds are not more inattentive to the speaker’ s message than are some souls. To a divinely taught spirit nothing is so truly a desert as the crowded city. To him it is lonely, forbidding, sad, yet mightily attractive, awakening his tenderest compassions, calling forth his mightiest and most patient exertions. 2. Now that it has been done, we probably fall into the way of thinking that nothing was easier than for John the Baptist to preach to the Jews of the time of Herod, or for our Lord to open His mission to the same people, or for Paul to preach Christ at Corinth and Athens and Rome. How different the reality! Could any one of the inhabitants of these places have been consulted by God’ s messenger beforehand he would probably have said: “ Do you think that these cavilling, disputing doctors and philosophers will ever give credence to such stories as you bring? Do you think that these pleasure-loving people will ever wear the yoke of such an austere religion of self-sacrifice as you proclaim? Go home to your ordinary work again, and don’ t trouble yourself to speak a message which nobody will hear; or if you cannot be at peace unless you say something about it, then go into the desert and speak it to yourself and to nature; for your chances of succeeding will be as great there as anywhere.” Strange all this, yet more strange the fact that it is the wilderness and the solitary place which shall rejoice and be glad for the messenger of God who comes to prepare Messiah’ s way. The unlikely ground yields the harvest; they that are afar off come nigh. The voice in the wilderness is that of a herald announcing that a Greater One is on His way; be ye ready to receive Him. Widespread, radical, and lasting reformation was not achieved through the word of the Baptist; but such souls as could be prepared for the coming of the Lamb of God were aroused, called, separated from the hardened and worldly and unbelieving, and placed under discipline and teaching. From among their number our Lord chose His first disciples and chief apostles. Beyond the fringe of that little company which kept close to the Baptist something of good also was done. A wave of spiritual feeling passed over a great part of the nation; Jerusalem was greatly excited, if not savingly renewed. A general condition of desire was produced. 3. There are many advents of the Son of God, and for every one of them there is some forerunner, some voice crying in the wilderness: “ Prepare ye His way; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” The voice of some John the Baptist has gone ringing through the wilderness of a dead faith, of a formal worship, of a worldly life, and men have been startled into attention, have been made conscious of shortcomings and sins. And although God never ceases to work among men, yet we come on barren dreary years of history, a very desert, when the signs of the Divine working are not apparent. Then arises some John the Baptist, or a general sense of dissatisfaction pervades the Churches, a sense of shortcoming and of shame, and the obstructions to a Divine manifestation are swept out of the way. Hardly a decade passes now without a cry arising from the Churches themselves: “ Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.” Their conscience becomes increasingly quick and true; their ideal grows nobler; their conception of the Christian life assimilates to the standard given in the Word of God. And with attainment comes a longing for more, a sense of need, a craving for God. Then let us prepare His way, as we would that of a dear Friend whom we long to see, and whom we would not keep from us by any neglect or disrespect of ours. (J. P. Gledstone.)Prepare ye the way of the Lord I. GOD HAS MANY , AND THEY HAVE OFTEN LIFTED UP THEIR VOICE IN THE . Some speak with a voice of thunder to arouse a sleeping world. The doctrine of others distils as the dew. Some open new paths to the seekers after wisdom: to others it is given to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. Ever since man was driven from Eden he has been a wanderer in the desert. The thorn and the thistle around him are the emblems of the sin and the sorrow which spiritually mark his nomad state of existence. No wonder, then, that the wilderness is so often used as an emblem of this present life, in which you and I must listen to the voice of Heaven’ s messengers. We want more law work. Our consciences are too easily satisfied. Modern religion is far too superficial. The law prepares for the Gospel. The Comforter must first convince of sin. II. ISAIAH USES IT AS AN OF HIS OWN . He, too, living now probably in the idolatrous reign of Manasseh, felt himself in a spiritual desert. Yet by faith he sees afar off, and the seer is himself transported into that bright future. Already foreseeing the seventy years’ captivity of Judah, and then the joyful return of the exiles under the decree of Cyrus, Isaiah writes of these events as if himself living and acting among them. Yea more, he pictures the dawn of the day as ushered in by that return from Babylon. III. THE IS EASY TO THE TIMES OF THE MESSIAH, AND OF HIS HERALD, JOHN THE BAPTIST. The homely and heart-searching appeals of the Baptist proved him to be the pioneer of the righteous King. Before this wilderness preacher the mountains of Pharisaic pride were levelled, the valleys of Sadducean unbelief were filled up, the tortuous vices of the courtly Judaean were corrected, and the rude ignorance of the Galilean smoothed and reformed. IV. But even in this day THE WORDS HAD A WIDER . Not only the land of Israel, but the Gentile world, even “ all flesh,” was then being prepared “ to see the salvation of God.” The former was accomplished by John’ s own preaching; of the latter he was only the herald. Providential agencies were even then at work preparing Christ’ s way among the Gentiles. 1. At the time when our Saviour was born the knowledge of the Greek language had spread more widely throughout Asia and Europe than has since been the case with any other tongue. What a preparation was this for the spread of the Christian religion. We know that there is no greater harrier separating nations than a difference of language. But at the very period when Christianity began to be published it found one language generally read and understood from the Alps to the Caucasus; and so the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament could now travel, with the gospels and epistles, to the many provinces of the Roman Empire; for the valleys had been exalted, and the mountains and hills made low. 2. A second preparation designed by God’ s providence was--the extent of Roman dominion. The chief means employed by that great Empire for consolidating her possessions were her roads and her laws. (1) It was literally true that, owing to Roman dominion, both in Europe and Asia, the crooked had been made straight and the rough places plain. That sagacious people recognised the civilising power of good roads through their Empire just as we do now of railways in our Indian and other colonies. (2) It is the province of law to rectify abuses and remove difficulties: and to effect this among the nations Rome ever felt to be her mission. Wherever she planted her colonies she invited all people to share her privileges, and to dwell in safety under the aegis of her laws. Was not this, then, a moral via strata made for the spread of Christianity? V. HOW THIS SHEDS A LUSTRE ON THE WORLD’ S FUTURE. Once more in this wide desert “ the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,” and not “ one,” but “ all lands shall see it together.” Yes, He who ascended into heaven shall so come again. Are we ready for that day? Are we making others ready? I believe that every Christian should be as the “ voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” The true Church, in short, must remain in the desert until the mystic “ times” are fulfilled. She is to be “ the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” Meanwhile the voice of prophecy is given to cheer her amidst trial and disappointment. We labour for years to tunnel through the Alps: shall we not labour patiently to prepare the way of the Lord? (S. P. Jose, M. A.)Prepare ye the way of the Lord I. THERE ARE CERTAIN THINGS WHICH HINDER THE SPREAD OF THE ’ S KINGDOM, spoken of here as valleys, hills, etc. Heathenism abroad: ignorance and vice at home. Intemperance hinders the progress of God’ s kingdom on every hand. 1. Intemperance hinders the progress of God’ s kingdom at home. Our country is occupied by three armies--an army of paupers, an army of criminals, and an army of police, to stand between the vicious and the virtuous, and protect the latter from the assaults of the former. How is this? There is this huge evil established amongst us, which casts its dread shadow over everything that is lovely and of good report. Where, e.g., are the working men of England to be found to-day? Not in the house of prayer. In the case of many of them, they have no suitable clothes; but why is this? Because wages are low? Because trade is bad? I answer, because the money is carried to the public-house, and is thus worse than wasted. There are some who go many times, perhaps regularly, to the house of God, and yet are not saved. Why? The grand neutraliser of the Gospel is the habit of drinking intoxicating liquors. 2. It is also a hindrance to the spread of the Gospel abroad. (1) They tell us that we cannot, as Christians, take possession of the world, because we have not the means. Is it a truth that England, the richest land upon earth, made rich too by her Christianity, has done what she could for Him who redeemed her when she gives eightpence per head for the conversion of the world? Is it so? Alas! no; for while we have done this, we have spent £4 per head on strong drink. (2) They say the world is not converted because we have not the men--especially suitable men. How is this? There are men to be found for everything else. One reason is, that the drinking customs have done much to enervate the Church. Strong drink aims high. It aims at the men of active brain and warm heart. (3) Then there is the third reason--want of success. There are European barriers that are much stronger than heathenism and idolatry. The missionary tells us, over and over again, that he is far more afraid of English drinking than of native idolatry. II. IT IS THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO SWEEP THIS ENEMY AWAY. God has decreed that these mountains shall perish. 1. The Church can remove this mountain. Look at her power as a teacher. Are not the children of our country in her hands? Look at the political power which she possesses. Is there an election in which the Christian Church cannot turn the balance? She has not only the ordinary power which men have, but she has omnipotence at her command. 2. The Church must, if she would hold her own. If we are not assailing strong drink, it is assailing us. 3. The Church must, if she would please her Master. How are we to proceed? Abstinence first; then entire prohibition of the traffic. III. THE RESULT. (C. Garrett.)Preparing the way of the Lord I. THE ADVENT IMPLIED. “ Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” 1. The Lord here spoken of is doubtless the supreme Jehovah; and from the appropriation of the passage by inspired authority to Christ, I apprehend nothing less can be intended than to intimate that He who was coming was the true God and eternal Life. This was that Immanuel who was to bring in an everlasting righteousness, to redeem and restore the Israel of God, and accomplish salvation for all the ends of the earth. Let us, then, inquire, Is this interpretation of the passage justified by other scriptures, and especially by the event itself? Assuredly He came with all the signs and demonstrations of incarnate Deity. He Himself laid express claim to this high character, and most manifestly displayed the perfections which it involves. With these sublime views of His character agrees the testimony of all His inspired apostles. 2. The disciples of John were required to contemplate here the true Messiah coming to effect salvation, to fulfil all the promises made of old to their fathers. It is, therefore, of great interest and importance to ascertain what was involved in that character, and what was the work assigned Him to do. It is expressly declared that He came to do the will of God,--to magnify the law and make it honourable,--to render to it a perfect obedience, and make reconciliation for iniquity. 3. The way of the Lord to us must be understood of His approach to our consciences and hearts by His word and spirit. II. The charge to “ prepare the way of the Lord” implies that there ARE OR IN HIS WAY. 1. There is the pride and self-righteousness of the human heart, 2. The heart is by nature hard and impenitent, blinded to its own defects, and, even after the confession of them, unwilling to have them condemned or to give them up. 3. The state of human desires and affections presents other and formidable obstacles to the claims of the Lord. Their desires are low--their affections carnal. The poor grovelling heart must be raised to noble and exalted ends and aims. 4. In some there exists a mass of prejudice, and the truth of Christ is viewed under a false light, or through a perverting medium. They will not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, and they cannot enter therein. Some are prejudiced against the authority of revelation--some against the mysteries of godliness--some against the doctrines of grace or salvation by the merit of another; and many dislike the holiness, the self-denial, the separation from the world which Christianity inculcates. 5. Repentance is necessary to prepare the way; humility, to receive and learn the doctrine; prayer, to give it success in the heart; and watchfulness, to carry it out into practice. Every one who is himself a disciple of the Lord, has something to do in preparing the way of Christ in the earth. (G. Redford, LL. D.)The road maker (with Mattheew 3:3):--To the writers of the Gospel story this vivid expression seems to have commended itself as peculiarly applicable to the Baptist. He came heralding the speedy advent of the Messiah, and his life and ministry were a preparation for the greater life and more potent ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. In all essentials that task still remains to be performed. The modern road maker--the herald and hastener of a better and holier day--must be distinguished-- I. BY A SENSE OF THE EVIL OF THE PRESENT. The prophet was no blind optimist cherishing a foolish hope of a happier future because he did not see the abounding evils around him. He saw with clear, penetrating eyes the moral and spiritual degradation of his nation and day. He speaks of it, ay, and of the national evils which must issue from it--exile, defeat, the overthrow of their beautiful city. That is true of the prophetic band from first to last--from Elijah to John. The man who deliberately closes his eyes to the evils of his day, or seeing them minimises their importance, or in thought disguises them by some euphonious phrase, will never--let his life be prolonged to beyond the age of the patriarchs--prepare the way of the Lord. Too many of us live in an imaginary world as different as possible from the world of stern fact. The men who do most in their own generation to make a way for a better day in the future are usually the men who see clearly one wrong which needs righting, one obstacle which needs removing, one lie which needs refuting, and give themselves to the doing of that one thing--e.g., Wilberforce and slavery, Wesley and Evangelism, Cobden and Free Trade, Booth and the submerged tenth. One word of warning. To look fearlessly at the evils of your own day is not without danger. Not until that Voice which speaks of comfort through forgiveness has been heard and welcomed does the call come which bids hands and feet and active will prepare the way of the Lord. II. BY AN FAITH IN THE FUTURE. The road maker is an optimist because he is a man of faith. There is an optimism which is both foolish and unfounded. But if the optimist has first looked facts in the face, and then rises by sheer force of faith in God above all that contradicts his hope, his optimism is not a vice, but a shining and beneficent virtue. Such was this prophet’ s. So with John. He is certain, despite the manifold evils--moral and social--that afflict his people, that the day of the Lord sanointed will be a glorious day--a day of great things; and he speaks of it and of Him whose shoe-latchet he is not worthy to unloose with an unbounded faith. “ He must increase; I must decrease.” Note on what the road maker rests--not on man. “ All flesh is grass; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the Word of our God endureth for ever.” The people have God’ s Word; when all their human leaders have fallen, and every visible authority for God is taken away, this shall be their rally and their confidence. III. BY HIS TO SERVE OR SUFFER. So Isaiah: so John. No good cause but has exacted its toll of both from heroic hearts that have espoused it. (W. H. Williams.)Comfort for the afflicted Church I. THE DESIGN OF THIS is to speak peace and comfort to an afflicted Church. Not only to the Jewish Church under a temporal captivity, but to every Christian Church, and every faithful soul. 1. “ Every valley shall be exalted.” As the way St. John was sent to prepare by repentance was in the hearts of men, this must express some change to be wrought in those hearts. And what does it proclaim, but that humility is the way to glory? 2. “ Every mountain and hill shall be made low.” As the lowly and fruitful valleys represent the meek and pious servants of Christ, so do the lofty and barren mountains point out to us the haughty and unprofitable children of this world that oppose Him. 3. “ The crooked shall be made straight.” This is a most essential part in a highway, the end and intent of which is, to lead those who travel in it directly to the place and city where they would be. Man, at his creation, was placed in the straight way to heaven and happiness. Had he kept the eyes of his faith steadily fixed upon it, and walked directly on in the path of God’ s commandments, he had soon arrived at it. But he listened to the suggestions of the devil, who drew him out of it, pretending to show him a pleasanter and shorter road than that appointed. But no sooner was man a sinner than God was a Saviour. When the valley of humility is exalted by faith and the mountain of pride and self-sufficiency brought low in your hearts, the crooked shall instantly be made straight before you. 4. “ The rough places plain.” When the low ground is raised, the high levelled, and the whole marked out with a line and made straight, nothing remains but to clear away all obstructions. II. The words thus explained, what remains but that we APPLY THEM TO , FOR THE OF OUR ? (Bp. Horne.)Preparing the way of the Lord I. THE DUTY OF THE WAY OF THE LORD. 1. The herald. Allusion is here made to an ancient custom, according to which heralds were sent before to prepare the way for the monarch when he was about to march from one place to another. Christian ministers are the “ voice” of God “ crying in the wilderness.” The very circumstance of this voice being needed shows the disordered state of man by nature. It is not enough for ministers gently to remind men of their state and duty--they must “ cry.” Very many are the souls that need to be thus roused. 2. The scene of his labours--“ the wilderness.” This is highly descriptive of the state of men in every age. A wilderness, a desert, indeed, is this world, while void of God’ s grace; destitute of beauty, and unfruitful as to every good work. 3. What is the work to which the herald calls? As far as we have it in our power, we are to aid in removing whatever hinders the reception of Christ in the world. What is it hinders the reception of Christ in our own hearts? The success of the messenger will ever depend upon his looking up to the Lord. II. OUR . 1. Every difficulty, however formidable, shall be surmounted. For “ every valley shall be exalted,” etc. What are the difficulties which present themselves? In the work of salvation there are two leading classes of impediments. (1) Internal. These are in every heart. There is much anxiety and depression: we are ready to imagine there is no hope; here are the valleys to be exalted. Some are puffed up with conceit of their own merit, and will not come to Christ; here are mountains to be made low. There are some untractable, obstinate passions; here are the roughnesses which are to be made plain. Who is sufficient for all this? None but the Lord alone. (2) External. In introducing the Gospel among the heathen there are many difficulties. 2. There shall be an universal manifestation of the Divine glory. “ The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” There was a great manifestation of the Divine glory when Cyrus and the foes of the Church were made the instruments of delivering God’ s people from their captivity. Christians! this is not our work, or we should soon be dismayed. It is the way of the Lord. He is to work; He is to display His own glory. What tenderness and-condescension has God shown! 3. The certainty of all this. “ For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” When one promises who can fulfil our wishes, we have all the encouragement we can possibly need. In no blindness of mistaken zeal, in no rashness of enthusiasm, yet with all holy boldness, let us labour to prepare the way of the Lord. (W. Williams.)The King’ s highway I. VALLEYS MUST BE LEVELED UP. 1. Inattention. (1) If we attend not to the Gospel message we can neither realise its importance nor secure its benefits. (2) Those who absent themselves from the house of God are indifferently prepared for the coming of the Lord. (3) So those who while there allow their minds to wander upon their merchandise, pleasures, etc., are ill prepared for the coming of the King. 2. Apathy. (1) Thousands of professors of religion put forth little effort in the cause of God. (2) Begin with yourself. Make a stir among your neighbours. Begin now. 3. Despondency. (1) There are those who are so affected with a sense of their sinfulness that they fear to trust in Christ for salvation. (2) Some professors take a morbid, gloomy view of the work of God. II. MUST BE DOWN. 1. The mountain of pride must be reduced. (1) The pride that will not make full confession of sin. (2) The pride that will not receive the kingdom of heaven as a little child. (3) The pride of reason that will not accept salvation until its mysteries are comprehended. (4) The progress of Christ is also hindered by the worldly pride of professors. 2. The mountain of presumption must be depressed. (1) Sinners are presumptuous when, without forsaking their sins, they attempt to believe for salvation. (2) Professors are presumptuous when they expect the work of God to revive in the Church without exerting themselves to promote a revival. (3) While we work as though everything depended upon working, we must trust as though everything depended upon trusting. 3. The hills of ingratitude must be brought low. (1) Some are ostensibly so zealous for the conversion of sinners that they forget to thank God for the good He is bestowing. (2) There are others who will not rejoice when they hear good tidings of the work of God, because they are not themselves the subjects of that work. III. THE CROOKED PLACES MUST BE . 1. Prejudice. (1) Some object to the movements of the blessed Jesus because He comes too loudly. (2) Others complain because He comes too silently. (3) Some dislike them because “ publicans and harlots” are getting converted. (4) Others find fault because the work of grace takes hold upon the better classes. (5) And there are those who disparage the work of God among the children because they are too young. Nothing pleases crooked prejudice. 2. Jealousy. (1) It hears that sinners are converted, but is not pleased because the converts have joined other churches. (2) We may be anxious for the prosperity of God’ s work for party purposes. (3) How admirable was the spirit of Paul, who rejoiced that Christ was preached, no matter by whom! 3. Censoriousness. (1) None of us are so perfect that we can afford to be severely scrutinised. We should therefore endeavour to put the best construction upon each other’ s conduct. (2) We should be especially careful not to impeach good men with want of zeal for God because they differ from us in judgment as to the best way to promote His work. 4. Covetousness. (1) The acquisition of property is the one end for which some persons appear to exist. It is to no purpose to remind such persons that the world is perishing, and that the Church missions are languishing for want of funds (2) Can the God of benevolence bless a covetous Church? (3) The cure for covetousness is giving. IV. THE ROUGH PLACES MUST BE . 1. That ugly rock of Sabbath desecration must be removed. (1) God did not institute His day for our amusement. (2) It was not instituted to encourage idleness. It is separated from the toil of secular business. 2. That rut of drunkenness must be filled up. 3. Those sinks of immorality must be filled. Lying, cheating, oppression, uncleanness. 4. The rough places of instability must be smoothed. (1) Like the chameleon, which takes the colour of every object on which it rests, there are those who never remain the same person for four-and-twenty hours. Treating Church membership as a coat that might be put on or off at pleasure. (2) At one moment they are all in a flame, the next moment they are cold as ice. Sometimes they appear like the oak, at other times like the reed that is shaken with the wind. (3) In the Church they are one thing, in the world another. Yet are they the noisiest fault-finders against the quiet, steady, unostentatious workers. (F. W.Macdonald, M. A.)Preparing the way of the Lord (with Luke 3:10-14):-- I. (Isaiah 40:3-5). Our King has notified usthat He wants to encircle this world with His glory, and we are the pioneers to make way for His chariot. Let me indicate a few things about this work if you are going to make it a grand success. 1. There must be a willingness to undertake it. Indifference will kill the enterprise. Difficulties will appear; there must be courage and a cool head to guide a brave heart. Three things must be prominent-- (1) Regularity of effort. (2) A desire to find one’ s own particular work. (3) Surrender to the guidance of the Spirit. 2. There must be an appreciation of the importance of the work. If the King has given an order, there must be some reason for it; and when the carrying out of that order involves careful planning and difficult execution we must infer the importance of the result, and hence of the preparation. (1) Cutting down forests. What are the dead trees in the way? Apostate Christians. They lie right across the King’ s track, and He has to rein up until somebody removes them. What are the strong, sturdy, even luxuriant trees on the way? Worldly Christians. (2) Levelling the hills. Pride is a high hill. Unbelief is a considerable mountain. Criticism is a rocky mound. (3) Filling up the hollows. Oh, the deficiencies in the Church to make up! II. (Luke 3:10-14). Every pioneer of the coming King must observe these demands. 1. Generosity. A niggardly nature is too narrow quarters for the Lord to dwell in. 2. Justice. 3. Peaceableness. It was the soldier’ s duty to fight, but only when necessary, and only to secure peace. The ultimate aim of justifiable war is always peace. When you have got the way all prepared, you will find that it is-- (1) A highway for the King. (2) A way of blessing for His subjects. (3) A way beginning with a cross and ending with a crown. (W. H. G. Temple.)A great work requires preparation There is a lesson which man is taught in many ways, but which he is very slow to learn. It is the necessity of preparation before any great work can be taken in hand and brought to a prosperous end. Before men begin to build, they must dig the foundation. Before they reap the harvest they must sow the seed and prepare the soil. The truth is an elementary one and yet through neglect of it, many a good work has failed, many an earnest worker has despaired. And the greater and more lasting the work, the longer and deeper the preparation must be. Things which shoot up quickly, quickly pass away. A tree does not spring up in a night. A nation is not born in a day. History shows us the long period of conception, and the painful period of travail, before great ideas can be brought to the birth and great changes can be wrought in the political world. Geology again teaches us the countless number of the ages of preparation in which this earth was fitted to be the home of man. (F. Watson, M. A.)Preparation for the coming of Christ There is one event in the world’ s history which by every Christian must be admitted to be unique, alike in itself and in its consequences. The coming of God in the flesh, bringing life to a dying world, light to a dark world, peace to a world at enmity with God, may find its types and shadows, but it can find no parallels amongst other historical facts. There had been comings of great men, but never the coming of the great God. There had been revelations of truth, but now the Truth Himself was revealed. Great kingdoms had been set up quickly to pass away, but now the world-wide eternal kingdom was established. We may call it a crisis in history; indeed it was. It was the crisis, the turning-point in the history of the world, the turning-power in the history of each individual man. We may describe it in its results as a re-creation, but even that word is inadequate, unless it means much more than a restoration of the old creation to its original beauty and perfection. The preparation for this unique event, how can we exaggerate its importance! So much preparation was needed for any one of the ages; how much more for that which is described as the fulness of them all! So many agencies were set at work to fit this world to be the home of man; how can we overestimate the preliminary work by which men were prepared to be the home of God? (F. Watson, M. A.)The gnostic gospel It is well worthy of notice that almost the earliest heresy with which the Church battled was one which denied the reality of this preparation. A fundamental gnostic doctrine was the suddenness of the appearance of the Christ in human fashion. There was indeed a preparation, a development, so to speak, of the Supreme Being before He could stoop so low as earth. But there was no preparation of man for the reception of his God. Suddenly, at the time of His baptism, the Christ appeared in human form upon the earth. His human nature, or human body, if indeed it could be called human, had no previous history. It did not grow like ours. It could not trace its origin from the parents of the race like ours. It was an instrument which the heavenly Christ took to Himself for His work, and which He flung away when He had no further use for it. Thus teaching, the gnostics cut off the Christ from all the men before or after Him. They were not bone of His bone, or flesh of His flesh. Thus was denied all preparation of the human nature by which the Saviour of men worked. And the world into which He came, it also had not been prepared for His coming. If the supreme spiritual God bad in any way come in contact with this material world, it had been by accident; nay, rather by mishap. In this world of ours God had not been the king, and never could be king. With this human nature of ours, God had not been and never could be united. The Christ did not come to give this earth, in their fulness, truths of which He had already vouchsafed us foretastes, but He came to deprive us of a higher life, which had unawares come in contact with material bodies, and had been contaminated by them. Instead of light struggling with the darkness to subdue it, the gnostics imagined light struggling in the darkness to escape from it. If fuller light was revealed by their Christ, it was only that He might gather up the stray light lost from heaven and take it for ever away. This is the gnostic gospel. This is the gospel without the Old Testament. This is the gospel without preparation of the Man Christ or man’ s world. Not such the teaching of the Church. She has taught us to regard the history of the world as the unfolding of the great plan by which God would gather all nations and peoples to Himself. (F. Watson, M. A.)Preparation among the heathen for the reception of Christianity This preparation is not to be regarded as confined to the chosen people of Israel. It is true, “ Darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the peoples.” But even darkness, thick darkness, may be preparatory to light. It was so at the creation of the world. It is so in everyday experience. If we believe, as believe we must, that man was created with capacities for comprehending the light; if we believe that in his pure and unfallen state it was natural for him to love the light; if we believe that his higher nature is never wholly lost: then we must confess that the very darkness in its depth and grossness must have caused longings deep and vast. When men groped in the darkness, and missed their way, and felt they had missed it, they must have longed for the Day Star to arise and shine. They must have said, we were meant for something better than this. They must have hoped for happier times. “ They sat in darkness and the shadow of death, being fast bound in misery and iron. They fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.” He in whose heart a longing for better things has arisen, albeit that longing may be indefinite and ill-directed, has not been left unprepared for receiving a gift from God. (F. Watson, M. A.)Israel’ s preparation for the coming of Christ Beyond this general preparation of the nations there was also a special preparation of a particular people. We are entitled to argue this from the condition of that people when the Saviour appeared. You find that nation scattered all over the world; though in it, yet not of it. It was disliked and despised. It was persecuted and down-trodden. In most places it was a mere handful. In no place had it the supreme authority. Numbers, educated opinion, popular prejudice, and state power were all against it and its distinctiveness. Yet it was never crushed, and it was never absorbed; it never ceased to exert power and influence. Low as its fortunes then were, none of any nation were so proud of their history, none were more hopeful of their future. Indeed, it might be said, with some truth, that at that time the Jews alone had hope. The nations were groaning in their pains. Old institutions and old religions were worn out. Men’ s hearts were failing them for fear, and for looking for those things which were coming upon the earth. The Jews alone hoped for the coming of new and better times. The Jews alone thought that the pains they were suffering were not pains of dissolution, but birth-pangs, the pains followed by new life and fresh joy. (F. Watson, M. A.)Vox clamantis The note of all times that are progressive is a note of urgency, preparation, advance. (J. Parker, D. D.)The appealing “ voice” Sometimes there is nothing to instruct us but a “ voice.” We hear it, but cannot trace it. It is called the spirit of the times, the voice of the day, the genius of the hour. Sometimes it is personated in one man, one policy; at other times it is a diffused voice, coming, apparently to the ear, from all the points of the compass at once, but with singular unanimity, emphasis, truthfulness. It is never a voice of despair, or a tone that would cast the soul into dejection, but always like a clarion, or a chiming bell, or a father’ s call, or a soldier’ s resounding peal. (F. Watson, M. A.)Make straight in the desert a highway for our GodA highway in the wilderness We ought to read here, not “ the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” but rather, “ the voice of one crying, Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of the Lord.” Now, “ the voice of one crying in the wilderness” --if you read so--will have a sufficiently direct application to John Baptist and to few menbesides. But “ the voice of one crying, Prepare a highway in the wilderness,” is no more exclusively applicable to him than to John Calvin or John Knox or John Ruskin. It is applicable to everybody who does anything for the world, especially in its waste places and its worst places, in the way of improvement. It is applicable to Copernicus, Bacon, James Watt. Above all, it is applicable to Christ Himself. It is an anticipation of better and still better times for all mankind. 1. Does it matter at all to us who can have no hope of seeing it in our time, who have certainly, as it would seem, to live out our lives in a condition of things in which not so much the presence of improvement as the need of it is conspicuous? To this question, I think, there are two answers, both of which, for religious minds at any rate, have some weight. (1) Our idea of God, of a Divine order in the world, is very much our whole stock-in-trade in the matter of religion. The question with us, as regards religion, is, how much we can see of God in what is not God, and in what seems opposed to God? Is that which we see of Him, though it must be little, yet enough to give us feeling, emotion, to fill our minds, not with a thousand anxieties and alarms about things clean and unclean, but to fill them to overflowing with reverence, all that constitutes the mysterious life of a spirit conversing with that unutterable Spirit behind the veil? Second to this even, though of infinite importance, is the question whether we shall devour widows’ houses and for a pretence make long prayers, or meditate upon the Good Samaritan, and go and do likewise. It obviously, then, concerns very much our idea of God, our experience of Him, what we see or feel of Him, our stock-in-trade in the matter of religion, what notion we form and entertain of the future destiny of mankind We know that the past has not been all that could be wished. Plenty of desert in that backward view. Will the future be better? Evidently that is a matter which must go to shape our idea of God, of a Divine order of the world. This is to look at the whole instead of a small part, and form some conclusion or other about the whole. It does matter a good deal to us, therefore, though we are not to live to see it, that, if it is possible or right to entertain it, we should entertain the belief that the endless ages that are yet to come will exhibit the Divine order as beneficent and beautiful in a way in which past ages and our own age have had scanty experience of it. (2) Another answer to the question, What does it matter to us what the future of mankind may be? is obviously this: It is not so much a duty as an instinct for man to live for posterity. We are all of one stock. With reference to this instinct and this satisfaction, the case is plain as regards the future being other and better than the past or the present. We have all something to do, and can do something for posterity. We have the conviction or the hope in doing this, that it is not going to be in vain. 2. “ Prepare ye in the wilderness a highway for our God.” In this, possibly, rather than in any other form, there comes the Divine call to those in every age, and especially in this age, to whom the Divine order is most of a reality and a power. Personal piety--you must have that, say the professors of ecclesiastical pedagogy--before entering upon this or that work, It is quite true: personal piety you must have to be fit to live, not to say to teach others or help others to live well. But if you have piety enough to have any satisfaction in helping to leave the world a little better than you have found it, then that is enough of a qualification and commission for taking part in work which will occupy your whole life. This general view of the Divine order and of the demands which it makes upon those who are most conscious of the reality of it suggests one or two reflections. (1) In regard to the fulfilment of the Divine order, it often happens that, while weaker agencies at work in forwarding it are recognised, greater ones, even the greatest of all, escape notice. Since the Divine order is not always clear, it must often happen, in the case of lives of good men and even great men devoted to the advancement of it, that efforts to advance it have other results than those who made them contemplated--great results which they did not expect, no results where they expected great results. (2) As it is often not the mightier but the weaker agencies at work in furthering the Divine order that are recognised and appreciated, so in the case of men who are more or less consciously devoted to the advancement of it, there is often a failure of insight; and they are found working for issues which they did not anticipate, both in the way of failure and in the way of success. In regard to the Divine order embracing the life of all that is, has been, shall be, the clearest sighted of mankind see through a glass darkly. Constantine was agreed that the triumph of the Christian faith was assured by his making it the religion of the State, though John Wesley had afterwards some reason, in his time, for thinking perhaps that more harm was done to it by that event than by all the Christian persecutions. The Christian world, all but a small part of it, was certain that the devil had broken loose in the Reformation in Germany, and few people who heard it did not devoutly believe that Luther’ s mother was a witch. John Baptist himself is not so remarkable for what he knew as for what he did not know of his own life-work and its effects. I mean, as regards the eternal order, in which he was no doubt a devout and a brave believer. As a forerunner he was nothing of a foreseer. Not only are the greater agencies at work in furthering the Divine order least recognised among the mass of men, but even among choice spirits devoted to the furthering of that order, misunderstanding as to the results of their own activity and the activity of others is more common than insight. Thus stands the case as regards one class of agencies at work in furthering the Divine order. That which is valued in regard to it is the old ecclesiastical machinery, creak and groan and rattle as it may. In the meantime, discredited to some extent by its association with enlightenment not always orthodox, the spirit of humanity enters from the outside into the religious world, to the creation of new social conditions for whole communities. (3) What promise there is in this of a better era both for the Church and for the world is better seen as yet by the world, perhaps, than by the Church. The importance of the fact cannot at any rate be overrated. Nothing is so common in religious circles, among good people, as lamentation. The good old times of religion are no more. That is their complaint. (4) In the meantime, religious people who are so much disposed to complain of the good old times passing away are helping to prepare for times infinitely better than the good old times, in ways of which they are as far as possible from conceiving. They are deepening dissatisfaction with the life, even the religious life of the day, by their lamentations. That is one thing--a negative sort of thing. More positive is the effect of their keeping in their own view and that of others a certain high ideal of life, though it be not the highest of all. (J. Service, D. D.)Christ requires a straight road The King’ s chariot is coming; you must fill up the ravines and level down the hill,. He will not accommodate His chariot to the tortuous lines of your life. If the Lord Jesus Christ is coming into your soul, He is not going to follow the crooked ways of your iniquitous conduct. You have got to make a straight road for Him. (A. T.Pierson, D. D.) Isaiah 40:4-5 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low Christianity an essential element in true civilisation I. THE WORLD IS STILL FULL OF THINGS NEEDING TO BE SET . So far as the economy of our earth is concerned a period of confusion has immediately preceded the establishment of Divine order. Chaos preceded Paradise. Egyptian bondage was the precursor of the exodus, which was the beginning of a national life Divinely ruled. Judaism was at its worst and Paganism in its most corrupt condition when the voice of the preacher of righteousness was heard, preparing the way of the Lord. Isaiah here compares the social and religious condition of a people awaiting a revelation of Divine glory to the condition of a country, barren as a desert, and impassable by reason of mountains and valleys; and the preparation of a highway amongst these physical obstacles represents the exaltation of what is base and the abasement of some things that are high in human life before the coming revelation of God. Around us here in England, as well as in those foreign countries to which missionary enterprise addresses itself, is a wilderness, in which what is good cannot and does not grow. The bodily and moral degradation of some of our own people, if it were revealed in all its nakedness, would startle the Church from its stately propriety. A “ wilderness” is a fit emblem of a large section of our own population. Yet in this land we have had the Gospel for centuries. How much more, then, do the heathen want and deserve your sympathy! Another phrase in our text, which speaks of “ valleys,” may remind us further of depths in our social life in which corruption hides. Meanwhile pride covers us, as with a garment. We talk of “ the progress of the age,” we boast ourselves of our achievements and discoveries. There are “ mountains” of pride to be brought down, as well as valleys of degradation to be exalted. And how many “ crooked” things are yet to be made straight! What distortions of truth are yet to be found in England, as well as elsewhere! The orderliness of Divine progress in the natural world is a truth so contorted that some argue from it that all things seen were originally made of things that do appear, and chat there was no Divine Creator in whom they found their origin. The mercifulness of God is used as an argument against the possibility of punishment for sin. II. THE WORLD IS NOT THE BETTER FOR THE HUMAN OF WHICH THE CENTURY IS SO . Much of the misery of modern life is due to the fact that moral and religious advance has not kept pace with mechanical advance, and our danger is lest developed mechanism should be to our age what a complicated and resistless machine would be in the hands of a child who knows not the ends for which it is designed. Trains and steamers carry us over land and sea with a swiftness which, to our grandfathers, would have seemed incredible. Our daily bread is often the product of labour done in the far-off fertile fields of California. There has been a literal fulfilment of these words, which speak of conquering mountains and valleys, and overleaping all obstacles, such as Isaiah never dreamed of. But the question is fairly asked, Are we the better for all this? Are we wiser, are we happier, are we nobler, are we more Christ-like, than our fathers were? We have greater appliances than our fathers, but it may be fairly doubted whether we surpass them either in capacity or in enjoyment. When you go for a holiday you can rush up the Rhine, through Switzerland, and back across France in a fortnight, but probably, in a dozen journeys of that sort you see far less than poor Oliver Goldsmith did when, with a fife as his companion, he trudged along the highways of Europe. Scientific instruments are marvellous in power and in accuracy, but scientific men have not advanced in genius beyond Newton or Herschel. Music is heard on every hand; but it is not better than the music of Handel, or of Bach, or of Haydn. In short, we have not a higher life because we have higher material appliances, and you and I are not one whit the nobler men because we can read all the news of the world in a penny paper, and transact our business with the other ends of the earth in a few hours. What do we all gain if, in covering our land with factories and steam engines, we are covering it also with want and wretchedness? In spite of all scientific discoveries and mechanical appliances, it is evident that the world wants something more than these can give. It wants freedom from its sins, and a Redeemer who can set it free. It wants love amidst its cruelties, and rest amid its weariness. III. THE WORLD MOST OF ALL A OF THE GLORY OF GOD. Many say, “ Let our trade and our railways and all our conveniences first find entrance to a heathen land, and then the people there will be prepared for the Gospel.” A grosser delusion could hardly be promulgated. Our own social condition might show its fallacy, and experiment in heathen lands has confirmed it. When this so-called “ civilisation” has preceded Christianity, idolaters have become atheists, and their last state worse than their first. The great object we Christians are to keep in view, in all our achievements, is that “ the glory of God” may be revealed--not the glory of man, nor of a society, nor of a sect, but the glory of God. As a king, a man finds his glory in the contentment of his people; as a father, a man finds his glory in the well-being of his children; and so the great King and Father of us all finds His “ glory” in our contentment and well-being. And how can that be brought about? It is by the work and words of those who speak “ comfortably” to the sinners, who proclaim a reconciled God revealed in Jesus Christ. IV. GOD IS LOOKING TO THE CHURCH TO BRING ABOUT THIS CHANGE. He is addressing His people here, and, instead of saying “ I will comfort,” He says “ Comfort ye.” No angel messengers now wing their flight from heaven to announce the glad tidings of great joy. The message has been entrusted to us. Let us have patience, though the results of our work at home and abroad seem sparse and small. The upraising of valleys and the levelling of mountains is no child’ s play, even in the physical world, and it is harder still in the spiritual realm. When we remember the cost at which some modern discoveries were won, and see the patience and skill and risk which accompany the driving of tunnels through mountains, or under the sea, we are ashamed of the ease with which Christians give way to disheartenment. In preparing the highway here spoken of we must work on the plan the Norwegians adopt for keeping up their roads. Each occupier of land, in proportion to his acreage, has his own allotted portion of road to maintain, and for that he is responsible. So, in proportion to your capacities and opportunities, you have your work to do--in your home, in your class, in your sphere of thought or activity, and from that responsibility none can release you. (A. Rowland, B. A.)The prospects of the Church I. SOME OF THE MOST TO THE AND OF TRUE AND THE OF THEIR REMOVAL. 1. The defective character of personal religion. There are many features of the Christian character scarcely ever brought out to public view; and others whose nature is so misapprehended as to lead to a misshapen exhibition of the spirit and precepts of the Gospel of Christ. Have you never been pained when at the close of the day you have endeavoured to ascertain the character of your thoughts, feelings, and actions? Have you never been surprised at the moral personage who has presented himself to your view at such seasons? There is much of secularity mingled with the religion that prevails. What has religion done for us if it has not so elevated the tone and order of our feelings as to render us indifferent to the pleasures of sin? As a natural consequence of this defective piety much is withheld from the service of God. There is so much of self mingled[with our religious engagements. The purposes of God embrace the agency and co-operation of man. If, then, the piety of the Church be defective, if the body that acts for God be enfeebled by disease, or misguided in its operations, how fatally must its efficiency be counteracted! But assuredly an end will be put to this state of things, for “ every valley shall be exalted,” etc. 2. The division and animosities amongst Christians. A sectarian character has thus been given to the Church, a fictitious and morbid zeal has been engendered, and those resources which ought to have been expended in the evangelisation of the world have, on many occasions, been laid out for party and sinister purposes. 3. The connection that subsists between religion and State politics. The Christianity that has been patronised by the State--that has been adopted as the stepping-stone to emolument and power, this has been mistaken for the religion of the Bible. II. THE RESULTS WHICH THE PROPHET AS UPON THE REMOVAL OF THESE . “ The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Nothing can be more inspiring than this prospect. If it is gratifying to see the boundaries of science enlarged, or the elements of human happiness increased; if the political resurrection of a nation inspires us with joy; if it invigorates our hearts to see the spirit of an age awakening from its slumber and preparing itself for wise and virtuous action, what should be the emotion of our hearts in contemplating such a consummation as is represented in my text? It is not the mere promise of an approaching good by which the prophet here seeks to inspire our mind. It contains the elements of all conceivable happiness. It will embody and secure to the inhabitants of our world the highest enjoyment of which their nature is susceptible. The glory of God has hitherto been but partially unveiled. The sun is still behind the cloud, and a shadow is in consequence thrown on our path. But when the piety of the Church shall be freed from its present stains, when her divisions are healed, then shall she arise and shine, for her light will have come, and the glory of the Lord will be risen upon her. But we are informed that” all flesh shall see it “ together.” The Evangelist slightly,, varies the latter part of the prophecy--“ All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” As yet the salvation of God is known to but a limited portion of the world. But the salvation of God all are yet destined to see. (T. Price.)The levelling force of Christianity There are and ever have been in the soul of society opinions, prejudices, feelings, conventional notions which, like mountains and valleys, have separated men into classes, and prevented the free-flowing interchange of soul. Those mountains rear their frowning heads and throw their chilling shadows in every district of society. Those valleys yawn everywhere, and form an impassable gulf between the brothers on either side. Christianity has a power to remove those mountains, fill up the valleys, etc. How does Christianity do this? In two ways-- I. BY THE TRUTHS WHICH IT REVEALS. 1. A common God. 2. A common nature. 3. A common obligation. 4. A common depravity. 5. A common salvation. II. BY THE SPIRIT WHICH IT . The spirit which Christianity generates in the human soul is such that raises a man above all those prejudices of the heart and conventionalities of life that divide men. What is the spirit? It is a spirit that has supreme regard to three things-- 1. The spiritual in man. 2. The right in conduct. 3. The eternal in destiny. The socially levelling force of Christianity, however, does not involve spoliation. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The crooked shall be made straightThe prophet and the picturesque There is much in us which would instinctively resent and repudiate this ideal that he has put before us. Take, for instance, that sensitive faculty in our century receiving so peculiar and overwhelming a development, the sense of the picturesque. The words of my text break in with a very surprising emphasis. This vehemence of the prophet clashes with all the primary instincts of this sentiment of ours. Mountains flattened out, valleys filled in, highways levelled from end to end, every broken piece of rough ground repaired, every turn and twist in the path straightened--what a picture to portray with such rapturous enthusiasm! Could any result be more deplorable? It is the very murder of the picturesque! The picturesque asks only that the mountains should rise yet higher, be more pathless, more craggy, more perilous; that they should be torn by glaciers and scoured by avalanches and wasted by storms and bemoaned by winds, and be aghast with lonely desolation--that is what it prefers, that is what excites it,--and the valleys shall plunge yet deeper, more gloomy vaults, sunless, with hoarse torrents buried in awful black gulfs and roaming along in anger out of sight. There should be no roads if possible; at least, never level or straight for two yards together; and there should be cliffs that are frowning and overhanging and ruinous and threatening, and high and fierce and solitary rocks. Everything should be rough, everything should be crooked, for the sake of the picturesque! (Canon H. Scott-Holland, M. A.)Picturesque abuses In this contrast between the prophet and the picturesque is there nothing but of a light or superficial nature, nothing serious? I doubt it. The prophet’ s thunderous intensity brings our sentiment to a check just at the point where it is apt to pervert the moral judgment. Where is that? At the point where it helps to blind us to the actual life, the actual needs and necessities of a living present. The feeling for the picturesque belongs always to those who are outside the object of their admiration. They are looking on as unconcerned spectators. That which they observe lies wholly outside their own living, personal experience, and that is why it touches them and startles them, and pleases because it startles. It is so odd, so unexpected, so dreamy, so old. That is the sentiment bred in tourists, in passengers tarrying the day, gazing from without at a scene, unaffected by its sorrows, aloof from its inner reality. We like these strange, huddled, dirty streets, and these swarming beggars, and these crumbling walls, and these crooked alleys, and all the oddities of decay, and all the quaintness of the obsolete. Abuses, so long as they do not hurt us, are much more picturesque than their remedies. In this mood what serious blunders we have made abroad--offences against our best English self, for the native English have a love for liberty, for a free people. How much has our love for the picturesque killed our sympathy for freedom in Rome or in Venice, shall we say? This error which we make again and again abroad is very apt to repeat itself here at home; for those who have leisure to enjoy the picturesque are bound, of course, to have already reached some comfort themselves, some security of position. That thatched cottage in the dell, in the hollow of the wood, could anything be more engaging? We have sketched it again and again. It is very damp, and those colours on it that we like so, the greens and the yellows, reveal the dampness. It is buried under the trees, it stands on soppy ground, and there is no drainage; there is a cesspool behind. But how raw the new brick four-roomed house would look without an offence in our rustic nook! There is a great deal more of this among us comfortable and educated people than we are at all aware of. It acts as a dead weight on us, it counteracts the force of our reforming zeal. We should never for one moment dream of letting the picturesqueness stand in our way if we had to sink into consumption through the damp or die of typhoid in some undrained, old-fashioned street; but somehow it puts in its plea with us with far greater power when others are concerned, and we are but spectators. It is against all this that the prophet’ s zeal thunders. The picturesque may rightly widen our sympathies for the past; it may plead for gentle handling of what is so fair in the deposits of the past, it may rightly prompt us to do oar very utmost to save what is beautiful and natural from cruel, hideous misuse by commercial greed, but there is one supreme law which it never must gainsay, the law which is uttered in the cry of the recovered king, Hezekiah, when he recovered from his sickness: “ Death cannot celebrate Thee. The living shall praise Thee, as I do this day.” (Canon H. Scott-Holland, M. A.)Redemptive growth Since the cloud and curse of sin, all this growth of ours, which is our life, is remedial, corrective, redemptive. It is won through strife over wrong, through struggling out of evil, and always, therefore, it must witness to its vitality by straightening the crooked, by making the rough places plain. It must always testify to its life. Always it must be bettering bad highways. It must be abasing mountains that obstruct and daunt. It must be filling up valleys that cramp and choke and darken. That is the necessity, the necessity of clearing the way for free motion towards a better day. But, again, even from inside this growing life, even after we have torn ourselves out of the ranks of unconcerned spectators and irresponsible tourists, and have thrown ourselves with heart and hope into this remedial work, and are keenly striving to bring the crooked straight and to loosen the terrible burden of wrong; even then this old perplexity and trouble will recur, and recur in a subtler and much deeper form. Perhaps in the very midst of our reforming zeal there will suddenly come a thought, a sight crossing our mind of all our hopes achieved. The crooked, now so cruelly wrong or disastrously distorted, has at last been made perfectly straight. What then? Are we better off? What a poor, stale, stupid place this world will have become. All wrongs redressed, all blunders rectified, all inequalities levelled; everybody on the same platform, decent, snug, comfortable--a dull, unbroken mass of average respect-abilities. Comfort for the comfortless--it was for that that we had hungered and toiled. But the comfortable! Look at those who have already attained it. Are they so encouraging a prospect? What if all were as they? After all, moral character is our sole aim; and will character have lost or gained when our efforts have succeeded? Where is character found now? we say. Is it found amid the comfortable? Hardly. Is it not always won through suffering, strife, anguish? Those rare simplicities of the poor, those generosities, those devotions--are they not worth all the smugger virtues? Would they not have vanished in a world where there was nothing crooked, no high lights and no dark shadows, no ups and downs? Perhaps we take up some industrial Utopia, some book like “ Looking Backward,” and as we read we are chilled to the marrow. There is a dull recoil. How utterly repugnant; how fiat and stale and unprofitable! All that makes humanity dear and pathetic and glorious gone, died out! “ No room in such a world,” we say, “ for high adventures, shining heroisms; no trumpet calls, no splendid risks, no holy indignation, no exaltation of sacrifice, no prophetic passion. Democratic equality has levelled all the roads straight as dies. They run between their kerbstones. All is smooth, orderly, equitable, and there is no material there for art, none for music. Where shall we seek for Schubert’ s songs that float like dreams? “ They were won,” we say, “ by his tears.” And where will be our Hamlets and our Lears in the romance? How will man ever display his higher capacities except through pain and struggle and sorrow? Yet those are the very conditions that we are labouring to deny him. Alas! our hearts sink, our imagination protests, our hopes flag, and the glowing passion of the prophet, as it catches sight of the very fulfilment of its dream, dies away in the wail of the preacher, “ Vanity, vanity, even this is vanity.” (Canon H. Scott-Holland, M. A.)No fear of Utopia We have invented a terror for ourselves. We need not be the least afraid. These visions of the future deceive us by suggesting a finality at which man will have arrived. These Utopias are just what will not be true. That is just what we are quite certain will never occur while this present age endures. The one thing that we know of the future is that it will not be like that, for we know that at each moment of his earthly career, until his Lord Jesus comes again to make earth and heaven anew, man will be found warring as a soldier--a pilgrim pressing on towards eternity with mountains still towering ahead, dark with unknown destiny, with valleys into which he must plunge, and moaning with perils through which he must dare his way; with tough tasks still set him to achieve; with nerves, therefore, still strung and prophet voices calling and eyes strained forward into the night, and loins girt, and heart on fire, and foes to fight, and deaths to die, and victories to win. But you will say, “ Is that a very encouraging message? Why waste our efforts, then, in struggling to set things right if the crooked will never be straight, if the high road will never be levelled? Why grind at smoothing down our present hills if always there will be fresh mountains beyond?” Just because man is, in essence, a pilgrim, a soldier, a servant of Jesus crucified, and it is his very life to bring this to the front. He discovers himself in and through this struggle and pilgrimage, through the strain of the war. That is his mission in which he proves his courage and his nerve. Unless he is always correcting evil, unless he is always battling down wrongs, he is not himself, and he knows not of what spirit he is made. What the particular wrong may be which he is called upon to redress at this moment, or at that, is determined for him by the conditions of history, by God Himself, for God is in history-He directs, He allots, He distributes the task to man--there is a design clearly disclosed. One by one, God brings up to men the difficulties, the obstructions that He would have them encounter. Our forefathers had their own fight to fight, and they fought it. They were tested and proved in other ways. One fight at a time! They fought for liberty, they fought for free speech; they could not attend to underlying poverty. Now their part is played, their mountains are brought low, and their crooked things are made straight, and therefore there is time and opportunity for something else. There is another task for us, another test applied. We are not to enjoy what our fathers put straight without doing our own part to bend the crooked into line, to make rough places plain. (Canon H. Scott-Holland, M. A.)The battle for to-day Since God is in history, there is continuity in our pilgrimage, and there is purpose. The old wars, by healing some wrongs, prepared opportunities for new efforts. There is advance, after all, along this- highway, -however much there is still always a rough place just ahead, a cruel corner to put straight. We are farther along. There are wrongs righted and thrown behind us, and therefore the nearer we draw to the end. Enough for us that we know the spot on the road at which we stand, that we know what are the crooked things which it is our own special task to set straight. Let us look at them and leave the rest to God. Who can doubt at what spot on the road we stand to-day? Those crooked things on which the light of God has been turned in our day-there they are; we know them and we see them--the commercial pressure that falls on the weak, and that breaks and spoils the humanity under it, manhood, womanhood, home, joy; the heartless mechanism of an impersonal economic system which crunches the aged, the women, the children; the sorrows of those who labour on without any hope of reaching an end of their labour; men and women, jaded, bruised, disfigured, always under-fed, invalided by penury, unqualified for work, unfit for what they do; men and women tossed to and fro by blind tides of fluctuating markets over which they have no control; men and women accumulated in hordes, unsheperded and unregarded in squalid tenements, in sordid and mean dishonour, living environed by disease, born into a world too masterful for their infirmities, sustained at the edge of starvation by a competition that never improves them and yet never eliminates them, drawn under by demands which they are helpless to fulfil, bruised and damaged in trying to meet them. No one anticipated that our industries would create them or sustain in existence classes of this type. They are the signals of some defect in our system, of some perversion, of some disease,, of some disaster--that something that meant well enough has gone crooked, that the machinery of our civilisation is out of gear. We have got out of the track. That much is plain. Therefore a responsibility is laid upon us; a thing has got to be done. (Canon H. Scott-Holland, M. A.)And the rough places plain--The rough places made plain I. We may take this to be, in outline, THE OF GOD’ S WORK WITH OUR WORLD AND WITH MANKIND, AS A FOR THE FUTURE. It is the voice of history, of nature, of science, of revelation. The present is a preparation for the future, as the past was a preparation for the present, and as the future will be a preparation for a still coming and greater future. We know the history of religion; how slow its progress--how for centuries it was only successful in casting down obstacles, and preparing the hearts of men for the entrance of a faith which was worthy of its Author. It required not the labours of one prophet like John only, but the labours of many generations of prophets, to prepare for the advent of Jesus Christ. Religion passed through numerous forms before it arrived at that form which Christ gave it. And as this was the work of God in the religious thought and life of man, so was it the work of God in the world. The kingdom of heaven did not come until the world was in a measure ready for it. II. So we may say that this is AN INDEX TO THE COURSE OF HIS IN EVERY AGE AND COUNTRY. This lesson may be learned--that in all cases the spiritual is above the material; and that all progress and improvement in the material world are but means to an end, and are intended to serve far higher interests. All these benefits of rapid intelligence, of conveniences, of comforts, are but the removal of hindrances out of the way of the progress of what is spiritual and Divine. If they leave men devoid of better aims--if they leave us selfish, earthly, false--they are no blessings after all! If we use the gifts of nature and invention and discovery merely to attain our own ends, and if there is no growth of the spirit of truth and charity, we have gained nothing: we have merely added to our former powers the power to increase our selfishness. But such is not the use for which these new acquisitions are designed. If there are more facilities for reaching the human mind by thought and speech or writing, all the more carefully ought everyone who has influence over his fellows to see that that influence is wholesome, and not hurtful. The material is the servant of the spiritual. What John the Baptist was to Christ, such is all the world to the Christ. All nature was a preparation for Him, all knowledge, all discovery. The world did not see this at the time; but the fact is true for all that. People say that the growth of human wisdom and the increase of human blessings are adverse to the Gospel; but on looking back on history we see that all these things were in the hands of God, and were all made to prepare the way for the kingdom of God. So it is, and so ought it ever to be. III. THE OF IN MAKING THE PATH TO EASIER. IV. THIS IS OUR WORK AS IN THE WORLD AND FOR THE WORLD. This is part of our task for those who are finding the road to goodness and right living hard and rough. Each of us has something in his power to prepare the way for the kingdom of God in the lives and hearts of others. To many, the difficulties of a right life are very great, and it is no easy task for them to carry it out. Everything is against them: training, circumstances, companions, habits. From their youngest years they have been familiar with evil. It comes to them naturally to deceive, to lie, to do all manner of misdeeds. How can such a youth ever open into a manhood of worth or goodness? He must be helped by education, by guidance, by living examples of affection and well-doing. Christian society, the Church, must come to his aid. And what is all this but doing the work of Christ, the work of prophets and evangelists, the work of the Gospel, preparing a highway, helping those who cannot walk, making the rough places plain, making it easier for a man to stand in goodness and truth? After all is done, however, both for nations and individuals, there will be difficulties to overcome. You can never for yourselves, or for those whom you most love, so arrange things that all personal need for care and effort shall cease. There will be for every man the cross to carry, and for many men the thorn to trouble them. (A. Watson, D. D.)Rough places I. ROUGH PLACES. 1. In general human history. 2. In individual human life. II. ROUGH PLACES MADE PLAIN. 1. The supreme power of Jesus Christ. 2. The supreme power of Jesus Christ used for the advantage of mankind. 3. The advantage of mankind identified with the coming kingdom of Jesus Christ. III. THE AND BLESSED FUTURE OF THE WORLD. Christianity is good news. Inequalities are to be rectified. Relations are to be adjusted. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 40:5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed The revelation of God’ s glory From this animating prophecy we may consider-- I. THE GLORY OF THE LORD. When Isaiah was favoured with the Divine vision the angels sang, “ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” Another inspired writer observes, “ The heavens declare the glory of God.” In the display of this glory God “ hath clothed Himself with light as with a garment” ; and hath peculiarly manifested it in those two grand events, the creation and redemption of the world. Hence the glad tidings are emphatically called “ the glorious Gospel” ; and the spiritual instruction of the Gospel is called “ the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” This plan of redemption is the arena of heaven, into which the angels “ desire to look.” It is the rich assemblage of love and mercy, justice and faithfulness, truth and goodness. II. THE OF THE GLORY OF THE LORD. The dispensation under which God revealed Himself to our first parents is commonly called the Covenant of Works. The condition required was perfect obedience. By the sin of Adam and Eve this covenant was broken, and “ judgment passed on all to condemnation.” The glory of the Lord shone round about our offending parents when the very sentence of condemnation was associated with an intimation of mercy. The glory of the Lord was first revealed in the promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent. As generations succeeded, it pleased the most High God gradually to reveal larger discoveries of this sovereign remedy of human woe. In the days of Abraham the promise of mercy was repeated (Galatians 3:8; Galatians 3:17). The inspired compositions of King David more explicitly unfolded the Divine glory in the redemption of sinners. The grand accomplishment of the words of our text was reserved for the personal appearance of the Son of God. III. THE EXTENT OF THIS . “ All flesh shall see it together.” At the period of this prophecy the earth was full of darkness and habitations of cruelty. The light of Israel was, comparatively, but as the light of a taper. The space which it illuminated was contracted. The glory of the Lord to be revealed under the Christian dispensation was to resemble the sun in the firmament: it was to shine for all kingdoms, nations, and languages under heaven. It was to be “ a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of God’ s people, Israel.” The aspect of the present times encourages us to hope that the day is rapidly advancing when “ all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” IV. THE GLORY OF THIS IS BY ITS . 1. “ For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (2 Timothy 1:9; Psalms 2:7-8; Isaiah 49:5-6; Isaiah 42:6; John 10:16; John 12:32). V. THE DUTY OF IN ORDER TO PROMOTE THE OF THIS GLORY. 1. Doth any one ask, “ Where is the authority for missionary exertions?” It stands upon the authority of the Most High God. 2. The duty is great, as you regard the exceeding great love of the Lord Jesus Christ. 3. The duty is great, as you consider the personal obligation which you yourselves are under to missionary societies. 4. The duty is great, as God, in His bounty, hath entrusted you with talents to promote this charitable work. (Basil Wood, M. A.)The glory of the King The august manifestation promised. I. AS TO ITS NATURE. 1. It is the King Messiah in person. (1) The historical allusion is to the Shechinah. (2) But prophetically it is applied to Christ. Jewish expositors apply it to Messiah. It follows, then, that-- 2. The Shechinah was a type of Christ. (1) It was an undoubted symbol of Divinity. It was the medium in which it pleased God to reveal Himself in ancient times. The complement of such a symbol must needs be a Divine person. The type cannot be grander than the antitype. (2) It was a standing miracle. In it vapour and fire were miraculously supported in union. It is therefore called the “ support of cloud and fire.” “ Pillar” is an unfortunate translation of the Hebrew. A luminous canopy extending over London in its whole extent could scarcely be called a pillar. But the nation of Israel, whether in encampment or on march, could scarcely occupy less space. This miracle would set forth the wonderful union of the Godhead and manhood in the person of Christ. (3) But further, on more nearly considering the Shechinah, it was found to enshrine a beatified human form. This is distinguished as the “ similitude of Jehovah” (Exodus 24:10-11; Numbers 12:8; Isaiah 6:1-5;Ezekiel 1:26). This very thing is seen in the holy mount, only that the true humanity of Jesus transfigured is itself the similitude. Behold, then, the “ Image of the Invisible God” ; the “ brightness of His glory and the express image of His person.” (4) In this character Messiah will come when in full form He appears as the Daniel 7:13; Matthew 24:30; Matthew 26:64; Acts 1:11; Revelation 1:7). 3. Meanwhile Christ reveals Himself in His Spirit. He displays-- (1) The glory of His wisdom. (2) The glory of His power. (3) The glory of mercy, justice, and holiness in His method of pardoning and saving sinners. II. AS TO ITS EXTENT. “ All flesh shall see it together.” 1. This term includes the Jew. The day is coming when “ all Israel shall be saved” --when the nation shall become Christian. 2. It also comprehends the Gentile. (1) Presage of the calling of the Gentiles was given when the Magi Worshipped at Bethlehem. (2) Further presage was given when Jesus, though “ sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” nevertheless opened His ministry in “ Galilee of the Gentiles” (Matthew 4:12-16). (3) It was also presaged in incidents of His ministry. The healing of the centurion’ s servant. The preaching to the Samaritans (John 4:39; John 4:42). The healing of the Canaanite’ s daughter (Matthew 15:11-28). 3. The grand fulfilment is future. (1) As yet “ all flesh” have not seen the glory of the Lord. Certainly all flesh have not seen it “ together.” (2) But this shall be. (3) Distinctions of Jew and Gentile will merge in the universal blaze of the glory of Christ. III. AS TO ITS . “ The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” 1. The Lord can do it. 2. He will do it. (1) His honour is pledged. (3) His existence is pledged. (3) “ He cannot deny Himself.” “ The Scripture cannot be broken.” 3. Are we prepared to meet Christ? (J. A. Macdonald, M. A.) Isaiah 40:6-8 The voice said Cry.And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass The earthly transitory: the heavenly enduring When we make a judgment of the objects of sense and of faith, “ the things that are seen” claim the preference over “ the things that are not seen.” The appearance which the world presents is seducing, that which religion exhibits is forbidding. The appearances are deceitful, and the judgment we form of them false. I. THE VANITY OF THE THINGS OF THIS LIFE. Empty as is every thing in the world, and limited in its duration, it is one of the truths the most common and the least received. 1. The voice of reason teaches men that they have only a little while to live. If they will but reflect upon their constitution, they cannot but discover, both within and without, innumerable principles of their speedy dissolution. 2. This the Scripture teaches without ceasing: adapting its lessons to the importance of the awakening truth, no strong expressions are overlooked, no striking images escape the sacred writers. 3. Besides, our own experience proclaims to us the fact by the most indubitable proofs. II. THE OF A ’ S HOPE IN . The future is as enlivening to the Christian as the past is humiliating to the man. Death, properly speaking, is only the lot of the wicked. The Christian, in the estimation of the Gospel, never dies; he falls asleep, he “ rests from his labours.” (P. Huet.)The fading and the abiding I. “ ALL FLESH IS GRASS.” The prophet describes man by this name of “ flesh,” as that which strikingly sets forth his general state and ordinary habits. What is man? Is not the care of the flesh his grand concern?--the pampering the body, the gratifying its senses, or fulfilling the lusts thereof? Here and there, indeed, we meet with one who has broken its trammels;, whose soul, rising up on the wings of faith and love, seeks for happiness in God; but when we look at the world at large, we are compelled to say that it is a world whose aims, pleasures, pursuits, are earthly. Yet how vain are these pursuits! “ All flesh is grass” ; that is, like the grass it is liable to various casualties. If it abides to its utmost duration it soon withers and is gone. The blade when it has only just sprung above the ground may be trodden under foot, may be parched by the heat, cut off by the cold, or withered by the blight; may be plucked by the hand, or mowed down by the scythe; thus is it with man. No sooner does he appear in the world than some little casualty may at once deprive him of life. This is the state of all--“ for all flesh is as grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field” : “ the wind passeth over it and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more!” But is there no difference? Surely there are some distinctions. Yes, there are, and as Archbishop Leighton observes, this difference is beautifully expressed by the inspired writer--“ the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.” When we enter a field, it is not so much the common blade which attracts the eye. It is the flower--those various beautiful ornaments with which the creative power of God has adorned the face of the earth. So there are various external embellishments which distinguish some from the ordinary race of men. Every soul, indeed, is of inestimable value. Still, it must be confessed that there are properties which some possess which are more attractive--youth, beauty, honours, talent. But what are they all? But the flower of the grass. They partake of the fading nature of the plants from which they spring. II. THE WORD OF GOD IS AS ABIDING AS HIMSELF; and this notwithstanding all the attempts that have been made, by wicked men instigated by evil spirits, to destroy it. This has been their constant aim, for the Word of God has been their constant dread. 1. It abides in its doctrines. These are not evanescent theories, like some of the dicta of the philosophers; they are eternal truths. 2. Its promises endure. Its sanctions also stand for ever; namely, the rewards and punishments which are there made known. Let those who are now surrounded with many temporal blessings regard them as flowers, which the goodness of God provides to sweeten their present path; still set not your hearts upon them; they are but short-lived gifts, fading flowers. There is but one flower that will never fade, “ The Rose of Sharon.” (J. H.Stewart, M. A.)The withering work of the Spirit (with 1 Peter 1:23-25):--Something more than the decay of our material flesh is intended here; the carnal mind, the flesh in another sense, was intended by the Holy Ghost when He bade His messenger proclaim those words. It does not seem to me that a mere expression of the mortality of our race was needed in this place by the context; it would hardly keep pace with the sublime revelations which surround it, and would in some measure be a digression from the subject in hand. The notion that we are here simply and alone reminded of our mortality does not square with the New Testament exposition of it in Peter. Look at the chapter in Isaiah with care. What is the subject of it? It is the Divine consolation of Zion. The Lord, to remove her sorrow, bids His prophets announce the coming of the long-expected Deliverer, the end and accomplishment of all her warfare, and the pardon of all her iniquity. Further, there is no sort of question that the prophet goes on to foretell the coming of John the Baptist as the harbinger of the Messiah. The object of the coming of the Baptist, and the mission of the Messiah whom he heralded, was the manifestation of Divine glory (verse 5). Well, what next? Was it needful to mention man’ s mortality in this connection? We think not. But there is much more appropriateness in the succeeding verses, if we see their deeper meaning. Do they not mean this? In order to make room for the display of the Divine glory in Christ Jesus and His children there would come a withering of all the glory wherein man boasts himself; the flesh should be seen in its true nature as corrupt and dying, and the grace of God alone should be exalted. This would be seen under the ministry of John the Baptist first, and should be the preparatory work of the Holy Ghost in men’ s hearts, in all time, in order that the glory of the Lord should be revealed and human pride be for ever confounded. The Spirit blows upon the flesh, and that which seemed vigorous becomes weak, that which was fair to look upon is smitten with decay. The withering before the sowing was very marvellously fulfilled in the preaching of John the Baptist. When our Lord Himself actually appeared, He came into a withered land whose glories had all departed. But I am coming to your own ]personal histories. In every one of us it must be fulfilled that all that is of the flesh m us, seeing it is but as grass, must be withered, and the comeliness thereof must be destroyed. I. Turning, then, to THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN CAUSING THE OF THE FLESH TO FADE, let us-- 1. Observe that the work of the Holy Spirit upon the soul of man in withering up that which is of the flesh is very unexpected. In our text even the speaker himself, though doubtless one taught of God, when he was bidden to cry, said, “ What shall I cry?” Even he did not know that in order to the comforting of God’ s people there must first be experienced a preliminary visitation. Many preachers of God’ s Gospel have forgotten that the law is the schoolmaster to bring men to Christ. They have sown on the unbroken fallow ground, and forgotten that the plough must break the clods. Preachers have laboured to make Christ precious to those who think themselves rich and increased in goods; and it has been labour in vain. It is our duty to preach Jesus Christ even to self-righteous sinners, but it is certain that Jesus Christ will never be accepted by them while they hold themselves in high esteem. Wherever there is a real work of grace in any soul, it begins with a pulling down: the Holy Ghost does not build on the old foundation. The convincing work of the Spirit, wherever it comes, is unexpected, and even to the child of God, in whom this process has still to go on, it is often startling. We begin again to build that which the Spirit of God has destroyed. Having begun in the Spirit, we act as if we would be made perfect in the flesh; and then, when our mistaken upbuilding has to be levelled with the earth, we are almost as astonished as we were when first the scales fell from our eyes. 2. Furthermore, this withering is after the usual order of the Divine operation. Observe, the method of creation. There seems to be every probability that this world has been fitted up and destroyed, refitted and then destroyed again, many times before the last arranging of it for the habitation of men. What was there in the beginning? Originally, nothing. There was no trace of another’ s plan to interfere with the great Architect. The earth was, as the Hebrew puts it, Tohu and Bohu, disorder and confusion--in a word, chaos. So it is in the new creation. When the Lord new creates us, He borrows nothing from the old man, but makes all things new. Take another instance from the ways of God. When man has fallen, when did the Lord bring him the Gospel? The first whisper of the Gospel was, “ I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. He shall bruise thy head.” That whisper came to man shivering in the presence of his Maker, having nothing more to say by way of excuse; but standing guilty before the Lord. If you will pursue the meditation upon the acts of God with men, you will constantly see the same thing. God has given us a wonderful type of salvation in Noah’ s ark; but Noah was saved in that ark in connection with death; he himself, as it were, immured alive in a tomb, and all the world besides left to destruction. All other hope for Noah was gone, and then the ark rose upon the waters. Remember the redemption of the children of Israel out of Egypt: it occurred when they were in the saddest plight, and their cry went up to heaven by reason of their bondage. As in the backwoods of America before there can be tillage, the planting of cities, the arts of civilisation, and the transactions of commerce, the woodman’ s axe must hack and hew: the stately trees of centuries must fall: the roots must be burned, the old reign of nature disturbed,--even thus the Lord takes away the first, that He may establish the second. As it has been outwardly, we ought to expect that it would be within us. 3. We are taught in our text how universal this process is in its range over the hearts of all those upon whom the Spirit works. The withering is a withering of what? Of part of the flesh and some portion of its tendencies? Nay, “ All flesh is grass; and all the goodliness thereof” --the very choice and pick of it--“ is as the flower of the field,” and what happens to the grass? Does any of it live? “ The grass withereth,” all of it. The flower, will not that abide? So fair a thing, has not that an immortality? No, it utterly falls away. So, wherever the Spirit of God breathes on the soul of man, there is a withering of everything that is of the flesh, and it is seen that to be carnally minded is death. Wherever the Spirit of God comes, our righteousness withers as our sinfulness. There is much more to be destroyed, and, among the rest, away must go our boasted power of resolution. Still the man will say, “ I believe I have, after all, within myself an enlightened conscience and an intelligence that will guide me aright. The light of nature I will use, and I do not doubt that if I wander somewhat I shall find my way back again.” Ah, man! thy wisdom, which is the very flower of thy nature, what is it but folly, though thou knowest it not? When the withering wind of the Spirit moves over the carnal mind, it reveals the death of the flesh in all respects, especially in the matter of power towards that which is good. We then learn that word of our Lord, “ Without Me ye can do nothing.” 4. Notice the completeness of this withering work within us. The grass, what does it do? Droop? nay, wither. The flower of the field: does it hang its head a little? No, according to Isaiah, it fades; and according to Peter, it falleth away. There is no reviving it with showers, it has come to its end. Even thus are the awakened led to see that in their flesh there dwelleth no good thing. What dying and withering work some of God’ s servants have had in their souls! Look at John Bunyan, as he describes himself in his Grace Abounding! For how many months and even years was the Spirit engaged in writing death upon all that was the old Bunyan, in order that he might become by grace a new man fitted to track the pilgrims along their heavenly way. The old nature never does improve. 5. All this withering work in the soul is painful. As you read these verses, do they not strike you as having a very funereal tone? “ All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth.” This is mournful work, but it must be done. Those who experience much of it when they first come to Christ have great reason to be thankful. Persons who come to Christ with but comparatively little knowledge of their own depravity, have to learn it afterwards, and they remain for a long time babes in Christ, and are perplexed with matters that would not have troubled them if they had experienced a deeper work at first. 6. Although this is painful, it is inevitable. Why does the grass wither? Because it is a withering thing. “ Its root is ever in its grave, and it must die.” How could it spring out of the earth, and be immortal? Every supposed good thing that grows out of your own self, is like yourself, mortal, and it must die. The seeds of corruption are in all the fruits of manhood’ s tree; let them be as fair to look upon as Eden’ s clusters, they must decay. 7. This last word by way of comfort to any that are passing through the process we are describing. It gives me great joy when I hear that you unconverted ones are very miserable, for the miseries which the Holy Spirit works are always the prelude to happiness. It is the Spirit’ s work to wither. “ Because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.” What doth the Lord say? “ I kill.” But what next? “ I make alive.” He never makes any alive but those He kills. II. THE . According to Peter, although the flesh withers, and the flower thereof falls away, yet in the children of God there is an unwithering something of another kind. “ Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” “ The Word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.” The Gospel is of use to us because it is not of human origin. If it were of the flesh, all it could do for us would not land us beyond the flesh; but the Gospel of Jesus Christ is superhuman, Divine, and spiritual. If you believe a Gospel which you have thought out for yourself, or a philosophical Gospel which comes from the brain of man, it is of the flesh, and will wither, and you will die, and be lost through trusting in it. The only word that can bless you and be a seed in your soul must be the living and incorruptible Word of the eternal Spirit. Do you receive it? Then the Holy Spirit implants it in your soul. And what is the result of it? There comes a new life as the result of the indwelling of the living Word, and our being born again by it. A new life it is; not the old nature putting out its better parts; not the old Adam refining and purifying itself, and rising to something better. Wherever this new life comes through the Word, it is incorruptible, it lives for ever. (C. H.Spurgeon.)The transitory and the durable I. THE NATURE OF ALL EARTHLY THINGS. Consider some of those things which constitute the goodliness and the glory of man, and see how they justify the assertion in the text. 1. Personal endowments of beauty and of form. We make our boast of beauty: of the sparkling eye, of comely features. Small is our cause for boast! That body which seemed to concentrate in it all that was beautiful, see it when wasted by accidents and by time, when blasted by the touch of death! 2. The text may be illustrated by adverting to the wisdom, as well as to the beauty and strength of man. Since the attention of man was first directed to the objects of nature, what an innumerable succession has there been of notions, of systems, of theories. And yet we look on these ill-digested systems as belonging only to days which are gone by, and as now utterly exploded. For the fact is, that all knowledge, except that which is derived from the Bible, is destined to pass away. 3. Advert to the transitory nature of those things which are the produce of the imagination and taste. Whatever the pencil of the painter has portrayed; whatever the chisel of the sculptor has wrought; whatever the skill of the architect has reared,--all these are destined shortly to be destroyed. This should convey a very forcible reproof to those who expend so large a portion of their time in the embellishments of life, in dress, and in furniture, and in equipages. 4. In reference to the possessions of men,--wealth and fortune, and their concomitants--grandeur, eminence, pomp, and luxury. 5. As strikingly is this illustrated by the emptiness of that shapeless thing,--that shadow of ashade called fame. 6. See it illustrated, also, as to dominion and power. Kingdoms and empires rise and fall--flourish and decay. 7. The world itself is an illustration of the sentiment. II. THE OF THAT WITH WHICH GOD HAS BEEN PLEASED TO BLESS THE WORLD. The “ Word of our God shall stand for ever.” This sentiment is greatly illustrated, and abundantly confirmed, by-- 1. The utter impotence of persecution. 2. The utter failure of the opposition of infidelity. 3. The blessed and delightful spread given to it in our day. 4. The dispensation of truth with which God has blessed the world is the dispensation of the Spirit. The Word of our God is a living word; it is not only a dispensation of words, addressed to the understanding and will, but a dispensation of the Spirit coming to the heart of man. (J. Bromley.)Israel’ s oppressors; Jehovah’ s promise The words are of universal import; but the connection shows the sense in which they are here used by the prophet. Israel’ s oppressors are mortal: the promise of Jehovah--such a promise, namely, as that contained in Isaiah 40:4-5 --remains sure. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The abiding Word I. THE WEAK AND NATURE OF THINGS OF EARTH. The word translated “ goodliness” signifies excellency. Every sort of excellency. Is it external? Beauty of person, strength of frame, the influence which rank, title, wealth, power, family bestow? It is but as grass, the withering flower. Is it internal? The highest order of intellect, the finest imagination, the soundest judgment, most retentive memory? But the word is wider still. It takes in all moral excellency, truth, justice, benevolence, morality, and all the external decencies of that sort of religion which often is taken for the true religion of the heart, yet is not such. It embraces that in which we are so prone to confide, human power, our own wisdom; all are as grass, as separated from the Word of God, and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. The wind of deep inward temptation, of sore trial, does but pass over it, and it is gone. If man deal with us, we find it sometimes a very solemn thing, how much more when God deals with us. When He comes in the convincing power of His Spirit, in the solemn hour of death, and in the thoughts of immediate appearance before Him, ah! how wither then the flowers that have seemed the fairest. But in the midst of all that fades and perishes and is not, there is, blessed be God, that which standeth for ever. II. THE ABIDING OF “ THE WORD OF OUR GOD.” This is true in whatever sense we take it. Is it the decree of God? (Isaiah 46:10.) Is it His written and revealing Word? (Isaiah 55:9-10.) Is it His law? Matthew 5:18.) But by “ the Word” here, is especially and pre-eminently meant the Gospel (1 Peter 1:23-25). The Gospel stands upon the immutable perfections of God. There is not an attribute that does not uphold it. “ The Word of our God shall stand for ever.” It shall stand amidst all the instability of the creature, amidst all the faithlessness of man, amidst all the unfaithfulness and unbelief of our own hearts. Is the grass to be despised, the flower to be scorned? Be thankful for them while you have them, admire that God who is in them, their chief Beauty, their only real Beauty. Be thankful, seek the right use of them by seeking to glorify God in them. Is it strength of body? strength of intellect? Use them for Him, and in His service. But remember, they fade as you behold, and wither as you use them. Hold them as perishable memorials of the imperishable God. How real are the blessings of the Gospel when realised in the soul! The righteousness of Christ. It stands, it is everlasting (Daniel 9:24). Consolation is everlasting (2 Thessalonians 2:16). Light, everlasting Isaiah 60:19). Love, everlasting (Jeremiah 31:3). Life, eternal Romans 6:23). The blessings in the Gospel are durable riches, because the Gospel endureth. Why is it that there is so much instability among many that yet are true believers? They are not rooted and grounded in Christ. (J. H. Brans, M. A.) Isaiah 40:8 The grass withereth The decay of the material Viewed in its immediate relations to the context, the “ flesh,” which is grass, is the vast population of the Babylonian empire. The “ goodliness thereof,” which is the flower of the grass, is the pomp and pride of the Babylonian civilisation. The “ Word of the Lord” is that prophetic word of the future glory of Israel and her Messiah-King which seems to have found a grave of oblivion beneath the overshadowing growth of Babylonian splendour. I. THE OF ALL THAT IS SIMPLY AND EARTHLY. 1. The world had never looked upon a more splendid civilisation than that which greeted the eye of the prophet as he looked down in vision upon the great empire of Nebuchadnezzar. For a thousand years Babylon had been the seat of empire, but under her present sovereign she had risen to a glory of which her founders had never dreamed. Nebuchadnezzar, following in the footsteps of Nabopolassar, his illustrious father, had extended his empire by conquest until he was in fact as well as in name, “ King of men.” Northward, he held all Assyria in subjection, and reigned to the limits of the frozen zone. Southward, he had subjugated Egypt with its vast empire, and reigned to the limits of the equatorial belt. Tyre, with all her world-wide commerce, was his vassal, and so his fame had been carried to the remotest borders of the great west. This vast empire it was now the ambition of Nebuchadnezzar to consolidate and unify. For this purpose he had opened long lines of communication between its remotest parts. Canals, one of which was five hundred miles in length; highways across the great deserts connecting with the hills of Arabia and the Mediterranean Sea, with caravansaries, fortified garrisons, wells of water, etc., at all needed points; walled cities along the great thoroughfares as storehouses and resting-places for man and beast--these were amongst the wise provisions for bringing the people of various nationalities and races into the cordial relations of mutual interchange and commerce. But the purposes of the great conqueror went further than this. To give stability to his empire he sought to bring about an amalgamation of all the races and a unification of all the religions within his realm. This was the significance of the image of gold which was set up in the plain of Dura, and which all were required to worship on penalty of being thrown into the furnace of fire. And when, in obedience to the Divine voice, the prophet declared all this might and glory to be but as the evanescent and fading flower, you and I, if we had been present, would have looked upon him as some misanthropic churl. And yet, what were the real facts in the case? Within less than forty years from the time to which the prophet alludes, the city was captured and pillaged, the seat of government removed, and the empire distributed among the conquering allies. 2. We find ourselves to-day in the midst of a civilisation as much more splendid than that of Rome as the latter was superior to that of Chaldea. In all that constitutes true greatness; in all that is at once beneficent and beautiful; in liberty, in philanthropy, in literary and aesthetic culture, in adventure of science and perfection of art, there seems scarcely anything more to be desired. Humanity seems at last to have attained its goal. Culture is in its richest and most perfect flower. We are ready to say, “ Surely this consummate civilisation of our race shall not wither like that of Babylon or Rome!” Has it any elements of durability that its forerunners had not? The answer to these questions will be found in the answer to another, namely, whether this civilisation shall root itself simply in that which is material, or shall be permeated by that which is spiritual and Divine? For amidst all the decadence of the past, there has been ever that which could not perish, which was not subject to change, and which had the power of communicating its own stability to all that came under its influence. II. THE OF THAT WHICH IS AND DIVINE. “ The Word of the Lord.” Other things undergo mutations, but it abides ever the same. It has also this marvellous property, that it communicates the elements of its own permanence to all that comes under its influence. It is thus like a seed cast into the soil, which takes up inert matter, incorporating it with itself, and thus imparting to it the life which is immanent in itself. Of this life-containing, life-imparting power of the Word of God we may find beautiful illustration in the history of the decline and fall of the empires to which we have referred. Look first at Babylon. Is there anything that shall survive the wreck of the imperial city? Yes, there is a captive people, despised, toiling as slaves in the erection of the splendid architectural monuments of Nebuchadnezzar’ s reign. Few and feeble apparently they are, overshadowed by the countless hosts of Chaldea. But they are believers in the Word of the Lord. That Word has, as an incorruptible seed, found a lodgment in their hearts. It has imparted to them its own immortality. Babylon, that rejects this Word, shall perish; but Israel that believes it and lives upon it shall survive. That which we have seen to be true in this respect of Babylon was equally true of Rome. The eternal city was “ laid on heaps,” but from the ruins came Christianity in all the beauty of undying youth. The Vandals that destroyed everything else had no power over it. Nay, in the breasts of the very slaves whom they bore to their northern homes, they carried this incorruptible seed. The religion of the slave conquered the master; and hence came that hardy type of Celtic and Saxon Christianity which made the north of Europe the seed-bed of the Reformation. There are preserving salts which, taken up into the pores of the frailest grass and the most delicate flower, do, as it were, transfigure them in their beauty and so preserve them for ever from decay. And thus the religion of Christ has power to give immortality to that which is most fleeting and evanescent. It lays its wand upon that frail flower of physical beauty which lasts but for a day, and it transforms it into the undecaying beauty of the resurrection. It enters into the pulses of youthful ardour and enthusiasm, and makes them beat high and warm in pursuits that can never be interrupted and from motives that never pall. It lifts ambition to a higher plane. It gives to all the activities of the soul their normal and healthful development. It brings the favour of God which is life, and His loving-kindness which is better than life. And what it does for individuals it does in a certain sense for nations also. Let the atheistic materialism, which is seeking to supplant Christianity, become the dominant influence in this country, and Ichabod is written upon all our institutions. The fate of Babylon and of Rome will be ours. The nation and kingdom that will not serve God shall perish. (T. D. Witherspoon, D. D.)The flower fadethProgress in decay There are at least two sides to everything. To everything in morals there is a dark and a bright side. Every truth is a revelation of God--a Theophany--a Shechinah. And as the Divine pillar in the Exodus had sometimes an aspect of cloud, and sometimes of fire, so is it with all truth. Its appearance alters with our own changes of character or condition; to the eye of sense it may be a Shechinah of gloom, to the eye of faith a Shechinah of glory. Thus is it with our text. I. LET US IT FIRST BY THE EYE OF SENSE. Let us sit solemnly together in the shadow of the Shechinah. How depressing seems the thought! What a tender and fragile growth is “ the grass” ! How short-lived all the goodliness of “ the flower of the field” ! Yet such is human life! “ The flower fadeth!” How impressive the truth when we think of others--the beloved of home and life! Where are the happy children who sat with you in the school, and went forth in your holiday?rathe men and women who shared with you life’ s heavier tasks and strangely saddened joys? How many of them do you meet to-day? 2. “ The flower fadeth!” How impressive the truth when you think of yourselves! Where now is me bounding heart of your childhood? Where the unclouded hopefulness of youth? As the tide of time rolls on, first, youthful beauty fades like a flower. Then activity declines: the airy step of childhood flags into the slow measures of weary feet! Then strength decays: the right arm loses its cunning, the form bends under its load! Meanwhile, even the moral man seems to share the infirmities of the physical; the tender affections are chilled, the glorious intellect unhinged or exhausted. And it is all saddening--this withering of the human blossom, and the heart recoils from its emblem--a fading flower! Let us so live that it may be said of us truly, “ His glorious beauty was a fading flower.” For the fading flower hath fulfilled well its ministry! Was its life long or short; was its beauty great or little; was its sphere wide or narrow; the flower had done well the special work God gave it to do. Richly varied and full of splendour was the flora of the now barren Palestine in the days when Isaiah swept from his harp this requiem to the withering flower! In nothing, perhaps, are there more notable differences than in the spheres and services of flowers. In the wild howling desert the stately palm waves its radiant flower-tuft, and many a lowly plant and shrub open fragrant blossoms. And amid Polar ice-fields and in the fissured lava of volcanoes come forth these sweet children of the summer in their ministry of beauty and of love. Meanwhile, earth’ s fairer fields are beautified, like old Eden, with their blessed omnipresence. They are all of different classes and uses; but each, in its own season and sphere, makes its little life a blessing--and the air of heaven is sweeter, and insect-life is fed, and the heart of childhood is thrilled with joy, and the soul of wearied manhood is made happier and holier, because of the silent yet earnest ministries of the fading flower! II. TO THE EYE OF FAITH THE IS . Indeed, did these tides of time roll over a sinless world, every premonition even of our mortal decay would awaken only joyful anticipations and emotions. For what, after all, is a flower? Is it in itself a perfection--a consummation? No! far from it! It is, at most, a phenomenon of progress! And its decay is only the passing away of a good thing, giving place to a better! The great end and purpose of all vegetable life is the perfected seed! And analogous to this is the progress and development of man’ s mortal life. Its earthly offices and uses are only for the strengthening within of the spiritual and immortal; our present life, with all its activities and enjoyments, is but the flower-form of a being whose fruit-form or seed-form is in an after and higher life! And death itself is no more than the falling of the petals from the well-set fruit. Therefore, as the wise husbandman grieves not when his orchards shower their gay blossoms, but rejoices, rather, because this is but a prophecy and promise of the golden wealth of autumn, so we should not grieve when, in the development of man, the mortal flower-leaves fall away from the swelling fruit of immortality! 1. It applies to individuals. Fruit is always of greater value than flowers. Therefore, the trained intellect, the calm judgment, the sanctified affections, the subdued passions, the strong, retruant conscience of the mature man, are worth incalculably more than the fiery impulses, the hot and headlong passions, and all the prodigal bloom and aroma of his younger and fairer life. It applies as well to communities or nations--to that organic life of the race which constitutes its oneness. Here, too, the fruit is worth more than the flowers. 2. The world has had its radiant spring-time and its gorgeous flora. In Rome, Greece, Persia, Egypt, Assyria, Judaea, human nature put forth splendid blossoms until the whole air was fragrant with intoxicating aroma. The old philosophy, the old mythology, the old arts and eloquence and poetry--the whole power and passion of the young imperial genius of old time gave to earth the seeming of a fairy palace filled with shapes and sounds of surpassing splendour. And verily that weird glory hath passed away t. But have we lost by the decay? Are earth and life sadder than in those heroic times? Would you exchange your printing-press for all the pencils of old artists, and the tongues of old orators, and the harps of old minstrels? Would you barter railroad and telegraph and steamship for all the radiant dreams of the old idealists? Would you give up your simple Christian faith for the old gorgeous mythology? 3. We are considering the whole of earthly life as the flower-form, rudimental to the heavenly fruit-form; and the analogy between flower-life and man-life is manifold. (1) Flowers differ widely in their beauty and glory. Among species ranking as equals, how the lily differs from the rose; and both from the violet! And so is it of humanity. It has its roses, and lilies, and violets; and now and then a magnificent or monstrous aloe, and always its countless myriads of flowers of the grass. And although to the eye of sense the value of flowers is according to their outward manifestations; yet, true wisdom regards colour and aroma as only phenomenal of progress. Presently the petals, alike of the grand flower and the tiny blossom, will wither, and of both the value seems only in the accomplishment of their Maker’ s purpose with the fruit or the seed. So God accounts of His children. The king, the conqueror, the man of imperial gifts and genius will die as fades the great aloe, and the humble pass away as the flower of grass. And then the search, as material for the Judgment, will be the fruit or seed of the developed character. (2) Flowers differ widely in their seasons and spheres of influence. Fair children die like snowdrops in the early spring. Then come the summer flora. Men in the meridian splendour of their powers passing away, as vineyards and orchards and meadows shower their prodigal blossoms. Nor is the human winter without its flowers of exquisite fragrance and beauty. We have them in our midst, men whose grey heads are our crowns of glory. And as in their seasons, so in their spheres, men, like flowers, differ. At the foot of the awful arctic glacier did our heroic Kane find blossoms of delicate beauty; and in the dreariest waste of Sahara the eye of the fainting explorer grew bright as it fell on a bursting flower. So is it of human influence. In the loneliness of obscurity, in the humiliation of poverty, in the dark chamber of patient, unpretending suffering, have saintly spirits wrought a gracious work. (3) Meantime, human life and flower-life are alike, mainly because both are phenomenal of progress. Earthly life is short, and we would not have it longer. The season of flowers is full of peril to the tender germ of fruit. Having perfected the seed, nature’ s next care is to disperse or distribute them. Some are borne away on their own airy wings, and as they float up in the sunshine, freed of their heavy earthy beauty, the perfected seed, as a spiritualised blossom, seems fairer than all flowers! Some are borne across oceans, and take root in other continents. Such is the progress and development of that whose young life was born of a fading flower! Oh, to a prescient eye what possibilities, what colours of beauty, what forms of majesty, what felicities, what glorious hopes, what ineffable fruitions, are embosomed in a seed! And analogous to this--but immeasurably more wonderful--are the embryonic powers, and shall be the development of the human soul in the after-state! (C. Wadsworth.)Summer blossoms We expect the leaves to fade and fall in October. They have had their full time of growth and unfolding, and their fair share of the beauty and blessedness of the world. But there is nothing to prepare us for the fading of the blossoms of early summer. When, therefore, we see the flowers fading on the ground and the blossoms falling from the tree, our feelings receive something like a shock. The contrast between the death of these fair creations and the bright overflowing fulness of life around fills us with a peculiar sadness. A premature fate, we feel, has overtaken them; they have not had their full share of the feast of life. 1. Looking exclusively at the fact itself, there is nothing but sadness in the fading of the flower. It seems a wanton destruction of so much life and beauty; and we are apt to ask, “ To what purpose is this waste?” 2. But much as we mourn all these fading flowers, the human as well as the natural, we cannot wish them to abide for ever. It is the fading flower that is so wonderfully beautiful. Fix its beauty unchanged, and you make it an artificial flower, a dry mummy. It is the fleeting human blossom that is so tenderly dear. We love each other more devotedly owing to the shadow feared of man that falls upon and consecrates our love; because we must soon, we know not how soon, be parted. We should feel everlasting flowers to be utterly incongruous in a world of change and decay; their steadfast continuance, when there was no reason for their continuance, would weary and offend our minds. 3. But the truth of the fading flower has another and a brighter side. It is not all death and desolation. We shall pass at once out of the shadow into the sunshine when we consider the reason why the flower fades. The flower fades that the fruit may take its place. The fading of the flower, rightly viewed, is therefore a natural and necessary phenomenon of life. In itself it is joyous, and not grievous. In the unfallen Eden the fading flowers suggested no thought of gloom to Adam, but only of bright progress from life to fuller life, from a lower to a higher stage of development and perfection. Viewed, then, in the light of Him who hath brought life and immortality to light in His Gospel, and free from the cloud of sin, the fading of human-life and of flower-life is not in reality sad, but joyful. Man dies, but his life on earth is only for the formation of the eternal life. Every gift we receive is but a promise; every beauty we behold but a prophecy; every pleasure we enjoy but a foretaste. The Christian’ s whole life is but the earnest of the inheritance that awaits him. We see by faith, although we are slow of heart to believe it, that our very losses and privations are ministering to a noble and goodly development pregnant with an everlasting promise. Death itself is the act of blossoming. It is a scientific fact that it is the dying plant alone that flowers. Blossoming is the highest point in plant life. When it has produced its blossom it perishes. In human life it is so likewise. Our existence here is but a daily dying, the continual production of a blossom, within whose petals as they wither is expanding the immortal fruit; and death is but the final falling of the sere petals from the fruit when it has set. It is not destruction, but development; the mortal not destroyed, but putting on immortality. 4. Then, consider that the blossom belongs to the plant itself, the fruit to the race. The blossom is the end of the selfish life; the fruit is the beginning of the unselfish. 5. Further still, the plant that flowers is confined to one spot; but when it fruits and seeds it gets wings, as it were, and can fly away from its natal place to long distances, as you have often seen the thistle-down or the fleecy parasol of the dandelion do, to make the wilderness and the solitary place to be glad, and the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose. Is it not so in human life? That death which seems to bound our life, in reality gives us wings, and takes us out of this cramped and narrow sphere of change, and sorrow, and sin, into the freer air and larger sunshine of God’ s everlasting kingdom. The fruition of life is not the limitation, but the freedom and enlargement of life. And who knows what life and beauty and blessedness to others may spring from seed dropped by our losses and death? Looking thus at this life as only the flower-form of our being, we see the reason of its brevity. The life of the blossom is short because it has to prepare the way for the fruit; and the season in which it is put forth is dangerous to the formation of the tender germ. We should welcome the growing infirmities and decays of life as signs that summer, the season of fleeting glories, is passing away, and that autumn, the season of enduring fruition, is drawing nigh. They proclaim to us that now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. 6. But I reserve the grandest thought connected with my theme to the last. The flower fades and falls off the plant, but it does not altogether vanish; it does not perish utterly. Some part of it, larger or smaller, according to the species, remains behind to form the nucleus of the fruit. In every case the lower part of the central and most important part of the blossom is left, and it is out of it that the fruit is formed. A good deal of the fleeting flower, indeed all that is essential in it, is thus made permanent in the enduring fruit; and the fruit itself may be looked upon as a more perfect and lasting blossom, retaining the colour, and fragrance, and grace of form that distinguished the blossom, but superadding qualities, such as nutritiousness and flavour, which the blossom lacked. Is not the analogy here very instructive and consoling? Not only do all our sanctified losses turn to gains, but the gains are largely composed of what we lost. We take up with us into every stage of our advancing progress what was best and most serviceable in the previous stage; and in the fruit of our achievements we can trace much of the fair blossoms of hope and aspiration which led to its formation. Nothing that is really good in human life ought to be thrown away as useless when we have outgrown it. The good of childhood ought to remain in manhood. The enthusiasm, the freshness of interest, the innocent simplicity, the spirit of hope, inquiry, and wonder which characterise our early years, ought to endure late in life, under the calmer and quieter outside of maturity. Let us not mourn, then, that so many fair and precious things pass away from us as we go on to our immortality; for nothing that is really essential to our well-being shall perish utterly, but shall be absorbed into our souls and become their eternal wealth. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)The thought of death The thought of death is not to be dwelt upon morbidly in the manner of Swift, who said, “ I was forty-seven years old when I began to think of death, and the reflections upon it now begin when I wake in the morning and end when I am going to sleep.” But it is well for us to have the thought at hand. (W. R. Nicoll, LL. D.)The Word of our God shall stand for everThe higher criticism I. WHAT IS MEANT BY “ THE WORD OF OUR GOD” ? You answer, “ The Bible.” I think not. At least, and certainly, to Isaiah it could not mean more of the Old Testament than he possessed--a mere fragment of the Book in our hands. Even to Peter it could not have meant all the records we have, seeing that some had not been written when he repeated the prophet’ s statement. What, then, are we to understand by this phrase, “ the Word of our God” ? Simply, truth. Truth in its very widest sense, whether in the Bible or out of it, is “ the Word of God.” II. Higher criticism proposes to solve for you and me, what we have neither the time nor ability to do for ourselves, TO WHAT EXTENT HAS GONE ON. It is a strictly honest, unbiassed, sincere scrutiny into the claims, history, authorship, date, and language of the books of the Bible. III. WHAT WILL BE THE RESULT? Only good. If we are honest we shall want only the truth; and after the examination is completed truth will stand more grandly than ever before us. IV. OUR TOWARD HIGHER may well be for these reasons-- 1. One of welcome. We rejoice in every honest and reverential inquiry for truth. 2. One of hope. The future of our faith looks all the brighter from the discussions and questionings of to-day. Men are beginning to think. An interest is awakening in the vast questions that relate to our higher life. 3. One of confidence. Are we wise in our fear for the safety of “ the Word of our God” ? Does “ the Word of our God” need our defence? Is not He pledged to its security? That which cannot stand the test of criticism had better go; but truth, “ the Word of our God, shall stand for ever.” (J. E. W. Cook.)The enduring Word “ The Word of the Lord endureth for ever.” How do we know that? Certainly, not in the same way as we are sure of the universality of death. We know it to be true if we believe two things-- 1. That God, the perfect moral being, exists. 2. That He has spoken to mare The Word of God, speaking in conscience, in revelation, is like God Himself--above the waterfloods of change; it lasts. (H. P. Liddon, D. D.)The passing and the abiding I. Since the Word of our God shall stand for ever, the BIBLE WILL REMAIN. 1. Think of the Bible as history. “ The Old Testament is supported by the exhumed records of the kings of Egypt and Babylon and Nineveh and Moab. We are now shown in the Boulag Museum at Cairo the very body of the Egyptian king who oppressed Israel. At a hundred points confirmatory evidence has been dug out of the Assyrian ruins. In the day when the Bible was attacked by unbelief, there appeared out of the very ground hosts of defenders. God’ s Providence supports His Book.” 2. Think of the Bible as to philosophy. John Stuart Mill will tell us, “ It is impossible to find in the ideas of any philosophy, even the latest, a single point which is not anticipated and ennobled in Christianity.” 3. Think of the Bible as to science. It is true, as one has said wisely and wittily, that “ the intention of Holy Scripture is to teach us to go to heaven, and not how the heavens go.” And yet the great astronomer Sir John Herschel will tell us: “ All human discoveries seem to be made only for the purpose of confirming more and more strongly the truth contained in the Sacred Scriptures.” 4. Think of the Bible as to morals. Those words of James Russell Lowell, spoken so bravely at a dinner in London, before a company of sceptics, are well worth treasuring: “ The worst kind of religion is no religion at all. And those men, living in ease and luxury, indulging themselves in the amusement of going without religion, may be thankful that they live in lands where the Gospel they neglect has tamed the beastliness and ferocity of the men who, but for Christianity, might long ago have eaten their carcasses like the South Sea Islanders, or cut off their heads and tanned their hides like the monsters of the French Revolution.” This Bible, the Word of God, which history substantiates, which philosophy cannot anticipate, which science reinforces, which is the source of all true morals and secure civilisation, is to abide. II. Since the Word of our God shall stand for ever, THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST IS TO ENDURE AND CONQUER. For the very heart and kernel of God’ s Word is the revelation of the certainly vanquishing kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. III. Since the Word of our God standeth for ever, HEAVEN WILL SHINE ON US AT THE LAST. (W. Hoyt, D. D.)“ The Word of our God” All explanations can be reconciled by suffering the prophet to express his own ideas, without any adventitious limitation and admitting, as the only sure conclusion, that by “ Word” he means neither promise, nor prophecy, nor Gospel merely, but “ every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4). There is a tacit antithesis between the Word of God and man; what man says is uncertain and precarious, what God says cannot fail. Thus understood, it includes prediction, precept, promise, and the offer of salvation; and although the latter is not meant exclusively, the apostle makes a perfectly correct and most important application of the verse when, after quoting it, he adds, “ and this is the Word which is preached (εὐαγγελισθέν) unto you” ; that is to say, this prophetic declaration is emphatically true of the Gospel of Christ. (J. A. Alexander.)The Bible its own defence A well-known Presbyterian minister is reported to have said, “ We must defend the Bible.” Must we? The Bible is badly off when it needs your defence or mine. I stood on the “ Big Four” railway track the other day watching the Cincinnati and Cleveland express pass by. A young bee, called out by the warm April winds and bright spring sunshine, flew toward the train. Supposing I had rushed for a club or a rifle, and had run down toward the approaching express, crying aloud, “ I must defend the cars from that bee’ s attack,” would you not have said, “ Get out of the way; let the train defend itself” ? The Bible is its own best defence. (J. E. W. Cook.) Isaiah 40:9O Zion, that bringest good tidings The tidings the Church has to publish The text has been variously rendered. The best authorities give it, “ Thou that bringest good tidings to Zion,” which rendering better agrees with the latter part of the verse, with some parallel passages, and with the scope of the passage. Our translators took Zion and Jerusalem in the nominative case, and so did others before them, as if the prophet called on the chief city to acquaint the other cities of Judah with the joyful news of their returning inhabitants: but there is far more congruity in the herald’ s being instructed to ascend the high mountains that the Jewish captives in the remotest corners of Chaldea may hear the joyful proclamation of liberty, and prepare to return to their own country. The Jewish Targum (no mean authority) paraphrases the words thus: “ O ye prophets that bring glad tidings to Zion” Vitringa supports the same idea, as does also Bishop Lowth. The language may, with great force, be addressed to the missionaries of every denomination. “ O thou that hast good tidings to tell, get thee up into the high mountain. Say to the cities of the Eastern and the Western world, Behold your God.” I. THE CHURCH HAS GREAT TIDINGS TO TELL TO THE WORLD AT LARGE. The Jewish prophets were the heralds of a Saviour to come, and beautiful upon the mountains were the feet of those who published peace; but the Christian Church has to proclaim the actual accomplishment of the great salvation. We have to tell of a Saviour incarnate, crucified, enthroned. We have to tell of a justifying righteousness, a sanctifying spirit, a pardoning God: of Satan vanquished. The Christian Church has to reveal-- 1. A system of truth as opposed to the errors of heathenism. These truths are universally applicable. All have minds to which truth is precious as life to the eye, and the truth as it is in Jesus is more needful than life itself. 2. A system of devotion, as opposed to the absurdities of their superstition. Would you choose to have them still ignorant of the attributes of acceptable devotion? 3. A system of purity, as opposed to the shameless vices of their idolatry. Morality is interested in the triumph of missions. 4. The Christian Church can tell them of the life and immortality brought to light by the Gospel, as opposed to their obscure and degrading notions of futurity. II. THESE TIDINGS OUGHT NOT TO BE KEPT SECRET, BUT ARE TO BE AND . “ Lift up thy voice with strength: say, Behold your God.” This light ought to be held forth as a burning torch, like the beacon light of ancient Pharos, that it may scatter the darkness of the night, and guide the tempest-tossed vessel of distant nations to the safe anchorage and peaceful haven of the welcome shore. We are bound by every tie, by all that can constitute the most solemn and religious obligation, to diffuse far and wide the grand principles of salvation. Dwell upon the moral destitution and wretchedness of the nations sitting in darkness, and simply ask whether this be a desirable state of things. III. THE THAT THESE TIDINGS SHALL NOT BE IN VAIN. God has said, “ My Word shall not return void.” The Spirit is promised. (S. Thodey.)The Church and her message I. THE THAT CLUSTER AROUND THE NAME. “ O Zion, that bringest glad tidings.” That is almost a definition of the Church; at any rate, it is a description of her by her most characteristic office and function--that which marks and separates her from all associations and societies of men. Her true dignity is that she bears a Gospel in her hand, and grace is poured into her lips. We are to suppose the manifestation and approach of the Divine Deliverer; hence what constitutes Zion the messenger of good tidings is the presence in her of the living God. Translate that into New Testament language, and it just comes to this: that what constitutes the Church the evangelist for the world is the simple possession of Christ, or of the Gospel, and that breaks out into two or three points. 1. Whoever has Christ has the power to impart Him. 2. The possession of Christ for yourselves imposes upon you the obligation to impart Him. (1) All property in this world is trust property, and everything that a man knows that can help or bless the moral or spiritual age or intellectual condition of his fellows, he is thereby under solemn obligation to impart. There is an obligation arising from the bands that knit us to one another, so that no man can possess his good alone without being untrue to the solidarity of humanity. You have got, you say, the remedy, healing for all the diseases of humanity. What would you think of a man who in a pestilence was contented with swallowing his own specific, and leaving others to die? You have got the Christ, and you have got Him that you may impart Him. (2) It is an obligation that arises, too, from the very purposes of your calling. What are you saved for? For your own blessedness? Yes, and No. No creature in God’ s great universe but is great enough to be a worthy end of the Divine action. But no creature in God’ s universe so great as that he is a worthy end of the Divine action, if he is going to keep all the Divine gifts in himself. We are all brought into the light that we may impart light. 3. The very fact of the possession of this Gospel, or of this Christ, for ourselves ought to--and in all healthy conditions will--inspire the impulse to impart. All deep conviction longs to be vocal. II. We have here, in a very picturesque and vivid form, the setting forth of THE MANNER IN WHICH THE ZION IS TO HER MESSAGE. The fair-featured herald is bidden to get up into the high mountain, perhaps a mere picturesque detail, perhaps some reference to the local position of the city set upon a hill, like the priests of Ebal or Gerizim, or Alpine shepherds, calling to each other across the valleys, to secure some vantage ground; and, next, to let her voice roll out across the glen. No faltering whisper will do, but a voice that compels audience. “ Lift up thy voice with strength.” But a timid heart will make a tremulous voice, and fear and doubt will whisper when courage will ring it out. So “ be not afraid” ; there is the foundation of the clearness and the loudness with which the word is to be uttered. Our message is to be given with a courage and a force that are worthy of it. “ Be not afraid.” That is a lesson for this day. There are plenty of causes of fear round about us, if, like Peter on the water, we look at the waves instead of at the Master. 1. Let us cherish a firm, soul-absorbing confidence in the power and truth of the message we have to tell. 2. Do not let us make too much of the enemy. 3. Let us remember the victories of the past. 4. Above all, let us remember who fights with us. III. THE AND OF THE ZION’ S MESSAGE, “ Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold you God!” They were to be pointed to a great historical act, in which God had manifested Himself to men; and the words are not only an exclamation, but an entreaty, and the message was to be given to these little daughter cities of Judah as representing all of those for whom the deliverance had been wrought;--all which things are paralleled in the message that is committed to our hand. We all have given to us the charge of pointing men to the great historical fact wherein God is visible to men. You cannot reveal God by word, you cannot reveal God by thought. There is no way open to Him to make Himself known to His creatures except the way by which men make themselves known to one another, that is, by their deeds; and so high above all speculation, high above all abstraction, nearer to us than all thought, stands the historical fact in which God shows Himself to the world, and that is in the person of Jesus Christ. How beautiful in that connection the verses following my text are: “ Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand” ; yet “ He shall feed His flock like a shepherd.” And so in that Christ is the power of God, for He is the arm of the Lord; and in that Christ is the gentleness of God; and whilst men grope in the darkness, our business is to point to the living, dying Son, and to say, “ There you have the ultimate, the perfect representation of the unseen God.” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)News proclaimed on mountain-tops Some suppose an allusion to the practice of addressing large assemblies from the summit or declivity of hills Judges 9:7; Deuteronomy 27:12; Matthew 5:1). J.D. Michaelis compares the ancient practice of transmitting news by shouting from one hill-top to another, as described by Caesar (Bell. Gall. 7.3). The essential idea is that of local elevation as extending the diffusion of the sound. (J. A. Alexander.)Behold your GodThe manifestation of God Taking the words as they stand in the text, consider them in-- I. THEIR in the incarnation, nativity, personal appearance, and ministration of the Son of God in Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah. II. THEIR in the hearts of all those who have spiritually received the tidings of His Gospel. It is the process of Christ, from His incarnation to His ascension, spiritually repeated within us; “ God and Saviour” and our salvation entirely depends upon our “ beholding this” , manifesting Himself in all His amiable attributes within us, and by our will cheerfully co-operating with Him in His great work of love. (J. Duche, M. A.)The beholding of Jesus Christ The prophet is directing the attention of his countrymen and of the Church in every age to the Messiah who is the true God and eternal life. This illustrious personage we may behold in a variety of interesting and instructive situations. 1. Carry your thoughts back into eternity, and behold Him, who in time was made of a woman, sitting upon the circle of the heavens, in the essential glory of the Godhead; His habitation immensity, His duration eternity, His perfections uncreated and infinite. 2. As a confirmation of the original glory and Godhead of Jesus Christ, “ behold your God” at the morning of creation, the dawn of time. Was it not His effective hand that planted the pillars of the universe and raised the magnificent fabric of earth and heaven? What He formed as the God of creation, He preserves as the God of power. 3. From the fall of our first parents to the birth of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer is only to be seen in promises and prophecies, in sacrifices and ceremonies. Passing over, therefore, this long lapse of time, suffer me to conduct your thoughts to Bethlehem. There, “ behold your God.” 4. Omitting the occurrences of His childhood and youth, let me invite you to look at Jesus entering into the wilderness under the influence and direction of the Holy Ghost. Behold Him tempted of the devil forty days and forty nights. It is a Divine maxim that “ God cannot be tempted, neither tempteth He any man.” But God in human flesh sustained the hour of trial. 5. After this strange event, permitted to the powers of darkness, Jesus appears in a new scene of life. Behold, then, your God going forth as a teacher, accompanying His ministrations and instructions with signs and wonders, and all the marks of Deity. And He is the “ same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.” In every age, as well as in the days of His flesh, there is treasured up in Him, for the flee use of all that come unto Him, pardon, and peace, and grace, and strength, and life, and salvation. 6. Just before the close of His ministrations, a profitable view of the Lord Jesus opens to us in the garden of Gethsemane: there “ behold your God!” He appears emphatically a “ man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” But let us follow Him from the garden, through all the intermediate scenes of insult, reproach, and ignominy, to the bar of Pontius Pilate: there at the tribunal of man “ behold your God!” He, who shall one day appear to judge every man according to his deeds, now stands arraigned as a criminal before the judgment-seat of man. Judgment is perverted: Pilate declares Him innocent, yet suffers Him to be mocked, and scourged, and crucified. Mingling in the crowd, follow Him from the common hall, and “ behold your God” as He passes through, the streets of Jerusalem,. bearing. His cross amidst the revilings and tauntmgs of the people, who, m all the virulence of persecution, exclaim, “ Away with Him, away with Him! crucify Him!” “ Behold your God” ascending the summit of Calvary. Oh, what a scene was here! a scene which all nature seems backward to behold. Standing at the foot of the Cross, learn that “ ye were not redeemed with corruptible things,” etc. (1 Peter 1:18-19). 7. The last view which we have to take of Jesus Christ closes His sufferings, and accomplishes our redemption. “ Behold your God” bursting the barriers of the tomb, vanquishing the king of terrors, despoiling the sepulchre, breaking the bands of corruption, and rising to life, never to die again. Then was fulfilled that prophecy, “ O death, I will be thy plagues.” To enter into the spirit of the passage, you must keep your mind’ s eye upon the Saviour, and behold your God as He is ascending to the realms of bliss. Conclusion--“ Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.” Now it is your privilege by faith to “ behold your God” as a Saviour, delighting in mercy. (S. Payne.) Isaiah 40:10-12 Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand Power and tenderness The beauty and peculiarity of these words consist in the combination of the might of Adonai-Jehovah (Isaiah 40:10), with the gentleness of the Shepherd, carrying in His bosom the weak and weary of the flock (Isaiah 40:11). I. “ Behold your God,” FULL OF MIGHT AND MAJESTY (Isaiah 40:10). To Christ all power has been committed. He is “ the arm of God” (Isaiah 51:9), “ the Man of Jehovah’ s right hand,” etc. (Psalms 80:17). His name is “ Immanuel.” II. HE WITH THE POWER OF THE KING, THE OF THE TENDER AND LOVING . “ He shall feed His flock.” That word is a comprehensive one. It means that He shall act all the part of a shepherd towards them; leading them, protecting them, providing alike the green pastures and the still waters, Nay, as if this were not enough, He is beautifully represented as “ gathering the lambs in His arms” ;--making a pillow for them in the folds of the loose “ abbeh,” or shepherd’ s mantle, as they nestle close in His bosom. And while thus He deals with the tender lambs, He is equally merciful and considerate not to overdrive their nursing mothers. Exult in this twofold word of comfort, “ Behold thy King cometh, meek and lowly.” Behold your God! Behold your Shepherd!, strong to smite, strong to save. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)Characteristics of the great Saviour These words exhibit to our view some of the most lively characteristics of that illustrious Saviour by whose incarnation our fallen race are become again entitled to that long-lost inheritance which had been forfeited by sin, and by whose redeeming process in their souls they are rendered capable of enjoying it. The illuminated prophet proceeds to point out the personal character of this great Deliverer. 1. “ Behold! the LORD GOD shall come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him.” The mistaken Israelites vainly ascribed to these words a temporal interpretation, and looked for a deliverer whose conquering arm should effectually rescue them from the earthly powers to which they were tributary. But the true children of faithful Abraham wait for the spiritual accomplishment of this prophecy in their hearts; and see and feel “ the strong hand” of their Redeemer in that inward opposition which He raises in their breasts to all the evil desires and corrupt passions of human nature. 2. “ Behold! His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.” This work is no other than the complete deliverance of man from the captivity of sin and Satan. This reward is no other than the glorious acquisition of those lost or wandering souls, who were originally His by creation, and are now doubly so by redemption. The prophet seems to dwell upon the power and majesty of this Deliverer. He represents Him as coming with a strong hand: and indeed, such is usually His first appearance in the sinner’ s heart. David speaks of this first appearance in the most alarming terms: “ The arrows of the Almighty stick fast in me, and His hand presseth me sore.” The first feelings of an awakened and convicted conscience are agonising indeed; for they are the breaking forth of heaven’ s majestic light upon the benighted soul, which shakes nature to her very centre, and discloses every hidden recess to which conscious guilt flies from its approach. But when viewed with composure, and received with cheerfulness, it soon becomes as mild and sweet as the radiance of the risen day after a dark and tempestuous night. Hence it is that in the next verse we find the dignity and majesty of this august Personage sweetly tempered with condescension and love, and melting into heavenly meekness, gentleness, and compassion. 3. “ He shall feed His flock like a shepherd,” etc. (1) “ The flock” here mentioned can be no other than our whole fallen race, who by virtue of that “ incorruptible seed” that was inspoken into the first Adam, are put into a capacity of regaining eternal life through the redeeming power of Christ, their second Adam. (2) But though the Shepherd’ s love is thus universal, and all men are the objects of His pastoral care; though they are all His children by redemption, yet all do not alike follow the “ Shepherd s voice” ; all are not equally willing to be fed with His “ bread of life.” (3) Let the humble-minded Christian “ lift up his head and look up.” He need not, as the Psalmist expresses it, “ run here and there for food; and grudge, because he is not satisfied” : the wants he feels, reason, he well knows, cannot supply; the comforts he aspires after, are such as the world cannot give. Wherever his Shepherd leads, he is content to follow: he is sensible of His presence, in darkness as well as in light. The evils by which he is oppressed he is satisfied to bear because his Deliverer is ever at his side. (J. Duche, M. A.)The magnitude and tenderness of Divine dealings We find frequent reference in Scripture to the Divine hand, arm, and bosom, by which God is brought the nearer to the level of our comprehension, and within touch of our love and confidence. In these verses there is a striking combination in the use made of these figures. I. THE OF GOD’ S POWER AND RULE. “ Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span?” etc. The reference to the Divine hand is essentially human, man being the only creature on God’ s earth who has a hand. How wonderful is its construction! It is marvellously adapted for skill, power, and authority. It is that which in happy combination with other endowments gives man dominion over creation. It is his hand which, in more senses than one, sways the sceptre. It is his hand that asserts his royal nature, his power and authority to rule. Again, the arm is that which gives leverage to the hand, and without which the hand would be useless. The hand and arm of God are spoken of here. We read elsewhere that the heavens are the work of His fingers, that in His hands are the deep places of the earth, and that His hands formed the dry land. Here we read, “ Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span? “ The great Architect and Framer of the universe is represented as forming and adjusting earth, sea, and sky with His hand. This is the graphic representation of the Divine Worker at work. The one implement used is the hand of the Great Worker--its hollow for the seas, its span for the heavens! What sublime poetry descriptive of creative skill! The illustrations are taken from primitive life. The truest poetry comes from primitive simplicity. 1. “ Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand?” What is the sublime truth which this richly figurative speech conveys? One truth at least is the self-sufficiency of God in His creative work. He needed not to go beyond Himself. All creation is the outcome of His own power and skill, independent of the shifts of machinery and tools. When this has been stated, the prophet proceeds to draw other figures from, primitive life in the simplicity of its operations to describe God’ s creative work. “ Comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure” that is a tierce, or the third of an ephah. It is the same word as that used in Psalms 80:5, “ Thou givest them tears to drink in great measure.” As Delitzsch beautifully expresses it, it is a small measure for the dust of the earth, but a “ great measure” for tears. “ Weighed the mountains in scales,” that is, a steel-yard, that by which the greater loads are weighed; “ and the hills in a balance” --the tradesman’ s balances which weigh smaller things, but with greater accuracy than the “ steel-yard.” Nothing has been done by haphazard. Every world has been balanced, and the equilibrium of the universe adjusted with infinite wisdom and skill. Astronomical observation leads to this conclusion; Isaiah asserted it with regard to this earth before astronomy was born. 2. So far we have dwelt upon Isaiah’ s statement of what God had done. Now we notice the prophetic announcement of what God would do. The former refers to His creative power, the latter to His providential rule. “ The Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him.” There is here a prediction of a special Divine advent in power, but I take this as typical of all Divine advents and interventions throughout the ages. We have read of the Divine hand in the record of God forming and adjusting the earth, but now we read of the Divine arm in His personal advent and providential rule. There is a Providence as well as a creation. God has not completed His work by His creative skill and power. “ He worketh hitherto.” The hand that formed and adjusted is moved by the arm that rules and governs. It is the arm that wields the hand. The Scriptures abound with emphatic references to the Divine arm. “ Hast thou an arm like Job 40:9) asked God out of the whirlwind of Job. “ Thou hast a mighty arm” (Psalms 89:13), exclaimed the Psalmist; and again, “ His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory” (Psalms 98:1). Isaiah wrote, “ The Lord hath sworn by the arm of His strength” (Isaiah 62:8), and again, “ Therefore His arm brought salvation” (Isaiah 59:16). In these andsimilar passages the arm of God is the symbol of His power in providential and redemptive works. “ His arm shall rule for Him,” --that is, shall bring all foes submissive, and make all subjects obedient to His sovereignty and command. It is instructive to notice the different names applied to God in the Scriptures to show various aspects of His character and work. Observe the names by which God is called here. “ The Lord God” (Adonai-Jehovah)--a combination of the two greatest names by which God was knownunder the Old Dispensation. The consequent announcement is that of the advent of the “ Mighty One” (R.V.). Yet these words, expressive of power and dominion, are followed by others which have all the tenderness and grace of a pastoral symphony. II. THE OF HIS CARE. “ He shall feed His flock like a shepherd,” etc. The hand that meted out the heavens and measured the waters of the deep is that which feeds the flock, and the arm that rules for Him is the arm that gathers the lambs. “ And carry them in His bosom.” Ah! I have not read of “ His bosom” in this context before now. I heard no mention of His bosom when He was spoken of as measuring the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meting out heaven with the span; it is only when the prophet speaks of the lambs that he mentions not only God’ s arm but also His bosom. The hollow of His hand is good enough for the waters, His span for the heavens, His arm for His subjects, but only His bosom for the lambs. This is a tenderness specially adapted to the peculiar need. “ And shall gently lead those that are with young,” or. “ those that give suck” (R.V.). The great Shepherd will not forget motherhood with its cares and burdens. God s omnipotence can only be equalled by His compassion. He is not only Almighty, but also “ Almighty to save.” Our God who created the heavens has also lifted up the Cross. (D. Davies.)The grandeur and pathos of theology In those words, “ His arm shall rule for Him,” we have the grandeur of theology; but in these words, “ He shall feed His flock like a Shepherd,” we have the pathos of theology. (D. Davies.)Consolation from the thought of God’ s omnipotence In his autobiography, Goethe tells us that the earthquake in Lisbon fairly stumbled his faith and awakened his alarm at the time when he first heard the news of it. The notion of Divine reliability fell under his suspicion; how could anyone trust a God who would suffer that 70,000 people should be overwhelmed by one awful tide of the ocean, rushing up and back as the earth rose in imperious strength of upheaval; where was His goodness? What might He not do next? The young man was frightened at the manifestation of so much almightiness. Later on in life he saw how fine it was to have for his God a being who could rock the world at His will. (C. S.Robinson, D. D.) Isaiah 40:11 He shall feed His flock like a shepherd The care of the Good Shepherd for His flock 1. The prophet first declares the general office of the Saviour. “ He shall feed His flock like a shepherd.” 2. Here His people are described under the endearing name of a “ flock.” It is thus descriptive of the happy privileges which they enjoy. They are not left to roam at large like the beasts of prey; but they are brought by Divine grace into a settled state. They are as a flock of sheep under the shepherd’ s eye. They are distributed, it is true, in various parts; but yet under the Lord’ s particular care. 3. “ His flock.” This is to make known more especially their privileges--they are emphatically His. They are “ His” as given to Him by His eternal Father. They are “ His” by His own immediate purchase; for He has redeemed them. They are “ His” also, as by the action of the Holy Ghost upon their hearts they are led into His fold. 4. The word translated “ feed” properly signifies the whole care and government that a shepherd exercises towards his flock. Christ takes a general oversight of them; but He has them particularly in His eye. So, too, a shepherd distinguishes the different states of his flock, and suits himself to their particular wants. 5. By the “ lambs,” those are meant who are young in years, and young converts. They are described by this emblem to set forth their weakness and tenderness and inability properly to take care of themselves. He “ gathers them with His arm, and carries them in His bosom.” Here you notice a most pleasing union of power and love employed in their service. It is thus that the Lord Christ exercises the tenderness of a shepherd towards His flock. Remember how many sweet promises are addressed to the weak and to the young in the flock (Isaiah 35:3; Isaiah 53:4; Isaiah 42:3). We particularly notice this, to encourage those who may be setting out in the Lord’ s way. Sometimes a thought comes into the mind, “ Ah! if I were but like such a Christian! if I had as much zeal and devotedness to my Master’ s service as he has, if I had his joy and peace in believing,--then I should be able to go on my way rejoicing in the Lord. This is a mistaken view. The love of the Shepherd to His flock does not originate in their love to Him. He did not expect to find them angels; He knew that they were sinners. He treats them as a shepherd does his tender lambs. “ He shall gently lead those that are with young” ; or, “ those that give suck.” You see this beautifully illustrated in the history of Jacob, after his meeting with his brother Esau. Esau said to him, “ Let us take our journey, and I will go before thee;” but Jacob, like a good shepherd, knowing the roughness of his brother, said to him, “ My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day” --only one day--“ all the flock Will die.” How many resting-places does the Good Shepherd provide! Conclusion-- (1) Such is the description given by the prophet of our blessed Saviour. Surely it is plainly that on which our faith may rest in seasons of trial, and which may as surely attract our love in seasons of outward peace and prosperity. Look at His dealings with His disciples in the hour of their sorrow: how many comforts does He afford! (2) What is there that can so attract you as this “ Shepherd of the sheep” ? Everything that regards the fulfilment of His office may draw forth our attachment. (J. H. Stewart, M. A.)Christ the Shepherd of His people I. A OF THE CHURCH AND PEOPLE OF GOD, under the notion of a flock. 1. With respect to God they are called a flock because they are separated from the rest of mankind, and given to the Lord Christ. A flock is a company of sheep which is the property of some owner. 2. With respect to the Lord Jesus, the Church is called a flock because He brings them into His fold, calls them out of a natural state into a state of grace, and fellowship with Himself. 3. With respect to other men, among whom believers converse, they are called a “ flock” upon a threefold account. (1) As they are helpless. (2) As they are harmless. A sheep will take injuries, but it is not prone to return them. (3) They are useful. Believers are a blessing by their prayers and by their example. II. THE CHRIST STANDS IN TO THEM as a Shepherd. Two things are implied in this relation--care and tenderness. III. WHAT CHRIST DOES FOR HIS CHURCH AND PEOPLE as their Shepherd. IV. THE WAY IN WHICH THIS IS DONE. Suitably to everyone’ s circumstances and condition. 1. Christ’ s carriage towards His flock is according to their ages. 2. It is according to their strength or weakness. Such as cannot walk shall be carried; and they that are heavy laden shall be gently led. Comfort yourselves with this; none of the flock shall be left behind. 3. It is according to the difficulties or dangers His sheep are in. Uses-- 1. This doctrine affords a just word of reproof to those who are shepherds under Christ, but act not according to His example towards the flock. Knowledge of the state of the flock is one great, though much-neglected branch of a pastor’ s office. 2. How should souls long to be under the care of this Good Shepherd! You are exposed to wolves and devils, to all errors and sin, whilst you keep off from Christ; there is no safety for you, but only in His arms; no provision, but in His covenant. 3. How safe are all the saints! 4. What a blessed plea is here for the Church in dangerous times! Christ will spare His flock, and the land for their sake. 5. With what boldness may the people of Christ attend upon all holy ordinances. They are designed for your support, till you get above them. (J. Hill.)The Shepherd and His flock I. THE . He, the Lord God, whose hand is strong, and whose arm shall rule for Him, “ who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, who hath meted out heaven with a span, who hath comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, who hath weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance” --He for whom there is nothing too hard to be accomplished, and nothing too minute to be observed, offereth to be the Shepherd of your soul, to feed it and to watch over it. Will not His love, His power, His wisdom, be sufficient for all its need? II. THE FLOCK. As the Shepherd is powerful and wise, and full of love, so are the flock weak and foolish, and ready to go astray. The sheep is a weak, defenceless creature, having neither strength to resist the wolf, nor speed to escape from him. It is not like the ant, provident, and able to care for its own sustenance. If once astray, it is rarely known to return of its own accord. III. THE ’ S CARE OF HIS FLOCK. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd. The word translated feed refers to all a shepherd’ s care for his flock, including all necessary and beneficial attention to them (Ezekiel 34:15-16). IV. THE OF HIS CARE. (G. Innes.)The Redeemer as a Shepherd I. THE UNDER THE OF A . 1. It is the office of a good shepherd to know his flock. “ I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine.” He has a tender feeling, a compassionate concern for the meanest and most sickly of His flock. 2. The Good Shepherd defends His flock from every threatening danger. David exposed his own life to defend his flock. Those holy and humble shepherds to whom our blessed Saviour’ s birth was first notified, kept watch over their flocks by night. Will the Redeemer fall short in His office? No! “ Behold, He who keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” 3. The Good Shepherd gathers His flock, whether they have wandered from the fold, or have been driven away by an enemy, or scattered by storms (Ezekiel 34:12). The Shepherd of Israel will magnify His office in this respect. Christ shall gather the Jews, the people of His ancient Church, into His sacred fold. 4. The Good Shepherd heals His flock, whether languishing under deep disease or smarting wounds. It was charged upon the shepherds of Israel as a high crime that they had not healed the sick, nor bound up that which was broken, nor brought again that which was driven away, nor sought that which was lost. But this could not be objected against our compassionate Redeemer. 5. The Good Shepherd provides green pastures and pure water for His flock. II. WHAT KIND OF A IS CHRIST? I. He is a great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:10). 2. He is the chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4). Other shepherds are mere men, of like passions with ourselves. 3. He is the good Shepherd (John 10:14). 4. He is a Shepherd who has no equal This is obvious in numberless instances. Other shepherds lay down their commission at death. But the Shepherd of Israel by dying conquered death; and carries on His work by His Holy Spirit, with all that power and success which attended His personal ministry on earth. III. THE FLOCK WHICH CHRIST DOTH TEND. 1. It is a little flock (Luke 12:32). Though small and despised in the eyes of a vain world; though poor in spirit, humble and meek in their deportment among men, they are greatly beloved by their God. They are not only little in their own eyes, and in the eyes of a vain world, but little in point of number, compared to a thoughtless multitude. 2. They are in some degree acquainted with their own hearts. 3. They are a peculiar flock, as they are all purchased with blood. 4. They are a chosen flock. 5. They know their Redeemer’ s voice, and are charmed with it. 6. They follow the blessed Shepherd (John 10:27). (J. Johnston.)Jesus Christ the Shepherd of His people I. HOW THIS TITLE OF AGREES TO JESUS CHRIST. Our blessed Lord is spoken of in Scripture under several characters--as a Physician, a Ruler, the Captain of our Salvation, etc., and in this and many other places, as a Shepherd: a metaphor full of comfort. A shepherd is called to the office and trust; and this may eminently be said of Christ. God the Father appointed Him to this office, and fitted Him for it (Ezekiel 34:23). And upon this account God calls Him “ My Shepherd” (Zechariah 13:7). A good shepherd gives an account of his sheep; and so will Christ Hebrews 2:13). II. SOME OF THE THAT BELONG TO HIM AS A . 1. He is the Shepherd of souls (1 Peter 2:25). 2. He is that great Shepherd of the sheep (Hebrews 13:20). Great in respect of the dignity of His person, and great in His accomplishments for His office. 3. He is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). He is the very best Shepherd-- (1) As being most wise and discerning. He is acquainted with the state of His whole flock, as their different circumstances require. (2) As being most faithful and constant. (3) In respect of His love for His flock (John 10:11). III. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN HIS FEEDING HIS FLOCK. 1. As being the Shepherd of His people’ s souls, the food wherewith He feeds is spiritual. Even our common supplies for the body are from Him. 2. Of this spiritual food He makes use of great variety. (1) He feeds His flock with His word and ordinances. (2) By the influences of His Spirit. (3) With Himself, with His own flesh and blood, as received by faith. (4) By the various dispensations of His providence towards them. (5) When necessary, by afflictions. (6) After Christ has fed His flock for a time here, He will eternally feed them with higher entertainments in heaven. 3. The food wherewith Christ feeds His flock is precious, even the privileges and promises of the Gospel. How costly, how precious, are such things as these! 4. Christ feeds His people with pleasant food. 5. The provision Christ affords His flock is plentiful (Son 5:1). 6. The food with which Christ feeds His flock nourishes the soul to eternal John 6:50). IV. IN WHAT RESPECT MAY CHRIST BE SAID TO FEED HIS FLOCK LIKE A ? 1. As He feeds them with judgment and discretion, with due regard to their age and growth. 2. Aa He doth this with the greatest care and compassion, as those weak creatures He hath paid the greatest price for, and stands in the nearest relation to. 3. As He feeds them effectually, so as to make them to thrive. 4. As He will go on to feed them, till they are nourished up to a fitness for the glory He designs to bring them to. (D. Wilcox.)Christ the Shepherd The language is partly metaphorical, because spiritual and intellectual ideas are taken from natural objects. But there is another sense in which the language is not exclusively metaphorical; because there is such a steadiness and determination in the character, that we know at once what it means--it almost ceases to be metaphor. The metaphor is one most commonly used to denote a king or ruler, a prophet or instructor, a priest or sacrifice. The origin of this is obvious, especially in reference to the first of these titles. In the country in which the scene is laid, all wealth consisted in possessions of flocks and herds. Ancient history tells us of a race of shepherd kings, whose tyranny over the people was so great that they were more like wolves than shepherds. And it is conjectured that on this account chiefly it is said of the Egyptians that “ every shepherd was an abomination to them.” The first idea, then, which the title of shepherd gives us is, that of the kingly character, and we find that every king was the high priest of that people also. Melchizedek was both “ king of Salem and priest of the Most High God.” And he who was recognised thus as a shepherd, was also regarded as the principal teacher in spiritual matters. Thus we see how the title of Shepherd comprehends all the other characters of our Lord--King, Instructor, and Priest. It would naturally follow that when an individual was thus recognised as “ shepherd,” the people over whom he was placed would be denominated his “ flock” or his “ sheep.” The word “ shepherd” includes in it all that pertains to the office of a shepherd. I. SKILL. II. AND . III. . IV. POWER. (C. Evanson, M. A.)Jesus the Shepherd I. OLD of the manner in which the Lord Jesus Christ discharges the office of feeding His flock like a shepherd. 1. Out of five great types we begin with Abel, the shepherd slain. Abel was a type of the Saviour, in that, being a shepherd, he sanctified his work to the glory of God, and offered sacrifice of blood upon the altar of the Lord, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering. Farther down the page of sacred history we find another shepherd. He is a more instructive type of the Saviour, perhaps, than the first, but in Abel we discover a truth which is absent in all others. Abel is the only one of the typical shepherds who dies at the foot of the altar, he is the only sacrificing shepherd; and herein you see Jesus Christ in the very earliest ages set forth to mankind as the slaughtered Victim. 2. Now we turn to Jacob, the toiling shepherd. Here is a type of the Good Shepherd, not as dying, but as keeping sheep with a view to get unto Himself a flock. Jacob’ s labour was of the most arduous character. It is sweet to dwell upon the spiritual parallel of Laban having required all the sheep at Jacob’ s hand. If they were torn of beasts he must make it good; if any of them died, he must stand as surety for the whole. And did not the Saviour stand just so while He was here below? Was not His toil for His Church just the toil of one who felt that He was under suretyship obligations to bring every one of them safe to the hand of Him who had committed them to His charge? When Jacob had received a reward for all his toil out of the flock which he himself tended, he then conducted both his family and his flock away from Laban. Jacob coming back from Laban to the Promised Land is a true picture of Jesus Christ coming up from the world, followed by His Church, to enter into that better Canaan which has been given to us by a covenant of salt for ever. 3. Joseph is a type of Jesus reigning in the Egypt of this world for the good of His own people, while they are here below. Jesus Christ is King over Egypt’ s realm. Observe the likeness between Joseph and Jesus in this respect. Joseph was of very singular advantage to the Egyptians. They must have starved in the years of famine, if his prescient eye had not foreseen the famine, and stored up the plenty of the seven previous years. And Jesus Christ is of great service even to this wicked world. It is by Him that it is preserved. 4. Moses, when he kept sheep, kept them in the wilderness, far away from all other flocks; and when he became a shepherd over God’ s people Israel, his business was not to preserve them in Egypt, but to conduct them out of it. Here, then, is a representation of Jesus Christ as the Shepherd of a separated people. Jesus, like Moses, might have been a king. As Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’ s daughter, so Jesus Christ said, “ Get thee behind Me, Satan,” to all the pomp and glory of this present world, and preferred to take part with His despised people, who were crushed down by the reigning powers in the Egypt of His days. Now, Moses began his mission by going to Pharaoh, and saying, “ Thus saith the Lord, Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” Jesus Christ begins as the Shepherd of the separate ones by demanding that they should be let go from the bondage of their natural estate. Our main point is the great exodus of Moses. Every heir of heaven is brought right out of Egypt, led through the Red Sea of Jesus Christ’ s blood, baptized into Jesus, and brought out into the separated position in the wilderness. It is easy to see how Moses was a shepherd to the people while in the wilderness. 5. David. This shepherd represents Jesus Christ, not at all as the others, but as King in the midst of His Church. David, like Jesus Christ, begins his life with trials. II. NEW . III. . 1. One of comfort and satisfaction to you who are poor, needy, weary, troubled lambs or sheep of the flock. “ He shall gather the lambs with His arms, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” The lambs have not the value of mature sheep, yet they are the most thought of under the great Shepherd. They might fetch the least price in the market, but they have the greatest portion of His heart. The weaklings and the sickly of the flock are the special objects of the Saviour’ s care. 2. A second application containing comfort and warning too. Sinner! our Lord Jesus Christ now represents Himself as being a Shepherd who is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Such is Jesus now, looking after stray sheep. Where are you? 3. So we shall conclude with these words, which may be for both saint and sinner. Let it never be forgotten that Jesus Christ is pre-eminently to be preached as the suffering One. (Zechariah 13:7). You shall know about the toiling Shepherd by-and-by; the Shepherd reigning in Egypt, the Joseph you shall know soon; the Shepherd of the separated flock, you shall follow ere long; the Shepherd reigning in Jerusalem, the David you shall rejoice to serve; but now you have to do with the Shepherd bleeding and dying. (C. H.Spurgeon.)The Good Shepherd The blessed Jesus is represented under this amiable character. The metaphor suggests--I. THE AND OF HIS NATURE. It was goodness, alike unmerited and unsolicited, that originally moved Him to interpose in our behalf. On what penitent did He ever look with coldness and aversion? II. The idea of . As the shepherd leads about his flock from one spot of pasturage to another, so does the Redeemer of His people conduct them to places where nourishment and sustenance may be obtained. III. The ideas of AND . They are exposed to a variety of perils; but He is vigilant to observe, and omnipotent to defend. IV. KIND TO THE FEEBLE, AND TENDER FOR THE YOUNG. “ He shalt gather the lambs with His arm,” etc. V. An idea of THE FINAL FOR THE FLOCK. From the tender care exercised over them here, we may infer somewhat of the dignity to which they shall be advanced hereafter. There are many of the ordinary phenomena of nature that fail to engage our wonder, merely because they are not uncommon. What, for example, if it did not come under our daily observation, could more surprise and astonish us than the progressive development of our own faculties? Who could believe that, under the feeble exterior of infancy, there slumbered intellectual energies, which, when a series of years had gone by, would expand to constitute the profound scholar, the enlightened statesman, and the accomplished orator? But multiplied experience has taught us what education and circumstances can do, and we cease to wonder that from the infant mind such fruits are capable of being reared. But surely, when we thus behold the admirable progress of which our nature is susceptible within the narrow compass of threescore years and ten--when we remember that the vast intellect of Newton was ledged in an infant’ s body--it may serve to remove our doubts as to the higher perfection of which our nature is capable in a future state of being. The goodness of the Great Shepherd in conducting His people to their final state, is most beautifully represented in the concluding verses of the 7 th chapter of Revelation--a passage at once so tender and sublime, that it is said our great Scottish poet, from his very boyhood, could never read it without tears. (J. L. Adamson.)He shall gather the lambs with His armThe Good Shepherd’ s consideration for the weak and tender of His flock I. CHRIST’ S FLOCK IS MADE UP OF OF SEVERAL GROWTHS; OF LAMBS AS WELL AS MORE GROWN SHEEP. I. As to the ages and years of Christians, we read of Paul the aged, and of Mnason, an old disciple (Acts 21:16); and of others the kindness of whose youth God particularly remembers. Josiah (2 Chronicles 34:3); Obadiah (1 Kings 18:12); Samuel (1 Samuel 2:18); Timothy (2 Timothy 3:15). 2. In respect of stature, strength, and growth in grace, Christ’ s flock is made up of lambs as well as sheep. Grace is not perfected as soon as implanted, nor does it thrive in all alike. In some, the good seed brought forth an hundredfold, in others sixty, in others but thirty (Matthew 13:1-58.). God has ordered it thus for wise purposes; that the weak may be assisted by the strong, and the strong have opportunity of showing their compassion and tenderness to the weak; that the strong may by this means be kept humble, as seeing in the case of others what they themselves once were; and that the weak may not be discouraged, but reach after the attainments of the strong. II. THE HERE OF CHRIST’ S REGARD TO THE WEAK. 1. The lambs, when wandering. He will gather with His arm. “ Gathering” supposes our proneness to wander. (1) This proceeds from the remains of corruption in us, and in His whole flock, which are not yet perfectly renewed. (2) The suddenness and surprise of a temptation may some times occasion their going astray. (3) As making way for both these, Christians too often let down their watch; upon which they are betrayed by corruption, and Satan gets an advantage over them. Christ will gather such with His arm. Which implies-- (a) That He looks after them, even when they are going astray from Him, and He is concerned for them still. (b) That He will not let them wander too far, not beyond the reach of His arm, with which they are both encircled and restrained. (c) That He will employ His power, when the case necessarily requires it, in order to their recovery. (d) That He will gather them with gentleness and care. (e) That He will gather them with His arm, with it stretched out kindly to receive them, and to give them a gracious welcome to Him again. 2. He will carry them in His bosom. This implies great weakness in some that belong to Christ’ s flock, and great compassion and grace on the part of Him, their Shepherd. “ The lambs,” or young converts of Christ’ s flock, may be in many respects weak: weak as to knowledge, faith, and love. Such weaklings as these Christ “ has in His flock;” and yet He does not cast them off, but “ carries them m His bosom,” which notes-- (1) That He observes with compassion the very weakest in His flock, and has His heart, as well as His arms open, to cherish them. (2) That He will take them into a place of safety. (3) In a word, Christ’ s carrying the weak of His flock “ in His bosom,” notes His acceptance of them as sincere, notwithstanding the weaknesses they lament over. These shall not keep them from His heart. 3. Our Lord and Shepherd Jesus Christ “ will gently lead those that are with young.” These words may set forth the condition and state of such sheep and followers of Him as are sorely burdened. And there are many things to burden Christ’ s sheep, as their difficult services, the load of their unmortified sins, and the bitter fruits of them, in their various sufferings of body and mind. As pressed with these, some of Christ’ s flock may be said to be as feeble as sheep that are with young, or give suck: but such “ He will gently lead.” Which implies-- (1) That He will go before them in the way they are to take. (2) He will lead them gently on, and not hurry and try them by any means beyond their strength. (3) He will bear with all their weakness and imperfections, groans and complaints, and never take occasion from thence to be severe with them, or forsake and leave them. III. CHRIST WILL MAKE GOOD HIS OF A TO HIS SHEEP THAT ARE WEAK, EITHER THROUGH THEIR SMALL IN GRACE, OR THE OF THEIR BURDENS. 1. This is here expressly asserted, “ He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.” 2. To this His compassionate nature inclines Him (Hebrews 4:15). Such a nature cannot but be peculiarly concerned for the weaklings of His flock, whose groans are continually going to heaven. 3. This He has in His commission. (Isaiah 61:1.) 4. This has all along been His dealing with His flock; and He is “ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” Application--Will Christ gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom? What an inducement is this to come into His flock! Be humbled, that you should be such weaklings as you are, so apt to wander, and so unable to return; but yet remember the excellent properties of Christ as the Shepherd of His flock. (D. Wilcox.)Four attributes of Divine love Isaiah tells us here of-- I. THE OF THE DIVINE LOVE. “ He shall gather with His arm.” The power to overtake and elevate such an one as Saul of Tarsus is no power less than “ the arm of the Lord revealed.” “ He shall carry in His bosom.” Even greater power is involved in this than in first gathering in the arm. The power of endurance. Such power was that of the Divine love in Christ towards Peter. II. THE OF THE DIVINE LOVE. So with the Divine love that said to Mary, “ Why weepest thou?” or to Thomas, “ Reach hither thy hand.” III. THE OF THE DIVINE LOVE. That may be the chief thought in these words. He promises more than the intervention of His arm between soul and dangers: He promises the intervention of His entire Being. IV. THE OF THE DIVINE LOVE. (U. R. Thomas, B. A.)I. We have to examine A OF THE GOOD . A Sabbath-school sermon 1. Men carry in their bosoms their gems, their jewels, and so doth Christ carry the lambs of the flock, regarding them as His peculiar treasure. He puts an estimate upon them according to His own relationship to them. He knows, too, what the child cost Him, for to redeem a little child from going down into the pit He must needs bear the penalty due to justice, and suffer even unto death. Re recollects, moreover, what that child will come to if He do not save it by carrying it in His bosom. A soul is a precious thing to Christ, for He believes in its immortality. And He knows, too, what may come of that little child if He sayeth it, for the possibilities of blessing within one little saved child who shall estimate but the Lord who knoweth all things? Jesus knows that a boy may be the spiritual father of hundreds ere he dies. There may be in the congregation a Chrysostom or an Augustine. Right among us may sit a little Whitefield, or a young Luther. II. We have AN EXAMPLE FOR THE CHURCH. There are two great things which a Church ought always to have, namely, an arm to gather with and a bosom to carry in. III. A practical word or two upon THE MODEL TEACHER. He who gathers the lambs with His arm and carries them in His bosom is the model of a Sunday-school teacher. In what points? 1. There should be about the teacher attractiveness, in order that he may gather. 2. After you have attracted, uplift. He carries the lambs in His bosom, and therefore He must lift them up. Everything about a teacher should tend to raise the children. 3. When He lifted up the lamb, He laid it on His heart. If you are to bless the little ones, they must lie on your heart. You must make them feel the life of your religion. 4. Next, bear them forward. The lamb is put into the shepherd’ s bosom, not that he may stand still with it all the day long, but because the sheep are going this way and the lambs must go that way too, and therefore he carries it. You must be always going forward yourself if the child is to go forward with you. 5. Guard the children. Christ placed the lambs in His bosom to protect them. 6. The next word is, cheer. 7. Delight in them. That tenth verse has a great charm for me. “ The Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him: behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.” Well, what did He have before Him but the sheep that He went forth to find, and the lambs which He gathered and carried in His bosom? They were His work, but they were also His reward. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The lambs and their Shepherd I. THE LAMBS. 1. They are truly sheep. They are not sheep in maturity, but they are sheep to a certainty. The sheep of God are harmless. They can bear, but they cannot revenge. The sheep goes further than the non-inflicting of evil, it bears evil without complaint. The extraordinary patience of the sheep is seen in God’ s people, when they joyously endure a weight of affliction, and pass through the valley of death with composure. Sheep, again, are cleanly creatures; cleanly in their feeding--carrion never tempts them; cleanly in their habits. Furthermore, the sheep is guileless. You see the lion creeping through the thicket full of cunning; but sheep have none. Again, sheep are tractable. When a man tames a lion so that he may sport with it, he gets the name of lion-tamer; nobody is renowned for taming a sheep, for it has a tractable disposition, and so all the elect of God have an obedient and yielding spirit. Do not forget that the lambs are truly Christ’ s sheep. They are as dearly bought with His blood; they are as surely objects of His care; they are as manifestly illustrations of His power; they shall as certainly be proofs of His faithfulness as the strongest of the flock. 2. Why are they lambs, and in what are they distinguished? (1) Some of them are lambs for age, though not all; for there are some young Christians who are full grown, and there are others very aged, who remain to be lambs still. (2) The distinguishing mark lies rather in spiritual deficiencies--they are but children in knowledge. They are immature also in experience. (3) So are they lambs in tenderness of feeling. They are too susceptible, and therefore feel the unkindness of the world acutely. (4) They are timid and trembling, and dare not courageously proclaim themselves at all times on the Lord’ s side. (5) Perhaps, too, they are subject to melancholy, to doubts and fears, and distresses of mind. II. Let us come to EXPRESS OUR FEARS THESE LAMBS OF THE FLOCK. We are afraid for them, because of the howling wolves there are about. We are equally alarmed because of their association with the goats. Then we are jealous over the lambs because of the old lion. We are even more concerned when we think of the bear. A flattering world hugs tightly. When we put all these dangers together, we add to them the fact that lambs are subject to the same diseases which are incident to all sheep. They, too, get the foot-rot of weariness in the ways of God. They begin to be slothful in the cause of God. They suffer from coldness of heart, have a tendency to wander, and catch the stiff neck of pride. III. Let us REJOICE IN THE GOOD . “ He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom.” 1. Who is He of whom such gracious words are spoken? “ Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand,” etc. But let us read on (Isaiah 40:12-18). 2. Why doth He carry lambs in His bosom? Because He hath a tender heart, and any weakness at once melts Him. But more, it is His office to consider the weak. For this it is that He was made a faithful high priest--that He might have compassion on the ignorant. He was a lamb Himself once. He purchased them with blood. Moreover, He is responsible for that lamb. They are all a part of His glory. 3. What does He say He will do? “ Carry them.” Sometimes He carries them by not permitting them to endure much trouble. At other times, by having some tender, loving person to take care of them. He carries them instrumentally. At other times, such lambs are carried by having an unusual degree of love given them, and consequently a large amount of joy, so that they bear up and stand fast. Though their knowledge may not be deep, they have great sweetness in what they do know. 4. How does He carry them? He carries them in His bosom--not on His back--that is bow He carries stray sheep. (1) Here is put forth boundless affection. Could He put them in His bosom if He did not love them much? Where does the Father place the Son? He is in the bosom of the Father. Where did Abraham carry Lazarus? In his bosom. Where did Naomi bear her young grandson Obed? He was in her bosom. Where did the man in the parable put his little ewe lamb? In his bosom. (2) Then there is tender nearness. How near to a man is that which is in his bosom. (3) Then it is a hallowed familiarity. Lambs when put into the bosom, having no intellect, cannot therefore learn anything; but the lambs of Christ’ s flock, whenever they ride in Christ’ s bosom, talk with Him; they tell Him all their secrets, and He tells them His. (4) Then there is perfect safety. The dear ones in His bosom--what can hurt them? They must hurt the Shepherd first. How can they get the lamb out of the Shepherd’ s arm? Must they not cut off the Shepherd’ s arm before they can hurt the lamb? IV. LET US HEAR THE ’ S VOICE. If you be the lambs, hear the Shepherd’ s voice, which says, “ Follow Me.” You that are not lambs, hear His words, “ Come unto Me.” Those of us who are His sheep, let us hear the Shepherd’ s voice, saying, “ Feed My lambs.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Greatness in league with gentleness In the chapter before us our Saviour is described as Jehovah God. Greatness in league with gentleness, and power linked with affection, now pass before us. Heroes who have been most distinguished for fury in the fight, have been tender of heart as little children; sharp were their swords to the foe, but gentle their hands towards the weak. It is the index of a noble nature that it can be majestic as a lion in the midst of the fray, and roar like a young lion on the scene of conflict, and yet it has a dove’ s eye and a maiden’ s heart. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Jesus and the lambs I. WHO ARE THE LAMBS WHICH OUR BLESSED LORD IS SAID TO GATHER AND TO CARRY IN HIS BOSOM? 1. In a certain sense we may affirm that all His people are lambs. In so far as they exhibit the Christian spirit, they are lamb-like. 2. Still, this is not the precise meaning of the text. The word “ lamb” frequently signifies the young; and our Lord Jesus Christ graciously receives many young persons into His bosom. The ancient teachers of the Jewish law invited no children to gather around them. I suppose there was not a Rabbi in all Jerusalem who would have desired a child to listen to him, and if it had been said of any one of the Sanhedrin, “ that man teaches so as to be understood by a child,” he would have thought himself insulted. But not so our Master; He always had children among His auditory. Some in our day mistrust youthful piety, but our Saviour lends no countenance to such suspicions. Some cautiously whisper, “ Let the pious youth be tried awhile before we believe in his religion; let him be tempted; let him bear the frosts of the world; perhaps the blossoms will drop away and disappoint us.” Such was not my Master’ s way. 3. But, again, by lambs we may quite as properly understand young converts. 4. We shall not strain the text if we say that the lambs in the flock are those who are naturally of a weak, timid, trembling disposition. 5. The lambs are those who know but little of the things of God. II. HOW DOES JESUS SHOW THIS SPECIAL CARE FOR THE WEAK ONES? He does this, according to the text, in two ways-- 1. By gathering them. The shepherd’ s kitchen fire is, for the time, the lambs’ own nursery. When the flock is on the march, it will happen, unless the shepherd is very watchful, that the lambs will lag behind. So it is in the progress of the great Christian Church; persecuted often, always more or less molested by the outside world, there are some who flag, they cannot keep up the pace; the spiritual warfare is too severe for them. At other times the lambs do worse than this. They are of a skittish nature, and, feeling the natural vigour of new-born life, they are not content to keep within bounds, as the older sheep do, but they betake themselves to wandering, so that at the close of the day the lambs cost the shepherd much trouble. So are there many immature Christians whose minds are hung loosely, and are unstable as water. 2. After He gathers them, He carries them in His bosom. That is-- (1) The safest place, for the wolf cannot get them there. (2) The tenderest place, where we should put only a poor creature that had a broken bone, and could not bear to be roughly touched. (3) The easiest place. (4) The most honourable place. We would not put into our bosom that which we despised. 3. Our Lord shows His care for His lambs in His teachings, which are very simple, mostly in parables, full of winning illustrations, but always plain. He is pleased to reveal His teachings gradually. His experimental teachings are all by degrees, too. 4. In the solemn curses with which He guarded the little ones (Matthew 18:6; Matthew 18:10). 5. How many of the promises are made on purpose for the weak. 6. The Lord Jesus Christ’ s tenderness to His people is further shown in this, that what He requires of them is easy. 7. He shows His gentleness, moreover, in that He accepts the least service that these little ones may offer. III. THIS CARE OF CHRIST TOWARDS THE LAMBS OF THE FLOCK? Because they need it, and He loves them, and therefore shall they receive according to their necessities. But why is He so particularly anxious to succour them? Surely, if He lost a lamb or two, it would be no loss among so many, and if one of the feeble minds should perish, it would be no great consequence when a multitude that no man can number shall be saved. The answer is plain. 1. The weak are as much redeemed by the blood of Christ as the strong. 2. In the new-born child of God there are peculiar beauties which are not so apparent in others. 3. Jesus has such care for the weak ones, because they will become strong one day. 4. Our Lord Jesus Christ’ s suretyship engagements require that He should preserve the weakest as well as the strongest. 5. Besides His suretyship engagements, there are His promises. 6. Compassion argues that if any should be watched it should be these. IV. A . 1. Let us gather the lambs, for Christ.. 2. Learn to carry in our bosoms those who are gathered. (C. H. Spurgeon.)“ I like your Jesus” A little Moslem child accounted for her preference for the Christian religion by saying, “ I like your Jesus, because He loves little girls! Our Mohammed did not love little girls.” With unerring instinct she had seized upon at least one of the greatest differences between the two religions. Christ and children Ruskin has observed that there are no children in Greek art, but that they abound in Christian art--an unmistakable token that it was the eye of Christ which first fully appreciated the attractiveness of childhood. (J. Stalker, D. D.)And carry them in His bosomThe saints’ final perseverance secured by the tenderness of Christ to the weak I. BY THE “ LAMBS” WE ARE CLEARLY TO WEAK . It has nothing to do with their age, either natural or spiritual. Sometimes they are called “ babes.” Sometimes we are told of “ the day of small things” ; sometimes of “ smoking flax.” They are weak believers. We see it in their degree of spiritual knowledge. They little know themselves. They little know the hard warfare they have to maintain. They are surprised because they find the strong workings of nature and of the flesh within them. These are they who live much upon their enjoyments when they have them, and are exceedingly east down when they have them not. They are, for the most part, persons Who are more affected by providences than by God’ s promises. They have indistinct views of Christ, of His great atonement. They live upon their happy frames. They draw but very feeble distinction between a life of faith and a life of sense. They love to discourage themselves. They think much more of their bitters than of that Branch that can make the bitter waters sweet. And too oft they think more of their own sacrifices than they think of the great Sacrifice. They are weak in knowledge; weak in experience; weak in courage. They fail too oft in the day of adversity. And yet they form a part of the true flock of Christ. There are but few folds in which lambs do not appear a large proportion to the whole. II. THE GENTLE CONDUCT THAT THEY MEET WITH. “ He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom.” 1. Think who this is (Isaiah 40:12). Observe how He is set before us in the tenth verse: Jehovah, Elohim, “ will come with strong hand: He shall feed His flock like a shepherd,” etc. What! the great Eternal--“ the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity” --is this the Being that “ gathers the lambs with His arm and carries them in His bosom” ? 2. The posture contains in it much for our prayerful meditation; carrying these lambs, these feeble ones, these ignorant ones, these weak ones, “ in His bosom” ! What doth it imply? (1) His boundless affection for them. He has given costly proof of that affection. (2) See how He takes notice of their least graces. I love that instance in 1 Kings 14:1-31., in the case of Abijah: it unfolds the tenderness of Him that carries His lambs in His bosom: “ And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good tiring toward the Lord God of Israel.” There is His cherishing His “ lamb.” (3) It implies their tender nearness to Him. The lamb seems to be so near its shepherd, as if nothing could be nearer. And what stands so near to the Lord Jesus Christ as His own people? “ In all their affliction He is afflicted.” (4) It would seem almost to imply more than this; for as the Lord Jesus is spoken of as lying in the bosom of His Father, as if there He learned anew as man all the heart of the Father, so who can say what there is in that posture of the weak lambs lying in the bosom of the Shepherd? He tells us the secrets of His heart. In this opening of the heart to the Lord Jesus in trouble, and His opening His heart to us in giving us answers of peace, doth consist some of the highest blessed-nesses to be known on this side heaven. (5) But the posture does evidently bring with it deep conviction of safety. If the lamb is in the bosom of the Shepherd, he that destroyeth the lamb must destroy the Shepherd. There is all encouragement in this verse, to one that feels himself the weakest of all God’ s children. But there is not in this truth that which encourages a weak believer to remain in his weakness. For what purpose does the good Shepherd cherish? It is to sanctify. (J. H.Evans, M. A.)And shall gently lead those that are with youngThe saints’ final perseverance secured by the gentleness of Christ to the burdened I. With regard to THE PERSONS, they are clearly those who are weary and heavy-laden. They are feeble as well as burdened. Various are the burdens that might be placed before you. 1. I need not say how heavy is the burden of sin, when the Spirit of God first unfolds it to us. 2. And even when there is so much perception of Christ as to leave the spirit without any acknowledged hope but in Christ, and yet with so much of self-righteousness still cleaving as to think there must be something of a preparation necessary in order to recommend the soul to God and His Christ--what a burden! The toil of ploughing the rock--of counting the sands--of measuring the mighty waters--of working in the fire, the fire burning our work as soon and as long as we do! 3. But it applies, too, to the established believer, who frequently in his pilgrimage acknowledges himself and feels himself a burdened man. 4. The constant conflict--“ putting off the old man,” “ putting on the new man” ; self-crucifixion, mortification of self, self-denial. 5. There is the burden of a burdened conscience; when a man sees so much in his sin as not to see enough in Christ to raise him above it. 6. The heavy weight of afflictions, accompanied as they often are with great and sore temptations. 7. Their very bodies are a burden to them. 8. The constant service of the Lord has a burden in it. “ The burden and heat of the day.” 9. There is a burden that we are but little prone to look into as we ought to do, and that is--the burdens of others. For we are to bear their burdens. II. THE LORD’ S CONDUCT TOWARD THEM. Infinite power is required to control the movements of these burdened ones; so many thousands as He has. But the great truth that it unfolds is His infinite tenderness. He does not drive--He leads. He does not merely lead, but “ gently leads.” Who can unfold thee wondrous tenderness, patience, forbearance, compassion, and love with which He has led each one of us! How doth He wait on His burdened ones! How doth He wait for them! How doth He encourage them! Sometimes He encourages His burdened ones directly. By His Word. How oftentimes do they find their hearts cheered, led onward by a word of promise! He waiteth on them. He waiteth for them. And He suffereth no one to harm them. III. WHITHER DOES HE LEAD THEM? 1. The first object that our Lord has in His leading of His burdened ones, is to lead them out of their own pasture. His great object is to lead them out of the creature and out of themselves. “ I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” 2. Whither, then, does He lead them? Into deeper discoveries of Divine truth. How little know we of a truth till we have had experience of that truth! 3. Then cometh more close communion with God. 4. And now, it may be, He leads them into deeper afflictions than they have ever known. Oh! what a blessedness to have such a Shepherd for such poor burdened souls! Remember, His great end in leading is holiness. (J. H.Evans, M. A.) Isaiah 40:12-28 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand?-- The grandeur of God The prophet’ s notions of God are diffused through all the verses of the text. The prophet’ s design in describing the Deity with so much magnificence is to discountenance idolatry, of which there are two sorts. 1. Religious idolatry, which consists in rendering that religious worship to a creature which is due to none but God. 2. Moral idolatry, which consists in distrusting the promises of God in dangerous crises, and in expecting that assistance from men which cannot but be expected from God. The portrait drawn by the prophet is infinitely inferior to his original. Ye will be fully convinced of this if ye attend to the following considerations of the grandeur of God. I. THE OF HIS ESSENCE. The prophet’ s mind was filled with this object. It is owing to this that he repeats the grand title of Jehovah, “ the Lord,” which signifies “ I am” by excellence, and which distinguisheth by four grand characters the essence of God from the essence of creatures. 1. The essence of God is independent in its cause. God is a self-existent being. We exist, but ours is only a borrowed existence, for existence is foreign from us. 2. The essence of God is universal in its extent. God possesseth the reality of every thing that exists. He is, as an ancient writer expresseth it, a boundless ocean of existence. From this ocean of existence all created beings, like so many rivulets, flow. 3. The essence of God is unchangeable in its exercise. Creatures only pass from nothing to existence, and from existence to nothing. We love to-day what we hated yesterday, and to-morrow we shall hate What to-day we love. 4. The Divine essence is eternal in its duration. “ Hast thou not known,” saith our prophet, “ that He is the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth?” II. THE OF HIS WORKS (Isaiah 40:22; Isaiah 40:26). A novice is frightened at hearing what astronomers assert. Over all this universe God reigns. III. THE OF HIS WILL. The idea of the real world conducts us to that of the possible world. The idea of a creative Being includes the idea of a Being whose will is efficient. But a Being whose will is self-efficient, is a Being who, by a single act of His will, can create all possible beings: that is, all, the existence of which implies no contradiction; there being no reason for limiting the power of a will that hath been once efficient of itself. IV. THE OF SOME OF HIS MIGHTY ACTS, AT CERTAIN PERIODS, IN FAVOUR OF HIS CHURCH. The prophet had two of these periods in view. The first was the return of the Jews from that captivity in Babylon which he had denounced; and the second, the coming of the Messiah, of which their return from captivity was only a shadow. Such, then, are the grandeurs of God! Application--We observed that the prophet’ s design was to render two sorts of idolatry odious: idolatry in religion, and idolatry in morals. Idolatry in religion consists in rendering those religious homages to creatures which are due to the Creator only. To discredit this kind of idolatry, the prophet contents himself with describing it. He shames the idolater by reminding him of the origin of idols, and of the pains taken to preserve them. A man is guilty of moral idolatry when, in dangerous crises, he says, ‘ My way is hid from the Lord; my judgment is passed over from my God.’ God is the sole arbiter of events. Whenever ye think that any more powerful being directs them to comfort you, ye put the creature in the Creator s place; whether ye do it in a manner more or less absurd; whether formidable armies, impregnable fortresses, and well-stored magazines; or whether a small circle of friends, an easy income, or a country house. The Jews were often guilty of the first sort of idolatry. The captivity in Babylon was the last curb to that fatal propensity. Thanks be to God that the light of the Gospel hath opened the eyes of a great number of Christians in regard to idolatry in religion. Ye who, in order to avert public calamities, satisfy yourselves with a few precautions of worldly prudence, and take no pains to extirpate those horrible crimes which provoke the vengeance of heaven to inflict punishments on public bodies; ye are guilty of this second kind of idolatry. Were your confidence placed in God, ye would endeavour to avert national judgments by purging the state of those wicked practices which are the surest forerunners and the principal causes of famine, and pestilence, and war. And thou, feeble mortal, lying on a sick-bed, already struggling with the king of terrors; thou, who tremblingly complainest, I am undone!--thou art guilty of this second kind of idolatry, that thou hast trusted in man and made flesh thine arm. Were God the object of thy trust, thou wouldest believe that though death is about to separate thee from man, it is about to unite thee to God. (J. Saurin.)The incomparableness of the great God “ To whom then will ye liken God?” I. THAT THE THINGS IN THE WORLD ARE NOTHING TO HIM. The ocean is great, great in its depths, breadths, contents, occupying by far the largest portion of this globe of ours. But He “ hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand.” The heaven is great; its expanse is immeasurable, its worlds and systems baffle all arithmetic, but He “ meted out heaven with the span.” The earth is great, great to us, though mere speck in the universe, and, it may be, an atom to other intelligences; but “ He comprehendeth the dust in a measure,” etc. What is the universe to God? You may compare an atom to the Andes, a raindrop to the Atlantic, a spark to the central fires of the creation; but you cannot compare the universe, great as it is, to the Creator. II. THAT THE MINDS IN THE ARE NOTHING TO HIM. “ Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counsellor hath taught Him?” etc. (Isaiah 40:13-14). The Bible gives us to understand that there is a spiritual universe far greater than the material, of which the material is but the dim mirror and feeble instrument--a universe containing intelligences innumerable in multitude and incalculable in their gradations of strength and intelligence. But what spirit or spirits at the head or hierarchy of these intelligences has ever given Him counsel, instructed or influenced Him in any matter? He is uninstructible: the only Being in the universe who is so. He knows all. Sooner speak of a spark enlightening the sun, than speak of a universe of intelligences adding aught to the knowledge of God. He is absolutely original: the only Being in the universe who is so. We talk of original thinkers. Such creatures are mere fictions. He being so independent of all minds-- 1. His universe must be regarded as the expression of Himself. No other being had a hand in it. 2. His laws are the revelation of Himself. No one counselled Him in His legislation. 3. His conduct is absolutely irresponsible, and He alone can be trusted with irresponsibility. III. THAT THE IN HUMAN SOCIETY ARE NOTHING TO HIM. Nations are the greatest things “ in” human institutions. “ But nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance.” What were the greatest nations of the old world, or the most powerful of modem times? What are the greatest nations that have ever been, or are, compared to Him? Nothing, emptiness. Oh, ye magnates of the world, ye kings of the earth, what are ye in the presence of God? Less than animalcula dancing in the sun. IV. THAT THE OF HUMAN LABOUR ARE NOTHING TO HIM. “ There is,” said an eloquent French preacher, “ nothing great but God.” (Homilist.)The transcendent One The grand object of this sublime chapter seems to be to inspirit and to comfort the Jews in their Babylonian captivity. Their God in His transcendent greatness is brought under their notice for this purpose-- I. IN THE OF HIS . He is here represented as “ measuring” the waters, as “ spanning” the heavens, as “ comprehending” the very dust of the earth in a measure, as “ weighing” the mountains in scales. As the physician adjusts in nicest proportions the elements in the medical dose, with which he hopes to cure his patient; the engineer every crank and wheel and pin in the machine which he has constructed for a certain purpose, so God--only in an Infinite degree--arranges all the parts of the complicated universe. It is seen in the atmosphere that surrounds this globe; were one of its constituent elements more or less than it is the whole would be disturbed. This is seen in the punctuality with which all the heavenly orbs perform their movements; they are never out of time. It is seen, in fact, in the unbroken uniformity with which all nature proceeds on its march. 1. This Divine exactitude should inspire us with unbounded confidence in His procedure. Because God works with such infinite precision, His works admit of no improvement. 2. This Divine exactitude should inspire us to imitate Him in this respect. When we act from blind impulse, or from imperfect reflection, we risk our wellbeing. II. IN THE OF HIS POWER. He is here represented as holding the waters in the “ hollow of His hand.” In thinking of this power we should remember-- 1. That all this power is under the direction of intelligence. It is not a blind force, like the force of the storm or the tornado, but it is a force directed by the highest wisdom. Wisdom uses the whole as the smith uses his hammer on the anvil, as the mariner the rudder in the tempest. 2. That all this power is inspired by benevolence. The infinite is here portrayed. III. IN THE OF HIS MIND. “ With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him?” From this absolute mental independency of God the following things may be deduced-- 1. That all His operations must originate in pure sovereignty. All that exists must be traced to the counsels of His own will, for He had no counsellor. 2. That all His laws must be a transcript of His mind. What they are He is; they are the history of Himself. Conclusion--What an argument is” here for an entire surrender to, and a thorough acquiescence in, the Divine will. (Homilist.)The greatness of Israel’ s God How little the palm of a man takes, how little the space which the span of a man can cover, how scanty the third of an ephah and for what insignificant measures a balance suffices, whether a steelyard (statera), or a retail balance (libra) consisting of two scales (lances). But what Jehovah measures with His palm and regulates with His span is nothing less than the waters below and the heavens above. He uses a shalish, in which the dust composing the earth finds place, and a balance in which He weighs the colossus of the mountains. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)God in relation to earth and ocean Put two tablespoonfuls of water in the palm of your hand and it will overflow; but Isaiah indicates that God puts the Atlantic and the Pacific and the Arctic and the Antarctic and the Mediteranean and the Black Sea and all the waters of the earth in the hollow of His hand. The fingers the beach on one side, the wrist the beach on the other. “ He holdeth the water in the hollow of His hand.” As you take a pinch of salt or powder between your thumb and two fingers, so Isaiah indicates God takes up the earth. He measures the dust of the earth. The original there indicates that God takes all the dust of all the continents between the thumb and two fingers. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)The great God in His relation to heaven and earth There was an engineer by the name of Strasicrates who was in the employ of Alexander the Great, and he offered to hew a mountain in the shape of his master, the Emperor, the enormous figure to hold in the left hand a city of 10,000 inhabitants, while with the right hand it was to hold a basin large enough to collect all the mountain torrents. Alexander applauded his ingenuity, out forbade the enterprise because of its costliness. Yet I have to tell you that our King holds in His one hand all the cities of the earth, and with the other all the oceans, while He has the stars of heaven for a tiara. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)God weighing the mountains What are all the balances of earthly manipulation compared with the balances that Isaiah saw suspended when he saw God putting into the scales the Alps and the Apennines and Mount Washington and the Sierra Nevadas? You see the earth had to be ballasted. It would not do to have too much weight in Europe, or too much weight in Asia, or too much weight in Africa or in America; so when God made the mountains He weighed them. God knows the weight of the great ranges that cross the continents, the tons, the pounds avoirdupois, the ounces, the grains, the milligrammes. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)“ Why sayest thou?” The devout thought of these paragraphs passes in survey, first the earth (Isaiah 40:12-20); then the heavens (21-26); finally, the experience of the children of God in all ages (27-31). I. THE OF THE EARTH. It seems as though we are conducted to the shores of the Mediterranean, and stationed somewhere near the site of ancient Tyre. Before us spreads the Great Sea, as the Hebrews were wont to call it. Far across the waters, calm and tranquil, or heaving in memory of recent storms, sea and sky blend in the circle of the horizon. Now remember, says the prophet, God’ s hands are so strong and great that all that ocean and all other oceans lie in them as a drop on a man’ s palm And this God is our God for ever and ever. All men may be in arms against thee: encircling thee with threats, and plotting to swallow thee up. But the nations are to Him as the drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Thou hast no reason, therefore, to be afraid. II. THE OF THY HEAVENS. The scene shifts to the heavens, and all that is therein. This is the antidote of fear. Sit in the heavenlies. Do not look from earth towards heaven, but from heaven towards earth. Let God, not man, be the standpoint of vision. But this is not all. To this inspired thinker, it seemed as though the blue skies were curtains that God had stretched out as a housewife gauze (see Revised Version, marg.), or the fabric of a tent within which the pilgrim rests. If creation be His tent, which He fills in all its parts, how puny are the greatest potentates of earth! The child of God need not be abashed before the greatest of earthly rulers. And even this is not all--day changes to night, and as the twilight deepens, the stars come out in their hosts; and suddenly, to the imagination of this lofty soul, the vault of heaven seems a pasture-land over which a vast flock is following its Shepherd, who calls each by name. What a sublime conception! Jehovah, the Shepherd of the stars, leading them through space; conducting them with such care and might that none falls out of rank, or is lacking. And will Jehovah do so much for stars, and nought for sons? III. THE OF THE SAINTS. “ Hast thou not heard?” It has been a commonplace with every generation of God’ s people, that “ the Lord fainteth not, neither is weary.” He never takes up a case to drop it. He never begins to build a character to leave it when it is half complete. He may seem to forsake and to plunge the soul into needless trial; this, however, is no indication that He has tired of His charge, but only that He could not fulfil the highest blessedness of some soul He loved save by the sternest discipline. “ There is no searching of His understanding.” There is another point on which all the saints are agreed, that neither weariness nor fainting are barriers to the forth-putting of God’ s might. On the contrary, they possess an infinite attractiveness to His nature. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Nature ministers to the suffering Nature has always been the resort of the suffering. Elijah to Horeb; Christ to Olivet. And in these glowing paragraphs, which touch the high-water mark of sacred eloquence, we are led forth to stand in the curtained tent of Jehovah, to listen to the beat of the surf, and watch the march of the stars. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.) Isaiah 40:15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket The greatness of God and His works I. THE OF GOD AND HIS WORKS. II. GOD THE WORLD WHICH HE HATH MADE. And as all creatures from the highest to the lowest have their subsistence in the power of God, so they are each of them noticed by His eye and governed by His providence; that is, by the immediate energy of His own power, or by agents which are under His direction, and who cannot act but by His power. That care of the Supreme Being, by which this general order or stated course of things is preserved, may not unfitly be called a general providence. Consider the great extent of it. It taketh place not only in the frame of the universe, the regular motion of the vast bodies which compose it, by which we have spring and harvest, summer and winter, day and night; not only in the fruitfulness of the earth, and the state of the several kinds of animals which inhabit it, and the manner in which the kinds and the individuals are preserved; but in human affairs likewise. But it is particularly pleasing to observe how minutely this providence of the Supreme Being descendeth, even to the notice and direction of the smallest and most inconsiderable things. Our Saviour, and this according to the justest philosophy that ever appeared in the world, representeth His Heavenly Father as clothing the lilies of the field, and as feeding the ravens; and argues from this, that if He attends to these things, which are comparatively of the smallest account, surely His providence will not neglect His creatures of a nobler order (Luke 12:1-59.). Thus, though God is so great, “ He humbleth Himself to behold things which are done in heaven and upon earth,” and takes notice even of the lowest orders of creatures, and of every individual. For, besides that general order of causes and effects which He hath established, and maintaineth from age to age, there are plain footsteps of a particular providence regarding individual persons. By the interpositions of providence things are so governed and conducted that His purposes are pursued and carried into execution; and manifold are the means by which this may be effected. How important the events which arise out of things which appear to us purely accidental! III. These reflections naturally lead our thoughts to THE OF THE SUPREME BEING IN HIS AND WORKS, a subject, indeed, as little to be comprehended by us, as we can find out the Almighty unto perfection. Yet we cannot avoid the thought how high, and in all respects perfect, the felicity of the first cause of all things must be; and love to God will make a right heart rejoice and exult in it. Nor let it be objected, that in the universe there is much irregularity, and many evils and sufferings. For what to us hath the appearance of irregularity may be, nay, assuredly is, necessary to the harmony of the whole; and part of a design which was the best and worthiest which could be framed. As for those sufferings which the subjects of a moral government bring upon themselves, they are as necessary as that government itself; which is indeed the glory of God’ s creation, and without which, and those orders of creatures which are made to be the subjects of such a government, the universe must have been nothing to what it is now. An universe without angels, without men, without any such orders of intellectual and moral beings, what would it have been? But the glorious Head and Regent of that vast body, which is all harmony, all order and beauty, and in which no part of the grand design hath failed, or ever can fail, what happiness must He taste! Concluding reflections-- 1. If our minds are rightly impressed with a sense of the Divine greatness and majesty, how little must what we are apt to call great upon earth appear in our eye! 2. Let us in all things meekly and affectionately submit to the supreme Ruler; in humble obedience to His laws, and in unreserved resignation to His providence. 3. Let us put our trust in God. (J. Duchals, D. D.) Isaiah 40:16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn God’ s independence He is not only independent of the power, but also of the goodwill of His creatures. This general allusion to oblation as an act of homage or of friendship suits the connection better than a specific reference to expiation. The insufficiency of these offerings is set forth, not in a formal proposition, but by means of a striking individualisation. If Lebanon could not suffice, what could? (J. A. Alexander.) Isaiah 40:18 To whom then will ye liken God?--The Trinity I. THE CARNAL NOTIONS MEN ARE APT TO OF GOD. 1. We find that the knowledge of the true God soon faded from the minds of Noah’ s descendants. That patriarch had been favoured with a clear revelation; and he had offered a pure worship. But even among his sons depravity began to manifest itself. And in a generation or two very gross ideas prevailed. Men were not satisfied with the fact of a Being, pure and spiritual, dwelling in the highest heaven, apart from the mortal eye. And they chose to represent Him by sensible figures. Some practices of this kind are described in Isaiah 40:19-20. 2. We find the same temper at work in the Jews. They, too, imitated the heathen in desiring idols, gods whom they might see. They were continually prone to let their carnal reasonings interfere with their reception of the Divine Word. 3. We may trace similar consequences even down to our times. There have been men, of great natural parts too, who, because they never witnessed a miracle, have boldly denied that miracles were ever performed. He who will credit nothing that is not apparent to his senses, cripples himself with the most enervating chains. He who does not allow that the Deity is incomprehensible, is in truth the most irrational of reasoners: for he would make out that this vast universe was created and is upheld and governed by one whose mind he, a puny worm of the dust, is able to comprehend. And he that would reject the truth of the Trinity because it is higher than his thoughts, would compare the likeness of God to a finite creature. It is not intended to say that Scripture asserts or that the Church maintains anything that is contrary to reason. We are every day obliged to admit as truths things, the reasons of which we are unable to explain or account for; and no one imagines that this is irrational. Why should it appear so in spiritual things? II. THERE IS THUS A TRIAL OF OUR FAITH. God might, had He so pleased, have revealed His will so plainly that men could no more be ignorant of it than they can of the fact that the sun is shining in the heavens. To take the case of our blessed Saviour, He might have been shown openly to the world, and have been pointed out so evidently as the One of whom Moses and the prophets wrote, that none even of the Pharisees or the Sadducees could have denied it. Or, take the fact of His resurrection. It might have been performed before multitudinous witnesses, and Christ might again have lived openly as He did before His death, teaching and preaching. But where, in such a case, would have been the trial of faith? The whole system of God’ s dealings would have been changed; and we should have walked by sight and not by faith. In regard to providential circumstances it might have been the same. God might have disclosed to Abraham His purpose of providing a ram for a sacrifice instead of Isaac. Had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego learned at once that the fire would not kindle upon them, different indeed would their emotions have been; but what trial would there then have been of faith! God’ s dealings are secret, because He would prove men, and make evident what is in their hearts. In no other way, it is clear, could the graces of humility and trust, of patience and faith and hope and long-suffering, of self-denial and spiritual-mindedness, be wrought out. And so with regard to the revelation of doctrines. The Scripture gives us this most remarkable announcement 1 Peter 2:6-8). It is thus that God severs the precious from the vile: it is for this reason that He has allowed difficulties in His sacred Word, at which the worldly and the self-sufficient are offended; while they who with a humble spirit wait patiently upon Him, and meekly seek His guidance, are admitted into the secret place of the Most High. It is not that God throws difficulties into men’ s ways or delights to perplex them, but that in pursuing His great plan of moral government He does find it needful to train and lead onward by degrees, thus letting it be seen who will be teachable scholars in His school, and who rebelliously refuse His gracious lessons. There is a point, too, which must not be lost sight of. The revelation of the Gospel, such as we find it, is of expanding character. As ages roll on, more and more light beams upon it; and thus the Bible is seen to be the book not of untutored nations only, but of those farthest advanced in civilisation; not merely of the world in its infancy, but of the world come to matured age. Other books are soon exhausted. But in all those things to which I have adverted, there is spiritual food for the humble mind. The full development of God’ s mysteries must patiently be waited for. Herein are some of the good things which He has prepared for those that love Him. Concluding reflections-- 1. There is an unfair use made of human language by those who reject the doctrine of the Trinity. Language is always imperfect; more especially so when, by terms taken from human things, it is used to describe those that are Divine. 2. But, after all, the best knowledge is a practical knowledge. And this we should strive to attain, especially in respect to such deep things of God. No one will stumble at the doctrine of the Trinity, who, enlightened and quickened by the Spirit, comes to the Father by the Son. Vain speculations will be cast aside as we become acquainted with what each blessed person in the Godhead has done, and is doing, for us. In this way seek to know the Triune God. The Father’ s love, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, experimentally known, will be sure to be the Christian’ s stable foundation and his richest joy. (J. Ayre, M. A.) Isaiah 40:20A graven image “ An image that will not totter” If an idol leant over or fell that was the very worst of omens; cf the case of Dagon. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The absurdity of idolatry A wooden image, planed smooth below and heavier than above, so as not to upset at every push, is to be a god! (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The helplessness of graven images When John Knox was a prisoner in France, “ the officers brought to him a painted board, which they called Our Lady, and commanded him to kiss it. They violently thrust it into his face, and put it betwixt his hands, who, seeing the extremity, took the idol, and advisedly looking about, he cast it into the river and said, ‘ Let Our Lady now save herself; she is light enough; let her learn to swim!’ After that was no Scotsman urged with that idolatry.” (Knox, History of the Reformation.) Isaiah 40:21 Have ye not known?--Isaiah’ s questions His sharp questions are as hooks to draw from his hearers’ hearts their timid and starved convictions, that he may nourish these upon the sacramental glories of nature and of history. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.) Isaiah 40:22 It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth The circle While yet people thought that the world was fiat, and thousands of years before they found out that it was round, Isaiah intimated the shape of it. The most beautiful figure in all geometry is the circle. God made the universe on the plan of a circle. There are in the natural world straight lines, angles, parallelograms, diagonals, quadrangles; but these evidently are not God’ s favourites. Out of a great many figures God seems to have selected the circle as the best. “ It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth.” The stars in a circle, the moon in a circle, the sun in a circle, the universe in a circle, and the throne of God the centre of that circle. 1. The history of the world goes in a circle. If the world stands long enough we may have a city as large as they had in old times--Babylon, five times the size of London. You go into the potteries at Burslem, England, and you will find them making cups and vases after the style of the cups and vases exhumed from Pompeii. The world is not going back. But it is swinging in a circle, and will come back to the styles of pottery known so long ago as the days of Pompeii. The world must keep on progressing until it makes the complete circuit. 2. What is true in the material universe is true in God’ s moral government and spiritual arrangement. That is the meaning of Ezekiel’ s wheel; the wheel means God’ s providence. But a wheel is of no use unless it turns around, and if it turns around it moves in a circle. These bad or good actions may make the circuit of many years, but come back to us they will, as certainly as that God sits on the circle of the earth. Jezebel, the worst woman of the Bible, slew Naboth because she wanted his vineyard. While the dogs were eating the body of Naboth, Elijah the prophet put down his compass, and marked a circle from those dogs clear around to the dogs that should eat the body of Jezebel the murderess. But it is sometimes the case that this circle sweeps through a century, or through many centuries. People got tired of a theocracy. They said--“ We don’ t want God directly interfering with the affairs of the world; give us a monarchy.” The world had a monarchy. From a monarchy it is going to have a limited monarchy. After a while the limited monarchy will be given up, and the republican form of government will be everywhere recognised. Then the world will get tired of the republican form of government, and it will have an anarchy, which is no government at all. And then, all nations, finding out that man is not capable of righteously governing man, will cry out again for a theocracy, and say, “ Let God come back and conduct the affairs of the world.” But do not become impatient because you cannot see the course of events, and therefore conclude that God’ s government is going to break down. History tells us that in the making of the pyramids it took two thousand men two years to drag one great stone from the quarry and put it into the pyramids. If men short-lived can afford to work so slowly as that, cannot God, in the building of the eternities, afford to wait? What though God should take ten thousand years to draw a circle! But it is often the case that the rebound is much quicker than that. The circle is sooner completed. You resolve that you will do what good you can. In one week you put a word of counsel in the heart of a Sabbath-school child. During that same week you give a letter of introduction to a young man struggling in business. During the same week you make an exhortation in a prayer- meeting. It is all gone; you will never hear of it, perhaps, you think. A few years after a man comes up to you and says, “ You don’ t know me, do you?” You say, “ No, I don’ t remember ever to have seen you.” “ Why,” he says, “ I was in the Sabbath-school class over which you were the teacher; one Sunday you invited me to Christ.” What is true of the good is just as true of the bad. You utter a slander against your neighbour. It has gone forth from your teeth; it will never come back, you think. You think it will never do you any harm. But I am watching that word, and I see it beginning to curve, and it curves around, and it is aiming at your heart. You maltreat an aged parent. You begrudge him the room in your house. But God has an account to settle with you on that subject. What are those rough words with which your children are accosting you? They are the echo of the very words you used in the ear of your old father forty years ago. Retribution in a circle! I would like to see Paul, the invalid missionary, at the moment when his influence comes to full orb--his influence rolling out through Antioch, Cyprus, Syria, Corinth, Athens, through Asia, through Europe, through five centuries, through twenty centuries, through all the succeeding centuries, through earth, through heaven, and at last, the wave of influence, having made full circuit, strikes his great soul. I should not want to see Voltaire when his influence comes to full orb. No one can tell how that bad man’ s influence girded the earth, save the One who is seated on the circle of the earth. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)The inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers Men as grasshoppers:-- 1. So little and inconsiderable. 2. Of such small value. 3. Of such little use. 4. So easily crushed. Proud men’ s lifting up themselves is but like the grasshopper’ s leap; in an instant they must down to the earth again. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 40:23-24 That bringeth the princes to nothing Great men reduced to nothing Earth has its great men. Social distinctions grow out of the constitution of things, and are, therefore, Divine in their foundation. I. EARTH’ S GREAT MEN GOD REDUCES TO NOTHING. 1. Death is the destruction of all mere worldly distinctions. 2. Death is effected by the agency of God. “ He bringeth,” etc. Not chance, fate, accident, etc. II. Earth’ s great men He reduces to nothing THEIR EFFORTS TO BE . “ Their stock shall not take root in the earth;” 1. The implied tendency of earth’ s great men in relation to life. They seek to “ root” themselves here. 2. The manifest folly of earth’ s great men. They are trying to do what they cannot accomplish. Heaven’ s decree is against it, and there is no overcoming that decree. The roots of our earthly life, such as they are, are only like those of certain marine plants, that spring up one floating wavelet to be destroyed by the next; or rather like the roots of those atmospheric plants that strike only into a wave of air; that roll swiftly on, Heaven only knows where. III. HE DOES THIS WITH THE EASE. “ He blows upon them and they wither,” etc. (Homilist.) Isaiah 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high Looking up and pressing on A man’ s vision broadens as it lengthens. Look straight down at your feet; what do you see? A few inches will measure the diameter of the circle within which your sight has play. Look up at the blue which spans the heavens, and what see you then? Your circle of vision takes a sweep which demands astronomic computation. The circumference widens with the distance. But that is not all. Within the near and narrow circle there is room only for small details and severed parts--mere fractions and fragments, whose drift is not clear. The distant and wide outlook shows great and harmonious aggregates, shows their movement and drift, shows their obedience to the time-beat of a sovereign purpose. Herein lies the explanation of our text. It was a call to men to look at the stars, and to get therefrom a larger and more inspiriting conception of God’ s providence. The downward look throws an exaggerated emphasis on local details and passing experiences. It shows a complexity of events and movements whose design is not clear. The outlook is too confined to reveal the great issues which give meaning and value to details. Life sinks to a series of disjointed commonplaces. Man is robbed of the vision which inspires creative thought and heroic endeavour. Hope, faith, courage are the fruit of a loftier and far-reaching vision. The present finds its interpretation in the eternal, the local in the infinite. The soul of the seer expands with his vision. Narrow thought and hasty judgment become impossible to him. Essentially, then, our text calls us to a broader outlook, bids us to form our judgments and to feed our impulses on larger views of life and providence. This is far enough from bidding us to become visionaries and star-gazers in the sense usually associated with those terms. It is vision in order to labour, not vision in place of labour, to which we are called. By rising in vision above the present, we shall more adequately fill the present with wise thought and toil. I. THIS THOUGHT GUIDES US TO THE PROPER OF . God works on a large scale. His purposes, like Himself, inhabit eternity. In His government there is nothing small, arbitrary, merely local. Every passing movement is part of a big design. And the man who would read even the plainer words of that purpose must get his light from a wide study of God’ s ways. Providence cannot be interpreted by details. We get a glimpse of this truth when we engage in retrospect. Looking back over a long stretch of years, we are enabled to perceive merciful meanings in crises which at the time perplexed and burdened us. The same truth impresses us when we take a panoramic view of nations and movements in history. To the man of downward look and narrow view, few things are more perplexing than the oftentimes apparent breach between moral worth and material progress. He sometimes becomes cynical over it. He has been heard to say that righteousness has nothing to do with prosperity. He looks down at the few facts lying near his feet, and this is what he makes of them. Think you that the resources of civilisation have banished for ever the dispensations of righteous, all-controlling providence? Read history. You will find that virtue, truth, honour, are more than mere sentiments--are vital elements of victorious power. God works on a grand scale. We must look far if we would adequately see. To this grandeur of purpose, which is the glory of providence, must be traced our many perplexities. Higher intelligence and larger aims must ever work in a manner ill understood and misunderstood by lower capacity. There will ever be need for trust and patience, but there may be moments of insight and realisation. But these can only come to the man who attains the broad outlook. In this matter we multiply our inevitable perplexities by the persistence of our downward look. Our thoughts and interests are so centred in the passing day and the current event as to narrow both our views and our sympathies. The things of to-day are what we are eager for; and on God’ s relation to us through them do we often misjudge His character and purpose. Give scope to your eyes. The tree will then sink to small proportions. It will become a pleasing detail on the broad expanse which stretches away to the horizon. The men to whom the text was first spoken needed this exhortation. They had been trying to see the landscape while placing their eyes upon the tree. II. THIS THOUGHT GUIDES US TO THE PROPER FROM WHICH TO LOOK AT MAN. The downward look tends to the denial of God. It tends equally, and as a consequence, to the degradation of our thought of man. It is by enlarging our vision, by taking in a wider view of facts, that we shall rightly see God, and through Him, ourselves. In a word, as we must look at life’ s facts in the light of God’ s great purposes, so must we look at man, not as he merely is, but as he is ideally in the redeeming thought and design of the Father. Man, looked at only from below, does not inspire great expectations or reverential regard. Before us looms a being of measurable height, of weight and bulk definable, acting under the impulse of appetites and desires which he holds in common with the brutes, showing now and again the possession of genius and virtues clearly not brutish, but for the most part failing to rise above sheer commonplace alike of power or sympathy. The natural man of ordinary proportions is not impressive. And the observer who looks downwards at him will soon lose all heroic conceptions of life, all sense of man’ s high origin and destiny. We become the victims of a delusion. The eye tricks us into the belief that we see, and under that belief we begin to cherish low views of man’ s worth. Man, like providence, to be seen aright must be looked at on high. Here we come under the tyranny of his too obtrusive parts. It is “ in Christ” that we must look at our life, judge its possibilities and its worth, its character and destiny. Looking at man in Him, we behold a being God-like in the proportions of power and quality. If God, looking upon the very imperfect disciples of His Son, calls them “ saints,” while yet they are a long way from sanctity, I will be guided by the example. III. THIS THOUGHT GUIDES US TO THE PROPER OF WORK. Never yet was great work done by the man of mere downward look. The eye, to be sure, must look steadily at the object and instrument of its toil, must look down and around at the place and conditions of the work to be done; but nothing much will come of it till the eye kindles the soul, and the soul rekindles the eye to wider vision. The artist who painted for eternity had mastered the secret of most patient and potent work for time and man. In the same spirit of lofty consecration did the men work who planned and reared our great cathedrals. Not for pay, not for fame, not by regulating rule of trade society did the chisels chip, and the hammers ring, and the trowelsiply their busy task. The workmen consciously worked for God. And nothing less than a renewal of this vision can redeem the work of to-day from insignificance or degradation, or lift men into the confidence and joy of patient well-doing. The busy housewife, engaged in an endless round of detailed tasks, would surely fail through very weariness, did not the large vision and love of home and family give great value to small activities and lifelong significance to patient fidelity. It is when the preacher or the Sunday-school teacher looks at his work from on high, and sees before him not so many recognisable people about whom he knows everything, but a company of immortal spirits whose life passes measurement or comprehension, that he is strengthened for the drudgery attaching to his vocation, and rises to the height of passionate enthusiasm. The commerce and industry of the day are to some extent smitten with debility through the narrowing of their outlook, consequent upon hot competition and vigorous clashing of rights and claims. The downward look has resulted in the blight of worldliness. Only the broader vision can raise the tone and quality of life. It is the business of the poet, the preacher, the leader, to bring and keep these loftier inspirations within the practical spheres of life. The tendency of work is always towards absorption in its own immediate occupation. IV. THE PROPER EFFECT OF THIS UPWARD LOOK IS THE RENEWAL OF OUR FAITH AND RESOLVE. It is to grace we must look for the secret of all that is beneficent in providence and bright in the prospects of man. And as we recall these blessings, we do but emphasise the work of Jesus, through whom man is crowned with favour and immortality. We lift up our eyes on high, and there we behold Jesus crowned with glory and honour, all dominion granted to Him, holding the reins of power while bearing the marks of conflict. In Him we see the Father. (C. A. Berry, D. D.)The universe and man These words remind us of an incident in the life of the first Napoleon. On board the ship which carried him across the Mediterranean to him campaign in Egypt, there were French savants who had convinced themselves, and thought they could convince others, that there is no God. The great commander found them discoursing boastfully on their favourite theme, and, calling them upon deck, while the heavens above were bright with innumerable stars, he said to them, “ Tell me who made these.” Napoleon was no philosopher, no metaphysician, no theologian. But he was a man of great common sense. We are not content to be told conjecturally of any processes through which things have passed into their present forms of existence. Nebular hypotheses and atomic theories explain nothing. If assumed as true, we demand to know whence the nebulae and whence the atoms came. Nor are we content to be cheated out of an answer to the question, “ Who made these?” by a metaphysics which ends by leaving us in doubt as to whether these stars have any existence except in our own thoughts and thought-processes. There was a time when the children of men, lifting up their eyes on high, saw in the hosts of heaven not creatures of God, but gods. And we scarcely wonder. The living God once forsaken and forgotten, who or what so worthy of adoration as sun, moon, and stars? I. IT IS THIS OLDER FAITH WE FIND IN OUR TEXT--not obscurely, but with the positiveness of knowledge. And it is not in this text alone, but horn the beginning to the end of our Bible. Its writers, in succession to one another, explicitly maintain the faith of a living God, Maker and Ruler of all And in doing so, they stood alone in the world. The wisdom of Egypt and the wisdom of Assyria gave them no countenance. The teaching of these Hebrew writers, through all the ages, from Moses to Christ, is like a pure crystal stream flowing through a vast desert, unabsorbed by sand or sun, and undefiled by the ten thousand impurities on its banks. The old Hebrew faith stands as firmly in the light of modern science as it did when science in its modern sense was a thing almost unknown. Sir Isaac Newton, in closing his exposition of the system of the universe, worshipped and declared that its cause could not be mechanical; it must be intelligent, it must be found in a voluntary agent infinitely wise and mighty. But while these men of the old Hebrew race knew less of the vastness of the universe than we do now, they did not feel it less. The man of science, with his telescope and mathematical reckonings, must feel himself utterly bewildered when he attempts to imagine the distances which his demonstrations reveal But it does not follow that his impression of that vastness, or his awe in the contemplation of it, is in proportion to his knowledge. A child, with a true child’ s heart, may be more deeply impressed with the glory of the over-hanging heavens, than a full-grown man who exercises all his intellectual power in endeavouring to understand them. The Hebrews knew enough and saw enough to produce the profoundest feeling. Perhaps the chief explanation of the feeling with which the Hebrews contemplated nature is that they saw God in everything. II. THIS IS THE SECOND POINT TO WHICH OUR TEXT US. “ He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might; for that He is strong in power not one faileth.” But what of the laws of nature? The Hebrew Scriptures, instead of denying the constancy of nature, seem to affirm it more consistently than some modern scientists. Take, e.g., these primitive statements: “ God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth; and it was so. And God saw that it was good. But the Bible, While explicit in regard to the constancy of nature, asserts with equal explicitness a continued Divine agency in nature (Psalms 104:14; John 5:17). III. ALL THIS IS MADE THE OF AN OF COMFORT TO THE ANCIENT ISRAEL OF GOD, AND EQUALLY TO ALL THE ISRAEL. “ Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel?” etc. Galileo approached this idea, whether he got it from Isaiah or not, in a very significant form. “ I would not that we should so shorten the arm of God in the government of human affairs, but that we should rest in this, that we are certain that God and nature are so occupied in the government of human affairs, they could not more attend to us if they were charged with the care of the human race alone.” The prophet goes a step beyond this, and draws an argument from God’ s care over the universe to assure us of His care over us. Christ said, “ Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” But the prophet seems to argue from God’ s care over the greater to His care over the less. As if he said, He watches over suns and stars, therefore He will watch over you. More than this, the Bible story of creation gives us the keynote of the Bible idea of man. Man is not merely one of innumerable living creatures made to people the earth; the earth was made for him. He was the end for which and towards which progressive changes, spread over vast ages, were effected. Glorious as that star may be, and wonderingly as I contemplate its brightness, I am more to God than it is; I am nearer of kin to God than it is; and if God cares for it, much more will He care for me, His own child. (J. Kennedy, D. D.)The heavens testily of God Cicero could ask, with unfailing constancy, “ Can we doubt that some present and efficient ruler is over them?” And Seneca says, “ They all continue, not because they are eternal, but because the watchfulness of their Governor protects them: imperishable things need no guardian; but these are preserved by their Maker, who, by His power, controls their natural tendency, to decay.” And Hume, though his philosophy was irreligious in comparison with that of either Roman, could raise his hands to the starry sky and show that he too had a human heart, by exclaiming to Fergusson, “ Oh, Adam, how can a man look at that and not believe in a God!” (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.) Isaiah 40:27-31 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord?--The attributes of God: a reply to unbelief I. THE TO . “ Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel?” etc. II. THE ACCOUNT WHICH GOD HIMSELF GIVES OF THE OF HIS . Well to Israel might the Almighty put the inquiry, “ Hast thou not known?” He spake to His peculiar people. In Jewry is God known; His praise is great in Israel. How could they but know His attributes, to whom He had Himself manifested His glory? And to us the same upbraiding queries might well be put. III. HOW THE LORD EMPLOYS ALL HIS MIGHTY FOR THE AND OF HIS PEOPLE WHO CALL UPON HIM. “ He giveth power to the faint,” etc. 1. Consider the case of those who are convinced of their own natural sin and helplessness, but who have not as yet sought their Saviour. 2. The consolations of the text belong also to those who, after they have found their Saviour, are mourning under peculiar sin, or walking in peculiar darkness. 3. By temporal sorrows, too, He may sorely grieve thee, but much more mayest thou trust Him in them. (T. Scott, B. A.)When the way seems hidden I. THE WAY WHICH SEEMS HIDDEN. “ My way is hid from the Lord” --what a common cry! Samuel Taylor Coleridge said he was sure the Bible was the Word of God because it found him at deeper depths than any other book. How surely and how deeply does this cry, “ My way is hid from the Lord,” “ find” each of us in many a mood! 1. It is into the future that the prophet is looking. Plainly, by the vision-giving Spirit, he discerns the great catastrophe which is to afflict the Jewish nation. The Babylonian captivity is to drag them into exile. By the severe chastisement of the captivity the Jews are to be cured of an almost uncheckable tendency towards idolatry. A human waywardness needs sometimes a bitter medicine to compel it back to paths of loyalty to God. But the prophet not only foresees the captivity, but also the way in which the exiled Hebrews are enduring it. It is as though he heard them talking together there in distant Babylon. 2. But that the way seems hidden from the Lord is not anything peculiar to those ancient captives. How surely and how deeply does that ancient cry” find” every one of us. (1) Delayed answers to prayer sometimes make our way seem hidden from the Lord. (2) The strangeness of the way makes our way sometimes seem hidden from the Lord. (3) Our mistakes sometimes make our way seem hidden from the Lord. (4) Our moods sometimes make our way seem hidden from the Lord. (5) Our sins sometimes make our way seem hidden from the Lord. II. A GREAT AND TRUTH ABOUT OUR WAY WHICH SEEMS TO US HIDDEN FROM THE LORD. This is that our way is not and cannot be hidden from Him. And there are reasons firm and towering as the mountain peaks for this. 1. Our way cannot be hidden from the Lord because He is everlasting--His purpose cannot fail. 2. Because He is powerful--“ the Creator of the ends of the earth.” 3. Because He is actively Lord “ He fainteth not, neither is weary.” 4. Because He is actively wise--“ there is no searching of His understanding.” 5. Because He is beneficent--“ He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” III. SEIZE THE PROMISE FOR YOUR HELP, even though your way may seem hidden from the Lord. “ But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew,” etc. God is coming to your help. Even while the captive Jews were crying, “ My way is hidden,” etc., God was preparing Cyrus to be their deliverer. (Homiletic Review.)Spiritual despondency I. ISAIAH’ S . It arose from a two-fold source. 1. The sense of a Divine desertion. “ My way is hidden from the Lord.” It was the necessary result of the prophet’ s office that all the nation’ s sorrows must press home on his spirit, and must wound with their keenest anguish his sensitive soul. Now, remembering this union of deep sympathy with the people, observe the tremendous power with which, for fifty years, the wickedness of the land, and God’ s great judgment upon it, must have pressed on his large and tender heart. It made his very office often seem a vanity. Many men have had the same experience; perhaps all earnest men must undergo it. 2. The absence of Divine recompense. “ My judgment is passed over from my God.” The prophet unquestionably spoke these words as a cry uttered only by himself. The people were buried in God-forgetting repose. The priests were dead in formalism. The spiritual life of the land was decaying; and thunders of woe were muttering in the nation’ s future. What had his life been worth? Apparently nothing! All great men think that they die in failure. Is it not hard for a man who has given to God his all, and worn out his life in His service, to go out into the eternal silence and see no reward? II. THE TRUTH THAT REMOVED ISAIAH’ S . In the verses following our text we perceive that the double manifestation of God’ s greatness in Nature, and the tenderness of His revealed will, dispelled the gloom. 1. The greatness of God in Nature. He speaks not only of the unsearchable Creator, but of the everlasting God. Thy recompense is sure--thy work, and conflict, and toil are for eternity; then “ why sayest thou, O Jacob, that thy way is hidden from the Lord?” 2. The tenderness of the revealed will. “ He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might, He increaseth strength.” The revelation of God’ s tenderness is far more full for the Christian man, and has, therefore, far greater power to remove our despondency. We know how the Great Shepherd gave His life for the sheep. III. THE RESULTS OF ITS REMOVAL. 1. Strength in weakness. “ They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” Feebleness is transformed into power when God has taught His great lesson of “ glorying in infirmity.” 2. Immortal youth. “ They shall mount up on wings as eagles.” You have heard the old Jewish fable, that the eagle in dying recovered its youthful power. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)Faith in the living God I. Isaiah here reaches and rests upon THE VERY OF THE FAITH, TRUST, AND HOPE OF MANKIND--the living God. Creation rests on His hand; man, the child of the higher creation, rests on His heart. What His power is to the material universe His moral nature and character are to the spiritual universe. “ Have faith in God.” Creation lives by faith unconsciously, and all her voices to our intelligent ear iterate and reiterate “ Have faith in God.” II. WHAT DO WE KNOW OF GOD THAT WE SHOULD TRUST HIM? What aspects does He present to us? We have two sources of knowledge--what He has said to, and what He has done for, man. 1. There is something unspeakably sublime in the appeal in verse 26. It is heaven’ s protest against man’ s despair. Nor is Isaiah the only sacred writer who utters it. There is something very strikingly parallel in Job (Job 38:1-41.). In both cases God’ s appeal is to the grand and steadfast order of the vast universe, which He sustains and assures. God tells us that all the hosts of heaven are attendant on the fortunes of mankind. They all live that God’ s deep purpose concerning man may be accomplished. 2. God declares here that we are not only involved inextricably in the fulfilment of His deepest and most cherished counsels, but that we are needed to satisfy the yearnings of His Father’ s heart. III. WE MAY APPLY THESE to the seasons of our experience when faith in the living God is the one thing which stands between us and the most blank despair. 1. The deep waters of personal affliction. 2. The weary search of the intellect for truth, the struggle to comprehend the incomprehensible, to know the inscrutable, to see the invisible, which is part, and not the least heavy part, of the discipline of a man and of mankind. 3. Dark crises of human history, when truth, virtue, and manhood seem perishing from the world. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)The unbelief of the Jews reproved I. THE TITLES GOD HERE GIVES THEM WERE ENOUGH TO SHAME THEM OUT OF THEIR . “ O Jacob; O Israel!” Let them remember-- 1. Whence they took those names--from one who had found God faithful to him, and kind in all his straits. 2. Why they bore those names--as God’ s professing people, a people in covenant with Him. II. THE WAY OF THEM IS BY WITH THEM. “ Why?” Consider whether thou hast any ground to say so. Many of our foolish frets and fears would vanish before a strict inquiry into the cause of them. III. THAT WHICH THEY ARE FOR IS AN ILL-NATURED, ILL- WORD THEY SPOKE OF GOD, as if He had cast them off. There seems to he an emphasis laid upon their saying it. It is bad to have evil thoughts rise in our mind, but it is worse to put an imprimatur to them, and turn them into evil words. David reflects with regret upon what he had said in his haste when he was in distress. IV. THE ILL WORD THEY SAID WAS A WORD OF DESPAIR THEIR PRESENT . They were ready to conclude-- 1. That God would not heed them. “ My way is hid from the Lord.” 2. That God could not help them. “ My judgment is passed over from my God, i.e., my case is so far past relief that God Himself cannot redress the grievances of it. (M. Henry.)A challenge to despondent unbelief “ Why sayest thou,” etc., that all the dispensations of providence and grace with which you are connected appear so intricate and inexplicable that you cannot attain any comfortable acquaintance with them; that God doth not seem to regard your condition, and to manifest this tender care of you, but acts toward you as if your forlorn circumstances were unknown to Him? This mournful complaint is adopted by them that fear the Lord, on one or other of the three following accounts-- I. When they do not perceive THE CAUSES from whence their troubles proceed. This perplexing circumstance greatly increases their uneasiness, and induces them to request with Job that God would show them wherefore He contendeth with them. II. When they do not discover THE to which they are especially directed. Uncertainty as to the particular ends which afflictions are sent to accomplish augments not a little the pressure of distress, and disposes good people to bemoan themselves in the language of the dejected Church, “ He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out.” I can neither see the reason nor the end of my affliction; my way seems to be hid from the Lord. III. When they do not discern WHAT IS PRESENT DUTY. Notwithstanding the blessed God hath clearly taught in His word what He requires, yet there are particular situations wherein the best of men have been perplexed as to what course they ought to follow. In such cases they have said with the good King of Judah, we know not what to do; and have lamented that their way was hid from the Lord. (R. Macculloch.)Doubt and encouragement Israel had suffered inexile so long that there were many who thought that their case had escaped God’ s eye, and that their “ judgment” (i.e their cause)had passed beyond His notice: the prophet replies, Jehovah is no local, limited God, as you imagine; His power embraces Babylon not less than Palestine; His strength is not exhausted; “ there is no searching of His understanding” --some inscrutable purpose must guide Him in delaying, if He do delay, the redemption of His people; only continue to trust! (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)God the comfort of His people Sorrow ever brings God nearer to us, if it do not bring us nearer to God; and whilst Isaiah was pondering the greatness of his apparent failure, God was preparing to chase away his darkness and to rekindle his hopes. Above him in the silent vault of night God was bringing out His solemn stars. And from that heaven where God numbered and named and watched over His stars, the eternal chorus swept down into the prophet’ s soul--“ Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel?” etc. Now, from a like despondency of heart, not one of us is entirely free. But some there are who dwell always in the region of gloom. The language of their whole life is, “ My way is hid from the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God.” Or, perhaps, it is that the shadow of a long-past grief is upon their life. Or, maybe, it is that they walk in a labyrinth of difficulty. Or, like Isaiah, they mourn apparent failure; they see life’ s highest purpose ingloriously defeated. I. GOD’ S POWER THE COMFORT OF HIS PEOPLE. Certain it is that our only true comfort is found in God. Life, when we can turn to God, is never cruel and hard; however full of trial it may be it never seems unkind; for we know that a hand of love appoints what a heart of love designs, and that all things must work together for good. And God has surrounded us on every side with reminders of what He is. When the heart is sad and low go out and be a witness of God’ s power; go out in the quiet evening when the gold and fire and purple of the sunset have paled away, and see God bringing out His stars. And as you remember that the infinite mind, your Father, knows their number, calls them all by names, as the Eastern shepherd used to call his sheep, and so follows each with His love, surrounds each by His care, so bathes each in His smile that “ not one faileth” --do they not with a loud shout of song pour down upon your soul the same consolation? Not only God’ s power as manifested in the sky, but His power as seen on earth may be our hope. God is about you on every side. No star, no bird, no flower is hid from Him. Never, then, can we say, “ My way is hid from the Lord,” etc. II. But a further source of consolation is GOD’ S . “ He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” God’ s tenderness is only rightly seen when viewed in conjunction with His greatness. We see the tender in contrast with the mighty. And this is real tenderness. Tenderness is strength in gentle action. When the power that might crush heals, uplifts, and strengthens, then we see tenderness. Gentleness is not weakness, but it is calm, quiet, loving strength. When the wind--which might wrench the oak from its moorings, snap the cables it has thrown around the rocks, and carry it away on its wings--lifts the hair and fans the cheek of the dying child, it is gentle. When the sun--mighty in his strength, pouring his scorching light on far-off worlds--shoots down a golden ray to cheer the drooping plant, or to “ increase strength” in the little seedling which a raindrop would almost crush, it is gentle. And such is the God of whom we speak. The great Father has also a mother’ s tenderness. “ He giveth power to the faint.” He who Himself is never weary stoops to those who have no might, that He may increase strength. The faint and weak, they are the children of the strong and mighty! And to the faint He giveth “ power” --power to suffer, to endure. To the weak He giveth “ strength” --strength to labour, to accomplish. There is nothing in this world so mighty as the weakness which takes hold of the Divine strength. Yonder the ocean is white with foam. Wave chases wave across the dark surface of the deep as cloud chases cloud across tile blackened sky. No ship could live in such a storm. The mightiest anchor ever forged could give no safety in such an hour. But out, where the storm is fiercest, on those dreadful rocks against which the waves dash themselves into clouds of spray, is a tiny, helpless shell-fish. Its very strength is weakness. It clings simply by its emptiness; but, clinging to that rock, not all the thunders of the ocean dislodge it thence. It is weakness taking hold of strength. Tender and yet mighty is our God, and His tenderness is His people’ s comfort. Whilst we bow in reverence before that power which holds untold worlds in their shining courses, we bow in profounder reverence and love before that power when we behold it in gentle exercise, giving power to the faint. III. There is a further source of consolation open to us--GOD’ S WISDOM. “ There is no searching of His understanding.” To say merely that man cannot understand God is to say very little; but the language is the statement of an eternal fact. There is no searching of His understanding; not by the brightest intellects of earth nor by the grandest intelligences of heaven. And God’ s infinite wisdom is to us the needful complement of His infinite power. Power, uncontrolled by wisdom, is rather to be feared than worshipped and loved. And shall He who has conceived that mighty plan--that plan which embraces all worlds in its grand conception--notunderstand the plan of our short life? Never let us think “ our way is hid from the Lord” ; to Him every circumstance of our life is known. (H. Wonnacott.)Providence I. THE OF A GENERAL . The doctrine of Providence in general is alike supported by reason and revelation. 1. It is necessary to creation. If the world were from eternity, then might it go on self-sustained, as it had ever been: if it were of chance, it might be supported by the same contingency which produced it. If a first cause was necessary to the production of these things, He is also essential to their preservation; and the same voice of nature which proclaims the being of a God, declares His Providence. 2. We must take the testimony of Scripture on this subject. 3. From prophecy. II. THE OF A . 1. As consistent with the Divine character. The grand objection against a particular Providence has been, that it reduces the Deity to the necessity of superintending such minute concerns as are beneath His dignity--reduces the Deity to a necessity! What necessity can subsist but in His will? The objection proceeds upon principles entirely erroneous. It is an erroneous calculation to call anything great or little in such connection. All affairs are not to us of equal importance--the bursting of a bubble and the ruin of an empire. But, in reasoning thus, we are reducing the Deity to a finite standard, and making Him altogether “ such an one as ourselves.” With Him the affairs of an empire and of individuals are equally manageable. The reasoning is false, also, upon the principle of dignity. It deteriorates nothing from the dignity of God to form a mite, with all the vessels and organs adapted to its existence: mere minuteness of operation surely cannot be deteriorating. What it was no degradation to God to create, it can be no degradation to God to preserve and manage. 2. As necessary to the general arrangements of Providence. Here we notice the operations of God, as demonstrating His government. The constitution of nature is of parts: systems compose the universe--worlds compose systems--a conglomeration of particles compose a world. Take the world of waters: seas form oceans--rivers, seas--streamlets, rivers--drops, streamlets--and the atom is infinitely divisible. Take the human frame; made up “ of that which every joint supplieth.” Apply this scale of operations to Providence, and then we affirm that no concern can be so little as to be below the superintendence of God; for none can be so small as not to form a part of the grand scheme of Providence. Our ignorance on this subject can be no objection against its reality. I cannot, indeed, trace the link which knits my little concerns with the “ ways of eternal Providence” ; but neither can I trace the invisible chain which holds all created things together in its remotest parts: some of the larger links I discern, but more are invisible to me. He who admits the doctrine of a general providence and denies that of a particular one, is a being whose obliquity of intellect allows him to conceive of a whole, while he denies the existence of the parts of which that whole is composed. 3. As demonstrated in the course of providential dispensations. Review the circumstances of your separate lives. That life will furnish each of you with the desired evidences on this part of the subject. How frequently have the best concerted plans proved unavailing! 4. As harmonising with our prescribed duties, it is supposed, in the prescription of prayer. Where would be the utility of prayer, or the propriety of prescribing it, if the world was governed by a fate superior to the will of the Supreme Being? The prescription of prayer supposes, on the part of the Deity, a will as well as a power to govern. And this doctrine is reconcilable with the use of means; nay, it requires them. 5. As revealed in the Scriptures. 6. As most consolatory. (W. Patten.)Unbecoming speech It is well in times when feeling is strong to say little, lest we speak unadvisedly with our lips, murmuring at our lot, or complaining against God, as though He had forgotten to be gracious, and had shut up His tender mercies in anger. Speech often aggravates sorrow. We say more than we mean; we drown in the torrent of our words the still small voice of the Holy Ghost whispering comfort; we speak as though we had not known or heard. It is wise, therefore, not to pass grief into words. Better let the troubled sea within rock itself to rest. “ Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel?” (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)“ My way hid from the Lord” The flower which follows the sun does so even in cloudy days: when it cloth not shine forth, yet it follows the hidden course and motion of it. So the soul that moves after God keeps that course when He hides His face; is content, yea, is glad at His will in all estates, or conditions, or events. (T. Leighton.) Isaiah 40:28-31 The Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not.The unwearied God and wearied men For nations and for individuals in view of political disasters or of private sorrows, the only holdfast to which cheerful hope may cling, is the old conviction, “ The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” I. ISAIAH’ S APPEAL TO THE THOUGHT OF AN GOD, AS THE TO ALL , AND THE OF ALL HOPE. “ Hast thou not known; hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? “ To whom is he speaking? The words of the previous verse tell us, in which he addresses himself to Jacob, or Israel, who is represented as complaining: “ My way is hid from the Lord.” That is to say, he speaks to the believing, but despondent dent part of the exiles in Babylon. There is wonder in the question, there is a tinge of rebuke in it. The prophet takes his stand upon the most elementary truth of religion. His appeal to them is: “ What do you call God? You call Him the Lord, do you not? What do you mean by calling Him that?” The life of men and of creatures is like a river, with its source and its course and its end. The life of God is like the ocean, with joyous movement of tides and currents of life and energy and purpose, but ever the same, and ever returning upon itself. “ The everlasting God’ s the Lord; and Jehovah, the unchanged, unchangeable, inexhaustible Being, spends, and is unspent; gives, and is none the poorer; works, and is never wearied; lives, and with no tendency to death in His life; flames with no tendency to extinction in the blaze.” “ He fainteth not, neither is weary.” Here is a lesson for us to learn, of meditative reflection upon the veriest commonplaces of our religion. There is a tendency among us to forget the indubitable, and to let our religious thought be occupied with the disputable and secondary parts of revelation. The commonplaces of religion are the most important. Everybody needs air, light, bread, and water. Meditate, then, upon the things most surely believed, and ever meditate until the dry stick of the commonplace truth puts forth buds and blossoms like Aaron’ s rod. We all have times, depending on mood or circumstances, when things seem black and we are weary. This great truth will shine into our gloom like a star into a dungeon. Are our he.arts to tremble for God’ s truth to-day? Are we to share in the pessimist views of some faint-hearted Christians? Surely as long as we can remember the name of the Lord, and His unwearied arm, we have nothing to do with fear or sadness for ourselves or for His Church or for His world. II. THE GOD GIVING TO WEARIED MAN. “ Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.” Earth knows no independent strength. All earthly power is limited in range and duration, and, by the very law of its being, is steadily tending to weakness. But though that has a sad side, it has also a grand and blessed one. Man’ s needs are the open mouth into which God puts His gifts. The low earth stretches, grey and sorrowful, fiat and dreary, beneath the blue arched heaven, but the heaven stoops to encompass--ay! to touch it. “ He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” Notice the preceding, words, “ Lift up your eyes on high,” and behold who hath created these things, etc. In the simple astronomy of those early times, there was no failure, nor decay, nor change, in the calm heavens. The planets, year by year, returned punctually to their place; and, unhasting and unresting, rolled upon their way. Weakness and weariness had no place there, but, says Isaiah, God’ s power does not show itself so nobly up there as it does down here. It is not so much to keep the strong in their strength as to give strength to the weak. It is much to “ preserve the stars from wrong,” it is more to restore and to break the power into feeble men. III. THE WEARIED MAN LIFTED TO THE LEVEL OF THE GOD, AND TO HIS . “ They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” That phrase means, of course, the continuous bestowment in unintermitting sequence of fresh gifts of power, as each former gift becomes exhausted, and more is required. That continuous communication leads to the “ perpetual youth” of the Christian soul. According to the law of physical life, decaying strength and advancing years tame and sober and disenchant and often make weary because we become familiar with all things and the edge is taken off everything. My text goes on to portray the blessed consequences of this continuous communication of Divine strength: “ They shall run and not be weary.” That is to say: this strength of God’ s poured into our hearts, if we wait upon Him, shall fit us for the moments of special hard effort, for the crises which require more than an ordinary amount of energy to be put forth. It will fit us, too, for the long, dreary hours which require nothing but keeping doggedly at monotonous duties--“ They shall walk and not faint.” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Energy and wisdom I. THE DIVINE BEING AS OF ENERGY. “ He fainteth not, neither is weary.” His most stupendous works are rather the “ hidings of His power,” than the manifestations of His might. The fact of God’ s possessing infinite energy supplies us with four guarantees-- 1. A guarantee of the regularity of the physical universe. 2. A guarantee of ability to fulfil His promises. Of what avail are promises if there be no executive energy? 3. A guarantee of His power to realise His threatenings. 4. A guarantee of Christ’ s final enthronement. Feeble instrumentality is no argument against this view. Nor is the guilty indifference of the Church. II. THE DIVINE BEING AS OF MENTAL . “ There is no searching of His understanding.” In God, therefore, there is a combination of infinite strength and infinite mind: power is under the government of intelligence! The universe is an embodied idea. Its minutest members are parts of one glorious thought. The infinite understanding of the Divine Being furnishes-- 1. An assurance that the darkest providences are under the direction of infinite wisdom. 2. That no plot against His government can succeed. 3. That His plan of salvation is alone sufficient. Possessed of an understanding that is infinite, God knew the exact necessities of the human race, and provided that economy which alone could satisfy the cravings of human nature. 4. That He understands the peculiarities of every case. “ Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?” These words rebuke the idea that anything can escape the Divine notice. Christ knew all the springs of life, He saw the maladies which tainted the blood and crippled the faculties of man, and at the issue of His fiat the most malignant affection retreated as if in haste and shame! 5. An assurance of eternal variety in the study of His nature. “ There is no searching of His understanding.” The eldest born in eternity may at this moment employ this same language; for those who have seen most of the Divine glory, confess most loudly the infinitude of His resources. Application-- (1) What is your relationship to this all-glorious Being? (2) If you are out of sympathy with this all-glorious Being, what is your hope for eternity? (J. Parker, D. D.)The inexhaustibleness of the Divine Power Power is a faculty for producing changes and performing works. There are three kinds or manifestations of power--physical, intellectual, and moral. I go into St. Paul’ s Cathedral when some grand religious service is performed, the choral part is of the highest order, the sermon is delivered by the grandest preacher of the day. Here I receive an impression of three manifestations of power. The bringing together and adjusting the stone, marble, iron, timber that compose the enormous structure, impress me with physical power-power to act on material bodies. In the architectural symmetry of the whole I am impressed with the intellectual power--power of planning and contriving so as to give utility, stability, and beauty to the whole. In the sacred music that floats around me and the eloquent sermon that is addressed to me, my nature is brought under the influence of moral power--power that rouses the conscience, that stirs the deepest sentiments ofthe soul. Out in open Nature these three kinds of manifestations of power appeal to man. God’ s power is inexhaustible in all these phases. I. HIS POWER IS . This will appear if we consider-- 1. The nature of His work in the material department. He is the Originator of all. 2. The effect of His work in the material department. 3. The constancy of His work in the material department. II. HIS POWER IS . Intellectual force is as visible in nature to a thought ful eye as physical. Science shows that everything--the minute and the vast, the proximate and the remote, is formed, sustained, and directed according to plan. “ In Thy book all my members were written.” Think of the boundless variety amongst all the flowers and trees that have ever grown. Amongst all the men of all the generations that are gone, have there been two in face and figure exactly alike? Here is intellectual fertility! The little intellectual force of contrivance possessed by the bee or the bird is very soon exhausted, Man, too, soon reaches a culminating point in inventive skill. But not so with God. But in the creations of the spiritual world the same inexhaustibleness of intellectual energy is displayed. Each spirit involves something of a new plan. On this little planet fresh souls appear every hour. III. HIS MORAL POWER IS . 1. Look at His moral power in nature. Nature is brimful of the moral power of God; power appealing to the souls of men. 2. Look at His moral power in the Gospel. What is moral power? “ Truth and grace.” (Homilist.)The inexhaustible energy of God I. HIS ENERGY IN THE SPHERE OF IS . 1. Look at His contrivance in relation to matter. The rushing currents, the surging sea, the furious tempest, the revolution of planets, and the recurrence of the seasons--all give us the impression of power. But to the thoughtful, the intellectual force is as clearly developed in nature as the material, nay, is implied in the material. 2. Look at His contrivance in relation to spirit. Observe-- (1) Unceasing creation of new spirits. (2) The government of spirits. (3) The moral restoration of human spirits. What contrivance is here! II. HIS ENERGY IN THE SPHERE OF IS . His power of working out His plans is equal to His power of invention. 1. It is so in the material. In the material realm God seems to develop His plans in two ways--directly and indirectly; without means and by means. 2. It is so in the spiritual. Let us look at His power to save. What is moral power? It is the power of truth. But the Gospel is the most powerful of any truth-- (1) Because it is moral truth. (2) Because it is remedial truth. (3) Because it is divinely embodied truth. Example is stronger than precept. The truths to be deduced from the whole are-- (1) That the delay of punishment must not be referred to incapacity. (2) That the urging of difficulties against the fulfilment of Divine promises is an absurdity. There are two classes of promises against which we urge this. One relates to the conversion of the world. The other to the resurrection of the dead. It is not only possible for these promises to be fulfilled, but impossible for them not to be. (3) That if we are immortal we shall witness new manifestations of Divine power for ever. (4) That the interest as well as duty of every man is to cultivate friendship with God. You are safe if you have God as a refuge. (Homilist.)Profitable reflection in dark hours Was it a true thing these exiles said? They suggested that they had worn out the Divine patience. They were ready to admit that He had been the God of their fathers; but He had now withdrawn from His covenant relationship, and would be favourable no more. That, they said, was the reason why they were allowed to languish year after year on the plains of Babylon. They spoke as though they had never known nor heard some of the most rudimentary facts about the nature and ways of God. “ Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard?” In our dark hours we should revert to considerations which have been familiar to us from childhood, but have of late ceased to exert a definite impression. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)God’ s power the comfort of His people The terms by which God is described are not what may be termed the gracious designations which are often employed to describe Him; it is not the Father, the Redeemer, the Gentle One; it is the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, as if Divine comfort were not a sentiment only, as if Divine comfort did not come only out of the Divine emotions, but poured itself down upon us from all that is majestic, dominant, mighty, immeasurable, royal, and grand in the Divine nature. (J. Parker, D. D.)God’ s moment the perfect miniature of His everlasting day's It is said to be the property of a crystal to assume precisely the same form into however many fragments it may be broken up. The infinitesimal particle, for the study of which a magnifying glass must be used, is a precise facsimile of the parent crystal from which it came. If we could take God’ s eternity and break it up into aeons, if we could take the aeons and break them up into ages, and the ages into centuries, and the centuries into years, and the years into days, and the days into hours, and the hours into moments, we should find each separate moment of God’ s life to be just as resplendent with benignity, compassion, redeeming grace, and helpfulness, as His sublime eternity itself. (T. G. Selby.)God never grows weary A story is told of a little girl whose faith in God may teach us a lesson. The lamp had just been put out, and the little girl was rather afraid of the dark. But presently she saw the bright moon out of her window, and she asked her mother, “ Is the moon God’ s light? Yes, Ethel,” the mother replied; “ the moon and stars are all God’ s lights.” “ Will God blow out His light and go to sleep too?” she asked again. “ No, my child,” replied the mother, “ God’ s lights are always burning.” “ Well, mamma,” said Ethel, “ while God’ s awake, I’ m not afraid.” There is no searching of His understandingHeartening conceptions of God How to reconcile the approving verdict of creative wisdom, “ God saw that it was good,” with that condition of things of which St. Paul speaks as the whole creation groaning and travailing in pain together; how to reconcile the idea of Almighty goodness with the existence of universal and apparently aimless conflict and struggle for destruction, is a question that, in itself, would seem incapable of exaggerated statement. It is the old, old question, which we shall see solved in the day, and not before the day, when He, the Son, the Creator, shall have put all things under Him; the question between life and death. Still if wisdom is to be justified of her children, we cannot bear as her children not to try to justify her; and although we know that we shall not attain to the answer, we cannot help hearing and thinking of the question. We look first at the possibilities which lie in what God has not revealed, and secondly for the particulars which, in developing His message and expanding our power of receiving it, and in regulating our conduct under and in consequence of it, it has pleased Him to make known to us about Himself. We may without presumption, certainly with nothing short of the most timid tentativeness, approach such mysteries as the travailing of creation, the gradual character of Divine revelation, the delay of the consummation of the mediatorial work, the agency of external and previous influences on the will, the conduct and the responsibility of human beings. All these four matters are of vivid and universal interest, ancient questions, older than Genesis, older than Socrates, older than Archimedes, older than Enoch; questions that no new theories can answer, problems that admit of constant new illustrations, but lie in the very incunabula of human thought. Take them in order. 1. In that beginning of which the first verse of the Bible speaks, the Creator, Almighty and All good, called matter into being: the material world, in that conformation which science reveals to us, may be the result, not only of immensely long periods of energy, but of immensely varied methods of agency; when it comes within our ken it is seen to be the result of operations into which pain and death largely enter, and in which, so far as we can see, they are still, with no traceable connection with mankind, actively at work. In our contemplation of pain and death in human morals, we trace back both to the effect of sin, and sin to the depravation of the free will at the fall of man. What hinders us from conceiving that the existence and continuance of such measures of pain and death as are found anterior to the existence of man, and external to the operation of his moral agency, are the results of a freedom granted to pre-existent, or continued, perverted, and fallen agencies, about which we have no other knowledge? It may surely be as likely that the creation or developing of man on earth, for the vanquishing of evil and the working out of blessing in redemptive and restorative work, may, mixed as are its effects now, be a step in a very gradual victory, by which pre-existent and continuing evil, arising from a pre-existent and continuing perversion, is being brought under the feet of the Only Begotten of the Father? Interminable cycles of the years measured by the revolutions of the earth, by the working of our system, and by the cosmic movements of the universe, might be required, but what obstacle does such a calculation place in the way of such a possibility with an Agent Infinite and Eternal? There is the evil, there is the slowness of the working of law, but there is eternity before and behind. Who shall say to Him, What doest Thou? There shall be no more pain: but it shall be when the former things are passed away. 2. Then, the slowness of revelation and its gradual character? We can either account for that by the reason of law that works so, or by the absolute necessity, the terms and conditions of the situation being such that it should be so; that is, we may either assume the law or justify the law. We have no more right to lay it down, as an axiom, that the perfect God could or would reveal Himself entirely by one act of revelation, than that He would give men free will and always keep it in conformity with His own will. The revelation, to be a part of the victory, must be a revelation that would expand with the expansion of the receiving minds, giving them the choice between light and darkness, and suffering and enabling them to rejoice in the light rather than the darkness. It must have a beginning: the words of revelation must be spoken in the language that the receiver can comprehend; must be weighted with elements that will hold them fast in his mind; must be seasoned with a stimulus that shall provoke his appetite for knowledge. And now that, in the fulness of time, grace and truth are come by Jesus Christ, and in Him, the brightness of His Father’ s glory and the express image of His Person, we recognise the perfection of the revelation by which He guides many sons unto glory, we yet are warned that the guide of our life is faith; and heaven itself, in which we trust to know more, and love more, and be conformed to the likeness more, in wonderful growths of the finite into the knowledge, love, and likeness of the Infinite, shall be a perfection of revelation, but even so a revelation of new vistas of perfection, of knowledge, love, and likeness. But glorious as this prospect is, and humble, prostrate, as we lie now on the threshold of the vision, we know that we have not come so far as we have come, but by a long series of dispensations and disciplines; a method, a law of enlightenment, that ages and generations, rising and falling nations, tested and discarded philosophies, have exemplified. God could have revealed the plan of Redemption, could have redeemed the world as soon as Adam fell, as He might have kept him from falling, or stayed the propagation of evil in the first generation: but He would overcome evil with good, and bring out the victory in His own way, preparing the world by the experience of vanity, disciplining the world by the struggle against the causes of misery, and at the last sending His Son. 3. How about the twilight, and those who wandered in it to their fall, before the Daystar arose? How about those who are sitting still in darkness? Does not He care? Are they not safer in His contemplation than in our perplexed hearts? But now that grace and truth are come;--eighteen hundred years ago He founded His Church, and for all that time she has been working; with some drawbacks that she might have overcome, but still working; and three-quarters of the globe are full of heathendom still, and seventy generations of souls have passed away under the cloud of darkness. Is not this strange? Is it all the effect of a neglect that, if it be unmodified by other causes, must be accounted nothing less than a failure of a purpose that assumes to be Divine? Here again we come upon a trace of law that is not to be broken. For fifteen hundred out of the eighteen hundred years of Christianity, one-half of the inhabited world was unknown to the other half; no revelation of God opened up the new world; it was left for discovery to human enterprise, under a guidance, active, certain, but by no means exceptional to the recognised movements of society; and when discovered it was full of strange languages, and of people so framed and disciplined as to have none of the special training by which the old world has been broken up for the reception of the seed of the Word; and when it had been claimed and appropriated and made intelligible and opened up, no part of the process seemed to be overruled for the rapid progress of Gospel light; no new miracles, no new manifestations; all had to be done line upon line, precept upon precept, with lisping voice and stammering tongue. If that ancient strange darkness is indeed evil--and who shall say it is not in the face of the true light?--surely there is some secret in the hand of the Lord that shall justify the delay, and shall vindicate the means in the day of victory. 4. But once more. We are told, and we know it in its measure to be true, that in the course of this world causes and consequences, multiplying and intensifying from generation to generation, do so mould the minds and thoughts of men as seriously to endanger the sense of personal responsibility, and practically to limit anything like free moral agency. We are told, in fact, that we are what our forefathers, our circumstances, our manners and customs, our teaching and religion make us, and scarcely anything more; and so, if we are vicious it is something over which we have no control that makes us so; or, if we are virtuous it is something for which we have no credit; and if we are betwixt and between, we are as God, if there be a God, let circumstances, heredity, the accidents of life, and the stream of family history make us. There is much truth in the statement of facts. There are at least two considerations to modify it: first, the influence of circumstance and cause is not unmixed; there is good as well as evil in the force that impels us; secondly, there is in every one of us, weak, wavering, as we may be, enough of freedom to determine our choice between the good and evil of the circumstance. Each man who has ever lived, and each action of his life, has contributed something; something that of course only the Divine knowledge can discriminate or appreciate, but which is a contribution to the course of this world for good or for evil, and so we have to do the same. God has great purposes to serve, and blesses what little we can consciously do towards the victory of His Son. When we look at the chart of human history, even for the six thousand years that the old chronology delimits for us, and see how great the expanse of ages, in which we know that there were human lives, making experience and influence, and yet whose experience and influence had, so far as we know, nothing to do with the existing conditions of modern society, and see how all that consciously constitutes what we know as modern society falls into a comparatively insignificant section of the chart; and if we take the map of the earth and stretch our compasses across the breadth and length of Christendom, and then look at the heavens, the work of His fingers, and the stars that measure His times and seasons for us, and beyond all that into eternity and infinity of energy; surely we must feel that we cannot limit possibilities or impossibilities, the measure of Goodness and Almightiness, by the line and plummet of our own intelligence. What is man that Thou visitest him? Yet Thou hast visited him, and made him lower than the angels to crown him with glory and power. (Bishop of Chester.) Isaiah 40:29-31 He giveth power to the faint The Divine Helper I. OUR IS KNOWN TO THE DIVINE FATHER. He knows the strong and the faint alike. As a wise Shepherd, He is acquainted with the state of His entire flock. 1. There is our inherent antagonism to evangelical truth. Man is prone to self-leaning. When we leave the Cross we faint; while we glory in its Sufferer we are armed with irresistible might! 2. There is the seductive influence of worldly association. 3. There is the fierce battle for daily bread. 4. There is our ever-recurring unbelief. II. MORAL DOES NOT . Were all the “ faint” to be excluded, how many of you would remain as children of God? Does the parent cast off the crippled child? It will be necessary, however, to guard this assurance with two explanations-- 1. It contains no encouragement to moral indolence. You are not to exonerate yourselves from the stern duties oF life on the plea that you are “ faint.” The toiler grows strong; exercise develops muscle. 2. It affords no palliation for inconsistency. We are never allowed to plead weakness as a reason for sin. III. POWER IS TO THE MORALLY FEEBLE. 1. God never communicates surplus power. “ As thy days so shall thy strength be.” 2. God’ s method of communicating power teaches the dependence of humanity. God’ s alone is original; but it is enough for man if he can shine with radiance borrowed from the Fount of uncreated light. 3. God’ s willingness to communicate power fearfully increases the responsibility of the Church. What power we might have! I regard the declaration in the following aspects (1) As the sublimest encouragement to the Church. “ He giveth power to the faint.” Who is this Being represented, in the pronoun? (2) As the tenderest assurance to the penitent. “ The bruised reed He will not break, the smoking flax He will not quench.” (3) As the highest tribute to the work of Christ. (4) As a glorious pledge of God’ s interest in humanity. (5) As a presumptive proof of man’ s immortality. But how so? Can they who faint be immortal? Why all this feeding like a shepherd? Why this gentle tending--this inspiration of life--this sustaining of vigour--this communication of power? Is the mysterious process undertaken when God has determined that all shall end in dust? Does the Divine Being sustain merely that earthly life shall be prolonged? Why should Jehovah stoop to impart power to the faint, when He knows that in a few brief years the faint one will have crumbled to dust? (J. Parker, D. D.)Almighty God helps the weak The arguments which demonstrate the folly and guilt of worshipping false gods, and of confiding in them, equally demonstrate the duty and obligation of worshipping the true and living God, and of placing our confidence in Him. Indeed, to remove our adoration from an idol is doing but little, unless at the same time it be given to the Holy and Great Jehovah; it is but renouncing polytheism--a grievous and horrible delusion--for atheism, a delusion still more horrible and grievous. I. JEHOVAH, THE TRUE GOD, IS A BEING OF POWER (Isaiah 40:26). II. THE POWER OF JEHOVAH, THE TRUE GOD, IS LIKE HIMSELF, AND ETERNAL. “ He fainteth not, neither is weary.” That the power of Jehovah, the true God, is undiminishable and eternal, is proved by the conservation of nature, as the existence of that power is proved by nature’ s production. Were the hand which framed the universe utterly withdrawn, the universe would return to its original nothing. The motion, order, and safety of all things depend upon God. What a contrast does this perfection of undiminishable and eternal power form to the weakness of the creature--of fallen and helpless man especially! Weakness is the attribute of the human body. Man is no less weak as it relates to his mind. Sublime therefore in the highest degree is this account of Jehovah. He never lets fall the reins of dominion; He never retires, overcharged, by attention to His friends, resistance to His enemies, or the superintendence of all! III. THE POWER OF JEHOVAH THE TRUE GOD IS IN BEHALF OF FALLEN, MAN. “ He giveth power to the faint,” etc. Let us attend to some instances in which this truth is illustrated. 1. In His providential interpositions in favour of the more helpless of men. Some persons constitutionally feeble in body, or perhaps made so by disease, are often mysteriously succoured. The victim of oppression also ever finds a Friend in heaven. 2. In the work of our redemption by Christ Jesus. “ When we were yet without strength Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6). One of the most afflictive circumstances attending man’ s fallen state is that of utter helplessness. When sin entered into the world it not only erased from the soul of man the image of his Creator; it also annihilated, as far as man was concerned, all the means of his recovery. The nerves of obedience were cut, and the spirit of reverence and love utterly blasted. 3. In that invigorating peace communicated to the heart of man, when he believes to the salvation of his soul. Perhaps we are never fully prepared for the mercy of God, through the sacrificial merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, until we see that there is mercy in no other way. 4. In that successful resistance which is made by the faithful Christian, to the assaults of our great spiritual adversary, the devil. 5. In the season of personal affliction. 6. In the case of every one who dies in the Lord. (J. Bromley.)The aid of the Holy Spirit No words can do justice to the feelings of joy and gratitude which this gift should excite in all those who partake in its inestimable benefit. When the heathen sage had sketched out virtue in her goodliest forms; when he had pointed to the steep and arduous path which must be trodden by her successful votaries; when he had urged his disciples to enter upon it by the most stimulating motives with which the light of nature could supply him, what could he do more? What words of cheering import could he address to them, when sinking with dismay under a sense of their own infirmity, when trembling with apprehensions of failure, from a comparison between their strength and the task allotted to them? He had no authority to refer them to one who “ giveth power to the faint, and increaseth strength to them that have no might.” What he could not, the Christian philosopher can say. (J. Marriot, M. A.)A spiritual tonic I. THE HEALTH OF THE HEBREW CHURCH HAD FALLEN BELOW PAR. 1. They felt they had lost the favour of God. Their way was hidden from Him, and they walked in darkness, as if they were the sport of chance or the victims of fate. 2. They felt they were left to the mercy of man. It appeared as if judgment upon them and their way was transferred to caprice of men. II. THE OF THE HEBREW CHURCH MIGHT BE . The people needed-- 1. Faith in the power of God. 2. Hope in the pity of God. He does not crush the feeble and the faint, but increases their power. 3. Love for the service of God. As the hearts of the people became enthusiastic for the worship of Jehovah, and longed to get back to Zion to restore the temple and rebuild the city, their energies would revive as an incoming tide; revived spirit would bring revived strength. III. WITH HEALTH THE HEBREW CHURCH WOULD RESUME ITS WONTED . The people are promised-- 1. Renewed vigour. Strength would come from waiting upon God. 2. Renewed vivacity. The people are told they shall “ mount,” “ walk,” “ run,” without weariness or sense of exhaustion. 3. Renewed vitality. Though the body may grow old, and physical life decline, the soul shall remain young. (F. W. Brown.)God’ s power in the heavens and on earth (with Isaiah 40:26):--These two verses set forth two widely different operations of the Divine power as exercised in two sadly different fields, the starry heavens and this weary world. The one verse says, “ He is strong in power” ; the other, “ He giveth power.” In the former verse, “ the greatness of His might” sustains the stars; in the latter verse, a still greater operation is set forth in that “ to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” Thus there are three contrasts suggested; that between unfailing stars, and men that faint; that between the unwearied God and wearied men; and that between the sustaining power that is exercised in the heavens and the restoring power that is manifested on earth. There is another interlocking between the latter of these two texts and its context, which is indicated by a similar recurrence of epithets. In my second text we read of the “ faint,” and in the verse that follows it again we find the expression “ faint” and “ weary,” while in the verse before my text we read that “ the Lord fainteth not, neither is weary.” So again the contrast between Him and us is set forth, but in the verse that closes the chapter we read how that contrast merges into likeness, inasmuch as the unfainting and unwearied God makes even the men that wait upon Him unwearied and unfainting. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Unfailing stars and fainting men (with Isaiah 40:26):-- I. A SAD . The prophet in the former of these verses seems to be expanding the thoughts that lie in the name, “ the Lord of hosts,” in so far as that name expresses the Divine relation to the starry universe. The image that underlies both it and the words of my text is that of a commander who summons his soldiers, and they come. Discipline and plan array them in their ranks. The plain prose of which is that night by night, above the horizon, rise the bright orbs, and roll on their path obedient to the Sovereign will; “ because He is strong in might, not one” is lacking. Scripture bids us think of God, not as a creative energy that set the universe in motion, and leaves it to roll or spin, but as of a Divine Presence. But in our second text we drop from the illumination of the heavens to the shadowed plain of this low earth. It is as if a man looking up into the violet sky, with all its shining orbs, should then turn to some reeking alley, with its tumult and its squalor. Just because man is greater than the stars, man “ fails,” whilst they shine on unwearied. For what the prophet has in view as the clinging curse that cleaves to our greatness is not merely the bodily fatigue which is necessarily involved in the very fact of bodily existence, since energy cannot be put forth without waste and weariness, but it is far more the weary heart, the heart that is weary of itself, weary of toil, weary of the momentary crises that demand effort, and wearier still of the effortless monotony of our daily lives. It is ever to be remembered that the faintness and the ebbing away of might, which is the truly tragic thing in humanity, does not depend upon physical constitution, but upon separation from the Source of all strength. II. ANOTHER SAD , MELTING INTO A BLESSED . “ He fainteth not, neither is weary.” “ He giveth power to the faint.” Is that not a higher exercise of power than to “ preserve the stars from wrong” ? What are the consequences that the prophet traces to this restoring power? “ They shall mount up with wings as eagles,” etc. III. THE WAY BY WHICH THESE CAN BE , AND THIS SECURED. “ They that wait upon the Lord” --that is the whole secret. What does waiting on the Lord include? Keep near Him; keep still: expect. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Two operations of God’ s power (with Isaiah 40:26):-- 1. The strength that restores is greater than the power that preserves. 2. The power that is given to the faint is greater than the strength that keeps the stars from falling, because there is in it an actual communication of actual Divine strength. God keeps the planet in its course by an act (for we must not speak about “ effort” in regard to Him) of power brought to bear upon it. But He brings strength to us, not by ministration from without, but by impartation within. 3. Once more, this mirror gives us back the reflection of a power which is not only restoration and communication, but multiplication. “ To those that have no might He increaseth strength.” 4. The power that redeems, ministers not only restoration and communication and multiplication, but assimilation. There is in the context a very remarkable play upon words. “ Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the ever lasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?” He stoops to the faint, and gives them strength, and what is the result in them? “ They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” What God is, God’ s child in his measure becomes, unfainting and unwearied like his Father in the heavens. God gives, not omnipotence, but something that is a kind of shadowy likeness of it. “ All things are possible to him that believeth.” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Encouragement to the weary I. THE LORD SPEAKS OF HIS PEOPLE AS BEING “ FAINT.” The expression is very significant; it implies that there is life, yet life for a time dormant, inactive, powerless either for defence, service, or enjoyment. There is one, for instance, who has watched long by the bedside of a beloved sick one. Others, again, are sorely tried by anxieties connected with their business; by the difficulty of providing daily bread. There, again, is another deeply vexed and grieved with the plague of his own heart. Of such as these the Lord seems to be speaking. “ He giveth power to the faint.” His people are further described as having “ no might.” Self-sufficiency is one of the plainest marks of the ungodly. And thus are they led truly into the third mark of His people, which the Lord here mentions, “ They that wait upon the Lord.” II. HOW HE DEALS WITH THEM. Three expressions are employed to describe this. 1. To the faint “ giving” strength, because, under their sore trials and afflictions, they have utterly fainted; their strength has for a time entirely departed--to them the Lord “ gives” strength. 2. Then observe the other word describing His dealings--“ He increaseth strength.” That is a very suitable word. It is the experience of every gracious soul, that his own strength decreaseth. He learns more fully that he hath in himself no strength. Wherever the Lord removes any of the props of the believer’ s earthly pride and self-sufficiency, there He reveals Himself as the believer’ s strength. So that growth in humility is necessarily connected with growth in spiritual strength. 3. They that wait on the Lord shall “ renew” their strength. They renew their strength because the Lord renews it. He manifests Himself to them just at those times and in that manner in which they are led to see their need of Him. III. THE BLESSED RESULTS OF THE LORD’ S WITH HIS PEOPLE. These also are described as three-fold-- 1. “ They shall mount up,” borne aloft heavenward, with a power in comparison with which the eagle’ s mighty wings are powerless. And why? Because they are borne aloft by omnipotent grace. This is one blessed result to those who wait upon the Lord--heavenward tendency. 2. There is also promised zeal and rapid progress in their heavenly course. “ They shall run and not be weary.” Waiting upon the Lord, they shall be so renewed in strength, that not only their affections, desires, and hopes shall be lifted up to heaven, but they shall also be carried forward swiftly and mightily in their gracious course. They shall run in the way of God’ s commandments, and not be weary. Look at all mere human strength; how soon it fails, how quickly it is exhausted. 3. This is the third blessed result--a steady perseverance in the way to Zion. Whilst their progress is “ running” for zeal and success, it is “ walking” for steady persistency unto the end. It is harder sometimes to walk than to run. There are many who would gain heaven if it were to be won by a hasty run; but when the heavenly course requires not merely a short, quick, impulsive run, but the slow, weary, painful walk, they soon grow tired, and ready to give all up. (G. W. Hills.)The influence of the Holy Ghost: the doctrine abused by neglecting means The grand subject here is, “ waiting upon the Lord.” The term is of frequent occurrence in God’ s Word. It sometimes means nothing more than a quiet, restful frame of soul; and sometimes it will be found to set forth a waiting for the Lord, a patient waiting on Him in expectation of deliverance. But “ waiting on Him” seems to imply more than this; it implies a diligent use of those means that He has appointed for the communication of His grace--waiting on Him in the use of those means. It is not an indolent waiting. I. GOD’ S OF NEEDFUL HELP TO HIS POOR, TRIED, WEAK, AND PEOPLE. 1. Every creature is of necessity weak; it is not his fault--it is his nature. When Adam left his hold on God he necessarily fell; as necessarily as any branch would fall if cut off from the parent stem. The creature has no power to sustain himself, nor to help himself; and it was never intended that he should have. 2. If man as an unfallen creature is weak; well may we say, that as a fallen creature, he is altogether weakness. 3. But even as a renewed creature he is weak, and if left to himself, unable to cope with one enemy, or to maintain his own standing for one single moment. “ Without Me ye can do nothing.” 4. Besides this, there are certain periods in which the believer is more than ordinarily faint and weak. There are many things that try him. 5. Oftentimes too, through want of watchful, prayerful, holy seeking and turning over the page of conscience, he weakens his little strength. But it is to these very souls that the Lord communicates strength. “ He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” The necessities of God’ s people seem to touch the very heart of God. But there is something in the very glory of God that constrains Him to grant them His help in their hours of need. This was David’ s plea: “ pardon mine iniquity, for it is great,” but “ for Thy name’ s sake,” he says. II. OBSERVE THROUGH WHAT CHANNEL IT COMES. It is not a natural channel; it is not the strength of nature, but it is in the way of waiting dependence on Himself. There is a wondrous analogy between the operations of God in grace and in nature. God has given to us the promise that “ seed-time and harvest shall never fail” while the world remains; but does this hinder the necessity of casting in the seed? Does it hinder the necessity of ploughing the land before it, and of harrowing it in, and protecting it? The more I look at this appointment of God, the more I see of infinite wisdom in it. I am in great distress, in great need, no one knows of my pressure. Perhaps I tell my friend, but I find no relief at all. And now I cast myself on the Lord--God reveals Himself to me as my Father-it quiets me, it comforts me. See how the Lord makes one step preparatory to another, and makes one thing the means of obtaining another. Prayerfulness leads to strength; that leads to courage; that leads to submission; that leads to patience, and that leads to praise. Observe the same, too, of all other means of grace. Talk we of the Bible, or hearing the Word unfolded? In prayer we speak to God; in His Word He speaks to us by His Spirit. Look at the very means of grace themselves: there is the unfolding of the same wisdom in the means appointed. What a suitable and reasonable ordainment it is! III. THE OF THIS CHANNEL OF . “ They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.” When God puts forth His promise He pledges all that is in Himself to fulfil that promise. This is God’ s appointed way. Perhaps we can say there are no instances upon record in which it was otherwise, but I dare not say that God may not in one moment so break in upon a man’ s soul, by the holy anointing of the Spirit, as to give him the most perfect conviction that he is a child of God. See the greatness of the communication. They shall “ run” ; they shall “ walk” ; and they shall “ mount up.” Concluding remarks-- 1. Would that the saints of God did more deeply feel that they are fainting and full of weakness! 2. Though it is no small mercy to be deeply conscious of our utter weakness before God, take heed how you abuse this glorious doctrine of the blessed Spirit by living a life of ceaseless and useless complaint. There is an observation, I think in Owen, that the religion of some consists in little more than in going from house to house, from friend to friend, from saint to saint, telling one’ s nothingness, sinfulness, and wretchedness. They make a sort of secret balm of it. 3. What vast encouragement is here! (J. H. Evans, M. A.)Causes and cure of fainting I. WHAT MAKES US FAINT? 1. We will consider the case of the awakened sinner. (1) They may very well faint, for they have made a most alarming discovery. (2) They have tried to escape from their dangerous position, but they have not succeeded. (3) We have known some grow so faint through a sense of sin and a dread of its punishment and a consciousness of their own inability to save themselves, that they have even wished to die; yet, when they have looked at their condition aright, they have asked themselves what use death would be to them? (4) Perhaps also, at such a time, a sore trouble may happen to the man; for, in the parable of the prodigal son, it appears that he was quite as much influenced by the peculiar circumstances without as by his sense of sin within. 2. I pass on to another character, namely, the child of God in his fainting fits. There is a degree of sinfulness about some of those faintings which is not found in others. (1) Sometimes the children of God faint through want of faith (Psalms 27:13). So the cure of fainting is faith, and the best way to prevent fainting is to believe. (2) Some are brought into a state of faintness through a selfish want of resignation e.g., Jonah and the gourd. It was not alone the heat of the sun that caused him to faint; it was also the heat of his temper. Some of those who have lost dear children seem as if they will not forgive God for taking them. (3) There are children of God also who fall into faintness through trusting in themselves. “ Even the youths shall faint,” etc. Why is that? Because the youths felt themselves able to do anything. (4) Faintness may also arise from another cause which is sinful, namely, neglect of prayer. (5) Children of God fall into faintness because of the length of the way. (6) The heaviness of their burden. (7) A sense of weakness. (8) Another frequent cause is the spirit itself sinking (Psalms 42:1-11.). (9) Some get faint through lack of spiritual food. (10) Sometimes God’ s children faint when they are in adversity. (11) There are some who faint through increasing infirmity. II. HOW THE LORD DEALS WITH HIS PEOPLE. “ He giveth power,” etc. 1. See how tenderly the Lord deals with His fainting people. He does not desert them, saying, They are no longer any use to Me; they can do nothing for Me; I will leave them where they are. He gives them power. 2. What sort of power? (1) You may be sure that He does not give them any of their own. That has all gone from them. (2) It will be sufficient for the emergency, for He has all-sufficient power. “ As thy days,” etc. (3) It is a power that the devil can neither defeat nor take away. 3. Why is it that He gives power to the faint? (1) Because, in His great goodness, He looks out for those who need it most. (2) Because they will praise Him most for it. (3) Because they will be sure to use it. When a person who has been faint receives power from God he will be likely to be sympathetic, tender, and gentle towards others; at least, that is how he should be. Conclusion-- 1. If God gives power to the faint, let us be thankful if we have fainted and have been revived by Him. 2. Let us have done with fainting in the future, because we ought to have no more fainting now that we have received God’ s power. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Strength attracted by weakness We have seen a little weakling child draw to its cot some strong and burly man, the champion athlete of the country-side. Such a spell can weakness exert over might, and helplessness over helpfulness. It is the burden of Scripture that the strong should bear the infirmities of the weak, and not please themselves. Such is the law of God’ s existence. All that He is and has He holds in trust for us, and most for those who need most. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)God’ s strength for the weak Many of us are too strong, self-reliant, and resourceful to get the best that God can do. Jacob must halt on his thigh ere he can prevail with God and man. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)God’ s untiring patience God is ever blotting out sins from His remembrance--never tiring. I will tell you what it is like. It is like the infinite, tireless patience of the sea. The children ply their spades upon the sands, to make work for the sea. They heap the sand up, they dig deep into it. Hundreds of them disfigure the hard, golden surface, and leave their scars upon it; and then quietly the old sea turns upon its course, and rolls its waves across the sands, and every trace of scar is obliterated, becomes as if it had never been; when the tide ebbs again there is no trace upon the smooth, shining surface of the sand to show that it had ever known disturbance. Day after day, day after day, the scene is repeated, and the sea is never tired of putting things to rights; it never complains, it never resents the new work imposed upon it. And the secret is that there is such infinite reserve of power that all that man can do frets it no whir. It is only a question of time, and it will put all things to rights again. Again and again, as I have stood by the sea, this sense of its tirelessness has come over me. It fainteth not, neither is weary. And it has seemed to me an emblem, as the stars are emblems, moving on their courses, as the world is an emblem, swinging through space, as nature is an emblem, pursuing so patiently and unweariedly her age-long business--of that mighty God whose glorious characteristic it is that He fainteth not, neither is weary; but He giveth power to the faint, and increaseth strength to him that hath no might. (C. Silvester Home, M. A.) Isaiah 40:30-31 Even the youths shall faint The unfainting spirit The Hebrew tendency to lean upon the most muscular arm accessible, to buy up horses from Egypt in imitation of the warriors of the plains, to form alliances with neighbouring peoples in a neighbourly, instead of acting in the true Israelite spirit--was a tendency not confined to Hebrew blood. It is in human nature to live by eyesight, and to go on doing so even although everything should go to wreck under our very eyes. The true Israelite spirit felt--wherever that spirit prevailed--that God’ s assuring word had more muscle in it than an army ofPhilistines; that Egyptian cavalry was an encumbrance; that Assyrian spears might be turned into withered blades of grass in a night’ s time; and that the only solid ground that never quaked was the Rock that faith stood upon. For the unseen is harder, stronger--has more vitality and power of renewal in it--than the youngest, freshest, fairest, and most select powers that are seen. Our desire is to show wherein lies the power of renewed life and force in a soul and in a Church, so that the vigour shall be real and elastic, being the very strength of God. I. THE PROPHET EXPECTS THE NATURAL AND FALLING OF THE SELECT MEN. “ Young men” reads literally “ the select men,” --those picked out for an enterprise on account of their youthful vigour. II. A OF ALL MEN IS THROUGH WAITING ON GOD. Panic seized our Lord’ s disciples on the arrest of their Master, and their flight revealed their lack of power. They were converted men, but they fainted and failed. They were young and select, but they fled. When about to part from them, Jesus bade them remain where they were, and not attempt the discipling of the world until they should receive power. The word “ renew” in this place signifies “ change.” The strength sufficient for one day, and its duty, may need to be exchanged for something larger, deeper, swifter for the next day and its severer trials. The same Spirit works, changing the force and form of His working. How is the Spirit of God working in the renewal of strength to-day? What are the best people feeling the need of, but a closer union among themselves through an intenser, completer fellowship with God? III. ISAIAH THE OF A NEW AND STRONG LIFE IN GOD. A cheering succession of Saxon sentences, precious powers, most desirable energies. 1. There is heavenly elevation. “ They shall mount up with wings as eagles.” Theodore Monod says: “ If you want to do something, do not try to be somebody.” Certainly, self-exaltation is not heavenly. It ensures your poor wings being clipped or broken very soon. We speak exclusively of the spiritual realm. Live looking unto Jesus, and He “ will ere long set you with Him” upon His throne. 2. There is quickened activity. “ They shall run and not be weary.” 3. There is the unfainting every-day walk. “ They shall walk and not faint.” The unfainting walk, the steady march from hour to hour, is the sharpest, truest, final test of a strong life. It is in trifles that character is revealed. It is in small, monotonous duties that we oftenest break down. (G. H. Dick.)The secret of immortal youth I. THE DREARY OF AND DECAY. 1. The words point to the plain fact that all created and physical life, by the very law of its being, in the act of living tends to death; and by the very operation of its strength tends to exhaustion. There are three stages in every creature’ s life--that of growth, that of equilibrium, that of decay. You are in the first. If you live you will come to the second and the third. 2. The text points also to another fact, that, long before your natural life shall have begun to tend towards decay, hard work and occasional sorrows and responsibilities and burdens of all sorts will very often make you wearied and ready to faint. In your early days you dream of life as a kind of enchanted garden. Ah! long before you have traversed the length of one of its walks you will often have been tired of the whole thing, and weary of what is laid upon you. 3. My text points to another fact, as certain as gravitation, that the faintness and weariness and decay of the bodily strength will be accompanied with a parallel change in your feelings. We are drawn onward by hopes, and when we get them fulfilled we find that they are disappointing. Do you not think that, if that is so, it would be as well to face it? Do you not think that a wise man would take account of all the elements in forecasting his life, and would shape his conduct accordingly? II. THE BLESSED OF AND . “ They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,” etc. The life of nature tends inevitably downward, but there may be another life within the life of nature which shall have the opposite motion, and tend as certainly upwards. Look on this possibility a little more closely. 1. Note, how to get at it. “ They that wait upon the Lord” is Old Testament dialect for what in New Testament phraseology is meant by “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” For the motion expressed here by “ waiting” is that of expectant dependence, and the New Testament “ faith” is the very same in its attitude of expectant dependence. The condition of the inflow of this unwearied life into our poor, fainting humanity is simply the trust in Jesus Christ the Redeemer of our souls. True, the revelation has advanced, the contents of that which we grasp are more developed. No matter where we stand on the course of life, there may come into our hearts a Divine Indweller, who laughs at weariness and knows nothing of decay. 2. What is this strength that we thus get, if we will, by faith? It is the true entrance into our souls of a Divine life. We who have Christ in our hearts by faith shall share, in some fashion and degree, in His wondrous prerogative of unwearied strength. So here is the promise. God will give Himself to you, and in the very heart of your decaying nature will plant the seed of an immortal being which shall, like His own, shake off fatigue from the limbs, and never tend to dissolution. The life of nature dies by living; the life of grace, which may belong to us all, lives by living, and lives evermore thereby. The oldest angels are the youngest. The longer men live in fellowship with Christ the stronger do they grow. And though our lives, whether we be Christians or no, are necessarily subject to the common laws of mortality, we may carry all that is worth preserving of the earliest stages into the latest; and when grey hairs are upon us, and we are living next door to our graves, we may still have the enthusiasm, the energy, and above all, the boundless hopefulness that made the gladness and the spring of our long-buried youth. “ They shall still bring forth fruit in old age.” 3. The manner in which this immortal strength is exercised. There is strength to soar. Old men generally shed their wings, and can only manage to crawl. They have done with romance. Enthusiasms are dead. For the most part they are content, unless they have got Christ in their hearts, to keep along the low levels, and their soaring days are done. But if you and I have Jesus Christ for the life of our spirits, as certainly as fire sends its shooting tongues upwards, so certainly shall we rise above the sorrows and sins and cares of this “ dim spot which men call earth,” and find ampler field for buoyant motion high up in communion with God. Strength to soar means the gracious power of bringing all heaven into our grasp, and setting our affections on things above. Life on earth were too wretched unless it were possible to “ mount up with wings as eagles.” Again, you may have strength to run--that is to say, there is power waiting for you for all the great crises of your lives which call for special, though it may be brief, exertion. Such crises will come to each of you, in sorrow, work, difficulty, hard conflicts. And there is only one way to be ready for such times as these, and that is to live waiting on the Lord, near Christ, with Him in your hearts, and then nothing will come that will be too big for you. Strength to walk may be yours, i.e., patient power for persistent pursuit of weary, monotonous duty. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)How to grow strong I. We have here UNAIDED NATURE AT ITS BEST PROVING A DISMAL FAILURE. Youths and young men are the personification of activity, agility, vigour, and “ go.” Their eye is not dim, nor their natural force abated. Moreover, the word here employed signifies the pick of the people, the flower of the youth, the very first and foremost. These are the strongest of the strong, the bravest of the brave. But what happens to them? Even these shall faint and be weary; even these shall fail and fall. It is in spiritual things that this disappointment is most to be deplored. 1. This is a picture of those who, starting in their own strength, are presently disillusioned. Here, then, is a picture of ourselves in our unregenerate condition. 2. This is a picture, too, of how we were when, having been convicted of sin, we began to try to cleave our own way to heaven, and to pave it too; when from self-complacency we turned to self-righteousness. 3. I see here, also, an all too accurate picture of some true Christians. The boastful Christian is represented here, the man who fancies that his native courage will carry him through, who imagines that his wide experience will suffice in his extremity, who supposes his rigid orthodoxy is enough. 4. There are some well-nigh prayerless Christians, too, who seem to imagine that since they are already converted to God, and have had great experience of His dealings, they need no longer be as fervent and as frequent at the mercy-seat as in early days. II. UPON GOD MEANS SUCCESS. “ They that wait,” etc. 1. What is this waiting upon God? (1) It involves humiliation and lamentation, a consciousness of need, a confession of weakness, an acknowledgment of sin. Do not think to get to the other stages except by this route. It is most unwise to seek to build a castle in the air, of even on the sands. Deep digging must precede lofty building. (2) Then comes supplication, an earnest pouring out of the inmost heart to God. (3) Mingled with the supplication is expectation. (4) Yet with supplication and expectation there is resignation. (5) There is not necessarily inaction; indeed those that wait upon the Lord are the very ones who are most in earnest, and most active. 2. What is the result of waiting upon God? (1) “ They shall renew their strength.” This means that they shall change their strength. They shall put off their own threadbare, worn-out, poverty stricken strength, and they shall be clad with strength as with a garment, a garment that has been woven in celestial looms. It means among other things, that the strength they have, God-given, shall be adapted to special circumstances, and applied to peculiar conditions. I know how possible it is to have a goodly measure of strength, and yet not know how to use it. Those who wait on the Lord are taught spiritual economy. They make the most of the little they have, and by using it, it is increased. They are as those who, having a long journey to undertake, have made arrangements previously that at each stage there shall be a flesh horse awaiting them. (2) “ They shall mount up with wings as eagles,” that is, they shall fly. I have often wondered what the sensation of flying may be like. I have nothing to guide me except sundry dreams. It is a most delightful sensation, except when it ends, and then you wish you had not gone in for it at all. Alas! that so many of our fellow-men have set their minds on flying. They have invented flying-machines, so-called, with which they have almost invariably till now courted disaster. I know a flying machine worth all of these. I will not soar to heaven on wings of wax, which melt as they get near the sun, but on wings which God supplies, wings of hope, and faith, and prayer, and praise. (3) “ They shall run,” and however much they run, and however fast they run, they shall not be weary. What wonderful progress those make who trust God. (4) “ They shall walk and not faint.” Divine strength enables us for patient continuance in well-doing. What is the secret of all this? God is at the bottom of it. Compare Isaiah 40:6 with Isaiah 40:10; Isaiah 40:12, etc. There is nothing impossible to those who love God. (T. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength-- Strength for the returning exiles There was a real climax in the prophet’ s statement. And its application, in his thought, was to the return of the exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem. God’ s helpfulness would be adequate to their needs in all the stages of their return. In the first flush of joy, and in the first flights of eager anticipation, “ on which we see them rising in the psalms of redemption as on the wings of an eagle” ; again, in the rush and excitement of their hurried departure, the running to and fro in hasty and exhausting preparation; but finally, when they wanted it most, in the long tramp, tramp, tramp of those seven hundred weary miles, day after day, week after week, when their pace must be adapted to those of the heavily-laden beasts of burden, and of the little ones whose strength would often fail and who would need to be lifted up and carried in the father’ s arms. How often on that tiresome journey would the sweet music of the prophet’ s words return to their memory, “ they shall walk and not faint.” Then it was that their trust in Jehovah would be put fully to the proof. It was in the walking and not in the flying that their faith would triumph. (J. Halsey.)The Gospel of the Exile I. This is THE GOSPEL OF THE EXILE; the “ Gospel before the Gospel” (Cheyne); the good news of the swift accession of power and deliverance to the Jewish people, humiliated, dispirited, and tired out by monotonously waiting in their Babylonian captivity for a long-delayed good. II. Like all Gospels, THIS GOSPEL OF THE EXILE IS GOD’ S. Every true prophet’ s great appeal is, “ Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard” of God! The whole air rings with His name. The universe is lit up with His glory. The stars speak His power. In His ceaseless activity, fatherly solicitude, and unsleeping watchfulness for His people, He fainteth not, nor is weary. The Exile is not a mistake. You are not in the wrong school. He knows what He is doing. There is no searching of His understanding. Believe in Him, wait on Him, wait for Him, and you will become younger and stronger than ever. So God in His loving care for, and constant education of souls, is the Alpha and Omega of this whole Gospel for captive Israel. We cannot have any good news for any age, or for any people, or for any soul, without Him. All flesh is aa grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the revelation of the inexhaustible God liveth and abideth for ever. The strength of God is the salvation of men. III. Like all Divine evangels, THIS GOOD NEWS FOR THE OF BABYLON IS TO A SPECIAL NEED, AND ADAPTED BY ITS FORM TO EFFECT A RESULT, namely, that of patient endurance of acute affliction. The Gospel is for men and women who have lost their strength in living, and are losing it more and more, day by day, till they fear its utter extinction by the presence of thickening despairs, and the ceaseless gnawing of spiritual fibre by silent misery and unutterable grief. Nothing tires like hopelessness. Nothing makes the heart sick like long delays. Unto them, therefore, is the word of this salvation sent. “ Wait for God.” “ Wait upon the Lord.” “ Trust in Him at all times.” He will come. He cannot help coming, His nature urges Him towards you with all the tenderness of His love, and all the helpfulness of His omnipotence. Faith in God takes multitudinous forms in the long story of the soul’ s life with God. It is a Divine law on which this direction rests. God must be waited for. We cannot anticipate Him. While the soil is frozen and hard we cannot compel the crop; we wait for the spring. The farmer of the Nile waits till the waters rise and then casts his bread upon them, hoping to see his harvest after many days. There is a time for growth, and we must take facts according to God’ s plan. Even young men faint in the conflict because they will not wait for God. Defeated and overwhelmed with despair you say, “ It avails nothing, I am no forwarder to-day than I was last week, I am as far from the kingdom of God as ever; my passions are as wild, my mind as untameable as it was when I started for a better and manlier life.” Recall Moses. Did he not in his impatience lift up the standard of freedom forty years too soon? But is not waiting for God cowardly indolence and fatalistic apathy? Cowardly indolence, indeed! Nothing will more test any fibre you’ ve got! IV. Like all Gospels from the heavens, THIS ONE FOR THE HEBREW EXILES ITS FULL AND FROM THE FACTS OF HUMAN . The captive people waited for God and on God, and they did not wait in vain. The ransomed of the Lord returned: but the return was the least good they received, and deliverance their smallest boon. Grace and strength came by the prophets and by prayer in unbroken continuity, and fresh gifts of power and light and zeal and joy enlarged and enriched their lives. They were born again. They renewed their youth, and became a regenerated, pure, missionary people; found Babylon a better school than Jerusalem, and the severities and perils of captivity a healthier discipline than the luxuries and security of freedom. The sevenfold blessing of the Exile stands written in the unimpeachable Chronicles of Israel, and the world. 1. First and most distinctive of the gains of the Jews from their captivity, stands their advanced and perfected knowledge of God. The Divine idea was lifted above all the restrictions of race and locality to the throne of the universe; the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob was recognised as the Saviour of the ends of the earth. We fret and chafe in our sufferings and under our chastisements, when to patience and meekness the God of all comfort comes with His sweetest and most refreshing revelations. 2. Next comes up out of the Exile the more definitely shaped and clearly conceived image of the Anointed of the Lord, the Daysman or Mediator, the Lord our Righteousness, the Herald of a New Covenant, the suffering and conquering Servant of God, who is to realise the ideal Jerusalem, and bring a new heaven and a new earth. 3. Fired by this hope of a personal Redeemer, and controlled by a spiritual conception of Jehovah, the worship of God entered on that final spiritual phase which has never been wholly eclipsed, though it has suffered, and still suffers, many painful obscurations. (1) There is such a signal and hearty recognition of the power of prayer in the individual and in the community, as to warrant the idea that the Exile was the origin of the prayer-meeting. (2) There is a total detachment from all ritual, and the cheerful acceptance of “ little sanctuaries,” synagogues, or “ meeting-houses,” and even of quiet spots by the river-side, in place of the gorgeous temple and its arresting and impressive symbolism. (3) The spell of idolatry is broken for ever. 4. Bound up with this we see the generation of a higher ethic; the birth of a nobler conception of life, as the sphere for rightness of aim and righteousness of character. Through this gate of tribulation Israel enters into the kingdom of holiness. 5. The temporary limitations and restrictions of Israel being annulled, it is forthwith lifted into the stream of universal history, never to be taken out again. It is proved that Hebraism can exist without a temple and without a priest, without an altar and without a land, without anything or anybody save the soul and God. 6. With glowing ardour and intense enthusiasm these elect souls go forth on this service, seeking to establish a knowledge of the true God, urging the heathen to accept the light they enjoy, and sharing with them as proselytes the peace and prosperity, brought by truth and righteousness. The missionary spirit, as well as the missionary idea, glows and throbs in the oracles and songs which represent the highest thought and the purest emotion of this time. 7. This was completed by the enlargement and recension of that unique and marvellous missionary agent, the Old Testament literature, so splendidly enriched with some of its most pathetic and consolatory contributions, so carefully transcribed and sacredly guarded by the “ Scribes,” who started into existence in these days; and so diligently pondered by those choice spirits who had learnt to sigh for God as their exceeding joy, and to serve Him as their chief delight. It was the Great Missionary Book. “ Salvation is of the Jews.” Believe it, then; exhausted men get fresh strength by trustful longing for God; renew their spiritual energy, their faith in goodness, their power for selfsacrificing work, for fleet-footed missions of mercy, by waiting on God and for God. It is history, and actual experience. V. This GOSPEL, LIKE ALL ITS FELLOWS, NEVER DIES. It endures for ever and ever as a living message, not effete though old, not wasted though abundantly used, but partaking of the unwearied energy and eternal reproductiveness of its infinite source. Man’ s wants are too diverse to be met by any one messenger. God speaks at sundry times, and by different voices; but no voice ever dies out, no message is ever wholly lost, and if not for one soul, yet for another and another, it is quick and powerful, renewing faith, and hope, and zeal. (J. Clifford, D. D.)Waiting upon God I. A DUTY . 1. We are reminded of the solemn and formal acts of devotion, as implied in the words--“ wait upon the Lord.” (1) This language is borrowed from the custom of subjects entering into the presence of their monarch with petitions, acknowledgments, or gratulations. They presented themselves and their offering. (2) God invites and encourages the attendance of His subjects. Opportunities of waiting upon an earthly sovereign are rare: but God has rendered the way to the throne plain, and the access easy. “ Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly.” (3) But as in approaching an earthly sovereign there is required an attention to the prescribed usages and decorum of a court, so, in order to our acceptable waiting upon God, we must observe the defined forms, and cultivate the sacred proprieties of His worship; those which belong to “ the place where His honour dwelleth.” Much of the benefit of worship is lost by many, simply from the absence of a due preparation of the heart, or from a thoughtless neglect of the decencies of God’ s house. These are auxiliaries to religion, if not a part of it. Too many professors overlook the obligation to “ worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” 2. The words of the text are descriptive of the state and exercises of the mind; of the feelings and aspirations of the heart in Divine worship. They imply-- (1) The spiritual recognition of God. The object of all profitable worship is God, and the end is intercourse with Him. The phrase, “ wait upon God,” represents a devotional heart. If vanity share the sacrifice, or irreverence desecrate it, God will turn away our prayers and His mercy from us: our service will be an abomination unto Him. Spiritual worship requires a strict and holy discipline over the mind, constant vigilance and heartfelt dependence upon Divine grace. (2) Earnest desire for God; a keen sense of want. (3) Confident expectation of the Divine mercy and grace; reliance upon the Divine word and faithfulness; assurance of the acceptance and answer of prayer through Christ. (4) Patient and submissive perseverance. (5) There is an intimate and important connection between the outward acts and the inward feelings in devotion. II. WE ARE ASSURED OF THE BENEFIT FROM THE OF THIS DUTY. “ They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,” or change their strength; its measure shall be adapted to their different claims. 1. The Christian’ s strength may fail amid the many trials and temptations of life, and its revival become necessary. The soul may lose its energy, its decision of purpose, its promptitude of action, its confidence in God, and become weak, irresolute, and fearful. 2. Our situation may demand additional strength. We may be summoned to a post of great responsibility, to the performance of arduous duty. 3. Where are we to obtain this power,--this reviving of strength? 4. With pleasure contemplate the animating result of this renewal of strength. In conclusion, our text suggests (1) Instruction. We are taught where we must go in times of trouble. (2) Consolation. Circumstances may change; man may change; but God never changes. (3) Reproof. To the presumptuous--those who seek strength and comfort and satisfaction in the creature, who forsake the living God. (H. H. Chortle.)Waiting upon the Lord I. WHAT IT IS TO WAIT UPON THE LORD. Three things make it: service, expectation, patience. We must be as those Eastern maidens, who as they ply their needle or their distaff, look to the eye and wait upon the hand of their mistress, as their guide which is to teach them, or their model which they are to copy. Our best lessons are always found in a Father’ s eye. “ Therefore if you would wait upon the Lord, you must be always looking out for voices--those still small voices of the soul,--and you must expect them, and you must command them.” But service, however devoted, or expectation, however intense, will not be waiting without patience. Here is where so many fail. II. THE ACTION. Elevation, rapid progress, a steady course--soar, run, walk. Is it not just what we want--to get higher, to go faster, and to be more calmly consistent? 1. Elevation. What are the wings? Beyond a doubt, faith, prayer; or, if you will, humility and confidence in a beautiful equipoise, balancing one another on either side, so that the soul sustains itself in mid-air and flies upward. 2. The servants of God in the Bible--from Abraham and David to Philip in the Acts--whenever they were told to do anything, always ran. It is the only way to do anything well. A thousand irksome duties become easy and pleasant if we do them with a ready mind, an affectionate zeal, and a happy alacrity. 3. To maintain a quiet sustained walk, day by day, in the common things of life, in the house and out of the house, not impulsive, not capricious, not changeable,--that is the hardest thing to do. Let me give four rules for this walk: (1) Start from Christ. (2) Walk with Christ. (3) Walk leaning on Christ. (4) Walk to Christ. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)Communion with God I. THE SECRET OF LIFE’ S POWER. II. THE SUPPORT OF LIFE’ S JOURNEY. “ They shall run,” etc. III. THE BASIS OF LIFE’ S . They shall “ mount up,” etc. (J. T.Harwood.)Waiting upon the Lord I. THE DUTY HERE . “ Waiting upon the Lord.” This expression may include many acts of the mind, but the connection of the words shows that here it principally refers to prayer. Waiting on the Lord implies-- 1. A sense of our own weakness, and our need of Divine help. 2. A persuasion of the power and goodness of God; His readiness to stretch out His almighty hand to help us, amidst the difficulties, infirmities, and temptations to which we are exposed. 3. That Divine help is to be sought by prayer. 4. If we hope for His interposition, we are to be diligent in the use of those means which He hath appointed, and to which He hath promised His blessing. II. THE GIVEN. Such devout, humble souls shall “ renew their strength.” They shall grow more steady and established in religion. They shall find a supply of Divine help proportioned to their trials. As their work and their difficulty are renewed, so shall the vigour of their souls be renewed. How far this strength shall operate, and what noble effects it shall produce, may be seen by the following words. III. WAITING UPON GOD HATH IN ITSELF A NATURAL TO AND THE SOUL. It promoteth that humility which is our greatest security, and restrains that pride which goeth before a fall. It will also lead us to exert our best endeavours, and put forth all our own strength, as we would not be chargeable with the guilt of affronting God by asking His help without them. The nature of the blessed God strengthens this encouragement. Therefore the prophet had suggested to Israel this thought, that “ the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary.” His power is vast and unbounded, and nothing is too hard for Him. His understanding is infinite; there is no searching it. Therefore He can never be puzzled with any difficulties, but must know how in every possible case to deliver the godly out of their temptations. Consider also His promises and His covenant. (Job Orton.)The encouragement of true worshippers Nothing can give a better conception of the strength and the weakness of human nature, than by comparing what man has done in subduing the material powers by which God has surrounded him, and in providing for his own temporal comfort, and his utter helplessness in those things which relate to the life of the soul. When he has to contend with the powers of nature, he is strong and victorious; but when he has to contend with the powers of spiritual wickedness, and with his own ungodly desires, he is helpless. The lord of nature, he is the slave of sin. The helplessness of man in spiritual things is a disease for which no remedy has been discovered, and for which no remedy ever will be discovered but that which the Word of God points out. I. WHAT IS MEANT BY WAITING UPON THE LORD? Waiting upon God is a duty very frequently enforced in Scripture, and to which the highest blessings are annexed. “ Because of His strength,” says the Psalmist, “ I will wait upon Him, for God is my defence.” “ Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart.” “ Our soul waiteth for the Lord; He is our help and shield.” “ Wait on the Lord,” says Solomon, “ and He shall save thee.” “ Keep mercy and judgment,” says the prophet Hosea, “ and wait on thy God continually.” It is an expression peculiar to the Old Testament; but in the New Testament the same duty is repeatedly inculcated, though in different language. The precept is the same in substance with the exhortation of St. Paul, “ Be ye followers of God, as dear children” ; or with that of St. James, “ Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.” The expression denotes a feeling of need, and a sense of dependence upon the Almighty, without whom nothing is strong or holy. For one to wait upon another implies inferiority, and a desire of protection and assistance. In many circumstances we require the protection and assistance of our fellow-creatures, but in all circumstances we require the protection and assistance of our Creator. He is ever ready to extend to us that protection and help without which we are powerless and defenceless. But He requires, as the condition of our receiving His grace, that we sincerely feel and humbly acknowledge our need of it; and that, ceasing from our own wisdom, and confessing from the heart our own weakness, we throw ourselves unreservedly upon His wisdom and strength. This sense of entire dependence upon the grace of God will naturally express itself in prayer, and in a devout and regular use of the appointed means of grace. Not only in the immediate exercises of religion, but at all times the Christian will be animated by a spirit of devotion. He will keep himself constantly near to God. But waiting upon God not only implies worship, it also implies obedience. In short, to wait upon God is to be a religious man. II. THE NATURE OF THIS GREAT WHICH GOD HAS ASSURED TO ALL THAT WAIT UPON HIM. In the weary pilgrimage which they have to finish, in the sore warfare in which they are engaged, He will strengthen and uphold them. Not merely is help found for the weakness of believers, but a provision is also made for relieving and substituting for it a buoyancy and joyful exaltation of spirit, so that he is enabled to hold on his way with gladness as well as with constancy. The pious man is compared in Scripture to the sun--“ his soul is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” The Gospel is a message of joy. (W. Ramsay.)Soul-growth What are some of the methods by which men, in the Divine economy, advance in spiritual impulse, and rise permanently higher? 1. We must not be biassed by any theory of Church or ordinances, nor by any preaching, to suppose that we are shut up to the dealings of God with us through these channels. The Church is a very powerful instrument, and will be indispensable through ages. Does not the village common school work upon the human soul? Do not books? Do not newspapers? Do not men in all the ten thousand struggles of business? Do not all the influences which go to make up the ever-teeming society? Is there anything which God does not use in operating upon the reason, the affections, and the moral sentiments of men? 2. It pleases God to make the spiritual development of men depend on time-growth. We know how it is with children. We know that they develop first by the body. Then come the social affections, with the elementary forms of the intellect. Nor can you force things in a normal and healthy child. You must take it in the hour of God’ s appointment. Third in the order of time, and last, is the spiritual nature. We rejoice in the earliest flower because it is the earliest, and we rejoice in the latest flower because it is the latest; but do what you will, you cannot make the aster blossom in spring. You must wait until the time for it to blossom arrives. Now, among men the same thing happens. There are those who have a premature development of spiritual impulses.. But because the higher nature of some people is unfolded early, are we to make them the criterion for other people? It is better not to seek to produce ecstatic experiences in anticipation of the normal methods. 3. Then there are many persons who renew their strength, who develop into a higher spiritual life, into more fevour, more joy, and more stability by reason of the removal of false or imperfect views of truth. 4. There are many persons who fail to come to the light of truth, and to the inspiration of the higher views of religion, by reason of worldly prosperity, which tends to satisfy their lower nature. Under such circumstances it is that, in the Divine ordering of things, what are called distresses, infirmities, and even great sorrows, are blessed of God to the opening of their nature and to the renewing of their spiritual strength. Men never could see the corona of the sun--the red flame that surrounds that orb--until the sun was eclipsed; and the corona, the light, the glory of God is seen when men are under eclipse and in darkness. There are revelations made to men then, which prosperity never brings to them. We are rich and strong, not by the things which we possess, but by the amount of true manhood which is developed in us. 5. It pleases God, also, to employ the companionship of friends and neighbours in developing men in the direction of their higher manhood. There is nothing that is so helpful to a soul as the contact of another soul. 6. When, by the use of these various instrumentalities our souls have grown, and have come into the possibility of a higher spiritual disclosure, then there is a further soul-growth in us. We come to a state in which there is a direct influence of the soul of God exerted upon us--as direct as sight and voice are to the bodily senses. The Divine Spirit comes into the hearts of men in ways that are inexplicable to the lower understanding, and that, therefore, men who are on the lower plane of life do not comprehend. When men come to a higher Christian life they have days of spiritual insight; and those days grow longer and longer, like the days of the coming summer, when the sun goes down later and later, and rises earlier and earlier. As the result of a whole life of education and practice in Divine duties men may come, at last, into that state in which the Spirit of God shines with a steadfast lustre upon them. Then there is the triumph of grace in the soul. Then intuitions become truths--not fitful, nor irregular, not based upon inchoate and undigested knowledge, but constant, regular, and founded on sound judgment. (H. Ward Beecher.)The strength of believers, and the renewing of it I. GOOD MEN ARE OF . 1. It is that spiritual vigour of mind by which sin is overcome. 2. And by which the world is overcome. 3. By this strength, spiritual duties are acceptably performed. 4. This strength is that qualification of mind by which the followers of Christ are enabled to endure trials and bear the cross. 5. “ A deathbed is a detector of the heart.” But death does not “ make cowards of us all.” He who said this, knew but little of the courage which the grace of God communicates to the minds of the most timid of the disciples of Jesus. II. THIS TO BE RENEWED. 1. It is possible for the best of men to lose much of the influence of religion from the heart, and for a time to be very unconscious of it. 2. The corroding cares of the world should excite them to obtain the renewal of their strength. 3. Their strength requires to be renewed, because it is not innate, but communicated. 4. And because the servants of God have gone awfully wrong when it has not been renewed. 5. Good men have done wonders when their strength has been renewed. III. THE RENEWAL OF IS TO BE BY WAITING UPON THE LORD. 1. Prayer is the waiting posture of the soul. 2. Waiting upon the Lord includes expectation. “ My eyes are unto Thee; my expectation is from Thee.” 3. Watchfulness is implied in waiting upon the Lord. IV. THE OF WAITING UPON THE LORD. “ They shall mount up with wings as eagles,” etc. This is expressive of-- 1. Steady attachment to the ways of God. “ Walk without fainting.” 2. Rapid progress. “ Run without weariness.” 3. Elevated devotion. “ Mount up with wings as eagles.” “ They shall put forth fresh feathers as the moulting eagle.” No doubt the allusion is to the velocity with which the eagle soars towards the sun, after the renewal of his feathers. (W. Jones.)The waiting Christian strengthened I. THE DUTY . To wait upon God. This implies the recognition of God as the supreme Arbiter and Disposer of all human events. It is the posture of expectancy for every blessing of which we stand in need, temporal and spiritual. II. THE MANNER IN WHICH WE ARE TO WAIT UPON GOD. 1. The way of public ordinances. 2. The sacrament of the Lord’ s Supper. 3. The exercise of domestic worship and private prayer. 4. Seeking to become wise unto salvation out of His written Word, and in meditation on its soul-inspiring contents. III. THE TEMPER AND FRAME OF MIND IN THE , WAITING UPON GOD. 1. It implies the existence of an invincible faith, which nothing can destroy, although for a moment it may be disturbed. 2. This calls into action another principle closely connected with faith, and emanating from it,--the principle of patience and Christian resignation to the will of God. 3. Obedience. IV. THE HERE ON THE OF THE DUTY ,--renewed strength shall be imparted. This implies a declension of strength, fainting, and fatigue; to all of which the Christian pilgrim is more or less exposed. 1. In consequence of the exhausted spirits of the weary traveller never being renewed, some who did run well are hindered, and halt in their career; while others adopt altogether a retrograde movement, return to the path of their former delights, apostatise from the faith, and become worse than infidels. 2. But here we have a direct promise from a covenant-keeping God, that our strength shall be renewed adequate to all the demands which a perilous enterprise can render necessary. 3. We must speak in the language of reproof to all those who are strangers to this operation in the soul; who never do humbly wait upon God, but when chastised and rebuked of the Lord are disposed to resist His authority, to impugn His character as merciful and gracious; who give utterance to all the outbreaks of a rebellious, unsanctified heart. They are both to be censured and pitied. 4. But we speak encouragement to those who have already assumed the waiting position, and are thus tarrying the Lord’ s leisure. Endeavour in every possible way to cultivate this holy, humble, dependent spirit. (H. S.Plumptre, M. A.)Exhaustion and renewal, in nature and in grace As it is the same God who works in nature and in grace, so a most interesting analogy may be traced between His operations in both. When the earth is parched with the heat of summer, and its productions begin to languish from excessive drought, it is watered and refreshed by the showers of heaven, and its various plants and fruits not only resume their former health and vigour, but spring up and flourish with greater luxuriance than before. The flower, too, that had drooped and withered at the close of day, is revived by the cool and the dews of night, and in the morning puts forth its buds, and expands its leaves anew, delighting the eye with the beauty of its colours, or perfuming the air with the sweets of its fragrance. For every degree of exhaustion in nature, indeed, the wisest and most adequate provision is made by its all-pervading and beneficent Author. When, in like manner, the spiritual strength of the Christian is impaired, and he is ready to sink under.the pressure of temptation or distress; when his consolations appear to be nearly exhausted; or when, through the prevalence of remaining unbelief and corruption, he becomes languid in duty, or faint under affliction--his decays of strength are recruited from above; new fountains are opened for his comfort; he rises as from the ground, on which he was sitting in feebleness and sorrow, and no longer with faltering, but with firm and steady steps, pursues the course of active duty, or of patient suffering, in which he is appointed to move. The stores of Divine grace provided for him are inexhaustible, and the communications of this grace imparted to him are most suitably proportioned to his need of them (Philippians 4:19). (D. Dickson, D. D.)Waiting on God I. THE OF THOSE WHOM THE OR PROMISE IN THE TEXT IS MADE, considered as “ waiting on the Lord.” 1. They earnestly desire the enjoyment of His favour. 2. They diligently attend to, and take peculiar delight in, all His service and will. II. THE IMPORT OF THE , that they who thus wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; or, as the words might be translated, shall be renewed in strength. 1. That the principles of the spiritual life within them shall be gradually strengthened and increased. 2. That increased communications of Divine grace shall be made to them. III. THE EFFECTS OF ITS BRING SO OR . “ They shall mount up with wings as eagles,” etc. This may intimate-- 1. That their devotions shall become more elevated and intense. 2. By that renovation and increase of spiritual strength which is the effect of waiting on the Lord, His people acquire greater alacrity and perseverance in doing His will. They shall run, or march on, and not be weary. Here the metaphor is varied, and changed into one that is more common in the sacred writings, as expressive of Christian duty, which is frequently compared to running or marching. “ I will run in the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart.” 3. Fortitude and patience under affliction is also the effect of that renewing and increase of spiritual strength, which is received from waiting on the Lord. They shall walk, and not faint.” Even when incapable of being active in the service of God, grace is promised for enabling them to move forward without fainting in the path of submission and suffering. (D. Dickson, D. D.)Strength by patience “ New strength” is often our deepest need. The machinery of the steamship, the locomotive, or the factory may be perfect in itself, its parts exquisitely adjusted, and all ready for action; yet it is inoperative until the steam is generated and applied. So, what a human being often needs is just--motive power. Not new faculties of body or of mind; not new opportunities for action, or new fields of enterprise; not so much new knowledge either; not even new desires and affections; but “ new strength” --fresh inspiration. It is painful to be in that condition in which we feel that we can, and yet cannot; that we have faculty, yet lack inspiration; that we have wings of heavenward desire, with but little power to use them. The prophet here points us to the source of all true inspiration: “ He giveth power to the faint.” He points us also to the condition on which this Divine energy is to be recovered: “ They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” 1. What, then, is meant by this “ waiting upon the Lord” ? We use the word “ wait” with reference to service: a servant “ waits” upon his master or his master’ s guests. We use it, too, with reference to the holding of an interview with a superior: a deputation “ waits” upon the Prime Minister; the Prime Minister “ waits” upon His Majesty. We use the word also with reference to a state of expectation, more or less prolonged: as when we say that we are “ waiting” for some friend. It is in this last sense--the sense of continuous expectancy--that the word is used in the Bible. To “ wait” is more than to pray. It is to keep looking for the answer to our prayers. It is the opposite, therefore, both of despair and of impatience. Hence the Psalmist says, “ Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” And again, “ I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope,” etc. So here the prophet does not mean to say that if we would “ renew our strength,” we have simply to seek an interview with God and lay our request before Him; but that if we keep looking to God with a believing and patient expectation, new vigour will come to us, our very patience will be a source of strength, and the God in whom we hope will not disappoint us. 2. “ Waiting is often the only means of receiving fresh energy.” Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening. But when the evening comes, he is exhausted. All the organs are there, but they want new strength. The man lies down on his bed, and “ waits.” Sleep comes upon him; and through its influence the waiting body recovers all its vigour, so that the man rises again in the morning ready for his toil. Often, too, the very best prescription which a physician can give is, “ Rest and cheerful society.” A godly patience, then, is the grand secret of spiritual might. For such patience not only carries within itself the germs of strength, but also places the soul in that condition in which it is most susceptible of quickening influences and can most readily take advantage of fresh opportunities. Power is hidden in patience, as the subtle force of the lightning slumbers in the brooding cloud. Despair paralyses. Impatience, too, weakens. Magnetise a needle, and it becomes much more sensitive to the force of the magnet. And so a human heart which is constantly looking to God will be much more susceptible of all influences that come from God. The soil is ready for the vitalising shower. The sails are unfurled to catch the heavenly breeze. The ear is listening for the whispers of the Divine voice. Whereas the man who has worn himself out by impatience, or yielded himself up to despair, is too inert or too distracted to take adequate advantage of the fresh opportunities which may come at last. On the other hand, the blended eagerness and calm of the soul that is “ waiting upon the Lord” make it the more receptive of all Divine influences, and keep it at least strong enough to take advantage of fresh sources of strength. (1) The calm of a believing soul may be heightened into a kind of ecstasy. Patience has sometimes a dull, torpid, chrysalis aspect; but, when the time is ripe, patience passes into a winged rapture which rises gladly into the sunshine of heaven. In all godly “ waiting” there lies the capability of Godward soaring. A patient spirit has the wings of faith and hope. “ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,” etc. There is the eagle again--keen-eyed and strong as before, but soaring now into the blue, bearing itself up on exultant wing, and gazing into the heavenly radiance! Exuberance of holy feeling is not a thing to be manufactured. These loftier moods have sometimes come even when you least expected them! Although we cannot always account for these moods of the soul, we might all experience them more frequently if our habitual attitude were more of a “ waiting upon God.” We cannot, indeed, manufacture inspiration; but what if the “ breath of God” comes upon us and finds our souls too dull or too distracted to respond to its subtle influences? At the best, however, these lofty flights can only be occasional. (2) There are races to be run down here upon the earth, special duties to be performed, for which a man must gird himself by special effort. Fatigue will oppress us long before the goal is reached,--our running in the path of duty will be a thing of fits and starts,--if we do not keep expecting that God will bless our endeavours. New strength will come to us for all holy enterprise in proportion as we trust in God for results. Be sure that, in “ waiting on” Him to do what we cannot, we receive all the more energy to do what we can. (3) There is also “ walking” to be done here on earth, the ordinary routine of life to be trudged through every day. And perhaps it is in this region that a godly patience is needed most for the constant renewal of our spiritual strength. There is little or no effort in holy ecstasy, and its very joy is an inspiration. Any special duty, also, tends, by its very specialty, to brace us for the doing of it; there is, moreover, the goal in view, and the prize to be won. But the ordinary homely duty of the work-day world--the monotonous path which must be daily trod, this indeed requires the most abiding patience. Men who live far from God are apt to grow sick and weary of the humdrum monotony of their daily life, especially if they have to bear some continuous burden from which they see little hope of escape. Even the drudgery of life can be transfigured in the light of the Father’ s love. And those who believe that their ordinary life has a Divine significance--that it is as the rough scaffolding within which a very temple may be built--and who are striving to live daily as under the eye of the heavenly Friend, have within their souls a peace which keeps them from “ fainting.” (T. C. Finlayson.)The renewed of strength I. THE MEANS OF OUR , as expressed in the phrase, “ they that wait on the Lord.” 1. There must be approach to God. 2. Expectation. 3. A patient continuance in an expecting attitude, until we actually receive the fulfilment of the Divine promise. This phrase is descriptive, not merely of an occasional exercise, but of what is, or ought at least to be, the constant temper and frame of the believer’ s mind. II. To those who live in this spirit is given AN GREAT AND PROMISE. They “ shall renew their strength.” Our spiritual strength seems to include chiefly three things-- 1. Clear and comprehensive views of the truth of God. We often say that “ knowledge is power” : certainly, ignorance of.the truth of God is weakness. 2. A correspondence between our will and affections and the truth existing in our minds. 3. Divine consolation. “ The joy of the Lord is your strength.” III. THE HAPPY RESULT OF THIS RENEWAL OF . (J. Entwisle.)The blessedness of Divine service There are three blessings suggested as consequent upon this waiting-- I. RENEWED VIGOUR. “ They shall renew their strength.” This is not arbitrary, but necessary. 1. The intellect is strengthened by holy exercises upon Divine themes. 2. The affections are strengthened by holy exercises on right objects. 3. The will is strengthened by holy exercises in godly purposes. The whole soul gets strength by such exercise. II. SOUL . “ Mount up with wings as eagles.” 1. Holy gratitude is a wing that will bear the soul aloft to its Benefactor. 2. Holy love is a wing that will bear the soul upward to its object. 3. Holy hope is a wing that will bear the soul above to its anticipated possessions. III. . “ Run, and be weary,” etc. 1. Godliness is progress. It is not a stationary state. It is a running and a walking. Forgetting the things that are behind, etc. 2. Godliness is progress without fatigue. There is no weariness in love. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The highest strength derived from the highest service I. THE HIGHEST IS DERIVED FROM THE HIGHEST SERVICE. 1. The highest strength is not physical nor intellectual, but moral. Strength to resist the wrong, to pursue the right, to honour God and bless humanity. 2. What is the highest service? Waiting upon the Lord. To wait upon Him implies a practical recognition of His existence, personal superintendence, and absolute authority. This service must be-- (1) Spiritual. (2) Supreme. II. THE HIGHEST IS IN THE HIGHEST . What is this activity? 1. Soul devotion. 2. Soul progress. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Waiting on God The Lord’ s people must wait-- 1. In simplicity of intention. On Him only (Psalms 62:5). 2. In faith. They “ wait for the Lord, and in His word do they hope” Psalms 130:5). Even when He hides His face (Isaiah 8:17). Their faith at one time is supported only by the promises,,-at other times by their own experience (Psalms 27:14; Lamentations 3:25-26; Isaiah 30:18; Isaiah 49:23). 3. They wait with patient perseverance. It is not only an act, but a gracious habit of mind (Psalms 25:5). 4. They wait with humility and self-denial. They wait on God, asking counsel, seeking strength, and imploring pardon and peace. This posture of mind becomes the ignorance and guilt and unworthiness of the creature; the perfection, the wisdom and love of such a Being. 5. They wait with submission and resignation. They wait His time, acquiesce in His methods. (J. Cooke.)Waiting upon the Lord These consolations are suited to men in all ages, and in all countries. We are precisely in the same position in which the Jews were found--we are equally apt to faint when under God’ s rod; and He seeks to inspire us with hope and confidence. I. Let us notice: THIS WAITING UPON THE LORD. And the first thing that strikes us is the language used by the prophet--language so far removed from mere formal expression. There is no mention here of the use of many words, or of certain external marks of devotion; it is simply, “ Waiting upon the Lord!” Evidently the prophet uses it as representing an act of devotion, looking to God for help in the time of need. True waiting upon the Lord seems to have three features, which we suppose to be contained in the words here used. 1. Desire. 2. A collected frame of mind. 3. Trust in the Lord. II. “ They that wait upon the Lord SHALL RENEW THEIR .” We are altogether dependent upon God for our natural, as well as for our spiritual strength. God seems to observe in spiritual things a similar order to that which exists in natural things. Our natural strength requires constant renovation by the food that is convenient for us. So it is in the spiritual life: we can make no provision of grace for the future; we are called to depend upon God day by day. There are various reasons why we should constantly apply to God for a renewal of our spiritual strength. There are conflicts to be endured with our spiritual foes, within our own hearts; we live in a world that is lying in wickedness; we have to do with matters concerning the present life that are often very trying and perplexing in their nature, and often is our courage likely to fail. In an indirect manner, then, this encouraging passage of Scripture reminds us of the cause of our spiritual declensions. It is because we do not constantly wait upon the Lord. (J. Hocart.)Waiting upon the Lord 1. THE GENERAL . “ They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” II. THE OR OF THIS. “ They shall mount up,” etc. (T. Horton, D. D.)Waiting in patience Profane and desperate persons fly off in a discontent and impatience, like Jehoram (2 Kings 6:33). The more willing we are to wait upon God the better it is for us; for He pays for time and gives us the more because we have waited. (T. Horton, D. D.)Strength for strength “ Change their strength” (marg.). This seems to be the proper sense and meaning. There is a double kind of change to be observed. 1. In quality. They shall have a new kind of strength bestowed upon them, over what they had before conversion, as Caleb had another spirit, and Saul another heart. For even before conversion there is a kind of strength which does appear, and that also in reference to religion, and the duties of it, but it is not such a strength as any are to rest themselves contented with. There is the strength of temper, and natural constitution, and a man may be able both to do and suffer very much by it. This is that which does for the most part extend itself to the outside and form of religion. The strength of wit, and reason, and understanding, and memory, and the like, while their heart and will and affections have no saving work at all upon them. There is the strength of custom, and religious education. There is the strength of civility and moral principles. This was the strength which was in Paul before his conversion. They that wait upon the Lord shall “ change,” that is, they shall have another strength bestowed upon them, and such as will be more useful to them. Instead of this natural, and moral, and customary strength, they shall have a supernatural and spiritual given unto them. This is different, and surpassing the other. (1) In regard of its Original, as coming from the Holy Ghost (Ephesians 3:16). (2) In the subject, for the former strength is only in the outward, this in the inward man. (3) In the effects, for this supernatural strength is able to do greater matters than the other can do, helping a man to deny himself, to overcome the world, to mortify lusts and corruptions, etc. 2. In quantity and degree. Good Christians shall through God’ s grace grow stronger and stronger. (1) There are some cases and conditions, especially wherein a Christian has most need of having his strength renewed unto him; as, against a new service; against some new temptation and conflict with Satan; against some new trial and affliction. (2) For the means, we may take them thus: In the renewing of their repentance; in the renewing of their covenant; in the renewing of their obedience; in the renewing of their faith. (T. Horton, D. D.)The strength of a Christian The strength of a Christian is amplified by a resemblance to a threefold motion. 1. Flying. (1) The eagle is an emblem of strength renewed (Psalms 103:5). (2) The eagle soars aloft. (3) Here is the swiftness and agility of the motion. A good Christian performs good duties with some life and fervour in them. 2. Running. (1) The motion itself. This is a pace which is very requisite for the Christian. (a) Because he has a great way to go, much ground to be despatched; therefore there is need of speed for the passing over it. (b) But a little time, and much time lost already. (c) The vehemency of desire to the thing itself which we run for. It is a 1 Corinthians 9:25). (2) The continuance of this motion. There are many who run, but run themselves out of breath (Galatians 5:7). There are some kinds of people in the world who all on a sudden will amend their lives. But let them meet with some strong temptation and they are presently weary of those purposes and endeavours. What is the reason of all this? Because they wanted this principle of spiritual strength. 3. Walking. Walking is less than running, and fainting is more than weariness. If then those who run are not weary, the same when they walk shall not faint. There are divers things which we are liable to faint at, which yet the Scripture takes us off from fainting at. (1) The delay of answering our prayers (Luke 18:1). (2) Our manifold afflictions (Hebrews 12:5). (3) The afflictions of others, and the scandal of the Cross (Ephesians 3:13). (4) The many businesses in religion--so much work to be performed. How shall we avoid it? Get a renewing of this spiritual strength day by day. (T. Horton, D. D.)Renewing strength This it nearly concerns us to do upon these considerations. 1. In point of honour, and that especially with God Himself. Spiritual weakness is a disparagement, especially as a relapse, and after some former degrees of strength. The excellency of dignity and the excellency of strength go both together, and he that falls from the one does, with Reuben, fall also from the other. Becoming weak as water, he shall not Genesis 49:4). 2. In point of ease. A weak Christian is a burden to himself as meeting with many difficulties which he cannot grapple with, but which prove too hard to him. There are many temptations to resist, and many afflictions to endure, and many duties to perform. 3. In point of comfort. A weak Christian will be an uncomfortable Christian. (T. Horton, D. D.)Waiting upon the Lord I. “ THEY THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD SHALL RENEW THEIR .” 1. This sounds as if they were in danger of becoming weary and faint in their minds. Is this really so? What do you say, Christian tradesman--you upon whom God hath laid the responsibilities of home and family--you Christian citizen-you whom the arrows of affliction have wounded--you proclaimer of the Lord’ s message? 2. The least that.it can mean is they shall stand their ground. 3. But the margin speaks of this renewal as a change of strength, as if it would remind us of the mansidedness of the grace of God, and its perfect adaptability to our everchanging needs. II. “ THEY SHALL MOUNT UP WITH WINGS AS EAGLES.” This seems to say that the life of communion with God is not a long series of vapid and unemotional hours, a dead level of mechanical and spiritless employments, but a life that has rare and glorious experiences, holy aspirations, ennobling thoughts, ecstatic emotions, spirit-stirring hopes. 1. Purer air. 2. Clearer vision. 3. Untroubled quiet. 4. Rare landscape. 5. Unclouded sunshine. III. “ THEY SHALL RUN AND NOT BE WEARY.” Capacity for the most strenuous exertion. IV. “ THEY SHALL WALK AND NOT FAINT.” Is this the same as saying that we shall have the power of steady perseverance, of patient endurance under protracted trial? Did the prophet put this last in his brief summary because patience is one of those Christian graces that has its perfect work the latest? (J. H. Anderson.)The strong in danger of exhaustion It is a great mistake to suppose that only the puny are liable to downfalls. The truth lies the other way! The more alert and bold a youth will be, the more certainly he will at some time overtask his strength. The boy who never knew what it was to be fagged out at school is not worth much. The young man who never overdid himself and felt utterly exhausted through some strenuous exertion in a great contest will never do much in the world--he is not worth much-Not the tame, slow idlers, but the forceful men, the men who rejoice in their strength and to use their strength, the men who would rather drop than give in while another yard can be run, or another step be made, or another blow be struck for victory--these are the men who will assuredly be carried on in the great enterprise until they are weary, and when weary will be carried on by their indomitable spirit, while others are seeking rest, until at last they reel and stagger and collapse. Hence it is for these that the prophet chiefly writes. For the old, for the young, for the sick and infirm, and even for such as may be tottering into the grave, he writes for them, and all he says is true and needful for their case. But more than all, in view of the great work to which he is calling his countrymen, he writes for those who feel called upon to do something in the world, for those who are conscious of high powers, and are in the purest sense of the word ambitious. (T. V. Tymms.)Waiting upon God I. WHAT IS THIS WAITING? 1. It means prayer--much more than an occasional supplication, however real; it means persistent, persevering, continual prayer; it means an abiding attitude of trustful dependence upon God; it means all that is wrapped up in those beautiful words, “ Oh, rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him” ; it means trust in the Lord and do good; it means trust in the Lord at all times, for with Him is everlasting strength, and have no confidence in self. 2. But the prophet has a deeper thought than this. There are many things for which we can only ask and then wait in quiet stillness, things which we cannot help God to give us, things which God Himself bestows without our aid, if we are ever to possess them. Renewal often comes to men in their extremity like this. 3. But while we cannot pass over such times and such experiences, it would be unhealthy to be dwelling upon them as if they were the whole of life. They are not. We are not always faint. Usually we have, at any rate, just a little strength, and then waiting upon Him means not only prayer and uplooking, but doing His commandments like the angels, who because they do them excel in strength. II. WHAT IS THE ISSUE OF SUCH WAITING UPON GOD? The prophet’ s imagery is startling, and some critics would presume to call his figures somewhat mixed; but the thought conveyed is clear. The older Jewish commentators imagined they discovered here a reference to an ancient belief that at a certain time the eagle plunged into the sea and bathed off his worn-out plumage, and that afterwards new feathers grew. The Septuagint translators of the Old Testament were so sure of this bit of false science that in order to square their Hebrew Scriptures with the fashion of thought in Alexandria, they ventured to alter the words of our text, and to read, “ They shall put forth new feathers like eagles,” and so the old Greek version reads to-day. But we have good reason to believe that the prophet drew his imagery from familiar objects in the land of exile. There could be little doubt but that from childhood he had often looked upon some of those carved tablets on which men with wings of eagles fastened to their shoulders were common, that he had often looked on those colossal images of winged bulls and lions and men such as may be seen in our British Museum to-day. Now those composite figures had subtle meanings. They could not suggest to the prophet his religious thought, but his inspired genius laid them under tribute to assist the utterance of a thought of higher inspiration. At any rate he found in the matchless wing-power of the eagle a sublime image of an inspiring and God-seeking man. The figure of one flying through the heavens, coupled strangely with the promise of running without being wearied, represents the godly man as ever having courage to entertain great hopes. Never failing to seek and obtain fellowship with God in the highest, always daring to attempt great actions, this heavenly minded man has thoughts and yearnings which raise his mode of life above the level of common things. This man, however, has this double life. There is the soaring Godward, and there is the common drudgery of daily walk and conversation, the practical common life. (T. V. Tymms.)Renewal of strength As we look back on history we can see positive evidence that the promise of this text was historically fulfilled, and in the eases of the men to whom the message came first. The national life was restored, and that restoration of national life in the Jews is unique in the history of mankind; you cannot point to anything like it since man walked this earth, but it took place. It seemed impossible that these few exiles could escape from those nations, and go back to their own land and restore their institutions, but they did. And who did it? The men who were making themselves rich in those days in Eastern cities stayed there. The men who led the remnant back were God-fearing men like Ezra and Zerubbabel, men who waited on God. The wall of Jerusalem, of the second temple, would never have been built but for men like Nehemiah and Haggai, men who had their times of fear and depression and weakness, hut who went to God and came back not only strengthened themselves, but able to strengthen their brethren, so that the great work was done. So to-day in every Christian Church, in every Christian enterprise, in every modern fight for righteousness and truth, there are some men who never know when they are defeated; there are some men who, because of this, are invulnerable men; and the men who, when cast down always say there is lifting up, the men who can live and die for Divine ideas, the men who to-day are converting savage races into Christian peoples and working out in painful and prosaic details, and with much danger to their lives in some cases, the glowing dreams of ancient seers respecting the transformation of mankind, these are they who wait in secret on their God. (T. V. Tymms.)Exhaustion and recovery 1. If anything were needed to teach men the necessity for connecting their own spirits with the Divine, it is the quick exhaustion of individual resources. Even “ as the stream of brooks they pass away.” Faith and hope and love itself, so dewy fresh in the morning, spend themselves in noonday’ s scorching heat, and run low at eventide. Sometimes, indeed, long before the shadows are stretched out, in manhood’ s very prime the wasting is manifest. I can strive no more, says the tired heart. Who does not know the temptations of reaction, and the days when the lights burn low? 2. In such moods we need to look away from the crowds, and from the glaring lights of the city, to the calm glories of the moon, and the stars above our heads. All these evils, so full of fierce and destructive energies, will soon be as the dust beneath our feet. Truth and holiness and right abide for ever. To “ look off” unto the eternal, to get behind the veil into the realm of true being is the need of the fevered and exhausted soul. Hidden in that secret pavilion we see things as they really are. Wrong may prosper for a time. Greed, unrighteousness, sensuality, may appear to be more stable than granite. But they are only painted cloud. We see the years move on, and the everlasting truth subdue all to itself. Maybe in revolutions and bloodshed, for the wheels of God grind inexorably and small. But at the last, evil is found to be in its nature only decay. “ Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Such a vision restores the heart of faith. To think that we are labouring in vain is the thought that paralyses. But whatever is done for right is done for God and endures eternally. 3. But there are other thoughts that come to us in the quietude of the Divine fellowship. We are shown the infinite powers that He concealed in the heart of a solitary man of faith. Faith is like a spark. Though it seems tiny, it is real fire, and it can set the world ablaze. Faith can work miracles. Our Lord trusted to faith to subdue humanity. It has already conquered half the world, and controls the whole. Luther changed the course of the centuries by faith. Wesley fashioned modern England by faith. Booth by faith has changed the drunkard and the sensualist into saints. All things are possible to him that believeth. If, then, truth is eternal, and faith is omnipotent, why should any difficulties, however stupendous, or failures, however extensive, lead us to despair? (Sunday School Chronicle.)The source and design of spiritual strength I. , HOW IS IT TO BE ? There was a time when our human nature seemed to possess much spiritual strength, but there came a time when it was all lost; and from that time, in the experience of every human being, it has had to be renewed. This renewing influence must come from God; surely that is a statement in harmony both with reason and with Scripture. To speak of a man as able to strengthen himself, so as to dispense with Divine aid, is as unreasonable as it is unscriptural As well might you talk of a leafless tree clothing itself with verdure without the vernal sun--as well of an enfeebled body recovering tone and energy without the reviving air of heaven. Who can bring strength out of weakness? who can bring life out of decay? How is this renewing influence, then, to be obtained? By waiting upon the Lord. You see the progression of ideas; it is strength that has to be renewed, and it has to be renewed by God, and God gives it when we wait upon Him. Some who like to trace the analogy between the works of nature and the works of grace, may perhaps have seen a flower which the storms of night have severely shaken, towards the morning turn wistfully to the dawn, and seem to be waiting for the coming day. Nor does it wait in vain. Beneath that bright beam the moisture that encumbered it is exhaled; its bent stalk raises itself again, its shrivelled petals expand into beauty, and it diffuses around a cheering fragrance in gratitude to the power that has renewed its strength. Your stalk may be a broken one, and your petals may be shrivelled, but by waiting upon the Lord you shall renew your strength. II. HOW SHOULD BE ? 1. In rapturous contemplation of the things of God. The eagle is a bird that soars upwards towards heaven: so is the Christian to mount upwards in holy contemplation. He has powers adapted to this exercise--powers with which he can glorify his Maker; and he must not point those eagle faculties to the dust, but let them take wing and rise. The most vigorous pinion will never reach the sun, but yet it may reach so high that earth-bound creatures shall fail to track its flight, and lose it in the glare of the excellent glory. 2. In untiring activity in the direct service of God. In common daily duty we are to run in the ways of God’ s commandments; but the word is more frequently employed to denote some direct obedience to some special command. We are not to spend all our time in rapturous contemplation. We are not to devote all our lives to lonely musing. It is well to rise up on wings of eagles, but now and then we must come to the level of our fellow-creatures, and in their service we are to run and not be weary. I may be very busy in connection with the Church of Christ and the advancement of the knowledge of Christ. But who is not weary, sometimes, in well-doing! It is one thing to begin, and another thing to go on. 3. They shall walk and not faint--words which seem to denote consistency in common daily life. In vain all my lonely musing, in vain all my bustle in the kingdom of Christ, if consistency of daily life does not accompany the whole. The world expects it of me; Christ demands it of me. This is the religion of the Bible: is it not a noble thing? There is many a young man who thinks, “ I find plenty of occupation for my energy in the service of the world, but if I become a religious man, then I am sure to become a poor, lifeless, morose character.” Not so; for the religion of the Bible is this: mounting up with wings of eagles, running and not wearying, walking and not fainting. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Isaiah 41:1 Keep silence before Me, O islands The convocation of the nations (whole chapter):--The conception of this passage is superb. Jehovah is represented as summoning the earth, as far as the remote isles of the west, to determine once and for ever who is the true God: whether He, or the idols and oracles of which there were myriads worshipped and believed in by every nation under heaven. The test proposed is a very simple one. The gods of the nations were to predict events in the near future, or to show that they had had a clear understanding of the events of former days. On the other hand, the servant of Jehovah was prepared to show how fast-sealed prophecies, committed to the custody of his race, had been precisely verified in the event, and to utter minute predictions about Cyrus, “ the one from the East,” which should be fulfilled before that generation had passed away. Not, as in Elijah’ s case, would the appeal be made to the descending flame; but to the fitting of prophecy and historical fact. Immediately there is a great commotion, the isles see and fear, the ends of the earth tremble, they draw near and come to the judgment-seat. On their way thither each bids the other take courage. There is an industrious furbishing up of the dilapidated idols, and manufacturing of new ones. The carpenter encourages the goldsmith; and he that smooths with the hammer him that smites the anvil. They examine the soldering to see if it will stand, and drive great nails to render the idols steadfast. The universal desire is to make a strong set of gods who will be able to meet the Divine challenge--much as if a Roman Catholic priest were to regild and repaint the images of the saints on the time-worn altar of a fishing hamlet, in the hope of securing from them greater help in quelling the winter storms. Amidst the excitement of this vast convocation the idols are dumb. We can almost see them borne into the arena by their attendant priests, resplendent in gold and tinsel, flashing with jewels, bedizened in gorgeous apparel. They are set in a row, their acolytes swing high the censer, the monotonous drawl of their votaries arises in supplication. Silence is proclaimed that they may have an opportunity of pronouncing on the subject submitted to them; but they are speechless. Jehovah pronounces the verdict against which there can be no appeal, “ Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you” (Isaiah 41:24). As Jehovah looks, there is no one. When He asks of them, there is no counsellor that can answer a word. “ Behold they are all vanity; their works are nought; their molten images are wind and confusion.” (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Heathen oracles and Scripture prophecy History furnishes some interesting confirmations of this contrast between the predictions of heathen oracles and the clear prophecies of Old Testament Scripture, which were so literally and minutely realised. For instance, Herodotus tells us that when Croesus heard of the growing power of Cyrus, he was so alarmed for his kingdom, that he sent rich presents to the oracles at Delphi, Dodona, and elsewhere, asking what would be the outcome of his victorious march. That at Delphi gave this ambiguous reply, “ That he would destroy a great empire,” but whether the empire would be that of Cyrus or of Croesus was left unexplained: thus, whichever way the event turned, the oracle could claim to have predicted it. This is a fair illustration of the manner in which the oracles answered the appeals made to them by men or nations when in the agony of fear. How striking a contrast the precise prediction of these pages which give us the name of the conqueror; the quarter from which he would fall upon Babylon; the marvellous series of successes that gave kings as dust to his sword, and as the driven stubble to his bow; his reverence towards God, his simplicity and integrity of purpose (Isaiah 41:2; Isaiah 14:3; Isaiah 14:25; Isaiah 45:1). (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)A drama In form the chapter is dramatic. Two great debates are imagined: the first (Isaiah 41:1-7) between Jehovah and the nations; the second (Isaiah 41:21-29) between Jehovah and the idols, the subject of both being the appearance of Cyrus. In the intervening passage (Isaiah 41:8-20) Jehovah encourages His servant Israel in view of this great crisis of history. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)A trial at law Chapter 41. is loosely cast in the same form of a trial at law which we found in chapter 1. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)God’ s response to Israel’ s complaint In reply to Israel’ s complaint Isaiah 40:27) that his cause against the heathen oppressors is neglectedor dismissed by the Great Judge, God now summons the nations to His court of justice; and as Israel had just been assured that, if they would wait upon Jehovah, they would renew their strength and discern His wisdom, an interval is granted to the heathen and their gods, in which they too may renew their strength and have time to produce evidence of the powers of design and action possessed by their gods, and in virtue of which they claim the right to keep Israel in subjection. The solemn pause thus allowed--“ Keep silence . . . then let them speak” --is filled (how bitter the irony!)by the nations employing their carpenters and goldsmiths m make a particularly good and strong set of gods, because there is a general alarm that the emergency is great. For it is already seen that the judgment goes against them by default: that these gods can show no plans, can do nothing good or bad; and that they and their worshippers have neither right nor power to break up the designs of Almighty wisdom. They have been trying to do this by those oppressions of Israel which were only permitted for a time, because they fell into and formed a part of God’ s own plan. But Israel had from the first an appointed and chief place in that plan: He who is at once King of Israel and God of all the earth, has been maintaining His chosen people in their place, generation after generation, when He made Abraham His friend, and gave the blessing to his seed, and then He made the well yield springs of water under the rod of Moses; and now, though they are reduced to extremity of weakness and dismay, the Holy One of Israel bids them fear not, for He has taken upon Himself to be their Redeemer. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)A lawsuit If Jehovah is a party, who then is the presiding judge? This question is to be answered as in Isaiah 5:3. The decisive authority is reason, which must acknowledge the state of the case and the conclusions following therefrom. (P. Delitzsch, D. D.)A fair trial 1. The cause of God and His kingdom is not afraid of s fair trial. If the case be but fairly stated it will be surely carried in favour of religion. 2. The enemies of God’ s Church and His holy religion may safely be challenged to say and do their worst for the support of their unrighteous cause. (M. Henry.)Islands A characteristic word of the second half of Isaiah occurring twelve times. In the general usage of the Old Testament it denotes the islands and coastlands of the Mediterranean (comp the use of the singular by Isaiah in Isaiah 20:6). Etymologically, it probably means simply “ habitable lands” ; and this prophet uses it with great laxity, hardly distinguishing it from “ lands” (Isaiah 42:15). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Solemn pleadings for revival We also who worship the Lord God have a controversy with Him. We have not seen His Church and His cause prospering in the world as we could desire; as yet heathenism is not put to the rout by Christianity, neither does the truth everywhere trample down error. We desire to reason with God about this, and He Himself instructs us how to prepare for this sacred debate. He bids us be silent; He bids us consider, and then draw near to Him with holy boldness and plead with Him, produce our cause and bring forth our strong reasons. I. FIRST, THEN, LET US BE SILENT. 1. Before the controversy opens let us be silent with solemn awe, for we have to speak with the Lord God Almighty! Let us not open our mouths to impugn His wisdom, nor allow our hearts to question His love. We are going to make bold to speak with Him, but still He is the eternal God, and we are dust and ashes. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, and if He chooses to conceal it, let it be concealed. Truly, God is good to Israel, and His mercy endureth for ever. 2. Our silence of awe should deepen into that of shame; for, though it is true that the cause of God has not prospered, whoso fault is this? 3. Go further than this, and keep the silence of consideration. This is a noisy age, and the Church of Christ herself is too noisy. We have very little silent worship, I fear. Let us be silent, now, for a minute, and consider what it is that we desire of the Lord. The conversion of thousands, the overthrow of error, the spread of the Redeemer’ s kingdom. Think in your minds what the blessings are which your soul pants after. Suppose they were to be now bestowed, are you ready? If thousands of converts were to be born unto this one Church, are you prepared to teach them and comfort them? You pray for grace--are you using the grace you have? You want to see more power--how about the power you have? Are you employing it? If a mighty wave of revival sweeps over London, are your hearts ready? Are your hands ready? Are your purses ready? If you reflect, you will see that God is able to give His Church the largest blessing, and to give it at any time. Keep silence and consider, and you will see that He can give the blessing by you or by me. Ask yourselves in the quiet of your spirits, what can we do to get the blessing? Are we doing that? 4. Then we shall pass on to the silence of attention. Keep silence that God may speak to you. We cannot expect Him to hear us if We will not hear Him. 5. If you have learned attention, be silent with submission. II. In that silence LET US RENEW OUR . Noise wears us; silence feeds us, To run upon the Master’ s errands is always well, but to sit at the Master’ s feet is quite as necessary; or, like the angels which excel in strength, our power to do His commandments arises out of our hearkening to the voice of His Word. But how happens it that such silence renews our strength? 1. It does so by giving space for the strengthening word to come into the soul, and the energy of the Holy Spirit to be really felt. 2. We must be silent to renew our strength, by using silence for consideration as to who it is that we are dealing with. We are going to speak with God about the weakness of His Church, and the slowness of its progress. We are coming to plead now with One whose arm is not shortened, and whose ear is not heavy. Renew your strength as you think of Him. Hath not the Lord said concerning His beloved Son that He shall divide the spoil with the strong, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands? Shall it not be so? Think, too, that you are about to appeal to the Holy Spirit. What cannot the Spirit of God do? 3. In silence, too, let us renew our strength by remembering His promises. There are a thousand promises. Let us think of that, and however difficult the enterprise may be, and however dark our present prospects, we shall not dare to doubt when Jehovah has spoken and pledged His Word. 4. Our strength will be renewed next, if in silence we yield up to God all our own wisdom and strength. 5. Keep silence, then, ye saints, till ye have felt your folly and your weakness, and then renew your strength most gloriously by casting yourselves upon the strength of God. III. Our text proceeds to add, “ Then let them draw near.” You that know the Lord DRAW NEAR. You are silent, you have renewed your strength, now enjoy access with boldness. The condition in which to intercede for others is not that of distance from God, but that of great nearness to Him. Even thus did Abraham draw nigh when he pleaded for Sodom and Gomorrah. 1. Let us remember how near we really are. We are one with Christ, and members of His body. How could we be nearer? 2. You are coming to a Father. 3. The desire in our heart for God’ s glory and the extension of His Church, is a desire written there by the Holy Spirit. 4. What we ask, if we are about to plead with God concerning His kingdom, is according to His own mind. 5. Moreover, there is this further consideration; the Lord loves to be pleaded with. He might have given all the covenant blessings without prayer; wherefore does He compel us to use entreaties, unless it be that He loves to hear the voices of His children? IV. I now come to the last point, which is, “ LET US SPEAK.” Be silent, renew your strength, draw near, and then speak. What have we to say upon the matter which concerns us? 1. Let us first speak in the spirit of adoring gratitude. How sweet to think that there should be a Saviour at all. To think that there should be a heavenly kingdom set up, as it is set up; that it should have made such advances as it has made, and should still grow mightily! 2. Next, let us speak in humble expostulation. 3. Then turn to pleading. 4. Let us speak in the way of dedication. 5. Let us speak still in the way of confidence. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Silence and speech before God God addresses men here by two designations, the one having reference to their remoteness and isolation, and the other to their unity. The series of injunctions begins with silence and ends with speech. Right silence before God, passing on through stirring up of energy and earnest confiding approach, issues m speech. We shall consider the beginning and the end of this series--silence before God and speech to God. I. SILENCE BEFORE GOD. Shall we not be silent in the endeavour to realise that God is, and what He is? Would not this do more for us than any urging of ourselves or any kind of activity and noise whatever? And can anything have its proper effect on our soul without this? If we but realise with ourselves that we have to do with an Infinite One, that there is One Being of spotless perfection, almighty power, unchangeableness, boundless love, complete and earnest opposition to evil, what an effect this will produce on us! Unless we can bear to be silent and brood, the thought of God will not rise before us in fulness and splendour. But God speaks, and we must listen in silence. With what glad silence should we listen to the Divine voice. A single word of God must be worth more to us than all other words. When we read the Word of God we should say to ourselves, Hush! God is speaking. We should listen to it as a message conveying what we are to believe and embrace and ponder and do. We may spoil everything by letting the murmur of our own thoughts arise. Our silence in the presence of God will often take the form of thinking of ourselves. Thinking of self becomes sincere and profitable when it goes on consciously in God’ s presence. The felt presence of God revives memory, prevents besetting self-deception, and turns the survey of the future from chaotic dreams into earnest outlook. Can any man make such a survey, however imperfectly, without shame? Shame makes him silent. He who knows the bitterness of being put to silence in the presence of God, will scarcely be without experience of the sweetness of silent satisfaction and rest. He will be led to see such a graciousness in God, such a benign healing aspect of His mercy, such a fulness in Christ, such a might of forgiveness, such a sublime oblivion, that he will feel for a while as if he had nothing more to ask. This satisfaction passes into expectation. II. SPEECH TO GOD UPON THE SILENCE. Silence before God in which such thoughts as these go on leads to a stirring of the soul, a forth-putting of endeavour, and a drawing near to God. Silence before God heaps a load on the heart which can only be thrown off by speaking to God. One thing after another brings fresh penitence, new discovery of sin, new sense of the greatness of God; new fears spring up, new resolutions gather, and all these weigh very heavily. And much more than freedom from pressure will be experienced. The convictions that gather in silence will be strengthened by speech. If they did not find expression they would begin to decay. In short, speaking to God of the things that have lain on the soul in its silence is a necessity at once for relief, for understanding, for intensity, for permanence, and for growth, It would be a wrong inference to draw from this passage that one ought not to speak to God without consciously going through these stages of the text. There may be true speaking to God which seems to break forth at once and immediately from the soul. It is not always a bad sign when we feel that we cannot speak, but must be silent before God. This state is not, indeed, to be prolonged. Nor must it be a dull, dead, distant silence, but one that has its own peculiar activities. Hasting to cut short the period of silence may enervate and chill. The silence may be more acceptable to God for the time than any words could be. We should expect times of silence before God--times in which speaking to God is not indeed absent, but in which silence is the dominating element. If it is a silence before God, it is a leaving of space for God to speak, and surely this is implied in communion. (J. Leckie, D. D.)The silence of reverence The silence of reverence is the soil in which earnestness and energy grow. By this reverent silence resolution takes shape and gathers force. Men gird up their energies afresh when in solemn silence they have gone over the actualities and the possibilities of life. Then with purpose and intensity they come near to God. (J. Leckie, D. D.)The relief of speech after silence You may have seen a reservoir of water which, by continuous rain, had become so full that it threatened to overflow all its banks or burst them--the rain through days and nights had been pouring on its broad bosom, and the brooks and rills from miles around had been hurrying their foaming tributes into it, till the ordinary small outlet is wholly unable to relieve the immense pressure, and the very edge of ruin is reached, when, lo! the great sluice is raised, and away rushes the pent-up flood in immense volume. There is relief and safety at once. So is it with the burdened soul on which silence before God has been laying load after load, pressing and crushing it with memories, convictions, fears, resolutions. Relief and freedom are gained by pouring out the soul in words before God. (J. Leckie, D. D.)Conviction aided by both silence and speech In silence there is the rooting of conviction, but in speaking to God its expansion and growth. When you have hyacinths in water glasses, you put them first in darkness for some weeks till the roots strike down into the water. You find that the roots have spread and filled the glass, but there is scarcely a sign of growth upward, the stalk remains undeveloped. Light is needed for that. So speech to God is needed to raise and expand the feelings that have been rooted in silence. (J. Leckie, D. D.) Isaiah 41:2 The righteous man from the East The righteous man from the East The question, whose appearance is predicted, has been always a subject of dispute. Eusebius, Theodoret, and Procopius understand it as describing the triumphs of the true religion, or the Gospel, here called “ righteousness.” Cyril and Jerome apply it to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as the Righteous One, or the Lord our Righteousness. Cocceius stands alone in his application of the verso to the apostle Paul. The Jews make Abraham the subject of the passage, excepting Aben Ezra, who, with Vitringa and all the latest writers, understands it as a prophecy of Cyrus. The inappropriateness of the terms employed to our Saviour or the Gospel, to Abraham or Paul, is almost self-evident, and equally clear is its appropriateness to the case of Cyrus. The argument in favour of the latter application, drawn from the analogy of Isa 45:1; Isaiah 46:11, is less conclusive, because he is there expresslynamed. The truth appears to be that this is a more general intimation of a great eventful movement from the East, which is afterwards repeated with specific reference to Cyrus and his conquests. It might even be supposed without absurdity that there is here an allusion to the general progress of the human race, of conquest, civilisation, and religion from the East to the West. Umbreit supposes a specific reference to the course of the sun, from which the name of Cyrus was derived. (J. A. Alexander.)Cyrus raised up by God “ Stirred up” the sense is “ impelled into activity.” (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Cyrus from the East, yet from the North “ From the East” ; Cyrus’ home, Susiania being to the east of Babylonia. “ From the North” (Isaiah 41:25), alludes to the “ Medes, who united with the Persians under Cyrus, and whose home was to the north or north-east of Babylonia. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Cyrus called in righteousness (see R.V.):--Cyrus’ career being a furtherance of God’ s righteous purpose for the government of the world. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Cyrus called to God’ s foot To call to one’ s foot is a Hebrew idiom for calling to one’ s service, or summoning to take a place among one’ s followers. (J. A. Alexander.) Isaiah 41:4I the Lord, the first, and with the last I.LOOK AT GOD IN HIS PRIMARY TO HIS . Understand clearly that everything which is was first an idea in the mind of God. Thence, by a creative act, it came forth and took form and being. So God was first, long before all His works--as the mould is before the castings. Here is the truth and glory of predestination, that great argument of all comfort. It places God far away, beyond our little horizon, in advance of everything. Whatever is, is to fulfil its preordained purpose; each thing coming up and rising in its turn; everything a reflection of the eternal love, care, and wisdom which dwelt from everlasting in the mind of God. II. “ WITH THE LAST.” There are those who say, “ This world is on the decline and growing worse.” Can it be, if He who was First is with the last--the same God yesterday, to-day, and for ever,the equal portion of all times? Is it not sufficient argument? The golden age cannot be over. From the fleeting and the changing, from the disappointing and the dying, I yearn to ask, “ Where is the true?” Where is that which my soul wants, and for which my restless spirit has so long been craving, what shall satisfy my immortality? And the answer comes, as a whisper in the desert, louder and clearer from the solitude of my heart’ s waste places, “ I the Lord, the First, and with the last; I am He.” (J. Vaughan, M. A.) Isaiah 41:6-7 They helped every one his neighbour.-- Idolatry the subject of sarcasm: The sarcasm consists in making the idolaters dependent upon idols which are themselves dependent upon common workmen and the most trivial mechanical operations for their form and their stability. Hence the particular enumeration of the different artificers employed in the manufacture of these deities. The last clause implies that the strength of the idol is not in itself, but in the nails that keep it in its place, or hold its parts together. (J. A. Alexander.)Lessons from the idol-makers Idolatry being threatened with an overthrow, their “ craft” was endangered, and hence the earnestness and co-operation of these makers of idols. The text is suggestive. I. It affords an illustration of THE WAY THE WICKED COMBINE IN THEIR FIGHT AGAINST THE RIGHT. Jeremiah gives us a picture of this combination in the family (Jeremiah 7:17-18). Isaiah, carrying it up higher, here shows how the different crafts cheer and help each other. Take the history of the world; follow the struggle between the powers of light and the powers of darkness, and you will find that this has always been the case. When Jesus Christ made His appearance upon the earth for the purpose of inaugurating the overthrow of paganism and planting His kingdom on its ruins, witness what varied and unhallowed combinations arrayed themselves against Him. See how the liquor-dealers are now banded together in that strong association, which has for its object the protection and perpetuity of their iniquitous traffic. And if certain questions are touched there are manifested some strange combinations. II. We see the importance of OF FEELING AND CONCERT OF ACTION IN CHURCH WORK. 1. This should be true in the individual Churches. The various ages, classes, and organisations of a Church ought to work for the same ends. 2. On the great leading questions there must be co-operation between the various denominations. III. We have a suggestion as to THE MUTUAL OF MEN. Notice how many crafts the idols passed through before they were finished. Take any article in your possession, and a great many different persons and trades have contributed to its production. No profession or trade is independent of other professions and trades; no class is independent of other classes. IV. We are reminded that OUR AIM IN LIFE SHOULD BE TO HELP THOSE WITH WHOM WE COME IN CONTACT. “ They helped every one his neighbour.” Jesus Christ came into this world not to seek His own ease or profit or pleasure, but to help the needy sons of men. Have we caught anything of His spirit? There are many ways in which we can help. 1. Like these idolaters, we can do it by our words of cheer. We are too chary with our praise. 2. Help by our deeds. (J. W. Rogan.)Mutual encouragement How much of mutuality there is in the teaching of the Bible! This is mutual encouragement, and applies to higher forms of service. The next verse reads, “ But thou, Israel, art My servant.” To be a carpenter who works on wood is merely to do something outward, but “ thou art My servant” introduces us into the moral sphere of action. Now encouragement is not flattery. You are not to forget the great ethical basis on which all our life must rest. It is not right to flatter. It is right to encourage, because there are always circumstances in human life that tend to depress, and there are specific temperamental constitutions that need a great deal of gladdening from without, for some are not easily inspired. I believe in encouragement all through. Many young people never play the piano well because their parents have not encouraged them. Sometimes we fail to encourage our servants. I. MUST BE LIVED AS WELL AS SPOKEN. We are to give courage through the possession of it. It will not do for those who are to inspire others to whimper over their troubles! If the general is beaten the army is often defeated. II. MUST BEGIN AT THE NEAREST POINT. “ Everyone said to his neighbour.” The man next to me is to catch the influence. If I do not encourage him it is a poor compliment to encourage somebody in Spain or Jerusalem. It is of no use for me to write the foreign letter to my friend far away, if I do not encourage the charwoman who comes for a day’ s work. All these splendid heroics of distance are mere romance. Your neighbour nigh you often needs encouragement, and God has placed you there to give it. III. MUST NOT BE MERELY . Because you do not know when a man wants you! It is to be the atmosphere of duty; you are to live in it. We need encouragement when things are bright with us to stimulate us to make a right and thankful use of our mercies. We need encouragement in adversity, for patience needs sustaining in long hours of pain, in mysteries we cannot fathom, in paths where we see no turning. You can encourage someone best of all when you can say, Thus and thus it has been with me. IV. MUST NOT BE BY . Do not say, I will give it up, it is a bad job. As the R.V. says, “ Despairing of no man.” What do you say? Am I to encourage the man who has broken so many vows? Yes. His next step may be on to the rock. Am I to be the one to bear upon my heart the responsibility of cheering those who never seem to cheer me? Yes. Your relation to me is not to affect my relation to you. Encourage the doubter, the erring, the deserter, as you would be encouraged yourself. V. MUST BE TRUE, BASED ON REASONS. No one can really encourage me unless he speaks on the ground of truth. For truth will not encourage me by hiding my symptoms and using soft, seductive words! Encourage one another, because the work in which we are engaged is the only immortal work of the ages, and to unite in Christian work is to lay hold of the “ everlasting.” (W. M. Statham.)Mutual help a law of nature 1. The commonwealth is not served till the different branches of industry merge their jealousies in goodwill. 2. The very composition of the earth we walk over offers a strong hint of this intention. You read it in the beautiful balancings of clouds and tides, the equations of astronomy, the adjustments of growth and climate, all the musical accord by which the Divine Spirit has attuned His creation to an everlasting anthem. Sky and water, vapour and vegetation, earth and sun are ever friendly and hospitable; they are perpetually running on some missionary errand on each other’ s behalf. 3. Indeed, It is most interesting to see how liberally the Creator has given hints and illustrations of this social principle by His own arrangements, even in what we call the humbler departments of His creation. For society does not stand apart from nature, but interlinks its laws with hers. Very wonderful it is, and very beautiful, to see how God twines together, into a system of mutual benefits, the operations that different creatures carry on for their own advantage, thus revealing His intention that they should be fellow-helpers, even these dumb and soulless things. He scarcely lets any good end with the being that produced it, but carries it over into some wider usefulness. He pushes out the doings of each animal and person into results that help other animals and other persons. The silkworm, with no thought of a charity, spins for himself an elaborate and complicated coffin, to hold the chrysalis, till its resurrection with wings. But the strands of that delicate fabric, the ingenuity of man winds off into the material of his costliest and most durable vestures. Coral insects build their reefs with the slow toil of ages, not certainly as philanthropists, but simply by the instinct that bids living things provide a habitation. Yet they are all the time laying the foundations of islands that men will some time inhabit, when overpopulated continents shall send out their swarming colonies, and thus God “ layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters.” The spider weaves a web, out in the air, for certain economical purposes of his own. But God bathes it overnight in drops of dew, and in the morning sun it hangs like a silver shield, with miniature rainbows for its quarterings, “ a thing of beauty” at which children clap their hands with rapture, and which every beauty-loving passenger is the better for. The spider had no thought of being an artist; but the Creator made him one to shed delight unconsciously. Or else astronomy stretches one of those slender fibres across the glass in her telescope to mark the passage of a star, and the little insect under a clover leaf gives a measuring line to science to tell the august motions of the constellations of the sky. 4. So in another and higher grade of creation. When men forget to help each other, God overrules their plans, and makes them do it, to a certain extent, in despite of themselves. He is for ever defeating the plots of selfishness. He suffers no immunities to be strictly personal. It is the settled policy of Providence, so to speak, to break up monopolies. He regards always the good, not only of the greatest number, but of the whole. He allows no mortal to live for himself alone, however much disposed to. A capitalist, without the remotest intention of being a public benefactor perhaps, founds a factory, to enlarge his private fortune. But the enterprise calls into employment an army of labourers, and the wages forestall their starvation. A few men, in a corporation, as the ease may be, build a railway, for the sake of the dividends; but it becomes an immeasurable facility of travel and transportation, and while it enriches a few is a convenience to millions. (F. D. Huntington, D. D.) Isaiah 41:7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith The hardships of working men If men in bad work can encourage each other, should not men engaged in honest artisanship and mechanism speak words of good cheer? 1. Men see in their own work hardships and trials, while they recognise no hardships or trials in anybody else’ s occupation. Every man’ s burden is the heaviest, and every woman’ s task is the hardest. We find people wanting to get other occupations and professions. Now, the beauty of our holy religion is that God looks down upon all the occupations and professions; and while I cannot understand your annoyances, and you cannot understand mine, God understands them all. I will speak this warning of the general hardships of the working classes. You may not belong to this class, but you are bound as Christian men and women to know their sorrows and sympathise with them, and as political economists to come to their rescue. You do a great wrong to the labouring classes if you hold them responsible for the work of the scoundrelly anarchists. You may do your duty toward your employes, but many do not, and the biggest business firm to-day is Grip, Gouge, Grind and Company. By what principle of justice is it that women in many of our cities get only two-thirds as much as men, and in many cases only half? Here is the gigantic injustice, that for work equally well, if not better, done woman receives far less compensation than man. Has toil frosted the colour of your cheeks? Has it taken all spontaneity from your laughter? Has it subtracted the spring from your step, and the lustre from your eye, until it has left you only half the man you were when you first put your hand on the hammer and your foot on the wheel? To-morrow in your place of toil, listen, and you will hear a voice above the hiss of the furnace, and the groan of the foundry, and the clatter of the shuttle--a voice not of machinery, nor of the task-master, but the voice of an all-sympathetic God, as He says, “ Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Let all men and women of toil remember that this work will soon be over. Have they not heard that there is a great holiday coming? Oh, that home, and no long walk to get to it! I wish they would put their head on this pillow stuffed with the down from the wing of all God’ s promises. “ There remains a rest for the people of God.” 2. Another great trial is privation of taste and sentiment. I do not know of anything much more painful than to have a fine taste for painting and sculpture and music and glorious sunsets and the expanse of the blue sky, and yet, not to be able to get the dollar for the oratorio, or to get a picture, or to buy one’ s way into the country to look at the setting sun and at the bright heavens. 3. Then there are a great many who suffer not only in the privation of their tastes, but in the apprehension and the oppressive surroundings of life. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)Encouragements for working men 1. One of the greatest safeguards against evil is plenty to do. I see a pool of water in the country, and I say, “ Thou slimy fetid thing, what does all this mean? Didn’ t I see you playing with those shuttles and turning that grist-mill?” “ Oh yes,” says the water, “ I used to earn my living.” I say again, “ Then what makes you look so sick? Why are you covered with this green scum? Why is your breath so vile?” “ Oh,” says the water, “ I have nothing to do. I am disgusted with shuttles and wheels. I am going to spend my whole lifetime here, and while yonder stream sings on its way down the mountain-side, here I am left to fester and die accursed of God because I have nothing to do!” Sin is an old pirate that bears down on vessels whose sails are flapping idly in the wind. The arrow of sin has hard work to puncture the leather of an old working-apron. 2. Another encouragement is the fact that their families are going to have the very best opportunity for development and usefulness. That may sound strange to you, but the children of fortune are very apt to turn out poorly. The son of the porter that kept the gate learns his trade, gets a robust physical constitution, achieves high moral culture, and stands in the front rank of Church and State. 3. Again, I offer as encouragement that you have so many opportunities of gaining information. The Countess of Anjou gave two hundred sheep for one volume. Jerome ruined himself financially by buying one copy of Origen. Oh, the contrast! 4. Your toils in this world are only intended to be a discipline by which you shall be prepared for heaven. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)A call to action I propose to address myself-- I. TO THOSE WHO PROFESS THE FAITH OF CHRIST. Is there no work for you to do? Join some of the regiments; belong to the artillery, or the cavalry, or the infantry of the Church. Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion. II. TO THOSE WHO PROFESS NOT TO BE . 1. There are some of you who say you are kept back by your worldly engagements. Will you let your store, your office, your shop, stand between you and heaven? 2. There is somebody who says: “ I am afraid someone will laugh at me if I become a Christian.” Will you allow your soul to be caught in such a thin trap as human scorn? Can these people who laugh at your seriousness insure you for the future? 3. There may be young people who say, “ We are too young yet. Wait a little while, after we have enjoyed the world more; and then we will become Christians.” I ask any young man if that is fair--to sit down at a banquet all your life long, and have everything you want, and then at the close, when you are utterly exhausted, say, “ Lord Jesus, there are dregs in that cup; you may drink them. Lord Jesus, there are crumbs under that table; you may take them up” ? 4. I heard some say, “ I am too old.” If thou canst not do any more than tremble towards the Cross, if thou art too weak to-night to hold the staff, if all thy soul seems to be bowed down with sorrow, just stumble the way, and put thy withered arms around that Cross, and life, and joy, and pardon, and salvation will come to you. 5. I hear someone say, “ Give me more time to think of this!” What is time? (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)A model Church I. It is a scene of . We all enjoy activity in the natural world. When the winter frosts have melted, and the streams gush down the mountain-side, and the trees begin to put out their livery of green, we enjoy it. Life is a scene of activity in the physical universe. So it is in the business world. So it is with intellectual activity. The long years of the Middle Ages have passed, and the darkness enveloping Europe lifts up. The printing-press is doing a work beyond that of the old feudal castle. Still more is it the case when there comes spiritual life in a church or in a parish; everybody feels happy. II. It is a scene of , TOIL. The carpenter encourages the goldsmith. Many people discourage. The carpenter is querulous, and he says, “ Look here, Mr. Goldsmith, I think you had better do your work so.” “ What do you know about goldsmithing?” says the other; “ you are a carpenter; attend to your own business,” and thus angry words pass between them. It is so in our churches. “ Singing,” says one; “ what do you know about singing?” “ You don’ t preach quite right,” says one. “ Would you like to try?” A sensible man says, “ I cannot preach; I think my minister knows how to preach, and I will pray for him if he makes a mistake now and then.” He knows how to encourage him. III. It is a scene of PROMPT AND WORK. When a man gets a reputation for dilatoriness his fate is sealed. The model Church does thorough work, and does it promptly. IV. THEY ARE ALL WORKING FOR ONE COMMON END. The Church has one end. This man attends to the singing; this man to the children; this man looks after the working men’ s class; this man attends to outdoor relief; another visits the mothers; others attend to this, that, and the other, but they are all working for one end. The Church is a unity--a unity in spirit, in aim, in end. (E. P. Thwing.)All at work I. THEY WERE ALL AT WORK. Many of us like activity. In the intellectual world all is life and go. In the political world it is the same. “ Rest and be thankful” belongs to other days. It should be just like that in the Church of Jesus Christ. Here, stagnation means death. II. THE WHICH THEY GAVE EACH OTHER. Men will work, and work well, when their efforts are appreciated. Even the dumb animals which have become the companion and worker for man seem to understand encouragement, and will, in many ways, show their appreciation of it. III. THE QUALITY OF THEIR WORK. “ It was fastened with nails, and could not be moved.” Work done under the circumstances of the text was sure to be good--do your work well. Do not catch the spirit of the age. This is the day of the jerry builder. Quantity is often considered rather than quality. Outward show is the order of the day. It is important for us all to remember that what we can do for God depends upon what we are before God. We can only teach what we know. (C. Leach, D. D.)A society of encouragers Societies already exist in multitude--societies religious, political, social, literary, etc; but there is room for another. It need not displace any existing ones that are worthy of continuance; it can fulfil its purpose by infusing into them all a new spirit--a spirit of brightness, of good cheer, and strengthening comradeship. Ipropose to call it “ The Society of Encouragers.” I. ITS BASIS IS LAID IN AND . Does anyone ask, “ Who is my neighbour?” Let him read again the parable of the Good Samaritan. In that story neighbourliness stands for love, sympathy, kindness, help, and all those qualities that constitute practical religion. It bridges, at a leap, the chasm of national distinctions. My neighbour’ s house may be near or far in situation, his rental may stand at £80 a year, and mine at £20. His walls may be adorned with the costliest pictures, and I may be indebted to the enterprising activity of tradesmen at Christmas-time for any adornment on mine; or the financial positions of each may be transposed, but we are neighbours. We live to help each other. Is there trouble anywhere? That is enough, my place is there; and when the hour of distress comes for me, I shall not be without a friend. But there is a deeper word still In the new society, we are brothers. “ Every one said to his brother, Be of good cheer.” This strikes a yet tenderer chord. “ Have we not all one Father?” This will settle the relations between capital and labour by uniting master and man in a common bond of reciprocal interest. Carry it to its furthest issue, and it will solve all questions of national and international strife by brining in the reign of “ Peace on earth and goodwill to men.” II. AS TO ITS RAISON D’ ETRE. 1. The new society exists for kindly speech to one another. “ Every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.” A word in season, how good it is! There is helpfulness and inspiration in kindly, encouraging speech. The ministry that never fails is the ministry of encouragement. 2. It exists for kindly speech of one another. In the new society we pledge ourselves to think and act towards the living as we do for those who have passed into the Great Silence. Many have died before their time for want of a Society of Encouragers. Sympathy is vain that is reserved for the eulogy of the dead or flower-wreaths for the coffin-lid. Expend it now. 3. The new society exists also for mutual effort. “ They helped every one his neighbour.” The kindly word is valuable and precious, but it is better still when crystalised into action. What the world wants is the practical application of the religion of Jesus Christ, whose human life is summed up in the brief sentence: “ Who went about doing good.” 4. The new society is a society of workers “ The carpenter encouraged the goldsmith.” You can put your own trade or profession in. All may be included whose calling is honest, just, and pure. What is wanted is a sense of comradeship, and this the new society provides. The isolation is removed. We no longer work alone, but side by side, in the world’ s great workshop. III. THE UNITING BOND OF ALL IS LOVE. Love is the common bond that unites man to man, neighbour to neighbour, brother to brother, and all together to Him who is Love s primal fount and source. (A. Hancock.)Humble co-operation A traveller, standing outside Cologne Cathedral, expressed his admiration of its beauty. “ Yes,” said a labourer, who was near; “ it’ s a fine building, and took us many a year to finish.” “ Took you!” exclaimed the tourist; “ why, what have you to do with it?” “ I mixed the mortar, sir,” was the modest yet proud reply. (Home Magazine.) Isaiah 41:8 But thou, Israel, art My servant The servant of Jehovah It is reasonable to seek the origin of the idea in the first passage in which the term occurs (Isaiah 41:8). Here there can be no doubt as to what the term denotes. It denotes the Israelitish nation, treated, however, not as the mere aggregate of the members composing it, but as a unity, developing historically, and maintaining its continuity and essential character through successive generations. (S. R. Driver.)The seed of Abraham, My friendGod blessing for the sake of another God turns the eyes of Israel to the past. He reminds them that they are the children of His friend Abraham. You may find a man in distress, and may be tempted to turn away from him; but as he talks to you about himself and his antecedents, you find that he is the son of an old friend of yours. That alters the case. There is another motive operating on you now--the desire to be faithful to your friend. Israel was the seed of God’ s friend Abraham. God would be faithful to them for His friend’ s sake. “ For Jesus Christ’ s sake” is the highest expression and application of this principle. (J. A. Davies, B. D.)The seed of Abraham (with Matthew 3:9):--There is between these two passages an ascertainable relation. In the passage which we have read from the Book of Isaiah is exhibited the greatest element in the Israelitish national consciousness. Apparently these people never forgot their vocation as the children of Abraham. Sometimes they attributed more importance to it, sometimes less. When the nation was at its best they spiritualised the ideal; when it was at its worst they materialised it; but they never wholly ignored it. Here is a prophet speaking in a stern time with the purpose of heartening the people who were listening to him. See how he does it. In the chapter which precedes the one whence our text is taken the opening sentences are: “ Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people, saith your God,” etc. The last verse of the chapter is more beautiful still: “ They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.” We see the mood in which Isaiah speaks and the tenderness which is evident in his message. It is as though he would say to Israel: You have passed through a stern testing time, but you have not ceased to be the people of God. Indeed, the testing time was permitted because you are never to be anything else than the chosen ones, God’ s Israel. You have Abraham for your father, and the covenant which God made with Abraham He will keep with you. “ Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. ‘ In the light of this Old Testament consciousness let us now look at the passage which we have chosen from the New. Isaiah and John are both heralds; there is at least this similarity between them, that they both come as the bearers of good tidings concerning a better day. But they are different in this: while Isaiah speaks with the gorgeous magnificence of Oriental symbolism, and his message is one full of comfort and tenderness, the words of St. John are utterly unadorned; rugged and grim is the speech of this child of the desert. He comes less with a message of comfort than with one of rebuke; and yet, like Isaiah, he is the herald of a glorious day. But the people are not ready for his message nor for the blessing which he announces. And so his words to them are words of warning, especially, shall I say, to the Pharisees. The people and their leaders had been too much inclined to content themselves with making much of the tradition of the covenant of God with Abraham, and they thought comparatively, little of what was required from them in the keeping of it. “ O generation of vipers! who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance.” The Pharisees were conspicuous for two particular vices; and may I say, in parenthesis, that Pharisees were by no means in their entirety pact men. There were many sincere men in their ranks, and yet Jesus, like John, had more difficulty with the Pharisees than with any other class in the community. Their chief sin was that of spiritual pride; but another was, they believed in the externals of religion rather than in change of heart. They insisted much upon their lineage: here we are the chosen people, the descendants of Abraham--would not God keep His word to us? What part or lot has the race of mankind in this which is a special privilege of Israel? John’ s reply to them is this: “ Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.” Why should God trouble to show His favour to men like you, for you are very different from Abraham? God is able to raise up from these stones children unto Abraham. Shall we spend a little more time in discovering what John the Baptist means by saying, “ God is able of the stones to raise up children unto Abraham” ? I have heard an exegesis of this kind, and it is not a modern one only: “ Oh, it is obvious that St. John meant that the hearts around him might be changed by his glorious message, that God would give to these men a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone, and then they would be children of Abraham indeed.” Well, the inference is not unjustifiable, but I do not think it is correct. I believe that St. John meant exactly and literally what he said: “ God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” To believe that he meant it literally adds force to the warning and the appeal. What he meant, then, was something like this: It is in the power of God to breathe the breath of life into these rocks of the desert, and they should become living souls; and if so it is conceivable they would be better men than you and worthier successors of Abraham, the friend of God. For who was, what was, this Abraham? If you turn to Hebrews 11:1-40. you will read a Christian description of the man and his character: “ By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went,” etc. Momentous results followed that far-off choice. It was the dawning of a great hour in which Israel was born, and with Israel the Messiah, and with the Messiah the gospel under which you and I live our lives to-day. Here, then, is the Abraham of whose seed these Pharisees claimed to be. They had not his moral courage, nor his noble spirit; these were not of the kind who would have gone out in pursuit of a spiritual ideal. These were men who had hardened into insensibility, who by their lives denied the spiritual idea Abraham had bequeathed to them, and therefore the Baptist’ s remonstrance was apt indeed. “ Think not to say, we have Abraham to our father.” You are not of the spiritual lineage of Abraham; you would never dare for God; you are content with the grovelling things, your gaze is never lifted to the eternal. God could raise up another Abraham, yea, of these stones he could raise up children worthier than you. As an illustration of what the fiery, indomitable prophet of the desert meant, let me remind you of something, perhaps, that may have crossed your lips but yesterday. Looking upon the degenerate son of a noble sire, what was it you remarked to your companion? “ His only recommendation is that he is his father’ s son.” Any worthless profligate who soils a noble name and brings degradation upon the record of a noble race receives and deserves the reprobation of honest men. The question whether England is Israel is not worth discussing, believe me. If you could prove it to-morrow, some John the Baptist might rise and tell you you are out of the spiritual succession altogether. This is merely the negative side of the question. The seed of Abraham in spirit and in truth are those who hear the Word of God speaking within their own hearts, and rise and go forth and obey. Hear what Jesus has to say on this theme in John 8:39. If Jesus is correctly reported by one who at any rate knew Him well, as addressing the indignant Jews, He says: “ I speak that which I have seen with My Father; and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’ s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill Me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.” We can classify easily the men that are of the quality of Abraham. Did these pharisaic time-servers, these bigoted Jews, who were questioning Jesus with the object of destroying Him, really think that they stood in the succession of him who was the friend of God? Verily they did; but the consciousness of humanity since has put them right. An Ambrose, in the early years of Christianity, a rough soldier, is chosen by the people, who know him and his character, to be their bishop; and now as prelate of Milan it is the duty of this erstwhile soldier to turn from the church door the bloodstained emperor who had been his commander. He dare not do otherwise, for he is serving a greater than the emperor. Here speaks the seed of Abraham. And who knows? God knows, maybe, that in this church this morning there are some of the lineage of Abraham of whom the world will never hear. The rest of us, perhaps, in the gaze of heaven, may have to be put in another category--the category of those who have not dared for justice and right and truth. There is one more thought suggested in our second text. There is something contained in the very phrase “ these stones,” which I think was not merely accidental. The prophet knew well what he meant: the stones are unpromising material Con version is a turning from sin and a turning towards God. Get firm hold of that fact. Feelings are an endowment which may or may not accompany it; but the man whose heart is right with holiness and truth, whose faith is turned that way, is of the seed of Abraham and the friend of God. I want you to recognise, what is the very truth, that Abraham had far less to guide him than you. He heard the same voice as you, but it had not told the world as much then as it has told it since. When you take up this Old Testament again and read of the wonders achieved by the heroes of old, remember that the voice that spake to them spake within their own hearts, and not without, just as it speaks now to you. This Abraham heard a voice, and he said he would obey it; he could trust it; he established his covenant with God, and it never failed him. How shall I know I am of the seed of Abraham? Is my face turned the way his was? How shall I know I belong to the Lord Christ? Here is my charter: “ Whosoever shall do the will of God (even seek to do it), the same is My brother and sister and mother.” Jesus will never turn away from His own spiritual kindred. Yet there may be one more experience here to which I ought to speak. There is, perhaps, a man who says, “ Ah yes; but I have made shipwreck of my career. Such lives as these may look back upon their life and say, ‘ I have done the best I could with my manhood.’ But I have failed; my road is strewn with the dust and ashes of vain regrets. ‘ The stones are the rubbish of the desert. They only serve to accentuate its desolation.’ Just so; I am the stones.” Well, I want you to hear a voice that I am fond of listening to--with deepest reverence be it spoken--One that spoke with authority;and I think you will agree with me it has power in it still:-- John 8:56 :“ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Picture the astonishment of those Jews. “ Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham?” Poor literalists! Abraham in his lonely desert vigil never saw Jesus; he had no foregleam of the day when Jesus should speak such words as these; but what he did have was the vision by which he saw the Sun of Righteousness arising in his own heart. That was Jesus’ day. The Abraham who spent his early days in a guilty household, in the midst of men who never thought of the unworthiness of serving God by lascivious rites and brutal deeds, one day said to himself, “ This life has to be left behind.” So soon as he had seen that, he had seen Jesus’ day, and he rose up and went out to meet it. And that is just what we have to do. For the same voice that spake to Abraham is speaking to the world to-day, is speaking through Jesus: “ Before Abraham was I am.” Children of Abraham, friends of Jesus, is not that voice speaking to you even now? (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)Scripture characters 1. There is in Scripture a hidden truth which we gradually become acquainted with, and which we may not thoroughly know for years. God has attached certain names and titles to men in the Bible which seem to have some great hidden meaning, as showing what character God approves. There are certain men to whose characters He has attached a distinct approval which is most striking. Abraham is called “ the friend of God” ; David, “ the man after God’ s own heart” ; St. John, “ the beloved disciple.” There is some deep meaning in each of these titles not to be passed by casually. 2. The characters of Holy Scripture are so various that we are impressed with the view that the Old Testament is a volume of character, written to show the application of religious privileges to the varieties of men. Look at Abraham. What is our first feeling in thinking of him? that is, in what did his character seem peculiar? In faith and unworldliness. In what David’ s? A tender love of God. In what St. John’ s? Love. Now how do they assimilate essentially with each other? Who else was especially faithful? Not so strikingly, Jacob or Isaac or Solomon. Abraham’ s faithfulness bore the great fruit of faithfulness, unworldliness. Samuel, Elijah, and Ezekiel were characters who seemed especially to have lived by faith, to have lived free of the world. How did Abraham differ from them? In having a tender disposition, a deeper well.spring of human feeling. He was a man of much strong and domestic affection, really attached to earthly ties, and mentioned in close connection with them throughout his history. The three characters, then, which are thus distinguished by especial names of God’ s favour, all agree in this respect, a deep and tender love in their dispositions; yet prevented from so ruling them as to draw off their faith from God, which faith was shown by a life of freedom from the world. 3. Let this, then, be the lesson and comfort we draw, that however little we may be living a life of public usefulness, yet a retired one may be the life God has placed us in. (E. Monte.)The friend of God (with James 2:23):--Abraham was called the friendof God because he was so. The name does not occur in his life as given in the Book of Genesis, and it has been questioned whether it occurs anywhere else in Holy Scripture; for many have preferred to translate the word in Isaiah, and in 2 Chronicles 20:7, as “ lover,” or “ beloved,” rather than “ friend.” However this may be, it is quite certain that among the Jewish people Abraham was frequently spoken of as “ the friend of God.” At this present moment, among the Arabs and other Mohammedans, the name of Abraham is not often mentioned, but they speak of him as Khalil Allah, or the “ friend of God,” or more briefly as of Khalil, “ the friend.” Those tribes which boast of their descent from him through Ishmael, or through the sons of Keturah, greatly reverence the patriarch, and are wont to speak of him under the name which the Holy Spirit here ascribes to him. It is a noble title, not to be equalled by all the names of greatness which have been bestowed by princes, even if they should all meet in one. Patents of nobility are mere vanity when laid side by side with this transcendent honour. I think I hear you say, “ Yes, it was indeed a high degree to which Abraham reached: so high that we cannot attain unto it.” Think not so. We also may be called friends of God (John 15:14). I. A TITLE TO BE AT. 1. Admire and adore the condescending God, who thus makes of a man, like ourselves, His friend. In this case the august Friend displays His pure love, since He has nothing to gain. Surely God does not need friends. How sweet it is to mingle the current of our life with that of some choice bosom friend! Can God have a friend? Friend ship cannot all be on one side. In this particular instance it is intended that we should know that while God was Abraham’ s Friend, this was not all; but Abraham was God’ s friend. He received and returned the friendship of God. Friendship creates a measure of equality between the persons concerned. I say not that absolute equality is at all necessary to friendship, for a great king may have a firm friend in one of the least of his subjects; but the tendency is towards an equalising of the two friends: the one comes down gladly, and the other rises up in sympathy. Friendship begets fellowship, and this bridges over the dividing gulf. We must keep our place, or we shall not be friends. 2. Note the singular excellence of Abraham. How could he have been God’ s friend had not grace wrought wonderfully in him? Although a plain man, dwelling in tents, the father of the faithful is always a right royal personage. A calm dignity surrounds him, and the sons of Heth and the kings of Egypt feel its power. His character is well balanced. 3. Note some of the points in which this Divine friendship showed itself. (1) The Lord often visited Abraham. (2) Secrets were disclosed. (3) Compacts were entered into. On certain grand occasions we read: “ The Lord made a covenant with Abram.” (4) This friendship resulted in the bestowal of innumerable benefits. The life of Abraham was rich with mercies. (5) Since Abraham was God’ s friend, God accepted his pleadings, and was moved by his influence. (6) There was also between these friends a mutual love and delight. Abraham rejoiced in Jehovah! He was his shield, and his exceeding great reward, and the Lord Himself delighted to commune with Abraham. The serenity of the patriarch’ s life was caused by his constant joy in God. (7) This friendship was maintained with great constancy. The Lord never forsook Abraham: even when the patriarch erred, the Lord remembered and rescued him. He did not cast him off in old age. Constancy is also seen on the human side of this renowned friendship. Abraham did not turn aside to worship any false god. (8) The Lord kept His friendship to Abraham by favouring his posterity. That is what our text,, tells us. The Lord styled rebellious” Israel, “ the seed of Abraham, My friend. II. THE TITLE . Abraham was the friend of God in a truthful sense. There was great propriety and fulness of meaning in the name as applied to him. 1. Abraham’ s trust in God was implicit. He “ staggered not at the promise through unbelief,” for he knew that what the Lord had promised He was able also to perform. 2. There was joined to this implicit trust a practical confidence as to the accomplishment of everything that God had promised. 3. Abraham’ s obedience to God was unquestioning. 4. Abraham’ s desire for God’ s glory was uppermost at all times. 5. Abraham’ s communion with God was constant. III. Regard this name as THE TITLE TO BE SOUGHT AFTER. Oh, that we may get to ourselves this good degree, this diploma, “ friend of God” ! 1. You must be fully reconciled to Him. 2. We must exercise a mutual choice. The God who has chosen you must be chosen by you. 3. There must be a conformity of heart, and will, and design, and character to God. 4. There must be a continual intercourse. The friend of God must not spend a day without God, and he must undertake no work apart from his God. 5. If we are to be friends of God, we must be co partners with Him. 6. Friendship, if it exists, will breed mutual delight. IV. THE TITLE TO BE for practical purposes. 1. Here is a great encouragement to the people of God. See what possibilities lie before you! 2. Here is a solemn thought for those who would be friends of God. A man’ s friend must show himself friendly, and behave with tender care for his friend. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee “ Fear thou not!” I. THE IN WHICH GOD HIS PEOPLE. They are poor and needy. It is necessary that God should have room in which to work. Emptiness to receive Him; weakness to be empowered by Him. It is into the empty branch that the vine-sap pours; into the hollowed basin that the water flows; the weakness of the child gives scope for the man’ s strength. II. THE THAT HE MAKES TO THEM. No height, however bare, nor depth, however profound, can separate us from His love. III. THE DIVINE FOR THEIR NEED. Life is not easy for any of us, if we regard the external conditions only: but directly we learn the Divine secret, rivers flow over bare heights in magnificent cascades; fountains arise in the rock-strewn sterile valleys; the wilderness becomes a pool (Isaiah 41:17-18). To the ordinary eye it is probable that there would appear no difference. Still the tiny garret, and the wasting illness; still the pining child; still the straitened circumstances--still the deferred hope. But the eye of faith beholds a paradise of beauty, murmuring brooks filling the air with melody, leafy trees spreading their shade. What makes the difference? What does faith see? How is she able to work such transformations? 1. Faith is conscious that God is there, and that His presence is the complement of every need. To her eye common desert bushes burn with His Shechinah 2. Faith recognises the reality of an eternal choice, that God has entered into a covenant which cannot be dissolved, and that His love and fidelity are bound to finish the work He has commenced. 3. Faith knows that there is a loving purpose running through every moment of trial, and that the Great Refiner has a meaning in every degree of heat to which the furnace is raised; and she anticipates the moment when she will see what God has foreseen all the time, and towards which He has been working. 4. Faith realises that others are learning from her experiences lessons which nothing else would teach them; and that glory is accruing to God in the highest, because men and angels see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it (Isaiah 41:20). (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)No fear for God’ s people I. THE SPEAKER. The words derive all their importance from this. So many are our enemies, so mighty, so subtle, so malignant, so ceaseless in their attacks, that all finite beings would be powerless to help. We want Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence on our side. A patience, a compassion, a pity, a love that belongs only to God. We want One to help who embraces all being, all time, all eternity. We want even more than this. We want One who has engaged all these perfections on our behalf. We want even more than this: One who stands in the tenderest relation to us in all these. And such is the Speaker of these words. II. THE PERSONS TO WHOM SPOKEN. Literally to His ancient people. But spiritually to all the people of God, the true descendants of Jacob, everywhere, in all ages. They need them in every stage of their journey, every moment of their lives, every step they take. They are strangers on the earth. The world is a strange place to them, and they are strangers in it. The path which their are treading was never trod by them before. The religion of the world is not theirs; its habits, amusements, principles, practice, are all foreign to them. It is a strange land, and hostile too, for there is much in it that opposes them. They are sailors on a stormy ocean, where sun and stars in many days appear not, and no small tempest lies on them. They are soldiers in a field of hard fighting; their enemies vastly out-number them, overmatch them, and besides this, in themselves they are but weak, yea, powerless, and, unless perpetually encouraged, timid. III. THE WORDS . “ Fear not.” He says it more than seventy times in the Scripture. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)Fear not Three times within the compass of a few verses, the exhortation, “ Fear not,” is given. I. THE . “ Fear not.” A great honour comes to anyone who is thus addressed by God. It shows that God cares for that person, and desires to live on terms of intimacy with him; for God binds His friends to Him by ties of love as well as reverence. True religion differs from false in this respect. How wonderful to hear God say to any man, “ Fear not” ; because all have reason to fear Him. Ever since Adam hid himself in the garden, fear has been characteristic of our attitude towards God. We sin against Him. He hates and punishes sin. Does it not look like mockery for us sinners to be told, “ Fear not” ? Terror often disappears as a fuller knowledge is gained of the object which caused it. Friday trembled all over on first meeting Robinson Crusoe; but soon his terror vanished. Much of our fear of God arises from ignorance; and will vanish when the light of the knowledge of God in Christ dawns on our souls. II. THE GROUNDS ON WHICH THIS IS BASED. Remember that God never gives His children a stone when they ask Him for bread. If He says, “ Fear not,” He means it. Why “ Fear not” ? “ I am with thee,” He assures Israel How tenderly God speaks to Israel in Isaiah 41:8-9. His voice is like that of a mother crooning to her child--Israel, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend, I have taken thee, and called thee, and chosen thee, and not cast thee away. God is nearer to us than He was to even the Old Testament saints. Immanuel means “ God with us.” III. THIS TEACHES US TO CLING TO CHRIST ALL THROUGH LIFE. Lord Chamberlain Leslie was once riding through a dangerous ford with the Queen of Scotland sitting behind, in the old fashion, and fastened to him by a belt. As she slipped backwards during the steep ascent, out of the river, the Lord Chamberlain shouted encouragingly, “ Grip fast.” “ Ay,” said Her Majesty, “ gin the buckle baud” They landed safely, and to make security double sure in the future, two additional buckles were sewed on to the belt. God’ s command to us regarding Christ is, “ Grip fast.” The bond that binds a believing sinner to Him will never break. Why, then, should we fear? (D. A.Mackinnon, M. A.)Encouragement not to fear I. THE TEMPER OF SPIRIT that the Lord aims to reduce His people unto. “ Fear not; be not dismayed.” Quietness, settledness, and undauntedness of spirit. II. THE COURSE HE TAKES to reduce them to it. A proposal of motives and arguments of sufficient effect and prevalency to pull down vain fear out of the heart. (T. Crisp, D. D.)Fear, and its remedy. I. WHAT IT IS FOR A PERSON NOT TO FEAR, nor be dismayed. Fear is a very distracting, disturbing, confounding passion; it is a kind of besetting passion that makes men lose themselves, especially if it be in the extremity of fear; it ariseth from an apprehension of some unavoidable, insupportable evil growing upon a person, and occasioned either by some symptoms of that evil, or by some messenger or other relating it, or by some foresight of it in the eye. Now, as evil appears greater or lesser, and more or less tolerable, so the passion of fear is more or less in persons. II. WHAT THE PEOPLE OF GOD SHOULD NOT FEAR. There is a threefold fear; a natural, a religious, and a turbulent fear. A natural fear is nothing else but such an affection as is in men by nature, that they cannot be freed from; such a fear was in Christ Himself, without sin. A religious fear is nothing but an awful reverence, whereby people keep a fit distance between the glorious majesty of God and the meanness of a creature. A turbulent fear is a fear of disquietness. Now all disquieting fear is that which the Lord endeavours to take off from His people. 1. The people of God need not be afraid of their sins. I do not say they must not be afraid to sin (Romans 8:1). 2. Neither ought we to fear the sins of others. They cannot do God’ s people any hurt. 3. They that have God for their God must not be afraid of men. III. WHAT THE FRUIT OF FEAR IS; or what prejudice or disadvantage fear and dismayedness bring along with them. 1. Fearfulness of spirit casts many slanders upon God. Upon His power, His faithfulness, His care and providence, the freeness of His grace, the efficacy of the sufferings of Christ. 2. As it respects God’ s service. (1) It is the cut-throat of believing. (2) It is prejudicial to all religious duties: it is a damper to prayer. It makes all duties merely selfish. Fear puts a man beside his wits, that while he is in such a passion, he is to seek for common ways of safety; so that, whereas men think that fear will help them to avoid danger, commonly, in amazement, you shall have people stand still, not able to stir to save themselves. Besides, this fear is such a torment, that commonly those evils so much feared, prove not so hurtful nor evil to a person as the present fears; and, besides this, it many times doth not only daunt the spirit of a man in himself, but proves very dangerous to others. IV. GOD’ S MOTIVES, by which He attempts to prevail over the spirits of His people, not to be afraid or dismayed, come what can or may. God is our God. 1. What is it for God to be our God? While you have all things else but this, you have the rays of the sun; while you have this, you have the sun itself in its brightness and lustre. “ I am thy God,” is as much as to say, Thou hast a propriety in Me. God’ s all-sufficiency reaches beyond all wants. 2. What a person hath in this. There are three particulars whereby specially you may observe what great treasure people have in having God. (1) In regard of the quality of the treasure. (2) In regard of the virtue of it. The quintessence of all virtues is in Him. (3) In regard of the sovereignty, universality, and variety of help in it. 3. How it is so well with those that are the Lord’ s. God, in giving Himself unto persons, gives Himself to be communicated unto them at sundry seasons, and in divers kinds and measures, and yet so that He will be the judge of the fitness of the time. 4. How He becomes their God, and upon what terms. The gift of Him is as cheap as it is rich. He never looks the creature should bring anything that he might procure it. 5. How He will be found of them. The way of finding out God efficiently to be our God, is the Spirit of the Lord. God makes Himself known passively to be the God of His people, by the word of His grace, and faith laying hold upon it revealed, and more subordinately in prayer, fasting, receiving of the Lord’ s supper, and such ordinances, so far as they are mixed with faith. (T. Crisp, D. D.)Fear conquered. Many good people are full of fears. Bunyan says of Mr. Fearing, “ He was a man that had the root of the matter in him, but he was one of the most troublesome pilgrims that I ever met with in all my days.” Many things may help us to conquer our fears. I. IT IS WRONG TO FEAR. We are quite safe in God’ s hands, and fear is really unbelief. It dishonours God. II. IT US FROM DOING OUR DUTY. If a gardener is afraid to sow his seed he will have no flowers, or if the farmer is afraid to plough he will have no crop. If a boy is afraid it is of no use to try for the prize, he will not get it. Fear is ruinous to our work. III. IT OTHERS (Numbers 13:31-33; Numbers 14:1). Fear kept the Israelites out of the promised land. IV. IT IS . We are afraid because the dangers seem so great, or the work so hard, and ourselves so weal But we forget who is for us--more than all that can be against us. 1. God is with us. 2. God is our God. What a possession God is! (1) Vast. (2) Rich. (3) Secure. (4) Everlasting. 3. God will strengthen us as He did David and Samson. 4. He will hold us up by His right hand. Who then can lay us low? Away then with fear for ever. (R. Brewin.)Never despair I. GOD’ S PEOPLE PASS THROUGH . II. GOD’ S PEOPLE. III. GOD IS WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THE DAY OF THEIR TROUBLE. IV. A . “ I am with thee.” 1. Your fellow-men may ridicule you because you have become religious. 2. In your trade you may have to pass through much tribulation. 3. You may have felt much fear about making a profession of your faith. 4. Temporal calamity often visits the people of God. 5. There may be affliction and pain coming to you. V. AN TO SINNERS. You say this invitation is not in the text. Never mind, I must go over hedge and ditch to call the sinner to Jesus. (W. Birch.)Missionary encouragement The missionary could not take with him a higher word of manifold comfort than is here contained. I. THE COMMAND. 1. “ Fear not, thou.” Fear throws a paralysis over the senses and faculties of man, so that flight and safety are more thought of than holding one’ s ground, or making headway against the enemy. 2. “ Be not dismayed.” If one have fear, he loses both courage and hope; and in this state no valuable work can be done. The soldiers of the first French Revolution Were destitute of fear, and by nothing dismayed; hence, all the armies of Europe prevailed not against them, until, in the terms of Carlyle, they had provoked all men, and the Gaelic fire had kindled another kind of fire--the Teutonic kind. II. ITS GROUND. 1. “ I am with thee.” God promised Moses that His presence should go with him; and without that, said Moses, send me not up. 2. “ For I am thy God.” It is Jehovah that speaks, who created the universe and governs it still. 3. “ I will strengthen thee.” God will renew not merely such strength as is natural to us, but a surplusage of strength for special service. In the strength of heavenly food and drink” Elijah “ went forty days and forty nights.” 4. “ Yea, I will help thee.” Joseph in Egypt, or Daniel in Babylon, would have been destroyed by their enemies, and would never have become prime ministers but for the Divine interposition. 5. “ Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.” The right hand is an emblem of power--here, of omnipotent power--so that the work of righteousness which you do shall never cease. Truth is omnipotent, and shall rule the eternal years. III. ITS . 1. If God be for us in mission work, who can be against us? 2. If He favour and command it, how can it ever cease? Deus vult, said Peter the Hermit, and for two centuries the Crusades flamed on high. 3. If truth and righteousness he eternal, how bold and hopeful ought the missionary to be! The Gospel is stronger than the strongest battalions. (Homiletic Review.)The Christian’ s fears and the Christian’ s encouragement I. THE ’ S FEARS. It may be asked why does the Christian fear? I answer, because of his knowledge. Do you say, “ If this be so, then ignorance is bliss” ? I answer, No. I do not say that our knowledge causes our danger, I only say it produces our fear. I may be in danger and not know it; but my ignorance does not diminish my danger; it rather increases it. See Captain Williams in the Atlantic. He is asleep in his cabin; maybe dreaming of wife, and home, and joys to come. He knows nothing of the rocks ahead on which, in a few moments, the vessel may dash, and where many a precious life will soon be gone for ever. If he were awake, there would be agony in his face instead of a smile; but there would be a chance of escape. His knowledge would produce fear, but might lead to safety. So with the sinner; he enters upon this year amidst smiles and songs, and little dreams that ere the next year comes he will be in eternity. If he were to awake there would be deep anxiety, but that anxiety might end in life and heaven. The Christian, however, is awake. 1. He knows that he is on trial for eternity. 2. That he is surrounded by enemies. 3. He knows himself: every day he lives he makes discoveries of his character that fill him with shame and sorrow. His constant acknowledgment is, “ By the grace of God I am what I am.” 4. He knows that many a fellow-soldier has fallen. II. THE ’ S . 1. There is the assurance of God’ s presence. 2. There are several exceeding great and precious promises. Conclusion--“ To whom wilt thou flee for help? and where wilt thou leave thy glory?” Talk about destitution, there are none so destitute as those who have no God. (C. Garrett.)Courage There is no virtue more highly and widely esteemed than courage, and no vice more generally detested than cowardice. Courage makes heroes, and amongst the ancients, at least, heroes were second in rank to the gods. Amongst savage tribes it may almost be said that courage is the only virtue, for without it all other good qualities lose their value, and where it exists it covers a multitude of sins. This is also the virtue which children most admire. Jack the Giant Killer is a story of perennial interest to the children. Nor is hero-worship a thing unknown among older people. I. THE NEED FOR COURAGE. Courage is the quality which enables one to resist. It is the power to say “ No.” II. THE NATURE OF COURAGE. Courage displays itself in many ways. It may be seen on the battlefield, and in the quiet endurance of difficulties in the home. It may be seen in maintaining unpopular opinions amid difficult or dangerous circumstances, or in meeting death with unblanched cheek. What is courage? 1. Courage is not blindness to danger. It is no virtue to be unconcerned in the presence of dangers, about which one is totally ignorant. The greatest courage often goes along with the keenest sense of danger. The young officer who was fighting by the side of an old veteran was surprised to find his face blanched with fear. The young man being reckless of danger himself, asked with considerable surprise, “ You are not afraid, are you?” “ I am afraid,” was the reply; “ and if you were half as afraid as I am you would run.” Two of our Lord’ s disciples once displayed the courage of ignorance. When Christ asked them if they were able to drink of the cup which He should drink, and be baptized with His baptism, they readily replied that they were able. They -were unconscious of the greatness of the task to which they were willing to pledge themselves. 2. Courage is a true estimate of dangers. “ Knowledge is the antidote to fear.” “ Courage is equality to the problem before us.” Socrates was condemned to drink the hemlock cup because he taught the youth of Athens noble truths about God, which were esteemed by the authorities as heresy. He might have won his life by a recantation, or an apology to his judges. He preferred death, when the executioner brought in the poison cup, the friends who were gathered round him wept, and Socrates alone was calm. He explained to them that he knew it was a dangerous thing to tell a lie; but that it might even be a blessing to die. At least he would not do what he knew to be evil, in preference to suffering what might possibly be evil, or what might even prove a blessing. The lie was the greater danger. III. MOTIVES FOR COURAGE. The possession of such courage is to be coveted. How is it to be gained? what motive can be found sufficient to inspire one to such acts of bravery? 1. Pity for the oppressed. 2. Consciousness of companionship. 3. Knowledge that the cause is God’ s. (R. C. Ford, M. A.)Fear and dismay--an antidote There is no doubt of the fact that we have all some fears, and that there are moments when we are dismayed, for life stands connected not only with to-day and man, but with God and eternity. The words of our text come to those who are faithful. I. THE REASONS WHY SOME OF GOD’ S PEOPLE HAVE AT TIMES TO FEAR AND EVEN TO BE . 1. Our own nature is our enemy. In its depravity, in its ungodliness, the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other. 2. Then there are these things that surround us, and those people who constitute the world around. 3. Then there is the great enemy. God often teaches us our inability. Is it not a solemn thing to stand in the midst of these enemies with that other world coming., and Christ to be the Judge? Is it not a solemn life when we think of all its responsibilities, if we are not found looking to the true source and finding the true power? II. THE IN THE TEXT. 1. “ Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God.” Do not imagine for a moment that it is your wants that bring to you this succour. The tendency with us all is always to make it our doing. Let us lay aside the thought that we have any power, and remember that from first to last it is all of grace. The first encouragement, then, is found in the Divine presence: “ I am with thee.” 2. But there is yet a deeper depth. Sometimes the spirit of dismay comes over us. What will be the end? Cast away? What does the prophet tell us in regard to our covenant-keeping God? “ Be not dismayed, for I am thy God.” Here is the most endearing relationship in the universe! There is not an angel in heaven but feels as he thinks of God that he is all safe. Now it is the same relationship between us and God; nay, it is a more sanctified one, for it is a relationship which exhibits the infinitude of His love, the unspeakableness of His mercy. 3. “ I am thy God, I will strengthen thee.” One of the finest things that one finds after affliction is when the strength is returning and weakness is departing. There is a gladness and a gratitude in connection with such an experience as this which only those who have been afflicted can know. The downcast ones who are in the depths and ready to perish, ready to faint by the way, in that condition hear a voice; and what does it say to them? “ I will strengthen thee.” 4. That is not all. “ I will help thee.” Now this implies one step further. It implies that you and I have a burden, and as we are going through the world we are carrying it; but the burden is too heavy for us. We are tired; we are overloaded, and there is one Traveller by our side who can help us. 5. Then His support is effectual. “ Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.” There is no left-hand work with God; no sinister work; it is all right-hand work with Him. And then all that is with it and all that it introduces is righteousness. I know of no encouragement like this text if we properly appreciate it. (A. M. Brown, LL. D.)God’ s all-sufficiency a reason for fearlessness God can be God and fearless, but we can scarcely be creatures and fearless. Still less is it likely that sinful creatures should be fearless. It is more than the Father looks for under the present mode of our existence. But when the fearful thing is coming down, or when the children see it looming in the distance and are frightened, and they catch the Father’ s countenance, and see that He is not frightened, it wonderfully reassures the poor children to see a fearlessness on the Father’ s face. Heaven is full of “ Fear nots.” And if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, it will break out of your midnight, and up from your deepest valley too, that voice of the Father, the All-in-all. I. The meaning of the word is that GOD IS OUR ALL-, and not dis-related, but related to us. II. THE USE THE SHOULD MAKE OF THIS OF THEIR FATHER. See what liberties we take with God’ s earth--We get stones wherever we like. They are not our stones. And we get gold wherever we like, and we get iron wherever we like, and we get coal wherever we can. I hope the day will come when, even without thought or intention, we shall, from the new nature of our being, take up God as easily as the blade of grass takes up atmosphere and light. Let us enter our home--enter and be comforted, as all helpless things are, to find their source ofsupply so near. And let us not leave our nest and then fret that our rest is gone, but abide encircled by the everlasting strength. (J. Pulsford.)The sweet harp of consolation We sometimes speak very lightly of doubts and fears; but such is not God’ s estimate of them- Our Heavenly Father evidently considers them to be great evils, extremely mischievous to us, and exceedingly dishonourable to Himself, for He very frequently forbids our fears, and as often affords us the most potent remedies for them. “ Fear not” is a frequent utterance of the Divine mouth. “ I am with thee” is the fervent, soul-cheering argument to support it. Martin Luther used to say, that to comfort a desponding spirit is as difficult as to raise the dead; but, then, we have a God who both raises the dead from their graves and His people from their despair. Saul was subject to fits of deep despondency, but when David, the skilful harper, laid his hand among the obedient strings, the evil spirit departed, overcome by the subduing power of melody. My text is such a harp. I. WE SHALL NOTE THE TIMES WHEN ITS SWEET STRAINS ARE MOST NEEDED. Occasions when comfort is needed are many; for some there be, who, like the willow, will only flourish in a soil which is always wet with consolation. If their mothers did not bear them with sorrow, like Jabez, they commenced very early on their own account to accumulate a heritage of woe. As John Bunyan would say, they need not be afraid of the Slough of Despond, for they carry a slough within their own hearts, and are never out of it, or it is never out of them. They are plants which flourish best in shady places, among the damps of sorrow. They delight most to dwell in the Valley of Humiliation; and when they are journeying through that peaceful vale, like Mr. Fearing, they could lie down and kiss the flowers, because the place is so suitable to their meek and lowly spirit. There is something sadly weak about this state of experience, though there is also much to admire: these are they whom the Master carries in His bosom, and doth gently lead. More or less, believers need consolation at all times, because their life is a very peculiar one. 1. Yet are there special occasions when the Comforter’ s work is needed, and one of these certainly is when we are racked with much physical pain. Many bodily pains can be borne without affecting the mind, but there are others whose sharp fangs insinuate themselves into the marrow of our nature, boring their way most horribly through the brain and the spirit: for these much grace is wanted 2. When the trouble comes in another shape, namely, in our relative sorrows, borne personally by those dear to us. 3. When all the currents of providence run counter to us. 4. Some of us know what it is to hear this voice of God in the midst of unusual responsibilities, heavy labours, and great enterprises. 5. Did you ever stand, as a servant of God, alone in the midst of opposition? Have you heard the clamour of many, some saying this thing, and some the other--some saying, “ He is a good man,” but others saying, “ Nay, but he decieveth the people” ? Did you never feel the delight of saying, “ The best of all is, God is with us; and, in the name of God, instead of folding up the standard, we will set up our banners.” If you have ever passed through that ordeal, then have you needed the words, “ Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God.” “ Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass?” 6. We shall want this word of comfort most of all when we go down the shelving banks of the black river. 7. After death, we read in this Word of great events, what shall happen to us; but we feebly comprehend the revelation. Solemnities shall follow which may well strike a man with awe as he thinks upon them. What about that future? Why, faith can look forward to it without a single tremor; she fears not, for she hears the voice of the everlasting God saying to her, “ I am with thee.” Thus have I mentioned a few of the occasions in which this harp sounds most sweetly. All through life I may picture the saints as marching to its music, even as the children of Israel set forward to the notes of the silver trumpets. II. We come to you, harp in hand, and pray you TO HEAR ITS NOTES. The sweetness of all the notes melt into each other, but now we shall touch each string severally and by itself, and if you have an educated ear you will hear that which will solace your souls. “ Fear thou not; for I am with thee.” What does it mean? 1. “ I am with thee in deepest sympathy.” When you suffer, you suffer not a new pang; Christ knew that pain long ago. 2. The Lord is with us in community of interests. That is to say, if the believer should fail, God himself would be dishonoured. Luther rejoiced greatly whenever he felt that he had brought God into his quarrel. “ Well,” said he, “ if it were I, Martin Luther, and the Pope of Rome who had to fight it out, I might well despair; but if it be the Pope against Martin Luther and Martin Luther’ s God, then woe be unto Antichrist.” God is in the quarrel of the man who attacks error; God is in the quarrel of the man who is trying to do good, to reclaim his fellow-creatures from sin, and to establish the kingdom of Christ. Ay, and when you can quote a Divine promise, God is engaged in your affairs, because if He do not keep that promise, He is not true. It is with us as it is with the timid traveller in the Alps, who is attended by a faithful guide. He shivers as he passes under overhanging cliffs, or glides down shelving precipices, or climbs the slippery steeps of glaciers, but if his guide has linked himself with him he is reassured. The guide has said, “ You are trembling, sir, but the way is safe; I have passed it many a time with many a traveller as weak as you are. But to reassure you and make you feel how safe you are, see here!” and he straps a rope round the traveller and round himself. “ Now,” says he, “ both of us or neither. We shall both get safely home or neither.” 3. The next string of the harp gives this sound, “ I am with thee in providential aid.” In the old days of the post horses, there were always relays of swift horses ready to carry onward the king’ s mails. It is wonderful how God has His relays of providential agents; how when He has done with one, there is always another just ready to take his place. 4. God is with us in secret sustaining power. He well knows how, if He do not interpose openly, to deliver us in trouble, to infuse strength into our sinking hearts. I have read of those who bathe in those baths of Germany which are much impregnated with iron, that they have felt after bathing as if they were made of iron, and were able in the heat of the sun to cast off the heat as though they were dressed in steel. Happy indeed are they who bathe in the bath of such a promise as this, “ I am with thee!” 5. There is a way by which the Lord can be with His people, which is best of all, namely, by sensible manifestations of His presence, imparting joy and peace which surpass all understanding. III. MUCH UPON THE OF THOSE NOTES. 1. The comfort of my text excels all other comfort under heaven. 2. There is all the comfort here that heaven itself could afford. The Manx people have for their motto three legs, so that whichever way you throw them they are sure to stand; but as for the saints, it is impossible for them to be thrown down by misfortune, or even by the infernal powers. We shall stand, for God upholds us. Now divide the words, and view them separately. “ I AM.” Know you what this meaneth? God is selfexistent, eternal, independent, sitting on no precarious throne, nor borrowing leave to be. It is no other than “ JEHOVAH,” “ JAH,” “ I AM.” who has become the Friend of His people. Note the tense of it--not “ I was,” not “ I shall be,” but “ I am.” We have yesterday, to-day, and for ever, the same great “ I am.” “ I am” --what? “ I am with thee,” poor, feeble thing as thou art. IV. Though I have spoken of my text as a harp yielding rarest music, yet IT NEEDS THAT THE EAR BE TUNED BEFORE ITS MUSIC CAN BE . It is not every man that understands the delights of harmony, even in ordinary music. So there are tens of thousands of men who know nothing at all of what it is to have God with them. Yea, this would be their dread; they would be glad to escape from God if they could. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Fear and its antidote To whom are these words spoken? We must not steal from God’ s Scripture any more than from man’ s treasury. They were spoken-- 1. To God’ s chosen ones (Isaiah 41:8). 2. To those whom God has called (Isaiah 41:9). 3. They are God’ s servants, doing His will (Isaiah 41:8). 4. They are those whom He has not rejected from His service, in spite of the imperfections of which they are penitently conscious (Isaiah 41:9). To these every honey-dropping word of this text belongs. I. A VERY COMMON DISEASE OF GOOD MEN--FEAR. 1. This disease came into man’ s heart with sin (Genesis 3:8). 2. Fear continues in good men because sin continues in them. 3. Fear coming in by sin, and being sustained by sin, readily finds food upon which it may live. 4. If fear finds food within, it also readily finds food without. Poverty, sickness, etc. 5. In certain instances the habit of fearing has reached a monstrous growth. 6. Even the strongest of God’ s servants are sometimes the subjects of fear 1 Kings 19:4). II. GOD’ S COMMAND AGAINST FEAR. “ Fear thou not; be not dismayed.” That precept is absolute and unqualified; we are not to fear at all Why? 1. Because it is sinful. It almost always results from unbelief, the sin of sins. 2. It feeds sin. 3. It injures yourself. 4. It weakens the believer’ s influence and so causes mischief to others. III. THE WHICH GOD GIVES TO PREVENT PEAR AND DISMAY. 1. Many a man fears because he is afraid of loneliness. You are not alone, because God is with you. 2. Men fear they may lose all they have in the world, and they know very well that if they lose their property they usually lose their friends. Your goods may go, but your God will not. 3. Fear sometimes arises from a sense of personal weakness. “ I will strengthen thee.” God can, if He wills it, put Samson’ s strength into an infant’ s arm. 4. Some fear that friendly succour will fail. If the work on which we have set our hearts is God’ s work, He will send to our aid all the succour we need. 5. Many a child of God is afflicted with a fear that he shall one day, in some unguarded moment, bring dishonour upon the Cross of Christ. This is a very natural, and in some respects a very proper fear. “ I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Helpful presence It was said of Simpson, the discoverer of chloroform, that his presence in a sick-room half cured his patients. Pain lost half its terror, and seemed to expect its dismission, once he stood by the sick. (J. A.Davies, B. D.)A trinity of Divine forces “ Strengthen,” “ help,” “ uphold,” a trinity of Divine forces, a triple wall of Divine protection. “ If God be for us, who can be against us?” (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)A grand staircase When the late Dr. William Anderson lay dying, his friend, Mr. Logan, read this passage to him, and the noble old man at once seized it, and looking at his friend, said with great emphasis, “ What a grand staircase that is up which to go to God!” (C. Garrett.)Security in God’ s company If Caesar could say to the fearful ferryman, in a terrible storm, “ Be of good cheer; thou carriest Caesar, and therefore canst not miscarry,” how much more may he presume to be safe that hath God in his company! A child in the dark fears nothing while he hath his father by the hand. (J. Trapp.)The protection of God’ s presence Zwingle, in spite of all the machinations of his enemies, went about unharmed. It was as though an unseen bodyguard encompassed him, and his enemies despaired of attaining their end. “ God is with me,” he said; “ and with Him on my side I fear my enemies as little as the crag fears the ocean’ s foam.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)God a background Dr. Dale of Birmingham, towards the close of his life, made the following entry in his diary: “ Of course, when Sir Andrew Clark was sent for, and--and--came, I understood that my position was regarded as critical. I was too weak, however, to be much moved by it--too weak to find much direct consolation in the eternal springs of strength and joy. God was a kind of background to everything--hardly discerned, but there; this was all.” (Life of R. W. Dale.)General Gordon’ s faith “ I go as alone,” wrote General Gordon, as he started from Cairo to Khartoum, “ with an infinite almighty God to direct and guide me, and I am so called to trust in Him, as to fear nothing, and, indeed, to feel sure of success.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)I will help theeGod’ s “ I wills” I will, I will, I will. Oh, the rhetoric of God! Oh, the certainty of the promise! (J. Trapp.)The best Helper Two persons are spoken of here: “ I” and “ thee.” “ I,” the person speaking, is our God and Saviour; and “ thee,” the person spoken to, means everybody who needs His help and seeks it. There are four reasons why Jesus is the best Helper. I. BECAUSE HE IS ALWAYS NEAR TO HELP. God is always near when people are in trouble. He always could help them if He saw it best. But sometimes He sees good reasons for not helping those who are in need. II. BECAUSE HE IS ALWAYS ABLE TO HELP. III. BECAUSE HE IS ALWAYS WILLING TO HELP. He may not always be willing to help us just at the time, or in the way we desire,--that may not be best; but in His own time and way He is always willing to help. IV. BECAUSE HE IS ALWAYS KIND IN HELPING. There are some people who are willing and able to help others, and who do help them too, but it is done in a very rough manner. (R. Newton, D. D.)Our Helper I. WHO MAKES THE PROMISE? A promise is nothing to me unless I have good security that it will be kept. When a man makes a promise to me that he will do so and so, I value the promise according to his ability and disposition to make it good. If, now, you read from Isaiah 41:10, you will see who it is that promises help. It is a well-guaranteed promise. He who made you knows all about you. His knowledge of you is even more exact than is the watchmaker’ s knowledge of the delicate machinery which he takes apart and puts together again. II. HOW MUCH WE ALL NEED HELP. We begin to need it in many ways as soon as we are born, and we never cease to need it as long as we live. (J. W. Teal.)God’ s help A minister was one day bringing his books upstairs into another room, for he was going to have his study on the first floor, instead of downstairs, and his little boy wanted to help father carry some of the books. “ Now,” said the father, “ I knew he could not do it, but as he wanted to be doing something, to please him and to do him good by encouraging his industry, I told him he might take a book and carry it up.” So away he went, and picked out one of the biggest volumes--Caryl on Job or Poli Synopsis, I should think--and when he had climbed a step or two up the stairs, down he sat and began to cry. He could not manage to carry his big book any farther; he was disappointed and unhappy. How did the matter end? Why, the father had to go to the rescue, and carry both the great book and the little man. So, when the Lord gives us a work to do, we are glad to do it, but our strength is not equal to the work, and then we sit down and cry, and it comes to this, that our blessed Father carries the work and carries the little man too, and then it is all done and done gloriously. (C. H.Spurgeon.) Isaiah 41:13 For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand The Christian’ s help I. IT IS A HELP. “ I will help thee.” When the religious element was strongly felt amongst the Jews, they looked to the King eternal for guidance and protection; nothing but His counsel would satisfy them. Man seems to have the special intuition of a personal God, as if nothing but personal contact with Him could revive the latent powers. Truth in the abstract cannot touch the heart so as to cause an inner revolution. Truth must come from God as from a living Being. II. THIS HELP WILL BE GIVEN ONLY IN THE WAY OF . The children of Israel had departed from the right way, and as long as they sought their own gratification they could not expect help from the God of their fathers. The way of righteousness is not the most pleasant at all times for flesh and blood, but it is always the safest. III. IT IS THE MOST TENDER AND HELP WITHIN THE REACH OF MAN. The Jewish people were bruised by their terrible fall, they had but little strength left, they were almost hopeless of ever seeing their own country. The Lord knew their helplessness, so these words are full of the greatest kindness. The way of holiness, the way to heaven, is so strange to a person who has defiled himself with sin that but little progress could be made without a guide. So the Lord tenderly takes each traveller by the hand. (Homilist.)The promised help I. THE LORD GIVETH . What a precious truth is this, if believed in, to such a feeble creature as man. It is as a covenant God in Christ that the Lord comforts the believing soul with the promise, “ I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand,” etc. The Lord “ thy” God. II. MAN NEEDS THE which the Lord promises, and which He alone can give. Man needs strength for obedience to God’ s holy laws. Vain is the help or salvation of man, even far more in things spiritual and eternal than in our temporal concerns; so that those who trust in and pray to saints and angels, and expect salvation from them, will be overcome: they will not tread down their enemies, nor obtain the conqueror’ s crown. (W. Firth, B. D.)Courage, its source and its necessity I. ITS SOURCE. “ I will hold thy right hand.” The grasp of the hand is significant of close and present friendship, of the living nearness of the deliverer. And that sense of God’ s presence, so near that our faith can touch His hand and hear the deep still music of His voice--realised as it may be in Christ, is the source of a courage which no danger can dispel, no suffering exhaust, and no death destroy. The clearest way of illustrating this will be to take the higher forms of courage among men, and observe what states of soul are most conducive to it. 1. Beginning with the courage of active resistance, we find its great element in the fixed survey of the means of conquest. 2. Passing on to the courage needful for passive endurance, we find that its great feature is self-surrender to the highest law of life. The Christian endures, because the law of his being has become resignation to the will of God. II. ITS . 1. It requires courage to manifest the Christian character before men. 2. To maintain steadfast obedience to the will of God. 3. To hold fast to our highest aspirations. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)The repetitions of love God repeats His love for, and His purpose concerning, Israel. Lacordaire said that love is always saying the same thing, yet never repeats itself. And though God repeats in both parts His love and purpose, yet it would be new all through to the Jew, sick with his sorrow and captivity; and the sum of the consolation is--“ I am with thee. Fear not; rather rejoice.” No trial could or would befall the Jew but God would help him to bear it. (J. A. Davies, B. D.)Held by God’ s hand A little lad in the hospital was asked if he could bear a severe operation. “ Yes,” was his reply, “ if father will hold my hand.” When we feel God’ s hand holding us in times of trial, the touch gives us nerve and calm. (J. A. Davies, B. D.) Isaiah 41:14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob Fear not I. The first qualification for serving God with any amount of success, and for doing God’ s work well, is a SENSE OF OUR OWN . When God’ s warrior marches forth to battle with plumed helmet, and with mail about his loins, strong in his own majesty--when he says, “ I know that I shall conquer, my own right arm and my mighty sword shall get unto me the victory,” defeat is not far distant. God will not go forth with that man who goeth forth in his own strength. The text addresses us as worms. Now, the mere rationalist, the man who boasts of the dignity of human nature, will never subscribe his name to such a title as this. Not so, however, he who is wise and understandeth; he knows that he is a worm, and he knows it in this way-- 1. By contemplation. Those who think, must think their pride down-if God is with them in their thinking. Lift up now your eyes, behold the heavens, the work of God’ s fingers; and if ye be men of sense and your souls are attuned to the high music of the spheres, ye will say, “ What is man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou visitest him?” 2. Again, if you want to know your own nothingness, consider what you are in suffering. 3. Try some great labour for Christ. II. THERE SHOULD BE TRUST IN THE . There is no saying what man can do when God is with him. Put God into a man’ s arm, and he may have only the jawbone of an ass to fight with, but he will lay the Philistines in heaps: put God into a man’ s hand, and he may have a giant to deal with, and nothing but a sling and a stone, but he will lodge the stone in the giant’ s brow before long; put God into a man’ s eye, and he will flash defiance on kings and princes; put God into a man’ s lip, and he will speak right honestly, though his death should be the wages of his speech. III. WE MUST LABOUR TO GET RID, AS MUCH AS , OF FEAR. The prophet says, “ Fear not” ; thou art a worm, but do not fear; God will help thee; why shouldest thou fear? 1. Get rid of fear, because fear is painful. 2. Fear is weakening. 3. Fear dishonours God. 4. Doubt not the Lord, oh, Christian, for in so doing thou dost lower thyself. The more thou believest, the greater thou art; but the more thou doubtest, the less thou becomest. (C. H. Spurgeon.)“ Thou worm Jacob!” I. JACOB WAS A WORM IN OTHER PEOPLE’ S EYES. Is there not many a “ worm” still under the same experience? I may be speaking to a clerk who gets laughed at by his fellow-clerks, with their master’ s permission, because he is a Christian. I may be speaking to some one who is despised and scoffed at, and called a Sabbatarian, because he keeps the Sabbath day. Take comfort! He who is now thy Redeemer was treated as a worm. “ I am a worm, and no man,” sang the Messianic psalmist. II. JACOB WAS ALSO A WORM IN HIS OWN EYES, which is far more to the purpose. Look at the Jews drawing together into some little sanctuary on a Sabbath morning or evening, amid the scoffs of the Babylonians. Look at the aged patriarch when the doors are shut, opening the roll of the prophet Isaiah, and reading, “ Fear not, thou worm Jacob.” “ Ay, worms indeed:” the hearers would reply from the bottom of their hearts; “ worms indeed!” We may writhe under men’ s contempt; but there is no writhing like the writhing under a sense of personal sin. There is no nerve like the nerve that passes through the conscience. Job was perhaps the noblest man of his day; and yet we find him saying, “ I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister.” None of you are so low as that! Our Lord called Himself a worm because He was treated as a worm; but Job uses the word in a very different sense; for Job knew he was a sinner, and it is almost an insult to a worm for a sinner to call himself by the name. The Septuagint has left out this word in the text. How that came about passes my comprehension. Were these proud translators of Alexandria too good for the Bible? Were they too high and holy to put in what Isaiah wrote? Coleridge says, “ God’ s Word is God’ s Word to me, because it finds me.” Has it found us? Have we seen the sin and the misery of our own heart? Can we look back on that action we did yesterday, and say, “ It was the action of a worm, and not of a man” ? III. JACOB WAS A WORM IN GOD’ S EYES. “ God,” says Calvin, “ here seems to speak disrespectfully of His people” ; but if you are to speak t? worms, you must speak in their language. Fine names would never suit Jacob in this case, and the Jacob-minded soul finds comfort in such words, knowing that they were used in love. “ Fear not, thou worm Jacob, I will help thee.” “ Thee” is an individualising, singularising word. The Lord places His finger upon the humble man’ s heart, and says, “ I will help thee. I, the Highest, will seek out the lowest, and let others, who think themselves better, help themselves.” “ The Holy One of Israel” --blessed name! name He will never lay aside!--is the Portion, the Helper, the Friend of “ worm Jacob.” Oh “ worm Jacob,” it doth not yet appear what thou shalt be; but when He shall appear whose thou art, “ thou shalt be like Him, for thou shalt see Him as He is. (A. Whyte, D. D.)Fears dispelled I. THE OF GOD’ S PEOPLE. 1. The language employed refers to the Jews as the descendants of Jacob, afterwards called Israel. 2. The epithet which designates their character. “ Worm.” This word describes a person--mean, weak, vile, and despised (Job 25:5-6). This epithet implies-- (1) Meanness. This meanness is frequently felt by Christians when they think of the grandeur and glory of God, as seen in His works and recorded in His Word (Psalms 8:3-4). When they think of their sins and imperfections (1 Corinthians 15:9). When they think of their duties, trials, their ignorance, and their tendency to the grave. (2) Pollution. A worm is regarded as unclean. Its element is putrescence. Man is now degraded from his original dignity. Every Christian feels his tendency to pollution. (3) Danger. A worm is frequently exposed to danger. Every foot is ready to crush it. The body of man is liable to casualties. And the precious soul of man is surrounded by danger. (4) Weakness. A worm is not able to make resistance. What resistance can a sinner make to God? II. GOD’ S PEOPLE ARE SUBJECT TO FEAR. “ Fear not, worm Jacob.” The Israelites in Babylon were sadly depressed in mind, fearing that God would be gracious no more. The people of God are subject to fear. 1. Their character, as represented by meanness, pollution, danger, and weakness, causes them to fear. 2. The multitude of their enemies causes fear 3. They fear Divine chastisements. These are needful, but “ grievous” Hebrews 12:11). 4. They sometimes fear the tests and trials of the future. 5. They fear death. III. THE AND PROMISE. “ Fear not, thou worm Jacob, I will help thee.” “ Fear not!” Look from earthly resources to the mighty God of Jacob. Fear not thy foes. “ He that is for thee is more than all that are against thee.” I will help thee, for-- 1. I have chosen thee. 2. I have redeemed thee. 3. I have adopted thee. 4. I have the ability as well as the will. By all means. 5. I will help thee with the ministration of My angels, by the events of providence. 6. I will guide thee in all perplexities. 7. I will not only help, but will glorify thee. Thou art a worm here. I will change thy vile body when the dead shall be raised, even as the chrysalis becomes a beautiful being after its temporary sleep, (Homilist.)Biblical illustrations from the animal kingdom It is not unusual to find the Bible writers borrowing names from the animal kingdom end applying them to men. Isaiah does so again and again. Bold in his calling, ha stands beside Jehovah in the circle of the heavens, and sees men like grasshoppers. But among the grass and the grasshoppers he sees a people over whom Jehovah rules, and he calls them “ sheep,” and the little people he calls “ lambs.” And then he sees his sheep and his lambs changing into eagles and eaglets--“ They shall mount up with wings as eagles.” Prophets, psalmists, apostles, all employ the same method, and draw their illustrations from the same source. There is fine education in the Bible I No wonder that John Bunyan wrote the finest style in the English language, getting his vocabulary between its boards! (A. Whyte, D. D.)“ Thou worm Jacob!:” The worm here indicated is elsewhere referred to as being injurious to vineyards (Deuteronomy 28:39). It was the destroyer of Jonah’ s gourd (Jonah 4:7). It is said to be the coccus, a genus which includes the cochineal insect. Naturalists describe the coccus as living upon trees and plants, and as being very small. When collected in districts where these insects are cultivated for the dye which they yield, there are found to be about 70,000 of them in a pound. Two kinds of insect are designated “ worm” in Isaiah 14:11. “ The worm (mite of corruption) is spread under thee, and worms (cocci) cover thee.” This is also the case in Job 25:6. In the passage before us, then, the descendants of Jacob are compared with a creature that is despicable, because it is insignificant and noxious (Psalms 22:6). Orelli, explaining that “ worm Jacob” denotes here smallness, weakness, and helplessness, seems to have presented to his mind some such insignificant creature as the coccus; but the commentators generally have thought rather of the familiar earthworm, which they regard as a symbol of debasement and affliction, after the manner of Glo’ ster in King Lear, when he says of the supposed idiot beggar-- “ I’ the last night’ s storm I such a fellow saw, Which made me think a man a worm.” “ God’ s people,” says Henry, “ are as ‘ worms’ in humble thoughts of themselves, and in their enemies’ haughty thoughts of them: worms, but not vipers, or of the serpent’ s seed.” Other writers use the expressions “ despicable and trampled upon” (Lowth); “ weak and despised,” and “ trodden under foot” (Wordsworth); creature of the dust, prostrate and helpless” (Kay); “ abject, weak, and wretched of thyself” (Diodati). We must turn to Micah 7:17 for a passage in which reference is expressly made to the earthworm. The comments supplied by Cornelius a Lapide show that expositors have not always been content to regard the epithet “ worm Jacob” merely as a suggestion of lowliness and meanness. In the opinion of the more ancient among them it signifies, historically and typically, the Jews afflicted by the Assyrians, but antitypically the apostles and early Christians, turn ob paucitatem, turn ob contemptum et humilitatem. Allusion was made to Luke 12:32 and 1 Corinthians 4:9; while Ezekiel 28:11-12 was referred to as a parallel passage. Jerome is quoted as saying, Sicut vermis terram penetrat, ita sermo Apostolicus penetravit Gentium civitates, et ingressus est corda prius durissima. On Luke 12:32 Bengel comments, Grex est non numerissimus, si ad mundum comparetur; and by applying the thought thus expressed to the phrase under discussion we get a slight, but useful, addition to the suggestions made elsewhere. (F. Jarratt.)Thy RedeemerThy Redeemer And why does it say, “ and thy Redeemer” ? What was the use of appending the Redeemer’ s name to this precious exhortation? I. It was added FOR . There are some preachers from whom you will never learn anything; not because they do not say much which is instructive, but because they just mention the instructive thought once, and immediately pass on to another thought, never expanding the second thought, but immediately passing on, almost without connection, to a third. Other preachers, on the other hand, follow a better method. Having given one idea, they endeavour to amplify it, so that their hearers, if they are not able to receive the idea in the abstract, at least are able to lay hold upon some of its points, when they come to the amplification of it. Now God, the great Author of the Book, the great Preacher of the truth by His prophets, when He would preach it, and when He would write it, so amplifies a fact, so extends a truth, and enlarges upon a doctrine. “ I will help thee,” saith Jehovah-That means Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. “ All! but,” said God, “ My people will forget that, unless I amplify the thought, so I will even break it up; I will remind them of My Trinity. They understand My Unity; I will bid them recollect that there are Three in One, though these Three be One” ; and He adds, “ Thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” Jehovah--Redeemer--Holy One of Israel--three persons, all included, indeed, in the word Jehovah, but very likely to be forgotten unless they had been distinctly enumerated. Suffer your thoughts to enlarge upon the fact, that the promise contained in this verse, “ Fear not, I will help thee,” is a promise from Three Divine Persons. II. It is a OF THE PROMISE. All the promises are yea and amen in Christ Jesus; but when a promise mentions the name of the Redeemer, it imparts a peculiar blessedness to it. It is something like, if I may represent it by such a figure, the beautiful effect of certain decorations of stained glass. There are some persons whose eyes are so weak that the light seems to be injurious to them, especially the red rays of the sun, and a glass has been invented, which rejects the rays that are injurious, and allows only those to pass which are softened and modified to the weakness of the eye. It seems as if the Lord Jesus were some such a glass as this. The grace of God the Trinity, shining through the man Christ Jesus, becomes a mellow, soft light, so that mortal eye can bear it. III. I think this is put in by way of . Read the promise, recollecting that it says, “ Thy Redeemer” ; and then, as you read it through, you will see how the word “ Redeemer” seems to confirm it all. Now begin. “I will help thee” : lay, a stress on that word. If you read it so, there is one blow at your unbelief. “I will help thee,” saith the Redeemer. There is the Master’ s handwriting; it is His own autograph, it is written by Himself; behold the bloody signature! It is stamped with His Cross. And now let us read the promise again, and lay the stress on the “will.” Oh, the “ wills” and the “ shalls” : they are the sweetest words in the Bible. When God says “ I will,” there is something in it. And now we lay stress on another word: “ I will help thee.” That is very little for Me to do, to help thee. Consider what I have done already. What! not help thee? Why, I bought thee with My blood. And now, just take the last word, “ I will help thee.” (C. H.Spurgeon.)“ Thy Redeemer” The word “ Redeemer” would suggest to a Hebrew reader the idea of a near kinsman (Leviticus 25:24-25), and of deliverance from bondage by the payment of a ransom. Its highest application occurs here and in Job 19:25. The reference to the Son of God, although it might not be perceptible of old, is now rendered necessary by the knowledge that this act, even under the old dispensation, is always referred to the same person of the Trinity. (J. A. Alexander.)The Holy One thy Redeemer Of the two names applied by Isaiah to the Saviour, which are nearly peculiar to him, Qudosh, or Holy One, is common to both sections of his book, while Goel, the Redeemer, though not confined to the second part, receives there its peculiar significance. Here it is that “ the Holy One thy Redeemer,” becomes altogether merged in the Goel. (F. Sessions.) Isaiah 41:15A new sharp threshing instrument Evil and good I. THE FORMS OF GOOD AND EVIL. Evil is a mountain--a big thing occupying immense space, bounding the horizon and darkening the sun. Good often appears as small as a worm. II. THE OF GOOD AND EVIL. The worm shall “ thresh the mountain.” Worms in nature are mighty things; they build up islands fair as Eden. Good has made an attack upon evil, and it will thresh its “ mountains and beat them small.” (Homilist.)Worm Jacob threshing the mountains I. WHAT THE CHURCH AND PEOPLE OF GOD ARE. They are named by Him who misnames none, “ worm Jacob.” Their name from their nature is a worm; they are weak, despised creatures, ready to be crushed by the foot of every passerby: yet “ worm Jacob,” believing, praying, wrestling worm as he was. II. WHAT THEY SHALL AND DO. “ Thresh the mountains,” etc. Interpreters generally understand by the “ mountains” the great and lofty potentares of the earth, setting themselves against the Church. And, no doubt, these were in the prophet’ s view; but the view was not confined to them. God’ s bringing down the Babylonian monarchy at their prayers, and the victories afterward of the Maccabees over their enemies, cannot reasonably be supposed to complete the intent of this prophecy. We must needs look to the kingdom of Christ for it, of which there is plainly an account (Isaiah 41:17-19). Compare Daniel 2:34-35. And we must carry on our view all along to the end of time (Revelation 2:26-27); the rather that it is the manner of the prophet to wrap up in one expression, temporal, spiritual, and eternal deliverance; the deliverance from Babylon, which was temporal, being the first and nearest in view, but not terminating it. Here then we may consider-- 1. What “ worm Jacob” has to encounter. “ Mountains,” and “ hills,” whose weight is sufficient to crush millions of him; difficulties quite disproportionable to his strength, as a mountain to that of a worm. 2. The success of this so very unequal match. The mountains shall not crush the worm; but the worm shall thresh the mountains, as one does a sheaf of corn with repeated strokes. 3. The degree and pitch of the worm’ s success against those mountains. It shall beat them small, till they be like dust or chaff: so that they shall be blown away with the wind, and no vestige of them remain. 4. The insurance of this success of the worm. Who could insure it, but the mighty God? Jesus Christ, Jehovah, the most high God, and worm Jacob’ s Kinsman-Redeemer, hath, by His word of promise, engaged His almighty power on the side of the worm against the mountains. Let not then the worm fear or doubt the success. (T. Boston.)A mystery of grace I. THE OF THE SUBJECT wherein this mystery of grace is carried on by Jesus Christ. It is in worm Jacob, denoting the Church in general, and every believer or true member thereof in particular. One would think, that one designed to be a thresher of the mountains should be a party of a signally great and swelling character, a hero, a giant, or if there were anything could carry the character higher: but, on the contrary, it is very low, surprisingly low, worm Jacob. II. THE MYSTERY OF GRACE CARRIED ON IN THEM BY JESUS CHRIST. 1. An apparently hopeless encounter they are led to by Him. Worm Jacob threshing the mountains. (1) The Lord lays in His people’ s way mountains of difficulties quite above their strength; difficulties which they look to, as a worm to a mountain before it (2 Corinthians 1:8). (2) They must not go about the mountains in their way, shifting the difficulties which the Lord calls them to; but they must make their way over them, threshing them down. (3) Therefore worm Jacob falls a-threshing the mountains, combating the difficulties which the Lord lays in his way. There is a spirit in worm Jacob more daring and venturous than ever was in any unbelieving hero. (4) They continue the combating of difficulties resolutely and patiently. Threshing is a continued action, consisting of repeated strokes. (5) Worm Jacob has many mountains to thresh. 2. A surprising success; even as surprising as a worm’ s threshing and beating the mountains small to dust, and threshing them away. (1) Partial successes in their way, very surprising; surprising to others and to themselves. (2) A total success at the end of their way, which will swallow them up in surprise and eternal wonder. III. I SHALL ACCOUNT FOR THIS MYSTERY. 1. God has said it, and therefore it cannot fail. 2. The glory of His grace, which is the great design of the whole mystery of God, necessarily requires it. 3. By an unalterable decree, there must be a conformity betwixt the little worm and the great worm Jacob, the little one’ s Kinsman-Redeemer. The great worm, the man Christ, “ a worm and no man,” has encountered mountains, and threshed them away. Where are the four monarchies, the most towering mountains that ever set up their heads on the earth? The chief worm Jacob has threshed them away to chaff, which is away with the Daniel 2:35). The mountains stood before Him through the world, with all the fastness that human learning and the power of the sword could give; but by His few fishermen He threshed them away. 4. The little worm Jacob is-in reality but a member of the great one, Jesus Christ. 5. All the mountains that stand before worm Jacob are burnt mountains; so they are far easier to thresh than one would think. (T. Boston.)God’ s sharp threshing instrument Three things this threshing instrument is shod with. 1. A word of command, calling to the work. 2. A word of promise, securing the success. 3. The use of means of Heaven s appointment for reaching the end. (T. Boston.)“ A sharp threshing instrument having teeth” A people who shall leave their mark on the world. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)A threshing roller “ Behold, I have made thee a threshing-roller, a sharp one, new, with double edge.” (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Earth-worms useful People hate the obscure animal, popularly said to play undertaker to all flesh, although as a matter of fact worms seldom burrow deeper than a few inches, except to go to sleep. Suddenly, however, the gentle sunbeam of genius has shone into the dark region where these despised beings dwell and work. Dr. Darwin has studied these among other neglected denizens of our common planet, and gives us the fruits of his investigations in a little volume bearing the title of Vegetable Mould and Earth-worms. At the touch of his transcendently patient intellect a new glory breaks over the degraded, writhing, offensive worm. Instead of being useless or even harmful, it turns out that we could never do without these humble creatures. They, and they alone, in their countless millions, and by their ceaseless hidden toil, have made the globe what it is, fit for agriculture and the residence of man. The bulk of the humus or vegetable mould of his fields everywhere is mainly of their manufacture, and goes perpetually through and through their organs to be fitted and perfected for fertility. The most assiduous and wealthy farmer does not lavish half as much nourishment upon his crops as the earth-worms, which in many parts of the British Isles make and bring to the surface of each acre of land ten tons or more of rich fine mould yearly. All things considered, Dr. Darwin inclines to rank the earth-worm higher in the scale of constructive agencies than the coral insect itself, though the last named rears islands, and ocean-kingdoms. It is the worm which, by perpetually consuming decayed leaves and small particles of soil, disintegrates and renews all the face of our earth. Their castings, hardly noticed, alter invisibly the contour of a whole country. Brought up from below, they make stones and rocks gradually sink, covering these by the collapse of their tiny burrows, so that the surface grows smooth for our use by their viewless help. Antiquarians owe to the earth-worm the preservation of almost every ancient pavement and foundation by the soft coat of mould with which they overlay these relics. They remove decaying leaves, facilitate the germination of seeds and the growth of plants, and create for us most of our wide, level, turf-covered expanses. Thus at one stroke our great natural philosopher has raised them to an honourable rank in the vast family of creation. (Public Opinion.) Isaiah 41:17-18 When the poor and needy seek waterAn image of God’ s care The thought of the caravans returning homewards through the thirsty desert suggests to the prophet an effective image symbolising the Divine care which will attend them: the ground at their side bursts into waterpools, and noble trees cast their shade about them! (Prof.S. R. Driver, D. D.)God’ s promise to the poor and needy I. By the “ POOR AND NEEDY” are not meant those who are poor and needy in the things of this world; but in a spiritual point of view. 1. The life of the Christian may be compared to a barren wilderness, leading from this world to that which is to come; in their journey through this wilderness the Lord’ s people often feel themselves to be “ poor and needy” without the cheering presence of their God, destitute of the usual manifestations of His love and the consolations of His Spirit. Water is an emblem frequently employed in Scripture to represent Divine influences, which refresh, gladden, and cleanse the soul, as water does the body. The children of God are sometimes reduced to straits; they “ seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst.” They realise the feeling of David whilst they are constrained to adopt his language in the Forty-second Psalm, “ As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God,” etc. 2. But there is another sense in which the Lord’ s people may be represented as “ poor and needy, seeking water and finding none” ; it is when they are anxiously desirous of larger measures of grace and knowledge, increasing holiness and spirituality of mind, more complete superiority to the world with the affections and lusts of the flesh, and a growing conformity to the precepts of the Gospel It is a striking feature in the character of every real Christian, that he is never satisfied with present attainments in religion. The real Christian will daily labour to abound yet more and more in the fair and beautiful “ fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.” Here is the difference between nominal Christianity and real Christianity. II. THE PROMISE. The Lord assures His people that they shall not be disappointed in the objects of their desire: in their extremity of distress, and when they are almost without hope, the Lord will hear their cry. Prayer, which is the earnest expression of the desires of the heart, shall never be offered up in vain. Nothing is impossible with God; possessed of infinite power and infinite love, He can and will do for His people more than they ask or think. But further, He is represented as “ the God of Israel.” The history of the saints in all ages will “ bear testimony” to the truth of that Scripture, “ He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, He increaseth strength.” (C. Rawlings, B. A.)Water for the needy The first sense of this passage belongs to God’ s ancient people, and was partially accomplished after their return from Babylon, partially when the kingdom of heaven was spiritually set up at Jerusalem, but was to be still more gloriously fulfilled hereafter. But a child of God claims all the promises. I. THE OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD HERE GIVEN. 1. “ Poor, and needy.” All creatures are poor compared with God--even the pure spirits, the highest angel, yea, archangels themselves. Especially must this be true of a fallen creature, yea, a restored creature. 2. “ They seek water.” This spiritually sets forth the sacred influences of the Holy Spirit. They want refreshing views of God’ s love, realising apprehensions of an interest in Christ, more of the real power of religion, more faith, more repentance, more love, more uprightness, more purity of heart, more humility, more true prayer, more gratitude and praise, more brokenness, more joy, more devotedness. They seek this water. Sometimes with great ardour, sometimes, alas! with little. In the means of grace they seek it, and it seems as if “ there is none.” They strive, they fight, but they only find their own weakness, their enemies, darkness, and deadness in their souls. 3. “ Their tongue faileth for thirst.” Few states are so disconsolate. It is vast discouragement. That this is a state into which the soul has brought itself through its own sin, I am led to conclude-- (1) By considering the state in which this promise finds the Jews, to whom it primarily belongs. (2) By remembering the promise which sets forth God’ s usual dealings Matthew 7:7-9). (3) By retracing the history of one’ s own experience. If this be so, beware of the steps which lead to this desolate region. II. THE VAST . my people are honestly, uprightly seeking Me. Out of Infinite love, Infinite wisdom, Infinite grace and mercy, I have delayed the answer. Their faith is small, their strength little, their souls discouraged. But I have not forgotten. “ I, the Lord, will hear them.” The subject is one of unutterable sweetness and consolation to a true child of God. In few things, perhaps, are we more tried than in prayer. But the words of the text encourage not only persevering prayer, they do more. They encourage expecting prayer. Be not afraid of seasons of need. They are usually seasons of prayer, and these are our greatest seasons of happiness. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)God’ s tenderness to the poor and needy I. GOD HAS LEFT TENDER AND TO THE POOR AND NEEDY. It is not the healthy and strong,child of the family around whom the father’ s love is most closely entwined. Like as a father pitieth his children,” etc. II. GOD HAS PLEDGED HIS POWER TO WORK , IF , TO SUPPLY THEIR NEED. “ I will open rivers in high places,” etc. This would be reversing the order of nature. Rivers do not flow in high places; fountains do not spring in the depths of valleys. God simply says that, ere the poor and needy shall lack water, He will reverse the order of nature and turn the world upside down. III. THE ARE MADE ONLY TO THOSE WHO SEEK AND CRY UNTO GOD FOR HIS HELP. God’ s unchanging tenderness does not make prayer unnecessary. There must be expectation, desire, and confidence. (Homiletic Review.)Spiritual thirst The application is world-wide. Who is there to whom this description, more or less, does not apply--“ The or and needy seek water--there is none--their tongue faileth for thirst” ? Is it not the too faithful delineation of weary humanity? It is a commonplace saying, but its truthfulness redeems its triteness, that there is nothing in this world which can satisfy immortal longings. “ Thirst again,” is the too frequent verdict after its sweetest fountains have been drained. Its best joys leave behind them aching voids, unfulfilled aspirations. After the thirst of its votaries has apparently been quenched at their favourite rills, of riches, honours, ambition, glory,--their name is the same as before, “ Poor and needy” ; their search is the same as ever, “ They seek water” ; the epitaph they write over every fresh grave of their hopes is the same, “ There is none--their tongue faileth them for thirst.” And where, then, is that thirst to be quenched; where else are the wells of water to be had, “ springing up into everlasting life,” but in the grace and promises of God as revealed in His blessed Word? And, like the waters seen by Ezekiel bursting from the threshold of the sanctuary, “ Everything lives whither the river cometh.” (J. R.Macduff, D. D.)Supply for the poor and needy This double promise to the poor and needy stands in connection with other great promises which guarantee the gift of wonderful strength and blessing to God’ s people. These promises seem to be such as the mightiest servant of God might well desire to have fulfilled in himself. Look, for instance, at the one in Isaiah 41:15-16. I think that the promise of our text specially comes in, not for you mountain-threshers,--not for you who are made so strong in the Lord, but for some who cannot as yet get a grip of that grand word of His. “ When the poor and needy are not trying to thresh mountains, but are looking for that which is needful for the supply of their own personal wants,--seeking water; when they are in too low a condition to be able to rise to the dignity of service, but are just like poor Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness, seeking water; when they have fallen into such a sad and sorrowful state of heart that, instead of testifying to the goodness of God they cannot testify to anything, for “ their tongue faileth for thirst” ;--it is then, in their extremity, that the blessed promises shall come to them: “ I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Wordless prayers heard in heaven I. Here is POVERTY OF . “ Poor and needy.” This description applies to poverty of spiritual condition. 1. Most of us would take the position of great poverty as to anything like merit. 2. We have poverty as to anything like strength. 3. As to grace, many of the children of God are, to their shame, obliged to confess that they are poor and needy where they ought to be rich, and where they might be rich; poor in patience, in courage, in faith, in hope, in love, in private prayer, in public influence, poor in every way. There axe many of God’ s children who seem scarcely to have a penny of spending-money, and they never appear to go to the King s treasury, and dip their hand in, and take out great handfuls of the precious gold of grace. II. URGENCY OF NEED. “ When the poor and needy seek” --what? Money? No; that is only to be poor and needy. Bread? Ay; that shows a harder poverty than merely being “ poor and needy.” But it is not bread that these poor and needy ones are seeking, but “ water.” Why, that is generally to be had for nothing,--a drink of water. It must be very hard times indeed when poor souls are in such a state that they axe longing for water, and seeking for it afar, as though there were none near at hand. Are any of you in such a condition, sighing after the living water? Though you have drunk of it before, you are still sighing for more of it, and feel as if you could not tell where to find it. 1. This is an urgent necessity, for it touches a vital point. A man can exist without money, he can live without garments, he could live longer without bread than without water. 2. Do I address one in whom this vital necessity has become an agonising thirst? 3. Further, there is an immediate necessity. When a man’ s tongue faileth for thirst, and he seeks water, he wants it at once. III. The third step down--and it is a very long one--is this, OF HOPE. “ There is none.” 1. “ There is none” even where they have found it before. Have not some of you at times found it so in attending the means of grace? 2. It makes their case even more disappointing when they have, side by side with them, others who are seeking water, and finding it. Have you never been to the Lord’ s table,--say, with your own wife,--and when she has been going home, she has said, “ Oh, what a precious communion service! Was not the Lord manifestly among His people in the breaking of bread?” --and you have hardly liked to tell her that you have not seen the Lordeven in His own ordinance? 3. If you go to places where there is none of the living water, then you have only yourself to blame when you cannot find it. IV. THE OF PRAYER. “ And their tongue faileth for thirst.” 1. They cannot speak; they cannot tell their fellow-Christians about their trouble. They are ashamed to tell others what they feel If a hymn is given out, they feel as if they must not sing it. If there is a promise quoted, they feel as if they could not appropriate it, and sometimes the prayer of a joyous brother seems to shoot over their head,--they cannot attain to his experience. 2. If they were called upon to state their own feelings and convictions before the living God, it may be that they have become so mournful that they could not describe themselves. I think we have gone about as low as we can. Here is a man who, to begin with, is poor and needy. Here is a man who is wanting water, who has sought it, but who cannot find it. Here is a man whose tongue is so parched with thirst that he cannot now say a single word, he must sit down in sorrowful silence. V. Yet, strange to say, now is the time that he learns that IS OF GOD. “ I the Lord will hear them.” What? Why, they cannot speak: “ their tongue faileth for thirst.” 1. That brings me to this point, that God’ s great object in bringing His people down so low as this, is to make them pray directly to Himself; that now they may not seek any water, but just cry to Him who is the Fountain of living waters; that now they may not tell their friends about their need, nor even tell it to themselves, but just, in the very silence of their soul, speak with God, for there is a kind of speech which is perfectly consistent with silence,--the speech of sorrow,--the exhibition of the wounds of misery,--the opening up of the brokenness of the heart,--the setting before God, not in eloquent descriptions, but in indescribable revelation, the intolerable want which lies within the soul. The text does not even say that they pray; because, sometimes, even prayer becomes a mechanical act, and we are apt to rely upon it for comfort, instead of upon our God. 2. The prayer which is hidden away in the text--for although there is no mention of prayer in it, yet it is hidden away there--is the prayer of inward thirst. 3. This is the prayer of one who despairs of all means. 4. This is the prayer of faintness. 5. Now comes the declaration of God. “ I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.” Is it not something that God hears you? I have frequently had to explain this word by speaking of the poor woman who was so pleased to see her minister. She was very poor, and so was her minister; what good, then, did he do her? Did he speak to her a very comforting word? No. The good man did not happen that day to be in much of a mood to do so, yet he did that sister a deal of good, she said. Why? Because he let her talk, and she just told out all her trouble, and he looked sympathetic, for that is how he felt, and that was just what she wanted. She wanted somebody who would listen to her. It is wonderfully condescending on God’ s part to listen to us. Many of our complaints are only rubbish, yet He hears them patiently. Sometimes, when people begin groaning and grumbling, I wish I was down the next street; but God is so patient and long-suffering, that He hears all that His people say. 6. You know that you have only to get a hearing from God, and you know what the consequence will be when your Heavenly Father knoweth what things you have need of. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God’ s faithfulness tested The late Dr. Parsons, of York, had a tea-caddy which he inherited from his father, who was also a spiritual preacher. Its history was curious. A husband and father, reduced to abject poverty, set out on a Sabbath morning to drown himself, and so escape the agony of looking at starving wife and children. A crowd was entering the Tottenham Court Road Chapel, London, and the man somehow was drawn along with the crowd. Mr. Parsons preached from Isaiah 41:17, “ When the poorand needy seek water,” etc. He appealed to his hearers needing temporal and spiritual blessings, “ Have you put the God of Jacob to the test?” “ No,” thought the desperate man, “ I have not.” He went back, told his wife, joined in prayer, and all day seemingly in vain. But next morning temporary aid came, with directions as to work, which he found, did faithfully, and rose to comfort and notable prosperity. He offered a large gift to the good preacher, but it was declined. He sent the tea-caddy as a memento of his gratitude, which he felt could not be refused. (J. Hall, LL. D.) Isaiah 41:18I will open rivers in high places God’ s “ I wills” In this verso the Lord twice says, “ I will” ; and in that respect this verse is in harmony with the rest of the chapter. When we come to the “ I wills” of God, then we get among the precious things, the deep things, the things which minister comfort and strength to the people of God. We sometimes say “ I will” ; but it is in a feeble fashion compared with the way in which God says it. People say “‘ Must’ is for the king.” So “ I will” is for the King of kings. It is His prerogative to will 1. It is an “ I will,” uttered with deliberation. James said, “ Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.” We say, “ I will” in a hurry, and then we take time to repent of it. We are under excitement, persuasion, or compulsion, and we say, “ I will,” and we are very sorry afterwards, and perhaps we are so unfaithful as not to keep our word; but God never speaks under compulsion; He is almighty. God never speaks in a hurry; He has infinite leisure. Now, when a man speaks a thing prudently and wisely, you believe that he will carry it out, if he can. You may have much more confidence with regard to what the Lord says, for He has not spoken without due deliberation. 2. When God says, “ I will,” His resolution is supported by omnipotence. You say, “ I will,” but you cannot do what you have promised. That can never happen with God. 3. When God says, “ I will,” it is sealed with immutability. We are always changing. Hence, we say to-day, “ I will,” and we mean it; but to-morrow we wish that we had never said. “ I will,” and the next day we say, “ I will not.” But God never changes. 4. When God says, “ I will,” it will be carried out in faithfulness. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Two “ I wills” in Isaiah 41:1-29. I propose to apply the text as a general promise to many things. I. TO THE TRIALS OF SAINTS. 1. Their temporal trials. What though there is nothing at present, perhaps by to-morrow morning the Lord may have opened rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. 2. The spiritual experience of believers. There are in our text four words relating to water. Everything had been dry before, and there was no water for the thirsty to drink. Now, here you have rivers, fountains, a pool, and springs of water. There is a difference in the four words. The first is “ rivers.” There shall come directly from God a rush of mighty grace, like the streams of flowing rivers. There shall be “ waters to swim in.” You shall have abundance where before you had nothing. The next word is “ fountains,” which may be rendered “ wells.” Wells are places to which people regularly go for water. They represent the means of grace. Perhaps you have been to the means of grace, and obtained no comfort. But, on a sudden, God appears, and opens wells in the midst of the valley. Now the service is all full of refreshment. There is a third word, “ I will make the wilderness a pool of water.” Here you have the idea of overflowing abundance. God can give you so much joy that you will not know how to hold it all; you will have to let it be like a pool that overflows its banks. God can give you so much earnestness that you can hardly employ it all in the work that you have to do. He can give you so much nearness to Himself, that your heart shall scarcely be able to contain your delight. The fourth word is “ springs.” It seems to indicate a perpetual freshness. Where there was a long-continued drought, there shall come perpetual freshness; always something new--new thoughts of Christ, new delights in holy service, new prospects of the world to come, new communion with God. II. To the experience of converts. 1. Who were these people to whom the Lord spoke? They were people who were poor and needy. God will not do much for spiritually rich people; I mean you who say that you are rich in yourselves. 2. When will He do it? When they begin to seek Him. “ When the poor and needy seek water.” Can you expect God to bless you if you do not seek Him? 3. But the time is noted further still. It is not only when they begin to seek, but when they begin silently to plead. “ When their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them.” They could not speak. Yet says the Lord, “ I will hear them.” A glib tongue is bad at praying. When a man prays in his heart, he is often like Moses, slow of speech 4. But the time mentioned is more sorrowful still; these people were in abject distress. “ When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none.” “ My day of grace in past, says one. I wonder whoever told you that he! Ah, well,” says one, “ I have gone to look for mercy, and there is none.” So you think. Now is the time for Divine interposition. When you seek water, and find none, God will open rivers for you. 5. The promise also relates to those who are in various positions. Some are in very high places. You run up to the very tops of the mountains, and you fancy God cannot reach you there, but He says, “ I will open rivers in high places.” A river on the top of a mountain is a wonderful thing; but God can make it so. Others are ordinary sinners down in the valleys. “ Well,” says the Lord, “ I will open fountains in the midst of the valleys.” Yes, and to vary the promise still more the Lord says, “ I will make the wilderness a pool of water.” Have you ever seen a large extent of flat country covered with sand and stones? God pictures you as being like that barren, dried-up land, and He says that He will turn you into a pool of water. In a word, no condition can be so bad but God can change it. III. TO THE LABOURS OF WORKERS FOR GOD. God can soon change the condition of the plot of ground on which you are at work. 1. I may be speaking to one who says, “ Mine is a very bad place to work in, for I cannot get the people to come and hear the Gospel; there seems to be no spirit of hearing.” Do not give up preaching; do not give up working, you who long for souls to be saved, for God can suddenly give a love for His house, and an eagerness to hear the Gospel. 2. Another says, “ I get the people to hear, but there is no feeling.” When the old St. Paul’ s Cathedral had to be taken down for the present one to be built, Sir Christopher Wren had to remove some massive walls that had stood for hundreds of years; so he had a battering-ram, with a great mass of people, working away to break down the walls. I think that for four-and-twenty hours they kept right on, and there seemed to be no sign of giving way, the walls were so well built, very different from our modem walls. The structure was like a rock, it could not be stirred; but the battering-ram kept on and on and on, blow after blow, stroke after stroke, and at last the whole mass began to quiver, like a jelly, and by and by over went the massive walls. You have only to keep on long enough, and the same thing will happen in your work. The first blows upon the wall were not wasted; they were preparing for the others, and getting the whole structure into a condition of disintegration; and when that was done, down it came, and great was the fall thereof. 3. “ Well,” says one, “ what we want in our place is for the ministry itself to be supplied.” If the minister himself is dry, what is to be done? Find fault with him, and leave him? No! if he is a man of God, pray for him, and never rest till the Lord makes the dry land springs of water. 4. But what is wanted, too, is the same blessing upon the helpers. What is the preacher to do, what is the Church to do, if the workers are half asleep? One sleepy Christian in a Church may do much mischief. In some businesses the whole thing is so arranged, that if one person goes to sleep, all the machinery goes wrong; and I believe that it is very much so in the Church of God. 5. Then we may look for a change throughout the whole congregation. Men and women will cry out, “ What must we do to be saved?” There will be plenty of people to be talked to about their souls. We shall have no difficulty in increasing the Church, month by month, with such as shall be saved. 6. Then all the neighbour-hood will be transformed. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God’ s abounding generosity He does not measure His gifts of water by the pint and by the gallon; but here you have pools, and springs, and rivers. When He has given waters, He will give trees to grow by the waters. When God gives blessing, He makes other blessings to spring out of it. (C. H.Spurgeon.) Isaiah 41:19I will plant in the wilderness Trees The “ cedar” grew on Mount Lebanon, and was of great height, and had extended branches, which afforded kindly shade. The “ shittah” tree is probably, as the R.V. renders it, the acacia. This was “ a large tree, growing abundantly in Egypt and Arabia, and is the tree from which gum-arabic is obtained. It is covered with black thorns, and the wood is hard, and when old resembles ebony.” The “ myrtle” rises eight or ten feet high, its characteristic being “ a dense, full head.” It is thus convenient for shade. The “ off tree” is probably the olive tree. The “ fir tree” usually denotes the cypress, an evergreen. This is also a tree whose wide-spread foliage would afford shade. The “ pine” tree is perhaps the poplar (according to the Septuagint), or elm (according to the Vulgate), or a kind of hard oak (according to Gesenius). The “ box” tree is probably some tall tree of the cedar kind, also affording shade. The chief common characteristic of these trees is that they afford welcome shade. In Western lands the intensity of the sun’ s heat and rays is not felt; but in the East he is at his fiercest, and a shadow is a most grateful possession. A missionary from the South Seas said: “ Oh, the shining of the sun! The one thing we wanted to hide from was the sun. Its glare was intolerable!” (J. A. Davies, B. D.)The rejoicing wilderness What meaneth this figurative picture of a vast oasis--a wen-watered grove of stately, fragrant shady trees? Observe, there are seven kinds of these mentioned; seven--the Hebrew symbol of abundance, diversity, perfection. The words may well be taken, therefore, to denote the plenitude of Divine grace vouchsafed in the hour of deepest perplexity and sorrow. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)Divine grace adapted to human need The beautiful part of the picture is, that God bestows grace varied in its manifestations; adapted in its wondrous diversity to meet the wants and necessities and trials of all His suffering people. He has sustaining grace for one, restraining grace for another; strengthening grace for one, sanctifying grace for another; comforting grace for one, dying grace for another. But all these “ trees of God” are “ full of sap,” from the lowly: “ nabk” or mountain-thorn, to the “ cedar of Lebanon which He hath planted.” Each tree may be taken as the type or emblem of a cluster of Bible promises. To the weak, there is the cedar in its strength; to the bereaved, there is the olive, with its ashen leaves, and yet with its “ oil of joy” for the mourner; to the fainting and downcast, there is the tall pine and tapering cypress pointing upwards; to the wounded spirit, there is the balsam tree of Gilead and the fragrant myrtle; to the dying, there is the palm tree with its graceful fronds, according to the Eastern tradition, whispering in the ear the name of Jesus! And the further peculiarity of this promise is, that it is in the hour of sorest want and trial and perplexity that that grace is most abundant. It is in the depths of the arid desert, with hillocks of sand on all sides bounding the horizon,--in seasons of loneliest bereavement and uttermost sorrow,--that these palm and acacia and olive and myrtle groves, as if by the hand of an enchanter, rise up to view. It was “ at the fourth watch of the night (when the darkness was deepest, and the hearts of the disciples were most despairing and desponding) that Jesus “ cometh unto them walking upon the sea.” Man’ s extremity is often God’ s opportunity. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The symbolism of trees In the more figurative sense it intimates that the Lord God would raise up, for the benefit of His Church, men of distinguished eminence and usefulness, such as judges and generals, to afford them protection; rulers and governors, who should prove both ornamental and useful to them; and choice ministers of the Word, from whose doctrine they were to derive defence from evil, spiritual nourishment, and consolation. (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 41:21 Produce your cause Heaven’ s appeal to the reason of the sinner The text implies-- I. THAT THE SINNER HAS SOME REASONS FOR THE EVIL COURSE HE PURSUES. II. THAT THESE REASONS HE IS BOUND TO STATE BEFORE HIS MAKER. “ Bring forth your reasons.” Why bring them forth? 1. The question of a sinful course of conduct is a public question. The sinner has no right to say that his conduct concerns no one but himself. 2. Because it is the only way of exposing their moral absurdity. They will scarcely bear to be stated. Bring them out and they will frighten you. III. THAT HIS MAKER WILL GIVE THE OF THEM HIS . 1. His readiness to attend” to them shows that your conduct towards Him will not bear investigation. 2. His readiness to attend to them shows the existence of mediation. He does not attend to the reasons of the lost. 3. His readiness to attend to them shows His infinite condescension. (Homilist.)God’ s challenge to the sinner These words are a challenge to such as serve not God. The study of this question may be a wise anticipation of the judgment day. Now we may search for our reasons; and if they be found to be unsound, we may put our conduct right; but when we stand before the judgment-seat of Christ it will be too late for repentance. To form a court now in which to hear this cause, it is only needful that we should remember that the great God can judge the very secrets of our hearts. The Judge of all the earth is upon His holy seat. Before Him we now stand. While the doom of each is not yet fixed, the voice of the Almighty is heard, “ Produce your cause,” etc. 1. The great Searcher of hearts may come into the midst of such as are given to the love of present things, and say, “ Produce your cause.” What such will bring forward is this: they are not persons addicted to any particular vice; they are amiable, kind, sincere; they live without strife with men; they live without hostility towards God. But they have great love for things as they are: they are powerfully influenced by things seen and temporal; they are contented with their earthly portion; and they seldom have any strong concern or desire about the things not seen and eternal. Their cause is that of listlessness about the things of the soul, of an unwillingness to admit what seem to be melancholy thoughts, as they cast a shadow over a fair scene of earthly comfort, with which they feel that they can remain content. It is that of the orderly members of society, towards whom our respect and our affection are so soon drawn. It seems almost unkind to wake up such out of their soft sleep. But God says, “ Bring forth your strong reasons” to justify such a life. And reasons are given. It is so pleasant to be a peace, that we care not to be disturbed. Yes, if there were to be no sudden shock of death: if this loved world were to continue unchanged: if there were no cunning enemy plotting while the careless sleep: if there were no holy service to be done for God, no brotherly counsel to be given to man! But love of ease is no strong reason to justify a careless career, which is to end in unrest for ever. You may say, we are of the quieter sort; and may we not float in the eddies of life, without being hurried on by the current of evil? Why cannot our religion be of the passive order? But the answer comes at once, Are you so safe as you endeavour to think? Is there really the calm which your spirits in their drowsiness think there may be? There are, no doubt, beautiful Christian graces which bloom best in the shade. But do not such daily open their petals, and breathe out fragrance towards heaven? The cause of the careless, or the worldly-minded, of such as sit still in sloth as to spiritual concerns, will not stand in the judgment. 2. How much less will that other man prosper, whose cause may be thus produced. He is a man willing to admit that much may be said in favour of a religious life. Up to a certain point he is prepared to accept and to carry into effect the duties which rise because of a man’ s relation to God who made him. But religion has been made to ask too much: is pressed too indiscriminately upon every period and transaction of life. The law of God cannot be observed, and therefore it ought to be powered, or adapted to the condition of modern thought and feeling. The man will not pretend to justify all he does. But his strong reasons are that it cannot be otherwise. He lives in a world where perfect obedience is not to be expected. Other men sin, and their sinning involves sin in him. He is made with passions which do and will take fire, when temptation finds its convenient seasons. He is ready to listen to advice how he may avoid the grossest sins; but he is not prepared to care about opinions concerning a holiness which he never hopes to reach. Behind these strong reasons men entrench themselves, and seem to keep the conscience untouched by the arrow from the Lord’ s bow. The cause so produced wants one great feature; there is no real sorrow for sin. The blame of sin is skilfully shifted from the sinner to his God. “ Why hast Thou made me thus?” is the complaint which such a man makes. It is considered a misfortune rather than a fault, that he has not obeyed the commandment of the Lord. How can God justify a man who thus blames his Maker! How can a man justify himself, when it shall be brought out against him that if he had hated sin it might have been forgiven, if he had resisted sin it might have been overcome in the strength and according to the grace which God gives. Such reasons to support a cause will be weak in the day of the Lord. 3. A man will say, My life is not right, my conscience is not quiet, my position is not safe; but what am I to do? The religion of many so disgusts me that I have no faith to follow them. The opinions vary so much among those who call themselves Christ’ s servants that I am at a loss what to believe. My cause is bad: but which shall I accept as a better? And my reasons for remaining as I am are strong, from the difficulty as to whether I may not move and only sink lower. And such arguments satisfy a man for a time: they excuse, if they do not justify. But are they really sound? Is it true that there are no sincere followers of Jesus? Is it true that there are no saving truths which stand out as a rock, notwithstanding all that party spirit has done to hide it by party walls? Is Christ so covered that He cannot be found? I boldly assert that no such difficulties exist. There are, it may be, hypocrites everywhere. Sincere Christians are inconsistent and weak in many things; but salvation, God’ s grace, Divine life in the soul, is a real thing. The sinner who searches for a perfect Church or a perfect Christian, and stands aloof from Christ because such things are not to be found, may have grounds for finding fault with his neighbour, but he has no strong reason by which to defend himself. Such a cause, so supported, must fall to the ground, when the truthful test of God’ s own touch shall show what manner of cause it was. 4. But it is time to produce another cause: that of a man who holds the truth in unrighteousness; who is orthodox in creed and incorrect in life; who has the form of godliness, but denies the power thereof. It is the case of many to be found in the house of God on each Sabbath day: professors of Christ, but followers of the world, its vanities, or its sins. Such men bring no objections against the truth or service of God; but they do not savingly believe, they do not honestly serve. Religion with them is a thing without life. They have a horror of over-zeal. The reasonable man is earnest. He is calm and self-contained; but he has been strongly moved at the sight of sin, he has been deeply moved by the power of grace, and he cannot but give himself, body, soul, and spirit, to do his Lord’ s will. He, too, can produce his cause and bring forth his strong reasons. Is it not reasonable that, when God works by the Holy Ghost upon a sinner’ s soul, the effect should be felt and seen t Conclusion--The believer has his strong reasons. He says the time is short, and the work is great. He says sin is too terrible to be trifled with: salvation is too great a thing to be dealt with carelessly. The devil is in earnest--Jesus is in earnest--the wicked are in earnest; why should the Lord’ s people hang back, as from a cause they doubt or a conflict about which they feel afraid? And these reasons have the solidity of truth and the power of truth. They commend themselves to a man’ s judgment the more he weighs them well and the nearer he comes to the day of death. Let us all be warned. It is not a question about one man taking another man’ s advice. It is a far higher matter than a triumph of believer over unbeliever. As those who would not part when the Lord comes,--as those who cannot envy each other a place in heaven, inlet us give diligence to make our calling and election sure.” (J. Richardson, M. A.) Isaiah 41:27 One that bringeth good tidings Divine ordination I. ARE . They come from God. “ f will give.” The ministry is not one of the literary professions, nor a secular office. Colleges and seminaries do not make them. II. THEY ARE A GIFT OF GOD’ S GRACE. Neither the Church’ s merit, wealth, or respectability has s claim to them, nor does a salary hire them, nor ordination commission them in the highest sense. They are a benefaction. III. THE ’ S CHIEF WORK IS TO BE THE BEARER OF GOOD TIDINGS. It does not exclude other things that accompany salvation, but the Gospel proclamation is to be his specific, constant, cheerful, enthusiastic, confident employment. In season, out of season, in pulpit and private, his heart and lips are to overflow with the “ good tidings.” Because-- 1. They are what men, all men, all men everywhere and always need, and need most imperatively. 2. The more the good tidings are preached the more open is the way for everything else connected with the pastor’ s work, and the more effective all departments of his ministry. 3. It, and it alone, is the power of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation and sanctification. (Homiletic Review.). Isaiah 42:1-17 Behold My Servant Who is the “ servant of Jehovah” ? The following are, in brief, the leading opinions which have been held: (1) Hitzig’ s, that the Jewish people in exile is referred to, as distinguished from the heathen; (2) that of Paulus and Maurer, that the servant is the pious portion of the people; (3) that of Gesenins, that the prophetic order is intended; (4) that of Hofmann, combining (2) and (3), that it means Israel, the prophetic people, suffering on behalf of the heathen world; (5) that of Oehler and Delitzsch, that “ the conception of the servant of Jehovah is, as it were, a pyramid, of which the base is the people of Israel as a whole, the central part Israel ‘ according to the Spirit,’ and the summit, the person of the Mediator of salvation, who arises out of Israel.” (Prof. T. K. Cheyne, D. D.)The Mediator is the centre 1. In the circle of the kingdom of promise--the second David. 2. In the circle of the people of salvation--the true Israel. 3. In the circle of humanity--the second Adam. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The servant of Jehovah In the sublimest description of the servant I am unable to resist the impression that we have a presentiment of an individual, and venture to think that our general view of the servant ought to be ruled by those passages in which the enthusiasm of the author is at its height. “ Servant of Jehovah” in these passages seems equivalent to “ son of Jehovah” in Psalms 2:7 (“ son” and “ servant” being, in fact, nearly equivalent in the Old Testament), namely, the personal instrument of Israel’ s regeneration, or, as we may say in the broader sense of the word, the Messiah. (Prof. T. K. Cheyne, D. D.)Jehovah and Jehovah’ s servant This servant is brought before us with all the urgency with which Jehovah has presented Himself, and next to Jehovah He turns out to be the most important figure of the prophecy. Does the prophet insist that God is the only source and sufficiency of His people’ s salvation? It is with equal emphasis that He introduces the servant as God’ s indispensable agent in the work. Cyrus is also acknowledged as an elect instrument. But neither in closeness to God, nor in effect upon the world, is Cyrus to be compared for an instant to the servant. Cyrus is subservient and incidental But the servant is a character, to delineate whose immortal beauty and example the prophet devotes as much space as he does to Jehovah Himself. As he turns again and again to speak of God’ s omnipotence and faithfulness and agonising love for His own, so with equal frequency and fondness does he linger on every feature of the servant’ s conduct and aspect: His gentleness, His patience, His courage, His purity, His meekness: His daily wakefulness to God’ s voice, the swiftness and brilliance of His speech for others, His silence under His own torments; His resorts--among the bruised, the prisoners, the forwandered of Israel, the weary, and them that sit in darkness, the far-off heathen; His warfare with the world, His face set like a flint; His unworldly beauty, which men call ugliness; His unnoticed presence in His own generation, yet the effect of His face upon kings; His habit of woe, a man of sorrows and acquainted with sickness; His sore stripes and bruises, His judicial murder, His felon’ s grave; His exaltation and eternal glory--till we may reverently say that these pictures, by their vividness and charm, have drawn our eyes away from our prophet’ s visions of God, and have caused the chapters in which they occur to be oftener read among us, and learned by heart, than the chapters in which God Himself is lifted up and adored. Jehovah and Jehovah’ s servant--these are the two heroes of the drama. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The servant, first Israel as a whole, then Israel in part Nothing could be more clear than this, that in the earlier years of the exile, the servant of Jehovah was Israel as a whole, Israel as a body politic Very soon the prophet has to make a distinction, and to sketch the servant as something less than the actual nation In modern history we have two familiar illustrations of this process of winnowing and idealising a people, in the light of their destiny. In a well-known passage in the “ Areopagitica” Milton exclaims: “ Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation rousing herself and shaking her invincible locks; methinks I see her as an eagle renewing her mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes at the full midday beam while the whole noise of timorous and flocking birds, with those also that love the twilight, flutter about, amazed at what she means.” In this passage the “ nation” is no longer what Milton meant by the term in the earlier part of his treatise, where “ England” stands simply for the outline of the whole English people; but the “ nation” is the true genius of England realised in her enlightened and aspiring sons, and breaking away from the hindering and debasing members of the body politic. Or, recall Mazzini’ s bitter experience. To no man was his Italy more really one than to this ardent son of hers, who loved every born Italian because he was an Italian, and counted none of the fragments of his unhappy country too petty or too corrupt to be included in the hope of her restoration. To Mazzini’ s earliest imagination, it was the whole Italian seed who were ready for redemption, and would rise to achieve it at his summons. But when his summons came, how few responded, and after the first struggles how fewer still remained, Mazzini himself has told us with breaking heart. The real Italy was but a handful of born Italians; at times it seemed to shrink to the prophet alone. From such a core the conscience indeed spread again, till the entire people was delivered from tyranny and from schism, and now every peasant and burgher from the Alps to Sicily understands what Italy means, and is proud to be an Italian. But for a time Mazzini and his few comrades stood alone. It is a similar winnowing process through which we see our prophet’ s thought pass with regard to Israel. Him, too, experience teaches, that “ the many are called, but the few chosen.” Perhaps the first traces of distinction between the real servant and the whole nation are to be found in the programme of his mission (Isaiah 42:1-7). (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The ideal servant Jehovah That mysterious form of the ideal servant of Jehovah, which seems, as we read, to shift and change its aspect, was to Israel what the “ colossal man” of the idealist is to humanity at large (E. H.Plumptre, D. D.)The servant of the Lord The figure, as it first appears in this half of what are called Isaiah’ s prophecies, evidently represents Israel as God intended it to be, chosen for His service and for the diffusion of His Name; the conviction gradually steals over the prophet that the nation cannot discharge these functions, but that the Israel within Israel, the devout core of the people, is the Servant of the Lord; and finally, the knowledge seems to have been breathed into him that not even “ that holy seed” which “ is the substance thereof” is adequate to do all that the Servant of the Lord is to do; and thus finally the figure changes into a Person, who can be and do all that Israel ought to have been and done, but was not, and did not. In other words, whether the prophet discerned it or no, the role of the Servant of the Lord is only fulfilled by Jesus Christ. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Cyrus and the Servant of Jehovah His relation to Cyrus, before whose departure from connection with Israel’ s fate the Servant does not appear as a person, is most interesting. Perhaps we may best convey it in a homely figure On the ship of Israel’ s fortunes--as on every ship and on every voyage--the prophet sees two personages. One is the pilot through the shallows, Cyrus, who is dropped as soon as the shallows are past; and the other is the captain of the ship, who remains always identified with it--the servant. The captain does not come to the front till the pilot is gone; but, both alongside the pilot, and after the pilot has been dropped, there is every room for his office. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The ideal servant’ s work The chief aspects of the ideal servant’ s work may be classed as follows: 1. He is to be the embodiment of a new covenant between Jehovah and His people, to restore the actual nation exiled at the time in Babylon, and to reestablish them in their own land (Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:5-6; Isaiah 49:8). 2. But He has a mission not to Israel merely, but to the world: He is to teach the world true religion, and to be a “ light of the Gentiles” (Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 24:3; Isaiah 24:6; Isaiah 49:6). 3. He is to be a prophet, patient and faithful in the discharge of His work, in spite of the contumely and opposition which He may encounter Isaiah 50:4-9). 4. Being innocent Himself, He is to suffer and die for the sins of others Isaiah 53:4-9). (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The Trinity in unity This is the language of the Eternal Father; but it contains a description of our blessed Lord and Saviour in His character, as the Redeemer of the world. Then the Spirit of God is represented as resting upon Christ, to qualify Him for that work of redemption; and thus in this one verse we have brought before us suggestions concerning the Father’ s sovereign will, the Son’ s willing obedience, and the Spirit’ s fulness of grace manifested in the Person of the Son, and the setting Him apart for His real work. I. THE THE TRINITY IN UNITY. 1. No one can doubt that Holy Scripture teaches the unity of God. 2. Yet Scripture speaks of this one God, this one Jehovah, Israel’ s Lord, as revealing Himself in three distinct characters and relations, and only three. 3. Then Scripture attributes works and qualities to each of these three Persons which could not be attributed to them justly if each of them were not truly God. 4. Then Holy Scripture teaches, notwithstanding, that these Three Divine Persons, each spoken of as God, are yet one God, and this without any difference or inequality. II. THE VIEW OF THE TRINITY WHICH THIS PASSAGE . We gather from it that it is the will of the Eternal Jehovah that the glory of the Trinity should be specially manifested in connection with the Person and work of Christ. Observe the description of the Second Person in the blessed Trinity. 1. He is God’ s Servant. How can the Second Person in the Trinity be spoken of as the Servant of the Eternal Father? The very expression denotes the manhood of Christ. He cannot be a Servant except by creation, and His body was created in order that He might sustain the position of Servant to the Eternal God. “ A body,” we are told in the Epistle to the Hebrews, quoting from the Psalms, “ hast Thou prepared Me . . . Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God.” Here is the Son speaking to the Father. Then the expression God’ s “ Servant” denotes the humiliation of our blessed Lord Philippians 2:7). As God’ s servant we have to consider Him in connection with His office, as well as with His humiliation and with His manhood. The office which He had to sustain was to bring sinful men back again to God. 2. Then He is God’ s beloved--“ Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth.” 3. The Man Christ Jesus has the Spirit of God--“ I will put My Spirit upon Him,” that is, I will put it on Him as a garment. At the conception, and at His baptism and ordination to His work, this was specially manifested. Then Jesus had the Spirit for the special work which He had to perform as Mediator. There were three objects to be accomplished, if man was to have a suitable remedy. Man was ignorant of God’ s will through sin: he needed, therefore, a prophet to teach him, not only what to do, but the actual doing of it, and Jesus was anointed to be that Prophet. Then man was rebellious, and he needed, therefore, a king who should rule over his inward passions, and subdue them, as well as over his outward enemies, and quell them: and therefore Jesus was anointed, that He might sustain the office of King. And man was in a sinful condition, under the curse of the broken law, and therefore he needed a priest to sacrifice for him, and to make intercession for him, and Jesus was that Priest, anointed with the Spirit of God, in order that He might make that satisfaction, and offer that sacrifice, and present that intercession through which sinners may be brought nigh unto God. Thus qualified, the Saviour will “ bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.” (W. Cadman, M. A.)The servitude of Jesus I. IN CHRIST, SERVICE AND FREEDOM WERE . He gave the service of being, the service of work, the service of suffering, the service of worship, the service of rest each to the very highest point of which that service is capable. But when He came, knowing as He did all to which He was coming, He came with these words upon His lips, “ I delight to do it.” II. CHRIST HAD MANY MASTERS, AND HE SERVED THEM ALL WITH PERFECT SERVICE. 1. There was His own high purpose, which had armed Him for His mission, and never by a hair’ s-breadth did He ever swerve from that. 2. There was the law. The law had no right over Christ, and yet how He served the law, in every requirement, moral, political, ceremonial, to the smallest tittle. 3. There was death, that fearful master with his giant hand. Step by step, inch by inch, slowly, measuredly, He put Himself under its spell, He obeyed its mandate, and He owned its power. 4. To His Heavenly Father what a true Servant He was, not only in fulfilling all the Father’ s will, but as He did it, in always tracing to Him all the power, and giving back to Him all the glory. III. THERE IS A DEPTH OF BEAUTY AND POWER, OF LIBERTY AND , OF AND LOVE, IN THAT WORD “ SERVANT,” which none ever know who have not considered it as one of the titles of Jesus. But there is another name of Jesus, very dear to His people, “ The Master.” To understand “ the Master” you must yourself have felt “ the Servant.” (J. Vaughan, M. A.)The dignity of service He is not a man of clear and weighty judgment who sees nothing of honour even in the word “ servant.” Ill times have befallen us if we attach to that word nothing but the idea of humiliation, lowness, valuelessness. That word must be restored to its right place in human intercourse. If any man proudly rise and say he is not servant, there is a retort, not of human invention, which might overwhelm any who are not swallowed up of self-conceit and self-idolatry. We do not know what it is to rule until we know what it is to serve. (J. Parker, D. D.)God’ s programme for the world This programme is entrusted to the servant of the Lord, who is the Christ of the New Testament. I. THE BETWEEN JEHOVAH AND HIS SERVANT. In all His life of ministry this Servant was assured of three things-- 1. That He was chosen of God for the service to which He came. 2. That He dwelt deep in the love of God His Father. 3. That His life lay entirely within the will of God. He was chosen, beloved, approved. All this is possible to those who say, “ I am the Lord’ s.” II. THE SERVANT’ S DIVINE . “ I have put My Spirit upon Him.” III. THE MISSION OF THE SERVANT: ITS TEMPER AND METHOD. Christ came to reveal God, to restore all things to the pattern of the Divine mind, to make God’ s judgment the standard of all life and conduct, so that the world should be governed by the principles of God’ s righteousness. This is to be accomplished without noise or ostentation. This description of Christ’ s character is remarkable for its omissions: it is a striking list of omissions. The Spirit works by a process of exclusion in revelation and sanctification, and in the restoration of righteousness in the world. (S. Chadwick.)The ideal Israelite Long before Christ appeared in the flesh, He had already appeared in the Spirit. The chapter carries us back to a time when the conception of a Saviour definitely began. Up to then there had been vague presentiments; after then there was a character prepared for the Jesus who was to come. So it is with all heroes, they are needed before they are born; they could not work their work unless they were needed and discerned; they have prophets to beget them as well as parents. I. AN ACTUAL NAME APPLIED. The title of “ God’ s servant” is one that runs through all Oriental language. The Israelite people at large had failed,--the Jewish people, as reformed by Josiah, had failed,--it remained for God to justify His purpose by manifesting a “ new model,” who should represent Him rightly to the Gentiles. II. AN IDEAL GIVEN. 1. This genuine man of God must be a man of gentleness, and yet He should inherit the earth. 2. A method equally new would prevail in religion; there the true Missionary would proceed with tolerance; He would not thrust His revelation upon aliens, He would open their eyes to behold their own revelation; they also had lamps, dimly-burning, but still alight. God’ s servant must not extinguish them, He must revive them. 3. But to be gentle in forwarding the right, tolerant in inculcating the true, tender in making allowance for the weak--all this belongs to consummate sympathy, and sympathy demands compensating qualities, for it has besetting defects. Converse with sensitive consciences is often enfeebling. Virtue goes out of us in the endeavour to impart strength, and the infection of fear overtakes the very physician. But our prophet has a strong intellect in view, a Helper who shall not be bruised by anything He has to bear. 4. There is about the perfect character the distinction of patience. He burns brightly in mind. He bears up bravely in heart, “ until He have set judgment in the earth.” This true service has been fulfilled by the Carpenter of Nazareth--His qualities are on record; His spirit lasts. (B. H. Alford.)Messiah and His work I. THE AND SPIRIT OF THE MESSIAH. II. THE WORK WITH WHICH, AS THE FATHER’ S SERVANT, HE HAD BEEN . III. THE WAY IN WHICH HE WAS TO EXECUTE IT. “ He shall not fail,” etc. (Original Secession Magazine.)The service of God and man I. THE OF THE SERVICE. Before being a service of man, it is a service for God. “ My servant.” II. THE OF SERVICE. “ Judgment for the nations shall He bring forth.” “ According to truth shall He bring forth judgment.” He shall not flag nor break, till He set in the earth judgment.” III. THE TEMPER OF SERVICE (Isaiah 42:2-3). IV. THE POWER BEHIND SERVICE (Isaiah 42:5-6). (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)“ Behold, My Servant!” They are rare qualities which Jehovah calls us to behold in the elect Servant: a Divine modesty; a Divine humility; a Divine perseverance. I. THE MODESTY OF THE BEST WORK. God is always at work in our world, leading the progress of suns, refreshing grass with dew, directing the flight of the morning beams. But all His work is done so quietly, so unobtrusively, with such reticence as to His personal agency, that many affirm there is no God at all. Thus was it with the work of Christ. He put His hand on the mouths of those who proclaimed His deity, or blazoned abroad His fame. This quality is God’ s hall-mark upon the best work. His highest artists do not inscribe their names upon their pictures, nor introduce their portraits amongst their groups. II. THE OF THE BEST WORK. He has put down the mighty from their seat, and exalted the humble and meek. And so was it with our Lord. He passed by Herod’ s palace, and chose Bethlehem and its manger bed. He refused empires of the world, and took the way of the cross. He selected His apostles and disciples from the ranks of the poor. He revealed His choicest secrets to babes. He left the society of the Pharisee and Scribe, and expended Himself on bruised reeds and smoking flax, on dying thieves and fallen women, and the peasantry of Galilee. III. DIVINE . Though our Lord is principally concerned with the bruised and the dimly-burning wick, He is neither one nor the other (see R.V., marg.). He is neither discouraged nor does He fail. This, again, is the quality of the best work. That which emanates from the flesh is full of passion, fury, and impulse. It essays to deliver Israel by a spasm of force that lays an Egyptian dead in the sand; but it soon exhausts itself, and sinks back nerveless and spent. It is impossible too strongly to emphasise the necessity of relying in Christian work on the co-witness of the Spirit of God. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Purpose and method of the Redeemer I. THE ’ S PURPOSE. “ He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles” ; “ He shall bring forth judgment unto truth,” and He is to “ set judgment in the earth.” The word “ judgment,” as here used, has no better equivalent than righteousness, in the sense of that which is essentially right in heart and life, both toward God and man. This righteousness--rightness--in all the powers and operations of the soul, and in all its relations to God and the universe, is the master-need of mankind. The Redeemer has undertaken to meet this great need of the world. He came not to establish certain forms of theological thought and expression; not to set up certain ecclesiastical organisations and rituals--all these are of little worth, except in so far as they can be made the means to a vastly grander end. Jesus Christ came to establish essential righteousness in individual human souls, and so in the community and in the world. It is His grand purpose to enlighten the ignorance, to quicken the conscience, to energise the will, to purify the affections, and to exalt the aims of men, bringing them thus into harmony with God. He came to make every wrong right--to break the oppressor’ s yoke, to banish cupidity and caste, ignorance and selfishness, and every form of sin. In the prosecution of this sublime purpose the Redeemer calls all His disciples into co-operation with Himself. In this they are to find the development of their own spiritual character, and by this the world is to be won for Christ. II. THE ’ S METHOD. This is set before us by the prophet in a fourfold view-- 1. As authorised. “ Behold My Servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My Spirit upon Him.” Here the Redeemer is represented as acting under the appointment and authorisation of the Eternal Father. Nor is it difficult to perceive why this is necessary. God, as the Sovereign, against whom man has offended, was alone competent to determine whether any mediation could be admitted between Himself and His rebellious creatures, and, if any, what the nature of that mediation should be. It is essential to any man’ s faith in redemption that he should recognise it as of God from the beginning. The interposition of Christ is first of all, and more than all, the manifestation of the Father’ s impartial and everlasting love for lost men. The Redeemer is God, the equal of the Father in glory, majesty, power, divinity, and eternity; but He is God manifest in the flesh. As it was necessary that the Redeemer should be authorised, so it was necessary that the authority under which He acted should be explicitly attested. It was thus attested. “ Mine elect in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My Spirit upon Him” (Luke 4:14). This aspect of His mission was clearly understood by His apostles (Acts 4:27; Acts 10:38). At intervals during His ministry there came to Him Divine attestation; at its close He “ was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead” : and having ascended to the Father He was constituted “ Head over all things to the Church,” principlities and powers being made subject to Him, for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.” 2. As unostentatious (Isaiah 42:2). Messiah’ s mission was to be distinguished by no secular pomp, by no military glory. The Redeemer’ s appearance was to be lowly, His operations silent and unobtrusive. The Saviour of men is great in gentleness. On this point prophecy is mysteriously impressive. History answers to prophecy. In the life of Jesus Christ there is a marvellous mingling of grandeur and humility. The same principle pervades the whole of His administration. There is marvellous grandeur, but there is deep lowliness. The Gospel has mysteriously subdued the hearts of men, forming into its own spirit tempers and habits the most alien from its nature. 3. As compassionate. “ A bruised reed,” etc. Advancing to the realisation of His sublime purpose the Redeemer will not overlook the smallest acquisition; and His attention will be especially directed to those who are specially needy, weak, and helpless. 4. As persevering. “ He shall not fail,” etc. He was not discouraged. He ploughed His way through all opposition from Bethlehem to Golgotha. The risen and exalted Redeemer is moving steadily on to His final and complete triumph. (R. R. Meredith, D. D.)The Servant of Jehovah I. THE HE . “ Behold, My Servant,” etc. In this capacity God sustained and protected Him. He is also set forth as the object of His special choice and affection. “ Mine elect,” etc. He delighted in Him on account-- 1. Of the close relationship that existed between them. Not merely was He Jehovah’ s Servant, but His only-begotten Son. 2. The resemblance He bore to Him. 3. His having engaged to execute the Divine purposes. II. THE WORK HE HAD TO . 1. For this work He was endowed with every requisite qualification. “ I have put My Spirit upon Him.” 2. The work assigned to Him was very extensive in its range. “ He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.” 3. The character of His work is here intimated. He was to bring forth “ judgment” ; for the religion He would establish was to be pre-eminently distinguished truth and righteousness. III. THE MANNER IN WHICH IT WAS TO BE . 1. The absence of all ostentation and clamour. It is invariably found that it is not the most noisy that do the most work. 2. He was to evince great tenderness and compassion. “ A bruised reed,” etc. These words were verified in His conduct towards two classes-- (1) The humble penitent. (2) His bitterest foes. This passage is thus applied by Matthew (chap. 12.). 3. Perseverance in the face of all difficulties and discouragements. He shall not fail nor be discouraged,” etc. (Anon.)The coming Saviour About these chapters, as a unit, a halo of Messianic brightness gathers, like the aureole with which painters surround the brow of Christ. In these verses (1-11) the prophet taught that-- I. THE COMING SAVIOUR WAS TO SET UP A KINGDOM WHICH SHOULD BE (Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 42:4; Isaiah 42:6). Those whom Isaiah addressed supposed that true religion was to reach the world, if at all, through the channels of Judaism; they thought the only way to heaven was through the ,portals of the Jewish Church. The prophet declares that the benefits of Christ s kingdom are to extend to Jew and Gentile alike. No distinctions of race or clime are to arrest its growth. No wonder that under the thrill of such a vision he shouts, “ Sing unto the Lord a new song, and His praise from the end of the earth!” It is sometimes said that the religious spirit of the Old Testament is narrow; that it makes God bestow His favours on the few, and not on the many. Can, however, a larger measure of grace be conceived than is here expressed? II. CHRIST’ S KINGDOM WAS TO BE BY (verses 2, 3). The prophet addressed those who thought religious conquest was to be achieved by force. Hitherto conflicts had marked the intercourse of God’ s chosen people with the Gentiles. The Jews looked for their coming king to be warlike. How strangely, then, does Isaiah describe their conquering prince,--“ He shall not cry,” i.e shout as He advances, “ nor lift up,” i.e make demonstration of His power, “ nor shall He cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth,” i.e truth shall be His victorious weapon. The element in Christianity to which our text refers makes that which is feeble among men powerful for Christ. It also makes it possible for all Christ’ s servants to be efficient labourers. They become such by imbibing the spirit of the Master. Not all can publicly proclaim the Gospel, but every one can seek for the “ same mind which was in Christ.” III. CHRIST’ S KINGDOM WAS TO REVEAL GOD’ S WITH MAN, IN HIS . (verse 7). The primary reference in these figures is undoubtedly to spiritual results. Eyes morally blind are to be opened, and captive souls emancipated from the prison-house of sin. It is, however, no less true that bodily and mental freedom are included in the blessings of Messiah’ s reign. The Church is now the representative of the Divine sympathy for suffering; and she should not forget that, as of old, believers will be multiplied when it is seen that through her Christ now cares for bodies as well as souls. IV. CHRIST’ S KINGDOM WAS TO FILL THE EARTH WITH JOY (verses 10, 11). As lessons from our subject we learn-- 1. Christians should labour in hope. Isaiah suggests one of the strongest proofs of our Lord’ s divinity by affirming, “ He shall not fail nor be discouraged until He have set judgment in the land.” When we learn of the Master we catch a hopeful spirit. 2. The results of serving Christ are permanent. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)Silent spread of Christianity This prophecy accords with fact. Gibbon, in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, has the following words describing the silent but rapid spread of Christianity: “ While the Roman Empire was invaded by open violence or undermined by slow decay, a pure and humble religion gently insinuated itself into the minds of men, grew up in silence and obscurity, derived new vigour from opposition, and finally erected the triumphant banner of the Cross on the ruins of the Capitol.” (Sermons by the Monday Club.)The coming Saviour I. OUR LORD’ S AS IN . 1. That our Lord should come as a servant (Isaiah 42:1). (1) This was His own testimony when He came (Matthew 20:28; John 6:38). (2) This is the testimony of the apostles (Philippians 2:6-8). 2. That our Lord was Divinely chosen for His work. “ Mine elect” (1 Peter 2:6-7). 3. That our Lord should be endowed with the Holy Spirit. “ I have put My Spirit upon Him” (Matthew 3:16-17; Luke 4:14; Luke 4:18-19; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 1:9). 4. That our Lord would institute a religion for the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:1). Such is the force of the word “ judgment.” 5. That His Spirit would be most tender and gentle (Isaiah 42:2-3). (1) This, surely, is a correct description of the historic Christ. His own testimony (Matthew 11:29). The testimony of His apostles Hebrews 7:26; Hebrews 12:2-3; 1 Peter 2:21-24). (2) In this He gave His disciples an example. 6. That His courage would be equal to His gentleness (verse 4). (1) It is not the noisy and boastful that are the most courageous and reliable. (2) The deeper our conviction of the truthfulness of our cause the more patient and gentle may we be in its advocacy. (3) The commission of Christ to His disciples proves His entire confidence in the success of His cause. II. OUR LORD’ S IN . 1. In its authority (verses 5, 9). The authority is the highest in respect to power and principle. 2. In its purpose (verse 7). (1) Our Lord appropriates the terms of this commission to Himself Luke 4:17-19). (2) This is the commission He fulfilled in His life. III. BOTH THE AND OF CHRIST ARE JUST TO TO GOD (verse 10). 1. All should praise God. 2. To praise God for Christ intelligently we must personally experience His saving power. Lessons-- 1. The study of prophecy is the imperative duty of every child of God. 2. The most inspiring portions of prophecy are those which centre in the person and work of our Lord Jesus. 3. No prophecy can be fully understood that is not interpreted in the light of Christ’ s work. “ For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” 4. Christianity is a religion for the whole race (verse 4). 5. The gentleness with which its advocates should be characterised and the beneficent designs of its mission must commend it, when rightly represented, to all nations, climes, and tongues. 6. Under no circumstances will our Lord justify His disciples in an advocacy of His Gospel in a spirit antagonistic to His own. 7. Let all disciples of Christ copy His life, spirit and love, and work for the gracious ends for which He lived and died! (Homiletic Review.)The servant of Jehovah This chapter exhibits to our view the servant of Jehovah, i.e the Messiah and His people, as a complex person, and as the messenger or representative of God among the nations. 1. His mode of operation is described as being not violent but peaceful (Isaiah 42:1-5). 2. The effects of His influence are represented as not natural but spiritual (Isaiah 42:6-9). 3. The power of God is pledged for His success, notwithstanding all appearances of inaction or indifference on His part (Isaiah 42:10-17). (J. A. Alexander.)Mine elect in whom My soul delightethChrist delighted in by the Father Christ Jesus was the elect of God, inasmuch as from all eternity infinite wisdom had chosen Him to execute the sovereign purposes of infinite mercy. We may pronounce that the Father delighted in His elect, because-- I. THE OF CHRIST EVERY DIVINE . II. IT ALSO MET EVERY HUMAN . (H. Melvill, B. D.) Isaiah 42:2-3 He shall not cry Jesus Christ not a controversialist He is not a debater; He does not belong to the society of men who walk up and down in the open square, called the “ street,” or agora, or the market-place, saying, Who will talk with Me to-day? What shall we debate? My sword is ready, who will fence? He does not belong to the word gladiator; from that school He abstains. There were men who delighted in controversy in the open squares of the city. Such controversy took the place of modern literature, morning journals, and the means of publicity of every kind, open to modern society. Jesus Christ spoke whisperingly to hearts. Men had to incline their ear to hear Him. (J. Parker, D. D.)Christ’ s message self-evidential What He brings is its own evidence, and needs no beating of drums. (Prof. F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Christ’ s ministry unhysterical To be “ screamy,” to be “ loud,” to “ advertise one’ s self,” --these modern expressions for vices that were ancient as well as modern, render the exact force of the verse. Such the servant of God will not be nor do. That God is with Him, holding Him fast (Isaiah 42:6), keeps Him calm and unhysterical; that He is but God s instrument keeps Him humble and quiet; and that His heart is in His work keeps Him from advertising Himself at its expense. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Christ unlike the prophets of Israel This feature of the Servant’ s activity can hardly have been suggested by the demeanour of the prophets of Israel; and for that reason the prophecy is all the more wonderful as a perception of the true condition of spiritual work. It reminds us of the “ still small voice” in which Elijah was made to recognise the power of Jehovah. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The greatness and the gentleness of Christ Jesus Christ has fulfilled this passage both in the spirit and in the letter. I. THE AND OF HIS WORK. It could not be expressed in stronger or more graphic words. “ He shall bring forth judgment or righteousness, according to truth. He shall not fail nor be broken till He have established judgment or righteousness in the earth, and the isles, or far-off lands, shall wait for His law or instruction.” This is the Old Testament conception of the Divine work, the setting up of a kingdom of righteousness in the world. In the New Testament it is called the kingdom of heaven, of which righteousness is still the great characteristic. The essence of the aim of the Gospel of Christ may be summed up, therefore, in two words--to win men over to be right and to do right. That which separates men from God and the kingdom of heaven is some kind of wrong in the inward nature--that which arrays itself against the Divine will, which is the Divine law. The self-will which tries, but tries in vain, to trample down the Divine will, which endeavours to have its own way in defiance of all right and justice; the insatiate thirst of the passions for indulgence which must be obtained at whatever cost to honour and conscience, and the readiness to sacrifice truth and honesty and purity in order to achieve what the world calls success,--these things are the essence of all unrighteousness and sin--the cancerous disease of our spiritual nature, which Christ, the Great Physician, came to exterminate and heal. In order to do what is right we must become, first of all, personally right; for Christ traced all conduct up to character. “ A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,” etc. He came to build up a society of such men and women, beginning with a small band of immediate personal disciples, whose affection to Himself should make them righteous, who should receive from Him the truths, the impulses, and principles which would enable them to carry the contagion of His Spirit to Greek, and Roman, and Jew, and make the cross on which He died the symbol of all goodness and all righteousness. II. THE SPIRIT AND METHOD OF CHRIST’ S WORK. “ He shall not cry,” etc. 1. This is the Divine way of speaking to men, and instructing them in Divine truth. The strong wind can speak to the seas and mountains and forests; the earthquake can speak to Sodom and Gomorrah; the fire can speak to the raving prophets of Baal; but when He speaks to His servant He whispers in that still small voice which penetrates where the thunder would fail to be heard, to the deeps of Elijah’ s spirit, where the heart and conscience sit enthroned in silence. The deepest affections ever speak thus. The mother speaks to her child in the softest, most subdued accents of speech, and those accents reach farther into the child’ s heart than the loudest, harshest words of command could reach. When is the orator at the height of his greatest power? Not when he is loudest; not when he thunders forth invective and appeal in high-strung passion; but when the strength of emotion has subdued him, when the rich pathos of his feelings makes his voice tremulous and low; and he just breathes out the thought which you will never forget. This was Christ’ s method of instruction during His earthly ministry. The Sermon on the Mount breathes a Divine calm throughout; there is not one spasmodic sentence in it. 2. And He did not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. When the woman who had been a sinner ventured after Him into the house of Simon the Pharisee, where He sat at meat, and began to wash His feet with her tears and to wipe them with the hair of her head, He accepted the service without one thought of spurning her from His presence, because it was the service of a broken, penitent heart. But there is a positive as well as a negative aspect of this truth. He will not merely not break the bruised reed, He will heal and restore it to soundness; He will not merely not quench the smoking flax, He will replenish the exhausted lamp with fresh oil, and make it burn brightly again. This life is hastening to its close with us, and we may have a keen consciousness that our souls are bruised and broken by sin, and we dread to die. What can we do? We can be assured that there is a Saviour who sympathises with us, and who has power to lift the load from our conscience, and restore the breaking, fearful heart; a Saviour who is not willing that you should die as you are, but can even now pour the oil of hope and trust into the lamp of your life. Some of us may have been bruised and almost worn out, not so much by the reproach of our sins, as by the experience of trouble and suffering. (C. Short, M. A.) Isaiah 42:3-4A bruised reed shall He not break The bruised reed The reed, or “ calamus,” is a plant with hollow stem, which grew principally by the side of lakes or rivers. Those who have been in Palestine are familiar with it in the tangled thickets which still line the shores of the ancient Merom and Genesis nesaret, or, above all, in the dense copse fringing the banks of the Jordan. The plant might well be taken as an emblem of whatever was weak, fragile, brittle. The foot of the wild beast that made its lair in the jungle, trampled it to pieces. Its slender stalk bent or snapped under the weight of the bird that sought to make it a perch. The wind and hail-storm shivered its delicate tubes, or laid them prostrate on the ground. “ A reed shaken by the wind” was the metaphor employed by One whose eyes, in haunts most loved and frequented by Him, had ofttimes gazed on this significant emblem of human weakness and instability. Once broken, it was rendered of no use. Other stems which had been bent by the hurricane might, by careful nursing and tending, be recovered; but the reed, with its heavy culm, once shattered, became worthless. In a preceding chapter (36:6) it is spoken of as an emblem of tottering, fragile Egypt. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)A bruised reed Say some an instrument was meant, and there was a rift in it, which spoiled the music. Jesus Christ said, We must repair this; something must be done with this reed; it was meant for music, and we must look at it with that end in view. He does not take it, saying, There is a rift in the lute, and the music is impossible; rend it and throw it away. He always looks to see if a man cannot be made somewhat better. Or “ a bruised reed” may mean that wild beasts in rushing through to the water, or from the flood, have crushed the growing plants, so that they are bent, they no more stand upright; but Jesus Christ comes to heal them and to restore them. (J. Parker, D. D)The bruised reed and She smoking flax God has His strong ones in His Church--His oaks of Bashan and cedars of Lebanon; noble forest trees, spreading far and wide their branches of faith and love and holiness; those who are deeply rooted in the truth, able to wrestle with fierce tempests of unbelief, and to grapple with temptations in their sterner forms. But He has His weaklings and His saplings also--those that require to be tenderly shielded from the blast, and who are liable, from constitutional temperament, to become the prey of doubts and fears, to which the others are strangers. Sensitive in times of trial, irresolute in times of difficulty and danger, unstable in times of severe temptation; or it may be in perpetual disquietude and alarm about their spiritual safety. To such, the loving ways and dealings of the Saviour are unfolded. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)Rudiments of religion in the heathen world It is an interesting question whether these rudiments of religion are conceived as existing in the heathen world or in the breasts of individual Israelites. The former view is, no doubt, that to which the national interpretation of the servant most readily accommodates itself, and is also most in keeping with the scope of the passage as a whole. But in later sections a mission in and to Israel is undoubtedly assigned to the servant, and a reference to that here cannot be pronounced impossible. (Prof. J Skinner, D. D.)The bruised reed I. ESCAPES NOT CHRIST’ S . There is no insignificant life, nor insignificant incident of life. All is fraught with the importance of endless existence. II. NOT CHRIST’ S REGARD. Nothing more worthless than a bruised reed. Yet He will not break it. As there is no trifle that escapes His notice, so there is no unworthiness that transcends His gracious regard. Where is the bruised reed that the Redeemer has ever broken? Is it the dying thief? Is it Mary Magdalene? Is it Saul of Tarsus? III. ABATES NOT CHRIST’ S LOVE. Nothing more unprofitable than a bruised reed. The heart that yields no large return for all His care He loves and blesses still. The unprofitable bruised reed He will not break. (Homiletic Review.)God’ s negatives imply strong affirmations As that negative assertion is the Hebrew way of conveying a strong affirmative, it is equivalent to saying that He will bind up the broken heart, that He will cement the splintered stem of the hanging bulrush, endowing it with new life and strength and vigour causing it to “ spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses” ; that He will pardon, pity, comfort, relieve. (J. R.Macduff, D. D.)Fragrance from the bruised-soul In the case of some aromatic plants, it is when bruised they give forth the sweetest fragrance. So, it is often the soul, crushed with a sense of sin, which sends forth the sweetest aroma of humility, gratitude, and love. “ Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)Bruised reeds It is quite a relief to come across words of such gracious import as these, and to learn that there is One having to do with us, while immeasurably above us, in whose heart pity has a place, in whose eyes are tears as they look on our woes, whose touch is soft while strong, whose voice has no harshness in it when addressing the weak and failing--for we live in a cold, callous, cruel world, still darkened by the foulest crimes, where thousands are handled roughly and are driven into out-of-the-way places to die, unattended, unhelped, and unblessed, except, perhaps, by the angels of God. Read history: it is written largely in letters of blood. Read your newspaper, that mirror of the world’ s daily life, and weep over fallen human nature as you do so. Read your scientific books, and you will find vivisection preached so far as animals are concerned, and “ natural selection and the survival of the fittest” so far as the race is concerned. “ Let the weak perish, let the afflicted be cut off,” says a pitiless science--thus following the ancient Spartans, who killed off their sickly and deformed offspring, and Plato, who favoured infanticide. These people would deliberately and in cold blood break the bruised reed and quench the smoking flax. Into such a world as this Christ comes, comes to teach us that God is love, that the strongest Being in the universe is the gentlest, that all life is precious, that even maimed humanity is worth saving, that the man who has been smitten by a mighty misfortune is to have the tenderest attention, that the man most in the mud is to be lifted out, so that his powers may unfold themselves in winsome and undecaying blossoms by the river of life. The slender bulrush,, with its sides crushed and dinted, its head hanging by a thread, stands for that large class who have been injured by evil of any kind, and to all these Jesus deals out an unwonted, unheard of, restorative tenderness. I. SOME ARE BRUISED BY SINS. Our scientists now accept and emphasise the great Mosaic doctrine, “ The sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate Me.” Many are seriously handicapped by hereditary taints. “ The great men of the world are the forest kings of the social landscape; the rich are its olives, the clever are its orchids; the fashionable are its climbing roses; the merry are its purple vines; but here at the bottom, in the dirt, are the bruised reeds of humanity, the outcast, the forsaken, the ill-starred, the poverty-stricken, the weak, the wronged, the fallen.” To which did Jesus give His best, His primary attention? He won for Himself the name, “ A friend of publicans and sinners.” When His disciples queried Him as to who was responsible for a man’ s blindness, He refused to be drawn into a discussion of the law of heredity to satisfy their unfeeling curiosity. To Christ the blind man was something more than a scientific or theological problem--he was a brother whose blindness was an appeal for help, and He helped him by opening his eyes. II. SOME ARE BRUISED BY SIN. There are many who realise that their lives are knocked out of their proper shape. How many of us have robbed, degraded, and damaged ourselves! God meant us to be temples, but we have desecrated the hallowed shrine. God meant us to be kings, but we have given our crowns away. God meant us to be priest, but we have made ourselves vile. God meant us to be His children, but we have wandered away and become Satan’ s serfs. No one has injured us half as much as we have injured ourselves. What a contrast is Jesus even to the best of His followers in the treatment of self-injured men! Someone has said, “ How surprising it seems that we find in Jesus no feeling of scorn for man.” Surprising? There was not a shade of a shadow of contempt in His nature, not even for the sorriest sons of Adam. III. SOME ARE BRUISED BY THE SINS OF SOCIETY. Some are more sinned against than sinning. Society must be indicted as a great sinner. Full often it is thoughtless, careless, cruel, wicked. It has a don’ t-care sort of mien. It cares nothing for others’ rights, feelings, happiness. Its maxim is, “ Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost.” Thus the reeds are trodden on, and there is small wonder that they have hard thoughts of man and God. Whatever our treatment of them, our Lord metes out to them a royal generosity, a most delicate consideration. When He was under Calvary’ s shadow the soldiers put a reed into His right hand--they did it in mockery, but they knew not what they did. That reed was a sceptre, the symbol of the reign of gentleness. The bruised reed may be nothing to us--but to Him who knoweth all things it suggests music, beauty,usefulness. (J. Pearce.)The weak Christian comforted Nothing is more common than for the inspired writers to represent spiritual and Divine things by an allusion to those which are natural. Notice-- I. SOME OF THE OF THE ’ S . 1. He has knowledge, but it is as yet imperfect. 2. He has faith, but as yet it is comparatively powerless. 3. He has hope, but it is faint and feeble. 4. His joys are few and transient. But these characteristics of the Christian’ s weakness are also the sources of his sorrow. II. SOME OF THE PLEDGES OF THE ’ S . “ He will not break,” etc if faith be genuine, though but like the smallest grain of seed, He owns it; if hope be legitimate, though feeble, He owns it; if love be sincere, though languid, He owns it. The pledges of the believer’ s security are many and great. 1. Weak believers, equally with the strong, stand in a Divine relation to God. 2. They are, equally with the strong, the purchased possession of the Redeemer. 3. The weak believer is, equally with the strong, supplied out of the inexhaustible store of Divine grace. (S. Bridge, M. A.)The bruised reed I. WHO ARE SET FORTH UNDER THE FIGURE OF A BRUISED REED? It is a description that well suits all believers, without exception. Some are comparatively stronger than others. How is this where all are so weak? Because they have a deeper, more deeply felt experience of weakness. They live more by faith, lean more on Jesus, are brought into deeper poverty of spirit, receive Him more fully. Those branches next the stem are always the strongest. But our text sets forth the weak believer, and one who is conscious of it. It is not only a reed, but a bruised reed. Perhaps heavy afflictions wound the believer, and temporal troubles become strong spiritual temptations. It is storm upon storm, tempest upon tempest, and the poor reed not only bends beneath it” , but is bruised beneath it. The world is unkind, friends are unkind, saints are unkind, and faith being weak, God seems unkind; and then the soul, full of suspicion, is unkind to itself, and suspects its own grace. What s bruising is this! Perhaps a deep sense of sin and inward corruption is added to this. II. OUR LORD’ S CONDUCT TO SUCH. He will not break this bruised reed. 1. His faithfulness will not permit it. These are of those whom the Father has entrusted to His love. 2. His holiness will not permit it. Here is a spark of His own kindling, a germ of His own planting, a new nature of His own creating, a child of God, one who loves Him--will He bruise such a one? 3. His tenderness will not permit it. Will a kind physician neglect his patient? Will a shepherd forget his wandering sheep? Will a mother dash her sick child to the earth? Conclusion-- 1. Beware lest you make your feebleness an excuse. There is all fulness in Christ. 2. Beware lest you increase your feebleness. Sin enfeebles, neglects enfeeble, the world enfeebles; want of peace in the conscience enfeebles; living on anything but Christ enfeebles. 3. Admire that condescending Saviour who can stoop to this bruised reed. 4. Admire the compassion of the Saviour. 5. Still more admire Him who has supported, who has all grace to help. 6. Be contented to be ever weak in yourself. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)The compassion of Christ I. INQUIRE WHY THE PERSONS SPOKEN OF MAY BE TO THE BRUISED REED AND SMOKING FLAX. 1. Both these objects have a mean appearance, and are deemed of little use: and low and humble Christians are much the same. Especially if in a declining state, they bring but little honour to their profession, and often afford matter for reproach. 2. The bruised reed has some strength, and the smoking flax some fire, though both in a small degree; so the Christian, though he has but a little strength, like the church at Philadelphia, yet he is still alive, and the light of Israel is not quenched. 3. Many are ready to break the bruised reed and quench the smoking flax. Great also are the oppositions and discouragements which weak believers meet with, and yet they are still preserved. 4. The bruised reed needs to be supported, and the smoking flax to be enkindled: so does the Christian need to be strengthened, and quickened afresh by Divine grace. II. NOTICE WHAT IS IMPLIED IN CHRIST’ S NOT THE BRUISED REED, NOR THE SMOKING FLAX. Much more is implied than is expressed. The Lord will not put the weak believer to those trials which are disproportioned to his strength. He will not suffer him to be tempted above what he is able to bear; but will with the temptation also make a way for his escape. The following things are also implied. 1. That as Christ will not break the bruised reed, so neither will He suffer others to do it. 2. Instead of breaking the bruised reed, He will binD it up, and strengthen it; and will cherish the smoking flax till it break forth into a flame. He who notices the smallest sins to punish them, will also notice the weakest efforts of grace to encourage and reward them. III. AN OF THE SUBJECT. 1. Let weak Christians be encouraged from hence to commit themselves to Christ, and place an entire confidence in His faithfulness and compassion. 2. Let us imitate this part of our Lord’ s conduct, and carry it towards others as He carries it towards us. 3. It becomes us to beware that we do not abuse the mercy of our Saviour, by supposing that we have weak grace, when, indeed, we have none; for it is real and not counterfeit piety to which He shows His tender regard. Nor yet by contenting ourselves with weak grace, though it is true. 4. If weak Christians shall not be neglected, much less the strong. (B. Beddome, M. A,) The source of Christ’ s perfect tenderness to sinners The source of Christ’ s perfect tenderness to sinners is none other than the Divine compassion. It was the love and pity of the Word made flesh. 1. It is plain that this gentle reception even of the greatest sinners implies that, where there is so much as a spark of life in the conscience, there is possibility of an entire conversion to God. Where there is room to hope anything, there is room to hope all things. Such is the mysterious nature of the human spirit, of its affections and will, such its energies and intensity, that it may at any time be so renewed by the Spirit of the new creation as to expel, with the most perfect rejection, all the powers, qualities, visions, and thoughts of evil. 2. Another great truth implied in our Lord’ s conduct to sinners is, that the only sure way of fostering the beginning of repentance is to receive them with gentleness and compassion. On those in whom there is the faintest stirring of repentance the love of Christ falls with a soft but penetrating force. To receive sinners coldly, or with an averted eye, an estranged heart, and a hasty, unsparing tongue, will seldom fail to drive them into defiance or self-abandonment. A sinner that is out of hope is lost. Hope is the last thing left. If this be crushed the flax is extinct. Truth told without love is perilous in the measure in which it is true. There is in every sinner a great burden of misery, soreness, and alarm; but even these, instead of driving him to confession, make him shut himself up in a fevered and brooding fear. And it was in this peculiar wretchedness of sin that the gentleness of our Lord gave them courage and hope. It was a strange courage that came upon them; a boldness without trembling, yet an awe without alarm. What little motions of good were in them, what little stirrings of conscience, what faint remainder of better resolutions, what feeble gleams of all but extinguished light,--all seemed to revive, and to turn in sympathy towards some source of kindred nature, and to stretch itself out in hope to something long desired, with a dim unconscious love. It is an affinity of the spirit working in penitents with the Spirit of Christ that made them draw to Him. It was not only because of His infinite compassion as God that Christ so dealt with sinners; but because, knowing the nature of man, its strange depths and windings, its weakness and fears, He knew that this was the surest way of winning them to Himself. (H. E. Manning, D. D.)The transforming tenderness of Jesus He uses and loves and transfigures broken reeds. They become pens to write His truth. They become instruments of sweet music to sound forth His praise. They become pillars to support and adorn His Temple. They become swords and spears to rout His enemies; so that, as Mr. Lowell sings, “ the bruised reed is amply tough to pierce the shield of error through.” And He loves and employs and fans into bright and glowing flame dimly burning wicks. They are changed into lamps that shine, into beacon-fires that warn, into torches that hand on His message to the generation following, into lighthouse rays and beams that guide storm-tossed sailors into the desired haven. (A. Sradlle, M. A.)The long-suffering of Messiah A passage setting forth the gentleness of the new Prince of Righteousness promised to Israel. I. THE OF HIS . 1. Few of nature’ s forms are more lovely and symmetrical than the tall cane of the reed rising by the marsh or river edge. One of the elements of our pleasure as we look at it, is derived from our sense of its marvellous power of resisting the pressure of the wind or the dashing of the waves. It is one of the triumphs of nature’ s architecture. Yet let but a rough stroke fall suddenly upon it, and all its glory is abased. Every passing wind only aggravates the injury. Of what good is it henceforth, but to be cut down and cast into the oven! Yet this, which we should esteem reasonable in the husbandman, is precisely what the Messiah does not do with respect to souls that have been similarly injured. 2. The other illustration of the prophet is from the home or the temple. The oil-lamp was one of the most common objects there. The wick fed by the oil is able to sustain a flame which, although feeble, is clear, and sufficient for the small chambers of the poor. The oil, however, is supposed to be exhausted, and the wick is sending forth a weak, smoky, disagreeable light, soon to subside into darkness. Would it not be better, one might ask, to put out such a light altogether than to endure its disagreeable stench, or, all unprepared, find ourselves plunged in darkness? These two images set before us suggestions of what would be reasonable actions on the part of man, when considering merely human ends. These two things are-- 1. Types of spiritual states. 2. Suggestions of judicial action. II. THE AIM OF HIS . “ Until He bring forth judgment unto truth.” The gentleness of Christ without some such obvious explanation might appear moral indifference, or amiable eccentricity, or insane belief in the inherent goodness of men. This aim gives it an entirely new, a far nobler aspect. 1. To every man is given an opportunity of putting himself right with God. The force of circumstances will be counterbalanced so that the will and affections may work freely; inequalities, opposition, etc., will be neutralised or allowed for in so far as they affect conduct. 2. Judgment will be withheld until the career of man is complete. Good and evil alike will work themselves out. There is a tragic power of evolution latent in all sin. Righteousness, too, is as a seed. 3. The character of this judgment, therefore, will be final and absolute. (St. J. A. Frere, M. A.)“ A bruised reed” and “ smoking flax” The two metaphors are not altogether parallel. “ A bruised reed” has suffered an injury which, however, is neither complete nor irreparable. “ Smoking flax,” on the other hand--by which, of course, is meant flax used as a wick in an old-fashioned oil lamp--is partially lit. In the one a process has been begun which, if continued, ends in destruction; in the other a process has been begun which, if continued, ends in a bright flame. So the one metaphor may express the beginnings of evil which may still be averted, and the other the beginnings of incipient and incomplete good. If we keep that distinction in mind, the words of our text gain wonderfully in comprehensiveness. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The strong “ servant of Jehovah” It is to be noticed that in Isaiah 42:4 we have an echo of these metaphors. The word translated “ fail” is the same as that rendered in the previous verse, “ smoking,” or “ dimly burning” ; and the word “ discouraged” is the same as that rendered in the previous verse, “ bruised.” So then this “ servant of the Lord,” Who is not to break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, is fitted for His work because He Himself has no share in the evils which He would heal, and none in the weaknesses which He would strengthen. His perfect manhood knows no flaws nor bruises; His complete goodness is capable of and needs no increase. Neither outward force nor inward weakness can hinder His power to heal and bless; therefore His work can never cease till it has attained its ultimate purpose. “ He shall not fail nor be discouraged,” shall neither be broken by outward violence, nor shall the flame of His saving energy burn faint until He hath “ set judgment in the earth,” and crowned His purposes with complete success. (A. Maclaren, D. D Christ the arrester of begun evil, and the nourisher of incipient good We have here set before us three significant representations of that Servant of the Lord, which may well commend Him to our confidence and our love. I. AS THE OF THE BRUISE THAT IT MAY NOT BE BROKEN. “ He shall not break the bruised reed.” It is “ bruised,” but the bruise is not irreparable. And so there are reeds bruised and “ shaken by the wind,” but yet not broken. And the tender Christ comes with His gentle, wise, skilful surgery, to bind these up and to make them strong again. To whom does this text apply? 1. In a very solemn sense to all mankind. In all the dints and marks of sin are plainly seen. Our manhood has been crushed and battered out of its right shape, and has received awful wounds from that evil that has found entrance within us. But there emerges from the metaphor not only the solemn thought of the bruises by sin that all men bear, but the other blessed one, that there is no man so bruised as that he is broken. And Christ looks on all the tremendous bulk of a world’ s sins with the confidence that He can move that mountain and cast it into the depths of the sea. 2. But then the words may be taken in a somewhat narrow sense, applying more directly to a class. “ The broken and the contrite heart,” bruised and pulverised as it were by a sense of evil, may be typified for us by this bruised reed. And then there emerges the blessed hope that such a heart, wholesomely removed from its self-complacent fancy of soundness, shall certainly be healed and bound up by His tender hand. Wheresoever there is a touch of penitence there is present a restoring Christ. 3. The words may be looked at from yet another point of view, as representing the merciful dealing of the Master with the spirits which are beaten and bruised. II. AS THE OF AND GOOD. “ The dimly burning wick He shall not quench.” Who are represented by this “ smoking flax” ? 1. I am not contradicting what I have been saying, if I claim for this second metaphor as wide a universality as the former. There is no man out of hell but has in him something that wants but to be brought to sovereign power in his life in order to make him a light in the world. You have got consciences at the least; you have convictions, which if you followed them out would make Christians of you straight away. You have got aspirations after good, desires, some of you, after purity and nobleness of living, which only need to be raised to the height and the dominance in your lives which they ought to possess, in order to revolutionise your whole course. There is a spark in every man which, fanned and cared for, will change him from darkness into light. Fanned and cared for it can only be by a Divine power coming down upon it from without. 2. Then, in a narrower way, the words may be applied to a class. There are some of us who have a little spark, as we believe, of a Divine life, the faint beginnings of a Christian character. They say that where there is smoke there is fire. There is a deal more smoke than fire in the most of Christian people in this generation. And if it were not for such thoughts as this about that dear Christ that will not lay a hasty hand upon some little tremulous spark, and by one rash movement extinguish it for ever, there would be but little hope for a great many of us. Look at His life on earth; think how He bore with those blundering, foolish, selfish disciples of His. Remember how, when a man came to Him with a very imperfect goodness, the Evangelist tells us that Jesus, beholding him, loved him. And take out of these blessed stories this great hope, that howsoever small men “ despise the day of small things,” the Greatest does not. How do you make “ smoking flax” burn? You give it oil, you give it air, and you take away the charred portions. And Christ will give you, in your feebleness, the oil of His Spirit, that you may burn brightly as one of the candlesticks in His temple; and He will let air in, and take away the charred portions by the wise discipline of sorrow and trial sometimes in order that the smoking flax may become the shining light. The reason why so many Christian men’ s Christian light is so fulinginous and dim is just that they keep away from Jesus Christ. III. AS EXEMPT FROM HUMAN EVIL AND , as the foundation of His restoring and fostering work. “ He shall not burn dimly nor be broken till He hath set judgment in the earth.” There are no bruises in this reed. That is to say, Christ’ s manhood is free from all scars and wounds of evil or of sin. There is no dimness in this light. That is to say, Christ’ s character is perfect, His goodness needs no increase. There is no trace of effort in His holiness, no growth manifest in His God likeness, from the beginning to the end. There is no outward violence that can be brought to bear upon Him that shall stay Him in His purpose. There is no inward failure of strength that may lead us to fear that His work shall not be completed. And because of all these things, because of His perfect exemption from human infirmity, because in Him was no sin, He is manifested to take away our sins. (A. Maclaren, D. D)The smoking flex shall He not quenchThe smoking flax I. A STATE OF GRACE IS . The figure is that of a lamp. Such are believers (Matthew 5:15-16). II. THE OF THAT STATE. “ Smoking flax.” There is some light, yet but little, and that little seems all but ready to be extinguished. There is something of the light of God’ s Word in the soul, a real spark of grace, but it seems little more than this. Some warmth of affection, but it acts feebly. Many causes conspire to produce this. Some have but the first spark. All things seem ready to put it out. Strong corruptions, fleshly passions, vanities of the world, evil companions, entire inexperience are all extinguishers. Others have little light in the school of self-knowledge--the danger of temptation, the evil of the heart, the worth of Jesus, the character of God. There is much of the smoke of vain confidence, fearlessness of consequences, tampering with things dangerous, and this very smoke obscures the light still more. Some are in great prosperity--the wick grows tall and all is dim. In some, the light is obscured by neglects with a certain degree of wilfulness in them. In some, by want of deep humbling and thorough repentance on account of sin. In some, by ceaseless engagement, that scarcely allows any real dealing with God. In some, the constant, undeviating habit of looking at themselves rather than Christ, living more by sense than faith. In short, we may dim the light by whatever grieves the Spirit. III. THE CONDUCT OF OUR LORD WITH RESPECT TO IT. He shall not quench it. He will greatly exceed this. He will tend this smoking flax. The flax is His own, the light His own, the oil His own, all His heart is shown in all His actings here. He will dress it. True, He may cut down the wick--humble, lower, abase. He will increase the light. “ He giveth more grace.” He will perfect it. Conclusion-- 1. Perhaps there are some whose hopes of worldly happiness are like a dying taper, and, alas! they have little, if any other, hope. Such a beam was in the heart of poor Manasseh. Is it but the faintest, the feeblest, yet does it take thee poor and needy to the Saviour? Will He cast out? Never! 2. If the blessed Saviour does not despise, neither should we. (J. H.Evans, M. A.)Smelting flax I. WHAT STATE THIS . 1. A smoking flax represents a state in which there is a little good. The margin is “ dimly burning flax.” It is burning; but it is burning very dimly. There is a spark of good within the heart. 2. You are like smoking flax, because your good is too little to be of much use to anybody. What could we do with a smoking flax if we had it here to-night, and the gas was all out? 3. Smoking flax, then, has a little fire, but it is so little that it is of small service, and, what is worse, it is so little that it is rather unpleasant. 4. Though the good of it is so little that it is of very little use to other people, and sometimes is very obnoxious, yet there is enough good in you to be dangerous in Satan’ s esteem. He does not like to observe that there is yet a little fire in you, for he fears that it may become a flame. II. WHEN ARE SOULS IN THAT STATE? 1. Some are in that state when they are newly saved--when the flax has just been lighted. 2. Sometimes a candle smokes, not because it is newly lit, but because it is almost extinguished. I speak to some Christians who have been alight with the fire of grace for many years, and yet they feel as if they were near the dark hour of extinction. But you shall not go out. The Lord will keep you alight with grace. 3. Sometimes the wick smokes when worldliness has damped it. 4. At times a wick burns low because a very strong wind has blown upon it. Many men and women are the subjects of very fierce temptations. III. WHAT DOES JESUS DO WITH THOSE WHO ARE IN THIS STATE? He will not quench the smoking flax. What a world of mercy lies in that word! 1. He will not quench you by pronouncing legal judgment upon you. 2. He will not quench you by setting up a high experimental standard. 3. He will not judge you by a lofty standard of knowledge. The Lord has some of His children whose heads are in a very queer state; and if He first puts their hearts right He afterwards puts their heads right. 4. The Lord will not quench you by setting up a standard by which to measure your graces. It is not, “ So much faith, and you are saved. So little faith, and you are lost.” If thou hast faith as a grain of mustard-seed it will save thee. Come along, you little ones,-you trembling ones! Jesus will not quench you. He will blow upon you with the soft breath of His love till the little spark will rise into a flame. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 42:4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged The hopefulness of Jesus Christ Our God is the God of hope; and the Bible is the book of hope. If we are to be true servants of God and disciples of Jesus Christ we must be partakers of this glowing hopefulness. To be discouraged is to fail. To hope is to be strong. The prayer of St. Paul for the Christians in Rome we need often offer for ourselves (Romans 15:13). This strong hope is essential to the successful worker. The good soldier of Jesus has for his helmet the hope of salvation. The Spirit of God comes to impart this gift. Hope grows strong as it feeds upon the promises. Of every one of us this word should be true--“ He shall not fail nor be discouraged.” The hope of the world is in Jesus Christ. It is well to begin a little farther back, at Isaiah 41:28. Man cannot find within himself theremedy for the ills of humanity. But when all is black and hopeless, there is another “ Behold.” The rosy morning fills the sky. “ Behold My servant whom I uphold,” etc. The hope of God is in Him whom He hath appointed the Saviour of the world. And our hope is in beholding Him. Here is the unfailing spring of our hope. “ He shall not fail, nor be discouraged.” Let us look at this hope of our Saviour. It is broad based, and its foundation is deep. The tower of His confidence stands four-square to all the winds of heaven and all the blasts of hell. I. IT IS THE HOPE OF ONE WHO KNOWS THE NEEDS OF . There is a shallow hope that thinks it can heal men’ s wounds by hiding them; or that they can banish ill by giving it some scientific name which quite satisfies everybody. But let the mind go on to think of the sin about us--the thousand shapes of ill that throng and crowd each life; the hidden sins; the sins of our great cities. He knows it all as none else can ever know it--He who was the naked conscience of the world, and upon whom was laid the iniquity of us all. Yet of Him it is written: “ He shall not fail nor be discouraged.” II. THIS IS THE HOPE OF ONE WHO HAS A MOST LOFTY IDEAL. There is a shallow hope that is easily able to fulfil itself by bringing down the ideal of life until it fits the case. If you would have men what they should be, it is easily done--bring down what they should be to the level of what they are. Love may afford to be blind, but the strength of hope is in its eyes. A hope that cannot see what is, and can only see what is not, is a false hope. Hope, true hope, must take the measure of what is, and the full measure of what should be. This is the hope of Jesus Christ. III. THIS IS THE HOPE OF ONE WHO COMES INTO CONTACT WITH THE WORST SIDE OF THE WORST PEOPLE. A policeman said to me one day, “ It is a very easy thing for you to have faith in folks, sir: but it is very hard for me.” “ Why so, my friend?” I asked. “ Well,” said he, “ you see the best of folks and you see them at their best: you see them because they are good. But I see folks because they are bad. And when you see nothing but badness it is hard to have any faith in any goodness anywhere.” I sympathised deeply with that man and with thousands who are in like evil case. But this triumphant hope of Jesus Christ is the hope of One whose life and work is in relation to sin. He knows the force of adverse circumstances. IV. THE HOPE OF JESUS CHRIST ARISES FROM HIS OF MAN’ S WORTH. Jesus Christ alone has made man worth more than gain or pleasure: and Jesus Christ alone can keep man so. V. THE HOPE OF JESUS CHRIST IS SEEN IN HIS METHOD (Isaiah 41:2-3). Gentleness is the token of assured power. Bluster is commonly the mask of weakness and fear. Coercion, compulsion, are the methods of a baffled or a bewildered authority. Patient hopefulness, gentleness, brotherliness--these are the Divine methods of uplifting men. VI. THE OF JESUS CHRIST IS ROOTED IN . “ He shall set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for His law.” There are those who have sought to remedy our social ills by pity without judgment and without law. Their gifts have pampered the transgressor and pauperised the poor. But the remedy of Jesus Christ is in “ a new heart and a right spirit.” (M. G. Pearae.)Is Christianity a failure? We often hear it said that Christianity is a failure. As if foreseeing this state of mind, two thousand five hundred years ago the prophet sang these sweet notes, saying: “ He shall not fail nor be discouraged.” The purpose of Christ is the conquest of this world, and in carrying out this great work He is not to fail or be discouraged until the system of truth which He teaches is everywhere understood; until the principles of all government shall be brought into harmony with His Word, and men everywhere shall understand and practise the great lessons of truth and holiness. The unversality of His kingdom is expressed m the phrase, “ Till He hath set judgment in the earth” --in all the then known habitable globe; and, looking beyond to the unknown, or to the men but partly known, the expression is added, “ And the isles shall wait for His law” --in other words, the progress of Christ’ s kingdom should be continually onward until its principles should prevail over all the known kingdoms of the earth, and the undiscovered portions of it also should receive His law. The work which He proposes to do is a mighty work; and the phrase represents Him as waiting. I. I am not surprised, however, that MEN ARE READY TO SAY THAT THIS PURPOSE MUST BE A FAILURE; for-- 1. The aim is so great, the project so vast, that it seems to man impossible. There have been great kingdoms set up on this earth of ours. But there was never a kingdom which reached to its utmost bounds. 2. Men think Christianity must be a failure because the agencies seem inadequate. 3. Because it has not accomplished its work. 4. They tell us that Christianity is likely to be a failure because, they say, there is a conflict between science and religion. II. NOW LET US LOOK AT THIS SUBJECT. It is one of the favourite expressions of these men that in the order of this world there shall be the “ survival of the fittest” --that the weaker shall pass away, and the stronger shall remain. How, if we contrast Christianity with other forms of religion, where shall we find its failure? We may say to-day, simply as a fact, that it still remains, and, surpassing any other system in its strength and beauty, we shall see its survival over all. 1. Compare it with Paganism in its palmiest hours--the days of the philosophy of Greece and the power of Rome, when its temples shone with splendour, when its poets sang with grace, when sculpture and architecture gathered around it their forms of beauty; when it had its legends of mythology; when it had its men of strength and power to be as pillars for it. Scepticism then existed. But all the scepticism of Greece or Rome never closed one temple, never dethroned one of their imaginary deities. In the midst of scepticism popular faith went right on, and the temples had their devotees and worshippers. Judaism taught the knowledge of the one true God, yet it made no advances against idolatry. On the other hand, idolatry brought its terrible fruits into the midst of Judaism, and the people who had heard the voice of the living God turned and served idols. But what sceptical philosophy could not do, and what Judaism could not do, Christianity has accomplished. Men without earthly power, men persecuted, men in prison, men reproached, went telling the story of a living and dying and ascended Christ, and as they told this story, the temples became deserted and the idols fell, until to-day there is not a god worshipped on earth that was worshipped in the time of the philosophy and glory of Greece and Rome. Christianity is making inroads everywhere. Paganism has gone, Brahmanism is going, and Confucianism is going down. Christianity is just raising herself. 2. But you tell me there is infidelity! And what is infidelity? A negation--a something not a belief. It is a negation of system; it has no system. Where are its temples? Where are its schools? Where are its hospitals? Where were they ever? What did it ever try to do for man anywhere, or in any land, as an organised system? There have been men, strong men, learned men, wise men, who have been infidel; but they have never embodied their creed in an organisation; they have never worked together powerfully for the elevation of the race. I was in Berlin with the Evangelical Alliance. I went to Potsdam to the old palace of Frederick. There we were shown into a room where some of us held our consultations. This was the room where Voltaire studied and wrote part of his works, where he and Frederick deemed they were about to overthrow Christianity. And yet in that very hall we came to consult about the best means of spreading Christianity over the world. Voltaire said he lived in the “ twilight of Christianity,” and so he did. But it was not, as he fancied, a twilight deepening into darkness, it was a twilight opening up into the brighter day; and the Sun of Righteousness shines now in spiritual beauty over our entire world. 3. But they tell us sometimes that the discoveries which are being made are unsettling the foundations of Christianity. 4. They tell us that Christianity has not done its work in the time it has run. I admit it. But what about it? These men want time for making this earth. They say it took millions of years. Won’ t you give me as much time to cure this world and turn sinners into saints as you want to turn a monkey into a man? They demand ages for the one, but are not willing to give us time for the other. The times are full of promise. Christianity is growing stronger. (Bp. M. Simpson, D. D.)The accomplishment of Christ’ s purpose I. THE PURPOSE OF CHRIST. II. THE IN THE WAY. III. THE ASSURED VICTORY OF CHRIST. (J. Fleming, B. D.)A great work and an invincible patience I. THE GODLIKE WORK WHICH THIS GREAT SERVANT OF JEHOVAH . II. THE GODLIKE FAITH AND WITH WHICH HE IT TO ITS . (J. Kennedy, D. D.)Christ’ s vast redemptive undertaking Here is a servant of God, before whose eye a future golden age is not a shadowy hope or vision, but a clearly defined reality; and who Himself undertakes to bring it to pass. He will set judgment in the earth. Is He beside Himself? Is He befooled by a benevolent imagination? Is He a visionary dreamer, without knowledge of Himself or of mankind? If ever there was a sound mind, a perfect mind, in a human body, it was that of Jesus Christ--His very enemies being judges. And yet, with full purpose of soul, and with clear consciousness of the difficulty of the task, He undertakes to set judgment in the earth. How vast the undertaking is--in its breadth covering all the nations of men, in its depth penetrating to the thoughts and innermost passions of the human soul, in its height rising to the claims of the Eternal God--may be learned from the prophet who ascribes it to Him. Isaiah had formed no superficial estimate of the wrongness of the world. Men were wrong utterly in their relations to one another; wrong utterly in their relation to God; and wrong utterly in themselves. (J. Kennedy, D. D.)The progress of Christianity slow but sure This is our answer to those who examine us concerning this matter. 1. The slowness of the progress of Christianity, even if exaggerated in the statement of it, does not stagger our faith; for we see in it God’ s own manner of working. 2. The progress, or rather, no progress, of the world’ s own thinking in the highest regions of thought, during the period of the existence of Christianity, proves the world to be as dependent on the light of Christianity as it was eighteen hundred years ago. 3. While Christianity is as needful as ever, happily we have evidence that it is as mighty for good as ever. Nothing has yet occurred to shake our faith in Christ; and while our faith in Him remains unshaken, we shall confide in the prophetic oracle which assures us that He shall set judgment in the earth. (J. Kennedy, D. D.)Christ’ s work no failure Previous verses at the close of chap. 41. indicate the utter failure of the hope of man from man. How often it is so in human history; man fails to find leadership and help in man! In expounding the text, I shall need to open up the whole passage. Follow me, therefore, and obey the first word of the chapter, which is, “ Behold.” 1. We are commanded at all times to behold the Son of God. But specially in cloudy and dark days ought we to behold Him. When after having looked, and looked long, you see no man and no counsellor, then this precept has an emphatic force about it,” Behold My Servant, whom I uphold,” and, when all other saviours fail, look to the Saviour whom God has set up. 2. Our great comfort is that the Lord Jesus Christ is always to be beheld. Behold Him, and your fears and sorrows will fly away. The text leads us to consider what is the work which Jesus Christ has undertaken, in which He will not fail nor be discouraged. He has come to “ set judgment in the earth,” and “ the isles shall wait for His law.” The earth is to be delivered from misrule and sin, and men are to be submissive to His instruction and direction. Whatever He has undertaken, He will perform; whatever commission He has received, He will fulfil. “ He shall not fail nor be discouraged” till all His work is done. I believe in the final perseverance of the Lord Jesus Christ. I. LET THIS TRUTH BE AND . 1. It is certainly a very marvellous enterprise which our Lord Jesus Christ has under taken. The salvation of a single soul involves a miracle. The salvation of myriads upon myriads of the human race: What shall I call it but a mountain of marvels? The problem staggers us. The systems of evil are colossal. The hold of evil on the race is terrible. Man is inveterately a sinner. By the use of an accursed logic he puts darkness for light and light for darkness, and thus stultifies his conscience, and hardens his heart. If, perchance, you convince his judgment, you have not won his affection, you have not carried his will, you have not subdued his mind. Nothing but Omnipotence itself can save a single soul. What must be that mighty power which shall cause nations to run unto the Lord! 2. The task is rendered the more severe because our Lord Jesus at this present works largely by a Church, which is a poor and faulty instrument for the accomplishment of His purpose. Let this battalion and the other waver as it may, He who holds the banner in the very centre of the fight will never be moved: He will hold the field against all comers. 3. Notice who He is that hath undertaken all this. “ Behold My Servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth.” He who is thus spoken of will not fail nor be discouraged for-- (1) He is God’ s own special Servant. (2) Then God says of Him, “ My servant, whom I uphold.” If God upholds Him, how can He fail? The text may be read, “ Behold My Servant upon whom I lean,” and the picture is of a great Oriental monarch Who comes forth leaning upon a favourite lord, whom honours by placing him in that position, indicating thereby that he trusts his affairs with him, and regards him as his right-hand man, a very pillar of the State. We say it with reverence, God the Father leans on Jesus the Christ. He rests His honour and glory with the person of the incarnate God. (3) Then the Scripture adds this very significant word, “ Mine elect in whom My soul delighteth.” The chosen of God, the most choice one that God knows, shall He prove a failure? God said of the world, that it was very good; but we read not that His soul delighted in it: but, see, the very soul of the God-head is moved and filled with delight because of the Saviour, commissioned to redeem. (4) Furthermore, our Lord is the abiding-place of the Holy Spirit. “ I have put My Spirit upon Him.” He who is owned, honoured, trusted, sustained, loved, and anointed of God cannot but be successful. (5) The success of Jesus is guaranteed by the decree of God. It is written, “ He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.” Oh, those blessed “ shalls” and “ wills” ! 4. It may be that at times we fear that the Gospel is not prospering nor fulfilling the purpose for which God hath sent it. Possibly this may arise out of our Lord s way of working, which is so different from what our minds would choose. “ He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.” You are in an awful hurry, are you not? But He is never in haste. You would make a great stir and noise, but Jesus will not thus spread the Gospel. You would go out and fight all the enemies of truth, and set clamour against clamour, cry against cry; but “ He shall not strive.” You would shout, and rage, and rave; but He shall not cry. You would advertise to the ends of the earth; but He shall not cause His voice to be heard in the street. When Mohammed commenced his enterprise he announced that Paradise was to be found beneath the shadow of swords, and numbers of brave men rushed to the battle; they swept everything before them, and stained continents with blood: they carried the name of Allah and Mohammed over Asia and Northern Africa, and seemed intent on conquering Europe: and yet the work done will not endure. The prophet and his caliphs did indeed strive, and cry, and cause their voices to be heard in the street: but Christ’ s system is the very reverse of that. Behold His battle-axe and weapons of war! Truth Divinely strong, with no human force at the back of it but that of holiness and love; a Gospel full of gentleness and mercy to men, proclaimed not by the silver trumpets of kings, but by the plain voices of lowly men. The Kingdom comes by the Holy Spirit dropping like dew on human hearts, and fertilising them with a Divine life. 5. Note well the spirit in which He works. “ A bruised reed,” etc. You cannot work in hot haste in this spirit. Gentleness makes good and sure speed, but it cannot endure rashness and heat. We know reformers who, if they had the power, would be like bulls in a china-shop; they would do a great deal in a very short time. But the world’ s best Friend is not given to quench and bruise. II. LET THIS TRUTH BE AND ENJOYED. 1. Enjoy it by recollecting that Jesus has finished the work for His people. 2. He will finish the work in His believing people. 3. He will finish His work by His people. If you have the Revised Version, the margin will give you some rather singular information. The text might be read thus: “ A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: yet He shall not burn dimly nor be bruised.” Though He deals with bruised reeds and smoking flaxes, yet He Himself is not crushed, nor does His light become a mere glimmer. 4. The text has in it great comfort to those of you who are as yet outside of the Church of God. Read the sixth and seventh verses--“ He shall not fail nor be discouraged,” till He has done, what?--the Divine will, and this is a part of it: “ To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house.” Turn your sightless eyeballs this way. “ Ah!” saith one, “ but I am worse than that, I am shut up in prison.” Read the seventh verse again:--“ To bring out the prisoners from the prison.” “ Oh, but,” saith one, “ in my case it is blindness and slavery united.” Listen, then! He has come to “ bring them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)The constancy and tenderness of Christ I. THE WHICH JESUS CHRIST MEETS IN HIS WORK OF TO MAN. 1. We may advert to these obstacles as they are general, as they attach to man under all circumstances. 2. But let us advert to the obstacles which any single human being presents to Christ when He comes forth in the power of His grace to seek and to save! Let any man look into his own heart, let him advert (1) To the nature and bent of his inclinations. (2) To his indisposedness to receive instruction. (3) To the use which he makes of that instruction when received; and he will be at no loss to discover the difficulties which lie in the path of his Deliverer. II. THE WITH WHICH HE THOSE . III. THE VICTORY OVER THEM WITH WHICH HIS EFFORTS WILL BE CROWNED. (G. T. Noel, M. A.)The setting of judgment in the earth I. THE GREAT WORK WITH WHICH CHRIST, AS THE FATHER’ S SERVANT, IS HERE TO BE . It is the work of setting judgment in the earth, so that the isles shall wait for His law. As the Father’ s Servant in the economy of redemption, Christ has been set King upon the holy hill of Zion, and constituted Head over all things for the Church which is His body. 1. What is it to set judgment in the earth? By “ judgment” here and in the preceding verses, we are evidently to understand true religion--the faith of the Gospel--Christianity in its widest acceptation, as embodying the rule of Christ’ s righteous administration--the grand regulating principles of all His administrative acts. And so to set judgment in the earth means to establish the Christian religion throughout the world. The term “ law” in the latter clause of the text, while it has much the same meaning as judgment, may be viewed as denoting, in particular, God’ s written Word, considered specially as a rule of life and duty. For this the “ isles” --a poetical expression for the distant Gentile nations--“ shall wait.” That is, either they shall wait with a vague unconscious longing until it come to them, they remaining in darkness and spiritual death till its blessed life-giving light dawn upon them; or, the meaning more probably is, when judgment is being set in the earth, the nations shall embrace it as the means of their enlightenment and regeneration, and shall wait on Christ as their King, to receive and submit to His law as the supreme rule of all their conduct. So in Matthew we find this clause paraphrased thus--“ In His name shall the Gentiles trust.” 2. That there is most urgent need for this work of setting judgment in the earth, and bringing the isles to wait for Christ’ s law being done, is what none will question who believe that God made man upright, but that he hath sought out many inventions. Men individually in their natural condition, and the nations of the earth in their national capacity, are in a state of open determined revolt against the Most High. But has nothing been done in the way of fulfilling this hope-inspiring prediction? Since these words were uttered, not a little has been effected in this direction. Most evident it is, however, that aa yet it is but the day of small things in this work. 3. And truly a stupendous task this is--a task which none but He on whose shoulder the government has been laid, and to whom it has been entrusted, could ever hope to effect--the task of setting judgment “ in the earth” ; not in one land or over one continent only, but in every land and among every people under heaven, whatever their condition and character. 4. Not less beneficent in its character is this work than stupendous in its nature. For it involves the present highest well-being of men as individuals, as families, as Churches, and as nations, as well as the future eternal welfare of untold myriads of precious souls. This mighty, beneficent, God-glorifying work of setting judgment in the earth includes-- (1) The world-wide diffusion of the Word of God and proclamation of the Gospel of Christ, and the needed opening up of the way for these. (2) The believing acceptance of the saving truths of the Gospel by those who hear it. (3) As the result of the universal diffusion of the Gospel, accompanied by the working of God’ s Spirit upon men’ s minds and hearts, there must come a world-wide profession of faith in Christ and subjection to His authority, along with practical godliness in the daily life. (4) “ And the isles shall wait for His law.” These words clearly teach us that the setting of judgment in the earth includes, or will issue in, the universal subjection of the nations to the law of Christ as the rule of their conduct. The Statute-books of the nations will be purged, and nothing but laws fully sanctioned by, and consistent with, the law of Christ shall find a place there. Regulated by Christ’ s law in all their national transactions, the nations in which judgment is set, will, out of regard to the honour of their Divine Governor, be solicitous to choose and appoint as rulers only those who possess the character and qualifications which God’ s Word prescribes. II. THE MANNER AND SPIRIT IN WHICH THIS WORK IS TO BE CARRIED ON AND THE OF ITS . “ He shall not fail nor be discouraged till He have set judgment in the earth.” 1. How is all this to be brought about? Not miraculously, but through human instrumentality, accompanied by the prospering blessing of God’ s Spirit. As to the spirit in which this work was to be carried on by Him to whom it was entrusted, we learn something both from the text and the preceding context. But if this was the Messiah’ s spirit, as it is His spirit still, it was not because He lacked strength or courage to assert Himself against His enemies. As He does not conquer by violence, but by gentleness, so He shall not be arrested and conquered by violent opposition. No foe that comes against Him, and no weapon formed against His cause and kingdom, shall ever prosper. 2. Notice the blessed certainty of the accomplishment of this great work, which the emphatic form of expression here employed holds out to us. “ He shall not fail nor be discouraged.” And why shall He not fail? God has promised it and confirmed His promise with an oath, and what God has promised and sworn can never fail of accomplishment. All power has been given to Christ as Mediator for this very purpose. And He makes this cheering fact the foundation on which He rests the great commission to His Church. “ All power is given unto Me--go ye therefore and disciple all nations.” For the accomplishment of this blessed work on earth the whole Church has been looking and longing, praying and labouring, are after age, ever since she was called into existence; and these longing anticipations--these fervent prayers--these earnest labours, the result of supernatural influence, shall not be in vain. Conclustion-- (1) This subject shows us what is the grand duty of the Christian Church as a whole, and in all her sections and members; it is just, as workers together with Christ, to labour zealously, unweariedly, in the noble enterprise of setting judgment in the earth. (2) In carrying on her great mission in the world, the Church in all her parts and members should seek to be brought into fuller sympathy with her living Head and to drink more and more deeply into His spirit. (3) Greater encouragement to take part in the on-carrying of this great work, and to persevere unweariedly and hopefully in it, in the face of all discouragement and opposition, we could not have, than what is here given us. (4) Is it so that Christ shall not fail nor be discouraged? And are we enlisted under His banner and leadership? Then surely we ought not faint-heartedly to fail or be discouraged in holding fast the truth as it is in Him, and in exhibiting a testimony in its behalf. (5) Nor should we fail or be discouraged in holding forth the Word of life to our benighted and perishing fellow-men, but should persevere and abound yet more and more, in our missionary efforts at home and abroad. (6) He who as Lord of all is engaged in this mighty work of setting judgment in the earth, is also the Advocate with the Father, pleading His people s cause, and securing that their prayers shall be heard. (Original Secession Magazine.)The Person and mission of our Lord 1. Christianity possesses the qualities which constitute it of right the universal religion. 2. Its author has undertaken to make it the universal religion in fact. 3. He will be ultimately completely successful, as prophecy clearly declares. I. HAS THE OF TRUTH AND IN SUCH AS TO BE FOR ALL RACES AND ALL TIMES. In making this claim it is not necessary to deny whatever of good may exist in other religions. If we contemplate the subject philosophically, judging of it by the wants of human nature, we reach the inevitable conclusion that it is fitted to be the universal religion. But we are here led to inquire: What is religion in its essential nature apart from all the forms in which it may incarnate itself? The universal religion, call it by what name you will, must give such a revelation of the Author and Ruler of all things, and of man’ s relations to Him here and hereafter, as to render it certain that man can, despite sin and death, attain to everlasting blessedness. 1. Its sufficiency must be settled by practical tests. The life after death must be made so certain as to be the chief and abiding source of man’ s present happiness, and motive in his greatest efforts and activities. This implies forgiveness of sin and victory over death, and also consciousness of obedience to God. This soul rest from bondage to the fear of death the universal religion must provide. 2. It must provide for responsible man at every stage of his development--in its movements from deepest ignorance to the highest possible attainments of which he is capable. It must go to the sheerest idolater, to the lowest peasant, to him who is highest in authority; must meet the wants of the most enlightened sage. It must be the chief stimulus of civilisation. Science cannot overthrow it, civilisation cannot dispense with it. 3. It must meet the wants of every race. 4. This universal religion must have the power to renew itself from time to time, to prevent its becoming an empty form- a dead letter. However we may account for it, there is a strange power in Christianity to renew itself m great reformations and revivals- to renew itself in individuals and in the race. II. THE AUTHOR OF HAS IT AS HIS PURPOSE TO PUSH ITS UNTIL IT ALL OTHER . The living power by which this religion renews itself as perpetually as nature renews the face of the earth in every returning spring, the Messiah promised to pour out upon His disciples till all nations are instructed in His principles, and yield a hearty obedience to Him. The true conception of Christianity , therefore, is not that of a sage who proclaims a system, and, dying, leaves it to work its own way in a hostile world; but rather of One who has given His life to seal its truth, and, rising from the dead, comes back to His disciples to fill them with supernatural energy, that under His personal supervision they may go forward to its complete establishment. Thus the best test of the true Church is found in her members working along the line of this universal conquest. The Christian conquest is distinguished from any other which may bear a possible semblance to it, by the peculiar and subordinate sphere which all physical power in governmental relations must sustain to it. III. In ancient times, when the warrior returned from battle with his trophies, he adorned with them the heathen temples. Under this imagery THE HOLY THE GOOD TIME COMING WHEN ALL NATIONS WILL ADORN THE TEMPLE OF CHRIST with all the boundless resources of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures. (C. Graham.)Christ’ s final triumph 1. It seems not unreasonable to think that, since the plan of redemption has been from the beginning of the world the great object of the Divine dispensations, and since means so very striking and unusual have been employed in brining it forward, it will surely produce effects, even in this world, proportionable to the magnitude of the preparation. 2. But it will be said, if Christianity for so many ages has made little progress in the world, and if, even among its professing followers, its influence is far from being productive of universal holiness, what reason can we have for supposing that it will ever be otherwise? 3. Observe that the corruptions which have obscured the lustre of the Gospel, originally owing to the mixture of human speculations, were long fostered by a system of priestcraft, which, being once detected, is the less likely again to arise. Under that system men gradually acquired the power of shutting out from their brethren the pure sources of knowledge, and thus innumerable errors and prejudices were propagated, the effects of which have not wholly disappeared even in our own days. But the circumstances of the world are now so much improved, that it does not seem possible any such power will be ever again acquired, or at least retained for any considerable length of time. And further, there is in the mind of man so strong a thirst for knowledge, that some, according to their talents and opportunities, are always arising to search after it; and we may rest assured that this thirst for knowledge, aided by Christian zeal, will extend to the interesting truths of revelation, as well as to the various branches of human science. 4. But let it be granted that the Gospel, through the progress of inquiry, shall be restored even to its simplest form, and its excellence and truth clearly displayed; still, what reason have we to think that men’ s lives will be universally influenced by it, since hitherto that has been so far from being the case, that, on the contrary, infidelity seems to have kept pace with the increase of knowledge? With respect to increasing infidelity, it is nothing more than might naturally be expected when, after a long period of ignorance, prejudice, and even imposture, men first begin to inquire and discuss. The evil is only temporary, and will cease with the causes which lead to it. Men will at length return from the extremes into which they run. 5. With respect to the influence which pure Christianity may be expected to have on its votaries, we observe-- (1) That a difference of circumstances may be expected to produce a difference of effects. (2) The more the native beauty of the Gospel appears, men will be the more likely to embrace it with sincerity, and for its own sake. (3) When Christianity is wholly disencumbered of the tenets and observances which obstruct its reforming power; when it is universally admitted to be a doctrine according to godliness; when the illusions by which men foster their negligence, and the pleas by which they lull asleep their consciences, are all given up; when the truth is clearly and fully understood, that without real, heartfelt holiness no man shall see God,--we may with safety conclude that then the moral and sanctifying spirit of the Gospel will acquire an influence far beyond anything we have yet seen. 6. It may perhaps be said that little hope can be entertained of so favourable a change on the hearts and lives of men, unless human nature be itself changed; since, in all past ages, mankind have been imperiously hurried away by the strength of their passions. But it is equally certain that these are not uncontrollable; since, though not wholly subdued, for that would be hurtful, they have been, at an earlier or later period of life, gradually brought under subjection by multitudes of good men in all ages. They are inflamed, besides, by example, and by the temptations which mankind throw in one another’ s way; and surely it is conceivable that these are circumstances which may not only gradually cease to inflame, but may come at length, in the progress of improvement, rather to check the undue indulgence of our passions. Consider, moreover, the power of habits formed before the heart be yet hardened, or the feelings blunted; and is it not possible that to the instruction of the young a growing attention may be paid, and endeavours be more earnestly and universally employed to instil into them from their tenderest years the habits of piety and virtue? Were this supposition realised, it alone, independent of all other circumstances, would powerfully contribute to that universal diffusion of the influence of Christianity which we are taught to expect. 7. We may appeal to experience. We know what the Gospel can accomplish, from the example of many individuals. Should it be admitted that the effects now enumerated may very naturally arise at length within the limits of the Christian Church, it will follow, as a just conclusion, that the Gospel may then be expected to spread over all lands. 8. There is a further consideration, of very high importance. It is, that by means of prophecy, there is an evidence for the truth of the Gospel provided, which will accumulate as ages advance. 9. We may add that, the world being wholly under the administration of that Divine Being who watches over the interests of Christianity, the ordinary course of human events will doubtless concur with the progress of the Gospel, and both tend to the same point. 10. Practical observations. (1) Next to heaven itself, there is not perhaps a more elevating subject of contemplation than the state of things which shall take place during the Messiah’ s reign on earth. (2) From what has been said, let us draw a confirmation of our faith. The present system of things will not be dissolved till the Gospel have wrought out its final triumph, and be preached for a witness to all nations. (3) Since we know that righteousness and truth are finally to prevail, let it encourage us to promote that great object. (4) The prophecies of Scripture are partly given, that they who believe may possess their souls in patience. (T. S. Hardie, D. D.)The want of the world, and the way of supplying it I. MORAL IS THE GREAT WANT OF THE WORLD. We take the words “ judgment” and “ law” as expressing the same generic idea--rectitude; that is, a rightness in man in all the powers and operations of his soul, and in all his relations to God and the universe. This rectitude is his want of wants. The want of it involves the want of all other good. 1. Rectitude will put an end to all the painful feelings which afflict the individual soul. Conflict of passions--fear--jealousy--envy--ambition--remorse; these, and kindred feelings which torment the individual soul, will all disappear when rectitude is established. 2. Rectitude will put an end to all the social evils which afflict the state. Monopoly--injustice--oppression--cupidity--the source of poverty and feuds--would all go were rectitude established. 3. Rectitude would put an end to all religious evils which afflict the world. Rectitude is the panacea; it will heal all the evils. Well may the “ isles wait” for it. Universal conscience is crying out for rectitude. The fact that they wait for it implies-- (1) That they have a deep belief in its existence. (2) That they have a capacity to receive it. (3) That they feel its necessity. II. THERE IS A BEING ENGAGED TO IN THE WORLD. “ He shall not fail.” Who is He? The “ Servant,” the “ Elect” of Jehovah. Christ’ s work is to establish rectitude. He died, and lives again, “ to put away sin.” 1. His life gives the highest expression of rectitude. 2. His death gives the highest motives to rectitude. 3. His Spirit supplies the highest helps to rectitude. III. THIS WORK OF IS CARRIED ON WITH . “ He shall not fail,” etc. There are four things which cause men to fail and be discouraged in an enterprise-- 1. The want, at the outset, of a full appreciation of all the difficulties that would arise in the working of it out to completion. But Christ saw the end from the beginning. All the arguments of infidelity, all the efforts of persecutors, all the opposition which prejudice, craft, and depravity would ever raise in any age, He foresaw, and was prepared to meet. 2. The want of a thorough sympathy with the undertaking. Men sometimes begin a work from certain motives--gain or fame, or it may be from benevolence-but with no hearty sympathy; and the consequence is that their little interest in it gradually decreases, until at last they give it up altogether; they “ fail” and are “ discouraged.” Will Christ never “ fail or be discouraged “ on this account? Never! His whole heart is in it. He has proved His interest in it by giving His life to promote it. 3. The want of a thorough acquiescence of the conscience in the undertaking. Men sometimes begin a work, and they find that it is not such that their conscience approves of. Though it may be lucrative--though it may lead them to fortune and fame--yet their conscience disapproves it; and by its constant rebukes they are forced to give it up. But Christ will never “ fail nor be discouraged” on this account. It is a righteous enterprise; it is fulfilling the will of Heaven. 4. The want o f time to complete the undertaking. Men often begin a work to which they attach vast importance, and which meets the entire sympathies of their hearts and consciences, and fail in its accomplishment for the want of time. Death comes and breaks our purposes, and leaves our work undone. But Christ will never “ fail nor be discouraged” on this account. He is alive to live for ever. Let us have faith in the work of establishing rectitude in the world. (Homilist.)The isles shall wait for His law. Isles or coasts. This word, denoting properly the isles and coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, is used in chaps, 40-46., representatively of distant regions of the earth, which are, moreover, in several of the passages personified by the prophet. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Islands Islands have not been formed by chance; they are part of the wise and far-reaching design of Him who “ weighed the mountains in scales,” and holds the ocean in “ the hollow of His hands.” He made for a special purpose those little fragments of the earth, and shut them off from the great continents by the waters of the sea, and placed them exactly where they are. Many islands are the mountain-tops of old submerged lands; and what a wonderful change took place in the old climate and productions in consequence. Instead of snowy and stormy wastes, where only a meagre vegetation struggled for life, there sprang up a lovely paradise of calm blue skies and tropical luxuriance. Many islands have been formed by volcanic outbursts; and it is amazing what a vast number of islands have been created by the labours of soft, tiny creatures, hundreds of which a child’ s tiny hands would squash, and surrounded with coral reefs which have stood out against the wildest waves of the ocean. Islands are of the most beautiful parts of the world; they have usually milder climates than continents, are less exposed to parching droughts; they have more frequent rain and dew; the sunshine, not so scorching, is tempered by sea breezes and silvery clouds; the vegetation also is of a softer kind; the leaves of the trees, instead of being hard and dry and much divided, as on continental areas, are broad and tender and delicate. Who has not heard of the summer isles where the breezes are fragrant with spices, and birds of the most gorgeous plumage flit through the groves of graceful palm trees? Lace-like waterfalls drip languidly from rocks. The dreams of the most ancient nations placed the heaven of bliss in fabled isles, where they exaggerated and idealised all the favourable conditions in the loveliest landscape with which they were familiar. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)The Divine separation of mankind God has formed islands and separated them from the great lands, and richly furnished them for human habitation, in order that mankind by means of them might be broken up into smaller sections. On continents human beings have always been apt to corrupt each other. He separated mankind into distinct communities, placed them in different scenes and circumstances, and effectually kept them apart by means of tractless seas, and thus the passions of men were confined within the narrowest limits, and rendered comparatively innocuous. By this method of separation national character was also formed and educated; and the one type of human nature at the beginning developed itself into every possible modification by the force of different circumstances and experiences. If there were no individuality among nations mankind would make no progress, all human societies would lose the mental activity which distinguished them. For such serious and gracious purposes God separated mankind into different nations and races, and placed them amid varied scenes of nature and circumstances of life And into this Divine method of dealing with mankind the existence of islands fitted admirably as part of one wise and gracious scheme. God made use of islands as places in which infant races might receive the education and the discipline which should afterwards qualify them for enlarged intercourse with each other when the sea should cease to be an estranging barrier, and by improved methods of communication should be a marriage-ring uniting nations. It was on islands chiefly that those who greatly influenced their fellows were educated under God’ s own eye, and in close communion with heaven. It was in islands chiefly that those great events began which ever and anon raised the human race from ignorance and vice to nobler aspirations and purer ideals. How much does the world owe to the isles of Greece, gilded with the eternal summer of human memory, where poetry and art and all that dignifies and blesses human life originated! How much does the world owe to the little islands of Great Britain and Ireland, which have colonised the largest portions of the globe, which have been the bulwark of political freedom and the channel of world-wide enterprise, and to whose hospitable shores the white wake of every ship is the fitting avenue of approach! (H. Macmillan, D. D.)Islands and the Gospel But vast as has been the influence of islands in connection with the civilisation of the world, they have had still greater influence in connection with religion. Islands have been identified from the beginning with the progress of Christ’ s kingdom; and there is not in all history a more romantic chapter than that which records the part which islands have played in diffusing the knowledge of Jesus Christ throughout the world. The men, outside the apostolic band, who were most influential in the spread of Christianity, were the natives of islands. Nazan, the ancient disciple, as he is called, who it is supposed took part in the first preaching of the Gospel throughout Galilee by the seventy disciples whom Christ sent out two by two, and whose lavish hospitality and great zeal in the service of the Church drew forth the love and admiration of all the brethren, was a native of the island of Cyprus. So also was Barnabas, to whom, after Paul, the early Church was more indebted than to any one else. It was to the birthplace of this remarkable man that the first missionary expedition of the Christian Church was sent. Several years before the mainland of Europe received the Gospel, Paul and Barnabas were consecrated by the Holy Spirit for the special purpose of evangelising the important island of Cyprus, which was the bridge of commercial intercourse between the Eastern and Western worlds. By the stepping-stones of this and other islands--of the Levant, of the Grecian Archipelago--Christianity proceeded on its westward march from the land where it was nurtured on the lap of Judaism to the conquest of the nations, in fulfilment of Christ’ s own command to His disciples, “ Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” After the time of the apostles the early missionaries of Christianity to Europe sought refuge in the islands which lie off the coast of the Mediterranean, for there they could have the best security from the troubles of those rough ages. Near the shore of Cannes, in the south of France, there is a little island covered with ecclesiastic ruins called the island of St. HonorS, which is one of the most impressive spots in the world. It was by that island that the Christianity of Palestine and Egypt in the fifth century came to Western Europe independent of Rome. There St. Patrick was educated, who brought the Gospel to Ireland; from thence St. Columba brought it to Scotland, and we all know how Iona, the little island amid the clouds and mists of the wild Atlantic, formed the centre which drew to it, and from whence were dispersed, all the spiritual and intellectual forces of Christendom during its darkest ages. Besides Iona, Lindisfarne, or Holy Isle, off the coast of Northumberland, afforded retreat to St. Cuthbert and to his followers, from whence they preached the Gospel to the rude populations of the mainland. And Malta in the Middle Ages preserved the fife of religion burning brightly when it was all but extinguished in other places, and by the Knights Templars, who were stirred by a wonderful enthusiasm in the cause of Christ. It was to the East Indies that the first missions of the Roman Catholics were sent; and the Island of Ceylon was the point of vantage from whence South India was taken possession of for Christ. St. Francis Xavier, that most devoted of missionaries, carried the Christian faith to the island of Japan, and fevered and died on the island near Canton, from whence he attempted to attack the root of the mighty superstition of Buddhism in the jealously-guarded land of China, instead of merely lopping off branches. And, turning to other parts of the world, Captain Cook’ s wonderful discoveries among the South Sea Islands created profound interest in the new types of humanity which they revealed, and led to the formation of the London Missionary Society. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)Islands sunk in savagery, yet Christianised It may be said that the inhabitants of remote islands, on account of their isolation from great centres of civilisation, have lost the highest capacities of the race, and have sunk to the lowest depths of savagery. Throughout the fair paradises of Polynesia, when first discovered, idolatry prevailed in its most grovelling form, degrading the nations, and tribal wars kept the people in a state of constant alarm; cannibalism cast a haunting shadow over many a lovely island, and threatened to exterminate the population. Who does not remember the brutal murder of Captain Cook on the scene of one of the grandest of his discoveries; and the martyrdom of Williams and Patterson amid circumstances of the utmost atrocity towards those to whom they had proved the truest friends? There is hardly a single island in the Pacific but has its bloody record of the slaughter of these devoted men who first came to them with the message of Divine peace. And yet nowhere else have the triumphs of the Cross been so remarkable as on the islands that witnessed these barbarous acts. The simplicity and pliability of disposition peculiar to insular races which have made them the easy slaves of cruel practices, have made them, on the other hand, more susceptible to the power of Divine grace. They were not hampered by the shackles of religious organisations which had grown up during ages, and which had extended their roots so far and deep that they could only be torn up at the risk of destroying the whole social fabric that rested upon them. They had no elaborate caste like India, no gigantic ritual like China, because of the almost insuperable barriers in the way. They were far less self-sufficient than those who inherited the ancient religious and social systems of the great continental areas; they were, like children, ready to be attracted by any novelty. And so in spite of their superstition and measureless depravity, like the publicans and sinners of our Lord’ s time, they were ready to receive the kingdom of heaven, readier to receive the kingdom of heaven than the heathen of the continental lands when in God’ s good providence, that kingdom of heaven came to them. The Sandwich Islands, where Williams was martyred, the Fiji Islands, notorious for their cannibalism, the islands of New Zealand, the abode of the most crafty and cruel savages, all were brought more or less under the influence of Christ. The history of the spread of Christianity in Japan and Madagascar, the courage and fortitude of the converts through years of relentless persecution, and the calmness with which they endured tortures from which death was a merciful relief, form one of the most thrilling chapters in the history of Christian missions. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)Islands the cradles of new movements Naturalists tell us that our earth from time to time has been exhausted by bearing countless generations of plants and animals; and has only recovered its fertilising materials under the baptism of the great waters, and become fit for bearing new life when the sea changed its bed. Continents are losing the elements which are necessary for building up the bone and brain of man by the streams and rivers that carry them away to the ocean; and islands, owing to the way in which they have been produced from the sea, are rich in such elements, and are therefore fitted to nourish and to maintain vigorous races. This is one reason why islands, more than continents, have been the cradles of new movements connected with the progress of man; and it may be, reasoning from this analogy, that if we in this old island impart to the young isles of the sea the knowledge of the law of Christ for which they are waiting, newer and more vigorous manifestations and developments of that law may be met in those islands than we have yet seen. Christianity may acquire a new impulse from the fresh force and enthusiasm of new races, and the things that have been latent in it may blossom and bear fruit in a new soil for the good of the world. It may be that the isles of the sea that now wait for the law of Christ, shall in turn communicate that law to the regions from which they originally derived it, and which, from their sloth and selfishness, have sunk into ignorance and darkness, just as the candlestick that was removed from places once bright with the light of the truth because of their carelessness, was set up in our heathen island long ago. (H. Macmillan, D. D.) Isaiah 42:5-6 Thus saith God the Lord, He that created the heavens The oneness of God in revelation and in nature The first of the two verses is a description of God; the second is a declaration of His purposes. What is the declaration which is introduced so impressively? It is often an idiom of prophetic speech, and especially of the style of Isaiah, when a declaration is to be made respecting the work of redemption, to give it the form of a direct address to the Messiah, and to declare to Him the thing which God was about to perform. Such is the idiom now before us. “ I,” that is, “ the God of nature” who had just been described,--“ I, the Lord, have called Thee in righteousness” --that is, “ I who created the heavens, have summoned Thee as the Redeemer of men, in execution of My righteous purpose.” “ I will hold Thine hand, and will keep Thee” --that is, “ I, the Former of the earth, will be faithful unto Thee.” “ I will give Thee for a covenant of the people, and for a light of the Gentiles” --that is, “ I, the Author of the souls of men, will give Thee as a pledge of My love, and the nations shall be redeemed.” The sentiment is that the God of nature is the God also of redemption. From the fact that the Author of nature and the God of revelation are one, we may infer-- I. THAT SHOULD BE BY THE SPIRIT OF DOCILE INQUIRY. If there be one thing which more than another vitiates the methods by which men form their religious opinions, it is the want of the humility of inquirers after truth; and yet, if there be one thing more firmly settled than another in the methods of science, it is that the docility of inquiry after truth is the only spirit becoming to scientific discovery. How often are we compelled to note the distinction, that in religion men feel at liberty to create their opinions; while in natural science, and in all that domain of truth which lies outside of the realm of conscience, they feel bound to seek for their opinions. In the one case we assume that we know, in the other we consent to be taught. II. THE THAT IN A WILL BE FOUND A AND SYSTEM OF TRUTH. Side by side with Christian dogmatism there grows up a Christianised scepticism, within the range of scriptural thought. We must presume, especially, that when we open this revelation of God in language, we shall come upon certain verities which shall be patent, on the face of the record, to unperverted inquiry. We do not so much find them here, as that they find us. They are verities which unbiassed readers in all ages will read here, and will believe; verities which infidelity will always read here; and verities which it is as unphilo-sophical for a believer in the inspiration of the Bible to deny, as it is for any sane mind to refuse credence to the elementary facts of geology, or of anatomy. Moreover, we must presume that these Scriptures contain a theology, not only of robust material, and of graphic outline, but of such firmness of construction that it can be positively preached. It must be free from self-contradictions, as other sciences are, so that an athletic faith can use it. And we must look for a theology which, when it is thus preached, shall prove itself to be a power in the earth. III. THE THAT THE PACTS OF THESE TWO OF GOD’ S WORKING WILL NEVER EACH OTHER. IV. THAT WE SHOULD EXPECT TO FIND THE OF GOD TO BE A SYSTEM BY AND OF LAW. In the natural world we find no such thing as caprice. Why, then, should we not expect to find in a revelation respecting the moral world, a similar omnipresence and omnipotence of law? It would be instructive to pursue this analogy between law in the natural world and law in God’ s moral government to certain other results. We might see-- 1. How accordant with nature it is that the laws of religion cannot be violated with impunity. 2. How natural it is that fatal consequences in respect of religion should follow from apparently trifling disobedience of God’ s commands. 3. The foundation which is laid in the nature of things for that law of God’ s government by which sin often reaches over from the time when it is committed, and strikes its penalty in a remote experience of the sinner. 4. We might infer the credibility and the probability that the sins of one brief life on earth should pass on, beyond the grave, to reap their reward in eternity. 5. The naturalness of the faith that, if God has devised any remedial scheme to meet the emergency of sin, it must be one that shall honour delicately and rigidly the sacredness of law. V. THAT WE HAVE REASON TO EXPECT THIS OF IN A . The mysteries of theology always meet us before we have travelled far on any track of religious inquiry. But this is no anomaly peculiar to religious thought. Science in the world of matter is thwarted in all its investigations, sooner or later, by insolvable mysteries. VI. A OF OUR FAITH IN THE OF THIS WORLD’ S TO . We are too often unmindful that the creation of this world and the redemption of this world are, in a truthful sense, parallel acts of omnipotence. It is as certain that the one will occur as that the other has occurred; for the revelation of that which God will do in the one case is as worthy of trust as the history of that which He has done in the other. This luxuriance of metaphor which the kingdom of nature yields up to the portraiture of the kingdom of grace, springs from no fortuitous resemblances. Our God is one God; and therefore it is that a mind inspired to foresee the success of omnipotence in redemption, carries over into this moral kingdom its conceptions of the working of omnipotence in nature. The mountains, rivers, seas, flocks of Kedar, sun, moon, in which God has wrought, become, not only the emblems, but the pledges of the mighty works which He will do for man’ s recovery. (A. Phelps, D. D.)The analogy between God’ s working in revelation and in nature The analogy between these two departments of God’ s working discloses some striking resemblances of method in the details of His work. 1. A resemblance between the Divine methods of working in nature and in grace is seen in the law common to both kingdoms, that great results ensue from feeble beginnings. 2. It is also a law of the two kingdoms of God’ s working, that results are often for a long time suppressed from human view. Kepler said, when he published his system of astronomy, that the world had waited six thousand years for some one to read the heavens aright. The coal mines of Pennsylvania and the quarries of Quincy were forming before the garden of Eden existed. Who can tell us why the western continent lay for fifty-four centuries unknown to the dominant races of men? Our God is one God. 3. It is furthermore a law in the two kingdoms of God’ s working, that results often come to human view suddenly and by seeming accident. The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. But have we not told our children of the falling apple, which was so instructive to the mind of Newton; and of the invention of the mariner’ s compass by an unknown genius; and of the gold mines of California, which a labourer accidentally discovered in building a sawmill? Our God is one God. 4. It is a law of the two kingdoms of God’ s working, that His work proceeds with great apparent waste. This work of the world’ s conversion is a costly labour. But God’ s plans have this evidence of their greatness, that they go on with that which to us appears like waste. The earth every year produces food sufficient for three times its burden of inhabitants. The sun wastes two-thirds of its beams on trackless waters and deserts. The stars are not put out, like your street lamps, when the traveller has no further need of them. Poets have sung of flowers that waste their sweetness. God works on a generous scale. Even of suffering He is not sparing in the laws of His providence. How much of apparently useless suffering is endured under the laws of disease! What a waste of life do we see everywhere in the death of the young! In this seeming prodigality of the Divine procedure, we see evidence that God has plans too deep for us to fathom. And these plans run under the two systems of nature and of grace alike. (H. Macmillan, D. D.) Isaiah 42:6I the Lord have called thee in righteousness God’ s covenant with man We are apt to understand that there are two covenants, respectively called the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. 1. Let us define what a covenant is. In its primary sense it signifies a mutual compact or agreement between two parties. The covenant is kept on the one side by those conditions being ratified in a full and faithful observance of them; on the other side by the conferment of the benefit upon the completion of the conditions. 2. When viewing God and man as the two parties between whom a covenant has been made, we perceive that there have been two covenants entered into; in each the benefit offered by the Father has been the same, viz., eternal life, but the terms or conditions are different. (1) In the covenant of works, the condition to be accepted and ratified by man was single, that is, obedience to the moral law of God, which law contains within its sanctions not merely an obedience to any positive commands or implied wishes, but an inward heart-observance of a complete holiness, this complete holiness being in fact itself the law, and any deviation whatever from the prescription of a complete holiness being an infraction of the law, and consequently that flaw in the covenanted obedience on man’ s part, which destroys the covenant altogether, and thus, annulling it, renders it nugatory. (2) The conditions in the covenant of grace are twofold, repentance and faith, obedience to the law constituting no part of the terms on which God will confer the promised boon, though according to this, He will regulate the degrees of glory to be known and shared in and through the heavenly immortality. For the law of God has never been repealed, and never can be; neither does the covenant of grace at all make void the law, nay, as the apostle says, “ it establishes it.” 3. An ordinary attention to the constitution of these two covenants will show us that there is between God and man, now (the “ now” taking in the position and history of man from the fall, to the finished and ultimate recovery of redemption) but this one covenant of grace. Consider, and this partly by contrasting the two, in what this second or new covenant consists. (1) It agrees with the first in this, (a) that the ultimate object is the same, viz., everlasting life for man; (b) that in God’ s part of the contract the promise attached to it is the same. (2) It differs from the other in these respects. That a third party is introduced--the Mediator Christ Jesus, the Son of God. That on man’ s part the conditions are different, repentance and faith being in the stead of obedience. 4. See the vital importance of understanding the truth with respect to the two covenants. There are not two covenants. There never have been two co-existing covenants. When man broke the first, it was at an end. Morally speaking, it could not be re-instituted; because, the nature of man having become sinful, and this sinfulness a necessary entailment on all his children, it was rendered impossible for man to keep a covenant of works. And a covenant broken is no longer a covenant. God, then, in His mercy and love, instituted another covenant, the same as to intent, but differing in its conditions for man, prescribing conditions which he could observe, because of the new provision made in the Mediator Christ Jesus, by whom the law should be inviolably kept, and so a justifying righteousness procured, and by whom a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice should be made in the offering of His own spotless body for the sins of the whole world. See how this strikes at the root of all man’ s pride and self-dependence, and attempts at working out a self-righteousness for his justification. See, too, the surpassing consideration of God for the pour, condemned helpless, sinner. See also the wondrous force of our text. It was to the dearly-beloved Son that God said, “ I, the Lord, have called Thee in righteousness,” etc. Because on Him devolved the work of rescue, because He is the Mediator, because He will ensure the final victory, because in Him the new covenant was opened, in Him established, by Him maintained, Himself is called the covenant. To reject Him is to reject the covenant; to look anywhere else for salvation, to attempt any other way to God’ s favour than by Him, to try any other terms than those of His Gospel, is to reject Him; and that is to reject the covenant of God and to enter into covenant with death. (R. H. Davies, B. A.)God’ s calling The act of calling here implies-- 1. Selection. 2. Designation. 3. Providential introduction to God’ s service. (J. A. Alexander.)Called in righteousness, Called in righteousness, in accordance with a steadfast and consistent purpose. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)And give Thee for a covenant of the people. “ A covenant of the people,” a negotiator between God and the people. (J. A. Alexander.)Israel a Mediator Not only the Messiah, but the Israel of God was sent to be a mediator or connecting link between Jehovah and the nations. (J. A. Alexander.)The new covenant of free grace I. WHO IT IS THAT SPEAKS THIS . The Lord. II. THE PERSON TO WHOM THIS IS AND SPOKEN. CHRIST. III. WHAT HE SPEAKS UNTO CHRIST HERE, even gracious language in respect of us. “ He will give Him for a covenant.” IV. UNTO WHOM THE FATHER GIVES CHRIST FOR A . “ Unto the people, and unto the Gentiles” ; that is, to Jews and to Gentiles, to all sorts of people. V. THE END AND PURPOSE FOR WHICH THE FATHER GIVES HIM TO BE A UNTO THE PEOPLE. “ To open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of prison.” (T. Crisp, D. D.)Christ a covenant to open blind eyes I. WHAT IT IS FOR CHRIST TO BE A , OR, THE . II. WHAT IT IS FOR CHRIST TO BE GIVEN TO BE A . III. WHAT IT IS FOR CHRIST TO BE A TO OPEN THE BLIND EYES. IV. TO WHOM THIS CHRIST IS GIVEN TO BE A . (T. Crisp, D. D.)“ A covenant of the people” The idea must be something like this: the Divine ideal represented by the Servant of the Lord becomes the basis of a new national life, inasmuch as it expresses that for the sake of which Jehovah enters into a new covenant relation with His people. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)A word to go home on The saintly Miss Frances Ridley Havergal literally lived and moved in the Word of God. It was her constant solace, delight, and inspiration. It is related of her that, on the last day of her life, she asked a friend to read to her the forty-second chapter of Isaiah. When the friend read the sixth verse, “ I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee,” Miss Havergal stopped her. “ Called--held--kept--used,” she whispered. “ Well, I will just go home on that.” And she did “ go home on that,” as on a celestial chariot, and the home-going was a triumph, with an abundant entrance into the city of God. (Christian Budget) Isaiah 42:7 To open the blind eyes Opening blind eyes What a grievous affliction is blindness! It was no frivolous boon which Christ, in the days of His sojourn on earth, thought proper to confer, when, in the external sense, He opened blind eyes. In the paragraph of which the text is a part, Jehovah is describing the Messiah in His spiritual character and work; and, great as the marvel of removing natural blindness was, and great as similar miracles were which Christ performed, their principal value consisted in their being symbols and pledges of those spiritual operations which He could accomplish on the souls of men. I. THE OF WHICH HAS OUR RACE. You would very greatly aggravate the evil of natural blindness by dilating on the numerous and diversified beauties of nature, for the poor blind man sees none of these things! But how much greater is the calamity by which the soul is excluded from the sight of the glory of God! There is very high criminality connected with the origin of this spiritual blindness. The Divine displeasure never arises without a cause, or beyond the cause. What, then, must have been the cause which led to such a fatal condition? The incontestable and melancholy fact is, that man has sinned! As there was high criminality connected with the origin of this blindness, so there is high criminality connected with the continuance of it. If men, struck with this blindness, were to humble themselves on account of it, it would be some alleviation of the matter; but, generally, I find men taking advantage of their darkness, and receding further and further from God; and, indeed, many of them seem never to be so completely happy as when they have most effectually succeeded in banishing all thought of God. This spiritual blindness is so complete that it leads a man to pervert the very instruments which God has appointed for its removal. Take an observation of the state of mankind around us, and see whether or not it sustains this description. II. THE GREAT OF JEHOVAH FOR THE REMOVAL OF THIS . See what light Christ has thrown on the character of God! Consider the light which He has thrown on the providence around us. The difficulties of the virtuous, and the shouting success of the villainous, almost seemed, to conscientious men, to indicate very bad management on the part of God; and they have had recourse to a great many theories to explain it. Christ has thrown light on the afflictions which happen to the people of God. And on that immortality which is before us. And on the spiritualities which are required within us. III. THE OF THAT OF THE SPIRIT BY WHICH THE REMOVAL OF THIS IS . (J. E. Beaumont, M. D.)New sight causes great joy I do not wonder that, when a man gets this light into his soul, he should be overjoyed. A young woman had lived to the age of eighteen without seeing at all. Dr. Boyle watched the performance of an operation upon her, and he has described, as only a philosopher could describe, what took place. For some time they were afraid she would lose her reason, so overcome was she by the innumerable beauties which so suddenly burst in upon her. (J. E. Beaumont, M. D.)A social saviour This is the kind of man needed in all ages. We have critics enough, we have judges in great abundance, we have speculators more than can be overtaken by statistical genius; we want another kind of man, and we seek for him no better description than that which is outlined by the prophet. We want moral helpers, social saviours, personal healers and comforters. Shall we apply these words to the Lord Jesus Christ? They will fit the occasion exactly. In Him they would seem to secure their amplest and completest realisation. (J. Parker, D. D.)Christianity opens eyes Christianity opens eyes never closes them. (J. Parker, D. D.)Victor Emmanuel, emancipator We gladly survey the effectual operations of Jesus the Saviour, the true Victor Emmanuel, who comes to set men free from the bondage of their sins. I. WHO IT IS THAT SENDS JESUS CHRIST TO THE OF THE SONS OF MEN, because much will depend upon the Liberator’ s credentials, the authority by which He is warranted, and the power by which He is hacked. We sing for joy of heart as we see that the Infinite God Himself commissioned the Lord Jesus to be the Deliverer of men; and He did this-- 1. In His capacity as Creator (Isaiah 42:5). 2. He also describes Himself as the life-giver (Isaiah 42:5). 3. The faithful God. “ I the Lord have called Thee in righteousness” (Isaiah 42:6) that is to say, the God who sends Christ the Saviour is not one who plays with words, and having given a promise to-day, retracts it to-morrow. 4. The everblessed sender of the Lord Jesus is omnipotent. “ And will hold thine hand, and will keep Thee.” By which is meant that God will give to the Mediator all His power. Christ is the power of God. II. THE SENT ONE HIMSELF. 1. Jesus is a chosen one. “ Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth” (Isaiah 42:1). 2. Jesus is anointed to this work. “ I have put My Spirit upon Him.” The Holy Spirit is the greatest of all actors in the world of mind. He it is who can illuminate, persuade, and control the spirits of men. 3. The Redeemer is spoken of as being gentle and lowly of heart, which should commend Him much to every lowly and contrite spirit (Isaiah 42:3). 4. The Christ who has come to save the sons of men is persevering to the last degree (Isaiah 42:4). III. THE WORK ITSELF. The Messiah’ s work of grace is divided into three parts. 1. To open the blind eyes. Man’ s understanding is perverted from the knowledge of God, from a true sense of sin, from a realisation of Divine justice, from a right estimate of salvation. The understanding, which is the eye of the soul, is darkened. But when the anointed Saviour comes, He removes the scales of our mental ophthalmia, and in the light of God we see light. 2. To bring out the prisoners from the prison. Habits of sin, like iron nets, surround the sinner, and he cannot escape their meshes. Faith in the Lord Jesus is the end of bondage and the dawn of freedom. 3. Bringing them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house. This we will refer to those who are truly emancipated, and yet by reason of despondency sit down in the dark dungeon. IV. WHAT IS THE DESIGN OF GOD IN ALL THIS? “ I am the Lord: that is My name: and My glory will I not give to another” (Isaiah 42:8). (C. H. Spurgeon.)Stages of liberty Men are in various stages of liberty. We are not all equally the free men of God. There are men even now who are under the disadvantage of prejudice. Even to-day superstition lives--chilling, fear-exciting, soul-depressing superstition. There are those who still live in the letter of the Word. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 42:8I am the Lord: that is My nameNames The name of a thing, provided it is a true and adequate one, denotes the essential nature of that thing. When a chemist has discovered a new substance, he is, of course, compelled to invent a new name for it; and he seeks a term that will indicate its distinctive properties. When, for instance, that gas which illuminates our streets and dwellings was first discovered, it was supposed to be the constituent matter of heat, and the name “ phlogiston” was given to it--a name that signifies inflammability. But when Cavendish afterwards more carefully analysed its nature and properties, and discovered that it enters very largely into the production of water, it received the name of hydrogen. In each of these instances the term was intended to denote the intrinsic nature and properties of the thing. That nomenclature which Adam originated at the express command of God, and which the pen of inspiration has recorded as a fact, though it has not specified it in detail, must have been pertinent and exhaustive. The names were the things, the natures, themselves. (G. T. Shedd, D. D.)Names Plato (Cratylus, 390) represents Socrates as saying that “ the right imposition of names is no easy matter, and belongs not to any and every body, but only to him who has an insight into the nature of things.” (G. T.Shedd, D. D.)God’ s name God has a name--not given to Him by Adam, or any finite creature, but self-uttered and self-imposed. The denomination which God prefers for Himself, the name which He chooses before all others as indicative of His nature, is I AM, or its equivalent, Jehovah. Whenever the word Jehovah is employed in the Old Testament as the proper name of God, it announces the same doctrine of His necessary existence that was taught to Moses when he was commanded to say to His people that I AM had sent him unto them. The English name for the Deity, our word God, indicates that He is “ good” --making prominent a moral quality. The Greek and Latin world employed a term (èåïò, deus) that lays emphasis upon that characteristic of the Deity whereby He orders and governs the universe. (This etymology is given by Herodotus, 2:52.) According to the Greek and Roman conception, God is the imperial Being who arranges and rules. But the Hebrew, divinely instructed upon this subject, chose a term which refers not to any particular attribute or quality, but to the very being and essence of God, and teaches the world that God must be--that He not only exists, but cannot logically be conceived of as non-existent. (G. T.Shedd, D. D.)The glorification of God The text leads us to raise the question, What is it to glorify God? It is implied in glorifying God-- I. THAT WE THINK OF HIM AND HIS . “ The duty required in the first commandment,” says the Larger Catechism, “ is to worship and glorify God, by thinking, meditating upon, and remembering Him.” No higher dishonour can be done to any being than to forget and ignore him. But this is the habitual attitude of man’ s mind toward the Everlasting God. It does not relieve the matter to say that this is mere passive forgetfulness, and that there is no deliberate effort to do dishonour to God. This passive forgetfulness itself is the highest kind of indignity; and is so represented in the Scriptures. “ The wicked shall be turned into hell, and an the nations that forget God. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.” This unthinking forgetfulness of the greatest and most glorious Being in the universe betokens an utter unconcern towards Him. Now, whoever would glorify God must begin by reversing an this. No man has made even a beginning in religion, until he has said, reverently, and feeling the truth of what he says: “ Thou art Jehovah, the Great I AM; that is Thy name and Thy nature; and Thy glory Thou wilt not give to another, neither Thy praise to graven images.” II. THAT WE THINK OF HIM AS THIS FIRST CAUSE AND LAST END OF ALL THINGS. Here, again, we can arrive at the truth by the way of contrast; by considering what is the common course of man’ s thought and feeling. Man naturally thinks of himself as the chief cause, and the final end. 1. Whoever would glorify God must think of and recognise God as the First Cause of all things. If he possesses a strong intellect, or a cultivated taste, instead of attributing them to his own diligence in self-discipline and self cultivation, he must trace them back to the author of his intellectual constitution, who not only gave him all his original endowments, but has enabled him to be diligent in the use and discipline of them. If he possess great wealth, instead of saying in his heart, “ My hand and brain have gotten me this,” he should acknowledge the Providence that has favoured his plans and enterprises, and without which his enterprises, like those of many men around him, would have gone awry, and utterly failed. Whatever be the earthly good which anyone holds in his possession, its ultimate origin and authorship must be carried back to the First Cause of all things. And this, too, must become the natural and easy action of the mind and heart, in order perfectly to glorify God. 2. It is implied in glorifying God, that we recognise Him as the last end of all things. Every being and thing must have a final end--a terminus. The mineral kingdom is made for the vegetable kingdom; the vegetable kingdom for the animal kingdom; the animal kingdom for man; and all of them together are made for God. Go through all the ranges of creation, from the molecule of matter to the seraphim, and if you ask for the final purpose of its creation, the reply is, the glory of the Maker. And this is reasonable. For God is the greatest and most important, if we may use the word in such a connection, of all beings. In the light of this doctrine we see-- (1) The need of the regeneration of the human soul. (2) Why the individual Christian is imperfectly blessed of God. His service is imperfect. There is much worship of self in connection with his worship of God. How many of our prayers are vitiated by unbelief; but unbelief is a species of dishonour to God. It is impossible, in this condition of the soul, that we should experience the perfection of religious joy. “ I am Jehovah,” saith God; “ that is My name, and My glory will I not give to another.” (3) This subject discloses the reason of languid vitality in the Church, and its slow growth in numbers and influence. The Christian life is in low tone, because the Church gives glory to another than God. (G. T. Shedd, D. D.)The glorification of God It is an objection of the sceptic, that this perpetual assertion in the Scriptures that God is the chief end of creation, and this perpetual demand that the creature glorify Him, is only a species of infinite egotism; that in making the whole unlimited universe subservient to Him and His purposes, the Deity is only exhibiting selfishness upon an immense scale. But this objection overlooks the fact that God is an infinitely greater and higher being than any or all of His creatures; and that from the very nature of the case the less must be subordinated to the greater. Is it egotism, when man employs in his service his ox or his ass? Is it selfishness, when the rose or the lily takes up into its own fabric and tissue the inanimate qualities of matter, and converts the dull and colourless elements of the clod into hues and odours, into beauty and bloom? There would be egotism in the procedure, if man were of no higher grade of existence than the ox or the ass. There would be selfishness, if the rose and the lily were upon the same level with the inanimate elements of matter. But the greater dignity in each instance justifies the use and the subordination. And so it is, only in an infinitely greater degree, in the case when the whole creation is subordinated and made to serve and glorify the Creator. The distance between man and his ox, between the lily and the particle of moisture which it imbibes, is appreciable. It is not infinite. But the distance between God and the highest of His archangels is beyond computation. (G. T. Shedd, D. D.)The rights of God maintained God is jealous of His honour. The first four commandments of the decalogue have special reference to His rights, and are couched in the most forcible and impressive terms. But, though these injunctions are reasonable, they have been repeatedly violated by all the nations of the earth. This declaration was made in connection with the mission of the Messiah. But the text is of vital interest to ourselves. It is not the idolater only that dis-honours God; but every impenitent sinner, and every unfaithful follower of Christ. I. THE IMPORT OF GOD’ S NAME. “ Jehovah.” By this name God revealed Himself to Moses” (Exodus 6:3). 1. It means the Being that exists. 2. It implies that He is the Fountain of all being. 3. That He is also the Preserver of all being. And the sublimest feature in His providence is that which was exhibited in the redemption of mankind. The name Jehovah leads us to this point. It implies that God is the Saviour of the world, and for this reason, above all others (since, for a sinful world there could have been no preservation without redemption), the great Preserver of the world. That this, too, is the import of the name, is evident from the attributes ascribed to God in connection with it, by Moses: “ Jehovah, Jehovah God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.” In Christ, the character of God as the merciful I AM, is clearly manifested (John 1:14.) II. THE GLORY WHICH BELONGS TO HIM. The term “ glory” is sometimes used in reference to the visible symbol of Jehovah’ s presence--the Shechinah; at other times it denotes the manifestation of His power and wisdom in creation, and at other times again it is employed in a more general sense, to set forth the attributes and perfections of His character. But in the text the word is equivalent to honour, worship, adoration, or whatever else God lays claim to from His creatures’ hands, and hence the latter clause of the passage may be viewed, though with an intensity of meaning, as explanatory of the former. “ My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images.” That is, that which belongs to Me as Jehovah, I delegate to no one. What, then, is the glory which belongs exclusively to God? 1. His is the glory of the creation of all things. He is the Fountain of being. 2. His is the glory of the world’ s redemption. 3. His is the glory of the application of redemption to the case of each individual believer in Christ Jesus. 4. His is the glory of the advancement of mankind in knowledge, holiness, and peace. III. HIS TO HIS RIGHTS. “ I will not give My glory to another, neither My praise to graven images.” In this impressive declaration God speaks to men of every class, of every country, and of every age. This declaration may be viewed as corrective of-- 1. The sin of idolatry. 2. The sin of pride. 3. The sin of unbelief. (Thornley Smith.)The glory of God incommunicable I. THE DIVINE . “ I am the Lord, that is My name.” 1. This assertion involves the idea of the Divine existence. 2. The assertion suggests the idea that He stands infinitely distinguished from all creatures in the manner or mode of His existence. 3. This language intimates dominion. He is related to nature, and He is related to nature necessarily and intimately, because nature is the production of His skill and power. We cannot think of God as the Creator, without being compelled to acknowledge His right and authority to legislate and govern. 4. This phrase is applicable to the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the most valid of all testimony in connection with the point, namely, the express and unqualified assertion of the Redeemer Himself, “ Before Abraham was, I am.” Here we have the same terms employed, and employed in the same sense. II. THE DIVINE PURPOSE. “ My glory will I not give to another, nor My praise to graven images.” 1. He will not give His glory to nature. Nature exists, but only exists as an effect. In nature there is no originality. 2. He will not give His “ praise to graven images.” 3. He will not give His glory to the Church. (1) He does not give His glory to the ministers of the Church. They are only the stewards of the mysteries of His kingdom. They are but the messengers of the Churches. They are but stars, deriving all their light from the great orb of day. (2) God, we are likewise assured, will not give His glory to ordinances. The sacraments, whatever may be the mystery and the sacredness associated with them, are but means. Conclusion-- 1. Learn from this subject the value of the Bible. This is the only and the great source of all correct information and sound theology as to the essence and moral character of God. 2. You may gather from this text and subject, that Deity is propitiated, and “ waits to be Gracious.” 3. You may fairly infer from the subject that such as have the great (J. Newton.) Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the former things are come to pass The philosophy of promise One may observe, in reading Scripture, the general principle that God usually gives a promise of that which He means to bestow. Before Christ came, the Father was continually speaking of His coming. Love meets man as a heralding fragrance before the actual bestowal of blessing. Why are covenant blessings the subject of promises? I. IN ORDER TO DISPLAY GOD’ S GRACE. 1. The freeness of His grace. The promise to which the text specially alludes is “ to open the blind eyes,” etc. The blind referred to were not born in the days of Isaiah. God promises before we know our need or seek His face. There are many conditional promises in Scripture; but all God’ s promises rest on an unconditioned covenant of grace (Romans 9:25). 2. The fulness of His grace. It is unmerited; Christ died for the ungodly. 3. The power of it. He will open the blind eyes, etc. God is great in nature, but greater in grace. II. TO AROUSE OUR HOPES. Religious inquirers should find the promises of God unspeakably precious. There are promises enough in the Scriptures to stimulate hope in all. Christian believers even need to be told of what God will do, in order to encourage their hope. III. TO OUR FAITH. God desires to exercise our confidence in Him. IV. TO EXCITE OUR PRAYER. Prayer is sure to follow hope and faith. All God’ s promises which are not fulfilled are meant to stimulate prayer. V. TO FOSTER AND WHEN THE MERCY HAS BEEN . Man is made glad when he sees that God’ s Word has not returned to Him void; then comes the inference, if He has done all this for me in the past, He will do as much for me in the future. In the next chapter the argument is, I will do, because I have done. This is the firm foundation of our hope,--our past experience of the faithfulness of God; and strong faith is God’ s due. (C. H. Spurgeon.)“ Former things” and “ new things” “ Former things,” i.e things formerly predicted. These predictions do not belong to the present prophet, but to others. The “ new things” are the redemption of Israel from Babylon, and, through it, the revelation of the true God to all nations. (Prof. A. B. Davidson, D. D.) Isaiah 42:10 Sing unto the Lord a new song “ New things” and a “ new song” The “ new things” become the impulse and matter of “ a new song,” such as was never yet heard in the heathen world. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Joy among the heathen Reduced to ordinary prose style, it is a prediction that changes are to take place joyfully affecting the condition of the whole world. (J. A. Alexander.) Isaiah 42:11 Let the inhabitants of the Rock sing Christ the Christian’ s Rock I. SHOW IN WHAT RESPECT CHRIST MAY BE TO A ROCK. 1. Christ is a Rock, in regard of His omnipotent power. 2. Christ is a Rock, in regard of that ineffable glory to which He is now exalted. Rocks may lie low and deep in the ground, but rise with artless grandeur and inimitable beauty, and their lofty heads divide the clouds. 3. Jesus Christ is a Rock in regard of His faithfulness, and the unchangeable nature of His perfections. Those storms and tempests which spread desolation, and bury whole islands and countries in ruins, remove not the rocks out of their place. But Jesus is firmer than they. 4. Christ is a Rock, in regard of His majesty and beauty. II. SHOW HOW GOOD MEN MAY BE CALLED OF THE ROCK 1. Because that is their dwelling-place. 2. They are inhabitants of the Rock, as that is the place of their nativity. All the inhabitants of this Rock are born in the image of the Son of God; a new and peculiar race. 3. They may be called inhabitants of the Rock, as they are a people who dwell on high. Their souls and all their nobler powers soar above the mean pursuits of this world. 4. They may be called inhabitants of the Rock, as they are to abide there for ever. 5. They are inhabitants of the Rock, as all their supplies come from Christ. From this doctrine we may learns (1) The infinite wisdom of God in laying our help upon Christ. (2) That the figurative expression of Christ, trader the notion of a rock, magnifieth the power of God on which our faith may rest. (3) The wickedness and folly of all who oppose the Son of God. (4) The folly and wickedness of those who build their hopes of eternal life upon any other foundation than Christ, the Rock. (5) The great duty of all who hear the Gospel’ s joyful sound, to fly to Christ, the Rock. (J. Johnston.)Christ the Christian’ s song I. WHAT KIND OF A SONG IT IS WHICH THE SAINTS ARE CALLED TO SING. It is a song on redeeming love. 1. A new song. It proceeds from a new heart, which is animated with new mercies. 2. A spiritual song. It is unmingled with carnal joy, or that of the hypocrite, which is short and unfruitful of solid comfort. It is from above, and animates all the powers of the soul. It will never become obsolete, but afford endless pleasure to the redeemed. 3. A song of distinction. Every heart is not formed for such exalted praise. The feeble powers of nature, unassisted by Divine grace, cannot learn this new song. 4. A song of victory. The saints of God are clothed in white, an authentic emblem of their faith and victory. 5. A song upon a sacrifice. 6. An everlasting song. Not the joy of the hypocrite, soon kindled, and soon extinguished; the powers of the soul are enlarged, and rendered fit for those endless raptures of joy and praise. II. THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF THIS SONG. 1. Jesus Christ our Lord manifested in human nature. 2. The manifestation of Divine judgments. When the Judge of all the earth came down, and delivered His ancient Israel from Egyptian bondage, He routed Pharaoh and His hosts, by such signal judgments as spread His fame far and wide: “ His name was great, and His praise glorious through the whole earth.” Moses and Israel sang, “ The Lord hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.” When Rome, as ancient Babylon, fell to rise no more, the heavenly Church is brought in as a chorus, to praise God for His righteous judgments and faithfulness. This excellent hymn of praise, sung by the united voices of saints and angels, strongly represents to all Christians, and every Church on earth, what grateful sense they ought to have of the Divine faithfulness in their protection, and of His righteous judgments in punishing the persecutors of truth and religion. 3. The infinite worthiness of Christ the Lamb of God. 4. The believer’ s union to the Divine Redeemer. 5. Communion with all the persons of Deity. That sincere believers in Christ enjoy such a communion, is most obvious from the sacred Scriptures. (J. Johnston.)Safety in the rock The hare, that trusteth to the swiftness of her legs, is at length overtaken and torn to pieces; when the coney, that flieth to the holes in the rocks, doth easily avoid the dogs that pursue her. (J. Trapp.) Isaiah 42:13 The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man Jehovah, the Warrior. Saviour The Lord stirs Himself up to bring in the “ new things.” (Prof. A. B. Davidson, D. D.) Isaiah 42:14I have long time holden My peace The Divine thought and pain Remember it is God who speaks these words of Himself, and then think of what they mean of unshareable thought and pain, of solitary yearning and effort. But from the pain comes forth at last the power (Isaiah 42:15). (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The destruction of sinners sudden and inevitable God long bears with the provocations of men, and therefore they imagine He pays no attention to their deeds; but they are deceived; the time of His forbearance is limited. I. THE OF GOD. “ I have long time holden My peace.” God, unlike man, is neither hasty, impetuous, nor resentful. Sinners cannot justly complain that God does not afford them time for repentance; God has long borne with the ingratitude and perverseness of sinful men; their crimes are numerous, their provocations great. This period of God’ s forbearance and compassion is a season of grace and mercy. II. THE DIVINE WILL NOT LAST FOR EVER. It will surely terminate, and then commences the awful, though long delayed, hour of vengeance. (S. Ramsey, M. A.)I will destroy and devour at onceGod terrible yet gracious (with Isaiah 42:15-16):--The solemn practical truth of the text is that God can do the most terrible things and the most gentle; that power belongeth unto God and also mercy. Look at the doctrine of the text-- I. IN TO BAD MEN WHO PRIDE UPON THEIR SUCCESS AND THEIR . The doctrine is that there is a power beyond man’ s, and that nothing is held safely which is not held by consent of that Power. The so-called success of the bad man has yet to stand the strain of Divine trial. Though his strength be as a mountain, it shall be wasted; and the world shall see how poorly they build who build only for the light and quietness of summer. Remember, we are not stronger than our weakest point, and that true wisdom binds us to watch even the least gate that is insufficient or insecure. II. AS AN TO ALL MEN WHO WORK UNDER THE OF GOD. God declares Himself gentle to those who truly need Him. He promises nothing to the self-sufficient; He promises much to the needy. The text shows the principle on which Divine help is given to men,--the principle of conscious need and of willingness to be guided. A trueapprehension of this doctrine will give us a new view of daily providences, namely, that men who are apparently most destitute may in reality be most richly enjoying the blessings of God. Clearly, we are not to judge human life by outward conditions. Blindness may not be merely so much defect, it may be but another condition of happiness. It is because we are blind that He will lead us. It is because we are weak that He will carry us. It is because we have nothing that He offers to give us all things. (J. Parker, D. D.)God’ s terribleness and gentleness It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It is better to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men. Our God is a consuming fire--God is love. The combination of great power and great restraint, and, indeed, the combination of opposite qualities and uses generally, is well known in the ordinary arrangements of civilised life and the daily operation of the laws of nature. The measure of greatness is the measure of terribleness. What is constructiveness but the beneficent side of destructiveness? The fire that warms the chamber when properly regulated, will, if abused, reduce the proudest palaces to ashes. The river, which softens and refreshes the landscape, if allowed to escape its banks, may devastate the most fruitful fields. The engine, which is swiftly bearing the laughing child to his longed-for home, will, if mismanaged, occasion the most terrible havoc. The lightning, which may be caught and utilised by genius and skill, can burn the forest, and strike armies blind. We are familiar with such illustrations of united opposites, and our knowledge of them inspires our enterprise, and attempers with prudence the noble audacity of practical science . . . (J. Parker, D. D.)True conceptions of God important in character-building God is not to be described in parts; He is to be comprehended in the unity of His character. A child, describing the lightning might say, “ It was beautiful, so bright, and swifter than any flying bird, and so quiet that I could not hear it as it passed through the air” ; this would be true. A tree might say, “ It was awful, it tore off branches that had been growing for a hundred years, it rent me in twain down to the very root, and no summer can ever recover me--I am left here to die” ; this also would be true. So with Almighty God; He is terrible in power, making nothing of all that man counts strong, yet He will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax. Men are bound to be as common-sense in their theology as they are in the ordinary works of life, and in building character they are to be at least as forethoughtful and sagacious as in building their houses of stone. How do we conduct our arrangements in building a house? Suppose that it were possible for a man never to have seen any season but summer, and suppose such a man called upon to advise in the erection of a building: you can imagine his procedure; everything is to be light, because he never heard a high wind; water-pipes may be exposed, for he never felt the severity of frost; the most flimsy roof will be sufficient, for he knows nothing of the great rains of winter and spring. Tell such a man that the winds will become stormy, that the rivers will be chilled into ice, that his windows will be blinded with snow, and that floods will beat upon his roof, and if he is a wise man he will say, “ I must not build for one season, but for all seasons; I must not build for fine days, but for days that will be tempestuous; I must, as far as possible, prepare for the most inclement and trying weather.” That is simple common sense. Why be less sensible in building a character than in building a house? We build our bricks for severity as well as for sunshine, why build our characters with less care? If in summer we think about the frost, why not in prosperity have some thought for adversity? If in July we prepare for December, why not in the flattering hour of exultation think of the judgment that is at once infallible and irresistible? As he would be infinitely foolish who should build his house without thinking of the natural forces that will try its strength, so is he cursed with insanity who builds his character without thinking of the fire with which God will try every man’ s work of what sort it is. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 42:16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not God leading the blind The blind are they whom transgression and wickedness have robbed of power of spiritual insight. The unknown ways in which Jehovah leads them are the ways of redemption, known to Him alone and now revealed in the fulness of times. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The unknown path God would lead Israel by a way that had not yet been trodden; He would redeem her from Babylon, not as He delivered her from Egypt in the distant past, but by inclining towards her the heart of her captor. I. THE UNKNOWN, PATH BEFORE US. 1. It is an unknown path which we are about to tread. Let the child or even the young man draw an outline of his anticipated career, and let that line he compared with the one which really marks his course; what a divergence will there be l 2. It is an untrodden path. As the second great Divine deliverance of Israel differed materially from the first, so God’ s dealings with individual men differ with the several periods of their life. II. THE OF OUR GOD. “ I will bring.” “ I will lead.” There are two ways by which God leads His people. 1. By controlling their circumstances. God may preserve us from taking the wrong path by providentially blocking the way in which we might otherwise have walked; or, He may keep us from a false movement, or induce us to make the true one by bringing us unto the fellowship of some wise friend whose timely counsel either dissuades or determines us. 2. By influencing their minds. He is nearer to us than our nearest friends; and He can influence us more powerfully than the wisest and strongest of our teachers or guardians. III. HIS AND FREEDOM TO HELP US. 1. That God is disposed to help us, we need not doubt. (1) His sovereignty over Israel would account for all His watchfulness over that people; and His Fatherhood of every human spirit will certainly ensure His Divine interest in each one of His children. And if this were an insufficient bond to constrain such condescending notice, we have but to remember that Jesus Christ is the Divine Saviour and Friend of every one of His people, most tenderly united to each of them by the strongest ties. The Good Shepherd cares, and cares much, for every sheep of His flock. (2) Our Lord’ s intimation of the Father’ s care for all His creatures, and His own a fortiori argument therefrom is convincing proof to all Christian minds that our God is “ thinking upon” us, that He is mindful of our necessities, and is shaping our course from day to day. 2. That God is free to help us, we may also be assured. Nothing is more incredible than that the Father of spirits, the Saviour of souls, should, by the established order of nature which He has constructed, have to cut Himself off from His human family that, however earnestly they cried to Him, He would not be at liberty to respond to them. That He should not weaken our sense of the imperative claims of duty and diligence by too obviously and constantly interposing on our behalf, we can readily understand. It is but necessary that He should touch some link in the chain of causes which is out of our sight; thus, with unseen but unfettered hand, He works on our behalf. IV. OUR DUTY AND OUR COMFORT. 1. Our duty is threefold. (1) To become His children indeed, in the very fullest sense, by living faith in Jesus Christ. (2) To live before God as His obedient children, that our service and submission may win His Fatherly delight and His parental longing to bless us. (3) To ask for His constant guidance in daily prayer. 2. Our comfort is great indeed. God will be our guide. He will be our vanguard, and be our rereward (Isaiah 52:12). (The Thinker.)God the Guide of His blind people True wisdom will confirm the decision of Scripture, not only as to spiritual things but as to all things, when it says, “ If any man thinketh that he knoweth anything,” i.e if he regard himself as perfect in knowledge, “ he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.” If we look to our own path in life, we find ourselves uninformed concerning that which lies before us. But the Word of God does not more explicitly reveal to us our ignorance and blindness, than it offers to us a great and infallible Guide. Let our minds be directed to the inquiry, whether or no this promise is verified in the experience of God’ s people. I. In answer to this question we first reply that such a guidance may be traced in the dealings of God with His children BY HIS . A historian of the Reformation has placed in the forefront of his immortal work this sentence respecting it: “ This history takes as its guiding star the simple and pregnant truth that God is in history” (D’ Aubigne). And that single sentence contains a world of important truth. The recorded history of the Jewish nation affords a beautiful illustration of the truth that God is active in all human affairs. And had God inspired another prophet to write the history of any other nation, yea, had God inspired a prophet to write your individual history, or my own, we should be astonished to see how busy the hand of God had been in its every stage and turn. II. God leads His children by a way they know not IN THE OF HIS GRACE, e.g., the woman of Samaria; the assembly which stood before Peter on the Day of Pentecost; the blaspheming, persecuting Saul; the jailer at Philippi. God is characteristically a God who is found of them that sought Him not. The Divine methods for leading the believer to growth in grace are not less unexpected. Even on the believer’ s deathbed is often and gloriously illustrated the teaching of our text. As the path by which God leads His people is, in its beginning, and in all its progress, so is it in its termination, one which they know not. “ It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” (W. E. Schenck.)Divine guidance 1. In Scripture the word “ blind” is used respecting the prejudiced and the proud. Their minds are perverted. The Pharisees could see no beauty in Christ, no excellence in His teaching, no evidence of Divine mission in His works. They were “ blind leaders of the blind.” It is employed also to denote the characteristic dulness and stupidity of the Israelites, as a people, perpetually lapsing into idolatry, breaking off from God, unable to see the blessedness of the path of truth and righteousness. 2. But there is still another meaning that is important. The word may mean simple ignorance. It may describe one who cannot see the right path because there is a mist upon it, and he is perplexed on account of this. There may be tenderness in the word rather than anger; gentle purposes of love implied rather than condemnation or rebuke. This helps us to understand the passage. The way of providence and grace in the darkness and perplexity of life may be thus graphically and forcibly expressed. I. We have the frequent MYSTERY of God in providence and grace. We know not, and cannot trace, the way of God. The material, the vegetable, the animal, worlds are full of what is inscrutable. Thus it is with the course of individual life. We pursue our path, not knowing what may arise. We go forth like Abraham, “ not knowing whither we go.” Yet there is an eye that sees all, a mind that directs an, a hand that overrules all. We believe that every man lives in the Divine thought. Each has his separate course, duties, and responsibilities, from which he can no more escape than his shadow. Every one, like John, is called to fulfil this course. And God knows all. But to us, life has to discover itself as we go on, and often passages in it, and the end, look strange as compared with the beginning. We purpose one thing but God means another, e.g. Joseph, Elisha, Amos, Win. Carey, etc. So also as to grace. The leadings of God to fulfil His purposes are leadings of the blind. The methods He takes to enlighten the mind have infinite variety. While unconsciously men pursue a path they think their own, lo! it leads them within the circle of Divine influences which they never anticipated. Who would have thought that the vehement persecutor who stood by while the stones crashed down on Stephen, before he entered Damascus on his further errand of malice, would be met and subdued by all-conquering mercy? Who could have predicted that Lydia, of Thyatira, in pursuit of her business at Philippi, would find her heart opened to receive the truth, and be led to rejoice in far greater riches than the most prosperous trade could bring? What a surprise to Philemon that his runaway slave, who had played the thief, should be blessed under the apostle’ s ministry at Rome! Little did Francis Xavier think, when he entered the college of St. Barbs a gay and haughty youth, that one whom he scorned and despised would be the means of his conversion, and that the text, “ What shall it profit a man?” so frequently repeated, would be the arrow of the Almighty to his soul. Little did West, the sceptical lawyer, think, when he sat down to tear in pieces, as he purposed, the arguments that prove the resurrection of Christ, that he would end in owning their unanswerableness, and his own spirit should bow before God. As little did another conceive that in attempting to hold up in caricature and contempt the apostle Paul, the spiritual power and greatness he beheld should lead him to become a disciple too. Passing words, casual association, incidental events, have had wonderful spiritual results. Men have regretted circumstances that have yet been made instrumental to their conversion. A young man has wept to lose a situation, but unwittingly has been led to another, where Divine grace has made him a “ new creature.” God works invisibly; His instrumentalities and agencies we often fall to recognise; but they are mighty to fulfil the counsels of His will, and thus “ He brings the blind by a way they know not.” II. The as well as mystery of the Divine method is taught us in this passage. Probably, at some time, occasion has prompted you to guide for a few steps a blind man. He has wished to cross the road, and there is peril; or, groping his way along, there is some object which, unless he avoids it, will cause injury. The human tenderness that is in you has led you to be kind and true. But if such a spirit animates an imperfect man, shall we not take the Scripture assurance that the spirit of kindness characterises the infinite God, whose name is announced as Love T 1. The Divine guidance is kind because it is wise. Our God is of infinite counsel He knows our nature, tendencies, capacities, impulses, the action and influence of everything upon us. There are mountain passes, we are told, before traversing which the guides blindfold the travellers. They could not endure to see the awful precipices on either side. So it may be in some of the paths of life there are perils, and God guidance is an enigma, because He is dealing with us thus. 2. God’ s guidance is kind because it is patient. He bears with our disobedience and ingratitude, puts up with our manifold affronts and defiance, suffers long with our infirmities, and still exerts new influences that His gentleness may prevail. 3. God’ s guidance is kind because it is supporting. You have sometimes in country walks approached a hill It has seemed to rise with special steepness, but you have advanced, and strength has been equal, refreshing air and pleasant scenery have cheered. You have threaded your way through some intricate route towards a house or village, and thought you would never find it; but a token here and a footstep there have encouraged, and your journey’ s end has been gained. So up life’ s hills of difficulty and along its tortuous paths, a Divine hand leads and a Divine voice cheers. III. The Of the Divine guidance. “ Not forsake.” You have sometimes seen, perhaps, standing on the pavement or in a passage some little crying child. A careless mother has left it for a while, little thinking of distress or danger. Every sentiment of pity within you is moved, as in its sobs it cannot tell either its name or home. You may be reassured- The mother will return soon. But if it were indeed abandoned to cold and misery, in the driving storm and falling snow, no heart so hard but must be deeply compassionate. But this would be surpassed by the thought of a Christian, forsaken, if we could so conceive. A child of God deserted, with promises broken, blessings withdrawn, hopes disappointed, cast off in caprice and weariness--the woe of such an one would rise to the very height of distress. But this can never be. He has pledged His word, and with Moses we should exclaim, “ What would become of Thy great name?” The universe in ruins would be an appalling wreck. But this could be nothing compared with the wreck of the Divine character. Dr. Whewell has said, “ The whole earth from pole to pole, from centre to circumference, is employed in keeping a snowdrop in the position best suited for the promotion of its vegetable health.” Doth God provide for the flower; and shall He not guard His people? (G. Macmichael, B. A.)The way in which God leads His people Our object will be to show that, from the beginning to the end of their pilgrimage, God leads His people in a way, which previous to experience they know not. I. The true nature of OF SIN is a thing of which the called of God have no distinct knowledge, prior to experience. There is, no doubt, a great diversity in the exercises and circumstances of souls under conviction. Before this they may have formed a conception of the feelings of a convinced sinner. They imagined that by some flash, like lightning, conviction of sin would be effected. Very, commonly the awakened person strives to produce conviction of the kind conceived, by bringing up to view the most frightful images. But if the convinced sinner could realise all the feelings of which he has conceived, and for which he longs and prays, the end of conviction would not be at all answered; for the end of conviction is to lead the sinner out of himself; to destroy all self-confidence and self-complacency. But if he could experience such feelings as he wishes, he would think well of himself, as being in the frame in which he ought to be. The views and feelings produced by the conviction of the Spirit, lead the soul to despair--to despair of ever saving itself. It is an unexpected thing, of which the blind could form no practical conception, that the nearer the sinner approaches towards deliverance, the further he recedes from hope and comfort, in his own apprehension. That is found true, therefore, in spiritual things, which has been noticed in natural things; that the darkest hour is that which immediately precedes the dawning of the day. II. also turns out in experience to be a very different thing from what was anticipated. Awakened sinners, having heard of persons being translated from darkness to “ the marvellous light” of the Gospel, and having, perhaps, heard or read of some remarkable conversions, expect to be brought through the new birth in a way perfectly similar to these extraordinary cases, which, however, are very imperfectly understood. They, therefore, endeavour to place them selves in the same circumstances as those in which others were when they found peace with God; and they continue to look and wait for some sudden and almost miraculous change. These expectations are never realised, and are always erroneous; for when this blessed change actually occurs, the light is commonly like that of the dawn; obscure at first, but shining more and more to the perfect day; and instead of the views being miraculous or strange, they appear to rise in the mind like other thoughts and feelings. The only marked difference is, not in the manner of the views, but in the spiritual beauty and glory of the objects contemplated. The soul, under the leadings of the Spirit, is often brought near to Christ, when it apprehended He was far off. III. God leads His once blind but chosen people in the way which they know not, as it relates to THE MEANS AND OF THEIR . IV. Another thing in the dispensations of God to His people which, prior to experience, they never distinctly understood, and which cannot easily be explained, is His leaving them for a season to back slide; and then THEM by the exercise of the same sovereign grace which’ first brought them into the path of life. V. Finally, the people of God are often THROUGH THE “ VALLEY AND SHADOW OF DEATH” in an unexpected manner. (A. Alexander, D. D.)The blind travellers The experience of the Jews and the experience of Christians are so closely analogous that the one is used in Scripture as a type of the other. I. THE . 1. The blindness of the traveller. Is the figure too strong to describe our case? You can look upon the past, and memory will throw her clear light on salient points of the journey. But when you turn round and try to explore the future, you are struck blind, you can see nothing! You cannot tell how long the journey is going to be, or how short; what heights, what depths, you may have to cross, or where they are. 2. The strangeness of the way. “ A way they knew not--paths they have not known.” You once drew out a map of the course you intended to pursue--will you lay beside it the map of the course you have pursued? What a difference between programme and performance! And so it will be in the future--“ It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” 3. The obstacles in the road. My text tells of “ crooked things” and “ crooked places” ; how true to nature and experience! II. THE . Remember that it is addressed to God’ s own people--in other words, to penitent sinners, to humble believers. 1. Here is a promise of the wisest guidance. Blind man, you don’ t know the way--but God does! 2. Here is a promise of the mightiest help. “ I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight.” 3. Here is a promise of the firmest faithfulness. III. THERE IS ANOTHER JOURNEY TO BE MADE. This is the journey to heaven itself--that more glorious Canaan than any that the Jews sighed,, for in their captivity m” Babylon. But it” is” “ the land that is very far off--and how shall we find the way? Now this is not so easy as some would have us suppose; for here, too, we are blind travellers-and the way is strange--and there are terrible obstacles in the road. It is a mercy when we discover our condition, and cease trying to guide ourselves; and cry, “ Lord, we are blind--do Thou lead us! Lord, save us--or we perish!” What provision has been made for us in the mercy of God? Christ--Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life! Lay hold of Christ, blind traveller! and never for a moment relax your hold. Here is guidance, help, faithfulness, all-sufficient and unchanging. (F. Tucker, B. A.)Guidance for the blind I. THE OF . By the fall of our first parent, darkness hath come over the spirit of every man born into the world. In heathen nations and in heathen days, although there were some faint and feeble aspirings after truth, in the main men were in the depths of darkness. This is not merely the original condition of every man, but is in part the condition of the regenerate also. Yet there are things, unto which man, even at the most advanced of his earthly condition, cannot attain. It is not hard to point out some of the advantages that result from this state of concealment in which God keeps His people. 1. It tends to their humility. 2. It keeps them dependent. 3. This blindness belongs to the very nature of faith; without it, faith can have no existence. 4. Moreover, it tends to the comfort of God’ s children. If all were laid open, then sorrow and sadness would come before their time. II. THE PROMISE OF DIVINE . “ I will make darkness light before them,” etc. Mainly God delivers information to His people in two ways. 1. He gives it by the written Word. 2. He has given us the volume of providence to be the commentary upon the volume of revelation. (S. Robins, M. A.)Mysterious providences I. SHOW THAT THE LORD’ S WAYS ARE . Of this we have many instances in His works, both of providence and grace. 1. Take, e.g., the case of Moses. Or, turn from the leaders to the people who were led. 2. But to turn from Scripture to individual experience. How mysterious God’ s dealings with each one of ourselves, from our birth to the present day. 3. If we turn from God s works of providence without, to His work of grace within, how mysterious indeed are the ways of our God! II. Though God’ s ways are mysterious, HIS ARE . III. THE WHOLE HIS LOVE IS ABIDING. Conclusion-- 1. If God’ s ways are mysterious, be careful to avoid forming rash judgments respecting them; beware lest you speak of them unadvisedly with your lips. 2. Still further, if we know God’ s intentions to be merciful, how safe are our ways in His hands! 3. If God’ s love be abiding, should we not lie in His hands, as clay in the hands of the potter? Should we not seek to bring every thought unto the obedience of Christ? Should we not shelter ourselves under every trial in Him who is “ a strong tower and house of defence” ? (J. Lombard.)The spiritual condition of man I. THE OF DIVINE GRACE. II. THE OF DIVINE GRACE. There are more paths than one. The path of repentance is followed by the path of faith in Jesus--faith in the truths of the Gospel--faith in the promises of God. There is another path, which, by nature, is “ not known” --the path of obedience. They are led in the way of holiness. III. THE EFFECTS OF DIVINE GRACE. “ I Will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.” Who can make darkness light before them but the Fountain, the Author, the Source of light and life and being, and all the blessings connected with life? (S. Drew, M. A.)Divine leadings I. THE SPECIAL OF THE LORD WITH HIS PEOPLE. “ I will bring the blind,” etc. II. THE ON THEIR BEHALF. “ And not forsake them.” (James Walls.)Darkness made light This text is a prophecy of the return of Israel from Babylon after their captivity. We find from the history of Ezra how the little remnant that set out from Babylon was brought safely to Jerusalem. Their way from Babylon was a striking picture of our way to the heavenly home that is promised to us. I. MARK THE WAYS OF GOD AS WAYS; that is, not understood by the light of nature, or of intellect. 1. God’ s children by nature are blind (Ephesians 2:3; Psalms 13:3). 2. We cannot understand savingly a single truth of God’ s Word by our own light, inquiry, teaching, application. We know not the nature of sin, nor God as a God of pardon, peace, and hope. 3. We continue blind until each step is unfolded to our view, and spiritual apprehension clears our way (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). 4. Blind also to the way God is really dealing with His children. II. View GOD’ S WAYS AS . “ I will make darkness light before them.” “ All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth” All! Some clearly in sunshine. But how is it in trial, when He thwarts instead of indulges?. There may be times when we are unable to see what is the next step to take. Watch the Lord s time. Wait at the throne of grace. Don’ t forget that trial is God’ s appointed mercy. There is mercy in the end, if not in the beginning. By our not seeing our way we are taught to live by faith. III. THE WISDOM OF HIS . “ I will make crooked things straight,” etc. Solomon asks (Ecclesiastes 7:13) who can make the crooked straight? Why, none but God. Many of God’ s ways in providence and in grace seem to us very crooked, but we must trust, and judge of them by the end. Job, Joseph, etc. Judge God in His own way and wait. Out of apparent confusion comes real order. Apparent severity shows itself to be real kindness. IV. GOD’ S ARE . “ These things will I do . . . and not forsake them.” Think of the character of Him who makes the promise. (C. Bridges.)The blind befriended I. TO WHOM THE PROMISE IS MADE. II. THE PROMISE THAT IS MADE TO THEM. “ I will bring,” etc. 1. God Himself will be the guide of His people when they feel their blindness. To lead blind men is not an office generally sought; it is not supposed to be attended with any great honour; but it is a very kindly office, and one which any Christian man may be right glad to render to his afflicted friend. But only think of God Himself coming and guiding the blind! He will not leave you to stumble and grope your way, nor will He bid you depend upon your fellow-Christian, who is as blind as yourself, but He will be your guide. 2. Being their guide, He will lead them in ways they never went before. Of course, when a blind man knows the way, he can almost go without the guide. 3. Although the way by which we go be a way that we know not, we shall be led safely in it; for it is not only said, “ I will lead them,” but “ I will bring them,” which is more. You may lead a man, but he may be unable to follow you. III. WHAT SHALL COME OF IT? “ I Will make darkness light,” etc. 1. If you are in the darkness of trouble, trust in God and the trouble will vanish. The trouble may remain, but it will no longer distress you. 2. There is a crook in every lot, but trust in God. He can make the most crooked thing that ever did happen suddenly turn out to be the very straightest thing that ever occurred for our welfare. IV. WHAT WILL BE THE END OF IT? Your life will be strewn with mercies, fulfilled promises. “ These things will I do unto them and not forsake them.” (C. H.Spurgeon.)The blind led I. OUR LEADER “ I will bring them,” the Lord says, “ I will lead them.” In other places He tells us He has prepared a kingdom for us; here He tells us He will conduct us to it. But He does not accomplish this in His own person. In the beginning of this chapter, He introduces His dear Son to us as His servant, chosen by Him to bring to pass all His merciful designs concerning us. That dear Son therefore is become to us a Leader and Guide. “ Behold, I have given Him” the Lord says elsewhere “ for a witness to the people, a Leader and Commander to the people;” and St. Paul, when speaking of God as bringing His many sons unto glory, places immediately the Lord Jesus at their head, calling Him “ the Captain of their salvation,” at once their Saviour, their Ruler, and their Guide. Here is another proof then that Christ’ s appointed work was not ended when He had offered Himself for our sins. That was the beginning, rather than the end, of it. II. THOSE WHOM THE LORD IS LEADING. “ The blind.” III. THE ROAD ALONG WHICH THE LORD IS LEADING US. He speaks of it-- 1. As new to us. 2. As dark or mysterious. IV. THE LIGHT AND RELIEF WHICH THE LORD TO HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR WAY. “ I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.” It is useless for us to attempt to do it. Nor must we look to our fellow-men to do it for us. Our help in this case, as in every other, cometh from the Lord. V. A PROMISE OF AND IN JEHOVAH’ S LOVE TO THE PEOPLE HE IS GUIDING. “ These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” The Lord speaks here like one who has fully made up His mind to do what He promises, knows He can do it, and is determined He will. (C. Bradley, M. A.)Safe walking for the blind I. THE PERSONS HERE SPOKEN OF. II. THE WAY, THE PATHS, IN WHICH THEY ARE FOUND. III. THE BLESSED GUIDE THEY HAVE, AND WHAT HE DOES FOR THEM. The Eternal God trusts them not to cherubs nor seraphs; to angels nor archangels; to ministers nor men; He, trusts them not to themselves, but He is Himself their guide. It was He that brought them out of darkness; and it is He that keeps them out of darkness. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)The leader of the blind The sky is not more beautifully bespangled with stars than the Bible is filled with promises. How completely these promises have been fulfilled in all those who have reached Immanuel’ s land! But, Christians, “ you are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you;” but thus far He has been your helper. What He has done for you is only a pledge of what He will do. Let us survey Him-- I. AS OUR LEADER. II. AS OUR . “ I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.” This is clearly distinguished from the former. You may “ lead the blind by a way that they know not, and in paths that they have not known,” while you may not explain to them, but only tell them to depend on you as a guide, while they are unconscious of anything except progress. But it is not so with God. God illumines all whom He guides. The knowledge He gives to His people is gradual; and we may observe four instances in which He makes “ darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.” 1. As to doctrine. 2. As to experience. In regard to prayer they are sometimes perplexed. It is the same also with regard to joy. Milne, the ecclesiastical historian, said, “ Had I been as destitute of comfort some years ago as I am now, I should have been exceedingly confounded; but I have learned not to live on lively frames, but on God’ s own word. I know that He is faithful who hath promised.” So, also, in regard to assurance. 3. With regard to practical duties. 4. With regard to some of HIS providential duties. God’ s way is sometimes in the sea, and His footsteps are not known. But sometimes the darkness is dispelled even now. III. As His PEOPLE’ S FRIEND. “ These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” They deserve to be forsaken, and this they will acknowledge readily enough. They may think them selves forsaken, and we have instances of this upon record. But they may be forsaken., God Himself speaks of this in His Word. But observe the time: “ For a small moment have I forsaken thee.” So it is in the apprehension of faith; so it is always very short when compared with eternity. Then Observe the manner, of His forsaking, them, for however we may explain this, it must be consistent with His assurance of not forsaking: “ These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” There are three ways in which God may forsake His people, and yet the promise of the text may remain substantially the same-- 1. In their outward condition. He can reduce them in their circumstances, bereave them of their dearest relations, remove their possession and enjoyments, and leave them bare and destitute. But all this is very compatible with His presence. 2. As to the enjoyment of spiritual comfort. “ Thou didst hide Thy face, and I was troubled.” But when these spiritual consolations are suspended, there are great searchings of heart, much that shows the Spirit of God to be with them; for this could not come from nature. 3. As to the exercise of grace, not the existence thereof. Here we may refer to good Hezekiah. God, in the midst of trouble and a fearful invasion, left him for a while to see what was in his heart. Peter for a season also was left to himself. Jesus said, “ I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not” ; but it did fail. It did as to its exercise, not as to its principle. (W. Jay, M. A.)God conceals that He may guide Away in the interior of Chins, I once climbed a precipice that was almost perpendicular, if indeed it did not overhang. Steps had been cut out for the feet in the sandstone, and stout iron chains had been pinned within a few inches of the steps to afford support to the hands. My face was turned towards the rock as I went up, and I never thought of the gulf that yawned beneath. When I came to descend, I found I could not accomplish it with my face turned towards empty space and my eye looking down into the dim abyss, and with no solid object in the field of view. I was mastered by an inveterate dizziness, and should have dropped, but for the timely assistance of a friend. I had to shut out the thought of the terrible abyss by turning my face to the rock, whilst my friend preceded me in the descent, and guided my feet into the successive stepping-places. Many of God’ s mysteries are things that He has hidden from us to the glory of His pity and gentleness. He has to guide us over a great many of the perilous places of life in blindness. It would be death if the veil were taken away. He has to bring us down a great many fearsome descents with our face to the dead rock. If we could take in the whole position we should be overwhelmed. (T. G. Selby.)Providence in the life of Cowper Of all the writings of William Cowper, probably the hymn, “ God moves in a mysterious way,” is best known. How Cowper came to write this hymn forms one of the most remarkable episodes of his eventful life. Cowper had one of his fits of melancholy, and ‘ persuaded himself, so his biographers assert, that God wanted him to offer himself as a sacrifice. He decided to carry out this idea, and, hiring a post-chaise, drove to the river Ouse. The night was dark, and the coachman by some means or other mistook the way, and instead of arriving at the exact spot where Cowper had intended to drown himself, the poet found himself at his own door. On entering the house Cowper sat down and composed his most famous hymn. (Christian Budget.)God blindfolds that He may lead We are so timid and tender and unschooled that God has often to place the shadow of His hand across our vision, just as the Alpine guide will blindfold a nervous traveller, so that he may guide him unharmed across some terrific chasm. (T. G. Selby.)Obedient following A traveller in South Africa was anxious to go to a certain place which could only be reached by the aid of a Kaffir guide. Into his hands the traveller was compelled to commit his life, and he says: “ It was not long before I saw that the old man was guiding me along some recognised path invisible to my eyes, but plainly designed to carry us round clumps of thorn and treacherous stones. Not a landmark could I see to indicate the turnings of the route, but our guide was never at a loss.” Only by implicit obedience did the traveller reach his goal. (Christian.)I will make darkness light before themDarkness, light; and crooked things straight I. THE ’ S IS TURNED INTO LIGHT, AND THE CROOKS OF HIS LOT ARE . 1. The frequent grim darkness. (1) Much of it is of his own imagining. Many of our sorrows are purely homespun, and some minds are specially fertile in self-torture. (2) Much existing darkness is exaggerated. (3) Troubles disappear just when we expect them to become overwhelming. (4) When the trial comes, God has a way of making His people’ s trials cease Just as they reach their culminating point. (5) Every trial was foreseen, and has been forestalled. (6) However severe the trial, God has promised that as our days our strength shall be. (7) Especially dwell upon the promise that the Lord will make your darkness light. How is it done? Sometimes by the sun of His providence. Often by the moon of Christian experience, which shines with borrowed light, but yet with sweet and tranquil brightness. Frequently by a sight of Jesus going before, and by hearing Him say, “ Follow Me; fear not; for in all your afflictions I am afflicted.” 2. The crooks of the believer’ s lot. (1) One may lie in your poverty. (2) Another in some very crooked calamity. (3) If free from these, he has at least a crooked self. The others would matter little but for this. It may be you have crooked temptations-temptations to profanity, etc. 3. God will make all the crooked things straight. (1) It may be that some are straight now; the making straight is only to make them seem so to us. Our crosses are our best estates. (2) God can bend the crooked straight, and what will not bend He can break. The crooked character has been bent straight; the judgment of God has taken away the crook out of the household, so that the righteous might have peace. If He do not this, He will give power to overleap the difficulty 2 Samuel 22:30). II. SOME WORDS TO THE SEEKER. 1. Some doctrines are dark to you. God makes all light to faith. 2. Perhaps your darkness rises from deep depression of mind. Faith must precede its dispersion. 3. Your crooked natural disposition God can make straight. Note-- (1) That which saves is not what is, but what will be. (2) It is not what you can do, but what God can do. (3) This work may not be yours at once, but it shall be soon. III. TWO LESSONS TO . 1. If God will thus make all your darkness light and all your crooked things straight, do not forestall your troubles. 2. Always believe in the power of prayer. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God brings safely through “ How shall we pass through this trial, dear?” asked an anxious wife of her Christian husband at a time of great perplexity. “ Ask me six months hence,” he replied, “ how we have passed through it, and I will tell you.” Isaiah 42:18-20 Hear, ye deaf Divine expostulation Thus the Lord expostulates with His ancient people, and thus He has reason to expostulate with us. 1. We are deaf, in a spiritual sense, when we do not attend to the Divine admonitions, or give earnest heed to the word of instruction; and we are blind, in the same sense, when we do not perceive the glory of the Gospel, and the force and beauty of Divine truth. 2. Before one step in the way of salvation can be taken, this hindrance must be removed. The eyes of the blind must be opened, and the ears of the deaf must be unstop, pad. Hence there is a call to the deaf to hear, and to the blind to look that they may see. This is like the command of our Saviour to the man with the withered hand, to stretch it forth, and implies that this deafness and blindness was their fault, as well as their misfortune. In dependence upon His promise they ought, therefore, to stir themselves up to the discharge of their duty. 3. That the nations who have not the light of the Gospel should want spiritual senses is no wonder; but that those who are, by profession, the “ servants” of God, and His “ messengers,” or those to whom His messengers are sent, and perfectly instructed, should be blind and deaf, is much to be lamented. 4. The sincere followers of Christ whose eyes and ears He has opened to attend to His saving instructions; who love the Gospel, and have been led by it to repentance, faith and newness of life; who do not habitually neglect, but rather prize the ordinances of religion, and the means of grace; even these may be charged with not exercising, as they ought, the spiritual senses which God has given them. (W. Richardson.)The ear and the eye as symbols With a bold freedom do the writers of both the Old and New Testaments fasten the attention upon the sense of hearing. Throughout, the ear is the symbol of obedience. As by its common use the sense is the medium of interpretation of sounds, whether of nature or of the articulate expression of fellow-men, so, by further reference and deeper analogy, it stands as the avenue through which Divine communications may pass to the soul,--it may be in a still small voice. One might suppose, considering the high esteem in which obedience is held in the sacred polity of Israel, considering that obedience is ever regarded in the Old Testament as the test of national and individual loyalty to Jehovah, that the metaphor of the ear would occur more frequently than that of any other sense. Yet it is not so. A glance at any serviceable concordance will show that it is from the eyesight that evangelist and apostle, as well as psalmist and prophet, are furnished with their most telling spiritual illustrations. The reason for this is plain. If the sacred penman made the sense of hearing his object-lesson, it could only be one. It could only help him to emphasise the single conception of the duty and blessing of learning to obey. With the eyesight the manifold character of the teaching answered exactly to the complex faculties of the organ of vision. A concordance, better still an intimate knowledge of Holy Scripture, suggests obedience as the primary lesson of the Old Testament. The metaphor of the “ ear” when found in the New Testament is commonly discovered in a setting of some Old Testament passage. Another illustration is wanted, correspondent to the greater fulness of a fresh revelation; and this illustration, common indeed to both covenants, is eyesight. (B. Whitefoord.)Look, ye blindEyesight Intelligence and candour, receptiveness and perseverance, faith, hope and charity--such are some amongst the many lessons inculcated through and in the possession of sight. (B. Whitefoord.)The open eye The spiritual eye is not the victim of accident or senility, although its clearer powers of vision may often be marred by sin and hampered by indolence. The spiritual eye is an open eye, full of meaning and purpose, cleansed by the tears of penitence, lighted up by faith end love, The eye is open; but not of that pitiful kind that is recognised as vacant. It is bright with significance, clear in its aim, strenuous and persevering in its direction. It has certain characteristic ranges of vision, and these, so Scripture and experience alike teach, are threefold. I. IT LOOKS INWARD. It contemplates the soul. The eye first marks the worst within, an evil so general, so potent, that the main feeling is one of despair. It may now see the best that lies also within. For here, in the human heart, it perceives the work of the Holy Spirit. II. IT LOOKS OUTWARD. It looks upon the world-- 1. Of nature. 2. Of humanity. III. IT LOOKS UPWARD--Godward. Nor is the upward look of the soul to God merely a passing act of worship (Psalms 25:15), but the very foretaste of His favour and aid. It is only the heart which is pure of earthly aims and hopes that shall at last reach the perfect vision of God. (B. Whitefoord.) Isaiah 42:19 Who is blind, but My Servant?-- The Lord’ s Servant blind and deaf I. CHRIST’ S . How should it be said of the Servant and Messenger of the Lord that He was blind as none other? How should it be said of Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire, whose look struck like a sword? Are not all things naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do? Yes. 1. But as to the older expositors have pointed out, He was m a sense blind. They dwelt on the fact that His was the blindness that has no sense of difficulties. It is told of an officer attacking an almost impregnable fort that he was in great peril, and, was recalled by his chief. To disobey the recall was death if only he saw it. He was blind in one eye, and when told of the recall he turned the blind eye on the signal, and asked that the battle should continue. This is the blindness of Christ and His faithful. “ Who art thou, O great mountain?” Christ indeed lifted His eyes to the hills, but not to these lower hills that block the way and close us in. He lifted His eyes to the everlasting mountains towering far above them, on whose summit the final feast of triumph is to be spread. Beyond the obstacles and thwartings that marked His earthly course He had a vision of the patience of God. He was blind to difficulty, even as His apostle was. None of these things moved Him. A king about to engage an army five times as large as his own, prayed to God that He would take away from him the sense of numbers. The sense of numbers, in the earthly manner, Christ never possessed. On that side He was blind. 2. But I speak specially of His blindness to much in life that we consider it legitimate to see. He was blind to the allurement of our ordinary ambitions. The desire for money never seemed to touch Him. “ Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth,” said He, and He kept His own precept. There is something suggestive in His request, “ Show Me a penny.” Evidently He did not possess one, and when He died He left nothing behind Him but the garment for which they threw dice beneath the tree. Nor had He anything of the modern feeling, which is not all a sham, that those who can open new channels of commerce and industry, who can promote the peaceable intercourse of the world, are serving humanity. He was blind also, so far as we can tell, to that region which is the scene of the chief triumphs and apostasies of the heart--the rich and volcanic and often wasted region of passion. I think that Dora Greenwell’ s remark is true, that the passion of love which forms the staple of imaginative literature is absolutely unknown to the New Testament. Then, let us think of the immense encroachment on human thought and interest that the subject of recreation has made. There is a legitimate place for recreation, but it did not enter into the Lord’ s thought. His one way of resting was to go into a desert place, or to ascend a mountain and pray. Once more, the sphere of art and culture He seems to have left alone. He, the poet of the universe, was not interested in poetry. He glanced at the Divine glory of the lily, and said that it surpassed even the glory of Solomom But of the treasures and marvels of human art and imagination had nothing to say, and apparently nothing to think. II. CHRIST’ S . But who said, “ The Lord God hath opened Mine ears, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back I gave My back to the smiters,” and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair” ? It was He who heard so well the lightest whisper of God. “ I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.” What response ever came so quickly as our Lord’ s, “ Lo, I come” ? To be obedient means to listen, and He was a listener unto death. But how deaf He was sometimes; how deaf when Satan tempted Him in the wilderness; how deaf to His friends when they sought to alter His course; how deaf to Peter when he said, “ This shall not be unto Thee” ; how deaf when they tried to make Him a King by force; how deaf in the judgment-hall when they asked Him, “ Whence art Thou? Hearest Thou not how many things they witness against Thee? “ The incarnate Lord stood with locked lips before Pilate, and answered only with a boding, fateful silence to questions such as these. And how supremely deaf when they called to Him, “ If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the Cross.” But in the same way He was deaf,, not only to counsels of evil, but to much that seemed legitimate. Here, also, it appears as if many pleasant voices that spoke to Him might have been heeded without sin, and to His happiness. His life might have been richer, easier, more solaced, but He made sharp choices and stern renunciations and swift decisions, and so the fulness of life was not for Him, and the allurement and appeal were vain. Remember, He was never deaf and never blind when a soul sought Him. (W. Robertson Nicoll, LL. D)Faculty should be used Christianity makes no account of somnambulists in the daytime. Christianity expects us to use our faculties. The Church is to be the most sagacious of all institutions. The Christian is to be the most statesmanlike of all men. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 42:21 The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake The broken law magnified I. THE GREAT AND PARTY HERE SPOKEN OF. “ The Lord,” or, as in the original, “ Jehovah,” the righteous Judge, the offended Lord and Lawgiver, to whose wrath all mankind are liable, through the breach of the first covenant. II. HIM, which may arrest the attention of all mankind, and fill their hearts with joy, and their mouths with praises; that is, that He “ is well pleased.” III. THE CAUSE AND GROUND OF THIS . It is “ for His righteousness’ sake” ; not for the sake of any atonement, or satisfaction, that the sinner could make, for no man can by any means redeem his own or his brother’ s soul, nor give unto God a ransom for it. The redemption of the soul is precious, and ceaseth for ever as to him; but it is “ for His righteousness’ sake,” who finished transgression, and made an end of sin. IV. THE REASON WHY THE LORD JEHOVAH THE OF THE SURETY IN THE ROOM OF THE SINNER, or why He is so well pleased for His righteousness’ sake. He not only fulfilled the law, both in its precept and penalty, but He magnifies it, and makes it honourable; He adds a new lustre unto the law, through the dignity of His person who obeys it. (E. Erskine.)The law magnified and made honourable Doctrine: That Christ, as our glorious Surety, having magnified the law and made it honourable, the Lord Jehovah declares Himself to be well pleased for His righteousness’ sake. I shall-- I. SUGGEST A FEW THINGS THE LAW, AND HOW IT WAS BY THE SIN OF MAN. 1. The law here principally intended is the moral law. 2. The moral law is nothing else but s transcript of the original holiness of God’ s nature. 3. The law being a copy or emanation of God’ s holiness, it must be dearer to Him than heaven and earth, or the whole frame of nature. 4. This law was given to our first parents under the form of a covenant; a promise of life being made to them, upon condition of their yielding a perfect obedience; and a threatening of death added, in case of disobedience. 5. Man being left to the freedom of his own will, through the flattering hisses of the old serpent, “ did break the law of God.” and so forfeited his title to life by virtue of that covenant; and brought himself, and all his posterity, under the penalty of death temporal, spiritual, and eternal. 6. The law being violated by sin, the honour of the law, and the authority of God, the great Law, ver, are, as it were, laid in the dust, and trampled under foot, by the rebellious sinner. 7. The law being violated, and the Lawgiver affronted, the salvation of sinners by the law becomes utterly impossible, unless the honour of the law, and of the great Lawgiver, be repaired and restored somehow or other. II. SPEAK OF THE PERSON WHO THE OF IT AS OUR SURETY. 1. He is His Father’ s Servant (Isaiah 42:1). 2. His Father’ s Elect (Isaiah 42:1; Psalms 89:19). 3. His Father’ s Darling or Delight (Isaiah 42:1). 4. He is qualified by His Father for the work and service of redemption, by the anointing of the eternal Spirit (Isaiah 42:1). 5. He is one whose commission is very extensive; for we are told that He shall “ bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.” 6. He was to be a meek and lowly Saviour (Isaiah 42:21. 7. He was to be very tender and compassionate towards His poor people, particularly the weaklings of His flock (Isaiah 42:3). 8. He would be victorious and successful in His work (Isaiah 42:3-4). 9. He would bear His Father’ s commission, and be sustained in His work by the right hand of His power (Isaiah 42:6). 10. He is the free gift of God unto a lost world. “ And give thee for a covenant of the people” (Isaiah 42:6). 11. He would be the light of the world, and particularly a light to the poor Gentiles, who had so long sat in th4 e regions and shadow of death (Isaiah 42:6-7). 12. He would loose the devil’ s prisoners (Isaiah 42:7) III. INQUIRE WHAT MAY BE IN THE OF HIS THE LAW, AND MAKING IT . It supposes-- 1. That the law is broken, and thereby the greatest indignity done to it, and to Him who gave it. 2. That God, the great Lawgiver, stands upon reparation. 3. That man, who has broken the law, is utterly incapable to repair its honour, or to satisfy justice. 4. That God, the great Lawgiver, admits of the substitution of a Surety in the room of the sinner. 5. That Christ, as our Surety, actually put His neck under the yoke of the Divine law. 6. That the holy law is no loser by Christ’ s substitution in our room; it has all that it demanded in order to its satisfaction. 7. That the holy law, instead of being a loser, gains an additional honour and glory by the righteousness of the Surety. IV. HOW HE THE LAW, AND WHAT WAY HE TAKES TO MAKE IT . The moral law comes under a twofold consideration: it may be considered as a covenant, and as a rule of life. 1. As a covenant, He magnifies it, and makes it honourable; and this He did by fulfilling all its demands. 2. Christ magnifies the law as a rule of life, and this He doth several ways. (1) By writing a fair copy of obedience to it, in His own example, for the imitation of all His followers. (2) By explaining it in its utmost extent, for” it is exceeding broad.” (3) By establishing the obligation of it as a rule of obedience unto all His followers (Matthew 5:17; Romans 3:31). (4) By writing it upon the heart of all His followers, by the finger of His eternal Spirit (Jeremiah 31:33). (5) By enforcing obedience to the law, among all His followers, by stronger motives than the law itself, abstractly considered, could afford. “ The love of Christ constraineth us.” (6) By actuating them in their obedience to the law by His own Spirit Ezekiel 36:27). V. GIVE THE REASONS OF THE . Why is it that Christ doth magnify the law, and make it honourable? 1. From the regard He had to His Father’ s honour and authority, affronted in the violation of the law. 2. Out of love that He bore to our salvation, which could not be accomplished without the penalty of the law had been endured, and the precept of it obeyed. 3. Because He was ordained of God from eternity for His work and service; He was set up for it by the decree and ordination of heaven, and He did always these things that pleased His Father. 4. Because He had given His engagement in the council of peace. 5. He magnified the law as a covenant, that “ we might be freed from it,” in its covenant form and curse (Galatians 4:4; Romans 7:4). 6. He magnified the law, and made it honourable, as a covenant, that we may obey it as a rule, and serve the Lord without fear of the curse and condemnation, “ in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives.” 7. To procure and confirm His own right of government as Mediator Romans 14:9). 8. That He might still the enemy and the avenger, and outshoot the devil in his own bow. VI. MAKE SOME . 1. See hence the excellency of the law of God, and the sacred regard that God bears unto it. 2. See hence the evil of sin, and why Christ came to finish transgression, and make an end of it. 3. See hence the dreadful situation of every sinner that is out of Christ, destitute of His righteousness. 4. See hence the wonderful love of God to lost sinners, in sending His own Son to magnify the law, after we had broken it; and at the same time it discovers the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though He be supreme Judge, King, and Lawgiver, yet was willing to be made “ under the law,” and to obey it as a subject, that we might be delivered from law-vengeance, and have the righteousness of it fulfilled in us through Him. 5. See hence the ignorance and error of those who are prejudiced against the doctrine of Justification by faith, as if it were prejudicial to the holy law, or did any way derogate from its honour and authority. 6. See hence the error of those who assert that a justified believer is still liable to the curse or penal sanction of the law. 7. See the error and folly of those who go about to “ establish their own righteousness” as the ground of their justification and acceptance, and “ refuse to submit unto the righteousness of God.” 8. This doctrine lets us see the error of those who, though they will not absolutely reject the righteousness of Christ, yet will adventure to mingle something of their own with it. 9. See the error of those who deny Christ’ s active obedience to the law to be any part of our justifying righteousness. 10. See hence how little reason even believers, who are justified before God, have to be proud of what they are come to. (E. Erskine.)He will magnify the law, and make it honourableThe law magnified in man’ s redemption 1. With respect to “ law.” It is a word used in Scripture in two ways; and matters very important are said about it, both as it is a universal thing, and as it is a particular thing. (1) By law as it is a universal thing, I mean the moral law, which cannot but exist wherever there is an intelligent creature upon earth. We cannot conceive of any creature existing anywhere having intelligence and moral feeling, of whom it is not the duty to love God with all the heart, and to love other beings as himself; and in that one thing we have the elements and rudiments of all possible morals. The law is more than advice--it has authority, and therefore has sanctions associated with it. We cannot conceive of any moral creatures who are not under it,--either in the perfection of their obedience and enjoying the blessedness which waits upon it, or as the victims of it and having administered to them its penalty, or (if there be such a thing) in an intermediate state, in which they are convicted as transgressors, and yet have the opportunity of escaping the penalty. And this last is altogether supernatural; the other two are what we call natural. (2) What I mean by law as a limited thing is the ceremonial institutions which were given to a particular part of mankind and for a particular time. These have not their basis in the nature of things. They rest simply upon the Divine authority. As such they have an importance affixed to them in the reasonings and representations of Divine truth. 2. To “ magnify the law and make it honourable” cannot mean that Messiah was to produce any change in it,--that what He did was to perfect the law itself. As to the moral law, there it is, necessarily resulting from the Divine perfections and government, a glorious and sublime thing, as incapable of improvement as the perfections of God; as changeless and permanent as God. So with respect to the ceremonial law, Christ did not in fact do anything to it in the way of enlarging it. 3. Another idea might be dwelt upon: that we cannot suppose that this means that there was to be any change effected in the conceptions of God about the law,--that the work of Christ was intended to affect the Divine mind in relation to the perceptions that it had of law. There, in the Divine intellect, lay the law in all its perfections and splendour; and we cannot conceive that the Divine mind needed any change in its conceptions of law, or that the law could be magnified and made more glorious in its estimation. We cannot conceive that God could have a more distinct perception with respect to it at one time than at another. And so with respect to the ceremonial law. It was a thing that resulted from the Divine mind, and in the Divine mind there were reasons for every appointment which He made. 4. So that we are led, by these simple and natural steps, to this idea: that this “ magnifying the law and making it honourable” must signify the manner in which created minds were to be affected by it. Something (whatever it might be) was to be done by which there should be a certain impression with respect to law produced upon the minds of the intelligent universe. Something might be done that should (so to speak) give body and substance and visibility to God’ s own conceptions about His law. These might be made manifest to the universe. God’ s creatures might come to understand how He looked at it--the reverence and respect (if we may so speak) that He had for it. And that is what I think it means. That is what I think was done. And for this there was a necessity. And the Scripture teaches this in the plainest way, and puts it before us again and again 5. If sin had never entered into the universe, God’ s law would always have been a sublime thing in the estimation of that universe. And if, when sin was admitted into the universe, permitted to enter, the penalties and sanctions of the law were carried out fully and literally, then law would always have been magnified; it would then also have been always a great and glorious thing. But if there is to be the fact, that there are violaters of the law, those that on just principles are exposed to the penalty, and yet there is to be, along with that, another fact--that they escape, that they are treated as if they were actually righteous and enter into the full enjoyment of the results of perfect obedience, then law so far seems to go for nothing. Therefore there was this necessity. It is required that something shall be done the moral effect of which upon the minds of God’ s rational creatures, who are all under His government and are all ruled by Him, shall be equivalent to the impression which would have been produced by the literal carrying out of the principles of law itself. And that is just the thing which the work of Christ does. And by the effecting of that thing it is that this prophetic declaration is realised. 6. The conclusion of the matter, then, is--the manner in which this is done. (1) We might dilate upon the manner in which the scope of Christ’ s teaching always maintained the authority of the law. (2) We might speak with respect to His own personal character. (3) But all these are hut preliminary and preparatory to that one great act which I deem to be the consummation of Messiah’ s work; in which the law was honoured and magnified by His propitiatory sacrifice; in which, in a certain sense, He stood forth bearing the penalty of the moral law, and in another sense manifesting the substance and casting a glory upon the ceremonial. “ It became” God thus to act. As “ the children were partakers of flesh and blood,” the Son of God took part of the same; that being manifested in our nature, and having thus a body prepared for Him, He might present Himself as the Lamb of God, “ without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,” and that He might accomplish the great redemption act, which consisted in substitution, in the sacrifice upon the Cross for the sins of the world. There was a substitution in two senses; a substitution of person, and a substitution of suffering. (4) The law is “ magnified and made honourable” by Christ, inasmuch as His people are redeemed unto obedience. The Gospel as it is revealed here is a thing distinct from law, yet is not contrary to it, but consistent with it, illustrative of it, sustaining it, beautifying it, magnifying it. (T. Binney.) Isaiah 42:23-25 Who among you will give ear to this?--National calamities I. THE TRUE CAUSE OF IS HERE POINTED OUT--SIN. The public distresses of the men of Judah and Israel did not proceed from fate or fortune, but from the Supreme Lord of the universe, who, as the just punishment of their atrocious wickedness, delivered them into the hands of them who spoiled and deprived them of their possessions. Their most powerful enemies could not have treated them in the manner here described had not He who rules in the kingdoms of men given them as a prey on account of their aggravated and multiplied transgressions. Though the various events, prosperous and adverse, that happen to nations and individuals are brought about by the intervention of means and instruments, the hand of the Almighty ought never to be overlooked, but humbly acknowledged. “ Is there any evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it?” Afflictions are necessary to the government of the world in its present state; they check the progress of wickedness, and show the dreadful consequences of incurring the wrath of the Almighty. II. THE JUST OF IS HERE . “ Therefore, because they would not walk in all His ways,” etc. The deplorable state of the Jewish nation at the time this prophecy was delivered, and in succeeding periods, is here graphically described. An awful instance of the Divine judgments! III. THE ONLY METHOD TO ESCAPE DIVINE IS HERE . The prophet directs his discourse to the hypocritical and disobedient, who were averse to admit light into their minds, to admit conviction of their sin and danger. They were neither affected by the calamities which they felt, nor feared those with which they were threatened, though the storm was gathering thick around them. Of such people the Jewish nation were mostly composed at the time of the prophecy; and the prophet inquires, “ Who among you will give ear to this, and hearken for the time to come?” (T. Lewis.) Isaiah 42:25 It hath set him on fire round about Playing with fire Because of their unfaithfulness, God gave up His people to divers judgments, and yet the prophet has to deplore that Israel failed to recognise the hand of God in their tribulation; they would not understand and repent; although they were burned, yet they laid it not to heart. Consider-- I. THE OF SIN. “ It hath set him on fire round about.” It was the purpose of God that Israel should dwell in safety in a rich and pleasant land. But the chosen people sinned against God, so He gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robbers. Sometimes the plague wasted the land, sometimes the great army of locusts and caterpillars, at other times the land was devastated by fire and sword. In the text we behold invading armies overrunning the country, leaving it a smoking ruin. So sin has spoiled the world. Our nation, that might be so entirely rich and happy, is plagued with miseries; houses which might be paradises are hells; hearts which might be watered gardens are full of blackness. And there is nothing arbitrary in this retribution (Isaiah 1:31). The idolater is as tow, and his work is the spark which ignites the blaze of destruction. Oh, hesitate l you cannot break the law but it is as fire among the dry stubble, bringing with it an inevitable train of disasters and miseries. II. THE OF SINNERS. “ Yet he knew it not.” “ Yet he laid it not to heart.” The proverb says, “ The burnt child dreads the fire.” This is equally true of men in their business life. Let a man speculate in some concern or other that turns out badly, people say, “ Ah! he has burnt his fingers.” Now, when a man has done that, beware how you approach him with your rosy prospectuses. He will show you his blisters, and send you away with scant courtesy. As the Orientals say, “ He who has suffered from a firebrand is afraid of a firefly.” A victim is afraid of anything that bears the most distant likeness to that from which he suffered. This is rational. But men are not thus cautious in regard to the moral life. There they blind themselves, harden themselves, and when God’ s judgments are let loose upon them they will not see, when they are burned they will not lay it to heart. What a striking illustration of this we have in Pharaoh! The history of Israel is an illustration, on a larger scale, of the same blindness and insensibility. How many times did their idolatry bring them into trouble! And yet they would not hear, they would not see, until wrath came upon them to the uttermost in the captivity of Babylon, in their overthrow by the Romans. How often do we ourselves fail to take to heart God’ s sharp yet gracious warnings! How is it that, whilst we dread the fire which burns the skin, we do not fear the fire which sears the soul? 1. The fire which burns sears. The action of sin destroys sensibility, so do neglected judgments (Jeremiah 6:15). Let us lay to heart the first sense of shame, the first warning, the first rebuke! When a choice ornament is unhappily slightly fractured there is great and sincere distress; but the next accident is taken lightly, and only provokes the merry rejoinder, “ Oh, it was cracked!” When a thing is stained or fractured, a spot or crack more or less after that seems of no great consequence. 2. The fire which burns seduces. If men once begin to lack sincerity, to disregard the still, small whisper of conscience, to trifle with the fine health of the pure and faithful soul, sin, despite all its implied agony, soon acquires an indescribable fascination--we suffer through it, and yet we cling to it. Illustration, the moth and the flame. So men are fascinated by the flame which consumes them. In the whole mystery of iniquity is nothing more mysterious than the way in which sin seems to master the reason of men, and to allure and charm them to ruin. So Israel was fascinated by idolatry; dreadfully plagued as they were for their lapses, they could not resist the glamour. So it is with men once committed to the hypnotic power of evil--they linger on the verge of death. 3. The fire which burns spares. Strange reason this, but it is a reason. There was an element of mercy in the judgments of Israel, and very mercy was misconstrued and turned into lasciviousness (Isaiah 1:5; Isaiah 1:7). Children playing with fire are sometimes only slightly injured, and then they make light of it, and repeat their trifling; and perhaps in the end they pay very dearly indeed. So it was with the Jews. They lost a bit of territory; they were compelled to pay tribute; some of them fell by the sword, or were carried into captivity; they were afflicted in measure, and they presumed. So it is still (Ecclesiastes 8:11). The law of retribution is ever working in human life; ever and anon it drops blazing warnings at our feet; and be sure the day of the Lord will come, when He will arise and judge the earth in righteousness, when wrath to the uttermost will come upon the obstinately disobedient. God’ s “ sparing mercies” appeal to you to sin no more. (W. L. Watkinson.). Isaiah 43:1-4 But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob The true relation of Israel to Jehovah The main subject of this chapter is the true relation of Israel to Jehovah, and its application in the way both of warning and encouragement. The doctrine taught is that their segregation from the rest of men, as a peculiar people, was an act of sovereignty, independent of all merit in themselves, and not even intended for their benefit exclusively, but for the accomplishment of God’ s gracious purposes respecting men in general. The inferences drawn from the fact are, that Israel would certainly escape the dangers which environed him, however imminent; and, on the other hand, that he must suffer for his unfaithfulness to God. In illustration of these truths the prophet introduces several historical allusions and specific prophecies, the most striking of the former having respect to the exodus from Egypt, and of the latter to the fall of Babylon. It is important to the just interpretation of the chapter that these parts of it should be seen in their true light and proportion as incidental illustrations, not as the main subject of the prophecy, which, as already stated, is the general relation between God and His ancient people, and His mode of dealing with them, not at one time, but at all times. (J. A. Alexander.)The right of the Creator 1. In reviewing Providence, men do not go far enough back. The Lord Himself always takes a great sweep of time. Here is an instance in point. “ But now, thus saith the Lord that created thee,. . . and He that formed thee.” No argument is built upon what happened an hour ago. Thus God will have us go back to creation day, to formation time, and take in all the childhood, all the youthhood, all the manhood, all the education and strife and discipline, all the attrition and all the harmony, all the week-days and all the Sabbath-days; and He would bid us watch the mystery of time, until it comes out in blossoming and fruitfulness and benediction. We should have no pain if we had the right line of review and pursued it, and comprehended it, in its continuity and entirety. There are many creations. God is always creating life, and always forming it. There is an individual existence; there is a national organisation; there are birthdays of empires and birthdays of reform. 2. The Church must recognise its period of creation and formation. Jacob was not always a people; Israel was not always a significant name, a symbol in language; and individuals are gathered together into societies, and they are charged with the administration of the kingdom of Christ, and as such they must go back and remember their Creator, and adore their Maker, and serve their Saviour, and renew their inspiration where it was originated. 3. Right relations to God on the part of man should be realised. This appeal rises into climax, into convincing and triumphant words. I have “ created thee” ; that is the basal line--“ formed thee,” given thee shape and relation; “ redeemed thee,” paid for thee; “ called thee By thy name,” like a friend or child: “ thou art Mine.” Yet all this is in the Old Testament! Do we not fly from the Old Testament into the New, that we may have some sight of the tenderness of God? There is no need for such flight. There are tenderer words about God in the Old Testament than there are in the New. 4. This relation carries everything else along with it. After this there can be nothing but detail. “ When thou passest,” etc. (Isaiah 43:2). (J. Parker, D. D.)Guarantees Absolute ownership. He who speaks is our Creator. He claims our attention also because He knows us. Fear is the apprehension of danger, both natural and moral. With regard to natural tear, some are more timid than others. But this is no index to the moral state of the heart. Nerves which are strong do not constitute faith; nerves which are weak do not indicate distrust in God. To remove the distrust which Israel felt, three guarantees are offered-- I. . “ For I have redeemed thee.” From whence came the idea of redemption? (Leviticus 25:25-34.) This is the figure used in the text and elsewhere to show that God has taken away the moral disabilities under which we had fallen through sin. The principle is not without analogy. When the golden grain is enslaved in the earth, the ray of light, the drop of water, and the warm breeze come to redeem their brother. 1. The right to redeem was vested in the next of kin, hence the necessity for the incarnation of the Son of God. The transaction was confined to the family of the brother who had waxen “ poor.” No portion of the inheritance must ultimately go out of the family, for even if no one of the next of kin was able to redeem it, in the year of Jubilee a full restoration was made. Not only the inheritance must have remained in the family, but the redemption of it was restricted to the family, that it might ever appear of value to the members of the family as a sacred trust from God. This is the very estimate of human life which the Incarnation conveys: to redeem that life the redeemer must be one of the family. But the necessity appears, because the family of man must be impressed with the value of the inheritance which God hath given. The life of Jesus brings home to us the facts that human life is infinitely valuable, and that God has His hold upon it, although mortgaged to another. “ All souls are Mine.” “ I know that my Redeemer liveth.” 2. To free the possession the ransom must be paid. The sovereignty of the gift did not free the inheritance from encumbrances contracted by the possessor. Justice demanded the redemption price. In the interest of rectitude and the influence of the moral law, Christ “ gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity,” etc. As to the nature of the ransom, St. Peter says, “ Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ.” II. CALLED. “ And called thee by thy name.” The reference here is either to a legal form of calling out the name of the mortgagor, with the declaration that henceforth his possession was free; or to the trumpet of the Jubilee, which was a direct call to every debtor to resume his liberty. 1. Personal salvation. When we are accosted by name the whole being is involved, with every interest concerned. God calls the sinner to repentance. 2. Personal realisation. The brother who had waxen poor knew he was free, because his name had been called that he might be assured of his freedom. The deed was handed over to him re.conveying the property into his name. Faith leads to the realising of forgiveness and peace. III. . “ Thou art Mine.” The idea is that by grace man is brought back to the peace and service of God. 1. The claim is universal. Wherever the new heart is, God claims it for His own. 2. The claim is absolute. We are no longer our own, but, having been bought with a price, we glorify God in body and mind. 3. We are now on trial, but there will be a final recognition. “ They shall be Mine,” etc. (T. Davies, M. A.)The Divine responsibility 1. Responsibility is not a word that can be limited to man. It must belong to those higher orders of created intelligence known to us as angels of various degrees. It must belong to the Eternal One Himself. It must be that He holds Himself responsible for the creation and its consequences. If responsibility belongs to the creature made in the image of God, it is inherited responsibility; it comes down from Him who made him. 2. Let us approach the subject cautiously. God’ s revelation of Himself is intended to be a light to the mind and a joy to the heart. Everyone who knows anything of Scripture knows how gradual has been the revelation of God to the human race. Not till we reach the time of David do we get the word father as applied to Deity, and then only in a figurative sort of way. Isaiah prophesies that one of the signs of the Christian dispensation shall be that the name of God as revealed in Christ shall be “ the Everlasting Father.” Men had known Deity as the Self-Existent God--the source of life. They had thought of Him as the God of providence, the Great Provider, who had them in His hands, and would care for them, and that is about the utmost practical view attained to in the Old Testament. In that wonderful book of Job, the epitomised life of the human race, we have the thought of an unrealised Redeemer,--but “ My Father and your Father, My God and your God” is new Testament language, and post-resurrection speech at that. 3. This speech leads us to the thought of the Divine responsibility. It is not our invention but God’ s revelation that, like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. We have a right, then, to say that at least the same measure of responsibility which belongs to a father for the nourishment, education, and development of his child belongs to the great Eternal Father for us all. We are not responsible for the laws which work in our own constitutions, for we did not create those laws. We are not responsible for anything which is out of our own power. I am not responsible for the original tendency to sinfulness which was in my nature when born into this world. Nor am I responsible for being born; nor for being born where I was born; nor for having just those parents which were mine; nor for being just so high and just so heavy; nor for having the temperament and disposition with which I was born. 4. I suppose that in the generations behind us there have lived people who verily persuaded themselves that they were responsible for the sin of Adam, that they were doomed because an ancestor of generations ago was a wilful sinner. Every man inherits tendencies from past generations. When the first of men wilfully disobeyed God, he started in himself a tendency which, if not resisted, would become a habit of wrong-doing--and that habit would be propagated into the next generation, and into the next, and so on. And that is what is meant by original sin--the tendency created by generations past to wrong--stamping its impress upon mind and heart, yea, upon the physical organism. It is so in the animal world. In the past, dogs have been trained to fold sheep, and the instruction has become a habit, and the habit has created a tendency in the next generation to do the same thing, and has become fixed--a second nature, as we say. And this law runs through all creation, even into the vegetable world. Now, He who made man is responsible for the original law by which tendencies to good and evil can be propagated from sire to son. The law is not evil; it is good. But good laws are often used for bad purposes. From a reservoir of pure water pipes are laid to every house in the city. Those pipes were laid for the conveyance of pure, wholesome water for the benefit of a large population. That was the original design and intention. But suppose that city should be besieged by a barbarian army--suppose the army should surround the reservoir and poison the waters, the very pipes which were laid for the conveyance of life would be conduits for the conveyance of death. But that was not their original design. And so our guilt does not extend to Deity. He is responsible for the beneficent law, not for the sin which has been transmitted along it. The very idea of intelligence involves freedom. Either there must be freedom, or there can be no intelligence and no morality. 5. We cannot conceive of an omniscient God, without admitting that He must have foreseen that the creature He made would abuse His liberty. Does the Divine responsibility extend to making such provision as would prevent it? Clearly not. We cannot conceive how it could be made, and yet leave man a free moral agent, not a machine. The Divine responsibility extends to the providing a means whereby not simply to develop an innocent man, but to save a guilty man from the spiritual consequences of his sin. From all the consequences he cannot be saved; from the fatal consequences he can. That God did anticipate the fall from innocence of His creature, and provide for meeting man in a fallen condition, is evident from one single expression, “ the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.” Redemption was no afterthought. For our own convenience, it may be necessary at times to speak of justice, and at other times of mercy. But justice and mercy in God are never represented as in antagonism. They ever go hand-in-hand, like light and heat in the sunbeams. When God opened the eyes of the great apostle he saw this truth, that “ where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,” or, as it is more correctly, “ superabounded,” abounded over and above. In this dispensation of things a lost man has not simply to reject God as a Creator, but God as a Redeemer--God in Christ--the God who has done all and everything possible to be done to nullify the fatal results of sin. 6. You remember the complimentary word uttered respecting Abraham: “ I know him that he will command his children” ; and in every father there is lodged the right to command--the duty to command. That weak tenderness which permits disobedience to go unrebuked and unpunished, is not Divine tenderness. It is the frailty of human irresoluteness. There is nothing of that in God. (R. Thomas, D. D.)Divine consolation The vision of Isaiah contains a representation of the present and future state of Israel and Judah. And because some of his expressions might be interpreted as if all the twelve tribes should be utterly cast away, he frequently intersperses such consolations as this, to assure the people that if they were duly corrected and reformed by their captivity, God would bring them out of it, and raise them up again to be His Church and people. I. To confirm them in the belief of such a restoration, He puts them in mind of SEVERAL AND REASONS to expect it. 1. He tells them that upon their repentance God had promised them such a restoration. 2. Isaiah calls upon the people to consider that this promise of salvation is made to them by that God “ who created Jacob and formed Israel.” This, indeed, is a common topic of con solation to every pious man, that He who created him will have mercy on him, and is able, in all circumstances, to make good His promises, and preserve the work of His own hands. But it was very proper for this people, above all others, to make such inferences, because they had been in a peculiar manner created and formed of God. 3. They might conclude this from former redemptions which God had wrought for them. “ Fear not, for I have redeemed thee.” 4. A fourth ground of Israel’ s hope for God’ s future mercies, were the gracious appellations which He had bestowed upon them. “ I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.” He had changed their father Jacob’ s name to Israel. He had named them His “ holy nation,” His “ peculiar people.” 5. A further argument to Israel to trust in God, were the deliverances which He had vouchsafed to some of them. “ When thou goest (or hast gone) through the waters, they have not overflowed thee; and through the fire, it hath not kindled upon thee.” II. The words are certainly a common topic of TO ALL THE OF GOD. So that, to find our own blessing in them, and to understand them as the voice of our own merciful Father, we have nothing else to do but to approve ourselves His obedient children; for He is no respecter of persons. 1. As God promised His people a restoration from their captivity, upon their true repentance and return to their duty, so will He rescue us from the slavery of sin and Satan, if we do in good earnest feel the oppression and misery of it, and would much rather be employed in doing God’ s will, and keeping His commandments. 2. Was it an argument to Israel to trust in God, because He had created them and formed them in so special a manner as is before represented? The like consideration is equally comfortable to every member of the Church of Christ. For in Him we are born again. 3. All the redemptions which God vouchsafed to Israel are proofs to us of His infinite power and goodness, and figures of greater things which He will do for us. 4. If God’ s gracious appellations of Israel assured them of His special regard for them, no less ground of rejoicing have we in the like assurance of His favour towards us. 5. In cases of extreme danger, particularly in perils of fire and water, God has shown Himself the same in the Christian u He was of old in the Jewish Church, a sufficient Helper to deliver out of such troubles. (W. Reading, M. A.)The goodness of God to Israel In the latter part of the preceding chapter we read of the sins, not of the obedience of Israel. After this, what might have been expected but that He would punish them still more severely, if not abandon them as incorrigible? In the text, however, He promises to magnify His mercy in doing them good. Consider-- I. THE OF THE PEOPLE HERE SPOKEN OF. It may be inferred from the names given to them in the text. They are addressed by the convertible names of “ Jacob,” and “ Israel.” His name Jacob was changed because he had wrestled with God for His blessing till he succeeded in obtaining it. Hence, then, we may learn the character of His spiritual children--they wrestle with God in prayer for His blessing till they prevail. But this general description of them includes several particulars. Consider-- 1. What they do. They pray. And does not this at once distinguish them from thousands around them? 2. To whom are their prayers addressed? To the true God who is also their own God--the God of Israel. This also separates them from an immense number of the human race; for how many, alas, are there in the world who are totally mistaken as to the proper object of worship! 3. They pray to Him alone. There are not a few in the world who unite the worship of Jehovah with that of their own idols. 4. But what does Israel pray for? For God’ s blessing. This implies that they feel their need of it, and, by consequence, that they differ essentially from all persons of a self-righteous and self-sufficient spirit. 5. How do they pray? In faith. They pray also fervently. They are not like many, cold, formal, and lifeless in prayer. They persevere, too, till they prevail. But were they always such characters? No; there was a time when they were as prayerless as others. Who, then, has made them to differ? God alone. II. WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR THEM IN TIME PAST; or what are the steps which He has taken to make them what they are. These steps are three-- 1. He has created them. “ Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob,” etc. They are subjects of a creation to which all others are entire strangers. What renders this creation necessary is the corruption of our nature, which is total, since the Fall. It is a creation of good substituted for evil, a heart of flesh for a heart of stone, light for darkness, holiness for sin, faith for sense, life for death, happiness for misery. Every real Christian is the subject of it. It is ejected by the operation of the Holy Ghost. To God, therefore, belongs the whole glory of it. 2. He has redeemed them. “ Fear not; for I have redeemed thee.” 3. He has called them by their names. “ I have called thee by thy name.” And what does this imply? (1) “ That they are made partakers of the heavenly calling,” “ the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (2) That God well knows His people. (3) We know that when a mar of superior rank and dignity calls an inferior by his name, he is considered to treat him with uncommon marks of kindness and familiarity, and to confer upon him a peculiar honour. Such kindness and honour, then, does God bestow upon His people. He is not ashamed to be called their God, and to allow each of them, like Abraham, to be called the friend of God. 4. This, then, is what the Lord has done for Israel His people; and He therefore calls them His, saying, “ Thou art Mine.” Has He not the most indisputable title to their persons and services? III. WHAT HE TO DO FOR THEM IN TIME TO COME, “ When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee,” etc. 1. To pass through fire and water appears to have been a proverbial expression for passing through various kinds of dangers, trials, and afflictions. 2. But why does God suffer His people to be thus afflicted? Because they are children whom He loves. 3. And do their tribulations answer the ends which He has in view? Yes; there is not one of His afflicted ones who has not had cause to say, sooner or later, “ It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” 4. We are not, however, to suppose that afflictions of themselves ever bear these blessed fruits. Unblest and unsanctified, they have rather a contrary tendency, and produce very different effects. And were it not for the presence of God with His people, in the water and the fire, they would be injured and destroyed by them. But they need not fear; for faithful is He that hath promised. 5. Need I remind you how this promise has been verified, or how the presence of God has been with His people in every age of the Church? (1) Look, first, at Israel after the flesh. See their afflictions in Egypt, and know their sorrows. Behold the bush burning with fire, and yet not consumed. God is in the midst of it. Follow them in their passage out of that house of bondage. God is with them in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. Observe them again during their captivity in Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the servants of the Most High God, walked in the midst of the fire, and had no hurt. They had a fourth in their company, whom even Nebuchadnezzar could not help saying was like the Son of God. (2) Look, next, into New Testament times, and even to later ages, and you will find additional evidence of the blessed truth before us. (D. Rees.)The exhortation and promises of God to the afflicted I. THE TO WHICH THE PEOPLE OF GOD ARE LIABLE. 1. The text intimates that they may be great. “ Waters”: “ rivers” ; calamities which seem as deep and overwhelming as sweeping torrents, and as likely to destroy them. 2. Their troubles may be diversified. They may be in the waters to-day and may have deliverance, but to-morrow they may be called on to walk through “ the fire” and “ the flame” ; to endure trials which are unexpected and strange, different in their nature from any they have yet experienced, and far more severe and biter. 3. The text implies also that these afflictions are certain. It speaks of them as things of course. II. HOW AND IS THE . 1. There is a fear of afflictions which is a natural, and by no means sinful, feeling; a fear which leads us to avoid them, if the will of God will allow us to avoid them, and if not, to receive them with much thoughtfulness and prayer; to be aware of the dangers with which they are invariably accompanied, and of our utter inability in ourselves to escape or overcome them. 2. But there is a fear of another kind. It springs from unbelief, and is the cause of tour, touring, despondency, and wretchedness. It is a fear which tempts us to choose sin rather than affliction; which prevents us from praising God under our trials, and from trusting to Him to bring us out of them. Such a fear is as dishonourable to God as it is disquieting to ourselves, and He who values nothing so highly as His own honour and our happiness commands us to lay it aside. It might have been supposed that such an exhortation from such a Being would have been sufficient of itself to dispel the fears of those to whom it is addressed; but a compassionate God does not leave it to its own unaided authority. III. He supports and strengthens it by TWO MOST . 1. He promises us His own presence with us in our trials. “ When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.” His people are the objects of His special attention. (1) We are not, however, to infer that the afflicted Christian is always aware of the companion with whom he is walking. He often imagines himself left alone in his trials. (2) Neither are we to suppose that all the afflicted servants of the Lord have the same manifestations of His presence. Some do not need them so much as others. They have not the same temptations to withstand, nor the same burdens to bear, nor the same duties to perform. They are surrounded with more outward comforts, and consequently they less need those which are inward. Some also do not desire or seek the light of their Father’ s countenance so earnestly as their brethren. They lean more on earthly friends and succours. He who is infinitely wise, always suits the nature and measure of His gracious manifestations to the necessities and, in one sense, to the characters of His people. He gives them what they need, and what they desire and seek. 2. There is the promise of preservation under all our calamities. What does preservation imply? It implies that our trials shall not injure us. Rivers are likely to overflow, and flames likely to burn, those who pass through them. Affliction is likely to injure, and would inevitably ruin us, if God were not near. It tempts us to rebel against the Divine providence and to distrust the Divine goodness; to be thankless, impatient, and repining. The mind, already weakened, perhaps, and bewildered by the pressure of adversity, is easily led to apprehend still greater troubles, and faints at the prospect. This, too, is the season when our great adversary is most to be dreaded. It is in the night that the wild beasts of the forest roar after their prey; and it is in the darkness of spiritual or temporal adversity that Satan directs against us his most violent assaults. The fact is that our spiritual interests are much more endangered by tribulation than our worldly prosperity. It is the soul which is most exposed, and which most needs preservation; and preservation is here promised to it. The Christian often enters the furnace cold-hearted, earthly-minded, and comfortless; he comes out of it peaceful, confiding, burning with love for his delivering God, and thirsting after the enjoyment of His presence. IV. The Lord vouchsafes to add to His precious promises several reasons or TO ASSURE US OF THEIR . 1. The first is drawn from the relation in which He stands to us as our Creator. “ Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel.” This language refers to our spiritual as well as to our natural existence. Here, then, is a solid ground of confidence. The Father of our spirits must be well acquainted with their infirmities and weakness. “ He knoweth our frame, and remembereth that we are dust.” Neither will He ever forsake the work of His own hands. 2. The Almighty draws another argument to enforce His exhortation, from the property which He has in His people, and the manner in which He acquired it. “ Fear not,” He says, “ for I have redeemed thee,” etc. We are His by creation, but He has also made us His by redemption. And what a mighty price did He pay for us! Will He then abandon that which He so much values, which cost Him so dear? 3. There is yet another reason assigned why we should cast away fear in the hour of tribulation--the covenant God has formed with His people ensures the fulfilment of His promises. “ I am the Lord thy God,” He says, “ the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour” ; thus implying that He has entered into some engagement with His Israel; that He considers Himself bound to be with them in their troubles and distresses; that His own veracity, His own faithfulness, are at stake, and would be sacrificed if Israel were forsaken or injured. He thus connects His own honour with their safety. Lessons-- 1. How rich in consolation is the Word of’ God! 2. How essential to our happiness is a knowledge of our interest in the Divine promises!--to appropriate them to ourselves, and rejoice in them. 3. How full of confidence and praise ought they to be, who live in the enjoyment of the Divine presence in trouble! 4. How blind to their own interest are they who reject the Gospel of Christ! (C. Bradley, M. A.)Love abounding, love complaining, love abiding (with Isaiah 43:22-24; Isaiah 44:21-23):--(1) Notice that these three texts are very much alike in this respect--that they are each addressed to God’ s people under the names of Jacob and Israel. (2) These texts are like each other, again, from their overflowing with love. I do not know where the Lord’ s love is best seen, when He declares it and tells of what He has done and is doing for His people, or when He laments over their want of love in return, or when He promises to blot out their past sin, and invites them to return to Him and enjoy His restoring grace. I. We have in our first text, LOVE . 1. Notice the time when that love is declared. The first verse begins, “ But now, thus saith the Lord.” When was that? It was the very time when He was angry with the nation by reason of their great sins (Isaiah 42:25). It was a time, then, of special sin, and of amazing hardness of heart. When a man begins to burn, he generally feels and cries out; he must be far gone in deadly apathy when he is touched with fire and yet lays it not to heart. It was a time of love with God, though a time of carelessness with His people. 2. The Lord shows His abounding love by the sweetness of His consolations, “ But now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not.” “ Fear not” is a little word measured by space and letters; but it is an abyss of consolation if we remember who it is that saith it, and what a wide sweep the comfort takes. Fear hath torment, and the Lord would cast it out. You that are the people of God may be smarting, and crying, and sighing. But, oh the love of God to you. He hears your cries, and His compassions are moved towards you! Nothing touches Him like the groans of His children. There is a wonderful intensity of affection in this passage, spoken, as it is, by the great God to His people while they are under the rod which they so richly deserve. 3. The fulness of God’ s love is to be seen in the way in which He dwells with evident satisfaction upon His past dealings with His people. When we love some favoured one, we like to think of all our love passages in years gone by; and the Lord so loves His people, that, even when they are under His chastening hand, He still delights to remember His former loving-kindnesses. We may forget the wonders of His grace, but He doth not forget. He “ created,” “ redeemed,” “ called.” He dwells upon His possession of His people. “ Thou art Mine.” 4. If you desire to see the overflowings of God’ s love in another form, notice in the next verse how He declares what He means to do. “ When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee,” etc. His love casts its eye upon your future. He loves you too well to make your way to heaven free from adversity and tribulation, for these things work your lasting good. But He does promise you that the deepest waters shall not overflow you, and the fiercest torrents shall not drown you, for this one all-sufficient reason, that He will be with you. 5. The overflowings of Divine love are seen in the Lord’ s avowing Himself still to be His people’ s God: “ I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.” 6. Though one would think He might have come to a close here, the Lord adds His valuation of His people, this was so high that He says, “ I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.” Pharaoh and his firstborn were nobodies as compared with Jacob’ s seed. Further on in history, after Isaiah’ s day, the Lord moved Cyrus to set Israel flee from Babylon, and then gave to the son of Cyrus a rich return for liberating the Jews; for He made Him conqueror of Egypt and of Ethiopia and of Seba. God will give more than the whole world to save His Church, seeing He gave His only begotten Son. 7. Then the Lord adds another note of great love. He says that He has thought so much of His people that He regarded them as honourable. “ Since thou wast precious in My sight,” etc. He publishes His love, not only by His deeds, but by express words. What a wealth of grace is here! 8. Such is the Lord’ s love, that even in the time when they were not acting as they should, but grieving Him, He stands to His love of them, and sets the same value on them as before: “ Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.” As if He said, “ What I have done I will do again. My love is unalterable.” II. Our second text is in the minor key, it is LOVE . “ But thou hast not called upon Me, O Jacob” (verse 22). Observe the contrast; for it runs all through, and may be seen in every sentence: I have called thee by thy name; but thou hast not called upon Me, O Jacob. I have called thee Mine; but thou hast been weary of Me. I have redeemed thee with a matchless price; but thou hast bought Me no sweet cane with money. 1. Israel rendered little worship to God. May not the Lord of infinite mercy justly say to some of us, “ But thou hast not called upon Me, O Jacob” ? 2. There has been little fellowship; for the Lord goes on to say, “ Thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel.” Are we tired of our God? If not, how is it that we do not walk with Him from day to day? 3. We are moved by this passage to confess how little of spirituality has been found in the worship which we have rendered. “ Thou hast not honoured Me with thy sacrifices.” When we have come to worship, in public and in private, we have not honoured the Lord by being intense therein. The heart has been cold, the mind wandering. 4. Again, the Lord mentions that His people have brought Him little sacrifice: “ Thou hast not brought Me the small cattle,” etc. What small returns have we made! In the religion of Christ there is no taxation; everything is of love. 5. Once more, it is said that we have been very slack in our consideration of our God. The Lord says, “ I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense; but thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins; thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities.” The Lord is thoughtful of us, but we are not thoughtful towards Him. If the Lord did not love us very much He would not care so much about our love towards Himself. It is the plaint of love. The Lord does not need our sweet canes nor our money. But when He chides us for withholding our love-tokens, it is because He values our love, and is grieved when it grows cold. III. Our third text exhibits LOVE ABIDING. 1. Notice, in Isaiah 44:21, how the Lord still calls His people by the same name: “ Remember these, O Jacob and Israel.” Still are the names of His elect like music in the ears of God. One would have feared that He would have dropped the “ Israel,” that honourable name, which came of prevailing prayer, since they had not called upon Him. Why call him a prevailing prince who had grown weary of his God? But no, He harps upon the double title: He loves to think of His beloved as what they were, and what His grace made them. O heir of heaven, God loves you still! 2. Notice how the Lord claims His servants: “ Thou art My servant: I have formed thee; thou art My servant.” He has not discharged us, though He has had cause enough for so doing. This should bind us to Him. This should quicken our pace in His service. 3. Then notice how the Lord assures us in the next line: “ O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of Me.” God cannot forget His chosen. You that have Bibles with margins will find that it is also written there, “ O Israel, forget not Me.” The Lord longs to be remembered by us. Did not our loving Lord institute the Sacred Supper to prevent our forgetting Him? 4. Notice with delight the triumph of love, how still He pardons: “ I have blotted out, as a thick cloud,” etc. 5. See how our text closes with the Lord’ s own precept to be glad: “ Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it,” etc. (Isaiah 44:23). Out of all dejection arise! There is more cause for gladness than for sorrow. What you have done should cause distress of heart; but what the Lord has done is cause for rapture. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Four contrasts (with Isaiah 43:22-25):--There are many lights in which we can see sin; and our perception of sin very much depends upon the light in which we look at it. Sin is very terrible by the blaze of Sinai. It is an awful thing to see sin by the light of your dying day. More terrible still will it be to see it by the light of the judgment day. But of all the lights that ever fall upon sin, that which makes it “ like itself appear” is that which falls upon it when it is set in the light of God’ s countenance. To see sin by the light of God’ s love, to read its awful character by the light of the Cross, is the way to see sin. I am going to speak mainly concerning God’ s own people, and I want to set their sins in the light of God’ s love to them. My object will be to set before you the contrast between God’ s action towards His people and His people’ s, usual action towards Him.” I. The first contrast lies in THE CALL. 1. I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name” (Isaiah 43:1). (1) God called us out of nothing. “ Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob” (Isaiah 43:1). Our creation is entirely due to God. An ungodly man can hardly bless God for having made him, for his end may be terrible. Blessed be God for our being, because it is followed by our well-being! Blessed be God for our first birth, because we have also experienced a second birth. (2) Our Lord has done more than make us, for He has educated us; He has continued the fashioning of us. “ He that formed thee, O Israel.” Israel is the “ formed” Jacob; by God’ s grace, Jacob grows into Israel. Let us think of all the sweet experiences of God’ s forming and fashioning touch that we have had. Sometimes, it has been a rough stroke that was necessary for the moulding of our clay; only by affliction could we be made to assume the shape and pattern that the Lord had determined for us. At other times, it has been the touch of very soft fingers. “ Thy gentleness hath made me great.” (3) Think what wonderful,, dealings He has had, next, in consoling us, for the Lord goes., on to say, Fear not. Oh, how often He has cheered us up when our spirit was sinking! (4) That is not all, for the Lord has also called us, and conversed with us, in the matter of redemption. “ I have redeemed thee.” (5) The Lord has given a special nomination. “ I have called thee by thy name.” (6) Then comes this blessed appropriation: “ Thou art Mine.” This is the way that God talks to us. 2. Turn to the other side of the question, the neglected call on our part. “ Thou hast not called upon Me, O Jacob” (Isaiah 43:22). That may not mean that there has been literally no calling upon God on thy side, but it does mean that there has been too little of it. Let us put this matter to the test. (1) What about our prayers? There is much less prayer than there ought to be. (2) True as this is of our prayers, it is still more true of our praises. (3) There are many, with whom God has dealt well, who do not venture to call upon Him for special help in His service. They keep plodding along the old roads, and mostly in the old ruts; but they do not dare to invoke the aid of the Lord for some novel form of service, some fresh enterprise upon which they can strike out for God. (4) Sometimes in our trouble, we do not call upon God as we should. II. Let us consider another contrast which is equally striking--that is, upon the matter of THE between the Lord and His people. 1. Notice, first, God’ s side of it. “ When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee,” etc. (Isaiah 43:2). Notice how God is with His people in strange places. Wherever they are, He will not leave them; He will go right through the waters with them. God also keeps close to His people in dangerous places, fatal places as they seem. 2. Now listen to your side of this matter of converse with God. “ But thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel” (Isaiah 43:22). (1) Has it not been so with regard to private prayer? (2) With your reading of the Scriptures? (3) Hearing the Word? (4) Are there not some also whom God loves who get weary of their work? III. Notice the contrast in THE . 1. “ I gave Egypt for thy ransom,” etc. (Isaiah 43:3). (1) Here is God giving up everybody else for the sake of His people. Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba were great nations, but God did not choose the greatest. “ Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called,” etc. (2) We may see another meaning in these words, for God has given for us His choicest gift. Christ is infinitely more precious than Egypt, and Ethiopia, and Seba, though they were lands of great abundance of wealth. 2. Now look at the other side. “ Thou hast not brought Me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings” (Isaiah 43:23). I wonder how little some people really do give to God! I believe, in some cases, not as much as it costs them for the blacking of their boots. Then the Lord adds, “ Thou hast bought Me no sweet cane with money.” Not even the smallest offering has been given to the Most High by some who profess to have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. How little is given by the most generous of us! IV. I close with one snore contrast, which refers to THE HONOUR given by God, and the honour given to God. 1. God gives great honour to those whom He saves (Isaiah 43:4). I have known persons who, before their conversion, were unclean in their lives, and when they have been converted, they have joined a Christian Church, and in the society of God’ s people they have become honourable. They have been taken into the fellowship of the saints just as if there had never been a fault in their lives; nobody has mentioned the past to them, it has been forgotten. This is the highest honour that God can put upon us, that He fixes His love upon us. “ Thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee.” 2. Have you honoured God? He says, “ Neither hast thou honoured Me with thy sacrifices.” Have you honoured God by your lives? By your confidence in Him? By your patience? By defending His truth when it has been assailed? By speaking to poor sinners about Him? Are you trying every day to honour Him? (C. H. Spurgeon.)“ Fear not” I. A CHARGE GIVEN. “ Fear not.” A godly fear the believer may have; but the cowardice of the world, which is loud to boast, and slow to act, and quick to doubt, he must never know. It becomes neither the dignity of his calling, nor the faithfulness of his God. II. A REASON . “ Thou art Mine.” These words were spoken to Israel after the flesh, and to them they still remain a covenant of peace, sure and steadfast for ever; yet as the relations named--Creator, Redeemer, Saviour--are not peculiar to them, but are enjoyed in the same degree by every believing heart, we may take to ourselves a share in this animating promise. The certainty of the believer’ s hope does not depend on our holding God, but on God’ s holding us; not on our faithfulness to Him, but on His faithfulness to us. III. A . This does not consist in any absence of trial and danger; the expressions rather imply their presence, many in number and various in kind. The protection promised consists in the constant presence with the soul of its unseen but Almighty Saviour. (E. Garbett.)I have called thee by thy nameNamed and claimed I. THE PERSON. “ I--thee--thou--Mine.” How this sentence tingles with personality! If one person can call another person, those two persons are alike. Those two persons have a common life interest. Personality in God is substantially similar to personality in man. II. THE NAME. Would it be an untrue fancy to suppose that we each have a name before God? When you look at your little sleeping child to-night, you will, perhaps, not only think of the name that everybody knows him by, but you will murmur over him some little special name that you have given him--you hardly know how, but that gives to you the very sense of theessence of the true life sleeping there. Remember that something just like that is in the heart of your God’ s feeling for you. Science generalises, love particularises. Then, with this loving name, comes possession. There is a strange, yearning intensity in that language, “ Thou art Mine.” The mystery and rapture of life are in that strange sense of possession which comes through love, as though the loved one had become a part of ourselves to be dissevered from us nevermore. “ Thou art Mine,” says our God--Mine to carry, to nurture, to protect--My very own, never to part from Me for evermore. III. THE CALL OF THE NAME. It would be very much to know that God even thought of us by our name in this personal and special way; but the text asserts that this power of God finds expression; that life is filled not only with a thought of us on the part of God, but with an expression of that thought; so that there is something vocalised, something articulate in life, which comes to us, if we can really understand that it is God calling us by this name we have. 1. The very first awakening feeling in childhood is a personal call. When you first really prayed as a little child and thought what you were doing, what a sense of individuality there was. You were yourself then, and nobody else. It was God speaking to you, and calling you by your name. 2. Then another period which comes, usually s little later, when God’ s call is addressed to us, is in our first assumption of responsibility. I think some of the most solitary times a man ever has are when he has just assumed a serious responsibility. Now, in that solitude, if a man listens, he can hear his God calling to him, speaking his name right then and there. How tenderly, how warmly, how encouragingly! And the reason is, because God loves the thing that that responsibility will give you. He loves the thing that will make for you, and that is character; that is manhood. 3. Then, again, in a moment of danger, a man may hear God calling his name; because danger, like duty, particularises. Supposing we see a man in danger; we ask, Who is he? What is his name? And if the man does not realise the peril he is in, you call to him by the name that will cut through the air, and strike on his ear, and arouse his individual attention. Suppose moral danger comes and God sees the danger coming, and He calls out to you by that name He knows you by. If you could hear that call, would it not cause you to repel the evil? as though the Voice said, “ I remember you; you are Mine. Your name is known to Me. I am your heavenly Friend, and I call on you now to do your duty, to repel the evil.” 4. He speaks our name when we are in trouble. 5. There are certain other experiences of life darker than duty or danger or sorrow. We name them by that strong, common monosyllable, sin. These moral experiences that cut into the soul within us--sin, the sting and stab of remorse, repentance, reformation--all are experiences of an arena in which God calls a man by his name. (A. J. Lyman, D. D.)God’ s claim on the soul What a drama, what tragedy, life is! The world goes by, and, pointing to you, exclaims: “ That man is mine. He has been forty years in my service. He has sold his soul to me. He is mine.” “ Not so,” replies the heavenly Voice; “ He is Mine. I knew him as a child. I have never lost sight of him.” Pleasure comes by, and claims you and says: “ He is mine, that young man.” Dissipation comes by., and points to you with fascinating smile, and says: “ That young man is mine. Let his mother give him up. Let the angels forget him. He has taken my cup in his hand; he has drunk of my poison. He is mine.” “ No,” the heavenly Voice answers: “ Not yet; not yet. I know him, and love him. I suffered to save him, and he is Mine. Mine by right of love, and Mine by right of pain.” That is the drama, that is the tragedy, that is going on! (A. J. Lyman, D. D.)Israel called by name To call by name includes the ideas of specific designation, public announcement, and solemn consecration to a certain work. (J. A. Alexander.)“ Thou art Mine” Three little words, three little syllables; a child’ s motto; words that might be printed by a little hand and sent as a message of love; words that might be engraved on a signet ring: yet words the whole meaning -of which the firmament has not space enough to hold the entire development. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 43:2 When thou passest through the waters Through water and fire. I. Notice the frank and matter-of-course way in which your AND TRIALS are mentioned. “ The waters,” “ the rivers,” “ the fire,” “ the flame” ; it takes it for granted that you will meet with some or all of them before you have finished your course, and they are mentioned in a way, too, that will not suffer you to think lightly of them. “ Waters,” many of them, and may be deep; “ rivers,” rushing calamities that threaten to carry you away; “ fire and flame!” hard words these, and I gather that your tribulations, Jacob, are great, various, and sure. II. But the words, “ When thou passest,” --“ And when thou walkest,” clearly intimate that JACOB IS , MOVING FROM ONE POINT TO ANOTHER. We may be quite sure that the “ waters,” “ rivers,” “ fire,” “ flame” we read of:here have reference only to such of them as are met with on Jacob’ s proper track. If these perilous possibilities do not confront him on the way of duty; and if he makes a voluntary circumbendibus, to serve only his own pleasure, so that he confronts them; then, such waters and such fires are very likely to destroy him. Lot goes and settles down in Sodom; he had no more business there than has flour in a soot-bag; and the fire burnt him. The waters overflowed Jonah to some purpose; but that was because he went where he liked, and not where he ought. III. Not only shall Jacob be safe in the flood, and brought through the fire; not only shall both flood and fire become vanquished perils living only in the victor’ s memory, but THE PASSING THROUGH THEM SHALL DO GOOD TO JACOB! He shall be a nobler soul for being tossed by waves; he shall be a purer being for being tried by fire, and like the finely tempered steel which was first in the red-hot furnace, and was then plunged into the ice-cold cistern, and so became the keen, invincible blade: so the trial, afflictions, testings of the Christian do mould and temper and shape and brighten Jacob’ s character, and ennoble after the Christly pattern his moral manhood, which is the glory of his immortal soul! Note two things to be remembered in the day of the flood and fire. 1. Thy God has promised to be ever at thy side. 2. This gracious God, who controls the waters and restrains the fires end conducts His people through them both, reveals Himself here as “ the Lord that created thee, O Jacob; and He that formed thee, O Israel.” He made thee, O Jacob; then He knows thee, knows thy frame; remembereth that thou art dust,--will not put upon thee more than thou canst bear, neither will He forsake the work of His hands. He raised us from the ruins of the fall, made us temples for Himself to dwell in. Then He will never suffer the structures He has erected at so much care and cost to be thrown down by violence, swept away by turbulent waters, or devoured by the ruthless flame. “ Thou art mine!” He says. It is the language of complacency and delight. Thou art mine! My property! My charge! My joy! My jewel! And I will guard My own! Surely with such a text as this to fall back upon, O thou redeemed one, thou wilt not doubt or fear. (J. J. Wray.)Divine convoy I. THE PATHWAY THAT THE PEOPLE OF GOD TREAD. Through waters, rivers, fires, and flames. “ It is through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom.” 1. If I look at the temporalities first, the wilderness through which we pass is full of troubles. Thorns and thistles has it brought forth ever since the curse was pronounced upon it; and you can scarcely look into a circle of your acquaintance without finding sicknesses, sorrows, losses, cares, broils, contentions, all the fruits of sin, constantly presented to your view. Is not this, then, a tribulated path? 2. Mark, among the tribulations, the rigour of a fiery law. 3. In this unceasing warfare “ the flesh hateth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.” 4. Look at the grand adversary of souls, and his fiery temptations. That is another fire to pass through--Satan’ s suggestions. II. THE POWER. I will be with thee.” Good company at all events. Was He not with all the worthies recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures, in their sharp conflicts, giving them all the victory? There are two views that may be taken of this precious promise. There is such a thing as God being with His people, and they not knowing it; and there is such a thing as their sensible enjoyment of it. There are two things to be considered. The immutable faithfulness of God has bound Him never to desert the objects of His love. But there have been many instances in which people have been groping in the dark; it has been a long while before they could find Him; and in many instances they have been ready to say, “ My prayer is shut out” ; and led to exclaim, “ Hath God in anger shut up His tender mercies? Will His compassion fail?” III. THE . Heavenly rest--not a wave of trouble shall roll across this peaceful breast. (J. Irons.)God’ s presence in crisis moments It is surprising to note how the facts of this people’ s history have impressed themselves upon the language and thought of Christendom. I. THAT IS THE SAME IN ALL AGES. These words were written by the prophet of the Exile, who could speak of himself and his comrades as passing through the waters. He shows in this way that he realises that the exiles are one in experience with their ancestors who passed through the waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan. Though their circumstances were different, the variation in outward detail was insignificant. The same parts of their nature were tested, and the same virtues were disciplined. Thus this prophet becomes the link between us, who are the disciples of Christ, and the Israelites who crossed the Jordan. II. THAT IN EVERY LIFE THERE ARE A FEW BRIEF BUT INTENSE TRIALS. There was the long and weary strain of desert life to be constantly borne. The passage of the sea and the river came but twice, and then lasted but a few hours, though the agony for the time was intense. They entered the sea in a night of awful storm, because the terror of their enemies was upon them. They entered the river in broad daylight in utter trust of God, knowing that only thus could the enjoyment of Canaan’ s goodly land be theirs. One was a struggle of fear, the other the yielding of all to God in simple faith. In the Christian life peace only comes after this second struggle. III. THAT LIFE BEFORE AND AFTER SUCH A CRISIS IS WHOLLY . The Red Sea was the boundary line between bondage and freedom; the Jordan between wandering and rest, between hope and possession. It seems as though such struggles were the birth-throes of a new life. To pass on to a higher plane such struggle must be encountered. It was such a trial as God called upon Job to pass through. IV. THAT ONE SUCH CRISIS IS DEATH. In the life of Christ it would appear that the temptation connected with His baptism was His Red Sea, just as St. Paul tells us that the sea was Israel’ s baptism: “ They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” We know that this temptation was one of the crises of our Saviour’ s life. Then the devil leaveth Him for a season, not to return with like power until he meets Him again at Gethsemane. This was Christ’ s Jordan. Not until this was passed was His sorrow vanquished or His labour “ finished.” When Christian reached this river he was dazed and despondent, and began to look this way and that to see if he could not escape the river. Truly, death is the last and not the least enemy. V. THAT HUMAN CAN AVAIL BUT LITTLE HERE. Friends may say, “ I am with you” in sympathy; but they can render no help. Viewing the struggle, they may long to share it, but here they must leave their friends in the hands of God. VI. THAT GOD IS WITH US IN ALL SUCH CRISIS MOMENTS. Hopeful’ s comforting words did Christian little good. But he heard a voice say, “ When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.” Indeed, that is His name, Immanuel, God with us. And Christ has said, “ Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end.” If God has brought us through the sea, if He has commenced the good work within us, He will bring us through the Jordan, and thus complete what He has begun. In virtue of such a precious promise we need have no fear. (R. C. Ford, M. A.)The floods and the flames I. THE SCENES THROUGH WHICH THE PEOPLE OF GOD ARE CALLED TO PASS. No metaphor is more frequent in the Bible than that by which sudden calamities are represented by a deluge of waters (Psalms 42:7; Psalms 69:1; Psalms 96:2). 1. All must pass through-- (1) The waters of temptation (James 1:12). (2) The waters of affliction, in circumstances, person, mind, family. (3) The river of death. “ How wilt thou do in the swellings of Jordan?” 2. We are all familiar with affliction under the image of fire (Psalms 1 Corinthians 3:13; Isaiah 48:10; 1 Peter 4:12). It is the tendency of fire to-- (1) Consume (Malachi 4:1). Affliction, like a fire, will tend to consume our corruptions, whilst we ourselves remain uninjured. (2) Melt. All metals can be melted, and receive whatever stamp the artificer may impress. (3) Try. Place any substance in the fire, and its nature and properties are made manifest. Thus Abraham was tried; Job (Job 23:10); Israel Deuteronomy 8:2); Hezekiah. (4) Purify and refine (Isaiah 1:25; Malachi 3:2-3). II. THE MADE TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD WHEN PASSING THROUGH THESE SCENES. 1. The Divine presence. We naturally look for sympathy in the day of trouble (Job 6:14): Sometimes friends who are with us in sunshine forsake us in storm (Job 19:21; Acts 28:15, with 2 Timothy 4:16). But God will never forsake us. 2. Divine protection. “ The rivers shall not overflow,” etc. (Joshua 1:9; Acts 23:11; Deuteronomy 33:25). 3. Divine deliverance. We are not always to be fording rivers, struggling with floods, or walking through fires. We are to leave them all behind. The rest of Canaan compensated for all the toils of the wilderness (Romans 8:18). (Clergyman’ s Magazine.)The godly in trouble 1. The godly have the best company in the worst places in which their lot is east. “ When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.” 2. The godly have special help in their times of deepest trouble. “ And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.” 3. The godly are the subjects of miracles of mercy in seasons of greatest distress. “ When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned.” (C. H.Spurgeon.)God’ s people not exempt from trouble If God has a favoured people whom He has chosen, upon whom His distinguishing grace has lighted to make them great and honourable, you would suppose that the verse would run thus: “ Thou shalt not go through the waters, for I will be with thee to keep thee out of them; neither shalt thou pass through the rivers, for I have bridged them on thy behalf. Thou shalt never go through the fire, and therefore thou shalt not be burned; neither shall there be any fear that the flame shall kindle upon thee, for it shall not come near thee.” There is no such word of promise; it would be contrary to the whole tenor of the covenant, which ever speaks of a rod, and of the chosen passing under it. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Light on the billow’ s crest There is a story of a shipwreck which tells how the crew and passengers had to leave the broken vessel and take to the boats. The sea was rough, and great care in rowing and steering was necessary, in order to guard the heavily laden boats, not from the ordinary waves, which they rode over easily, but from the great cross seas. Night was approaching, and the hearts of all sank as they asked what they should do in the darkness when they would no longer be able to see these terrible waves. To their great joy, however, when it grew dark, they discovered that they were in phosphorescent waters, and that each dangerous wave rolled up crested with light which made it as clearly visible as if it were midday. So it is that life’ s dreaded experiences when we meet them carry in themselves the light which takes away the peril and the terror. (J. R. Miller, D. D.)Comfort found in God During the sixteen weeks in which Sir Bartle Frere was dying, though he was nearly always in great pain, not one murmur escaped him. Just at the end he said, “ I have looked down into the great abyss, but God has never left me through it all.” “ Name that Name when I am in pain,” he once said to his wife; “ it calls me back.” (Quiver.)A heartening presence An exceedingly nervous man was once sentenced to twenty-four hours’ imprisonment in the dungeon of an old prison. Full of fear he sank to the floor. His brain throbbed as with fever, and mocking voices seemed to sound. He felt terror would drive him mad. Suddenly, overhead, he heard the prison chaplain’ s voice calling his name. “ Are you there?” he gasped. “ Yes, and I am going to stay till you come out.” “ God bless you,” he said; “ I do not mind it at all now, with you there.” “ When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.” (J. R. Miller, D. D.)Triumphant dying In her last days Mrs. Booth, of the Salvation Army, sent this message to her friends,--it is a triumphant death-song: “ The waters are rising, but so am I. I am not going under, but over. Do not be concerned about your dying. Only go on living well, and the dying will be all right.” When thou walkest through the fireFire Walking through the fire here is put for the severest form of trouble. You have, in the commencement of the verse, trouble described as passing through the water. This represents the overwhelming influence of trial, in which the soul is sometimes so covered that it becomes like a man sinking in the waves. “ When thou goest through the rivers,” --those mountain torrents which with terrific force are often sufficient to carry a man away. This expresses the force of trouble, the power with which it sometimes lifts a man from the foothold of his stability, and carries him before it. “ When thou passest through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.” But going through the fire expresses not so much the overwhelming character and the upsetting power of trouble as the actual consuming and destructive power of trouble and temptation. The metaphor is more vivid, not to say more terrific, than that which is employed in the first sentence, and yet, vivid and awful though it be, it is certainly not too strong a figure to be used as the emblem of the temptations and afflictions through which the Church and people of God have been called to pass. I. THIS PATHWAY. The sacramental host of God’ s elect has never had an easy road along which to journey. I see the fields on fire, the prairie is in a blaze, the very heavens are like a furnace, and the clouds seem rather to be made of fire than water. Across that prairie lies the pathway to heaven, beneath that blazing sky the whole Church of God must make its perpetual journey. It started at the first in fire, and its very glory at the last shall take place in the midst of the fiery passing away of all things. When first there was a Church of God on earth, in the person of Abel, it was persecuted. Since that day, what tongue can tell the sufferings of the people of God! It hath fared well with the Church when she hath been persecuted, and her pathway hath been through fire. Her feet are shod with iron and brass. She ought not to tread on paths strewn with flowers; it is her proper place to suffer. II. There is AN AWFUL DANGER. The promise of the text is based on a prophecy that follows it. The chapter tells us how God taught His people by terrible things in the past, and how He hath terrible lessons to teach them in the future. The Church has had very painful experience that persecution is a fire which does burn. How many ministers of Christ, when the day of tribulation came, forsook their flocks and fled. Again: I see iniquity raging on every side. Its flames are fanned by every wind of fashion- And fresh victims are being constantly drawn in. It spreads to every class. Not the palace nor the hovel is safe. We may give the alarm to you, young man, who are in the midst of ribald companions. I may cry “ fire!” to you who are compelled to live in a house where you are perpetually tempted to evil. I may cry “ fire!” to you who are marked each day, and have to bear the sneer of the ungodly,--“ fire!” to you who are losing your property and suffering in the flesh, for many have perished thereby. We ought not to look upon our dangers with contempt; they are dangers, they are trials. We ought to look upon our temptations as fires. III. Here is A DOUBLE . It strikes me that in the second clause we have the higher gradation of a climax. “ Thou shalt not be burned,” to the destruction of thy life, nor even scorched to give thee the most superficial injury, for “ the flames shall not kindle upon thee.” Juat as when the three holy children came out of the fiery furnace it is said, “ Upon their bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed; neither were their coats changed, nor had the smell of fire passed on them” ; so the text seems to me to teach that the Christian Church under all its trials has not been consumed; but more than that--it has not lost anything by its trials. Upon the entire Church, at the last, there shall not be even the smell of fire. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Fire harmful and harmless When Jehovah was angry the fire burned Israel (Isaiah 42:25), but now with Jehovah on its side it is invulnerable in the severest trials. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.) Isaiah 43:3 For I am the Lord thy God Jehovah’ s valuation of His people I. THE LORD’ S OF HIS OWN NAME. “ I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.” He gives His name thus to distinguish Himself from false gods. He also sets forth His name at large, for the comfort of His people. There is something in every name of God which may breed faith in our souls. I think He also does it to excite our wonder mad gratitude. Let us devoutly think of each of these names separately. I. “ Jehovah, thy God.” Jehovah, the glorious I AM, signifies self-existence. He borrows nothing from others; indeed, all live by His permit and power. He is as complete without His creatures as with them. Jehovah, again, is a name of immutability. “ I AM THAT I AM” was His name to Moses. Furthermore, Jehovah means sovereignty. “ Jehovah reigneth, let the people tremble.” 2. The Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour. What a New Testament combination this is--“ The Holy One, thy Saviour” ! It reminds us of the words--“ Just, and the justifier of him that believeth.” Here we have one so holy as to be separate from sinners and yet the Saviour of sinners. Since “ the Holy One of Israel” is our Saviour, we are confident that He will save us from all sin. The glorious Lord, who here styles Himself “ Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour,” the Creator of all things, and their Preserver, is come very near to you. In the next verse He saith, “ Since thou wast precious in My sight thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee.” Mark, “ I have loved thee.” It is not enough that He thinks kindly, and deals tenderly; but He loves! Remember also that this Holy Lord is working upon you still, that you may reflect His glory. “ I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him” (verse 7). He has begun our new creation, He is carrying it on, and He is completing it. II. THE LORD’ S OF HIS PEOPLE. Whatever we may think of the Israel of God, the Lord thinks more of it than words can express. “ I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.” When the Lord chose a nation to be the depository of His sacred oracles, He might have selected Egypt if He had willed to do so. Egypt was in the known world the oldest nation. Egypt contained the wisest and most civilised people of early times. Its very ruins are the wonder of the ages. Its records show an extraordinary progress in literature, architecture, and the arts and sciences. Egypt was also the most powerful of empires in the olden times. Before the banners of Assyria and, Babylon and Medo-Persia came to the front, the dragon of Egypt was a mighty ensign. Yet the Lord did not choose the sons of Ham, but passed by Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba. The Lord chose the seed of Abraham, and the family of Jacob: He multiplied them, and instructed them, and made them to be His own peculiar people. In the course of history the claims of various countries came into collision with those of Israel, and Egypt proudly oppressed Israel. What did God do? Did He hesitate as to which of the two peoples should be preserved? No; the Lord brought out Israel, and turned His artillery upon Egypt. In the days of King Asa, the Ethiopians came up against Judah to the number of a million of men; but “ they were destroyed before the Lord, and before His host” : thus was Ethiopia given for Israel. Cambyses conquered Egypt, and destroyed many of its cities, and never since has there been a native prince sitting upon the throne of Pharaoh. God gave to the King of Persia, Egypt and the neighbouring cities as the ransom price of His people. Thus the Lord did of old on the behalf of His literal Israel, and what does this fact say to us? It means this--God’ s chosen are immeasurably precious in His sight. They are the centre of God’ s design. God’ s intent was to produce a race that should be honourable in His sight, and well-beloved of His soul. This design would be costly, even to Jehovah Himself. To carry out this purpose, men, having fallen, must be redeemed by blood. To carry out His Divine resolve He spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all. But even then men could not be saved unless the Holy Ghost should condescend to come and live in their bodies. Henceforth everything shall be sacrificed for us. God will give all that He has to save His beloved ones. He will make the whole o nature and providence subservient to the complete salvation of His chosen. Kings shall be born and buried; empires shall rise and fall; republics and systems shall come and go; and all shall be the scaffold for the building of the house of God, which is His Church. It is God’ s grandest, highest purpose to gather together in one the whole company of His redeemed in Christ Jesus their Lord and to make them like their Head. III. THE OUTCOME OF THIS. 1. If it be so, that the glorious God has really and of a truth loved us, His people, and valued us at a mighty price, then see how secure His people are! 2. Note, next, the honour which God puts upon them. God has put us poor sinners among His honourables. I know one who, in her unconverted state, had fallen into sad sin, and the remembrance thereof was painful; but the Lord removed the shame by laying home to her soul these gracious words, “ Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honourable.” 3. The certainty of the Lord’ s gathering together all His people. “ I will bring thy seed,” etc. (verses 5-7). If God has determined to glorify Himself by us and in us, let us be in accord with Him. What love we ought to bear to God! (C. H. Spurgeon.)I gave Egypt for thy ransomGod’ s redemption of Israel An amplification of the phrase, “ I have redeemed thee” (Isaiah 43:1). (J. A. Alexander.)Egypt, Ethiopia, Seba “ I give Egypt as thy ransom.” The meaning appears to be that Cyrus will be compensated for the emancipation of Israel by the conquest of these African nations which did not belong to the Babylonian Empire. As a matter of fact, the conquest of Egypt was effected by Cambyses, the son and successor of Cyrus, although it is said to have been contemplated by Cyrus himself (Herod. 1:153), and it is actually (though wrongly) attributed to him by Xenophon. (Prof J. Skinner, D. D.)Genesis 10:7; Psalms 72:10; Isaiah 45:14) was, according to Josephus, Merge, the northern province of Ethiopia, lying between the Blue and the White Nile. (Prof J. Skinner, D. D.) Isaiah 43:4 Since thou wast precious in My sight Precious, honourable, loved “ Because thou art precious in My sight, art honourable, and I love thee” --three co-ordinate clauses. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Precious I. IN GOD’ S SIGHT IS MAN. This is a new view of life--not man’ s natural feeling. Precious as to the farmer land is which has the possibility of development with digging and draining, and so on,--precious as satisfying not the mere craving for usefulness, but the love of a great heart. II. WHEN ABLE TO THIS IN GOD’ S SIGHT WE BECOME . Before we could recognise it we must be grafted into Christ by a true and living faith. This faith, then, makes us honourable. The honour of a Christian is in-- 1. Righteous living. 2. Zeal for the Christian cause. The honour of Christ was to have “ the heathen for His heritage.” Entering into this, the honour of Christians is to win souls; and their “ crown of joy” in seeing many turning from following idols to the living God. 3. Having a conscience void of offence towards God and man. III. THE SEAL OF GOD’ S LOVE IS THE COMFORT TO THE HEART. IV. “ I WILL GIVE MEN FOR THEE,” etc. Nation after nation went down into the darkness before the conquering sword of Israel. God’ s pity, great as it is, spared not! So we have seen men who have lived; and when that tender, all-forgiving time came--when death laid his icy fingers upon his prey, conscience would not allow us to settle with the thought that in the great future all was well with them. If we cannot enter into God’ s inscrutable purposes in this respect we may at least feel that these pass into the arms of death “ for us,” --i.e., in the sense of being warnings to us. (H. Rose Rae.)Precious, honourable, beloved I. Believer, the first wonderful adjective of the text is applicable to thee; thou art “ .” Notice how that preciousness is enhanced beyond the superlative degree by the next words, “ precious in My sight.” There are mock jewels now made which are so exactly like rubies, emeralds, and diamonds that even those who are connoisseurs of precious stones are deceived, and yet these imitations are not precious. They are not precious in the sight of the lapidary, who is able to put them to severer tests, for with him these mimicries are soon proved to be of little value. The degree of preciousness depends much upon the person who forms the judgment; and what estimate can be so accurate as that of God the infallible? What judgment can be so severely exacting as that of God the infinitely holy? This preciousness cannot arise from anything essentially and intrinsically precious in us by nature, for we confess freely that we are even as others in our natural estate. The quarry out of which we were hewn was no quarry of precious things, and the pit out of which we have been digged was no pit in which rare stones were glittering: we were taken from common clay, and out of the ordinary ruin of mankind; yet God saith we are precious, and the fact of our former degradation and fallen estate cannot gainsay the Divine declaration. How is this? It springs out of four consideration-- 1. We are precious in the sight of God because of the memories which duster round each one of us. You are to God most precious, as the token and memorial of the death of the Well-beloved. 2. Things become precious sometimes on account of the workmanship exercised upon them. Many an article has been in itself intrinsically of small account, but so much art has been exercised upon it, so much real work thrown into it, that the value has been increased indefinitely. Now, the Christian is precious to God on account of the workmanship that has been spent upon him. In divers ways the Great Worker has wrought mightily in us, and continued perseveringly to pursue His purpose. 3. Certain articles are precious because of their peculiar fashion. This was the case with the Portland vase, which to any common observer seemed to be of very small value, but because of the extreme beauty of the design, the greatest potter of the age was ready to pay his thousands to possess it. We are precious in God’ s sight, too, because of our fashion and form. We are to be made like unto Christ. 4. Things are precious often because of their relationship. The most precious thing a mother hath is her dear babe. Precious, therefore, in the sight of the Lord are His saints, because they are born in His household, by regeneration made to be His sons and daughters. II. Every child of God is “ .” Every Christian is, in God’ s sight, right honourable and excellent because the Lord in His discriminating grace has made him precious. 1. Every Christian is honourably born. 2. The Christian, moreover, is honourable in rank. God has been pleased to take us from the dunghill to set us among princes. 3. Right honourable in their service are the saints. I know of no service that can be more distinguished than the doing of good. Methinks the very angels before the throne might envy us poor men who are permitted to talk of Christ, even though it be to little children. 4. Christians are honourable also in privilege. It was accounted an eminent honour when a nobleman had the right to go in to his king whenever he willed to proffer a request. Approach to the royal throne was always, among Orientals, considered to be the highest token of regard. You are especially honoured, O ye saints, for ye are “ a people near unto Him.” 5. And every child of God who is what he should be becomes through grace honour-able by his achievements, and this is in some respects the highest form of honour, to be honoured for what you have been enabled to do, to wear a coat of arms which you have fairly won in battle, and hatchments that are not merely attributed to you by the heraldic pencil, but which are due to you because of your victorious feats of arms. To conquer sin, this is no small achievement; to keep down through a long life the corruptions of the flesh, to contend against the world and the devil, these are no deeds of carpet knights. And what an achievement it will be when Satan shall be bruised beneath our feet, as he shall be shortly. III. The last of these notable words is “ BELOVED.” “ I have loved thee.” God hath loved thee eternally. He has loved thee actively and effectually, given His Only-Begotten for thee--an unspeakable gift; given thee everything in Him--a boundless dower of love. He has loved thee pre-eminently, better than the angels, for unto which of them has He ever said, “ Thou wast honourable, and I have loved thee” ? He has loved thee unchangeably. He has loved thee immeasurably. These three things being put together, I want you, practically, as they are your own by faith, to make use of them in other senses. “ Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee.” 1. My Saviour, dost thou say that? Why, those words Thou dost put into my mouth to give back to Thee. Thou also art precious in my sight. Is He not so--precious beyond compare? Therefore is He honourable in our esteem. Will you not honour Him? Shall it not be the continual strife of your soul to get Him renown? “ Thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee.” You have loved Him, but, oh, how little! Look not back, then, except with Penitence, but henceforth say: “ Lord, Thou hast been honourable, I will love Thee. Forgive the past, kindle in my soul a fresh flame of grace.” 2. When you have so used those words turn them in another direction. Apply them next to every child of God. Let us never think of the children of God in any other way than as honouring them. Some of them are very poor, many of them illiterate, some of them not altogether in temper, action, or creed what we might desire them to be; but if they be bought with the blood of Christ they are honourable. The Lord declares them so, and let us not treat them dishonourably. 3. You might use these words in reference to unconverted men and women. There is a certain sense in which they are applicable to all of woman born, for they possess immortal souls. If that be the case, how honourable all men become as objects of our zeal! “ Honour all men.” (C. H.Spurgeon.)The value and rank of the believer One of the worst mistakes we could make would be to judge our condition before God by our outward circumstances. Know ye not that the ungodly have their portion in this life? As for the people of God, they are often in great trials. I. THE LORD COUNTS HIS PEOPLE TO BE . A child of God is often far other than precious in the sight of others. “ The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!” Child of God! thou art precious in God’ s sight, and that is infinitely more than being precious to princes. You live in a little room alone, and few know you, and those who do know you do not think much of you; but the Lord says, “ Thou art precious in My sight.” How can this be? Read the first verse. “ But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel.” 1. It is clear that we are precious to God because we are His creation. The first creation was marred upon the wheel by sin; it became a thing without honour, and came under the curse. But he that believes in Jesus has been created anew by the work of the Holy Ghost. God has in a very special sense created him. 2. He has gone beyond mere creation: having first created the clay, He has formed it. We are not half made or ill made in regeneration; we are formed as well as created. The Lord who has given us spiritual existence is daily giving us fashion and completeness. 3. But what next does He say? “ I have redeemed thee.” We have been bought with precious blood. 4. Another blessing of grace is mentioned in the chapter, and that is that God has called us. “ I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.” He called us, and we answered the call. 5. We have been ever since kept by His rich grace and preserved, and this also has endeared us to the Lord. Do you not think that if you are precious in Christ s sight, then everything that has to do with Him ought to be precious to you? Remember what Augustine said: he declared that he loved every man that had “aliquid Christi” --any thing of Christ--about him. Think once more. If you are precious in God’ s sight, do not despise yourself so as to fall into the follies and vanities which please other men. Nobility has its obligations. II. Being precious, He adds another epithet. “ Since thou wast precious in My sight, THOU HAST BEEN .” How many of God’ s people were the reverse of honourable before they knew the Lord! Many a dishonourable thing they thought, and said, and did, and it is the dishonourable life that makes the dis-honourable man. Let a poor child of God tell out how he believes that he is honourable. 1. We are honourable by birth. Some are proud because they have been born of fathers who have been made baronets, or elevated to the peerage in years gone by; thus by birth they are honourable. Descended from the King of kings, each saint has a lineage before which the pedigrees of princes grow stale and mean. 2. Next, we become honourable by our possessions. Men pay honour to those who are immensely rich. “ All things are yours.” What an estate is that which belongs to every heir of heaven, for we are “ heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” ; and thus we become indeed honourable. 3. And the child of God becomes honourable in rank. A child of God is a prince of the Divine line. 4. We then become ennobled by our relationship. Jesus is “ the first-born among many brethren” ; and we as the younger brethren are all honourable. 5. We are honourable by calling, for He “ hath made us kings and priests unto our God” ; and these among men are the most noteworthy of all callings. 6. By Divine grace we have become honourable by character, for the Lord has sanctified His people. 7. Theirs is an honour-able life; they live for an honourable purpose; they are quickened by an honourable spirit; they are wending their way through an honourable destiny on earth to glory and honour and immortality and life eternal. The lesson to be learned from it is, do not let any child of God be bashful, shamefaced, and cowardly in the presence of men of the world. III. “ Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honourable, AND I HAVE LOVED THEE.” The Lord has not only told you of His love in the secret of your soul, but He has publicly acted love to you. If God loves us so, shall we not love Him? (C. H. Spurgeon.)The child of God should live a dignified life Lions will not be found stealing little bits of meat like cats, or feeding on carrion like dogs. It is not for eagles to hawk for flies; and it is not for children of God to stoop below the glorious level of their new birth. (C. H. Spurgeon.)A great date Date your birthdays from your regeneration; bury the old nature, and live in the new. (J. Parker, D. D.)Therefore will I give men for theePeoples sacrificed for the Jews “ Mankind for thee, and peoples for thy life.” An the world for this little people? It is intelligible only because this little people are to be for all the world. “ Ye are My witnesses that I am God. I will also give thee for a light to nations, to be My salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.) Isaiah 43:5-6I will bring thy seed from the east Obligations of Christians to labour for the conversion of the Jews This prophecy looks far beyond the deliverance of the Jews from their former captivity. It evidently points to that great and glorious deliverance which still awaits them. A deliverance that will eclipse and infinitely outshine their former deliverances from Egypt and from Babylon. Apply the passage to the recall and conversion of the Jews. I. OUR , AS , TO ENGAGE IN THIS WORK. 1. Gratitude for the inestimable benefits which we have derived from them Romans 3:1-2; Romans 9:4-5). 2. As a reparation of the cruel wrongs and injuries which we have inflicted upon them. Every Christian country is deep in this guilt, and every Christian country requires a national expiation of it. 3. From an ardent desire to promote the glory of God. II. OUR TO PROCEED AND IN IT. To some, the attempt to convert the Jews may appear visionary; to others, inexpedient; but they who are acquainted with their Bibles must know that it is not hopeless. We are encouraged to attempt this work-- 1. From the testimony of prophecy. 2. From the very great attention which has already been excited among the Jews. 3. From the present signs of the times. III. THE THAT WILL RESULT FROM THE OF THE JEWS. 1. To the world. It will be the commencement of a new and blessed era to all nations. 2. To the Church of God. The conversion of the Jews shall be the means of bringing in the whole fulness of the Gentiles. (1) To God’ s covenant with Abraham and with his seed you owe all that you are, and all that you hope to be. (2) When Christ sent forth His apostles to preach the Gospel of the kingdom,” He particularly charged them to begin at Jerusalem.” (Earl Gibbee, D. D.) Isaiah 43:6I will say to the north, Give up A double challenge My intention is rather to utilise than to expound the text. I. The first counsel is--GIVE UP. 1. With some of you it is imperative that you give up your prejudices. So have you mis-estimated true religion, that you have been accustomed to denounce it as cant, and to declaim the professors of it as hypocrites. Give up this blind bias, and give the Gospel a fair hearing. Should it turn out to be an imposture, you will at least be the better able to expose its fictions, after having studied its facts; but should it happen to be genuine and true, how ill will it be for you if you continue to despise it! 2. Give up in like manner your selfrighteousness. 3. Give up your sins. You cannot be saved from their consequence if you cling to their company. 4. Give up delays. 5. I might well say to some, give up quibbling. You have never yet come to the point with your own conscience. You have always been so deft at finding out knots and raising questions. What is the good of it? If you are never saved till you get every problem solved, you will never be saved at all. If a vessel were breaking in pieces on yonder shore, and the rocket apparatus had fired a rope into the middle of the vessel, would you not think the crew to be insane if they said to one another, “ We do not understand how it is that the rocket apparatus manages this” ? Oh but they just twist the rope round the mast, get a holdfast, and begin to swing themselves ashore. 6. Give up, you troubled ones; give up despondency; give up the thought that there is no hope; give up the suspicion that Jesus cannot forgive. II. KEEP NOT BACK. 1. Keep not back from attending the means of grace. 2. When you do attend the house of the Lord, keep not back from a simple obedience of the Gospel. 3. When you have looked to Christ, keep not back from the mercyseat. You will begin to pray, perhaps, and find yourself stammering and trembling, but keep not back. Your old sins will half choke you in the recollection of them, but keep not back. If anybody saw you trying to pray they would say, “ What you, you old wretch, you trying to pray!” Oh! but keep not back. ‘ Tis mercy calls you; come and pray. 4. When you have really trusted in Christ, and have learned to pray, then Keep not back from coming forward and making a profession of your faith in Jesus. Be prompt, if you would be precise in serving the Lord. “ I made haste,” said David, “ and delayed not to keep Thy commandments.” 5. To those who are saved, and have avowed their conversion, let me say, Keep not back from the Lord’ s service. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Bring My sons from farThe Church encouraged and exhorted These words were spoken with the view of encouraging the Church: “ Fear not; for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east,” etc. The Lord loves His Church, and He loves to see her full of courage and confidence. He intends that His cause and kingdom shall prosper in the world. God has leisure. I. THE LORD HAS FAR AWAY. “ Bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth” 1. Some are far away in the matter of locality. They are not dwelling where the Gospel is preached; some of them are where roads have not as yet been made, and the commerce of civilisation has not come. 2. He also has many sons and daughters who are far off in a worse sense than this; they are far off as to character, as opposed to God as darkness is to light. 3. There are some who are far off in another sense; it is not so much character that puts them far off from God, as their not being in the way of hearing the Gospel. The kingdom of God has come nigh to most of you. But there are great numbers of persons, even in our own land, who are not in the way of hearing the Gospel. It happens, sometimes, that the more unlikely ones are the first to be converted. 4. The Lord Jesus Christ saves by His grace some who are far off in their own apprehension. It is not really true that they have been more sinful than others, but they think they have. So you see that the Lord has children who are far off from Him in several senses. What does a father or a mother do when the son is a long way off? Why, they like to hear all they can about him; especially, they love to hear from him,--to get a letter or a message from their boy himself. Well, now, our Heavenly Father watches over all His poor wandering children. II. THE LORD IS HOME SOME OF THESE FAR-OFF ONES. In our text He gives this command, “ Bring My sons from far.” To whom is this command spoken? I think we shall be right if we say that it is spoken much in the same way in which the Lord said, “ Let there be light,” “ and there was light.” His fiat did the deed. So God says, “ Bring My sons from far,” and therefore we may be sure that they will be brought to Him. 1. Providence obeys this command. Everything that happens in the mysterious movements of Providence is operating for the bringing in of His chosen. The world is all scaffolding; the Church of Christ is the true building. The like is true on a small scale. All manner of afflictions that come to men are sent to touch their conscience, and to bring them back to God. 2. This seems to me to be a charge given to all God’ s people, as well as to providence, “‘ Bring My sons from far.’ You know Me; you love Me; so, look after My wandering children.” 3. But this command would be of no force unless my text were a fiat. In consistency with this command, the Holy Spirit goes forth, in ways known to Himself, and He brings God’ s sons from far, and His daughters from the ends of the earth. III. THIS IS SAID FOR THE OF GOD’ S CHURCH. 1. This command has a very intimate connection with Christ’ s Church. Our text says, “ Bring My sons and My daughters” ; but the 5 th verse says, “ I will bring thy seed.” Then, saved souls are the seed of the Church as well as the sons and daughters of God. God puts a wonderful honour upon human instrumentality. 2. The Church of Christ has a further interest in these far-off sons and daughters from the fact that not only are they her seed, but they are coming home to her. They will help to strengthen the true Church of God. 3. These far-off ones, who are being brought home, will greatly help us when they do come. Read the 7 th verse: “ Even every one that is called by My name: for I have created him for My glory.” That is the kind of converts that we want, those who are created for God’ s glory. “ But,” say some of the older friends, “ these young converts are so imprudent.” Bless them! The Lord increase their imprudence, for that is one of the grandest things in the world when it is sanctified. It was most imprudent, on the part of the Apostle Paul, to go into those cities where he was stoned, and dragged out, and left for dead. It was most imprudent of him to lose all his reputation and his standing among men simply that he might preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. “ But, sir,” say the objectors, “ these young people, who are coming into the Church, do not know much.” For the matter of that, we do not know much either, so we cannot keep them out on that ground. “ But they have zeal without knowledge.” Yes, and it is quite possible to have knowledge without zeal. Both of those things are bad when alone; but if you have the knowledge, and they bring the zeal, you have only to trade with them a little in the way of barter to your mutual benefit. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 43:7I have created him for My glory The glory of God the end of man’ s creation and redemption What am I? For what purpose was I created? Am I answering the great end of my existence?--are questions which should be frequently proposed by every rational being. I. THE GREAT END OF JEHOVAH IN THE OF MAN WAS THE OF HIS OWN GLORY. By the glory of God we understand the display of His Divine perfections. II. IN THE SCHEME OF HUMAN THE GLORY OF GOD IS AGAIN . The glory of God appears-- 1. In their redemption. 2. In the application of its blessings by the Holy Ghost--in the spiritual renovation of man. 3. In the endeared relation into which those who have been thus redeemed and sanctified are admitted. They are made the “ sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty” ; and their disposition and character correspond with their distinguished privileges. III. THE GLORY OF GOD IS THE GREAT END WHICH ALL THE PEOPLE OF GOD ARE TO SEEK TO PROMOTE. 1. By an increased acquaintance with the Divine perfections, as they are manifested in the work of creation and redemption, and as they are revealed in the Sacred Scriptures, and in the person and character of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2. By a cordial reception of all that God has revealed and promised. 3. By cheerful obedience to His commands. 4. By active efforts in the service of God, and by an entire consecration of all we have to Him. (Essex Remembrancer.) Isaiah 43:10 Ye are My witnesses--What is a witness?--One who testifies--who gives evidence, unfolds, clears up, makes plain, and helps men toright decisions in cases of disputed claims, or where personal integrity is assailed. There are cases on record where such men have been thanked in complimentary terms by the judge, for the clear, firm, straightforward way in which they have given evidence; and it has been seen that but for that witness’ s knowledge of the facts of the case, and the fearless manner in which he told the whole truth, as far as he knew, and nothing but the truth, there would hare been a miscarriage of justice. And so, on the other hand, record is supplied of the false swearing of witnesses, whereby the innocent have been condemned and the guilty have triumphed. Nay more, where the witness has been full of nervous fear, confusion, and hesitancy, and has given his evidence in such a feeble, limping, contradictory manner that his whole testimony has been discredited, and he has vitally injured the cause he professed to serve, so that his friends sincerely wished he had been at the Antipodes at the time instead of in the witness-box. A good witness is of immense value and importance. The term “ witness” is a strong one, one of the strongest, and throbs with life and energy. Standing out for the truth; avowing, declaring firmly; unawed by fear, unmoved by flattery; inflexible to all blandishments; above all price; whom money cannot buy, and sophistry cannot disturb; who will tell the truth at any cost--these are some of the qualities of a good witness. (J. Higgins.)Witnesses The term “ witnesses” is very large and full, and covers the entire ground of evidences. All things in heaven and earth are full of voices bearing witness for the living God. The whole universe, human history, governments, philosophy, science, art, and institutions, are witnessing for God. But God selects and addresses one class in the text. “ Ye,” men of Israel, “ are My witnesses.” These words suggest the high honour, as well as the great responsibility, of a Christian profession. I. FOR WHOM DO YOU WITNESS? God. 1. A primary qualification of a true witness is, an intelligent faith in God. You are called upon to give evidence on behalf of another, but you know little of him, only by repute and inference, and your knowledge of the case in dispute is mainly circumstantial; then, you cannot give your evidence in that clear, ready, candid, and telling manner that a friend can who knows the man personally and closely, and who has the highest regard for his integrity and uprightness, and who is well acquainted also with the whole case down to its very minutia, and who has a clear, settled conviction that justice and right, to the fullest extent, are on the side of his friend. Such a man speaks from knowledge, as well as conviction; he testifies what he knows, and speaks what he has seen; and when the case is heard you feel that your witnessing, compared with his, is but as the drops to the ocean. So it is with the man who has only an intellectual, as compared with the man who has a practical knowledge of God; the latter can testify from personal acquaintance as well as unbounded faith. 2. Not only is faith needed to make you a successful witness, but your courage will be tested in this daily testifying. You are placed in a world whose temper and principles are hostile to sacred things, and while you witness for God, your whole life will be a constant testifying against the world’ s customs, and an open conflict with what it accounts its best possessions; and if you will be a faithful and true witness you will often find yourself going right in the teeth of its tastes, affections, and lusts, and you will discover that the days of idolatry and martyrdom are not yet past, and that if you will faithfully give your evidence for the pure and true, you will need a hero’ s courage and a martyr’ s faith. You shall have your hours of rest and sweet communings that you may grow strong to do and suffer the Father’ s will, but the law of the kingdom is that you must gather in order that you may scatter. The very things of which you are witnesses will show you what you may expect from men, and what they will demand from you in courage and faith. For what do you witness? God--His nature and claims; the Bible--its inspiration and authenticity; Christ--His atoning sacrifice for sin, etc. Will such testimonies as these win you thanks and praise from your fellows, or will they scatter roses along your path? 3. See the dignity of this witnessing. “ My witnesses, saith the Lord.” (1) You are God’ s witnesses by Divine choice and appointment. (2) By solemn obligation. Obligation is placed upon us by the very name we bear to go out and invite others to the feast. Having found the pearl of great price, shall we hoard it up and not tell others where a like precious gem may be found without impairing our own riches? “ Freely ye have received, freely give.” (3) By pledge and covenant. Have we not engaged to be His followers and to do His bidding? II. THE MANNER OF THIS . How do men witness for God? 1. By the living voice. 2. By the eloquence of a holy life. This I take to be the most powerful testimony, and touches the greatest number of agents. 3. By active service in His cause; and by His cause I mean all and everything that in any way touches the true interests of the great human family. Then, how wide the field of labour and service, and how loud the call to the strong, the hardy, the daring. Witness for God, young men, by deeds of noble chivalry; emulate your sires. Witness for God, ye strong men in Israel, who stand to-day in the meridian of life, by faithfully devoting all the energy and force and fire of your being to His blessed service. Witness for God, ye fathers and mothers, as you sit in the pensive shades of evening, by recounting His faithfulness to you throughout your day; the recital will inspire higher hopes of nobler conquests in the younger soldiers of the Cross. 4. By patient resignation when called to suffer for the truth. The prophets, the apostles, the reformers, the Huguenots, the Covenanters, the men of the Mayflower, and some in our own country have stood bravely, and endured their sufferings nobly when the fierce tide of persecution set in against them. (C. H. spurgeon.)Witnesses for Christ I. TO BE WITNESS FOR CHRIST IS A SPECIAL DUTY OF ALL . 1. That is an unwarranted limitation which practically relegates oral witness-bearing to the ministry. The text was spoken to all Israel (Isaiah 43:2). 2. Christ and the Word of God claim the testimony of His people, humble and great; and the duty has been recognised and performed. (1) The case of the apostles (Acts 1:8; Acts 1:22). The apostles’ acceptance and discharge of this duty (Acts 2:32; Acts 3:15; Acts 4:20; Acts 4:33). In after years, when writing their epistles, they were still claiming to be witnesses (1 Peter 5:1; 1 John 1:2). (2) The case of Paul. He was ordained to be a witness (Acts 22:15). He, therefore, made such witness-bearing the work of his life (Acts 26:22). (3) The case of John the Baptist (John 1:7; John 1:15; John 1:32; John 5:33). This witness-bearing is the duty, not only of the great, but also of the humble. (4) The woman of Samaria (John 4:39). (5) The case of the fierce demoniac (Mark 5:19). (6) The command to every one (Revelation 22:17). 3. A query, Have you been witnessing for the Lord? II. WITNESS-BEARING. 1. It is essential for a witness to have some definite knowledge or experience, and to tell it. (1) Previous, therefore, to testifying for Christ, there must be an experimental knowledge of His salvation. (2) A witness must not only have an experience; he must tell it. He must tell it with the purpose of convincing by his testimony. This is not a difficult duty which can be performed only by the learned or the great or the wealthy, but one within the ability of every Christian, even the humblest. (Acts 4:13.) How easy it is to tell the things which have happened to us! How do men seem to delight in telling their experiences! Shall he alone, who is commanded to tell what “ great things the Lord hath done for him,” say “ I can’ t,” or “ I won’ t,” or “ I am ashamed” ? 2. The value of such testimony to a fact. (1) Naturally great and conclusive--more convincing than an argument, and the only way to reach many minds. (2) Yet altogether dependent upon the character of the witness. In the courts, the question is, Is the witness a truthful character? Much more must the value of a Christian’ s testimony depend upon his possessing a consistent, Christian character. 3. The help afforded by the Holy Ghost fur effective witness-bearing. (1) He gives courage and boldness in testifying. (2) He gives power and effectiveness. (3) He gives corroborating testimony (John 15:26-27). III. THE AND THE HONOUR OF A WITNESS-BEARER FOR THE LORD. 1. How humble an appointment must this have seemed to the disciples who, full of anticipations of the establishment by Christ of an earthly kingdom transcending in its glory the kingdom of Solomon, were questioning which “ should be greatest.” Not to be a governor, or a judge, or treasurer, but simply a witness! Is this a position too humble for you? Do you look down upon it? 2. Yet what glory and honour belong to it! Into what company does it introduce us! Of Christ, the faithful and true witness; of the Holy Spirit, who shall testify of Christ; of the apostles, who were witnesses; and the martyrs. And in eternity shall those who confess Him here be confessed of Him. Those who suffer with Him for their testimony shall also reign with Him in His glory. (W. P. Swartz.)God’ s witnesses I. SOME OF THE UPON WHICH ARE CALLED TO GIVE IN FAVOUR OF THEIR GOD. These questions are the most weighty which can be discussed. 1. One of the first is this, Is there such a thing now-a-days as a distinct interposition of God on behalf of man, in answer to believing prayer? The world ridicules the idea. Suppose I call Mr. George Muller, of Bristol. He would say, “ Look at those three orphan houses, containing no less than one thousand one hundred and fifty orphan children, who are entirely supported by funds sent to me in answer to prayer. Look,” says he, “ at this fact, that when the water was dried up in Bristol, and the waterworks were not able to serve sufficient to the people, I, with my more than a thousand children dependent upon me, never asked any man for a drop of water, but went on my knees before God, and a farmer, who was neither directly nor indirectly asked by me, called at my door the next hour and offered to bring us water; and when he ceased because his supplies were dried up, instead of telling anybody, I went to my God and told Him all about it, and another friend offered to let me fetch water from his brook,” Muller is no solitary specimen; we can each of us tell of like events in our own history. 2. There is a question, also, as to the ultimate results of present affliction. The world holds as a theory, that if there be a God, He is very often exceedingly unkind; that He is severe to the best of men, and that some men are the victims of a cruel fate; that they are greatly to be pitied, because they have to suffer much without compensating profit. Now, the Christian holds, first of all, that the woes of sinners are punishments, and are very different from the chastening sorrows of believers. Of these last he believes that all things work together for good to them that love God. What is your testimony with regard to this as a matter of experience? How have you found it? I must speak for myself, and say, “ Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept Thy word.” “ It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” All of you, who have sounded the deeps of soul-trouble, and have enjoyed the presence of Jesus, can distinctly testify the same. 3. A third point very much in dispute is as to the joyfulness of a true believer’ s life. The world’ s theory is, that we are a very miserable set of people who take to religion from the necessity of a naturally melancholy disposition. What is your testimony, Christian? Well, we can say if we be melancholy, joyous people must be very joyful indeed. I saw a Baptist minister this week who was “ passing rich on forty rounds a year” ; owing no man anything. I told him I hoped he would not die with the secret, for I should like to learn the art of keeping house on forty pounds a year. But he said to me, when I smiled at his salary, You see before you the happiest man out of heaven” ; and I know I did too, for his face showed that he meant what he said. True godliness is our natural element now that we have a new nature given us by the Spirit of God. 4. Another point in dispute refers to the moral tendencies of Christianity. There is a growing belief that the preaching of the doctrine of free grace has a tendency to make men think little of sin, and that especially the free invitations of the Gospel to the very vilest of sinners, and the declaration that whoso believeth in Jesus shall be saved, has a tendency to make men indulge in the worst of crimes. Our testimony is, and we speak positively here, that there can be nothing which exerts so sanctifying an influence upon the heart of man, as the doctrine of the love of God in Christ Jesus. And if ye seek proofs, look around. When do you hate sin most? At the foot of the Cross. When do you love holiness best? Is it not when you feel that God has blotted out your sins like a cloud? No truth can so subdue the human mind as the majesty of infinite love. 5. Again, it has been whispered--nay, it has been boasted--that the Christian religion has reached its prime, and though it had an influence upon the world at one time, it is now going down, and we want something a little more juvenile and vigorous to stir the world and produce noble deeds, Now is the time for true believers to vindicate the manliness and force of their faith. It is not true that Christianity has lost its power; and we must make this clear as noonday. The Gospel can nourish heroes as of old; it could furnish martyrs to-morrow, if martyrs were required to garnish Smithfield. There are still a host of facts to prove that the gospel has not lost its power over the minds of men. 6. It is our daily business to be witnesses for God on another question, as to whether or no faith in (he blood of Jesus Christ really can give calm and peace to the mind. Our hallowed peace must be proof of that. 7. The last testimony we shall probably bear will answer the question, whether Christ can help a man to die well or not. We will prove that when the time comes; but how many there have been among us whose names we venerate, who have died rejoicing in the love of Jesus. II. SOME AS TO THE MODE OF . 1. You must witness if you be a Christian. You may try to shirk it if you will, but you must witness, for you are sub poena: that is to say, you will suffer for it if you do not. 2. Every witness is required to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Speak the truth, but let your life be true as well as your words. Live so that you need not be afraid to have the shutters taken down, that men may look right through your actions. Tell out for God all the truth as it is in Jesus, and let your life proclaim the whole teaching of truth. Let it be nothing but the truth. I am afraid many Christians tell a great deal which is not true; their life is contrary to their words; and though they speak truth with their lips, they speak falsehoods with their hands. Suppose, for instance, I draw a miserable face, and say, “ God’ s people are a blessed people,” nobody believes me; and if I say “ Yes, religion has a sanctifying influence upon its professors and possessors,” and put my hand into my neighbour’ s pocket in any sort of way, who will believe my testimony? I may have spoken the truth, but I am also speaking something that is not the truth, and I am thus rendering my witness of very small effect. 3. When the witness is before the court, his direct evidence is always the best. Many professing Christians only give witness of what they have read in books; they have no vital, experimental acquaintance with the things of God. Second-hand Christianity is one of the worst things in the world. 4. A witness must take care not to damage his own case. How many professed witnesses for God make very telling witnesses the other way. 5. Every witness must expect to be cross-examined. “ He that is first in his own cause,” says Solomon, “ seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.” You know how a counsel takes a man and turns him inside out, and though he was one colour before, he looks quite another directly afterwards. Now you, as God’ s witnesses, will be cross-examined. Watch, therefore, carefully watch. Temptation will be put in your way: the devil will cross-examine you. Yon say you love God; he will set carnal joys before you, and see whether you cannot be decoyed from your love to God. You said, you trusted in your heavenly Father; Providence will cross-examine you. A trial will dash upon you. How now? Can you trust Him? You said, religion was a joyous thing; a crushing misfortune will befall you. How now? Can you rejoice when the fig-tree does not blossom, and the flocks are cut off, and the cattle are dead? By this species of examination true men will be made manifest, but the deceiver win be detected. What cross-examinations did the martyrs go through! What fiery questions had they to answer! III. THERE IS ANOTHER WITNESS BESIDE YOU. “ Ye are My witnesses, and My Servant whom I have chosen.” Who is that? Why, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Witnesses for God are not solitary. When they seem alone, there is One with them whom Nebuchadnezzar saw in the fiery furnace with the three holy children. “ The fourth is like unto the Son of God.” “ Fear not,” Christ may well my to all His faithful witnesses, “ I am with you, the faithful and true Witness.” Let us remark, concerning Christ’ s life, that He witnessed the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Would you see God’ s truth? Observe how Jesus Christ, in all His actions, with a sacred simplicity, with a transparent sincerity, writes His heart out in His every act. What testimony you have to God’ s holiness in the life of Christ! In Him was no sin. What witness-bearing, too, there is in the life of Christ to Divine justice! Above all, read Christ’ s witness to God’ s love. The entire circumference of Divine excellence is contained in the life of Christ. You are to be witnesses for Christ, and Christ is to be a witness with you. If you want to know how to discharge your duty, look at Him. (C. H.Spurgeon.)The church a testimony for God to the world I. IT HAS EVER BEEN A OF THE SACRED --the sacred records of the existence of prophecies long before the events to which they relate, of which they can bring satisfactory evidence. II. BY MEETING FOR DIVINE WORSHIP, FOR THE OF THE OF THE CHURCH AND THE OF THE GOSPEL, are perpetually presenting a witness for God: III. THE IS A “ LIVING EPISTLE.” (T. Binney, D. D.)The Christian’ s all-out testimony for God The individual believer, by mingling with the world day by day--without ever speaking a word about religion, it may be--by what he is, and by what he does, is bearing witness for God. By the holiness that marks the man’ s life, others may learn something of the holiness of the God whom he serves; by his integrity, by his high appreciation of the great principles of eternal justice, he may learn something of the justice of God; by the benevolence of the man, by the mode and kind of that benevolence, by his yearning anxiety over the souls of men and the moral misery of the species, by the devotion of his abilities to the removal of these, by his benevolent attachment to those great institutions which are intended to diffuse the knowledge of God’ s Word, men may learn something of that God who would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth; by his superiority to worldly motives and things, and mere sensual gratifications, by his living above the world, by enjoying a blessedness and placidity which worldly men can never penetrate, they may learn something of the spirituality of God, and the blessedness which God can communicate to those whom He makes His own. (T. Binney, D. D.)“ Ye are My witnesses!” --The special function of witness-bearing is not confined to the Jewish people; but, by the express words of the Lord, it is shared by the Church. The Church and the Holy Spirit together bear joint witness to the death, resurrection, and eternal life of the Divine man. This is also the function of the individual believer: not to argue and dispute, not to demonstrate and prove, not to perform the part of the advocate; but to live in direct contact with things which the Holy Ghost reveals to the pure and childlike nature. And then to come forth attesting that these things are so. Just as mathematical axioms have no need to be argued, but simply to be stated, and the statement is sufficient to establish them, because of the affinity between them and the construction of the human mind; so it is sufficient to bear witness to truth, amid systems of falsehood and error. And directly it is uttered, there is an assent in the conscience illumined by the Holy Spirit, which rises up and declares it to be the very truth of God. There are three points on which the Christian soul is called to give witness. I. LET US WITNESS TO A LOVE THAT NEVER TIRES. At the close of the previous chapter we have a terrible picture of Israel as a people robbed and spoiled, snared in holes, and hid in prison-houses; upon whom God was pouring the fury of His anger. Then most unexpectedly God turns to them, and says, “ Fear not! thou art Mine; thou hast been precious in My sight, and honourable and beloved.” 1. “ Thou art Mine.” Our deepest emotions express themselves in the simplest words. 2. “ Precious.” Preciousness is due to hardships undergone, purchase money and time expended, or pains of workmanship; and each of these three conditions has been marvellously exemplified in the dealings of thy God. 3. “ Honourable.” Demean thyself as one whom God delights to honour. It ill becomes princes of the blood-royal to lie in the gutter. 4. “ Beloved.” In the darkest hours of life, when thy feet have almost gone from under thee, and no sun, or moon, or stars appear, never doubt that God’ s love is not less tenacious than that which suggested the epitaph on Kingsley’ s tomb, “ We love; we have loved; we will love.” To know all this, and to bear witness to it; to attest it in the teeth of adverse circumstances, of bitter taunts, and of utter desolation; to persist in the affirmation amid the cross-questioning of a cynical age; never to falter, never to listen to the suggestion of doubt; never to allow the expression of the face to suggest that God is hard in His dealings--this is the mission of the believer. II. LET US WITNESS TO A PURPOSE THAT NEVER FALTERS. God does not say, “ Think of what was done yesterday” ; He goes back on the purposes of eternity; the deeds of Bethlehem and Calvary; the everlasting covenant; the whole trend of His dealings with us. Is it likely that a purpose reaching back into the blue azure of the past will be lightly dropped? It is our duty to bear witness to the far-reach of a purpose that moves in a slowly-ascending spiral to its end. III. LET US WITNESS TO A THAT NEVER . We might have expected the verse would run, “ Thou shalt never pass through the waters, or through the river; thou shalt never have to walk through the fire!” But so far from this, it seems taken as a matter of course that there will be the waters and the fire; the overflowing floods of sorrow; the biting flame of sarcasm and hate. God’ s people are not saved from trial, but in it. We must bear our testimony to this also, that we may clear the character of God from the aspersions of the ungodly. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Witnesses to God The most High has many witnesses to Himself. His works. “ That Thy name is great, Thy wondrous works declare.” Especially the heavens. They “ declare the glory of God.” His providential care of men. “ He left not Himself without witness, in that He “ did good,” etc. The moral nature of men. “ Their conscience also bearing witness,” etc. But His people are God’ s conscious, voluntary, grateful, affectionate, and effective witnesses. I. THE AND MATTER OF OUR WITNESS. To what are we to testify? 1. To man’ s spiritual nature and destiny. Witness abounds to man’ s bodily wants, in the arrangements for their supply; to his social nature, in the institutions of civilised life; to his intellectual being, in books, schools, and colleges; to his artistic faculties, in picture-galleries, museums, etc.; and alas I to his evil nature and habits, in the courts of law, the police and military forces, etc. It is the office of the Church in this world to testify that man has a nature capable of knowing, loving, and serving, his heavenly Father. 2. To God’ s being and character. 3. To the Gospel of Christ. “ Ye shall be witnesses unto Me,” said the Lord Jesus to His disciples, before His ascension. To Christ’ s person, character, and doctrine, His people are bound to testify. They whom the Lord first commissioned, “ with great power gave witness to the resurrection of Christ.” It is the privilege of Christians to tell of the provision made in Jesus for the restoration of men to the Divine favour and image. II. THE MODE OF OUR WITNESS. How are God’ s people to bear the witness required? 1. By speech. 2. By the silent testimony of the life. An unworldly and self-denying life, a gentle and compassionate spirit;--these are effective methods of witnessing to a selfish and sinful world. III. THE OF OUR WITNESS. 1. Christians are competent witnesses, having a personal and experimental knowledge of that to which they testify. 2. They are truthful witnesses. Their power lies in their testifying to facts, not to fables, fictions, fancies. 3. They are consistent witnesses; there is no swerving from their evidence; and there is an instructive harmony between their testimony and the principles of their life. 4. They are bold and fearless witnesses. Religion is sometimes unfashionable or unpopular. IV. THE SPHERE OF OUR WITNESS. To whom is this testimony to be borne? 1. Christians are called to be witnesses to one another; for mutual edification. 2. To nominal, but erring and lukewarm disciples, who need the powerful witness of a living Church. 3. To the unbelieving world. Here is the vast sphere of the Church’ s labour. Practical lessons-- 1. Consider the high honour of the Christian’ s calling. 2. Remember the responsibility attaching to this office “ Freely ye have received, freely give.” 3. Let hearers of the Word receive and act upon the witness that is borne. What heavier condemnation can there be than that of those to whom it must be said,--“ Ye receive not our witness!” (J. Radford Thomson, M. A.)God’ s witnessess :-- I. THE WITNESS BORNE BY THE JEWS IS ONE OF THE MOST OF . 1. They stood out in the presence of the whole world; selected, chosen, taught, disciplined, serrate 2. They were the recipients of the traditions of God. To them was entrusted the sacred law, the symbolical representation of God’ s attributes, and goodness. 3. They were the mediums of prophecy. Through them the Divine Will was heard speaking in accents of warning, mercy, and love. II. THE GENTILE CHURCH WAS TO DEVELOP, CARRY ON, AND THE WORK BEGUN BY THE Jews. The work entrusted to them is of infinite importance. 1. The Church is God’ s candlestick in the midst of our evil and dark world. It bestows the radiance of everlasting light on all around. 2. The Church is God’ s sun, that warms the dead and cold hearts of men into life. National life would freeze into eternal death were it not for this agency. 3. The Church is the salt of the earth, keeping it from moral putrefaction. Society would rot without, this antiseptic influence. (Homilist.)Antropomorphism Granting that there is a Divine Being of whom we can at best Know exceedingly little, we have nothing to draw upon for our conceptions of Him but the best and highest of the phenomena of the universe within reach of our observation; and we have no language in which to express our conceptions but that which is more, or less anthropomorphic. And it is not only necessary to do this in order to satisfy our natural aspirations, but it is eminently becoming so to do. For it accords best with the demands of reason, and also with our instincts of piety and reverence. Anthropomorphic conceptions of God are not therefore necessarily false because they are anthropomorphic; nor are they necessarily false because they are very inadequate. They may be true as far as they go, and may be trusted provisionally till more light and wider experience enable us to relinquish them for truer conceptions. It is very important to this argument to keep continually before our minds the fact of man’ s superiority and supremacy over the whole portion of the universe within human ken. With all its grandeur and glory and benignant power, we put the sun lower in the scale of being than the poor, flail man who owes his life and all its blessings to its heat and light. And why is this, if not because we have found no trace in the sun of consciousness or intellect; still less of affection and moral sense? 1. Man’ s superiority over other animals is admitted to consist chiefly in the comparatively enormous preponderance of his reasoning faculties--which have at length given rise to articulate language, to literature and to abstract reasoning, to say nothing of the infinite variety and number of skilful inventions. 2. Man is also distinguished from the lower animals by the possession of a moral sense, which means not a mere category of things which he may, and of things which he may not, do, but a sense that he is bound to do what is believed to be right and because it is right, even though he may not personally benefit by it. 3. Man is distinguished by the capacity for an altogether nobler affection than that usually manifested by the other animals. It is true, they share with us the possession of sexual and parental and sometimes of social love, and under the influence of domestication are capable of the purest and most devoted friendships, both for man and for their fellow-creatures; but man is capable of the highest known form and degree of love, and has manifested heroic devotion for his fellow-man such as no animals have ever shown. 4. Man is by nature religious, and though he himself is the noblest being on earth, yet he persists in believing in some One infinitely higher than himself, to whom, in some yet undefinable way, he and all creatures owe their being, on whose bounty all things depend, whose will it is the main duty of life to discover and obey, and who is conscious of our heart’ s reverence and love. That man pictures to himself a God proves one of two things; either that he is, in this particular, inferior or superior to the other animals. If there be a God, corresponding however imperfectly with man’ s ideal, then it is a mark of superiority to have imagined one; but if there be no God, it is a mark of inferiority to have made such a frightful departure from the truth, to have committed such a blunder. So long as external nature was regarded as superior, it was natural and rational for man to conceive of the forms or forces of nature as deities. But when the superiority of man dawned upon the human mind, by reason of its own progress in knowledge and goodness, then the symbols of deity were no longer to be drawn from the outer world, but from man himself, his reason, his conscience, and his heart. Why? Because these were the highest forms of existence known to him. So it must be Anthropomorphism or Atheism. Make what provision he will mentally, make what concessions to his own conscious infirmity, make what margin of error for inevitable ignorance, his God must be like himself. So far like as to think, and to know and to be capable of communion and affection with those who seek His face. Only let us beware of rushing into the opposite error of supposing that the most perfect man that ever lived is good enough or great enough to be a perfect representation of God, who is as far above the “ brightest and best of the sons of the morning” as the heavens are higher than the earth. There are grave difficulties in the moral government of the world; in fact, if this world be the end of existence for many living creatures, men included, there would be much to shock our moral sense and lead us to impute either imbecility or criminal injustice to the Author and Governor of the world. Now, we have two means of surmounting these difficulties, but only through Anthropomorphism. (1) There is the conscience which believers in God regard as having a Divine authority--not to lay down specific rules for conduct, but to give supreme sanction to the claims of duty when perceived. We naturally attribute conscience, or a reverence for the right, to the Author and Lord of our consciences; and this is absolutely essential to our conception of God. This is one help to us in facing the moral difficulties of the world. It gives us time. It enables us to say, “ Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (2) The other help is that man in his best estate perceives the superiority of goodness over happiness, knows also by experience how many of the noblest blessings come to us disguised as pain and trouble and even sin; moreover, he knows full well that he would never, if he could help it, inflict any pain or injury upon any creature but for its own ultimate good, while he would put himself to the greatest pain in inflicting it upon others if he saw no other way of securing that final good. Now, piety and reverence enable us to project this goodness of heart into the ideal world, and to attribute to God the same inflexible devotion to the well-being of His creatures, and to be assured that God has resources of which we know nothing, whereby the inequalities and injustice of the present order will one day be fully justified by the end achieved. And when confronted by the reproach of Anthropomorphism, our only reply can be, “ Do you think God can possibly be below the highest moral standard of His creatures? As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts.” (C. Voysey, M. A.)Witnesses for God “ Ye,” men of Judah, people of Israel, “ are My witnesses” --witnesses that I am, and witnesses of what I am. The nations round about you worship idols. All the world hath corrupted itself, and gone astray, and worships and serves the creatures more than the Creator. For more than a thousand years ye have been My witnesses. Such is the force and import of our text. But God has other witnesses likewise. “ The invisible things of Him, even His eternal power and Godhead, are clearly seen, being revealed by the things which He hath made.” We call on you, young Englishman and Englishwoman, for your own souls’ sake, for your country’ s sake, and for the world’ s sake, to become witnesses for God. In order to which these three things are necessary-- I. THE OF GOD. If you would know Him you must study the Book in which He is revealed. II. STRONG FAITH IN GOD AND IN HIS CHRIST. Moses could not have witnessed for God as he did, nor could Paul, nor Peter, without such faith. The morals and practices and spirit of our age render a deep and abiding faith essential to a stable and successful witnessing for God. Now, such faith you cannot have by merely wishing to have it, or by sighing after it. It is born of light, and nursed in light. To be of the highest, truest, strongest order, it must be both of the intellect and of the heart. III. A WHOLE-HEARTED FOR GOD. “ Be a whole man in everything,’” said Joseph John Gurney to his son,--“ a whole man in the playground and a whole man in the schoolroom.” We must be whole men in our witnessing for God, not two-minded but one-minded, the conscience not divided from the will, and the will not divided from the conscience; the lips not divided from the heart, nor the heart from the lips, nor the hands from either. Vacillation and halfheartedness will make our testimony of none effect. There need be no roughness or ruggedness of character in order to all this; Jesus was very gentle. The Christian, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, cannot be hid. (J. Kennedy, D. D.)Witnesses for God I. TO HIS TRUTH. They know His truth; they have felt. His truth; they maintain His truth against all opposition. His Word is truth, as Jesus Himself declared; and all God’ s people, in all ages, are witnesses to His truth. It is a remarkable fact, but it cannot be denied, that wherever the truth of Scripture hath taken hold of a man’ s heart, in whatever part of the world he may live, he entertains concerning the Scripture the very same opinion that his brother or sister does in another part of the world. We all set to our seal, as we read this Book, that God is certainly true. II. TO THE POWER OF HIS GRACE. You, as witnesses, say, Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what He hath done for my soul.” III. TO THE OF HIS . (W. Curling, M. A.)God’ s witnesses summoned to testify to the world There is one important respect in which all objects in the universe, from the atom to the archangel, unite--all are “ witnesses” for God. The visible reveals the Invisible. I. THE CHURCH OF GOD IS TO BE HIS WITNESS TO THE WORLD. The Jewish Church was designed for this; a local stationary witness. Look at its geographical position; it was central. Judaea was situated at the top of the Mediterranean, and, like the sun in the centre of the solar system, it was always in the sight of the nations. Zion, like the Pharos of the world, was always flinging its light over the gross darkness of heathenism. When the fulness of time was come the Christian Church was set up for the purpose of Christ its Founder. Jehovah said, “ I have given him for a witness to the people.” He was the image of the invisible God. He selected men--His disciples--for the same purpose to be witnesses for God. II. THE CHURCH IN EVERY AGE HAS OR IN AS IT HAS THIS MISSION. 1. The period of its first and greatest activity was the season of its greatest prosperity. The banners of the Cross floated over the altars of idolatry, and caused it to triumph in every place. 2. The cessation of its activity was the cessation of its prosperity. Witness the dark ages under the influence of a corrupt Christianity, a Christianity heathenised by Rome. 3. Every return of the Church to its missionary activity has been Divinely blessed. III. ITS MOTIVES AND ITS FOR ITS MISSION ARE GREATER NOW THAN EVER. The first witnesses for Christ required no higher motive for duty than the command of the risen Lord. He gave the command, and they went forth. But whilst there is the same necessity for witnessing now as then, the wants of the world are more urgent. The map of the world in the days of the disciples was only as a map of a province compared to that which lies open to us. Look at it. What a fearful expanse of darkness around, and that darkness how dense! What hideous enormities does it conceal! By a very slight effort of the imagination we can cause the hosts of evil to pass before us. First come the Jews out of all nations under heaven, each one with a “ veil over his heart,” and stained with the blood of the Just One. Next, nominal Christians by myriads. Then comes the crescent of imposture, followed by Turkey and Persia. This reminds us of another inducement, the testimony of the Gospel is Divinely adapted to them. Each member of the Church should feel a solemn impression that he is a witness for God. In connection with this there should be a heart-unity between all witnesses, and a spirit of self-sacrificing liberality. (J. Harris, D. D.)The witness of consistency “ Early in this year,” says a Canon of our Church, a recent traveller in India, “ I stood by the side of one of our missionaries while he preached to a crowd of natives in one of the largest cities in our Indian Empire. I shall never forget the rapt attention with which he was listened to up to a certain point. But all at once the eyes that had been so keenly fixed upon him were withdrawn, and the men exchanged scornful smiles and murmurs, and shook their heads in doubt, and I inquired the cause of this sudden change of demeanour, and was told that the preacher had been describing the visible fruits of conversion to God. He had described the Christian as temperate, chaste, forgiving and forbearing, pure in heart and in life. But this was too much for his hearers. They saw Christians day by day, and their observations gave the lie to it, and they turned away from the preaching of the Word. “ A native of high character and education” in “ another city” said to the same clergyman, Let Christians only practise one-tenth of what they profess and India would soon be converted. What we want from you is not more Christianity, but more Christians.” (Church of England Pulpit.)Practical witnessing for God William Ewart Gladstone, while at Eton, attended a dinner at which an indecent toast was proposed. When all the others rose to drink it he turned his glass upside-down, and remained seated, burying his face in his hands.. Keith Falconer kept hung on the wall of his room at Harrow a roll of texts which told every one quietly, yet distinctly, on whose side he was. (Sunday School Chronicle.)God’ s witnesses often inconsistent The world not only does not believe us, but does not believe that we ourselves believe what we say. I remember a very striking circumstance which a neighbouring minister mentioned to me in proof of this. There was in the town in which he preached a determined and avowed infidel, believing in neither Christianity nor God. He saw this man one Sunday evening in the place of worship. He was preaching on some of the great verities of the faith, and the duties resulting therefrom. As he was the next morning passing the door of the man, he was standing at it. He said: “ I saw you at worship last night, and was rather surprised to see you there, because you don’ t believe what I was saying” “ No,” says he; “ nor you either.” “ Indeed! No. Why, if I were to believe the things you affirm to be true, which you set forth, and which are written in your books, I should not know how to contain myself; I should feel their importance so much that I should exhibit them wherever I went; I should not know how to hold in the enthusiasm which they would excite. But I don’ t believe them, nor do you, or you would be very different people from what you are.” (T. Binney.)The value of personal testimony Many years ago now, before the Australian goldfields were opened, a party of experts were sent up the country to explore the district and report on the probability of gold being, found there. They made their survey, sent in their report, gave it as their opinion that gold would be found, that there were “ auriferous strata,” etc., but somehow or other no one was greatly interested. Nobody disputed their conclusions, and nobody acted on them. But some time after, one market day, some shepherd lads came down to Melbourne from the bush with some lumps of yellow ore in their pockets. “ Why,” said those to whom they showed it, “ that’ s gold! Where did you get it?” “ Oh” ! said they, “ we got it up country; there’ s plenty of it up our way.” Next morning there was a stampede--everyone that could raise a cart was off to the diggings. Now, my brother, you may not be able to preach, but does your life show that you have got the nuggets? (E. W. Moore.) Isaiah 43:11I, even I, am the Lord Royal proclamation I. THE OBJECT OF OUR WORSHIP. The heavenly majesty asserted by Himself. “ I am the Lord.” A self-existent Being, contrasted with idols--dwelling in His own eternity, independent, everlastingly immutable, the eternal Jehovah. Mark how this glorious self-existent Being is subject to none, exists in Himself, the source of all being, and subject to no other beings. Shall we, for a moment, trifle in the presence of such a being? If I look a little further at this glorious self-existing Being, as revealed in “ His” Word, I find “ Him” manifesting “ Himself” as sanctity itself inherent. Therefore, again and again, He says to Israel of old, I will be sanctified before all people; and again, “ Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.” Moreover, this glorious self-existent Being, this source of all being, and subject to none either in heaven or in earth, has made Himself known in the attribute of holiness by solemn oath. “ I have sworn by My holiness that I will not lie unto David.” Moreover, if we pause to think of His glorious attributes, all of them are expressly supernatural, transcendently glorious, and Divine. Advance a step farther, to notice the veneration and adoration to be given to this glorious Being in His Trinity of Persons. The glorious self-existent Being is sovereign over all worlds. II. THE CLAIM TO THE OF BEING A SAVIOUR. “ Besides Me there is no Saviour.” Some men make a Saviour of their priest. Some of their alms and their doings. Some will make a part Saviour of Christ, and a part saviour of their own doings and repentings and believings, and they lose both, and must be despised as neutralists. But “ Beside Me,” the Eternal God the Lord, “ there is no Saviour” It was the Father’ s purpose of love that ordained salvation. Then, Christ, as a Saviour, received salvation to centre entirely in Himself. This salvation is by the Holy Ghost. Mark the unity of all the Divine Persons in this salvation, which is exclusive. There is no other Saviour, consequently no salvation but in our covenant God. (J. Irons.) Isaiah 43:13I will work, and who shall let it?--Salvation through judgment The words (Isaiah 43:13) intimate that the salvation foretold comes in the way of judgment. Jehovah will effectually intervene; and when He does this, who can turn it back, so that it shall not be done? (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)A great work I. THE WORKER AND THE WORK TO BE DONE. The worker is God Himself. He “ worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” And the work which He hath purposed with regard to the salvation of His people is to gather together in one the children of God which are scattered abroad. There are, however, subordinate workers whom God employs for this purpose--ministers of the Gospel, whose chief work lies in the endeavour to win souls to Christ, who are called labourers together with God--workers together with Him; and it is theirs to preach the Word, the substance of which Word is Christ--to invite sinners to Christ by showing His excellency and dignity as the Son of God, His tenderness and sympathy as the Son of man--by showing to sinners the perfection of His redeeming work. But as ministers are fellow-workers together with God by virtue of their office, so may private Christians be. II. THE FIELD OF WORK. God’ s field of labour is everywhere. His object is to gather His people together who are still lying in darkness and sin. For this glorious end He employs various means. His means are directed particularly to individuals. III. THE CENTRE IN WHOM THE WORK IS . This, in one word, is Christ. It is the simple knowledge of a dependence upon Christ’ s person by which God works out His purpose of salvation. But I should not be preaching to you the whole counsel of God if I omitted to put before you also the side of your responsibility. (J. W. Reeve, M. A.) Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing The future better than the past How dear to the heart of the Israelites was the remembrance of the nation’ s deliverance from Egypt and their journey to the Land of Promise! To those great events the religious teachers of the people continually turned for illustrations and proofs of God’ s greatness and power and goodness and love. From this well used and familiar store of imagery the figurative expressions of the text are derived. Dropping the figures put of sight for a moment, we may say this is a gracious promise of suitable help and supply, even under circumstances most difficult and precarious. It is intended as an encouragement to repentance and to renewed consecration to God. It is the old message that God will give to all who look to Him everything that is requisite for spiritual progress and success. In presence of every untried enterprise; on the threshold of every unknown experience; in the hearing of every Divine call, this promise floats as a banner before the soldier’ s eye, and rings as the sound of a trumpet rings upon the soldier’ s heart. (T. Stephenson.)“ A new thing” 1. This messenger of God proclaims, and he may be regarded as in this respect representing all God’ s messengers of grace to the world, “ Look not on the former things” --listen not now, in these moments of penitence and prayer, to those threatening voices which tell of an inexorable law of repetition, of the relentless working out of a foregone conclusion and appointed destiny--old things may pass away, all things may become new. “ Behold, I will do a new thing!” 2. This “ new thing,” in the instance before us, is compared with the opening of a path in the wilderness, and the supply of rivers of waters in the desert. The pathless wilderness of the future is before us--no foot has trodden it,--it is beset by unknown difficulties and unseen perils; but even their God will make a way, a road upon which His people shall travel in security and with unerring certainty to their appointed destination. And although the heat of the sun may beat fiercely down upon that path, drying up every particle of moisture and consuming all pleasant vegetation, so that it may seem most unlikely that life can be sustained in the journey across such an arid waste, God can and will provide all that is needed; and rivers of water, an abundant and continuous supply, shall be found there. Preparation and guidance! These are the ideas involved in the promise to make a path. Difficulty, peril, privation! These are the thoughts which associate themselves with the desert and the wilderness. (T. Stephenson.)The new thing This doing a new thing is the very achievement which many voices of high authority are assuring us, just now, is impossible with God. The power that carries on the universe, they tell us, never does a “ new thing.” What seems to us the new is only the old revealing itself in an unexpected way. Continuity is the law that governs all things. It is the language of those whose symbol of deity is an interrogation mark, or the sign for an unknown quantity, or a fetter, as they may happen to prefer. It is a phase of thought by no means modern, although sometimes imagined to be such. It never found more telling expression anywhere than at the lips of one who flourished a thousand years before Christ, more or less, and who put it thus: “ The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new?” I suggest that we take up the ancient challenge. I will mention some of the ways in which Christ may be said to have broken in upon the monotony and uniformity of human life and thought with something new. He brought us-- I. A NEW OF GOD. II. THE TRUTH ABOUT THE OF SINS. III. A NEW HOPE. (W. R. Huntington, D. D.) Isaiah 43:20 The beast of the field shall honour Me Hope respecting the profanest persons I have sometimes laid hold of this text, and have been comforted by it concerning the conversion of the very worst of men. Some people say, “ What is the good of going among blasphemers and profane persons with the Word of God?” Well, if the beast of the field, and the dragons, and the owls shall honour Him, we need never think of leaving any of the sons of men to perish. It is not what they are, but what God is, that should give us confidence concerning them. (C. H.Spurgeon.) Isaiah 43:21 This people have I formed for Myself The altering of God’ s purpose It is the burden of the Book of Deuteronomy that God chose the seed of Abraham to be a peculiar nation unto Himself above all peoples on the face of the earth. Those two words “ people” and “ inheritance” are perpetually linked together in the Bible. Jehovah’ s design is clearly declared in the significant Passage--“ They shall show forth My praise.” By a long process of careful training it was His intention so to form the people that their history should turn men’ s thoughts to the glory and beauty of His own nature, and elicit perpetual adoration and praise. On three separate occasions they thwarted Jehovah. They came nigh unto cursing instead of praising. They gave men false conceptions of His character. And on three separate occasions they had to learn the temporary suspension and postponement of His purpose. 1. In the wilderness they murmured against Him, and were sent back to wander in the waste for forty years. 2. After nineteen kings had ruled from David’ s throne, they were exiled to Babylon for seventy years. 3. Since the rejection of the Beloved Son, they have been driven into all the world to be a by-word and a proverb. For years God’ s purpose has been under arrest. It shall, no doubt, be ultimately fulfilled. This change of purpose on the part of God has been the opening of the door for us; and the words which were originally addressed to Israel are now applicable to ourselves. By the lips of the apostles Paul and Peter we are told that Jesus gave Himself for us, to redeem us and to purify us unto Himself, a people for His own possession; so that we are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’ s own possession, that we may show forth the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvellous light. We are what we are, that we may show forth God’ s praises; but if we fail to realise His ideal, for us, too, there will be the inevitable postponement of His purpose. I. THE PURPOSE OF GOD. “ That they should show forth My praise.” We may promote God’ s praise by suffering, as much as by active service in every life there are three regions. That of the light, where duty is clearly defined; that of the dark, where wrong is no less clearly marked; and a great borderland of twilight, where there is no certainty, where dividing lines are not distinct, and where each man must be fully persuaded for himself. It is here, however, that the temper of the soul is tested. II. THE OF HIS PURPOSE. “ Ye shall know the revoking of My promise” (Numbers 14:34, R.V., marg.). There is nothing more terrible in the history of a soul than to frustrate the Divine ideal in its creation and redemption, and to prevent God deriving from us that for which He saved us. 1. Prayerlessness (verse 22). Nothing is a surer gauge of our spiritual state than our prayers. 2. Neglect of little things (verse 23). The people were probably careful of the larger matters of Jewish ritual, but neglectful of the smaller details. None of us goes wrong at first in the breach of the great obligations of the law. 3. Lack of sweetness. “ Thou hast bought Me no sweet cane” (verse 24). It is possible to do right things from a hard sense of legalism, in which the sweetness and lovableness of true religion are painfully wanting. Many are the instances of this change of purpose. David substituted for Saul; Solomon for Adonijah; the Church for the Hebrew people; Western for Eastern Christianity; the Moravians and Lollards for the established Churches of their time. III. THE OF GOD’ S PURPOSE THROUGH OUR PAIN. God’ s purpose cannot be ultimately set aside. So with Israel, and with each of us. But the cost, how enormous! (F. B. Meyer B. A.)The chief end of man 1. God, who made all the lower creatures for some special use, assuredly did not make man, and endow him with those noble powers, without a grand distinctive design or end worthy of Himself and them. 2. This end cannot possibly be anything bounded by his transitory life. 3. The end for which chiefly we were made must needs be that which the Scriptures tell of: “ This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise,” --even to know the ever-blessed God; to serve God; to honour, love God; to enjoy God; and to be everlastingly blessed in the knowledge, service, and enjoyment of Him. (1) This end is a very high and noble one. (2) A most reasonable and righteous end. (3) A necessary and indispensable end,--as it is the end which God actually made us for; it is altogether indispensable that we follow and fulfil it, unless we are to live in a terrible conflict with our Maker, and so inevitably perish. For if God made us to serve and honour Him, and we do it not, then, to put it at the very lowest, we are useless and unprofitable on God’ s earth; and we are accustomed to cast away from us things useless for the thing they were designed for. But then, most things of this world which are useless do not on that account require to be positively hurtful. But it is otherwise with us. If God made us to serve and honour Him, and we pay no regard to this end, then, necessarily, we dishonour God. If we serve not God, we must serve the devil. If we serve not the true God, we must serve false gods,--creatures of all kinds, to which we give the regard, affection, trust that are due to God, and so unavoidably fall under the sentence of the law of His moral government, “ The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” But this volume has not come to us only to tell the end or use we were made for, but to tell also how we may fulfil it--ay, how we now, after having failed to live for the end, may yet know and serve and love and everlastingly enjoy God. The whole Bible may, as to this vital matter, be summed up in one grand word--Christ. (C. J. Brown, D. D.)The delight of God in forming a people for Himself In the good work of forming a people for Himself, God has been engaged from the beginning. The subjects of it have been more numerous in some periods than in others; but in every age He has created a seed to serve Him. And in future times--when He who sits on the throne shall “ make all things new” --this people shall abound in number, and “ flourish like grass of theearth.” And what a thought is this, that in us, if we be indeed new creatures, God delights. I. The first ground of the Divine satisfaction in this people which I mention arises from THE NATURE OF THE WORK , the character of the effect produced. The effect produced by the forming power of God is--a people on whose immortal spirits His image is impressed, the chief features of which are--knowledge, righteousness, and holiness,--a people enlightened and guided by heavenly truth, sanctified and regulated by Divine love,--a people assimilated to God in understanding and heart, in purpose, in action, in blessedness. If a person be not the partaker of a Divine nature, the most amiable and eminent qualities which he may possess can ultimately contribute only to increase his capacities and his means of doing evil, and to render him pre-eminent in disgrace and in misery. II. In forming a people for Himself, God gives AN DISPLAY OF HIS GLORY. In no work has He communicated so much of Himself, has He given so luminous and extensive a display of His glory, as in that which we are now contemplating, viewed in its manifold relations. Advert to His sovereignty and His power, both which the text obviously suggests. III. God delights in forming a people for Himself, because He thus HIS SON. He bears testimony to the dignity of His person, to the worth of His sacrifice, to the efficacy of His mediation. IV. GOD FORMS A PEOPLE FOR HIMSELF, THAT THEY MAY SHOW FORTH HIS PRAISE; and for this reason also He delights in them. He creates them anew in Christ, not merely that He may display His perfections in the production of so excellent an effect, but that they may contemplate and adore the excellencies which He thus manifests; not merely that they may be a mirror to reflect the splendour of His glory to others, but that they themselves may utter abundantly its praises. They praise Him with their hearts. They praise Him with their lips, by formal acts of devotion; by the celebration of His ordinances; by the public confession of His name; by commending His service to others; by ordering their speech in His fear, and to the use of edifying. And they praise Him with their lives, by avoiding what He forbids, by doing what He requires, by submitting to what He inflicts; and thus do homage to His authority, wisdom, and love. V. God rejoiceth over this people, because HE IN THEIR . (J. Stark.)Showing forth God’ s praise It has been said that the word translated “ praise” is from the same root as “ Hallel” in “ Hallelujah,” and that it means, first, a clear and shining light; next, a sweet flute-like sound: from which we learn that the people of God are to reflect His glory until it shines from their lives, attracting others to it; and that they are to speak His praise in resonant and harmonious sounds that shall arrest and attract the listening ear. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.) Isaiah 43:22 But thou hast not called upon Me, O Jacob Insincerity in religion It is a common observation that there is very little sincerity in the world. We are now concerned with insincerity of a deeper and more serious character,--insincerity in religion. I propose to offer some remarks which may serve to detect a mere formal profession of religion. The subject on which I shall chiefly remark is the habit and enjoyment of secret prayer. I. MANY HAVE FOR A WHILE IN HABITS OF SECRET PRAYER, AND YET ARE ONLY FORMAL . II. MERE FORMAL AFTER AWHILE LEAVE OFF PRAYER IN A GREAT DEGREE. III. It is evident that these formal worshippers are utterly deceived in thinking they are converted: THIS IN PRAYER SHOWS THE CHANGE WAS NOT REAL. How are we to distinguish the feelings of a mere formalist from the presence of God’ s renovating Spirit? 1. They have not the spirit of prayer. Theirs is not prayer suggested, inspired by God’ s Holy Spirit. 2. Mere professors, being deficient in secret prayer, soon fall back again into their former sins and worldliness. 3. It is utterly impossible for you to be saved so long as you live in neglect of prayer. (1) To neglect prayer is utterly inconsistent with the love of God, which is the element of true religion. (2) Contrary to the fear of God. This is expressed by the opponents of Job. “ Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.” (3) Utterly at variance with that holiness without which no man shall see God. (4) Allowed negligence of prayer cannot be reconciled with the hope of dwelling with God for ever. We offer four motives for holy perseverance in prayer. 1. It is wholly necessary for your salvation. “ If any man draw back, My soul hath no pleasure in him.” 2. Take heed to yourselves, and be exceedingly watchful, that you may persevere in this duty, and maintain the spirit of vigorous piety. Let us never seek to shelter ourselves under mere doctrines, such as, true saints shall persevere. 3. To urge you to perseverance in the duty of secret prayer, think how much you need the help of the Spirit of God. 4. The fourth motive for perseverance in fervent prayer is, the great advantages that result from it. (W. B. Mackenzie, B. A.)A fast sermon There are two distinct charges-- 1. A neglect of prayer. 2. Growing weary of God. The point is this: people are at a dangerous pass when they begin to neglect prayer. Eliphaz layeth it as a heavy charge upon Job (Job 15:4): “ Surely thou restrainest prayer before God.” When conscience is clamorous, wants pressing, and yet men cannot find the heart to go to God, it is a sad case. So the heathen are described to be the families that call not upon His name (Jeremiah 10:25); that is, that do not acknowledge and worship Him. “ The workers of iniquity,” of what religion soever they profess themselves to he, “ they call not upon the Lord” (Psalms 14:4). The evil of this will appear if we consider-- I. WHY THE DUTY WAS . 1. It is a notable part of God’ s worship, or a serious calling to mind His presence and attributes. To withdraw from prayer is to withdraw from God; and to be unwilling to pray is to be unwilling to draw nigh to God, or to have any serious thoughts of His being and attributes. 2. It is a profession of our dependence. 3. It is a duty wherein the mysteries of our most holy faith are reduced to practice. There are two great mysteries in the Christian religion--the doctrine of the Trinity, and the mediation of the Son of God. 4. One special end of prayer is to nourish communion and familiarity between God and us; for it is the converse of a loving soul with God, between whom there is a mutual complacency. 5. Prayer is required to preserve in us a sense of our duty, and to keep the heart in better frame. 6. To engage our affections to heavenly things. 7. To be a means of comfort and spiritual refreshing. The soul is disburdened of trouble by this kind of utterance. II. THE CAUSES WHY MEN NEGLECT IT. 1. Atheism is at the root. When men neglect prayer, either they believe there is no God or no providence. 2. Security. 3. Coldness in religion and weariness of God. 4. Want of peace breeds loathness and backwardness, as David hung off Psalms 32:3) till he had recovered his peace. 5. Want of spiritual strength. He that hath lame joints cannot delight in exercise which is a pleasure to them that are strong. (T. Manton, D. D.)Thou hast been weary of Me, O IsraelWeary of God Marvellous words! We are not surprised to find God saying to us, “ Thou hast wearied Me” ; but it is astonishing that God, to His own people, should complain, “ Thou hast been weary of Me.” We are not astonished that the creature wearies of the creature, man of man, saint of saint. This is in the very nature of things; it arises from the limitation of the creature’ s powers and resources: no creature can be to another what every creature wants. God in Christ alone can slake the thirst and meet the hunger of our needy souls, and it is worse than useless for men to try to take the place of God in their ministrations and relations to each other. And that God should stoop to say this is also marvellous. Many of you would be too proud to make this acknowledgment if you were placed in a similar position with respect to your fellow-creatures; but here is God reasoning with those whose hearts have wandered from Him, and saying, with all the fidelity of a father, and the pleading tenderness of a mother, “ Thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel.” Many a parent may learn of God even in such matters as rebuke and chastisement. The power of rebuke is very intimately connected with the spirit in which it is administered; you may so rebuke a fault in a child as, by the very rebuking, to attach the child more strongly to yourself; or you may so rebuke as to increase the distance between your child and yourself, and at the same time to confirm him in his fault. Listen to God’ s rebukes, and be “ followers of God, as dear children.” The form in which this being weary of God showed itself was partly the restraint of prayer. “ Thou hast not called upon Me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel.” It is very likely that the form of prayer was kept up; yet God says, “ Thou hast not called upon Me.” The day was when they had called upon God first, and upon God last. But now they restrained prayer, and they tried to carry their burdens by the independent strength (and their strength was weakness) of their own shoulders; or they tried to bear their sorrows with the sympathy and assistance which their fellow-creatures and their fellow-saints could administer. God noticed this conduct of His people, and He rebuked it. And not only in the restraint of prayer was this weariness manifested, but also in the neglect of sacrifice; in indifference towards the ordinances of God, and carelessness in the worship of God; in disregard to the will of God; and also in fretful discontent under the dispensations of God (Malachi 1:2.). The prophet here represents Israel as sent into captivity, and God as justifying His procedure on the ground of Israel s own spirit and conduct. It is a fault common to God’ s saints. I. THE NATURE OF THIS EVIL. We have already indicated it, but we may put it in another light. We may show it, for example, in contrast. This people, God says, “ have I formed for myself; they shall show forth My praise.” He made us in His own image, that we might reflect Himself, and in the sight of which we might rejoice. And He made us in His own image, that we might reflect Him to each other and to other people; while, for the same object He redeems us. God, in redeeming us, forms us for Himself, that we should love Him; that we should trust Him; that we should honour Him, and that we should try to please and glorify Him. And we realise the work which our blessed Saviour has wrought for us, and which the Spirit of God is now working within us, when we are able to say, “ I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.” Now, what is it to be weary of God? It is to desire to break the connection that exists between us and God. It is to be impatient of continued connection with Him; to be tired of calling upon Him; tired of thinking of Him; tired of trusting Him; tired of waiting for Him; tired of serving Him. I know not a better illustration than that which is supplied by the first part of the parable of the Prodigal Son. II. ITS AND . 1. This weariness is first shown by formality in Divine worship. 2. It then shows itself in the outward neglect of Divine requirements. Declension begins in the heart, and shows itself first in formality, and then the steps between formality and the outward neglect of Divine requirements are not very many. 3. Then follows, not looking to God for aid and succour. The man depends more upon himself than he ought to depend, or he looks more to his fellow-creatures than he had been accustomed to look. III. WHAT IS THE OF THE OF THIS ? You will generally find one of the following things--disappointed hope, the endurance of affliction, or the prosperity of the wicked. IV. ITS CAUSES. You must be aware of the distinction between an occasion and a cause. God’ s dispensations towards Pharaoh, as we are told, hardened his heart. They were the occasions of this, but the cause was not in God; neither was the cause in the dispensation of God--the cause was in Pharaoh. Unless Pharaoh had possessed a hardened heart, those dispensations of Divine providence, instead of increasing this obduracy, would have produced a totally different state of soul. The same dispensations have done it, as in the case of Nineveh; when Nineveh was threatened, Nineveh repented. The cause is to be found either in the absence of love or in the feebleness of love. V. THE BITTER FRUITS of this weariness. God sees it; and He cannot see it without feeling it. God is angry, and He corrects; and He corrects so as to make the chastisement answer to the sin. The man has, to a certain extent, withdrawn from God, and God withdraws from the man. He deprives the man of whatever influences are still tending to promote his peace and joy and rest. And, of course, if the heart be alive, if it be a quickened heart, this state is one of great misery, until the soul is restored to God. Where there is not life, you find that the case gets worse and worse, and that very frequently men fall from this weariness into scepticism, and into atheism. VI. THE MEANS OF . Ejecting the first hard thoughts of God; not yielding for a moment to indolence in the service of God; comprehension (so far as we can comprehend) of the principles, and of the general plan of the Divine Government, so as not to be expecting here that which God has given us no reason to hope for here; following Christ implicitly in the conduct of the spirit towards God; and cherishing most sacredly the influences of the Holy Spirit. VII. When you have fallen into this evil state, WHAT IS THE CURE? 1. Full confession of the weariness. Be willing to speak of it as God speaks of it; to see it as God sees it; and to condemn it as God condemns it. Call it weariness of your merciful Father--weariness of your best and kindest friend. 2. Admission of the Divine goodness in the correction by which you are made sensible of your weariness. 3. Return to a careful observance of God’ s ordinances and precepts, the obtaining of pardon, and the assurance of forgiveness. While you are in doubt about pardon with reference to this sin, you will find yourselves keeping at a distance from God. This subject is suitable for self-examination. Are there any signs of this weariness of God in you? (S. Martin.)Weary of God To be weary of God is to be weary of His worship and service. It is as sad a character as can be given, either of persons or of a people, to say that they are weary of God. I. THE NATURE OF THE EVIL. Weariness in the body noteth a deficiency of strength, no more mind to work; in the soul, a falling from God, and we have no mind to His service, which is either partial or total. 1. Partial. When the heart is more alienated from God than before, and all our respects to Him grow burdensome and grievous, and the heart begins to repine at everything we do for Him (Malachi 1:13; Amos 8:5). 2. Total when not only the power of religion is abated, but the very profession of it is cast off. II. IT IS TO PERSONS IN THEIR SINGLE ; TO A PEOPLE IN THEIR . 1. To persons considered apart, and in their single capacity. (1) Partly out of natural adverseness to God. (2) Partly because of the fickleness of man. 2. It is incident to a people considered in their community. (1) The Church of God in general. (2) In every nation. Usually religion is changed in a nation upon two grounds-- (a) Change of persons. When good old zealous men are gone the stage is shifted, and there cometh on a new scene of acts and actors; one generation passeth, and another cometh. (b) Change of interests. When it is for their own interest to own God, men think they can never bind themselves fast enough to Him; but when the posture of interest is changed, God is laid aside, they grow weary of God; they deal treacherously with the Lord, and walk willingly after the commandment (Hosea 5:7; Hosea 5:11). III. THE CAUSES WHY A PEOPLE GROW WEARY OF GOD. Besides those general causes, these may be added-- 1. Want of love to God. 2. We are too much led by sense; and if we have not present satisfaction, we soon grow weary of religion. 3. It argueth too much love of the world, which by long importunity prevaileth with us to forsake God, and grow dead and cold in religion 2 Timothy 4:10). 4. It comes from indulgence to the ease of the flesh. As bodily weariness is most incident to the lazy, so is spiritual weariness to those who do not rouse up themselves. 5. Impatience of troubles, and the manifold discourage merits we meet with in the way to heaven. IV. THE EFFECTS. 1. Boldness in sinning. 2. More coldness in duties of worship. Either it is omitted or performed perfunctorily, and in a careless, stupid manner. 3. Less care and study to please God. V. What a sad state of soul it is appeareth-- 1. By the heinousness of the sin. (1) It is a horrible contempt of God, after trial, to fall off from God and return to our carnal pleasures and satisfactions again. (2) It is a very senseless and unreasonable sin. God never gave you cause or occasion to grow weary of Him. He challengeth Israel: “ O My people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against Me” (Micah 6:3). (3) There is much ingratitude in it. He hath given much cause to the contrary. 2. The terribleness of the judgment. (1) On nations. (2) On Churches (Revelation 2:5). (3) For particular persons, it layeth them open to God’ s severe correction Hosea 5:15). (4) For total defection. There is dreadful vengeance appointed for them that prefer the creature before God. (T. Manton, D. D.) Isaiah 43:23-24 Thou hast not brought Me the small cattle Failure in religious details Failure in religious details may we not ask whether some emphasis may not be laid upon the designation “ the small cattle” ? Do not many men fail in religious details? They are emphatic in their stupendous word-creed, but they do not bless some little child on the road to church, or bring some wandering soul to the Church home. We do certain great or conspicuous things, and we forget the small cattle, the little offerings and tributes. Every omission is noticed (Isaiah 43:24). Does God care for our sweet cane? Does He like to see us spending a trifle upon some cane stick that we may take it and offer it as if it were a flower? He hath no need of any service of the kind; yet it pleases Him that we should with some small piece of money buy sweet cane. Observe how He notes the omissions! This might be the very voice of Christ, who said to Simon the Pharisee, “ I entered into thine house, thou gavest Me no water for My feet; but she hath washed My feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest Me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss My feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed My feet with ointment.” What an eye is the eye of Omniscience! It notices every slip and flaw and omission. That would, indeed, be a miserable declaration to make if it stood alone; but it only leads to the fuller declaration that it notices every cup of cold water, every widow’ s gift, every child’ s service. God is not unrighteous to forget your work of faith and labour of love. (J. Parker, D. D.)God and His people a contrast In one of those antithetical clauses, or “ balances of words,” so frequent in Isaiah, He thus contrasts His own and His people’ s doings (verse 23): “ I have not burdened thee in exacting oblations; I have not wearied thee in demanding incense.” . . . “ But thou hast burdened Me with thy sins; thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities” (verse 24). (J. R. Macduff, D. D.) Isaiah 43:24 Thou hast bought Me no sweet cane Divine reproach I. THE GROUND ON WHICH ISRAEL IS . Sweet cane, or calamus, is an aromatic reed which was an exotic in Palestine, and is chiefly to be found in India. The demand for sweet cane was great, because it formed an ingredient of the incense in most countries where incense was used. It was one of the things which could not be obtained by barter. The charge is, “ You do not neglect the offices of religion, but you perform them carelessly; you do not withhold your offerings, but you do not offer of your best.” Bad is the best that man has to offer to God; but less than our best God will not accept. II. WHEN DID THE KING ETERNAL, , , SERVE? When was God, the Omnipotent, wearied with our iniquities? When did the Judge of the earth blot out our sins? We, enlightened by the Gospel, can give an answer which Israel of old could not. We answer, “ When the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” He came to serve, and when we think of Him, the God-man, serving under the law, is it possible for us to ask, in the spirit of the slave, How little can I render unto the Lord for all His benefits?--what is the least that He demands, the minimum of duty? The great principle is this, that we never offer unto the Lord what costs us nothing, or what involves no thought or trouble. He will not accept the refuse at our hands. And this principle we are to carry out in all that relates to our moral conduct and religious life. It is applicable to our private devotions as well as to our public services. It is implied in our Lord’ s injunction, “ Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” etc. (W. F. Hook, D. D.) Isaiah 43:25I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions Pardoning mercy made radiant As in olden times jewellers were wont to set their most precious gems in casings of a very inferior nature--and that wisely, in order that the intrinsic lustre of the jewel might shine forth more brilliant from the contrast--so doth the Word of God delight to place the long-suffering mercy of our God in the settings of man’ s iniquity and ingratitude, in order that the most lustrous jewel in God’ s all-radiant diadem--even mercy--might glitter the more brilliantly from its immediate contact with the black foil spots of man’ s sin. (F. F.Goold, M. A.)Forgiveness I. THE OF MERCY. Look at the 22 nd verse, and you will see-- 1. That they were prayerless people. 2. They were despisers of religion. “ Thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel.” 3. Thankless people. “ Thou hast not brought Me the small cattle of thy burnt-offerings.” 4. A useless people. Neither hast thou filled Me with the fat, etc. 5. There are some who may be termed sanctuary sinners--sinners in Zion, and these are the worst of sinners. 6. We have here men who had wearied God: “ Thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities.” II. THE DEED OF MERCY. It is a deed of forgiveness. 1. A Divine forgiveness. “ I, even I, am He.” Divine pardon is the only forgiveness possible; for no one can remit sin but God only. 2. Surprising forgiveness; for the text speaks as if God Himself were surprised that such sins should be remitted: “ I, even I” ; it is so surprising that it is repeated in this way, lest any of us should doubt it. 3. A present forgiveness. 4. A complete forgiveness. The bond is destroyed, and He will not demand payment again. III. THE REASON FOR MERCY. Says one poor sinner, “ Why should God forgive me? I am sure there is no reason why He should, for I have never done anything to deserve His mercy.” Hear what God says, “ I am not about to forgive you for your own sake, but for My own sake.” “ But, Lord, I shall not be thankful enough.” “ I am not about to pardon you because of your gratitude, but for My name’ s sake.” “ But, Lord, if I am taken into Thy Church, I can do very little for Thy cause in future years, for I have spent my best days in the devil’ s service; surely the impure dregs of my life cannot be sweet to Thee, O God.” “ I will not engage to forgive you for your sake, but for My own; I do not want you,” says God; “ I can do as well without you as with you. I forgive you, therefore, for My own sake.” Is there no hope for a guilty sinner here? IV. THE PROMISE OF MERCY. “ I will not remember thy sins.” Is it possible for God to forget? Not as to the absolute fact of the committal of the deed, but there are senses in which the expression is entirely accurate. 1. He will not exact punishment for them when we come before His judgment bar at last. The Christian will have many accusers. The devil will come and say, “ That man is a great sinner.” Let all the demons of the pit clamour in God’ s ear, and let them vehemently shout out a list of our sins, we may stand boldly forth at that great day and sing, “ Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’ s elect?” The judge does not remember it, and who then shall punish?” 2. “ I will not remember thy sins to suspect thee.” There is a father, and he has had a wayward son, who went away that he might live a life of profligacy; but after a while he comes home again in a state of penitence. The father says, “ I will forgive thee.” But he says next day to his younger son, “ There is business to be done at a distant town to-morrow, and here is the money for you to do it with.” He does not trust the returned prodigal with it. “ I have trusted him before with money,” says the father to himself, “ and he robbed me, and it makes me afraid to trust him again;” but our heavenly Father says, “ I will not remember thy sins.” He not only forgives the past, but trusts His people with precious talents. 3. He will not remember in His distribution of the recompense of the reward. The earthly parent will kindly pass over the faults of the prodigal; but you know, when that father comes to die, and is about to make his will, the lawyer sitting by his side, he says, “ I shall give so much to William, who always behaved well, and my other son he shall have so-and-so, and my daughter, she shall have so much; but there is that prodigal, I spent a large sum upon him when he was young, but he wasted what he received, and though I have taken him again into favour, and for the present be is going on well, still I think I must make a little difference between him and the others; I think it would not be fair--though I have forgiven him--to treat him precisely as the rest.” And so the lawyer puts him down for a few hundred pounds, while the others, perhaps, get their thousands. But God will not remember your sins like that; He gives all an inheritance. He will give heaven to the chief of sinners as well as the chief of saints. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Sin forgiven and forgotten Free grace blots out our transgressions-- I. FROM GOD’ S BOOK. II. WITH GOD’ S HAND. III. FOR GOD’ S SAKE. IV. FROM GOD’ S MEMORY. (H. G. Guinness.)Evangelical religion Because of texts like this, the early Church called Isaiah the Evangelical Prophet. What does “ Evangelical” mean? A “ good angel,” a “ good messenger,” bringing good tidings of great joy. All who bring the good tidings from God to sinners are evangelical preachers. All the Bible prophets were evangelical, else they would not have been there. Moses himself was evangelical; even law in the Old Testament has evangelical issues, and Moses was a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. I. THE NAME WHICH GOD GIVES HIMSELF. “ I, even I, am He.” You do not find this style save in the Bible. This was God’ s manner of speech. Baal could not say this, nor the gods of Egypt. God speaks to you as a man amongst men: “ I have something to say to you.” When He singles you out, that is often the beginning of personal religion. God speaks to you and me personally; there is none save Jesus Christ between God and myself. Whatever your name is, put it into this text, and lift up your soul in every sentence, making them petitions. Israel had grown weary of God, and had got broken and scattered. Are there not those who are weary of Sabbath services, and wish Monday had come to get back to business? They love entertainments and social gaieties; but tire of Sabbath preaching. Another of Israel’ s sins is found in the context, “ Thou hast bought Me no sweet cane with money.” Did God indeed care for sweet cane? If you go back to chapter 3. you will find a list of the ornaments and dresses, and what they spent their money upon. Read this and digest it. Bring your bank books and drink books and tobacco books; compare them with what you have contributed to the upholding of evangelical religion. Take your sins to God, and He will blot them out. II. “ FOR MINE OWN SAKE.” Not for thy sake; that rather takes a man down. It is all owing to grace. I quite agree to the terms. Pardon my preachings, my sermons, and take me in a pauper. How does that suit your views?--it suits me. In the New Testament we have it put for Jesus’ sake; it is the same thing at bottom. III. “ WILL NOT THY SINS.” How God forgets, I cannot tell. Isaiah says our sins will never again come up to mind, but I cannot imagine how I can forget my own sins. Some men say they have forgiven you; your offence is dead. It’ s all past; but you see from the man’ s eyes that it isn’ t past, and other people know about it. Take some examples of Jesus’ way of forgiveness. You might have said, had you not known, that the first to meet Him after His resurrection would have been the Virgin, or the women of substance who ministered unto Him. But it was the Magdalene that was the first to gaze on His resurrection form! This was just like Himself. And if Judas had not fallen utterly, and gone to his own place, might he not have been chosen to preach the great coronation sermon of Jesus? Peter, the next great sinner, was chosen. Look how Jesus did: He gets the best service out of sinners, such as I. (A. Whyte, D. D.)Forgiveness There is one thing that God always does with sin. He removes it out of His presence. God cannot dwell with sin. When He casts away the guilty soul into an unapproachable distance, and when He pardons a penitent soul, He is doing the same thing in both cases--removing sin. I. THE AUTHOR OF . The expression, “ I, even I,” is not a very unfrequent one in Scripture; but wherever it occurs--whether in reference to justice or mercy--it is the mark of the Almighty, at that moment taking to Himself, in some special degree, some sovereign prerogative. Here, the magnificent repetition of that Name, first given in the bush, was evidently intended to show one characteristic feature of God’ s love. He forgives like a sovereign. All His attributes are brought to bear upon our peace. II. THE NATURE OF . 1. As to time. The verb runs in the present tense--“ blotteth out.” 2. As to degree. You could not read--Satan could not read--a trace where God’ s obliterating hand has once passed. 3. As to continuance. The present swells out into the future. “ Will not remember” III. THE REASON OF . (J. Vaughan, M. A.)Forgiveness In the foregoing verses we have a heavy accusation drawn up against the Jews. But no severity follows hereupon; but, “ I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” The like parallel place we have concerning Ephraim Isaiah 57:17-18). Here is the prerogative of free grace: to infer pardon where the guilty themselves can infer only their own execution. It is the guise of mercy, to make strange and abrupt inferences from sin to pardon. I. Here is THE PERSON that gives out the pardon, i.e., God. God seems more to triumph in the glory of His pardoning grace and mercy than He doth in any other of His attributes. “ I, even I, am He.’ Such a stately preface must needs usher in somewhat wherein God’ s honour is much advanced. II. As for THE PARDON itself; that is expressed in two things: “ blotteth out” ; “ will not remember.” 1. Blotting out implies (1) That our transgressions are written down. Written they are in a twofold book--God’ s remembrance; our own conscience. (2) A legal discharge of the debt. A book that is once blotted and crossed stands void in law. “ I will not remember thy sins.” III. THE CAUSE, that moves God’ s hand, as it were, to blot out our transgressions. “ For Mine own sake.” 1. That is, because it is My pleasure. 2. Because of that great honour and glory that will accrue to My great name by it. (E. Hopkins, D. D.)Remission of sin 1. Remission of sin is no act of ours, but an act of God’ s only. 2. Remission of sin makes sin to be as if it had never been committed. 3. Upon remission of sin God no longer accounts of us as sinners, but as just and righteous. 4. Pardoning grace can as easily triumph in the remitting of great and many sins as of few and small sins. (E. Hopkins, D. D.)The forgiveness of sins That article in the Creed, “ I believe in the forgiveness of sins,” is too little thought of. Men flippantly declare that they believe in it when they are not conscious of any great sin of their own; but when his transgression is made apparent to a man, and his iniquity comes home to him, it is quite another matter. No stocks can hold a man so fast as his own guilty fears. With the desponding, I shall try to deal. I. THERE IS . 1. This appears in the treatment of sinners by God, inasmuch as He spares their forfeited lives. 2. Why did God institute the ceremonial law, if there were no ways of pardoning transgression? The evident design of the whole Mosaic economy was to reveal to man the existence of mercy in the heart of God, and the effectual operation of that mercy in washing away sin. 3. If there is no forgiveness of sin, why has the Lord given to sinful men exhortations to repent? 4. There must be pardons in the hand of God, or why the institution of religious worship among us to this day? 5. Why did Christ institute the Christian ministry, and send forth His servants to proclaim His Gospel? 6. Why are we taught in that blessed model of prayer which our Saviour has left us to say, “ Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us” ? It is evident that God means us to give a true absolution to all who have offended us. But then, He has linked with that forgiveness our prayer for mercy, teaching us to ask that He would forgive us as we forgive them. If, then, our forgiveness is real, so is His. 7. God has actually forgiven multitudes of sinners. II. THIS IS TO SIN. He wishes us to know that His pardon is so true and deep that it amounts to an absolute oblivion, a total forgetting of all the wrong-doing of the pardoned ones. 1. To speak popularly, a man lays up a thing in his mind; but when sin is forgiven it is not laid up in God’ s mind. 2. In remembering, men also consider and meditate on things; but the Lord will not think over the sins of His people. 3. Sometimes you have almost forgotten a thing, but an event happens which recalls it so vividly that it seems as if it were perpetrated but yesterday. God will not recall the sin of the pardoned. 4. This not remembering means that God will never seek any further atonement. Under the old law there was remembrance of sins made every year on the day of atonement; but now the blessed One hath entered once for all within the veil, and hath put away sin for ever by the sacrifice of Himself, so that there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. 5. When it is said that God forgets our sins, it signifies that He will never punish us for them; next, that He will never upbraid us with them. 6. What does it mean but this--that He will not treat us any the less generously on account of our having been great sinners? Look how the Lord takes some of the biggest sinners, and uses them for His glory. III. IS TO BE HAD. How? Through the atoning blood. Come for it in God’ s appointed way. “ Repent.” “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)The forgiveness of sins I. THE SPEAKER. Whose voice thus proclaims obliteration of transgressions? A silver trumpet thus introduces the word: “ Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” “ I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.” Jehovah speaks from His high throne. If other lips had thus addressed offenders, the word might have been empty, vain, and even worse: it might have relieved no doubts, healed no wounds, diffused no peace. Sin is terrible, because it is an offence against God. “ Who can forgive sins but God alone? To the Lord our God,” and to the Lord our God alone, “ belong mercies and sorgivenesses.” II. THE . “ I, even I, am He.” The Person who forgives twice shows Himself. This reduplication cannot be without strong cause, for there are no superfluous words from Divine lips. It is at once apparent that our God, in the riches of His grace, desires thus to awaken attention, to rivet thought, to banish apprehension, to deepen confidence, to inscribe the truth deeper on the heart. Hence the timidity of doubt assumes the aspect of impiety: incredulity becomes insult. This important view is powerfully established by the context. The preceding verses exhibit Jehovah arrayed in robes of majesty. As Creator He claims service from the creatures of His hands; He demands the due revenue of adoration: “ This people have I formed for Myself: they shall show forth My praise.” The scene then changes; and He confronts them with appalling charges. In these, as in a mirror, the vileness of the human heart is seen. Worship is not rendered; prayer is withheld; communion is shunned. The charge is unanswerable. What can the issue be? Will patience cease to forbear? Will indignation blaze? The sentence follows. “ I, even I, am He,” etc. What exquisite pathos: what marvellous grace! How Godlike: how unlike the utterance of man! III. Thus the focal lustre of the word is reached--THE OF . God ordains forgiveness absolute, unrestricted, unfenced by boundaries, unconfined by barriers. “ He blotteth out.” It is true that the word has different shades of meaning, according to its context; but its main purport is neither vague nor obscure. It generally places sins in the most formidable light as recorded debts. It displays them as written in the pages of a book of reckoning, rigidly, exactly,--without extenuation; and then leads to the fact that they are completely erased,--expunged--Not merely crossed, for then they might be read again, and subsequent demand be made; but so eradicated that no trace can be discerned. But the vexing thought may intrude, that memory will continually recall his many and mighty sins. He tremulously may reason, If I cannot forget, will not God remember too? Amid all tokens of Divine love, will not my mind revert to former scenes, and be downcast? I shall see, or think I see, amid heaven’ s smiles, a reminder of my sinful course on earth. Let such thought be cast into oblivion’ s lowest depths. It is unscriptural: it is derogatory to the glorious Gospel of free grace. Mark how the word contradicts it: “ I will not remember thy sins” (Jeremiah 31:34). Let none say, How can this be? Let it not be objected, such mental process is contrary to all experience: it is alien to the properties of retentive thought. Let it be remembered that we are now dealing with God: His ways are not our ways. IV. THE MOVING CAUSE. Man reaps eternal benefit; but the spring from which the blessing flows is high in heaven. Man and man’ s deeds are universal provocation: in him there is no moving merit. If God did not originate forgiveness for the glory of His name, no sin could have been blotted out. But God’ s glory is His final end; therefore He blots out transgressions “ for His own sake.” Thus heaven shall re-echo with His praise, and eternity prolong the grateful hallelujah. (H. Law, M. A.)Free pardon The remarkable point is not merely that the absolution contained in the text is preceded and succeeded by verses of accusation, but that it breaks in upon the connection, and cleaves the sense right in the middle. The king’ s messenger of mercy rides through the ranks of the men-at-arms in hot haste, sounding his silver bugle as he clears his way; he cannot linger, his message is too precious to be made to tarry. We may conclude that men know and prize Divine mercy most when they most feel the weight of their sins. I. THE NATURE OF THE PARDON WHICH IS HERE SO . 1. It is a pardon from God Himself, from Him who is offended. This is the more delightful because we know that only He could forgive. Inasmuch as the pardon comes from God, He alone it is who knows the full extent of sin. 2. The reason why it is given. “ For Mine own sake.” The entire motive of God for forgiving sin lies within Himself. No man has his sins forgiven because they are little, for the smallest sin will ruin the soul, and every sin is great. Each sin has the essence of rebellion in it, and rebellion is a great evil before God. Again, no man’ s sin is forgiven on the ground that his repentance is meritorious. By God’ s grace, forgiven men are made to do better; but it is not the foresight of any betterness on their part which leads God to the forgiveness. That cannot be a motive, for if they do better their improvement is His work in them. The only motive which God has for pardoning sinners is one which lies within Himself: “ for Mine own sake.” And what is that motive? The Lord knows all His motive, and it is not for us to measure it; but is it not first, that He may indulge His mercy? Mercy is the last exercised, but the most pleasing to Himself, of all His attributes. He has this motive, too, which is within Himself, that He may glorify His Son, who is one with Himself. What a comfort this is; for if, when looking into my soul, I cannot see any reason why God should save me, I need not look there, since the motive lies yonder, in His own gracious bosom. 3. It is noteworthy in this glorious text how complete and universal the pardon is. The Lord makes a clean sweep of the whole dreadful heap of our sins. Our sins of omission are all gone. Those are the sins which ruin men. At the last great day the Judge will say, “ I was an hungred, and ye gave Me no meat,” etc. Those on the left hand were not condemned for what they did do, but for what they did not do. Then He mentions actual sins. “ Thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins” ; but He blots them out, transgressions and sins, both forms of evil. This m the very Icy and glory of Gospel absolution. The believer knows that his sins are not in the process of being pardoned, but are actually pardoned at this moment. The pardon is noteworthy on account of its being most effectual. It is described as blotting out. Blotting out is a very thorough way of settling a thing. If an account has been standing in the ledger a long time, and the pen is drawn through it, it remains no longer. And then mark the wonderful expression, “ I will not remember thy sins.” Can God forget? Forgetting with God cannot be an infirmity, as it is with us. We forget because our memory fails, but God forgets in the blessed sense that He remembers rather the merit of His Son than our sins. II. THE EFFECT OF THIS PARDON IT COMES WITH POWER TO THE SOUL. Timid persons have thought that the free pardon of sin would lead men to indulge in it. No doubt some are base enough to pervert it to that use, but there was never a soul that did really receive pardon from God who could find in that pardon any excuse for sin or any licence to continue longer in it; for all God’ s people argue thus: “ Shall we sin that grace may, abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” At first, mercy fills us with surprise; then, with holy regret. We feel, What, and is this the God I have been standing out against so long? It next creates in us fervent love. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Subdued by forgiveness Many years ago in Russia a regiment of troops mutinied. They were at some distance from the capital, and were so furious that they murdered their officers, and resolved never resubmit to discipline; but the emperor, who was an exceedingly wise and sagacious man, no sooner heard of it than, all alone and unattended, he went into the barracks when the men were drawn up, and addressing them sternly, he said to them, “ Soldiers, you have committed such offences against the law that every one of you deserves to be put to death. There is no hope of any mercy for one of you unless you lay down your arms immediately, and surrender at discretion to me, your emperor.” And they did it there and then, though the heads of their officers were lying at their feet. They threw down their” arms and surrendered, and he said at once, Men I pardon you; you be the bravest troops I ever had.” And they were, too. That is just what God says to the sinner. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The surprise of God’ s mercy If you have a dog at the table, and you throw him a scrap of meat, he swallows it directly; but if you were to set the whole joint down on the floor before him, he would turn away. He would feel that you could not mean to give a fine joint of meat to a dog. He would not think of touching it; at least, few dogs would. And it seemed to me as if the Lord could not have meant all the wonders of His love for such a dog as I was. I was ready to turn away from it through the greatness of it. But then I recollected that it would not do for God to be giving little mercy. He was too great a God to spend all His power in pardoning little sinners and granting little favours; and I came back to this--that if His grace was not too big for Him to give, I would not be such a fool as to refuse it because of its greatness. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 43:26 Put Me in remembrance “ Put Me in remembrance” I. TAKE SOME GENERAL NOTICE OF THE COMMAND HERE GIVEN. This command, “ Put Me in remembrance,” by no means supposes that God is unmindful of any promise, or ignorant of any case. 1. It is His pleasure to see a sinner reduced so low as to have nothing to rest upon, nothing to plead but the promise. 2. God will bring the sinner to such a frame as will render the blessing of pardon sweet when it comes. 3. The expression in the text evidences the strict connection which there is between the means and the end. It is grace which appears in the promises, and it is grace which convinces the soul of its need of those blessings that are contained in them. If you are led to see that these promises contain all your salvation and all your desire, and that all is dispensed freely, this will draw out the heart in prayer and supplication. Prayer opens a communication between God and the soul. “ I will pardon” ; “ I will not remember thy sin” --that is the promise. “ Put Me in remembrance” is the command. It is the privilege of a sin-burdened soul to remind God of His covenant engagements, to lay the promises of His grace before Him, to plead the merit of the Redeemer’ s sacrifice, to set the creature’ s misery and God’ s mercy in opposition to each other, to compare our poverty with that fulness of grace which the Gospel reveals. Instead of waiting for qualifications in order to obtain mercy, we are to rest the whole weight of our argument upon the grace which shines in the promise, and which will be greatly honoured in the actual pardon of our guilty souls. II. OBSERVE WHAT IT IS WHICH AN SOUL HATH TO REMIND GOD OF. 1. The soul reminds God of His grace, and argues from the freeness of it. 2. The firmness of His promises. 3. The concern of God’ s glory in the pardon and salvation of sinners. III. OPEN THE NATURE OF THE WHICH HE MAKES BEFORE THE THRONE OF MERCY. “ Declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.” Declaration in law is showing cause why judgment should not be executed. There must be a declaration of an adequate righteousness in order to our justification before God. Our guilt would sink us into the lowest depths of misery if God did not admit our plea through Jesus. We must also declare our hearty approbation of God’ s method of dispensing these His favours. Inferences-- 1. We see the reason why God will have the promises of His grace to be pleaded before the Throne; it is not to help His memory, but to exercise and encourage our faith. 2. How greatly are they to be pitied, who can remember any thing but that which it concerns them above all to attend to. 3. Have any of you pleaded the promises, cried for mercy and grace, and yet seemed to find no help? Be not discouraged, though the Lord wait, yet tarry for Him, He waiteth that He may be more abundantly gracious. 4. Consider what glories are reserved for that future world, when all the promises shall be completely fulfilled. (J. King, B. A.)A great controversy These words follow immediately on that beautiful declaration--“ I, even I, am He,” etc. We shall find that our text has great significance when taken in connection with this most gracious saying. 1. We cannot but remark on the apparent strangeness, that there should be any appeal to reason or argument, where the matter involved is undoubtedly the great doctrine of atonement. Though there is no express statement of this doctrine, no one acquainted with the appointed mode of salvation, which has been the same in every dispensation, will question that the work of the Mediator is tacitly under stood whensoever there is a promise of the forgiveness of sin. If this be implied, how strange that God should no sooner have referred to the scheme of our redemption than He invites us to reason with Himself. Undoubtedly the scheme of our redemption is such as could never have been imagined, and such even as, when revealed, it rather becomes us reverently to receive than curiously to investigate. But, nevertheless, it is quite possible to err on the other side--to be as much afraid of allowing reason to intermeddle with the plan of redemption. There is all the difference between the being able to discover this plan and the being able, when discovered, to determine its excellence and fitness. 2. We should hold it to be as great a falsehood as could be alleged against the Gospel were it to be said, that it does not commend itself to man as exactly what he needs; so that, if he receive it, he must receive it on the strength of external testimony, and not at all on his consciousness of its meeting his necessities. 3. The text, following on a promise that sin shall be blotted out, may be said to invite us to a debate, and to propose, as the topic of debate, the salvation of sinners through the atonement made by Christ. It is God Himself who offers to plead on the other side, if we take that of the strangeness of the Gospel, its inexplicable character as addressed to beings so circumstanced as ourselves. How shall the argument be carried on, or by whom shall the discussion be opened? We will not attempt to give the precise pleading on both sides, but rather sum up the facts and statements of the controversy. We suppose man aware of his lost condition by nature, and penetrated with such a sense of the attributes of God as forbids his expecting that sin may go unpunished under such a government as the Divine. And if a man in this state were made acquainted with the Gospel of Christ, he would want nothing but evidence of the truth of this Gospel; he would find an additional evidence in the exactness with which it met his ascertained wants. There is therefore nothing to shrink from in the challenge of the text. A forgiveness, based on a propitiation, and followed by sanctification, is what God propounds as His scheme of redemption; and such a scheme He invites us to discuss with Him in person. What, then, have you to say? You lie under condemnation: how can you be pardoned when you have punishment to endure? The scheme lays the punishment on another. You are of a depraved nature, inclined to evil, and therefore unfit for communion with your maker: how can such as you enter the kingdom of heaven? The scheme provides for your thorough regeneration. If all the difficulties which reason can find in the way of redemption lie either in the necessities of man or the attributes of God, and if the scheme of redemption through Christ meet the first and yield the second, so that even reason herself can perceive that it satisfies every human want and compromises no Divine perfection, why should we not allow that, reason herself being judge, the Gospel is in every respect precisely such a communication as is suited to the case? 4. We have hitherto confined our attention to the fact that it is to an argument, or discussion, that we are invited by God, when He is about to lay before us, in a most simple but comprehensive form, His great scheme of delivering us through a propitiation for sin. But the concluding words of our text--“ Declare thou, that thou mayest be justified “ --seem to allow you, if you choose, to bring forward any excuse which you may have for not closing with the gracious proffer of salvation through Christ. We may, however, take another, and perhaps equally just, view of the controversy, which is indicated, though not laid open by our text. The verses which follow--“ Thy first father hath sinned,” etc., would seem to imply that the Jews murmured at God’ s dealings with them; for God is evidently vindicating Himself. Come all of you who think that you are in any way hardly dealt with by God, approach and plead your cause; it is the Almighty Himself who saith--“ Declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.” You need not therefore hesitate to utter plainly all you think, and to make statement of your grievances. You urge, it may be, that your lot is one of trial and affliction; that troubles are multiplied beyond your power of endurance, temptations beyond your power of resistance; that, born as you are with corrupt tendencies, placed in a scene where there is everything to incite you to sin, you are summoned to duties which are manifestly too arduous, and threatened in the event of failure with punishments which are as manifestly excessive and severe. Well, keep nothing back; be as minute as you will in exposing the harshness of God’ s dealings, whether individually with yourselves or generally with mankind; and then, having pleaded your own cause, listen to what the Almighty will say; it is He Himself who hath invited you into controversy, and therefore when you have urged all your grievances, be silent that God may be heard in reply. And I know what you expect to hear: you expect a defence as elaborate as the charge. But when you are hearkening for the copious apology and acute contradiction, lo, there is heard nothing but the beautiful promise--“ I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” If you have anything to say after such a promise, say it; make what you can of your case. So that the promise is to be taken as a sufficient answer to all that can be urged. But what has such a promise to do with the matter? How does it end the controversy? Do ye ask? Or rather, does not this simple but most gracious announcement of arrangements for the complete rescue of humankind from all their misery and all their guilt make you feel ashamed of having urged any complaint, and aware that in place of murmurs you ought to utter only praises! 5. We wish to impress upon you one great lesson--that it is your business to obey God’ s commands rather than to explain God’ s dealings. (H. Melvill, B. D.)A loving entreaty Understand my text, however paradoxical it may seem, as being a genuine invitation on the part of a gracious God to the most provoking of men. I. Our text appears as A . God had punished Israel on account of sin. Israel was not penitent, but in self-righteousness judged that the Lord was harsh and severe. “ Come, then,” says God, “ come and plead your suit with Me. Put Me in remembrance of any virtues on your part which I may be supposed to have overlooked. If I have misjudged you, if you have not really been neglectful of My service and worship, let the matter be rectified. If really you have a righteousness of your own, put Me in remembrance of it.” 1. On looking back we find that the Lord had charged His people with neglect of prayer. “ But thou hast not called upon Me, O Jacob.” This is the charge which we are compelled to bring against all unconverted men and women. Perhaps you offer a form of prayer; but that is nothing if your heart goes not with the words. This is rather to mock God than truly to call upon Him. But come now; if there be any mistake in this charge, disprove it! 2. Next, the Lord charged it upon Israel that they had not delighted in Him. “ Thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel.” Can you deny this? If you can, you are invited to state your innocence before the Lord. 3. The Lord had also said that these people did not honour Him. “ Thou hast not brought Me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured Me with thy sacrifices.” It may be you have presented no tokens of love to the Lord at all; or, on the other hand, you may have brought sacrifices, but you have not honoured God by them. You have given that you might be known to give, or because others did so, but not with the view of honouring God. Yet if it be so, if any unconverted man can say that whether he eats or drinks, or whatsoever he does, he seeks to do all to the glory of God, this ought to be known. It would be a new thing under the sun. In truth, it would prove that the man was converted, and had been renewed in the spirit of his mind by the grace of God. But it is not so. 4. Moreover, the Lord charged Israel that they did not love Him. “ Thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins” --thou hast made Me a very slave with thy waywardness. “ Thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities,” --God’ s patience was tried to the utmost with their wanton wickedness. Is not this charge sadly true of many? If it be not so, you are now challenged to vindicate your characters. Do not set up a lying defence, but speak the truth. 6. The challenge before us is occupied not only with the ways of man, but with the ways of God; for the Lord here asserts of Himself, “ I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.” That is to say, God is no hard taskmaster. The commandments of God are essential justice; you could not improve upon them; no law could be more for our benefit than that which He has given us. If God has treated you like slaves, then say so, and state your grievance in solemn converse with God. When God forbids us anything, it is because He knows it would be for our harm; and when God commands us to do anything, it is because He knows that it is for our soul’ s eternal good. II. I hope you will be able to follow me while our penitence suggests AN AMENDED VERSION. Let us take the text as our consciousness of guilt desires to read it. There are certain things which God in great love invites us to bring before His memory. If you cannot take up His challenge, and prove your personal righteousness, let the charges stand, with your silence as an assent to them; and now plead with Him, and pat Him in remembrance of matters which may serve your turn, and lead to your forgiveness. 1. Put the Lord in remembrance of that glorious act of amnesty and oblivion which in sovereign grace He has proclaimed to the sons of men in the preceding verse. That done, proceed to put the Lord in remembrance of your sins. Make an open unreserved acknowledgment unto the Lord. Confess this also, that you have continued by your sins to go away from Him who invites you to return, and promises you a welcome reception. 2. When you have done this, if your spirit is much depressed, and your heart is driven to despair by a sense of your guilt, then put the Lord in remembrance of the extraordinary reason which He gives for pardoning sin: “ I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake.” Say unto Him thus: “ Lord, there is no reason in me why Thou shouldest spare me, but do it for Thine own sake--for Thy love’ s sake, for Thy mercy’ s sake.” 3. When you have gone as far as that in putting God in remembrance, I would advise you to plead the Lord’ s purpose and intent revealed in Isaiah 43:21 : “ This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise.” Say, “ Lord, I am Thy poor creature. Thou hast made me; even my very body is fearfully and wonderfully made; and the mysterious thing which dwells within me which I call my soul, is also the creature of Thy power. Hast Thou not made me for Thyself? Wilt Thou not have a desire to the work of Thine own hands? Lord, come and bless me! Sinner as I am, and utterly undeserving, yet I am Thy creature; do not fling me upon the dunghill. If Thou wilt forgive me, Lord, might I not praise Thee?” 4. If that does not ease you, go a little further back in the chapter till you come to Isaiah 43:19 : “ Behold, I will do a new thing,” etc. Plead that published declaration! Say, “ Lord, Thou hast said ‘ I will do a new thing’: it will indeed be a new thing if I am saved. I am driven to such self-abhorrence, that if ever I am saved I shall be a leading wonder among Thy miracles of grace.” It may be you can say--“ Lord, I have been sighing and crying and groaning now by the month together, and I can find no peace. Oh, if Thou wilt but put a new song into my mouth, the dragons and the owls that saw me in my gloom shall open their eyes and be astonished, and honour the Lord God of Israel!” I know some who might say, “ Lord, it will fill all the workshop with wonder if I shall rejoice in Jesus. All my friends and companions will wonder that I should become happy and holy through sovereign grace.” III. Our text affords us some . If the Lord says, “ Put Me in remembrance,” then-- 1. It is very clear that we ought to remember these things ourselves. Oh, you that are not saved, remember the years in which you have lived without prayer l What a wonder that you have been permitted to live at all! Remember, next, for your humbling, how weary you have been of God. Some I would urge to remember long years of neglect of God’ s service, with all their niggardliness to the cause of God, all their want of love to God, all the many times in which they have hardened their hearts, stopped their ears, and refused the warnings and invitations of their Saviour. 2. It is time that we should now begin our pleading with God. (C. H.Spurgeon.) Isaiah 43:27 Thy first father hath sinned Israel’ s sin Its history from the first is a tissue of sins. “ Thy first father sinned, and thy mediators have fallen away from Me.” By the first father, Hitzig, Knobel, and others understand Adam; but Adam is the progenitor of mankind, not of Israel specially, and Adam’ s guilt is mankind’ s guilt, not Israel’ s. Either Abraham is meant (Hofmann, Stier, Hahn, and others), or Jacob-Israel (Ewald, Cheyne, yon Orelli), who has more to do with the sinful nature of the nation springing from him than Abraham (cf. Deuteronomy 26:5). The interpreters and mediators generally (2 Chronicles 32:31; Job 33:23) are the prophets and priests, standing between Jehovah and Israel, and mediating the intercourse of both in word and act; even these for the most part have proved unfaithful to God, falling a prey to ungodly magic and false worship. Thus Israel’ s sin was as ancient as its origin; and the apostasy has broken out even among those who, by reason of their offices, should be the best and holiest. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Thy first father To the unreflecting upon human nature it has not occurred that mankind might have been introduced to our world by other means than by being “ born of a woman.” Every human being might have been a distinct creation. But the constitution given to the vegetable and to the animal kingdoms was given also to man; and as herbs and animals contain the seed of their own kind, and are propagated of each other, so man was made to be “ fruitful, to multiply, and to replenish the earth.” Among other reasons for this constitution was the intention of securing (through the intimate and peculiar relationships it involves) a powerful influence of man upon man. Judging by the conjugal, paternal, and filial relationships, it is evident that God intended men to exert a considerable amount and a high kind of influence upon each other. But while the domestic bonds are the chief channels through which human influence is transmitted, there are other sources of power. Extraordinary talent, peculiar circumstances, great earnestness, and remarkable labours raise men to the guidance and control of their fellows. The position of the first man was in many respects singular. All other of the human kind have been born of each other. Even Eve was made out of man. Adam alone was created. Excepting Eve and Adam, every other human being has commenced existence an infant, and living, has passed from infancy through childhood and youth to manhood. And Adam was the first of human kind. Adam, moreover, according to the constitution given him, and by the fact of his creation, was the natural father of the human race. We shall treat the subject by discussing two questions. I. WAS ADAM TO THE HUMAN FAMILY MORE THAN THEIR NATURAL PARENT? According to the historical and doctrinal statements of the Scriptures, Adam did sustain another and a more important relationship. II. THAT ADAM WAS MORE THAN THE FIRST PARENT OF THE HUMAN FAMILY, WHAT WAS HE BESIDE? AND WHAT DID THIS INVOLVE? As the first parent of the human race, and according to laws with which we are all familiar, Adam would exert a serious influence upon his whole posterity. But Adam was more than the first parent. He is called by the apostle Paul, “ the figure of him that was to come” --literally, the type. Paul declared that Adam in his connection with mankind was the form, or the ensample, or the pattern of what Jesus Christ was to be to redeemed men; so that as Jesus Christ is the public representative and head of the saved of mankind, so Adam was the representative of the human race. What did the placing of Adam in this position involve? 1. By this arrangement the whole race is tried or proved by one man. 2. It pleased God to suspend upon the trial of one man the life and the death of the human race. Adam’ s guilt must ever be his own--that cannot be another’ s. Adam’ s punishment must rest on his own head--that cannot be transferred to his posterity. But the results of Adam s conduct his posterity were to share. Awfully responsible was Adam s position! God’ s reasons for the order of things are to us unsearchable. We may consider that the trial of a race in one man was more simple than the probation of every individual--we may see how (God foreknowing the apostasy of human nature) this mode of government admitted the immediate introduction of another and of a remedial dispensation--still, God’ s ways in this dispensation are past finding out. The fact is declared; and the reason of this arrangement we must resolve into the sovereignty of God. One serious lesson fail not to learn--the extent of parental responsibility. Moral and intellectual and physical qualities are doubtless transmissible. Weakness and disease of body and evil dispositions of soul are conveyed from parent to child. Sow not, therefore, to the flesh. (S. Martin.) Isaiah 43:28 Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary Holy princes “ Then I profaned holy princes, and gave up Jacob to the ban, and Israel to revilings. ” “ Holy princes” are the hierarchs (1 Chronicles 24:5), the highest spiritual authorities in distinction from the secular. Their profanation consisted in their being ruthlessly dragged into a foreign land, where their official work ceased of necessity. So the heads of religion fared, and the whole nation, bearing the honourable names of Jacob and Israel, fell victim to the cursing and revilings of heathen nations. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.). Isaiah 44:1-5 Yet now hear, O Jacob, My servantWhy are the people of God called by the name of Jacob? Have you never wondered why the people of God should be called by the name of the third of the ancient patriarchs in preference to the first two? We often, indeed, find them called the seed of Abraham, and we should easily understand what was meant if we read of the children of Isaac: but, as far as I remember, they are nowhere called simply Abraham or Isaac, whereas it is perfectly common to hear them called Jacob or Israel, the name of the third patriarch being directly transferred to his descendants. Not only so: this usage has passed over into the New Testament, and we still sometimes call the whole body of living Christians the Israel of God. This is a somewhat surprising circumstance; for of the three patriarchs the third is certainly not the favourite. Why, then, is it that the name of the third patriarch is attached to God’ s people, as if he were more directly their progenitor than the other two? Is it because they are liker him than they are to Abraham or Isaac? Is the average Christian an imperfect, stumbling mortal, a compound of obvious vices and struggling virtues, as Jacob was? It would be harsh to say so. But we may come nearer the mark if we put this suggestion in a different form. Jacob was the progressive character among the patriarchs. His beginnings were ignoble, and the vices of his nature long clave to him; yet by degrees he surmounted them: he lived down the evil which was in him; and his end was that of one who, after many defeats, had at last obtained the victory. Abraham is a much grander figure than Jacob, but he has far less history. He may almost be said to be perfect from the first. If in him there was a slow development from small beginnings, we have no record of it. Isaac, again, was, as far as the records inform us, a back-going rather than a progressive character. The opening scenes of his history are beautiful and noble; but his character lacked back-bone, and we see him sinking into physical grossness and moral flaccidity. Jacob’ s life, on the contrary, in spite of great defects to begin with and many faults by the way, was a developing and ascending one. This is shown by the names he bore: he was first Jacob and then Israel. And it may be to recommend such a life of progress that his names are given to God’ s people. (J. Stalker, D. D.)Biography in three words: I. JACOB. 1. This was the name of the natural man. After he had received his new name the very mention of the old one must have reminded him of the evil time when he was an unbrotherly brother and an unfilial son. It is true that, while he was still Jacob, he went through the experience of Bethel, where he saw the vision of the ladder reaching up to heaven. This is usually regarded as his conversion, but, if it was, he was afterwards a backslider, for his subsequent life in Padan-aram was far more guided by selfish cleverness than by the law of God. The name Jacob, in short, was a memorial of a youth of sin and of a manhood of worldliness. But is it not, thus understood, an appropriate name for the people of God? Is there not for them also a bad past to remember? It is well sometimes to go back to what we were, because the old habits may still spring up and trouble us; though we may now have received a new name, the old Jacob is in us still. Above all, we ought to go back on that old time, because it helps to magnify the grace which brought us out of it. 2. But there is another idea inseparably connected with the name of Jacob: it is that of Divine choice. In our text this is very prominent--“ Israel, whom I have chosen, “ Jesurun, whom I have chosen.” It is, indeed, connected with the other two names here, because these indicate that to which he was chosen. But he was the choice of God, in preference to Esau, while he was still Jacob. As He chose Jacob, while he was still Jacob, so He loved us while we were yet sinners. II. ISRAEL. 1. The patriarch received a new name because he had become a new man. God does not trifle with such things. A change of name among, us may be a mere freak of caprice; but when God deliberately changed a man s name, it was an outward monument of an inward change. If it did not mean that the natural man, which the name Jacob designated, was entirely exterminated, it meant that it was so far overcome that the complexion of the life would henceforth be different. The reign of selfishness and worldliness was over, and a new spirit had entered in and taken possession If we ask how this came about, it may have been a slower and more complex process than we have any record of; for what appears a sudden spiritual change is often only the culmination of movements going on for a long time before. But what we are permitted to see clearly in the records of the patriarch’ s life is the midnight scene on the bank of the Jabbok. It is far away, and it is evidently concealed under forms of speech which are now alien to us; but this at least is evident, that the patriarch was that night, if a homely phrase may be allowed, at cross grips with God. That night God was not to him vague and far-off, but intensely real and very near; and Jacob had transactions with Him face to face--ay, hand to hand. Is not this what the religion of many people lacks? To a certain extent they are religious. Yet somehow it never comes to close quarters between them and God. What they need is Christ, the reconciler. 2. But the new name of Israel denoted more than this. It was expressly said to him, as he received it, “ As a prince hast thou had power with God and hast prevailed,” and this was what the name meant--the possession of power with God. Evidently a great crisis had come in Jacob’ s experience, in which his will came into collision with the will Divine. But what an unequal struggle! The mysterious man had only to touch Jacob in the seat of his strength, and it yielded in a moment; the sinew shrank, and he could struggle no more. Yet in the moment when he appeared to be thoroughly beaten, it turned out that he had gained the victory and won the blessing. This is not so mysterious as it looks. It is repeated in every great spiritual crisis. It is through such experiences that men and women enter into the secret of the Lord, become mighty in prayer, are endowed with spiritual power, and if they do not receive new names on earth, yet obtain a stamp and a signature of character leaving no doubt that they have new names in heaven. III. . There is no evidence that this name belonged to the third patriarch, though it may have done so. But there can be little doubt that, standing where it does, alongside of the other two, it was meant, like them, for a symbol of character. The root from which it appears to be derived means straight or upright, and this is its most probable meaning. This was precisely the development of character which the third patriarch needed, after he had received the new name of Israel. What happened the very next morning after the great midnight scene on which we have been looking? He went forth to meet his brother Esau; and this is the account of how he behaved: “ Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold Esau came, and with him four hundred men;. . . and he bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.” Bowed himself--to the ground--seven times! This to his own brother! What was he bowing for? Whycould he not stand up straight on his feet and look his brother in the face? Read the whole account of the preparations and dispositions which he elaborated before meeting Esau, and of the sly, suspicious way in which he met and managed his rough but generous brother, and you will feel inclined to sneer: Is this the man who was called last night a prince who had power with God? There is far too much bowing and becking, twisting and turning. This man is not straight; he is not upright. It seems to me that sometimes in people who have had their Bethels and Hahanaims and Peniels, and can speak to you about experiences of struggle and emptying, and of being filled with the Holy Spirit, there is a defect of a similar kind. Although they have had dealings with God, and feel themselves on a footing of reconciliation with Him, they are not right in their dealings with men. There are few things which so injure the cause of religion in the world as these defects of men of God. On the contrary, how noble and God-honouring a sight it is when one who is a prince with God is acknowledged on earth also to be a princely man; and when one who has power with God has at the same time influence with men through his manliness, uprightness, and charity. Our text is a message of hope. It speaks of the possibilities of spiritual transformation and development. (J. Stalker, D. D.)Jacob, Israel, Jeshurun: I take these three names in their order as teaching us-- I. THE PATH OF . Every “ Jacob” may become a “ righteous one” if he will tread Jacob’ s road. We start with that first name of nature which, according to Esau’ s bitter etymology of it, meant “ a supplanter,” --not without some suggestions of craft and treachery in it. It is descriptive of the natural disposition of the patriarch, which was by no means attractive. All through his earlier career he does not look like the stuff of which heroes and saints are made. But in the mid-path of his life there came that hour of deep dejection and helplessness when, driven out of all dependence on self, and feeling round in his agony for something to lay hold upon, there came into this nightly solitude a vision of God. In conscious weakness, and in the confidence of self-despair, he wrestled with the mysterious Visitant in the only fashion in which He can be wrestled with. “ He wept and made supplication to Him,” as one of the prophets puts it, and so he bore away the threefold gift-blessing from those mighty lips whose blessing is the communication, and not only the invocation of the mercy, a deeper knowledge of that Divine and mysterious Name, and for him self a new name. That new name implied a new direction given to his character. Hitherto he had wrestled with men whom he would supplant, for his own advantage, by craft and subtlety; henceforward he strove with God for higher blessings, which, in striving, he won. All the rest of his life was on a loftier plane. That is the outline of the only way in which, from out of the evil and the sinfulness of our natural disposition, any of us can be raised to the loftiness and purity of a righteous life. There must be a Peniel between the two halves of the character if there is to be transformation. How different that path is from the road which men are apt to take in working out their own self-improvement! How many forms of religion, and how many toiling souls in effect just reverse the process, and say practically--first make yourselves righteous, and then you will get communion with God. That is an endless and a hopeless task! This sequence, too, may very fairly be used to teach us the lesson that there is no kind of character so debased but that it may partake of the purifying and ennobling influence. II. THE LAW FOR THE LIFE. There are some religious people that seem to think that it is enough if only they can say: “ Well! I have been to Jesus Christ, and I have got my past sins forgiven; I have been on the mountain and have held communion with God.” Now, the order of these names here points the lesson that the apex of the pyramid, the goal of the whole course, is--righteousness. God does not tell us His name merely in order that we may know His name, but in order that, knowing it, we may be smitten with the love of it, and so may come into the likeness of it. Take, then, these three names of my text as preaching, in antique guise, the same lesson that the very Apostle of affectionate contemplation uttered with such earnestness: “ Little children! let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.” III. THE WHICH GOD MAKES OF THE OF THEM THAT LOVE HIM. Jeshurun means “ the righteous one.” How far beneath the ideal of the name these Jewish people fell we all know, and yet the name is applied to them. Although the realisation of the ideal has been so imperfect, the ideal is not destroyed. And so we Christian people find that the New Testament calls us “ saints.” All wrong-doing is inconsistent with Christianity, but it is not for us to say that any wrong-doing is incompatible with it; and therefore for ourselves there is hope, and for our estimate of one another there is the lesson of charity, and for all Christian people there is a lesson--live up to your name. Noblesse oblige! Fulfil your ideal. Be what God calls you, and “ press toward the mark for the prize.” IV. THE UNION BETWEEN THE FOUNDER OF THE NATION AND THE NATION. The name of the patriarch passes to his descendants, the nation is called after him that begat it. In some sense it prolongs his life and spirit and character upon the earth. That is the old-world way of looking at the solidarity of a nation. There is a New Testament fact that goes even deeper than that. The names which Christ bears are given to Christ’ s followers. Is He a King, is He a Priest? He makes us kings and priests. Is He anointed the Messiah? God “ hath anointed us in Him.” Is He the light of the world? “ Ye are the light of the world.” His life passeth into all that love Him in the measure of their trust and love. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The Church comforted and revived: I. AN ADDRESS MOST AND . “ Yet now hear, O Jacob, My servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen,” &c. The persons to whom these words were spoken are represented-- 1. As the servants of God. How great the honour to be acknowledged as a servant of the King of kings! 2. As the people of His special choice. 3. As the objects of His wonderful interpositions. The words, “ Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb,” refer to them in their national character. The relationship He sustained to them, and the great things He had done for them, are employed as arguments to inspire them with confidence, and lead them to be of good courage. II. A PROMISE . “ For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty,” &c. They are evidently spiritual blessings which are here promised, of which water is frequently employed as an emblem. In this passage we are reminded of the following particulars. 1. Their nature. In some places the cleansing property of water is intended. At other times its quality of quenching the thirst is set forth. But it is to be understood here in connection with its refreshing and fertilising influences. 2. Their value. We have but a faint conception of the importance of water, on account of its being so common with us. But, in those countries where it is scarce, its worth is very differently estimated. 3. Their seasonableness. When the soil is parched through long-continued drought, how welcome are the genial showers. And to the dry and barren soul, how cheering are the waters of life and salvation! 4. Their abundance. “ I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground.” Nor are they ample in quantity alone, but in their range they are most extensive. Besides embracing the people of God themselves, they also embrace their offspring. III. A RESULT TRULY . “ One shall say, I am the Lord’ s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.” We have here-- 1. An important principle indicated. It is that God’ s own people must be first revived before large accessions can be expected to the Church from without. 2. The blessed truth declared. (Anon.)A promise for us, and for our children: “ Yet.” What an ominous word as to the past! What a cheering word as to the future! “ Yet.” What black words are those which come before it! God’ s people were represented as being in a sadly backsliding state. Consequently God gave them up ,to the curse and the reproach. It may be that such is our case, though we be God s people. “ Yet,” says the text--though you have fallen into this state, do not despair; I love you; you are My chosen; yet will I return unto you in favour. Come then, if we have wandered never so far, let this word sound like the shepherd’ s call to bring us back. I. THE LORD HIS PEOPLE BY THE OF WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR THEM. Taking the text as our guide, let us notice-- 1. The grace we have experienced in its practical effect. To make us God’ s servants--“ Yet now hear, O Jacob, My servant.” We may be unfaithful servants: we certainly are unprofitable odes, but, if not awfully deceived, we are His true servants. We were once the servants of sin and the slaves of our own passions, but He who made us free has now taken us into His own family and taught us obedience to His will. 2. This grace is peculiar, discriminating and distinguishing. “ My chosen.” 3. Reflect again upon the ennobling influence of grace. The people are first called Jacob, but only in the next line they are styled Israel. You and I were but of the common order. If we had boasted of anything we should have been called Jacobs, supplanters, boasting beyond our line; but as Jacob at the brook Jabbok wrestled with the angel and prevailed, and gained the august title of prince--prevailing prince--even so has grace ennobled us! 4. The text conducts us onward to notice the creating and sustaining energy of that grace. “ Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb.” Men might as well claim the honour of creation or resurrection as boast of commencing their own spiritual life. 5. This” grace has the characteristic, of intense,, affection in it. God gives to His people the title of Jeshurun, which means the righteous people,” according to some translators, but most interpreters are agreed that it is an affectionate title which God gives to His people. Perhaps it may be considered to be a diminutive of Israel. Just as fathers and mothers, when they have great affection for their children, will frequently give them an endearing name--shorten their usual name, or call them by a familiar title only used in the family--so, in calling Israel Jeshurun, the Lord setteth forth His near and dear love. God’ s grace to us is not merely the mercy of the good Samaritan towards a poor stranger whom he finds wounded by the way, but it is the love of a mother to her sick child; the fondness of a husband towards a weeping wife; the tenderness of the head towards the wounded members. II. WE ARE BY THE PROMISE OF WHAT GOD WILL DO. “ Fear not; I will help thee.” You cannot pray as you desire--“ I will help thee.” You feel unable to overcome sin--“ I will help thee.” You are engaged in service too heavy for you--“ I will help thee.” Then comes a promise, fuller in words and as rich in grace, “ I will pour water on him that is thirsty.” You shall be refreshed; your desires shall be gratified. Water quickens sleeping vegetable life: your life shall be quickened by fresh grace. Water swells the buds and makes the fruits ripe: you shall have fructifying grace; you shall be made fruitful in the ways of God. Whatever good quality there is in Divine grace, you shall enjoy it to the full You shall be, as it were, drenched with it. III. AS A VERY GREAT COMFORT TO HIS PEOPLE, THE LORD NOW A UPON THEIR . They must get the blessing for themselves first. “ I win pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground,” --that is first; and then afterwards--“ I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed.” We must not expect to see our children blessed unless we ourselves grow in grace. It is often the inconsistency of parents which is the outward obstacle to the conversion of their children. But now, if we have had faith to receive much grace from God, here comes a blessed promise for our children--“ I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed,” in which observe-- 1. The need. To give a new heart and a right spirit is the work of the Holy Spirit, and of the Holy Spirit alone. 2. The source of the mercy which God will give. “ My Spirit.” 3. The plenty of grace which God gives. “ Pour” : not a little of it--but abundance. 4. The blessedness of all this. And My blessing upon thine offspring.” What a blessing it is to have our offspring saved! What a blessing to have our children enlisted in Christ’ s army! 5. Notice the vigour with which these children shall grow. “ They shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.” Close by the water’ s edge the grass grows very green, and the willow is a well-known tree for speedily shooting forth its branches. Our farmers lop their willows often, but they very soon sprout again. The willow grows fast, and so do young Christians. 6. The manifestation of this in public. Not only are our children to have the Spirit of God in their inward parts, but they are to make a profession of it. One shall say, “ I am the Lord’ s,” --he shall come out boldly and avow himself on the Lord’ s side; and another shall so ally himself to God’ s Church that he “ shall call himself by the name of Jacob” ; and then another who can hardly speak quite so positively, but who means it quite as sincerely, “ shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord” ; and a fourth “ shall surname himself by the name of Israel.” (C. H. Spurgeon)The Spirit promised to the seed of Jacob: The text contains one of those interesting passages in which the Holy Spirit is promised in the Old Testament. Consider-- I. THE PEOPLE TO WHOM THE PROMISE IS MADE. II. THE PROMISE ITSELF. III. THE EFFECTS ITS . (D. Rees.)Jesurun, Jesurun, or Jeshurun, is supposed to be derived from a word which literally means “ straight” or “ even.” The symbolic meaning is therefore upright or “ righteous.” St. Jerome renders it “ most upright.” In the Septuagint it is translated “ most beloved,” a term of endearment. A German commentator gives it the quaint and familiar rendering of “ gentleman,” or “ one of gentlemanly or honourable mind” (Delitzseh),--a noble epithet alike for the individual or the nation. Taking it in connection with the only other two places in Scripture where the word is used, Isaiah, in employing it here, has probably reference to the primitive virtues which characterised the patriarchal ages--the faith and purity and rectitude of the old founders of the nation--those to whom Israel pointed with something of the same pride and glory as we do to our covenanting forefathers. (Deuteronomy 33:5; Deuteronomy 33:26-29.) (J. R. Macduff, D. D.) Isaiah 44:3-5 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty God’ s Spirit as water and floods The double figure is expressive of copiousness, abundance, variety , the rain from heaven and the mountain torrents to refresh the parched land. (J. R.Macduff, D. D.)The Holy Spirit For both Jews and Gentiles: If these expressions are intended to signify different classes of people, the former may denote, in a figurative sense, the Jews, who had not yet received the Holy Spirit in that plentiful measure which they earnestly desired, and, unsatisfied with present enjoyments, were ardently longing for further communications of Divine grace, and the salvation of the Lord. The latter may signify the Gentiles, who had not been favoured with Divine ordinances and Divine influences, whose condition had been exhibited in preceding passages of these prophecies as uncultivated and barren, resembling a wilderness. (R. Macculloch.)Revival: A work of revival almost always begins with the children of God. God pours water first on “ him that is thirsty,” and then on “ the dry ground.” (R. M. M‘ Cheyne.)The influences of the Holy Spirit: I. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A AGENT IN THE SCHEME OF . II. THE PROMISE OF THE DIVINE SPIRIT TO SECURE THE GRAND OF FORMS A AND PART OF . III. EVERY PERSON WHO THE GOSPEL THE DIVINE WHICH IT . IV. THE AND OF REQUIRE THEM TO SEEK A MOST COPIOUS OF THE OF THE SPIRIT. The Spirit promotes the happiness of believers 1. By gradually advancing their sanctification. 2. By making them increasingly the objects of Divine complacency. 3. By preserving them from temptation, and habitually disposing them to seek communion with God. V. EVERY HAS REASON TO EXPECT THAT THE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL RE MOST TO HIM. VI. THERE IS AN ORDER OF MEANS WITH WHICH THE OF DIVINE IS , and in the constant observance of which its most copious effusion should be sought. VII. IF WE HAVE NOT THE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, OR IF WE DO NOT POSSESS THEM IN AN EMINENT DEGREE, WE ARE NOT MERELY BUT GUILTY. (L. Forster.)Water an emblem of the Holy Spirit: 1. Water is a blessing universally necessary. 2. A blessing universally diffused. 3. An abundant blessing. 4. A cheap blessing. (D. Rees.)The Spirit acts through believers: The Spirit must first show forth His virtue in us according to our faith before He can act upon our neighbours. He must be a Spirit of revealing truth in us before He can go forth from us to illuminate the world. He must be a Spirit of conviction in us, making us mindful of our errancies, before He can lead the world to penitence. He must be a Spirit of assurance in us before He can chase the fears and dry the tears of a mourning world. He must be a Spirit of holy, tender, undefiled charity in us before He can assimilate the world to Christ’ s great law of love. And all these things the Spirit becomes to us through faith. Some districts are riverless, not because the rain never falls, but because the soil for a great depth down is so porous that the rainfall passes through it like a sieve. The district that cradles rivers must have a soil and underlying foundation that will hold the rain like a sponge. And the graces and virtues present in the character whose root-principle is unfeigned faith hold the benign influences of the Spirit as in hidden fountains and storehouses, so that the world may be blessed by the steadfast outflow. (T. G.Selby.)The essential diffusiveness of spiritual religion: These words remind us of the essential diffusiveness of the religion which has faith for its ruling principle and the presence of the Holy Ghost for its daily heritage. The scale according to which we receive the Spirit must not be that of our own personal necessities only or the demands of the passing opportunity. As the Spirit dwelt in Christ with inexhaustible spontaneity for the sake of the larger humanity He had come to bless, as well as for Himself, so must it be with us. However narrow the visible measurements of our life, if we receive the fulness of the Spirit we shall touch the entire world through those subtle and expansive forces which brood within us. We are sometimes humbled because our sphere of action seems so cramped and circumscribed. We long for wider fields. We should like to be the instruments of Divine activities which will affect continents and live through centuries. But into what a little space our aspiring natures seem to be shut up! There are Christians, excellent in character and rich in mental gifts, whose influence seems to go no further than the home, the shop, the office, a select coterie of friends. If the Spirit is in us, however, these mystic rivers will flow forth, and for the honour of Him whose name we trust the Spirit will see to it that our opportunities are imperial in their magnitude. We shall affect for good the fortunes of many lands, and our destiny shall be large and resplendent as our best aspirations. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred we will not let our influence take wings and pass through its appointed realms and latitudes. The panting springs can find no outlet, and the Spirit is restrained because those are so narrow who give to Him an earthly home. Our religious toleration, for instance, we carry to an extent that is simply sinful. We see men in process of being ruined, and, forsooth, we do not wish to interfere with their “ religious convictions,” as we call them,--just as if any man’ s convictions were worthy of respect when they do not keep him from sin! We think of ourselves as wells to which our neighbours may come if they wish; but the murmuring streams are forced back into the fountain-head, and wells become little better than cesspools. There must be an onward-pushing force in our religious life. (T. G.Selby.)Vitalising power in Spirit filled men: There are souls around us so arid, scorched, and desolate that it seems almost impossible to educe within them a single grace or morality. Races are to be found--at least such is the testimony of the white men who are anxious to supplant them--which lack the rudimentary aptitudes for virtue, humanity, religion. They have received a prodigious endowment of appetite, passion, blood-thirstiness from the beast-world below them; but the spirit-world above them seems to have failed to filter down into their lives a single principle of light, truth, tenderness. Even these may be vitalised with a new ethic and fitted for a higher destiny than that of the dust-heap. But it must be by the Spirit in Christ’ s disciples. The trader who is a nominal Christian and a practical savage goes into their borders, and is an emissary of swift and complete destruction. They are touched by European commerce, and deteriorate and die off m swarms. They are forced into contact with Western civilisation, and they resent its restraints and perish from the lands of their forefathers. All these secondary influences are but as rivers of poison flowing through their borders, and a strange fate compels them to drink what they know to be the cup of death. The streams which can make this human desert, without a hint of verdure and land-marked with whitened bones, into a paradise, and keep it shaded with foliage, glorious with fruit, thick-set with holy homes and song-filled temples, must go out from the souls of men and women who have received the Holy Ghost. (T. G. Selby.)Encouragement for parents and children: In its relation to the Jews, there was a partial and very interesting fulfilment of this promise on the day of Pentecost, in the remarkable effusion of the Holy Spirit which then took place, and the blessed effects by which this was followed: but there is a still more striking and illustrious accomplishment to be realised, when, as the result of Divine influence, the Jews, as a nation and people, shall be brought back to God, and become incorporated with the Gentiles in that “ one fold,” of which Christ shall be acknowledged the true and only Shepherd. As a promise pertaining to Gospel times, it is one in which we have a clear and direct interest. As to the particular design of the promise, the very terms in which it is expressed show that it is intended to refer, not perhaps exclusively, but still most emphatically, to the children and posterity of those who have themselves loved and feared God. Consider the promise,-- I. IN ITS TO PARENTS. It should be regarded-- 1. As an encouragement to the faithful exercise of parental discipline and instruction. 2. As a warrant for believing application at the throne of grace. 3. As a satisfactory ground for hope and encouragement, even under the most unpromising appearances. II. IN ITS TO THE , AND MORE THE OF PIOUS PARENTS. 1. This promise affords you no security, apart from your personal acceptance of Christ and submission to His authority. 2. This promise supplies you with the richest encouragement in seeking your salvation and an interest in the Divine favour. 3. This promise should encourage the pious descendants of godly ancestors to aim at more than ordinary eminence in their personal devotedness to God. The imagery of the text seems to imply that a special decision and fixedness of purpose may be expected: “ One shall say, I am the Lord’ s,” &c. It indicates, too, great vigour and rapidity of growth: they shall grow “ as willows by the water-courses.” 4. This promise will leave you doubly without excuse, and greatly aggravate your guilt, if you persist in neglecting salvation. How pleasing to perceive that while the promise applies more especially to the posterity of believers, it does not exclude others! Not only will God give His Spirit and impart His blessing to the seed and offspring of His people, but He will pour water upon every one who is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. (Essex Remembrancer.)The Church and the children: These “ exceeding great and precious promises” are “ unto us and our children.” I. GOD’ S PROMISE OF UPON THE CHURCH. 1. Its import. Refers to the effusion of the Spirit. 2. Its participants. God’ s ancient people--in a sadly backsliding state. How deeply they needed the effusion of the Spirit! Two facts prove this to be our great want. (1) The low and languid piety of many. (2) The comparatively small success of the various agencies for the conversion of souls. 3. Its abundance. God gives what He promises only in answer to prayer. His promise cannot fail. “ I will.” II. GOD’ S PROMISE OF UPON THE OF THE CHURCH. 1. Our children need the Holy Spirit. Religion is not hereditary. No natural goodness can supersede His work. Spiritual life is not natural life carried up to its highest point of attainment. 2. God promises to give the Spirit as abundantly to them as to us. Same terms used. And having received the Spirit, they are to grow in grace vigorously (Isaiah 44:4). The manifestation of this in public (Isaiah 44:5). (A. Tucker.)Revival: Foremost among the judgments which followed Israel’ s idolatries was the visitation of drought. Dwelling, as we do, under milder skies, and in a sea-girt isle, we enjoy copious supplies of fertilising rain. Yet, even in our own land, a sensible reduction of the rainfall in spring is followed by empty shocks in August. But in the sunny climes of Syria, if the half-yearly gift of rain failed, the effect was disastrous in the extreme. In the footsteps of famine marched dark-robed pestilence, and grim Death with his scythe of keenest edge. Nor was this all. Towns and hamlets, stripped of strong men, became an easy prey to the marauder. Successful raids paved the way for desolating war; and defeat, oppression, national ruin, came in swift procession. Hence, impiety, must have grown bold indeed, if the Hebrews did not earnestly ask for the ‘ early and the latter rain.” Now if drought is so injurious in the fields of nature, is it not equally injurious in the Church? I. A STATE OF . The ground is said to be “ dry” --that is, in a parched and impenetrable condition. This is not its normal state: this is deadly to vegetable growth. For some reason the land has been deprived of dew and rain. No seed, however big with latent life, can break its rigid shell; much less spring up or prosper. With such homely imagery as this the prophet leads our thoughts from the outer world to the inner. There is a sense of need expressed. Here is a marked improvement. The soul is athirst; the insensibility is guns. The rigid hardness of winter is at an end. II. A GIFT . A promise from God is as good as its performance. 1. The Source of the supply. It must come from above. The great folly to which all men are prone, is to seek the supply of their wants apart from God. 2. The suitableness of the means. What can be more suitable than showers of rain for a thirsty soil? Yet equally suitable is every gift of God to satisfy the wants of dependent man! 3. The copiousness of the gift. If showers will not suffice, there shall be floods. 4. The range of the promise. It shall not terminate with ourselves: it shall extend to our children--ay, to our children’ s children! III. . There shall be a revival of life in the Church, as in the parched fields after a copious shower--as in nature, at the advent of spring. 1. Multiplicity of conversions is here predicted “ They shall spring up as amongst the grass.” 2. Rapidity of growth shall be another feature of this era. 3. Constancy of verdure will be enjoyed. They shall be “ as willows by the water-courses.” In the arid deserts of the East you will find here and there--conspicuous for their rarity--bright spots of luxuriant herbage, fruitfulpalms, flagrant flowers, in the midst of scorching sand. The secret is here,--that far down beneath the surface, a fount bubbles from the riven rock, which, watering the roots of trees and grass, produces beauty, shade, and fruit. So have we seen a man, placed in a very desert of privation--exposed to a scorching sun of trial--yet retaining all the freshness of his piety, and yielding fruits of wisdom, patience, hope. For the roots of his faith were nourished from a secret spring. (Dickerson Davies, M. A.)A revival promise: I. THE GREAT OF THE CHURCH The gift of the Holy Ghost. Whatever metaphor is used this is the meaning of it. 1. This blessing has been already given. We must never underrate the importance of the ascension of our Lord, and the gift of the Spirit which followed thereupon. He is permanently resident in the midst of the Church. 2. This blessing is the subject of a promise. A promise of God is the essence of truth, the soul of certainty, the voice of faithfulness, and the substance of blessing. What a right royal promise it is! We hear the double “ I will, I will.” 3. This gift is a most needful blessing. 4. While we need the Spirit of God, His working is most effectual to supply all our needs when He does come upon us. In the East, you can generally tell where there is a stream or a river by the line of emerald which marks it. If you stood on a hill, you coma see certain lines of green, made up of grass, reeds, rushes, and occasional trees, which have sprung up along the water-courses. Nothing is required to make the land fertile but to water it. Even thus let the Spirit of God come upon any Church, and it is all that it needs to make it living and fruitful. 5. The promise is liberal and unstinted. “ Pour floods.” I have seen in Italy the fields watered by the processes of irrigation: there are trenches made to run along the garden, and smaller gutters to carry the lesser streams to each bed, so that each plant gets its share of water; but the husbandman has to be very careful, for he has but little water in his tank, and only an allotted share of the public reservoir. No plant must have too much; no plot of ground must be drenched. How different is this from the methods of the Lord! He pours the water; He deluges the land. 6. This covenant blessing is peculiarly promised to a certain class of persons who are especially dear to us. “ I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed,” &c. II. THE -RESULT OF THIS . 1. The upspringing of spiritual life. Wherever the Spirit of God comes, there will be life in the Church and in the ministry; life in prayer, in effort, in holiness, in brotherly love. 2. The next effect will be seen in the calling out of numerous converts by the Holy Spirit. “ They shall spring up as among the grass, and as willows by the water-courses.” Who can count the blades of grass? The converts called out by the Spirit of God are vigorous and lively. The grass in the East springs up without any sowing, cultivating, or any other attention: it comes up of itself from the fruitful soil. There is the water, and there is the grass. So where the Spirit of God is with a Church there are sure to be conversions, it cannot be otherwise. 3. These conversions will come from all quarters. One shall say, another shall call, another shall subscribe. One comes from the wealthy, another from the poor, a third from nobody knows where. They shall come from all trades and occupations, from all churches and denominations. 4. These converted people shall be led to avow their faith. They shall not, like Nicodemus, come to Jesus by night. III. THE CONDUCT IF WE OBTAIN THIS . 1. We must confess how dry, how wilderness-like we are. 2. Let us cultivate prayer. 3. We must put forth our own personal effort. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Overflowing in usefulness to other: Egypt has the river Nile all the year round, but as a fertilizing power the Nile is practically useless till it is in flood and overflowing its banks. Then it bestows the needed blessing upon every foot of land it touches. It is when we are filled with the Spirit to the point of overflowing that we become a power for good to others. (T. Waugh.)Revived Churches: If you go down to some of our Thames bridges, you will find the barges stuck fast in the mud, and you cannot stir them. It would be a very difficult thing to provide machinery with which to move them; all the king’ s horses and all the king’ s men could not do it. But wait till the tide comes in; now every black, heavy old barge “ walks the waters like a thing of life.” Everything that can feat is movable as soon as the silver flood has returned. So, many of our Churches lie in the mud. Everything seems motionless, powerless; but when the Spirit of God comes in like a flood, all is altered. (C. H. Spurgeon.)I will pour My Spirit upon thy seedGod’ s covenant with Christian parents (with Acts 2:39):--Has God given to us any sure grounds to expect the conversion of the children of His people. Note-- I. THE OF THE TO THE PARENTS, as it is laid down in Scripture. It is plain that when God becomes our God, He becomes the God of our children. II. NURTURE furnishes us with another reason for expecting the salvation of our children. “ Train up a child,” &c. III. WE MAY FOUND OUR HOPES UPON GOD’ S AS A PRAYER-HEARING GOD. Let us not despair if the answer to prayer be long delayed. The Rev. Mr. Grimshaw, rector of Haworth, had but one son, and he did not follow his father’ s footsteps. After his father’ s death, he was heard to say, in his maudlin drunkenness, when riding, “ This horse once carried a saint; now it carries a devil.” Yet, hopeless as this case seemed, he became a true penitent, and one of his deathbed sayings was, “ How astonished my father will be to see me in heaven!” (Evangelical Advocate.)Christian home environment: There have been few of the great teachers of Christendom who have not derived their deepest convictions from the impressions made by their earliest domestic environment. (J. Stalker, D. D.)The value of young life: The nation of the future rests upon the cradles of to-day. The young life in any institution is that which repairs its defects, enlarges its usefulness, and stimulates its charities. The young life, in any family, is the influence which suns the path of age, invigorates exertion, and quickens the growth of the virtues. Where would the valour and vigour of the country be if deprived of the support of young life? Disraeli says that almost everything that is great has been done by youth; and the history of heroes is the history of youth. In the vegetable world the mission and influence of the young life is not less plain than powerful. According to Louis Figuier, the bud must be considered as a fundamental element in the plant, which, without it, would soon perish. It is the bud which year by year repairs the losses, supplies the flowers, the leaves, the branches which nave disappeared. Through its means the plant increases in growth. Through it its existence is prolonged. The bud is the true renovator of the vegetable world. Therefore these buds are everywhere--on the roots, the leaves, and sometimes even on the flowers, for Nature never loses sight of the phenomena essential to organic life--namely, the production of new beings. (Scientific Illustrations and Symbols.)Child-piety: A Christian gentleman’ s little son, just before he died, said to his father: “ When I get to heaven, I shall go up to Jesus and say, ‘ Jesus, I know You; my papa told me about You.’” (T. Champness.)A Christian childhood: Rev. F. B. Meyer was asked: “ How did you find Christ?” This is his written reply: “ I do not remember when first I became a Christian. The love of God came over me as the dawn over a summer sky; and it was only in after years that I realised what God had done for me in those early days. My mother and father were godly people. They expected me to be a Christian, and at my mother’ s knee I said my morning and evening prayers. It is to their prayer and faith and unremitting care that I owe everything.” God’ s blessing on the offspring of His people Speaking of the way in which his mother received him when he informed her that he had decided to leave the railway office and become a minister, the Rev. John M’ Neill said: “ Taking my face between her hands, she drew it close to her own and said, ‘ John, I meant you for that before I ever saw your face.’ I knew then, what I had never guessed before, that I owe my conversion and my ministry to my mother’ s prayer.” (Presbyterian.) Isaiah 44:4 And they shall spring up as among the grass Springing up as grass R.., more accurately, omits “ as” ; but the text is unquestionably corrupt. There is no doubt that the LXX. preserves the true reading: “ spring up as grass among the waters.” (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)As willows by the water-coursesThe willow Hebrews ‘ arab, a tree growing on the banks of streams in Palestine, Egypt, and Babylon (Leviticus 23:40; Job 40:22; Psalms 137:2). It grows to a considerable size, and was found generally in groves. It has, indeed, been pointed out that the tree now called ’ arab by the Arabs is not a willow but a species of poplar (Populus Euphratica)As, however, this tree is confined to hot countries like those on the lower Euphrates, it seems more likely that the name was originally that of the willow, and that it was subsequently transferred to the poplar. The Arabic translation of the Bible renders the Hebrews ‘ arab by saphsaph, which means “ willow,” or, according to the Talmud, a species of the willow growing by brooks. (J. Macpherson, M. A.)Willows (Hebrews ‘ arabim) are mentioned five times in the Bible, always associated with rivers or watercourses. The willow (Salix) is represented in Palestine by several species, though it is by no means a conspicuous tree in any part of the country. The weight of authority is decidedly in favour of the willow, which though not a conspicuous tree would be doubtless associated in the minds of the inhabitants with pleasurable feelings, as testifying to the presence of the much-prized water. (W. Houghton, M. A.)The “ willow” : Branches of the garab, which R. Kiepert brought with him, according to Wetzstein’ s indication of the place, and which O. Kersten, the secretary of the Imperial German Consulate, sent to the Royal Herbarium at Berlin, show that the garab is the Oriental poplar, Populus Euphratica (Olivier), whose undergrowth may easily on superficial observation be confounded with willow bushes; but it is distinguished from the willow by its leaves, which, although small, are almost quite smooth-edged, and not saw-like. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The growth of the willow: In the Duke of Bedford’ s willow garden was a willow which grew in twenty years to the height of between 60 and 70 feet. Four feet from the ground it was 7 feet in circumference. A small cutting grew to the height of 25 feet in four years Fuller says. “ In the isle of Ely where willows flourish, there is a proverb to this effect, The profit by willows will buy the owner a horse, before that by other trees will pay for the saddle.” Willows by the water-courses Every year we welcome the opening buds of the willow with their silky down, as among the first indications of approaching spring. The children delight to pluck off the shooting twigs, in their rambles in the meadows in search of early flowers. They call them palm branches, though they have little in common with the palm save that willow branches as well as palm branches were carried in the hand of the Jews on their great festival. There are many varieties of the willow, distributed over all parts of the globe, but they are most common in the temperate and sub-tropical regions, where they form a pleasing feature in the landscape, especially in the vicinity of ponds and rivers. The Jewish exiles in the watered plains of Babylon were painfully familiar with the willows, for on their branches they hung their silent harps and wept as they thought of far-away Zion (Psalms 137:1-9.). Yet the prophet who came to his countrymen with the cheering promise of Divine pardon and speedy restoration to their native land, found in these same willows a beautiful illustration of the happy change that would be produced and the blessings that would speedily follow their restoration to Divine favour and Fatherland. 1. The rapid and luxuriant growth of the willow is suggestive. A mere stake driven into the ground in the vicinity of water where there is plenty of moisture will take root and bud into leaf and branch in a remarkably short space of time. We are familiar with the immense crop of long and slender twigs that shoot up in the summer months and are yearly cut for basket-making in the osier beds by the banks of our rivers. A well-watered soil seems to be the one thing necessary to ensure the life and growth of the willow. In the winter the pollards stand out in the landscape, gaunt and desolate, like old and rotten sign-posts, and the osier beds look like a muddled mass of chopped root stumps. But in summer there is a perfect transformation from apparent death into new life, with graceful and luxuriant growth and greenness. Now, it is winter with men when they live apart from God and strangers to the blessings and comforts of the Gospel. But as soon as men are brought under the gracious influence of the Gospel of Christ, and come into touch with the “ river of the water of life,” all things are changed in them and for them. And the beauty and the joy for us is that so much of this change comes quickly. Certainly, for some of the choicest experiences of the Divine life the Christian has to wait. But very many of the comforts and beauties of the Gospel come to the Christian speedily. 2. The willow is capable of service. The wood of the willow is not to be compared to that of the oak and the other slow-growing forest trees. And yet there is a special power and service in the willow which make its cultivation important and of commercial value. Indeed, no growth in nature is without this capacity for service when it falls into the hands of those who know how to use it. You know what power may be found in the delicate pore of such grasses as the flax and hemp when it is properly prepared and spun into cordage. And the slender twigs of the willow, though so rapid in their growth, are yet so tough and flexible that they are extensively used in basket-making, which is, perhaps, the oldest industry in the world. The wood of the larger kinds of willow also is so tough and durable as well as flexible that the ancients employed it in the making of shields for the soldier and warships for the sailor. While the steamer has largely superseded the sailing boat, the paddle-blades of steamers are still made of willow-wood, and if shields have been superseded, the cricket fields of the world still make a large demand upon the willow for the best bats. Even more surprising is it to find that the most suitable charcoal for making gunpowder is procured from the willow-wood, so that even the slender willow, the whip and plaything of the child, can become a powerful force in war. And as soon as men come under the influence of the Gospel of Christ they become serviceable as they never were before. Even the youngest Christians are powers for good in many ways in all our Churches. While there are some things for which we need the firmness, wisdom, and experience of years, we have almost endless capacity and readiness for service in the young Christians. (J. Menzies.) Isaiah 44:5 One shall say, I am the Lord’ s-- A public profession of religion Those who become the subjects of special grace will choose to join the Church, and enter into covenant to walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. I. THE OF SPECIAL GRACE. II. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THEIR . III. WHY THE OF SPECIAL GRACE CHOOSE TO JOIN THE CHURCH AND ENTER INTO WITH GOD. 1. They love the commands of God. 2. They love the ordinances of God. 3. Their hearts are united to Christians. 4. They desire to promote the cause and interest of God in the world. 5. They desire to grow in grace. 6. They are so sensible of the deceitfulness of their own hearts, and their proneness to forget and forsake God, that they desire to bind themselves, by covenant vows and obligations, to be steadfast and unmovable in His service. Those who have sincerely made a public profession of religion must rejoice to see any who appear to be the subjects of special grace, make a public profession of religion. Improvement-- 1. If those who have become the subjects of special grace desire to make a public profession of religion, and to enter into covenant with God, then none who have really become subjects of special grace have any just excuse for neglecting to join the Church, and neglecting to bind themselves to love and obey God for ever. 2. If the subjects of special grace always desire to profess religion and partake of Divine ordinances, then so long as they neglect their duty they must necessarily feel unhappy. 3. While the subjects of special grace neglect to join the Church, they live in a very sinful manner. They greatly injure both themselves and religion. 4. It appears from what has been said that some who have long entertained a hope of being the subjects of special grace, must soon give up their hope if they continue to neglect joining the Church. 5. It highly concerns those who have entered into covenant with God, to be steadfast in His covenant, and persevere in universal obedience. (N. Emmons, D. D.)Converts, and their confession of faith: This is to take place after the Lord has poured out His Spirit upon His people, and upon their offspring. The mainspring of everything good and gracious is the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit of God comes, converts come too. If they do not come by the Spirit of God, they are not worth having. Converts will come forward to confess their faith. I. THIS OF FAITH IS . “ One shall say, I am the Lord’ s,” &c. It is not a joint confession, but an individual one. It is “ one” and “ another” and “ another.” 1. All confession of Christ must be personal; anything else is unreal and worthless. All religion that is true is personal. 2. This personal confession needs to be carefully attended to when there are many coming forward. 3. This individual confession of your faith in Christ is incumbent upon you very specially when there are few coming forward. I should say to myself, “ If there is nobody in this village confessing Christ, then it is all the more urgent upon me that I should confess Him. If there are few added to the Church, then I will go that the Church may not be discouraged in its Christian efforts. I like to have around me those who feel, “ It is no consideration with me whether there are many or few; I have to act as before God on my own account. If there be few who do right, that is all the more reason why I should do it.” II. THIS IS VARIED. 1. One person speaks out for himself: “ One shall say, I am the Lord’ s.” That is a fine speech. If you, from your very soul, can say this in any company, and not be ashamed to say it before men, angels, or devils, God has taught you a noble piece of eloquence. 2. The next person mentioned in our text confessed his faith in a different way, for he called himself by the name of Jacob; that is to say, he took up his position with the people of God under their lowliest title. “ There,” said he, “ I am prepared to suffer affliction with the people of God, to be reproached when they are reproached, to be shunned when they are shunned, to be ridiculed when they are ridiculed. I belong to Jacob. He is an extra ordinary person, cut off from the rest of the world to be the Lord’ s, and I go with him.” 3. But here is a third person, who makes his confession in a still different way: “ Another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.” I do not know this person; sometimes, I think that he is a friend of mine, who is afraid to speak, but who likes to write. “ I could not,” says one, “ speak my confession of faith, but I could joyfully sit down and write it.” Yes, you are timid, and trembling, and slow of speech. Do not condemn yourself for that. Still, I am not sure that this is the person mentioned in the text. I seem to fancy that it is a stronger body, a man who is not content with saying it, but who writes it down in black and white, “ I am the Lord’ s.” That which is written remains; so he puts it down. This person who thus subscribed, or wrote with his hand, unto the Lord, also went the whole way towards God and His people at their best, for it is added that he surnamed himself by the name of Israel. There are some who give themselves up to the Church of God in a very complete and unreserved manner, resolving that all the privileges they can enjoy they will have, all the holiness they can ever attain to they will gain, and all the consecration that lies within the region of possibility they will strive after and secure. III. THESE OF FAITH ARE ALL . (C. H. Spurgeon.)“ I am the Lord’ s” : 1. “ I am His” follows “ My Beloved is mine.” You must have Christ before you say that you belong to Christ. 2. This is a very practical confession. If I am the Lord’ s, then I must not give myself up to be the slave of another. 3. It will also be a high incentive to duty to say truly, “ I am the Lord’ s.” I must live for Him. 4. This confession has a sweet, comforting aspect. 5. This is my hope of safety and perfection. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LordSubscribing with the hand In the day when the prophet Isaiah wrote his book, it was a custom for people to draw on their hand the name, likeness, or symbol of the person they loved or the master they served. It was often painted on the hand of a woman with an ink which could be rubbed off only with much trouble; but men punctured their skin with s needle, dropping in the ink at the same time, as is now frequently done by sailors; and occasionally the name or symbol was branded on their skin with a hot iron. In this way, a man would write on his hand, or on some other portion of his body, the name or likeness of the god he worshipped; the soldier would bear the name of his commander; the slave would have the name of his master; and we are informed that, in a subsequent age, the early Christians printed upon their hand or arm, and sometimes upon their breast, the name of Jesus and a likeness of the cross. Having this custom in mind, the prophet, writing as though God were speaking through him to His wearer people,--as, no doubt, was the case,--says, “ Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on her own son? yea, she may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands” (Isaiah 49:16). Had our text in English been written more in harmony with the original language, it would have read thus--“ Another shall subscribe, or write, upon his hand, I belong to Jehovah!” (W. Birch.)Tattooing There are constant allusions to this in the classics. We know that devout worshippers dedicated themselves to the god they worshipped, and were stamped with a secret mark. Paul alludes to this when he says, “ Henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus” ; as much as to say, “ I am Christ’ s: I have had His name branded upon me.” When he suffered from being scourged and beaten with rods, he called it bearing the marks of the Lord Jesus, and did as good as say, “ Flog away, you will only engrave His name into my flesh, for I am Christ’ s.” Now it would be a very superstitious and foolish thing for any man to be tattooed with the name of the Lord, or with a cross; but all that such an act meant in those who did it of old we ought to mean, namely, that we are for ever, and beyond recall, the property of Jesus. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Subscribers: My object is to persuade you to subscribe your life to the Lord. You may answer, Who is the Lord? I reply-- 1. He is the Creator. 2. He is the Father of your spirit. 3. If so, He is impressionable. He is grieved because of sin. Is not the Saviour’ s broken heart a manifestation of the heart of our Heavenly Father? 4. He is your true Friend. 5. I call on you to subscribe your life unto the Lord, because of your everlasting welfare. (W. Birch.) Isaiah 44:6 Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel “ I am the First, and I am the Last” This affirmation of God’ s existence appears more comprehensive than the similar one, made by Him to Moses, “ I am that I am. ” It is true, when we say that He is by His own absolute will and power, we assert by implication all that belongs necessarily to the essence and character of the Almighty. We assert His eternity; for He who so exists could have had no beginning, and can have no end: we assert His creation of all other beings, and His sovereignty over them; for He who alone is from eternity, must have given existence to all things that are besides Himself; and, as the Author of all, in and for whom all exist, must be the sovereign Ruler and Disposer of all. Nevertheless the ampler form of expression, “ I am the First and I am the Last,” implying comparison with and precedency to all other existences, would seem to convey-to- the mined more distinct notions of the eternity, the omnipotence, the creative will and beneficence, of that infinite Being “ who is above all, and before all, and in all.” (R. Cattermole, B. D.)The First and the Last Bitter was the sorrow of the prophet who spoke these words when he saw his people turn away from Jehovah. Israel had been enlightened by the purest lights. Alone of all the nations of the ancient world, it possessed the knowledge of the One living and holy God. Yet these truths are forgotten; these privileges are rejected; this God is denied. Obedient to the idolatrous inspirations of the Semitic races whose vitiated blood runs through their veins, the Israelites turn towards Moloch, Baal, Astarte. Then the prophet argues, struggles, waxes indignant, implores; he shows the inanity of that idolatrous worship and the infamy of those hideous rites; he reminds Israel of the greatness of their origin and of their destiny; he calls up before their eyes the sacred figure of Jehovah; he tells his people, in the words which the Almighty Himself has put into his mouth, “ Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and His redeemer the Lord of Hosts; I am the First, and I am the Last; and beside Me there is no God.” This history is our own. A light more resplendent far than that which illumined Israel hath shone upon the Christian nations. What has all this availed us, and whither are marching the rising generations? Doubtless, the stone and wooden idols of the past cannot be set up again. But this gloomy fatality before which men would compel us to abdicate our reason, is it not an idol too? I. “ I AM THE FIRST.” 1. We find in this the affirmation of the fundamental doctrine of the supreme God, the Creator of all things. To-day men would teach us another Genesis of the world: the old doctrines of Epicurus are once more becoming current; we hear of eternal matter, of millions and millions of atoms which, by whirling about continually in space, have unconsciously and spontaneously invested themselves with a motion in accordance with the mathematical laws which they had themselves called into existence. We are told that out of a mechanical combination suddenly issued a living cell, and that, millions of centuries aiding, this life has become vegetative, then animal, then conscious, intellectual, and finally moral; we axe asked to acknowledge this ascending progression of matter which, from the inert molecule it was in the first instance, has become sensitive protoplasm, then has been transformed into the plant, which in its turn has become endowed with motion, then advancing one step further has turned into the hideous animal, creeping in the mire of the primitive marshes, to rise up at length in its conquered majesty and call itself Plato, Aristotle, Jesus Christ. And having thus accounted for the formation of things, men look with scornful pity upon those who still have recourse to the intervention of an all-creating God; their idea of the Divine Being may be expressed in the words of the learned Laplace to Napoleon the First. “ I have had no need of this hypothesis.” In presence of this self-styled scientific Genesis, it is not only my faith which revolts, but my reason repeats, with the enthusiasm of a conviction firmer than ever, “ I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth” ; for if there is m my reason an immovable principle, it is indeed this: that no effect can exist without a cause, that all which is in the effect must also be in the cause; that, consequently, matter can never have brought forth intelligence, chaos can never have given birth to harmony, for in nowise can the lesser ever have produced the greater. 2 This reminds us, further, that as God is the supreme Cause, He must also be the supreme End of all that exists, the centre of the thoughts and affections of all the beings He has created. All things, says St. Paul, are by Him and for Him. Every being has a destination, and the noblest destination of all beings is that which the Scriptures call the glory of God. You know what this ideal has become, and what sin has made of it. 3. This means, further, that God is at the basis of all that is done to raise and save humanity, to bring it back to the true life which it has lost by separating itself from Him. God is at work in the midst of mankind. It is in a region higher than that of science that we must seek the hidden sources of the river of life which brings regeneration, consolation, and eternal hope to the world. Whence come they then? They gush from the depths of the religious revelation which the God whom we serve has given to mankind. God the Creator is also God the Redeemer, and, in order of grace as in that of nature, He may truly say: “ I am the First.” What has been accomplished in the world must also be accomplished in each individual being, and the redemption of humanity is nothing if it is not worked out in the innermost soul of those who are to reap its fruits. II. “ I AM THE LAST.” By this we must understand-- 1. That God never abdicates, and that He shall ever remain the Supreme Master, when all the lords of a day shall have passed away after having made a little noise in the world. 2. That God remains the Supreme Judge, and that, consequently, the hour of justice shall certainly strike. 3. That God is the Supreme Refuge of every soul that calls upon Him, the only one which remains standing when all others have disappeared. (E. Bersier, D. D.)Bibical monotheism: As to this, the sublimest utterance of Scripture, we offer three preliminary remarks-- 1. It is supported by the structure and order of nature. So far as the universe has come within the sweep of scientific observation and research, it appears as one complete whole. All its parts are beautifully harmonised; all its forces are nicely balanced. 2. It is in direct antagonism to certain prevalent opinions. It is opposed to atheism, which declares there is no God; to fetichism, the worship of any material object that a capricious superstition may select; to polytheism, which holds the plurality of gods; and to pantheism, which regards nature as identical with Deity, and thus destroys a Divine personality. 3. It is accepted as a fundamental truth in all evangelical churches. But our object is to consider the practical uses of Biblical monotheism. I. IT REVEALS THE OF THE CREATOR. Survey this wondrous universe. Gaze upon the vast, and examine the minute in the clearest and broadest light of modem science, and what do you see--wisdom? Yes, manifold wisdom. Goodness? Yes, like an overflowing tide, overflowing all. Power? In rearing the stupendous fabrics, building up the mountains, pouring out the oceans, stretching out the heavens. Do you see wealth in all this? If you attach value to one acre of earth, what is the value of the globe? If there be but one God, how great must He be! II. IT REVEALS THE OF MORAL . Deep in the souls of all men is the sense of duty. My definition of virtue is this--“ following a right rule from a right motive.” What is the rule? Clearly, if there be but one God, the will of that one God must be the rule. What is the motive? Clearly, if there be but one God, supreme love to that one God. Were there a plurality of gods there would be a difficulty to find out what virtue is; we should have to determine whose will to obey--the will of each, or some, or all. And we should also have to find out who of all the gods we should love the most. III. IT REVEALS THE FITNESS OF TO THE OF THE SOUL. 1. The human heart has a centralising tendency. Deep in our emotional nature is a craving for some one object on which to place entire confidence, and centre the deepest love. 2. The moral character of the soul depends upon its central object. By a law of our nature we become like that we most love. He who loves God becomes a partaker of the Divine nature. 3. The soul’ s happiness is determined by the character of the object most loved. All experience shows that most of our happiness and misery comes out of our supreme love. All, in every age, who have loved the one God supremely have felt with the psalmist who said, “ Whom have I in heaven but Thee?” IV. IT REVEALS THE HUMAN OF SOULS. “ To us,” says Paul, “ there is but one God, the Father of all things, and we in Him.” V. IT REVEALS THE IN . “ God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son,” &c. Here is love passing knowledge. 1. What a disparity between Him who loves and them who are loved! What a disparity in natures! God, the Almighty, the All-wise, the Eternal. Man, the feeble, the ignorant, and the dying. What a disparity in character! God, the Essence and Fountain of all holiness. Man, vile and polluted with sin. 2. What a manifestation of the greatness of His love. Is this one God our one God? Have we no idols? (D. Thomas, D. D.) Isaiah 44:8 Fear ye not Christian courage Boldness for God, and boldness in dealing with God, should form part of the Christian character; and the Word of God encourages this Christian boldness. We are repeatedly exhorted to “ fear not,” to “ be of good courage.” I. WHY ARE WE TO EXPECT THAT THE PEOPLE OF GOD WOULD BE LIKELY TO FEAR? 1. They have always been a persecuted people. 2. Many a man, before he is decided for God, finds out that, if he makes up his mind to enter into the service of the Lord, his worldly interest is nearly sure to suffer. 3. Others, again, know their personal interest for their worldly circumstances. They know, for instance, their birth, their wealth, their talent. Then perhaps they are called of God to think seriously about their eternal state; and the result is, that they feel in their own minds, “ If I forsake all this outward display of means, and show that I do not value it as I have hitherto done, my influence amongst others will very greatly suffer.” 4. There is many a man, if he would serve the Lord, must make a sacrifice of many of his personal and worldly comforts. 5. Then, take the case of doctrines. There are many who imbibe from their earliest days the idea that religion is gloomy, that God is an object of terror, that death must be misery; they live in no thought of the Lord’ s coming again in joy and happiness, and heaven itself, with its delights and its pleasures, is never really considered. Now, all these things frequently produce fear in our minds. II. THE REASON WHY WE SHOULD NOT FEAR. The reason is, that the Lord thus argues with us: “ Have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it?” That is, God challenges man to deny this fact, that He knows the end from the beginning, and has proved that He knows it by foretelling the end from the beginning. This is the manner in which God argues in other passages. (Isaiah 42:9). God knows the end; God foresees the means, and foreseeing the means He exercises control over those means--everything that happens therefore, great or small, is under the control of God, who “ orders all things after the counsel of His own will,” and consequently we have nothing to fear, because we are in His hands who “ doeth all things well.” This is the manner in which we find the argument used in Isaiah 51:12. III. Having thus stated the Christian’ s duty as well as his privilege--not to fear; and having seen what the reason is, that God has foretold all things, and therefore decreed and settled all things from the beginning, HE THEN HIS PEOPLE in these words--“ Ye are even My witnesses,” and therefore urges upon them, by the strongest possible personal appeal, to bear testimony to the fact that the Lord He is God, and our God too, for ever and for ever. (M. Villiers, M. A.) Isaiah 44:9-20 They that make a graven image The vanity of graven images Substituting homely prose for glowing poetry we may, after a fashion, reduce the prophet’ s thought to propositions like the following-- 1. Neither the idol nor its god knows anything, while Jehovah knows all. 2. Neither the idol nor its god can do aught, while Jehovah is almighty. 3. Neither the idol nor its god is aught, while Jehovah is the living God, God of the entire universe, and a God of love,--in a word, the perfect Personality. 4. The worship of idols or their gods is degrading, while that of Jehovah exalts and saves the soul. (W. S. Ayres.)The idolater’ s jolly: With a dash of pungent satire, Isaiah shows what a silly man he is. We have here the whole process of god-manufacture. The poor devotee selects a cedar, or a cypress, or an oak, which probably his own hands planted many years ago; and, having hewn it down, sets to work with line, and plane, and chisel, to fashion it into the resemblance of a human being. This being done, he places it in a shrine or temple, and falls down before it, and worships it. What becomes of the rest of the tree? Oh, with it he makes a blazing fire to warm himself, or to bake his bread! So that it is quite a chance which portion of the wood becomes a god, and which portion turns to ashes on the hearth; the same tree suffices to cook food for his hungry body, and to provide an object of adoration for his hungry soul. The man is an utter fool, only to be ridiculed and laughed at; and the prophet holds him up to the derision of all sensible men, as one whose head is surely turned, or who has fairly lost his wits. (J. T.Davidson, D. D.) Isaiah 44:14 He planteth an ash The planter and the rain The civilised and cultivated tree is the joint product of human care and the earth’ s fertility. Let us study the picture and see how true it is to what the world contains. 1. We may ask ourselves how it is that any institution or established form of human living comes to be prevalent and dominant. A strong idea, of freedom, of justice, of mercy, enters into some strong man’ s soul. It makes itself completely his. Then it will not be satisfied with him; it grows restless within him, and demands the world. Then he takes it out some day and plants it. With some vigorous, incisive word or deed he thrusts his live and fiery idea down deep into the fruitful soil of human life. Then human life takes up his idea and nourishes it. Wonderfully all the forces gather around it and give it their vitality. History bears witness that it has all been living by the power of that idea unknown, unguessed; philosophy says that in it lies the key of her hard problems; economy discovers that by it life may be made more thrifty and complete; poetry shows its nobleness; affection wreaths it with love; all the essential hopes and fears and needs of human nature come flocking to it; until at last you can no more conceive of human life without that idea than you can think with complacency of the landscape without the great tree which is as thoroughly a part of it as is the very ground itself. A free Church, a just court, a popular government--this is the way in which every institution comes to be. Here is the relation of the world’ s few great creative men to the great mass and body of its life. Helpless Europe without Martin Luther. Helpless also Martin Luther without Europe. Here is the mutual need of great souls and the great world. 2. We have another illustration, even more striking, close at our hand, in the way in which character grows up in our personal nature. Where do our characters come from? It is easy sometimes to represent them as the result of strong influence which other men have had over us. It is easy at other times to think of them as if they made themselves, shaping themselves by mere internal fermentation into the result we see. But neither account tells the story by itself. When we question ourselves, not about character in general, but about special points and qualities of character, then we are sure that it was by some outer influence made our own, some seed of motive or example set into our lives and then taken possession of by those lives and filled with their vitality, developed into their owe type and kind of vice or virtue--it was thus that this, which is now so intimate that we call it not merely ours but ourselves, came into being. This is the reason of the perpetual identity along with the perpetual variety of goodness and badness. We are all good and bad alike; and yet every man is good and bad in a way all his own--in a way in which no other man has ever been bad or good since the world began,--just as all ash-trees are alike because they have all been planted from the same nurseries; and yet every ash-tree is different from every other because it has grown in its own soil and fed on its own rain: the society and the individuality of moral life. 3. The truth has its clearest illustration, it may be, in the way in which God has sent into the world the Gospel of His Son. Most sharp and clear and definite stands out in history the life and death of Jesus Christ. It was the entrance of a new, Divine force into the world. But what has been the story of that force once introduced? It has been subjected to the influences which have created the ordinary currents of human life. The characters and thoughts of men have told upon it. The Gospel has shared in the fortunes of the Christian world. It has followed in the track of conquering armies; it has been beaten back and hindered by the tempests of revolution and misrule; it has been tossed upon the waves of philosophical speculation; it has been made the plaything or the tool of politics; it has taken possession of countries and centuries only by taking possession of men through the natural affections of their human hearts; it has worked through institutions which it only helped to create. While it has helped to make the world, it has also at every moment been made by the world into something different from its own pure self. If you try to take either half of the truth by itself you get into the midst of puzzle and mistake. Think of the Gospel simply as an intrusion of Divine force kept apart from any mixture with the influences of the world, and it is impossible to understand the forms in which it has been allowed to present itself. Its weaknesses and its strength are alike unintelligible. Think of it as a mere development of human life, and you cannot conceive how it came to exist at all. But consider it in its completeness. Remember that it is a Divine force working through human conditions; let it be all one long incarnation, God manifest in the flesh--and then you see at once why it is so weak and why it is so strong; why it has not occupied the world with one lightning flash of power, and why it must at last, however slowly, accomplish its complete salvation. 4. Every Christian is a little Christendom; and the method of the entrance of the Gospel into the great world is repeated in the way in which the Gospel enters into every soul, which then it occupies and changes. Again, there is the special act of the implanting of the new life, and then there is the intrusting of the new-implanted life to the nature and its circumstances. The man was born again! Since then, long years have come and gone. What have they seen? The rain has nourished it--that long-sown seed! Nothing has happened since which has not touched that seed and helped or hindered its maturity. Still remember, it is His rain. The influences into whose influence the seed was given still were God’ s. He took the child, and gave the friend, and sent you on the journey, and shaped the nature which bestowed on the Christian life its distinctive character. 5. May we not say that the principle itself includes the whole truth of the supernatural, and its relation to the natural? (Phillips Brooks, D. D) Isaiah 44:16 He burneth part thereof in the fire.Which is to far better purpose than the other part made into an idol, (J. Trapp.)Aha, I am warmCold This is an expression of that natural joy which will escape from one in some way or other, when from a comfortless apartment, or from a frosty street, or from some wintry office of obligation, he sees the shining of his own hearth. If it could be introduced thus with an exclamation in the land of Judea, that mild land, it should certainly be repeated in this stern climate with a deep feeling of relief and thankfulness. The household gods of ancient Italy were set up about the fireplace of each dwelling, as about a sacred spot, deserving to be surrounded with the images of a divine protection; and even now, all over the world, altar and hearth are but another phrase for home. “ Who,” asks the psalmist, “ can stand before His cold?” God sends it; and He has filled the earth with materials, and the mind of man with resources, to repel and overcome it. He is the same Sovereign Wisdom and Goodness in this as in every other part of His works. And yet we must confess that it is one of His unwelcome ministers; but, like all the rest of what we account so in the natural world, subservient to high purposes in the holy providence of the Lord. Let us turn to the various instrumentality by which its vigour is mitigated and its power for mischief broken. “ I am warm,” says the speaker in the text. So would the ground say if it had a tongue, while it lies sheltered under the fleecy garments of dazzling whiteness, which the very cold has woven for it out of the dark mists. “ I am warm,” say the beast and the bird of the frozen zone, as the one lies close in his furry coat or the locks of his long hair, and the other is not afraid to cleave the inexorable sky with his breast of down. “ I am warm,” repeat the animals who are natives of our own temperate circle, as they take shelter in the hollow retreats which their industry has contrived, or make their way towards the more genial countries whither their instincts direct them. “ I am warm,” say the lake and the stream, while they are armed with the polished breast-plate which has been forged for them, not among furnaces of glowing heat, but in the “ magazines of the haft.” “ I am warm,” says man; he who commands the inferior creatures, he who makes a path for himself even over the deep, he who compels into his bond-service the substances and the elements of the world. He cuts clown the trees, and makes them do him a kinder office by their blaze than they had done before by their shadow. And better than this; he opens the dark treasures with which a gracious providence has stored the lower parts of the earth, and he finds them more precious than the “ vein for the silver,” than “ the place of sapphires and dust of gold.” What are the feelings which the consideration of the cold and all its alleviating circumstances should impress upon the mind? 1. Thankfulness towards God. There is no small danger of losing sight of the Almighty Benefactor in partaking of His benefits. There is no small danger of even turning those very benefits into a sort of idols that we substitute in His place. This was precisely and literally the case with the person whom the prophet describes as speaking in the text. You are like him, who transform your interest into your religion; making a show of worship, when you are thinking only how to be warmed and fed. You, too, are like him who shape your faith and your convenience out of the same material; making the concerns of the soul but part and parcel with common necessities. We are all like him, so far as we turn our comforts into our divinities. 2. Sympathy with His suffering creatures. (N. L. Frothingham.)The wisdom of God in the freezing of water: I cannot omit calling your attention to a remarkable fact in the freezing of water, which has nothing to surpass it in the surprising wisdom of its ordination, even if it has any perfect parallel in the whole economy of nature. We know it to be a general law of material substances, that they expand with the heat and contract with the cold. The particles of water are subjected to this rule, like all other particles of matter. But if this were allowed to hold on throughout, giving way to no exception, do but reflect what would be the consequences. The drops at the surface, as they were successively congealed, would sink. The process of freezing would begin at the bottom. Layer after layer would thus be deposited, which no returning suns could penetrate to dissolve; and the most that the summer could do would be to wet the face of the flinty mass. The water-courses would be for ever stopped in their glad and wholesome flow; and many a broad river would scarcely float a boat upon its plashy shallows. And now what has been done to avert such a calamity? A new law has been instituted, in direct contravention of the old, to meet the exigency of the case. The water, precisely at the moment of congelation, breaks away into the line of an opposite decree. It expands and grows lighter. It refuses to descend. It rests fixed upon the top, an ornament and a defence. I know not how others may be affected by a view like this; but it seems to me to call for an adoring acknowledgment of that all-pervading design which thus supplies the wants of its creation by a special departure from its own method, as invariable in its action as the method itself. (N. L. Frothingham.) Isaiah 44:17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god Residual religion The scene is one which we may describe as very childish indeed. It belongs to the very earliest stage one might imagine of the thought of worship, The man who evidently lives under conditions by no means of the highest civilisation feels himself exposed to the natural inclemency of the weather, and to the pangs of hunger. He selects a tree, and because he needs food he breaks up the tree and kindles a fire and prepares his food. He then rejoices in the warmth of the fire that he has kindled, and he has satisfied two of the simple wants of nature. He has been hungry, and he has provided himself food. He is cold, and he has provided himself with warmth. But there is yet another instinct in his nature which demands satisfaction. He is conscious that he is a weak creature in the midst of a strange and wonderful world. Mysterious powers that he cannot fathom seem to float about his life, and to interpose their forces often to the derangement of his plans. And therefore, when he has satisfied those two simple physical wants, he takes the residue of the tree that he has cut down, and he makes it into a god. Thus it is that he satisfies three imperious desires and needs of his nature. Is it wholly untrue to say that there are many men who live after this fashion, that when they have supplied their own wants, when their body has been amply fed, when the conditions of their life have been cared for so that they are well provided with the warming comforts of life, then, out of the residue of their time, out of the residue of their money, out of the residue of their thought, they will, perchance, consecrate something to God? (Bp. W. B. Carpenter, D. D.)Materials and principles of life: There is one very common delusion which, if we will watch ourselves, we shall find that we are all of us more or less liable to. We confuse the materials of life with the principles which ought to govern life. The materials of life in this poor man’ s case were very simple indeed. He is a man who can cut down a tree of the forest to make himself a habitation, and from the wood all round about him gathers what may be called the material of life, whether for the house or for the cooking of food, and these materials of life are such that you and I, looking back upon them from our refined and elevated position, say that they are very simple and very crude indeed; but he manipulates these materials after a certain principle. Given that we have different materials to deal with, and that ours is not the life of the forest and the dependence upon the forest, but that ours is the life of modern civilisation, with our railways and our telegraphs and our newspapers daily, with our opportunities of enjoyment in abundance, and with means of information in the multiplied books which are issued daily from the press. With all these things which constitute the material of our life, and with our occupations governed and guided by the principles of modern civilisation, it is possible that we may say--and we shall say truly--that the materials of life which we possess are far superior to the rude materials which belonged to that poor man’ s life. But is the difference between one man and another to be judged by the materials which a man uses, or by the principles which he applies in the use of those materials? (Bp. W. B. Carpenter, D. D.)Religion the all-comprising principle of life: Is religion to be looked upon as a thing that you can separate? Or are you going to regard religion as a principle which is applicable to life, and applicable at every hour and in every place, and all through life? Was that old rhyme right that told us that the twenty-four hours of the day should be divided into eight hours for work, and eight for rest, and eight which are given to God; or was not that correction right of the man who said, “ eight for toil, and eight for rest, and all for God” ? Gounod had painted on his piano the head of the Christ, as if he would say, “ Wherever I look before I compose, I look upon the head of the crucified Lord, and I know that the spirit of that Lord passes into me; and when I begin to compose my melodies, the music of His life penetrates my soul, and gives me the respiration. We should look into the face of God, understand the character of God, understand that He claims every human being as His son, and understand, therefore, that there is no bondage here, but that there is the freedom of the son, and the love of the son’ s heart, and the desire of the son’ s heart to advance the kingdom and the family of God. (Bp. B. W. Carpenter, D. D.) Isaiah 44:20 He feedeth on ashes Earth used as food One of the most extraordinary examples of depraved or perverted appetite is the use of earth for food. This propensity is not an occasional freak, but a common custom, and is found among so large a number and variety of tribes that it may be regarded as co-extensive with the human race. From time immemorial the Chinese have been in the habit of using various kinds of edible earth as substitutes for bread in times of scarcity; and their imperial annals have always religiously noticed the discovery of such bread-stones, or stone-meal, as they are called. On the western coast of Africa a yellowish kind of earth, called “ caouac,” is so highly relished, and so constantly consumed by the negroes, that it has become to them a necessary of life. In the island of Java, and in various parts of the hill-country of India, a reddish earth is baked into cakes and sold in the village markets for food; while on the banks of the Orinoco, in South America, Humboldt mentions that the native Indians find a species of unctuous clay, which they knead into balls, and store up in heaps in their huts as a provision for the winter or rainy season. They are not compelled by famine to have recourse to this clay; for even when fish, game, and fruit are plentiful they still eat it after their food as a luxury. This practice of eating earth is not confined solely to the inhabitants of the Tropics. In the north of Norway and in Swedish Lapland a kind of white powdery earth, called mountain-meal, found under beds of decayed moss, is consumed in immense quantities every year. It is mixed by the people with their bread in times of scarcity; and even in Germany it has been frequently used as a means of allaying hunger. All these examples of the use of earth as food are so contrary to our experience that they might seem incredible were it not that they are thoroughly authenticated. Such an unnatural custom must, in the long run, prove injurious to the constitution of those who indulge in it, although it is wonderful how long it can be carried on by some individuals apparently with impunity. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)Feeding on ashes: In the spiritual world there are many who feed upon ashes. The prophet is speaking of the idolater. I. WHO IS THE --who is the “ he” that is said to feed on ashes? The prophet had a definite audience before him. He was prophesying to the children of Israel. Notwithstanding the purity and sublimity of their own monotheistic creed, and the awful threatenings and sanctions with which it was guarded, we can trace throughout their entire history, as a marked feature of their character, a propensity to blend a theoretical belief in the true God with an accommodating reverence to the idols of the heathen Pantheon. Except when under the immediate spell of some special revelation of Jehovah, they craved for some visible shape or outward sign of the divinity--a craving which was satisfied for a time by the erection of the tabernacle and temple, and the establishment of the worship connected with them, but which soon overleaped barriers thus imposed upon it, and sought for novel sensations in the tabernacle of Moloch and in the star of the god Remphan--figures which they made to worship them. The very priests and Levites, who were most concerned in keeping the worship of Jehovah pure, were the leaders of the various national apostasies. Isaiah deeply deplored this national fickleness and spiritual inconstancy. In the passage under consideration he seeks to overwhelm it with contempt. Were Isaiah addressing us in these days his ideas would be the same, though the form in which he would present them would be different. Material idolatry, in its literal import, has passed away among civilised nations. But the essence of the temptation remains the same. Human society is changed, but human nature is unchanged. The impulse which led to idolatry is therefore as strong at the present day as it was in the time of Isaiah; and images are set up and worshipped now as fantastic as any pagan fetich or joss. The New Testament form of the Second Commandment, “ Be not conformed to this world,” requires to be frequently and urgently enforced. If I were to sum up all spiritual idolatry in these days in one form, I should call it worldliness, for everything else is but a phase of this. And this worldly conformity leads speedily, in most instances, to a low moral standard, and to a weak and corrupt form of religion, and produces the same humiliating results which flowed from the idolatry of ancient times. II. WHAT IS ? It is a perverted spiritual appetite. In certain diseased states of the brain there is an unnatural craving for the most extraordinary and unwholesome substances. Men and women under such morbid influences have been known to eat cinders and sand with apparent relish, and even to prefer them to the richest dainties. In such cases it is not the appetite that is at fault. The controlling power of the brain, which chooses the proper food, is impaired, and this healthy appetite is set to work upon substances which are altogether unsuitable. In like manner idolatry arises from a natural craving of the soul, which was made for God, for His worship and enjoyment. It finds that it must go out of itself for the blessedness it needs. This spiritual appetite is a God-given instinct of our nature. It is the soul seeking its highest good. It is healthy and natural. But when, under the guidance and power of a deceived heart, it seeks its gratification in earthly things to the exclusion altogether of God, it affords a most melancholy example of a perverted spiritual appetite. III. WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF ? How does idolatry affect the man guilty of it? There is a very striking and beautiful relation between the food of man and his digestive organs. He is omnivorous. He is the ruler of the world, and therefore the varied life of the world must throb in his veins. But all the varied food which she presents to him must be organic food. “ Phosphorus literally flames in the brain, that thoughts may breathe and words may burn; lime gives solidity to the bones; the alkaline salts promote the oxidation and removal of the effete materials of the body. Common minerals--iron, sulphur, soda, potash, and others--circulate in the blood, or are garnered in the various tissues. But all these inorganic materials are furnished, not from the earth directly, but in the food; the various vegetable and animal products containing them in varying quantities.” Such being the law of man’ s nutrition, it will be seen at once that if he feeds directly upon ashes, he is feeding upon substances that are altogether incongruous, and unfitted to nourish him. His organs cannot digest or assimilate ashes. And is not the analogy between spiritual and natural things here very clear? If man’ s spiritual appetite can feed only on God, then if man seeks his portion only in the things of the world, what can you expect but spiritual indigestion and misery? It is true, indeed, that just as the body requires inorganic elements--salt, lime, and iron--as well as organic, for its proper nourishment, so man requires the things of the world as well as the things of faith for his spiritual welfare. But then we are to seek these temporal things, not directly from the world, but through the channel of communion with God. There are natures that, by a long course of feeding upon ashes, have become accustomed to this unnatural diet. Like the clay-eaters of South America, their digestive organs become assimilated to their food, and they are put to little inconvenience by it. We meet with persons who are satisfied with their portion in this world, who mind earthly things, and are contented with the nourishment for their souls which they find in them. But are such persons the truly great and noble ones of our race? How can an infinite hunger be appeased by a finite good? The soul wants organised food; food that has spiritual life in it; food that is redolent of the sunshine and permeated with the light of heaven; food that has drunk in all the impalpable virtues and forces of the things unseen and eternal; food that can gather up in itself these vitalising influences, and transfer them to us to glow within our veins and animate our nerves; and, instead of that, we get ashes out of which all the glow and the virtue have departed. Our sin will become our punishment; our idols our scourges. I have remarked that there are some who are satisfied with their worldly portion--who, though feeding upon clay, are not put to inconvenience by it. Such individuals, in the midst of their contentment, are in reality, if they only knew it, more to be pitied than those whose truer instincts are tortured by the unsuitable food by which they endeavour to appease their spiritual cravings. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)Feeding on ashes I. THE VAIN OBJECTS TO WHICH MAN DIRECTS HIS . “ He feedeth on ashes.” II. THE REASON OF THIS CHOICE. “ A deceived heart hath turned him aside.” Sin, in its very nature, has a tendency to harden the heart. When it first begins to make advances, there is resistance offered to it. Conscience speaks, expostulates, reproaches; but sin gets the mastery. Conscience becomes by degrees blunted; the heart at length gets callous, that it cannot feel; the eye is altogether darkened, that it cannot see; the ear heavy, that it cannot hear the instruction of wisdom. Thus the heart is in due time thoroughly deceived. It rejoices in evil, instead of in good; it has an exclusive appetite for the bitter instead of the sweet. But there is a diseased state of the heart where the fatal results do not appear so manifest to the eye of man. When the world is keenly loved and followed, when self is worshipped, when God is not supreme in the affection, the root must be looked for in the heart. The heart is deceived. How dangerous is this state of heart! How much does it need of watchfulness in the case of every one of us, so that we may not be ensnared by it. III. THE DANGER OF THIS STATE, AND THE OF ITS REMEDY. “ He cannot deliver himself.” When the heart has been once beguiled by the deceitfulness of sin, and its affections have been riveted and firmly fixed upon earthly things, it is not in man to deliver himself. God, indeed, has provided means whereby those who have banished themselves from Him may be brought home to His fold. In Him there resides power to cut asunder the chain, however firmly it may bind us down to the earth. IV. SOME FOR OUR . “ Is there not a lie in my right hand?” (H. J. Hastings, M. A.)I. WHAT THE SOUL . We cannot find food for the body in ourselves; we have to look for it in the animal or vegetable world. Our spiritual part--our intellect, conscience, affections--is every whit as dependent on extraneous supplies as our bodies are. The deceived heart: I propose to show-- II. HOW FAR SOME ARE FROM GIVING TO THEIR SOULS WHAT THEY REQUIRE. You see this magnificent provision; it is spread before your eyes. But the question is, are you feeding on it? Feeding implies taking it to yourself, appropriating it, masticating it with pleasure, receiving it into your digestion. It then becomes a part of you, and goes into your bones, your blood, your flesh, your marrow. We admit that you come to the feast, that you admire it, and that you intend to eat; but we cannot admit that you are feeding on it thus far. We cannot say you have the Word of God dwelling in you richly in all wisdom. (J. Bolton, B. A.)A perverted appetite: Two lessons were learnt by Israel in captivity--the all-sufficiency of God, and the absurdity of idols. It is on the latter of these that we are now to dwell. Why do men act with such inconceivable folly? The prophet knows nothing of the modern theory that men do not worship the stone or wood, but accept the effigy as a help to fixedness of thought and prayer; he would affirm that with the mass of men this is a fiction, and that the worship of the devotee stops short with what he can see and touch. The cause of idolatry lies deeper. “ He feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him aside,” &c. I. THERE IS A HUNGER FOR THE DIVINE IN MAN. 1. It is universal. 2. It is significant. We can tell something of the composition of the human body by the materials which it needs for its sustenance. Similarly the true dignity of man betrays itself in the hunger which perpetually preys upon him. If man is only matter, if thought is only the movement of the grey matter of the brain, if there is no spirit and no beyond, how is it that the material world cannot supply the supreme good? 3. It is inevitable. The functions which food performs in our system are threefold. It is needed to replace the perpetual waste which is always wearing down the natural tissues; to maintain the temperature at some 98°; and to provide materials for growth. And each of these has a spiritual analogy. We need God, for the same three reasons as the body needs food. (1) To replace the perpetual waste of our spiritual forces. (2) For warmth and heat. (3) For growth. II. THIS MAY BE . “ He feedeth on ashes.” Men tamper with their natural appetite. But there is a close similarity in their treatment with that wonderful yearning after the unseen and eternal which is part of the very constitution of our being--a hunger after the ideal Food, the ideal Beauty, the ideal Truth, which may be resisted and ignored, but still claims satisfaction; and if it does not get it in God, it will seek it in the ashes of idolatry. Men worship idols yet. The man of the world worships money, rank, high office. The child of fashion worships in the temple of human opinion, and feeds on the ashes of human applause an appetite which was meant to satisfy itself on the “ Well done!” of the Almighty. The student who questions or denies the Being of God, worships in the temple of learning; and feeds with the ashes of human opinion an appetite which was intended to be nourished by eternal truth. And in every case these substitutes for God, with which men try to satisfy themselves, are as incapable of satisfying the heart, as ashes of supporting the physical life. III. THE TRUE BREAD. 1. It is the gift of God. “ My Father giveth the true Bread from heaven.” God who made thee hunger for bread, made bread to grow for its appeasement. Other vegetables have their peculiar habitat. But the cornplant will make its home in every land, and grow on every soil. He has also provided beauty for our taste, truth for our thought, love for our heart; and has gathered all these and much more into His one Gift, Jesus Christ. 2. Nature yields her provision to man through death. So it is through death that Jesus has become the Food of men. We must assimilate our food. We must receive Jesus into our hearts by an act of spiritual apprehension. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)Feeding on ashes: I shall speak of three classes of young men who are “ feeding on ashes.” I. Those who are giving themselves up to SENSUAL . There is no one on earth who has so much right to the pleasures of the world as the believer. I do not believe in asceticism. I do not believe in pious melancholy. But this innocent hilarity, which leaves no ill results behind, is good and healthful, and a very different thing from the emmaddening gaieties of the world. II. I have a word to say to you who are setting up another idol for your worship. It is neither Venus nor Bacchus, but it is Plutus; it is WORLDLY ; it is money. There is no sin in desiring to be rich, if your money comes to you honourably, and goes from you usefully. But what is all that, if that is all? Can you feed the immortal soul within you with bank cheques and good investments? Will all the gold in the Bank of England appease the hunger of your deathless spirit? No! But many seem to think it will. Such men are the most hopeless cases to deal with. I should be more sanguine of bringing to the feet of Jesus a poor bloated debauchee, than of doing any good to one of these hardened, wizened, shrivelled-up money-scrapers, who for twenty, thirty, or forty years have no other thought but this--to lay up gain. III. There is a third class of men who are daily “ feeding on ashes,” because “ a deceived heart has turned them aside.” They have got hold of a lot of INFIDEL , and they are stuffing their souls with as weak and poisonous rubbish as it is possible to meet with. With the prophet, I invite you to something more palatable and nourishing; I bid you to a feast of “ milk and honey” ; “ hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” (J. T. Davidson, D. D.)Feeding on ashes: Many to-day feed on the kind of ashes Isaiah has in mind. 1. False conceptions of God. 2. False conceptions of Christ. 3. False conceptions of religion. 4. False conceptions of the Church. 5. False conceptions of morality, life, and happiness. Application:-- 1. Upon the true or false conception of God and His relations to men conduct depends. The Christian’ s conception of God is revealed in the incarnation, life, and atonement of His Son. He only is a true Christian who obeys Christ’ s words, imitates His life, and becomes conformed to His image. He must be our ideal. 2. Again, we ask how comes it that men thus feed on ashes? “ A deceived heart hath turned him aside.” (J. B. Nies, Ph. D.)Feeding on ashes: To-day we are told by a hundred voices that all religion begins at the bottom, and slowly struggles up to the top. Isaiah says the very opposite. The pure form is the primitive; the secondary form is the gross, which is a corruption. They tell us, too, that all religion pursues a process of evolution, and gradually clears itself of its more imperfect and carnal elements. Isaiah says “ He cannot deliver his soul,” and no religion ever worked itself up, unless under the impulse of a revelation from without. That is Isaiah’ s philosophy of idolatry, and I expect it will be accepted as the true one some day. I. A LIFE THAT IGNORES GOD IS EMPTY OF ALL TRUE . “ He feedeth on ashes.” Very little imagination will realise the force of that picture. The gritty cinders will irritate the lips and tongue, will dry up the moisture of the mouth, will interfere with the breathing; and there will be no nourishment in a sackful of them. The underlying truth is this--God only is the food of a man’ s soul. You pick up the skeleton of a bird upon a moor; and if you know anything about osteology, you will see in the very make of its breast-bone and its wing-bones the declaration that its destiny is to soar into the blue. And written on you, as distinctly as flight on the bird, or swimming on the fish, is this, that you are meant, by your very make, to soar up into the heights of the glory of God, and to plunge deep into the abysses of His infinite love and wisdom. What does your heart want? A perfect, changeless, all-powerful love. And what does your mind want? Reliable, guiding, inexhaustible yet accessible truth. And what does your will want? Commandments which have an authoritative ring in their very utterance, and which will serve for infallible guides for your lives. And what do our weak, sinful natures want? Something that shall free our consciences, and deliver us from the burden of our transgressions, and calm our fears, and quicken and warrant our lofty hopes. And what do men whoso nature is to live for ever want but something that shall go with them through all changes of condition? We want a person to be everything to us. No accumulation of things will satisfy a man. God has not so blundered in making the world that He has surrounded us with things that are all lies, but He has so made it that whosoever flies in the face of the gracious commandment which is also an invitation, “ Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” has not only no security that the “ other things” shall be “ added unto” him, but has the certainty that though they were added to him, in degree beyond his dreams and highest hopes, they would avail nothing to satisfy the hunger of his heart. II. A LIFE WHICH THUS IGNORES GOD IS UNAWARE OF ITS OWN . “ A deceived heart hath turned him aside.” That explains how the man comes to fancy that ashes are food. His whole nature is perverted, his vision distorted, his power of judgment marred. That explains, too, why men persist in this feeding on ashes after all experience. You will see a dog chasing a sparrow. It has chased hundreds before and never caught one. Yet, when the creature rises from the ground, away it goes after it once more, with eager yelp and rush, to meet the old experience. That is like what a great many of you are doing, and you have not the same excuse that the dog has. And that deceived heart, stronger than experience, is also stronger than conscience. How is it that this hallucination that you have fed full and been satisfied, when all the while your hunger has not been appeased, can continue to act on us? For the very plain reason that every one of us has in himself a higher and a lower self, a set of desires of the grosser, more earthly, and, using the word in its proper sense, worldly sort--that is to say, directed towards material things, and a higher set which look right up to God if they are allowed fair play. And of these two sets--which really are one at bottom, if a man would only see it--the lower gets the upper hand, and suppresses the higher and the nobler.And so in many a man and woman the longing for God is crushed out by the gross delights of sense. III. A LIFE THUS GOD NEEDS A POWER FROM WITHOUT TO SET IT FREE. “ He cannot deliver his soul.” There is nothing more awful in life than the influence of habit. There is something more wanted than yourselves to break this chain. It is the Christ who is “ the Bread of God that came down from heaven” ; who can deliver any soul from the most obstinate and long continued grovelling amongst the transitory things of this limited world, and the superficial delights of sense and gratified bodily life; who can bring the forgiveness which is essential, the deliverance from the power of evil which is not less essential, and who can fill our hearts with Himself, the food of the world. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The deceived heart: I. THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE WHO ARE IN THEIR . 1. The idolater. 2. The Romanist. 3. Freethinkers. 4. False professors. II. THERE ARE MANY PERSONS THUS IN , WE ARE NOT TO SUPPOSE THAT ANY OF THEM ARE REALLY IN HEART WITH THEIR . III. IT IS A STRANGE THING THAT ALL THESE PEOPLE SEEM VERY WELL WITH THEIR FALSE . IV. I WANT TO SPEAK TO THOSE WHO ARE OF BUT WHO DO NOT POSSESS IT. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The deceitfulness of the heart in embracing false confidences The heart discovers its deceitfulness-- I. BY ITS STRONG TO RECEIVE ANY ERROR MORE READILY THAN TRUTH. II. BY ITS EXTREME TO THE ONLY WAY OF , AND BY ITS VIOLENT TO EVERY LYING REFUGE. More particularly we observe-- 1. That multitudes betake themselves to the general mercy of God. 2. The heart often disposes one to look into itself for something good. 3. Others found their hope on resolutions of reformation. 4. Partial and outward reformation is the confidence of many. 5. Many confide in a bare profession of religion and observation of the form of duties. 6. Others deceive themselves into a reliance on their Church privileges. 7. Some confide in their gifts, or in their usefulness by means of them. 8. Some may trust to a work of the law, as if it were in itself saving. 9. This principle of deceit is discovered by the sinner’ s endeavours to obtain justification by moral duties. 10. Many trust to their sincerity in religion. But what is this sincerity in which you make your boast before God? Do you not confide in it as the ground of your justification? If so, it must be the sincerity of a person who is not yet justified; that is, of one still under the curse of the law. 11. Another false confidence, which many fly to, is the observance of superstitious rites. 12. Some may rest on their sufferings in the cause of Christ. 13. Others may depend on a notional faith. Some are persuaded of the truth of the Gospel. But they prove that their faith is not Divine, because it is unfruitful. 14. The deceitfulness of the heart operates in others, by making them rest upon supposed attainments in holiness. There is a question the solution of which materially affects every one of us before God. If false professors may have so eminent attainments, and so remarkable a resemblance to true holiness, how may we distinguish between such attainments as are the fruit of the Spirit’ s saving work and those which only flow from natural affections or from a common operation? (1) These attainments, which are saving, have always a humbling tendency. (2) Saving attainments are consistent with a godly jealousy. (3) The fruit of solid Christian attainments is thankfulness to God. (4) The Christian disclaims all his attainments with respect to justification. (5) Saving attainments leave a lasting impression on the heart. (6) The real believer loses not his confidence in God, even under severe afflictions. (7) The real Christian does not wish to stop short in his attainments. (8) The believer is equal, or at least consistent, in his attainments. While he makes progress in duty, in the exercise of grace, in liveliness and spirituality of affections, he at the same time advances in the mortification of sin. (9) All true Christians have a real love to holiness, (J. Jamieson, M. A.)Perverted spiritual appetites: Drunkenness is a perverted spiritual appetite, a seeking in the creature what God alone can give, the longing of the soul for higher and purer happiness than the hard round of daily life and the weary sorrowful circle of the world can give. So, too, covetousness, if analysed in the same way, will be found to be a perverted spiritual appetite, a misdirected worship. Covetousness is identified in Scripture with idolatry: “ Covetousness which is idolatry,” says St. Paul. “ No covetous man, who is an idolater, hath an inheritance in the kingdom of God.” The love of money, as it has been well said, is the love of God run wild, the diseased action of a spiritual appetite, the aberration of a nature that was made for God. Wealth is the mystic shadow of God, which the soul is unconsciously groping after and craving for. It presents some faint features of resemblance to Him. It seems omnipotent, able to do all things; omnipresent, showing signs of itself everywhere; beneficent, supplying our present wants, providing for our future, procuring for us an endless variety of blessings, and giving us almost all that our hearts can desire. And because it presents these superficial resemblances to God, it becomes a religion to many, a worship loud in praise and aspiration as any that ever filled a church. And so is it with every form of idolatry of which man in these enlightened days can be guilty. It is the soul, in its restless pursuit of happiness, mistaking the true object of which it is in quest. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)Arsenical poisoning: The peasant women of Styria are in the habit of constantly eating a certain quantity of arsenic, in order to enhance their personal charms. It imparts a beautiful bloom to the complexion, and gives a full and rounded appearance to the face and body. For years they persevere in this dangerous practice; but if they intermit it for a single day, they experience all the symptoms of arsenical poisoning. The complexion fades, the features become worn and haggard, and the body loses its plumpness and becomes angular and emaciated. Having once begun, therefore, to use this cosmetic, they must in self-defence go on, constantly increasing the dose in order to keep up the effect. At last the constitution is undermined; the limit of safety is overpassed; and the victim of foolish vanity perishes miserably in the very prime of life. And is it not so with those who feed upon the poison of the world’ s idolatries? They may seem to thrive upon this insidious and dangerous diet, but all the time it is permanently impairing their spiritual health, and rendering them unfit for spiritual communion. The more they indulge in it, the more they must surrender themselves to it; and the jaded appetite is stimulated on to greater excesses, until at last every lingering vestige of spiritual vitality is destroyed, and the soul becomes a loathsome moral wreck, poisoned by its own food. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)Unsuitable food: There is such a thing as a wasting of the body from insufficient nutrition, even when the appetite is satisfied and the stomach content. A strange plant, called the nardoo, with clover-like leaves, closely allied to the fern tribe, grows in the deserts of Central Australia. A melancholy interest is connected with it, owing to the fact that its seeds formed for several months almost the sole food of the party of explorers who a few years ago crossed the continent. This nardoo satisfied their hunger; it produced a pleasant feeling of comfort and repletion. The natives were accustomed to eat it in the absence of their usual roots and fruits, not only without injury, but apparently with positive benefit to their health. And yet, day after day, Burke and Wills became weaker and more emaciated upon this diet. Their flesh wasted from their bones, their strength was reduced to an infant’ s feebleness, and they could only crawl painfully a mile or two in a day. At last, when nearing the bourne of their hopes, the explorers perished one by one of starvation; a solitary survivor being found in the last extremity under a tree, where he had laid him down to die, by a party sent out in search of the missing expedition. When analysed, the nardoo bread was ascertained to be destitute of certain nutritious elements indispensable to the support of a European, though an Australian savage might for a while find it beneficial as an alternative. And thus it happened that these poor unfortunate Englishmen perished of starvation, even while feeding fully day by day upon food that seemed to satisfy their hunger. Now, is it not precisely so in the experience of those who are seeking and finding their portion in earthly things? They are contented with it, and yet their hunger is in reality unappeased. Their desires are crowned, and yet they are actually perishing of want. God gives them their request, but sends leanness to their souls. Is it not far more dreadful to perish by slow degrees of this spiritual atrophy, under the delusive belief that all is well, and therefore seeking no change of food, than to be tortured by the indigestion of feeding on ashes, if by this misery the poor victim can be urged to seek for food convenient for him? (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)“ He feedeth on ashes” : Is not the very term most significant? What are ashes? They are the last solid products of matter that has been used up--the relics that remain after all that is useful and nutritious has been consumed. You burn a piece of wood or a handful of corn, and its grosser particles fall to the ground, while all its ethereal parts--its carbon and hydrogen--mount to the skies and disappear. It is a sad thing to gaze upon the ashes of the commonest fire; for in them there is an image of utter death and ruin--of something that has been bright and beautiful, and is now but dull, cold, barren dust. And what are earthly, created things, upon which so many are feeding the hunger of their immortal souls, but ashes? They were once bright and beautiful. God’ s blessing was upon them, and they were very good. But sin has consumed all their goodness and beauty, has burned up all in them that was capable of ministering to the spiritual wants of men, and left nothing behind but dust and ashes. We can apply this truth to all the world, so far as it is made the portion of the soul. In a moral sense, the whole world, which was once capable of ministering to man’ s spiritual wants, is now a mere heap of cinders. Its beauty has gone with its goodness, and its sufficing power with its holiness. It has become spiritually oxidised by combination with the all-devouring element of sin. The man that loves the world now feeds on ashes; not upon earth, for there is a degree of nourishment in soil, owing to the remains of former life, and the worm and the plant feed upon it; not upon clay, for the clay which the American-Indians eat is found to consist of microscopic plants with silicious envelopes, called diatoms, containing a small portion of organic matter sufficient to sustain existence;--no, but on dry, white, dusty ashes, utterly destitute of any nutritious element whatever, upon which no creature can live, and upon which almost no plant can grow--the refuse of everything that is good. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)Unsuitable food: Some time ago, I read in the papers of a little boy who for months had been gathering up prune-stones, being fond of the kernel; so, wishing to prepare for himself a great treat, he laid up quite a large store: at last came the day of anticipated enjoyment; he ate them all, and, after hours of agony, died! So I have seen men who have given up their whole life to one aim, to amass wealth; preparing a banquet of enjoyment for the evening of their days; and, when they sat down to the feast, lo! on the table only ashes, ashes! (J. T. Davidson, D. D.)A deceived heart hath turned him asideThe self-deception of most who affect to be infidels 1. Consider seriously, what was the real origin of your unbelief. A father’ s house forsaken, and a father’ s instructions soon to be forgotten, you entered on the world. Passions rose within you. Companions encouraged them; religion checked them. Your belief became irksome to your indulgence; and your faith descended to doubts. It was natural and necessary that it should do so, if you meant to continue in your sins. 2. You have had times, no doubt, when you thought your course somewhat wrong; and, partly sated with such enjoyments, had some idea of turning from them. What, then, was the obstacle? Was it the difficulty which you had in accounting for the truth of revelation? Was it not the voice of pleasure whispering, Will you then renounce the joys which were once so dear to you? Here was the fatal obstacle. Not in the difficulties of revelation, but in the timidity and weakness of the heart. 3. If this be not true, go one step farther. Many have met with calamity; a death unexpected among your friends, some great and sudden change of fortune, which showed you the uncertainty of human happiness. In these cases, what was your resource? Did you go to the tables, whither before you had gone for pleasure? Was it in the society of those who “ make a mock at sin “ that you expected the gleam of comfort in the hour of sorrow? Your heart will own that, when you were in heaviness, you could think upon God. But religion’ s truth all the time remained the same. If, therefore, you doubted on it under the former situation, why not under the latter? Your heart deceived you. You did not disbelieve. You wished to do so; and passion blinded you. Affliction removed the veil from your heart. 4. But, living as we do in an age of boasted light, this reasoning will probably be considered as carried too far; and it will be urged by many a young man, that, although the passions may have had some influence in biassing his opinions, yet his doubts of the Gospel have arisen, in some measure, from his judgment. Let us, then, meet him on this ground. We expect, therefore, from you some striking argument that is to set aside at once the authority of ages and destroy the best hopes and resources of the human heart. And what do we find? A few common-place phrases and objections--doubts, not created by yourselves, but only received from others, and kept up by you, to preserve a kind of watchword of a party against believers. 5. But if you have not searched very deeply into these things yourself, they with whom you are in the habit of associating are adequate to give you sufficient religious instruction, and you have taken, you say, your creed chiefly from them. Let us, then, repair a moment to them. You profess yourselves general believers in a God, and possessed of some amiable virtues. How often in the assemblies of your friends and instructors is the name of God mentioned without irreverence? How seldom have you heard rigid virtue made the subject of discussion except to be ridiculed? Have you often heard beauty and innocence mentioned without some sentiment of an abandoned passion? (G. Mathew, M. A.) Isaiah 44:21-22 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel God’ s Israel not forgotten This verse, standing in connection with the following, is a call to Jacob and Israel to return to the Lord. Many are the arguments used to induce them to do so. 1. “ Remember these” idolaters, their follies, their wickednesses, their wretched and miserable condition, and forget not that you were guilty once as they are. It is well to retrace our past history, often to do it, to be reminded of what we once were in the days of our unregeneracy. 2. Miserable and sad as your present condition is, yet “ I know thee by-name; thou art Mine, return unto Me.” Thou art still “ Jacob,” still “ Israel,” still “ My servant.” Is there one who has been departing from the living God? Can anything be more touching than this call to thee? Surely it is like the look which Jesus gave Peter when he went out and wept bitterly. 3. “ I have formed thee,” formed thee with new and spiritual workmanship, formed thee a vessel to honour, formed thee for My glory. 4. “ Thou shalt not be forgotten of Me.” Thou hast forgotten Me, the mighty cost at which I redeemed thee. Thou hast forgotten the way by which I led thee in the wilderness, the miracles I wrought for thee, the manna with which I fed thee, the rock of which I made thee drink, the deliverances out of the hands of thine enemies; thou hast forgotten thy high calling, thy holy profession, thy truest happiness; but “ thou shalt not be forgotten of Me.” I. THE TRUE ISRAEL THINK OF GOD. Their utter insignificance and the deep consciousness of it lead to this. Sometimes dark and mysterious providences lead to this. Sometimes apparent delays in answers to prayer. What is the consequence? We loathe ourselves; instead of advancing we seem retrograding; instead of mounting we seem to be sinking. Here, too, sense takes too often the seat of judgment, and not only decides on what God is doing, but sometimes on God Himself; and is ready to cry out, “ My God hath forgotten me.” There are seasons too, under a sense of unutterable vileness, when the soul responds to the solemn appeal (Isaiah 43:22-24), “ Thou hast not calledupon Me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel,” &c. There are times when a man seems as if he stood alone among his fellow-men, as if he were the very chief of sinners. I will mention one more case--when we have by some wilfulness in disobedience grieved the Holy Spirit. II. THE PEOPLE OF GOD NEVER ARE BY HIM. Tender are the ties that bind us to one another; the tenderest, the closest, the most indestructible of all ties, friends, brothers, relations, parents, even a mother. It is the instance selected (Isaiah 49:15). There is no tie like this bywhich Jehovah binds Himself to His people. The ties that bind man to man, in their purest actings, are but the ties of human nature in its feebleness, its fickleness. III. THE PROOFS THAT GOD HAS TO GIVE, THAT HIS ISRAELS SHALL NOT BE . We too easily forget that the true basis of faith is the veracity of God. The believer too often acts, thinks, speaks, as if he did not believe God, though he mean not so. Were Jehovah to forget, He would violate every perfection of His nature. He sees all His in His Son; and when He forgets His Son, then and not till then will He forget His Israel. When Jesus forgets to intercede, when Jesus intercedes in vain, when God Himself changes, then will He forget. Look up then, ye Jacobs, ye Israels of God; let the past encourage you. What do thy reasonings say? What do thy humblings say? What thy upholdings in deep and heavy trouble? Thy special interpositions? Thy perseverance in the ways of God? (J. H. Evans, M. A.)Gracious mercy: In the midst of idolaters this chapter speaks of a people who worship, love, serve God. Here is-- I. AN . “ Return unto Me.” This implies previous distance, wandering, unworthiness. “ Return.” 1. How? The sinner says, I am bound, sin holds me chained, justly. God answers, I have redeemed thee, paid thy ransom, broken thy chains. 2. To whom? “ Unto Me.” The sinner says, I am polluted, defiled. God answers, I have blotted out thy sins. Thou hast cleansing in the precious blood. 3. In what way? Not towards Me. Many are satisfied with appearance. But unto-into My very presence--to walk, dwell, commune with Me. All trace of former guilt gone. II. A . “ Thou art My servant.” 1. They serve Him. He fits them for this. “ I have formed thee,” fitted by indwelling of the Spirit, giving new tastes, desires, &c. We are not made servants by serving; we are made servants that we may serve. 2. They serve acceptably, cheerfully, continually, purely. None are Christians who do not serve. Notice the repetition in text, also Isaiah 44:1, 2. God dwells lovingly on it. 3. They serve in hope. God’ s servants have a gracious promise--“ Thou shalt not be forgotten of Me.” Others may forget, be removed, but God never. We may be in trouble, persecution, danger, weariness, death, never forgotten. III. A CAUTION. “ Remember these.” God’ s people rejoice, but with trembling: walk surely, but not securely (1 Corinthians 10:12). “ Remember these” --the world, careless, backsliders, self-seekers, heathens. “ Remember these” -- 1. That you may be humbled (Titus 3:3). 2. That you may honour God before them (Matthew 5:16). 3. That you may do them good (Galatians 6:1). Are your sins blotted out? If so, serve God; “ remember these.” If not, return. (Homilist.)O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of Me.--God’ s remembrance of Israel I. If we turn to some of the evidences of this statement, we may first look to the history of Israel, and to that of ourselves in a ASPECT. 1. As regards the Israelites in their national and personal relations. 2. But the special evidence of the text lies in the heart of Christian experience. 3. The evidence of this Divine declaration may be further shown by a reference to the works of creation. II. Consider some of the REASONS which may be assigned for this Divine utterance. 1. One reason is to be found in the fact of man’ s redemption. 2. Another in the graciousness, in the love and mercy of the Divine purposes with regard to ourselves. (W. D. Horwood.)“ Forget thee, I will not” : I. THE TITLE WHICH THE LORD GIVES TO HIS PEOPLE. “ My servant.” 1. Notice what a practical title it is. It has to do with action and service; it has to do with the heart, but also with the hand, with the inner and with the outer life. There is no true Christian but the practical Christian. A servant is not always at work; but a servant is always a servant, and ever ready for work. 2. It is a personal title--“ Thou.” 3. It is an exclusive title--“ My servant. These other people are servants of Baal or Ashtaroth; but thou art My servant.” When a man has a servant, he expects him to serve him, and not to be in the employ of other people. God’ s servants must serve God; not idols, not the world, not self, not sin, not Satan. 4. It is an honourable title. It must be so, for God uses the title in this verse twice over. “ Thou art My servant: I have formed thee; thou art My servant.” To serve God, is truly to reign, 5. This is a title of acceptance. As God says, twice over, “ Thou art My servant,” He means, “ I accept thee as My servant; I own thee as such.” One reason why we are God’ s servants is that He has forgiven us our trespasses (Isaiah 44:22). II. THE PROMISE WHICH HE MAKES TO US. “ Thou shalt not be forgotten of Me.” Men forget us. And they turn against us. Those for whom you do the most are often those who will be most unkind, and most bitter against you. But God says, “ Thou shalt not be forgotten of Me.” What does this promise mean? 1. That God will never cease to love His servants. 2. That the Lord will never cease to think of His servants. The thoughts of God are wonderful. He can think of every individual saint as much as if there were no other saint in the universe. III. SOME REASONS WHICH ASSURE US THAT GOD WILL NOT FORGET THOSE WHO ARE TRULY HIS . 1. The very best reason is that He says he will not forget us. 2. God cannot forget us, since He has made us. The former part of the verse says, “ Thou art My servant: I have formed thee.” With His own fingers He has made us into vessels of mercy, so He cannot forget us. 3. He has blessed us; He has blessed us so much already that He cannot forget us now. 4. He has loved us so long already. Was there ever a time when the redeemed of the Lord were not written on the heart of Christ? He loved you before the first star began to dart its golden arrows through the darkness of space. Rest you then secure; love so ancient will never die out. 5. We have cost Him so much. 6. He is too good a Lord to cast us off. He is a wretch of a man who casts off an old servant simply because he is old. The Lord does not turn His old servants adrift; but says, “ Even to your old age, I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you.” (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 44:22I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions Sin blotted out The meaning of the verse may be--He who offered his sacrifice aright, was as sure that the sin for which he offered it was blotted out, as that the smoke of the sacrifice was dispersed by the wind, and was no longer discernible. (E. Thompson, D. D.)Blotting out sin: a classical side-light: “ This decree made the danger then hanging over the city, pass away like a cloud.” (Demosthenes.)Clouds and sins: Clouds do good; but transgressions and sins never do good. They do no good to the body, no good to the soul, no good to the spirit, no good to our present condition, or to our future circumstances; and, in this respect, clouds are unlike sins. Yet there are points of resemblance between clouds and sins. Clouds veil the sun; and sins hide the loving face of God. Clouds hide the lofty firmament; and sins conceal heaven. Clouds contract the prospect; and sins prevent the sight of all coming good. Clouds drop down in rain; and sins fall in punishment. Clouds are beyond our control; and sins committed are entirely out of our power. Clouds are dispersible only by God; and sins God alone can drive away. This is the point of the analogy instituted in our text. (S. Martin.)Not a cloud to be seen: I. THE OF . “ I have blotted out,” &c. “ I, even I.” All sin is against God. When you sin against each other you sin against God. And all punishment is in God’ s hands; and the dispensation of pardon is His prerogative. Blessed be God for keeping it within His own power! Pardon is dispensed faithfully and wisely, for God is light. Pardon is dispensed graciously, for God is love. And pardon is given according to the Divine promise and covenant, for “ God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” II. THE OF PARDON. In the country which Isaiah knew, the clouds were entirely blotted out during four months of the year; so that it was an extraordinary thing from May to September, to see a cloud: and the clearness of the atmosphere enabled the prophet to appreciate this illustration to an extent impossible to us, who are so often under a leaden sky. Still, even here, we do know what it is to stand under a blue sky. In the morning, or in the evening, or late at night, we know what it is to stand under the cloudless heavens, and to say, “ There is not a cloud to be seen.” And when God pardons a man there is not a sin to be seen. The sins of childhood, and youth, and maturity-the sins of every year, and day, and hour--are blotted out. The sins of the body, and the sins of the soul--the sins of the tongue, and of the hand, and of every member of the body--the sins of the thought, and of the imagination, and of desire, and ofaffection, and of volition, are all blotted out. The sins of the heart, and the sins of the home, the sins of the place of business, and the sins of the Church, and the sins committed against brothers and sisters, and kindred of every degree--against husband, and wife, and children, and neighbours, and friends, and the country, sins against the Saviour, and against the Holy Spirit, and against our Father in Heaven are blotted out. Sins wilful, sins careless, sins repeated, sins aggravated, are all blotted out. Not some sins, but all sins. The least are not overlooked; the worst are not reserved. Pardon is not the mitigation of punishment--it is not the passing by of some transgressions and the bringing forward of others--but an entire remission of future punishment. Sin is not behind following us; sin is not before preventing us; sin is not above falling upon us; sin is not on either hand hemming us in. Pardoned by God, our sins are gone; actually gone for ever. III. THE WHICH GOD GIVES THE THAT THEY ARE . God might forgive without telling us now that He has pardoned us. He might reserve the communication of this fact until the last great day. But He would have the forgiven know that they are pardoned. Now what profit is there in this? Knowledge of pardon is a particular knowledge of God. A man who is pardoned sees God in the dispensation of Divine forgiveness, as God is not to be seen elsewhere, or in any other dispensation. It is one thing to see God in the general provision He has made for the supply of our wants, and quite another thing for us to see God applying that provision to ourselves. A knowledge of pardon is a source of joy and peace. It is, moreover, a power awakening love. You remember the case of the woman who came to Christ, upon the occasion of the great banquet given to Him by one of the chief of the Pharisees. Then, the knowledge of pardon is a motive to the pursuit of holiness. IV. THE OF PARDON US TO BRING OTHERS TO GOD. V. WHO ARE THE ASSURED? 1. Those who confess to Him their sins. 2. The confession is to be accompanied by the forsaking of sin. 3. There is no forsaking sin, without turning to God. (S. Martin.)What man can and cannot do: Man may divert the course of a river, and fill up the former bed; thus blotting out in certain places the river. Man may pare down portions of the hills; thus blotting out the hills. Man may raise the valley; thus blotting out the valley. Man may drain the lake, and sow it with seed, and raise crops upon the soil of the lake’ s bed; thus blotting out the lake. Man may, to a small extent, alter the boundaries of the ocean; thus blotting out in some places even the sea. Man may tunnel the earth and make a highway where foot never trod. But man can neither bring clouds into the firmament, nor send them away. Moreover a man may blot out ignorance by teaching, and folly by instruction, and some bad habits by good training, and animal wants by the supply of temporal necessities, and captivity by release, and disease by healing; but no man can forgive sins. The dispensation of pardon is too precious, and too important, to be entrusted to men or to angels. (S. Martin.)Pardon not entrusted to men or angels: A man, if he were entrusted with the dispensation of forgiveness, might be sleeping, or journeying, or sick, or in various ways out of reach. A man might be angry, or morose, or occupied, or unloving, when the penitent was calling for forgiveness. And an angel might take a hypocrite for a true penitent, or a contrite one for a hypocrite; or he might hesitate to forgive some chief of sinners. God keeps the dispensation of forgiveness in His own kind hand. (S. Martin.)Sin and forgiveness: There is, at first sight, a little obscurity in this expression. Is the cloud intended to represent the sin, or is it the obscurity with which the sin is to be obliterated? Does the text liken transgressions to a cloud which is to be driven away, or the transgression to be covered and blotted out as if by a cloud? There is a difference in opinion with regard to the matter. But there is no reason for not taking the words literally as they stand, and looking upon sin as likened to a cloud. I. THE FIGURE UNDER WHICH SIN IS . “ A cloud” ; “ a thick cloud.” It affords an apt illustration of human evil. 1. Clouds obscure the beauty of the earth. Sin obscures the prospects of the soul and shuts out the glories of the heavenly horizon! It blurs the outline of truth, it disturbs our views of life, of our fellow-creatures, of our own actions and the actions and motives of others, of the providence and dealings of God, of the true import of existence, of the future and the past. What is evil seems good; what is good seems evil; what is real seems false; and what is false appears true. 2. Clouds intercept the light of heaven. And what hides the full brightness of the face of God, who is the source of all spiritual light and warmth and joy, but sin? “ Your iniquities have separated between Me and you.” Our sins have kept the revelation of full light and the manifestation of fullest love from vivifying and rejoicing our hearts. Not that even sin entirely obscures God’ s mercy and love. The darkest cloud cannot altogether hide the light of day. The sun’ s rays are so powerful that they penetrate even through the thickest mists. But what a contrast is the feeble light of a November day to that of the genial sunbeam in June! So not even sin can entirely hide the Divine influence of the love of God or prevent it from warming the earth. But how different is its manifestation to what it was amid the glories of Paradise! 3. Clouds cause inconvenience and discomfort. The traveller amid the mountain mists, with his garments soddened and weighted with the moisture, his breathing laboured and his movements hampered, is a fitting representative of the Christian journeying heavenwards amid the many hindrances which check his progress through the uncongenial atmosphere of this sinful world, saturated with the essence, as it were, of iniquity. 4. Clouds are about us everywhere. (1) They overshadow every portion of the globe. Not in the same intensity, not always in the same place, not similar in appearance and density. (2) Does not sin, like the clouds, everywhere compass the spiritual world? It varies, indeed, Some countries are more enlightened, and the clouds not being so dense, more is seen and felt of the light and warmth of the Sun of Righteousness. But there are other countries where mental and spiritual clouds dominate in various degrees of density, till we arrive at those places where the savage reigns supreme and no ray of the light of heaven ever penetrates. (3) Are not the clouds a fitting image of sin in their deceptive beauty? There are occasions when evil shines resplendent with the borrowed glory of heaven. How many noble characters have, in the virtues reflected from Christianity, attracted for a time the admiration and rapture of an astonished and delighted world! For a time! For as soon as the reflection from above, which imparted glory to their characters, was gone, they sank: again into their native nature of darkness and gloom. And observe how much the reflection of Divine truth and heavenly law beautifies this world of ours, with all its sin! The philanthropy towards those who are weak and suffering, the courtesy towards the feeble, the hospitals which are provided, the many means which are adopted for exalting the race: all these are the glints of heavenly sunshine reflected upon the clouds of sin. (4) We also see that the clouds resemble sin because of their unreality. There is nothing on which a man can trust or lean or hope. They are unsubstantial, empty, frail. (5) They also are changing, fleeting, driven away by all kinds and by every breath of wind; never the same, unstable, assuming all sorts of guises in the presence of the light. II. THE PROMISE WHICH IS HERE . Although the statement is put in the past--“ I have blotted out” --yet it is really a future and a conditional declaration. The early part of this chapter is a description of awful impenitence and apostasy. In purpose, in intention, this is forgiven, but it is not a forgiveness independent of reformation. We have seen the sky when the summer sun has driven away the clouds. It is deep, unfathomable, ethereal, blue. The sun’ s glory is undimmed. The whole of nature rejoices with unspeakable joy. The heart rebounds with lightness. Not a speck on the surface of the heaven casts a shadow on the earth. Such is the idea of a world without sin. All brightness and no clouds, all joy without a sorrow to dim its glory. And this is the spiritual gist of the promise which the great God has made to His believing people. It is an assurance so certain that it is spoken of as having actually taken place. And how will God blot out the sins of His people? By the same means as physically disperse the clouds of earth. 1. By the tempests of wrath. The tempest of God’ s wrath, as it fell upon the head of Christ, sent a current of electric justice through the load of sin and rendered it possible for its power to be removed. 2. By the glorious shining of rays of warmth and light. It is the warmth of God’ s infinite, eternal love that shall disperse the last trace of sin. That love shining from His throne shall drive all the consequences of evil from the heart, from the life. And with the clouds of sin shall go all other clouds--the clouds of suffering, of sorrow, of death. And when sin is driven away, that love shall shine in unceasing glory. It will not be limited to time, or place, or season, or circumstance. It will not come in diminished or lessened degrees, but it will be perfect, pure, and complete. Still, this is but a figure--an incomplete one, too--one which has its deficiencies. But God Himself gave it out. (J. J. S. Bird, B. A.)Forgiveness: its blessings and its duties: I. AN . “ I have blotted out,” &c. II. A DUTY. “ Return unto Me.” III. AN ALL- MOTIVE. “ I have redeemed thee.” (S. Bridge, M. A.)Sin and grace: I. THERE IS THE OF SIN. II. THERE IS THE OF MERCY. (W. M.Punshon, LL. D.)Invitation: The features of the Divine character, and the blessings of salvation, which are to be manifested in God’ s dealings with Israel in the latter days, are the very same as are now manifested in God’ s dealings with all believers. We may consider the text, then, as an exhibition of God’ s mercy, in which we are ourselves interested. I. With reference to HIS MERCY. 1. The first words of the text denote an act of God’ s gracious forgiveness. “ I have blotted out thy transgressions and thy sins.” In the New Testament scriptures, this expression “ blotting out” is connected with the atonement Colossians 2:14). 2. The language of pardoning mercy goes still farther. “ As a thick cloud.” How is a thick cloud blotted out? When a debt is blotted out from a debt book, the blot remains. It is true there is no evidence against the sinner; the charge against him is at an end; but the remains of what was a debt are to be seen, and the very act of cancelling it shows that there was a debt. But when a cloud is blotted out, it is different. How is that cloud blotted out? Either by the wind dispersing it, or by the sun breaking through it and dispersing it; and when this is done, we say either that the storm is “ blown over,” or that there is now a clear sky, and all that we can see, if we see anything, with regard to the threatening cloud, is now composed of those beautiful hues which are lighted up by the shining of a bright sun in a clear sky. Well, then, when God says that He will “ blot out as a thick cloud our transgressions, and as a cloud our sin,” we are to understand that He undertakes to remove all traces of our transgressions and all remains of guilt from the conscience, so that the sinner thus pardoned may look up to God as a Father full of grace and love, and may approach Him with holy boldness, and without any particle of fear. Observe, then, what full forgiveness God assures us of in this language. “ Thick clouds,” as well as ordinary clouds,--two expressions which must be taken in a figurative meaning, as including all kinds of sin--what we call “ greater and lesser sins” alike--are what the Lord declares His purpose to do away with, and completely to remove from being a ground of fear to those who approach Him in the name of His dear Son. 3. Now, inasmuch as no one can disperse a thick cloud but the God who can send His bright sun to shine through it, so none hut that God who proclaims Himself a pardoning God and Saviour can say, so that the conscience of the sinner shall respond, “ I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins.” And this is the forgiveness in which God delights--full, complete, and such as only He Himself can bestow. II. But in order that this mercy may be ours, and that we may rejoice in it, IT IS NEEDFUL THAT WE SHOULD RIGHTLY RESPOND to that intimation of God’ s grace. “ I have blotted out thy transgressions. Return unto Me.” 1. It is the Redeemer who calls, because it says, “ Return, for I have redeemed thee.” 2. How different to our natural expectation is this! The Redeemer crying after the sinner, instead of the sinner crying after the Redeemer. 3. Then observe how the language before us manifests the deep concern of God our Saviour. “ Return to Me.” He would not speak in language like this, if it were not a matter of immense moment to the sinner to return. 4. There is another suggestion: for what purpose is this call of entreaty made? Not that the sinner may receive punishment. God calls thee, O careless one, not to be frowned upon, but smiled upon. 5. Then, after all this intimation of grace on the part of God, there can be no hope of lasting peace or a future glory, except as we return. III. NOTICE THE LOVE IN THE THAT HE GIVES ABOUT . “ Return, for I have redeemed thee.” What return do you make to the call of Him who assures of mercy and redemption, and who graciously says, Return? (W. Cadman, M. A.)The cloud of sin and its dispersion: I. A wonderful teaching as to the INMOST NATURE OF SIN. I refer especially to the two words for sin which are employed here. That translated transgression literally means “ treachery” or “ rebellion,” and that translated sin “ missing a mark.” All iniquity is stamped with this damning characteristic, it is rebellion against a loving will, an infinite King, a tender Father. And all iniquity has this, by the merciful irony of Providence, associated with it, that it is a blunder as well as a crime. II. THE RECORD OF SIN. “ I have blotted out.” That points, of course, to something that has been written, and which it promises shall be erased. It may be, perhaps, the idea rather of a stain which is covered and removed, but that I think less probable than the other one, that the evil is written down somewhere. A book written; a permanent record of my evil doing. Where is it written? Where, rather, is it not written? Written on character, written to a very large extent even on circumstances, written above all in the calm, perfect memory of the all-judging God. The book is written by ourselves, moment by moment, and day by day. We write it with invisible ink, and it only needs to be held to the fire to flash up into legibility. III. THE POWER OF SIN. “ I have blotted out as a thick cloud.” When the cloud draws its veil over the heavens, the sunshine and the blue are shut out from a man’ s eye, and all the flowerets close; and when the heaven is veiled the birds cease to sing. So, like a misty veil drawn across the face of the heavens are man’ s sins. Our only way of knowing God is by sympathy, by conformity. IV. THE REMOVAL OF THE SIN. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins.” The erasure implies the making a clean sheet of the blurred page; the cancelling of the whole long formidable column of figures that expresses the debt. The blotting out as a cloud implies the disappearing of the misty vapour, as some thin fleecy film will do in the dry Eastern heavens, melting away as a man looks. So God, in His marvellous patience, shining on the upper side, as it were, of all the mists that wrap and darken our souls, thins these away by the process of self-communication, until they gather themselves up, routed and broken, and disappear, floating in thin fragments beneath the visual horizon. It is to no purpose to ask whether that means pardon or cleansing. It means both. Isaiah could proclaim: “ I have blotted out thy transgressions,” because Isaiah could also proclaim: “ The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.” Now, mark this, that this removal of sin, in all its aspects and powers, is regarded in my text as a past accomplished fact. It is not set forth as contingent upon the man’ s return, but as the reason for his return. “ I have redeemed thee, therefore come back to Me,” not “ Come back to Me that I may redeem thee.” You have to take your portion of the great blessing by the simple act and exercise of faith in Jesus Christ. Then it becomes yours. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Sin as clouds It is by no means an uncommon circumstance to find in the Bible the very same natural object employed as a symbol of very different and even opposite things. Thus, the lion is used as the emblem both of Christ and of the Prince of Darkness; fire is used as the emblem both of Divine purity and of human suffering; water is used as the emblem both of peace and of trouble; and the cloud is employed as an emblem both of good and evil. Here the Almighty Himself speaks of sin as a “ cloud.” In order to guard against an abuse of the comparison, notice two striking points of dissimilarity. (1) Clouds are objects of beauty. (2) Clouds are sources of blessing. In what respect, then, is sin like a cloud? I. He blotteth out sin as a cloud which THE GENIAL OF HEAVEN. It rolls like a thick cloud between God and the soul. It obstructs the rays of His love; it makes life gloomy and sad. II. He blotteth out sins as a cloud which RISES FROM BENEATH. Whence come these clouds? Not from the celestial regions. They are exhalations from the earth. From noxious marshy lands and stagnant pools, as well as from restless seas they rise. So it is with sin. It is an exhalation from the depraved heart. The clouds that roll between the soul and its God are an aggregation of the noxious vapours that have risen from the heart. III. He blotteth out sins as a cloud which EXISTS IN EVERY VARIETY OF FORM. Clouds are endless in their variety. It is so with sin. You have it in the fleeting thought, the transient feeling, the passing word; as well as in the deep plot, the cherished passions, the confirmed habits, the dark, dark life. IV. He blotteth out sins as a cloud which is CHARGED WITH EVIL. Whilst clouds are sources of blessings to the world, they are often filled with elements of destruction. There are forged the thunderbolts that terrify; there are kindled the lightnings that consume; there are the floods that deluge. It is so with sin. The miseries of retribution are all nursed in it as storms in the cloud. V. He blotteth out sins as a cloud WHICH NO FINITE CAN . Who can dispel the smallest cloud from the face of the sky? No skill, no strength, can dispel one cloud. It is so with sin. No finite being can dispel it. No Church, priesthood, &c. VI. He blotteth out sins as a cloud, which ONCE , IS GONE FOR EVER. Sins pardoned, like clouds dispersed, are lost for ever. “ In those days, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none, and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found, for I will pardon them.” VII. He blotteth out sins as a cloud, which WHEN THE . (Homilist.)God’ s forgiveness: I. A OF SIN. Man’ s transgressions are as a thick cloud. 1. In their number. (1) The sins of the wicked--murders, revellings, debaucheries, and the like. (2) The sins of the’ moral man--intellectual sins, worse than the animal--avarice, pride, ambition, unbelief. (3) The sins of the good. The lives of the best of men may seem, to the natural eye, holy and good; but, seen under the microscope of God’ s law, these are full of impurities. 2. Because they intervene between God and man. 3. Because they engloom the earth. 4. Because they contain the consequences which we dread. Out of the cloud the angry lightnings flash, and in the cloud the fury of the tempest sleeps. II. A OF . “ I have blotted out,” &c. You have witnessed the dispersion of a storm. This is a symbol of God’ s forgiveness. 1. It is so because it is the work of God only. It is a transaction in which man has no share. 2. God’ s forgiveness is a complete forgiveness. 3. May we not learn that all sin is overruled to our good? After the storm has gone over us, have we not found the atmosphere purified? Can we not see that the world is disciplined by the deluge of evils which pours forth from the clouds of sin? 4. This is a symbol of God’ s forgiveness in respect to the gladness which succeeds the storm. The prophet represents the whole earth as awakening, after the dispersion of the storm, to exultant joy. “ Sing, O ye heavens,” &c. Such is the joy of the world on account of God’ s forgiveness. III. A OF THE CONDUCT OF THE . “ Return unto Me,” &c. (H. M. Jackson.)Departing clouds: The bestowment of spiritual blessings is a warrant for the expectation of all needful temporal blessings. This passage is the foundation on which God causes His ancient people to rest. God’ s forgiving love is the promise of all needful help and grace. I. WE MAKE OUR OWN CLOUDS. As the natural clouds are formed by the vapours drawn up from the sea, so, in a degree, those clouds which darken our skies are the effects of our transgressions. II. GOD MAKES OUR CLOUDS THE OF HIS MERCY. The natural clouds are the ministers of His mercy, the testimonies of His faithful care, of His loving thoughtfulness for the children of men. But how wonderful that the clouds of our sins should be the ministers of His mercy! The clouds lead us to appreciate the glorious sunlight. III. GOD OUR CLOUDS BY THE OF HIS LOVE AND POWER. Clouds move in obedience to nature’ s laws; and the clouds of our sins cannot be blotted out in an arbitrary method. Not as a bad debt, not as chalked figures may be obliterated. God is a Father, but He is a moral Governor. Even He has only a right to blot out transgressions, because He has redeemed. IV. GOD OUR CLOUDS IN ORDER THAT WE MAY STAND IN THE CLEAR . When sin is blotted out, then the soul is started on a career of never-ending fruitfulness. V. GOD MAKES THE CLOUDS HIS . “ Return unto Me.” Every time we see the clouds sweeping across the heavens, let us listen to their still small voice. (W. Burrows, B. A.)God’ s abundant pardon: In pardoning His people God freely forgives them all their sins of every description, flowing from corrupt propensities and evil habits, committed through ignorance, infirmity, temptation, or presumption. (R. Macculloch.)Barriers obliterated: I. HERE IS AN AND MEDIUM: a cloud of sins. A vapour, says the Hebrew; and, then, a thick cloud. God’ s people ought always to dwell in fellowship with their God. There ought to be nothing between the renewed heart and God to prevent joyful and hallowed fellowship; but it is not so. Sometimes a cloud comes between,--a cloud of sin; and, whenever that cloud of sin comes between us and God, it speedily chills us. Our delight in God is no longer manifest; we have little or no zeal in His service, or joy in His worship. Beneath that cloud, we feel like men who are frozen; and, at the same time, darkness comes over us. We get into such a sad state that we hardly know whether we are God’ s people or not. Besides that, it threatens us. Remember, clouds are earthborn things. Yet, recollect that the sun is not affected by the clouds. II. THE REMOVAL OF THIS BARRIER. “ I have blotted out,” &c. 1. No known human power can remove the clouds. So it is with your darkness and doubts if you have fallen into sin. 2. But what a mercy it is that God can remove these clouds of sin. 3. When God drives away these clouds from us, though we may see other clouds, we shall never see those black ones any more. When the Lord takes away His people’ s sins, they are gone, and gone for ever. 4. The glory of it is that the Lord has already done this great work of grace. “ I have,” &c. III. THE TENDER COMMAND. “‘ Return unto Me.’ The great barrier that separated us, is removed; so let us not be divided from one another any longer.” 1. When He says, “ Return,” He wants you to give up that which has grieved Him. 2. The Lord’ s gracious invitation also means, “ Come back, and love Me. See how I have loved you. I have already forgiven you your sin, you who are, indeed, My child, but whose faith has almost disappeared. Though you have provoked Me, I still love you. Will you not love Me? After such pleading, can you keep on in this cold-hearted state towards your God? 3. The Lord also means, “ Return again to your old joys.” IV. THE SACRED CLAIM WHICH BACKS UP THE . “ I have redeemed thee.” 1. The meaning is this: “ I have loved you so much that I redeemed you with the blood of My dear Son; and, having loved you so much in the ages past, I love you still. Come back to Me. I did not make a mistake when I first loved you, through which I shall have to change the object of My choice. I knew all about you from eternity,;, all that you ever would be or could be, I knew it; yet I loved you and bought you, &c. 2. You belong to Me. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Return unto MeThe freeness of the gospel scheme, and the universality of God’ s love I. THE OF THE METHOD OF MAN’ S . “ Return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee.” There can be no difficulty in proving that we are bought with a price; there can be no difficulty in showing that it was God Himself to whom the price was paid. But there is something of a difficulty in understanding how purchase can consist with gift; and how that which is dearly bought can be said to be freely bestowed. The difficulty is just what follows. Much is said in the Bible as to our deliverance being perfectly gratuitous; but if God bestows nothing that has not been paid for, what becomes of that gratuitous character of redemption? Certainly it would seem that purchase is so inconsistent with donation, that He of whom forgiveness is bought can lay but slight claim to a surprising liberality. Careful examination, however, will set this in a proper light. “ Return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee,” is an assertion whose proof lies in the assurance that God is ready to receive the prodigal. A deliverance that has been bought for the world is more illustrative of God’ s free grace than any other which would have required no satisfaction. For a plan of deliverance in every sense gratuitous is one of those absurd creations of the fancy which it would have been impossible to turn into reality. If it could not have been said to man, Thou art a redeemed thing, and a purchased thing, it must have been said, in opposition to our text, Thou shalt not return; thou shalt continue a ruined thing. It fell not within the power of Deity to grant what men call unconditional forgiveness. It is requiring God to undeify Himself--to cease to be the Just One, the Faithful One. The fact that we may return to the Father only because we are purchased by the blood of His Son, wondrously demonstrates the freeness of the grace. The death of the Son does not, after all, place the Father under the necessity of extending forgiveness to sinners; He need not have said, “ Return,” even though we were redeemed. We are not merely debtors who have nothing to pay--we are criminals who have punishment to endure. If I were only a debtor, and Christ had discharged the debt, I cease to be a debtor, and God cannot, in justice, refuse to release me; but, if I were a criminal, I do not cease to be a criminal because another might have died in my room. Hence it is free grace, and nothing else, that grants me forgiveness. II. THE EARNEST LONGING THAT GOD HAS THAT SINNERS SHOULD BE SAVED, IN THE PATHOS OF THE . Men are bid to return because they are redeemed. There are, therefore, two conditions: they must have faith in the Redeemer, and they must have that repentance which includeth forsaking of sin: so precious are you in God’ s sight that to return is to please God. (H. Melvill, B. D.)I have redeemed thee“ I have redeemed thee” To redeem is “ to buy back” ; and our redemption is a buying us out of bondage. We are “ sold under sin,” and God has bought us back with the precious blood of His well-beloved Son. If you will look at Leviticus 25:23, &c., you will find the law by which the land could be redeemed; or those persons who had waxen poor and sold themselves as bondmen--the law of redemption. 1. Christ is born in our midst that He may become a Kinsman, a Brother to us all, He comes bringing our ransom price. But he does not bid the angels bring the gold and pearls for our deliverance. He gives Himself a ransom for all. And now Jesus comes to us, our loving Brother, and He saith, “ I have redeemed thee.” 2. Now do not let us serve sin any more. Jesus has bought us back from this hard master. He has bought for us the Father’ s house too. He has put us in possession of heaven and all its joys. And thus from the bondage of sin and evil of our hearts, we can cry to the King for His help. Prayer is the white-winged bird that can bear our message right up to the Father’ s house. And an answer shall come. (M. G. Pearse.) Isaiah 44:23 Sing, O ye heavens A song about redemption The text is a magnificent call to heaven and earth to join in singing the glories of redemption. I. IN WHAT CALLS FOR A SONG. Redemption calls for a song when we remember-- 1. Its Author. “ The Lord hath done it.” “ The Lord hath redeemed Jacob.” Herein is indeed a marvel of grace, demanding the highest anthems ransomed lips can raise. What could man have been to Him? What shadow of an obligation was there on His part to put forth the slightest effort to save a single one? The Lord hath done it alone. With whom took He counsel in this matter? Who paid part-price with Him? Redemption is no work of the many; it is God’ s own in plan and execution. 2. Its cost (1 Peter 1:18-19). 3. Its completeness. Christ hath so gloriously completed the work of redemption that nothing can possibly be added to it. Unlike the atonement made by the Aaronic priesthood, it lasts for ever. 4. Its comprehensiveness. It will take eternity to reveal all. If we are Christ’ s, then have we been redeemed from the hand of Satan. From the guilt of sin. With the guilt, away goes the power of sin. We are also redeemed from the consequences of sin. From the power of death Hosea 13:14). Christ hath redeemed the bodies of His saints for the glories of the resurrection morn. 5. The chiefest cause for song is redemption “ being” that in which God has been pleased to glorify Himself the most. “ The Lord hath glorified Himself in Israel.” All the attributes of God are most gloriously to be seen in redemption work. II. WHO THOSE ARE WHO SHOULD SING THE SONG. 1. Heaven! “ Sing, O ye heavens,” and well you may, for redemption has shed a fresh lustre on your glories. The highest joy the angels can have, is that which arises from seeing their King glorified. Behold also the redeemed in heaven! Listen to their song, sweeter even than an angel’ s, “ Unto Him that loved us.” All heaven unites in this redemption song. 2. Let the ransomed on earth take their part. “ Shout, ye lower parts of the earth.” Behold your serfdom gone--your bonds broken--your chains snapped--your sins forgiven--your heaven secured, and then sing. 3. Surely who that have loved ones that have been redeemed should join us in the song. 4. The trembling sinner has good cause to join his voice with ours. “ The Lord hath done it.” If done, then there can be no necessity for any addition of thine. (A. G. Brown.)Praise to God for redemption: I. WHAT IS IN GOD’ S JACOB. 1. That He pays a ransom for our souls. 2. That He rescues us from captivity. 3. That He takes vengeance on our enemies. 4. That He puts us in possession of our inheritance. II. HOW GOD IS , WHEN MAN IS . 1. His infinite wisdom was displayed. 2. His power was illustrated. 3. His grace was shown. 4. His truth was vindicated. III. THE PRAISE WHICH OUGHT TO BE UNTO GOD ON ACCOUNT OF . The language of the text has a certain grandeur and beauty. Two things seem to be expressed in it. 1. Let every creature rejoice in the event. 2. Let all express their joy in every form. “ Sing,” “ shout,” “ break forth into singing.” Praise Him with the heart. Let “ all that is within you bless His holy name.” Praise Him with the lips. “ Speak of the glory of His kingdom, and talk of His power, to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts.” Praise Him with your life. “ Ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’ s” Praise Him in private. “ Is anyone merry? Let him sing psalms.” Praise Him in public. “ O sing unto the Lord a new song, and His praise in the congregation of the saints.” (E. Brown.)The joy of redemption There are three redemptions which may well make all hearts rejoice. I. BY BLOOD. II. BY POWER. Conversion and regeneration. What sort of people are those whom Christ saves? Some were the very worst of the worst. Think of what these souls are saved from, and of what they are saved to. Some are saved in the teeth of ten thousand obstacles. III. IN . (C. H. Spurgeon.)The song of songs: I. LET US SURVEY THE SCENE. “ I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins.” So, going forth and returning to their God beneath that clear sky, from which the Sun of Righteousness shone down with beams of love, the forgiven people were filled with rejoicing, and by the mouth of the prophet they cried aloud, “ Sing, O heaven, clouds veil thee no longer; shout, ye lower parts of the earth, which have been refreshed with fertilising showers; shout, O ye forest trees, whose every bough has been hung with diamond drops; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified Himself in Israel.” Thus the scenery of the text is helpful to the full understanding of it. Read the two verses together, and their beauty is seen. When did the joyous event take place which we are bidden to celebrate with song? 1. We may consider it as virtually accomplished in the eternal counsels of God, for our Lord is “ the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.” 2. The clouds were actually removed when the atonement was presented. 3. The text also receives an actual fulfilment to each one of God’ s people in the moment when the eye of faith is first turned to the crucified Saviour. 4. This also comes true not only at first, but frequently during the Christian life; for there are times when our unbelief makes new clouds, and threatens new storms. 5. The text will obtain its best fulfilment at the day of the Lord’ s appearing,--that day around which our chief hopes must ever centre. II. LET US THE SUBJECT FOR JOY. The great subject of joy is redemption--the redemption of God’ s Israel. 1. This is a stupendous work. 2. Of redemption by price and by power we are bidden to sing, a redemption so pre-eminently desirable that we can never sufficiently value it. 3. The very centre and emphasis of the song seems to me to lie in this: “ The Lord hath done it.” Whatever God does is the subject of joy to all pure beings. 4. It is sweet to reflect that redemption is an accomplished fact. It is not “ The Lord will do it,” but “ The Lord hath done it.” 5. We may lay peculiar force upon the word, the Lord hath “ done” it, for He has finished the work. 6. A very important part of the song, however, lies in the fact that what God has done glorifies Himself. III. LET US LISTEN TO THE SONG. The angels sing, for they have deep sympathy with the redemption of man; the redeemed in glory sing, for they have been the recipients of this mighty mercy; the material heavens themselves also ring with the sweet music, and every star takes up the refrain, and with sun and moon praise the Most High. Descending from heave, the song charms the lower earth, and the prophet calls upon materialism to share in the joy; mountains and valleys, forests and trees, are charged to join the song. Why should they not? This round earth of ours has been o’ ershadowed by the curse through sin; she has yet to be unswathed of all the mists which iniquity has cast upon her (Romans 8:20-21). IV. LET US JOIN IN THIS SONG. Consider how we sing this song. We sing it when by faith we see the grand truth that Jesus Christ took His people’ s sin upon Him, and so redeemed them. You will be still better able to sing this if you every day realise the blessings of redemption and pardon, by drawing near to God, using the privilege of prayer, trusting the Lord for everything, enjoying sonship, and communing with your heavenly Father. (C. H.Spurgeon.) Isaiah 44:24I am the Lord that maketh all things The Maker of heaven and earth Our object is, not so much to discover from the creation the truth of the being and character of the Creator, as to see how the Christian belief in Him as Maker must influence us about the world He has made. Trust Him as the Fatherly God, who is indeed Maker of heaven and earth, and what will follow? I. SUCH A TRUST WILL ENSURE YOUR RIGHT WITH REGARD TO SCIENCE. 1. It will free you from all alarm as to the contradictions between science and the Scripture. 2. But our Christian belief should not only take away all dread of science, it should inspire its earnest pursuit. For it is the study of the work of God; a solution of His problems. The stars gleam with the glory of God, the flowers are fragrant with His sweetness; so that astronomy and botany, as well as all the sciences, have been well called “ sections of theology.” II. SUCH A TRUST IN GOD AS THE MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH YOU FOR RIGHT USE AND OF NATURE. He who believes in the Creator with all his heart will be altogether a different man in trade or travel, in manufacture of the earth’ s productions, search into her secrets, or enjoyment of her scenery, from the man who darkly doubts--not to say from the man who impiously denies. For such a belief excludes the Manichaean heresy, that matter is the creation of evil. It gives to man that vision and voice about nature that were vouchsafed to Peter when he was taught to call nothing “ common or unclean.” He who has the spirit of Jesus Christ, who is reconciled by Him and taught by Him about God, will cherish Christ’ s spirit about nature. III. SUCH A TRUST IN GOD WITH HOPE ABOUT THE DESTINY OF . There is much that is saddening and bewildering in some of the aspects of creation. “ The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain” . In the midst of such reflections, a great hope glows in the heart that believes in God as “ the maker of heaven and earth.” For then He is not only seen as a Redeemer mercifully interposing to alleviate misfortune and to restore some from ruin; but He is known to be the utterly good God, whose goodness is “ over all His works,” over creation as much as over redemption. He is a “ faithful Creator.” He will care for His own; will bring it to the destiny for which He made it. IV. SUCH A TRUST IN GOD IS THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. Jesus has to do with nature, with us, and with God. He is “ the Door” into nature. Connect all with Jesus, and we shall connect all with God. (U. R. Thomas, B. A.) Isaiah 44:28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd Cyrus, the Lord’ s shepherd Cyrus was the ideal king of the Persians and Greeks. His is the only name that is mentioned with any detail, I believe, both in the Persian and in the Greek, and also in the Hebrew literature. We speak of the great heroes of the world as Alexander and Caesar and Napoleon. That list begins too late. We ought to begin instead with Cyrus, who was at first a prince of a small principality at the head of the Gulf of Oman. Later he conquered the Medes and Persians. Later Asia Minor, including Lydia, and at last he captured Babylon. In capturing Babylon he released from captivity the chosen people, and it is because of that fact that he is called in the Scriptures, and that he is known in history by the very unique title of the Lord’ s shepherd. There is only one other person to whom that phrase has ever been applied, and it is a very singular fact that a heathen king, one entirely out of all line with the chosen people, one so far away from traditions, which we have been in the habit of calling sacred, holy, as if his name had been Confucius or Buddha, in the Scriptures should have been given exactly the same title that was given to our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. (A. H. Bradforad, D. D.)The unity of history: We will observe a few facts in support of my contention that history is the record of a beneficent development. 1. The governments of the world. In the early time government was simply for a few; there was no monarchy but force; there was no place for love. In the present time, in the immortal words of our President,. “ Government is of the people, by the people, for the people. The word which I best remember of any which I heard spoken in London was by Dr. Bevan, “ Of old, government was for the few; to-day, government is for the many.” And that is what things have been moving towards as the years have been passing. 2. Take another illustration, and that from the realm of religion. We think of one God; but to those early Hebrews there were many gods. They were not those who believed simply in one God for all the world. They believed in Jehovah as the God able to subdue all the gods of the heathen. They had not reached, except in the person of a few of their leaders, the sublime altitude of modern times of one pervading and all-enduring Unity, one holy, spiritual, true, and loving God. What” was their worship? 3. We come to another illustration quite as familiar. We hear very much in our time concerning the social condition of the labouring people. The great dumb multitudes have found a voice; and every now and then, some man, ignorant of history, writes to say the rich were never so rich, and the poor never so poor; the condition of one class was never so luxurious, the condition of the other class was never so mean. He does not know what the condition of the masses was in the time when the pyramids were built, in the time when the Caesars ruled in Rome and doled out corn to the multitude. He has not read the history of Great Britain, or of France, or of any other nation of Europe, or on the face of the earth. The condition of the world is improving. In the old time the condition of the woman was that of a thing or an animal; she belonged to her husband. She is a woman now, the equal of her husband. In the old time the child was absolutely under the power of the father. If the child was an orphan he was put on the street. Now, to use the phrase of a contemporary writer, “ If he hath no father and if he hath no mother, he becomes the child of the public.” What mean our charities? Conclusion-- (1) Providence is compelling progress and no individual can possibly prevent it. (2) Not all are equally worthy of blessing, of commendation; although all may bear their part in bringing about the glorious consummation. (3) Cyrus shows to us the sweep of the Divine purpose. God’ s plan includes the nations and the ages. There is a place for Greece, for India, for China, for Rome, for Great Britain, there is a place for every nation as well as for Judah. There is a place for Napoleon, and Confucius, and Buddha, because there was a place for Cyrus. (4) But the other One to whom that glorious name was applied, the Lord’ s Shepherd, shows us what Cyrus does not show us, namely, the nature of that plan, revealing to us the nature of the One who made the plan. I look upon the face of Jesus Christ, and I see there is a person, and a sacrificial purpose, and a sacrifice which reaches even to the uttermost. (A. H. Bradford, D. D.)Notables fulfilling God’ s purpose Rich princes shall do what poor prophets have foretold. (M. Henry.). Isaiah 45:1-6 Thus saith the Lord to His anointed Cyrus The name of Cyrus is written Kuras in Babylonian cuneiform, Kurush in Old Persian. Ctesias stated on the authority of Parysatis, the wife of the Persian king Ochus, that her younger son was named Cyrus from the sun, as the Persians called the sun Kupos (Epit. Phot. 80; Plut. Artax. 1). In Zend, however, the sun is hware, which could not take the form Kupos in Old Persian, though in modern Persian it is khur, khir, and kher. The classical writers have given extraordinary accounts of his birth and rise to power All these versions have been shown to be unhistorical by contemporaneous cuneiform inscriptions. The most important of these are (1) a cylinder inscription of Nabonidus, the last king of the Babylonian Empire, from Abu Habba (Sippara); (2) an annalistic tablet written shortly after the conquest of Babylonia by Cyrus; (3) a proclamation of Cyrus of the same date . . . The proclamation of Cyrus shows that he was not a Zoroastrian like Darius and Xerxes, but that as he claimed to be the successor of the Babylonian kings, so also he acknowledged the supremacy of Bel-Merodaeh the supreme Babylonian god. Hence the restoration of the Jewish exiles was not due to any sympathy with monotheism, but was part of a general policy. Experience had taught him the danger of allowing a disaffected population to exist in a country which might be invaded by an enemy; his own conquest of Babylonia had been assisted by the revolt of a part of its population; and he therefore reversed the policy of deportation and denationalisation which had been attempted by the Assyrian and Baby-Ionian kings. The exiles and the images of their gods were sent back to their old homes; only in the case of the Jews, who had no images, it was the sacred vessels of the temple which were restored. (Prof. A. H. Sayce, LL. D.)Cyrus: his character To Greek literature Cyrus was the prince pre-eminent,--set forth as the model for education in childhood, self-restraint in youth, just and powerful government in manhood. Most of what we read of him in Xenophon’ s Cyclopaedia is, of course, romance; but the very fact that, like our own king Arthur, Cyrus was used as a mirror to flash great ideals down the ages, proves that there was with him native brilliance and width of surface as well as fortunate eminence of position. He owed much to the virtue of his race. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Cyrus, God’ s tool Cyrus is neither chosen for his character, nor said [in the Isaiah passages] to be endowed with one. But that he is there, and that he does so much, is due simply to this, that God had chosen him. What he is endowed with is force, push, swiftness, irresistibleness. He is, in short, not a character, but a tool; and God makes no apology for using him but this, that he has the qualities of a tool. Now, we cannot help being struck with the contrast of all this, the Hebrew view of Cyrus, with the well-known Greek view of him. To the Greeks he is first and foremost a character. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The victories of Cyrus We have vividly described to us the victories of Cyrus; in his whirlwind career, subduing the nations before him, loosing the loins of kings (that whole troop of vassal empires enumerated by Xenophon), and opening before him the hundred brazen gates of Babylon (also minutely described by Herodotus, as guarding alike the approaches to the river and the temple of Belus), and cutting in sunder the bars of iron. The spoil amassed on that occasion was probably unexampled in the annals of war; for besides the enormous wealth of palatial Babylon itself, it included the fabulous riches of Croesus, king of Lydia, who brought waggon-load after waggon-load to lay at the feet of the conqueror. The aggregate was computed to be equivalent to upwards of a hundred and twenty-six millions of our money. Well, therefore, might the prophet here chronicle, among the predestined exploits of this mighty prince (Isaiah 45:3), “ the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places.” (J. R.Macduff, D. D.)Loosing the loins of kings The monarchs of eastern nations were accustomed to wear girdles about their loins, which were considered as giving strength and firmness to their bodies; and, being richly decorated, served as badges of royal dignity. When, therefore, God declares that He would deprive them of their girdles and loose their loins, the expression imports that He would divest them of their power and majesty, and reduce them to a mean and contemptible condition. (R. Macculloch.)Special Divine instrumentalities in the world’ s renovation 1. For the enlargement of His Church, God often selects special instruments. In setting into motion a whole system of agencies this is almost uniformly the case. We recognise the fact all along the history of the Church. We see men raised up with peculiar gifts and clothed with peculiar powers to effect certain great works. The text gives us a remarkable illustration of this method of Divine procedure. In the bosom of the Church itself there are two still more remarkable examples of this law; the two men who bore the largest part in the inauguration and establishment of the chief dispensations. Moses and Paul were not indifferent characters; nor were their training and position like that of the multitude. They stand out boldly in history as men of peculiar natural gifts and attainments. Their early discipline exalted their intrinsic power; while their relation to the people among whom their work was to be performed, and to the science of the age in which they lived, imparted special qualifications for their great mission, it is not that the human is thus exalted above the Divine, but simply that the Divine uses that kind and measure of humanity which are best fitted to accomplish its purposes. 2. It is just as certain that the great Sovereign chooses particular nations to effect certain parts of His work in the final triumph of the Gospel, as that He chooses certain individuals for some special operation “ This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth My praise.” His sovereignty reaches back of the immediate work. It chooses according to the character of the nation; it reaches to the antecedent training and the natural characteristics which combine to prepare the nation most fully for the work; nay, this sovereignty in its far-reaching wisdom has been busy all along the history of the people in so ordering the moulding influences under which characters and position are attained, that when the time comes for them to enter into His special work, they will be found all ripe for His purpose. This nation, to whom the passage before us refers, is a marked illustration of this thought. The Jew was designed to be the conservator of the Word of God. He was chosen for this purpose. The object was not propagation, but conservation. The race by nature and education had just those qualities which fitted it for this work. Its wonderful tenacity of impression, its power to hold what once had fairly been forced into it by Divine energy, like the rock hardened around the crystal, belongs to its nature, reveals itself after Providence had shattered the nation, in that granite character which, under the fire of eighteen centuries, remains unchanged. At every step of the progress of Christianity since, illustrations multiply of the truth that God forms nations to His work, and chooses them because of their fitness to accomplish certain parts of that work. The Greek with his high mental culture and his glorious language--fit instrument through which the Divine Word breathed His life-giving truth; the Roman sceptred in power over the whole realm of civilisation, and undesignedly constructing the great highway for the Church of Jesus; the German, with his innate freedom of spirit, nourishing the thoughtful souls whose lofty utterances awoke, whose wondrous power disenthralled a sleeping and captive Church. (S. W. Fisher, D. D.) Isaiah 45:2-3I will go before thee God going before Man must go. Each man is accomplishing a journey, going through a process. The only question is, How? Man may go, either with God or without Him. Whether we go with God or without Him, we shall find crooked places. I. We should regard the text as A WARNING. There are crooked places. II. The text is also A PROMISE. “ I will go before thee.” God does not say where He will straighten our path; He does not say how; the great thing for us to believe is that there is a special promise for us, and to wait in devout hope for its fulfilment. He who waits for God is not misspending his time. Such waiting is true living--such tarrying is the truest speed. III. The text is also A PLAN. It is in the word “ before” that I find the plan, and it is in that word “ before” that I find the difficulty on the human side. God does not say, I will go alongside thee; we shall go step by step: He says, I will go before thee. Sometimes it may be a long way before us, so that we cannot see Him; and sometimes it may be just in front of us. But whether beyond, far away, or here close at hand, the great idea we have to live upon is that God goes before us. 1. Let us beware of regarding the text as a mere matter of course. There is an essential question of character to be settled. “ The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” 2. Let us beware of regarding this text as a licence for carelessness Let us not say, “ If God goes before me, and makes all places straight why need I care?” To the good man all life is holy; there is no step of indifference; no subject that does not bring out his best desires. “ The place whereon thou standest is holy ground” is the expression of every man who knows what it is to have God going before him. (J. Parker, D. D.)Treasures of darkness If we be Zion’ s pilgrims, heavenward bound, we shall find the need of such promises, in their spiritual fulfilment, as God here gave to Cyrus. I. GOD’ S WORK in “ going before His people, making for them crooked places straight, breaking in pieces gates of brass, and cutting in sunder bars of iron.” 1. The first promise lays a foundation for all the rest; “ I will go before thee.” How great must those difficulties be which need God Himself to go before us in order to overcome them! Surely they must be insuperable by any human strength. If we are rightly taught, we shall feel a need for the Lord to go before us, not only now and then, but every step of the way, for unless led and guided by Him, we are sure to go astray. How strikingly was this the case with the children of Israel. You may apply this promise to a variety of things. (1) It is applicable not only to spiritual, but to temporal trials and perplexities--to His going before us both in providence and grace. (2). But the words apply to the manifestation of His holy and sacred will. (3) It is especially in the removal of obstructions that the Lord fulfils this part of the promise. 2. “ And make crooked things straight.” This promise springs out of the former, and is closely connected with it; for it is only by the Lord s going before that things really crooked can be straightened. But what is meant by crooked places, and whence come they? (1) Some are inherently crooked, that is, it is in their very nature to be so. Thus crooked tempers, dispositions, desires, wills, lusts are in themselves inherently crooked, because being bent out of their original state by sin, they do not now lie level with God’ s holy will and Word. (2) But there are crooked places in the path of God’ s family, which are not inherently crooked as being sinful in themselves, but are crooked as made so by the hand of God to us. Of this kind are afflictions in body and mind, poverty in circumstances, trials in the family, persecution from superiors or ungodly relatives, heavy losses in business, bereavement of children, and, in short, a vast variety of circumstances curved into their shape by the hand of God, and so made. “ crooked things” to us. Now, the Lord has promised, to make “ crooked things straight.” Taken in its fullest extent, the promise positively declares that from whatever source they come, or of whatsoever nature they be, the Lord will surely straighten them. By this He manifests His power, wisdom, and faithfulness. But how does He straighten them? In two ways, and this according to their nature. Sometimes by removing them out of the way; and sometimes by reconciling our minds to them. 3. But the Lord also promised Cyrus that He would, by going before him, break in pieces the gates of brass, &c. Cyrus longed to enter the city of Babylon; but when he took a survey of the only possible mode of entrance, he saw it firmly closed against him with gates of brass and iron. Can we not find something in our experience which corresponds to this feeling in Cyrus? There is a longing in the soul after a certain object. We press forward to obtain it, but what do we find in the road? Gates of brass and bars of iron. Look, for instance, at our very prayers. Are not the heavens sometimes brass over our heads, so that, as Jeremiah complains, “ they cannot pass through” ? Nay, is not your very heart itself sometimes a gate of brass, as hard, as stubborn, and as inflexible? So the justice, majesty, and holiness of God, when we view these dread perfections of Jehovah with a trembling eye under the guilt of sin, stand before the soul as so many gates of brass. The various enemies, too, which beset the soul; the hindrances and obstacles without and within that stand in the path; the opposition of sin, Satan, self, and the world against all that is good and godlike--may not all these be considered “ gates of brass” barring out the wished-for access into the city? 4. But there are also “ bars of iron.” These strengthen the gates of brass and prevent them from being broken down or burst open, the stronger and harder metal giving firmness and solidity to the softer and weaker one. An unbelieving heart; the secret infidelity of the carnal mind; guilt of conscience produced by a sense of our innumerable wanderings from the Lord; doubts and fears often springing out of our own want of consistency and devotedness; apprehensions of being altogether deceived, from finding so few marks of grace and so much neglect of watchfulness and prayer--all these may be mentioned as bars of iron strengthening the gates of brass. Now, can you break to pieces these gates of brass, or cut in sunder the bars of iron? Here, then, when so deeply wanted, comes in the promise, “ I will break,” &c. II. THE GIFTS WHICH THE LORD BESTOWS UPON THEM, when He has broken to pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron, here called “ treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places.” 1. “ Treasures of darkness.” But is not this a strange expression? How can there be darkness in the city of Salvation of which the Lord, the Lamb, is the eternal light? The expression does not mean that the treasures themselves are darkness, but that they were hidden in darkness till they were brought to light. The treasures of Belshazzar, like the Bank bullion, were buried in darkness till they were broken up and given to Cyrus. It is so in a spiritual sense. Are there not treasures in the Lord Jesus? Yet, all these are “ treasures of darkness,” so far as they are hidden from our eyes and hearts, till we are brought by His special power into the city of Salvation. 2. But the Lord promised also to give to Cyrus “ the hidden riches of secret places,” that is, literally, the riches of the city which were stored up in its secret places. But has not this, also a spiritual meaning? Yes. Many are “ the hidden riches of secret places” with which the God of all grace enriches His believing family. Look, for instance, at the Word of God. But observe, how the promises are connected with “ crooked places,” “ brazen gates,” and “ iron bars,” and the going before of the Lord to remove them out of the way. Without this previous work we should be ignorant to our dying day of “ the treasures of darkness” ; we should never see nor handle “ the hidden riches of secret places.” III. THE BLESSED EFFECTS by what the Lord thus does and thus gives--a spiritual and experimental knowledge, that “ He who has called them by their name is the God of Israel.” Observe the expression, “ I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name.” What an individuality it stamps on the person addressed! How it makes religion a personal thing! But what is produced by this special, individual, and personal calling? Knowledge. What knowledge? Spiritual, heartfelt, and experimental. Of what? “ That the Lord who called them by name is the God of Israel.” It is as “ the God of Israel” that He manifests mercy and grace; that He never leaves nor forsakes the objects of His choice; that He fulfils every promise, defeats every enemy, appears in every difficulty, richly pardons every sin, graciously heals every backsliding, and eventually lands them in eternal bliss. Now, perhaps, we can see why God’ s people have so many gates of brass and bars of iron, so many trials and severe temptations. This is to bring them into personal acquaintance with God, the covenant God of Israel; to make religion a reality. (J. C. Philpot.) Isaiah 45:3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness Spiritual mineralogy There is a whole library of sacred philosophy in the words of the Psalmist on the relation subsisting between God and His creatures. “ That Thou givest them, they gather. Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with good.” Perhaps one is hardly ever reminded more strongly of this fellowship of Providence and industry than when passing through a district seamed and bored and blackened by the mining operations in search of the metals which yield the wealth of a country, or of the hardly less precious coal, by the aid of which the iron, the copper, or the silver is smelted into useful forms. The ore, it is beyond the miner s province to fashion; God makes it to him a free present; but the digging, and the hoisting, and the smelting, and the moulding, and the chasing, and the carving, and the coining into currency, these things God no more does for man than man, in the beginning, created the heavens and the earth. Let us learn to be grateful without being indolent. Let us equally take care to be diligent without being proud. There is a high moral and spiritual mineralogy, wherein we may become rich, “ not with corruptible things, such as silver and gold.” There are caverns of unimaginable wealth, every grain of which comes from God’ s free bounty, but not one grain of which man can touch, except he do it “ in the sweat of his brow.” Bring to the text not only faith in God’ s promise, but strong hands and swift feet to do according to God’ s commandment. We are now ready to follow on into the figure we have borrowed, and show how frequently God blesses His people, as He provides for the workers or the owners of mineral quarries, fetching “ treasures” out of “ darkness,” and “ hidden riches” out of “ secret places.” I. St. Paul represents THE FAITH as a secret which is now for the first time discovered and made known, and the implication of the apostle, whenever he employs the term, is that the great blessing which prophecies and types had contained, but, containing, had concealed, was now in Christ Jesus brought out as into open daylight for all men to behold and possess. It has never been questioned that this truth was the real meaning of the rending of the veil in the Temple at the moment of our Lord’ s giving up of the ghost. For three hours there had been suspended over Mount Calvary a thick curtain of darkness; but at the ninth hour that veil, like the other close by, was “ rent” also “ in twain, from the top to the bottom.” I find in that darkness the awful symbol of the misery, and the ignorance, and the confusion whereof the world itself had been the victim all through the ages preceding the Advent. But the very same fact which tore down the rich drapery in the building dispelled the dense blackness on the mountain, and declared the very same doctrine that “ Christ Jesus was the Saviour of all men, and specially of them that believe.” Learn to ascribe your redemption to the clouds of-misery behind which your Surety laid down His life. II. Somewhat in this way it would not, perhaps, be extravagant to represent any one of ourselves, at the crisis of his , as looking towards the Saviour much as one of those spectators literally did when the darkness was beginning to clear off from the crucifixion. When the veil is rent, and the power of faith scatters the clouds, and the soul peering through catches the first glimpse of a Saviour, the rapture of being forgiven has, so to speak, been quarried and hewn out of the black deep pit of conviction and remorse. III. It will be far less difficult to show that all along the journey of the Christian he digs his BEST AND MERCIES out of thick, and often terrible, gloom. I find some of you shut up in the deep pit of constant bodily pain, or infirmity. I find others of you wandering through the pitch dark avenues of a recent family funeral. There is a time for the digging of the gold. That is yours now. And there is a time for the burnishing and the chasing, and the putting on of the gold. That is not yet come. There is a place, says Solomon, for the sapphires in the stones of the earth; but the men who take the sapphires first out of the stones need all their skill and practice to tell which is which, and you would not thank the miner for the jewellery just left as he gets it. You must allow a fair time for the lapidary or the goldsmith to take up the business where the rough black denizens of the pit leave off--and “ no affliction for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them who are exercised thereby.” (H. Christopherson.)Treasures of darkness As Cyrus, as a deliverer, was but a type of the Messiah, this promise has been, and is being, fulfilled in Christ in His great triumph over the powers of darkness. These words present a special phase of His triumphs. The preceding words have already found striking fulfilment, “ I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight,” &c. But to Christ God has also given the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places. I. In one sense, THIS IS TYPICAL OF ALL GOD’ S . Those things which men discover to-day are treasures which have been in darkness for countless generations, jewels which have been concealed in hidden places during millenniums. II. This is supremely true of THE ADVENT AND WORK OF CHRIST. Look at the manner of His coming. See the poverty which surrounded His birth. Look at the nature of His life--“ Without a place to lay His head” ; “ a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” He was, more-over, “ obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” There is nothing very bright in that record. When Christ, in the hour of utter loneliness, uttered that piercing cry, “ My God! My God! why hast Thou forsaken Me?” and darkness covered earth and heaven, then out of that dense gloom He who in the beginning made light to shine out of darkness, made the most glorious light to shine; so that from the Cross to-day there streams the greatest revelation with which God has ever enriched our race. Again, how graciously true this is of Christ’ s redemptive work in view of the spiritual darkness of the world which He came to save! What a revelation of the world’ s night we find in the advent of our Lord. Until then men knew not how dark this world was. These words only gain their full significance in the story of Christ’ s redemption When He came the world was hopeless and undone. It had exhausted its energies in its numberless attempts to save and ennoble itself, and down deep in recesses of darkness and iniquity were buried the brightest talents with which humanity had been enriched--so many glorious impulses and high capacities prostituted to the vilest uses, or paralysed in the dark and made utterly useless. Oh, the countless lost pieces of silver, and the priceless jewels which He has rescued since then from hopeless degradation and sin! III. This is gloriously true in THE OF THOSE WHO ACCEPT CHRIST AS THEIR SAVIOUR. 1. Was not the first hour of our spiritual enlightenment and enrichment a fulfilment of the same Divine promise? 2. Then, again, you have had your doubts and fears. They were terrible to bear at the time; yet out of them you were at length permitted to snatch a new wealth of assurance and joy. 3. This is true also, in the life of every one who has accepted Christ, of that other experience which darkens our vision, namely, that of sorrow in its many and varied forms. It is in darkness, too, that we learn trustfulness and faith. (D. Davies.)Treasures of darkness We cannot hear of the “ treasures of darkness” without finding our interest quickened. We seem suddenly made aware of treasures we had never dreamed of; and aware, too, that what we had deemed empty, and even repellent, may be made to yield up most surprising wealth, not that merely of a temporal, perishable kind, such as some would call “ treasures,” but what the wisest and most spiritual men would call such, under the blessed teaching of the Master (Matthew 6:19). 1. It ought not to be difficult for us to believe that there are spiritual treasures that we have never even got a glimpse of yet. Christ spoke of treasure “ hid in a field.” That surely must have been among the treasures of darkness. And the Apostle Paul, long after, spoke of the “ unsearchable riches of Christ.” What he had himself freely taken from this store made him feel himself rich indeed; so rich, that he had not the least inclination for anything that the world could give. One of the saddest and most mournful of all things for us would be to settle down contentedly with the notion that God had no treasures to bestow but what we see all about us with the utterly inexperienced eye! To think the common experience of life, to think our own experience, the limit of all things, would be to make life a very poor thing indeed. 2. God must have infinite treasures and pleasures which He does not want to keep in darkness unused. That ought to be an axiom with us. If we should never dream of speaking of ourselves as spiritually rich, it cannot be because either God has nothing better to bestow, or that He grudges to bestow it. 3. We seem to believe readily enough that the future may reveal to us glories that we cannot forecast. But why be content to postpone to a future state the higher degrees of true blessedness? Why not possess some of the treasures now? 4. The phrase suggests to us that what we deem empty, void, and even repellent as darkness, may contain things unspeakably precious. We speak of the “ night of sorrow.” But it only requires a very moderate faith in God to believe that He is too good and kind ever to let a single sensitive being pass through such trials as are the lot of not a few, unless it were that only so can they be prepared for, and put in possession of, choicer good. But there is a darkness far blacker than the night of affliction and sorrow. It is this awful gloom, this darkness that may be felt, which we all feel at times to involve the moral world. This is a world of tremendous mystery to the morally sensitive soul. Let a man ever come to see that a world which he cannot but feel to be evil to the core, is nevertheless the very best possible school for man in the early stage of his training for immortality; that this discipline of evil is absolutely essential for a while; that he would clearly be a poorer creature without it; that it is the conflict with evil which brings out some of the most precious qualities of the soul; that without evil, good itself could not be known; that God Himself could not be so gloriously revealed to the heart as He is through the occasion that every man’ s sin affords; that the greatest proof that God is Love must have been for ever wanting, had He, by restraint and force, mechanically prevented the entrance of evil into the universe. Only let one--this one--little ray of light fall upon the darkness, and you will feel how priceless are the treasures of darkness! 5. But the darkness can be made to yield up treasures only to those who will listen for the voice Divine. To the upright there will arise light in darkness. It is only the children of light who can go into the darkness, and from it fetch out the hid treasures. “ God is light: in Him is no darkness at all.” Christ is the Light of the World: whoso walketh with Him shall have the Light of Life. (H. H. Dobney.)Did Cyrus acknowledge Jehovah? The prophet apparently expects that Cyrus will come to acknowledge Jehovah as the true God and the author of his success. Whether this hope was actually realised is more than ever doubtful since the discovery of cuneiform inscriptions, in which Cyrus uses the language of crude polytheism. (Records of the Past.) Isaiah 45:4-5 For Jacob My servant’ s sake Great men the servants of God It appears from this prediction, taken in connection with its wonderful accomplishment, that God justly claims a sovereign right to make great men the instruments of executing His wise and benevolent designs. God claims a supreme right to the services of great men, in almost every page of His Word. How often do we hear Him saying of this, of that, and of the other great character, He is My servant! How often do we meet with this sovereign language, My servant Moses; My servant Job; My servant Jacob; My servant Israel; My servant Isaiah; My servant Nebuchadnezzar! But He more fully displays this prerogative by publishing to the world what great men shall do, before they are brought into being. He claimed the services of Solomon, the wisest of men, and appointed the business of his life, before he was born (1 Chronicles 22:9-10). In the prediction concerning Nebuchadnezzar, God claimed a sovereign right to employ him as the minister of His vengeance, in punishing the people of His wrath. He asserted His absolute Divinity and sovereignty, in His prophetic address to Cyrus. And He displayed the same sovereign right to the powers and influence of great men, in His predictions of Alexander the Great, of Augustus Caesar, of John the Baptist, of Constantine the Great, of Mohammed, and of the Man of Sin. 1. He gives men their superior natural capacity for doing good. 2. He presides over their education, and gives them the means of improving their superior talents, and forming themselves for eminent usefulness. 3. God gives them the disposition, which they at any time have, to employ their superior abilities in promoting the happiness of mankind. 4. God gives great men the opportunity of employing all their power and influence in executing His wise and benevolent designs. 5. It is God who succeeds their exertions for the benefit of the world. (N. Emmons, D. D.) Isaiah 45:5I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me Cyrus girded by God The contrast to “ loose the loins of kings” (Isaiah 45:1). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The girdings of Jehovah I. GOD’ S PLAN, AS IT AFFECTS SOCIETY. 1. It is comprehensive, sweeping from age to age, threading millenniums, building its structure from the dust of earth’ s earliest age to the emergence of the new heavens and earth at the close of time. But it is minute and particular. 2. He works through individuals. The story of man is for the most part told in the biographies of men. It is through human instruments that God executes His beneficent purposes, His righteous judgments. Through Columbus, He draws aside the veil from the coast-line of America. Through a Watt and a Stephenson, He endows men with the co-operation of steam; through a Galvani and an Edison, with the ministry of electricity. Through a De Lesseps, He unites the waters of the eastern and western seas, and brings the Orient and Occident together. Through a Napoleon He shatters the temporal power of the Pope; and by a Wilberforce strikes the fetters from the slave. Men do not know the purpose of God in what they are doing. 3. God’ s use of men does not interfere with their free action. This is clearly taught in more than one significant passage in Scripture--Joseph’ s brethren. Herod, Pilate, and the religious leaders of the Jews, were swept before a cyclone of passion and jealousy; and it was with wicked hands that they crucified and slew the Lord of glory: but they were accomplishing the determinate counsel of God. II. GOD’ S PLAN, AS IT AFFECTS . We are all conscious of an element in life that we cannot account for. Other men have started life under better auspices, and with larger advantages than we, but somehow they have dropped behind in the race, and are nowhere to be seen. Our health has never been robust, but we have had more working days in our lives than those who were the athletes of our school. We have been in perpetual peril, travelling incessantly, and never involved in a single accident; whilst others were shattered in their first journey from their doorstep. Why have we escaped, where so many have fallen? Why have we climbed to positions of usefulness and influence, which so many more capable ones have missed? Why has our reputation been maintained, when better men than ourselves have lest their footing and fallen beyond recovery? There is not one of us who cannot see points in the past where we had almost gone, and our footsteps had well-nigh slipped: precipices along the brink of which we went at nightfall, horrified in the morning to see how near our footprints had been to the edge. Repeatedly we have been within a hair-breadth of taking some fatal step. How strangely we were plucked out of that companionship! How marvellonsly we were saved from that marriage, from that investment, from embarking in that ship, travelling by that train, taking shares in that company! It is God who has girded us, though we did not know Him. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)The girding of the Almighty Christ Himself testifies to the girding of the Almighty when He says, “ To this end was I born, and for this purpose came I into the world.” Abraham was girded for a particular work and mission, in what is otherwise denominated his call. Joseph, in Egypt, distinguishes the girding of God’ s hand, when he comforts his guilty brothers in the assurance, “ So it was not you that sent me hither, but God.” Moses and Samuel were even called by name, and set to their great life-work in the same manner. And what is Paul endeavouring in all the stress and pressure of his mighty apostle-ship, but to perform the work for which God’ s Spirit girded him at his call, and to apprehend that for which he was apprehended of Christ Jesus? (H. Bushnell, D. D.)Every man’ s life a plan of God God has a definite life-plan for every human person, girding him, visibly or invisibly, for some exact thing, which it will be the true significance and glory of his life to have accomplished. 1. The Holy Scriptures not only show us explicitly that God has a definite purpose in the lives of men already great, but they show us how frequently, in the conditions of obscurity and depression, preparations of counsel are going on, by which the commonest offices are to become the necessary first chapter of a great and powerful history. David among the sheep; Elisha following after the plough; Nehemiah bearing the cup; Hannah, who can say nothing less common than that she is the wife of Elkanah and a woman of a sorrowful spirit,--who, that looks on these humble people, at their humble post of service, and discovers, at last, how dear a purpose God was cherishing in them, can be justified in thinking that God has no particular plan for him, because he is not signalised by any kind of distinction? 2. Besides, what do the Scriptures show us, but that God has a particular care for every man, a personal interest in him, and a sympathy with him and his trials, watching for the uses of his one talent as attentively and kindly, and approving him as heartily, in the right employment of it, as if He had given him ten; and what is the giving out of the talents itself, but an exhibition of the fact that God has a definite purpose, charge, and work for every man? 3. They also make it the privilege of every man to live in the secret guidance of God; which is plainly nugatory, unless there is some chosen work, or sphere, into which he may be guided. 4. God also professes in His Word to have purposes prearranged for all events; to govern by a plan which is from eternity even, and which, in some proper sense, comprehends everything. And what is this but another way of conceiving that God has a definite place and plan adjusted for every human being? 5. Turning now from the Scriptures to the works of God, how constantly are we met here by the fact, everywhere visible, that ends and uses are the regulative reasons of all existing things? 6. But there is a single but very important and even fearful qualification. Things all serve their uses, and never break out of their place. They have no power to do it. Not so with us. We are able, as free beings, to refuse the place and the duties God appoints; which, if we do, then we sink into something lower and less worthy of us. That highest and best condition for which God designed us is no more possible. And yet, as that was the best thing possible for us in the reach of God’ s original counsel, so there is a place designed for us now, which is the next best possible. God calls us now to the best thing left, and will do so till all good possibility is narrowed down and spent. And then, when He cannot use us any more for our own good, He will use us for the good of others--an example of the misery and horrible desperation to which any soul must come, when all the good ends, and all the holy callings of God’ s friendly and fatherly purpose are exhausted. Or it may be now that, remitting all other plans and purposes in our behalf, He will henceforth use us, wholly against our will, to be the demonstration of His justice and avenging power before the eyes of mankind; saying over us, as He did over Pharaoh in the day of His judgments, “ Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show My power in thee, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth.” (H. Bushnell, D. D.)Finding God’ s life-plan But the inquiry will be made, supposing all this to be true, how can we ever get hold of this life-plan God has made for us, or find our way into it? 1. Observe some negatives that are important, and must be avoided. (1) You will never come into God’ s plan if you study singularity; for if God has a design or plan for every man’ s life, then it is exactly appropriate to his nature; and, as every man’ s nature is singular and peculiar to himself,--as peculiar as his face or look,-then it follows that God will lead everyman into a singular, and peculiar life, without any study of singularity on his part. (2) As little will he seek to copy the life of another. No man is ever called to be another. (3) In this view, also, you are never to complain of your birth, your training, your employments, your hardships; never to fancy that you could be something if only you had a different lot and sphere assigned you. God understands His own plan, and He knows what you want, a great deal better than you do. (4) Another mistake is that, while you surrender and renounce all thought of making up a plan, or choosing out a plan, for yourself, as one that you set by your own will, you also give up the hope or expectation that God will set you in any scheme of life, where the whole course of it will be known, or set down beforehand. If you go to Him to be guided, He will guide you; but He will not comfort your distrust, or half-trust of Him, by showing you the chart of all His purposes concerning you. He will only show you into a way where, if you go cheerfully and trustfully forward, He will show you on still further. 2. But we must not stop in negatives. How, then, or by what more positive directions can a man, who really desires to do it, come into the plan God lays for him, so as to live it and rationally believe that he does? (1) Consider the character of God, and you will draw a large deduction from that; for all that God designs for you will be in harmony with His character. He is a being infinitely good, just, true. Therefore, you are to know that He cannot really seek anything contrary to this in you. (2) Consider your relation to Him as a creature. All created wills have their natural centre and rest in God’ s will. (3) You have a conscience, which is given to be an interpreter of His will, and thus of your duty, and, in both, of what you are to become. (4) God’ s law and His written Word are guides to present duty, which, if faithfully accepted, will help to set you in accordance with the mind of God and the plan He has laid for you. “ I am a stranger in the earth,” said one; “ hide not Thy commandments from me” ; knowing that God’ s commandments would give him a clue to the true meaning and business of his life. (5) Be an observer of providence. Study your trials, your talents, the world’ s wants, and stand ready to serve God now, in whatever He brings to your hand. (6) Consult your friends, and especially those who are most in the teaching of God. (7) Go to God Himself, and ask for the calling of God; for, as certainly as He has a plan for you, He will somehow guide you into it. This is the proper work of His Spirit. Young man, or woman! this is the day of hope to you. All your best opportunities are still before you. And what shall I say to the older man, who is further on in his course and is still without God in the world? The best end, the next best, and the next are gone, and nothing but the dregs of opportunity are left. And still Christ calls even you. There is a place still left for you; not the best and brightest, but a humble and good one. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)Cyrus directed, equipped, and prospered by God, though not one of God’ s enlightened worshippers Idolatry in its grosser forms was unknown in Persia. The religion of Persia recognised one God, beneficent in character and work and purpose, revealed under the symbol of light. This one God, however, was not clothed with infinite attributes. His dominion was limited by the existence and activity of a rival spirit of evil, equally great and unbegotten with Himself. It was in this imperfect faith that the great and noble Cyrus was trained. Till after his contact with the Jews, he did not know God in His essential nature as spirit without symbol, supreme in His sovereignty, and infinite in the attributes that clothed Him. And yet in his temper there was a ready answerableness to the unseen touch of God’ s hand, an unconscious obedience to sacred purposes he but dimly discerned, and a providential sanctification for the fulfilment of God’ s counsels, in spite of his imperfect conceptions of God. (T. G. Selby.)Irresponsible ignorance Ignorance that is inseparable from the circumstances in which men are cradled, ignorance that is entirely involuntary, does not disqualify men from being the instruments of God’ s will, and receiving some of the most lustrous honours dispensed by His hand. (T. G. Selby.)The worth of our several ministries The worth of our several ministries cannot always be tested by the degree of knowledge that informs them. Some men, like the bees, do much of their work in the sunshine. They fulfil the tasks of life in the light of a clear illumination. For them the knowledge of God always precedes a vocation from God. There are men also who are like the coral insect, which works a fathom or two below the surface of the sea, and dies when the reef upon which it has laboured is just beginning to tower into the sunlight. (T. G.Selby.)The characteristic distinction between inspiration and providential equipment Providential equipment consists in being girded by a God who may be more or less unknown. Inspiration implies that God’ s chosen agent has all his faculties filled with God’ s presence as He girds. (T. G.Selby, D. D.)The providence of the unknown I. Is it not A AND A THOUGHT, that the providential equipment, vocation, and sovereignty in a man’ s life should transcend his knowledge of God and God’ s purpose? 1. God may sometimes use a man who seems half a heathen, to remind His people that His providential sovereignty is larger than all finite thought. In the early days of the British rule in India, the old Mogul at Delhi, and the mediatised native sovereigns in other cities, were allowed independent rights within their own palace precincts. The British rule did not intrude there. Now and again half-clad slave girls and palace dependents, in terror for their lives, and wretches waled and trembling with recent chastisements, would escape the palace precincts and seek protection under the humane governments that had been planted in the surrounding cities. These spacious palaces were like little islands of the old despotisms, cruelties, and oppresssions bristling above the tide of constitutional right and privilege and liberty that was rising far and near. In God’ s empire there are no spots of organised diabolism of that sort, that are separated from the control, direction, and over-rule of providential law. Alas! it is only too easy to find signs of individual and collective resistance to God’ s law; but there are no indrawn spheres or reservations, dominated by pagan ignorance, from which His power, sovereignty, and prerogative are shut out. He rules where He is not worshipped, directs where He is not recognised, girds where He is not known. 2. In going beyond the circle of the elect nations to choose an instrument for the fulfilment of His counsels, God seems to remind us that the motive of His providential activity is altogether Divine. He uses the imperfectly taught Gentile, and puts upon him honour that might seem to belong to the Jew, to illustrate the sovereignty of His grace. 3. Partial ignorance of God may be an appointed condition for the test and development of faith. It is not only the virtuous heathen who is girded by an unrecognised Hand and made the agent in providential plans and purposes he cannot fathom. The distinction between Isaiah and Cyrus, between Cyrus and ourselves, is one of degree. On its intellectual side, at least, our religious knowledge is still imperfect, fragmentary, hesitating. God suffers it to be so, possibly that we may be the better disciplined in that humility which is the basis of faith. I have sometimes thought that so long as heathen darkness does not involve a gross and demoralising misrepresentation of God, but only a partial privation of knowledge, it offers the occasion for the exercise of a higher faith than that which is possible amidst the breaking twilights of Christian knowledge. The devout and pure-minded pagan, like Cyrus, who trusts his moral instincts without any adequate knowledge of their Divine origin, who with touching fidelity follows an unsyllabled vocation from heavens that have not yet opened themselves in revelation and definite testimony, who accepts an equipment from a Hand that has touched and guided him out of the darkness, is perhaps a more splendid example of faith than the man who manifests the same trust and loyalty and obedience in the midst of clearer intellectual conceptions of God. The puzzle of the long pagan centuries is not so painful and oppressive if we look at it from this standpoint. II. OF THIS GIRDING BY AN UNKNOWN GOD will readily occur to us that seem to conform to the type represented by Cyrus. 1. If we think of the men, the tradition of whose teaching and example is intertwined with all that is highest and best in the life of the nations outside the range of Christendom, we shall see that these men have been girded for their moral conquests and guided to their ascendencies over their fellow-men by the same unrecognised Hand that guided and girded this elect Persian. It is, perhaps, impossible to recall the name of a great and permanently honoured teacher in the past history of India, China, Persia, Egypt, Greece or Rome, whose influence rested upon an immoral doctrine or a contradiction of conscience. There must have been such leaders in the insignificant races that relapsed into cannibalism, scalp-hunting, and animal debasement. But no such names appear in the histories of the great civilised empires. 2. We must not judge the issues of the social and political movements of the present and past times by the measure of Divine knowledge they exhibit. Some of these movements, however little they seem to recognise God, are empowered by His mysterious hand, and minister to the accomplishment of His secret purpose. The dark despotisms enthroned over the ancient world annealed men into stable communities. And there are doubtless providential issues of the highest value in the democratic movements that are agitating Europe to-day, however reluctant those movements may be to recognise God. 3. Does not the fact that the theology of the modern scientist is sometimes very dim and defective tempt us to deny the Divine authority of his vocation and to discredit the providential issue in the special work he is called to do? Some of the schools of research and experiment and invention to which we are most deeply indebted are indifferent and even hostile to the claims of religion. And yet God calls the man of science to his work, vouchsafes the needful equipment for success, and guides all the far-off issues to which that work may tend. 4. And all this is true for ourselves. The knowledge possessed by those of us who know God best is, after all, infinitesimal in amount and degree. It is nothing in comparison with what remains to be known. It seems we can scarcely be the true servants of God and doing Divine work unless we have broader and brighter and more penetrating views of God’ s nature. We are crushed by the inevitable secularisms of our life, and cannot believe that we are breathing the sacred atmosphere that encircles God’ s priests and kings. It seems, at times, as though God, and providence, and supernatural vocation, and the high sanctions under which we seek to bring ourselves, were dreams. We are haunted by the thought that there is some subtle curse of ineradicable atheism cleaving to our inmost souls. In spite of the limit in our vision and the miserable failure in the spirit of our service, He is guiding us to beneficent conquests, and strengthening us to achieve holy emancipations, and fitting us for eternal honours. He was making us ready for service of some sort, when we knew far less about Him than we know to-day. And it is so still. And even after God seems to have been revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ, how often do we find God becoming a hidden and an unknown God to us in His providential relations! At times it may seem rather as though some malignant demon were presiding over our lives, or at least sharing the sovereignty. But beyond the widest bound of our faith and knowledge there is providential guiding and girding and victory. And these words seem to suggest solemn comfort to us in view of the final conflict to which we shall all one day be brought. We shall enter the world to come as conquerors girded for our triumph by an unseen Hand. God’ s elect servants sometimes die in circumstances that make thoughts of God impossible. Perhaps they are snatched away by unexpected accident. They leave life in a struggle that petrifies thought and feeling. In that solemn hour of darkness and humiliation and mental inaptitude, God, unknown and unrecognised, girds for the victory still. Let us not forget that, though the girding is often in darkness, the motive of this girding in shadows is the inbringing of the perfect life. (T. G. Selby.)The light of God’ s love seen in pagan darkness It is when the sun is in eclipse that the astronomer is able to see the fountains of glowing hydrogen that rise out of the inner substance of the sun and project their splendour for thousands and tens of thousands of miles beyond its surface. The strange and superb spectacle is visible only on the margin that lies between the incandescent body and the sphere of less luminous space that surrounds it. And so there are sublime illustrations of God’ s providential love and care that can be most nobly seen in contrast with pagan darkness. (T. G.Selby.)Pagan teachers enlightened by God Confucius was the instrument for keeping alive in China a morality that was almost as pure as the morality of the decalogue. He stamped out all traces of Moloch worship. He can be quoted with commanding effect against many of the cruelties and superstitions of the present day. Gautama Buddha taught a morality equally pure, and so emphasised the demerit of sin as to make his teaching the best available basis that can be found for the evangelical doctrine of the atonement. The well-considered and dispassionate and reverent scepticism of Socrates acted as a solvent of Greek superstition, and prepared the way for the thoughtful Christianity of Alexandria. Mohammed gave form and force to a system which, in spite of its excesses and fanaticisms, has been a useful protest against idolatry, and has gathered together into a simple civilisation and worship tribes that would otherwise have been incurably degraded by fetich worship. Now, are we to suppose that it was without any supreme direction or control that these famous teachers conspired together to support these high theories of life and conduct? They were not prophets, because they had not the light which brought into view the mysterious Person who guided, equipped, and succoured them. But they were providential instruments, instruments that in spite of their defective discernments were plastic to God’ s controlling purpose. (T. G. Selby.)God’ s beneficent agency in the lives of those who ignore Him “ Man cannot exclude Me from his little universe; even though he deny My existence and denounce My claim I am still there. I water the garden of the atheist, and bring his flowers to summer bloom and his fruits to autumnal glory. Men deny Me, curse Me, flee from Me I am still round about them, and their life is more precious to Me than is their blasphemy detestable, and until the very last I will work for them and with them, and if they go to perdition it shall be through the very centre of, My heart’ s tenderest grace.” “ I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me.” (J. Parker, D. D.) A God-girded life Who is that boy sitting on the steps there? He has a hat on that was made for any head but his own; and his coat, who made it? His mother, very likely--rough spun, not too well fitting. What is he waiting for? To get the job of sweeping the steps he sits on? Perhaps. Years pass by, and a portly man comes down those steps. Broad his face, a great round shining blessing, kindness in his eye, power in the uplifting of his hand. Who is he? That is the boy, grown now fully, physically, intellectually and socially. The boy and the man are both Horace Greeley, an editorial prince, a man whose writings no one among his countrymen can afford to decline to read. “ I girded thee, I brought thee to those steps, I set thee down upon them, I appointed an angel to watch thee all the time: it was My way of nursing and caring for thee, and training thee.” He bringeth the blind by a way that they know not. (J. Parker, D. D.)God in national life Nations are not cards, with which politicians play at gambling: they may think they do, they may seem to do so, but the Lord reigneth. (J. Parker, D. D.)The unknown influence of God Cyrus is now proved to have been a polytheist. Yet even he was girded by the unknown God of heaven and earth. Let us consider this unknown influence of God. I. IT SPRINGS FROM THE POWER OF GOD. God is not merely a passive object of worship. He exerts active influence. He did not only work in the past in creating the world. He is a living, active God now. Jesus said, “ My Father worketh hitherto.” Perhaps the poorest definition of God ever framed is that of “ A power, not ourselves, that makes for righteousness.” Still, even this meagre description of Divinity recognises the fact of an active Divine influence is not limited by our confession of it, nor by our willingness to submit to it. It inspired the eye of the Greek artist and the tongue of the Greek orator as truly as those of a Christian Chrysostom and Fra Angelico. II. IT IS BY THE OF GOD. We circumscribe this goodness to a pale of grace and a day of grace; but it overflows our boundaries and breaks out, free as the air and broad as the sunlight. God does not wait to be called. He is the first to awaken His slumbering children. God thinks of the heathen, and gives strength to those who know Him not. Then no doubt if a Chinese Mandarin pronounces a just sentence, or a Hindu Pundit utters a true thought, or an African chief vindicates the rights of an oppressed tribe, the goodness of these heathen men is an outcome of God’ s goodness to them. Let us take heart: there is more grace in the world than we know of. III. IT AIMS AT THE OF THE WILL OF GOD. Cyrus is called God’ s shepherd (Isaiah 44:28). So even Nebuchadnezzar, a man of a very different character, is called by God “ My servant” (Jeremiah 43:10). 1. Some serve God when they think to oppose Him. As the gale that seems to be tearing the ship to pieces may be driving her the faster to her haven, so Satan, in Job, aiming at opposition to the right, occasioned the most glorious vindication of it. Persecutors often help the cause they hate. 2. Many, like Cyrus, serve God unconsciously. As the corn ministers to our sustenance unwittingly, and as science reveals the glory of God, even when the naturalists who pursue it are agnostics. Lessons-- (1) The unknown influence of God should lead to our knowing God. We have not to search the heavens for the unseen God. He is nigh us. Our own experience and the blessings of our own life should open our eyes to the goodness of God. (2) This influence, once recognised, should lead us to trust God. If God girded Cyrus the heathen, will He not gird Israel His people? (3) This influence should warn us against neglecting the recognition of God. We cannot escape from God. To do so would be our own undoing. But the hand which girds can ungird! (4) This influence should prompt us to greater zeal in mission work. For God claims the heathen by His present influence on them. He has begun the work and will help His servants in it. It is sad that millions should be left in ignorance of the hand that girds them. (W. F. Adeney, M. A.) Isaiah 45:6-13I am the Lord, and there is none else The beneficent sovereignty of God The key-thought to all the intricacies of the whole of this passage is that God is the absolute Author of all that exists and the infinite Supreme Ruler of all events; and the implied, though not expressed inference from this claim is, that He is to be absolutely trusted in the matter and manner of Israel’ s redemption from Babylon. In the 7 th verse, the attitude which the prophet makes the Almighty assume is most absolute. Why summon Cyrus, a heathen prince? Why not one of their own nation, a prince of their own people? The answer to this implied objection is contained in Isaiah 45:9-11. “ Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker,” &c. Will Israel be more wise than God who made him and the world and rules them in His own manner? The question in the 11 th verse means, “ Will ye take the disposition of things out of My hands, and direct Me how I am to deal with My own chosen people?” The 12 th and 13 th verses are intended to cairn the anxieties of the exiles in reference to Cyrus. He who created all things had also raised up Cyrus, whose victorious career had awakened the fears of the exiles; but Jehovah had in righteousness summoned him to the work, and this was to be the guarantee that Cyrus would build up Jerusalem again, and set the captives free, and that without redemption of money. This whole passage may have its drift and meaning summed up in a single sentence. It is an appeal of God to His people to leave the whole management of their redemption in His hands, and to let His power, wisdom, and righteousness reassure their minds under any difficulties or fears that may trouble them. (C. Short, M. A.) Isaiah 45:7I form the light, and create darkness Evil in the Old Testament There is no thought in the Old Testament of reducing all evil, moral and physical, to a single principle. Moral evil proceeds from the will of man, physical evil from the will of God, who sends it as the punishment of sin. The expression “ create evil” implies nothing more than that. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Evil and God Certainly evil as an act is not God’ s immediate work, but the possibility of evil is, its self-punishment, and therefore the sense of guilt and the evil of punishment in the broadest sense. (F. Delitszch, D. D.)God’ s relation to evil Soften it down as we will, it is a tremendous claim, a claim which plunges our thoughts into impenetrable mysteries, and suggests problems we cannot solve. And yet, it must also be admitted, that it meets and satisfies the cravings both of intellect and heart as no easier, no dualistic, theory does or can do. The universe is so obviously one that the intellect demands unity, and will be satisfied with nothing short of one Sovereign Lord, one Supreme Governor of the universe. And how can our hearts be at rest until we know and are sure that God rules over the kingdom of darkness as well as in the kingdom of light; that the evils which befall us are under His control no less than the blessings which enrich and gladden us; that wherever we wander, and through whatever sorrowful changes we pass, we are never for a single moment out of His hand? These mysteries will never become credible to us except as the mysteries of Energy, Life, Thought become credible to us, by patient and steadfast mental toil. On these terms, though on no other, the mystery here announced by Isaiah--that darkness as well as light, evil as well as good, are under the control of God, and must therefore be consistent both with His power and His goodness--will, I believe, become credible to us. And in considering this question it will be well for us to determine, first of all, what, and how much, of the evil that exists we ourselves can honestly attribute immediately to God our Maker. 1. For, obviously, much of the evil within and around us is of our own making. 2. Much has also been of our neighbours’ making We inherited, with much that was good, some evil bias from our fathers. We have often had to breathe an atmosphere charged with moral infections which sprang from the corrupt habits of the world around us. Our education was not good, or was not wholly good and wise. We have had to live and trade, to work and play, with men whose influence on us, if often beneficial, has also been often injurious. The laws, maxims, customs of the little world in which we have moved have done much to blunt and lower our moral tone, to encourage us in self-seeking or self-indulgence, to countenance us in yielding to our baser passions and desires. As we look back and think of all that we have lost and suffered, it is probable that we attribute far more of the evils which have fallen on us to men than to God. 3. Much that seems evil to us is not really evil, or is not necessarily evil, or is not altogether evil. Cyrus and his Persians had such evils as noxious plants and animals, excessive heat and cold, famine, drought, earthquake, storms, disease, and sudden death in their minds mainly when they spoke of the works of Ahriman, the eternal and malignant antagonist of God. But, as we know, these apparent ills are not necessarily ills at all, or they are the products of causes which work for good on the whole, or they carry with them compensations so large that the world would be the poorer for their loss. To take but a few illustrations. The storms, that wreck a few ships and destroy a few lives, clear and revivify the air of a whole continent, and carry new health to the millions in populous cities pent. The constant struggle for existence among plants and animals is a necessary condition of the evolution of their higher and more perfect species. To variations of heat and cold, and even to excessive variations, we owe the immense variety of the climates and conditions under which we live; and to these variations of climate the immense variety and abundance of the harvests by which the world is fed. Is adversity an evil? It is to the struggle with adversity that we owe many of out” highest virtues. And as we are driven to toil by the sting of want, and trained to courage by the assaults of adversity, so also we are moved to thought by the perplexities of life, and to trust and patience by its sorrows and losses and cares. We should not realise how much of good there is in our lives if the current of our days were never vexed by ill winds. (S. Cox, D. D.)Evil: its origin, junction, and end There is a hypothesis, a theory of the origin, and function, and end of evil suggested by Scripture which seems an eminently reasonable one; a theory which confirms the claim of God to be the Creator and Lord of evil, and disposes of that dualistic hypothesis which recognises two rival and opposed Powers at work in the world around us and in the mind of man. 1. When we contemplate the universe of which we form part, the first impression made on us is of its immense variety; but, as we continue to study it, the final and deepest impression it makes upon us is that, under this immense and beautiful variety, there lies an an-pervading unity. As it is with us, so it has been with the race at large. At first men were so profoundly impressed by the variety of the universe that they split it up into endless provinces, assigned to each its ruling spirit, and worshipped gods of heaven and of earth, gods of mountains and plains, of sea and land, of air and water, of rivers and springs, of fields and woods, trees and flowers, of hearth and home, of the individual, the clan, the nation, the empire. Yet even then there hung in the dark background of their thoughts some conviction of the underlying unity of the universe, as was proved by their conception of an inscrutable Destiny or Fate, to which gods and men were alike subject, and by which all the ages of time were controlled. This conviction grew and deepened as the world went spinning down the grooves of change, until now Science herself admits that, by a thousand different paths of investigation and thought, it is led to the conclusion that, if there be a God at all, there can be but one God; that, if the universe had a Maker, it could have had but one Maker; that if human life is under rule, there can be but one ruler over all. There may be one God,--that to Science is still an open question; but there cannot be more than one,--that question is closed, and Science herself stands to guard the way to it as with a sword in her hand. But if there be only one Supreme Lord, there cannot, of course, be any rival Power to His, any Power that introduces alien forces or works by other laws. There may be subordinate powers; and at times these may seem to oppose Him, to contend against Him. But one Power or Will is supreme; for, as the very word itself suggests, the universe is an unity,--a vast complex of many forces perhaps and many laws, but still a single and organised whole. In reverting to the Persian hypothesis of two antagonistic Powers, therefore, Mill sinned against the most settled conclusion of modern thought. Now, if we either believe in one supreme Creator and Lord, or, following Mill’ s advice, lean to that conclusion as hard as we can, our next step is to conceive, as best we may, what this great first Cause, this creative and ruling Power, is like. Accordingly, we look around us to find that which is highest in the universe, sure that in that which is highest we shall find that which most resembles the Most High. And in the whole visible creation we find nothing so high as man, no force of so Divine a quality and temper as the will of man, when once that will is guided by wisdom and impelled by love. To him alone of all visible creatures is the strange power accorded of consciously and intentionally arresting or modifying the action of the great physical forces, of conquering Nature by obeying her, of changing her course by a skilfull application of her own laws. So that, even though the Bible did not assure us that man was made in the image of God, reason would compel us to conclude that, since the Creator of all things must include in Himself all the forces displayed in the work of His hands, and since we must see most of Him in the highest of His works, we must see most of Him in man, and in that which is highest in man,--namely, thought, will, affection. Reason has reached this conclusion in that ancient oracle: “ Would you know God? Look within.” 2. Now we are prepared to take our next step, and ask: How evil came to be? and how, if God is responsible for it, we can reconcile it both with His perfect goodness and His perfect power? (1) For the origin of evil we must go back to the creation of all things, and be content to use words which, though quite inadequate to the subject, may nevertheless convey true impressions of it. If the conception of God we have just framed be a true one, then there must have been a time when the Great Creative Spirit dwelt alone. And in that Divine solitude the question arose whether a creation, an universe, should be called into being, and of what kind it should be. Or, perhaps, we may rather say, that, just as the intelligent and creative spirit of man must work and act, so the creative Spirit of God urged Him to commence “ the works of His hands.” However we may conceive or phrase it, let us suppose the physical universe determined upon as the stage on which active intelligences were to play their part; and then ask yourselves what is implied in the very nature of active intelligent creatures such as we are, and whether anything less than such creatures could satisfy the Maker and Lord of all. Would you have God surround Himself with a merely inanimate world, or tenant that world with mere automata, mere puppets, with no will of their own, capable, indeed, of reflecting His own glory back on Him, but incapable of a voluntary affection, a spontaneous and unforced obedience? Why, even you yourselves cannot gain full scope for your powers until you are surrounded, or surround yourselves, with beings capable of loving you freely, and obeying you with a cheerful and unforced accord, beings whose wills are their own and who yet make them yours. How much less, then, can you imagine that God should be content with a purely mechanical obedience, with anything short of a voluntary obedience and affection? But if you admit so much as this, consider, next, what is implied in the very nature of creatures such as these. If free to think truly, must they not be free to think untruly? if free to love, must they not be free not to love? if free to obey, must they not be free to disobey? The very creation of beings in themselves good involves the tremendous risk of their becoming evil. Nay, if we consider the matter a little more closely we shall find that there was more to be confronted than the mere risk of the introduction of evil. To me it seems a dead certainty, a certainty which must have been foreseen and provided for in the eternal counsels of the Almighty, that in the lapse of ages, with a vast hierarchy of creatures possessed of freewill, some among them would assert and prove their freedom by disobedience. How else could man, for instance, assure himself that he was free, that his will was in very deed his own? Are we not impatient of any law even by which we are bound, or suspect that we are bound, however good the law may be in itself? Free creatures, again, creatures with intelligence, will, passion, are active creatures: and there is something, as all observers are agreed, in the very nature of activity which blunts and weakens our sense of inferiority, dependence, accountability. The Bible affirms that what reason might have anticipated actually took place. It tells us that both in heaven and on earth the creatures God had made did thus fall away from Him, doing their own will instead of His, taking their own course instead of the course marked out and hedged in for them by His pure and kindly laws. And it moreover asserts, in full accordance with the teachings of philosophy and science, that, by their disobedience to the laws of their being and happiness, they jarred themselves into a false and sinister relation to the material universe; that, by introducing moral evil into the creation, they exposed themselves to those physical ills from which we suffer to this day. It must be obvious to every reflective mind that if the whole physical universe was created by the Word of God, if it is animated by His Spirit and ruled by His will, then as many as disobey that high will must put themselves out of harmony with all that obey it, must find the very forces which once worked for them turned against them. They are at war with the will which pervades and controls the universe: how, then, can the universe be at peace with them? If, then, we now repeat the question: In what sense may we reverently attribute evil to God? in what sense can we concede His claim to be responsible for evil as well as for good? our reply must be that, in creating beings capable of loving and serving Him of their own choice, He created the possibility of evil, ran the risk of its existence, and even knew beforehand that it would certainly enter in and mar the work of His hands. (2) How, then, can we justify evil? how can we reconcile it at once with His perfect goodness and unbounded power? On our hypothesis we reconcile it with His power by the plain and obvious argument that even Omnipotence cannot at once create freewill and not create it; that, when once He has created it, even the Almighty cannot interfere with it without destroying it. But if we would reconcile the existence of evil with the goodness of God--and this is by far the more difficult achievement--we must take the whole theory of human life and destiny taught by the Bible, and not merely a part of it. As I read it, then, the Bible teaches what human reason had conjectured and hoped apart from the Bible,--that the lines of human life and destiny are to be produced beyond the grave, and wrought out to their final result in other worlds than this. (S. Cox, D. D.)God’ s love in relation to evil The Bible goes on to teach us that, in His pity, the great Father of our spirits came down to us His sinful children, virtually saying to us: “ I might much more reasonably attribute the evils from which you suffer to you than you to Me; for you owe them to your disobedience and self-will. But, see, I freely take them all on Myself. I claim to be responsible for them all. And since you cannot drive it away, I take away the sin of the world by a sacrifice so great and so far-reaching, by an atonement so potent, so Divine, that you can but apprehend it afar off, and must not hope to fathom its full virtue and extent. To brace you for your daily strife with evil, I foretell a final and complete victory over it; I promise you that in the end I will sweep the evil that harasses and afflicts you clean out of the universe it has marred and defiled. And, meantime, it shall have no power to hurt or harm you if you will but put your trust in Me. All that is painful in it, all the sting of it, I take on Myself. For you, if you will but meet it wisely and trustfully, it shall be nothing but a helpful discipline, a training in vigour, in holiness, in charity.” (S. Cox, D. D.)Pain and death co-existent with animal life There is the strongest indirect evidence, and not a little direct, that predacious animals have existed from a very early period in the world’ s history. The struggle for existence and the survival of the fittest mean the suffering and the extinction of the weaker. Read the great stone book of nature, that truth is sculptured deep in its pages in no illegible hieroglyphics. Pain and death, then, if evils, must have been present in the world from the date when organic life, or at any rate animal life, began. The inorganic world being as it is, pain seems to be correlative with sensation, and death is but the end of each individual paragraph in the history; and if this came by either injury or violence, we cannot believe it at any rate to have been altogether painless. Nay, we may go further, and assert that unless we suppose the laws of Nature to have been wholly different from those which now prevail, we cannot understand how organised beings could live without at any rate occasional sensations of discomfort; they must have felt extremes of heat and cold; they must have known hunger and thirst; and what are these but minor degrees of pain? Perfection through suffering is a more general law of nature than we commonly think. At the same time, I fully believe that to the majority of living creatures life brings far more pleasure than pain; indeed, I think there is much reason to suppose that the acuteness with which the latter is felt, and the duration of its memory, is proportional to its possible disciplinary effect. (T. G. Bonney, D. Sc. , LL. D.)Evil A vast moral gulf is fixed between what are popularly held to be evils, things which have no deleterious effect on the spirit life, and those which are called evils in revelation; the things which are fatal ultimately to the spirit life. (T. G. Bonney, D. Sc. , LL. D.)The real evils The sins and wickedness of the world are the real evils, and it is to these that the works of the spirit are opposed. But these--sensuality, lust, selfishness, cruelty, injustice, oppression--whence are they? what are they? St. Paul calls these the works of the flesh, and the more we ponder his words the more far-reaching we shall usually find them. When we investigate these evils, we can trace them back till we find they originate in yielding to prompting of the nature which we have in common with the animal kingdom. A member of this does what the organism of sensation demands, and we do not designate the action as evil unless, either in earnest or in figurative speech, we attribute to the creature some kind of moral consciousness, to which the action is repugnant. The law of the animal would appear to be “ gratify the various desires of the body.” The only limitation is “ abstain from excess,” which seems more easily observed in its case perhaps because there is so little opportunity of revolt against laws of a straiter character. Man, as sharing the animal nature, is liable to a greater or less degree to each animal impulse, but as possessing another and a higher nature he is called upon to control these impulses, and if he do not obey this call, if he prefer to follow the lower nature, he fails to accomplish the purpose and attain the goal set before him, and thus his deeds are evil, his life is sinful. (T. G.Bonney, D. Sc. , LL. D.)Evil in relation to good In an order of things where choice exists and where there is a scheme of progress, evil is as inevitable an antithesis to good as a shadow is to light, because each time that the person either remains inactive where he should have obeyed the call of the higher law, or where, if two definite impulses are in conflict, he follows the lower, he does an evil act. Evil, then, in the present state of things is as necessary a correlative to good as decay is to growth, for good is obedience to the promptings of the spirit life, and evil is the refusal to submit to this, and consequent yielding to the animal. This view appears to me to be distinctly maintained by St. Paul in the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, a passage universally regarded as very difficult, but one which I think becomes comparatively clear when considered in this light. In it the apostle depicts the conflict between the animal life and the spirit life. (T. G.Bonney, D. Sc. , LL. D.)Evil, Evil, in this world, lies not so much in the deed as in the doer. (T. G.Bonney, D. Sc. , LL. D.)The origin and prevalence of evil I. THE OF EVIL IS NOT SO GREAT AS, AT FIRST VIEW, IT MAY APPEAR TO BE. 1. By a wise appointment of Providence, scenes of distress are made to strike our minds more forcibly, and to awaken a far livelier fellow-feeling in our breasts than any species of felicity which we witness; and for this obvious reason, that distress stands in need of that active consolation and relief which our compassion will naturally prompt, while happiness is more independent of sympathy. Add to this, that misery, in consequence of the same occasion for the participation of social natures in its feelings, is much more clamorous, and therefore more noticed, than satisfaction. And the sum of evil has been still further exaggerated by writers who were aware that the tale of woe would find a chord more responsive to it in the human heart, than any which vibrates in unison with the voice of joy; as well as by many mistaken devotees, who have esteemed a gloomy discontent with the present life as essential to piety. 2. To any calm and unprejudiced observer, however, the latent, but multiplied, satisfactions of mankind will not fail to discover themselves; and he will learn to look up with confidence to that all-gracious Being, who, although He suffers, for wise ends, the existence of darkness and evil, creates more of light than of darkness, and more of peace than of evil. To nearly all natural evils, indeed, a compensation may be discovered. After all, however, it cannot be denied that the world contains much real distress. II. ITS ORIGIN. Whatever evil afflicts the human race, is all, in one way or other, of their own procuring. God “ doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” When He first called the human race into existence, He designed them to be happy, and He made them so. “ By one man’ s disobedience sin came into the world,” and misery and death by sin. With respect to every species of evil, man may be pronounced the author of his own tribulation. III. By the gracious interference of providence, IT TENDS TO A HAPPY ISSUE; to an issue which, to say the least of it, counterbalances the previous evil. Let us learn to improve our confidence in the Divine goodness; to redress, as far as lies within our capacity, the multiform evils that exist around us; and to convert to wise and beneficial purposes such of these evils as affect ourselves. (J. Grant, M. A.)The mystery of evil In the hour of pain, sickness, sorrow, death, our anguished nerves and bleeding hearts make us cry out, “ Why should we be smitten? Whose hand has smitten us?” It is natural, as many of the heathen creeds show, to attribute our suffering to some wrathful or malignant power. Many of our neighbours so attribute it, either to an angry God, or to a malicious devil. The Bible unhesitatingly attributes it to God, but is careful to remind us that “ the Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” There are two points, a right view of which is essential to our getting at the truth of the matter. 1. Death itself is not an evil. Simply because it is as common and as natural to us as sleep, death is no more evil in itself than sleep. Continual birth makes continual death necessary, if there is to be any such thing as equal opportunities in the world. And what is death but a birth into another life? Even in the case of the wicked, whom it introduces to evil beyond, death is not in itself an evil, any more than the door is evil through which any wrong-doer passes to trial or to imprisonment. Dying is simply going through the door between two worlds. 2. Suffering is evil, but is worked by goodness to good ends. But, we ask, couldn’ t the good ends have been accomplished without the evil of suffering? Well, put the question home. Could you have been made free from faults and follies without suffering? Experience, both of ourselves and others, answers, No. What the Bible affirms, in a certain point, of Jesus, must be much more broadly affirmed of every man-“ perfect through suffering” only. The only conceivable way of dispensing with suffering is to dispense with imperfection. But a creation in which there is nothing imperfect, but everything is finished, is inconceivable. We cannot conceive what that state of things would be, in which there was not only no infancy and childhood, but no growth of anything; nothing to learn, because everything is known; and nothing to do, because everything is done. But it is staggering to think of the amount of suffering that this involves. Perhaps we may think that it might have been largely prevented, if God had provided better instruction, had had guide-boards set up to show the right way, and thorn-hedges to close up wrong ways. Well, has He not done so? Have we never known people to take the wrong way in spite of wise counsel, and to take it again and again in spite of bitter experience? What we have to admit, then, is that suffering, though evil in itself, is a means to good, and is an instrument in the hands of goodness. Our difficulty is, that while we see this to be true to a certain extent, we do not see it in every case. Nevertheless, it appears true, as far as we are able to trace the connection of cause and effect. What is the most reasonable conclusion from that? Simply this, that we should see the same if we were able to see further. The great mystery of the evil in God’ s world requires for its solution a right answer to the supreme question, What is it that we are to be intent on as our first aim? Not happiness, surely. Happiness for the imperfect means content with imperfection. Perfection, rather than happiness, this is first; in order to this, suffering; then, in proportion to the perfection attained thereby, resulting blessedness. Nor is this a mere opinion. History, observation, and experience point that way. It was in the intuition of this great truth that one appointed to more hardship than is common to the lot of man bore his testimony to the ages thus: “ Our light affliction, which is for the moment,” &c. (J. M. Whiton.)Good out of evil Here the familiar story of the Pilgrim Fathers of New England is in point. They arrived on the American coast in the most unseasonable time, at the setting in of winter. Their exposures and hardships consequently brought on a fatal sickness. Before their first corn was planted half of them had been buried. Seldom has a more pathetic tale been told than that of these poor, pious exiles A screen of leafless branches Betwixt them and the blast. But had it better not have been so? Is heroism worth so little that there had better be no occasion made for it by the presence of great evils calling out all the strength of spirit that man is capable of? Who can tell how much that terrible suffering, met with such loftiness of spirit, has been worth to the world, in kindling the same unquenchable fire of heroism in multitudes of admiring beholders? (J. M. Whiton.)Man and sin; the problem of moral evil (with 1 John 3:4, R.V.):--The proper order in which to investigate our experience of the subject is to begin with the existence of moral evil, and from that standing-ground look out upon the larger question of cosmical evil. I. THE OF MORAL EVIL IN HUMAN NATURE--THE SENSE OF SIN. By far the greatest amount of the suffering of life is owing to the depravity of human nature. If men were good and kind there would be little left to mourn over. Speaking generally, we may say that human experience of this great fact runs from the crude and selfish perception of the faults of other people up to the self-humiliation of the saint in whom the sense of sin is strongly developed. To take the lower ground first--there are some who are smarting under a sense of injury. It may be that life is altogether sadder than it once was, because of the heart-breaking conduct of some from whom a very different course of action might have been expected. To such as these the fact that human nature is vitiated, and that the world is made wretched in consequence, needs no complete demonstration. Or again, there may be some who remember with pain and regret certain of their own mistakes which have brought evil results in their train. Self-reproach, however, does not put things right again. It is not only that the mistakes are beyond recall, but that the character itself is intractable. No man who is true to himself can escape the necessity of self-blame. This self-blame may be perfunctory and imperfect, or it may be radical and strong. It may be only a form of self-pity, or it may be a deep experience of guilt. Let me state a few things about this sense of guilt. In the first place, we may recognise that it is not universal, though in some form or other it is one of the most general of experiences. Some of the great religions in the world are deficient in it: Confucianism. Confucius, like so many of the world’ s prophets, died a disappointed man. He had aimed at something higher than the nature of his countrymen was prepared for. He had to put up with opposition, slander, persecution, and poverty. We might think that the problem of human sinfulness would have suggested itself to him, but we have no such indication in his teachings. In these there is an utter absence of any cognisance of sin as such. What is true of this religion is true of others. Their recognition of faultiness is not a recognition of sinfulness. Even in our own day, and amongst our circle of acquaintance, there are, no doubt, some who are without the sense of sin, and who evince no consciousness of the need of forgiveness. Men may be aware in a general way that things are not right in their own dispositions or in those of their fellows, and yet be strangers to the mood of contrition. Censoriousness and the sense of sin do not usually go together. We come to another and higher order of experience when we enter the ranks of those in whom perception of personal unworthiness is vivid. Especially has this been the case where the idea of a righteous God has been powerfully presented. It is within the circle of Christianity, however, that this conviction has been quickened and deepened to the greatest degree. It has been held that the sense of sin is a morbid development of religious life. We are not better, but worse, than we think we are. The mood of contrition is a note of awakening nobility. An accompaniment of the sense of sin is the depressing discovery of our helplessness to escape it. To conclude this first point, then, we may say that we are sadly aware of the presence of moral evil in human nature, and we are also aware that it “ ought not to be.” II. TO ACCOUNT FOR THE ORIGIN OF MORAL EVIL. That men should have been exercised in their minds about the presence of moral evil in the world is not to be wondered at, and it is instructive to notice some of the attempts that have been made to account for it. In stating certain of the theories which have been projected to explain human depravity, we may take them in the order of their relative importance. 1. Let us note that sin has often been held to be a delusion, that it is simply a form of mental experience, and no more real than a torturing dream. Culpability is only a fancy; no one is to blame for anything; and if the soul is to persist, and self-consciousness be continued in a higher state, man will then discover that all his agony and tears and self-reproach had no sterner cause than a little child’ s dread of the dark. This explanation we can soon dismiss. Self-blame is no fancy. Sin is not something negative, it is positive--an enemy that we have to fight. 2. Further, right through human history a tendency is observable to account for the presence of moral evil by a dualistic theory of existence. Darkness has been represented as the foe of light, matter of spirit, and Satan of God. The variations of these dualistic theories are manifold. Platonists, Gnostics, Manichaeans are a great family who regarded matter as being in some degree independent of God, and imperfectly under His control. All these movements had something in common, and that something was the tendency to place matter in opposition to spirit, and regard evil as resident in matter. Thoroughgoing belief in such positions has, as a rule, run into the two extremes of asceticism and license. Although Plato’ s dualism was a very different thing from the Gnostic heresies, the latter really sprang from it. It has sometimes been thought that Scripture lends some countenance to the theory here indicated. “ The world,” for instance, is presented as antithetic to “ the kingdom,” and “ the flesh” as antithetic to “ the spirit.” This is undoubtedly the case, but we must be warned against thinking that the New Testament writings should be construed to mean that evil has its seat in the flesh, and that the spirit only needs the liberation of death in order to be holy at a bound. 3. Positivism, and all allied modes of belief, effect a practical, though not theoretical, division of the universe. Humanity and the moral order are represented as an entity apart from the hard background of nature, and we are bidden to do our best to further the advance of everything that makes for human good without seeking sanctions in nature or the supernatural. It is curious to note that the advocates of this principle are usually the strongest in the assertion that the universe is one and indivisible. One power is observed to be at work within it, and not two powers pitted against each other. 4. This brings us to the consideration of the theory, which is Christian as well as non-Christian, that in the universe we have a personal dualism represented in the familiar names, God and Satan. We need not deny the existence of a personal captain of the host of evil, but we are not prepared to admit that there is room in the universe for a power whom God cannot overthrow. This is a cursory summary of theories which have occupied the attention of men from age to age. We may say of them all-- (1) They fail in that they limit the omnipotence of Deity. (2) They fail in that they deny human responsibility. (3) The truth common to all these theories appears to be, that good is only known by the background of evil, righteousness only achieved in opposition to unrighteousness. 5. Allied with, but independent of, the foregoing, is the Christian doctrine of the fall. It is remarkable that this doctrine is also extra-Christian. It has a place, for instance, in the old Teutonic mythology. The doctrine is also pre-Christian. It has a place in the Old Testament, though not a large place. It is within the field of Christianity, however, that the theory of a fall of the race from original purity has had its greatest vogue. About this Prof. Orr says: “ I do not enter into the question of how we are to interpret Genesis 3. whether as history or allegory or myth, or, most probable of all, asold tradition clothed in Oriental allegorical dress; but the truth embodied in that narrative, namely, the fall of man from an original state of purity, I take to be vital to the Christian view.” Upon this point, however, science is in direct conflict with received theology, and in recent years the attempt to reconcile the doctrine of the fall with the accepted theory of evolution has been felt as a considerable difficulty. The way in which it has been sought to solve that difficulty may be illustrated from a sermon preached by a friend of my own. “ The fact of the fall is simply in effect the statement of these biological facts in the spiritual region. It is that there came, at the beginning of human history, when man was physically complete, and had reached a stable equilibrium, where his moral and spiritual development was to begin,--there came, how we do not know, a backward step, and that backward step has been perpetuated in the history of the race because of the scientific fact of the solidarity of the race. What St. Paul would call the fall of man is simply the statement of a spiritual fact which has its precise analogy in the very doctrine of evolution that is supposed to contradict it.” The same preacher goes on to say that through the entrance of sin into the world, by man’ s fault and in opposition to the purpose of God, there has come into the world, not the fact of death, for death was here before, but the horror of it of which humanity is conscious, and that the misery of humanity has only been alleviated by second creation, as it were--the entrance of Christ into the world and the proclamation of the good news of redemption. To these statements the one sweeping objection may be taken that if they presume the historicity of the story of Genesis and the theory of a fall in time, through man’ s own fault and against the intention of God, they are in direct contradiction to the judgings of modern science, and no hypothesis about “ a backward step” or “ a new creation” can get over the difficulty. Our theology must be in harmony with the rest of our knowledge. We are on safer ground if we appeal once more to experience, and say that the fall ought not to be regarded as an historical event, but a psychological fact. In this connection we may observe that Jesus never says a word about an historical fall of the race. The parable of the Prodigal Son has been quoted as the analogue of the story in Genesis, but, on the face of it, it is meant to be interpreted psychologically rather than historically. In addition to this we must say that the theory of a fall in time is surrounded by other and graver difficulties, which lead us to a view of the character of God inconsistent with our Lord’ s revelation of the nature of the Father. That God should have made man so that he was not only liable but certain to fall, and should then have visited the whole race with disastrous consequences, is altogether incomprehensible. But, further, it is unthinkable that unbiassed human nature would ever voluntarily choose evil. Speaking in all reverence, we may say that as it is unthinkable that God should fall, so is it unthinkable that man should fall, unless he were so made as to desire evil without knowing good. To sum up this point, therefore, we may say that the presence of moral evil cannot be accounted for either as a delusion, or by a dualistic theory of the universe, or even by a fall in time. The explanation must be sought elsewhere. III. THE THAT THE ORIGIN OF MORAL EVIL IS IN GOD. We come, then, to the consideration of a theory which, like the foregoing, is both Christian and non-Christian, namely, that moral evil has its origin in the good purpose of God. This has been held by some of the greatest of the teachers of the Christian Church, from Augustine to the Reformation Fathers. Even later Roman Catholic theology has lingered around it in the song, “O felix culpa” “ which by so great a fall has secured, a greater, redemption. Evil is an experience necessary for the sake of good, and it must disappear when its work is done. For what is good? No man knows save by the struggle to realise it. Every man is conscious not only of the desire to choose evil, but of the obligation to choose good. To sin is to follow the lower in presence of the higher; it is yielding to that which is easy in opposition to that which is right. If evil within the disposition supplies the tendency, sin is in yielding to that tendency. This relieves no man of moral responsibility. Sin is real, and we are to blame for it, but we are not qualified to judge one another. God, and God only, can disentangle the threads of human motive, and estimate the amount of individual culpability. Without Christ there would be but a feeble light on this world problem. From what we know of Him we can look forward and upward. Primordial evil is the appointment of our God and Father, who shares in every experience of His children. Salvation is escape from sin; atonement escape from guilt; God provides both. There is no longer room for despair, but only for solemn gladness. “ Let the wicked forsake his way,” &c. (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)The Divine use of pain (Hospital Sunday):-- I. DIVINE IN TO DISEASE AND PAIN. What the apostle wrote in the spirit of prophecy is confirmed by the page of history. “ Of Him, and to Him, and through Him are all things; to whom be glory for ever.” We do not find it difficult to assent to this doctrine when all things go well with us. It is when He says: I create darkness, I create evil, that we feel it strange and shrink back from a full hearty assent. It has been suggested that this truth of the text was given as a correction of the old Eastern myth of two gods, one opposed to the other, and creating evil in opposition to the work of the good god. The modern form of this theory, and one which prevails in certain circles of Christian people, is that all disease and physical evil is by the work and machination of Satan. This is equally contrary to the teaching of the text and the whole of Scripture. These things perplex our thoughts and try our faith; but it only increases the perplexity and trial to attribute them to Satan. We are still in God’ s hand. II. THE USE THESE THINGS SERVE IN THE DIVINE . The question of the use which anything serves, which God in His providence sends or permits, must ever be asked with the humble consciousness that the thing may be too deep for us to understand. Yet God does not leave us without some knowledge of His will, and of the use which He makes off this suffering and pain. 1. For one thing is clear, pain and disease bade men to, respect Divine law. 2. This evil often leads to the fuller manifestation of His power. When the disciples asked concerning one born blind, “ Who did sin, this man or his parents?” our Lord replies that the man had the misfortune “ that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” Not merely or chiefly the opening of the bodily eye, but the works of God to which our Lord referred were those changes and that spiritual enlightenment which came to the man through intercourse with Christ. So that the ignorant and poor blind beggar saw what the well-instructed and self-righteous Pharisee did not see, and could answer calmly the cavils of Christ’ s opponents, and endure persecution for His sakes. These works of God have often been manifested through the instrumentality of fiery pain and disease. Days of sickness have been days when the wandering soul has heard the voice of the Good Shepherd, and returned from its wanderings, and has learned to say, “ It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” 3. Sometimes, also, pain and disease have been in God’ s hand a protection against sin. The curb which physical weakness puts upon us may be the very check that is needed to keep us within the bounds of true moderation, beyond which the path is strewn thick with temptations frequent and great, so that escape were almost impossible. 4. In the same way these things are essential in the purifying process which is being now carried on. 5. Beside all this, the pain and sorrow which sometimes nearly overwhelm us, call out sympathy and compassion which unite men in this closest of bonds. III. OUR DUTY in view of these truths. 1. There ought to be in connection with these things the distinct recognition of His hand, which should extend to the whole circumstances of the case. It is only a partial and untrue view that regards God’ s hand in permitting suffering, and refuses to acknowledge His goodness in the alleviations and remedies which He provides, and the medical skill with which He endows men. 2. But most of all we need to cultivate tender sympathy for those who suffer, and as far as may be to help them by kindly patient service. (W. Page, B. A.)Light and darkness in the universe Interwoven with the texture of the revelation there is an element of mystery to prove and humble and solemnise. I shall not soon forget a visit I once paid in the dead of night to the Colosseum. The moon was just rising behind the gigantic walls. Its light was almost golden in depth and richness. The towering battlements cast shadows dense as a thundercloud. The vast circle of masonry was all but; filled with gloom and darkness. By and by the light of the rising moon fell in quivering bars through, the rents in the walls and the doorways in the galleries. At last the whole place looked like a colossal wheel with spokes of burnished metal divided off from each other by intervals of ebony. In that vast, fan-like figure, quivering light and unbroken shadow, cast by the piles of masonry, lay side by side with each other with an alternation that was almost mathematical. Was not that a figure of the universe? Dazzling light and impenetrable shadow, clear revelation and dim mystery, the comprehensible and the incomprehensible, things of God’ s love lie side by side with each other, throughout the whole of the wonderful circle. “ We know in part, and we prophesy in part.” (T. G. Selby.)Sorrow a shadow of the Divine love I remember on a glorious day of all but cloudless sunshine passing in view of a well-known line of bare and majestic downs, then basking in the full beams of noon. But on one face of the hill rested a mass of deep and gloomy shadow. On searching for its cause I at length discovered one little speck of cloud, bright as light, floating in the clear blue above. This it was which cast on the hillside that ample track of gloom. And what I saw was an image of Christian sorrow. Dark and cheerless often as it is, and unaccountably as it passes over our earthly path, in heaven its tokens shall be found, and it shall be known to have been but a shadow of this brightness whose name is Love. (Dean Alford.)I make peaceGod the Author of peace The same power which placed the sun in the heavens, gives to the nations of the earth the light and comfort of peace; and He who made the night before the day, when darkness lay upon the face of the deep, creates the evil of war. I. THE CAUSES OF WAR. Let but God leave men to themselves, and they fall into discord and anarchy, as the elements of the world would sink into confusion without His support, and return to their primitive chaos. As soon as two men appeared upon earth in a state of equality and competition, war arose between them, and the one slew the other. 1. No wonder there are wars without in the world, when there is an inward war in the mind of man; a restlessness of appetite which breaks out into acts of violence, and can never be satisfied. 2. But there is another principle in the world, which, if possible, is productive of more mischief than all the rest; this is, false religion. These are the principal causes of war on the part of man- 3. But war has another cause on the part of God. It is sent by Him for the punishment of sin, and has never failed to chastise and reduce a people when fallen into pride or disobedience. II. THE EFFECTS OF WAR. The words of the text are remarkable; for here war, as opposed to peace, is called by the name of “ evil” : and a dreadful evil it is, comprehending all the evils that are to be found in the world, whether we consider it as a sin or a punishment. III. THE USE WE OUGHT TO MAKE OF THE AND US BY A TIME OF PEACE. (W. Jones, M. A.)I, the Lord, do all these thingsThe agency of God universal I. IN WHAT THE AGENCY OF GOD . The agency of God consists in His will, His choice or volition. God is a perfectly free agent. God is a moral agent. He perfectly knows and loves moral good, and as perfectly knows and hates moral evil. II. HIS AGENCY IS . God claims to be the universal agent. 1. God has made all things. 2. This further appears from His upholding all things. God did not and could not make any creature or object independent, and give it the power of self-preservation. 3. God must extend His agency to all created objects in the universe, because He has made all things for Himself. (N. Emmons, D. D.) Isaiah 45:8 Drop down, ye heavens Salvation comes of man’ s response to God To the eye of the seer the earth lies open to heaven as a wide corn-land over which the clouds of heaven hang, the air breathes, and the sun sheds sheets of light. Those clouds are big with righteousness, the special term used throughout this book of the faithfulness of Jehovah. At the call of prayer the skies pour down their precious treasure, and the earth opens every pore to receive the plentiful rain; presently every acre brings forth salvation, and righteousness springs up in the hearts of men, as their answer to the descent of the righteousness of God. It is the bridal of heaven and earth, a fulfilment of the prediction of the psalm: “ Truth springeth out of the earth; and righteousness hath looked down from heaven.” The conception is one of surpassing beauty. The brooding of heaven; the response of earth. Deep calling unto deep. The nature of God originating and inspiring; the nature of man responding. And when the descending grace of God is thus received by the believing yearning heart of man, the result is salvation. As the margin of R.V. reads: “ Let the skies be fruitful in salvation, and let the earth cause righteousness to spring up together.” The whole paragraph to the close of the chapter rings with salvation as its keynote. Does God hide Himself? He is the God of Israel, the Saviour. Are the makers of idols ashamed and confounded? Yet Israel is saved with an everlasting salvation. Are graven images held up to contempt? It is because they are gods that cannot save. Does God assert His unrivalled Deity? It is because He is a just God, and a Saviour. Are men bidden to look to Him, though they be far removed as the ends of the earth? It is that they may be saved. Primarily, no doubt, this salvation concerns the emancipation of the chosen people from the thraldom of Babylon, and their restoration to Jerusalem. “ He shall build My city; he shall let My exiles go free, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts.” This deliverance, which is a type of the greater deliverance from the guilt and power of sin, was, in the fixed purpose of God, sure as the creation of the earth and man; guaranteed by the hands that stretched out the heavens, and by the word that commanded all their host. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.) Isaiah 45:9 Woe unto him that striveth with Ms Maker!--Striving with God The strong word “ strive,” and the emphatic reassertion of the mission of Cyrus (Isaiah 45:13), as well as the connection with Isaiah 45:1-8, show that deliberate opposition to the Divine purpose, and not mere faint-hearted unbelief (as in Isaiah 40:27; Isaiah 51:13), is here referredto. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Opposing the Divine purpose Those who were primarily addressed were at variance with God their Creator on two accounts-- 1. Because He permitted His people to be led captive by their enemies into a distant country, where they were oppressed. 2. Because, notwithstanding the servants of the Lord spoke much concerning their liberation, the event seemed altogether improbable, and beyond even the power of God to effect. (R. Macculloch.)Contending with God I. BY AT HIS . II. BY HIS . III. BY HIS . (R. Macculloch.)Striving with our Maker If we duly consider the life of man since the fall, we shall find it to be one continued struggle. In the great and most momentous affair of religion, upon which our whole happiness depends, what a domestic war do we find within our own breasts! Happy are they who are successful in this spiritual conflict; and are so wise as vigorously to join forces with the Lord of hosts! But woe be to him who is of a party with the enemy, and “ striveth with his Maker.” I. We will consider WHAT IT IS TO STRIVE WITH OUR MAKER. In general it is to resist His will, and oppose ourselves to His government, to struggle against the dispensations of His providence. II. THE EXTREME AND FOLLY OF SO DOING. I. In general, if the height of ingratitude be a vile thing, and if to oppose and contend with our best Friend, who is infinitely wiser than we are, and loves us better than we do ourselves, and whose power too is so irresistible, that after all our strugglings His pleasure shall be accomplished one way or other, if not to our happiness, as He at first intended, then to our ruin, since we are resolved to have it so,--if this be a foolish thing, then to “ strive with our Maker” does imply all the folly and baseness that a man can possibly be guilty of. 2. But more particularly, to strive with our Maker is a most vile and foolish thing, as it signifies-- (1) Our denying obedience to His commands; for what can be more base than to refuse even our utmost services to that infinitely glorious and good Being who made us what we are! (2) Our murmuring at His disposal of us, and restless discontent at the circumstances He thinks fit to place us in. (3) Our being stubborn and refractory to the conduct of His Divine Spirit, and the guidance of His ministers, in things relating to His service and our own eternal salvation. III. THE of thus striving with our Maker. “ Woe unto him.” 1. As it signifies disobedience to His commands. For who can imagine but that a Governor so wise, and so powerful, and so just as God is, will in due time assert His authority, and secure His laws and government from contempt, by the condign punishment of those who have been so hardy as to resist and rebel against Him, and made no account of the plainest and most express declarations of His will? And when the Almighty shall proceed to do justice, who can withstand Him, or hope to avoid the stroke, but must sink under the weight of it for ever! 2. Nor will our discontents and murmurings at the Divine disposals escape without due punishment. For suppose that God should be so far provoked by our repinings as to throw us off from His care and protection, and leave us to ourselves, and in His anger comply with our foolish desires, and give us what we are so fond of, and which He sees will be our ruin, how sadly sensible shall we then soon be of the vast difference between God’ s government and our own! 3. And so for impatience under troubles and afflictions, suppose our outcries and strugglings and resistance should make God withhold His paternal chastisements, and suffer sin upon us without correction, and disregard us as desperate and incorrigible; what woe on earth could befall us greater than this? 4. What but the extremest of all woes can be expected from our rejecting those proposals of reconciliation to God, which are not only offered but pressed upon us daily by the ministers of Christ, and to which we are constantly moved by the workings of the Spirit of God within, upon our souls! (W. Bragge.)The misery of contending with God I. SPECIFY SOME IN WHICH THE SINNER MAY BE AS WITH GOD. I hardly think it worth while to mention atheism, which opposes His very being, and tries to banish Him from the world which He has made. Some, indeed, have supposed that a speculative atheist is an impossibility. How far God may give up a man “ to strong delusion to believe a lie,” who has despised and rejected the advantages of revelation, it is not for us to determine,--but “ if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” It is undeniable, however, that we have a multitude of practical atheists. That is, we have thousands who live precisely as they would do if they believed there was no God. They strive with Him-- 1. By transgressing His holy and righteous law. 2. By opposing the Gospel. 3. By violating the dictates of conscience. 4. By refusing to resign themselves to the dispensations of His providence. 5. By the persecution of His people. 6. By trying to hinder the spread of His cause. II. THE “ WOE” WHICH HIS ENTAILS UPON HIM. This striving with God is-- 1. A practice the most shameful and ungrateful. What would you think of a child who should strive with his father, reproach his character, counteract all his designs, and endeavour to injure his concerns? But such is your conduct towards God. 2. A practice the most unreasonable and absurd. For observe--in all the instances in which you oppose Him He is aiming to promote your good: His design is to make you wise, to make you holy, to make you happy; and the advantages of compliance will be all your own. Besides, can you do without Him? In life? In death? 3. Therefore nothing can be more injurious and ruinous. In striving with Him, you only resemble the wave that dashes against the rock, and is driven back in foam; or the ox that kicks against the goad, and only wounds himself; or the thorns and briers that should set themselves in battle array against the fire. To improve this awful subject let me ask--Whether you are for God or against Him? There is no neutrality here. We have been speaking of a striving with God which is unlawful and destructive--but there is a striving with Him which is allowable and necessary. It is by prayer and supplication. (W. Jay.)The indelicacy of criticising God (verse l 0):--That a child should so speak of father or mother is unthinkably unnatural and impious. And such are they who criticise God’ s method of saving His people through Cyrus. (A. B.Davidson, D. D.) Isaiah 45:11 Thus saith the Lord . . . Ask Me Prayer and criticism “ Ask Me, but do not criticise Me. ” “ Command Me” must mean “ leave to My care.” (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Encouragement to pray from the names of God “ The Lord” --that is, God in His everlasting redemptive purpose; “ the Holy One of Israel” --that is, the moral perfections of Israel’ s God, as contrasted with the abominations perpetrated under the sanction of heathen religions; “ his Maker” --suggesting the purpose which from the clay gathered in Abraham’ s time from the highlands of Mesopotamia, was fashioning a fair vessel meet for His use. This threefold description of God introduces the august command which bade the people seek by prayer the fulfilment of the purpose on which the Divine heart was set. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Putting forth of` God’ s power dependent on prayer In launching an ironclad, the pressure of a baby’ s finger is not infrequently required to put in operation the ponderous machinery by which the iron leviathan glides evenly and majestically on to the ocean wave. So, if we may dare to say it, all the purposes of God, and the providential machinery by which they were to be executed, stood in suspense until the chosen people had asked for the things which He had promised, and had even commanded Him concerning the work on which His heart was set. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Asking and commanding I. PRAYER IS A LINK IN THE OF THE DIVINE . “ Ask Me of things to come.” Even to the Son, Jehovah says,” “ Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the heathen,” &c. And to the chosen people, at the end of a paragraph beginning with “ I will,” and unfolding the work which He is prepared to do, not for their sakes, but for His own--He says, “ For this, moreover, will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.” Our Lord is unremitting in the stress He lays on prayer, and pledges Himself to do only whatsoever is asked in His name. 1. Prayer is part of the system of co-operation between God and man which pervades nature and life. 2. Prayer, when genuine, indicates the presence of a disposition to which God can entrust His best gifts without injury to the recipient. To bless some men, apart from humility and submission, and weanedness of soul from creature aid, would only injure. And so, in His dear love, God withholds His choicest gifts until the heart is sore broken, and cries to Him. That cry is the blessed symptom of soul-health. 3. Prayer is also in its essence, when inspired by faith, an openness towards God, a receptiveness, a faculty of apprehending with open hand what He would impart. Let us pray-- (1) Unitedly. God would be inquired of by the “ house” of Israel. (2) Sympathetically. A prayer offered in the presence of others should receive their endorsement. (3) Earnestly. The Divine gauge of the worth of prayer is its pressure on the heart of God. (4) In the name of Jesus. II. THE ACCENT IN FAITH. “ Concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands, command ye Me.” Our Lord spoke in this tone when He said, “ Father, I will.” Joshua used it when in the supreme moment of triumph he lifted up his spear towards the setting sun, and cried, “ Sun, stand thou still!” Elijah used it when he shut the heavens for three years and six months, and again opened them. Luther used it when, kneeling by the dying Melanchthon, he forbade death to take his prey. It is a marvellous relationship into which God bids us enter. We are accustomed to obey Him. But with the single limitation that our biddings must concern His sons, and the work of His hands, and must be included in His word of promise, Jehovah says to us, His redeemed children in Jesus Christ, “ Command ye Me!” The world is full of mighty forces which are labouring for our weal. How is it that these great natural forces--which are manifestations of the power of God--so absolutely obey man? Is it not because, since the days of Bacon, man has so diligently studied, and so absolutely obeyed, the conditions under which they work? “ Obey the law of a force, and the force will obey you,” is almost an axiom in physics. So God gives the Holy Spirit to them that obey Him. All the resources of God dwell bodily in the risen and glorified Lord. Obey Him, and He pours such mighty energy into and through the spirit that men are amazed at the prodigality of its supply; resist or thwart Him, and He retires from the spirit, leaving it to struggle as best it may with its difficulties and trials. But after our greatest deeds of prayer and faith we shall ever lie low before God; as Elijah did, who, after calling fire from heaven, prostrated himself on the ground, with his face between his knees. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Counsel for God’ s people in trouble (Isaiah 45:11-15):-- I. THE PEOPLE OF GOD IN ARE INVITED TO INQUIRE THE ISSUE OF THEIR (Isaiah 45:11). The Holy One of Israel, though He doth not allow them to strive with Him, yet encourageth them-- 1. To consult His Word. “ Ask Me of things to come.” 2. To seek unto Him by prayer. “ Command ye Me.” II. THEY ARE TO DEPEND ON THE POWER OF GOD WHEN THEY WERE BROUGHT VERY LOW, AND WERE UTTERLY OF HELPING (Isaiah 45:12). III. THEY ARE TOLD WHAT GOD WOULD DO FOR THEM, THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW WHAT TO DEPEND UPON (Isaiah 45:13-14). IV. THEY ARE TAUGHT TO TRUST GOD FURTHER THAN THEY CAN SEE HIM (Isaiah 45:15). (M. Henry.)God’ s abounding liberality I am told that, in the olden times, on Christmas Day, it was the custom in country villages for the squire always to fill with good things whatever vessels the poor people brought up to the hall, that they might have a Christmas dinner. It was strange how big the basins grew year after year. Whenever the man came round with the crockery cart, every good housewife would look all over his stock to see if there was not a still larger basin. It was a rule that the squire’ s servants should always fill the bowl, whatever size it was, and thus the bowls grew bigger and bigger. God will fill your bowl, however large it is! Get as big a bowl as you can; and when you bring it, if ever there comes a whisper in your ear, “ Now you have presumed upon God’ s benevolence, you have brought too big a bowl,” smile at yourself, and say, “ This is as nothing to His overflowing fulness.” If I said, “ O poor sea, poor sea, now thou wilt be drained dry, for they bring such big bowls to be filled with thy waters” ; the sea, tossing its mighty billows far and wide, would laugh at my folly. Come, then, and bring your largest conceptions of God, and multiply them ten thousandfold, and believe in Him as this Book would make you believe in Him. Open thy mouth wide, and He will fill it. He bids you even to command Him. He says, “ Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me.” That is a wonderful expression; rise to the sublimity of faith, and be daring with your God. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 45:12I have made the earth Nature and Scripture (with Isaiah 45:22):--The study of Nature reveals a Creator. This is the order: God, creation, fishes, animals, men, women, the human race, the culture of the soil, the building of cities, the navigation of the sea, and, in course of ages, the formation of society as we know it. But man as a moral agent required moral laws; having also a capacity for religion, he needed spiritual light. This made revelation from above necessary. Mankind have had both vocal and written messages from God. Creation tells of His power, and the Scripture tells of His salvation--the two books together revealing His perfect glory. I. A careful study of nature and man will bring vividly before you THE LAW OF . The man who would attempt to be independent of Nature would soon die of hunger and thirst, and the soul that is arrogant enough to deem itself independent of Christ will soon find that saying true, “ He that hath not the Son of God, hath not life.” II. In nature you see also THE LAW OF . Every living thing needs cultivation, and is improved, beautified, and perpetuated by it. Man, the “ living soul,” is under the same law. In a higher sense the soul of man is subject to this law of cultivation. The fruits and flowers found in a cultivated soul are faith, prayer, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. III. Nature conspicuously displays and relentlessly enforces THE LAW OF . In the great eaves of Kentucky there are dark waters where the light never comes. Eyeless fishes swim there. Their ancestors had eyes that could see; but their descendants, choosing to dwell in lightless waters, have only rims and specks in their heads v, here eyes might have been. Use well a sense, a faculty, a power, and you increase it; neglect it, and it will die. That is the law of Nature. Scripture teaches you the same lesson as to the spiritual world. IV. Nature does also undoubtedly embrace THE LAW OF . “ The grass withereth and the flower fadeth.” The bones of leviathan whiten the deep places of the sea. And what of man? To him also the law of termination applies. Shall nature, man, life as we know it, continue as they are for ever? No, for both Nature and Scripture proclaim the law of termination (2 Peter 3:10). V. But both Scripture and Nature point us to another law--THAT OF . And this eternal law of continuity will be in existence after the present world is left behind. Consider, then, these natural and spiritual truths. Let Nature teach you how great the Creator is: let Scripture teach you that His salvation and love and righteousness are for ever and ever. (G. W.M’ Cree.) Isaiah 45:14 Surely God is in thee Jehovah Himself present in His Church I. THE DIGNITY OF THE CHURCH. One cannot wonder that Solomon should have been overwhelmed with astonishment when Jehovah promised His presence in the temple that had just been erected for His worship and glory. But there is a nobler temple building for God--even that Church which is composed of living stones. It is to the presence of God therein that the text refers, and in vouch-sating His presence we may remark that Jehovah is-- 1. Doing honour to His own truth. 2. Exalting His own Son. 3. Imparting His own graces. II. THE OF THE OF THE CHURCH. By no phrase could you more accurately describe the real Christian than by the text--“ Surely God is in thee.” True religion is not an opinion merely of the understanding, nor external decorum merely of life, nor ecstatic raptures merely of affection. But it is nothing less than a union of our soul with God--a real participation of the Divine nature. III. Our text, however, not only intimates the dignity of the Christian and the spirituality of his experience, but also THE OF HIS CONDUCT. And unless there be this there is nothing. (R. C. Dillon, D. D.) Isaiah 45:17 But Israel shall be saved in the Lord A forecast of the Messianic age As is usual in the prophets, the perfect dispensation, or what is called the Messianic age, is conceived as issuing immediately from the historical crisis which is the subject of the prophecy--in this case, the deliverance from Babylon. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Israel saved in the Lord I. THE OBJECT. Everlasting salvation in the Lord. 1. Includes deliverance from ignorance, guilt, &c., and the possession of light, peace, &c.; and this state continued and increased for ever. It is grace consummated in eternal glory. 2. This salvation is “ in the Lord” --the Lord Messiah. (1) As a possession, purchased by His own blood, in whose right only we can obtain it. (2) As an inheritance, kept in trust, and to be conveyed by Him to the appointed heirs of it. (3) As in a grand exemplar, in His human nature, of the complete and final happiness of the saints (Romans 8:29; Philippians 3:21). It is in Him both as a beatific object and a perpetual medium, through which the blessed will see and enjoy God for ever. II. THE OF THE PERSONS TO WHOM IS . “ Israel.” 1. A name of great distinction in Scripture The Israelites, to whom everlasting salvation is promised, are such as are so in a spiritual sense. 2. True Israelites are such as have given their unfeigned consent to be God’ s people, subjects, and servants; such as have “ joined themselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant.” 3. True Israelites are such as live in an unreserved subjection to the laws and government of God and the Redeemer (Romans 7:22). Through faith in Christ they are vitally united to Him, and from Him receive those hourly supplies of grace that qualify men for every good word and work. III. THE GROUNDS OF THE OF THEIR . 1. The possession Christ has taken of it in the name and nature of all true believers in Him (Hebrews 6:20; John 14:2-3). 2. Christ’ s intercession, which He ever lives in heaven to make for them Hebrews 7:25). 3. His mighty power which is engaged for them (1 Peter 1:4-5). 4. God’ s promise (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:17-18). (Sketches of Sermons.)Saved in the Lord That is, through Him (Romans 5:9). The elect of God dispersed over the earth shall be saved through the powerful operation of His glorious excellences, and in virtue of the perfect righteousness of the great Messiah. They shall be saved-- 1. Through the love of God (John 3:16). 2. In His infinite wisdom, which He hath wonderfully displayed in devising and executing the astonishing plan of salvation. 3. Through His almighty power. 4. In His consummate righteousness; the rectitude of His nature, the equity of His providence, and the faithfulness of His promises, being clearly demonstrated by the accomplishment of this salvation. (R. Macculloch.)Isaiah’ s far-reaching glance He foresaw the redemption of suffering Israel by the hand of Cyrus, but uses terms that it would be a misleading and inexcusable blunder to employ if they are intended to be restricted to those small bands of immigrants returning under Ezra and Nehemiah, whose descendants rejected the Christ, and went forth into the great and long-ending dispersion after the Romans had destroyed the rebuilt city. Standing once, at sunrise, on a lower height of the Himalayas--lower, though still 10,000 feet above the plains--we saw beneath us, stretching away into the blue distance, leagues upon leagues of rolling country clothed with evergreen forests of tree ferns, tree rhododendrons and magnolias, till the view was lost in cloudland. But, behold, even as we watched, the clouds broke and scattered, trooping away into the vault of heaven like hosts of white-robed angels. Between their ranks were revealed, one after another, the mighty flanks of Kinchinjunga and her sister mountains; then their snow-peaks and glaciers. Another few minutes, and the last cloud had vanished, and the glittering crest of Mount Everest, the loftiest summit in the world--we know not how many hundreds of miles afield--flashed upon the horizon. The lower and nearer landscape was not lost, it was there still, in all its beauty and verdure, but we had no longer any eyes for it because of the glory that exceeded. Something like that would have been the prospect unfolded to the “ rapt Isaiah’ s” spiritual eyesight, could he have understood all that was involved in his prophecies. He must have had at least a partial understanding of their meaning, for we read that “ these things said Isaiah because he saw [Christ’ s] glory, and he spake of Him.” Nevertheless, it is reserved for us to see most distinctly the full extent of the prophetic landscape, because from before our eyes even the remotest clouds that linger on the horizon have been lifted by the sun-rising of New Testament teaching. (F. Sessions.)“ World without end” “ To eternal eternities.” (F. Delitzsch.)The expression does not occur again. (J Skinner.) Isaiah 45:18-25 For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens.How God reveals Himself The main current of the section may be thus expressed-- I. GOD’ S OF HIMSELF IS OPEN AND . He has not spoken in secret; and He has not bid men seek Him in vain. II. GOD’ S OF HIMSELF IS IN TO THE HIGHEST OBJECTS. “ Seek ye My face; look unto Me, and be ye saved; He is a just God and a Saviour.” III. GOD’ S OF HIMSELF IS TO ISSUE IN THE OF THE WHOLE EARTH. “ Every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to Him.” (C. Short, M. A.)The reasonableness of God’ s procedure We have here the repetition of that deep, strong note which Isaiah himself so often sounded to the comfort of men in perplexity or despair, that God is at least reasonable, not working for nothing, nor beginning only to leave off, nor creating in order to destroy. The same God, says our prophet, who formed the earth in order to see it inhabited, must surely be believed to be consistent enough to carry to the end also His spiritual work among men. Our prophet’ s idea of God’ s righteousness, therefore, includes the idea of reasonableness; implies rational, as well as moral consistency, practical sense as well as good faith; the conscience of a reasonable plan, and, perhaps, also the power to carry it through. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.) Isaiah 45:19I have not spoken in secret “ In a dark place of the earth,” “ In a dark place of the earth,” is an expression used for the purpose of pointing out the contrast between the prophecies of Jehovah and the heathen cave, oracles and spirit-voices of the necromancers, which seemed to rise up from the interior of the earth. (C. Short, M. A.)God’ s speech to men Two thoughts branch off-- 1. Prophecy, proceeding from Him is a thing of the light, no black art, essentially different from heathen divination. 2. The same love of Jehovah which is revealed already in creation, is also shown in His relation to Israel; He did not point Israel to Himself as chaos , even as He did not create the earth a chaos (“ He has not created it a chaos,” Isaiah 45:18). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye Me in vain. “ Seek ye Me in vain,” “ Seek ye Me in vain,” literally, in waste, i.e where there are no ways or indications how He is to be found. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)Comfort to seekers from what the Lord has not said We might gain much solace by considering what God has not said. We have an assurance that God will answer prayer, because He hath not said unto the seed of Israel, Seek ye My face in vain. The proposition is this: that those who seek God, in God’ s own appointed way, cannot, by any possibility seek Him in vain; that earnest, penitent, prayerful hearts, though they may be delayed for a time, can never be sent away with a final denial (Ro Matthew 7:8). I. I SHALL PROVE THIS BY THE , as our text has it. 1. Suppose that sincere prayer could be fruitless, then the question arises, Why are men exhorted to pray at all? Would it not be a piece of heartless tyranny if the Queen should wait upon a man in his condemned cell, and encourage him to petition her favour, nay, command him to do it, saying to him, be importunate, and you will prevail; and yet, all the while, should intend never to pardon the man, but had determined in her heart that his death-warrant should be signed and sealed, and that on the execution morning he should be launched into eternity? Would this be consistent with royal bounty--fit conduct for a gracious monarch? Can you for a moment suppose that God would bid you come to Him through Jesus Christ, and yet intend never to be gracious at the voice of your cry? 2. If prayer could be offered continuously, and God could be sought earnestly, but no mercy found, then he who prays would be worse off than he who does not pray, and supplications would be an ingenious invention for increasing the ills of mankind. For a man who does not pray has less woes than a man who does pray, if God be not the answerer of prayer. He who has been taught to pray has great desires and wants; his heart is an aching void which the world can never fill; but he that never prays has no longings and pinnings after God. If, then, a man may have these vehement longings, and yet God will never grant them, then assuredly the man who prays is in a worse position than he who prays not. How can this be? 3. If God do not hear prayer, since it is clear that in that case the praying man would be more wretched than the careless sinner, then it would follow that God would be the author of unnecessary misery. This is inconsistent with the character of God. 4. Should there still be some desponding ones, who think that God would invite them to pray and yet reject them, I would put it on another ground. Would men do so? Would you? Can God be less generous than men? 5. This is God’ s memorial by which He is distinguished from the false gods Psalms 115:6; Psalms 65:2). One of the standing proofs of the Deity of Jehovah is, that He does answer the supplications of His people. 6. If God do not hear prayer what is the meaning of His promises? 7. What is the meaning of all the provisions which He has already made for hearing prayer? Why a mediator, an intercessor? &c. 8. If God hear not prayer, what Gospel have I to preach? 9. Where, then, were the believer’ s hope? 10. What would they say in hell, if a soul could really seek the Lord and be refused? There are some who, when under conviction of sin, still cleave to this dark delusion, that God will not hear them. Therefore, I have tried, by blow after blow, to smite this fear dead. II. THAT THE LORD DOES HEAR PRAYER MAY BE . 1. For the Lord to hear prayer is consistent with His nature. 2. It is harmonious with all His past actions (Psalms 107:3). Conclusion--Try for yourself. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God’ s praying people 1. The seed of Jacob are a praying people; it is the generation of them that seek Him (Psalms 24:6). 2. As He has invited them to seek Him, so He never denied their believing prayers, nor disappointed their believing expectations. 3. If He did not think fit to give them the particular thing they prayed for, yet He gave them that grace sufficient and that comfort and satisfaction of soul which was equivalent. (M. Henry.)God’ s straightforwardness “ I, the Lord, speak righteousness.” The word is used in its ethical sense of “ trustworthiness,” or straightforwardness,--perfect correspondence between deeds and words. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.) Isaiah 45:21-22A Just God and a Saviour The just God and the Saviour To human apprehension, light and darkness are not more opposed than justice and mercy. We cannot conceive how they possibly can meet together. But God’ s ways are not our ways; He is “ a just God,” leaving not the smallest possibility of escape for the smallest sin; and He is” a Saviour,” freely and completely pardoning the most atrocious sinner. I. GOD IS A JUST GOD. The law of God is holy, and just, and good. It is man’ s plain, reasonable, bounden duty to obey these commandments; and when he fails in the performance of that duty, it is a righteous thing on the part of God to punish him. Some, indeed, have objected to this principle, and have supported their objection by perverting the Scripture doctrine of original sin, alleging that, if man’ s natural corruption render guilt inevitable, it is unjust in God to punish him for that guilt. To meet this objection in a plain practical manner, we would reply that, before any individual can reasonably plead this excuse in his own case, he must be able to prove that he has never been guilty of any transgression, except those only which were rendered inevitable by his original corruption; for the moment that he knowingly and wilfully breaks the law of God in any one instance, it becomes a righteous thing in the Lawgiver to inflict upon him the threatened punishment. II. GOD IN CHRIST IS A JUST GOD AND A SAVIOUR Jesus Christ is an adequate substitute for the sinner. Every impediment to the most unbounded exercise of mercy being thus righteously removed, the invitation is given forth in all its blessed broadness and fulness unto all lands, “ Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” (D. Dickson, D. D.)The highest glory of the Divine character I. These words present, in part at least, AN ASPECT OF TERROR--“ a just God.” It is necessary to attend to this with becoming reverenceand awe. Some deny it, or overlook it, regarding nothing but His mercy, and forgetting, that there could be no occasion for the exercise of mercy did not His justice consign guilty men to punishment. 1. The fallen angels who have been cast down from their first estate, and are reserved in chains of darkness to the judgment of the last day, are monuments of His avenging justice. Adam and his transgressing partner exiled from Paradise, and that paradise accursed for their sakes; the inhabitants of the world before the flood, with the exception of a single family, swept away into a watery grave by a single stroke; Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain overwhelmed by a torrent of liquid fire from the skies; Mount Sinai itself with its clouded summit and trembling base, its flashing lightnings, its rolling thunders, and trumpet voices, all bespeak the terrors of that inflexible justice which overlooks no sin of men or angels, and suffers no transgression against the eternal authority and sovereignty of God to go unpunished. 2. Consider further what proofs are afforded of the justice of God in His dispensations with the offending race of men. The lot of the progenitor has now become that of all his posterity; and man everywhere is a suffering and dying creature, because he is everywhere a sinner. Consider the awful calamities which have attended the human race, from the first generations to the present. 3. These proofs of Divine justice may be further strengthened and enlarged by considering the very method He has chosen for displaying His mercy. Is He not a just God? Let the agonies of His beloved Son declare--let the cross of Jesus stand as a witness. II. THE DEEP AND MYSTERY which, under another view, these words present. This glorious mystery consists in the union of these two characters in the one God of revelation--two characters which it appeared were hostile to each other--two characters which no other system ever did or ever could reconcile--and the difficulty of reconciling which has led some to deny the one, and some to deny the other. The mystery ties in the union of these two perfections of the Divine nature, justice and mercy--and in their united exercise towards the same sinful creatures. This the Gospel fully develops in the doctrine of the incarnation of the Son of God, in His substituted obedience, His voluntary submission, His vicarious sacrifice. III. These words possess AN ASPECT OF DIVINE COMFORT FOR THE SOUL OF MAN. 1. The comfort depends on your reception of the salvation, which is essentially a salvation from sin, in all those respects in which it has affected our nature, whether by guilt, pollution, degradation, or separation from God. 2. This Divine comfort is open to all. 3. The comfort never fails--never fluctuates--will accompany through life, and abound even in death--when all other sources of comfort fail. (The Evangelist.)A just God and a Saviour I. The grand truth is manifestly this--that THERE IS IN GOD AN HARMONY BETWEEN THE JUST AND THE . He is just, not in opposition to salvation, but because He is a Saviour. He is a Saviour, not in opposition to justice, but because He is justice seeking to save. 1. Let us mark the ground on which Isaiah founded that mighty truth, the supreme and solitary sovereignty of God--“ I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is none beside Me.” He had looked over the conflict of nations and the decay of empires, and seen one eternal God causing all to work His will. Realise that vision of God, and then the idea that He needs reconciling to Himself must instantly fall: for if God’ s justice needs reconciling to His mercy, then we have two Gods, the just and the merciful; and it is no longer true that He is God, “ beside whom there is none else.” Realise this, and the idea of the atonement which represents Christ as simply appeasing God the just and inducing Him to be merciful, passes away. God needs no reconciling to Himself: justice is in everlasting union with mercy. 2. Let us ask what is God’ s justice, and what His salvation? and then we shall see how they are in perfect harmony. God’ s justice is not merely the infliction of penalty; God’ s salvation is not merely deliverance from penalty. It is true that He does execute penalty and award retribution. We see it in the stern laws of life by which one error brings down life-long sorrow; one true effort reaps, inevitably, its blessed reward. There is a just God over all, for men ever reap just what they sow. But justice in God is something far grander than the mere exercise of retribution; it is the love of eternal truth, purity, righteousness; and the penalties of untruth, impurity, unrighteousness, are the outflashings of that holy anger which is founded in His love of the right, the pure, and the true. In the same way, God s salvation is more than the mere deliverance from penalty. It is, at the same time, the deliverance from evil, salvation from the cruel lusts of wrong; from the bondage of unholy passions growing into the giant-life of eternity; from the deep degradation and horrible selfishness of sin. Here, then, we see how His justice and His salvation are in perfect harmony. His salvation is to free men from the penalties of justice by making them righteous, true, and holy in Christ. 3. Take now one step further. Take the two great revelations of law and mercy, and we shall see how the law is merciful and mercy holy. (1) The law, the revelation of justice, came to lead men to God the Saviour. (a) The sense of immortality. Man, feeling that life is bounded by the present, will never be freed from evil. But sin destroys the sense of immortality, confines him to the narrow circle of the earth, and dares him to look beyond. Under its influence man forgets the grandeur of his nature, sinks into a mere animal, and becomes the slave of material things. To awaken him there is no other voice so powerful as that of the law he cannot obey--a law majestic in purity, and thundering penalties on transgression. The Divine voice in the law speaks to him, making him feel that he is greater than material things--greater than his sinful idols. He asks: Why does it mark out me? And the awful Sinai of conscience awakens at that voice, and the man feels the sublimity of his nature; and there is the beginning of salvation. (b) The sense of sin as a power in life. The voice of law shows him that in him is the power which the just God hates in holy anger. Cursing evil, it curses him. Thus law is the revelation of God the Saviour. Before its awful majesty and impossible claims man learns the weakness, and slavery, and horror of sin; and is prepared to accept the mercy that delivers him. (2) Christ, the revelation of God the Saviour, came to glorify God the just. The righteousness of God never was so revealed as in the loving Saviour of the world. Mount Sinai is less terrible than the purity of the man of Nazareth. Men felt it as they said, “ Depart from us for we are sinful.” Look now at His sufferings. Nothing could tear Him from them--nothing alter His course. Where is there a greater revelation of the righteousness of God? In the garden, the pure and holy One shudders at the contact with sin. Where can we see the awfulness of holiness so sublimely revealed as in that passion of woe? The just God was in the Saviour. Mark now the consummate power of Christ crucified; and what is it but a power rousing men to be holy as God is holy? Sin never was so slain as by Him whom sin slew. The law never was so attested as by Him who bore its penalty. II. We infer TWO LESSONS from this great truth. 1. The necessity of Christian endeavour. We are justified at once; for the germ of a righteous manhood exists in the first act of faith. But the realisation of it is progressive. The Christian ideal is to be as Christ was, faithful, holy, and undefiled. Every day we have untruthfulness, selfishness, unbelief, to overcome. 2. The ground of Christian trust. Some men find security in the belief that they are delivered from the stern awards of justice. But we are not delivered from God’ s purity, we are reconciled to it. In the justice of God lies our confidence now, for He will make us righteous and holy in Christ. And this gives us hope in the midst of life’ s discipline, and explains much of its mystery. The object of His discipline is not to make us happy simply, but to train us into holiness, which is blessedness. There are men who trust in the infinite mercy of God, and feel that He will deliver them at last. Remember, that to remain in unbelief is to adopt the spirit which killed Christ. To refuse His salvation is to challenge the holy indignation of the Most High. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)“ Look unto Me!” Consider-- I. How GOD IS JUST. He will not deal unfairly with His creatures. He will not ascribe a single sin to them which they have not committed. He will not punish them beyond what their iniquities deserve. II. HOW HE IS AT THE SAME TIME A SAVIOUR. III. WHAT IS THE WHICH HE TO A RUINED WORLD. Mark-- 1. To whom it is addressed. “ All the ends of the earth.” How broad an invitation! Who is there who can say, “ I am not called” ? 2. What does He invite us all to do? “ Look unto Me!” “ Behold Me with the eye of faith, as ‘ the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world!’ ‘ Look unto Me’ as your refuge, your resource, your hope, your confidence your almighty, all-sufficient, only Saviour! ‘ Look unto Me’ for life, for pardon, for righteousness, for peace on earth, for heavenly happiness hereafter! ‘ Look unto Me,’ by looking off from every object of your carnal confidence, from every vain deceitful hope which you have invented for yourselves, and by placing your entire, unbounded trust in the merits of My Cross!” 3. And what spiritual benefit shall that look of faith procure to them? “ Be ye saved.” Are there not those that look for mercy even though they look not unto Jesus? Consider seriously that expression, “ There is none beside Me” --“ A just God and a Saviour.” Ye that are looking unto Him for salvation! remember that, in the very act by which the Lord hath delivered you from death He hath shown you also His horror and His hatred of your sins. (A. Roberts, M. A.)Looking unto Jesus, the only Saviour I. THE . Notice-- 1. The benevolent Being by whom the invitation is given. 2. To whom it is addressed. Not to the Jews only, but also to the Gentiles: to every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people. 3. What is implied in the invitation. (1) The state of those to whom it is addressed. (2) That there is no obstacle whatever in the way of salvation. 4. What the invitation calls upon us to do in order to secure our salvation. “ Look unto Me.” In our natural state we are all looking from Him; and even when we are convinced of our lost condition, how prone we are to look to anything rather than to Him for salvation--our repentance, our obedience, our duties, our morality, our usefulness! What then, is meant by looking to Him? It signifies the same thing with believing in Him. II. THE REASONS BY WHICH THAT IS . 1. He is God. 2. A just God. 3. A gracious God, for He is a Saviour. 4. The only God, and consequently the only Saviour. (D. Rees.) Isaiah 45:22 Look unto Me Turning to God “ Turn ye to Me and be saved. ” The first imperative exhorts, the second promises. Jehovah desires two things-- 1. All men’ s turning to Him. 2. Their blessedness by so doing. (P. Delitzch, D. D.)Look The word does not correspond exactly to the English “ look,” but denotes the act of turning round in order to look in a different direction. The text, therefore, bears a strong analogy to those in which the heathen, when enlightened, are described as turning from their idols unto God (1 Thessalonians 1:9; Acts 14:15; Acts 15:19). (J. A. Alexander.)The ends of the earth The expression accords with the Jewish notion, that their land was situated in the midst of the earth, and that the countries which lay most remote from them, whose circumstances formed a contrast to theirs, were the ends or extremities of the earth. (R. Macculloch.)Sovereignty and salvation It has ever been one of the objects of the great Jehovah to teach mankind that He is God, and beside Him there is none else. I. HOW HAS GOD BEEN THIS LESSON TO MANKIND? 1. He has taught it to false gods and to the idolaters who have bowed before them. How hath God poured con tempt on the ancient gods of the heathen! Where are they now? 2. Mark how God has taught truth to empires. 3. To monarchs. Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, &c. 4. To the wise men of this world. 5. “ Surely,” says one, “ the Church of God does not need to be taught this” Yes, she does! How did the church in Canaan forget it when they bowed before other gods: If God gives us a special mission, we generally begin to take some honour to ourselves. II. IS GOD’ S WORK, and in this He specially teaches us this lesson. Our text tells us how He teaches it. 1. By the person to whom He directs us. “ Me.” 2. By the means He tells us to use. “ Look.” 3. By the persons whom He calls to look. “ All the ends of the earth.” (C. H.Spurgeon.)Life for a look The great sin of man, ever since he has fallen, has been that of idolatry. He is ever seeking to get away from God, who is real, but whom he cannot see, and to make for himself a god, which can only be an idol, but which pleases him because he can gaze upon it. And thus it comes to pass that, some with images of wood and stone, and others with carnal confidences and the like, put something else into the place which should be occupied by God alone; and they look to that something, and expect good from it, instead of looking for all good to God, and to Him alone. This looking to anything which usurps the place of God cannot but be most offensive to Him, and it must also be very disappointing to ourselves, for it is impossible for the false god to yield us any true comfort. Yet note the Lord s great patience even with those who are thus provoking Him by this idolatry of theirs. I. FOR OUT OF ANY TROUBLE, WE SHOULD LOOK TO GOD ALONE. There are some troubles in which men do look to God alone. I have known even the most profane men turn to God, after a fashion, in the hour of supreme peril. Now, if men will act thus by the compulsion of great calamity, is there not sound reason why you should, cheerfully and willingly, do the same, and resort to God in every trial, and difficulty, and dilemma? Is any trial too slight for you to bring in prayer before Him? II. FOR ETERNAL , WE MUST LOOK TO GOD ALONE. 1. Salvation is not to be found in any mere agent. 2. The great thing that thou needest to know, and look at, and rely upon, is the mercy of God. 3. Since God says, “ Look unto Me,” let me ask you whether you are looking unto Him as He has revealed Himself to us in His Word? 4. Especially is it intended that we should look unto God as He reveals Himself in the person and work of His dear Son. 5. Settle this matter in your mind as an absolute certainty that, whoever and whatever you are, you may look to God in Christ, and be saved. 6. Let no feeling of thine beat thee off from looking to Christ. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Characteristics of salvation I. It is a SIMPLE salvation-plain, clear, distinct, intelligible in its terms. It is, in this respect, unlike the false religions referred to in Isaiah 45:19, whose utterances, being involved in designed obscurity and ambiguity, are there represented as “ spoken in secret, and in dark places of the earth.” Such were the dubious responses which came from the Delphic oracle, the Cave at Lebadea, the Cumean Sybil, the Eleusinian Ceres, the soothsayers and necromancers of Egypt, Phoenicia, and Persia. The salvation of the Gospel is so clear and perspicuous that “ he who runs may read.” II. It is a FREE salvation, uncumbered and unconditional in its offers. There is no costly, protracted, elaborate preparation or probation needed. No painful penances; no rites, no lastings, no lustrations, no priestly absolutions In Isaiah 45:13, God says of Cyrus (and He says the same in a nobler sense of a Greater than the earthly liberator), “ He shall let go My captives, not for price nor reward.” This is not, indeed, after the manner of men, nor in accordance with that natural legality of spirit which loves to fetter itself with conditions and terms. If the prophet had bid the Syrian leper of old “ do some great thing,” Naaman would have cordially assented; but he could not brook the trifling expedient of dipping himself in the river Jordan. HI. It is a salvation (Isaiah 45:19; Isaiah 45:21). See Romans 3:26. It is a salvation which has been secured in accordance with theprinciples of everlasting truth and rectitude. Let us not, however, misinterpret the relation of justice to mercy, as if between these two Divine attributes there existed any antagonism,--as if they represented two conflicting principles (similar to the Magian), one of which had to be propitiated before the other could exercise its benignant will, or go forth on its benignant behests. Nay, they are in perfect harmony. Love can hold out her blissful sceptre only when standing by the throne of justice. In that glorious salvation, every attribute of the Divine nature has been magnified and made honourable. IV. It is a SURE salvation. The rites of the heathen leave their votaries in uncertainty, groping in the dark. Their feelings and experiences are well described in Isaiah 3:16. In impressive and sublime contrast with this, Jehovah avows in Isaiah 3:23, “ I have sworn by Myself: the word” or “ truth” (Lowth) “ is gone out of My mouth in righteousness” ; and in Isaiah 3:19, “ I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye Me in vain” ; or Isaiah 3:17, “ Ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded.” Truly the covenant of grace is a covenant “ well ordered in all things, and sure.” V. It is here further unfolded to us as the ONLY salvation (Isaiah 3:24). Bishop Lowth renders it, “ Only to Jehovah belongeth salvation and power.” “ Neither is there salvation in any other.” VI. It is an ETERNAL salvation (Isaiah 3:17). (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)Looking to Christ Faith is one of the principal subjects of sacred Scripture, and is expressed in various forms: sometimes in plain terms, but more frequently in metaphors borrowed from earthly things, and particularly from the actions of the body. I. EXPLAIN THE DUTY HERE BY THE OF LOOKING. Observe in general, that a man’ s looks often discover his condition and the frame of his mind. Hence we can understand a look of surprise and consternation, of sorrow and compassion, a look of joy, the look of a perishing supplicant, or of a needy, expecting dependant. If an agonising patient casts an eager look upon his physician, we understand it to be a silent petition for relief. Hence “ looking to Christ implies those suitable dispositions and exercises of heart towards Him, which are expressed by the earnest and significant looks of persons in a distressed condition towards their deliverer.” 1. Looking to Christ implies a particular notice and distinct knowledge of Him. 2. An importunate eagerness for relief from Him (Psalms 25:15). 3. A wishful expectation of deliverance from Him (Psalms 69:3). It may be illustrated by the history of the lame beggar (Acts 3:4-5). 4. A humble dependence upon Him for salvation (2 Chronicles 20:12). 5. A universal cheerful submission to His authority (Psalms 123:1-2). 6. A hearty approbation of Him as a Saviour, and supreme affection to Him. Love is often expressed by looks. 7. Joy and gratitude for His delivering goodness. II. URGE YOU TO LOOK TO HIM BY SEVERAL WEIGHTY . This is the great duty of saints and sinners, and consequently of every one in all ages and places, even to “ the ends of the earth.” 1. It is salvation we are called upon to pursue. 2. It may be obtained upon the easiest terms, without any personal merit, viz., by a “ look.” 3. It is Immanuel, the incarnate God, who commands and invites us to look. 4. He is the glorious and affecting Object to which we are to look. 5. Our looking shall not be in vain, for He is God, who engages to save those who look to Him. 6. It is vain to look elsewhere for salvation, and needless to fear His grace should be controlled by another; for He is God, so there is none else. 7. We, in particular, are invited, being especially meant by “ the ends of the earth.” (S. Davies, M. A.)The saving look I. THAT ALL MANKIND ARE TO SIN. II. THAT THE DESIRE OF MANKIND IS FOR . III. THAT THE ONLY SOURCE OF REAL IS TO BE FOUND IN GOD. “ Look unto Me.” “ I am God, and beside me,” &c. IV. THAT THE WHICH GOD HAS IS IN ITS , AND IN ITS EXTENT. “ All the ends of the earth.” V. THAT THE OF THIS IS . “ Look unto Me,” &c. What does this imply? 1. An apprehension of the object presented. 2. Of the good it proposes to impart. 3. An earnest desire to obtain it. 4. A vigorous use of appointed means. VI. THE GROUND OF . “ I am God” ; and therefore, know that you need it--have prepared it for you--invite you to partake of it--promise to impart it--warn you of the consequences of refusing it.None other can save you. “ Now is the accepted time,” &c. (R. Shepherd.)Life by looking Sin came by an unbelieving look. Eve saw that the tree was good for food and pleasant to the eyes. Distrusting God, she looked and plucked and ate. Salvation comes from a believing and trustful look. “ Look unto Me, and be ye saved.” To those “ who look for Him” will He appear with salvation. I. AS SIN FIRST ENTERED, SO IT STILL ENTERS. It enters through the eye. He who first saw the wedge of gold and the Babylonish garment lusted for them, went after them, took and hid them. Therefore it is wise to say “ Look not upon the wine when it is red,” for temptations come through the eye. The Scriptures tell of those whose “ eyes are full of sin” and cannot cease. This truth is realised in our own mournful experience. We look on injuries and brood over them. We contemplate objects of desire and lust after them. When it has conceived lust bringeth forth sin. II. COMES BY THE SAME EASY METHOD. “ Look unto Me and be ye saved.” 1. This is a spiritual vision. Some regard that which we call spiritual as unreal and dreamy, whereas carnality is unreal, and spiritual things are, of all, the most actual. 2. It is an immediate vision. Of our physical functions sight is the most immediate. So faith is the most positive and assuring. You end a dispute by saying, but I saw it with my own eyes and so I know it. The believer is able to speak thus of Him whom he knows, for he has seen Him. III. HOW ARE WE TO SEE CHRIST? In what respects? 1. As a Saviour. 2. As an Intercessor. 3. As King and Master. IV. THERE ARE SPECIAL TIMES WHEN WE SHOULD LOOK TO CHRIST. 1. In all our acts of public worship. 2. In temptations. Are you injured? Nothing so cleanses the heart of stinging pain as this. Do unholy desires annoy? Here is the remedy. 3. In approaching weakness. Though the outward man perishes, the inward man is renewed day by day. By looking the light will increase more and more to the perfect day. God has promised to show us the path of life. Evangelist asked the Pilgrim, “ Seest thou yonder light?” “ I think I do.” Evangelist by a long looking had acquired keen vision, and Pilgrim found his eyes opened as he looked. The way grew clearer, and you know the glorious end to which he came. His, weakness was perfected in his Leader’ s strength. The subject before us has a twofold application. 1. For self-examination. In our worship have we been looking only to God whom we have professed to address? In hymn and prayer and preaching have our acts been merely formal and professional? 2. By way of invitation. The invitation is to all, even to “ the ends of the earth.” (A. Whyte, D. D.)Salvation offered These words show us that we have need to be saved. We have to be saved from enormous evils. But there is a great change that must take place in everyone before he can be saved. There is no salvation to an unregenerate man. Let me remind you what God intends when He says, “ Look unto Me.” 1. He bids you look to Him for mercy, to save you gratuitously, without bringing to Him anything. 2. We should look to the Son of God, as well as to the Father--for His meritorious intercession--that we may be saved. 3. Look to God the Spirit, as well as to the Father and the Son. He who wrought mightily in the persecutor Saul, to make him an eminent trophy of grace and a large benefactor to his fellow-creatures, has no less power, condescension and goodness, to extend to you, and to give to you all the same principle, the same courage, and the same perseverance. 4. The same blessed duty rests on all of you who by the grace of God have looked to Him and lived. You are called to prosecute your journey heavenwards, from one degree of faith and grace and comfort and joy to another, till you reach your eternal home, every day looking to God that you may be saved. 5. But He never meant His servants to be selfish, as He is beneficent and good; and therefore let me bid you notice the extent of this invitation: “ All the ends of the earth.” Then it is God’ s will that Japan, and China, and India must look to Him and be saved, as well as we. At the time these words were uttered by the prophet, we were the ends of the world to them, as China, Japan, and Borneo are to us; yea, we were beyond the limits of the known world at that time. And we have heard the good news and believed. (B. W. Noel, M. A.)A Saviour I. The everlasting God, He who alone is God, declares Himself to be THE SOURCE OF . II. THE OF THE PLAN OF . “ All the ends of the earth.” Men of all tribes and kingdoms shall be made to feel the power of Almighty grace. The plan of salvation is adapted to every variety of circumstance. The monarch on the throne of vast empire--he is seated there in the sight of God a poor rebel, and he needs salvation. Or take the other extreme--the lowliest and obscurest of the children of men--he is a sinner before God, an immortal creature. III. GOD’ S SIMPLE COMMAND to the guilty and the lost, while announcing Himself as the Source of salvation, and while proclaiming its universality, is “ Look unto Me.” 1. To look unto God, as the Source of salvation, implies knowledge of Him. 2. The exercise of faith. 3. Confidence in God. 4. We may give emphasis to the expression, “ Unto Me.” God requires that you should look away from all other objects which would interfere with the entire yielding up of the whole soul to Him. 5. There should be in the mind of the believer a full assurance that He is able to save, and willing to save. (G. Fisk, LL. B.)Salvation obtained only by looking unto Jesus I. THE , “ Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth,” may be regarded as involving an offer of an invaluable blessing, a statement of the means by which the blessing is secured, and finally, an intimation of the extent of the offer made. II. THE REASON WHY THAT SHOULD BE WITH. “ For I am God, and there is none else.” There are two ideas involved in this statement. 1. That Jesus is the true God, and therefore able to save. 2. That on Him only should we depend, for there is no other being in the universe who is able to rescue an immortal soul from eternal ruin. We see from this subject-- 1. The folly and danger of unbelief. 2. The habitual duty of all true Christians. It is to look unto Jesus at every stage of their spiritual history. (P. Grant.)The Divine invitation I. THE SPEAKER. II. THE PERSONS . III. THE . IV. THE MANNER OF THEM. (Bp. R. Bickersteth, D. D.)Looking to Christ I. If you look unto the Lord Jesus you will see GOD . II. If you look to Jesus you will see LOVE --Divine love. According to the medium through which it shines, the same lamp can be made to give a radiance of a very different colour, a cheering or a gloomy light. In a sinful world like this, could you not easily imagine a vindictive incarnation and manifestation of the blessed God, which would have brought into the midst of our sinfulness the consuming fire of His holiness, which, thus coming in contact with our combustible corruption, would have turned our earth into an early perdition? But what was the actual fact? “ The Word dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” III. Looking unto the Lord Jesus, there is yet another sight with which the earnest sinner is regaled, and that is . IV. Whosoever looks at Him long enough, simply enough, intently enough, will find in Him , life transmitted from that Saviour unto his own soul. V. If you look to Jesus simply as God reveals Him in His Word, and as He is in Himself, you will see A LOVE- AND A LIFE- SAVIOUR; a Saviour who, when he attracts your love, will assimilate your life to His. (J. Hamilton, D. D.)Looking unto Jesus In these words, we have the same sort of invitation that we find in the New Testament: “ Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden” ; “ Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith” ; “ Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.” Such texts as these contain the very secret of Christianity. They meet all our wants, they heal all our sorrows, they save our souls. Christianity consists in having to do with Christ, in having the love of Christ implanted in the soul, and then the spirit of Christ guiding and influencing us every moment of our earthly history. I. AS TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE . “ All the ends of the earth” --all men. II. WHY ARE THEY TO LOOK? “ And be saved.” Now, under the New Testament you and I are directed especially to Jesus Christ. He tells us that no man cometh unto the Father but by Him. Look upon this for your encouragement, what faith sees when she looks upon Jesus. She finds love in Jesus, pardon in Jesus, peace in Jesus, eternal happiness in Jesus. And this is so with God. He sees the sinner in Jesus, He is satisfied with His atoning work, and accepts the believing sinner for His sake. III. HOW THEY ARE TO LOOK. The term “ look” in the Word of God is ordinarily intended to mean “ belief.” That we should look to the Lord Jesus expecting something, just as the lame man looked at Peter and John at the Beautiful gate of the temple, expecting to receive something of them. 1. If you can take this view of Christ, that He intends your salvation, then there will be a look of real sorrow for sin. We shall mourn for sin on the one hand, but rejoice in Christ Jesus on the other. 2. A look of acquiescence, of trust and confidence. 3. A look of prayer. (J. W. Reeve, M. A.)The saving look I. THE NATURE OF THE COMMAND, or what it is to look at the Lord Jesus Christ. 1. The very idea of looking to the Saviour, implies a looking off ourselves, our idols, our sins, our righteousnesses, and our unrighteousnesses. It is to look off our duties, our prayers, our tears, our humiliations, our resolutions, and simply and singly to look to Christ for salvation. 2. To look at Christ for salvation implies a conscious need of salvation. 3. To look at Christ is to look at Him not only as the very Christ of God, but as the Son of God. 4. To look at Christ is to look to Him for a whole salvation. II. THE OF THE PRECEPT. We have a natural disinclination to it; we naturally look at any other object. When in the world, and of the world, this is grossly the case. Our friends, our families, our prospects, profits, our pleasures, our sins, form our world. If we withdraw from its grossness, and are mingled Up with its more decent enjoyments, and add something of religion; its forms, its ceremonies, its worship, quite occupy us. Our little orbit of vision is full, quite full; we can look at nothing else. A mere hand before the eyes hides the sun. We think ourselves far better than many, far from being so vile as some; and even after the Holy Spirit has convinced us of sin, yet still what backwardness to look to Christ! III. THE BLESSED EFFECT OF OBEYING THE PRECEPT. Salvation. 1. How wonderful is this salvation--that one real look at Christ has eternal life in it; that if the vilest sinner do but look at Him, he is saved even at the eleventh hour! 2. The longer thou livest, the more the Spirit will open the depravities of thy nature to thee. As He does this, pray that He may open the very grace and glories of Jesus to thee. 3. When, through the power of the Holy Spirit, this peace is established in thy conscience, through the precious blood of the Cross, seek its increase into the full assurance of hope, in all the ways of holy walking, still looking to Jesus for all the supplies of His grace and Spirit. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)The extent of the Gospel call I. AN OBJECT OF . “ Me” ; the true God--the one Saviour, and none else but Me. But in what capacity is Christ exhibited in the Gospel? 1. As a Mediator. 2. As the Lord our righteousness. 3. As the Fountain to wash away sin. 4. As the sinner’ s Life. II. AN ACT CALLED FORTH. “ Look unto Me,” or as some would understand the original, “ Turn your face to Me from false idols.” This act implies-- 1. Knowledge. 2. Faith. 3. Conversion. Every man has gone astray from God. 4. A waiting posture. III. THE EXTENT OF THIS CALL. “ All the ends of the earth.” This phrase imples-- 1. That all men have gone astray from God. 2. That God is no respecter of persons. 3. That there is salvation in no other. 4. The sufficiency there is” m” Christ” to every returning, soul. IV. THE inseparably connected with a looking to Jesus Christ. “ And be saved” --not be made rich for threescore years and ten. No! “ and be saved.” (T. Jones.)Looking unto Christ I. IN WHAT MANNER WE ARE TO LOOK TO CHRIST. 1. With an eye of faith. To direct our thoughts to Him in the same manner as to any other person, is not enough. 2. With eager desire of relief. 3. With gratitude and love. 4. As an example of righteousness whom it behoves us to follow. 5. As our Intercessor. II. SOME TO ENFORCE THE DUTY. 1. Who is the glorious Object to which you are required to look? None other than the Son of God. 2. Who it is that requires you to look. 3. It is salvation for which we are to look. 4. The facility of the duty here enjoined. 5. The boundless extent of the invitation. (A. Ramsay, M. A.)Looking within, looking around, and looking up Let us hear the story of the Look--a story in three chapters. I. Chapter the first. HOW HE LOOKED WITHIN. I do not know much about him, except this. How it came about, indeed, I know not. Whether it was some sermon that smote him; whether it was the death of some neighbour; whether it was some peril of his own; whether it was some sharp sickness that overtook him, I know not; but so it was. One day that man stopped and looked in at himself, and he said, “ There is no mistake about it; I am wrong, I can see. I am all wrong, and I will just set to work, and I will make things right. I will turn over a new leaf.” And he set to work, and he began to tie up his sins with the strong cords of his resolutions and his good desires, and there he set them all of a row. This was never going to be indulged any more, and this should not, and the other should be denied. All went well for a day, and then something or other came across him, and snap went the cords, and up sprang one old sin. Snap went the cords, and another sprang at him. “ There,” he said, “ I knew that it was no good my trying,” and he just gave it up. Who is that? You. I think I see here a man who has turned over a new leaf. Here it is all white and clean without a blot. Ah, there is a blot now. Oh, there is another smudge; there is a mistake. If we cannot find a better way than turning over new leaves, we shall soon give it up in despair. Besides, if thou couldst do so, what would it do for thee? Here is a man who has got into low water, and he cannot make ends meet, and one day a friend steps in to advise him and finds him in a state of glee, and the man says, “ I have got credit for this, and I have received this” ; and there he is filling up the column of his receipts. “ Why, what does this mean?” says the friend--“ My dear fellow, you have forgotten the ‘ brought forward.’ You have left out the ‘ carried over.’” That dreadful “ carried over!” That awful “ brought forward!” What about the past? There it is, what can I do with it? We have not done with that chapter yet, for there is a second part of it. You say to me, “ Yes; I can see that if I am ever going to be what I want to be, I must just come right up to God, and let Him do it.” But, dear friend, what ails thee? “ Well, you see, I do not know. I have not got any faith. I have not got any repentance I have not got any earnestness. What is a man like I am to do?” Hast thou never learnt how to make thy hindrances into thy helps? Hast thou never learnt how to make thy very need thy claim upon thy God? I pray thee now, just as thou art, with all thy sense of want, lift up thine eyes. Why, the only thing that I know about repentance is what I feel in my heart when I see Jesus. I have never found any place of repentance except at the foot of the Cross. The only thing that I know about faith is what springs up in my heart when I look at Jesus. Faith does not come from looking within. Let thy whole soul say, “ I will look unto Him, and be saved.” II. Chapter the second. HOW HE LOOKED ROUND. You say, “ There is to-morrow; people would notice the change, and I should not like to tell them that I had given myself to the Lord Jesus Christ, and how I was going to be His soldier and His servant; and there would be the sneer, and scorn, and ridicule, and one would perhaps try this temptation, and another would see whether I could bear the other, and I do not know that I could.” The Gospel is, that Christ comes right to me and takes my hand. He lives, and He comes to thee and me, and He saith, “ Thou art setting forth to be My child and My servant, and I am never going to let thee be alone.” Now, wilt thou put thy hand in His? But we have not done with the second chapter quite yet. I can think of some one going a step farther and saying, “ Well, I do look to Jesus, you know, and I am looking to Him, and I have been trying to look to Him, but somehow or other I cannot get on.” Why not? Well, it may be that you are looking around still. Some of you say to me, “ Well, you see, I look to Him, but I cannot rejoice. I do not feel happy.” Well, I do not know that it says, “ Feel happy.” It says, “ Look unto Me, and be ye saved.” I think that we must let the Lord Jesus Christ take care of our feelings. All we have get to do is just to look to Him. But we look around at one man and another. Somebody says to me, “ John Bunyan went for three months weeping and crying. I am a dry eyes; I cannot shed a tear.” Well, who wants you to shed a tear? What have you got to do with other people? We will look no more round. III. Chapter the third. HOW HE LOOKED UP. You must look up. Will you? (M. GuyPearse.)Would you be saved? The object of salvation is to bring a man into harmonious communion with God. I. ALL MEN NEED TO BE SAVED. We need to be saved-- 1. From our propensity to wrong-doing. 2. We need also to be saved from our spirit of unrest. 3. From our weakness in being overcome by pain and trouble. 4. From our fear of death. II. GOD DOES NOT FORCE ANY MAN TO BE SAVED AGAINST HIS WILL. In the occurrences of this life we may have to employ force sometimes to save the body of a fellow-creature against his will. But God cannot act so, because He is God, and would have men love Him. The only way God has of compelling us to follow Him is through the attraction of His love, as shown in Jesus Christ, who laid down His life on the Cross for love of us. Love is the strongest power in the universe, for God is Love. III. THE POWER AND OF THE OFFERED TO US. 1. Its power. Salvation does not exist anywhere except in God. We ministers are only like the boys with handbills inviting you in to buy salvation from our Master without money. 2. The simplicity of the salvation. It is to be had for a look; but it must be-- (1) A penitent look. (2) A look of entreaty, the sort of look that a man has who is trying to save himself from drowning, and seeing you, calls to you for help. (3) A look of hope. (4) A look of faith. IV. IT IS A , embracing, “ all the ends of the earth.” You know what the “ ends” are. When a coat becomes frayed, or a shawl worn, the ends are of no use and you cut them off. The outcasts of men, of what use are they? This salvation is for the despised ones, for the very “ ends” that the world throws away; and, better still, it is for you. (W. Birch.)The Gospel simple, rich, universal I. HERE IS THE METHOD. “ Look unto Me.” I give the highest praise to the man of science who can unify the manifold facts of the world, and to the philosopher who can reduce to order the strange and complex phenomena of the mind. How I should thank the God who expresses His will for me in a single word, and that word so easy and unencumbered. II. HERE IS THE RICHEST BOON. “ And be ye saved.” Salvation is a treasure unutterably and inconceivably great. If it begins with “ no condemnation,” it ends with “ no separation.” There is pardon in it, and holiness, and wisdom, and power; there is the blessed life here, and hereafter there is the life of “ full and everlasting and passionless renown.” III. HERE IS THE WIDEST OUTLOOK. “ All the ends of the earth” --thus far the love of the Father and the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit travel and reach. There is nothing calculating, niggardly, arithmetical in God’ s largesse and bounty. (A. Smellie, M. A.)Look and be saved (Isaiah 45:22-25):-- I. A BLESSED . “ Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” 1. The subject to which it refers is unspeakably momentous. The word “ saved” is easily pronounced, but who can comprehend the fulness of its meaning? 2. The duty it enjoins for securing this great blessing is exceedingly simple. “ Look unto Me.” Many are quite confounded at the simplicity of the Gospel terms of salvation. 3. The range of this invitation is unlimited. “ All the ends of the earth.” The call is wide as the world. 4. The ground on which it rests is highly encouraging. “ For I am God, and there is none else.” In a previous verse it is said, “ They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.” The idols of the heathen are altogether impotent. But our God is able to save, and He alone is able. At the same time, something more than mere power is necessary, and that something is not wanting in Him to whom we are invited to look. He is “ a just God and a Saviour.” II. AN . “ I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return; that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” In reference to this subjection two things are stated-- 1. Its universality. In the time of Elijah, God had reserved unto Himself seven thousand men who had not bowed the knee to Baal; but here we have a period predicted when idols shall be utterly abolished. 2. Its certainty. “ I have sworn by Myself.” These emphatic expressions denote that the purpose was made in the most solemn manner, and ratified in the most sacred form. It is a purpose, therefore, that will be infallibly executed. “ From henceforth expecting.” says the apostle of the enthroned Redeemer, “ till His enemies be made His footstool.” And has He not ample grounds for such an expectation? The desires even of the righteous shall be granted, their hope will not be disappointed; how certain, then, must be the fulfilment of the desires and hopes of Him whom the Father heareth always? Is it not said, “ Ask of Me” ? &c. III. A WISE . “ Surely, shall one say,” &c. (Isaiah 45:24). The two blessings which are here referred to, are absolutely necessary to salvation, and all who are enlightened from above will be led to apply for them where alone they are to be found. It is here stated, “ Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength” : let each of us determine, by Divine aid, to be that one. It must be a personal resolution, as the surrender is a personal surrender. It is added, “ Even to Him shall men come, i.e they will apply to Him for these blessings. On the other hand, He will be made known by terrible things in righteousness to those who refuse to seek His face, and continue to rebel against His authority. “ All that are incensed against Him shall be ashamed.” IV. AN . “ In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.” (Anon.)The metaphor of looking In the language of metaphor the mind has got an eye as well as the body. We say, “ Look at this fact; look at this or that other historic personage; look at Luther; look at Julius Caesar; look at Abraham” ; and we all understand what is meant when such language is employed. It is in some such a way that we are told to look at the Saviour. (J. Hamilton, D. D.)Looking to God While the moon looketh directly upon the sun, she is bright and beautiful; but if she once turn aside, and be left to herself, she loseth all her glory, and enjoys but only a shadow of light, which is her own. (J. Trapp.)The contrite soul must look away from self Passing through a graveyard with her parents, a little girl drew them after her to look at a beautiful stone figure of the Christ, with a face full of suffering and yet of tenderest pity, leaning upon a massive marble cross. As they paused to look, she held her head down and said in a low voice, “ I can hardly lift up my eyes to look at Him, I have done so many wrong things.” It is just because we have done so many “ wrong things” that we have need to lift up our eyes to look at Him. (Quiver.)Looking Some years ago I was asked by a workman to see a dying fellow-creature, as this man said in his peculiar way, to “ pilot him to heaven.” I went, and found that the poor man was too far gone to speak. All he could do was to look. I did not know whether he could hear, for when I spoke he only looked at me. Wishing at least to show him the way of salvation, I took a picture from the wall, turned it, and then drew on it with my lead pencil the figure of the Cross with Jesus upon it. I held this picture before the man’ s eyes, and then he looked at me in an expressive way, and tried to nod his head. Shortly after he died. (W. Birch.)Looking up and lifted up In Mrs. Fletcher’ s biography she tells us of a convert who had a strange dream. He thought he was down a very steep well in the night, and, looking up, he saw a single star shining far above him, and it seemed to let down lines of silver light that took hold upon him and lifted him up. Then he looked down and began to go down. He looked up and began to go up, and he looked down again and began to go down; and he found that by simply keeping his eye on that star he rose out of the well, and his foot stood on the firm ground. A parable is in the dream. If you look down, you go down; if you look up, you go up. There must be first the looking up before there can be the lifting up. (J. S. Drummond.) Isaiah 45:24 Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength Our righteousness and strength It is important to us, in reading the Old Testament, and more particularly its prophetical portions, to take with us as our guide the well-known statement of the angel to the evangelist John: “ The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. ” The preceding verse contains one of the most remarkable predictions concerning the kingdom of Christ in the Old Testament, and in this prediction the kingdom of Christ is described as becoming universal and permanent. After such a prediction as that, we might have expected to find the prophet speaking of numbers being brought to acknowledge and to bow the knee to Christ. Instead of that, however, he speaks of one--a single, isolated, unknown individual; and he introduces to us this solitary individual as if the state of his mind, the subjugation of his heart to Christ, were an indication of the complete fulfilment of the most glorious prophecies of the universality of Christ’ s kingdom. In looking for the progress of the Redeemer’ s kingdom, we are too much disposed to undervalue individual conversions. We may trace the progress of Christ’ s kingdom in the subjugation of a single heart to the Saviour. I. THE STATE OF THIS ’ S MIND IN TO THE OF CHRIST. The term “ righteousness” is one of those words in the Bible which it is of the first importance that you should thoroughly understand. It includes all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done and suffered for us. Mark three stages in the history of this man’ s mind. 1. The first thing a man does when he is awakened to a sense of his need of some righteousness, is to try to find it in himself. But when once brought to see his own righteousness aright, he sees innumerable defects. 2. Look at the second step in this man’ s history. We might have expected that the man would have received this righteousness with promptitude; but he sets himself as deliberately against the righteousness of God as against the law of God. Long will he struggle against the friendly hand that would lead him to the Cross of Christ; but when brought there, he will exclaim, “ In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.” 3. Mark the third stage of the human mind in reference to the righteousness of Christ. This man appropriates it. II. HIS STATE OF FEELING IN TO THE OF CHRIST. This latter word, “ strength,” conveys an idea totally distinct from, and additional to, that suggested by the first. By the “ righteousness” of Christ we always understand what the Lord Jesus has done for us; by the “ strength” of Christ we always understand what the Lord has done in us; and it is the combination of these two that works out, in all its completeness, the salvation of an individual sinner. When he is first awakened to a sense of his own condition, he naturally tries to put forth his own strength, but he soon discovers that this is the wrong order. It is just in this way that the conviction is forced upon his mind that he has no strength in himself, but that there is strength for him in Christ. If you have sought Christ’ s strength and are conscious that you possess it, you must arise with vigour in the strength of the new man; and then, and not till then, will you go forth free. Mark the connection between the strength of Christ and the righteousness of Christ. The righteousness of Christ is laid hold of first, the strength of Christ is appropriated next. “ Unto Him shall men come.” That is the practical conclusion of the whole matter. (1) You ought to come. (2) You may come. (S. Luke.)Five Divine declarations God s power over mankind is exerted in a way of grace, although it is also true that His power is put forth in a way of judgment towards those who reject His mercy. I read, with delight, the expressions of my text as the decrees, and determinations, and promises, and declarations of the God of grace, who affirms that men shall say, “ In the Lord have we righteousness and strength,” &c. There are five Divine declarations in the text. I. THERE SHALL BE A PEOPLE WHO SHALL OWN THE TRUTH GOD. Our version says, “ Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength” ; but there are other readings which appear to be more accurate. “ Men shall say, In the Lord is righteousness and strength,” would be quite as correct a rendering, or even more so. It means that there shall be a people who shall confess that in God there is righteousness and strength. 1. They shall see these to be His attributes. 2. They will see that all their righteousness and strength must be found in God. 3. They shall be prepared openly to avow it. “ Surely shall one say,” &c. II. Men will not only own the truth concerning God, but THEY WILL ACT UPON IT. “ Even to Him shall men come.” III. THOSE WHO DO COME SHALL BE ASHAMED OF THEIR FORMER . “ All that are incensed against Him shall be ashamed.” 1. There are some who are angry with God’ s providence. 2. Some are incensed against God because of His law and its penalty, 3. Others are incensed against God because of the great plan of salvation. 4. Some are even incensed against the Saviour Himself. IV. The fourth Divine declaration is, that THE LORD’ S PEOPLE SHALL ALL BE . “ In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified.” V. THOSE WHO COME TO CHRIST, AND ARE IN HIM, SHALL GLORY. What does the text mean when it says that they shall glory? Sometimes, when I have been preaching in Wales, or among Methodists, when I have set before them good, rich, Gospel truth, perhaps two or three have shouted, at the same time, “ Glory!” And though it has not increased the solemnity of the service, it has added a good deal of vivacity to it. And, really, when we see what Divine grace has done for us, we often feel inclined to cry out, “ Glory! Glory be to God!” 1. Have not many of you felt the glory in your soul, even if you have not uttered it with your mouth? 2. But the Lord’ s true people will not keep that glory all to themselves. They shall so glory that they shall speak about it to others. 3. Those who truly know Christ will glory in Him alone. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Even to Him shall men come. Men coming to Christ The doctrinal truth, deduced from these words, is the certainty of men, as sinners, coming to Christ, and being saved in Him. It is but necessary to direct attention to the meaning and import of the terms, in the text, as seen in their connection with the context. I. The word “ HIM” viewed in its connection, points out several important particulars concerning Christ, His person, office, and work. 1. His person. The word “ Him” refers to Jehovah, as its antecedent. Redemption is the work of Jehovah. Christ is Jehovah--our great God and Saviour. But Christ is man, too. This constitutes the glory of Christ’ s person. He is a God-man. 2. His office The Mediator between God and man. 3. His work. The law is obeyed, magnified’ and made honourable, its penalty borne, infinite justice satisfied, and everlasting righteousness brought in. II. They COME to Him. To come to Christ is to believe upon Him. III. They SHALL come. The language expresses certainty. This certainty depends upon-- 1. The purpose of God. 2. The work of Christ 3. The agency of the Holy Spirit. IV. MEN shall come. No sinner who comes to Christ will be lost. Men do come to Christ and are saved. 1. They are justified. 2. Sanctified. 3. Preserved. (J. I. Dunlop.) Isaiah 45:25 In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified The believer justified and glorying in the Redeemer This passage is prophetic of the Messiah Isaiah 45:23 is quoted in Romans 14:11, and applied to Christ. I. Let us then attend to the assertion that “ IN THE LORD SHALL THE SEED OF ISRAEL BE .” 1. They are justified as it is through Him they obtain the forgiveness of their sins, and the acceptance of their persons in the sight of God. 2. As it is through Him they acquire a right to all the privileges of the children of God in a present and future state. II. HOW WE OUGHT TO GLORY IN HIM BY WHOM WE ARE THUS . 1. By entertaining suitable affections towards our Divine Redeemer. 2. Those who glory in Christ must avow their regard to Him before the world, and particularly by a frequent and devout attendance on the ordinances of the Gospel. 3. We must glorify Him by an active and steady zeal to promote the interests of His kingdom. 4. The seed of Israel are to glorify Christ by their patience and constancy under all their afflictions, especially those that are endured for His sake. (A. Hunter, D. D.). Isaiah 46:1-4 Bel boweth down Bel and Nebo Bel and Nebo are the Jupiter and Mercury of the Babylonian pantheon (they are represented by these planets), and were the supreme deities in Babylon at this time. Bel (Bilu) is the Babylonian form of the Hebrew Ba’ al (= lord), and like that word is a generic name applicable to any deity. When used as a proper name it usually denotes Merodach (Marduk), the tutelary divinity of the city of Babylon (Jeremiah 50:2; Jeremiah 51:44); although there was an older Bel, who is spoken of as his father. The elevation of BelMerodach to the chief place among the older gods, as recorded in the mythical Chaldean account of the Creation (Tablet 4.1 ff.), is the legendary counterpart of the ascendency acquired by Babylon over the more ancient cities of the Euphrates valley. Nebo (Nabu) was the son of Merodach; the chief seat of his worship being Borsippa, in the vicinity of Babylon. His name, which is supposed to be from the same root as the Hebrew nabi’ , “ prophet,” seems to mark him out as the “ speaker” of the gods (another point of contact with Mercury, “ the chief speaker” -- Acts 14:12). He was also regarded as the inventor of writing. The frequency with which the Chaldean kings are named after him (Nabo-polassar, Nebu-chadnezzar, Nabo-nidus) has been thought to show that he was the patron deity of the dynasty. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)A contrast--idols and God 1. This is an incident in the fall of Babylon. Cyrus has broken in, and the mighty city lies open to the Persian army, exasperated by long waiting at her gates. The blood of her nobles has flowed freely over the marble floors of her palaces; most of her defenders are slain. Women and children are cowering in the inmost recesses of their homes, or filling the streets with screams of terror and appeals for help, as they fly from the brutal soldiery. The final and most sanguinary conflicts have taken place within the precincts of the idol temples; but all is still now. The priests have fallen around the altars which they served; their blood mingling with that of their victims, and their splendid vestments are become their winding sheets. And now, down the marble staircases, trodden in happier days by the feet of myriads of votaries, 1 o, the soldiers are carrying the helpless idols. The stern monotheism of Persia would have no pity for the many gods of Babylon; there are no idol-shrines in the land of the sun-worshippers where they could find a niche: but they are borne away as trophies of the completeness of the victory. There is Bel, whose name suggested that of the capital itself. How ignominiously it is handed down from its pedestal! And Nebo follows. The hideous images, lavishly inset with jewels and richly caparisoned, are borne down the stately steps, their bearers laughing and jeering as they come. The gods get little respect from their rude hands, which are only eager to despoil them of a jewel. And now, at the foot of the stairs, they are loaded up on the backs of elephants, or pitched into the ox-waggons. In more prosperous days they were carried with excessive pomp through the streets of Babylon, wherever there was plague or sickness. Then the air had been full of the clang of cymbals and trumpets, and the streets thronged with worshipping crowds; but all that is altered. “ The things that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity” (Isaiah 46:12, R V). So much for the gods of Babylon being borne off into captivity. 2. Close on this graphic picture of the discomfiture of the gods of Babylon, we are invited to consider a description of Jehovah, in which the opposite to each of these items stands out in clear relief. He speaks to the house of Jacob, and to all the remnant of the house of Israel, as children whom He had borne from the birth, and carried from earliest childhood. Their God needed not to be borne, He bore; needed no carriage, since His everlasting arms made cradle and carriage both. Such am He had been, He would be. He would not change. He would carry them, even to hoar hairs. He had made and He would bear; yea, He would carry and deliver. 3. This contrast is a perpetual one. Some people carry their religion; other people are carried by it. Some are burdened by the prescribed creeds, ritual, observances, exactions, to which they believe themselves to be committed. Others have neither thought nor care for these things. They have yielded themselves to God, and are persuaded that He will bear them and carry them, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that they go, until they come to the place of which God has spoken to them Deuteronomy 1:31; Isaiah 63:9). (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Israel’ s infancy and maturer life “ From the womb” and “ from the lap” point back to the time when the nation whose existence began with Abraham, marching from Egypt, was born, so to speak, to the light of the world; from that time it has lain like a willingly assumed burden on Jehovah, who carries it as a nurse the babe (Numbers 11:12); as a man his son (Deuteronomy 1:31); as an eagle its young (Deuteronomy 32:11). The seneetus and canities in Isaiah 46:4 are self-evidently the nation’ s, but not as if this were at present in a senile state, but the yet future and latest days of its history. Up to that moment Jehovah is He, i.e the Absolute One, and always the same (chap. 41:4). As He has done hitherto, He will act in the future--bearing and saving. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)National life--its stages The general analogy between the life of individuals and that of nations, is sufficiently obvious, and is finely expressed by Florus, in his division of the Roman history into the periods of childhood, youth, manhood, and old age. (J. A. Alexander.)Idols found wanting, but Jehovah found faithful The confidence of Babylon is buried among her heaps of rubbish, for her gods have fallen from their thrones. As for us, our trust is in the living God, who lives to carry His chosen. I. FALSE PASS AWAY. 1. The Lord has made a full end of false gods and their worship. “ Bel boweth down,” &c. Not only concerning Bel and Nebo, but concerning many a set of heathen deities, a note of exultant derision may be taken up. “ The idols He shall utterly abolish.” 2. The like thing has happened unto false systems of teaching. If you are at all readers of the history of religious thought, you will know that systems of philosophy, and philosophical religions, have come up, and have been generally accepted as indisputable, and have done serious injury to true religion for a time; and yet they have vanished like the mirage of the desert. 3. It will be just the same with us if we trust in false confidences of any sort; such, for instance, as our experiences, or attainments, or services, or orthodox belief. II. OUR GOD ABIDES ALWAYS THE SAME. “ Even to your old age I am He.” He is always the same in Himself, and always the same to His people. 1. We rightly expect trials between here and heaven; and the ordinary wear and tear of life, even if life should not be clouded by an extreme trial, will gradually wear us out. What saith our God concerning the days of decline and decay? He says to us, “ I am He.” He will not grow weak. His eye will not be dim. His ear will not be heavy. 2. If life should flow never so smoothly, yet there are the rapids of old age, and the broken waters of infirmity, and the cataract of disease--and these we are apt to dread; but why? Is it not sure that the Lord changes not? 3. In the course of years, not only do we change, but our circumstances change. If you are where you ought to be, your confidence is in God now, and you will have the same God then, and He will still be your guardian and provider. His bank will not break, nor His treasury fail. 4. “ Ah!” say you, “ but what I most mourn is the death of friends.” Yes; that calamity is a daily sorrow to men who are getting into years. But the Lord says, “ I am He,” as much as to say, “ I am left to you, and will not fail you.” 5. Some trouble themselves more than there is need concerning prophetic crises which are threatened. We know so little of the future that to worry about it will be the height of unwisdom. The Lord took care of the world before we were here to help Him, and He will do it just as well when we are gone. We can leave politics, religion, trade, morals, and everything else with Him. What we have to do is to obey Him, and trust Him, and rejoice in Him. 6. “ Still,” says one, “ there are such evil tokens in the Church itself as must cause serious apprehension to godly men.” But never despair of the Church of God, for of her it is true, “ Even to hoar hairs will I carry you; to your old age I am He.” The Head of the Church never alters. His choice of His Church is not reversed. His purpose for His Church is not shaken. We shall see better days and brighter times yet, if we have but faith in God and importunity in prayer. III. WHILE FALSE PASS AWAY, GOD WILL FOR EVER BE THE SAME. His former mercies guarantee to us future mercies. 1. He says, “ I have made.” It is well to remember the mercy of God to us in our formation, and in the first days of our birth and infancy. But God made us in another sense. He new-made us. 2. Then He also tells us that He has carried us; and if we have been carried by Him, He will carry us the rest of the way. What a great care has our gracious God, since none of His children can run alone without His power, His love, His grace! 3. Practically, God’ s mercies through life are always the same. Notice two things which are always here--the same God and the same mercy. There is nobody else here but the Lord alone with His people. You and your God; and you are nobody but a poor thing that has to be carried. God’ s great “ I,” and that alone, fills up the whole space. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 46:4 And even to your old age I am He The best support in frailty Nothing can exhibit the character of God in a more amiable point of view, than the representations which the Scriptures give us of His conduct to youth and age. Youth is ardent, thoughtless, and presumptuous. But to them God says, Wilt thou not from this time cry unto Me, My Father, Thou art the guide of my youth? Old age needs a comforter. God saith in the text, “ Even to your old age,” &c. I. THE GOD HERE TO HIS AGED SAINTS. 1. God’ s continued presence with them. Few of the companions of their early days remain. But the Guide of their youth lives to be the companion of their age. 2. It implies unabated affection. The aged are ready to complain, and in many cases with truth, that relatives and friends are cold to them, and weary of them. They fear that their moral infirmities will provoke the anger of their Father in heaven. But God having loved His own that are in the world, will love them to the end. 3. The promise assures aged saints of the kindest tokens of endearment from their God and Father. He will bear them in His arms as the parent does the child for whose welfare she is most solicitous. 4. This promise assures aged believers of effectual support. Various are the burdens which the aged have to bear, and various are the duties which they are required to perform, and for which they have no might. In youth, saints are apt to err on the side of presumption, and in old age, on that of despondence. But the grace of God can strengthen the bending back and invigorate the fainting spirit. 5. It assures them of His patience and indulgence. This may be intimated in the phrase--“ I will bear.” Men are more disposed to bear with the young than with the old. He will correct you for the failings of age to secure their amendment, and to make your decline a more happy specimen of the beauty and the power of religion; but it will be with a gentle hand. He will dig about the aged tree and prune it, that it may still bear fruit. 6. The text contains a promise of complete deliverance. Many are the afflictions and temptations of old age, but the Lord delivereth them out of them all Human life is like a hill. Its sunny side we climb in childhood and youth; in middle life we loiter a while on its summit; in old age we descend its dark side, and at its foot lies the valley of the shadow of death. The staff which supported your decrepitude shall help you in your dying agony; the rod which drove enemies from your course shall terrify them from your pillow; yea, the Comforter of your age shall take you to Himself, that in Him you may find the bliss of eternity. II. THE GROUNDS OF IN THESE , that God will do all this to His aged people. 1. God hath made. His creating goodness is frequently employed in Scripture as an encouragement to hope in His protecting care (chap. 43:1, 2). Besides, you are His workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works. 2. The character of Him who makes the promise confirms it. What is the reason why the word “ I” is five times repeated in this verse? It is to point out the pleasure God takes in making promises of mercy to His aged people, and to fix their view on the Author of it, that they may confide more fully in its accomplishment. The greatest promises, if made by those destitute of power to fulfil them, excite contempt; or, if made by persons whose integrity is questionable, are thought of with the torturing anxieties of suspicion, rather than the comforts of hope; but in God we see everything to make distrust appear foolish and criminal, and to produce a steadfast and triumphant faith. Conclusion-- 1. This subject is admirably adapted to lead the aged to their proper duties. It should lead them to love God with all their heart and strength. The reflection, I am poor and needy, but the Lord thinks on me, is powerfully adapted to melt the heart. Your capacities of service are more limited than they once were; but this consideration should make you more zealous in the holy improvement of them. Let it teach you patience. Let it teach you to be joyful. Be not weary of a season thus marked by the Divine pity and care. 2. Let the conduct of God to the aged be imitated by us as far as possible. Let not your regard to them wax cold, though you may perceive in them increasing infirmities. Give them every proper testimony of your kindness. 3. Let aged transgressors consider, that none of these consolations is theirs, and that they exclude themselves from them by their temper and conduct. (H. Belfrage, D. D.)The aged saint comforted I. WHAT HAS GOD DONE FOR YOU ALREADY? “ I have made.” This brings Him very near. Others have claimed us as children; and we early learned to say, My father. But to them we owe our being subordinately, and instrumentally: to Him we owe it supremely and efficiently. They were “ fathers of our flesh” : but He is “ the Father of our spirits.” But there is another and a higher operation of which the Scripture-speaks. “ This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise.” “ We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” As the subjects of His grace, a foundation is laid for everlasting confidence and joy in Him. II. WHAT GOD WILL DO. 1. He will carry. This implies something more than to guide and to lead. It supposes helplessness on their side; and tender support and assistance on His. God has a large family; but, as Bishop Hall observes, none of His children can go alone. Yet they are not left to perish in their weakness. 2. He will deliver. This implies that they are exposed to danger; but that they shall not become a prey. He delivers them from trouble. In trouble. By trouble. III. BUT HOW LONG HOW FAR WILL HIS AND CARE EXTEND? “ To old age; to hoar hairs.” This is a period in which a man is deprived of many of his relations and friends; is gazed on by a new generation; feels a thousand infirmities, anxieties, and distresses; and is reduced to dependence upon those around him. 1. The promise does not necessarily suppose that you will reach this period. The meaning is, that if you should reach this period you need not be afraid of it; He will be with you, and “ a very present help in trouble.” 2. It is only said that He will be with you “ to old age, and to hoar hairs.” He will be with you all through “ the months of vanity, and the wearisome nights appointed you” ; He will be with you even when “ your heart and flesh fail you.” This is implied. But it was not necessary to mention it--old age and death are so near each other--they touch. This subject displays-- (1) The patience of God. What a number of provocations has He had to bear with from you in the course of sixty, seventy, eighty years! (2) Encouragement for those who are descended into the vale of years. Doubts may assail the mind of a believer to the last. But be of good comfort, ye aged servants of God. He will not turn you out of doors now your labour is over. Your salvation is nearer than when you believed. (3) What shall I say to the hoary-headed sinner? (4) What a motive is there here to induce us all to become the Lord’ s followers! (W. Jay.)The God of the aged I. THE OF THE TEXT I hold to be, the constancy of God’ s love, its perpetuity, and its unchangeable nature. God declares that He is not simply the God of the young saint; that He is not simply the God of the middle-aged saint: but that He is the God of the saints in all their ages from the cradle to the tomb. The doctrine, then, is twofold: that God Himself is the same, whatever may be our age; and that God’ s dealings towards us, both in providence and in grace, are alike unchanged. II. But now we come to our real subject, which is, to consider THE TIME OF OLD AGE AS A SPECIAL PERIOD, and to mark, therefore, the constancy of Divine love--that God bears and succours His servants in their later years. 1. Old age is a time of peculiar memory. 2. The aged man, too, hath peculiar hopes. He hath few hopes of the future in this world. But he has one hope, and that is the very same which he had when he first trusted in Christ. What is the ground of thy hope? Is it not the same as that which animated thee when thou wast first united with the Christian Church? Thou saidst then, “ My hope is in the blood of Jesus Christ.” And the object or end of hope, is not that the same? And is not the joy of that hope just the same? 3. Old age is a time of peculiar solicitude. An old man is not anxious about many things, as we are; for he hath not so many things for which to concern himself. He hath not the cares of starting in business, as he once had. He hath no children to launch out in business. But his solicitude hath somewhat increased in another direction. (1) He hath more solicitude about his bodily frame than he once had. Even your bodily pains are but proofs of His love, for He is taking down your old tenement, stick by stick, and is building it up again in brighter worlds, never to be taken down any more. (2) And there is another solicitude--a failure of mind as well as of body. God is just the same: His goodness does not depend on their memory; the sweetness of His grace does not depend upon their palate. (3) But the chief solicitude of old age is death. God’ s faithfulness is the same; for if nearer death, he has the sweet satisfaction that he is nearer heaven; and if he has more need to examine himself than ever, he has also more evidence whereby to examine himself. 4. Old age hath its peculiar blessedness. The old man has a good experience to talk about. He has peculiar fellowship with Christ. There are peculiar communings, peculiar openings of the gates of paradise, peculiar visions of glory, just as you come near to it. 5. The aged saint has peculiar duties. (1) Testimony. (2) Comforting the young believer. (3) Warning. Application-- 1. What a precious thought, young men and women, is contained in this text. You want a safe investment; here is an investment safe enough. Young man, God’ s religion will last as long as you will; His comforts you will never be able to exhaust in all your life. 2. Middle-aged men, you are plunged in the midst of business, and are sometimes supposing what will become of you in your old age. But is there any promise of God to you when you suppose about to-morrows? Listen to what David says, “ I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” 3. Venerable fathers in the faith, and mothers in Israel, take these words for your joy. Do not let the young people catch you indulging in melancholy, sitting in your chimney corner, grumbling and growling, but go about cheerful and happy, and they will think how blessed it is to be a Christian. (C. H.Spurgeon.)God always with His people When we begin with the Alpha of our life’ s spelling, we find Him good; and when we come to the Omega, and faintly pronounce the last letter of life, we know still better how gracious He is. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God’ s presence with the aged I remember, when I was a lad, I took a long walk from the place where I was working, late on a Saturday night, to my father’ s house; and all the way along that walk the night increased about me, the darkness got thicker and thicker. I knew that just before I should reach home I should pass through what to me was the gloomiest and thickest wood that ever was. It was gloomy even at midday. And I remember I was feeling my way through that dense wood, when suddenly my heart leapt to my mouth, and the same instant almost all my fears vanished. For a great, strong voice rang through every timber of the wood--“ Are you coming, Johnny?” ’ Twas my father coming to meet me! Oh,the night became almost light about me. I could almost fancy I saw the outline of a great, strong man flashed upon the darkness--so vivid was the impression, not only on the ear, but also on the imagination. Then the whole darkness was vocal with the crash of his voice. Some of you are in darkness. It is wearing late, my brother. It is getting dark and late and lonely, and not many people are tramping your road now. Time was when the road was filled with your friends. You are like one who sits up far into the night, and sees the lights in the neighbours’ houses one by one put out, while the darkness and silence are deepening round about him. But suddenly, suddenly, in this darkness and loneliness, God’ s voice rings out, “ I am here; fear not; never nearer than now, in your hoar hairs and old age.” (J. M‘ Neill.)The reward of life-long consecration to God In our great naval and military hospitals, it is only those grey-haired veterans who have fought the battle in youth and manhood, who can be received as in-door pensioners. It is long and devoted service which is the passport to admission there. The inmates bear upon them marks of the fight--the mutilated limb or the scar of battle, or medals hang on their breast, the mementoes of brave and heroic deeds. Let us work while it is called to-day. Let us give to God, not the crumbs which fall from life’ s table, but the best of the feast; not the evening hour of weariness and sleep, but the morning prime of active energy; not the few stray winter berries left on the top of the olive tree, but the ripe and abundant autumn fruits. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)Old age with and without God Old age without God--it is the picture of querulousness, discontent, fretfulness, gloom! Old age with God--it is love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness. Old age without God--it is graphically described, in this chapter, as the overturn of all worldly pride and glory--“ Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth” ; it is the spoliation of the earthly temple, the pillage of everything that ministered to earth’ s ephemeral happiness. Old age with God--it can stand with the prophet, even in the midst of catastrophe and ruin and death, claiming as its own the sustaining words, “ Even to your old age I am He,” &c. (J. R.Macduff, D. D.)I have made, and I will bearCreating and carrying I. The two ideas of creating and carrying are thrown together, and in such a way as to show that they are related: that IN THE FACT OF GOD THE CREATOR LIES THE FACT OF GOD THE . We must not let the fact of redemption, wonderful as it is, throw the fact of creation into the background; because the two are inseparably linked. Redemption, in one sense, grows out of creation. Because God made man in His own image, He is bent on restoring him to that image. Because God made us, God loves us, educates us, bears with us, carries on the race on the line of His infinite patience, ministers to us with help and sympathy, is burdened with our perverseness and blindness, yea, comes down in person into the sphere of our humanity and takes its awful load of sin and sorrow and pain and death upon Himself. In anything that one makes he has a peculiar interest. The young artist knows that his first picture stands no chance in comparison with the works of his masters, and yet that piece of canvas is more to him than a Raphael or a Rembrandt. Love seems to thrive on defect. The idea is worked out in Wordsworth’ s little poem, “ The Idiot Boy.” And the same fact holds on the moral side. Parental love is not conditioned on a child’ s goodness. All this is familiar enough. Are we afraid to carry the truth farther up--up to God? Are we of those who say that God must be just and may be merciful--as if mercy were not one of His essential attributes as well as justice? Why should the “ must” hold in the one case any more than in the other? All that is included in the word “ bear” is practically pledged to us in the fact of creation. One reason why we take so slowly to the idea of God’ s bearing or carrying us, is because we divorce it from the fact that He made us; and we rook at the bearing simply as a concession, forgetting that God the Redeemer is bound up with God the Creator. You find that in the New Testament. Take the parable of the Prodigal Son. What is at the bottom of the whole story but this truth of sonship? It is that which defines the measure of the prodigal’ s sin. That also defines the father’ s longing, and the joy over the returning son, the free forgiveness and the festivity. God is under the stress of the parental instinct to take our sicknesses and to bear our infirmities, and He yields to it, gives Himself up to it in His own Divine measure. I am saying nothing which goes to mitigate the essential badness of sin, or God’ s hatred of it, or to deny the fact of God’ s punishment of it. Even fatherhood has limitations. God cannot restore His erring child without conditions. Simply to forgive the past is not enough. God aims at the perfect establishment of the filial relation, and that cannot be without a filial heart in the son, and the son’ s cheerful obedience. If the prodigal had not come back repentant, he would not have had the robe and the ring. II. SOME OF THE ASPECTS UNDER WHICH THIS TRUTH OF GOD’ S BEARING ITSELF. 1. It appears as a matter of tolerance. It is perfectly clear from the Bible that God’ s love for His children makes Him bear patiently with their infirmities and errors. When an enthusiastic sculptor has once conceived the idea of a statue, he is not daunted by hardness in the stone, nor by defects in the grain. He is bent on carrying out his cherished ideal. The greater the difficulties, the more his energies are called out. Are we to suppose that God conceives a purpose less sharply or works it out with less intensity than a man does? This idea of bearing is at the root of the doctrine of Christ’ s atonement. The truth also comes out experimentally in the Christian life of each one of us. Every one, if he is honest with himself, knows that God has had much to bear with him, and knows, too, how patiently God has borne it: and every one of us has had experience of God’ s bearing in the sense of sympathetic love and helpfulness. How many of us know from most blessed experience what it is to have a great High Priest touched with the feeling of our infirmities. How many of us have known what it was to have Him bear our heavy load for us; and therefore, in the way that lies before us, can we not trust in larger measure the love of Him who made us to bear with us? God makes nothing in vain. When He made man in His own image, He did not make him to gratify a caprice, or in mere wantonness of power. He made him with a solemn, an awful, a glorious purpose over which He took heaven into counsel: and be sure that He will accomplish that purpose, that His patience shall not fail, that He who made will bear until He shall have perfected His work. 2. And meanwhile let us not forget the lesson of His bearing as it speaks to us of duty. Let us not presume on it. (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)God our burden-bearer I. THE BURDENS FOR WHICH GOD MAKES HIMSELF . The lives of most of us are heavily weighted. We began our race unencumbered, but the years as they have passed have added burdens and responsibilities. There is the burden of existence. Of sin. Of responsibility for others. Of our life-work. In all these things we are doomed to be solitary. Each human soul must bear his own burden. We are a deadweight; but it matters nought to Him. II. THE REASON WHY GOD ASSUMES THIS . “ I have made, and I will bear.” When a parent sees his own evil nature re-appearing in his child, so far from casting that child aside, and quoting its faults as reasons for disowning it, he draws nearer to it, filled with a great pity, and murmurs, “ I have made, and I will bear.” When a man has elicited in another a love which will never be at rest till it has nestled to his heart, even though considerations arise which make it questionable whether he has been wise, yet as he considers the greatness of the love which he has evoked, he says to himself, “ I have made, and I will bear.” When a Christian minister has gathered around him a large congregation, and many have been converted from the world, as he looks around on those who count him captain or father, he says to himself, when voices summon him elsewhere, unless some overmastering consideration is pressed upon him, “ I have made, and I will bear.” Now let us ascend, by the help of these reflections, to the Divine nature, which is not above similar considerations. He has made and fashioned us; He has implanted within us appetites that only He can satisfy; He has placed us amid circumstances of unusual difficulty, and entrusted to us work of unwonted importance; He has committed to us the post of duty which taxes us to the uttermost: and because He has done all this, He is responsible for all that is needed for the accomplishment of His purposes. III. THE WHICH ARISES FROM THESE . 1. In hours of anguish for recent sin. The sin is our own. And yet from the depth of sin-consciousness there is an appeal to God. He created, permitted us to be born as members of a sinful race. He knew all we should be, before He set His heart upon us and made us His own. May we not ask Him to bear with us whom He made, redeemed, and took to be His children by adoption and grace? And will He not answer, “ I have made, and I will bear” ? 2. In moments of great anxiety. 3. In days of anxious foreboding. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)False and true religion--bearing or borne It makes all the difference to a man how he conceives his religion--whether as something that he has to carry, or as something that will carry him. We have many idolatries and idol manufactories among us. This cleavage is permanent in humanity--between the men that are trying to carry their religion and the men thatare allowing God to carry them. Let us see how God does carry. 1. The first requisite for stable and buoyant life is ground, and the faithfulness of law. What sends us about with erect bodies and quick, firm step, is the sense that the surface of the earth is sure, that gravitation will not fail, that our eyes and the touch of our feet and our judgment of distance do not deceive us. Now, what the body needs for its world, the soul needs for hers. For her carriage and bearing in life the soul requires the assurance that the moral laws of the universe are as conscience has interpreted them to her, and will continue to be as in experience she has found them. To this requisite of the soul God gives His assurance, “ I have made, and I will bear.” These words were an answer to an instinct, the instinct that springs from the thought, “ Well, here I am, not responsible for being here, but so set by someone else, and the responsibility of the life, which is too great for me, is His.” God’ s Word comes to him to tell him that his instinct is sure. 2. The most terrible anguish of the heart, however, is that it carries something which can shake a man off even that ground. The firmest rock is of no use to the paralytic or to a man with a broken leg. And the most steadfast moral universe, and most righteous moral governor, is no comfort--but rather the reverse--to the man with a bad conscience, whether thatconscience be due to the guilt or to the habit of sin. Conscience whispers, “ God indeed made thee, but what if thou hast unmade thyself? God reigns; the laws of life are righteous; creation is guided to peace. But thou art an outlaw of this universe, fallen from God of thine own will. Thou must bear thine own guilt, endure thy voluntarily contracted habits. How canst thou believe that God, in this fair world, would bear thee up, so useless, soiled, and infected a thing?” Yet here, according to His blessed Word, God does come down to bear up men. The thing is man’ s realest burden, and man’ s reaiest burden is what God stoops lowest to bear (chap. 53:4, 11). God has made this sin and guilt of ours His special care and anguish. We cannot feel it more than He does. 3. But this Gospel of God’ s love bearing our sins is of no use to a man unless it goes with another--that God bears him up for victory over temptation, for attainment in holiness. God never gives a man pardon but to set him free for effort, and to constrain him for duty. He bears us best and longest by being the spirit and the soul and the life of our life. The Lord and His own are one. 4. God does not carry dead men. His carrying is not mechanical, but natural; not from below, but from within. You dare not be passive in God’ s carriage. Again, in His bearing God bears, and does not overbear, using a man not as a man uses a stick, but as a soul uses a body,--informing, inspiring, recreating his natural faculties. Many distrust religion, as if it were to be an overbearing of their originality. But God is not by grace going to undo His work by nature. “ I have made, and I will bear” --will bear what I have made. If that be God’ s bearing, how wrong those are who, instead of asking God to carry them, are more anxious about how He and His religion are to be sustained by their consistency or efforts! (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.) Isaiah 46:5 To whom will ye liken Me?-- Idols cannot represent God The Jews might have alleged that they served not the false gods of the Gentiles, but the God of Israel; and that they used images when they worshipped Him only that they might have before their eyes, like other nations, some beautiful object. This delusive notion is here reprobated; and they were taught that there is neither likeness nor equality betwixt the true God and these foolish pretended resemblances made of Him by the hands of men. (R. Macculloch.)God incomprehensible by mere reason God asserts an immeasurable difference between Himself and all created beings. 1. We distinguish the Creator from every creature by declaring Him self-existent. There is no way of accounting for the origin of everything except by supposing something which never had origin. Nothing could have begun to be unless there had been something which never began to be. Here is the grand distinction between the Creator and the creature: the being of the one is underived, and that of the other derived. The existence of all creatures is a dependent existence; it has been imparted by another, and may be withdrawn by that other. The existence of the Creator is a necessary existence, altogether independent, indebted to none for commencement, and resting on none for continuance. It is by His name Jehovah--that name which breathes self-existence--that God proclaims Himself inscrutable and unimaginable. 2. We learn from this the vanity of all attempts to explain or illustrate the Trinity in Unity. If we were able to produce exact instances of the union of three in one, we should have no right to point it out as at all parallel with the union of the Godhead. We ought to know beforehand that the created can furnish no delineation of the uncreated; so that it shows a forgetfulness of the self-existence of God to seek His resemblance in what He hath called into being. He best shows the workings of a sound judgment and ripened intellect who, in such a matter as the doctrine of the Trinity, submits to the disclosures of revelation, and receives it on the authority of God, though unable to explain it through any reasoning of his own. The doctrine of the Trinity is above reason, but it is not against reason. 3. Consider the paramount importance of the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity is so bound up with the whole of Christianity, that to think of removing it and yet of preserving the religion is to think of taking from the body all its sinew and its bone, and yet leaving it all its symmetry and its strength. The whole falls to pieces if you destroy this doctrine. The short but irresistible way of proving that the doctrine of the Trinity is in the largest sense a practical doctrine is to remind you that if this doctrine be false, Jesus Christ is nothing more than a man and the Holy Spirit nothing more than a principle or quality. To remove the doctrine of the Trinity is to remove whatever is peculiar to Christianity, to reduce the religion to a system of loftier morals and stronger sanctions than the world before possessed; but, nevertheless, having nothing to deserve the name of Gospel, because containing no tidings of an expiation for sin. (H. Melvill, B. D.) Isaiah 46:9-11 Remember the former things of old The purposes of God I. When we come to look at THE OF GOD, we must not be misled by words. The word “ purpose,” with us, supposes several things, which have nothing to do with the same term when applied to God. There is, with God, no ignorance previously to the formation of His purposes; no new light thrown on circumstances, out of which His purpose arises; no period in His past eternity, when His purposes were not formed; no consulting either with Himself or with others, with regard to their formation. Perhaps you may be ready to say, if we are to look at the purpose of God in this way, it is not a purpose at all, in the sense in which we use the term. And it certainly is not, as you will perceive. We accommodate human language to the infinite characteristics of the Divine nature; but we must do it with caution, and must be careful what measure of idea we associate with our common terms, when we are applying them to God. If not, we shall be deceived in the conclusions we draw and the doctrines we believe. If the purpose of God is to be viewed as it really is, we take it to be simply this: God’ s foreknowledge of everything that is to come to pass, together with the operation of His influence upon that foreknowledge, in connection with those things. His foreknowledge had no beginning; His resolution, as to what He was to do, could have no beginning. From the moment He foresaw, He resolved or purposed. Such appears to be the meaning of the word “ purpose” as applied to God. If it should be said, “ This is a view of ‘ purpose’ altogether foreign from the view we take of it,” we grant it. But why? Because the nature of God is altogether foreign from ours. Ours is a finite and limited nature in itself; His is infinite and unlimited. II. THE OF GOD’ S PURPOSE IN TO MAN. 1. Are we to regard the purposes of God as involving in them the charge of originating immorality and sin? Did God purpose that man should be a sinner? If His purposes are to be taken and explained, as we take and explain our own, then this was the case. If He foresaw that man would fall before He made him, yet had not determined whether He should permit this or not, and then permitted it, we should say that the purpose of God implies in it a part at least of the moral guilt of His creature. But He had formed no such purpose as this. He foresaw that man would fall; He foresaw the provision that was to be made for his case; but there was no period in eternity when He had not foreseen this, and hence no purpose arose out of the mere incident of the liability of man to fall. He was left to the working of those powers which God gave him: and with the working of those powers the purposes of God never interfered. 2. But if we look not merely to the connection between the purpose of God and the origin of evil, but also to the connection between the purpose of God and the free agency of man, we have another field opened to us, in examining which we must very carefully recollect the views that we have taken of the Divine purpose. When God created man, He gave him powers and faculties which He intended to commit to his trust, and which He aid commit to his trust. He foresaw what use he would make of them, and how far he would abuse them; but He did not destroy them, in order that they might not be abused. There is an entire freedom in the operation of our faculties, so far as our own consciousness is concerned; are they not also exhibited to us as free, in the Word of God? Are we not addressed upon the subject of our shortcomings and our sins, as if we were held strictly free by the God that addresses us? Are we not hailed to return from our iniquity, as if we were free to return? Are we not invited to “ lay hold on the hope set before us in the Gospel,” as if we were free to accept the invitation? Let us look next at the view that men take of our capacity; and we shall find, that except when they are induced to quarrel with the Word of God, except when they are induced to throw difficulties in the way of their own salvation, they too act upon the principle that man is free. 3. But let us look at the purpose of God in reference to man’ s responsibility. If man were not free, on what ground could he be held to be responsible? and does any one doubt of his responsibility to God? The responsibility of man arises out of the very nature of his faculties, just like the proof of his free agency in the use of them. And we find the Word of God harmonising with the view, which our own faculties would alone give us, in holding the responsibility of man. Then what has the purpose of God to do with our responsibility? It merely foresees the consequences of that responsibility, and purposes to leave the man to those consequences. Reject and neglect the “ great salvation,” and you cannot be saved: such is the announced purpose of God. Accept that salvation, and “ he that believeth shall be saved” : such is also the announced purpose of God. His purpose, therefore, in all these respects, is nothing more than His foreknowledge, connected with His determination respecting what He foresees; both the foreknowledge and the determination how He shall act in reference to what He foresees, being eternal. 4. Regarding the purpose of God in this light, we may take yet another view of its application, namely, its connection with the Gospel of Christ. With your belief, or your unbelief, the purpose of God has nothing to do, except so far as that purpose determines to reward the one, and to punish the other. (1) Remembering these things, which of you would be disposed, in the face of the nature of God, in the face of his own consciousness, in the face of the settled opinions of all men and all ages, in the face of the Word of God itself, to say that he is not held responsible for the exercise of the powers which God has given him? In everything but religion, we act upon this consciousness of freedom and responsibility. (2) Let us associate our own salvation with the determined purpose of God, that they who come to Him shall “ in no wise be cast out,” and that he that believeth shall and must be saved. (J. Burner.)A fourfold aspect of the Infinite I. AS THE ONE AND ONLY GOD. “ I am God, and there is none else.” The Bible establishes the doctrine of monotheism. This doctrine-- 1. Agrees with our spiritual nature. The whole soul, both in its searches after truth and love, one for the intellect, the other for the heart, struggles after unity; it turns to the centre, as the needle to the pole, as the flower to the sun 2. Explains the harmony of the universe. How is it that all things in their constitution fit into each other, and in their operations are so harmonious and uniform? The whole machine shows in all its parts and revolutions that it had but one Architect. 3. Makes clear human obligation. If there be but one God, His will should be the supreme law of all our activities; His being should be the centre of our sympathies and love. Were there more gods than one we might be distracted on the question as to who should have our love and obedience. II. AS WITH ALL THE OF THE . “ Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done.” There is one mind in the universe, and only one, whose infinite glance comprehended all, swept over all space, and over all durations. Though such a fact baffles all our attempts at comprehension, its denial would undeify God. The whole history of the universe, from beginning to end, was in His mind before it took active shapes, or concrete embodiments. Hence-- (1) He can have no surprises. (2) He can have no disappointments. III. AS NOTING THAT CAN BY ANY FAIL. “ My counsel shall stand,” &c. 1. God has a concern for His pleasure. The apostle calls His pleasure a “ good pleasure.” What is it? The pleasure of disinterested benevolence. 2. All God’ s purposes point to His pleasure. Whatever will make His creatures happy is His pleasure; and the whole universe is constructed on this principle. 3. None of God’ s purposes shall fail. “ My purposes shall stand.” The special purpose here referred to was terribly realised (Daniel 5:30). Our purposes are constantly being broken; the vast shore of human history is crowded with the wrecks of broken purposes. Our purposes are broken sometimes-- (1) Through the lack of power to carry them out. (2) Through the lack of time to carry them out. God has ample power and ample time to carry out His purposes. IV. AS HAVING POWER TO EVEN UNGODLY MEN TO HIS SERVICE. “ Calling a ravenous bird,” &c. In God’ s great moral kingdom He has two classes of servants. (1) Those who serve Him by their will--all holy angels and sainted men. (2) Those who serve Him against their will--wicked men and devils. Conclusion--What an ennobling view of our God! He is One: let us centre our souls on Him; He knows all futurities, let us trust His providence. He will fulfil all His purposes, let us acquiesce in His arrangements. He renders even His moral enemies subservient to His own will, therefore let us “ trust in Him who liveth for ever.” (Homilist.)Cyrus, a ravenous bird Cyrus is compared to a “ ravenous bird” on account of the celerity of his movements (Isaiah 41:3), just asNebuchadnezzar had been likened to an eagle (Jeremiah 49:22;Ezekiel 17:3). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.) Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning God as a Worker God is not a passive existent, resting idly in immensity. He is essentially, incessantly, everlastingly active. He “ fainteth not, neither is weary.” He has done wonderful things, and He will do wonders more. The text suggests four things in relation to God, as a Worker in the future. I. HE KNOWS ALL THAT IS TO BE DONE IN THE FUTURE. “ Declaring the end from the beginning.” When we embark in an enterprise, difficulties start up in our path that never entered into our calculation and baffle us. Not so with God. When He began the work of redemption, He saw all the infidelities, superstitions, depravities, devils, and hells that would oppose Him. II. HE HAS ALL THAT IS TO BE DONE IN THE FUTURE. “ Declaring,” &c. Applying the words to redemption, He has declared in many a grand prophetic passage what will be its end, sweeping all wrongs and woes, all sins and sufferings, from this planet, and filling it with Christly virtues and heavenly blessedness. Yes, and more, peopling heaven with untold millions of souls. His declaration of “ the end” is very explicit, very frequent, very encouraging. III. HE WILL EXECUTE ALL THAT IS TO BE DONE IN THE FUTURE. “ My counsel shall stand.” He will employ thousands of instrumentalities and ministries, but He will do it. They will work by His direction, and by His power. He will do it gradually and efficiently. IV. HE HAS A IN ALL THAT IS TO BE DONE IN THE FUTURE. “ I will do all My pleasure.” To re-create and re-paradise lost souls is His pleasure. He rejoices over repentant sinners. (Homilist.)My counsel shall standGod’ s standing counsel To form a plan and then to alter it, or to have a fixed plan and to fail in it, is one of the many sad imperfections of humanity. In the first ease, some new light springs up which was not evident before. In the second some difficulty arises, which, as a mountain, hinders the carrying out of the plan. But who can suppose any of this in God--a Being of Infinite Power? (Isaiah 40:15-17.) With Him thereis no difficulty. He is a Being of Infinite wisdom. Nothing escapes Him. The past, the present, the future are an everlasting now. Unchanged are His resolves, as His nature is unchangeable (Psalms 33:11; Proverbs 19:21; Proverbs 21:30; Acts 5:39; Hebrews 6:17). I. THE . 1. We see this exemplified in the works of nature. Such is the regularity of all that the Great Mechanist is too usually lost sight of in the very machinery of His hands, as if it worked by its own power, regulated itself. 2. Still more distinctly do we see this declaration in the works of Providence. Wheel runs within wheel, but He is in every wheel, whatever its direction, whatever its movement. He is directly or indirectly in it. Look at Cyrus. Look at the history of Joseph. Look at Jesus Himself. (Acts 2:23; Acts 3:18; Acts 4:26-28.) 3. But if He does all His pleasure in His works of creation and providence, how much more in the greater, infinitely greater displays of Himself in His grace, which is His glory! (2 Timothy 1:9.) II. THE GROUND OF SUCH . “ I will do all My pleasure.” It is His own work. True, He works by means, and most commonly by human instrumentality. But it is in all respects His own work. 1. The subject has an awful look upon any who have been trifling. “ My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure. Look at the fall. Look at the sin and sinfulness of this polluted world. These are but a fearful comment on “ My counsel shall stand.” “ In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” “ By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” Look at the flood. Look at Babylon. Look at Jerusalem. 2. The subject is most encouraging to every returning sinner. 3. This is most consolatory to the tried saint. 4. Beware of any abuse of this great and glorious truth. If God’ s counsel standeth fast, and He does all His pleasure, it is that God who delights in human instrumentality. (J. H. Evans, M.A.) Isaiah 46:12-13 Hearken unto Me, ye stout-hearted God’ s voice to sinners I. A . 1. Insensibility to the good. “ Stout-hearted.” The word “ stout-hearted” does not mean courageous, intrepid, morally brave; it means hardness, obduracy, spiritual stubbornness. It represents a soul dead to all that is spiritually true and good. 2. Alienation from the good. “ Far from righteousness.” To be “ far from righteousness” is to be far from all that is noble, Godlike, and happy; it is to be in the kingdom of darkness, and in regions under the ban of Heaven. II. A PROMISE. “ I bring near My righteousness,” &c. “ Righteousness and salvation” are in morals convertible terms. The promise is, Divine deliverance to men in this wretched condition. This deliverance God brings near to the sinner. “ Near” -- 1. In the Gospel of Christ. 2. In the ministry of the good. 3. In the suggestions of conscience. 4. In the spiritual influence of events. III. AN URGENT DUTY. “ Hearken unto Me.” 1. Earnestly. Withdraw thine ear from the din of worldliness, sinful thoughts, and carnal passions, and open it to Me when I speak. Adjust yourself in a listening attitude. 2. Constantly. I am constantly speaking in nature, in conscience, in history, as well as in the Gospel. All My voices are one in significance and aim. I am calling you to My “ righteousness” and “ salvation.” 3. Practically. What I say attend to. Don’ t let My voice pass away in mere impressions. Act on My counsels, obey My behests. (Homilist.)God’ s call to the unrighteous 1. The first thing on which we would fasten your attention is that God’ s dealings with mankind have been all of a character which may be called unexpected. We do not believe that any reason could have been given why men should be redeemed, had the question been proposed to higher ranks of intelligence. Nay, forasmuch as no provision had been made for the rescue of fallen angels, it could not have been imagined that any would have been made for the rescue of fallen man; the conclusion must rather have been that ruin followed inevitably on rebellion, and there could not be reconciliation where once there had been offence. Even now that we know of the Mediator’ s interference we can trace it to nothing but the unmeasured love of God, and can give no account of the wondrous matter of our redemption save that so it pleased Him “ who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” 2. We may be sure, that having summoned the stout-hearted to hearken, the words which immediately follow are such as God knows to be specially adapted to the case of the stout-hearted, that is, to contain the motives which are most likely to bring them to contrition and repentance. The nearness of salvation is made an argument with the ungodly why they should turn from evil courses, just as preached the Baptist--“ Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3. God goes on to speak with more distinctness of His purposes of mercy “ And I will place salvation in Zion for Israel My glory.” We may believe of this prophecy as of similar ones where Zion is mentioned, that it refers originally to what Christ would accomplish at His first appearing in Judea, and delineates also what He would effect at His Second Advent. This salvation God placed in Zion, for it was only by the going up of the Mediator as a victim to the altar, by His ascending the Cross erected upon Calvary, that the curse of the law was exhausted and the honour of the Divine attributes secured. “ For Israel My glory.” Wonderful words! I had thought that “ the heavens declared Thy glory” ; I read of the glory of the Lord like a devouring fire abiding in Sinai; and when the sun and moon are withdrawn from the firmament, of the New Jerusalem I am told that “ the glory of God doth lighten, it.” In such cases, if I cannot define the glory, I am at least dazzled by its shinnings, and there Is something of correspondence between what I know of the nature of God and what I hear of His glory. But that man, fallen, sinful man should be His glory, the mortal the glory of the immortal, the corruptible the glory of the incorruptible--in this is a mystery which might seem too deep to be fathomed by our searchings, yet not a mystery while I have the Bible in my hands and know what God “ hath done for us men and for our salvation.” (H. Melvill, B. D.)The ungodly world I. THE UNHAPPY MORAL OF THE WORLD. 1. A condition of moral stubbornness. 2. Of moral unrighteousness. II. THE OF HEAVEN. “ I bring near,” &c. 1. Christ has brought righteousness very near to mankind. It is inculcated in His teaching, exemplified in His life, honoured in His death. 2. Christ has brought salvation very near to mankind. It comes within the reach of all to whom His Gospel is preached. “ Say not in thine heart who shall ascend up into heaven,” &c. III. THE URGENT DUTY OF MANKIND. “ Hearken unto Me.” Why this attention? 1. It is only by faith that the remedial provision can be enjoyed. 2. It is only by attention that this faith can be attained. “ Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” (Homilist.) Isaiah 46:13I bring near My righteousness Justifying righteousness brought near It appears from a comparison of many texts of Scripture, that when the word “ righteousness” is connected, as in this passage, with “ salvation,” it does not mean the Divine attribute of justice or rectitude, but the work of righteousness wrought out by the Lord Jesus Christ, and which it is the grand design of the Gospel to reveal and make offer of to sinners of mankind for their justification--their salvation. I. Let us inquire with reference to THE SPOKEN OF, why it is termed, in this and so many other parts of Scripture, “ the righteousness of God” ? The Lord terms the work of His Son Jesus Christ--His obedience unto death--His whole endurance of the curse, and fulfilment of the precept of the law, His own, God’ s righteousness. There is no difficulty in seeing why it should be called Christ’ s, because He wrought it out. Our question is, Why the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ is termed “ the righteousness of God” ? 1. It is so called, in marked contrast and opposition to man’ s own fancied righteousness (Romans 10:3). 2. Because it is that which God has, for the sinner’ s justification, devised, provided, and stamped with the seal of His approabation and acceptance. 3. Because it was wrought out by God in the person of His eternal Son--Emmanuel, “ God manifest in the flesh.” II. WHERE, HOW, AND TO WHAT PARTIES OR PERSONS THE LORD BRINGS THIS NEAR? 1. Where? In the Gospel (Romans 1:16). 2. How? In the free and earnest character of the offers and invitations of the Gospel. 3. To whom? “ Ye stouthearted that are far from righteousness.” Ye that not only have no righteousness but are living at ease,--“ stout-hearted,” careless, and indifferent, for the present, at least, about finding one--“ I bring near My righteousness” to you. While ye despise it, “ stout-hearted,” I offer it to you; while ye are “ far from righteousness,” righteousness is brought near to you--it is pressed and urged upon you. Improvement-- 1. It may occur to some as an objection, What use in bringing near, and freely offering, a salvation to men wholly indifferent about it? There can be no doubt, that so long as men are “ stout-hearted, and far from righteousness,” they cannot, in the very nature of the thing, embrace this righteousness; and the offer of it to them is thus, in one sense, to no purpose. But only in one sense. For, not to speak of believers, who often find their hearts so hard, that till they see invitations to the “ stout-hearted,” they cannot perceive their warrant at all to trust in Christ--the very freeness and universality of the offer, coming with overwhelming grace upon the “ stout-hearted” sinner, may just be among the most powerful means blessed of the Holy Ghost for awakening him to deep and serious concern and thought. 2. That you may see how little weight there is in the objection to the doctrine of Christ’ s righteousness as the ground of justification, observe that we read comparatively seldom in Scripture of the righteousness of Christ--generally of the righteousness of God. 3. We might have remarked, on the question, how the righteousness is brought near, that, besides the freeness and urgency of Gospel offers, the Lord comes specially near at particular seasons, in the events and dealings of His providence. (C. J. Brown.)Two aspects of salvation The two verses express a paradox which enters deeply into the thought of the prophet. While salvation is near in point of time, yet Israel is spiritually far from it. Hence the work of salvation or righteousness has two aspects; along with the providential deliverance of which the agent is Cyrus, there is an inward and spiritual salvation which consists in bringing the nation to right thoughts about itself and God. And in this spiritual transformation the instrument is the servant of Jehovah. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Jehovah’ s righteousness and Israel’ s salvation (with Isaiah 51:5):-- I. What are these two things--JEHOVAH’ S AND ISRAEL’ S ? How are they related to one another and connected with one another? And what in particular is the meaning of the precedence or priority assigned to the one as coming before the other--My righteousness, My salvation? 1. It is very evident that the Lord’ s righteousness must mean, not a Divine attribute, but a Divine work, or effect or manifestation of some kind. 2. A judicial dealing with His enemies, on the part of God, precedes and prepares the way for the deliverance or salvation of His people; and when He brings near the one, the other will not tarry. 3. God must first consult for His own righteous name before He can consult for His people’ s complete safety; He must first right Himself before He can consistently and conclusively deliver them. Only in the train of the righteousness of God can His salvation go forth. II. It may be said that THE LORD BRINGS HIS NEAR, or that it is near, in three senses. 1. In the Gospel offer as a free gift, wholly of grace, not of works at all. 2. In the powerful striving and working of His Spirit. 3. In the believing appropriation of it which His Spirit enables you to make. (R. S.Candlish, D. D.)I will place salvation in Zion, for Israel My gloryThe connection between the use of means and the accomplishment of Divine purposes I. THE DIVINE WHICH THE SACRED REVEAL. They have respect-- 1. To the exhibition of God’ s glory in the development of His perfections. 2. To the deliverance of mankind from the consequences of sin. 3. To the establishment of Messiah’ s kingdom in the earth. 4. To the total overthrow of the empire of darkness. 5. To the everlasting happiness of believers in the realms of glory. II. WHAT MEANS ARE FOR THE OF THESE . 1. The means which are primary. (1) The mediatorial character of Christ. (2) The agency of the Holy Spirit. (3) The energy of Divine providence. 2. Those means which are subordinate. (1) The revelation of God’ s will in the inspired volume. (2) The preaching of the Gospel. (3) The constitution of the Christian Church. III. THE WHICH EXISTS BETWEEN THE USE OF MEANS AND THE OF THE DIVINE . That such a connection exists we may argue-- 1. On the principle of analogy. Through all the works of God there is an evident connection between the means and the end. 2. There is a peculiar fitness in the means to accomplish the end. 3. From Divine authority. That the means shall accomplish the end is the frequent subject of the Divine promise. 4. The evidence of fact further establishes this connection. 5. To deny this connection involves the greatest absurdity. IV. THE OF THE . 1. Ought we not to consider our personal interest in the subject? We are within the precincts of the Divine purposes, and the means of their accomplishment. 2. This subject strongly inculcates holiness in the disciples of Christ. Both the means and the end seem encircled with a halo of sanctity. 3. We learn our obligation and encouragement in the use of appointed means. 4. Let us be careful that the means we employ are those only of Divine appointment. 5. How dreadful the condition, and dangerous the conduct, of those who oppose the Divine purposes, and despise Divinely appointed means! (J. R. Cooper.). Isaiah 47:1-3 Come down, and sit in the dust Dirge on the downfall of Babylon: Babylon is pictured as a royal lady, dethroned, led in captivity over the streams to a distant land, and there made the meanest slave behind the millstones. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.) Isaiah 47:3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered Mental and moral nakedness Every person hath somewhat which may properly be called his nakedness or shame, in a figurative sense--such as a weak judgment, imprudence, inconsideration, injustice, cruelty, avarice, poverty, or contempt of religion. Over that he studiously endeavours to throw a veil, that it may be preserved from public observation. Now, when the covering is taken away by which any of these things were concealed, then people’ s nakedness or shame is laid open to the inspection of those who possess penetration and discernment. (R. Macculloch.)A fearful meeting I. “ THY SHALL BE .” Man practises deceit. He imposes upon himself, and, as far as possible, upon his fellows. He cloaks his sins, his motives, his evil ways. He is not sincere in his professions, not open in his conduct, not honest in his judgments. Sin itself is a monstrous deceit and lie. The author of sin is a “ liar.” And so with the children of the devil. There is nothing in them--in their hearts, lives, characters--that will stand the light of the throne. The truth will flash the sunlight into the chamber of the soul, and into every transaction of life, and lay bare to the eye of God and the quest of the universe the true real state and status of the moral man. Then “ thy nakedness shall be uncovered.” The awful sight of a rational and immortal soul, steeped in guilt, lost to virtue and to God, and deceived to its eternal undoing, will shock the very heavens. II. “ YEA, THY SHAME SHALL BE SEEN.” The shame of wanton rebellion against the great God, our Heavenly Father; the shame of sinning unto death against the Cross of the loving and dying Christ; the shame of consummating a character of incorrigible wickedness, and a doom more awful than that of sinning angels, under all the light and influences of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. To look upon such shame in the judgment day will shock and confound the sinner himself, and fill all heaven with loathing and indignation. III. “ I WILL TAKE , AND I WILL NOT MEET THEE AS A MAN.” The vengeance of God! Who can stand before it? The partial displays of it in this life, where wrath is restrained and clemency bears rule, are fearful tokens of what is in store for those who refuse offered mercy and exhaust God’ s long-suffering goodness in the world of retribution. It is awful to face an angry man whom we have grievously wronged. It is more fearful still to confront a stern judge, who, as minister of the law we have broken, makes inquisition upon us. But oh, to stand face to face before the offended Majesty of heaven, now risen up to take “ vengeance” upon the despisers of His grace, is a thought that may well fill us with the profoundest concern. (Homiletic Review.)I will not meet thee as a man“ I will not meet thee as a man” The sense is very obscure. (Skinner.)“ I will run against no man,” namely, that I should need to give way to him. (Stier.)“ I will not intervene as a man.” (Ruetschi.)“ I shall not meet a man, so depopulated will Babylon be.” (Hahn.)“ I shall encounter no one who can resist Me.” (Cheyne.)It means to encounter, meet, hit upon one, not only in a hostile, but also, as here and Isaiah 64:5, in a friendly sense; so I will befriend no one, pardon no one. (Delitzsch.)“ Vengeance I take, and strike treaty with none.” (G. A. Smith.)Possibly, “ I will take vengeance, and will not spare, saith our Redeemer.” (A. B.Davidson, D. D.)Independently of these minuter questions, it is clear that the whole clause is a laconic explanation of the figures which precede, and which are summed up in the simple, but terrific notion of resistless and inexorable vengeance. (J. A. Alexander.)“ I will not meet thee as a man” “ I will not meet thee as a man,” whose compassion may induce him to show ill-judged forbearance and clemency, but thou shalt have judgment without mercy, who hast showed no mercy: I will not meet thee with the justice of a man, that may be perverted, but with that impartial equity which can neither be corrupted nor evaded. I will not meet thee with the anger of a man, which for certain reasons may be concealed or deferred, but with my fierce wrath that shall inevitably consume thee. I will not meet thee with the strength of a man, that may be opposed or vanquished, but clothed with omnipotence that cannot be resisted, so that it shall appear that it is not the vengeance of man, but of God. (R. Macculloch.)God meeting sinners as a man His threat is a threat of departure from His usual course. Thus, the expression is resolvable into a statement, that there is a human character about God’ s dealings with men, and that it is an evidence of His not having given them up to vengeance, that He continues to meet them “ as a man.” Let us consider the evidences which we have, that as a God of love, God meet us “ as a man.” I. Let us begin with those OF THE HOLY GHOST, through which God may emphatically be said to “ meet” us, to come in contact with us. There is much of mystery around these operations; we recognise them by their effects. Not only are these operations hidden from others, but the very party himself, within whose breast they are making themselves felt, can give little or no account whence they come, or how they work. He resolves whatever he experiences into the strugglings of his own mind, and the wrestlings of his own conscience. Would it be for our advantage, that, in meeting us, God should meet us as a God, and not “ as a man” ? We could not have borne that God should have spoken with us by unearthly voices, and warned us by unearthly spectacles, and approached us through unearthly avenues. Hence, the evidence that God has dealt lovingly with us, when we observe the appointed method in which the Spirit operates it is, that Divinity may be said to identify itself with humanity. II. The mind turns naturally to THE GREAT SCHEME OF , and finds at once in that scheme full material of demonstration. Does it not commend itself to us as an arrangement beautifully indicative of the tenderness of God that the “ great High Priest of our profession,” who was essentially Divine,-was, at the same time, “ a man” ? I the Divine nature had entered union with the angelic so that God had met us, not “ as a man,” but as a cherub or seraph, we should have had no power, comparatively, of estimating what had been done on our behalf. We have little or no knowledge of higher orders of being, and there could consequently have been nothing which came home to the heart in the tidings of a Mediator, who, though essentially God, had assumed, for our sake, the likeness of one of those ranks. But when, in order to the meeting us in love in place of vengeance, God has become man, we can judge, we can feel the stupendousness of this humiliation. III. WHEN COME TO DIE, how are they accompanied through the dark valley and across the dark waters? God still meets them “ as a man.” “ Thy rod and Thy staff” a sheperd’ s implements, a man’ s implements--“ they comfort me.” IV. What shall we say to THE SEAT, occupied by One so terrible in His splendour that the very earth and heavens flee away at His presence? This is the last great display of the mercy of that appointment through which a man has been given as a Mediator. How could an angel, with all his purity and his equity, make due allowance for human infirmity, or place himself in our circumstances, so as to decide with reference to our powers and opportunities, and thus throw into his verdict that consideration for our trials and temptations, without which, if there may be the strictness of justice, there can scarcely be the admixture of mercy? But the Man who hath “ borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” this is the Being who is to gather all nations before Him, and determine the eternal condition of each individual. V. We may draw one more striking illustration of the text from THE MEANS THROUGH WHICH THE GOSPEL IS . In the great work of gathering in the nations, and shrining the religion of Christ in the households and hearts of the human population, the Almighty makes not use of lofty angels, who have “ kept their first estate,” but of persons who are themselves in peril, themselves but wrestlers for immortality. God, in the person of His ambassadors, might have met us as an angel, and not “ as a man.” You could not, as you listened to the angel, or reflected on his preaching, put from you the feeling that he knew nothing experimentally of your trials, nothing of your difficulties--that he had no evil heart to struggle with, no mighty foes to withstand him in a course of obedience; and very easy you would think it, for one pure as this exalted creature to urge upon men the practice of righteousness, and to declaim with lofty vehemence on the vanity and worthlessness of the best earthly pleasures; very easy to recommend that to which he is prompted by his nature, and to denounce that for which he has neither inclination nor capacity. And this feeling would tell quickly and fatally on the moral hold which he might gain on an audience; making them suspicious that he spake on a matter of which he was no fair judge, and giving to the whole discourse the aspect of an airy speculation. Therefore is it in love to you that God meets you “ as a man.” (H. Melvill, B. D.) Isaiah 47:7-11 And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever False security I. THE CAUSE OF THEIR . They did not lay this to heart (Isaiah 47:7), did not apply it to themselves, and give it due consideration. They lulled themselves asleep in ease and pleasure, and dreamed of nothing else but that “ to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.” They did not “ remember the latter end of it” --the latter end of their prosperity, that it is a fading flower and will wither; the latter end of their iniquity, that it will be bitterness; that the day will come when their injustice and oppression must be reckoned for and punished. II. THE GROUND OF THEIR . They trusted in their wickedness and in their wisdom (Isaiah 47:10). 1. Their power and wealth, which they had gotten by fraud and oppression, was their confidence. 2. Their policy and craft, which they called their wisdom, was their confidence. III. THE OF THEIR . Three things this haughty monarchy said in her security. 1. “ I shall be a lady for ever.” She looked upon the patent of her honour to be, not during the pleasure of the Sovereign Lord, the fountain of honour, or during her own good behaviour, but to be perpetual to the present generation, and their heirs and successors for ever (Revelation 18:7). 2. “ I shall not sit as a widow,” in solitude and sorrow; shall never lose that power and wealth I am thus wedded to. The monarchy shall never want a monarch to espouse and protect it, and to be a husband to the State; nor shall I “ know the loss of children.” 3. “ None seeth me” when I do amiss, and therefore there shall be none to call me to account. It is common for sinners to promise themselves impunity because they promise themselves secrecy in their wicked ways. IV. THE OF THEIR . It shall be their ruin. 1. A complete ruin; the ruin of all their comforts and confidences (Isaiah 47:9). 2. Sudden and surprising. The evil shall come in one day, nay in a moment. “ Thou shalt not know from whence it riseth,” and therefore shalt not know where to stand upon thy guard. Babylon pretended to great wisdom and knowledge, but with all her knowledge cannot possess, nor with all her wisdom prevent, the ruin threatened. 3. Irresistible (Isaiah 47:11). (M. Henry.)Earthly honour fleeting Saints shall be saints for ever, but lords and ladies will not be so for ever. (M. Henry.)Afflictions in perfection (Isaiah 47:9):--Afflictions to God’ s children are not afflictions in perfection; widowhood is not to them a calamity in perfection, for they have this to comfort themselves with, that their Maker is their husband. Loss of children is not, for He is better to them than ten sons. But on His enemies they come in perfection. (M. Henry.)Sinful boasting The utterance of proud Babylon is identical with that of the vain and self-confident in all ages. The delusion prosperity produces in such men or nations is always of this sort. This expression suggests that lengthened prosperity in the case of the ungodly leads to-- 1. False security. 2. Presumption. “ A lady for ever,” i.e in my own right; “ no contingency can arise to deprive me of any title and wealth.” 3. Boasting. The vernacular of pride--“ a lady,” superior to others. 4. Self-satisfaction. “ A lady.” “ I am that now. None will dispute it” Revelation 3:17). 5. Abandonment to luxury. “ A lady for ever.” I mean to be at ease, to enjoy life. 6. Spiritual blindness. Prosperity dazzles the eye; the future is willfully disregarded. Conclusion--Remember the desolation of self-confident Babylon-widowhood, childlessness, poverty, famine, shame, disease, insanity, exile, death. (R. A. Griffin.)Thou didst not lay these things to thy heartNeglected warnings God warns before He strikes. I. THE COURSE OF CONDUCT . “ Thou didst not lay,” &c. This insensibility to the threatened judgments of heaven is-- 1. Very common. 2. Very sinful. 3. Very foolish. 4. Very dangerous. II. THE FEARFUL --a type on a large scale of the overthrow of sinners. 1. The certainty of it (Isaiah 47:8-9). 2. The suddenness of it. “ In a moment” (Isaiah 47:9). 3. The retributory character of it. An exact proportionment of the punishment to the crime. No undue severity shown even to Babylon (Isaiah 47:6; James 2:13; Revelation 18:5-6). Nor even to the chief of sinners. Always a just recompense of reward. 4. The utter hopelessness of those on whom it comes (Isaiah 47:12-15). (S. Thodey.) Isaiah 47:10 Thou hast said, None seeth me Omniscience ignored I. THIS NOTION HAS GREAT UPON THE CONDUCT OF MAN. Such a notion is convenient. Concealment is the helpmeet of wrong. It is not necessary that this be formulated. It is sufficient if the mind accustoms itself to question whether God sees. The sinner will take advantage of a doubt. II. THIS NOTION IS UTTERLY AND . III. GOD HAS OFTEN, IN HUMAN , SHOWN THE OF THIS NOTION, AND THE TIME IS FIXED FOR THE OF ITS . 1. Character is often seen through by man. 2. Retribution often follows man’ s deeds in the present world. 3. The future state will show what God saw. (Pulpit Analyst.)Practical atheism and genuine piety (with Genesis 16:13):-- I. ATHEISM. “ Thou hast said, None seeth me,” i.e. God is indifferent to our conduct. This is the practical denial of Divine omniscience. This haughty language suggests a sad tendency in human nature. The causes of this tendency are-- 1. Dislike of God. 2. Dread of God. II. GENUINE PIETY. “ Thou God seest me.” 1. The very nature of God implies this. 2. The Bible teaches it. III. GENERAL which this subject conveys. 1. It warns the wicked. 2. It should restrain from evil. 3. It should incite to a beautiful and useful life. 4. It should comfort and strengthen the people of God amid the duties and conflicts and trials of life. (A. Tucker.)“ None seeth me” Graceless men, having hid God from themselves, think also to hide themselves from God. (J. Trapp.)Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted theePernicious knowledge I. EXAMINE AND THIS . 1. Of what wisdom and knowledge does Isaiah thus speak? It was human wisdom and science in the highest perfection! To this Babylon even the sages of Greece came as learners. 2. Against this wisdom and knowledge the Scriptures bring the charge of perverting men’ s minds in morals and religion (text; Ezekiel 28:3-7; 1 Corinthians 1:21-27; 1 Corinthians 3:18-20; Romans 1:22-23). 3. That this testimony is not overcharged, all history proclaims. 4. All this is accounted for by the Scriptural account of the fall of man. Intellectual blindness is upon the heart of man; all his rational faculties are incapable of just conclusions on any religious subject, except they be assisted by a supernatural power. 5. Hence it inevitably follows that the cultivation of the intellectual parts of man can of itself have no tendency towards moral or spiritual good. If all the mental powers of man be in themselves depraved, the increase of his intelligence can only increase his faculty of evil; so that secular education, apart from religious and moral control, must be in itself a curse and not a blessing. It may create a generation of philosophic sceptics and apologists for vice, or even praters about virtue, but a moral and religious people it never has produced, and never can. II. THE REMEDY WHICH GOD HATH AGAINST ALL THESE EVILS. 1. The supreme need is instruction in the wisdom and knowledge which are of God, above those which are of men. 2. This wisdom and knowledge must be imparted by those means which God has appointed. The Bible. Preaching. The instruction of children in Divine truth. (F. Close, M. A.) Isaiah 47:11-15 Therefore shall evil come upon thee Sudden destruction The predicted calamity is represented as a great storm, which suddenly arises in eastern countries, and blows with such violence as to Spread devastation and ruin wherever its fury extends. (R. Macculloch)False securities: an exposure and a challenge Can you find a solitary instance in which God approved iniquity? Was ever His sword sheathed in presence of evil? This constancy of judgment upon corrupt ways is itself an argument. One act of moral hesitation would have destroyed God! Time cannot modify Divine judgments. What was wrong in Babylon is wrong here: what was right in the most ancient time will be right on the world’ s last day. We should remind ourselves of these elementary principles; for their very simplicity may cause us to neglect their claims. We shall regard the solemn denunciations as if spoken to our own city. I. LOOK AT THIS PICTURE OF UTTER AND MOST PAINFUL . “ Evil shall come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.” There are times when the wind seems to be blowing from all quarters at once. There are times when all things seem to have a controversy with us. We set down our feet, and, lo, they are fastened to the ground: we put forth our hand, and an invisible weapon smites it: we look round, and behold the path is ploughed up, so that there is no way of retreat. We lose our own sagacity. Our wit fails us. Once our mind was quick, now it is dead or helpless. We lose confidence in ourselves; substances become shadows; the strongest of our fortresses melt away; and in our friend’ s face there are discovered lines of suspicion or of mortal hate. This is the necessary and inevitable result of sin. 1. We have been warned of it. 2. A way of escape has been made. II. HEAR THE DIVINE TO THE FALSE POWERS IN WHICH WE HAVE TRUSTED. “ Stand now with thine enchantments,” &c. (Isaiah 47:12). Think that we are now called upon to set out in order the false securities in which we have trusted! There is one,--Money; there is two,--Chance; there is three,--Self-confidence; there is four--Atheisticspeculation. Now let them do for us all they can. God has challenged them! 1. They ought to be most useful when most needed. 2. They should show their sufficiency by their fearlessness. It is a challenge. I hear the whirlwind coming,--get out your money. You thought something would happen--something is happening,--God’ s judgment is descending; where is your God Chance? You have confidence in yourself; be it so; make bare your arm,--see, it is but lightning,--it is but flood upon flood,--it is but world dashing against world, &c. “ Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.” There is to be a great collision. In that collision only the true can stand. III. SEE THE DOOM OF FALSE . “ Behold, they shall be as stubble,” &c. (Isaiah 47:14). 1. Let no man complain of want of opportunity of observing the value of his moral securities. 2. Let no man complain of having been allowed to live unwarned. 3. Think of so living that at last a man shall be left without a coal at which to warm himself! This is the end of sin,--this is the worthlessness of false gods! So far as we have had experience of life, we have seen the terrible failure of all false things. We have seen the judgment of God in parts. It is not all left to be revealed. We are entitled to reason from the past to the future; and when our own experience has, as a matter of fact, confirmed the revelation of God, we may know that future to be a terrible one to the servants of unrighteousness. What is the duty of man as dictated by mere common sense? It is to seek and trust that which is true. (1) We cannot escape the trial of our securities. (2) If we set ourselves against God, we challenge all the forces of His creation, fire, wind, flood, pestilence, &c. “ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (J. Parker, D. D.)Monthly prognosticators (Isaiah 47:13):--The special reference is to the preparation of monthly almanacs (based on astrological calculations) in which coming (disasters were foretold, lucky and unlucky days pointed out, &c. A specimen of these almanacs is translated by Sayce in Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archeology. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.) Isaiah 47:14 Behold, they shall be as stubble God’ s judgment as consuming fire The flame is no comfortable fire for warmth, no hearth-fire (Isaiah 44:16) to sit in front of; but, on thecontrary, consuming, eternal, i.annihilating flames (Isaiah 33:14). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The portion of the ungodly I. With reference to the FIRST . 1. One of the most striking thoughts which it conveys to the mind is this, that the punishment of the wicked will be easily inflicted. “ They shall be as stubble.” Nothing can be more easy than to kindle stubble when it is fully dry. Oh, ungodly and impenitent man, there is that in thyself to-day which, let alone and permitted to ripen, will bring a hell upon thee. Thou hast in thyself the power of memory, and that power shall become a vehicle of sorrow to thee. Thou hast, beside thy memory, a conscience; a con science which thou hast striven to silence; but, even drugged and gagged as it is, it sometimes makes thee feel unhappy. You will then find that you cannot palliate the guilt of sin. Thy memory and thy conscience shall be as two great millstones grinding thee to powder. Then, added to thy memory and to thy conscience, there shall come thy increased knowledge. Thou knowest enough now to leave thee without excuse, but then thy knowledge shall increase so as to leave thee without pretence of apology. Thou shalt then perceive the craft of the tempter who deluded thee. Thou shalt then see the blackness and the filthiness of sin as thou dost not see it now. Then shalt thou understand the greatness and the goodness of the God whom thou hast despised; thou shalt then discern the glory of the heaven which thou hast lost; thou shalt then begin to get an idea of that eternity which shall roll over thy head for ever. Beside, think of thy companions. Shut up fifty drunkards and profane men together, and would they not soon make a hell for themselves without any interposition of Divine power? What will it be when they are bound up in bundles; when the tens of thousands of those who obey not Christ shall find themselves in their own place? 2. This punishment shall be most searching and terrible. The metaphor of fire is used in Scripture because it is that which of all things causeth the most pain, and is the most searching and trying. As fire consumes, and so reaches to the very essence of things, so shall the wrath to come reach to the very essence and subsistence of the soul. 3. This destruction will be most inevitable. “ They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame.” There is hope now; there shall be no hope then. The Lord Jesus, though the most loving of spirits, was the most awful of preachers; and in His sermons, while there is everything that could melt and woo, there is no lack of the great and terrible thunderbolt, and the sounding forth of wrath to come, and the judgment which must await the impenitent. II. BUT OUR TEXT NOW CHANGES ITS FIGURE. “ Thus saith the Lord, There shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it” ; by which is meant that there shall be nothing in hell that can give the sinner a moment’ s comfort; nothing. III. And now our text bids us “ BEHOLD,” therefore I pray ye turn not away your eyes from this meditation. 1. Children of God, behold it; it will make you grateful. Does not the thought of the misery from which you have escaped make you love your Saviour? And oh, will it not make you love poor sinners too? 2. But specially, you that are unconverted, the text says, “ Behold.” It is a gloomy subject for you to think upon, but better to think of it now than to think of it for ever. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 48:1-2 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob God’ s appeal to Israel The lessons of God’ s method of prophetic revelation which Israel is to lay to heart. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)“ The waters of Judah” The people, by natural figure, are described as streams from the fountain of Judah (Psalms 68:26). (J. A. Alexander.)Hollow profession Here is-- I. . II. FORM. III. . IV. YET NO REAL . (J. Lyth, D. D.)“ Hear ye this” I. How? Place yourselves in a hearing posture, that the intense application of your minds may be discovered in your attitude and gestures. Listen with diligence and candour. II. WHAT? 1. To the reproofs I administer. 2. To the arguments I adduce. 3. To the duties I inculcate. 4. To the assurances I give you. III. WHY ? 1. That your obdurate hearts may be mollified. 2. Your consciences convinced. 3. Your conversion from your evil ways effected. (R. Macculloch.)A two fold charge against Israel God chargeth them with hypocrisy in that which is good, and obstinacy in that which is evil (Isaiah 48:1-8). (M. Henry.)Religious profession Observe-- I. HOW HIGH THEIR OF SOARED. II. HOW LOW THEIR OF SANK FOR ALL THIS. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 48:3I have declared the former things from the beginning The probability and use of inspired predictions I. It is quite plain that ANY BEING THAT IS ABOVE OTHERS MUST BE EXALTED EITHER BY OR BY POWER, OR BY BOTH. If, then, God is to make Himself known to His creatures, it must be by some displays of this kind--by power, doing those things which they cannot do; or by intellect, making known those things which they cannot know. There is one advantage in these displays of God by means of knowledge, telling things that we could not know otherwise--that it addresses our judgment. Miracles seem to astound us; they may be supposed to throw us out of our calm self-possession, and to bewilder us by their wonders; but prophecies coolly address our judgment, without disturbing our passions, and enable us to exercise our reason in reflection upon these discoveries of the great superior Mind. Though we cannot tell exactly what preference we are to give to one or the other, some minds being most struck with the displays of power in miracles, others most with the displays of knowledge in predictions, yet we can easily see that these may concur and aid each other. Is it not probable that God will make Himself known to man? But is it not equally probable that if He tells us about a futurity and eternity, He will take some method of convincing us that what He thus tells us is true and will surely come to pass? II. THE USES OF . These are various; many of them we have yet to discover. 1. A most important use of the inspired predictions of Scripture is, that you should study the Book that contains them. 2. You should watch His providence, that you may see how it fulfils His Word. He that eyes providences shall never want providences to eye. 3. You should learn from hence to admire and adore the omniscience and faithfulness and truth of God. 4. Expect all that God has predicted both for time and eternity. (J. Bennett, D. D.) Isaiah 48:6 See all this Things seen as a whole The words “ See all this,” have been rendered by one of the latest commentators, “ See it as a whole. ” This rendering reproduces the prophetic argument. Isaiah had recalled a period of history which, taken as a whole, was a fulfilled word of Jehovah. That completed epoch of history from the predictions of old to the events in which it had issued was to the prophet proof of God’ s control of human affairs. Any completed historic cycle, taken as a whole, becomes to us significant of God. The evidence of the Divine providence discovers itself when we view things largely, when we see life as a whole. 1. Look at your life in the large relations of it, see it as a whole. This is not the view of life which it is altogether easy for us to take. For we touch life at single points; we receive life moment by moment; and our first views of things are apt to be partial. We ought, in our moral maturity, to fit our daily doings into some large conception of our whole reason for being here in this world. We do not know how to live well, certainly we have not learned to live richly if we have not gained something of the happy art of massing things in nobler groupings; if we cannot hold the little things and daily details of life under some broad, generous conception of our life; very much as from some height we see the several parts of a landscape, not singly, but together, as one wide sunny expanse. 2. That particular thing, for example, for which it may be necessary for you to strive to-morrow in your business, or which it seems desirable to secure for your enjoyment, needs to be sought for, not as though it were the one thing only to be attained, but as a possible part of some greater good in which your life is to find its satisfaction. A man to be successful in any calling must have something of that power of concentration to which Sir Fowell Buxton once attributed his success--“ the power of being a whole man to one thing at a time.” Nevertheless, that would be an unworthy success which should leave us entirely confined to any single thing. 3. If we desire to possess our friendships well, we must learn this art of seeing things not in their little, often vexatious details, but largely and as wholes. You must take your friend largely for what he is in his entire character, if you would keep your friend. The microscope has its uses; but it was never made for the eye of friendship. 4. Another instance for the application of this text might be found in our habits of regarding our homes. We are to possess the home, not as a good for itself alone, but in its whole social setting, in its relation to the neighbourhood, to the Church of humanity, to the kingdom of heaven, of which it is part and portion. 5. I wish now to go up with this principle to some higher lines of experience, and to observe how this entire earthly life of ours is itself life but in part, and how, if we would live truly, we must learn to see all our life, from the cradle to the grave, as itself but a part of some still larger, better whole for us. If this earthly span of our days be all, what is a human life at its best but as the rainbow which we have seen, one end of it resting upon the depths of the waters, and the other end lost in the cloud, itself as fleeting as the mist upon which for its moment of promise it becomes visible? But here lies the difficulty and the doubt. We have no experience of what lies beyond. Our hand can lay no measuring-rod upon futurity. We have only this present. It is also true, and it is the more important part of the truth, that we have this present only as an incomplete thing, we have this life only as a segment; its present brief span is the are of some curve of larger sweep than we can measure. What its future may be like, we do not know; but we know this present as in itself incomplete and requiring some future completion. “ If you ask me, said Savonarola, as he was ready to be borne to the stake, what shall be in general the issue of this struggle, I reply, Victory. If you ask me what shall be the issue in the particular sense, I reply, Death.” It was the answer of a seer. Seen in the particular, the issue of life may be death. Seen in the general, seen as a whole, true life is not death, but victory. The Christian faith brings to a man its Gospel of the One sinless Man, who knew whence He came, and whither He went, and whose life was always to Him not an affair of the moment only, but a truth of eternity. Jesus’ earthly life was indeed a broken one. In one aspect of it no human life has been left so incomplete as was that life which we can follow for a few brief years of it through these gospels. The verse in the book of Acts, “ All the things which Jesus began both to do and to teach,” suggests the incompleteness, the utter brokenness of Jesus’ earthly life. What work did He live to see completed? what doctrine to finish? His hands did not complete His work of mercy; they were pierced before they had wrought all their possible work of healing. His lips did not finish His teachings; He had many things to say, and He died leaving much unsaid. Into our Lord’ s Gethsemane may there not have entered the pathos of an unfinished life? Yet He said, “ I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.” He could not have said that had He not looked always upon His life here as part and daily portion of one Divine whole, His sacrifice as something complete in God’ s eternal purpose; had He not known that His life here, and there, and always, is one life, continuous throughout, on earth and in heaven, one will of the Father--each part of it, whether of humiliation or transfiguration, of suffering or resurrection, partaking of the glory of the perfect whole. (N. Smyth, D. D.) Isaiah 48:8 Yea, thou heardest not God’ s foreknowledge of man’ s sin As in a looking-glass, let us see ourselves. 1. Let the unconverted man see his own picture. God has spoken quite as pointedly to you as ever He did to the seed of Israel. He has called you by providences of different kinds. As for the Bible, has it not often addressed you with a voice most clear and simple, “ Turn ye, turn ye; why will ye die?” You have, some of you, been called by the admonitions of godly parents; you were further invited to the path of holiness by loving friends in the Sabbath school. Frequently the voice of God’ s minister has bidden you to come to Jesus from the pulpit; and conscience, a nearer pleader still, has echoed the voice of God. And yet it may be said, “ Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not,” &c. Three times a “ yea” is put in our text, as if to show God’ s wonder at man’ s obstinacy, and the certainty that such was the state of the heart. It was certainly so. You heard, but it went in at one ear and out at the other; you heard and heard not. 2. More painful still is it to remember that in a certain degree the same accusation may be laid at the door of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even those who have received grace to become the sons of God, have not such a degree of spiritual sensibility as they should have. Having thus reminded you of your sin, trusting we may be led to confess it with deep humility, I have now an encouraging truth to tell to you--that all this folly and ignorance, and obstinacy, and rebellion on our part, was foreknown by God, and notwithstanding that foreknowledge, He yet has been pleased to deal with us in a way of mercy. I. We shall endeavour to address the truth to THE . 1. The latter part of our text mentions a mournful fact, “ I knew that thou wouldest deal,” &c. Thou art the beloved of heaven, redeemed by blood, called by grace, preserved in Christ Jesus, accepted in the Beloved, on thy way to heaven, and yet “ thou hast dealt very treacherously” ; very treacherously with God, thy best friend; with Jesus, whose thou art; with the Holy Spirit, by whom alone thou canst be quickened unto life eternal. That word “ treacherously” is one which a man would not like to have applied to himself in the common transactions of life; he would feel it to be very galling, and, if there were truth in it, very degrading. How treacherous you and I have been to our own vows and promises when we were first converted! Instead of a heavenly mind there have been carnal cares, worldly vanities, and thoughts of evil. Instead of service there has been disobedience; instead of fervency, lukewarmness; instead of patience, petulance; instead of faith, confidence in an arm of flesh. This is not all. It is not merely that we have failed in promises which were made in a period of excitement, but we have been treacherous to obligations which were altogether apart front voluntary vows on our part; we have been treacherous to the most blessed relationships which mercy could have instituted. Know ye not that ye are redeemed men and women, and therefore the property of the Lord Jesus? Have you not found yourselves full often spending your strength for self and for the world, and robbing Jesus of that which He purchased at so dear a price? Remember that we are soldiers of Christ, soldiers enlisted, sworn in for a life-long campaign. As soldiers, by cowardice, disobedience and desertion, we have been treacherous to a very shameful degree. You know what the military doom is of a treacherous soldier on earth! truly, if we had been accused, and condemned by court-martial, and ordered to be shot forthwith, we should have been dealt with most righteously. We have been armed, and carried bows and have turned back in the day of battle. Worst of all is the fact that we have been treacherous to our Lord in a relationship where fidelity constitutes the very essence of bliss, I mean in the marriage bond which exists between our soul and Christ. We are one with Him, by eternal union one, and yet we treat Him ill! Never did He have a thought towards us that was unkind, never one faithless wandering of His holy immutable mind; but as for us, we have thought of a thousand lovers, and suffered our heart to be seduced by rivals, which were no more to be compared with Christ than darkness is to be compared with the blaze of noon. 2. We pass on to the Divine statement of the text, that all this was known. “ I knew.” As the Lord foreknew the fountain of sin, so He knew all the streams which would gush from it. Wherein is the edification to the people of God? (1) Adore the amazing grace of God. (2) Our security is clearly manifest. (3) This truth should tend very much to enhance our sense of the fulness which is treasured up in Christ Jesus. God has provided for us in Christ, for all the necessities that can occur, for He has foreknown all these necessities. II. I have to use the text in its relation to PERSONS. You have discovered lately the natural vileness of your heart. You have a deep regret for your long delay in seeking mercy. You are willing to acknowledge that there have been special aggravations in your case. Now, the Gospel says to you, “ Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” All these sins, delays, aggravations, and rebellions of yours, were all foreknown to God; therefore, since He has sent the Gospel to you, be not slow to accept it since it is not possible that your sins, whatever they may be, can at all militate against the fact that if you believe and receive the Gospel, you shall be saved. For, if God had not intended to save men upon believing, then, since He foreknew these things, He would never have planned the plan of salvation at all. (C. H. Spurgeon.)A transgressor from the wombNative depravity God here traces all the insincerity, stupidity, obstinacy, ignorance, and unbelief of sinners to the native depravity of their hearts, which led them to disregard His commands and to disbelieve His predictions. The text in this connection naturally leads us to conclude that mankind begin to sin as soon as they become capable of sinning. I. WHAT WE ARE TO BY SIN. “ Sin is the transgression of the law.” The law requires true love to God and man. The transgression of the law, therefore, must essentially consist in something which is directly opposite to pure, holy love. And there is nothing in nature more directly opposite to perfectly disinterested love, than interested love, or selfishness. So that all sin consists in the free, voluntary exercise of selfishness. II. WHEN MANKIND BECAME CAPABLE OF SINNING. If sin be a voluntary moral exercise, they are not capable of sinning before they become moral agents. Perception, memory, and volition appear to be the essential powers or properties which constitute a free agent. Animals are free agents. They act freely and voluntarily in the view of motives. But God has endowed man with a moral faculty to discern moral good and evil. This we call conscience. Those who allow that a child four years old is a moral agent and knows what is right and wrong, will generally allow that a child two years old is a moral agent and knows what is right and what is wrong. And where shall we stop? Why may we not suppose that a child one year old, or half a year old, is a moral agent, and knows what is right and what is wrong in some cases? III. THEY DO SIN AS SOON AS THEY BECOME CAPABLE OF SINNING. They certainly discover, as early as possible, impatience, obstinacy, and revenge, which are sinful exercises in any moral agent that can distinguish between right and wrong. The testimony of observation on this subject is strengthened, at least, by the testimony of experience. Every person in the world is conscious of sinning, and of sinning as long ago as he can remember. And now, if we look into the Bible, we shall there find conclusive and infallible evidence that mankind do actually sin as soon as they become moral agents, and are capable of sinning. When we say a serpent is naturally poisonous, we mean that it is poisonous as soon as its nature renders it capable of having poison. So, when the inspired writers speak of men’ s sinning as soon as they be born, their expressions plainly imply that they are sinners by nature, or begin to sin as soon as they are capable of sinning. These representations of the sinfulness and guilt of childhood are confirmed by God’ s providential treatment of children. Death is a natural evil, and was threatened to mankind as a punishment for sin. IV. WHY THEY ALWAYS HAVE SINFUL BEFORE THEY HAVE HOLY , “ By one man’ s disobedience many were made sinners.” (N. Emmons, D. D.)Human depravity In conversation with Boswell, Dr. Johnson said, with respect to original sin, the inquiry is not necessary; for, whatever is the cause of human corruption, men are evidently and confessedly so corrupt, that all the laws of heaven and earth are insufficient to restrain them from crimes. (Boswell’ s “ Life of Johnson. ”) Isaiah 48:9-11 For My name’ s sake will I defer Mine anger God’ s anger deferred “ For My name’ s sake I draw out My wrath. ” Jehovah lengthens out His wrath, i.e delays its outbreak, thus shows Himself long-suffering; He checks, restrains, damps it for the good of Israel, that He may not by unchaining His wrath utterly destroy it; and that for the sake of His name, His praise, which demands the carrying out of the plan of salvation, which is the purpose of Israel’ s existence. (F. Delitzch, D. D.)Mercy’ s master motive I shall take the text to illustrate-- I. THE OF THE SINNER. 1. In him there is no argument for mercy, no plea for grace. 2. God Himself finds the reason for His mercy. He finds it in Himself. The Lord is a patient God, and determines to make His patience glorious. God also would illustrate His sovereign and abundant mercy towards sinners. God can display His power. 3. But it may be that a soul is saying, “ Well, I can see that God can thus find a motive for mercy in Himself, when there is none in the sinner, but why is it that the Lord is chastening me as He is?” Possibly you are sickly in body, have been brought low in estate, and are grievously depressed in mind. God now, in our text, goes on to explain His dealings with you, that you may not have one hard thought of Him. It is true He has been smiting you, but it has been with a purpose and in measure. “ I have refined thee, but not with silver.” God has not brought upon you the severest troubles. 4. Notice the next thing: the Lord declares that the time of trial is the chosen season for revealing His love to you. “ I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” It often happens that the time in which God reveals His choice and manifests His electing love to a soul is when that soul is almost consumed with trouble. 5. But note, before I leave the sinner’ s case, that lest the soul should forget it, the Lord repeats again the point He began with, and unveils the motives of His grace once more. What is the eleventh verse but the echo of the ninth? If a soul should perish while trusting in the blood of Christ, the glory of God would go over to Satan It would be proved that Satan had overcome the truthfulness of God, or the power of God, or the mercy of God. II. THE OF THE . God was speaking to His own people Israel in these remarkable words. I see more reason for punishing you, for you have made a profession and belied it (Isaiah 48:1). God having declared the reason of His love to the backslider goes on to tell him, that the present sufferings which he is now enduring as the result of his backslidings should be mitigated. “ I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have put thee into the fire, but I have not blown the heat to such an extreme degree that thy sin should be melted from thee: that would be a greater heat than any soul could bear. I have refined thee, that was needful, but not as silver; that would have been destructive to thee.” Thou sayest, “ All Thy waves and billows have gone over me.” Not so; you know not what all God s waves and billows might be, for there is a depth infinitely lower than any you have ever seen. Then comes His next word: “ I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction” ; that is, as if He said, “ I will renew My election of you.” It was never revoked, but now it shall be more manifestly declared. God has looked at you in prosperity and He has seen you treacherously forgetting Him. Now, however, your affairs are at a low ebb and you begin again to pray. Hear this for your comfort--when repentance defiles the face before men it beautifies it before God. (C. H.Spurgeon.) Isaiah 48:10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver Refined, but not with silver More severely, yet more exactly than silver (Stier)Less strictly than silver (Cheyne)It was a melting of a higher sort, the suffering which befell Israel doing for it the work of a furnace (Hitzig, Delitzsch)Possibly, not with the result of gaining silver (A.B. Davidson)Refined, but not with silver The Lord refines His people, but He exercises great discrimination as to the means by which He does so. A silver furnace is one of the very best for the removal of dross, and would seem to be well adapted for refining the most precious things, but it is not choice enough for the Lord’ s purpose with His people. It is prepared with extreme care, and has great separating power, but the purging away of sin needs greater care and more cleansing energy than a silver refinery can supply. The greatest delicacy of skill is exhibited by the refiner, who watches over the process, and regulates the degree of heat and the length of time in which the precious metal shall lie in the crucible: this, then, might well serve as a figure of the best mode of sanctification, but evidently the figure falls short in its delicacy. The process of silver refining is, no doubt, one of the best arranged and most ably conducted of the works of man; but when the Lord sits as a refiner, He executes His work with greater wisdom and Diviner art. Silver refining is but rough work compared with the Lord’ s purification of His people, and therefore He says, “ I have refined thee, but not with silver.” The Lord hath a furnace of His own, and in this special furnace He purifies His people by secret processes unknown to any but Himself. No one would think of refining silver by the same rough means as they smelt iron, so neither will the Lord purify His precious ones, who are far above silver in value, by any but the choicest methods. More subtle and yet more searching, more spiritual and yet more true, more gentle and yet more effectual are the purifying processes of Heaven; there is no refiner like our refiner, and no purity like that which the Spirit works in us. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God’ s refining furnace The Lord has special dealings with each one of His saints, and refines each one by a process peculiar to the individual, not heaping all His precious metals into one furnace of silver, but refining each metal by itself. “ I have refined thee.” “ I have chosen thee.” Not “ you,” but “ thee.” I. Between God’ s election and the furnace there is this connection--that THE FURNACE WAS THE FIRST -PLACE BETWEEN LOVE AND OUR SOULS. Before one solitary star had begun to peer through the darkness the Lord had given over His people unto Christ to be His heritage, and their names were in His book; but the first manifestation of His electing love to any one of us was--where? I venture to say it was in the furnace. Abraham knew little of God’ s love to him till the voice said, “ Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’ s house, unto a land that I will show thee.” I do not think that Isaac knew much about God’ s choice of him till he went up the mountain’ s side, and said to his father, “ Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offerings.” So was it with Jacob. Little did he understand the mystery of electing love till he lay down one night with the stones for his pillow, the hedges for his curtains, the skies for his canopy, and no attendant but his God. Certainly, Israel as a nation did not understand God’ s election till the people were in Egypt; and then, when Goshen, the land of plenty, became a land of brickmaking and sorrow and grief, and the iron bondage entered into their souls, their cried unto God, and began to understand that secret word--“ I have called My son out of Egypt.” They knew then that God had put a difference between Israel and Egypt. God finds His people in the place of trial, and there He reveals Himself in His special character as their God. Did He not say to Moses, “ I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry?” When did you first know anything about God’ s choice of you? Was it not when you were in trouble--in many cases in temporal trouble? I make no kind of exception to another rule, namely, that we first began to learn electing love when we were in spiritual distress. II. It is very clear that THE FURNACE OF DOES NOT CHANGE THE OF GOD. If He chose us in it, then His choice stands good while we are in it and when we are out of it. If the very first knowledge we had of His electing love found us at the gates of despair, we can never be worse than we were then, nor can His love see less to rest upon. Yet have I known a great many fears cross the mind of God’ s anxious people when the smoke of the furnace has brought tears into their eyes. No amount of trouble, no degree of pain, no possibility of grief can change the mind of God towards His people. The furnace may alter the believer’ s circumstances, but not his acceptance with God. The furnace very often alters our friends. And the furnace changes us very wonderfully. Believe very firmly in the fixity of the Divine choice. III. THE FURNACE IS THE VERY ENSIGN OF . The escutcheon the coat of arms--of election is the furnace. You know that it was so in the old covenant which God made with Abraham. He gave him a type when the victim was divided. When a deep sleep fell upon the patriarch there passed before him a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, two signs that always mark the people of God. There is a lamp to light them, but there is also a smoking furnace to try them. “ No cross, no crown.” If you think of our great Master’ s dying will and testament, what is its prominent codicil? “ In the world ye shall have tribulation.” That the Lord refines us shows His value of us. IV. THE FURNACE IS THE OF LOVE. God has chosen us unto holiness. There is no man in this world chosen to go to heaven apart from being made fit to go there. Electing love uses the furnace to consume our dross. The Lord uses the furnace also to prepare the soul for a more complete fashioning. The metal must be melted before it can be poured into the mould, and affliction is used by the Holy Ghost to melt the heart and to fit it to receive the fashion and take the shape of the sacred mould into which heavenly wisdom delivers it. Besides, affliction has much to do in loosening a Christian from this world. V. THE FURNACE IS A GREAT SCHOOL WHEREIN WE LEARN ITSELF. 1. In the furnace we learn the graciousness of election. When a child of God in the time of trouble sees the corruption of his heart he begins to say, “ How can the Lord ever love me? If He has loved me, His affection must be traced to free sovereign grace.” 2. There, too, we learn the holiness of election, for while we lie suffering, a voice says, “ God will not spare thee, because there is still sin in thee: He will cleanse thee from every false way.” 3. Then, too, we see what a loving thing election is, for never is God so loving to His people consciously as when they are in the flames of trouble. 4. It is at such times that God’ s people know the power of electing love. 5. And it is at such times that the sweetness of God’ s electing love comes home to the Christian heart, for he rejoices in his tribulation while he is conscious of the love of God. VI. BY THE FURNACE SOME OF THE HIGHER ENDS OF A YET MORE SPECIAL ARE OFTEN , for there is not only an election of grace, but there is an election from among the elect to the highest position and to the noblest service. Jesus Christ had many choice disciples, but it is written, “ I have chosen you twelve.” Out of the twelve there were three; and out of the three there was one, elect of the elect--that loving, tender John, who leaned upon his Master’ s bosom. The furnace has much to do with this, as a rule, since it usually attends and promotes the higher states of grace, and the wider ranges of usefulness. 1. With the preacher this truth is seen; affliction makes him eminent. I do not think that the preacher will long feed God’ s saints if he does not read in that volume which Luther said was one of the three best books in his library, namely, affliction. That book is printed in the black letter, but it has some wonderful illuminations in it, and he who would teach the people must often weep over its chapters. Men never bake bread so well as when the oven is well heated, nor do we prepare sermons so well as when the fire burns around us. 2. So is it with the Christian hero, he could never lead the host if he had not been chastened of the Lord in secret places. Calvin, that mightiest master in Israel, clear, upright, and profound, suffered daily under a list of diseases, any one of which would have made a constant invalid of a less courageous man; and, although always early in the morning at the cathedral delivering his famous expositions which have enriched the Church of God, yet he always bore about with him a body full of anguish. Nor could England find a Wycliffe, nor Scotland a Knox, nor Switzerland a Zwingle, except it be where the refiner sits at the furnace door. It must be so. No sword is fit for our Lord’ s handling till it has been full oft annealed. So it will be with us if we would rise. (C. H. Spurgeon.)I have chosen thee in the furnace of afflictionThe use of the furnace The twofold use of the furnace is-- I. TO PROVE OR TEST METALS. II. TO PURIFY THEM, OR REFINE THEM BY THE DROSS FROM THE GENUINE. Discipline of every kind, is God’ s chosen furnace to test and purify His people. (Homiletic Review.)The furnace of affliction A furnace is a fireplace or crucible for melting and refining gold or other metals (Proverbs 17:3; Proverbs 27:21). Sometimes it is the emblem of cruel bondage (Deuteronomy 4:20; Jeremiah 11:4). Also of judgments and severe and grievous afflictions, by which God punishes the rebellious (Ezekiel 22:18-20). By the furnace of affliction He also tries and proves His people. This furnace is-- I. . It is composed of many severe trials, which are designed by the great proprietor and manager of this furnace, to purge and refine the souls of His people. 1. Sometimes they are tried by the scantiness of temporal things. This may be induced by want of employment; it may be the result of sickness; it may result from the injustice of man. 2. Frequently the saints are chastised with bodily afflictions. 3. Sometimes they suffer from bereavements. 4. They too have domestic trials of various kinds from ungodly relatives, refractory and disobedient children, &c. Thousands of God’ s people have been in this furnace. Moses, David, &c. Even Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. II. THIS FURNACE IS . It is not the result of chance; afflictions arise not out of the dust; they are not the works of our enemies merely. They imply the moral government of God, and the wise and gracious arrangement of His providence. Every event is either His appointment, or has His all-wise permission. Such views of the subject have reconciled and supported the minds of the godly under their various afflictions. What a blessing that all is arranged by infinite Wisdom and Love! III. THIS FURNACE IS NOT , BUT . Divine chastisement may be a kind of punishment for sin committed. It supposes some fault, which it is intended to correct. But when men are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, it does not appear to be for sin. It may be for righteousness’ sake on the part of man, and for unrighteousness’ sake on God’ s part. God will suffer persecution and reproach to befall us, when we are cold and indifferent in His cause. But such punishment is not like that inflicted on the wicked. IV. THIS FURNACE IS FOR THE AND BENEFIT OF THE CHURCH ONLY. Even as a furnace is prepared for the refining of gold, so afflictions are appointed for the saints who are compared to gold (Lamentations 4:2; Job 23:10). This intimates to us the high value which the Divine Being places upon His people. They are His jewels, His chosen, a peculiar people. &c., and it is His will that they should shine in the world, and exhibit the glory and power of His grace. V. THIS FURNACE IS . He will regulate its heat according to the circumstances of His people who may be placed there. “ He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver,” &c. As a refiner adopts this posture for minute inspection, and that he may quicken the fire, or lower its temperature, as a view of the process may intimate, so the Divine presence, inspection, and compassion may well comfort the afflicted saint (1 Corinthians 10:13; Isaiah 43:2; Hebrews 4:15). There can be no caprice, no unwise or intemperate anger in Him. Compassion is mixed with the severest dispensations, and a wise distinction made between the different members of His family. God often tries the faith and patience of such as have been long under tuition, and are like the elder branches of His household, while He spares the young and inexperienced. VI. THE OF THIS FURNACE IS . “ I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” A more proper translation would have been, “ I have tried thee,” &c. By affliction of various kinds I have proved thy faith, hope, patience, and love. The root of the matter is within thee. Matthew Henry gives this beautiful exposition, “ I have made thee a choice one by the good which the furnace has done thee.” God has nevertheless chosen some in the furnace of affliction. He has met them there, and by His Spirit has subdued them, and brought them to repentance, faith, and consecration to Himself. The design of a position in this furnace is to purify the Christian from sin, to wean from the world, &c. Application-- 1. Let the sublime design of this furnace induce patience and submission. 2. Remember the time of trial is but short. “ Weeping may endure,” &c. Called the day of adversity; the hour of affliction; but for a moment. 3. What a furnace of infliction awaits the ungodly in the world to come. (Helps for the Pulpit.)God’ s people in the furnace 1. All persons in the furnace of affliction are not chosen. It is a great truth that every child of God is afflicted, but it is a lie that every afflicted man is a child of God. 2. The second preliminary remark I would make is on the immutability of God’ s love to His people. Think not, when you are in trouble, that God has cast you off. I. IF YOU WANT GOD’ S PEOPLE YOU MUST LOOK FOR THEM IN THE FURNACE. Look at the world in its primeval age, when Adam and Eve are expelled the garden. They have begotten two sons, Cain and Abel: which of them is the child of God? Yonder one who lies there smitten by the club, a lifeless corpse; he who has just now been in the furnace of his brother’ s enmity and persecution. A few hundred years roll on, and where is the child of God? There is one man whose ears are continually vexed with the conversation of the wicked and who walks with God, even Enoch, and he is the child of God. Descend further still till you come to the days of Noah. You will find the man who is laughed t, hooted as a fool, building a ship upon dry land, standing in the furnace of slander and laughter: that is the elect of God. Go on still through history; let the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob pass before you, and you may write upon all of them: “ These were God’ s tried people.” Then go down to the time when Israel went into Egypt. Do you ask me to find out God’ s people? I take you not to the palaces of Pharaoh, but to the brick-kilns of Egypt. As we follow on in the paths of history, where were God’ s family next? They were in the furnace of the wilderness, suffering privation and pain. Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, against whom the people took up stones to stone them: these were distinguished above their fellows as being elect out of the chosen nation. Pass through Judges and come to the time of Saul, and where was God’ s servant then? He is in the furnace--wandering in the caves of Engedi, climbing the goat tracks, hunted like the partridge by a remorseless foe. And after his days where were the saints? Not in the halls of Jezebel, nor sitting at the table of Ahab. They are hidden by fifties in the cave, and fed by bread and water. I might tell you of the days of Maccabees, when God’ s children were put to death without number, by all manner of tortures till then unheard of. I might tell you of the days of Christ, and point to the despised fishermen, to the laughed at and persecuted apostles. I might go on through the days of popery, and point to those who died upon the mountains or suffered in the plains. I suppose it shall be so until the latest age. II. THE REASON FOR THIS. 1. It is the stamp of the covenant. 2. All precious things have to be tried. The diamond must be cut. Gold, too, must be tried. It was one of the laws of God, “ Everything that may abide the fire, ye shall make go through the fire, and it shall be clean” Numbers 31:23). It is a law of nature, it is a law of grace, that everything that can abide the fire--every-thing that is precious--must be tried. 3. The Christian is said to be a sacrifice to God. Now every sacrifice must be burned with fire. 4. Another reason why we must be put in the furnace is, because else we should not be at all like Jesus Christ. If He walked through the flames, must not we do the same? III. WHAT ARE THE OF THE FURNACE? 1. It purifies us. 2. It makes us more ready to be moulded. What could our manufacturers do if they could not melt the metal they use? They could not make half the various things we see around us, if they were not able to liquify the metal, and afterwards mould it. There could be no good men in the world if it were not for trouble. We could none of us be made useful if we could not be tried in the fire. 3. Then the furnace is very useful to God’ s people because they get more light there than anywhere else. If you travel in the neighbourhood of Birmingham, or in other manufacturing districts, you will be interested at night by the glare of light which is cast by all those furnaces. It is labour’ s own honourable illumination. There is no place where we learn so much, and have so much light cast upon Scripture, as we do in the furnace. 4. One more use of the furnace--and I give this for the benefit of those who hate God’ s people--is, that it is useful for bringing plagues on our enemies. Do you not remember the passage in Exodus, where “ the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast” ? There is nothing that so plagues the enemies of Israel, as “ handfuls of ashes of the furnace” that we are able to cast upon them. The devil is never more devoid of wisdom than when he meddles with God’ s people, and tries to run down God’ s minister. “ Run him down!” Sir, you run him up! Persecution damages our enemies; it cannot hurt us. IV. THE IN THE FURNACE. 1. The comfort of the text itself--election. Let affliction come--God has chosen me. 2. You have the Son of Man with you in the furnace. Conclusion--There is another great furnace. “ The pile thereof is of wood and much smoke, the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, shall kindle it.” Would you be saved? There is but one way. “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” (C. H.Spurgeon.)God’ s glory concerned in our holiness (with Isaiah 48:11):--We have a right to be made as pure as God can make us. This is our claim upon Him. He created us, and we have a right to demand that He should make out of us the best He can, and should do this refining work on the creatures He has called into being. It is His duty to burn up our dross, and bring out our full beauty and worth. Love demands that He should. (Mrs. H. W. Smith.)Chosen in the furnace In 1553 Sir Thomas Palmer was led from the Tower to be executed. He leaped upon the scaffold, red with the blood of four companions previously executed. “ Good-morning to you all, good people,” he said, looking round him with a smile; “ ye come hither to see me die, and to see what nerve I have. Marry, I will tell you: I have seen more in yonder terrible place (the Tower) than ever I saw before throughout all the realms that ever I wandered in: for there I have seen God. I have seen the world, and I have seen myself: and when I beheld my life, I saw nothing but slime and clay, full of corruption: I saw the world nothing else but vanity, and all the pleasure thereof nothing worth: I saw God omnipotent, His power infinite, His mercy incomprehensible: and when I saw this, I submitted myself to Him, beseeching of His mercy and pardon, and I trust He hath forgiven me: for He called me once or twice before, but I would not turn to Him, but even now, by this sharp kind of death, He hath called me unto Him.” (H. O. Mackey.)The furnace needed for perfection of character “ He would be a nice person,” wrote George Eliot in one of her letters concerning one, who might have been many a modern prosperous man, “ if he had another soul added to the one he has by nature--the soul that comes by sorrow and love.” Isaiah 48:12 Hearken unto Me, O Jacob God’ s unchangeableness throughout eternity “ The eternity and immutability of God are in their own nature inseparable, and are so generally united in the Holy Scriptures that the passages which declare the one declare or imply the other also. ” I. GOD IS ETERNAL. 1. Reason itself claims this attribute for God. Nor was it unknown even to the heathens. Proclus, a follower of Plato, proved God to be eternal, because He exists of Himself. Thales defined God to be a being without beginning and end; before all things; and who was never born. 2. What reason teaches, the Scriptures assert. They represent God’ s eternity to be-- (1) An eternity of duration. (2) An eternity of perfection. “ From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God!” All that is involved in that great name He always was, and always will be! II. GOD IS , eternally unchangeable. 1. Unchangeableness is an essential perfection of God. (1) In His existence He cannot cease to be (Psalms 102:27). (2) In His nature or essence. (3) In His purposes (Isaiah 46:10; Isaiah 14:24). (4) In His promises to His people; in His threatenings against the wicked; and in all His predictions (Numbers 23:19). 2. All these declarations are in harmony with the teachings of Scripture and the conclusions of reason. (1) Scripture (Malachi 3:6; Psalms 33:11; Isaiah 46:10;James 1:17). (2) Reason. As God is self-existent, caused by none, He can be changed by none. As He is infinite in all His perfections, He cannot change, for nothing can be added to or taken from the infinite--any change would make Him less than infinite before or after. The unchangeableness of God is confirmed-- (a) By the stability of His natural government. (b) By His moral government, and the identity of the several dispensations of grace. III. LESSONS WHICH THIS GREAT SUBJECT TEACHES. 1. It assures us of the essential Divinity of the Christ. The application to our Lord of the terms here used by God to describe Himself, places His Deity beyond doubt (Revelation 1:8; Revelation 1:17; Revelation 22:13). 2. It assures us of the fulfilment of God s promises and the accomplishment of His plans. 3. It affords “ strong consolation” amid all the trying changes of this mortal state. 4. It should stimulate us to seek stability of character (Hebrews 13:8-9). 5. It should alarm the impenitent. (A. Tucker.)God s eternity a ground of confidence Who can be too quick for Him that is the first, or prevent Him? Who can be too hard for Him that is the last, and will keep the field against all opposers, and will reign till they are all made His footstool? (M. Henry.) Isaiah 48:13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth The Creator I. THE OF THE EARTH. II. THE OVER-ARCHING HEAVENS. III. THE DIVINE PURPOSE IN THESE GREAT WORKS. 1. The heavens have been God’ s grand lesson-books for the instruction and elevation of His children (Psalms 19:1-14.). 2. The earth has been the scene of revelations of His character which we cannot believe to be surpassed by any vouchsafed to any other portion of His universe; His judgments on sin; His manifestations of mercy; His tabernacling amongst men in the person of His Son; the death on the Cross for the redemption of lost humanity; the nobleness, sincerity, patience, unselfishness, forgiveness of God manifested in the spiritual education of His children. 3. The long process of sin and redemption shall at length have a glorious consummation. (W. Seward.) Isaiah 48:16 And now the Lord God and His Spirit hath sent me The Holy Spirit “ And now the Lord God hath sent Me with His Spirit. ” The Spirit does not send, hut is sent. (Prof. A. B. Davidson, D. D.)Note the tendency in chaps. 40-66, to treat the Divine Spirit as a separate personality (Isaiah 40:13; Isaiah 63:10; Isaiah 36:11; Isaiah 36:14). (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.) Isaiah 48:17-18 Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer The “ I am’ s” of God and of man How beautiful and impressive are the “ I am’ s” of God; so different from the proud and empty boastings clearly discernible in the “ I am’ s” of man. We are never nearer to misleading others and deceiving ourselves, than when we utter sentences beginning with “ I am.” For, after all, what are we in ourselves that is worth mentioning? When we yield to the constraint of the Bible and conscience, and come to know something of our own hearts, we shall not dare to speak aloud to those about us; but, like Job, our words will be for God, and into His ears we shall whisper, “ I am vile.” Or, if beneath the influence of the blessed Spirit we come to realise that our nature is changed, then shall we temper our assertion with humility, and, like Paul, say, “ By the grace of God, I am what I am.” Only on God’ s lips has the declaration, “ I am,” its full meaning. This is God’ s great name. (W. J. Mayers.)God is what He is for His people This grand self-assertion of God will increase in its beauty and power for us when we remember that God is not some powerful monarch, isolating Himself from those around Him, withholding succour from the distressed, guidance from the perplexed, relief from the poor, and living only to gratify Himself. What God is He is for His people--as the sun is light for the earth, or the earth nourishment for the crops, or the crops food for the people. How comforting and helpful is the recollection of what God is! In God’ s “ I am” the sick man finds his medicine, the poor man his riches, the lonely man his company, the sinner his salvation, the wanderer his hope, the wounded heart its balm, the hungry soul its manna, the fearful one his cordial, the dying one his life, and every glorified one his all. We must go out of ourselves to get real blessing for ourselves; and to whom should we go but to Him, described as the “ Lord, the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel” ? The heart must have a person to love, to lean on, to live for. No doctrine, no idea, no creed can take the place of the person. The language just quoted describes a character peculiar to the Person of Jesus Christ. He is the true Lord, the Redeemer, the Holy One, supreme in all creation, paramount in redemption, having the pre-eminence in holiness. As Lord He rules, as Redeemer He saves, as Holy One He inspires and guides. He claims to be our Lord and God, and in this high station deigns to address us. Nor would we be slow to recognise His claims, but would have our faith to be the echo of His love, while, with Thomas, each one of us says: “ My Lord and my God.” It is indeed Divine love which speaks to us in the text, and makes known to us the good will and pleasure of the great “ I Am.” (W. J.Mayers.)God, our Teacher and Leader “ Learn of Me” and “ Follow Me” are two most impressive commands of Jesus Christ. I. THERE IS AN BETWEEN THESE TWO OFFICES OF OUR DIVINE MASTER. Not every teacher is a leader, not every leader a true teacher. Theory and practice are often divorced. Words and works are not always wedded. But in our Lord there is perfection in both teaching and leading. Does Jesus teach us to “ pray and not to faint” ? He also leads in this, for He prayed. Does Jesus teach us to glorify God by our “ good works” ? He “ went about doing good.” Does our Master teach us to love our enemies and pray for those who despitefully use us? How grandly axe we led by His dying prayer, “ Father, forgive them.” Are we to “ seek first the kingdom of God,” according to His teaching? So, indeed, did He, for it was His meat and drink to do His Father’ s will. Would He have us patient under suffering, calm amid reproach, submissive under affliction, and alway resigned? So, indeed, was He. Let the Garden of Gethsemane bear witness. Let Pilate’ s hall testify. Let Calvary give answer. He truly “ teaches us to profit, and leads us by the way we should go.” These are the two great forces which aid us in the formation of the Christian character and the development of the Christian life. The teaching of our Master is sometimes out of the book of affliction and sorrow. He teaches us our folly, and weakness, and sin; and then leads us into His wisdom, and strength, and holiness. He teaches us in the valley of the shadow that He may lead us to the golden height of Divine light and love. He teaches us by the furnace that He may lead us to the palace. He teaches us by the noon-day heat, and then leads us to the sheltering rock. In multitudes of ways does our Lord teach His people, but ever to the end that He may lead them in the way in which they should go. But for His instructions we should be poor followers. If He beckoned to us in silence we should hardly dare to take a step. But He is not silent, for as He goes before us we can hear His voice. The thought of His instruction encourages us, while His leadership emboldens us. II. Let us now spend a little while in THE OF THOSE SWEET WORDS, “ WHICH LEADETH THEE.” Here, indeed, is found soul-comfort and strength, such as we all need amid our feebleness and the bewilderment around. It will be well for us to read these words in the light of Scripture thoughts and incidents. How they remind us of God leading His people from the thraldom of Egypt. Only let faith’ s eye be clear, and the leading pillar will ever be discerned. In the Song of Moses we have a beautiful figure to help us in understanding our Lord s leading. There the mention of the eagle’ s care for her young in fluttering over them as they try to fly, and spreading her wings beneath them to give them confidence, and bearing them on her wings when they are weary, is followed by the declaration,--“ So the Lord alone did lead them.” As we pass on we come to the beautiful poem of the shepherd-king, and we hear his sweet voice singing, “ He leadeth me beside the still waters.” And then we find David’ s son putting into the lips of wisdom the words, “ I lead in the way of righteousness.” Let us take another example; now from the prophet Isaiah. There we find this precious promise of our God’ s: “ I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known. Is not this what He has done and still does for us? How strengthening, again, is the promise recorded by this same prophet: I will heal him; I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him; and how soothing the words written for us by Jeremiah: “ With favours will I lead them; I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble.” III. WHAT SPIRIT SHALL WE IN VIEW OF THIS TRUTH? Let us take our place by the Psalmist, and with him in a spirit of humility, resignation, trustfulness, and hope, put up these petitions: Psalms 5:8; Psalms 25:5; Psalms 27:11; Psalms 31:3; Psalms 61:2; Psalms 139:24; Psalms 143:10. Thus shall we on earth have a true foretaste of the unspeakable rest and blessedness of that sinless place where “ the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall lead them, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” (W. J. Mayers.)Profitable teaching and right leading I. GOD AS A . The redemption spoken of by Isaiah was temporal in the first place. But he ascends a much higher sphere than that circumscribed by any earthly demand. 1. The captivity of evil; the Babylon of sin. The whole human race is involved in misery as in guilt. The bondage of iniquity is the worst sort of captivity that beings capable of a better life can possibly suffer. 2. The mercy of the Redeemer at work in the city of bondage. (1) The greater because of our helplessness and need. (2) The greater because of our sinfulness and unbelief. (3) Crowned by the maintenance of God’ s righteousness with the recovery and perfection of our own. The Gospel is not simply a principle of forgiveness, it is that and something more: it is the power to become holy--the happiness and endlessness of a righteous and godly life. II. GOD AS A TEACHER. The Gospel is too generally only regarded and valued as a something which adds to our enjoyment. Few Christians even understand the beneficence of discipline. 1. Look at the Gospel as a teacher. The new birth opens the eyes to a new world; it is followed by a new language. Here is the high school of heaven in which the Spirit of God is the principal Teacher. 2. Learning is never easy. There is no royal road to this learning, any more than to mere secular knowledge. (1) The lessons are harder because we have to unlearn. Satan has had us in his school, where we were as apt to learn as he to teach. (2) The lessons are harder because we are not diligent. The elements always seem most difficult, because they are so near. If a man always sticks at the elements he is ever in difficulties, yet never makes progress. (3) The learning is harder because as yet we are not much better than invalids. 3. Yet all the teaching is profitable. (1) As a correction. Our weakness makes us more humble, and less prone to self-reliance. (2) As a spiritual development. All these things are made to work together for our highest good. III. GOD AS A LEADER. 1. The way God would have us go is not always according to our inclination. (1) The pleasantest way is not necessarily the best. (2) The fact that we are called to walk in an unpleasant path, so far from proving God s desertion may indicate just the reverse. He may be nearer to us in the cloud than in the sunshine. The wilderness with Him in it is the way to Canaan: no other way, however pleasant, can be safe. 2. The knowledge that it is His way should be enough. (1) As a reason. For there can be nothing irrational in following Him who is the source and crown of wisdom. (2) As an incentive. For the voice of His approval should sound both distinctly and pleasantly to our ears. (J. Parrish, B. A.)Life an education 1. Our life is an education; not a mere probation, or trial of what we are to be and to do, but a training of our lives and characters into as great likeness as is possible to the perfect life and character of God, revealed to us in Christ. It is a great truth, helping us to see many things in their true light; above all, helping us to understand the meaning of our life, and its relation to the will of God. The human father is too often but a deceiving type through which to try to understand the Divine Father. Still, even those who have had least to thank their earthly parents for should be able to rise to the idea, however imperfect, of a wise, righteous, unselfish fatherhood, and to picture to themselves a man who should show these qualities in his relation to his children. And thinking of such an one, could you think of him as content that they should simply go their own way, seek their own pleasure, indulge their own whims, let loose their own tempers and desires, and own no authority, and recognise no purpose in life, and believe in no will higher, more experienced, more just than their own? All that is truest and most useful in the discipline and training which an earthly father, who knows his relation to his family and is faithful to it, bestows on his children, is based on something that is eternal in the heavens, that exists as the true rule of fatherhood in the mind of God the Father. Is it not involved in the very idea that God is our Father that there should be in His mind a design for each of us? And is it not inseparable from such a design that there should be much in it that is not naturally easy and pleasant? The pain has been inevitable because the true end of life has been kept in view, above all temporary and petty objects that lie in the way to that end. The end could not be reached by one ignorant, untrained, undisciplined, unaccustomed to obey or to learn. In the training for the higher life it is not all plain and smooth. Least of all is it so at the beginning. This is the meaning of the “ strait gate” and the “ narrow way” that “ lead to life.” They are strait and narrow, because they lead to life, because they lead us on to a definite purpose of God for us that is not laid down at random, not shaped by chance, but is the result of love and foresight, and must, like all things that are high and good, be worked out not carelessly and easily, but with patience and thought and toil. 2. If we believe in this Divine purpose of our life, if we believe that the object of it is to train us into more perfect union with our Father, to educate us to fill our place as His children in His family, surely it will be our wisdom to try to learn what it is and to fulfil it. How are we to do this? Not through self-will; of that we may be sure. 3. There are two great errors into which those who are failing of God’ s plan may have fallen, or be falling. There is the error of being self-confident, impatient of all authority, advice, control, even of such control (a parent’ s, for instance) as is one of God’ s own ordinances, one of the abiding bonds of human life, which cannot be broken without the family or the society in which it is broken suffering loss, and at last dissolution. And there is the error of yielding absolutely to some authority (other than a natural authority) to which you submit your own reason and conscience, and for which you resign your own responsibility. We should beware of either of these errors. And lest we fall into them, we should use our reason and our conscience diligently in striving to find out the will of God for us; and if ever it seems hard to find, then there is the refuge of work and of prayer to resort to, until the dawn of light and peace. 4. It is a great thing to trust God; to have faith in Him and in His goodwill and loving purpose for us, really to believe that we are children in His family, and scholars in His school Such faith is the root of strength, hope, patience and courage in human life. (R. H. Story, D. D.)The soul’ s Guide (for the New Year):-- 1. THE OF THE GUIDE. He is Jehovah--the Lord our strength; the Cause of all existence, and the Fountain and Source of life. Thus He is “ mighty to save,” and able to conduct His servants through every danger, and deliver them from every foe. He is thy Redeemer, loving thee with an everlasting love. A companion to rescue thee from danger, to take a loving interest in all thy cares and sorrows: One who has “ chosen thee in the furnace of affliction,” that He may make thee “ all glorious within,” and imprint on thee His own likeness. He is “ the Holy One of Israel,” faithful and true, rich, tender, and unfailing in His promises. II. THE METHODS OF . “ Teacheth thee to profit leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.” The methods are various and sometimes peculiar, but always full of wisdom. Nothing is ever wanting on the part of the Teacher: if it is necessary for the pupil’ s progress, he will have to submit to the discipline of restraint, and to bear the yoke of adversity. 1. God leads us sometimes by unknown paths, by ways we cannot understand. Joseph, Jacob, Daniel, Elijah. The ways of providence need careful watching to see their fitness and beauty. 2. By gentleness. David could say, “ Thy gentleness hath made me great,” --the Divine condescension had stooped to his frailties and errors. “ I willguide thee with Mine eye.” Not with bit and bridle, nor with the “ hook in thy nose,” as Sennacherib. 3. This guidance is continual. The Guide never relaxes His vigilant care. He will “ never leave thee,” --“ even unto death” He is by thy side. Thus guided we are always safe, right, and happy. III. THE RESULTS OF THIS (verse 18). “ If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” God’ s promises are always to character. 1. Peace--that quiet, restful condition of soul which is the heritage of those from whom all painful emotions and all disturbing influences are removed. 2. Righteousness--as the foundation on which character is built, and the element of which it consists. “ Righteousness . . . as the waves of the sea--so wide in its influence as to cover all the interests of life; so deep as to go down to the deepest places of the heart, and permeate the whole life with its power and beauty. And the peace and righteousness united make life fruitful--so that it abounds in goodness, and the soul at all times and in all places is enabled to fulfil life’ s highest duty. (J. Edwards.)It might have been These words would be sad from the lips of man, but coming from God they are inexpressibly touching and solemn. They are the cry of a wounded heart. They tell not of the wrath of justice, but of the sorrows of love This may be regarded as implying-- I. GRIEF FOR LOST HOPES. Once there was hope and fair promise. God’ s beautiful ideal might be realised. But that is all gone. God only knows what has been lost. He is, so to speak, alone with His sorrow. II. FOR . God is speaking here in the character of “ the Redeemer--the Holy One of Israel.” He recalls what He had done, and what might and ought to have been the happy results. But the precious opportunities had been abused. 1. Gracious instruction. “ I am the Lord which teacheth thee to profit.” 2. Infallible guidance. “ Which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.” 3. Holy blessedness. Then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” But the time is past. The glorious vision has faded away for ever. Neglected opportunities bring sure and terrible retribution. III. FOR RUIN. Reason, conscience, and the Holy Scriptures combine in testifying that man’ s ruin is not of chance or fate, far less of God, but exclusively of himself. (W. Forsyth, M. A.)I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit.-- The benefit of afflictions I. MAY BE MADE TO THE OF GOD. 1. They may be greatly instrumental in turning off their attention from the world. 2. They may turn off their affections as well as their attention from the captivating objects of the world. 3. They may be of much greater benefit to them by raising their affections to God, the source of all good. II. GOD IS ABLE TO MAKE TO HIS . 1. He is able to bring Himself into the view of His afflicted children. 2. He can place their affections as well as attention upon Himself. III. THIS IS A MATTER OF TO THEM. Improvement-- 1. Since God makes use of afflictions to keep His children near to Him, it appears that they are extremely prone to forsake Him. 2. It appears from the manner in which God instructs and benefits His afflicted children, that they may derive the greatest advantage from their severest sufferings. 3. If God chastises His children for good, then those who are suffered to live in uninterrupted prosperity have reason to fear that they do not belong to the household of faith. 4. If God can make afflictions profitable to His children, then we may justly conclude that He can make them profitable to others. 5. It appears that every person may know whether he belongs to His family or not. Afflictions are peculiar trials of the heart, and give men the best opportunity to determine what is in reality the supreme object of their affections. 6. The afflicted ought to be of a teachable spirit under Divine convictions. (N. Emmons, D. D.)True profit It is not only the commercial world which has to make its calculations of profit and loss. All life is made up of profit and loss. If there is not profit, there is loss; if there is not loss, there is profit. 1. I understand the text to mean, not that God teaches us in a profitable way, but that He instructs us how to get the profit in all things; that He gives that faculty, the power to take the good and refuse the evil. 2. Consider how God does “ teach to profit.” (1) The first thing which God will probably teach, and which we must receive, is a general confidence that there is profit, however imperceptible it may be at the time to us, in the thing which He is sending to us. (2) This faith given, the next thing that God puts into our hearts is to seek that good; eternal profit, profit both to ourselves and to Him, in that He is glorified in His own work. We are to look for that profit, not on the surface, but in certain deeper, hidden meanings and intentions which lie underneath. Into those deeper meanings God will lead and admit you. But not without three things: a reverent acceptance of His teaching, hard work, and a good life. (J. Vaughan, M. A.) Isaiah 48:18O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments Hearkening to God’ s commandments 1.It is the duty of all people to “ hearken,” however and whenever God may see fit to speak to them. 2. To hearken denotes a reverent and careful attention to God’ s message. 3. To hearken implies also that we consider God’ s commandments as binding upon us, and as pointing out certain particulars which we are required to attend to. (J. N. Norton.)Peace as a river Peace may be compared to a river-- I. IN ITS ORIGIN; small, joyous, sparkling, vigorous, rapid. II. IN ITS --widening and deepening; receiving new tributaries on the right and left, from the various means of grace, as they are supplied with the dew of heaven and showers of blessings; sweeping away--as it rolls on in its strength--the obstacles of unsanctified affections and unconquered lusts. III. The beautiful figure of the text conveys the idea also of . The ancient heathen, in order to represent the universal power and beneficence of Jupiter, used the symbol of a river flowing from his throne. The prophet Isaiah speaks of the “ perfect peace” enjoyed by God’ s true children. The Psalmist describes it as “ great peace.” St. Paul refers to it as “ the peace of God which passeth all understanding.” We make mention of it in our daily prayers as “ that peace which the world cannot give.” It is not a scanty, fluctuating, failing stream, but a full tide of peace, both wide and deep, and supplying to the utmost every longing of the soul. IV. The language suggests the idea of . It is not uniform, indeed, any more than the course of the river. Now it is half hidden in a narrow channel, among overhanging mountains and forests; and now spread over a wide bed conspicuous in the plain. Again, it is seen contracting and deepening itself, and moving onward with tenfold velocity and strength. Such, too, are the variations in the Christian’ s peace. V. The promise of “ peace as a river” includes the idea of . It shall grow stronger and more pervading. As the mighty river may be traced back to an insignificant spring, far up the mountain-side, so is it with the beginnings of peace in the soul. (J. N. Norton.)The great privation; or, the great salvation From this verse we may learn that when God smites men on account of sin, it gives Him no pleasure. John Knox said that he never chastised his children without tears in his own eyes. Jeremiah, in the bitterest chapter of his Lamentations, bears this graceful witness to our covenant God: “ He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.” And surely if in the gentler chastisement of His hands the Most High takes no pleasure, much less can He find delight in that withering curse which destroys the finally impenitent. Nor is this the only lesson which lies on the surface of the text. Observe, the Lord addresses words of poignant regret over the prize the sinner has lost, as well as the penalty he has incurred. What loss thinkest thou is that which God bewails on thy account? “ Peace like a river,” and “ righteousness like the waves of the sea.” There is a privation which you unconsciously suffer. You are a stranger to peace. David Hume used to say that Christians were melancholy people. But that was a happy retort, in which somebody observed--“ David Hume’ s opinion is not worth much, for he never saw many Christians; and when he did see any, there was enough to make them miserable in the sight of David Hume.” The true Christian has a peace which is totally unknown to any other man. I. The metaphor is full of beauty, and not wanting in instructiveness either, by which PEACE IS TO A RIVER. 1. Peace like a river, for continuance. 2. For freshness. The water which runs down the Thames, say at Maidenhead, never was there before. It is fresh water, fresh from the hills to-day, and to-morrow it is the same, and the same the next day--ever fresh supplies from the heart of old England, to keep her glorious river swelling and abounding. Now the peace which a Christian has is always fresh, always receiving fresh supplies. 3. A river increases in breadth, and its waters augment their volume. Such is the Christian’ s peace. Pure and perfect though it is at the first, little temptations seem to mar it; oftentimes the troubles of this life threaten to choke it. When the Christian is ten years older, and has meandered a few more miles along the tortuous course of a gracious experience, his peace will be like a broad river. 4. The peace of the Christian is like a river, because of its joyful independence of man. We have heard the story of a simpleton who went to see the reputed source of the Thames, and putting his hand over the little rivulet that came trickling down the ditch, he stopped it, and said, “ I wonder what they are doing at London Bridge now that I have stopped the river.” But who knew the difference? A whole Parliament could not make the Thames swell with waves, and fifty Parliaments could not lessen the body of its waters. It were well, by the way, if they could preserve its streams from the pollution of those foul and putrid sewers constantly emptied into it. The rivers would be better without the interference of men. Such is the Christian’ s peace. I have watched this river as it broke over the stones of adversity; and when the tide of earthly comfort ran low, it hath seemed as if the flow of peace were clearer and more transparent than ever. The devil cannot rob us of the peace which comes from God, neither can the world take it away. II. “ THY AS THE WAVES OF THE SEA.” 1. Notice how this metaphor surpasses the previous one in dignity, if not in delicacy. We can all see a sort of comparison, and yet at the same time a strong contrast, between the water of an inland river and the collection of waters which make up the wide expanse of the sea. One for the most part is tranquil, the other always heaving and surging to and fro. So I suppose, as the words were originally addressed to the Jewish nation and referred to their temporal welfare, the river would represent the beauty and happiness of their own land, like the garden of Eden, watered by the river of God’ s pleasure; and the sea, with its waves rolling in majestically one after another in unbroken succession, would set forth that progress which is the renown of righteousness. Generation after generation would witness the rising tide of prosperity. Each chapter of their chronicles would lift its crested plume and tell of mighty acts and righteous deeds, till, like the roar of ocean, the righteousness of Israel should proclaim the name of the Lord from the river even to the ends of the earth. Oh! what did that rebellious seed of Jacob lose by forsaking the Lord! This seems to me to be something like the meaning. 2. But I want to apply this metaphor of the waves of the sea, like that of the flowing of the river, to the happiness of the believer. The man who believes in Jesus Christ has the righteousness of Christ imputed to him. But how is this righteousness like the waves of the sea? (1) For multitude. You cannot count the waves of the sea, do what you will; and so is it with the righteousness of Christ, you cannot count its different forms and fashions. Let us tell you of some of these waves. I was born in sin and shapen in iniquity, but the holiness of Christ’ s birth takes away the unholiness of my nativity. I have committed sins in my childhood, sins against my parents; but Jesus Christ was a child full of the Spirit; so Christ’ s childish perfection is imputed to me, and hides my childish sins. I have to mourn over sins of thought; but Christ can say, “ Thy law is My delight,” and the thoughts of Christ’ s mind cover my thoughts, &c. (2) For majesty. What an illustration of overwhelming power! And ask now, who can withstand the power of Christ’ s righteousness? “ Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’ s elect?” Then, it is majestic because it is profound. Who can plumb the depths of the righteousness of Christ?--deep as the demands of the law, deep as the miseries of hell, deep as the thoughts of God. It is majestic, too, because of its ceaseless energy. Wave upon wave, it breaks upon the eternal shore of Divine justice, fulfilling the counsels of God, while it covers all the sins of His people. (3) And the analogy may be traced still further, if you reflect on the sufficiency of the one and the other. All over the world, at low water, you will find certain muddy creeks, bays, and coves. How are all these to be covered? There is water enough in the sea to cover every cove and creek; and there is not a river which will have to say “ We had no tide to-clay.” There is enough righteousness in Christ to cover you. (4) The righteousness of Christ is like the waves of the sea for origin. (C. H.Spurgeon.)The river an image of peace I. The image sets before us A PEACE WHICH IS THE OF LIFE AND POWER. II. The image is expressive OF . III. OF AND . IV. OF . (W. S. Davis.)The Divine commandments sources of peace I. THE CONDUCT THESE MEN OUGHT TO HAVE PURSUED. “ O that thou hadst hearkened,” &c. What does this hearkening mean? 1. An understanding of God’ s commandments 2. A remembering of God’ s commandments. 3. A regarding of them as commands. II. A BLESSED RESULT OF THIS CONDUCT WHEN PURSUED. 1. It leads the soul to Christ, the great Prince of Peace. 2. It leads us to the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. 3. The commands gradually make us holy, and holiness leads to peace. III. THE EXTENT OF THIS BLESSED EFFECT. “ As a river.” (C. Bradley, M. A.)The lost ideal I. THE LOST IDEAL--what might have been. II. THE DIVINE OVER THIS. III. THE DIVINE FOR . What means this next word, “ Go ye forth of Babylon” ? &c. (Isaiah 48:20). (A. Raleigh, D. D.)Obedience and its blessings I. THE DUTY OF THE . To hearken to the Divine commandments. Filial obedience springing from love to his Father in heaven ought to be the rule of his life. II. FROM THIS DUTY GLADLY AND . 1. The peace of such is as a river. A river the source of verdure and fertility. As the river beautifies the landscape, so does peace beautify the soul. Its fostering influence is essential if the virtues and graces of the Spirit are to develop within us. 2. “ Thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” When the tide is coming in the waves advance farther and farther over the strand. Those who hearken to the Divine commandments make progress in righteousness. (H. P.Wright, B. A.)Peace as a river Not as the brook, as it gushes rapturously forth, breaking musically on the stones, and flashing in the glee of its early life; not as a streamlet hardly filling its wide bed, and scarcely affording water enough for the fish to pass to its higher reaches: but like a river far down its course, sweeping along with majestic current, deep and placid, able to bear navies on its broad expanse, to collect and carry with it the refuse of towns upon its banks without contamination, and approaching the sea with the sympathy begotten of similarity in depth and volume and service to mankind. Oh, rivers that minister perpetually to man--not swept by storm, not drained by drought, not anxious about continuance, always mirroring the blue of the azure sky, or the stars of night, and yet content to stay for every daisy that sends its tiny root for nourishment--in your growth from less to more, your perennial fulness, your beneficent ministry, your volume, your claim, ye were meant to preach to man, with perpetual melody, of the infinite peace that was to rise, and grow, and unfold with every stage of his experience! Such at least was God’ s ideal for Israel, and for all who swear by His name and make mention of Jehovah as God. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)Peace as a river A perennial stream, such as the Euphrates (Amos 5:24). It is easy to understand the impression made on the mind of a native of Palestine, accustomed to “ deceitful brooks” that run dry in the summer, by the sight of a great river, flowing on for ever in undiminished volume. The actual history of Israel had been like the wadis of Judea, transient gleams of prosperity being interrupted by long intervals of misfortune. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Dredging the river of peace God promises a river of peace if we will dredge out the channel: The water is His business--the water-course is ours. There are three important words which we should consider carefully. I. “ PEACE.” If we are to dredge the river we must get out of the way at once and for all time any false conceptions about peace itself which we have been entertaining. Nothing stops the inflow of Divine life more effectually than false notions. Peace is an essentially Hebrew word, but it contains a cosmopolitan thought. The Jews said “ Peace” as a salutation in the market-places and upon the highways, but we all want peace as a proof of our salvation and a mighty power of service. The Greek salutation was “ rejoice.” When Christ rose from the dead He used this form: “ Rejoice.” And well may we rejoice, since the bands of death havebeen burst asunder. But Christ also said, Peace. “ Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you.” Hence we are authorised in our wish to appropriate this thought in all its blessing. The Jew has always said, “ Peace.” The whole Orient has adopted His salutation in the universal “ Shalom” of the present day. His deeply religious nature was clearly set off from the volatile, rejoicing, joy-loving nature of the Greek. What, then, is exactly meant by the word? 1. Peace versus Nirvana. There are some who think that peace means a sort of Christian Nirvana, a state of abstraction, absorption in the infinite, or self-surrender to nothingness in general and nothing in particular. Peace is consistent and co-existent with the intensest activity. A river may run through the busiest cities without losing its deep steadiness and gentle murmur. Our Lord Jesus was called the “ Prince of Peace,” and yet He was the most practical of workers. 2. Peace versus mere activity. If people escape the error of supposing that peace consists in mere contemplation, they are apt to suppose that it may be found by running about in ceaseless activity. The blessed Master by His Spirit imparts peace. It may not be secured by mere struggle, anxiety, and activity. 3. Peace versus compromise. Compromise does not secure permanent or genuine peace. Eli compromised for the sake of peace, and his sons broke his heart. Never take a half-hearted course to avoid turmoil. Of two pains you may choose the less, but never of two evils in the sense of sins. II. “ RIVER.” Among the quieter objects of nature none is more suggestive of God’ s power and wisdom, of God’ s loving presence in the world which He has made, than the river which winds in and out among the hills, steals quietly through clattering towns, kisses fields and pastures into fruitfulness and verdure, and smilingly bares its breast to be scarred by the countless keels of the world’ s commerce. Hence the figure of the text gives us at once an idea of what peace is and what it does. It is the inflow of the Divine life, bringing the Divine quietness, patience and power, and resulting in spiritual beauty and fruitfulness. We have hence but to apply our ideas of a river to peace to discover the practical lessons we need to learn. 1. Heavenly supply. Every river has a source, and is dependent upon a constant, renewed supply. This source and supply are always from above. Peace, also, comes from above. Its source is in God. God’ s resources are infinite, and the supply shall not fail. 2. Useful overflow. Possibly when God made the promise we are considering He had in mind the river Nile, whose regular overflow could be depended upon to enrich Egypt, and bring food to the people. Or He may have thought of the Jordan, which “ overflowed all its banks in the time of harvest.” Certain it is that the river of peace runs out of its banks, and is useful only when it does. The overflowing heart of the Christian is the sympathetic heart. 3. Progressional expansion. A proper river grows broader and deeper as it progresses toward the sea. Our peace shall grow broader and deeper as we go on in the Christian life. III. “ HEARKEN.” This is the most important word of all, when we consider that it contains the condition of the promise God makes as to peace. All God’ s promises are conditional. If we fulfil our part of the contract He will not fail in His. “ Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.” The trouble with most of us is that we do not “ let” the Holy Spirit do in us and for us what He yearns to do. Some Christians complain that God does not supply them with peace when their hearts are so choked and their lives so clogged and cumbered that the river cannot flow in. Let us pursue the thought a little to see how we may dredge the channel and secure the blessing. 1. Blasting out deep-rooted rocks. This is the arduous part of the engineer’ s work when a river channel to be deepened. Some such work as this, deep and heroic, needs to be done by us if we are to offer a free course to the river of peace. Deep-rooted prejudices against the truth must be loosened and cast out of our minds. Hidden loves and yearnings for the world must be explored and destroyed. Pride is a great rock whose adamantine sides must be pierced. Love of excitement is another. Other rocks in the river’ s course are mentioned in Colossians 3:8. God’ s Word furnishes the dynamite by which they may be uprooted. 2. Rip-rapping to prevent dissipation of power. There have been heavy rains in the mountains, or the snows have suddenly melted and a mighty freshet comes tearing down the stream. The soil composing the banks is loose and loamy, and some protection must be afforded where the bends occur and the cities are built. Then the men set to work, and great nets of boughs and branches of trees are built, and these are made stable by rocks and bags of sand, and so the “ rip-rap” is formed and the waters are kept in their course. We are constantly in danger of losing spiritual power through the broadening of our energies and the dissipations of our forces. A proper overflow of blessing to others is necessary; yet the river is not to run entirely out of its channel and waste itself fruitlessly and even harmfully. The love of Christ is to “ constrain” us--keep us within limits. Let us not be afraid of being “ narrow” in this sense. A river is powerful only when properly narrow,--otherwise it becomes a bog and a stench. 3. Guarding against the formation of sudden sand bars. Those who dwell near sandy rivers or harbours formed by river mouths know what an amount of careful piering and dredging is necessary to keep the channel clear. Let us learn a lesson from the pains taken by the engineers. If we find a place in our spiritual life where sudden bars are apt to form, disturbing or retarding the flow of peace, let us at once protect the spot by special prayer. (W. J. Harsha, D. D.)Peace and righteousness sacrifices I. HERE ARE THE OF GOD’ S PEOPLE, Peace like a river; righteousness like the waves of the sea. The very same blessings which are said in the New Testament to constitute the kingdom of God (Romans 14:17). 1. This blessed peace is of two kinds--peace with God, and peace within themselves. This peace is compared to a river. The comparison is very beautiful and significant. Look at a river. What are you struck with? (1) The stillness and the smoothness of its course, so striking as contrasted with the noise and the disturbance which are so often heard upon its banks. So still is the course of the real Christian when compared with the troublesome world through which he moves. (2) Look again at the deep river. What an idea does it give us of fulness and abundance! And what an emblem then, in this respect, of the abundance of the Christian’ s peace! “ The Lord of peace Himself gives him peace always, by all means.” “ Always” --in prosperity and in adversity--in health and in sickness--in ease and in pain--in abundance and in want--in joy and in sorrow--in the midst of friends and in the midst ofenemies--in life and in death. And “ by all means” --for by how many instruments, through how many channels, does the Lord send peace into His people’ s hearts! By His Word--by His ordinances--by His providences--nay, by a thousand things which might seem, at first sight, more likely to mar their peace than to promote it. (3) Take another view of a deep river. How long has it been flowing? How long will it flow? And how long will the peace of the Lord’ s people last? “ As long as the moon endureth” (Psalms 72:7). Yea, longer far Isaiah 32:17; Isaiah 54:10). 2. “ Righteousness.” The people of God are clothed in the merits of their Saviour. Now, of this righteousness it may well be said that it is “ like the waves of the sea.” Behold the sea, and the idea it gives us is that of vastness and immensity--an almost boundless mass of waters. And what is the height, the length, the breadth, the depth of the righteousness of Christ! The waves of the sea are a fit emblem of power and might--who can withstand them? who can rebuke them? And who can lay anything to the charge of those whose righteousness is that of their Redeemer? II. WHY DO NOT THE WE HAVE SPOKEN OF BELONG TO ? It is impossible to enjoy God’ s peace in the midst of the world’ s sins. III. WHAT THERE IS IN THE TEXT! what commiseration of the sad estate in which sinners have reduced themselves! (A. Roberts, M. A.)The desire, plan, and regret of the Eternal I. AN EARNEST DESIRE OF THE ETERNAL. 1. He desires for man an abundance of peace. The word “ peace” stands for something more than freedom from national war or moral agitations. It stands for happiness in its widest and deepest import. The happiness desired, then, is not a little happiness, not a few drops, not even a copious shower that soon passes away, but a “ river.” (1) Ever augmenting in fulness. (2) Ever increasing in calmness. The deeper and fuller the river becomes, the more calm. (3) Ever approximating to its consummation. 2. He desires for man an abundance of spiritual prosperity. “ Thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” “ Righteousness” must also be taken in a general sense as standing for rectitude of soul and holiness of character. Those waves, how majestic in aspect! how resistless in flow! how unconquerable in energy! The Eternal does not wish us to have a little religion, but to “ comprehend with all saints what is the length,” &c. II. AN PLAN OF THE ETERNAL. The plan is that happiness should only come through obedience. “ O that thou hadst hearkened,” &c. 1. The constitution of the human soul shows this. The sum of all God’ s commandments has been reduced by Christ to love--supreme love to God. “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart.” Now, the nature of the soul shows that there can be no true and perfect happiness without this. (1) Nothing but a supreme love for Him can draw out harmoniously the soul’ s powers. (2) Nothing but supreme love for Him can satisfy the soul’ s conscience. 2. The order of society requires this. All are members of a social system, and each has a mission to fulfil, not only in relation to himself, but in relation to others. For society to act in harmony it is necessary that there should be one will worked out by all. Where each follows his own will there must be eternal collisions and anarchies. 3. The history of the world manifests this. Every chapter in the world’ s history shows that the disobedient have been miserable, whilst the obedient have been happy. 4. The Word of God declares this. III. AN REGRET OF THE ETERNAL. “ O that thou hadst hearkened unto My commandments.” Such Divine exclamations are not altogether unusual. Such expressions of Divine feeling indicate two things-- 1. The immense evils involved in disobedience. God alone knows the evils connected with disobedience to the individual, society, the universe. And seeing the dark and turbulent ocean of miseries springing from disobedience, He seems to sigh over it. His heart seems to break into commiseration. Fools may laugh at sin, but God is solemn over it. 2. That restoration to obedience is man’ s deepest necessity. God does three things to restore man to obedience. (1) Presents His law in the most attractive forms; not in characters on stone, in dry propositions, but in the lovely life of Jesus. (2) Presents the most powerful encouragement to obedience. The Gospel abounds with motives from heaven, earth, and hell, from time and eternity, to follow Christ. (3) Offers the Divine Spirit to help to obedience. Mark the pivot on which thy destiny hinges. It is obedience. (Homilist.)What might have been What is a commandment of God? We are too commonly inclined to regard it merely as the expression of the wish of God. It is more than that. It expresses a law of life. To disobey a commandment is not merely to go against the will of God; it is to violate eternal law. Every commandment is the expression of a fundamental law, which it is our welfare to observe, and our destruction to ignore. A parent says to her child, “ Thou shalt keep thy-self clean.” There is a commandment. But why? Because it is thy parent’ s wish? Yes, but more than that. Because it expresses a law of life, the condition of physical health. It is even so with all the commandments of God. The Ten Commandments are just ten laws, proclaiming what are the conditions of a healthy moral life. 1. Let us hear our text again. “ O that thou hadst hearkened when I made known to thee the laws of moral and spiritual health. I have instructed thee what laws to observe in building a house; I have instructed thee what laws to observe in building a life. O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments.” “ Hearkened.” The word is full of intentness; it is suggestive of quick apprehension. It means to prick the ears, as some hare or rabbit pricks its ears and listens at the slightest movement in the thicket, or at the sound of a footfall in the distant field. 2. But they had not hearkened. They had not pricked their ears and listened. They turned a sort of indolent and indifferent ear, and pursued their own way. Now, what happens when a man will not hearken to God’ s commandments, when he shapes his life in utter indifference to the revealed law? Two things happen, and they are as inevitable as death, for they are the forerunners of death--spiritual restlessness and spiritual feebleness. (1) Let a man hearken to the commandments of physical health, and all the many organs of his body will work together in a smooth harmony, as though they were not many but one. But now let the man refuse to hearken to the commandments of health, what then? The harmony will be broken, the brotherhood will be changed into anarchy, one after another the organs will rise in mutiny, and the man’ s bodily life will become the abode of restlessness and pain. Defiance of physical law produces physical restlessness. It is even so with those spiritual organs which inhere in the soul. Let a man hearken to God’ s commandments, let him obey the laws of spiritual health, and all his spiritual organs will form a holy brotherhood; conscience, will, affection, emotion, reason, shall all work together in the harmony which we name peace. But let a man defy the laws of God, and the soul will become a scene of civil strife; conscience, will, reason, and desire will be pitted one against another, and the whole soul of man, like to a little kingdom, will suffer the nature of an insurrection. (2) Defiance of spiritual law also produces spiritual feebleness. Every time I disobey a commandment of God I weaken my moral resources. Is it not to this process of gradual impoverishment that we refer when we say of some man, “ Poor fellow, he has got no will left “ ? 3. But now, see what might have happened. “ O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments,” five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, or forty years ago: instead of spiritual restlessness and spiritual weakness, “ then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” (1) Peace like a river! I don’ t think it is the figure we should have chosen as a symbol of peace. I rather think we should have taken some lonely mountain tam, some sheet of glassy water, hidden away in the bosom of the everlasting hills, as our symbol of peace. “ Peace like a river.” The mountain tam is a symbol of ease; the flowing river is the symbol of peace. The river, deep and full and progressive! The Apostle Paul declared that he had the peace which is the gift of Christ. Then it was peace like a river. Was it? Listen to the old man:--I am content,” there is peace--full, deep, rich contentment. But listen again--“ Not that I am already perfect,. . . I press toward the mark.” Peace, but like a river! Fulness with progress! Contentment with aspiration! Life at rest, but moving on to the perfection of God! (2) But more than that, instead of thy present spiritual feebleness, thy righteousness would have been “ like the waves of the sea.” Take your stand upon the shore, and watch the waves roll in, like an army of white-crested warriors, shaking their snowy plumes, and riding forth to battle. Do you remember that Old Testament figure which describes the strength of the pure--“ terrible as an army with banners” ? I have sometimes been reminded of the figure as I have stood upon the beach, and watched the great waves rolling in and tossing up their snowy foam--“ terrible as an army with banners.” “ Thy righteousness like the waves of the sea,” a conquering and jubilant army Have you ever tried to stop a wave of the sea? It cannot be stopped. “ Thy righteousness like the waves of the sea” --nothing shall check it. No threats shall hinder it. No bribe shall allure it aside. Temptations shall be only like those sand-castles which our little ones build along the shore, and thy righteousness shall sweep them away with joyful ease. 4. It would be a poor and melancholy business for a preacher to get up and merely tell his people what might have been; it would be a funeral dirge rather than a Gospel. If the Gospel of God has a tender and inspiring note for anybody, it is for those souls which are burdened with a depressing sense of what might have been. “ What might have been” must be followed by “ what may be,” if souls are to be lifted out of bondage and darkness into liberty and light. Still, if you can get a man to sigh for what might have been, you have laid the foundation for what may be. A sigh for the past is a prayer for the future. Hope may be born out of sorrow, as diamonds are born out of slime. What do we need? Well, first of all we need to know that we have another chance, that we can begin again. Don’ t let anyone fall into that fatal snare of believing that God has cast them off. God never hides His face. It is we who obscure it. Go down into the West Riding of Yorkshire, and look at those tall mill chimneys as they pour out dense volumes of coal black smoke, which hangs like a dark pall between the inhabitants and God’ s sky. What would you think if some poet, living in one of these towns, were to begin to cry, “ Hide not thy face from us, O blue sky” ? The blue sky is not hiding its face; it is your own black smoke that obscures it. Can the obscuring cloud be removed? “ I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins.” (J. H.Jowett, M. A.)The outline of the ideal in every man’ s life If you have ever been at St. Andrews, and have looked at the ruins of that great cathedral, you have seen not only the massive walls that are left in a small part of it, but you have seen just the appearance above ground, the whole shape of the cathedral--nothing more than that: you can just form an idea of what it would be if it stood there in all its grandeur. Well, there is left in every man something of this kind. Sin depraves, but it does not obliterate the organic powers and the natural peculiarities and tendencies of the individual. What I might have been--that is not a picture which has altogether vanished in the air; there is some outline of it left, an outline in each man. Of course, these differ very much among themselves, just as pictures differ in a gallery or as human faces in a crowded street, all of which, perhaps, you will find to have a general resemblance, but none of which are exactly alike. The ideal of another person would not be mine, nor mine his. There are diversities. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)God’ s appeal to man I. AN APPEAL OF GOD TO MAN. 1. The appeal made by the Almighty to the Jew, and also to the Gentile, is full of pathos and the most intense affection. It tells us how unwilling God was and is that any man, or any body of men, should perish; should pass away from His love and care and protection, and that if anyone did so, it would be their own fault; and that such a consequence of disobedience would be necessary for the upholding of the Divine laws. 2. The manner of the appeal, too, indicates that the Commandments of God had not been properly regarded, and therefore there is a tone of sorrow and regret. The case reminds us of Christ weeping over the doomed city of Jerusalem. If we are neglecting our first and foremost duties with respect to God, if we are so taken up with the world, its different callings; its pleasures, its ambitions, its cares, and its disappointments, as to keep out of view the imperative duty of seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and of working out by self-denial and constant obedience to the Almighty will our own personal salvation, then the words of our text, with all their force of meaning, may be applied to ourselves. 3. But such an expression of grief with God is generally predictive of judgment. It was so with the tearful words of the Redeemer. II. THE RESULTS WHICH MIGHT HAVE BEEN; or those which follow obedience to the commandments of God. 1. On the condition of hearkening to or obeying the Divine commands there would follow a peace as full and deep and calm as to be like a river. 2. This latter comparison of righteousness is very striking. Like the waves of the sea for constant activity, for breadth and depth, for a wide circuit of influence, for sublimity, power, and greatness. And such is Christian life and character when considered in their relative bearings on ourselves and society at large. (W. D. Horwood.)National peace and righteousness The words are addressed to a nation; the images before us are images of national life; the peace--that is, the outward prosperity of the people--shall flow like a river; the righteousness of the united people shall be like the prevailing unity, the accumulated power, the forceful, restless energy of the sea waves. (W. S. Davis.)Thy righteousness as the waves of the seaRighteousness 1. Religion being the supreme act of the soul, it is not strange that its highest product should claim the grandest symbol in the vocabulary of God for its utterance. Isaiah, whose mind was more ocean-like in grand unity and rich variety of colour than any other prophet, saw so deeply into the nature of righteousness that not the plain, or sky, or mountain, with which he was familiar, offered him so complete a definition of its quality, or so full a suggestion of its life in the soul, as the wonderful sea. Poets have always sought the melodies of ocean to reinforce and complete their own especially when the deeper and larger experiences and hopes of man are touched. 2. Innocence is not righteousness, though many a soul thinks because it has not been stained by sin it is righteous. Innocence has no waves, no perils, no tragedies, no gulf streams, nothing so stormy as a plunging breaker. Innocence is a plain of white snow. The rosy hues of sunset do not glimmer down into its deeps! No one is engulfed in its splendour; no one can sail upon its bosom. It is passionless, without a yearning or a song. Righteousness is like a sea, full of currents; it is restless and restful with living energies. It has perils, and means storm and stress, as well as peace and beauty. It offers opportunities to its sailor for heroisms and enterprises of soul. A mountain can describe justice; it is its portrait, bard, unmovable, grand, crystalline. But righteousness is mobile, just as grand, but full of movement. 3. Even Jesus sought the seaside because He felt most of all souls how something above His soul influenced it as the moon influences the ocean. All nation-builders, poets, great achievers of the intellectual and spiritual wealth of the race know that not from within, or from beneath, but from above the long, sweet influences work to lift the life to its sublime heights. Part of the secret of a strong and blessed life lies in knowing the tides, in counting upon them, and in relying on the fact that these influences from above will do more for our exaltation and joy than any of our own efforts may do. At low tide, with a fresh east wind, a white-capped wave seems to try to reach some beautiful Place on the shore. It yearns and strains and fails. Let it wait till the moon-drawn tide comes under it with soft, strong advances, and lo, the walls of the land are washed to jasper, and the wave has mounted where it never could have reached alone. Wait until God sends His tide and you will reach your highest goal. 4. Righteousness has majestic unity and richest variety, like the waves of the sea. Men would often make one type or aspect of righteousness the judge of all others, and call it alone perfect. The sea is so much like man’ s soul because it is so much a changeful unit; so like man’ s righteousness because every man’ s righteousness takes on all the hues of his personality. At all moments of the day and night the sea is a palette of colours, yet one sea rolls in all this marvel of changing tints. Righteousness is equally variant; it takes on the sky’ s hues above the soul, and the wonderful tints of the bottom of the sea. The sea is a challenge to man’ s sense of infinity. It whispers of eternity. So does all genuine righteousness, for it is ageless, and seems to rely on the life everlasting. Its whole mission is to fling us out on the forever of God and the soul. So the sea shall be no more when we have learned its lesson. (F. W. Gunsaulus, D. D.)Righteousness as the waves of the sea God would have a man’ s righteousness to be like the waves of the sea; that is, He would have him to be possessed of a goodness that cannot be measured, and that can never end. For if we want the symbol of strength, of variety, of voluminousness, abundance, and endlessness, we have it, not in the grand mountains that are called everlasting, but in these ever-fluent never-resting waves of the sea. The waves of the sea! why, they have made all the strata of the world nearly; they have immersed every continent in turn again and again and again; they have been lapping and chafing the shores of this world through ten thousand ages, and roaring in answer to the winds all over the lengths and breadths of the ocean, and yet now, to-day, they are as fresh and young and buoyant as they have ever been before. Well, this is the emblem which God takes to set forth the beauty and glory of man’ s life. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)Righteousness as the waves of the sea Walk along the coast-line when the tide has ebbed, mark the wastes of sand, the muddy ooze, the black unsightly rocks. Not thus did God intend that any of His children should be. It was never His will that their righteousness should ebb, that there should be wastes and gaps and breaks in their experience, that there should be the fatal lack of strength and purity and virtue. The Divine ideal of the inner life is mid-ocean, where the waves reach to the horizon on every side, and there are miles of seawater beneath. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Righteousness 1. Is not the first idea of the waves of the sea their multitudinousness? Righteousness, then, like these waves of the sea, would mean an unfailing movement, an active goodness, strong or gentle, reaching over the boundless surface of life, breaking in pure foam and music on every beach. It would mean a kind of limitless and incalculable force, too, not contracted like waters in a pool or pond, but issuing out of vast depths and distances, and swayed by cosmic impulses, so that there is no end, no pause, no exhaustion--a sense of the infinite, a promise of eternity. 2. The second idea must be that of the beauty of the waves of the sea. That is not a modern sentiment; it occurs in the earliest poetry of the world. It was AEschylus that coined the exquisite phrase, “ the countless smile of the many-sounding sea,” and a poet like Isaiah must have felt that poetry of the sea as you have done. 3. May we add a third suggestion, which would hardly occur, perhaps, to those who knew only the tideless Mediterranean, namely, the beneficence of the waves of the sea. They are for ever washing the land. Our righteousness is intended to have a cleansing effect on the shores of earth. Not like the troubled waters, which throw up mire and dirt--they are intended to ring human life with a belt of ozone, to wash out into the depths the corruptions of the earth, and to fling high upon the shore the sting and the strength of the salt. To influence the world for good is a thought to thrill you with hope and desire, to be good, to do good, to make good. (R. F. Horton, D. D.) Isaiah 48:20-21 Go ye forth of Babylon Summoned to an exodus There has never been an era in which God’ s people have not been face to face with a great principle of evil, embodied in a city, confederation, or conspiracy of darkness. Always the same spirit under differing forms. This great system is as strong to-day as when the massive walls of Babylon enclosed their millions, and proudly dominated the world. Some have identified it with the Church of Rome, or the spirit of ecclesiastical assumption, but it is better to consider it as that element which is ever working through human society, which is spoken of as “ the world.” We are therefore warranted in applying to present surroundings every item in the description given of the olden foe of Israel, and of heeding the summons to go forth. I. SENT TO BABYLON. God’ s ideal for the chosen people is set forth under a beautiful similitude (Isaiah 48:18). This ideal is within the reach of everyone who will hearken to God’ s commandments. But if we refuse, we may have to pass, as Israel did, into the furnace of suffering in the Babylon of the world. II. LIFE IN BABYLON. The mighty city was called the Lady of kingdoms. We must think of her with massive walls, broad spaces, colossal bulls guarding the entrances to vast temples with flights of stairs and terraces; with pyramids, towers, and hanging-gardens; her wharves receiving the freights of the Indian Ocean; her marts thronged with the merchants of the world; her streets teeming with tributary populations. But right across her splendour ran the fatal bars of cruelty, luxury, wickedness, and devil-worship. Amid such scenes the Jews spent the weary years of their captivity. But through this awful discipline there was slowly emerging a nobler, loftier ideal, which was fostered by the ancient words that foretold their destiny. It was not possible that they should be long holden by their captors. Were they not the elect people of God, destined to bless the world? Yes, they might be in Babylon, like many another captive people, but they had a great hope at their heart. And in the light of that hope, under the searching fires of their anguish, they for ever abandoned their love for idolatry. Some are now in their Babylon. They look back to a sunny past, which might have continued had they not stepped out of the narrow path of obedience. Let such still hope in God: they shall still praise Him; let them repent of their sins and put them away; let them learn the deep lessons which God’ s Spirit is endeavouring to teach; let them dare to praise God for the discipline of pain. Presently the clarion call of the exodus will ring out. III. EXODUS FROM BABYLON. The old order was changing and giving place to the new. From the ruins of the mightiest city that, perhaps, the world has ever seen, the Jews are bidden to go forth. The summons for an exodus rings out to the Church of the living God. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.) Isaiah 49:1-6 Listen, O isles, unto Me A forecast of the universal religion In the previous chapters we find very glorious things spoken of the deliverance of the Jews from Babylon. But in this chapter we seem to commence a new departure, to rise to a higher strain, and to launch out into broader and grander predictions. A larger audience is invoked--“ Listen, O isles, unto Me.” A greater than the prophet is the speaker--“ The Lord hath called me from the womb,” &c. And the calling of the Gentiles to a share in the blessings of the greater redemption is clearly indicated. “ I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth.” (D. Howell, B. D.)The ideal servant of Jehovah Here, not only does the language describe apparently the acts of an individual person, but the servant is expressly distinguished from the historic nation; and part of the servant’ s office is to consist in the restoration of the historic nation, and (Isaiah 49:8) the re-allotment of its desolated land. At the same time, the servant is still in some sense “ Israel” ; for the term is directly applied to Him (Isaiah 49:3). . . Israel, from this point of view, is delineated by [the prophet] as an ideal personality, and projected upon the future as a figure displaying the most genuine characteristics of the nation, and realising them in action with an intensity and clearness of aim which the historic Israel had never even remotely attained. It is a great ideal creation which the prophet constructs, a transfigured reflection of the historic people, a figure conscious of the colossal task allotted to it, but impeded by no moral slackness, or other deficient y, from undertaking it. And so vividly is this wonderful creation a figure present to his imagination, that it exhibits all the concrete traits of an individual person. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The servant of Jehovah The servant of Jehovah is the kernel of the kernel of Israel, Israel’ s inmost centre, Israel’ s highest head. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The speaker Who is this that speaks in the Hebrew tongue, and presumes to address the world as his audience? We had thought the Jew-speech too exclusive, too conservative, too intolerant of strangers, to care to make itself heard beyond the limits of Judaism. Whence this sudden interest in the great family of man? All! these are the words of the Messiah, the ideal Jew; speaking in the name of the elect race, and representing its genius, not as warped by human prejudice, but as God intended it to be. “ He said unto me, Thou art My servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” There can be no doubt that this is the true way of considering these noble words. They were expressly referred to Jesus Christ by His greatest apostle on one of the most memorable occasions in his career Acts 13:47). But, it may be asked, how can words, so evidently addressed to Israel, be appropriated, with equal truth, to Jesus Christ? It is sufficient to say that He was the epitome and personification of all that was-noblest and divinest in Judaism. When, in spite of all that they had suffered in their exile, they for a second time failed to realise or fulfil their great mission to the world; when under the reign of Pharisee and Scribe they settled down into a nation of legalists, casuists, and hair-splitting ritualists--He assumed the responsibilities which they had evaded, and fulfilled them by the Gospel He spoke and the Church He formed. In the mission of Jesus, the heart of Judaism unfolded itself. What He was and did, the whole nation ought to have been and done. As the white flower on the stalk, He revealed the essential nature of the root. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)A polished shaft We are justified in referring this paragraph to the Lord Jesus, as the ideal Servant of God. And we may get some useful teaching as to the conditions of the loftiest and best service which, following His steps, we may render to His Father and our Father. I. THE OF THE IDEAL SERVANT. 1. A holy motherhood. “ The Lord hath called me from the womb.” The greatest and best of men have confessed their indebtedness to their mothers; and not a few have, without doubt, enshrined in their character, and wrought out in their life, inspirations which had thrilled their mothers’ natures from early girlhood. It is from their mothers that men get their souls. To make a man, God begins with his mother. Few of us realise the immense importance attaching to the education of girls. 2. Incisive speech. “ He hath made My mouth like a sharp sword.” Speech is the most God-like faculty in man. Christ did not scruple to be called the word or speech of God. This regal faculty is God’ s chosen organ for announcing and establishing His kingdom over the earth. Our mouth must be surrendered to God, that He may implant there the sharp two-edged sword that proceeds from His own lips (Revelation 1:16). 3. Seclusion. “ In the shadow.” We must all go there sometimes. The photograph of God’ s face can only be fixed in the dark chamber. 4. Freed from rust. “ A polished shaft.” Weapons of war soon deteriorate. Rust can best be removed by sand-paper or the file. Similarly we must be kept bright and clean. For this purpose God uses the fret of daily life, the chafe of small annoyances, the wear and tear of irritating tempers and vexing circumstances. II. FAILURE (Isaiah 49:4). This heart-break seems inevitable to God’ s most gifted and useful servants. It is in part the result of nervous overstrain, e.g. Elijah (1 Kings 19:1-21.). But in part it results from the expanding compassion of the soul. There are three ‘ sources of consolation. 1. That failure will not forfeit the bright smile of the Master’ s welcome nor the reward of His judgment-seat. He judges righteously; and rewards, not according to results, but to faithfulness. 2. The soul leans more heavily upon God. “ My God is become My strength” (Isaiah 49:5). 3. We turn to prayer. How sweetly God refers to this, saying, “ In an acceptable time have I answered thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee” (Isaiah 49:8). Thus God deals with us all. He is compelled to take us to the back side of the desert, where we sit face to face with the wreck of our fairest hopes. There He teaches us, as He only can, weaning us from creature-confidence, and taking pride from our hearts. III. SUCCESS. When Jesus died, failure seemed written across His lifework. But that very Cross, which man deemed His supreme disgrace and dethronement, has become the stepping-stone of universal dominion. Thus it may be with some. They are passing through times of barrenness, and disappointment, and suffering. But let them remember that the Lord is faithful (Isaiah 49:7). He will not suffer one word to fail, one seed to be lost, one effort to prove abortive, one life to be wasted. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)Service; call and qualifications I. THE CALL TO THE SERVICE US OF GOD. “ The Lord hath called me from the womb.” 1. To every human life that enters the world there is a special call, and a distinct sphere of duty. Jeremiah was called from his birth (Jeremiah 1:5), and so was St. Paul (Galatians 1:15). These are types, not exceptions. Their call teaches us that every human life is a real and distinct entity, a thing complete in itself, as much so to the eye of God as the grandest object in any sphere of created life. Behind all secondary causes there is a design and a purpose to each separate existence, which gives it a dignity, and makes it a necessity in the government of God. This truth is not one easy to realise. An individual is so insignificant a thing among the millions inhabiting the surface of this globe, while the globe itself is only as a grain of sand on the seashore beside countless other worlds, that it is with no mock modesty we ask, “ What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou so regardest him?” This is true, but it is none the less true that each individual life has a meaning and a mission in the plan and purpose of God; and to realise this is no unimportant element in fitness for service. Two opposite errors there are which have gone far to ruin countless human lives. One is the overestimating and the other the underestimating our importance as individuals. 2. The question naturally arises, how is the Divine call to be discerned? The natural predilections of a man may, to some extent, be taken as pointing the direction in which his sphere of action lies. There are, besides, his aptitudes, his special endowments. There is, also, the concurrent direction of circumstances. Nor should a light stress be laid on the opinions of those whose experience of life, and unbiassed judgment, qualify them to give sound advice. Nor again, should the conscious promptings of some power within us, compelling us to face, perhaps, an unwelcome prospect, be ignored. But at no crisis in life is humble, submissive, patient, trustful waiting upon God of greater importance than when we are responding, definitely and finally, to the call of circumstances, of inclinations, and of qualifications in the choice of life’ s sphere of duty. “ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” And when the call comes, it is at our peril that we hesitate to obey it. II. THE FOR IT (verse 2). This was emphatically true of our Lord Jesus Christ. When, in the fulness of time, He was revealed to the world, His own words were, “ I came not to bring peace, but a sword.” Moreover, in the apocalyptic vision, the description given of His ascended and enthroned Majesty is that of one “ out of whose mouth there went a sharp two-edged sword.” The same figure is also applied to the third person of the Holy Trinity, of whom it is said, that the “ sword of the Spirit is the Word of God” --and never should it be forgotten, that Bible truth, in mind, and heart, and life, and at ready command for use, is pre-eminently the instrument of power for effective service. Now the sword is the symbol of authority, as well as of war, and is intended to vindicate the true as well as to slay the false. For this we need, not only a sword, but a sharp sword. There are great and vital interests to be vindicated, the interests of truth, and of humanity. We also need a sword, and a sharp sword, to cut down errors and abuses. But for effective service we need not only to be as sharp swords, but also as “ polished shafts.” A polished shaft is a symbol of cultivated gifts, of trained endowments, and of aggressive power at its best. The call and the gifts come from God; while the response to that call, and the due cultivation and employment of the gifts depend upon man, and if he neglects to do his part, what can his life be but a disastrous failure? Definiteness of purpose is an essential condition of success in earthly affairs. Moreover, in all true service there must be the element of sacrifice--not merely the sacrifice of time, thought, pleasure, profit, preference,but, above all, of self. One more element in fitness for service must I mention, viz., that moral chivalry which goes by the name of disinterestedness. (D. Howell, B. D.) Isaiah 49:2 And He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword A sharp sword 1. God does not undo, in His relationship to us as Re-creator, the work which He has already performed as Creator. He does not strip us of our natural faculties, and endow us with others altogether distinct from these. Our natural faculties are in themselves neither good nor bad, but in every case are capable of development, either in the direction of good or of evil. When first the grace of God finds us, the powers of evil have more or less infected our nature, and most of our faculties (if not all of them) have exhibited a downward inclination; our members have become “ instruments of unrighteousness,” the weapons which Satan has used to do his own fell work. It is upon these dishonoured faculties that God lays His hand when He enters and takes possession of the new-created soul. What He demands on our part is, that these members should be surrendered to Him, as they formerly were to the powers of darkness. 2. The prophet here speaks of one important faculty which exercises an influence for good or evil second to none that affects society--the tongue. The faculty of speech is one of the noblest endowments of humanity, distinguishing us, as it does, from all the lower animals, rendering social life possible, and binding humanity into one. How much of evil originates with the tongue! And yet what a mighty engine for good language may be! Surely God has put no small honour on human speech when He permits His own Son to be described as “ the Word” of God. 3. How many of us have endeavoured to use our tongues in the service of God, and yet our efforts have been singularly weak and unsuccessful. Let us not be discouraged, but listen to this word of power: “ I have made thy mouth a sharp sword” --sharp no longer for sarcasm and cutting scorn. The withering scoff, the poisoned slander, the bitter reproach, are no longer to proceed, like a sharp two-edged sword, from those consecrated lips of thine; but, if thou wouldst but believe it, a new power has been communicated, in virtue of which that very member, which was of old so keen-edged a weapon in the hands of the destroyer, is now to be equally sharp and pointed in the grasp of its Divine Master. But have we yet begun to be discontented with our want of sharpness? Are we ready to be used by God as a sharp sword? Have we counted the cost? Are we prepared for the consequences? If we are, our weakness matters not. God can use us. “ Fear not, thou worm Jacob; I will make thee a sharp threshing instrument, having teeth, and thou shalt break in pieces the mountains.” How many of our well-meant efforts fail for want of teeth! 4. What is required in order to render us efficient instruments in the hands of God? (1) Definiteness of purpose. The man whose mouth is a sharp sword will speak, not for speaking’ s sake, nor to ease his conscience, but to reach the heart. (2) Incisiveness of language. Our words need not be ungentle nor severe, and yet they may be pointed. (3) Earnestness. (4) One other characteristic will be embodied in the word “ now.” The man who speaks for God will ever remember that “ the King’ s business requires haste.” “ The Holy Ghost saith, To-day” ; and he who speaks in the Spirit will speak as the Spirit. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)A sharp sword in God’ s hand Two young men were educated together in an American university. The one was possessed of very considerable talents, and subsequently became the popular minister of a large and fashionable congregation; the other was a man of humble abilities, but possessed by an ardent desire to win souls, and therefore ready to adapt his means to the attainment of this end. Years rolled on, and the popular preacher had occasion to pay a visit to the parish of his old acquaintance. After witnessing all that was going forward in connection with his friend’ s congregation, he could no longer repress his astonishment. “ I cannot understand how it is,” he said, “ that everything in your district and congregation seems to flourish. Your church seems full of really converted souls. The number of your communicants is astonishing, and the amount of work that seems to be going on all round fills me with amazement. How can it be that I, preaching the same truth, yet see scarcely any definite result of my labours? I can scarcely point to any who have been turned from darkness to light as the result of my ministry.” After much conversation, his friend requested him to try an experiment. “ Will you,” he said, “ take one of my sermons (which in style and composition are by no means to be compared to your own), and deliver it to your own flock? Make it a matter of prayer beforehand that God will make use of it,” not only for their good, but as a lesson to you in your own ministry, if it is intended to be so. Then watch the results. He agreed to do so, and on returning to his flock, delivered with much feeling one of his friend’ s fervid discourses. The effect was evident, and to him astonishing. It was clear that many in the congregation were deeply stirred by what they had been listening to. At the conclusion of the service he was sent for by a lady, whom he found remaining behind in the church, in a state of considerable agitation. “ If,” she exclaimed, “ my dear sir, what I have heard from you to-day is true, then I am all wrong!” “ My dear madam,” he replied, with great consternation, “ what is the matter? I hope I have said nothing that has hurt your feelings!” (W. Hay Aiken, M. A.)The Word of God as a sword 1. Because it pierceth the very heart (Acts 2:37; Acts 7:54). 2. Because it separateth between virtue and vice, by teaching what is good and what is evil. 3. Because it cutteth off sin, by the threats which are therein contained against sinners, and by the promises which are thereby made to those who forsake sin. 4. Because it cuts off error and heresy by teaching the truth. (W. Day, M. A.)In the shadow of His hand hath He hid MeSeclusions These words refer in the first place to Him who is the central figure of all prophecy, the coming Messiah. Perhaps they point to His pre-existent state, and denote the concealment of the Eternal Word before it was made flesh. Or the words may contain an allusion to certain aspects and experiences of Christ’ s earthly history, and notably the first thirty years of it. What holds good with regard to the Master, holds good also with regard to the servants. As He was in this world, so are they. It is not so much the expression of a general and abiding relationship we have here, as of a special and occasional experience. Every believer lies locked in the closed hand of God, nor shall any pluck him out of it. But it is not of a hiding such as this that the text speaks. It is rather of what is temporary and repeated. What, then, are some of the ideas involved in the special figure of the text? I. We have God’ s love brought before us as an influence to AND PROTECT. And it preserves us in a special way, it protects us through a special process--by withdrawal. That, of course, is not always God’ s plan. He has other ways of arranging in providence for the safety of His people, than by removing them from the sphere of their danger. When opposition threatens or temptation assails, He may keep men face to face with the foes that encompass, and seek to educate and to strengthen them by the process. At such times as these they are called to comport themselves as good soldiers of Christ. But at other times it is not incitement that the Christian needs, nor the strength that enables him to do and to dare. It is shelter, screening, quiet, and removal. And when such seasons are needed, they are given. And what a hand it is to retreat to! Think of all that the Scripture reveals to us of its power. II. The text leads us to think of God’ s care as a influence. It trains, as well as protects. He quenches not the smoking flax; on the contrary, He fosters and fans it. And for this end He covers it with the shadow of His arched hand, till it brightens from a smouldering spark to a clear and steady flame. Sometimes these seasons of concealment take place at the beginning of a man’ s life-work. Take Paul, the newly-converted. When the due time came, and study and seclusion, meditation and silence, had accomplished their work, the hand was unclosed, the shadow was withdrawn. God drew the shaft He had polished from its quiver, and Paul came forth from his retreat, ready to do and to speak, to suffer and to dare for the cause of Christ. And what happens at the outset of a believer’ s life, happens often in its course; and many an active Christian life has been cleft in twain by the silence and the pause it imposes. There is a special illustration in the history of Luther. The man had attained the very climax of his immense activities. The nations had wakened from the sleep of ages at the thunder of his lips. Hither and thither he had been moving; here attacking, there defending, yonder restraining. And now every nerve was strung to tenseness by the strain, every faculty wrought to fever in the whirl. And what does God do with him? He suddenly bears him off out of view, takes him from pulpit and from councils, hushes and encloses him in the Wartburg, and leaves him there in imprisonment and isolation for a time. Had God no purpose in view, in thus plunging His servant into the darkness awhile--apart from the work that he loved so well? Assuredly He had. The Church of Christ was all the better of this temporary withdrawal of its one outstanding defender. It was reminded thereby that the cause was God’ s and not man’ s. And it was taught that the cause could go on, though the man who was its agent was removed. Luther himself was all the better of the discipline too. And when Luther emerged from the shadow, in God’ s good time, to achieve and withstand, to struggle and to conquer, once more, he did so as a stronger, because a wiser and a calmer man. And a year’ s or a month’ s time spent in quiet waiting in the shadow of His hand, may do more to ripen the soul for its future existence with Himself than half-a-century of busy labour amidst the outward activities of life. The believer passes from the sphere of active work to the sphere of quiet waiting, that the discipline of service may be supplemented by the discipline of submission, and the God of peace be enabled through the training to sanctify him wholly. The shadow where the life disappears is only the shadow of the hand. And when the hand is unclosed on the other side death, the light it has covered will be found to be all the more steady and brilliant for the discipline, and shall shine in God’ s holy place, as the stars in the firmament, for ever and for ever. III. Pass from the protecting and preparing influences of God’ s hand, to its . For you have the idea here not only of isolation, but of pressure; pressure and pain. It does not always lie gently round about us, this hand of God. There are times when it contracts more tightly, darkens more deeply, impinges more closely. And it does so in many ways--does so even when we are least ready to realise the source whence the pressure arises. If ever a Christian is tempted to think his trials come from another source than the wise and tender Fatherhood of God, it is when they shape themselves in the words and deeds of sinful men. Yet the shadow which they cast on the life is only the shadow of the hand, and the pain the experience gives us only its contracting pressure. And of other trials than these, it is still the same. There are complications of adversity at times so persistent and perplexing that they almost seem to argue the operation of some malignant fate. You are in dark places, But it is only the shadow of the hand. Lie quiet, and bear it as well as you can. And He who at present contracts His hand will in due time open it, and set you in a large room once more. IV. The text speaks of the influence of God’ s care. While I rest in the shadow of the hand, God of course has the whole of me; but there is another side to the relationship: I have the whole of God. V. The text reminds us of the hand of God in its influences. When lover and friend are put far away from us, and our acquaintance are hid in darkness, they are only removed by the same loving hand, and covered awhile in its shadow, but blessed and safe where they rest, awaiting the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body. And what of the body itself? (W. A. Gray.)A polished shaftA polished shaft I. The prophet speaks of the servant of the Lord under the figure of A SHAFT. There are not wanting some who, in their eagerness to deliver their souls, and to be faithful to their responsibilities, outstep the limits of Christian courtesy. They have their own blunt way of working for God, and they are disposed to flatter themselves that it is the best way, because it is most in accordance with their own natural dispositions; but the Lord seeks polished shafts for His quiver. No sword was ever so sharpened as were the words of Jesus; and yet how gentle He was, how considerate! But, you say, we have all our natural peculiarities, and we must continue to be what nature has made us. Not so, my dear brother. Thou art to be perfected by grace, not by nature. Cut a rough stick from a hedge: if it be tolerably straight, and a spike be stuck in the end of it, it may serve, on an emergency, in the place of an arrow at a short range. But every little notch, every distinguishing peculiarity, of that rough stick is an impediment to its flight. We need not fear for the skill of the Great Archer who keeps His saints in His quiver; but we must remember that when we assert our natural peculiarities of disposition, instead of surrendering ourselves to Him to be polished according to His will, the fault is ours, not His, if we miss the mark. We have no right to be content with doing the Lord’ s work in a “ rough and ready,” bungling, clumsy fashion, effecting perhaps a little good and a great deal of harm. “ He that wins souls is wise” ; he that seeks merely to relieve his own conscience can afford to do things in a blundering way. What does it matter to him, so long as it is done? But surely if the work is to produce its proper effect, we need much tact, much delicacy of feeling, much tenderness of sympathy; we need to learn when to hold our tongues, and when to speak. It is quite true that God may bless our very blunders when He sees they are committed with true sincerity of purpose, and arise rather from ignorance and bad taste than from wilful carelessness; but that does not warrant us in continuing to blunder, still less in regarding our blunders as almost meritorious, and reflecting self-complacently that it is “ our way of working.” We shrink from the polishing process; but He who desires to see us so polished that we shall reflect His own glory, not exhibit our own peculiarities, will take care that the means for our polishing are forthcoming. It is by friction that the arrow is polished, and it is by friction that our idiosyncrasies are to be worn away. This friction is provided in different ways. Perhaps it will be supplied by failures and disappointments, until, like Gideon of old, we are ready to say, “ If the Lord be with us, why is it thus with us?” Perhaps it will be supplied by the violent and bitter antagonism which our inconsiderate roughness and unwisdom has stirred in the hearts of those whom we seek to benefit. Sometimes it is provided in our common intercourse with others, not unfrequently in our intercourse with fellow-Christians. Possibly He may subject us to the severest discipline of trial before the work of polishing is complete; but polished in one way or another the shafts must be which He is to use for His own glory. II. THE SHAFT IS ONLY TO BE HIDDEN. It might seem that when once the process of polishing had been completed, the arrow would be a proper object for display, and here is a peril which even polished shafts are exposed to. There is so much of the beauty of the Lord impressed upon some of His servants, that men cannot withhold their admiration. Christians are lavish of their love, and there are hidden perils concealed under this favourable esteem. Sharpened and polished, how apt are we to display ourselves, even as the Assyrian axe of old “ boasted against him who hewed there with.” “ But,” says the great apostle (himself a polished and sharpened arrow), “ we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.” And so it is that the polished shaft has to be hidden. Your attention is not directed to the arrow while it is waiting to be used; it is concealed within the quiver. The eye is not caught by it when it is in the hand; it is hidden under the shadow of the hand. Another moment, it rests on the bow; another moment, and it speeds to the mark. Neither in the quiver, nor in the hand, nor on the bow, nor in its flight, is the arrow conspicuous. The more swiftly it flies, the more invisible it is. Thus the archer wins all the applause, and the arrow is nothing; yet it is by the arrow that he has done his work. And while man is not attracted to the arrow, the great Archer Himself is. It is upon it that He bends His eye. It is to it that He gives the credit of the victory: “ Thou art My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” Yes, there is a special joy in His heart when He can truly say of us, “ Thou art My servant.” How near we are to His sacred Person when we are thus hidden in God’ s hand, concealed in His quiver! And how much truer and deeper the joy of such service than the momentary excitement of human applause! And then the thought that it is possible for God to be glorified in us as the archer is glorified in the arrow, that the intelligences of heaven shall gaze down and admire the work that God hath wrought by instruments once so unpromising, and shall praise Him for it; that men on earth shall be constrained to admit that this is the finger of God, and to take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus; that the devils in hell shall recognise in our lives the presence of Omnipotence, and tremble as they see the mighty Archer draw us from the hiding-place within the quiver! “ Hidden in God’ s hand!” Hidden from the grasp of Satan. He fain would snatch us out of God’ s keeping; but his hostile hand can never touch those who are concealed in God’ s quiver. Hidden from the desecrating touch of the world to which we no longer belong. Hidden above all from ourselves--our morbid self-consciousness, our inflated self-esteem, our gloomy self-depression. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)The pride that apes humility I remember once overhearing the remark from the lips of one whom long experience and keen observation had taught more of the subtlety of the human heart than most men ever discern: “ Ah, my dear brother, the truth is that we are all full of self; only some of us have the good taste not to show it, and some have not.” The words may appear almost cynical, but a little reflection will show us how true they are. (W. HayAiken, M. A.)A polished arrow Mark Guy Pearse says that the crest for the Lord’ s worker is “ an arrow” polished and feathered, content to be in the quiver until the Master uses it; lying on the string for His unerring fingers to send it forth, then going strong, swift, sure, smiting through the heart of the King’ s enemies, and with this for the motto, “ I fly where I am sent.” Isaiah 49:3-4 And said unto me, Thou art My servant The service of man the manifestation of God’ s highest glory How numerous are God’ s servants! All things in heaven and upon earth, all worlds, all elements, and all creatures are His servants, which obey His word, and declare His greatness and glory. But of all God’ s servants in this world man ranks highest, and through his service God is glorified in a sense that He could not be glorified through the service of any other creature. Israel was God’ s servant in a pre-eminent sense, whether the word be taken to mean the nation as God’ s chosen people or an individual as God’ s messenger to do His will. But the ideal of God’ s servant in this book was realised only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Man appears greatest when he serves, and there is no way to true greatness but through service. And God appears greatest when He condescends to serve. The Son of God looks more Divine on the Cross of His humiliation than on the throne of His glory, for on the Cross that which was deepest in His nature became visible. And it may be said that in every good man God becomes incarnate, and takes upon Himself the form of a servant, and by so doing bestows upon him the highest greatness. God says to every one of His faithful children, “ Thou art My servant, in whom I will be glorified.” The way to glorify God is by serving man. I. WHAT IS MEAT BY GOD’ S GLORY? With glory we associate the ideas of purity, beauty, and sublimity; and God’ s glory is the energetic expression of His holiness in all His works, in myriad different forms and ways. II. THE SERVICE OF MAN AS THE OF GOD’ S HIGHEST GLORY. Man has been created for the revelation of the highest glory of the Divine nature, and when he serves God faithfully, God breaks forth into glory in his character and work. This is the glory of His moral attributes, the glory of His love, mercy, compassion, and tenderness, which is infinitely greater than all the glory of the material universe. You can never learn the character of God from the facts of nature, any more than you can learn the character of the artist from his paintings, of the architect from the buildings he has planned, or of the builder from his work. In every gentle and kind word spoken to the affected, in every look of compassion, in every tear of sympathy, and in every deed of kindness, God breaks into glory that would make you tremble and adore if you were spiritual enough to see it. How the Divine glory shone in the life of the apostle Paul! In a dark age, when the superstition of the Papacy covered the land, God called Martin Luther, and said, “ Thou art My servant, in whom I will be glorified.” And in Rowlands, Whitefield, Wesley, and others, God’ s glory broke forth in a similar manner. In the only-begotten Son was revealed the glory of God as the Eternal Father (John 1:14). Before the same glory shines forth in us we must become something more than professed Christians, we must become Christ’ s. (Z. Mather.)God’ s servants Painters, poets, and musicians are God’ s servants, and in their masterly ]productions the Divine glory bursts forth. Raphael was God’ s servant, and m the Transfiguration God’ s glory broke forth. Handel was God’ s servant, and in his Messiah God’ s glory broke forth. Milton was God’ s servant, and in his Paradise Lost the Divine glory majestically broke forth. Statesmen, reformers, and philanthropists are also God’ s servants, and He says to each one of them, “ Thou art My servant, in whom I will be glorified.” But the shining of the Divine glory is not confined to the highly gifted, but breaks forth in those who faithfully serve God in obscure spheres of labour, unnoticed by the world. (W. Hay Aliken, M. A.)The three-fold experience of Christ I. THE OF A HIGH . “ He said unto Me, Thou art My servant,” &c. Just as the words, “ Out of Egypt have I called My son,” never found their full significance until they were applied to God’ s greater Son, so the name “ Israel” was never fulfilled finally in Jacob, who first bore it, nor even in the nation that has borne it after him, but has found its ultimate fulfilment in Him who is pre-eminently a “ Prince with God,” and our Prince, because He is our Saviour. We have, therefore, here a prediction of the consciousness of a high mission which possessed the Christ, and brought Him to this world of ours. Some of us will never forget the day when we were conscious for the first time of the inspiring fact that God had spoken to us, and through that experience of ours we may be able--as, indeed, the prophet through his experience was supremely able--tounderstand something of the ecstasy with which Christ, conscious of His glorious mission, came to this world of ours. It was that that Christ remembered throughout His life, and it was that which sustained Him throughout His personal ministry in the face of opposition and discouragement of every kind. He knew that He was doing His Father’ s will, and it was this consciousness that found expression in the prayer which He uttered on the eve of His great passion, “ I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.” It was this assurance, too, that He sought to give to His disciples as the mainspring of all their heroism. “ As the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” “ Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” Scholars are divided here in opinion. Some say that this ought to be translated, “ In whom I will burst forth into glory.” This is a translation that charms me. Jesus was indeed “ the effulgence” of the Father’ s glory--the shining forth of the light which had ever been the light, but which would have been largely invisible to man apart from the Incarnation. Then there is the other translation, “ In whom I will beautify” --or “ glorify” --“ Myself.” In harmony with this Jesus exclaimed near the close of His life, “ Father . . . glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee.” Did not the Son glorify the Father by the very outburst of light which distinguished His life among men? II. THE OF FAILURE. “ I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and in vain.” We trace this consciousness at times even in the Master in Gospel story. His disappointment in the face of human unbelief, His sorrow over human sinfulness and ingratitude, the apparent waste of the Divinest life that was ever lived among men in precept and example--these weighed heavily upon Him. In this respect, as in many others, He was touched with the feeling of our infirmity. III. THE OF FINAL . “ Yet surely My judgment is with the Lord, and My recompense with My God.” In other words, He knows the motives which have prompted Me, and what led Me on step by step. Whether life be a failure or not, whether My self-sacrifice appear fruitless or not, He knows what is the root of all. Yea, I know more than that--I know not only that He will vindicate Me and the motives which prompted Me; but I also know that My work must find its reward; that all that is apparent failure is only apparent; that My toil must bring forth fruit--“ Surely . . . My work is with My God” . Here again there is the double meaning, and therefore a special wealth of significance. The word denotes more than the “ work,” and more than the “ recompense.” It denotes the work and its result; all that the work meant: the toil of saving men, and the reward of seeing them saved. Thus the Christ Himself, amidst all the ignominy and anguish of the Cross and Passion, fell back upon the assurance of the Father’ s final vindication. These, then, being pre-eminently the words of the world’ s Redeemer, are surely an example and an inspiration to us to follow His example. (D. Davies.) Isaiah 49:4 Then I said, I have laboured in vain Christ in prophecy These prophetic sayings go to Christ, not outside of and separate from man’ s struggle, but in and through it. As all true Christians are living over again, in an imperfect way, the details of Christ’ s own experience, so were all true godly men, before His coming, feeling their way into it, being guided by Christ’ s spirit, and having the throb of His life, which is the life of God, already palpitating in their bosoms. (J. Ker, D. D.)The complaint for frustrated aims These words bring before us a feeling that belongs to the human heart in all places and times--the complaint of man for frustrated aims. It is not easy to say in what distinct form it is present to the mind of the original speaker here. Sometimes he appears to express the feeling as his own personal experience--a man among his fellow-men--and sometimes he seems to personify the nation to which he belongs. Probably both are struggling together in his heart. The people of his race were selected by God for a great purpose--to hold up His name and knowledge pure and unsullied in the midst of the world’ s defections. But the purpose is, for the while, an apparent failure. The world has corrupted those who should have purified it, and God’ s judgment has fallen on their unfaithfulness till they are scattered among the heathen and ready to perish. It seems as if Israel’ s history were labour in vain. For himself, the prophet thought that he had been chosen to bring back his people to the way of truth and righteousness. But the people have erred, the prophet has failed, and he speaks both for himself and for the best part of the nation, the true Israel of the Covenant. (J. Ker, D. D.)Apparent failure I. SORROW FOR THE FAILURE OF LABOUR. In thinking of this we may go down to a still lower stage than that from which these words sprang in the heart of this man of God. The complaint is made by many who have never sympathised with his high aim or shared in his Divine work. 1. Take the first of the two great objects that call man to labour--the gratification of self. How few prizes are drawn for the many blanks! When some one spoke to Napoleon of his Italian campaign, and asked if that marvellous part of his career did not give him exquisite pleasure, he replied: “ It did not give me one moment of peace. Life was only incessant strife and solicitude. The inevitable battle of the morrow might” annihilate all memory of the victory of to-day.” We may call to mind the saying of poor Keats when dying: “ I have written my name in water” ; nor would it probably have comforted him much more at that time to think he had engraved it in marble. Even affection and sympathy--how often are they not reciprocated, or returned with ingratitude, or felt to be not of the deep kind the heart had yearned for! 2. The second is God and the good of His world. The higher a man’ s idea of what the condition of the world Should be--of what a reign of righteousness and happiness there might be if God had His due place--the more likely is he to be depressed at times by the view of things around him, and the slow way in which all our effort is bringing us to the goal. II. SOME OF THE TO WHICH THIS SORROW FOR THE FAILURE OF LABOUR IS SUBJECT. 1. Take first, again, that class of men who have set before them in life some personal object, and have been disappointed in it. The great temptation in such cases is to brood over and magnify their disappointment. 2. Then, as to those who have a higher aim in life than any mere personal one--who are truly seeking the glory of God and the good of their fellow-men--they have also their temptations under failure. We are so ready to judge of the plan of the world by our own little share in it, and to think all the war is lost when our small detachment suffers a check. III. THE WE HAVE IN THE MIDST OF THIS SORROW FOR FAILURE. “ Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.” There are two things this speaker fixes upon, and they are a powerful stay if we can bring them as clearly and confidently to God as he did. “ My judgment is with the Lord.” I can appeal to His decision for the character of my motive. It was, so far as I knew it, pure and true. “ My work is with my God.” I can cast on His decision the result of my labour. I do not say that any mere man can do this with a perfect assurance that all is right with him, and that He who searches the hearts, and tries the reins, can absolve him as faultless; but I do say that there are men who, by the grace of God, can appeal to God Himself for the sincerity of their aim. Let us see how it should influence both the classes we have been considering. 1. Those men who have been seeking some personal object in life, and have failed in it, may learn much here. Let us take it for granted that there was nothing sinful in your aim, and that you did not wish for any good, inconsistent with the rights and the happiness of your fellow-creatures. It seems very hard to you that you should be denied what many of them enjoy, and you can scarcely help comparing your lot with theirs, with a sense of bitterness, at least of regret. Here is a more excellent way of it. Instead of putting your life beside theirs, refer yourself to God’ s judgment. If you can put the case truly before the Judge and Controller of life, you may find something in your life to correct, and something also that will give comfort. May it not be that you have been making the aim of your life too narrow, even as it concerns your own welfare? You have been thinking, perhaps, of worldly position and acknowledgment, more than of the building up of your character in what is true and pure and godlike--more of your outward than of your inward and real life. These failures may be to teach you to begin again, and to aim at a wider basement and a higher top-stone--to take into your edifice the soul’ s interests, and to let its front look Godward and heavenward. And you have been making, perhaps, the aim of your life too narrow as it concerns your fellow-men. You have made self too exclusive. If you come, after all the failures of life, in this submissive spirit to God for His judgment, He will give you not only means of correction, but comfort. Though you may have lost what you once reckoned the good of life, there is another and higher good still open to you, not merely hereafter, but here. God can teach you how to build on the ruins of former hopes--nay, He can show you how you may take the very stones of them that have fallen and lie scattered around, and may joint them into a new and most beautiful and enduring structure. You may never in this world have the keen thrill of joy your heart once panted for, but a conscious and deep peace will recompense its absence,--more satisfying and more abiding. 2. There is a resource here, also, for that nobler style of men, who have laboured for the cause of God and their fellow-creatures, and have failed to find the success they sought. It may seem strange at first sight that there should be such failures. Yet there are some things which make it not so strange, if we will but reflect. Are we sure that our motives are always as high as we ourselves fancy, and may not failure be meant to send us back to sift and purify them? Our very despondency may arise from our having looked too much to success and too little to duty. God must have standard-bearers who are ready to make a shroud of their colours, and how can they be known but in hours of defeat? And, though our motives are pure, is our work always wise? Are Christians to expect that carelessness and rashness will succeed, simply because of good intentions? After all, however, the great resource we have is to fall back on this appeal “ My judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.” Man judges by success, God by simplicity of heart; and many an unnoticed effort and inarticulate prayer that never seemed to touch the conflict shall share in the full triumph of the victory. Those who have failed to find position or comfort, fame or sympathy in the world, may have One who can bear His share with you here, who chose this place in life, which you call loss, that He might be nearer you, and show you that life has greater things than all you have coveted. Those of you who complain that you have laboured for your fellow-men and God with small return, have One here who gave up infinitely higher things, and met from men a more cruel award. Let all be done under the cover and trusting in the strength of Him who alone “ works all our works in us.” Let the sinful past come under this shadow to find forgiveness; the narrow and selfish life, to find a new and lofty aim; and all our fears and griefs and disappointments, to find comfort and hope in Him who entered the world to redeem it from fall and loss, and to make every true life succeed at last, even where it seemed to fail. (J. Ker, D. D.)The glorification of civic life Think of the worth and greatness of a human life in that elect society and holy city which is the servant of God. If the corporate consciousness of the city should become a judgment and recompense with God; if the sense of God and His holy presence should envelop the whole city in its power, and reach every man in it, even as the morning light comes into every home; if the city should awake with God; if, throughout the day, in the mind of the city, the thought of God should have its dwelling-place, and if in the government of the people the law of God should have its throne; if some awe of the Divine righteousness should pervade the business of the city, and some deep sense of Divine blessedness, like a fountain of life, should well up and abound in the happiness of the city, and some greatness of the Divine purpose should enlarge all the work of the city, and make the least faithfulness a service of God; if some peace of the Divine eternity should rest upon all life’ s changes in the city, and the hope of some Divine event bend over every new-made grave, and the comfort of some Divine omnipresence fill as with an all-pervasive love every heart in the city that had been left in loneliness of grief;--if, in one word, a whole city should become, what Isaiah beheld in the far future, a city of God, a Messianic city, the elect servant of God,--think you that in that city “ Sought out, a city not forsaken,” any humanlife could seem to be a life for nought, and its labour in vain?--a worthless thing to be trodden under foot, or only a moment’ s flash of pleasure?--a life not to be prized and kept as a sacred, immortal trust? Would not every least life in a city of God, full of the consciousness of God, become a life of moral worth, a birth into an immortal consciousness, a part in some universal good, a fellowship with something celestial, an anticipation and a share in some eternal triumph and joy of life? (N. Smyth, D. D.)The ineffectiveness of Christ’ s personal ministry, a man-reveallng fact Assuming that these words express Christ’ s experience, they cannot be taken in an absolute sense. He laboured in vain, compared with what the kind and amount of agency employed were suited to effect. We shall look at this fact as revealing certain other facts in relation to human nature. I. IT REVEALS MAN’ S FREEDOM OF ACTION. We cannot conceive of a mightier moral energy being brought to bear upon mind than that which Jesus brought to bear upon the Jewish mind, and yet it was resisted. The Jews resisted moral omnipotence. He appealed in the most powerful way to three of the most influential principles in our nature. 1. Belief. If you want to influence men, you must take your stand upon their faiths. There were, especially, two faiths which Christ appealed to; the one instinctive, and the other attained. The former was, that miracles are the works of God; the latter, that their Scriptures predicted a Messiah. Christ appealed to these predictions. 2. Conscience. His character, doctrines, and precepts bore directly on the conscience. 3. Interest. He revealed the judgment-day, unfolded heaven, uncovered hell. Thus He assailed their souls; and yet they resisted. Do not say that man has no moral power; he has proved himself, by the comparative ineffectiveness of our Saviour’ s labours, to have power to resist the mightiest moral influences of God. II. IT REVEALS MAN’ S OF . The possession of the capacity to resist the highest moral influences is the gift of God. It is neither subject for blame nor praise, but for thankfulness to God. But the using of that capacity to oppose holy and Divine influences is our guilt and ruin. There were three perversities in the Jews that led to this resistance. 1: Perversity of judgment. (1) Their judgments were sensuous. They “ judged after the flesh,” In the Scriptures they read of a coming king, priest, conqueror; they identified that king with pageantry--that priest, with flowing robes and sacrifices--that conqueror, with mighty armies. When the true King, Priest, and Conqueror came, He had none of these, and they would not have Him. (2) Their judgments were servile. The Scribes and Pharisees were their theological masters. They allowed them to manufacture their creed. Christ came and denounced their great leaders as heretics and hypocrites, and they waxed indignant. This sensuous, servile judgment in religion is ever an obstruction to the spread of truth. 2. Perversity of feeling. There were two perverse feelings, especially, that led them to reject Christ. (1) An undue reverence for the antique. They loved the antiquity of Judaism. Men who tie themselves to precedents rather than principles, can never advance. (2) An undue respect for worldly greatness. They thought a deal about worldly wealth and pomp; Christ had none. 3. Perversity of life. Josephus informs us that so corrupt was the Jewish nation in the time of Christ, that had not the Romans come and destroyed them, God would have rained fire from heaven, as of old, to consume them. These perversities of judgment, feeling, and life, have ever been impulses stimulating man to oppose Christianity. III. IT REVEALS MAN’ S SUPPORT IN HIS HIGHEST LABOURS. The highest labour is that in which Christ was engaged. What was His support? Not adequate success; for He complains of not having it. Here it is, “ Surely My judgment is with the Lord, and My work with My God.” Two supporting ideas are here involved-- 1. That the cause in which we are engaged is the cause of God. “ My work is with my God” 2. That the reward of our efforts is from God. “ My judgment” (reward) “ is with the Lord.” The good will he rewarded, not according to the success of their labours, but according to the purity of their motives, and the devotion of their power. (D. Thomas, D. D.)Apparent failure sometimes the truest success 1. This is just the language which we find at times forcing its way from the lips of most of those great men who have felt most conscious of having a mission from God. Those who have most deeply and radically influenced for good the minds of their generation have been usually distinguished by fits of profound melancholy; regret that they have ever entered on their heroic course; weariness at the opposition which they meet with; distrust of their own fitness for the task; doubts whether God has really commissioned them to act on His behalf. Why is this? It is because God’ s results are for the most part secret. A man who sets a great example is hardly ever conscious of the effect which his example produces. If his plans are not carried out precisely in the way and to the end which he had originally contemplated, he persuades himself that they have been an utter failure, that no good can have arisen from them; whereas the truth is, and other persons see it, that the particular plans were from the outset worthless, in comparison with the exhibition of character by which the very attempt to execute them was accompanied. 2. The Cross of Christ is the true guide to the nature and value of real success. What a failure was the life of Christ, if we measure it by immediate results! No wonder that the Cross was to the Jews a sore stumbling-block, and to the cultivated Greeks utter foolishness, just as it would now appear to most of us. For even we, the heirs of eighteen centuries of faith in the Crucified One, seem hardly yet to have learned the lesson that the suffering, self-sacrifice, devotion to principles, and heedlessness of immediate consequences, are the indispensable foundations of all permanent success. (H. M. Butler, D. D.)Comfort under self-depreciation 1. Some persons give themselves much unnecessary pain by underrating their real service in the world. The question of good-doing is one of great subtlety. The quiet worker is apt to envy the man who lives before society in a great breadth of self-demonstration. It is as if the dew should wish to be the pattering hail, or as if the soft breeze should disquiet itself because it cannot roar like a storm. We forget that whirlwind and earthquake, fire and cloud, tempest and silence, have all been God’ s messengers; and it would be foolish of any of them to suppose that it had been of no use to the world. 2. The text shows the true comfort of those who mourn the littleness and emptiness of their lives. “ My judgment is with the Lord,” &c. God knows our purposes, our opportunities, and our endeavours, and He will perfect that which concerneth us. The intention of the heart, which it was impracticable to realise, will be set down to our favour, as if we had accomplished it all. (Y. Parker, D. D.)Discouragement Each epoch has its special temptations and trials. For Christians of to-day, one of these maladies is discouragement. Discouragement! not in that acute and passionate form which strikes us in the bitter and despairing complaints of the prophets and believers of other centuries. We suffer from a less violent ill, less dangerous in appearance, but dull, slow, and treacherous. 1. Many causes explain it to us. The human mind, in its progressive march, passes by turns through phases of assurance and disturbance. (1) At an epoch when analysis is carried to excess, the vital powers of the soul become weak and are in danger of dying. One of the first fruits of this tendency in religious minds, will be languor. How can one love, act, and believe, when at each of its aspirations the soul finds planted before it a “ perhaps” ? If this spirit of analysis is destructive to individual enthusiasm, it acts in a still more enervating manner upon the collective life. Every one asserts his independence, his right to examine; and often the spirit of party alone replaces the unity which disappears. (2) Our age has another character--it wants to be practical. A scorn scarcely dissembled confronts inquiries, which reach beyond the world of sense or of pure logic. The supernatural passes for mysticism, and this word, with many, is a condemnation without appeal. This tendency reacts on the Church. It is certain that the same utilitarianism is invading it. (3) Add to these causes the influence of certain tendencies of spirit and temperament, causes entirely physical, which act in a mysterious but powerful manner on the moral state. Add to these that inclination which the most serious minds have to look on the sad side of human things. Add those tendencies which exist in all ages, but which, in the general condition I have described, develop with much more power and rapidity;--and you will comprehend why nothing is rarer in these days than that joyous, heroic, serene faith which characterised other ages. 2. In certain circles it is sought to escape from it by excesses of feverish zeal. The imagination is excited by the prospect of the immediate realisation of the promises of prophecy. These fictitious but intermittent flashes only terminate in changing this languor into incredulity. What must be done then? Build up your life on another foundation than that of your passing impressions; fix it upon the central, eternal truth which dominates over the fluctuations of opinions and beliefs; live in Jesus Christ; and upon the heights to which this communion lifts you, breathe the vivifying air which alone can give you strength. Then only can you oppose faith to sight, the eternal to the transitory, and thanksgiving to discouragement. But this is to tell you that you must be, must (it may be) become again, Christians. Now this remedy is not to be reached in a single day. 3. In going to the bottom of things I discover two principal causes of the discouragement of the Christian. The first is the greatness of the task which God sets before him; the second is his inability to accomplish it. (1) We are so constituted that every time the ideal of love and holiness to which the Gospel calls us is presented to us in its sublime beauty, our heart vibrates with a profound assent, and we feel that it is for this end that we were created. But when we must not only admire but act, then we measure with dismay the distance which separates us from it, and discouragement seizes us. It prescribes for us not only that love of our neighbours, which is after all only an enlarged selfishness, but charity, and, if need be, charity which goes even as far as sacrifice. (2) The ill success of his labour is the second cause of the Christian’ s discouragement. What Christians mourn the most deeply over the ill success of their efforts? They are almost always the most active and advanced Christians. It enters into God’ s plan to conceal from us almost always the results of what we do for Him. Why does God will it? Doubtless, that faith may be exercised. God does not wish to be served by mercenaries. He often hides from His children the fruit of their labours, to the end that they may work for Him and not for themselves; He hides it from them in order that they may find in Him their recompense, and not in the result of their work, nor in the outward success which would take the place of His approbation, nor even in the progress of a sanctified life, for perfection apart from Him might become an idol It is also to humble us. How seldom is it that man can bear success, and not bend under its weight! He teaches them, moreover, gentleness and compassion. Success alone will never develop these. However, this fruit is only hidden; it will appear in due time. No one in serving the Lord has the right to say, “ I have laboured in vain.” Even when the indifference of the world shall seem to conceal for ever your labours and your sacrifices, there will be left you the consolation of the prophet, “ My judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.” (E. Bersier.)Ideal and realisation Draw near to those giants of the spiritual order, those workmen of God who in different ages have been called Elijah, St. Paul, Chrysostom, St. Bernard, Luther, or Whitefield, and who confound you by the immense work which they have accomplished, you will hear them groan under the small results of their works. Elijah cries out to God: “ Take away my life; I am not better than my fathers.” Isaiah pronounces the words of my text: “ I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain.” St. Paul trembles in fear of having been a useless labourer; St. Bernard expresses in his last letters the painful feeling of having accomplished almost nothing. Calvin, dying, said to those who surrounded him: “ All that I have done has been of no value. The wicked will gladly seize upon this word. But I repeat it, all that I have done has been of no value, and I am a miserable creature.” What must we conclude? That these men did nothing? No, but that, in the presence of the ideal which God has put in their heart, their work appeared to them almost lost. (E. Bersier.)Labour in vain, yet, not in vain in the Lord I. A , wherein our Lord complaineth, that although He came to the house of Israel, where He published the Divine doctrine, wrought many miracles, and showed admirable holiness of life, yet for most part He had lost His labour. “ I have laboured in vain,” &c. II. A of Himself upon this complaint, wherein He reareth up Himself with the consolations of God in the midst of all those oppositions that were made against Him, and all His lost labour. “ My judgment is with the Lard, and My work with My God.” III. A of this consolatory part, by three arguments-- 1. From the assurance of His calling. “ And now thus saith the Lord that formed Me from the womb to be His servant.” 2. From His own faithfulness. “ Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord” ; I do My duty faithfully. 3. From the faithfulness of God. “ My God shall be My strength” : as if He had said, I know that God called Me to this office, and that I am faithful in it, and therefore He will assist and stand by Me, and reward Me. (T. Taylor, D. D.)Apparent failure Of Livingstone, on his last journey, his biographer, Dr. Blaikie, says: “ During all past life he had been sowing his seed weeping, but so far was he from bringing Pack his sheaves rejoicing, that the longer he lived the more cause there seemed for his tears. In opening Africa, he had seemed to open it for brutal slave-traders, and, in the only instance in which he had yet brought to it the feet of men “ beautiful” upon the mountains, publishing peace, disaster had befallen, and an incompetent leader had broken up the enterprise. After twenty-three years of labour, he wrote: By the failure of the Universities Mission, my work seems vain. No fruit likely to come from J. Moffat’ s mission either. Have I not laboured in vain?’” Isaiah 49:5-7 And now, saith the Lord Paradoxes of prophecy I would weigh with you two of those larger, and at the same time intense paradoxes of prophecy, which run throughout the prophetic word, and which Isaiah, in these wonderful words concentrates in one. 1. That He, who was foretold should Himself be the light and salvation of those who knew not God unto earth’ s utmost bound, yet should fail as to those to whom He should first come, the prophet’ s own nation, the people among whom alone, before He came, He was looked for, hoped for, believed in. 2. That He, whom to adore should be the glory of kings, before whose presence they should “ arise” from their thrones and bow down before Him, should be first “ despised of man, abhorred by the” Jewish “ people,” be in the power of the rulers of this world, as a slave is in the power of his masters. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.) Isaiah 49:6 And He said, It is a light thing that Thou shouldest be My servant The evangelical prophet: his wide outlook In the whole of this prophetical book there is not a single verse in which the character of the evangelical prophet is more conspicuous than it is here. How must he have been transported beyond himself--how far must he have been raised not merely above the vulgar passions and prejudices, but above the noblest and purest aspirations of his contemporaries--how deeply must he have been permitted to enter not only into the secret purpose, but into the heavenly spirit of the Divine counsels, before he could have given utterance to such words as these! Try to realise in some measure the import, the power, the charm of those names--the names of Jacob, of Israel, in the mind of every faithful Israelite. Think how not only his human affections, but his deepest religious feelings, were centred in the prosperity of Zion and the peace of Jerusalem. Think of the grief and the longing, the prayers and the tears of the exiles in their captivity, when they remembered Zion. What joy could there be to such an one comparable for a moment to the joy of raising up the tribes of Jacob, and bringing back the preserved of Israel? And yet he was called upon by the voice of God to regard this as a light thing, and in comparison with what was it a light thing! What object was so far to transcend that which must have appeared in his eyes as the greatest of all? It was that he should be given as a light to the Gentiles, and that he should be the bearer of God’ s salvation unto the ends of the earth. How doubly strange must such a commission have seemed to the prophet who received it! Like every child of Abraham, he had been wont to look down with mingled aversion and contempt on the mightiest and wisest of the nations. He had directed his bitterest sarcasm against their idols; he would have held himself defiled by sitting down at the board even of their nobles and princes. Yet now the honour and welfare of the Gentiles is to be set far above the deliverance and exaltation of the chosen people. He must break the bands of prejudice, and learn a new estimate of life. (Bp. Perowne, D. D.)Missions to She heathen I. I venture to say, looking at the diffusion of Divine truth and its attendant blessings which are shadowed forth in the words of the prophet, EVEN OUR AND GLORY IS A LIGHT THING. Consider what m the true test and measure of real glory. I am not now speaking of it as it appears in the sight of Him by whom the nations are counted as the small dust of the balance, and who taketh up the isles as a very little thing. I would have you look at it from a human but still manly and reasonable point of view as it appears in the estimate of strangers, in the eyes of posterity, in the pages of history, in your own sober judgment, when applied to other instances where you are not under the bias of personal feeling or national prejudice. Take the case of an individual. Would you seriously count it a glorious thing for a man to have amassed great wealth, to have risen to a high station, to have acquired extensive authority? Or, do you think it necessary to inquire what use he has made of these advantages, what traces he has left of his passage through the world? It is not a sufficient title to glory that our name, our race, our possessions, our power, our influence have been extended to the end of the earth, and that every quarter of the globe has yielded its tribute to our arms, our industry, and our commerce. There still remains the question, What use have we made of all our gifts and opportunities? What are the things we have carried with us abroad in exchange for those which we have brought home? What are the tokens and monuments of our presence in the land where we have settled and borne rule? The ampler our means, the greater our power, the more commanding our influence, the greater is our responsibility and the stricter the accounts which we must render at the bar both of Divine and of human judgment. It is the proper object of a Christian State to encourage all efforts for the extension of Christ’ s kingdom, to place no obstacles in the way of that extension. II. But how is it as regards the Church? There can be no question that THE SENDING FORTH OF THE GOSPEL BELONGS TO THE PROPER WORK OF THE CHURCH. It may truly be said, in a certain sense, that all the rest is a light thing in comparison with this. Let us suppose a Church pure, sound, and flourishing in all other respects. But if a Church thus favoured puts forth no expansive energies, if she is content merely with the enjoyment of her internal prosperity, then the fulness of these blessings only renders the deficiency in its outward action the more glaring and reprehensible. Whatever appearance there may be of health or vigour in a motionless Church, all such indications must be hollow and fallacious. Such a Church deceives herself, like that of Laodicea, saying, “ I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing” ; being, in truth, “ wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” And lukewarmness is the cause, at once, of the misery and the self-delusion. It was such a Church that received the warning, “ I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” Is that too much to say of a Church which, so far as regards those who are without, is deaf and dumb and blind and palsied?--without an ear for her Lord’ s commission, without a voice to proclaim His message, without an eye for those whom He came to seek and to save, without hand or foot to stir in His service--or rather, to speak more plainly, without faith to trust His Word, without hope to abide His time, without love to spend and to be spent for His cause. (Bp. Perowne, D. D.)The missionary enterprise 1. To look at the question, even from a comparatively lower plane, is there not something elevating in the whole history of missionary enterprise? Is it not a good thing, an inspiring thing, to have lifted up before our eyes the noble examples of the men who have gone forth sacrificing their earthly prospects and encountering privation and suffering and the martyr death that they might preach among the nations the unsearchable riches of Christ? They have gained no earthly reward; they have looked for none. They have reformed men sunk in the lowest depth of degradation, misery, and crime. They have exhibited the Christian graces of domestic purity and truth and love. They have, indeed, enriched the world; they have been the pioneers in civilisation. The splendid heroism of our missionary martyrs has given us a loftier conception of duty, and made our hearts throb with holier emotions, and put to shame the weakness, the cowardice, the selfishness of our lives. Surely on this ground alone we may say that the work of the Church at home is a light thing compared with the mission work of the Church abroad. 2. This mission work abroad gives us new impulses and new motives, because it is done in simple obedience to the command of our risen Lord, “ Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature,” and a simple trust in His promise, “ Lo, I am with you.” 3. This mission work is a greater work because of the grandeur and far-reaching compass of its conception, as putting no limits beyond those of the habitable globe to its aims; greater, because it is not bounded by the bounds of a parish or Church; greater, because it bears in its bosom the inspiring truth that the kingdom of God is one, and that all work for Christ is essentially one in its range, and power, and objects, however manifold it may be in the forms which it assumes, or in its application to the various phases of society, and the infinite diversity of the needs which it meets. 4. It is greater because, as all experience shows, it breathes a new life into all the work at home. It is a sovereign, antidote to that selfishness which is so often a canker in our work. 5. The missionary work of the Church is a greater work because of its regenerating power m the revival of the whole Church. No one can question this who has watched the development of missions and the relation of that development to the work of the Church at home. It must often have awakened our surprise that at the great Reformation which shattered the fetters of superstition and brought out a nation beloved of God into the glorious liberty of her children, and gave them the Word of life, no attempt was made to carry the precious treasure to the rest of the world. It may be that the work they had to do at home was the work to which God had called them, and that it so absorbed all their thoughts and interest, it left no room for anything else. There is no more striking instance of the reflex action of missionary efforts than this, that it has been made in God’ s hand the instrument of a mighty revival in the Church at home. Compare it with that other revival which dates from Oxford some sixty years ago. The earlier Evangelical revival, striking as were its results in the awakening of souls, and turning men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, left out of sight the corporate unity of the Church. Its weakness was there. It was mighty in its spiritual intensity, but it forgot that Christ came not to convert individuals only, but to establish a Church. The Oxford Movement on the other hand dwelt too exclusively on this aspect of the truth. Ritual darkened the spiritual life. The work of God the Holy Ghost held a subordinate place in its teaching. The power of the Great Commission has gone forth. The Church is sending forth missions, and it is the reflex action of missions which is not only winning fresh victories for Christ abroad, but is breathing a new life into the Church at home. It does not despise sacraments or ordinances, but it puts them in their proper place. (Bp. Perowne, D. D.)Redemption, an eternal purpose A capable artist can find no worthier exercise for the highest order of powers, than in depicting the scene in the cabinet-council of some earthly monarch, at the moment when it is determined to risk the hazard of war, in offence or in defence, to unsheathe the sword, with the consciousness that the earthly fates of many kingdoms may hang upon the issue, and that the sword may not return to its scabbard until it be bathed red, and made drunk in the blood of myriads of slain. But in this august conference, it is not the fate of one or two kingdoms that is at stake, but of the world in all its extent, and in all its generations, and it may be, of far more than this world; for it seems probable, that, whilst Christ, in His coming into this world, laid not hold of the nature of angels to redeem them, all the intelligent creatures of God have had their condition and destiny modified by the incarnation, and life, and sufferings, and death, and resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. (T. Smith, D. D.)The Gospel for all I. THE FIRST CLAUSE DOES NOT SEEM TO US TO DECIDE, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, THE THAT HAVE BEEN OFTEN PUT AS TO THE FUTURE DESTINY OF THE JEWS. The acceptance of the Gospel by the Jews as a nation, or by the great body of the people, were comparatively a small matter, if it were placed instead of the diffusion of the Gospel all over the world, and the gathering of the elect out of every people. The two are ever to be viewed as great and important parts of a greater and more important whole, and they are so joined together by the appointment of God, that the one could not be effected were the other neglected. The times of the fulness of the Gentiles are appointed to be the times of Israel’ s gathering. II. Although it seems to be represented as if God had made the offer of the Gospel to the Gentiles conditional upon its rejection by the Jews, this must certainly be understood as spoken after the manner of men, and NOT AS IF GOD HAD MADE THE OF THE WORLD DEPEND UPON A . III. THE TERMS IN WHICH CHRIST’ S OFFER TO THE , AND THE OF HIS GOSPEL AMONGST THEM, ARE . He is to be “ a light” and “ salvation” to them. This implies their condition without Christ as one-- 1. Of darkness. 2. Of perdition. IV. THE OF CHRIST’ S GOSPEL TO REMEDY THE EVILS, AND SUPPLY THE WANTS OF THE GENTILE WORLD. The perfect catholicity of the Christian system is one of the grandest guarantees of its Divine origin. (T. Smith, D. D.)God’ s salvation a light to the Gentiles The subject of this chapter is “ Messiah God’ s Light” to the ends of the earth (John 8:12)., In orderfully to enter into our text, we will illustrate its meaning by St. Paul s own Acts 26:18). Comparing both these passages, we find the design of God’ s salvation to be that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs Ephesians 3:6). I. THE PURPOSE OF GOD IN THIS . 1. To make men to inherit the kingdom of God and home of the Redeemer. 2. To offer this glory to the Gentiles. II. THE GROUND ON WHICH THIS IS OFFERED. “ My salvation,” or, as in Acts 26:18, “ By faith that is in Me.” 1. The object of this faith. “ In Me.” Jesus Himself. 2. The nature of this faith. Believing in His life and work; receiving for our own salvation His offer of mercy; trusting Him wholly. III. THE NATURE OF THE THUS OFFERED. 1. “ To turn them from darkness to light,” i.e conversion. 2. Forgiveness of sins. (H. Linton, M. A.)Israel God’ s conduit-pipe “ That thou mayest be My salvation,” &c. That thou mayest be the conduit-pipe of My salvation to convey it to the end of the earth. (W. Day, M. A.) Isaiah 49:7 Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel The Redeemer of Israel Israel shall be raised from the deepest degradation to the highest honour. The verse is remarkable as anticipating the main idea of Isa 52:13-15. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Christ’ s future reign I. THE GIVEN OF THE MESSIAH. 1. As despised, rejected, and contemned by men. 2. As abhorred by the Jewish nation. 3. As “ a servant of rulers.” Though He was Ruler of all worlds, He voluntarily submitted Himself to human power, and yielded obedience to human rulers--the constituted authorities of His day. He conformed to the institutions of His country (Matthew 17:27; Matthew 26:52-53). He submitted to an unjust trial and verdict. II. THE PURPOSE OF GOD THE MESSIAH’ S REIGN. 1. He is chosen of God to accomplish the world’ s salvation. 2. All shall bow to His sceptre. Kings shall see the fulfilment of the Divine promise, by which He is destined to be the Light of the nations, and they shall rise up with demonstrations of respect and reverence; they shall render Him honour as their Teacher and Redeemer. They shall do homage to the great King-Saviour. 3. God, in His faithfulness, will accomplish His gracious purpose. Conclusion-- 1. What a glorious period is approaching! 2. What encouragement have all Christian workers! The success of our efforts is certain. 3. What is your relation to this great King-Saviour? (A. Tucker.)Kings rendering homage to Jesus Kings, being usually seated in the presence of others, are described as rising from their thrones; while princes and nobles, who usually stand in the presence of their sovereigns, are described as falling prostrate. (Hitzig.) Isaiah 49:8-13 Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time The world given to Christ The prophet was looking forward to the Messiah and His times. It was customary for some kings to grant to favoured ones whatever they requested (Psalms 2:8). God’ s kingly Son is represented as having asked, and this is the answer I. THE OF THE GOSPEL. 1. It was commenced in the apostolic age. 2. It has been continuing through the ages to the present hour. 3. It will be fully accomplished in “ the fulness of time.” What reasons have we for believing this? (1) The faithful and unerring promises of Jehovah. (2) The adaptation of Christianity, above all other forms of religion, to be universal (3) The present aspect of the world furnishes much reason to hope that the accomplishment of this promise is drawing nigh. II. THE OF THOSE WHO SHALL EMBRACE IT (Isaiah 49:9-10). The promise includes-- 1. Abundant provisions. 2. Careful protection. 3. Unerring guidance. III. THE PRAISE WHICH SUCH SHOULD AWAKEN (Isaiah 49:13). We should raise this song-- 1. Because of the glory which the fulfilment of this promise will bring to the triune Jehovah. 2. Because of the blessings the Gospel will bring to humanity. Conclusion--Has this Gospel come to you in saving power? (A. Tucker.)I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the peopleChrist the covenant of His people I. WHAT THIS MAN’ S IS. A covenant, in the general acceptation of the word, is an agreement between two parties in any thing, or end, upon certain articles or conditions, which both freely consent to. “ The covenant of grace,” or “ of redemption,” is an eternal transaction between the Father and Christ; a consultation and agreement between these two glorious Persons, how man should be saved out of the ruins of the fall, in a way becoming God (Zechariah 6:13). II. SUCH A HATH PASSED BETWEEN THE FATHER AND THE SON BEFORE ALL WORLDS. 1. There were terms made, or work demanded of the Mediator. (1) That Christ should take the name of His covenant-people upon Himself, and become their representing Head. (2) That He should become man. (3) In this body Christ was to fulfil God’ s whole law. (4) That Christ should seal all His obedience with His blood. 2. There were -promises given. Christ thus firmly and freely consenting, and binding Himself to perform these terms and conditions, the Father makes promises to Him. (1) That He would fit Christ for His work (Isaiah 11:1-2;John 3:34). (2) To assist Christ in His work (Psalms 89:21-22). (3) To carry Christ safely and honourably through His work Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 42:4; Psalms 89:26). (4) The Father promised Christ “ a seed to serve Him” ; and great glory after this His work was ended (Isaiah 53:10). 3. There were mutual trusts which the glorious parties reposed in each other. III. WHO ARE THE PEOPLE FOR WHOM CHRIST WAS GIVEN AS A . 1. Such as are brought to seek happiness and life purely upon the footing of this covenant. 2. The messenger of the covenant is their delight (Malachi 3:1). 3. Such as have the Spirit of the covenant in their hearts. Wherever the Spirit is given, He comes as a Spirit of grace and supplication. He is a Spirit of liberty. A Spirit of holiness. IV. WHAT ARE THE TO THE PEOPLE BY THIS ? 1. Their calling is secured. 2. All grace is treasured up for them. 3. Fellowship and communion with God, 4. Eternal life is given (Titus 1:2). V. USES BY WAY OF AND . 1. Christ and His seed are comprehended in one and the same covenant. 2. That which is a covenant of grace to us, is a covenant of works to Christ. 3. We learn the meaning of those phrases wherein God is said to make “ a covenant” with man. 4. We see the ground of the salvation of Old Testament saints. They were justified and saved upon the foot of this covenant. 5. The substance of the covenant was the same, under both testaments; only the dispensation of it varies. The covenant made with Abraham, Jacob, David, &c., was a covenant, not of works, but of grace. 6. Why Christ is called the “ covenant” of His people. It is because He is all in all in this covenant. Practical uses-- (1) Admire the love and grace of this covenant. (2) Look more at Christ in every covenant-blessing. (3) This may be improved for the believer’ s comfort, whatever his wants are; it is a sure covenant, an ordered covenant, a full covenant; Christ is thy covenant, therefore in all thy dangers, weaknesses, snares, thou art safe; in all thy wants thou art provided for; in all thy fears thou art prevented. (J. Hill.)Christ in the covenant We believe that our Saviour has very much to do with the covenant of eternal salvation. We have been accustomed to regard Him as the Mediator of the covenant, as the Surety of the covenant, and as the scope or substance of the covenant. I shall dwell on Christ as one great and glorious article of the covenant which God has given to His children. I. Here is a GREAT --Jesus Christ by the covenant is the property of every believer. 1. Jesus Christ is ours in all His attributes. He has a double set of attributes, seeing that there are two natures joined in glorious union in one person. He has the attributes of very God, and He has the attributes of perfect man; and whatever these may be, they are each one of them the perpetual property of every believing child of God. 2. In all His offices. Is He a Prophet? He is thy Prophet. Is He a Priest? He is thy Priest. Is He a King? He is thy King. Is He a Redeemer? He is thy Redeemer. Is He an Advocate? He is thy Advocate. Is He a Forerunner? He is thy Forerunner. Is He a Surety of the covenant? He is thy Surety. In every name He bears, in every- crown He wears, in every vestment in which He is arrayed, He is the believer s own. 3. In every one of His works, whether they be works of suffering or of duty, they are the property of the believer. “ Circumcised in Christ.” “ Buried with Christ in baptism unto death.” I die in Christ. I am buried with Christ. We are “ risen together with Christ.” He hath made us “ sit together in heavenly places.” 4. In the person of Christ “ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” “ And of His fulness have we received, and grace for grace.” All the fulness of Christ to restrain thee, to preserve thee; all that fulness of power, of love, of purity, which is stored up in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, is thine. 5. The very life of Christ is the property of the believer. “ Because I live ye shall live also.” “ Ye are dead; and your life” --where is it? It is “ hid with Christ in God.” 6. Best of all, the person of Jesus Christ is the property of the Christian. II. FOR WHAT PURPOSE DOES GOD PUT CHRIST IN THE ? 1. In order to comfort every coming sinner. 2. To confirm the doubting saint. 3. Because there are many things there that would be nought without Him. His great redemption is in the covenant, but we have no redemption except through His blood. His righteousness is in the covenant, but I can have no righteousness apart from that which Christ has wrought out, and which is imputed to me by God. My eternal perfection is in the covenant, but the elect are only perfect in Christ. In fact, if you take Christ out of the covenant, you have just done the same as if you should break the string of a necklace; all the jewels, or beads, or corals, drop off and separate from each other. 4. Christ is in the covenant to be used. III. Here is A PRECEPT, and what shall the precept be? Christ is ours; then be ye Christ’ s. Show the world that you are His in practice. When tempted to sin, reply, “ I cannot do this great wickedness, for I am one of Christ’ s” When wealth is before thee to be won by sin, touch it not: say that thou art Christ’ s. Are you exposed in the world to difficulties and dangers? Stand fast in the evil day, remembering that you are one of Christ’ s. Are you in a field where much is to be done, and others are sitting down idly and lazily doing nothing? Go at your work, and when the sweat stands upon your brow and you are bidden to stay, say, “ No, I cannot stop; I am one of Christ’ s.” When the syren song of pleasure would tempt thee from the path of right, reply, “ Hush your strains, O temptress; I am one of Christ’ s.” When the cause of God needs thee, give thyself to it, for thou art Christ’ s. And now, I must say one word to those who have never laid hold of the covenant. I sometimes hear it whispered that there are men who trust to the uncovenanted mercies of God. Let me solemnly assure you that there is now no such thing as uncovenanted mercy. Mayhap, poor, convinced sinner, thou darest not take hold of the covenant to-day. “ I dare not come; I am so unworthy,” you say. Hear, then: my Master bids you come, and will you be afraid after that? (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 49:9 That thou mayest say to the prisoners, go forth Out of darkness into light When Jesus comes to the soul, He delivers us from that direst of all bondages, fetches us out from that cruellest of all slaveries, the bondage of the spirit, the slavery of the heart. Then we are told that, if there are any who are m a worse state than that of mere captivity, namely, in darkness as well as in bondage, the Lord Jesus Christ comes to them, and says, “ Show yourselves; rise, and come out of the darkness; hide away no longer, come forth into the light, and enjoy it.” I. I have to try to FIND OUT THE mentioned in the text: “ Them that are in darkness.” 1. They were not always in darkness. She was a bright young spirit once, after a fashion; and he,--I know him very well, seemed to be everything that mirth could make youth to be. But, on a sudden, there came a cloud in the sky, both to her and to him. It may be that a death happened in the family, or sickness came, or if it was neither of these things, at any rate, the mind suddenly grew strangely quiet, and a stillness came down upon the spirit, and with that stillness there fell a gloom over the whole being. What were those thoughts that brought such a sobering influence into the life? I can tell you about them from my own experience. I thought, “ I have not lived as I ought to have lived. God made me, yet I have never truly served Him. He is my mother’ s God, but I have forgotten Him; my father’ s God, yet I have never sought Him. What shall I do? God must punish me,” &c. I seemed plastic as wax towards evil, yet hard as cast-iron or steel towards anything that was good. Then I grew sad in soul. I read my Bible a great deal, and the more I read it the more the darkness thickened about me, &c. This is the gateway into a joy that will be worth your having. 2. Besides this, a sense of sin has settled upon you. 3. The soul I am describing is in the dark, and the darkness settles down in conviction of sin. You have no hope. 4. You fear future and eternal night. It is to people in such a state that the Gospel of Christ is sent. II. I am going to REPEAT THE of the text: “ Show yourselves.” 1. It means that you are running away from Divine justice, and that your wisest course will be to go and deliver yourself up. Do you not know that you are not really hidden? God sees you wherever you are; there is no hiding away from Him That is the very first thing for you to do; to submit yourself to God, to lie at His feet pleading for mercy. 2. The next way of showing yourselves is somewhat different: “ Say to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves” ; that is, you are very lonely, and you have been avoiding your best friends. Come out of your retirement. If you cannot speak to any mortal man, yet speak to the Immortal Man; go and tell out all your sorrow to the best of friends. 3. This passage may be applied to you who are sick, who are concealing your disease. I want every man who is troubled about the state of his heart, and every woman too, to come and show themselves to Christ, just as they are, in all their sire 4. The next thing you have to do is to show yourselves As healed ones, bound to confess Him who has cured them. 5. But I am going to carry the text a little farther yet. There are some young men, perhaps some young women also, who have been saved; they are no longer in the dark, and God has given them grace, and talents, yet still they are hiding themselves away. They are chosen ones loth to take their place of service. If the Lord has saved you, and if He is pleading for you in heaven, it is time you began to plead for Him on earth. 6. Our text applies also to persecuted ones who shall be owned and honoured of God. There will come a day when God’ s people, who have long been in the dark through persecution, slander, and misrepresentation, shall hear the Lord speaking to them out of heaven, and saying, “ Gather My saints together unto Me; those that nave made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” “ Say to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves.” What a change will come for God’ s poor despised people in that day! 7. These words also relate to dead ones called to resurrection. (C. H.Spurgeon.)They shall feed in the waysThe returning captives This is part of the prophet’ s glowing description of the return of the captives, under the figure of a flock fed by a great shepherd. We have seen a flock of sheep driven along a road; some of them hastily trying to snatch a mouthful from the dusty grass by the wayside. Little can they get there; they have to wait until they reach some green pasture in which they can be folded. This flock shall “ feed in the ways” ; as they go they will find nourishment. That is not all; the top of the mountains is not the place where grass grows. There are bare, savage cliffs, from which every particle of soil has been washed by furious torrents, or the scanty vegetation has been burnt up by the fierce “ sunbeams like swords.” There the wild deer and the ravens live, the sheep feed down in the valleys. But “ their pasture shall be in all high places.” The literal rendering is even more emphatic: “ Their pasture shall be in all bare heights” where a sudden verdure springs to feed them according to their need. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Feeding in the ways Whilst this prophecy is originally intended simply to suggest the abundant supplies that were to be provided for the band of exiles as they came back from Babylon, there lie in it great and blessed principles which belong to the Christian pilgrimage, and the flock that follows Christ. 1. They who follow Him shall find in the dusty paths of common life, and in all the smallnesses and distractions of daily duty, nourishment for their spirits. Do you remember what Jesus said? “ My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.” We, too, may have the same meat to eat which the world knows not of. That is a great promise, and it is a great duty. (1) It is a promise, the fulfilment of which is plainly guaranteed by the very nature of the case. Religion is meant to direct conduct, and the smallest affairs of life are to come under its imperial control, and the only way by which a man can get any good out of his Christianity is by living it. (2) But this is a great duty as well as a great promise. How many of us Christian people have but little experience of getting nearer to God because of our daily occupations! Therefore we need times of special prayer and remoteness from daily work; and there will be very little realisation of the nourishing power of common duties unless there is familiar to us also the entrance into the “ secret place of the Most High,” where He feeds His children on the bread of life. 2. Further, my text suggests that for those who follow the Lamb there shall be greenness and pasture on the bare heights. Strip that part of our text of its metaphor, and it just comes to the blessed old thought, that the times of sorrow are the times when a Christian may have the most of the presence and strength of God. “ In the days of famine they shall be satisfied.” Our prophet puts the same thought, under a kindred though somewhat different metaphor, in another place in this book where he says: “ I will open rivers in high places.” That is clean contrary to nature. The rivers do not run on the mountain-tops, but down in the low ground. 3. May I turn these latter words of our text a somewhat different way, attaching to them a meaning which does not belong to them, but by way of accommodation? If Christian people want to have the bread of God abundantly, they must climb. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Isaiah 49:10-26 They shall not hunger nor thirst Promise of Christ to His people The people of God are represented as a flock of sheep travelling under the care of their good shepherd, in the heat of summer, through a barren and dry wilderness, towards a land of plenty, security, and everlasting rest. Under such circumstances, what would this flock require? What might they expect from the hand of a faithful shepherd? There are doubtless three things which they would want and might look for--provision, protection, and refreshment. Such are the blessings promised by Christ in the text. I. . “ They shall not hunger nor thirst.” Christ will furnish them with all things necessary both for life and godliness; that is, with a sufficiency of all temporal and spiritual blessings. II. . “ Neither shall the heat nor the sun smite them.” His people are exposed to the fire of persecution; but by His almighty power, by providential interpositions, He defeats the purposes, restrains the malice, and wards off the stroke of their persecutors. They are exposed, also, to the fiery darts of the wicked one; but here, again, the Lord protects His people. III. . “ Even by the springs of water shall He guide them.” Springs of water would be peculiarly refreshing in the sultry deserts, both as allaying the thirst of the flock, and as also furnishing on their banks fresh and verdant pasture, in which the sheep might repose and renew their wearied strength. Such and similar is the refreshment which Christ vouchsafes to His people. (E. Cooper.)The love that will not let us go This chapter is strewn with assurances to the chosen people on the eve of their return from Babylon. Jehovah’ s voice takes on a tone of unusual tenderness, and speaks as He only can. Let us heed His successive assurances of comfort and compassion. I. HE WILL LEAD WITH A ’ S CARE. II. HE WILL MAKE SERVE HIS PURPOSE. “ I will make all My mountains a way” (Isaiah 49:11). Mountains are prohibitory. The student of the geography of Palestine cannot fail to be impressed with the strong barricade of mountains with which God fenced in the Land of Promise on its southern frontier. Similarly, the mountains of Switzerland have sheltered liberty and those of Afghanistan have made conquest difficult to impossibility. There were great mountains between Israel and home, yet God does not say that He would remove them; but that they should form a pathway, as though contributing to the ease and speed of the return. “ I will make all My mountains a way.” We all have mountains in our lives. There are people and things that threaten to bar our progress in the Divine life. Patience can only be acquired through just such trials as now seem unbearable. Submit thyself. Claim to be a par taker in the patience of Jesus. Meet thy trials in Him. Thus shall the mountains that stand between thee and thy promised land become thy way to it. Note the comprehensiveness of this promise. “ I will make all My mountains a way.” The promise is in the future tense. When we come to the foot of the mountains we shall find the way. III. GOD’ S LOVE IS MORE THAN (Isaiah 49:15). Many devout but misguided souls have placed the Virgin Mother on a level with God, and worship her, because they think that woman is more tender, more patient, more forgiving than man. “ The love of woman” was David’ s high-water-mark of love. And of woman’ s love, none is so pure, so unselfish, so full of patient brooding pity, as a mother’ s. Such love is God’ s. Indeed it is a ray from His heart. Ira mother’ s love is but the ray, what must His heart be! But there is sometimes a failure in motherhood. “ They may forget.” But God can never so forget. IV. GOD THE THOUGHT OF HIS OWN (Isaiah 49:16). The Orientals had a custom of tattooing the name of beloved friends on the hand. That is the reference here. Thou art photographed where God must ever behold thee, on His hands, on His heart. Not on one hand only, but on both. Not tattooed or photographed, the marks of which might be obliterated and obscured; but graven. The graving tool was the spear, the nail, the cross. Glass will not give up its inscriptions, nor the onyx stone its seal, nor the cameo its profile; but sooner might they renounce their trust, than the hands of Christ. Not Zion’ s ruins, but Zion’ s “ walls” were ever before Him. Our ideal self; what we are in Jesus; what we long to be in our best moments; what we will be when grace has perfected its work and we are comely in the comeliness He shall put upon us--this is the ineffaceable conception of us that is ever before God. What a contrast between Zion’ s wail about being forsaken and forgotten, and God’ s tender regard! V. GOD’ S LOVE IS STRONG ENOUGH TO CARRY OUT ITS PURPOSE (Isaiah 49:24). Such is the question of despondency, asked by Israel, from the heart of the mighty empire, in which she was a helpless captive But Jehovah had well calculated his resources (Isaiah 49:25). VI. GOD’ S LOVE WILL NOT PUT AWAY (Isaiah 50:1). (F. B.Meyer, B. A.) Isaiah 49:11 And I will make all My mountains a way God’ s mountains Since the world was, mountains have been the obstructors of ways, the natural frontiers between nations, the barriers that have kept people separate, disunited, and hostile. And yet even in the natural sphere the fact of the existence of mountains has ever initiated the stimulus required to surmount them. The physical and moral strength of the race is possibly invigorated by the very opposition of mountains, and man, God’ s vicegerent in the work of subduing the earth among all lands and among all peoples, has made the mountains a highway for commerce and travel and discovery, until at last the inspired utterance comes to be a motto in man’ s re-creation. There is a fascination, a challenge to the imagination, in mountain scenery, through which He, who is always appealing to the Divine secret in man, makes His mountains a way to gaze into His face, to think into His heart, to hope into His promises. Those eternal up-pointing fingers challenge you against despondency. None but the soulless or the blind can be amongst the up-pointing fingers of the everlasting hills and not hear what the mountain saith; for it echoes the voice of the everlasting God, when to man’ s poor heart He repeats His splendid promise, “ I will make all My mountains a way.” Is there not in this inspired prophecy the Divine solution of a mystery, and the impregnable assurance of a victory? The greatest moral mountain in this perplexing world is the existence and permission of evil. The silence, the awful silence of God, the pitiable failures in the best lives, the crushing heart-sorrows, the beds of suffering, the new-made graves, the occasional irresistible questioning whether such a world as this can in truth be under the control of a Divine and omnipotent Ruler--these are the moral mountains that hem us in. Against them we hurl ourselves sometimes in vain; they hide from us the Fatherhood, they separate us from one another. But mark! God says, “ My mountains.” I care not how black they seem, they are God’ s mountains. It is a splendid step heavenward when you are first able to shake yourself free from the miserable pagan dualism which, in order to avoid a difficulty, ascribes half the creation to a good God, and half to some malignant demiurge whom the good God seems powerless to destroy. It is the Lord; let Him do as seemeth Him good. The mountain of moral evil cannot be insurmountable without denial of the truthfulness or obliteration of the omnipotence of our Father, who is greater than all; and when we tremble at the hideous misery in the world and the dread possibilities of evil with which we are only too familiar in our own hearts, it is well to hear the message, “ Fear not, child of earth, only believe.” I think the very briefest analysis of human history will prove that what men call evil has ever been a stimulus of social action, material enterprise, aggressive discovery. Before Copernicus, people believed that the earth was the centre of the solar system, and they had to learn that the little speck of star-dust which they thought was the centre of the universe, was only one of the thousands of worlds going round the sun. People believed in geocentric motion when they should have believed in heliocentric” “ motion. Similarly, conventional religion, sometimes very religious indeed, is in danger of being autocentric. I am here to save my own soul.” Well, it has to be converted into Theocentric. You have to see that God is the centre, that the purpose and will of God, as it has been revealed through Christ for the whole race, is that around which your little life is to revolve. (Canon Wilberforce.) Isaiah 49:12 Behold, these shall come from far Gathered from afar Whatever bearing this prophecy may have had upon the time of Isaiah, or the time immediately after him, it has an important bearing on the time of the Messiah, and the course of His kingdom. The sentiment is that the redeemed Church of Christ shall come from every part of the earth. This sentiment is in accordance with-- I. THE GENIUS OF THE GOSPEL. II. THE SPIRIT OF . III. THE COURSE OF EVENTS. Conclusion-- 1. This subject recognises the brotherhood of man. 2. It imposes a stupendous obligation on the Church. (J. Rawlinson.)The land of SinimThe land of Sinim As coming after the reference to the west, it is naturally looked for in the far east, and so has very generally been understood of the Chinese. The common designation of China among nations of South Asia outside of China is Tsin, and in the form of Sin this name had been introduced among the Arabians and Syrians. It is also observed that the Chinese dynasty of Tsin began to reign about B.C. 255. For ten centuries before Christ the Chinese had commercial relations with the west. (J. Macpherson, M. A.)The land of Sinim (the Sinites):--The last word is a hopeless enigma As the only proper name in the verse the writer must have had some special reason for mentioning it; and the only reason that can be plausibly imagined is that Sinim lay on the utmost limit of his geographical horizon. This would exclude two suggested identifications: (1) the Canaanite Sinites of Gen 10:17, and (2) Sin (Pelusium), on the nearest border of Egypt. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.) Isaiah 49:14-16 But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me The more than parental love of God I. ZION’ S . “ Zion” here signifies the true Church. Elsewhere she is called Jerusalem; and very frequently is she spoken of as a city or building. 1. If we inquire who is her builder, we find that there is but one who can properly be called by this name. The founder of the true Church is He by whom God made the worlds; therefore she is called “ The city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 60:14). The plan of Zion’ sbuilding is older than the world itself. The Lord buildeth up Zion, and He alone. Whenever He uses any of us as His under-builders, He first makes us sensible of our own weakness; the excellency of the power is of Him, and not of us. 2. If we inquire concerning the foundation of the true Church, an apostle meets us with an answer: “ Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 3. If we consider the building itself, it consists of lively stones. 4. The “ operations” of the great Master-builder are not uniform, but marked by “ diversity.” Some stones are separated from their quarry, and brought off by a preparatory process, in a gradual and gentle manner. Others again, are shivered from their worldly holds, as by the explosion of rocks. If we closely inspect the building, we find the lively stones admirable for their unity, evenness, and mutual conformity. II. ZION’ S . We have heard of Zion, the city and dwelling-place of our God: and that “ the Lord loveth the gates of Zion” (Psalms 87:2). But how faithfully and ardently He loves her, she herself does not always consider. Why else that complaint which now comes under our notice? It is acknowledged that circumstances may arise, under which nothing may appear more just than this complaint of Zion. III. GOD’ S PROMISE. “ Can a woman forget,” &c. (F. W.Krummacher, D. D.)The complainings of Zion silenced I. WHAT THERE IS IN TO MAKE US FEAR LEST GOD SHOULD FORSAKE US. Our very fears have often a great show of reason in them; though they may be excessive, they are not wholly unfounded. As-- 1. When we recollect how often we have forgotten and forsaken Him. 2. When the aspect of providence is dark and mysterious. 3. When the mind appears to be bereft of its ordinary supports and consolations. 4. When a great and prevailing doubt obtains as to the safety of our state after all. II. WHAT THERE IS IN GOD TO HIS CHURCH THAT HE NEVER WILL FORSAKE HER. 1. It is contrary to His nature--as contrary to His nature to forget and forsake His Church as it is contrary to the nature of a kind and tender mother to forget and forsake her child. Our Lord teaches us to reason from the less to the greater. “ If ye, being evil, know how to give, how shall not your Father,” &c. 2. It is contrary to His promise. “ Yet will I not forget thee.” 3. It is contrary to the character of His dispensations, for He never has forsaken His Church. 4. It is contrary to His people’ s own sober expectations. For Zion does not in her heart believe her own prophetic forebodings. She still speaks of Him, not only as “ the Lord” in one part of the verse, but as “ my Lord” in the other--which she would never do, as a reasonable person, had she finally forgotten or forsaken God, or believed that God had finally forgotten and forsaken her. (S. Thodey.)The saint’ s final perseverance secured by the love of God I. THERE ARE MANY THINGS THAT OFTEN CONDUCE TO ON THE PART OF THE OF GOD THE LORD’ S . 1. Times of deep affliction; of dark and mysterious providences; days in which there is no light. 2. These are seasons oftentimes, in which, through our frailty, imperfection, sin, and sinfulness, the weakness of our faith and the strength of unbelief, the believer may be led to form some suspicions concerning the goodness of God. 3. Besides this, there may be periods of deep spiritual temptation. 4. Some laxity in the walk will oftentimes briny strength to a man’ s suspicions here. 5. He may be in a state of spiritual captivity. II. THE GREAT THAT IS HERE PLACED BEFORE US. “ Can a woman forget her sucking child,” &c. There cannot be a figure more tender, more comprehensive. It is the figure of a helpless babe: there is the tenderness of the tie; there is the helplessness of the child; and there is the very posture of the child; and they are all full of great and important truth; and yet according to those last words--“ they may forget; yet will I not forget thee” --this is not enough. As though the Lord would say, If My love were not more than this, it would not be enough to secure thee. III. GOD DOES GIVE PROOF THAT THIS TENDER LOVE DOES NOT FORGET. “ They may forget; yet will I not forget thee.” He does not forget their persons. “ Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands.” They are borne upon the heart of the great High Priest. He forgets not the work of grace that is in them. He forgetteth not the trials of His saints. He forgetteth not the returns of His people He forgetteth not the walk of His saints. He forgetteth them not in death. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)A mournful complaint and satisfactory answer What a difference is there between the judgment of God, and the judgment of men! We have a very striking instance of this in the passage before us. I. A . “ Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me,” He exercises no care over me; “ and my Lord hath forgotten me,” He feels towards me no affection. Let us look into this. The wicked think too much of the goodness of God; they mistake the evidences of His general bounty for the evidences of His peculiar friendship. While they live regardless of His praise, they yet hope in His mercy, and persuade themselves that He will not be rigorous to mark what they have done. The very reverse of this is the disposition of all the subjects of Divine grace. They know that self-deception is tremendous; and therefore they are afraid of self-deception; and they often carry their solicitudes here beyond the point of duty, and in reading and in hearing they will apply to themselves what was intended only for others; for, as an old divine says, “ There is no beating the dogs out without making the children cry.” Let us try to trace up this complaint to its source; and to see the wretchedness that conclusion must produce in the minds of all God’ s people. There is a philosophical notion, which is of a semi-infidel character, which supposes that the providence of God is general, and not particular. He regards the whole, and therefore must regard the parts; for the whole is always made up of parts; and He does regard the most minute parts. It is a religious despondency that affects Christians. It is not the influence of infidelity, but it is the influence, first, of unbelief, or weakness of faith. It arises also from ignorance. It springs sometimes from the suspension of Divine manifestation We may also mention conflicting with the troubles of life. We remark once more, the delay of God in the accomplishment of prayer. But who can find language properly to describe the wretchedness that such a conclusion as this, “ The Lord hath forsaken me, and my God hath forgotten me,” must ever produce in the minds of the godly? The misery that the child of God feels from such a conclusion, may be accounted for by three things. 1. That he loves God. 2. He entirely relies upon Him. 3. He has enjoyed Him already. He has tasted that the Lord is gracious, and therefore prays, Evermore give us this bread. II. THE ANSWER. 1. The improbability of the fear. This is metaphorically expressed: “ Can a woman forget her sucking child,” &c. There are two supposable cases here. She may be bereft of reason, or not survive, and so not be able to remember it. She may be criminally, unnaturally, led to hide herself from her own flesh. 2. The certainty of the assurance, “ Yet will I not forget thee.” 3. The all-sufficiency of the truth established, i.e the perpetual regard of God towards us. Conclusion-- 1. Distresses and discouragements are not incompatible with religion. 2. How concerned God is, not only for His people’ s safety, but for their comfort also. 3. Let His people fall in with His designs. Let them be humbled, and mourn over their ignorance, perverseness, impatience, and unbelief; that they have entertained such hard thoughts of God; that they have so often charged Him foolishly, and unrighteously, and unkindly. 4. Do not take the comfort belonging to a gracious state, unless you are the subjects of a gracious character. (W. Jay.)Unworthy doubts of God How common is this weakness of unbelief in man; how natural are these unworthy doubts of God to us. Nor is it difficult to perceive the sources from which this inability to trust in God’ s goodness springs. 1. There is the guilt of which we are conscious in our own hearts; the sense of evil desert m ourselves. 2. Then there comes in the undeniable fact of suffering in himself and all around him, which apparently, at first sight, justifies this attitude of mind, and certainly confirms it. 3. We thus discover a third source from which distrust in God springs; the perversions which have been substituted for the pure Gospel by different branches of the Christian Church (J. N. Bennie, LL. B.) Isaiah 49:15-16 Can a woman forget her sucking child?-- Unforgetting love 1. As. Jehovah,, had just been announcing His” purposes of world-wide mercy--salvation “ to the ends of the earth” --we may take these words, in the first instance, as the plaint of literal Israel: “ The Lord has chosen the Gentile, and in doing so, He has forgotten me. The wild olive has been grafted in; will not the natural olive be rejected?” 2. Or it may be taken as the wail of the Church universal, prompted in times of rebuke and blasphemy, defection and apostasy, cruelty and persecution, when blood is flowing and martyr-fires are lighted; or worse, when faith is weak, and love is waxing cold, and knees are bowing to Baal. 3. Or again, the utterance may be regarded as the exclamation of the individual soul, amid frowning providences and baffling dispensations. In all the three cases Jehovah’ s reply is the same--the assurance of His inviolable, unchanging, everlasting love. This He enforces by two arguments. I. THE MOTHER’ S FOR HER BABE. II. THE GRAVER’ S ART (Isaiah 49:16). (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)Maternal love and tenderness Maternal love and tenderness is the strongest and most enduring of instincts. It holds potent sway even in the brute creation, and among the lower tribes of animated being. We see it exemplified in the timid bird hovering with wailing cry over the threatened or despoiled nest, and, despite its feebleness and weakness, ready to give battle to the invader. We see it in the familiar scriptural emblem of the hen gathering her brood of chickens under her wings in threatening storm, or in the hour of danger. We see it in the bolder watch the mother of the eaglets keeps over her young in the eyry on cliff or mountain-side, as she disputes, with ruffled plumage, the assault of the plunderer. We see it in the proverbial fierceness of the “ bear robbed of her whelps,” or in the maddened roar of the lioness bereaved of her cubs, as she lashes her sides with her tail, and makes mountain and forest “ ring with the proclamation of her wrongs.” But it is the mother and her infant babe (the human parent) in whom this deep-seated instinct has its highest, truest illustration. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)Maternal affection the moat appropriate image of Divine benevolence I. MARK SOME POINTS OF BETWEEN THE OF A MOTHER AND THE OF GOD. 1. The first distinctive feature in the affection of a mother is, that it is coeval with the maternal character. It springs at once into existence, vigorous and perfect, and becomes henceforth a permanent and essential part of her constitution. Other affections are produced, and nourished by degrees. Love to parents, gratitude to benefactors, sympathy with the afflicted, and benevolence to our kind, are all, in a very considerable degree, the offspring of instruction and of association. But of maternal tenderness, it may be truly said that it is an instantaneous creation; the stamp of heaven, impressed upon a mother’ s heart, and acting in all its vigour the moment she hears the cry of helplessness. Just, but fair, representations of that love of God, which is far above all similitude, as it passes all understanding! In implanting this affection in a mother’ s bosom, He has furnished the best and most winning image of His own benignity; and by interweaving it in her constitution, He intends to show that His own love is not a feeling, adventitious or fluctuating; but an unchangeable attribute of His being--that predominating principle, of which His other attributes are nothing more than varied ramifications. A mother, however, is frail and fallible. She may forget even her sucking child. But God cannot forget to love. 2. The next quality distinctive in the love of a mother is that of all affections with which we are acquainted it is the purest in its source, and the most disinterested in its exercise. No created being can, in any way, be profitable unto God, for He is independent and unchangeable, both in nature and in happiness. All the life which He communicates; all the means of enjoyment which He spreads through creation; every faculty and every affection that ennobles and blesses the rational soul in its highest advances to perfection, springs from the exhaustless source of unmixed and unbounded benevolence. 3. The last quality I shall remark as peculiarly striking in the love of a mother is, that its exertions and sacrifices are not only disinterested, but, beyond every other example, patient and persevering. And as the love of a mother is not overcome by provocation, neither is it chilled by absence. Such is the almost unconquerable patience of a mother’ s love. Still it may be conquered; and she may cease to have compassion. But God cannot forget His children- How beautifully do the temper and conduct of Jesus display the riches and the perseverance of Divine love! It is said of Him by an evangelist, “ that having loved His own, He loved them to the end” : and the remark is verified by His whole life. II. DRAW FROM THE SUBJECT SOME . It is impossible not to advert to the design and uses of this wonderful affection, as indicating, in the most striking manner, the unbounded wisdom and benignity of Providence. If we had but this one evidence, it would be sufficient to convince a reflecting mind that a paternal care is exercised in the government of the world, and that the tender mercies of God are over all His works. Take away the strong instinctive feelings of a mother, and what becomes of the living creation? But whilst man, in common with other animals, owes to this instinctive feeling, the preservation, growth, and vigour of his body, he owes to it, what is still more important, the commencement of those moral affections which constitute, in their progressive development, the strength and the glory of his moral and social life. It is in the bosom of a mother that these affections are generated. Accustomed to look to that bosom for nourishment, protection, and pleasure, it raises thence its infant smiles; it catches answering smiles of complacency and joy; its heart begins to dilate with instinctive gladness; its sensations of delight are gradually modified into those of fondness and gratitude; and as it continues to mark the love of a mother, it learns from her the art of loving. Reflections-- 1. As we owe everything to a mother, we should be as unwearied in paying the debt, as she was in the acts of tenderness by which it is contracted. 2. Let us learn to form just conceptions of the Divine nature, and of the great ends of the Divine government. (J. Lindsay, D. D.)Better than a mother Our subject is the superiority of an “ utter” over an almost” impossibility. I. ALMOST AN . If it is not an impossibility for a woman to forget her sucking child, it is certainly next door to one, and the Lord could not have obtained any higher earthly illustration of His tenderness and love. In order to show it you will see the Lord has pressed into His service a variety of words, all serving to increase the beauty of the simile. 1. “ Woman.” God who made the heart of woman as well as man, knows that there is a tenderness in her disposition exceeding that of man’ s, and therefore He chooses the highest type to illustrate His sympathy. 2. It is not merely the tenderness of the woman, but the tenderness of the woman who is a “ mother.” God not only employs the highest type, but the highest specimen of that type. Mother! What associations of loving tenderness are in the very name. The word touches a secret spring in the heart, and conjures back scenes of the past. It brings to view in the dim distance a sweet face that used to bend over our little cot at eventide, and impress a kiss upon our brow. It reminds of one who used to smile when we were happy, and weep when obliged to correct us. It calls to remembrance one who always seemed interested in our little tales of adventure, and never laughed at our little sorrows that seemed to us so large. It was her face we gazed last upon when we went away to school, and it was into her arms we first rushed when the holidays brought us home. It was thought of her that kept us in the house of business, and held us back from sin with unseen silken cords; and when those dark locks of hers became silvered with advancing age, we only thought an extra charm had crowned her brow. You forget not the love that was strong as death, and escaped from her dying lips in words you treasure to this day. Her name has still a magic power. There is one feature in a mother’ s love that must be mentioned, as it constitutes the chiefest beauty of the type. Her love is not love drawn forth by prosperity or dispelled by adversity. She loves her son not because of what he has, but because of what he is. 3. There is yet one other delicate touch in the picture which gives to it the perfection of beauty. The tenderness described is not only that of a woman, or even that of a mother, but of a mother towards her “ sucking child.” This crowns the description, and should drive away the last remnant of unbelief. I can imagine a mother sometimes forgetting her grownup son, who has long since attained the age of manhood, and is himself the head of a family. I can believe that the daughter, married into some other family and well provided for, is not always in the thoughts of her mother, but it is almost impossible to conceive the sucking child for a moment forgotten Its very life is dependent on the mother’ s thoughtfulness, and its utter helplessness becomes its security. Yea, she could not forget it even if she desired; nature itself would become a sharp reminder, and her own pain would plead her infant’ s cause. Behold, how God has strengthened His illustration by every possible means. Then comes the question, “ Can she forget?” There is s moment’ s pause, and the answer is heard, “ She may.” Mothers may forget their sucking children, either literally, or by acting as if they did. II. AN UTTER . The true magnitude of an object can only be understood by comparison, and it is by contrast the mind grasps the reality. “ God only knows the love of God.” Its height and depth, its length and breadth defy all measurement. “ They may forget.” “ Yet,” and it is this word that shoots aloft beyond all human sight, “ will I not forget thee.” 1. His nature forbids it. “ God is love.” Not “ loving,” poor mortal can be that, but love itself. 2. His promises forbid it. 3. The travail of the Redeemer’ s soul is alone sufficient argument, that they for whom it was endured shall be remembered. 4. His honour renders it an utter impossibility. (A. G. Brown.)God’ s love greater than a mother’ s I. A MOTHER’ S LOVE FOR HER CHILD IS BUT A DERIVED FROM GOD’ S LOVE FOR MAN. II. THE OF A MOTHER IS SUBJECT TO . 1. The conduct of the mother may cool or even quench this spark within her. In some cases debauchery, intemperance, and vice have extinguished this sacred fire, and the parent has become unnatural and cruel to her offspring. 2. The conduct of the child may cool or even quench this spark within her. But the affection of the Eternal is subject to no such mutation. “ Who, then, shall separate us from the love of God,” &c. III. THE OBJECT OF THE MOTHER’ S LOVE IS NOT SO NEAR TO HER AS THE OBJECT OF THE DIVINE . 1. The mother is not the owner of the child. His limbs, faculties, being, are not hers. But God is the absolute proprietor of man. “ All souls are His.” 2. The mother is not the life of the child. Her life is distinct from that of her offspring. But God is the very life of man. IV. THE FAILURE OF THE MOTHER’ S TOWARDS HER WOULD NOT BE SO AS THE FAILURE OF GOD’ S TOWARDS THE GOOD. If God forsakes a man, he is ruined inevitably, and for ever. (Homilist.)A mother’ s love The following touching incident was related by the Rev. Norman Macleod, of Glasgow:--His father was preaching on the love of God, and to illustrate his subject, referred to a poor widow in Scotland, who, being distressed for rent, resolved to go, carrying her helpless babe with her, and borrow of a friend that lived ten miles from her home. The journey lay across a bleak mountain, and the day was rough and snowy. Soon after her departure, the neighbours felt it would be impossible for her to reach her destination, and feared that her very life was endangered by the snowstorm that was rapidly gaining in violence. Twelve strong men resolved to go in search; far away on the mountain they found the poor woman lying in the snow, sleeping the sleep of death. Where was the babe? In a sheltered nook in the rock, close by, warm and alive, because wrapped in the garments of which the mother had deprived herself. A mother’ s love unchangeable:--As I was walking down our street the other day, I saw a woman, good and pure, refined and cultured, walking with a man whose face was red with drink, whose form and look bore marks of deepest dissipation. I stepped to her side, and said, “ Woman, why are you with this man?” She little heeded me at first, as she supported his unsteady steps “ Woman, why do you not hand him over to the police?” She drew herself up, and with a righteously indignant anger, mixed with pathos, said, “ Sir! I am his mother.” (C. S. Macfarland, Ph. D.) Isaiah 49:16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands God’ s loving regard for His people It is not only the name of Zion which is engraved on His hands, but her picture. And it is not her picture as she lies in her present ruin and solitariness, but her restored and perfect state. “ Thy walls are continually before Me.” (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Reality This is faith’ s answer to all the ruin and haggard contradiction of outward fact. Reality is not what we see: reality is what God sees. What a thing is in His sight and to His purpose, that it really is, and that it shall ultimately appear to men’ s eyes. To make us believe this is the greatest service the Divine can do for the human. It was the service Christ was always doing, and nothing showed His Divinity more. He took us men and He called us, unworthy as we were, His brethren, the sons of God. He took such an one as Simon, shifting and unstable, a quicksand of a man, and He said, “ On this rock I will build My Church.” A man’ s reality is not what he is in his own feelings, or what he is to the world’ s eyes; but what he is to God’ s love, to God’ s yearning, and in God’ s plan. If he believe that, so in the end shall he feel it, so in the end shall he show it to the eyes of the world. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The writing on God’ s hands These words are a singularly bold metaphor, drawn from the strange and half-savage custom, which lingers still among sailors and others, of having beloved names or other tokens of affection and remembrance indelibly inscribed on parts of the body. Sometimes worshippers had the marks of the god thus set on their flesh; here God writes on His hands the name of the city of His worshippers. I. Here we have set forth for our strength and peace A DIVINE , MORE TENDER THAN A MOTHER’ S (Isaiah 49:15). When Israel came out of Egypt, the Passover was instituted as a memorial unto all generations, or as the same idea is otherwise expressed, “ it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand.” Here God represents Himself as doing for Israel- what He had bid Israel do for Him. They were, as it were, to write the supreme act of deliverance in the Exodus upon their hands, that it might never be forgotten. He writes Zion on His hands for the same purpose. The text does not primarily refer to individuals, but to the community. But the recognition of that fact is not to be allowed to rob us of the preciousness of this text in its bearing on the individual. For God remembers the community, not as an abstraction or a generalised expression, but as the aggregate of all the individuals composing it. We think of “ the Church,” and do not think of the thousands of men and women who make it up. We cannot discern the separate stars in the galaxy. But God’ s eye resolves what to us is a nebula, and every single glittering point of light hangs rounded and separate in the heaven. There is no jostling nor confusion in the wide space of the heart of God. They that go before shall not hinder them that come after. That remembrance which each man may take for himself is infinitely tender, The echo of the music of the previous words still haunts the verse, and the remembrance promised in it is touched with more than a mother’ s love. “ I am poor and needy,” says the Psalmist, “ yet the Lord thinketh upon me.” But do not let us forget that it was a very sinful Zion that God thus remembered. II. THE DIVINE GUIDES THE DIVINE ACTION. The palm of the hand is the seat of strength, of work; and so, if Zion’ s name is written there, that means not only remembrance, but remembrance which is at the helm, as it were, which is moulding and directing all the work that is done by the hand that bears the name inscribed upon it. For His Church, as a whole, He does more amidst the affairs of nations. You remember the grand words of one of the psalms. “ He reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm.” It is no fanatical reading of the history of earthly politics and kingdoms, if we recognise that one of the most prominent reasons for the Divine activities in moulding the kingdoms, setting up and casting down, is the advancement of the Kingdom of heaven and the building of the City of God. “ I have graven thee on the palms of My hands,” and when the hands go to work, it is for the Zion whose likeness they bear. But the same thing applies to us individually. “ All things work together” ; they would not do so, unless there was one dominant will which turned the chaos into a cosmos. “ All things work together for my good.” III. THE DIVINE WORKS ALL THINGS, TO REALISE A GREAT IDEAL END, AS YET . “ Thy walls are continually before Me.” When this prophecy was uttered, the Israelites were in captivity, and the city was a wilderness; “ the holy and beautiful house where the fathers praised Thee was burned with fire,” the walls were broken down; rubbish and solitude were there. Yet on the palms of God’ s hands were inscribed the walls which were nowhere else! They were “ before Him,” though Jerusalem was a ruin. It means that Divine remembrance sees “ things that are not, as though they were.” In the midst of the imperfect reality of the present condition of the Church as a whole, and of us, its actual components, it sees the ideal, the perfect vision of the perfect future. So, the most radiant optimism is the only fitting attitude for Christian people in looking into the future, either of the Church as a whole, or of themselves as individual members of it. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)God remembering His people This figure suggests-- I. . It is impossible not to observe that which is written on the hands. H writing were on the face, it would not be seen, on the breast it would not be observed. But the hands are always before us. II. DEVOTED HELP. The hands are for work, and the Almighty wishes us to infer that His people are not only remembered, but helped. III. . “ I have graven thee.” Writing will wear off. That which is graven will and must remain. IV. PAINFUL EFFORT. To engrave on the hands evidently refers to the process of engraving, which causes pain. Has God made no sacrifices for His people? Is not every redeemed soul written in crimson marks in the palm of the hands and the feet of the crucified Redeemer? (Homlist.)A precious assurance God’ s promises are not exhausted by one fulfilment. They are manifold mercies, so that after you have opened one fold, and found out one signification, you may unfurl them still more and find another which shall be equally true, and then another, and another, and another, almost without end. I believe that the text belongs primarily to the seed of Israel; next, to the whole Church as a body; and then to every individual member. I. I intend to OUR TEXT , pulling it to pieces word by word. Every single word deserves to be emphasised. 1. We will begin with the word, “ Behold.” “ Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands.” “ Behold” is a word of wonder; it is intended to excite admiration. Wherever you see it hung out in Scripture, it is like an ancient sign-board, signifying that there are rich wares within, or like the hands which solid readers have observed in the margin of the older Puritanic books, drawing attention to something particularly worthy of observation. Here, indeed, we have a theme for marvelling. “ Behold” in our text is intended to attract particular attention. There is something here worthy of being studied. 2. We pass on now to the next word, “ I.” The Divine Artist is none other than God Himself. Here we learn the lesson which Christ afterwards taught His disciples--“ Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” No one can write upon the hand of God but God Himself. Neither our merits, prayers, repentance, nor faith, can write our names there. Nor did blind chance or mere necessity of fate inscribe our names; but the living hand of a living Father, unprompted by anything except the spontaneous love of His own heart. Then, again, if the Lord hath done it, there is no mistake about it. If some human hand had cut the memorial, the hieroglyphics might be at fault; but since perfect wisdom has combined with perfect love to make a memorial of the saints, then no error by any possibility can have occurred. 3. Take the next word, “ have.” Not “ I will,” nor yet “ I am doing it” ; it is a thing of the past, and how far hack in the past! Oh, the antiquity of this inscription! “ From everlasting to everlasting Thou art God” ; from everlasting to everlasting Thou art the same, and Thy people’ s names are written on Thy hands! Yet, methinks, there may be a prophetic reference here to a later writing of the names, when Jesus Christ submitted His outstretched palms to those cruel graving-tools, the nails. Then was it surely, when the executioner with the hammer smote the tender hands of the loving Jesus, that He engraved our names upon the palms of His hands. 4. But the next word is “ graven.” The Rev. John Anderson, of Helensburgh, told me that while travelling in the East he has frequently seen persons with the portraits of their friends upon their hands, so that wherever they went, as one in this country would carry the portrait of a friend in a brooch or a watch, they carry these likenesses printed on their palms. I said to him, “ Surely they would wash out.” They might by degrees, he said, but they frequently had them pricked in with strong indelible ink, so that there, whilst the palm lasts, there lasts the memorial of the friend. Surely this is what the text refers to. I have graven thee in; I have not merely printed thee, stamped thee on the surface, but I have permanently cut thee into My hand with marks which never can be removed. That word “ graven” sets forth the perpetuity of the inscription. 5. Shall we take that next word? “ Thee.” It does not say, “ thy name.” “ Thee.” See the fulness of this! I have graven thy person, thine image, thy case, thy circumstances, thy sins, thy temptations, thy weaknesses, thy wants, thy works; I have graven everything about thee, all that concerns thee; I have put thee altogether there. It is not an outline sketch, you see; it is a full picture, as though the man himself were there. Darest thou dream that God forgets thee? 6. We have hitherto taken every word, but we must now take the next two or three. We are engraven, where? Upon His “ hands.” We are not graven upon a seal, for a seal might be slipped from the finger and laid aside, but the hand itself can never be separated from the living God. It is not engraven on the huge rock, for a convulsion of nature might rend the rock with earthquake, or the fretting tooth of time might eat the inscription out; but our record is on His hand, where it must last, world without end. Not upon the back of His hands where it might be supposed that in days of strife and warfare the inscription might suffer damage, but there upon the palms of His hands where it shall be well protected. The tenderest part shall be made the place of the inscription; that to which He is most likely to look, that which His fingers of wisdom enclose, that by which He works His mighty wonders, shall be the unceasing remembrance, pledging Him never to forget His chosen. It does not say, “ I have graven thee upon the palm of one hand,” but “ I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands.” There are two memorials. His saints shall never be forgotten, for the inscription is put there upon the palm of this hand, the right hand of blessing, and upon the palm of that hand, the left hand of justice. I see Him with His right hand beckon me--“ Come, ye blessed,” and He sees me in His hand; and on that side He says, “ Depart, ye cursed,” but not to me, for He sees me in His hand, and cannot curse me. Oh, my soul, how charming this is, to know that His left hand is under Thy head, while His right hand doth embrace thee. II. THE TEXT AS A WHOLE. 1. God’ s remembrance of His people is constant. The hands, of course, are constantly in union with the body. In Solomon’ s Song we read, “ Set me as a seal upon thine arm.” Now this is a very close form of remembrance, for the seal is very seldom laid aside by the Eastern, who not being possessed with skill in the art of writing his name, requires’ his seal in order to affix his signature to a document; hence the seal is almost always worn, and in some cases is never laid aside. A seal, however, might be laid aside, but the hands never could be. It has been a custom, in the olden days especially, when men wished to remember a thing, to tie a cord about the hand, or a thread around the finger, by which memory would be assisted; but then the cord might be snapped or taken away, and so the matter forgotten, but the hand and that which is printed into it must be constant and perpetual. Oh, Christian, by night and by day God is always thinking of you. 2. This recollection on God’ s part is practical. We are engraven upon His heart--this is to show His love; we are put upon His shoulders--this is to show that His strength is engaged for us; and also upon His hands, to show that the activity of our Lord will not be spared from us; He will work and show Himself strong for His people; He brings His omnipotent hands to effect our redemption. What would be the use of having a friend who would think of us, and then let his love end in thought? The faithfulness we want is that of one who will act in our defence. Do you see the drift of it? If He moulds a world between His palms, and then sends it wheeling in its orbit, it is between those palms which are stamped with the likeness of His sons and daughters, and so that new work shall minister to their god. If He divides a nation, it is always with the hand that bears the remembrance of Zion. Scripture itself tells us, “ When He divided the nations, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.” The great wheel of providence, when God makes it revolve, works for the good of His people. 3. This is an eternal remembrance. 4. This memorial how tender! We have heard of one, an eastern queen, who so loved her husband that she thought even to build a mausoleum to his memory was not enough. She had a strange way of proving her affection, for when her husband’ s bones were burned she took the ashes and drank them day by day, that, as she said, her body might be her husband’ s living sepulchre. It was a strange way of showing love, and there was a marvellous degree of strange, fanatical fondness in it. But what shall I say of this Divine sympathetic mode of showing remembrance, by cutting it into the palms she It appeareth to me as though the King had said, “ Shall I carve My people upon precious stones? Shall I choose the ruby, the emerald, the topaz? No; for these all must melt in the last general conflagration. What then? Shall I write on tablets of gold or silver? No, for all these may canker and corrupt, and thieves may break through and steal. Shall I cut the memorial deep on brass? No, for time would fret it, and the letters would not long be legible. I will write on Myself, on My own hand, and then My people will know how tender I am, that I would sooner cut into My own flesh than forget them.” 5. This memorial is most surprising. Scripture, which is full of wonders, yet allows a “ Behold” to be put before this verse--“ Behold!” 6. It is also most consolatory. When God would meet Zion’ s great doubt--“ God hath forgotten me,” He cheers her with this--“ I have graventhee upon the palms of My hands.” There is no sorrow to which our text is not an antidote. III. And now we come to EXCITE YOU TO THE DUTY WHICH SUCH A TEXT . 1. Is it not your duty to leave your cares behind you to-day? 2. If you must not have cares, you should not have those deep sorrows and despairs. 3. If this text is not yours, how your mouths ought to water after it. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Neither forsaken nor forgotten I. THE FEAR , which led to the utterance of our text (Isaiah 49:14). 1. This fear has been felt by very many. 2. It has some times been very plaintively expressed. 3. And some, too, are very obstinate while they are in that condition, for the passage contains a very unreasonable complaint. Read Isaiah 49:13, “ Jehovah hath comforted His people,” &c. Yet, in the teeth of that double declaration Zion said, “ Jehovah hath forsaken me,” &c. 4. I suppose Zion came to this conclusion because she was in banishment. 5. Yet I think that there is some measure of grace mingled with this fear. Lot me read you this passage straight on: “ Jehovah hath comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted. But Zion said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.” She did not say that till God had visited her. There is in your soul a longing after God. This is the work of His Holy Spirit! Besides, although the text is a word of complaint, it has also in it a word of faith: “ my Lord.” Did you notice that? Zion calls Jehovah hers though she dreams that He has forsaken her. I do love to see you keep the grip of your faith even when it seems to be illogical. Hold on this assurance with a death-grip. If you cannot hold on with both hands, hold on with one; and if sometimes you can hold with neither hand, hold on with your teeth. II. THE COMFORT . “ I have graven thee,” &c. What is it that makes it so certain that God cannot forget His people? 1. God remembers His eternal love to His people, and His remembrance of them is constant because of that love. God’ s suffering love secures His memory of us. 2. By the expression, “ I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands,” God seems to say, “ I have done so much for you that I can never forget you.” 3. When a memorial is engraven on a man’ s hand, then it is connected with the man’ s life. III. AN INVITED. “ Behold.” IV. A RETURN . 1. Does Christ remember us as I have tried to prove that He dose? Then let us remember Him. “ This do ye in remembrance of Me.” 2. Let us not only remember Him at His table, but let us remember Him constantly. Let us, as it were, carry His name upon the palms of our hands. 3. Practically. We ought so to wear Christ on our hands that whatever we touch should be thereby Christianised. 4. Let the name of Christ, and your memory of it, become vital to you. (C. H.Spurgeon.) Isaiah 49:18-23 Lift up thine eyes round about-- Promises for the Church I. THE OF THE CHURCH. 1. In number. 2. In honour. 3. In triumph. II. THE IT AFFORDS US FOR . 1. God is able to effect this great thing. 2. He has engaged to effect it. 3. The beginnings are already visible before our eyes. Application-- (1) Let our expectations of it be enlarged. (2) Let our prayers for it be poured forth. (3) Let our exertions be used. (C. Simeon, M. A.) Isaiah 49:20-21 The children which thou shalt have.--The Church a mother I. THE CHURCH IS A MOTHER. 1. Because it is her privilege to bring forth into the world the spiritual children of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2. When these little ones are born, the Church’ s business is to feed them. 3. It is her endeavour to train up her children. 4. She will be always ready to nurse her children when they become sick. II. THE CHURCH IS . 1. Some of her nominal children she loses by spiritual death. They are not really her children at all. They looked so much like hers that she could hardly tell them. 2. She loses many by death temporal 3. Sometimes by a trying providence. III. THE CHURCH HAS TO BE CARRIED AWAY CAPTIVE. How often has this happened to the Church of God in the olden times! The Church has been carried into foreign countries. Sometimes she has been cruelly persecuted. Often, too, the Church has been compelled to seek a refuge in foreign countries. Days of slumber have come over the Church, and days of heresy too. IV. THE CHURCH HAS HAD A AFTER ALL HER , and all her bereavements have hitherto always worked for her good. Never has the Church lost her children without obtaining many more. 1. The first thing which astonishes the Church when she opens her eyes after her captivity is to notice the number of her children. 2. Also their character--“ these.’’ (C. H. Spurgeon.)Church increase I. THERE IS A GOING ON IN THE CHURCH OF GOD ON EARTH. Zion is represented here as mourning for the children that she had lost. The Jewish Church in the olden times saw her sons and daughters slain with the sword, or carried away captive. Afterwards, she saw the great majority of the nation refusing Christ, and turning away from Him, and thus the Jewish Church was minished and brought very low. The same thing has happened in many other eases. We must naturally expect to see, in each separate Church of Jesus Christ, a certain process and measure of decrease. 1. Some are being drafted from us to supply the choirs of heaven with fresh minstrelsy. 2. Each separate Church will also have a measure of decrease through the removal of God’ s servants from one place to another. 3. There is another source of decrease over which we must greatly grieve, and that is the backsliding of many professor. 4. The sifting process by which the chaff is removed from the wheat. II. THERE IS AN TO BE IN THE CHURCH OF GOD. There are new converts yet to come in, these children which Zion is to have, after she has lost the others. 1. These new converts are needful No Church can be healthy without the constant in fusion of fresh blood. 2. Therefore, she ought to have every preparation for their reception. 3. All who love the Lord should labour earnestly on their behalf. 4. When we are all pleading and labouring for an increase to the Church, it will come; and when it comes, it is probable that we shall be astonished at the number of those that come. “ The children which thou shalt have,” &c. 5. The next thing that was a subject for astonishment to Zion was how those converts came to be born at all “ Who hath begotten me these?” 6. But what Zion wondered at next was, how they had been nurtured, for she says, “ Who hath brought up these?” 7. A further cause of wonder was, the sudden appearance of this great increase. Zion inquires, “ These, where had they been?” Shall I tell you where they had been? Some of them had been in godly families with fathers and mothers praying for them. Some of them had been in the Sunday school, in crosses where brethren and sisters love their children, and never rest till they bring them to decision for Christ. They had been under the influence of Christian wives, Christian children, sometimes Christian brothers and sisters; and so, at last, the gracious influence took effect upon them, by the power of God’ s Spirit, and out they came. There are great numbers still under those sacred influences, for they also are sure to come in due time, and say, “ We are on the Lord’ s side.” Then there were some others. “ Where had they been?” They had long been listening to the Gospel, regularly sitting in their pews. But there were others about whom I might well ask, “ These, where had they been?” On the Lord’ s day, at home in their shirt-sleeves; on week-nights, at the theatre or the music-hall, finding enjoyment in the lowest form of amusement. “ Where had they been?” Never troubling church or chapel; but God, in His providence, brought them for once to hear the Word, and, as one said to me, “ I laid hold of something, and something laid hold of me, and I shall never part with it, for it will never part with me.” “ These, where had they been?” I cannot tell you where they had all been; some had been at death’ s dark door, buried in sorrow and in sin, in poverty and in vice. III. ALL THINGS SHOULD THE CHURCH TO SEEK LARGER . 1. There is the same power to convert ten thousand as there is to convert one. 2. We ought to be encouraged by the fact that the converts come in answer to prayer. 3. Further, since the converts come from all sorts of places, let us carry the Gospel into all sorts of places. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 49:23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers Princes and rulers should promote the will of God I. PRINCES, OR RULERS, AS SUCH, ARE THE OF GOD, AND ARE BOUND TO PROMOTE, ABOVE ALL THINGS, THE OF HIS WORD, AND THE HONOUR OF HIS NAME, IN THE WELFARE OF HIS CHURCH AND PEOPLE. It must be a self-evident proposition, that all who are entrusted with the ruling authority are bound to promote the best interests of the people over whom they preside. But the question is, in what do the best interests of a people consist? Do they consist in the extension of territory; the multiplicity of resources; the advancement of the arts and sciences; of wealth and honour; business and trade? We deny the assertion. As our Lord speaks of a man, so we of a nation, prince, or ruler. What is either he or they profited if they gain the whole world and lose their own soul? Or what shall a man, or any number of men, give in exchange for their soul? The soul, then, in all its vast, interesting, immortal, and eternal concerns, is the chief business of man. 1. From whence does the kingly office, or ruling authority proceed? Does it proceed from the people? No. It proceeds from God. 2. We must not omit to notice the manner in which the Lord speaks of princes and rulers in His Word. They are always spoken of in reference to their accountability to Him, and as bound to the execution of His will, and the promotion of His glory. 3. It may be useful here to adduce what is the estimate of our own Church on this subject. II. SUCH A OR OF THIS WILL ALWAYS YIELD A SURE TEST OF THEIR OWN STATE AND THE OF THEIR , AND WHERE IT IT WILL BE VISIBLE, MORE OR LESS, IN ALL THEIR WAYS AND WORKS. We are to judge of the character and condition of princes and rulers, as such, as we do of private individuals and professing Christians, as such, and of the character of their government as we do of the general tenor of a man’ s life. 1. There will be deep humiliation before God, coupled with free and ingenuous confessions both of individual and national guilt (2 Samuel 7:1-29). 2. There will also be a desire to seek the guidance and acknowledge the hand of God in everything. 3. There will also be a fixed determination to banish all wicked men from their presence, and to exclude them from their councils. 4. There will be an anxiety to fill all the offices of the Church and State with men that fear the Lord, love the truth, and who will labour with heart and hand in the same cause for the advancement of true godliness. If the foregoing statements are based on the authority of Divine truth, the following deductions will ensue as some of their most obvious results (1) It is not an easy office to be exalted to a throne, or to be entrusted with the affairs of a kingdom! (2) How obvious is the connection between the Church and State! An established religion, nationally considered, is nothing more than that “ form of godliness,” according to God’ s revealed will, which is selected, supported, and maintained by the State, for the general benefit of all. (3) How great is the guilt of ungodly princes and rulers, and how earnestly should we pray for them that God may bless and direct them in all His ways! (R. Shittier.)They shall not be ashamed that wait for MeWaiting upon God I. WAITING UPON GOD signifies-- 1. A patient expectation of the fulfilment of His Word, whether it be prophecy or promise. 2. A regular attention to the means of grace. II. THE RESULT OF WAITING UPON GOD. Not disappointment and humiliation, but prayers answered, and hopes fulfilled. 1. The penitent. 2. The Christian relying upon the providential help of a covenant-keeping God. 3. The believer waiting for the accomplishment of God’ s purpose in his sanctification. 4. The Christian waiting for the coming of Christ. (T. Blackley, M. A.)“ Wait” This is the one word which the Divine wisdom often seems to utter in rebuke of human impatience. Man is eager, hurried, impatient, but God is never in haste. The Divine proceedings are slow--everywhere slow. I. We see it in the realms of NATURE AND . 1. The history of the earth. 2. The movement of the seasons. The changes of day and night, &c., how slow, how gradual, how imperceptible! 3. The history of all life and growth. II. includes much in harmony with these facts. 1. The long interval between the promise of a Saviour and His advent. 2. The manner of His coming (Luke 17:20). 3. The history of revealed religion since the advent. 4. The spiritual history of the individual believer. 5. The events which make up the story of a life. With regard to much in our history, we are expected to wait for the revelations of the world to come. (R. Vaughan, D. D.) Isaiah 49:24-25 Shall the prey be taken from the mighty?--Deliverance from bondage and death I. THE STATE OF FALLEN MAN IS ONE OF MISERY AND BONDAGE. 1. Misery because he is the prey of a mighty tyrant, the devil. 2. Bondage because he is the slave of a terrible master, death. II. JESUS CAN SET US FREE, FOR HE HAS . Jesus has been the Great Emancipator of men. (T. Bates, M. A.)“ Shall the prey be taken from the mighty?” I. WHO ARE “ THE MIGHTY,” AND WHO ARE “ THE PREY” ? The immortal souls of men are the prey, and all the combined powers of darkness are” the mighty.” II. HOW SHALL “ THE PREY” BE TAKEN FROM “ THE MIGHTY” ? Nothing short of the almighty power of God is calculated to effect this great and important work. But God is almighty, and God is infinitely able and infinitely willing to rescue the helpless sons of men. Our Lord Jesus Christ is that great and glorious Being who gave, whilst here below, signal manifestations of His power to take “ the prey” from “ the mighty.” III. A MOST AND PROMISE. “ I will contend with him who contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.” At all times, in every season of trial and difficulty. Let the enemies of God learn an important lesson: “ Woe to him that striveth with his Maker!” He will save His Church under all the trials and temptations, the dangers and difficulties of human life. Are the immortal souls of men “ the prey” ? and are the powers of darkness “ the mighty” ? What does the ungodly man think of this? (T. Freeman.)The adversary and his defeat I. THE WEAPONS AND OF THE ENEMY. 1. Idolatry. 2. Imposture. Mohammedanism. 3. Papal superstition. 4. The despotic governments of the earth. 5. Crime in its varied forms. 6. A more liberal sort of religion which shall keep the opposition in countenance, and enable them to wield the name and institutions of Christianity against Christianity, sustained by such as live in pleasure, and will not bow the knee to Christ. 7. The corruption of the purity of revivals of religion. 8. The sword. Can such varied and mighty resistance to the truth be overcome? Can the earth be enlightened? Can the nations be disenthralled? Yes! II. HOW SHALL EVENTS SO BE ? 1. By the judgments of heaven. 2. By the universal propagation of the Gospel. 3. By frequent and, at last, general revivals of religion. 4. By the special influence of the Holy Spirit. 5. By a new and unparalleled vigour of Christian enterprise. But what can be done? There must be in the Church of God-- (1) More faith. (2) More intense love for Christ. (3) More decided action. (4) More courage. (5) Efforts to increase the number and power of evangelical Churches. (6) Special effort to secure to the rising generation an education free from the influence of bad example, and more decidedly evangelical. (7) The vigour of charitable effort must be greatly increased. (8) The jealousies of Christians must yield. (9) We must guard against the dangers peculiar to a state of religious prosperity. Conclusion--Will any take side against the cause of Christ? It will be a fearful experiment! (Lyman Beecher, D. D.)The prey taken from the mighty Apply the text-- I. --to Israel’ s release from Babylon. II. --to man’ s redemption by Christ. III. --to the Christian's deliverance from sin. IV. --to the blessed resurrection from the dead promised to the people of God. (S. Thodey.) Isaiah 49:26 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh.Self-destruction Here is a terrible picture of retributive justice. But the words represent a general principle, which is universal, in the punishment of sin. The sinner is his own avenger. I. TAKE THE . He is drinking the poison, but is he not at the same time drinking his own life, and consuming his own happiness and peace? II. TAKE THE . He spends his money, but at the same time eats and drinks his existence, his fortune, his home, his happiness. III. TAKE THE TYRANT. He who wins his throne with blood shall lose it in blood. No one who fights can be without foes, and if he has conquered them at first they will only await their opportunity and in turn conquer him. How few who have raised themselves by the sword have not died by the sword! IV. TAKE THE OF THE . They think they injure God's people. How does God avenge His elect? By causing them to feed on their own selves--the bitterness of conscience, the remorse of evil doing. These are the portion of the oppressors. (Homilist.)All flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am thy SaviourAn all-sufficient Deliverer I. A WORLD-WIDE NEED. II. AN ALL- . (J. Smith, D.D.)The safety of the Church 1. God is the Protector of the Church, and no weapon formed against her shall prosper. 2. The Church’ s enemies shall be distracted in their counsels, and left to anarchy and overthrow. 3. The Church shall rise resplendent from all her persecutions, and shall prosper ultimately, just in proportion to their efforts to destroy it. (A. Barnes, D.D). Isaiah 50:1-3 Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother’ s divorcement?-- Jehovah and unfaithful Israel These Israelites went to the only kind of law with which they were familiar, and borrowed from it two of its forms, which were not only suggested to them by the relations in which the nation and the nation’ s sons respectively stood to Jehovah, as wife and as children, but admirably illustrated the ideas they wished to express. (1) There was the form of divorce, so expressive of the ideas of absoluteness, deliberateness and finality--of absoluteness, for throughout the East power of divorce rests entirely with the husband; of deliberateness, for in order to prevent hasty divorce the Hebrew law insisted that the husband must make a bill or writing of divorce instead of only speaking dismissal; and of finality, for such a writing in contrast to the spoken dismissal, set the divorce beyond recall. (2) The other form which the doubters borrowed from their law, was one which, while it also illustrated the irrevocableness of the act, emphasized the helplessness of the agent--the act of the father who put his children away, not as the husband put his wife in his anger, but in his necessity, selling them to pay his debts and because he was bankrupt. (3) On such doubts God turns with their own language--“ I have indeed put your mother away, but where is the bill that makes her divorce final, beyond recall? You indeed were sold, but was it because I was bankrupt! To which, then, of My creditors (note the scorn of the plural) was it that I sold you? Nay, by means of your iniquities did ye sell yourselves, and by means of your transgressions were ye put away. But I stand here, ready as ever to save, I alone. If there is any difficulty about your restoration it lies in this, that I am alone, with no response or assistance from men.” (Prof. G. A. Smith, D.D.)The sinner’ s responsibility I. THE SINNER’ S . 1. Separated from God. 2. Sold under sin. II. THE OF IT. Not the will of God, but his own love of sin, and his consequent disregard of God’ s offers of deliverance from sin and sorrow. (J. Lyth, D.D.)Israel self-ruined Those who have professed to be the people of God, and yet seem to be severely dealt with, are apt to complain of God, and to lay the fault upon Him, as if He had severely dealt with them. But in answer to their murmurings, we have here-- I. A TO PRODUCE ANY THAT THE QUARREL BEGAN ON GOD’ S SIDE (Isaiah 50:1). II. A CHARGE THAT THEY WERE THE AUTHOR OF THEIR RUIN. “ Behold, for your iniquities,” etc. III. A OF THIS AND THIS CHARGE (Isaiah 50:2-3). 1. It Was plain that it was their own fault that they were cast off, for God came and offered them His helping hand, either to prevent their trouble or to deliver them out of it, but they slighted Him and all the tenders of His grace. 2. It was plain that it was not owing to any lack of power in God that they were led into the misery of captivity, and remained in it, for He is almighty. They lacked faith in Him, and so that power was not exerted on their behalf. So it is with sinners still. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 50:2-6 Wherefore, when I came, was there no man?-- The Mediator: Divine and human These words could have been spoken only by the Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus They place before our thoughts-- I. His DIVINE POWER AND GLORY. Power is naturally calm. The power that sustains the universe is, in fact, most wonderful when, unseen, unfelt, with its Divine silence and infinite ease, it moves on in its ordinary course; but we are often most impressed by it when it strikes against obstructions, and startles the senses by its violence. Knowing our frame, and dealing with us as with children, our Teacher seeks to impress us with a sense of His Divine power, by bidding us think of Him as working by inexorable force certain awful changes and displacements in nature. “ I dry up the sea,” etc. II. HIS HUMAN LIFE AND . “ The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned,” etc. Gradually, it seems, the Divine Spirit, like a mysterious voice, woke up within Him the consciousness of what He was, and of what He had come on earth to fulfil. Morning by morning, through all the days of His childhood, the voice was ever awakening Him to higher consciousness and more awful knowledge. III. THE FOR WHICH HE HAD BEEN THUS . 1. It is personal. If His own personal teaching had not been in view, there would have been no need for all this personal preparation. “ The Lord hath given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak.” This is His own testimony to the great fact that He Himself personally teaches every soul that is saved. 2. It is suitable. Suitable to our weariness. (1) While we are yet in a state of unregeneracy. (2) When we are sinking under the burden of guilt. (3) When fainting under the burden of care. (4) When burdened under the intellectual mysteries of theology. (5) When under the burden of mortal infirmity. 3. The teaching of Christ is minutely direct and particular. When I read that He is ordained to speak “ to him” that is weary, I understand that He does not speak in a general, impersonal, unrecognizing way to the forlorn crowd of sufferers, but to every man in particular, and to every man apart. (C. Stanford, D. D.)The Redeemer described by Himself In my opinion, these verses (2-6) run on without any break, so that you are not to separate them, and ascribe one to the prophet, another to the Messiah, and another to Jehovah Himself; but you must take the whole as the utterance of one Divine Person. That Jehovah-Jesus is the One who is speaking here, is very clear from the last verse of the previous chapter: “ I the Lord” (“ I, Jehovah,” it is,) “ am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.” I. BEHOLD THE MESSIAH AS GOD. Link Isaiah 50:3; Isaiah 6:1-13 : “ I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering . . . I gave my back to the smiters,” etc. He, then, who suffered thus, and whom we regard as redeeming us by His death, and as saving us by His life, is no less than the Almighty God. I think the first reference, in these words, is to the miracles which were wrought by the plagues in Egypt. It was Jehovah-Jesus who was then plaguing His adversaries. In a later chapter, Isaiah says that “ the Angel of His presence saved them;” and who is that great Angel of His presence but the Angel of the covenant in whom we delight, even Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour? But we must not restrict the text to that which happened in the land of Egypt, for it has a far wider reference. All the great wonders of nature are to be ascribed to Him upon whom we build all our hopes for time and for eternity. The last miracle recorded here, namely, that of covering the heavens with sackcloth, was performed by our Lord even when He was in His death agony. You are not depending for your salvation upon a mere man. He is man, but He is just as truly Divine. II. BEHOLD THE MESSIAH AS THE TEACHER (verse 4). I call your special attention to the condescension of our Lord in coming here on purpose to care for the weak--to speak consoling and sustaining words to them; and also to the fact that, before He performed that service, He learned the sacred art from His Father. For thirty years was He learning much in Joseph’ s carpenter’ s shop. Little do we know how much He learned there; but this much we do know, “ Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” And afterwards, when He entered upon His public work among men, He spake with the tongue of the learned, saying to His disciples, “ All things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you.” All through His time of teaching, He was still listening and learning. III. BEHOLD JESUS CHRIST AS THE SERVANT OF THE LORD (verse 5). 1. He speaks of Himself as being prepared by grace. “ The Lord God hath opened Mine ear,” as if there had been a work wrought upon Him to prepare Him for His service. And the same Spirit, which rested upon Christ, must also open our ears. 2. Being thus prepared by grace, He was consecrated in due form, so that He could say to Himself, “ The Lord God hath opened Mine ear.” He heard the faintest whispers of His Father’ s voice. 3. He not only heard His Father’ s voice, but He was obedient to it in all things. “ I was not rebellious.” From the day when, as a child, He said to His parents, “ Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’ s business?” till the hour when, on the cross, He cried, “ It is finished,” He was always obedient to the will of God. 4. In that obedience, He was persevering through all trials. He says that He did not turn away back. Having commenced the work of saving men, He went through with it. IV. BEHOLD THE MESSIAH AS THE (verse 6). It has been asked, “ Did God really die?” No; for God cannot die, yet He who died was God; so, if there be a confusion in your mind, it is the confusion of Holy Scripture itself, for we read, “ Feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.” In addition to the pain, we are asked, in this verse, to notice particularly the contempt which the Saviour endured. The plucking of His hair was a proof of the malicious contempt of His enemies, yet they went still further, and did spit in His face. Spitting was regarded by Orientals, and, I suppose, by all of us, as the most contemptuous thing which one man could do to another; yet the vile soldiers gathered round Him, and spat upon Him. I must point out the beautiful touch of voluntariness here: “ I hid not my face.” Our Saviour did not turn away, or seek to escape. If He had wished to do so, He could readily have done it. Conclusion: Notice three combinations which the verses of my text will make. (1) Verses 2 and 6. Those verses together show the full ability of Christ to save. Here we have God and the Sufferer. (2) Verses 4 and 5. Here you have the Teacher and the Servant, and the two together make up this truth--that Christ teaches us, not with words only, but with His life. What a wonderful Teacher He is, who Himself learned the lessons which He would have us learn! (3) Now put the whole text together, and I think the result will be--at least to God’ s people--that they will say, “ This God shall be our God for ever and ever; and it shall be our delight to do His bidding at all times.” It is a high honour to serve God; and Christ is God. It is a great thing to be the servant of a wise teacher; and Christ has the tongue of the learned. It is a very sweet thing to walk in the steps of a perfect Exemplar; and Christ is that. And, last and best of all, it is delightful to live for Him who suffered and died on our behalf. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 50:4-11 The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned The Lord’ s servant made perfect through sufferings In Isaiah 50:4-9 the servant is again introduced, speaking of Himself and His work, as in Isaiah 49:1-6. He describes-- 1. The close, intimate, and continuous communion with God through which He has learned the ministry of comfort by the Divine word, and His own complete self-surrender to the voice that guides Him (Isaiah 49:4-5). 2. His acceptance of the persecution and obloquy which He had to encounter in the discharge of His commission (Isaiah 49:6). 3. His unwavering confidence in the help of Jehovah, and the victory of His righteous cause, and the discomfiture of all His enemies (Isaiah 49:7-9). Verses 10, 11 are an appendix to the preceding description, drawing lessons for the encouragement of believers (Isaiah 49:10) or the warning of unbelievers (Isaiah 49:11). Although the word “ Servant” never occurs in this passage, its resemblance to the three other “ Servant-passages” makes it certain that the speaker is none other than the ideal character who comes before us in Isaiah 42:1-4; Isaiah 49:1-6; Isaiah 52:13-15; Isaiah 53:1-12. The passage, indeed, forms analmost indispensable link of connection between the first two and the last of these. (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)The Messiah an instructed Teacher After the Messiah had been exhibited in the preceding discourse labouring in vain and spending His strength for nought among the Jews, despised of men and abhorred by the nations, when actually employed in His public ministry, it became necessary to explain this surprising phenomenon. It is, therefore, affirmed that the neglect and contempt which He suffered was not owing to any deficiency on the part of this celebrated Teacher, who was eminently qualified for acquainting men with the Will of God, in the knowledge of which He was perfectly instructed. This important qualification was not imparted to Him by any human teacher, neither did He acquire it in the schools of philosophers and orators, nor was it communicated to Him by the most eminent of the prophets, but by the Spirit of the Lord God, to whom it is here attributed. (R. Macculloch.)The tongue of the learned I. THE AS NEEDING THE SAVIOUR’ S GRACE. “ Him that is weary.” This description includes a very large class. All may not ascribe their weariness to the same cause, nor may all be sensible of their weariness to the same extent. Yet all are weary. 1. Not in the world of sense only do you complain of weariness. It is impossible for the unrenewed heart to find rest even in things that are Spiritual. Heaven itself would to such a one cease to be heaven. What a weariness do you find in the religion of Jesus Christ! Of prayer, of public worship, of hearing sermons, of religious conversation, of the service and work of the Lord you say, “ What a weariness!” 2. The description, certainly, includes those who are truly anxious about the salvation of their souls. 3. The Lord’ s weary ones include His own quickened people, who feel the burden of the body of sin, and are cast down because of their difficulties. 4. The assaults of the adversary, too, contribute not a little to the sense of weariness, which often prostrate a child of God. 5. Add to these the numerous and varied trials and afflictions which beset his pathway to heaven, and you have in outline the picture of his case. II. CHRIST’ S TO MEET THE CASE OF SUCH. 1. His participation of our nature. Absolute Godhead could not of itself have conveyed to us sinners one word of sympathy or comfort. Neither could the angels do it. They are total strangers to the weariness to which sinful children of men are heirs. But, the man Christ Jesus becomes a partaker of the very nature whose burdens He sought to relieve. “ Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He also took part in the same.” 2. As He thus took upon Him our nature, so He also endured our sinless though humbling infirmities. 3. In addition to all this, the Lord God had given Him the tongue of the learned in another sense. I refer to the communication of the Divine Spirit Isaiah 61:1). Never was there a tongue like Christ’ s--so learned, soskilled, so practised, and so experienced. “ Never man spake like this man.” 4. The purpose for which this tongue of the learned was given Him is thus described--“ That He should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.” (1) A word, (2) a word in season, (3) that He should know how to speak. 5. But when Christ speaks to the weary, it is not to the outward ear merely, but to the heart--with almighty power. And the result is rest. III. THE REST WHICH JESUS IMPARTS, when He speaks the word in season. 1. We are seeking rest by nature everywhere, and in everything but in Jesus. We seek it in the outward world, in the moral world, in the religious world--and we find it not. We seek it in conviction, in ordinances, in doing the works of the law--and still it evades us. We go from place to place, and from means to means, and still the burden presses, and we find no rest. No, and never will, until it is sought and found in Jesus. 2. Yet, in the case of a tried believer, the rest that Jesus imparts does not always imply the removal of the burden from which the sense of weariness proceeds. The burden is permitted to remain, and yet rest is experienced. Wonderful indeed! How is it explained? That burden takes us to Jesus. He pours strength into our souls, life into our spirits, and love into our hearts, and so we find rest. It is also matter of much practical importance, that you take heed not to anticipate or forestall His promised grace. For every possible emergency in which you can be placed, the fulness of Christ and the supplies of the Covenant are provided. But that provision is only meted out as the necessity for which it was intended occurs. 3. There is an hour approaching--the last great crisis of human life--when, we shall all, more than ever, need Him who hath the “ tongue of the learned.” It will be of all seasons the most trying and solemn--the season that separates the soul from the body, and ushers the immortal spirit into eternity. Is it not our highest wisdom to know this Saviour now? (C. Ross M. A.)A word to the weary I. THE POWER OF TO THE WEARY IS NOTHING LESS THAN A DIVINE GIFT. We may say the right word in a wrong tone. II. Though the gift itself is Divine, IT IS TO BE . It is not enough to speak the right word, it must be spoken at the right moment. (J. Parker, D.D.)Christ speaking a word in season to the weary I. THE STATE AND OF THOSE THAT ARE WEARY. II. SHOW, FROM THE AND PERSON OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THAT HE IS A AND ALL- SAVIOUR TO THOSE WHO ARE WEARY. The excellency and glory of Christ may not only be perceived by viewing Him in the whole of His mediatorial character; but, also, by fixing on specific parts of it, and showing that there is a Divine suitability to all the exigencies of ruined men. 1. He can give rest to the mind of the man who is wearied with his researches after human wisdom. 2. He can give rest to those who are oppressed under a sense of guilt. 3. He can speak a word in season to those who have wearied themselves in attempting to establish their own righteousness. 4. He can give rest to those who have wearied themselves in vainly trying to overcome their corruptions in their own strength. 5. He can speak a word in season to those who are weary with the weight of affliction and trouble. 6. He can give rest to those who are oppressed and wearied with the cares of this world. 7. Christ can speak a word in season to those who are weary of living in this world. None of the children of men can enjoy rest, or real peace of mind, but through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. (J. Matheson.)The ministry of preaching (with Acts 20:27). The first passage is spoken by the Messiah, the second by St. Paul. The one looks forward, the other backward. The one speaks of a preparation and fitness for a work yet to be done; the other is a thankful record of a mission already faithfully accomplished. I. IN THE FIRST PASSAGE YOU HAVE THE CHIEF OF THE CHURCH HIS WORK OF AND HIS FITNESS FOR THE WORK. 1. Observe the gift with which He claims to be endowed as one element of special fitness for His ministry. Speech was the chief instrument employed by Christ for conveying truth to the minds of men. The dispensation under which we live, so emphatically designated the dispensation of the Spirit, was ushered in by two miracles, both of which related to the tongue The Holy Spirit Himself appeared resting upon each one in the form of cloven tongues as of fire. A second miracle was wrought on the uneducated Galilean apostles, enabling them, without learning, to speak intelligently in the dialects of all the nationalities present, so that every man heard them speak in his own language. And why, at the very founding of Christianity, was this twofold miracle wrought in relation to the tongue, if not to indicate that the Holy Spirit purposed to employ speech as the chief instrument in the regeneration of mankind? 2. The purpose for which this gift of speech is to be employed. “ To speak a word in season to him that is weary.” (1) You will have to speak to men suffering, from mental weariness--men who have long searched for truth and failed to find it. See that ye be well furnished with the Spirit, who has promised to guide you into all truth, and who also will help you to guide others into all truth. (2) You will have others wearied in body, through excessive labour or sore affliction. You may tell them of the illustrious Sufferer of Calvary who, though innocent, suffered for our sins; was in all points tempted like as we are; and who, therefore, is able to succour all those who are tempted. (3) You will have others wearied in heart, by reason of bereavement. Imitating the Great Teacher in the bereaved family of Bethany, you must direct the thought of the sorrowful to the resurrection power of Christ, when the mortal shall put on immortality, and the corruptible shall put on incorruption. (4) Others will come to you weary of the vicissitudes, disappointments and reverses of life. With the Master, you may speak to them of the lily, the sparrow, the grass, the flower of the field; how your Heavenly Father careth for these, but how much more He will care for those who have faith in and love towards Him, even to the numbering of every hair on the whitening brow. (5) Others will come with weary consciences, burdened with sin, fearing the wrath to come, carrying with them, it may be, the dread secret of undiscovered and unconfessed crime. Take solemn heed that the word you speak is a word in season. Do not heal lightly the wounds thus made by the Spirit. Do not attempt to soothe the agony by minifying the guilt, or lessening the condemnation, or diminishing the penalty. Do what the Spirit does. Take of the things of Christ and show them unto the penitent; show them in their preciousness, their efficacy, and their all-sufficiency. (6) Others may come to you weary of inbred sin. Open your ear to hear what the Lord your God will say unto you; humbly wait with an upward look to your Great Teacher, and He will give you the tongue of the learned. 3. This learning claimed by the Redeemer is set forth as progressive. “ He wakeneth Me morning by morning. He wakeneth mine ear that I may hear as disciples do.” If our Lord found it necessary to place Himself in the position of a pupil to receive daily instruction from the Divine Father, how much greater need is there for you who are His ministers? You cannot learn in one lesson all that the Holy Spirit has to communicate. Cultivate a sensibility of soul, a readiness to hear the softest, gentlest tone of God, whether in nature, in providence, in history, in the inspired word, or in the deep secrets of your own heart. II. THE NOBLE OF THE NOBLEST APOSTLE AT THE CLOSE OF HIS AT EPHESUS. (R..Roberts.)The weary world and the refreshing ministry I. THE WEARY WORLD. It is not one man that is weary, the generation is weary, the world is weary. All sinners are weary. Wearied with fruitless efforts after happiness. There is the ennui yawn, and the groan of depression heard everywhere. II. THE . “ The Lord God hath given me,” etc. 1. The relief comes by speech. No physical, legislative, or ceremonial means will do; it must be by the living voice, charged with sympathy, truth, light. 2. The effective speech comes from God. “ The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned.” No man can speak the soul-refreshing thing unless God inspires and teaches him. 3. The speech that comes from God is a “ word in season.” It is exactly suited to the mood of the souls addressed. (Homilist.)A word in season to the weary (with Matthew 11:28-30):-- I. We may name WOUNDED as a very frequent cause of weariness. We do not know, until the blow comes, how heavily we have been leaning on the staff of friendly sympathy. Breaking beneath our weight, it leaves us tottering and weary. But amidst all our heart-troubles the voice of the Saviour is heard saying, “ Rest! Come unto Me and I will give you rest.” II. THE OF OUR DESIRES is another common antecedent of lassitude. All of us are furnished with larger appetites than we have ability or opportunity for satisfying. Pleasure! Money! Power! Reputation! How seldom do men know when they have enough of that which they most desire. So, as the material of sensuous enjoyment becomes exhausted, the sense of emptiness becomes more painful. But in this mood, too, we are met by the Divine Saviour: “ Come unto Me, and I will give you rest.” For Christ would fill the soul with the only object of desire that cannot disappear in its grasp: with the Eternal Himself. III. VACANCY OF MIND AND THE SENSE OF is another common cause of weariness. “ Nature abhors a vacuum,” as the old philosophers said. The mind cannot endure its own emptiness. It is so constituted that it must have change and variety of impressions and ideas; otherwise it turns upon itself, and its fine mechanism is worn down with useless friction. But He who comes to reveal the Father meets us, too, in this mood of self-weariness. It is His message to tell us of a new self which it is the will of God to impart to us; a new heart in which it may please God to dwell, and with which He can hold fellowship. The man who yields himself to the Spirit, and is born of the Spirit, need no longer be disgusted with himself, having found his nature anew in God. IV. But the load of A GUILTY is even more fatiguing than that of a vacant mind. Need it be pointed out how profoundly Christ meets this guilty dejection of the human heart? V. Quite a different cause of weariness is to be found in THE BURDEN OF EARNEST THOUGHT AND NOBLE . For the Christian, it is enough that his Saviour has “ suffered in the flesh” --has borne “ the weary weight of all this unintelligible world” in uncomplaining meekness. He is to “ arm himself likewise with the same mind.” (E. Johnson, M.A.)Noble gifts for lowly uses I. GOD’ S HIGHEST GIFTS HAVE THEIR END AND PURPOSE. In Nature, for instance, nothing has been created in vain. And so it ought to be in human life, that world of feeling and desire within the breast of man. You see that the prophet looked upon the tongue of the learned as a gift from God, holding it in trust, where many would have counted it as their own. And he saw it was a gift for very plain and apparent purposes--for men are stewards, and not owners of all that is bestowed upon them. This splendid administrative genius of the Anglo-Saxon race, dominant and even imperious, but only because it has seen into the heart of purposes working themselves out in the midst of the ages, the wealth it has acquired, the influence it commands, has this no meaning in the economy of nations? You only need the touch of Christ to consecrate it and turn it into right channels, and the whole world is blessed thereby. “ We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.” II. THIS PURPOSE IS A VERY SIMPLE ONE, AND AT FIRST SIGHT . Ambition would say so, and ambition is as natural to the human heart as desire itself. We ask great things, we would be great things, we would do them. It must be confessed, however, that no sin of man has been more constant and apparent than that which has made men look down upon these lowly uses belonging unto lofty gifts. A proud reserve has been considered in all ages as appropriate to commanding talents. The statesman’ s wisdom, the orator’ s art, the poet’ s fire, what are they side by side with all that wondrous wealth lavished upon simple fishermen in Galilee, and carried into the home of Lazarus, and spent among the humble poor. Between the highest born among men and the humblest service henceforward there can be no disparity. “ If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet,” He said to His disciples, “ ye ought also to wash one another’ s feet.” And as with individuals, so with nations. God gives special gifts for His own purposes. III. THIS PURPOSE IS A VERY URGENT AND ONE. After all, the end is not beneath the means. It needs the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season to him that is weary, that word fitly spoken which dries the tear from the eye, and banishes sorrow from the heart. To do away with pain and assuage grief, is not that a noble, a Divine thing? And will you see how Christianity has been doing this in lower and yet very important directions, permeating society by its subtle influences for good? And more when you understand Isaiah’ s words in their true and spiritual significance, what a field of usefulness unfolds itself! For the great burdens of mankind are not physical, but mental and spiritual. (W. Baxendale.)Words in season for the weary I. THE OF THE DIVINE SERVANT. We must notice the difference between the authorized version and the new. In the one, “ the Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know.” In the other, “ of them that are taught” --or, as the margin reads, “ of disciples.” The thought being that the Lord Jesus in His human life was a pupil in the school of human pain, under the tutelage of His Father. 1. His education was by God Himself. 2. It was various. He passed through each class in the school of weariness. 3. It was constant. “ Morning by morning” the Father woke Him. 4. It dealt with the season for administering comfort. “ That I should know how to speak a word in season.” There are times when the nervous system is so overstrained that it cannot bear even the softest words. It is best then to be silent. A caress, a touch, or the stillness that breathes an atmosphere of calm, will then most quickly soothe and heal. This delicacy of perception can only be acquired in the school of suffering. 5. It embraced the method. “ That I should know how.” The manner is as important as the season. A message of good-will may be uttered with so little sympathy, and in tones so gruff and grating, that it will repel. The touch of the comforter must be that of the nurse on the fractured bone--of the mother with the frightened child. II. HIS . From the first, Jesus knew that He must die. The Lord God poured the full story into His opened ear. With all other men, death is the close of their life; with Christ it was the object. We die because we were born; Christ was born that He might die. On one occasion, towards the close of His earthly career, when the fingers on the dial-plate were pointing to the near fulfilment of the time, we are told He set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. What heroism was here! Men sometimes speak of Christ as if He were effeminate and weak, remarkable only for passive virtues. But such conceptions are refuted by the indomitable resolution which set its face like a flint, and knew that it would not be ashamed. Note the voluntariness of Christ’ s surrender. The martyr dies because he cannot help it; Christ dies because He chose. It has been thought that the opened ear refers to something more than the pushing back of the flowing Oriental locks in order to utter the secret of coming sorrow. It is supposed to have some reference to the ancient Jewish custom of boring the ear of the slave to the doorpost of the master’ s house. Under this metaphor it is held that our Lord chose with keen sympathy the service of the Father, and elected all that it might involve, because He loved Him and would not go out free. The images may be combined. Be it only remembered that He knew and chose all that would come upon Him, and that the fetters which bound Him to the Cross were those of undying love to us and of burning passion for the Father’ s glory. III. HIS . “ He is near that justifieth Me.” These are words upon which Jesus may have stayed Himself through those long hours of trial. They said that He was the Friend of publicans and sinners. God has justified Him by showing that if He associates with such, it is to make them martyrs and saints. They said that He was mad. God has justified Him by making His teaching the illumination of the noblest and wisest of the race. They said He had a devil. God has justified Him by giving Him power to cast out the devil and hind him with a mighty chain. They said that He blasphemed when He called Himself the Son of God. God has justified Him by raising Him to the right hand of power, so that He will come in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. They said that He would destroy the temple and the commonwealth of Israel. God has justified Him in shedding the influence of the Hebrew people through all the nations of the world, and making their literature, their history, their conceptions dominant. IV. HIS APPEAL (verse 16). To obey the Lord’ s servant is equivalent to fearing the Lord. He who does the one must do the other. What is this but to proclaim His Deity? (F. B. Meyer, B.A.)A word in season to him that is wearyA word to the weary To speak a word is easy, to speak a word in season is difficult; but to speak a word in season to him that is weary is more difficult still; and yet to be able to accomplish this end wisely and successfully is to be one of the greatest benefactors to our race. (E. Mellor, D. D.)Weariness Weariness the word reveals its parentage clearly enough. To be weary is to be worn--or worn out--or worn down. One wears his coat until it is worn out; and so you wear your strength until it is worn out, There is a weariness also which is not the result of excessive toil, but of indolence. For no man sighs so much, complains so much, fears so much, as the man who sets himself the task of passing through life doing nothing. Sometimes weariness is a virtue; sometimes it is a sin. But whether it be virtue or sin, there is no man who does not know well what it is to be weary. (E. Mellor, D. D.)Words to the weary We have many doors in our nature, and at every one of these weariness may enter. I. There is--to begin at the lowest door of all--the physical one, THE WHICH COMES TO US FROM BODILY TOIL, or from toil which, whether bodily or not, tells upon the body by wasting for the time its energies. So far as such toil is rendered necessary by the very fundamental conditions of our existence, the weariness which ensues upon it is a Divine appointment, and the most benign provision has been made for meeting and banishing it. You need no word in season for such weariness as this. There is something better than a word for you. There is night with its soothing darkness. There is your bed with its repose; and there is sleep, ‘‘ Nature’ s soft nurse, that doth knit the ravelled sleeve of care, and steep your senses in forgetfulness.” And there is not merely the night, but the Sabbath. But there is also a weariness which has the nature of a chastisement, because it is produced by excessive and needless toil. While labour is a Divine thing in just measure, yet, when it becomes care, worry, vexation, hot and insatiable ambition, greed, it becomes criminal, and draws after it sooner or later grim consequences, the thought of which ought to make men pause. You cannot run both quickly and long. What is the word in season for such cases as these? The word may not be pleasant, for the words in season which God utters to us are often like thunderclaps to startle us, or like a firm grip of the hand which seems to say, “ Stop, or you are undone.” But surely the word in season to many is: Release your strain, moderate your speed, economize your energies, stop up the leak through which your health is trickling already, and may soon be rushing like a stream; what shall it profit you if you gain the whole world, and lose your life? II. Some men are WEARY WITH . There is no decree of God more stern or more inflexible than that which has determined that misery shall be the constant companion of the man that seeks pleasure. He may be a swift runner, but pleasure runs more swiftly still. Let us accept it as a moral axiom which has no exception, that the fulfilment of duty is the condition of happiness in this world. The word in season, therefore, for those who are weary in pleasure is this: Revise and reverse your whole judgment as to what you are and as to your relation to God, and this world, and the world which is to come. III. Some men are WEARY WITH WELL-DOING WHICH SEEMS TO COME TO SO POOR AN END. This is so common a tendency that we are warned against it, “ Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season ye shall reap if ye faint not.” “ Be ye steadfast, unmovable,” etc. Men who are working for God in this world have doubtless a heavy task in hand. The soil is uncongenial. It is beaten hard with sin and evil habit; and the ploughshare enters it with difficulty, and with difficulty makes its way. Take any sphere of benevolence you like, whether the lower one of sympathy with the common sufferings of man, or the higher one of concern for their spiritual necessities and sorrows and dangers, and the labour is no holiday play. Well-doing appears so often like building in a quagmire. We sow good seed, and then the enemy sows tares. We root up one evil, and another springs up in its stead. Well-doing in the shape of teaching would not be so wearying if the children were not so listless, so rude, so dull, so forgetful, so disappointing. Well-doing in the shape of charity would not be so wearying if there were not so much of ingratitude and imposture. What is the word in season to those who are weary in such good work? Such as these: Think, before you withdraw from what appears to be unfruitful labour, that God still holds on His Divine purpose, and is kind to the unthankful and the evil; think that He is good and doeth good continually, and that, were He to grow weary in well-doing, He would plunge the world into desolation in a moment. Think, too, that if you grow weary, all others may grow weary too, and that then the world will be left to itself: ignorance, vice, crime, wretchedness spreading with every hour, until the earth will be little better than a suburb of hell itself. Think, to, that in well-doing you do find some results, though they may not be equal to your hope, and that the results, though unseen, may still be there, and will appear some day, and be reaped by another’ s hand. And be sure of this, that nothing good is ever lost. IV. There are those who ARE WEARY OF THE STRIFE WITH SIN. This is emphatically the battle of life and the battle for life. What is the word in season to him who is thus weary? This--that Christ has already vanquished your most powerful foe, and will make you more than conqueror. V. There is one word more in season for those who ARE WEARY IN SIN, BUT NOT YET WEARY OF IT. Would to God they were weary of it! for to feel it to be a burden and a woe is the first step to deliverance. (E. Mellor, D. D.)Weary souls So far as we can tell, all life is joyous, except that of humanity. Even those creatures which are under the care of man have not the joyousness they might have if they were roaming the fields or hills. Look at the horse on the American prairies; see him in some of the cabs and coal carts at home! Though the life of birds and animals is naturally a happy one, the life of humanity, for the most part, is one of trouble. People who firmly resolve to act rightly and Christianly in this world, shall certainly “ have tribulation.” In the Bible, we have the record of many people who knew what it is to have a weary soul. Above all weary souls, let us remember the loving Saviour, who was “ a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” I. YOU MAY BE WEARY WITH THE BURDEN WHICH WEIGHTS YOUR LIFE. Every one of us has a special burden of our own. The Christian philosophy of burden-bearing is to take things as we find them and make the best of them; not like a vicious horse to kick against the “ splinter hoard,” or set up our back rebelliously. Directly we submit to the yoke, and say Thy will he done, our burden becomes lighter. The Divine Word teaches that your life has a Divine purpose. II. Perhaps, your soul is WEARY BECAUSE OF THE OF YOUR FRIENDS. Let your only aim be to please God and do your duty; and then, though the action of friends may grieve you, it shall neither hinder your work nor give you a weary soul. III. But another may say that his weary soul is caused by HIS SIN. When you behold Jesus on the Cross you will see what He suffered for sin; and when you behold Him risen from the dead, you will see the power at your hand to enable you to flee from every temptation. IV. Some of you may have weary souls, because YOUR LIFE IS VERY BITTER. But in heaven your sorrow and sighing, like that of the apostle John, shall flee away. (W.Birch.)A word to the weary I. Are there any WEARY here? The soul of man once found its rest in God. Weary, was a word unknown in the language of Eden; for Jehovah was then the spirit’ s home. Its affections reposed upon the all-sufficient God. He was a Friend of whose company the soul could never tire, and in whose service it never could grow weary. But now that the soul has taken leave of God, it has never found another rest like Him. Till it comes to live on God Himself, the hungry soul of man never will be satisfied. Ye worldlings, who wander joyless through a godless world, with weary feet and withered hearts, seeking rest and finding none, come to Jesus, and He will give you rest. II. Are there any WEARY WITH THE BURDEN OF GUILT? You remember when Christian had panted up the hill, and came in sight of the Cross, how his burden fell off and rolled away down into the sepulchre; and you remember how he wondered that the sight of a cross should instantly relieve him of his load. Come to Christ upon the Cross, and you will understand the pilgrim’ s wonder; for your burden will, in like manner, fall off and disappear. III. Are there any WEARIED WITH THE OF THEIR WAY? You have been long seeking salvation. Suppose that one of those winter evenings you went down into the country on a visit to a friend. It is a dark night when the stage coach stops; the conductor steps down, opens the door, and lets you out. He tells you that your friend’ s house is hard by, and if the night were a little clearer, you would see it just over the way. “‘ Tis but a step, you cannot miss it.” However, you contrive to miss it. Your guide springs up into the box--the long train of lamp light is lost in misty gloom, and the distant rumble of the wheels is drowned in the rush of the tempest. You are left alone. The directions you received were quite correct, and if you followed them implicitly, you could not go wrong. But you have a theory of the matter in your own mind. “ What did he mean by saying, that it was just a step? He cannot live so very near the highway.” You pass the gate, and plod away up the hill, till at last you become impatient--for there are no symptoms of a dwelling here. You turn aside into this lane, and you climb over that stile, till weary with splashing through miry stubble fields, and all drenched with driving rain, you find yourself, after many a weary round, precisely where you started. Half dead with fatigue and vexation, you lift the latch of a cottage-door, and ask if they know where such-a-one resides. And a little child undertakes to guide you. He opens a wicket, and points to the long lines of light gleaming through a easement a few paces distant. “ Do you see the lights in yon window? Well, that is it; knock, and they’ ll open the door.” In such a homely instance, you all know what it is to be weary in the greatness of your way--to spend your strength in a long circuit, when a single step might have sufficed. But are you sure that it is not in some such way, that you “ labour and find no rest,” whilst there is but a step betwixt you and Christ? That is the wisest and happiest course which the sinner can take--to go at once to the Saviour. (J. Hamilton, D.D.)The weary “ Weary” denotes a class to which a multitude belong that no man can number, of every nation, kindred, tribe, and people. 1. Physical weariness--of the slave on the march; of the toiler in the sweating den; of the seamstress working far into the night by the wasting taper; of the mother worn with watching her sick child. 2. Mental weariness--when the fancy can no longer summon at will images of beauty; and the intellect refuses to follow another argument, master another page, or cast up another column. 3. Heart weariness--waiting in vain for the word so long expected but unspoken; for the returning step of the prodigal; for the long-delayed letter. 4. The weariness of the inner conflict of striving day by day against the selfishness and waywardness of the soul on which prolonged resistance makes so slight an impression. 5. The weariness of the Christian worker, worn by the perpetual chafe of human sorrow, sin, and need. (F. B. Meyer, B.A.)The gift of consolation Nothing so clearly betokens a tongue befitting the disciples of God as the gift of consolation, and such a tongue has He who is the speaker here: “ to aid with words him who is exhausted” --through the pain of suffering and mortification of spirit. (F. Delitzsch, D.D.)He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learnedGod’ s day school “ Morning by morning He openeth mine ear to hear as the scholars.” If we would rightly understand this Divine application of Isaiah’ s words, we must first understand the human application of them, looking through the type to the anti-type, and thus beholding the Servant of Jehovah as “ blind” and “ deaf, yet “ well-pleasing” to God as one “ magnifying the law and making it honourable,” and both shadowing forth and preparing the way for the perfect service of the perfect Servant. Taking first then this human view of the text, observe-- I. The closed ears of God s scholars. “ He openeth mine ear. In the earlier description of Israel, associated with Isaiah’ s call to the prophetic office (a passage more frequently quoted in the New Testament than any other words of the Old), the ear is said to be “ heavy,” and the heart “ gross,” and the eyes “ closed.” Alas! this is the sorrowful condition not only of Israel but of humanity. II. The closed ears Divinely opened. “ He openeth.” The ear is too heavy for the word itself to penetrate tilt He who breathed it comes. By Him it is opened, at a time of spiritual crisis oftentimes, but even then the scholar of God is too often deaf to his Teacher’ s voice. His ears need to be often opened anew. “ Morning by morning.” We must all be day scholars in the school of God. And we learn “ as the scholars.” The double meaning of this word “ scholar” suits the meaning of the passage admirably. A “ scholar” is one who is learning his alphabet, and a “ scholar” is also one that knows much more than his fellow-men, and can teach them with the “ tongue of the scholar.” But there must be learning before teaching, and if we are scholars in God’ s school we shall know “ more than the ancients.” What then are His lessons? 1. The first lesson God teaches is a lesson of obedience (verse 5). 2. The second lesson God teaches is a lesson in patience (verse 6). Morning by morning the Divine voice calls us to suffer as well as to do. 3. The third lesson God teaches is a lesson in boldness (verse 7). Flint-like are the true scholars of God. Omnipotence is on their side and they know it. 4. The fourth lesson God teaches is a lesson in service (verse 4). The ear is opened that the tongue may be loosed to speak for Him who opened it. Every scholar must be a teacher. Look at the application of the text to Jesus Christ. Isaiah was His favourite book, and this text doubtless was often in His mind, as it was once upon His lips. (1) Do we learn obedience? He also “ learned obedience by the things that He suffered,” so that it was “ His meat” to do the will of God always, and in Him only was the ideal attitude of obedience realized. “ Lo I come: I delight to do Thy will, O My God.” (2) Do we painfully learn the lesson of patience? Let us “ consider Him who endured the contradiction of sinners.” (3) Do we gain something of His boldness? It was when the persecutors of the earliest disciples marvelled the boldness which they showed that “ they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus,” for at His feet they had learned this manly virtue. (4) Do we attempt service? How did God’ s holy Servant fulfil His consoling mission by speaking words in season to the weary? And the old lesson is also the new, “ Have faith in God.” The “ faith” of the New Testament is the “ trust” of the Old. (H. C. Leonard, M.A.)The inspiration of noble ideas Where do great men get their noblest ideas? Michael Angelo produced such exquisite faces that Fiesole declared he must have been in paradise to borrow them. A watchful heart will find God furnishing thoughts for such a generous service. One wonders whether Goethe had not been lately reading that verse (Isaiah 50:4) when he said that his best thoughts always came to him unawares, like birds pecking at his windows, and saying, “ Here we are!” (C. S.Robinson, D.D.)God’ s voice heard in stillness Said the aged Christian lady to Mark Rutherford, “ The voice of God, to me at least, hardly ever comes in thunder, but I have to listen in perfect stillness to make it out.” Morning communion with God On the 1 st of May, in the olden times, many inhabitants of London used to go into the fields to bathe their faces with the early dew upon the grass under the idea that it would render them beautiful. This may have been superstitious, but to bathe one’ s face every morning in the dew of heaven by prayer and communion, is the sure way to obtain true beauty of life and character. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 50:6I gave My back to the smiters The shame and smiting I. AS THE OF GOD. In the person of Christ Jesus, God himself came into the world, making a special visitation to Jerusalem and the Jewish people, but at the same time coming very near to all mankind. When our Lord came into this world as the representative of God, He came with all His Divine power about Him (Isaiah 50:2). He did equal marvels to those which were wrought in Egypt when the arm of the Lord was made bare in the eyes of all the people. It is true He did not change water into blood, but He turned water into wine. He did not make their fish to stink, but by His word He caused the net to be filled even to bursting with great fishes. He did the works of His Father, and those works bare witness of Him that He was come in His Father’ s name. But when God thus came among men He was unacknowledged. What saith the prophet? “ Wherefore when I came was there no man? when I called was there none to answer?” A few, taught by the Spirit of God, discerned Him and rejoiced; but they were so very few that we may say of the whole generation that they knew Him not. Yet our Lord was admirably adapted to be the representative of God, not only because He was God Himself, but because as man His whole human nature was consecrated to the work, and in Him was neither flaw nor spot. This is especially the sin of those who have heard the Gospel and yet reject the Saviour, for in their case the Lord has come to them in the most gracious form, and yet they have refused Him. II. I want to set the Lord Jesus before you AS THE FOR HIS PEOPLE. III. AS THE SERVANT OF GOD. 1. Christ was personally prepared for service (Isaiah 50:4). 2. This service knew no reserve in its consecration. Our blessed Master was willing to be scoffed at by the lewdest and lowest of men. 3. There is something more here than perfect consecration in the mere form of it, for its heart and essence are manifest in an obedient delight in the will of the Father. The words seem to express alacrity. It is not said that He reluctantly permitted His enemies to pluck His hair, or smite His back, but “ I gave My back to the smiter, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” 4. There was no flinching in Him. They spat in His face, but what says He in the seventh verse? “ I have set My face like a flint.” Oh, the bravery of our Master’ s silence! Cruelty and shame could not make Him speak. 5. And do you notice all the while the confidence and quiet of His spirit! He almost seems to say, “ You may spit upon Me, but you cannot find fault with Me. You may pluck My hair, but you cannot impugn My integrity. You may lash My shoulders, but you cannot impute a fault to Me,” etc. Be calm then, O true servant of God! In patience possess your soul. Serve God steadily and steadfastly though all men should belie you. 6. The last two verses of the chapter read you a noble lesson. “ He gave His back to the smiters;” if, then, any of you walk in darkness, this is no new thing for a servant of God. The chief of all servants persevered, though men despised Him. Follow Him, then. Stay yourselves upon God as He did, and look for a bright ending of your trials. IV. AS THE OF HIS PEOPLE. 1. Our blessed Lord is well qualified to speak a word in season to him that is weary, because He Himself is lowly, and meek, and so accessible to us. When men are in low spirits they feel as if they could not take comfort from persons who are harsh and proud. The comforter must come as a sufferer. Your Master “ gave His back to the smiters, and His cheek to them that plucked off the hair,” and therefore He is the Comforter you want. 2. Remark not only His lowliness, but His sympathy. Are you full of aches and pains? Jesus knows all about them, for He “ gave His back to the smiters.” Do you suffer from what is worse than pain, from scandal and slander? “ He hid not His face from shame and spitting.” Have you been ridiculed of late? Jesus can sympathize with you, for you know what unholy mirth they made out of Him. In every pang that rends your heart your Lord has borne His share. Go and tell Him. 3. In addition to His gentle spirit and His power to sympathize, there is this to help to comfort us--namely, His example, for He can argue thus with you, “ I gave My back to the smiters. Cannot you do the like! Shall the disciple be above his master?” 4. His example further comforts us by the fact that He was calm amid it all. 5. Our Saviour’ s triumph is meant to be a stimulus and encouragement to us. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The back given to the smiters In Psalms 129:3 the same figure is applied to the sufferings of Israel as a nation. (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)The Roman lash The lash is nothing among us compared with what it was among the Romans. I have heard that it was made of the sinews of oxen, and that in it were twisted the hucklebones of sheep, with slivers of bone, in order that every stroke might more effectually tear its way into the poor quivering flesh, which was mangled by its awful strokes. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Plucking off the hair Of the beard (Ezra 9:3; Nehemiah 13:25); an extreme insult to an Oriental, to whom the beard is the symbol of dignity. (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.) Isaiah 50:7-9 For the Lord God will help Me Messiah neither ashamed nor put to shame The verse is better rendered thus: “ But the Lord Jehovah helps Me, therefore I was not ashamed” (i e., felt no shame); “ therefore I made My face like flint” (figure for determination, Ezekiel 3:9), “ and knew that I should not be put to shame” (Isaiah 42:4). (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)Messiah the courageous Champion The Redeemer is as famous for His boldness as for His humility and patience; and, though He yield, yet He is more than a conqueror. Observe-- I. THE He hath upon God (Isaiah 50:7; Isaiah 50:9). Whom God employs He will assist, and will take care they want not any help that they or their work call for. Nor will He only assist Him in His work, but accept of Him (Isaiah 50:8). By His resurrection Christ was proved to be not the man that He was represented; not a blasphemer, etc. II. THE He thereupon hath of success in His undertaking (Isaiah 50:7). III. THE which, in this confidence, He bids to all opposers and opposition. God will help Me, and “ therefore have I set My face like a flint.” (M. Henry.)Temptation to shame in religion One and the same Divine Person speaks in all this section of the prophet Isaiah. One and the same Being is He, throughout this section, who speaks as “ I;” “ I came,” “ I called:” One who asks, “ Is My hand shortened that it cannot save?” and then, without break, without transition, speaks of His meritorious obedience, His sufferings, and His shame. Our Lord Himself, when prophesying of Himself the specific humiliations which are here spoken of by the prophet, speaks of them as foretold (Luke 18:31-32). But how then as to the words which follow? Our Lord came into the world to suffer; His human spirit was straitened until those sufferings were accomplished; His daily sufferings in doing the will of His Father were His daily bread. How then to Him belong those words which seem to speak of human struggle, as well as of victory: “ I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall, not, be ashamed” ? It is perhaps best explained by that great rule of St. Augustine: The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the Body. For He willed to speak too in us, who vouchsafed to die for us. He made us His members. Sometimes therefore He speaks in the person of His members; sometimes in His own Person, as our Head;” “ and the whole He speaketh, as though it were one Person.” The words of prophecy seem to be tempered, so as to include us His members, nay rather to speak of our victories in Christ, and of our strength supplied by Him, the Christian’ s unashamed boldness in the cause of Christ. Those holily unashamed of God now, God will keep from shame: on those ashamed of Him, He will bring the shame they shrink from. It is startling to see how, in the account of the last severing off of those who are cast out for ever from the sight of God, the first place is occupied by cowards (Revelation 21:7-8). There must, then, be something far more malignant, far more offensive to God, and more destructive to salvation, than men think of, in this false shame before men. And yet no one scarcely gives it more than a passing thought; few question earnestly their own consciences about it; few repent of it towards God, or ask His forgiveness of it. It is of moment to know the intensity of the first temptation. First, men cowardly disavow what they know to be right; then they profess what they know to be wrong; then, having disavowed God, they are open to temptation, from whatever quarter of occasion, or surprise, or passion, the impulse may come. They have kindled their fire: they have despised the grace which would quench it: it remains, that it should consume them. And yet, while its influence is so subtle, that it escapes men’ s observation, unless they are declaring war against it, it is the earliest, the latest, the most infectious, the most universal, the most overspreading, the deadliest disease of the soul. It antedates passion, and it outlives it; it occasions countless sins, but itself is hid under the sins which it occasions; it destroys the goodness of all which seems good, hut is unfelt like paralysis; it nips all wakening good, but is unseen like the frost-wind; it pleads a hatred of hypocrisy and of profession, and is itself the worse hypocrisy of the two, a hypocrisy of evil; to the young, it puts on the appearance of good-nature; to the elder, of courtesy; to the saint, of charity: nothing is too low, nothing too high for its attacks. The senselessness of the sin aggravates its enormity. What is it, of which man is ashamed? It is (and this is a yet deeper aggravation), it is uniformly some gift or grace of Almighty God. In childhood, it was some early habit of piety, which God had vouchsafed to teach, which others had not been taught or had violated. The phases of the sin change with changing years; its essence is unchanged. It is the law of God, or the truth of God, or the friendship of God, and God Himself in all, of whom man stands ashamed before man. And what is this world, before which a man stands ashamed of the Infinite God? Away with such cowardly thoughts of worshipping God, as a sort of Penates, a household god who is to be owned in private and set up within doors, to receive his lip-homage there, and be forgotten or ignored in the face of men. Accustom thyself to the thought of the ever-present Presence of thy God; look to that Eye which recalled Peter to Himself, and which rests on thee; be ashamed to be ungrateful to thy Redeemer, a recreant to thy God; and another fear will displace human fear, another shame will dispel human shame, a shame which maketh not ashamed, a shame which is the earnest of everlasting glory, the shame to be ashamed of thy God. (E. B. Puscy, D. D.)Therefore have I set My face like a flintI set My face like a flint I set My face like a flint “ the holy hardness of perseverance” (Stier);--words, too, which doubtless have a special reference to the historic fulfilment. “ When the time was come that He should be received up, He Steadfastly set His face (as a flint) to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). (Michaelis.)The strong will The happiest of gifts for a man to be born with is strength of will; not that a man can by it avoid suffering and sin; but for this--that suffering especially raises and heightens the strong will; that when itforsakes sin it forsakes it without a sigh. Happiness within, attractiveness towards others, ease of repentance and amendment, firmness against opposition, are the splendid dower which the strong will brings to the soul. It is our wisdom then to ask, How shall we keep or make our wills strong? 1. We cannot do this merely by persisting in having our own way, as we call it. Our own way may be wrong; and no one ever uses the strength in connection with crime or fault--never calls a sinful, a wilful, a violent man a strong man. The reason is evident, namely, that wilful sinning is only using a will in the direction in which it is easiest to use it. And this cannot make the will stronger, any more than a mind would grow strong, which employed itself only on intellectual work which presented no difficulty to it. The will must make progress by avoiding things to which it is prone, and by aiming at things which it simply knows in any way to be good, although for the time being it may be that they are not fully desired. 2. There are times when there rises before us a noble ideal of what we ought to be, and we feel an impulse to believe we might be. What is that ideal? It is the “ will of God concerning us.” It is what we may each become by the power of the Spirit of God. Into this ideal we cannot at once pass. But we can be ever approaching it. It is not in human nature to make that sudden change, but it is perfectly possible to make a beginning. And for this purpose we must call in the aid of that very will itself to act upon our will; for there is no power in us higher, more primary, than the will. If the will is to be affected, the will itself must do the work. Suppose one resolve be made; then here at once our will begins to be of constant use to us, and to grow stronger in itself. Our will is not really acting at all when it is working out, however strongly, a natural inclination. The will is only strengthened when it is set to active work, something which we have clearly seen to be our duty, although when we come to do it we find the pursuit of it tax our strength exceedingly. (Archbishop Benson, D.D.)The Redeemer’ s face set like a flint I. HOW HIS STERN RESOLVE WAS TESTED. 1. By the offers of the world. The populace wanted to take Him by force and make Him a king. 2. By the persuasions of His friends. Christ’ s kinsmen said that He was beside Himself, and they would have laid hold of Him, and confined Him if they could. They thought His zeal had carried Him beyond the bounds of reason; and when He told His disciples about His approaching death upon the cross, “ Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee;” and all the disciples would fain have persuaded Him to choose an easier path than that which led to Calvary, and the grave. 3. By the unworthiness of His clients. “ He came unto His own,” etc. 4. By the bitterness which He tasted at His entrance upon His great work as our substitutionary sacrifice. The first drops of that awful tempest which fell upon Him in Gethsemane were hot and terrible. 5. By the ease with which He could have relinquished the enterprise if He had wished to do so. 6. By the taunts of those who scoffed at Him. 7. By the full stress of the death-agony. II. HOW HIS RESOLVE WAS . According to our text and its connection-- 1. Our Lord’ s steadfastness resulted from His Divine schooling (Isaiah 50:4). 2. It was sustained by His conscious innocence (Isaiah 50:8). 3. It was maintained by His unshaken confidence in the help of God (Isaiah 50:7). 4. It was sustained by the joy that was set before Him (Hebrews 12:2). III. CHRIST’ S RESOLVE . 1. If there is anything right in this world, be on the side of it. 2. If you have a right purpose that glorifies God, carry it out. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Courage in danger Leonidas being told that the Persian archers with whom he had to fight were so numerous that their arrows would darken the sun, said, “ So much the better; we shall then fight in the shade.” (R. Macculloch.)Fixed determination: Joan of Arc It was in vain that her father, when he heard her purpose, swore to drown her ere she should go to the field with men-at-arms: it was in vain that the priest, the wise people of the village, the captain of Vancoulers doubted and refused to aid her. “ I must go to the king,” persisted the peasant girl, “ even if I wear my limbs to the very knees. I had far rather rest and spin by my mother’ s side,” she pleaded, with a touching pathos, “ for this is no work of my choosing; but I must go and do it, for my Lord wills it.” “ And who,” they asked, “ is your Lord?” “ He is God.” Words such as these touched the rough captain at last; he took Jeanne by the hand, and swore to lead her to the king. (J. R. Green.) Isaiah 50:8-9 He is near that justifieth Me Jehovah the justifier The consciousness of innocence is expressed (as often in the Book of Job) under the conception of a legal process. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)To “ justify” To “ justify” is to show to be in the right, by giving Him victory in His cause. The time-long conflict of Israel and her religion with the nations and their idolatries is represented under the figure of a process or plea before God’ s tribunal. The triumph of the religion of Jehovah is Israel’ s “ justification,” or success in her plea. (A. B. Davidson, D.D.)Messiah’ s justification By His resurrection from the dead and ascension to the right hand of God, with their joyful consequences, He was declared to be the true Messiah, and the Son of God with power (Acts 2:36). (R. Macculloch.)The enemies of Christ as a moth-eaten garment They fall into decay like a worn-out garment, and become the food of the moth, which they already carry within them--a figure of destroying power which works imperceptibly and slowly, yet all the more surely (Isaiah 51:8; JobHo 5:12). (F. Delitzsch, D.D.) Isaiah 50:10-11 Who is among you that feareth the Lord?-- The fear of the Lord The fear of the Lord blends its operations with the exercise of every other grace. It intermixes with faith, and renders it fruitful; it co-operates with love, and prevents it from becoming secure; it unites with hope, and keeps it from swelling into presumption; it mingles with joy, and so moderates it that we rejoice with trembling. It extends its benign influence through every department of Divine worship, and so occupies the mind with awful respect for God as excites to caution and circumspection in every situation and service, whilst it cherishes amiable humility in the Divine presence. (R. Macculloch.)“ Light” and “ darkness” There is no more intelligible image--none more interwoven into the texture of popular thought and popular phraseology--than that by which light is made to express joy and felicity, while darkness, and other kindred terms, are employed to denote misery and discomfort. So commonly are such words applied in a metaphysical sense, that, in the case of some of them (the word gloom, for example) it is hardly possible to say which of the two they are oftenest used to indicate--a certain state of mind, or a certain state of outward nature. (E. M. Goulburn, D.C.L.)The child of light walking in darkness (1) See how the Lord inquires for His people. In every congregation He asks this question: “ Who is among you that feareth the Lord?” These are the wheat upon the threshing-floor. (2) Observe, how clearly the Lord describes His own people. The description is brief, but remarkably full. Holy reverence within the heart, and careful obedience manifested in the life, these are the two infallible marks of the true man of God. (3) The Lord not only makes an inquiry for these people, but takes note of their condition. I. WHAT IS THIS INTO WHICH A CHILD OF GOD MAY COME? The person described is one that fears the Lord, and obeys the voice of His servant, yet “ walketh in darkness, and hath no light.” 1. To many who know nothing of Christian experience this condition might seem to be a surprising one. 2. This condition is a severe test of grace. 3. It is also very sorrowful. 4. Perhaps the worst feature of this darkness is, that it is so bewildering. You have to walk, and yet your way is hidden from your eyes. 5. Yet this does not absolve us from daily duty. The walk has to be continued, though the light has departed. When it is quite dark, it is safe to sit down till the day dawns. If I cannot sleep, at any rate I can quietly rest, till the sun is up. He that believeth shall not make haste. But what if you cannot stand still? What if you may not remain where you are? Something has to be done, and done at once; and thus you are compelled to walk on, though you cannot see an inch before you. What but a Divine faith can do this? II. WHAT IS THERE TO TRUST TO WHEN YOU ARE IN SUCH A AS THAT? 1. What is there to trust in the name of Jehovah? It is “ I Am,” and signifies His self-existence. This is a fine foundation for trust. 2. But we understand by “ the name” the revealed character of God. When thou canst not see thy way, then open this Book and try to find out what sort of God it is in whom thou dost trust. 3. By “ the name of the Lord” is also meant His dear Son, for it is in Jesus Christ that Jehovah has proclaimed His name. 4. It is also good when you are thinking of the name of the Lord, to remember that to you it signifies what you have seen of God in your own experience. This is His memorial or name to you. 5. But, furthermore, the text says, “ Let him stay upon his God.” Let him lean upon his God; make God his stay, his prop, his rest. This is a variation from the former sentence. He was to trust In the name of Jehovah, but now he is to lean upon his God. You have taken God to be your God, have you not? If so, He has also taken you to be His own. There is a covenant between you: lean on that covenant. Treat it as a valid covenant in full force. III. WHY SHOULD WE TRUST GOD AT SUCH TIMES? 1. If you do not trust Him now, you will have cause to suspect whether you ever did trust Him at all. 2. Because His promises were made for dark hours. 3. Here a permit is especially issued for you, to allow you to trust in God in darkness. Thus saith the Lord, “ Let him trust.” 4. More than this, I understand this verse to be a command to trust in the name of the Lord. It is an order to trust in our God up to the hilt, for it bids us “ stay” ourselves upon our God. We are not fitfully to trust, and then to fear; but to come to a stay in God, even as ships enter a haven, cast their anchors, and then stay there till the tempest is over-past. 5. If you do not stay upon God in the dark, it would seem as if, after all, you did not trust God, but were trusting to the light, or were relying on your own eyesight. 6. Remember one thing more, our blessed Lord and Master was not spared the blackest midnight that ever fell on human mind. IV. WHAT WILL COME OF IT IF WE DO TRUST IN GOD IN THE DARK. 1. Such a faith will glorify God. It does not glorify God to trust Him when you have a thousand other props and assistances. 2. It is very likely that through this darkness you will be humbled. 3. If thou wilt trust God in thy trial, thou wilt prove and enjoy the power of prayer. 4. If in your darkness you go to God and trust Him, you will become an established Christian. 5. By and by we shall come out into greater light than we have as yet hoped for. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Light in darkness I. THE expressed by the words “ walking in darkness, and having no light.” This description is properly applicable only to circumstances of the deepest distress. In our darkest hours there are generally some rays of light left. If some enjoyments are withdrawn, others remain. If we suffer in one way, we receive pleasure in another. Seldom does it happen that our condition is so deplorable as to be entirely gloomy and wretched. In such circumstances we are necessarily led to look out for comfort. II. OUR BEST RELIEF IS IN THE NAME OF THE LORD and staying ourselves upon God. Let us turn our thoughts to the Deity, and reflect on His perfect government. 1. In such circumstances we should consider that the Deity is always intimately present with us, and sees all that passes in the world. 2. We should further consider that this Being stands in the nearest relation to us. He is our parent, we are His offspring. 3. To these reflections, let us add that this Being is almighty, all-wise, and all-benevolent. III. THE RELIEF DERIVED FROM HENCE CAN BE ENJOYED ONLY BY THOSE THAT FEAR THE LORD. It is in well-doing that we are commanded to commit our souls to God. (R. Price, D.D.)The believer in darkness I. THE . II. THE STATED. He walks in darkness, etc. No spiritual light? No; he who has Jesus Christ in his heart cannot be ignorant. Nor is he miserable. Nor does he walk in the darkness of sin. The text refers to providential darkness. III. THE GIVEN. Trust in the name of the Lord--in His power, benevolence, fidelity. (J. Summerfield, M.A.)A day-star for dark hearts 1. If this were the only word Isaiah had ever written, it, would be cherished as a marvel of sweetest wisdom; just as, were there only one star, it would be admired with surpassing interest and wonder. But, one amongst many, the brightest star and the richest text ceases to enkindle the enthusiasm or attract the gaze of men. 2. There are many things about this word strikingly suggestive-- (1) The Old Testament designation of a saint--“ One that feareth the Lord.” (2) By linking this verse (verse 10) to the one that follows, and studying the two as a pair, what lessons do they give--on the superiority of Divine darkness to human light; on the blessedness of rather being under the cloud, patiently waiting God’ s appearing, than striking sparks of our own light to lead us in the ways of common life. Heaven-sent darkness--say care or affliction, is better than sparks of one’ s own kindling--say gaiety, mirth, delusive theories of life. 3. The text assumes that, although joy in the Holy Ghost ought to mark every saint of God, yet, as a matter of fact, the truest saints have to endure darkness, gloom, and trial. And it requires that all such should not be dispirited by the clouds which cross their sky, but that even when long patience and earnest gazing fail to perceive the presence of God they should still rely on Him. Many would say: If any among you fears the Lord and walks in darkness, let him suspect there is something wrong; be careful to examine himself whether he is in the faith, etc. But where we would say “ Examine,” the prophet says “ Trust.” (R. Glover, D. D.)Encouragement The prophet’ s word-- I. BIDS THE HOPE. II. BRINGS COMFORT TO THOSE BY HONEST INQUIRY. III. BRINGS COMFORT TO ALL “ THE .” There are a multitude whose outward or inward troubles produce darkness whatever their character may be. Some, for instance, are troubled by their state of health; it is such as produces a peculiar tendency to gloom. There are others who are troubled with the course of Providence. Others are troubled in soul. Such temptations beset them! Resisted, these renew their attack. Overcome, they rise up afresh to distress them. (R. Glover, D. D.)Depression I suppose that there are very few, if any, who reach old age or even middle life without the painful experience of times of depression of spirits. There come, perhaps, days in the life of every one when all things seem against him. Such times are not foreign to the experience of God’ s greatest saints, and Isaiah appears to contemplate them as times to be expected by the servant of God. 1. Isaiah is not alone in this. There are numberless instances in Holy Scripture which show how true it is. 2. But whatever the cause, if the conscience is clear from wilful sin, what is our duty under such a state of depression? The text sets before us two things as needful-- (1) Obedience. The prophet assumes that those to whom he is speaking will, in spite of their perplexity, obey. He would have them acquiesce in the God-permitted darkness, however trying and painful it may be. Better darkness than a light which is not kindled from above. And yet not seldom it is such a time of depression which drives a man to despair, and leads him in the end to give up his faith altogether. In hours of darkness great is the temptation to have recourse to fires of our own kindling--to seek for light elsewhere than from the “ Father of Lights;” and so in the verse following that taken as the text, Isaiah turns to those who are yielding to the temptation, and warns them in tones of scornful irony against false lights of their own kindling. (2) Faith. 3. This week we are watching our Lord in His path through the dark vale of suffering and along the way of sorrows. Our eyes are fixed on but one figure. To-day we contemplate those two points which the Epistle especially brings out--His perfect obedience, and His perfect trust. Let us learn a much-needed lesson--“ It is sufficient for the disciple that he be as his Master.” (E. C. S. Gibson, M.A.)Trust in God I. THE AND STATE OF THOSE WHO ARE TO TRUST IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. 1. They that fear God may signify-- (1) Those who have a sincere regard to the commandments of God, and have chosen Him as their portion and hope. Those who desire and deserve to be distinguished from the profane despiser, the secure formalist, or the disguised hypocrite. Those, in a word, who are, and who desire to appear upon the Lord’ s side in every struggle, and who resolve with Joshua, that whatever others do, they will serve the Lord. (2) But we may explain the words in a stricter sense, and suppose, that by fearing the Lord is to be understood a due reverence for His infinite majesty, a humble veneration for His sacred authority. 2. The next part of the character is, “ and obeyeth the voice of His servant;” that is to say is willing to hearken to the message of God, by the mouth of His servants. 3. “ That walketh in darkness, and hath no light.” (1) Sometimes light signifies knowledge, and darkness signifies ignorance Ephesians 5:8; Acts 26:18; Job 37:19). (2) Sometimes darkness signifies distress or trouble, and the correspondent signification of light is deliverance and joy (2 Samuel 22:28-29; Job Psalms 97:11; Esther 8:16). None of these senses is to be excluded in the passage before us. Believers may walk in darkness, when ignorant or uncertain as to what nearly concerns them, as well as under distress and trouble. They have also a mutual influence upon, produce, and are produced by one another. A good man may walk in darkness--When he is in doubt or uncertainty as to his interest in the Divine favour. When he is under the pressure of outward calamity. When the state of the Church is such, that he cannot understand or explain, in a satisfying manner, the course of Divine providence. II. THE DUTY OF TRUST IN GOD AND THE OF IT. Trust is a reliance or confidence in God, that, however discouraging appearances may be for the present time, yet, by His power and wisdom, our desires and expectation shall take place, whether as to deliverance from trouble, or the obtaining of future blessings. Trust rests ultimately on the promise. It is of the greatest moment to understand the nature and tenor of the promises. For this end, it may be proper to distinguish the promises of God, as to futurity, into two heads, absolute and conditional. By absolute promises I understand only those that are so in the most unlimited sense, that is to say, revealed as a part of the fixed plan of Providence, suspended on no terms but what all, of every character, may expect will certainly, come to pass. Conditional promises divide into three different heads (1) Promises made to persons of such or such a character, or in such or such a state. (2) Promises, the performance of which is suspended on our compliance with something previously required, as the condition of obtaining them. (3) Promises, not only suspended on both the preceding terms, but upon the supposition of some circumstances in themselves uncertain, or to us unknown. III. . 1. See what judgment you ought to form of inward suggestions, and strong or particular impressions upon your minds. The suggestion of a passage of Scripture of itself gives no title to the immediate application of it, because the great deceiver may undoubtedly suggest Scripture, as we find he could reason from it in our Saviour's temptation. We are, in every such case, to consider the tenor of it, if it be a promise or encouragement, that is, how and in what manner it may be safely applied. If any thing happens to be suggested that expressly suits our present condition, either by setting home the obligation of duty, with particular evidence upon the conscience, or pointing out the grounds of comfort, it ought to be thankfully acknowledged as from the Spirit of God. 2. See what it is that we ought to seek for with the greatest earnestness, and may hope to obtain with the greatest confidence. 3. Adore the wisdom, justice and mercy of God, in the order He hath established, according to the different nature of the promises. That which is of unspeakable value, and radically contains all the rest, is placed first in order, and offered in the most free and gracious manner, without money and without price. Salvation is preached to the chief of sinners, and a Saviour held forth as able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by Him. 4. Learn what is the plainest, the shortest, and indeed, the only sure way to deliverance from distress or calamity of whatever kind. It is to fly to the mercy of God through the blood of Christ, to renew the exercises of faith in Him, and you will perceive every other covenant-blessing flow clear and unmixed from this inexhaustible source. (J. Witherspoon, D.D.)The want of assurance I. THE is distinctly drawn. It is “ a child of light walking in darkness.” Poverty, disease, litigation, oppression, perplexity, the loss of intimate friends and relations, doubts, disappointments, errors in religion, actual transgressions, and the temptations of the adversary, working with the corruptions of the human heart, are permitted in the providence of God, to affect Christians in various degrees of perturbation and sorrow, until they “ walk in darkness and have no light.” II. THE DUTY . “ Let him trust,” etc. (A. McLeod, D.D.)The duty of those who have not assurance I. DOUBTS OF YOUR OWN PIETY, FROM THE SIN OF . 1. Doubting respects ourselves; and calls in question our having already become subjects of Divine grace: but unbelief respects the Lord, and calls in question, either the reality of Divine things, or Christ’ s willingness and power to save them that believe. 2. Doubting of our safety does no more than reject the evidence which is furnished by our own minds; an evidence which is often very imperfectly delivered and received: but unbelief always rejects the testimony which God has given us of His own Son, and so, by contradicting God, makes him a liar, so far as the sinner has it in his power. 3. Doubting of one’ s piety may be at times both reasonable and profitable; for when a man has but a small measure of grace, it may lead him to seek for more: but unbelief, always against the Word and attributes of the God of our salvation, is unreasonable, unprofitable, and impious. 4. Doubting of one’ s personal piety often includes, not only anxiety to be saved by Divine grace, but also a sincere desire to attain to an assured interest in the everlasting covenant: but unbelief excludes the idea of love to the true God, rejects the covenant of grace, and distinctly relinquishes the mercy which is offered in the Lord Jesus Christ. 5. Doubts are consistent, not only with sincere piety, but also with progress in sanctification: but unbelief is the exercise of an unregenerate heart. 6. Doubting of one’ s holiness humbles under a sense of sin, and produces penitence and sorrow: but unbelief hardens the heart into negligence or despair; or exasperates the sinner more and more against Divine things. II. , WITH ALL , THE CAUSE OF YOUR OWN DOUBTS AND : for it is by understanding your disease, you will be qualified to apply the remedy provided in the Gospel of God. 1. Error causes darkness and doubt. Clear views of Divine truth is the preventive and the cure. 2. Indolence, and consequent inattention to the due improvement of our talents, often occasion spiritual decline and despondence. The remedy is found in vigilance and Christian activity. 3. The passions, through the remaining corruptions of the heart, often cause transgressions, and consequent doubts and despondence. 4. Satan is the principal cause of those doubts and fears; and resistance to his exertions is the means of assurance. 5. In pointing out the duty of Christians, who have not the assurance of salvation, I must not omit, Steadfast continuance in practical obedience to all the commandments. (A. McLeod, D. D.)God’ s message to the desponding When such an experience comes upon the saint, it will not be always safe to say that it is the shadow of some special sin. The security of the saint is rooted in the fact that God has a hold of him, and not at all in his consciousness that he has a hold of God. His comfort may be affected by the latter, but his safety is due entirely to the former. Hence, they who roundly affirm that if a man be walking in darkness and finding no light he cannot be a Christian, are making salvation depend, not on God’ s work for a man and in him, but simply and entirely on his Own emotions. Moreover, they are strangely oblivious of some of the best-known passages in the history even of the most eminent saints. But despondency is not a state of mind in which any one desires to remain. And he should be encouraged to get out of it as quickly as possible. For it puts everything about him into shadow. It sets all his songs to a minor key. It gives to all his prayers a wailing pathos. It takes away much of his buoyancy and elasticity for work. I. THE CAUSES OF . 1. It may spring from natural temperament. Each of us is born with a certain predisposition to joy or sadness, to irascibility or patience, to quickness of action or deliberateness of conduct, which we call temperament. While conversion may Christianize that temperament, it does not change it. 2. Spiritual despondency may be caused by disease. That which we call lowness of spirits is very often the result of some imprudence in diet, or some local disturbance. See the relief which this affords. It removes from religion the responsibility for the depression of such a man as Cowper, and traces his spiritual gloom to disease of the brain. 3. Spiritual despondency is often the result of trial. Think of Peter’ s words: “ Ye are in heaviness through manifold trials.” One affliction will not usually becloud our horizon. But when a whole series of distresses comes on us in succession, the effect is terrible. First, it may be, comes sickness, and we are getting round from that when business difficulties overwhelm us. These are scarcely arranged before bereavement comes; and while we are still in the valley, we are set upon by Apollyon in the shape of some scandalous accuser who seeks to rob us of our good name. 4. Spiritual despondency may be caused by mental perplexity. The old beliefs are once more on their trial, and when a youth reaches the age when he must exchange a traditional piety for a personal conviction, he is plunged for the time into the greatest misery. It seems to him almost as if everything were giving way beneath him. II. THE TO THE which are given or suggested by this text. 1. The oppressed spirit must keep on fearing the Lord and obeying the voice of His servant. 2. To the desponding believer the second thing to be said is, keep on trusting God. 3. Then, let us not fail to note the deep meaning of that word “ stay.” It encourages you to lean your whole weight upon God, and to do that continuously. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)Desertion I. THE OF HIM TO WHOM THIS COUNSEL IS . II. THE STATE IN WHICH SUCH AN ONE IS FOUND. 1. He may want the light of direction. 2. He may want the light of knowledge. 3. He may want the light of comfort. III. WHAT SHALL HE DO IN THIS TRYING HOUR (H. Verschoyle.)Willing and unwilling unbelief For practical purposes we may make one broad distinction--that between willing and unwilling unbelievers. I turn to the consideration of that class of unbelievers who would believe if they could; who are neither rebels against moral restraint, nor consumed by a morbid pride: who love good deeds and good men and desire only to know and believe what is true. It is strange that some of them should accuse themselves of unbelief, seeing that the very wish to believe is a sign that they do believe already--a proof of loyalty to their Father in heaven rooted deep down in their inmost souls. Their faith is genuine though not strong enough to bear the fruits of love to God or of hope and consolation. There are those to whom the difficulty of believing in God is all but insuperable owing to the constitution of their minds. To such, every conception, to be a conception at all, must be accurate and sharply defined. Reason stands like a sentinel before the door of the imagination and feelings and will let nothing pass that does not carry the passport of clear and absolute definition. They are, therefore, for the time incapable of realizing any of the joys of belief and can no more be blamed for their unbelief than for not being able to fly. I do not think religion is attainable by the mere exercise of the reason. Another source of difficulty is also constitutional. When people are of a desponding and melancholy temperament, they naturally dwell on the darker side of things; and as this is the exact opposite of faith in God, no wonder it should be so much more difficult for them to believe. It is true, and there are numberless instances to prove it, that many a naturally depressed mind has found its only relief from apprehension and despondency in the sense of God’ s abiding friendliness. It has been said to me more than once:--The next best thing to believing for one’ s self is to see others believe. So it behoves all who live in the celestial sunshine of faith and hope to reflect by their cheerful and pure lives as much as possible the light that shines on their own souls upon the hearts of others less happy than themselves. (C. Voysey, M.A.)Spiritual darkness (with Micah 7:8):--Isaiah describes the experience. Micah besides that describes himself as being, or having been, in the heart of the experience. The Bible is a many-sided book. I. AS A FACT OF , AND THE ’ S PROPER UNDER IT. In the natural world it is not always light, at least with our planet. The sun goes down and darkness spreads. So in the higher life. The spiritual heavens are not always bright. Some sun or other that had been shedding its light on the soul goes down, and the man sits in darkness. 1. It may be the light of faith that is darkened. Spiritual realities are withdrawn into shadow. 2. It may be the light of God’ s face that is felt to be withdrawn. 3. Darkness may come in the form of the fading away of some Christian hope--personal hopes or hopes for the kingdom of God. This dark experience gives a striking demonstration that God only is man’ s Comforter. II. AS A MEANS OF . Perhaps the best explanation of this darkness, and it is a vindication too, is found in the results which it works. In nature the darkness of night lets us see what we cannot see when the sun is shining. It is the same with spiritual night, or may be. The man of God may then get great enlargement of spiritual information and understanding. There need be no mystery why all this is so. The man that sits in darkness is by the pressure of his position made a more diligent searcher into Divine things. III. AS A OF THE . It may secure for it some of its best graces--the mildest, the most mellowed, the most hallowed. There are plants that grow best in a dim light. Amongst those Christian graces that take deeper root in the dark are: 1. Humility. 2. Trustfulness. 3. Self-surrender. Conclusion-- 1. The painfulness of this discipline must not be forgotten. They only know the horrors of Divine desertion who have relished the joys of Divine communion. If these things are done in the green tree what shall be done in the dry? If God takes such means to improve grace, what means will He take to punish sin? 2. Sympathize with the deserted child of’ God. God is not angry with him. “ Behind a frowning providence,” etc. God does earnestly remember him Jeremiah 31:20). 3. Ye who sit in darkness beware of two things--impatience and sullen indifference. (J. Wardrop, D. D.)Spiritual darkness I. This may arise possibly-- 1. From over-occupation in the affairs of life. The questionable has been acted upon as the admissible. 2. From a disordered state of the body. The brain has not been kept clear by rational living. Late hours, undue excitement have brought on spiritual dyspepsia; or excesses of youth are now demanding their penalty, or an inheritance of evils has caused it. 3. From a non-apprehension of the fulness of the atonement of Christ. We may believe in God’ s ability to pardon, but do not realize how He leads us into holiness; or whether we have come to Christ in the right way, or about the uncertainty as to the time of our conversion, or fear lest the past neglect to make progress in the Divine life should cut us off from all hope; or the gloom comes from neglecting the Bible and prayer for something less profitable, or from over-religious excitement that has given us a distaste for obscurer and quieter work, or disappointment in hopes respecting the coming of Christ’ s kingdom, or from seeing much of mystery and pain around, or from trouble how to save the masses, or from the spread of materialistic ideas, and so on. II. HOW ARE TO BE FROM IT? “ Trust in the name of the Lord.” We know how a name can cheer men. The mention of the name of Caesar and of Wellington had a wonderful effect upon their men. Trust in Him for pardon and sanctification. You are His friend, and are longing for Him. He will work in you. Trust absolutely in Christ; “ stay” upon Him. A sufferer of fourteen years said, “ I can bear anything, for Christ is with me.” (F. Hastings.)A Child of light walking in darkness I. ONE WHO TRULY FEARS GOD, AND IS TO HIM, MAY BE IN A OF , AND HAVE NO LIGHT; and may walk many days and years in that condition. 1. Walking in darkness is taken (1 John 1:6) for living in sin and ungodliness. But so it is not to be taken here; for Christ would not have encouraged such to trust in God, who is light, and there can be no fellowship between Him and such darkness, as the apostle tells us. Nay, the Holy Ghost reproves such as do “ lean on the Lord” and yet transgress Micah 3:11). And besides, the text speaks of such who for their present condition fear God and are obedient to Him, which if they thus walked in darkness they could not be said to do. 2. Neither is it to be meant of walking in ignorance, as in John 12:35. For one that hath no light, in that sense, can never truly fear God nor obey Him. 3. He means it of discomfiture and sorrow, as often we find in Scripture darkness to be taken (Ecclesiastes 5:17); as, on the contrary, light, because it is so “ pleasant a thing to behold,” is put for comfort Ecclesiastes 11:7), And that so it is taken here is evident by that which is opposed in the next verse, “ Walk ye in your light, yet ye shall lie down in sorrow.” But-- 4. Of what kind of sorrow and for what? (1) It is not to be restrained to outward afflictions only, which are called man’ s infirmities, as being common to man; which arise from things of this world, or from the men of the world; though to walk in darkness is so Isaiah 59:9). For, in them also, a man’ s best support is to trust inGod. But yet that cannot be the only or principal meaning of it. He adds, “ and hath no light,” that is, no comfort. Now, as philosophers say, there is no pure darkness without some mixture of light, so we may say, there is not mere or utter darkness caused by outward afflictions: no outward affliction can so universally environ the mind, as to shut up all the crannies of it, so that a man should have no light. Besides, God’ s people, when they walk in the greatest outward darkness, may have most light in their spirits. But here is such an estate spoken of, such a darkness as bath no light in it. Therefore-- (2) It is principally to be understood of the want of inward comfort in their spirits, from something that is between God and them. Because the remedy here provided is faith. In the foregoing verses he had spoken of justification. But because there might be some poor souls who, though truly fearing God, yet might want this assurance, and upon the hearing of this might be the more troubled, because not able to express that confidence which he did, he adds, “ Who is among you,” etc. These words have a relation also to the 4 th verse, where he says that God had given him the “ tongue of the learned, to minister a word of comfort in season to him that is weary and heavy laden;” and thereupon, in this verse, he shows the blessed condition of such persons as are most weary through long walking in darkness; and withal he discovereth to them the way of getting out of this darkness, and recovering comfort again. II. WHAT IS THE OF SUCH A ONE WHO IS THUS IN , AND HATH NO LIGHT? 1. He is said to have no light. “ Light,” saith the apostle (Ephesians 5:13), “ is that whereby things are made manifest,” i.e., to the sense of sight and as light and faith are here severed, so sight also is (2 Corinthians 5:7) distinguished from faith, which is the evidence of things absent and not Hebrews 11:1). When, therefore, here he saith he hath no light, the meaning is, he wants all present sensible testimonies of God’ s favour to him. To understand this, we must know that God, to help our faith, vouchsafeth a threefold light to His people, to add assurance and joy to their faith; which is to faith as a back of steel to a bow. (1) The immediate light of His countenance. (2) The sight and comfort of their own graces, unto which so many promises belong. So that often when the sun is set, yet starlight appears. (3) Though he want the present light of God’ s countenance, and the sight of present grace, yet he may have a comfortable remembrance of what once before he had still left. 2. He walks in darkness. (1) To walk in darkness implies to be in doubt whither to go. (2) Those in darkness are apt to stumble at everything. (3) Darkness is exceedingly terrible and full of horror. (T. Goodwin.)The child of God in darkness I. THE CAUSES OF THIS WOEFUL, , DARK OF GOD’ S CHILD. 1. God’ s Spirit. The Spirit is not the direct efficient or positive cause of them. The Spirit of God may concur in this darkness that befalls His child. (1) Privatively. He may suspend His testimony, and the execution of his office of witnessing adoption. (2) Positively. He may further proceed to reveal and represent God as angry with His child for such and such sins formerly committed, and make him sensible thereof; not barely by concealing His love, but by making impressions of His wrath upon his conscience immediately, and not by outward crosses only. 2. A man’ s own guilty and fearful heart. 3. Satan. He works upon (1) carnal reason, (2) guilt of conscience, (3) jealousies and fears. II. THE CASES WHEREIN GOD LEAVES HIS UNTO THIS . 1. Extraordinary; as-- (1) Out of His prerogative. (2) In ease He means to make a man eminently wise, and able to comfort others. (3) In case of extraordinary comforts and revelations. 2. Ordinary. (1) In case of carnal confidence. (2) For neglecting such special opportunities of comforts and refreshings as God hath vouchsafed; as for the neglect of holy duties, wherein God did offer to draw nigh to us. (3) In case of not exercising the graces which a man hath; when Christians are, as it were, between sleeping and waking. (4) In case of some gross sin committed against light, unhumbled for, or proving scandalous, or of old sins long forgotten. (5) In case of a stubborn spirit under outward afflictions. (6) In case of deserting His truth, and not professing it and appearing for it when He calls us to do it. (7) In case of unthankfulness, and too common an esteem had of assurance, and of freedom from those terrors and doubtings which others are in. III. THE ENDS FOR WHICH GOD LEAVETH HIS UNTO THIS . 1. To show His power and faithfulness, in upholding, raising up, and healing such a a spirit again as hath been long and deadly wounded with reward terrors. 2. As to know the power of Christ’ s resurrection, so the “ fellowship, of His sufferings;” that thereby the soul may be made more “ conformable to Him.” 3. To put the greater difference between the estate of God’ s children here, and that hereafter in heaven. 4. To let us see whence spiritual comforts and refreshings come: that God alone keeps the keys of that cupboard, and alone dispenseth them how and when He pleaseth. 5. Other ends God hath, to make trial of our graces and a discovery of them. The same end that God had in leading His people through “ the great wilderness, where no water was,” where “ scorpions stung them,” which was to prove them, etc.; the same ends hath God in suffering His people to go through this desert, barrenness, and darkness, where no light is, and where terrors of the law do sting them--for His dealings then were types of God’ s dealings with His people new--to prove them, and to make trial of their hearts. (1) There is no grace God tries more than the grace of faith. (2) Of all temptations none try it more than desertion of God’ s countenance. (3) In these conflicts of faith with desertions consisteth the height of our Christian warfare. 6. As it makes for the trial and discovery of graces, so it is a means sanctified to increase them, and to eat out corruptions. (1) It is a means to destroy the flesh. (2) To humble. (3) To bring in more assurance and establishment. (4) It trains you to fear God more, and to obey Him. (5) To set believers’ hearts a-work to pray more and more earnestly. (6) It causeth them to prize the light of God’ s countenance the more when they again obtain it, and so set a higher price upon it, and to endeavour by close walking with God, as children of light, to keep it. (T. Goodwin.)Counsel to those who walk in darkness 1. Take heed of rash, desperate, impatient and unbelieving speeches and wishes. 2. Let the troubled soul make diligent search. 3. Keep and lend one ear, as well to hear and consider what makes for their comfort, as unto what may make against them. 4. Make diligent search into, and call to remembrance what formerly hath been between God and you. The remembrance of former things doth often uphold, when present sense fails. 5. But now if former signs remembered bring thee no comfort in, but the waves that come over thy soul prove so deep that thou canst find no bottom to cast anchor on, the storm and stress so great that no cable will hold, but they snap all asunder, as is often the case of many a poor soul, then renew thy faith and repentance. 6. Then, stand not now disputing it, but be peremptory and resolute m thy faith and turning to God, let the issue be what it will be. Faith is never nonplussed. 7. Let him trust in the name of the Lord. 8. Wait upon God, thus trusting in His name, in the constant use of all ordinances and means of comfort. Waiting is indeed but an act of faith further stretched out. 9. Above all things pray, and get others also to pray for thee. 10. Having done all this, you would not rest in ease of conscience but healing. (T. Goodwin.)Trust in the name of the Lord The name of God, that is, God’ s attributes, and Christ’ s righteousness do sufficiently, and adequately, answer all wants and doubts, all objections and distresses. Whatsoever our want or temptations be, He hath a name to make supply (Exodus 34:5-6). Art thou in miser and eat distress “ The Lord merciful.” The “ Lord,” therefore able to help thee; and “ merciful,” therefore willing. Yea, but thou wilt say, I am unworthy; I have nothing in me to move Him to it. Well, He is “ gracious;” now grace is to show mercy freely. Yea, but I have sinned against Him for many years; if I had come in when I was young, mercy might have been shown me. To this He says, I am “ long-suffering.” But my sins abound in number, and it is impossible to reckon them up, and they abound in heinousness; I have committed the same sins again and again; I have been false to Him, broke promise with Him again and again. His name also answers this objection, He is “ abundant in goodness;” He abounds more in grace than thou in sinning. And though thou hast been false again and again to Him, and broke all covenants, yet He is “ abundant in truth; “ also better than His Word, for He cannot to our capacities express all that mercy that is in Him for us. But I have committed great sins, aggravated with many and great circumstances. He forgives “ iniquity, transgression, and sin;” sins of all sorts. But there is mercy thus in Him but for a few, and I may be none of the number. Yes, there is mercy for “ thousands.” And He “ keeps” it; treasures of it lie by Him, and are kept, if men would come and take them. Object what thou canst, His name will answer thee. Needest thou comfort as well as pardon? He is both “ Father of mercies” and “ God of all comforts” (2 Corinthians 1:3). Needest thou peace of conscience, being filled with terrors? He is the “ God of peace” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). But I have a heart empty of grace and holiness, and full of corruptions. He is the “ God of all grace” to heal thee, as well as of peace to pardon thee. Needest thou wisdom and direction? He is the “ Father of lights,” as the apostle says. Is thy heart inconstant and full of double-mindedness? He is “ unchangeable” also. Thus all objections that can be made may be answered out of His name. Therefore it is all-sufficient for faith to rest upon. (T. Goodwin.)Darkness and, light, and light and darkness One cannot listen to these words without feeling that one needs to distinguish between the appearance and the reality of things. There are peculiarities in the lot of both the righteous and the wicked which baffle our expectations. The sufferings of the godly and the prosperity of the ungodly have always been a puzzle to thoughtful men. However confusing facts of this order may be, they very plainly constitute a most serious part of our earthly test and discipline. I. THE AND THE LIGHT OF THE . 1. The character of the righteous. (1) He is animated by devout and reverential feeling towards God--he “ feareth the Lord.” This inward sentiment of reverence is the living root of all practical godliness. (2) He rules his heart and life by the inspired Word of God--He “ obeyeth the voice of His Servant.” “ His Servant” is the Servant of prediction, the Messiah of promise. 2. His trials. “ That walketh in darkness and hath no light.” It is literally, “ darknesses.” The shadows which fall upon our path are not one, but many. It is very startling, that men who revere God Himself, and obey His servants, obey even His chosen Servant of all, should ever “ walk in darkness and have no light.” Yet that is sometimes their lot. They may not only be in darkness for a short while, but may be called to “ walk” in it. Walking denotes, not what is occasional, but what is habitual. Be thankful that you walk not in the pitch darkness of many a poor soul in our day, to whom nothing exists but matter and motion and force. 3. The consolations of the righteous. (1) Study the “ name of the Lord.” His name declares His nature. (2) Have faith in God. Trust. (3) Leave the issue entirely to the Almighty. Let him “ stay upon his God.” The word is, “ lean upon his God.” The illustration is, a weak person leaning all his feebleness on a strong one,.and being upheld by his strength. II. THE LIGHT AND THE OF THE WICKED. 1. The illusions of the wicked. Observe their activity. (1) They “ kindle a fire,” The fire is kindled for the sake of its light, not for the sake of its warmth. The righteous often “ walk in darkness and have no light;” not so the wicked. They know how to make their own light. They have great confidence in their own resources. They ply their abilities to banish their ills, and to provide themselves with satisfactions. Men must have at least the semblance of good, if destitute of the reality. The industry of men in the pursuit of imaginary blessings is very noteworthy, very melancholy, and very pitiful. They “ compass themselves with sparks.” I am not sure that “ sparks” is the exact word that should have been used here. But it seems to be fire in some minute form. The impotence of mail is set forth and the inefficiency of his endeavours. He is very laborious. He surrounds himself with his artificial glimmers, and hopes to compensate their feebleness by their multitude. There are no Divine lights in the firmament of his night, and he fancies that the dim and dusky fiickerings which his own hands have multiplied about him are sufficient for his needs. 2. The seeming success of the, wicked. “ Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled.” It is as if the Almighty said to wilful and rebellious creatures: “ Take your own way. Pursue your dream, and eat the fruits of your folly.” The light of the wicked, like the darkness of the righteous, is not single but manifold. They “ walk,” too, amidst these lights, they live and delight themselves in “ the light of their” own fires, and surrounded by “ the sparks that they have kindled.” 3. The doom of the wicked. “ This shall ye have at My hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.’ (1) Men must lie down in sickness. Projects which flashed such alluring brightness grow very pale when health is gone and powers of enjoyment have fled. “ Shade me from the lying glare,” cries the defrauded sufferer, when the head is sick and the heart is weary. (2) Every man must lie down to die. When that solemn hour arrives, the wasted fingers will enkindle no more lights, and the shrunken limbs move no more amidst them. The whole circle of self-deceptions with which you have encompassed your soul, shall sink and vanish together, like the last glimmer forsakes the expiring wick, and leave only a noisome ash behind. How different are the righteous and the wicked in their darkness! The righteous “ leans,” the wicked “ lies down.” “ Leaning” is an act of spiritual power; “ lying down” in the languors of dissolution, with chilling perspirations crawling on breast and brow, is impotent endurance. The righteous “ leans” on God; the wicked sinks helpless and “ lies down” to die. The righteous finds succour and salvation; the wicked, sorrow. “ Leaning” is the moment of triumph; “ lying down,” of utter overthrow and ruin. (H. Batchelor.)“ The cloud across the sun:” Contrary to the teaching of those who affirm that religion’ s ways are invariably ways of pleasantness and peace, and that the world’ s ways are invariably rough and disappointing, it is the religious man who “ walketh in darkness, and hath no light,” and it is the worldly man whose pathway is illumined and whose prosperity is assured; I. THE TWO TYPES OF . 1. By “ the fear of the Lord ‘ in the language of the Old Testament is meant a religious disposition, combining reverence and love. There are two kinds of fear--one wholesome, the other unwholesome; one the offspring of knowledge, the other of ignorance; one which liberates the soul, the other which brings it late bondage. And it is the reverential fear to which the prophet refers as attached to the character under consideration. Then, He obeyeth the voice of His Servant. That is a fuller characterization of the godly man, which takes into account conduct as well as disposition. This twofold description completes the picture. The interior life and the outward walk correspond. The character, then, is not that of an empty religious professor. Nor is he a backslider. 2. The character which comes before us in the second half of the text is not so fully described as is that of the godly man in the preceding verse. Nevertheless, the constrast which is suggested enables us to complete the outline without difficulty. It is not necessary that we should think of one who is outwardly and notoriously immoral. But it is necessary that we should think of one who is uninfluenced by the fear of God, and whose character is lacking in all the root-elements of a sincere piety. And how full of suggestion the words “ He kindleth a fire” ! That is to say, he warms himself from without rather than from within. He contemplates life on its physical and material side only. He finds himself in a world well suited to his requirements and capable of affording him many pleasurable excitements, and so he proceeds to gather together the materials for a good fire. To the superficial observer the difference between the godly man and the worldly man, especially when the latter happens to be respectable and moral, may not be very striking. Yet the difference is vital. It is a difference in kind as well as degree. They belong to different realms. II. THE TWO WALKS--the one in darkness, the other encompassed with sparks. Health and material prosperity are not necessarily signs of the special favour of God. Nor are sickness and adversity any sure indication of the Divine displeasure. 1. It is the portion of a good man sometimes to have to walk in darkness. (1) There is the darkness of adversity. (2) There is the darkness of religious doubt. A good man may find himself in this transition period drifting away from the old moorings--drifting away he hardly knows whither. He has to re-make his creed, and during that period of re-making he is compelled to walk, more or less, in darkness. (3) There is the darkness of spiritual drought. The man whose faith is greatly tried is counselled to exercise a stronger faith. 2. In contrast to all this, there is the “ walking” of those who walk in the light of the fires of their own kindling. Is this world, with all its absorbing interests, really empty and unsatisfying? No doubt it is, sooner or later. But for the present the majority of those around us are satisfied with it as a sphere of habitation. And supposing there be no God and no hereafter--then one may almost ask whether the worldly have not the advantage over the unworldly, and whether this life, with all its struggles and efforts, is really worth living. But if there be a God and a hereafter; if the kingdom of the soul is as great a reality as the kingdom of the senses; if character is everything--then we are fools indeed if we accept the creed of the materialist, and live the life of the sensualist. There are only two philosophies of life possible to us; and one of them is not a philosophy. The man who follows the first is he who walks in the light of the Sun--the sun’ s Sun, the great source and fountain of all illumination. The man who follows the second is he who walks in the light of Chinese lanterns and all kinds of pyrotechnic devices, and who in consequence never arrives at the goal. III. THE TWO LIVES WITH THEIR ENDINGS. 1. There can be no real and lasting success in life apart from God. In the domain of literature, science and art; in the field of material enterprise and industry; in the haunts and abodes of pleasure, how brightly the world’ s bonfires are burning! How the flames sparkle, and dance and leap! What crowds, what gaiety, what laughter! Soon, however, the laughter will die away, and all that will be left of that brilliant human assemblage on this side the grave will be a few brief epitaphs and a few handfuls of dust. “ He shall lie down in sorrow,” or as Matthew Henry quaintly paraphrases it, “ He shall go to bed in the dark.” That is a reminiscence of our childhood. And that is what it all comes to sooner or later, if we read Goethe and Byron instead of our Bible; if we worship the beautiful instead of the holy; if we live the life of the senses instead of the life of the soul. 2. Elsewhere we are told that “ to the upright there ariseth a light in the darkness.” And again it is said, “ Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace.” (T. Sanderson.)False and true in character I. THE OF THE TRUE AND THEIR RELIEF. 1. The true have a distinctive principle and conduct. All character is made up of principles and acts. The principle is “ fear,” not of a crouching serf, but of a loving child--filial reverence; the conduct is, obeying the voice of His Servant--Christ. Here is the true spirit and its true development. Piety may listen to the voice of philosophies, but obeys the voice of Christ. His whole life was a voice. 2. The true have their seasons of darkness--“ walketh in darkness.” Jacob, Job, Asaph, Jeremiah. The cloud is not spread by a Divine hand over the heart, but rises from the corrupt elements of our moral nature. A dark day is not the sun’ s fault; he shines in his own great orbit in November as in June; the darkness arises from the vapours of the earth; so with moral gloom--cause not in God, but in us. 3. The true in seasons of darkness have a sure relief--“ they trust in the name of the Lord” --in His disposition, and power to help. Christianity a proof of the former, the universe of the latter. II. THE LIGHTS OF THE FALSE AND THEIR RUIN. “ Walk in the light of your fire,” etc. 1. The false have their lights. Such as general custom, temporal expediency, corrupt religions, pseudo-philosophies lights are their guides and comforts in their relations to both worlds. 2. The false will have their ruin. “ This shall ye have at My hand.” The “ candle of the wicked shall be put out.” All their lamps, however luminous, shall be quenched in a midnight, without a ray of moon or star. (Homilist.)Darkness the element of trial What is it that is tried in us? Even the same which, it has pleased God to promise, shall be rewarded in us, if we bold it fast--our faith in Christ. And this consists of several parts; which, however, may be summed up in three heads-- 1. Belief in what He has revealed to us. 2. Belief in what He has promised to us. 3. Belief in what He has required of us. But the text calls our attention particularly to the two latter, as arising out of the former; and in the particular shape of obedience to His commands; and trust in His care of us. But it is plain, that if we are thus tried, there must be the possibility of a different result. There must be a choice; a choice between doing right and doing wrong; between the things which we see and the things which we do not sea; between acting for ourselves, and trusting in God to act for us. And accordingly, the text goes on to set before us the other class of persons, who find themselves in the same darkness and perplexity, but seek a different way out of it. “ Behold, all ye that kindle a fire,” etc. These are the men of the world, the prudent ones; those who will not venture, but will make sure of everything! They will not be kept in the dark! (R. Scott, M.A.)The prophet’ s sublimity and sarcasm As the holy prophet, here, addresses himself to two very different sorts of men, whom he accordingly describes by two very opposite characters; so he varies his manner of expression, in just proportion to the figure which they make. To the one, his style is serious, and sublime, and full of enlivening encouragement; equal to the dignity of the holy rule they walk by: to the other, like their own way of thinking, disdainful, and sarcastical; laughing at their foolish devices, their unsuccessful projects, and mocking at the bitter calamity, which, with all their conceited wisdom, in the end, they bring upon themselves. (L. Blackburne, D.D.)Light in darkness: true and false In every time of distress or doubt, in every dark, perplexed, and gloomy season, it is as reasonable, as it is natural for every man, who is not wholly lost to all sense or foresight, to cast about, and to look out for any glimpse of light that may suffice to guide him through it. This is a turn which every thinking man will find his mind must surely take in any present misery, or visibly approaching danger. But, here, the righteous and the wicked part asunder; and persevering in the different routes they take, they come no more together. I. THE ONLY TRUE , IN TIMES OF OR DANGER, IS IN THE WAY OF DUTY. II. THERE IS NO WILFUL FROM IT, THAT DOES NOT LEAD TO . (L. Blackburne, D. D.)He who endured the hiding of His Father’ s countenance when bearing our sins, bids you “ stay” on Him as your God. What an illustration of Isa 42:16! (E. Avriol, M.A.)Encouragement and warning I. COMFORT is here spoken to disconsolate saints, and they are encouraged to trust in God’ s grace. II. is here spoken to presuming sinners, and they are warned not to trust in themselves. (M. Henry.)Unwilling darkness The peculiarity of the case of those here stated is, that it is an unwilling darkness. (J. R. Macduff, D.D.)F.W. Robertson’ s experience and counsel Very instructive in this regard is the experience recorded by Frederick W. Robertson, of his striving toward the light, in that terrible spiritual conflict which he fought out among the solitudes of the Tyrol. In one of his letters written there he says: “ Some things I am certain of, and these are my Ursachen, which cannot be taken away from me. I have got so far as this: Moral goodness and moral beauty are, realities, lying at the basis and beneath all forms of the best religious expressions. And, generalizing from his own case, he thus addressed the working-men of Brighton: “ It is an awful hour--let him who has passed through it say how awful--when this life has lost its meaning and seems shrivelled into a span; when the grave appears to be the end of all, human goodness nothing but a name, and the sky above this universe a dead expanse, black with the void from which God Himself has disappeared. In that fearful loneliness of spirit, when those who should have been his friends and counsellors only frown upon his misgivings and profanely bid him stifle his doubts, I know but one way in which a man may come forth from his agony scatheless; it is by holding fast to those things which are certain still--the grand, simple landmarks of morality. In the darkest hour through which a human soul can pass, whatever else is doubtful, this, at least, is certain. If there be no God and no future state, yet even then it is better to be generous than selfish; better to be chaste than licentious; better to be true than false; better to be brave than to be a coward. Blessed beyond all earthly blessedness is the man who, in the tempestuous darkness of the soul, has dared to hold fast these venerable landmarks. Thrice blessed is he who, when all is cheerless within and without, when the teachers terrify him and his friends shrink from him, has obstinately clung to moral good. Thrice blessed, because his night shall pass into clear, bright day.” Melancholy Christians Serious Christians are apt to be melancholy ones, and those who fear always to fear too much. (M. Henry.)Looking Godwards Believe in God--if only by way of experiment, and for a moment--with all perplexing questions imperially commanded for a time into silence; believe, I mean, in One worthy to be God, the Best conceivable, all that a God ought to be; then remember how such a One has all time and all resources at His command; that He must necessarily be working on a vast scale; and then believe that you, as a living part of one living whole, are necessarily cared for and included in His all-perfect plan. The experiment is, at least, a pleasant one, and quits within our power; and I should not wonder if, in the temporary belief, the idea became as light, which evidences itself, and needs no proof but itself that it is light. (H. H. Dobney.)God in “ the thick darkness:” Do not fear to draw near, like Moses, even “ to the thick darkness,” for God is there. Out of the night is born the morning, and chaos comes before the kosmos. (H. H. Dobney.)“ Polish up the dark side:” “ Look on the bright side,” said a young man to a friend, who was discontented and melancholy. “ But there is no bright side,” was his doleful reply. “ Very well, then polish up the dark one,” said the young man promptly. (The New Age.)Security in the darkness of life I remember once hearing a devout engine-driver relate his religious experience. He said: “ The other night when I was on duty there was a dense fog; we could not see a yard before us, but I knew that the permanent way was under us, and every now and then we caught a glimpse of some signal or other, and in time came safely to the journey’ s end; so,” he said, “ I know if I am true to the great commandments and promises, God will guide and bring me through.” In the darkest hours, when reason and experience utterly fail, remember that the permanent way is there; be true to the line of trust on one side, and obedience on the other, and God will vouchsafe you comforting signals, and in due season bring you to the appointed rest. (W. L. Watkinson.)Spiritual darkness The tree that waves its branches so freely in the great expanse and spreads out its leafy surface towards heaven, so eager for light and for heat, struck its root in secret underground, in great darkness and bondage. Take heed that you do not undervalue your time of spiritual darkness and conflict. The joy of eternity often strikes its root in very bitterness of spirit. Meekly fulfil all your groaning and patiently abide your time in darkness, “ looking unto Jesus.” Do you know that you would not so painfully feel your darkness if the Holy Sunlight did not underlie it? The diviner the sunlight at centre, the pain-fuller is the encompassing night. (J. Pulsford, D.D.)Faith useful in dark days On ancient churches we see the dial, the quaint invention of our fathers; but this is the pathetic failure of the dial, it is of use only as long as the sun shines. But what we want is the faith that helps us when it is dark, when disappointment lacerates the soul, when the grave is being dug, when trials lay us low, and when guilt darkens the day and puts the shutters up on the windows of the heart. (J. A. Davies, B. D.)Facing Godwards In the old myth, Orion whose eyes had been put out whilst he slept on the sea shore, recovered sight by gazing toward the rising sun. If our inner vision has been blinded, and all the grand truths and hopes of life lost to sight, let us turn our blind face toward heaven and keep it there, until He who looseth the bands of Orion turns for us the shadow of death into the morning. (W.L. Watkinson.) Isaiah 50:11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire A child of darkness walking in light By the “ fire” and “ the light of their fire” which wicked men are said to walk in, two things must be meant. I. THEIR OWN NATURAL and the sparks and acts thereof. II. THE LIGHT OF OUTWARD from the creatures, which in this world they enjoy, and the sparkling pleasures thereof which they walk in, and content themselves with, neglecting communion with God, being estranged from the life of God, and living without Him in the world. (T. Goodwin, D.D.)Sparks of our own kindling Our mistake is, not that we seek happiness (for to do so is inherent in the constitution of our nature), but that we seek it from fictitious and artificial sources, which are not naturally calculated to yield it. The many fictitious sources, from which men seek to derive happiness, are compared to a fire kindled, and sparks struck out, by way of relieving the darkness of the night. It is, of course, implied in the metaphor, that true happiness, the real and adequate complement of man’ s nature, resembles the Divinely-created and golden sunlight. I. THIS DOES NOT LEAD US TO DENY THAT AND OF A CERTAIN KIND ARE FROM WORLDLY SOURCES. Just as man can relieve himself in great measure from the discomfort and inconvenience of natural darkness, by kindling a fire and surrounding himself with sparks, so can he alleviate, to a certain extent, the instinctive sense of disquietude and dissatisfaction, so irksome to him at intervals of leisure, by the various enjoyments which life has to offer. II. THE OF WORLDLY . 1. Unsatisfactoriness inheres in their very nature, inasmuch as they are all more or less artificial. They are miserable substitutes, which man has set up to stand him in stead of that true happiness, which is congenial to his nature, and adapted to his wants. The light of the sun is nature’ s provision for man. That light answers all the purposes for which light is required, far more beautifully, as well as far more simply, than the most splendid artificial illumination. But the shedding abroad of the golden sunlight is not dependent on man’ s will, or within the compass of his ability. Effectually to remove the pall of darkness from the face of nature, and to spread the morning upon the mountains, is the prerogative of the Divine Being. Whereas in the alleviation of the darkness, man has a share. He can kindle a fire, and compass himself about with sparks. During the period of the sun’ s absence, he can replace his light, by the sorry substitute of torch and taper. The glare, however, which these shed around, is not like the genial, cheering, cherishing light, which proceeds from the great luminary which rules the day. It exercises no quickening influence on vegetable life,--its clear shining brings not out the bloom and perfume of the flower, nor the verdure of the tender grass, nor sends a thrill of joy through the whole realm of nature. Now, every fact which has here been stated, in regard to things natural, finds its counterpart in things spiritual. 2. The fitful character of the enjoyment derived from worldly sources renders it comparable to a fire and sparks struck out. The glow of a kindled fire is not equable. It casts a flickering and uncertain light, now smouldering beneath the fuel which feeds it, now bursting forth into bright and vivid flashes. Thus it presents us with a lively emblem of worldly joy, which is subject to repeated alternations of revival and decay, and whose high pitch can be sustained, only for a very short period of time. Not so the peace and pleasantness derived from walking with God. If it be not a light so dazzling as that which is sometimes shed abroad by the kindled firebrands of worldly joys, it is at least subject to no such variations of lustre. 3. A fire requires continually to be fed with fresh fuel, if its brilliancy and warmth are to be maintained. Hence it becomes an apt emblem of the delusive joy of this world, falsely called happiness, which is only kept alive in the worldling’ s heart by the fuel of excitement. 4. But perhaps the chief drawback of the worldling’ s so-called happiness is that it is consistent with so much anxiety--that it is subject to frequent intrusions from alarm, whenever a glimpse of the future untowardly breaks in upon the mind. And possibly this feature of it too is symbolized in the prophetic imagery, which is here employed to denote it. It is in the night-time, when the kindled fire glows upon the hearth, and man pursues his employments by the light of torch and taper, that apprehensions visit his mind, and phantom forms are conjured up which scare the ignorant and the superstitious. Would that the forebodings of the worldling were equally groundless with the fears of the superstitious! What makes the Christian’ s joy so intrinsically preferable to his, is that it can endure the survey of the hour of death, and of the day of judgment. (E. M. Goulburn, D.C.L.)False religions I. MAN CREATES THEM. “ Ye have kindled the fires.” What are they? There are at least five false religions that prevail in Christendom, and under the name of Christianity. 1. The religion of creed. A sound creed is essential to a sound religion, but is not itself a sound religion. 2. The religion of moods. Desires for heaven, dread of hell, sensuous sympathy with Christ’ s sufferings, these are the religious “ sparks.” 3. The religion of ordinance. 4. The religion of proxyism. Many are depending upon services. 5. The religion of merit. All these are false religions prevalent amongst us, as man is the creator of them. II. HEAVEN ALLOWS THEM. “ Walk in the light,” etc. 1. The permission is strange. 2. The permission is significant. (1) It shows God’ s respect for that freedom with which He has endowed human nature. (2) It suggests that in giving the Gospel, He has given all that is necessary for man to get the right religion. III. MISERY FOLLOWS THEM. “ This shall ye have at My hands,” etc Death will put out all false light from the soul. Who shall imagine the “ sorrow” that follows the extinction of all the religious lights of the soul! 1. There is the sorrow of bitter disappointment; 2. of poignant remorse; 3. of black despair. All hopes of improvement gone. No religion will beam on with increased radiance up to and beyond the grave for ever, but the religion of Christ. (Homilist.). Isaiah 51:1-8 Hearken to Me The thrice “ Hearken” These paragraphs are exceedingly dramatic. We become conscious that we are approaching a revelation of unparalleled sublimity which shall be in Scripture what heart or brain or eye is in the human body. And as we consider the thrice “ Hearken” of this paragraph, and the thrice “ Awake” of the succeeding one, we realize that we are entering the presence-chamber of the profoundest mysteries of love and redemption. The people, notwithstanding the promises of deliverance from exile and the summons to depart, seemed unable to believe that they were destined to become again a great nation, or that Zion’ s wastes would be repaired! Already the Servant of Jehovah had sought to answer their anxious questionings, and reassure them by announcing a love that would not let them go. And in these words He betakes Himself to the same strain. He prefaces His words by the thrice-repeated “ Hearken,” addressed to those “ that follow after righteousness” in the first verse; and to “ those that know righteousness” in the seventh. These are always the stages in the development of character: they that follow presently possess. I. THE LESSONS OF . It was for her encouragement that Israel was primarily directed to this retrospect. Let us recount the steps of Abraham’ s pruning, on which God lays stress in saying, “ When he was but one, I called him.” 1. He stood alone. First, Terah died, after having started with him for the Land of Promise, emblem of those who in old age start on the pilgrimage of faith and hope, not too much tied by the conservatism of nature, or the traditions of the past. Then Lot dropped away, and went down to Sodom; and it must have been difficult for the old man, as he saw the retreating forms of his camp followers, to be wholly unmoved. Then Sarah’ s scheme miscarried, and Hagar was thrust from his tents with her child. Lastly, his Isaac was laid upon the altar. By successive strokes the shadows grew deeper and darker; and he stood alone, face to face with God and His purpose. But the fire that burned in his heart rose higher, shone brighter, and has ignited myriads with its flame. 2. His faith was sorely tried. 3. His history is the type of God’ s dealings with men. Not once nor twice in the record of the Church the cause of truth has been entrusted to a tiny handful of defenders, who have deemed it forlorn or lost. Sir Walter Scott’ s picture of the apparently empty glen suddenly teeming with armed men at the sign of the chieftain has often had its counterpart in the great army which has arisen from the life, or words, or witness, of a single man. Art thou a cypher? but thou mayest have God in front of thee! Art thou but a narrow strait? yet the whole ocean of Godhead is waiting to pour through thee! The question is not what thou canst or canst not do, but what thou art willing for God to do. II. THE OF QUALITY. In the following verses there is a marvellous contrast between the material and the unmaterial, the temporal and the eternal. The gaze of the people is directed to the heavens above and the earth beneath. Those heavens seem stable enough. Yet they shall vanish like a puff of smoke borne down the wind. And as for the earth, it shall wax old. But amid the general wreck, spiritual qualities will remain imperishably the same. “ My salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished. 1. This shall be for ever true of God. God will be the same in His feelings and dealings towards us amid the crash of matter and the wreck of worlds as He is to-day. The Jews took great comfort in the thought of God’ s unchangeableness. 2. This shall be for ever true of man. When we partake of God’ s righteousness and assimilate it, we acquire a permanence which defies time and change. What a lesson is given in these words of the relative value of things! III. THE OF MAN. These exiled Jews hardly dared to hope that they would be able to break away from their foes. To us, as to the exiles in Babylon, the Divine word comes, “ Fear ye not, neither be dismayed” (Isaiah 51:7). The paragraph closes with an application of the word used by the great Servant of Himself. “ The moth shall eat them up,” we heard Him saying to Himself; “ they shall all wax old as a garment” (chap. 50:9). But now we are bidden to apply those same expressions to ourselves (Isaiah 51:8). With these assurances behind us, we may face a world in arms. Men may try to wear out the saints, but they must fail. (F. B. Meyer, B.A.)A bright light in deep shades The remembrance of God’ s mercy in the past is helpful to us in many ways. Isaiah was led by the Spirit of God to admonish the Israelites to look back that they might be cheered and encouraged in a time of gloom and sadness, and that they might be animated with fresh confidence in God’ s power to bring them up again from their sad condition, as they thought of all that He had done for them in times past, when they were equally low, or when, peradventure, they were even in a worse plight than they were at present. It is a great thing for people to be encouraged. I. WE SHALL EXPOUND THE TEXT IN ITS TO ISRAEL . They are bidden to look back to the origin of their nation, in order that they may be comforted. Abraham was the stock out of which the nation of Israel came. Moreover, the man was well stricken in years. As for his wife, she also, it is said, was barren; and yet from these two, who seemed the least likely of all flesh and blood, God was pleased to create a people countless as the stars. Abraham was not a man in a commanding position, with large armies at his feet, who could make a show in the world. He was a dweller in tents, a Bedouin sheik, wandering through the plains of Palestine, yet was he never injured; for God had sent forth a secret mandate, which fell, though they knew it not, upon men’ s hearts. Now, the prophet turns to the Israelites, and says, “ You say God can never restore us, we have been thinned out by innumerable invasions, the sword of war hath slain the tribes, Judah and Israel can never rise again. But are there not more left of you than there were at first? There were but two, Abraham and Sarah, that bare you, and yet God made you a people. Can He not make you a people again?” etc. The thoughts which would be awakened in the heart of a Jew by these reflections would be eminently consolatory. They ought to be consolatory to us now with regard to the Jewish people. We are encouraged from the very origin of Israel to hope that great things shall yet be done for her. II. Our text may be used in reference to the OF THE CHURCH OF GOD IN THE WORLD. 1. I know many of the people of God who scarcely dare look for brighter times, because they say the people of God are few. Was not the Church very small at the first? It could all be contained in one upper room. Has it not been very small many times since then? But did not the Lord strengthen His Church in the apostolic times? And, in the dark ages, how very speedily did the time of the singing of birds come! God had but to speak by His servant Luther, and brave men came to His side, and right soon His Church sprang up. 2. But, is it possible, you say, while the Church of God in these days possesses so few men of influence? Did not inspiration say, “ Not many great men after the flesh, not many mighty have been called, but God hath chosen the poor of this world” ? Do ye suppose that God has changed His plans, or that men s hearts have changed their bias? 3. But alas, saith one, I see grave cause for sorrow, for in these days many have departed from the faith, and truth lies in the streets bespattered. There have been eras and epochs in which gross heresies spread a contagion through the entire Church. 4. Again, I hear the voice of lamentation, “ It is not merely that error spreads in the land, but the Church is lukewarm in these times.” The Church has: been in a like listless state before, and out of that languid condition God has roused her up and brought her forth. 5. There is a complaint made by some, and I fear there is some truth in it, that we have not many valiant ministers now-a-days. But, for all that, there have been periods in the Church s history when she lacked for men of valour, and God has found them. Why should He not find them again? III. OUR TEXT MAY BE VIEWED AS TO . Our experience, varies. It sometimes happens to men who are truly saved, that they fall from the, condition which they occupied when they were in their first love. Your present condition is not what your past one was, and yet the Lord visited you when in your lost estate. There is the same God to-day as there was when first you sought Him. IV. OUR TEXT MAY BE USED TO OUR HOPE FOR OTHERS. Do you say of some sinner, “ I am afraid his is a hopeless case” ? look unto the rock whence you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged. Remember again, that that poor sinner whose soul you are going to seek is where the best and brightest of the saints were. And, recollect, that that sinner you are going to speak with is, to-day, where those that are in heaven once were. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The benefit of reflection It is the duty, and will be for the benefit of every true servant of God, occasionally to reflect, with due seriousness, on his own original state, on the rise and progress of religion in his own soul, and of the experience which he has thus individually had of the Divine power, goodness and mercy. I. THE PERSONS HERE . Those who “ follow after righteousness” and “ seek the Lord.” How exactly does this description accord to the true people of God under the Christian Church? II. THE TO THEM. “ Look unto the rock,” ete. The meaning is obvious, “ Look back unto yourselves. Consider what you once were; in what a depth of misery you were originally sunk. Reflect on the natural hardness of your heart: on its insensibiliyt to spiritual things; on its dreadful alienation from God. See this state of things exemplified-- 1. In your original conversion to God. 2. In your subsequent conduct towards God. Since the time in which you first knew Him in truth, and gave yourself up to serve Him in the gospel of His Son, what has been the state of your heart, of its affections, its tempers, and its dispositions? Have all these been uniformly such as this surrender and profession imply and require? Application: Whet lessons do these reflections teach. 1. Humility and-self-abasement. 2. Patience, contentment and resignation. 3. The necessity of a continual dependence on Divine grace to work in you both to will and to do. 4. Hope and encouragement. But the subject admits also of another less exclusive application. It furnishes one lesson of general importance: for it teaches ,as how holy and practical in its tendency is true, evangelical religion. (E. Cooper.)Seeking souls directed All the invitations and exhortations of the Word of God for spiritual blessings are accompanied with a description of character. I. THE . 1. These characters who follow after and seek after must be spiritually alive. It would be strange to talk of a corpse in a churchyard following after or seeking any favours at our hands. As strange would it be to talk of a post in the street following after us, and pursuing us for the same purpose. 2. There is a stirring in the living persons that begins to render them somewhat conspicuous. Wherever there is this stirring inquiry, this dissatisfaction with self, and a stirring to be right for eternity, there is life Divine. 3. Then, there must be sincerity. “ Then shall ye find Me, when ye seek Me with your whole heart.” 4. We will go on to notice their eager following after righteousness. It must be a righteousness that will justify. A righteousness that will sanctify. A righteousness that will glorify. It is imperishable. 5. Follow on to the next description of character. “ Ye that seek the Lord.’ Mark a few characteristics of these seekers. They seek Him privately. They seek Him in the place where His honour dwelleth. In His Word. Perseveringly. Seeking souls are well known in heaven, earth and hell. II. THE GIVEN. “ Look unto the rock,” etc. (J. Irons.)The Lord’ s people I. A OF THE LORD’ S PEOPLE. They “ follow after righteousness.” If you ask what righteousness is, I call upon you to behold Jesus! He is righteousness. The Lord’ s people “ follow after righteousness. They therefore follow Him. Far better for a man to strive to love Christ than to be trying to lay down certain rules of morality. They “ follow after righteousness.” Does not this imply that they cannot find it in themselves? Some follow after righteousness in fear. Others with many slips. The Lord’ s people follow after righteousness with humility. They follow after righteousness in love. Willingly. Perseveringly. I saw a steamer on the canal drawing after it three large boats. The steamer contained its own motive power, but had there been an engine and boiler in each of those boats they also would have gone on to Liverpool urged on by inward strength. Well, we follow after righteousness, not because Christ has placed some band between Himself and us, but because He has Himself entered our hearts. Christ is the living and moving power in our souls. II. A KINDLY . The Lord speaks very kindly to those who seek but have not yet found Him. Many are seeking the Lord without a light. Some may seek the Lord in unbelief. Some in a wrong way. Somebody else replies, “ Ah, sir, I have no spiritual life, such as I had once.” Well, who gave it to you in days gone by? The Lord. And will He not restore it again? III. A WORD OF . 1. Is your soul cast down? Well, remember what God has done for you. Did He not hew you from the rock of the world? 2. If God has hewn us from the rock we ought to hope for all humanity. (W. Birch.)Look unto the rock whence ye are hewnLooking to beginnings 1. Look back to beginnings; look along the line from the beginning to the sensations of to-day. A man should have his whole self before him in making his forecast of the future. His whole self should be a Bible, chaptered and versed, well numbered and properly displayed, having its Genesis, and running straight on through prophecy and tragedy, and music and Gospel, into mysterious Apocalypse. You have expurgated this life Bible, killed the promises and Psalms, and have only failures left. 2. Take in all your life: if God has made so much of you, He can make still more. The miracle is not in the great umbrageous tree; it is in that little green blade that pierces the earth and looks like a thing that means to pray. It is not the universe, but the molecule, that is a miracle to me. Looking back at what we were, it is easy to believe and yearn to be more. 3. If God has made so much of you, he can make as much of others. Therefore, do not contemn any man. God shows us in cathedrals what can be done with all stones; He shows us in gardens what can be made of all waste places. I do not read that there are two rocks out of which men are dug--one a very low and disreputable rock, and the other a very high and grand piece of masonry. We are all from the same rock and the same pit; we all have one Father, and we have all suffered the catastrophe of a common apostasy. Have pity upon those who are far behind. 4. Whence are ye hewn--digged; not whence ye hewed, digged yourselves. Are you well educated? It is because others made the way plain and smooth. Are you successful? It is the Lord thy God giveth thee power to get wealth. How much you owe father, mother! As we rise, the account grows, and if God do not forgive us we are lost. (J. Parker, D.D.)Comparisons Comparisons are odious; comparisons are highly profitable. They are odious if prompted by malice or meanness. A genius who had risen to a seat in the Commons was reminded by a shallow aristocrat in the lobby that he had formerly been his servant. “ Well,” retorted the man of talent, “ and did I not serve you well?” Such comparisons are hateful; but they may also prove beneficial as promoting due humility and appreciative thankfulness. Take the case of Paul, who, though an apostle of very exceptional ability, would remind himself that he was the chief of sinners. As though he had said, “ Now, Paul, look unto the rock whence you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence you were digged. (W. J. Acomb.)Spiritual statuary It is doubtless serviceable for each of us, however devoted and pure, to be now and then presented with a photograph of our former selves. We can thus see what we should have remained if grace had not refined us. We can measure our growth and development. We can certainly better understand the obligations arising from improved conditions. I. THE THAT WAS to this godly remnant of Israel. In all ages have existed those to whom God could thus appeal. Their characteristics are ever the same--viz, the endeavour to live righteously and the instinctive craving for a fuller knowledge of God. Such were here bidden to recall the period when their great father, Abraham, had been separated from heathen surroundings, led, and instructed by the Divine Spirit till worthy of the appellation, Friend of God. The nation had been a stone cut out of the mountain without hands and fashioned into something like beauty and grace. In regard to individual stones, it would appear that the work of the Divine statuary is threefold-- 1. Detachment from the common mass of material. A stone has no ability to leap from its place. The quarryman must by pick and gunpowder and hammer set the granite free. There is grace at the outset, either in national or individual life. People need graciously saving. You have to be rescued, separated from the power of death, lifted from the sphere of human passion. To do this, various agencies are employed--some almost dynamic, others more gentle. 2. Moulding by religious education and attrition of association. Quarried stones need moulding, whether granite, limestone or freestone. Hammer and chisel must be applied. So, when detached must expect to submit to peculiar processes. Some stones necessitate great labour; others can easily be wrought to any form. Heaps of stones about and in every one an angel!--only the angel requires to be modelled out, chiselled out, filed out. We can’ t see the angel; God can. None can be a holy person without pain. Salvation is not the deed of a moment, but is a gradual work, stage by stage, here a little and there a little. 3. Vivification of spiritual faculties by the Holy Ghost. Many of you have been extracted from the quarry and rough-hewn by Christian civilization; but you require the grandest thing of all, the breath of spiritual life. Like the child-delighting marionettes that are so skilfully moved by invisible machinery, but which have no appreciation of the part they play, you may be actuated by the forces of custom, or ambition, or fear, but remain dead to all sensations of a purely spiritual nature. II. THE OF THE . Judging from the context, the intention was-- 1. To promote humility. 2. To stimulate hopefulness. We instinctively argue, “ If so much, why not more?” God has always some better thing in store for us. Have we not a sure word of prophecy which declares that Christ is able to present each one of us faultless before the throne? (W. J. Acomb.)Characters: unhewn and hewn Shakespeare is given to present abstract ideas in concrete forms to suit the ordinary obtuse Englishman. Thus we understand Caliban. This low-type creature stands before us destitute of moral sense; his strongest motive to action fear of punishment; he hates unreasonably the best of beings; he luxuriates in grossest vice; his brain so feeble that he kneels to a drunkard. Now the national poet has contrasted this brute-man with Prospero, the refined courtier, the gentle father, the magnanimous Duke of Milan, thus exhibiting the diverse effects of Christian culture and heathen neglect. In one you behold the rough, angular, unhewn block; in the other the exquisitely moulded statue. To assimilate them, what a complicated miracle would be requisite! This is the mission of our Lord and Redeemer. (W. J. Acomb.)Nature and grace It is good for those that are privileged by a new birth to consider what they were by their first birth; how they were conceived in iniquity and shapen in sin. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. How hard was that rock out of which we were hewn, unapt to receive impressions; and how dirty the hole of the pit out of which we were digged! The consideration hereof should fill us with low thoughts of ourselves, and high thoughts of Divine grace. (M. Henry.)A humble origin: John Bunyan “ I was of a low and inconsiderable generation, my father’ s house being of that rank that is meanest and most despised of all families in the land. I never went to school to Aristotle or Plato, but was brought up in my father’ s house in a very mean condition, among a company of poor countrymen. Nevertheless, I bless God that by this door He brought me into the world to partake of the grace and life that is by Christ in His Gospel.” This is the account given of himself and his origin by a man whose writings have for two centuries affected the spiritual opinions of the English race in every part of the world more powerfully than any book or books, except the Bible. (J. A. Froude.) Isaiah 51:2-3 Look unto Abraham your father Abraham, or the Christian’ s rock I. THE OF GOD WITH ABRAHAM. 1. God “ called him alone.” How merciful this call! Our own call to renounce this world, and to seek a better, even a heavenly country, is to be traced, like Abraham’ s, to the undeserved mercy of our heavenly Father. 2. The Lord “ blessed” Abraham. And has He not “ blessed” us? Has He not given to us many of the blessings of this life? And, what is much more than these, has He not redeemed us from sin and misery by Jesus Christ our Lord? 3. The Lord “ increased” him. The worldly possessions of Abraham were many. But Abraham was increased further in his posterity. But his spiritual descendants are yet more numerous. So likewise is the faithful Christian, the spiritual child of Abraham, “ increased;” not indeed, it may be, in this world’ s riches and honours, but in spiritual wealth and dignity. II. THE AND CONDUCT OF ABRAHAM. 1. His faith. Let us look to Abraham as an example in this point of view. 2. His obedience. Let no one whose works contradict his profession of faith suppose himself to be a believer in God. (W.D. Johnston, M.A.)Sarah That Sarah is mentioned chiefly for rhythmical effect may be inferred from the writer s now confining what he says to Abraham alone. (J.A. Alexander.)Hearken and look; or, encouragement for believers The second verse contains my actual text. It is the argument by which faith is led to look for the blessings promised in the third verse. It is habitual with some persons to spy out the dark side of every question or fact: they fix their eyes upon the “ waste places,” and they study them till they know every ruin, and are familiar with the dragons and the owls. They sigh most dolorously that the former times were better than these, and that we have fallen upon most degenerate days. The habit of looking continually towards the widernesses is injurious because it greatly discourages; and anything that discourages an earnest worker is a serious, leakage for his strength. My text has near to it three times, “ Hearken to Me. You have listened long enough to dreary suggestions from within, to gloomy prophecies from desponding friends, to the taunts of foes, and to the horrible whisperings of Satan: now hearken to Him who promises to make the wilderness like Eden, and the desert like the garden of the Lord. O ye whose eyes are quick to discover evil, there are other sights in the world besides waste places and deserts, and hence my text hath near to it twice over the exhortation, “ Look” --“ Look unto the rock whence ye, are hewn;” “ Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you; for there we may find comfort. I. We shall first look towards Abraham that we may see in him THE OF GOD’ S ANCIENT PEOPLE. 1. The founder of God’ s first people was called out of a heathen family. Abraham, the founder of the great system in which God was pleased to reveal Himself for so long a time, and to whose seed the oracles of God were committed, was a dweller in Ur of the Chaldees, the city of the moon-god. We cannot tell to what extent he was actually engrossed in the superstition of his fathers, but it is certain that the family was years afterwards tainted with idolatry; for in Jacob’ s day the teraph was still venerated, and Rachel stole her father’ s images. Abraham, therefore, was called out from the place of his birth, and from the household to which he belonged, that in a separated condition, as a worshipper of the one God, he might keep the truth alive in the world. Why, then, might not the Lord, if the cause of truth were this day reduced to its utmost extremity, again raise up a Church out of one man? “ Ah,” you say, “ but men are not called now, as Abraham was, by miraculous calls from heaven.” Where ordinary means are so plentiful wisdom resorts not to signs and wonders. The same Spirit who called Abraham by a supernatural voice can call others by the word of truth. “ Ah,” say you, “ but Abraham was naturally a man of noble mould. Where do you find such a princely spirit as his?” I answer, Who made him? He that made him can make another like him. 2. Look again, and observe that Abraham was but one man. If we should ever be reduced, as we shall not be, to one man, yet by one man will God preserve His Church, and work out His great purposes. Think of the power for good or evil which may be enshrined in a single human life. 3. This one man was a lone man. He had no prestige of parentage, rank or title. The fulfilment of his calling rested on his loneliness; for he must get away from his kindred, and wander up and down with his flocks, even as the Church of God now does, dwelling in a strange land, and feeding her flock apart. “ I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.” If in the town or district where you live you seem to lose all your helpers; if they die one by one, and it seems as if nobody would be left to you, still persevere, for it is the lone man that God will bless. 4. He was a man who had to be stripped yet further. He must come away from his kindred and his father’ s house, and must dwell in Palestine till the promised seed was born. But how long he waited for the expected heir! What a feast there was that Isaac was born, filling the house with laughter. But he must die! The grand old man is sure that even if he should actually slay his son at God’ s command the promise would somehow be kept. Look, then, to Abraham your father, and say is he not the grandest human representative of the great Father God Himself, who in the fulness of time spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all? If in all these trials Abraham was yet blessed, and God s purposes were accomplished in him, can we not believe that the same God can work by us also, despite our downcastings and humiliations! Here is the sum and substance of this first head of my discourse: in looking to the rock whence we are hewn, we have to see the Lord working the greatest results from apparently inadequate causes. This teaches us to cease from calculating means, possibilities and probabilities, for we have to deal with God, with whom all things are possible. II. THE MAIN OF THIS CHOSEN MAN. The text says, “ Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you,” and it must mean--consider him and see what he was, that you may learn from him. His grand characteristic was his faith. Abraham’ s faith was such that it led him to obedience. The man of faith is God’ s man. Why? Because faith is the only faculty of our spirit which can grasp God’ s ideal. Faith, too, has a great power of reception, and therein lies much of her adaptation to the Divine purpose. Then, again, faith always uses the strength that God gives her. Faith, too, can wait the Lord s time and place. God loveth faith and blesseth it, because it giveth Him all the glory. III. OUR TO THAT ONE MAN. “ Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” Something, surely, is expected of the children of such a man as Abraham. Because we are the seed of Abraham, the apostle declares that the blessing of Abraham has come upon us also.” What is it? It is a covenant favour that belongs to all who are the servants of God by faith. Here is the substance of it: “ Surely blessing, I will bless thee, and in multiplying, I will multiply thee.” The blessing is attended with multiplying. The blessing of the Church is the increase of the Church. The success of truth is the battle of the Lord, and the increase of His Church is according to HIS own promise; therefore in quietness we may possess our souls. IV. OUR BEFORE ABRAHAM’ S GOD. “ Look to Abraham, but only as to the rook from which the Lord quarried His people:” your main thought must be Jehovah Himself. “ I, I called him alone, and blessed him.” Let us joyfully recollect that the Lord our God has not changed, nay, not in one jot or tittle. “ His arm is not shortened that He cannot save,” etc. The covenant of God has not changed. Read the covenant words, “ In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven,” etc. But there is this also to be added, that this work which we desire the Lord to do is in some respects even less than that which He has done with Abraham. What ask we? Not that He should begin with one man to build up a nation, or create a Church? No, but that Zion being builded, He should comfort her, and cause her waste places to rejoice. What marvellous things hath God done on the face of the earth sines Abraham’ s days!--the stupendous marvel of incarnation; the wondrous work of redemption, the highest, grandest, Divinest achievement of the Deity--all this is done; what may we not expect after this? You know more of God than Abraham could know. Trust Him, at least up to the level of the patriarch. How shall we forge an excuse if we do not? (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 51:3 For the Lord shall comfort Zion Zion comforted I. THERE IS A LOW ESTATE, OF THE CHURCH, AND OF OF IT, AND OF MEMBERS. II. THERE ARE OF REVIVAL, of restored fertility and productiveness. III. THE MODE IT WHICH THESE BLESSED EFFECTS MAY BE LOOKED AND SOUGHT FOR. When the eye of faith is directed towards Christ, when we believe in Him as the Lord our righteousness, when the prayer of faith ascends to heaven, when the ear hearkens to the inspired Word, then we may expect that God will be gracious to His inheritance, and refresh it when it is weary. We may not look for the supplies of the Spirit of God unless we earnestly ask for them. (H. J. Hastings, M.A.)The depression, prosperity and delight of the Church Taking these words as the prophet’ s statement with regard to the spiritual Church of God, under the appellation of Zion, we propose from these words to call attention-- I. TO THE OF THE CHURCH. 1. This depression arises from the small number of those who belong to the Church. 2. The depression consists also in the want of spiritual vigour on the part of those who belong to the Church. II. TO THE OF THE CHURCH. Observe-- 1. The source to which the prosperity of the Church is assigned. “ For the Lord shall comfort Zion,” etc. Christianity is, emphatically, the ministration of the Spirit. 2. The nature of the prosperity by which the Church will be distinguished. What: is the precise import of this comforting of Zion, this comforting of her waste places, making her wilderness like the garden of Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord? Here you will observe, that a vast augmentation of the numbers of the Church must plainly be regarded as included. A great purification and refinement in the characters of those who do pertain to the Church will signalize those future days. 3. The means to be adopted by the true friends of the Church in order that the period of this predicted prosperity may arrive. III. TO THE DELIGHT OF THE CHURCH. “ Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.” This emotion may properly arise from contemplating-- 1. The wonderful change which shall have been accomplished in the condition of the Church itself. 2. The connection between the prosperity of the Church and the glorification of God. 3. The connection between the prosperity of the Church and the happiness of mankind. Conclusion: 1. Our first anxiety, of course, must be, that you may individually belong to the Church of God yourselves. 2. What we next desire of you is, that you will labour in all the appointed means and instrumentalities by which the prosperity of the Church of God is to be secured. (J. Parsons.)Zion comforted (1) The land of bliss is (2) full of human beings (3) in festive frame and active enjoyment. (E. Delitzsch, D.D.)A cheerful prospect I. COMFORT . This is a promise to God’ s Church. The Church of God--captured as it has been by Christ from the world, chosen to be the palace where He dwells, builded together for a temple wherein He is worshipped--is frequently called “ Zion.” 1. The object of this comfort. “ The Lord will comfort Zion.” Well He may, for she is His chosen. “ The Lord has chosen Zion.” He would have those upon whom His choice is fixed be glad and happy. 2. The Lord Himself is the Comforter. There are sorrows for which there is no solace within the reach of the creature; there is a ruin which it would baffle any mortal to retrieve. Happy for us that the Omnipotent comes to our aid. 3. How does the Lord propose to comfort Zion? If you read the verse through you will find it is by making her fertile. The true way to comfort the Church is to build her synagogues, restore the desolation of former times, to sow her fields, plant her vineyards, make her soil fruitful, call out the industry of her sons and daughters, and fill them with lively, ardent zeal. 4. The promise is given in words that contain an absolute pledge. He “ shall” and He “ will” are terms that admit of no equivocation. II. THE CASES . “ He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord.” 1. Are there not to be found in the visible Church persons whose character is here vividly depicted? (1) There are those who once were fruitful, hut are now comparable to wastes. I remember one Monday afternoon, when we had been waiting upon the Lord in prayer ever since seven o’ clock in the morning, that there came a most remarkable wave of prayer over the assembly. And then two backsliders got up and prayed one aider the other. According to their own account, they had been very bad fellows indeed, and had sorely transgressed against God; but there they were, broken-hearted and fairly broken down. It was a sight to make angels rejoice as their tears flowed. Certainly their sobs and cries touched the hearts of all of us who were assembled. I thought to myself, “ Then God is blessing us, for when backsliders come back it is a proof that God has visited His people.” (2) Then a second department of the promise is, “ He will make her wilderness like Eden.” I take the wilderness here to be a place of scanty vegetation. Oh, how many there are in the Church of God who are just like that! They are Christians, but sorry Christians they are. (3) A third character is implied in the desert--the deserted places where no man dwells, where the traveller does not care to linger. How many professors of religion answer to this description of the soil! They are like deserts. You not only never did bring forth fruit, but you never concerned yourself to do so. 2. Ask ye now, what does the Lord say He will do for them? He says that He will make the wilderness like Eden. You know what Eden was. It was the garden of the earth in the days of primeval probity. So the Lord says that when He visits His Church He will make these poor backsliders, these immature Christians, these nominal professors, like Eden. Moreover, as if to strengthen the volume of His grace and of our hope, He says that He will make her desert like the garden of the Lord. He shall come to you and delight your heart and soul with His converse. III. CERTAIN RESULTS WHICH ARE . “ Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.” You notice the doubles. The parallelism of Hebrew poetry, perhaps, necessitated them. Still I remember how John Bunyan says that “ all the flowers in God’ s garden bloom double.” We are told of “ manifold mercies,” that is, mercies which are folded up one in another, so that you may unwrap them and find a fresh mercy enclosed in every fold. Here we have “ joy and gladness, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.” The Lord multiplies His grace. Oh, what a delightful thing must a visitation from God be to His Church! Without God all she can do is to groan. Nay, she will not always do that. She sometimes indulges a foolish conceit, and says: “ I am rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing.” After that will soon be heard the hooting of dragons and the cry of owls. Let God visit His Church, and there is sure to be thanksgiving and the voice of melody. This is the mark of a revived Church everywhere. New impetus is given to the service of song. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The garden of the LordThe garden of God (for children):--Here and elsewhere Holy Scripture pictures a gathering of the upright and holy as a garden, and Christly people, whether men or children, as the trees and plants and flowers in such a garden. In His garden-- I. GOD WILL HAVE NO WEEDS. This reminds us-- 1. What a number of evils must be destroyed. Idleness, falsehood, cowardice, disobedience, etc., are weeds that must be plucked up and destroyed. 2. The ways by which evils are to be destroyed. (1) Like weeds, they are to be plucked up and burnt. There must be no half measures in dealing with sin. We must get at the roots and then burn the whole. (2) Like weeds, they must be cleared by better life taking their place. In New Zealand, where the hoe of the settlers failed to destroy the rank vegetation that had rooted there for centuries, they have successfully adopted the plan of planting among it our common English clover. And as it grows it actually is rooting out the formidable flax-weed with its fibrous leaves and strong woody roots. So truth, courage, love, will root out lying, cowardice, selfishness. We get rid of evil from hearts and lives by “ the expulsive power of a new affection.” II. THERE IS A GREAT VARIETY OF FLOWERS. Rich rose, stately tulip, “ sweet lily of the valley, etc. a thousand varieties all helping us to understand the famous preacher who said, Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made and forgot to put a soul into.” So there is great variety in the virtues; no monotony in Christian character. There are virtues that, like lofty trees and brilliant flowers, make heroes and martyrs. And there are others like flowers with tiny petals and delicate tints. St. Francis of Sales said, “ How carefully we should cherish the little virtues which spring up at the foot of the Cross.” What are they? some one asked him. “ Humility, meekness, kindness, simplicity, candour,” he replied. III. HE HIMSELF HAS JOY. Over true souls He rejoices. The prophet says, God rejoices “ over them with singing.” God seems to sing over those of whom He says, as of, David, “ a man after God s own heart;” as of Daniel, “ O man greatly beloved;” as of the Lord Jesus Christ, “ My well-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” IV. ALL THE BEAUTY OF ALL THE FLOWERS IS TO BE TRACED TO HIS CARE. 1. He is the Owner. 2. He is the Sower. 3. He is the Gardener--Christ called God the Husbandman. 4. He is the Source of all life and beauty. For He is Sun, and Wind: is as dew--and showers also. (U. R. Thomas, B.A.) Isaiah 51:4-6 Hearken unto Me, My people The absolute in human history Time works mighty changes in human life. Amidst the ceaseless whirl of mutation, is there nothing unchangeable? Is life made up entirely of volatile contingencies? Has it no absolute elements? Oh, for a rock in this ebbing sea, where we might stand secure as the wreck of years floats by! This Scripture responds to our questions, and meets our aspirations. The word “ law” designates God’ s revelation; “ judgment” and “ righteousness” are interchangeable terms, expressing the one idea--rectitude. The great truths, therefore, enfolded in this rich oriental garb, are that rectitude and salvation are the elements of God’ s revelation; and that these elements are the absolute in human history. I. THEY ARE FOR ALL LANDS--world-wide in their aspect--“ a light of the people.” Man is, confessedly, a corrupt intelligence; and, in the nature of things, a knowledge of his state is essential to his improvement. Will he ever seek a remedy or ask for a refuge until he has felt the disease or descried the peril? Whence comes this discovery? Nothing less than a special revelation of rectitude can meet the case. “ By the law is the knowledge of sin.” Next comes the other element--“ salvation.” Each of these two elements of our religion is equally necessary for man everywhere. The value, however, of each depends upon mutual connection; each is useless by itself. II. THESE ARE FOR ALL TIMES, AS WELL AS FOR ALL LANDS. “ The heavens shall vanish away like smoke,” etc. These words suggest three solemn considerations-- 1. That man is related to two distinct systems of things, the one involving the “ heavens and the earth,” the other “ righteousness and salvation” --the one material, the other spiritual. This twofold relation is a peculiarity of our history. The other tenants of the globe are related to the material as we are. But with the spiritual they appear to have no connection. 2. That one of the systems to which man is related is transient, the other is permanent. 3. That the permanent system should command man’ s chief concern. Hear the sum of this address:--Beware of practical materialism. (D. Thomas, D.D.)Righteousness and salvation I. THE OF THOSE . By comparing the first and the seventh with the fourth verse of the chapter, we find four leading features of their character set forth: 1. They are said to know righteousness. 2. To follow after righteousness. 3. To seek the Lord. 4. To have the law of God in their hearts. II. THE ADDRESS ITSELF. It constitutes a sublime prophetic description of those spiritual blessings to be ripened by the advent of the Messiah. It foretells the setting up of that kingdom which cometh not by outward observation, but which is “ righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” --the publication of “ that better covenant established on better promises.” Many topics of deep interest are suggested by this prophetic setting forth of the blessings and triumphs of the Gospel. The text fully asserts-- 1. Their certainty. 2. Their perpetuity. (T. Page, M.A.)An evangelical law The “ law” here meant (Isaiah 51:4) is that of Zion Isaiah 2:3), as distinguished from that of Sinai--the Gospel of redemption. (F. Delitzsch, D.D.) Isaiah 51:5 My righteousness is near God’ s righteousness and salvation The Gospel of Christ shall be preached and published to the world. “ A law shall proceed from Me” (Isaiah 51:4), an evangelical law, the law of Christ, the law of faith (Isaiah 2:3). I. THIS SHALL BRING WITH IT AND , shall open a ready way to the children of men how they may be justified and saved. It is called God s righteousness and salvation-- 1. Because of His contriving and bringing it about. 2. It is a righteousness that He will accept for us, and accept us for. 3. And a righteousness which He will work in us. 4. It is the salvation of the Lord, for it ariseth from Him, and terminates in Him. Observe, there is no salvation without righteousness, and wherever there is the righteousness of God, there shall be His salvation. II. THIS AND SHALL VERY SHORTLY APPEAR. It is near, it is gone forth. It is near in time. It is near in place, not far to Romans 10:8). III. THIS AND SHALL NOT BE TO THE JEWISH NATION, BUT SHALL BE TO THE . (M. Henry.)God’ s arm God’ s arm shall judge the people that are impenitent, and yet on His arm shall others trust and be saved by it. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens.The eternity of religion From the thought of the universality of religion the prophet rises to that of its eternity, which is here expressed by a contrast of surprising boldness between the “ things which are seen” and the “ things which are not seen.” (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)The present and the future I. We have to speak to you of CREATED THINGS--the heavens above and the earth beneath--as temporal either in themselves, or in regard to us who “ must die in like manner.” There may be much room for questioning whether there will be the actual annihilation of matter; whether even this earth is to be so destroyed that no vestige of it shall remain. We know that our bodies at least are not to be annihilated; but that having gone through certain processes, they are to be united to the soul, and remain in that re-union for ever. Without, however, supposing the actual annihilation of matter, we may speak of the universe as destined to be destroyed, seeing that the systems which are to succeed to the present will be wholly different, and wear all the traces of a new creation. Our text marks out a second way in which our connection with visible things--the heavens and the earth--may be brought to a close--“ they that dwell therein shall die in like manner.” II. A is drawn between God--His salvation and His righteousness--and the heavens and the earth. It seems the design of the passage to affix a general character to the objects of faith as distinguished from the objects of sense--the character of permanence and distinguished from that of decline. (H. Melvill, B.D.)Looking heavenward Man hath a muscle more than ordinary to draw up his eyes heavenward. (J. Trapp.)The pershing and the stable I. THE NATURE OF ALL WORLDLY OBJECTS, , AND . II. THE OF THOSE WHICH THE GOSPEL . (W. Richardson.)An eternal salvation We must never expect any other way of salvation, any other covenant of peace, or rule of righteousness, but what we have in the Gospel, and what we have there shall continue to the end. (M. Henry.)God’ s everlasting salvation There are brought before us in the text, three great varieties of existence, viz those of man, the earth, and the starry heavens; and contrasted with God’ s salvation and righteousness. I. GOD’ S IS OF, AND WILL OUTLIVE, HUMAN. “ When they that dwell therein shall die in like manner,” i.e., like the old earth itself. “ My salvation shall be for ever.” Not only is the power of God unto salvation independent of its friends, but unconquerable by its foes. II. THE GRASS , THE FLOWER FADETH; AND SO, TOO, WILL THE EARTH OUT OF WHICH THEY SPRING. It “ shall wax old like a garment.” To the same intent speaks science. Will religion wax old too? When the aged planet’ s voice is low and indistinct, will the truth of God also be less clear and defined? I trow not. The world, in its youth and beauty, was but a great symbol. The symbol is gone; the truth remains. The time may come when the resources of earth may be dried up; not so the resources of Heaven. There may be no sunshine to cheer the earth; there will be sunshine for the hearts of men;--no dew to refresh a thirsty earth; there will be life-giving dew for the soul of man. III. OVER THE WHOLE EARTH BROODS THE MIGHTY LAW OF CHANGE. Everywhere there are births and dissolutions. Almost everything yields to its power. From the tiny flower, to the huge mountain; from the life of the insect that is born and dies in a day, to the life of men, of nations, of the whole world. The dominion of the changeable, however, is not confined to this world; it extends to all worlds. And why should it remain any longer when a grander universe has begun? The work of the old one is done. It came into being only to speak the great truths of God. It has done so; let it pass. Its bright suns, the centres of life and light, all spoke of one Eternal Sun from whom comes all life and all light. Let the changing, decaying systems of the old universe now disappear; their existence would be but a mockery beside the one everlasting system of righteousness. Let all that must pass away now pass. The watchword is, “ For ever and ever,” for ever one system, one will, one obedience, one atmosphere of love. (D. Johnson, M.A.)The eternity of God’ s salvation This is evidently one of those predictions having special reference to the introduction of the Gospel dispensation, with which this book is so thickly studded. We may regard Isaiah 51:4; Isaiah 5:1-30 as forming a kind of preface to Isaiah 51:6; and in that preface the clue is given m four ruling words, viz law, judgment, righteousness, and salvation. 1. The Gospel is a law--not written upon tables of stone, but upon the fleshly tables of the heart by the Spirit of the living God; it is a law of faith, and love, and obedience; it is the law by which God Will henceforth govern men. As the prophet in another place says “ The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us.” His law is in order to His rule; and His rule is in order to the salvation of men. 2. The word “ judgment” is here used in the sense of a body or code of laws, such as form the basis of the constitution of a kingdom. It must point to the body of Gospel truth which God is about to reveal to the world. The doctrines, precepts, promises, which centre upon the person and work, which together are bound up in the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, these form the basis, the foundation which God will “ make settled” for a light to the people. 3. “ My righteousness is near.” It is about, to be signally manifested, and in an unheard-of way, by the death of My only begotten Son. Therein am I about to be seen, just, and yet the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. 4. “ My salvation is gone forth,” etc. The good news that men are to be saved by the free grace of God, is already published, and it shall awaken loving trust in Me wherever it is known. Then comes the climax upon this preface; the eternal endurance which is the destiny of this saving rule of the Almighty--“ Lift up your eyes to the heavens,” etc. Three things here present themselves for our consideration-- I. THE DESTINY OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH. 1. Let us think of their nature. They are an emanation from the mind of God. 2. The design of the creation. (1) This is its immediate design--to subserve the well-being of man. (2) But what is the ultimate design of the heavens and the earth? Like all else, to declare the glory of God. But upon this two remarks must be made--This declaration is by itself alone imperfect, as all material signs of truthmust be. The printed page may tell us many truths, but there are truths which the printed page of itself can never tell. Creation cannot declare to us all that we ought to know of God. There are apparent contradictions in nature: there is the genial sun, the gentle dew, the balmy wind; but there is also the fiery volcano, the awful earthquake, the furious hurricane. Creation cannot reconcile its own phenomena; its testimony is imperfect without some higher and concurrent light. The testimony of creation is too often rendered void or perverted through human sinfulness. Either men do not see God at all in nature, or they view Him with vision all awry. (3) Carry your thoughts forward to the revealed destiny of the heavens and earth. They are to pass away utterly. “ Seeing, then, that all these things shall be dissolved, etc.” II. THE DESTINY OF THE MORTAL RACE OF MAN. “ They that dwell therein shall die in like manner.” Man and the world date from the same origin, and are formed of the same material. 1. Let us consider the nature of the mortal race of man. It is simply a part of the visible material creation. 2. Think again of the design of our mortal race. It is pre-eminently to declare the glory of God. “ I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” But this glory that excelleth God is to derive not so much from our bodily nature, for this is but the kind of glory that all His other works render to Him, an unconscious glory; as from our spiritual nature, from renovated wills, from purified affections, from a redeemed and sanctified nature. 3. We shall gain further light upon the purpose of God with regard to our earthly race, if we glance at the analogy between the individual life and that of the whole race. Each man among us is the miniature, the epitome of the history of the world. He is the microcosm; you trace in yourself imperfections of bodily and mental powers; you are conscious of the seeds of death within you; all connected with your present condition speaks plainly the lesson that you are in dissolving, uncertain, precarious, transitory condition. It is fitly described in the emblems of Scripture, a tent, not a fixed habitation, a lodging, not a final rest. Now, I say you may trace a close analogy to all this in the history of the whole race. The world grows old; there are wrinkles on its brow. 4. Then remember that this is the predicted destiny of our mortal race. All living men and all their sensuous surroundings shall be utterly swept away. III. THE DESTINY OF GOD’ S SAVING RULE.--“ My salvation,” etc. By the saving rule of God we mean that rule which God has revealed in the Gospel, in conforming to which man enjoy salvation; the rule which demands repentance, implicit faith in the Mediator and obedience to the Holy Ghost. It is God s plan, or rule, or way of salvation, and it is founded upon the immutable attribute of His righteousness. 1. Look at its nature. The Gospel is the hill and perfect exhibition of the mind of God. 2. Look at its design. It is in order to the complete blessedness of our immortal spirits in earth and heaven--here and hereafter, and for ever and ever. 3. God s saving rule shall endure for ever and ever. Conclusion: The rule of God must either save and bless, and eternally exalt you, or it must crush and destroy you. (E. Johnson, B.A.)The contrast I. A , PASSING WORLD. “ Lift up your eyes,” etc. God calls on us to interrupt for a short season our busy occupations, and to meditate on things seen and unseen, things temporal and things eternal. 1. The framework of creation is changing,--passing. 2. The riches, the comforts, the enjoyments of life are passing. 3. The cares, and anxieties, and sorrows of life are passing. 4. Life itself is passing. II. AN , ETERNAL . 1. The blessing itself is salvation. 2. It has God for its author. 3. Eternity is its duration. 4. Sinners are the partakers of this blessing. Which has your heart--your hopes? The love of both cannot dwell in the same breast, “ If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (F. Storr, M.A.) Isaiah 51:7-8 Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness Christians encouraged against the fear of man I. THE PERSONS . 1. Those who “ know righteousness.” 2. They have the law of God in their heart. II. THE ADDRESS MADE TO THEM. “ Hearken unto Me,” etc. 1. Let us remember who is the speaker of these words. 2. The address may be considered as containing an encouraging exhortation enforced by powerful arguments. 3. Consider by what powerful arguments this exhortation is enforced: They who now revile the people of God will quickly be brought to an end. If their malice be not extinguished, yet the means of gratifying it will be no more. They are mortals, and as such they must soon die. 4. On the other hand, “ My righteousness (saith the Lord) shall be for ever, and My salvation from generation to generation.” In vain do ungodly men speak evil of His cause. It shall survive all their attacks; and shall increase, when they who reviled, or opposed it, shall be silent in darkness. In vain are His people reproached. They cannot be really injured by such attempts. (E. Cooper.)Man’ s mortality The matter is not great which they say of us who must be worm’ s meat shortly. (M. Henry.)Futility of human opposition to the Gospel Clouds darken the sun, but give no obstruction to its progress. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 51:9-10 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord The awaking of Zion (with Isaiah 52:1 (a)):--Both these verses are, I think, to be regarded as spoken by one voice, that of the Servant of the Lord. In the one, as Priest and Intercessor, He lifts the prayers of earth to heaven in His own holy hands--and in the other, as Messenger and Word of God, He brings the answer and command of heaven to earth on His own authoritative lips--thus setting forth the deep mystery of His person and double office as mediator between man and God. But even if we set aside that thought the correspondence and relation of the two passages remain the same. In any case they are intentionally parallel in form and connected in substance. The latter is the answer to the former. The cry of Zion is responded to by the call of God. The awaking of the arm of the Lord is followed by the awaking of the Church. He puts on strength in clothing us with His might, which becomes ours. I. We have here a common principle underlying both the clauses, namely, THE IN THE CHURCH’ S HISTORY OF PERIODS OF ENERGY AND OF LANGUOR. It is freely admitted that such alternation is not the highest ideal of growth, either in the individual or in the community. Our Lord’ s own parables set forth a more excellent way--the way of uninterrupted increase. So might our growth be, if the mysterious life in the seed met no checks. But, as a matter of fact, the Church has not thus grown. Rather, at the best, its emblem is to be looked for, not in corn but in the forest tree--the very rings in whose trunk tell of recurring seasons when the sap has risen at the call of spring, and sunk again before the frowns of winter. In our own hearts we have known such times. And we have seen a like palsy smite whole regions and ages of the Church of God. Where is the joyful buoyancy and expansive power with which the Gospel burst into the world? If, then, there be such recurring seasons of languor, they must either go on deepening till sleep becomes death, or they must be broken by a new outburst of vigorous life. And it is by such times that the Kingdom of Christ always has grown. Its history has been one of successive impulses gradually exhausted, as by friction and gravity, and mercifully repeated just at the moment when it was ceasing to advance and had begun to slide downwards. II. THE TWOFOLD OF THESE . That bold metaphor of God sleeping and waking is often found in Scripture, and generally expresses the contrast between the long years of patient forbearance, during which evil things and evil men go on their rebellious road unchecked but by Love, and the dread moment when some throne of iniquity is smitten to the dust. Such is the original application of the expression here. But the contrast may fairly be widened beyond that specific form of it, and taken to express any apparent variations in the forth-putting of His power. We may, then, see here implied the cause of these alternations on its Divine side, and then, in the corresponding verse addressed to the Church, the cause on the human side. 1. As to the former. We have to distinguish between the power, and what Paul calls “ the might of the power.” The one is final, constant, unchangeable. It does not necessarily follow that the other is. The rate of operation, so to speak, and the amount of energy actually brought into play may vary, though the force remains the same. 2. Our second text tells us that if God’ s arm seems to slumber, and really does so, it is because Zion sleeps. He works through us; and we have the solemn and awful power of checking the might which would flow through us. III. THE OF ALL AWAKING IS THE CHURCH’ S EARNEST CRY TO GOD. It is with us as with infants, the first sign of whose awaking is a cry. For every such stirring of quickened religious life must needs have in it bitter penitence and pain at the discovery flashed upon us of the wretched deadness of our past. Nor is Zion s cry to God only the beginning and sign of all true awaking; it is also the condition and indispensable precursor of all perfecting of recovery from spiritual languor. Look at the passionate earnestness of it--and see to it that our drowsy prayers be like it. Look at the grand confidence with which it founds itself on the past, recounting the mighty deeds of ancient days, and looking back, not for despair, but for joyful confidence on the generations of old; and let our faint-hearted faith be quickened by the example, to expect great things of God. IV. THE CALL FROM GOD TO ZION. Our truest prayers are but the echo of God’ s promises. God’ s best answers are the echo of our prayers. As in two mirrors set opposite to each other, the same image is repeated over and over again, the reflection of a reflection, so here, within the prayer, gleams an earlier promise, within the answer is mirrored the prayer. And in that reverberation, and giving back to us of our petition transformed into a command, we are not to see a dismissal of it as if we had misapprehended our true want. The very opposite interpretation is the true one. The prayer of Zion is heard and answered. God awakes, and clothes Himself with might. Then, as some warrior king, himself roused from sleep and girded with flashing steel, bids the clarion sound through the grey twilight to summon the prostrate ranks that lie round his tent, so the sign of God’ s awaking and the first act of His conquering might is this trumpet call--“ The night is far spent, the day is at hand” --“ put off the works of darkness,” the night gear that was fit for slumber--“ and put on the armour of light,” the mail of purity that gleams and glitters even in the dim dawn. Nor is it to be forgotten that this, like all God s commands, carries in its heart a promise. But the main point which I would insist on is the practical discipline which this Divine summons requires from us. 1. The chief means of quickened life and strength is deepened communion with Christ. 2. This summons calls us to the faithful use of the power which, on condition of that communion, we have. So, let us confidently look for times of blessing, penitently acknowledge that our own faithlessness has hindered the arm of the Lord, earnestly beseech Him to come in His rejoicing strength, and, drawing ever fresh power from constant communion with our dear Lord, use it to its last drop for Him. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)The Church s cry and the Divine answer (with Isaiah 52:1):-- I. THE CHURCH’ S CALL ON GOD. “ Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord.” 1. The figure used here is simple enough. The “ arm” is a natural symbol of power, for it is through it that we execute our purpose. If it is benumbed, insensitive, and motionless, we say that it is asleep; but when it is stretched out for action it is awake. And what the prophet pleads for is that some display of Divine power might be granted, such as had once been seen in Egypt, when “ Rahab” (the fierce and boastful power of heathenism) had been broken in pieces and “ the dragon” (or rather the crocodile, the recognized symbol of Egypt) had been sorely wounded. Now, the uses to which we put our arm may, any of them, suggest the actions to which we would summon our God in earnest prayer. The arm of the warrior bears the shield which protects his own body and those of weak and wounded friends lying at his feet; and we want such overshadowing protection against the fiery darts of the wicked. The arm is naturally outstretched to point the way to one who is ignorant and bewildered, and when we are perplexed as to doctrine or duty, we find it is not a vain thing to pray: “ Teach me Thy way, O Lord.” What is needed now, as of old, is the realization and the manifestation of the presence of God in the Person of Christ, His Son; so that now there may come about a true revival of religion, a living, unshakable belief that God is amongst His people of a truth. If only He reveals Himself in and through His Church, sin will be conquered and the world redeemed. 2. The necessity for this prayer arises from the fact that the work which lies before us as Christian Churches cannot be done by human power. II. GOD’ S CALL UPON THE CHURCH. “ Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion,” etc.. God never does for His people what they can do for themselves. 1. The Church is called upon to arouse from slumber--and whether it is the result of despondency, or of indolence, sleep must be shaken off. 2. The Church is also to endue herself with strength, to resume courage, and renew effort with a fresh sense of her responsibility. 3. But let us be thankful that there is room in God’ s heart for quieter service. They who fail to put on strength, can at least put on the. “ beautiful garments” of holiness; and although these should endue the most active worker, they can transform into a saintly witness the solitary sufferer. 4. The Church is summoned here to consecrate herself anew to God. She is represented as a female captive in degrading servitude, whose hour of deliverance has come, and who is to shake herself free from the bands which have held her, and rejoice in new found liberty. It is not only sin which holds the Church in bondage, but sometimes formalism and ceremonialism, and we must beware, lest, with our love for order, we become thereby crippled and hindered. Let us be ready to make any change of mode or organization, to cast off any prejudices, if they prevent successful whole-hearted service for our God, and let us regard this as a time for renewed consecration to Him, to whom we owe ourselves, our time, our all. (A. Rowland, LL. B.)The arm of the Lord invoked I. EXPLAIN WHAT IT IS TO WHICH THE IS . “ O arm of the Lord.” II. THE OBJECTS WHICH THIS . “ Awake, awake,” etc. It is an earnest application on the part of the prophet, that God would come forth as He had done in former periods. We may refer to a number of great events, of which the people of old could scarcely form an idea. We remember what God did in the fulness of time when He sent His Son into the world to restore mankind. We remember what He did on the hill of Calvary. We remember what He did when He “ raised Him up from the dead, and set Him on His own right hand, and gave Him to be head over all things to the Church.” We remember what He did on the Pentecostal day, when He sent down His Holy Spirit. After allusion has thus been made to the former displays of the Divine power, there is an evident contrast as to what was the state of things in the prophet’ s day. There seemed to be a suspension of this energy; the heritage of God was wasted, His truth was insulted, His worship was slighted, His requirements were contemned. And what is it we want? We want His power to accompany the preaching of the Word. It must be remembered that there is no manifestation of the Divine power so glorious as that which is seen in the extension of the Gospel, and its power on the souls of men. III. THE WE HAVE TO BELIEVE THE SHALL BE . 1. Consider the care of God over the Church in past ages of the world. 2. From the character of God as the hearer and answerer of prayer. 3. From the nature of the promises recorded in the sacred pages. (J. Parsons.)Prayer for national prosperity, and for the revival of religion, inseparably connected I. THE IMPORT OF THIS PRAYER. “ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord!” In general such a petition as this suggests to us that our prayers for Divine interposition and deliverance from public calamities should be supremely directed to the glory of God. A just regard to the glory of God in our prayers implies the two following things: 1. That we expect deliverance from God alone, desire that it may be attended with such circumstances as His hand and power may be seen in it, and are willing to acknowledge Him as the supreme and only Author of it. 2. We ought also to pray for a dispensation of His grace and mercy that a revival of religion may accompany temporal relief. (1) We have no warrant to ask the last of these without the first. (2) We have no reason to expect that it will be separately bestowed. (3) If it should, in any degree, it would not he a blessing but a curse. II. THE TO PRAYER. “ Awake as in the ancient days, as in the generations of old,” etc. The prophet animates his faith, and encourages his own dependence, and that of others, upon the promises of God, by celebrating the greatness of His power, as manifested in former memorable deliverances granted to His chosen people. Consider the effect of such a view upon the mind, and its influence in prayer. 1. It satisfies us of the power of God, and His ability to save. 2. The same view serves to ascertain us of the mercy of God, and His readiness to help us in distress. III. APPLY THE TRUTHS on this subject to our own present situation as to public affairs. Let us remember that we serve an unchangeable God. (J. Witherspoon, D.D.)Christ the arm of God Christ is here called the arm of the Lord. The arm of the Lord means God in action. The grand purposes of redemption, conceived in eternity, were dead thought, if lawful so to speak, in the mind of God, until they were revealed in Christ, the executor of the thoughts of the Godhead. Christ was ever called the Logos, the expression of Divinity. When the hand is spoken of in the Bible, it means the exact working of God in nature, providence and grace. The arm is that which sends the hand into action. “ The outstretched arm” is the far-reaching power of God. By the right hand or arm of God we are to understand a more special and dazzling display of God’ s power. In all instances the hand or arm of God means Christ. The prophet appeals to the past, “ Awake, as in the ancient days,” etc. In the context he looks to the future and catches glimpses of the glory of the Advent, and he cries, It is the arm of God! The text is an invocation for Christ to come in the Advent. This arm of God is the revelation-- I. OF GOD’ S GLORY. II. OF HIS SAVING POWER. It is an arm that can reach everywhere. There is no height so high or depth so deep as to be beyond its reach to save. III. A OF GOD. It means the revealing of God in creation, in providence, in redemption, in the family in the closet, in the soul, in death, at the judgment, in eternity, where it will secure the eternal triumph of those whose faith will then merge into sight. Conclusion: 1. What are your relations to this arm of God? Has it been to you only an object of wonder as the bow in the clouds, or has it been an arm bared to the shoulder, entwined about you, filled with a vitality which it imparted to you as it defended and lifted you? 2. Have you thought what this arm hath wrought for you? How it suffered itself to De shorn of its strength that you might be strong! 3. Have you not thought of the final triumph of that arm? (N. Schenck, D.D.)Thy strength! my strength (with Isaiah 52:1):-- 1. Everything seemed to have gone against the exile. Life had no longer for him a programme, but only a retrospect; no longer a radiant hope, but only a fading reminiscence; no longer an alluring vision, but only a distinguished history. Here he lay in captivity; the songs of Zion had fled from his lips, and his mouth was filled with wailing and complaint. “ The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.” “ Where is He that brought us up out of the sea with the Shepherd of His flock? Where is He that put His Holy Spirit within us?” And now and again the exile half-turned himself in angry, hopeless cry, “ Oh, that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, that Thou,, wouldst come down!” And again he relapsed into the low and cheerlees moan: “ My Lord hath forgotten me.” And yet again he pierced the heaven with his searching supplication: “ Awake, awake, put on Thy strength, O arm of the Lord, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. 2. What will be the Lord’ s reply to the cry of the exile? Here it is: “ Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion!” The Divine response is a sharp retort. “ It is not thy God who sleepeth! It is thou thyself who art wrapt about in a sluggish and consuming indolence! Thou art crying out for more strength; but what of the strength thou hast? Thy trumpet is silent, and thine armour is rusting upon the walls! Thou art like a vagrant asking for help, when thou hast a full purse hidden between the covers of an idle bed! Thou art pleading for reinforcements, and thy soldiers are on the couch! Thy prayer is the supplication of a man who is not doing his best! Clothe thyself in thy present powers, consecrate thine all to the purpose of thy prayer, and stand forth in battle array.” I need not say that there is nothing in the Lord s response which disparages the ministry of prayer. It does, however, tend to put prayer in its right place, and to give a true apprehension of its purpose and ministry. Prayer is not a talisman, to be used as an easy substitute for our activity and vigilance. Prayer is a ministry in which our own powers can be quickened into more vigorous and healthy service. God has given us certain endowments. Certain talents are part of our original equipment. We are possessed of powers of judgment, of initiative, of sympathy; and the primary implication of all successful prayer is that these powers are willingly placed upon the altar of sacrifice. Any prayer is idle when these powers are indolent. We too frequently pray to be carried like logs, and it is the Lord’ s will that we should contend like men! The principle is this--our “ strength” must back our supplications. Is the backing always present? (1) Take the matter of our personal salvation. Every one is conscious how immature he is in the Divine life we know how dim is our spiritual discernment. We know how few and infrequent are our brilliant conquests, and how many and common are our shameful defeats. And again and again we supplicate the Almighty: “ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord!” Is it possible that the response of the Lord, may be the retort of the olden days: “ Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion” ? We are so prone to divide the old psalmist’ s counsel, and to pay heed to one part and to ignore the other. “ Bring unto the Lord glory!” And so we do! We bring our glorias, our doxologies, our hymns, and our anthems, and we do well, but it is a maimed and lifeless offering if, with the glory, we do not bring our strength. “ Bring unto the Lord glory and strength!” It is in this lacking of strength in our personal religion that we are so woefully deficient. We need to bring to our religion more strength of common-sense--more inventiveness, more fertility of ideas, more purpose, more steady and methodical persistence. And we need to bring a more commanding strength of will. So many of us would like to be saints without becoming soldiers, and the desire can never be attained. Let me tell you a story. Two little “ girls” in the same class, one at the top and, the other at the bottom. The one at the bottom consults the one at the top. “ How is it that you are always at the top of the class?” “ Oh, I ask Jesus to help me!” “ Then I will do the same,” said the undistinguished member, and she forthwith put the counsel into practice. Next day their relative positions were unaltered, one at the top, and the other at the bottom. The consultation is renewed. “ I thought you said that Jesus would help me, and here I am at the bottom again!” “ Well, so He will, but how long did you work?” “ Oh, I never opened a book!” (2) Take the matter of the salvation of the home. We have interceded for our little ones at the throne of grace. Are we putting our “ strength” into the salvation of the home? I do not know a better pattern of a home than Charles Kingsley’ s, but he brought his strength to its creation. It was a home whose moral atmosphere was like the air on Alpine heights, home in which, in all perplexities, the only referendum was the Lord Himself, a home all of whose ministries were clothed in grace and beauty. I shall never forget hearing a long conversation between two men, one of whom had inquired of the other the size of his family. “ I have ten,” he said. “ What a responsibility!” replied the other. To which there came at once the glad response: “ And what a privilege, for they are all workers on the side of God.” (3) There is the matter of social redemption. How often have we prayed for the city: “ Awake, awake, lint on strength, O arm of the Lord!” And still, I think, there comes the Divine retort, “ Put on thy strength, O Zion!” We abuse the privilege of prayer when we make it a minister of personal evasion and neglect. That is my message. There is no true prayer without a full consecration. (J. H. Jowett, M.A.) Isaiah 51:11 Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return Great deliverances The return of the light of morning after the darkness of the night; of a fine summer after a cold and cheerless winter; of health and strength after a season of sickness and pain, is refreshing and delightful, and demands the gratitude of the heart. The deliverance of a nation from temporal slavery or subjection has often kindled a fire in the breast of the patriot, the painter, the poet and the historian; but what are all earthly blessings when compared with those which are spiritual and eternal? (New Irish Pulpit.)The present and future joy of the redeemed of the Lord There is the greatest harmony throughout the whole Bible, and its glowing descriptions of future events have always some relation to the spiritualizing effects of the Gospel of Christ. 1. Who can with such propriety be called the redeemed of the Lord, as they whom He has delivered from the power as well as penalty of sin? 2. Who again can with such propriety be ca]led the redeemed of the Lord, as they whom He ransoms from that all-conquering foe, who puts all things under his feet? 3. But must the soul lie insensible with the body until this general redemption? Must ages pass before the redeemed of the Lord enjoy a foretaste of their redemption? No! “ To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” 4. But are there not some considerations, to be taken by us into account on this subject? Is there not some blessing--a blessing beyond all other blessings, which makes these a matter of everlasting joy to the redeemed of the Lord? In bringing many sons to glory Jesus has been made perfect through sufferings; He has made reconciliation for sin. (W. M. Harte.)The joy of the ransomed No New Testament utterance could be more beautiful than this picturing of the return of the redeemed of the Lord to Zion. 1. It points, at the outset, to the grounds of their confidence and joy. They are ransomed travellers: they have found the “ righteousness” and the “ salvation” spoken of at the commencement of the chapter. They go, on their pilgrim way exulting in Him whose arm “ hath wounded the dragon” --the “ Man of God’ s right hand,” who in His cross and passion hath“ destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” They are more than conquerors through Him that loved them. 2. They are further here truthfully represented, even in the course of their journey through the wilderness, as filled “ with peace and joy in believing,” “ abounding in hope.” The Christian is a joyful man. Though it be a wilderness he treads, and though sorrow and mourning are also depicted as tracking his footsteps, yet he has elements of tranquil happiness within him which make the song, not the tear, the appropriate exponent of his thoughts and emotions. It were strange, indeed, were it otherwise. At peace with God; sin forgiven; the heart changed; the affections elevated; grace moulding, sustaining, quickening, sanctifying; and, rising above all, the assured hope of glory hereafter. 3. The words, too, seem to tell of an ever-augmenting joy. As the portals of glory draw nearer, the song,, deepens in melody and strength. They come to. Zion “ with singing;” then “ everlasting joy is on their head. Then, they obtain a new anointing of “ gladness;” and finally “ sorrow and mourning” --these two companions of the wilderness-rise on their sombre, gloomy wings, and speed away for ever! (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)Journey and song I. A PEOPLE. II. THE OF THE LORD AS . III. THE OF THE LORD AS SINGERS. (J. M. Blackie, LL.B.) Isaiah 51:12-13I, even I, am He that comforteth you Divine comfort is strength They prayed for the operations of His power (Isaiah 51:9); He answers them with the consolations of His grace, which may well be accepted as an equivalent. (M. Henry.)Our true Comforter I. THE LORD ALL WHO TRUST HIM, BY HIS . It is a delight to know that if the Almighty be a king, He is seated on a throne of grace, to which every man is at liberty to: come; but it is a much more comforting consolation to know that the Lord does not wish to be known to us as our king; it is His desire for us to approach Him as our Father. If you gather the record of all the good and lovable fathers who have ever existed, and can imagine them welded into one being, you will have some idea of our Heavenly Father. II. THE LORD US, BY HIS . Have you thought what it means, in prayer, when you close your eyes? III. THE LORD US, BY PROVING HIS LOVE. Perhaps you may have sinned grievously, and, though you have repented, and are struggling bravely, the unfeeling world may point its finger of scorn; but do not despair. Listen to the voice of your Heavenly Father, “ I, even I, am He that comforteth you I” IV. THE LORD US, BY SHOWING THAT HE GOVERNS ALL THINGS. Fear hath torment, and it is the parent of all our cares and anxieties. (W. Birch.)Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man?-- The comparative fear of God and man I. There are TWO PARTIES here spoken of--man that shall die, “ the son of man that shall be made as grass;” and “ the Lord our Maker, that stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth.” It appears to be a main object of the Scriptures, elsewhere as in the text, to set in the most vivid contrast with each other the meanness, the emptiness, the nothingness of man; and the all-sufficiency, the majesty, and the glory of God. II. In the common intercourse of the world, THE FORMER OF THESE PARTIES, RATHER THAN THE LATTER, IS THE OBJECT OF , RESPECT AND FEAR. Indeed, the whole system of society seems founded on the principle that human sanctions are above Divine. III. THE MEANING OF THAT WITH WHICH THESE WORDS , “ WHO ART THOU?” 1. The inquiry seems to have been primarily addressed to those whose prevailing fear of man was the result rather of weakness under trying circumstances, than of carnal blindness and depravity of heart. It seems intended for the encouragement of God’ s people when threatened with dangers, and particularly when harassed by the terrors which cruel enemies inspire. 2. But in another sense, and with far different emphasis, does it apply to those who, in the genuine spirit of the world, and with the full agreement of the will, pay that homage to man which the deliberately refuse to God. Well may it be said to such, in a tone of mingled indignation and surprise, “ Who art thou?” (H. Woodward, M.A.)Fear of man removed by reflecting upon God If, being children of God, by faith in Jesus Christ, we duly reflected on our “ high calling,” and wisely valued our privileges, we should certainly neither stand so much in awe of one another, nor be so guilty as we are of forgetfulness of the Almighty. I. “ WHO ART THOU?” The question was put to Israel, with reference, not to what they were in themselves--in dependence upon their own strength or holiness; for they were weak and miserable offenders, suffering the punishment of their offences; conquered, and carried into exile by heathen enemies; friendless and hopeless: but it referred to Jehovah s choice of them as a peculiar people, to their experience of the Divine protection, and their covenanted right in the Divine promises. And, without reference to God, and His salvation, what can be the answer of any human being to the question, “ Who, or what art thou?” --nothing, and less than nothing; a vapour, that is exhaled and is not; an atom, that perishes and is forgotten; a sinful and miserable being, the child of perdition, “ at his best estate altogether vanity.” It is not so, however, that God sees us. He beholds all things here below in His blessed Son. Redemption enables every believer to return a lofty answer to the inquiry, “ Who art thou?” II. If such be a correct draught of the reply which the faithful Christian can make to the question, “ Who art thou?” THE , THE OF HIS TO THE FEAR OF MAN IS . 1. It saps the vital strength of the Christian character, in undermining our faith. I cannot truly believe in God, as He has revealed Himself, and yet stoop to this fear. 2. It leads men to vain ,and unworthy expedients--to trust in the “ arm of flesh” and in “ refuges of lies.” 3. Carnal fear is the very worst form of that unreasonable care and anxiety, against the encroachments of which our Lord cautions, us. 4. “ But,” asks the prophet, “ who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid? Art not thou--thou, the child of God--of so high a dignity, of a strain and lineage so glorious, that thou oughtest not to be suspected of so degrading a passion as ignoble fear? III. ALWAYS WITH FEAR OF MAN, IS OF GOD. (R. Cattermole, B.D.)God more to be feared than man That of two evils the greatest is most to be feared, is a self-evident principle, which, as soon as it is proposed, commands our assent; that he who can inflict a greater evil “ IS” more to be dreaded than he who can inflict only a less, is an immediate consequence of that self-evident principle; that the Lord our Maker, who hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, is armed with greater power, and can inflict greater and more durable evils than “ man who shall die, and the son of man who shall be made as grass,” is more forcibly expressed than if it were in direct terms declared in the expostulation of the text: that man therefore is not to be feared, and that God is; or that man is not to be feared in comparison with God; not equally to be feared with Him; not at all to be feared, when the fear of man would betray us to do things inconsistent with the fear of God, and such as would argue us to have forgotten “ the Lord our Maker,” is a truth as clearly, plainly and fully demonstrable as any proposition in mathematics. I. It is certain mater of fact, that IN THE CONDUCT OF OUR LIVES WE ARE MORE AWED BY THE FEAR OF MAN THAN WE ARE BY THE FEAR OF GOD. This is proved from experience and observation. As evident as it is, that men commit those sins in secret which they dare not commit openly; that they take more care to appear religious than really to be religious; that in a licentious age they are afraid to own themselves to be under the influences of religion; that they commit greater sins to hide less; that they choose rather obstinately to persist in an error, than to own they were in the wrong; that they choose rather to break the laws of God than to be out of fashion; that they are time-servers, and play fast and loose with their principles, in order to secure or to promote their interest; that they “ make shipwreck of their faith” when storms arise, and fall away in times of persecution; so evident is it, that in the conduct of their lives they are more swayed by the fear of men than they are by the fear of God. II. INQUIRE HOW THIS COMES TO PASS. 1. As to the case of habitual, profligate, daring sinners, their conduct in this matter is easily accounted for. By a constant, uninterrupted course of sinning they have worn out all sense of religion, all notions of God, all apprehensions of a future state, and a judgment to come. 2. Every disciple of Christ is not so great a proficient in the doctrine of the Cross, as to reach up to that fulness of stature in Christ to which St. Paul was arrived, when he could, without arrogance, declare his undaunted courage and resolution of mind in that magnanimous, but sincere, profession, which we find him making, “ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” etc. 3. If persecution is proved to be so strong a temptation, and the faith of the generality of Christians is so weak, it is no great matter of surprise, that men should often yield to the violence of such pressing trials, and should be overawed into sinful compliances, by the fear of those evils, which, though they bear no proportion to the wrath of God, that shall be revealed in the last day, are yet strong enough to betray the succours which reason and religion offer. 4. But still what account can be given why men venture the loss of their immortal souls, to avoid evils of a much less magnitude; such as are shame, disrepute, the displeasure of superiors, the dislike of equals, or even sometimes the disapprobation of inferiors? The best account I am able to give of such extravagant and unjustifiable conduct is this: the sins to which men are drawn by such slight temptations are not usually of that heinous kind, as those are to which they are tempted by the terrors of greater evils; as the temptation is mush weaker, me the aims to which they are tempted are much lighter: though therefore they cannot plead the violence of the temptation, yet they are apt to hope, that the sins into which they are so easily betrayed, being not of the deepest die, will the sooner be blotted out. III. SHOW THE EXTREME FOLLY AND OF IT. By the order of nature our passions ought to be under the government of reason; by the laws of God they ought to be subject to the rules of religion. Our reason tells us, that the greatest evils are most to be feared; our religion teaches us, that the evils to come are exceedingly greater than any we can feel at present: both reason, therefore, and religion agree to condemn the avoiding lesser evils, by running into greater, which we always so, when out of fear to offend men we presume to sin against God. IV. GIVE SOME RULES HOW WE MAY CONQUER THIS VICIOUS AND FEAR OF MAN. 1. We fear men more than God, because the evils threatened by men are apprehended to be nearer than those threatened by God. To weaken the force of this motive to the fear of men, we should consider that this apprehension of ours may be false; for though the sentence of God against evil works is not always executed speedily, yet the judgments of God do sometimes seize upon the sinner, even in the very act of sinning. But allowing them to be as yet far removed, and to advance with the slowest pace, yet the disproportion which they bear to the sorest evils men can inflict, is so great, that if we view them together, the “ treasures of wrath which are laid up against the day of wrath” cannot appear light and inconsiderable, notwithstanding their present distance. But to take away all danger of our being imposed upon by viewing them as far remote, we ought in our thoughts to bring them nearer to us. 2. It will be further expedient for us to strengthen our good resolutions by considering those supports which we may expect from God, if we bravely bear up against those trials by which our virtue is, at any time, assaulted. The same power of God which will be manifested in our punishment, if we give way to the vicious fear of men, will exert itself in our assistance, that we may effectually overcome it. Having, therefore, these threats and promises of the Lord, let us act like men who are endued with reason, and like Christians who are strong in faith. (Bp. Smalridge.)Foolish and impious fears I. THE OF THOSE FEARS. It is a disparagement to us to give way to them. In the original the pronoun is feminine, “ Who art thou, O woman;” unworthy the name of a man, such a weak and womanish thing is it to give way to perplexing fears. It is absurd-- 1. To be in such a dread of a dying man. 2. To fear “ continually every day” (Isaiah 51:13); to put ourselves upon a constant rack, so as never to be easy, nor have any enjoyment of ourselves. Now and then a danger may be imminent and threatening, and it may be prudence to fear it; but to be always in a toss, to tremble at the shaking of every leaf, is to make ourselves all our lifetime subject to bondage, and to bring upon ourselves that sore judgment which is threatened Deuteronomy 28:66-67). 3. To fear beyond what there is cause for. Thou art afraid of “ the fury of the oppressor.” It is true there is an oppressor, and he is furious. He designs, it may be, when he has an opportunity, to do thee mischief, and it will be thy wisdom, therefore, to stand upon thy guard; but thou art afraid of him “ as if he were ready to destroy,” as if he were just now going to cut thy throat and there were no possibility of preventing, it. A. timorous spirit is thus apt to make the worst of everything, and sometimes God is pleased presently to show us the folly of it. “ Where is the fury of the oppressor?” It is gone in an instant, and the danger is over ere thou art aware. His heart is turned, or his hands are tied. II. THE IMPIETY OF THOSE FEARS. Thou “ forgettest the Lord, thy Maker,” etc. Our inordinate fearing of man is an implicit forgetting of God. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 51:13 And forgettest the Lord thy Maker God the Creator What is it to create the heavens and the earth? Who has seen the process of creation? I see a man shape a piece of iron or of wood into a useful instrument, and the process seems simple enough. But here I see the hand that works and the material on which it works. But that is not creation--creation out of nothing. I see no hand shaping the trees and hills; I never see something rising out of nothing. I can watch the growth of a flower, as I can the building of a house. And I know that in the former case, as in the latter, there is some force in activity. But force is not God. Behind that force God is still hidden, and the mysterious question remains, Who is He! More mysterious still when I have to reflect that millions of flowers an the world over are being formed, and that a similar force is in operation through all the worlds of boundless space. And everywhere behind this force God is. God is my Maker too. I eat and drink, I live and grow, and feel the energy of life. And that, too, is God. So near to me--so immeasurably distant; and yet nowhere visible. How, then, shall I think of Him, and answer to my heart the question, Who is God? (S. Edger, B.A.) Isaiah 51:16 And I have put My words in thy mouth The seed-corn of a new world The words in their mouth are the seed-corn of a new world in the midst of the old. (F. Delitzsch, D.D.)Commissioned, endowed, preserved Like the first creation, the new is a gradual process, advancing from age to age. I. IN THIS WORK GOD EMPLOYS HIS . When it is said, “ That I may plant,” etc., it is obvious that it is through Israel the work is to be 1 Corinthians 3:9). II. FOR THIS WORK GOD ARMS HIS . “ I have put My words in thy mouth.” III. FOR THIS WORK AND IN IT GOD HIS . “ I have covered thee,” etc. (W. Guthrie, M.A.) Isaiah 51:17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem Brighter time for exiled Israel: Jerusalem is pictured as a woman, prostrate through misfortune, lying helplessly as though drunken, on the roadside, her sons unable to guide or assist her: but she is to stand up; the past is now solemnly reversed. ; and the cup of “ reeling” which she has drunk is to be given to them that afflicted her (Isaiah 51:17-23). (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)A call to abandon despair It is a call to awake, not so much out of the sleep of sin (though that also is necessary, in order to their being ready for deliverance), as out of the stupor of despair. (M. Henry.)The cup of trembling. The cup of trembling Such a cup is sooner or later placed in all our hands. Some may ask us, indeed, if Christianity is not a religion of joy? Yes! But it is not a religion of hilarity. The Christian life is the reproduction of the Master’ s image in the world! And as He was the Man of Sorrows, so beneath all there will be tribulation in our hearts, even when we share the legacy of the Master’ s joy! The cup must be taken. The red wine is poured out by the good hand, and the child with bowed knee and bruised heart says, “ Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy sight.” Good in the sight which sees the end from the beginning, which culminates in the ultimate issues of glory and reward. I. THE OF THE PRESENT LIFE CREATES A SPIRIT OF . We are in a world of instability and uncertainty. Tremendous possibilities are involved in our daily lives. Health is so soon undermined. Disaster so suddenly comes. This life needs indeed a Brother and a Saviour. There must be with the Christian an element of sobriety in all human joys. II. THE ALL- OF CREATES A SPIRIT OF . Vain self-confidence is contemptible. III. THE LAW OF ON OTHERS CREATES A SPIRIT OF . 1. Illness comes, and we are dependent on the wisdom of the physician and the watchfulness of the nurse; great risk comes, and we are dependent on the command of the captain and the sobriety of the crew; or we need the safety of the wisest jurisprudence, and we are dependent on the carefulness of the lawyer and the skill of the counsel. 2. Or we have to take care of others. Wives and children who may presently be alone in the world--alone where there is such eager competition and self-concern, such neglect of the weakest and the neediest; and we must leave our simple savings to directors or to others who may mismanage our affairs, or to trustees who may be false to their trust. And who shall say that this is not to many anxious parents a “ cup of trembling” ! 3. Then we are citizens--men who have vast interest in all that appertains to the life and honour of the fatherland; and all these, representatively, we have to leave in the hands of men, who may through pride or ambition risk the nation s highest weal. 4. Then we are living souls, dependent on the great law of moral influence around us to a much greater extent than we think. And we cannot altogether escape from the contagion of the fashion of this present world. IV. THE NEAR OF THE GREAT ACCOUNT CREATES A SPIRIT OF . Have you ever thought how nearness affects you? Disease in a near city--in your city--m your street--next door to your house! Have you ever thought how even the judgment of earth, as it comes nearer and nearer, affects the indifference of the criminal? But I am supposing that we are Christians. We have an account to render of life’ s stewardship. Into each of our hands God has placed the cup of personality, responsibility and accountability; and now, after a long time, “ the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them.” This is no mere figure of speech. V. THE SEASON OF TO THE DIVINE WILL CREATES A SPIRIT OF . We can in no sense ever feel this as Christ our Lord and Master did. But though in this He stands alone, His whole earthly history was a spectacle of submission. Every man must bear his own burden, must drink his own cup. But Christ’ s comfort is ours! With trembling heart we seek the quiet pavilion of our Father. Better anything than a God-emptied life. Christ our Brother and Saviour alone can succour us in hours of submission. (W. M. Statham.) Isaiah 51:22 Thus saith thy Lord God our Advocate How can God be both judge and advocate? Maybe Isaiah would have said, “ I see it not clearly myself yet.” But the riddle is all explained when you bear in mind the distinction of the persons in the Godhead. He pleads His people’ s cause for them by the Son, and in them by the Holy Ghost. This wonderful title, “ God that pleadeth the cause of His people,” has been already vindicated in the history of Israel. But what is it God pleads? We may go very much astray unless we emphasize that word “ cause.” It is not, He pleadeth the whims of His people. Everything that I may want or like God is not going to provide. That word “ cause” means the strife, the battle, the controversy. The Church of God is just the expression of a great conflict that has been going on for ages. I want to show you how Jesus has pleaded the cause of His people, and He has done it in different courts. I. He pleaded the cause of His people first in the COURT OF that was situated at Golgotha. As to proving men innocent, that is impossible; they are guilty and condemned and yet Christ steps forward and says, “ I will plead their cause.” And He stood in my place and yours, and pleaded our cause: but pleading our cause took Him to the Cross and into the tomb. II. Having pleaded my cause in the court of judgment, He now pleads my cause IN THE COURT OF LAW AND JUSTICE. It is not enough for a soul to be free from sin; that is the negative side. How can any man enter heaven apart from righteousness? I will suppose for a moment that this difficulty is raised in court. Yes, the past sin is atoned for; but where is the man’ s righteousness? I say, “ Oh, my Lord, Thou who didst plead for me just now, plead again!” and I hear Him say, “ I lived the life of perfect righteousness, I obeyed the law in every jot and tittle, I had Thy word hidden in My heart.” And the answer comes, “ The plea is perfect: sinner, thou art not only forgiven, thou art justified; thy God hath pleaded thy cause.” III. Jesus now pleads my cause IN HEAVEN ITSELF. If I am a saint, I am sure to pray, but being an earthly saint I am sure to pray very badly; being a believer, I am sure to sing, but having an earthly nature I am sure there are many low grovelling notes. How are my prayers to enter heaven? how are my prayers to be accepted? He who pleaded my cause on Golgotha, and He who pleaded my cause in the court of law, He now as High Priest pleads my cause before the golden altar. IV. And Jesus has not yet concluded His pleading work. Personally I am looking for a day that is yet to dawn when JESUS WILL PLEAD ON BEHALF OF HIS PEOPLE THAT THEY MAY RECEIVE ALL THE RIGHTS OF . V. I have only dealt thus far with the Father and the Son, but it is the whole Trinity that pleads the cause of His people, and therefore our final point is this, that whilst Jesus has pleaded for me at Golgotha and does plead for me yonder in the court of Heaven, THE HOLY GHOST IS MY CAUSE WITHIN. (A. G. Brown.)The Advocate on high How majestic are these appellations; and if we mark the variation of the appearance of the word “ Lord,” it opens to our view at once a fund of information and comfort which would be lost if that were overlooked. The first time the word is used, thy “ Lord,” the translators have given it to us in small letters, simply signifying a sovereign ruler and governor. The second time they have given it in capital letters, which method they adopted to distinguish the word “ Jehovah” from the word “ Adonai,” or Lord. When the word “ Jehovah” presents itself to our view, we are at once filled with a consciousness of the presence of a self-existent Being, giving being to all, deriving being from none, with all worlds at His command, and all creatures under His sway. And then to have the sovereign governor, the self-existent Deity, presented to our view in His covenant character as “ thy God,” is peculiarly sweet. There is a sevenfold preciousness in this introduction which Jehovah gives of Himself to the notice of His people, and that, too, under circumstances particularly affecting; because what the Lord was about to say to them was just called for by the exigencies in which they were placed. I. THE that are employed. “ Thy Lord;” “ THE LORD;” “ thy God.” II. OUR CLAIM TO AN IN THEM, as warranted by Scripture. I will refer to the infinite perfections of the Deity to be claimed by the poor worm of the earth. What, I allowed to claim Omniscience, Omnipotence to watch over me, Omnipresence to be my company, Immutability to be my security, eternity the open prospect for me! What, I view all the perfections and attributes of the Deity, such as His justice, His holiness, His truth, His mercy, His faithfulness, everlastingly pledged for my salvation? This is something solid. What is requisite to prove the claim? You will find substantial proof nowhere but in spiritual life imparted to the soul. III. THE TO. “ That pleadeth the cause of His people.” 1. Let us first glance at the Divine, the sacred office assumed, as stated the text, “ If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” That glorious Advocate is wise, faithful, condescending, affectionate. 2. The extraordinary nature of the cause of God’ s people. (1) There are three points in the pleading of the cause that must be kept in view. God pleads thy cause. Precious Advocate! (2) Moreover, He hath to plead for His people among the heathen; and this is implied in the text. When the people of Israel old transgressed by idolatries and superstitions, by departures from God, and mingling with the heathen, Jehovah sent them into captivity, allowed their enemies to break in upon them, and to desolate their city and temple. And the heathen mocked them. “ Where now is your God? Where is the God you serve? Do you think the King of glory can regard such beings as you?” But Jehovah pleads His own cause, and vindicates His own honour among the heathen. (3) But there is a worse feature relative to the cause, and that is rebellion in the heart of His own people. 3. The legal process. The only great mark of the legal process is for God’ s holiness to be vindicated. Then the process must be by exacting or by surety; and it must be by His life of obedience and His death of ignominy. If the legal process be pleading with the guilty, ruined sinner, there are two or three things I shall name. (1) He is apprehended. (2) He is accused. (3) He is acquitted. Acquitted, but He is condemned first. (J. Irons.). Isaiah 52:1-6 Awake, awake The essential elements of a Church’ s strength I. THE OF . I use the word constitution in a legitimate sense, as including both the creed and the polity of a Church. 1. The creed. As a man’ s life is the outcome of what he believes, or does not believe, precisely so is the Church’ s. But is not the Bible the acknowledged creed of all the Churches? No; no more than the stars are astronomy, or the flowers botany. The Bible is the source of the creed of all, but it is the creed of none, for the simple reason that the Bible, like every other writing, must be construed; and on many points it cannot be construed in the same way by all. 2. The government. Hers also that which is true of man is true of the Church. An army is stronger than a mob. II. . But a Church is not only obliged to have certain constitutional and other laws, it is also obliged to administer them for the twofold purpose-- 1. Of protecting itself against corruption and disintegration. 2. In order that it may efficiently fulfil its mission of witnessing for Christ, whereunto it was Divinely called. III. OF . 1. Peace. There must be battles with the common enemy, but no battles with itself. 2. Unity. 3. Co-operation. 4. Purity. 5. The Holy Spirit. (R. V. Foster, D.D.)God’ s call to a sleeping Church 1. This chapter is a trumpet-call to holiness. Jerusalem is called the holy city, and yet the passage is full of her sins. She was holy in the intention of God. So we are called not to be famous or wealthy but to be holy. 2. Her condition was characterized by-- (1) Unhallowed intercourse with the world (Isaiah 52:1). The uncircumcised and unclean in her midst. (2) Slavish subserviency to the world (Isaiah 51:23). The moment the world sees Christians turning to it for pleasure or patronage, It becomes a very tyrant, over them. (3) Utter helplessness and impotence. The figure of a “ wild bull in a net” means strength reduced to helplessness by little things. Satan forged fetters of persecutions in early days, now he tries the “ net business.” Many Christians are worthless because caught in a net of little compromises with the world and with conscience. The “ fainting” (verse 20) points to the helplessness of the Christian Church in the presence of the moral and social evils of the day. (4) They were asleep to it all. 3. The man who called “ Awake” to Zion, had previously cried “ Awake” to Isaiah 51:9). 4. To be awakened is not enough. If we go no further we shall go back either into indifference, or into rebellion, or into despair. The call is “ put on thy strength, put on thy beautiful garments.” Garments of praise, cloth of zeal, beautiful covering of humility. In this the Christian must be always arrayed, for we are children of a King, and God wants us always to appear in Court dress. (C. Inwood.)Awake, O Zion “ O Zion!” This is a case in which a place is named for the inhabitants. Leaving what is local and temporary and particular in the reference of these words, we proceed to consider them as addressed by the redeeming God to His Church now, and as calling upon.Christians to arouse themselves and revive, to bestir themselves, and to rise into a state of intelligent and Godlike activity. These words assume the presence of life in the people addressed. Those called to awake are not dead, but they sleep; and they sleep, so far as inactivity is concerned, as though they were dead. I. CERTAIN OBJECTS OF VISION ARE TO THE CHURCH OF GOD, and that these may be kept in view, God saith, “ Awake awake!” Among the objects which we need to see are things behind us; and things before us; such things as are presented by sacred history and by inspired promise and prophecy. But the objects which I would now emphatically name, are ever-existent and ever-present spiritual objects--God our one Father, the Son of God our only Saviour, and the Comforter, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son--especially the Son of God, as the brightness of the Father’ s glory, and as the propitiation which God has set forth. The things we need to see are the wondrous things contained in God’ s Word, things of God and of man, things which accompany salvation, things of angels and of devils, things of Christ, things of the world around us and above us and beneath us. The Church of God maybe awake to lower and inferior things, and may be asleep to these highest things, or, if not asleep, but half awake, so that men seem like trees walking. II. CERTAIN SOURCES OF SUPPLY AND OF AND MEANS OF HELP ARE TO THE CHURCH OF GOD, and that these may be possessed and enjoyed and used, God saith, “ Awake, awake!” III. THERE IS GOOD AND GODLY WORK TO BE DONE BY ZION, therefore God saith, “ Awake, awake.” Zion is like a nursing mother, with her heart full of cares and her hands full of work. Zion is a worshipper, and she has the incense of prayer and the sacrifices of thanksgiving to provide and to offer; Zion is an intercessor, and it is expected that in ceaseless prayer she will keep no silence, nor give the hearer of prayer rest; Zion is an almoner, and it is expected that having freely received she will freely give; Zion is a servant of the most high God, and she is bound to do all that her hands find to do with all her might. Her work is so various that Zion is as a husbandman, and as a builder, and as a vine-dresser. For work and service Zion is Divinely endowed, taught of God that she may teach godliness, consoled by God that she may comfort others, guided by God that she may lift up her voice with strength, and cry to the bewildered and the lost, “ This is the way, walk ye in it.” There are two objects in the sphere of our present thought, toward which the Church of God requires to be faithful and therefore wakeful. 1. Her own endowments. 2. Her opportunities. IV. THERE ARE BATTLES WHICH ZION IS CALLED TO FIGHT, AND TO BE WON WHICH ZION ALONE CAN WIN; therefore God bids Zion awake. Having interpreted the voice, let us note some of its features and characteristics-- 1. The voice that would awaken us is Divine. It is the voice of a Ruler to His subjects, of a Master to His servants, of a Parent to His sons, of a Redeemer to His Redeemed. 2. The voice that would awaken us is powerful and full of majesty, a voice therefore that stirs, and that strengthens while it stirs him who listens to it. S. The voice that would awaken us has in it a tone of reproach. It seems tosay, “ What! Zion asleep! Zion, already and recently quickened from the death of sin? Zion, who can see God, and the things that are eternal? Zion, who can possess the exceeding riches of God’ s grace? Zion, who can handle as her own the things which angels desire to look into? Zion asleep in the day of her work, and in the hour of her conflict?” 4. Yet this is a gracious voice. It is a voice that woos and wins while it stimulates and arouses. 5. The voice that cries, “ Awake, awake,” is the voice of Zion’ s God. There are degrees of wakefulness; and regarding the text as calling us to the most complete open-eyedness and watchfulness, let us arouse ourselves at God’ s bidding. (S. Martin.)The Church asleep Look at this solemn fact--the Church of the living God asleep! Here are they who have been quickened from the death of sin into newness of life, and who have been called to walk with the living God, asleep. The people who are summoned to work in the field of the world, and to labour in the vineyard of the kingdom of heaven, asleep. The only people who can reasonably be expected to be awake and wide-awake, are asleep. Asleep, not in healthful, seasonable, necessary slumber, but asleep in the slumber of the sluggard, or the sleep of the drunkard, or the torpor of one smitten by atrophy or by apoplexy, or of one in a fatal swoon. (S. Martin.)What sends the Church to sleep? The intoxicating draught of some sinful carnal pleasure, or the opiate of some false doctrine, or the quietude of sinful inertness, or the darkness of cherished ignorance, or the monotony of formality, or the syren music of false teaching, hath sent Zion to sleep. (S. Martin.)The sleeping Church Thus sleeping, Zion doth not sympathize with the circumstances by which she is surrounded, she does not see the objects within range of her vision, she does not feel the influences which are moving and working around her, she does not meet the claims made for exertion, she does not enjoy her mercies, or take possession of her lawful inheritance. (S. Martin.)The Church: its strength and its weakness I. The text is a forcible reminder of the fact that THE CHURCH OF GOD, IN ALL AGES, MAY HAVE ITS TIMES OF AS WELL AS ITS TIMES OF POWER. When the Church first went forth from Jerusalem, a little flock, scattered hither and thither by the storm of persecution, it was a time of power. It was then but an infant of days, but it sprang into a giant of strength. It was a day of power when the Church of Christ, as Paul Richter has said, “ lifted empires off their hinges, and turned the stream of centuries out of its channel. But a thousand years roll on, and a time of weakness follows this era of power. The giant sleeps; his strength is put off; he reposes amidst the scarlet trappings and gilded blazonry of the Papacy, and seems to have wilted into a senile imbecility. But again there came a time of power when, on the morning of the Reformation, the Church heard the cry, “ Awake, awake!” and, springing up with renewed youth, it put on its strength. There was a time of weakness when the chill of formalism followed in the track of the Reformation, and the Church sank into the coma of a widespread paralysis; again, when a disguised Romanism riveted her fetters; and still again when the Socinian apostasy spread its blight over Great Britain. But then came times of power when the Church arose in quickened majesty to smite the tyrant with the broken fetters which had eaten into its own soul; and still again, times of wondrous spiritual revival, when the call sounded by Wesley and Whitefield, like the voice of the prophet in the valley of vision, seemed to awake the dead. Why these periods of weakness? The principle is plain: Divine power and human strength must work together, each in its appropriate sphere. As the terror of the iron chariots of the enemy paralyzed the strength of Judah, so that, the human part being wanting, the victory was lost; so, in the Church, if any cause supervenes to weaken, or render ineffective, the strength which God expects us to put forth, He will not depart from His plan, or interpose to save us from the results of our own weakness, or to hide us from the scorn and derision of the world. II. WHAT IS THE OF THE CHURCH, AND WHEN IS IT PUT OFF? In other words, what causes may supervene to weaken or render it ineffective? 1. The first element of power is the Gospel, the Word, the truth of God. If the truth of God is the instrument of power, and the human part of the work is simply its manifestation, then the strength of the Church must be weakened whenever the Gospel is subordinated to human themes. 2. Let us pass to the second element of the Church s power--the ministry. The Church is a giant; the Gospel is the instrument of his work--the weapon of his warfare. But what wields the weapon? The giant’ s arm--this is the ministry. It is not an original power inherent in itself, but adelegated power. This is the power that, beginning at Jerusalem, went forth upon its mission of conquest--that made the heathen cry: “ These men that have turned the world upside down are come hither also!” (1) The ministry, as an arm of power, may be withered by a perfunctory education. (2) The ministry may be ineffective from misdirected effort. (3) The ministry must be a source of weakness instead of power to the Church, if it is not in sympathy with the hearts of the people, and the souls of perishing men. 3. The third and principal element of the Church’ s power is the Holy Ghost. Since, then, the Spirit s power is the strength of the Church, the want of the Spirit is the weakness of the Church. If the Church is not an effective, aggressive power in the world, it is because it puts off or puts away the strength of the Spirit. This is done when we subordinate the Divine Spirit to human agency; when, by organization or by human eloquence, or by methods and appliances, or by running the Church on business principles, we seek to effect that which it is the special office of the Spirit to accomplish. It is greatly to be feared that we put away the strength of the Spirit when the Church--the whole Church, the ministry and the people, fail to realize our profound and absolute dependence upon the power of the Spirit for success in all work. III. Let us listen to GOD’ S CALL TO THE CHURCH TO PUT ON AND TO PUT FORTH HER . How shall we put on this strength? Power with God, in its first element, is the sense of our own weakness. How, then, shall we put on strength? 1. On our knees. 2. Let us put on the strength of the Word, as the apostle did, when he shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God. 3. Let us put on the strength of the ministry, as Paul did when he went forth in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of peace. 4. Let us put on the strength of the Spirit, as the early Church did when it was endued with power from on high. Then shall our work be “ mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strongholds.” (W. M. Paxton, D. D.)“ Awake, Awake!” Let us take the central paragraph first (Isaiah 51:17). There Jerusalem is addressed as stupefied by some intoxicating potion. But her drunkenness is not of wine, nor of strong drink; she has drunk at the hand of the Lord “ the cup of His fury.” Such imagery is often used by the prophets, of the cup of God’ s wrath drunk down by those on whom it descends, and inflicting on them the insensibility and stupefaction with which we are but too familiar as the effect of excessive drinking. The whole city has succumbed under the spell. Her sons have fainted, and lie strewn in all the streets, like antelopes snared in the hunters’ nets, from which their struggles have failed to extricate them. Amid such circumstances, the servant of Jehovah is introduced, crying, “ Awake, awake! stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury.” There are other soporifics than the wrath of God: the air of the enchanted ground; the laudanum of evil companionship; the drugs of worldly pleasure, of absorption in business, of carnal security. The army of the Lord is too apt to put off the armour of light, and resign itself to heavy slumbers, till the clarion voice warns it that it is high time to awake. I. ZION S APPEAL TO GOD. “ Awake, awake! put on strength, O arm of the Lord.” 1. The first symptom of awaking is a cry. It is so with a child. It is so with the soul. When Saul of Tarsus was converted, the heavenly watchers said, “ Behold, he prayeth.” It is so with the Church. 2. The cry in this case was founded on a mistake. If there are variations in our inner life, it is because our rate of reception differs from time to time. It is not God who sleeps, but we. It is not for God to awake, but for us. It is not necessary for the Divine arm to gird on strength, but for the human to take that which is within its easy reach. 3. The cry is short and earnest. Earnestness is good, even though at first it may be in a wrong direction. 4. The best basis for our cry is memory of the past. “ Art thou not it that cut Rahab (i.e., Egypt)in pieces, that pierced the dragon” (i.e., of the Nile)? It is well to quote past experiences as arguments for faith. 5. The arm of God is strong (Isaiah 51:13). 6. The arm of God is far-reaching. However low we sink, underneath are the everlasting arms. 7. The arm of God is tender (Isaiah 51:12). II. THE APPEAL TO ZION. It is blessed to be awaked out of sleep. Life is passing by so rapidly; the radiant glory of the Saviour may be missed unless we are on the alert, or we may fail to give Him the sympathy He needs, and an angel will be summoned to do our work. Besides, the world needs the help of men who give no sleep to their eyes nor slumber to their eyelids, but are always eager to help it in its need. Being awake, we shall discover two sets of attire awaiting us. The first is strength, the other beauty; and each has its counterpart in the New Testament (Ephesians 6:1-24; Colossians 3:1-25). Put on the whole armour of God. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ--His temper, spirit, and character. 1. We must put on our beautiful garments. We cannot weave these. We are not able to spin such a cocoon out of our own nature, nor are we required to do so. They are all prepared for us in Jesus; we have only to put them on, by putting Him on. This can only be done when the heart is at leisure. 2. We must put on strength. We are not bidden to purchase strength, or generate it by our resolutions, prayers, and agonizings: but to “ put it on.” It is already prepared, and only awaits appropriation. 3. We must expect to be delivered from the dominion of sin. Babylon had been bidden to descend from her throne and sit in the dust; Jerusalem is commanded to arise from the dust and sit on her throne. (F. B. Meyer, B.A.)A call to exertion I. THE WHICH JUSTIFY THIS APPEAL. 1. It is obvious that the passage assumes the possession of sufficient strength for accomplishing the end designed. As to effectual agency, all things are of God. With respect to our own province, that of instrumental action--our strength is ample, though the conversion of the world be the object of it. But wherein does our strength for the reconciliation of the world consist? Strength, in all cases, is the possession of adapted and sufficient means. Now the means of converting a sinner is the truth of the Gospel. Is Divine truth adapted and sufficient to this end? To this point inspired testimony is most direct and express. Matters of fact bring us to the same point. If any attempt should be made to evade the argument, by referring to the necessity of Divine influence, we reply that Divine influence is undoubtedly necessary to give the Gospel success. But it is also necessary to give success to the use of means in every other case. If there be in our hands adapted and sufficient means for bringing about the universal triumphs of the Gospel, there is manifest justice in the stirring appeal by which we are roused into action. “ Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion!” Persons who would reply to such a call, “ What is the use of telling me to labour?--it is God who must do everything,” would merely subject themselves to a severe reproof, and a direct charge of making their pretended want of power a pretext for their love of sloth. 2. The text assumes the existence of inadequate exertion. It is appropriate only to a state of comparative indolence and slumber. The language calls not for a partial, but for an entire employment of our resources. “ Put on thy strength.” The meaning cannot be less than this: The scenes which are in prospect will require your utmost efforts; the victory will be quite as much as you will be able to win; put into requisition, therefore, all your powers, and exert your whole strength. II. THE TOPICS BY WHICH THIS CALL MAY BE . 1. Notice the interesting character of the object to be attained. The end contemplated in the text was personally and directly interesting to the parties addressed. Zion was called to exert herself for her own triumphs. It was for their restoration to the land of their fathers that the slumbering exiles were summoned to awake. We also should remember that the triumphs of Christianity are our triumphs, and the increase of the Church is our enlargement. Are we willing that the Church should continue to be small and despised, or do we really wish to see her arrayed in celestial beauty, and the joy of the whole earth? The interests of Zion are identified with those of a guilty and perishing world. The advancement of Zion is identified with the glory of her Lord. 2. The proximity of the most blessed results. Triumphs, and even our ultimate triumphs are at hand. The prospect of success is one of the most natural stimulants to exertion. 3. The necessity of exertion in order to the expected results. 4. The actual suspension of the issue upon our obedience. It suggests the animating sentiment, that the final glories of the Church are waiting for her awaking, and for that alone. (J. H. Hinton, M.A.)The Church’ s duty towards the world In Isaiah 52:9, of the former chapter, the Church prays God to interfere on her behalf, to exert His omnipotent arm. In the seventeenth verse He calls upon the Church to do something to gain this object. And in my text, which is connected with, that exhortation, He repeats it: “ Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion,” etc. If then, we would have the arm of the Lord with us in anything we do for His cause, we must do more than pray. I. THE SPIRIT WHICH GOD ENJOINS HIS CHURCH TO EVINCE. The language of the text is metaphorical, and highly poetical; but it inculcates upon us, that we put on-- 1. A spirit of wakefulness. Wakefulness is opposed to indifference and sloth. 2. A spirit of agression. “ Put on thy strength, O Zion.” For what purpose? Certainly to oppose her foes; to make aggressions on the territory of the master spirit of evil. And what is the Church’ s “ strength,” which she is to put on! It consists in a large measure of Divine influences. The Church’ s “ strength” consists in spiritual wisdom and spiritual courage. The “ strength” of the Church consists in the cheerful assurance of God’ s love to us individually--in having it “ shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” “ The joy of the Lord is your strength.” And it consists in daily communion with God. Come with me back to Pentecostal days, and see how the Church acted when thus equipped. She “ put on her strength,” anal went forth in a spirit of aggression. 3. A spirit of piety. “ Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city.” (1) What are the “ beautiful garments” of the Church? Let the prophet expound his own language (Isaiah 61:10). These they are to “ put on,” as on marriage days, as on holy-days, as on days of rejoicing. (2) As garments are for dignity and beauty, so the Church is only beautiful when thus clothed. They are for defence and protection also, and in them as in a movable garrison we go about, resisting the inclemency of the weather; and these guard us against the curses of God’ s law, and all the evils resulting from our misery and wretchedness; They distinguish between the sexes, and denote the station, and so the Church s garments distinguish her from the world. (3) The Church puts on these garments, when she applies to Christ by faith and exhibits the fruits of His salvation in her life and conduct. Our Lord so interprets it: “ Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garment.” And when holiness and faith meet in the character, how beautiful is it, and how fit for action! II. THE EFFECTS WHICH WILL AND RESULT IF THE CHURCH OBEYS THE OF HER LORD. 1. The conversion of souls. “ There shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean;” metaphors descriptive of pollution arising from an unconverted state. Unregenerate souls shall not be found within her borders. This has been the result everywhere. 2. The union of the ministers of the Gospel. “ Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing. 3. The renovation of the world (Isaiah 52:10). (J. Sherman.)The Church’ s strength Strength is that which resides in a man, but is not exhibited save in so far as it is exercised and produces results. His garments, on the other hand, are visible to those who look at him; they constitute his outward appearance. So that this text refers both to the inward powers and capabilities of Christ’ s Church, and to the visible aspect which it presents to the world. Zion has strength. The Church has sufficient means and power at its disposal to effect the purposes for which the Lord founded it. Those purposes are various in form, but perhaps they may be all summed up in the phrase--to impart to men the knowledge of their Saviour. I. Let me mention one or two THINGS WHICH ARE GOOD AND USEFUL FOR THEIR PROPER WORK, BUT OF WHICH IT CANNOT BE SAID THAT ZION’ S LIES IN THEM. 1. The recognition of religion by the State and its establishment by law. We find, as a matter of history, that in many cases when the favour of the governing powers has been most decided, the efficacy of the Church in converting sinners and spreading the Gospel has been feeble and languid; while, on the other hand, some of Zion’ s most energetic and successful efforts have been made without any support at all from the secular authority, and even in spite of its opposition. 2. An active ministry. There are two aspects of this activity--by activity I understand diligence in preaching, in visiting the sick, in holding services, and so on. If the clergy are active because the people are zealous, then it is altogether well: it is a mark of strength. But if the clergy are active because no one else is, then it is a mark of weakness. 3. The multiplication of religious societies and other machinery. They are good, useful, necessary things. But they are too often made the excuse for serving God by proxy. The strength of the Church lies in the zeal for Christ of its individual members. II. “ Put on the garments of thy dignity,” continues the prophet, “ O Jerusalem, the Holy City.” THE OUTWARD OF THE CHURCH OUGHT TO BE SUCH AS TO COMMAND THE EVEN OF THOSE WHO DO NOT BELONG TO IT. We may instance-- 1. The garment of righteousness. The people of God ought to present unmistakably the aspect of a righteous people. 2. The garment of unity. It must be confessed that the servants of God do not present to the world the aspect of a united people. It is not simply difference of opinion that separates them: but there are slanders, mutual recriminations, misrepresentations of motives and conduct, suspicions, jealousies, party-spirit in all its hideous forms, combining to rend and ruin the beautiful garment of brotherhood in which Jerusalem ought to be clad. 3. The garment of worship. The Church ought to appear before all men as a city wherein the Lord is worshipped, where He receives the honour due unto His name. The true beauty of holiness is the sincere devotion of the people, and the natural result of such devotion, viz a really united offering of prayer and praise ascending to the throne of the heavenly grace. (J. C. Rust, M.A.)Relapses in the history of the Church Only two or three centuries after the death of the last of the apostles, history informs us, Christians were scarcely distinguishable from pagans. The golden-tongued and spiritually-minded Chrysostom would go home on Sundays from his pulpit in Antioch in Syria only to weep bitterly over the indifference of the Church and its defection from its first love. One has only to glance at the history of the Church during the Middle Ages to see that, through all those dark centuries, the Church was about as dark as the world, and but little less corrupt. The common people universally were forbidden to read the Bible, and would not have been able to read it had they been permitted to do so. Popes and cardinals, archbishops and bishops and all the lower orders of clergy had but little more hesitancy in committing murder, and all the sins in the decalogue, than they had in attending mass. The Savonarolas who stood up here and there and preached a better morality and a purer Gospel may be counted on the fingers of one hand. And the Church manifested its gratitude to them by burning them at the stake. (R. V. Foster, D.D.)The Church tenacious of its life The Church, by reason of the heavenly element in it, like a tree of the forest--tenacious of its life; when the old trunk dies a fresh twig springs from its roots; and when this decays another fresh twig aprils up in its turn. So Luther and his collaborators, by the grace of God, evoked from the dead Church of the Middle Ages a fresh and vigorous Protestantism. So Wesley and his co-workers evoked from the deadness of the later Anglicanism a still fresh and vigorous Methodism. The Presbyterian Church of John Knox also grew old, and has had its athletic offshoots. “ Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion” --and Zion after the awakening is never the Zion of the pro-awakening. (R. V. Foster, D. D.)Zion’ s awakening Is the injunction obsolete? By no means. And the Church-catholic to-day is in the set of obeying it. Let us notice two or three significant indications-- 1. Never in any period of the world’ s history has the Bible been more universally and intensely studied than it is now. And the study of it is far, very far, from being prevailingly hostile. 2. As another indication of this fact I quote the old saying, “ In union there is strength;” especially is it true when other essential elements of strength are not wanting. In this day there is a visible tendency towards union. 3. Another indication is the rapid progress in mission work. (R. V. Foster, D. D.)Put on thy strength, O ZionZion’ s strength What is the strength of Zion? The strength of any community is primarily in the individuals who constitute it; so that the strength of the Church of God is, not entirely, but first of all, in the separate members of that body. The strength of Zion is also the power of every religious principle. It is the power of faith and hope and love; the power of patience and perseverance and courage and meekness. There is strength in all life, and Zion lives with the rich and full and eternal life of God within her. Knowledge is power, and the Church of the living God has the highest kind of knowledge. A settled faith is power, and Zion has a fixed and positive belief. Confidence and trust are power, and the Church of God relies upon God. Hope is power, and the hope of the Church is as an anchor sure and steadfast. Love is power, and godly charity never faileth. Patience, perseverance and courage are powers, before which obstacles yield and dangers flee away, and the Church of God is trained to be patient and steadfast and brave. The strength of Zion is the power of certain agencies and influences. The Church has power in her testimony to truth, in her intercession before God, and in her character as the leaven of society and the salt of the nations. Union is strength where alliance is wise and entire; where heart sympathizes with heart and hand joins in hand. We proceed to state reasons why God should thus speak to His Church. I. GOD BIDS ZION PUT ON HER FOR SELF-. Not for self-magnification. Self-magnification is disloyal, traitorous and impious; self-manifestation is a plain duty (Matthew 5:16). The Church of God can walk and work and endure; then why appear impotent and helpless? Strong winds make themselves heard. Strong sunshine makes itself felt. Strong life shows itself, whether in the animal or vegetable kingdom. And the Church, to be heard and seen and felt and known, must be strong. II. GOD BIDS ZION PUT ON HER THAT HE MAY BE . A redeemed man is a new creation and a Divine workmanship. A congregation of believing men, and the whole visible Church, are of God s founding. Ye are God’ s husbandry; ye are God s building. Now if the husbandry appear as the field of the slothful, and as the vineyard of the man void of understanding; if it be all grown over with thorns, and nettles cover the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof be broken down; if the building appear to be defective in foundation, imperfect in construction, and framed together with bad material--the name of God, instead of being honoured, will be blasphemed (1 Peter 2:9-10; Isaiah 43:21). III. GOD ZION TO PUT OUT HER FOR THE SAKE OF HER OWN WELL-BEING. If the powers of the Church be inactive, they will decline. The staff faith, if never used, will decay, etc. IV. ZION IS TO PUT ON HER IN ORDER TO MEET THE CLAIMS OF A SINFUL AND WORLD. V. GOD DIRECTS ZION TO PUT ON HER BECAUSE HAS BEEN GIVEN HER TO PUT ON. VI. IS NOT THIS PUTTING ON OF AS TO ZION’ S PEACE AND JOY AS TO HER OUTWARD ? (S. Martin.)Thy strength of Zion Thy strength of Zion is the strength of human nature. It is masculine energy, feminine susceptibility, the vivacity of childhood, the buoyancy of youth, and the force of maturity. It is the power of body, soul and spirit, it is intellectual power, emotional force, and moral strength. It is the strength of regenerated humanity, therefore spiritual and religious power; the strength of man redeemed unto God, and as redeemed, allied to God, dwelt in by God, and made strong by union with God. The strength of Zion is the strength of all that redeemed humanity is, and of all that is within human nature when regenerated and sanctified by the grace of God. (S. Martin.)Strength put on by being put out If a man put out his strength, he puts on strength, he appears clothed with strength as with a garment. Virgil furnishes us with an illustration: AEneas visits Drepanum in Sicily, and them by various games celebrates the anniversary of his father’ s death. The combatants with the cestus are described. Dares first shows his face with strength prodigious, and rears himself amid loud murmurs from the spectators. He uplifts his lofty head, presents his broad shoulders, brandishes his arms and beats the air with his fists. And Entellus accepted his challenge, flung from his shoulders his vest, bared his huge limbs, his big bones and sinewy arms, and stood forth of mighty frame in the middle of the field. Forthwith each on his tiptoes stood erect, and undaunted raised his arms aloft in the air. Dares and Entellus, as they put out strength, put on strength. A working-man and a trained athlete, when asleep or otherwise in repose, appear clothed with weakness. All the muscles are relaxed, and the limbs are motionless and apparently powerless, as the parts of a marble statue. But when the athlete is engaged in some bodily exercise, or the working-man is handling his tools and lifting his materials, his appearance is that of one arrayed with power. As he puts out strength he puts on strength, nor can he put it out without putting it on. Adapting the expression of the idea to common utterance, we may read our text, “ Put out thy strength, O Zion.” (S. Martin.)Injunctions to be strong My text harmonizes with words frequently addressed to Zion and to her sons (1 Kings 2:2; Isaiah 35:4; Isaiah 40:9; Isaiah 40:31; Haggai 2:4; Zechariah 8:9-13; 1 Corinthians 16:13; Ephesians 6:10; 2 Timothy 2:1). (S. Martin.)God’ s call to be strong It is interesting to observe by how many voices God speaks as in our text. By the smarting of the conscience when the strength is withheld, and by the glowing of the conscience when the strength is consecrated; by the breadth of love which God’ s law requires, and by the depth of privilege which the Gospel provides; by the correction administered when we are inactive and inert, and by the blessedness experienced when we abound in the work of the Lord, God is continually saying, “ Put on thy strength, O Zion.” (S. Martin.)Some elements of Church strength 1. Soundness in doctrine. 2. Purity of life among the members of the Church. 3. Thoroughness of organization for Church work. 4. Faithfulness in individual effort to do good. 5. Regularity of attendance upon the services of the Church. 6. Pecuniary liberality. 7. Unity among the members. 8. A prayerful spirit. 9. An abiding faith in the presence of God with the Church. Where these are to be found the Church will be strong. (D. Winters.)The elements of the Church’ s strength I. THE OF HER AIMS. Great aims enthused great souls, and the Church proposed the conquest of the world for Christ. II. THE POWER OF TRUTH, which may be illustrated by the distinctively Christian doctrines of our moral ruin, redemption through a Divine-human Saviour, the possibility of a regenerate life, and the blessedness of an immortal hope. III. But these doctrines needed a voice; hence another element of the Church’ s strength is A . All Christians may witness for the truth by the testimony of the lips, and also by the silent but potent ministry of the life. IV. Another mighty force in the service of the Church is A CO- . V. THE OF THE HOLY GHOST. (Bp. W. X. Winde.)The supreme point of energy Men can rouse themselves to action. We cannot live continuously in ecstasy; we must live under ourselves, so to speak, or life will become a pain and a failure. We are, however, to have periods of special effort, hours of rapture, times of inspiration and sense of mightiness beyond all that is ordinary. There is more power in man than he may be aware of, and he should inquire what objects and pursuits are worthy of his enthusiastic devotion. Drive a horse from home, and in the course of the day he will show weariness which you may regard as a sign of utter exhaustion; but turn his head homeward, and see what a change takes place! How willingly he runs! How swiftly! He has “ put on his strength” ! Work for a person who is not a favourite, and the hands soon tire: every effort is a weariness to the flesh, every thought wears the mind; on the other hand, serve a person who is beloved, etc. Undertake any engagement which does not excite the interest of the heart, and how soon it becomes irksome. The mother waits upon her sick child, and wonders how she can endure so much. The mystery is in the love. We are strong when we work in the direction of our will. Where the will is right, the strength will assert itself. The question is not one of muscle but of purpose. What objects, then, are worthy of “ all our strength, all our mind, and all our heart” ? We may get at the answer negatively as well as positively. I. NO OBJECT WHICH BEARS UPON THIS WORLD ONLY IS WORTHY OF THE SUPREME ENERGY OF MAN. Even in secular affairs we work by laws of proportion and adaptation. If a man employed a steam-engine to draw a cork, we should justly accuse him of wasting power. If a man spent his days and nights in carving cherry-stones, we should say he was wasting his life. We have a common saving--“ the game is not worth the candle” --showing that in common affairs we do recognize the law of proportion, and the law that results do determine the value of processes. If, then, in the lower, how much more in the higher! Think of a being like man spending his lifetime in writing his name in the dust! There is a success which is not worth securing. Suppose a man should get all the money he can possibly accumulate; all the fame; all the luxury--what does it amount to? II. OBJECTS ARE ALONE WORTHY OF THE SUPREME ENERGY OF MAN. “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,” etc. 1. They are akin to his own nature. 2. They touch every point of his being. 3. They prepare him for the solemnity and service of the future. Boundless are the prospects of the spiritual thinker! His library, the universe! His companions, the angels! His Teacher, God! In view of such prospects, how time dwindles, and how earth passes as a wreath of smoke! The spiritual thinker is independent of all the influences which make up the small world of the materialist--his citizenship is in heaven. III. THE FACT THAT OBJECTS ALONE ARE WORTHY OF THE SUPREME ENERGY OF MAN SHOULD IMPEL TO ACTION. Put on thy strength-- 1. For the time is short. 2. For the enemy is on the alert. 3. For the Master is worthy. The text addresses a call to the Church. The call is to activity. He who gives the call will give the grace. The Church is not to be feeble and tottering; it is to be strong, valiant, heroic. He who can do without the help of the strongest is graciously pleased to accept the service of the meanest. (J. Parker, D.D.)Effort gives strength I. PUT ON BY . A slumbering life results in moral death. II. PUT ON BY . Activity imparts physical strength. We have only to look, at the compact and knotted lump of muscle on the blacksmith s forearm. The rower s chest is expanded by his exertions. The practised wrestler grips with an ironlike grasp the limbs of his opponent. Even a Samson is divested of his prowess by lolling in the lap of a Delilah. We put on intellectual strength by keeping the brain forces constantly moving. But most of all the moral and spiritual nature is strengthened by exercise. Great is the power of habit. It is a kind of second nature, and is the grand resultant of repeated acts. III. PUT ON BY . Art thou but a bruised reed, put on thy strength! Hast thou but one talent, put it out to usury. Moral and spiritual strength may be developed to the latest hour of a Methuselah’ s life, and eternity will be but an ampler sphere for the enlargement of the soul’ s vast powers. IV. PUT ON BY . Joy begets strength, and strength increases joy. V. PUT ON BY . The despairing are weak; but the hopeful are strong. I will endeavour, is the inspiring language of the hopeful. The Church may well be hopeful, for God’ s promise is given for her encouragement. VI. PUT ON BY UNITED PRAYER. The Church’ s prosperous times are the praying times. The praying man is the strong man. (W. Burrows, B.A.)Strength increased by use A lady was watching a potter at his work, whose one foot was kept with “ never-slackening speed turning at swift wheel round,” while the other rested patiently on the ground. When the lady said to him, in a sympathizing tone, “ How tired your foot must be!” the man raised his eyes and said, “ No, ma’ am; it isn’ t the foot that works that’ s tired; it’ s the foot that stands. That s it.” If you want to keep your strength, use it; if you want to get tired, do nothing. (Christian Budget.)The danger of inaction A magnet is sometimes seen in a chemist’ s laboratory, suspended against a wall, and loaded heavily with weights. We ask the reason, and the scientist replies, “ The magnet was losing power, because it had not been used for some time. I am restoring its force by giving it something to do.” (Sunday School Chronicle.) Isaiah 52:2 Shake thyself from the dust Sin as dust It is very often what we call little sins which mar the beauty of the Church. They are like dust. Dust comes imperceptibly, it settles down so silently, that not an insect hears it fall; it is caused by our ordinary avocations and not by exceptional events; and if neglected long, becomes thicker and thicker, till all that is fair and beautiful is lost. “ Shake thyself from the dust,” etc. (A. Rowland, LL.B.)“ Arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem” Rather, Arise, sit up, O Jerusalem. When Vespasian had subdued Judaea money was stamped with a woman sitting in the dust, with this inscription, “ Judaea subacta.” (J. Trapp.) Isaiah 52:3 For thus saith the Lord, Ye have mold yourselves for nought Sold for nought; redeemed without price “ Ye have sold yourselves for nought. ” You got nothing by it, nor did I. God considers that when they by sin had sold themselves, He Himself, who had the prior, nay, the sole title to them, did not increase His wealth by the price (Psalms 44:12). They did not so much as pay their debts to Him with it. The Babylonians gave Him no thanks for them, but rather reproached and blasphemed His name upon that account; and therefore they, having so long had you for nothing, shall at last restore you for nothing; you shall be redeemed without price, as was promised (chap. 45:13). (M. Henry.)Selling oneself for nought It appears to have been no unusual thing amongst the ancient Jews for a man who was sunk in debt and difficulties, and reduced to the extreme of poverty, to sell himself, or to be sold by his creditors, as a bondsman for a certain term of years. There seems to be an allusion to this circumstance in the text before us. In its strict and primary sense it relates peculiarly to the nation of the Jews, who by a long course of wicked and rebellious conduct had sold themselves, as it were, into the hands of their enemies; that is to say, their wickedness had been the immediate cause of their being delivered up by God into the hands of the Babylonians, who had reduced them into abject slavery. And they are said to have sold themselves “ for nought,” inasmuch as there was nothing in the fruits and consequences of their sin to compensate for the miserable state into which it had reduced them. (A. Roberts, M. A.)Redeemed without money Did the Lord perform His word? Yes; for, after they had remained in their bondage during the time God had appointed it to last, He stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, a heathen king, to set them free. And on what terms? Captive exiles commonly pay dear for their deliverance. But what sum did Cyrus ask when he gave the Jews their liberty? Nothing whatsoever. He literally sent them home without the smallest recompense; without requiring or expecting anything at their hands. “ They were redeemed without money.” (A. Roberts, M. A.)Accusation and promise A redemption, far more precious than the temporal redemption of Israel from their Babylonish bondage, is to be considered as here hinted at. I. THE AWFUL . It is twofold. 1. That we have sold ourselves. The figure here employed is used in other passages,of Scripture, to express the conduct of the sinner in abandoning himself to Satan s service. Thus of Ahab it is said, “ he did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord;” and of the people whom he governed, “ they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger.” St. Paul adopts a similar expression, in reference to himself, “ The law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.” In all these places the idea under which the conduct of sinners is described is that of a man selling himself for a slave. And under this guilt we are every one of us included. 2. That we have sold ourselves “ for nought.” (1) Look at the inducements of our sins--at the motives which led us to commit them. O how lightly and how cheaply have we yielded ourselves up to Satan’ s service! He has not needed, as in our Lords case, to promise all “ the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them;” he has not needed to tempt us with large offers or golden baits. (2) Look again to the consequences of our sins. There have been many times, no doubt, when we have committed sin in expectation of some great advantage to be gained by it. But what has been the price? Bitter disappointment, pain, grief, anguish, and in the end, everlasting death. Such have been the only fruits which men have ever gathered from their sins. II. THE MOST PROMISE OR . “ Ye shall be redeemed,” etc. “ As freely as you have given yourselves up to ruin, so freely am I ready to deliver you from that ruin.” Considered in this light, in what a striking manner does my text present to us the riches of God’ s grace towards a ruined world! But to comprehend this matter more distinctly, look at the Cross of Jesus! (A. Roberts, M. A.)Self-selling The whole world is an emporium; buying and selling are going on everywhere. The text refers to the sale of self. I. It is the most COMMON SALE in the emporium of the world. What do I mean by self? Not the body, not the mere bundle of intellectual faculties, but the conscience, the moral ego, the “ inner man,” that which works the faculties and which will live when the body is dust. Now, men are selling this manhood for a variety of things. 1. For pleasure. The voluptuary and the debauchee have sold it, and it is gone far into the mud of sensuality. 2. For wealth. The worldling has sold it, and it is gone into the miserly grub. 3. For fame. The aspirant for worldly honours and distinctions has sold it, and it is lost in the rolling current of fashion. II. It is the most FOOLISH SALE in the emporium of the world. “ Sold yourselves for nought.” The man who has sold it far pleasure, what has he got? “ Nought.” What is sensual pleasure but the pleasure of animals at best? and this wears out as animal life decays. “ Desire faileth.” The man who has sold it for wealth, what has he got? That which will soon “ take wings and fly away.” “ What shall it profit a man?” etc. The man who has sold it for fame, what has he got? That which, if aromatic to-day, may be a stench to-morrow, and never at any time self-satisfying. Charles Lamb had fame, and what did he say? “ I walk up and down, thinking I am happy, but knowing I am not.” III. It is the most SALE in the emporium of the world. No man has a right to sell his soul. “ All souls are Mine,” saith God. Reason says you have no right to sell your soul; you are not self-produced nor self-sustained. Conscience says you have no right to sell your soul; as you barter it away, it groans damnation at you. God made the soul to investigate His works, adore His character and serve His will. (Homilist.)Man unregenerate and regenerate I. WHAT IS THE OF MANKIND WHEN ? In a state of sin, the text hath represented us as selling ourselves for nought; where each word is emphatical, and carries a peculiar sting in it. 1. We take upon us to drive a bargain where we have no propriety in what we expose to sale. What the prophet here charges us with exposing to sale is ourselves; and this, in other words, implies our souls, with all the interest which they have elsewhere depending upon our behaviour. Now in these our propriety is strictly and truly derivative and borrowed; it was God who made us, and not we ourselves; and every faculty and every power wherewith He hath entrusted us are employed injuriously whenever they run counter to His will and pleasure. 2. Let us consider what we are doing when we are selling ourselves. Our souls which were made to be immortal are the things we are bartering in this foolish bargain. And when once we have parted with them, what would we not give in exchange for them, to have them again, and save them? 3. The folly is yet farther aggravated by the consideration whhereupon we are induced to this wretched bargain. For the text hath charged us with “ selling ourselves for nought.” II. WHAT WHEN ? What Christ hath done for us in the affair of our redemption, by cancelling the handwriting which lay against us, was on His part free grace and bounty. Our redemption being conditional, proceed we to consider the terms whereunto it is limited. 1. Repentance from dead works. 2. Faith. 3. A sincere obedience will naturally follow. (N. Marshall, D.D.)The sinner’ s ruin and recovery I. THE SOLEMN . II. A JOYFUL PROMISE. “ And ye shall be redeemed without money.” 1. This redemption could not be effected by human means. 2. Nor is this redemption provided by the law which the sinner has transgressed. 3. It must be effected in a way that will secure the honour of the Divine law, as well as the salvation of the sinner. There is redemption by price, and redemption by power, and each is suited to our state. 4. The redemption of man was effected by Christ at a great price. “ Ye shall be redeemed without money.” As the misery to which the sinner was exposed was infinite, so his deliverance required infinite means. 5. The effect of these sufferings is our redemption from captivity, and deliverance from the curse of the law. By faith, therefore, in the sacrifice of the Saviour deliverance is to be obtained. (Helps for the Pulpit.)Ye shall be redeemed without moneyThe cheapness of moral redemption Redemptions, social, commercial, and political, are generally very costly things. Millions of lives have been sacrificed, and untold treasures of gold expended in order to redeem from temporal bondage. But true moral redemption--the redemption of the soul from error to truth, from selfishness to benevolence, from the devil to God--is cheap. “ Without money.” I. THE MEANS OF MORAL COST NOTHING. 1. You have Christ for nothing, He has given Himself. 2. You have the Bible for nothing. 3. You have the Spirit for nothing. No man can excuse himself for his moral bondage on the ground that he is too poor to obtain the means of redemption. II. THE LABOUR NO . Every moral bondsman must labour if he would be free, there is no moral emancipation irrespective of individual effort. Each captive must strike some hearty strokes ere his chains can be broken. But in this work there is no effort involving secular sacrifice. It need not prevent a man pursuing his ordinary avocations. He can be working out his freedom as well, if not better, when cultivating his farm, plying his handicraft, pursuing his merchandise, as alone in his chamber on his knees. III. THE CONDUCE TO (Matthew 1 Timothy 4:8). (Homilist.) Isaiah 52:5 My name continually every day is blasphemed.-- God pitiful, yet indignant 1. The captives are so dispirited that they cannot praise Him; but, instead of that, they are continually howling, which grieves Him, and moves His pity. 2. The natives are so insolent that they will not praise Him; but, instead of that, they are continually blaspheming, which affronts Him and moves His anger. (M. Henry.)Blasphemy I. ITS NATURE. II. ITS GUILT. III. ITS AWFUL . IV. ITS CERTAIN . (J. Lyre, D. D.)Blaspheming God’ s name I. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE NAME OF THE LORD? His perfections, titles, etc. II. THE VARIOUS WAYS IN WHICH IT IS . 1. By denying His existence (Psalms 10:4; Psalms 14:1; Psalms 53:1). 2. By denying His sovereignty (Job 21:14-15; Exodus 5:2). 3. By denying His truth (Genesis 3:4; Isaiah 36:15; 2 Peter 3:3-4). 4. By denying His power (2 Kings 7:2; 2 Kings 18:30; 2 Kings 18:32-35; Psalms 78:19-20). 5. By denying His omnipotence and omniscience (Job 22:13-14; Psalms 10:11; Psalms 73:11; Psalms 94:7; Isaiah 29:15; Ezekiel 8:12). 6. By accusing Him of injustice (Jeremiah 12:1; Ezekiel 18:25; Malachi 2:17; Malachi 3:15). 7. By murmuring against His dispensations (Isaiah 45:9; Exodus 14:11-12). 8. By false swearing, oaths and curses, etc. III. THE EXCUSES USUALLY MADE FOR IT. Ignorance, custom, example, surprise, passion, confirmation of what is said, meaning no harm, inconsistencies of professors, etc. (2 Samuel 12:14; Ezekiel 36:20; Romans 2:24; 2 Peter 2:2). IV. THE EVIL OF IT. Destroys the little remains of the fear of God. Leads to the disobedience of all His commands. Sets a horrid example to others, especially to the young. V. THE AGAINST IT. The Lord is our glorious and lawful Sovereign, who sees and hears all things. He is a holy and jealous God, before whose bar we must appear, He is fully able to punish, and has assured us that He will (2 Kings 19:22; 2 Kings 19:28, Isaiah 37:23; Isaiah 37:36-38;Ezekiel 20:27; Ezekiel 20:33; Ezekiel 35:12-14). (A. Tucker.) Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains Messengers of redemption Messengers coming over the mountains announce to Jerusalem the people’ s redemption from Babylon, and the advent of Jehovah’ s eternal kingdom. (A. B. Davidson, D.D.)Beautiful feet The exclamation does not refer to the pretty sound of their footsteps, but their feet are as if they were winged, because it is a joyful message which they bring. (F. Delitzsch, D.D.)The Gospel of the swift-footed messengers The Gospel of the swift-footed messengers is the Gospel of the kingdom of God which is at hand. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Good tidings of good I. THE PRIMARY MEANING. The passage is supposed to refer to the sending forth the heralds of the conquering Persian to proclaim liberty to the Jews that groaned under captivity in Babylon (Ezra 1:2-3.) In order fully to understand the joy and gladness which such a proclamation as this must necessarily bring to the poor Jew mourning in captivity, we must have some conception of their condition, and the feelings that swelled in their hearts during that period of degradation and suffering. Of this, some idea may be formed from the lamentations of Jeremiah, which speak the language of the believing Israelite, mourning over the fall of Zion; and again, in Psalms 137:1-9, we find the captive Jews describing their bitter sorrows. Even as the prophet Isaiah foretold, this deliverance came to the people of God, great and sudden; but God had promised, and He surely brought it to pass. In vain the might and power of Babylon interposed; the dominion and empire of Babylon fell for ever, even in one hour, because the day for the redemption of Israel was fully come. II. This passage has A far more glorious and extensive, in the sending forth those who shall preach good tidings of salvation to all the ends of the earth; and the message thus conveyed has an analogy with that proclaimed by the heralds of Cyrus; for it bears to man--fallen and degraded, the captive of sin, fast bound in slavish chains--the tidings of deliverance. The blowing of the trumpet of the Gospel tells of restoration to the forfeited inheritance. It proclaims a full and yet the only mode of deliverance to enslaved man; the only mode of reconciliation with an offended God. The state, then, of the multitude of the heathen should excite our earnest attention, and rouse our warmest sympathies. III. THE MODE WHICH GOD HAS BEEN PLEASED TO APPOINT FOR MAKING THE JOYFUL SOUND KNOWN TO MAN. The preaching of the Word of God by his fellow man. The message must be received by faith. IV. THE OF THE SHOULD WITH HIS MESSAGE, that he should show forth in his life and conversation, that the glorious tidings he was commissioned to convey to others had been received by himself. Pray that the feet of the missionaries in foreign lands may be beautiful in holiness and love. V. THE ON WHICH THIS IS MADE. It was the conqueror of Babylon, the victorious Persian, that gave liberty to the captive Jew; it is the Conqueror of death and hell, the risen and triumphant Saviour, who gave commandment that the Gospel should be proclaimed to all people. (C. Caulfield, M.A.)The annunciation of peace 1. The tidings of the deliverance from Babylon were joyful. But the prophet sees more joyful tidings than these, and a mightier deliverance from a more terrible bondage than even that of Babylon. 2. It is not said, “ How lovely are the messengers! but “ How beautiful are their feet!” Not what they are in themselves, but what they bring, as sent from God, and running in obedience to Him, is here presented to the view. 3. Observe how the message is dwelt upon! as if it was so full of everything joyful and good that words fail to express it. It is “ good tidings,” “ peace,” “ good tidings-of good,” “ salvation.” What a mine is there here for him who has eyes to see, a mind to understand, a soul to love, and a heart to overflow with gratitude! 4. Observe how the message ends. It is a glorious note of jubilee. It is a veritable shout of joy. It is a summing up in very deed of the glorious news. It is a pledge of peace and of salvation with which the good news is concluded: “ Thy God reigneth.” (R. W. Close, M.A.)The peace of the Gospel 1. The rich blessing, to which the text refers in such emphatic language, is conveyed in that single, but comprehensive word, “ Peace.” 2. To whom, then, is the word of this salvation sent? To whom is the minister of the Gospel commissioned to preach the message of peace? The very mission implies the existence of previous enmity. With whom has God this controversy? Who stand in need of so free an amnesty? Where are the objects of His unmerited grace? 3. Whose heart should not burn within him at the thoughts of his privilege in being employed on such a ministration of love? 4. Let me add one word on the responsibility of those to whom the message of reconciliation is sent. (C. R. Sumner, D.D.)Advent I. THE STATE IMPLIED in the words before us is to be collected from the view of their primary meaning. They originally refer to the Jews captive in Babylon, banished from their country, and deprived of the ordinances of Divine worship, under the displeasure of the Almighty, and oppressed by a haughty and idolatrous enemy. But this is only a faint emblem of that spiritual captivity in which mankind are naturally involved, and from which the Son of God came to deliver us. II. IN WHAT MANNER IS THIS ? As the proclamation of good tidings, as the message of reconciliation and peace, as the publication of deliverance and salvation. III. We are now, in some measure, prepared to enter into the spirit of THE and to participate in the joyful reception of the message which it announces. Practical remarks: 1. The true nature of the Gospel. It is not, as some would represent it, a mere system of morality. It comprises this, but infinitely more. It contains, first and principally, the offer of parson to the guilty, of deliverance to the oppressed, of salvation to the lost. 2. If such, however, be the nature of the Gospel, how highly should we value it, and how anxious should we be to profit by it! 3. While we rejoice in the good tidings which have been proclaimed to ourselves, let us pray that the multitudes of our fellow-creatures, to whom they have not yet been announced, may speedily hear the same delightful sound; and may exult in the joyful message of the Gospel, until “ all flesh” shall at length “ see the salvation of God,” and “ the whole earth be filled with His glory!” (Hugh Pearson, D.D.)The best news When bad news is abroad, this is good news; and when good news is abroad, this is the best news: that Zion’ s God reigns. (M. Henry.)The joy of the Christian ministry I. THE OF CHRIST IS HELD IN WITH THE IN THE . The Hebrew prophets were strenuous men, living in the coils of battle, wrestling with great serpents, struggling up bare cliffs, and giving their lives for the ransom of the people; but we cannot doubt that they were happy men as well, because of the intellectual and spiritual glories in which their lives were set, and, their cheering and inspiring comradeship with the wonderful words of God. The “ Hymn to the Sun” and the “ Sermon to the Birds” of St. Francis of Assisi bear witness to a soul that was enriched, ennobled, purified, simplified, magnified, and made to ripple with gladness and to sing the songs of victory and peace because of perpetual communion with the high and holy thoughts of its heavenly Father. The artist whose soul is seeing visions of the great creations of Raphael and Angelo, the general on the eve of a campaign for the emancipation of a people, the philanthropist pouring out his tears upon the miseries and sins of the world, will sleep on planks and find them soft as down, will eat coarse food and get good blood out of it, and so far forget themselves in their sublime consecrations and so populate with their holiest passions the thought-world and spirit-world within them as to realize Hawthorne’ s parable of “ the Great Stone Face,” and grow into the image of the mountain on which their gaze is fixed. So it is with the preacher, and more so. He is surrounded by an imperial guard of holiest inspirations. II. THE IS BOUND TO WIN. III. THE HAS THE BULK OF GOOD MEN IN THE WORLD BEHIND IT, IT ON. (W. J. McKittrick, D.D.)The missionary theme Dr. Judson when at home on a visit, addressed a large meeting, his theme being “ The Preciousness of Christ,” and sat down, deeply affected. On his way home a friend said to him, “ The people are much disappointed; they wonder you did not talk of something else.” “ Why, what did they want?” said the missionary. “ I presented to the best of my ability the most interesting subject in the world.” “ But,” said the man, “ they have heard that before; they wanted something new from a man who has just come from the antipodes.” “ Then,” said the great man, kindling, “ I am glad to have it to say that a man from the antipodes had nothing better to tell them than the wondrous story of the dying love of Christ.” (The Wellspring.) Isaiah 52:8-12 Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice The return from exile From the glowing periods of this paragraph we can reconstruct the picture of the return from exile, as it presented itself to the seer. It was notably the return of the Lord to Zion (Isaiah 52:8, R.V.). The stately procession moves slowly and fearlessly. It is not the escape of a band of fugitive slaves, dreading pursuit and recapture: “ Ye shall not go out in haste, neither shall ye go by flight.” Before it speed the messengers, appearing on the sky-line of the mountains of Zion, with good tidings of good, publishing peace, and publishing salvation. The main body is composed of white-robed priests, bearing with reverent care the holy vessels, which Nebuchadnezzar carried from the temple, which Belshazzar introduced with mockery into his feast, but which Cyrus restored. Their number and weight are carefully specified, 5, 400 in all (Ezra 1:7-11). As the procession emerges from its four months of wilderness march on the mountains which were about Jerusalem, her watchmen, who had long waited for the happy moment, lift up their voice; with the voice together do they sing. They see eye to eye. And the waste places of Jerusalem, with their charred wood and scorched stones, break forth into joy and sing together. The valleys and hills become vocal, constituting an orchestra of praise; and the nations of the world are depicted as coming to behold, and acknowledge that the Lord had made bare His holy arm. But they do not see--what is hidden from all but anointed eyes--that the Lord goes before His people, and comes behind as their rearward; so that their difficulties are surmounted by Him before they reach them, and no foe can attack them from behind. The literal fulfilment of this splendid prevision is described in the Book of Ezra. There we find the story of the return of a little band of Jews, 1,700 only in number. They halted at the River Ahava, the last station before they entered the desert, for three days, to put themselves with fasting and prayer into God’ s hand. They had no experience of desert marching. Their caravan was rendered unwieldy by the number of women and children in it. They had to thread a district infested by wild bands of robbers. But they scorned to ask for an escort of soldiers and horsemen to protect them, so sure were they that their God went before them to open up the way, and came behind to defend against attack. In the midst of the march were priests and Levites, with their sacred charge of which Ezra had said, “ Watch and keep them, until ye weigh them in the chambers of the house of the Lord.” (F. B. Meyer, B.A.)Expectation and accomplishment In several respects there seems a falling short between the radiant expectations of the prophet, and the actual accomplishment in the story of Ezra: but we must remember that it is the business of the historian to record the facts, rather than the emotions that coloured them, as the warm colours of the sun colour the hard, grey rocks. And is it not always so, that through our want of faith and obedience we come short of the fulness of blessing which our God has prepared for us? Eye to eye “ Eye to eye do they behold the Lord’ s return to Zion.” “Eye to eye” is face to face with the event. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)Eye to eye The expression plainly intimates the clear and satisfying manifestations of the presence and glory of Jehovah to be enjoyed by His servants at the period wherein the foundations of the Messiah’ s kingdom were to be laid. (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 52:9-10 Break forth into joy The return of the Jewish nation I. CERTAIN CHANGES WHICH SHALL HAVE TAKEN PLACE AMONG THE OF , AT, OR ABOUT, THE OF THE JEWISH NATION IN THEIR OWN LAND (Matthew 13:24-30). The signal destruction of all false, hypocritical, unbelieving professors of religion, here called “ the children of the wicked one” or “ the tares;” and, secondly, the gathering in of the elect members of Christ’ s mystical body, or the gathering of “ the wheat into the barn.” II. THE WHICH THE JEWISH NATION WILL PROVE TO ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE EARTH. It appears that the plan and purpose of God, as revealed in His Word, is, after having finished the dispensation of the Gentiles as He finished the dispensation of the Jews, and having “ concluded all in unbelief,” the period will then arrive when, according to the language of Paul, “ He will have mercy upon all.” III. THE NATURE AND OF THIS . 1. As to the nature of the blessing. This is nothing more nor less than a true and saving conversion, terminating in salvation. Not a bringing of them back to the state in which Adam was before his fall; not a grafting them into the mystical body of Christ; but a true, a sound conversion from all that is evil, and the full enjoyment of God s great salvation. 2. As to the duration of this blessing. With reference to converted individuals the effect will be eternal: but there will be a limit to this state of things as to the nations of the earth. (H. McNeile, M. A.)Matter for joy and praise Those that share in mercies ought to join in praises. Here is matter for joy and praise. I. GOD’ S PEOPLE WILL HAVE THE COMFORT OF THIS ; and what is the matter of our rejoicing ought to be the matter of our thanksgiving. II. GOD WILL HAVE THE GLORY OF IT (Isaiah 52:10). III. ALL THE WORLD WILL HAVE THE BENEFIT OF IT. “ All the ends of the earth,” etc. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 52:10 The Lord hath made bare His holy arm God’ s arm made bare When the heroes of old prepared for the fight they put on their armour; but when God prepares for battle He makes bare His arm. Man has to look two ways--to his own defence, as well as to the offence of his enemy; God hath but one direction in which to cast His eye--the overthrow of His foeman; and He disregards all measures of defence, and scorns all armour. He “ makes bare” His arm in the sight of all the people. When men would do their work in earnest, too, they sometimes strip themselves, like that warrior of old, who, when he went to battle with the Turks, would never fight them except with the bare arm. “ Such things as they,” said he, “ I need not fear; they have more reason to fear my bare arm than I their scimitar.” Men feel that they are prepared for a work when they have cast away their cumbrous garments. And so the prophet represents the Lord as laying aside for awhile the garments of His dignity, and making bare His arm, that He may do His work in earnest, and accomplish His purpose for the establishment of His Church. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The great revival I. THE CAUSE OF A TRUE REVIVAL. The Holy Spirit. While this is the only actual cause, yet there are instrumental causes; and the main instrumental cause of a great revival must be the bold, faithful, fearless preaching of the truth as it is in Jesus. Added to this, there must be the earnest prayers of the Church. II. THE OF A REVIVAL OF . The minister begins to be warmed. The members of the Church grow more serious. Family duties are better attended to; the home circle is brought under better culture. There is an inquirers’ meeting held. The revival of the Church then touches the rest of society. III. A CAUTION. “ Let all things be done decently, and in order.” Distinguish between man and man. While, during a revival of religion, a very large number of people will be really converted, there will be a very considerable portion who will be merely excited with animal excitement, and whose conversion will not he genuine. Take care, ye that are officers in the Church, when ye see the people stirred up, that ye exercise still a holy caution, lest the Church become lowered in its standard of piety by the admission of persons not truly saved. IV. With these words of caution, I shall now STIR YOU UP TO SEEK OF GOD A GREAT REVIVAL OF throughout the length and breadth of this land. The Lord God hath sent us a blessing. One blessing is the earnest of many. (C. H. Spurgeon.)All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our GodTidings of salvation to the ends of the earth I. THE OF GOD. “ Salvation” carries our meditations direct unto the names and the offices of Him, of whom it hath been said, “ Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.” And in this connection the whole scheme of mercy and eternal life bursts at once upon our view. 1. It is a great salvation. 2. An everlasting salvation. 3. A complete salvations. 4. A salvation all of God and of grace. II. THE OF THE OF THIS PROMISE, as an encouragement to us to do our duty. If “ all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God,” an imperious necessity is laid upon us to favour every opportunity which offers of sending the report of this salvation to all parts of the earth. The truth of the promise, and the certainty of its accomplishment, might be argued-- 1. From the Divine purposes taken in connection with the first promise. 2. From the settlement with Abraham respecting the coming of his promised seed. 3. From the style of the prophets, and the expectations which they excite. 4. From the progress of Christianity through the world, in defiance of all the opposition which has been combined against it. (W. Taylor.) Isaiah 52:11-12 Depart ye A peremptory, yet encouraging call 1. Thus peremptorily were the Jewish exiles called home. Nearly three generations had fled since their fathers had been forcibly settled on the plains of Shinar; but during that period the temporal lot of the Jews had been gradually bettering. Time had healed many wounds, a milder administration had weakened the memory of many sorrows. In “ the strange land,” strange no longer, homes had been gathered, wealth accumulated, honours won. The land of their fathers was far away, was personally known to few, and lay on the other side of a pathless wilderness. To men so circumstanced, the call to depart was far from welcome. Many ties must be severed if that call were obeyed; many sacrifices made, much travail endured. The present good seemed far better than the future. Besides, who did not know, at least by report, something of the perils of that barren waste over which their march must be made? Who could ensure them, during the progress of that march, against serious harm and loss? Who could demonstrate the certain gain to the majority of exchanging Babylon for Jerusalem, the level land of Shinar for the hill country of Judah? Thus, excuses for remaining sprung readily to their lips; difficulties in obeying the summons grew palpably before their eyes. It was an unwelcome demand, and therefore seemed impossible. 2. But if the prophet s call were peremptory, it was not unsupported by arguments of the weightiest kind. However difficult, the separation must be made, the departure undertaken; but there need be no hurry in their flight, as when Israel went forth from Egypt. The preparation might be deliberate and careful, but one end must be kept steadily in view--return to Palestine. Make all just allowances, meet all just claims, settle all needful matters of business; but still, Prepare to depart. Be ready to leave behind all taint of idolatry. And yet, Take heart, ye fearful ones, and be of good courage. The desert may be trackless, but God shall lead you. The perils of the journey may be numerous, but God shall defend you. The nomadic tribes may harass your hindmost companies, but God shall be your rearward. Such is the interpretation of the original purpose of the prophet s stirring words. (J. J. Goadby.)Spiritual progress Let us take these words as helping to illustrate some of the broader features of spiritual progress. I. DEMANDS AND . What are some of these things from which we must separate ourselves, even at the cost of sacrifice, if spiritual progress is to be made? 1. It is no uncommon thing to find an easy contentment with the truth already attained. The conceit begotten of little knowledge is a fatal bar to progress. The voice of truth may call loudly at our door, “ Depart ye; go ye out from thence;” but to heed that voice sacrifice is inevitable. There is no other method of attaining large spiritual advantage than the destruction of our ignorant self-complacency. 2. Spiritual progress largely depends upon the renunciation of the idea of the present perfection of our character. Many would start back at the notion of laying to claim “ being already perfect” who virtually live as though it were the first article of their belief. They merely dream over the possibility of improvement. In some cases the error is traceable to the mistakes committed at the very beginning of their spiritual life. Conversion is made “ the be-all and the end-all” of their religion. Life seems to travel upward until it reaches that point, and to travel downward ever afterward. 3. But them is another form in which error crops out in older men. For example, when all the inspiration of life is drawn from the past, not with a view of further advancement, but rather as an apology for present repose. “ Our best inspiration is not gained from what is behind, but from what is before, and what is above.” 4. Still further, no spiritual progress is possible unless we are willing to give up our personal indolence. II. NO DELAY BUT THAT WHICH IS SPENT IN . It would have been a strange perversion of the prophet’ s words if the Jews had regarded the assurance that “ they should not go out with haste, neither by flight,” as teaching that they were to protract their preparations indefinitely, protract them so as ultimately to relinquish their journey. They rather encourage them, while not neglecting the judicious settlement of their affairs, to make suitable provision for their march across the wilderness. There need be neither bustle nor confusion, since their exodus will not be either sudden or stealthy. It is Cyrus who reigns, not Pharaoh. But still, it is a journey for which they are to prepare, not a lengthened residence in Babylon. The bearing of all this, as an illustration of spiritual progress, it is not very difficult to see. The delay which is spent in preparation is progress. This may spring, for example, from a careful acquisition of Divine truth. The same thing holds good in regard to character. We cannot force maturity, but we can prepare for it; and all such preparation hastens the desired consummation. Before the Jew reached the land of promise, every stage between Babylon and Jerusalem had to be faithfully traversed. There are stages, also, in the development of character, no one of which can be omitted without subsequent loss. Seasons of suffering of enforced idleness, of dark and apparently irreparable bereavement, are some of the necessary elements out of which real character is born. The time consumed by such discipline is not delay, but progress. All systems, therefore, which attempt to force maturity are as delusive as they are mischievous. Christian work furnishes another illustration of the same general truth. Bracing ourselves up for present duty, and mastering it, is the best qualification for future success. III. IS UNDER DIVINE . “ The Lord will go before you.” Here was encouragement for the timid Jew. As a general leads his army, and a shepherd his flock, so will Jehovah “ go before” the returning exile. Nay more: He shall lead them as a conqueror and a king. But observe more particularly-- 1. God has a perfect knowledge of our journey. 2. God is ever near. Whatever the stage, and whatever the necessities of the march, He was nigh at hand, even to the ancient Jew. Much closer has He now come to us, He is Immanuel. Here, then, is most powerful stimulus to the flagging Christian. 3. He never leads us where He has not Himself already been. Are we severely tested? “ He was tempted in all points like as we are.” Are we finding that maturity can only come through travail of soul? “ He was made perfect through sufferings.” He asks us to undertake no difficult service without first showing us His own obedience. When, therefore, murmurs arise within us, and rebellious feelings agitate and disturb, let this be the sufficient check of them all--“ It is enough for the disciple to be as his Master.” 4. He is ever before us. We have One in advance of us who knows the possibilities of our nature; and while never overtaxing us, He expects no relaxation of our effort. Let us, therefore, forget the things that are behind, and reach forth unto those that are before, “ looking unto Jesus, the Leader and Perfecter of our faith.” IV. IS ASSURED OF DIVINE . “ The God of Israel shall be your rereward.” The “ rereward” is the hindmost part of the army, where the reserves are stationed. By this arrangement various important ends are served. For one thing, the stragglers who drop out of the line during a long and toilsome march are effectually gathered up and saved. For another, the army is better prepared to meet unexpected attack by being able rapidly to change its front. “ The God of Israel shall be your rereward.” Here was the pledge of security for their march across that desert which swarmed, as it swarms now, with scores of robber tribes who have this in common, that they are all equally agile, all equally thirsty for plunder, and all equally unscrupulous. Here, also, lies our truest security in spiritual progress. “ The God of Israel is our rereward.” 1. There will, therefore, be no surprises which we are not able to meet, no sudden attack from which He will not prove a sufficient Defender. Our sharpest vigilance will not always serve us; and while sweeping the horizon in one direction, our present danger may approach from another. 2. Then protection is afforded against permanent relapse. If we look forward, our Defender is there. If we look backward, behold, He is there. 3. Then there is a reserve of power and of available help which no saint has ever fully tested. (J. J. Goadby.)The march through, the desert-world to the city of God We may learn some of those qualities which should characterize us in this march. I. THERE SHOULD BE EXODUS. In all lives there are Babylons, which have no claim on the redeemed of Jehovah. We may have entered them, not without qualms of conscience; but, as time has passed, our reluctance has been overcome. A comradeship has grown up between us and one from whose language and ways we once shrank in horror. An amusement now fascinates us, which we regarded with suspicion and conscientious scruple. A habit of life dominates us from which we once shrank as from infection. A method of winning money now engrosses us; but we can well remember how difficult it was to coax conscience to engage in it. These are Babylons, which cast their fatal spell aver the soul, and against which the voice of God urgently proteste: “ Depart ye, depart ye! go ye out from thence.” When stepping out from Babylon to an unwonted freedom, we naturally shrink back before the desert march, the sandy wastes, the ruined remnants of happier days. But we shall receive more than we renounce. II. IT SHOULD BE WITHOUT HASTE. “ Ye shall not go out in haste.” There are many English proverbs which sum up the observation of former days and tell how foolish it is to be in a hurry. But, outside of God, there is small chance of obeying these wise maxims. The age is so feverish. No great picture was ever painted in a hurry. No great book was ever written against time. No great discovery was ever granted to the student who could not watch in Nature’ s antechamber for the gentle opening of her door. The greatest naturalist of our time devoted eight whole years almost entirely to barnacles. Well might John Foster long for the power of touching mankind with the spell of “ Be quiet, be quiet.” In this our Lord is our best exemplar. This hastelessness was possible to Israel so long as the people believed that God was ordering, preceding, and following their march. III. WE MUST BE AT PEACE ABOUT THE WAY. In early life our path seems clearly defined. We must follow the steps of others, depend on their maxims, act on their advice. It is only when the years grow upon us that this sense of “ waylessness,” as it has been termed, oppresses us. So the exiles must have felt when they left Ahava and started on the desert march. At such times the lips of Christ answer, “ I am the Way.” His temper, His way of looking at things, His will, resolves all perplexities. All this was set forth in the figure before us. “ The Lord will go before yon.” When the people came out of Egypt, Jehovah preceded the march in the Shechinah cloud that moved softly above the ark. There was nothing of this sort when Ezra led the first detachment of exiles to Zion; but, though unseen, the Divine Leader was equally in the forefront of the march. Thus it is also in daily experience. Jesus is ever going before us in every call to duty, every prompting to self-sacrifice, every summons to comfort, help and save. IV. WE MUST BE PURE. “ Touch no unclean thing. Be ye clean,” etc. Those vessels were very precious. The enumeration is made with minute accuracy Ezra 8:26). But they were above all things holy unto the Lord. Thus they passed across the desert, holy men bearing the holy vessels. Through this world, unseen by mortal eye, a procession is passing, treading its way across continents of time. It bears holy vessels. Testimony to God’ s truth, the affirmation of things unseen and eternal, the announcement of the facts of redemption--such are our sacred charge. What manner of persons ought we not to be, to whom so high a ministry is entrusted! Before that procession we are told that waste places would break forth into song. It is a fair conception, as though their feet changed the aspect of the territories through which they passed. What was desert when they came to it, was paradise as they left it! What were ruins, became walls! Where there had been hostility, suspicion and misunderstanding, there came concord and peace, the watchmen seeing eye to eye. This is a true portraiture of the influence of the religion of Jesus over the hearts and lives of men. But let us never forget the importance of prayer, as a necessary link in the achieving of these marvels. (F. B. Meyer, B.A.)Marching orders We have here, under highly metaphorical forms, the grand ideal of the Christian life. I. We have it set forth as A MARCH OF WARRIOR PRIESTS. Note that phrase, “ Ye that bear the vessels of the Lord.” The returning exiles as a whole are so addressed, but the significance of the expression, and the precise metaphor which it is meant to convey, may be questionable. The word rendered “ vessels” is a wide expression, meaning any kind of equipment, and in other places of the Old Testament the phrase rendered is translated “ armour-bearers.” Such an image would be quite congruous with the context here, in which warlike figures abound. And if so, the picture would be that of an army on the march, each man carrying some of the weapons of the great Captain and Leader. But perhaps the other explanation is more likely, which regards “ the vessels of the Lord” as being an allusion to the sacrificial and other implements of worship, which, in the first Exodus, the Levites carried on the march. And if that be the meaning, then the figure here is that of a company of priests. I venture to throw the two ideas together, and to say that we may here find an ideal of the Christian community as being a great company of warrior priests on the march, guarding a sacred deposit which has been committed to their charge. 1. Look, then, at that combination in the true Christian character of the two apparently opposite ideas of warrior and priest. It suggests that all the life is to be conflict, and that all the conflict is to be worship. It suggests, too, that the warfare is worship, that the office of the priest and of the warrior are one and the same thing, and both consist in their mediating between man and God, bringing God in His Gospel to men, and bringing men through their faith to God. The combination suggests, likewise, how, in the true Christian character, there ought ever to be blended, in strange harmony, the virtues of the soldier and the qualities of the priest; compassion for the ignorant and them that are out of the way with courage; meekness with strength; a quiet placable heart, hating strife, joined to a spirit that cheerily fronts every danger and is eager for the conflict, in which evil is the foe and God the helper. 2. Note, further, that in this phrase we have the old, old metaphor of life as a march, but so modified as to lose all its melancholy and weariness and to turn into an elevating hope. 3. Again, this metaphor suggests that this company of marching, priests have in charge a sacred, deposit. Paul speaks of the “ glorious Gospel which was committed to my trust.” And, in like manner, to us Christians is given the charge of God’ s great weapons of warfare, with which He contends with the wickedness of the world--viz, that great message of salvation through, and in, the Cross of Jesus Christ. And there are committed to us, further, to guard sedulously, and to keep bright and untarnished and undiminished in weight and worth, the precious treasures of the Christian life of communion with Him. And we may give another application to the figure and think of the solemn trust which is put into our hands, in the gift of our own selves, which we ourselves can either waste, and stain, and lose, or can guard and polish into vessels meet for the Master’ s use. Gathering, then, these ideas together, we take this as the ideal of the Christian community--a company of priests on the march, with a sacred deposit committed to their trust. II. THE THAT BEFITS THE COMPANY. “ Depart ye, depart ye! go ye out from thence,” etc. In the historical fulfilment of my text, separation from Babylon was the preliminary of the march. Our task is not so simple; our separation from Babylon must be the constant accompaniment of our march. The order in the midst of which we live is not organized-on the fundamental laws of Christ’ s kingdom. And wheresoever there are men that seek to order their lives as Christ would have them to be ordered, the first necessity for them is, “ Come out from amongst them, and be ye separate.” This separation will not only be the result of union with Jesus Christ, but it is the condition of all progress in our union with Him. They that are to travel far and fast have to travel light. Many a caravan has broken down in African exploration for no other reason than because it was too well provided with equipments, and so collapsed of its own,, weight. Therefore, our prophet, in the context, says, “ Touch no unclean thing.” There is one of the differences between the new Exodus and the old. When Israel came out of Egypt they spoiled the Egyptians, and came away laden with gold and jewels; but it is dangerous work bringing anything away from Babylon with us. Its treasure has to be left if we would march close behind our Lord and Master. We must touch “ no unclean thing,” because our hands are to be filled with the “ vessels of the Lord.” It is man’ s world that we have to leave, but the loftiest sanctity requires no abstention from anything that God has ordained. III. THE PURITY WHICH BECOMES THE BEARERS OF THE VESSELS OF THE LORD. “ Be ye clean.” The priest’ s hands must be pure, which figure, being translated, is, transparent purity of conduct and character is demanded from all Christian men who profess to carry God’ s sacred deposit. You cannot carry it unless your hands are clean, for all the gifts that God gives us glide from our grasp if our hands be stained. Monkish legends tell of sacred pictures and vessels which, when an impure touch was laid upon them, refused to be lifted from the place, and grew there, as rooted, in spite of all efforts to move them. Whosoever seeks to hold the gifts of God in His Gospel in dirty hands will fail miserably, in the attempt; and all the joy and peace of communion, the assurance of God’ s love, and the calm hope of immortal life, will vanish as a soap bubble, grasped by a child, turns into a drop of foul water on its palm, if we try to hold them in foul hands. And, further, remember no priestly service and no successful warfare for Jesus Christ is possible, except on the same condition. One sin, as well as one sinner, destroys much good, and a little inconsistency on the part of us professing Christians neutralizes all the efforts that we may ever try to put forth for Him. IV. THE WHICH SHOULD MARK THE MARCH THAT IS GUARDED BY GOD. “ Ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight,” etc. This is partly an analogy and partly a contrast with the story of the first Exodus. The unusual word translated “ with haste” is employed in the Pentateuch to describe the hurry and bustle, not altogether due to the urgency of the Egyptians, but partly also due to the terror of Israel with which that first flight was conducted. And, says my text, in this new coming out of bondage there shall be no need for tremor or perturbation, lending wings to any man’ s feet; but, with quiet deliberation, like that with which Peter was brought out of his dungeon, because God knew that He could bring him out safely, the new Exodus shall be carried on. “ He that believeth shall not make haste.” There is a very good reason why we need not be in any haste due to alarm. For, as in the first Exodus, the guiding pillar led the march, and sometimes, when there were foes behind, as at the Red Sea, shifted its place to the rear, so “ the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rereward.” (A Maclaren, D.D.)All the life for God I have seen in a shop window, “ The bulk of our goods are of English manufacture.” Not the bulk only, but all our life must be given over to God. (E. E. Marsh.) Isaiah 52:12 For ye shall not go out with haste Seemly and unseemly haste They were to go with a diligent haste, not to lose time nor linger as Lot in Sodom; but they were not to go with a diffident, distrustful haste, as if they were afraid of being pursued, as when they came out of Egypt, or of having the orders for their release recalled and countermanded. (M. Henry.)The Lord shall go before you No beaten rout of fugitives, but a band of kingly conquerors, robed and crowned, will assemble in heaven. I. THE OF THE AND OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE. The history of Israel is the Divine key to the history of man. Through all the confusion of human society, its wars, its movements, its industries, its woes, that history, rightly read, will guide us. There is no crisis, no confusion, no sad experience of society, of which we have not the pattern and the explanation in the Word of God. The history of their captivities is the history of man’ s captivity. There were two great captivities and two great deliverances. The people were born in the one captivity--it was the dark accident of nature; the other they earned by sin. These represent our natural bondage, and the self-earned serfdom of the soul. There is one Deliverer and one deliverance from both. The method of His deliverance was the same out of both captivities; a glorious manifestation of the might of the redeeming arm of God. But at first sight there is a contrast here as well as a likeness. Taking a superficial view of the Exodus, we should say that they did go out with haste and go forth by flight; and this visible contrast was before the prophet’ s mind when he wrote the words of our text (Deuteronomy 16:3; Exodus 12:31-39). But from Babylon they went forth in orderly array, with the king’ s good-will, by his royal command (Ezra 1:1-11). Yet under the surface the grand features were identical. In neither case did they steal away. They went because God would have them go; the Angel of His presence guided them, and His shattering judgments were on all who sought to withstand their march to their promised land. If the contrast occurred to the prophet as he wrote the first clause, surely the likeness stands out in the last, “ The Lord shall go before you, and the God of Israel shall be your rereward” Exodus 13:21-22; Exodus 14:19-20). II. WE HAVE THE IMAGE HERE OF THE GREAT WHICH IS FREELY OFFERED IN THE GOSPEL, wrought for us by His redeeming hand who “ rules in righteousness, mighty to save.” 1. The reason of our protracted discipline. God will not have us “ Go out with haste, nor go forth by flight.” I dare say there are few Christians of any earnestness who do not look back to some past season in their experience, and say, Would God that I had then been taken home. The soul was then full of a Divine serenity, with the clear heaven of God’ s love above it, and a clear assurance that the Rock was beneath it. It seemed to be attuned to heavenly fellowship. But it had been a young and immature deliverance, had God caught you then in the first freshness of your joy and hope to His home in heaven; not by the short, straight way, but by the long, weary, desert path God led His pilgrims; a band of trained veterans they entered at length into Canaan; able to hold it, and to hold to the national unity, through the stormy, struggling ages in which, but for their desert nurture and discipline, they must have been shattered to fragments, and lost to history for ever. It is this experience which at sore cost of pain God is laying up within us. 2. The Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rereward. The Lord has gone before us. It is this which makes our progress a triumph. He has gone before us (1) In bearing to the uttermost the penalty of sin. (2) In breaking the power of evil (John 14:27; John 16:33). (3) In the way of the wilderness, through life’ s protracted discipline, to Hebrews 5:7-9). And the God of Israel shall be your rereward. He shall gather up the stragglers of the host. This promise seems to run parallel with Isaiah 40:10-11. It shall be no crush or throng in whichthe weak ones shall be down-trodden, and the halting left hopelessly in the rear. The Lord has special tenderness for the timid, the trembling, the fainting; He is behind them to guard them from every pursuing foe. If you have faith but as a grain of mustard seed, fear not. (J. B. Brown, B.A.)For the Lord will go before youThe vanguard and rereward of the Church The Church of Christ is continually represented under the figure of an army; yet its Captain is the Prince of Peace; its object is the establishment of peace, and its soldiers are men of a peaceful disposition. Nevertheless, the Church on earth has, and until the second advent must be, the Church militant, the Church armed, the Church warring, the Church conquering. It is in the very order of things that so it must be. Truth could not be truth in this world if it were not a warring thing. How comforting is this text to the believer who recognizes himself as a soldier, and the whole Church as an army! The Church has its vanguard: “ Jehovah will go before you.” The Church is also in danger behind; enemies may attack her m her hinder part, and the God of Israel shall be her rereward.” I. Consider THE WHOLE CHURCH OF GOD AS AN ARMY. Remember that a large part of the army are standing this day upon the hills of glory; having overcome and triumphed. As for the rear, it stretches far into the future; some portions are as yet uncreated. Now, cast your eyes forward to the front of the great army of God’ s elect, and you see this great truth coming up with great brilliance before you: “ Jehovah shall go before you.” Is not this true? Have you never heard of the eternal counsel and the everlasting covenant? Did that not go before the Church?. Has Jehovah not gone before His Church in act and deed? Perilous has been the journey of the Church from the day when first it left Paradise even until now. Why need I go through all the pages of the history of the Church of God in the days of the old dispensation? Hath it not been true from the days of John the Baptist until now? How can ye account for the glorious triumphs of the Church if ye deny the fact that God has gone before her! God had gone beforehand with his Church, and provided stores of grace for stores of trouble, shelter and mercy for tempests and persecution, abundance of strength for a superfluity of trial. “ And the God of Israel shall be the rereward.” The original Hebrew is, “ God of Israel shall gather you up.” Armies in the time of war diminish by reason of stragglers, some of whom desert, and others of whom are overcome by fatigue; but the army of God is “ gathered up;” none desert from it if they be real soldiers of the Cross, and none drop down upon the road. The Church of Christ has been frequently attacked in the rear. It often happens that the enemy, tired of opposing the onward march by open persecution, attempts to malign the Church concerning something that has either been taught, or revealed, or done in past ages. Now, the God of Israel is our rereward. I am never at trouble about the attacks of infidels or heretics, however vigorously they may assault the doctrines of the Gospel. If they look to be resisted by mere reason, they look in vain. If they must attack the rear let them fight with Jehovah Himself. But I am thinking that perhaps the later trials of the Church may represent the rereward. There are to come, perhaps, to the Church, fiercer persecutions than she has ever known. But however fierce those troubles shall be, God, who has gone before His Church in olden times, will gather up the rear, and she who has been Ecclesia victrix--the Church, the conqueror, will still be the same, and her rear shall constitute at last a part of the Church triumphant, even as already glorified. Can you now conceive the last great day when Jehovah, the rereward, shall gather up His people? II. AS IT US, AS . Two troubles present themselves, the future and the past. Remember, you are not a child of chance. 1. Stop and realize the idea that God has gone before, mapping the way. (1) God has gone before you in the decree of His predestination. (2) In the actual preparations of His providence. (3) In the incarnation of Christ. As to our future troubles Jesus Christ has borne them all before. As for temptation, He “ has been tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.” As for trials and sorrows, He has felt all we can possibly feel, and infinitely more. As for our difficulties, Christ has trodden the road before. We may rest quite sure that we shall not go anywhere where Christ has not gone. (4) There is this reflection also, that, inasmuch as Christ has gone before us, He has done something in that going before, for He has conquered every foe that lies in his way. 2. I hear one say, “ The future seldom troubles me; it is the past--what I have done and what I have not done--the years that are gone--how I have sinned, and how I have not served my Master as I ought. The God of Israel shall be your rereward. Notice the different titles. The first is “ Jehovah” --“ Jehovah will go before you.” That is the I AM, full of omniscience and omnipotence. The second is “ God of Israel,” that is to say, the God of the Covenant. We want the God of the Covenant behind, because it is not in the capacity of the I AM, the omnipotent, that we require Him. Let me always think, that I have God behind me as well as before me. Let not the memories of the past, though they cause me grief, cause me despair. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God our Guard and Guide I. THE GOOD MAN’ S PATH IS BESET WITH PERIL. 1. There are perils that come up from behind. The deadliest foes are those that attack us in the rear. The traveller may be overtaken by pestilence and death, that lay all unsuspected in the very places he passed in laughter and in song. Man never gets away from his past. (1) Perils come upon us from the mistakes of the past. Mistakes may be innocent enough, but unfortunately for us, Nature punishes blunders as though they were crimes. Fire burns just the same, whether it be kindled innocently or of malice. Water drowns irrespective of the way people get in. Accident or crime, it is all the same to Nature. An indiscretion may ruin your health, bring your business to the dust, and wreck the peace of your home, just aa surely as deliberate sin. Sheer inexperience is responsible for many a disaster. And every blunder of to-day sends forward an enemy to imperil the life of to-morrow. Further complications arise from the fact that much of our life is bound up with the lives of others. The follies as well as the sins of the fathers are visited to the third or fourth generation. (2) Perils come upon us from the sins of the past. “ It’ s the eleventh commandment I’ m most afraid of,” hiccoughed a drunken man to an evangelist one day. “ And what is that? asked the seeker of souls. “ Be sure your sin will find you out.” And if sheer mistakes survive and pursue, how much more our sins. There is no greater delusion than to imagine that sin can be committed, covered up, forgotten, and done with. Sin breeds. And its progeny slays the transgressor. The sowing of wild oats is followed by the inevitable harvest. An evil deed once done can never be undone: not even by the grace of God. And in it there may lurk an enemy that years after may rise up and strike his deadly weapon in your back. Old age may find you full of the sins of your youth. Sins long left behind may live on in your memory. Man never forgets, A chance word, an unconscious look, an innocent gesture may strike a slumbering chord, and the whole scene lives as vividly as ever. Neither remorse nor repentance can blot out the horrid thing from before your eyes. It will startle you in the very holy of holies, and disturb your very communion with God. If unpardoned it will fill your old age with terror, and your dying moments with the horrors of hell. The most terrible temptations lurk in the memory of past transgression, even after the sin is forsaken and forgiven. I have known a saint turned eighty lament with tears that, while he was forgetting the hymns which had been his delight for sixty years, the lewd songs of his teens came back upon him with overwhelming vividness and force. He couldn’ t pray, but some rollicking, filthy chorus would insist on being sung. It is from behind that the devil strikes home, and strikes hard. Look at the consequences of sin if you would realize the terrible forces that come up from behind. The devil persuaded you there would be no consequences. It was a passing pleasure. You were all right in the morning, and thought it was all over. It is never over. That was only the beginning. Drink, gambling, lust, passion, and greed, have followed stealthily for years, and sprung upon men unawares. The terrible results of sin may pursue you in your body. A man who never but once went into the house of the woman of whom Solomon says such terrible things, for nearly half a century went through the world crooked and in pain. The most awful thing I know that can come to a man out of his past, is to see his own sin working ruin in the soul of another. What a host follows hard after us! All the way is crowded with malignant and vicious enemies that seek to destroy us. And nearly all, if not every one of them, our own creation. They are the offspring of our folly, our sin, our shame. 2. There are perils ahead. Happily no man can see very far ahead. II. THE GOOD MAN’ S PATH IS ALSO BESET WITH GOD. The Lord is in the rear to protect, and in the van to guide. 1. God stands between us and our past. (1) To forgive its sin. (2) To cut off our retreat. The old Egyptian life had a strange fascination over the delivered people. The backsliding tendency is in us all. But the Rearguard is between us and Egypt. He will prevent our retreat, and by a sharp command urge us forward to the land of grapes. We need to be saved from ourselves, and He will so completely deliver us that the last longing for Egypt shall die, and all our desire shall be for the Canaan of perfect love. (3) To de-fend against its assaults. Our worst enemies are at our backs, where we are most helpless The devil strikes from behind. But be not afraid, God is in the rear. (4) To make our enemies His slaves. The forces of hell as well as the hosts of heaven are under His control. 2. God goes before us in all the way of the future. We don’ t know the way, but He does--every inch of it. For he prepared and appointed it. And more than that. He has trodden and tested it before our feet touch it. He knows. That is enough. He leads. I follow. We tread the same path. We share the same road. Why should I fear? He goes before us in all our service for Him. Philip found the eunuch already prepared for his message. And Ananias found Saul waiting to receive his ministrations. So as we go to our service we shall find the Lord has been there before us preparing our way. The Divine movement is always forward. God is behind, but He never turns back. He goes before, and the whole host moves forward. Our only safety is in progress. (S. Chadwick.) Isaiah 52:13-15 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently The humiliation and exaltation of Christ I. THE STATE OF CHRIST’ S . “ As many were astonied at Thee,” etc. 1. Consider His outward or bodily sufferings. 2. His inward sorrows, the agonies of His mind, have no parallel. II. OUR SAVIOUR’ S . Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently, etc. The exaltation of Christ may be considered under four particulars. 1. His resurrection from the dead. 2. His ascension into heaven. 3. His glorification at the Father’ s right hand. 4. His coming again to judgment. Practical improvement: 1. What hath been said on the subject of the Redeemer s sufferings, should excite all our gratitude and love to Him, who readily entered upon, and went through, all this scene of sorrow for our sake. 2. Let this excite us to greater zeal and diligence in His service; as the best expression of our gratitude and love. 3. The consideration of Christ’ s love and sufferings for us should inspire us with the firmest fortitude and fidelity, in defending His cause and the honour of His Gospel against all opposition, and in suffering for it. 4. Under every affliction of life let us turn our eyes to our suffering Redeemer, as a perfect pattern of patience. 5. Let us triumph in the faith and views of a triumphant Saviour. (A. Mason, M.A.)The sure triumph of the crucified One I. THE OF OUR LORD’ S . He is called “ My Servant,” a title as honourable as it is condescending, and it is said that He deals prudently. He who took upon Him the form of a servant acts as a wise servant in everything; and indeed it could not be otherwise, for “ in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” 1. This prudence was manifest in the days of His flesh, from His childhood among the doctors in the temple on to His confession before Pontius Pilate. Our Lord was enthusiastic; but that enthusiasm never carried Him into rashness. Our Saviour was full of love, and that love made Him frank and open-hearted; but for all that He was ,ever prudent, and “ committed Himself unto no man, for He knew what was in man.” Too many who aspire to be leaders of the people study policy, craft and diplomacy. The Friend of sinners had not a fraction of that about Him; and yet He was wiser than if diplomacy had been His study from His youth up. 2. He who on earth became obedient unto death has now gone into the glory, but He is still over the house of God, conducting its affairs; He deals prudently still. Our fears lead us to judge that the affairs of Christ’ s kingdom are going amiss, but we may rest assured that all is well, for the Lord hath put all things under the feet of Jesus. All along through the history of the Church the dealings of the Lord Jesus with His people have been very remarkable. The wisdom in them is often deep, and only discoverable by those who seek it out, and yet frequently it sparkles upon the surface like gold in certain lands across the sea. Note how the Lord has made His Church learn truth by degrees, and purified her first of one error and then of another. The wise physician tolerates disease until it shall have reached the point at which he can grapple with it, so as to eradicate it from the system, so has the good Lord allowed some ills to fester in the midst of His Church, that He may ultimately exterminate them. Study the pages of ecclesiastical history, and you will see how Jesus Christ has dealt wisely in the raising up of fitting men for all times. I could not suppose a better man for Luther’ s age than Luther, yet Luther alone would have been very incomplete for the full service needed had it not been for Calvin, whose calm intellect was the complement of Luther’ s fiery soul. 3. Another translation of the passage is, “ My Servant shall have prosperous success.” Let us append that meaning to the other. Prosperity will grow out of our Lord prudent dealings. 4. In consequence of this the Lord shall he exalted and extolled. II. THE -BLOCK IN THE WAY OF OUR LORD. It is His Cross, which to Jew and Greek is ever a hindrance. As if the prophet saw Him in vision, he cries out, “ As many were astonied at Thee,” etc. 1. He has risen from the grave and gone into His glory, but the offence of the Cross has not ceased, for upon His Gospel there remains the image of His marred visage, and therefore men despise it. The preaching of the Cross is foolishness to many. 2. The practical part of the Gospel is equally a stumbling-block to ungodly men, for when men inquire what they must do to be saved, they are told that they must receive the Gospel as little children, that they must repent of sin, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Very humbling precepts for human self-sufficiency! And after they are saved, if they inquire what they should do, the precepts are not those which commend themselves to proud human nature--for they are such as these--“ Be ye kindly affectioned one to another,” “ forbearing one another and forgiving one another even as God for Christ’ s sake has forgiven you.” To the world which loves conquerors, and blasts of trumpets, and chaplets of laurel, this kind of teaching has a marred visage, and an uncomely form. 3. Then, what seems even more humbling, the Lord Jesus Christ in His prudent dealing sends this Gospel among us by men who are neither great nor noble, nor even among the wise of this world. 4. Worse still, if worse can be, the people who become converted and follow the Saviour are generally of the poorer sort, and lightly esteemed. III. THE OF THE REMOVAL OF THIS -BLOCK and the spread of Christ’ s kingdom. As His face was marred, so surely “ shall He sprinkle many nations;” by which we understand, first, that the doctrines of the Gospel are to fall in a copious shower over all lands. This sprinkling we must interpret according to the Mosaic ceremonies. There was a sprinkling with blood, to set forth pardon of sin, and a sprinkling with water to set forth purification from the power of sin. The influence of His grace and the power of His work shall be extended not over the common people only, but over their leaders and rulers. “ The kings shall shut their mouths at Him;” they shall have no word to say against Him; they shall be so subdued by the majesty of His power that they shall silently pay Him reverence, and prostrate themselves before His throne. IV. THE MANNER OF ITS . How will it come to pass? Will there be a new machinery? Will the world be converted, and the kings be made to shut their mouths by some new mode of operation? I do not think so. Will the saints take the sword one day? No, the way which has been from the beginning of the dispensation will last to its close. It pleases God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 1. According to this passage, these kings and nations are first of all to hear. “ Faith coming by hearing.” If they are to hear, we must preach and teach, so that our clear line of duty is to go on spreading the Gospel. 2. These people appear not only to have heard, but to have seen. “ That which had not been told them shall they see.” This seeing is not with their bodily eyes but by the perceptions of their minds. Faith comes by the soul perceiving what the Gospel means. 3. After they had seen, it appears from the text that they considered. “ That which they had not heard shall they consider.” This is how men are saved: they hear the Gospel, they catch the meaning of it, and then they consider it. When they had seen and considered silently, they accepted the Lord as their Lord, for they shut their mouths at Him; they ceased from all opposition; they quietly resigned their wills, and paid allegiance to the great King of kings. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The character and work of the Messiah I. THE OF INTO THE WORLD, BY THE OF ITS DIVINE FOUNDER. “ Behold, My Servant!” The “ astonishment of many” evidently refers to the inconsistency apparent between the high pretensions and the depressed condition of this Servant of God. In truth, the plan of Christianity, with its introduction into the world, is far above the calculations of human sagacity. II. THE OF THE PROPHET WITH REGARD TO THE OF THE OF CHRIST ON THE EARTH. “ My Servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted, and extolled, and be very high.” 1. The expression, “ He shall deal prudently,” is, in the margin, translated, “ He shall prosper;” and thus the whole clause is declarative of the same truth--the triumph and success of the Son of God. If many were astonished at His humiliation, a far greater number shall be astonished at His exaltation. 2. This grand and glorious achievement He effected by means that came not within the range of mortal discernment. It was by death that He conquered death. It was by a perfect obedience in action and in suffering, that He became the second Adam--the spiritual Head of a new and happier race. He planted His religion in the earth, opposed by hostile scorn and relentless malice and despotic power. The cause of Christ achieved its victories by its own inherent power. Its adherents were, indeed, strong; but it was in faith, and purity, and charity. Thus the Servant of God prospered, and was extolled, and became very high. 3. But His reign on the earth is yet very limited, and His conquests incomplete. III. WHAT WE MAY GATHER FROM THIS ACCOUNT THE PROCESS BY WHICH THE KINGDOM OF THE MESSIAH SHALL THUS BE FULLY AND FINALLY . “ As many were astonied at Thee: so shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings,” etc. We are led to infer-- 1. That there shall be a wide dispersion of Divine knowledge over heathen and Mohammedan nations; for men cannot see or consider that which is not first presented to their notice. 2. The nations shall fix their anxious attention on the truths declared to them. 3. Impressed with holy awe, they shall assume the attitude of abasement and submission. I apprehend that the expression, the “ kings shall shut their mouths at Him,” implies the submission of whole nations, here represented by kings; for, as the reception of Christianity on the part of the rulers of a country requires the overthrow of every system of religious polity previously established, such a reception publicly made, implies, more or less, the submission of the mass of the people. 4. He shall forgive their iniquities and sanctify their hearts. “ He shall sprinkle many nations;” that is, in allusion to the aspersions under the law, by which the people were sanctified, the Son of God shall apply to the souls of regenerated multitudes the blood of His great atonement, and the sacred influences of His Holy Spirit. Then, “ a nation shall be born in a day.” (G. T. Noel, M. A.)A threefold view of the Person and work of Jesus Christ 1. HIS WORK BELOW. He is called the “ Servant” of the Lord. “ As many were astonied at Thee,” etc. The disciples saw Him on the Cross; they gazed on Him with amazement, and scarcely recovered themselves by the third day. The women who followed Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, stood afar off, and smote their breasts as they killed Him; and the thousands of men whom He had healed and cured, looked with astonishment at the ignominious termination of such a life. Even the elements seemed to join in the universal consternation; the sun refused to shine, and hid himself in darkness; the light of the moon was clouded. II. THINK OF HIM SITTING IN GLORY UPON HIS THRONE. “ He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.” 1. He shall be exalted. This relates to His authority and power. Verily, a name is written in His vesture and on His thigh, and that name is “ KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” 2. He shall be extolled. It has been the delight of every apostle, of every evangelist, of every missionary, of every minister, of every Christian, to extol Him; and when we have done our best, it is our grief and shame and humility that we cannot extol Him more. 3. “ He shall be very high,” or, if you prefer the language of the apostle, “ In all things He shall have the pre-eminence.” III. The works of mercy which the Saviour is accomplishing IN HIS EXALTED STATE. He sets forth His Gospel according to His promise. “ He shall sprinkle many nations.” This denotes the office of Christ. “ The kings shall stop their mouths at Him. This text is best explained by quoting, a passage in which Job, speaking of himself as the chief magistrate, says, “ When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street! the young men saw me,” etc. (Job 29:7-10). Such was the respect for the dignity of this man of God, that in his presence the nobles and the elders spake not, but imposed silence on their lips; so shall it be with the potentates and monarchs of the earth in the presence of Him “ who is greater than all.” (J. Stratten.)The face of Christ Our Lord Jesus Christ bore from of old the name of “ Wonderful,” and the word seems all too poor to set forth His marvellous person and character. It is an astonishing thing that there should have been a Christ at all; the Incarnation is the miracle of miracles; that He who is the Infinite should become an infant. I. HE WAS A GREAT WONDER IN HIS GRIEFS. II. HE WAS A GREAT WONDER IN HIS GLORY. (C. H. Spurgeon.)He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very highThe Saviour’ s exaltation We obtain the following series of thoughts, “ He will rise, He will be still more exalted, He will stand high.” The three verbs thus signify beginning, progress and result, or the climax of the exaltation. (F. Delitzsch, D.D.) Isaiah 52:14-15 As many were astonied at Thee The abasement of Christ and its consequences I. THE AND SORROW OF THE MESSIAH. Unequalled-- 1. Because of the previous dignity from which He descended. 2. If we trace the various stages of His humiliation. Was He born? It was of no opulent parents. As He grew up he became the object of envy. When He sprang into youth, it was not to sway a sceptre or to govern millions, but to work with His reputed father. As He went on in His course He was exposed to the scoffs and malice of Jews and Gentiles, etc. Eye the Saviour’ s sufferings in what light you please, and you will find His sufferings were various as well as intense. He suffered as a man; from want--from fatigue--from poverty--from the crown of thorns placed onHis head, etc. He suffered civilly, as a member of society. An insurrectionist and a murderer was preferred before Him. He suffered spiritually--from the thick volleys of fiery darts which were showered at Him, and from the hidings of His Father’ s countenance. And observe the associations which were likely to aggravate His sufferings. “ They all forsook Him and fled.” 3. Our Saviour’ s sufferings and woes derived additional poignancy and exquisiteness from the very character which He bare. “ Many were astonied at Thee.” The spectators were so, who smote upon their breasts, and returned, after having seen these things. Devils were astonished, when they saw how all the shafts of their malice recoiled. Angels were astonished as they ministered unto Him. So He is still a wonder unto many; and if He be not so to us, it is because of our criminal insensibility and indifference. II. THE BY WHICH HIS AND SORROWS WERE TO BE . “ So shall He sprinkle many nations.” There is a direct reference to the various aspersions and ablutions under the law of Moses. These were of three kinds-- 1. An aspersion of the blood of atonement once a year. 2. An aspersion of water on the unclean person, called the water of separation, by which a person was separated to a holy purpose. 3. An aspersion both of water and of blood on the leper, by which he was pronounced clean, and needed no longer to remain without the camp. Combine these ideas, and they will give the two grand designs of our Saviour’ s death--a propitiation, and a purification. And recollect that these two great and important ends of our Saviour’ s death must always be associated. Here we see their superiority over the legal aspersions. (J. Clayton, ,M.A.)A twofold wonder I. THE BY OUR SAVIOUR’ S . 1. “ Many were astonied at Thee” --astonished, doubtless, at the disappointment of their expectations. They had looked for a second Joshua, who should march at their head, and lead them forth from victory to victory till all their enemies should have fallen beneath their feet. They had expected another son of Jesse, who should make the name of Israel terrible to surrounding nations. And when they saw the world’ s Redeemer, and found Him possessed of none of those external attributes which they deemed essential to His character, they were offended at Him, and their astonishment was that of indignation and bitter disappointment. “ Is not this the carpenter’ s son?” 2. But our text goes on to describe some special causes of this astonishment. “ His visage was so marred, more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.” Whilst further on the prophet adds, “ He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” I do not believe that such expressions as these are intended to represent the person of the Saviour as naturally defective in comeliness or dignity, though they have been oftentimes so understood, for we may reasonably conclude that the form which God gave His own Son was one of the best and the most perfect, and that the features of His countenance were as expressive as human features could be of intelligence, of dignity, and of love. Yet there was a marvellous mixture of meekness with this intelligence, of abasement with this dignity, and of sorrow with this love. Never was there a countenance which so beamed with holiness; yet never was there one so deeply furrowed with the lines the curse had made. Unrepenting sinners, like the Jews of old, are to this day astonished “ without” being benefited at the sight, of the Redeemer’ s sufferings. II. The text says, alluding to the ceremonial law, He shall sprinkle many nations,” etc. We here perceive THE OF EFFECT produced by that astonishment which flows from contempt, and that which is produced by reverential regard for an object of infinite worth and dignity. The first opens the lips, and the latter seals them. The first accumulates epithets of scorn. But very different shall be the result of that wonder which shall fill the breast when the Saviour begins to give convincing proof of the greatness, and universality of His triumph.. “ Kings shall then shut their mouths at Him.” “ Seeing the progress of His kingdom,” says Vitrings, “ they shall revoke their edicts against it, and thus shut their mouths at Him.” The wonder shall then become too great for expression. Again, “ That which had not been told them shall they see.” The general ignorance which prevails amongst men, even the most noble and the most educated, on religious subjects, is oftentimes most astounding. To cleanse the heart, to sanctify the soul, there is no power but of God; and so, whenever a sinner is converted from the error of his ways, he is brought to acknowledge, “ this is the Lord’ s doing.” But the true accomplishment of the prediction before us requires greater things than these. There shall be a time when high and low, rich and poor, kings and subjects, shall all stand in amazement at the triumphs of the Cross of Christ. “ What they had not heard shall they consider.” They shall lay to heart those things which shall arrest their attention. It will not be enough for them to be mere spectators of the Saviour’ s triumph; they shall become deeply interested in it; all their thoughts, affections, efforts, shall tend towards it. (S. Bridge, M.A.)Christ’ s endurance and success I. THE SAVIOUR’ S . II. THE SAVIOUR’ S SUCCESS. (S. Bridge, M. A.)His visage was so marred more than any manThe marred face I. CHRIST’ S FACE BEING SO WAS EASILY MARRED. The perfect beauty of God was the reflected loveliness of Christ. Perfection is easily blemished; the more beautiful anything is, the more easily it is injured. II. CHRIST’ S FACE WAS AN INDEX OF HIS LIFE AND WORK. His face told the story of His inner life. This was the chief reason for the loveliness of Jesus’ face. His heart was full of pure, white thoughts, and consequently rays of beauty shot out through His gentle eyes. There burned within Him the light of tranquillity, which found expression in His calm, peaceful countenance. All the grandest virtues of this life could be seen in Jesus’ face. And yet this beauty was marred, the light from His inner light suffered a black eclipse. His face was also an index of His work. When you see a man in the street you can often tell whether he is student, artist or working-man. The employment makes a certain impression upon the face. Christ s employment must have told upon His countenance. In His compassion for souls “ He sighed deeply in spirit,” “ He groaned and was troubled.” Words such as these convey some idea of the wear and tear Jesus had to endure. III. THERE ARE SPECIAL GIVEN OF THE MARRING OF HIS FACE. At the grave of Lazarus, when the sisters were lamenting for their dead brother, Christ joined in the sorrow and wept, His face being stained with tears. On the brow of Olivet as He stood looking at the beloved city He began to weep, and in the garden of Gethsemane as the sweat dropped from Him in drops like blood, He fell on His face and prayed; in the judgment-hall when standing in the presence of His accusers, we read, “ And some began to spit on Him and to cover His face, and to buffet Him, and to say unto Him, Prophesy, and the servants did strike Him with the palms of their hands.” They degraded Jesus as much as possible, directing their blows and insults to His face; such treatment would tell heavily upon His appearance. IV. THERE MUST HAVE BEEN IN THE FACE OF JESUS. The average man could see no beauty in Jesus; still, the children were attracted by Him, and children as a rule are either repelled or won by a look. It was by a look that Jesus won Peter from a state of backsliding. In conclusion, we like to think of God as having a face the same as that of Jesus. Scientists talk of “ an essence,” “ a great first cause,” “ something in the abstract,” but with such definitions we wander and cannot understand God. By faith, as Dr. Saphir says, “ we see the face of our dear God and seek Him as a friend” or, like one of old, we say, “ Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” We look forward to one day seeing the face of Jesus. (W. K. Bryce.) Isaiah 52:15 So shall He sprinkle many nation Sprinkling the nations “ Sprinkle;” possibly “ startle,” cause to rise up in wonder and reverence. The nations were familiar with the afflictions and abjectness of the Servant; suddenly, and without intimation of it, they see His elevation and stand up in reverential silence, before Him. (A.B. Davidson, D.D.)The peculiar doctrines of Christianity the subject of ancient prophecy I. THE OF THIS IN GENERAL. This prophecy hath been in part already accomplished, in the diffusive spread of the Gospel throughout the world: many nations whereof have been plentifully sprinkled with its Divine doctrines, and made nominal Christians; and many individuals in those nations been made real converts, by virtue of that “ blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel.” II. SOME OF THOSE OF WHICH WE MAY SUPPOSE TO BE HERE TO, most of which were in a great measure, and some of them altogether, unknown to the world, before the Messiah came. 1. The doctrine of man’ s apostacy, and the way wherein moral evil made its first entrance into the world. 2. The method of man’ s recovery from the miseries of his apostate state, by the mediation and redemption of Christ. 3. The renovation of our natures by the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit. 4. The doctrine of the ever-blessed Trinity. 5. The incarnation of the Son of God. 6. The doctrine of grace. 7. The gracious and effectual operations of the Holy Spirit on the heart of man. 8. The resurrection of the body. 9. Several particular circumstances relating to the final judgment are the peculiar discoveries of the Christian revelation, that Christ will be the Judge, etc. 10. The undoubted certainty of a future state of rewards and punishments. (A. Mason, M.A.)The risen Christ winning the nations Bishop George Augustus Selwyn was a splendid type of the muscular Christian. As a missionary he was a mighty force, and as a friend he was universally beloved. An incident in his career as Missionary Bishop of New Zealand well shows what manner of man he was. Governor Grey and Bishop Selwyn were out together on a walking expedition, and it was Easter Sunday. “ Christ has risen!” Selwyn reverently welcomed the day, and his companion joined, “ He has risen indeed!” They were communing in that spirit when a bundle of letters was brought into the tent. One to Selwyn the news of the death of Siapo, a Loyalty Islander, who had become a Christian under his teaching, and who was being educated with other natives at his seminary in Auckland. The Bishop, overcome with grief, burst into tears; then he broke some moments of silence with the words, “ Why, you have not shed a single tear! “ No,” said the Governor, “ I have been so wrapped in thought that I could not weep. I have been thinking of the prophecy that men of every race were to be assembled in the kingdom of heaven. I have tried to imagine the wonder and joy prevailing there at the coming of Siapo, the first Christian of his race. He would be glad evidence that another people of the world had been added to the teaching of Christ.” “ Yes, yes,” said Selwyn, drying his tears, “ that is the true idea to entertain, and I shall not weep any more.” (Christian Age.)The kings shall shut their mouths at HimThe wondrous monarchy I. THE UNIQUE WHICH CHRIST . All that is great in this spectacle gathers round what this Servant is to be and do. We observe five distinguishing features-- 1. Wondrous wisdom. “ My Servant shall deal prudently.” Jesus was filled with the spirit of Wisdom and understanding; with a keen and piercing glance He saw men through and through. But it was not only in confounding His enemies that His superhuman wisdom was shown; it was also in the means He used for establishing that kingdom which He came to found. Means on which the world would have relied He forbade and abjured. Means never tried before were the only ones He would use. He would have no sword employed either to defend Himself, or to, extend His sway, but equipped His warriors only with “ power from on high” ! 2. Wondrous sorrow (Isaiah 52:14). He was “ a man of sorrows “ 3. Wondrous elevation. “ He shall arise, and be lifted up, and be glorified exceedingly.” These words exactly indicate the resurrection, the ascension and the exaltation to mediatorial glory. 4. Wondrous redeeming efficacy. “ So shall He sprinkle many nations.” As His sorrow was intense, so shall His redeeming power be large, as if the one were a recompense for the other. There were (among others) two kinds of sprinkling enjoined by the Mosaic law, to either or to both of which a reference may be intended here. The sprinkling of blood, being towards and on the mercy-seat, was God-wards; the sprinkling of water, as on the Levite or leper, was on the person, manwards. So the work of Christ has this double aspect. The blood-shedding was God’ s own atoning act in Him, for us; the cleansing grace is God’ s purifying act, through Him, in us. 5. Wondrous uniting power. “ So shall He sprinkle many nations.” He would absolve and sanctify, not the Jew only, but also the Greek, “ and thus abolish the wall of partition between Israel and the heathen, and gather into one holy Church with Israel, those who had hitherto been pronounced unclean. How vividly is the fulfilment of this portrayed in Acts 10:1-48. II. WHAT IS THERE HERE THAT SHOULD LEAD KINGS, IN , TO DO THIS? Is it that though kings and princes know all that earth has to give of luxury and splendour, they see here a pomp that outshines all beside? That may be so, but we think the mason lies deeper still. It is evidently on account of something before unknown that they are to “ shut their mouths,” for the text goes on to say, “ That which had not been told them shall they see, and that which they had not heard shall they consider. Around what do the thoughts and associations of kings gather? Do they not gather round the sceptre, crown and empire? Do they not naturally weigh in the balance one monarchy against another? Surely. Well, here is such a monarchy as earth had never known before, and one that will ever stand absolutely alone. 1. In this monarchy alone right and might are entirely equal. 2. This monarchy is based on the King s own self-sacrifice. 3. How did He set up this kingdom? A few poor fishermen undertook to instruct and convert the world. The success was prodigious. 4. This monarchy was based on the King’ s own priesthood. 5. The power of love is the only power that gathers men round the Cross 6. This monarchy was inaugurated by the issue of a royal pardon offered to the worst of sinners, “ beginning at Jerusalem.” 7. This is a monarchy that, uniting men under its sceptre, creating a new power of love towards itself, creates also a new power of love for man towards man, as well as of man for Jesus; and, strange as it may seem, in gathering men of every tribe and tongue under its sceptre, it makes them forget their diversity, and brings them to feel their oneness in one common God and Father; and by the pulse-beat of a common life in all the nations, solves the long-vexed problem of the unity of the human race! Nor is this all. 8. Everywhere the one force which holds together the subjects of this Monarch is love!--not fear, not constraint, but love. Is there nothing in such a monarchy as this to give a clue to the meaning of the expression, “ Kings shall shut their mouths at Him” ? The expression evidently denotes the effect which the report or the sight of such a monarchy should produce upon them. Some take it as meaning that they should shut their mouths in silent fear. Others, that they should withdraw the edicts against Christianity. We rather, with Mr. Urwick, take it as indicating “ the awe-inspiring power” of Christ. There may be yet a deeper meaning in the expression, “ shall shut their mouths” --a meaning which applies only to Christian kings, and not to them simply as kings, but rather as Christians in common with others. The words may indicate the silence induced by deep emotion. (J. Culross, D.D.). Isaiah 53:1-12 Who hath believed our report?-- The Messiah referred to in Isaiah 53:1-12 By some it has been supposed, in ancient times and in modern, that the prophet was referring to the sufferings of the nation of Israel--either of Israel as a whole or of the righteous section of the nation--and to the benefits that would accrue from those sufferings to the surrounding peoples, some of whom were contemptuous of Israel, all of whom may be described as ignorant of God. But to defend that opinion it is necessary to paraphrase and interpret some of the statements in a way that no sound rules of exposition will allow. Even Jewish historians are wont to represent the sufferings of their people as the consequence of sin, whereas these verses speak repeatedly of sufferings that are vicarious. St. Paul says in one place that the fall of the Jews “ is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles;” but he is so far from meaning that the Jews suffered in the stead of the Gentiles, that he proceeds at once to argue by implication: If the world has been blessed notwithstanding the unfaithfulness of the Jew, how much more would it have been blessed if Israel had been true? It is quite possible that the great figure of the Servant of Jehovah, standing in the front of all these verses, was designed to have more than a single interpretation, to be reverently approached from many sides, to be full of appeals to the patriotism and to the piety of the Israelite; but at the same time it is no mere abstract conception, but the figure of a living and separated Person, “ more perfect than human believer ever was, uniting in himself more richly than any other messenger, of God everything that was necessary for the salvation of man, and finally accomplishing what no mere prophet” ever attempted. And some of the authorities of the synagogue even might be quoted in favour of the almost universal Christian opinion, that the Man of Sorrows of this chapter despised, and yet triumphant, is no other than the Messiah of Israel and the Saviour of the world, who over-trod the lowest levels of human pain and misery, and who hereafter will sit enthroned, on His head many crowns, and in His heart the satisfaction of assured and unlimited victory. (R.W. Moss, D.D.)The Jewish nation a vicarious sufferer Isaiah 53:1-12 has been supposed by many to refer to the Jewish nation as a whole, and not to Christ or any other individual. And, in truth, it is in many ways singularly applicable to Israel as a nation. As a nation Israel was “ despised and rejected,” and “ bore the sins of many.” This people was the chief medium through which the Eternal was made manifest on earth. Hence came the peculiarities and deficiencies of the Hebrew nature. The Jews were haunted by the Infinite and Eternal; and therefore they knew not the free and careless joyousness of Greece. The mountains are scarred and rent by storms and tempests almost unknown in the valleys. The deepest religion necessarily involves prolonged suffering. The near presence of the Infinite pierces and wounds the soul. To Greeks or Romans Israel was a sort of Moses, veiling even while revealing the terrific lineaments of Jehovah. The face of Israel did indeed shine with an unearthly glory after communing with God on the mountain; but it was a glory utterly uncongenial to the gaiety of joyous Athens. Most truly might Greeks and Romans say of the devout Jew, “ He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid, as it were, our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Yet was Israel a mighty benefactor to the human race. “ The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Salvation came by the Jews. They had more genuine moral inspiration than any others of the sons of men. To them alone was clearly disclosed the true Jacob’ s ladder connecting earth with heaven. To the Greeks the Infinite was a mere notion, a thing for the intellect to play with, or a kind of irreducible surd left after the keenest philosophical analysis. To the Hebrews, on the other hand, the Infinite was an appalling and soul-abasing reality, an ever-menacing guide, as the fiery flaming sword of the cherubims “ which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” “ It pleased the Lord to bruise” Israel for the sake of the whole world. By being “ numbered with the transgressors,” Israel found out the real righteousness. (A. Crawford, M.A.)The Jewish nation was a type of Christ The Jewish nation was a type of Christ, and of all natures at once spiritual and sympathetic throughout the ages. All real prophets in every age have in them much of the true Hebrew nature, with its depths and its limitations. (A. Crawford, M.A.)The servant and Israel “ Who believed what we heard, and to whom did the arm of the Lord reveal itself?” Who believed the revelation given to us in regard to the Servant, and who perceived the operation of the Lord in His history! The speakers are Israel now believing, and confessing their former unbelief. (A. B. Davidson, D.D.)Christ in Isaiah As an artisan, laying a mosaic of complicated pattern and diverse colours, has before him a working drawing, and carefully fits the minute pieces of precious stone and enamel according to it, till the perfection of the design is revealed to all, so do the evangelists and apostles, with the working-drawing of Old Testament prophecy, and Old Testament types and shadows in the tabernacle services and ceremonies, in their hands, fit together the details of Christ’ s life on earth, His atoning death and His resurrection, and say, “ Behold, this can be none other than the long looked-for Messiah.” The central knop, or flower pattern, of the mosaic, from which all other details of the design radiated, was the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. (F. Sessions.)The suffering Saviour I. We are led to THE OF GOD’ S SERVANT, the Messiah. He would be low in the esteem of men, even of those He comes to serve. The Jews and Messianic prophecy From the Jews wresting this text, observe-- 1. That there is an evil disposition in men to turn off upon others that which nearly concerns themselves. 2. That it is no new thing in persons to vouch that for themselves which makes most against them. Thus the Jews do this chapter against the Gentiles. 3. When God, for the wickedness of a people, hardeneth their hearts, they are apt to mistake in that which is most plain. 4. From the prophet’ s great admiration, observe, that when we can do no good upon a people, the most effectual way is to complain of it to God. 5. Those that profess the name of God may be much prejudiced against the entertainment of those truths and counsels that He makes known to them for their good. 6. It is a wonder they should not believe so plain a discovery of Christ, though by the just judgment of God they did not. 7. The first believing of Christ is a believing the report of Him; but afterwards there are experiences to confirm our belief (1 Peter 2:3; John 4:42). (T. Manton, D.D.)Christ preached, but rejected I. JESUS CHRIST MAY BE CLEARLY TO A PEOPLE, AND YET BUT FEW WON TO BELIEVE IN HIM. II. THE GOSPEL IS THE ARM AND POWER OF GOD. III. SO FEW BELIEVE, BECAUSE GOD’ S ARM IS NOT TO THEM; the power of the Word is not manifested by the Spirit. Jewish prejudice against Christ At the time of Christ’ s being in the flesh there were divers prejudices against Him in the Jews. 1. An erroneous opinion of the Messiah. 2. A fond reverence of Moses and the prophets, as if it were derogatory to them to close with Christ (John 9:29). 3. Offence at His outward meanness (that is the scope of this chapter), and the persecution He met with. (T. Manton, D. D.)Gentile prejudice against Christ 1. Pride in the understanding (1 Corinthians 1:23). 2. The meanness of the reporters--poor fishermen. 3. The hard conditions upon which they were to entertain Christ. (T. Manton, D. D.)Christ rejected in our time The hindrances to believing in Him are these: 1. Ignorance. Men hear of Christ, but are not acquainted with Him. 2. An easy slightness; men do not labour after faith. 3. A careless security. They think themselves well enough without Him. 4. A light esteem of Christ. As we do not see our own needs, so not His worth. 5. A presumptuous conceit that we have entertained Christ already. Many think every slight wish, every trivial hope, will serve the turn. 6. Hardness of heart. 7. Self-confidence. 8. Carnal fears. These hinder the soul from closing with that, mercy that is reported to be in Christ. They are of divers sorts. (1) Fear of God’ s anger, as if He were so displeased with us that certainly He did not intend Christ for us. (2) Fear of being too bold with the promises. (3) Fear of the sin of presumption. 9. Carnal reasonings from our sins. 10. Carnal apprehensions of Christ. (T. Manton, D. D.)The credibility and importance of the Gospel report I. WE WILL THIS REPORT, AND INQUIRE WHETHER IT IS NOT WORTHY OF OUR AND BELIEF. 1. The report which we hear, is a most instructive report. It brings us information of many things which were before unknown, and which, without this information, never could have been known to the sons of men. “ That which had not been told us, we see.” The Gospel for this reason is called a message, good tidings, and tidings of great joy. The leading truths of natural religion are agreeable to the dictates of reason; and perhaps might be, in some measure, discovered without revelation. At least they were known among those who had never enjoyed a written revelation, though, indeed, we cannot say how far these might be indebted to traditional information. But certainly those truths, which immediately relate to the recovery and salvation of sinners, human reason could never investigate. 2. The Gospel is a report from heaven. It was, in some degree, made known to the patriarchs, and afterwards more fully to the prophets But “ God has in these last days, spoken to us by His Son.” 3. the Gospel is a credible report. Many reports come to us without evidence: we only hear them, but know not what is their foundation, or whether they have any. And yet even these reports pass not wholly unregarded. But, if any important intelligence is brought to us which is both rational in itself, and at the same time supported by a competent number of reputable witnesses, we may much rather judge it worthy of our attention and belief. With this evidence the Gospel comes. It is credible in its own nature. The doctrines of the Gospel, though beyond the discovery and above the comprehension of reason, are in no instance contrary to its dictates. They are all adapted to promote real virtue and righteousness. Besides this internal evidence, God has been pleased to give it the sanction of His own testimony. Errors have sometimes been introduced and propagated by the artful reasoning of interested men. But Christianity rests not on the basis of human reasoning, or a subtle intricate train of argumentation: it stands on the ground of plain facts, of which every man is able to judge. The life, miracles, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth are the facts which support it. If these did really take place, the Gospel is true. Whether they did or not, men of common abilities were as competent to judge, as men of the profoundest learning. We, who live in the present age, have not, in every respect, the same evidence of the truth of the Gospel as they had, who were eye-witnesses of those facts. But we have their testimony, in the most authentic manner, conveyed to us. Some advantages we have, which they had not. We have the examination of preceding ages. We see Christianity still supporting itself against all the opposition of the world. We see the unwearied attempts of its enemies to subvert it, rendered fruitless and vain. We see many of the predictions contained in these records, already verified; and others, to all appearance, hastening on towards an accomplishment. 4. It is an interesting report. From the Gospel we learn that the human race have, by transgression, fallen under the Divine displeasure. This report corresponds with our own experience and observation. The Gospel brings us a joyful message. 5. This is a public report. It is what we have all heard, and heard often. II. WE WILL THE . “ Who hath believed our report?” (J. Lathrop, D..D.)Do the prophets believe? “ Who hath believed our report?” This inquiry has been read in various ways. Each of the ways has had its own accent and good lesson. 1. For example, the figure might be that of the prophets gathered together in conference and bemoaning in each other’ s hearing that their sermons or prophecies had come to nothing. We have preached all this while, and nobody has believed; why preach any more? If this thing were of God it would result in great harvests: it results in barrenness, and we are disappointed prophets. That is one way. Many excellent remarks have been made under that construction of the inquiry. 2. But that is not the meaning of the prophecy. The Revised Version helps us to see it more clearly, by reading the word thus:--“ Who hath believed that which we have heard?” The idea is that the prophets are not rebuking other people; the tremendous idea is that the prophets are interrogating themselves and saying, in effect at least, Have we believed our own prophecy? is there a believer in all the Church? is not the Church a nest of unbelievers? That puts a very different face upon the interrogation. We shall now come to great Gospels; when the prophets flagellate themselves we shall have some good preaching. We might put the inquiry, if not literally, yet spiritually and experimentally, thus:--Which of us, even the prophets, have believed? We have said the right thing; people might listen with entranced attention to such eloquence as ours: but is it red with the blood of trust, has it gone forth from us taking our souls with it? If not, we are as the voice of the charmer; men are saying of each of us, He hath a pleasant voice, what he says is said most tunefully, but the man himself is not behind it and in it and above it: it is a recitation, not a prophecy. 3. Who can find fault with the prophets? Not one of us, least of all myself. They had some hard things to, believe; men do not willingly believe in wildernesses and barren rocks, and declarations that have in them no poetry and on them no lustre from heaven, hard and perilous sayings. Who can believe this, that when the Anointed of the Lord shall come, the Chosen One, He shall be “ as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him?” It is incredible; if He is God’ s own Son He will be more beautiful than the dawn of summer. But God will not flatter His servants; He says to each of them, even the loftiest in stature of soul, Go out and proclaim a Cross. It is always so with this Christ; He is all Cross at the first: but what a summer there is hidden in the clouds! and it will come as it were suddenly. The prophets worked their own way under the guidance of the Holy Spirit out of this darkness. Having: dwelt more largely upon the tragical aspect of the life of this great One, they say towards the close, “ He shall see His seed.” That is a new tone; “ He shall prolong his days,” that is a new tone; “ and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” Why, they have turned the corner; they are getting up into the sunshine, they are unfurling the flag on the mountain-top. “ He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: His blood shall buy the universe. This is the other end; this the other aspect of the Gospel. You will never profitably read the Scriptures until you take the darkness with the light. 4. What is the application of this? Why are you wondering that other people do not believe? The voice says, Friend! didst thou believe thine own sermon? Was it alive with thine heart? (J. Parker, D.D.)A heavy complaint and lamentation I. TO WHOM IT WAS MADE. We find from parallel Scriptures that it is made to the Lord Himself (John 12:38; Romans 10:16). II. WHOM IT . It respects the hearers of the Gospel in the prophet’ s time, and in after times too. III. THE MAKER OF THIS HEAVY . 1. The unsucessfulness of the Gospel, and prevailing unbelief among them that heard it. Consider-- (1) What the Gospel is. A “ report.” The word signifies a “ hearing,” a thing to be heard and received by faith, as a voice is received and heard by the ear. Hence that expression, “ the hearing of faith” (Galatians 3:2). (2) What faith is. It is a giving credit to the Gospel, and a trusting our souls to it, as on a word that cannot fail. (3) How rare that faith is. “ Who hath believed!” The report is brought to multitudes; but where is the man that really trusts it, as news from heaven, that may be relied on? 2. The great withdrawing of the power of God from ordinances. “ To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” This implies (1) That there is a necessity of the mighty power of God being exerted on a man, to cause him to believe (John 6:44). (2) That few, very few, felt this power. (3) That hence so few believed. (T. Boston, M.A.)The little success of the Gospel matter of lamentation I. WHAT IS THAT SUCCESS WHICH THE GOSPEL HATH? It is successful-- 1. When sinners are thereby brought to faith in Christ (Romans 1:17). 2. When they are thereby brought to holiness of life (2 Corinthians 3:18). II. WHAT IS THAT DIVINE POWER WHICH COMES ALONG WITH GOSPEL-? 1. A heart and life discovering power (1 Corinthians 14:24-25). The word comes, and the Lord’ s arm comes with it, and opens the volume of a man’ s heart and the life, and it is as if the preacher were reading the secret history of a man’ s thoughts and actions (Hebrews 4:12). 2. A sharp, convincing power, whereby the sinner does not only see his sin, but sees the ill and danger of it, and is touched to the heart with it (Acts 24:25). 3. A drawing and converting power (John 12:32; Psalms 19:7). 4. A quickening power (Psalms 119:50). 5. A clearing power, resolving doubts, removing mistakes and darkness in certain particulars, whereby one is retarded in their spiritual course Psalms 19:7-8). 6. A comforting power (Psalms 119:49-50). 7. A strengthening power. The Spirit, with the Word blowing on the dry bones, makes them stand on their feet like s great army. 8. A soul-elevating and heart-ravishing power (Luke 24:32). III. THE REASONS OF THE . I. It must be a matter of lamentation to the godly in general. For-- (1) The honour of Christ is thereby overclouded. (2) The glory of the glorious Gospel is thereby veiled. (3) Souls are thereby lost, while salvation is come to their door. (4) The godly themselves suffer loss, the thronger Christ’ s family is, the better thriven are the children; and contrariwise. If there were more converting, there would be more confirming work too. 2. Particularly to godly ministers. (1) Thereby their care and pains are much lost, and in vain. (2) Their work is rendered more difficult and wearisome. (3) The seals of their ministry are but small. (T. Boston, M. A.)Evidences of non-success 1. The slighting of Gospel ordinances that so much prevails. 2. Little reformation of life under the dispensation of the Gospel. 3. Much formality in attendance on ordinances. 4. Little of the work of conversion or soul-exercise. (T. Boston, M. A.)The Gospel-report I. THE GOSPEL AS IT IS A REPORT. View it-- 1. In the nature of a report in general. (1) There is the subject of a report, or the thing that is reported, some design, action, or event, true or false. The subject of the Gospel-report is, a love-design in God for the salvation of sinners of mankind (2 Timothy 1:9-10). It is the report of an act of grace and kindness in God, in favours of them, whereby He has given them His Son for a Saviour (John 3:16; Isaiah 9:6), and eternal life in Him (1 John 5:11). The report of the event of Christ’ s dying for sinners. (2) There is the place whence the report originally comes. And the place here is heaven. Hence the Gospel is called “ heavenly things” (John 3:12), revealed from the bosom of the Father. (3) The matter of a report is something unseen to them to whom the report is made. And so is the matter of the Gospel-report. It is an unseen God John 1:18); an unseen Saviour (1 Peter 1:8); and unseen things 2 Corinthians 4:18), that are preached unto you by the Gospel. So the Gospel is an object of faith, not of sight (Hebrews 11:1). We receive it by hearing, not by seeing (Isaiah 55:3). (4) There is a reporter or reporters. And in this case the report is made by many. The first-hand reporter is an eye-witness, Jesus Christ. Christ Himself was the raiser of the report of the Gospel (Hebrews 2:3). And who else could have been so? (John 1:18). What He reported He saw, and gives us His testimony of the truth of it on His eyesight (John 3:11). Hence He is proposed to us as “ the faithful and true Witness” Revelation 3:14), who was from eternity privy to the whole design revealed to us in the Gospel. The prophets and apostles, and ministers of the Gospel. They are the second-hand reporters. (5) There is a manifestation of the thing by the report, to the parties to whom the report is made. So is the grace of God to poor sinners manifested to them by the Gospel (2 Timothy 1:9-10). 2. In the nature of a report to be trusted to, for some valuable end. And so it is-- (1) A true and faithful report, that one may safely trust (1 Timothy 1:15). (2) An infallible report. A report may be true where there is no infallibility: but the report of the Gospel is an infallible truth (Acts 1:3), for it is “ the Word of God that cannot lie” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). And the Spirit of the Lord demonstrates it to believers, as Divine truth (1 Corinthians 2:4). (3) A good and comfortable report. (4) A weighty report, even of the greatest weight, as concerning man’ s greatest possible interest (Isaiah 61:6). II. FAITH AS IT IS A TO THIS REPORT. Faith is-- 1. A trusting of the Gospel-report as true. (1) In the general, with respect to the multitude whom it concerns. “ It is a faithful saying, Christ came to save sinners.” (2) In particular, with respect to oneself. Faith believes that there is a fulness in Christ for poor sinners, and for oneself in particular. Hence it appears--That there is an assurance in the nature of faith, whereby the believing person is sure of the truth of the doctrine of the Gospel, and that with respect to himself particularly (1 Thessalonians 1:5). That there is a necessity of an inward illumination by the Spirit, in order to the faith of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 2:10-14). 2. A trusting to the Gospel-report as good. It implies-- (1) Not only a willingness, but a sincere desire to be delivered from sin, as well as from wrath. (2) A renouncing of all other confidence for his salvation. (3) A hearty approbation of the way of salvation manifested in the report of the Gospel (Matthew 11:6). (4) A betaking one’ s self entirely to that way of salvation, by trusting to it wholly for our own salvation. (5) A confidence or trust, that He will save us from sin and wrath, according to His promise (Acts 15:11). III. THE REPORT OF THE GOSPEL, AND THE TO IT, . The Gospel is a report from heaven-- 1. Of salvation for poor sinners, from sin (Matthew 1:21), and from the wrath of God (John 3:16), freely made over to you in the Word of promise. Faith trusts it as a true report, believing that God has said it; and trusts to it as good, laying our own salvation upon it. 2. Of a crucified Christ made over to sinners, as the device of Heaven for their salvation. The soul concludes, the Saviour is mine; and leans on Him for all the purchase of His death, for life and salvation to itself in particular 1 Corinthians 2:2). 3. Of a righteousness wherein we guilty ones may stand before a holy God Romans 1:17). And by faith one believes there is such a righteousness, that it is sufficient to cover him, and that it is held out to him to be trusted on for righteousness; and so the believer trusts it as his righteousness in the sight of God, disclaiming all other, and betaking himself to it alone Galatians 2:16). 4. Of a pardon under the great seal of Heaven, in Christ, to all who will take it in Him (Acts 13:38-39). The soul by faith believes this to be true, and applies it to itself, saying, This pardon is for me. 5. Of a Physician that cures infallibly all the diseases of the soul. The soul believes it, and applies it to its own case. 6. Of a feast for hungry souls, to which all are bid welcome, Christ Himself being the Maker and matter of it too. The soul weary of the husks of created things, and believing this report, accordingly falls a-feeding on Christ. 7. Of a victory won by Jesus Christ over sin, Satan, and death, and the world. The soul trusts to it for its victory over all these, as already foiled enemies (1 John 5:4). 8. Of a peace purchased by the blood of Christ for poor sinners, and offered to them. Faith believes it; and the soul comes before God as a reconciled Father in Christ, brings in its supplications for supply before the throne. (T. Boston, M. A.)The rarity of believing the Gospel-report I. CONFIRM THIS POINT. 1. Take a view of the Church in all ages, and the entertainment the Gospel has met with among them to whom it came. It has been a despised and disbelieved Gospel. (1) Under the patriarchal dispensation, from Adam to Moses. By Adam and Eve it was believed, and Adam preached it; but Cain slew Abel and headed an apostasy, etc. (2) Under the Mosaic dispensation, they had the Gospel, though veiled with types and figures. But the body of the generation that came out of Egypt, believed not, but fell in the wilderness (Hebrews 4:2). (3) Under the Christian dispensation (John 12:37-38; Romans 10:16). At the Reformation the Gospel had remarkable success; yet believers were but few comparatively; and there have been but few all along since that time. 2. Take a view of the Church, setting aside those whom the Scripture determines to be unbelievers; and we will soon see that but few do remain. Set aside-- (1) The grossly ignorant of Christ, and of the truths of the Gospel. How can they believe the Gospel, that know not what it is? (2) The profane, who are Christians in name, because they live in a Christian country; but have not a shape of Christianity about them. Surely these do not believe the Gospel (Titus 1:16). (3) The carnal and worldly, who make the world their chief good, mainly seeking that, and favouring it only. These undoubtedly are unbelievers Philippians 3:19-20). (4) Mere moralists, all whose religion is confined to some pieces of the second table (Matthew 5:20). (5) Gross hypocrites. That Gospel that cleanses not a man’ s hands from unjust dealing, his mouth from lying, swearing and filthy speaking, is certainly not believed. (6) Close hypocrites, whose outward conversation is blameless in the eye of the world, but in the meantime are inwardly strangers to God and Christ Revelation 3:1). (7) All unregenerate persons; for they are certainly unbelievers, as believers are regenerate. Set aside then all these, few remain who trust to the Gospel report. II. THE REASONS WHY SO FEW BELIEVE THE REPORT OF THE GOSPEL. 1. There is a natural impotency in all (John 6:44). Believing the report of the Gospel is beyond the power of nature, Yea, everything in nature is against it, till the Spirit of the Lord overcome them into belief of the report of the Gospel. 2. The predominant power of lusts, to which the Gospel is an enemy. There our Lord lodges it (John 3:19). 3. There is a judicial blindness on many (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). (T. Boston, M. A.)Divine power necessary for believing the Gospel report There is no true believing or trusting to the report of the Gospel, but what is the effect of the working of a Divine power on the soul for that end. I. EVINCE THE TRUTH OF THE . Consider for it-- 1. Express Scripture testimony (John 6:44). 2. The state that by nature we are in, “ dead in sin” (Ephesians 2:1). Faith is the first vital act of the soul, quickened by the Spirit of life from Jesus Christ. 3. There can be no faith without knowledge: and the knowledge of spiritual things man is by nature incapable of (1 Corinthians 2:14). 4. Man is naturally under the power of Satan, a captive of the devil, who with his utmost efforts will hinder the work of faith (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). Such a case the Gospel finds men in; and it is the design of the Gospel to bring them out of it (Acts 26:17-18). 5. Man’ s trust is by nature firmly preoccupied by those things which the Gospel calls them to renounce. He is wedded to other confidences naturally, which therefore he will hold by, till a power above nature carry him off from them--self-confidence, creature-confidence, law-confidence. 6. Man has a strong bias and bent against believing or trusting to the Gospel (John 5:40; Romans 10:3). 7. It is the product of the Holy Spirit, wherever it is. II. WHAT IS THAT WORKING OF DIVINE POWER WHEREBY THE SOUL IS BROUGHT TO TRUST TO THE GOSPEL REPORT? There is a twofold work of Divine power on the soul for that end. 1. A mediate work, which is preparatory to it; whereof the Spirit is the author, and the instrument is the law. (1) An awakening work. (2) A humbling work, whereby the proud sinner is brought low to the dust: not only finding a need of salvation, but an absolute need of Christ for salvation. So he is broken off from self-confidence, creature-confidence, law-confidence. 2. An immediate work, whereby faith is produced in the soul; whereof the Spirit is the author, and the Gospel the instrument. It is-- (1) A quickening work, whereby the dead soul is called again to spiritual Ephesians 2:1). (2) An illuminating work. There is a knowledge in faith. (T. Boston, M. A.)The Monarch in disguise There are four distinctive features predicted-- 1. The lowliness, obscurity and sorrow of the coming Servant of God. 2. The putting forth of “ the arm of the Lord” in Him and in His work. 3. The setting forth of this in a message or “ report.” 4. The concealing, as it were, of the “ arm of the Lord,” owing to the lowly appearance of this Servant. (C. Clemance, D.D.)Preaching and hearing I. THE GREAT SUBJECT OF , and the preacher’ s great errand, is to report concerning Jesus Christ--to bring good tidings concerning Him. II. THE GREAT DUTY OF HEARERS is, to believe this report and, by virtue of it, to be brought to rest on Jesus Christ. III. THE GREAT, THOUGH THE , SIN OF THE OF THE HEARERS OF THE GOSPEL is unbelief. IV. THE GREAT , WEIGHT AND GRIEF OF AN HONEST OF THE GOSPEL is this--that his message is not taken off his hand; that Christ is not received, believed in and rested on. (J. Durham.)The offer of Christ in the Gospel I. The offering of Christ in the Gospel is WARRANT enough to believe in Him. Otherwise there had been no just ground of expostulation and complaint for not believing. The complaint is for the neglect of the duty they were called to. II. They to whom Christ is offered in the Gospel are CALLED to believe. It is their duty to do it. III. Saving faith is THE WAY AND MEANS by which those who have Christ offered to them in the Gospel come to get a right to Him, and to obtain the benefits that are reported of to be had from Him. (J. Durham.)The necessity of faith 1. Look to all the promises, whether of pardon of sin, peace with God, joy in the Holy Ghost, holiness and conformity to God--there is no access to these, or to any of them, but by faith. 2. Look to the performance of any duty, or mortification of any lust or idol, and faith is necessary to that. 3. Whenever any duty is done, there is no acceptation of it without faith Hebrews 4:2; Hebrews 11:6). (J. Durham.)A faithful minister’ s sorrow It is most sad to a tender minister to see unbelief and unfruitfulness among the people he hath preached the Gospel to. There is a fourfold reason of this-- 1. Respect to Christ Jesus his Master, in whose stead he comes to woo souls to Christ. 2. The respect he hath to people’ s souls. 3. The respect he hath to the duty in hand. 4. Concern for his own joy and comfort (Philippians 2:16). (J. Durham.)The prevalence of unbelief I. THE HERE GIVEN OF THE GOSPEL. A “ report.” Let us see-- 1. In what respects it resembles a report. A report is the statement of things or facts done or occurring at some distance of time or place; of things which we ourselves have not seen, but of which an account has been brought to us by others, and to which our belief is demanded in proportion to the degree of credibility which attaches to those who bring us the account. Such is the Gospel. 2. In what respects this report differs from all other reports. This difference may be traced in the importance of the truths which it professes to communicate, no less than in the evidence by which it is confirmed. II. THE WHICH THE PROPHET ASKS IN TO IT, “ Who hath believed our report?” This question is evidently the language of complaint, of surprise, and of grief. And has there not been always occasion for such language as this? (E. Cooper.)Ministerial solicitude Every minister of Jesus Christ, imbued with the spirit of his office, is anxious-- (1) To make a faithful report; (2) Then, in many living witnesses, to behold the illustration of an apostle’ s assertion, “ Faith cometh by hearing, etc. I. THE REPORT WHICH THE OF THE GOSPEL MAKE. The “ report” of Isaiah is the “ saying” of Paul (1 Timothy 1:15). 1. It demands and deserves your attention, for we bring it from heaven. 2. It is a report of universal interest, for it is to be made to all the world. 3. Our report is of the very highest importance, for it refers to the state of the soul. 4. It is a report of the strictest veracity, being confirmed by many credible witnesses. II. The ANXIETY WHICH THE OF THE GOSPEL FEEL. 1. This report is very generally neglected. 2. This neglect is the result of unbelief. 3. This neglect is, to those who make it, a subject of devout solicitude and of deep regret. 4. When this report is believed, it operates with Divine efficiency. What think you of our report? (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?--The arm of the Lord revealed I. WHAT IS MEANT BY “ THE ARM OF THE LORD.” II. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE OF THE ARM OF THE LORD. III. THE SCOPE AND OF THESE WORDS ON THE FORMER. (J. Durham.)The arm of the Lord “ To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” It has been made bare these many centuries, and how few have seen it, or recognized it, or called it by its proper name! We have had continuity, and succession, and evolution, and development, and progress, and laws of nature; but not “ the arm of the Lord. (J. Parker, D.D.)The might of the saving arm, and how to obtain it (with John 11:40):--A lawyer whom I know took me to see the fire-proof strong-room inwhich he keeps valuable deeds and securities. It is excavated under the street, and a passage leads far into the interior, lined on either side with receptacles for the precious documents. On entering, he took up what appeared to be a candle, with a cord attached to it; the other end he deftly fastened to a switch at the entrance, by means of which the electricity which was waiting there poured up the wire hidden in the cord, glowed at the wick of the china candle, and we were able to pass to the end of the passage, uncoiling cord and wire as we went. That unlighted candle resembles the Christian worker apart from the power of the Holy Ghost. Faith may be compared to the switch by means of which the saving might of God pours into our life and ministry. It cannot be too strongly insisted on, that our faith is the absolute condition and measure of the exertion of God’ s saving might. No faith, no blessing; little faith, little blessing; great faith, great blessing. The saving might of God’ s glorious arm may be waiting close against us; but it is inoperative unless we are united to it by faith. The negative and positive sides of this great and important truth are presented in the texts before us: one of which complains that the arm of God is not revealed, because men have not believed the inspired report; the other affirms from the lips of the Master, that those who believe shall see the glory of God. (F. B. Meyer, B.A.)The arm of God and human faith (with John 11:40):-- I. THE ARM OF GOD. This expression is often used in the older Scriptures, and everywhere signifies the active, saving energy of the Most High. We first meet with it in His own address to Moses: “ I will redeem them with a stretched-out arm.” Then, in the triumphant shout that broke from two million glad voices beside the Red Sea--and frequently in the book of Deuteronomy--we read of the stretched-out arm of Jehovah. It is a favourite phrase with the poets and prophets of Israel--the arm that redeems; the holy arm; the glorious arm; the bared arm of God. The conception is that, owing to the unbelief of Israel, it lies inoperative, hidden under the heavy folds of Oriental drapery; whereas it might be revealed, raising itself aloft in vigorous and effective effort. All that concerns us now is the relation between faith and the forth-putting of God’ s saving might. II. THE LIFE OF THE SON OF MAN. AS this chapter suggests, it seemed, from many points of view, a failure. The arm of the Lord was in Him, though hidden from all save the handful who believed. III. A CASE. Even though our Lord went to Bethany with the assurance that the arm of the Lord would certainly be made bare, yet He must of necessity have the co-operation and sympathy of some one’ s faith. 1. Such faith He discovered in Martha. Her admissions showed that faith was already within her soul, as a grain of mustard-seed, awaiting the summertide of God’ s presence, the education of His grace. There are many earnest Christians whose energies are taxed to the uttermost by their ministry to others. They have no time to sit quietly at the feet of Christ, or mature great schemes of loving sympathy with His plans, as Mary did when she prepared her anointing-oil for her Lord s burial. And yet they are capable of a great faith. Christ will one day discover, reveal and educate that faith to great exploits. 2. He put a promise before her--“ Thy brother shall rise again.” Faith feeds on promises. 3. He showed that its fulfilment might be expected and now. Jesus said, “ I AM the Resurrection and the Life.” Here and now is the power which, on that day of which you speak, shall awaken the dead; do but believe, and you shall see that resurrection anticipated. Ponder the force of this I AM. It is the present tense of the Eternal. 4. He aroused her expectancy. For what other reason did He ask that the stone might be rolled away? She believed, and she beheld the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The one aim for each of us should be to bring Christ and the dead Lazarus together. Let us ask Christ, our Saviour, to work such faith in us; to develop it by every method of education and discipline; to mature it by his nurturing Spirit, until the arm of God is revealed in us and through us, and the glory of God is manifested before the gaze of men. At the same time, it is not well to concentrate our thought too much on faith, lest we hinder its growth. Look away from faith to the Object of faith, and faith will spring of itself. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.) Isaiah 53:2 For He shall grow up before wire as a tender plant God accomplishes great things by unlikely means 1. God prosecuteth and accomplisheth His greatest designs by the most unlikely and despised means. Jesus Christ, the great Saviour of the world, was but a tender plant, which a man would be more apt to tread upon and crush, than to cherish. 2. God cometh in for the deliverance of His people in times of greatest despair and unlikelihood. For when the branches of Jesse were dried up, and had no verdure, even then sprung up the greatest ornament of that stock, although a root out of a dry ground. 3. Mean beginnings may grow up to great matters and glorious successes. Christ, the tender plant, was to be a tall tree. (T. Manton, D. D.)God to be trusted You have no cause to distrust God; though He doth not find means, He can create them. The root of Jesse, though there be no branches, it can bear a sprig. God, that could make the world out of nothing, can preserve the Church by nothing. (T. Manton, D. D.)Christ a tender plant 1. Christ in His humiliation appeared in great feebleness; born a helpless babe, He was in His infancy in great danger from the hand of Herod, and though preserved, it was not by a powerful army, but by flight into another land. His early days were not spent amid the martial music of camps, or in the grandeur of courts, but in the retirement of a carpenter’ s shop--fit place for “ a tender plant.” His life was gentleness, He was harmless as a lamb. At any time it seemed easy to destroy both Him and His system. When He was nailed to the Cross to die, did it not appear as if His whole work had utterly collapsed and His religion would be for ever stamped out? The Cross threatened to be the death of Christianity as well as of Christ; but it was not so, for in a few days the power of the Divine Spirit came upon the Church. 2. At its first setting up, how feeble was the kingdom of our Lord! When Herod stretched out His hand to vex certain of the Church, unbelief might have said, “ There will he an utter end ere long.” When, in after years, the Roman emperors turned the whole imperial power against the Gospel, stretching forth an arm long enough to encompass the entire globe, and uplifting a hand more heavy than an iron hammer, how could it be supposed that the Christian Church would still live on? It bowed before the storm like a tender shoot, but it was not uprooted by the tempest; it survives to this day; and although we do not rejoice at this moment in all the success which we could desire, yet still that tender shoot is full of vitality, we perceive the blossoms of hope upon it, and expect soon to gather goodly clusters of success. 3. Christianity in our own hearts--the Christ within us--is also a “ tender plant.” In its upspringing it is as the green blade of corn, which any beast that goeth by may tread upon or devour. Oftentimes, to our apprehension, it has seemed that our spiritual life would soon die: it was no better than a lily, with a stalk bruised and all but snapped in twain. The mower a scythe of temptation has cut down the outgrowth of our spiritual life, but He who cometh down like rain upon the mown grass has restored our verdure and maintained our vigour to this day. Tender as our religion is, it is beyond the power of Satan to destroy it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Growth before God There is one word which marks the difference between the work of God and the work of man. It is the word “ growth.” No human work can grow. For though we speak of a picture growing under the brush of the painter, or of a statue growing under the chisel of the sculptor, this is only a figure of speech. 1. But there is no work of God that cannot grow. This world itself grew into being. It grew up before God as the wild flower does--grew out of chaos, into order and beauty, and we can read on the rocks the story of its growth. There is a greater world than this--the world of Divine truth. And this also has been a growth from the beginning. 2. No wonder, then, that the Son of God grew up before the Lord--that the Lord of nature conformed to the law of nature. The sacred historian is not to be found tripping here, like the medieval romancist. He does not outrage the order of nature by a single story of monstrous precocity. There is not a part of the being of Jesus which he excludes from the order of growth. In body, mind and spirit he declares the child grew up before the Lord. 3. What hope is there here for man! The Son of God had to grow, and the meanest child of man can grow. If we had no power of growth but that which we possess in common with the animal and the tree, then were we of all creatures the most miserable. Because we have in us the power of an endless growth in all that is great and good, we are creatures of the Most Blessed. And we must grow. That is our destiny. Our Christianity is not a piece of mechanism that was finished off at the date of conversion. It is a life that has been born within the soul. We are growing, either upwards or downwards, either better or worse, either to honour or to shame. 4. But how may a noble and Divine growth be ensured? It is a question that is not left unanswered in my text. For we are told that the plant of which it speaks grew up before the Lord. It was the fondest desire of the Hebrew mother’ s heart that her son should grow up before the Lord. She would rather have him grow up before the Lord in the temple than before the king in the palace. There can be no higher position or nobler prospect for a man than to grow up before his God. The child Samuel and the child Jesus grew up before the same God, but how differently. The former under the very shadow of the altar, under the wing of the old, blind priest, utterly secluded from the common ways of men; but Jesus, at His mother s knee in the village home, in the midst of His little relatives and playmates, among the workmen at the bench, and the old familiar faces in street and synagogue. And so it has become a Christian commonplace that you can grow up before the Lord anywhere. 5. But we are further informed of the special fashion in which Jesus grew up before the Lord. “ As a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground,” we read. But the Hebrew contains a more explicit meaning. It is this: “ He grew up before God like a fresh sucker from a root springing out of a dry ground” The old plant is the house of David, once so glorious in flower and fruitage, at last cut down and withered. The dry soil is the barren religious life of Israel. The fresh young sucker is the Son of Man. That it did grow to what we see is the supreme miracle of Christianity. Its principal evidence is in its own marvellous growth. This is the dilemma in which Christianity still keeps its foes, and to which all additional thought and investigation can only add strength. From such a root, in such a soil, how did Jesus grow to be the Christ of history? It must either be acknowledged to be the supreme miracle or the supreme mystery of time. And this is the one Christian miracle which keeps repeating itself century after century. From the withered plant, and out of the desert soft, God is evermore producing His plants of renown. How was it, for example, that Luther grew to be the man he was, and to wield the power he did? Was it from the withered root of the mediaeval Church or the desert soil of the monastery that he derived his power? Or was he right when he declared the conviction of his heart that it was all by the grace of God through faith? History discloses to us nothing so glorious as these Divine developments of the soul of man. The grace that has achieved these things is in the world as much as ever. 6. Why is it, then, that so many young men are excluding from their ambition in life that of growth in Christ? Why is it that so many of them murmur that the old creeds are dry, and the old Bible and the old familiar Church service, and that even the fountain of private devotion has ceased to water the wilderness? It is because they are not rooted in God and His truth, but are, many of them, like plants thrown out of a country nursery, which lie bleaching in the sun or are blown about by the wind. No wonder that religion seems dry to those who are not rooted in it. Young men! see to it that you go down into the truth which you profess to stand by, whether of creed, of catechism, or Bible, and you will find as much good in it as your fathers did. Thus settled and grounded, seek to grow in everything; put on nothing. All pretence is worse than waste of time and strength. And abjure all forced and unnatural growth, all ambition to fill rapidly a large space. Be content to occupy the ground that God has allotted to you, according to the nature that God has given. (P. J. Rollo.)As a root out of a dry groundThe root out of a dry ground Owing to their geographical position, the central and western regions of South Africa are almost constantly deprived of rain. They contain no flowing streams, and very little water in the wells. The soil is a soft and light-coloured sand, which reflects the sunlight with a glaring intensity. No fresh breeze cools the air; no passing cloud veils the scorching sky. We should naturally have supposed that regions so scantily supplied with one of the first necessaries of life, could be nothing else than waste and lifeless deserts: and yet, strange to say, they are distinguished for their comparatively abundant vegetation, and their immense development of animal life. The evil produced by want of rain has been counteracted by the admirable foresight of the Creator, in providing these arid lands with plants suited to their trying circumstances. The vegetation is eminently local and special. Nothing like it is seen elsewhere on the face of the earth. Nearly all the plants have tuberous roots, buried far beneath the ground, beyond the scorching effects of the sun, and are composed of succulent tissue, filled with a deliciously cool and refreshing fluid. They have also thick, fleshy leaves, with pores capable of imbibing and retaining moisture from a very dry atmosphere and soil; so that if a leaf be broken during the greatest drought, it shows abundant circulating sap. Nothing can look more unlike the situations in which they are found than these succulent roots, full of fluid when the surrounding soil is dry as dust, and the enveloping air seems utterly destitute of moisture; replete with nourishment and life when all within the horizon is desolation and death. They seem to have a special vitality in themselves; and, unlike all other plants, to be independent of circumstances. Such roots are also found in the deserts of Arabia; and it was doubtless one of them that suggested to the prophet the beautiful and expressive emblem of the text, “ He shall grow up before him as a root out of a dry ground.” (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)Christ’ s growth before God Commentators usually connect these words with the next clause of the verse, and regard them as implying that the promised Messiah would have no form or comeliness in the estimation of men, no outward beauty, that they should desire Him. This, I think, is a wrong interpretation. The words of the text are complete and separate. They speak not of the appearance of Christ to men, but of His growth in the sight of God. They refer not to His attractiveness, but to His functions; and the point that seems to be most insisted upon is, that His relation to the circumstances in which He should be placed would be one of perfect independence and self-sufficiency. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)The root out of a dry ground In the light of this explanation let us look at the three ideas which the subject suggests to us-- 1. The living root. 2. The dry ground. 3. The effect of the living root upon the dry ground. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)Christ the living root 1. This emblem is peculiarly appropriate when applied to Christ. He is called the “ Branch,” to show that He is a member of the great organism of human life, in all things made like unto His brethren, yet without sin. He is a branch of the tree of humanity, nourished by its sap, pervaded by its life, blossoming with its affections, and yielding its fruits of usefulness. But He is more than the Branch. “ There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots,” is the spiritual language of prophecy relative to the coming of the Messiah; but the figure is speedily changed, and the Branch is also called “ the Root of Jesse.” This language is most strange and paradoxical. It reveals the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh. Jesus is at one and the same time the Branch and the Root, the root of Jesse and the offspring of Jesse, David’ s Lord and David’ s son, because He is Emmanuel, God with us, God and man in two distinct natures and one person for ever; deriving His human life by natural descent from man, and possessing Divine life in Himself, and the author of spiritual life to others. The root of plants growing in a dry ground is the most important part of their structure. It lies at the basis of, and involves the whole plant. The whole growth of a lily, for instance, lies folded up within its bulb. And so Christ lies at the basis of, and involves the whole spiritual life. 2. It is assuredly the most precious, as it is the most distinguishing, feature of the Christian religion, that it places the foundation of eternal life in living relations with a living Person, rather than in the profession of a creed or the practice of a duty. (1) One of the principal functions which the root performs in the economy of vegetation is to attach the plant to the soil, and prevent it from moving hither and thither at the mercy of the elements. So Christ is the living root of our spiritual life, connecting it with the whole system of grace, the whole economy of redemption. It is only when united to Christ by a living faith that the soul can lay hold on heaven and immortality. (2) Another purpose which the root serves in the economy of vegetation is to feed the plant. Through the spongioles of the root, the plant imbibes from the soil in which it is placed the needful sap by which it is sustained; and in this simple way the whole important and complicated processes are carried on, by which crude soil is converted into the needful constituents of vegetable matter. For this purpose the root possesses certain structural peculiarities adapting it to its special functions. Just as there is provision made for the growth of the germ in the starchy contents of the seed, until it has attained an independent existence; so there is provision made in the nutritive tissue of the bulb or tuber for the support of the plant which it produces. This function also the Root of Jesse performs in the case of those who are rooted in Him. He is the mediator of the New Covenant; the only channel by which spiritual blessings can be communicated to us. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)The unfoldings of the Root of Jesse All the individual life of the Christian, with its blossoms of holiness and its fruits of righteousness; all the Christian life of society, with its things that are pure, and honest, and lovely, and of good report, is but a development and a manifestation of the life of Christ in the heart and in the world; a growth and unfolding of the power, the beauty, and the sweetness that are hid in the Root of Jesse. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)The dry ground There is usually a very intimate connection between a plant and the circumstances in which it grows. Modifications of specific character are produced by varieties of soil; and the wide difference between a wild flower or fruit, and a garden flower or fruit, is entirely owing to the difference between rich cultivated soil and the poor untilled soil of nature. The plants of a dry ground, however, are less dependent upon the nature of their soil than others; they receive from it, in most cases, mere mechanical support and room to expand in, while their means of growth are derived entirely from the atmosphere. Looking at the emblem of the text in this light, we may suppose the “ dry ground” here to mean-- I. THAT OUT OF WHICH CHRIST SPRANG. There are many who regard Jesus as the natural product of humanity--the highest development of human nature, the blossom, so to speak, of mankind. But we look upon Him as a Divine germ planted in this wilderness, a Divine Being attaching Himself to men, wearing their nature, dwelling in their world, but still not of them--as distinct from humanity as the living root is distinct from the dry ground in which it grows. The soil of humanity is indeed dry ground. Sin has dried up its life, its fertility, turned its moisture into summer’ s drought, and reduced it to perpetual barrenness. By the law of natural development, mankind could never have given birth to a character in every way so exceptional as that of Christ. It is true indeed that a few individuals have ever and anon emerged from the dark chaos of fallen humanity, and exhibited a high type of intellectual and moral worth; but such individuals have been completely identified with the human race, and have shared in its sins and infirmities. In Jesus, on the contrary, there was a remarkable remoteness and separateness from men his life ran parallel with man’ s, but it was never on the same low level. He was independent of worldly circumstances, and superior to worldly conventionalities. He had no joys on earth save those He brought with Him from heaven. He was alone, without sympathy, for no one could understand Him; without help, for no mortal aid could reach the necessities of His case. Like a desert well, He was for ever imparting what no one could give Him back. II. THE OF THE JEWS THE MESSIAH. There are scientific men who believe in the doctrine of spontaneous or equivocal generation. And so there are theologians who assert that Christ was merely the natural product of the age and the circumstances in which He lived; the mere incarnation, so to speak, of the popular expectation of the time. In all their attempts to account for His life, without admitting Him to be a Divine person, they bring prominently into view whatever there was in Jewish history, belief, and literature, to prepare for and produce such a personality and character as those of Jesus; they endeavour to show that the condition of the Jewish world, when Christ appeared, was exactly that into which His appearing would fit; and that all these preparatory and formative conditions did of themselves, by a kind of natural spontaneous generation, produce Christ. In reply to these views, it may be admitted as an unquestionable historical fact, that the expectation of a Messiah ran like a golden thread throughout the whole complicated web of the Hebrew religion and polity. The expectations of the Jews did no more of themselves produce the Saviour, than the soil and climate produce, of their own accord, any particular plant. There was nothing in the age, nothing in the people, nothing in the influences by which he was surrounded, which could by any possibility have produced or developed such a remarkable character as He exhibited. There was no more relation between Him and His moral surroundings, than there is between a succulent life-full root and the arid sandy waste in which it grows. The counterfeit Messiahs were not roots out of a dry ground, but, on the contrary, mushrooms developed from the decaying life of the nation. There was a complete harmony between them and their moral surroundings. They were really and truly the products of the popular longing of the time; they agreed in every respect with their circumstances. The prevailing notions concerning the Messiah were worldly and carnal. III. THE OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE. Nothing can be more marked and striking than the contrast between the character of Christ and the general character of the Jewish nation--between the excellences which He displayed and those which they held in most esteem. It is said that a man represents the spirit and character of the age and the race to which he belongs. He seldom rises above their general level. But here we have a man who not only rose high above the level of his age and nation, but stands out, in all that constitutes true moral manhood, in marked and decided contrast to them. He was descended from the Jewish people, but He was not of them. He was rooted in Jewish soil, but His life was a self-derived and heavenly life. This is a great and precious truth. Something has come into this world which is not of it. A supernatural power has descended into nature. A man has lived on our earth who cannot be ranked with mankind. A Divine Being has come from God, to be incarnate with us, and to lift us up to God. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)Christ binds humanity into a brotherhood The roots of the desert, by their extensive ramifications, fix the constantly shifting sands, and prevent them from being drifted about in blinding clouds by every wind that blows. So the Root of Jesse binds the dry ground of humanity by its endless fibres of benevolence and love. The despised and apparently feeble Jesus of Nazareth was lifted up on the Cross, and then followed--according to His own prophecy--the drawing of all men to Him and to one another. Sin is selfishness and isolation; the love of Christ is benevolence and attraction. Jesus unites us to the Father, and therefore to one another. The love of Christians is not to be confined to their own society and fraternity. In Christ they have received expansion, not limitation--universal benevolence, not mere party spirit. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)A root out of a dry ground I. THE MEANING OF THIS . It applies to the person of the Lord, and also to His cause and Kingdom: to Himself personally and to Himself mystically. A root which springs up in a fat and fertile field owes very much to the soil in which it grows. Our Saviour is a root that derives nothing from the soil in which it grows, but puts everything into the soil. 1. It is quite certain that our Lord derived nothing whatever from His natural descent. He was the Son of David, the lawful heir to the royal dignities of the tribe of Judah; but His family had fallen into obscurity, had lost position, wealth, and repute. 2. Nor did our Lord derive assistance from His nationality; it was no general recommendation to His teaching that He was of the seed of Abraham. To this day, to many minds, it is almost shameful to mention that our Saviour was a Jew. The Romans were peculiarly tolerant of religions and customs; by conquest their empire had absorbed men of all languages and creeds, and they usually left them undisturbed; but the Jewish faith was too peculiar and intolerant to escape derision and hatred. After the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, the Jews were hunted down, and the connection of Christianity with Judaism so far from being an advantage to it became a serious hindrance to its growth. 3. Nor did the Saviour owe anything to His followers. Shall a world-subduing religion be disseminated by peasants and mariners? So did He ordain it. 4. Our Saviour is “ a root out of a dry ground” as to the means He chose for the propagation of His faith. 5. Neither did the Saviour owe anything to times in which He lived. Christianity was born at a period of history when the world by wisdom knew not God, and men were most effectually alienated from Him. The more thinking part of the world’ s inhabitants were atheistic, and made ridicule of the gods, while the masses blindly worshipped whatever was set before them. The whole set and current of thought was in direct opposition to such a religion as He came to inculcate. It was an age of luxury. 6. Neither did the religion of Jesus owe anything to human nature. It is sometimes said that it commends itself to human nature. It is false: the religion of Jesus opposes unrenewed human nature. II. OUR OF ITS TRUTH . You remember your own conversion. When Jesus Christ came to you to save you, did He find any fertile soil in your heart for the growth of His grace? III. This whole subject affords much to many. 1. Let me speak a word to those who are seeking the Saviour, but are very conscious of your own sinfulness. Christ is all--does that not cheer you? 2. The same thought ought also to encourage any Christian who has been making discoveries of his own barrenness. When at any time you are cast down by a sense of your nothingness, remember that your Lord is “ a root out of a dry ground.” 3. The same comfort avails for every Christian worker. When you feel you are barren, do not fret or despair about it, but rather say, “ Lord, here is a dry tree, come and make it bear fruit, and then I shall joyfully confess, from Thee is my fruit found.” 4. Ought not this to comfort us with regard to the times in which we live? Bad times are famous times for Christ. 5. And thus we may be encouraged concerning any particularly wicked place. Do not say, “ It is useless to preach down there, or to send missionaries to that uncivilized country.” How do you know? Is it very dry ground? Well, that is hopeful soil; Christ is a “ root out a dry ground,” and the more there is to discourage the more you should be encouraged. 6. The same is true of individual men; you should never say, “ Well, such a man as that will never be converted. IV. THE GLORY WHICH ALL THIS . Christ’ s laurels at this day are none of them borrowed. When He shall come in His glory there will be none among its friends who will say, “ O King, Thou owest that jewel in Thy crown to me.” Every one will own that He was the author and the finisher of the whole work, and therefore He must have all the glory of it, since we who were with Him were dry ground, and He gave life to us but borrowed nothing from us. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Christ not the product of Palestine According to Renan, the excellence of Jesus was due to the climate and soil of Palestine! But he forgets to ask how it is that the climate and soil of Palestine have never produced such another! (C. Clemance, D.D.)He hath no form nor comelinessChrist’ s humble appearance While we see no necessity for the Saviour of the world appearing in pomp and splendour, we can point out many important ends that may be answered by His having been made humble and of no reputation. 1. In this state His all-perfect example was of the most extensive benefit. He could exhibit virtues more in number, more difficult to practise, and more generally necessary, than there could have been room for in a higher rank and in less trying circumstances. And the virtues which such a state required from Him, as they are the most difficult to practise, so are they those which are universally useful. The virtues which belong to sovereign power and regal dignity a few only have occasion to exercise. The virtues of that station which He assumed are useful for all to acquire. 2. By His appearing in the humble, suffering state He teaches us how very insignificant in the sight of God, and in the eyes of true wisdom, are all the possessions of this world and all the flattering distinctions of a present state. 3. By appearing in a humble, suffering state He shows us that earthly distress is no proof of a bad character; that suffering is no sure intimation of God s displeasure at the sufferer. 4. By appearing in this state He shows us that it was only the force of truth that engaged and influenced His followers. So strongly are men impressed by the circumstances of high birth, of eminent rank, of great power, the splendid acts of a monarch or a conqueror, that wherever these are found they are eager to show deference and respect. But Jesus had none of these worldly attractions. (R. Bogg, D.D.)The real character of the Messiah I. AS TO THE , that Jesus was not the true Messiah, because He did not answer the universal expectation which the Jews had of His being a mighty temporal prince. Considering the natural temper of mankind, and how strongly addicted they are to their worldly interests, and how jealous of everything that thwarts and opposes them, we must allow it to be a prejudice not easy to overcome. It requires a greater zeal for the honour of God and religion than most men are possessed of, to adhere to truth when we are likely to be losers by it. Few there are that have resolution enough to abide by a religion in which they have been educated, when once it comes to be opposed by the secular powers, and the profession of it to be attended with nothing but poverty and affliction: how much more courage then, and firmness of mind, is necessary to make men enter into a religion newly set up, and that is attended with the like disadvantages? But can any one seriously think this excuse of any force? Let him urge it in its true light, and thus must he plead when arraigned at the tribunal of God for unbelief: “ I would willingly have embraced the religion of Jesus Christ had it been made more suitable to my carnal inclinations and interests; had the rewards it promises been temporal instead of eternal, none should have more industriously and cheerfully sought after them; but when He told me that His ‘ kingdom was not of this world,’ and that I could not follow Him without ‘ taking up the cross;’ without losing, or being in danger of losing, everything that was valuable in life, nay, life itself, for His sake--my flesh trembled at the thought, and human nature, directed me to take care of myself, and to run no hazards for the sake of religion.” What sentence can such an one expect but this: “ Thou hast preferred thy temporal to thy eternal interest, thou hast had thy reward on earth, and canst therefore expect no other in heaven” ? But the Jew perhaps thinks he has somewhat further to say in behalf of his unbelief--that he was persuaded, from the predictions of the prophets, that the Messiah would really be, what the Gentiles might only wish Him to be, a temporal prince; and, finding Jesus not to be so, they thought it a good reason for rejecting Him. But was this (supposing it true) the only mark by which the Messiah was to be known? How often do we read of His sufferings and ill-usage in the world? Did anybody appear that answered the character of the Messiah, in any one instance, so exactly as Jesus did? The Jews made another objection against Him of much the same kind: that He was brought up, and, as they supposed, born at Nazareth, in Galilee; a country much despised by the Jews, as if there was anything in the nature of the soil or air of the country that rendered the inhabitants of it less acceptable to God than they might otherwise be, and He could not, if He would, produce eminent and bright spirits out of the most obscure parts of the world. The Chaldees were an idolatrous people, and yet God made choice of Abraham, a man of that country, with whom to establish an everlasting covenant, and in whose seed to bless all the nations of the earth. The prophet Jonah, a type of Christ, was born at a place called Gath-hepher, a town of the tribe of Zebulon, in Galilee itself, though no prophet is said by the Jews to come from thence: and Isaiah moreover plainly declares to us, in the description he is giving of the universal joy and comfort that will be occasioned by the birth and kingdom of Christ, that “ in Galilee of the nations” this shall be seen. “ The people (says he) that walked in darkness, have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” So that this objection is as groundless as it is weak and foolish. II. to ourselves. 1. It greatly behoves us to take care that worldly interest and advantage be not the principal motive that engages us to perform our duty; lest, after the example of the Jews, we fall away from it, when that motive fails; lest, being disappointed of the hopes we had conceived from our attachment to religion and religious men, we become enemies instead of friends. 2. How hard it is for truth to prevail over the prejudices and settled notions of men. (C. Moore, M. A.)Religion a weariness to the natural man Putting aside for an instant the thought of the ingratitude and the sin which indifference to Christianity implies, let us, as far as we dare, view it merely as a matter of fact, after the manner of the text, and form a judgment on the probable consequences of it. 1. “ Religion is a weariness;” alas! so feel even children before they can well express their meaning. Exceptions, of course, now and then occur. I am not forgetful of the peculiar character of children’ s minds: sensible objects first meet their observation; it is not wonderful that they should at first be inclined to limit their thoughts to things of sense. A distinct profession of faith, and a conscious maintenance of principle, may imply a strength and consistency of thought to which they are as yet unequal. Again, childhood is capricious, ardent, light-hearted; it cannot think deeply or long on any subject. Yet all this is not enough to account for the fact in question--why they should feel this distaste for the very subject of religion. 2. “ Religion is a weariness” I will next take the case of young persons when they first enter into life. Is not religion associated in their minds with gloom and weariness? This is the point that the feelings of our hearts on the subject of religion are different from the declared judgment of God; that we have a natural distaste for that which He has said is our chief good. 3. Let us pass to the more active occupations of life. The transactions of worldly business, speculations in trade, ambitious hopes, the pursuit of knowledge, the public occurrences of the day, these find a way directly to the heart; they rouse, they influence. The name of religion, on the other hand, is weak and impotent. 4. But this natural contrariety between man and his Maker is still more strikingly shown by the confessions of men of the world who have given some thought to the subject, and have viewed society with somewhat of a philosophical spirit. Such men treat the demands of religion with disrespect and negligence, on the ground of their being unnatural. The same remark may be made upon the notions which secretly prevail in certain quarters at the present day, concerning the unsuitableness of Christianity to an enlightened age. The literature of the day is weary of revealed religion. 5. That religion is in itself a weariness is seen even in the conduct of the better sort of persons, who really on the whole are under the influence of its spirit. So dull and uninviting is calm and practical religion, that religious persons are ever exposed to the temptation of looking out for excitements of one sort or other, to make it pleasurable to them. 6. Even the confirmed servants of Christ witness to the opposition which exists between their own nature and the demands of religion. Can we doubt that man’ s will runs contrary to God’ s will--that the view which the inspired Word takes of our present life, and of our destiny, does not satisfy us, as it rightly ought to do? That Christ hath no form nor comeliness in our eyes; and though we see Him, we see no desirable beauty in Him? “ Light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light.” If our hearts are by nature set on the world for its own sake, and the world is one day to pass away, what are they to be set on, what to delight in then? What are to be the pleasures of the soul in another life? Can they be the same as they are here? They cannot; Scripture tells us they cannot; the world passeth away--now what is there left to love and enjoy through a long eternity? It is then plain enough, though Scripture said not a word on the subject, that if we would be happy in the world to come, we must make us new hearts, and begin to love the things we naturally do not love. “ He hath no form nor comeliness,” etc. It is not His loss that we love Him not, it is our loss. (J.H. Newman, B.D.)The love of beauty (in art)Let us fix our thoughts on one example of that contrast which inspired prophecy and the life of Christ have agreed to reconcile. It is decisively expressed in the contradictory words of Zechariah and Isaiah: the former heralding the King of Sion as one whose beauty should surpass the utmost praise of human words or thoughts Zechariah 9:7); the latter declaring that those who should see that self-same Christ should find in Him no beauty that they should desire Him. I would try to suggest something in regard to the actual fulfilment of both prophecies in the claims addressed to our sense of beauty, by the revelation of Christianity; believing that there is a deep meaning in that strange and blended force of stern restraint and irresistible charm which this sense has so often owned in the presence of the Crucified; and hoping to show that this too is an instinct of our human nature, which, if we suffer it to act in sincerity and truth, will find its rest for ever in the Person of its Redeemer. Let us, then, notice first that the prophecy of Isaiah is, if we take it alone and superficially, in accord with much that has been written or implied about the influence of Christianity upon the genius of Art. For we are sometimes told, and more often made to feel, that there is something irksome and hindering to the free appreciation and enjoyment of beauty, in those dogmas about the conditions and issues of human life, which are inseparable from the work of our Lord. In various ways it is suggested or proclaimed that Christianity has unduly and too long presumed to thrust its doctrines between the human soul and the beauty which is about it, and disturbed that free entrance into the pleasures of sight and sound, through which every energy might go out to find its satisfaction and its rapture. And so some have already returned feed and foster their sense of beauty by the works and thoughts of those who lived before this tyrannous restraint was preached; others are looking forward to a time when Art may avail itself of the triumph of scepticism, and renounce all hindering allegiance and regard to the discredited formulae of religion; while many more are conscious of a vague expectation that the life of passion henceforward will and should be fleer and fuller than it has been: that hitherto we have been unnecessarily cautious and sober in our pleasures, and timidly patient of undue restrictions; but that now all is going to be much more passionate and unfettered and absorbing, and that, by the pursuit of Art for Art’ s sake, we enter into an earthly paradise, which has at length been relieved from certain gloomy and old-fashioned regulations, and in which it may now be hoped that our sense of beauty will be a law unto itself. And in this temper very many who little know the consistent significance of their choice are falling in with a course of life and thought which has, as a whole, turned away from the Cross of Jesus Christ: turned away to seek elsewhere the full desire of their eyes, because He hath, as He dies for us, no form nor comeliness, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. For in truth there is a challenge and a law with which Christianity must ever meet the lover of beauty as he goes out to seek by whatever way the gratification of this sense. The Church of Christ cannot, while she remembers His message, her Master, and her trust, consent to be dismissed from the sphere of taste, or let it be thought that she has no counsel for her sons, as they turn to those high and thrilling pleasures, no means or right of judging the tone and the ideals of contemporary Art. (J. H.Newman, B. D.)Christianity and the sensuous We were going to throw ourselves without reserve into this or that enthusiasm of beauty, to steep our souls in the excitement of music, or poetry, or art, to forget all else in the engrossing delight of their eager sympathy, to lay aside every hindering thought, to trust the strong desire of our heart, and measure our interests by their intensity: and Christianity recalls us to ourselves. It sets before us, in the compass of a single life, the full expression of that deep and marring discord which has broken up the harmony of this world, and it urges us to seek within ourselves for the secret of the disturbance and misery. It shows us the Perfect Love rejected, Perfect Purity reviled, Perfect Holiness blasphemed, Perfect Mercy scorned; God coming to His own and His own receiving Him not; the righteous Judge condemned; the Lord of Life obedient unto death; and it says that the cause of this anomaly, the condition which made this the earthly life of the Incarnate Son of God, is to be found within our own souls; and we know that them is something them which seems at times as though it would crucify the Son of God afresh: something which would distort our choice from the high and spiritual to the bestial and mean: something which has often made us cruel and unjust to other men, and contemptible to ourselves. And as before the Cross which mankind awarded to its Redeemer we feel the havoc and tumult which sin has brought upon the order and truthfulness of our inner life, we must surely hesitate before we say that no restraint shall rest upon our sense of beauty, that there is no need, whatever adversaries may be moving about us, to be sober and vigilant in the world of Art. But for those who humbly take the yoke upon them, who, as they turn to the manifold wealth of beauty, do not thrust away the knowledge of their own hearts and the thought of Him whose death alone has saved them, and whose strong grace alone sustains and shelters them--for those the best delights of Art and Nature appear in a new radiance of light and hope, and speak of such things as pass man’ s understanding. The moments of quickened and exalted life which music and painting stir within them, the controlling splendour of the sunset, the tender glory of the distant hills, the wonder of a pure and noble face--these no longer come as passing pleasures, flashing out of a dark background, which is only the gloomier when they are gone, half realized and little understood: for now all are linked and held together as consistent tokens of the same redeeming, sanctifying Love; they see the Hand, the pierced Hand, which holds the gift; they know the Love which fashioned and adorned it; they have read elsewhere the thought which is embodied in the outward beauty; for it is He who spared not His own Son who with Him freely gives them all things. And all that He gives them prophesy of Him. (J. H. Newman, B. D.)Christ’ s beauty It was not a beauty of form, it was the beauty of expression. It was not the beauty of statuary, it was the beauty of life. It is the purpose of God to disappoint the senses. He has victimized the eyes, and the ears, and the hands of men. (J. Parker, D. D.)No beauty in Christ Look not on the pitcher, but on the liquor that is contained within. (J. Trapp.)Christ’ s meanness on earth no objection against, but confirmation of, Christianity I. Show against unbelievers, that THE OF THE WHICH THE MESSIAH ARE A OF THE TRUTH OF THE . It is agreed on all hands that there can be no human or natural reason assigned for such future and remote events as have no visible or natural cause to produce them; but are of a contingent nature, and many times depend on the free choice and will of man; and therefore the prediction of such events must be supposed to proceed from some supernatural revelation. It is the argument whereby God proves Himself to be the Lord, and that there is no other Saviour beside (Isaiah 43:11-12). By the same reason, he proves the gods of the nations to be idols, and no gods (Isaiah 41:21-22; Isaiah 41:29). The prophecies of Scripture, which referred to the Messiah, were of things at such a distance, and of such a nature, that there could not be any probable reason assigned, or tolerable conjecture made of them. And yet there was not one tittle of all the prophecies which relate to the manner or design of Christ’ s appearance in the world that fell to the ground. II. Show against the Jews, that THE MEAN OF CHRIST IN THE WORLD IS NO GOOD AGAINST THE , OR OF ANY FORCE TO PROVE THAT JESUS OF WAS NOT THE CHRIST; and that upon the two following accounts-- 1. As the grounds upon which the Jews expected a temporal Messiah, were false and impracticable; false with respect to the spirituality of His kingdom; impracticable with respect to the extent and universality of its blessings and privileges. 2. As the state and condition of life which our Saviour chose in the world was most agreeable to the great ends and design of His coming into it. (1) It gave a strong confirmation to the truth of that holy religion which He came to plant in the world. Had our Saviour been a victorious prince, that had given laws to the world, and backed the authority of them with the sword, the atheist might then have pretended, that the Christian, as well as other religions in the world, was the daughter of force, and a mere politic invention, contrived by its Author the better to settle and confirm His government to Him, if He should find a favourable juncture to possess Himself of it. But now the effects of the Christian religion on the minds of men, and the methods of propagating it, cannot be ascribed to any human power or authority. Instead of employing the secular arm to compel men to come into the Church, God put a sceptre of righteousness into the hands of Christ: He authorized Him to give such a body of holy and righteous laws to His Church as might be proper to work upon their minds by the gentle methods of reason and persuasion. He made choice of such for His companions and disciples as were men of mean occupations and law fortunes; men as to their natural capacities no ways qualified for so difficult and high an undertaking as the establishing a new religion against the settled laws and powers, the prejudices and passions, the vanities and vices of a corrupt world. The design of the holy Jesus in all this was to show that the excellency of the power which attended Himself and His apostles, in preaching the doctrine of salvation, might not be ascribed unto men, but unto God. He would make way for the reception and establishment of the Gospel in the world by no other means but by the evidence of its truth, the excellency of its morals, the number of the miracles wrought to confirm it, and the simplicity of those who were the first preachers and promoters of it. And, indeed, that the Christian religion, by such mean and unlikely instruments, should in so short a time extend itself so wide, and that they should reap such a harvest of triumphs over so many enemies, seems to have been the greatest miracle of all. (2) The state and condition of life which our Saviour chose in the world was also a wise and excellent method to recommend the practice of religion to it. The holy Jesus did not think it enough to reveal the will of God to mankind; this He might have done, as God delivered the law in the Mount, by speaking to some extraordinary prophet, and committing what He spoke to a standing writing, without rendering Himself visible. But God gave Him a body, that men might from His own mouth hear the words of eternal life. (3) The circumstances wherein our Saviour made His appearance in the world were most agreeable to His design of becoming a sacrifice and propitiation for the sins of the world: for though our redemption is attributed more especially to His sufferings and death upon the Cross, as His sacrifice was there finished, yet we ought to look upon it as begun as soon as he was born into the world. III. . 1. If the accomplishment of the prophecies concerning our Saviour be an evident proof of His being the great Prophet that was to come into the world, then whatever doctrines He taught are, certainly true and Divinely revealed. 2. From the circumstances of our Saviour s appearance in the world let us learn the duties of patience, charity and humility. 3. In order to humble the pride of our hearts, when we are tempted to bear ourselves high upon any worldly advantages, which give us a superiority above our brethren, let us consider how Jesus Christ, the best and wisest, judged of these things. (R. Fiddes)Christ uncomely and yet beautiful How can it be said of Christ that He had neither comeliness nor beauty, since it is said (Psalms 45:2), that “ He is fairer than the children of men,” or “ than the sons of Adam” ? And in Son 5:10-16 He is described by the spouse to be well-coloured, and likewise well-featured, and she goeth on from part to part, from head to feet; and then concludeth, “ He is altogether lovely.” To this I answer-- 1. It is one thing what, Christ is to the spouse, another what He is to the unbelieving Jews Christ’ s beauties are reward, seen of none but those that are inwardly acquainted with Him. The spouse speaketh of Him in a spiritual sense. 2. We must distinguish between Christ’ s humiliation and exaltation, His Godhead and His manhood. In His Godhead He is “ the brightness of His Father’ s glory, and the express image of His person,” and consequently full of beauty. In His humiliation He is not only a man, but a mean man Philippians 2:9). 3. In Christ’ s humiliation we must distinguish as to what He is in Himself and as to what He is in the eye of the world. (T. Manton, D.D.)The mean not necessarily despicable Do not despise things, for their meanness, for so thou mayest condemn the ways of God. (T. Manton, D.D.)God’ s use of the mean As there was meanness in the outward habitude of Christ’ s person, so there is now in the administration of His kingdom; as appears by considering-- 1. That the ordinances are weak to appearance; there is nothing but plain words, plain bread and wine, in one ordinance, and only water in another. The simple plainness of the ordinances is an obstacle to men’ s believing; they would fain bring in pomp, but that will mar all. 2. These ordinances are administered by weak men. Our Saviour sent fishermen to conquer the world, and made use of a goose-quill to wound Antichrist. Moses, the stammering shepherd, was commissioned to deliver Israel; God makes use of Amos, who was a herdsman, to declare His will. So Elisha the great prophet was taken from the plough. And many times God made use of young men, such as Paul, whose very person causeth prejudice; young Samuel, young Timothy, men of mean descent, low parentage, and of no great appearance in the world. 3. The manner how it is by them managed, which is not in such a politic, insinuating way as to beguile and deceive, and as if they were to serve their own ends (2 Corinthians 1:12)., 4. The persons by whom it is entertained, the poor (James 2:5). Usually God s true people are the meanest, not being so noted for outward excellency as others. This has been always a great prejudice against Christ’ s doctrine (John 7:48). 5. The general drift of it is to make men deny their pleasures, to overlook their concernments, to despise the world, to hinder unjust gain, to walk contrary to the ordinary customs and fashions of the world. (T. Manton, D.D.)Christ assumed an appearance of meanness This meanness of Christ was willingly taken up by Him. 1. In His birth. (1) For the time of it. It was when the royal stock of David was come so low that Joseph was but a carpenter by profession. Therefore is the genealogy of Joseph and Mary so carefully sought out by the evangelist, because it was not commonly and publicly known that they were of that lineage. The throne of David was occupied by Herod, who was an Ascalonite. (2) The place, Bethlehem, a small place. Then He was not born in any stately room, but in a manger in the stable. (3) Consider how in everything He was found in shape like another child, being circumcised the eighth day. (4) Consider the oblation that was made for Him, such as was made for poor people. Yet we may observe there was something Divine still mingled with Christ’ s outward, meanness, as the appearing of the star, the trouble of the Jews, the wise men’ s report and offerings. By these things God would leave them without excuse, and under this poverty discover some glimpses of the Deity. 2. In His life and manner of appearance in the world. He was altogether found in fashion as a man; to outward appearance just as other men, for His growth was as other, men’ s, by degrees: “ And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” His life was spent in much toil and labour, etc. (T. Manton, D.D.)Poverty 1. Poverty and meanness are not disgraceful. Christ Himself was a carpenter, Paul a tent-maker, and the apostles fishermen. Christ, you see, scorned that glory, pomp and greatness which the world doteth upon. 2. Poverty should not he irksome to us. Christ underwent it before you; His apostles were base in the world’ s eye (1 Corinthians 4:13). Poverty is a great burden, and layeth a man open to many a disadvantage--scorn, contempt and refusal. But consider, Christ hath honoured it in His own person, and He honoureth it to this very day. (T. Manton, D.D.)Missing Christ’ s beauty There have been two traditions respecting Christ’ s person. Some of the Fathers of the Church have declared that He was, Divinely beautiful, “ the fairest among ten thousand and the altogether lovely.” Others have spoken of Him in the words of Isaiah, “ He hath no form nor comeliness.” For my own part I like to think of Him as Divinely beautiful. If in all things He is to have the pre-eminence, why not here as well as there? Certain it is that there must have shone through Him some transfiguring splendour, that awed and fascinated. Men were conquered as much by His look as by His word. If, however, these descriptions of Isaiah refer to His person, and are to be taken literally, then they are very far from being attractive. “ As a root out of a dry ground.” “ He hath no form nor comeliness.” “ There is no beauty that we should desire Him.” “ We esteemed Him not,” or, as Luther translates, “ We thought Him nothing.” The picture seems to be that of a mean and miserable life, tragic, unsettled, menaced, lined with grief, disfigured with wounds. I say “ seems.” For, after all, the fault may not be so much in Him as in us. Beauty may be all about men, yet they may never perceive it, because their foolish hearts are darkened; because they are short-sighted, blind, impure. Ruskin’ s dictum is that joy, affection, veneration are necessary to the beholding of beauty. If that be so, and men know nothing of “ the joy that rises in one like a summer s morn;” if they have never experienced the “ love that greatens and glorifies all things;” if they know nothing of that reverence which recognizes and bows before the highest, it is no wonder that they miss the spirit of the beautiful. Men may have missed Christ’ s beauty from many causes, as men are missing it to-day. Let us seek to discover what these things are that blind us to the holiest, the highest, the loveliest. I. THE SPIRIT OF BLINDS TO BEAUTY. Jesus came into this world a Galilean peasant, poor, obscure, straitened in every way. And judging Him by the measure of the scale on which He appeared, men treated Him with disdain, contempt, scorn, remarking, “ Is not this the carpenter.?” How many there are who live continually in the spirit of contempt. They continually look down. They seem to forget that some,of the choicest spirits of earth have dined on “ homely fare” and worn “ hodden grey,” and that the millionaires of ideas have frequently been bankrupts in pocket. How contemptuously the great spirits of the world have been treated by those who were not worthy to unloose their shoe-latchets! Think of Mozart being sent by an archbishop in whose retinue he was to dine with the servants in the kitchen. Think of that same Mozart occupying a nameless grave, for “ no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.” “ Odd world, is it not, that will send its Bunyans to prison and give its jockeys ten thousand a year?” Aristotle paints his magnanimous man as “ not apt to admire, for to him there is nothing great.” What number of these magnanimous men there must be; men so held in the grip of contempt that, standing in a world crammed full of the rich glories of creation, they see nothing to admire. Now contempt springs from two things: lack of understanding and lack of love. The wise man never despises. “ God is great, yet He despiseth not any,” and those who are great after the greatness of God have ever felt their smallness beside the humblest and poorest of men. They see that behind the dullest life there may be angelic light. Where true wisdom is there contempt is not. Charles V was truly great when, picking up the brush of Titian which the painter had dropped, he remarked that he was “ proud to wait on so supreme a genius.” Men see no beauty in Christ because they have been too ready to despise Him. Contempt springs from lack of love. “ They thought Him nothing” because they never looked at Him with the heart. If you want to discover all that is brightest and best in men you must look at them with the look of love; then will God become “ aglow to the loving heart in what was mere earth before.” Love is wonderful always. There is a magic power about it which can make plain faces shine as the faces of angels. It can fill with light and radiance a cottage home as no gold can do. It can convert worthless trifles into precious heirlooms. So if men would only look at Christ with the supreme look of the soul they would discover that He who seems to have no form nor comeliness will then be crowned with glory and honour. II. MEN MISS THE BEAUTY, TOO, BY THE TEMPER. Some men there are who start out always with a disposition to criticize rather than to admire. When a young lady once expressed the wish to Hogarth that she might be able to draw caricature, the great satirist replied, “ It is not a faculty to be envied; take my advice and never draw caricature. By the long practice of it I have lost the enjoyment of beauty. I never see a face but distorted, and have never the satisfaction to behold the human face divine.” The great caricaturist had so accustomed himself to look for faults that he could see nothing else. Criticism blinds to beauty. Was not that true with regard to Christ? Look for the beauty in Him and you will discover a loveliness that cannot be chiselled in marble or expressed in colour, but a beauty which, when the soul sees it is ravished for ever, and rapt into an ecstasy of admiration and love. III. WE MAY MISS THE BEAUTY THROUGH ENVY. Did not men miss His beauty in that way in the days of His flesh? Pilate was keen enough to perceive that behind the seeming air of justice assumed by His traducers the fires of envy burned. “ He knew that for envy they had delivered Him.” The artist who portrayed Envy as a man of mean and misshapen figure, with crouching shoulder, craning neck, distended ears, and serpent tongue, was endowed with a more than ordinary gift of insight. Where envy exists there can be no vision of the beautiful. For it blinds the mind and poisons the heart, and lifts not to a throne, but to a cross. How it blinded the eyes of those Scribes and Pharisees! They saw the beautiful deeds of the Man, how He succoured the weak, the suffering, the sad; they heard His words, flagrant, uplifting, strengthening; they beheld a life spent in doing good; yet so blinded were they by the spirit of envy that this supreme vision of loveliness did not dawn upon them. The penalty of envy is blindness, and until those scales fall from the eyes, all things true and beautiful and of good report, everything of worth in the character and conduct of our fellow-men, all the charm and sweetness of the Son of Man, will remain undiscovered by us. IV. MAY BLIND TO BEAUTY. Men are so feverishly busy in these days, they live at such express speed, that they often miss the angel at the door. When men are busy here and there they miss the charms of the Eternal. A little more quiet, a little abiding in one’ s own room, and it would be discovered that Christ is lovelier than painter’ s sublimest dream, and that finding Him one finds a joy for ever. (Cecil H. Wright.) Isaiah 53:3-7 He is despised and rejected of men The mean appearance of the Redeemer foretold I. THE WISDOM AND OF GOD IN TO SEND HIS SON INTO THE WORLD IN A STATE OF POVERTY AND . 1. With regard to His being a teacher, His sufferings set Him above the reach of suspicions. What ends could He have to serve by His doctrine, who met with nothing but misery and affliction, as the reward of His labour? 2. With regard to our Lord’ s being an example of holiness and obedience set before us for our instruction and imitation. His sufferings render the pattern perfect, and show His virtues in their truest lustre, and at the same time silence the pleas which laziness or self-love would otherwise have suggested. 3. With regard to His Divine mission. His sufferings were an evident token that the hand of God was with Him. He only can produce strength out of weakness, and knows how to confound the mighty things of the world by things which are of no account. Add to this the evidence of prophecy, which is so much the stronger by how much the weaker Christ was: so admirably has the wisdom of God displayed itself in this mystery of faith. II. THE OF THE MEAN OUR LORD WAS TO MAKE. III. THE WE HAVE FOR THE OF THESE . (T. Sherlock, D.D.)Christ despised and rejected of men I. IN WHAT IT MAY STILL BE SAID THAT CHRIST IS AND OF MEN. 1. Men may be said to despise Christ when they do not receive Him as their alone Saviour, the true and only way to the Father. 2. When they practically deny His authority by breaking His Commandments. 3. When they do not give Him the chief room in their hearts, nor prefer Him in their choice to everything else. 4. When they do not publicly, confess Him before men. II. THE CAUSES OF THIS . 1. The main cause is a secret unbelief. 2. Love of this would. 3. Ignorance of their own condition. 4. An opinion that they may obtain His aid at what time soever they shall choose to ask it. III. THE OF THIS SIN. 1. To despise and reject such a Saviour, is the blackest ingratitude that can possibly be imagined. 2. Your ingratitude is heightened by the most insolent contempt both of the wisdom and goodness of God. 3. By despising and rejecting Christ, you openly proclaim war against the Most High, and bid Him defiance. (R. Walker.)Designed and rejected I. CHRIST WAS AN OBJECT OF SCORN AND . 1. He was despised as an impostor. 2. Despised in His teachings. 3. In his work. 4. In His claims to a righteous judgment at the national tribunal. II. NOT ONLY WAS JESUS AN OBJECT OF AND SCORN BUT OF . If the word had read “ neglected,” --deserted, coldly passed by--this would have revealed an indifference that would have covered His nation and age with reproach, and would have stood out a lasting monument of their base ingratitude. But here is a word conveying the idea of the most inveterate and active hatred. But why this active hostility to Christ? (J. Higgins.)Despised and rejected of men In the Gospel we see this rejection in actual occurrence. I. HE WAS AND BY THE WORLDLY-MINDED (John 6:1-71). Following Christ for the sake of bread may lead to much enthusiastic and self-denying exertion. Here, the very meanest view of Christ is preferred to those lofty and spiritual truths by which He tried to allure and save their souls. In his presence, before His face, while listening to His voice, and with the splendour of the miracle before them--all are passed by for the bread. Is not this the essence of worldly-mindedness? Christianity is the religion of many, not for the sake of the Lord Himself, nor His gracious words, nor even His miracles, but for the bread, for reputation’ s sake, and social character and respectability. II. HE WAS AND BY THE (Matthew 13:54-57). It was in “ His own country.” There men thought they knew Him; His family had long dwelt there. Parents, brothers, sisters were all familiarly known--all, down to their very trade: “ Is not this the carpenter?” The facts of the case, as the rationalist is so fond of saying, were all clearly apprehended, and stood forth in their true dimensions. “ Whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works?” Is it real? is it not on the face of it absurd, this mere carpenter’ s son? This is the inmost spirit of rationalism. It rejects everything above the level of visible and tangible fact, everything that cannot be weighed and measured, everything spiritual in Scripture doctrine and supernatural in Scripture history. III. HE IS AND BY THE (Matthew 21:15-23). The ecclesiastical temper is not found solely or chiefly amongst those who are ecclesiastics by profession. The religious spirit may be crushed--indeed, has often been; rigid and severe forms may take the place of the easy and graceful motions of vital Christianity. “ This” is “ the rejection of Christ in the freedom by which His Holy Spirit “ distributes to every man severally as He will.” IV. HE IS AND BY MEN OF BRUTE FORCE (Luke 23:11). To some the tenderness of the Gospel religion is an offence. Humanity is a peculiarly Christian virtue, and meekness and resignation. The calm tranquillity of meditation, the tearful eye of compassion, the sublime courage of patience, the dating heroism of forgiveness, excite no sympathy or admiration in some breasts. Theirs is the rejection of Christ; through a false manliness. V. CHRIST IS AND BY HIS OWN (John 1:11). Some, from a natural sweetness and amiability of disposition, seem in a certain degree adapted to be Christians. The restraining effects of home discipline and generous education have restrained them from open transgression. Yet their rejection of Christ as a Saviour from sin is often most decided and even disdainful. They think the charge of sin inappropriate, for they have no consciousness of it, and no felt need of a Saviour. The sinfulness of rejecting Christ is seen in its being a rejection of the Father (Luke 10:16). It is not possible to reject Christ, and be right with God. (S. H. Tindall.)Failure In a life that is lived with the thoughts of eternity, in one aspect failure is inevitable: in another aspect failure is impossible. 1. Failure is inevitable. If I accept for myself an ideal which is beyond the limits of here and now, then manifestly it is impossible that I can here and now realize it. There must be always with me, so long as I am faithful to that ideal, a sense of incompleteness, a ceaseless aspiration, an effort that only the grave can close. He knows if he is faithful that he has before him an eternal career, that the end to which he is moving is likeness to Jesus Christ; that he has to pass into the unveiled presence of God and hold communion with Him. If that be the end, can it be otherwise than that, in the meanwhile, there should be failure, humiliation, penitence, and ceaseless and unwearied discipline of self? 2. Failure, in another aspect, is impossible. Only be sure that deep down at the root of life there is loyalty to God, and then begin where we are placed--in the effort to find Him He will fulfil the search. The miracle of the failure of Calvary is our assurance of that truth. It is this living for the Eternal, as a venture of faith, which has always appealed to the eternal God, which His own nature is pledged to meet. Do we stumble? It is only that we may realize His readiness to help. Are we bewildered? It is only in order that we may find how sure He guides. Are we humiliated by our confessions? It is only that we may realize the readiness of His pardon. Are we conscious and stricken with the sense of our weakness? It is only that we may find His strength perfected within us. If we have only taken sides with Him in the great issues of human life, then He will justify our choice. (C. G. Lang.)Failure may be welcomed Our failure in the light of the Cross, our spiritual failures, are things to be welcomed; they prevent the torpor of dull assurance creeping over us like a poison; they prevent our falling under imperfect standards of life, they prove, so long as their are constant with us, that the energy of the Spirit of God has not left us to ourselves; they witness to us that we recognize the truth that our souls can find their rest and satisfaction only in God. (C. G. Lang.)The despised Saviour To all God grants some dim vision of what He intends man to be. The holiest men have had the clearest glimpses of that character. One nation was separated to keep the ideal before the world. The majority corrupted the representation, but some prophets saw it clearly. I. GOD’ S IDEAL FOR MAN, AND ITS IN CHRIST. The majority thought He would be another Solomon, David’ s greater son. The prophet saw that He would be a Sinless Sufferer; what it had been intended that the nation should be, that the Suffering Servant would be. The voice of God, which set forth the ideal by the lips of prophets, now speaks through our own highest desires. II. THE WORLD’ S OF THE IDEAL. Pilate has brought Him forth that His suffering may excite their pity, but His pure and loving life has made them relentless in their hate. There is no beauty that they should desire Him. Barabbas, the bold and reckless, is the people’ s choice. While boon companions crowd round him, cold looks and scornful smiles are reserved for Christ. Christ had headed no revolt against the powers that be, and therefore He was not popular. Political emancipation is more popular than spiritual. The path of righteousness ends on Calvary; its crown is one of thorns, its throne a cross. III. THE MEANING OF THE OF THIS IDEAL. The world says, Blessed are the wealthy, the powerful, the great, and the wise. Christ says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, the pure in heart, the meek, the mourners, the persecuted. At first we pity Christ, and reserve our indignation for His persecutors. But He was the least pitiable of all that group. Pilate was a pitiable victim, the people were pitiable because carried away by passion, and the priests by desire for revenge. The greatness of apparent weakness is here revealed. Yet we despise weakness. Here is a dramatic representation of weighty decisions made every day in human hearts. When we choose ease and worldly glory in preference to holiness and self-denial, we despise and reject Christ. Here our choice is seen worked out to the bitter end. This is a revelation of the meaning of sin. IV. THE EFFECT OF THIS . The world can never forget that spiracle. In the dark ages, when the Bible was a hidden book, a representation of this scene was to be found in every church. Though obscured by superstition, the ideal was still held up, and was still moulding the minds and stimulating the holy endeavours of men. In an open Bible we have the ideal more truthfully set forth. The love there revealed has been the constraining motive which moved apostles to preach, martyrs to suffer, missionaries to forgo the joys of home, and humble men and women to labour in countless ways to advance the interests of Christ. His patience shames our murmuring: His burning love to us kindles our love to Him. (R. C. Ford, M.A.)The world’ s regard for the outward The great cause assigned by the prophet for the astonishment of men at the Messiah and for their rejection of Him is, that His real glory is hidden beneath humiliation and sorrow. The world, that is, which always looks at the outward appearance of things, judges them according to their material splendours; having a carnal eye, it can but dimly discern moral beauty. It renders homage to thrones and crowns, and wealth and power, and does not care to see the moral iniquity and the spiritual repulsiveness there may be behind them; it feels pity and contempt for suffering and poverty and obloquy, and does not care to see the moral grandeur that these may cover or indicate. There are few of us so reverent to a poor, godly man, as to a rich godless one. We may not refuse to utter words commending the one and condemning the other, but we utter them very tenderly; the goodness of a rich man causes us to exhaust our expletives, and almost ourselves, in admiring praise; the wickedness of a poor man is denounced by us without mercy; but when the conditions are reversed we have a great deal more reserve. Our praise is a concession that we cannot withhold. We blame “ with bated breath, and whispering humbleness.” The ragged garments of poverty have a wonderful transparency when vice lies behind them; while riches usurp the powers of charity, and “ hide the multitude of sins.” (H. Allen, D.D.)The art of seeing the spiritual The Jews did not look for spiritual meaning in their dispensation, but simply at material and mechanical ordinances, and they became Pharisees--regarding religion as a thing of phylacteries and tithes and street prayers: they did not look for spiritual glory in their expected Messiah, or for spiritual blessings in His coming, and they became absorbed in the conception of a temporal prince, and were incapable of seeing anything else in Him; and, because He was not this, in their astonishment and anger, they rejected and crucified Him. The lesson is a universal one; it affects the spiritual education of every soul, our own daily habits of interpreting things. We may look at God’ s world until we see nothing of God’ s presence in it; nothing but mechanical forces. A scientific or philosophical eye may soon educate itself to see nothing but science and philosophy; a material eye, to see nothing but materialism. We may look upon creation, and see no Creator; upon providence, and see no Benefactor. So we may read the Bible, and see nothing but sacred history, or scientific philosophy--the letter and not the spirit. So we may look at Christian things on their material rather than their spiritual side. We may speculate upon a millennium coming of Christ, until we forget His spiritual presence--even upon heaven itself, until we forget the inward grace, and holiness and Divine communion that chiefly make it heaven. Let us carefully cultivate the Divine art of seeing spiritual aspects and meanings in all things, of judging of all things by their spiritual importance, of valuing them for their spiritual influence, of applying them to spiritual uses. “ The pure in heart see God;” spiritual things are spiritually discerned.” (H. Allon, D.D.)Christ rejected I. The first reason assigned for the rejection of the Messiah by the Jews was THE GRADUAL AND MANNER OF HIS . “ He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground,” etc. The general reference is, no doubt, to His parentage, and His manner of entering the world--so contrasted with the probable expectations of the Jews. Not like a cedar of Lebanon did the world s Messiah appear; not as a scion of a noble and wealthy house; not as the son of a Herod or a Caiaphas--but “ as a “ tender plant,” as “ a root, out of a dry ground.” It is a repetition of the figure in the eleventh chapter, “ There shall come forth a Shoot out of the stem of Jesse; and a Scion shall spring forth from his roots.” Just as the descendants of the Plantagenets are to be found amongst our English peasantry, the glory of the family had departed. Nothing could be farther from the thought of the carnal Jews than that Messiah the Prince should be a scion of such a forgotten house. How wonderful in its obscurity and helplessness was His childhood; not hastening towards His manifestation, not hastening even towards His ministry to the perishing, but waiting until “ the fulness of time was come;” growing into the child, the youth, the man; for more than thirty years giving scarcely a sign that He was other than an ordinary son of humanity; at first helplessly dependent upon His parents for support and direction, then obediently “ subject to them,” fulfilling all the conditions and duties of childhood, a child with children as well as a man with men; then a youth labouring as an artisan, fulfilling His great mission to the world in a carpenter’ s shop. And then fulfilling His ministry, not amongst the rich, but amongst the poor; not in acts of rule and conquest, but in deeds of beneficence and words of spiritual life; and consummating it by a death on a cross. II. The second reason for the rejection of the Messiah by the Jews, which the prophet assigns, is HIS WHEN . This he puts both negatively and positively. 1. Negatively, He was destitute of all attractions; He had “ no form nor comeliness;” He was without “ beauty” to make men “ desire Him” . 2. But there were positive repulsions; everything to offend men who had such prepossessions as they had. A Messiah in the guise of a peasant babe--the Divine in the form of a servant and a sufferer. Chiefly, however, weare arrested by the phrase, which, because of its touching beauty, has almost become one of the personal designations of the Messiah--“ A Man of sorrows” --literally, a Man of sufferings, or of many sufferings--One who possesses sufferings as other men possess intelligence, or physical faculty--One who was “ acquainted with grief,” not in the casual, transient way in which most men are, but with an intimacy as of companionship; the utmost bodily and mental sorrow was endured by Him. The emphasis of the description lies not in the fact that one who came to be a Prophet and Reformer was subjected to martyr treatment, for such men have ever been rejected and persecuted by the ignorance, envy and madness of their generation. It is that He who was the Creator and Lord of all things should have submitted to this condition, borne this obloquy, endured this suffering; that the Lord of life and blessedness should appear in our world, not only as a Man, but as so suffering a Man, as that He should be known amongst other suffering men as pre-eminently “ a Man of sorrows” --a Man whose sorrows were greater than other men’ s sorrows. Now, we cannot think that this designation is given to Him merely because of the bodily sufferings, or social provocations, that were inflicted upon Him. We shall touch but very distantly the true heart of the Redeemer’ s sorrows, if we limit the cause of them to the mere stubbornness of His generation, or to the mere physical agonies of His death. It is doing no wrong to the pre-eminence of the Saviour’ s agonies to say, that many teachers of truth have been opposed and persecuted more than He was, and that many martyrs have endured deaths of more terrible physical agony. If this were all, we should be compelled, I think, to admit that the prophetic description is somewhat exaggerated. How, then, is it to be accounted for? Only by the fact of His having also endured transcendent inward sorrow; sorrow of mind, sorrow of heart, of which ordinary men have no experience; only by His own strange expression in His agony, when no human hand touched Him--“ My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death.” Then comes the mystery of such a pure and perfect soul experiencing such a sorrow. If He were only a prophet and martyr for the truth of God, why, as distinguished from all other prophets and martyrs, should He have endured so much inward anguish? Here we touch the great mystery of atonement, and we are bold to say that this alone interprets Christ’ s peculiar sorrow. (H. Allon, D.D.)Lessons from the manner of Christ’ s appearing 1. Great things may be found in very lowly forms. We judge of things by material magnitudes; the spiritual God judges them by moral qualities. The great forces that have ruled the world have mostly been born in lowly places; they have been moulded to greatness in the school of necessity; trained to greatness in the school of endurance. He who has not to endure can never be great. Let us cultivate the spiritual eye, that can recognize spiritual qualities, everywhere, and neither in others nor in “ ourselves disparage” the day of small things, the germs of virtue and strength; for we know not what they may achieve. The acorn becomes an oak; the “ solitary monk shakes the world;” the Babe of Bethlehem becomes the Christ of Christianity. Your solitary scholar may be the nucleus of a great system of education; your solitary convert may evangelize a nation (Matthew 13:31-32). 2. The power of Divine patience. God waits, even in His great redeeming purpose, until “ the fulness of time is come,” and then until the “ tender plant grows up before Him.” We, in our impatience, wish to do all things at once, to convert the world in a day. Our zeal becomes fanaticism the more difficult to check because it takes so holy a form. (H. Allon, D.D.)Aversion to Christ The reason for this aversion to Christ may probably be found in the fact of-- 1. His sorrowful face. 2. His serious manner. 3. His spiritual teaching. 4. His consecration to His Father’ s business. 5. His single walk with God, His habits of retirement and prayer. Men hate and reject Christ for these characteristics. The world’ s spirit and all worldly religion resent these aspects of spiritual life. (G. F, Pentecost, D. D.)Handel’ s Messiah Of Handel, it is said, that when composing his “ Messiah,” and he came to these words, he was affected to tears; and well might he weep, for history furnishes no parallel to this case. (J. Higgins.)A man of sorrowsThe causes of Christ’ s sorrows I. THE DAILY CONTACT OF HIS PURE AND PIOUS SOUL WITH SINFUL AND SINNING MEN. And who may conceive the constancy and intensity of the anguish that would spring from this? There would be the sense of human relationship to a race that had sinned and fallen; they were men, and He was a Man too: “ He likewise took part of the same;” they were His proper brothers; He was allied in blood to men so guilty and degraded. It was as if a vicious brother, a prodigal son, were guilty of nameless and constant crime. The sense of men’ s guilt, degradation, misery, ingratitude, would bow down His pure soul with unspeakable sorrow and shame. Then there was His daily practical contact with acts and hearts of sin; the touch on every side, and wherever He felt humanity, of what was unloving and unholy; the sight of their hate to His loving Father; of their rebelliousness against His holy law; a sinfulness and unspiritualness that led them to reject and hate Him; to turn away with dislike and determination from His holy words and deeds. His great human love, His perfect human holiness, would wonderfully combine to wring His soul with anguish. The apostle intimates how great this sorrow was, when he says that “ He endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself;” that He “ resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” And we can understand the mysterious agony of His soul in Gethsemane only by supposing that it was the sense of the world’ s guilt that lay upon it: that made His soul so exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. We have only to think of His pure nature; that He was “ holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners;” and to remember the men that He came into contact with; the world in which He lived; the treatment which His message of holiness and mercy received: to understand how sore the sorrow of His soul would be. II. THE OF THE DEVIL. He, the pure and perfect Son of the Father, was doomed to listen to polluting and hateful thoughts of distrust and sin: He who so loathed evil was plied with evil. III. THE GREAT BUT SORROW OF HIS --of whatever is meant by its “ pleasing the Father to bruise Him” --to “ put Him to grief” --to “ make His soul an offering for sin’ --to “ lay upon Him the iniquity of us all” --to “ forsake Him” on His cross. These were the chief elements of His sorrow--a sorrow that has had no equal, and that, in many of its ingredients, has had no likeness. (H. Allon, D. D.)Christ a Man of sorrows I. IT IS HERE THAT CHRIST SHOULD BE A MAN OF SORROWS, and acquainted with grief. This prediction was literally fulfilled. It has been supposed that His sufferings were rather apparent than real; or, at least, that His abundant consolations, and His knowledge of the happy consequences which would result from His death, rendered His sorrows comparatively light, and almost converted them to joys. But never was supposition more erroneous. His sufferings were incomparably greater than they appeared to be. No finite mind can conceive of their extent. His sufferings began with his birth, and ended but with His life. 1. It must have been exceedingly painful to such a person as Christ to live in a world like this. 2. Another circumstance which contributed to render our Saviour a Man of sorrows was the reception He met with from those He came to save. 3. Another circumstance that threw a shade of gloom over our Saviour s life was His clear view and constant anticipation of the dreadful agonies in which it was to terminate. He was not ignorant, as we happily are, of the miseries which were before Him. How deeply the prospect affected Him is evident from His own language: “ I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” II. We have in this prophetic passage AN ACCOUNT OF OUR SAVIOUR’ S CONDUCT UNDER THE OF THESE SORROWS. “ He was oppressed,” etc. “ He was brought as a Lamb,” etc. Never was language more descriptive of the most perfect meekness and patience; never was prediction more fully justified by the event than in the case before us. If His lips were opened, it was but to express the most perfect submission to His Father’ s will, and to breathe out prayers for His murderers. Christian, look at your Master, and learn how to suffer. Sinner, look at your Saviour, and learn to admire, to imitate, and to forgive. But why is this patient, innocent Sufferer thus afflicted? “ He was wounded for our transgressions,” etc. III. Our text describes THE MANNER IN WHICH CHRIST WAS TREATED when He thus came as a Man of sorrows to atone for our sins. “ Despised and rejected of men.” “ We hid, as it were, our faces,” etc. He has long since ascended to heaven, and therefore cannot be the immediate object of men’ s attacks. But His Gospel and His servants are still in the world; and the manner in which they are treated is sufficient evidence that the feelings of the natural heart toward Christ are not materially different from those of the Jews. His servants are hated, ridiculed and despised, His Gospel is rejected, and His institutions slighted. Every man who voluntarily neglects to confess Christ before men, and to commemorate His dying love, must say, either that He does not choose to do it, or that he is not prepared to do it. If a man says, I do not choose to confess Christ, he certainly rejects Him. (E. Payson, D. D.)The human race typified by the Man of sorrows I. THE LOT OF IN THIS WORLD. This is the portrait of the species--“ A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” II. THE WHICH : “ We hid, as it were, our faces from Him.” (F. W. Robertson, M.A.)The Man of sorrows I. “ A MAN.” He who was God, and was in the beginning with God, was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Remembering that Jesus Christ is God, it behoves us to recollect that His manhood was none the less real and substantial It differed from our own humanity in the absence of sin, but in no other respect. This condescending participation in our nature brings the Lord Jesus very near to us in relationship. Inasmuch as He was man, though also God, He was, according to Hebrew law, our goel--our kinsman, next of kin. Now it was according to the law that if an inheritance had been lost, it was the right of the next kin to redeem it. Our Lord Jesus exercised His legal right, and seeing us sold into bondage and our inheritance taken from us, came forward to redeem both us and all our lost estate. Be thankful that you have not to go to God at the first, and as you are, but you are invited to come to Jesus Christ, and through Him to the Father. Then let me add, that every child of God ought also to be comforted by the fact that our Redeemer is one of our own race, seeing that He was made like unto His brethren that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest; and He was tempted in all points, like as we are, that He might be able to succour them that are tempted. The sympathy of Jesus is the next most precious thing to His sacrifice. II. “ A MAN OF SORROWS.” The expression is intended to be very emphatic; it is not “ a sorrowful man,” but “ a Man of sorrows,” as if He were made up of sorrows, and they were constituent elements of His being. Some are men of pleasure, others men of wealth, but He was “ a Man of sorrows.” He and sorrow might have changed names. He who saw Him, saw sorrow, and he who would see sorrow, must look on Him. “ Behold, and see,” saith He, “ if there was ever sorrow like unto My sorrow which was clone unto Me.” 1. Our Lord is called the Man of sorrows for peculiarity, for this was His peculiar token and special mark. We might well call Him “ a man of holiness;” for there was no fault in Him: or a man, of labours, for He did His Father’ s business earnestly; or “ a man of eloquence,” for never man spake like this man. We might right fittingly call Him “ The man of love,” for never was there greater love than glowed in His heart. Still, conspicuous as all these and many other excellencies were, yet had we gazed upon Christ and been asked afterwards what was the most striking peculiarity in Him, we should have said His sorrow. Tears were His insignia, and the Cross His escutcheon. 2. Is not the title of “ Man of sorrows” given to our Lord by way of eminence? He was not only sorrowful, but pre-eminent among the sorrowful. All men have a burden to bear, but His was heaviest of all. The reason for this superior sorrow may be found in the fact that with His sorrow there was no admixture of sin. Side by side with His painful sensitiveness of the evil of sin, was His gracious tenderness towards the sorrows of others. Besides this our Saviour had a peculiar relationship to sin. He was not merely afflicted with the sight of it, and saddened by perceiving its effects on others, but sin was actually laid upon Him, and He was himself numbered with the transgressors. 3. The title of “ Man of sorrows,” was also given to our Lord to indicate the constancy of His afflictions. He changed His place of abode, but He always lodged with sorrow. Sorrow wove His swaddling bands, and sorrow spun His winding sheet. 4. He was also “ a Man of sorrows,” for the variety of His woes; He was a man not of sorrow only, but of “ sorrows.” As to His poverty. He knew the heart-rendings of bereavement. Perhaps the bitterest of His sorrows were those which were connected with His gracious work. He came as the Messiah sent of God, on an embassage of love, and men rejected His claims. Nor did they stay at cold rejection; they then proceeded to derision and ridicule. They charged Him with every crime which their malice could suggest. And all the while He was doing nothing but seeking their advantage in all ways, As He proceeded in His life His sorrows multiplied. He preached, and when men’ s hearts were hard, and they would not believe what He said, “ He was grieved for the hardness of their hearts.” His sorrow was not that men injured Him, but that they destroyed themselves; this it was, that pulled up the sluices of His soul, and made His eyes o’ erflow with tears: “ O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! how often would I have gathered thy children together,” etc. But surely He found some solace with the few companions whom He had gathered around Him? He did; but for all that He must have found as much sorrow as solace in their company. They were dull scholars; they were miserable comforters for the Man of sorrows. The Saviour, from the very dignity of His nature, must suffer alone. The mountain-side, with Christ upon it, seems to me a suggestive symbol of His earthly life. His soul lived in vast solitudes, sublime and terrible, and there, amid a midnight of trouble, His spirit communed with the Father, no one being able to accompany Him into the dark glens and gloomy ravines of His unique experience. In the last, crowning sorrows of His life, there came upon Him the penal inflictions from God, the chastisement of our peace which was upon Him. III. “ WITH GRIEF.” 1. With grief he had an intimate acquaintance. He did not know merely what it was in others, but it came home to Himself. We have read of grief, we have sympathized with grief, we have sometimes felt grief: but the.Lord felt it more intensely than other men in His innermost soul. He and grief were bosom friends. 2. It was a continuous acquaintance. He did not call at grief’ s house sometimes to take a tonic by the way, neither did He sip now and then of the wormwood and the gall, but the quassia cup was always His, and ashes were always mingled with His bread. Not only forty days in the wilderness did Jesus fast; the world was ever a wilderness to Him, and His life was one long Lent. I do not say that He was not, after all, a happy man, for down deep in His soul benevolence always supplied a living spring of joy to Him. There was a joy into which we are one day to enter--the “ joy of our Lord” --the “ joy set before Him” for which “ He endured the Cross, despising the shame;” but that does not at all take away from the fact that His acquaintance with grief was continuous and intimate beyond that of any man who ever lived. It was indeed a growing acquaintance with grief, for each step took Him deeper down into the grim shades of sorrow. 3. It was a voluntary acquaintance for our sakes. He need never have known a grief at all, and at any moment He might have said to grief, farewell. But He remained to the end, out of love to us, griefs acquaintance. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Christ as a Sufferer 1. Jesus suffered from what may be called the ordinary privations of humanity. Born in a stable, etc. We may not be able to assert that none ever suffered so much physical agony as He, but this is at least probable; for the exquisiteness of His physical organism in all likelihood made Him much more sensitive than others to pain. 2. He suffered keenly from the pain of anticipating coming evil. 3. He suffered from the sense of being the cause of suffering to others. To persons of an unselfish disposition the keenest pang inflicted by their own weakness or misfortunes may sometimes be to see those whom they would like to make happy rendered miserable through connection with themselves. To the child Jesus how gruesome must have been the story of the babes of Bethlehem, whom the sword of Herod smote when it was seeking for Him! Or, if His mother spared Him this recital, He must at least have learned how she and Joseph had to flee with Him to Egypt to escape the jealousy of Herod. As His life drew near its close, this sense that connection with Himself might be fatal to His friends forced itself more and more upon His notice. 4. The element of shame was, all through, a large ingredient in His cup of suffering. To a sensitive mind there is nothing more intolerable; it is far harder to bear than bodily pain. But it assailed Jesus in nearly every form, pursuing Him all through His life. He was railed at for the humbleness of His birth. The high-born priests and the educated rabbis sneered at the carpenter’ s son who had never learned, and the wealthy Pharisees derided Him. He was again and again called a madman. Evidently this was what Pilate took Him for. The Roman soldiers adopted an attitude of savage banter towards Him all through His trial and crucifixion, treating Him as boys torment one who is weak in the mind. He heard Barabbas preferred to Himself by the voice of His fellow-countrymen, and He was crucified between thieves, as if He were the worst of the worst. A hail of mockery kept falling on Him in His dying hours. Thus had He who was conscious of irresistible strength to submit to be treated as the weakest of weaklings, and He who was the Wisdom of the Highest to submit to be used as if He were less than a man. 5. But to Jesus it was more painful still, being the Holy One of God, to be regarded and treated as the chief of sinners. To one who loves God and goodness there can be nothing so odious as to be suspected of hypocrisy and to know that he is believed to be perpetrating crimes at the opposite extreme from his public profession. Yet this was what Jesus was accused of. Possibly there was not a single human being, when He died, who believed that He was what He claimed to be. 6. If to the holy soul of Jesus it was painful to be believed to be guilty of sins which He had not committed, it must have been still more painful to feel that He was being thrust into sin itself. This attempt was olden made. Satan tried it in the wilderness, and although only this one temptation of his is detailed, he no doubt often returned to the attack. Wicked men tried it; they resorted to every device to cause Him to lose His temper (Luke 11:53-54). Even friends, who did not understand the plan of His life, endeavoured to direct Him from the course prescribed to Him by the will of God--so much so that He had once to turn on one of them, as if he were temptation personified, with “ Get thee behind Me, Satan.” 7. While the proximity of sin awoke such loathing in His holy soul, and the touch of it was to Him like the touch of fire on delicate flesh, He was brought into the closest contact with it, and hence arose His deepest suffering. It pressed its loathsome presence on Him from a hundred quarters. He who could not bear to look on it saw it in its worst forms close to His very eyes. His own presence in the world brought it out; for goodness stirs up the evil lying at the bottom of wicked hearts. It was as if all the sin of the race were rushing upon Him, and Jesus felt it as if it were all His own. (J. Stalker, D.D.)The Man of sorrows I. THE DOES NOT THE CASE OF ONE WHO ONLY THE OR THE AVERAGE AMOUNT OF THE TRIALS WHICH BELONG TO HUMAN LIFE. There is implied in it a pre-eminence in sorrow, a peculiarly deep experience of grief. II. OF ALL THE MANY GRIEFS OF THE DIVINE IN HIS HUMAN LIFE, THERE WAS NOT ONE WHICH HE HIMSELF EITHER NEEDED OR TO BEAR. When the apostle tells us that He was made perfect through suffering, the meaning is that He was by this means made officially perfect as a Saviour, as the Captain of salvation, and the High-Priest of His redeemed, and not that He lacked any moral excellence, to acquire which suffering was needful. So again, when it is said that He learned obedience by the things which He suffered, the meaning obviously is, that by putting Himself in a state of humiliation, and in the condition of a servant under law, He came to know by experience what it was to render obedience to the law, and not at all that He was ever defective in the least, as to the spirit of obedience to the Father’ s will. As He had no need of any improvement of His virtues, He had no faults, no sins, which called for chastisement. III. ALL THE OF THE LORD JESUS WERE ENDURED WITH . IV. IN ALL THE GRIEFS AND SORROWS WHICH THE BLESSED SAVIOUR , HIS MIND WAS CHIEFLY WITH THE GOOD RESULTS IN WHICH HIS WERE TO ISSUE. He deliberately entered on His singular career of humiliation and self-sacrifice for the good of man and the glory of God. Practical lessons: 1. If even the Son of God, when on earth, was a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, we certainly should not think it strange that days of trial are appointed unto us. 2. If our blessed Lord felt keenly what He suffered, and was even moved to tears, we need not reproach ourselves because we deeply feel our trials, and cannot but weep in the fulness of our grief. 3. If Christ was a willing sufferer, deliberately choosing to suffer for the good of others, we surely should consent to suffer for our own advantage. 4. If our blessed Lord and Saviour made less account of what He suffered than of the good results that were to follow, it is wise at least in us to do the same. (Ray Palmer, D.D.)Christ the Man of sorrows While on earth He was surrounded by many sources of pleasure. The earth teemed with every form of life, and the air was melodious with music. The sceneries of His native country suggested the sublimest imagery, and inspired poetry of the highest kind: and had He possessed none of these, He would have been perfectly happy; for He was the Infinite; His sorrows arose from-- I. THE FELT OF A LOVING BEING TO A RUINED RACE. II. THE OF HIS WORK. III. HIS CERTAIN THAT THE RESULT OF HIS MISSION WOULD NOT BE EQUAL TO THE OF HIS WILL. (Evan Lewis, B.A.)The mystery of sorrow I. ITS TO MAN. There are facts which know no frontiers. In the inner life of thought and feeling such is sorrow. It is a universal language, it obliterates space, it annihilates time; it is the great leveller, it ignores rank, it stands head and shoulders above any dignity. Think again, it is too sacred to be only universal. It is also an intimate fact. None can comfort. There may be sweet help, deep and real sympathy, not comfort, no, for none can undo the tragic truth. Yes, there is One. One can come nearest to the feeling, mad, in our eternal life, in a sense He can undo. One, only One, has gathered up the representative experiences of all. II. The thought gains precision when we remember that IT BEARS A WITNESS FOR GOD. Let Love meet death or trouble, and the result is sorrow. This noblest human sorrow so begotten is a witness to the Source of its being. Love, the love of the creature, is his highest endowment from the Love of God. III. SORROW GAINS A CLEARER OUTLINE TO ITS FRAIL AND MISTY FORM AS SEEN IN ITS TO WHAT IS CALLED THE “ SCHEME OF ;” seen, that is, in its place in the awakening and restoring of the human spirit, great though fallen. Sorrow here is a power. It takes varying tints. 1. At the darkest, it is a power of warning, of prophecy. It warns of a stern reality in this world--the dreadfulness of sin. 2. Better, it is a power to transfigure. Repentance is the one path to pardon, and it is a certain path. Whence comes true repentance? It comes from God’ s love seen in fairest, saddest image in “ the Man of sorrows “ 3. It is a power to purify. Sorrow sends you in on self. Godless sorrow would make self more selfish, working death; not so sorrow from the Cross of Christ. A life searched out, repented of, is a spirit purified. (W. J. KnoxLittle, M.A.)The suffering Christ I. THE MATTER, what He suffered. II. THE MANNER, how He came to suffer. III. THE REASONS and ends why, for our good. Here are three chief lessons for a Christian to learn:-- 1. Patience and comfort. 2. Humility. 3. In the end, love. All this was for you. What will you do for God again? (T. Manton, D..D.)Sir Noel Paton’ s “ Man of Sorrows” To the painter ere he sat down to produce this work of art many questions would suggest themselves. Among them, doubtless, would be these:-- 1. What shall be the scene? Of course, the artist would naturally think of many scenes in our Lord’ s life more or less appropriate for such a representation. The painter seems to have recognized the great truth which we all must have proved to some extent, that man tastes deepest of sorrow in loneliness, that the cross which weighs heaviest on any shoulder is not the cross which the world can see, but which is borne out of sight, when the heart, and no one else save God, knoweth its own bitterness. Thus Sir Noel Paton has represented “ The Man of Sorrows” as isolated from His fellows, far away from the habitations of men and shut out of the world. The whole picture is one of desolation. In its centre and foreground is represented “ The Man of Sorrows sitting upon a jagged rock. And, oh, what sorrow is depicted there! Those large, full, liquid eyes brim over with tears; every expression of the countenance is charged with grief; the lips are wan, and a deep furrow crosses that young, manly brow. The swollen veins in the neck and temple, the powerful muscular action in the right hand, as with open fingers it rests heavily upon the rocks and in the left clenched tightly as it presses upon the thigh, and in the feet as they press the earth convulsively underneath--for the Man of Sorrows is represented with head uncovered and feet unsandalled--all these tell the story of an awful tension of a withering sorrow. 2. Closely and inseparably connected with the question of scene is that of the period in our Lord s life in which He can most appropriately be represented as the Man of sorrows. The artist chooses the eve of the Temptation, and thus selects the greatest transitional period of our Saviour’ s life--that beginning with the Baptism and closing with the Temptation. The time of day chosen is the twilight of morning. There is something in the twilight that is consistent not only with solemn, but also with sad thoughts and feelings. 3. What can account for the sorrow! You look to the picture in vain for the solution. The painting is a problem, an enigma. It is purposely so. The painter presents to us the great fact, not its explanation. He goes to Inspired Writ for that, and thus refers the perplexed spectator to the words of Isaiah as supplying the key to the whole painting: “ He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows,” etc. (verses 4-6). These are the words which Sir Noel Paton adopts, and practically says, “ There! that is what I mean.” “ We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.” How shall this false estimate of Him be corrected? Look at the picture; that Man of sorrows looks up and holds communion with the skies; see the half-open mouth expressive of expectation, and those eyes so full of tears and yet so full of vision. Verily He is not alone--the Father is with Him; for from the heavens and from a source other than the sun there descends through a rift of the clouds a shaft of light that looks like the light of the Father’ s countenance, and rests upon the face of this Sorrowing One. This human countenance thus lit up by the light of the Divine countenance is the painter’ s sublime answer to the old-world estimate of the Man of sorrows. What need of any more! (D. Davies.)Christ’ s life a model for His people The more deeply we enter into the meaning of Christ considered as the Divine Man, the more distinctly revealed it becomes to us that what His life was our life is intended to be. There are instincts and there are impulses and ambitions that shrink from coming under the sovereignty of a commitment so cordial and entire. That accounts for the disproportionate emphasis so customarily laid upon the commercial feature of the atonement. It is easier and it is lazier to believe in a Christ that is going to pay my debts for me, than it is to grow up in Christ into a Divine endowment, that shall be itself the cure for insolvency and the material of wealth Divine and inexhaustible. You have really done nothing for a poor man by paying his debts for him, unless in addition to squaring his old accounts you have in such manner dealt with him as to guarantee him against being similarly involved in the time to come. Emphasize as we may the merely ransoming work of Christ, we are not made free men by having our fetters broken off, and we are not made wealthy men by having our debts paid. It is not what Christ delivers us from, but what He translates us into that makes us saved men in Christ. (C. H.Parkhurst, D. D.)Our Lord’ s life lived in shadow No fair reading of the narrative of Christ’ s life will leave the impression that sorrow of heart was a grace that Christ cultivated. The pathetic was not a temper of spirit which He encouraged in Himself or in others. Heaviness of mind was not a thing to be sought in and for itself. There is no gain saying the fact that one great object of His mission was to make the world glad. Still for all that He was a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. It needs also to be said that for us to be heavy-hearted merely because Christ was, to be sorrowful by a sheer act of imitation, is distinctly repugnant to everything like Christian sense, and at the farthest possible remove from all that deserves to be called Christian sincerity. Neither can we leave out of the account all those passages, especially in the New Testament, where particular praise is accorded to gladness of heart. The problems of life involve sorrow Nevertheless, when all these caveats have been entered and gladness of heart eulogized to the fullest extent, authorized by multitudinous expressions occurring throughout the entire Scriptures, it still remains beyond dispute that our Lord’ s life was lived in shadow, and that He died at last less because of the nails and the spear-wounds, than He did of a broken heart. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)The sorrow of strained powers He came to interfere with the natural current of event. And it made Him tired. And a man, even a Divine man, is less apt to laugh when He is tired. A good deal of what we call our gladness of heart, if we will care to scrutinize it, is simply the congenial luxury of drifting down the current of event. If you are pulling your boat up-stream you will be sober while you are about it. Strained powers are serious. It is the farthest from our thought to disparage exuberance or even hilarity; nevertheless, it remains a fact that hilarity is feeling out at pasture and not feeling under the yoke. It is steam escaping at the throttle because it is not pushing at the piston. I venture to say that Christ could not shake His purpose off. He was here to stay the downward drift of event; the purpose was too vast to be easily flung aside, and His muscles were too solidly knotted to it to be easily unknotted and relaxed. And we shall have to go on and say that it was an inherent part of Christ to have a purpose and to be mightily bent to its achievement; and not only that, it was an inherent part of Christ as the Saviour of this world to seize upon the current of event and of history and to under take to reverse it. Exactly that was the genius of the Christ-mission. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)The Christ-life in the Christian You cannot drift down the tide of event and be a Christ man or a Christ woman. The world is to be saved; the tide is to be reversed. Man inspired of God is to do it; and you cannot buckle yourself down to that problem in Christian whole-heartedness and not grow sober under it. Now you see the philosophy of the sober Christ. He flung Himself against forty centuries of bad event, and the Divine Man got bruised by the impact. He stood up and let forty centuries jump on Him; He held His own, but blood broke through His pores in perspiration, and about that there is nothing humorous. The edge of this truth is not broken by the fact that Christ took hold of the work of the world’ s saving in a larger way than it is possible for us to do, and that therefore the burden of His undertaking came upon Him in a heavier, wider, and more crushing way than it can come upon us; and that therefore while it overwhelmed Him in sorrow, our smaller mission and lighter task can with entire propriety leave us buoyant and gladsome. All of that conception of the case lacks dignity and reach You can’ t take hold of a great matter in a small way. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)The sorrow of love It is but a step now to go on and speak of the saddening effect necessarily flowing from the circumstances under which in this world Christian work has to be done. It was the love which Christ had for the world that made Him sad while doing His work in the world; and the infinitude of His love is what explains the unutterableness of His pain; for the world in which Christ fulfilled His mission was a suffering world. Now a man who is without love can be in the midst of suffering and, not suffer. A loveless spirit grieves over his own pain, but has no sense of another’ s pain, and no feeling of being burdened by another’ s pain. Love has this peculiar property, that it makes the person whom we love one with us, so that his experience becomes a part of our own life, his pain becomes painful to us, his burdens make us tired. The mother feels her child’ s pain as keenly as though it were her own pain, perhaps more so. In its Divine relations this is all expressed in those familiar words of Scripture, “ In all their affliction He was afflicted.” Sympathy is the form which love takes in a suffering world. Love is the finest type of communism. (C. H.Parkhurst, D. D.)Christ’ s great capacity for suffering The measure of our being is our capacity for sorrow or joy. Captain Conder speaks of the shadow cast by Mount Hermon being as much as seventy miles long at some periods. Was it not the very greatness of Christ that made His joys and His griefs equally unique? (H. O. Mackey.)We hid as it were our faces from HimA sad confession In the margin of your Bibles this passage is rendered, “ He hid as it were His face from us.” The literal translation of the Hebrew would be, “ He was as a hiding of faces from Him,” or “ from us.” Some critical readers think these words were intended to describe our Lord as having so humbled Himself, and brought Himself to such a deep degradation, that He was comparable to the leper who covered his face and cried, “ Unclean, unclean,” hiding himself from the gaze of men. Abhorred and despised by men, He was like one put aside because of His disease and shunned by all mankind. Others suppose the meaning to be that on account of our Lord s terrible and protracted sorrow His face wore an expression so painful and grievous that men could scarcely bear to look upon Him. They hid as it were their faces from Him--amazed at that brow all carved with lines of anxious thought, those cheeks all ploughed with furrows of deep care, those eyes all sunk in shades of sadness, that soul bowed down, exceeding sorrowful, even unto death! It may be so; we cannot tell. I have a plain, practical purpose to pursue. Here is an indictment to which we must all plead guilty. I. Sometimes men hide their faces from Jesus IN COOL OF HIM. How astounding! how revolting! He ought surely to be esteemed by all mankind. 1. Some show their opposition by attempting to ignore or to tarnish the dignity of His person. 2. Are there not others who affect great admiration for Jesus of Nazareth as an example of virtue and benevolence, who nevertheless reject His mediatorial work as our Redeemer? As a substitutionary sacrifice they do not and cannot esteem Him. 3. Then they will pour contempt upon, the various doctrines of His Gospel. 4. And with what pitiful disdain the Lord s people are slighted! Do I address anybody who has despised the Lord Jesus Christ? Your wantonness can offer no excuse but your ignorance. And as for your ignorance, it is without excuse. II. A far more common way in which men hide their faces from Christ is BY THEIR , THEIR , THEIR NEGLECT. III. We hid as it were our faces from Him BY ANY OTHER MODE OF TO BY FAITH IN CHRIST. IV. After we were quite sure that we could not be saved other than by the one Mediator, do you remember how we continued to hide our face from Jesus BY IN HIM. V. But there are some of us who must plead guilty to another charge; we have hidden as it were our faces from Him since He has saved us, and since we have known His love, BY OUR SILLY SHAME AND OUR BASE . VI. Many, if not all, of us who are believers will penitently confess that we have sometimes hidden our faces from Christ BY NOT WALKING IN WITH HIM. (C. H. Spurgeon.) “ We hid as it were our faces from Him.” Literally, “ as one from whom there is hiding of face,” as if shrinking from a horrible sight. (Canon Cook.) The impersonal form refers to the men just named, or all those of note and influence. Their faces were averted from Him, as a lunatic, beside Himself, or one possessed, as a deceiver and a blasphemer. (T.R. Birks.) Isaiah 53:4-6 Surely He hath borne our griefs Christ’ s love and man’ s unthankfulness I. CHRIST’ S LOVE. 1. The certainty of what is averred of Christ: “ Surely.” 2. The acts of Christ’ s obedience, set forth in two words: He hath “ borne,” He hath “ carried.” 3. The objects. They are “ griefs,” “ sorrows.” II. MAN’ S , in censuring Christ and despising Him; and there consider-- 1. The persons: “ We.” 2. The guilt. Esteeming Christ stricken and smitten of God. (T. Manton, D.D.)The pressure of the burden on God My positions are these-- 1. The Lord--electing to perpetuate the sinful race, to endure all the sorrow which Heaven would look upon, and the question which would fall upon His government through the existence of a world so full of wrong and wretchedness, in a universe whose order was his charge--stooped at once, in infinite, tender pity, to lift the burden, and to become a fellow-wayfarer in the sorrowful pilgrimage to which man had doomed himself by his sin. Suffering sin to live on and reproduce itself, with all its bitter fruits, in the universe which He made to be so blest, He needs must become its sacrifice; making the atonement for the sin which He did not on the moment crush, and bearing the burden of the sorrow which He did not at once destroy. And this is Divine love. It must share the sorrow which it allows to live on, though the fountain of the sorrow be a sin which he hates; it must lift and bear the burden which most righteous necessities lay heavily upon erring souls. We none of us know, even dimly, what is meant by “ Emmanuel,” “ God with us. God always with us, incarnate from the hour when He announced Himself as the woman’ s seed, and the destroyer of her foe. God with us, our fellow in all the dread experience into which our sharing in the sin of Adam has driven us; knowing Himself the full pressure of its burdens, and infinitely more nearly touched than we are by everything that concerns the dark, sad history of mankind. 2. The fellowship of God with the race in the very hour of the transgression infused at once a tincture of hope into the experience of the sinner, and made it, from the first, a discipline unto life instead of a judgment unto death. 3. This first promise to man, this fellowship of God with the sinning, suffering race, whose existence He perpetuated, pledged Him to the sacrifice of Calvary, the baptism of Pentecost, and the abiding of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, with the world. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)Christ the Burden-bearer There are two questions which here suggest themselves-- I. WHAT BURDENS PRESSED ON CHRIST, WHICH COULD NOT HAVE BEEN HIS, UNLESS HE HAD TAKEN THEM UP? 1. By His incarnation He inserted Himself into our race, and by assuming our own nature, He felt whatever sorrows press on man as man 2. By His position He represented our race. As the Son of God, He is Heaven’ s representative on earth. As the Son of Man, He is our Great High Priest, to intercede with Heaven. Thus all earth’ s spiritual concerns rested on Him. Could such a work be entrusted to man, and He-be otherwise than “ a man of sorrows” ? 3. By His own personal sympathy He so felt for man, that He made the sorrows of others His own. His was no heartless officialism. 4. By suffering and sorrow, Christ not only discloses His own human sympathy, but by reason of the two-foldness of His nature, that human sympathy was an incarnation of the Divine! 5. But we have to take one more step, in accounting for the burden which lay upon Christ. He came, “ not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life, a ransom for many.” II. WHAT BURDENS DO NOT REST UPON US, THAT MUST HAVE BEEN OURS IF CHRIST HAD NOT BORNE THEM AWAY? 1. The burden of unatoned guilt rests on none! “ Behold the Lamb of God that beareth away the sin of the world!” 2. The burden of hopeless corruption of nature need rest on none. When the Son of God came to be a sacrifice for us, He came to be also a Living Root in us. He allied Himself with human weakness, and joined it to His almightiness, that in Him that weakness might be lost, and be substituted by “ everlasting strength.” 3. The burden of unshared sorrows rests on none. Does our sorrow arise from the sin without us? That pressed more heavily on Christ than ever it can do on us. Does it come from personal trial? Christ’ s were far heavier than ours. Does it come from the temptations of Satan? He was in all points tempted like as we are. But perhaps it may be said, “ By reason of the infirmities of the flesh, I am betrayed into impatience, murmuring and fretfulness and I cannot feel that Christ has lifted off that burden, for I am sure Christ never felt any fretfulness or impatience, and so He cannot sympathize with mine.” But, strange as it may seem at first sight, it is just here that the perfection of Christ’ s sympathy is seen. In this last-named course of sorrow there is a mixture of what is frail with what is wrong. But since Christ’ s nature was untainted by sin, He can draw exactly the line between infirmity and sin, which sinful natures cannot do. Now, we do not want, and we ought not to wish for sympathy with the wrong, but only with weakness and frailty. How does Christ, then, meet this complex case! Distinguishing most clearly between the two, He looks on the infirmity, and has for it a fulness of pity; He discerns the sin, and has for that fulness of power to forgive it, and fulness of grace to remove it! “ In that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.” 4. The burden of dreaded death need rest on none. Christ passed through death that He might deliver them who through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to bondage. 5. The great burden of the destiny of the human race rests not on us. Christ has taken that up. (C. Clemance, D. D.)The death of Christ a propitiation for sin Two things are asserted-- I. THAT THE MESSIAH SHOULD SUFFER NOT FOR HIS OWN SINS, BUT FOR OURS (Isaiah 53:4-5). This indeed is what His enemies would deny, esteeming Him “ stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted,” for His own sins, His imposture, usurpation and blasphemy. But if we peruse the history of His life we shall find that the sum of all they had to lay to His charge was His presuming to act in a character which really did (but which they would not believe did) belong to him: that the whole course of His behaviour exemplified the most perfect integrity of heart and life, and showed Him to be the spotless Lamb of God, in whom there was no sin. Hence it follows that He must have suffered for the sins of others. 1. Some have put this gloss upon the words, “ He was wounded for” --i.e., (they say) “by our transgressions,” and “ bruised by our iniquities.” Or, that it was owing to the sins of the Jews that He suffered so much as He did. It was their malice, unrighteousness and envy that was the cause of all His suffering. But this construction is not only apparently forced, but is confuted by the whole scope and tenor of the prophecy. For He is not said to be smitten by the Jews, but for them; nay, that He was smitten of God for them, for it was “ the Lord that laid on Him the punishment of their iniquities. 2. Others say that He bore our sins by imputation, and was wounded for our transgressions, because our transgressions were imputed to Him, or reckoned as His. But you will say, perhaps, “ Were not our sins then imputed to Christ?” I answer, I find no fault with the word, provided it be rightly understood and explained. If by “ imputation” be meant, that our sins were actually made over or transferred to Him, so as to become His, I do not see how this can be conceived possible. “ But might they not be reckoned His?” No, for that would be to reckon them what they were not, and what it was impossible they should be. But if by our sins being “ imputed” to Christ be understood no more than that the punishment thereof was actually laid upon Him, this is easily conceived, and readily granted: that is what the sacred Scriptures everywhere say. If anything further be necessary to illustrate this affair, we may explain it by the case of the propitiatory sacrifices under the law, all which pointed at or prefigured the great Christian sacrifice under the Gospel. Those piacular victims were of Divine appointment. The sin-offerings, over the heads of which the priest was to confess the sins of the people, were substituted in the room of the offenders, and died instead of those sinners for whom they were offered. The sins of the people were not transferred over to the victim, but the victim was slain for the sins of the people. Leviticus 16:21-22 must of necessity be taken in a figurative construction: because the sins of a man can in no other sense be transferred to, or laid upon a beast, than by transferring upon it the punishment of them. 3. Others there are who acknowledge that Christ died for us, meaning thereby that He died for our sakes or for our good, and to set us a perfect example of patience and submission under sufferings; but not for our sins, or in our room and stead. But if Christ died for us as our Sacrifice, or as the sacrifices under the law died for the offenders (as He certainly did if they were proper types of Him), then He must have died in our room, and as substituted in our place. 4. Others think, that all those places of Scripture which speak of Christ’ s death as a “ propitiation are to be explained in a figurative sense: that the apostles borrowed those sacrifical terms from the Jewish law, and applied them to the death of Christ, only by way of accommodation or analogy, not that the blood of Christ did really and properly expiate or atone for sin, any more than that of the Jewish sacrifices; but that He only died for us as a pledge to assure us that God would pardon and accept us upon our repentance. To which it may suffice to say, that the apostle does not speak of the death of Christ merely by way of analogy to the Jewish sacrifices, but as typified, represented and prefigured by them (Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 9:13-14; Hebrews 10:4). II. THAT THE GREAT END AND DESIGN OF CHRIST’ S FOR OUR SINS, WAS TO MAKE OUR PEACE WITH GOD. “ The chastisement of our peace was upon Him,” etc. These words plainly intimate to us the way whereby our peace is made with God, viz by our justification and sanctification. (J. Mason, M.A.)Vicarious Sacrifice of Christ In these words Isaiah declares the end of Christ’ s sufferings. The Jews, who put Him to death, did “ esteem Him smitten of God,” that is, crucified according to the will of God, for attempting to turn away men from the law of Moses. And, to this day, they speak of Jesus as one who suffered according to the law of God, for seducing the Israelites from the faith of their forefathers. The prophet gives a different view of Christ’ s death. Instead of dying for His own sins, He was wounded for our transgressions. 1. There is no passage of Scripture in which the substitution of Christ’ s sufferings, in place of those of the sinner, is more clearly revealed than in our text. 2. All agree that men are sinners, and that sin deserves punishment. But when we come to ask how it may be forgiven, and for what consideration God forgives it, we begin to differ. The Trinitarian doctrine is, that the eternal Son of God, the uncreated, and equal with the Father, became incarnate, and suffered the punishment of our sins, as our Substitute; and that for the sake of what He has done, we may be forgiven. They who are opposed to us, on the other hand, believe that Christ, a created being, but still so very exalted that He may be called a God--yet not the supreme God--took our nature upon Him, that He might teach men a purer religion than was ever before known, and set before them a perfect example, and thus draw them away from their sins; so that He saves us from our sins, not by atoning for them, but just as any merely good man does, who so teaches and practises as to lead men from sin to holiness. While engaged in this work, they assert further, that the Jews seized upon the Saviour and put Him to death; and Jesus, to show that He was persuaded of the truth of what He had taught, gave Himself up to die, just as Latimer and Ridley sealed their testimony with their blood; and that thus Christ may be said to have died for us, because He met His death in seeking to do us good. Some go a little further, and believe that God was so pleased with the holy life, and the martyr-death of His Son, that for His sake He is graciously inclined to forgive sin, just as the good conduct of one child may procure favours for an erring brother, for whom he pleads. They expect to be saved through their repentance, by the mercy of God; we expect salvation through the alone merits of the suffering Son of God. 3. Now let us go on to see how this great doctrine of our Church is sustained by Scripture. 4. But again, we ask attention to the fact, that Christ’ s sufferings were not so much from man as from God, not bodily so much as of the soul. How do we account for this? If He was seized upon by the Jews, and died merely as a martyr, would God have withdrawn His presence from Him in His last agonies Would He not then have had, as other good men have had, the brightest views of the Divine presence and comfort? But it was just the reverse. “ The Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” “ It pleased the Lord to bruise Him.” It is said God made Christ’ s soul, not His body alone, an offering for sin; it was foretold that it should be mental, not merely corporal suffering, that He should endure. And such, in fact, was the case. 5. How can these facts be explained on the Unitarian system? (W. H. Lewis, D.D.)Redemption I. THE NEED (Isaiah 53:6). Sheep, but astray; through following their own inclinations. Divine pity is on the selfish and the lost. II. THE MEANS. 1. The reality of the redemption seen in the fact that Christ died. He did not die for His own sin; “ I am innocent of the blood of this just man,” said His judge. He did not die through His own feebleness; “ I have power to lay down My life,” etc., said Christ. He did not die by accident; “ the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all:” it was the will of the Father, and foretold, and a fact. 2. The form of the redemption. (1) The humiliation of Christ. The humiliation of Christ teaches the intensity of sin. Where sin is not felt His humiliation is misunderstood. “ We did esteem Him stricken,” etc. (2) The substitution of Christ. The substitution of Christ teaches the wealth in our redemption; where Christ is not known in His Divine nature the riches of salvation not fully appreciated. III. THE EFFECT (Isaiah 53:5). 1. Sin atoned for, iniquity borne away. 2. Peace. “ The chastisement of our peace was upon Him.” “ Being justified by faith we have peace.” 3. Healing. We are free from sin to be the servants of God. The depth of His love the measure of our obligation. As that cannot be fathomed our obligation can never be fully realized. (R. V. Pryce, M.A., LL.B.)Vicarious suffering Great is the power of vicarious suffering in its endless varieties. By the struggles and the obstinate questionings of deep souls the world of ordinary men is redeemed and elevated. It is by His suffering prophets that God most truly saves the world. By the untold miseries of Job, by the deep grief of Isaiah, by the piercing sorrows of Paul, by the weary restlessness of Augustine, by the fiery agonies of Luther, by the sore trials of John Bunyan, by the spiritual travail of Wesley and Whitfield, by the brave endurance of Theodore Parker, by the torn heart of Robertson of Brighton, by the manifold diquietudes and internal gloom of the great army of bewildered doubters and baffled pioneers--by all these we have been led from the house of bondage and the city of destruction, from the valley of the shadow of death, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (A. Crauford, M.A.)Luther and Bunyan By their “ agony and bloody sweat.” it is given to sympathetic souls in every age to deliver the world to some extent. Thus by the stripes of Luther John Bunyan was healed. From Luther’ s commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians Bunyan received peace and victory. (A. Crauford, M.A.)Vicarious suffering Vicarious suffering, with its far-reaching influence, pervades the whole world. Assuredly this is not due to any after-thought of God. It is an essential part of the original arrangement. “ No man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. (A. Crauford, M.A.)Society an organism The English Deists certainly erred in rejecting the true inner meaning of the doctrine of salvation by vicarious suffering. The Deists did not realize the truth that society is an organism. And our perception of this fact in the present day enables us to appreciate the real meaning of the doctrine of vicarious suffering. This truth shines all the more clearly, owing to the light of modern science, which has discredited the old Deism even more effectually than Bishop Butler did. (A. Crauford, M.A.)Sadder and mysterious aspects of vicarious suffering Some of these aspects are so unspeakably sad that it is only in the light of a future life that I can bear to gaze upon them. We do but skim over the surface of the deep mystery of vicarious suffering, unless we recognize the fact that the spiritual world is full of wasted lives, of marvellous abortions, of grand and heroic failures, of illustrious scapegoats dying in the bleak wilderness of ignominy and defeat, bearing away the sins of the many, and yet by them misunderstood, condemned, and anathematized. In many respects these outcast scapegoats of the spiritual world are the truest saviours of our race, though by commonplace religionists they “ are numbered with the transgressors,” and die unhealed and unredeemed, and “ make their graves with the wicked.” (A. Crauford, M.A.)The world’ s majestic failures The world’ s majestic failures are a sorrowful hint of God’ s inexhaustible resources. (A. Crauford, M.A.)The failure of one the gain of another I suppose that no thoughtful person would think of denying the fact that predestined failure is the lot of many noble natures here on earth. They are stepping-stones on which others “ rise to higher things.” Of each of them we might truly, affirm that he is thus addressed by others, “ Bow down, that we may go over. And, in meek obedience, he complies; so that we write concerning him, “ And thou hast laid thy body on the ground, and as the street to them that went over.” Such souls are scapegoats of the race, bearing away the deficiencies and the sins of many into the wilderness of isolation, despondency, and disaster. They drink to the very dregs the cup of ancestral sinfulness, and their brethren thereby escape that fatal heritage of the soul. It seems as if it were necessary that they should be lost, in order that others may be saved. Consciously or unconsciously, they suck out the poison from the wounds of the human race. (A. Crauford, M.A.)Vicarious sacrifice in the intellectual world I In the intellectual world it is often expedient that one man should be sacrificed for the race. For instance, David Hume’ s total want of spirituality, though extremely injurious to him individually, was probably highly beneficial to the race in one way, viz by showing to what monstrous conclusions intellect by itself was likely to lead. And the very infirmities and aberrations of the intellect, in some men, are full of instruction for the race at large. Unrestrained imagination often mars or destroys the life of its possessor, as did that of Rousseau, but adds much to the world’ s abiding mental wealth. (A. Crauford, M.A.)Poisons as tonics The spiritual poisons of individuals are often turned into tonics for the race. (A. Crauford, M.A.)Stricken, smitten of God, and afflictedJesus, smitten of God Smitten as with a loathsome leprosy--the curse-mark of judicial vengeance upon Him, for so it is rendered by St. Jerome, We thought Him to be a leper. (Jr. R Macduff, D.D.)Stricken Stricken is the expression used when God visits a man with severe and sudden sickness (Genesis 12:17; 1 Samuel 6:9), especially leprosy, which was regarded as pre-eminently the “ stroke” of God’ s hand (Job 2 Kings 15:5; Leviticus 13:3; Leviticus 13:9; Leviticus 13:20), and the direct consequence of sin. (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)The Servant of the Lard pictured as a leper That the Servant is pictured as a leper is suggested by several particulars in the description, such as His marred and disfigured form, and His isolation from human society, as well as the universal conviction of His contemporaries that He was a special object of the Divine wrath; and the impression is confirmed by the parallel case of Job, the typical righteous sufferer, whose disease was elephantiasis, the most hideous form of leprosy. It has to be borne in mind, of course, that the figure of the Servant is, in some sense, an ideal creation of the prophet s mind, so that the leprosy is only a strong image for such sufferings as are the evidence of God’ s wrath against sin. (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)The mystery of our Lord’ s sufferings I. THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST’ S --MAN’ S OF IT. “ We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.” And it is impossible to say that this is other than a fair view to take from man’ s position and with man’ s knowledge. 1. Let us try and realize the process of mind in a man who was told of Christ’ s sufferings and death, but had no knowledge of His personal innocence; no conception of Him as the “ spotless One,” separate from sinners. Such a man would only decide that He was “ stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” To such a man it would be plain enough that God has established an immediate connection between sin and suffering. And yet we know, we feel, that this explanation of the mystery of our Lord’ s sufferings is insufficient and incorrect. It does not lift the veil. It is altogether too commonplace. Good enough if Christ were a fellow-man. Worthless--nay, wholly wrong--if He be the spotless Lamb of God; if He be the Son of God with power. 2. Then let us try to realize the process of mind in a man who has some knowledge of Christ’ s life, and especially of His personal innocence, as one who “ did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.” Such a man might say, Christ’ s sufferings were a specially and extraordinary Divine judgment. “ He was smitten of God.” Such a knowledge of Christ’ s life would convince the man that Jesus must have been a most amiable and excellent person, an obedient Son, a loving Friend, a gentle-hearted Brother; one who could claim to be a firm and wise moral Teacher. The man would feel sure that the influence of such an one as Jesus must have been very great upon His age. The fast departing moral life of Judaism ought to have had its flickering flame fanned afresh by the presence and teachings of such a Master-Spirit. And then, as he saw Him despised, persecuted, and at last put to the ignominious slave’ s death of the cross, what could he think about it all But this? It was a sad calamity, one of those mysterious Divine judgments that seem to come in every age, and puzzle sorely the sons of men. Man can only say of the sufferer--“ Smitten of God.” In this way a man might fairly regard the innocent Jesus. Nay; this, too, is insufficient; it is but the beginning of an explanation. A calamity! Yes, but only a seeming calamity, seeing that by dying He conquered death, “ led captivity captive,” and “ opened the kingdom of heaven you to all-believers.” “ Man cannot of himself explain the mystery of Christ’ s sufferings. But he can be humble, and learn so much of the mystery as God may be pleased to reveal. II. THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST’ S --GOD’ S OF IT. “ He was wounded for our transgressions,” etc. 1. We may first notice that God sustains man’ s view, that the sufferings of Christ were His appointment; but He further declares that they were an unusual and altogether singular appointment. 2. Then God’ s explanation declares that the sufferings of Christ bore no relation whatever to His own guilt. 3. God affirms, further, that Christ suffered as the Representative or Substitute, for others. Is it any wonder that an absorbing love should grow in our souls toward this vicariously-suffering Saviour? In the restoration of man to the Divine favour; in the great and gracious work of “ reconciliation,” we can recognize three stages-- (1) A loving purpose cherished in the deep heart of the Holy Father, that He would recover, deliver, and save His lost, rebellious, prodigal children. (2) That Divine and loving purpose effectually wrought out by God s well-beloved and only begotten Son, in His incarnate life, labours, sufferings, sacrifice and death. (3) The third stage is yet incomplete. It is the voluntary and hearty acceptance, by the long sought children, of the redemption thus gloriously wrought for them. (R. Tuck, B.A.) Isaiah 53:5 But He was wounded for our transgressions The sufferings of Christ Three things suggest themselves as requiring explanation to one who seriously contemplates the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. 1. An innocent man suffers. 2. The death of Jesus is the apparent defeat and destruction of one who possessed extraordinary and supernatural powers. 3. This apparent defeat and ruin, instead of hindering the progress of His work, became at once, and in all the history of the progress of His doctrine has been emphatically, the instrument whereby a world is conquered. The death of Jesus has not been mourned by His followers, has never been concealed, but rather exulted in and prominently set forth as that to which all men must chiefly look if they would regard Christ and His mission right. The shame and the failure issue in glory and completest success. What is the philosophy of this? Has any ever been given which approaches the Divinely revealed meaning supplied by our text? “ He was wounded for our transgressions,” etc. We learn here-- I. THE OF JESUS CHRIST FROM OUR SINS. II. THE OF JESUS WHERE RELATED TO THE DIVINE LAW. III. THE OF JESUS BECAME OF HUMAN . (L. D.Bevan, D. D.)A short catechism 1. What is man’ s condition by nature? (1) Under transgression. (2) Under iniquities. (3) At feud with God. (4) Under wounds and most loathsome diseases of a sinful nature. 2. How are folks freed from this sinful and miserable condition? (1) In general, before the quarrel can be taken away, and their peace can be made, there must be a satisfaction. (2) More particularly there must be a satisfaction, because there is the justice of God that hath a claim by a standing law; the holiness of God, that must be vindicated; the faith of God, that must cause to come to pass what it hath pledged itself to, as well in reference to threatening as to promise. 3. Who maketh this satisfaction? The text says, “ He” and “ Him.” The Messiah. 4. How does He satisfy justice? (1) He enters Himself in our room. (2) Christ’ s performance and payment of the debt according to His undertaking, implies a covenant and transaction on which the application is founded. (3) Our Lord Jesus, in fulfilling the bargain, and satisfying justice, paid a dear price: He was wounded, bruised, suffered stripes and punishment. 5. What are the benefits that come by these sufferings? (1) The benefits are such that if He had not suffered for us, we should have suffered all that He suffered ourselves. (2) More particularly we have peace and pardon. Healing. 6. To whom hath Christ procured all these good things? (1) The elect; (2) who are guilty of heinous sins. 7. How are these benefits derived from Christ to the sinner? (1) Justly and in a legal way; (2) freely. (J. Durham.)Sin Verses 5 and 6 are remarkable for the numerous and diversified references to sin which they make. Within the short compass of two verses that sad fact is referred to no less than six times, and on each occasion a different figure is used to describe it. It is transgression--the crossing of a boundary and trespassing upon forbidden land. It is iniquity--the want of equity: the absence of just dealing. It is the opposite of Peace--the root of discord and enmity between us and God. It is a disease of the spirit--difficult to heal. It is a foolish and wilful wandering, like that of a stray sheep. And it is a heavy burden, which crushes him on whom it lies. So many and serious are the aspects of sin. (B. J. Gibbon.)The sufferings of Christ I. ATTEND TO THE OF THE SON OF GOD, as described in the text. The sufferings of the Saviour are described in the Scriptures with simplicity and grandeur combined. Nothing can add to the solemnity and force of the exhibition. 1. The prophet tells us that the Son of God was “ wounded.” The Hebrew word here translated “ wounded,” signifies to run through with a sword or some sharp weapon, and, as here used, seems to refer to those painful wounds which our Lord received at the time of His crucifixion. 2. The prophet tells us that the Son of God was “ bruised.” This expression seems to have a reference to the labours, afflictions, and sorrows which our blessed Lord sustained, especially in the last scenes of His life. 3. The prophet tells us that the Son of God bore chastisements and stripes. II. THE CAUSE OF THE OF THE SON OF GOD. “ Our transgressions.” “ Our iniquities.” III. ATTEND TO THE DESIGN AND HAPPY EFFECTS OF THE OF THE SON OF GOD. “ The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.” 1. One gracious design and blessed effect of the sufferings of the Son of God was to procure for us reconciliation with God. 2. The renovating of our nature. (D. Dickson, D.D.)Substitution There is no more remarkable language than this in the whole of the Word of God. It is so clear a statement of the doctrine of the substitution of the innocent for the guilty, that we do not hesitate to say, no words could teach it if it be not taught here. We are distinctly told-- I. THAT THERE BELONGS TO US A SAD AND WEIGHT OF SIN. There are three terms expressive of what belong to us: “ our transgressions,” “ our iniquities,” “ gone astray.” These three phrases have indeed a common feature; they all indicate what is wrong--even sin, though they represent the wrong in different aspects. 1. “ Transgressions.” The word thus translated indicates sin in one or other of three forms--either that of missing the mark through aimlessness, or carelessness, or a wrong aim; or of coming short, when, though the work may be right in its direction, it does not come up to the standard; or of crossing a boundary and going over to the wrong side of a line altogether. In all these forms our sins have violated the holy law of God. 2. “ Iniquities.” This word also has reference to moral law as the standard of duty. The Hebrew word is from a root which signifies “ to bend,” “ to twist,” and refers to the tortuous, crooked, winding ways of men when they conform to no standard at all save that suggested by their own fancies or conceits, and so walk “ according to the course of this world.” 3. The third phrase has reference rather to the God of Law, than to the law of God, and to Him in His relation to us of Lord, Leader, Shepherd, and Guide. There is not only the infringement of the great law of right, but also universal neglect and abandonment of Divine leadership and love; and as the result of this, grievous mischief is sure to follow. “ Like the sheep,” they find their way out easily enough; they go wandering over “ the dark mountains,” each one to “ his own way,” but of themselves they can never find the way home again. And so far does this wandering propensity increase in force, that men come to think there is no home for them; the loving concern of God for the wanderers is disbelieved, and the Supreme Being is regarded in the light of a terrible Judge eager to inflict retribution. And all this is a pressure on God. He misses the wanderers. And through the prophet, the Spirit of God would let men know that the wanderings of earth are the care of Heaven. Nor let us fail to note that in these verses there is an entirely different aspect of human nature and action from that presented in the verse preceding. There, the expressions were “ our griefs,” “ our sorrows.” Here, they are “ our transgressions,” etc. Griefs and sorrows are not in themselves violations of moral law, though they may be the results of them, and though every violation of moral law may lead to sorrow. Still they must not be confounded, though inseparably connected. Grief may solicit pity: wrong incurs penalty. And the sin is ours. The evil is wide as the race. Each one’ s sin is a personal one: “ Every one to his own way.” Sin is thus at once collective and individual. No one can charge the guilt of his own sin on any one else. On whom or on what will he cast the blame? On influences? But it was for him to resist and not to yield. On temptation? But temptation cannot force. In the judgment of God each one’ s sin is his own. II. THIS SERVANT OF GOD BEING LADEN WITH OUR SINS, SHARES OUR OF WOE. How remarkable is the antithesis here--Transgressions; iniquities; wanderings, are ours. Wounds; bruises; chastisements; stripes, are His. There is also a word indicating the connection between the two sides of the antithesis, “ wounded for our transgressions” --on account of them; but if this were all the explanation given, it might mean no more than that the Messiah would feel so grieved at them that they would bruise or wound Him. But there is a far fuller and clearer expression: “ The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” This expression fixes the sense in which the Messiah was wounded and bruised on our account. In pondering over this, let us work our way step by step. 1. The inflexibility of the moral law and the absolute righteousness and equity of the Lawgiver in dealing with sin are thoughts underlying the whole of this chapter. The most high God is indeed higher than law; and though He never violates law, He may, out of the exuberance of His own love, do more than law requires, and may even cease to make law the rule of His action. But even when that is the ease, and He acts χωρὶςνόμου … (“ apart from law,” Romans 3:21), while He manifests the infinite freedom of a God to do whatsoever he pleaseth, He will also show to the world that His law must be honoured in the penalties inflicted for its violation. This is indicated in the words, “ The Lord hath laid on Him,” etc. Nor ought any one for a moment to think of this as “ exaction.” Exactness is not exactingness; it would not be called so, nor would the expression be tolerated if applied to a judge who forbade the dishonouring of a national law, or to a father who would not suffer the rules of his house to be broken with impunity. 2. It is revealed to us that in the mission of this servant of Jehovah, the Most High would act on the principle of substitution. When a devout Hebrew read the words we are now expounding, the image of the scapegoat would at once present itself to him. 3. The Messiah was altogether spotless; He fulfilled the ideal typified by the precept that the sacrificial lamb was to be without blemish. Being the absolutely sinless One, He was fitted to stand in a relation to sin and sinners which no being who was tainted with sin could possibly have occupied. 4. The twofold nature of the Messiah--He being at once the Son of God and Son of man, qualified Him to stand in a double relation;--as the Son of God, to be Heaven’ s representative on earth--as the Son of man, to be earth’ s representative to Heaven. Thus, His offering of Himself was God’ s own sacrifice (John 3:16; 1 John 4:10; Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:19), and yet, in another sense, it was man’ s own sacrifice (2 Corinthians 5:14; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13). 5. By His incarnation, Christ came and stood in such alliance with our race, that what belonged to the race belonged to Him, as inserted into it, and representative of it. We need not use any such expression as this--“ Christ was punished for our sin.” That would be wrong. But sin was condemned in and through Christ, through His taking on Himself the liabilities of a world, as their one representative Man who would stand in their stead; and by the self-abandonment of an unparalleled love, would let the anguish of sin’ s burden fall on His devoted head. Paul, in his Epistle to Philemon pleads for Onesimus thus, “ If he hath wronged thee or oweth thee ought, put that to my account.” So the Son of God has accepted our liabilities. Only thus can we explain either the strong language of the prophecy, or the mysterious sorrow of Christ depicted in the Gospel history. On whatever grounds sin’ s punishment was necessary had there been no atonement, on precisely those grounds was an atonement necessary to free the sinner from deserved punishment. This gracious work was in accord with the appointment of the Father and with the will of the Son. 6. Though the law is honoured in this substitution of another for us, yet the substitution itself does not belong to law, but to love! Grace reigns; law is not trifled with; it is not infringed on: nay, it is “ established.” III. CHRIST HAVING OUR OF WOE, WE RECEIVE THROUGH HIM A OF PEACE. (C. Clemance, D. D.)Vicarious suffering In a large family of evil-doers, where the father and mother are drunkards, the sons jail-birds and the daughters steeped in shame, there may be one, a daughter, pure, sensible, sensitive, living in the home of sin like a lily among thorns. And she makes all the sin of the family her own. The others do not mind it; the shame of their sin is nothing to them; it is the talk of the town, but they do not care. Only in her heart their crimes and disgrace meet like a sheaf of spears, piercing and mangling. The one innocent member of the family bears the guilt of all the rest. Even their cruelty to herself she hides, as if all the shame of it were her own. Such a position did Christ hold in the human family. He entered it voluntarily, becoming bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh; He identified Himself with it; He was the sensitive centre of the whole. He gathered into His heart the shame and guilt of all the sin He saw. The perpetrators did not feel it, but He felt it. It crushed Him; it broke His heart. (J. Stalker, D.D.)With His stripes we are healedThe disease of sin I. IT IS A WASTING DISEASE; it bringeth the soul into a languishing condition, and wasteth the strength of it (Romans 5:6). Sin hath weakened the soul in all the faculties of it, which all may discern and observe in themselves. II. IT IS A PAINFUL DISEASE, it woundeth the spirit (Proverbs 18:14). Greatness of mind may support us under a wounded body, but when there is a breach made upon the conscience, what can relieve us then? But you will say, They that are most infected with sin feel little of this; how is it then so painful a disease? 1. If they feel it not, the greater is their danger; for stupid diseases are the worst, and usually most mortal. 2. The soul of a sinner never sits so easy but that he has his qualms and pangs of conscience, and that sometimes in the midst of jollity; as was the case of Belshazzar, while carousing in the cups of the temple. 3. Though they feel not the diseases now, they shall hereafter. III. IT IS A DISEASE. IV. IT IS AN DISEASE. Sin cometh into the world by propagation rather than imitation: yet imitation and example hath a great force upon the soul. V. IT IS A MORTAL DISEASE, if we continue in it without repentance. (T. Manton, D.D.)Recovery by Christ’ s stripes 1. None but Christ can cure us, for He is the Physician of souls. 2. Christ cureth us not by doctrine and example only, but by merit and suffering. We are healed by “ His stripes.” 3. Christ’ s merit and sufferings do effect our cure, as they purchased the Spirit for us, who reneweth and healeth our sick souls (Titus 3:5-6). (T. Manton, D.D.)Healed by Christ’ s stripes “ With His stripes we are healed.” We are healed--of our inattention and unconcern about Divine things. Of our ignorance and unbelief respecting these things. Of the disease of self-righteousness and self-confidence. Of our love to sin, and commission of it. Of our love to the riches, honours and pleasures of this world. Of our self-indulgence and self-seeking. Of our lukewarmness and sloth. Of our cowardice and fear of suffering (1 Peter 4:1). Of our diffidence and distrust, with respect to the mercy of God, and His pardoning and accepting the penitent. Of an accusing conscience, and slavish fear of God, and of death and hell. Of our general depravity and corruption of nature. Of our weakness and inability; His sufferings having purchased for us “ the Spirit of might.” Of our distresses and misery, both present and future. (J. Benson, D.D.)His stripes This chapter is not mainly an indictment. It is a Gospel. It declares in glad while solemn language that, terrible as sin is, it has been dealt with. The prophet dwells purposely upon the varied manifestations of the evil in order to emphasize the varied forms and absolute completeness of its conquest. He prolongs the agony that he may prolong the rapture. I. OUR NEED OF HEALING. There is no figure which more aptly represents the serious nature and terrible consequences of sin than this one of bodily sickness. We know how it prostrates us, takes the brightness out of life, and, unless attended to, cuts life short. Sickness in its acutest form is a type in the body of sin in the soul. Sin is a mortal disease of the spirit. A common Scriptural emblem for it, found in both Old and New Testaments, is leprosy--the most frightful disease imaginable, loathsome to the observer and intolerably painful to the sufferer, attacking successively and rotting every limb of the body, and issuing slowly but certainly in death. 1. It is complicated. It affects every part of the moral being. It is blindness to holiness, and deafness to the appeals of God. There is a malady known as ossification of the heart, by which the living and beating heart is slowly turned to a substance like bone. It is a type of the complaint of the sinner. His heart is hard and impenitent. He suffers, too, from the fever of unhallowed desire. The lethargy of spiritual indifference is one of his symptoms; a depraved appetite, by which he tries to feed his immortal soul on husks, is another; while his whole condition is one of extreme debility--absence of strength to do right. In another part of the book our prophetdiagnoses more thoroughly the disease of which he here speaks (Isaiah 1:5-6). No hospital contains a spectacle so sickening and saddening as the unregenerate human heart. 2. The disease is universal. “ There is none righteous; no, not one.” What the Bible declares, experience confirms. The ancient world, speaking through a noble literature that has come down to us, confesses many times the condition expressed by Ovid, “ I see and approve the better things, while I follow those which are worse.” Christendom finds its mouthpiece in the apostle Paul, who, speaking of himself apart from the help of Christ, mournfully says, “ When I would do good, evil is present with me.” And modem culture reveals its deepest consciousness in the words of Lowell, the ambassador-poet, “ In my own heart I find the worst man’ s mate.” It is a feature of the malady that the patient is often insensible to it. But from every lip there is at least occasional confession of some of its symptoms. There is discomfort in the conscience; there is dissatisfaction at the heart; and there is dread in the face of death and the unknown beyond. The Scriptures are the Rontgen rays of God, and their searching light reveals behind an uneasy conscience, behind a dissatisfied heart, behind the fear of death, behind all the sorrows and evils of life, that which is their rimary cause--the malady of sin. 3. This disease is incurable--that is, apart from the healing described in the text. “ The end of these things is death” --spiritual death; insensibility to God, and absence of the life of fellowship with Him which is life indeed--physical death, in so far as that natural process is more than mere bodilydissolution, and is a fearful and hopeless leap into the dark; for “ the sting of death is sin” --and eternal death. Men are great at quack remedies, and the world is equally flooded with nostrums for the disease of sin. And what is the result of these loudly-hawked specifics? They are as useless as the charms which our grandmothers used to scare away diseases. The Physician is He who gave His back to the smiters; the balm is the blood which flowed from “ His stripes.” II. OUR MEANS OF HEALING. “ With His stripes.” “ Stripes” does not mean the lashes that fell on His back, but the weals which they left. We remember how He “ suffered under Pontius Pilate” before He “ was crucified, dead and buried.” His back was bared, His hands were tied to a low post, and a coarse, muscular giant flourished a whip above Him. It was a diabolical instrument, that Roman whip--made of leather with many thongs, and in the end of each of them a piece of iron, or bone, or stone. Every stroke fetched blood and ripped open the quivering flesh. The Jewish law forbade more than forty stripes being given, but Christ was scourged by Romans, who recognized no such merciful limit. But as we know that Pilate intended the scourging to be a substitute for crucifixion, and hoped that its severity would so melt the Jews to pity that they would not press for the worse punishment--which end, however, was not reached--we may infer that He was scourged until He could bear no more, until He could not stand, until He fell mangled and fainting at His torturer’ s feet. Nearly two thousand years have passed since that awful affliction, but its significance is eternal. But how can the sufferings of one alleviate the sufferings of another? 1. Because the sight of them moves us to sorrow. There are certain maladies of the mind and heart for which there is hope if the emotions can be stirred and the patient made to laugh or cry. There is hope for the sinner when the thought of his sin melts his heart to sorrow and his eyes to tears. Sorrow for sin--repentance of wrong-doing--is the first stage in recovery. And there is nothing that will cause penitence like a sight of the Saviour’ s wounds. 2. The sight of them relieves our consciences. For as we look at those livid weals we know He did not deserve them. We know that we did merit punishment direr far. And we know that He endured them, and more mysterious agonies of which they were the outward sign, in our stead. Then, gradually, we draw the inference. If He suffered for us, we are free. If our load was laid on Him, it is no longer upon us. Conscience accepts that logic. 3. The sight of them prevents further outbreaks. This cure is radical. It not only heals, it also strengthens. It gradually raises the system above its tendency to sin. For the more we gaze upon those livid stripes, the more intolerable and hateful sin, which caused them, appears, and the more difficult it becomes for us to indulge in it. Our medicine is also a strong tonic, which invigorates the spiritual nature and fortifies its weaknesses. Stanley, in one of his books on African travel, tells of the crime of Uledi, his native coxswain, and what came of it. Ulodi was deservedly popular for his ability and courage, but having robbed his master, a jury of his fellows condemned him to receive “ a terrible flogging.” Then uprose his brother, Shumari, who said, “ Uledi has done very wrong; but no one can accuse me of wrong-doing. Now, mates, let me take half the whipping. I will cheerfully endure it for the sake of my brother.” Scarcely had he finished when another arose, and said, “ Uledi has been the father of the boat boys. He has many times risked his life to save others; and he is my cousin; and yet he ought to be punished. Shumari says he will take half the punishment; and now let me take the other half, and let Uledi go free.” Surely the heart of the guilty man must have been touched, and the willing submission by others to the punishment he had merited must have restrained him from further outbreaks as the strict infliction of the original penalty never could. By those stripes he would be healed. Even so, the stripes of our Lord deliver us from the very tendency to sin. For the disease to be healed the medicine must be taken. Our very words “ recipe” and “ receipt” remind, us of this. They are related, and signify “ to take.” The selfsame word describes the means of cure, and commands that it be used. Look upon His wounds! And let those of us who have looked for our cure, still look for our strengthening. We should not have so many touches of the old complaint if we thought oftener of the stripes by which we are healed. Look all through life, and you will grow stronger and holier. (B. J. Gibbon.)The universal remedy Not merely His bleeding wounds, but even those blue bruises of His flesh help to heal us. There are none quite free from spiritual diseases. One may be saying, “ Mine is a weak faith;” another may confess, “ Mine is distracted thoughts;” another may exclaim, “ Mine is coldness of love;” and a fourth may have to lament his powerlessness in prayer. One remedy in natural things will not suffice for all diseases; but there is a catholicon, a universal remedy, provided in the Word of God for all spiritual sicknesses, and that is contained in the few words--“ With His stripes we are healed.” I. THE ITSELF WHICH IS HERE --the stripes of Our Saviour. By the term “ stripes,” no doubt the prophet understood here, first, literally, those stripes which fell upon our Lord’ s shoulders when He was beaten of the Jews, and afterwards scourged of the Roman soldiery. But the words intend far more than this. No doubt with his prophetic eye Isaiah saw the stripes from that unseen scourge held in the Father’ s hand which fell upon his nobler inner nature when His soul was scourged for sin. It is by these that our souls are healed. “ But why?” First, then, because our Lord, as a sufferer, was not a private person, but suffered as a public individual and an appointed representative. Our Lord was not merely man, or else his sufferings could not have availed for the multitude who now are healed thereby. He was God as well as man. Our Saviour’ s sufferings heal us of the curse by being presented before God as a substitute for what we owe to His Divine law. But healing is a work that is carried on within, and the text rather leads me to speak of the effect of the stripes of Christ upon our characters and natures than upon the result produced in our position before God. II. THE CURES WROUGHT BY THIS . Look at two pictures. Look at man without the stricken Saviour; and then behold man with the Saviour, healed by His stripes. III. THE WHICH THIS REMOVES. 1. The mania of despair. 2. The stony heart. 3. The paralysis of doubt. 4. A stiffness of the knee-joint of prayer. 5. Numbness of soul. 6. The fever of pride. 7. The leprosy of selfishness. 8. Anger. 9. The fretting consumption of worldliness. 10. The cancer of covetousness. IV. THE OF THE . 1. It arrests spiritual disorder. 2. It quickens all the powers of the spiritual man to resist the disease. 3. It restores to the man that which he lost in strength by sin. 4. It soothes the agony of conviction. 5. It has an eradicating power as to sin. V. THE MODES OF THE WORKING OF THIS . The sinner hearing of the death of the incarnate God is led by the force of truth and the power of the Holy Spirit to believe in the incarnate God. The cure is already begun. After faith come gratitude, love, obedience. VI. ITS EASY . VII. Since the medicine is so efficacious, since it is already prepared and freely presented, I do beseech you TAKE IT. Take it, you who have known its power in years gone by. Let not backslidings continue, but come to His stripes afresh. Take it, ye doubters, lest ye sink into despair; come to His stripes anew. Take it, ye who are beginning to be self-confident and proud. And, O ye who have never believed in Him, come and trust in Him, and you shall live. (C.H. Spurgeon.)A simple remedy I. THESE ARE SAD WORDS. They are part of a mournful piece of music, which might be called “ the requiem of the Messiah.” 1. These are sad words because they imply disease. 2. There is a second sorrow in the verse, and that is sorrow for the suffering by which we are healed. There was a cruel process in the English navy, in which-men were made to run the gauntlet all along the ship, with sailors on each side, each man being bound to give a stroke to the poor victim as he ran along. Our Saviour’ s life was a running of the gauntlet between His enemies and His friends, who all struck Him, one here and another there. Satan, too, struck at him. II. THESE ARE GLAD WORDS. 1. Because they speak of healing. 2. There is another joy in the text--joy in the honour which it brings to Christ. III. THESE ARE WORDS. Whenever a man is healed through the stripes of Jesus, the instincts of his nature should make him say, “ I will spend the strength I have, as a healed man, for Him who healed me.” (C.H. Spurgeon.)Christopathy I. GOD HERE TREATS SIN AS A DISEASE. Sin is a disease-- 1. Because it is not an essential part of man as he was created. It is something abnormal. 2. Because it puts all the faculties out of gear. 3. Because it weakens the moral energy, just as many diseases weaken the sick person’ s body. 4. Because it either causes great pain, or deadens all sensibility, as the case may be. 5. Because it frequently produces a manifest pollution. 6. Because it tends to increase in the man, and will one day prove fatal to him. II. GOD HERE THE REMEDY WHICH HE HAS . 1. Behold the heavenly medicine. 2. Remember that the sufferings of Christ were vicarious. 2. Accept this atonement and you are saved by it. 4. Let nothing of your own interfere with the Divine remedy. Prayer does not heal, but it asks for the remedy. It is not trust that heals; that is man s application of the remedy. Repentance is not what cures, it is a part of the cure, one of the first tokens that the blessed medicine has begun to work in the soul. The healing of a sinner does not lie in himself, nor in what he is, nor in what he feels, nor in what he does, nor in what he vows, nor in what he promises. It is in His stripes that the healing lies. III. THE REMEDY IS . How are we healed? 1. Our conscience is healed of every smart. 2. Our heart is healed of its love of sin. 3. Our life is healed of its rebellion. 4. Our consciousness assures us that we are healed. If you are healed by His stripes you should go and live like healthy men. (C.H. Spurgeon.)Healed by Christ’ s stripes Mr. Mackay, of Hull, told of a person who was under very deep concern of soul. Taking the Bible into his hand, he said to himself, “ Eternal life is to be found somewhere in this Word of God; and, if it be here, I will find it, for I will read the Book right through, praying to God over every page of it, if perchance it may contain some saving message for me.” The earnest seeker read on through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and so on; and though Christ is there very evidently, he could not find Him in the types and symbols. Neither did the holy histories yield him comfort, nor the Book of Job. He passed through the Psalms, but did not find his Saviour there; and the same was the case with the other books till he reached Isaiah. In this prophet he read on till near the end, and then in the fifty-third chapter, these words arrested his delighted attention, “ With His stripes we are healed.” Now I have found it, says he. Here is the healing that I need for my sin-sick soul, and I see how it comes to me through the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be His name, I am healed!” (C.H. Spurgeon.)Self-sufficiency prevents healing I saw a pedlar one day, as I was walking out; he was selling walkingsticks. He followed me, and offered me one of the sticks. I showed him mine--a far better one than any he had to sell--and he withdrew at once. He could see that I was not likely to be a purchaser. I have often thought of that when I have been preaching: I show men the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, but they show me their own, and all hope of dealing with them is gone. Unless I can prove that their righteousness is worthless, they will not seek the righteousness which is of God by faith. Oh, that the Lord would show you your disease, and then you would desire the remedy! (C.H. Spurgeon.)Sin deadens sensibility It frequently happens that, the more sinful a man is, the less he is conscious of it. It was remarked of a certain notorious criminal that many thought him innocent because, when he was charged with murder, he did not betray the least emotion. In that wretched self-possession there was to my mind presumptive proof of his great familiarity with trims; if an innocent person is charged with a great offence, the mere charge horrifies him. (C.H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray Astray from the fold I. The first part of my text is AN . “ All we like sheep have gone astray.” Says some one, “ Can’ t you drop the first word?” And some one rises and looks off and says, “ There is a man who is a blasphemer, he is astray. Yonder is a man who is impure, he is astray. Yonder is a man who is fraudulent, he is astray.” Look at home, for the first word of the text takes you and me as well as the rest. 1. I have studied the habits of sheep, and I know they lose their way sometimes by trying to get other pasture. There are many of you who have been looking for better pasture. You have wandered on and on. You tried business successes, you tried worldly associations, you tried the club-house. You said that the Church was a short commons, and you wanted to find the rank grass on the bank of distant streams, and to lie down under great oaks on the other side of the hills. Have you found the anticipated pasture that was to be so superior? 2. I have noticed also that the sheep get astray by being frightened with dogs. Oh, man, that is the way you got astray. You said, “ Where is God, that He allows an honest man to go down, and thieves to prosper?” You were dogged by creditors; and some of you went into misanthropy, and some of you took to strong drink, and some of you fled from all Christian associations; and in that way the sheep got astray. II. But the last part of my text OPENS A DOOR WIDE ENOUGH TO LET US ALL OUT, and wide enough to let all heaven in. “ The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Says some one, “ That is not generous. Let every one bear his own burden.” And there is something in that. If I owe a debt, and I have money to pay it, and I come to you and ask you, to cancel my obligations, you will be right in saying to me, “ Pay your own debts.” If I am walking along the street with you, and we are both hale and hearty, and I want you to carry me, you are right in saying, “ Walk on your own feet.” But suppose you and I were in a regiment together, and I was fearfully wounded in the battle, and I fell unconscious at your feet with gunshot fractures and dislocations, five bullets having struck me at once--you would say to your comrades, “ Here, this man is helpless. Let us carry him to the ambulance; let us take him out to the hospital. Would It have been mean to let you carry me then. You certainly would not have been so unkind as not to carry me. Now, that is Christ to the soul If we could pay our spiritual obligations we might go up to God and say, “ Lord, there is so much debt, and here I have the menus with which to cancel it. Now cross it all out.” But the fact is we are pierced through and through with the sabres of sin. We have gone down under the hot fire, and we are helpless and undone. We will die on the field unless some help comes to us. God sends His ambulance, yea, He dispatches His only Son to carry us out, and bind up our gashes, and take us home. Is there any man who is under the delusion that he can carry his own sins? You cannot. You might as well try to transport a boulder of the sea, or carry on one shoulder the Alleghanies, and on the other shoulder Mount Washington. Then let us shift the burden. (T. de W. Talmage, D.D.)Salvation for the straying sheep I. LOOK AT THE SHEEP THAT HAVE GONE ASTRAY. The text implies they were once in the fold. You cannot go astray except you have been in the right place first. II. EACH SHEEP WALKS ITS OWN PATH. There is almost an infinite variety in sinning. Some go along a path of licentiousness; others the money-making road; others the gamester’ s path; others take the Christless morality road. III. WHAT IS GOD’ S WAY OF ? “ The Lord laid on Him,” etc. Who is that “ Him” ? The One described in the previous verses. Let Christ be the object of your trust, and you shall be saved. (A. G. Brown.)Our misery and its remedy I. OUR MISERY BY SIN. 1. Our sin is charged upon us collectively in common: we have all gone astray. 2. Distributively. “ Every one to his own way.” We all agree in turning aside from the right way of pleasing and enjoying of God; and we disagree, as each one hath a by-path of his own, some running after this lust, some after that, and so are not only divided from God, but divided from one another, while every one maketh his will his law. II. OUR REMEDY BY CHRIST. “ The Lord hath laid,” etc. (T. Manton, D.D.)Departing from God This departing from God and His ways is fitly represented by the straying of sheep. In the general it implieth-- 1. That we are brutish in our sin and defection from God: it could not be expressed but by a comparison fetched from the beasts. 2. Proneness to err. No creature is more prone to wander and lose his way than a sheep without a shepherd. 3. Our inability to return, or to bring ourselves into the right way again. 4. Our readiness to follow evil example. Sheep run one after another, and one straggler draweth away the whole flock. Austin saith, “ I could wander by myself, and could not return by myself.” And God saith as much Hosea 13:9). 5. The danger of straying sheep, which when out of the pasture are often in harm’ s way, and exposed to a thousand dangers (Jeremiah 50:6-7). (T. Manton, D.D.)We have turned every one to his own wayEvery man to his own way Though there be one path to heaven, yet there are several ways of sinning and going to hell. The reasons how this cometh to pass are-- 1. Because of the activeness of man’ s spirit. It is always a-devising wickedness. 2. It happeneth through diversity of constitution. 3. It happeneth from their business and occasions in the world. Many men are engaged to ways of sin because they suit best with their employments, the sin of their calling, as vainglory in a minister. 4. Custom and education. 5. Company example. (T. Manton, D.D.)His own way This is the sin of men in their natural condition, that they turn to their own way. The phrase implieth these two things-- 1. A defect or want of Divine guidance. 2. A rejection of the ways of God when made known to us. (T. Manton, D.D.)Caiaphas: Cephas: Jesus The forms of human sinfulness are as numerous and varied as are men’ s natural inclinations: but near the cross may be found a representative of every one of these. Three figures will demand our attention--Caiaphas, the high priest, with his surroundings; and then, amidst the obscurity of the twilight scene, and the crowd of spectators, we must single out the figure of Simon, then at the moment of his deepest shame. And then, turning our eyes away from these subordinates, we must fix them lastly on Jesus of Nazareth Himself. I. is the president of the High Ecclesiastical Court then assembled, and no judge ever could produce higher credentials than he. The Gospels all acknowledge him, without the slightest apparent doubt, as the legitimate successor of Aaron. He is descendant of a priestly dynasty some 1,500 years old, whose origin was confessedly Divine. Besides, the highest power of all had owned his legitimate position, by giving to him the spirit of unconscious prophecy. Now the priesthood of Aaron, which he bore, had never been a bloodthirsty one. There are, I think, only two examples of that priesthood shedding blood. One of these was the stroke of the spear of Phinehas--an act of wild justice, suited to the times, which received praise and blessing from above; and the other, the just punishment by Jehoiada of Athaliah, who had murdered all the royal family but one. Whatever other faults they may have had, the priests, the sons of Aaron, had never erred before on the side of intolerance and cruelty. And Caiaphas himself was no fanatic. Like all the family to which he belonged, he was a Sadducee. He had the views of a politician rather than of an ecclesiatic; and, having coolly judged, several weeks before, that the proceedings of Jesus of Nazareth were politically dangerous, he had determined that it would be well to put Him out of the way. But, in the council that surrounded him, there were many, and perhaps a majority, of strong religious belief and feelings. So, for their sakes, he affected a horror which he could hardly have felt himself. The high priest asked Him, “ Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “ I am; and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest rent his clothes--the original word in St. Mark seems to imply that one of these was the seamless tunic of the high priest--in sign of a horror, which can hardly have been otherwise than hypocritical in a cool man of the world like him, and said, “ What need we any further witnesses. Ye have heard the blasphemy. What think ye?” And then the question being thus put, they all--the whole council, all the scribes, all the elders, all the chief priests, the whole representative body of the universal Church of God--condemned Him to be guilty of death. What a lesson for us arises out of this fact, that our Lord’ s death was wholly a sin of the religious world under the guidance of their Divinely-appointed leaders. And in that religious world we may distinguish all the chief tendencies both of that time and of all times--the Sadducees and the Pharisees, the liberal and the orthodox, the men with the minimum of belief in the supernatural, and those with the maximum of that belief, the traditionists and the anti-traditionists--in fact, the High Church, and the Broad Church, and the Low. The lesson is for our times. In those days authority and tradition utterly failed those who relied upon them, while the light within the heart lighted those who possessed it to the cross and to the glory of the Lord of Truth. II. Let us turn our eyes away now from Caiaphas and the splendid array around him to the lower end of the courtyard near the door, where the lower classes are collected. All these are within sight of the proceedings at the upper end of the hall, which no doubt is well lighted. Perhaps they are also near enough to hear. Amongst them is one whose speech betrays him to be a Galilean. We know his name (though those around him do not) to be SIMON, SON OF JONAS, who has also the surname Cephas. He is thrice recognized as a follower of the accused, and thrice denies the charge. Then the cock crows at early morning, and the Master turns on him with a glance which he feels to single him out, even in the darkness and the crowd; and he goes out at the door, weeping bitterly. This strange character, so made up of contradictions as to have been pronounced by that Being who knew him best, at one moment a “ rock,” and at the next a Satan, full of boldness and full of cowardice, the first to confess and the first to deny; this picture of the weakness of all human strength, of the frailty of all earthly goodness, is now at the very depths of his weakness and shame. He stands there a sinner who has just committed a sin--a very mean and cowardly sin. Yet there is an eye upon him, searching for him, busied with him. We who have betrayed Him and denied Him, the Lord hath turned and looked on. He is seeking, let Him find. III. We see JESUS in the midst of all this crowd of representative sinners, amongst whom a little honest search will soon enable each of us to detect himself. Betrayed by covetous Judas, forsaken by unwatchful, unprayerful, and therefore easily tempted disciples, denied by self-confident, self-willed Simon, condemned by worldly-minded, unscrupulous Caiaphas, condemned again by timid time-serving Pilate, persecuted to the death by sanctimonious, theologically-hating Scribes and Pharisees, shouted at by a rude, ignorant multitude, tortured in cruel sport by barbarous soldiers--what species of human sin is absent there? Let us consider the exceeding beauty of the figure presented to us, and also how that figure is produced. Compare for one moment any character in a work of fiction. These, too, are beautiful, but how is their beauty produced? By word-painting of the most exquisite kind. But in the narratives of the Gospels there is no word-painting at all, except perhaps a little in St. John. It is not the narratives that are sublime, but the Being who becomes known to us through their simple inartificial language. And now the end of this should be, that every one of us should bring the matter as closely as possible home. It was all done for me; it was I that created the necessity. Let Him, in each of us, see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied. (W.E.Rawstorne, M.A.)The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us allSin laid on Jesus 1. The verse opens with a confession of sin common to all the persons intended in the verse. 2. The confession is also special and particular. 3. This confession is very unreserved. There is not a single syllable by way of excuse; there is not a word to detract from the force of the confession. 4. It is, moreover, singularly thoughtful, for thoughtless persons do not use a metaphor so appropriate as the text: “ All we like sheep have gone astray.” I hear no dolorous wailings attending this confession of sin; for the next sentence makes it almost a song. “ The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” It is the most grievous sentence of the three; but it is the most charming and the most full of comfort. Strange is it that where misery was concentrated mercy reigned, and where sorrow reached her climax there it is that a weary soul finds sweetest rest. The Saviour bruised is the healing of bruised hearts. I. . 1. It may be well to give the marginal translation of the text, “ Jehovah hath made to meet on Him the iniquity of us all.” The first thought that demands notice is the meeting of sin. Sin I may compare to the rays of some evil sun. Sin was scattered throughout this world as abundantly as light, and Christ is made to suffer the full effect of the baleful rays which stream from the sun of sin. God as it were holds up a burning-glass, and concentrates all the scattered rays in a focus upon Christ. Take the text in our own version, “ The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all;” put upon Him as a burden is laid upon a man’ s back all the burdens of all His people; put upon His head as the high priest of old laid upon the scapegoat all the sin of the beloved ones that he might bear them in his own person. The two translations are perfectly consistent; all sins are made to meet, and then having met together and been tied up in one crushing load the whole burden is laid upon Him. 2. The second thought is that sin was made to meet upon the suffering person of the innocent Substitute. 3. It has been asked, Was it just that sin should thus be laid upon Christ? We believe it was rightly so. (1) Because it was the act of Him who must do right. “ The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (2) Remember, moreover, that Jesus Christ voluntarily took this sin upon Himself. (3) There was a relationship between our Lord and His people, which is too often forgotten, but which rendered it natural that He should bear the sin of His people. Why does the text speak of our sinning like sheep? I think it is because it would call to our recollection that Christ is our Shepherd. It is not that Christ took upon Himself the sins of strangers. Them always was a union of a most mysterious and intimate kind between those who sinned and the Christ who suffered. (4) This plan of salvation is precisely similar to the method of our ruin. The fall which made me a sinner was wholly accomplished long before I was born by the first Adam, and the salvation by which I am delivered was finished long before I saw the light by the second Adam on my behalf. 4. Lying upon Christ brought, upon Him all the consequences connected with it. God cannot look where there is sin with any pleasure, and though as far as Jesus is personally concerned, He is the Father’ s beloved Son in whom He is well pleased; yet when He saw sin laid upon His Son, He made that Son cry, “ My God! My God! why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ 5. Think of the result of all this. Sin meets on Christ and Christ is punished with sin, and what then? Sin is put away. 6. The “ us” here intended. II. . There is a countless company whose sins the Lord Jesus bore; did He bear yours? Do you wish to have an answer? Let me read this verse to you and see if you can join in it. If there be in you a penitential confession which leads you to acknowledge that you have erred and strayed like a lost sheep; if there be in you a personal sense of sin which makes you feel that you have turned to your own way, and if now you can trust in Jesus, then a second question is not wanted; the Lord hath laid on Him your iniquity. III. . I will give you four things to think of. 1. The astounding mass of sin that must have been laid on Christ. 2. The amazing love of Jesus which brought Him to do all this. 3. The matchless security which this plan of salvation offers. 4. What, then, are she claims of Jesus Christ upon you and me? (C. H.Spurgeon.)Going astray as sheep 1. The sheep is a creature exceedingly quick-witted upon the one matter of going astray. 2. The sheep goes astray, it is said, all the more frequently when it is most dangerous for it to do so; propensities to stray seem to be developed in the very proportion in which they ought to be subdued. Whereas in our own land a sheep? might wander with some safety, it wanders less than it will do in the Oriental plains, where for it to go astray is to run risks from leopards and wolves. 3. The sheep goes astray ungratefully. It owes everything to the shepherd, and yet forsakes the hand that feeds it and heals its diseases. 4. The sheep goes astray repeatedly. If restored to-day it may not stray to-day if it cannot, but it will to-morrow if it can. 5. The sheep wanders further and further, from bad to worse. It is not content with the distance it has reached, it will go yet greater lengths; there is To limit to its wandering except its weakness. See ye not your own selves as in a mirror! (C. H. Spurgeon.)Sin meeting on Jesus I. THE MEETING-PLACE OF SIN IS THE CROSS OF CHRIST. In the margin these words are rendered, “ The Lord hath made to meet on Him the iniquity of us all.” The Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Persian, and Egyptian tongues were spoken about that cross. The inscription was in different languages that all might read. This is the representation of the world now looking upon the Crucified. His embrace encircled the race of man. 1. The cross was the focus of sins. 2. The burdens of sin here meet. 3. Here the responsibilities of the sinner are assumed by one competent to discharge them. 4. The sufferings of the sinner are gathered in the agonies of the cross. II. THE MEETING-PLACE OF SIN IS THE MERCY-SEAT OF SINNERS. Conclusion: 1. The imperative claim Christ has upon the soul. 2. If you will not consent that your iniquities shall meet on Christ, bear them you must yourself. (S. H. Tyng, D.D.)The nature and power of the atonement 1. It has been suggested that there was injustice in the sacrifice of One who had never sinned in the place of sinners, and that it involved the idea that God liked suffering for its own sake. This statement is one-sided: it forgets mercy, it shuts its eyes to the truth that the power of any sacrifice is in its voluntary and representative character. Facts must be respected, and what is the fact which is before us all? Pain and sorrow! 2. The vicarious sacrifice of Calvary is the work of the Three Persons of the Trinity. Men speak as if the Son devised the plan of His own death to save man from the Father’ s wrath. It was the work of the whole Three Persons in the Godhead. If the justice of the Divine life demanded the atonement, the mercy of the Divine love devised the means of pardon and the sacrifice on Calvary. 3. There is yet another thought which illuminates the gloom. We know the power of sin which, like some mysterious shape, some wild and wandering shadow in a forest, stands or flits about the portals of the opening life of man. Nature brings us within its reach, our own will places us in its iron grasp, it paralyzes the spiritual power, it chills our desires for better things; we cannot rise up as once we could when we are lying under the weight of unforgiven sin. This sense of the awfulness of sin illuminates the power of the atonement, for the sacrifice of the Son of God must at least be commensurate in its awfulness with what we know of human sin. 4. If the awfulness of sin and the majesty of God bring home the sense of what vicarious sacrifice is, and we are able in its power to raise our hearts to God and to feel renewed life and holier aspirations, how about the past? Florence rose and wept over the grave of Dante, but Florence could not then undo the edict which banished the man, and Dante’ s ashes rest beside the pinewoods and the Adrian Sea, and Florence is undone. And for each of you there was a day when you told your first lie, a day when you acted your first pretence, a day when you did your first act of dishonesty, when you first degraded yourself with some burning vice and destroyed the innocency which God had given you. In your better moments you look back to such a day, and you feel as if you were standing by an open grave, as you remember the hard words, the unkind looks, the want of sympathy, to him or her who lies beneath. The past is gone beyond recall. How will you meet it? With scorn? Will you turn away and drown its memories in pleasure? You cannot. You have a spirit born for eternity. But there is one other way. Christ on the Cross bore man’ s sin in all its intensity, gave Himself as a sacrifice, and purchased for the race complete forgiveness. No sorrow is so deep but He can assuage it, no memory so black but He can cleanse it. (W. J. Knox-Little, M.A.)The universal burden and its bearer It is of prime importance to mark that the only office which the prophet describes the Servant as filling is the function of suffering. He is neither Teacher nor Conqueror nor Lawgiver nor, here, King; he is only a Sufferer. That is what the Saviour of the world has to be, first of all. The rabbis have a legend, far wiser than most of their follies, which tells how Messias is to be found sitting amongst the lepers at the gate of the city. The fable has in it the deep truth that He who saves the world must suffer with, and for, the world He saves. I. THE BURDEN. Of course the speakers in my text are primarily the penitent Jewish nation, who at last have learned how much at first they had misunderstood the Servant of the Lord. But the “ we” and the “ all” may very fairly be widened out so as to include the whole world, and every individual of the race, and iniquity is the universal burden of us all. I believe that almost all of the mistaken and unworthy conceptions of Christianity which have afflicted and do afflict the world are directly traceable to this--the failure to apprehend the radical fact affecting men’ s condition that they are all sinful, and therefore separated from God. The evil that we do, going forth from us as deed, comes back upon us as guilt. And so, we are all staggering under this burden. The creatures that live at the bottom of the doleful sea, fathoms deeper than plummet has ever sounded, have to bear a pressure upon their frames all inconceivable by the men that walk upon the surface of the earth. And the deeper a man goes in the dark ocean of wrongdoing and wrongbeing, the heavier the weight of the compressed atmosphere above him, crushing him in. And, yet, like those creatures that crawl on the slime, miles down in the dreary sea, where no light has come, they know not the weight that rests upon them, and never have dreamed of how blessed it is to walk in the lighter air with the sun shining above them. There are some of you, grovelling down at the bottom of the ocean, to whom the liberty and illumination, the lightness and ligntsomeness of the pure life which is possible, would seem miraculous. If these things be at all true, then it seems to me that the fact of universal sinfulness, with all its necessary, natural, and inevitable consequences, must be the all-important fact about a man. What we think about sin will settle all our religious ideas. II. LOOK AT THE ONE BEARER OF THE BURDEN. “ The Lord has made to light upon Him the iniquity ,of us all.” III. MARK THE MEN THAT ARE FREED FROM THE BURDEN. “ Us all. And yet it is possible for a man included in the “ all” to have to stagger along through life under his burden, and to carry it with him when he goes hence. “ Be not deceived, God is not mocked,” says the foremost preacher of the doctrine that Christ’ s death takes away sin. “ Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Every man shall bear his own burden.” So your sins, taken away as they are by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, may yet cling to you and crush you. There is only one way by which the possibilities open to all men by the death of Jesus Christ may become the actual experience of every man, or of any man--and that is, the simple laying your burden, by your own act of quiet trust, upon the shoulders of Him that is mighty to save. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)God’ s fofgiving love in Christ Rev. G. Barber, assistant to Dr. Dale of Birmingham says: I remember going to him on one occasion in great distress; I wanted to preach on “ Christ died for our sins,’ and I thought that if I could only show how, through the death of Christ, it was made possible for God to forgive sin, many whom I knew might be led to believe. He replied: Give up troubling, my friend, about how it was possible for God to forgive sin, and go straight and tell the people that God does forgive sin, and tell them straight that Christ died for their sins. It is the fact the people want most to know, and not your theory, nor mine, as to how it was or is possible.” (Life of R. W. Dale.)Peace in the true knowledge of Jesus I was sent for to see a lady--a stranger--who was dying in Brighton. I found her to be a person of means and education, but quite ignorant of the salient facts of the Christian faith. To her, Jesus was simply a great moral teacher, standing in line with other religious masters. Of Christianity, as the religion of redemption, she had no knowledge. Her life story had been a sad one, stained deeply by both sorrow and sin. “ Oh,” she sighed, “ that it were possible for some great, strong friend to take my conscience as though it were his own, that I might have a little peace!” I learned more from that sentence concerning the mystery of redemption than up to that moment I had ever thought of. Here was a soul who knew and stated the need of just such a salvation as we are bidden to proclaim. She asked, without knowing that there was any answer, for the Saviour who was made sin for us, who could take man’ s conscience as though it were His own and leave in its place His peace. The sense of guilt had awakened with power in this poor dying woman. To have told her that the Most High could forgive her sins would have carried no comfort to her heart. The only possible relief for her was to hear of Him on whom the Lord hath laid the iniquity of us all (R. J. Campbell, M.A.) Isaiah 53:7-8 He was oppressed Christ’ s sufferings and His deportment under them I. THE NATURE OF THE . “ He was oppressed, and He was afflicted.” II. THE OF CHRIST UNDER THEM. “ He opened not His mouth,” which is amplified and illustrated by two similitudes, of a lamb going, to the slaughter, and a sheep before her shearers. 1. “ He opened not His mouth.” This shows two things. (1) The great patience of Christ. (2) His great love to man, shown in His wonderful silence, even when He might justly have spoken in His own defence, but would not seem to interrupt the design of God. 2. The particular resemblance. (1) “ He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter.” It is an emblem of innocence, meekness, and patience. It may import weakness and slenderness of appearance in the world. Christ is nothing in show, though mighty in power. It noteth the meekness and sweetness of Christ, willingly yielding to be a sacrifice for us. (2) “ As a sheep before her shearers is dumb.” Christ did not open His mouth, unless to pray, instruct, and reprove. (T. Manton, D.D.)Christ’ s patience in suffering Christ upon the Cross is as a doctor in his chair, where He readeth unto us all a lecture of patience. (J. Trapp.)The monarch surrenders Himself In Isaiah 53:7-8 there are five specific predictions:-- (1) That the Messiah would be subject to oppression. (2) That amidst the oppression He would maintain silence. (3) That from the midst of oppression and judicial procedure He would be hurried off. (4) That beneath all the outer incidents in which men had a hand, there would be another work going on of which the men of His generation would never dream. (5) That this work, unthought of by His generation, was, that He was being “ stricken for them.” How each of these predictions was fulfilled in the event we know. It will be simplest for us, as we stand this side of the history, to note the several points as history. 1. The oppression to which Christ was subjected was of no ordinary kind. The first three Gospels indicate to some extent the spirit of hostility which animated the people, though in the fourth Gospel the advancing stages of that hostility are most clearly marked. At the last we find Jesus hurried off to trial. There were two trials: first, the Jewish, and then the Roman one. In the first, so far was the mind of the accusers set against Christ, that neither the fairness nor even the form of proper judicial procedure was observed. In the facts of (1) the trial being begun, continued, and finished, apparently, in the course of one night, (2) witnesses against the accused being sought for by the judges, (3) the evidence of one witness not being sustained by another, (4) questions being put to the accused which Hebrew law did not sanction, (5) a demand being made for confession, which Jewish doctors expressly forbade, and (6) all being followed by a sentence pronounced twenty-four hours too soon--in all these six main features the Jewish “ trial” was an outrage on Hebrew law. Nor was the second trial a whit more in accordance with the rules of Roman procedure. In the first trial the point of law was, the claim of Jesus to be the Son of God; and, without any proof, that was pronounced invalid, and therefore blasphemous. In the Roman accusation the question concerned the claim of Christ to be a king; and the point on which the whole matter turned was this, “ Did Christ’ s Kingdom clash with Caesar’ s rights?” And though the Lord Jesus had expressed Himself with a clearness on this point which ought to have made mistake impossible, yet men came with lies on their lips to charge Him with plotting against the Roman Government. Pilate, the governor, who shows by turns indecision, complaisance, bluster and subserviency, evasion, protest, compromise, superstitious dread, conscientious reluctance, cautious duplicity and sheer moral cowardice--is overcome at last, and decides against his knowledge to please the people, perhaps (as men on the incline of scepticism must sooner or later be) “ stricken with inward paralysis from want of a motive and a hope.” It would not be easy to say in which of the two trials the injustice was the more glaring; there was a more striking violation of form in the Hebrew trial; but, perhaps, a grosser violation of conscience in the president at the Roman one. 2. Amid this oppression there was no defence of Himself. Once He called attention to His rights as a Hebrew; once and again He reaffirmed His claims when challenged on oath. But “ when He was reviled, He reviled not again.” Why this silence? He knew His hour was come, and He yielded Himself to the stroke. He knew that His words would not tell rightly on His accusers in the state of mind which they cherished. With the far-distant future before Him, He saw that the sequel would vindicate His honour, and He could wait. He loved, too, to show patience rather than to display power; and He would show us the Divine grandeur of keeping power in reserve. 3. Underlying all this there was a Divine purpose being wrought out, of which the men of that generation had no conception. Man meant one thing, God was intending another. 4. This great work, of which the men of that generation never dreamt, was that the Messiah was cut off, “ a stroke for them,” for the people who sought His life and crucified Him. Let us, then, (1) Give the full and loving consent of our hearts to this Divine arrangement. (2) Learn to see sin in the light in which God views it. (3) Live a life of faith on Jesus Christ as being ever in His own glorious person our atoning sacrifice. (4) Be perpetually thankful and devoted to Him who consented to lay down His life for us. (5) Imitate our Saviour. In its relation to the government of God, the sacrifice of Christ must ever stand absolutely alone. But in that aspect of it which represented fidelity to the truth, and devotion to man, we can imitate it, even though at a far remove. It is precisely in connection with this view of it that Peter tells us, He “ left us an example that we should follow His steps.” But how can we follow such steps? By patience under wrong. By being willing to renounce our own ease and comfort, if thereby we may advance the welfare of others. By taking the sorrows of others on ourselves, not only by suffering for them, but by suffering with them. Suffering for others is the divinest form of life in a sinful world. By bearing others on our hearts in prayer, even though they may be our bitterest foes. (C. Clemance, D.D.)Yet He opened not His mouthThe silence of Christ (with Matthew 26:63; Matthew 27:14):--What can be said of the silence of Christ? Much has been said of the words He spake, and too much can never be said of them, for He spake as never man spake. Much has been said of the sacrifice He made. Much has been said of His miracles, etc., but how little of His silence, and yet how full of meaning to every thoughtful and inquiring-mind. I. IT WAS . Wonderful that Christ should remain silent, especially under false accusations--false witnesses giving testimony against Him, and a wicked judge about to deliver the charge. He who could with one word have made the world tremble, witnesses, judge and jury fall dead before Him, testifying to His innocence as well as His Divinity by their lifeless bodies. The silent years of Christ--how wonderful! He who knew so well how to speak and what to say. But, we can understand something of this--it was a time of restraint, of growth, of preparation. But the preparation is over and Christ Jesus has asserted Himself. He has declared Himself by His life and by miracles to be the Son of God. He is falsely and basely accused, declared an impostor, sentenced and condemned to die, scourged mocked spit upon, arrayed in a gorgeous robe and finally crucified, but silent amid it all. Do you ask why? The wonder is only increased. It was for our sake. II. HIS SILENCE WAS FULL OF , suffering that was vicarious and expiatory. We are not to attribute the justification of sinners to the death of Christ alone. It was the sinless purity of perfect obedience of His whole life. III. IT WAS OMINOUS; that is full of foreboding, portentous, inauspicious, foreshowing ills. It told of the utter degradation of the men before whom He stood. He had already said and done everything that was necessary to establish His claims to the Messiahship. His silence said, what more can I do unto My vineyard than I have already done unto it, and having done all He could do, He answered now to never a word. It is an appalling sign when Christ ceases to plead with any of us. It shows that we have seared our hearts--that we are bent on ruin. IV. CHRIST’ S SILENCE WAS , and therefore full of instruction as well as the words He spake. I refer now to the general silence of Christ. If His words were inspired must not His silence have been also? It is absolutely inconceivable that He who is Himself the Truth could have connived at heresy in any of the great doctrines He taught, or desired that should be taught even through silence. 1. Take the great doctrine of our Lord’ s Deity, and was it not the very question under dispute and for which He had been accused “ of making Himself equal with God” ? Now this fundamental doctrine is established by a vast and varied mass of evidence, but no stronger proof of it is anywhere to be found, as it seems to me, than that to be drawn from the silence of Christ. We know how Peter checked the homage of Cornelius, and how the angel shrank in alarm from the worship which John offered him. But Christ never acted so; He held His peace; He spake not a word. He never so much as hinted that this devotion should not be paid Him, and when His enemies accused Him of making Himself equal with God, He did not repel the charge with horror. Meek and lowly as He was He accepted all the worship that men offered Him; He welcomed it, and by His silent approval seemed to claim it. 2. Apply it to the authenticity of the Old Testament Scriptures, and what an argument we find! He held His peace in regard to all these criticisms that are being made. He condemned the unscriptural traditions of the Jews, but He at no time questioned the purity or integrity of the Old Testament Canon. 3. Apply His silence to the perpetuity of the Sabbath law and with what force it speaks. There are those amongst us who maintain that the Sabbath was only an institution for the Jews, and that its observance is not binding now under the Christian dispensation, but Christ nowhere says so. He often spoke in reference to Sabbath observance. He found the Sabbath a standing ordinance of God, and He left it such, only freshened by the dew of His blessing. V. CHRIST’ S SILENCE WAS , especially during His dread trial. It is difficult to speak aright amid enemies and detractors, but it is even more difficult to be silent right before them. The lip is ever ready to curl unbidden, the light of malice hurries to the eye, in a moment the crimson of anger mounts to the cheek before we are aware, but not so with Christ. VI. CHRIST’ S SILENCE IS TO US ALL. Self-imposed silence often becomes a duty. There are calumnies good men cannot refute. There are accusations which they must leave unanswered. 1. Because of the perils of speech. In self-justification we are liable to self-glorification, to irritability, to extravagance. 2. Because of the blessings of the discipline of silence. If we spend our time in self-vindication, then farewell labour for Christ, for we will have no time for anything else. (J. I. Blackburn.)Silent suffering Is it not always true with those that are called to suffer that they suffer most at times when one hears no sound from their lips? It is considered a relief to cry out in the midst of pain. So long as one can plead his case the excitement of pleading enables him to forget the painfulness of his position. When the tongue is silent then it is that the brain is busy. What must have been the thoughts of Christ when He held His peace? Must they not have been of the most painful nature? The silence of Christ was full of the most awful suffering and that suffering was expiatory and vicarious. Because He was wounded, we are healed; and because He kept silent before this earthly tribunal, we shall hereafter speak. (J. I. Blackburn.)Christ’ s speechlessness Why this speechlessness? In part it was due to the Saviour’ s clear apprehension of the futility of arguing with those who were bent on crucifying Him. It was also due to the quiet rest of His soul on God, as He committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously, and anticipated the hour when the Father would arise to give Him a complete vindication. But it was due also to His consciousness of carrying in His breast a golden secret, another explanation of His sufferings than men were aware of, a Divine solution of the mystery of human guilt. (F. B. Meyer, B.A.)He is brought as a lamb to the slaughterThe sufferings of Christ St. Peter makes it almost a description of a Christian, that he loves Him whom he has not seen. Unless we have a true love of Christ, we are not His true disciples; and we cannot love Him unless we have heartfelt gratitude to Him; and we cannot duly feel gratitude, unless we feel keenly what He suffered for us. No one who will but solemnly think over the history of those sufferings, as drawn out for us in the Gospels, but will gradually gain, through God’ s grace, a sense of them. 1. As to these sufferings, our Lord is called a lamb in the text; He was as defenceless, and as innocent as a lamb is. Since then Scripture compares Him to this inoffensive and unprotected animal, we may, without presumption or irreverence, take the image as a means of conveying to our minds those feelings which our Lord s sufferings should excite within us. Consider how very horrible it is to read the accounts which sometimes meet us of cruelties exercised on brute animals. What is it moves our very hearts, and sickens us so much at cruelty shown to poor brutes? First, that they have done no harm; next, that they have no power whatever of resistance; it is the cowardice and tyranny of which they are the victims which makes their sufferings so especially touching. He who is higher than the angels, deigned to humble Himself even to the state of the brute creation. 2. Take another example, and you will see the same thing still more strikingly. How overpowered should we be, nay not at the sight only, but at the very hearing of cruelties shown to a little child, and why so? for the same two reasons, because it was so innocent, and because it was so unable to defend itself. You feel the horror of this, and yet you can bear to read of Christ’ s sufferings without horror. Our Lord was not only guiltless and defenceless, but He had come among His persecutors in love. 3. And now, let us suppose that some venerable person whom we have known as long as we could recollect any thing, and loved and reverenced, suppose such a one, who had often done us kindnesses, rudely seized by fierce men, made a laughing-stock, struck, spit on, severely scourged and at last exposed with all his wounds to the gaze of a rude multitude who came and jeered him, what would be our feelings? But what is all this to the suffering of the holy Jesus, which we bear to read of as a matter of course! A spirit of grief and lamentation is expressly mentioned in Scripture as a characteristic of those who turn to Christ. If then we do not sorrow, have we turned to Him (J. H. Newman, B. D.)Christ the victim and the example 1. There is only One in whom are fulfilled all the prophecies of this wonderful Lesson (Acts 8:34-35). 2. It may be noticed how animals are chosen in Holy Scripture as symbols of Divine Persons and mysteries; and Christian art has perpetuated the association. The dove has been the symbol of the Holy Ghost from earliest times. The man, the calf, the lion, and the eagle represent the four Evangelists, and are types of the Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ. Christ is represented by a lamb, for this was the symbol of our Lord both in the Old Testament and the New. Indeed, it was such a popular symbol in the early ages of the Church, that authority was invoked to check it as a substitute for His human body. 3. Throughout Holy Scripture, by hints and prophecies, by types and fulfilment, Christ is depicted by the lamb (Genesis 22:8; the Paschal lamb; the, daily sacrifice in the temple; St. John s exclamation, “ Behold the Lamb of God!” John 19:36; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Peter 1:19; Revelation 5:6; Revelation 5:12; Revelation 6:1; Revelation 7:14, etc.). The symbol has two aspects--that of the victim, and that of the example. Let us look at it in both lights. I. THE VICTIM. 1. The text expresses the willingness of the Sufferer. “ He was ill-treated whilst He bowed Himself, “ i.e. “ suffered voluntarily,” as the simile of the unresisting animal explains. It is a prophecy of the self-oblation of Christ John 10:15; John 10:18). The oblation was the result of love. He was led to the slaughter with the full knowledge of all that was before Him. The voluntariness of Christ’ s sufferings is a ground of merit and a secret of attractiveness. Sacrifice must “ be the blood of the soul,” the offered will, to have value before God; and it must be spontaneous, to touch and win the hearts of men. 2. “ He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter” reminds us of the greatness of Christ’ s sufferings. He was “ obedient unto death,” a sacrificial death--different from a mere martyr s death, as the words just before the text show. The Lord had laid on Him the punishment of Israel’ s guilt--nay, “ the iniquity of us all.” There can be no getting rid of “ the poena vicaria here” (Delitzsch). This is a great mystery. But it is not one man suffering for another, for “ no man can deliver his brother;” but God Himself in man’ s nature suffering. Those who think such a mode of redemption unjust, it will be found, have not grasped the dogma of the Incarnation, or the oneness of will in the Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity. It was an act of love. Death is the test of love, and the worst kind of death, that of the cross, the most convincing test. “ He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter” is a sentence which at once would bring up before the mind of the Jew the sacrificial worship in which he had often taken part. In the language of St. Paul, Christ “ became sin for us” --a Sin Offering--“ who knew no sin.” In the language of St. Peter, we were redeemed “ with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish.” II. THE EXAMPLE. 1. One of the purposes for which Christ came was to be an Example. The truth is sometimes obscured by dwelling too exclusively upon the mystery of redemption; as, on the other hand, there have not been wanting those who have been too much absorbed in that view of our Lord as the True Light which meets the cravings of the human intellect. To keep the proportion of faith is not always easy, especially as personal needs and experiences are apt to exaggerate some one aspect of a mystery. 2. Christ’ s life throughout has this twofold view--sacrificial and exemplary. We might have expected that the latter view would be associated chiefly with His public ministry, and the former with His Passion. But it is not so. Both culminate on the cross. “ Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example” (1 Peter 2:21); and, as the context shows, the final sufferings are before the apostle’ s gaze. A suffering world needs a suffering Example. The Passion brought out to view the virtues which man is ever requiring to exercise, and in a manner which exercises a spell upon all who look upon “ that sight.” Even those who are blind to the atoning efficacy of the mystery are touched by its moral loveliness. 3. “ Brought as a lamb to the slaughter;” “ dumb before her shearers.” This is a difficult virtue which the words unveil--patience, or meekness. What we read in the prophecy we see in the Passion (Matthew 27:12; Matthew 27:14; John 19:9) and upon the cross. “ All three hours His silence cried.” “ When He was reviled, He reviled not again.” The lamb, innocent and silent, aptly represents the Lamb of God, meek and patient in the midst of His slaughterers. III. LESSONS. 1. Let us seek through the sufferings of Christ to realize the enormity and malice of sin. Pardon without any revelation of Divine justice and holiness might have demoralized mankind. We know not “ how that satisfaction operated towards God,” and the Church has not attempted to define this. That Christ died “ for us men and for our salvation” is all that we are required to believe and that is the kernel of the doctrine. 2. Seek to imitate the patience of Jesus--to be silent when “ reviled,” and to still within the movements of anger and pride. 3. To be able to do this we must meditate upon Christ’ s sufferings, and see in all things, as they reach us, the will of God, though our sufferings may arise from the faults and sins of others. We must “ commit our cause to Him that judgeth righteously,” accepting calmly all that we may have to bear. 4. We must pray for the help of the Holy Ghost, without which we cannot grow in patience and meekness, which are “ fruits” of the Spirit. (The Thinker.)And as a sheep before her shearers is dumbThe sheep before the shearers I. OUR SAVIOUR’ S . Our Lord was brought to the shearers that He might be shorn of His comfort, and of His honour, shorn even of His good name, and shorn at last of life itself; but when under the shearers He was as silent as a sheep. How patient He was before Pilate, and Herod, and Caiaphas, and on the cross. 1. Our lord was dumb and opened not His mouth against His adversaries, and did not accuse one of them of cruelty or injustice. 2. As He did not utter a word against His adversaries, so He did not say a word against any one of us. Zipporah said to Moses, “ Surely a bloody husband art thou to me,” as she saw her child bleeding; and surely Jesus might have said to His Church, “ Thou art a costly spouse to Me, to bring Me all this shame and bloodshedding.” But He giveth liberally, He openeth the very fountain of His heart, and upbraideth not. 3. There was not a word against His Father, nor a syllable of repining at the severity of the chastisement laid upon Him for our sakes. You and I have murmured when under a comparatively light grief, thinking ourselves hardly done by. But not so the Saviour. Many are the Lamentations of Jeremiah, but few are the lamentations of Jesus. Jesus wept, and Jesus sweat great drops of blood, but He never murmured nor felt rebellion in, His heart. I see in this our Lord’ s complete submission. There was complete self-conquest too. There was complete absorption in His work. II. VIEW OUR OWN CASE UNDER THE SAME AS THAT WHICH IS USED IN TO OUR LORD. As He is so are we also in this world. Just as a sheep is taken by the shearer, and its wool is cut off, so doth the Lord take His people and shear them, taking away all their earthly comforts, and leaving them bare. 1. A sheep rewards its owner for all his care and trouble by being shorn. Some of God s people can give to Christ a tribute of gratitude by active service, and they should do so gladly every day of their lives; but many others cannot do much in active service, and about the only reward they can give to their Lord is to render up their fleece by suffering when He calls upon them to suffer, submissively yielding to be shorn of their personal comfort when the time comes for patient endurance. The husband, or perhaps the wife, is removed, little children are taken away, property is shorn off, and health is gone. Sometimes the shears cut off the man’ s good name; slander follows; comforts vanish. Well, it may be that you are not able to glorify God to any very large extent except by undergoing this process. 2. The sheep is itself benefited by the operation of shearing. Before they begin to shear the sheep the wool is long and old, and every bush and briar tears off a bit of the wool, until the sheep looks ragged and forlorn. If the wool were left, when the heat of summer came the sheep would not be able to bear itself. So when the Lord shears us, we do not like the operation any more than the sheep do; but first, it is for His glory; and secondly, it is for our benefit, and therefore we are bound most willingly to submit. There are many things which we should like to have kept which, if we had kept them, would not have proved blessings but curses. A stale blessing is a curse. 3. Before sheep are shorn they are always washed. If the Good Shepherd is going to clip your wool, ask Him to wash it before He takes it off; ask to be cleansed in spirit, soul and body. 4. After the washing, when the sheep has been dried, it actually loses what was its comfort. You also will have to part with your comforts. The next time you receive a fresh blessing call it a loan. A loan, they say, should go laughing home, and so should we rejoice when the Lord takes back that which He had lent us. 5. The shearers take care not to hurt the sheep: they clip as close as they can, but they do not cut the skin. When they do make a gash, it is because the sheep does not lie still: but a careful shearer has bloodless shears. The Lord may clip wonderfully close: I have known Him clip some so close that they did not seem to have a bit of wool left, for they were stripped entirely. 6. The shearers always shear at a suitable time. It would be a very wicked, cruel, and unwise thing to begin sheep-shearing in winter time. Have you ever noticed that whenever the Lord afflicts us He selects the best possible time? 7. It is with us as with the sheep, there is new wool coming. Whenever the Lord takes away our earthly comforts with one hand, one, two, three, He restores with the other hand, six, a score, a hundred; we are crying and whining about the little loss, and yet it is necessary in order that we may be able to receive the great gain. If the Lord takes away the manna, as He did from His people Israel, it is because they have the old corn of the land of Canaan to live upon. If the water of the rock did not follow the tribes any longer, it was because they drank of the Jordan, and of the brooks. III. LET US TO IMITATE THE EXAMPLE OF OUR BLESSED LORD WHEN OUR TURN COMES TO BE SHORN. (C H. Spurgeon.)Eastern sheep-shearing Those who have seen the noise and roughness of many of our washings and shearings will hardly believe the testimony of that ancient writer Philo-Judaeus when he affirms that the sheep came voluntarily to be shorn He says: “ Woolly rams laden with thick fleeces put themselves into the shepherd’ s hands to have their wool shorn, being thus accustomed to pay their yearly tribute to man, their king by nature. The sheep stands in a silent inclining posture, unconstrained under the hand of the shearer. These things may appear strange to those who do not know the docility of the sheep, but they are true.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Lying still under the Divine hand I went to see a friend, the other day, who has had a great number of sore affliction, yet I found her singularly cheerful and content; and when I was speaking with her about the matter, she said, “ I have for years enjoyed perfect submission to the Divine will, and it was through what I heard you say.” So I asked her, “ What did I say?” She replied, “ Why, you told us that you had seen a sheep that was in the hands of the shearers, and that, although all the wool was clipped off its back, the shears never cut into its flesh; and you said that the reason was because the sheep was lying Perfectly still. You said, ‘ Lie still, and the shears will not cut you; but if you kick and struggle, you will not only be shorn, for God has resolved to do that, but you will be wounded into the bargain.’” (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 53:8-9 He was taken from prison and from judgment “ He was taken from prison and from judgment:” Every word here is ambiguous. The principal interpretations are as follows-- 1. “ Without hindrance and without right He was taken away, i.e. He was put to death without opposition from any quarter, and in defiance of justice. 2. “ Through oppression and through judgment He was taken away” (so virtually R.V.). “ Judgment” here means judicial procedure, and the rendering “ oppression” is guaranteed by Psalms 107:39. 3. “ From oppression and from judgment He was taken away,” i.e released by death, or taken by God to Himself (2 Kings 2:10). Of the three interpretations, the last seems the most natural. (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)Christ’ s impisonment (with John 18:12-13):--The word “ prison” should not, perhaps, be taken to designate a particular place of incarceration; for there is no evidence to show that Christ was ever confined in any such penal cell. He was, however, a prisoner. His limbs were bound, and He was held in the custody of the iron-hearted officers of the Roman government. We shall look upon Christ’ s imprisonment in three aspects. I. AS THE MOST CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF CHRIST. 1. He was first taken a prisoner from Gethsemane. 2. He was then taken as a prisoner from Annas to Caiaphas (John 18:19-24; Matthew 26:59-68). 3. He was next taken a prisoner from the palace of Caiaphas to the hall of the Sanhedrim. 4. He was next taken as a prisoner from the hall of the Sanhedrim to Pilate John 18:28-38; Luke 23:1-7; Mark 15:1-5; Matthew 27:11-14). 5. He was then taken as a prisoner from Pilate to Herod (Luke 23:8-12). 6. He was then taken as a prisoner back from Herod to Pilate (Luke 23:13-25; Matthew 27:15-26; Mark 15:6-15). 7. He was finally taken as a prisoner from Pilate to Calvary (Matthew 27:27-50). The cross is the culmination of the whole. II. As THE IN THE ANNALS OF CRIME. 1. His imprisonment combined all the chief elements of crime. (1) Here was the foulest injustice. Imprisonment is for criminals; but had Christ ever been guilty of a crime? (2) Here too is the basest ingratitude. Was there one in Judea, or Galilee, or Samaria, who could refer to one single act of unkindness which He had ever committed towards any? Not one. “ He went about doing good” (3) Here is astounding impiety. This Prisoner was the “ Son of God,” the “ Prince of Life.” 2. His Imprisonment was effected in the name of law and religion. (1) The law they referred to (Deuteronomy 18:20) had no just application to the case of Christ, and they must have been conscious of its irrelevancy. Christ was not a “ prophet” who had presumed to speak a word in “ the name of Jehovah” which “ He had not commanded;” nor had He spoken in the name of “ any other god;” and therefore by this old law of Moses He was not guilty of death. But what if a law authorize a morally criminal act, is the act less criminal? In no measure. (2) But it was in the name of religion as well as law. This makes the crime greater still. The men that instigated the crucifixion of the Son of God were professedly religious men; they were the religious authorities of the country. Under profession of respect for truth and God, they wrought all the enormities which blackened the page of evangelic history. III. AS THE MOST ENIGMA IN THE OF GOD. I know of nothing more wonderful in the universe than the sight of Jesus in bonds. 1. Why does Eternal Justice allow unsullied holiness thus to suffer? 2. Why does Almighty God give men the power to perpetrate such enormities? 3. Why does All-powerful Emanuel Himself submit to these enormities? Does not the vicarious principle stand out in sunny prominence? (D. Thomas, D.D.)Christ’ s ignominious death and glorious resurrection I. THE SCANDAL ITSELF, laid down in the most aggravating terms--“ prison,” “ judgment,” “ cutting off from the land of the living,” and a “ stroke upon Him for transgression” as if the prophet had said, Grant all that you will charge upon Him, prison, judgment, strokes, cutting off--express it the worst way you can, all this will not impeach the glory of His excellency. II. THE DEFENCE in other terms. “ He was taken” from those things, and “ who shall declare His generation?” If you think it is not enough to say that He died for others, and that He was stricken for the transgression of My people, yet He did not as every man that dieth for others; He perished not in this expression of His love, as others do: He was taken from prison, and from judgment, and now liveth gloriously. There are two things in the defence-- 1. His resurrection. “ He was taken from prison and from judgment;” He got out from under it. 2. His life and duration in that state. “ Who shall declare His generation?” The sense is, who shall declare His age or duration? who can tell those endless ages that Christ shall live? (T. Manton, D.D.)Who shall declare His generation?-- “ Who shall declare His generation?” The Hebrew word for “ generation” is translated “ age” in Isaiah 38:12, but it more properly means “ lifetime.” The Septuagint translators have, however, hit the true idea of this passage in making the Greek word word γενεάν, instead of βίον or αἰῶνα, for the thought regards the apparent brevity of Messiah career. “ He comes, and He goes, and there is an end of Him. Who will take the trouble to think about a life that is cut off so soon, and leaves, apparently, no trace? He has no successor, no family, no descendants to preserve His name.” The Septuagint reading, therefore, while not a literal translation of the Hebrew, follows its thought. The Hebrew literally is, “ Who shall think upon His career?” The Septuagint is, “ Who shall describe or recount His race or generation?” The one refers directly to His lifetime, but indirectly to His posterity; the other confines itself to the posterity. Now, both questions are answered in Isaiah 38:10” “ He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days.” The Messiah will have a spiritual seed on the earth, and in them He will continue His own earthly life. (Howard Crosby, LL.D.)“ Who shall declare His generation?” Meyer, Alford, and others understand this as equivalent to, “ Who can describe the wickedness of the men of this time?” Hengstenberg interprets it, “ Who shall declare His posterity?” i.e. His spiritual children, born of the travail of His soul. Delitzsch translates, “ Of His contemporaries, who considered this: ‘ He was snatched out of the land of the living, seeing that, on account of the transgression of My people, vengeance fell on Him?’” “Who shall declare His generation?” A difficult clause. The Hebrew word for “ generation” (dor) may mean-- (1) The time in which He lived. (2) The circle of His contemporaries. (3) Those like-minded with Him (Psalms 41:7; Psalms 14:5; Proverbs 30:11, etc.); but is never used with any such significance as “ length of life,” or “ life-history,” or “ posterity.” We may take it in the sense (2), and render with R.V. “ and as for His generation who (among them) considered,” etc. (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)For the transgression of My people was He strickenChrist “ smitten unto death:” There is reason to believe that the original text has, in this instance, undergone some alteration, and that it anciently stood thus, “He was smitten unto death.” It was thus written by Origen, who assures us that a certain Jew, with whom he disputed, seemed to feel himself more pressed by this expression than by any other part of the chapter. It is thus rendered by the Septuagint in our present copies; and if, in this instance, it had not concurred with the original, neither could Origen have urged it with good faith, nor the Jew have felt himself embarrassed by the argument which is suggested. (R. Hall, M.A.)The Person stricken The Jews pretend that no single person is designed in this portion of prophecy; but that the people of Israel collectively are denoted under the figure of one man, and that the purport of the chapter is a delineation of the calamities and sufferings which that nation should undergo, with a view to its correction and amendment. The absurdity of this evasion will be obvious to him who considers that the person who is represented as “ stricken” is carefully distinguished by the prophet from the people for whoso benefit He suffered. “ For the transgression of My people was He stricken:” in addition to which, He is affirmed to be stricken “ even to death,” which, as Origen very properly urged, agrees well with the fate of an individual, but not with that of a people. (R. Hall, M. A.)The substitution of the innocent for the guilty Let us consider what circumstance met in this case, and must be supposed to concur on any occasion of this kind, to render fit and proper the substitution of an innocent person in the place of the guilty; and what is peculiar in the character of our Saviour, which renders it worthy of God to set Him apart as “a propitiation the sins of the world,” and annex the blessings of eternal life to such as believe in the doctrine of the Cross, and repent, and turn to God. I. It is obvious that such a procedure as we are now contemplating, in order to give it validity and effect, MUST BE BY THE SUPREME . For a private person, whatever might be his station in society, to pretend to introduce such a commutation of punishment as is implied in such a transaction, would be a presumptuous invasion of legislative rights, which no well-regulated society would tolerate. This condition was most unequivocally satisfied in the mystery of Christ’ s substitution. II. Another indispensable circumstance in such a proceeding, is, that IT SHOULD BE ON THE PART OF THE . Otherwise, it would be an act of the highest injustice; it would be the addition of one offence to another, and give a greater shock to all rightly-disposed minds than the acquittal of the guilty without any atonement. Here there appears, at first sight, an insuperable difficulty in the way of human salvation. How could that be rendered which was, at once, due to sin and mankind at large? Where could one be found that would endure the penalty freely, which was incurred by a sinful world? This our Saviour did. No sacrifice should go unwillingly to the altar. It was, indeed, reckoned a bad omen when any one did so. None ever went so willingly as He. III. It is farther necessary that the substitute not only undertake voluntarily, but that HE BE FREE FROM THE OFFENCE WHICH RENDERS . Accordingly, in the case of man Divine justice cannot be willing to acquiesce in a substitute who is a sharer in guilt; for the law has a previous hold upon him; there is a debt due on his own account. But Jesus Christ, though a man, was, by reason of His miraculous conception, free from the taint of original sin. IV. There would be a great propriety in this also, that THE PERSON FOR THE GUILTY, SHOULD STAND IN SOME TO HIM. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ was related to mankind; one like them whom He came to redeem. This was shadowed forth in the law of a Redeemer of a lost estate. The person who was to redeem must be related: hence a redeemer and a relation were expressed by one term, and the nearest relation was to redeem. Hence, then, the incarnation of our Lord was necessary. V. If the substitution of the innocent in the room of the guilty is at all permitted, it seems requisite that NO SHOULD BE TAKEN OF A , a sudden impulse of heroic feeling, which might prompt a generous mind to make a sacrifice, of which, on cool deliberation, be repented. In the ease we are now contemplating, nothing could reconcile the mind to such a procedure but such a settled purpose on the part of the substitute as precludes the possibility of a vacillation or change. But this condition is found in the highest perfection on the part of the blessed Redeemer. His oblation of Himself was not the execution of a sudden purpose, the fruit of a momentary movement of pity; it was the result of deliberate counsel, the accomplishment of an ancient purpose, formed in the remotest recesses of a past eternity. VI. In the case of the substitution of the innocent for the guilty, it seems highly requisite that HE WHO OFFERS HIMSELF AS THE SHOULD JUSTIFY THE LAW BY WHICH HE SUFFERS. In the substitution of the Redeemer of mankind were conjoined the most prompt and voluntary endurance of the penalty, with the most avowed and cordial approbation of the justice of its sanctions. It was a great part of the business of His life to assert and vindicate by His doctrine that law which He magnified and made illustrious by His passion. Never had the law such an expounder as in the person of Him who came into the world to exhaust its penalties, and endure its curse. VII. That the voluntary substitution of an innocent person, in the stead of the guilty, may be capable of answering the ends of justice, nothing seems more necessary than that THE SHOULD BE OF EQUAL , AT LEAST, TO THE PARTY IN WHOSE BEHALF HE . The interests sacrificed by the suffering party should not be of less cost and value than those which are secured by such a procedure. But the aggregate value of those interests must be supposed to be in some proportion to the rank and dignity of the party to which they belong. As a sacrifice to justice, the life of a peasant must, on this principle, be deemed a most inadequate substitute for that of a personage of the highest order. We should consider the requisitions of justice eluded, rather than satisfied, by such a commutation. It is on this ground that St. Paul declares it to be “ impossible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sins.” In this view the redemption of the human race seemed to be hopeless; for where could an adequate substitute be found? The mystery hid from ages and generations, the mystery of Christ crucified, dispels the obscurity, and presents, in the person of the Redeemer, all the qualifications which human conception can embody as contributing to the perfect character of a substitute. VIII. However much we might be convinced of the competence of vicarious suffering to accomplish the ends of justice, and whatever the benefits we may derive from it, A MIND COULD NEVER BE TO THE SIGHT OF VIRTUE OF THE HIGHEST ORDER FINALLY AND BY ITS OWN ; and the more intense the admiration excited, the more eager would be the desire of same compensatory arrangement, some expedient by which an ample retribution might be assigned to such heroic sacrifices. If the suffering of the substitute involved his destruction, what satisfaction could a generous and feeling mind derive from impunity procured at such a cost! While we rejoice in the cross of Christ as the source of pardon, our satisfaction is heightened by beholding it succeeded by the crown. IX. If the principle of substitution be at all admitted in the operations of criminal law, it is tog obvious to require proof that IT SHOULD BE VERY , only on very rare occasions, and never be allowed to subside into a settled course. It requires some great crisis to justify its introduction, some extraordinary combination of difficulties, obstructing the natural course of justice; it requires, that while the letter of the law is dispensed with, its spirit be fully adhered to; so that, instead of tending to weaken the motives to obedience, it shall present a salutary monition, a moral and edifying spectacle. The substitution of Christ in the room of a guilty race receives all the advantage as an impressive spectacle which it is possible to derive from this circumstance. It stands amidst the lapse of ages, and the waste of worlds, a single and solitary monument. X. Whenever the expedient of vicarious suffering is adopted, A OF THE DESIGN OF THAT BECOMES AS AS OF THE ITSELF; since none of the effects which it is intended to produce can be realized but in proportion as that is understood. Hence we see the infinite importance, in the doctrine of the Cross, that not merely the fact of our Lord’ s death and sufferings should be announced, but that their object and purpose, as a great moral expedient, should be published to all nations. The doctrine of remission of sins, through the blood of that Victim which was once offered for the sins of the world, forms the grand peculiarity of the Gospel, and was the principal theme of the apostolic ministry, and is still pre-eminently “the power of God to salvation.” (R. Hall, M. A.)The crucifixion I. THE ITSELF. “ He was stricken.” The greatness of this suffering will be made out to us upon these three accounts. 1. Of the latitude and extent of it. 2. Of the intenseness and sharpness of it. 3. Of the person inflicting it. II. THE NATURE OF THE , which was penal, and expiatory, “ He was stricken for transgression.” III. THE GROUND AND CAUSE OF THIS , which was God’ s propriety in, and relation to, the persons for whom Christ was stricken, implied in this word, “ My people.” Conclusion: Christianity is a suffering religion, and there are two sorts of suffering to which it will certainly expose every genuine professor of it. 1. A suffering from himself; even that grand suffering of self-denial and mortification, the sharpest and most indispensable of all others, in which every Christian is not only to be the sufferer, but himself also the executioner. “ He who is Christ’ s,” says the apostle, “ has crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.” 2. From the world. (R. South, D.D.)The stricken Christ I. WHO WAS ? II. REFER TO HIS . How was He stricken? 1. With reproach. “ As for this fellow, we know not whence He is.” 2. With ingratitude. His very “ disciples forsook Him, and fled.” 3. With poverty. 4. Chiefly by the rod of His heavenly Father. III. THE OBJECT OF THESE . “ For the transgression of My people was He stricken.” 1. Justice is satisfied. 2. Conscience is at peace. IV. THE FRUITS OF HIS , in connection with our own feelings and experience. 1. The devil is now destroyed. However formidable an enemy, the power of his arm is foiled. 2. The soul is saved. 3. All possible consolation is secured. (J. Parsons.) Isaiah 53:9 And He made his grave with the wicked “ With the rich in His death:” “ Rich” must mean “ wicked,” just as “ poor” often means godly. (A. B. Davidson, D.D.)The suffering Servant given a convict’ s grave Having conceived Him to have been lawfully put to death, they consistently gave Him a convict’ s grave; “ they made His grave with the wicked, and He was with the felon in His death,” though He was an innocent man--“ He had done no harm; neither was guile in His mouth.” (Prof. G. A. Smith, D.D.)“ With the rich in His death:” The meaning is, “ His grave was assigned to Him with criminals, and with a rich man after He had actually died a painful death,” i.e. He was to have been laid where the bodies of dead criminals lie, but He came after His death to lie in a grave that had been intended for the corpse of a rich man. (F. Delitzsch, D.D.)A prophecy of Messiah I. THE MESSIAH, that is, that He shall make His grave, etc. II. A REASON , taken from His innocency. (J. Durham.)Christ laid in the grave In all the Evangelists it is clear that after death He was laid in the grave, and very particular notice is taken of it. Take here some reasons of this necessity. 1. That the unstaindeness and purity of Divine justice may appear, and that, therefore, the perfection of His satisfaction may be confirmed. 2. It is much for the manifestation of the great love of God, and of the rich condescending grace of the Mediator, who is not only content to die, but to be laid in the grave, and to suffer death to have a kind of dominion over Him for a time. 3. It is for the consolation of the believer and serves mightily to strengthen him against the fear of death and the grave. He may lie down quietly in the grave, because it was Christ’ s bed, warmed, to say so, by Him. 4. It serves to confirm the truth of the resurrection of Christ. (J. Durham.) Isaiah 53:10-11 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him “ It pleased the Lord to bruise Him:” The Lord’ s hand was supreme in the business-- 1. In respect of His appointing Christ’ s sufferings. It was concluded in the counsel of God that He should, suffer. 2. In respect of the ordering and overruling of His sufferings. He, who governs all the counsels, thoughts and actions of men, did, in a special manner, govern and overrule the sufferings of the Mediator; though wicked men were following their own design, and were stirred and acted by the devil, who is said to have put it into the heart of Judas to betray Christ--yet God had the ordering of all who should betray Him, what death He should die, how He should be pierced, and yet not a bone of Him be broken. 3. In respect of His having had a hand actively in them (John 19:11; Matthew 27:46; Romans 8:32; Zechariah 13:7). (J. Durham.)The good pleasure of God in redemption The good pleasure of God. Which the prophet marks to show-- 1. That all the good that comes by Christ to sinners is bred in the Lord’ s own bosom. 2. The concurrence of all the Persons of the Trinity in promoting the work of the redemption of sinners. (J. Durham.)The Divine complacency in the sorrows of Christ There are many expressions in Scripture, which, without explanation, are repugnant to human instincts of justice, and shocking to our intuitions of love. This is a case in point. He had done nothing overtly or morally to deserve severity, “ yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him.” It revolts our first feeling of equity and compassion; and when the statement is applied to Him of whom we are taught that God is love, we shrink at the sternness of the words. Had it been said the Lord found it necessary to put Him to grief, it would, have been mysterious enough, and we should have found ourselves asking “ Why?” and catechizing our speculative ideals of Divine equity and of moral necessity. But to read that it pleased the Lord to inflict this bruise and to impose this grief is a riddle which seems as harsh as it is contradictory. (A. Mursell.)The unity of the Father and the Son in atonement All this confusion and injustice arises from sustaining too literally in our minds the figure of duality which excludes the Father from participation in the sacrifice, and the Son from the acquiescent willinghood of its executive. It is not the punishment of an innocent Son by an angry Father that we have to consider, but rather the co-operation of the entire Godhead in the tragedy of sorrow out of which the redemption of mortality was born. Under the figure of Father and Son, the Deity devoted the full strength and tenderness of the Divine character and resource to the salvation of our race. And, in this respect, there was, and ever will be, a Divine complacency in the sorrow and suffering from which that redemption sprang. (A. Mursell.)Christ’ s complacency in the Divine sorrows Our topic is the Divine complacency in the sorrows of Christ. It will bear transposition; and we can speak of Christ’ s complacency in the Divine sorrows. Here is a blending of pleasure and pain, of joy and sorrow, as full of mystery as of love, but the key to whose mystery is carried in the bosom of its love. The sorrows of Christ were endured in pursuance of the settled and ancient purpose of God. Not of the purpose of a Father to afflict His Son, but of the purpose of the Divine Creator to redeem His universe. There was a compact of pity and of power in the heart and arm of God as soon as man had lapsed, that his lapse should be atoned and his fall restored. The Creator was not to be baffled in His plan. His life was bound up in that of His Maker; and because He lived man must live also. Not only because He loved us, but because He would not be defeated, did the mind of Deity set itself to untie the knot which the serpent had encoiled around the creature of God’ s image. (A. Mursell.)Divine love and Divine suffering 1. The sorrows which atonement involved became a source of complacency to the Divine mind, inasmuch as the Lord foresaw their certain issues. 2. Nor could this complacency in sorrow fail to be augmented by the thought of the universal interest those sorrows would awaken. Earth, for whose sake they were endured, was the last to show that interest. 3. This complacency was made complete because the sorrows it confronted removed the barrier from the exercise of infinite beneficence and love. What is more tantalizing to a soul aflame than love restrained? (A. Mursell.)The bruising of the Son of God the pleasure of His Father I. WHOM DID JEHOVAH BRUISE? II. HOW DID HE BRUISE HIM? III. WHY DID HE TAKE IN HIM? 1. That He might execute His pleasant decrees. 2. That He might fulfil His pleasant promises. 3. That He might redeem the chosen objects of His love. 4. That He might promote His Son to the highest honours. 5. That He might exalt His own glory to the uttermost. (W. Taylor.)The bruising of Jesus The Father was “ pleased” to bruise Emmanuel. I. BECAUSE OF THE HOLY ’ S PERFECT WITH HIS PURPOSE, as being the vindication of the Divine holiness, “ the magnifying of the Divine law,” and the upholding of the Divine government. II. BECAUSE UNDER THIS “ ” JESUS WAS THE DIVINE LOVE AND FOR AND WITH US--perfect as it was God’ s, and yet true brotherly, as it was man’ s. III. BECAUSE OF WHAT HE DESIRED TO SEE IN US. (J. Wylie, D.D.)God’ s purpose in the awful tragedy of the Cross It is so utter a perversion of justice, so signal a triumph of wrong over right, so final a disappearance into oblivion of the fairest life that ever lived, that men might be tempted to say, God has forsaken His own. On the contrary. God’ s own will and pleasure have been in this tragedy. “ Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him.” The line as it thus stands in our English Version has a grim, repulsive sound. But the Hebrew word has no necessary meaning of pleasure or enjoyment. All it says is, God so willed it. His purpose was in this tragedy. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D.D.)Christ’ s sufferings; their cause, nature and fruits The prophet is still dealing with the Jews scandals. Whilst you look only to the outward meanness and sufferings of Christ, you overlook the design of God in Him. I. THE WILL OF GOD. “ It pleased the Lord to bruise Him,” etc., that is the cause of His sufferings. II. THE NATURE OF HIS . “ When Thou shall make His soul an offering for sin.” III. THE FRUITS OF HIS . (T. Manton, D.D.)Christ’ s sufferings Divinely ordained All the sufferings of Jesus Christ were laid on Him by the ordination and appointment of, God the Father. This appears by Scripture, which asserts-- 1. The choice of Christ’ s person, and the designation and deputation of Him to the office of Mediator (Isaiah 42:1; John 6:27; Romans 1 Peter 1:20). 2. The bestowing the person of Christ upon us, so that He was made ours John 3:16). 3. The determining of all the sufferings of Christ; not a sorrow, but God had it in His thoughts before all worlds (Acts 2:23; Luke 22:22; Acts 4:27-28). 4. There are some expressions which seem to imply as if there were more than a bare knowledge and permission in this great affair, as if there were some kind of action in Christ’ s sufferings. It will be worthy the inquiring, then, what acts of God, what efficiency there was from Him towards the sufferings of Christ? (1) Thus far God concurred, by a withdrawing of His presence and the sight of His favour. (2) By sustaining the wicked instruments in their natures, beings, and actings, whilst they were drawing out their spite and violence against Christ (Acts 17:28; John 19:11). (3) By serving His love and glory by their wickedness, that bruised and afflicted Christ. The reasons of this point are-- 1. Because all things fall under His decrees and the care of His providence, and therefore certainly this matter of Christ does. 2. Because this was the special design and contrivance of Heaven to bring forth Christ into the world; all other dispensations looked this way. (T. Manton, D. D.)God’ s eternal pleasure revealed in Christ The plot of the Gospel was long since drawn in heaven, and lay hid in God’ s breast, till He was pleased to copy out His eternal thoughts, and give the world a draught of them. (T. Manton, D. D.)God working His own counsel through human agency How is the creature to blame, then, for smiting and bruising of Christ? Or if to blame, how is God clear? 1. For the creatures’ blame. They are faulty-- (1) Because God s secret thoughts and intents are not their rule. Hidden things belong to God; and it is He that worketh according to the counsel of His own will. (2) They had other ends, though God turned it for good. “ With wicked hands ye have taken, and crucified, and slain.” (3) God’ s decrees did not compel them to evil; it implieth things will be, though it doth not affect them. 2. For the justifying of God when He judgeth. His justice cannot be impeached, because He infuseth no evil, enforceth to no evil, only ordaineth what shall be. His goodness cannot be impeached for suffering things which He can turn to such advantage for His own glory and the creature s good. God s decrees are immanent in Himself, working nothing that is evil in the creatures. (T. Manton, D. D.)When Thou shalt make His Soul an offering for sinChrist an offering for sin 1. It is here supposed that there is sin on the person, and that wrath due for sin is to be removed. 2. That there is an inability in the person to remove the sin, and yet a necessity to have it removed, or else he must suffer. 3. The intervening, or coming of something in the place of that person who is guilty of sin, and liable to wrath. 4. The acceptance of that which interveneth by God, the party offended, and so a covenant whereby the Lord hath condescended to accept that offering. (J. Durham.)Christ a guilt-offering (R.V., marg.):--Hebrews asham (Leviticus 5:14; Leviticus 6:7), to be carefully distinguished from the sin-offering (Hebrews chattah, Leviticus 4:1; Leviticus 5:13). Sin is viewed as a sacrilege, an invasion of God s honour: the asham is the satisfaction paid for it, viz the innocent life of the Righteous Servant. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The guilt-offering There is a historical passage which, though the term “ guilt-offering” is not used in it, admirably illustrates the idea. A famine in David’ s time was revealed to be due to the murder of certain Gibeonites by the house of Saul. David asked the Gibeonites what reparation he could make. They said it was not a matter of damages. But both parties felt that before the law of God could be satisfied and the land relieved of its curse, some atonement, some guilt-offering, must be made to the, Divine law. It was a wild kind of satisfaction that was paid. Seven men of Saul’ s house were hung up before the Lord in Gibeon. But the instinct, though satisfied in so murderous a fashion, was a true and a grand instinct--the conscience of a law above all human laws and rights, to which homage must be paid before the sinner could come into true relations with God, or the Divine curse be lifted off. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D.D.)The Monarch self-surrender, a trespass-offering and a sin-offering What this suffering meant, the prophet indicates in several phrases which we will link together. “ His soul shall make a guilt-offering” (Isaiah 53:10). “ He shall bear their iniquities “ (Isaiah 53:11). “ He bare the sin of many” (Isaiah 53:12). These three expressions are derived from the Mosaic ritual; the first, from the trespass-offering, the second, from the law concerning the scapegoat, the third from the sin-offering. Inasmuch, however, as the sending away of the scapegoat was a part of the ceremonial connected with the sin-offering on the great day of atonement, we may let the second and third expressions blend into one. And then we get the thought that this suffering Servant would at once fill up the varied meanings of the sin-offering and of the guilt-offering. (C. Clemance, D.D.)In Messiah’ s offering, the meanings of the trespass-offerings and the sin-offerings were all included 1. That there was a distinction between the significance of the trespass-offerings and that of the sin-offerings is seen in the fact that each kind of offerings had its own specific ritual and set of laws (Leviticus 11:25; Leviticus 7:1). But it is not so easy to point out wherein that distinction lay. They had some points in common. Both recognized sin in some form or other. Though every sin might not be a trespass, yet every trespass was a sin, hence (at least in one case) the trespass was to be atoned for by a sin-offering (Leviticus 5:6). Both of them were for sins of omission and for sins of commission. Both were for inadvertent and for known sins. Both were for sins against conscience and against God. Both were for some sins against property. Both were for open and for secret sins. So that it is not surprising that the two frequently seem to overlap. Still a careful study will help us to draw out some distinctions between them-- (1) The sin-offering recognized sinfulness as uncleanness common to the race; the trespass-offering recognized sin in the specific acts of any person among them (cf. Leviticus 5:17 with Leviticus 16:15-16). (2) The sin-offering regarded all sin; the trespass-offering only some sins Leviticus 16:34; Leviticus 5:1; Leviticus 5:14-15). (3) The sin-offering was for all the people, recognizing their oneness; the trespass-offering was for distinctive cases, recognizing their individuality Leviticus 16:21; Leviticus 5:1; Leviticus 5:14; Leviticus 5:17). (4) The sin-offering conveyed the idea of propitiation; the trespass-offering embodied that of satisfaction, as, over and above its recognition of injury done towards God or man, there were specific injunctions concerning restitution, intimating a certain value as the standard required Leviticus 16:21-22; Leviticus 5:18; Numbers 5:5-8). (5) The sin-offering had its aspect God-ward; the trespass-offering rather looked man-ward (Leviticus 4:4-6; Leviticus 14:14). (6) The ritual of the sin-offering symbolized pardon, “ covering,” the “ bearing away” of sin; that of the trespass-offering symbolized purification or cleansing from sin (cf. Leviticus 16:16-17; Leviticus 14:14). (7) The treatment of the sin-offering indicated far deeper reproach than the treatment of the trespass-offering (Leviticus 4:11-12; Leviticus 7:6). As the sin that poisons all is far more serious than the transgressions which mark each one, so, on the day of expiation, “ the victim, because it was (symbolically) laden with the uncleanness and guilt of the whole people, and was consequently unclean, must be taken outside the camp and there burned” (Delitzsch). (8) The attitude of the sinner in the sin-offering was that of believingly recognizing the sacrifice as his substitute God-ward; but in the case of the trespass-offering he must also be ready with his compensations man-ward Leviticus 16:20-22; Leviticus 5:16; Leviticus 6:1-7). (9) In the sin-offering the priest is always the representative of the offerer; in the trespass-offering he is generally the representative of God. “ Thus the trespass-offering was a restitution or compensation made to God, in being paid to the priest, a payment or penance which made amends for the wrong done--a satisfactio in a disciplinary sense.” 2. The prophet in the chapter before us declares that the trespass-offering and the sin-offering will be fulfilled in this Servant of God; that His work for man, towards God in reference to sin, will take into account all the aspects of sin, will honour all the claims of God, and will meet all the need of man. And so, in fact, we find it when we come to examine the representations of the work of our Lord Jesus, as given us in the New Testament. (1) Our Saviour as the sin-offering, “ suffered without the gate” Hebrews 13:11-12). (2) He atones for sin, and for sins (Hebrews 9:26; Galatians 1:4). (3) He “ bears away” a world’ s sin, yet “ gave Himself for our sins” John 1:29; Galatians 1:4). (4) The sins of all are laid on Him, and yet the individual can say, “ He gave Himself for me (1 John 2:2; Galatians 2:20). (5) He is the propitiation, and yet the ransom-price (1 John 4:10; Matthew 20:28). (6) His sacrifice avails towards God, yet is effective towards man Hebrews 9:12-24; Hebrews 10:10). (7) By His work our guilt is pardoned, our sin covered; through it our natures are cleansed (Romans 4:7-8; 1 Peter 1:2). (8) As He is our propitiation, there is a reconciliation to be accepted; as He is our ransom-price, our acceptance of Him is attended with repentance towards God, and restitution towards man (Romans 5:8-11; Ac Matthew 5:23-24; Luke 19:7-10). (9) As our mediating High Priest, He is our representative before God. He pleads His blood before the throne; yet is He also the voice of God to us, through whom our pardon is proclaimed (Hebrews 6:20; Hebrews 7:25; Matthew 9:6). Thus all the ground is covered by the one great Sacrifice, and nothing is left undone! 3. Let us learn, then--of the unity there is between the law and the Gospel. We have this prophecy standing seven hundred years after the giving of the one, seven hundred years before the announcement of the other: yet we find the very phrases of the prophet are adopted from the Mosaic ritual, pointing to its fulfilment in the Messiah; while the New Testament teachings as to the work of Christ are based on both ritual and prophecy, carrying them both on to their fulness of meaning, and revealing their wealth of glory. (2) We may well look on with profound reverence as the Most High brings out, in ritual, prophecy, and Gospel, that truth which men are most ready to let slip--viz, the exceeding sinfulness of sin! (3) In Gospel: prophecy, and ritual, there is, in order to meet the world’ s need, not only a central Figure, but a central fact. In the ritual, the priest and the offering. In the prophecy, the Messiah and His offering. In the Gospel, the Christ and His offering. Here is a threefold cord, “ not easily broken.” (4) Never let us forget the double aspect of the work of Christ--large enough to cover all the ground; minute enough to point out me and to save me! (5) We are not saved in sin but from it. (6) Let us not fail to catch the keynote of the law and of the Gospel, viz that nothing is right with a sinful man till relations between him and God are right. (C. Clemance, D. D.)Expiation Both Jews and Gentiles knew pretty well what an offering for sin meant. The Gentiles had been in the habit of offering sacrifices. The Jews, however, had by far the clearer idea of it. I. SIN AND DEMANDS . II. THE AND OF A FOR SINNERS IS AN ACT OF GRACE. III. JESUS IS THE MOST FITTING PERSON TO BE A , AND HIS WORK IS THE MOST FITTING WORK TO BE A . IV. CHRIST’ S WORK, AND THE EFFECTS OF THAT WORK ARE NOW . (C. H, Spurgeon.)Christ’ s death and the law of God By His death the Servant did homage to the law of God. By dying to it He made men feel that the supreme end of man was to own that law and be in a right relation to it, and that the supreme service was to help others to a right relation. As it is said a little farther down, “ My Servant, righteous Himself, wins righteousness for many, and makes their iniquities His load. (Prof. G.A. Smith, D.D.)The guilt-offering It is strange but true, that the saddest, darkest day that ever broke upon our world is destined to cure the sadness and dissipate the darkness for evermore. It is to the passion of the Redeemer that loving hearts turn in their saddest, darkest, most sin-conscious hours to find solace, light, and help.. As though to obviate the possibility of mistaking its meaning, we are reminded again, and yet again, that the death of the Divine Servant was no ordinary episode; but distinguished from all other deaths, from all martyrdoms and sacrifices, in its unique and lonely grandeur--the one perfect and sufficient sacrifice and oblation for the sins of the whole world. The prophet s thought will become apparent, if we notice--I THE COMMON LOT OF MAN. It may be summed up in three words--suffering, sin, death. II. THE NOTABLE OF THIS CHAPTER. The Divine Servant presents a notable exception to the lot of man; not in His sufferings, for He was “ a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief;” nor in His death, for He died many deaths in one (Isaiah 53:9, R.V., marg.); but in His perfect innocence and goodness. He had done no violence, neither was any deceit m His mouth. The Divine Servant has passed through every painful experience; has drunk to its dregs every cup; has studied deeply every black-lettered volume in the library of pain. In His case, at least, man’ s hastily-formed conclusions are falsified. Generally we pass from singular suffering to discover its cause in some hidden or remote transgression. In the case of Jesus Christ, however, this explanation of His unique sufferings was altogether at fault. Another explanation must, therefore, be forthcoming to account for the sufferings of the innocent Saviour. The explanation lay hid as a secret concealed in a hieroglyph, in the vast system of Levitical sacrifice which foreshadowed the “ offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” So, under the Divine guidance, men were led from the conclusions of Isa 53:4 to those of Isa 53:5. These conclusions expressed here as the verdict of the human conscience, after scanning the facts in the light of history, are confirmed and clenched by the unanimous voice of the New Testament. This is the great exception which has cast a new light on the mystery of pain and sorrow. It may be that there is other suffering, which, in a lower sense and in a smaller measure, is also redemptive, fulfilling Divine purposes in the lives of others; though no sufferer is free from sin as Christ was, and none has ever been able to expiate sin as He. III. THE OF THESE TRUTHS. “ Thou must make his soul a guilt-offering” (R.V., marg.) This term, “ guilt-offering,” occurs in the Book of Leviticus. If a man committed a trespass in the holy things of the Lord, he was directed to select and bring from his flock a ram without blemish. This was his “ guilt-offering” --the word used here. He was to make a money restitution for his offence; but the atonement was made through the ram (Leviticus 5:1-16). Similarly, if a man sinned against his neighbor, either in oppressing him or withholding his dues, or neglecting to restore property which had been entrusted to him, he was not only to make restitution, but to bring his guilt-offering to the Lord--a ram without blemish out of the flock--and the priest made an atonement before the Lord, and he was forgiven concerning whatsoever he had done to be made guilty thereby (Leviticus 6:1-7). Is there one of us who has not committed a trespass and sinned in the holy things of the Lord? Is there one of us who has not failed in his obligations to neighbour and friend? How certainly we need to present the guilt-offering! There is no mention made of the necessity of summoning priestly aid. This is the more remarkable, when we consider the strict Levitical system in which Israel was cradled. It would seem that in the great crisis of its need, the soul of man reverts to an earlier cult, and goes back beyond the elaborate system of the temple to the practice of the patriarchal tent, where each man acted as his own priest, and offered the guilt-offering with his own hand. No third person is needed in thy transactions with God. Jesus is Priest as well as Sacrifice. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)The atonement and its results I. THE THING DONE. “ When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin.” “ Without shedding of blood there is no remission.” This sentence, written by the finger of God on the page of Scripture, is also written as a received truth on every page of the history of heathenism. However we may recoil from the fearful superstitions of Paganism, and weep over that sad ignorance which can suppose God delighted even with human sacrifice, never let it be forgotten that in the bloodiest rites of idolatry there are the vestiges of a truth which is the very sum and substance of Christianity. We can turn our gaze to the evidence of what is called natural religion, accompanied, it may be, and loaded with what is abominable; and there we find monuments in every age that God, at some time or another, hath broken the silences of eternity, and spoken to His apostate creatures, and taught them that unless there could be found a sufficient sin-offering, the sinful must bear for ever the burden of His displeasure. Thus from the first God gave notices of the plan of redemption, and gradually prepared the way for that oblation which could alone take away sin. In the deep recesses of Christ’ s undefiled spirit was paid down the debt which man owed to God. II. ITS . (H. Melvill, B.D.)He shall see His seedNotable effects following Christ’ s sufferings 1. “ He shall see His seed.” Men by the suffering of death are incapacitated to increase their offspring, but this is a quickening suffering and death that hath a numerous offspring. 2. “ He shall prolong His days,” which seems to be another paradox; for men’ s days are shortened by their sufferings and death; but though He be dead and buried yet He shall rise again and ascend, and sit down at the right hand of the Father and live for ever, to make intercession for His people. 3. A third effect, which is the upshot of all, is, “ the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” God hath designed Him for a work--the great work of redemption--even the bringing of many sons to glory. He shall pull many captives from the devil, and set many prisoners free; He shall, by His sufferings, overcome the devil, death and the grave, and all enemies; shall gather the sons of God together from the four corners of the earth. (J. Durham.)Christ seeing His seed 1. A relation implied betwixt Christ and believers. They are “ His seed,” such as in the next verse are said to be “ justified” by Him. 2. A prophecy of the event that should follow Christ’ s sufferings. Our Lord Jesus should not only have a seed, but a numerous seed. 3. Considering the words as a promise they hold out this--that though our Lord Jesus suffer and die He shall not only have a seed, but shall “ see His seed.” He shall outlive His sufferings and death and shall be delighted in seeing them who shall get the good of His sufferings. (J. Durham.)Believers Christ’ s seed 1. They have their being of Him. 2. In respect of the likeness that is betwixt Him and them. 3. In respect of the care that He hath of them. 4. In respect of the portion which they get from Him. 5. Because of the manner of their coming to the possession of that, which through Him they have a claim to. They have a claim to nothing, but by being heirs to and with Him. (J. Durham.)Christ seeing His seed In “ shall see His seed and have long life,” the figure of a patriarch blessed with longevity and numerous descendants Genesis 1:22, etc.) is in the prophet s thoughts. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D.D.)The Atonement indicates the dignity of man Men do not launch lifeboats to pick up corks, and we may rest assured that in the atonement there is a just proportion between means and ends. (James Duckworth.)Messiah contemplating His spiritual offspring I. HE SHALL SEE THEM ALL BORN AND BROUGHT IN. II. HE SHALL SEE THEM ALL AND BROUGHT UP. III. HE SHALL SEE THEM ALL AND BROUGHT THROUGH. IV. HE SHALL SEE THEM ALL AND BROUGHT HOME. (R. Muter, D. D.)Christ’ s spiritual Offspring I. MESSIAH’ S GLORY IS WITH THE OF HIS . II. THE IS NOT LESS CERTAIN THAN THE OF . III. A AND AGAINST UNDUE OR ALARM ABOUT THE LOW STATE OF IN THE CHURCH. IV. IT IS OUR DUTY AND HONOUR TO CONCUR IN THIS INTO EFFECT. (R. Muter, D. D.)Seeing His seed (with John 17:2, and Ephesians 5:25-27):--“ His Seed.” This clearly implies that the Messiah should be the living Head of a new spiritual race. As Adam was the head of the human family, and Abraham the header the Hebrew people, so the Lord Jesus was to be the head of a spiritual seed. The Psalmist in the second Psalm, plainly a Messianic one, declares: “ Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.” Our Lord Jesus Himself spoke of those who would be saved by Him as given to Him by the Father. And apostles speak of the Church as composed of men gathered to the Lord, and belonging to Him. Precisely this thought is expanded in Ephesians 5:25-27. I. CHRIST’ S OF HIMSELF WAS THE OF HIS LOVE. II. A LIVING CHURCH, THE OF HIS LOVE. Just as the sculptor, before he begins to chip the marble into shape, sees with his mind’ s eye the figure which is first conceived by his genius and then fashioned by his skill--so with our Divine Redeemer. He from eternity, before man wascreated, beheld him coming into being, placed on His own footing, falling, redeemed, saved. And, as the result of His atoning work, there rises up, through His Spirit, the fufilment of His own ideal, a new creation, a living Church, distinguished the marks of forgiveness, justification, renewal and eternal life. III. THE CHURCH, THE ACTION OF HIS LOVE. “ That He might sanctify and cleanse it.” Then He does not love the Church because it is clean, but He first loves it that He may make it clean. IV. THE CHURCH, THE FAR-OFF VISION OF HIS LOVE. “ A glorious Church, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.” V. THE CHURCH TO HIMSELF, THE OF THE IDEAL OF HIS LOVE. (C. Clemance, D.D.)The posterity of Christ Jesus is still alive, for to see anything is the act of a living person. Do not be afraid that Christ’ s work will break down because He is dead. He lives to carry it on. I. THE DEATH OF CHRIST HAS A . We do not read that the Lord Jesus has followers. That would be true; but the text prefers to say He has a seed. 1. All who truly follow Christ and are saved by Him have His life in them. 2. Believers in Christ are said to be His seed because they are like Him. 3. They prosecute the same ends, and expect to receive the same reward. We are towards Christ His seed, and thus heirs to all that He has--heirs to His business on earth, heirs to His estate in heaven. They speak of the seed royal. What shall I say of the seed of Christ? You may be a poor person, but you are of the imperial house. You are ignorant and unlettered, it may be, and your name will never shine on the roll of science, but He who is the Divine Wisdom owns you as one of His seed. It may be that you are sick; by and by you will die. But you are of His seed, who died, and rose, and is gone into glory. You are of the seed of Him, “ who only hath immortality.” It follows if we are thus of a seed, that we ought to be united, and love each other more and more. Christian people, you ought to have a clannish feeling l II. THAT OF HIS REMAINS. If it had been possible to destroy the Church of God on earth, it would have been destroyed long ago. 1. Only read the story of the persecutions under Nero, etc. As to our own country, read the story of persecutions here. 2. There have been laborious attempts to destroy the Church of Christ by error. 3. Worldliness has gone a long way to destroy the Church of God. III. THIS IS ALWAYS UNDER THE EYE OF CHRIST. “ He shall see His seed.” He sees them when they are first born anew. Wherever His seed may wander, He still sees them. This look of Christ is one of intense delight. He will see all His seed to the last. What a seed He will have to see in the morning. It will be a part of His heaven for Him to look upon His redeemed. (C. H. Spurgeon.)He shall prolong His days (with Hebrews 7:15-16; Hebrews 7:25)The enduring life of Christ after His sufferings In these passages we have given to us, first in Hebrew prophecy, and then in Christian teaching, the doctrine of the enduring life of the Christ after His sufferings are over. The Old Testament prophet sees from afar the new life of the Messiah, in a blaze of glory. The New Testament prophet declares the life already begun, and indicates the purposes for which that life is being spent as well as the glory with which it is crowned. The words quoted from the Epistle to the Hebrews are a goal rather than a starting-point. They teach the following truths-- 1. Jesus Christ is now exalted: He is a Priest upon His throne. 2. In Him there is the power of an indissoluble life. 3. Because of an indissoluble life, there is an intransmissible priesthood. 4. This life and this priesthood are in action for the purpose of saving. 5. Since the life is indissoluble, and the priesthood intransmissible, there is an infinitude of saving power. (C. Clemance, D.D.)The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His handThe “ pleasure of Jehovah” The “ pleasure of Jehovah” is the Servant’ s religious mission (Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 42:4; Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 49:8). (Prof. S. R. Driver, D.D.)The success of Christ in His work I. WHAT ARE WE TO BY THE OF THE LORD, the work which is here said to prosper? 1. What is the work to which the declaration refers? The term “ pleasure of the Lord,” as here used, must he considered as expressive of His gracious design to save a number of the human race from sin and all its fatal consequences; to render them perfect in holiness; and put them in full possession of happiness in the heavenly state. It includes in it, therefore, what has been termed the work of grace in the soul while here, and the full fruition of glory hereafter. In this work there are two things to be considered-- (1) The purchase of redemption. (2) Its application. 2. Why is this work called “ the pleasure of the Lord” ? (1) It is the free and sovereign purpose of His will. (2) It is a purpose in the accomplishment of which He takes great delight. II. WHAT PART HAS THE IN THIS WORK? The management of it is wholly committed to His care. It is “ in His hand.” 1. Reconciling sinners unto God is a principal part of the work of salvation committed to the care of the Redeemer. 2. It belongs to the Redeemer, as their Saviour, to preserve His people from every thing that is evil in death. 3. The Redeemer has it in charge to perfect the salvation of His people, by putting them in full possession of glory, honour and immortality, in the heavenly state. III. WHAT WE HAVE, THAT THIS WORK SHALL PROSPER IN THE HAND OF THE , so as to be fully and finally accomplished. The language of the text. What is here asserted is supported by many other passages of the Word of God. Consider-- 1. The character of Him to whom the work is entrusted. 2. The merit of His obedience, and the perfection of His atonement. 3. The progress He has already in the work. (G. Campbell.)The salvation of sinners the pleasure of God This will appear if we glance at the means which He has graciously provided for its accomplishment. I. HE HAS GIVEN HIS ONLY- SON. II. HE HAS HAS GIVEN US HIS WORD. III. HE HAS A GOSPEL . The salvation of sinners is the pleasure of the Lord, and this shall prosper in the hands of Christ. 1. Omnipotence has promised it, as the reward of His obedience and death. 2. He is gone to carry it on before the throne of God. 3. He will descend to complete it when He shall come to judge the world in righteousness. Have we entrusted our souls into His hands? (Essex Remembrancer.)Human redemption a pleasure to the Almighty I. HUMAN IS A TO THE , It is not a mere work of intellect, it is a work of the heart. It is “ His good pleasure.” It is the highest qualification of His benevolence. It is benevolence restoring the rebellious to order, the sinful to holiness, the miserable to blessedness. What is most pleasing to a being always-- 1. Engages most of his thoughts. 2. Enlists most of his energies. II. HUMAN IS TO CHRIST. It shall “ prosper in His hands.” He has undertaken the work. Four things are necessary to qualify a being to succeed in any undertaking. 1. He should enter on it from a deep sympathy with it. We persevere most in the work we most love. 2. He should foresee all me difficulties that are destined to occur. When difficulties arise which we never anticipated, we often get baffled and disheartened. 3. He should have power equal to all the emergencies of the case. 4. He should have sufficient time for its accomplishment. Death often prevents us from finishing our work. Christ has all these qualifications. III. HUMAN IS TO SUCCEED. It “ shall prosper.” An argument for the certainty of its accomplishment. 1. Therefore do not be perplexed by the dispensations of Providence. The result of all the outcome of the chaos will be glorious. 2. Therefore do not be discouraged in your Christian labours. (Homilist.)The Divine purpose fufilled I. GOD HAS FORMED A PURPOSE OF MERCY TOWARD MANKIND. This is intended by the expression “ the pleasure of the Lord.” Notwithstanding the state to which mankind had been reduced by sin, a state in which God, with justice, might have abandoned them to hopeless punishment, that God has adopted towards them a far different mode of procedure. In these mysterious depths of eternity there was a Divine determination that a way of recovery should be opened for the guilty. This is styled “ the eternal purpose of grace,” “ the good pleasure which the Father had purposed in Himself,” “ the good pleasure of His will,” “ the good pleasure of His goodness.” The manifestation of this pleasure of the Lord began on earth as soon as the need of mercy existed. The new-economy, established at an ever-memorable era, has explained what might be ambiguous, has illuminated what might be dark, has supplied what might be deficient under preceding dispensations, and it lays open before us in substance the whole counsel of the Eternal. We now discern that the entire fabric of creation, and the entire system of Providence, are subordinated to the stupendous achievements of redemption, those achievements the attributes of the Divine nature being united in harmony to conduct and to perform. II. THE OF THIS PURPOSE OF MERCY IS TO THE LORD JESUS. “ The pleasure of the Lord is in His hand,” the hand of the Messiah, the Son of God, committed to Him to be by Him accomplished. That the Lord Jesus does sustain this momentous trust is obvious from the entire testimony of revelation. The Lord Jesus performs the purpose of His mercy, we observe more particularly, by His own atonement for sin, and by the communication of the Holy Spirit. III. UNDER THE OF THE LORD JESUS, THE PURPOSE OF MERCY SHALL BE AND . “ The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” 1. The certainty of the accomplishment must appear from the mere existence of a Divine purpose to that effect. The supreme majesty of the perfections of God itself secures the fulfilment of whatever He has designed. 2. The certainty rests upon the inherent excellency of His own character and work. The proper deity of the Lord Jesus Christ renders failure in His work impossible. 3. We observe the Divine assurances solemnly pledged to that effect. Besides general declarations to which we might easily appeal there are recorded assurances addressed by the Father to the Son in His mediatorial capacity respecting the exaltation He was to receive as a specific recompense of the shame and suffering which on behalf of men He had endured. (J. Parsons.) Isaiah 53:11 He shall see of the travail of His soul Christ’ s soul-travail and its outcome 1. The word translated “ travail” has not the special force which the English reader might infer from it; it is a word of much more general use, of much less intensity and much greater variety in the notion of sorrow which it conveys. It is used some sixty times in the Old Testament and means trouble of any, kind, as in the following passages: “ Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” “ God made me forget all my toil.” “ If by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow.” In all these cases the same word is used as in the text. It denotes strong effort, attended with pain and grief. 2. Again, the clause is usually supposed to mean that the glorious results which would follow, would be so glorious, that when beheld, the Messiah should look on them and be satisfied. This is a truth; but it is one developed by necessary inference from the text. The clearer and more exact rendering would be, “ He shall look out from his sorrow, and be satisfied:” not only satisfied with the results of the sorrow, as if amply rewarded by them; but satisfied in the sufferings, in the fact of having undertaken them, because of the grand reason which was ever present to His view. Even in the midst of the sorrow He could look out above and beyond it. Thus we see in this text a most helpful and gladdening light on those aspects of the atoning work which are set forth in this chapter: we are taught not only that Christ would be satisfied when the outcome of His work was complete, but that He was satisfied with his errand on earth while in the very depths of His sorrow and care. At the same time, this view of the text does not exclude the more usual one. So far from that it intensifies it. For if there was satisfaction even at the very hour of the suffering, much greater must be the joy when the suffering is past and the glory secured. (C. Clemance, D. D.)The aspect of the Redeemer’ s work which afforded Him satisfaction I. There must have been a sublime satisfaction in KNOWING THAT THE WAS ON BEHALF OF OTHERS; and that, however unworthy they might be of such entire devotion, they would through it be relieved of a burden which would have crushed them. II. There must have been a satisfaction in THE AND LOVE OF THE SUPREME . In the work of the Lord Jesus Christ “ righteousness and peace kissed each other.” III. The Messiah would experience an intense satisfaction at THE OF THE NEW NAME WHICH HE WOULD ACQUIRE, EVEN THAT OF “ SAVIOUR.” IV. THE MESSIAH BEHELD FROM AFAR MEN WHO ONCE WERE REBELS, BY HIS SIDE, AS SONS AND HEIRS OF GOD: and this satisfied Him. V. OUR SAVIOUR FORESAW THE CLOSE UNION BETWEEN THE SAVED AND HIMSELF, and was satisfied. He knew that after He had died for them, He should live in them, and that there would be such an outgoing of life from Him to them, as to form out of the human race men of finer mould and of higher character than, apart from Himself, would ever have been possible. VI. The Messiah was satisfied in FROM AFAR THE OF SAVED MEN TO EACH OTHER. He saw the Church “ perfect in One,” its discords hushed, its sounds all attuned to perfect harmony. He beheld the believers sharing His glory, all with Him, seated with Him on His throne. (C. Clemance, D. D.)Christ’ s sufferings fruitful I. THE ASPECT IN WHICH THAT WORK IS HERE BY WHICH OUR SAVIOUR HIS GREAT . The sufferings of Christ were-- 1. Expiatory and piacular. 2. Voluntary. 3. Most intense and awful. “ The travail of His soul.” He had a spirit unequalled for sensibility and affection, and keenness of feeling. To form a just conception of His sorrow, we must unite the ideas of compassion for the grief of the distressed, and horror at what was cruel and unjust; of indignation at the oppressor, and pity for the oppressed; of a wish to deliver the guilty, and an abhorrence of their sin. We must connect all the iniquity which He witnessed, and all the knowledge He had of the human heart. We must think of all the wickedness, the hardness of heart, the unbelief of man. We know nothing of the nature of this sacrifice; but this we know, that it was an act of amazing energy, of strenuous labour. It was not submission merely; it was a direct and positive consecration of His whole being; as if He would place Himself on the altar, and become Himself the sacrificing Priest. II. THE SUBLIME AND ARISING TO THE IN THE EFFECT OF HIS . 1. It is the pleasure arising from the expectation of success. 2. It is the pleasure of the most pure and exalted benevolence. 3. It is such satisfaction as springs from the great importance and difficulty of the event brought to an accomplishment. 4. It is satisfaction arising from the peculiar relation of His character and work, to the event itself, and all its consequences. III. THE THAT THIS SHALL BE FINALLY . 1. The sufferings of Christ are assumed as the basis of this assurance, and lead us to observe the natural and inherent attraction of this doctrine. But this certainty arises-- 2. From the tendency of the Gospel to an unlimited and ceaseless diffusion. 3. From its conferring, wherever it is embraced, the greatest temporal advantages in connection with its spiritual benefits. 4. From its amazing progress. 5. From the promises of final success, and the encouraging appearances in the circumstances of the Church in the present day. (R. S. McAll, M. A.)The connection between Messiahs sufferings and subsequent triumphs I. THE OF CHRIST FORMED A PART OF THE OF GOD, IN TO THE OF MAN. “ It became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,” etc. 1. Contemplate the character of that purpose, in reference to its objects as manifesting the benevolence of God. 2. The wisdom of God. 3. The holiness of God. II. THE THAT BETWEEN THOSE AND THE ’ S . 1. The character of the triumphs of Christianity on earth. 2. The certainty of those triumphs. 3. Their extent. (J. W. Etheridge.)The travail of Christ’ s soul I. WHEREIN THIS SOUL- DID NOT CONSIST. 1. We are not to suppose any actual separation betwixt His Godhead and His manhood. 2. There was no sinful fretting, no impatience, nor carnal anxiety in our Lord. 3. There was not in him any distrust of God’ s love, nor any unbelief of His approbation before God, neither the least diffidence as to the result. 4. Neither are we to conceive that there was any inward confusion, challenge or gnawing of conscience in Him, such as is in desperate sinners, cast under the wrath of God, because there was no inward cause of it, nor anything that could breed it. II. WHEREIN IT DID CONSIST. 1. It consisted in the Godhead s suspending its comfortable influence for a time from the human nature. Though our Lord had no culpable anxiety, yet He had a sinless fear, considering Him as man. The infinite God was angry, and executing angrily the sentence of the law against Him. 2. He had an inexpressible sense of grief, not only from the outward afflictions that He was under, but also from the current of the wrath flowing in on His soul. 3. It consisted in a sort of wonderful horror which the marching up of so many mighty squadrons of the highly provoked wrath of God, making so furious an assault on His innocent human nature, was necessarily attended with. (J. Durham.)Christ’ s soul-travail I. CHRIST’ S TRVAIL OF SOUL IN THE WORK OF OUR . II. THE OF SUCCESS. “ He shall see.” III. HIS THEREIN. “ He shall be satisfied.” He counts the salvation of lost sinners to be satisfaction enough for all His pains. (T. Manton, D.D.)Christ’ s soul-sufferings In Christ’ s soul-sufferings we may take notice of two things--His desertion and agonies. (T. Manton, D.D.)Christ’ s satisfaction in the salvation of sinners Jesus Christ taketh an infinite satisfaction in the salvation of sinners. I. OF IT. 1. Christ pleased and entertained Himself in the thought of it before the world was (Proverbs 8:31). 2. This was the end and aim of His coming into the world; and it is pleasant when a man hath attained his end, especially if it be greatly desired and much laboured for. For delight is according to the degree of the desire and labour. 3. Now, in heaven it is His rejoicing to see the work thrive. 4. When He shall come from heaven to judge the world, with what triumph and rejoicing will He come, when He shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father! II. THE REASONS OF IT. His love was the cause of all--His love to the Father, and His love to the saints. (T. Manton, D.D.)The satisfaction of the Messiah Satisfied! Very few can say that word on this side of heaven. There is no satisfaction for those who are self-centred; and we say reverently that God Himself could not have known perfect blessedness unless He had been able to pour Himself forth in blessing upon others. We might put the truth into four sentences. There is no satisfaction apart from love. There cannot be love for sinning suffering souls without travail. There cannot be travail without compensating joy. In proportion to the travail, with its pangs and bitterness, will be the resulting blessedness. I. THE TRAVAIL OF CHRIST’ S SOUL. He suffered because of His quick sympathy with the anguish that sin had brought to man. He probably saw, as we cannot, the timid oppressed by the strong; the helpless victim pursued by rapacity and passion. He heard the wall of the world s sorrow, in which cries of little children, the shriek or moan of womanhood, and the deep bass of strong men wrestling with the encircling serpent-folds, mingle in one terrible medley. He sighed over the deaf and dumb, had compassion on the leper, wept at the grave. As the thorn-brake to bare feet, so must this world have been to His compassionate heart. He must also have suffered keenly by the rejection of those whom He would have gathered, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wing, but they would not. But these elements of pain are not to be compared with that more awful sorrow which He experienced as the substitute and sacrifice of human guilt. It could not be otherwise. He could not have loved us perfectly without becoming one with us in the dark heritage of our first parent. Dost thou love Christ? The first duty He will lay on thee will be love to others. And if thou dost truly love, thou too shalt find thy meed of soul-travail. II. THE OF . “ He shall see.” It is impossible to suffer voluntarily for others, and not in some way benefit them. Thy pain may sometimes seem abortive--the mighty throes that rend thee for the souls of others appear in vain; but it is not really so. Drop by drop thy tears shall presently turn the scale. Patience shall have her perfect work. The laws of the harvest in this sphere are as certain in their operation as in that of nature. III. THE NATURE OF CHRIST’ S . It will come-- 1. In the glory that shall accrue to the Father. 2. In the redemption of untold myriads. Great as the harvest of sin has been, we believe that the saved shall vastly outnumber the lost. Nothing less will satisfy Christ. Remember that in the first age, before mention is made of the latter triumphs of the Gospel, John beheld in heaven a multitude which no man could number. 3. In the character of the redeemed. He shall present them to Himself without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. 4. In the destruction of the devil s work. What is involved in the majestic promise that He should destroy the works of the devil, is not yet made manifest. In due time we shall see it all. IV. THE OF THOSE RESULTS. 1. They must be proportionate to the glory of His nature. It is not difficult to satisfy, at least temporarily, a little child. But as its nature develops, it becomes increasingly hard to content it. But surely there is more difference between the capacity of an angel and that of a man, than between the capacities of a man and a babe But, great as an angel is, his capacity is limited and finite. What then must be the measure of that blessedness, of that harvest of souls, of that result of His travail, which can content the Divine Redeemer? 2. They must be proportionate to the intensity of His suffering. The results of God’ s work are always commensurate to the force He puts forth. You cannot imagine the Divine Being going to an immense expenditure without a sure prescience that He would be recouped. Satisfied! We shall hear His sigh of deep content, and see the triumph on His face. And if Christ is satisfied, we shall be. On this let us rest. (F. B. Meyer, B.A.)Messiah suffering and Messiah satisfied I. A few thoughts illustrative of THE MEANING of the text. II. Two or three to show how we ought to be affected who believe that meaning. 1. The “ satisfaction” of Messiah in relation to the present world is yet incomplete. This should promote humility. 2. In spite of all past disappointments, we confidently expect the fulfilment of this prophecy. 3. The subject ought to lead us individually seriously to examine whether we are contributing to the Saviour’ s satisfaction, either by what we are or by what we are doing. (T. Binney D.D.)The reward of the Redeemer’ s sufferings He sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied. 1. In the free remission of sins which, through His blood and in His name, has been proclaimed to the children of men. 2. In the actual return of sinners to God. (R. Gordon, D.D.)Christ’ s travail and satisfaction The travail is the agony of one Divine as well as human, and that word leads us to the deepest depths of Gethsemane and Calvary--deeper than any plummets of angels’ sympathetic imagination could ever sound; while on the other hand, the satisfaction spoken of is similarly the satisfaction of one Divine as well as human, and projects before us something higher than the usual serenity of God, something more blissful than the usual gladness of the skies, some harvest home, some exquisite ecstasy that fills and overflows the Father-heart of God. I. Whatever there may be in this word, there is a lesson of this sort, that WITHOUT SACRED TRAVAIL IN THE SENSE OF LABOUR, , , THERE IS NEVER ANY ABIDING . Not even for God. There are, I doubt not, indeed, many things which yield satisfaction to God, which, perhaps, involve no Divine travail of proportionate amount. I dare say it might be the case that creation came easily to Him, to the overflowing energy of Divine omnipotence. That it was easy for His infinite wisdom to adapt every organism to its place, and every creature to its circumstances; and He has satisfaction in that work of His hands. Perhaps providence comes easily to Him. But when He aims at the greater objects that engage His heart, when He would not make but save the world, when He would get back to Him the love of His suspicious and wandering children, when He would fill His house with guests, and when He would make these guests eternally worthy of His fellowship, and capable of communion with Him, then not easily even for Him can that work be done; but between Him and this joy that He sets before Him there is the travail of Bethlehem, with its lowliness, of His lonely pilgrim path of misunderstanding, of the weakness of feeble friends, and the bitterness of hateful foes:--there is Gethsemane, there is Calvary. Do not let us dream of doing anything effective for ourselves, or others cheaply, lightly, easily. “ If any one will be My disciple,” says Christ, let him take up the cross--the gibbet--and follow Me” --bidding farewell to dreams of ease, thoughts of self-indulgence, and copying the pattern set upon the Mount of Calvary. There is no sorrow in the world which you and I cannot materially relieve if we will but share it, but there is no sorrow that can be touched till we share it. II. THERE IS SACRED TRAVAIL THERE IS ALWAYS ABIDING . There may be travail in other directions without any satisfaction. Travail for wealth often leaves a man in poverty; travail for the sake of honour leaves him still insignificant and unknown. Do not spend your labour for that which will not profit, but aspire to the grand reward, to the noble results of existence, and put forth the sacred travail which, exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, is rewarded and blessed of heaven. III. Our text suggests a third lesson which it is desirable for all Christian workers to remember--THE OF MAN IS THE OF GOD. IV. THE OF MEN WILL BE ON SUCH A SCALE, AS TO GIVE AND PERFECT TO GOD. The word “ satisfaction” is a large word. You know it is easy to please a man, but it is hard to satisfy him; and, as some one has said, it is the same with God; He is easily pleased, but hard to satisfy. (R. Glover, D.D.)Christ’ s soul-travail I. THE TRAVAIL OF HIS SOUL. Think of the travail of our Lord’ s soul between Bethlehem and Calvary. 1. The travail of waiting during the long years of the life at Nazareth, during the tedious process of training the disciples that followed (Luke 12:50). 2. The travail of His own personal temptation, in the solitude of the wilderness, the protests of Peter, the impulses and the spiritual aloofness of the multitudes, and the actual hostility of their leaders (John 1:11). 3. Omitting many other particulars, the travail of Gethsemane and the cry upon the cross (Matthew 27:46). 4. The travail with sin. “ Upon Him was laid the iniquity of us all” A pure spirit is alway pained, even at the sight of meanness or vice. Christ’ s spirit was so pure that Satan could find nothing in Him (John 14:30); and yetin the loneliness of the passion He suffered the penalty of sins not His own, wrestled with them in prolonged, triumphed over them for ever on the Cross. And if the travail of His soul be measured by the distance between His holiness and the guilt with which He consented to be charged, it will be seen to be absolutely without parallel in human history. II. THIS TRAVAIL, SO IT IS STATED, HAS PROVED SHEER WASTE, or at least, has not accomplished, and is not likely to accomplish, anything like what Christ in enduring it expected. 1. “ Christianity a failure has been the theme of many a critic of our faith; and the failure has been alleged to occur in almost every department of thought and morals and mission. It must be confessed that Christianity has not yet succeeded completely anywhere. Even in places where it has had on its side almost every possible advantage--been supported by governments, illustrated by every kind of genius, in control of the influences of education and public opinion--it has not made society quite pure, or even the average character of its own agents and adherents faultless. And at present there is no part of the earth upon which the Saviour can be imagined to look and to be satisfied with what He sees. The complaint sometimes takes a more personal form. Every Christian is occasionally tempted to think that religion is proving for himself personally something of a failure. After years of sincere trust and service, there are faults of temper, elements of discontent and self-seeking and sin present in the nature, and often apparently even supreme there. And instead of imagining that our Saviour is satisfied with us, the disposition is rather to imagine that we can never satisfy Him, never become “ perfect” and matured, but that we shall have to go on stumbling and faulty to the end. 2. There are two obvious modes of dealing with these complaints and suspicions. It would be possible to plead the intractability of the material, and to imitate natural science in her ceaseless demand for time. Or, we may place ourselves with this prophet at the ultimate end of our Lord’ s career, and see whether there are not, in society and in the heart of man, processes of progress that are tending to success. The conclusion will probably be that the success of Christianity, in relation to everything that concerns morality and religion, has already been so great as even to guarantee the eventual satisfaction concerning which this verse speaks. (1) In regard to the thoughts, which in reasoning men must underlie and to some extent determine their practice. Think what an incalculable improvement Christianity has effected in the prevalent conception of God. From these new thoughts of God the early Christians deduced their conclusions as to the infusion of a Divine element into the spirit of man, by means of which he may be lifted up to God. (2) In matters of social progress and the amelioration of the race, is Christianity a failure? The more personal suspicion, that religion is proving a failure as far as we ourselves are concerned, is a natural fear, due sometimes to the ease with which our best aspirations are forgotten, sometimes to the weight of this “ body of sin.” But it is impossible to imagine the Saviour, now “ expecting until His enemies be made His footstool,” ever turning to His Father in tones of protest, “ After My travail and death, is this penitent sinner to be rejected? this man, struggling with the sin within him and about him, to be worsted?” Did He not once actually say to His Father, thereby pledging both to pardon and help us, “ For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth? And therefore as certain as the Cross of Christ are the pardon of every worst sinner who comes to God through Him, and the perfecting of every believer who with inflexible purpose cleaves in devotion to Him. This word “ satisfied” again, in its Scriptural use, suggests as much. Almost the only place where a man is spoken of as being really satisfied with what he perceives himself to be is in one of the psalms, and even there it is an emotion that is not reached until after death: “ When I awake, I shall be satisfied with Thy likeness.” It seems to imply that, as long as a man lives, he will have some fault to find with himself, weakness or immaturity or aptitude to sin. But, clinging to his Saviour when he dies, all these miseries will fall away from him, and at last the sinner and the Saviour will be satisfied. (Prof. R. W. Moss, D.D.)The effects of our Lord’ s passion I. THE OF OUR LORD. These sufferings were-- 1. Continual. 2. Extreme. 3. Voluntary. 4. Expiatory. 5. Completely effectual. II. THE WHICH HE FEELS IN VIEWING THE EFFECTS OF HIS . 1. The sight. Our Lord has seen of the travail of His soul (1) From the beginning He beheld in contemplation all the fruits of His sufferings; this was the joy which was set before Him. (2) During the various dispensations preceding His actual coming in the flesh He saw the effects of the sacrifice which He had engaged to make. (3) But it was on the cross itself that the Lord Christ saw with one unerring view the full and splendid results of His undertaking. (4) After His ascension into heaven, however, the prospect of the salvation of men began to be realized in a more ample manner. (5) Throughout the succeeding ages of the Church the Saviour has still continued to behold the fruits of His travail. (6) But not only has our Lord already seen of the travail of His soul, He still does see of it. “ His arm is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither is His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.” (7) But the Saviour shall, see hereafter in a still more ample measure this glorious sight. 2. The satisfaction. We are not merely to consider the salvation of sinners as satisfying the Saviour, but as satisfying Him after all the preceding anguish of His sufferings. Conclusion: 1. The light which the subject casts on the value of the soul of man. Both the inconceivable agony of our Lord’ s passion, and the satisfaction He derives from its effects, suppose the unspeakable worth of the human soul. 2. The light which this subject reflects on the hope of a penitent’ s acceptance with Christ. Surely, if He endured such a travail, such anguish of soul and body, and that for the redemption of sinners, He will never reject any one who sincerely renounces his sins and flies to Him. Surely His atonement can reach the case of the worst offender. 3. The illustration which this subject supplies of the powerful motive, by which the Christian is constrained to obey his Saviour. What can claim and fix our love and obedience, if such sufferings, voluntarily endured for us, cannot? 4. The light this subject throws on the future propagation of the Gospel throughout the world. For, if the engagement of the Covenant of redemption expressly be that our Lord “ shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied,” then we may go forth in the cause of missions and of the Bible with a humble confidence. (D. Wilson, M.A.)The salvation of man, the joy of the Redeemer I. SOME OF THOSE OBJECTS WHICH IT IS THE MESSIAH SHALL BEHOLD, AS THE RESULT OF HIS . 1. To remove obstructions out of the way of the sinner’ s salvation. 2. The salvation of His own people. 3. To rectify the moral disorders of our nature. II. THE WITH WHICH THE SAVIOUR WILL BEHOLD THE OF HIS . 1. The completion of any great undertaking is accompanied with satisfaction. 2. Another source of satisfaction to the Saviour must be in the consciousness of having accomplished a work of infinite beneficence. (S. Summers.)The satisfaction of Christ’ s sufferings I. WHAT WAS THE TRAVAIL OF CHRIST ? II. WHY HE TO IT. III. WHY AND WHEN HE IS THAT HE ENDURED IT. 1. He is satisfied when He sees any penitent transgressor alarmed by His warnings, or touched by His merciful invitations, and turning to the obedience which he owes to God. 2. When He sees those whom He has redeemed walking uprightly before God. 3. The last and fullest recompense of the Redeemer s sufferings is still to come; to come in that great and joyful day, when He shall see the family which He has ransomed with His blood surrounding His throne in glory. (J. B. Sumner, M.A.)The sympathy and satisfaction of the Redeemer I. THE DEEP, DIVINE, OF THE . 1. If we analyze the expression, “ the travail of His soul,” we shall find that its meaning is not exhausted, if, indeed, it is illustrated at all, by a reference to the physical sufferings of our Lord. In the writings of the Fathers; in the devotional literature of the Middle Ages; in much of the sacred poetry of ancient, and even of more recent, times; and more specially in the highly realistic conception of sacred and legendary art, the physical sufferings of the Redeemer are treated with an emphasis and detail, which is not authorized by the Inspired record, and which imperils the clearness of our insight into the deeper meaning and mystery of His passion. It is not denied that physical suffering, most acute, most varied in form, and far transcending power of description or of imagination, was the Divinely appointed lot of Him whom “ it pleased the Lord to bruise.” Yet there is a reticence on the part of the inspired writers in relation to the physical sufferings of our Lord which is profoundly suggestive, not only as implying that a too realistic conception of the Passion is prolific of unhealthy and morbid tendencies, but as indicating that it is not within the range of His bodily anguish that we are to discover the true gauge and meaning of His “ travail” 2. If we contemplate the more subjective phases of the Redeemer’ s suffering, we see the impossibility of appreciating, from the standpoint of our human experience and intelligence, the travail of a sinless soul, “ smitten of God and afflicted.” 3. But “ the travail of His soul” involves more than this. It includes that profound and indescribable sympathy, that yearning pity for fallen man, that self-denying and soul-absorbing love of souls, which led the Eternal Son of God to surrender Himself to humiliation and suffering, to empty Himself and become “ obedient unto death--the death of the Cross” --that sympathy which perhaps has told more powerfully upon the human heart than the most picturesque and stirring incidents in His life of lowliness and pain. It was in respect of His sorrow for the fallen and the lost that there was “ no sorrow like unto His sorrow.” I linger on the study of this “ travail of His soul” because of its intimate relation to the success of all truly Christian toil. With many of us the gravest problem of life is the comparative fruitlessness of our work. Does not the secret lie in the feebleness of our sympathy, in the absence of that which has been called a “ passion for saving souls” ? II. THE CALM AND WITH WHICH THE DIVINE SURVEYS THE COURSE AND OF HIS TOIL. A single word in the original is responsible for this deduction, which, however, is sustained not only by the highly elliptical character of the passage, but by the general tenor of the references of Holy Scripture to the mediatorial function. These passages more particularly which refer to the session of the Redeemer on the right hand of the Majesty on high, and notably the memorable passage in the Hebrews: “ But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool,” establish the doctrine which the Hebrew original, with characteristic conciseness, enshrines in one word. The same doctrine is reflected in the history of the Christian Church, which, even in its varying cycles and its intermittent fortunes, bears witness to a Divine Headship, calm, patient, and undisturbed. This tranquil survey of the development and fruitage of His past travail in the moral history of the world does not involve the idea of the personal inactivity of the ascended Son. But this ceaseless activity is not fretted by the anxieties which wait upon human toil. Our noblest work is harassed and hampered by conscious weakness, by distrust of our methods, by the precarious conditions under which we labour, by actual failures, or by the dread of prospective defeats. We, too, are baffled by contingencies not calculable by human foresight: and in front of us there looms that inevitable end of all work which comes alike to all. It is not under such conditions that the enthroned Redeemer surveys the fields of His toil. In the calm assurance which these words imply, there lies a tacit rebuke of the recklessness and feverish impatience of the Church in regard to the conversion of the world. III. THE OF HIS FINAL AND ETERNAL . It is obvious that if this passage is to be taken literally, the ultimate issues of redemption will far transcend the loftiest anticipations which the Church has ventured to entertain. For though there be a few passages even in the ministry of our Lord which seem to look towards a less cheering sequel, a study of their surroundings will show that there is no collision between them and the most hopeful interpretation of the words of the text. No conclusions drawn from merely human analogies can be fairly applied in the endeavour to ascertain the limits within which the satisfaction of the Reedemer is to be understood. Human nature is governed by sentiment. Judging of the Divine administration by its own feelings, it has assumed that nothing less than the final restoration of every fallen man can satisfy the travail of the soul of the Redeemer. But the Divine economy is not an economy of sentiment. The infinite love of the Father acts only in harmony with the other attributes of the Divine nature. Law must be satisfied as well as love; and the human will must not be coerced in its acceptance or rejection of the provisions which mercy has devised. But while we decline to indulge even a larger hope, which rests only on sentiment and on the subtle perversion of the Sacred text, no limitations which must necessarily be assigned to its exposition can spoil it of its overpowering significance. No human mind can indicate the sources or measure the depths of that satisfaction. The practical application of this ancient prophecy is furnished by St. Paul (1 Corinthians 15:58). (R. N. Young, D.D.)Christ’ s vision the Cross It was in the crisis of His mental and spiritual horror, and agony and darkness, that a vision broke on the eyes of Jesus which made even His death on the Cross to be even a satisfaction to Him. I. HE SAW THE OF THE MOST OF GOD. II. THE VISION GAVE HIM THE OF A . III. IN THAT VISION WAS A SIGHT OF THE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL IN WINNING THE HEARTS OF MEN TO GOD. (C. F. Deems, LL.D.)He shall be satisfied The satisfaction of which the prophet speaks is not the joy of a sinner in the Saviour who redeems him, but the joy of the Saviour over sinners whom He has redeemed. I. THE TRAVAIL OF HIS SOUL. We may take note of some of the ingredients that entered into the cup, although we cannot measure the degree of their bitterness. 1. He who was from all eternity the beloved of His Father put His glory off, and put on our nature. 2. He severed Himself from the company of the holy who loved and worshipped Him, for the company of the unholy who in feeble friendship vexed or in open enmity crucified Him. 3. “ He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 4. He met personally with the person of the wicked one in our quarrel. 5. His heart was often sore vexed by ignorance, selfishness, unfaithfulness, even of His own selected disciples. 6. The people for whose sake He came into the world--the Israel among whom he was born and bred--would none of Him. 7. The office of the priesthood, which He loved and honoured as God s institute to hold up the promise of redemption, was by those who held it prostituted to reject the counsel of God. 8. But alone, and above all, incomprehensible to us, yet awful both for the part that we know and the part that we know not, is the desertion by the Father, and the final descent of wrath, due to sin, on the Redeemer’ s soul. II. THE FRUIT THAT RESULTS FROM THE TRAVAIL OF HIS SOUL. It is not to the sufferings in themselves that the Redeemer looks. Herein appears the greatness of His love. He looks over and past the travail of His soul, and fixes His regards on the results that it secures. III. THE WHICH THE SAVIOUR IN THE RESULTS OF THE TRAVAIL OF HIS SOUL. How comes it that this new creature is graven more deeply on the heart of the Eternal Son than all His other works? Those other possessions were created by His word, or fashioned by His hand, but this springs from the travail of His soul. (W. Arnot, D. D.)“ The travail of His soul:” In dealing with the travail of our Redeemer’ s soul, we are like a child writing down in figures the national debt of the country. The figures are soon written, and they are all correct; but how much of the mighty meaning has entered the mind of that child. (W. Arnot, D. D.)The fruit of Christ’ s sacrifice The fruit of Christ’ s sacrifice included three things:-- I. THE GLORY THAT SHOULD ACCRUE TO THE FATHER from the new splendours reflected on all the perfections of His character by the work of human redemption. II. THE REWARD THAT SHOULD ACCRUE TO THE SAVIOUR HIMSELF, His personal exaltation, mediatorial authority, His Father s approbation, and the blessings of countless millions ransomed by His blood. III. THE BENEFIT THAT SHOULD ACCRUE TO HIS PEOPLE, the blissful change produced upon their condition, character, and prospects--children of wrath snatched from hell, servants of corruption rescued from their debasing servitude, rebels against God subdued by the sweet influence of His grace, cleansed from all moral defilement, arrayed in the beauties of holiness, purified, refined, ennobled, rendered worthy associates of unfallen angels, and made to people heaven, who, but for Christ’ s interposition, must have been the tenants of hell. This last is the cause of His satisfaction specially referred to in the text. (J. Roxburgh, M.A.)The success of the Gospel How few of us are satisfied! The prophet himself seems far from being satisfied; for in the first verse of the chapter he laments, “ Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” And yet so complete shall be the Gospel at last, so entirely shall it fulfil all that God meant it to accomplish, that Jesus Himself shall be satisfied. I. WHY THIS SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL IS CALLED THE TRAVAIL OF JESUS’ SOUL. Because Gospel blessings are given us on account of Christ’ s sufferings. II. If we would see a little more clearly the final success of the Gospel, let us ask, WHEN DID HE SEE THE TRAVAIL OF HIS SOUL, AND WAS ? at what time? This chapter, I think, tells us when. “ When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin,” says the tenth verse, “ He shall see His seed.” III. If we would ask IN WHAT JESUS WAS , we may answer at once, in every respect. All the purposes for which He died will be accomplished. We may hence learn-- 1. That the number of those finally saved will be exceedingly great. 2. The complete final sanctification of believers. 3. Another reason for which Christ poured out His soul unto death was, to obtain for us the grace and help of His Holy Spirit. (E. Bradley.)The promised fruit of Christ’ s sufferings I. THE BEFORE US HAS ALREADY BEEN . Already has our Redeemer seen much of the fruit of His sufferings. Our once barren world, watered by His tears and His blood, has already produced a large harvest of righteousness and salvation. II. DURING THE PERIOD WHICH MUST ELAPSE BEFORE TIME SHALL END, THIS SHALL RECEIVE A MUCH MORE AMPLE . III. IT IS TO THE FINAL OF ALL THINGS, IT IS TO , THAT WE MUST LOOK FOR THE OF THIS . Our Redeemer will see that spiritual edifice, the foundation of which was laid in His blood, which has been so long erecting, standing before Him finished, resplendent in glory, and perfect in beauty. (E. Payson, D.D.)The prophecy of the Cross In fancy we can see the Son of God standing before the world began upon the heights of heaven, His ancestral home, and there with conflicting emotions at work within His heart, and mirrored on His face, He sees the great drama of Calvary unrolled before His eyes. I. JESUS SAW THE FOR THE CROSS. 1. He knew that God the Father had plans for man. He was a being of order and intelligence. Man was to be created in the image of God. He was to have happiness within his reach. It was to come by a perfect obedience to the will of God. That was all man needed for happiness. 2. Jesus saw that men would go away from the plan of God. II. JESUS SAW THE REALITY OF THE CROSS. Jesus knew as He looked with prophetic eye that there must be some satisfaction rendered for the law that had been violated. He saw that He must render that satisfaction. III. JESUS SAW THE FRUIT OF THE CROSS. (A. W. Bealer, D.D.)The Saviour’ s ultimate joy May we not safely say that the joy will be as varied as the relationships which our Saviour bears to us? It will be the joy of the Sufferer whose agony is forgotten in the abundance of bliss,--the joy of the Sower in reaping the abundance of the harvest,--the joy of the Shepherd in seeing all the sheep as one flock, safe for ever in the heavenly fold,--the joy of the Friend in seeing all His friends by His side in a union with Him and with each other, that no misapprehension shall ever mar, and no sin shall ever stain,--it will be the joy of the Warrior when the battle is over, when every enemy is still as a stone, and the summons to fight is exchanged for victorious rest,--it will be the joy of the Leader, who has brought all His host into the promised land,--it will be the joy of the Mediator, who has discharged His trust and surrendered it to the Father, saying, “ Of those whom Thou gavest Me I have lost none,” --it will be the joy of the King who is to reign for ever over a kingdom in which revolt has been made impossible through the achievements of almighty grace,--it will be the joy of the Redeemer when the redemption is complete, fulfilling His longings and His prayers,--it will be the joy of the First-born Son at seeing every member of the new-born family safe in a happy home, which no sin can disturb and no death invade,--it will be the joy of the Son of man in witnessing the ideal of human perfection,--it will be the joy of the Son of God, as to principalities and powers in heavenly places He reveals through a glorified Church the manifold wisdom of God, showing to worlds on worlds what Infinite Love devised and Infinite Power achieved! (C. Clemance, D.D.)Travail of soul and satisfaction I have known an eminent portrait-painter, who, when the crisis of his picture came at which it was to be determined whether or not he had produced a likeness of the features only, or a picture of the soul and character of his subject, used to fall into perfect paroxysms of excitement, weeping, wringing his hands and grovelling on the ground; but when it was over and the true likeness stood embodied the canvas, gave way to equally extravagant exultation. (J. Stalker, D.D.)Messiah satisfied Small things will satisfy a small mind. It requires great things to satisfy a great mind. What must be required to satisfy the mind of an angel? above all, what must be required to satisfy the mind of God? The salvation of ruined mankind does so! (J. R. Macduff, D.D.)The satisfaction of realized purpose There is intense joy in work when it is done and well done. The humblest mechanic feels this pleasure when he sees the article he has been making passing out of his hands perfect. The poet surely feels it when he writes Finis at the end of the work into which he has poured the full force of his genius. What must it have been to William Wilberforce to hear on his deathbed that the cause to which he had devoted the toil of a lifetime had triumphed, and to know that, when he died, there would not be a single slave breathing in any of the dependencies of Britain! (J. Stalker, D.D.)By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify manyJustification by the knowledge of Christ I. THE GREAT BENEFIT THAT FLOWS FROM CHRIST’ S . Justification. II. THE PARTIES MADE OF THE BENEFIT. “ Many.” III. THE FROM WHICH THIS BENEFIT FLOWS TO MANY. “ My righteous Servant.” IV. THE WAY CHRIST . Not simply by forgiving, but by His satisfying for them. “ He shall bear their iniquities.” V. THE MEANS BY WHICH THIS BENEFIT IS DERIVED. “ By His knowledge.” (J. Durham.)“ My righteous Servant:” Consider the title that Christ gets in these words. I. He is called the Lord’ s SERVANT. It looks to Him as Mediator. It imports-- 1. A humiliation and inferiority in respect of God (Philippians 2:1-30). 2. His prerogative as being singularly and eminently God’ s Servant. 3. The particular task or work that is laid on Him, and the commission that He hath got to prosecute that work. 4. That our Lord Jesus, in performing the work of redemption, cannot but be acceptable to Jehovah, because it is a performing of that with which He hath entrusted Him. II. He is called the Lord’ s SERVANT. He is all excellent Servant; not righteous simply as He is God, nor as He is man, but righteous in the administration of His offices, and in the discharge of the great trust committed to Him. He administrates His offices-- 1. Wonderfully wisely. 2. Very tenderly. 3. Most diligently and effectually. 4. With all faithfulness. (J. Durham.)Justification There are commonly six causes made necessary to concur in justification. 1. The efficient cause--God, the Party that doth justify. 2. The final cause--His own glory. 3. The meritorious cause--Christ’ s merit. 4. The inward instrumental cause--faith. 5. The formal cause, or that wherein justification consists. 6. The external, instrumental cause--the Word of God. (J. Durham.)Knowledge and faith Faith, where it is saving, hath always knowledge going along with it. 1. Faith is nothing, but as it lays hold on some object. How can faith lay hold on an object, except it know it? 2. Faith, as justifying, is always holden forth as making use of and giving credit to that which is revealed in the Word. 3. In justification, God would have a sinner proceed as a man doth who defends himself before an earthly tribunal. As it is dangerous in a weighty cause to have an ignorant advocate, who puts in a wrong defence, so is it, in this case, to be ignorant (Romans 10:3). 4. There must be repentance ere a sinner can be justified, which supposeth knowledge. He must needs know his sin, and that his own righteousness will not do his turn. 5. Look forward to the duties of holiness, which are necessary, though not to justify you, yet that ye may live as it becomes justified persons. Now, can any know or do duties, who are ignorant? 6. Consider your own peace, and how, in order to it, there is a necessity of knowledge. (J. Durham.)Justifying faith 1. The necessity of it. 2. The Object of it. 3. The act of it. 4. The effects that flow from it. 5. The manner of its concurring in the attainment of justification. (J. Durham.)Justification by the knowledge of Christ 1. It is the privilege of the Gospel to discover a way for the justification of sinners “ by His knowledge.” 2. Faith is knowledge, or an apprehension of Christ. “ The knowledge of Him.” 3. By faith we are justified. He saith by His knowledge, but He meaneth faith; such apprehensions of Christ as cause answerable dispositions in the spirit. (T. Manton, D.D.)The knowledge of Christ I. WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE TO WHICH THE PROPHET SUCH ? It is well to cultivate the understanding, if, perchance, the Spirit of enlightening grace might employ this faculty as an avenue to the heart. And yet we must beware of substituting the means for the end. Others have acquired a more clear view of the Gospel revelation, who know much, but employ their knowledge to no better purpose than to maintain an empty parade of religious profession. What is the knowledge to which we allude--the knowledge which involves privileges so inestimable? The prophet calls it, the knowledge of the righteous Servant of God. This is no other than the holy Jesus, the righteous Messiah. 1. There must be the knowledge of self. 2. The knowledge which the sinner acquires of his own character, though connected with that to which the prophet alludes, is not the thing itself. It is the knowledge of the Saviour, Christ. To know the Lord Jesus Christ is to renounce all virtue in ourselves, and to look to Him alone for salvation. But there is a further particular comprehended in the knowledge which the believer has of Christ. The Lord Jesus is called the “ righteous Servant of God.” If we love Him, we must love Him as a righteous Saviour. II. THE WHICH SUCH A IS MADE IN . 1. The believer enjoys justification from sin by the sufferings and death of Christ. 2. As he is united by faith with the Saviour, he partakes in His righteousness. 3. As he is designed for the heavenly inheritance, he must be made meet for its enjoyment; and therefore he has the promise of the Spirit of Christ to sanctify his heart. (W. North, M.A.)“ By His knowledge:” That is, either by His own knowledge, or by their knowledge of Him. And, as Dean Plumptre puts it, the prophet may have been directed to an expression which included both. For both are true of Christ. Men are saved by knowing Him; and, on the other hand, it is His knowledge of the Father that enables Him to lead men to the Father. (Expository Times.)Justifying the many 1. Here is a state supposed with regard to the many--that they would need to be justified. Look at history. Let us look into our own hearts. Let us look at the pure and holy law. 2. The prophet foresees One who would be an exception to the many. While to them iniquities belong, this one would be the “ righteous Servant.” There has been but One in all history to whom this expression could completely and unreservedly apply. 3. Nor did the prophet foresee this One merely as one Righteous One amid a desolate waste of sin, but he foresees Him taking on Himself the liabilities of the race. “ He shall bear their iniquities.” 4. The knowledge of this Righteous One should have peculiar value. “ By His knowledge;” this and no more will the Hebrew term bear. But we may understand either--by the knowledge He has, or by the knowledge that He imparts, or by the knowledge of Himself that men should gain. Either way a sense is conveyed that is intelligible and true. 5. Where the Righteous One is thus known, He accomplishes a glorious justifying act. By means of the saving acquaintance with Him which believing penitents make, when, confessing their sin, they rely on Him for pardon, He, in the exercise of His own royal rights, absolves them from all their guilt, and releases them from the condemning sentence of the law of God. 6. As the result of this release the penitents are re-set in a position of favour, grace, and love. 7. The ground or reason of His justifying the many, is that He bore their iniquities. The justifying is not only a sequence, but the consequence of His bearing our sins. (C. Clemance, D.D.) Isaiah 53:12 Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great Christ’ s conflict and conquest I. CHRIST’ S . II. CHRIST’ S . The conflict is last in the order of the words, but first in order of nature and time. (T. Manton, D.D.)The greatness of the Sin-bearer It is the voice of God Himself; and it is befitting that, as He introduced His Servant in the opening verses of this marvellous portraiture, so, in these closing words, He should pronounce His verdict on His career. Two things are clearly predicated of the Sin-bearer. 1. That He should be great. 2. That He should attain His commanding position, not as the founder of a new school of thought, nor as the leader of a social reformation, nor as possessed of exceptional saintliness--but as a Sufferer. I. THE GIVEN BY THE FATHER AS THE REWARD FOR CHRIST’ S TO DEATH. It was meet that such a reward should be bestowed, for the sake of those who should afterwards follow in the footsteps of their Divine Master. None could ever deserve more or better than Christ; and if He were without recognition or reward, might it not be thought that Heaven had no prize to give for faithful service? Surely He must have a reward, or the very order of the universe might be deemed at fault? But what reward should He have? What could compensate Him for having laid aside the exercise of His Divine prerogative; for having assumed our nature; for having passed through the ordeal of temptation, sorrow, and pain; for having become obedient to death, even the death of the Cross? All worlds were His by native right; all holy beings owned His sway as Creator and God; all provinces of thought, emotion, power, and might, sent Him their choicest tribute. What reward could He claim, or have? The answer may be suggested by recalling our own pleasure in conferring pleasure, our joy in giving joy. Let the limitations imposed by our mortality or circumstances be removed; let us be able to realize to the full the yearnings and promptings of our noblest hours; lot the wish to help be accompanied by a sympathy that cannot hurt the most sensitive, a wisdom that cannot mistake, a power that cannot be daunted or thwarted; and probably we should at once drink deep draughts of blessedness like God’ s. This is the blessedness of Christ, and this is the reward which the Father has given Him. God Himself could not give, nor the Saviour ask for, a greater reward than this. And, in its magnificence, it appeals to all who would tread in His steps. This is Heaven’ s supreme reward: that all who pour out their souls to death shall obtain enlarged opportunities and possibilities of service. II. THE THAT CHRIST’ S DEATH HAS SECURED HIM AMONG MEN. He is worthy to take the mysterious scroll of destiny, and break its seals, because of the light Its has cast on the great mysteries by which our lot is shadowed. 1. Pain. When it enwraps us in its fiery baptism, we are apt to accuse ourselves or to doubt God. But Jesus has taught us that there is yet a third way of regarding pain. He had not sinned, yet He suffered as none of woman.born ever did. Evidently, then, pain is not always symptomatic of special sin. He was once so submerged in anguish that for a time He lost the sense of His Father’ s love; but He never suggested that there was failure or obliquity in the moral government of the world. The death of Jesus has therefore robbed death of these two implications, and has taught us that it is often sent, and must be borne, with the view of benefiting others. What a priceless service was this--to transform pain; to persuade sufferers that by their travail of soul they were enriching the whole world of men. 2. Death. Men dread it. But He, by His dying, has abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light. For this we count Him great, that through death He undid death. 3. Sin When Jesus died on the Cross, He was numbered with transgressors; but He stood over against all transgressors, distinct from them and bearing their sin. This surely constitutes an overmastering claim for us to count Christ great. III. THE WHICH HIS DEATH WILL WIN FOR CHRIST IN THE OF OTHER RACES OF BEING. Not to the Mount of Beatitudes, but to the Cross, will distant worlds send their deputations in all coming ages, to learn the manifold lessons which it alone can teach. There they will learn to know the very heart of God, His hatred against sin, His love for the sinner, His fidelity to covenant engagements, His righteousness, His truth. The Cross is the heavenly prism that enables us to distinguish the constituents of the Divine nature. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)He shall divide the spoil with the strong“ He shall divide the spoil with the strong:” This is generally interpreted as picturing a conqueror sharing with other fellow-conquerors in the booty of the conquered. But could that figure have any analogy in Christ’ s triumph” Who could be His fellow-conquerors? What could be the booty of His conquered ones? Much better is it to consider “ the strong,” or the “ mighty ones,” to represent the powers of darkness, who have made spoil of the human race, and the division of the spell with them by Messiah to be the rescue of souls from their grasp. The “ many” (Isaiah 53:11) whom He saves will then be the spoil He snatches from the great enemy, and we can read the whole passage: “ By the knowledge of Him shall My righteous Servant give righteousness to many, and He Himself shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him the many as His portion, and he shall divide the spoil with the mighty ones.” This allusion to the powers of evil gives completeness to the prophetic description. The humble birth, unattractive position in society, and unfavoured career through life, are given in Isaiah 53:2, 3. His partnership with distress and His own sufferings are exhibited invers. 4, 5, 6. His meekness is portrayed in Isaiah 53:7. Then comes the apparent failure of His life, followed by its complete triumph in saving souls. We need a word regarding the enemy triumphed over to make the wonderful prophetic sketch complete. (Howard Crosby, LL.D.)The Lord Jesus a glorious Conqueror Dividing of the spoil is the effect of a sure and a great conquest. The eminency of it lieth in these four things-- (1) Either in the power of the adversaries. There is no triumph in prevailing over weak things. (2) The unlikelihood of the means. A thousand men were slain by the jawbone of an ass by the hands of Samson; and a numerous host discomfited by Gideon’ s pitchers and three hundred lamps. Such things as these make the success memorable. (3) The manner or nature of the victory. Total defeats are most noted. (4) A conquest is glorious in the effects or result of it. If it be of great importance and consequence to the good of a people, when fears are removed, and privileges are granted and enlarged, spoilers taken, a kingdom subdued--these things make for the glory of the victory. Let us see if such things be not found in the conquest of Christ. THE . They are always expressed by such notions as do imply great strength and power (Colossians 2:15; Ephesians 4:8). 1. There is the devil, who is a powerful adversary. But “ the prince of this world is judged” (John 16:11). 2. The law was an enemy, as it condemns us (Colossians 2:14; Ephesians 2:16). 3. Death and hell (1 Corinthians 15:54; 2 Timothy 1:10; Revelation 1:18). 4. The flesh (Romans 8:3). 5. The world (John 16:33). 6. All the adverse powers in the world (Psalms 2:10-12). II. THE MEANS. The weapons of this warfare are not carnal. 1. As to His death. 2. By the Word of the Cross, called the foolishness of preaching. 3. By His Spirit; a great force, but secret and undiscerned. 4. By His prayers and intercessions. III. THE MANNER OR NATURE OF THE , how it is achieved. 1. The enemies are overcome and terribly broken: there is a total dissipation of all the powers of darkness. 2. Not barely overcome, but spoiled and rifled (Colossians 2:15). 3. Such a victory as endeth in a solemn triumph; as conquerors in public view carried their spoils and their enemies tied to their chariots, so Christ would expose them to open shame. IV. WHAT SPECIAL WE HAVE BY THE OF CHRIST. 1. The banishment of distracting fear (Hebrews 2:15). 2. An encouragement to the spiritual conflict. 3. Joy unspeakable and glorious. 4. Hopes of glory; we shall conquer with Him, and reign with Him. 5. The very exaltation of Christ is a great comfort to us. 6. Christ’ s conquest is a token, earnest and pledge of our victory. 7. What Christ did in this conquest, He did it for our sakes. He will have nothing but we shall share in it. 8. Another benefit is usefulness and serviceableness for all that befalls us. Christ doth so effect it that all things work together for good (Romans 8:28). (T. Manton, D.D.)He hath poured out His soul unto deathThe conflict of Christ explained I. HIS DEATH. “ He hath poured out,” etc. II. THE OF IT. “ He was numbered with the transgressors.” III. THE CAUSE OF IT. “ He bare,” etc. IV. THE NOTED IN IT. “ He made intercession for the transgressors.” (T. Manton, D.D.)The love of Christ He gave Himself. I. THE GIFT. “ His soul.” II. THE MANNER OF GIVING. “ Poured out.” III. THE INTENT. (T. Manton, D.D.)Christ killed by the inner Cross It was not the Cross of wood that killed the Saviour, but the inner Cross, which lay heavily on His soul. (C. Clemance, D.D.)Christ’ s connection with sinners the source of His glory I. The first source of the Mediator’ s glory is, that He, out of His love to guilty men, has POURED OUT HIS SOUL UNTO DEATH. The penalty of sin is death. “ The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” The Lord Jesus came into such connection with men that He bore the death penalty which guilty men had incurred. Remark the expression: “ He hath poured out His soul unto death.” It is deliberate. It is a libation presented with thought and care; not the mere spilling of His blood, but the resolute, determinate pouring out of His whole life unto its last drop--the pouring it; out unto death. Christ’ s resolve to die for you and me was not that of a brave soldier who rushes up to the cannon’ s mouth in a moment of excitement; but He was practically pouring out His life from the day when His public ministry commenced, if not before. He was always dying by living at such a rate that His zeal consumed Him. 2. It was most real and true. I pray you do not think of Christ as pouring out His soul, as though it made Him spend a sort of ecstatic life in dream-land, and suffer only in thought, intent, and sympathy. My Lord suffered as you suffer, only more keenly; for He had never injured His body or soul by any act of excess, so as to take off the edge from His sensitiveness. 3. See how complete it was. Jesus gave poor sinners everything. His every faculty was laid out for them. Put your trust; m Him, then, without reserve. II. OUR LORD WAS WITH SINNERS. “ He was numbered with the transgressors.” There is a touch of nearness to the sinner about this which there is not in the first clause. He bears death for the sinner; but you could not suppose, if you had not read it, thus He would be written in the sinner s register. He was not, and could not be, a sinner; but yet it is written, “ He was numbered with the transgressors.” Is there a census taken of sinners? Then, the name of Jesus is written down. How was He numbered with the transgressors? This makes it the more marvellous, because it is so hurtful to a man who is pure, to be numbered with the impure. Our Lord Jesus was numbered with the transgressors-- 1. By the tongue of slander. They called Him a drunken man and a wine-bibber: they even called Him Beelzebub. That was sharp enough for Him to bear, whom all the angels salute as “ Holy, holy, holy!” 2. In the earthly courts of justice. He stood at the bar as a common felon, though He was judge of all. Though they could not find witnesses whose testimony agreed, yet they condemned Him (Mark 15:28). 3. Our Lord Jesus Christ, on earth, was treated, in the providence of God, as transgressors are treated. Transgression sometimes brings on men poverty, sickness, reproach, and desertion; and Jesus Christ had to take His share of all these with sinful men. All things in this world that are so keen and terrible to man, because man has become so guilty, were just as keen and terrible to Him. The nails that pierced Him tore His tender flesh as they would have torn that of the sinful. Fever parched Him till His tongue cleaved to His jaws. 4. The Holy God treated Him as if He were one of us. “ It pleased the Father to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief.” . God not only turned His back on transgressors, but He turned His back upon His Son, who was numbered with them. III. The third matter by which the Lord Jesus Christ has won His victories, and earned reward of God, is this: “ HE BARE THE SIN OF MANY.” IV. The last thing is this: “ HE MADE FOR THE .” Who among us will take up the part of the guilty? Who will plead for the guilty? I know, in certain oases, the lawyer will sell his tongue to the most polluted; but if a man were perfectly pure, you would not find him saying a word in defence of the guilty. So far as the man was guilty he could not be defended. But our Lord made intercession for transgressors. When He was here on earth how tender He was with transgressors! He bore on His heart the names of guilty men. He was always pleading their cause, and when He came to die he said, “ Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He took their part. He would exculpate them if He could. I dare say that He has often prayed like that for you. Now He has gone up yonder He is pleading still. Application: (1) Jesus Christ does not shrink from sinners; ye sinners, do not shrink from Him. (2) As Jesus does not shrink from sinners, do not yourselves shrink from them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)He was numbered with the transgressorsThe Friend of sinners I. To the sinner, troubled and alarmed on account of guilt, there will be much comfort in the thought that CHRIST IS AMONG SINNERS. “ He was numbered with the transgressors.” 1. In what sense are we to understand this? (1) He was numbered with them, in the census of the Roman empire. (2) Years rolled on, and that child who had been early numbered with transgressors, and had received the seal of transgression in the circumcision, which represents the putting away of the flesh--that child, having come to manhood, goes forth into the world and is numbered with transgressors in the scroll of fame. Ask public rumour “ What is the character of Jesus of Nazareth?” and it cannot find a word in its vocabulary foul enough for Him. “ This” they sometimes said; and our translators have inserted the word “ fellow” because in the original there is an ellipsis, the evangelists, I suppose, hardly liking to write the word which had been cast upon Christ Jesus. They called the Master of the house, Beelzebub! (3) But to make the matter still more forcible, “ He was numbered with transgressors in the courts of law.” The ecclesiastical court of Judaism, the Sanhedrim, said of Him, “ Thou blasphemest;” and they smote Him on the cheek. Written down among the offenders against the dignity of God and against the security of the Jewish Church, you find the name of Jesus of Nazareth which was crucified. The courts civil also asserted the same. (4) Then, the whole Jewish people numbered Him with transgressors; nay, they reprobated Him as a more abominable transgressor than a thief and a murderer who had excited sedition. (5) His name is written in the calendar of crime by the whole universe; for He is despised and rejected of men; of all men is He accounted to be the offscouring of all things, and is put to grief. 2. Why was Christ numbered with transgressors? (1) Because He could the better become their advocate. I believe, in legal phraseology, in civil cases, the advocate considers himself to be part and partner with the person, for whom he pleads. You hear the counsellor continually using the word “ we;” he is considered by the judge to represent the person for whom he is an advocate. (2) That He might plead with them. Suppose a number of prisoners confined in one of our old jails, and there is a person desirous to do them good, imagine that he cannot be admitted unless his name is put down in the calendar. Well, out of his abundant love to these prisoners he consents to it, and when he enters to talk with them, they perhaps think that he will come in with cold dignity; but he says, “ Now, let me say to you first of all that I am one of yourselves.” “ Well,” they say, “ but have you done aught that is wrong?” “ I will not answer you that,” saith he; “ but if you will just refer to the calender you will find my name there; I am written down there among you as a criminal.” Oh, how they open their hearts now! (3) That sinners may feel their hearts drawn to Him. (4) That we might be written in the red roll of His saints. II. We are taught in the next sentence, that Christ “ BARE THE SINS OF MANY.” 1. Here it is as clear as noon-day that Christ dealt with sinners. 2. As He did bear their sins, other texts tell us that He did bear them away. 3. There is now no sin abiding upon those for whom Jesus died. III. Our third sentence tells us that JESUS FOR SINNERS. “ And made intercession for the transgressors.” 1. He pleads for their forgiveness. 2. He next prays that those for whom He intercedes may be saved, and may have a new life given them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Christ numbered with the transgressors He became a sinner, though sinless-- 1. By imputation. 2. By reputation. (J. Trapp.)Made intercession far the transgressorsChrist’ s intercession for transgressors Christ in this and such like actions is to be considered in a double regard-- 1. As a holy, godly man; so He was to fulfil all righteousness. 2. As a mediator and public person, that was to be our High Priest, to satisfy and intercede. (T. Manton D. D.)Christ s intercession 1. Who prayeth. Christ, one that could destroy them with His glory easily enough. 2. When He prayed. In the very act of His sufferings. 3. For whom He prayed. For them that offered Him all the indignities in the world. 4. How He prayed. He pleadeth for them; “ Forgive them,” etc. (T. Manton, D.D.)Jesus interceding for transgressors Our blessed Lord made intercession for transgressors in so many words while He was being crucified, for He was heard to say, “ Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Our Lord fixed His eye upon that point in the character of His persecutors which was most favourable to them, namely, that they knew not what they did. He could not plead their innocence, and therefore He pleaded their ignorance. Our great Advocate will be sure to plead wisely and efficiently on our behalf; He will urge every argument which can be discovered, for His eye, quickened by love, will suffer nothing to pass which may tell in our favour. The prophet, however, does not, I suppose, intend to confine our thoughts to the one incident which is recorded by the evangelists, for the intercession of Christ was an essential part of His entire life-work. Jesus Himself is the reasoning and logic of prayer, and He Himself is an ever-living prayer unto the Most High. It was part of our Lord’ s official work to make intercession for the transgressors. He is a Priest, and as such He brings His offering, and presents prayer on the behalf of the people. I. I have to direct your attention to our ever-living Lord making intercession for the transgressors; and I shall pray God that all of us may be roused to FOR HIS GRACE. 1. If you will consider His intercession for transgressors I think you will be struck with the love, and tenderness, and graciousness of His heart, when you recollect that He offered intercession verbally while He was standing in the midst of their sin. Sin heard of and sin seen are two very different things. Our Lord actually saw human sin, saw it at its worst. He saw it all, and felt the sin as you and I cannot feel it, for His heart was purer, and therefore tenderer than ours: He saw that the tendency of sin was to put Him to death, and all like Him, yea and to slay God Himself if it could achieve its purpose, for man had become a Decide and must needs crucify His God--and yet, though His holy soul saw and loathed all this tendency and atrocity of transgression, He still made intercession for the transgressors. 2. Another point of His graciousness was also clear, namely, that He should thus intercede while in agony. 3. But it is marvellous that He being pure, should plead for transgressors at all: for you and for me amongst them--let the wonder begin there. 4. Further, it is to me a very wonderful fact that in His glory He should still be pleading for sinners. 5. Again, it is gloriously gracious that our Lord should continue to do this. He hath never ceased to make intercession for transgressors. II. I do earnestly pray that we may be led of the Holy Ghost so to view His intercession for transgressors as to put our IN HIMSELF. There is ground for a sinner’ s confidence in Christ, and there is abundant argument for the believer’ s complete reliance in Him, from the fact of His perpetual intercession. 1. Because His intercession succeeds. 2. There is reason for transgressors to come and trust in Jesus Christ, seeing He pleads for them. 3. I am sure, too, that if Jesus Christ pleads for transgressors as transgressors, while as yet they have not begun to pray for themselves, He will be sure to hear them when they are at last led to pray. 4. In order that our confidence may be increased, consider the effect of our Lord’ s intercession for transgressors. (1) Many of the worst of transgressors have been preserved in life in answer to Christ’ s prayer. (2) The gift of the Holy Spirit which is needful for the quickening of transgressors was the result of Christ’ s intercession. (3) It is through Christ’ s intercession that our poor prayers are accepted with God. (4) It is through the prayers of Christ, too, that we are kept in the hour of temptation. Remember what He said to Peter, “ I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not,” when Satan desired to have him and sift him as wheat. “ Father, keep them from the evil” is a part of our Lord’ s supplication, and His Father hears Him always. (5) Indeed, it is because He pleads that we are saved at all. He is “ able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” III. I pray that our text may inspire us with the spirit of TO HIS EXAMPLE. I take the example of Christ to be an embodied precept as much binding upon us as His written commands. 1. Imitate Him by forgiving all transgressions against yourself. 2. Imitate Christ, in pleading for yourselves. Since you are transgressors, and you see that Jesus intercedes for transgressors, make bold to say, “ If He pleads for such as I am, I will put in my humble petition, and hope to be heard through Him.” 3. If we have been forgiven our transgressions, let us now intercede for transgressors, since Jesus does so. 4. Let us take care, that if we do plead for others we mix with it the doing of good to them, because it is not recorded that He made intercession for transgressors until it is first written, “ He bare the sin of many” 5. If Christ appears in heaven for us, let us be glad to appear on earth for him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The Monarch becomes an intercessor for His foes (with Luke 23:34):--Here prophecy and history unite in taking us to the place which is calledCalvary. I. IN WHAT LIGHT SHOULD WE REGARD THESE WORDS? II. WHAT IS THE REQUEST? For whom? “ Forgive them,” those who were the instruments and agents in His crucifixion. These were-- 1. The people. 2. The chief priests and scribes. 3. The rulers. 4. The soldiers. 5. The Roman governor. 6. The passers-by, who were reviling Him. 7. Those who were crucified with Him, joining in the mockery and jests. What is the plea by which the petition is urged? “ They know not what they do.” Not one of them knew the full extent of the crime. Not even the disciples could have estimated the guilt of the people (Acts 3:16; 1 Corinthians 2:6). There was only One, even the Sufferer Himself, who could view that sin in all its manifold complications, and hold evenly and righteously the scales of judgment. III. WHAT A SPIRIT OF LOVE THESE WORDS BREATHE! Their self-forgetfulness is wonderful. The sin of those thus wronging the Saviour was a far greater cause of distress to Him than all the degradation, ignominy, and pain He was enduring; on these things He could be altogether silent, in order to plead for the forgiveness of others sin. We see here, too, a love which, rising above human repulsiveness and guilt, ever regards itself as sent to save; a love which would carry on a redeeming work, even when stretched in agony on the Cross. Here, too, is not only the love of One, whose saving energy could neither be repulsed nor trammelled, but of One who, though He is most fully acquainted with the greatness of their guilt, pleads before Him, to whom sin is an abominable thing, the mitigation of their crime. Truly, it is a marvel of comfort that He, who judges sin most exactly, deals with the sinner most tenderly! Here, too, is Divine love making intercession for the transgressors; not for the good, but for the bad; not for the penitent, but for the impenitent; that they may be brought to repent; showing us how Christ’ s love goes after men always, under all circumstances, in the lowest depths of guilt. Nevertheless, Divine love so pleads, as to imply that if this sin had been committed with full understanding of its enormity, He dared not have asked for its forgiveness. “ For they know not what they do.” Thus the spirit of this prayer has its terrors as well as its comforts. “ There is a sin unto death,” for which the Redeemer does not intercede, and for which we have no commission or authority to pray. Where that sin lies, what is its precise character, whether this or that man has committed it, we dare not say. We can tell four things about it:--we know the region in which it lies, the sign it has been committed, the sign it has not been committed, and why there is no mercy for it. Where one who has the fullest light indulges in the greatest sin, he is getting very near the unpardonable sin. The sign that it has been committed, would be hard, final, impenitence. True repentance is a sure sign it has not been committed. It is not pardonable, because at such a stage the sinner will not repent. IV. WHAT ARE THE THESE WORDS INVOLVE? 1. They teach us that the Father saves us through the Son. 2. That sins of ignorance need forgiveness. Paul sinned “ ignorantly in unbelief,” and yet was the “ chief of sinners.” 3. Whatever palliation of guilt may be allowed, owing to ignorance, full recognition is taken thereof by the great Intercessor. 4. We are taught that the fuller the light the greater the sin (Hebrews 10:26-27). 5. That forgiveness of sin, by God, is so precious to us, because it is made over to us in perfect knowledge of every aggravation and mitigation. V. WHAT RESULTS DID THIS SECURE? We are sure that this prayer was answered. It did not indeed avert the destruction of the doomed city, but-- 1. It secured the forgiveness of every penitent who might be, nevertheless, involved in its temporal disasters. 2. The Great Pleader’ s work soon proved its power in the salvation of the thief on the Cross, and shortly after of thousands more. 3. By means of the intercession of our Lord, begun on earth, and now carried on in heaven, we are “ not under the law, but under grace.” (C. Clemance, D. D.)Meaning of intercession The question, “ What is meant by intercession?” being asked in a Sunday school, one of the children replied, “ Speaking a word to God fur us, sir.” Intercession for the transgressors “ I shall never forget,” wrote Miss Plumptre to a friend, “ the day of the sadness and the gladness of my heart, the day when a chafed and disappointed spirit found healing and rest in One whom I had done my utmost to be independent of. The joy of the astronomer over his newly-discovered planet is nothing to the rapture with which I gazed upon the word transgressors in the last sentence of Isa 53:12; ‘ He made intercession for the transgressors.’ I wellremember being so dazzled that for a time I thought it a delusion, a misprint. It was something so altogether new to my proud, hard-working spirit, that I could almost wonder that I did not erase it and put in ‘ the penitent’ or ‘ the humble’ or one of nature’ s proud epithets. Yes, I think that word ‘ transgressors’ was the first that ever glowed on me with all the attraction of ‘ free grace.’” . Isaiah 54:1-17 Sing, O barren Jerusalem: barren, then fruitful The direct address refers to Jerusalem, which resembled Sarah in her early barrenness and later fruitfulness Isaiah 51:1-3). (F. Delitzsch, D.D.)The relation between Isaiah 53:1-12; Isaiah 54:1-17 From Calvin to Ewald and Dillman, critics have all felt a close connection between Isaiah 52:13 - 53. and chap. 54. “ After having spoken of the death of Christ, ‘ saysCalvin, “ the prophet passed on with good reason to the Church: that we may feel more deeply in ourselves what is the value and efficiency of His death.” Similar in substance, if not in language, is the opinion of the latest critics, who understand that in chap. 54. the prophet intends to picture that full redemption which the Servant’ s work, culminating in chap. 53., could alone effect. Two keywords of chap. 53. had been “ a seed” and “ many.” It is “ the seed” and the “ many” whom chap. 54. reveals. (Prof. G.A. Smith, D.D.)The two chapters deal with the same subject from two distinct standpoints. Whatever view be held as to the Servant’ s personality, there is no doubt that His exaltation implies the restoration of Israel, and that His work is the indispensable condition of that restoration being accomplished. Thus while chap. 53. describes the inward process of conversion by which the nation is made righteous, chap. 54. describes the outward deliverance which is the result; and the impression is probably correct that the glowing hopes here uttered are sustained in the last resort by the contemplation of the Servant s mission as described in chap. 53. (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)Isaiah 54:1-17. Isaiah 54:1-17 is peculiarly a missionary chapter. After the death and resurrection of the Saviour has been foretold, the great results that would follow thereon are appropriately described. In Isaiah 54:1-3, she that was “ barren” (whether a reference is made to the Jews on their return from captivity, or to the Gentiles to whom the Gospel began to go forth on the day of Pentecost, or to the enlargement of the true Church by the gathering in of souls from Jews and Gentiles alike) is exhorted to rejoice in the increase of her offspring. God’ s mercy in gathering this Church and bestowing upon her His favour is described (Isaiah 54:4-10); the attractiveness of this Church follows (Isaiah 54:11-12); and lastly (Isaiah 54:13-17) her establishment in righteousness and her permanence are set forth. (W. H. Barlow, B.D.)The Church of the future: The prophecy of this chapter follows naturally on, and is a continuation of, that in the fifty-third. The former foretells “ the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” The latter speaks of the Church, the foundations of which the Saviour died to lay, the superstructure of which He lives to build. I. WE HAVE A PICTURE OF THE CHURCH IN HER SADNESS. The figures used by the prophet, while easy enough to apply generally, present some points of difficulty when we attempt the detail. 1. At the first glance of the opening verses of the chapter we see that the figures are drawn from the very closest tie that nature knows, even that of the marriage relationship. This figure, so frequently used in the Old Testament, is based on a profound truth. The truth on which it is based is this: that as both male and female are incomplete without each other, so the happiness of God is incomplete without the love of the creature whom He has made to love Him, and the happiness of man is incomplete without an object above him in which his love can rest. Such a figure served a holy educating purpose to Israel, and ought still to do so to us. In one direction it shows us how holy and tender is the relationship between man and God, and how loving is the heart of God towards man; in another direction it lifts up the sacred tie of marriage into a higher and Diviner light, and lets us see it in the light of the Divine idea, as not only a union of bodies but also of spirits, in a tie which can never be broken without a rupture of the laws of God! 2. Another truth lying at the foundation of the chapter is this, that the Church, in God’ s eye, is seen at a glance, through all the vicissitudes of her chequered career, till her completion in the fulness of time. That Church, chosen in Christ “ before the foundation of the world, in Him is one. He sees that Church passing, through gloom to glory! And truly, sad enough is the picture of the Church s sorrow which is presented here. She is like one whose husband has forsaken her. She is barren, desolate, rejected, contemned; and is consequently sad, afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted. The chief question is, at what period was God s Church like this, and what Church was ever in such gloom? (1) The Hebrew Church was primarily intended. Her bondage in Egypt was “ the shame of her youth, her captivity in Babylon was” the reproach of her widowhood.” (2) The figures would apply, to some extent, to that idea!, Gentile Church which the Saviour saw in vision when He said, “ Other sheep I have, etc., including all those in the east and west and north and south who were yearning after God, but to whom the Lord had not yet revealed His love, and who were not yet brought to rest in the Infinite heart of God. (3) The description will apply also to the whole Church of God now: which, during the transition period through which we are now passing, while the great problem of sin and its treatment is being worked out, is often in shade, often mourning the paucity of those who join her ranks, often the object of the world s ridicule and scorn! (4) The passage will befit also the individual believer, in whose chequered experience of sorrow, temptation and care all the varied phases of the troubles of the Church are presented in miniature. II. WE HAVE A SECOND PICTURE AS BRIGHT AS THE FIRST IS DARK. The second is given on account of the gloom of the first, for the special purpose of cheering the saints of God, throughout the period of shade. In the picture given with this view, an entirely different set of figures is made use of; even such as belong to the erection of a building. And there are, scattered throughout this chapter, no fewer than nine main features which go to make up the outline of this beauty and glory which, in spite of present gloom, the prophet sees far ahead. Regarding the Church of the future, then, under the figure of a building, let us observe-- 1. God Himself is the Founder of it. The foundation is Jesus Christ. 2. Men from every nation under heaven will gather within it. “ The God of the whole earth shall He be called.” The restrictions of the past shall be done away. 3. Righteousness shall he its basis (Isaiah 54:14). 4. Close and endearing relationship with God will be its privilege (Isaiah 54:5). “ Thy Maker is thine Husband.” He who formed by the hand of His power, will make Himself known to you in the tenderest love. 5. Light will be its heritage. “ All thy children shall be taught of the Lord” (Isaiah 54:13). 6. Peace will be its possession. “ Great shall be the peace of thy children” (Isaiah 54:13). 7. Beauty will be its adornment. “ Behold I will set thy stones in stibium” (Isaiah 54:11). Stibium was a peculiar dye with which the Hebrew women tinged the eyelashes, in order that, being surrounded with this tinge, the beauty of the eye might flash forth more brightly. So the stones with which this building of God was to be erected, were to be set, as it were, in cement of so rich a dye as to set forth their lustre in richer beauty. And thy battlements of rubies, thy gates of flashing gems, and all thy borders of precious stones.” Thus the mineral world is made to yield its meed of illustration; its choicest gems are used as symbolic of the glory and beauty of the Church. Why? Because all beauty and glory of jasper, amethyst, ruby, sapphire, and pearl, when so set that their radiance gleams out most brilliantly, are but a reflection of that higher spiritual beauty of Him who created all. 8. Divine protection will be its safeguard (Isaiah 54:14-15). “ Thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. Behold, they (thine enemies) shall surely gather together, but not by Me (not by My consent): whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake” (rather, shall fall upon thee). “ Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall he broken.” Adverse weapons shall be blunted. Adverse tongues shall be condemned--both by the force of powerful argument, and by the mightier demonstration of a holy life (Isaiah 54:16). “ I have created the waster to destroy,” the same power which builds the Church, has created all her foes; hence the inference is inevitable, God will not suffer those who arc opposed to Him to use their power so as to destroy that part of His work which He values most. 9. Perpetuity shall be its everlasting law (Isaiah 54:7-10). This is expressed in various forms of antithesis. Everything is wrapped up in this ninefold glory! (C. Clemance, D.D.)“ Sing, O barren!” In the previous chapters we have heard the exiles summoned to leave Babylon, and beheld the Divine Servant becoming the Sin-bearer for them and the world. Here our attention ,is startlingly recalled to the desolate city of Jerusalem. “ Barren;” “ Forsaken; “ Desolate” --such are the terms applied to her by One who cannot err. And they arecorroborated by the testimony of a contemporary (Nehemiah 1:3; Nehemiah 2:3; Nehemiah 2:13-17). But how is this? Have we not learnt that the Mediator has put away sin at the cost to Himself of wounds and bruises, stripes and death? Is that redemption complete which fails to grapple with all the results and consequences of wrong-doing? This opens up a great subject, and one that touches us all. Though our sin is forgiven, yet certain consequences remain, of which that ruined city is a type. We cannot undo the past; God Himself cannot undo it. It can never be as though it had never been. The seventy years of captivity, the shame, the sorrow, the anguish to God, the forfeited opportunities, attended by a multitude of hypocrites, and her courts were crowded with formalists, but the genuine children of Israel were sadly few; and when the Lord, the Husband of the Church, Himself arrived, the Church was in no happy condition. After that the Lords had been lain in the grave and risen again and ascended and left the Church, then were the days of refreshing, and the times of the visitation of the Spirit. At all seasons when the Church has been desolate and has become barren, God has appeared to her. II. I now intend to use the text in reference to ANY ONE CHURCH. 1. There are some separate Churches which are in a very sad condition, and may most truly be said to be barren and desolate. 2. Brethren will ask me what is their present duty as members of such Churches? Your duty is very plain Labour to be conscious of the sad barrenness of the Church to which you belong: Spread the case before Jehovah, and be sure that you look away from everything that you yourself can do to Him, and to him alone. But mind you do not pray without proving the sincerity of your prayers by action. III. THE POOR SINNER HAS HIS CASE WELL BY THE PROPHET AS BARREN AND . “ Barren! ah, that I am. I have not one meritorious fruit that I can bring before God.” You are desolate, too; no one can comfort you. Your barrenness is barrenness for ever if left to itself, and your desolation is utter and helpless unless some one intervene. May I ask you to look at the chapter which precedes my text? Jesus has taken the sinner’ s sin upon Himself, and made a complete atonement; therefore, “ Sing, O barren!” The mighty Redeemer has come out of His dwelling-place, and has fought the enemy, and won the victory. “ Sing, O barren!” IV. Does not this text belong to THE ? You and I, though we have brought forth some fruit unto the, Lord Jesus, yet sometimes feel very barren. What are we to do? “ Sing, O barren, etc. But what can I sing about? I cannot sing about the present; I cannot even sing concerning the past. Yet I can sing of Jesus Christ. What is my barrenness. It is the platform for Divine power. What is my desolation? It is the black setting for the sapphire of His everlasting love. V. Our text ought to have a special voice to THOSE WHO HAVE NOT BEEN IN DOING GOOD. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The Gentile Church a joyful mother I. THE MOURNER. The passage is the present heritage of the Gentile Church. Gentiledom was for a long time without a spiritual child. Now she may sing over a multitudinous family of true Christians. Addressed to the Jews as a prophecy--showing, in their sadness and depression, that though matters looked so dark for the cause of God now, yet there was a bright and blessed hope. Cheers them, not so much by showing grounds of present rejoicing, but by providing a telescope by which they might behold “ the good time coming.” We may here note-- 1. One great use of prophecy. It can cheer when things immediately around cause depression. (1) To a sad Church the minister should speak much of unfulfilled prophecy. (2) The Christian, in the “ present distress should do the same for himself 2 Peter 1:19). 2. The imagery. It rings poetic changes on the idea of childlessness. Expressive imagery to Jewish women, who so longed for children, in hope of Messiah. (1) Such should be the Church’ s longing. Her prayer should be, “ Give me children, or I die!” Bad sign when a Church seems content to be barren or to have no spiritual increase. (2)When she remains without new births (or conversions), she should mourn. Contemplate the once barrenness of Christendom. Its comparative barrenness in vast tracts now, even in Christian England! II. THE MOTHER. Gentiledom for ages “ unmarried” --“ desolate.” When Christ came, He “ called her by name,” and espoused her. Then how rapidly a family was brought forth. In Pentecostal times, what “ multitudes were added to the Lord” (Acts 6:7; Acts 16:5). What joy this caused! (Acts 2:46-47, etc.) 1. The great subject of the verse, the joy of the Church in multitudes of conversions. This joy of the Lord is her strength (Nehemiah 8:10). She is then encouraged to labour with fresh zeal and hope in works of evangelization. Therefore “ new births should be, as it were, registered; the successes of the Gospel should be published to evoke this healthful joy hence the reflex benefits of missionary gatherings. 2. Reasons for such joy. Not only because souls are saved, but because-- (1) Increase is a sign that God’ s power is with His Church. (2) It confirms our own faith. The more they are who believe what we believe, the more confident we must feel in the truth of our faith. (3) It makes heaven appear attractive by the “ sympathy of numbers.” We may use the text as a test How far are we in sympathy with the Church in joy over conversions to God? (R. Glover, M. A.) Isaiah 54:2-3 Enlarge the place of thy tent.- An enlarged Church The Jewish nation, after its return from captivity, never attained so remarkable a degree of prosperity and power as fully to answer all the terms of this prophecy. It is true that they became a very numerous people; so that from forty-two thousand, the number of those that went out of Babylon, they had increased to nearly three millions at the time of our Saviour’ s death; but they can hardly be said, in respect of territorial limits, to have broken “ forth on the right hand and on the left,” nor to have “ inherited the Gentiles.” We must therefore look for another interpretation of the prophecy; and we can be in no doubt as to its application to the Church of God. (C. J. Blomfield, D. D.)Jew and Gentile in one Church “ He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied,” are words of comfort interposed amidst forebodings of suffering and woe; and the mode of their accomplishment is more clearly pointed out by an image drawn from the habits of pastoral life, familiar to the people of eastern countries, where the nomad chief, as his family, and cattle, and goods increase, finds it necessary to “ enlarge the place of” his “ tent, and” to “ stretch forth the curtains of” his “ habitation.” Under this image is represented the gradual increase of the Church, from the moment when, to human eyes, it appeared to have been crushed by the disgrace and death of its Founder, to the time when the “ fulness of the Gentiles” shall have “ come in,” and God’ s ancient people shall be brought back to the same fold with them, and all “ the kingdoms of this world” shall “ become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ.” (C. J. Blomfield, D. D.)Enlargement According to the prophet the relation of God to His people is a relation that assures enlargement of beneficence on every hand. God and His Church are not locked up together, in some secret place, enjoying spiritual luxuries, whilst all the world is dying of starvation. If we could find such a hint in the Scripture we should burn the book. The Scripture is all for enlargement. The feast cannot be increased; but if it were needful to increase the space within which the guests are to be accommodated God would thrust back the horizon, rather than any man should starve for want of room to sit down in. If any messenger shall return, saying, “ Yet there is room,” God would send that messenger out again to compel the hungering and homeless to come that they might enjoy a Father’ s gracious bounty. So we find in the opening verses of this chapter--enlargement. (Dr. Parker, D. D.)William Carey and missions William Carey’ s sermon on this text, preached at Nottingham, marked an epoch in the history of Christianity, for it aroused the Church of Christ to a sense of its responsibility for the conversion of the heathen and the evangelization of the world. The interest awakened by that sermon led to the formation of the Baptist Missionary Society, and to the ushering in of the Evanglistic era, which has already brought a great revenue of glory to Christ, and priceless blessings to every branch of His Church. From this remarkable text Carey deduced and enforced two important practical principles, which were afterwards embodied in the motto of the Baptist Mission--“ Attempt great things for God.” “ Enlarge,” “ stretch forth,” “ lengthen,” “ strengthen.” “ Expect great things from God (Isaiah 54:4). If Carey had done nothing but shape this formula for evangelistic work, he would have achieved much for the cause he loved so dearly. It is easily remembered. Rather, it is not easily forgotten. (J. T.McGaw, D. D.)The enlargement of the Church The tent is the simplest and most primitive form of the human habitation. Wherever a pole can be found, with cords or strips of leather, a little bark or cloth or canvas or skin, a tent can be set up--as easily struck as pitched, and almost as easily enlarged; for when the growing necessities of a family demand larger shelter and room, all you have to do is to get a little longer pole, a little thicker cords, a little more bark or skin or canvas, and you can stretch forth the curtains of your habitation to accommodate the needs of the growing family. And so this is made the type of the enlargement of the canopy of the Church over her growing family of children. “ Thou shalt burst forth,” as the Hebrew is--the grand old Hebrew--“ Thou shalt burst forth on the right and on the left.” A symmetrical growth in this direction and that direction alike; not like a family that has a one-sided development--she is going to gather her children from east and west and north and south, and every clime and every tongue and every people; and because her family is to come from all quarters of the earth, her canopy must stretch to every quarter of the earth to cover her increasing family. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)“ Lengthen” and “ strengthen” What is the duty of the Church in these days? “ Lengthen” and “ strengthen.” The word “ lengthen” suggests extensity; the word “ strengthen” suggests intensity, and there is always danger in extensive movement that is not accompanied by intensive movement. You are lengthening your cords, but if you do not strengthen your stakes what will happen? Your lengthening your cords will be a disaster to you and the tent itself. 1. How shall we lengthen cords? By sending out our organizations in every direction--a cord here to Europe, another cord to Asia, another to Africa, and another to the islands of the sea. Towards the North Pole and the South Pole; in every direction, from the great centres of Christendom, let your missionary organizations reach! With the enterprise that has dash and push in it let these cords be carried to the ends of the earth, until the network of missions overspreads the whole family of man! And, if we are going to have this lengthened cord you must add your own length to it. As, when we rescue a man from a burning building, and the ladder will not reach those that are in peril, the fireman stands on the top rung of the ladder and adds his own length, over which men and women climb down into safety, so if you are going to have this organization reach over the world in a spirit of hallowed enterprise till the canopy is co-extensive with the family of man, your length has got to be added to the cord. You have read of the self-sacrifice of the Carthaginian maidens when they cut off their raven ringlets that they might be braided into bowstrings for Hannibal’ s archers; or of the Tyrian maidens when they sacrificed their golden hair for cordage for the Tyrian navy. The cords of enterprise by which this Gospel is to be carried to the ends of the earth are woven out of the very fibres of human hearts! You cannot make them with money, and you cannot make them with commercial interests, and you cannot make them with public enthusiasm. They are woven on the loom of personal consecration in the secret place with God. 2. We must not only have lengthened cords, but strengthened stakes. If there is one weak stake on the circumference of a tent, and it pulls out or is broken, then it puts a greater stress on the other tent-pegs round it, and one by one they are loosened or pulled out, until the whole tent collapses. What does that mean? It means that any Church on the circumference of Christian effort that does not plant itself firmly to hold up the cord of organization is responsible for the collapse of Christian missions. And it means that any man or woman or child in the Church of God, among God’ s professed believing children, that does not become a stake down deep into the ground and holding on, is responsible for any disaster that comes to the whole work of Christ by lack of personal co-operation. (A. T.Pierson, D. D.)Strengthening the stakes How are you going to strengthen the stakes? 1. By faith in Almighty God. This is His work. 2. By the power of believing prayer. A beloved Japanese convert and trainer of native teachers said with his dying breath, “ Advance on your knees.” 3. By a firm confidence in this Gospel as the Gospel of Christ, and that this Word is the Word of God. 4. We must have sanctified giving. 5. Holy living. Stanley says that he owes to the months he spent with Livingstone the transformation of his character; and yet Livingstone never said a word to him about his soul’ s salvation. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)The Church’ s duty and encouragements I. THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH. II. HER . (A. W. Brown, M. A.)Foreign missions I. THE AND SUPREME OF OUR OBJECT. The conversion of the world. We know that the conversion of the world is not our work, but God’ s. But we also know that the Lord works with suitable instruments, and that the degree of our success may be influenced by our devotedness, and the skill with which we adapt our efforts to our end. The conversion of the world! Who can realize what that means? I think of one soul living and dying in rebellion against God--of its possibilities for misery and for mischief--how much it may itself endure, how much injury it may inflict, how much grief occasion, throughout God’ s holy universe? I think of that soul as converted! of the blessedness it may experience, the beneficent influence it may exert, the joy its conversion will diffuse throughout the ranks of sinless intelligences. Of the sublime satisfaction with which He will regard it, who for its sake endured the Cross and despised the shame, when it becomes a jewel in His crown, a trophy of His saving love and power, fruit of His soul’ s travail. Then I extend the thought to the countless myriads of the human race whom that soul represents, and of whom the same thing may be predicated. The thought is to me absolutely overpowering. “ Oh, the magnitude--the momentous importance of the object at which we aim! Oh, the miserable smallness of the means we use for such a purpose. III. THE OR THE FIELD NOW OPEN TO US; With more force than at any previous period of the world’ s history we can say if missions, “ The field is the world.” III. THE WE NOW HAVE FOR ON OUR WORK. The Lord in His high providence has furnished the Church with most favourable opportunities of conducting her great enterprise in all parts of the earth. IV. THE AND URGENT CLAIMS OF THE HEATHEN. V. THE DIVINE IN THIS GREAT . VI. THE UNDER WHICH WE ARE LAID BECAUSE OF THE FAVOURS WE HAVE . Forgiven rebels as we are, our forgiveness having been procured for us by the sufferings and death of our Lord, and granted to us as the gift of His grace; redeemed by His blood as we are from the destruction which was pending over us; admitted as we are to all the privileges of loyal and obedient subjects, free access into the Divine presence, not only permission, but encouragement to make known to God the desire of our hearts, with the assurance that He hears us always; born as we are of the Spirit into the Divine family, made children and heirs of God, entitled to call God Father; delivered as we are from the fear of hell, and animated by the hope of a glorious immortality; indebted as we are to the influence of the Gospel even for those temporal blessings which are so conducive to our comfort and enjoyment during the present life, and in respect of which we can truly say, “ The lines have fallen to us in pleasant places, and we have a goodly heritage;” honoured by God in being called as we are to share in His great work of winning the world to Himself, by which He shows how completely He has forgiven us, and what confidence He places in us; assured, too, that “ they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” --is not ours confessedly a position of unspeakable privilege? What are we doing? Compare our actions with our object and our obligations. (W. Landels, D. D.)Arguments for missions 1. Christ owns the whole world. 2. The Gospel of Christ is adapted to all men. 3. Our Lord’ s commission to the apostles contemplates a universal kingdom. (J. T. McGaw, D. D.)Modern missions 1. This great utterance fell from the lips of a man who had newly seen God, and caught thereby an original conception of His redemptive work for the world through captive and desolate Israel. No one can miss the meaning of this joyous outburst. It is an evangel. Sursum corda, he cries. Do not give way to repining though you are lonely and heartsore as a childless woman. Say not “ my tent is destroyed and all my tent-pins are plucked up: my children are gone away and there is none to spread out my tent any more, or to set up my tent-curtains” (Jeremiah 10:20). Get up and make your tent-.pins strong: lengthen your cords and fasten your plugs. Be not content with a little space. Roominess and magnificence befit your prospects. Your expulsion will be your expansion, your desolation your increase, your captivity your exaltation. The area covered by your race shall be larger than of yore. The prophet could speak that word of hope and endeavour because he had received his new vision of God. Insight was the warrant for utterance. He knew the meaning of the Exile through his purer conception of the character and purposes of Jehovah. He saw the supreme and universal sovereignty of God; the universal brotherhood of man; the essential spirituality of the Hebrew religion, that it could and would exist without a temple and without a priest, without an altar and without a land, without anything save the soul and God; that it was to cease to be a local religion and become universal, and instead of remaining a national luxury would become an aggressive missionary and world-caving agency. He looked along the highways of the future, and saw the approach of the delivering God, and cried, “ Behold your God! Man has a fatal and pathetic facility both for losing himself and his best treasures. Apostolic Christianity went everywhere preaching the Word. It was essentially aggressive. It placed itself by the side of the ancient religions of Greece and Rome, always absorbent of their good, but finally replacing them by its richer ideas and stronger spiritual impulses. The fires of the Christ-given passion to save all men burnt on, although alas l with diminishing intensity, for more than two centuries. The Reformation itself had little or no missionary passion, and the desponding leader said, with unfathomable sadness--a fore-gleam of the agony and pity that stirred the Churches at a later date: “ Asia and Africa have no Gospel; another hundred years and all will be over. God’ s Word will disappear for want of any to preach it. Surely not, O prophet of God! The Word of the Lord endureth for ever. When the night is darkest, then up leap the stars. The living God is always at work. An astronomer gazed so long on the sun that he could see nothing else. The image was burned into him. For years before May 81, 1792, the vision of God as the God of Missions had arrested, held, moulded, and swayed the soul of Carey. Isaiah repeats Micah, Luther repeats the psalmist, Carey repeats the prophet, and so the Word of the Lord has flee course and is multiplied. 2. It is a revealing fact that, though Carey gained his messagefrom the words of prophecy, he expressed it in the simple and characteristic language of the closing years of the eighteenth century--the century of the expansion of England and of the great evangelical revival. “ Expect great things,” said he that he that he voiced the thought of his generation; expect them from God” --in that he expressed the knowledge and insight of men taught by the Spirit. 3. George Sand reminds us: “ It is the heart that governs the world; it is feeling that performs the real miracles of history.” Carey’ s persistent determination that the Church should evangelize the world was fed by what Vinet calls “ the passion for souls.” His perception of evil was acute. His sense of sin strong. His reliance on Christ unhesitatingly entire. He scarcely seems to have had a thought apart from Christ and His salvation. And yet at the root of all, and over all, and through all was a self-consuming love of men, of all men, and of “ heathen” men most of all; and therefore forgetting himself this one thing he did, he founded modern missions by the gift of himself, out and out, in serving and suffering so that he might save men. Ah! it is here we fail. “ We do not love men for their own sake or for God’ s sake. We need to change our style; it is cramped and fettered. (J. Clifford, D. D.)Spare not, lengthen thy cords and strongthen thy stakesHappy influence of foreign missions on the Church The whole passage refers to the conversion of the heathen; and furnishes the important suggestion, that there is no system of means so well calculated to give expansion and stability to the Church of Christ as foreign missionary operation. There are several reasons which are supposed by many to favour the opinion, that Christian exertion is less productive among pagan nations than at home. 1. There are preliminary barriers which oppose the efforts of the missionary, and which do not exist in Christian lands. The most important are strange languages, and strong prejudices. There is also the systematic and stubborn opposition which the Gospel meets from the established forms of civil government and pagan superstition. Further, there is the risk and waste of life which foreign missionary labour involves. This, however, is but one view of the subject. There are arguments which favour the opposite opinion--that the direct results of Gospel efforts are greater in pagan than in Christian lands. Among the reasons for such an opinion, is that one which induces almost all ministers of the sanctuary to exchange the sphere of their labour at home; and which would, if they were consistent with their principles, send great numbers of them abroad. The souls to be saved are much more numerous--much more needy. Another reason is, the means of usefulness are both more various and extensively operative. A further reason is the activity of native converts. 2. We believe that foreign missions are the best means of lengthening the cords and strengthening the stakes of the Church, because they establish and promote an action and reaction between themselves and the Churches, which is most powerful and advantageous to both parties. This may be demonstrated by several facts. I. LABOUR THE PIETY AND ENERGY OF THE . The missionary spirit includes among its essential endowments, faith, prayer, self-denial, deadness to the world, charity, beneficence, heavenly-mindedness, a willingness to submit to sufferings and hazards, and a supreme regard for the glory of God. 1. There is the stimulus of example, than which nothing is more influential. Hold up to the Churches those with whom they are under equal obligations, but who have far exceeded them in the “ work of faith, and labour of love, and you bring a motive to bear upon them which piety cannot resist. 2. It operates through sympathy. Our work, our aim, our strongest desires, our highest honour, our dearest interests, our eternal recompense are the same. 3. There is the duty and blessedness of necessary co-operation. 4. It diverts the mind from those unimportant points of doctrinal difference, and metaphysical distinction and abstruse speculation, which squander the time and pervert the talents, and ruin the souls of thousands. 5. It operates, too, through the influence of its own greatness. It expands the mind, liberalizes the soul, elevates the aim; arouses faculties and feelings which nothing else could have addressed; and produces effects and results which no other object could command. II. NOT ONLY THE PIETY AND ENERGY OF THE , BUT GREATLY ASSIST IN THEIR . Many a converted youth has had his attention directed to the ministry through the reading of missionary journals. When we speak of the vigour which missionary exertions throw into our domestic institutions, we refer to a very natural operation. That man who has courage to attempt a great enterprise, despises the difficulties of a small one. The energy produced by the one, overlooks all the appalling trifles of the other. III. THE CHURCH, THROUGH EFFORTS, PLACES HERSELF IN THE BEST, AND, INDEED, IN THE ONLY FOR THE MOST . 1. These efforts have a direct tendency to remove the most serious obstructions to piety and efficiency. Where the work of evangelizing the world is carried on with energy, it indicates and produces self-denial and liberality. We need not stop to show that nothing is more repugnant to eminent holiness, or usefulness, than a selfish parsimonious spirit. It is abhorrent in the eyes of a holy God (Isaiah 57:17). 2. They secure to us those promises which are connected with enlarged exertions (Proverbs 11:25; Isaiah 58:10-11). IV. IT MUST AND ENABLE THE CHURCH STILL MORE TO EXTEND HER LIMITS, AND THUS TO RETURN TO THE HEATHEN WORLD THE FULL OF HER . Application This subject teaches, that lengthening the cords of the Church is strengthening her stakes. (D. Abeel.) Isaiah 54:4 Fear not; for thou shalt net be ashamed Shame Here, as in many other cases, shame includes the disappointment of the hopes, hut with specific reference to previous misconduct (Job 6:20). The first clause declares that the Church has nocause for despondency, the second disposes of the causes which might seem to be suggested by her history. The essential meaning is, thy former experience of My displeasure. (J. A. Alexander.)Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youthShall I remember my sins in heaven? In looking forward to heaven, two questions have stirred the minds and hearts of most Christians: Shall I remember my sins in heaven?” and “ If I remember my sins in heaven, will not the recollection mar my joy, and interfere with my blessedness?” These questions are not idle. They originate with that consciousness of depravity which is the first step towards our personal salvation, and they recur in connection with the dispensation of Divine mercy. Our condition prompts the inquiry, and the reply will reveal to us the unsearchable riches of Divine grace. The questions resolve themselves into this: Will the dispensation of Divine mercy, when it has done its work, blot out all the mischievous consequences of sin? The text guides our reply. There was a people taken up by God when in circumstances of great degradation. They are brought into the closest connection with Him--into such a connection as that the conjugal union is the best possible representation of it.. God is faithful to this people, but they are faithless to Him. He institutes means to bring them back to Himself, and He does bring them back. Then, speaking of their restoration, He says, “ Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed, ‘ etc. In the realization of their restoration, they shall (in a certain sense) forget their apostacy. We declare our belief that, in heaven, you will not so remember your sins as to have your happiness interfered with by the recollection, and that whatever remembrance you have of the apostacy and depravity, will rather be the occasion of increasing your blessedness and joy, than of interfering with the one, or of marring the other. The remembrance of sin did exist under the Levitical dispensation; but in the dispensation of Christ there is nothing at all analogous to the annually recurring day of atonement Hebrews 10:17). So far as our intercourse with God and the cherishing of bright prospects are concerned there is to be a complete forgetfulness of sin. With respect to heaven, we put before you two remarks. I. THERE IS A . The identity of passions will involve an identity of consciousness. What are the recollections which are inevitable? 1. “ I was a sinner.” 2. “ I was restored to God by such means and under such influences.” II. THERE IS A OF SINS . There is one suggestion that seems of importance here. It is that by and by memory will not be the faculty chiefly exercised and put forth. When is it that we live most in the past? It is when we are sad. In heaven there will be no sadness, no solitude, no fear, no carefulness. Memory, therefore, will not be goaded as now. Memory will then have an inferior place. Observation and penetration will be the chief mental exercises of heaven. A man will be surrounded by objects of intense interest, all connected with God. The commanding recollection of sin will therefore be impossible. The remembrance of sin in heaven will always be connected with the consciousness that sin has been blotted out. This will awaken thankfulness; and joy, with gratitude, will flow through the soul as a large and mighty river. Nothing in God’ s conduct in heaven will put sin forward. Then, within yourselves there will be complete and conscious holiness. Look at another fact. You may have had companions here in iniquity, but you will have no unsaved companions in sin with you there. You may recognize persons with whom you trod the broad road, but you will there recognize them as redeemed beings; and, just as in your own case, the commanding thought is not sin but forgiveness, so with them the commanding association will be the wonderfulness of their redemption; not the depth of their apostacy and the length of their wanderings; so that their presence, instead of forcing upon you a remembrance of guilt, will only magnify before your eye and your heart the unsearchable riches of God’ s grace and mercy. You will be employed by and by. Your employment will be all-absorbing, and it will be constant. Why should we talk to you about this? If you have a secret idea, or rather an impression, that there must be some limitation to God’ s mercy, that it will not secure all this blotting out, what is the consequence? The effect is to limit your application to this pro-vision--you do not take full advantage of the riches of God’ s mercy. (S. Martin.)God’ s gift of forgetfulness To many religious people the burden of the past is the heaviest of their lives. No difficulties and trials of the present can match it for bitterness. They look forward calmly and hopefully to whatever the years may bring. Even the valley of the shadow has little terror for them, believing as they do that they will be shepherded through that to the eternal fold. And yet they are often weighted by a sore burden of the past; they are hag-ridden by shadows of dead days. Sometimes it is the very greatness and success and joy of the past which induce this constant recollection. But the burden of the past, which is more in keeping with the thought of our text, is not the recollection of some joy or success, but of some failure, some sorrow, some loss, some sin, some shame. And to some who live ever under the shadow of this memory it would mean new life to them if the promise came to them with the meaning it had in the prophet’ s lips, “ Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.” Of course, there is a certain sense in which we cannot forget, and are not meant to forget. Experience has its lessons to teach. All religion begins with repentance, and the appeal to repentance is an appeal to memory. But the promise of our text is a tacit condemnation of the sentimental brooding on the past, whatever that past may be, which weakens the present life, which keeps a man from gathering up the fragments of his life that remain, keeps him from doing his duty calmly, and giving himself to whatsoever things are true and pure and lovely and of good report. If we believe in the eternal love of God we must not let any pale ghost of the past, spectral figures of the night, chill our blood and keep us from our pilgrimage. 1)o not fear that this Christian doctrine of the forgiveness of sin will make sin easy; it is the only thing that can make sin impossible--the light that drives out the darkness, the love of God that fills the heart and leaves no room for evil, not even for evil memory. (Hugh Black, M. A.)A blessed forgetfulness “ The reproach of thy widowhood” clearly refers to the period of the exile when Zion regarded herself as cast off by Jehovah. The sense of “ the shame of thy youth ‘ is less obvious. Since the conception has some affinities with the striking allegory in Ezekiel 16:1-63., it is probable that the reference goes back to the origin of the nation Ezekiel 16:4-8), the reference being rather to the Egyptian oppression. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Forgetting the shame of youth A man who had lived for many years the Christian life, told me how there was a place in a street in Edinburgh which was associated with a sin. Every time in his early life he passed it, it brought back again the keen remorse and shame. It seemed to stain his life afresh whenever he saw the very place. But when he came to God and gave his heart and life to Christ, the first time he passed that place afterwards his soul was filled by a great transport of joy that all that was done, that it was no longer part of his life, that God had forgiven and forgotten and cast it behind His back. And he entered, for a moment at least in foretaste, into the perfect joy of soul, and he forgot the shame of his youth and remembered the reproach no more. (Hugh Black, M. A.) Isaiah 54:5 For thy Maker is thine Husband The Lord people’ s husband I. SOME THINGS WHICH ARE IMPLIED IN THIS WHEREIN CHRIST STANDS TO HIS PEOPLE, THAT TEND TO THEIR FAITH AND JOY IN HIM. 1. This relation intimates that nearness and union which there is between Christ and His Church. Among men the marriage union is the nearest and most strict of any that can possibly be. And because there is no higher allusion whereby to express the union of believers to Christ, the Holy Ghost useth this to give us the more lively apprehension of this admirable privilege (Ephesians 5:30); 1 Corinthians 6:17). 2. In this relation is implied the greatest love and tenderest affection. 3. The utmost care of and concern for those who are espoused. 4. The utmost pity and sympathy. 5. The having all convenient supplies which are in the power of a tender husband to give. 6. The relation of a husband gives his spouse a right to have with him everything that is properly his. II. SHOW THE GROUND OR REASON WHICH HIS PEOPLE HAVE TO DEPEND UPON HIS TO THEM ALL THAT IS THUS UNDER THIS OF A HUSBAND. III. MAKE PROPER OF THE WHOLE. 1. This affords us an admirable instance of the riches of Divine grace, and the wonderful condescension of the Son of God, that He should demean Himself in such a manner as not to be ashamed of being styled a husband to such sinful worms as the best of His people are. 2. If it be the happiness of all God’ s people that their Maker is their Husband; how much does it stand us in stead to examine whether we are of this number? 3. Does Christ stand in this relation to His people? This may administer matter of great comfort and joy to them at all times, and under all circumstances. 4. If believers are Christ’ s spouse, how heinous and aggravated must their wilful trangressions be? 5. From the relation believers stand in to Christ we learn that the most ardent affection is due to Him from all His chosen. 6. This also teaches us how highly it concerns every Christian to pay a just regard to all the ordinances of our glorious Redeemer, and to take great satisfaction in yielding obedience to Him therein. How pleasant is it to a loving and an affectionate wife to wait in those paths in which her kind and absent spouse had appointed to meet her. 7. This relation Christ stands in to His people calls for their cheerful dependence upon Him. (E. Walker.)The Divine Husband I. THE THESE WORDS CONTAIN. 1. “ Husband” means house-band--the head and band of the family. Hence the word denotes unison, community of interests, and special affection. 2. We learn that the Maker of all things, who fainteth not, condescends to bear to His creatures the closest and most sacred relationship. In Hosea 2:19-20, He says--I will betroth thee unto Me for ever. And the Christian in reply says, My Beloved is mine and I am His. The parallel is carried on in the New Testament (Matthew 9:14-15). St. Paul refers to it-” Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church.” 3. Observe that in the original the word is in the plural--“ Thy Makers are thy Husband,” evidently alluding to the Trinity. We learn, then, that the love of the Father, the atonement of the Son, and the comfort of the Holy Ghost, all pertain to saving, blessing, and comforting those who love God. II. THE OF THE TRUTHS TO . 1. The wonderful sympathy of our God. He feels for our woes. We see a picture of widowhood, orphanage, a woman bereaved, forsaken in spirit. What volumes of suffering are depicted in the words mourning, solitude, and woe! So with orphanage, want of protection, and love. To them our Redeemer speaks, and Christ repeats the promises, for He says to His disciples, “ I will not leave you orphans.” The Divine Being cannot see His children suffer. He will be their Husband, Friend, and Protector. 2. The wonderful efficacy of our God’ s assistance. He will be the Husband of His people. This indicates nearness of relationship. It also indicates His right to help. The husband is the natural protector, stay, and support of his wife. It is he who makes all things conduce to the safety and happiness of his household. 3. The wonderful efficiency of our God’ s protection. “ Thy Maker is Thy Husband.” It is as if He said, He who is able to create thee is also able to preserve. And, oh, what is implied in that word “ Maker!” What power, what skill, what marvellous foresight! And all is concentrated also in human preservation. Here is a word to the bereaved, the sorrowing, the tried, the longing. Here is a fulness for him that craves for sympathy and yearns for love. Here is blessedness for him that desires peace and protection. (Homilist.)Christ the Husband of His Church I. THE OF THE . 1. His creating power. “ Thy Maker.” 2. His glorious sway. “ The Lord of hosts is His name.” 3. His redeeming love. “ Thy Redeemer.” 4. His spotless holiness. “ The Holy One of Israel.’ 5. His universal dominion. “ The God of the whole earth.” II. THE NATURE OF THE UNION. 1. Its qualities. (1) It is gracious in its origin. (2) Powerful in its accomplishment. (3) Spiritual in its nature. (4) Permanent in its duration. 2. Its privileges. (1) Communion. (2) Riches. (3) Protection. 3. Its terms. (1) Undivided affection. (2) Mutual consent. Conclusion: 1. I hail those who are married to the Lord. 2. I would address such as are wedded to sin. What profit? etc. (E. Temple.)God as Husband If I marry the Merchant, the old Puritans said in their quaint and homely fashion, all His wares shall be mine. The God of the whole earthThe mission of the Jewish nation A candle does not belong to the candlestick that holds it, but to every one in the room where it shines; and the knowledge of God, the preciousness of the Divine revelation, does not belong to the nation in which it is first and most clearly disclosed. They hold it as a torch; but it is that all may have the benefit of its shining. (H. W.Beecher.)The God of the whole earth If God is the God of the whole earth, He must be the God of the whole earth just as it is; and I remark that while believers in the true God were tribal and national, the natural mistake which was made, and which should put us on our guard lest we fall into it again in substance, was that of supposing that God was in a special manner the God of a particular class. So let us not forget that if He is the God of the whole earth He is the God of all those physical conditions under which men are born. He is the God of those laws of descent which make the character of the parent go down to the children through many generations. He is the God of those decrees by which the drunkard’ s children inherit the drunkard’ s proclivities; by which deceit propagates deceit; by which honour breeds honour; by which motives brought to bear upon parents have an effect on the welfare of their children reaching down to the depths of futurity. He is the God of the climate in which every person lives--of that climate which drives the Esquimaux under ground during most of the months of the year, and that climate which brings the swarthy African all the year into the open air, without clothes and without a swelling. If He is the God of all the earth, then He is the God that establishes those laws which determine the occupations of men, and their characters, in a large degree. He is the God of the physical globe, in this sense: that whatever affects men by its nature, by its unconscious and continuous influence upon them, is of His ordination. Being the God of the whole earth, He is the God of the mountains and of the valleys; of the winter and of the summer; of industry and of commerce; of all the arrangements of life by which men are influenced. Men’ s places of abode, and their nature, are largely determined by their circumstances; and these circumstances are God’ s decrees. (H. W.Beecher.)An unchristian patriotism God is the God of all nations. The Bible says that He is the God of all the earth, and I suppose there are people enough in other nations besides our own to occupy a considerable part of His sympathy and heart and attention. Well, patriotism is a good thing, but when patriotism is the influence that separates us from the other nations of the earth, it is a very narrow, mean thing, it is only another name for selfishness. (H. W. Beecher.)All nations and all classes belong to God All nations and all classes belong to God, the superior and the inferior; the men of knowledge belong to God’ s sympathy and care, the men of virtue, the men of great acquisitions, the men of great capacity to acquire, the active, the popular, the administrative, the successful men; they are all the Lord’ s because they are men. And the poor, and the lower classes, the lowest, the very slaves are all God’ s. I have sometimes, thought that He reveals, more of Himself to them than He does to their superiors. In other words, their utter helplessness, the necessity of leaning upon something to support them in their weakness, has brought them into such moods of mind, that God has shown some elements and attributes of His character to them, to true Christian slave mothers and fathers, that other men have not had. There are things that happen among them that look as much like miracles as those in the Gospels. There are things that happen among them that look almost as if God had opened the heavens and had personally spoken to them. It agrees with the exhibition of the sympathy of God, to give ourselves to the lower rather than to the higher, because they need it most. (H. W. Beecher.)God’ s four-fold relationship There are four great names by which Almighty God is most commonly called in Christendom--Creator, King, Judge, Father. The first and last, Creator and Father, are probably absolute and literal descriptions of Him; there is no other Creator but He, and all parentage but shadows the great fact of His Fatherhood. The other two names, King and Judge, are figurative and illustrative only. But all four are revealed names; authorized names; names given by God Himself to the yearning, importunate inquiries of men who, like wrestling Jacob, cry to Him, “ Tell me I pray Thee, Thy name.” We must know God by more than His names if we are in any true sense to know Him; we must realize His presence; be quickened by His life; the presence everywhere revealed; the life everywhere felt. Yet on a consideration of each of His names we may find some interpretation of what is meant by the declaration that He is “ the God of the whole earth.” I. He is the God as being the Creator of the whole earth. The earth would not have come into existence, and would not be to-day, but for the will, the power, the goodness of God. In the architecture of the whole earth there is God’ s design; in the structure there is God’ s might; in both there is God’ s love. II. He is the God as being the King of the whole earth. Kingship is often a very conventional conception; royalty often a very conventional idea. Back of it all, in essential reality, is intended, not pomp and splendour, not rank and arbitrary authority, but genuine supremacy, the supremacy that must govern, that ought to control, and the glory that is inherent in such supremacy. We do not find much help to understanding the government of God in the kings and queens whose empire is but as an inch, whose reign n hour. Christ’ s kingship, and not Caesar’ s, nor Alexander’ s, nor Solomon’ s, nor Pharaoh’ s, is the true specimen of monarchy, of Divine sovereignty. He is Lord of a moral dominion, King of a spiritual empire, and yet, when He willed it, His sceptre controlled material nature, multiplying the handful of loaves and fishes into a sudden harvest by a touch, and calming the tempestuous winds and waves by a word. III. He is the God as being the JUDGE of the whole earth. A world in which there is iniquity demands a Judge. Nay, the necessities of God’ s own righteous nature compel Him to be a Judge. The whole earth’ s God must be a universal Judge; between nations like France and Madagascar, between man and man, and between man and law, the God of all must be the supreme Judge. Unerring in His all-pervading knowledge, righteous in His infinite inspiration, infallible in His verdicts, “ shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” IV. He is the God as being the FATHER of the whole earth. The heart of humanity cries, “ Show us the Father and it sufficeth us,” and Jesus, by the words of His lips and by the works of His hands--yet more exceedingly by His Cross, by His character, and by His Spirit is ever revealing the Father. (U. R. Thomas, B. A.) Isaiah 54:6-13 For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken God is love None of those who came before the Lord Jesus ventured to define God as love. But it does not follow, as we sometimes assume, that the holy men who were moved by the Holy Ghost before Christ came into the world did not know and teach the fatherly and redeeming love of God. They could not be so familiar with that love as we are; but that they recognized it, and insisted on it with rare force and pathos, that they did all that mere words could do to convince and persuade men of it, no candid student of the Old Testament will deny, although when they were most profoundly moved by it we can still detect in their language a certain accent of almost incredulous surprise. Isaiah, for example, as he utters these pathetic phrases of my text, can hardly believe for joy and wonder. Again and again he is compelled to remind himself that it is God who is speaking in him and through him. The tender phrases which, were they not so tender, might run on with even flow, are again and again broken with such words as “ saith thy God,” or “ saith the Lord thy Redeemer,” or “ saith the Lord that hath compassion on thee.” Do you wonder that Isaiah, who knew God so well, found it hard to believe in a love so tender and true, and so feared that his hearers would find it quite impossible to believe Ah, but consider who and what they were on whom he was told that God had set His heart, and all the treasures of His love and compassion I God had lavished on them every possible means of grace, insomuch that He both could, and did, appeal to them whether there was even one single thing He could have done for him which He had not done. Yet, despite His singular and boundless grace, they had sunk to the level, and below the level, of the heathen around them. Was it likely that God should love them? Consider, too, how stern and dreadful was the burden which Isaiah had been commissioned to denounce upon them. And God had been as good as His word. Assyrian and Chaldean armies had swept the land of its inhabitants; their cities were burned with fire, and the once fertile and wealthy land turned into a desert. All who were left of the people were carried away captive, and left to weep for seventy years over their unstrung harps as they sat by the waters of Babylon. It was to these sinful, miserable captives and exiles that the prophet was moved to proclaim the tender and inalienable love of God! The words authenticate themselves. None but God could have spoken them. No man would have dared to conceive of God--no man, untaught of Heaven, ever has conceived of God, as yearning with love for the human race; and still less could any man have invented the tender, melting, beseeching phrases in which Isaiah has clothed that conception. (S. Cox, D. D.)The wonderful love of God Mark what the words do convey. God is speaking to men who had persistently sinned against all the influences of His love and grace, to men who were being consumed by the inevitable results of their transgressions. And He tells these poor miserable creatures that they are as dear to Him as the bride to her husband; that, though their offences against Him have been so many and so deep, He cannot tear His love for them out of His heart. Nay, as if this were not enough, He goes on to say that, though the blame is none of His, He is willing to take all the blame of their offences on Himself. Instead of reproaching them for their sins against HIS love, He compares them to a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, to a young and tender bride whose husband has despised and disgraced her, refusing to live with her and sending her away from his tent. It is He who has abandoned her, not she who has abandoned Him. It is He who has been hard and stern, not she who has been wilful and gone astray. But He never meant to be hard and stern. It was only for a brief moment that He left her, and in a momentary flush of anger. If she will return to Him, and give Him another chance, He will welcome her with “ great mercies” and comfort her with an “ everlasting kindness.” How shall He persuade her to return, to trust in Him? how convince her that He will be angry with her no more? He calls heaven and earth to witness to His truth, His fidelity, His deathless and unchanging love. He can appeal to His covenant with her, with Israel. She may think that that has been broken both by Him and by herself. But there was one of His covenants that had never been broken, an unconditional covenant, the covenant with Noah, which did not depend on men and their obedience, which depended only on God and on His faithfulness to His word. Henceforth His covenant with her shall be as the “ waters of Noah;” He will no more fall in His love to her than He will suffer the earth to be wasted by another flood. He will never forsake her, even though she should forsake Him; never be wroth with her, nor rebuke her, even though she should still be wilful and provoke Him to anger. Nay, more; as if even this great promise were not enough, He casts about for another and a still more reassuring figure, and goes on to say: The mountains were planted and the hills stood firm before the Deluge swept over the earth; even the waters of Noah could not wash them away, nor as much as make them quake. And His love shall henceforth be firm and unchanging as the mountains and hills; nay, more firm and unchanging. The mountains may remove and the hills may quake; but His lovingkindness shall never remove, His covenant of peace shall never quake. Even all this, wonderful and incredible as it is, is not enough. There is the sigh of an infinite compassion and truth in the exclamation, “ O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, not comforted! “ There is an unbounded and Divine generosity in the promise to the bride, to the woman, that, if she will only come back to Him, her very palace shall be built of rare gems; and in the promise to the mother, than which no promise could be more dear to a mother’ s heart, “ All thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children.” Is that a fable of man’ s invention? Can it be? Would any man have dared to give it as a statement of the facts, or possible facts of human life? (S. Cox, D. D.) Isaiah 54:7-10 For a small moment have I forsaken thee Affliction consolation This is a word of blessed comfort from One who is able to give it. Here is-- I. . Observe-- 1. Its Author. “ I have forsaken.” All trial comes from the hand of God Himself. Means may be employed, but He works through and by the means. 2. Its method. “ Forsaken.” The greatest sorrow of Christ was that He was forsaken of God. The terror of hell will be that it is a God-forsaken world. 3. Its duration. “ A small moment.” It is nothing in comparison to time, less than nothing in the face of eternity. Affliction may endure for a moment. II. . Here is-- 1. The joy of reunion. How blessed the meeting of friends, separated, it may be, by a quarrel, or a sin. 2. The joy of of forgiveness. “ With great, mercies” . etc. The past will be overlooked, the future guaranteed. All this will be undertaken by God. As He sends the trials so He sends the mercies. (Homilist.)The believer for a small moment forsaken, but with great mercies gathered I. What is the view here given us of God’ s towards the individual mentioned in the text? “ For a small moment have I forsaken thee.” God’ s forsaking His people cannot be at all in sovereignty, but must always be in justice; the very next verse tells us, in fact, that it was “ in wrath” --that it was on account of sin. As to the manifestation of displeasure, God speaks here of His “ forsaking” us. 1. He is sometimes said to forsake His people, when He leaves them under temporal affliction. This was very frequently the meaning of such words in reference to God’ s ancient people, the Jews. 2. Sometimes this phrase is used, we apprehend, when there seems to be an obstruction of access to the Throne of Grace--when our approach to it seems barred and obstructed. 3. Sometimes the phrase is used in reference to the spiritual declension of God’ s people. II. THE AND OF HIS are likewise referred to: “ For a small moment.” Now, putting these two words together--“ small moment” --and connecting likewise, this” verse with” the succeeding verse, we may understand, that both the degree and the duration of the punishment are referred to in the text. For a small moment” --a moment of smallness, or of lightness; and again, “ In a little wrath I hidMy face from thee for a moment.” This will appear to us more particularly, if we place in comparison with those afflictions to which we have referred certain other circumstances. 1. For instance, only compare the afflictions which you have endured with your deserts. 2. Then compare your sufferings with your mercies. 3. Compare your sufferings with those of others. 4. Compare your sufferings with those of Jesus. 5. Think of your present sufferings compared with everlasting torment. III. Let us turn to the declaration of God respecting the mercy which He has in reserve for his people--HIS DESIGN TOWARDS HIS PEOPLE. “ With great mercies will I gather thee.” This gathering, as it has reference to the Church of God, will be seen to have several meanings. 1. As to individuals, it may very fairly express the design of God to gather to Himself those that are far from Him by wicked works. 2. Then, “ I will gather” you to the possession and enjoyment of all the privileges of My people--this, of course, must be included--to the fellowship of the saints. 3. Perhaps this may be very fairly applied to God’ s gathering His saints to Himself by death. 4. There will be the final gathering, the universal gathering at His second coming. IV. “ WITH GREAT MERCIES,” He says, “ will I gather thee.” God, then, is telling His people what are His intentions, and is showing them what are His dispositions to them, in association with these great designs. Let us apply the phrase-- 1. To the originating mercy. 2. To the procuring cause. 3. To the efficient cause--the operation of the Spirit. 4. To the providential course of means which God employs. 5. To the nature of the blessings which God has vouchsafed to you, and which He will vouchsafe to you. (J. Griffin.)The beneficence of apparent alienation Sometimes it is needful to be forsaken for the moment that we may be properly gathered. We have seen some loving one teaching a child to walk; the arms were taken away from the child, but not far. The child could never be taught to walk if the arms were round about it; it must be left for a little moment, but the protection must be always near. Alienation does not always mean penalty, it sometimes means education. Alienation may mean penalty, and then the arms are in very deed a long way off--indeed, they may be lifted up to smite the transgressor, the wanderer whose heart has gone astray, having loved lies and darkness rather than truth. (J. Griffin.)Spiritual depression may have physical causes A good many supposed alienations are merely the result of physical causes. If our physical nature were better understood our spiritual depressions would be a great deal less thought of. Many a man suffers from melancholy who supposes that God has forsaken him, simply because he has inherited a constitution that has been vitiated, or because he has tampered with the laws and ordinances of nature, or because he is undergoing a process which may be absolutely necessary for his purification and strengthening. Do not suppose that God is moved by moods and-whims as we are, that he favours a child to-day, and rebukes the child to-morrow, without any reason or sense of justice. (J. Griffin.) Isaiah 54:8 In a little wrath I hid My face from thee God’ s face hidden To say God hath cast me off because He hath hid His face is a fallacy fetched out of the devil’ s topics. When the sun is eclipsed, foolish people may think it will never recover light, but wise men know it will. During the eclipse, though the earth wanteth the light of the sun for a time, yet not the influence thereof. (J. Trapp.)God’ s little wrath and God’ s great wrath This precious passage is the property of all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We might not have ventured to say this if it were not for the last verse of the chapter, which assures us that it is so. “ This is the heritage.” I. What the Lord calls His “ LITTLE WRATH.” Let us speak of it and its modifications. 1. Our view of that wrath, and God’ s view of it may very greatly differ. To a child of God in a right state even the most modified form of Divine anger is very painful. This pain of heart is a very proper feeling, but it may be perverted by unbelief into the occasion of sin. We may conclude from the chastening rod that the Lord is about to destroy us, though he has plainly said, “ Fury is not in Me.” This dark estimate of our affairs is not Gods view of them. It is but a partial departure under which the saint is suffering; the small moment will soon be over. I will now call your attention to two or three things which should greatly modify the view we take of the hidings of God’ s face. (1) As to time; the time during which our God withdraws Himself is very short: “ for a moment,” He says; but He puts it less than that, “ For a small moment.” Think of how long He has loved us, even from before the foundation of the world! The time in which He hides His face is very short compared with that. Think of how long He will love us: when all this universe shall have subsided into its native nothingness, He will love us for ever! The time during which He chastens us is, compared with that, a very small moment. Think of how long we deserved to have been in hell, to lie for ever beneath His indignation: the little moment in which His heavy hand is upon us is indeed as nothing compared with the eternal misery which our sins have merited. When you come forth from the hiding of His face into the light again, this gloom will seem to have been but a small moment. (2) The recompense which is promised. “ With great mercies will I gather thee.’” The Lord will make up to you all your losses, your crosses, and your chastisements. God’ s dealings with us never seem to be so merciful as after a time of trial. The bitterness makes the sweet the sweeter, and the sorrow makes the joy more abounding. The text does not say that God will give us mercy after He has for awhile left us; the word is in the plural, “ mercies,” multitudes of mercies. Nay, it does not merely say “ mercies,” but “ great mercies,” for they are all the greater because we so greatly need them, are plunged in such great distress for want of them, and filled with so many great fears as to our future estate. The Lord not only promises us these great favours, but promises that He Himself will bring them. They are not to be sent to us by angels or by external providences. “ With great mercies will I gather thee.” (3) The wrath is in itself little. 2. The expression of His little, anger is not after all so extremely severe, for what does it say? “ I hid My face. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of, them from the earth, but our text does not say, “ I turned My face against thee, but only, “ I hid My face from thee.” This is painful, but still there is this sweet reflection--why does He hide His face? It is because the sight of it would be pleasant to us. It is a face of love; for if it were a face of anger He would not need to hide it from His erring child. If it were an angry face, and He wished to chasten us, He would unveil it; therefore, we may be sure that He covers it because it is so bright with everlasting love that if it could be seen no chastisement would be felt by us. 3. Observe, too, for we must not leave out a word here, that this little wrath is perfectly consistent with everlasting love. “ In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee.” The Lord is filled with everlasting kindness at the very time when He is making the promise, for if you promise a person that you will love him you do love him already; love alone could prompt a promise such as that which I have read. You have no right to infer from the greatness of your griefs that God is ceasing to love you, or that He loves you less. II. THE GREAT WRATH OF GOD AND OUR AGAINST IT. Our security against it is this: “ This is as the waters of Noah unto Me: for as I have sworn, etc. Until God drowns the whole world again, He can never let out His great wrath against His people. 1. My text suggests that we have ample security that the wrath of God will never break out against us, for it has broken out against us once. The waters of Noah did go over the earth once, but never twice, Now, the wrath of God can never break forth against His redeemed, because it has already broken forth against them. “ Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’ s elect,? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died.” Is not that answer enough for all the charges of hell? 2. The text gives us next the oath of God as our security. “ As I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth,” etc. It is always a solemn occasion when Jehovah lifts His hand to heaven and swears. Then is a matter confirmed indeed when it is secured by the oath of God. 3. Next, we have before us the fact that the Lord has guaranteed our security by a covenant. “ Neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed.” 4. What blessed illustrations of our security are added in the further declaration of the Lord’ s mind and will The Lord looks on the mountains and the hills, and declares that these and all things visible will pass away, for time’ s grandest birth shall perish when eternity resumes its sway. The mountains and the hills may represent the most stable of earthly hopes and confidences: these all must fail us when most we need them. The Lord Himself assures us of this, and therefore does not at all guarantee to us any security in the things which are seen, nor any peace that can be drawn from the creature; our consolation lies elsewhere. “ The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith Jehovah, the Pitier. Under no conceivable circumstances shall the covenant fail; the Lord who made it cannot change, Jesus who sealed it cannot die, the love which dictated it cannot cease, the power which executes it cannot decay, and the truth which guarantees it cannot be questioned. As for you who have no portion in Divine realities, what do you possess that is worth having? (C. H.Spurgeon) Isaiah 54:9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me The Lord no more wroth with His people I. WHAT MEN HAVE MOST TO FEAR. All men who are unsaved ought, with fear and trembling, to dread the wrath of God--the wrath present, and the wrath to come. The text speaks of the Lord’ s being wroth, as of an evil to be feared. Man has cause to be afraid of “ the rebuke of God” --that stern rebuke of the Holy One which is the prelude to the lifting-up of His unsheathed sword, and the destruction of His adversaries. 1. Gods wrath is matter for fear, because to be in union with God is necessary to the happiness of the creature. 2. This wrath of God is to be feared all the more because there is no escaping from it. A man who is under the wrath of a monarch can escape to another kingdom; a man who has incurred the anger of the most mighty enemy can find, somewhere in this great world, a nook wherein he can conceal himself from his relentless pursuer. But he that has exposed himself to the wrath of God cannot save himself from the Almighty hand. 3. There is this also to be dreaded in the wrath of God, that there is no cure for it. Nothing can possibly give a man ease or safety when the rebuke of God has gone forth against him. He may be surrounded with temporal comforts, but his riches will only mock his inner poverty. Friends may utter words of cheer, but miserable comforters shall they all be. Instead of the mercies of this life becoming any comfort to him, when a man has the wrath of God resting upon him, it is written, “ I will curse all your blessings.” 4. The rebuke of God, if we live and die impenitent, is one against which we cannot harden ourselves. We cannot gather strength to endure when God strikes at the heart and dries up the spirit. 5. Remember the overwhelming fact that the wrath of God does not end with death. II. WHAT THE SAINTS NEED NEVER FEAR. Dreadful as it is, and more than sufficient to overwhelm the spirit with dismay, a fear of the wrath of God need never disturb the believer’ s heart. God has sworn that He will never be wroth with His people. He does not say that He will never be so angry with their sins as to chasten them sharply; for anger with our sins is love to us. He does not say that He will not be so angry as to punish us; although there would be great mercy even in that; but He goes much further, and says that He will never be so wroth with His people as even to rebuke them. “ What! say you, “ then doth not God rebuke His people?” Ah, verily, that He doth, and chasten them too! but those rebukes and those chastisements-are in love, and not in wrath. The text before us is to be read thus: “ I will not be wroth with thee so as to rebuke thee in indignation.” There shall never be so much as a word of wrath from the lips of God, touching any one of His servants whose righteousness is of Him. 1. This, to make us sure of it, is first of all confirmed by an oath. We ought to believe God’ s bare word: we are bound to accept His promise as certainty itself; but who will dare to doubt the oath of the Eternal? 2. As if further to illustrate the certainty of this, He is pleased to draw a parallel between His present covenant oath and that which He made in the days of Noah with the second great father of the human race. (1) The covenant made with Noah was a covenant of pure grace. This covenant is paralleled by the covenant in your ease. (2) The first covenant with Noah was made after a sacrifice. The same reason so works with God that He will not be wroth with you, nor rebuke you. (3) That covenant which God made with Noah was openly propounded in the ears of the whole race. Noah and his sons heard it, and we have all heard it. Now, when a man makes a promise, if it is in private he is bound by it, and his honour is engaged thereto; but when his solemn promise becomes public, he stakes his character among men upon the fulfilment of his word. Now, since the Lord has made public this gracious word--“ I will not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee, does He not intend to do as He has said? (4) God never has broken the covenant which He made with Noah. If the Lord be so faithful to one covenant, why should we imagine, even in our worst moments, that He will be unfaithful to His other word which He has spoken concerning our souls? 3. If this be the ease, that God will not be wroth with us, nor rebuke us, then the greatest fear that can ever fall upon us is gone, and it is time that all our lesser fears were gone with it. For instance, there is (1) the fear of man. When we clearly understand that God is not wroth with us, we feel raised above the rage of mortals. (2) So, too, we need not fear the devil. If God will not be wroth with me, nor rebuke me, why should I fear though all hell’ s legions should march against, me? If God will never be wroth with us, nor rebuke us, we need not fear any of the chastisements which His may lay upon us. There is a vast difference between a blow that is given in anger and a pat that is given in love. (4) How this alters the look of death. If death be a punishment to a believer, then death wears gloomy colours; but if death itself has changed its character, Show delightful is this! (5) After death shall come the judgment, and in that last great day the Lord will not be wroth with His people; if the reading out of all His people’ s sins before an assembled world must imply a rebuke, then it shall not be done, for He will not rebuke them. So then, what should we fear? What indeed? The Lord grant us to be afraid of being afraid! Conclusion: If it be so, that God has sworn that He will not be wroth with us, then-- (1) Believe it. (2) Rejoice. (3) Be resigned. (4) Impart. If you have learned this love in your own heart, then tell it out to others. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 54:10 For the mountains shall depart Mountains stable, yet crumbling Those who have been reared and nurtured among the everlasting hills always look upon them as old friends. To them there is in mountain, valley and glen a peace reposing in the bosom of strength that soothes the heart to rest. Jean Paul says “ that the great hills are like great men--the first to catch and the last to lose the light; and he might further say that, like great men, they afford kindliest shelter in their mighty bosoms to the weary and heart-sore. While the idea of stability is connected with the everlasting hills, science, with stern truthfulness, alarms that they are gradually crumbling away. They say that the Alleghanies, in their prime were three thousand feet higher than human eyes have ever seen them. There was a time when the igneous forces possessed the advantage, and island and continent and alp rose triumphant over the sea. But for thousands of years the energies of fire have been wasting, and earthquake and fire have been smitten with the palsy of age. River and stream are filching soil from mountain and plain and restoring it again to the sea. Defiant granite, which baffled the lightnings that rent Sinai, and frowned upon the flood that drowned the world, shall yet be brought down by the continuous pelting of rain and the insidious sapping of frost. (A. Macfarlane.)The unchangeable duration of God’ s kindness and covenant I. THE STATE AND FRAME OF THIS WORLD, which shall issue in its final dissolution. “ The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed.” In opposition hereunto we have-- II. THE OF GOD’ S TO, AND WITH HIS PEOPLE. “ But My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenants of My peace be removed.” III. THE AND REASON OF THIS, as contained in the words, “ saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee.” (J. Guyse. D. D.)The enduring in the universe I. THE GOOD MAN’ S IS MORE DURABLE THAN THE . This is here implied. The people here addressed are supposed to live after the mountains have departed. The fact that a man is more durable than the mountains gives consistency to our life--and grandeur. II. GOD’ S IS MORE DURABLE THAN THE . “ My kindness shall not depart from thee.” God’ s kindness is more durable even than man. Though man will never have an end, he had a beginning. God’ s kindness never had a beginning, and will never have an end. Kindness is the very essence of the Eternal, the root of all existence, the primal font of all blessedness in all worlds. 1. His kindness will continue notwithstanding the sins of humanity. 2. His kindness continues notwithstanding the sufferings of humanity. In fact, His kindness is expressed in human suffering. Does not the loving father often show more love to his child in correcting him for his offences than in gratifying his desires? There is kindness in the judgments that befall men. The most terrible judgments are but God’ s mercy weeding the world of its evils. III. THE UNION BETWEEN BOTH WILL BE MORE DURABLE THAN THE . “ My kindness shall not depart from thee.” These “ words were addressed to His own people, and not to men in general; and the idea is, that His kindness will continue for ever in connection with the truly good. God’ s kindness is indissolubly associated with the good. St. Paul challenges the universe to effect a separation. “ Who shall separate from the love of Christ?” (D. Thomas, D.D.)Fears and their antidote When God called the Jewish captives to go forth to their own land, they began to be full of fears about the future. They mused over possible or imaginary difficulties. They groaned under prospective burdens. How should they get across the wilderness? From whence should they receive their supplies? Who would protect them from the roving bands of robbers? And even if they should really live through all the perils of the wilderness, and get safe again into Palestine, how would they find the country? Would it be desolate and waste, or cultivated and attractive? Would it be free from enemies, or full of foes T Who was then to be their shield and buckler, their strong tower, their rock of defence to save them? It was this temper of mind which the prophet was commissioned by Jehovah to remove. Why, said the fervid son of Amos, are you so fearful? Think of God’ s momentary anger, and eternal mercy (verses 7, 8). Think of the covenant which God made to the preacher of righteousness (verse 9). Think of the most stable and enduring things of which you know: not of fortresses--they can be demolished, and not one stone be left upon another that is not thrown down; nor yet of temples, though they rear their heads and smite the stars, like the temple of Bolus in the city which has so long been your home. Think, not of those, but of the everlasting mountains. What so secure, so deep-rooted, so enduring? Yet, “ the mountains shall depart, etc. (verse 10). I. THE TEMPER OF THE JEWISH IS ALSO THE TEMPER OF MANY GODLY MEN IN OUR DAY. The words of the prophet are words which they also need to hear, to be reassured and to recover their confidence and hope. 1. We have fears about matters purely secular. 2. There are fears which spring from matters as purely spiritual. 3. Fears also arise from temptations. These temptations are very many and very subtle. 4. There are foes to face, other foes than Satan, but who may be prompted by his evil counsels. What will be our condition in relation to them? There are foes in our own heart, foes in our own house, foes in our daily toil and our rest. Shall we be able to meet and overcome them? 5. Perhaps, with a very large number of devout and godly men, the greatest source of fear is the possibility of the coming on of an hour of darkness. 6. In numberless other instances, the fear originates through a morbid apprehension of death, a hatred of it that is far more Pagan than Christian, a shrinking back from the thought of dissolution, and all that dissolution carries with it. II. LET US NOW LOOK, NOT AT THE FEARS, BUT AT THEIR TRUE . “ For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed,” etc. 1. Here is the declaration of the perpetual providence of God. 2. Another antidote to fear is given in the Divine pledge of peace. “ The covenant of My peace shall not be broken. When the sacred writers speak of God’ s covenant, it is at once apparent that they are describing the things of heaven in the language of earth. But when the word is used as in the case before us, it stands for a Divine pledge or promise. Remember, still further, that “ peace” was a word which, in the estimation of the Jew, carried with it every possible earthly advantage. It meant more than the cessation of hostility. It meant, opportunity for business; success in commercial ventures; home-life, home-joys, to which the ancient Hebrew was so partial; quiet, love, happiness. The blessings which Jehovah promised to the Jews were manifold; but all those blessings were summed up in this one expressive word--peace. So also to us, in the later economy. God’ s pledge to us is--“ peace,” putting the still larger Christian meaning into that word. But when God promises that the covenant of His peace shall not be broken, He expects us to fulfil our part of the covenant. He gives no assurance of peace, if we swerve from Him. 3. The Divine assurance of mercy is another antidote to fear. “ The Lord, who hath mercy on thee.” Mercy was the basis of all God’ s treatment of the ancient Jews. Mercy is still the foundation of God’ s dealings with us. (J. J.Goadby.)The unchangeableness of God’ s covenant the saint’ s security I. AN ACCOUNT GIVEN OF A , which is ascribed to God, and said to be a covenant of peace. II. THE SPRING AND SOURCE OF THIS . “ Kindness and mercy.” III. A MOST SOLEMN OF THE , , AND OF IT. “ It shall not depart nor be removed.” IV. THE OR FARTHER OF THIS . “ This is as the waters of Noah unto Me, and though the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed,” etc. (S. Wilson.)My kindness shall not depart from theeKindness There is something very suggestive in that word “ kindness.” Kindness is originally that which is felt and shown to one’ s kind or kin. Kind is “ kinned;” so that, according to the primitive signification of the word, kindness grows out of natural relationship. And this is really the basis of God’ s kindness. Men are His children: and the relation of parent and child implies kindness. (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)The kindness of God The word kindness as applied to Deity is a very comprehensive term. It embraces the attributes of love and mercy in all their manifestations and numerous relations, and may be understood to be one with pity, compassion, sympathy, and tenderness. I. The kindness of Deity is . It is contrasted with the mutability of earthly objects--even with the mightiest and the most endurable--“ The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed.” II. The kindness of God is , while in some cases it is SPECIAL. III. The of this kindness. “ It shall not depart from thee. The kindness of Deity has its law. It may be granted, or it may be withdrawn, conditionally; and the law of kindness acts in union with the law of justice. (W. D.Horwood.)The covenant of My peaceGod’ s peace-giving covenant “ The covenant of My peace” does not give the sense as fully as “ My covenant of peace;” i.e. My peace-giving covenant. (J. A. Alexander.)The blessings and stability of the covenant of grace I. A VIEW OF THE PARTIES IN MAKING THIS . II. A VIEW OF THE IN IT. III. A VIEW OF THE AND OF THIS , WITH ALL ITS AND , TO EVERY TRUE . (J. Kidd, D. D.)The covenant of God’ s peace 1. It proceeds from Him as the God of peace. 2. In this way He hath formed between Himself and His people the most intimate, endearing connection, ratified by the Mediator, who is our peace. 3. All the blessings requisite to their peace and felicity are therein bestowed. (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 54:11-17O thou afflicted The city of God The reference is still to Jerusalem. In the former paragraph, she was addressed as a barren wife; here as destined to arise from her encumbering ruins, and become the joy of the whole earth. Of course, the primary reference is to that actual rebuilding which took place under the direction of Nehemiah. But there is a further and more spiritual meaning. These words must refer to that city of God which is ever arising amid the ruins of all other structures. Watched by the ever-attentive eye of the great Architect, wrought by unseen hands, tested by the constant application of the line of truth and the plummet of righteousness, and emerging slowly from heaps of rubbish into strength and beauty. A description is given of the pricelessness of the structure, the privileges of the inhabitants, and the safety which is assured by the Word of God; and let us not hesitate to appropriate this blessed vision. It is put clearly within our reach by the assurance with which the chapter closes, that this is the heritage of all the servants of the Lord. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)God’ s promise to the afflicted Church I. THE LOW AND STATE OF THE CHURCH. 1. She is deeply distressed; and the language of Divine compassion towards her is, “ Oh thou afflicted!” Piety exempts from future wrath, but not from present trouble. Saints have their afflictions in common with others. 2. The Church of God is also described as being “ tossed with tempests,” like a ship driven from her anchors, carried to and fro by the boisterous waves, and ready every moment to be swallowed up. A storm at sea also well represents the terrors of an awakened conscience, and the agonies of a mind in deep distress; when awful providences are joined with inward darkness, so that one trouble excites and sharpens another. 3. The Church is afflicted, “ and not comforted.” Sometimes light arises out of darkness, and God comforts His people in all their tribulations: but here every species of relief is withheld. II. THE OF GOD TOWARDS HIS PEOPLE, AND THE PROMISE MADE FOR THEIR RELIEF. “ Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours,” etc. This is as if the Lord had said, I will turn thy sorrow into joy, thy tears into triumphs. 1. The Church is here represented as a building, whether as a common dwelling or a temple is immaterial. The materials are various. Some are placed in a more conspicuous situation than others; but all are useful and necessary, in different degrees. The various parts of the edifice require to be united, in order to form an entire structure; a confused heap of materials, scattered and unconnected, afford no idea of a building. A temple is designed for worship, and a house for habitation; the Church of God is designed for both. 2. The several parts of this building are next described; the stones that are to be laid, and also the foundations. None but spiritual materials, none but living stones are fit to make a part of this building. The foundation of this building is Christ Jesus. All true believers are united to Him, and rest their eternal all upon Him, as a building rests upon its foundation. 3. We have a promise of future felicity, and glory to the Church. “ I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and thy foundations with sapphires.” These expressions may imply-- (1) The Church’ s worth and excellency. (2) Its comeliness and beauty. (3) Its firmness and stability. The precious stones and the sapphires, with which this building is to be erected, are durable as well as beautiful, and expressive of the perpetuity of the Gospel Church. (4) Its future glory. The Church shall indeed be raised to a greater degree of glory in this world; but she shall be transcendently and eternally glorious in the world to come. The future glory of the Church, as predicted by the prophet, is similar to that of the New Jerusalem, which the apostle saw descending from God out of heaven. Let then the afflicted Church, and individual believers, bless God for such a promise! Let them exercise faith and patience, and wait its full accomplishment. (B. Beddome, M. A.)The city of God I. THE OF THE . What an enumeration of precious stones! Let us consider what jewels are. A jewel is a bit of ordinary earth which has passed through an extraordinary experience. Then there is a special fitness in this address to the afflicted people of God. I. Foundations of sapphire. Underneath our live, underpinning the history of the world of men, the one ultimate fact for us all is the love of God. They are stable. They are fair. 2. Windows of agates. Agates are varieties of quartz, and bear evidently in their texture the mark of fire. Indeed, they are always found in the igneous rocks, from which they drop out when such rocks decompose under the action of water and air. The agate is partially transparent; not opaque, as flint; not transparent, as rock-crystal--it admits light, tempering it as it passes. God makes windows of agates; He takes our sorrows and makes them windows through which we may gaze into the unseen. In sorrow we see the unsatisfying nature of the world, and the reality of the unseen; we learn to appreciate the tenderness and delicacy of human love; we have insight into the meaning of God’ s providences; we behold the value and truth of Scripture. 3. Gates of carbuncles. There is a good deal of uncertainty as to the precise stone indicated by the Hebrew word rendered “ carbuncle.” It seems better, therefore, to take the suggestion of the duplicate vision in the Apocalypse, and to think of gates of pearl. The pearl is said to result from the infliction of a wound in the oyster, which leads it to throw out the precious fluid that congeals into a pearl. If so, every pearl on the neck of beauty is the lasting memento of a stab of pain. At any rate, each pearl commemorates the hazard of human life in the diver’ s descent into the ocean depths. It is true of life; all our outgoings into wider ministry, nobler life, greater responsibility of blessedness, are due to the precious action of sorrow, self-sacrifice, and pain. There is no gate into the life, which is life indeed, which has not cost us dear. II. THE OF THE OF THE CITY. 1. They shall be all taught of God. It is a deep and helpful thought that God has opened a school in this dark world, and has Himself undertaken to act as Schoolmaster. It is the Father who teaches. “ He knows our frame,” etc. To be taught of God is to be led by His own hand into a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of redemption. 2. “ Great shall be the peace of thy children.” We have first peace with God, through faith in the blood and righteousness of Christ; then the peace of God, which here is called “ great,” and elsewhere “ that passeth understanding.” Some parts of the ocean laugh the sounding-line to scorn. You may let out 1,000, 2,000, even 6,000 fathoms, and still the plumb falls clear. So it is when God’ s peace, driven from all the world, comes to fold its wings of rest in the heart. It is better than joy, which falters and fluctuates; better than the ecstacy which may have its reactions. And these two rest on each other. The more you know God, the more peace you have; because you find Him more worthy of your trust. III. THEIR SAFETY. The waster fulfils a useful function: the knife that cuts away the dead wood; the fire that eats out the alloy; the winnowing fan that rids the wheat of the chaff; the east wind tearing through the forest; the frost crumbling up the soil; the vast army of animals that devour and destroy. “ I have created the waster to destroy.” This is the strong Hebrew way of saying that God permits, and overrules, and brings out good by means of the evil that had seemed destructive of all good. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)Zion’ s foundations, windows, gates, and borders I. THE STATE, , AND OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. “ O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted.” Every one of these expressions is pregnant with heavenly meaning. 1. “ O thou afflicted.” Affliction is one of the marks that God stamps upon His people. 2. “ Tossed with tempest.” Some are tossed with a tempest of doubts and fears; others with a tempest of lusts and corruptions; others with a tempest of rebellion and fretfulness; others with a storm of guilt and despondency; others with gloomy forebodings and dismal apprehensions. Thus are they driven from their course, their sun and stars all obscured; no clear evidences, no bright manifestations; darkness above and a raging sea beneath; breakers ahead, and no harbour in sight. 3. But the Lord adds another word, “ not comforted” --that is, not comforted by, not capable of comfort from, man. This I look upon as a very decisive mark of a work of grace upon the soul. God has received the Church’ s comfort in His own hands; from His lips alone can consolation be spoken into her soul. II. THE BLESSED CLUSTER OF GOSPEL THAT GOD MAKES TO HIS CHURCH. “ Behold,” He says, as though He would draw her special attention to the work that He was about to perform. “ I will lay thy stones with fair colours.” The Lord here seems to take the figure of a building; or rather of a temple, for His people are compared to a temple. His work upon their soul He compares to the work of an architect, or a builder who lays stone upon stone until he puts on the top-stone with shoutings of grace, grace, unto it. 1. The first promise that He makes relative to this building of mercy is--“ I will lay her stones with fair colours.” This seems to be general description of the work of God in rearing up the spiritual building before Ha fair colouring. But in the words, “ I will lay thy stones with fair colours,” there seems to be a reference also to the cement in which the stones are laid, as well as to the stones themselves. What is this cement? Is it not blood and love? 2. But the Lord goes on to particularize His work. He speaks of her “ foundations,” her “ windows,” her “ gates,” and “ borders,” and He tells us how they are all severally formed and made. Beginning at the beginning, He describes the material and laying of her foundations--” I will lay thy foundations with sapphires.” Before we can stand firmly in to things of God, we must have a good foundation, something solid for our faith, our hope, our love, our all to rest upon. But what is a sapphire? A precious stone, the distinguishing feature of which is its peculiar clear and beautiful colour--a heavenly blue. I would not press the figure too closely, but may it not fitly represent from its nature and colour a special gift from heaven? What a mercy for you if your faith has such a sapphire for its foundation; when you do not rest upon the bare letter of God’ s word, but upon the testimony of God laid into your soul. 3. But the Lord also adds--“ and I will make thy windows of agates.” What is a window for? Chiefly to admit light and air, and also to give us a prospect of the scenery without. But the windows are of “ agate.” Glass in those days was not used for windows; it was known for various other purposes; for it has been lately found in Nineveh, as well as in the tombs of Egypt; but its use for windows is of comparatively modern date. But why are they made of agate? Though not as clear as glass, it is what is called semi-transparent, that is, sufficiently transparent to admit a considerable amount of light. The sun shining through a window of agate might lose a portion of its brightness, but not much of its light. Upon Zion in her time-state the Sun of Righteousness does not shine in all his brightness. The windows of agate whilst she is in the flesh temper his rays. Her prospects, too, are not fully bright and clear. We have not those clear views which the saints have in glory where they see Jesus face to face. 4. But the Lord speaks also of Zion’ s “ gates.” These gates are to give admission to the temple which He is rearing for His own habitation. But of what material are the gates? These, too, like the foundations and windows, are of precious stones. “ And thy gates of carbuncles.” Now we must not be too fanciful in our interpretation of God’ s word; yet, doubtless, the Spirit of God chose these jewels with some peculiar meaning. The carbuncle is of a blood-red colour. And why should the Lord have chosen that Zion’ s gates should be of this peculiar colour? May we not believe that there is some mystic allusion here to the blood of the Lamb? But what are gates for? Entrance and exit. Zion has her gates of exit and entrance. She has her gates of access to God, entrance into the presence of the Most High. And who has opened the door, or rather who has not only opened it, and made it, but Himself is it? “ I am the door,” saith Jesus; and was not the door opened through His rent flesh? (Hebrews 10:19-20). But gates not only give admission but exit. Not only do prayers, supplications and tears, rise up with acceptance through the gates of carbuncle, and thus enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, but promises also, tokens, testimonies and visits come down. And as every prayer, to be a prayer, is breathed through the gate of carbuncle, through the blood of the Lamb, so every answer, that is an answer, comes down through the same consecrated channel. 5. But the Lord also speaks of Zion’ s borders. He tells us He will make “ all her borders of pleasant stones.” There shall be nothing common about her. No architect pays the same attention to the courts and outbuildings that he pays to the mansion itself. If the mansion be of stone these may be of brick. Not so with God, Zion’ s Divine Architect. Zion’ s very borders, courts, outbuildings, are all of the same material with the mansion itself. Thus God’ s providential dealings, which often form the outward setting of His inward mercies, are of pleasant stones. But for whom are these mercies? The meritorious? the diligent? the industrious? We read not so. “ O thou afflicted,” etc. What 1 are all these mercies for such as they? They are the only persons who will prize them, or glorify God for them. (J. C. Philpot.)Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair coloursThe decorations of Nature Nature’ s temple is not a hueless, monotonous structure like the pyramids of Egypt. It is richly decorated. It is overlaid with chaste and beautiful ornamentation. Every stone is painted with fair colours, accurately toned, and in perfect keeping. Not a rock that peers above the surface of the earth but is clothed with the rainbow tints of moss and lichen, and wreathed with the graceful tenderness of fern and wild-flower. Every mountain is clothed with the variegated verdure of forest and pasture, blending gradually upwards into the sober grey of crag, and the silvery whiteness of snow, and the quiet blue of the cloud-flecked sky. And when the living hues of plants are absent, there is compensation in the rich colours of the rocks, or in the bright reflections of the heavens. The brilliant crimson of Sinai’ s granite and sandstone cliffs makes up for their naked sterility; and if the mountain ranges of northern Europe are destitute of the emerald verdure of the Alps, they are covered instead with purple light as with a robe, and gather out of the sky at sunrise and twilight hues softer than the plumage of a dove, and more radiant than the petals of rose and violet. Even works of human art are decorated by nature with a picturesque glory of colour and light, in harmony with her own landscapes. The castle or the abbey, left untenanted, falls into ruin; but Nature--whose profound peace succeeds all strife of man, and whose passive permanency mocks his fast-perishing creeds--steps in to claim her reversion; and wherever her soft finger touches, there new beauties spring up and shame the artist’ s proudest triumphs. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)The adornments of grace As Nature deals with the materials of her framework, so the Divine Artificer deals with the living materials of His spiritual temple. Every stone that is fit to be built into the walls of His holy habitation is richly sculptured and decorated. He leaves none in the meanness and vileness of their natural state. He digs them out of the fearful pit and the miry clay that they may be chiselled and polished, so as to be ornaments of the structure in which they stand. He makes the Sun of righteousness to shine upon the dark vapour-cloud of their nature, and thus paints it with the rainbow hues of grace. Black in themselves, He makes them comely in the reflected light of His love. From the moment that the favour of God is restored to them, they are wakened to a new existence and a better principle. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)Stones with fair colours I. WHAT ARE THE FAIR COLOURS WITH WHICH THE IS ADORNED? 1. Humility is one of the most conspicuous of them. It is the soft purple hue of the lowly violet, hid among its leaves, and known only by its fragrance; of the fruit when it is ripest; of the hills when most saturated with sunset light, and most like Heaven. It is the ornament which, in the sight of God, is of great price; it is the secret of true refinement and distinction in the eyes of men; it is the glory of the inner man renewed in sanctified self-denial and self-forgetfulness. By nothing is the genuine believer distinguished from the mere formalist and hypocrite more than by his humility. 2. Patience. It is the tender green of the grass, which, through summer’ s heat and winter’ s frost, remains unchanged, which may be trampled under foot and injured in every way, and yet retains its vitality unimpaired. 3. Benevolence. It is the quiet blue of the sky, which shines upon the just and the unjust, which sends down rain and dew upon the evil and the good. This is the virtue which counteracts the natural selfishness of the heart, and takes us out of ourselves. It is by the uniform and enlarged exercise of it that the disciples of the Lord are distinguished from the people of the world, who are ever intent only upon their own interests and pleasures. It is by their benevolence that they are assimilated to the Universal Giver, whose tender mercies are over all His works, and are never exhausted--to the compassionate Saviour, who though He was rich yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich, and whose meat and drink on earth was to go about continually doing good--to the holy angels, whose happiness is increased by seeing sinners repenting on earth, and by being sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation. 4. Zeal. It is the ruby hue of the blood which circulates through the veins, and animates the whole body with life and vigour. It is the crimson heat which energizes or melts everything it, and pervades all with its own glow. It stimulates to the performance of every duty, infuses life into every experience, fervour into all devotion, spirit into all work, and overcomes difficulty as fire overcomes every resisting object. 5. Moderation or temperance. It is the golden mean between two extremes--the safe though narrow path between opposite evils that come veryclose to each other. It is the soul’ s centre of gravity. 6. All these and other graces are summed up in charity. As every lovely hue is light, so every lovely grace is love. This is the rainbow which gathers up and harmonizes all other qualities, and bends its Divine beauty over the whole life of the Christian. It is the genus of which all the Christian virtues are the species. Patience is the attitude of love, zeal is the energy of love, humility is the upset of love, benevolence is the acting of love. II. WHAT ARE THE OF THESE FAIR COLOURS? 1. They should be harmonious. They should be developed proportionally, so that each, instead of detracting from, may add lustre to the other. Though the graces are possessed by the believer in various degrees of perfection, yet in every person some one or other is predominant, becomes so conspicuous as to colour the rest, and give the whole character its prevailing hue. The New Jerusalem above will be a glorious city, because there shall be gathered together, in varied but harmonious splendour, the brightness of the diamond, the ruddy flame of the topaz,, the deep green of the emerald, the shining gold of the jasper, the milk-white filminess of the onyx, the heavenly blue of the sapphire, the lovely violet of the amethyst, the burning changes of the opal, and the soft beauty of the pearl! 2. The fair colours with which God lays the stones of His spiritual temple are not superficial. There is no plating, or enamelling, or veneering. Grace works from within outwards, renews the heart, and thus transforms the life. III. HOW ARE THESE FAIR COLOURS ? God is their author. It is He who says, “ I will lay thy stones with fair colours.” They are not the spontaneous products of our own corrupt nature, nor even the forced growths of our own careful cultivation. The beauties of holiness are no mere fancy-sketch, no original picture. They are a copy of the Great Master. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)The co-operation of providence and grace The work of the Spirit is aided by God’ s providential dealings without. It is to the “ afflicted, tempest-tossed, and not comforted,’ that God says, “ Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours.” I have seen a literal fulfilment of these words in Nature. It is a remarkable circumstance that the most brilliant colours of plants are to be seen on the highest mountains, in spots that are most exposed to the wildest weather. The brightest lichens and mosses, the loveliest gems of wild flowers, abound far up on the bleak storm-scalped peak. One of the richest displays of organic colouring I have ever beheld was near the summit of Mont Chenelettaz, a hill about 10,000 feet high, immediately above the great St. Bernard Hospice. The whole face of an extensive rock was covered with a most vivid yellow lichen, which shone in the sunshine like the golden battlement of an enchanted castle. There, in that lofty region, amid the most frowning desolation, exposed to the fiercest tempests of the sky, this lichen exhibited a glory of colour such as it never shows in the sheltered valley. I have two specimens of the same lichen before me, one from the great St. Bernard, and the other from the wall of a Scottish castle deeply embosomed among sycamore trees; and the difference in point of form and colouring between them is most striking. The specimen nurtured amid the wild storms of the mountain-peak is of a lovely primrose hue, and is smooth in texture and complete in outline; while the specimen nurtured amid the soft airs and the delicate showers of the lowland valley is of a dim rusty hue, and is scurfy in texture and broken in outline. And is it not so with the Christian who is afflicted, tempest-tossed, and not comforted? Till the storms and vicissitudes of God’ s providence beat upon him again and again, his character appears marred and clouded by selfish and worldly influences. But trials clear away the obscurity, perfect the outlines of his disposition, and give brightness and beauty to his piety. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)The world unfavourable to beauty of Christian character But though the trials of life are well fitted to bring out the fair colours of the Christian character, there is a sense in which the world may be said to be unfavourable to them. Its climate is not like the glowing air and the clear sunny sky of Egypt or Italy, which embalm architectural remains in imperishable beauty, and present the temples erected ages ago as sharply-defined in their sculpture, and as fresh and undimmed in their colouring as if built only yesterday. Iris like our own misty climate. It is difficult to preserve the beauty of holiness in a world lying in wickedness, to keep the garments unspotted from the flesh. The fair colours of grace require to be constantly renewed, polished, brightened. But as Christians, another Will than your own has begun to work in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And your holiness will surely spread in spite of every opposition over your whole nature and life, transforming you in the renewing of your mind, preserving you from the pollutions of the world, and preparing you for being presented faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)The beautifying power of Divine grace These fair colours of grace are within reach of all. In nature there is hardly a stone that is not capable of crystallizing into something purer and brighter than its normal state. Coal, by a slightly different arrangement of its particles, is capable of becoming the radiant diamond. The slag cast out from the furnace as useless waste, forms into globular masses of radiating crystals. From tar and pitch the loveliest colours are now manufactured. The very mud on the road, trampled under foot as the type of all impurity, can be changed by chemical art into metals and gems of surpassing beauty. And so the most unpromising materials, from the most worthless moral rubbish that men east out and despise, may be converted by the Divine alchemy into the gold of the sanctuary, and made jewels fit for the mediatorial crown of the Redeemer. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)“ Fair colours:” Antimony was the costly black mineral powder with which the Eastern women painted their eyelids to throw up the lustre of their eyes. The dark cement in which the gems of the walls, gates, battlements, and even the foundations of the City were to be set, and which was to enhance their brilliance, was to be composed of this costly pigment. (S. Cox, D. D.)And lay thy foundations with sapphiresFoundations of sapphires By the sea-shore we find samples of many of the rocks which form the crust of the earth. The commonest specimen among them has something to commend it either in colour or in form. It is assuredly not of worthless and unsightly materials that the hidden parts of the earth are constructed. Unlike man’ s work, which is carefully elaborated only where the eye is intended to see it, God’ s work is the same throughout. Not only is beauty lavished upon the superstructure--upon the grass, and the flowers, and the trees, that are to meet the gaze--but the very foundations are composed of onyx stones and stones to be set, glistering stones and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. A similar principle appears throughout the spiritual creation, of which the scheme of nature is only the visible picture. In the moral works of God as well as in the natural, beauty is combined with utility--grace with strength. He lays the foundations of the general Christian Church, and of the individual Christian character, with sapphires. Those hidden principles and motives upon which the grand superstructure of faith and charity is guilt, are not only strong and steadfast, but beautiful. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)The sapphire The sapphire is one of the brightest and most valuable of those mysterious unfading flowers of the inner earth which we call jewels. Born of darkness, stranger to the light, it yet holds in its core of focussed rays the blue of heaven. Gentians, violets, forget-me-nots, calm lakes and summer skies, glacier-depths and living springs, have their passing and perishing loveliness enshrined and concentrated in its heart of rock. There is one variety, of a singularly soft pure azure, which has the power of retaining its lovely memory of heaven, even by candlelight, when an ordinary sapphire looks black. It is sometimes found in masses of considerable size, and may therefore appropriately be spoken of in connection with foundations. It formed the pavement, like the body of heaven in its clearness, under the feet of the God of Israel, as seen by the elders in Exodus; and the throne of glory which appeared to Ezekiel in vision resembled a sapphire stone. It was the fifth precious stone in the breastplate of the Jewish high-priest, and had the name of Simeon engraved upon it; and the second foundation of the New Jerusalem is a sapphire. The minute account in Exodus and Revelation, of this and other jewels that adorned the sacerdotal apparel and the walls of the heavenly city, indicates the symbolic reverence attached to their use by the Jews. And this belief in their mystic qualities passed from India and Persia to Greece and Rome, and after playing a considerable part in the Gnostic systems of Alexandria, became finally transferred to the Christian Church, as we find Bishop Marboeuf of Rennes, in the eleventh century, versifying their talismanic influences in his curious “ Lapidarium.” Even St. Jerome praises the sapphire for its use in conciliating to its wearer the favour of princes, quelling his enemies, dispersing sorceries, setting free the captive, and even assuaging the wrath of God himself. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)Blue Blue is an exceedingly lovely colour. It is quiet and subdued, attracting without dazzling the eye, suggestive of peace and repose. It is the most universally distributed of all hues. It forms the pleasing background of nature, on which the more brilliant colours of tree and flower and field come forth to arrest our attention, not only by their own beauty, but also by the force of contrast. We see it in the boundless expanse of the sky which bends over and idealizes our dull cold earth, and forms, with its varied changes, a part of the landscape, not the mere empty space that surrounds it. We see it in the distant hills, that assume on the horizon the azure colour of the sky, from sympathy of beauty and peace. We see it in the far-stretching ocean that covers three-fourths of the surface of the globe; in the lake, the river, and the stream, the mirrors which reflect and spiritualize the changeable beauty of earth and heaven. We see it in the blue-bell that rings out the pensive requiem of nature’ s mutability on quiet autumn eves; and in the human eye, the most wonderful of God’ s works, which reflects the world without and the world within--which is at once useful as an organ of vision, and beautiful as a spiritual and expressive window of the soul And as in the temple of nature, from the viewless air to the ethereal lustre of childhood’ s innocent eye, the hue of the sapphire predominates, so in the tabernacle and temple of old it was pre-eminent, being always mentioned in connection with gold in the enumeration of the sacred furniture. As the gold was emblematic of the glory and majesty of God, so the blue combined with it, in the sacred appointments of the tabernacle, might be aptly employed to represent His love and grace. Such an interpretation would be in strict accordance with the symbolism of nearly all nations, among whom blue has always been associated with ideas of love. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)Sapphire foundations We may therefore understand the sapphire foundations of the Christian life which God lays, to be, in general terms, the love of God in Christ; His general love in providence, and His particular and surpassing love in redemption. It is on this beautiful and serene background that all the great manifestations of grace given to mankind are displayed. The temple of Solomon was built on the rocky foundation of Mount Moriah, a place consecrated to the work of redemption, from the time when Abraham offered there the ram which the Lord had provided, instead of his son Isaac, and the destroying angel sheathed there, by the threshing-floor of Araunah, the sword of judgment, on account of David’ s sacrifice. And so the spiritual temple is also built upon the work of redemption as its sapphire foundation. What beautiful emblems of Christ’ s love are the two grandest objects of nature--sapphire sea and sapphire sky! The boundless extent of heaven’ s blue field cannot be measured even by the astronomer, so the length and breadth, and height and depth of the love of Christ surpass all knowledge. Or, to take the sea as the comparison, the sea touches the shore along one narrow line, and all the beauty and fertility of that shore are owing to its life-giving dews and rains;, but it stretches away from the shore, beyond the horizon, into regions which man’ s eye has never seen, and the further it recedes, the deeper and the bluer its waters become. And so the love of Christ touches us along the whole line of our life, imparts all the beauty and fruitfulness to that life, but it stretches away from the point of contact into the unsearchable riches of Christ, the measureless fulness of the Godhead--that ocean of inconceivable, incommunicable love which no plummet can sound, or eye of angel or saint ever scan. The Hebrew word sappir, translated sapphire in our version, is derived from the same root as the words that signify a book, writing, or engraving; and according to the Talmud, the two tables of stone, on which the Law was written on Sinai, were formed of sapphires. Blessed be God, it is not on the sapphire foundations of the Law that we are now to build our trust. The obedience that can rest on these foundations must be perfect in every jot and tittle, and perpetual, without cessation or suspense, without question or doubt, from the beginning to the end of life. But such an obedience we cannot rear. Christ’ s finished work is now our sapphire foundation. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)‘‘ I will lay thy foundations with sapphires:” The structure of our faith is four-square, like that of the temple of old. The chief corner-stone which binds the whole together is the redemption-love of Christ; but connected with it as a foundation for the believer’ s stability and hope, is-- 1. The covenant of grace, embracing every blessing from the first moment of incipient peace in the soul to the consummation of that peace in heaven, extending in its administration to the most minute particulars, making ample provision for every evil that can possibly happen to us, and securing calmness in the prospect and in the hour of death. 2. The revealed truth of God is another sapphire foundation connected with the precious corner-stone. 3. The experience of the believer is yet another sapphire foundation. The objective revelation of the Gospel has been followed by the subjective operation of the Spirit. The outward teaching of inspiration has become an inward Divine illumination. The doctrine has become a living power whose strength has been tried and proved; the Divine announcement has passed into the form of a human experience; the creed is no mere formula of speech, no mystic incantation, but “ corresponds with needs of his soul, which he has probed to the bottom in the hour of difficulty.” In short, Christ proclaimed by Old Testament types and prophecies, revealed in the Gospels, preached in the Apostolic Acts and Epistles, has become Christ formed in the soul the hope of glory. The sapphire is one of the most precious jewels; ranking next to the diamond in value. It is precious for its own beauty and rarity, and precious on account of the labour revolved in obtaining it. And who can estimate the preciousness of the sapphire foundations of our faith, the work of redemption which cost the humiliation, suffering, and death of the Son of God to accomplish; and the experience of the truth in the soul wrought out through much sorrow, through doubts, and fears, and terrible struggles? The sapphire is also one of the purest of the precious stones. The ancient meteoric stone called the Kaaba, built into the sacred mosque at Mecca, and still pressed with devotion by the lips of every pilgrim, may be taken to represent in its blackness and earthliness, the Mohammedan religion. But the foundation of Christianity is a pure transparent sapphire. It has no flaws, no dross, no earthy ingredients. These foundations are steadfast and enduring. They are not composed of perishable materials--not even of rocks that weather and crumble away--but of sapphires, next to the diamond the hardest of the precious stones. Jewels, as a class, are the most lasting of all earthly objects--the most beautiful as well as the most imperishable form in which matter appears. They are therefore expressive types of stability and permanence. The sapphire foundations of the Christian life are everlasting. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.) Isaiah 54:12 And I will make thy windows of agates Agates Agates are precious stones, partially transparent and uncrystallized. They are mere varieties of quartz, variously coloured by admixtures of different earths; although the neutral tints arc the most frequent. They generally occur in rounded nodules, or in veins in igneous rocks, dropping out when such rocks decompose by the action of the elements, and being washed down to the places where they are found by mountain streams. They seem to be the product of elements fused by fire; and in this respect they carry out most faithfully the analogy between the condition of the Church and the nature of the promise, “ o thou afflicted, tempest-tossed, and not comforted, behold, I will make thy windows of agates.” Out of those fiery trials precious media of spiritual vision will be constructed for it. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)Agate windows I. Looking at the emblem in this light, we may suppose windows of agates to mean windows of FAITH. Agates are neither transparent as rock crystal, nor opaque as flint; so neither is faith dim as sense, nor bright as heavenly vision. Many things in creation, providence, and redemption are inscrutable to us; and the wider the circle of light spreads around us, the wider does the dark line of our ignorance extend also and touch it at every point. Gazing through these windows we behold things which we see nowhere else. We obtain such a realizing view of God’ s presence, such an evidence of His perfections, as elevates and spiritualizes our minds, while, at the same time, it humbles us low by the contrast of our own imperfections and unworthiness. We behold His glory as in a glass, and are changed into the same image, saturated with the reflected light of His holiness, permeated with: the warmth the purity of His love. The “ altogether lovely One looketh forth at these windows, showing Himself through the lattice in all the beauty of His person, the perfection of His righteousness, and the sufficiency of His grace. We have a satisfying and transforming view of His person, His atonement, His intercession, His example, His commands and promises, His government and kingdom, as revealed in the Gospel; so that we can enjoy His own prophetic benediction, “ Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” From these upper windows of the soul we obtain the widest view of the horizon around us, and see glorious glimpses of the land that is very far off. Looking down from that elevation, how small and insignificant do the things that appeared great from their own level appear; how unworthy of the thought we bestowed upon them, or the anxiety with which we regarded them. On these western windows of the soul, too, the departing sun shines with concentrated radiance when all the rest of the horizon is wrapped in twilight gloom. It is from thence that another and a brighter world is discerned opening upon our view, while this world is sinking in shadow. II. We may regard these windows as WINDOWS OF FEELING. By this it is meant, not that God will smite the smitten, afflict the afflicted, but that He will make those afflictions which the Church already experiences windows of agates--mediums of communication between the soul and the unseen world--means of deeper insight into, and richer experiences of spiritual things. The afflicted Christian is the only one who has just views of life, It takes a long and painful discipline to correct our early impressions, and show us things in their true aspects and relations. Through the dim windows of affliction how changed is the aspect of the world, how cold, and grey, and desolate; all its radiant glow departed; all its beauteous hues reduced to one dull leaden sadness. The tears of sorrow are like spiritual lenses, showing us the world in its true character as a poor, empty, unsatisfying inheritance. One glimpse through the agate windows of sickness, bereavement, or adversity will impress us more with the vanity of the world’ s portion, and of a life of sense, than all that the most pensive poetry ever sang, or the most cynical philosophy ever taught. “ I will make thy windows of agates;” not bright and transparent, for our weak eyes, dimmed with pain and weeping, cannot bear the strong sunshine; not dark and opaque, for the soul climbing up and straining to look out and see the light behind the cloud--the beauty beyond the shadow--and baffled in its efforts--would fall back upon itself morbid and despairing. They are windows of agates--neither transparent nor opaque--but mercifully tempered by Him who best knows the requirements of each individual case, and who in all our afflictions is afflicted. III. We may suppose agate windows to be WINDOWS OF . In admiring a piece of beautiful scenery, we find nothing in it except what we ourselves brought to it. Nature wears the colour of the spirit; and her charms are reflections of charms within ourselves. It is so also in moral things. To the pure all things are pure; while the polluted heart finds impurity in the most innocent things. So also in the spiritual world. Its objects become real, tangible, true, worthy of love, and capable of influencing us, only so far as we ourselves are spiritualized. There is no window so clear as holiness of character, spirituality of mind, purity of heart, singleness of aim. Agate windows are most expressive symbols of our spiritual character. The purest agates are only semi-pellucid: while the great majority of specimens are clouded with dim spots, and streaked with dark lines. And so the purest spiritual character in this world is imperfect. The essential transparency remains, but objects seen through it are dim, distorted, and discoloured. Our indistinct and imperfect views of God, of providence, of the scheme of grace, of the eternal realities and transcendent glories of a perfect state--are owing to the imperfection of our own spiritual character, and the imperfect affinity of our hearts for what is best and purest. These windows of agates are of great practical importance. The principal use and design of ordinary windows in a dwelling is to admit light into the rooms, so that the inmates may see to perform their various household duties. And so, the use of these windows of agates, whether they be windows of faith, of feeling, or of spiritual character, is to let the light of heaven shine in upon our life, that we may discharge our various duties as members of the household of faith. We are not to sit all day long with folded hands at these windows, looking out listlessly or sadly, in mere religious reverie, or in despondent abstraction. The light which we gel through them is given to us to work. The light of heaven itself is given for usefulness as well as for beauty. It warms and fertilizes the earth, and ripens the corn. So let the light which streams in upon us through these windows of agates--costly light obtained from faith tried in the furnace; lambent light gleaming from painful afflictions, from the decays of nature; sparkling light struck from sore struggles with sin and self; light coloured by the experience through which it has passed; let that light warm, and quicken, and ripen our souls. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)“ Thy windows of agates:” Rather, as R.V., “ pinnacles.” The word is derived from that for “ sun,” and appears to denote those parts of the building which glitter in the sun’ s rays. Compare the Arab “ minaret, used primarily of a lantern or lighthouse. “ Agates” (Ezekiel 27:16), “ sparkling stone, perhaps “ rubies’ (R.V.). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The clarified vision The Hebrew word here for window is unusual (shemashoth), and this is the only instance of its translation by “ window.” It means “ an opening for the sun.” It implies the admission into the house of more than ordinary reflected daylight--the sun streams through it. The agate (kadbod) is a glass-clear stone. The writer uses it evidently more because of its clarity than because of its preciousness. As a clear way for the sun, the agate window suggests the desirability of keeping the soul’ s windows transparently clear. I. THAN GOD, THE SOUL’ S SUN, MAY SHINE IN WITHOUT . 1. The Bible may be the agate window. Through it God shines in on man’ s mind and spirit. 2. This, similarly, should be the office of religious teaching, as in creed and sermon. How important to keep the media of truth transparent. II. THAT THE SOUL, LOOKING OUT, MAY SEE . Bad glass, steam, or stain on a window confuses outlines. A fly in the telescope may twist the observer’ s astronomy. All our views of life’ s landscapes greatly depend on the window through which we look out. Sin stains it. Cynicism discolours it. The sun can shine through a hide or a thin shutter. But the soul can look out only through the clear window. God sees us, shines on us, when we do not see Him. Salvation depends not on His seeing us, but on our seeing Him. III. THAT OUR LIGHT MAY SHINE OUT TO OTHERS. Some one wandering in the darkness may see the light that shines from our life, and be guided to safety. (Homiletic Review.)Thy gates of carbunclesThe carbuncle This precious stone is found in the East Indies, in colour is an intense scarlet, and held up between your eye and the sun it is a burning coal. The poet puts it into rhythm as he writes--“ Like to the burning coal whence comes its name; Among the Greeks as Anthrax known to fame.” God sets it high up in Bible crystallography. He cuts it with a Divine chisel, shapes it with a precise geometry, and kindles its fire into an almost supernatural flame of beauty. Its law of symmetry, its law of zones, its law of parallelism, something to excite the amazement of the scientist, chime the cantos of the poet, and arouse the adoration of the Christian. No one but the infinite God could fashion a carbuncle as large as your thumb-nail, and as if to make all ages appreciate this precious stone He ordered it set in the first row of the high-priest’ s breast-plate in olden time and higher up than the onyx and the emerald and the diamond, and in Ezekiel’ s prophecies concerning the splendours of the Tyrian court, the carbuncle is mentioned, the brilliancies of the walls and of the tessellated floors suggested by the Bible sentence, “ Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire!” (T. D. W. Talmage, D. D.)Gates of carbuncles In my text it is not a solitary specimen that I hand you, as the keeper of a museum might take down from the shelf a precious stone and allow you to examine it. Nor is it the panel of a door that you might stand and study for its unique carvings or bronzed traceries, but there is a whole gate of it lifted before our admiring and astounded vision, ay! two gates of it: ay! many gates of it: “ I will make thy gates of carbuncles.” What gates Gates of the-Church. Gates of anything worth possessing. Gates of successful enterprise. Gates of salvation. Gates of national achievement. Isaiah, who wrote this text, wrote also all that about Christ “ as the lamb to the slaughter,” and spoke of Christ as saying, “ I have trodden the winepress alone,” and wrote, “ Who is this that cometh from Eden, with dyed garments from Bozrah. And do you think that Isaiah in my text merely happened to represent the gates, as red gates, as carmine gates, as gates of carbuncle? No. He means that it is through atonement, through blood-red struggle, through agonies we get into anything worth getting into. Heaven’ s gates may well be made of pearl, a bright, pellucid, cheerful crystallization, because all the struggles are over and there is beyond those gates nothing but raptures and cantata and triumphal procession and everlasting holiday and kiss of reunion, and so the twelve gates are twelve pearls, and could De nothing else than pearls. But Christ hung the gates of pardon in His own blood, and the marks of eight fingers and two thumbs are on each gate, and as He lifted the gate it leaned against His forehead and took from it a crimson impress, and all those gates are deeply dyed, and Isaiah was right when he spoke of those gates as gates of carbuncle. (T. D. W. Talmage, D. D.)Gate of carbuncle before gate of pearl Mark well and underscore with heavy dashes of the pen the order of the gates. Gate of carbuncle before gate of pearl. Isaiah the Prince saw the one gate centuries before St. John the Exile saw the other. The one you must push open. The other stands open. Gate of a Saviour’ s atonement before the gate of Divine pardon. Gate of poverty before gate of affluence. Gate of earthly trial before gate of heavenly satisfaction. Through much tribulation you enter the kingdom of God if you ever enter it at all. (T. D. W. Talmage, D. D.) Isaiah 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord Disciples of Jehovah The expression is probably suggested by what the Servant of Jehovah says of Himself in Isaiah 50:4; the idea being that the citizens of the New Jerusalem shall be the spiritual seed of the Servant. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Inward illumination the spiritual glory of the Church The outward glory of the city (Isaiah 54:11-12) is but the sense-representation of the spiritual glory of t-he Church that dwells therein (Isaiah 54:13). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The school of the highest culture I. THE NATURE OF THIS CULTURE. True culture is threefold--physical, intellectual, and moral. Our text relates to the highest form, and implies all the rest. It is complete culture, the development of the whole man. 1. The text presupposes man’ s ignorance. Man needs teaching, the imparting of truth. (1) There is man’ s ignorance of self. (2) Of duty. (3) Of God. (4) Of destiny. 2. The statement of the text implies the Divine intention. It is not God’ s will that man remain in ignorance. 3. The statement of the text announces the Divine plan. “ All thy children shall be taught of the Lord.” (1) The student--“ Thy children.” (2) The Teacher--“ The Lord.” He is an omniscient Teacher, knowing the truths to be taught, and the temperament and disposition of the students. He is a patient Teacher. He is an omnipresent Teacher. (3) The subjects taught. Language (Zephaniah 3:9). The language of faith, of prayer, of love. Mathematics (Mark 8:36; 2 Peter 1:5; Acts 12:24; Isaiah 53:12; Philippians 3:8). Political science. The kingdom of God. Our citizenship is in Heaven: citizens of the commonwealth of Israel. Natural and spiritual science. Of Origins John 1:1-3). Of preservation (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3). Of the Divine (John 17:3). Of the human (Genesis 1:26). God, man, sin, salvation, duty and destiny are all studied. (4) The methods of teaching. The “ Word” method (.John 5:39; 2 Timothy 3:15). The object method (Psalms 19:1-6). The Holy Spirit method (John 16:13). The conscience method (Romans 2:15). The corrective method (Proverbs ill 12). II. THE GREAT RESULT. “ And great shall be the peace of thy children.” 1. This teaching shall result in enlightenment. Culture means light. 2. In elevation. All true culture leads that way. 3. In spiritual strength (Hebrews 5:12-14). 4. In peace. There is a threefold peace, peace with God, peace with conscience, peace with fellow-men. This school appeals for students. Will you enter The condition of entrance is given in John 1:11-12. The completion of a life course in this school develops the soul for promotion to the University of the New Jerusalem. Every graduate receives the degree of “ Sinner saved, and then begins the higher course in the University where boundless prospects and boundless possibilities lie before the student. What other school offers attractions such as these? (W. C. Kantner, D. D.)The teaching unction and common knowledge 1. In the writings of all the apostles, as well as in the anticipations of evangelical prophets, this place of the Spirit as instructor and guide of the elect individual is ungrudgingiy recognized. James speaks of a wisdom that comes to every believing suppliant direct from the Father of lights. Paul speaks of an enlightenment and revelation that are gifts of the Spirit, and says that “ no man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” And John speaks of “ the anointing of the Holy one through which all doubts may be resolved, and the lowly disciple made safe against current sophistry and error. Peter asserts that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. Such testimony coming from leading and honoured apostles has a peculiar emphasis and impressiveness about it. The best barrier against heresy which could be raised up was that which consisted in the common knowledge possessed by all who had received the Spirit, and none of the apostles shows the slightest jealousy of the growing insight of their converts. They were quite content that the Church official should be abased and even superseded, so that the work of the teaching Spirit should be magnified. 2. The spirit of man has been degraded by evil, warped by prejudice and mistaken training, distracted and torn in opposite directions by the fickle and contradictory movements of a flesh inflated with egotisms and bubbling self-sufficiencies. It must undergo some radical transformation before it can become the test of what is true. One might as well call in a boiler-riveter organically deaf with the din of his occupation to settle conflicting criticisms respecting a quarter tone in music, or some spirit-drinker with burnt-up tongue and palate to do the work of an accomplished tea-taster, as appeal subtle spiritual questions to such a court as that. It is only after the Spirit has come to possess the nature of a man, and to make the undefiled conscience rule the life, that the nature can become in any sense a test of religious truth. The heart of man must be disengaged from its old embarrassments and distractions, redeemed from the bias of its passion and wilfulness, chastened into docility and meekness and humility, quickened, purified, exalted, before it can discern. It is this specific anointing with the Spirit which confers upon the conscience its new prerogative as a competent judge of truth. (T. G. Selby.)Truth developed in the life by the action of the Spirit of God When a strip of wood or forest has been destroyed by fire, it will sometimes happen that new and better species of trees grow up and take the place of those which have been burned. The seed had been long buried within the ground, but all to no purpose, because it was forestalled and overshadowed by the growths which first got possession of the soil. The earlier species were like feudal lords, who had seized the land and monopolized all the mists and the dews and the rains that came to moisten the sunburnt earth. But in their downfall hidden and worthier seeds had a chance of light and life and dominion. And is it not thus with human nature? The seed of every truth is within us, although there may often be little outward sign of that significant fact. The proud growths of the flesh overshadow, stifle, and choke down the inner growths of the conscience and the moral life. But at last the Spirit of God comes to us like a consuming fire, and then the superficial growths of passion and prejudice are burnt away, and seeds of sublime truth that had been slumbering from the time of man’ s creation in the image of God flower out into strange life, splendour, and fruitfulness. (T. G. Selby.)The Holy Spirit in relation to the Bible, the Church and thy religious teacher If we accept this idea of the common knowledge possessed by believers in Christ who receive the promised Spirit, what will be our attitude towards the Bible, the Church, the Christian teacher, and all those forms of religious authority so jealously upheld in the past? Does not this idea of common knowledge introduce a competing authority, and bid fair to prove a solvent of ecclesiastical rule and prerogative, and produce a new confusion of tongues? The Churches of the Reformation rightly make the Bible a test of faith, and bring all teaching to the tribunal of its impartial balances. The New Testament is mainly a statement of historical facts from the lips or pens of eye-witnesses, to which there can be no addition by subsequent revelation. In so far as it is a statement of the doctrinal interpretations identified with those facts, it furnishes a permanent record of what was taught by the Spirit to the first generation of believers, and of what was approved and attested in their own experiences by those representatives of the early Churches who received the component parts of the New Testament into the canon. It gives absolutely trustworthy notes of the work of the Spirit in saving and instructing and sanctifying men. The unchanging Spirit is not likely to contradict Himself now, and teach divergent doctrines to a docile recipient of His ministries; and the Church whose members are inwardly led to the acceptance of the truths which accord with the original standards of the Bible proves itself so far a recipient of the same inspiration. The Bible is the seal by which we are to measure our own inspiration and spiritual insight; but it will not do our seeing for us, and each man must perceive for himself and acquire by the use of his spiritual senses this common knowledge. 2. But some tell us that the Church is the assay-house of religious thought, and that all statements of doctrine must be weighed in the scale of ecclesiastical balances. What have the early councils said? What does the congregation of cardinals or the House of Convocation say to-day? Our reply is that the spiritual discernment of the rulers of a Church must be tested by the scale or standard presented in the Bible and handed down from those who were themselves both personal followers of Christ and the first recipients of Pentecostal gifts. A Church may fall and grope in darkness as woefully as an individual, and then its authority ceases. The mere shell of a Church corporation cannot possibly be a centre of authority, for its directing personnel is ever changing, and if it be found in conflict with the primitive revelations of the Spirit, the very sanctity of the Church is lost and its right to teach forfeited. 3. It is sometimes argued that the teacher duly certified by the Christian Church is a specialist, and that we must give ourselves implicitly into his hands, just as we give ourselves into the hands of any other professional man who has the technical Knowledge we lack. Well, we may recognize that within certain limits he who has not yet received the Spirit must be indebted for such second-hand knowledge as he possesses to the Church and its ministries. But, after all, there is no specialism in connection with the truths which concern the daily life and experience of believers. All specialism is in non-essentials, and the cry for the specialist not only reflects on the impartiality of the Spirit, and implies that His illumination is particular rather than universal, but assumes that religion is a thing of intermittent rites and functions rather than a daily life in which the humblest is schooled to knowledge and insight. (T. G. Selby.)Religious education the safeguard of the nation There are three radical defects in the theory of a secular education. I. IT IGNORES THE AND THE OF . Whatever conscience may be, all agree that it is that which is educable. That it is a moral something in man, that may be trained to be in him a monitor and a guide--something that will respond to every voice of truth and of justice. While it is true that some well-informed or enlightened consciences may go astray, yet the rule is, that, as is the conscience so is the virtue of the individual. What are the prime factors in an educated conscience? 1. Belief in a personal God--the Author and Creator of the human mind--He who is, in Himself, the supreme reason of virtue. 2. Reverence for God’ s laws. 3. The dread of the Divine displeasure. By what force would you deter man from vice and crime? By the displeasure of good citizens? But that displeasure is the creation of a religious education. By the beneficence of public morals? But that beneficence is written all over the constitution of nature, whose author is God. Without this recognition of a personal God--whose laws are to be revered, whose displeasure is to be dreaded--without such an educated conscience there can be no authority, as there can be no standard, either for private or public virtue. II. IT THE FACT THAT SECULAR NO ELEMENT TO PURIFY AND REFORM. Science enlightens, but it cannot renew and elevate human nature which is depraved in principle and sinful in practice. Knowledge is power; but it is a power for good or evil, according to the controlling motives. III. IT THE FACTS THAT THE OF OUR IS IN THE MORAL OF THE PEOPLE. (J. P. Newman, D. D.)Great shall be the peace of thy childrenThe great peace of God’ s pupils “ Thy children” --whose? To answer this question is to get at the true key to the whole of this part of the prophecy. The words were spoken to the exiled Jews in Babylon, but were plainly meant to cover more than their needs. They are words which picture and promise the condition which should one day embrace the whole earth. I. They are men who have got over the great difficulty in all teaching; THEY ARE WILLING TO LEARN. They are eager. They come cheerfully to that which has grown to be a pleasure. They are on the outlook for knowledge. Now, if any man is really on the outlook for knowledge he will be sure to get it; perhaps not all at once, but little by little. There has already been some progress made in learning where this is the temper of the pupil. How much, only those various and manifold testings of their knowledge which come up in every man’ s life, can really reveal. II. If this be the character of the learners, WHAT SHALL WE SAY OF THE TEACHER? The pupil learns what is the character of the Teacher in the lessons he gives. The lessons He gives are according to the wants and capacities of His pupils. And if only we will, we may learn this about the Teacher, from the lessons He gives us, how great is His interest in each of us; how accurate His knowledge of us; how constant His regard for us; how completely fitted His wise treatment; how full His whole conduct is of care and love; how, in a word, God is as loving as He is wise, as tender as He is strong, and as constant in His affection towards us as He is persistent in bringing the same lesson before our eye, until we have learnt it by heart. Again; the pupil learns what is the character of the Teacher from the bearing of the Teacher toward him after He has given him his lessons. Does He turn away and leave the pupil to himself? Does He set the task, and then vanish out of sight? Does He leave the lesson with the pupil, and the pupil with the lesson, and make no further sign? We know that, in regard to God, this is not so. It is true, that when God wishes us to work out some great lesson of our life, He withdraws from us, as it were, that we may put forth all our strength, that we may grapple with it, and, if we can, master it. But it is also true that God never leaves His pupils altogether. His eye is still resting upon them when they think Him a great way off. His very presence is with them when they think that they are utterly alone. And when He sees that the right moment has come He speaks the cheery word; He parts asunder the thick storm cloud, and lets the light of His countenance shine upon us and illumine our path. Nay, still more; how many hard and soul-searching questions has God helped us to spell out; how frequently the guiding and sustaining hand has been over our own, when, with painfulness and much sorrow, we have been trying to write out in our lives some fair copy of a simple command! Even after the lesson is given, how patient God is, how ready to help, how gentle, how loving, how merciful. The pupil also learns what the Teacher is, from the great example of His own lessons which He, the Teacher, shows Himself. III. WHAT WILL COME OF THE PUPIL’ S THESE LESSONS. He may not learn any one of them thoroughly. He may feel, in regard to much of his knowledge of God, for example, that it needs revision, correction, enlargement. He may be conscious that some of the most elemental truths in Divine wisdom have to be learned and relearned. There does, however, come a result from all his application which will be all the more pronounced when the education itself is perfected. And what is this result? “ Great peace.” 1. The peace comes after she learning, not before. The peace is after the victory, not before the battle. 2. Another thing is also to be noted: this “ great peace” does not come to us by mastering every lesson at once, however hard and difficult it may be, but in patiently resting in Him who has sent it. (J. J. Goadby.)The Gospel of the children In every age the children were included in the promise and in the Church. I. THE PERIOD. 1. It is impressible. The photographer’ s plate is very sensitive. When he removes the covering which keeps off the light from the sun, the image of the object directly opposite is instantaneously impressed on the plate. So is the child’ s mind. Whatever is the object of its observation--good or bad--the image is made. What care should be taken lest that sensitive plateshould be exposed to that which is sinful! 2. It expands its impressions. When any one cuts the initials of his name on the bark of a young tree, as the tree grows so the letters will become larger. The child receives impressions to grow with its being. 3. It is a period when correction is possible. Evil impressions may cling to a child, but we can stop their influence by admonition and warning. II. THE . Instruction is the birthright of every child; national prosperity depends on the early training of its families. Spiritual instruction is the best gift that parents can give to their children. The prophet saw a vision in this chapter which was far removed from his own time--the Gospel period. Let us look at the adaptation. 1. It is the Gospel of childhood. Some look on the Gospel as only comprehensible by men of mature age. This is an error. The child can learn the alphabet of the language, although it cannot pronounce its long words. Timothy from a child knew the Scriptures. 2. It is the Gospel of growth. The story of Bethlehem grows into a fact. Accounts of miraculous cures, which only appear to a child wonderful, become the evidences of divinity. The great fact of the Crucifixion, which only creates pity in a child’ s heart, grows to the importance of life itself. The prayer repeated by infant lips becomes the “ fervent prayer of the righteous man.’ 3. It is the Gospel of maturity. Generally the things of childhood are unfit for youth, and those of youth are unsuitable for manhood; but the Gospel expands, and is abreast of every experience. III. THE . It will be a great peace. This is the fruit of Divine instruction. 1. God’ s Word brings peace to the heart. The child as well as the man needs that peace. 2. God’ s Word brings peace to the home. 3. Peace in death. The tranquil spirit which the child knew sixty years before is the sheet-anchor which stays the soul in every trying hour. We appeal to the children and say that if they are to be taught of the Lord, they must be willing to learn. Then we further urge the children to obedience and prayer in respect of their teachers. (J. Daveis, M. A.)Spiritual teaching I. DIVINE . 1. We all need Divine teaching. 2. We are all by nature opposed to it. 3. Divine teaching is promised. II. ITS EFFECT. Peace, great peace. Learn-- 1. Our relationship to God. “ The children of Zion” are also children of God. 2. Our rightful privileges. Spiritual instruction and abiding peace. (C. Clayton, M. A.) Isaiah 54:15 Behold, they shall surely gather together The adversaries of the Church defeated The unwearied mischievous attempts of the adversaries of God’ s people in the world, as they are made without God, so they shall end in shame to themselves. I. THE OF GOD’ S PEOPLE WILL BE AGAINST THEM. “ They shall surely gather together. This is sure upon various grounds. 1. He who foreknows all their thoughts, inclinations and purposed from everlasting hath foretold it. 2. So long as there are any of the children of the devil out of hell, he will be inspiring them with malice against the Church of God on earth. 3. The very defeats and disappointments which the enemies of the Church receive make them renew their attempts with greater violence and fury. They are not the more disheartened, but the more exasperated. 4. The fearful expectation of future vengeance is a spur to their diligent use of all the present opportunities of sinning. II. THESE ARE WITHOUT GOD. “ Not by Me.” 1. The Church’ s enemies can neither do nor contrive the doing of anything absolutely without God. No creature can subsist, no faculty can perform any of its operations, if Providence did not concur. All the plots which are formed beneath prove vain and fruitless unless there be permission given from above. 2. The enemies of the Church can do nothing effectually but as God really employs them to be the instruments of HIS just displeasure (Hab Psalms 17:13-14; Isaiah 10:5; Isaiah 01:17; Isaiah 13:5). 3. The attempts of enemies against God’ s people are, notwithstanding, without His approbation. 4. The attempts of enemies, when they have most success, are without God’ s truly favourable presence. 5. The attempts of enemies at the time which the prophet here refers to will be without God’ s assistance, and consequently without success. III. THESE WILL ISSUE IN RUIN TO . “ Whosoever shall gather together,” etc. 1. The greatest attempt which was ever made by the devil against the Church, in the Person of Christ Himself, became the means of subverting his own kingdom. 2. The standing of the Church’ s enemies is the most precarious and uncertain thing. 3. All that they have, or can have, to support and defend them, will not be sufficient when their appointed destruction comes (Isaiah 31:3). 4. The enemies of the Church are raised up for this purpose that God may honour himself upon them. 5. The greatest of enemies that the Church of God ever yet had have fallen, though once as likely to stand as any now or hereafter can be. 6. The present enemies of the Church have indeed begun to fall, which is a hopeful token that they shall surely fall. IV. WHY SHALL THE OF THE ENEMIES OF GOD’ S PEOPLE END THUS IN THEIR OWN RUIN? “ For thy sake.” 1. Some read the words, They shall fall “ before thee,” that thou mayest see it. 2. “ For thy sake” cannot mean for thy merit, but for thy benefit. 3. “ For thy sake “ may mean, for the kindness and care which I bear to thee. V. USE. 1. Security and distrust are sinful extremes and both to be avoided. 2. A people dear to God and peculiarly interested in Him, are in a far more blessed condition than all the earth besides. 3. The greatest danger which God’ s people are or can be in, is when they engage God against them by sin, and provoke Him to favour their adversaries. 4. The obstructions of mercy are on our part, not on God’ s. 5. The memorials of past mercies are to be preserved for our support in future difficulties. (T. Cruso.) Isaiah 54:16-17 Behold, I have created the smith Hope for the Church in the sovereignty of God The general meaning evidently is, that God can certainly redeem His pledge, because all instruments and agents are alike at His disposal and under His control. (J. A. Alexander.)The Church’ s fears silenced The idea is that the Church has been saying, Where is that awful man the smith? The Lord says in reply, You see that smith? The Church answers, Yes, too well. The Lord retorts, I made him, I hold him within the bend of My fingers, and one quiver, and there is no more smith to be seen. But the Church says, He is blowing his bellows. The Lord says, I made those bellows. The Church says, See what a fire he is kindling! The Lord says, He got the coals from My mines, and I could shut down that mining shaft so that he could never get another cinder. As for all these little tyrants and enemies and mockers and jibers and sceptics and infidels and others, have no fear of them; if any of them have any sincerity the reward shall not be withheld, and that sincerity may turn by-and-by to intelligence and to faith, but in so far as they mock and sneer and contemn have no fear of them; they are creatures, not creators; the smith is only a mechanic of a low degree or high; he is not Divine, he is most human. But, saith the Church, yet there is a weapon formed against me. The Lord says, So there may be, but it has no edge, and it has no handle; and if any man were foolish enough to take it up to strike with, it would curl up in his hand. But, Lord, there are tongues that rise against me in judgment, fluent tongues, yea eloquent tongues, and it is not in my power to answer their wordy arguments or to follow the tortuous train of their reasoning. And the Lord replies, Let them talk; they will soon exhaust their vocabulary. Never interrupt a man who has a bad cause. He trusts to interruption. He thinks the interruption may create for him an opportunity of abandoning the main line of his impeachment. The way to answer a foolish and unjust accuser is to listen to him in silence. (J. Parker, D. D.) Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper Worthless weapons I. GLANCE AT THE WEAPONS WHICH HAVE BEEN USED AGAINST THE CHURCH . 1. The first weapon that we notice is an old one--Infidelity. Nothing can be more palpable than this--humanity refuses to be infidel. 2. Behold another of these hostile implements is the weapon of persecution. A weak weapon, nevertheless. II. AS REGARDS THE CHURCH “ NO WEAPON THAT IS FORMED AGAINST IT SHALL PROSPER.” 1. The weapon of slander shall not prosper. 2. The weapon of doubt. 3. The weapon of death. (T. R. Stevenson.)The godly man’ s heritage I. THE ARMOURY OF SATAN. The enemy of souls is likened by our Lord to “ a strong man armed;” He commands principalities and powers; skilled in hostilities, He has different modes of attack; He employs a great variety of weapons. 1. Persecution. And yet, when we estimate the results of persecution, we have to confess it has not prospered. It has been mightily restrained, and its remains have been turned to the praise of God. It has purified the Church, and given new impetus to the truth. Sometimes it has united the despised forces of Zion, so that their strength has been greatly increased. 2. Temptation. With this weapon the archer sorely wounded our first parents, and he has ever since too successfully hurled it against their progeny. But it does not prosper; it strips us of self-confidence, eradicates pride, drives us for safety to the Hiding Place, and presses upon us the constant necessity for that shield of faith which “ quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked.” You cannot afford to despise temptations; but you need not despair under them while you call in the aid engaged to you. 3. False teaching. Clothed as an angel of light, the tempter first instilled error into the mind of Eve, before he could produce disobedience. It is no light affliction to have the mind’ s view of Divine truth perverted. Various, however, as are the shades of false teaching, they do not prosper--they flourish for a time like grass upon the housetops, but they fill no man’ s bosom with harvest sheaves. The “ Word of God outlives them all. Each of those weapons was directed with fullest force against the Son of God. II. THE WORLDLY MAN’ S MALICE. “ Every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.” The slightest whisper of suspicion is greedily sought after, if it cast but a shadow on the character of any saint, and it, is repeated till it grows to calumnious dimensions, and eateth as doth a canker. The worst manifestation of this malignant plague is that which makes its appearance within the Church: when those who should be the guardians become the assailants of a brother’ s character, and prejudice and suspicion displace confidence and charity. In the ease of the true Christian, integrity of life will disappoint all the aspersions of the wicked. III. THE GODLY MAN’ S . “ This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord.” What an inheritance it is! It comprises all the blessings contained in God’ s Word; and the fulfilment of all His gracious, promises. (W. G. Lewis.)The Christian’ s heritage I. THE ’ S . 1. Weapons are formed against him. No Christian need expect aught else. As Israel’ s experience in the wilderness, so the Christian’ s in the world. 2. Tongues rise against him. From the days of Cain it has been so, and will be so to the end. So they treated the Lord, and so they will treat His disciples. II. THY ’ S . 1. No weapon shall prosper. The Christian’ s enemies may be mighty, malignant, crafty, constant; but more mighty, more wise, more watchful, more indefatigable and loving is his protector. 2. Every tongue he shall condemn. (1) He shall do it himself by well-doing (1 Peter 2:15). (2) God shall do it for him. (3) It shall be done sufficiently on earth (Psalms 37:6). (4) Perfectly in eternity (Job 19:25). See also Zechariah 3:1-10. Let Christians see to it that they so live that men speaking evil of them shall do it falsely, and God shall fully vindicate them. Who has this security? and in answer see-- III. THE ’ S . “ The servants of the Lord.” This security is described as-- IV. THY ; and this description may teach us-- 1. That while the Christian is a servant, he is also a son and heir. 2. That his security is a thing not of merit, but of inheritance. It is a legacy secured to him by the death of Christ. It is the Father’ s good pleasure to give them the kingdom. 3. We may be sure that a heritage from God is a certain possession. He is “ without variableness or shadow of turning.” V. THE ’ S TITLE. Perhaps this last clause had been better translated uniformly with previous one: “ And this is their righteousness (justification) from Me. But taking it as we have It, we may interpret it as teaching us 1. That the Christian’ s justification is of God. It is the righteousness which is of God by faith. 2. That the Christian’ s sanctification is of God. It is He who worketh in him “ to will and to do of God’ s good pleasure.” 3. That boasting is excluded. “ What hast thou that thou hast not received?” 4. That security is perfect; for if God justify, who can condemn Romans 8:34)? and if God sanctify, He will “ perfect that which concerneth” us. This clause thus explains as well as ratifies the promise, and, farther, it tells us how we may secure this promise for ourselves. Righteousness we have not by nature, righteousness we cannot attain of ourselves--but righteousness we may receive from God. (D. Jamison, B. A.)Their righteousness is of Me, saith the LordJustification through imputed righteousness In these words, which are spoken of all true believers, more particularly, we may observe-- I. THE OF THEIR WITH GOD, AND OF ALL THE THAT THEY ENJOY OR ARE TO. It is “ a righteousness;” such a righteousness as answers all the demands of the Divine law, a righteousness with which God is well pleased. II. HOW BECOME OF THIS , They have it not of themselves. It is not a righteousness wrought out by them or inherent in them, but a righteousness which they have of God. God, in the person of the Father, devised and provided it; God, in the person of the Son, wrought it out for them. It is also through the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit, enabling them to believe the report of the Gospel, and receive Christ exhibited and freely offered to them in it, that they come to be actually possessed of this righteousness. III. THE THAT HAVE IN THAT WHICH IS THE GROUND OF THEIR . It is called “ their righteousness.” Though it is not theirs originally or subjectively, it is theirs really. It is theirs by the free gift of God. IV. THE OF THE GREAT AND TRUTH IN THE TEXT, namely, that the righteousness of believers, or that righteousness by which they are justified, and on which their title to everlasting life and all the blessings of salvation is wholly founded, is a righteousness which they have not of themselves, but of God, or by His free gift and gracious imputation. This is what Jehovah Himself declares and attests in the plainest manner: “ Their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord.” (D. Wilson.)The excellent properties and qualities of that righteousness by which believers are justified It is-- 1. A perfect righteousness. 2. A Divine righteousness. 3. A justice-satisfying righteousness. 4. A law-magnifying righteousness. 5. A God-glorifying righteousness. 6. A righteousness that is freely given to the unworthy and the guilty. 7. An everlasting righteousness. (D. Wilson.) Isaiah 55:1-13 He, every one that thirsteth The cries of the water-carriers Public messages [Isaiah] would, as a matter of course, deliver publicly in the frequented streets and bazaars, and in khans, and in the temple area, frequently using the common cries of the forerunners of the nobles, the morning call of the temple watchmen, who had been waiting to proclaim the striking of the sun’ s first rays upon the pinnacles, the groans of the sabbals (or burden-bearers), the tumult of the buyers and sellers, and the sing-song invitation of the water-carriers, and purveyors of wine and cooling drinks, as his texts,--just such cries and invitations as one may hear to-day in Cairo, Jerusalem, or Damascus. Standing at a street corner he hears a voice, “ All ye that arc thirsty, buy my cooling waters, and refresh your hearts,” and he forthwith bursts out with his own competitive cry, “ Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,” etc. (F. Sessions.)Water, wine and milk Hitzig, Hendewerk and Knobel understand water, wine and milk as the rich material enjoyments which the exiles have in prospect on returning to their fatherland, whereas they are now paying tribute in Babylon, and rendering personal service to their masters without deriving any benefit therefrom. But the prophet knows of a water even higher than natural water (Isaiah 44:3; cf. Isaiah 41:17), and a higher than the natural wine (Isaiah 25:6); he knows of an eating and drinking surpassing mere material enjoyment (Isaiah 65:13). As shown by the very fact that water is placed first, water, wine and milk are not the products of the Holy Land, but figures of spiritual revival, refreshing and nourishment (1 Peter 2:2, τὸλογικὸνἄδολονγάλα). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)God eager for sinners God would have the attention of sinners; He calls for it. Are not sinners eager for God? Oh, no. It is God who is eager for sinners; and so He calleth Ho! Men pass by with their ears full of the world’ s tumult; and God calleth, again and again, “ Ho! ho!” (C. H.Spurgeon.)The Gospel first addressed to human necessity A great appeal is addressed to those who are athirst. Thus the Lord accommodates His ministry to human necessity. When men are thirsting for water He does not offer them sublime visions of the future, or stately ideas concerning the economies and dominions of time. He would say to men, Let us, in the first place, supply your need; until your thirst is quenched your mind cannot be at rest; until your bodily necessities are supplied your imagination will be unable to exercise itself in high thoughts. The promises of God are addressed to our necessities for more than merely temporary reasons. There is a whole philosophy of government in such appeals. Only at certain points can we profess to understand God, and those points touch our need, our pain, our immediate desire; when we are quite sure that God gives us water for our bodily thirst we may begin at least to feel that there is a possibility that He may not neglect the more burning thirst of the soul. God approaches the spirit through the body. The God who grows corn for our hunger may also have bread for our spirits cry of weakness. (J. Parker, D. D.)Come! come! It is “ Come--come.” That is the most familiar word in the Bible! It seems to be a favourite word. The word “ Come” occurs six hundred and forty two times in the Bible. It is “ Come to the supper;” Come to the waters” “ The Spirit and the Bride say, Come.” Through all sorrows, through all trials: through all nights of darkness, through all calamities, through all temptations, it rings out, “ Come! Come!, Come!” I remember, when I was a boy in the country, being envious of the old sexton who used to lay hold of the bell-rope, and start the bell that shook the meeting-house, calling the people for miles around to prayer. The poorest man, trudging along the turnpike-road, knew that the bell called him just as much as it called the rich farmer riding behind his prancing and capering pair. And so this Gospel bell calls to palaces and to huts, to robes and to rags, saying, “ Whosoever will, let him come.” When the sexton had struck one stroke, why did he not wind up the rope and stop? The people had all heard it. But no; he kept on ringing, until, besweated and exhausted, he sat down. When he began to ring there were none present. When he concluded ringing, the roads were full of waggons, and the church door was thronged with people who had come to worship God. And so we must keep on ringing this Gospel bell. Though, perhaps, few may now come, we will keep on ringing, until, after a while, men shall come as clouds, and as “ doves to their windows.” (T. De Flirt Talmage, D. D.)Spiritual Thirst In a man spiritually athirst there are seven qualities answerable to those in a man naturally athirst. 1. Emptiness. 2. Exquisite sense--a painful sense. 3. Peculiar cares and thoughts. All a man’ s thoughts, in such a condition, are for water to cool and refresh him (Acts 2:37, 16:30). 4. Impatience (Exodus 17:3). 5. Vehemeney of desire. 6. Diligent endeavour. 7. Constant languishing. Delay doth but increase the thirst the more. Nothing will put an end to spiritual thirst but Jesus Christ. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)The Jews in exile prosperous yet thirsting Who are these thirsty souls, panting for a satisfaction which they have not yet found? They are the people of the hill country, now exiled to the plains. They have been bereft of the companionable apocalypse of the heights, and they are now immured in the unsuggestive monotony of the plains. I do not think you will find a single helpful figure in the entire Bible borrowed from the plains. The plains lie prone as a speechless sphinx. The hill country is full of voices, loud in their intimations, prodigal in revelations. Its phenomena are the messengers of the infinite. There towers the rugged height, firm and immovable, standing sure and steadfast through the fickle and varied years. What is its suggestion? “ Thy righteousness is like the great mountains.” Yonder come the treasure-laden clouds, driving in from the great deep. They unburden their wealth upon the shoulders of Carmel, clothing it with a garment of rare and luxuriant beauty. What is their significance? “ Thy mercy reached even unto the clouds.” Here, on these bare, basaltic heights the tired and heated traveller rests in the cool and healing shadow of a friendly rock. What is the speech of the shadow “ He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” In the hill country all things are but the vestures and vehicles of larger things of spiritual import. The light, soft wind that stirs and breathes in the dawn--it is God who rides upon a cherub, yea, who “ flies upon the wings of the wind.” The gentle, mollifying rain falling upon the parched, bruised, broken stems of grass: “ He shall come down like rain-upon the mown grass.” The end of the drought; the unsealing of the springs among the hills; the gladsome sound of the river as it laughs and dances down the bare and rocky gorge: what is its significance? “ Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures. ‘ It was an expressive, voiceful, suggestive land. Its features interpreted the face and character of God. Land and people were in communion, and their intercourse concerned the nearness and the favour and the providence of the Lord of hosts. But now the land and the people are divorced. The people are borne away into captivity. They leave the hill-country, so rich in interpreting speech, and they pass into the speechless monotony of the plains. Their environment is dumb. Their dwelling-place is no longer a sacrament: it is common, insignificant, speechless. They have passed from nature to art, and from art to artifice. They have left the shepherd and have met the merchant. They have left the work of the labourers in pastures and dressers of vineyards for a swift and feverish civilization. Now, take the people of the bracing, speaking, hill country, and immure them in this sweltering and superficial plain. In all the crowded interests by which they are engirt there is nothing suggestive of God. There was grandeur, but the grandeur had no voice. It was grandeur without revelation, and grandeur without revelation is never creative of awe. Where there is no awe, men step with flippant tread. The exile felt the glamour, felt the power of the grandeur, but in the glamour and grandeur forgot his God. His vision was more and more horizontal, and less and less vertical. Ambition waxed feverish, and aspiration waxed faint. The spirit of the conqueror infected the captive. The babble of Babylon entered into Israel. Success was enthroned in place of holiness, and the soul bowed down and worshipped it. The exile embraced the world, and shut out the infinite. Now, what was the issue of that Y The exile made money. His body revelled in conditions of ease. His carnal appetites delighted themselves in fatness. He climbed into positions of eminence and power. What else? “ In the fulness of his sufficiency he was in straits.’ The body luxuriated; the soul languished. He drenched the body with comforts; but he couldn’ t appease its tenant. “ Soul, thou hast much goods laid up, eat, drink, and be merry! And still the soul cried out, “ I thirst,” and disturbed him like an unquiet ghost, he spent money and more money, but was never able to buy the appropriate bread. He plunged into increased labours, but his labours reaped only that “ which satisfied not.” The body toiled, the brain schemed, the eyes coveted, and still the soul cried out, “ I thirst. Now, when there sits in the soul a hungry unrest and a feverish thirst, life will drop into faintness, weariness and despair. All things become stale, flat, and unprofitable. We “ spend our money for that which is not bread, and we labour for that which satisfieth not.’ “ All is vanity and vexation of spirit.” (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)The true imperialism Has this no pertinency for our own day? Acquisition and expansion are the primary notes of modern life. And is there no thirst, no disquietude of spirit? Our novels and our poetry are full of the drooping leaf. Behind the droop there is the thirst. The literature only reflects the people. Business circles never abounded as they do to-day in faint and weary men. They get and spend, and spend and get, but through it all persists the inward thirst. England is thirsting for life. What we need is the infinitely gracious ministry of the Eternal Son of God. “ He, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” I. There is to be THE OF THE EAR. There is to be a determined, resolute effort to listen to God. When I turn over the pages of the New Testament, and the Old Testament as well, I am greatly surprised at the emphasis with which is given the injunction to hear. “ Hear, ye deaf. Every page sends out the cry of the herald--Hearken, listen, incline your ear. It is wonderful how often the Master repeated the injunction, “ He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” That is not a kind of mild, kindly counsel, but an urgent, strenuous appeal to men and women in imminent peril. As though they were disinclined, or did it lazily and easily. He seems to say, Put work into hearing, make it a business, put some intenseness into it. The voices of the world are so clamorous, so fascinating, so easily enticing, that you are in great danger of being allured unless you set yourself resolutely to attend to God. “ Hearken diligently unto Me;” put work into listening to Me, in the Parliament, in the Council House, on the Exchange, in the shop and the warehouse, and in the pulpit. There are many clamorous voices around you, those of Mr. Worldly-Wiseman, Mr. Pliable, Mr. Time-Server, Mr. Love-of-the-World. Then pull yourself together, says the Master and the prophet; engage yourself with such intenseness amidst all the bustling clamour, that you may catch the upward calling of your God. II. The discipline of the ear is accompanied by THE OF THE HEART. Listen and then yield. “ Let the wicked forsake his way (and then something infinitely harder), “ and the unrighteous man his thoughts.” I find it a comparatively easy thing to forsake a way; but I find it almost insuperably difficult to forsake a thought. Hear the Highest and then uncompromisingly obey. You say impossible! Idleness creates the impossible, says Robert South. I think perhaps one of the great needs of our time in personal and national life, is that some nation should resolutely address itself to listen to the voice of God, and when she has resolutely listened and confidently heard, then to resolutely and deliberately attempt the impossible. Let her begin by forsaking her own wicked ways. Let her hearken diligently to the Divine voice and then definitely and unwaveringly follow in pursuit, even though the way lead apparently to an impassable height. Let her return to the Lord, and let there be no longer a democracy, an aristocracy, a plutocracy, but a Theocracy willing gladly to be counselled by Jehovah. III. “ WHAT IS THE ISSUE OF THIS ? Suppose the thirsty nation oppressed, turned herself to listen to Jehovah and began to interpret the voice Divine, and suppose she addressed herself with all the majesty of Divine power to the pursuit of the ideal discerned, what would happen? The issue of-such a demeanour is portrayed for us with wonderful prodigality in the chapter. 1. There is the assured promise of fuller life. “ Hear, and your soul shall live.” Hitherto life had been a thin existence, a mere surface glittering, a superficial movement. Now there shall be vitality, awakening and stirring in undreamed-of depths. Life shall be no longer confined to the channels of the appetites; life shall no longer be a mere matter of senses and sensations confined to the outer courts and corridors of the life, but you shall begin to live in the innermost self. The unused shall be aroused and exercised;, the unevolved shall be unpacked; benumbed instincts shall be liberated; buried powers of discernment shall come trooping from the grave; new intelligence shall be born, and the sea of iniquity shall ebb, and the sea shall give up its dead. Life shall be no longer scant and scrimpy. You shall delight yourself, not in leanness but in fatness, every tissue of yourself shall be fed, and the outer life shall bear all manner of fruit, and the leaves of the tree shall be for the healing of the nations. 2. Mark the succession, and we get an exceedingly pregnant suggestion. We have got a nation listening, we have got a nation doing, we have got a nation now living, with its powers evolved, and in active exercise. What next? “ Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not.” What is that’ ? It means that a true and glorified national life is to be followed by a true and glorified imperialism. “ Nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God.’ That is the true imperialism--empire by moral and spiritual sovereignty, allurement of dominion by the fascinating radiance of a pure and satisfied life. “ Gentiles shall come to the light, and kings to the brightness of the rising.” It is empire not merely by the aid of Maxim guns, but by great heartening: Gospels proclaimed by a great redeemed, glorified people. This is to be the shining goal of true national ambition. The mission of the great people, according to this chapter, is to be this: We are to be witnesses to the people, leaders and commanders of the people, witnesses ceaselessly reiterating the truths of the heartening Gospel, proving in the power of our own redemption our fitness to be leaders of the people, going out as path-finders amongst the benighted peoples. “ They shall be called” (I want no more glorious title for the country) “ the restorer of paths to dwell in.” 3. Now, mark further the issue. A true imperialism, I will not say is to be succeeded, but is to be accompanied by a splendid magnanimity. When the nation has hearkened diligently unto God, and follows determinedly in the pursuit of His will, all little-mindedness has to pass away in the great spacious ambitions. The pure and the exalted people are to share the spacious thought of God, and this I take to be the meaning of the word, “ My thoughts are not your thoughts.” “ What are Thy thoughts like?” “ As the heavens are higher than the earth. God’ s thoughts are lofty, spacious, broad; so our thoughts must be comprehensive, full of an all-inclusive sympathy which vibrates to the interest of each, as though each contained the welfare of the other. The truly imperial people are to share this largeness of idea and ideal and all inclusive sympathy. All parochial peddling and sterile individualism shall yield to a pregnant altruism, and mean patriotism is to be supplanted by a generous fructifying cosmopolitanism. The annexation of territory will be regarded as infinitely inferior to the salvation of the world. Influence shall not be measured by mileage, but by magnanimity. Empire will not be computed by so many leagues of earth, but by the multitude of redeemed and liberated souls. And the outskirts of sovereignty will not be contained by bristling guns, but “ They shall call her walls salvation and her gates praise.” 4. We have an exalted, glorified empire, and according to this prophet, there is to be nothing wavering or uncertain about the moral empire of such a people. For them a help-giving ministry,, will be inevitable. “ As the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, etc. The rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, the bringers of the spring time; and the nation truly imperial, and filled with the living Spirit of the living God, shall be the spring-time maker amongst the children of men, and the creator of gladness and music and song. The prophet himself bursts into song: “ The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” That is to be the ministry of the nation. “ Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree.” The thorn with the sharp-piercing, pain-giving spikes: instead of that shall come up the fir tree--from which were made the musical instruments, and especially the framework of the harp; “ instead of the thorn, the pain-making thing, shall come up the fir tree,” the music-making thing; the glorified people shall move among the scattered peoples, and shall exercise the beautiful ministry of changing the creators of pain into the makers of melody and praise. “ Instead of the briar,” with its bitter, poisonous sting, “ shall come up the myrtle tree, with its glossy leaves, and white flowers and grateful perfume. The redeemed and consecrated nation shall exult in a missionary enterprise which shall change the poisonous enmities and jealousies of the people into the perfume of sweet and gracious sentiments, and the chastened delights of a holy and blameless life. Is not this an ambition worthy of the English people of our own day? (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)The gracious invitation I. THE ITSELF. 1. The universality of the offer. 2. The freeness of the gift. “ He that hath no money ‘ --he that is in spiritual bankruptcy. 3. The fulness of the blessings which this salvation contains. They are represented by the three terms, water, wine and milk. II. THE TO ACCEPT THE . These are manifold and various. 1. There is, the contrast between the blessings offered and those for which men are now so laboriously toiling. 2. The character of Him through whom the blessings are to be obtained. 3. The present nearness of God to us and His abundant willingness to pardon. 4. The fact that God’ s “ ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts.” He pardons like a God. 5. God’ s Word “ shall not return unto Him void. There is profound encouragement in the thought that back of these agencies of the Gospel, which seem so weak as compared with those powers of depravity in the soul with which they must contend, lies the changeless purpose of Him who “ worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” 6. The profound interest felt by all holy beings everywhere in the salvation of the sinner. That profound sympathy with man in his efforts for salvation which our Lord so beautifully represents by the joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth, the inspired prophet; here represents by the joy of inanimate nature over this return of the sinner to Him who is the Fountain of life. 7. The beneficent results of the acceptance of this invitation. “ Instead of the thorn,” etc. Divine grace works a complete transformation in the heart into which it comes. It roots out the thorns and briars of selfishness, of pride, of avarice, of unbelief and every hurtful lust. It implants in their room all the graces that adorn the Christian character. (T. D.Witherspoon, D. D.)Gospel invitation without restriction Man may erect his barriers around that fountain, God erects none. It is not, Come by laboured preparation--by penance and fasting, by pilgrimage and mortification, It is not, “ Come” --but you must come by dogma and rubric, by sect and shibboleth.Neither is it, “ Come” --but you must come with some golden or jewelled bucket to fetch up the water; you must come like Naaman of old, laden with, costly offerings, talents of silver and gold, and changes of raiment. But, “ Come, just as you are, without money and without price;” without distinction, whether natural or spiritual, of class or rank or caste, birth or blood or pedigree. “ Come,” though you may have but an earthen pitcher to draw with; “ come,” though you can only lave up the water in the rough palm of your hands. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)“ Come to the waters” The Lord even thirsteth to be thirsted after. (J. Trapp.)Man’ s misery and God’ s call I. SIN IS MISERY, FAILURE, KEEN AND URGENT WANT. Isaiah draws a picture which Orientals would appreciate far more vividly than we, whose utmost pain from thirst only means that on some holiday excursion we have felt the heat inconvenient, and have not; happened immediately upon a fountain. He speaks, not of one thirsty man, but of a number, evidently a caravan of travellers. No one who heard him would fail to think of the burnt and sandy plains, a little to the south, on which sometimes a whole company of travellers might wander from their way, and exhaust their provisions, and grow feeble and gaunt and desperate. The hot breeze whirls the burning sand around them. The simoom wind wails in the distance. Phantom waters gleam with a cruel mockery on this side or that. Their own fever creates illusions which distract them. The skeletons of others, lost like themselves, glare upon them. Their steps are feeble, and their tongues cleave to their mouths, when suddenly all that they could not find finds them, and a glad voice calls, “ He, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters! This fountain is deep enough for all, and here, in our tents, is Oriental hospitality besides; buy and eat, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Our own countrymen, exploring the deserts of Australia even now, would understand it well. Many a brave man has sunk down there and died.. One band of early explorers survived to tell how in their extremity they climbed a hill and saw below them a rolling water, right into which with one consent; they rushed, and eagerly drank, only to find that it was salt as brine. O mockery, like the mockery of earthly pleasure when the heart is athirst! II. GOD CALLS THE , the fevered, the men and women who have found the world desolate and dry; whose very wishes give them not their wish, who succeed perhaps, and are all the more unhappy because they know that success also is vanity; whose affection prospers, only to teach them that, after all, there are depths in every heart which resound to no human voice. You may not as yet feel any more than this burning, secret want; but this is enough, if only it leads you to the fountain. Does not the very word “ come” imply the leaving of something, as well as approach to something else? And this purchasing is not entirely defined in the words, “ Let the wicked man forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts,” for much more than sin must be surrendered. St. Paul tells us of the price he himself paid when, having reckoned up his advantages, and how, as touching the righteousness that is by the law, he was blameless, he adds, “ What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ,” etc. Yes, for Christ. For it is He who interprets this verse of Himself, though it is plainly spoken of Jehovah. He, on the great day of the feast, stood and cried, “ If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.” Here, then, is the one test of earnestness: Will you, at the bidding of your God, renounce what has failed to quench your thirst, for the sake of the waters of life? (G.A. Chadwick, D.D.)The great proclamation I. TO WHOM THIS OFFER IS MAKE. It is to every one thirsty and penniless. That is a melancholy combination, to be needing something infinitely, and to have not a farthing to get it with. But that is the condition in which we all stand, in regard of the highest and best things. 1. “ Every one that thirsteth.” That means desire. But it means need also. And what is every man but a great bundle of yearnings and necessities? There are thirsts which infallibly point to their true objects. If a man is hungry, he knows that it is food that he wants. We have social instincts; we need love; we need friendship; we need somebody to lean upon; we thirst for some breast to rest our heads upon, for hands to clasp ours; and we know where the creatures and the objects are that will satisfy these desires. And there are higher thirsts of the spirit, and a man knows where and how to gratify the impulse that drives him to seek aider some forms of knowledge and wisdom. But besides all these there come in a whole set of other thirsts that do not in themselves carry the intimation of the place where they can be slaked. And so you get men restless, dissatisfied, feeling that there is something wanting, yet not knowing what. You remember the old story in the “ Arabian Nights,” of the man who had a grand palace, and lived in it quite contentedly, until somebody told him that he needed a roc’ s egg hanging from the roof to make it complete, and he did not know where to get that, and was miserable accordingly. We build our houses, we fancy that we are satisfied; and then there comes the stinging thought that it is not all complete yet, and we go groping in the dark, to find out what it is. Do you know what it is that you want? It is God! Nothing else, nothing less. There are dormant thirsts. It is no proof of superiority that a savage has fewer wants than you and I have, for the want is the open mouth into which supply comes. And it is no proof that you have not, deep in your nature, desires which unless they are awakened and settled, you will never be blessed, that these desires are all unconscious to yourselves. And yet there are no desires--that is to say, consciousness of necessities--so dormant but that their being ungratified makes a man restless. You do not want forgiveness, but you will never be happy till you get it. You do not want to be good and true and holy men, but you will never be blessed till you are. You do not want God, but you will be restless till you find Him. 2. “ And he that hath no money.” Who has any? Notice that the persons represented in our text as penniless are, in the next verse, remonstrated with for spending “ money.” So then the penniless man had some pence away in some corner of his pocket which he could spend. He had the money that would buy shams, “ that which is not bread,” but he had no money for the true thing. Which, being translated out of parable into fact, is simply this, that our efforts may win, and do win, for us the lower satisfactions which meet the transitory and superficial necessities, but that no effort of ours can secure for us the loftier blessings which slake the diviner thirsts of immortal souls. II. IN WHAT IT . They tell an old story about the rejoicings at the coronation of some great king, when there was set up in the market-place a triple fountain, from each of whose three lips flowed a different kind of rare liquor which any man who chose to bring a pitcher might fill from, at his choice. Notice my text, “ come ye to the waters” . . . “ buy wine and milk. The great fountain is set up in the market-place of the world, and every man may come; and whichever of this glorious trinity of effluents he needs most, there his lip ,may glue itself and there it may drink, be it “ water that refreshes, or “ wine that gladdens, or “ milk” that nourishes. They are all contained in this one great gift that flows out from the deep heart of God to the thirsty lips of parched humanity. And what does that mean? We may say salvation; or we may use many other words to define the nature of the gifts. I venture to take a shorter one, and say, it means Christ. He is the all-sufficient supply of every thirst of every human soul. III. HOW DO WE GET THE GIFTS? The paradox of’ my text needs little explanation. “ Buy without money and without price.’ The contradiction on the surface is but intended to make emphatic this blessed truth theft the only conditions are a sense of need and a willingness to take--nothing else and nothing more. (A. Mallard, D. D.)Soul thirst Men know what bodily hunger is, some have felt it to an agony, but there is a soul hunger far more distressing than this. It is depicted on the countenances of those whose bodies fare sumptuously every day. Men also know what bodily thirst is. But there is a soul thirst infinitely worse than that which was ever felt by the most parched of Oriental travellers. That all unregenerate souls are thirsting, with more or less intensity, for that which they have not, will neither be debated nor denied. Christianity is a provision for such, and as a provision it is marked by three things. I. IT IS . It is “ water.” The Gospel is to the thirsty soul what the cool refreshing stream is to a thirsty body. It satisfies-- 1. The guilty conscience, 2. The longing heart, 3. The worshipping spirit of man. All who have truly received the Gospel give this testimony. II. IT IS . “ Without money and without price.” Water is one of the freest things in the world. It is a ubiquitous element; it not only floats in the cloud, descends in the showers, and rolls in the rivers, but bubbles up at our feet and oozes out in all the things around us. III. IT IS . “ Ho, every one that thirsteth.” The Gospel is not for any type of mind, any class of character, any condition of society, any tribe of men. Like the light of heaven, it is for all. (Homilist.)The spiritual appetite and its gratification I. The spiritual appetite. 1. It results from the constitution of our nature. We cannot go deeper than nature. We cannot go behind or beyond it, for nature is what has been born (Latin natura), born out of God’ s thought by God’ s power. When we speak of nature we must pass in thought from her to her parent God, and find a sufficient answer to all questions and difficulties by saying: “ God has so willed it, therefore it is as it is.” All the strong basal instincts of human nature must be traced back to the make of our moral being as it was planned by almighty wisdom, and wrought by infinite power. We hunger and thirst, because our physical nature has been so created that it must needs go out of itself for its supplies of nutriment. Similarly, God made our souls for Himself. Deep within us, lie has put necessities and desires, that crave for satisfaction from the Unseen, Eterual, and Divine. 2. It produces pain. There are many sources of pain; but perhaps primarily God has instituted it to compel us to take measures for our health and salvation. The pain of hunger and thirst in designed to force us to take food, without which the body would become exhausted and die. So, in the moral sphere, we should be thankful when we are discontented with ourselves, when in self-abhorrence we cry out for God’ s unsullied righteousness, when we go about smitten with infinite unrest. 3. It is universal. As we have never met man or woman incapable of hunger or thirst, so there is no human soul which is not capable of possessing God, and does not need Him for a complete life. Often the spiritual appetite is dormant. The invalid, who has long suffered under the pressure of a wasting illness, may have no appetite, but at any moment it may awake. Thus with the hunger of the soul for God. II. THE NURTURE OF . III. THE CERTAIN OF THIS . God never sends mouths, the old proverb says, but He sends with them the food to fill them. Young lions never seek that which His hand does not open to give. The fish, and the fly at which it snatches; the bird, and the berries on the hawthorn bush; the babe, and the milk stored in its mother’ s breast, are perfectly adapted to each other. Whatever you and I have longed for in our best and holiest moments may have its consummation and bliss, because God has prepared for our perfect satisfaction. (Lira of Faith.)A gracious invitation I. THE STATE OF THE PERSONS . II. THE NATURE OF THE . III. THE FORCE OF THE OFFERED. What is it to corals? coming signifies believing. Observe how this invitation is reiterated. It corrals in with a shout; then it is plainly stated--then it is repeated--and a third time it is urged. 1. Let the extent of the call induce you to come. 2. Let the freeness of the supply induce you to come. 3. Let the sufficiency of the provision induce you to come. 4. Let the impossibility of finding redemption elsewhere induce you to come. Conclusion: 1. Some of you have heard in a spirit of levity. 2. Some in a spirit of neglect. 3. Some in a spirit of doubt and despondency. (J. Parsons.)Water for the thirsty I. WHAT THESE WATERS ARE WHICH ARE FOR THIRSTY SINNERS. II. EVERY THIRSTY SINNER MAY AND OUGHT TO COME TO THEM. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)True satisfaction in Christ There are eight things which thirsty sinners should set together. 1. All their sins and Christ’ s merits. 2. All their distresses and Christ’ s compassions, 3. All their wants and Christ’ s fulness. 4. All their unworthiness and Christ’ s fresness. 5. Their desires and Christ’ s invitations. 6. Their thirstings and the promises of Christ. 7. Their own weakness and Christ’ s strength. 8. Satan’ s objections and Christ’ s answers. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)The best bargain Dr. Faustus was very dear to legend in the Middle Ages. He burned with desire to drink his fill of all the pleasures of this life; but he could not gain them by his own unaided skill. He therefore made a contract with Satan. It was drawn out in the most lawyer-like style, and Faustus signed it with his own blood. It was stipulated that during the next twenty years he should have the run of all earth’ s pleasures, and then his soul and body were to be given over to Satan. He began with the sweets of knowledge, but soon he forsook them in disgust, and plunged into the fiercer and coarser excitements of the senses. Amid many horrors the body and soul of Faustus were seized by Satan just as the clock struck twelve at night on the last day of the specified period. These legends hold some of the most solemn secrets of life. They teach that every man has a soul to dispose of; that men, like the fallen angels, may ruin themselves with their eyes open; and that the greatest transactions of the soul may be likened to buying and bargaining. I. WHEN I BUY, I DESIRE. And I desire what I must fetch from without. Were I entirely self-supporting, had I everything I, need “ within myself,” as the saying is, I should never go to any market. Isaiah’ s words for “ buy” means to buy provisions. Lost in the desert, parched by thirst, gnawed by hunger, duped by the mirage, ready to perish--that is the standing biblical picture of a sinful man when he realizes his soul’ s needs. It is he who is urged to come to the waters, and to buy wine and milk. “ But I have no heart, no desire for these things: what am I to do?” That is the great trouble; indifference or downright indolence of soul the most common obstacle. But God’ s appeal is, “ Come now, and let us reason together.” He sets forth the alternatives as to a reasonable being. Water, wine, milk, good, fatness, life, covenant-mercy--all these are freely offered instead of starvation and death. How unreasonable you must be if anything on earth can keep you from what you know to be your highest good! II. WHEN I BUY, I CHOOSE The essence of a bargain is an act of choice. Choose I the Bible keeps that word ever ringing in our ears. And so does profane literature. Hercules, the greatest hero of heathendom, was made by his deliberate choice of virtue and rejection of vice. Pythagoras put this great truth into one of the most popular of object-lessons. He compared life to the letter y. The parting of the ways is symbolized by the two limbs of the letter. A man must go forward; and he must go left or right; he must walk in the way of evil or in the way of good. This choosing is the biggest thing you can do in this world. When I buy I consent to the price. Buying is simply avowed consent in action. “ Come buy . . . without money and without price.” By this double phrase the prophet assails the deep-seated self-righteousness of the heat. And he assails it wit’ s its own favourite ideas and phrases. You will buy. Well, then, let him buy who has no money, and let him buy without money and without price. Buying has a legal suggestion; but buying without money more than neutralizes every such suggestion. The most capacious mind, the liveliest imagination, could not suggest a more effective way of setting forth the utter freeness of Gods grace. III. WHAT I BUY, I OWN. The Gospel is here staten in the language of the market-place, so that all may perfectly understand it. All just laws and our moral instincts make me the undoubted possessor of that which I have fairly bought and paid for. It is my very own. This buying is all you need. The goods are yours in offer; and they are yours in full possession n you accept them. IV. WHAT I BUY, I USE. Unused milk and flesh are of no value to me. The bread of life, which Christ is and offers, is ours only in so far as we appropriate and assimilate it. “ Buy and eat. The buying is useless without the eating. Eating is the most vital, personal, and experimental thing in the world. The bread eaten becomes part and parcel of myself. (Monthly Visitor.)The proclamation and expostulation of mercy I. THE OF MERCY. 1. The blessings offered. (1) “ Waters.” Men need cleansing and refreshing. The word is “ waters,” not water. Some waters are good for domestic purposes only, others for medicinal purposes, and others again for purposes of cleansing. Thus, the water that may be suitable for one purpose may be unsuitable for other purposes. Not so the blessings of the Gospel; not so Christ, who is the Gospel. He meets all the needs of the soul. He pleases the imagination, satisfies the affections, calms the conscience, purifies the heart. (2) “ Wine.” Christ is like wine, in that He gladdens the heart. He is unlike wine in this--while we may have too much wine, we can never have too much of Christ. (3) “ Milk.” Milk is nourishing food; milk is natural food. A taste for milk is possibly the only taste we have by nature. All our other likings are more or less acquired. But, we refuse Christ, because what we popularly can a state of nature, is not a state of nature. To live naturally we must feed naturally. He only, so lives who feeds on Christ. 2. The terms propounded. (1) We must “ thirst” for Christ. We shall be blessed as soon as we wish to be. We are welcome to Christ when He is welcome to us. (2) We must come to Christ. II. THE RESULTS which accrue from compliance with these conditions. Men are invited to buy, etc., so, of those who comply it may be said-- 1. They “ buy” soul-food, i.e they appropriate as verily their own the blessings purchased by Christ. 2. They “ eat,” i.e they have experimental knowledge of Christianity. 3. Their soul “ delights itself in fatness.” The more of Christ men have, the more they desire III. THE LORD’ S . It is an appeal to their reason and their experience. God knows what man is, and what he feels. It is as if God had said: “ I know your case entirely; you are toiling for happiness and toiling in vain, and you know it. You are always pursuing some ideal good, with which, when you get it, you are satiated. Why go on thus, when peace and rest may be had? The argument used by God teaches that sin is-- 1. Costly. “ Wherefore do ye spend money, etc. Sin is costly.” -- (1) A pecuniary sense. (2) A mental sense. (3) A moral sense. (4) A spiritual sense. It costs money, health, mental quiet, character, heaven. 2. Laborious. (1) Men labour to accomplish their evil purposes. (2) Men labour to conceal their evil deeds, etc. 3. Unsatisfying. (J. S. Swan.)Invitation; expostulation; entreaty I. AN . “ Come ye.” 1. The persons invited. 2. The matter of the invitation. Jesus Christ is an only good, and He is an universal good. “ Waters; bread; milk; wine.” 3. The manner of the invitation. (1) Earnest. “ Ho!” (2) Serious. “ Come, come, come; buy, buy.” (3) General. “ Every one.” (4) Gracious. “ Buy wine and milk, without money and without price.” There is much good to be had, and at a very easy rate. Jesus Christ, and the things of Christ, are above price and without price. II. A . “ Wherefore,” etc. Here we have charged on sinners-- 1. Their neglect. 2. Their folly. III. A RENEWED OR . How patient is God, even to sinners who neglect the offers of His grace! This renewed entreaty is-- 1. Very vehement. “ Hearken diligently; incline your ears; hear.” 2. Very persuasive. 3. Very satisfactory. “ I will make an everlasting covenant with you,” etc. “ I will give My bond for it; all this shall be as surely made good as the mercies which I performed to My servant, David.” (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)Food a supreme need What does the hungry man want? Money? Not at all. Fame? No. Good clothes? Not a bit. He wants food. What does the thirsty man want? Reputation? Bonds and stocks? No! He wants water. When we are dead in earnest, and want the bread of heaven and the water of life, we shall not stop till we get them. (Sunday School Chronicle.)He that hath no money; come ye, buy, and satBuying without money We have before us the figure of a merchant selling his wares, and crying like a chapman in the market, “ He!” To attract attention he calls aloud, “ Come! Come! Come!” three several times; and he adds to this the cry of “ Buy! Buy!” Shall the Great King thus liken Himself to a trader in the market earnest to dispose of his goods? It is even so, and I therefore call upon you to admire the mercy of the Lord. In the fifty-third and fifty-fourth chapters this Divine Merchantman has been spreading out His wares. What treasures they are! I. A OF THE BUYER. It is the portrait of a poor, penniless, broken-down creature reduced to the extremity of want: “ He that hath no money. Of course, by this is meant the man who literally has no money. Having nothing, you may yet possess all things. But we understand the reference of the text to be mainly spiritual, and so the portrait here is that of a man who has no spiritual money, no gold of goodness, no silver of sanctity. 1. His fancied stock of natural innocence is spent. 2. He thought that he had accumulated some little savings of good works; but his imaginary righteousness turns out to be counterfeit. 3. He is in a still worse plight, for he is also too poor to get anything; the procuring power is gone, for he has “ no money “ that is to say, nothing wherewith he can procure those good things which are necessary to salvation and eternal life. 4. Moreover, his stock with which to trade is gone. Money makes money, and he that has a little to begin with may soon have more; but this man, having no stock to start with, cannot hope to be rich towards God in and by himself. No money! (1) Then, he cannot pay his old debts. His sins rise up before him, but he cannot make amends for them. (2) Moreover, he cannot meet his present expenses. (3) He cannot face the future. (4) The only hope for a man who has no money must he outside himself. II. THE OF THE BUYER. It is a strange choice, and it leads to a singular invitation, “ He that hath no money; come, buy, and eat.” What is the reason? 1. These need mercy most. 2. This character is chosen because he is such a one as will exhibit in his own person the power of Divine grace. 3. The Lord Jesus delights to make evident the freeness of His grace. 4. He is the kind of man that will listen. A wretched sinner jumps at mercy like a hungry fish leaping at the bait. 5. Such an empty, penniless soul, when he does get mercy, will prize it and praise it. He that has been shut up in the dark for years values the light of the sun. He that has been a prisoner for months, how happy he is when the prison doors are opened, and he is at liberty again! Let a man once get Christ, who has bitterly known and felt his need of Him, and he will prize Him beyond all things. III. THE . The man who has no money is to come, buy, and eat. It looks odd to tell a penniless man to come and buy, does it not? and yet what other word could be used? Come and buy, has a meaning of its own not to be otherwise expressed. In buying there are three or four stages. 1. Desiring to have the thing which is exhibited. 2. This means next, to agree to terms. 3. When the terms are carried out, the buyer appropriates the goods to himself. 4. But the text says, “ Buy, and eat, as much as to say, make it yours in the most complete sense. If a man buys a loaf of bread it is his: but if he eats it, then all the lawyers in the world cannot dispute him out of it--he has it by a possession which is not only nine points of the law, but all the law. Christ fed upon IS ours beyond all question. IV. By way of , to show that this is all real and true, and no make-believe. 1. It is not God’ s way to mock men. He hath Himself declared, “ I said not unto the seed of Jacob, seek ye My face in vain.” 2. God is under no necessity to sell His benefits. He is not impoverished: He is so rich that none can add anything to His wealth. 3. There is no adequate price that we could bring to God for His mercy. 4. Remember that Jesus must be meant for sinners, for if sinners had not existed there never would have been a saviour. 5. It must be true that God will give these blessings to men who have no merits, and will bestow them as gifts, because Jesus Himself is a gift. 6. Beside that, Christ is all. 7. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is blessedly free from all clogging conditions, because all supposed conditions are supplied in Christ Jesus. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Gospel blessings to be bought You may have seen persons in a shop who, when they have been shown almost all the contents of the shop,--when article after article has been brought down from the shelves for their inspection, have at last, to the no small disappointment of the shopkeeper, gone out without buying anything. And we who have the Gospel wares to dispose of, are subject to like disappointments. We also have customers who, when they have looked at, and turned over, so to speak, again and again, the goods which we offer them, as though they would make an offer for them, content themselves with the looking at them, hear and listen to the Gospel, that you would think they were going to embrace it, yet go out of Church, ah! and out of the world, without embracing it. (W. Cleaves, M. A.)Buyers will show that they possess It will be seen whether we have been indeed buyers, or like those who content themselves with looking at what is to be sold without buying. If a man has been buying clothes, for instance, he will be seen wearing the clothes; if he has been buying cattle, he will stock his land with the cattle; if he has been buying provisions, his table will be supplied with the provisions; if he has been buying furniture, his house will be furnished with it; and if we have been buying of Christ, the heart and mind will be furnished, we shall be clothed, we shall be adorned with what Christ has for those who buy of Him. (W. Cleaves, M. A.)The fulness of Christ offered to the needy sinner 1. In Christ there is very good fare to be had for poor sinners. 2. The enjoyment of it is limited by their coming to Christ and buying of Him. 3. Upon their coming to Christ all that good doth certainly come to them. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)Willingness to buy of Christ He that is willing to buy-- 1. Will go to the market. 2. Doth like the wares which are to be bought. 3. Will come up to the price at which they are to be bought. 4. Will watch the time, and take the time of buying. 5. Is willing to sell that he may compass the things he is very desirous to buy (Genesis 47:17-19; Matthew 13:44). There are three “ alls” which a poor sinner is willing to sell that he may have Christ. (1) All his sinful lusts and his former sinful courses of life. (2) All his worldly estimations and advantages (Hebrews 11:24-26). (3) All his serf. His serf-wisdom, his serf-will, his serf-righteousness, his self-sufficiencies and his serf-confidence, his self-seekings and his self-advantages (Philippians 3:8). (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)Buying of Christ You may know that you have indeed bought of Christ by something in yourselves. 1. Your hearts will be much endeared to Christ for what He hath sold unto you. 2. You will spend what you have bought of Christ, upon Christ. 3. You will so like the bargain that Christ shall have your custom as long as you live. 4. You will not sell what you have bought. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)Driving a trade with Christ There are seven arguments to persuade poor sinners to come and buy of Christ. I. THE OF THE WARES. II. THE OF THE . III. THE OF THE SELLER. IV. THE OF THE PRICE. V. THE OF THE MARKET. VI. THE BENEFIT OF THE BARGAIN. VII. THE LOSS BY NEGLECT.( O. Sedgwick, B. D.)The benefit of trading with Christ By buying of Christ you gain-- 1. Losses. It is no gain to lose a soul, yet it is an exceeding gain for a soul to lose some things--the dominion of sin, the love of sin, a condemning conscience, our corrupt vices, etc. 2. Yourselves. We never come to enjoy ourselves until we come to enjoy Christ. 3. Your own souls--they are safe and secured for ever. 4. All. All the purchase of Christ, all the good of all the offers of Christ, all the fruits of the Spirit of Christ, all the promises of God in Christ, all the revealings of the ordinances of Christ, all the immunities and privileges of Christ, all the hopes by Christ. You gain all the good which concerns soul and body in this life, and all the good which concerns them in the life to come. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)Spiritual merchandise Those who have bought of Christ are-- I. THE WISEST . II. THE SUREST . (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)“ Buy and eat:” It is a virtue here to be a holy glutton. (J. Trapp.)Yea, come, buy wins and milkWine and milk As water, on account of its commonness and abundance, is often apt to be despised, the prophet farther speaks of the blessings of salvation under the symbols of wine and milk. (R. Jones, M. A.)A free salvation I. I have to preach WINE AND MILK. The Gospel is like wine which makes us glad. Let a man truly know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he will be a happy man, and the deeper he drinks into the spirit of Christ, the more happy will he become. The Gospel is like milk too, for there is everything in it that you want, Do you want something to bear you up in trouble? It is in the Gospel--“ a very present help in time of trouble.” Do you need something to nerve you for duty? There is grace all-sufficient for everything that God calls you to undergo or to accomplish. Do you need something to light up the eye of your hope? There are joy-flashes in the Gospel that may make your eye flash back again the immortal fires of bliss. Do you want something to make you stand steadfast in the midst of temptation? In the Gospel there is that that can make you immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. The Gospel was evidently meant for manhood; it is adapted to it in its every part. There is knowledge for the head; there is love for the heart; there is guidance for the foot. And I think there is another meaning in the two words “ wine and milk.” Wine is a rich thing, something that requires much time to manufacture. There has to be vintage and fermentation and preservation before wine can come to its full flavour. The Gospel is like that; it is an extraordinary thing for feast days; it gives a man power to use a vintage of thought, a fermentation of action, and a preservation of experience, till a man’ s piety comes forth like the sparkling wine that makes the heart leap with gladness. But milk is an ordinary thing; you get it every day, anywhere. So is it with the Gospel: it is a thing for every day. II. Having thus exhibited the article, my next business is to BRING THE BIDDERS UP TO THE AUCTION BOX AND SELL IT. My difficulty is to bring you down to my price. Here comes some one up to the sacred desk, transformed for the moment into an auction-box, and he cries, “ I want to buy.” What will you give for it? He holds out his hands, and he has such a handful; he has to lift up his very lap with more, for he can hardly hold all his good works. He has Ave-Marius and Paternosters without number, and all kinds of crossings with holy water, and bendings of the knee, and prostrations before the altar, and reverence of the host, and attending at the mass, and so on. And so, Sir Romanist, you are coming to get salvation are you? and you have brought all this with you lava sorry for thee, but thou must go away from the box with all thy performances, for it is without money and without price, and until thou art prepared to come empty-handed thou canst never have it. Then another comes up and says, “ I am glad you have served the Romanist like, that” I hate the Church of Rome; I am a true Protestant, and desire to be saved. What have you brought, sir? “ Oh I have brought no Ave-Marias, no Paternosters. But I say the collect every Sunday; I am very attentive to my prayers. I got to church almost as soon as the doors are open,” or “ I go to chapel three times on the Sabbath and I attend the prayer-meetings; and beside that, I pay everybody twenty shillings in the pound; I would not like to hurt anybody; I am always liberal, and assist the poor when! can. I may make a little slip just now and then. Still, if I am mot saved I do not know who will be. I am as good as my neighbours, and I think I certainly ought to be saved, for I have very few sins, and what few there are do not hurt other people; they hurt me more than any one else. Besides, they are mere trifles.” I will send you away; there is no salvation for you, for it is “ without money and without price;” and as long as you bring these fine good works of yours, you cannot have it. Mark, I do not find any fault with them, they are good enough in their place, but they won’ t do here, but they won’ t do at the judgment bar of God. Suppose I see a man building a house, and he were fool enough to lay the foundation with chimney-pots. If I should say, “ My dear man, I do not like these chimney-pots to be put into the foundation, ‘ you would not say I found fault with the chimney-pots, but that I found fault with the man for putting them in the wrong place. So with good works and ceremonies; they will not do for a foundation. The foundation must be built of more solid stuff. But see another man. He is a long way off, and he says, “ Sir, I am afraid to come; I could not come and make a bid for the salvation. Sir, I’ ve got no larnin’ , I’ m no scholard, I can’ t read a book, I wish I could. My children go to Sunday-school; I wish there was such a thing in my time; I can’ t read, and it’ s no use my hoping to go to heaven. I goes to church sometimes, but oh dear I it’ s no good; the man uses such long words I can’ t understand ‘ em, and I goes to chapel sometimes, but I can’ t make it out.” It wants no scholarship to go to heaven. Now, I see a man come up to the stall, and he says, “ Well, I will have salvation, sir; I have made in my will provisions for the building of a church or two, and a few almshouses; I always devote a part of my substance to the cause of God; I always receive the poor, and such-like; I have a pretty good share of money, and I take care not to hoard it up; I am generous and liberal. Won’ t that carry me to heaven?” Well, I like you very much, and I wish there were more of your sort. But if you bring these things as your hope of heaven, I must undeceive you. You cannot buy heaven with gold. Why, they pave the streets up there with it. Wealth makes distinction on earth, but no distinction at the Cross of Christ. You must all come alike to the footstool of Jesus, or else not come at all. I knew a minister who told me he was once sent for to the dying bed of a woman who was very well to do in the world, and she said, “ Mr. Baxter, do you think when I get to heaven Betsy my servant will be there?” “ Well,” he said, “ I don’ t know much about you, but Betsy will be there; for if I know any one who is a pious girl, it is she.” “ Well,” said the lady, “ don’ t you think there will be a little distinction? for I never could find it in my heart to sit down with a girl of that sort; she has no taste, no education, and I could not endure it. I think there ought to be a little difference.” “ Ah I you need not trouble yourself, madam,” he said, “ there will be a great distinction between you and Betsy, if you die in the temper in which you now are; but the distinction will be on the wrong side; for you see her in Abraham’ s bosom, but you yourself will be cast out. As long as you have such pride in your heart, yon can never enter into the kingdom of heaven.” The highway is as much for the poor man as the rich man; so is the kingdom of heaven--“ without money and without price.” III. I have to use A FEW with you. 1. I would speak to you who never think about these things at all. 2. I have now the pleasing task of addressing men of another character. You do feel your need of a Saviour. Remember, Christ died for you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The desire to bring something to Christ I dare say in this congregation I have a hundred different phases of this singular fatuity of man--the desire to bring something to Christ. “ Oh, ‘ says one, “ I would come to Christ, but I have been too great a sinner.’ Self again, sir, your being a great sinner has nothing to do with that. Christ is a great Saviour, and however great your sin, His mercy is greater than that. He invites you simply as a sinner. Another says, “ Ah, but I do not feel it enough.” Self again. He does not ask yon about your feelings; He simply says, “ Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” “ But, sir, I cannot pray.” Self again. You are not to be saved by your prayers; you are to be saved by Christ, and your business is simply to look to Christ; tie will help you to pray afterwards. But, says another, “ if I felt as So-and-so did. Self again. “ Yes,” you say, “ I think He would receive anybody but me.” Please, who gave you any leave to think at all in the matter? Does He not say, “ Him that cometh unto Me I will in nowise cast out” ? Give up thinking, and believe. Are your thoughts as God’ s thoughts, “ But,” says one, “ I have sought Him, but I have not found Him.” Can you truly say that you have come to Christ with nothing in your hand, and have looked alone to Him, and yet He has cast you away T Do you dare to say that? No: if God’ s Word be true, and you are true, you cannot say that. If you will come down to this prince,” and take Christ for nothing, just as He is, “ without, money and without price,” you shall not find Him a hard Master. (C. H.Spurgeon.)“ Without money and without price I. THE NATURE OF THIS FACT, for it is very surprising to mankind to hear that salvation is “ without money and without price.” It is so surprising to them that the plainest terms cannot make them understand it; and, though you tell them a thousand times a day, yet they persist in thinking that you mean some thing else. Why is it when man does see it he is surprised at it? 1. Because of man’ s relation to God, and his wrong judgment of Him. Man thinks that God is a hard master. 2. No doubt, also, the condition of man under the fall makes it more difficult for him to comprehend that the gifts of God are “ without money and without price,” for he finds that he is doomed to toil for almost everything he needs. 3. Again man recollects the general rule of men towards each other, for in this world what is to be had for nothing except that which is worth nothing? 4. Another matter helps man into this difficulty, namely, his natural pride. He does not like to be a pauper before God. 5. Once more, all religions that ever have been in the world of man’ s making teach that the gifts of God are to be purchased or merited. Though I have thus shown grounds for our surprise, yet if men would think a little they might not be quite so unbelievingly amazed as they are; for, after all, the best blessings we have come to us freely. What price have you paid for your lives? and yet they are very precious. What price do you pay for the air you breathe? What price does a man pay for the sunlight? This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Isaiah 55:2-3 Wherefore do ye spend money Weighing money In the first clause there is reference to the primitive custom of weighing instead of counting money, from which have arisen several of the most familiar denominations, such as the Hebrew “ shekel,” the Greek “ talent,” the French “ livre,” and the English “ pound. ” The essential idea is that of paying. (J. A. Alexander.)The folly of man as a worker I. HERE IS THE OF THE FACT THAT MAN IS A WORKER. “ The appeal implies that he is” free both in the expenditure of his “ money and the prosecution of his “ labour.’ Every part of the universe, works, but man only is a free worker. He works, not as material bodies work, by an outward force, nor as brutes, by blind impulses, but by his own deliberate purpose,--by choice and plan. There are at least four, considerations which bind, with indissoluble bonds, our faith to the doctrine of man’ s voluntary action. 1. It is not impossible for the Almighty to create a being that shall be wholly free in action. 2. There is an antecedent probability that He would create such a being. A creature endowed with this independency of action would of all creatures be most like Himself, most fitted to show forth His glory. And as He created the universe for the manifestation of Himself, would it not be probable that, having the power to do would it now look to you,” says the philosophic Saxon, King Alfred, “ if there were any very powerful king, and he had no freemen in all his kingdom, but that all were slaves?” “ Then,” said I, “ it would be thought by me neither right not reasonable if men that were in a servile condition only, should attend upon him.” “ Then,” quoth he, “ it would be more unnatural if God, in all His kingdom, had no free creature under his power.” Therefore,. He made two rational creatures, free angels and men, and gave them the great gift of freedom. 3. The mental constitution of man seems to provide for this freedom of action. Man is so formed that he always acts from purpose. 4. The consciousness of universal man attests the fact of human freedom. II. HERE IS THE OF THE FACT THAT MAN AS A WORKER SHOULD AIM AT THE OF MORALLY AND GOOD. What is the moral bread? Ask first what is the strength of the soul,--the moral stamina? Godliness. Where is the “ bread” which both strengthens and satisfies the soul? Christ says, “ I am the Bread of life.” III. HERE IS THE OF THE FACT THAT MAN, AS A WORKER, HIS POWER. He spends his “ money” for that which is not “ bread,” and his labour for that which “ satisfieth not.” What is it to expend your property and labour in vain? 1. To strive after power as the chief end is to do so. 2. To strive after wealth as the chief end is to do so. 3. To strive after knowledge as the chief end is to do so. Neither scientific ideas, nor poetic creations, nor artistic embellishments are bread. 4. To strive after happiness as the chief end, is to do so. From this subject we may infer-- (1) The immense amount of waste human labour that is constantly going on in the world. (2) The well-being of man consists not in the form of his labour, but in the principle that inspires and controls it. (3) The exquisite fitness of Christianity to man’ s condition. (Homilist.)Folly and Wisdom I. A FOOLISH COURSE TO BE AVOIDED, II. A WISE METHOD TO BE PURSUED. (R. W. Pritchard, Ph. D.)God’ s provision for man’ s need What is man’ s way of meeting this great need? Spending money and labour for that which does not satisfy; in other words, using every means he can command, save the only right and true means, to satisfy the cravings of his immortal nature; a course that will prove fatal to his deathless interests if persisted in. But God meets him and-- I. THIS FATAL ERROR. “ Wherefore do ye spend money,” etc. The “ wherefore” of the text implies three things on the part of God,--benign condescension; surprise; and gentle chiding. True life is impossible where the bread of life is not eaten. 1. Observation proves this. 2. Experience sustains the same truth. 3. History illustrates the same fact. 4. The Bible affirms the same doctrine. II. MEN WHO SEEK THESE THINGS AS THE HIGHEST GOOD ARE IN A STATE OF HUNGER AND UNREST. It is not bread, it does not “ satisfy.” III. GOD’ S PLAN OF MEETING THE SOUL’ S TRUE WANTS. Three terms are used of similar import, and that are of first importance to us, if we would put ourselves into harmony with the plan of God in relation to our good, “ Hearken,” “ hear,” and “ incline your ear.” These terms imply humility, docility and reverent attention. 1. God credits man with the capacity to receive and obey His communications. 2. God speaks to man, revealing His will, unfolding His way of meeting the deepest needs of our nature. 3. These Divine communications relate to our highest good. “ Eat ye that which is good.” 4. These provisions are richly abundant. “ Let your soul delight itself in fatness.” “ Delight’ and “ fatness ‘ are two very prolific words and supply the fancy with almost boundless range. 5. There is life through obedience to the Divine plan. “ Hear, and your soul shall live.” 6. The blessings God offers are lasting as they are excellent. “ I will make an everlasting covenant with you,” etc. “ An everlasting covenant” points to God’ s unchangeableness, and to His being ever ready to redeem all the pledges of His love and mercy. What should be the soul’ s attitude towards God while He makes these rich communications? “ Hearken diligently,” “ Incline your ear,” “ Come unto him.” How striking the order! The attention is first arrested, then absorbed, then the soul draws near to’ God with profound interest in the revelation, ready to take the offered grace. (J. Higgins.)The false and true in pleasure I. THE FALSE. 1. The false is expensive. All false pleasure is sought from one or other of the following sources--sensual gratification, secular wealth, or popular fame--each very expensive. They cost what is infinitely more precious than gold--time, energy, moral peace, mental independency, and frequently health. 2. The false is not sustaining: it is not “ bread.” Were it obtained, it would not strengthen. It does not give mental strength: sensuality enervates the intellect. The love of gain makes man a tactician, not a thinker. The breath of mammon is poison to a free intellect, and the love of fame fills the mind with the unhealthy sentiment of vanity; nor does it give spiritual strength--strength to resist temptation--to bear trials--to help humanity--toserve God--to face death. It destroys this. 3. The false is not satisfactory. “ Satisfieth not.” II. THE TRUE. 1. True pleasure consists in spiritual communications from God. “ Hearken diligently unto Me,” etc. Three things are implied in this language:-- (1) That God has made spiritual communications to man. This is a fact. They are the substance of the Bible. (2) That man has a capacity to appreciate these communications. A wonderful argument this for the native dignity of the soul. (3) That to appreciate these communications requires the most diligent study. The Bible is a difficult book, challenging the concentration of intellectual power. 2. That the pleasure thus derived is of the highest conceivable description (1) Essentially excellent--“ good.” (2) Abundantly sufficient--“ delights itself in fatness.” (3) Spiritually quickening--“ your soul shall live.” 3. That the continuation of this, the highest pleasure, is guaranteed by the solemn assurance of God. “ And I will make an everlasting covenant with you.’ Here is a pledge of its perpetuity. If a promise is not fulfilled, it must be for one of three reasons: either that the author was insincere when it was made, or that he subsequently changed his mind, or lacked the necessary power to redeem the pledge. Neither of these suppositions is admissible; therefore, this true pleasure is everlasting. (Homilist.)Food for the soul 1. Everything that has life must have food. 2. Man has the nature and wants of an animal. He also has a higher nature that takes hold of truth and God. He has, therefore, to care for a double life. 3. The text means that we put much into one side of life, hoping vainly for an equivalent of happiness on the other. The soul must have other food. 4. For this want there is a kind of borderland provision in Church forms But religion cannot tarry in this borderland. 5. So we rise to the truth that the soups life is in God. (H. W. Thomas, D. D.)Foolish neglect and fruitless labour 1. All the good that Christ doth offer, and all the gracious terms upon which He doth offer are sometimes slighted and refused by sinners. 2. Sinners are earnestly labouring and trading for vain and unprofitable things, when the great things of Christ are offered to them. 3. All the cost which men lay out, and all the pains which men do take for salvation from anything besides Christ, or in any other way than Christ’ s way, are utterly fruitless. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)The folly of pursuing that which does not satisfy I. ALL OTHER THINGS BESIDES THOSE WHICH CHRIST DOTH OFFER, ARE VAIN AND . II. SINNERS DO PURSUE THEM, when yet Christ doth offer unto them the chiefest good for their souls. III. WHY SINNERS DO THIS. IV. THE EXTREME FOLLY OF THIS. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)“ No bread" The Hebrew term, “ for that which is not bread,” reads more correctly, “ for that which is no-bread.” It means that for which men spend their energies is “ no-bread,” it is the negative of bread; it is the very opposite of bread. It is that which not only does not alleviate our hunger, but makes us more hungry! It does not fill our emptiness, but makes us more empty than ever. Not only does it fail to satisfy, but it makes us more dissatisfied! Just as salt water not only fails to quench the thirst, but aggravates it. (A. S. Gumbart.)Hearken diligently unto MeHearkening and eating Two thoughts are brought to our attention, as indicating the steps by which we bring ourselves into that blessed experience in which we may be conscious of having received the gift of God. 1. We must listen diligently. “ Hearken diligently unto Me.’ That is, hearken with intense desire and eagerness. In the third verse God says: “ Incline your ear, and come unto Me.’ This word “ incline” is a strong word; it carries with it the idea of stretching the neck, as one anxiously, eagerly listening, or as a, hound in pursuing game. 2. The second thing is, Eat. “ Eat ye that which is good.” (A. S. Gumbart.)God’ s call should be heeded There are six arguments which I would make use of to persuade you to embrace this counsel. 1. Christ offers you the best things--better things than the world can afford you. 2. Christ offers unto you the things that are best for you. 3. You may have these earthly things upon better terms if you could close with the things which Christ doth offer. 4. Christ alone is a portion, infinitely better than all the world alone. 5. You will lose Christ, and all these things of the world too, by neglecting Christ, and preferring before Him these things of the world. 6. You cannot drive both these trades together. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)Hearkening There are five things which that word doth denote. 1. A taking into our ears sounds, words, messages, reports, spoken unto us. 2. Sometimes to hear is the same with to understand. 3. Sometimes the same with to believe. 4. Sometimes to regard and approve. 5. Sometimes to obey, to follow what is said. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)Diligent hearkening to Christ I. WHAT THIS TO CHRIST DOTH CONTAIN. In it He diligently hearkens to Christ. 1. Who doth carefully and regardfully observe Christ in His gracious offers. 2. Who seriously considers all the gracious offers of Christ. 3. Who judges highly of the offers of Christ. 4. Who obeys the voice of Christ. II. HOW IT MAY APPEAR THAT JESUS CHRIST IS EARNEST AND WITH SINNERS, diligently to hearken unto Him. 1. By the gradations of His dealings with sinners. (1) He opens and proclaims the way of life and happiness to them John 14:6). (2) He presents this salvation to them (Acts 13:26). (3) He encourages them to come from the certainty of allgood, from the graciousness of His own terms “ Come, and buy without money, and from the acceptance of their persons (John 6:37). (4) He entreats them to hearken unto Him (2 Corinthians 5:20). (5) He commands them authoritatively to obey His voice (1 John 3:23). (6) He allures them with all sorts of promises. (7) He shows them the greatness and inevitableness of their danger, if they refuse to hearken (John 8:24; Hebrews 2:3). (8) He expressly threatens a peremptory damnation, if sinners will not hearken (Mark 16:16). (9) He furnishes ambassadors with all sorts of gifts, to enable them to deal, and treat, and woo, and work on sinners to hearken. (10) He is content to pass by all the days of ignorance. (11) He lets a light into their minds which shows them a personal and absolute need of Himself. (12) He disproves, confutes and shames all the carnal arguments of sinners. (13) He affects the hearts and wills of sinners by many strivings of His Spirit. (14) He rouses the drowsy, careless sinner by outward special afflictions. (15) He breaks up the consciences of sinners, so that the terms of God fall on them. (16) He cuts off all their confidence in this distressed condition, so that no course shall ease or quiet or help. (17) He takes the opportunity, and, in this broken condition, sends messengers of hope and mercy to the sinner (Acts 9:10-11). (18) He answers all the fears and doubts of sinners, both in respect of Himself (1 John 2:1; Revelation 3:20); and in respect of themselves--assuring them that neither the multitude of former sins nor abundance of present wants shall hinder mercy and salvation, if they will hearken and come. (19) He advances instances how sinners have fared by hearkening and coming to Him, e.g the jailor, Mary Magdalene, Saul of Tarsus 1 Timothy 1:16). (20) If none of these prevail with sinners to hearken, then doth Christ take His utter farewell of them with sighs and tears Luke 19:41-42). 2. By the qualities of His voice. It is-- (1) a plain voice, easy to be understood. (2) A high voice (John 7:37). (3) Long and patient (Romans 10:21). (4) In season and out of season. (5) Quick. To the ear, thence to the mind, thence to the conscience. (6) Expostulating. (7) Very pressing. III. WHAT JESUS CHRIST IS SO WITH SINNERS TO HEARKEN UNTO HIM. There are reasons for this: 1. In respect of sinners. (1) Because of their dulness and slowness. (2) Because sinners are careless. (3) Because they are very unteachable. (4) Because they are backward to hearken, and accept His gracious offers. (5) Because they are very perverse and desperate (Zechariah 7:11-12; Acts 7:51). 2. In respect of Christ Himself. (1) Because He is Christ, full of compassion. (2) Because He knows the condition of our souls: (a) their worth, (b) their lost condition, (c) the wrath which will certainly befall disobedient souls, (d) wherein real happiness lies, (e) the difficulty of gaining souls, (f) what power Satan hath with our souls. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)Eat ye that which is goodFeeding on the Word I. Here is FOOD Eat ye that which is good.” 1. How is it presented to us? Freely. There was a word about buying; but that was soon covered up with, “ Buy without money and without price.’ While it is thus presented freely as to any labour with which to procure it, it is also presented freely as to its quality, its highest quality. You are not permitted to drink freely of water, and then to purchase wine. The richest dainties of God’ s house are as free as the bread He gives to hungry souls. The only limitation is no limitation at all: “ Ho, every one that thirsteth!” 2. What is this food? (1) The Word of God. (2) Better still, the incarnate Word of God. (3) The grace of God. 3. What is the nature of this food? It is in every sense of the word “ good.” It is satisfying. It is pure; no harm can ever come by eating it. This heavenly food is good for you at any time, good for you living, good for you dying. All other foods that men seek after are unsubstantial; they can surfeit, but they cannot satisfy; they can cloy, but they cannot content; but the food that has come down from heaven, if a man does but take it into himself, shall be the best food he ever ate. Moreover, this food is described here as being fatness. “ Let thy soul delight itself in fatness.” Within the Word of God, there are certain choicer truths; in Christ, there are certain choicer joys; in grace, there are certain choicer experiences than men at first realize. II. Here is FEEDING. One of the most important words in our text is that little word “ eat.” Food is of no use until it is eaten. You ought not to need any instruction on this point. We take a great many orphans into the Orphanage, and some of them are very ignorant, and we have to teach them a great many things; but we have no class for teaching them to eat. If men were hungry, they would know how to eat, if they had the bread. It is because men are not really hungry on account of sin that they come and ask us, “ What do you mean by the eating?” Yet it may be that some are sincere in asking the question, so I will answer it. 1. To eat is to believe. 2. To eat is chiefly to appropriate. 3. The full process of eating includes digestion. How do I digest the Word of God? When I meditate upon it. 4. Feeding also means trusting yourself wholly to Christ. III. WELCOME. What does the Lord say? “ Eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 1. Here is no stint. It is not said, “ Here is a pair of scales; here is a plate; here is a knife. The law allows so many ounces of meat to you, just so much, and you must not have half-an-ounce over. Nothing of the kind. You are just taken to the table, and the exhortation is, “ Eat to your heart’ s content.” 2. As there is no stint, so there is no reserve. It is not said, “ Now you may eat those two things; but you must not touch that nice fat morsel over there; that is for the particular favourite, not for you.” No, when God invites you to His table, you may have anything there is on the table. 3. So, too, there is no end to the feast. “ Keep on delighting yourself in fatness. You will never use it all up.” I read of a country once, though I hardly believed the description of it; for it was said that the grass grew faster than the cows could eat it. Well, there is a country that I know of, where the grass grows faster than the sheep can eat it. You may eat all you will out of the Divine Word; but you will find that there is more left than you have taken; and it seems as if there were more after you had taken it, as if the grass grew deeper as you fed more ravenously upon it., IV. DELIGHT. 1. There is no peril in holy joy, in delighting yourself in God’ s Word, and delighting yourself in Christ. 2. There will be no idleness or selfishness produced by this fat feeding. 3. May you also attain a sense of holy security! 4. Then, may you come into a state of perfect rest! 5. May you also come into a state of complete resignation to the will of God! 6. May you be filled with a happy expectancy. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The soul’ s best food I. THE REASON FOR THE IN OUR TEXT: “ Eat ye that which” is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 1. The exceeding bountifulness of God in Christ Jesus. The invitation here given IS in accordance with the character of the God who gives it. 2. The abundant provision that He has made for the supply of our needs. If any of you prepared a feast, it would be very grievous to you if your friends did not eat what you had provided. It is the very heart of God speaking in these words, and it is the provision of God’ s grace claiming to be consumed. God’ s love pleading that what He has provided so bountifully should not be lost or wasted. 3. The Divine desire for fellowship. Almost always, when fellowship is spoken of in relation to God, expressions which concern eating are used. Fellowship begins, as it were, at the passover, at the eating of the lamb. In the tabernacle in the wilderness, the offerings were not all burnt upon the altar; many of them were partaken of by both the offerer and the priest, and by God as represented by the devouring flame. So, when Jesus instituted that blessed memorial supper, “ He said to His disciples, concerning the bread, “ Take,. eat;” and, concerning the cup, “ Drink ye all of it.” When, in the Revelation, He said to the angel of the church in Laodicea, “ Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.” you know how He goes on to say, “ If any man hear My voice, and open, the door, I will come-in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. This appears to be God’ s favourite image to express fellowship. 4. Our exceeding great necessities. You must eat, so “ eat ye that which is good.” Your soul needs the best food, so “ let your soul delight itself in fatness,” in the fat and dainty morsels which the great God, who understands us even better than we understand ourselves, has so bountifully provided for us. 5. Our extreme foolishness. What a stupid animal man must be to need to be told to eat, and be urged to eat that which is good! The little lamb, in the meadow, has scarcely come into the world before it finds out where its mother’ s milk is, and very soon it begins to crop the tender herbage, and to find food for itself. Most creatures, by what we call instinct, discover their own natural food; but here is man, so foolish, so mad, so much more wild than the wild ass’ s colt, that he needs to be told to eat, spiritually. One part of human foolishness lies in the fact that we so often seek that which is not good for us, so that the Lord has to say to us, “ Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread?” Man is described in Scripture as feeding upon ashes. It is not only that we are willing to eat that which is evil, but that we are unwilling to eat that which is good. Many persons will hear that which is good, and will even assent to our declaration that it is good; yet they do not eat it. What is spiritual eating? It is the inward reception of the truth of God into the soul. To hear the truth is, as it were, to see the bread. To think upon the truth is, as it were, to cut the bread, and put it on the plate. But this will never nourish any man; he must take the bread into his inward parts, and digest and assimilate it. There is this folly even about God’ s own children, that they do not eat that, which is good according to the lavish, inexhaustible fulness provided by God. Let your soul delight itself in fatness. How very few minutes in a day most of us spend in feeding our souls I 6. Our fears. There is many a child of God, who longs for spiritual food, but he is afraid that he would be guilty of presumption if he ate it; so, when there is a very fat piece that is just going into his mouth, he says, “ No, that cannot be for me,” and he draws back from it. Just look at the text: “ Let your soul delight itself in fatness.” II. THE OF OBEYING THE COMMAND OF THE TEXT. 1. The pleasure of it. “ Let your soul delight itself in fatness. 2. The great preserving power of good spiritual food. It helps to keep us out of temptation. 3. Spiritual food comforts mourners. The analogy of this will be found in Nehemiah 8:9-10. It was of this that Mary sang, “ He hath filled the hungry with good things.” 4. It revives the fainting ones. 5. Spiritual eating is also a great strength for service. 6. It fits us to feed others. Ezekiel had to go and speak to the house of Israel in the name of the Lord; do you remember his preparation for that task,--the college to which he went? He saw a hand, which held a roll of a book, and a voice said to him, “ Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.” He cannel; preach till he has eaten the roll. I believe that, in the courts of law, young men have to eat themselves into the profession; beside all other qualifications, they must eat a certain number of dinners before they can be fully certificated. It is a strange regulation with regard to earthly courts, hut it is a right and proper thing in the courts of heaven. 7. It is the best mode of fellowship. Feed on the Word of God; especially feed on the Incarnate Word; otherwise, you cannot possibly enter into true spiritual fellowship with God. 8. Feeding upon the Word is the best way of promoting praise. You know how the 103 rd Psalm begins: “ Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Then, a little further on, the psalmist says, “ Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’ s.” A hungry soul cannot sing well; the soul that best sings the praises of God is the one that has delighted itself with the fatness of the Divine provision. (C. H. Spurgeon.)“ Fatness” “ Fatness” in the Scriptures is used to denote the richest food (Genesis 27:28-39; Job 36:16; Psalms 65:11), and hence is an emblem of the rich and abundant blessings resulting from the favour of God (Psalms 36:8; Psalms 63:5). (A. Barnes, D. D.)The path of life Professor George Adam Smith talks about what he considers the greatest pathos of our life on earth--it is the fact that so many million souls are unconsciously starving right within reach of the food they need. They have only to stretch out their hands and take the bread of life, but their hands are glued to their sides. An unsuitable diet Some German women have fallen into the habit of “ naschen,” i.e of nibbling comfits and cakes all day long. They carry “ cornets “ of bon-bons in their pockets, and nibble at them continually. No one wonders that they suffer greatly from disordered digestions, and become sallow, and irritable, and old before their time. And does not plain common-sense teach us that, when people feed their souls upon a diet of novels, or of gossip, or of frivolities of every kind, they must necessarily suffer from languor of spiritual life, debility of spiritual digestion, failure of vitality, and a creeping moral paralysis. (Mrs. H. W. Smith.) Isaiah 55:3 Incline your ear God’ s voice To incline your ear and hearken diligently unto God is to follow the Divine teachings as to the aims and methods of life. And God has a thousand voices for those who will hearken. 1. The voice of experience is His, and experience is loud and emphatic in assuring us that “ if we live after the flesh we shall die; but if we, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body we shall live.” 2. The voice in the heart and conscience is His, and if you will listen in the silence of the mind you will hear the sweet parental accents speaking to your deepest filial affection, and saying, “ My son, give Me thine heart.” 3. And the voice of inspiration is His, speaking through those who have seen most deeply into the Divine meaning of life, and the conclusion of the whole matter with them has been, “ Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” 4. And the voice of Christ” is the voice of God, and.” “ Jesus stood and cried,, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. (C. Short, M. A.)“ Incline your ear" Hold it near the mouth of the gracious Speaker. Be willing to hear what God has to say. Take out that wool of prefudice that has prevented you from hearkening to God’ s voice.(C. H. Spurgeon.)The Divine call and promise The institution of public worship derives a peculiar value from its tendency to dispose men to the voice of God I. THE ON THE PART OF GOD. “ I will make an everlasting covenant with you,” etc. The covenant here proposed is a covenant of promise, that is, a covenant in which God promises to bestow freely upon His creatures a variety of the greatest and most necessary blessings. Two things here call for our attention-- 1. The extent here specified of the engagements of the covenant. “ The sure mercies of David.” This covenant was first discovered to Adam, more fully to Abraham, still more so to David, who was an eminent type of Christ. Now Christ, the spiritual David, is come; what these sure mercies are, we know more fully. But they are “ sure mercied,” which lead to: 2. The ground of dependence. The covenant is founded upon the goodness of God. Think of the fidelity of His promises; of His ability; of the pledge He has given us. “ He that spared not His own Son,” etc. Think of the great cloud of witnesses who all testify to the Divine character, and speak the mercies to them without exception. Sure in the effects they produce. Sure in all changes. These never fail. Sure in another state of existence, for it is an everlasting covenant administered by an Eternal Being. II. THE MEANS OF OUR THESE SURE MERCIES OF DAVID. “ Incline your car, and come unto Me.” 1. The Person speaking ought to induce attention. It is the Lord, our Maker, Preserver, Redeemer. 2. The interest we have in the subject ought to induce attention. 3. Our attention must lead us to God. “ Incline your ear, and come unto Me. 4. The amazing issues which depend on our obedience should lead us at once to obey. “ Hear, and your soul shall live.” (J. Bolton, B. A.)God’ s own Gospel call This very memorable chapter may be called God’ s own Gospel sermon. I. TWO SAVING , which are pressed upon you. These are of simple character. 1. “ Incline your ear.” This is placed in another form, “ Hearken diligently unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live. You have ears to hear w t therefore-hear. Consider and think upon eternal things. Think about Divine matters as God sets them before you. This attention, this hearkening, must be hearty, honest, continual, earnest and believing. 2. The second precept grows out of the first: “ Come unto Me. “ How can I come to God?’ saith one. 1. Come, at least, by thinking much of Him. 2. Come, by your desires. 3. Come, by confession of sin. 4. Come, in humble, believing prayer. These are the two precepts--“ Hear” and “ Come.” They are neither exacting norunreasonable. II. To encourage you, and come to my second head, which deals with SAVING . Here are two promises corresponding to the two precepts-- 1. “ Your soul shall live.” 2. “ I will make an everlasting covenant with you.” (1) Observe, how He promises condescending intercourse. It is in the Hebrew, “ I will cut a covenant. Covenants were made by cutting a victim in two, and they who made a covenant passed between the two halves of the sacrifice to make the covenant sure. The Lord, in effect, says, “ Poor, wretched sinner, you that have not a penny to buy water with, if you will come to Me, I will enter into a sacred agreement and covenant with you. (2) God is ready to enter into a binding contract with you. (3) God will thus enter into an unending alliance with you. (4) We liken what He gives to the sinner to what He did to David (2 Samuel 23:5). The covenant is all in Christ. III. Urge the Lord’ s own SAVING PLEAS. 1. God Himself speaks to you. 2. Your day of mercy is not ended (Isaiah 55:6). 3. He is ready and willing to forgive the whole of your past offences (Isaiah 55:7). 4. Then comes in the great persuasive of the magnanimity of God (Isaiah 55:8-9). 5. Hear how the Lord pleads the power of His Gospel (Isaiah 55:10-11). Hearken to God’ s voice, and let it enter your heart; then it will quicken and save you as surely as the sun and the rain water the earth. 6. The Lord persuades men to come to Him by telling them of the joy they will obtain in coming (Isaiah 55:12). 7. He calls you to Him by the effectual nature of His work (Isaiah 55:13). (C. H.Spurgeon.)God’ s call to the needy and sinful I. AN , addressed to us by Jehovah Himself, to hearken diligently unto Him, to incline our ear, and to come to Him. There is something peculiarly touching in the invitations of the Word of God, which, if men would but pause and reflect, could not fail to make an impression upon their hearts. “ Hearken diligently unto Me,” God says; “ incline your ear. He would take you, as it were, each one separately by himself, and reason and counsel with you. The matters of which He would treat with you are too important to be handled in a crowd, too sacred to be discussed amid the noise and bustle of worldly avocations. The Lord will have sinners “ come” to Him; He will have all distance annihilated between your souls and Him; He will have you brought into the closest relationship and communion with Himself; He will have you not only within hearing of His voice, but in His very embrace. II. THE REASONS FOR OUR CLOSING WITH THIS are two, and each of them is very weighty. 1. You will be vast gainers if you follow the leadings of the Divine Spirit, and go into conference with God, and embrace His terms. Your soul shall delight itself in fatness. Your soul shall live.” 2. To refuse the offer is to lose the soul. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)Salvation through the ear God hath ordained--as it were to cross the devil--that as death entered into the world through the car, by our first parents listening to that old man-slayer, so should life enter into the soul by the same door. (J. Trapp.)Hear, and your soul shall liveThe highest life Life is more than mere existence; it is the natural, healthful, and joyous activity of every part of the being. It is eternal life. (Christian Age.)The way to life I. THE MESSAGE IMPLIED. When we are commanded to “ hear,” it is supposed that something is spoken: there is a voice which, in one way or other, addresses us. This is none else than the voice of Jehovah, the God of truth, the God of love, the God of all patience and consolation. He speaks to us in His good Word. II. THE REGARD WHICH THIS MESSAGE DEMANDS. “ Hear.” There can be no impropriety in understanding this literally; and, in this view, it condemns such as do not hear the Gospel when it is brought to them, and they have the opportunity of hearing it. It also reproves such as only occasionally hear the Gospel But more is meant by hearing, in the text, than your presence in the place where the Gospel is preached. 1. Hear with attention. Thus the expression is varied, both in this and the preceding verse: “ Hearken diligently unto Me; incline your ear,” as persons peculiarly and closely attentive. Some marks of inattention, under the sound of the Gospel, are obvious enough. But we cannot always judge of attention by outward appearances. Then, will you hear with attention, when you arc deeply convinced of the truth of what you hear; when you feel its vast importance; when you are thoroughly satisfied that the word of the Gospel is indeed the Word of God. 2. Hear with affection. It is a great thing to love the Gospel. When the Gospel is heard affectionately, there is an earnest concern to enjoy its invaluable blessings: prejudice falls before it; there is a growing conformity to it. 3. Hear with believing application. 4. Hear with obedient compliance. This, indeed, is nearly allied to what has last been mentioned, yet it includes something farther. Thus it is said, “ Incline your ear, and come unto Me” not only believe that these blessings of salvation are adapted to your state, and ready for your reception, but apply to Him who has them to bestow. He is “ the Author of eternal salvation;” to whom? “ to all them that obey Him.’ 5. Hear with humble prayer. III. THE . “ Your soul shall live.” Several things are here observable. 1. It is a personal advantage. Many advantages are relative and distant. Persons may attend to various means with a view to the good of others. But this advantage is personally your own. 2. It is a spiritual advantage. Your “ soul.” To benefit the body is something; to preserve its life, to maintain and to improve its health, are objects of real moment; but they sink into nothing compared with what relates to the soul. 3. It is a great advantage. “ Your soul shall live.” We all have some idea what life is, and we know how highly it is valued. This advantage must be of peculiar magnitude, as the soul is unspeakably more excellent than the body, and as eternity is of infinitely higher moment than the fleeting shadow of time. The life of the soul! What does it denote? What does it include? The commencement of the life of the soul is in regeneration. 4. It is a sure advantage. Application: 1. The message of the Gospel is brought to you. 2. What is the regard which you are giving to this message? 3. What is your experience of this advantage? (T. Kidd.)Life in Christ I. WHAT LIFE THAT IS WHICH A SOUL SHALL HAVE BY COMING TO CHRIST. II. HOW IT MAY BE THAT THE SOUL SHALL LIVE THAT HEARS AND COMES TO CHRIST. (O. Sedgwick, B. D.)And I will make an everlasting covenant with youThe covenant with Israel Nothing is required on the part of Israel but hearing and coming and taking; through these, it becomes pervaded by new life, and Jehovah presents it with an everlasting covenant, namely, the unchangeable mercies of David. (E. Delitzsch, D. D.)Twelve covenant mercies I. SAVING (Jeremiah 31:31-34). II. GOD’ S LAW WRITTEN IN THE HEART (Jeremiah 31:33). III. FREE PARDON (end of Jer 31:34). IV. (Jeremiah 32:38). V. TRUE (Jeremiah 31:39). VI. IN GRACE (Jeremiah 31:40). VII. (Ezekiel 36:25). VIII. RENEWAL OF NATURE (Jeremiah 31:26). IX. HOLY (Jeremiah 31:27). X. HAPPY SELF- (Jeremiah 31:31). XI. WITH GOD (Ezekiel 37:26-28). XII. NEEDFUL (Psalms 89:30). (C. H. Spurgeon.)God’ s covenant We should hear much less of the doubts and fears of Christians about their own acceptance, if they would think more of God and His act, His call, His promise and His covenant, than of their own unworthiness, which, indeed, is frankly assumed throughout. (G. A.Chadwick, D. D.)The sure mercies of David“ The sure mercies of David:” “ The sure mercies of David:” i.e the mercies (loving-kindnesses) irrevocably promised to David and his house (comp. 2 Samuel 23:5; Psalms 18:50; Psalms 89:28; Psalms 89:4), and the great promise to which all these passages point (2 Samuel 7:8-16). The comparison of the everlasting covenant to these Davidic “ mercies” cannot mean simply that the one is as sure as the other. It is identity rather than comparison that is implied, the idea being that the contents of the covenant are the same as the mercies promised to David, and that it will be the fulfilment of the hopes that clustered round the Davidic dynasty. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)“ The sure mercies of David” What is this “ everlasting covenant” ? What are these “ sure mercies of David” ? Two sorts of authors deserve to be heard on this article, though on different accounts, the first for their ignorance and prejudice, the last for their knowledge and impartiality. The first are the Jews, who, in spite of their obstinate blindness, cannot help owning that these words promise the advent of the Messiah. Rabbi David Kimchi gives this exposition of the words: “‘ The sure mercies of David,’ that is, the Messiah, whom Ezekiel calls David, They shall dwell in the land that I have given them, they, and their children, and their children’ s children for ever; and My servant David shall be their prince for ever.” The other authors, whom we ought to hear for their impartial knowledge, are the inspired writers, and particularly St. Paul, whose comment on this passage, which he gave at Antioch in Pisidia, determines its meaning. There, the apostle, having attested the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, affirms that the prophets had foretold that event; and, among other passages, which he alleged in proof of what he had advanced, quotes this, “ I will give you the sure mercies of David” (Acts 13:34). (J. Saurin.)“ The sure mercies of David” The Gospel is the exhibition and the bestowment of all these blessings which were promised to David, as the type of Christ, and His forefathers according to the flesh. Those blessings are indeed unspeakably valuable; in them is the charter of our hope, and the record of our salvation. And this consideration above all adds value to them--they are c, sure.” 1. Sure, as respects the fountain from which they are derived, the love and compassion of the holy and eternal one. 2. Sure, as respects the intention of Him who proposes them to us. 3. Sure, because of the price at which they are offered. (H. J. Hastings, M. A.) Isaiah 55:4-6 Behold I have given Him for a Witness to the people Witness; Leader; Commander 1. Most modern authorities hold that the person spoken of in Isaiah 55:4. is the historical David, and that Isaiah 55:4-5 institute a parallel between the position he occupied in the heathen world of his time and that which Israel shall occupy in the future; the thought expressed, therefore, is that the Messianic hope is transferred from the dynasty to the nation. The view is thus succinctly stated by Driver: “ As David became ruler of subject nations (2 Samuel 8:1-18.), a knowledge of his religion, however imperfect, spread among them; thus he was a ‘ witness’ to them. This position of David is idealized Psalms 18:43 (‘ Thou makest me a head of nations; a people whom I have not known shall serve me’ ); and the position, as thus idealized, is here enlarged, and extended in a spiritual sense to Israel (Isaiah 18:5).” 2. Others think that the reference in Isaiah 18:4 is to the future Messianic king (who is called David in Jeremiah 30:9; Ezekiel 34:23 f.), so that the two verses represent under two aspects the future greatness of Israel. 3. An intermediate position is taken by some, viz that Isaiah 18:4 goes back to the promise made to David, but regards it as one destined to be fulfilled in the person of his Son, the Messiah. It is very difficult to decide between these conflicting explanations. The third view seems on the whole the best; the original covenant guarantees an endless dominion to the family of David, and after the restoration this will assume a spiritual character and expand into universal empire in the reign of the Messiah. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Christ a witness to the people One who stood forth to bear solemn testimony in regard to God--to His law, and claims, and plans; and One who was therefore designated to be the Instructor, Guide, and Teacher of men. (A Barnes, D. D.)Christ the Father’ s Witness I. THE WHICH WERE . A witness is one who gives evidence, even at the expense of life. This has been so generally received as its meaning, that the original word “ martyr” has been transferred to our own language, without any material alteration of its signification--not that every person who is willing to lay down his life, is therefore a true witness, but he cannot be a true witness without it. There are many qualifications requisite beside this, and we shall now examine how far they were possessed by the Lord Jesus Christ. 1. He must have been an eye-witness of the things He related. He came to bear testimony to things of which the world at large were entirely ignorant, and concerning which He could derive no information, except by being intimately conversant with them. But He who “ came for a Witness, to bear witness unto the truth,” could say, “ I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world.” “ No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” 2. But He might have possessed this and every other qualification without the willingness to communicate what He knew as an eyewitness. And herein is manifested the exceeding love of the three Persons in the Trinity, towards man. The Father sets Him forth as His gift to sinners--“ Behold I have given Him.” The Son, when before His unjust judge, declares, “ To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. And He was anointed with the Holy Ghost, and with power for this particular work. 3. It is also required in a witness that He declare the whole troth, and nothing but the truth. In Revelation 1:5 we read--“ Jesus Christ is the faithful Witness;” and in the third chapter He calls Himself “ the Amen, the faithful and true Witness.” Hence it follows that His testimony must contain all needful truth: that natural religion is not sufficient--that as it is a testimony, it can be received only by faith, and no prerequisites are placed by God in the way of a sinner coming to Him. That whilst this testimony is before the mind, it does work effectually in all those who believe, i.e receive it on testimony; and that, as it came from God, it is the imperative duty of all who hear, to believe it, and that God is just in condemning those who believe not. II. WHAT THAT TRUTH WAS TO WHICH HE BORE . “ I am come,” says He, “ a light into the world, that whosoever followeth Me should not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” By this He means to say, that all the world was lying in darkness and the shadow of death, “ alienated from the life of God by the ignorance that was in them, because of the blindness of their hearts;” and it was to strike at the root of every false religion, and every garbled form of His own, that He puts Himself forth as the only Witness, who, from His perfect acquaintance with what He spoke, was qualified to teach those truths which mankind had so perverted. 1. The Lord Jesus Christ came to restore the true knowledge of God, and this He did by testifying, in the first place, to the character of the Father, that “ God is love.” 2. Having thus borne testimony to the Father, He proceeds to bear testimony to Himself. Of Himself He testified that He was the promised Messiah, and that, though man, He was also God. 3. The Lord Jesus likewise was a Witness in declaring that it was the belief of His word, received as a testimony, which should bring salvation. 4. We shall now examine what He says of Himself as being a King, and consequently having a kingdom in the world. Whether He has a kingdom or not in the world is a question we are competent to decide by our own observation of the characters we meet with in our passage through life. But if we can see no signs of it, we must suspend our judgments till we see what the end will be. If He has already established, it will be an additional proof that He is a faithful and true Witness. Now when examined by Pilate, the question was expressly put by him to Jesus, “ Art thou a king then?” to which in the most unequivocal manner He replied, “ Thou sayest that I am a king.” The nature of that kingdom He had as expressly borne testimony,, to--“ My kingdom is not of this world; now is My kingdom not from hence.But He bore testimony to this fact not only on His trial before Pilate (though this is called the good confession, because he immediately after sealed it with His blood), but in the whole of His public ministry. III. THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. While Christ was in the world He bore witness to the truth, but when He went hence to the Father, the Spirit was commissioned to lead into all truth those whom He left behind, and they, by His inspiration, have committed it to writing. The Holy Scriptures are, therefore, the testimony of Christ, as it has been witnessed to us by the Spirit. Of this testimony, the whole world are ignorant by nature, and as soon as it is made known to them, the pride and carnal enmity of the unrenewed mind rises in opposition to it. This opposition to the truth of God, it is the especial province of the Spirit of God to overcome, and the way in which He effects this, is by taking of things, i.e the testimony of Christ, and showing them to us, and this He does in such a manner as commends to us, as most lovely, what we before thought most hateful. Many of the children of God are led into and kept in a state of doubt as to their acceptance with God, from thinking that the only witness which the Spirit bears is to the life and conversation, forgetting that these evidences can only flow from the primary witness which He bears to the testimony of Christ. This consideration will also show what it is so important to remember, the connection between soundness and clearness of doctrinal truth with consistency of life. (R. Jessop, M. A.)Christ as a Witness Christ as a Witness is-- I. MOST . Some witnesses are so ignorant that they have but little to say, and others, though better informed, have but little to communicate of importance. What does Christ testify? 1. Of God. 2. Of man. (1) Man’ s spiritual existence. (2) Moral depravity. (3) Imminent danger. (4) Future retribution. 3. Of duty. He lived duty. 4. Of man’ s restoration. II. MOST . Witnesses are often incredible from two reasons. 1. Their ignorance. They are found to be so imperfectly acquainted with the circumstances of the case to which they testify, that their evidence is either received with suspicion, or rejected as worthless. But is Christ incredible on this ground? No. HIS knowledge is infinite. He knows all about everything of which He testifies. He knows God, man, the universe. 2. Untruthfulness. Many are placed in the witness-box who, though they have a competent intelligence, have no inviolable attachment to truth. Their prevarication destroys the worth of their evidence. Infinitely removed is Christ from this. He is the Truth. Truth is dearer to Him than life. False witnesses abound; but here is One on whose testimony we may and ought to repose with unbounded trust. (Homilist)Christ given, as a Witness I. THE FITNESS, OR , OF JESUS, TO ACT AS A WITNESS FOR GOD TO THE PEOPLE. 1. Jesus was singularly qualified to act as a Witness to the people, because of His being acquainted with the whole counsel of God: whilst His own mind as the Son was in perfect accordance with that of His Father. 2. Jesus was specially qualified to act as a Witness, because of His necessary freedom from all temptation to suppress or mistake any part of the truth. He was from time to time knowingly putting Himself into situations, and bearing, testimony to such views, as were prejudicial to His safety, and endangering His life. 3. Jesus was specially qualified to be a Witness for God to the people, because of His alliance with both in His nature, together with His zeal for God’ s glory and the good of men In matters where ordinary witness-bearing is required, the interests of at least two parties are generally concerned, and, in so far, it augurs favourably for the ends of justice, that persons acting as witnesses in the case feel something like equal interest in both. II. THE MODE OF HIS ACTING IN THE DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE AS A WITNESS. 1. He witnessed to the effect of confirming that portion of the Scriptures which God had previously given to the Church, as a revelation of His will. That portion is contained in the Old Testament exclusively, such as known to us, and therefore shutting out all Jewish Apocryphas, Talmuds, or Mishnas. To none of these mere human productions did the Lord Jesus ever testify, but in the course of His public teaching He witnessed again and again to the authenticity of the sacred Scriptures, in quoting from them certain, things written concerning Himself by the inspiration of the Almighty. 2. Christ was also a Witness for God to the people, not only in testifying to what had already been written, but in farther adding to the revelation of Heaven. This revelation includes the whole of the New Testament, for this has been added to the Old by the Great Witness of whom we now speak, as an it contains He either delivered orally in the course of His personal ministry, or by the apostles, whose several epistles were written by His inspiration. 3. Jesus was still farther a Witness for God to the people, in the miracles He wrought, and in the holy exemplary life which He led. The many marvellous things He did afforded abundant proof that He came from God, and that consequently His doctrines were true. As God-man He witnessed in the flesh to His own holy law, and in that hath set us aa example that we should follow His steps. 4. Jesus, in acting as a Witness for God to the people, sealed and ratified His testimony in His cruel and ignominious death. (J. Allan.)Christ’ s triple character There is no Gospel apart from our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, it is not at all wonderful that, after the glorious Gospel invitations, expostulations, and exhortations of the first three verses of this chapter, we should come, in the fourth verse, to these words: “‘ Behold, I have given Him.’ I have talked to you about waters, and about wine and milk, and about bread, and about fatness; but, ‘ behold, I have given Him,’ for He is all these,--water, wine, milk, bread, fatness. I have spoken to you about ‘ an everlasting covenant even the sure mercies of David;’ but I mean Him, for He is the great Surety of the covenant, and I have given Him for a covenant of the people.” We cannot do without a personal Christ. The first word in our text, “ Behold,’ reminds us that this is a theme for wonder. A part of the wonder concerning Christ consists in the fact that His Father has given Him to the people. Not to you, O kings and princes;--not to you, a few aristocrats picked here and there; but, “ I have givenHim for a witness to the people.” He is the people’ s Christ, the people’ s Leader, the people’ s Friend, the people’ s King. And the wonder increases when you recollect that the word translated “ people” might be just as accurately rendered “ nations.” No doubt, the Lord’ s intention here is to refer to the Gentiles:--not to the chosen people, Israel, alone; but even to us, “ sinners of the Gentiles,” who were outside the favoured family of the Jews. I. Let us, with believing eye, SEE OUR LORD IN THREE OR . 1. Our blessed Lord is a Witness for the Father,--a Witness concerning the Father. We should never have known what God was like if it had not been that “ the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” If, indeed, I do see God in Christ, what a blessed God He is to me! For who would not love Jesus! Nor is Christ merely the Witness concerning God’ s character, but also concerning God’ s bearing towards us. How does God feel with regard to His rebellious creatures! He also came to be witness of another matter, namely, that God has set up a kingdom among the sons of men. There is no way of entrance into the kingdom of Divine grace except by regeneration; and Jesus Christ is the Witness of that great truth. Whatever Christ has taught concerning any truth which has to do with our salvation, is His witness upon that point; and if we want to know the truth about anything, we must go to Christ to learn it. 2. The second office of Christ, mentioned in the text, is that, of a Leader to His own people. The word “ leader might be rendered “ the foremost; and, truly, Christ is the foremost of all His people,--the standard-bearer among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely. In the Church of God, Jesus Christ is the Leader, because His life is the perfect example of practical holiness. First, He is God’ s witness revealing to us the truth; then, next, He is our Example, working out the practical part of that revelation in His own life. 3. The third character our Lord bears, according to our text, is that of Commander. There may be many meanings given to that title, but it seems to me that it must relate mainly to those of His people who are not yet saved. To them, He is a Commander; to them He issues laws as a law- giver, for such is also the sense of the term. But I think there is more, in this title of Christ, than the mere fact of His making the law, and bidding us publish it abroad in His name. He is also a Commander because He has power to enforce His proclamations. He calls a nation that knew Him not, and then they learn to know Him. II. THE THREE OF CHRIST IN WITH THESE THREE OFFICES. 1. Is Christ a Witness? Then He is a true Witness. There are no falsehoods or mistakes in the witness which Christ bears. 2. If our Lord be a Leader, he has, in that capacity, the quality of holiness. You may safely follow wherever He leads you. 3. If He be a Commander, you see in Him Divine power. It is no use having a commander-in-chief who issues proclamations, but who has neither wit nor wisdom in the day of battle. III. THESE AND DEMAND FROM US THREE DUTIES. 1. Is Christ a true Witness? Then, believe Him. 2. If He be a Leader, and holiness is the mark of His Leadership, then, let us imitate Him. 3. Then, if He be a Commander, what does He require of us? Obedience. IV. THERE ARE THREE WHICH WILL BE SECURED BY THE OF THESE DUTIES. 1. If you do believe Christ, “ the faithful and true Witness,” then you have certainty as to what you believe. 2. Then, if Jesus Christ be our Example, and we imitate Him, the next benefit we obtain is safety. 3. If Christ be our Commander, and He hath all power, and we obey Him, then victory is sure. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The greatest Gift in time or eternity I. A DIVINE GIFT. 1. The Father has given His Son. 2. The Son consented to be given. 3. We have the purpose of this Gift avowed. “ For a Witness,” etc. 4. The persons thus favoured. “ The people.” II. A DIVINE PROMISE made to this Leader and Commander. 1. To call those whom He does not know (Isaiah 55:5). That must be a strange nation which Christ does not know. There will be people at the last to whom Christ will say, “ I never knew you;” and there arc such people now, whom Christ has never known in this sense. He never spoke with them, He never heard their voice in prayer, He never knew them by mutual acquaintance. And there are nations of this kind of people. 2. Christ is to make run those who do not know Him. People who did not know anything about Christ, and who did not want to know about Him, shall on a sudden hear of Him, and they shall run to Him. I have often noticed that, when such people do come to Christ, they always run to Him. 3. Here is a Divine promise to exert a singular motive power. “ Because of the Lord thy God,” etc, A glorified Christ makes men run to Him. III. A DIVINE . (C. H. Spurgeon.)A Leader and Commander to the peopleOur glorified Leader 1. He was typified in David. He has been constituted Prince. His name is made great. His throne shall be for ever. His kingdom shall be made sure. For a great while to come His house shall stand. His name shall be continued as long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in Him. All nations shall call Him happy (Psalms 72:1-20.). The type was spoilt by David’ s infidelity and sin. But, even though this was so, on God’ s side there was no vacillation, no swerving from His purpose. His mercies were sure. Much more in the case of Jesus Christ, the eternal purpose cannot miscarry. 2. This title is applied to Christ after His resurrection. Four times only in the New Testament is Christ called Leader or Prince, and always in resurrection. (Acts 3:14-15; Acts 5:31; Hebrews 2:9-10; Hebrews 12:2.) However translated, whether by “ Author,” “ Prince,” “ Captain,” or “ Leader,” it is the same Greek word, and is applied to Christ as risen. 3. The original meaning of the word is very interesting. Etymologically, it means the first of a file of men, and therefore their leader and commanding officer. This conception, therefore, is presented to our mind, that our Lord is the first of a long procession of souls whom He is leading up from the grave, with its darkness and corruption, through the steeps of air, past principalities and powers, to the very throne of God. He is the First-born from the dead, and therefore Ruler of the kings of the earth. He first, by the resurrection from the dead, has obtained the right to proclaim light to the Gentiles. If this thought of Christ being the first of a long procession is carried out, in respect to the passages mentioned above, it yields great results. (1) He leads the dead out of death into life. (2) He leads the vanquished into the victory of the heavenlies. (3) He leads sufferers through suffering to the perfection, which is only possible as the effect of grievous pain, sanctified through the grace of the Holy Ghost. (4) He leads also the ranks of believers. (Hebrews 11:1-40; Hebrews 12:2.) (5) These conclusions suggested by the New Testament are substantiated and confirmed by the expression used here. “ Thou shalt call a nation that Thou knowest not.” To whom can this refer, save to the Gentiles, who were once far off? “ Nations that knew not Thee, shall run unto Thee.” Of whom can this be true, save of that vast ingathering suggested to our Lord by the Greeks who came to Him before He died, and concerning whom He said, “ I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me” ? (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)Christ given as a Leader He is peculiarly fitted to be a Leader and Commander-- I. BECAUSE HE IS WITH FULL POWERS AND TO ACT TO HIS . II. BECAUSE OF HIS KNOWING ALL THE THEY HAVE TO IN THEIR AND WARRING . III. BECAUSE OF FULL ABILITY TO , IN ANY MANNER HE SEES FIT, THE HEARTS OF ALL MEN. IV. BECAUSE OF THE EXAMPLE HE GAVE IN HIS WITH HIS ENEMIES, OF WISDOM, , AND COURAGE. V. BECAUSE OF FULL ABILITY TO REWARD EVERY . Who, then, would not wish to fight under the banners of such a Commander? It is no dubious cause, but one that always ends in glory. (J. Allan.)The people’ s Leader I. GOD HAS JESUS CHRIST TO LEAD US IN THE WAY OF TRUTH. II. GOD HAS GIVEN JESUS CHRIST TO BE OUR LEADER IN THE PATHS OF . 1. Jesus leads us by showing that God gives us power to walk in the path of righteousness. 2. In following Jesus in the path of righteousness we must employ self-effort. God gives power, but it is requisite for us to use it. Without earnest self-effort, righteousness is impossible. Notice the crawling worm, how it wriggles and struggles to escape from its old self, and how it is rewarded with wings to fly from flower to flower in the garden. Hear the wee bird pecking itself out from its shell. III. GOD HAS GIVEN CHRIST TO BE OUR LEADER TO THE CALVARY OF SELF-. The inner chamber of the heart is required for the indwelling of God. If the inner man be true, temptation has but little power over us. IV. JESUS CHRIST HAS BEEN GIVEN TO BE OUR LEADER IN THE WARFARE OF . V. GOD HAS GIVEN JESUS TO BE OUR LEADER IN THE OF PRAYER. Remember that our Leader spent whole nights in prayer to God. VI. GOD HAS GIVEN JESUS FOR OUR LEADER IN THE OF FAITH. 1. Let us copy His faith in the loving care of our Father. 2. Let those who are teachers of others follow our Leader in His faith in the power of the Gospel. 3. With our Leader, let us have faith that our paths are Divinely directed. VII. GOD HAS GIVEN CHRIST TO BE OUR LEADER IN THE OF HOPE. VIII. GOD HAS GIVEN CHRIST TO BE OUR LEADER IN THE OF LOVE. Wishing well is a good thing, but doing is better. Jesus Christ is our Leader in loving words and active deeds. (W. Birch.)The grand Chieftain Assuming that these words apply to Christ, they present Him in a capacity with which the world has ever associated its loftiest ideas of heroism, glory and renown. In many other places Christ is spoken of as an illustrious Chieftain (Joshua 5:13; Joshua 5:15,; Isaiah 63:1 - Hebrews 2:10; Revelation 19:11-16). He is the Captain of the Lords hosts. His relation of Commander to His people suggests to us certain ideas concerning the Church. I. THE OF THE CHURCH. The state of the good here is not a state of conquest but of battle. 1. The enemies are principles, not persons. Error, corruptions, impiety, immorality, wrong in all its forms. 2. The inspiration is benevolent, not selfish. None of the selfish passions, ambition, avarice, revenge, fire the heart and nerve the arm of the true Church in battle. It is pure benevolence, that benevolence which seeketh not its own, which bears each other’ s burdens. 3. The weapons are spiritual, not carnal. Not civil taw, worldly policy, but truth, example, love: we persuade men. Moral suasion, founded on truth, instinct with love, backed by example, is the grand weapon. II. THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. All the members of the true Church are as one united army, in one campaign, under one Commander. 1. They unite in the aims of their Commander. All loyal armies are of one mind as to aim, and that aim is the purpose of their chieftain. His aim is to establish judgment, rectitude on the earth, and every member of the true Church has this one master-aim. 2. They unite in the direction of their Commander. His will is their law. 3. They unite in the spirit of their Commander. Every commander seeks to give his master-passion to his army. It is only as he succeeds it can be true to him. The Church of Christ is united by the spirit of Christ, that spirit permeates, centralizes and controls all. III. THE OF THE CHURCH. The subordination of the Church to Christ is-- 1. Unconditional. 2. Cordial. It is not so in the martial life of men. Many a soldier is forced, contrary to the wishes of his heart, to subordination to the will of his commander. All the instincts of his manhood often recoil at it. Not so with those under the command of Christ. 3. Permanent human commanders die while the campaign is being accomplished, and soldiers recover their independent wills and become their own masters. Not so with the soldiers of Christ. IV. THE GLORY OF THE CHURCH 1. Your Commander is all wise. He knows the number, the resources, the stratagems of your antagonists. Nothing in the future will take Him by surprise. 2. Your Commander is all-mighty. There are no difficulties He cannot overcome; no exigencies that He cannot supply 3. Your Commander is all-generous. 4. Christ is a Commander who leads all His soldiers to glory. He makes them kings and priests unto God. Conclusion: Let the battle of our life be a battle fought under this banner. Let this love inspire us to brave deeds. It is said of Trajan that he won the heart of his army because he tore up his robe to bind up the wounds of a soldier who had been stricken down in the field. Let the memory of Christ’ s unparalleled love win our highest sympathies and undivided powers. (Homilist.) Isaiah 55:5 Behold, Thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not Isaiah’ s anticipation. We cannot tell what picture was in Isaiah’ s mind and hovering before his eyes. We do not know just what degree of visible sovereignty he hoped to see Jerusalem attain--but the essential idea is clear enough. He believes that all people were to turn to the Hebrews because the Hebrews were especially God’ s people, because the nations would all feel that the God whom they all must have had been made known with the completest clearness and purity among the Jews. How clearly that prophecy has been fulfilled all subsequent history can tell. The Hebrew Book, the Hebrew men, have been the magnets which have drawn the world’ s devotion. Into the midst of Judaism was set the incarnation of the Godhead, which, shining out from thence, has been the light which has enlightened every man. The Bible is the very epitome of Judaism, and the Bible is the centre more and more completely of the world’ s devotion. “ Nations that know not thee shall run unto thee.” What words like those could prophesy the scenes which have come in these modern days--Englishmen, Italians, Germans, Americans seeking the law of inspiration of their life in the old Hebrew Bible, turning those venerable pages to learn how they ought to live, drinking at the fountain of the ideas of Israel the strength and cleansing which their own modern life demanded. We abase the Jew, sometimes we sneer at him and despise him--but we live upon the thoughts which he has thought, and the visions which he saw of God make the very sunshine of our life. (Bp. Phillips Brooks, D. D.)The helpfulness of spirituality There is a certain sort of man who is among his fellow-men what Israel was among the nations. Other men are richer, other men are mightier than he. Often their riches and their might seem to crowd upon him, as Assyria and Egypt crowded upon Judea, and leave him no chance to breathe; but in the long run he is the king of life. Men turn to him in their deepest moments and with their deepest needs. He helps men very different from, very much greater than, himself. To become such a man is the truest and worthiest ambition of a human soul. To be content to live without being such a man in some degree shows a pusillanimous and feeble nature. (Bp. Phillips Brooks,. D. D.)The spiritual man ‘ What is it to be a spiritual man and to live spiritually? A spiritual man is a man who deals with the spirits and the souls of things, and lives for them. Here are two money-making men. One of them values his money for the comfortable uses he can put it to; the other is not satisfied until he has got at the heart of riches, and absorbed his wealth into his character, and made himself by it a richer nature and a fuller man. Here are two religious men. One of them rejoices in religion for the good it does. He says that it secures order in this world, and saves suffering in the world to come. Another man feeds his heart on the very substance of religion itself. To commune with God, and love Him and obey Him, is the very life of life. Spirituality is not an attainment, an acquisition of the nature; it is a quality of the nature. It is not a thing to be; it is a way of being everything. It must be very sweet and strong when this Judea-consciousness really takes possession of a man and fills him. It is not pride or conceit. It is something far sacreder than that. But into his ears there comes a message from God: “ I have appointed you to help your brethren. I have taught you to see the soul of things. I have filled you with the mystery of living, the awfulness of the soul.” “ Behold, thou shalt call a nation which thou knowest not, and nations which know not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God!” If in any way God is making you a Judea--if He is using you for one of His gathering and distributing points of spiritual life, be satisfied. There is no nobler work which anybody in this world can do than that. To know God so that other souls may know Him from us; to be in any way a deepener and enlightener of the lives of our brethren--what is there for a man to thank God for like that? Do we question that question for a moment! Then look at Jesus! See how in Him you have the very pattern and perfection of that life. Jesus was among men what Judea was among the nations. The other exhortation is for Assyria and Egypt-for men of worldly ways and hard, unyielding natures. If you do not feel the power of Judaism, you ought to be very much afraid about yourself. If a spiritual life can be lived right by your side, and you receive from it no rebuke or invitation, then beware! That is a terrible condition. The spring wind calls to the rock, and it has no green answer to send back. God calls to you by His voice in an enlightened soul, and you are dead. (Bp. Phillips Brooks, D. D.)He hath glorified theeChrist glorified I shall invite your attention to the declaration of my text-- I. AS IT RELATES TO THE OF CHRIST OVER HIS CHURCH AND OVER ALL THINGS FOR HIS CHURCH. Look at the solemn position in which our Lord stood to be glorified, relative to His headship; that the headship of authority, of influence, of life, all should be concentrated in Him; that in the Church there should positively be no authority, no life, no Divine influence but what we have in Christ our Head; that His headship over the Church being that of authority, holds all worlds in abeyance, all enemies in subjection, all circumstances under His control, all souls at His command, all servants at His bidding, all ordinances and privileges for His bestowing; and it is by His authority alone that they are communicated. The centurion of old seemed to be conscious of this authority when he wanted Him to come and heal his servant. “ Lord, trouble not Thyself,” said he, “ for I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof.” Whether it is for the breaking of a sinner’ s heart, comforting the mourner’ s soul, or loosening of legal bonds, it requires but His word, and it is done. II. AS IT RELATES TO THE ECONOMY OF GRACE, in which He is pre-eminently glorified. This economy of salvation is complete, perfect and infallible. III. AS IT RELATES TO THE OF HIS LIFE AND DEATH, in all which He manifested forth His glory, as it is written of Him. If God has glorified Jesus thus, how shall I glorify Him? The most effectual way in which a poor sinner can glorify Christ, is by trusting to Him, and leaving everything with Him. IV. AS IT RELATES TO THE DIGNITY OF HIS THRONE, UPON WHICH HE IS NOW WITHIN THE VEIL. The prophet Daniel had a vision of this, when he was directed to speak of the different kingdoms that should be set up. This exactly accords with the language of the apostle, who, speaking of this glorious kingdom of Christ, says, “ that it is at the right hand of the Father in the heavens,” “ far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.” Christ, in His dignity and glorification, upholds the national glory of Zion; the national glory of His redeemed kingdom. (J. Irons.)The glorified Christ “ He hath glorified Thee.” 1. By raising Thee triumphant from the dead. 2. By exalting Thee to the right hand of the Majesty on high. 3. By committing into Thy hands all power in heaven and on earth. (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 55:6-9 Seek ye the Lord while He may be found The Lord to be sought Notice how it reads: “ Seek the Lord. ” It don’ t say seek happiness; it don’ t say seek peace; it don’ t say seek joy. A good many people seek after joy, after peace, after happiness. I cannot find any place in the Bible where we are told to seek for peace or joy. If you have the Spirit, you will have the fruit of the Spirit; and you won’ t have the fruit without the Spirit itself. You might as well look for an apple or an orange without a tree. You get a good tree and you have good fruit. Therefore, what we want is to seek the Lord Himself, and if I have Christ formed in me, the hope of glory, I will have peace, and joy, and rest. (D. L. Moody.)Seeking Lord I. THE FOR SEEKING THE LORD. Man by nature is estranged from God; knows not his Creator; is c, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel;” cut off from God, who is “ not in all his thoughts.” As such, he is-- 1. Helpless. “ He hath nothing in himself whereby he may help himself.” “ Dead in trespasses and sins. 2. Hopeless. “ Without God and without hope in the world.” Cannot look forward into the future with cheering expectations. 3. Unhappy. “ Poor and miserable, and blind and naked.” “ No peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” II. THE OF FINDING HIM. 1. He does not ask of us impossibilities. He is a reasonable God, and never gives a command without giving also the power to perform 2:2. His promises are sure. “ If ye seek Me, I will be found of you.” “ Seek and ye shall find.” He never saith, “ Seek ye My face in vain.’ III. THE FITTEST TIME TO SEEK HIM. 1. NOW. “ New is the accepted time; now the day of salvation.” “ To-day if ye will hear His voice.” No promise is made of to-morrow. IV. THE . 1. Pardon of Sin. “ I will pardon all their iniquities.” 2. A new heart. “ A new heart will I give you.” 3. Adoption into His family. “ Heirs of God.” 4. Restoration to His favour. “ knew creature.” “ Made nigh by blood of Christ.” 5. Love to God and man. “ Love of God shed abroad in the heart.” 6. Life everlasting. “ He that believeth hath everlasting life.” (F. G. Davis.)The lost Lord 1. To “ seek the Lord while He may be found” implies, among other things, this, that the Lord is lost by and to those thus called to seek Him. We speak of a lost sinner; we may with equal truth speak of a lost Lord. The lost sinner and the lost Lord are correlative. The sinner is lost, because he has lost the Lord. The Lord’ s finding the sinner, is the sinner’ s finding the Lord. It is not that the Lord has ceased to be, to govern the world, to support His creatures. His providence indeed is exercised (Acts 17:27-28) that men should seek the Lord if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him. Nor is He far from every one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being. But the Lord is lost in this sense, that He is practically lost as Father, Friend and Portion, God and Guide, not recognized and accepted as Lord, by sinful men. 2. Apart from redeeming grace, the sinner is hopelessly lost to God, because God is hopelessly lost to the sinner. The evidences of this loss are many and various. The providential rule of God over men is carried on that they “ might seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him.” The whole scheme of grace rests upon, as it was rendered necessary by, men’ s loss of God. It is not merely God’ s plan for seeking lost men, but God’ s plan for coming near to men and being found of them. 3. If we look at men themselves, it is evident that, to all that have not found Him in His appointed way of grace, the Lord is lost. Witness the conscious or unconscious expression of this loss, in manifold ways and forms; in men’ s corrupt, miserable condition, their restlessness and aimlessness, their hunt for substitutes of the lost Lord, their self-righteousness, their strange discontents, until they seek and find the Lord. Is not the Lord lost out of men’ s hearts, creating by His absence a void there which only Himself can fill; out of men’ s consciences, so that the fear of man has more authority and power with them than the fear of God; out of men’ s minds, so that God is rarely, if ever, in all their thoughts, or is misunderstood and misinterpreted, and spiritual things cannot be discerned or welcomed; and finally, out of their lives, so that men can live and love without Him, can live to themselves, can live as though there were no God? 4. This is the greatest loss of all. What more has a man, if he has lost the Lord, and has not again found Him, in a world where the Lord is needed so much, where nothing else can make good the loss, and where yet the lost Lord may be found? How welcome to men should be the voice from heaven that tells them that the lost Lord has come near, and may be found, and how and where and when. (Alex. Warrack, M. A.)No delay If Adam and Eve were somewhat ignorant, as we suppose them to have been, of God’ s omniscience, no wonder that they attempted to escape HIS notice. Their interest appeared to lie, not in seeking the Lord, but in fleeing from Him. Why so? Ignorant as yet of a mercy which was about for the first time to be revealed, they knew Him only as a God of justice and of truth. But what makes it your plain as well as highest interest to seek the Lord, is that you know that He is very pitiful and of great mercy. I. WHAT WE ARE TO BY SEEKING THE LORD. The sense in which this is to be taken is explained by the succeeding verses, “ Let,” etc. It is as a God, who will have mercy on the worst, and abundantly pardon the wickedest, that we are to seek the Lord--seeking Him without an hour’ s delay. We may, as man has often done, stand at a human bar” conscious of our innocence. We may refuse to put in a plea for mercy; boldly declaring that we want nothing more, and will accept of nothing less, than impartial justice. At God’ s tribunal, however, it is very different. There, simple justice were sure damnation. It is as just and the justifier of them that believe in Jesus, that we are to seek the Lord; and all the blessings which in that gracious character He has, and He promises, to bestow. II. INQUIRE WHEN THESE THINGS ARE TO BE . 1. The Lord, as bestowing the pardon of sin and salvation of the soul, is to be found in this world, not in another. 2. The Lord is not to be found on a deathbed. 3. The Lord is more likely to be found now than at any future time. We can foretell neither what, nor where we shall be to-morrow. Sin is like the descent of a hill, where every step we take increases the difficulty of our return. Sin is like a river in its course; the longer it runs, it wears a deeper channel, and the farther from the fountain, it swells in volume and acquires a greater strength. Sin is like a tree in its progress; the longer it grows, it spreads its roots the wider; grows taller; grows thicker; till the sapling which once an infant’ s arm could bend, raises its head aloft, defiant of the storm. Sin in its habits becomes stronger every day--the heart grows harder; the conscience grows duller; the distance between God and the soul grows greater; and, like a rock hurled from the mountain’ s top, the farther we descend, we go down, and down, and down, with greater and greater rapidity. How easy, for example, is it to touch the conscience of childhood; but how difficult to break in on the torpor of a hoary head! III. THE AND OF LIFE ARE STRONG REASONS PARDON AND NOW. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)Opportunity How much depends upon timing things, as to advantage, and usefulness, and necessity l In this view, how important is opportunity. (W. Jay.)Importance of seeking God at the present moment Let us consider these words-- I. AS AN TO DUTY. This seeking of God is to be considered, not only as initial, but as repeated and constant. II. AS AN TO HOPE. “ Seek ye the Lord while He may be found.” We have the very same thought in the thirty-second Psalm, where it is said, “ For this shall every one that in godly pray unto Thee in a tune when Thou mayest be found.” “ We are saved by hope.” And what a foundation is laid for this confidence! What a foundation is laid in the Word of the Gospel. What a foundation is laid in His invitations. How encouraging is all this! If possibility will sometimes move people, and if probability will commonly move them, how much more will actual certainty influence them; especially when the prize is nothing less than the possession of God--the God of an grace and of glory! III. AS A FROM . Though God is to be found, He is not always to be found. (W. Jay.)The times and places for seeking God I. WHERE? 1. The mercy-seat, the Lord Jesus Christ. 2. In the Gospel. What is the Gospel? Just the tones of the voice of Jesus Christ, prolonged and perpetuated in the language of man. 3. In the preaching of His word. 4. At the communion-table. II. WHEN? 1. In time as opposed to eternity. 2. On the Sabbath. 3. In the season of affliction. 4. in an emphatic sense, seek God now, for “ now is the accepted time,” etc. (J. Cumming, D. D.)The God-seeking work, and God-seeking season Implied in the text is the appalling fact that man has lost the Lord, the true sovereign and God of his being. But there is another fact which is yet more appalling, that man is unconscious of the terrible catastrophe which has befallen him. But God does not abandon the lost one to his fate. He reminds him of his forfeited state and place; He urges him to return to the home which he has left, and regain the royalty which he has lost, and become one with the God from whom he has alienated himself. I. THE GOD-SEEKING WORK. “ Seek the Lord.” But the Scriptures represent God as seeking man: this being the case, is it not strange to urge man to seek God? The fact that He seeks us is the ground and reason why we should seek Him. The call of God to us, and His search for us, is our greatest encouragement in seeking Him; for it is a pledge that our calling and seeking will not be fruitless. The text, in the words “ seek’ and “ cell,” indicates the method by which we should “ seek-the Lord.” We must return to Him b humble, penitential prayer Seek--Him by the guidance of His word: under the inspiration of His Spirit: through the mediation of His Son. Prove the sincerity of your search by endeavouring to comply with His will. “ Let the wicked forsake,” etc. This is the most urgent duty of sinful man. We can be truly blessed only union with God. II. THE GOD-SEEKING SEASON. 1. There is a season when the Lord may be found--a time when He is near. He may be found when we feel Him near to us. There are times of spiritual awakening and revival, when we feel the presence and power of God; then may He be found. Them are occasions when we hear His voice,: and feel His influence in the events of life; then may He be found. There are seasons when by the preaching of His word He awakens earnest thought, carries conviction to the conscience, and inspires the heart with noble desires; then may He be found. Now may He be found. 2. There will come a season when the Lord may not be found--a time when He will not be near. Locally, He will be near to all beings everywhere and for ever; but, if any one persist in neglecting merciful calls and gracious offers, there will come a time when such an one will hear no kindly voice from Him, will feel no saving influence from Him. There came such a time in the life of King Saul; and the lost man cried in agony,--“ God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams.” By your own interest, I urge you to seek Him at once. By the solicitude of God for your well-being. (W. Jones.)I. THE OBJECT, whom we must seek. 1. God hath made Himself an Object to be sought. 2. He is the sole and adequate Object of our desires. II. THE ACT; what it is to seek Him. III. THE TIME; when we must seek the Lord. “ While He may be found.” There is no time to seek Him but now. For-- 1. It is the greatest folly in the world thus to play with danger, to seek death first in the errors of our life, and then, when we have run our course, and death is ready to devour us, to look faintly back upon life. The later we seek, the less able we shall be to seek; the further we stray, the less willing to return. 2. It is dangerous in respect of God Himself, whose call we regard not, whose counsels we reject, whose patience we daily with, whose judgments we slight, and so tread that mercy under our feet which should save us, and will not seek Him yet, because we presume that, though we grieve His Spirit, though we resist His Spirit, though we blaspheme His Spirit, yet, after all these scorns and contempts, He will yet sue unto us, and offer Himself, and be found at any time in which we shall think convenient to seek Him. (A. Farindon, B. D.)The delay of conversion I. WE SHALL TO PROVE FROM OUR OWN , THAT IT IS , NOT TO SAY , TO BE AFTER HAVING WASTED LIFE IN VICE. It is clear that we carry in our own breasts principles which render conversion difficult, and I may add, impossible, if deferred to a certain period. To comprehend this, form in your mind an adequate idea of conversion, and fully admit, that the soul, in order to possess this state of grace, must acquire two essential dispositions; it must be illuminated; it must be sanctified. 1. You cannot become regenerate unless you know the truths of religion. Now, every period of life is not alike proper for disposing the body to this happy temperature, which leaves the soul at liberty for reflection and thought. If we defer the acquisition of religious knowledge till age has chilled the blood, obscured the understanding, enfeebled the memory, and confirmed prejudice and obstinacy, it is almost impossible to be in a situation to acquire that information without which our religion can neither be agreeable to God, afford us solid consolation in affliction, nor motive sufficient against temptation. 2. The soul not only loses with time the facility of discerning error from truth, but after having for a considerable time habituated itself to converse solely with sensible objects, it is almost impossible to attach it to any other. In order to conversion, we must have a radical and habitual love to God. This principle being allowed, all that we have to say against the delay of conversion becomes self-established. The whole question is reduced to this; if at the extremity of life, if in a short and fleeting moment, you can acquire this habit of Divine love, then we will preach no more against delay. But if time, labour, and will, are required to form this genuine source of love to God, you should frankly acknowledge the folly of postponing so important a work for a single moment. This being allowed, we shall establish, on two principles, all that we have to advance upon this subject. (1) We cannot acquire any habit without performing the correspondent actions. (2) When a habit is once rooted, it becomes difficult or impossible to correct it, in proportion as it is confirmed. Habits of the mind are formed as habits of the body; the former become as incorrigible as the latter. As, then, in the acquisition of a corporeal habit, we must perform the correspondent actions, so in forming the habits of religion, of love, humility, patience, charity, we must habituate ourselves to the duties of patience, humility and love. Further, we must not only engage in the offices of piety to form the habit, but they must be frequent; just as we repeat acts of vice to form a vicious habit. We make a rapid progress in the career of vice. But the habits of holiness are directly opposed to our constitution. When we wish to become converts, we assume a double task; we must demolish, we must build. Such is the only way by which we can expect the establishment of grace in the heart; it is by unremitting labour, by perseverance in duty, and by perpetual vigilance. Now, who does not perceive the folly of those who procrastinate their conversion? who imagine that a word from a minister, a prospect of death, a sudden resolution, can instantaneously produce perfection of virtue? II. WE SHALL THAT ACCORDS WITH NATURE ON THIS HEAD; and that whatever the Bible has taught concerning the efficiency of grace, the supernatural aids of the Spirit, and the extent of mercy, favours, in no respect, the delay of conversion. 1. The first proofs of which people avail themselves, to excuse their negligence and delay, and the first arguments of defence, which they draw from the Scriptures, in order to oppose us, are taken from the aids of the Spirit, promised in the new covenant. To this objection we must reply. We shall manifest its absurdity-- (1) By the ministry God has established in the Church. (2) By the efforts He requires us to make, previously to our presuming that we have received the Holy Spirit-- (3) By the manner in which He requires us to co-operate with the Spirit, when we have received Him. (4) By the punishments He has denounced against those who resist His work. (5) By the conclusions which the Scripture itself deduces from our natural weakness, and from the necessity of grace. 2. The notion of the mercy of God is a second source of illusion. “ God is merciful,” say they, “ the covenant He has established with man is a covenant of grace. A general amnesty is granted to every sinner. Hence, though our conversion be defective, God will receive our dying breath, and yield to our tears. What, then, should deter us from giving free scope to our passions, and deferring the rigorous duties of conversion, till we are nothing worth for the world?” Detestable sophism l Here is the highest stage of corruption, the supreme degree of ingratitude. III. WE SHALL TO CONFIRM THE OF REASON AND BY DAILY ON THOSE WHO DEFER THE CHANGE. 1. You may oppose to us two classes of examples. In the first class, you may arrange those instantaneous conversions which grace has effectuated in a moment by a single stroke; and which apparently destroy what we have advanced on the force of habits, and on the economy of the Holy Spirit. In the second class, you will put those other sinners who, after the perpetration of enormous crimes, have obtained remission by a sigh, by a wish, by a few tears; and afford presumptive hopes, that to whatever excess we may carry our crimes, we shall never exceed the terms of mercy, or obstruct reception at the throne of grace. Consider that many of these conversions are not only out of the common course of religion, but also that they could not have been effectuated by lees than miraculous powers. Consider that, among all those sinners, there was not one in the situation of a Christian who delays conversion to the close of life. Consider that you are enlightened with meridian lustre, which they had scarcely seen. Consider that you are pressed with a thousand motives unknown to them. Consider that they continued, for the most part, but a short time in sin; but you have wasted life in folly. Consider that they possessed distinguished virtues, which rendered them dear to God; but you have nothing to offer Him but dissipation or indolence. Consider that they were distinguished by repentance, which afforded constant proof of their sincerity whereas it is still doubtful whether you shall ever be converted, and you go the way to make it impossible. See, then, whether your arguments are just, and whether your hopes are properly founded. 2. Hitherto we have examined the cases of those sinners who apparently contradict our principles; let us briefly review those by which they are confirmed. Let us 1)rove that the long-suffering of God has its limits; and that in order to find Him propitious, we must “ seek Him while He may be found, and call upon Him while He is near.” Three distinguished classes of examples confirm these illustrious truths. (1) Public catastrophes. (2) Obdurate sinners. (3) Dying men. Happy are they who are cautioned by the calamities of others! (J. Saurin.)Scripture blessings conditional The blessings promised in the Scriptures are always, more or less, conditional. 1. Here is a condition of time. “ While He may be found.” “ While He is near.” 2. Then, there are conditions on the part of men. The wicked is to forsake his way, etc. (J. Parker, D. D.)The best time to seek the Lord These verses (6, 7) are vitally connected. We must not overlook the fact that while salvation is offered to all, there is a time when it can be best sought; and, because of the moral barriers which maturity in sin makes, can be more easily obtained. The text teaches us-- I. THAT THE LORD IS NEAR TO SOME. 1. To the young. It is not mere poetry, but a literal fact, that “ Heaven lies about us in our infancy.” The soul then is-- (1) Purer. (2) More tender. (3) Less rebellious. 2. To those who are convinced of sin and are conscious of their need of Him The distance between the soul and God is not a physical, but a moral one. God cannot come near to the soul that clings to its guilt with a culpable pertinacity. But when that pertinacity gives way to penitence He draws near and presents a pardon, and then the hand of faith has only to be stretched out to receive it. II. THAT THOSE TO WHOM THE LORD IS THUS NEAR MAY EASILY FIND HIM NOW, BUT MAY FIND HIM ONLY WITH IN AFTER YEARS, OR MAY NOT FIND HIM AT ALL. Childhood and youthhood, how soon they are succeeded by manhood, and, unless there be early and immediate reformation, by maturity in selfishness and sin 1 Convictions, deep, fervent, strong, how soon they are consumed by contact with the world, unless they are immediately turned to good account! Delay will bring-- 1. More difficulty. 2. More danger. 3. Damnation! III. THAT THERE IS HOPE FOR THE OLDEST AND MOST SINNERS WHO HAVE ALLOWED THEIR BEST TIME FOR SEEKING THE LORD TO PASS. Salvation is offered them; but there are conditions which “ they will find it difficult to comply with.” 1. The casting off of evil habits. Let the wicked forsake his way.” 2. The abandonment of impious iniquitous, thoughts. “ And the unrighteous man his thoughts.” 3. The sub’ -mission and surrender of the soul to God. “ And let him return unto the Lord.’” Are you prepared to comply with these conditions, hard, rigorous, only because your sins have made them so? If so, you are offered-- (1) Mercy sufficient, comprehensive, to cover your sins. (2) Multiplied pardon to cancel, your multiplied transgressions and crimes. Conclusion: Do not defer your soul’ s safety until-- (1) To-morrow. Christ may not be “ near” then; may not be found though you “ call.” (2) Your dying hour. You may be delirious, or so surprised or so stultified by your affliction as to be “ disinclined to seek.” (E. D. Solomon.)Abundant pardon In these words there is both exhortation and promise: There is exhibited-- I. THAT SHOULD BE DONE. II. THAT MAY BE ENJOYED. (Principal Morison, D. D.)Duty and privilege I. DUTY is inculcated on the one hand. II. is held out to view on the other. (Principal Morison, D. D.)The lost Lord God is near us in His works. But, in startling contrast to this evident nearness of God in His works, comes the injunction of our Scriptures--Seek ye the Lord. Why? Because ye have lost Him. I. TWO OR THREE OF THIS FACT. 1. Here is a company of persons. It is the time for pleasant talk and the happy methods by which men give the hours wing. What wide circle the conversation sweeps. And yet through all the company there is a severe proscription of one subject. There is a certain rule of breeding or taste or custom to which all defer. Suppose, for a moment, that one should break the rule and begin to talk of God in a reverent way, would not all feel that a dissonant chord was struck? Would not talk about God be very apt to be voted out, even in such a rightfully glad company? Is it not a quick, true test of the way they feel about Him? They have no sense of a blessed intimacy with Him. 2. Behold, also, the fact of a lost Lord in the universal feeling that, while it is natural for a man to love certain earthly objects--his children, for example--it is somehow not natural for a man to love God as he feels all the time he ought. 3. See, too, a further evidence of the fact in the attitude of the conscience toward Him. Man cannot get out of himself the conviction that the condition of soul which God intended for him is that of a sweet intimacy with Himself. And yet, like the cherubim at the gates of Eden with the flaming swords flashing every way, conscience stands preventing entrance into such condition. Man is consciously a criminal at the bar of the inviolable law; and standing there speechless and helpless, God is the most fearful being in the universe to the man. And yet, never with his Lord thus lost can man be at peace. II. A METHOD OF SEARCH FOR THE LOST LORD. 1. “ Let the wicked forsake,” etc. 2. “ Let him return,” etc. Repentance is double-sided. Not only must the man forsake, he must return. III. THE SURE RESULT OF SUCH RIGID SEARCH--the Lord will have mercy and will abundantly pardon. IV. THE TIME FOR SUCH RIGID SEARCH FOR THE LOST LORD--“ While He may be found.” That time is now, because refusal to seek God forces one into the firmer habit of hostility to Him. (W. Hoyt, D. D.)God unknown, yet known 1. If you mentally retire a few steps from it, and look at it reflectively and from a general point of view, you will find in the passage this notable paradox; that it invites you to seek a God who yet cannot be found, to know a God who yet cannot be known. For where should we seek God if not in His “ ways;” or how shall we know Him, except by coming to know His thoughts! And yet, while we are urgently invited to seek Him, we are expressly told that them is the widest disparity between His thoughts and our thoughts, between His ways and our ways. Now this strange paradox opens up to us what is, and is likely to remain, the great religious question of the time. Whether there is a religion at all, whether there is any revelation of the will of God, nay, whether there is any God to speak to us and to reveal His will; and, if there is, whether we know or can know anything about Him. In its higher modern form, atheism does not so much deny the existence of God as declare that, if there be a God it is impossible to demonstrate His existence, impossible to have any true knowledge of Him and of His will; impossible, therefore, to have any real fellowship with Him. If the atheism of to-day erect any altar at all--and some of its representatives are men of a profoundly religious temperament, and must have some form of worship--the only altar they will consent to erect is one which, like that at Athens, bears the inscription, “ To an unknown God.” If He does exist, they are sure that He cannot be what men have for the most part taken Him to be, nor like what even the best men are; sure that, being infinite and eternal, all virtues, all moral qualities and graces, must take a very different form in Him to that which they take in us. Their assumption, together with their calm and reasoned assertion that Science yields no proof of His existence, have bred some doubt even in the bosom of the Church itself. What we think of the sun does not much matter to the sun and cannot possibly alter its nature or put an end to its existence. And what men think of God does not and cannot change Him. Science says, or some of her disciples say for her: “ In the whole range of visible and observed phenomena we find no proof of God.” What then? If men will go to the visible for the invisible, to phenomena for realities, how can they hope to find what they seek? They might as well go to the sand of the desert for water, or to the troubled sea for a solid foundation. The Bible claims to be the very Word of God. And yet does it not everywhere affirm, what Science and Philosophy are proclaiming as a discovery of their own, that God is past finding out; that He is unsearchable, neither to be discovered nor comprehended by man’ s feeble powers? The Scriptures, then, do proclaim God to be unknowable, above our reach, in a great variety of forms; they declare that as the heavens are high above the earth, so high are His ways above our ways, and His thoughts above our thoughts. So that modem scepticism, original as it takes itself to be, is simply announcing, as its last discovery, what the apostles and prophets found out centuries on centuries ago. 2. But you will naturally ask: “ Does not the Bible teach us something more than this? something more than that God cannot be found out by dint of intellectual research?” Yes! Admitting God to be unknowable, it yet affirms that He may be known. We cannot find Him out to perfection, but He sufficiently, and most truly, reveals Himself to us in His works, in His Word, in His Son. God’ s thoughts and ways, we are told, are as high above ours as the heavens above the earth. But the heavens, high as they are, are yet known to us; and, though known, are yet unknown. We none of us know all that the heavens contain and reveal, nor all the laws which are at work upon and within them. But though “ heaven” be so imperfectly known to us, does any sane man doubt that there is a heaven, or that it holds within it the sun, moon, and stars? Does any sane man doubt that we know something of the mechanical and chemical structure of the heavenly bodies, of the laws by which their movements are governed and controlled, of the mode in which they affect us, and the world in which we live, and the other worlds related to them? Unknown to us, and even unknowable, not to be found out to perfection, we nevertheless know them--know at least enough of the heavens to be sure that they exist, and to guide us in all the practical purposes of life. And it is precisely in the same sense that God is both known to us, and unknown. We have not learned, we cannot learn, all that He is, all that He does, or all the reasons which determine the several aspects and movements of His providence: but we may know, we do know and are sure, that He is, and that He rules over all. No doubt we know Him, in part, by our reason. It is not to reason alone, nor to reason mainly, that the Bible appeals. The Bible nowhere deals with God as a problem to be demonstrated, nor professes to give a complete or a philosophical view of His Being and the qualities of His Being. It shows us a more excellent way of finding Him. It affirms that as we ourselves grow in righteousness we shall come to know Him who is righteous; that as we grow in purity we shall see Him who is pure; that as we grow in love we shall become one with Him who is love. “ Blessed are he pure in heart, for they shall see God.” And is that not the way in which we come to know all persons, and especially good persons? The child does not know his father perfectly: but need he doubt that he has a father? The child can never know the goodness of a good father until he becomes good himself and a father: but need we, therefore, doubt whether his father be a good man? And may not we in like manner know that God is; do we not know that He is, although we are but children in understanding? If you have once come to know God for yourselves in this most natural yet Divine way, you will cleave to Him, and to your faith in Him, though the heavens should fall and time should be no more. Your feet are on the rock, and the everlasting arms are about you for evermore. (S. Cox, D. D.)The incredible mercy of God If there be some who find it hard to believe that there is a God, there are others who find it equally hard to believe that He is good, so good that He can forgive all sins, even theirs. Look at these verses again, then, and mark their ruling intention. The prophet had been commissioned to carry a message to the captive Jews who sat by the waters of Babylon and wept when they remembered Zion. The message was that, heinous as their iniquity had been, their iniquity was pardoned. But sinful men, especially when they are suffering the bitter punishment of their sins, are apt to be hopeless men. As nothing is possible to doubt and despair, as above all the energy of active moral exertion is impossible, God sets Himself to remove the natural incredulity and hopelessness of the men He was about to save. That His mercy is incredible, He admits; but He affirms that it is only incredible in the sense of being incredibly larger and better than they imagine it to be. They might have found it impossible to forgive those who had sinned against them as they had sinned against Him. “ But,” pleads God, “ My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways.” It is a mercy which does not condone men’ s sins, but a mercy which saves them from their sins, which calls upon them and compels them to abandon their “ wicked ways” and their “ unrighteous thoughts.” No mercy short of this would be true mercy. To make men happy in their sins is impossible, as impossible as to make them good in their sins. For sin is misery; sin is a bondage to an alien and malignant power which every free spirit must resent and abhor. And even if this ignoble miracle were possible, if a man could be made happy while violating the very law of his being, who that is capable of reflection, of virtue, of goodness, would care to have such a miracle wrought upon him? To be happy in sin he must cease to be himself, cease to be a man. The mercy of God, viewed as saving men from evil thoughts and ways--which is the only true mercy--is simply incredible: so the prophet affirms, so we profess to think and believe. But do we really believe it Do we act as if we did? Many hardly believe that they have sins which need a great act of Divine forgiveness. Many more do not know that, in order to forgive, God must punish their sins. When the punishment comes, they take it as proving that He has not forgiven them, as proving the severity, the anger of God, not His mercy. In our turn, indeed, we all doubt the mercy of God when we most need to believe in it, distrust it when we most need to cast ourselves upon it. Any profound consciousness of sin is apt to make that mercy incredible to us. In our cooler moments it may help us to remember that the very punishments that wait on sin, since they wait on it by a constant and invariable law, are designed for our good. All natural and universal laws must subserve our welfare, if the world and human life be ruled by God; and, among others, the law which metes out to every man the due reward of his iniquities. In part we can even see how this law contributes to our welfare. It makes us terribly aware that we have sinned--a fact we are very slow to realize. We must expect to be convinced ofthe compassion of God, not so much by having the kindness of His laws demonstrated to us, as by listening to the men whom we believe to have had the largest experience of His ways and to enjoy the profoundest sympathy with HIS thoughts. Just as we come to know the righteous God by becoming righteous, so we may hope to learn more of Him from the men whose righteousness is far more eminent and conspicuous than our own. Just as we come to know the mercy of God by becoming merciful, so we may hope to acquaint ourselves more fully with Him by listening to men far more merciful and gracious than ourselves. Such a man, a teacher such as this, now stands before us in the prophet who penned these words. (S. Cox, D. D.)A fatal delusion If Satan ever smiles, it is surely when he sees the transgressor lay the flattering unction to his soul that he may take the devil’ s opiates, and take his own time for waking. (Anon.)The peril of neglect God hath promised pardon to the penitent, but He hath not promised to-morrow to the negligent. (Ambrose.)Missing the tide Ian Maclaren writes of being at the seaside and of watching the fishing-boats as they returned in the evening. “ They used to wait outside till the tide rose high enough for them to enter the harbour. One night a boat missed the entrance. The men were careless, or they did not tack properly. The others were all inside. A feeling of pity for that boat came over me just as if it had been a living creature. I rose at night to look out of the window. There it was--it had missed the tide. Men and women, the greatest tide that runs is the tide that carries us into the kingdom of God. The most splendid effort of wisdom within a man’ s power is to seize the tide when it is at its flow.” Opportunity I remember one day as I went through the woods near Mount Hermon School, I heard bees, and asked what it meant. “ Oh,” said one of the men, “ they are after the honey-dew.” “ What is that?” I asked. He gave me a chestnut leaf, and told me to put my tongue to it. I did so, and the taste was as sweet as honey. Upon inquiry I found that all up and down the Connecticut valley what they call “ honey-dew” had fallen, so that there must have been altogether hundreds of tons of honey-dew in this region. Where it came from I don’ t know. It sometimes seems as if the honey-dew of Heaven has fallen for us, and if any one has not tasted its sweetness it is his own fault. (D. L. Moody.)“ Call ye upon Him while He is near" In one sense God is always near us, but there is another kind of nearness. We may live in the same house with persons, and yet in sympathy, in mutual understanding and helpfulness, we may be as far away as if a Chinese wall was built between us. We cannot help them because we cannot get near them. So at times God is nearer to us than at others; we feel His presence; the heart is receptive. Then, of all times, we should seek the Lord. (Christian Age.)Delay inseeking God Seek God whilst thou canst not see Him; for when thou seest Him, thou canst not find Him. Seek Him by hope, and thou shalt find Him by faith. In the day of grace He is invisible, but near; in the Day of Judgment He is visible, but far off. (Gregory.)The present all-important Under each clock in a certain paint factory is hung a neat glass sign, reading, “ Do It Now.” It is the motto of the company, and serves to remind the employes that the present is the all-important time. (Sunday School Chronicle.)The merciful God near, yet unrecognized There is a story of a prodigal who came back from the far country and could not find his father’ s house. He wandered on and on, and at last, in the gathering night, sank down, heart-sick and faint, on the steps of a little cottage. Without knowing it, he was on his own father’ s door-step. Inside sat the aged father and mother, their hearts hungering for their long-lost boy. Outside, bowed and crushed and longing for love and for home, lay the weary, homesick son-on the very threshold of home, but not knowing it. So near to the gates of Heaven is every human soul that is penitent, weary of sin, longing for Divine mercy and love. (J. R. Miller, D. D.) Isaiah 55:7-9 Let the wicked forsake his way The way of return to God and its encouragements 1.Here there are apparently two things expressed--a negative and a positive, two lines of conduct expressed--a forsaking one way of living and the adoption of another, but in reality the two things are but one. They are two in thought and expression, but only one in conduct. The forsaking the wicked way and the wicked thought is no other than the returning with all our heart to God. You cannot separate them. If I were to say to a man going out to his day’ s work. “ Now, do not go to the public-house this evening when you have done work, but return straight home to your wife and children,” you will see that the two pieces of advice resolve themselves into one, and he would have only to go straight home from work to fulfil both duties. And so we can forsake no evil way or evil thought but by beginning to walk in the right way and cherishing the right thought. 2. There are two methods of forsaking evil ways and evil thoughts. The one by means of self-denial and self-repression when a man’ s conscience arrests him and sternly forbids him to continue any longer in his evil way of life, and he makes a strong resolve that he will root out the passion or the habit that has hitherto mastered him. Then a tremendous struggle begins between the spirit and the flesh, and by the force of sheer will he holds down the rebellious appetite. The sense of duty gives him strength for a time, but, alas I the tension of the will is too strained to last, and a rebound comes, and he says, “ I cannot maintain the strife any longer. I must yield.” The other method begins at a different point. Instead of fighting the evil in pitched battles, he seeks to conquer by diverting the mind into a different channel of activity, and awakening within himself a different order of sentiments and affections. 3. You observe that the wicked is not only to forsake his way, but his thoughts also, so that the regeneration is to extend not only to the outward ways, but to the very inward thoughts of the mind, indicating how thorough and universal the change is to be. Now consider how firmly established men are in evil ways and evil thoughts, and how they delight in them, and how completely they are surrendered to their power. They do not want to change, and they do not believe they are capable of it. They say human nature is human nature, and that it is Utopian to expect men to give up ways of living common to all the world and to all the ages; and so they go on beating the everlasting round of human ways and human sin, till at length life becomes weary, and they die, and go we know not where. But there are some who are seized at intervals with better thoughts and nobler desires, who see before them a good in life after which they make Convulsive snatches. 4. I want to point out to any who are lamenting their failures, who have tried to conquer themselves, but have sunk back defeated, what is the Divine method as pointed out in the Bible--both in the Old and in the New Testament. It is what I have called the positive method--not the direct, but the indirect and successful. Here it is called, Seeking the Lord while He may be found, calling upon. Him while He is near, and a returning unto the Lord. Christ calls it a coming unto Him in our weariness, believing on Him so as to come into everlasting life. It is faith, the surrender of ourselves to Him, to His goodness, to His love, to His Spirit, and example, and will. (C. Short, M. A.)The wicked, whose name, in the Hebrew language, is derived from a word that signifies to be unquiet. This designation will agree with the turbulent dispositions for which people of this character are often remarkable. Unquiet is their name, and unquietness is with them. They cannot cease from sin, which renders them unstable and fluctuating, and ofttimes uneasy to themselves and troublesome to society. In contempt of God and His authority, they are restless and assiduous in the practice of iniquity. (R. Macculloch.)Conversion I. THE OF A SINNER is expressed in three degrees. 1. In the forsaking of wicked ways. 2. In the forsaking of evil thoughts. 3. In returning again to the Lord. II. THE WHEREIN HE STANDS WHO HATH DONE ALL THIS is no state of merit, but of mercy; no, not so much as a little merit, but even abundant mercy. (J. Mode.)An offer of mercy I. THE COUNSEL: which is to amendment of life. 1. The act of aversion. (1) For his,, course.. “ Let the wicked forsake his” way.” (2) As it reaches to a man’ s mind. The unrighteous man his thoughts.” The law of God does reach to our thoughts for ordering and regulating them. The thoughts of men are the proper issue and emanation of their souls, and so for that reason more especially to be rectified in them. The thoughts are such as whereto the Gospel and ministry of the Word does especially extend itself (Hebrews 4:12; 2 Corinthians 10:5). God Himself is a searcher and trier of the thoughts and inward man. 2. The act of conversion. “ Let him return unto the Lord.” This is the nature of true repentance--it is a turning from sin to God. II. THE PROMISE or argument to enforce this counsel and invitation. That is taken from God’ s readiness to the forgiveness of sin upon that condition. (T. Horton, D. D.)Unrighteous thoughts These evil thoughts which are to be forsaken may be ranked into three sorts. 1. As to matter of opinion. Take a man in his natural condition, and he has many strange conceits in his head, whilst he so remains (Romans 1:21). (1) The thoughts of sin--when a man is converted he forsakes these. In his natural condition, he many times makes nothing of sin. “ Fools make a mock of sin.” (2) So, also, his thoughts of grace, and godliness and godly men. (3) So again, for his thoughts of God Himself, he must forsake these and think otherwise of Him. 2. As to matter of contemplation, he must forsake his thoughts here also. Take a carnal man, and where are all his thoughts? What is that which his mind does most run on? Why, upon the world, and the things of the world. 3. As to matter of contrivance and design. Wicked men, as they are full of vain meditations, so they are commonly full of sinful devices. And they are still laying a train for future wickedness in themselves--“ making provisions for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof.” (T. Horton, D. D.)Divine counsels to the wicked I. THE . The Father of the wicked is here speaking to the wicked. He who speaks knows every wicked man. He who speaks hates evil. He who speaks hath power to destroy the wicked in hell. He desireth not the death of one transgressor, but rather that he should turn unto Him and live. It is the redeeming God who is here addressing the wicked man. II. HIS COUNSEL. “ Let the wicked forsake,” etc. We have ways in common; but we have ways that are individual and peculiar to ourselves. Every man has his way of thinking, and reasoning, and imagining, and feeling, and willing, and acting. Now, “ the wicked setteth himself in a way that is not good,” and God says, “ Get out of it, forsake it.” This advice is based upon the following facts. The way of the wicked and the thoughts of the unrighteous are absolutely wrong. They are injurious--injurious to the wicked man himself, Further, repentance now is possible; for the Son of the Father now speaking to the wicked man, is exalted to give repentance and remission of sins. Further, God Himself seeks it. This advice requires-- 1. Self-inspection. It asks the wicked man to look at his way. It says to him, Look back--it has been a rough way, sometimes covered, it is true, with bright green grass, and with soft enticing moss; but the flints have come through it all, and have made the feet often bleed: so that if the wicked man will look back, he will find blood-marks on his way, an evidence that the way of transgressors is hard. The wicked man is not only to look at his way, but the unrighteous man at his thoughts. He is to consider his purposes. 2. The admission of truth as to the character of the way, and as to the nature of the thoughts. It is quite possible that a wicked man looking back, and seeing his path to be hard, will try to forget it. God says, admit the truth. 3. The resistance of an inclination to go on. 4. Submission to the conviction that the way is evil, and the abandonment of every unrighteous purpose, with actual departure from the path of open and actual transgression. It is just possible that in the midst of a multitude of transgressions, there is one master sin; and that master sin, it may be, the key-stone of all your transgressions. Take that away, and your habits of sinning are broken up. This advice requires appeal to God for mercy, and for help and reconciliation. III. THE . If you take a Concordance and look through it at the word “ wicked,” I think you will be astonished to find how often the winked are recognized in Holy Scripture, and men often talk about the wicked. But God and men do not always mean the same thing. Men unduly limit the application of this word. They call the immoral wicked, and only the immoral. Now hear what the Lord says in describing a wicked man. “ God is not in all his thoughts;” so that he is a wicked man who does not recognize God in God’ s own world. IV. THE PROMISE OR BY WHICH THIS ADVICE IS AND . It is like the promise made to faith; you must believe in order to realize the promise. It is like the promise made to repentance: you must repent in order to realize the promise. The promise is conditional; and yet, mark, it is sure. The promise is made, further, to characters. There is, therefore, an indefiniteness about it which may well encourage you. It is not necessary I should go into your wickedness, or that I should at all define or describe your thoughts. (S. Martin.)The need and nature of conversion This is not a merely legal demand; it is a Gospel demand, found in the centre of a Gospel chapter in the writings of the most evangelical of all the prophets. I. THE OF . “ Right about face!” is the marching order for every sinner. 1. This will be at once evident when I ask, How would it be consistent with the holiness of God for Him to put aside our past sin, and then to allow us to go on sinning as we did before? 2. Neither is there a single case in fact, nor one emblem in parable, that would lead any man to hope that he could keep his sins, and yet be saved. 3. Besides, our common-sense tells us that it would be highly dangerous to society if men were to be pardoned, and yet were not to be renewed in character and lira. 4. Moreover, it would be a serious injury to the man himself, I have come to the conclusion that the very worst form of character is produced in the man who, for some reason or other, thinks himself to be a favourite of Heaven, and yet continues to indulge in sin. II. THE NATURE OF THIS . How is it described here? 1. It deals with the life. “ Let the wicked forsake his way.” It is “ his way” that he is to forsake; that is his natural way, the way in which he says he was brought up, the way that his natural affections, and propensities, and passions lead him. He must forsake this way, even though it is the way in which he has walked these thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, or even eighty years; he will have to get out of this way, however much he may delight in it. “ I will tell you what I will do,” says one; “ I will still keep to my old way, but I will not travel quite so rapidly in it. I will not live such a fast life as I have done.” I tell thee that thou must forsake that old way, of thine altogether if thou wouldst be saved. “ That is pretty strong language, says some one. Do you think so? I shall have to use still stronger expressions presently, for the next point concerning the nature of this repentance is that-- 2. It deals with the man’ s thoughts. In thought, is often the very essence of sin. A deed might in itself be colourless; but the motive for doing it--the thought at the back of it--puts the venom, and virus, and guilt into the deed. As that is the case, what sort of thoughts must the unrighteous man give up? He must give up a great many fine opinions of which he is very proud; his opinion about God, for instance. To the ungodly man it is often quite a treat to sit down, and think of what he calls the jolly days of his youth, when he sowed his wild oats. We must also forsake our thoughts in the sense of turning from all purposes of evil. That, indeed, is the main meaning of the Hebrew word used here: “ Let the unrighteous man forsake his purposes.” You say that you will do this or that, without any thought of whether God would have it so or not. Possibly it is your purpose, as you express it, “ to have your fling.” You have come up from the country, young man, you are pleased that you have got away from your mother’ s apron strings, and now you are going to have your own way. Forsake all such thoughts, I implore you. 3. The text further says, “ and let him return unto the Lord,- so that this conversion deals with the sinner in his relation to God. He who would find mercy must return to God to obtain it. (1) You must begin to think about God. (2) Then you must yield to Him, give up your will to His will; and, doing that, you must pray to Him, cry to Him for mercy; and then you must trust Him. Especially, you must accept His way of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. III. THE GOSPEL OF THIS . Possibly somebody says, “ You have been preaching to us the law, sir.” No, I have not. The law says nothing about repentance. The law curses you from the very first moment when you have broken it. That gracious message, Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,” is not the utterance of law, but of the Gospel. 1. The Gospel of it lies in the fact that God has promised that He will abundantly pardon those who turn from their evil ways. 2. Not only does God bid men turn to Him, but He enables them to turn to Him; so the Gospel of this passage is, that God the Holy Ghost is freely given to sinners to turn them, first in their hearts, and then in their lives. 3. Jesus Christ Himself came into the world on purpose that this Divine Spirit might be given in connection with the exercise, by men, of faith in Him. 4. God gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to offer a full and complete atonement for sin. (C. H. Spurgeon.)From desert to garden This verse leaves nothing unsaid that needs to be said to the inquiring soul. In simple and orderly declaration, it lays before us the whole fact of human responsibility and Divine promise concerning man’ s salvation. We shall best understand our text by seeing its relation to the context. This chapter is a perfect prophetic message in itself. Intimately related to that which has preceded it, vitally connected with that which is to follow, it may yet be taken as one direct utterance of the prophet of God to people living under certain conditions of life. The chapter presents a remarkable and-striking contrast. The conditions described in the first part are utterly different from those described in the last. The figures made use of are different. Mark the condition of life to which the prophet was addressing himself. “ Every one that thirsteth,” “ he that hath no money,” “ ye spend money for that which is not bread,” “ your labour for that which satisfieth not,” “ a people who are thirsty, and hungry, and hard-working, and never satisfied. Towards the close of the chapter, different conditions are described:--“ Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace” (verses 12, 13). You see the contrast. In the one case you have the desert, in the other the garden; in the one, hot, restless, dissatisfied life; in the other, joy, peace, singing. In each the language is figurative, but figurative of a very positive condition of life. But how can I get from the desert into the garden? Half-way through this chapter, by a coincidence of arrangement, in the central verse, is the gateway through which a man may leave the desert and get into the garden. “ Let the wicked forsake his way,” etc. In this verse I have the perfect laying out of the plan of salvation. In an analysis of the verse I discover the philosophy of salvation, and in the structure of the verse I find the simple programme of salvation. There are two parts to this verse. I. FOR MAN TO DO. Here are three things the prophet declares to be necessary. They are not three, but one; each merges into the other, and it is only as the final one is obeyed that the former ones are obeyed; and yet let us take them in their sequence. 1. “ Let the wicked forsake his way.” 2. “ The unrighteous man his thoughts. 3. “ Let him return unto the Lord.” As a matter of fact, the prophet here is beginning in the outer reaches of life, passing to the inner circle, until he comes to the central fact of man’ s nature. We will begin in this outer court. The Hebrew word translated “ way” at this point means a beaten track, the way along which a man habitually walks; and it is used figuratively in Hebrew writings of the general set and direction of a man’ s life, and the prophet says that the first thing a man has to do if he is to come back into the garden is to leave his way, the outward set, and direction of his life. Then he comes to another word, “ Let the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts,” and the Hebrew word here means literally a web, figuratively a plan, a conception, an ideal. So that the prophet now has come to something deeper than the outward set of a man’ s life. He is to give that up by giving up his inward conception of life. And how is a man to give up his outward way and the inward conception, and why is a man to give up his outward way, and his inward conception? He is to give it up by returning, to the Lord, and he is to give it up because it is not the Lord’ s way and the Lord’ s thought. Notice what immediately follows this seventh verse. In the Authorized Version, at verse 8, there is a paragraph mark that we need to dispense with. The paragraph mark is put in to indicate the fact that the prophet there begins a new subject. As a matter of fact, he does nothing of the sort; he goes right on with the same subject. Here we are touching the fundamental question of sin. When the prophet calls a man to forsake his way, it is not that he asks him to give up drinking, or thieving, or lying, or impurity. “ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one to his own way.” That is the essence of sin. The essential trouble is not that a man drinks, or swears; it is that he has elected to go his own way, instead of God’ s way. The underlying root sin of humanity is rebellion against the government of God. That sin may manifest itself in vulgar forms, against which we sign pledges; or it may manifest itself in the cultured and refined paganism that attempts to live without prayer and without worship. I will tell you, in the name of God, what is the trouble in your life! It is godless, that is the trouble. I will tell you why you are in the desert. You have turned your back upon God. I will tell you why you are never satisfied with water or bread. It is because you have left the place of intimate and first-hand relationship to God. Do you want to get from the desert, back to God? Forsake your way; take His. Give up your thought; take His. “ But,” says some man in his pride, “ why should I give up my way, and take God’ s way? And why should I give up my thought, and take God’ s thought?” Go right on, and see what the prophet says (verse 8). God’ s thought for you is the thought of Heaven. Yours is the thought of earth. God thinks infinitely more of you than you think of yourself. Yours is a degraded estimate of your own life. Will you say, “ Yes, that true, I will return to the Lord.” Then I know immediately your face is set toward God’ s high conception, toward God’ s great highway, the next consciousness will be that of your sin, the wasted years will come sweeping back upon you like an avalanche. If, indeed, thou art at this wicket gate, and thy face is set back toward, God then hear the evangel, “ He will” have mercy. He will abundantly pardon. II. THAT GOD WILL DO. You are to do what He tells you, and He will do what He promises. You arc to obey; that is repentance. You are to trust Him; that is faith. That is the whole programme of salvation. (G. C. Morgan, D. D.)The way to pardon I. A VIVID . 1. It introduces the man of evil deeds. 2. We have likewise the portrait of the man of unholy purposes. What a mirror the text holds up to society! II. AN . 1. “ Let the wicked forsake,” etc. The sinner is required to forsake, to abandon his sin. 2. “ Let him return unto the Lord.” The sinner lives abnormally, unnaturally. He is a prodigal away from home, a wandering sheep beyond the protection of the fold, a lost piece of silver. Hence religion is a return to God, to first relations, to natural courses of behaviour. Sinners are like wandering stars escaped from their orbit. Conversion restores them to their proper place in the onward sweep of the Divine purpose. The text is a disclosure of the nature of true repentance and of saving faith. III. AN GREAT AND PROMISE. 1. “ And He will have mercy upon him.” Mercy is God’ s wealth. “ Rich in mercy.” 2. “ Abundantly pardon.” What music is in these words! (Homiletic Review.)Repentance In the exhortation to repentance in Isaiah 55:7, both sides of the μετάνοια find expression--the forsaking of sinful selfishness, and return to the God of salvation. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Repentance I. THE TO AN EARLY . II. THE TRUE NATURE OF . (J. Taylor, LL. D.)The surrender of the thoughts Another thing we have to give up, and which is harder, I think, than giving up the will and the way, is our thoughts. Most men have their thoughts about the way in which they are to be saved. Because God does not con vert them in the way they have planned, or think He should, they think they cannot be saved. Man thinks he can repent when he is sick and about to die. He thinks that is better than repenting in early life; and some go further and say, “ I think a man can repeat after death; I think there will be another chance if he misses his chance in this life.” And another class says, “ I think we are all going to be saved; the pure with the impure are all going to be swept into the Kingdom of God.” That is man’ s thought; but that is not God’ s thought. Man thinks he can be saved by works. God’ s thoughts are altogether different. It is to him that worketh not, but believeth. After a man is born into the Kingdom of God, he ought to show his faith by works; but we do not work for salvation. Others think that you must be saved by ordinances. Ordinances are all right in their place; but when you come to put ordinances in the place of salvation, that is a great mistake. Some people say, “ I should like very much to get rid of my sins, and if I could get rid of them I would come to Christ. Here a great many fall into a pit. If we could get rid of our sins, we should not want a Saviour. It is because we cannot get rid of our sins that we need to come to Christ. (D. L. Moody.)The moral disparity between man’ s thoughts and ways, and God’ s thoughts and ways, an argument for a moral change on man’ s part I. GOD HAS ENDOWED MAN WITH TO ACT IN SOME MEASURE LIKE HIMSELF, AS BOTH HAVE THEIR “ AND WAYS.” 1. God has His thoughts--thoughts about Himself--the universe; about all actualities and possibilities. Some of His thoughts have been embodied and their forms destroyed, centuries ago Some are now embodied in creation, In historical events, in redemption, etc. Some are yet to be embodied in new universes, etc. And some will never take form. There is an infinite ocean of thought in the Divine mind that has never yet taken form, and never will. 2. God has His ways. He has settled methods of action. He has a method of creating, governing, destroying, and saving. Hence science and art, which imply settled methods. 3. Man has his thoughts. He is full of thought, of some sort or other; he thinks by a necessity of his nature; his power to think is the glory of his nature. 4. Man too has his ways. He has his methods of doing things. II. BETWEEN THE AND WAYS OF WICKED AND MEN AND THOSE OF GOD THERE IS AN IMMENSE MORAL . “ My thoughts are not your thoughts,” etc. We say moral disparity, for natural disparity must exist by an eternal necessity. We may mention two points of moral difference. One in relation to being in general, and the other in relation to enemies. 1. As to the former, God’ s thoughts and ways are concerned for the general happiness, those of wicked men for personal ends. 2. As to the latter, God’ s thoughts are concerned for the pardon of the offender, those of the wicked for punishment. (1) God graciously offers pardon to the offender. Do the wicked do so? (2) God graciously offers pardon to offenders much beneath Him. Do the wicked do so? (3) God graciously offers pardon to offenders who have repeatedly rejected His overtures. Do the wicked do so? (4) God graciously offers pardon through a wonderful sacrifice--His Son. Would the wicked do so? III. THE MORAL BETWEEN THE AND WAYS OF WICKED MEN AND THOSE OF GOD RENDERS A CHANGE ON THE PART OF THE FORMER . “ Let the wicked,” etc. Why? Because “ My thoughts,” etc. Two thoughts are implied here, and will show the strength of this reason. 1. A moral disparity of thought and way between the creature and the Creator is eternally incompatible with the creature’ s well-being. God’ s thoughts and ways are the resistless forces of the universe. He who thinks and acts contrary battles against every wind and wave of being and the mighty Spirit in all. He must be crushed. 2. The removal of this disparity will never take place by any change on God’ s part. The words imply this, and it is a great truth. God cannot change, and there is no need for Him to change. Here, then, is the argument; if a moral disparity exists, and if the removal is essential to our well-being, and if God cannot change, “ let the wicked,” etc. IV. THIS GREAT CHANGE ON THE PART OF THE WICKED IS BY THE THAT GOD WILL DEAL WITH HIM ON HIS RETURN. “ He will have mercy on him;” “ He will abundantly pardon.” (Homilist.)God’ s ways and man’ s ways I. WHY, IN SO FAR AS GOD’ S NATURE DIFFERS FROM MAN’ S, HE MAY BE LESS LIKELY TO FORGIVE. 1. God knows us more thoroughly than any human being; He knows the worst of us, and He knows the great hidden element of character which is only occasionally betrayed. 2. Ha knows the motives, and knows that there are bad motives even for good actions. 3. He judges our sins by an infinitely higher standard than man’ s. II. WHY GOD IS, JUST BECAUSE OF THAT , MORE LIKELY TO FORGIVE. 1. Among men the best and purest are not the severest censors and judges, for human goodness is the more merciful in proportion as it approaches nearer to perfection. 2. In God there is no fictional irascibility or resentment. Christ’ s life on earth was the story of a long, silent, immovable patience, of absolute lifelong superiority to personal feeling. 3. Although to justice or righteousness it is some satisfaction that a bad man should be miserable, yet it is another nobler and sweeter satisfaction that he should become a good man. (J. Caird, D. D.)Pardon for the penitent We find in the text,-- I. AN TO . Here, in few words, we are given plainly to understand in what genuine repentance consists. II. THE PROMISE OF PARDON ANNEXED TO THE . If the wicked will forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return unto the Lord, He will have mercy upon him, and will abundantly pardon him. Repentance is here enjoined as a prerequisite to pardon. And do not other passages of Scripture speak the same language? We must not, however suppose that there, is anything meritorious, in our repentance. It possesses no virtue or efficacy to expiate our guilt. It Is our bounden duty, but it makes no compensation for past failures; no atonement for past transgressions. It is itself the gift of God, who has exalted His beloved Son to be a Prince and a Saviour, in order to bestow it on the rebellious. It can therefore deserve nothing. Nevertheless, it is to the penitent alone that God extends His pardoning mercy. Why? It would be enough to answer, that such is the good pleasure of His will; but we can also add, that the penitent alone is qualified to receive and appreciate the blessing. But it may be asked, How can God be favour-able to the sinner? For an answer we must turn to the Gospel of His grace, which alone informs us how He can be a just God and yet a Saviour. III. AN TO LAY HOLD OF THE PROMISE. What answer do you make? 1. Some one, perhaps, in the brokenness of his heart may reply, “ Yes, I must believe that God is indeed merciful and gracious. I perceive also that He can, in the Son of His love, be a just God and a Saviour. But, alas! my sins have been so numerous that, though He may forgive others, I cannot persuade myself He will extend pardon to me.” But what saith God? “ My thoughts are not your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My thoughts higher than your thoughts.” 2. “ But,” says another, “ my sins have been not only numerous, but highly aggravated.” If you had sinned so often and so heinously against your fellow-creatures, you might well despair of forgiveness. It is too much, alas I our way to retaliate evil for evil. But “ your ways are not My ways,” etc. 3. I seem to hear a third in anguish of spirit exclaiming, “ I am one of those awful characters known in Scripture by the name of backsliders.” The words here translated “ abundantly pardon,” are rendered on the margin “ multiply to pardon.” The Lord will pardon, not once only, but again, and again, and again. Conclusion: It is painful to think that any one should be so wicked, and so lost to every grateful feeling, as to pervert such a subject. Yet it is a fact that many are guilty of so doing. There are two characters especially who come under this charge. One of them is the hardened and impenitent transgressor, who takes encouragement to proceed in his sinful career from the consideration that God is merciful, and will not fail to pardon him at the last. 2. The other is the antinomian professor of religion, who professes to know God, but in works denies Him, and endeavours to lull conscience to rest by extolling His sovereign and superabounding grace. The grace of God was never meant to embolden us in a course of transgression; nor does it ever produce this effect on those who know it in truth. (D. Rees.)Refuge in God’ s mercy There is a story of a man who dreams he is out in an open field in a fierce, driving storm. He is wildly seeking a refuge. He sees one gate over which “ Holiness is written. There seems to be shelter inside, and he knocks. The door in opened by one in white garments, but none, save the holy, can be admitted; and he is not holy. So he hurries on to seek shelter elsewhere. He sees another and tries that, but “ Truth” is inscribed above it, and he is not fit to enter, He hastens on to a third, which is the palace of Justice; but armed sentinels keep the door, and only the righteous can be received. At last, when he is almost in despair, he sees a light shining some distance away and hastens toward it. The door stands wide open, and beautiful angels meet him with welcomes of joy. It is the house of Mercy, and he is taken in and finds refuge from the storm and is hospitably entertained. None of us can ever find a refuge at any door, save at the door of Mercy. But here the vilest sinner can find eternal shelter; and not mere cold shelter only, for God’ s mercy is tender. (J. R. Miller, D. D.)He will abundantly pardonPardoning mercy abundant I. THE OF GOD’ S MERCY IS EVINCED BY THE REMOVAL OF THE TO ITS . It was not by annihilating--by scattering our iniquities in the regions of oblivion with no evidenceof the Divine abhorrence--that the way is open for their remission But God laid upon His Son the iniquities of us all. II. THE OF GOD’ S MERCY MAY BE ARGUED FROM HIS . The goodness of God--i.e. His whole character--is intent on the promotion of the greatest good. When this end demands the punishment of sin, this goodness dictates it, and in this consists what we call justice. When this end is the pardon of the sinner, the same goodness dictates it, and in this consists mercy. III. THE OF GOD’ S MERCY MAY BE EVINCED FROM THE RICHES OF HIS AND . Consider-- 1. The objects of the Divine forbearance; a world, our whole species in rebellion. 2. Its design; their repentance and salvation with eternal glory. 3. Its circumstances; how easy for Omnipotence to break the thread that holds us over the pit, and yet He spares us--He spares sinners, while He regards them with all the abhorrence that is due to sin--He spares them, while He can glorify Himself in their instant and eternal destruction--He spares them, when in the midst of great and repeated provocations, when, from the very patience of God, they derive only hardihood in rebellion--He spares them that He may use every possible means for their conversion and salvation. He comes to them in His Word and in His providence; by the chastisements and the bounties of His hand; by every moment’ s preservation; in the counsels and prayers and example of the pious; in visible displays of His eternal power and Godhead; by the heralds of the Cross, who warn them night and day with tears; in the opened gates of heaven, and the uncovered mouth of the pit; in full displays of the beauty and glory and sufficiency of an incarnate Saviour. Why these efforts to bring to repentance, if He has no mercy for the penitent? (N. W. Taylor, D. D.)Abundant pardon The certainty of their finding pardon was the tempting bait with which this ancient fisher of souls endeavoured to “ catch men.” I. GOD DOES PARDON. We will turn that truth over and over, and see it in many lights. 1. The pardon of God may well be abundant, for it wells up from an infinite fountain; “ mercy, which endureth for ever.” 2. The objects to which this pardon has been extended are abundant too. Well is it said, “ He will abundantly pardon,” for God has already pardoned sinners more numerous than can be estimated by human arithmetic. 3. His pardon is abundant when we consider the abundance of the sins which the love of God blots out. (1) Sins of thought--rebellious thoughts, proud thoughts, blasphemous thoughts, atheistical thoughts, covetous thoughts, lustful thoughts, impatient thoughts, cruel thoughts, false thoughts, thoughts of ill memory, and dreams of an unholy future; what swarms are there l Moreover, the omission of thoughts which should have been, such as thoughts of repentance, gratitude, reverence, faith, and the like, these are equally numerous: with the double list my roll is written within and without with a hideous catalogue. As the gnats which swarm the air at eventide, so numerous are the transgressions of the mind. (2) Sins of word. What words have vexed the pure and holy ear of God! Words against Himself, against His Son, against His law and Gospel, against our neighbour, against everything that is good and true! Words proud and hectoring, words defiant and obstinate, words untruthful, words lascivious, words of vanity, and words of wilful unbelief. (3) Sins of deed, which in very truth are but the fruits which grow out of sins of thought. (4) Perhaps the sins we do not know are more numerous than the sins we are conscious of. Conscience may not be properly enlightened, and hence many a thing may not seem to be sinful which really is so; but God’ s clear eye perceiveth everything that is obnoxious to His holy law. Innumerable sins are forgiven by one word from the lips of Divine love. 4. We can see the truth of this in the abundant sin of those sins which are pardoned. Did you ever find a spider’ s nest just when the young spiders have all come to life, it is a city of spiders; now, such is any one sin, it is a colony of iniquities, a living mass of offence. In addition to there being many sins in one sin, I want you to remember how much virus of sin we sometimes manage to stow await in a sin. A man has done wrong and smarted for it, yet he does the very same thing again wilfully, against his own conscience and against the warning he has received. A man will sometimes acknowledge what a fool he has been, and yet play the fool again. Some men sin for no motive whatever--for mere wantonness of sin. 5. The Lord “ abundantly pardons,” when we consider the abundant means of pardon which he has been ever pleased to provide for sinners. 6. The abundant ease of the terms of pardon. “ Let the wicked forsake,” etc., that is all! No man can expect to be forgiven if he goes on with his sin. 7. The abundance of this pardon may be seen in the fulness of it. 8. He doth “ abundantly pardon,” because of the abundant blessings which attend that pardon. II. THE WHICH FLOW OUT OF PARDON. 1. There is no room for anybody to despair. 2. There is a loud call to every one who has not repented to do so; for who would be so base as to offend so good, so kind a Lord? 3. If there is anybody in this house the text especially calls, it is the biggest sinner here; because there cannot be abundant pardon where there is not abundant sin. 4. For such a forgiving God we ought in return to have great love. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Mohammedism or Christi-unity I have heard men say, often, Why is it Jesus Christ has so few disciples? The Gospel has been preached for 1,800 years, and yet Mohammed has more disciples than Jesus Christ. The question is very easily answered. A man can be a follower of Mohammed, and not give up his sin. He may be a follower of Confucius without giving up his sin; and the reason Jesus Christ has so few disciples is that men are not willing to part with their sin. If men could only get into the Kingdom of God without giving up anything, they would push into it by the thousand. (D. L. Moody.)Free pardon When I was preaching in Yorkshire at some mission services, a collier came to me at the close of one of the services, and said to me, “ I would like to be a Christian, but I cannot receive what you have said to-night.” I said, “ My brother, why not?” He said, “ I would give anything to believe that God would forgive my sin; but I cannot believe He will just forgive it if I turn to Him. It is too cheap.” I looked at him, and I said, “ My dear friend, have you been to work to-day?” “ Yes.” “ Where have you been working?” He looked at me slightly astonished, and said, “ I was down in the pit, as usual.’ “ How did you get home?” “ Oh, I walked home along the road.’ “ But how did you get out of the pit? “ The way I always do. I got into the cage, and I was pulled up to the top.” “ How much did you pay to come out of the pit?” He looked at me astonished, and said, “ Pay? Of course, I don’ t pay anything.” I said to him, “ Were you not afraid to trust yourself in that cage? Was it not too cheap?” “ Oh, no,’ he said. “ It was cheap for me, but it cost the company a lot of money to sink that shaft.” And without another word the truth of that admission broke upon him, the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and he saw if he could have salvation without money and without price, it had cost the Infinite God a great price to sink that shaft and rescue lost men. (G. Campbell Morgan, D. D.) Isaiah 55:8-9 For My thoughts are not your thoughts God’ s thoughts The thought of God! Who can fathom it? Astronomers tell us of stars in the sky at such infinite distances that their light, shooting through space at the inconceivable rate of 185,000 miles a second, would require 3,500 years to reach this earth. And vet God’ s thought placed them thus far away in space, arranged the laws that govern them, not unlikely has set whirling around them planets like our own, peopled with sentiment and responsible beings like ourselves. To such distance reach the thoughts of God with the same clearness and wisdom as on this little globe. Shall not these thoughts, piercing the sublime avenues of infinite space, find a way whereby we may be saved? (Monday Club Sermons.)The thoughts of God We can form some conception of them through the works of His hand, whether in nature, providence, or redemption. The psalmist describes them as permanent in their endurance; as surpassing the reckoning of human arithmetic; and as being a fathomless deep. It is told of Kepler that, one night, after hours spent in observing the motions of the heavenly bodies, he exclaimed, “ I have been thinking over again the earliest thoughts of God.” But there are earlier thoughts than those impresssd on nature. The love that led to the choice of man in Christ, and will culminate in the glory, is older far. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)God a thinker “ I think, therefore I am, was the formula in which the great mind of Descartes found peace. We may reverently adapt it, and say, “ God thinks, therefore God is;” and the proof that He thinks is the great universe around us bearing, everywhere the marks of a designing hand. The quality of any mind is determined by its product. The rare quality of the mind of Shakespeare found expression in “ Hamlet’’ and “ Macbeth,” that of Milton in “ Paradise Lost,” and that of Tennyson in the “ Idylls of the King.” Stephenson demonstrated the wonderful mechanical power of his brain in the production of the steam engine, and Edison has shown what he thinks by inventing the telephone and phonograph. You stand and gaze with reverential awe at St. Paul’ s, with its lofty dome, its magnificent portico, its beautiful windows. What is it? A church. Yes, a church in the heart of the busiest city in the world; a constant witness to the hurrying, bargain-making crowd, that man does not live by bread alone. It is a fine building--a veritable poem in stone--begrimed by the smutty fingers of oldFather Time, but strangely weird and solemn, as I have seen it bathed in the moonlight, with the mighty city sleeping around it, silent and still, or at least as still as London ever is. It is one of the peep-holes through which London gets a view of Heaven. But it is something more. It is the visualized thought of a great man; mute witness to the fact that mind is the great thing in the world. Sir Christopher Wren thought cathedrals, they were on his brain, he saw them before a single stone was laid, and then he selected one and put it on paper and said to the builder, “ Now go to work. Put this thought of mine in stone, and let it stand there in the midst of the city; so that all men may see the kind of thing my brain is capable of producing. So this world, so full of wondrous forms and lovely colours, is but the outward expression of the thought of God. (S. Herren.)Man, like God, a thinker 1. The power of thought is one point in which man is made in the image of God. Other animated creatures which are put in subjection to the thinking, intelligent creature man, have no fellowship with God in thought; into His world of pure spirit they cannot enter. When men do not think, and especially when they do not think of the highest and most important matters, they degrade themselves from the true position and occupation of immortal minds. 2. In the text we have two persons thinking; and as the result--man’ s thoughts and God’ s thoughts. God’ s thinkings are declared by Himself to be exceedingly above mans, and yet if ever man is to dwell with God, he must think as God thinks. “ How can two walk together except they be agreed?” What, then, can I do to rise to Him? Think as much as I please, thinking only sets me on my feet, and so far does me service, but it still leaves me on the earth, and God is yonder far above me, and my thoughts can no more attain unto Him than an infant can touch the stars with his finger. Still it is a comfort to me if I am sincerely thoughtful after God, that He is thinking about me, for if my thoughts cannot bear me up to Him, His thoughts can bring Him down to me, and when He has established a connection between the heaven which is above me and the earth which is beneath Himself, then I, laying hold on His thoughts, and believing what He has thought out for his, shall be drawn up to His elevation, and I shall come to think His thoughts, and so to be in communion with the Most High. (C. H. Spurgeon.)God forgiving sin At first, men have very low ideas of sin. But when the Holy Spirit begins to deal with them, sin grows to be an intolerable burden, a fearsome thing. While the thought of sin becomes clear, the thought of pardon is not, at first, so clear. Sin is great, and for that reason the sinner thinks it cannot be pardoned, as if he measured the Lord by his sin. In our text God in condescension helps the sinner to believe in pardon by elevating his idea of God. Because God is infinitely superior to man, He can abundantly pardon. I. YOUR OWN JUDGE PARDON TO BE . 1. To some it seems impossible that there can be forgiveness for them, because of some special, secret, gross, and grievous sin. Most persons, when they remember their past lives, seen certain spot blacker than the rest. 2. To others the difficulty of pardon seems to lie not so much in some special offence, as in the number of their sins, and the long continuance of them. 3. Others have been grievously oppressed with the idea that they could not be pardoned because of the wilfulness of what they have done. Certainly, this is a very grievous evil. Wilfulness is the very damnableness of sin. 4. “ Sir, says one, “ I sinned with a great falseness and treachery of heart; for I was baptized and joined a Church.” 5. I hear one say, “ There is” about my, sin this peculiar heinousness, that,, I have injured myself and others by my sin.” 6. Perhaps one may even say, But, sir, my sin was of this kind, that I dishonoured God: I denied the Deity of Christ.” II. GOD’ S OF OTHER THINGS ARE FAR ABOVE YOURS. It is quite certain that the best thoughts--the most logical thoughts, the most original thoughts, the most correct thoughts you have ever had--are not worthy to be compared with God’ s thoughts. Look in nature. The things you see in nature were, at first, thoughts in God’ s mind, and He embodied them. Did you ever think such thoughts as God has thought in creation? God’ s thoughts in providence--how wonderfully they are above ours I You read history, and everything seems to be a tangle. Yet, before you have read through the chapter, you see in it all a plan and a method. It has ever been so in your own mind as to the future. Read the prophecies, and see what is yet to be. III. HIS ABOUT PARDON ARE ABOVE YOURS. 1. Are you not slow to forgive? “ He delighteth in mercy.” 2. You come to an end of your forgiveness before long. But God goes on to seventy times seventy times--on, and on, and on, and never comes to the end of pardoning mercy so long as a soul cries to Him for forgiveness. 3. Some things you find it hard to forgive. God does far more in the way of pardon than we ask or even think. 4. I am afraid I must say of some of you that you forgive, but you do not forget. God promises to forget our iniquities. “ I will cast all their sins behind My back.” “ I will cast their iniquities into the depths of the sea. They shall not be remembered against them any more for ever.” 5. We forgive, and yet feel some returns of anger. “ I have blotted out,” says He, “ thy transgressions.” Once blotted out, they arc done with for ever. 6. I do not slander you when I say that you are not very eager to pardon, and proposes to make peace with him. 7. Do you think that any of us would suffer much for the sake of being able to forgive another? Should there be a very serious difficulty in the way, so that you cannot rightly forgive without some atonement being made, would you make the atonement yourself? IV. GODS ARE ABOVE YOURS IN ALL THINGS WHICH CONCERN HIS GRACE. See the first verse as to the freeness of His grace. Your thought is that you can get nothing without paying for: God’ s thoughts are, “ Come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. But you think that if God were to save you He would perform it in a second-rate style. Not He! He will have no niggard salvations. If He supplies His people, it shall be most richly and freely. Listen to this. “ Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. It is not amp of the water, or a ernst of the bread, or a drop of the milk; but when Christ invites poor sinners to come, He invites them to a high festival. You that are the guiltiest may come to Christ, and be among the happiest and the best of His saints. Nobody would ever imagine that a sinner could ever enter into covenant with God--that God should strike hands with guilty men, and, pledge Himself to grace. Listen to this: “ Incline your ear, and come unto Me, etc. (Isaiah 55:3). I remember a man, shut up in prison, under a long sentence, and he was so violent that he was put into a solitary cell. The chaplain had done all he could as to bringing him to repentance; but one day he read to him this verse, “ I will make an everlasting covenant with you.” The man said, “ I never heard of such a thing. Can God make a covenant with such a wretch as I am? Sir,” said he, “ it will break my heart;” and it did break his heart and he became a new man in Christ Jesus under the power of that amazing thought, that God would enter into covenant with such a wretch as he was. In Isaiah 55:5 Christ is said to call a people so ignorant that they did not know Him. This is to be His glory, that He is to call them by His grace. It is not one of your thoughts, but one of the thoughts of God, that He will glorify Christ in the saving of great sinners. “ Ah, well!” says one, “ I will go home, and cry to God for mercy. That is your thought. Listen to God’ s thought. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.” Ah! still you think, “ How can I be pardoned?” Listen to this, “ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts,” etc. Read the rest of the chapter, and say to yourself, over each verse, “ This was not my thought; this, was not my way.” End all your doubts with the last verse,” instead of the thorn, etc. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The Greatness of God Until we believe in the greatness of God, not only in action, but in thought, we shall misunderstand our Bibles, the world in which we live, and ourselves. We use such words as omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, infinite, but how little we grasp their meaning! They are but the poor, etymological husks in which we try to thrust that which no words can express. There are some things that you cannot describe,, you can only feel. Language is too poor, too clumsy a medium to express God’ s best, or biggest things, much less to describe Him. It is like the colours with which the artist tries to reproduce the glory of a sunset. It is not a reproduction; at best, it is but a far-off resemblance. You look up on a cloudless day and there is not one speck, not one bit of white cloud against the vast expanse of undimmed azure, and yet feel, but cannot describe the infinity of space. Let that feeling of infiniteness rest upon you, soak into your mind, for it is good for man, the creature of a day, the heir of eternity, to linger amongst great expanses, and to learn that his geography is but a petty science, and his astronomy, with its measurements of millions of miles, does but nibble at the edge of the great universe of God. Thus you will preserve a reverent spirit, keep alive the faculties of wonder and admiration, and it is to be hoped be saved from the positive assertion of little narrow dogmas which have been adopted by certain sections of the Church, and declared with as much assurance, and fought for with as much bitterness as though an angel from heaven had proclaimed them every morning since the creation. (S. Horton.)God’ s thoughts higher than man’ s Theology ought to be the science of God and Divine things. Often it is systematized misrepresentations of Divine things. It is not the revelation of God’ s greatness, but of man’ s littleness; it starts with theories, instead of facts. Our text is God’ s appeal against human misrepresentation. There is always a danger of putting our own limitations of thoughts and speech upon the Almighty, and of making our thinking and doing the measure of His. Have we not all met with the man who sees nothing in the Church but bricks and timber, in its devotions only so many needful exercises to be got through as speedily as possible, and in the great redemption plain nothing but convenient fire escape from the miseries of hell, and in God only a High Commissioner of Police? It is Vastly important that, as far as it is possible, we should get right ideas of God, for our whole character and conduct will he coloured by our thoughts of Him. And though it must ever be that our thoughts are as much beneath His thoughts as the earth is beneath the heavens, yet if He reveal Himself to us, as He is always willing to do to the humble soul, we shall at least be saved from rhea mental caricatures of Him that have darkened many a life, and been the fruitful soil in which unbelief has found its foothold. 1. The setting of the text takes us at once to the central doctrine of the Christian faith. The verse before it proclaims the pardon of God for the sinner, who, repenting of his sins, returns to the Lord. How can a sinless God forgive a sinful man, and yet maintain the majesty of His own law? And there rises before our eyes at once the form of a cross, and on it One, who, struggling in the death agony, exclaims, “ It is finished.” All the wonder and mystery of the ages gathers round that cross. If you can explain that you can explain all. Was it possible for sin to take upon itself a deeper shade of guilt than the sin of the people of Judah in Isaiah’ s time? Crimson-hued and scarlet-dyed, what could even God do with such sinners as these? Sweep them away with the strength of His right arm. Yea, and all heaven and all earth would approve the justice of the sentence. But He can do something else. He can forgive them. At first we revolt at the very idea. Forgiveness for them! And then once more we hear the voice which says, “ My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways.” “ I will never forgive him” is the language of the man who has been wronged. But God says, “ I will give My best and dearest if I may but win the wrong-doer to love that which is good. I will save him by showing him what love can do.” Do you know it is the hardest thing in the world to persuade men to believe that God loves them with a love like that? There is a good deal of truth in the sarcasm of a scoffing French writer “ that man has made God in his own image.” 2. Let us apply our text to the many problems that gather round our life, to those many difficulties behind which as yet we can see no meaning. Life for many is a prolonged agony. It is a burden, a pain, a puzzle to which we have not yet the key. Behind the pain, and the tears, and the smart, God is, and His plan for us is the best possible plan. He is but a poor shallow fool who says, I will accept nothing that I cannot understand. As a matter of fact he is always accepting what he does not understand. Does he understand sleep? Does he understand Why a seed grows? why a child thinks? why men die? And yet there are many men who reject the idea of a personal God because they cannot understand His works and ways. They declare life to be without purpose, and an aimless consciousness between two eternities. To all such our text is a rebuke. Faith is a bird of stronger wing than reason. Two texts are sufficient for me. Upon them I stake all for time and for eternity. “ God is very great.” “ God is love.” Socrates has put our belief once and for all into a convenient formula, “ What God is I know not; what He is not I know.” God is not, cannot be cruel. God is not, cannot be pitiless. God is not, cannot be making useless experiments at our expense. Without that faith, how could we face the hopeless poverty, the misery of our slums? Oh! wearied heart, rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. When faith falters, when the sun goes out in darkness, when the storm beats loud and fierce, when over a coffin-lid hope drops its head and weeps, wait for God. Give Him time to discover Himself. It is at the midnight hour that Christ walks on the tempest-lashed sea. Hush all your questionings and wait; simply wait. Is that easy? No; it is the hardest thing of all to do; but wait, only wait. What we cannot know--what it would not be wise for us to know now--we shall know hereafter. (C. H.Spurgeon.)God’ s thoughts and ways I. SPECIFY SOME IN WHICH THIS IS . 1. In His production of the most stupendous results from insignificant causes. Nature abounds with illustrations. Providence is still more abundant. Consequences the most stupendous, involving the destinies of individuals, of families, of empires, have arisen out of causes which we deem insignificant. But the most abundant proofs are derived from the history of the Gospel. Our Lord has suggested this view of the subject in His own illustrations--“ The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard-seed,” and so on. And this is an illustration of the rise and progress of Messiah’ s Gospel. Who, and what was the Founder of the Gospel--as to His human appearance? 2. In the accomplishment of the most glorious designs by the weakest and most insignificant instruments. Who were the first propagators of the Gospel? In what school were they educated? With what armour did they go forth to the war? 3. In the sovereign exercises of His grace, in connection with its freedom and fulness. II. ASSIGN SOME REASONS FOR THIS. 1. His knowledge is more extensive than our information. 2. His judgment is more accurate than our decisions. 3. His purposes and plans are uninfluenced by our prejudices and passions. 4. It is His determination to humble pride, and His fixed resolution that no creature should glory in His presence. III. LEARN LESSONS OF , , AND . (T. Raffles, D. D.)God’ s thoughts The word “ thought” is used here objectively. It expresses a result and not a process. I. . Here we need only contrast the human with the Divine style of thinking. Observe some particulars:-- 1. Creation. The visible creation that surrounds us on every side and spreads away into immensity beyond us, is only an embodied thought of the infinite, uncreated Intelligence. Tell me if it be at all like one of man’ s thoughts. Equip man with omnipotence, and set him to create a universe--and would it resemble the universe as it is? By no means! (1) Man’ s universe would be absolutely consolidated. Into one immense continent would all these world-islands be cast, and all tribes and types of life inhabit it as a common dwelling! His agonizing regret this day is that he cannot fling the line of a mighty telegraph from star to star, and thus, even in face of the immutable ordinances of heaven, gather these isolated islands of life into one vast virtual consolidation! (2) A universe projected by man would be motionless and steadfast. We build our homes, not on the waters, that they may be locomotive, but on the shore, that they may be fixed. But God’ s universe is in everlasting motion. Or, descending from the survey of a universe of worlds to consider the economy of a single world, even with greater force shall we feel the same truth. Such a world as this no wise man would have created. He would have filled up the ocean with plough-ground, and sloped the mountains gently for vineyards, and covered with rich verdure the sands of the wilderness. And the waters would have brought forth after their kind only beautiful things, and every creature moving in the forests would have been musical and fair; and the sky would have been without cloud on its rich blue, and the year without winter or storm in its long summer of loveliness. 2. Providence. And whether we regard the entire economy of providence as a stupendous whole, or each successive development in its separation, the same truth will be manifest. Man certainly would have ordered the whole thing differently. Instead of those mysterious periods of slowly ascending, he would have rounded earth into beauty at first as a home for immortals, and breathed Divine life into man made in God’ s image. Place at the head of human affairs an omnipotent philanthropist, and how soon would every dark thing be swept from a groaning creation. How the captive would leap from his chain, and the conqueror lay off his mail, and the cries of violence cease, and the rod of the oppressor be broken! How these dark places of cruelty would be irradiated with heavenly light, and Christianity, borne as on angel-wings, circle the round world! II. . 1. Our first remark is addressed to this very class who reject the Bible because to their finitude it seems either unwise or incomprehensible. The poor erring creature of an hour, who cannot build a hovel that will not leak, nor weave a perfect garment to cover him, he--wonderful man that he is--would lift his thoughts into brotherhood with God’ s thoughts, and adjust the complicate sublimities of revelation by the square and the line of his insignificant faculties! Why, the sceptic should begin further back and earlier with his scepticism, as his arguments lie as strongly against creation and providence. 2. Within our own time a new philosophy hath invaded the Church of Christ, with its watchwords “ spiritual insight,” and “ the moral reason,’ and “ intuitional capacity,” setting itself to overthrow the indispensable condition of all true piety--the entire, unquestioning, adoring submission alike of life, and conscience, and intellect unto God. And while the Church receives not this philosophy formally--for this were openly to deny the faith--yet, under its insidious and malign influence, there has come to pass a setting up within Zion of our own intellectual and moral judgments as critic and arbiter of the great doctrines of revelation. Doctrines that are profound or mysterious, if not openly rejected, are at least modified to square with our philosophy. And the positive declarations of God are lowered to the comprehension of our natural reason. We are as yet learners in God’ s school-room, not advisers in His council-chamber! We shall understand things better by and by, when eternity flings its full light on the page of our scholarship! But until then humility is the apt temper of a learner. And faith, not comprehension, the great law of the scholarship! Till then ours must be the submission of an infantile mind to an infinite Intelligence--the trust of a short-sighted child in an all-seeing Father. 3. But the thought under consideration applies as well to the phenomena of Christianity as to its facts. Take, for example, its gradual increase and development. The characteristic of the age is impatience of anything but a demonstrative and headlong progress. Tell me where, either in creation or providence, God thus hurries to conclusions? So far from discouragements in this slow progress of Christianity, we have therein only fuller proof of its Divine orion, nobler prophecy of its ultimate consummation. 4. There is a still more consoling application of this truth to things unseen and eternal--immortality. The grand characteristic and charm of the eternal world is its utter unlikeness to the temporal and earthly. (C. Wadsworth.)God’ s ways and man’ s ways There is nothing, perhaps, in which God’ s thoughts and ways are more seen to be “ higher” than man’ s than in the matter of salvation; and it is in renouncing his own ways, and yielding to God’ s, that the main difficulty of salvation on man’ s part lies. Because there is nothing more simple than the plan of salvation--substitution. I. God’ s thoughts are not as our thoughts IN THE MATTER OF PARDON. This is proclaimed freely, without any condition on man’ s part in the way of satisfaction to God’ s holy and broken law. Salvation is represented in Scripture as something which God Himself has achieved. God has “ delivered man from going down into the pit; He has found a ransom;” and therefore, in every point of view, this salvation is perfect and complete. It is, further, proclaimed to sinners as a gift which they cannot earn or deserve, but which they are entreated to accent as a gift on account of what Christ has done (Romans 15:23). Men are called on to believe it instantly, to receive it and enjoy it at once, as the gift of God’ s love in Christ Jesus. Now, to this the world objects, because such a plan of salvation knocks down man’ s pride, and leaves him in the position of a rebellious sinner dependent wholly on God’ s grace and mercy. To escape, therefore, from such an ignominious admission, some go on to argue that by this view God’ s law is dishonoured, sin is treated as if of no consequence, and the pardoned sinner is left without any obligation to obey God. But is this true? II. Gods “ thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways His ways,” IN. THE. WAY IN WHICH PEACE AND JOY FOLLOW ON THE GOSPEL. This is proclaimed in Scripture as instant (Romans 5:1). But the world objects to this, and calls it presumption; and if they hear of a notorious sinner being converted, and entering into peace, they immediately set him down as a hypocrite. The question is not whether they are hypocrites, but whether a man who believes the Gospel, and is full of joy and peace in consequence, is a hypocrite. Whatever the world says on the subject, Scripture does not so represent him. We must take care and not conclude that where there is no peace there is no faith. This would be as wrong as to conclude that where there is not perfect health there is no life. III. There is still another point in which “ God’ s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways His ways,” namely, HIS . In preaching, I have no limit to make in the Gospel. If you say, “ This surely is abusing the goodness of God,” I reply, “ God’ s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways His ways.” (J. W. Reeve, M. A.)God’ s thoughts The very act of thinking implies imperfection. But it is a way of picturing the Divine nature by a comparison with man. Man thinks, reasons, and so arrives at certain results. These he calls thoughts or conclusions. It is not so with God. He has no need to arrive at conclusions by any mental process. He knows everything. It is difficult to find any English word wherewith to express the idea intended. The word “ feelings might partly do so--method of action as the result of “ feelings” --“ dealings.” It is really the whole of the Divine nature. “ My nature is not as your nature, nor My ways of action as your ways of action.” The grand idea is a consciousness of the vast difference which exists between ourselves and God, and to certain practical inferences to be devolved therefrom. These are-- I. THAT WE ARE NOT TO JUDGE OF GOD BY OUR OWN . How can we for one moment put ourselves in the place of the great and mighty King of kings 1. Consider our ignorance compared with His perfect knowledge--our weakness corn pared with His almighty power--our short life compared with His eternity of existence, All these things point out the folly of setting ourselves to judge of the Divine acts or the Divine method of providence, by the methods which we would pursue. And yet people say, or think if they do not say, in so many words, that they could carry on the world far more wisely than God. 2. Consider our sin in comparison with God’ s holiness. Sin prevents all feeling, all right, all truth. It has changed all men’ s views with respect to propriety or justice. And yet there are men who would dispute the justice of the Almighty’ s dealings with men. II. THAT WE ARE NOT TO JUDGE OF OUR OWN BY OUR OWN . The ways of every man are right in his own eyes. We think we are acting for the best when we are acting for the worst. We think we arc serving God when we are bribing the devil. We think we are setting an example of all virtue to our neighbours, when all the while we are nought but hypocrites. We are not to judge of our position of holiness by our own thoughts. What a criteria of judgment are human thoughts! They go astray from the beginning, they are altogether depraved. How can we estimate our own advancement by them? Woe be to those who do, for they will only court destruction. Our thoughts are not God’ s thoughts. Some are nearer the kingdom of heaven than they suppose, while others are further off. III. THAT WE ARE NOT TO JUDGE OF ANY OF THE OF THE FUTURE BY OUR OWN . The world has a way of either perverting revelation, or inventing new theories from its own imagination. (Homilist.)Disparity of thoughts, Divine and human I. GOD AND MAN DIFFER IN THEIR LIFE--the meaning of our present existence, as we live in this world day by day. Man’ s general conception is that he has been sent into this world endowed with certain powers of body and mind that he may get on, and rise commercially, socially, and in those things which are hemmed in by things seen and temporal. As men are thus employed God looks down upon them with the tender eye of a mother and the pitying heart of a father, and says to His erring children, “ Why do ye spend your time and destroy your immortal powers in such a vain pursuit? You have mistaken the meaning of your present life, and the reason I sent you into the world. My thoughts concerning it are not your thoughts, and My ways are not your ways. Your life was given that you might grow in wisdom, experience, and Divine likeness in character, and the earth is a school in which you are to be trained, educated for highest worship and noblest service.” II. GOD AND MAN DIFFER IN THEIR AND SORROWS. The human and natural way of looking at these things is to view them as unmitigated evils, and that either God knows and cares nothing about those who endure them, or that they are manifestations of His ill-will and judicial anger. These are not the thoughts of God. As seen in the light of heaven they are either the result of the violation of the law of love, of selfishness and sin, or are educative agencies to make the soul strong, tender, and true. III. GOD AND MAN DIFFER IN THEIR THE OF ENEMIES. Hatred has been met by hatred; scorn has been answered by scorn; and for evil rendered evil has been repaid in full measure, pressed down and running over. Far otherwise has it been with God. Regarding treatment of enemies, God says, My thoughts, are not your thoughts, and My ways are not your ways. Ye would render evil for evil, hate for hate, blow for blow. I love Mine enemies, I seek to bless the greatest sinner, I cause My sun to shine on the unjust, and unthankful, and am ready to take all prodigals into My forgiving embrace.’ This has been God’ s action from the first man till now. IV. GOD AND MAN DIFFER IN THEIR DEATH. Men’ s thoughts on the matter are full of sadness, and they beget a melancholy most difficult to bear. But God understands life and He understands death, and if we are filled with His thoughts and walk in His ways, the supposed enemy that seems to be a fiend and the destroyer of our existence shall appear in the glorious position of being the condition of a higher, purer, fuller life, that shall never cease to be, and like the echoes of the soul “ shall grow for ever and for ever.’ (W. Adamson, D. D.)The mystery and the glory of redemption The whole Bible is but an expansion of one utterance of the Eternal, “ I am Jehovah.” Hence the revelation must be incomplete, for a God who could fully reveal Himself to His creatures would be no God; and it must also be astonishing and amazing, for a professed record of any part of God’ s thoughts and ways that did not land in mystery and tend to wonder, would be self-condemned, and proved to be neither true nor Divine. I. God’ s ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts, in regard to THE NEED OF . The lessons of Scripture, while leaving the entrance of evil in its awful mystery, assist our faith by showing that our misgivings in regard to God, which thence arise, are groundless, and also that, however strange, yet as a matter of fact, evil can be overruled for good. II. God’ s ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts, in regard to THE PURPOSE OF . Man, as we learn from Scripture--the only source whence we can expect to know it--is not the only being who has fallen; but man is the only being who is redeemed. There arc those who profess not to believe in Scripture, but who arraign this supposed procedure as unfair and unequal; and there are those also who accept Scripture, and yet reject its apparently clear testimony as to the exclusion of fallen angels from mercy. Both classes of objectors go upon the same principle that God cannot justly punish with a final sentence of rejection those who have sinned against Him, no matter how aggravated their offences may be; but that in some way having given them being, He is bound to make that being ultimately good and happy. But this runs counter to the whole Bible doctrine of grace; for on this footing, redemption is a clear debt; and whether it be fallen angel or fallen man God is not entitled to withhold it. Men may stand in their views either upon justice or upon grace; but they are not entitled to stand upon both. III. God’ s ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts,, in regard to THE PLAN OF . How utterly unlike to any means of man’ s devising are those which God has chosen for the recovery of His lost creatures to His favour and image! All the opposition to evangelical religion with which we are surrounded, and which incessantly repeats, “ Give us a Christianity that is rational! Give us a Christianity that we can believe! Give us a Christianity that meets, as everything else is doing, the advancement of the age!--what does it amount to but this, “ Give us a Christianity without God! Give us a Christianity without that element of grandeur, of mystery, of overwhelming superiority to man’ s thoughts and ways, which compels awe and humbles pride t ‘ We accept the demand, come from what quarter it may, as an, involuntary homage to the superhuman glory of the faith we stand by. IV. God’ s ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts, in regard to THE OF . Redemption has a history; and this of all others the most difficult to scan, not only as it lies in the Bible, but in uninspired records. It has been said, “ Interpret the Bible as any other book;” but though there is a certain truth in this, if we take it roundly it ultimately means, “ Interpret God as you interpret man.” You cannot even interpret Church history as you interpret any other history. It is in a sense which belongs to no other history, the story of a battle not yet fought out, of a campaign not yet ended; and there are combatants at work beyond the range of human observation, and a supreme celestial leader, whose point of survey none can share. I shall illustrate this union of mystery and greatness in regard to three features in the progress of redemption. 1. The rate of its progress. 2. The instruments of its progress. 3. The hindrances to its progress. Man would have thought that hindrances would have speedily been removed, or that if they were suffered to remain or to return, they would have proved un-mingled evils to the Church. But God, on the other hand, we can now so far see, by giving the victory slowly, trains the faith and courage of successive generations, and by permitting old enemies to return, or new ones to spring up, shows the un-exhausted and inexhaustible energy of His Gospel, to face and put down every hostile power. V. It is only necessary to add a few words in regard to THE LIMITS OF . Here also God’ s ways are not as our ways, nor His thoughts as our thoughts. And hence the real and painful difficulty, which has always been felt in regard to the Gospel, and perhaps never more openly expressed than in our own day. “ Why should not all men, as God wishes, “ be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” ? Why should redemption, in the case of the human family, have any limits at all? Can we aspire to take in all God’ s view of what a tremendous evil, like sin, and especially the rejection of the Son of God, may demand? (J. Cairns, D. D.)Sovereign thoughts I. THE OF GOD ARE ETERNAL AND ; THE OF MEN ARE AND . Reflections on things older and less, changeable than ourselves arc the best guides to the unknown height-s of the Father’ s wisdom. They lead us some distance, but only to show us the way. These mountains were long seated on their rocky seats ore the plan of the pyramids of Egypt was conceived in the heart of man. These rivers had flown majestically in their channels for thousands of years before man made his aqueducts to entice them from their course. The revolving sun poured its ceaseless floods of light on the universe myriads of ages before the scientist made the first telescope. Astronomy tells us that the worlds which occupy distant locations in space have swept silently through their trackless regions for periods of indefinite duration. Geology unfolds the rocky leaves of the earth’ s crust, and deciphers hieroglyphics which roll us backward beyond animal and vegetable life to primeval rocks whose age no historian can compute. Thus we are furnished with materials to write a grand history of by-gone generations, stretching into the past beyond our comprehension. This history is the A B C of the eternal. The fact that the thoughts of God are eternal, fixes His immutable counsel and purpose. The redemption of fallen man is a thought without beginning, and is not subject to any variation. This is the rock on which we build our Christian faith. Through the varying scenes of life there runs the one purpose of God in Christ Jesus to save our souls and reconstruct human society. II. THE OF GOD ARE PRIMARY CAUSES, WHILE OURS ARE MERE . 1. The heavens and the earth are manifestations, not only of power and wisdom, but of mind. 2. No less evident is it that the revelation of Himself as the Saviour of man through human consciousness is the product of His thoughts. (1) God’ s thoughts in the Gospel are greater than man’ s thoughts. So great are some of them that they are above human comprehension (Romans 11:33). (2) God’ s thoughts are better than man’ s thoughts. The whole of the chapter is a declaration of sovereign mercy. The offender is called to repentance, and offered a free pardon. Human wisdom would ask, How can this be? How shall moral government stand without punitive justice. Can God be just if He justify the repentant sinner? There is but one answer: “ As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Mercy is inexplicable except in its operations. III. GOD’ S METHODS ARE , LIKE UNTO HIS ; BUT MEN’ S WAYS ARE CROOKED AND . The Scriptural meaning of the word “ way” is the character with which actions are stamped. Actions reveal the thoughts and motives of the actor. They are a reflex of himself. The ways of God are His thoughts in operation. “ Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known.” These words echo those of an older book, or, at least, they are the echo of the wisdom of the ancients--“ By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens; His hand hath formed the crooked serpent. Lo, these are parts of His ways: but how little a portion is heard of Him? but the thunder of His power who can understand?” “ Great and marvellous arc Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints. Fix your minds on the way of His goodness and mercy unto us. Think of the wonderful display of wisdom in the redemption of mankind. Jesus has appeared to remove our offences by the sacrifice of Himself. This great manifestation of eternal thought is the banquet at which the intelligences of heaven will sit, world without end. IV. THE AND WAYS OF GOD ARE BEFORE US FOR AND . V. THE OF GOD ARE WITH US AS OUR . He who has passed through the process of examining the casket to the possession of its contents, can say, “ How precious also are Thy thoughts, O God I how great is the sum of them.” (T. Davies, M. A.)The incomprehensibility of the mercy of God “ Lo, these are parts of His ways, but how little a portion is heard of Him! “ This is one of the most sententious sayings of Job, and it expresseth, in a very emphatic manner, the works of God what this holy man said of the wonders of nature, we, with much more reason, say of the wonders of grace. Collect all that pagan philosophers have taught of the goodness of the Supreme Being. To the opinions of philosophers join the declarations of the prophets. Add the discoveries of the evangelists and apostles. To the whole join your own experience; your ideas to their ideas, your meditations to their meditations, and then believe that ye are only floating on the surface of the goodness of God, that His love hath dimensions, a “ breadth, and length, and depth, and height,” “ which the human mind can never attain” : and, upon the brink of this ocean, say, “ Lo, these are only parts of His ways, and how little a portion is heard of Him l Three things are necessary to explain the text. I. THE MEANING MUST BE . It is certain, that, in many respects, God’ s ways are our ways, and His thoughts our thoughts. I mean, that there are many cases in which we may assure ourselves that God thinks so and so, and will observe such or such a conduct. To contrast the supreme grandeur of the Creator with the insignificance of the creature; to persuade mankind that the great Supreme is too lofty to concern Himself with us, that our conduct is entirely indifferent to Him; that it signifies nothing to Him whether we be just or unjust, humane or cruel, happy or miserable: to say in these senses, that “ God’ s ways are not our ways,” that “ His thoughts are not our thoughts,” these are the arms that infidelity hath sometimes employed with success, and against the attacks of which we would guard you. For these reasons, the meaning of the text must be restrained, or it will totally subvert religion and morality. The exercise of my reasoning powers produceth in me some incontestable notions of God, and, from these notions immediately follow some sure consequences, which become the immovable basis of my faith in His Word, of my submission to His will, and of my confidence in His promises. These notions, and these consequences compose the body of natural religion. Let it be granted that God is, in many respects, quite incomprehensible, that we can obtain only a small degree of knowledge of this infinite Object, yet it will not follow that the notions which reason gives us of Him are less just, or, that the consequences, which immediately follow these notions, are less sure. If reason affords us some adequate notions of God, if some necessary consequences follow these notions, for a much stronger reason we may derive some adequate notions of God, and some sure consequences, from revelation. II. THE OBJECT MUST BE . The prophet’ s expressions would have been true, had they been applied to all the attributes of God; however, they are applied here only to one of them, that is, to His goodness. Wherein do the thoughts of God differ from ours Z In God there are treasures of mercy, the depth of which no finite mind ten fathom. In Him goodness is as inconceivable as all His other attributes. In God, a sinner, who seems to have carried his sin to its utmost extravagance, and to have exhausted all the treasures of Divine grace, shall still find, if he “ return unto the Lord,” and cast himself at the foot of Him who “ abundantly pardoneth,” a goodness, a compassion, a love that he could not have imagined to find. III. THE PROOFS MUST BE . (1) The means by which God conciliated His justice with HIS love. (2) His patience with those who abuse this means. (3) His intimate union with those who fall in with the design of His patience. Let us address the text to the gloomy mind of a melancholy person, who, having failed in the courage necessary to resist temptations, fails again in that which is necessary to bear the thought of having fallen into them. What madness possesseth thy melancholy mind? The Holy Spirit assures thee that “ though thy sins be as scarlet” He will make them “ white as snow;” that “ though they be red like crimson” He will make them “ as wool;” and dost thou think that thy sins are too aggravated to be pardoned in this manner? The Holy Spirit gives thee a long list of the most execrable names in nature; a list of idolaters, murderers, extortioners, adulterers, persecutors, highway robbers, and blasphemers, who obtained mercy when they sought it: and art thou obstinately bent on excluding thyself from the number of those sinners to whom mercy is promised; and because thou dost not believe it attainable, dost thou obstinately refuse to ask for it? The Holy Spirit hath lifted up a Cross, and on that Cross a Redeemer, who is “ able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him;” and who Himself saith to all sinners, “ Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” And dost thou flee from this Cross, and rather choose to sink under the weight of thy sins than to disburden them on a Redeemer who is willing to bear them? But, passing all these, let us return to the text. “ My thoughts are not your thoughts,” etc. This is sufficient to refute the whole system of a despairing mind. (J. Saurin.)God’ s ways and man’ s These words are grand poetry and noble theology, but they are meant practically and in fiery earnestness. The “ for” at the beginning of each clause points us back to the previous statement, and both of the verses of our text are in different ways its foundation. So we have here two things to consider in reference to the relation between the Divine purposes and acts and man’ s purposes and acts. I. THE , AND THE AND THAT ARE BASED UPON THAT. 1. Notice the remarkable order and alternation of pronouns in the first verse. “ My thoughts are not your thoughts,” saith the Lord. The things that God thinks and purposes are not the things that man thinks and purposes, and therefore, because the thoughts are different, the outcomes of them in deeds are divergent. God’ s “ ways” are His acts, the manner and course of His working considered as a path on which He moves, and on which, in some sense, we can also journey. Our “ ways” --our manner of life--are not parallel with His, as they should be. But that opposition is expressed with a remarkable variation. Observe the change of pronouns in the two clauses. First, “ My thoughts are not your thoughts” --you have not taken My truth into your minds, nor My purposes into your wills; you do not think God’ s thoughts. Therefore--“ your ways (instead of “ my” , as we should have expected, to keep the regularity of the parallelism) are not My ways--I repudiate and abjure your conduct and condemn it utterly. Now, of course, in this charge of man’ s unlikeness to God there is no contradiction of, nor reference to, man’ s natural constitution, in which there are, at one and the same time, the likeness of the child with the parent and the unlikeness between the creature and the Creator. If our thoughts were not like God’ s thoughts we should know nothing about Him. If our thoughts were not like God’ s thoughts we should have no standard for life or thinking. Righteousness and beauty and truth and goodness are the same things in heaven and earth, and alike in God and man. We are made after His image, poor creatures though we be. But that very necessary and natural likeness between God and man makes more solemnly sinful the voluntary unlikeness which we have brought upon ourselves. Mark how wonderfully, in the simple language of my text, deep truths about this sin of ours is conveyed. Notice its growth and order. You begin with a heart and mind that does not take in God’ s thoughts, truths, purposes, desires, and the alienated will and the darkened understanding and the conscience which has closed itself against His imperative voice all issue afterwards in conduct which He cannot accept as in any way corresponding with His. First, the thought unreceptive of God’ s thought, and then the ways contrary to God’ s ways. 2. Notice the profound truth here in regard to the essential and deepest evil of all our evil. “ Your thoughts;” “ your ways.” Self-dependence and self-confidence are the master-devils of humanity. And the root of all sin lies in these two strong, simple words, “ Your thoughts not Mine; your ways not Mine.” 3. Notice, too, how there are suggested the misery and retribution of this unlikeness. “ If you will not make My thoughts your thoughts, I shall not take your ways as My ways; I will leave you to them. You will be filled with the fruit of your own devices. The question rises in many a heart, “ How am I to forsake these paths on which my feet have so long walked? And if I do, what about all the years behind me, full of wild wonderings and thoughts, in all of which God was not?” The second verse of our text meets that despairing question. II. THE ANALOGY BUT , AND THE AND HOPE THAT ARE BUILT UPON THAT. This clause begins with God’ s ways, from which alone men can reach the knowledge of His thoughts. The first follows the order of God’ s knowledge of man; the second, that of man’ s knowledge of God. 1. God’ s way of dealing with sin is lifted up above all human example. There is such a thing as pardoning mercy amongst men. It is a faint analogy of, as it is an offshoot from the Divine pardon, but all the forgivingness of the most placable and long-suffering and gladly pardoning of men is but as earth to heaven compared with the greatness of His. 2. Again, God’ s way of dealing with sin surpasses all our thought. All religion has been pressed with this problem, how to harmonize the perfect rectitude of the Divine nature and the solemn claims of law with forgiveness. We have Jesus Christ. The mystery of forgiveness is solved, in so far as it is capable of solution, in Him and in Him alone. 3. We are taught here that God’ s way of dealing with sin is the very highest point of His self-revelation. If we want to see up into the highest heavens of God’ s character, we must go down into the depths of the consciousness of our own sin, and learn first how unlike our ways and thoughts are to God, ere we can understand how high above us, and yet beneficently arching over us, are His ways and thoughts to us. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)God’ s thoughts and ways far above ours I. THERE IS REBUKE . The Lord says, “ Forsake your way, for it is not My way; leave your thoughts, for they are not My thoughts.” The rebuke is enveloped in love, and made into a sugar-coated pill; the sweet promise of abundant pardon conceals the reproof. Let us take the rebuke, and notice-- 1. The fault of man’ s thoughts. “ My thoughts are not your thoughts.” (1) As between each other, God’ s thoughts are not man’ s, though they ought to be. God’ s thoughts are love, pity, tenderness; ours are forgetfulness, ingratitude, and hard-heartedness. (2) Your thoughts as to your conduct are not God’ s thoughts. He considers that the creatures He has made should obey Him, but you judge that it matters not what a man does towards his Maker so long as he is just towards his fellow-men. (3) God’ s thoughts, again, as to the life which a man needs in order to salvation are very different from man’ s thoughts. In this chapter He says, “ Hear, and your soul shall live.” He reckons, then, that man is dead till he has heard the word of God in his soul. Man reckons that he is alive enough. (4) God’ s thoughts are not our thoughts, again, in reference to the truth. Man thinks himself so wise and good that he does not like God’ s thoughts concerning himself, his fall, his,guilt, and his danger. (5) In the matter of salvation God’ s thoughts are not man’ s thoughts, for God thinketh that man has so sinned that he must be condemned except a substitute be found. Man thinks not so. God sets before him pardon freely presented through the precious blood: man thinks to buy it by his devotions, or to win it by his merits. 2. The text advances to say that man’ s ways are not like God’ s. Our ways are the outward actions which spring out of our thoughts. God’ s ways are ways of holiness and purity. God hath never done anything unjust to His creatures or unrighteous to Himself. But our ways are not so; they are full of error, marred with evil, polluted with impurity. By nature we love that which we ought to hate. Two cannot walk together in heaven except they be of one mind; so that our ways and God’ s ways must be made to be alike in character. Now, it is not possible for us to conceive of God’ s making His thoughts to be like our thoughts. What then? We must rise to Him. 3. I ask you to consider the difficulty of this. “ As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways.” How are we to be lifted up from earth to heaven? The word that answers the question is that matchless syllable, “ grace.” God in Christ Jesus, by His almighty grace, must raise us up together with Christ. II. WE HAVE . “ Let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts.” It is clear that there is a connecting link between the abundance of pardon and the lofty character of God, and that men are encouraged to forsake their ways and thoughts by the hope of pardon derived from the greatness of the Divine thoughts and ways. 1. Do not stand back because you cannot understand God. It is not needful that you should comprehend His ways and thoughts. 2. Neither start back because you cannot find a parallel to the grace which God declares that He will display towards you. 3. According to our text, whatever your ways towards God shall be in the future, He will exceed them. And as to your thoughts--can you think of how He will receive you? III. EXCITED. This time the link is forward instead of backward. “ For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither.” ! You are to expect that the Lord’ s word will be unfailing to you. 2. Next that you are returning to a God whose ways are so much above your ways, and His thoughts so much above your thoughts, that your heart shall be filled with joy--“ ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace.” God will not merely break off your chains and say in cold accents, “ You are free;’ but He will release you amid the music of the spheres. 3. Next to this, all your surroundings shall minister to your gladness. “ The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing” etc. The mountain which you feared shall break forth into song, and the forest at which you trembled shall become an orchestra in which every tree shall clap its hands for joy. 4. And then, there shall happen to you wonderful transformations. Evil habits shall be withered and holy principles nourished. 5. This mercy is to endure for ever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Man’ s thoughts and God’ s thoughts I. Compare your thoughts of THE OF PARDON with God’ s thoughts about it. You naturally form your ideas of God’ s ways from what you conceive would be yours if you were in His position. 1. I take you on that ground, and we will suppose that some wicked person has very grossly injured you and that the question of your forgiving him is now mooted. We will suppose you to be of a generous, frank, forgiving disposition, and in a calm and judicious state of mind. You are ready to act most leniently, but still the case in hand is no trifle and requires consideration. After well pondering the matter, you feel bound to say, “ I could forgive this person, but his offence is of a peculiarly grievous kind. With the most sincere, desire to pass over it, I feel that I must not, but must let the law take its course.” There have been many occasions when persons aggrieved have thus spoken, and when no reasonable person could have blamed them. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Isaiah 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,--The near and heavenly horizons I. THE HEAVENS ARE SO FAR ABOVE THE EARTH, AND SO PURE. By nature, the trend of our thinkings and activities is downward, earthly, sensual, devilish. Hence the awful disparity between the ways and thoughts of God and ours. It is impossible, therefore, for the natural man to understand God, or, to please God. It is impossible, also, for the natural man to live with God for ever, unless the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. II. SO FOR, AND SO . This is the thought which the apostle expands in one of the most glowing passages on the page of revelation (Romans 5:12-21). His point is, that whatever was done by sin, and through sin, must be paralleled and outdone by the grace of God. There is no parallel between our forgiveness and God’ s. When God forgives, He ceases to remember; He blots out iniquities as a cloud, and sins as a thick cloud; He does not treat us simply as pardoned criminals, but takes us to His heart as beloved sons, He transforms the sad consequences of our sins into blessings, instead of the thorn comes up the fir-tree, and instead of the briar the myrtle-tree. This surely is as much above man’ s notions of forgiveness as the heavens are high above the earth III. SO FAR, AND SO . (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)The transcendent elevation of God It is a wonderful and beautiful turn which the prophet here gives to the thought of the transcendent elevation of God. The heavens are the very type of the unattainable; and to say that they are “ higher than the earth” , seems, at first sight, to be but to say, No man hath ascended into the heavens,’ and you sinful men must grovel here down upon your plain, whilst they are far above, out of your reach. But the heavens bend. They are an arch, and not a straight line. They touch the horizon; and there come from them the sweet influences of sunshine and of rain, of dew and of blessing, which bring fertility. So they are not only far and unattainable, but friendly and beneficent, and communicative of good. Like them in true analogy, but yet infinite superiority to the best and noblest in man, is the boundless mercy of our pardoning God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Isaiah 55:10-13 For as the rain cometh down Rain snow, symbolic of the Word of God The fitness of the symbolism is apparent even to the most casual observer. 1. Snow and rain are characterized by gentleness which merges into force. One drop of rain falls upon my hand, and I crush it, and it is not; but when the drop is multiplied, and the great storm sweeps along the valley, it is almost resistless in its onrush. One feathery flake of snow falls through the atmosphere; I touch it, and it passes and is lost, its crystal beauty gone for ever at the rudeness of my human hand; but let that flake be multiplied and the falling snow will take hold of the thundering locomotive, clog its wheels, cheek its progress, bury it beneath its soft and noiseless whiteness. 2. Rain and snow are characterized by helplessness which grows into beneficence. We ask: What can this drop of rain do for man? What can this flake of snow do for humanity? And yet we know that when we pass from the individual drop to the great rain, that in falling makes the earth laugh back in harvest, and crowns the labour of the hands of men. There is no more exquisite word in all Scripture about Nature than that simple and sublime passage, “ He giveth His snow like wool.” Like a warm mantle, it wraps the earth in winter-time, and keeps it, itself of the nature of cold, from the penetration of intenser cold. And so we find that rain and snow, helpless as they seem, are the very messengers of beneficence to men. 3. Rain and snow come to us characterized by unfruitfulness, yet generating fruitfulness, wherever they fall. (G. Campbell Morgan, D. D.)The Word of God Let us take this symbolism of the prophet and consider it exactly as he has stated it-- I. AS TO THE . Let me first tabulate the phrase that we are to consider in this verse: “ Cometh from heaven, returneth not thither; watereth the earth, making it bring forth, and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater.” 1. Man has nothing to do with the coming of the rain and the snow. In the midst of that wonderful questioning of Job by God occur these two inquiries: “ Hast thou entered into the treasuries of the snow?” which, being translated, from poetry into prose, means, “ Do you understand the snow. Do you know from whence it comes. Can you analyze the mystery of its crystallization and deposit? Then, “ Hath the rain a father?” Are you able to generate it, to produce it? The Word of God is a message from God to man which no man was able to find out for himself. It is never a philosophy formulated by human wisdom; it is always a revelation made. The supreme quality of the Word of God is that however men may occupy their time in discussing thee methods by which we have come into possession of these documents, there is stamped upon every page of it the sign manual of Jehovah, great unveilings of His nature, great revelations of the deepest secrets of human life, great illumination of the problems that confront men by Divine revelation. It is the gift of God and not the contrivance of man. 2. But it “ returneth not thither.” The snow and the rain pour themselves out on the face of the earth, they melt and pass, and within a very few hours of the great rainfall which has sweetened everything in its coming the roads are dusty again, and we say, “ How soon the rain has passed. ‘ So after the snow has once come under the influence of the sun it is gone. Judged by first appearances, it seems as though this gift of heaven had been poured upon earth to be spoiled, contaminated, wasted. So the Word of God. The Word of God has been given to men in figure and symbol, in prophecy and song, and at last in the Person of Jesus, and since He came, in exposition and explanation, for centuries; and, how perpetually it seems to us, as we watch the openings of the decades, and even of the centuries, as though this great outpouring of Divine revelation was lost, falling upon man but to be spoiled. 3. But it “ watereth the earth.” Take this dust as it lies upon the highway and over the furrowed field, and within the dust is the making of everything that is beautiful and fruitful. But the dust does not laugh in flowers; it is capable and incapable. Lying within it are all the forces of life. All the mysterious magnificence of your personality on the physical side lies within the dust at your feet, and all flowers that bloom lie there in potentiality. As the rain and snow water the earth, which is at once characterized by capacity and yet unable to fulfil the possibilities that lie sleeping within its own being, it makes all Nature laugh with new beauty. So also the Word of God comes to men in whose nature are the potentialities but not the realizations. The Word of God falls upon the centuries, upon society, upon individuals, and we thought it touched them but to be spoiled and soiled and pass, but we watched and we found that by its falling the soil became productive. There is in every human being the capacity for Deity. There arc in every human life the potentialities of the highest and the noblest and the best. 4. The prophet now adds a further truth concerning these elements in the statement, “ making it bring forth.” After the rain and the snow the dull russet ground becomes beautiful with emerald and opal and ruby and diamond, and you know that when God’ s rain and snow touch the dust it makes the dust bring forth. So with the Word of God. The Word of God makes the dormant forces in man move to fulfilment. All men that have ever realized the possibilities of their own life have done so in response to some part of the Word of God, to the Word spoken, to the Word written, to the Word lived. 5. Yet another word that I have taken separately, because I think it really is separate. It is a stronger word than the former--“ maketh it bring forth, and bud.” I feel inclined to use here the literal Hebrew word, “ and sprout.” That is to say, the rain and the snow not merely touch the dust into generation, but come again in the grass, the flowers, the fruitage. And the Word of God has come from Him to touch the failure of human life, and it has been returning to Him laughing with the harvest of ransomed souls. The Word was incarnate in the Christ supremely, and in a less and different degree, but nevertheless as truly, God’ s Word has been re-incarnate in human lives in all the passing centuries. 6. Yet that is not all. “ That it may give seed to the sower.” What is this harvest for? You say for the sustenance of human life. That is not the first thing. Bread to the eater is a secondary thing. Bread to the eater is provision for the toiler that he may continue his sowing and reap his harvests; but the first tiling is that, in the new form in which the rain and snow return to God, there is always found the potentiality of propagation waiting for new showers and new transmutations and new harvests. So with the Word of God. The Word of God taking hold of human life, changing it, becoming incarnate in it, communicates propagative power; it makes a centre from which the seed may be scattered still further afield, and from one life re-made and sanctified by the Word of God there must go forth the seed that will affect yet other fields, and stretch out into great lines of blessed harvest. 7. “ And bread to the eater.” The man that ploughed and sowed and reaped feeds. The Word of God is also the bread of life to the toiler. II. AS TO THE GREAT . The symbolism of this great prophetic Word teaches-- 1. That the Word of God is purposeful. The Word of Cedis not given to be possessed; it is given that it may possess. 2. That the Word of God is powerful. It shall not return to Him void. And why not? Because it never comes void from Him. Every word of God thrills with fruitfulness. If we but know how to receive it and how to respond, then it shall return to Him not void, but fruitful, in lives changed, re-moulded, re-fashioned, sanctified. 3. That the Word of God is prosperous. The word “ accomplish” means it does something, it makes something, it realizes something; and the Hebrew word “ prosper” literally means it “ pushes forward.” It is a great dynamic force. III. AS TO THE . Rain and snow might fall upon the earth a long time and there be no harvest unless the earth is prepared. The rain and snow may fall in all their prodigal munificence and magnificence upon the earth, and there will be no harvest unless the seed is sown. And rain and snow may fall and make the earth laugh with harvest, if the earth be ready and the seed be sown, and yet men get no benefit unless the bread be eaten. Here, then, are three things at least that I would say: The earth must be prepared; “ take heed how ye hear.” The seed must be sown; “ preach the Word.” The bread must be eaten; “ let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.” The laws of grace as effectual as the laws of nature I. THE LAWS OF NATURE ARE . “ For as the rain,” etc. 1. Rain and snow are heaven sent agents. 2. They effectually answer their purpose. 3. Their beneficent results. (1) Earthly beauty. “ Maketh it bring forth and bud.’ (2) Husbandman supplied. “ Giveth seed to the sower.” (3) The citizen fed. “ Bread to the eater.” (4) Processes always repeated. II. THE LAWS OF ARE AS AS THE LAWS OF NATURE. “ So shall My Word be,” etc. 1. The Divine origin of Christianity. My Word. Out of My mouth. 2. Christianity will not be defeated. Shall not return unto Me void.” 3. Christianity will ultimately accomplish God’ s will and pleasure. “ Shall accomplish that which I please.” 4. Christianity shall produce its Divinely intended results. “ Shall prosper in the thing whereto! sent it.” 5. As in nature, the process slow but certain. (W. Unsworth.)Divine grace and human responsibility 1. Repeatedly has one come across good people making out, to their own satisfaction and comfort, that the non-return of God’ s Word to Him void just means that, when it does not soften and save it hardens, convicts, and condemns a man. And they think that dire result is the accomplishment of God’ s pleasure--is prosperity in the thing whereto He has sent His Word. It is true, of course, that where God’ s Word toes mot save, it condemns. But this is not the truth of these two verses. There is to reference in them to God’ s sovereignty as bent upon getting something or other out f the work of His Word; or to alternative purposes of His in sending it; or to some unknown, mysterious will of His that is served by the apparent or actual failure of His revealed will; or, indeed, to any judicial, punitive purpose or after-thought of his that comes into operation when His first and gracious purpose proves abortive he verses contain no warning to impenitent sinners, but an encouragement to doubting believers in front of promises, like those in this, chapter, which seem almost too good to be true. They do not set forth God’ s sovereign purpose in sending His Word as other than a sovereignly gracious purpose, and always gracious. They give a definite assurance, enforced and illustrated by “ the rain and the snow in heaven,” of God’ s kindness, of His power to make good His gracious Word, of faithfulness to His beneficent promises. The similitude of the fertilizing, fruit producing snow and rain, and the statement of Isa 55:12-13, forbid other than a gracious purpose in God’ s sending His Word. When, therefore, it is asserted that His Word shall not return to Him void, all that is meant is that this gracious purpose shall be affected, by His Word, before it goes back to Him. It does not tail. There is no lack of life, virtue, or grace in it. As regards its saving purpose, it never does return to Him void. 2. But how? Now, here we come to the true causes of the failure of God’ s Word to produce its legitimate and Divinely intended results, where it happens to fail. Just as the rain and the snow may, in some cases and under some conditions, very exceptional and mostly incidental, become a curse and not a blessing, so may God’ s Word fail to save men and only harden and condemn them. Men may be condemned in spite of Christ’ s coming to save the world. Men may bring upon themselves the wrath to which God did not appoint them. If so, it is in every case because God’ s purpose was resisted or thwarted; or the conditions of its fulfilment dependent on men were not complied with. The failure is not owing to Gods pleasure that it should occur. It is an indirect consequence of His purpose, for which men alone are responsible. For, in the ease of the rain and snow, God’ s purpose is realized only as men comply with the fitting and necessary conditions of using these aright. The rain and snow from heaven must be met by suitable conditions on earth by man’ s contribution of active preparation, careful husbandry, and seasonable watchfulness and diligence. Rain will not make sea-sand fertile. Rain will not make seed grow even in rich soil where no seed is sown, or where the seed, if sown, may be choked by weeds. There will be no seed sown, or And so one can to the sower who sows none; no bread to the cater who eats none see that where God’ s Word fails to effect His purpose of grace, it is simply and solely from causes for which man is responsible. It does not work mechanically, by lifeless necessity, regardless of man’ s freedom and man’ s contribution to its success. God’ s Word fails, wherever it does fail, just because men do not comply with the simple, ordinary, commonplace, but essential conditions of spiritual husbandry. (A. Warrack, M. A.)The efficacy of the Divine Word The thoughts of God have been shown to be high above men’ s thoughts. Now He indicates that His words, what ever may appear to the contrary, are efficacious with a like Divine efficacy. 1. It is to be received as an encouragement. It is not given as an explanation or justification for the want of results. It is meant to give new heart to the messenger who fancies his words are falling fruitless and all his efforts proving vain before the inert, immovable mass of sin and evil in the world. Most who have essayed to be messengers of God have been conscious of the sense of failure at times, and this thought would be fitted to buoy them up. 2. It declares the fact that God’ s Word is never altogether a failure. It may seem to our eyes to be producing no result. It works secretly but certainly. The law of its working is the law of working with all seeds, at first slow and secret and unseen. Who does not believe that, although unseen, the seed is still duly germinating? Even the words of Christ did not prove uniformly successful with His hearers, but in the end how like the seed, has been their great and ever-increasing influence! 3. It gives the correct idea of preaching. Preaching should be the uttering of a word of God. It rebukes the notion that preaching in the sense of speaking our words about God is useful or effectual. This is what the scribes and Pharisees did. This is what happens always in the age of cold dogmatism, when men do not forthtell what they have felt of God in their own souls, but substitute explanations, traditions, and views about the truth that make it powerless. 4. It tells us of the never-failing benefit of public worship. Men say that such and such preachers are not worth hearing. But this reminds us that in every service there is the Word of God declared. Even if prayers be slovenly, praises be harsh, and sermons be dull, and the occupant of pulpit unworthy, yet we have a sure word of prophecy to rest upon, “ It shall not return to Me void.” (J. Robertson.)The law of growth I. THE UNIFORM ACTION OF LAW. “ The rain returneth not thither,” void, without having effected the purpose for which it came. How is it that farmers are willing to put forth the labour of a whole year in order that they may have a gathering in at harvest-time? How is it that during the winter, and the spring, and the summer, they labour so hopefully, and wait so patiently! Because they know that the principles on which God carries on the processes of the material world are uniform and constant. So we conclude it is in the domain of spirit. There is uniform action of law. Notice this fact-- 1. In our own nature. Effects always follow causes in our life; actions always produce effects. 2. In relation to God. This is but one expression of the truth that He is faithful. (1) His purposes will surely be fulfilled. His ways are not as our ways. (2) His Word is powerful; it cannot be void. (3) His promises are sure. II. THE OF FORCES. The harvest which whitens the fields has not been produced by the action of one cause or process only. There have been mechanical action, physical action, chemical action, vital action. The germ of life in the seed has been stimulated by heat, quickened by rain, fed by minerals, tended by man. Many unlikely things, too, have contributed to the result. The long, cold winter caused the land to lie dead; but that was a necessary preparation for the activity of spring. Storms and tempests beat upon the ground, snows in winter covered it as with a pall; but these were necessary in their place and at their time. The changes in the atmosphere, the variations in the temperature, the rest and coolness of night after the heat and glare of day, all helped to swell the grain, to draw forth the blade, to fill the ear. The processes of nature arc carried on by the combination of numberless causes, many of thence small and perhaps insignificant in themselves; and by the intermingling of various laws in almost infinite variety. So in our inner lives we find this fact, that many causes combine to produce results. Life is made up of an infinite combination of forces. 1. God has bestowed upon us many gifts. To one He has given quickness of perception; to another, clearness of reasoning powers; to another, strength of will; to another, power of invention; and so on. But these are not the only gifts He has bestowed upon each: and it is not by the use alone of one particular power that life is to be carried on. It is by the due combination of all. So in spiritual things, it is not by faith, alone, or by hope alone, or by love alone, or by endurance alone, or by reading God’ s Word alone, or attending the means of grace alone, that our souls are to grow, that our characters are to be moulded. And sometimes the things which go to the moulding of our characters seem to us strange: the snows of winter sorrows settle round our hearts; the storms of difficulty and trial beat down upon us. We do not see how these can be necessary. But God sees, and He combines all causes, that He may lead to the best result. 2. So also it is with temptation. Hardly any sin is presented to us, or presents itself to us, in its naked reality. It comes clothed often in garments, if not of seeming righteousness, at least of negative purity. No temptation comes isolated; but mixed motives move us. We are, as it were, not so much in danger of being overwhelmed in a river, as of being beaten upon by successive drops of rain. 3. The possibility of usefulness comes to us not in one great offer, but a constant succession of small opportunities. III. EFFECTS ARE SLOWLY TO. Not all at once, not in a few moments, do the operations of nature effect their results. So it is in the working of life. There are no sudden effects. 1. Growth in grace should be our daily aim. 2. Growth in knowledge, too, is our privilege, not only of outward things, of the mysteries of creation, of the history of the past or the work of the present; but of God’ s Word. 3. Growth in strength may also be ours. The muscle that is used grows stronger by use. The spirit that exerts itself in the things of God, by God’ s blessing gains strength therein. (J. S. Shields, D. D.)Analogy of the natural and the spiritual I. THE ANALOGY OF NATURE TEACHES US THAT WHEN GOD CREATES A NEED IN HIS , HE MAKES TO SUPPLY THAT NEED. “ Bread to the eater.” Our bodies are so constituted as to need food. He who has so made them, has also arranged that the food shall be supplied. What about the soul’ s needs? God has so created it that it needs a food which the “ constitution and course of nature” cannot give. It looks beyond the natural, and craves for the supernatural. We long for knowledge of things spiritual; for guidance and comfort in daily life; for a hope beyond the grave; for a sphere less trammelled by limitations and temptations. We feel, even the most careless, that sin is a burden which weakens and defiles and condemns. Has the great Architect and Designer made no provision for such wants as these? Yes. As it is in His workings in creation, so in the spiritual sphere: “ So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth. God’ s Word he sent forth to give the knowledge of Himself. It tells of the living Bread which alone can satisfy the soul’ s need. It comes direct from God Himself. Written down by man, it is applied to the heart by God the Holy Spirit. Notice, therefore-- 1. Its absolute truth. It is not a series of speculations, or philosophizings, or aspirations; guesses of good or wise men, which may or may not be perfectly accurate. It is the Word of truth. 2. Its binding authority. It is the Word of a King. 3. Its unchanging, faithfulness. It is ever reliable. Its promises, are always “ yea and amen in. Christ Jesus.” They are bank notes for which there is always a reserve of gold in the treasuries of heaven. 4. Its unutterable blessing. It tells of full comfort for the sorrowing; perfect rest for the weary; abiding peace for the distressed. Never grateful showers fell with greater refreshment on the parched and thirsty fields than the dew of God’ s Word on the weary and longing hearts of men. How important that we should receive that Word, obey its commands, rest on its promises, take heed to its warnings! II. THE ANALOGY OF NATURE TEACHES US THAT WE MAY CO-OPERATE WITH GOD IN THE WORK OF MANKIND. The harvest-fields supply not only bread to the eater, but “ seed to the sower.” The grain is not merely food--it is seed. Each contains the embryo of a plant. Placed in proper environment at the right time, that little life will cause movement amongst its surroundings, will weave a shoot, a blade, and an ear full of corn. Next year’ s harvest will not be gained by a direct creation of God, but by a due use of the grain of this. This in-gathering contains the promise and power of future crops; it not only will satisfy present needs, but it has an expansive, and extensive, and far-reaching possibility. So it is in the kingdom of grace. 1. The Christian’ s life should be extensive as well as intensive. He receives, not only that he may gain benefit, but that he may help others. 2. The effects of truth are germinant as well as satisfying. 3. The rule of work prevails in the spiritual as well as the natural harvest-fields. Because the grain is seed, the work of the husbandman becomes possible. If the life were not there, the labour of the year would be in vain. Because the grain is seed, the work of the husbandman is obligatory. It is God’ s rule that part of this harvest should be used for the next. It is God’ s command that man should co-operate in this great plan. It is also man’ s interest to do so. The produce of the ground is the fundamental and dominating source of wealth. So it is in spiritual things. Think of the possibilities of the Christian life. Think of the obligatory nature of Christian service. We may even speak of the analogy of our own interest. (J. S. Shields, D. D.)The rain and, the Word The Gospel is compared to rain and snow I. IN ITS ORIGIN. From heaven. All truth is Divine. II. IN ITS . “ Watereth the earth.” The Gospel changes the human heart and promotes and nourishes all that is good. III. IN ITS . “ That it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater.” The Gospel gives instruction, comfort, and strength to men, and brings forth a harvest of fruit for God. IV. IN ITS FINAL RESULTS. “ It shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Homilist.)Christianity These words suggest several ideas concerning Christianity. I. VARIETY. It is compared to the rain and the snow. 1. How varied in form. The rain comes down softly and gently, and sometimes in torrents; and the snow, too, has a variety of form. 2. How varied in distribution! How much falls on oceans, how much on sands and desert wastes and rocks, as well as on fertile soils! It is so with Christianity. As the Word of God, its forms are varied, it comes in history, poetry, philosophy, precept, example, menaces, and promises. How varied in distribution! It falls on every class of mankind, the literate and the illiterate, the hardened, the tender, the rich, the poor, etc. II. . How inestimably valuable the rain and snow to nature. How precious Christianity! It is the “ water of life,” etc. III. . “ The rain cometh down and the snow from heaven.” It is manifestly from above. So is Christianity. “ It is,” says God, “ My Word that goeth forth out of My mouth.” The Divinity of Christianity is clear from its congruity with the facts of universal history, the soul’ s a priori notions of a God, the spiritual intuitions and longings of mankind, and the deep moral wants of the world. It is, indeed, the Word of God. IV. . It shall not return unto Me void.” Not a drop of rain or a flake of snow is wasted. It may be swallowed up in the desert, but it is not lost. Every drop has a mission, and its mission will be fulfilled. 1. God in giving Christianity to the world had a purpose. 2. That purpose will be inevitably accomplished. If God has made a promise to the world and that purpose is not accomplished, it must be for one of three reasons: either-- (1) He was insincere when He made it; or (2) He subsequently changed His mind; or (3) difficulties arose in the future, that baffled Him, which He never anticipated. All these are inadmissible, so that His Word shall not return unto Him void. (Homilist.)The errand of the Word Upon what errand has God sent forth His Word? “ Ten thousand thousand are its tongues,” and yet its work is one. It publishes “ salvation” with all its tongues. For if it speak to the mourner, it would save him from the wasting effects of his grief; and if it speak to the wanderer, it would save him from the further loss of his time, and the final loss of himself, in the wrong paths on which he has entered: and if it speak to the busy, it would save them from spending labour on that which satisfieth not. This is the lesson He would have sink into the heart of dull unbelieving man as the rain does into the earth, that the heavenly errands of Nature are not more sure of success than the heavenly errands of Grace; that the God of husbandry is even more the God of the husbandman; that, if water nourishes the earth, much more truth nourishes the soul: that if God’ s bidding is done by the winds that carry about the clouds to water the world, so also is it done--as surely, and in a higher way--by the Spirit that brings and dispenses to us the words of holy instruction and comfort. (T. T. Lynch.)The return of God’ s Word I. THE . The great purpose of God cannot fail. II. THE MANNER. But, then, we read of messengers who went to the husbandmen that kept God’ s vineyard, and returned to Him empty-handed. “ Why have ye not brought the fruit of the vineyard?” “ There was no fruit, Lord, to bring. They have wasted the hours of labour, or consumed Thy fruit in their own revels.” This is quite according to God’ s will--that men should be free to taste and try what manner of god folly is, what manner of reward sin can offer. God’ s messengers go once, twice, seven times. And, if needed, the Word goes forth to banish the husbandmen from the vineyard. The Word returns to God in many ways. It yields, by its operation, proofs that His charge against men is true; it yields fruits of patience in the souls of those who carry for God the rejected message; it produces, by the results of its rejection, the acknowledgment that it ought to have been accepted, and the disposition to accept it if it be again offered. If His word of mercy, on which men might rely, is not received by them, then His word of punishment, for which the rejected word has opened the way, goes forth into act; and this, by its action, may in turn prepare the way for another word of mercy, which is ready to go forth on its errand. So God’ s Word is always fruitful, however unfruitful we may be. III. THE MEASURE. In one sense all God’ s words are effective; that is to say, none shall be without its use, none without service rendered in illustration of His power and character. But some possible effects may not result, others coming in their stead; the conversion of a sinner,, for instance, may not now result, but, in its place, there may be a display of God’ s forbearance toward him. And so a hundredfold may not now be the measure of success, but only sixtyfold or thirty. In measure, as in manner, God’ s always powerful Word returns to Him variously. IV. THE TIME. Our time is short, and God’ s time long. Therefore many of the returns His Word shall make Him, returns in the abundance and glory of which we too are interested, are of necessity, and most wisely, delayed. (T. T. Lynch.)The Word of God likened to rain I. IN REGARD TO ITS ORIGIN. II. FROM ITS TO THE END WHICH IT IS TO SERVE. The rain that descends from above softens and subdues the stubborn clod; it furnishes food for the whole vegetable kingdom, and thus also for the animal kingdom; it mollifies and warms the atmosphere--and as it is the means of dissipating those clouds of cold that intercept the genial rays of the sun, it is no less necessary for the progress and perfection of vegetation than the sun in all his glory. One of the finest objects in nature is the appearance which the earth presents after having been saturated with rain, when warmed and invigorated by the rays of the sun; and accordingly the Messiah is thus represented, “ He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun ariseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by the clear shining after the rain.” The Word of God is no less fitted for all those purposes of enlightening, convincing, converting, and comforting for which it is sent. III. WITH REGARD TO THE MANNER OF ITS . The falling of the rain from the clouds in small drops is a remarkable instance of the wisdom of Him who is perfect in knowledge. When, at any time, as in the case of storms, it descends in torrents, this truth appears to us more obvious, as then, instead of refreshing the vegetable tribes, it carries desolation in its train. Such, in general, is the manner in which the Word operates upon the heart of man. The Spirit of God worketh where, and when, and how He pleaseth, by the Word generally, yet not always--sometimes by alarming dispensations of providence, and sometimes by the voice of conscience speaking within us. The Word of God is the great means which He employs for the salvation of sinners; the rain is the great means which He employs for the fructifying the earth: in the ordinary course of providence, the one acts in a gradual imperceptible manner; in the ordinary course of His grace, this is the way in which the other operates. IV. THE WORD IS LIKENED TO RAIN IS THIS RESPECT--“ It watereth the earth, and maketh it to bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. The great benefits that flow to the people of God from the Word, are set forth under the figures of bread to the cater, and seed to the sower; or, in other words, present support and future provision. V. THE WORD MAY BE LIKENED TO RAIN, WITH REGARD TO THE OF ITS THE EFFECT. VI. THE WORD MAY BE LIKENED TO RAIN, AS ITS DEPENDS UPON THE DIVINE . VII. THE WORD MAY RE LIKENED TO RAIN, AS WHILE THE IN BOTH CASES DEPENDS UPON THE OF GOD, IN NEITHER CASE IS THIS TO BE TO THE OF OUR . (C. Adie, D. D.)The certain success of evangelistic labour We argue the certainty of success in evangelistic labour. I. FROM THE NATURE OF DIVINE TRUTH. There is something in the quality and characteristics of the doctrine which we are commanded to preach to every creature, that promises and prophesies a triumph. The Word of God is both living and quickening. This is implied in the figure which the prophet Isaiah employs in the text. This is the declaration of God Himself, who understands the intrinsic nature of His own revelation; and by it teaches us that there is no greater adaptedness in moisture to fructify the ground, and germinate a corn of wheat, than there is in Biblical doctrine to renew and convert a human soul. For the truth which the evangelist scatters upon the printed page, or teaches from his own lips, is superhuman. In this fact, there is great encouragement to diligence and perseverance, upon the part of every disciple of Christ, to proclaim Divine truth in every form and manner possible. Revealed truth is immortal. It can never perish. Not only is Divine truth immortal in its nature, but it can never be expelled from the mind. Teach a child or a man, for example, the true Biblical doctrine of sin; fix it in his mind that God abhors wickedness, and will punish it everlastingly, and you have imparted something to him which he can never get rid of. And on the other side of revelation, all this is equally true. The peace-speaking promises of mercy, the doctrine of the Divine pity, of the forgiveness of sins and the preparation for eternal life--all this portion of Divine truth when once imparted is never again expelled. Even if, owing to the inveteracy of vice, or the torpidity of the conscience, or the obstinacy of the proud heart, the soul goes into the presence of God unforgiven, still the truths of the Gospel will be a portion of the soul’ s knowledge through all eternity; the evidence of what it might have secured, and the index of what it has lost. II. FROM THE FACT THAT GOD FEELS A SPECIAL IN HIS OWN WORD. The Scriptures warrant us in asserting that God is more profoundly concerned for the success of that body of truth which He has revealed to mankind in the Scriptures, than for the spread and influence of all other ideas and truths whatsoever. This is the only species of truth which He personally watches over, and accompanies with a Divine influence. The “ wisdom of this world” is “ foolishness” with Him. “ My Word,” says God, “ shall not return unto Me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Here is personal interest, and personal supervision. You may proclaim all your days your own ideas, or those of your fellow-men, but you will say with Grotius, at the close of a long and industrious career which had by no means been exclusively devoted to humanistic learning, “ I have spent my life in laboriously doing nothing.” III. FROM THE ACTUAL OF SUCCESS BY THE ANNALS OF SUCH LABOUR. Christianity must be from God, argued Justin Martyr and Tertullian, “ because it makes the voluptuous man chaste, the avaricious man liberal, the man of cursing a man of prayer, the implacable enemy a forgiving friend, converts wrath into gentleness, debauchery into temperance, and vice of manifold form into manifold virtue.” The fruits evince the reality, and the quality of the tree. We find what we may call the realism of Christianity in the evangelizing operations of the Church. The power of Biblical truth even when not proclaimed by the voice of the evangelist is continually receiving demonstration from this same source. The records of Bible and Tract Societies are full of instances in which the bare text of Scripture led to the conversion of a human soul. There is no surer evidence that the truths of the Gospel are destined to prevail, than the fact that they do prevail. From the subject as thus discussed, we infer the duty of great courage, and confidence, in the work of evangelizing men. (G. T.Shedd, D. D.) Isaiah 55:11 So shall My Word be Finality of the Divine purpose I. TRUTH IN ITS MISSION. “ It shall accomplish that which I please,” etc. 1. We may take our first illustration of this mission from the spirit and contents of the truth itself. It; is “ the Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Nature is the Word of His power. The Bible is the Word of His mouth. That belongs to the few who have the key or can find it: this is in language vernacular to the race. These two records are equally true in what they teach; but their teaching is in different dialects. Nature is a system of material facts: the “ Word is a revelation of supernatural thought. One is a manifestation of being: the other is a declaration of will. The one appeals to the senses and thence to the reason, making science: the other is a voice from within the veil, speaking to the consciousness of faith, creating a religion. Hence, while the teaching of the two records is equally Divine and true, their methods of teaching are essentially distinct. That something is at the back of all the complex and orderly working of nature, accounting for and actuating it, which itself is not nature, is patent to all who think. What that something is, is nowhere apparent. We see only phenomena. But “ the entrance of Thy Word giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple.” The one grand secret that has put the Bible down into the heart of man and made it the most precious, as it is the most potent, of his treasures, is this directness and power of its witness. 2. Then, there is the regeneration the truth is intended to effect. “ It is the power of God unto salvation.” It “ effectually worketh.” There is a method in this regenerating process. First of all, life is to be infused into dead souls. In the prospective history of humanity as that contemplates a state of future perfected being, we have a still further insight into this mission of truth. Paul, when affirming the scope of his own ministry, enunciates this thought: “ Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” The one type after which this perfection is to be constructed is “ Christ Jesus.” There is this final result. “ That we may present every man perfect in Christ” --man in his nationalities, in his generations, in his separate individualities, to the end of the ages, perfected by the truth. This is its mission. II. THE THE TRUTH HAS TO . “ It shall not return void,” etc. On the magnitude of the conflict depends the greatness and glory of its victory. There are obstructions arising from the nature of the truth itself, and from the disposition of man. 1. Truth is a holy thing; it can fraternize only with what is kindred to its own spirit: man is not a holy being. Hence antagonism. “ Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” In the natural world, there are ten thousand things which we cannot see with the naked eye: they can be reached only by an extra-natural sense. So it is in the kingdom of God. “ They are spiritually discerned.” 2. Truth is dogmatic in its teaching. It speaks “ as one having authority.” It has little consideration for the whims or passions of men. It postulates rather than argues its positions. Against this lofty dogmatism of inspired truth man lifts up his heel of proud contempt. 3. It was said by a distinguished sceptic of the eighteenth century, that if the solution of one of Euclid’ s problems could be shown to war against the selfishness or the pride of the human heart, there would not be wanting men to contradict it. A startling concession, and yet a conceivable fact. Euclid’ s problems do not touch our moral nature. They provoke no suspicion. It is otherwise with the truth. It reveals what we are shy of discovering. It affirms what we dislike to believe, and therefore wish to doubt. It asks what we are unwilling to yield. It puts in a plea for all rights which place themselves on the side of God; and so makes confession of our wrong-doing a first step in our becoming right with God. III. UNDER THESE , TRUTH HAS ITS . “ As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven--so shall My Word be.” Here are grounds of confidence. 1. There is the relation truth sustains to a purpose. 2. There is the connection of truth with a suitable agency. And this directness of supernatural agency carries over the truth from its relation to a purpose into the efficiency of an act. When the telegraph sends its message through the air or under the sea, there is something more than electricity at work. There is a mind, a personal intelligence, from whose directive will that electricity gets its action. So in the efficiency of truth. It supposes a power not in the truth, not in man, but in God; a power which, however inscrutably to us, works after its own methods--going down to the conscience, and up to the intellect, conquering prejudice, and silencing doubt, and turning men “ from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” 3. There is confidence in the end which this Word is to accomplish. “ It shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” What is that thing? There is the promise of the Father: “ Ask of Me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” This is already done in purpose, but not in effect. There is the advent of the Spirit. There is the glory of the Church. There is the millennium of man. There is the triumph of the Cross. God’ s time-plan sweeps through our human centuries, making a day out of a thousand years, and a thousand years into a day. 4. There is the calm, dignified attitude of truth in view of opposition. “ It shall not return unto Me void; it shall accomplish that which I please; it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Shall it? Then the Divine and the human plans are manifestly in collision. Men say it shall not prosper. “ It shall prosper.” Then the fears of the timid and the calm determination of the Divine mind are not in harmony. “ It shall accomplish that which I please.” Then the machinations of the adversary must be defeated. “ It shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Then man universally shall receive and know and obey the truth; for to man singly, and to man as a race, “ is the Word of this salvation sent.” (J. Burton.)The efficiency of God’ s Word The rain and the snow are sapped into the earth, and then incorporated in the grain, resulting in seed to the sower and bread to the eater. Similarly, the published Word, being assimilated into the human mind, fashions thought, moulds character, regenerates life; and therefore it does not return void to its Author. And even though it should be humanly rejected, it still would not return void; individual hearing creates individual responsibility, and hence leaves no one in the same place. The horizon of hope being unbrightened, the reverse side of despair casts up sooner or later. The operations of the Word are partly visible and partly invisible. Finite creatures observe the former; it wants Omniscience to penetrate the latter. For this reason God only can determine what His Word is really doing. Let us then consider-- I. THE WORD IN ITS . These are more apparent than real. The Word of God has sometimes carried His forces up to the heights of actual and visible victory; and at other times they have been allowed to fall back as if into shades of retreat, peradventure beneath bowers of sanctified calm. But retreat does not stand for surrender, though it may appear so to the unspiritual mind. Things are not necessarily what they seem; there are under-currents, silent influences, which demonstrate themselves, in some instances, only after a time. Denominations, associations, Churches, missions, and individual Christians have been known to get down to a low spiritual level; and yet, as if out of the ruins of a once flourishing past, great waves of revival have risen up and borne them into celestial altitudes, where they have gone on their way rejoicing. II. THE WORD IN ITS ACTUAL . “ It shall accomplish that which I please.” We are here confronted with the Word under four divisions--Promise, Law, Prophecy, Gospel. The outstanding promise of the Abrahamic period that Christ should arise from the seed of Abraham became an accomplished fact when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The law, with its manifold observances, also saw its end and accomplishment in Christ. Prophecy, although it covers a wide range, has waited long enough to see itself come true for the most part; it shall wait a little longer, and then it will see itself worked out in full. Through this treble word--Promise, Law, Prophecy--God was pleased to accomplish what may be summed up as the prelude to a spiritual kingdom. Then there is the further word, the Gospel, which outlines the principles on which the spiritual kingdom is founded and worked. The Gospel is our charter; through it God accomplishes that which pleases Him even now--namely, the salvation of sinners. How far the Gospel has wrought towards the fulfilling of God’ s saving purpose up to the present, no one can tell but Himself. III. THE WORD IN ITS AIM. “ It shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” What is that thing? To bring mankind to a knowledge of His will. Whoever has felt the power of the Word within his own soul is himself an illustration of its efficacy. Also, whatever spiritual advancement accrues to believers through perusing the Word, in them likewise it may be said to prosper. But above all, when the mansions of glory are possessed, God may then point to that great multitude which no man can number, and say, “ These are they that have come out of great tribulation.” They will be His witness that His Word had prospered in the thing whereto tie sent it. Considering the verse as a whole, it gives out an explicit promise. It contains a fourfold “ shall.” What scope for the exercise of faith! (H. Edwards.)Spring-time in nature and grace I. DOWN COMING. “ As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven.” Our spring begins with April showers alternating with rough winds. So it is spiritually; the down-coming of the Word of God is to our hearts like the falling of the rain from heaven. Concerning this clown-coming, I may say-- 1. It is usually unpleasant. We are accustomed to speak of rainy weather, and especially of snowy weather, as “ bad ‘“ weather. When we spiritually begin to live, it is usually rough weather, and we are apt to think it is bad weather. Drip, drip, drip, fall showers of repentance. Snowflake after snowflake falls, and buries all our hopes; our joys arc covered, as with a winding-sheet. 2. It differs very much in its method, for rain and snow do not always come down in the same way. Sometimes the rain falls very gently, we can hardly tell whether it is rain or not. Our Scotch friends would call it “ a mist.” At another time, the rain, like Jehu the son of Nhnshi, drives furiously. So, there are some to whom God’ s Word comes very softly. There are others to whom it comes very terribly. 3. It differs also in time and in quantity. One shower is quickly over, and another lasts all day and all night. The snow may in one season fall heavily for a few hours only; at another time, a week of snow may be experienced. So, the work of Divine grace, when it begins in the soul, is not very manifestly the same in different persons. Some of us were for years subject to the operations of God’ s Spirit, and endured much pain and sorrow before we found peace in believing. Others find Christ in a few minutes, and leap out of darkness into light by a single spring. 4. It is always a blessing, and never a curse. If the rain should pour down very heavily, and continue to fall until we might be led to think that the very heavens would weep themselves away, yet, it never can produce a flood that would drown the world, for yonder in the heavens is the bow of the covenant. These rains must mean blessing. And if the snow should fall never so deep, yet not even by snow will God destroy the earth any more than by a flood. So, when God’ s grace comes streaming into the heart, it may produce deep conviction, it may sweep away the refuges of lies, it may cover up and bury beneath its fall every carnal hope; but it cannot be a flood to destroy you. There shall yet come a change of weather for you, and your soul shall live. II. THE ABIDING. “ It returneth not thither, but watereth the earth.” So is it spiritually; when God’ s grace falls from heaven, it comes to stay. 1. When God sends His grace from heaven, you may know it by this sign, that it soaks into your soul. 2. It fertilizes it, it makes the soul bring forth and bud. The metaphor of my text cannot set forth the whole truth, for this Word of God, which is the rain, is also the seed. What should we think of clouds that rained down the seeds? The Word of God is the incorruptible seed, which liveth and abideth for ever; and whenever that seed is sown, God’ s Word comes soaking into the soul, making the soul to live. 3. It works in the man whatsoever God pleases, all His Divine purpose. “ It shall accomplish,’ etc. III. THE RESULTS of the down-coming and the abiding. What happens? 1. It makes the earth to bring forth and bud. There is nothing more beautiful than the rosebud; it is more charming by far than the full-blown rose; and the buds of all manner of flowers have a singular charm about them. But when the grace of God has come into a young man’ s heart, we very soon see his buds; he has gracious purposes, holy resolves, the beginnings of prayer; he has the makings of a man of God about him. 2. If you are what the Lord would have you to be, you will not long be content with buds. If you serve the Lord, and the Lord continues to visit you with showers of blessing, you will soon bring forth seed for the sower. You yourself will become useful to others; your experience, your knowledge, your service, will become the seed of good for other people. 3. Grace also makes us produce bread for the eater. If you consecrate yourselves to Christ, and come under the saturating influence of the Divine Word, you do not know how many lips you may feed, nor how many your word may convert to Christ. 4. The result of Divine grace upon the heart is very singular, so that I can hardly bring it under the metaphor of rain and snow, for it works a transformation. When rain falls on a plot of ground, if it is covered with weeds, it makes the weeds grow; but in the spiritual realm, the rain that comes down from heaven itself sows the ground with good seed. What is more singular, where it falls, it transforms the ground, and the plants that come under its influence change their nature. “ Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree.” When the grace of God comes into the soul, it takes the obnoxious things in us, and transmutes them into blessings. IV. THE . The music of the year is full in spring-time. 1. In spring-time, one cause of happiness is new life. We have come into a new life; the Holy Ghost has breathed upon us. 2. Another source of joy in spring-time is to be found in our happy surroundings. It is beginning to be warm; we hope soon to be able to sit out of doors in the sunshine. And is it not so with us spiritually? We are no longer in bondage and fear. Reconciled through the blood of Jesus Christ, we joy in God. 3. Spring-time is peculiarly pleasant because of its large promise. We are thinking of the hay harvest and of the fruit of the field. We are reckoning upon luscious grapes, and upon the various fruits which faith sees to be hidden within the blossoms. But may not our hopes be disappointed if we reckon upon earthly fruits? But you and I have come, by grace, into a land of hope most sure and steadfast. We have hopes grounded on God’ s Word, and they shall never be disappointed. 4. In spring-time there always seems to me to be a peculiar sense of Divine power and Divine presence throughout all nature. It is as if Nature had swooned awhile, arid lay in her cold fit through the winter; but now she has been awakened, her Lord has looked her in the face, and charmed her back to life again. Some say that there is no God. We have had dealings with God, personal dealings with Him, as when the sun, though it be ninety-five millions of miles away, has commerce with the earth, and the bulbs that sleep beneath the black mould begin to swell and upheave, and by and by the yellow cup is held up to be filled with the light of the sun. (C. H.Spurgeon.)God’ s Word productive of good A distributor gave a tract to a young man, accompanying it with some words expressive of a serious and affectionate desire for his salvation. The young man, upon the departure of the missionary, threw the pages into the fire; but as they curled up in the flame, his eye caught the words: “ Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” As these words turned to ashes in the fire, they turned to firs in his mind. He found no rest, until he found it in the blood of atonement. This was an actual occurrence. (G. T. Shedd, D. D.) Isaiah 55:12-13 For ye shall go out with joy The reversals of pardoning mercy The wealth of God’ s abundant pardon is here set forth in metaphors which the least imaginative can understand. Not only were the exiles forgiven, their warfare accomplished, their iniquity pardoned; but they would be restored to the land of their fathers--“ Ye shall go out . . . ye shall be led forth . . . ” Not only were they to be restored; but their return was to be one long triumphal march. Nature herself would celebrate it with joyful demonstration; mountains and hills would break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field would clap their hands. But even this was not all. One of the necessary results of the depopulation of the land of Israel was the deterioration of the soil. Vast tracts had passed out of cultivation; the terraces, reared on the slopes of the hills with so much care, had become heaps of stones; where corn had waved in the rustling breeze, or luscious fruits had ripened in the autumn sunshine, there was the sad fulfilment of the prediction, “ They shall smite upon their breasts for the pleasant fields,,, for the fruitful vine. Upon the land of My people shall come up thorns and briars (Isaiah 32:12-13).But this, too, was to be reversed. Literally and metaphorically, there was to be a complete reversal of the results of former sins and backslidings. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)God’ s dealings with the soul in grace To the Jew in Isaiah’ s time this promise doubtless bore reference to three things: the return from the seventy years’ captivity; their ultimate restoration, first to their own land, and then to Christ; and God’ s way of dealing with each individual’ s own soul. To us it stands only in the last reference; to us the words are simply spiritual. I. THE GOING GUY appears to relate to that great moral exodus when a man emerges from a state of nature into a state of grace, from bondage to liberty, from darkness to light, from the world to Christ, This is indeed to be with joy. II. THE BEING LED FORTH denotes the further experiences of the Christian,--God’ s conduct of him by the way; his future courses, and especially themanner in which he is brought out at last--out of this life into a better; and all this is to be “ with peace.” (J. Vaughan, M. A.)What is joy? 1. Novelty of perception. It is a wonderfully new feeling when a soul first tastes the promises and grasps its own interest in Christ. 2. Keenness of perception. Keen is the first sense of sin to a penitent, and keen is the first sense of pardon to a believer. In that early dawn the soul’ s atmosphere is so clear that every object stands out in its distinctness. 3. Sweetness of perception. Sweeter are those perceptions than they are keen. Are they not the touches of the Holy Ghost They are all about beautiful things--saints and angels, a holy heaven, and a perfect Jesus. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)“ And be led forth with peace:” As we go on in the spiritual life the sense of sin grows deeper and deeper; and a deep sense of weakness, nothingness, and guilt, combining with a fuller sense of pardon and love, makes joy peace. To a mind led and taught of God all the changes and chances of life lend themselves to peace. A great affliction is a deep fountain of peace; the very agitation hushes, and it makes all troubles afterwards so very small. Another and another promise fulfilled every day is always enlarging the rock underneath our feet. Another and another answer to prayer is always strengthening the arguments for the future. Another and another new drop of the knowledge of Christ is always swelling the tide, till the “ peace flows like a river,” because we see the “ righteousness of Christ” as the waves of the sea. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)The effect produced by the Gospel I. AN EFFECT THE MOST JOYFUL. Joy to whom? 1. To themselves. “ The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. Lord Chesterfield said, “ I hope I shall never be what they call converted, for I should be the most miserable man upon earth; not considering that this change would have produced a change in his taste, and that he would have been able to relish things which he disliked before. He to talk of religion making him miserable! Why, does he not, in one of his letters, tell us that he had always been wretched--that he had always found the world a cheat--and that he was now leaving it, not because he was reconciled to it, but because he was compelled; and that, since time had become his enemy, he was endeavouring to sleep away the remainder of it in a carriage? Bolingbroke, too, said, “ I now find in my affliction that my philosophy fails me. But the Christian’ s religion does not fail him in the day of trouble.” 2. To their fellow-Christians. There is no room for envy here, for there is enough for others as well as for yourselves, and enough for all. 3. To their pious friends, connections and relations. They had given them many a pang before. 4. Joy to ministers. When they observe the success of their labours, they resemble the husbandman, who, after his ploughing, manuring and sowing, goes forth and sees, first the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear. 5. Joy to the angels. 6. Joy to the Mediator. 7. Joy to God Himself. “ The pleasure of the Lord,” says Isaiah, “ shall prosper in his hand.” “ The Lord thy Go-d in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing.” II. AN EFFECT THE MOST . “ Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree,” etc. III. AN EFFECT THE MOST TO GOD. It shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign, that shall not be cut off.” (W. Jay.) Isaiah 55:13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree The briar The word for briar (sirpad) is unknown. LXX. renders Κόνυζα (fleabane). All that can be said is that some desert plant is meant. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The Lord’ s name and memorial These words are a poetical description of great moral changes which the Gospel works wherever it comes. At the same time they are not solely poetical, for wherever the spiritual change comes the physical change is almost sure to follow. As men are elevated the earth yields her increase more largely. Look at the field of the sluggard, and the garden of the industrious! Look over the wild wastes of Africa, and then see the fertility of the same soil when tilled by the missionary’ s converts! The surest way to benefit men in their outward circumstances is to bless them spiritually. I. THE AGENCY here spoken off I do not find in this fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah that the cause of the spiritual miracles of my text is a gospel of forms and ceremonies. Nor do I find here a gospel of dogmas and orthodoxies, of rigid creeds, and infallible statements. But I learn a Gospel of quite another sort, more Divine, more glorious by far. 1. A Gospel revealing Divine provision for man’ s necessity, and earnestly inviting man to partake of it (verse 1). 2. This Gospel is as free as the air, for do we not read over and over again, “ Buy without money and without price,” and are not those invited to come who have-no money? 3. It is a Gospel of hearing and not of doing. “ Hearken diligently.” “ Incline your ear.” “ Hear and your soul shall live.” Death came to us first through the eye, but salvation comes through the ear. 4. Running your eye down the chapter you will notice that the great means God makes use of for turning deserts into gardens is the Gospel founded on a covenant, a covenant made with David’ s Lord and Son. “ I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure, mercies of David.” 5. Isaiah describes” a Gospel whose success is guaranteed. “ Thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not. But you may call often, and men will not come; in this case, however, they shall come. “ Nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee.” “ For as the rain cometh down, and the snow,” etc. 6. The Gospel which Isaiah speaks of is full of grace and encouragement (verses 6-9). II. THE RESULTS OF THE GOSPEL. The change depicted in this verse is very radical, for a little observation will convince you that it is a change in the soil. The verse does not say, Instead of the thorn God shall plant the fir tree. No but as the thorn coming up naturally by itself indicates such-and-such a condition of soil, so fir trees shall spring up by themselves spontaneously, indicating an altogether radical change in the earth beneath. When God encloseth a heart that has laid common, does He cut down the thorns and the briars, and then plant fir trees? No l but He so changes the soil that from the ground itself there spontaneously starts up the fir tree and the myrtle. This is a miracle which man cannot accomplish, a marvel which only the grace of God can work, and which gives to God His highest glory. Note the poetic metaphor which describes the outward change. 1. A thorn Is the conspicuous emblem of the curse. Upon many ungodly men there is very evidently the curse, while upon all it really rests. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked. 2. A thorn is a fruitless thing. Look at it, and see how barren it is. God gets neither prayer nor praise from the ungodly man. 3. A thorn, too, is a repulsive thing--there is nothing inviting about it; nobody would choose to make it a pillow or a companion. Some Christless persons are naturally amiable; but many and many a man, especially when sin has come to a head with him, is a thorn-hedge, a churl, a,n unsympathizing, selfish being. 4. Again, the thorn is a rending thing, offending, noxious. So has it been with ungodly men, when unrestrained by grace. Like Saul of Tarsus, they breathe out vengeance against God and His people. 5. As for the metaphor of the briar used in the text, it was always the emblem of desolation. The briar came up on the desolate walls of Babylon and Nineveh; the briar covered the land of Israel, when the inhabitants were carried away captive. In how many human hearts where the Gospel has not come is there desolation, sadness, despair? 6. The briar, too, is a thing that cumbers the ground; it occupies the place of the palm or of the fig; and so ungodly men cumber the ground; they do no good; they occupy spheres in which others might have served God; they are altogether wasters, they rob God, they bring Him no revenue of glory. 7. The briar is soon to be cut down, and when cut down no use can be made of it; it is burnt; it is put away. Such is the future history of the unconverted man. III. THE ISSUE. “ It shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” Jehovah might, if He willed, have taken other names; He might have selected other works of His hands to be the ensigns of His glory, but He has chosen the results of the Gospel to be His proudest honours; He has, if I may use such a term, staked His eternal majesty upon the effects of Gospel grace. With the heathen their gods took names from what were thought to be their most glorious work. We read of Jove, the thunderer, because they imagined that he launched the bolt from his hand. They spoke of the fardarting Apollo--the rays of light flashing from the sun. They talked of the cruel Juno in the wars of Troy. If Jehovah, the one only true God, had chosen, He might have been “ Jehovah, the Thunderer;” we might have read of the far-darting God; we might have had Him constantly portrayed in Scripture as the terrible and avenging Lord; but He hath not chosen such a name; He hath not been pleased to select anything that is terrible as His peculiar glory, but that which is full of melting mercy and tender pity. The Lord has acted wisely, as He always does, in selecting such a matter as this to be His name, to be a display of Himself, because it is everlasting. Let this encourage Christians. If it is God’ s glory to save man, expect to have them saved and go to work to save them. To you who are unconverted! How this ought to encourage you to come to God in Christ Jesus! Is it to His glory to save you? Then He will do it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The effects of the Gospel I. THE OF THE . “ Instead of the thorn,” etc. 1. Naturally, there is no difference between men as to their state. 2. Grace makes a difference. II. THE OF THIS TO GOD. “ And it shall be to the Lord for a name,” etc. 1. It is supposed that this work is the work of God. And it is, and must be so; and the very quality of the effect shows its origin and Author. 2. This is to be to Him for “ a name, that is a praise; and therefore you will find both words used together in another passage. They shall be to me for a name and a praise.” And the latter is explanatory of the former. 3. It “ shall be to the Lord,” not only for “ a name,” but for “ a sign.” A sign is a manifestation, a token. Now the conversion of souls to God is a kind of moral miracle; it is a striking display on the part of God towards man. 4. Observe the duration of this. “ An everlasting sign.” (W. Jay.)Spiritual development This is the predicted result of the things that are described and promised in the former part of the chapter. I. THE GROWTH. The human soul will grow. It will put forth from its soil and substance natural and moral products of some kind. There may be thorn and briar, or there may be fir tree and myrtle tree, but there will be something. There are no responsible human souls absolutely barren. There seems to be a certain amount of force in the human soul--a certain amount of what may be called organic vitality, which will be out into forms and habits, speech and behaviour, character and life; and you cannot keep it down, do what you will. II. THE FIRST CROP IS THE THORN AND BRIAR. These are indigenous to the soil; the things that will appear if nothing is done. Our state is so depraved that evil principles, affections and habits will take priority of anything good that may be left in us. Our views of sin will affect our views of almost everything else. III. THERE IS A SECOND CROP. These trees are taken, apparently, AS EMBLEMS OF THE BETTER LIFE, ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR GREAT BEAUTY AND . We find the fir tree very often used by the sacred writers, with the cedar. Thus--“ The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters are fir.” Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “ I will do all thou desirest concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir.” “ Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon.” Indeed, some think that the tree here mentioned, called the fir tree, was the cedar, and some think it was the cypress. Probably the word is generic, and has reference to trees of that kind. Trees, like the cypress and cedar, were grand to the sight and refreshing to the traveller who stood under their shadow; and the wood of them was so hard and excellent that it was much used for the building of temples, for ships, for musical instruments, for lances to be used in war, and even for statues, on account of its great durability. We see the idea here suggested. What is strong, useful, beautiful, takes the place of what is prickly, useless, wasteful. A change like that in a landscape would be an emblem of what takes place in a human soul and life, when a natural man becomes a spiritual man. In a well-tilled Gospel field we should not see much of a thorn and briar from the very first. In family gardens they should not be suffered to grow--at least, every endeavour should be made to prevent it, and to rear the fir tree and the myrtle tree, and to draw out unto them the strength which otherwise will certainly go to nourish the hurtful and wasteful things. It is to be feared that some Christians, parents and others, have radically erroneous conceptions on this point. They hold the doctrine of natural depravity shelteringly, almost lovingly, the same almost as if they held it to be their duty to draw out that depravity in order to prove it. Certainly these thorns and briars will grow up if we let them, but instead of them let us have the fir tree and the myrtle tree so early and so fully that we shall never see the former at all. IV. THE BEAUTY. That must be beautiful and good which the Lord takes for a name, and regarding which He says, “ Let Me be known by it.” It is so even now. When God speaks of Himself He does not point to His name up amid the stars--systems and fields of wide illimitable space. He does not speak of earthquakes and violence; of majestic clouds, and stormy seas. He points to His new-born children--who bear His image, who reflect His glory-whose souls enshrine His awful name--who are set for ever to be the praise of the glory of His grace, “ for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” The Gospel even in this world is an indestructible thing. It is erecting signs of its power far more enduring than the pictures of the learned and the statues of the brave. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)Good latent in the heart A gentleman who has had long experience of life in America, and who has watched the forests of Canada, told me that when they cut down there the natural growth--the thorns and the briars--the wild birch, that is not good for much--the maple, and other suchtrees--there do not grow up again the same trees that were cut down. Strange to say, the fir tree springs up all over the ground. It is as if the seeds of the fir were held there latent, waiting the opportunity, and no sooner is the opportunity given than they spring up and grow. Is not that an emblem of grace, the seeds of which may have been sown in the heart long ago by early instruction, by impressions made in former years, or by more recent impressions of a religious kind? Is not that an indication of how these seeds will spring up at once if you but lay the axe to the root of these other trees, and bring them to the ground? (A. Raleigh, D. D.)The transformation of God’ s grace “ An everlasting sign!” That surely indicates that sacred lessons are hidden under this prediction, which arc of permanent interest and importance. Let us seek them in the light of other Scriptures. “ Unto Adam He said, Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee. “ And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on His head. “ There was given me a thorn in the flesh Concerning this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee.” I. THE THORNS AND BRIARS OF LIFE. In many cases we reap what others have sown; in some we sow for ourselves; in others we suffer from our neglect. We have failed to use our opportunities; and therefore crops of rank growth cover the acres of the past, and thistledown hovers in clouds, threatening the future. 1. Ill-health is surely one. For some, the excesses of their ancestors--for others, their own--have sown the furrows with the seeds of bitter harvests, which they have no alternative than to reap. Dyspepsia, cancer, the slow progress of paralysis along the spinal cord, nervous weakness and depression--these are some of the many ills to which our flesh is heir, and they are thorns indeed. Paul’ s thorn was probably ophthalmia. 2. Bad children are another. Did David not mean this when he said that his house was not so with God; and that the ungodly, like thorns, must be thrust away with the armed hand? When the daughters make unfortunate marriages, and sons spread their sails to every gale of passion, there are thorns and briars enough to make misery in the best-appointed and most richly furnished homes. 3. Strong predispositions and tendencies towards evil may be classed among the thorns. To be of a jealous or envious temperament; fall on dull and irresponsive ears--this is to be beset with thorns and briars, as though all the goodness of a field should go to waste in weeds. 4. Compulsory association with uncongenial companions in the workshop or the home. 5. Difficulties that bar our progress, like hedges of prickly thorns in some tangled forest, may be included in this enumeration. Competition in commercial life makes thorny the path of many a man of business. Perplexities and worries, annoyances and vexations, fret us almost beyond endurance. Each life has experiences like these. Surely, we argue, we could live nobler and more useful lives, if only we were free. “ Not so” says the Lord. “ I cannot take away the thorn--it is the only means of royalty For thee; but I will give thee My all-sufficient grace.” II. ROYALTY THROUGH THORNS. It is very remarkable that the sign of the curse became, on the brow of Christ, the insignia of royalty. The lesson is obvious--that He has transformed the curse into a blessing; that He has discovered the secret of compelling it to yield royalty. There was some dim hint of this in the words of the primaeval curse on the ground, “ Cursed is the ground for thy sake; thorns also and thistles it shall bring forth unto thee.” What can this mean, except that there was an ulterior design in this infliction on the material world? It is not very clear what is implied in this sentence on the ground. Almost certainly there were thorns and thistles before Adam’ s sin brought a blight on God’ s fair world; but probably from that moment they became more prolific, or the conditions that had been unfavourable to their growth became more favourable, or malign hands were permitted to scatter their seeds afar. But, however, it befell, there can be no doubt that God’ s purpose was wholly benevolent. Cursed is the ground for thy sake; that is, out of the obduracy of the soil, and its tendency to breed thorns and thistles, will come to thee the best and highest blessing. Surely this has been verified. Where has man attained his noblest development? In lands where kindly Nature has been most prodigal of her good gifts? where the soil has only needed scratching to yield a bountiful return? where life has been free from care, as that of bees among the limes? No! not there. By the bountiful provision of all they needed for their sustenance and comfort, Nature has enervated her children, men have become inert and sensual, ease-loving and muscleless. But where the soil has been unkindly, the climate inhospitable, the struggle for existence hard, the presence of the thorn ever menacing the cultivated patch, and threatening to invade garden or field; where every endeavour has been required to wring subsistence from the unwilling ground--there man has arisen to his full height, and put forth all his glorious strength of brain and sinew. Probably this is what is meant in the thorn-crown on the brow of Christ. It teaches that man can only attain his true royalty by meeting, enduring and overcoming these elements in life which forebode only disaster and loss. What a magnificent conception this gives of the possibilities of sorrow! In proportion as we patiently submit ourselves to our Father’ s appointment, we come to see the reasonableness and beneficence of His design, and find ourselves adopting the thistle as our badge; we discover that it has been the means of unfolding and perfecting our character, of giving royalty and dignity to our demeanour, and making us kings by right of conquest, as well as by right of birth. III. THE OF GRACE. “ Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree; and instead of the briar the myrtle tree.” “ My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” “ I will, therefore, glory in My infirmities. 1. God gives us new views of dark things. What we thought was punishment, turns out to be the chastening of a Father’ s love. The thorns change to myrtles when God shows His reasons. 2. God makes our sorrow and losses occasions for giving more grace. There are two ways of helping the soul bent double under some crushing burden. It may be removed; or additional strength, equal to its weight, may be inbreathed. The latter is God’ s choice way of dealing with His children. And if we were wise, we should not pray for the extraction of the thorn, but claim the greater grace. 3. The grace of God actually transforms awkward and evil dispositions, both in ourselves and others. Softness becomes meekness; cowardice gentleness; impulsiveness enthusiasm; meanness thrift; niggardliness generosity; cruelty consideration for others; irritability and vehemence patience and longsuffering. God did not destroy the Roman Catholic pulpits at the Reformation--He did better, He filled them with Gospel-preachers. Similarly, He does not destroy any of our natural characteristics, when He brings us to Himself; He only eliminates the evil and develops the good. The thorns of passion and temper are replaced by fir trees, and the briars by myrtles. 4. When the discipline has done its work, it is removed. These glowing predictions were partially fulfilled in the restoration of Israel under Ezra and Nehemiah; and no doubt they would have been more fully realized if there had been more perfect faith in the Divine promises. These glowing words, however, shall be perfectly fulfilled in those coming days when Israel shall turn to the land from all lands whither her people have been scattered. Their conversion, the apostle tells us, shall inaugurate the times of refreshing, of which the prophets have spoken from the beginning of the world. (F. B. Meyer, M.A.)An everlasting signA token and sign of Gospel redemption 1. The redemption of the Jews out of Babylon shall be a ratification of those promises that relate to Gospel times. 2. It shall be a representation of the blessings promised, and a type and figure of them. (1) Gospel grace will set those at liberty that were in bondage to sin and Satan. They shall go out, and be led forth. Christ shall make them free. (2) It will fill those with joy that were melancholy (Psalms 14:7). (3) It will make a great change in men’ s characters. (4) In all this God shall be glorified. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 56:1 Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment Privilege and responsibility The doctrine of the passage is simply this, that they who enjoy extraordinary privileges, or expect extraordinary favours, are under corresponding obligations to do the will of God; and, moreover, that the nearer the manifestation of God’ s mercy, whether in time or eternity, the louder the call to righteousness of life. These truths are of no restricted application, but may be applied wherever the relation of a Church or chosen people can be recognized. (F. A. Alexander.)God’ s mercy and man’ s duty When God is coming towards us in a way of mercy, we must go forth to meet Him in a way of duty. (M. Henry.)Reformation the precursor of regeneration God does not demand of a man, when He sends to him the gracious announcement of the Gospel, that he should change his heart, in order to his having a share in His proffered mercy. He does not say to him, You are now a disloyal subject, and before you can have an interest in the blood of My Son, I require you to become loyal. But He does require that he should set himself to the giving up the overt acts of disloyalty. He sends the tidings of a flee pardon to His alienated subjects, but He bids them, as it were, get ready for its reception. “ Keep ye judgment, and do justice,” etc. The manner in which the doctrines of Scripture are oftentimes propounded has a distinct tendency to repress men’ s energies, or to give them an altogether wrong direction. The Bible addresses itself unreservedly to sinners, as though they had a moral power of action, for which they were, in the largest sense, accountable, and through which they might make some progress towards deliverance. Hence, it calls on the wicked to forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and to turn unto the Lord. It bids them cease to do evil, and learn to do well; it clearly demands a preparatory reformation, and such an attention to the conduct as shall, in some sense, make way for the free pardon of the Gospel. I. SHOW WHAT LIES WITHIN THE POWER OF THE ; AND WHAT, , THEY ARE BOUND TO DO IF THEY HOPE FOR, . We apply this direction to the case of every individual, whatever his station in society; and we consider it as requiring of him a more diligent attention to the duties of that station, as preliminary to his obtaining a single share in the mercies of redemption. If he be living in any known sin, let him renounce it. God’ s Spirit, so to speak, is scared away by his intemperance, his lust, his uncontrolled tempers, and if he would hope for visitation from this Spirit, let him strive to sweep the chamber, and to garnish it for its reception. II. THE PERFECT HARMONY OF THESE WITH THE OF GRACE. We are accustomed to preach to you the insufficiency of works, in helping forward that justification which is purely of faith; and now we seem to teach the vast importance of works, and those, too, works wrought by mere human strength, as distinctly instrumental to human salvation. 1. The throwing of a man upon certain resources which we hold him to possess, is not representing him as able to advance one step without God. It is God’ s own appointment that we should use the strength which we have, before more is imparted; and since we only teach submission to this appointment, there can be nothing of interference with the freeness of grace. 2. Our representation of the duties of the unconverted, if they desire conversion, must be correct, inasmuch as it is formed altogether on a Scriptural model. We refer you to the preaching of John the Baptist, as furnishing this model. 3. There is a difficult passage in the history of our Lord’ s ministrations, which can only be explained on the supposed truth of what we have advanced. When the young man came to Jesus, and demanded what good thing he must do that he might have eternal life, the Saviour replied, “ If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” 4. We admit that, if a man reform his life under the idea that the reform is meritorious, he may possibly be no nearer conversion i but if he attempt to reform, simply as a preliminary, he shall, surely, be thereby brought unto greater fitness for the reception of grace; and yet the grace when it comes shall have lost none of its characteristics, but still be grace the very freest and the most undeserved. 5. Again, salvation is a thing of faith, not of works. The very desire after conversion pre-supposes faith. If a man do not believe in the coming wrath, he can have no wish for a change that is to secure him against the outbreak of that wrath i and in exhorting him unto an immediate fighting against sin, we exhort him to bring his faith into practice. 6. The individual who goes out into the arena of life and makes an effort in his own strength to overthrow evil, will be a hundredfold better taught the moral decrepitude of man, by the little progress that he makes, or the defeat that he sustains, than another who sits down in his closet and seeks to ascertain his native insufficiency by throwing his power into a balance, or computing it by a process of mathematical calculation. (H. Melvill, B. D.) Isaiah 56:2 Blessed is the man that doeth this The blessedness of right-doing “ Blessed is the man that doeth this. ” It must be so, for in doing judgment and justice he in some measure resembles the blessed God, who exerciseth judgment and righteousness in the earth, and delighteth in these things. (R. Macculloch.)Comprehensive righteousness The duties of the first table are typified by the observance of the Sabbath; those of the second table are signified in the comprehensive expression, “ That keepeth his hand that it do no evil.” (Prof. S. R. Driver,D. D.)Sabbath-keeping A great variety of reasons have been given for the special mention of the Sabbath here. The true explanation is afforded by a reference to the primary and secondary ends of the Sabbatical institution, and the belief involved in its observance. 1. It implied a recognition of Jehovah as the omnipotent Creator of the universe (Exodus 20:11; Exodus 31:17). 2. As the Sanctifier of His people, not in the technical or theological sense, but as denoting Him by whom they had been set apart as a peculiar people Exodus 31:13; Ezekiel 20:12). 3. As the Saviour of this chosen people from the bondage of Egypt Deuteronomy 5:15). Of these great truths the Sabbath was a weekly remembrancer, and its observance by the people a perpetual recognition and profession, besides the practical advantages accruing to the maintenance of a religious spirit by a weekly recurrence of a day of rest. (J. A. Alexander.)Sabbath-keeping I. THE DUTY . To keep the Sabbath, to keep it as a talent we are to trade with, or a treasure we are entrusted with; keep it holy, keep it safe, keep it with care and caution, keep from polluting it; allow neither yourselves nor others either to violate the holy rest nor omit the holy work of that day. II. THE WE HAVE TO DO THIS DUTY. Blessed is he that doeth it. The way to have the blessing of God upon our employments all the week is to make conscience and business of Sabbath sanctification; and in doing so we shall be the better qualified to do judgment and justice. The more godliness the more honesty (1 Timothy 2:2). (M. Henry.)Sabbath-keeping and justice We are not just if we rob God of His time. (M. Henry.)Resoluteness in Sabbath observance Those that would keep the Sabbath from polluting it must put on resolution; must not only do this, but lay hold on it, for Sabbath time is precious; but it is very apt to slip away if we take not great care; therefore we must lay hold on it, and keep our hold; must do it, and persevere in it. (M. Henry.)The utility of the Sabbath As the Sabbath was instituted while man was yet within the precincts of Paradise, and unseduced by the wiles of the devil, we are warranted to conclude that a day of holy rest was useful and necessary to him, even in a state of innocence; and if it was of use and advantage to him then, how much more must it be now! Man is now become so sinful, so earthly, so forgetful of God, so careless of his highest interests, that were it not for the solemnities of the Sabbath, he would speedily lose all sense of religion, and utterly neglect the salvation of his soul. (D. Rees.)An unpolluted Sabbath The text gives us to understand that in order to keep the Sabbath from polluting it, we must keep our hands from doing any evil. Nor can we suppose that the day is to be sanctified merely by acts of negative holiness, but also by acts of positive goodness. (D. Rees.)Sabbaths and week-days “ That keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. The best evidence of our having kept the Sabbath well will be a care to keep a good conscience all the week. (M. Henry.)The blessedness of keeping Gods holy day What are we to understand by “ polluting the Lord’ s day? 1. This holy time is certainly thus abused when it is spent in mere idleness. 2. When it is devoted to worldly amusement. 3. By all labour which may not fairly come under the description of work of necessity and mercy. (J. N. Norton.)Sabbath observance A little boy was on a visit to his uncle, and when the morning of the Lord’ s Day came, the uncle said, “ Come, my man, you and I will go out and fish awhile! “ Uncle,” answered the boy, very gravely and somewhat . . . puzzled, does God require us to fish here on Sunday at our house He doesnt allow us to do it.” The fishing excursion was given up, and good came of the child’ s pointed sermon. (J. N. Norton.) Isaiah 56:3-5 Neither let the son of the stranger “ The son of the stranger” “ The son of the stranger” means simply the individual foreigner , not one whose father was a foreigner. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The non-Israelite. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)Consolation far proselytes The case supposed is that if a foreigner who has “ joined himself to the Lord, i.e has become a proselyte by accepting the symbols of Jewish nationality (circumcision, etc.), but now has reason to fear that his qualifications will be disallowed. It is likely that the immediate cause of apprehension was some manifestation of an exclusive and intolerant spirit amongst the leaders of the New Jerusalem. Against this spirit (if it existed) the prophets words enter a strong protest. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Unbelief Unbelief many times suggests things to the discouragement of good people which are directly contrary to what God Himself hath said; things which He hath expressly guarded against. (M. Henry.)The eunuchEunuchs We must understand those of Israelitish descent. (F. Delitzsch, D. D)The eunuch “ a dry tree” The eunuch being “ a dry tree” feels that having no children he will have no permanent place or name in the kingdom. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.) Isaiah 56:4-7 For thus saith the Lord Characteristics and privileges of God’ s people The pride of ancestry, and boast of ceremonial exclusiveness and glorying in the flesh, the Lord, by His prophet, looking forward to Gospel days, now abolishes, and marks out the true distinctions of His people to be that which is moral and spiritual, to the exclusion of all bodily defects or natural peculiarities. Observe-- I. THE MARKS AND OF GOD’ S PEOPLE. 1. Keeping the Sabbath. 2. Choosing the things that please Him. 3. Taking hold of His covenant. 4. Being joined to Him to serve Him. 5. Loving His name. 6. Serving Him. II. THE AND OF GOD’ S PEOPLE. 1. Incorporation with His Church. 2. Joy in the sanctuary. 3. Acceptance of their spiritual worship. (J. Gemmel, M. A.)And take hold of My covenant.-- Taking hold of God’ s covenant By a lively faith, although the devil rap her on, the finger for so doing. (J. Trapp.)Holding fast” by God’ s covenant (R.V.):--Hold fast (as Isaiah 56:2). By holding’ fast My covenant is meant adhering to his compact with Me, which includes obedience to the precepts and faith in the promises. (J. A. Alexander.)Taking hold of God’ s covenant It was generally supposed by the Jews that no one, except the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, could be in covenant relationship with God. Paul, however, says, in writing to the Romans, “ But Esaias is very bold;” and he is so in this instance. He declares that men may take hold of the covenant of God though, heretofore, they appeared to be shut out from its privileges. I. WHAT IS THIS ? It has been well said, “ He who understands the covenants holds the key of all theology.” There was, first of all, a covenant made with our father, Adam;--not, perhaps, in set terms, but virtually,--that, if he should do the will of God, he should live. But, alas l our great covenant head, Adam the first, could not keep that covenant. I should think that none of us want to take hold of that covenant, for we are all sufferers by it already. There is a second covenant, made with the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ; and by that covenant, it was provided that He should Himself perfectly keep the law, and that He should suffer the penalty due from His people for their breaches of the law; and that, if He did both these things, then all those who were represented in Him should live for ever. 1. The new covenant is a covenant of pure grace. 2. It is a “ covenant ordered in all things and sure.” 3. The ensign of this covenant is faith. II. HOW CAN WE LAY HOLD OF IT? 1. I must loose my hold of the old covenant. 2. The main plan is by believing in Christ Jesus unto the salvation of thy soul. 3. But I have known those laying hold on the covenant begin in different ways. Some have laid hold upon it by a confession of sin; and the Lord has said, “ He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” 4. Another way of laying hold of it is, “ by seeking” the Lord in prayer. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 5. When you have once accepted Christ, I like you to get a hold of the covenant in all sorts of ways. We have only two hands, but there are some creatures that have a great many hands, or feelers, or suckers; and when they want to be quite safe, they seize hold with all their hands. Christ has made a covenant with His Church, and I like to lay hold of that covenant by uniting with His people. It will be a great help to you to lay hold of the covenant by availing yourself of all Church privileges. The right thing for every sinner to say is just this, “ The covenant of grace exactly suits my case. Jesus Christ has come to save the guilty and the needy; that is the sort of person I am, so I will lay hold of His covenant. I have got a grip of it, and there I hang. If His Gospel be true, I am a saved man.” III. WHAT IS THERE TO LAY HOLD OF? 1. An atonement. 2. There is another place where you can lay hold of the covenant, and that is, the mercy-seat. Go and bow before God in prayer, Christ being your Intercessor, plead with God for mercy, through His atoning blood, and then say, “ I will never leave off praying till I get the blessing.” 3. It is also a grand thine to lay hold of a promise in God’ s Word. 4. There is another thing which you should lay hold of, and that is, an invitation. IV. WHY SHOULD I NOT LAY HOLD OF GOD’ S ? 1. One reason for doing so is this. Others, who are like yourself, have done so. 2. Out of all who have ever come to Christ, there has never been one rejected. 3. You are the very sort of character that is bidden to come. “ This man receiveth sinners.” 4. There is nothing else for you to hold to. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 56:5 Even unto them will I give God gives, but not indiscriminately Again and again the Lord says “ will I give,” and “ I will give. ” He is always giving; He lives to give. God so loved the world that He gave; His hands are outstretched in continual dispensation of blessing. Observe here the usual condition upon which great honour are promised. This is not an indiscriminate rain of benediction, clouds emptying themselves without regard to character; it is not a confusion of man with man; but there is a principle of discrimination, election, selection, or choice,, running,, through the whole action. (J. Parker, D. D.)A place and a name“ A place” The noun offers several meanings suitable in this passage. It signifies a “ monument” or “ memorial, ‘ as a lofty indicator or pointer Ezekiel 21:24), as a finger-post pointing to the person for whom it has been erected (2 Samuel 18:18; 1 Samuel 15:12); in this sense, however, the word would declare more than the promise permits one to expect. The Semitic term also signifies a place (Numbers 2:17; Deuteronomy 23:12; Jeremiah 6:3), and a “ share” or portion (2 Samuel 19:43). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)God’ s promise to pious eunuchs There seems no reason to doubt that the promise is to be understood literally. An illustration of what is meant is found in 2 Samuel 18:18, where we read that Absalom, in the prospect of dying childless, erected the pillar to his own memory which was known as “ Absalom’ s hand” (also 1 Samuel 15:12, R.V. marg.). The case of those here spoken of is precisely similar. They have “ no son to keep their name in remembrance, but their memory shall be perpetuated by a monument erected within the temple walls;, and such a memorial, testifying to the esteem of the whole community, is “ better ‘ (and more enduring) “ than sons and daughters.” (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Better than sons and daughters Better than sons and daughters may either mean better than the comfort immediately derived from children (as in Rth 4:15), or, better than the perpetuation of the name by hereditary succession. Most interpreters prefer the latter sense, but both may be included. A beautiful coincidence and partial fulfilment of the promise is pointed out by J. D. Michaelis, in the case of the Ethiopian eunuch, whose conversion is recorded in Acts 8:7, and whose memory is far more honoured in the Church than it could have been by a long line of illustrious descendants. (B. A. Alexander.)I will give them an everlasting nameNames Our greatest poet asks, “ What’ s in a name?” but whoever reads his Bible carefully will see that the Jews attached very great importance to names. Thus we often find in the Bible that the name of a person is used when the person himself is meant, as for example, “ The name of the God of Jacob defend thee;--we will call upon the name of the Lord;--let their name be blotted out that they may be no more a nation.” Jewish parents never gave their children a name for the sake of its sound, but because it expressed some peculiarity in the child, or some circumstance connected with its birth, or some wish for its future career. God Himself set this example when He named the first man Adam--“ red earth” --to commemorate the fact that dust he was, and unto dust he should return. The noblest name 1. Every Christian parent who now takes a child to the font of baptism should try and choose a name with some good meaning in it, and should endeavour to bring up the child to live a life worthy of its name, even as the parents of Timothy gave him a name which means “ one who fears God,” and early taught him in the Holy Scriptures that he might learn what God would have him to do. 2. No matter what name our parents may have given us, all who are baptized have the very best of names. It is the name of Christ, the name of “ Christian.” (1) It is the oldest name, older than all the Howards or Sydneys of England, older than Saxon or Norman, or Jew, or Greek, or Roman. The name of Christ, which we bear, is from everlasting. (2) It is the noblest name; most great families derive their name from some famous act of their founder, some great victory, or some wide estate; our name is better than all, for we are named after the greatest Conqueror, one who triumphed at the price of His own blood, one who conquered Death and Satan, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. We are a royal family, for we bear the name of the King of kings, a better name than that of Caesar, or Pharaoh, or Tudor, or Stuart: all old families have a crest and a coat of arms, but our arms are the best, and they are the Cross. (3) It is an everlasting name; some of the grandest old names in England have died out, many of the proudest family names are only to be seen on a tomb, but the name of our family will never be extinct, it becomes better known every year, and will be spread far and wide till “ the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God, as the waters cover the sea.” What, then, is required of us who bear such a name? The son of a good father would not willingly disgrace the name which has been made famous, so we must remember whose name we bear. (J. W. Buxton.) Isaiah 56:6-7 Also the sons of the stranger Gentiles enjoying God’ s favour This is a clear prophecy of the call of the Gentiles into the Church of Christ. Let us attend to this description of those who are objects of the Divine favour, and entitled to the privileges of His house. 1. They join themselves to the Lord. This supposes a former distance and alienation from Him. But that is removed by humble repentance and returning to the Lord. It includes, renouncing all their idols; forsaking all their sin, everything contrary to the nature and will of God: a deliberate choice of Him, as their portion and felicity; and of His people, as their friends and associates. 2. The design of their thus joining themselves unto the Lord is to serve Him. This is further expressed in the phrase, to be His servants; not only to serve Him occasionally, or for a while, but perpetually; to adhere to Him and His ways, from a deep conviction that nothing can be more reasonable, important, and advantageous than to hear what He saith, and to do it. 3. It is added, and to love the name of the Lord. They take delight in His service; they perform it not from fear and a servile dread, but from a sincere and strong affection. They love His name; that is, they love him, His worship and His ways, and pursue His work with delight. It is opposed to narrow; selfish, mercenary views, which render the service less acceptable and comfortable. They esteem it their meat and drink to do His will. 4. Another thing-expected from God’ s people is, that they keep His Sabbath from polluting it. This is an essential character, a distinguishing mark, of good men. 5. God’ s people take hold of His covenant. They enter into serious, deliberate, solemn engagements to observe and keep His laws, in order to obtain the blessings which He hath promised; and which, in so doing, they cheerfully expect. They take hold of it; which implies a hearty consent to God’ s terms, a cheerful approbation and acceptance of them and delight in them. It likewise implies a steady resolution. They take hold of it, as those who are determined not to let it go. (J. Orton.)The rewards of God’ s servants The text-- I. HOLDS OUT TO MAN. 1. By the transfer of the priesthood from Aaron to Christ. 2. By the change of sacrifice. From the blood of bulls and of goats to the precious blood of the Son of God. 3. By the removal of place. From Jerusalem to the temple of the universe. 4. By a change of worship. From ritual to spiritual. What an encouraging prospect! (Ephesians 2:11-22.) II. PIETY, Piety in heart and practice. The duties enumerated may be divided into three classes. 1. Those which relate to Christ, expressed by taking hold of His covenant--accepting--agreeing to it. 2. Those which relate to God as the Governor of the world. (1) His servants. (2) Walk by His laws. (3) Keep His Sabbaths. 3. Those which relate to the Church. III. . 1. Access to heaven. “ I will bring them to My holy mountain.” 2. Joyfulness in His service. “ I will make them joyful in My house of prayer.” 3. The Divine acceptance of their religious engagements. “ Their burnt-offerings and sacrifices shall be accepted upon Mine altar.” (R. Watson.) Isaiah 56:7 Even them will I bring to My holy mountain The house of prayer If we accept the interpretation that the second Isaiah has given us the prophecies of the restoration, we may regard this chapter as a description of Israel after the return from the Chaldean captivity, and, further, the condition of worship in the reign of the Messiah. We place before you the whole matter as a plea for God’ s house in the present day. I. THE OF WORSHIP. “ Mine house.” With God every where, what need is there of setting apart any particular spot for worship? While all creation is God’ s magnificent temple, why should we consecrate any particular place of building for the purpose of worship? We have a promise in the Book itself (Jeremiah 31:33-34). But we must suppose conditions of thought, and degrees of poetry, which do not exist, in order to worship God in the general terms implied in these statements. We infer from the history of public worship that God has adapted its forms to the state of mankind in the various periods of the periods of the past. To-day worship its forms to the state of mankind in the various periods of the past. To-day worship must be conducted with a view to the position of the religious thought which prevails. 1. The first essential element of worship is concentration. The circumstantial in religion must be flamed to centre thought upon God in His nearness to man. The patriarch’ s altar, the tabernacle of Moses, and the temple of Solomon did this. In the teaching of Christ we meet with an expansion of the geography of worship. The temples on Moriah and Gerizim were doomed, both by the force of circumstances and the Incarnation. God in Christ became the consummation of the central idea of God. But Christ was human as well as Divine. We find Him both in the synagogue and the temple. He drew His disciples together, sometimes into a house, other times on the mountain slopes, or in secluded spots, for instruction and fellowship. He introduced a simplicity into worship which indicated a more spiritual thought than that which obtained when gorgeous ritualism formed its environment. The time had arrived when He would introduce a method by which we would worship the Father “ in spirit and in truth. ‘ But never has Jesus Christ hinted at the probability that such a worship would consist of abstract thought, universal observation, or individual reflection, apart from the offices of time and space. When God and man meet they must meet somewhere. Although the necessity for a restricted spot had passed away, and the whole earth became a consecrated temple, when the eternal Son chose it as His imperial palace, yet the limitations of the spiritual man, while dwelling in a tabernacle of clay, suggest the setting apart of places for worship. In an age when life is at a higher pressure than ever it has been, and consequently, an age when our thoughts are agitated, scattered, embittered, and inflamed, of what incalculable value must the house of prayer be. 2. Our next point is association. We have been told that there is such a thing as abstract thought, but where is abstract life? How far can one go on the path of life without the aid of others? It seems absurd that people should assume so much piety as not to require any association or assistance. If the Hall of Science is needed, why not the Hall of Prayer? 3. Our third plea for the house of prayer is memorial. Every place of worship in England is a witness to the Being of God, and to His providence and salvation. “ Mine house” is a significant designation, showing His acceptance of the gift. It is the language of love in response to the gift of love. II. THE ESSENCE OF WORSHIP. “ House of prayer.” Prayer is a comprehensive term, having devotion as its central idea. There would have been an appropriateness in calling it the house of praise, for from no other house has so much and so grand music ascended to heaven. It might have been called the house of preaching, because the word is gone forth out of Zion to the ends of the earth. But why did God name it the house of prayer? Under the old dispensation, sacrifice occupied the most prominent place in the services, but even then its name was the house of prayer. Reverence for God is the first step of the ladder. Waiting upon God is the next step. (T Davies, M. A.)And make them joyful in My house of prayerMy house of prayer Jesus Christ, when in a sublime act of indignation He drove out the desecrators of the temple, applied the words to the outer courts of that noble material building. But He Himself has taught us not to limit the phrase, but to give it the widest possible meaning. It is not for us to speak of God’ s house of prayer as if it were restricted to any one locality, or as if it described any particular kind of structure. God’ s house of prayer may be found anywhere, everywhere. Wherever the human heart reaches out with holy longing towards the Divine Father, and craves the blessing of His presence; wherever He unveils the glory of His truth and the beauty of his love, responding to the eager desires of His pleading children, there is His house of prayer. It may be grand in form, or poor and mean; there may be no material structure at all, but the solemn temple of Nature itself, yet shall it; be consecrated for worship by the prayers which ascend to God. Yet, we still find it necessary to establish and set apart places of worship, and because we frequent them for this holiest of purposes, we speak of each of them as a house of prayer. As it is necessary that we should consecrate one day out of the week for the special purposes of religion, so we find it desirable to meet at some regularly appointed spot to engage with our fellows in acts of devotion. And the reasonableness becomes apparent. We want such places for convenience’ sake. If social religion is to have any existence at all, if the communion of the saints is to be a reality, if there are to be united praise and prayer and instruction in Divine truth, then men and women must know where they are to gather for these purposes. Further, it is not merely a matter of convenience; it is helpful to our spiritual and daily life. We want as places of worship some which are unassociated with our secular affairs--places which seem to stand away from the cares and worries and strivings of our common life--where we can give our minds and hearts a season of rest--an opportunity of calmly, and without distraction, contemplating and estimating the character and meaning, the worth or worthlessness of the work we are doing in the world. Of course this might be done at home, in the shop, in the office, in the chamber, but not so effectually, not so thoroughly, as in the quiet place specially devoted to religious worship. There, seeming to stand at a distance from worldly avocations, we judge them and our relation to them more impartially and honestly. (W. Braden.)Joyfulness worship I. THERE SHOULD, BE A NATURAL BETWEEN THE TWO. I reach this conclusion by remembering two things. 1. That we, as human beings, have in us the capacity for joy. 2. That the religion we profess, when rightly understood, is a joy-producing religion. II. WORSHIP IS THE OF OUR NOBLEST IN THE OF GOD. It is not a mere ceremonial act, an observance of prescribed ritual on certain days and in appointed places. It is the going forth of the man towards God. Therefore, our joy must utter itself, ought to utter itself, when we enter into the courts of His house. I believe that the Divine Father has no sympathy with those who would turn His house of prayer into a place for gloomy, and unhappy thoughts, and who would exclude from His service everything pleasant and beautiful. They misunderstand and libel Him by their desire for dreariness If God has taught us anything with distinctness in the outer world of nature it is that He loves all that is pleasant and sweet and joyous. Is there n t something joy-exciting in the very thought and act of worship? This has been the thought of most peoples. 1. The Greeks who worshipped gods of uncertain passions and dispositions, nevertheless seem to have made the worship a season of joy--“ they wreathed themselves with flowers, they anointed themselves withsweet perfumes, they surrounded their temples with every attraction, they invoked every pleasure they could think of, they sought to make the hour of their worship a charming and beautiful hour. Their joy in this respect was of a sensuous character, more animal than spiritual, and we do not need to imitate them; but even the heathen had the idea of indulging in gladness in the presence of their gods. 2. The same emotion was constantly expressed by the Hebrews. We often regard the religion of the Jews as harsh, stern, dreary, a constant pressure upon the minds and souls of the people. Never was there a greater mistake, as a careful study of their numerous festivals and rites would prove. Remember the worship-literature of the Jews, that magnificent collection of psalms which is one of the most precious treasures handed down to us from the past. It is full of jubilance. Expressions of personal sorrow there are in abundance; but even they are turned into subjects of song. 3. If it was possible for Jews to enjoy worship, if it was natural for them to give expression to gladness of heart when coming into the Divine presence, is there not more abundant reason why we, as Christians, possessing a fuller and purer and more intimate revelation of God, should rejoice before Him? III. FOR THOSE WHO SEEK TO WORSHIP GOD IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH THIS JOY IS ASSURED BY THE PROMISE, “ I will make them joyful in My house of prayer.” Our anticipation of the worship of God’ s house, and the manner in which we present ourselves to Him, should be gladsome. Why? Because we go expecting to meet God, and receive the gracious fulfilment of the promise. Our hope of blessing to come already fills us with delight. When we have entered into the engagements of Divine worship, if we have been in the right spirit of desire, God has drawn near us and fulfilled our largest hopes. He has apparently devised the means by which this shall be brought about through the three exercises of our worship--our praise, our prayer, and our study of His truth. These seem in themselves calculated, ordained, consecrated for the very object of exciting our joy. 1. Think of the very act of praise. What does it mean? That we are recalling to mind the Divine mercy, and tenderness, and compassion, and love which have come into our life. We praise God for what He is; for what His works reveal Him to be; for what He has done for us; and you cannot do that without some inspiration of gladness filling your soul. Praise itself springs from and excites to joy. 2. The same glorious result is wrought by means of prayer. That man who has never yet held conscious communion with his God in prayer, has never yet experienced one of the noblest and purest joys of which his nature is capable. 3. And shall I add the same of the other exercise--the study of His truth? As the man who, digging for gold, is flushed with delight when his toil is rewarded by some rich nugget; as the student of Nature, when investigating her secrets, is gladdened as he perceives the traces of some new law, or a possible combination of well-known causes that will produce a new result, so Christians know the thrill of satisfaction that springs from a fresh realization of the meaning of Divine truth. God stands revealed in clearer light, and all the wonders of His work for man through the history of the world, and especially in the person of Christ, are understood and loved as they were never understood or loved before. These awakenings to joy are always taking place in God’ s house. One comes there perplexed concerning his path of duty, and to him there is uttered some wise precept, which makes the way clear once more. Another is troubled concerning the terrible mystery of life, its inequalities and sorrows; but to him is revealed the Fatherhood of God, and that means perfect love and assurance of blessedness for man as the ultimate issue of all things. Does not that oppressed soul rejoice? And how many, conscious of unforgiven sin, venture into the holy place. And they see a vision of Calvary with its sacred Victim; the heavens seem to open for them, and they behold the ascended Christ, the Mediator. Who shall measure the joy of these? (W. Braden.)Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all peopleGod’ s house The thing here spoken of is God’ s house, described-- I. BY ITS UNTO HIM. “ My house.” II. BY ITS EXTENT OF RECEIPT IN RESPECT OF OTHERS. “ For all people.” III. BY THE OF ITS . “ It shall be called a house of prayer.” (J. Owen, D. D.)The Church of Christ I. CHRIST’ S CHURCH OF SAINTS, OF , IS GOD’ S HOUSE. II. THE CHURCH OF CHRIST UNDER THE GOSPEL IS TO BE OUT OF ALL NATIONS. III. THERE ARE , AND WORSHIP FOR, THE CHURCH OF CHRIST UNDER THE GOSPEL. (J. Owen, D. D.)Public worship I shall endeavour to make it appear that the best homage which we can pay to God is that which is most public. I. THIS IS THE WAY OF GIVING THE HONOUR TO GOD. When a multitude of people meet together to worship the Almighty, and to set forth His praises, it makes some little figure of heaven; it raises our minds to more magnificent conceptions of God, and more fully represents Him to us as the Governor of the world: whereas, if we look upon Him as only intending our private interest, as busied only to serve our present wants, we may be thought to conceive of Him rather as an idol than as that infinite Being whose care and providence are extended to the concerns of the whole creation. To worship God truly is to make Him known to be the Lord of the universe, the common Parent, Preserver, and Benefactor of all mankind; and therefore public assemblies are the best signification of His glorious perfections and vast dominion. They who cannot use their minds to any abstracted ways of thinking, may be wonderfully confirmed and heightened in their acknowledgments and thoughts of a Deity, when they see how the learned and the rich and the honourable, and the greatest persons upon the earth, do bow and kneel before their Maker, and humble themselves in the dust of the sanctuary to witness their profound veneration of an infinite wisdom, power and goodness. II. THE NATURE OF IS SUCH THAT IT A PUBLIC . Christians are not to look upon themselves as single persons, of distinct and separate interests; but as members of the same mystical Body, as parts of the same spiritual Society; that they are redeemed as a Church, and are to glorify God as a Church; that their chief blessings are those they enjoy in common. III. THERE IS NOTHING THAT SO MUCH A SPIRIT OF CHARITY AS A DUE ESTEEM AND OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. What can bring us to a greater concern for one another, and more unite our affections, than a frequent meeting at the same place of worship, and joining together in the same duties of religion? IV. PUBLIC WORSHIP, WITH THAT AND WITH THOSE WHICH IT , IS THE BEST WAY WHEREBY WE MAY ATTAIN TO SOLID PIETY, We have many times a Divine truth more strongly imprinted on our minds, or more fully confirmed unto us, when our hearts are tender and devout, than when our heads are exercised in the deepest thinking. It is further observable, that men are generally much more subject to impressions and affections when they are assembled than when they are alone. (T. Mannigham, D. D.)God’ s house the house of prayer foe all people 1. In order to the realization of the glorious scene in which the world shall finally be seen prostrate before God in prayer, the first and earliest step necessary was the revelation of the Divine existence; “ for he that cometh to God must believe that He is.” “ How shall they call upon Him of whom they have not heard?” 2. But does He take an interest in the affairs of the world? If not, prayer to Him is useless. In answer to this inquiry Sinai rises to view. God is there, legislating for sinful man. Listen to His law as He proclaims it, and mark how much of it relates directly to your welfare. Apart from the Gospel, nothing in the universe displays the Divine benevolence so much as the giving of the law. 3. But is the great God accessible? That He takes a benevolent interest in human affairs is evident. If, however, the terrors of Sinai are not laid aside--if that is a specimen of His usual state--who can venture to approachHim? The temple on Sion is an answer to the inquiry. “ Let the people build Me a sanctuary,” saith God, “ that I may dwell among them.” This was another stage, a vast advance in the Divine condescension. To show His own sense of its importance, He supplied the model, and selected the spot, and superintended the erection of the building. When completed, the Majesty of Heaven came down and visibly possession. When it was rumoured abroad that the Lord of Heaven had a house upon earth, did not the guilty race come to cast themselves at His feet and sue for mercy? 4. But, it might have been asked in the next place, “ Will He pardon? Accessible He may be, but is He propitious?” Approach and read the inscription over its gates, “ The house of prayer.” Then there is hope for the penitent. Let us enter and ascertain. On crossing the threshold and looking around, we find that it is distributed into three parts. We find ourselves at first in the court of the temple; here the principal objects are a great altar of sacrifice, and a laver in which the sacrifices are washed. “ What mean that cleansing water, and that bleeding lamb?” They say, as plainly as they can, that if without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.” and that the victim whose blood is shed must be spotless. We advance, find ourselves in the second part, the holy place. Here the principal objects are a golden candlestick, a table of shewbread, and an altar of incense; and what mean these objects? They denote that the sacrifice is accepted, that God propitiated, that He is waiting to illuminate and anoint His worshippers with His Spirit, to feast their souls on living bread, and to accept their praises as grateful incense. “ But what means that mysterious veil which conceals the third part of the temple, the holiest of all?” It denotes that sinful man can fully approach a holy God only through a Divine Mediator, and that that Mediator is not yet come. But we know what is within. There stands the ark of the covenant, and the mercy-seat resting upon it, denoting mercy resting on faithfulness; and there are the cherubim overshadowing the mercy-seat, intimating the reverence with which even mercy itself should be sought, and the profound mystery which it involves. “ But what means that mass of dazzling light above?” It is the symbol of the Divine presence. And why dwells He there?” that men may come and fall down before Him, and that He may commune with them from off the mercy-seat. He makes it His rest, that men may come to Him, and make it their rest. Numbers through successive ages availed themselves of His grace. 5. But everything there--gracious as it was, calculated as it was to bring all people in humble prostration before God--existed only in type and promise. It may be asked, therefore, in the next place, “ Have those types been accomplished?” The fulness of time arrives, and, behold, God sending forth His Son! Calvary appears; there, as our Substitute; He is making an infinite compensation for our demerit. The day of Pentecost arrives--behold in its scenes a proof that our Advocate has entered on His office of intercession above, and that His sacrificial plea prevails. Is it then still asked if the ancient promises have been fulfilled? Let the tears of the sinner, the joy of the saint, the success of the Gospel in every subsequent age, bear witness. 6. But, again, admitting that God is thus accessible and gracious, is He thus accessible and gracious to all? Is the Gospel Church less open and free than the Jewish temple? Its gates are never to be shut, night nor day! Its blessings are to be offered without money and without price. “ My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.” “ O Thou that hearest prayer, to Thee shall all flesh come.” 7. And is there ground to conclude that this sublime result shall be realized? “ I have sworn by Myself, the word hath gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto Me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear.” Conclusion-- (1) To this point everything in the mediatorial government of Christ is tending with the directness and force of a law. To this end, therefore, every event in His Church, every movement of His people, should be intentionally subordinated. (2) The question will be entertained, then, by every Christian mind, How may this sacred place be made most effectually to subserve this great end? By making it literally a house of prayer. The very presence of a church or chapel is to be viewed as a perpetual protest against all prayerlessness and irreligion. (3) Here everything is to be done with the view of leading to prayer. (4) Here, too, the salvation of the world, and whatever may be instrumentally necessary to that salvation, should be made the subject of prayer. (J. Harris, D. D.) Isaiah 56:8 The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith An important Divine declaration “ Declaration of the Lord, Jehovah: gathering the outcasts of Israel, I roll further gather beyond it to Its gathered ones. That Isaiah 56:8 declares something of importance, and, because it might possibly seem strange, something to be solemnly confirmed, is shown by the expression, which is in itself solemn, and is here placed at the head of the declaration. So far is it from being the case that Gentiles who love Jehovah will be excluded from the congregation, that it is rather the design of Jehovah to gather some from among the Gentiles and add them to the gathered diaspora of Israel. The double name of God likewise, points to something important. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Others to be gathered God’ s work now is that of gathering. There was a time when it was scattering. Man built the tower of Babel, which was intended to be the centre of unity, the armoury of power, and the seat of dominion, whence some mighty Nimrod might sway his sceptre over all the human race: but the Lord would not have it so. Infinite wisdom baffled finite ambition. Now the Lord is gathering together in one the children of God which are scattered abroad. Jesus hath made both Jew and Gentile one, breaking down every wall of partition. This ingathering process is going on every day by the testimony of the Word, and it is to be continued until the end of time. I. THE : instances of gathering by the hand of the Lord, who is described as “ The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel. Outcasts have been gathered, and this is the token that others shall be gathered. I suppose Isaiah first alludes to the banished who had been carried away captive to Babylon and to all parts of the East, but who were at different times restored to their land. But I prefer to use the text in reference to our Divine Lord, seeing that to Him shall the gathering of the people be. 1. When He was here below He gathered the outcasts of Israel by His ministry. 2. He gathered them by forgiving their sins. This brought them nearer still, and held them there. 3. Our Lord gathered many by graciously helping them. He met with some whose great trial was sore affliction, temptation and sorrow. Magdalene is a chief instance. 4. He gathered them, also, so as to enrol them under HIS banner. It was a marvellous moment for Levi, when he sat at the receipt of custom, when Jesus called him. You will, perhaps, think that my Master’ s gathering power lay in His being here Himself. It is true there was a matchless charm about Him, and yet to let us know that we must know Him no longer after the flesh, there was not even in the charms of Christ’ s most blessed Person enough of power to prevent the people crying, “ Crucify Him, crucify Him.” His power is spiritual, the power of His own Spirit, and therefore it is exercised now though His bodily” presence is removed. II. THE. PROMISE UTTERED. “ The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, etc. 1. This promise is very wide. It means in the first place that the Gentiles should be brought to know the Lord. It was a bright day when first of all the centurion of Caesarea sent men to Joppa, and received a visit from Peter, and was baptized of him. Fair also was the day when the Ethiopian eunuch was baptized of Philip. How strange it must have seemed at first to the apostles, who were all Jews, and very strongly Jewish too, especially Peter, to see the Gentiles gathered. One marvels that Paul was not more narrow in heart, considering his birth and education, but he had vanquished his old notions, and gloried in being the apostle of the Gentiles. It is delightful to think of men of divers colours coming to Christ, and in the best possible manner proving the unity of our race. What would the twelve have thought if they could have foreseen that the Gospel which they preached would bind in one brotherhood all races of men? 2. The promise is continuous. “ Yet will I gather others.” That was true when Isaiah stated it; it would have been true if Peter had quoted it on the morning of Pentecost. It was quite true when Carsy acted upon it, and started on what men thought his mad enterprise, to go as a consecrated cobbler to convert the learned Brahmins of India. It is quite as true now. If the promise had been written this morning and the ink were not yet dry it would be no more true than it is now:--“ Yet will I gather others to Him. 3. The promise is most graciously encouraging, because it evidently applies very pointedly to outcasts. Has there strayed into this house of prayer an outcast from society? Hearken thou to this word. But if not an outcast from society, it may be you are an outcast in your own esteem. 4. The promise is absolute. This is the kind of language which only an omnipotent being can use as to men’ s minds. III. THE FACTS WHICH SUSTAIN OUR FAITH IN THIS PROMISE. 1. The perpetuity of the Gospel. Still is the good news preached among you. 2. The blood of atonement has not lost its power. 3. The Spirit of God is with us still. 4. The glory and majesty of the Gospel, or rather the greatness of the glory of God in the Gospel, demands that many more should be gathered than have as yet been enfolded in the Church. 5. There must be many more souls to be ingathered because of the longings of the saints. They are not satisfied unless they see conversions. The Church needs more conversions. We never prosper as a Church unless we have a fresh stream of young blood running into us. IV. THE CONDUCT WITH THIS PROMISE. 1. To believe it, and then to pray about 2:2. If you pray, you must work, for prayer without endeavour is hypocrisy. 3. Expect to see others gathered. 4. Those who have not yet been gathered should be encouraged to hope. (C. H.Spurgeon.) Isaiah 56:9-12 All ye beasts of the field, come to devour.-- The defenceless condition the community owing to the incompetence of its spiritual leaders 1. All the wild beasts of the field and the forest are invited to come and devour the unprotected flock. 2. For its rulers neglect their duty; they are inefficient as dumb dogs; they are slothful, greedy, and sensual. 3. In consequence of their incapacity the righteous perish, none regarding their fate (Isaiah 57:1-2). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The metaphor of wild beasts The people being represented in the following verses as a flock, their destroyers are naturally represented here as wild beasts. (J. A. Alexander.)That a new chastisement at the hands of the heathen is actually contemplated need not be assumed. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The flock: its guardians and its devourers These words (Isaiah 56:9) are to be understood as a note of warning, a sound of alarm. It is not that God wishes His flock to be devoured that He thus summons the beasts of prey to gather round the fold; on the contrary, He is concerned for their safety, and warns them of the danger in which they stand. No style of address was better fitted to startle both flock and shepherds from their careless security. God’ s flock is still surrounded by ravenous beasts. I. THE STATE OF THE FLOCK. 1. In the case before us the sheep are shamefully neglected. 2. The opposite course must tend to secure the safety and well-being of the flock. Pray, then, for your minister. II. THE WILD BEASTS THAT TO DEVOUR THE FLOCK. Some are open and undisguised; others are wily and insidious. Conclusion: We point you to the Chief Shepherd. (W. Guthrie, M. A.) Isaiah 56:10-11 His watchmen are blind. - The old Hebrew pulpit a beacon to modern preachers (with Jeremiah 8:11):-- I. THE OLD HEBREW PULPIT AT THIS TIME WAS . The “ watchmen” are said to be “ blind” and “ ignorant.” They did not see and “ understand” the things that ought to have been clear to their vision and intelligible to their judgment. An ignorant pulpit, though a contradiction in terms, has ever been too prevalent. There may be profound pulpit ignorance where there are the most distinguished scholastic acquirement and literary charms. On the other hand, there may be considerable pulpit intelligence where there is but a very small degree of mere scholastic attainment. Many a noble-souled, Gospel-inspired man, who knew no book but the Bible, no language but his own, and could not speak even that with grammatical propriety, has done the true work of the pulpit. That pulpit is an ignorant pulpit that does not “ discern the things of the Spirit” --things that the Spirit of God approves, and the spirit of man requires. I call that an ignorant pulpit which ministers to the speculative in man rather than to the spiritual, to the intellect rather than the heart, and presents a dead creed rather than a living Christ. I call that an ignorant pulpit which ministers to sects rather than to souls, represents Christ as one sent to save a favourite few, rather than as “ the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.” I call that an ignorant pulpit that does not practically feel that all Divine truth to man is but infinite love for man speaking through the intellect to the heart. II. THE OLD HEBREW PULPIT AT THIS TIME WAS MARKED BY . The watchmen are called “ dumb dogs that cannot bark.” It is because these animals have ever been used by man as sentinels whose bark warns of approaching danger; and because they are only useful as they bark, that they are employed as symbols of indolent preachers. There are men who, when they speak, speak with a drowsy soul, and their words are somnific. Perhaps there are more in these times dumb from expediency than from slothfulness. They echo only the opinions that are current in their Church. They add nothing to the stock of Christian intelligence. III. THE OLD HEBREW PULPIT AT THIS TIME WAS MARKED BY SELFISH GREED. “ Yea they are greedy dogs which can never have enough,” etc. Such strong language expresses their ravenous selfishness. It would seem that these corrupt prophets cared for no one but themselves. How stands the modern pulpit in this respect? This selfish greed shows itself in other ways besides the striving after “ filthy lucre.” There is the greed for popularity. IV. THE OLD HEBREW PULPIT AT THIS TIME WAS MARKED BY . “ They have healed the daughter of My people slightly.” Dr. Blaney, in his translation, substitutes the word “ superficially” for “ slightly.” Although these words are taken from another book they refer to the same subject, and to the same class of men. The words, however, from Isaiah describe their character, these words describe their work. They did something, but it was partial and ineffective. They did not seek to eradicate the disease, but merely administered temporary palliatives, which, whilst they deadened the pain, fostered the virus of the malady. The idea undoubtedly is, that instead of endeavouring to work into the moral heart of the people profound convictions as to the enormity of their sins, and fulminate in their ears the righteous denunciations of Heaven, they presented considerations of false comfort. This superficial healing of souls is an immense injury. It deludes the patient. It wastes the restorative season. That pulpit is superficial which fails either to generate supreme love to the great God in hearts where it is not, or to strengthen it in hearts where it is. (Homilist.) Isaiah 56:12 To-morrow, shall be as this day Faith and presumption The future is very differently contemplated by different individuals. Men of a sanguine temperament gild it with golden visions that are never realized. Such persons meet with many disappointments. It is quite right to expect good in the future, providing we eagerly seize the opportunities and avail ourselves of the advantages of the present. But it is in the field of to-day that we must sow the seed of what we are to reap on the morrow. Men of a directly opposite temperament are constantly foreboding evil. This desponding disposition is itself a very heavy burden to bear. If there be evil in the future, it doubles it by the anticipation, and the anticipation is frequently a heavier burden than is the reality; and if the future brings no such evil, we have been carrying a burden, when in reality there was no burden to bear. How wise are the words of Jesus, “ Take no thought for the morrow,” etc. Both these dispositions need to be corrected. There is still another class who are morally reckless about the future. This results neither from temperament nor imagination, but from their moral condition: the madness is in their hearts. They were persons of this class who made use of the words contained in our text. These words, although polluted by the sense and circumstances in which they are here used, express a truth as well as a falsehood. I. THEY MAY BE THE OF A FAITH AND . 1. It is reasonable to expect that nature will be as productive in the future as it has ever been in the past. Why should we fear that seed-time and harvest or summer and winter will fail, or that the soil will be less productive than it has been? Surely if we are to expect any change, it is a change for the better; the sun will shine as brightly as it has done, and the rains will fall as abundantly, and the earth will be more extensively reclaimed and better cultivated. The soil yields a great deal more now than it used to do; and still there remaineth much land to be possessed. 2. This is a reasonable sentiment when used in the light of human progress. The progress made in arts and sciences ought greatly to increase the resources of society. Labour is the wealth of a nation, and therefore the more labour can be made to produce, the wealthier a nation must be. Not only so, but the productions of one country have by these means been brought within easy access of other countries, so that failure in one part is largely compensated for by a more abundant supply in other places. 3. This is also a rational sentiment when we remember the goodness and unchangeableness of God. His goodness to us in the past ought to inspire us with confidence in Him for the future; and this confidence ought to have respect to all the concerns of life. 4. This is a reasonable sentiment when you consider the promises of God and the predictions concerning the future. Is it not said that the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose? Let the Gospel be preached to the savage and the uncivilized; if they receive it they will not only sit at the feet of Jesus, but they will also soon become clothed, and begin to cultivate the soil, and the change thus produced on the face of nature will correspond with the change in their moral and spiritual condition. 5. Then there is a future beyond the present life in relation to which these words may be used with still deeper emphasis. The man who has fled for refuge to the hope set before him, and has striven to walk with God here, may say with confidence, as he enters into the valley of the shadow of death, “ I will not fear,” for “ to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.” II. THIS MAY ALSO BE THE OF WICKED . 1. It is so when it is the utterance of idleness. No man has a right to neglect the duties of to-day, and to flatter himself that his life will be crowned with increased abundance on the morrow. 2. It is so when it is the language of extravagance and profligacy. The latter is the spirit in which it is used in this verse. “ Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine,” etc. The men who used these words had evidently closed their ears to warning, and given themselves up to a life of self-indulgence. This was no doubt the feeling of the prodigal, who wasted his substance in riotous living. He promised himself that the debauches of to-day should be succeeded by still greater debauches on the morrow. We are not to burden ourselves with anxious cares about the future, but neither are we to pledge our future income to meet our present expenses. Nor are we to use, as bread for to-day, what God has sent to be sown as seed for the morrow. We ought to study the law of proportion, and to live in proportion to our income, to give in proportion to our income, and to save in proportion to our income and the position of responsibility in which we are placed, either as to family or work-people. 3. This is the language of sinful presumption when it is used as an excuse for the neglect of present privileges and opportunities. (1) It is often so used in relation to secular things. (2) But it is still more frequently used in relation to religion. Many plead this as an excuse for the neglect of religion. The time is not convenient. They are too young, or their temptations and difficulties are at present too great. They hope that their circumstances will undergo a change. But some, who have flattered themselves that they were too young, have not lived to become old. This excuse is also pleaded by some who have in them some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel, for delay in publicly avowing themselves on the Lord’ s side, and casting in their lot with His people. There is something in the way to-day which they expect will be removed to-morrow. But, perhaps when to-morrow comes the difficulties are increased, and the resolve, which was almost formed, is wholly abandoned. This excuse is also pleaded for not entering into some sphere of usefulness to which you were clearly called. But the door closes and it is too late. (A. Clark.)Optimism, false and true Whether we are warranted in expecting the future to be better than the present, depends upon our standpoint; upon whether we look at the future as men of the world, purely and simply, or as followers of Jesus Christ. It may be the height of folly to say by our lips, or by out lives, “ To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant;” but, on the other hand, our so saying may involve the highest wisdom. I. HOW IN GOOD OF THE MORROW, WE MAY NOT BE . 1. It is folly to prophesy good of to-morrow in respect to worldly things. 2. It is folly to prophesy good of to-morrow just because the future promises development. If to-morrow be more abundant than to-day, it will be because we have well spent to-day, and have not dreamed away our time and our opportunities. 3. It is folly to prophesy good of to-morrow unless we take steps to bring the good to pass. II. HOW IN GOOD OF THE FUTURE WE MAY BE TRUTH. Is there anything about which we may say with certainty, “ To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant” ? Ability to talk thus, however, presupposes two things 1. That we know the grace God. 2. Patient continuance in well-doing. (J. S. Swan.)Discounting the future In this picture, that exaggerated hopefulness which it describes seems to have been the result of intoxication. It is one who has filled himself with strong drink, who, from the midst of his revels, cries out, “ To-morrow shall be as this day, nay, much more abundant.” In point of fact, however, such artificial stimulus is in no wise necessary for the excitement of extravagant hopes. Such hopes are born out of circumstances the most discouraging and amid surroundings the most dismal and dreary, Let us bless God that it is so. I doubt whether life would be long endurable if it were otherwise. In fact, it is at the point when the spring of hopefulness fairly snaps that men and women break down. And yet, like some other forms of so-called nourishment, this is one which has a perilous power of enervation. It is worth while to remember that the future is simply and inevitably and inexorably the outgrowth and outcome of the present. The man or woman of ungoverned temper imagines that age will cool their blood and so diminish their provocations. But age weakens nothing save our powers of demonstration. And so of the rest of the infirmities of our nature. Does the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eye, or the pride of life--do our covetousness and our selfishness and our untruthfulness go through a sort of transformation-scene process, and emerge at some given point in our future in the guise of the Christian graces or the cardinal virtues? The future does not create progress, but only reveals it. And thus we see the province and, if I may so speak, the function in the moral and spiritual world of Hope. That function is to inspire the present. And, therefore, if I were asked to indite that legend or motto which should be the rule and law for every young life among us, I would write the one word “ Now.” (H. C. Potter, D. D.)“ To-morrow" They were wicked men who spoke these words. Just think of what these words are in the mouth of a wicked man. 1. To-morrow shall be another day in which I shall rob God of His due. 2. I will tempt God another day; I will stand out against God. 3. Or, looking at God’ s mercy, he says, “ Well, God is merciful, God is willing to bless me, but I will not be blessed.” 4. If the man says this, it implies that he will give another day to fasten the fetters of sin firmer upon him. 5. Again, the wicked man says, “ I will encourage sinners another day to continue in their sin; I will set them the example of sinning still further than I have done hitherto.” But what are you doing when you are thus encouraging men in sin? You are doing your best to seal that sinner’ s doom. You are doing your best to make that sinner’ s death-bed terrible. You are doing the best you can to harden that sinner in defiance of God and in his rejection of all that might save his soul; you are making that man laugh his life away in frivolity and evil 6. You are strengthening Satan in his great argument to keep men from Christ. What is that great argument? No hope for you; how can you expect to be saved? Have you not been living away from God! You have sinned away the day of grace. 7. If you say, “ To-morrow shall be as this day then what is your state.? Why, that if you die to-morrow you shall go to hell. If you were to die to-day in your sins, you would go to hell. Then, if to-morrow is to be as to-day, you are deciding--I shall live to-morrow in such a state that if I die to-morrow I shall go to hell. 7. You are keeping Christ another day standing at the door. 8. You mean to have another day of resisting the strivings of God’ s spirit. (J. M.Hussey.)Can we make sure of to-morrow? These words, as they stand, are the call of boon companions to new revelry. They are part of the prophet’ s picture of a corrupt age when the men of influence and position had thrown away their sense of duty, and had given themselves over, as aristocracies and plutocracies are ever tempted to do, to mere luxury and good living. Base and foolish as they are on such lips, it is possible to lift them from the mud, and take them as the utterance of a lofty and calm hope which will not be disappointed, and of a firm and lowly resolve which may ennoble life. Like a great many other sayings, they may fit the mouth either of a sot or a saint. I. THIS IF TO ANY OUTWARD THINGS, IS AN AND A DREAM. It is base and foolish to be forecasting our pleasures, the true temper is to be forecasting our work. But, leaving that consideration, let us notice how useless such anticipation, and how mad such confidence, as that expressed in the text is, if directed to anything short of God. We are so constituted as that we grow into a persuasion that what has been will be, and yet we can give no sufficient reason to ourselves why we expect it. “ The uniformity of the course of nature” is the corner-stone, not only of physical science, but, in a more homely form, of the wisdom which grows with experience. We all believe that the sun will rise to-morrow because it rose to-day, and for all the yesterdays. But there was a to-day which had no yesterday, and there will be a to-day which will have no to-morrow. The sun will rise for the last time. The uniformity had a beginning and will have an end. So, even as an axiom of thought, the anticipation that things will continue as they have been because they have been, seems to rest on an insufficient basis. How much more so, as to our own little lives and their surroundings! We shall be nearest the truth if we take due account, as we do so to-day, of the undoubted fact that the only thing certain about to-morrow is that it will not be as this day. II. BUT YET THERE IS A OF SO USING THE WORDS AS TO MAKE THEM THE OF A SOBER WHICH WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME. We may send out our hope like Noah’ s dove, not to hover restlessly over a heaving ocean of change, but to light on firm, solid certainty, and fold its wearied wings there. Forecasting is ever close by foreboding, hope is interwoven with fear, the golden threads of the weft crossing the dark ones of the warp, and the whole texture gleaming bright or glooming black according to the angle at which it is seen. So is it always until we turn our hope away from earth to God, and fall the future with the light of His presence and the certainty of His truth. We have an unchanging and an inexhaustible God, and He is the true guarantee of the future for us. The more we accustom ourselves to think of Him as shaping all that is contingent and changeful in the nearest and in the remotest to-morrow, and as being Himself the immutable portion of our souls, the calmer will be our outlook into the darkness, and the more bright will be the clear light of certainty which burns for us in it. III. LOOKED AT IN ANOTHER ASPECT, THESE WORDS MAY BE TAKEN AS THE VOW OF A FIRM AND LOWLY RESOLVE. There is a future which we can but very slightly influence, and the less we look at that the better every way. But there is also a future which we can mould as we wish--the future of our own characters, the only future which is really ours at all. In that region, it is eminently true that “ to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. The law of continuity shapes our moral and spiritual characters. The awful power of habit solidifies actions into customs, and prolongs the reverberation of every note, once sounded, along the vaulted roof of the chamber where we live. To-day is the child of yesterday and the parent of to-morrow. That solemn certainty of the continuance and increase of moral and spiritual characteristics works in both good and bad, but with a difference. To secure its full blessing in the gradual development of the germs of good there must be constant effort and tenacious resolution. As we grow in years, we shall grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, until the day comes when we shall exchange earth for heaven. That will be the sublimest application of this text, when, dying, we can calmly be sure that though to-day be on this side and to-morrow on the other bank of the black river, there will be no break in the continuity, but only an infinite growth in our life, and heaven’ s to-morrow shall be as earth’ s to-day and much more abundant. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The changeful and the abiding To-day’ s wealth may be to-morrow’ s poverty, to-day’ s health to-morrow’ s sickness, to-day’ s happy companionship of love to-morrow’ s aching solitude of heart, but to-day’ s God will be to-morrow’ s God, to-day’ s Christ will be to-morrow’ s Christ. Other fountains may dry up in heat,, or freeze in winter,, but thin” knows no change, “ in summer and winter it shall be. Other fountains may sink low in their basins after much drawing, but this is ever full, and after a thousand generations have drawn from it its stream is broad and deep as ever. Other fountains may be left behind on the march, and the wells and palm trees of each Elim on our road be succeeded by a dry and thirsty land where no water is, but this spring follows us all through the wilderness, and makes music and spreads freshness ever by our path. What may be round the next headland we know not; but this we know, that the same sunshine will make a broadening path across the waters right to where we rock on the unknown sea, and the same unmoving mighty star will burn for our guidance, me we may let me waves and currents roll as they list--or rather as He wills, and be little concerned about the incidents or the companions of our voyage, since He is with us. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Experience and hope Experience is ever the parent of hope, and the latter can only build with the bricks which the former gives. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The power of habit How dreadfully that law of the continuity and development of character works in some men l By slow, imperceptible, certain degree the evil gains upon them. Yesterday’ s sin smooths the path for to-day s. The temptation once yielded to gains power. The crack in the embankment which lets a drop or two ooze through is soon a hole which lets out a flood. It is easier to find a man who has done a wrong thing than to find a man who has done it only once. Peter denied his Lord thrice, and each time more easily than the time before. So, before we know it, the thin gossamer threads of single actions are twisted into a rope of habit, and we are “ tied with the cords of our sin.” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Character the result of trivial actions How important the smallest acts become when we think of them as thus influencing character! The microscopic creatures, thousands of which will go into a square inch, make the great white cliffs that beetle over the wildest sea and front the storm. So, permanent and solid character is built up out of trivial actions, and this is the solemn aspect of our passing days, that they are making us. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Hope for men in the Christian redemption We might well tremble before such a thought, which would be dreadful to the best of us, if it were not for pardoning mercy and renewing grace. The law of reaping what we have sown, or of continuing as we have begun, may be modified as far as our sins and failures are concerned. The entail may be cut off, and to-morrow need not inherit to-day’ s guilt, nor to-day’ s habits. The past may be all blotted out through the mercy of God in Christ. No evil habit need continue its dominion over us, nor are we obliged to carry on the bad tradition of wrong-doing into a future, day, for Christ lives, and. “ if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, all things are become new. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Presuming on the future We have all read of that Persian prince who, having grown to man’ s estate and completed his education, divided his life into four decades. The first ten years of his life he would devote to travel, since travel, he rightly argued, was as much an educator as were books. The second decade he would employ in the affairs of government, since government is part of the duty of a prince. The third decade he would reserve for the pleasures and the benefits of friendship, since friendship is, after all, the melody and fragrance of life. And then the fourth decade he would give to God. It was a most taking and attractive plan of life. But it was marred by one considerable defect. During the first ten years the prince died, and for that contingency he had made no provision whatever. (H. C. Potter, D. D.)To-morrow To-morrow is the most wonderful of days, or, as Isaiah has it, “ a day great beyond measure.” Its history outshines the record of centuries. It is the day on which idle men labour and fools reform. It is the day when every man does his duty. It is the harvest-time of good intentions. To-morrow the worst of sinners will be a saint. To-morrow the frivolous pleasure-seeker will be transformed into a serious-minded devotee, a whole-souled worker for the good of humanity. To-morrow the dishonest man will be honest, the immoral man will be pure, the selfish man will be benevolent. To-morrow bad habits will be resolutely overcome, evil tempers will be conquered, wrong desires will be banished. To-morrow myriads of men and women will heed the call of Christ. If the world could but see the bright dawning of its mythical glory! But it never can. To-morrow is like the rainbow’ s end, which continually moves on and keeps its distance undiminished when foolish children seek its golden treasure. (G. H.Hubbard.) Isaiah 57:1-2 The righteous perisheth The righteous perishing In view of this prevailing demoralization and worldliness (Isaiah 56:9-12), the righteous one succumbs to the grinding weight of external and internal sufferings: he “ perishes,” dies before his time (Ecclesiastes 7:15), from the midst of his contemporaries, disappearing from this life (Psalms 12:1; Micah 7:2), and no man lays it to heart, i.no one considers the Divine accusation and threatening implied in this early death. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)“ Merciful men” Literally, men of piety. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Good men die Righteousness delivereth from the sting of death, but not from the stroke of it. (M. Henry.)Death of the righteous 1. One reason why, when the righteous dieth, no man layeth it to heart is because the world do not know the righteous. 2. Another reason is, disinclination of all men by nature to lay such things to heart. 3. They do not think it of much importance. But the death of every good man is a loss to the world, a loss to the Church militant--the people of God are the salt of the earth, and the more taken away and the less left, the less likely are we to be blessed as a nation. (James Wells.)Early death Such early removals form a problem insoluble by our poor reason. They seem, at first sight, inconsistent alike with the Divine wisdom and power and love. They look almost like the frustration of God’ s plans and purposes, a failure in His sovereign designs. It is the architect just completing His work when that work comes with a crash to the ground. It is the sculptor putting the finishing strokes of his chisel on the virgin marble, when the toil of months or years strews the floor of his studio. It is the gardener bringing forth from his conservatory the long-husbanded plants in their freshness and beauty, to bask in early summer sun, when a frost or hailstorm unexpectedly comes, and in one night they have perished! (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)Early death Why is the young soldier stricken clown just; when the armour of life has been assayed? Wherefore hath God apparently thus made His noblest work in vain? The words of Isaiah give a twofold answer to these questions and mysteries; the one negative, the other positive. I. THE ANSWER. “ The righteous is taken away from the evil to come.” It was so in the case of Josiah (2 Kings 22:18-20). II. THE . “ He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness; or rather, as it has been rendered, each one walking straight before him, or as Bishop Lowth translates it, “ he that walketh in the straight oath.” 1. Josiah, the good, the pious, when he died, “ entered into peace.” It is a beautiful Old Testament evidence of the immediate blessedness of the departed righteous. His body rested in the tomb, as in a “ bed” or couch; his spirit--the spirit that walked so “ uprightly on earth, with no divergence from the path of duty and piety--continues, in a loftier state of existence, this elevated “ walk.” The work cut short in this lower world is not arrested; it is only transferred. In a higher and loftier sphere he still pursues these active ministries of righteousness. There is an evident contrast between these opening words of the chapter and the terrible refrain with which it closes--“ There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked;” none in life, none in death, none in their limitless future. But “ the righteous,” thus taken away, “ enter into peace.” 2. Another thought, too, is brought out in the original which we miss in our translation, and which suggests the same assurance of immediate bliss. It occurs in the words just quoted--“ The righteous is taken away,” “ Merciful men are taken away;” this in the Hebrew is, “ The righteous, the merciful, are gathered” --gathered to their fathers. 3. One other thought on early death may be suggested by these words. While the spirit is pursuing its onward path of bliss and glory, it has not, in the truest sense, bid farewell to its earthly sphere. The lips are silenced, the music of the voice is hushed, the blank of the absent is too painfully realized. But “ the righteous” survive dissolution even in this world; in their deathless memories of goodness and worth, they continue to “ walk.” The old promise dictated by the sweet singer of Israel (apparently paradoxical) becomes literally true, regarding those prematurely taken away--“ With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My salvation.” For what, after all, is long life? Is it measured and computed by formal arithmetic? counted by days, or weeks, or months, or years? No! the fourscore years of a misspent life is no life at all. It is a bankruptcy of being. It may be a life only sowing and perpetuating baneful influences; an untimely birth would be better. Whereas, that is the truest length of days, where, it may be for a brief but bright and consecrated season, some young life has shone gloriously for God, and which, though now a fallen meteor, has left a trail of light behind it, for which parent and brother and sister will for ever bless Him who gave the transient boon! (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)The death of the good I. THEIR DEATH IS THE OF THE BODY 1. Why, then, pamper the body? 2. Why centre interests on the wants and enjoyments of the body? II. THEIR DEATH IS BY MANKIND. How soon the best of men are forgotten. There are two reasons for disregarding the death of the good. 1. The thought of death is repugnant to the heart. 2. The concerns of life are all-absorbing. III. THEIR DEATH IS A FROM ALL THE EVILS THAT ARE COMING ON THE WORLD. “ Taken away from the evil to come.” IV. THEIR DEATH IS A STEP INTO A HIGHER LIFE. “ He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds.” 1. The death of the good as to the body is only sleep--natural, refreshing, temporary. 2. Their souls march on. “ Each one walking in his uprightness.” Endless progress. “ It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” (Homilist.)The righteous is taken away from the evil to comeSpared future evil 1. It may be from the evil of personal suffering. The prolongation of life to old age often involves an immense amount of bodily ills and pains. 2. It may be to spare the heart of affection sore trials. How often do children grow up, to break the hearts of fond parents. 3. It may be to take His child out of harm’ s way. 4. It may be to shield him from some impending calamity that is coming upon the Church or the world. 5. Or (if we accept the marginal reading) it is to save them “ from that which” is “ evil.” Life itself, under the curse of sin, is evil, even in its best estate, and the God of mercy cuts it short and receives His loved one into His bosom. (Homiletic Review.)The blessings of short life We all spend much time in panegyric of longevity. But I propose to preach about the blessings of an abbreviated earthly existence. I. IT MAKES ONE’ S LIFE WORK VERY COMPACT. II. MORAL MIGHT COME UPON THE MAN IF HE TARRIED LONGER. III. ONE IS THE SOONER TAKEN OFF FROM THE . IV. ONE ESCAPES SO MANY . V. IT PUTS ONE SOONER IN THE CENTRE OF THINGS. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.) Isaiah 57:2 He shall enter into peace The believer in life, death, and eternity Taking them together, the words of the text will lead us to contemplate the child of God-- I. IN THE AND VIGOUR OF LIFE. II. IN THE AND THE ARTICLE OF DEATH. III. IN THE OF , AS THEY AFFECT BOTH BODY AND SOUL. (J. Haslegrave, M. A.)A glimmering of New Testament consolation Here is a glimmering of the consolation in the New Testament, that the death of the righteous man is better than the present life, because it is the entrance into peace. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 57:6 Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion Smooth stones The term “ portion” suggests that the “ smooth stones” were fetishes. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)False sods the idolater’ s portion In stony valleys they set up their gods, which they called their portion, and took for their lot, as God’ s people take Him for their lot and portion. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 57:10 Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way The weariness of sin The text is a striking representation of the sinner’ s conduct in fruitless efforts to obtain happiness anywhere but from heaven. He wanders from object to object, he becomes weary in his pursuit, yet he will not abandon it. I. HE PURSUES A COURSE. Nothing is so wearisome as fruitless efforts for happiness. 1. The sensual course for happiness is a wearisome one. The voluptuary and the debauchee very soon show exhaustion. 2. The secular course for happiness is a wearisome one. He who seeks happiness in the pursuit of gain will soon find it wearisome. 3. The intellectual course for happiness is a wearisome one. He who looks for true happiness in study and research will soon find it a weariness. 4. The superstitious course is a wearisome one. Millions are sinking into religious superstition--pilgrimages, penances, prayers, and devotional routine. What millions are found wearied in this path! II. THOUGH THE COURSE IS HE . “ Yet saidst thou not, There is no hope.” Although Israel was wearied in seeking foreign help, still it continued; so with the sinner. To persevere in these wearisome methods for happiness is very foolish. 1. Because they will never become easier than they are. On the contrary, he who pursues these methods of happiness will become more and more weary on his way. 2. Because there is a pleasant way to true happiness. What is that? The loving surrender of your nature to God. The religious way to happiness is pleasant, because-- (1) It is worthy of your nature. (2) Agreeable to your conscience. (3) Promising to your hope. “ Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace.” How suited is the invitation of Christ to the wearied millions of earth who are seeking for happiness in wrong directions: “ Come unto Me, all ye,” etc. (Homilist.)Man’ s weary way I. THE WAY WHICH IS HERE TO US. “ Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way.” The way which the Israelites took was their own way as distinguished from God’ s way. The way in which a man is walking, and by which he is seeking for salvation, until he has found peace through Christ, is more or less directly his own way. II. THIS WAY, WHICH IS MAN’ S OWN WAY, IS SPOKEN OF AS A GREAT WAY. “ Thou art weaned in the greatness of thy way. Looking at salvation as It Is in Itself, at the deliverance which is desired, a great deliverance is necessary; looking to the efforts which man will make to effect and attain this deliverance, great efforts are evidently necessary, and great efforts are frequently made. Micah speaks of a man giving thousands of rams and ten thousands of rivers of oil, yea, giving the life of his firstborn for the sin of his soul, if perchance he may save that soul. And it is perfectly marvellous to see the efforts which men have made, and arc making, in false religions, to secure that which they desire, namely, their soul’ s salvation. III. THIS WAY OF MAN’ S OWN SEEKING IS A WEARY WAY. What disappointments the Israelites met with! So with a man seeking, salvation in his own way as distinct from God’ s way. Just in proportion as a man is in earnest, just in proportion to the depth of his convictions of sin and righteousness, just in proportion to the sense which he has of the holiness of God, and the realities of eternity, will be the man’ s dissatisfaction with his own efforts and his own acts of self-denial. IV. Although this is a weary way, and an unsatisfying way, yet IT HAS IN IT SOME OF SUCCOUR AND SOME POWER OF , WHICH THE MAN FROM WHOLLY . The man “ finds life to his hand.” There is enough in what he is doing, there is enough in what he is finding, to prevent him from wholly despairing. These persons are not prepared to “ say there is no hope; they are not prepared to despair of salvation in the manner in which they are seeking it; they are not wholly cast down. “ Therefore thou wast not grieved, not wholly disheartened. They go on persevering and pressing forward, hoping that a brighter day will come. Contrast with this way of man God’ s way. The way of salvation sought and followed by the Jews resembles very much the way of salvation which the natural heart of man follows when he pursues and seeks that salvation; but now, what is, the way which God would have us to walk in, as contrasted with this way of man’ s own devising? That which marks God’ s way, and distinguishes it especially from man’ s way, is this--that man’ s way is a way of fear and dread, while God’ s way is a way of love. “ But how,” you will say, “ are we to pass from this state, which is man’ s natural state of seeking for salvation, to that state which is described as God’ s method of seeking and conferring salvation?” The prophet tells us (verses 18, 19). (E. Bayley, M. A.)“ The life of thine hand” “ The life of thine hand” may mean, “ a revival of thy vigour.” (A. B.Davidson, D. D.)Yet saidst thou not, There is no hopeHope, yet no hope: no hope, yet hope (with Jeremiah 18:12, “ And they said, There is no hope, ‘ etc.):--The subtlety of the human heart exerts itself to the utmost to prevent that heart from trusting in the Saviour, and while evil is always cunning, it shows itself to be supremely so in its efforts to guard the Cross against the approaches of sinners. By the Cross, as the Saviour said, the thoughts of many hearts are revealed. There are two phases in spiritual life which well illustrate the deceitfulness of the heart. The first is that described in my first text, in which the man, though wearied in his many attempts, is not and cannot be convinced of the hopelessness of self-salvation. When you shall have hunted the man out of this, you will then meet with a new difficulty, which is described in the second text. Finding there is no hope in himself, the man draws the unwarrantable conclusion that there is no hope for him in God. It is self-righteousness in both cases. In the one case it is the soul content with self-righteousness, in the second place it is man sullenly preferring to perish rather than receive the righteousness of Christ. I. We have to speak of A HOPE WHICH IS NO HOPE. “ Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope,” etc. This well pictures the pursuit of men after satisfaction in earthly things. They are content because they have found the life of their hand. Living from hand to mouth is enough for them; that they are still alive, that they possess present comforts and present enjoyments, this contents the many. As for the future, they say, “ Let it take care of itself.” They have no foresight for their eternal state; the present hour absorbs them. 1. The text applies very eminently to, those who are seeking salvation by ceremonies.” 2. A great mass of people, even though they reject priestcraft, make themselves priests, and rely upon their good works. The way of salvation by works, if it were possible, would be a very wearisome way. How many good works would carry a man to heaven, would be a question which it were very hard to answer. 3. Many are looking for salvation to another form of self-deception, namely the way of repentance and reformation. II. We shall now turn to the second text. “ And they said, There is no hope,” etc. Here we have No HOPE--AND YET HOPE. When the sinner has at last been driven by stress of weather from the roadstead of his own confidence, then he flies to the dreary harbour of despair. Despair is the mother of all sorts of evil. When a man sates,. “ There is no hope of heaven for me;” then he throws the reins upon the neck of his lusts, and goes on from bad to worse. There is hope for you in Him whom God has provided to be the Saviour of such as you are. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 57:14 And shall say, Cast ye up God righteous, yet gracious The second half of Isa 57:13 forms a transition to the next section, which is a promise of salvation to the true Israel. In striking contrast to the menacing tone of Isa 57:3 f is the impressive and elevated language in which the prophet now sets forth the gracious thoughts of Jehovah towards His erring but repentant people. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)A round to God In this passage the cry goes forth, not on behalf of a conqueror, or a sovereign, but on behalf of God’ s people. They are the honoured procession for which a road is to be prepared. “ Cast up, cast up” --that is, heap up, fill in, “ prepare the way, take up the stumbling-blockout of the way of My people.” The figure, then, is striking. As royalty demanded for itself a smooth path, a road from which all dangers and obstructions were taken away, so a soul that is on its way to God has thrown over it, as it were, something of the sovereignty which it approaches, and a mysterious voice is heard, crying, “ Clear the way I heap up! heap up! cast out the stumbling-stones.” (H. W. Beecher.)Spiritual stumbling-blocks 1. The want of a true and large ideal of Christian life, as an inward, spiritual and Divine disposition, and the attempt to live in mere conformity to rules, and with a vague impression that if one conforms to the Church he shall in some way, he knows scarcely how, be saved, is itself one of the causes of perpetual stumbling. The attempt to live merely for the fulfilment of social moralities; the attempt to live so that all the rules which are prescribed by all those who are governing in the Lord, shall be obeyed; the attempt to live upon any such low conception as that of regulations, conventions, observances, is sure to make the Christian life poor, and the travel uncertain. For “ a new creature in Christ Jesus” is the apostolic definition of a Christian. Our aspiration and effort will be in proportion to the dignity and the ideality, if I may, so say, of our conception of what religion is. If we suppose it to be simply not doing evil, we shall put forth but very little exertion, and we shall receive but very little stimulus. 2. The attempt to live the Christian life with a low tone of feeling is a reason why men do not make greater progress. In all the writings of the New Testament you will find that fervour, intensity is required in every feeling. We not only need to have moralities, but we need to have Christian graces, which are, as it were, orchids, epiphytes, and fed upon higher and purer things--light, and moisture, and other elements that the air contains. Now, none of these can thrive in our temperate climate. A temperate climate is good for temperate things; but for intensities it is not good. And many dominant and characteristic traits of Christian character are such as never can be brought out without fervour. 3. Lack of deep and continuous devotion. This is either from the want of a sense of the great spirit-world on whose border we live perpetually, or it is the result of excessive occupation, over-occupation, which crowds all the time, and prevents one from ripening in a true Christian devotion. 4. Another hindrance which men find on the road of progress in their Christian life, is their ignorance as to the effect of outward activity in developing inward fervour, and the effect of inward fervour in developing outward activity--as to the effect of the reciprocal action of the inward and the outward life. Men arc accustomed to separate these qualities, which should never be disjoined. Men should be active that they may be emotive; and they should be emotive, that emotion may work into activity. 5. A very common hindrance to Christian development is the attempt of men to perform their Christian work outside of their appropriate spheres. Wherever you are, there begin the battle; there subdue everything that stands in conflict with the law of conscience, and the law of love, and the law of purity, and the law of truth. Begin the fight wherever God sounds the trumpet, and He will give you grace that as your day is, so your strength shall be. But until we cease dividing our life into two parts--secular and religious--we never shall be very eminent and consistent as Christians; we never shall make any very great progress in the Christian life. 6. Too much companion ship is not good. 7. This stands closely connected with another social hindrance to the development of true Christian life, and that is, the addiction of men to pleasure. I mean not indulgence in wasting and disallowable pleasures, but an excessive addiction to recreation of any kind. We are bound to grow in grace. If we do not, grow, we are bound to know the reason why. (H. W.Beecher.)The way of religion The way of religion is now cast up; it is a highway; ministers’ business is to direct people in it, and to help them over the discouragements they meet with, that nothing may offend them. (M. Henry.)The way of Christ prepared I. THE -BLOCKS WHICH HAVE THROWN IN THE WAY OF THE JEWS. 1. Persecution. 2. Contempt. 3. Idolatry. 4. Neglect of the law of Moses. 5. Unbelief of the prophets. II. THE -BLOCKS WHICH THE JEWS HAVE PUT IN THEIR OWN WAY. 1. Self-righteousness. 2. Traditions of men. 3. Covetousness. 4. A false view of God. 5. Unbelief in the Son of God. III. THE BLESSED FRUITS OF THEIR REMOVAL. These fruits are set before us in the verses which follow our text. 1. Humiliation and contrition (Isaiah 57:15). 2. Revival and healing. The promise goes on thus: “ To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. I have seen his ways and will heal him.” 3. Comfort and peace. “ I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him” (Isaiah 57:18-19). 4. Gladness and glory. To these the prophet calls our attention in the latter chapters (Isaiah 65:18-19; Isaiah 66:12). (E. Bickersteth.)Roads cleared What is the way, the way of salvation? Jesus Christ says, “ I am the way.” This is the entrance into the way, and this is the track of that way even to the end--trust in Christ. “ Are not good works needed?” says one. They always flow from faith in Christ. Such being the way, it is very simple. Straight as an arrow, is it not? And yet in this way there are stumbling-blocks. I. LET US SHOW WHY THIS IS. 1. The way of believing is such an uncommon way. Men do not understand the way of trusting. They want to see, to reason, to argue. How very difficult it would be for a cow, that has always lived by the day the short life that can be fed on grass, if it had to live by reason, as men do. And when man has to live by faith he is as awkward at it as a cow would be at reasoning. He is out of his element. 2. Men, when they are really seeking salvation, are often much troubled in mind. They feel that if God be just He must punish them for their wrong-doing. And when they are told that if they believe in Jesus Christ all manner of sin and of blasphemy shall be forgiven, they wonder how it can be. Conscience makes unbelievers of us all; and stumbling-blocks are created by our trembling condition. 3. Besides this, men are often ignorant of the way of salvation. I am not speaking now as though I blamed them. I was brought up to attend the house of God regularly. Yet when I began to see the Lord, I did not know the way of salvation. I knew the letter of it, but not the real meaning: how can a man know it till the Spirit of God reveals it to him? 4. Satan is always ready to prevent souls from finding peace in Christ. Thus have I shown why there are so many stumbling-blocks. II. Now I am going to TRY TO LIFT SOME OF THEM OUT OF THE WAY. 1. Here is one of them. One man says, “ I would fain believe in this Jesus Christ of whom you tell me, but if I were to come to God through Christ, would He receive me? “ Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” In all the history of the human race there never has been found a man that came to Jesus Christ whom Christ rejected yet. 2. “ But,” says another, “ I am a very peculiar person. I could very well believe that any man in the world who trusted Christ would be saved except myself; but I cannot think that He would save me, for I am so odd. Ah, I am odd myself, and I had the same feeling that you have. I thought that I was a lot left out of the catalogue. If you knew other people you would find that there are other strange people besides yourself; and if God saves so many strange people, why should He not save you? He delights to do wonders. He will crowd heaven with curiosities of mercy. 3. But I hear another say, “ Sir, I have such a horrible sense of sin; I cannot rest in my bed! I cannot think that I shall be saved.” Wait a bit there; let me speak to this person over here. What is your trouble? “ My trouble is, sir, that I have no sense of sin. I know that I am a sinner, and a great sinner; but I do not think that I shall be saved, for I have no horrible thoughts “ Will you change with the other man? Will he change with you? I should not advise either of you to make any change; for, in the first place, despairing thoughts-are--not necessary to salvation; and, in the second place, so long as you know yourself a sinner, and are willing to confess it, such thoughts are untrue. Despairing one, look to the Cross and live; and thou who dost not despair, look to the same Cross and live; for there is salvation for every eye that looks to Jesus crucified. 4. A trembler cries, “ I am afraid to come and trust Christ, because I do not know whether I am one of the elect.” If you trust Jesus Christ I will tell you then that you are Go ‘ elect, to a certainty. 5. “ All,” says another, person, “ I think I have committed this unpardonable sin. Do you long to he delivered from the power of sin? Then you have not committed the unpardonable sin, because it is a sin unto death, and after a man commits it he never has a living wish or desire after God from that moment. 6. “ Oh, but,” says another person, “ my stumbling-block is this: that the whole thing seems too good to be true, that I, by simply believing in Jesus Christ, shall be saved. I confess that it does seem too good to be true, but it is not. God in Christ Jesus is clearly capable of marvellous deeds of grace. There are some stumbling-blocks that I cannot remove; they must always stand there, I am afraid. 7. An objector says to me. “ I would believe in Jesus; I have no fault to find with Him, but, then, look at His followers, many of them are hypocrites. We do look at His professed followers, and the tears are in our eyes, for the worst enemies He has are they of His own household. Suppose Judas does betray Christ, is Christ any the worse for that? You are not asked to trust in Judas, you are asked to trust in Christ. The reason why it pays to make bad sovereigns is because, good ones are so valuable; and that is why it pays certain people, as they think, to pass themselves off as Christians. If there were no real Christians, there would be no pretenders to that name. 8. “ But,” says another, “ here is my stumbling-block: if I were to believe in Christ, and become a Christian, I should have to alter my whole life.” Just so. There would have to be a turning of everything upside down,” but then He that sits upon the throne says, “ Behold, I make all things new. 9. “ Oh, but,” says one, “ I should have to run the gauntlet in my family if I became a Christian.” Which is the better thing, do you think--to be sneered at for doing right or to be commended for doing wrong? (C. H.Spurgeon.)Take up the stumbling-blockStumbling-blocks As a Conqueror the Messiah was coming, but there was great sin and unpreparedness. Hence the prophet cried, “ Take up, take up the stumbling-blocks.” Christ is still advancing in power in the world. His truth is the direct and permanent way by which man may tread to heaven and immortality. Various stumbling-blocks of human placing need removal. I. There is the stumbling-block of . This has always cumbered the way. Ananias and Judas yielded to it. II. Close by this block is another, that of . The Church, strong outwardly, was impatient of divergence of opinion. III. had also to be rolled out of the way. Figure was taken for fact. The great Father was presented in the guise of an implacable judge. Harsh representations of God and future punishment caused revolt. IV. There is the stumbling-block of an SYSTEM. V. The block of , on the other hand, also needs removal. Indifferentism is only another name for selfism. It should matter to each man if his fellow suffers. VI. Some will say that all the stumbling-blocks mentioned are nothing compared with those formed by THE OF PEOPLE. The last is a conglomerate rock. Worldly attractions, amusements, desires, lusts, are often too strong for those who profess to be unworldly. Byron said, “ The inconsistencies of professing Christians made me an infidel. Was he alone? Conclusion: How are these evils, these blocks of offence to be removed, and a way made for the coming of our King Jesus? There must be more faith in the presence and potency of the Holy Spirit in the Church. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The road-mender :--Few are the exceptionally gifted men and women whom God calls to be pioneers, discoverers and creators of new paths--road-makers. “ Primal needed work,” to use Walt Whitman’ s phrase, is not possible for the majority of us. We have not the genius, the energy, the courage, the self-reliance, the independence of intellectual comradeship which characterize the select company who are able to hew their way, like Stanley’ s men in “ Darkest Africa,” through forests, and force their way through wildernesses and deserts, thus opening up new highways for human thought and life, and action, and civilization, and new highways for God. But we can all be road-menders. We can all aid in removing the stumbling-blocks out of the way. We can all be restorers of paths. This is the humbler task. It demands fewer talents, less daring, less originality than pioneer work, but who can gauge its value? Who will venture to affirm that it is less honouring or less acceptable to God, and less of a boon to man and the world? Perhaps, after all, to mend the old roads, to restore the former paths which have fallen out of repair, and make them straighter, safer, and more comfortable to the feet of travel-worn pilgrims, is as noble and useful a vocation as any to which God calls His servants. I. What need there is for road-menders and restorers of paths in THE AND SOCIAL WORLD! To protect the widow and orphan; to stand by the oppressed; to ameliorate the lot of the starving poor and the slaves of the sweater; to grapple with the drink curse, the gambling curse, the curse of impurity, the curse of an inordinate love of gold and pleasure; the curse of preventable poverty, preventable disease, preventable premature old age and death--what a field of service for God and man! II. What need there is for road-menders and restorers of paths in OUR AFFAIRS! As lovers of our country; as patriots’ who have a share in shaping the home and foreign policies of our Governments and moulding public thought and national conduct and character, let us do what we can to lead our nation into saner and safer and nobler paths. III. What need there is for road-menders and restorers of paths in THE WORLD! Is not much of our Churchianity to-day an empty form, a mere show? How far removed from our professedly Christian life in the Church are our commercial life, our political life, our home life, our society life in the world! What an amount of nominal Church membership and formal Christianity there is nowadays! IV. What need there is for road-menders and restorers of paths in THE SPHERE OF AND ! After all, the best contribution any one of us can make to the glory of God and the welfare of man is that of a really good life; a life fashioned after the pattern given us by our Lord and Master; a life filled by the Holy Spirit, a life of friendship and filial fellowship with God. (R. Briggs, M. A.) Isaiah 57:15-21 For thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity.-- A royal manifesto A royal manifesto win His character as Sovereign, God brings before us, and before His loyal subjects in every age, what we may regard as His two titles and His two palaces. I. HIS TWO TITLES. 1. “ The High and Lofty One.” The nation had lapsed into unblushing idolatry. They had made surrender of their traditional creed, and specially of its fundamental article--the personality and unity of Jehovah; degrading it with the abominations of the Phoenician and Assyrian mythologies. In-addition to altars to Baal, crowning the high places, statues of Astarte were erected amid the groves of Terebinth. This latter goddess seemed to have been adopted by Ahaz as his tutelary deity; an awful and debasing counterfeit truly of the Supreme: sitting on a lion, holding a thunderbolt and sceptre in either hand, and her head surrounded with the crescent moon. No king, before or since, so defiled and desecrated the holy temple. Isaiah himself, amid this awful deterioration, this widespread atheism, might well be apt to give way to despair. His faith at times could hardly fail to be clouded. But the God he served calmed his fears and allayed his apprehensions by a special proclamation of His glory, and goodness, “ I am the alone High and Lofty One. 2. “ Whose name is Holy. The worst characteristic of these heathen deities was their unholiness. II. HIS TWO PALACES. 1. The palace of eternity. “ That inhabiteth eternity.” In nothing do we feel how puny we are, as when we attempt to scan the marvels and glories of this Divine dwelling-place, with its illimitable corridors of space and time. 2. What a transition, from the halls and corridors of eternity, to the human bosom! There is a twofold description here given of this humbler tabernacle where Jehovah dwells--a twofold characteristic of the human heart. (1) It is contrite. (2) After contrition, or as the sequel and complement of it, comes humility. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)The High gracious to the lowly I. Let us consider who Is IN THE TEXT. This is necessary to a right apprehension of what He says, and particularly to a clear perception of those riches of condescension, compassion, and grace, which His words unfold to our view. 1. He is “ the High and Lofty One.” 2. He inhabiteth eternity. He is therefore as different as possible from the children of men. 3. His name is Holy. II. Let us consider WHAT IS SAID BY HIM. 1. He tells us that He “ dwells in the high and holy place;” that is, in the heaven of heavens, the peculiar residence of the Deity, where His glory is chiefly manifested, and His favour is chiefly enjoyed. Heaven is not only high, but the highest place in the whole creation. There is no other place that can for a moment be compared with it, either in glory or felicity. Nor is there any other place so holy. 2. God here says that He dwells also with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit. By the man thus described we are to understand the sinner who has been enlightened by the Spirit Of God, who has been convinced of his sinfulness, and brought to true repentance. 3. God here tells us what is the end He has in view in dwelling with such characters. It is to “ revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” The same God that afflicts the sinner revives and cheers him. Learn-- (1) To entertain right thoughts of God. (2) To harbour just thoughts of the contrite, humble, and penitent offender. (3) How we may obtain solid happiness. (D Rees.)God in heaven and in the heart God has two special dwellings--the high and holy place, i.e the heaven not merely of space, but of pure and blessed spirits; and the hearts of men who have felt their sin and their need of God. 1. These two dwellings are far apart, How wide and great the one, how small and narrow the other! How permanent the one, how passing the other! How bright and untroubled the one, how dark and troubled the other! 2. They have yet something in common. The high place is akin to the humble spirit, for to see the far and high, and to long for it, is to rise; to have something of God within lifts up. The holy place is akin to the contrite heart; for to feel the sin and separation is to reach to the holy, and this comes from having God already in the heart at work. 3. They are to be brought into one. God dwells in them to unite them, to revive the spirit, to give life. And where God gives true life, He gives the earnest of heaven and eternity. These hearts are therefore on the way to being God’ s perpetual home. 4. The full end of these words is in Christ. He came from the high and holy place to dwell among men, and find a way into human hearts--to make heaven and the heart one and eternal. (British Weekly.)Man’ s greatness and God’ s greatness I. THAT IN WHICH THE OF GOD . 1. The first measurement, so to speak, which is given of God’ s greatness, is in respect of time. He inhabiteth eternity. 2. There is a second measure given us of God in this verse. It is in respect of space. He dwelleth in the high and lofty place. He dwelleth, moreover, in the most insignificant place--even the heart of man. And the idea by which the prophet would here exhibit to us the greatness of God is that of His eternal omnipresence. It is difficult to say which conception carries with it the greatest exaltation--that of boundless space or that of unbounded time. 3. The third measure which is given us of God respects His character. His name is Holy (1) The chief knowledge which we have of God’ s holiness comes from our acquaintance with unholiness. We know what impurity is--God is not that. We scarcely can be rightly said to know, that is to feel, what God is. And therefore this is implied in the very name of holiness. Holiness in the Jewish sense means simply separateness. From all that is wrong, and mean, and base, our God is for ever separate. (2) There is another way in which God gives to us a conception of what this holiness implies. Holiness is only a shadow to our minds, till it receives shape and substance in the life of Christ. (3) There is a third light in which God’ s holiness is shown to us, and that is in the sternness with which He recoils from guilt. Revelation opens to us a scene beyond the grave, when this shall be exhibited in full operation. There will be an everlasting banishment from God’ s presence of that impurity on which the last efforts had been tried in vain. But it is quite a mistake to suppose that this is only a matter of revelation. Traces of it we have now on this side the sepulchre. Human life is full of God’ s recoil from sin. II. THAT IN WHICH MAN’ S . 1. The nature of that greatness. In these two things the greatness of man consists. One is to have God so dwelling in us as to impart His character to us; and the other is to have God so dwelling in us that we recognize His presence, and know that we are His and He is ours. 2. The persons who are truly great. These the Holy Scripture has divided into two classes--those who are humble and those who are contrite in heart. Or rather, it will be observed that it is the same class of character under different circumstances. Humbleness is the frame of mind of those who are in a state of innocence, contrition of those who are in a state of repentant guilt. Let not the expression” innocence” be misunderstood. Innocence in its true and highest sense never existed but once upon this earth. Innocence cannot be the religion of man now. But yet there are those who have walked with God from youth, not quenching the spirit which He gave them, and who are therefore comparatively innocent beings. They are described here as the humble in heart. Two things are required for this state of mind. One is that a man should have a true estimate of God, and the other is that he should have a true estimate of himself, The other class of those who are truly great are the contrite in spirit. Conclusion:-- 1. The danger of coming into collision with such a God as our God. Day by day we commit sins of thought and word of which the dull eye of man takes no cognizance. He whose name is Holy cannot pass them by. God can wait, for He has a whole eternity before Him in which He may strike. 2. The heavenly character of condescension. It is not from the insignificance of man that God’ s dwelling with him is so strange. But the marvel is that the habitation which He has chosen for Himself is an impure one. If we would be Godlike, we must follow in the same steps. Our temptation is to do exactly the reverse. We are for ever wishing to obtain the friendship and the intimacy of those above us in the world. 3. The guilt of two things of which the world is full--vanity and pride. The distinction consists in this--the vain man looks for the admiration of others--the proud man requires nothing but his own. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)A voice from eternity to the children of Him, I. THIS VOICE REVEALS AN THAT STANDS IN SUBLIME WITH ALL THAT IS HUMAN. II. THIS VOICE REVEALS A OF IMMENSE VALUE TO THE GOOD. 1. This VOICE reveals God’ s special regard for a good man’ s experience. This High and Lofty One condescends to regard with special interest those of a “ contrite “ and “ humble” spirit. 2. This voice reveals God’ s special contact with a good man’ s existence. He not only dwells in the “ high and holy place,” but “ with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.” “ Dwelling” implies a close intimacy. He is, by the influences of His love, nearer to the good than He is to others; near to guide, to succour, to strengthen. Dwelling implies not only a close intimacy, but a permanent one. He does not come and go as an occasional sojourner; He continues as a settled resident in the soul. He is always with His people, in sorrow and joy, in life and death. 3. This VOICE reveals God’ s special quickening of a good man’ s spirit. “ To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” God comes down to the spirit, not to crush it, but to revive it, to give it a new life, to bring out by the sunshine of His presence all its dormant germs, and to make it fruitful in all good works. He gives it a life, over which circumstances, time, and death, have no power. (D. Thomas, D. D.)God He is a God, saith one, whose nature is majesty, whose place is immensity, whose time is eternity, whose life is sanctity, whose power is omnipotency, whose work is mercy, whose wrath is justice, whose throne is sublimity, whose seat is humility. (J. Trapp.)God’ s eternity Though intellectually incomprehensible, the thought of it is inestimably valuable. 1. It furnishes us with the only satisfactory account of the origin of the universe. Creation is but God’ s eternal thoughts in shape, His eternal will in action. 2. It shows to us our incapability of pronouncing upon His ways. During our existence here, He is working out a plan that, like Himself, never had a beginning and will never have an end. 3. It enables us to give an eternal freshness to the Bible. Being eternal, what He thought when He inspired men to write the Book He thinks now. (D. Thomas, D. D.)The contrite spirit The word “ contrition ‘ in the text is a very strong word. It literally means a pounded state, as of a stone which by blow on blow of heavy hammers, or the grinding of wagon wheels, has been crushed into dust. By this vigorous metaphor it strives to make vivid to us the moral state of a man whose whole strength of self-reliance and erectness of moral carriage has been broken down through the sense of guilt and moral weakness; one who by repeated trials of his own instability, and blow after blow of discouraging rebuke from God, feels himself left in the path of evil a heart-broken man, over whom the trampling feet of innumerable masterful sins, with all their evil followers, seem to find free passage; a man beaten down and crushed out of spirit by vain struggles against sin and inescapable poundings from the violated laws of God. Now this moral condition, though it looks hopeless, is really a hopeful one. It is the only hopeful one. And the hopefulness of it lies here, that no man is ever so crushed in heart by sin unless he hates sin. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)The High and Lofty One dwelling with the contrite man (with Isaiah 66:1-2):-- I. We remark that, FROM , THE OF GOD HAS ALWAYS WITH HIS NATURE AND . This seems to be implied in the text in three particulars: being eternal, He has inhabited eternity; as the High and Lofty One, He has occupied the throne of supremacy; and His name being Holy, He has dwelt in the high and holy place. II. IF HE TO HOLD WITH MAN, IT CAN ONLY BE IN HARMONY WITH THE SAME . He has not one principle for one world and another principle for another. Select any principle of His conduct, and you will find that, like Himself, it is from everlasting to everlasting; and all this owing to that infinite perfection of His nature which neither requires nor admits of a change. 1. Why is it that He comes forth and gives us this description of Himself? Why, but to show us that, if He condescends to hold any intercourse with us, the terms of that intercourse must be prescribed entirely by Himself. “ You judge” (as if He had said) “ of what a fellow-creature may expect from you by his tittles; hear My titles” --Jehovah, the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy. What distinction can you add to them. You estimate a mortal’ s rank by the remoteness of his ancestry--“ I am the First, the unoriginated Being.” You judge of a mortal’ s rank by the mansion he inhabits, and, on occasion, you prepare for his reception accordingly. “ I dwell in the high and holy place.” You can be awed by the presence of even human worth; what, then, should you feel in the presence of Him whose name is Holy--who, if He looks on iniquity, can only look on it to scorch and wither it up? You think of erecting a temple which shall attract the Majesty of heaven by its splendours, as if you should invite a monarch to descend from his throne by gilding his footstool. On account of His greatness, you would enlarge its dimensions. “ But do not I fill heaven and earth?” On account of His grandeur, you would multiply its priests and bedizen them with costly robes. Think of His state and retinue above, where His train filleth the temple, where thousand thousands minister unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before Him! On account of His supremacy, you would multiply His sacrifices. “ Will I eat the flesh of bulls,” saith God, “ or drink the blood of goats?” Multiply them as you will, set all Lebanon in a blaze, and offer up all its herds as a burnt-offering, still He can say, “ Every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.” Offer up the whole material world, and He could say, “ The world is Mine, and the fulness thereof.” But because man may have convicted himself of folly in these respects, is he, therefore, to retire mortified and in despair of ever securing the Divine presence? Let us hear what God the Lord will yet say to us. “ I dwell., with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.” What is the transition from that height to that depth nothing to Him, that He speaks of it in one sentence--in the same breath? “ With him also” --as if it made little or no difference to His greatness whether He dwelt there or here! 2. Having thus humbled Himself, we see the reasonableness of His selecting the humble and the contrite as the objects of His Divine regard. It is only such that are prepared to receive Him. As the infinite and eternal Spirit, He comes to commune with our spirit; but in the case of every class except the humble, He finds the ground already occupied, and He has to stand at the door and knock. As the High and Lofty One, He comes to have His supremacy recognized, to receive us at His footstool; but all except the humble are seated on little thrones of their own, and will not come down to receive Him. As the Being whose name is Holy, He comes to imprint on us the likeness of His own image; but none save the humble and those melted in contrition are in a state to receive the sacred impress. He comes to be honoured, appreciated, adored; but all save the humble are busied in asserting their own little claims--are, in effect, prepared to quarrel with His supremacy, and to pluck at His sceptre. Can we wonder, then, that if He comes to commune with us, His abode should be with the humble? Where should goodness dwell but with gratitude? Where should the fulness of the Creator pour itself forth but into the emptiness of the creature? 3. But will He commune even with the contrite? For here the wonder presents itself, that He should condescend even to this. And what part of His conduct towards us is not marked with condescension? And what part of His condescension is not an abyss of wonder? III. FROM THIS IT FOLLOWS, THAT NO WORSHIP CAN BE TO GOD, EXCEPT AS IT WITH THE OF GOD. Indeed, if this harmony were not necessary--if the individual or the Church could obtain access to God without such harmony with His character, it could not conduce to their real advantage. That in which the happiness of our spiritual nature consists must be something congenial to that nature, and something which is capable of imparting itself to that nature. 1. If supremacy comes here, He expects to behold subordination, and what is that but humility? Humility does not necessarily and of itself imply a sense of guilt. Angels are among the most humble of His creatures, for they never lose sight of their entire dependence on Him. And the greatest example of excellence which earth ever saw, though unstained by a single pollution, could say, “ I am meek and lowly of heart.’ 2. Humility is not enough for man. If they who have never sinned are humble, more than humility must be proper for man--there must be contrition also. The text implies this: it intimates that if the High and Holy One comes amongst us, He expects to be received amidst the sighs of penitence and the tears of godly sorrow. 3. But more--if this voice of mercy is to be heard--if He comes amongst us to address us, He expects that we should tremble at His word--that is, that our hearts should vibrate and respond to every accent Heutters. But if the very perfection of His nature makes this correspondence necessary, so also do the wants and the well-being of our nature. Everything in creation trembles and responds to the voice of God but the stony heart of man; and the welfare of everything depends on its power thus to respond. IV. THE SUBJECT THAT ALL HUMAN , IN THE SERVICE OF GOD, DEPENDS FOR ITS ON THE SAME --THAT OF HARMONY WITH THE DIVINE . (J. Harris, D. D.)The High and Lofty One (with Isaiah 66:1-2):-- I. THE DIVINE MAJESTY. Consider-- 1. The grandeur of His state. “ Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool,” a throne being an emblem of authority and power. 2. HIS attributes. II. THE DIVINE . 1. THE OBJECTS OF HIS regard. The qualities which attract His attention belong to the mind and heart. (1) God dwells not with the wise because of their wisdom--not with the great because of their greatness--not with the rich because of their riches--not with the poor because of their poverty, but with all--whether wiseor great, rich or poor-who possess a contrite spirit. (2) Again- those with whom God dwells are the humble. God’ s grace is at war with pride. (3) Those with whom God dwells cherish a spirit of reverence for His Word. “ To that man will I look that trembleth at My Word.” There is little doubt that we should tremble at God’ s word if it were addressed to us by an audible voice. Viewed in whatever light, still the Bible is a wonderful book. But what reverence is due to it as the oracle of truth, as the rule of life, as the lamp which God has kindled to be a light to our path! We reverence this Word when we receive all Scripture as given by inspiration of God, and “ thus saith the Lord” settles with us every religious controversy. 2. The expressions of the Divine regard. (1) “ To this man will I look,” figurative language denoting the interest which God takes in contrite and humble souls, and the complacency with which He regards them. (2) It is added, “ With him will I dwell.” First of all the question is proposed, “ Where is the house that ye will build Me?” My temple is the universe, I inhabit eternity,, I dwell in the high and holy place. “ Where is the house that ye will build Me? What a mystery is here, God dwelling by His Spirit in the heart, restoring the reign of holiness, setting up His law, establishing His authority, shedding abroad His gracious influences, filling it with light and peace and love! (3) But He is said to dwell there for a special purpose, “ to revive the heart of the contrite ones.’ There are many things in life to depress and discourage us--some are cast down by adversities, some are harassed by spiritual doubts, some are suffering from a consciousness of sin; and with all such the High and Lofty One dwells. (H. J. Gamble.)The dignity and condescension of God God is set before us-- I. IN THE DIGNITY OF HIS . We have-- 1. His rank as supreme. “ The High and Lofty One.” 2. His existence as eternal. “ That inhabiteth eternity.” 3. His nature as unsullied. “ Whose name is Holy.” And as His name is, so is He. II. HIS . “ With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,” etc. 1. Permanence. He “ dwells” in the high and holy place; it is His chosen, His special, His fixed abode. When it is, therefore, added, “ with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,” the same idea is set forth. “ If any man love Me,” said the Saviour, “ he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 2. Attachment. We may have to do with those for whom we feel no regard; but we would not, if invited, take up our residence with such. When persons dwell together as a matter of free choice, it is evident that there is something to attract them to each other. 3. Communion. 4. Consolation. Where He comes, He comes to bless; and how valuable is the blessing which is here specified--“ to revive the spirit of the humble,” etc. This He does by the quickening and comforting influences of that Divine Spirit which is promised to all them that believe. III. HIS REBUKES AND . 1. Their measure. He whose name is Holy cannot but show His displeasure against sin, whether it be found in the openly rebellious or in His own people. But, in reference to the latter, there are gracious limits within which His righteous anger is restrained. “ For I will not contend for ever,” etc. (Isaiah 57:16). 2. Their cause. “ For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth,” etc. (Isaiah 57:17). It seems that a covetous spirit pervaded the people of that generation at large. Covetousness is an abominable thing in the sight of God. 3. Their final issue. For a time the chastisements were unavailing, but the people were brought at length to a state of penitence. It is therefore said, “ I have seen his ways, and will heal him,” etc. (Isaiah 57:18). IV. THE OFFERS OF HIS LOVE AND MERCY, “ I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord,” etc. (Isaiah 57:19). The expression “ fruit of the lips” sometimes denotes praise, as when the apostle says, By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually; that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But while what is here announced might well excite our warmest gratitude, it is probable that the above phrase is used here in a more general signification. The fruit of the lips is what the lips produce, even words; and those which we have now to consider are pre-eminently gracious words. In reference to this proclamation we notice-- 1. Its nature. There is a twofold view in which the word “ peace” may be regarded. The first is that of good-will, which was the sense in which it was employed in ordinary salutations. But in its more restricted sense it means reconciliation. 2. Its objects. “ Peace, peace, to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord.” The Jews are described as “ a people near unto Him.” There are those among ourselves who may be regarded as farther from God and from righteousness than others. To the chief of sinners we are permitted to say, “ I bring you good tidings of great joy.” 3. Its efficiency. “ And I will heal him.” I will make the message effectual. V. HIS TOWARDS HIS ENEMIES (Isaiah 57:20-21). (Anon.)EternityThe contemplation of eternity There are some subjects on which it would be good to dwell, if it were only for the sake of that enlargement of mind which is produced by their contemplation. And eternity is one of these, so that you cannot steadily fix the thoughts upon it without being sensible of a peculiar kind of elevation, at the same time that you are humbled by a personal feeling of utter insignificance. You have come in contact with something so immeasurable--beyond the narrow range of our common speculations--that you are exalted by the very conception of it. Now the only way we have of forming any idea of eternity is by going, step by step, up to the largest measures of time we know of, and so ascending, on and on, till we are lost in wonder. We cannot grasp eternity, but we can learn something of it by perceiving that, rise to what portion of time we will, eternity is vaster than the vastest. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)Eternity 1. Eternity is the most distasteful subject to the natural man. 2. Whether ignored or not its importance remains the same. 3. In eternity there will be some marvellous revelations. 4. The nature of your eternity will be decided at the Cross. It is not the number or the heinousness of your sins that will condemn to hell, nor the beauty or strictness of your morality that will bring to heaven. Eternity will be decided by your relation to a crucified Jesus. (A. G. Brown.)Eternity--definitions “ Eternity,” saith the puritan, Charnock, “ is a perpetual duration which has neither beginning nor end. Time hath both. Those things we say are in time, that have beginning, grow up by degrees, have succession of parts. Eternity is contrary to time, and is therefore a permanent and immutable state, without any variation. It comprehends in itself all years, all ages, all periods of ages. It never begins! It endures after every duration of time, and never ceaseth. It doth as much outrun time as it went before the beginning of it. Time supposeth something before it, but there can be nothing before eternity; it were not then eternity. Time hath a continual succession; the former time passeth away, and another succeeds, the last year is not this year, nor this year the next. We must conceive of eternity contrary to the notion of time. As the nature of time consists in the succession of parts, so the nature of eternity is an infinite immutable duration. Eternity and time differ as the sea and rivers; the sea never changes place, but the rivers glide along, and are swallowed up in the sea so is time by eternity.” A simpler, but perhaps more striking definition, was that given by one of the pupils of the Deaf and Dumb Institution at Paris, who, in answer to the question, “ What is eternity?” replied, “ The lifetime of the Almighty.” Eternal The word “ eternal” is the unknown quantity of revelation, transcending present experience, and not to be represented by heaps of ages, or to be defined as endless. It is the timeless state. (N. Smyth, D. D.) Isaiah 57:16-18 For I will not contend for ever God’ s contendings with man I. LET US ADVERT TO THE ITSELF--WHAT IT IS, WHY IT IS, AND HOW IT IS CARRIED ON. What this quarrel is we know. It is a part of that ancient strife for mastery, which has been going on ever since the fall, between truth and error, light and darkness, holiness and sin. “ The carnal mind is enmity against God. ‘ Unconverted men may demur to these representations; they tell us that they merely withhold from the Divine Being the homage which He expects and claims; but repugnance, hatred, enmity towards Him, they have none. But do they not hate the law of God? Would they not, if it were in their power, have Him alter the scheme of His entire moral government, His permissions, His requirements? This, speaking after the manner of men, makes God angry--sometimes the contendings of God with man take a judicial form. They are to condemn the sinner out of his own mouth, in that he did not see, in the bitter experiences of a life of evil, how the goodness of God was leading him to repentance. See a form of this contending with us, in that fixed and universal law of our being, which always makes us unhappy, when we are striving with God, when we reject His counsels, or resist His will, or try to get from under His yoke, or wrestle with all the obstructions of His providence, in order to have our own way. But, further, and more directly, God contends with us by His Word, and Spirit, and outward providences--by powerful awakenings at the heart when we look not for them, or byinterposed checks and barriers when we are bent on the way of sin. There are restraints upon us often from without. And there are restraints upon us from within from the suggestions, and the admonitions, and remonstrances of the Divine Spirit in our hearts. But a more comforting view of our text, and one more in harmony with its general spirit, is that which supposes God to be contending with us, avowedly for the purposes of His own Fatherly correction, and only for the fulfilment of those ends; waiting to remove from us His heavy hand. These contendings of God with His own children take many forms. Chastening is a universal discipline. Very hard to bear is this contending of God with us; there is only one thing harder, and that is, the state in which He should not contend with us at all, but should leave us to ourselves. II. THE LIMITS WHICH GOD HAS HIMSELF TO THIS WITH THE SOULS OF MEN, AND THE REASONS MOVING HIM THERETO, Contend with us He must, and be wroth with us He must. It is a necessity forced upon Him by the circumstances of our fallen nature; but He will not contend for ever. Wisdom and goodness have decreed the bounds of this flooding wave and it shall go no farther. Now, in the case of the obstinately wicked and impenitent, we have seen why God will not contend for ever. They have their day of visitation and they outlive it; their accepted time and they sin on. The Judge wastes not scourges up, on them; they will make scourges enough for themselves. Hell itself is but Heaven’ s assisting grace withdrawn, and man left to the evil of his own heart. But in His own children, the limits of God’ s chastening are merciful limits. “ He for our profit’ --here is the universal law of the scourge; it will cease whenever our souls’ profit ceases. “ I will not contend for ever;” nor longer than may be necessary to try our faith, to prove our repentance, to see what there is in our hearts, whether we will keep the Divine commandments or not. These seasons of sadness are sometimes permitted to take us off from a false theology and a false rest. “ For the spirit should fail before Me. Very instructive are those Scriptures, and very comforting, which tell us how largely the thought of our mortal frailness enters into the considerate care of Heaven. The uppermost thought which our subject should leave upon the mind, and which the heart should cleave to with all the energies of a loving faith is, that it goes very hard with God to afflict man at all; and that He has in some mysterious sense to wrestle with the conflicting powers of the Godhead before He can give up a soul altogether. It seems as if God could take every step towards the sinner’ s condemnation but the last. He can admonish, rebuke, threaten; but when it comes to smiting, then comes the hesitation, then begins God’ s strange work. (D. Moore, M. A.)Contention ended and grace reigning The Lord is holding high soliloquy. He allows His prophet to stand where he can hear the sacred soliloquy of the great Supreme; and he does hear it, and then under the dictate of the Divine Spirit he records it in the inspired book, where it remains to this day for our instruction. I. GOD WITH MEN, AND THE DIVINE IS WELL ON THEIR PART. He says, “ I will not contend for ever,” in which it is implied that He does contend sometimes. Smiting comes before saving. 1. I would speak of this to the seeking sinner. Anything is better than the horrible calm of the dead sea of spiritual indifference. The Lord’ s design in contending with you is to convince you of your sin. The next reason for the Lord’ s contending with you will begin to operate when the first purpose has been accomplished. You will, in your self-abasement, be driven to look to the grace of God. It is hard to part a man from his sin, it is still harder to divorce him from his self-righteousness: and this is a part of the Lord’ s contention with awakened souls. Moreover, no one can be surprised that the Lord lets forth a measure of His wrath upon seeking sinners when we see how they behave, even while they are seeking. We have known them red hot one day and icy cold another, and albeit that they long for mercy, you will see them at certain seasons acting as if they despised it. 2. But now I turn to the people of God. Sometimes our Lord hath a contention with us. This is not at all wonderful when we consider how unworthily we often live towards His sacred name; indeed, “ it is of the Lord’ s mercies that we are not consumed.” His contention with us will show itself occasionally in adverse providences. Even more severe are His blows when it comes to be a controversy carried on by His Spirit within the mind. II. THIS DIVINE WILL COME TO AN END WITH THE , “ I will not contend for ever,” etc. The question arises: When may we expect that this promise will be fulfilled? Notice the verse which precedes the text, for that assures us that God hath no controversy with the humble and the contrite. This is self-evident, for He declares Chat with such He will dwell, and the God of grace will not dwell in a house that is full of contention. He contends where He does not abide, but where He abides there is peace. It is wonderful how the pity of God has in some cases been excited, even by a temporary repentance. When wicked Ahab rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon himself, the Lord took note of it and said, “ Seest thou how Ahab humbled himself before Me? Because he humbled himself before Me I will not bring the evil in his days.” When the Ninevites repented, though probably there was very little that was spiritual about their humbling, the Lord turned from His fierce anger and there was a reprieve for the wicked city. He has given a promise of grace which runs thus, “ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.” He cannot spurn those who submit themselves before Him, for it is written, “ Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly.” Condescension to the lowly is His glory, as the blessed Virgin sang of old, and as many fainting ones may sing at this moment if they will: “ He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree: He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich He hath sent empty away.” Lowly roofs attract the Deity. He comes to those who are broken in heart, and when He comes the contention is over. And what else doth the Lord promise to do? He says He will dwell with the humble, and He adds that He will revive them. III. GOD HIMSELF FINDS REASONS FOR ENDING THE . We could not have found any, for in ourselves there is much cause for the Lord’ s anger, but none for His grace. 1. The first is found in human weakness, and its inability to bear the Divine contention. 2. His second reason is, to my mind, even more extraordinary. It is given in the next verse: “ For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him: I hid Me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. This argument is founded on the inoperativeness of the Divine contention upon the heart which is to be won. If wrath will not humble us the Lord may yet in His grace try what love can do. He will love us to a better mind. IV. God Himself having found a reason why He should cease from contention, nay, two reasons,. HE HIMSELF INVENTS AND ANOTHER METHOD FOR ENDING HIS and making us right with Himself. 1. It is an astonishing method. “ I have seen his ways, and will heal him.” 2. It is an effectual method. “ I will heal him,” --not “ I will smite him again,” but “ I will treat his sin as if it were a disease.” It is true that sin is much more than a disease, and God might treat us altogether and only from its criminal side, but still it is a disease, and therefore He resolves to treat it as such. 3. It is a tender way. “ I will lead him also.” 4. Observe, how complete is this method. As if all that went before were not enough, it is added, “ I will restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.” He will take away the sorrow as well as the sin, the killing grief as well as the killing disease. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 57:17-19 For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth The punishment of backsliders; but their encouragement when penitent These words remind us of the language of the apostle to the Romans: “ Where sin abounded grace did much more abound. ” I. THE PART. 1. The evil complained of--“ The iniquity of his covetousness.” Then covetousness is iniquity. So the apostle considered it, or he would not have called it “ idolatry.” All idolatry is not gross or corporeal. Much of it is refined and mental. It is lamentable to think that this evil so commonly prevails. You will find, by the sacred writers, that the Jews were always given to it. Is it not awful to see how this vice prevails in our country? 2. The reward of transgression. “ For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him.” Sin is the same in whomsoever it is found. The evil is not lessened when it is found in the people of God; it is even increased. They stand in nearer relation to God than others. They sin under greater obligations to God than others. They sin against a renewed nature and an enlightened con science. Hence God is peculiarly angry, “ because of the provoking of His sons and of His daughters. Hence He says, You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore will I punish you. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” “ Sin never hurts the believer,” is an antinomian sentiment: but what saith the Scriptures? Turn back to the history of Moses and Aaron. Turn to the history of David, even when God assured him that his sin was pardoned. How wise, how merciful, are those hidings and those smitings He employs to bring His people to Himself. 3. The perverseness under this. “ He went on frowardly in the way of his heart.” It is said of Ahaz that, in his affliction, he sinned yet more and more against the Lord. So Jeremiah says, “ Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.” “ Do afflictions produce no benefit?” Let us distinguish. There are many who have been afflicted, and yet have not been humbled by the dispensations of Providence, by which they have been exercised. But, you say, “ Can this be, in any measure, the ease with real Christians? Will they require the rebukes of Divine Providence? Will they go on in the frowardness of their hearts?” Yes, for a while; and, sometimes, for a long while. There is Jonah--he was disobedient to the word of the Lord. 4. Here is God’ s knowledge of all the ways and works of men. “ I have seen his ways.” Therefore the speaker is authorized to say, “ Be sure your sin will find you out. And now, after all that He has seen, what shall we certainly expect to hear next from Him? I have tried long enough, I have employed means long enough, I will now “ avenge Me of My adversaries.” But no, “ I have seen his ways” --and what ways!--“ and will heal him,” etc. II. THE PART. Observe the extensiveness of the engagement. It takes in four things. 1. “ I will heal him’ , All sin is a disease, and it affects the soul much in the same way as affliction affects the body; depriving it of liberty, of enjoyment, of usefulness. It is the same with backsliding. 2. “ I will lead him also.” Bishop Hall says, “ Though God has a large family, not one of them can go alone.” Ann there is none so dull, but He can teach them. 3. “ I will restore comforts unto him.” 4. “ And I will restore comforts unto his mourners,” --for he had made others to mourn as well as himself. This is always the case. The wicked are not only corrupt, but they are “ children who are corrupters.” But who are they of whom the Prophet here speaks? Not men of the world. They are not his mourners. They rather rejoice. They say, “ Ah! so would we have it, instead of grieving over the falls of professors of religion and of the people of God. But “ his mourners?” They are his ministers--they who only live when you “ stand fast in the Lord.” They are the humble believers in Jesus, who are “ sorrowful for the solemn assembly, and to whom the reproach of it is a burden.” (W. Jay.)A cluster of promises I. HERE ARE , TO THE VERY ROOT OF ALL OUR SINFUL NEED, made to sinners as sinners, nay, to the very worst sinners. 1. The promise of healing “ I will heal him.” 2. A promise of leading. The Hebrew is, I will conduct him safely to his own country. 3. “ I will restore comforts to him.” It is not the singular word, it is not comfort, but “ comforts;” all sorts of comforts, and this though I have seen his ways. This is just the language we have in Isaiah 54:8-12. 4. There is a fourth promise, “ Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; a liberal promise! to those afar off--aye, far as the ends of the earth--from God, from light, and rest, and truth. II. THE PERSONS TO WHOM THESE ARE MADE. I said God makes promises to sinners, as sinners; will you observe the persons to whom these promises are made, as God describes them here? (Isaiah 54:17.) Covetousness is the root of all sin; covetousness sets up self instead of God in the heart, and everything that ariseth in practice contrary to God and His Word has its root in covetousness--selfism; but here is not merely covetousness, but the “ iniquity of covetousness,” a state of mind that rests at nothing likely to gratify or minister to self, but will go through hell-fire to get at what it wants. Then, again (Isaiah 54:17), God smote, but the soul was no better; it is a terrible aggravation of a sinful state, when the correcting hand of God does not mend it; see what God says (Isaiah 1:5). Now, says God, “ I have seen his ways,” obstinate, incorrigible, in sin, and “ I will heal him. Such is the divinely gracious way in which peace is proclaimed to him that is afar off. (M. Rainsford.)He went on frowardlyThe deceitfulness of the heart, with respect to adversity 1. This sometimes appears by despising afflictions. Many attempt to outbrave calamity, as if they were stronger than God. (1) Those may be said to despise His chastening, who account it a small matter, who from a principle of pride and presumption think it unworthy of them to seem affected with it, or refuse to turn to the hand that smiteth. (2) Again, we despise affliction, if we consider not its origin, which is the corruption of our whole nature by sin. (3) Adversity is also despised, when the subjects of it do not consider the more immediate cause of it, which is the anger of God because of sin, and confess with Moses, the man of God: “ We are consumed by Thine anger, and by Thy wrath are we troubled.” (4) Further, affliction is despised, if we do not consider the design of it. 2. By repining under adversity. 3. By keeping death at a distance, if the affliction be of a bodily kind. 4. By forming empty resolutions of repentance and reformation, while under affliction. 5. By exciting men to make lies their refuge. The deceitful heart prompts them to trust in earthly means for deliverance from affliction. 6. By making them despise means. We have seen again and again how the deceitfulness of the heart works by contraries, in its opposition to God. If it prevail not with those under affliction to depend absolutely on means, it will strenuously urge the total neglect of them. 7. By seeking deliverance from the affliction itself, rather than the sanctified use of it. 8. By abusing adversity, as an occasion of hardening itself against God. (J. Jameson, M. A.) Isaiah 57:18-19I have seen his ways, and will heal him Observing and healing This could only be said of God--He alone can see the ways of man. We have here-- I. A DIVINE . Intimate knowledge of the ways of men. “ I have seen.” God has no need to be told. Tale-bearers exaggerate and lie. God does not even trust His angels. They go about the world observing the evil and the good. But it is not upon their reports He acts.” “ I know, He says, “ their thoughts.” “ I have seen his ways. How solemnly should the fact impress us! 1. There is the man who makes a profession of religion. But that man knows how within him there exist the root and seeds of evil, that his life is a constant struggle, and sin with all its might is contending for the mastery. The deeper that man’ s piety is, he realizes with the greater pain his weakness and imperfection, and is horrified at the list which is written up against him by an observing God. 2. Not only the righteous are the subjects of Divine observation, but the wicked as well. The observations of Almighty God produce very different results according to the character of the person He observes. To the man who strives after the way of righteousness it is an encouragement and a warning. But to him who neglects religion and follows sin it is filled with terrible dread and is the precursor of ineffable judgment. II. A DIVINE PROMISE. The humblest efforts after holiness arc regarded by the great King, and are noted equally with the failures. He sees the whole--the follies, the weaknesses, the struggles, and the regrets, and He isfilled with pity. He knows that unaided man cannot divert his way, and therefore He vouchsafes to give a promise, “ I will heal.” In this promise we have-- 1. A manifestation of love. 2. A manifestation of authority, “ Will heal.” It is God only who can heal man. Application: 1. God will come to those who seek Him. They draw nigh to Him, He draws nigh to them. 2. How joyous is the sound of healing to a sick man! Much more the promise of forgiven sin. 3. Time is passing quickly. What are your ways? Are they such as encourage the Divine advances or repel infinite love? (Homilist.)The Divine Healer I. DIVINE . II. DIVINE MERCY. 1. “ I will heal him,” “ I will lead him also.” We all need guidance, as we move on through this wilderness. 2. Another part of the healing is the happiness of mind which Christ bestows upon His reconciled people. I will heal him and restore comforts unto him. 3. Then, too, will follow praise. “ I create the fruit of the lips.” The songs of heaven will be begun in your souls, even now upon earth. 4. Peace, settled peace. “ Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord: and I will heal him.” There is in that one word, “ peace,” a treasury of blessedness which you may forego all else to buy. (C. Clayton, M. A.)Wonder at God’ s grace There are a few objects in nature which never cease to astonish the beholder. I think Humboldt said he could never look upon the rolling prairies without astonishment: and I suppose some of us will never be able to look upon the ocean, or to see the sun rise or set, without feeling that we have before us something always fresh and always new. Now, I have been, not only for the love of it, but because of my calling of preaching it, a constant reader of Holy Scripture, and yet after these five-and-twenty years and more I frequently alight upon well-known passages which astonish me as much as ever. As if I had never heard them before, they come upon me, not merely with freshness, but even so as to cause amazement in my soul. This is one of those portions of Scripture. When I read the chapter describing the horrible wickedness of Israel--when I notice the strong terms which inspiration uses, and none of them too strong, to set forth the horrible wickedness of the nation--it staggers me. And then to see mercy following instead of judgment! It overwhelms me! “ I have seen his ways, and” --it is not added, “ I will destroy him; I will sweep him away,” but, “ I will heal him.” Verily God’ s grace, like the great mountains, cannot be scaled; like the deeps of the sea, it can never be fathomed, and, like space, it cannot be measured. It is, like God Himself, matchless, boundless. “ Oh, the depths! Oh, the depths!” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Amazing grace I. The text declares that THE SINNER HAS BEEN OF THE LORD. Notice, 1. That God’ s omniscience has observed the sinner. Man while living in rebellion against God is as much under His eye as the bees in a glass hive are under your eye when you stand and watch all their movements. The eye of Jehovah never sleeps it is never taken off from a single creature He has made. He sees man--sees him everywhere--sees him through and through; so that He not only hears his words, but knows his thoughts--does not merely behold his actions, but weighs his motives, and knows what is in the man as well as that which comes out of the man. God has seen your ways at home, your ways abroad, your ways in the shop, your ways in the bed-chamber, your ways within as well as your ways without--the ways of your judgment, the ways of your hope, the ways of yourdesire, the ways of your evil lustings, the ways of your murmurings, the ways of your pride. He has seen them all, and seen them perfectly and completely; and the wonder is that, after seeing all, He has not cut us down, but instead of it has proclaimed this amazing word of mercy, “ I have seen his ways, and will heal him.” 2. But God had not only seen their ways in the sense of omniscience, but He had inspected their ways in the sense of judgment. He says, “ I was wroth and I hid Myself.” Do not think because we preach free grace and dying love to you, and proclaim full pardon through the blood of Jesus, that therefore God winks at sin. No, He is a terrible God, “ and will by no means spare the guilty.” And yet He whom the angels call “ Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth” --the, jealous God, the. God who revengeth, and is furious against sin--even He has said, “ I have seen his ways, and will heal him.” 3. The Lord had tested him. If you read the chapter through you will see that God says He had attempted to reclaim him by chastisements. II. THE SINNER IS THE OBJECT OF DIVINE MERCY TO AN DEGREE. 1. Notice how God speaks. “ I will, I will.” Now, “ I will “ and “ I shall” are for the King; nay, in the highest sense they are only becoming when used by God Himself. It is not for you and me to say “ I will” ; we shall speak more wisely if we declare that we will if we can. 2. The disease that we suffer from is a disease He knows all about, because the text says, “ I have seen his ways.” 3. Then the text goes on to say, “ I will lead him also.” The poor soul of man, even when healed, does not know which way to go. There is not a more bewildered thing in this world than a poor sinner when first he is awakened. Have you ever gone with a candle into a barn where a number of birds have roosted? Have you disturbed them? Have you not seen how they dart hither and thither, and do not know which way to fly? The light confuses them. So it is when Christ comes to poor sinners. They do not know which way to go; they see a little, but the very light confuses them. Now, the loving Lord comes in, and He says, “ I will lead him also.” 4. “ I will restore comforts to him.” God begins by knocking our comforts away. He takes away the comfort we once had in our false peace, and He makes us mourn for sin. But after a while He restores comfort to us. What sort of comfort? The comfort of perfect forgiveness, the comfort of complete acceptance. The Father sets a warm kiss upon the child’ s cheek, and that is the comfort of adoption. Whereas we were heirs of earth, we become heirs of heaven, and have the comforts of hope. We receive the comfort of daily fellowship, for we are admitted to speak with God, and to draw near to Him; the comfort of perfect security, for we are led to feel that whether we live or die we are safe in the arms of Jesus; the comfort of a blessed prospect beyond the grave in the land of the hereafter, where the flowers shall never wither; the comfort of knowing that all things work together for good; the comfort of having the angels for our servants, and heaven for our home. “ I will restore comforts to him;” and all this to the man of whom it is said, “ Thou didst debase thyself even unto hell.” (C. H.Spurgeon.)God sees the sinner In the old time, when the Grecians worshipped images of their gods, it was said that when spiders stretched their webs across the eyelids of the image of Jupiter, the people were regular in their attendance to worship him. They liked to feel that the spiders’ webs prevented Jupiter from seeing their sins, and in their poor, feeble way were no doubt grateful to the insects for covering the eyes of a god who, they thought, would punish them for their sins if he could see their ways. (W. Birch.)And restore comforts unto him. - Comfort The word “ comfort” comes orginally from two Latin words, con and fortis, meaning much strength. In time of trouble, when you lift up your heart and bravely bear the bruden, the strength which enables you to do it is called comfort (W. Birch.)Comforts 1. It is a great comfort have peace of mind. Many people have sought to obtain wealth, hoping it would give peace of mind; but they have been mistaken. But what a comfort it is to those who have obtained it! It flows from the knowledge that our sins are forgiven. 2. Another comfort is that God is with us. 3. What a comfort to know that God is our helper. His fingers are tender, and His heart is loving as that of a gentle mother. 4. It is a comfort to know that God is our strength in time of temptation. When an engine has to lift a weight which is beyond its usual work, the engineer stands at the steam gauge, and when the finger reaches near the danger point, he cries, “ Hold hard; it can do no more! “ If he allowed the engine to be pressed beyond the safety point, there might be an accident. Likewise, God knows the gauge of every man’ s heart. He knows exactly what trials you can bear, and how much temptation you can stand. He declares that no man shall be tempted above that he is able. 5. It is our comfort to know that God is our support in the pathway of our life. 6. Here is another comfort--that our God is the Friend of sinners. (W. Birch.) Isaiah 57:19I create the fruit of the lips Peace, peace I. THE GRAND SUBJECT OF HE GOSPEL . “ Peace, peace! saith the Lord.” It implies a state of previous enmity and quarrel: a state of alarm and disquietude: and a remedy for both. 1. And does not the message of the Gospel find us in a state of enmity? We are not only “ by nature children of wrath,” but by voluntary choice we have rebelled against our God. 2. And in a state of alarm and disquietude? II. THE OFFER OF ITS . “ To him that is far off, and to him that is near, Peace, peace, saith the Lord.” 1. In respect of outward privileges, the Jewish Church was “ near,” and all other nations were ‘ far off. 2. In respect of moral character, some may be thought nearer to God, some further off; and still no difference is made. 3. In respect of inward experience, again, some may feel discouraged by the idea that others have greater nearness to God than themselves. 4. In respect of local distance, “ God is still no respecter of persons.” He orders that His Gospel be “ preached in all the world.’ III. THE HOLY CHANGE WITH THE OF THEM. “ I will heal him.” (J. Jowett, M. A.)The fruit of the lips Our text tells us that God creates the fruit of the lips; but this must be understood, of course, with a reservation. He does not create the fruit of the lips as we commonly see it, but the good fruit, the true fruit, the fruit worth gathering. Because the natural fruit is so evil it needs the Creator again to step m, and make us new creatures, and our fruit new also, or else it will remain so bad that the verdict upon it must be “ Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” And what is that fruit which the Creator produces from a source which is naturally so barren? 1. The sacrifice of thanksgiving (Hebrews 13:15). The fruit of the lips which God creates should be, above all things, praise. 2. Prayer. 3. Testimony. 4. There is one renowned topic upon which the lips ought always to be able to speak, and that is summed up in the two words, “ Peace, peace.” From the mouth of truth should come kisses of peace, words of peace, the breath of peace. This is the best lip-salve--“ Peace, peace.” Nothing can so sweeten the breath as “ Peace, peace.” Nothing can so flavour the palate and delight the heart as this “ Peace, peace,” felt within, and breathed without. No teeth of ivory, nor lips of coral, are complete in loveliness till over all there glistens the brightness of peace. Fierce speech becomes not loveliness, and threatening and clamour destroy beauty, but the charm of the lips is peace. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Rare fruit We shall employ these words-- I. AS THE CRY OF THE . When men are awakened by the grace of God into a consciousness of their true condition they find themselves at war with God and at war with their own consciences, and consequently they begin to cry, “ Peace, peace:” longing eagerly to end the dreadful conflict in which they find themselves engaged. Then there visits the man one who knowingly whispers, “ You need not disturb yourself. These things are not so. Do you not know that these are all bugbears of a past generation? We men of modern thought have made great discoveries, and changed all the fears of our benighted ancestors into a brave unbelief. You can live at ease. Do not fret yourself about sin, or heaven, or hell, or eternity.” Vain are these stale scepticisms, the man is too much in earnest to be drugged with such soporifics. Boastful unbelief has small power over an agonized soul. God Himself has convinced this man of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, and though he tries to disbelieve he cannot. Mr. Worldly Wiseman calls upon him, with his friend Dr. Legality, and his assistant-surgeon Mr. Civility, and these try their Balm of Conceit and Plaister of Natural Goodness. But if God has been dealing with this man, he will say, “ But I am not right. I feel that I deserve the wrath of God, and that goodness is not in me.” No, the leprosy lies deep within, and no outward form can cleanse away the deep-seated pollution. II. THIS IS THE ANSWER OF THE SAVIOUR. It is the fruit of the Saviour’ s lips. He comes to a soul and says, “ Peace, peace.” Did you ever see Him as dying of sin? If you have never seen Him with the eye of faith you do not know what peace means. But did you ever see Christ as He is risen from the dead? Here is another vision of consolation, another fount of peace. Did you ever see Jesus as He sits there triumphant at the Lord God’ s fight hand? A poor, tried spirit is greatly comforted by that sight. If I were to go on picturing our glorious Lord Jesus Christ in any and all of His relationships to us, we should in each case hear Him say, “ Peace, peace.” III. AS THE SONG OF THE TRUE . He who has really, seen Christ, and placed his trust in Him, can now sing, “ Peace, peace, peace. IV. THIS SHOULD BE THE MOTTO OF EVERY . 1. This should be his spirit and desire in the Church, “ Peace, peace.” 2. We should labour to carry out the, same quiet spirit in the family. When you get home do not change “ Peace, peace, ‘ into scolding and nagging. “ If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.’ 3. When peace reigns in your own family, go into the world with the same watchword--“ Peace, peace.’” Do not set dogs by the ears, but tame lions and tigers. Compose differences, and make people friends. 4. What a difference there will be when this is taken up among all Christian sects--when there shall be no more envying and strife between this denomination and that, but each one shall be saying in Christ’ s name, “ We are brethren--peace, peace.” (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 57:20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea The restlessness of sin Who are the wicked? Not only all who think and feel and do the wrong, but all who have not the right spirit within them--supreme sympathy with the supremely good. There are degrees inwickedness as well as in goodness. There are certain things that render it impossible for wicked men to have true repose. What are they? I. . The sinner is doomed to perpetual disappointments. He expects happiness in certain pursuits and objects that cannot according to the constitution of his soul yield him true satisfaction. He reposes trust in objects as frail as the reed and as uncertain as the clouds, and he is doomed to have his plans broken up and his confidence destroyed. Hence he is the subject of perpetual vexations and annoyances, for disappointment is evermore a soul-agitating power; it comes down sometimes upon the heart like a strong south-wester, stirring it to its very depths. II. . Where there is sin there must come sooner or later remorse. An accusing conscience is not a mere wind that passes over the soul, rippling its surface; it is a volcanic force in its centre, shaking every part. It gave Cain no rest, it made Belshazzar totter and Felix tremble; it drove Judas to the rope. III. SELFISH . Selfishness, which is the essence of wickedness, is the great disturbing force in the moral universe. Avarice, ambition, jealousy, revenge, envy, anger, are some of its fiendish progeny. (Homilist.)“ The troubled sea” In order that the wicked may understand how far from peace they really are, the prophet points seaward, and bids the people listen to the moaning of the ocean. He bids them hearken to its thunders, as it pounds upon the rock-bound coast, and says eloquently and graphically, “ The wicked are like yon troubled sea, for it cannot rest; its waters cast up mire and dirt.” I. THE OF THE OCEAN IS AN EMBLEM OF THE WICKED. 1. The sea is never still. We have, indeed, beheld it “ like a millpond,” as we say; its surface so glassy and mirror-like that some would conclude that it was perfectly still. The sails, and masts, and hull of the ship were reflected in its glassy bosom. Yet even then the deep was not perfectly still. There was a solemn heave about it, as the flapping of the sails and the rolling of the yards plainly revealed. Moreover, even if the swell could have altogether subsided, the sea was not still for all that. There were currents, imperceptible save when the log was heaved and the reckoning taken, that bore the ship silently along. Furthermore, even if it were possible to get into a place where there were neither swell nor currents, the tides are everywhere uplifting and depressing the vessel at regular intervals to high or low watermark. The sea, therefore, is perhaps one of the best emblems of restlessness, for it has several motions and movements, even in its serenest moods. But it is not to the sea in a state of calm, but when it is lashed to foam, that the prophet compares the wicked. There is to them no permanent enjoyment: their pleasures are fleeting: they have no real rest of heart. Uncomfortable thoughts and painful prickings of conscience come when they are least welcome. Conscience is ill at ease, fear of death and of judgment can by no means be altogether set aside. Those who have been converted to God after a life of dissipation and a career of sin have honestly confessed that though there was a certain sort of pleasure in the ways of wickedness, there was meanwhile a strange unrest. Like Marcellus, the Roman general, of whom it is said that whether conqueror or conquered he was still dissatisfied, they were never content. The reference here is principally to the fierce passions that are in every human breast. In the breast of the saint they are restrained by the power of the reigning Christ, but in the life of the wicked they remain uncurbed, unbridled, let loose upon the world. 2. How readily the sea is stirred! At one moment it is comparatively calm, the surface smooth and glistening, but presently the accustomed eye notices in the distance the cat’ s paw of the wind--a little ruffling of the surface in quite a circumscribed area. But the puffs become frequent and grow in force; the ripples become wavelets, and the wavelets waves; the waves soon rise to billows, and by and by the sea runs mountains high. It is identically the same with the wicked, now-soever gently the Prince of the power of the air blows upon them at first, all too soon the angry passions rear and-rage and roar. Pride and envy, lust and covetousness, ambition, malice, revenge, all these, little in their beginnings, grow in size and increase in number until they become adulteries, murders, blasphemies, and the like. 3. To what an awful pitch the agitation of the sea can attain. Oh, the dreadful length to which wickedness is carried! 4. How long, also, the agitation of the sea remains. Some seas, indeed, are always rough. They never know repose. Off some headlands the waves run mountains high at all seasons of the year, but in other places the storm that rises so readily takes long to subside. I have encountered the after-swell of a storm that must have raged some days before; long after the hurricane had blown itself out our vessel came into the region where its tracks remained. We crossed the pathway of the storm, though we were fortunate enough to miss the tempest itself. Oh, how long the agitation of sin remains. With some, indeed, there is a temporary lull, an attempt at reformation, more or less successful. Sometimes a man will curb his passions with philosophy, or become suddenly impressed that for his own reputation’ s sake he must hold himself in cheek, but he has scarcely done so ere Satan raises another vehement wind and begins to arouse his passions in a different direction. I have known sinners get into just such a ease that they have overcome this temptation; they have managed, by sheer force of character and strength of purpose, to restrain certain unholy passions, and then the devil, fearing that he may miss his hold of them, raises another wind, in a contrary direction; and the remains of the previous storm come clashing with the beginnings of a new one, and the poor sinner is likely to be swamped betwixt the twain. 5. What a mighty noise the sea makes when it is troubled. There is a pleasant murmur with it in the time of calm, but when the winds of heaven begin to play upon it it thunders as it rolls and breaks on the beach, and hisses as it surges on the shore. Behold here another emblem of sin and of sinners. The wicked seem to delight in making loud proclamation of their sin. 6. When the sea is troubled it works havoc on every hand. Thus do the wicked work destruction in our midst. Alas! for those who are the prey of their passions. The great, the learned, the aged are not spared. Huge liners founder in the gale. Alas! that wicked men are constantly compassing the destruction of the smaller ships; and the children of our families and our schools are wrecked while yet their years are few. Moreover, wickedness is so insidious that some who have thought to rescue men from sin have been themselves engulfed by it. They had it in their hearts to be as lifeboats to them, but they themselves have gone down too. Law and order, like great cliffs and granite walls, have been torn down by the grasping hands of iniquity, while proprieties and decencies which one would have thought that even sinners would observe, have been levelled or overridden by men who ran to an excess of riot. II. THE SEA IS AN EMBLEM OF WICKED MEN BECAUSE OF THE DEBRIS THAT IT CASTS UP. The egecta of the sea is, in God’ s esteem, a fit image of the outcome of wicked men’ s hearts. When the storm has subsided you will find a good deal of objectionable matter littering the beach--the vomit of the sea. How apt an emblem of that which the Christless heart produces! What evil deeds the unregenerate heart is capable of! And what shall we say about the words of wicked men? What shall the end be? Is the storm evermore to last? I see no cure for all this unless the Lord speaks peace. “ Oh where is He that trod the sea?” He is on the mountain top; He is on His high and holy hill. It is dark, and Jesus has not yet come to us, but He has not forgotten us. Thrice happy day when the Christ of Galilee says, “ Peace, be still,” to a sin-stirred world! (T. Spurgeon.)Bad men and good: a contrast What a contrast with the calm of God’ s “ holy mountain” (Isaiah 57:13) high above all sublunary storms. (J. R.Macduff, D. D.) Isaiah 57:21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked The standard of righteousness maintained The fifty-seventh chapter ends with a declaration which shows that amid all the goodness and graciousness of the Divine way the standard of righteousness is never lowered: never is the dignity of law impaired. Read these awful yet gracious words: “ There is no peace, saith my. God, to the wicked.” If we thought that God was about to lose righteousness in sentiment, we are thus suddenly, with a very startling abruptness, brought back to the remembrance of the fact that wickedness is infinitely and eternally hateful to God, and that peace and wickedness are mutually destructive terms. The wicked man may create a wilderness and call it peace, but real contentment, benignity, resignation, or harmony, he can never know in wickedness. Herein we find the testimony of the Divine presence, the assertion and glory of the Divine law. God does not take away peace from the wicked in any arbitrary sense. Wickedness is itself incompatible with peace: the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. The unrest is actually in the wickedness; the tumult does not come from without, it comes from within. (J. Parker, D. D.)The character and misery of the wicked I. WHO COME UNDER THE OF THE WICKED? In general, all who have never undergone a change of heart. 1. Some are grossly ignorant of the plain and essential doctrines of the Christian religion, amidst the best means to gain an acquaintance with them. 2. Some break out into open acts of wickedness. 3. Others, though free from gross immoralities, are yet wicked, because they neglect the duties of religion. There are sins of commission, and there are sins of omission. 4. There are some who adopt loose and dangerous principles, who allege, either that the Scripture is not true, or that the great doctrines, as generally taught, are not contained in it. 5. Among the wicked we must also rank the formalist and hypocrite. 6. They are impatient of restraint and reproof. II. IN WHAT THERE IS NO PEACE TO SUCH. 1. There is no peace to them with God. By their wickedness they wage war with Heaven, and the almighty King is angry with them every day. 2. There is no peace in their own conscience. 3. There is no peace to the wicked in a dying hour. By this is not meant that they shall undergo more pain of body than others. The pangs of dissolution are the same to all. Those, indeed, of whom the world was not worthy, have often suffered the most cruel and violent deaths. Nor is it meant that the wicked have never any composure in death, or hope of well-being hereafter. Some of them die as they have lived, stupid and thoughtless as beasts. Some good men may have fears and perplexities to the very last; and some bad men may remain unshaken, and die with more apparent confidence than the others. The fears of the good man cannot render his state less safe, nor the confidence of the bad render his less dangerous. Whatever their own sentiments are, it shall be “ well with the righteous, and ill with the wicked.” What awful spectacles have some of the wicked exhibited on a death-bed! 4. There is no peace to the wicked after death. They enjoyed with others the common bounties of Providence, and were sensible of pleasure. In these they placed their only happiness; but now all is gone, and they are tormented. Conscience can be quieted no more. (W. Linn, D. D.)No comfort for the wicked The wicked would not be healed by the grace of God, and therefore shall not be healed by His comforts. (M. Henry.)No peace to the wicked 1. The man who lives in a habitual course of sinning has no real comfort of mind from the pleasures of this world. 2. He must necessarily want all effectual support under the many evils and calamities of life. 3. He cannot but be sometimes troubled with the reproofs of his conscience. 4. He can never get rid of all the unwelcome thoughts of death, and of what is to be his portion in a future state. (Bishop Pearce.)No peace to the wicked I. WHO ARE THE ? “ The wicked.” This description includes the outwardly immoral and profane--those who seem lost to every principle of virtue and religion--who have not the fear of God before their eyes--and who are equally indifferent to the censure and approbation of their fellow-creatures. But the words of the text are applicable to all those whose hearts have not been renewed by the Holy Spirit. II. THE SUCH . “ There is no peace,” etc. 1. They cannot, while in this state, enjoy peace with God. Peace includes in it mutual reconciliation and agreement. 2. The wicked cannot enjoy peace with themselves. As the favour and presence of God are the only sources of real happiness, a state of enmity and separation from Him must be attended with misery. Subjection to His authority, and conformity to His will and image, promotes peace and order, but where these do not exist, there must be confusion and discord. The unruly passions will then agitate and distress the mind; pride, and envy, and hatred, and other unholy affections will struggle for the ascendency. Having no principle to check or govern them, they will increase in violence and hurry their possessor onward in the path of sin and danger. Conscience will also exert its influence to alarm and terrify them. In vain do the wicked seek peace of conscience by partial reformation or by the performance of outward duties. The accusations of a guilty conscience can be silenced only by an application to the blood of sprinkling. 3. There is no peace to the wicked in the world. Alienation from God necessarily leads to strife among men. It excites those corrupt passions and principles which render man the enemy of his fellow-man, as well as the source of misery to himself. 4. The wicked have no peace under the various afflictions of life. In the season of worldly prosperity, they may appear to others peaceful and happy, but no sooner does adversity come upon them, than we see the transient and unsubstantial nature of their enjoyment. 5. There is no peace to the wicked in the hour of death. 6. There is no peace to the wicked through eternity. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)Wickedness an obstruction to social peace and happiness In order to the proving of this, I shall insist on these three arguments I. THE NATURAL OF . II. THE OF GOD’ S , AND HIS OF TRY. WORLD. III. THE OF ALL AGES. (B. Calamy, D. D.)No peace to the wicked I. A , an unlimited proposition, “ There is no peace to the wicked.” II. THE UPON WHICH THE IS , even the testimony of God Himself, “ There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” (J. Lambe.)The dismal reflections of the unbelieving mind It is said of the infidel Hobbes, “ that though he would speak very strange and unbecoming things of God, yet in his study in the dark, and in his retired thoughts, he trembled before Him. If his candle happened to go out in the night, he awoke in terror and amazement. He was unable to bear the dismal reflections of his dark and desolate mind; and knew not how to extinguish, nor how to bear the light of the candle of the, Lord within him.” Mr. False Peace, so John, Bunyan has it in his “ Holy War, was the son of Mr. Flatterer, and his mother’ s name before she was married was Mrs. Sooth-up. He liked to be called Mr. Peace, but there were witnesses enough to prove that time was when he delighted to boast that his real name was not Peace, but False Peace. “ There is no peace (except false peace), saith my God, to the wicked.” (T. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 58:1-4 Cry aloud, spare not “ Cry aloud” “ Cry with the throat. ” Crying with the throat or from the lungs is here opposed to a simple motion of the lips and tongue (1 Samuel 1:13). The common version, “ Cry aloud,” is therefore substantially correct, though somewhat vague. The LXX in like manner paraphrases it ἐνἰσχύι. J.D. Michaelis reads, “ as loud as thou canst.” The positive command is enforced by the negative one, “ spare not,” as in Isaiah 54:2. The loudness of the call is intended to suggest the importance of thesubject, and, perhaps, the insensibility of those to be convinced. The prophet here seems to turn away from avowed apostates to hypocritical professors of the truth. (J. A. Alexander.)Conviction before comfort When our Lord Jesus, promised to send the Comforter, He added, “ When He is come, He shall convince;” for conviction must prepare for comfort, and must also separate between the precious and the vile, and mark out those to whom comfort doth not belong. God had appointed this prophet to comfort His people (Isaiah 40:1); here He appoints him to convince them, and show them their sins. (M. Henry.)The minister must be faithful He must be vehement and in good earnest, must cry aloud, and not spare. Not spare them, nor touch them with his reproofs as if he were afraid of hurting them, but search the wound to the bottom; lay it bare to the bone; not spare himself, or his own pains, but cry as loud as he can. Though he spend his strength, and waste his spirits; though he get their ill-will by it, and get himself into an ill-name; yet he must not spare. The trumpet doth not give an uncertain sound, but, though loud and shrill, is intelligible. So must his alarms be, giving them warning of the fatal consequences of sin (Ezekiel 33:3-4). (M. Henry.)National sins protested against I. TESTIFY AGAINST SOME OF THE SINS AND CRYING OF THIS LAND. 1. Pride. 2. Luxury. 3. Pleasure. 4. Gluttony. 5. Drunkenness. 6. Swearing. 7. Sabbath-breaking. 8. Lying. 9. Avarice. 10. Adultery and fornication. 11. Profane contempt of holy things. 12. The evil passions which agitate the bosoms of men, and which receive the sanction of a large portion of the community--not as casual evils, but as principles of action, and tests of what is called highmindedness and honour. Some of the most prevailing of these, when stripped of their specious coverings, and exhibited in their proper character, are--ambition, envy, malice, and revenge. 13. Flagrant insincerity., and wicked abuse of professed acts of public worship. 14. Hardened impenitence. II. URGE WITH AND THE OF GOD UPON EACH. (R. Shittier.)Selfish piety Selfish piety is the popular piety of this age and land. I. IT IS VERY EARNEST. The piety’ , of Israel at this time seems to have been anything but a dull and inactive power; it was very busy. 1. It was earnest in study. “ They seek Me daily,” etc. (Isaiah 58:2). 2. It is earnest in prayer. “ They ask of Me the ordinances of justice,” etc. 3. It is earnest in its self-sacrifice. It endures lastings and self-mortifications (Isaiah 58:3). 4. It is earnest in its churchism. “ Ye fast for strife and debate,” etc. It would seem that the Israelites were divided into religious parties or factions, some professing to be more orthodox than others. There was a rivalry, therefore, in their devotion; one tried to excel the other, and the competition ran so high that they began to “ smite each other with the fist.” 5. It is earnest in its professions. They made “ their voice to be heard on high.” II. IT IS . The prophet is here called upon to “ Cry aloud, spare not,” etc. 1. It is an insult to God. “ He abhors the sacrifice where not the heart is found.” This selfish piety is the most abhorrent of all impieties. 2. It is pernicious to souls. This selfish piety inflicts incalculable injury upon its possessor: it warps the judgment, it deadens the conscience, it awakens false hopes generates diseased affections and dehumanizes the man. Nor is the injury confined to the possessor himself. (Homilist.) Isaiah 58:2 Yet they seek Me daily Hypocitical religion When the prophet went about to show them their transgressions, they pleaded they could see no transgressions they were guilty of; for they were diligent in attending God’ s worship, and what more would he have of them? Now, 1. He owns the matter of fact to be true. As far as hypocrites do that which is good, they shall not be denied the praise of it; let them make their best of it. It is owned that they have the form of godliness. (1) They go to church, and observe their hours of prayer. “ They seek Me daily.” (2) They love to hear good preaching. “ They delight to know My ways,” as Herod, who heard John gladly, and the stony ground, that received the seed of the Word with joy; it is to them as a lovely song (Ezekiel 33:32). (3) They seem to take a great pleasure in the exercises of religion, and to be in their element when they are at their devotions. “ They delight in approaching to God,” not for His sake to whom they approach, but for the sake of some pleasing circumstance--the company or the festival (4) They are inquisitive concerning their duty, and seem desirous only to know it, making no question,, but that then they should do it.” “ They ask of Me the ordinances of justice, the rules of piety in the worship of God, the rules of equity in their dealings with men, both which are ordinances of justice. (5) They appear to the eyes of the world as if they made conscience of doing their duty. They are “ as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinances of their God. But, 2. He intimates that this was so far from being a cover or excuse for their sin, that really it was an aggravation of it. Show them their sins that they go on in, notwithstanding their knowledge of good and evil, sin and duty, and the convictions of their consciences concerning it. (M. Henry.)Religious, but unsaved Men may go a great way towards heaven, and yet come short; nay, may go to hell with a good reputation. (M. Henry.)Two great problems The prophet and the world may be considered as engaged in two opposite problems. The problem which the world is ever seeking to discover is to find out what is the least religion they may have, and yet be saved; the problem which the prophet is here endeavoring to solve, is what is the most religion you may have, and yet be lost. (D. Moore, M. A.)Forms of religion There are four distinct forms of Gospel service, all of which, if accompanied by right affections towards God, afford just and scriptural evidence of an accepted or reconciled state. These four forms of service are--the habit of daily prayer, a love for the preached Word, an open profession of Christ, and an apparent earnestness in inquiring after the ways and will of God. These, however, are not in themselves decisive tests of spiritual character; causes may operate to induce these outward observances, wholly distinct from the love of God in its governing and ruling power. Education may prompt a man to acts of daily worship; by local sympathies, or by the power of fashion, a man may be induced to make a religious profession; and he may with much apparent earnestness be inquiring which is the way to life eternal, when he has a secret mental reservation to keep the joys, the comforts, and the forbidden delights of the present world. (M. Henry.)Formalism I. WHY MEN GO SO FAR. 1. It is a sentiment of moral uneasiness which makes the formalist of every grade and character. 2. But in estimating the causes which induce men to go certain lengths in a religious life, we should not entirely omit the expectation of a considerable degree of credit in the world; a secret pride at being numbered among the people of God--an indefinite notion of outward prosperity as usually following on a bold religious profession. II. WHY IT IS THAT THEY WILL NOT GO FURTHER, For this I shall assign two reasons. 1. Defective knowledge--an imperfect acquaintance with the way of salvation. Men know not the end of Christ’ s work, they know not the jealousy with which He regards any interference with that work. 2. Defective obedience--they stop short of some form of Gospel requirement with which they should comply. III. APPLY SOME TESTS OF . (M. Henry.) Isaiah 58:3-7 Wherefore have we fasted?-- Fasts Fasts were a common feature of the old Israelitish religion (1 Kings 21:9; 1 Kings 21:12; Jeremiah 36:9). In Zechariah 8:19 we learn expressly that during the exile four days were observed annually as fasts, in commemoration of dates connected with the fall of Jerusalem. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Fasting I. IN GENERAL THE DUTY OF FASTING, ITS NATURE, ENDS AND USES. As to the meaning of the word, fasting is only an abstinence from food. Whether this abstinence should be total or partial, and how long it should be continued, cannot be determined by any general rule that can reach all persons; but the constitutions and strength of particular persons must be considered, and such abstinence used by them respectively as will best answer in each the ends and uses of fasting. We are not to look upon fasting in itself as a thing that recommends us to God. But there are good ends for which fasting is appointed, and which are promoted by it, that make it acceptable to God regard, therefore, must ever be had to those ends, and such measures taken as may be most conducive to them, and they are chiefly these-- 1. For subduing and mortifying the sinful appetites of the body. 2. For the better disposing the mind to prayer and other spiritual exercises. The corruptible body is too apt to press down the immortal soul. 3. For the testifying our shame and sorrow; our anger at ourselves for our sins. We have God’ s express command for it to His people the Jews. The prophet Joel frequently and earnestly presses them to this duty. Holy men of old practised it, as we find in the instances of Ezra, David, Daniel, etc. And that we may not think this to be such a Jewish rite, as concerned only those that lived under their dispensation, we read that when the prophet Jonah denounced God’ s judgment against Nineveh, those Gentiles proclaimed a fast, and observed it universally from the greatest to the least. And to put this matter out of all doubt, the blessed Author of our holy roll,on, in His Sermon on the Mount, though He does not directly command fasting yet supposes it a duty to be practised by Christians, gives directions for the right performance of it, and upon such a performance assures us of a blessing from our Father in heaven. II. REFLECT UPON THOSE FAULTS OF THE JEWS IN MY TEXT, WHICH MADE THEIR FASTS TO GOD. 1. Though they used great outward austerity, and severe discipline towards the body, there was no inward change. 2. Their divisions and contentions. “ Ye fast for strife and debate,” etc. 3. Their want of compassion and charity to those that were in affliction (verse 7). A like thread of hypocrisy ran through their fasts, and prayers, and alms, and all their services in our Saviour’ s time. III. INQUIRE WHETHER WE OF THIS NATION ARE NOT JUSTLY WITH THE SAME SINS WHICH THEY , and so severely smarted for; and whether we have not too much reason to fear that God may expostulate with us about our public fasts, as He did with them, “ Are they such fasts as I have chosen?” IV. PRESS YOU TO THE OF SUCH THINGS AS MAY MAKE THIS DAY OF AN DAY UNTO THE LORD. And what can do this but our careful avoiding those sins which the Jews are here reproved for, and practising their contrary duties? 1. We must be sure to avoid that foolish and provoking sin of hypocrisy. 2. Also all strife and division. S. Let us take heed of unmercifulness and hard-heartedness to those that are in want and misery; for, with what face can we ask, with what reason can we expect from God, supplies for our wants, or succour in our distress, if we refuse such help as we can give to our poor brethren in their affliction? (Bp. Talbot.)Incipient Pharisaism There is an incipient Pharisaism in their evident expectation that by external works of righteousness they would hasten the coming of the Messianic salvation. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Ye fast for strife J. D. Michaelis tells a story of a lady who was never known to scold her servants so severely as on fast days, which he says agrees well with physiological principles and facts! (J. A. Alexander.) Isaiah 58:5-9 Is it such a fast that I have chosen?--The fast which God has chosen I. GOD’ S PURPOSE IN MEN TO FAST. 1. To lead us to prayer (Isaiah 58:4), prayer so real that our voices are “ heard on high,” that God will hear and answer. 2. To aid us in realizing communion with Him (Isaiah 58:9); that His voice be heard by us as truly as ours by Him; our voice to Him (Isaiah 58:8), His to us. 3. To aid in repressing self in all its forms. In John 3:30, we have thegeneral principle, also in Philippians 2:8. II. THE NATURE OR OF TRUE . 1. To loose our bands (Luke 13:16), “ whom Satan hath bound” Luke 11:21-22; Matthew 5:29-30). 2. To undo our burdens (Psalms 55:22; Matthew 11:28-30). 3. To break every yoke, every habit that enslaves (Romans 14:21; 1 Corinthians 6:12-18). “ I will not be brought under the power of any.” 4. To bring the flesh into subjection to the spirit (Galatians 5:17). III. THE EFFECT OF TRUE . 1. “ Then” thy light shall break forth like morning (Philippians 2:15-16; Matthew 5:16). 2. “ Thy righteousness shall go before thee ‘ as a leader to higher grace and 2 Corinthians 3:18). 3. Thy prayer shall be heard (verse 9). 4. There shall be light from on high, and His guidance for ever (verse 10; Psalms 32:8; Exodus 33:14). Conclusion: To keep this season properly, we must be ourselves “ free” as now creatures in Him. We must act habitually in the spirit of freedom Galatians 5:1). We must do what in us lies to make others free Numbers 10:29). (H. Linton, M. A.)Philanthropic piety In these verses you have the religious instinct working, not through selfishness, but through love, not in formal religious devotions, but in earnest philanthropic services. I. ITS RITUAL IS SERVICE. “ Pure religion and undefiled is this, to visit the widow and fatherless,” etc. II. ITS IS . What is it? “ Light.” “ Then shall thy light break forth as the morning. Prosperity will come on them as the genial dawning of a long and blessed day. “ Health.” “ Thine health shall spring forth speedily.’ All weakness and disease will depart, and healthful vigour will come into the soul. “ Righteousness.” “ Thy righteousness shall go before thee.” The eternal law of rectitude--not expediency, not caprice, not passion, not morbid sentiment, will guide the footsteps as a leader through the winding path of life.’ “ Glory. “ The glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward” . III. ITS SPIRIT IS TO GOD. “ Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am.” The idea is that if men would only be real in their religion, show their love to Him by labouring earnestly for the good of suffering humanity, then He would respond to their prayers, and grant them their request. (Homilist.) Isaiah 58:6-7 Is not this the fast that I have chosen?--Practical fasting In reply to the question, how the acts here mentioned could be described as fasting, J. D. Michaelis says that they are all to be considered as involving acts of conscientious self-denial, which he illustrates by the case of an American slaveholder brought by stress of conscience to emancipate his slaves. (J. A. Alexander.)Oppression People may be oppressed in their reputation by unmerited reproaches. (R. Macculloch.)A foretokening of Gospel morality This passage is one of those in which the holiness peculiar to the Gospel seems to be foretokened in the morality of the prophetic canon. The twilight clouds were red with the coming Sun. 1. Isaiah and his brother-prophets were holier and heavenlier and richer in the works of love upon an anticipated Christ than we are in a Christ already our crucified Example. These men of God knew no divorce between belief and love, between living perpetually in the presence of a benevolent Lord and imitating His benevolence to their “ fellow-creatures. As it is the spirit of truth that has solemnized the union of the principle of faith with the works of charity, so it is, and in all ages has been, the master policy of the spirit of evil to effect their separation. 2. The whole religious providence towards man in every age has been a system operating by the combined influence of faith and love--both directed towards His own perfect essence. In our existing condition, what is faith but love relying on support? What is love but faith forgetting the support in the Supporter? Every progressive step in attaining habits of compassion and kindness upon earth must necessarily be a step towards estimating and loving Him who is the essential Spirit of benevolence. The love of man is the type and shadow of the love of God. The people of God are here engaged with the rudiments and images of those affections which are to be the duty and happiness of their eternity. (W. Archer Butler.) Isaiah 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry?--Almsgiving Why there are so many evils in the world is a question that has been agitated ever since man felt them. It becomes not us, with too presumptuous a curiosity, to assign the causes of the Divine conduct, or, with too daring a hand, to draw aside the veil which covers the councils of the Almighty. But from this state of things we see many good effects arise. The enjoyments of life are grafted upon its wants; from natural evil arises moral good, and the sufferings of some contribute to the happiness of all. Such being the state of human affairs, charity, or that disposition which leads us to supply the wants, and alleviate the sufferings, of unhappy men, as well as bear with their infirmities, must be a duty of capital importance. Accordingly, it is enjoined in our holy religion as being the chief of the virtues. It is assigned as the test and criterion by which we are to distinguish the disciples of Jesus, and it will be selected at the great day as being that part of the character which is most decisive of the life, and according to which the last sentence is to turn. Charity, in its most, comprehensive sense, signifies that disposition of mind which, from a regard and gratitude to God, leads to do all the good in our power to man. But all that I intend at present is, to consider that branch of charity which is called almsgiving. I. WHAT IS THE MOST PROPER METHOD OF CHARITY. 1. The best method of bestowing charity upon the healthy and strong is to give them employment. One half of the vices of men take their orion from idleness. To support the indolent, therefore, to keep those idle who are able to work, is acting contrary to the intention of God; is doing an injury to society, which claims a right to the services of all its members; is defrauding real objects of charity of that which is their proper due,. and is fostering a race of sluggards to prey upon the vitals of a State. But he is a valuable member of society, and merits well of mankind, who, by devising means of employment for the industrious, delivers the public from a useless incumbrance, and makes those who would otherwise be the pests of society, useful subjects of the Commonwealth. 2. Another act of charity, of equal importance, is to supply the wants of the really indigent and necessitous. If the industrious, with all their efforts, are not able to earn a competent livelihood; if the produce of their labour be not proportionable to the demands of a numerous family; then they arc proper objects of your charity. 3. Another class of men that demand our charity is the aged and feeble, who, after a life of hard labour, are grown unfit for further business, and who add poverty to the other miseries of old age. 4. Children also bereft of their parents, orphans cast upon the care of Providence, are signal objects of compassion. 5. But there is a class of the unfortunate who are the greatest objects of all; those who, after having been accustomed to ease and plenty, are by some unavoidable reverse of fortune condemned to bear, what they are least able to bear, the galling load of poverty; who, after having been perhaps fathers to the fatherless in the day of their prosperity, are now become the objects of that charity which they were wont so liberally to dispense. II. TO THE OF THIS DUTY. This duty is so agreeable to the common notions of mankind, that every one condemns the mean and sordid spirit of that wretch whom God has blessed with abundance, and consequently with the power of blessing others, and who is yet relentless to the cries of the poor and miserable. The practice of this duty is incumbent upon all. 1. To the performance of it you are drawn by that pity and compassion which are implanted in the heart. 2. Consider the pleasure derived from benevolence. (J. Logan, F. R. S.)Dealing bread to the hungry Thine “ own bread it must be, and that especially whereof thou hast on the fast-day abridged thyself; for what the rich spare on such a day the poor should spend. Hereby, 1. Men’ s prayers shall speed the better (Acts 10:4). 2. They shall make God their debtor (Proverbs 19:17). 3. That is best and most pleasing alms to God that is given in Church assemblies; for, (1) it is an ordinance of God, and a Sabbath duty (1 Corinthians 16:1-2); (2) Christ there sitteth, and seeth the gift and mind of every 13 almsgiver (Luke 21:1-2), setting it down in His book of remembrance (Malachi 3:16). (J. Trapp.)“ To break bread,” “ To break bread,” meaning to distribute, from the Oriental practice of baking bread in thin flat cakes. (J. A. Alexander.)Breaking bread to the hungry Not only to give them that which is already broken meat, but break bread on purpose for them; give them loaves and do not put them off with scraps. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 58:8-14 Then shall thy light break forth The secret of prosperity to nations, churches, and men :-- I. MEN AND CHARGE GOD , AND WITHOUT CAUSE OF THEIR OWN LOW ESTATE. II. GOD REBUTS THEIR CHARGE, AND ASSERTS THE OF HIS IN AN APPEAL TO THEIR OWN AND COMMON-SENSE. III. GOD RETURNS THE CHARGE AGAINST HIMSELF ON THE SINNERS’ OWN HEADS, AND REVEALS HIS SECRET, IF MEN WILL HAVE EARS TO HEAR. “ Then” is the secret of light and darkness; of health and sickness, or want of spiritual vigour and vitality; of covenant righteousness in the enjoyment of covenant blessings, or apparent breach of covenant in the withholding of what is good; of glory, such as that of Israel in the wilderness, when the glory of the Lord was “ their rereward,” when the pillar of cloud and fire was in the midst of them by day and night, or shame, as when the ark was in the hands of the Philistines, or the Assyrian or Babylonian invaded God’ s heritage and profaned His temple; of prayers answered, or unanswered; of God’ s presence manifested in undeniable! tokens, or denied, undiscerned, apparently withdrawn; of power to be God’ s witnesses and workmen in doing good to others, or impotence, conscious inability to be fellow-labourers with God and for God, want of spiritual life and energy. “ Then” is the secret--then, and not till then--then, and not otherwise--then certainly-then according to the promise of the covenant, and in the way of the covenant and kingdom. In further application of the text to ourselves learn such lessons as the following-- 1. The salvation of the Gospel is salvation from sin itself. 2. In the Gospel, accordingly, blessedness and righteousness go together, and so also sin and misery. 3. There is under the Gospel no substitute for repentance. 4. Man, in all the work of salvation, from beginning to end, must co-operate with God. (R. Paisley.)God the rewarder If a person, a family, a people be thus disposed to everything that is good, let them know for their comfort that they shall find God their bountiful rewarder. 1. God shall surprise them with the return of mercy after great affliction, which shall be as welcome as the light of the morning after a long and dark night (Isaiah 58:8; Isaiah 58:10). They that arc cheerful in doing good, God will make them cheerful in enjoying good. They that have showed mercy shall find mercy. Those that have helped others out of trouble, God will help them when it is their turn. 2. God will put honour upon them. Good works shall be recompensed with a good name. This is included in that light which riseth out of obscurity. 3. They shall always be safe under the Divine protection. “ Thy righteousness shall go before thee,” as the vanguard, to secure thee from enemies that charge thee in the front; and “ the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward,” the gathering, host to bring up those of thee that are weary and are left behind, and to secure thee from the enemies that, like Amalek, fall upon thy rear. 4. God will be always nigh unto them to hear their prayers (Isaiah 58:9). As, on the one hand, “ he that shuts his ears to the cry of the poor shall himself cry and God will not hear him,” so on the other hand, he that is liberal to the poor, his prayers shall come up, with his alms, for a memorial before God Acts 10:4). 5. God will direct them in all difficult and doubtful cases (verse 11). 6. God will give them abundance of satisfaction in their own minds (verse 11). 7. They and their families shall be public blessings (verse 12). (M. Henry.)“ Break forth as the dawn “ Break forth” is the verb used in IsaGe 7:11; Psalms 74:15, of the bursting of waters through a fissure in the earth’ s surface; by a vivid metaphor the dawn was conceived as “ splitting” the heavens and flooding the world with light The same word occurs on the Moaite Stone in the phrase “ from the splitting of the dawn.” (Prof. J. Skinner,D. D.)Thine health shall spring forth speedilyA healthy Church I. OF A HEALTHY CHURCH. 1. A Scriptural constitution. 2. Nutritious food. 3. Pure air. 4. Regular exercise. II. OF A HEALTHY CHURCH 1. Health is sometimes known by outward appearances. The rosy cheeks, the sparkling eyes, the sonorous voice, all testify to health. A healthy Church may be known by its prayer-meetings, contributions, missionary spirit, etc. 2. Health is known by tastes. A sickly man’ s taste is bad. Unwholesome dainties are preferred to strong meat. So with regard to an unhealthy Church. Silly anecdotes are preferred to good scriptural teaching. Thinks much of forms and ceremonies. 3. Contentment of mind. An unhealthy man is querulous and difficult to please. So an unhealthy Church. It is a fault-finding Church. 4. Work. Sickness disables a man for labour. Health stimulates to work. A healthy Church may be known by its labour. III. THE OF A HEALTHY CHURCH. A healthy Church-- 1. Is one of great comfort to itself. 2. Will survive through many trials. The healthy man is heedless of east winds, etc. So a healthy Church survives persecutions, etc. 3. Is attractive. People shun unhealthy Churches as they do fever dens. 4. Is one likely to live. Lessons: 1. A morally sick Church is a great curse to a neighbourhood. 2. The sooner the better that many a Church should apply to the great Physician for spiritual healing. 3. The Church will by and by become perfectly whole. 4. When perfectly whole, diseased persons will no longer be admitted into its fellowship (Revelation 21:27). (J. Williams.) Isaiah 58:9-11 Then shalt thou call God’ s wonderful response to His people’ s prayers When God calls to us by His Word, it becomes us to say, “ Here we are; what saith our Lord unto His servants? ” But that God should say to us, “ Behold Me, here I am,” is strange. When we cry to Him, as if He were at a distance, He will let us know that He is near, even at our right hand, nearer than we thought He was. “ It is I, be not afraid.” When danger is near, our Protector is nearer, a very present help. “ Here I am,” ready to give you what you want, and do for you what you desire. What have you to say to Me? God is attentive to the prayers of the upright (Psalms 130:2). No sooner do they call to Him, but He answers, Ready, ready. Wherever they are praying, God saith, Here I am hearing; I am in the midst of you, nigh unto them in all things (Deuteronomy 4:7). (M. Henry.)If thou take away from the midst of thee the yokeOne path to prosperity In the figures implied the prophet represents extreme adversity; and by metaphors which he distinctly puts forth he describes renewed prosperity; and he connects the marvellous change from the deepest adversity to the highest prosperity with the avoidance or laying aside of three sins which then beset the people of God, and with the performance of two ordinary duties. 1. The besetting sins. (1) Oppression “ If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke,” i.e oppression. (2) Scorn and contempt. “ The putting forth of the finger” is the spirit that speaks in the, “ Thou fool!” (3) “ And speaking vanity” --evil speaking generally. 2. The duties. (1) “ And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul” --i.e give, serve, minister, according as men about you have need, and according as you have ability and opportunity. (2) “ And satisfy the afflicted soul” --i.e visit the widow and fatherless in their affliction--comfort those that mourn--endeavour according to your power to wipe away the tears from the eyes of all the sorrowful. (S. Martin.)Oppression The oppression of others is an early sin, a sin which you often see rampant among children--among very little children. Oppression is a household sin, it will be found more or less in almost every family. There may be some cases where it is not, but they are decided exceptions. And it is a sin in connection with all family relations. The godly husband is charged to love the wife even as himself, and even as Christ loveth the Church; but there are many husbands--some: professing to be Christ’ s disciples--who are the wretched oppressors of wives. Oppression Is a household sin--seen in parents--seen in brothers and sisters--seen in the husband. And it is a social sin--seen in all the walks of life. 1. Especially where men employ each other, and take advantage of each other’ s skill, and of each other’ s strength. It is a national sin--seen more or less in all rulers; and an international sin--seen in the conduct of nations to each other. Manifestly, therefore, a very common sin is this putting on of the yoke--seen where men have no right to put on the yoke at all; and seen in a heavy yoke where men have only the right to put on a light yoke, and they impose a heavy yoke; and seen in thus keeping on of the yoke after the yoke should be removed. (S. Martin.)Creed and outward ordinances not the supreme things 1. Nothing is here said about this people having declined from religious belief, or in this case from the observance of religious rites. God had to find fault with them on these grounds, but what I want you to notice is, that God is not speaking of such declension here. What does this show? It shows that a man, so far as the creed on his lip is concerned, may maintain his orthodoxy, and that a man, so far as religious ordinances are concerned, may maintain his devoutness, and yet have a heart thoroughly declining from God’ s statutes. 2. There is an eternal connection between righteousness and blessedness. 3. The true state of individual saints and of congregations of saints is light, not obscurity; brightness, not dulness; happiness, not misery; spiritual health, not moral sickness; usefulness, not sterility and barrenness; continuance, not declension. (S. Martin.)“ Putting forth of the finger” A gesture of derision. Hence the middle finger is called by Persius, digitus infamis. (J. A. Alexander.) Isaiah 58:10-11 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry The reflex influence Of missionary enterprise I. EXALTS . The whole life of the Christian after his conversion is a discipline fitted to purify and exalt his character. What, then, are the works and exercises that tend most to build up Christian character to a lofty height? I know nothing equal to work that engages us directly in seeking the conversion of our fellow-men, and especially of those whose conversion seems naturally most difficult, such as we find in the mission field. 1. The first test I set before you is the tendency of this work to exercise the Christian graces. Whatever exercises these most, must produce the highest Christian result; for Christian character is just the Christian graces consolidated and fixed in the soul by cultivation. Take, then, a grace like faith. I confidently ask if home chanty--needful and precious as it is--be as lofty a kind of charity as that which deals with want and woe, enforced by the naked claim of humanity in distress. Is it not an exalted feature of British commerce that every great calamity strikes to its heart, so that immediately a subscription is opened on every stock-exchange? But why should missions be less expansive, and the soul be less provided for than the body? 2. Our second test shall be resemblance to God. From beginning to end, God takes a missionary attitude. He sends the Son; He sends the Spirit; apart even from grace, He sends rain on the just and on the unjust. As the true God delights in mercy, truth, and righteousness, we claim for the works that foster these in the soul, as the most God-like, the highest stamp of worth and sacredness l 3. Our third test shall be the example of Jesus Christ. What was He if not a missionary--the missionary that travelled the farthest, stooped the lowest, gave up the most, suffered the worst? The very world has learned new ideas of greatness and goodness from Jesus Christ; and this central idea of self-sacrificing love, as the very element of moral grandeur, stands out like a new revelation. 4. I mention a fourth test, which is, our imitation of the greatest Christians. Can one be mentioned that has not sympathized with the spread and diffusion of the Gospel? II. The second way in which missionary enterprise reacts beneficially on the Church is in JOY. This, of course, would follow from improving Christian character. But I take another line of illustration. 1. Missions remove hindrances to Christian joy. It is a great hindrance to think that the world is still in so backward a state. But the faithful Christian can say, “ Well, this is not my fault. I am doing something to remedy it; and the more that we all do, the sooner will the evil be cured.” It is also a great hindrance to Christian joy that the Church is so divided. But here, generally, in the mission field, matters are at their best. I will only mention another hindrance to joy which missions remove--the sceptical doubts and questionings as to the truth of Christianity. Now the visible living power of the Gospel, as seen on the mission field, is not only an evidence of divinity, but meets some current objections and difficulties. Objections are taken to the unity of the human race. But here, in point of fact, the race is shown to be one. And this casts indirect light on the question as to the antiquity of man. A book that casts more light on the history of the human race than any other, that goes more to the depths of human nature, and that works more stupendous and blessed changes on man in every country and clime, is not likely to be mistaken as to his age, and the conviction, which every day’ s experience of missions deepens, that the Bible is the God-given book for the race, may help us to wait calmly and hopefully as, occasional difficulties arise, till time and study clear them away. 2. While missions thus remove hindrances to Christian joy, they also give positive occasions to it. The triumphs of me Gospel in these new scenes must delight every Christian heart. The Christian, as it were, lives over again his own Christian experience in coming to the Saviour and tasting the riches of His grace. He enters into the gladness of the missionary who, after many a hard and sore struggle, rejoices that he has not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. He rises even to the joy of angels, as fellow-helpers to conversion, and as assuming the guardianship of unlooked-for heirs of salvation to whom they minister. Nay, the Christian’ s joy is not complete, till he thinks of his God and Saviour, who for this hour came to the Cross, with all its shame and sorrow, and now, in looking back on it all, sees here of the travail of His soul and is satisfied. III. The third way in which I shall show that missionary enterprise reacts beneficially on the Church is IN ITS REWARD. I might have dwelt on the impulse to usefulness and success in all other directions which, with the foregoing enhancements of character and joy, constitute reward in this life. But I point rather hero to “ the recompense of the reward” hereafter. Our term of labour is bounded. Ought we not, then, to take home the truth that heaven, with its rewards, is dependent for its degrees on the effects of time? The missionary field thus holds out a glorious opportunity of brightening heaven. It will be brightened by the very results of our labours in peopling it with ransomed souls; but over and above, there are glorious rewards and honours of which we can only speak here like men that dream. (J. Cairns, D. D.) Isaiah 58:11 And the Lord shall guide thee continually Our Guide Our earthly existence is a pilgrimage which none can successfully perform without Divine aid. I. ALL MEN NEED A GUIDE. There are many who have been determined to have their own way; and when that way has led them rote” the path of sin and ended, in,, shame and unhappiness, they have said, “ Ah, I wish I had known this in time! Many persons often wish, “ O that I could begin my life again with my present knowledge of what is best for me!” In the pilgrimage of earthly existence there are many perils. There is often the uncertainty of darkness. We are beset by the peril of false leaders. There are spiritual robbers who meet us on every hand. There are snares of sinful pleasure and selfish indulgence. There is the intoxication of prosperity. Some allow themselves to be broken down by adversity. We are in peril from flatterers. II. THE LORD IS OUR GUIDE. 1. He is a compassionate guide. 2. A faithful guide. 3. A perfect guide. 4. He knows your life at the end as well as the beginning. III. TO WHAT WILL THE LORD GUIDE US? 1. To truth. 2. To success in life. True success is to be able to do the will of God. 3. The Lord will guide the burdened to the arms of strength. (W. Birch.)The promised guidance I. IT IS A PROMISE. “ What could the children of Israel have done in the wilderness, without the cloudy fiery pillar to lead them over its trackless wastes? This world is just such a wilderness to us. II. IT IS A PROMISE. I do not mean that it is reasonable for us to expect it. No, indeed, we have no right to look for a blessing so great and so gracious. I mean it is a reasonable promise so far as God is concerned. It is what He can easily fulfil. III. IT IS A PROMISE. It meets our wants as the children of God, and meets them fully. If we are depending on our fellow-creatures for help, there are always two difficulties in our way. One is that our friends may not know just what help we are needing; or if they know it, they may not be able to reach us with the help we need. But God is able to concentrate His power, His presence, and His sufficiency in the case of each of His people, as thoroughly and as effectually as though that single case were the only one existing to claim His attention or to enlist His power. (R. Newton, D. D.)A happy Christian Observe in what connection this sunny sketch of prosperity occurs. It is set in a frame that excites the strong prejudice of some professing Christians. The setting is a framework of duties. The blessings are not promised to every Christian unconditionally,” “ but are fenced in with terms: If thou doest this, and if thou doest that, then shall such-and-such blessings be thine.” Though salvation is of grace, the happiness of the Christian does depend upon his obedience. I. These people, who are thus full of God’ s Spirit, are described as possessing . “ The Lord shall guide thee continually.” 1. There come to them, as to other men, dilemmas in providence. He goes not amiss who goes in the company of God. 2. The path of doctrine, also, is sometimes difficult. The Holy Ghost will lead us into all truth. So shall it be, likewise, in matters of spiritual experience. 3. Our experience often seems to be as though it had no rule. If we are enabled by grace to seek close and vital union with Christ, and to live upon Him continually, we may rest assured that whether our experience be gloomy or delightful, and whether our inward conflicts or joys be paramount, He will still be at the helm, and will guide us continually. II. The second blessing promised in the text is INWARD . “ And satisfy thy soul in drought.” It is a blessed thing to have the soul satisfied, for the soul is of great capacity. The Christian has got what his soul wants. He has a removal of all that which marred his peace, blighted his prospects, and made his soul empty and hungry. His sin is pardoned; he is reconciled to God. He is satisfied with God’ s dispensation. He is satisfied with God’ s love. He is satisfied with promises that can never be broken, with covenants that can never be violated, with oaths that stand fast like mountains, and with the words of God which are great as the fathomless sea. He is satisfied with his God. The consequence of such a satisfaction as this is that the Christian is as well satisfied at one time as at another, if his soul be right. He shall be satisfied in times of drought. In the vast times of distress the Christian is still satisfied. III. The next blessing is, HEALTH AND . “ And make fat thy bones.” Note the figure. It is not “ make fat thy flesh.” When Jeshurun waxed fat he kicked. Sometimes abundance in earthly things makes poverty in heavenly things. But fatness here is to be upon the man’ s hardest and most necessary part of his frame. A man is really built up when his bones, the solid pillars of the house of his manhood, have been strengthened. Vigour has been put into his constitution where it was most required. The figure seems to me to indicate two or three things in one. There is health here, the soul purged from its vices, sicknesses, and unbelief, pride, sloth, and such like. There is vigour here, no lukewarmness. There is growth, the man is not stunted. Christian joy is, after all, Christian strength. IV. The fourth blessing is this, “ AND THOU SHALT BE LIKE A WATERED GARDEN.” This figure of a garden is a very sweet and attractive one. Our fancy is soon at work to invent a picture of flower-beds, and fruit-trees, shady walks, and pleasant fountains, laid out close to some grand mansion, and opening its fairest views to the best apartments of the palace. Such a garden needs constant care, and then, although it may be more beautiful at one season than another, it will never be like a wild heath, or totally bereft of charms. But, alas! some professors of religion are not like this: there is little evidence of diligent cultivation in their character. V. There is the blessing of , , SUPPLY. “ As a well of water whose waters fail not.” There are many wells in the East which do fail, and many apparent springs which deceive the traveller. I observe that the margin has it, “ whose waters deceive not, or lie not. And how many a man who has appeared like a Christian has been but a mere deceiver! Not so God’ s true people. They shall have so much grace that when a Christian friend expects to find grace in them, he shall not be disappointed. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Thou shalt be like a watered gardenA watered garden Cannot a garden water itself? No. That is the answer, definite, cold--discouraging, encouraging, as we may take the term. Is it not enough to be a garden? what matter about the sunshine? who cares about the rain or the dew? Is it not enough to be a garden, a geometric form, pearled and diamonded with many a flower? The king’ s gardens cannot do without rain; Solomon’ s parterres wither away but for the morning dew and the summer shower. We need something from without. Cannot a man sustain himself by his own resources? He cannot. What do you mean by being a man? A figure is not a man; a corpse is not a man; a mere personality, if it could be detached from all other personalities, would not be a man. We cannot live upon stature or figure or aught that our hand can hold. Life is deeper; there is a sanctuary of life, a well far away, where spring water bubbles and gurgles and flashes out in the sunlight like a great gospel preached to the thirst of man. Self-sustenance is not the law of the body; why should it he the law of the mind? The mind is not sustained by itself. You have books; lay them down, be your own book. You cannot. What do you want with all these libraries, and museums, and academies, and colleges, and schools of every name and degree? These are the wheatfields which the soul reaps, and it needs them every one, for the soul is bigger than literature. The soul lives by friction with some other soul. God is fire. To come into happy attrition with Him, or contact, or friction, who can tell what may come out of that soul touching soul, man praying to God? We are continually undergoing a process of education. What hast thou that thou hast not received? Have you ever seen a garden that has been left to itself? What do you think of it? God waits to give us every one more water, more sustenance, more sunshine. What we might be if we would enjoy our privileges! (J. Parker, D. D.)The garden of God 1. The Church is appropriately compared to a garden because it is the place-- I. OF CHOICE FLOWERS. Christ comes to His garden, and plants there some of the brightest spirits that ever flowered upon the world. Some of them are violets, inconspicuous, but sweet. You have to search and find them. You do not see them very often, perhaps, but you find where they have been by the brightened face of the invalid, and the sprig of geranium on the stand, and the new window-curtains keeping out the glare of the sunlight. These flowers in Christ’ s garden are not like the sunflower, gaudy in the light, but wherever darkness hovers over a soul that needs to be comforted, there they stand, night-blooming cereuses. 2. But in Christ’ s garden there are plants that may be better compared to the Mexican cactus--thorns without, loveliness within; men with sharp points of character. They wound almost every one that touches them. They arc hard to handle. Men pronounce them nothing but thorns, but Christ loves them notwithstanding all their sharpnesses. Many a man has had a very hard ground to cultivate, and it has only been through severe trial he has raised even the smallest crop of grace. A very harsh minister was talking to a very placid elder, and the elder said, “ Doctor, I do wish you would control your temper.” “ Ah,” said the minister, “ I control more temper in five minutes than you do-in five years:” 3. There are others planted in Christ’ s garden who are always radiant, always impressive--more like the roses of deep hue that we occasionally find; the Martin Luthers, St. Pauls, Chrysostoms, Wyckliffes, Latimers, and Samuel Rutherfords. What in other men is a spark, in them is a conflagration. When they sweat, they sweat great drops of blood. When they pray, their prayer takes fire. When they preach, it is a Pentecost. When they fight, it is a Thermopylae. When they die, it is a martyrdom. 4. In this garden of the Church I also find the snowdrop, beautiful but cold-looking, seemingly another phase of winter. I mean those Christians who are precise in their tastes, unimpassioned, pure as snowdrops and as cold. 5. But I have not told you of the most beautiful flower of all this garden. If you see a century plant your emotions are started. You say, “ Why, this flower has been a hundred years gathering up for one bloom, and it will be a hundred years more before other petals will come out. But I have to tell you of a plant that was Gathering up from all eternity, and that nineteen hundred years ago put forth its bloom never to wither. It is the passion plant of the Cross! II. The Church is a place OF SELECT FRUITS. The coarser fruits are planted in the orchard or they are set out on the sunny hillside; but the choicest fruits are kept in the garden. So in the world outside the Church, Christ has planted a great many beautiful things--patience, charity, generosity, integrity; but He intends the choicest fruits to be in the garden, and, if they are not there, then shame on the Church. Religion is not a mere sentimentality. It is a practical, life-giving, healthful fruit--not posies, but apples. The Church of Christ is a glorious garden and it is full of fruit. I know there is some poor fruit in it; but are you going to destroy the whole garden because of a little gnarled fruit? There is no grander, nobler collection in all the earth than the collection of Christians. III. The Church is the place of . No garden could prosper long without plenty of water. I have seen a garden in the midst of a desert, yet blooming and luxuriant. All around was dearth and barrenness; but there were pipes, aqueducts, reaching from this garden up to the mountains, and through those aqueducts the water came streaming down and tossing up into beautiful fountains, until every root and leaf and flower was saturated. That is like the Church. The Church is a garden in the midst of a great desert of sin and suffering; but it is well irrigated. From the mountains of God’ s strength there flow down rivers of gladness. Preaching the Gospel is one of the aqueducts. The Bible is another. Baptism and the Lord’ s Supper are aqueducts. Everything comes from above; pardon, joy, adoption, sanctification. (T. De Witt Talmage.) Isaiah 58:13-14 If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath Sabbath observance a Godward duty If the true fast (Isaiah 58:3-7) typifies the Israelite’ s duties towards his neighbour, the Sabbath represents his duties towards God. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Turning the foot from the Sabbath “ If thou turnest thy foot away from the Sabbath” is equivalent to saying, “ If thou dost not tread its holy ground with the foot of week-day work.” (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The Sabbath day We shall consider the words of the text-- I. WITH REGARD TO THE JEWS. With that view we shall state-- 1. The reasons for the institution of the Sabbath. 2. The manner in which the prophet required it to be celebrated. 3. The promises made to those who worthily hallow the Sabbath day. II. WITH REGARD TO . 1. Are Christians obliged to observe a day of rest? 2. Is that day celebrated with all the sanctity it requires? (J. Saurin.)The institution of the Sabbath Four considerations gave occasion for the institution of the Sabbath day. 1. God was wishful to perpetuate two original truths on which the whole evidence of religion devolves; the first is, that the world had a beginning; the second, that God is its Author. 2. The second reason was to prevent idolatry. This remark claims peculiar attention, many of the Mosaic precepts being founded on the situation in which the Jews were placed. Let this general remark be applied to the subject in hand. The people, on leaving Egypt, “ were separated, from a nation that worshipped” the sun, the moon, and the stars. The ancient Egyptians,’ says Diodorus of Sicily, “ struck with the beauty of the universe, thought it owed its origin to two eternal dignities, that presided over all the others: the one was the sun, to whom they gave the name of Osiris; the other was the moon, to whom they gave the name of Isis.” Cod, to preserve His people from these errors, instituted a festival which sapped the whole system, and which avowedly contemplated every creature of the universe as the production of the Supreme Being. And this may be the reason why Moses remarked to the Jews, on leaving Egypt, that God renewed the institution of the Sabbath (Deuteronomy 5:15). 3. God was wishful to promote humanity. 4. In a word, the design of God, in the institution of the Sabbath, was to recall to the minds of men the recollection of their original equality: he requires masters and servants alike to abstain from labour, so as in some sort to confound the diversity of their conditions, and to abate that pride, of which superior rank is so common a source. (J. Saurin.)Sabbath observance I. THE DUTY is thus stated: “ If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath,” etc. 1. This, then, is the first point to be noticed with respect to the observance of the Sabbath. It is, says God, “ My holy day,” the day which I have hallowed for Myself, which I have reserved for My own. We are no more at liberty to determine for ourselves how we will employ the Sabbath, than the Israelites were at liberty to determine for themselves to what uses they would put the tabernacle, or the temple, which had been built and sanctified for God, according to His direction and for His own peculiar service; and, by regarding any of the Sabbath hours as being at our own disposal, we are guilty of the same profanation with which the Jews would have been chargeable, had they determined to do their pleasure with respect to the uses which they would make of God’ s holy habitation, respecting which He had said, “ This is My rest for ever: here will I dwell.” 2. Let us suppose, then, that we have turned away our foot from trampling upon God’ s day, by consulting our own will and inclination as to the way in which we employ it, and are wishing and waiting to know what is the will of God concerning it. The text thus proceeds: “ And call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable.” To call anything is to give it a name corresponding with its nature, or to describe it by its qualities. We are to call the Sabbath “ a delight;” or are to call “ the holy of the Lord,” i.e the holy day of the Lord, “ honourable.” Here, then, are two properties of the Sabbath, two points of view in which we are to regard it. It should be so distinguished from other days by the peculiar delight which it affords, as well as by the pre-eminent dignity with which it is invested. 3. The honour to be paid to the Sabbath is our part: the delight to be found in the Sabbath is God’ s part. And the text proceeds to show that if we honour His day, God will surely keep His promise of making it a delight. Let us, then, carefully consider the way in which we should “ honour the Sabbath. What is said to be “ ore” own is evidently distinguished from what belongs to the Sabbath. It comprehends whatever we have to do, or to delight in, which appertains to the six days’ work from which God ceased, and which He had ended on the seventh day, in contradistinction to what appertains to the seventh day which God set apart and sanctified and blessed. There is, therefore, no reference in these words to sinful ways, or to unlawful pleasures; but to the appointed duties and allowed delights of the six days which God has given to us for these purposes. Heaven--the rest which remaineth for the people of God--is described in the Epistle to the Hebrews as a Sabbath-keeping, a Sabbath-rest. The Sabbath is a figure of that blessed and holy state. “ Our own ways and pleasures,” then, are those which belong to this lower creation; and which we shall have done with when we depart out of the world; and for these things six days are given to us. The things of the Sabbath are all such things as shall be perfected and enjoyed for ever in that city of Cod, in those courts above, where Sabbaths never end. These remarks will furnish us with a practical rule for determining what may be done and what may not be done on the Sabbath day. Where there is the “ single eye,” that is, the simple aim, to do the will of God, all doubts will be readily solved and difficulties disappear, and the duty he made plain by asking such questions as these: Is this secular work necessary for the supply of our daily wants, for the relief of suffering nature, for the accomplishing the will and service of God? Is it indispensable to these ends that it should be done, and done on the Sabbath day? If, in the conscientious exercise of an enlightened judgment, we decide in the affirmative, then we may do such necessary things with confidence and comfort. But, even in these things, care must be exercised that they do not interfere, beyond the just and reasonable limits of necessity, and charity, with the appropriate “ duties” and employments of the day. Not finding their own pleasure. Pleasure is here evidently contrasted with business, God has given to us not only our six days labour and work, but also our six days gratifications and sources of enjoyment. There are the delights of earth, as well as the duties of earth. There is Nature, with all her various works. There are also the pleasures of literature, in all their vast and various extent. There is, further, the enjoyment of social intercourse, and an almost countless number of modes of refreshment, for both body and mind, which God would have us to use, as opportunity is given and need may be, to invigorate us for the more serious employments of the head or the hands. But these are “ our own pleasure;” and this we are not to find on God’ s holy day. Mark the expression, “ not finding thine own pleasure.” In order to “ find,” we seek. “ Our own pleasure “ may casually come in our way; but we must not look for it, endeavour after it, or pursue it as our object, in any manner or measure upon the Sabbath. The pleasures which we must endeavour on this day to “ find must be such as are not of earthly origin or of man’ s invention, but such as will endure when the world shall be no more, and will furnish a part of the business and the bliss of the Christian’ s happy and eternal home. Further, “ not speaking (thine own) words.” “ Thine own,” here, is in italics; it is inserted by the translators, and only encumbers the passage. The meaning is, not doing thine own ways, not finding thine own pleasure, “ nor speaking words;” that is, not speaking words concerning thine own ways and thine own pleasure. II. To such AN OF THE SABBATH A SPECIAL PROMISE IS MADE. “ Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.” If we make the Sabbath a holy day, God will make it a happy day. In the application of this promise to ourselves, we must suppose and take it for granted that we are reconciled to God. Then, in the very measure in which we honour the Sabbath, God will make the duties and employments of the day channels of joy and peace and sacred pleasure to the soul. And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, etc. This is a promise of national prosperity and temporal advancement, with a confirmation of the blessing pronounced by Isaac upon Jacob and his posterity. And, although these were shadows of better things to the Christian Church, and the fulfilment of this promise is now to be looked for in spiritual and eternal blessings, yet it has frequently been testified, on observation and experience, that a holy Sabbath has been followed by a happy week; and, when we honour God’ s holy day, we shall not fail to find that His blessing still rests upon it. (T. Best, M. A.)Early English law an the Sabbath In almost the earliest, if not the earliest, code of English law--the laws of Enach, King of Wessex--there was a provision made for the observance of Sunday. According to these laws if a slave was forced by his master to work upon Sunday, he was by that very fact set free, and the lord had to pay a fine. If the slave worked by his own will and without the direction of his lord, he was subjected to corporal chastisement, and if a freeman worked on the Holy Day he became a slave. He lost his freedom, or else he had to pay what, at that time, was the almost impossible fine of sixty shillings. Now that law at the very beginning of English legislation may have had very much to do with the position that the Anglo-Saxon race has taken in the world. According to the promise of this old prophet the word of the Lord has said, “ I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth if thou keepest the Sabbath day.” (R. F. Horton.)The Sabbath a rest form self I suppose the essence of this Christian Sabbath was never more perfectly described than in the words of the prophet. 1. The first principle of the Christian Sabbath is that there should be one day in the week on which we are not doing our own ways, nor finding our own pleasure, nor speaking our own words, that is to say, the Christian Sabbath is not to be, like the civic Sunday, rest from work, important as that may be, but it is a rest from self, which is all-important, and is, indeed, the creation and the preservation of the spiritual in man. It is a rest from self, not to speak our own words on that day, not to take our own pleasures, not to adopt our own way. I think we see what is meant if we put it in this way. Our life as men is literally rooted in God, and its health depends on our knowing it and recognizing it. 2. Now, when we have recognized that this is the purpose of the day we still have to consider how that purpose is best accomplished. According to the practice of the Old Testament, and, apparently according to the intention of the New, the sanctuary, the place of public worship, is the means by which that can be accomplished. 3. I think we ought to honestly face the question which is often raised at the present time, whether the life I am describing cannot be maintained without the sanctuary. Men say frequently to-day that they find they can really worship better in their own homes, and still more in the open country, than in the assembly of the house of God. Now, the only danger I see in that position is that by the very necessity of the ease it violates the first requirement of the Sabbath as it is here stated. You stay at home in your house or you go out into the country on Sunday. In doing that you are going your own way, you are seeking your own pleasure, you are following your own bent--that is to say, you are violating the very principle on which this Sabbath rests. And it does not seem very improbable that when you have violated the very principle at the beginning you will succeed in recovering it at the end. (R. F. Horton.)A Sabbath-week Common-sense must tell us that no man who is going his own way, finding his own pleasure, and speaking his own words, for six days in the week, will abstain from them on the seventh. The devotion, the obedience, and forgetfulness of self which should mark the devout worshipper on Sunday, must be his companions all the week through. And the exercise of those graces through the week must be our habitual preparation for the Lord’ s Day. So that, in fact, the teaching of the prophet amounts to this--that the true servant of God will at no time do his own ways, find his own pleasure, or speak his own words, where ways, pleasure, or words will not be such as God would love to look upon. The Christian will seek God’ s grace, that in all things he may follow the example of his Lord, who declared, “ I came not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” I appeal to your own hearts and consciences, to what you know of yourselves or have seen in others, whether any good has ever come to any of us, from going our own way, finding our own pleasure, speaking our own words? (R. E. Paget, D. D.)“ Thine own ways” His supposed that Isaiah required the Jews to keep what has been called a Puritanical Sabbath. I believe that this is a complete misconception of the prophet’ s meaning. Their “ own ways,” which the people were forbidden to follow on the Sabbath, were the common secular labours of the week. Doing their own pleasure” has no reference to recreation or amusement. Some translators render it doing their “ own business;” but it probably means here, as it constantly means elsewhere, doing “ what they liked.” Luther translates it admirably, doing their “ own will.” They were to spend the Sabbath, as God had commanded them, in rest; they were not at liberty to follow their own inclination by carrying on their ordinary trade. Their “ own words, which they were not to speak on the Sabbath, were the words in which their business was transacted; words which, like the business itself, belonged to the other days of the week. What the prophet forbids on the seventh day is what the Commandment forbids--not pleasure, but work. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)Rabbinical prohibitions The stricter Rabbinical schools built upon this general prohibition of all work innumerable minute precepts, many of which are so grotesque that to quote them would be to answer no other purpose than to amuse. One ingenious commentator, who happily appears to have had only a very few disciples, insisted that as it was a duty to rest from the beginning to the end of the Sabbath, all muscular exertion was sinful; and that, therefore, strict fidelity to the Commandment required that a man should remain during all the twenty-four hours of the Sabbath in exactly the same position, without moving a limb or a finger, a kind of “ rest which must have been very much more exhausting than hard work.” (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)The Sabbath compared to the best room of the house 1. Every house of any consideration has in it a best room. It is usually the largest in the house, and the most comely. It usually is furnished with the choicest things which the owner can afford, and represents the best outward estate of his household. Here is the best carpet. Here are the best colours. Here is the best furniture. Here are hung the best pictures. Here are the chairs burnished and covered. And here, it may be, is the sofa, luxurious with extra springs. The few choice treasures are put upon the mantelpiece, or on some corner shelf. Whatever there is that stands apart from common uses by being a little better the parlour receives. And this room is scrupulously kept--too scrupulously, often. All festive occasions are celebrated in it. It is the room of honour. It is here that we devote ourselves to our company when we would show them hospitality. It stands in the house as a perpetual reminder of beauty--what little beauty we can command; of hospitality--so much as we are able to exercise of it; of superiority. A best room is not simply an emblem of vanity, as cynics would say. To have a room which has in it choice things, is rather the unconscious inspiration of ideality, it is a desire to maintain it in the household; and it is a silent but real influence for refinement and for higher living. 2. It is a sad thing to see a person or a family that makes one day just like another; that does not care to make one day better than any of the others; that regards all things as good enough. On a low level, it is a moral influence that leads one to desire to dress better on some occasions than on others, and to spread a better table on some occasions than on others. It is aspiration in one of its lower forms. How, what the parlour is to the house, the Jewish Sabbath and its substitute, the Christian’ s Lord’ s Day, were meant to be to the week. The week is a house, and Sunday is the best room in it, and it ought to have the best things put into it, and it ought to be kept religiously; and it is to exercise upon all our time just the same unconscious influence, or conscious influence, as the case may be, which a well-prepared and well-kept parlour does invariably exercise upon all the occupants of the house. Every week was to have its parlour day. It was to be a day that should be looked up to by the young and the old as the best day of the week. In other words, it was to be “ a delight.” It was to be “ honourable,” and so, memorable. (H. W. Beecher.)And call the Sabbath a delightThe luxury of the Sabbath The word is a strong one, Delight, Delicacy, Luxury. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The Sabbath a delight I. POINT OUT A FEW “ WILL THE TRUE ESTEEMS AND CALLS THE SABBATH A DELIGHT; shewing at the same time why the natural man should find no delight, at least no holy delight, in that day. 1. Because it brings with it a cessation and rest from worldly cares. 2. Because on that day he hopes to learn much in the school of Christ. 3. Because of that holy communion which it allows with the people of God. 4. Because of the remembrances which that day brings with it. On the Sabbath God rested from His work. On the Sabbath, how many of our Saviour’ s gracious miracles were wrought! On the Sabbath, how many spiritual miracles doth He still work! On our Sabbath day it was that our Lord burst the bonds of death. Is not here matter of pleasurable meditation? Salvation is finished; and man restored to the favour and presence and image of God I 5. Because it is a type and foretaste of the heavenly rest--of the eternal Sabbath. II. SHOW HOW WE MAY EMPLOY IT SO AS TO MAKE IT MOST . By giving the whole day to God, so far as possibly can be done, in spiritual exercises. (C. Neale, M. A.)The brightest of days We are to find in this day-- 1. The joy of healthy repose. 2. The joy of domestic reunion and consecration. 3. The joy of eternal Sabbatism. (T. De W, Talmage, D. D.)The Sabbath a delight The day of worship should be a day of gladness. 1. It brings rest from the toils and cares of the week. From the dust; and the sweat, the grime and the languor, I shake myself free for a while. I reach an oasis, with palm-trees and a well, in my pilgrimage through the deserts. I sit down under God’ s shadow. 2. It invites to the noblest exercises and employments. Mind and heart, lips and soul and all my nature, unite in prayer, in praise, in the study and contemplation of the things which are unseen and eternal. There is no work on earth to compare with it. 3. It introduces to the communion of souls. I go up to God’ s house in company with many others. I realize that I am not alone, that I am a member of a brotherhood and family, that all around me are kindred souls. It is a thought that brings me strength, and that satisfies my love. 4. It lifts me into the presence of my Lord--Father, and Son, and Spirit. I dwell in His sanctuary. I hearken to His voice. I feel His quickening and invigorating touch. I receive afresh His baptism and unction. Behold, God is in this place, and it is for me the gate of heaven. (A. Smellie, M. A.)The Sabbath a delight “ If thou tallest the Sabbath a delight,” because it leads thee to God; not “ a burden,” because it leads thee from thine everyday life (Amos 8:5). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The Sabbath a festive time “ It is a festival time for man’ s higher nature in communion with the unseen. As the tired eye, which has been strained by long and close application to some work near at hand, rests itself by gazing on the far horizons or the stars, so there is a rest in lifting thought from the near and the lower objects which too often engross us, and fixing it upon the unseen and eternal. This is, perhaps, the grand reason for our Saviour’ s own comment: “ The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)HonourableThe Sabbath made “ honourable” When do we make the Sabbath an “ honourable,” glorious day? 1. When we make honourable preparation for it. 2. When we give it honourable entertainment. 3. When we have a precious esteem of every moment of Sabbath time, and are jealous lest any drop of it should run waste. 4. When we have a singular esteem of all the institutions and ordinances of the day. 5. When it is the grief of our souls that we can keep Sabbaths no better, and we strive cordially and conscientiously to keep the next better than we did the last. (T. Case, M. A.)Nor speaking thine own wordsSabbath-speaking “ Nor speaking thine own words.” “ Talking talk.” (J. A. Alexander.)Useless words, Useless words, void of meaning, and of needless number: the phrase, as in Hosea 10:4, is here applied to unspiritual gossip and bombast. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Speech rest on Sunday Hitzig on this passage remarks that “ the law regarding the Sabbath has here already received the Jewish addition, that ‘ speaking is work. “ But from the promise that God’ s Sabbath-rest was a rest from His speaking the creative words (Psalms 33:6), the only conclusion drawn was that one must rest on the Sabbath, in a certain measure, from speaking as well as working; and when Rabbi Simon ben Jochai called to his talkative old mother on the Sabbath, “ Sabbath-keeping is called silence,” this was not meant to be understood as if speaking in itself were working, and all speaking on the Sabbath was therefore forbidden. The Rabbinical explanation of the present passage is as follows: “ Let not thy speaking on the Sabbath be the same as that on working days. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Better for the Sunday rest Scientists say that telegraph wires are better conductors on Monday than on Saturday, on account of their Sunday rest. The well-proved fact that human beings profit by a weekly rest-day emphasizes the protest of Christian people against the secularization of the Sabbath. (Christian Budget.) Isaiah 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord Delighting in God I. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN IN THE LORD. 1. A contemplation of His infinite and adorable perfections; such a contemplation as to derive the highest satisfaction from them; to see in them all that is amiable and lovely. 2. A well-grounded hope of interest in Him; for though this is not the primary, it is a subordinate ground of the believer’ s joy, and one of unspeakable importance. 3. Communion with God in holy duties. 4. A sanctified use of all our common mercies, receiving them as His gift, and esteeming them on that account. 5. Contentment in Him, even in the absence of every other good. 6. Delighting in God is accompanied with the cheering prospect of being for ever with Him. II. VIEW SOME OF THE ARISING FROM THIS STATE OF MIND. Delighting ourselves in the Lord will weaken the influence of sin, and strengthen all the Christian graces. It will be an antidote against fretfulness and discontent, carnality and worldly-mindedness, presumption and self-confidence. It will confirm our faith, inflame our love, and brighten our hopes and prospects. Communion with God disarms our spiritual enemies, or secures us from their attack. It is of eminent use in all the parts of practical religion. It makes active in doing, and steadfast in suffering the will of God; it infuses life into our prayers and praises, and causes us to come with boldness and cheerfulness to the house and table of the Lord. Sorrow and dejection enfeeble the mind; but the joy of the Lord is our strength. The joys of religion will convert this miserable world into a little heaven, and make the Church militant resemble the Church triumphant above, where there are do mourning garments, no dejected countenances, or hearts consumed with grief. (B. Beddome, M. A.)Duty the road to prosperity I. DELIGHT IN THE LORD IS WITH THE OF THE SABBATH. II. TRUE DEPENDS UPON TO DIVINE COMMAND. III. THERE CAN BE NO APART FROM . (Homiletic Review.)Riding over the heights The meaning is, “ I will carry thee triumphantly over all obstacles” (Deuteronomy 32:11). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.) Isaiah 59:1-9 Behold, the Lord’ s hand is not shortened Isaiah 57:1-21. and 59. In the former address, to the dead works on which the people founded their claim to redemption, there were set in contrast the virtues well-pleasing of God, and for which Jehovah promises redemption as a gracious reward; in this discourse, the sins which hinder the accomplishment of redemption are still more directly laid bare. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Sin and grace In this chapter we have sin appearing exceeding sinful, and grace appearing exceeding gracious. (M. Henry.)Why some seekers are not saved I. THE FACT . 1. The people of whom I am specially thinking have been hearers of the Gospel, and diligent hearers too. 2. They have become men of prayer, after a fashion (Isaiah 58:2). 3. These people are greatly disappointed with themselves: not altogether so, for they know to a great extent where the blame lies, but yet they had hoped better things of themselves. II. THE IMPLIED AND MET. Notice the first word of our text: “ Behold! “ This is like our nots bene; mark well, turn your eye this way. If you are not saved, it is not because God is unable to save you, nor is it because He is unwilling to hear your prayers. III. THE PRESSED AND . Your accusation may be turned against you. You thought that God’ s hand was shortened, that it could not save; but it is your hand that is shortened, for you have not laid hold upon Christ. The real reason why you have not found peace is sin. It may be-- 1. Sin unconfessed. 2. Sin unforsaken. 3. Sin hankered after. 4. Sin of which you are unaware. 5. Some sin of omission. 6. An ugly temper. 7. An intellectual sin. 8. Gross or secret sin. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Hindrances to the conversion of all nations 1. The lack of deep, earnest sympathy with Christ on the part of His people. 2. An evil heart of unbelief. 3. The unconsecrated wealth of the Church. (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.)The sad issues of sin I. IT BRINGS . Instead of running to God, we flee from Him. His dazzling majesty appals us. His righteousness and purity compel us to hide from Him. II. IT BRINGS AND . For a little we arc fascinated, beguiled, befooled; but soon there is a rude awakening. “ Their webs shall not become garments,” etc. (Isaiah 59:6). The mirage fades await and we discover to our dismay that there is nothing around or within us but a desert of sand and thorns. III. IT BRINGS AND (Isaiah 59:9). We are in doubt regarding the most elementary matters of belief and behaviour. (A. Smellie, M. A.) Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,-- Sin separates God and men I. A EVIL THAT THIS PEOPLE WAS UNDER. Separation from God. II. THE PARTY AT WHOSE DOOR THE BLAME LIES, they who have made the breach. III. THE CAUSE OF THIS EVIL, “ your iniquities.” (T. Boston.)The dreadful efficacy of sin I. WHAT IS THAT WHICH SIN MAKES BETWIXT GOD AND SOULS? Not a local separation, for “ He is not far from every one of us, for in Him we live,” etc. 1. In it there is something negative; i.e the Lord denies them the influences of His grace, countenance and fellowship. 2. There is something positive in it: sin kindles a fire against the soul. (1) There is a standing controversy God has against sinners (Amos 3:3). (2) There is a pursuing of this controversy against the sinner; some positive outgoings of God’ s anger against the soul. II. THE OF THE EVIL OF FROM GOD, which many go so light under. Alas! many reign like king Saul, when God departed from him; but how sad a thing this is, will appear if we consider-- 1. What God is. Everything in God speaks terror to those that are separated from Him. (1) God is the chief good; and therefore to be separated from God is the chief evil. (2) God is all-sufficient in Himself, and to the creatures. The enjoyment of Him makes truly happy; therefore to be separated from Him is a dreadful evil. (3) The omnipotence of God. (4) The absoluteness of God. (5) God is eternal. 2. All created things are empty and unsatisfactory. 3. To be separated from God is the saddest plague out of hell. 4. It is a very hell to be separated from God. 5. Those that continue in a state of separation from God, have no quarter to which they can turn for comfort in an evil day. III. HOW SIN MAKES THIS BETWIXT GOD AND A SOUL. 1. There is a guilt of sin, whereby the sinner is bound over to misery for his sin. 2. There is the stain of sin. (T. Boston.)Sin the great separator I. SIN MAN FROM GOD AS TO PLACE. Of course it remains true of every inhabitant of earth, and even of hell, that God is not far from every one of us. But sin has blunted, has even destroyed the sense of His nearness, has led men to feel as though He were far distant. As a man’ s iniquities increase God seems farther and farther from him, until at last he feels that heaven is too distant for him to reach, and God too far off to hear his prayers. II. SIN MAN FROM GOD AS TO . III. SIN MAN FROM GOD AS TO WILL. Separation of will is the most complete of all kinds of separation. Continents and oceans may divide men, and yet they may be one in heart and aim. IV. SIN MAN FROM GOD AS TO . It is to the interest of the sinner that there should be opportunity for indulgence in sin, that the punishment of sin should be removed, that the restraints of virtue should be broken down. We may well rejoice that God’ s interest is with all that is the opposite of this. It is God’ s aim that sin should be destroyed. Hence by fearful sufferings He brands it with disgrace. But God in His wonderful love has taken means to destroy this separation, and to draw us back to Him. (Homilist.)The tragic schism When separation comes to pass, the force of disseverment and alienation can only be that of sin. 1. He who is the spring of life can know neither impoverishment nor limitation, and the changes and fluctuations of the universe can no more project themselves into His being than the casting of a leaf or the shedding of a blossom from the tree can impair the vital force entrenched in its roots. The heathen man will sometimes say, “ The gods are growing old; they are not so ready in helping their worshippers as when we were young.’ An eternal Spirit is secure against such an innuendo. “ His arm is not shortened that it cannot save.” 2. And there can be no failure of care for our welfare or slackening off in His inclination to help us. Unless God be a fiction of the brain He must be predisposed to save and succour the people He has formed for Himself. The age-long impulse by which He draws men to religion is a sufficient proof of that. When we take into account what God really is, the chief mystery of the world is that any prayer in it should go unanswered, and the mystery is one with the mystery of iniquity itself. It was no wonder that He whose everlasting home had been in the bosom of infinite love should marvel at that which is so commonplace to us--unbelief. What a side-light does this cast upon the terrible significance of sin! It is the one thing which keeps God and His creatures apart. 3. The conditions of modern business life are sometimes adduced as an excuse for the waning spirit of prayer and the outfading consciousness of Divine help. If business does unfit its votaries for realizing God’ s presence and power, it can only be for one of three reasons, all alike bearing the taint of sin and justifying the declaration of the prophet. You seek unlawful ends in business, or you seek lawful ends by unlawful means, or the methods of conducting business tend to kindle within you unlawful passions. 4. We are sometimes ready to put down this tragic schism to the progress of scientific thought. Men’ s hearts are petrified by the new dogma that the order of the universe is unalterable, along with its godless corollary, that to pray is to fritter away time, strength, and vital force, and to vex one’ s own soul. Let the difficulties raised by the new science be freely allowed. Upon even devout minds these views of the uniformity of Nature and her methods, be they proven or unproven, may so act as to check the temper of prayerfulness. Temptation does take on intellectual forms as it addresses itself to thinking people. If a child were to find out that his father’ s estate had been signed over to trustees, and that for a certain term of years that father could not be altogether a free agent in providing for the wants of his household, all immediate expenditure being determined by some outside authority, and if on that ground the child were to break off relations with his father, would not that be the mark of a mean, depraved, repulsive character? Supposing that God had made Nature His plenipotentiary, or trustee, and for the time being had surrendered His own power of answering supplication for temporal benefits, it would surely be base in us to use that as a plea whereby to justify ourselves in restraining prayer before Him. 5. The problems of temperament are sometimes brought in to explain this tragic schism. Men palliate their callousness to prayer and their misgivings concerning its benefits by putting them down to deficiency of sentiment or imagination, matter-of-factness, poverty of the religious instinct, congenital disability answering to colour blindness in the physical realm. It is assumed, upon very slender proof, that a peculiar poise of the faculties disqualifies for enthusiastic spiritual beliefs. It may be allowed that from the intellectual standpoint people are variously endowed and equipped; but a man’ s religious history is not determined by the quality, condition, or specialized habits of the brain. It is simply impossible for a man to have capacity for common truth, practical righteousness, philanthropy, family life and friendship and yet to have no capacity for converse, with God, whose nature is the spring and animating principle of all these qualities. Man is religious by constitution and irreligious only by errancy of habit and practical life. Does prayer seem barren and God unresponsive and heaven very far off? It can only be explained by our lack of oneness with the Divine will and law. 6. The inscrutable methods of God’ s sovereignty are sometimes adduced to explain away this ominous separation referred to by the prophet. Now and again occasions arise when the Lord does seem to withdraw Himself from HIS people. There are inexplicable factors in God’ s dealings with us, but those factors belong chiefly to the sphere of providence rather than to that of grace. More often than not, it is sin which veils God and His goodness from the sad, breaking, woe-begone heart, and we shall not get out of the gloom by closing our eyes to the explanation and assuming that this terrible silence of the Most High, this apparent indisposition to help, at the mere thought of which the heart sickens and faints, is one of the decrees of His unsearchable sovereignty. 7. This separation is often veiled from us by the illusions of the senses and the pomps of this present evil world. It needs much courage and sobriety of mind to realize the perils with which it is fraught. The form assumed by our personal sin may be so secret and subtle that it is easy for us to think that, in our case at least, this is not the malign force which separates from God and makes His presence fleeting as a dream. We have not been guilty perchance of glaring, flagitious, anti-social transgressions which provoke the reproaches of those who watch our behaviour. Yet spiritual sins may cleave to us which work portentous mischief in the religious life. (T. G.Selby.)Visions which lure to destruction Near the source of one of the great rivers of the East there stands a Buddhist monastery of widespread fame, built on the edge of a beetling cliff. In the chasm beneath clouds are often seen floating, upon which the pilgrims who have climbed to the shrine look down. Under certain conditions of the sun and atmosphere a magnificent phenomenon appears. The sun, greatly enlarged and begirt with coruscations of prismatic splendour, is reflected upon the screen of vapours. From the central disc shafts of gold and purple and violet pulse and throb. The devotees call the sight “ the glory of Buddha,” and when the prismatic marvel appears, half mad with religious frenzy, they cast themselves into the palpitating mass of colour, falling unconscious suicides into the grim gulf below, to which only vultures and jackals can approach. And the separating chasm between ourselves and God is often filled up with a meretricious pomp that disguises its tragedies, and men are again and again betrayed into self-destruction. Perhaps it is a vision of the world with its wealth and power that scintillates there, the gorgeous phantoms which passed before the eye on the mount of the temptation. All the hues of Vanity Fair shimmer beneath our feet, and we think surely we may plunge into the iridescence that seems to beckon us. Or it may be the glory of Nature spreads itself athwart the yawning gulf. She interposes the magic of her shows, entices with the glory of her stately order, usurps the nimbus of a factitious sovereignty, and takes the very place of God Himself. The gulf dividing from God is hidden by her enchantments. Or, the rainbow glories of an aesthetic religion veil the deep moral separation. Men sometimes commit ethical suicide under the cover of an ornate worship. We cultivate art, music, the devices that enthral the senses, and call the product piety, forgetting that we are in no sense at one with God. Pageants superimpose themselves upon unwelcome facts, and underneath the circles of deceitful splendour there gape gulfs of deep and irretrievable perdition. If sin is ignored, unconfessed, unforsaken, if unflattering truths are obstinately disguised, we shall find at last that our capacity for communion with God is lost and our doom is an abyss from which there can be no uplifting. (T. G. Selby.)Inconspicuous sins may hinder communion with God Pathologists found difficulty in identifying the bacillus of an epidemic that has become sorrowfully familiar to us; not only because it was one of the tiniest of all microscopic organisms, but chiefly because it could not be stained with the dyes used in studying other minute forms of life. Yet what a messenger of sorrow and death it was! This hideous trifle brought swift and cruel separation to husband and wife, parent and child, lover and friend, and put the silence and deep gloom of the grave between thousands of victims and the sweet sunny homes in which they would fain have tarried. Now some sins have a criminal dye put upon them by statutory, law, are branded by the damnatory force of public opinion, or show red like crimson because of the disintegrating influence they begin to exert at once upon the individual and the society to which he belongs. Other sins do not stand out in conspicuous colours. Men have no apparent interest in describing them as atrocities. Unless we are watchful and cultivate keen spiritual perceptions, these more obscure forms of sin are apt to elude our consciousness. And yet they may separate between us and our God. (T. G. Selby) Isaiah 59:5-6 They hatch cockatrice’ eggs Wicked devices I. THE DEVICES OF THY. WICKED. 1. Like eggs--productive. 2. Like cockatrice’ eggs--injurious. 3. Like spiders’ webs--frail, useless. II. THEIR EFFECT. 1. Upon others--mischief, death. 2. Upon themselves--disappointment, retribution. (J. Lyth, D. D.)The schemes of the ungodly The meaning seems to be that the persons spoken of brood over and bring to maturity projects of wickedness, whose effects are almost equally fatal to those who acquiesce in them and to those who oppose them. “ He that eateth of their eggs,” i.e either he who enters into their schemes or he who is their victim. “ That which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.” Should one try to stamp out one of their diabolical plans, its deadly nature will only be the more clearly manifested. Verse 6 is the development of the second image of Isa 59:5, the point of comparison being the uselessness for any good social end of the schemes devised by the ungodly. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)And weave the spider’ s web:--Hypocritical religion See the spider’ s web and behold in it a most suggestive picture of the hypocrite’ s religion. 1. It is meant to catch his prey; the spider fattens himself on flies. Foolish persons are easily entrapped by the loud professions of pretenders, and even the more judicious cannot always escape. 2. A spider’ s web is a marvel of skill; look at it and admire the cunning hunter’ s wiles. Is not a deceiver’ s religion equally wonderful? How does he make so barefaced a lie appear to be a truth. 3. A spider’ s web comes all from the creature’ s own bowels. Even so hypocrites find their hope and trust within themselves. 4. But a spider’ s web is very frail. Hypocritical cobwebs will soon come down when the broom of destruction begins its purifying work. 5. Which reminds us of one more thought, viz that such cobwebs are not to be endured in the Lord’ s house. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Spiders’ webs As the spider weaveth her web to catch the smaller flies, so do they lay their plots to take the poorer sort of people, and them which are most destitute of friends. (W. Day, M. A.) Isaiah 59:6 Their webs shall not become garments The art of weaving The art of weaving is older than human history; figures drawn from it are found in the earliest literature of all nations. It is frequently employed in the Word of God to set forth the sublimest truths of life, and in the classical mythologies it occupies an even more important place. The three fates preside over the lives of men, and they practise the weaver’ s art. Clothe holds the threads, Lachesis introduces the warp, and the grim goddess Atropos cuts the web when the fabric of human destiny is complete. In later times we find the figure with a still wider import. The spirit of Goethe’ s “ Faust” labours in the workshop of the spring-time to weave the garment for Nature by which God Himself may be seen by mortals. Thus in all the ages of the world the figure of the loom has commended itself as one most aptly setting forth the deepest truths of human experience. (J. Wallace, M. A.)Character as a web The prophet Isaiah has laid hold on the idea, now a commonplace of our thought, that all character is a web. In the case of all the web is variegated; in the case of some the piece is spoiled by rotten threads. As our days fly past they dart across the warp of the Divine purposes the woof of human action and human thought, and the marvel is that multitudes live on in brutish carelessness while the loom of life spins on. We look back on a misspent day with the wretched consolation that it will be all the same a hundred years hence. Will it? If threads missing in the web do not spoil its market value, then it may; but if one false thread ruins the whole, then life with one day misspent is by so much of less value in the sight of God. (J. Wallace, M. A.)Hopeless weaving From our text we wish to look at one or two methods of character-weaving which are doomed to miserable failure when the web of life is spun. I. There are HALF-DONE DUTIES. Multitudes perform their duty in such a way that it is but half done. In the ordinary routine of life they are always a little late, and consequently have to work with haste. Or take the higher duty of man to love God and keep His commandments. There are moments of Pisgah vision, but what weary leagues of plain are there unredeemed by any thought of God! This half-done duty is life’ s shuttle plied with a palsied hand, and the fabric of character is such as in the end will put the weaver to the blush. II. There are HALF- . Many a man is conquered who does not fall. III. What is the secret of duties half done, of temptation half conquered? The secret is HALF- LIVES. If all the provinces of the soul do not obey the Divine mandate, we need not be astonished if rebellion sometimes shows its head. When we have done our best to weave, we are not to go to heaven in our own garments. Christ has provided raiment for His people, woven on the Cross and dyed there in colours more enduring than Tyrian purple. We have to weave as those who have to prove their calling, not win it. (J. Wallace, M. A.)Projects injurious to others are hurtful to self They may do hurt to others with their projects, but can never do any real service or kindness to themselves, by them. There is nothing to be got by sin. (M. Henry.)Unprofitable Weaving Our text speaks of works which are inadequate to the purpose for which they are performed. An unprofitable and useless manufacture is denounced. What should we think of a manufacturer who persisted in making a kind of cloth so flimsy and rotten that it would hardly hold together--so weak and threadbare that either it could not be made up into garments, or, if it were, they would be useless for either adornment or comfort. And how great would be our astonishment if this imprudent man actually proceeded to clothe himself with the flimsy stuff he had made! Yet such, in a moral sense, is the conduct of those who are condemned in our text. They weave a web with which they try in vain to effectually clothe themselves. The “ web” is the fabric of their own righteousness, or works. The persons spoken of are they who are self-sufficient in their wickedness and pride of heart. They are unrighteous people, who think themselves righteous, or who desire to be thought so by others. But the material they produce is as flimsy as a spider’ s web; and it will serve for neither decency nor comfort, for neither ornament nor use. Let us think of the purposes a garment is intended to serve, and we shall be supplied with various illustrations of the utter inadequacy of self-righteousness. I. A GARMENT IS FOR COMFORT. A garment is useless, and even intolerable, unless it affords warmth and ease. We are quite unable to produce a fabric which will afford either substantial comfort or permanent peace. 1. However genuine our present righteousness might be, it would not absolve us from the guilt of past sin. 2. Our own righteousness is insufficient for comfort because, it leaves, untouched the passions of the unregenerate- heart. 3. Our own righteousness is inadequate for comfort because it affords no effectual protection against temptation. II. THE SECOND PURPOSE--A GARMENT IS TO SERVE IS DECENCY. A garment which is ill-fitting, or of unseemly pattern, or formed of coarse and worthless material, is unpleasing to others no less, and possibly more, than to the wearer himself. And one’ s own righteousness--that is the righteousness which is not produced under the influence of the Holy Spirit--will no more bear the scrutiny of one’ s fellow-men, than would a ragged coat or a draggled and threadbare dress. Like an inferior garment, it may pass muster in the crowd, or escape criticism on a casual view, but it will not bear close inspection. A man cannot so cover himself with his own righteousness as to appear at all times decently and respectably clothed. 1. The garment is so thin that it does not hide the natural ugliness of the soul. 2. It is likewise so limited in its dimensions as to cause serious disfigurement of the life. 3. The garment of self-righteousness is undurable. III. THE GARMENT OF SELF- IS TO SECURE FOR ITS WEARER WITH GOD. There are garments which are necessary for certain occasions, or for admission to particular places. Such was the wedding garment in the East, and such is the modern court dress. The garment of outward works is designed by the wearer to serve a similar purpose. It is intended as a recommendation to the favour of God and a passport to heaven. But it will answer neither of these ends. If we would sustain the scrutiny of God, we must be clothed in something of finer texture, of stronger substance, and of richer hue, than the flimsy and bedraggled garment of our own righteousness. 1. It will not cover us to the satisfaction of God because of its insufficient dimensions and its many flaws. 2. Nor is it in fact any real covering in the sight of God. Let us learn the worthlessness of merely outward righteousness, and the absolute necessity of repentance, regeneration, and holiness of heart. (J. W. Keyworth.)Webs and garments A mere web of cloth might be said to be of no practical use. It may lie on the shelves in the draper’ s shop for a time, but it is intended for something beyond that. The ultimate purpose in connection with it is the garments that may be made from it. It has possibilities--the possibility of garments in it--and that was intended from the first. It has not realized the intention regarding it until it is ultimately turned into garments. So when the prophet says, “ Their webs shall not become garments, he is referring to the wicked plans of wicked men among the Israelites, and means that their plans would not reach the final, the complete and practical stage. Their purposes would be frustrated by a higher Hand. The words may be applied to ourselves, and in various ways. I. SOME ARE BECAUSE OF LACKING IN --indolence, want of energy, or want of ability to complete our purposes. II. SOME ARE BECAUSE OF IN THE WAY THAT WE CANNOT , AND THAT WE MAY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH. It is to us one of the most inexplicable things in Providential dealing, how men who devote themselves to a great and good object, and who seem to us essential for its success, are often cut down in the mid-time of their days, just when to our eyes their presence seemed most needed. Why should it be so? No doubt we should see things differently, however, if with wider vision we could look before and after; and find that, higher ways than we can dream of, men whose plans seem to be frustrated are more than satisfied with the Divine mode of dealing. In the text it is wicked purposes that are referred to, and though often a good purpose seems to be checked as well, yet there will be no real failure in life’ s plans if we live according to our light. Working in line with God there is a deeper sense in which, instead of our webs not becoming garments, it might be said that the very stars in their courses will fight for us. The great purpose of our life will be fulfilled if we keep near to God. Conclusion: 1. This true success is, above all and first of all, an inward thing. It refers pre-eminently to the inward condition. It must begin there. 2. “ We see not yet all things put under Him, but we see Jesus.” Whether as to humanity as a whole, or as to individuals, that is true; all things are not yet put under, but there is ever one source of help and hope, and only one. Looking unto Jesus, if that be the attitude of our life, then it cannot be said, whatever befall, that life’ s purpose has failed, and in higher ways than we can tell our webs shall become garments, the beautiful and durable garments of the soul. (J. S. Mayer, M. A.) Isaiah 59:7 Their feet run to evil A picture of moral corruption This verse and the first part of the following have been interwoven by Paul, in Romans 3:15-17, into his description of universal moral corruption. The representation of life as a road, and of one’ s mode of action as a manner of walking, is a common feature in gnomic compositions, where its terminology has been fully developed. From the beginning of verse 7, one may perceive that steadfast believers, during the exile, were persecuted even to death by their fellow-countrymen who had forgotten God. The verbs “ run” and “ hasten” depict the delight felt in wickedness, when the conscience is completely asleep. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 59:9-11 Therefore is judgment far from us Dejection and trouble the outcome of sin The sorrow and dejection of the people is depicted in striking and pathetic images. It is the better mind of the community which is here expressed--its intense desire for the fulfilment of the Divine promises, its weariness through hope deferred making the heart sick. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)A sad sequence “ Therefore,” --on account of these sins and disorders, and not on account of Jehovah’ s remissness (Isaiah 59:1-2). (Ibid.)We wait for lightHelp for seekers of the light I. . 1. These persons are in some degree aware of their natural darkness. They are looking for light. 2. They have a high idea of what the light is. “ Brightness. 3. They have some hope that they may yet obtain this light; in fact they are waiting for it, hopefully waiting. 4. They are such as have learned to plead their case with God, for our text is a complaint addressed to the Lord Himself. 5. The person I am desirous of comforting is quite willing to lay bare his heart before God, to confess his desires whether right or wrong, and to expose his condition whether healthy or sound. II. . It shall be my happy task to assist into the light those who would fain flee from the darkness. We will do so by trying to answer the query, “ How is it that I, being desirous of light, have not found it yet?” 1. You may have been seeking the light in the wrong place. You may have been the victim of the false doctrine that peace with God can be found in the use of ceremonies. It is possible, too, that you have been looking for salvation in the mere belief of a certain creed. You have thought that if you could discover pure orthodoxy, and could then consign your soul into its mould, you would be a saved man. 2. You may have sought it in the wrong spirit. Some appear to deal with God as if He were bound to give salvation; as if salvation, indeed, were the inevitable result of a round of performances, or the deserved reward of a certain amount of virtue. 3. Others have not obtained peace because they have not yet a clear idea of the true way of finding it. What thou hast to do is but to accept what Jesus has finished. 4. Perhaps thou hast not found light because thou hast sought it in a half-hearted manner. 5. Is it not possible that there may be some sin within thee which thou art harbouring to thy soul’ s peril? 6. It may be that you have only sought peace with God occasionally. 7. The great reason, after all, why earnest souls do not get speedy rest lies in this, that they are disobedient to the one plain Gospel precept, “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, etc. III. A few words by way of . What an unhappy state is thine! You have been in the dark year after year, when the sun is shining, the sweet flowers arc blooming, and everything waiting to lead thee forth with gladness. What joys you lose by being an unbeliever! What sin you are daily committing! for you are daffy an unbeliever! Unless Jesus Christ be your shield and help you are undone! IV. . There are many around you who have trusted Jesus and found light. They once suffered your disappointments, but have now found rest to their souls. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 59:14-15 And judgment is turned away backward National sin The sin of a nation becomes national, and brings public judgments, when it is not restrained by public justice. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 59:16-19 And He saw that there was no man God, man’ s great Redeemer Do not let us suppose this is mere poetry. Conceive what inspires it,--the great truth that in the Infinite there is a heart to throb for men, and a will to strike for them. This is what the writer desires to proclaim, and what we believe the Spirit of God moved his poor human lips to give their own shape to,--the simple truth that there is One, however hidden He may be to men’ s eyes, who feels for men, who feels hotly for men, and whose will is quick and urgent to save them. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)“ He wondered that there was no intercessor” “ He stood aghast that there was no one interposing.” The common version , though substantially correct, is too weak to express the full force of the Hebrew word, which strictly means to be desolate, and is used in reference to persons for the purpose of expressing an extreme degree of horror and astonishment. (J. A. Alexander.)Prophetic certainty That the whole description refers to a future event can hardly be questioned. The perfects in this verse (Isaiah 59:16) and the next are those of prophetic certainty. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.) Isaiah 59:17 For He put on righteousness--Self -manifestations of God’ s holy nature Just as in Ephesians 6:1-24. the manifold self-manifestations of the inner life of the soul are symbolized under each of the different pieces of armour, so, under the pieces of Jehovah’ s armour there are set forth the manifold self-manifestations of His holy nature, formed out of wrath and love combined. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The armour of the redeeming God Judiciously and beautifully is the inexorable justice of God compared to the impenetrable brazen coat-of-mail; His gladdening salvation to the protecting helmet glittering afar; His vengeance, having many modes of inflicting effective chastisement, to the bright-coloured garments over the coat-of-mail; and His wrathful jealousy to the fiery red military cloak. No weapon is mentioned--neither sword nor bow--for His arm, and this alone, procures Him help. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The Head of the Church a mighty Hero 1. “ He put on righteousness as a breastplate.” He assumed the exercise of that right which appertained to Him, of vindicating His Church from the hands of their enemies, of rendering them victorious over their oppressors, and of restoring them to liberty and tranquillity. Righteousness peculiarly belongeth to him, His heart is set on advancing its interests; it is not more conspicuous in the equity of His laws than in the dispensations of His providence, whereby He repays fully to His adversaries, and exalts His upright servants to happiness and comfort. This righteousness He is said to have put on, so is openly to show that it belonged to Him, and that every hostile weapon directed against Him and those He was going to avenge, should rebound on themselves with irresistible force. Furnished with righteousness for a covering, the Most Mighty went forth with invincible courage to attack His enemies, well knowing that all their efforts were incapable of wounding Him, or of preventing Him from obtaining the victory. 2. “ And a helmet of salvation on His head. The Son of God is represented having on a helmet of salvation because it affords Him perfect security from all the insults that are aimed at Him by His foes, and preserves Him in complete safety when contending for conquest with those that rise up against Him. 3. “ And He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing.” The expression may refer to the under garment that was anciently worn by some Eastern nations below their coat or cloak. The garments of vengeance may denote the sword, the bow, and the spear, with the other instruments that were to be employed in executing awful vengeance on His persecuting foes, and in showing Himself strong in behalf of those who trust in His name. These He put on when He determined immediately to avenge the wrongs done to Himself and His Church. 4. “ And was clad with zeal as a cloak.” Zeal is not properly a detached principle, but it is a mixed affection, combined of love and displeasure, manifested by vigorous exertions to advance the welfare of the beloved object, by every proper expedient, to express displeasure against those who have injured the persons in whose happiness it is interested. Properly speaking, it is not a single passion, but an essential ingredient necessary to the lively exercise of every other affection. When attributed to Jehovah, it denotes His tender regard for the interests of His kingdom and glory, and His just indignation of everything that opposes their establishment and prosperity. With this zeal He was clad as with a cloak worn by the warriors of ancient times. The words may import that the Lord God would publicly demonstrate, by His interposition in favour of His servants, that He was truly solicitous to promote their safety and happiness; and, by the execution of righteous vengeance upon their enemies, that He would not permit those who disturbed the peace of His Church to remain unpunished. (R. Macculloch.)Clad with zeal as a clokeThe best cloak The solitary champion who is here spoken of is the Prince of the house of David, our Lord Jesus Christ. When a man has all other excellences, then zeal is still needed to elevate and perfect his entire manhood. Behold the altar, built of unhewn stones, and after God’ s own law; behold the wood laid thereon; see the victim slain and the blood flowing; but you cannot make a sacrifice without fire. Behold in the altar the figure of the man; he has faith, courage, love, consecration; but if he lacks the fire of fervent zeal his life will be a failure. I. ZEAL IS TO BE AS A CLOAK THAT COVERS ALL. The Christian man is to wear zeal as we wear an outward garment which covers all the rest of our garments--a flowing robe which encompasses the entire person. 1. Zeal is all enveloping: zeal should envelop all the powers of the Christian. He is to invest himself with faith and love with patience and perseverance, with hope and joy; but zeal must be over all these. We are not to be zealous with one part of ourselves, nor zealous in one particular duty only, nor zealous at one special season; but to be altogether zealous, for all Christ’ s work, for all Christ’ s truth, and at all times zealous not only in one good thing, but in all good things. 2. We are to wear holy zeal as a cloak, in order to preserve the different parts of our soul from danger. Zeal is preserving. Zeal is to wrap up the whole man, so that when he is subject to a furious haft of persecution, or a biting wind of poverty, or a torrent of down-pouring griefs, the pilgrim to the skies may hold on his way, and bid all weathers brave defiance. 3. Zeal is comforting, even as the cloak when wrapped about the traveller in the snow-storm. The man who is possessed by an irresistible passion for carrying out his life-work, will gird this gracious ardour well around him, and let the snowflakes come as they may, they- will only fall, as it were, into a furnace, and will melt before they can injure. 4. We may regard zeal as a cloak by reason of its adorning a man’ s character. Many a person looks all the more comely because of the garment in which he has arrayed himself. There is no more becoming garment to the Christian when he possesses all the virtues than an all-enveloping zeal. 5. We must take care to put on zeal as a cloak and not as a hood. Nobody wears his cloak over his head, and yet I have known some persons whose zeal has blindfolded their judgment. Zeal, like fire, is “ a good servant, but a bad master.” 6. Zeal is a cloak, and therefore not intended to supersede the other graces. We do not put on our great coats and leave off all our other clothes. 7. Zeal is a cloak, and therefore we are not to regard it as an extraordinary robe to be worn only occasionally on high days and holidays. Zeal for God should be exhibited in workshops, should be worn in the market-house, in the senate, or wherever we may labour. Since the storm is always on, and we are always pilgrims, it will be like the cloak which we cannot bear to lay aside. 8. While I say that zeal is not everything, recollect that the cloak covers everything, and do not let your zeal he such a scanty thing that it will only hang like a girdle round your loins. Remember our Lord put on zeal. While the Christian religion is an internal thing, there is no religion in the world which shows itself so much externally. II. HOW OUR LORD THIS ZEAL. 1. In His earliest childhood you have tokens of His inward zeal. “ Wist ye not.” etc? 2. In after life you see His burning zeal in leaving the comforts of life. 3. His very dress showed His zeal, because it was not ostentatious, but in every way suitable for incessant labour and humble service. 4. He showed His earnestness in persevering in His work under all manner of rebuffs. 5. And, as a clearer proof of His zeal still, all the blandishments of the world could not attract Him. 6. Look at His incessant labours. 7. In His preaching you see His zeal. 8. Probably you see His zeal most of all in his prayers, for a man’ s intensity of heart may eminently be judged of by his secret devotion before God. 9. He proved His zeal again by giving up Himself. 10. Observe what His zeal was made of. (1) It was zeal for God. (2) Zeal for truth. (3) Zeal for souls. III. WHAT WAS IT THAT THE ZEAL OF CHRIST FED UPON 1. Christ’ s zeal was based upon a defined principle. He had of old said, “ Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God yea, Thy law is within My heart.” He had set his heart upon a great purpose, He had weighed it, counted the cost, looked at it on all sides, and now He was not to be turned from it. 2. The zeal of our Lord Jesus Christ was occasioned by intense love. He loved His Father; He could not, therefore, but do His will. He loved His people; He could not, therefore, do otherwise than seek their good. Oh, how He loved the souls of men! It was a passion with Him. 3. The zeal of our Lord Jesus Christ had an eye to the recompense. “ For the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross, despising the shame.” 4. Our Lord Jesus Christ was so zealous because He had a greater spiritual discernment than you and I have. We are not zealous because we cannot see. We can see these houses, these streets, and this in money. We can hear those people’ s tongues, and we can look at these creature comforts. But our ears are as though they were stopped up with wax, and our eyes as though they were blinded to better things. When Jesus was here He saw angels, and He beheld the spirits of men; He looked upon men, not as flesh and blood, but as immortals. Best of all, He saw God. He could say, “ I have set the Lord always before Me: because He is at My right hand I shall not be moved.” (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 59:19 When the enemy shall come in like a flood.--Moral invasions These words suggest-- I. THE MORAL OF HUMAN SOULS. 1. The soul has an arch enemy. This enemy is called by different names. The old serpent, the devil, Satan, roaring lion, etc. He is characterized by great power, malignity, craft. He has mighty armies under his power. Principalities and powers, etc. 2. This arch enemy sometimes makes a tremendous onslaught. “ Cometh in like a flood.” There are times in the human soul when evil seems to rush on it as an overwhelming torrent. II. THE ALL- OF HUMAN SOULS. “ The Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” The soul that gives itself up to Divine guardianship has an impregnable fortress. 1. The Spirit of the Lord is stronger than the enemy. 2. The Spirit of the Lord is wiser than the enemy. The Spirit of the Lord has an intellect, that overrules, battles, subordinates all the workings of the foe. He makes his hellish discord swell the harmonies of the universe. 3. The Spirit of the Lord is nearer to the soul than the enemy. The soul does not live in the devil, but the soul lives in the Spirit; the soul can live without the devil, the soul cannot live without the Spirit. (1) How great is man! The objects both of hellish and of heavenly interests and efforts. (2) How critical is destiny! We are in an enemy’ s territory. (Homilist.)The great enemy’ s opposition overcome I. THE ENEMY. 1. Worldliness. (1) Fashion. (2) Business cares. (3) Pleasures. 2. Political sins. (1) Party spirit. (2) License of vice. II. OF THE ENEMY’ S . 1. Active. “ Shall come in,” etc. 2. Vehement. “ Like a flood.” III. THE ENEMY . “ The Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” 1. In the faithful, earnest preaching of the Gospel. 2. In the social services of the Church. 3. In the godly example of Christians. (J. S. Clomer.)The standard of heaven lifted up against the powers of hell and their auxiliaries I. AN ATTACK made by hell and its auxiliaries upon the kingdom and interest of Christ. “ The enemy shall come in like a flood.” Notice-- 1. By whom the attack is made. “ The enemy. The Church of God, or His saints in this world, have many enemies. They are expressed in the singular number, because of their unity in their designs against Christ and His kingdom, and because they attack under one principal leader and commander, namely, the god of this world, whose kingdom Christ came to overthrow., 2. The manner of the enemy’ s attack. He comes in like a flood, with great violence and noise, as though he would sweep away all clean before him Revelation 12:15). It is no unusual thing, in Scripture, to represent the irruptions of hell and its armies upon the Church of God under the notion of a rapid flood or river, which threatens the ruin of everything that stands in its way (Psalms 93:3). 3. The progress of the “ standard” I understand Christ, who is not only a standard-bearer “ among ten thousand” (Son 5:10), but the Standard or ensign itself (Isaiah 11:10). By the “ lifting up” of the standard I understand the displays of the glory of Christ in a Gospel dispensation, accompanied with the efficacy of the Spirit of the Lord. 4. The repulse itself given to the enemy of the Spirit of the Lord He is “ put to flight” (Marg.), or, as Calvin reads It, the Spirit of the Lord shall drive him back like the waters of Jordan, which were driven back towards their fountain, when they stood in the way of Israel’ s entry upon the possession of the promised land. 5. The certainty of this promise of driving back the enemy--it is not a maybe, but a shall be. (E. Erskine.)The enemy of the people of God I. WHO IS THE ENEMY THAT COMES IN LIKE A FLOOD? The devil, called sometimes “ the god of this world.” 1. Satan has a strong party within, to wit, indwelling sin. 2. The world without us is another main auxiliary of hell--the profits, pleasures and preferments of the world, called by the apostle, “ the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eves and the pride of life.” II. WHY THIS ENEMY IS LIKENED TO A FLOOD. 1. Because of the noise, made by error, persecution, defections, and violences of all kinds. The poor soul is many times put in such confusion, through the noise of these mighty waters, that it cannot hear the voice of God either in His Word or providences. 2. Because of their multitude. 3. Because of their unity in bending all one way in their opposition against Christ and His cause. 4. Floods are mighty, violent and rapid in their motion. 5. They are of a sweeping nature, and are ready to hurl down everything that is not well fixed. 6. A flood is in a continual motion; so the actings of sin and Satan and the world, against Christ and His cause, are incessant. III. THE OF THE ENEMY. How far may he come in! 1. The enemy may come in within the borders of Zion (Micah 5:5-6). 2. The enemy comes in, not only within the borders, but even into the palaces of Zion, her public assemblies for divine worship (Job 1:6). 3. The enemy may come into the pulpits of the Church by an erroneous and corrupt ministry (Jude 1:4). 4. The enemy may come into the judicatories of the Church, which are the thrones of judgment; so far may the enemy come in as to influence those judicatories to join hands with the spoilers and oppressors of the people of God, instead of defending them. 5. The enemy may come into the dwellings of Jacob. The devil lodgeth in the house of the wicked, and he may come in and work much mischief in the house of a godly David. 6. He may come into your closets, and go along with you to your knees, when you would be alone with God. 7. The enemy may come into your very heart. IV. THE OF ALL THIS. 1. Plain Scripture testimony (Revelation 2:10). 2. The state of the believer in this world--a militant state. 3. The experience of the saints of God in all ages. V. . 1. This world is not the believer’ s resting-place. If it were, of all men he would be the most miserable. 2. See, hence, why it is the believer frequently expresseth such longing desire to be away. 3. See, hence, the need that we have of Christ in his kingly office, to subdue, restrain, and conquer all His and our enemies. 4. See, hence, encouragement to poor tossed and tempted believers. Though the enemy come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. (E. Erskine.)Encouragement 1. Thy enemies are God’ s as well as thine. 2. The Lord of hosts is with thee: God is upon thy side. 3. The enemy is already defeated and baffled by thy glorious Head and General; thou hast only a shattered enemy to grapple with. 4. There are many triumphing in glory, against whom the floods did run with as great violence as they do now against thee. 5. The battle will soon be over. 6. The word of command is given by the glorious General, “ Fight, the good fight of faith, stand fast in the faith, quit yourselves like men, be strong.” (E. Erskine.)The enemy coming in as a flood 1. He sometimes casts out a flood of error; he studies to corrupt the simplicity of the Gospel, and to turn men away from the pure and precious truths of God. 2. Sometimes the enemy comes in with a flood of open persecution. 3. Sometimes he comes in with a flood of manifold corruptions upon the visible Church. Sometimes he studies to corrupt the worship of God by superstition, mingling in ceremonies of man’ s inventions with the pure ordinances of Divine institution. Sometimes he breaks in upon the government and discipline of the Church, attempting to introduce schemes of government not warranted by the Word of God. Sometimes he comes in with a flood of profanity corrupting the lives of professors, to the scandal of religion; sometimes with a flood of neutrality and indifferency about the things of God, under the colour of moderation. (E. Erskine.)Temptation overcome I. THE . “ The enemy shall come in like a flood.” It is a startling metaphor. Away up on the hills there is a lake or reservoir dammed up. Suddenly the barrier breaks; and there comes a great rush of water down the hillside upon the unsuspecting valley beneath, sweeping away before it the hay-ricks, the stables of the cattle, the hovels of the poor, and the mansions of the great, overwhelming all life in one common watery grave, leaving presently, when it is passed, a desert where there had bloomed a garden of the Lord. Evil is always imminent just as the reservoir is always threatening. Not to watch against it, not sometimes to lift the eye to see whether the barrier holds, not to know that you are in danger, is insensate folly. But there are special crises of temptation comparable to the moment when the barrier breaks and the water pours down upon the land. So is it with the temptation of despair. So it is when we are tempted to sudden passion. Is this not true of the evil in society around us? The dragon has been pouring forth streams of water to sweep away the Word of God upon our world. It was so in the days of Pagan persecution; it was so in the days of mediaeval darkness; it was so just before Wyclif, our morning star, and Luther, the minor sun, protested against the evils of their time; it was so at the end of the eighteenth century, when the parsons were dissolute and drunken and fox-hunting; and when Socinian heresy filled Nonconformist pulpits, and when the masses of the people were drenched in stupidity and sin. Such times as these, when the enemy comes in like a flood, recur with periodicity in the history of men. We do well, then, to confess our impotence. You cannot resist that flood by your resolutions, by your pledges, by your endeavours; you may as well throw up your hands at once and cry with Jehoshaphat, “ We have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee.” At such times we may always count upon God. II. THE AUGUST AND LONELY WARRIOR depicted in the text. It would seem almost in this chapter as though He was like a warrior resting. He has put off His helmet and His breastplate, and divested Himself of His garments. But suddenly He sees the encroachment of the enemy over the lonely spirit or over the world. He steps forward and wins. He sees that there is none to help; He wonders that there is no intercessor, therefore His arm brings salvation. Mark that word--the arm of the living Christ brings salvation to man when no one else can help him. III. OUR FATAL . Why is it that we are not always conquerors? The answer comes in verses 1-3. There is some fatal hindrance in your life that saps Christ’ s power. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)The standard uplifted in the face of the foe I. We shall take the general statement of the text as referring to THE WHICH IS RAGING IN THE ’ S INNER MAN. 1. It is well for us distinctly to understand the position of the Christian. This is not the land of our triumph, neither is this the period of our rest. There is one whose name is called “ the enemy,” the “ evil one” ; he is the leader among your adversaries; hating God with all his might, he hates that which he sees of God in you. 2. The text leads us to look for seasons when this position will be more than ordinarily perilous. 3. It will be well for you who know the spiritual conflict to be thoroughly conscious of your own utter impotence against this terrific danger. What can a man do against a flood? 4. The text, after having plainly bidden us thoroughly realize our position, and after suggesting to us our weakness, bids us turn to our only help, a Helper mysterious but Divine. 5. We have then to fall back as to our present difficulty, whatever it may be, upon spiritual power. If the battle of salvation were to be fought by man alone, then you and I might throw down sword and shield and despairingly give it all up, but when we understand that the Spirit of God has laid bare His holy arm to save us, we are not afraid of the worst moment in the fight. 6. Let us now take two or three instances in which this great truth is conspicuous. This is true of a soul under conviction of sin. After conversion it frequently happens, and especially to those who have been guilty of gross sin before conversion, that temptation comes in with unusual force. Another case sometimes occurs to a Christian, when it is not so much enticement to sin as temptation to doubt. II. Let us now turn to THE HOLY WAR WITHOUT US. The Christian Church is too conspicuous an object of Divine love not to be the butt of the malice of the powers of darkness. (C. H. Spurgeon.)In time of flood These heartening words were spoken to exiles who were preparing to return to the homeland. When they lifted their eyes to the possibilities of return they seemed to gaze upon range after range of accumulating difficulties which would obstruct their journey home. As often as the prophet proclaimed their deliverance they proclaimed their fears. Their fears were aid one by one, but as soon as one was laid another arose! The enemies on the right hand and the left hand, what about them? The hostile peoples will accept their chance, and will come down upon the returning company in destructive array I “ When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” We, too, are exiles returning to the homeland. We, too, have been in the dark realms of captivity, and by His redeeming grace our eyes have been lifted toward the better country. And we, too, are full of uncertainties and fears. There is a desert to traverse, a wilderness to cross, waters to pass through, mountains to climb, and we know not how we may safely reach our journey’ s end. And particularly are we beset by the enemy, who suddenly and unexpectedly roars down upon our path. But if we have the fears, ours, too, are the promises. Between the enemy and ourselves there shall be erected the standard of the Lord. 1. “ When the enemy shall come in like a flood.” The figure is surely taken from the riverbeds of their native land. They had looked upon the dry, bleached ravines in time of drought, when scarcely a rivulet lisped down its rocky course. And then the rain had fallen on the hills, or the snow had melted upon the distant mountains, and the waters had torn down like a flood. I have picnicked away up in the solitudes of the higher Tees, when there was only a handful of water passing along, a little stream which even a child could cross. And once I saw what the natives call the “ roll” coming away in the distance. Great rains had fallen upon the heights, and this was their issue; in a moment the quiet stream became a roaring torrent, and shouted along in thunderous flood. That, I think, is the figure of my text. Now, what are some of these flood times in life when the enemy comes against us in overwhelming power? (1) There is the flood of passion. Floods always destroy something valuable and beautiful. And so it is with the flood of passion that sweeps through the soul. It always damages the life through which it flows. Some seed of the kingdom, just beginning to germinate, is washed out of the ground. Some tender growth is impaired or destroyed, some little plant of meekness, or gentleness, or faith, or hope, or love. Even onlookers can frequently see the ruin; and to the Lord the fruitful place must become a desert. (2) Sometimes the flood is in the form of a great sorrow, and we are engulfed by it. There is a sorrow appointed of the Almighty, but it is never ordained to hurt or destroy. And yet how often this particular flood, rushing into a life, works havoc with spiritual things. In one of our churches a little while ago a flood occurred, and the two things that were injured were the heating apparatus and the organ. I could not but think of the destructiveness wrought in the soul by the gathering waters of sorrow. Very frequently they put out the fires of geniality, and they silence the music and the song. And so it is with all the perilous waters that arise in human life. (3) Sometimes the flood gathers from a multitudinous contribution of petty cares. Now, whenever a flood in the life damages a life the work is the work of the devil. When I am tempted into overflowing passion, or into excessive sorrow, or into overwhelming care, it is the work of the enemy. I think that if we could realize this we should be greatly helped in these perilous and frequently recurring seasons. If we could only practise our eyes so as to see in the tempting circumstance the face of the evil one we should be less inclined to the snare. 2. “ The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.” King Canute had his regal chair carried down to the flowing tide, and he commanded the waters to retreat. The waters paid no heed, and the mighty flood advanced. But our King raises His standard against the threatening flood, and the retreat is absolutely assured. Have you noticed that wonderfully suggestive passage in the Book of Revelation where a promise is made of help in the time of flood? “ And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away at the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his” mouth.” That great promise has been abundantly confirmed in countless lives. Even the earth itself is our ally in contending with the foe. The beauties of nature will help us to contend with the forces of evil desire. But we have more than nature as our defence; we have the Lord of nature, the Lord in nature, not so much the supernatural as the Spirit who pervades nature and all things. And so, too, it is in the flood times of sorrow. The Spirit of the Lord will engage for us, “ lest we be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.” Have I not seen sorrow come into a life, and it has been entirely a minister of good and never of ill? The devil has not got hold of it, and used it as a destructive flood. It has been a minister of irrigation rather than destruction, and in the moist place of tears beautiful ferns have grown, the exquisite graces of compassion and long-suffering and peace. “ The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard!” Well, then, let Him do it. Do not let us attempt to do it for ourselves. Let us hand it over to Him. “ Undertake Thou for me, O Lord.” The life of faith just consists in a quiet, conscious, realizing trust in the all-willing and all-powerful Spirit of God. (J. H.Jowett, M. A.)An overpowering manifestation of God We explain the passage thus: Jehovah will come like a river, one hemmed in, which a wind of Jehovah (i.e a violent tempest) rolls along in rapid course. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against himThe opposing standard I. THE -BEARER. “ The Spirit of the Lord.” II. THE . Christ. He is fitly resembled to a standard on the following accounts. 1. The standard is a signal of war. When Christ descended to this lower world, and came upon an expedition of war against the god of this world, and his usurped empire over the children of men, this war was proclaimed Genesis 3:15). 2. A standard is a signal of peace. When peace is proclaimed the white flag or ensign is displayed. As the appearance of God in the nature of man was a signal of war against hell, death and sin; so it was a signal of peace to man upon earth. 3. A standard is an ensign of victory. So a risen and living Redeemer is a signal of His victory over the powers of hell. 4. A standard is a signal of gathering. When the standard is set up, the army is to gather, volunteers are to be enlisted. The manifestation of Christ in the flesh, and the revelation of Him in the Gospel, is a signal to lost sinners to shake off the tyrannical yoke of sin and Satan, that they may, under Christ’ s conduct, recover their ancient liberty (Genesis 49:10; Isaiah 11:10). 5. A standard is for direction and order; when the army is to march, the standard goes before, and the soldiers know whereaway to move by the motion of their standard. III. THE LIFTING UP OF THIS BLESSED . 1. The first uplifting of it was in the eternal counsel of Heaven, before ever the foundation of the world was laid (Proverbs 8:23). 2. It was lifted up in the first promise (Genesis 3:15). 3. In the actual incarnation, obedience and death of the Son of God. 4. By the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and His exaltation at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 5. In the dispensation of the everlasting Gospel. 6. When there is any remarkable appearance for Christ and His cause, in a Church or nation, in opposition to any of the works of the devil. 7. When God in His providence breaks and baffles wicked and blood-thirsty persecutors, who were making havoc of His Church, granting them respite and deliverance from trouble. 8. This royal Standard is lifted up by the Spirit of the Lord in the morning of conversion, when through discoveries of the glory of Christ, the soul is determined to make a surrender of its heart, and to lift up the everlasting doors, that this King of glory may come in. 9. The Spirit of the Lord lifts up the Standard in every renewed manifestation and discovery of the glory of Christ, especially after a dark night of desertion, temptation, and despondency. IV. WHENCE IS IT THAT THE LIFTING UP OF THE , OR THE OF THE GLORY OF CHRIST BY THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD, GIVES A REPULSE TO THE ENEMY, OR DRIVES HIM BACK: 1. The displaying of the glory of Christ by the Spirit of the Lord, sets faith in a lively exercise, which is the great engine whereby we are enabled to overcome Satan, the world, and all our enemies. 2. By displays of the glory of Christ, love is inflamed. 3. Displays of the glory of Christ inspire the soul with courage and strength to oppose the enemy, when he comes in like a flood. 4. Displays of the glory of Christ, by the Word and Spirit of the Lord, dispirit the enemy, though coming in like a flood. (E. Erskine.)The Church’ s power See, hence, what it is that makes a Church “ terrible as an army with banners,” to the powers of hell, and the wicked of the world. It is not carnal wisdom and policy; it is not a yielding to the humours of men in the matters of Christ; it is not a squaring our conduct according to the wisdom of this world: no, it is the presence of the Spirit of the Lord, and a following the standard of the Word, which He has given for “ a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our paths.” (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 59:20-21 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion The Redeemer coming to His Church I. THE PERSON OF WHOM THE FATHER SPEAKS, AND HIS COMING. 1. “ The Redeemer,” the kinsman, who, by assuming our nature, is nearly related to us (Hebrews 2:11; Hebrews 2:17). To Him, as our kinsman, the right of redemption belongs. 2. “ Shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob.” The coming which is here spoken of is for the above purposes, and not chiefly His coming in the flesh, which does not so well suit the context. It is His spiritual coming which is meant; His coming in His kingdom. To the Jews, as a people, to “ turn away ungodliness from Jacob,” as the LXX read it, and St. Paul in Romans 11:26. To His Church in general, often called Zion, Jacob, and Israel; to introduce the millennium, and spread religion through all the world (Revelation 19:11-16). To the hearts of His people (John 14:18-19; John 14:23; Revelation 3:20). Then have we “ Christ in us the hope of glory;” Christ “ dwelling in our hearts by faith” Ephesians 3:14; Ephesians 3:17; Galatians 2:20-21). II. THE ON HIS COMING IN THESE SENSES, My Spirit that is upon Thee, and My words which I have put in Thy mouth, shall not depart out of Thy mouth, etc. These are the words of the Father to the Redeemer. III. THE PERSONS TO WHOM THESE ARE ; THE WAY IN WHICH THEY ARE ; AND THE OF THEM IN THAT WAY. They are promised to those that are “ in Jacob,” members of Christ’ s Church. To those that “ turn from transgression.” To those who are the “ seed” of Christ by faith (Galatians 3:9; Galatians 3:26). The certainty of obtaining them may be found in God’ s Covenant. (J. Benson. D. D.) Isaiah 60:1-12 Arise, shine; for thy light is come The glory of spiritual Israel Having repeatedly and fully shown that the national pro-eminence of Israel was not to be perpetual, that the loss of it was the natural consequence and righteous retribution of iniquity, and that their loss did not involve the destruction of the true Church or spiritual Israel, the prophet now proceeds to show that, to the latter, the approaching change would be a glorious and blessed one. (J. A. Alexander.)Isaiah 60:1-22 is the spiritual counterpart of a typical Eastern day Isaiah 60:1-22 is the spiritual counterpart of a typical Eastern day with the dust laid and the darts taken out of the sunbeams,--a typical Eastern day in the sudden splendour of its dawn, the completeness and apparent permanence of its noon, the spaciousness it reveals on sea and land, and the barbaric profusion of life, which its strong light is sufficient to flood with glory. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Sunrise in the East In the East the sun does not rise; the word is weak for an arrival almost too sudden for twilight. In the East the sun leaps above the horizon. You do not feel that he is coming, but that he is come. This first verse is suggested by the swiftness with which he bursts upon an Eastern city, and the shrouded form does not, as in our twilight, slowly unwrap itself, but “ shines” at once, all plates and points of glory. Then the figure yields: for Jerusalem is not merely one radiant point in a world equally lighted by the sun, but is herself Jehovah’ s unique luminary. (Ibid.)“ Thy light is come” The perfect tenses are used from the ideal standpoint of the future. (Prof. J. Skinner, D,D.)Light breaking on the mountains Any one who has spent much time among mountains will appreciate the imagery. Around is absolute blackness; the valleys are in gloom; trees, rivers, towns have been obscured; nothing is visible but that dim shaft of granite rising into the silence of the sky. Suddenly we may imagine a spirit’ s voice crying, “ The light has come.” Instantly there is a glow on the mountain--trees, rivers, towns begin to take shape; the whole world has changed. The point to be observed here is that the light was from God. The city was exhorted to be in a condition in which the glory of God might be reflected from it. The chapter describes the degradation of the rest of the world, the effect of the light on other peoples, how they would be attracted toward it; and contains near the end this outburst of victorious joy: “ The Lord shall be unto thee an ever lasting light, and thy God thy glory. This prophecy, was never literally fulfilled, and yet hundreds of years later a light did pour itself upon Mount Zion; it shone on the thickest darkness of the nations, and unto it ever since the people have been attracted. That prophecy was fulfilled in Christ. He is the Light. (A. H. Bradford, D. D.)The Gospel era I. THE GOSPEL ERA IS BY A SPECIAL OF DIVINE GLORY. The light that has come to the world is the glory of the Lord. What is “ the glory of the Lord” We take the answer which the Eternal gave to the request of Moses, “ I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory.” The reply was not, “ I will show thee the infinitude of My possessions, the boundlessness of My, dominions, the almightiness of My power, the immeasurable depths of My wisdom, but, “ I will cause all My goodness to pass before thee.” The Gospel is a wonderful revelation of God’ s goodness, in the form of amazing mercy towards a guilty world. 1. The glory of His goodness is seen in the gift of His Son. “ He spared not His own Son, etc. 2. The glory of His goodness is seen in the entire history of His Son. All the compassion, the tender love and mercy, which Christ displayed when on earth, were the reflected rays of Infinite goodness. II. THE GOSPEL ERA IMPOSES A SPECIAL UPON THE WORLD. “ Arise, shine.” 1. Arise. Do not sleep while the rays of Divine goodness are streaming on you. Arise to thought, to penitence, to gratitude, to worship. Arise, discharge the duties and enjoy the advantages of a day flooded with the sun of mercy. 2. Shine. Reflect the rays of this goodness. Let this love of God be so “ shed abroad in thy heart,” that it stream forth its radiance in thy every action, and bless the circle in which thou livest. Do not be as an opaque body, obstructing the rays and throwing a shadow over thy sphere; but be a mirror, to reflect every falling beam. (Homilist.)Christ the light of the world The words of the text comprise an exhortation to “ arise “ and “ shine” ; and a reason to enforce it,--“ thy light is come, the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” I. THE REASON. There is such a connection between ignorance and darkness, that the one is constantly put for the other in Scripture. If ignorance is justly termed darkness, so knowledge is properly compared to light. At the dawn of day, the traveller takes fresh courage; he perceives the path in which he should go, and proceeds on it rejoicing. In the same manner religious knowledge enlightens a man as to his true business in this life, and sets him to work out His salvation. And Christ is the Sun which sends forth this religious knowledge. 1. The sun, when it rises in the morning, dispels all clouds and mists and clews, and shows every object in its true colours. So, without that light which Christ has furnished by His Gospel, we cannot perceive those truths which it is most needful we should perceive. 2. The sun, when it shines above us, does more than enlighten every object. It nourishes, it invigorates. Without it, the sickly plant droops and decays, and brings no fruit to perfection. And the effect of the sun upon outward nature is a striking emblem of the influence of Christ upon the heart. In Him is life, vigorous, spiritual life; and the life is the light of men. II. THE . “ Arise, shine.” 1. When the sun rises, and scatters the mists of night, he gives a summons to mankind to rise also, and set themselves to the discharge of their various duties. In the same manner, the appearance of Christ in the world is a summons to all who hear of His revelation, to “ arise.” To awake out of the sleep of ignorance, the sleep of thoughtlessness, the sleep of sin, which are, in truth, the sleep of death; and to apply themselves, before “ the night cometh in which no man can work,” to the business which God has appointed them to perform both for themselves and for Him. 2. The text requires that you not only “ arise,” but that you “ shine.” That Christ has risen in the world is nothing, unless He illuminates your hearts also. When the sun is up, and shines brightly upon any object, that which before was dark shines too; receives a brilliancy not its own, not natural to it. So is it likewise, when Christ illuminates the heart. It takes a new colouring, a light which by nature it had not. Enlightened by the Gospel, the simple becomes wise, and acquires the knowledge which is most truly valuable--the knowledge of duty towards God and man. Enlightened by the Gospel, he who was selfish and covetous is made liberal, and abounds in the feelings of brotherly kindness, and in the works of charity. Enlightened by the Gospel, he who was sensual becomes temperate and pure, and “ lets his moderation be known unto all men.” The “ lover of this world becomes a “ lover of God,” and “ sets his affections on things above.” In this way the light which has shone upon them is reflected in their conduct, and is visible in their whole character. The sun shines; but some objects still continue dark and gloomy. Between them and the sun’ s light other objects interpose, and prevent his beams from shining upon them. And so it is in the world of grace. (J. B. Sumner, M. A.)The dawning of God’ s light and its awakening call I. THE DAWNING OF THE LIGHT. “ Thy light is come.” If the light is always near, but the darkness is in man’ s heart and the blindness in his soul, we have to ask how the darkness passes away, and to point out the manner in which the glory of God dawns upon it, in order that we may see why its dawning is a summons to arise and shine. There are three requisites for its dawning--three stages in the history of the soul’ s enlightenment. 1. Spiritual penitence. 2. Spiritual penitence must pass into spiritual love. 3. Spiritual love necessitates spiritual prayer. II. THE CALL. “ Arise, shine.” That summons is the inevitable result of the dawning of the light. When God is felt to be near a man thus--in penitence, love, and prayer, that man is imperatively bound to reflectthe glory which has risen in his heart; to bear witness of the light which has pierced and transformed his soul. Let us again observe that this is also based on a great principle, viz the deepest emotion in a man’ s nature must reveal itself in his life. I proceed to show the way in which the glory of the Lord thus manifests itself in life. 1. In the majesty of holiness. 2. In the beauty of unselfishness. 3. In the earnestness of your efforts for men, (E. L. Hull, B. A.)The everlasting light I. THE VOICE SPEAKS TO . How few even realize their possibilities. We have had religious training, we have been taught to consider all questions as they appear in relation to God, we have grown up in a religious atmosphere, and yet the consciousness that no man is a true man until he reflects Jesus Christ in words, business, pleasures and thoughts is dim, and not even desired. The light has come; what does it find? It finds men absorbed and heedless, thinking only of what they can keep for a little while at best; not caring for their fellow-men; selfish and as impervious to higher motives as a granite rock to sunshine. The true glory of a man is to reflect Christ. II. THE VOICE OF THE PROPHET REACHES THE CHURCH, both local and universal. The Church realizes its true mission only as it reflects the Divine light, which means, simply, realizes the life which was in Jesus Christ. 1. The Church should reflect Jesus in its worship. With Him worship was something essential and vital. Before every great act of His career He went apart from men to pray. The sources of His life were in God. Worship and prayer are the conduits along which flow streams of spiritual vitality. Is the Church a praying Church? Then it is continuing Christ’ s work. 2. The Church lives to repeat the teaching of Jesus. 3. In like manner the Church should reflect Jesus in the service of humanity. It lives to continue His ministry. The most hospitable place in every community ought to be the Church of Christ. Has any one a grief? Let him go to the Church. Are any lonely? Let them go to the Church. Have any disgraced themselves and their friends? Let them seek the Church and its help. But will all these various classes find there a welcome? Not only within its walls, but outside also the Church should serve humanity in the spirit of Christ. III. THIS CRY OF THE PROPHET COMES TO NATIONS. Nations, as well as individuals and Churches, exist to continue the Incarnation. That nation has not begun to realize its possibilities which has not learned that its superlative privilege is the manifestation of Jesus Christ. What do I mean? That the function of government is not only the protection of the people, but the service of humanity. John Milton truly said that the State is only a huge man. In the vision of the prophet when the light broke upon the sides of Mount Zion the nations saw the glory and were attracted by it (verses 3, 14). The most beautiful thing in this world is the character of Jesus Christ; nothing else so wins men. (A. H. Bradford, D. D.)Arise, shine! I. TO WHOM THE CHARGE IS . To the Church of Christ. This is evident from the context. Further, it appears from the nature of the charge that it can apply only to the Church. There is none else on earth capable of at once fulfilling the charge. The world cannot, for it is essentially dark--“ darkness covers the earth.” The Church is compared to reflected and artificial lights. Christ enlightens the world through His Church. II. THE CHARGE ITSELF. This is a twofold charge implying two distinct acts. 1. “ Arise.” This implies that the Church is in the meantime in a prostrate condition; her place is in the dust. This may be partly in penitence. It may indicate a state of affliction and mourning; the Church may be sitting in sackcloth. But chiefly it implies a state of sloth, worldliness, carnality. Whatever be the cause of this prostration the Church is directed to rise from the dust now. 2. “ Shine.” “ Christ shall give thee light” for this very purpose; not merely to enlighten yourself, to impart life and joy to you, but that you may “ shine,” give light to the world. And this applies both to the Church as a whole and to the members of the Church individually. There are two ways in which those who have been enlightened by Christ may give light. On the one hand, by simply shining, each one in his sphere, as a separate light, perhaps in the midst of darkness. On the other hand, by kindling other lights. III. THE BY WHICH IT IS . “ Thy light is come, etc. The Church has no independent light of her own, cannot shine of herself; and so, such an encouragement as this is needed. “ Thy light’ --this must mean Christ Himself, for He is the light of the Church. “ Is come” - Christ did not come till seven or eight hundred years after this prophecy was delivered. But the prophet refers to Gospel times. Accordingly the Church did arise and shine at that time more brightly and auspiciously than she had ever done before. (C. G. Scott.)An arousing call There are some Christian men who have wasted a large part of their lives for want of somebody or something to wake them up. There is more evil wrought in the world by want of thought than by downright malice, and there is more good left undone through want of thought than through any aversion to the doing of good. Some Christians appear to have been born in the land of slumber, and they continually live in their native country of dreams. They rub their eyes occasionally, and suppose themselves to be wide awake; but they are in the Enchanted Ground, and, though they know it not, they are little better than sleep-walkers the most of their days. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Shining Christians I. To God’ s own people this is my first message, YOUR . Your light has come. 1. Recollect out of what darkness that light has delivered you. 2. This light, which God has given you, is His own glory. “ And the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” Byron speaks of God S face being mirrored in the sea; but there is not space enough for the face of Deity to be fully reflected in the broad Atlantic, or in all the oceans put together. The image of God is to be fully seen in Jesus Christ, and nowhere else; for there you behold attributes which Creation cannot display. 3. There is also this blessed thing to be said about this light; you will never lose it (Isaiah 60:20). II. I WANT TO ROUSE YOU TO SERVICE. “ Arise, shine; for, etc. Since your light has come, shine” -- 1. By holy cheerfulness. 2. By a gracious godliness. 3. By zealous earnestness. 4. By a secret bravery. III. I WANT TO RALLY YOU TO THIS SHINING BY ONE OR TWO . 1. By the world’ s great need (Isaiah 60:2). 2. Because of the great results that will surely come of it (Isaiah 60:3). 3. Because of the great blessing it will bring to the Church (Isaiah 60:13, etc.). 4. “ That I may be glorified” (Isaiah 60:21). (C. H. Spurgeon.)The Epiphany: Christ manifested I. THE STATE OF THE WORLD BEFORE THE LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL AROSE. II. THE OBJECT OF THE PRESENT . III. THE FUTURE . (G. Huntington, M. A.)The God-lit Church The old story is repeated; Zion sits in the light while Egypt cowers in gloom. The light which shines upon her is the glory of the Lord, the ancient brightness that dwelt between the cherubim within the veil in the secret place of the Most High, and is now come out in the open world to envelop the desolate captive. Thus touched by the light she becomes light, and in her turn is bidden to shine. There is a very remarkable correspondence reiterated in my text between the illuminating God and the illuminated Zion. The word for “ shine” is connected with the word for “ light,” and might fairly be rendered “ lighten” or “ be light.” Twice the phrase “ thy light” is employed; once to mean the light which is thine because it shines on thee; once to mean the light which is thine because it shines from thee. The other word, three times repeated, for “ rising” is the technical word which expresses the sunrise, and it is applied both to the flashing glory that falls upon Zion, and to the light that gleams from her. Touched by the sun she becomes a sun, and blazes in her heaven in a splendour that draws men’ s hearts. I. AS TO THE FACT. Beneath the poetry of my text there lie very definite conceptions of a very solemn and grave character and these conceptions are the foundation of the ringing summons that follows and which reposes upon a double basis--viz. “ for thy light is come,” and “ for darkness covers the earth.” There is a double element in the representation. We have a darkened earth and a sunlit and a sun-like Church, and unless we hold these two convictions in firm grasp, and that not merely as convictions that influence our understanding, but as ever-present forces acting on our emotions, our consciences, our wills, we shall not do the work God has set us to do in the world. If we take the sulphurous and smoky pall that wraps the earth and analyze its contents, they are these: the darkness of ignorance, the darkness of sorrow, the darkness of sin. On the other side, remember the contrasted picture here of the sunlit and sunny Church. The incarnation of Jesus Christ is the fulfilment Of my text, “ We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. If you and I are Christians, we are bound to believe in Him as the exclusive” source of certainty. “ We hear from Him no Peradventue,” but His word is “ Verily verily, I say unto thee,” and on that we rest all our knowledge of God, of duty, of man, and of the future. If we have the light we shall be light. That is but putting in a picturesque form the very central truth of Christianity. The last word of the Gospel is transformation. We become like Him if we live near to Him, and the end for which the Master became like unto us in His incarnation and passion, was that we might become like to Him by the reception of His very own life unto our souls. These two convictions of these two facts, the dark earth, the sunlit, sun-like Church, lie at the basis of an our missionary work. II. WE HAVE BASED UPON THESE TWO FACTS THE SUMMONS TO THE CHURCH. “ Shine, for thy light is come. If we have light, we are light: if we are light, we shall shine; but the shining is not altogether spontaneous and effortless. Stars do not need to be bidden to shine, nor candles either; but we need the exhortation because there are many things that thwart the brilliance and the clearance of our minds. The command suggests effort, and the effort may be in the direction of the specific vocal proclamation of His name. If we are light, we shall be able to shine; if we are light, we are bound to shine; if we are light, we shall want to shine. III. THE PROMISE. “ The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” If we have the light we shall be light; if we are light we shall shine, and if we shine we shall attract. A painter will fling upon his canvas a scene that you and I, with our purblind eyes, have looked at hundreds of times and seen no beauty in it, but when we gaze on the picture then we see how fair it is. There is an attractive power in the light of Christ shining from the face era man. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)An imperial ministry This is a great statesman’ s vision unveiling the moral and spiritual possibilities of a people. The prophet is primarily addressing his speech to an awakening nation. To direct a nation’ s views is to shape its policies, and to determine the trend and colour of its life. What, then, shall be the elements of an efficient and fruitful ideal? “ The Lord shall arise upon thee,” etc. (Isaiah 60:2-3). What are the constituent elements in the vision? “ Light “ and “ glory. A certain light, the element of illumination, charity, and simplicity of thought; a certain heat, the element of fervour, warm and expansive sympathies; a certain gravity, the element of impressiveness, weight and strength of moral principle. But the glory of the ideal is still further enriched and intensified. We cannot take Isaiah’ s ideal and employ it with Isaiah’ s limitation; we must carry over his vocabulary into the fuller day and let it receive enlargement in the life and mind of Christ. “ Light,” interpreted by the character of the Master, means the absence of shady compromise, sunlit definiteness of purpose, the clear discernment of essentials. “ Heat,” interpreted by the character of the Master, means, an ardent inclusiveness of sympathy, cosmopolitan in its pervasion. “ Gravity, glory, interpreted by the character of the Master, is significant of moral weight, incorruptible spiritual ambition, unconquerable virtue, whether illustrated in the light of a marriage-feast, or in the sombre experience of Pilate’ s judgment-bar. “ Arise! “ , Stand erect and set thy face towards the burning vision, and thou shalt “ shine’ with reflected glory. By contemplating the Divine thou shalt incarnate the heart of thy contemplation. “ The Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee, ‘ and thy imperial treasure shall be found in thy shining notabilities, in the radiant motives and ambitions of thy common life. We have seen this transfiguring ministry at work in the life of the individual. But we may be more than a little doubtful as to whether the vision will also serve and ennoble the community. Well, where is the line of transition? Surely, even in the nation we have again and again witnessed the transforming influence of the grand ideal. It was even so with the later experiences of the eighteenth century. The breaking up of formality, the melting of callousness, the opening out of rivers of philanthropy, the enlarged and sweetened life of our people, the enlightened measure of emancipation, can be directly traced to a “ strange warming of the nation’ s heart,” resulting from a restored contemplation of the light and glory of God. The prophet’ s vision reveals an imperial deal, and unveils the only permanent imperial treasure. 1. The imperial character is to be creative of imperial unity (verse 4). There is to be an enrichment of the home, a consolidation of the family, a knitting together of the finer fellowships of the nation. And mark how this statesman describes the large characteristics of the communion. “ Then shalt thou see and flow together.” It is to be an open-eyed communion, an illumined, society, a fellowship of transparent aims and aspirations. “ Thine heart shall fear; the fellowship is not to be flippant, light-hearted, and vain; it is to be possessed by the pervasive influence of reverence, that saving element which preserves the sense of true perspective, and gives everything the setting of a just proportion. “ And be enlarged; the fellowship is not to be fixed and exclusive; its sympathies are to be elastic and expansive, reaching out in ever enlarging circles of interest and regard. 2. The imperial unity is to be the minister of a world-wide illumination. “ And nations shall come to thy light,” etc. (verse 3). If this be the true portrayal of imperial welfare, may we not infer the consequent obligations which rest upon the leaders of the people? The first essential of efficient public ministry is a large and exalted aim. The true aim of every true leader is to build up the moral energy of the people. To give ourselves to the production of superior men--this is the aim which should possess the minds and hearts of all who exercise leadership among their fellow-men. An aim like this, definitely and personally expressed, and pursued with undeviating consistency, will preserve a man from those perils of benumbment which seem to attach themselves to every public ministry. (J. H.Jowett, M. A.)The privilege and prerogative of the Christian Church The Church is promised an extraordinary measure of light and glory; an immense increase in the number of her adherents, universal exaltation in the eyes of her enemies, and permanent safety and happiness. I. THE DIVINE WHICH THE CHURCH . “ Thy light is come,” etc. The text suggests-- 1. The nature of this illumination. It embraces-- (1) The light of Divine revelation. (2) The light of the Gospel dispensation. (3) The light of the Holy Spirit’ s teaching. 2. The necessity of this illumination. The Church existed in a dark age; intellectual, moral, and spiritual darkness prevailed everywhere. This was preeminently the case when Christ came. This was-- (1) The darkness of moral guilt. (2) The darkness of religious error. (3) The darkness of spiritual ignorance. This darkness was deep, profound, awful. 3. The beauty of this illumination. “ The glory of the Lord,’ etc. Allusion is probably made to the Shechinah. God manifested Himself to His people, and shone upon them in the glory of His grace and mercy. 4. The source of this illumination. “ Thy light is come,” etc. It emanated from a Divine source. It was derived, not inherent. The Church is not the fountain of light, but the medium of it. It is called “ thy light” because it was the exclusive or peculiar prerogative of the Church. It does not come from the Church, but is given to it, for its benefit and use. II. THE WHICH THE CHURCH INCURS IN TO IT. The Church is a Divine institution, raised up for a specific purpose. Its work is to teach men the truth of God and to testify of the grace of God. But she sometimes fails fully to realize her obligations, privileges, prerogatives, and responsibilities. Here she is enjoined-- 1. To arise. She must arise from spiritual apathy, lethargy, and obscurity, take her legitimate position before the world, and faithfully discharge her obligations. Here is a loud call-- (1) To behold the light, and hail it with joy. (2) To receive the light. (3) To utilize the light. 2. To shine. Privilege confers responsibility. Every fresh accession of spiritual illumination or power increases her influence and responsibility. The Church is a luminous body, and must shine with heavenly lustre. (1) For its own sake and benefit. It must gladly participate in the light that shines upon it from above, and be encompassed with light and glory. It should at all times be radiant with the beauty of holiness. (2) For the sake and benefit of others. Not only is it to participate in the light, but to become the grand medium and means of imparting it. Like the reflector to the lamp, it is to collect, receive, and reflect its rays for the benefit of those needing its light. How is the Church to shine? By the beauty of her teaching. By the perfection of her example. By the purity of her doctrine. By the exemplification of her principles. By the grandeur of her life. By the vitality of her organizations. By the vigour of her activity. Like the light in the lighthouse, the light of the Church, in every age, is to shine conspicuously, constantly, cheerfully, and without fail. III. THE GRAND WHICH THE CHURCH IS TO REALIZE. “ And the Gentiles,” etc. This was partially accomplished soon after the rise of the Church, when thousands of the Gentiles “ walked in this light.” When a few years elapsed, the Roman Emperor and many other kings ostensibly opened their eyes to the beams of light shed on the world by the Church. Large accessions are being made, and her power and influence are growing and will extend till the Gospel shall universally triumph over error, ignorance, and ungodliness. (J. S. Spilsbury.)The Church: her functions and her blessedness I. THE CHURCH HAS THE LARGEST SCOPE. Nations “ come to her light, kings to the brightness of her rising.” She is world-wide and universal. II. THE CHURCH BEARS THE WITNESS. She “ arises.” She “ shines.” When she pulses and palpitates with the life of God, how impressive is her trumpet-call! It penetrates far. It arouses multitudes. III. THE CHURCH DOES THE MOST WORK. “ Who are these that fly to her as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?” Her Lord in her saves and edifies His sons and daughters, convinces and converts and comforts. IV. THE CHURCH ENJOYS THE MOST LASTING . In His favour her King “ has mercy on her.” He never fails nor forsakes her. He leads her members just now in green pastures and by the waters of quietness. He will bring them by-and-by to the “ Lovely city in a lovely land.” (A. Smellie, M. A.)The true light of man I. THE TRUE LIGHT OF MAN IS THE OF GOD (Isaiah 60:1). II. THIS TRUE LIGHT OF MAN WILL ONE DAY BE (Isaiah 60:3). III. THE OF THIS LIGHT WILL EFFECT A IN THE WORLD (Isaiah 60:5-11). IV. THE PEOPLE WHO, UNDER THIS LIGHT, WILL NOT SERVE THE TRUE GOD, MUST BE RUINED (Isaiah 60:12). (Homilist.)Christ our Light Light makes many a surface on which it falls flash, but it is the rays which are not absorbed that are reflected in the optics of earth; but in this loftier region the deviation is not superficial but inward, and it is the light which is swallowed up within us that then comes forth from us. Christ will dwell in our hearts, and we shall be like some poor little diamond-shaped bit of glass in a cottage window which, when the sun smites it, is visible over miles of the plain. And if that sun falls upon us, its image will be mirrored in our hearts, and flashing in our lives. The clouds that lie over the sunset, though in themselves they be but poor, grey and moist vapour, when smitten by its beneficent radiance become not unworthy ministers and attendants upon its glory. So it may be with us, for Christ comes to be our light. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The shining of the common place One summer day, when walking in Surrey, on the slope of a hill--the sun setting behind me--right away across the valley I espied a most remarkable light. It was more brilliant than electric light, and seemed to rise from the ground. At first I supposed that some one had lit a fire with resinous wood that sparkled and flashed, but there was evidently no smoke. It seemed as though some angel had dropped a brilliant star down there upon the ploughed field, and that it was burning itself out. Finally, on my reaching the spot, I discovered that an old piece of broken glass had caught the light of the setting sun, and was bathed in a supernatural glow. An old piece of bottle-glass--yet so brilliant--the bottle-glass not being visible, because of the light that shone on it! (Life of Faith.) Isaiah 60:2-3 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth The manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles 1. The first token that was shown to the Gentile world that the great Light had arisen which was to cast its beams over them as well as over the small nation which alone hitherto had known God, was the wonderful star which was seen in the sky. This appeared but twice to the Magi--once to tell them to set out, and once to tell them that they had arrived. All the rest was faith. 2. It was the manifestation of the Redeemer, the Light of the world, to the Gentiles. But much had yet to be done before the Gentiles were received into the full equality of privilege and grace with the Jews. It was above thirty years yet before the rending of the veil of the temple showed that the partition-wall was broken down by the death of Christ, which divided Jew from Gentile; still longer before the commission was given to go and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Holy Trinity; still longer before the vision at Joppa and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Ceasarea bade St. Peter baptize Cornelius, the first Gentile Christian, into the Church. 3. Let us claim our share in that exceeding great joy with which the wise men saw the first brightness of that star when they saw it in the East. If we do truth--that is to say, if we really,, try to please God, by living according to His will--then we “ come to the light, and our deeds will be made manifest that they are wrought in God. (G. Moberly.)Zion’ s glory The prophet here reverts for a moment to the previous condition of the world, in order to describe, with more effect, the glorious change to be produced. He is not, therefore, to be understood as saying that Zion shall be glorious because, while the nations are in darkness, she is to enjoy exclusive light, but because the light imparted to her first shall draw the nations to her. (J. A. Alexander.) Isaiah 60:3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light The attractiveness of an enlightened and light-giving Church What shall invite such multitudes to the Church? They shall be allowed to join themselves to thee-- 1. By the light that shines upon thee. 2. By the light with which thou shinest. (M. Henry.)The Jews unconsciously giving light to the Gentiles I have read in one of George Macdonald’ s novels of a born blind lamplighter. He illumined the city at night; but he had no sense of what he was doing. So has it been with this land. She has presented the Portrait to the gallery; she has heard the plaudits of the spectators, and she has refused to join in them. In all history there is nothing so unique. It is the enemies of this land that have crowned her world-king; it is the Gentiles that have come to His light. The lamplighter has been blind to the beauty of that throne which she has illuminated. Palestine has lit up the scene; she has listened to the crowd shouting their applause, and she has wondered why. She has been like a deaf mute in a concert-room. She has struck by accident the notes of a harp, and by accident they have burst into music. The audience has cheered the performance to the echo; but the performer knows not her triumph. (G. Matheson, D. D.)Blessings of light Miss Florence Nightingale, as the result of her wide observation, remarks:--“ One of the greatest observers of human things says, Where there is sun there is thought.” All physiology goes to confirm this. Where is the shady side of deep valleys, there is cretinism. Where are cellars and the unsunned side of narrow streets, there is the degeneracy of the human race; mind and body equally degenerating. Put the pale, withering plant and human being into the sun, and, if not too far gone, each will recover heart and spirit. In France there are hospitals where they trust almost entirely to light for the cure of disease. Surely there is here an earthly analogue to a spiritual fact. (W. G. Horder.) Isaiah 60:4-5 Lift up thine eyes round about The Gentiles gathered I. THE OF THE TO ZION. From every quarter--from far--from beyond the sea. With all the forces. II. ZION’ S . She sees and overflows with joy. (R. A. Bertram.)“ Nursed at thy side” Rather, “ on thy side,” i.e carried on the hip, the Eastern mode of carrying young children (Isaiah 66:12). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Church-membership The Church’ s children first be nursed at her side, not sent out to be nursed among strangers. They that would enjoy the dignities and privileges of Christ’ s family must submit to the discipline of it. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 60:5-8 Then thou shalt see The glory of the millennial Church Wealth, Commerce and Agriculture are three great interests and powers on earthen trinity of forces which have in all ages engrossed mankind. Each one of the three will have its representatives in that vast multitude who are to ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)The enlargement of the Church We are likewise told how the Church shall be affected with this increase of her numbers and enlargement of her borders. 1. She will be in a transport of joy upon this account (Isaiah 60:5). 2. There will be a mixture of fear with this joy. “ Thine heart shall fear,” as though it were a thing unlawful to join with the Gentiles, etc. 3. She shall be enlarged with Love, so as to leave room for all the Gentile converts. 4. She shall be struck with surprise and wonder, saying, “ Who are these that fly?” etc. (E. Erskine.) Isaiah 60:6-9 The multitude of camels shall cover thee Commercial nations and nomad tribes aiding the Church The nations engaged in commerce bring their wares to the Church; the tribe of Midian, descended from Abraham and Keturah (Genesis 25:2), and of which the Ephaens formed a branch, dwelling on the east coast of the Elanitic Gulf in the town of Madyan, lying five days’ journey south from Aria (according to the Arabic geographers)--these come in caravans so numerous and so long that the country round Jerusalem swarms with camels. All these, Midianites and Ephaens, come from Sheba, of which Viral says, solis est turea virga Sabaeis, and which, according to Strabo, was a populous country of ample resources, producing myrrh, incense and cinnamon. There (viz in Yemen), where spices, precious stones and gold are found, they have brought gold and incense; and these valuable gifts they now bring to Jerusalem, not as unwilling tribute, but with cheerful proclamation of the glorious doings and attributes of Jehovah, the God of Israel. As the trading nations come, so also do the nomad tribes: Kedar, i.e the Kedarenes, armed with bows (Isaiah 21:17), and dwelling infortified settlements (Isaiah 42:11) in the desert between Babylon and Syria; and Nebaioth (likewise of Ishmaelitish origin, according to Genesis 25:23), a nomad tribe which, though still of no importance during the Israelitish monarchy, rose in the first century B.C. to eminence as a civilized nation, whose territory extended from the Elanitic Gulf to the country lying east of the Jordan, across Belka and as far as Hauran--for the monumental inscriptions they have left behind reach from Egypt to Babylon, though Arabia Petrcea is the chief place where they are found. The Kedarenes drive their flocks of small cattle, when collected, to Jerusalem, and the rams of the Naboteans, brought by this nation, ere placed at the service of the Church, and ascend, for good pleasure, the altar of Jehovah. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Dromedaries Properly young camels. The word does not occur in the Old Testament elsewhere; amongst the Arabs it denotes, according to some of the native lexicographers, a camel less than nine years old. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.) Isaiah 60:7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee Sacrificial service None of the prophets of the Old Testament is able to think of the worship of God by the Israel of the latter days without the offering of sacrifices; but it would be a return to the limited conceptions of the Old Testament if one were to conclude that animal sacrifice will ever be restored. The dividing-wall of national particularism and ceremonial observances forming shadows of things to come will never be re-established; and with the cessation of sacrificial worship since the fiery judgment fell upon the second temple, there has for ever passed away the restriction of worship to any one central spot on earth (John 4:21), butthe stream of salvation which proceeded from Jerusalem will, nevertheless, ultimately empty its waters there, and make the city once more a fountain of blessing. As the prophet has said (Isaiah 56:7), the house of God in Jerusalem will become “ a house of prayer “ for all nations: Jehovah here calls it “ My house of glory,” as that which was built for His honour and filled with His gracious presence. He will make its internal glory like the external, by adorning it with the gifts brought in homage by the world of converted Gentiles. (F. Delitzsch,D. D.)I will glorify the house of My gloryA prosperous church I. WHAT IS NOW THE HOUSE OF GOD? A house is a place of residence; the house of God, in the proper sense of the phrase, is the place of His residence. In this sense, the universe is His house, for He inhabits all space, and neither is, nor can be, confined to any one spot. Solomon felt this when he built the magnificent temple at Jerusalem. “ Behold,” said he, addressing himself to God, “ the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house that I have builded?” Stephen felt it when, in allusion to the same house, he said, “ Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, heaven is My throne and earth is My footstool: what house will ye build Me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of My rest?” Whilst, however., the universe is thus the only proper house of God, there are places which, in condescension to our weakness, are specially denominated HIS house, to denote that He specially manifests His presence there, is specially worshipped there, and bestows there special spiritual blessings, rich spiritual banquets. The dispensation of the law was intended to foreshadow good things to come, and accordingly under that dispensation there was a typical sanctuary, a house intended to typify the spiritual house of this dispensation--the Church. In that typical sanctuary there was a visible emblem of the Divine presence, a cloud overshadowing the mercy-seat, the same cloud which had gone before the children of Israel when journeying through the wilderness, as a pillar of a cloud by day, and as a pillar of fire by night. This visible emblem was a type of the spiritual presence of God in His Church. In the same typical sanctuary where this visible emblem was vouchsafed, typical sacrifices were offered and typical blessings bestowed. The new dispensation being the antitype is spiritual. Hence we have not now a typical temple, but every believer individually, and especially every Christian Church, is a spiritual temple. The house of God, then, under this dispensation, is not the building where the saints meet, but the assembly of the saints be it where it may; it is a spiritual house built of living stones, a house where spiritual sacrifices are offered, the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, which arc acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. At the same time, whilst the building is not the house of God, there is a subordinate sense in which it may be so denominated. II. UNDER WHAT MAY THE HOUSE CALLED “ THE HOUSE OF GOD” BE AS “ THE HOUSE OF HIS GLORY” ? It is the house of His glory, when His glory is the grand object in view. This house of His glory must not only be built, but also used for His glory: We have applied the phrase “ house of God in its subordinate sense to the building; let us proceed to apply it in a higher sense to the assembly of the saints, to the Church meeting in the building; and we ask, When is such a Church properly denominated the house of God’ s glory? 1. It is so, when the object of its original formation, and that of its assembling from time to time, is the glory of God. Let professing Christians meet together as a mere matter of form, meet without any definite end in view, or meet with any other end than the glory of their Lord, the Church is no longer the house of His glory; nay, if even they meet for praise, for their own spiritual improvement and for the conversion of sinners, yet if the glory of God be not the ultimate end of all this, their assembly cannot be looked upon as the house of His glory. 2. The Church is the House of God’ s glory when His glory is kept in view in all Church acts; for example, in receiving members, exercising discipline, choosing officers. 3. The Church is the house of God’ s glory, when a spirit in accordance with HIS glory is cherished and manifested by every individual member. It is for the glory of God that love should prevail in His house. It is for the glory of God that there should be peace in His Church. And that the members of Churches should be characterized by humility. III. THE PROMISE THAT GOD WILL GLORIFY THE HOUSE OF HIS GLORY. There is no promise that He will glorify the house which may be called by HIS name, if it be not the house of His glory. The glory is-- 1. When He makes the house the place of numerous conversions. 2. When He makes it the place of edification to His people. (R. Arnot, LL. D.)I will glorify the house of My glory I. THE PLACE. For what reasons, or with what propriety, may the Christian Church be called the house of the glory of God? Chiefly on these accounts-- 1. Because it is planned and built by the purpose and power of the Most High. 2. Because it contains the special manifestations of the Divine presence and glory. (1) Christ Himself is the exact image of God. He is the true Shechinah, the glory of the Lord. (2) In the gifts and influences of the Holy Ghost. (3) By the development of the Divine glory in the preaching of the Word. II. THE PROMISE. “ I will glorify, ‘ etc. God did so in the first temple, by making it an object of beauty and glory to all His people, and by causing it to excite the admiration of surrounding nations also; and still further, by sending Christ finally to minister in that temple. God will glorify the house of His glory-- 1. By accepting the services and offerings which, in connection with it, are performed. 2. By making it the place of special communion and fellowship with Himself. 3. By protecting it permanently against all the efforts of hostile powers. 4. By extending its influence, and increasing its celebrity in the earth. 5. By consummating it, finally, in the splendour and happiness of heaven. (J. Parsons.)God glorifying the house of His glory The vision is inspiring, and can only be fulfilled in the moral grandeur of the Church. I. It begins to be accomplished WHEN SHE IS MADE A LIGHT TO DISPEL . At times she has not laid sufficient emphasis on her mission as a teaching Church. Unquestionably philanthropy is a function of the Church. But she ought not to permit the teaching side of her work to be thrust into the background. Her special business is to fight darkness with light. II. God also glorifies her WHEN HE MAKES HER THE ARENA OF . III. God glorifies the Church IN MAKING HER THE SCHOOL OF SAINTLY VIRTUES. All educational institutions are to be admired, but the Church is foremost among them. To know the world, to know self, to know God, cover the entire domain of knowledge and mark its distinctive steps and progress. In the Church we are trained in the knowledge of self and God. IV. But beyond all this the Almighty glorifies her WHEN HE MAKES IT A GARDEN FOR THE GROWTH OF HUMAN . We must not forget that what society knows of brotherhood has come from the Church. In the Roman Empire there were provident societies, especially burial guilds, before Christianity, but the real idea of fellowship began with the household of faith. The people were taught by Christ to love one another. And when the Church realizes her calling in this respect, and rich and poor meet together in her communion on equal footing, then is she resplendent with heavenly glory. (G. C. Lorimer, D. D.) Isaiah 60:8 Who are these that fly as a cloud?-- Accessions to the Church It is a fine conception of Vitringa, that the ships expressly mentioned in the next verso are here described in their first appearance at a distance resembling with their outspread sails and rapid course a fleecy cloud driven by the wind, and a flight of doves returning to their young. Both comparisons are used as here to indicate rapidity of notion (Job 30:15; Psalms 4:6-7; Hosea 11:11; Jeremiah 4:13). (J. A. Alexander.)As doves to their windows I. THE WHICH IS HERE STATED. It is a flight. The expression is intended to signify the coming of men from the distant regions of the earth to the Church of God, of which such glorious things are here said. 1. The movement signifies that state into which these men are transformed, and in which they come to the enjoyment of the designs of mercy. It is the abandonment of all their idolatrous worship; it is the renunciation of all that is opposed to God and to salvation; it is their coming back to “ the Shepherd and Bishop of souls” ; it is their looking to God as the alone source of happiness and peace; it is their believing in Him, who alone is able to save and to bless them. 2. It is under the Gospel dispensation that this is to be exemplified. 3. Divine influence must be imparted to effect this. 4. This change arises from the statements of Gospel truth as they are contained in the written Word. II. WHAT IS BY THE MANNER IN WHICH THIS IS SAID TO BE MADE? The figures denote-- 1. Eagerness. 2. Their number. 3. Their unity. The clouds are supposed to fly in one body, and to be driven to one part of the horizon: the doves fly together to attain one home. So it will be with all who have been conducted by the Spirit into the way of life everlasting. III. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THE INQUIRY WHICH THE OF THIS EXCITES. 1. Surprise. 2. Joy. (J. Parsons.)Converts coming into the Church They corne as doves to the windows. I. BECAUSE THEY FLY LOW. The eagle darts up, as if to strike its beak into the sun. There are birds that seem to dwell under the eaves of heaven; you see them as little specks against the sky, so far off that you cannot guess the style of their plumage or the shape of their bodies. They float so far away that if the hunter’ s gun be discharged at them they do not change their course. Not so with the doves or pigeons; they never take any high excursions. They fly around your roof and alight on the fence, and seem to dislike great altitudes. So these souls who come to Christ and to His Church fly low. They ask no great things; they seek a humble place at the feet of Christ. II. BECAUSE THEY FLY FOR SHELTER. The albatross makes a throne of the tempest; the sea-gulls find their grandest frolic in the storm. Not so with doves; at the first blow of the north-easter they fly to the coop. Eagle contends with eagle in mid-air, and vulture fights vulture on the bosom of the carcass; but doves at the first dash of the bird of prey speed for shelter from fiery eye and iron beak and loathsome talon. So these souls come for shelter. Christ is the only shelter of the soul in trouble. III. BECAUSE THEY FLY HOME. Most of the winged denizens have no home; now they are at the north and now at the south, as the climate indicates. This year a nest in one tree, next year a nest in another tree. But the pigeons alluded to, summer and winter and always, have a home in the dovecot. And so Christ is the home of those who come to Him. He is a warm home I they rest under the “ feathers of the Almighty.” IV. BECAUSE THEY COME IN FLOCKS. The buzzard, with dripping beak, fluttering up from the carrion, is alone. You occasionally look up against the wintry sky and see a solitary bird winging past. But doves or pigeons are in flocks; by scores and hundreds do they fly. So to-day we see a great flock coming into the kingdom. (T. De W. Talmage, D. D.)A flight of doves I. The first thought which the verse suggests, in connection with cur Communion services, is that of . AS the dovecot may have its different apertures, so each Church retains its own denominational entrance. But the glorious meeting-place, the spiritual Shelter, is the same. II. In connection with our sacred rite, the emblem suggests a PUBLIC . The prophet is arrested; or, possibly, in the poetical imagery here employed, a chorus of spectators--in which he veils his own personality--are arrested by the spectacle. The doves are not spoken of as flying under screen of night or darkness; neither were they beheld winging a solitary or circuitous flight, as if dreading and evading observation. But the midday sun looked down on a whole cloud of them, their golden iridescent plumage flashing in his beams. It is no unimportant or insignificant feature in your Divinely-appointed ordinance, this open, dove-like flight to the Covenant Ark. III. The cloud of doves, as here represented, betokens THE OF AND OF . They are, or ought be, dove-like. The dove has these among other characteristics-- 1. It is the complex symbol, in sacred poetry and art, of peace and love, of meekness and gentleness, purity and harmlessness (Son 1:15; Son 6:9; Matthew 10:16). In the rude, early Christian symbolism of the Roman catacombs, the dove, as the bird of hope, is generally represented in connection, variously treated, with the olive branch. What a lesson for us all as believers in Jesus. 2. A second characteristic of the dove is, that it is swift of wing. The prophet saw them, not sailing like a cloud, or drifting like a cloud, but flying; borne along with whirlwind speed. The carrier dove is well known for the swiftness--the length and steadiness--of its arrowy course, surpassing the proverbial flight of the eagle. This, coupled with Isaiah’ s figure, surely suggests the activities of the Christian life. IV. The figure of the dove fleeing to its window reminds and suggests that it is a bird which requires A SAFE SHELTER. It does not, like some others, cower in hedgerows or furrows. The wild pigeon may build its nest on the forest tree; but the tame one seeks its secure dovecot. The Eastern dove, which had no artificial home, had its equally secure dwelling in the rock-clefts (Son 2:14). A little way from the north-west shores of the Lake of Gennesaret there is a recess in the hills called the “ Wady Hyman,” or “ Valley of Doves,” the sides of which are perforated with their retreats. You who are communicants have been fleeing anew to-day for refuge to the “ Rock of Ages.” It is a special characteristic of the dove, that, however far it goes--though at a distance of hundreds of miles--it will fly back with unerring aim, sureness, and safety to its abode. So with “ the dove of Christ.” V. The cloud of doves on wing to their windows reminds one of Young . In the LXX the words of this verse are remarkable! “ Who are these that fly like doves with their young?” The doves fly to their dovecot, but not alone; they have their offspring with them. Not the least beautiful thing about a Communion Sunday is the spectacle of young doves; those who have just risen from their early perches, the perches of the morning of life, and are winging their way, bright and unsoiled, to the Rock! VI. One other thought is suggested, by the remembrance of a large class of those who are always to be found at the Sacrament of Communion--I mean THE . This image of doves flying to their windows reminds of storm. They were seen flying; drifting along like a tempestuous cloud. The dove flies to its dovecot, or to the rock-clefts, when the storm is brewing. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)The joy of the Church on the multiplication of converts to Christ I. THE GIVEN OF IN TIMES. 1. Whence do they fly? These persons are represented as coming from among the Gentiles, the Pagan world. 2. Whither do they fly? They repair to Him, who is designated in the sixteenth verse as “ the Lord, the Saviour and Redeemer, the Holy One of Jacob.” But this is not the whole. These converts are also represented as repairing to the Church as to their rest and home. 3. What is the mode in which they are represented as flying from their former position, to Christ and to the Church? The images are very beautiful and impressive. (1) “ As the cloud,” which overspreads the heavens; intimating the vast numbers who should turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. As the cloud,” with great speed and celerity. “ As the cloud,” openly and conspicuously; not as though they were desirous of concealment, but in the spirit of those who arc ready to deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Christ, or of him who exclaimed, “ I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” “ As the cloud,” powerfully; so that nothing shall resist their course. “ As the cloud,” which drops many a shower as it passes along the sky, and which refreshes and fertilizes the earth, so shall these converts be useful in their advancement, like those of whom we read in the history of the Gospels, who as they travelled through the towns and villages and different parts of the country, spread the name of Jesus, and pressed others to become His disciples also. (2) Look also at the other admirable similitude: “ As the doves.” This not only expresses some similar ideas, such as that of numbers and of rapidity and of strength--but some others which we must not omit carefully to notice. It denotes, then, general unanimty. They arc all bent on one grand object--“ What must I do to be saved?’ They have all one Saviour to whom they look--one method of salvation which they embrace. The multitude is, in this respect, of one heart and one soul. It describes their cordial fellowship. In the happy days when the Gospel shall thus win its way among men, not one or two of a family and of a tribe alone, scattered here and there, shall hold communion with each other, but the body of believers shall be joined together in the unity of the spirit and in the bond of peace. And in fine, as the doves repair to their windows, and enter their cote, as their rest and home, when wearied with their long flight; so the subjects of Divine grace take refuge in the Church from the storms without, and there find a repose which is not to be obtained in the world. II. THE AND WITH WHICH WE SHOULD VIEW THESE TO THE CHURCH. “ Who are these, that fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows?” 1. This is the language of surprise and admiration; for the conversion of a soul to God is in all eases a wonder. 2. It is the language of gratitude and pleasure. 3. It is the language of complacency. 4. This is the language of prospective hope. For, if it be admitted that already many have come and yielded themselves up to Christ, it is a pleasing thought that they are only as the early drops of the copious shower. (J Clayton. M. A.)God’ s doves flying to His windows I. A SWEET SIGHT THAT THE OLD CHURCH GETS OF THE STATE OF MATTERS UNDER THE NEW , upon the revelation of Christ in the Gospel among the Gentiles. She sees poor souls upon the wing, in great multitudes, flying to a Saviour; and a sweeter sight cannot be seen upon earth. II. THE MANNER OF THEIR FLIGHT. “ AS a cloud, and as doves.” III. THE TERM OR OBJECT OF THEIR FLIGHT. They fly to the windows for their relief. Like the window of the ark of Noah, whereat the dove entered, when she could find no place for the sole of her foot, because of the deluge. IV. THE THAT THE OLD CHURCH IS PUT INTO AT THIS SIGHT. (E. Erskine.)Marvellous increase of the Church The Church, when she uttered these words, appears to have been the subject of three kinds of feeling. I. WONDER. 1. The Church wondered at the number of her converts. 2. The Chaldee has the idea in it of swiftness. “ Who are these that fly as swiftly as a cloud?” 3. The Targum has another idea, that of publicity. The cloud flies so that everybody can see it. So do these converts fly openly before the world. 4. There is another idea here, which Dr. Gill gives us in his very valuable commentary. “ Who are these that fly as a cloud,” for unanimity? Not as clouds, but “ as a cloud” ; not as two or three bodies, but as one united and compact mass! 5. Again, there is the idea of power. Who is he that shall bridle a cloud and stop it in its march? II. . 1. The Church is exceedingly pleased at the character of those who come to her. “ Doves.” 2. The Church feels pleasure in their condition: They “ fly.” 3. The translation of the LXX gives us another idea. “ Who are these that fly like doves with their young?” The Church rejoices at the company that the converts bring with them. 4. The Church feels pleasure at the direction in which these doves move. “ To their windows.” The joy of the Church is that the poor sinner does not fly to man, nor to the law, but to Christ, the dovecot. III. ANXIETY. “ All!” says the Church, “ it is all very well their flying like a cloud; it is all right their going as doves to their window-s; but who are they?” She anxiously desires to be sure that it is all gold that is put into her treasury. “ Who are they?” I address myself to an anxious Church to answer it. 1. They are those that fly. They fly because they cannot stop where they were, and they are flying, somewhere else for refuge. 2. They fly, not on the ground, but like a cloud, up high. They were persons that did not care about the world, but wanted heaven. 3. They were persons driven by the wind, just as the clouds are--who have no power of themselves to move, but have something driving them behind. 4. They are persons who have been regenerated, for they are “ doves.” They are changed from ravens into doves, from lions into lambs. 5. They are those who have fled to their windows, and found a refuge in Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The cloud of doves I. WHO ARE THEY THAT THEY SHOULD BE SO MANY? The answer to that inquiry is another question: Why should they not be many? 1. There are a great many sinners in the world; why should not a great number be converted? When many souls are brought to Christ, they are only relatively many. Usually, alas! they are relatively small. 2. Has not Christ brought into the world a great redemption? 3. Why should they not come ill crowds when the spirit of God is quite able to lead them to come? 4. Heaven is very great, and the preparations which grace has made are very large. II. WHO ARE THEY THAT THEY SHOULD FLY? 1. They fly to Christ, because they are driven, and cannot help flying to Him. 2. They may well fly, because they are in danger. 3. Besides, these flying sinners have strong desires within them. I sometimes see a man throw a pigeon up into the air, that it may find its way home. It usually wheels about for a little while, as though it were uncertain which direction it should take; but, presently, its quick eye catches sight of some familiar landmark, and by instinct it knows which is its way home, and then, away it goes. So is it with a soul that the Spirit of God has once quickened. It longs for Christ. It may hesitate, and look about to find the way it is to go to find Him; but at last, it says within itself, There He is, and away it goes, like the doves to their windows. 4. They may well fly, because they have such a short time in which to reach the Saviour. III. WHY DO THEY FLY AS DOVES, that is, in a covey, so that they look like a moving cloud? 1. Because they are all in one common danger. They are too much taken up with the solemnities of their condition before God to have time or wish for contention; and, therefore, they do not quarrel and fight, as a number of hawks might do, but they fly together in one band. 2. Because they are seeking one common refuge. IV. WHO ARE THEY THAT THEY SHOULD FLY THIS WAY? I mean, what makes them fly to Christ? What makes them fly to His Church? 1. Because they are seeking safety, and there is no safety for them except in Christ. 2. They also need rest, and a dovecot is a place of rest to a dove. 3. You like to come where God’ s people assemble because your food is there. 4. Our companions are there. 5. Some of us fly there because our young are there. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 60:9 Surely the isles shall wait for Me The ships of Tarshish The ships of Tarshish coming from the extreme end of the European island-region, as the leaders of the fleet brining Lion’ s children from afar. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Missionary ships The ships of Tarshish, transport-ships, shall lie ready to carry members from far distant regions to the Church, or, which is equivalent, to carry the ministers of the Church to remote parts to preach the Gospel, and to bring in souls to join themselves to the Lord. (M. Henry.)The enlargement of the Church I. WHO ARE BROUGHT. “ Thy sons,” i.e such as are designed to be so, those “ children of God that are scuttled abroad” (John 11:52). II. WHAT THEY SHALL BRING WITH THEM. They live at such a distance that they cannot bring their flocks and their rams; but, like those who live remote from Jerusalem, when they come up to worship at the feast, they shall bring “ their silver and their gold with them.” When we give up ourselves to God we must, with ourselves, give up all we have to Him. If we honour Him with our spirits, we will honour Him with our substance. III. TO WHOM THEY SHALL DEVOTE AND AND ALL THEY ARE WORTH. To “ the name of the Lord thy God;” to God as the Lord of all, and the Church’ s God and King, even to the Holy One of Israel, whom Israel worships as a holy One, in the beauty of holiness, “ because He hath glorified thee.” The honour God puts upon His Church and people should not only engage us to honour them, but invite us to join ourselves to them. “ We will go with you, for God is with you” (Zechariah 8:23). (C. H.Spurgeon.) Isaiah 60:12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish The character and doom of a corrupt nation I. THE OF A CORRUPT NATION. The text implies-- 1. That there is a certain course of human life which the Bible recognizes as serving the Lord. 2. That nations as well as individuals are bound to pursue that course. There is no sentiment more common, none more philosophically absurd, none more morally pernicious than this: that communities of men are relieved from obligations which are binding upon individuals. II. THE DOOM OF A CORRUPT NATION. “ They shall perish, yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.” 1. The doom is most calamitous. “ It shall perish.” (1) Perish as to their national existence. Their commerce shall waste away; their government shall be dissolved; all the institutions they glory in shall die out. The whole land shall be desolate as an old castle, Many great nations have thus died. Where are the empires of the Pharaohs, the Belshazzars, the Alexanders and the Caesars? They have perished, they have utterly wasted. (2) But there is a more solemn sense still in which nations perish, that is, in a spiritual sense. They shall lose their souls. Not their existence, not their consciousness, not their memories; but their mercies, their friendships, their hopes, their heaven, their God. 2. The doom is most certain. It is here threatened with emphasis--“ they shall perish, yea,” etc. All analogy indicates its certainty. Our subject explains-- (1) National convulsions. (2) The true method of promoting national stability. (Homilist.) Isaiah 60:13 The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee Trees employed in the service of the Church It is difficult to say whether the reference he to building materials for the sacred edifice, or to ornamental trees planted in the temple-courts. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Variety in unity Variety of instrumentality and operation subordinate to unity of purpose is a striking feature in all the works of God. This law provides for beauty as well as use. The text teaches us that the method by which God works in nature is also the method by which He works in grace--that the law of variety in unity is the law according to which Heconsolidates and extends His kingdom among mankind. The allusion and the doctrine are equally clear. The allusion is to the various trees of Lebanon employed by Solomon for utility and beauty in the erection of the temple in Jerusalem. Varying in size, and quality, and appearance of wood, they were all deemed necessary for the purpose of beautifying the place, that was to be made more beautiful and glorious still by the majesty and grace of the indwelling God. The doctrine is that, in like manner, various agencies--men of different periods and nations, men of different positions, talents, and attainments, men of opposite creeds and mental tastes--are used by God in the erection and adornment of that spiritual temple which He makes His special abode, the magnificence and glory of which, outliving the desolations of time, shall shine to His praise through the ages of eternity. (W. Waiters.)Diverse agencies in the Church I. THE OF THIS ARE . 1. The first I notice is that which is supplied us in the structure of the Bible. To a superficial observer the Bible seems a collection of small books bound together without any connecting-link. But if we come to study this collection of books carefully, we shall see, underlying all diversities, a unity which indicates that all have been originated and guided by one supreme mind. 2. Certain periods require certain orders of men and certain gifts, not necessary at other times. 3. Further, the peculiar qualities of various races and tribes serve to extend the truth of God, and promote the growth and perfection of His Church. Christianity does not recognize nationalities as such Jew and Gentile, Greek and Barbarian, European and African, American and Asiatic,--all are one in Christ Jesus. Still, God sanctifies all national characteristics to His gracious purpose of making Christianity universally triumphant. Jewish reverence, Grecian intelligence and taste, Roman courage and honour, Scandinavian enterprise, the practical energy of the Anglo-Saxon, the speculative inquiry and patient toil of the German, the Frenchman’ s brilliant vivacity and grace, the Italian’ s glowing imagination, the ardent negro, and the Oriental full of subtlety and disputation--all are wrought by the Master-Builder into the strength and beauty of the structure He is rearing to His honour. 4. Nor can denominational distinctions be regarded as altogether an evil; for God makes them all subserve the complete manifestation of His many-sided Gospel, and the wider extension of His kingdom. 5. Original differences of mental constitution and temperament have also their place and function. There arc diversities of gifts, yet there is the same Spirit; there are differences of administrations, yet there is the same Lord; there arc diversities of operations, yet it is the same God which worketh all in all. II. REMARKS. 1. We may be sure that where God has designed and qualified men for work in His Church He will prepare the way for their usefulness. 2. Every man should try to find his true position, and prove faithful in it. 3. The subject affords encouragement to the feeblest of the Lord’ s servants. All have their place and use. 4. Are we not reminded of the duty of charity towards all engaged the work of the Lord? Too often the diversities of Christian men are occasions for jealous; let and strife. If we are Christians, we are all plants of God’ s right hand planting; let us be content to bloom after our kind, and rejoice in that we all contribute something to the glory of the Master’ s garden. (W. Waiters.)I will make the place of My feet glorious“ The place of My feet” I. THE SCENE OF THIS SPECIAL DIVINE GLORY. “ The place of My feet.” The sacred writers speak of God’ s feet as indicating His personal presence. The place of God’ s feet, or His footstool, was, in ancient times, the temple at Jerusalem. The allusion of the language is to a royal throne. Jehovah is conceived of as the King of Israel, the King of kings, whose throne is in heaven, but His footstool in the earthly temple; and thither the Israelites as His true subjects were required to repair, to render homage to their great King, and bend lowly before His footstool. All this was, in turn, a figure of the better things reserved for us. The Jewish particularity has been broadened out into the compass of the great household of faith, whose sons and daughters are drawn from all the earth’ s kindreds, and peoples, and tongues. The true Church, composed of all believers of whatever name or nation, is God’ s temple--“ the place of His feet I” In a real and important sense the wide earth, and the whole material creation, is His footstool, marked everywhere by the broad footprints of the Creator revealing His eternal power and Godhead. The signs of Providence reveal the movements of a present and ever-working God, exercising wise, and righteous, and benignant control over His creatures. II. THE GLORY OF THE SCENE. It was the glory of Eden that there God talked with man face to face. So it is the glory of heaven that there He replenishes His saints with the joys of His eternal fellowship. It was the glory of Sinai that there He displayed His grandeur and proclaimed His law; and of Tabor and Calvary that there He unfolded His hidden majesty, and the fulness of His mercy. And it is the glory of the Church that it is distinguished by the clearest manifestations of the Divine presence and grace. What are these manifestations? God makes the place of His feet glorious-- 1. By the worship that is there rendered and accepted. 2. By the spiritual glory that is there created. “ The glory of Lebanon, etc. The glory of the Church lies in the possession and exercise of the grandest and noblest moral principles--those that are most assimilated to the Divine nature. The true purpose of the Church, the final end of its warfare, is to be a living witness to mankind of these moral principles, to be an embodied protest against all the money-worship and pleasure-worship, and therefore worship of the world; to be a revelation to man of higher interests and blessings, and a Diviner greatness. It is when she is most distinctly Godlike and Christlike that men fall down and confess that God is in her of a truth. The glory of the Lord is then risen upon her. 3. By attracting immense and various multitudes from all quarters of the globe to His Church. Though numbers be not the chief, they are a real element of glory. 4. By the blessedness there conferred. All the elements of the Church’ s glory hitherto enumerated are elements of blessedness; but there are other special sources of that blessedness. (1) There is the blessedness of inviolable security. The greatest earthly monarchy has no power to protect itself against assault, against even successful assault. It is the glory of God’ s house that it is safe. It is founded on a rock, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. (2) The absolute and unspeakable splendour of the Church--the splendour of her purity--the splendour of her joy. (J. Riddell.) Isaiah 60:14 The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee Honour done to the Church A promise like this is made to the Church of Philadelphia (Revelation 3:9); and it is intended to be-- 1. A mortification to the proud oppressors of the Church. 2. An exaltation to the poor, oppressed ones of the Church. 3. And this is the honour that shall be done them: they shall have an opportunity of doing good to those who have done evil to them, and saving those alive that have afflicted and despised them. It is a pleasure to a good man, and he accounts it an honour, to show mercy to those with whom he has found no mercy. (M. Henry.)The city of the LordThe city of the Lord 1. He hath built it for the honour of His majesty. 2. It bears His name. 3. He hath fortified it with impregnable walls and bulwarks. 4. He hath beautified it with the graces of His spirit. 5. He hath replenished it with the blessings of His goodness. 6. He hath felicitated it with His gracious presence. 7. It is the city wherein reside the peculiar people of God, who are the beloved of the Lord, on whom His eyes and His heart are continually fixed. 8. He esteems it above all the kingdoms and empires of the world. (R. Macculloch.)An ideal city That city is truly great and honourable, it is strong, it is rich, it is safe, it is beautiful, it is the most desirable place that can be to live in, which is the city of the Lord, which He owns, in which He dwells, in which religion is uppermost. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 60:16 Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles The Church served by nations and kings The nations and their kings now give up to the Church their vital substance, as a mother or nurse gives to the child the milk of her breasts; and the Church thereby has rich nourishment for prosperous growth, ever fresh material for joy and thanksgiving. We can by no means think of enrichment by plunder; the sucking is that of a child, not a vampire. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Religion advanced by wealth and power All interpreters agree with the Targum in applying this verse to the influx of wealth and power and whatever else the kings and nations of the earth can contribute to the progress of the true religion. The figure is derived from Deuteronomy 33:19. (J. A. Alexander.)The perpetual excellencies of the Gospel Church (Isaiah 60:15-16):--Considering how short Jerusalem’ s excellency was, and how short it came of the vast compass of this promise, we must look for the full accomplishment of it in the perpetual excellencies of the Gospel Church, far exceeding those of the Old Testament Church, and the glorious privileges and advantages of the Christian religion, which are indeed the “ joy of many generations.” Two things are here spoken of as her excellency and joy, in opposition to her having been forsaken and hated. 1. She shall find herself countenanced by her neighbours. The nations and their kings that are brought to embrace Christianity shall lay themselves out for the good of the Church, and maintain its interests with the tenderness and affection that the nurse shows to the child at her breast. 2. She shall find herself countenanced by her God. “ Thou shalt know that I, the Lord, I am thy Saviour, etc. (M. Henry.)Sucking the milk of the nations Not suck their blood--that is not the spirit of the Gospel. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 60:17 For brass I will bring gold The kingdom of God This passage occurs amid the glowing prophecies concerning the millennial kingdom. It has, however, its application to the kingdom in its present state. I. THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST GRADES, , VALUES, USES. Each of these is most effective in its own place. We would much sooner commit ourselves to a vessel of steel than to one whose hull was made of gold. No greater calamity could happen to the world than to turn all substances into gold. In the Church variety of talent and gifts, differences of classes are essential to prosperity. God never repeats-Himself. Equality is impossible, and if possible would be disastrous. II. ALL THINGS TAKE ON VALUE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD. “ For brass I will bring gold,” etc. Wherever the Church of Christ comes, instantly all things leap into higher value--property, schools, trade, institutions, government, the family, the individual. You may interrogate in just four different directions--Nature, the Rational World, Sin, the Kingdom. Nature replies: “ I change nothing. I furnish the ore; I cannot bring out the metal; I can’ t change even the place of a stone.” Rational World replies: “ I can change the shapes, the places, the combinations of things, but I cannot change the substances. I cannot turn iron into silver, wood into brass, stones into iron.” Sin rises in its black monstrosity, and says: “ Yes, I have power to change. I can reach up, lay my hand on the twenty-two carat gold and drag it down to silver; I can drag the silver down to brass, the brass to iron, the iron to stone, the stone to wood, the wood I can burn with the torch of hate, and scatter the ashes on the red-hot floor of hell--I can do that!” Sin can drag the genius or the archangel down to the abyss of a hopeless hades. It is only the Kingdom that can say: “ Everything I touch shall increase in value. I can take even the devil’ s outcasts and change them into burning seraphs.’ III. THIS OF VALUES IS BY AND THROUGH GRADES--wood, stone, iron, brass, silver, gold. God’ s method of working is by development through grades. There is no such thing as reaching perfection at a bound. It is a walk, a race--meaning steady progress by steps. IV. THE DIVINE AGENCY IS . “ I will bring.” Transformations in human nature are effected through Divine power and grace. (A. McE. Wylie.)The golden age The golden age of humanity is in the future. This age is here represented as so far excelling all future ages as gold excels brass. Morally this may include three things. I. THAT FOR ATHEISM THERE WILL BE . II. THAT FOR THERE WILL BE . III. THAT FOR THERE WILL BE . (Homilist.)The wonderful exchange This seems like a very unthrifty kind of commerce. It promises only the most speedy and utter bankruptcy. Surely one making such an offer must have great treasures, and great love. There must be a perfect confidence that there can be no exhaustion of treasure, nor any exhaustion in the delight of perpetually giving others the best end of the bargain. No one can have such confidence and feeling but God. It is God, the infinite, who proposes to give gold for brass. It is just what He is constantly doing in nature, giving out the best for the worst. God always sees and seeks the highest possible thing in every nature. And He wants us to catch His penetrative insight. “ Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived the glories God hath prepared for those who love Him.” But God is constantly trying to reveal them unto us by His Spirit. He is ever trying to give us gold for brass, and silver for iron. This ought to be good news for man. He is always willing to get the best end of a bargain. Now there are various kinds of life, and many degrees of each kind. There is what is known as physical, mental, emotional and spiritual life. Evidently there is life that is as clay, as ore, as iron, as brass, as silver, as gold. God all the time offers to every man to change his hard iron of life into brass his brass into silver, his silver into gold. How does He propose to do it? On precisely the principles that man acts in every-day life. Indeed, God has made it impossible for men to succeed at all in the life that now is, except in the laws that give success in the life to come. Just as man gives muscle for bread, or exertion of muscle that all the delights of life may be his, just as he gives a few midnights So study that he may be everlastingly wise, just as he gives self-denial that he may have exuberance of strength, just as he gives all the things that he hath, in order that he may keep his life, so God always asks your iron when He would give brass, asks your brass when He would give silver, asks your silver when He would give gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich, and have crowns of eternal glory. The trouble with men is they give their muscle for bread, but will not give iron to God for brass. I think it is a statement capable of vindication, that God does not enrich by legacy, but by exchange. Every one that is endowed is in great peril. Look at the great heroes that God has made in our history: they fill the earth and rise into the skies. Were they endowed? Not one, except with faculties; they had to develop their virtues. So in the case of all moral greatness. God gives the Conditions, the opportunities; but man must work with God. Did the human soul that Christ associated with Himself submit to this plan of development, and especially did the Son of God, begotten in holiness and perfection, submit Himself to this law that has been applied to all men? If this shall be answered in the affirmative, we must conclude that there is no other possible way to greatness and road to perfection. It is evident at first glance, that the man Christ Jesus constantly accepted this law. He was obedient to His parents, giving up His will to them. His announced principle of life was: “ I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. ‘ He gave up the riches of silver, anal for our sakes became poor. He vacated the throne of the universe and became Seryant of servants of men. The Lord of life became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. He gave up all silver, brass, iron, stones, and wood. Was there any gold in return “ Wherefore, because of this, God hath highly exalted Him.” There can be no mistake. We see plainly the way to highest strength of character and greatest height of glory. It is not the way of present gratification, of selfishness, of the pursuit of personal and family ends, but a giving up of personal good for God’ s higher good, a selling of lower for higher. Once God opened the windows of heaven and poured out water enough to drown a world. Then He takes that great deluge of abundance and makes it an emblem of the abundance of spiritual blessings. Bring the tithes into the storehouse, the little tenths of daily gain, and see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. (Homiletic Review.) Isaiah 60:18 But thou shalt call thy walls Salvation Walls, salvation; gates, praise Consider how salvation is a wall, and how gates are praise. 1. There are three safeties which a sinner wants. He wants to be saved (1) From the condemnation of his sins. (2) From the, power of his sins. (3) From the conflict and presence of His sins. Therefore a man’ s salvation comes to him with three unfoldings. This threefold salvation is, to every man that receives it, as a wall. On the one side, towards the adversary, it is a wall of fire; on the other side, as it shows itself to him that is within it, it is shelter. It is beauteous, as with all bright and precious stones, inlaid with all the loveliness and the attributes of God. And whatever comes through that wall to touch a man has first touched and pierced his Saviour; for all the faithfulness of God, and all the power of God, and all the glory of God, and all the work of the great Mediator, go to make the eternity and the sufficiency of that great bulwark. 2. “ Thou shalt call thy gates Praise.” What is praise? The joy of a happy spirit, pouring itself back into the bosom of God as its only fountain. Through the walls of salvation, the Christian enters into a perfect peace--that with a happy heart ha may go out praisingly. In every object in nature, he likes to see some reflection of an unseen world! In every providence, he traces a Father’ s hand. He has thoughts high above, that make him walk this world an independent man. Heaven is gilding all the distance to him. He comes at last to Zion “ with songs and everlasting joy upon his head.” (J. Vaughan, M. A.)Thy gates Praise. Songs and hymns have ever been the most interesting and inspiring of human compositions; if we draw a line of arbitrary distinction between the two, then I would say that Song represents the music of the blood, while the Hymn represents the music of the soul. It is in song that we utter the music of Nature; it is in the hymn we utter the music of grace and Divine holiness. (E. Paxton Hood.)The gates of Praise I do not wonder that the gates of the Church are called Praise. I do not wonder at it, because it is clear that praise opens--no I we cannot tell what are the treasures of wisdom and knowledge until we have passed through the gates of Praise. We do not know what God hath reserved for them that love Him, until we have passed through the gates of Praise. As we sometimes walk on from step to step, from landing-place to landing-place, and scene to scone, until at last we reach some elevation, when the whole of the grand panorama bursts upon our astonished vision, and the walk, and the steep ascent, and the hill, and even the beauties of the way, arc alike forgotten in the overwhelming splendour of the scene; so is it when we are able to pass through, or even to look through, the gates of Praise; even the consolations of prayer are all lost by reason of the glory that excelleth; we step from the finite to the infinite, when we look over the scenery, or breathe the atmosphere of praise. (E. Paxton Hood.)The gates of Praise., I. PRAISE IS THE GATE BY WHICH WE PASS OUT OF . II. IT IS BY THIS PATH THAT THE PASSES INTO NEW . He enters the Church through “ the gates of Praise. It is impossible that there can be an ungrateful Christian. III. Gates within gates, gates to the city, and gates within the city; THE GATEWAY BY WHICH WE PASS TO HIGHER , AND TO HIGHER LIFE, IS PRAISE. (E. Paxton Hood.)Praise because of salvation The Rabbins say that when God created the universe He asked the highest seraph what he thought of the work of His hands--and he replied that nothing was wanting but that it should become vocal, and be able audibly to speak its Maker’ s praise. But in the work of salvation it is so: “ to Him that sitteth on the throne” it rises in the grandeur of loud peals of harmony. (E. Paxton Hood.) Isaiah 60:19 The sun shall be no more thy light by day The lower giving place to the higher The prophet bids his people look forward to a time when even the sun and moon shall become needless to them; when in some new and more direct experience of God they shall need nothing to reflect His light to them, but drink immediately from Himself His strength and inspiration. That seems to be the meaning of the words; and so it points us to one feature which belongs to every progress, the power to do without one thing after another which has before been essential, the way in which, as we advance to higher and higher supplies, we are able to gather out, of them what we used to get from lower sources. It is like that verse in St. John’ s description of the New Jerusalem: “ I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” Or like these soberer words of St. Paul’ s autobiography: “ When I became a man I put away childish things.’ This life that rises to the highest helps and companies is able easily to do without the lower. (Phillips Brooks, D. D.)Things once needed may cease to be necessary As we climb a high mountain we must keep our footing strong upon one ledge until we have fastened ourselves strongly on the next. Then we may let the lower foothold go. The lives of men who have been always growing are strewed along their whole course with the things which they have learned to do without. As the track of an army marching deep into an enemy’ s country is scattered all along with the equipage which the men seemed to find necessary when they started, but which they have learned to do without as the exigencies of their march grew greater, and they found that these provisions and equipments were partly such as they did not need at all, and partly such as they could gather out of the land through which they marched; so from the time when the child casts his leading strings aside because his legs are strong enough to carry him alone, the growing man goes on forever caring each help for a higher, until at last, in that great change to which Isaiah’ s words seem to apply, he can do without sun and moon as he enters into the immediate presence and essential life of God. (E. Paxton Hood.)A token of growth As we grow we come to the capacity of higher pleasures and higher occupations, and so let go the lower ones; not by compulsion, because we cannot hold them any longer, but from the satisfaction of our newer lives; because we have got something else better than they are, and can do without them now. (E. Paxton Hood.)The symbol and the reality Let us take two or three instances of those things which are valuable as symbols, but which he is able to do without who has got beyond the symbol and gained the reality which it represents. 1. Take the instance of wealth. There are some men who can do without being rich--plenty of men who have to, but some men who can, can easily, can without discontent or trouble. They love comfort and respectability as much as these their neighbours. What is the difference? Simply this, that they have found that comfort and respectability, while money is their natural symbol, are not dependent upon money, and that one may reach past the symbol, and take the reality, and let the symbol go. 2. Or take another symbol. Praise is good. To be applauded by our fellow men, to hear our ambitions about ourselves caught up by their testifying cheers, to have our own best hopes for our own lives confirmed by their appreciation of us, that is a true delight for any man. To be able to do without men’ s praise because we do not feel its value, because morosely and selfishly we do not care what men think, that is bad; that is a sign of feebleness and conceit. To feel it is wretched, and to affect to feel it is detestable. But to be able to do without men’ s praise because that which their praise stands for is dearer to us than the praise is, and it so happens that we cannot have both of them, that is a wholly different thing. Men’ s praise stands for goodness. Every man feels that if it does not mean that, if it is “ given to iniquity just aa freely as to goodness, praise loses all its value. Praise is the symbol; goodness is the reality. 3. So it runs everywhere. The symbols of the deeper pleasures are the mere animal indulgences--eating and drinking, the lusts of the flesh. They stand for intellectual and spiritual joys. How natural their symbolism is. The Bible talks of “ hungering and thirsting after righteousness.’” David says, “ Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Jesus tells His disciples about “ eating His flesh and drinking His blood.” The superficial emotions of the senses stand for and represent the profound emotions of the soul. In the, harmonious life the two will live in harmony. The symbol and reality, the body’ s and the soul’ s enjoyment, will be complete together. But when in this unharmonious life which we live the symbol and reality come into unnatural conflict, when either the soul must be, sacrificed to the body or the body to the soul, he who really knows what the soul’ s happiness is does not hesitate. Here is the power of true self-sacrifice; here is the secret which takes out of it all the bitterness and brutality. Always it is the giving up of a symbol that you may have the reality. In the great sacrifice of all, Christ lays down His life, but it is that He may take it again. Do you think that Christ did not care for life and all that makes life beautiful to us? Surely He did; but He cared more for that which they represent--the living purely, the doing of His Father’ s will, and the serving of His brethren. 4. I am very much impressed by the truth of all this as concerns the Christian Church. She has her symbols and her ordinances, and she has her true and inner life. Her outward ways of living really belong with her inward power. In a perfectly harmonious world there never could be any conflict. In heaven the outward and the inward Church shall absolutely correspond; but here and now the Church may be so set upon her symbols and her regularities that she shall fail of doing her most perfect work and living her most perfect life. The Christian may be so bound to rites and ceremonies that he loses the God to whom they ought to bring him near. Here it certainly is true that no symbol is doing its true work unless it is educating those who use it to do without itself if need be. (E. Paxton Hood.)Important questions 1. First you will ask, How can I tell the symbol from the reality, and so know what things it is good to hold less and less, what things it is good to hold more and more indispensable? It is not easy to give the answer in a rule. But the answer no doubt lies in a certain feeling of spirituality and infiniteness and eternity, which belongs to those things which it is good for a man not to be able to do without. Those things which serve the soul rather than the body, those which serve the whole of us and not one special part, and those which can serve us longest--those are the things which we want to make more and more indispensable. Those things whose usefulness belongs mainly to the body, those things which help some part of us and not the whole, and those things whose use is temporal--it is not good for any of us to have to say, “ I cannot do without these things. This is, perhaps, the nearest that we can come to rules; but he who lives in the spirit of these rules acquires a certain sort of feeling of the infiniteness of some things and the finiteness of others, so that renown, wealth, dignity, sympathy, comfort, friendship, amusement, life, stand on one side; and honour, truth, bravery, purity, love, eternity, God, stand on the other. These last he must have. Those others he can do without. The moment that he touches any new gift he can tell to which order it belongs. 2. But then you say, What then? When I have felt this difference, when I know what things I must not allow to become indispensable to me, what shall I do then? Shall I throw all those things away? Shall I strip my life instantly of all that is not indispensable, and live only in those things which I cannot live without? No; certainly not. That effort to cast away the symbol as soon as it was seen to be a symbol has been the source of much religious unhappiness and failure, and of much of the wrong kind of separation between religious and irreligious life. Not to give up the symbol, but to hold it as a symbol, with that looser grasp which lets its inner reality escape into us, and at the same time makes us always ready to let it go when the reality shall have wholly opened from it, that is the true duty of the Christian as concerns the innocent things of the world. That was the way in which Jesus always seemed to be holding friendship, home, nature, and His own human life; never grasping them so tightly that their spiritual meanings might not come forth from them freely, nor that He could not give them up when a higher vocation summoned Him. 3. And that brings us to the last question. How shall I come to count nothing indispensable but what I really ought to, what I really cannot do without? The answer to that question is in Christ, who holds the answers of all our questions for us. As I read the Gospels I can see how, little by little, Jesus lifted those disciples past one conception of necessity after another, until at last they knew nothing that was absolutely necessary except God. They began as fishermen who could not do without their nets and boats and houses and fishing friends and sports and gains and gossipings. He carried them up till they were crying, “ Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” (E. Paxton Hood.) Isaiah 60:20 Thy sun shall no more go down The world of light I. THE SOURCE OF THE LIGHT. “ The Lord.” This is true even of the present world. The light which reason sheds on our path is a ray of His kindling. But here, in this world of ours, there are generally intermediate sources through which the light we have is conveyed to us. It does not come directly from God. In the heavenly world, however, it will be different. There, every intermediate agency will be done away, and the light that shines will shine immediately from God. There are four things symbolized in the Bible by this word “ light, ‘ and all that we shall know or possess of each of these four things in heaven, we shall know or possess through Jesus. 1. Knowledge (Psalms 119:130). 2. Holiness (Romans 13:12). 3. Happiness (Psalms 97:11). 4. Beauty or glory (John 17:24). In this lower world we know how true it is that there is no beauty or glory that the eye takes in for which we are not indebted to the light that shines from yonder natural sun. In heaven Jesus is the Sun that shines on all. II. THE OF THE LIGHT. Three elements of it are mentioned in our text. When we decompose the light of the natural sun, seven rays or colours are the result of the analysis. But these seven we know may be resolved into three--the red, the yellow, and the blue. Thus there is a trinity of rays of elements in the light which the natural sun is pouring forth continually And it is an interesting thing to find that when we come to analyze the light of the heavenly world, the same feature is found to mark it. 1. There is one ray in this light which may be called the continuous ray “ Thy sun shall no more -o down neither shall thy moon withdraw itself.’ 2. We have here a perpetual ray. “ An everlasting light. To speak of the perpetual, as well as the continuous nature of this light, is not a distinction without a difference. You may have light that is continuous for a season even when you know that it cannot be perpetual. 3. The third ray may be characterized as a joyous ray. “ The days of thy mourning shall be ended.” (R. Newton, D. D.)The saint on earth and in heaven The words present us with two different views of truth. I. THEY TELL US OF OUR PRESENT STATE. 1. It is a state of change--vicissitude--perpetual alteration. The sun rises to set; it sets to rise. The moon waxes and wanes. 2. The words point us to our present state of comparative darkness; for the contrast is between the minor light of the sun, the lesser light of the moon, and the glorious light of the Lord. 3. The words present us, too, with a picture of a state of mourning: “ The days of thy mourning shall be ended.” II. THEY OPEN TO US A . There are two blessings especially pointed out to us here. 1. Perfect light. 2. Perfect happiness. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)The present and future state of the people of God I. THE PRESENT STATE OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD. A state of darkness and of sorrow. To what causes can such experience be ascribed? 1. To their remaining ignorance, and the imperfection of their present views. 2. This may be the case under a sense of the prevalence of sin, and especially of unbelief. 3. They may be in such a situation also, from the Lord withdrawing from them the sensible communications of spiritual light and comfort. II. THEIR FUTURE STATE. A state of uninterrupted light, of perpetual cessation from sorrow, consequently of endless joy. The Lord shall be the everlasting light of His people. 1. As He will give them a more enlarged capacity of knowing and enjoying “ Him. 2. He will afford them more perfect discoveries of Himself. 3. He will afford them more enlarged views of His works and ways. 4. He will impart to them the fullest assurance of their interest in His peculiar regard. 5. He will be their everlasting Light. (D. Dickson.)The eternal day 1. Israel of old had light while all the rest of the world sat in darkness. This typical Church of God abode not in the light continually, its history was chequered with alternate brightness and gloom, repentance and relapse, prosperity and adversity. 2. Another dispensation came; Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem, “ a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel,” and the sun shone upon the earth as it had never done before. A visible Church was called out to walk in the light, which Church still exists upon the earth, and from the days of Pentecost until now its sun has never altogether gone down, neither has its moon withdrawn herself. The light has not been always equally clear, but it has been still day. 3. But there is a Church upon the earth which is within the visible Church, and is its central life. I refer to the spiritual Church. This secret Church, this Church mystical, this true body of our Lord Jesus Christ, may claim to have had this text fulfilled in its experience in a far larger sense. “ If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” Yet even to the Church spiritual the text has not been fulfilled in its largest conceivable sense, for I fear me that to the most spiritual some darkness comes. Their light is sown, but it has not yet sprung up to its full harvest. 4. We must, therefore, refer to a fourth form of the Church. If we see it not at all in the typical, a little in the visible, very much in the spiritual, we find it all in the Church triumphant. The full triumph of the Church of Christ shall begin in the millennium. I. THE LIGHT OF THE CHURCH SHALL BE . “ Thy sun shall no more go down,” etc. There will be no intervening nights of darkness, but one long noonday of purity and felicity, “ the days of her mourning shall be ended.” And why will this be? 1. Because the light of heaven is independent of creatures. In heaven the saints will need no teacher. When God sends a true preacher he is a star in God’ s right hand, and the Church is bound to value his light, which is the gift of heaven, but we shall need no teachers there; we shall see, not through a glass darkly, but face to face. Up there they need no comforters to succour them in the time of their distress, for God Himself has wiped away all tears from their eyes. Poor saints will not then be dependent upon the alms or the consolations of others, though once their generous friends were like sun and moon to them. 2. Because it is cleared of all clouding elements. Here below in the Church of God, whatever by God’ s grace may be our light, errors will arise to cloud it; evil men come in unawares and distract God’ s saints. There are none such up yonder. Satan himself shall be shut out. 3. The saints themselves shall be so purified that nothing in them shall darken their light. Here to-day Christ changes not, but we change, and hence our joy departs. It shall not be so there. Notice that the text hints that both the major and the minor necessities of saints will be abundantly supplied. Have you not found sometimes that the Lord Jesus Christ has withdrawn Himself from you? Then your sun has gone down. You ore prospering in business; God gives you all that heart can wish, the moon does not withdraw herself, but the sun has gone, and woe beclouds your spirit. It will never be so in heaven, you shall see your Lord face to face without a veil between, and that eternally. Here, on the ether hand, at times Jesus has shone upon you, and as to spiritual things you have been rich, but then earthly trouble has hovered over you, the “ moon” has withdrawn herself. Not often have both sun and moon been as flesh and blood would have them. True, you have been able to do without the moon in the presence of the sun, but you would have preferred both spiritual and temporal prosperity. Now in heaven all the wants of our nature will be completely supplied. 4. The Church triumphant will be delivered from the vicissitudes of those seasons which cause the going down of sun and moon. I do not refer to slimmer and winter, but to ecclesiastical and temporal arrangements, such as the Sabbath and times of assembly and Church fellowship. It was a glad day for Israel when the trumpets rang out the morning of the Jubilee, for every slave was free, and every debtor found his liabilities discharged. Back came each man’ s lost inheritance, and the whole nation was glad. With sound of trumpet and of cornet they saluted the rising of the sun on the first day of that Jubilee year; but the jubilee year went by, and lands were mortgaged and forfeited, and slaves fell again into slavery, and bankrupts were again, seized by their creditors. We are coming to a jubilee, of which the trumpets shall sound for ever. II. THE LIGHT OF THE CHURCH IS . “ The Lord shall be thine everlasting light.” Why will the perfection and bliss of the saints triumphant never end? 1. Because the God from whom it comes is eternal. 2. The covenant by which the saints stand in heaven is a sure one. 3. The guarantee of that covenant can never fail, seeing it is Christ Himself. “ Because I live ye shall live also” is the great seal set upon the indentures by which we hold our inheritance in the skies. 4. Those who possess heaven are also themselves immortal. III. THE LIGHT OF THE CHURCH SHALL BE . “ The Lord shall be thine everlasting light.” The Lord is infinite. If He is our sun there can be no limit to the light in which we shall rejoice. 1. If God is to be our light, then in every separate believer there will be a perfect light of bliss and holiness. You are aged, you feel also that you are full of infirmities and sins; now, these will all vanish, and that weakened form of yours shall be raised in power. Your ignorance will give place to the light of knowledge, your sin to the light of purity, your sorrow to the light of joy. 2. In addition to your possessing personal light, you will enjoy the closest possible fellowship with God. 3. This glorious light will give us the clearest views of Gospel truth. 4. There, no doubt, we shall understand more of Providence. Here our sun goes down sometimes as to the Divine dealings; we cannot make out what He means; the lines are dark and bending; we thought He would have led us by a straight course, but we wind to and fro in the wilderness. All the happiness which knowledge and understanding can bring to intelligent beings shall be at our feet. 5. There we shall receive the utmost endurable joy. Some have thought the joy of heaven would lie in knowledge; they shall have it. Others have rejoiced in the prospect of continued service; they shall serve Him day and night in His temple. The sweetest thought of heaven to me is rest, and I shall have it, for “ there remaineth, therefore, a rest for the people of God.” Peace! O quiet soul, do you not long for it? You shall have it. Security and a sense of calm! O tempest-tossed one, you shall have them. Strength, power--some have wished for that. You shall be raised in power. Fulness, the filling up of every vacuum! You shall have it; you shall be filled with all the fulness of God. IV. THE LIGHT OF THE CHURCH IS . “ The days of thy mourning shall be ended.” 1. The mourning from a persecuting world. 2. There will be no more mourning from the common trials of life. 3. Then shall we be delivered from all mourning caused by our inward sin. 4. We shall be delivered from every kind of mourning as to an absent God, for we shall never grieve Him any more. 5. I find that one version reads it, “ The days of thy mourning shall be recompensed,” and I say this to those who have to mourn more than others: you shall have a recompense. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 60:21 Thy people also shall be all righteous The people of God considered as righteous I. AS THEY ARE ALL IN THE OF CHRIST JESUS. II. AS BY THE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, THEY HAVE AN WROUGHT IN THEM. III. BY IN WORKS OF TO THE PRAISE AND GLORY OF GOD. Here two cautions are necessary, to prevent mistakes. 1. Virtuous actions do not constitute a person inherently righteous, but declare him so; as good fruit is rather a declaration of the goodness of the tree, than the thing which constitutes that goodness. Therefore, 2. Virtuous actions cannot be said to be necessary to salvation, in the same sense in which inherent holiness is so. It is possible that, where holiness is implanted, life may be so quickly taken away that there shall be no room for its discovering itself by the outward behaviour. Taking these cautions along with us, the necessity of works of righteousness, though not as a ground of our justification, yet, as an evidence of it, can never be too strongly asserted. Every motive, whether from interest or gratitude, whether from the beauty of religion or the pleasures of a virtuous life, still remains in full force. We further observe, that the reward of saints hereafter shall bear some proportion to their progress in holiness here below. (J. Erskine, D. D.)A righteous people The prophet here predicts the elevation of the Church to its normal or ideal state, a change of which we may already see the rudiments, however far we may get from its final consummation. (J. A. Alexander.) Isaiah 60:22A little one shall become a thousand The amplitude of the Church The Church of Christ has been often subject to persecution in past ages; but at a future time it will obtain general protection and patronage. I. THE IMPORT OF THE . After a careful examination of the text in connection with the former part of the chapter, I am led to conclude that it refers, primarily and in part, to the time when our Lord appeared as “ the Light of men,” a “ Sun of righteousness” to illuminate a benighted world, and graciously introduced His kingdom and dispensation upon earth: but that the principal and pre-eminent fulfilment of the prophecy is reserved for a future and happier era than men have ever yet witnessed. The slight and partial fulfilment of the prediction in the primitive age seems to have been only a shadowy resemblance of its more complete accomplishment hereafter. II. AT WHAT PERIOD THE WILL BE . “ I the Lord will hasten it in his time” --not before the proper time--but in its season--in due time. We are not justified, by the spirit of out religion, in cherishing an unhallowed curiosity or presumptuous confidence in our attempts to ascertain the purposes of God. It is on the wings of faith and hope, not those of pride and speculation, that the Christian is authorized to soar. Yet whilst a sacred obscurity invests the whole of this mysterious subject, there seems to be ample encouragement given to those who are disposed to pursue their investigations with a devout and docile disposition--with a sober and humble mind. III. REMARKS. 1. The certainty of these events. 2. Our duty in prospect of such events. (1) To anticipate with delight the approaching happiness of the world. (2) The crisis that is approaching calls upon us to aim at a superior degree of piety. (T. Sims, M. A.)The miraculous propagation of the Gospel I. THE MATTER OF FACT ITSELF, to which this prophecy refers,--how swift and strange a progress the Gospel made at, and after its first setting out in, Jerusalem. II. THIS SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL WAS , and owing chiefly to the mighty operations of the Holy Spirit, and for this plain reason: because the natural and visible causes which concurred to the production of this great effect were not any ways equal to the effect produced. The Gospel of Christ, at its earliest appearance, had all the probabilities in the world against its success: for it was possessed scarcely of any one of those advantages which do most signally recommend a new doctrine, and make it thrive. It had no complying tenets, to soothe men’ s appetites and passions. It had no encouragement, no protection from the civil power; no force or cunning to uphold it; no men of eminence and esteem to engage on its side. The age which was pitched upon for the discovery of it was more discerning and enlightened, more curious and inquisitive, than, perhaps, any that either preceded or followed it; and therefore the success of this doctrine could not be owing to men’ s ignorance or supineness. Finally, its promulgators delivered it out not by parcels, as is the way of cunning and designing men; but offered the whole of it to be altogether examined and compared. Nevertheless, though pressed with all these encumbrances, it sprang forth, and made its way into the world by a swift and incredible progress. The inference from hence is plain and indubitable: that a Divine power and virtue certainly went along with it, to supply what was wanting to it upon other accounts. III. WHAT SHIFTS THE ENEMIES OF THE GOSPEL MAKE USE OF, TO EVADE THE FORCE OF THIS . It is true, they will own, Christians multiplied very fast, and the increase of them was, in some sense, miraculous: that is, it was wonderful; as every unusual thing is to those who do not know or consider the causes of it. But to a man, they say, who dares to go out of the common road, and to think for himself, it will appear that there was at that time a set of natural causes on foot, sufficient to account for this effect, without any recourse to a Divine and supernatural agent. E.g. The sufferings of the martyrs made mighty impressions upon men. The purity of the Christian morals was a mighty argument to bring the men of probity and virtue into the interests of the Gospel. The analogy of some of its mystical truths to the doctrines of Plato (then in great esteem) was a very good bait to the men of learning. The distribution of goods which the first Christians made, and their living together in common, was a good reason for many men’ s embracing that faith which, they were sure, would maintain them. The casual cessation of oracles was immediately turned to the advantage of the religion of Christ, as if that had procured it. And the destruction of the Jewish State contributed greatly to the increase of the Christian numbers; because it seemed to have been foretold by the Founder of their faith: and, therefore, luckily coming to pass about that time, raised a high opinion in men of His Person and doctrine. The causes here assigned were utterly insufficient to produce the event for which they are assigned. IV. SHOW HOW GREAT AN IT IS TO THE TO HAVE BEEN AFTER SO SWIFT AND A MANNER. No other religion ever had so large an increase with so little of human aid. V. INQUIRE INTO THE TIME WHEN, AND THE MANNER HOW, THIS MIRACLE CEASED, and make suitable reflections upon it with regard both to those who lived then, when this check was given to the Gospel, and to us who live now. The plain answer to the inquiry proposed is that the miracle ceased when the civil power began to declare openly in behalf of Christianity; that is, soon after Constantine came to the throne. For it was no longer a wonder that our religion should thrive and flourish when, instead of bitter persecutions, it met with all manner of encouragements. For a century after Constantine, and upwards, the number of Christians multiplied exceedingly in all the parts of the world in which it had already been planted, and to which the empire of the Romans, or their influence, did extend. For above a century after that, Christianity seems to have been at a stand. But then it declined apace every day; dissensions among Christians grew hot, and their zeal for religion waxed cold. The great honours and endowments which religious princes had bestowed on the Church did too often occasion ambition and luxury in those who contended for them, or possessed them. In a word, all the vices of prosperity abounded, together with the advantages of it. So that the name of Christianity was no longer venerable in the eyes of men; and its holy doctrine, not producing an answerable sanctity of life, made no further impressions upon them. This unhappy opportunity Mohammed laid hold of to set up his religion; which, being suited to the voluptuous manners of the East, and seconded by the power of the sword, made large inroads into Christendom, and tore away entire provinces at once from the profession of the Gospel. (F. Atterbury, D. D.)The law of life and increase So is it with every institution planted in the fear and love of God, with an aim to advance His glory and man’ s good. Its life and increase are assured, for it becomes God’ s work anal enlists God’ s aid. The first hospital was founded by a Christian woman in her own house just outside the gates of Rome. Now there are hundreds in every land. So we may trace the rise and growth of institutions for the poor and the insane; of the universities, once small conventual schools where Christian truth was taught, developing into comprehensive and influential seats of learning. So, notably, the growth of the missionary enterprise. The latter was almost unknown a century ago. It began in the “ reveries” of men or the dreams of Christian women, who began by collecting small amounts and consecrating them to Christ. Now modern missions are a power, immense, world-embracing. They emphatically illustrate the grace of Christ, present and dominant in the world. So it is with every endeavour. That which has the element of righteousness in it, God will care for. It has a vast future before it. Here, then, is illustrated the indebtedness of the race to the Gospel of Christ. Men of the world sometimes fancy that this matter of religion is an obstacle to their secular plans. But, for the very instruments they use in art and commerce and literature, they are more or less directly indebted to Christianity. (R. S. Storrs, D. D.)Spiritual growth This law of life and increase obtains in the growth of gracious affections in our own hearts. We seem at times to be making but little progress; but we have this pledge, “ A little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong nation.” Christ’ s mighty energy is at work in us, as in society, impressing His image on all things. (R. S.Storrs, D. D.)The thousand and the one There is a threefold line of thought in this passage; three points of contrast in the prophet’ s mind between the old world, the world in which he himself lived, and that new world, our world, of Christ and Christianity. I. He says that the old world magnified masses, the thousands; whereas IN THAT NEW WORLD WHICH CHRIST IS TO BRING, OR RATHER HAS NOW BROUGHT, NOT THE MASS BUT THE IS TO BE THE THING. Imagine if an angel were to come to me to-day to offer to prepare me for the study of ancient history. I say to him, “ Will you show me the secret of the old world’ s greatness?’ And in answer he takes me up on a lofty mountain and shows me immense masses. “ Do you see that Chinese Empire,” he says, “ do you see that long line of ancestors going back, back, back further than the eye can see? That is the secret of China’ s greatness. Do you see that great Indian Continent--that long line of caste going back into antiquity; the thousand? That is the secret of India’ s greatness, Do you see that Jewish Empire? Do you see that long family tree going back to Abraham, and further back still to the very foundation of all things? That is the secret of Judea’ s greatness.” The old world magnified the thousand. But now let us take another side of it. Suppose this angel came to me and said, “ I have come to prepare you for a study of modern history, of the world of Christ’ s time,” and I say, “ Well, I should like very much to get a specimen of the difference here. I wish you to show me the secret of England’ s greatness during the last century (the nineteenth). Let me see, first of all, the secret of England’ s greatness in mechanical powers.” I have not the slightest doubt that in answer he is going to take me at once into the dockyards where the thousand hammers are clanging and all the mechanical powers are at work. Instead of that, to my astonishment, he takes me through to Glasgow; he passes down the Clyde; he comes to Greenock, and he never looks at the shipping; he passes it altogether. He takes me through the streets, turns into a gloomy, narrow entry, climbs the stair, opens the door, and, lo I in a humble room and in a very small crib there lies a delicate infant, and he points to it and says, “ That is the secret of England’ s mechanical greatness.” , “ What!” I say, “ that puny thing that a breath would put out like a candle?” “ Yes,” he says, “ that is the secret of England’ s mechanical greatness. That is James Watt; that is the one that has taken the place of the thousand.” Or suppose I say to him, “ I want to see the secret of England’ s scientific greatness in the last century.” I have no doubt whatever that he is going to take me into the laboratories where the thousand workmen are plying with the crucible, the pestle, and the mortar. Instead of that he takes me up to Grantham, into the village school, and there, at the very foot of the class, sits a very dull-looking boy, more distinguished for fighting than for anything else. He says, “ That is the secret of England’ s greatness in science. That is Isaac Newton. That one is going to take the place of the thousand in years to come.” Or yet again, suppose I say to him, “ I wish you would show me the secret of England’ s religious greatness in the last century.” I have no doubt whatever that he is going to take me into the great cathedrals where the aisles are dark with worshippers. Instead of that he takes me up to a little place called Epworth at midnight, where there is a minister’ s manse on fire, and they are carrying out a screaming infant from the house. And the angel cries, “ That is the secret of England’ s religious greatness. That is John Wesley, one time to have his screams heard all over England, all over Europe. The one little fire-burned child will in time to come take the place of the thousand.” And why is it that I attribute this to Christianity? You might say, “ What has Christ to do with this?” It is because if you and I go back nineteen centuries we shall see all Europe sleeping in an egg-shell: a little child; a little child laid outside in a stable. There it lay, holding all Europe in its little breast; its evolutions, its revolutions, its convolutions; its wars and rumours of wars; its cries for bread; its cries for light; its cries for liberty. The One has taken the place of the thousand. II. The second point of the prophet I take to be this: that IN THE NEW WORLD THAT CHRIST HAS BROUGHT IN, THE GLORY IN THIS, THAT THE ONE CAN PASS BY THROUGH MYRIAD TYPES OF . One has become a thousand. Let me try to illustrate this by the case of two boarding-schools. I will call the one the boarding-school of the old world, and the other the boarding-school of the new. The boarding-school of the old world says, “ Do you see these girls? In a few months you will not know your own little girl from any other. They will all become so like that no one could possibly distinguish the difference between them. The thousand shall become one--thoroughly Chinese.” But the second boarding-school, Christ’ s boarding-school, says, “ Will you give me this little girl of yours? She is just now very like other people. There is not much difference; hut I will undertake to send this little girl through My school, and she will catch a little bit of every, body in the now vacant mirror of her mind, she will catch a little bit of every light. Why is it that I attribute this to Christ? It is because Christ Himself is many members in one body. Christ is our Representative before the throne of God. What does that mean? What is a representative before the throne? Why, it is a Member of Parliament. What is the function of a member for Glasgow? He has to take into the mirror of his mind all the different wants of the thousand, and give them due consideration. III. As a result of these points, the course of the old world has been still, stagnant, unprogressive; whereas IN THE NEW WORLD WHICH CHRIST HAS BROUGHT IN THINGS ARE TO MOVE WITH SPEED. “ I the Lord will hasten it in its time” (R.V.). We commonly read it that God will hasten the time of its coming. I understand it to mean that there are times of acceleration, times when everything with double quick march; times when you take up the newspaper and find the unexpected has happened. This is what I understand, an accelerated progress; “ The Lord will hasten it in its time. ‘ I wonder if there is any man here between eighty and ninety years old? If there is, that man has seen more events than all the history of the Chinese Empire from the beginning up till now! Think what he has seen. He has seen wings of steam--the steamboat; then he has seen wings of fire--the railroad; then wings of light--the telegraph; then wings of sound--the telephone. Aye, and he has seen something more than that; he has seen physical wings of memory--the phonograph. He has seen the voice bottled up in jars, and carried across the Atlantic. He has seen greater things than these. He has beheld social changes of the most momentous type. He has seen the institution of the rights of man; he has seen something greater still--the institution of the rights of woman. He has seen the bursting of the fetters of the slave; he has seen the birth of charity. It has been a world of wondrous acceleration. The power that can pass through these thousand changes must be Divine. You tell me that Christianity has not lived so long as some of the Eastern religious; that Buddhism, Brahmanism, and Parseeism have lived longer than Christianity. Yes, so they have; it is easy to be steadfast in a stagnant pool. “ Better thirty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay. The power of my Lord’ s religion is not its duration, it is the fact that its duration, such as it is, has been against tremendous odds. It is that the one has been battling ever with the thousand. (G. Matheson, D. D.)I the Lord will hasten it in his timeThe ministries of time God is Sovereign and omnipotent, but He waits the ministration of time. He could force seasons and laws, but it is His way rather to work through them and by them. He has ordained them as servitors of His will. His purposes on the earth, in the conduct of human affairs, had, in respect to their accomplishment, a germination, a process, and a harvest-hour of consummation. Time is the prime-minister of Providence, and brings to pass in due order, at their full periods, and at the appointed juncture, the patient counsels of the Most High. There is no hurrying and no sickness of deferred hope on that eternal and tranquil Mind. “ One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” It lends a new dignity and a sterner and loftier majesty to time, when we consider it thus, not impersonally, as the passing away of our days rather swift, mute lapse of the stream of life sliding down the vale--but as a strong executive angel, a sceptred and conscious force that has it in charge to reveal and fulfil the hidden plan of God. (A. L. Stone, D. D.)Time Time is among men the revealer, the attester, the vindicator, the rectifier, the fulfiller. (A. L. Stone, D. D.)Time a test 1. Time tests the principles of human conduct. 2. Time is the test of friendships. 3. Time tries his tests upon character. 4. God even commits His own vindication to time. (A. L. Stone, D. D.)God’ s purpose sure a fulfilment All that is here said relating to the Jewish and Christian Church, to the militant and triumphant Church, and to every particular believer,-- 1. It may seem too difficult to be brought about, and therefore may be despaired of; but the God of almighty power hath undertaken it. I, the Lord, will do it, who can do it, and who have determined to do it. 2. It may seem to be delayed and put off so long that we are out of hopes of it; but, as the Lord will do it, so He will hasten it; will do it with all convenient speed--though much time may be passed before it is done, no time shall be lost; He will hasten it in its time, in the proper time, in the season wherein it will be beautiful. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 61:1-8 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me The Speaker; probably the Servant of Jonah Who is the speaker here? The Targum prefaces the passage with the words, “ The prophet says,” and, except a few, all modern expositors make the author of this book of consolation to be the speaker who, after having (in chap. 55.) let the Church behold the summit of her glory, now, with grateful look directed to Jehovah and rejoicing in spirit, extols his grand commission. But this view is objectionable, for the following reasons-- 1. Nowhere has the prophet yet spoken of himself as such in lengthy utterances, but rather (except in the closing words, “ saith my God, in Isaiah 57:21) everywhere studiously kept himself in the background. 2. On the other hand, whenever another than Jehovah began to speak, and made reference to the work of his calling and his experiences connected therewith (as in Isaiah 49:1 ff; Isaiah 50:4 ff.) it was in such eases this self-same Servant of Jehovah of whom and to whom Jehovah speaks (see Isaiah 42:1 ff; Isaiah 52:13 on to end of 53.). 3. All that the person here speaking says of himself is again met with in the picture of the one unique Servant of Jehovah; he has been endowed with the Spirit of Jehovah (Isaiah 42:1); Jehovah has sent him, and with him sent His Spirit (Isaiah 48:16); he has a tongue that has been taught ofGod, to assist with words him who is wearied (Isaiah 50:4); those whoare almost despairing and destroyed he goes to spare and save, preserving the broken reed and expiring wick (Isaiah 42:3); “ to open blind eyes, to lead prisoners out of the prison, those who are sitting in darkness out of the house of confinement,--this is what, above all, he has to do in word and deed for his people (Isaiah 42:7; Isaiah 49:9). 4. After the prophet has represented the Servant of Jehovah, of whom he prophesies, as speaking in such dramatic directness (as in Isaiah 49:1 ff; Isaiah 50:4 ff., and also 48:16 b.), one could not expect that he would now place himself in the foreground and claim for himself official attributes which he has set down as characteristic features in the picture of the predicted One, who (as Vitringa well says) not merely proclaims but dispenses the new and great gifts of God. For these reasons we (with Nagelsbach, Cheyne, Driver and Orelli) consider that the Servant of Jehovah is the speaker here. (F. Delitzch, D. D.)The speaker: probably the prophet himself The speaker is not introduced by name. Therefore he may be the prophet himself, or he may be the Servant. The present expositor, while feeling that the evidence is not conclusive against either of these . . . inclines to think that there is, on the whole, less objection to its being the prophet who speaks than to its being the Servant. But it is not a very important question which is intended, for the Servant was representative of prophecy; and if it be the prophet who speaks here, he also speaks with the conscience of the whole function and aim of the prophetic order. That Jesus Christ fulfilled this programme does not decide the question one way or the other; for a prophet so representative was as much the antetype and foreshadowing of Christ as the Servant Himself was. On the whole, then, we must be content to feel about this passage, what we must have already felt about many others in our prophecy, that the writer is more anxious to place before us the whole range and ideal of the prophetic gift than to make clear in whom this ideal is realized; and for the rest Jesus of Nazareth so plainly fulfilled it, that it becomes, indeed, a very minor question to ask whom the writer may have intended as its first application. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The lofty mission and its great results are not too lofty or great for our prophet, for Jeremiah received his orifice in terms as large. That the prophet has not yet spoken at such length in his own person is no reason why he should not do so now, especially as this is an occasion on which he sums up and enforces the whole range of prophecy. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The Spirit in the Son of man The fact that Christ’ s earthly life became effectual through the ministry of the Holy Spirit within Him, and not alone through the inherent virtue and power He brought with Him from His pre-existent state, has become one of the commonplaces of theology; and yet how little do we realize its true import, and cultivate that humility and dependence of soul which would distinguish us if the great truth were ever in view! In spite of our formal adhesion to this doctrine, it seems still strange to us that one whom we think of as holy and Divine should be indebted at every stage of His earthly life to that inward mystic ministry which is so necessary to us because of our sinfulness. We speak of the Holy Ghost as a Deliverer from inbred corruption, and are ready to assume, quite unwarrantably, that where there is no corruption in the nature, the stimulating forces and fervours of His benign indwelling are needless. We are accustomed to look upon this ministry, which perpetuates in our souls the saving work of the Lord Jesus, as though it were a special antidote to human depravity only. For the Spirit to abide moment by moment with Jesus Christ, and work in His humanity, seems like painting the lily, gilding fine gold, and bleaching the untrampled snow. But that is a mistaken view. When the universal Church shall have been built up and consecrated to its high uses, it be “ by the Spirit that God will dwell in the temple. And the temple of Christ’ s sacred flesh needed this same indwelling presence. The great Sanctifier blends the essential forces of His personality into this Divinest type of goodness, to show that goodness in even the only begotten Son is not self-originated. In the less mature stages of Christ’ s expanding humanity implicit and docile dependence on this inward leading was the test of His entire acceptability to the Father. (T. G. Selby.)The Spirit a compensation for the self-emptying of Jesus The Spirit seems to have been given to compensate for that renunciation of power involved in the mystery of the incarnation, and as an earnest of its coming restitution. The wonderful works accomplished by the Son of Man took their rise, not so much in the superhuman qualities of His personality as in the power of that Spirit with which He was anointed. Although there is no clearly developed doctrine of the Spirit in the older portions of the Old Testament writings, Isaiah at least in his day was made to see that the Messianic works of healing and deliverance and redemption would flow out of that anointing by the Spirit which would single out the elect Servant of the Lord from His fellows. And Peter enforces the same thought in the household of Cornelius, declaring how that “ God anointed Jesus with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.” His own experiences in the Pentecost had taught Peter the secret of his Master’ s power. Perhaps the discovery had come to him through his own recent mastery over the pride and boastfulness of his nature, and may have helped to confirm him in his new habits of childlike trust upon another. In the days of his self-sufficiency it would have been quite impossible for Peter to believe that He who had been supernaturally revealed as the very Son of God, and glorified by a strange transfiguration splendour that seemed to make Him the fellow of the Most High, should need to achieve His mighty, works by leaning upon another. Could Peter have been told that his Master’ s marvellous gifts were held upon this tenure, he might have looked upon it as an affront to the Divine dignity of his hero, and have exclaimed, as about the death of shame, “ Be it far from Thee, Lord.” Sometimes Christ’ s miracles are quoted as proofs of His Divine nature. They are certainly proofs of His Divine authority, but they illustrate the energies of this attending Spirit rather than the attributes of Christ’ s own proper personality. Christ cast out devils and opened prison doors and raised the dead, but it was by the power of the Holy Ghost alone. The tempter once tried to induce Him to work in His own strength, in the power of His inherent Godhead, so that He might undo and reverse the self-renouncing humility of His own incarnation, but in vain. All He did was in loyalty to this inward Guide who made known to Him the will of the Father and gave Him power for His appointed tasks. Fools that we are, we attempt much in our own strength, but the Son in His humiliation received back His infinite forces of life and dominion only through this Divine messenger from the Father. (T. G.Selby.)A faithful Gospel ministry I. THE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT MAKES A GOSPEL . So it was in Christ’ s ministry. II. THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF ALL . 1. A faithful minister preaches good tidings to all distressed consciences. 2. A faithful pastor comforts mourners in Zion. 3. A faithful watchman preaches a free Saviour to all the world. (R. M.McCheyne.)A trite ministry I. THE TRUE IS ALWAYS AND BY THE HOLY GHOST. “ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” II. THE TRUE IS BY THE . If you read the statement given by the prophet, you will find throughout a tone of kindliness, benevolence, sympathy, gentleness, pity, for all human sorrow. Therein may be known the true ministry of the Gospel. III. THE TRUE , WHETHER PUBLIC OR PRIVATE, NEVER SHRINKS FROM ITS MORE AWFUL . Observe this sentence in the midst of the declarations of the text: “ To proclaim the day of vengeance of our God.” (J. Parker, D. D.)To preach good tidings unto the meekJesus a Preacher of good tidings to the meek I. THE WORK ITSELF IN WHICH THE SON OF GOD WAS , and to which He was called. “ To preach good tidings.” II. THE SPECIAL OBJECT OF THIS PART OF THE WORK. “ The meek.” In the parallel place, it reads “ poor,” and the one explains the other. By the meek here is meant the poor in spirit, those who, as being convinced by the law, have seen themselves to be poor, that they have nothing in which they could stand before God as righteous, but look on themselves as wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. And it is remarkable that our Saviour’ s Sermon on the Mount begins with good tidings to such persons (Matthew 5:3). Our Lord preached to all who heard Him promiscuously these good tidings, but in effect they were not good to any but to the poor in spirit among them. (T. Boston.)Jesus and the meek I. THIS AND POVERTY, AND SHOW WHO ARE THESE MEEK POOR ONES. This meekness comprehends in it-- 1. A pressing sense of utter emptiness in one’ s self (Romans 7:18). 2. A pressing sense of sinfulness. 3. A pressing sense of misery by sin. Like the prodigal, they see themselves ready to perish with hunger. Debt is a heavy burden to an honest heart, and filthiness to one that desires to be clean. Their poverty presses them down. 4. A sense of utter inability to help one’ s self. They find the sting in their conscience, but cannot draw it out; guilt is a burden, but they cannot throw it off; lusts are strong and uneasy, but they are not able to master them; and this presses them sore. 5. A sense of the absolute need of a Saviour, and of help from heaven. 6. A sense as to utter unworthiness of the Lord’ s help; they see nothing which they have to recommend them to the Lord’ s help. 7. An earnest desire as to the supply of soul-wants (Matthew 5:6). 8. A hearty contentment in submitting to any method of help which the Lord prescribes. II. EXPLAIN THE GOOD TIDINGS OF THE GOSPEL, AND SHOW THAT THEY ARE GOOD AND WELCOME TIDINGS TO SUCH PERSONS. 1. Gospel tidings are tidings of a complete salvation. 2. These tidings relate to a redemption, to a ransom paid (Galatians 3:13). 3. To an indemnity, a pardon to criminals who will come to Jesus (Acts 13:38-39). 4. To a glorious Physician of souls, who never fails to cure HIS patients. 5. These tidings are the tidings of a feast (Isaiah 25:6; Isaiah 55:2; Psalms 22:26). 6. These tidings relate to a treasure (2 Corinthians 4:7). 7. To a marriage, a most happy match for poor sinners (Hosea 2:19-20). 8. To a glorious victory (Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 3:21). 9. To a most desirable peace (Ephesians 2:14). III. SHOW HOW THIS GREAT WORK OF IS, AND HATH BEEN, BY CHRIST. 1. He performed this work under the Old Testament dispensation, (1) Personally, by Himself in paradise (Genesis 3:15). (2) By His ambassador, in HIS name, the prophets, and ordinary teachers. (3) By His written Word. 2. He preached, and preaches, under the New Testament dispensation. (1) By His own personal preaching in the days of His flesh, when He went about among the Jews, preaching to them as the Minister of the circumcision (Romans 15:8). (2) By inspiring His apostles to preach and write the doctrines of salvation contained in the New Testament, on whom He poured out His Spirit, and by their writings, they being dead, yet speak to us from Him and by Him. (3) By raising up and continuing always a Gospel ministry in the Church Ephesians 4:11-13; Matthew 28:20). (T. Boston.)To bind up the broken-heartedJesus binds up the broken-hearted I. INQUIRE WHAT IS THAT OF HEART WHICH IS HERE MEANT. The broken-heartedness is of two kinds. 1. Natural, arising from natural and carnal causes merely, which worketh 2 Corinthians 7:10). Many who arc very whole-hearted in respect of sin, complain that their hearts and spirits are broken by their crosses, afflictions, and ill-usage which they meet with in the world. Thus Ahab, Haman, and Nabal, their hearts were broken with their respective crosses. 2. Religious, which arises from religious causes, namely, sin and its consequences. There is a twofold religious breaking of heart. (1) A mere legal one (Jeremiah 23:29). When the heart is broken by the mere force of the law, it is broken as a rock in pieces by a hammer, each part remaining hard and rocky still. This breaks the heart for sin, but not from it. (2) An evangelical one, when not only the law does its part, but the Gospel also breaks the sinner’ s heart (Zechariah 12:10). II. INQUIRE WHAT IT IS IN AND ABOUT SIN WHICH BREAKS THE MAN’ S HEART, WHO IS THUS BROKEN-HEARTED. There is-- 1. The guilt of sin, by which he is bound over to the wrath of God. 2. The domineering power of sin, or its tyranny, by which he is led captive to 2:3. The contrariety which is in sin to the holy nature and law of God. 4. The indwelling of sin, and, its cleaving so close to a person that he cannot shake it off (Romans 7:24). 5. Sin’ s mixing itself with all he does, even with his best duties Romans 7:21). 6. Frequent backslidings (Jeremiah 31:18). 7. Desertions, hiding of the Lord’ s face, and interruptions of the soul’ s communion with God (Isaiah 54:6; Lamentations 3:18; Lamentations 3:44). 8. A Christian’ s sinfulness, with the bitter fruits springing from his sin Romans 7:19). III. SHOW WHAT SORT OF A HEART A BROKEN HEART IS. 1. It is a contrite or bruised heart (Psalms 51:17). Not only broken in pieces like a rock, but broken to powder, and so fit to receive any impression. The heart is now kindly broken and bruised betwixt the upper and nether mill-stones; the upper mill-stone of the law, a sense of God’ s wrath against sin; and the nether millstone of the Gospel, of Divine love, mercy, and favour, manifested in word and providences. 2. An aching heart (Acts 2:37). 3. A shameful heart (Ezra 9:6; Psalms 40:12). 4. A tender heart (Ezekiel 36:26). 5. A rent heart (Joe 2:13). 6. A pliable heart. 7. A humble heart (Isaiah 57:15). IV. SHOW HOW THE LORD CHRIST BINDS UP AND HEALS THE BROKEN-HEARTED. The great Physician uses two sorts of bands for a broken heart: He binds them up with inner and with outward bands. 1. With inner bands, which go nearest the sore, the pained broken heart. And these are two. (1) The Spirit of adoption. (2) Faith in Christ (the band of the covenant), which He works in the heart by His Spirit. Faith is a healing band, for it knits the soul. 2. Outward bands. There are also two. (1) His own word, especially the promises of the Gospel. (2) His own seals of the covenant (Acts 2:38). (T. Boston.)Jesus and the broken-hearted I. THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF BROKEN HEARTS--THE NATURAL AND THE . They may be united. Often they are divided. Every broken heart becomes the subject of Jesus’ care, and is dear to Him, if for no other reason in the world but for this--because it is unhappy. II. CHRIST WAS HIMSELF WELL TRAINED IN THE SCHOOL OF HEARTS, THAT HE MIGHT LEARN TO BIND THE . All which goes to break men’ s hearts He felt. No wonder, then, that the bindings are what they are. 1. Delicate. 2. Very wise. 3. Sure and thorough. There is no such thing as a half-cure in that treatment. No heart which has not known a breaking knows, indeed, what strength is. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)A broken heart Many things are valuable when whole, which, being broken, are little worth; but it is otherwise with the human heart. (R. Macculloch.)To proclaim liberty to the captivesJesus proclaims liberty to the captives I. MEN’ S NATURAL STATE. A state of captivity. They are captives to Satan 2 Timothy 2:26). II. CHRIST’ S WORK WITH RESPECT TO THEM. To proclaim liberty to them. (T. Boston.)Liberty for Satan’ s captives I. SINNERS IN THEIR STATE ARE SATAN’ S . II. JESUS CHRIST, WITH THE EXPRESS CONSENT OF HIS FATHER, HAS ISSUED HIS ROYAL OF LIBERTY TO SATAN’ S . (R. Macculloch.)The sinner’ s captivity The properties of it. It is-- 1. A spiritual captivity, a captivity of the soul. 2. Universal. It extends to all the powers and faculties of the soul, the inner marl. 3. A hard and sore captivity. 4. A perpetual captivity. This conqueror will never quit his captives, unless they be taken from him by Almighty power. 5. A voluntary captivity, and thus the more hopeless. Though they were taken in war, and born captives, yet now he is their master by their own consent and choice, while they choose to serve the devil, and cannot be brought to give themselves to the Lord. It is a bewitching captivity. (R. Macculloch.)The Gospel proclamation 1. It is a jubilee proclamation (Leviticus 25:10). 2. It is a conqueror’ s proclamation to captives. Satan warred against mankind, he carried them all captive into his own kingdom; and there was none to deliver out of his hand. But King Jesus had engaged him, routed all his forces, overturned his kingdom, and taken the kingdom to Himself Colossians 2:15; 1 John 3:8). And now being settled on His throne, His royal proclamation is issued, that Satan’ s captives may again return into the kingdom of God. (R. Macculloch.)Liberty to the captive. Our Lord Himself directs us to consider Him as speaking in these words. I. THE OBJECTS HE REGARDS. Captives. This slavery-- 1. So universal as to our species. 2. Dreadful in its operations upon the individual. Voluntary, and submitted to as though it were a blessing rather than a curse. 4. Diversified as to the degree of its influence and the manner of its operations. 5. Cruel in its present effects and inconceivably more wretched in its final results. Men are guilty as well as enslaved. II. THE DESIGN OF THE OFFICE WHICH HE . To effect deliverance for the captives. To this He is consecrated by the Spirit of the Lord. 1. By Him the claims of justice are perfectly satisfied. 2. Christ dissolves or breaks the power which leads us captive. 3. He induces the captive to accept deliverance when it is offered to him. 4. He renders their deliverance permanent, and prevents them from being again entangled in the yoke of bondage. III. THE MANNER IN WHICH HIS DESIGN IS TO BE MADE KNOWN. By proclamation. 1. It indicates that His office and its design are to be made universally known. 2. It is intended to excite universal attention--to create the most deep and lively interest. It is a proclamation which at once demands and deserves attention. 3. It shows that deliverance is to be effected in a way perfectly consistent with the freedom of human agency. 4. It is in such a way as to secure the glory of their deliverance to Him who thus proclaims it. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)Jesus the Liberator It is a blessed name of Jesus, and as true as it is blessed--the Liberator. We can scarcely conceive anything grander, or more delightful, than to be always going about making everything free. To this end, Christ first liberated Himself. 1. As in Him there was no sin, He never indeed could know the worst of all bondage--the bondage of the spirit to the flesh. But He did know the restraints of fear; He did feel the harassing of indecision; He did experience the irksomeness of the sense of a body too narrow for the largeness of His soul; and He did go through the contractions of all that is material, and the mortifying conventionalities of life--for He was hungry, thirsty, weary, sad, and the sport of fools. From all this Christ freed Himself--distinctly, progressively, He freed Himself. Step by step, He led captivity captive. He made for Himself a spiritual body which, in its own nature, and by the law of its being, soared at once beyond the trammels of humanity. Therefore He is the Liberator, because He was once Himself the Prisoner. 2. And all Christ did, and all Christ was, upon this earth--His whole mission--was essentially either to teach or to give liberty. His preaching was, for the most part, to change the constraint of law into the largeness of love. Every word He said, in private or in public, proved expansion. 3. When Christ burst through all the tombs--the moral tombs and the physical tombs in which we all lay buried--and when He went out into life and glory, He was not Himself alone--He was at that moment the covenanted Head of a mystical body, and all that body rose with Him. If so be you have union with Christ, you are risen; bondage is past; you are free. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)The opening of the prison to them that are boundSinners worse than captives 1. They are also prisoners. Every captive is not a prisoner, but all natural men, being Satan’ s captives, are held prisoners. 2. They are prisoners in chains, bound in the prison. 3. They are blinded too in their prison (compare Luke 4:18). It was a custom much used in the Eastern nations to put out the eyes of some of their prisoners, adding this misery to their imprisonment. So the Philistines did with Samson (Judges 16:21); and. Nebuchadnezzar with Zedekiah2 Kings 25:7). This, in a spiritual sense, is the case of all prisoners in their natural state. (T. Boston.)Causes of sinners’ imprisonment 1. As debtors to Divine justice. 2. As malefactors condemned in law (John 3:18). (T. Boston.)Satan’ s bands 1. The band of prejudices. 2. Of ill company. 3. Of earthly-mindedness. 4. Of unbelief. 5. Of slothfulness. 6. Of delays (Acts 24:25). 7. Of delusion (Isaiah 44:20; Revelation 3:17). 8. Of divers lusts (2 Timothy 3:6). (T. Boston.) Isaiah 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord The year of Jubilee It may be profitable to trace out the analogies between the year of jubilee which rejoiced the hearts of Israel, and that more comprehensive era of which it was broadly typical, and which was to bring gladness to all peoples unto the end of the dispensation, when the loving ministry of God is finished. 1. The Jewish jubilee commenced at the close of the day of atonement. Is not this a very true type of the way in which spiritual blessings are exclusively introduced to mankind? There can be no jubilee for us, a race of lost and guilty rebels taken in arms, traitors convicted of treason, unless an all-prevalent atonement had previously purchased our pardon. 2. There was rest from exhausting labour. By a providential arrangement similar to that which secured a double supply of manna on the sixth day, the land had unusual fertility in the sixth year, so that in the seventh, which was the ordinary, and in the fiftieth, which was the special sabbatical year, there was a suspension of the common duties of husbandry. Both the land and labourers had rest, and yet the supply did not fail, for there was plenty in every barn, and there was gladness in every heart. And, in a spiritual sense, is not rest for the weary just what our spirits so fervently require--just what the Gospel has been itself inspired to provide 3. The next blessing pertaining to the year of jubilee was the restoration of alienated property. When a man, through misfortune or extravagance, had contracted liabilities that were beyond his means, and had sold his possessions to discharge them, if he were not himself able to redeem them, and if none of his kindred were at once wealthy and willing, these possessions remained as the property of the creditor until the year of jubilee, and then it was provided by the law that they should return to him who had parted from them for a season. We, the whole race of us, had a bright inheritance once--God’ s favour, God’ s fellowship, God’ s image, all were ours by birth--but, alas! we alienated it by sin. We are not ourselves able to redeem it. But, through infinite compassion, this our inheritance has not been suffered to pass out of the family. Christ our kinsman, our elder brother, has paid down the price, and has rescued this our heritage from the fangs of the harpies who would fain have usurped it for their own. We had sold our birthright as a common thing, but it has been redeemed, and it is offered to us without a price by a love that is surely without parallel. The acceptable year did dawn upon the world indeed when it witnessed the birth of the Messiah, and that sun, like that of Gideon, stood still at His bidding, and hasted not to go down until now. 4. Another blessing which is mentioned in the history is the restoration of freedom. It seems to have been a custom among the Hebrews, as among other Eastern nations, for a debtor who had become hopelessly involved to sell himself to his creditors, in order that by his personal service he might discharge the debt that he was otherwise unable to pay. Of course, it was provided that for the amelioration of his condition, and for its termination in the year of jubilee, the man was not to be a slave, but a hired servant and a soldier, and he was to remain until the year of jubilee, and then he and his children should all go out and return unto their possession. All sinners are in bondage, bound with the chain of their sins, led captive by the devil at his will. How I delight to proclaim it in your hearing, “ The year of jubilee is come.” If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (W. M. Punshon.)No light without a shadow There is a tremendous alternative before men--acceptation or vengeance. When we speak of vengeance in this connection, and as a Divine act, it must be understood not in a malignant and revengeful sense, but in a judicial. It must be regarded as an act of eternal justice. We propose to interrogate Nature and ask her what she has to tell us of this alternative. We would greatly prefer to present Christ as the light of the world, but we know of no light without a shadow. Observe, however, the terms in which the light and the shadow are expressed in the prophet’ s language. It is the “ year” of acceptation, and only the “ day” of vengeance. This is a very natural description. The light always attracts us most: we scarcely think of the shadow. The idea of hell is in accordance with the laws of nature, and cannot be eliminated from thought. I. BELONG TO THE NATURE OF THINGS; HENCE, ARE TO BE FOUND EVEN IN . All positive things involve a corresponding negative; and are comprehensible only by contrast with their negative. If you paint a picture all white, you have nothing but a white washed canvas and no picture; it is only by contrast between lights and shadows that you can give it expression and form. What is there in the world that has not its corresponding negative? If there is light there is also darkness; if there is height there is also depth; if there is joy there is also sorrow; if there is perfection there is also deformity; if there is beauty there is also ugliness; if there is upward there is also downward; if there is heat there is also cold; if there is good tilers is also bad; if there is reward there is also punishment; if there is heaven there is also hell. II. ARE TO MORAL BEINGS. A moral being is one who has power of choice; and there can be no choice except as between alternatives. Our whole life is a choosing between alternatives. It would then, indeed, be singular if this choice was only possible in matters of secondary importance, but eliminated from matters of the highest importance. If there is no alternative over against heaven, then heaven is not a matter of choice; if not matter of choice, then it must be arbitrarily conferred, and, there being no alternative, it must of necessity be conferred arbitrarily upon good and bad alike. III. THE LAW OF REVEALS A HELL. Who can compute the consequences of an act? It may be but momentary, yet consequences of the most momentous character are entailed upon the world. IV. THE LAW OF GROWTH REVEALS A HELL. Growth is of two kinds: by assimilation of things without, and by development from within: the first, scientific people call by involution; the second, by evolution. Sin grows, and grows by this double process. It assimilates with itself the elements of evil around it. This is the law of its existence, which forecloses any prospect of remedy from within. Moreover, sin grows by evolution. Sin propagates, and it propagates nothing but itself. Hence it cannot become extinct. It must propagate itself in the soul for ever unless some external power shall eliminate it. It cannot outgrow itself. The soul, therefore, which is identified with sin, must partake of this eternal process. That there is an external remedy we will confess: but we can readily perceive that the growing processes of sin must more and more repel this remedy. The history of a sinning soul, then, unfolds an ever-diminishing hope of reclamation. V. THE EVIDENT OF TO ASSUME IS OF A HELL. This final stability is what we call second nature--the outcome and ultimate form of the plastic powers of the soul. Hence the welfare of the creature demands a limited probation. Man’ s happiness demands that he should be able to work towards an assured future: but the laws which facilitate stability in goodness must also facilitate stability in evil. Hence it will be seen why it is that the ambassadors of God are for ever proclaiming: “ Now is the day of salvation,” and warning you to “ seek the Lord while He may be found.” Hence it is we are telling you that the fittest time for giving yourselves to God is in your youth. VI. . Nature has told us there is a hell. Thus nature is a school-master to bring us to Christ. (Southern Pulpit.)Proclamation of acceptance and vengeance Notice well the expression, “ to proclaim, because a proclamation is the message of a king, and where the word of a king is there is power. The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to announce the will of the King of kings. Nor let it be forgotten that a proclamation must be treated with profound respect, not merely by receiving attention to its contents, but by gaining obedience to its demands. There are three points in the proclamation worthy of our best attention. I. JESUS THE YEAR OF THE LORD. There can be very little question that this relates to the jubilee year. The reason for all the jubilee blessings was found in the Lord. II. THE DAY OF OF OUR GOD. 1. Whenever there is a day of mercy to those who believe, it is always a day of responsibility to those who reject it, and if they continue in that state it is a day of increased wrath to unbelievers. 2. Another meaning of the text comes out in the fact that there is appointed a day of vengeance for all the enemies of Christ, and this will happen in that bright future day for which we are looking. 3. However, I consider that the chief meaning of the text lies in this--that “ the day of vengeance of our God” was that day when He made all the trangressions of His people to meet upon the head of our great Surety. Look at the instructive type by which this truth was taught to Israel of old. The year of jubilee began with the day of atonement. 4. The day of vengeance, then, is intimately connected with the year of acceptance; and mark, they must be so connected experimentally in the heart of all God’ s people by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, for whenever Christ comes to make us live, the law comes first to kill us. III. THE COMFORT FOR FROM BOTH THESE THINGS. “ To comfort all that mourn.” Oh, ye mourners, what joy is here, joy because this is the year of acceptance, and in the year of acceptance, or jubilee, men were set free and their lands were restored without money. No man ever paid a penny of redemption money on the jubilee morning: every man was free simply because jubilee was proclaimed: no merit was demanded, no demur was offered, no delay allowed, no dispute permitted. Jubilee came, and the bondman was free. And now, to-day, whosoever believeth in Jesus is saved, pardoned, freed, without money, without merit, without preparation, simply because believeth. An equal joy-note rings out from the other sentence concerning the day of vengeance. I f the day of vengeance took place when our Lord died, then it is over. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Preaching God’ s judgment on sin A member of the congregation, at the close of a sermon that lasted for an hour, and had been preached amid a stillness most painful, nothing heard but the tones of the preacher, and during the pauses the ticking of the clock--a sermon on the sad and awful issues of a sinful life, and the glory and the joy of a life lived in Christ--and, if Dr. Dale intends to preach like that I shall not come and hear him, for I cannot stand it; it goes through me.” I spoke to Dr. Dale afterwards about the stillness and said it was simply awful. “ Ah! yes, he said; “ but it was more awful to me; it is hard to preach like that, but it must be done.” (Gee. Barber, in Dr. Dale’ s Life.)To comfort all that mournTears dried Some seek to comfort by telling us that sorrow is wrong. They say that we should be brave and not allow our feelings to become so deep. It is true there may be excessive grief, and so grief may become sinful. But to say that we must not sorrow is to try to induce us to outrage our nature and to deprive us of one of the most effectual means whereby God educates and purifies. Christ is not come to deliver us from suffering, but to enable us to derive good from the suffering. How does Christ “ comfort all that mourn” ? I. BY HIMSELF THE FOR US, TO TAKE AWAY SIN. Christ bore the curse of it for us, and in doing this He removed the root of our mourning. II. BY HIS . He feels with us and for us, and by oneness with us in sorrow gives us comfort. Sympathy means suffering along with another. Job spoke of it when he said, “ Did I not weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?” III. By showing us THE ORIGIN AND PURPOSE OF . Nowhere except in God’ s revelation in Christ do we learn how and why affliction and sorrow come upon us. Our Lord Jesus Christ explains all. And His explanation goes down to the very root of the matter. Suffering is necessary in order that we enter into the fulness of God’ s love in the gift of His Son. He who has received Christ as his Saviour is instructed, sanctified, made more meet for the Master’ s use, becomes more heavenly minded, by means of all the affliction through which his Heavenly Father causes him to pass. To suffer in Christ is to live more deeply. “ Love and sorrow are the two conditions of a profound life.” IV. BY THOSE WHO BELIEVE THAT THEY SHALL BE WITH HIM TO BEHOLD HIS GLORY. We learn-- 1. That the comfort Christ imparts is effectual. It is not limited or partial. See how fully this is set forth in the passage with which the text is connected. What variety of imagery is used to picture to us the fulness and perfection of the remedy Christ brings for human guilt and misery. The healing He effects is for our whole nature, for heart, mind and conscience. He completely redeems and blesses. 2. The comfort Christ gives is enduring. It is no momentary or temporary assuaging of grief. It will never fail, it will increase in its influence and power. 3. The comfort Christ bestows is offered to all and is adapted to all. “ To comfort all that mourn.” “ All ye that labour,” etc. Whatever burden, whatever sorrow, there is in Him comfort for all. (G. W.Humphreys, B. A.) Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion Mourners in Zion Mourners in Zion may mean either those that mourn for Zion (Isaiah 66:10) or those that mourn in her. (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)Mourners in Zion I. THE OF THOSE PERSONS WHO HAVE A PRESENT IN THE OF CHRIST. Such as “ mourn in Zion.” They differ from others-- 1. In respect of the spring or principle of their mourning. They mourn, as others do, in a natural way, for what is contrary to their natures and is considered hurtful to them. But they likewise mourn for what is most agreeable to their nature, in its present corrupt state. The corruption of their nature is itself a principal cause of their mourning, and therefore can proceed from no principle inherent in corrupt nature. It is the fruit of “ the Spirit of grace and of supplication.” 2. In respect of the object for whom they mourn. Self is always the reigning principle with unrenewed men. The inhabitant of Zion mourns also for himself, and while actuated by a principle of self-preservation it must be so: But he mourns also-- (1) For his brethren.; for every fellow-creature whom he sees in misery; even for his enemies if any owl befall them. (2) For Zion, for the Church of God. (3) For Christ. They have a believing view of their own sin as laid upon Christ; therefore they consider every sin they have committed as a mortal wound given to Him. 3. In respect of the subject of their grief, or the thing for which they mourn. (1) For sin as well as for suffering. (2) For the filthiness as well as the guilt of sin. (3) For the sin of their nature as well as of their life. (4) For sins against Christ and the Gospel, as well as against God and the law. (5) For the sins of others as well as for their own. 4. In respect of the fruits and effects of their sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:10-11). (1) Whereas the sorrow of the world excites men to take methods of their own devising to still the clamours of conscience, the mourning here intended leads to that remedy which God Himself hath provided. (2) Whereas the sorrow of the world worketh death, crucifies the false hopes the man had entertained of safety in the way of sin, and, when rising to excess, tends to drive him to despair, the Christian mourning is a happy means of his being begotten again to a lively hope. (3) The sorrow of the world inflames the person’ s enmity against God, but the Christian’ s mourning stirs him up to embrace the offers of reconciliation with God. Being accompanied with hatred of sin, it serves to increase his love to God, His holy law and His service. (4) In a word, that sorrow for sin that may be found in an unrenewed man leaves him as it found him. Godly sorrow, on the contrary, worketh “ repentance, not to be repented of” The person convinced of the evil and folly of sin, and encouraged by a heart-affecting view of the mercy of God in Christ, turns from sin with loathing of it turns to God with full purpose of heart, and from that time forth persists in a constant endeavour to walk with Him in all the ways of new obedience. II. THE THAT THESE PERSONS ARE IN, FOR THE MOST PART, WHILE IN THE WORLD. They are covered with “ ashes” ; employed in “ mourning” ; and under the prevailing influence of “ the spirit of heaviness.” 1. They are subject to all the ordinary miseries of this life, in common with other men. 2. They are affected to a great depth of sorrow by many things which are no affliction to the rest of mankind. They are affected with spiritual as well as temporal evils; sin, the hiding of God’ s face, the low state of the Church, the divisions among Church members, spiritual judgments, etc. 3. They are subject to many causes of mourning that either fall not upon others or befall them only in a small degree. They live in a foreign land while others consider themselves as at home. They run, and agonize, and strain themselves, in the race that is set before them, while others sit still and are at ease. 4. They are often subject to groundless discouragements through the prevalence of temptation and unbelief. III. THE HAPPY TO WHICH THESE SHALL BE BROUGHT. “ Beauty for ashes,” etc. 1. Even while the causes of their mourning continue, they are supported, encouraged, and comforted in such a manner as to afford them a happiness superior to what others enjoy in their best times. 2. They shall be completely, though gradually, delivered from all their mourning, and from all the causes of it. 3. They shall, at length, enjoy all that positive happiness which their natures are capable of. 4. They shall, at last, be fully sensible of all the happiness of their condition, and shall express their sense of it in songs of eternal praise. IV. THE MANNER IN WHICH CHRIST WILL BRING ABOUT THIS HAPPY CHANGE. 1. He is commissioned to appoint these things for them. The word signifies to ordain by a judicial sentence. Christ, as King in Zion, is invested with the highest authority: God has committed to Him all judgment. 2. He is sent to give unto them what He has thus appointed for them. (J. Young.)Beauty for ashes“ Beauty” “ A crest,” any insignia or ornament for the head. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Beauty for ashes I. The well-known fable of the Phoenix is one that has been often truthfully enacted on our earth. Successive platforms of creation, with all their varied life and loveliness, have been reduced to ruin, and out of the wreck new life and beauty have emerged. The earth has reached its present perfection of form through repeated geological fires. The fair Eden, in the midst of which the history of the human race begins, was developed from the ashes of previous less lovely Edens. The soil of the earth is composed of the ashes of substances that have been oxidized, burned by the slow, soft caresses of the very air that breathed upon them--and whose gentle smile gave them colour and form. The building of the world was a process of burning, and its foundations were undoubtedly laid in flames. Its crust was originally like a burnt cinder. The rocks and the earths, the sands and the clays, the very seas themselves are, as it were, the ashes of a long-continued and universal conflagration. But during the long geological periods, by the silent agency of vegetable life working in unison with the sunshine, the work of the fire has been partially undone, and a considerable amount of combustible matter has been slowly rescued from the wreck of the first conflagration. Whatever now exists on the earth unburnt is owing to the wonderful co-operation of plant life and solar light. These two forces have given to us all the beauty which now spreads over the ashes of the world. Nay, the very ashes of the earth themselves contribute in the most marvellous manner to its beauty. How much does the scenery of our world owe to its picturesque rocks, and sandy deserts, and lonely seas, which, as we have seen, are but the ashes of the primeval fire! What wonderful beauty God has brought out of water! It is strange to think of water being the ashes of a conflagration--the snow on the mountain-top, the foam of the waterfall, the cloud of glory in the heavens, the dewdrop in the eye of the daisy. Without the intervention of vegetable life at all, God has thus directly, from the objects themselves, given beauty for ashes. He might have made these ashes of our globe as repulsive to the sight as the blackened relics of forest and plain, over which the prairie fire has swept, while, at the same time, they might have subserved all their ends and uses. But He has, instead, clothed them with incomparable majesty and loveliness, so that they minister most richly to our admiration and enjoyment; and some of the noblest conceptions of the human mind have been borrowed from their varied chambers of imagery. 2. Like the old processes of nature are the new ones that take place still. Out of the ashes of the local conflagration that has reduced the fields and forests to one uniform blackened waste comes forth the beauty of greener fields and forests of species unknown there before. Very strikingly is this seen on the dry hill-sides of the Sierra Nevada, covered with dense scrub which is often swept by fire. All the trees in the groves of pine that grow on these hill-sides, however unequal in size, are of the same age, and the cones which they produce are persistent, and never discharge their seeds until the tree or the branch to which they belong dies. Consequently, when one of the groves is destroyed by fire, the burning of the trees causes the scales of the cones to open, and the seed which they contain is scattered profusely upon the ground; and on the bare, blackened site of the old grove a young, green plantation of similar pines springs forth. This curious adaptation explains the remarkable circumstance that all the trees of the grove are of the same age. In an equally remarkable way the fires in the Australian bush, which are so destructive to the forests of that country, are made the very means of reproducing the vegetation. 3. Another illustration of the principle may be derived from volcanic regions. No scenes of earth are lovelier than those which are subjected to the frequent destructive action of volcanoes. The Bay of Naples is confessedly one of those spots in which scenic beauty has culminated. And yet this second Eden is the creation of volcanic fires. No soil is so fertile as crumbling lava and volcanic ashes. The destroyer of the fields and gardens is thus the renovator The ashes of the burning that has devastated homestead and vineyard reappear in the delicate clusters of the grape, and the vivid verdure of the vine-leaves which embower a new home of happiness on the site. 4. And--a case of extremes meeting--frost has the same effect as fire. No meadows are greener, no corn-fields more luxuriant, than those which spread over the soft that has been formed by the attrition of ancient glaciers. The cedars of Lebanon grow On the moraines left behind by ice-streams that had sculptured the mountains into their present shape; and over the ranges of the Sierra Nevada, the coniferous forests, the noblest and most beautiful on earth, are spread in long, curving bands, braided together into lace-like patterns of charming variety--an arrangement determined by the course of ancient glaciers, upon whose moraines all the forests of the Nevada are growing, and whose varied distribution over curves and ridges and high rolling plateaus, the trees have faithfully followed. Elsewhere throughout the world pine-woods usually grow, not on soil produced by the slow weathering of the atmosphere, but by the direct mechanical action of glaciers, which crushed and ground it from the solid rocks of mountain ranges, and in their slow recession at the end of the glacial period, left it spread out in beds available for tree-growth. 5. Is there not beauty for ashes, when the starchy matter which gives the grey colour to the lichen is changed by the winter rains into chlorophyl, and the dry, lifeless, parchment-like substance becomes a bright green pliable rosette, as remarkable for the elegance of its form as for the vividness of its colour? Does not the corn of wheat, when God, as Ezekiel strikingly says, “ calls” for it and increases it, develop out of the grey ashes that wrap round and preserve the embers of its life, the long spears of bright verdure which pierce through: the dark wintry soil up to the sunshine and the blue air of heaven? All the beauty, of the green fields and woods, springing from the root, or the seed, or the weed, in produced from the ashes of previous vegetation. Some plants are found only where something has been burnt. Farmers say that wood ashes will cause the dormant white clover to spring up; and fields treated in this manner will suddenly be transfigured with the fragrant bloom. A lovely little moss, whose seed-vessels, by the twisting and untwisting of their stems, indicate the changes of the weather like a barometer, grows on moors and in woods in spots where fires have been; and it covers with its bright green verdure the sites of buildings, marking with its soft, delicate cushions where the hearthstone had been. From its fondness for growing in such places, it is known in France by the familiar name of La Charbonniere. After the great London fire, a species of mustard grew up on every side, covering with its yellow blossoms the charred ruins and the recently exposed soil strewn with ashes; and, as if to show some curious affinity between the conflagration of cities and the mustard tribe, after the more recent burning of Moscow, another species of the same family made its appearance among the ruins, and is still to be met with in the neighbourhood of that city. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)Beauty for ashes: Judaism Out of the ashes of the burnt-offering all the beauty of the Hebrew faith emanated. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)Beauty for ashes: the atonement How expressive was this type of the atoning death of the Son of God! The Victim in His case too was reduced to ashes. We see as clearly on the cross on which was stretched His lifeless body, that the work of atonement was finished, and that a complete satisfaction had been made to God for human sin, as the priest saw in the ashes on the altar how entirely the sacrifice had met with the Divine approval and acceptance. As the ashes were laid beside the altar for a while, so the body of Jesus remained upon the cross some time after death, exposed to the idle and mocking gaze of the multitude, but most precious in the sight of Him whose law He had magnified and made honourable by His obedience unto death. As the ashes, further, were placed on the east side of the altar, because from that quarter the bright light of the morning sun arose--a natural symbolism common to nearly all religions, Christians, Mohammedans, and Pagans alike turning to the east in prayer, and laying their dead and building their sacred shrines in that direction--so the Sun of Righteousness rose from that point of the compass, and cast back the light of the glory of the resurrection upon all the incidents and circumstances of His death. The radiance of the rising sun shone on the ashes beside the Jewish altar, making it manifest that the lamb had been entirely consumed; the sun rose upon the morning of the Sabbath after Christ’ s crucifixion upon a cross from which the slain Lamb of God had been taken away, and upon a sepulchre nigh at hand, wherein had lain the body of Him who was the end of the law for righteousness. And, lastly, as the Jewish priests carried the ashes of the sacrifice without the camp into a clean place, so the body of Jesus was laid outside the city of Jerusalem in a new sepulchre wherein no man had ever before been laid. His grave was in a garden which was close to Golgotha, where He was crucified. Truly God gave great beauty for ashes in that garden sepulchre! (H. Macmillan, D. D.)Beauty for ashes: sin and grave To the sinner who repents and believes in this great atoning Sacrifice, God gives beauty for ashes. Sin is an infringement of God’ s law of order, through which alone all the brightness and variety of life can be evolved. It disintegrates, decomposes, reduces to ashes. Its great characteristic is its wearisome sameness and monotony, a dreary movement without variety from iniquity to iniquity. It is a defacement and destruction passing over the soul and life of man, like an earthquake over a city, overthrowing into one common heap of similar ruins all the fair variety of its architecture; or like a fire through a forest, reducing all the multitudinous life and variety of vegetation to the same uniform dreary level of black cinders and grey ashes, on which no dew falls, and oh which the sun itself shines with a ghastly and mocking smile. Out of this melancholy wreck the grace of God constructs the fresh and infinite variety of blessedness which belongs to the converted soul. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)Perfect through suffering To the sorrowful God gives beauty for ashes. Sorrow and suffering play a gracious part in the moral economy of the world. They are all the furnace in which our evil nature is reduced to ashes. We are laid with the great Sufferer of our race upon the altar and sham the fellowship of His sufferings, and like Him are made perfect through suffering. On the most awful battlefields of life grow the greenest pastures of peace; on the fierce lava streams that have desolated the heart, bloom the sweetest virtues and flourish the peaceable fruits of righteousness. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)Beauty for ashes: death and eternal life The ashes of the dead speak of the greatest humiliation, the uttermost loss, highest hopes extinguished, and noblest ideas perished. The gifts and gains of our civilization have made human life more precious than of old; the results of science, showing through what long stages and by what wonderful processes it has reached its present perfection, have greatly exalted the conception of its importance; the revelation of Divine grace has made known to us that, for its sake, the Son of God Himself died, and what unspeakable issues hang upon it; and the experience of every heart that deeply loves, confirms the truth that in this human life love is by far the greatest and most blessed thing, “ the most Divine flower that Nature, in the long course of her evolutions, has evoked.” And here, in the ashes of the dead, it has all come to an end. Other wastes may be repaired. Every spring, the earth rises in fresh loveliness from the baptism of the autumnal fire. But what shall repair the waste of human death? To the pagan all was hopeless! Even the Hebrew faith itself could scarcely imagine that any conscious beauty could ever come from such ashes; and its helpless cry ascended up to the pitiless heaven, “ Wilt Thou show wonders to the dead?” And, in our days, cruel science comes and employs all its strength in ruthlessly rolling a great stone to the mouth of the sepulchre. But the Christian religion assures us that for the ashes of our dead we shall yet have immortal beauty. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)Beauty for ashes I. WHO GIVES THIS WORD? It comes from Him who said, “ The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me;” “ He hath sent Me to bind up the broken.hearted.” Now, in a subordinate sense, Christian ministers have the Spirit of God resting upon them, and they are sent to bind up the broken-hearted; but they can only do so in the name of Jesus, and in strength given from Him. This word is not spoken by them, nor by prophets or apostles either, but by the great Lord and Master of apostles and prophets, and ministers, even by Jesus Christ Himself. If He declares that He will comfort us, then we may rest assured we shall be comforted! The stars in His right hand may fail to penetrate the darkness, but the rising of the Sun of Righteousness effectually scatters the gloom. If the Consolation of Israel Himself comes forth for the uplifting of His downcast people, then their doubts and tears may well fly apace, since His presence is light and peace. But who is this anointed One who comes to comfort mourners? 1. He is described in the preface to the text as a preacher. Remember what kind of preacher Jesus was. “ Never man spake like this Man.” He was a son of consolation indeed. It was said of Him, “ A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench.” 2. In addition to His being a preacher, He is described as a physician. “ He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted.” Some hearts want more than words. The wounds are deep, they are not flesh cuts, but horrible gashes which lay bare the bone, and threaten ere long to kill unless they be skilfully closed. It is, therefore, a great joy to know that the generous Friend who, in the text, promises to deal with the sorrowing, is fully competent to meet the most frightful cases. Jehovah Rophi is the name of Jesus of Nazareth. “ By His stripes we are healed.” 3. As if this were not enough, our gracious Helper is next described as a liberator. “ He hath sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” There were many downcast persons in Israel in the olden times--persons who had become bankrupt, and, therefore, had lost their estates, and had even sunk yet further into debt, till they were obliged to sell their children into slavery, and to become themselves bondsmen. But the fiftieth year came round, and never was there heard music so sweet in all Judea’ s land as when the silver trumpet was taken down on the jubilee morn, and a loud shrill blast was blown in every city, and hamlet, and village, in all Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba. It meant: “ Israelite, thou art free. If thou hast sold thyself, go forth without money, for the year of jubilee has come.” Jesus has come with a similar message. 4. As if this were not all, one other matter is mentioned concerning our Lord, and He is pictured as being sent as the herald of good tidings of all sorts to us the sons of men. “ To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Behold in the person of the incarnate God the sure pledge of Divine benevolence. “ He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,” etc. II. TO WHOM IS THIS WORD SPOKEN? To those who mourn in Zion. They are in Zion; they are the Lord’ s people, but they mourn. To mourn is not always a mark of grace. Nature mourns. Fallen human nature will have to mourn for ever, except grace shall change it. But the mourning here meant is a mourning of gracious souls. It assumes various shapes. 1. It begins in most hearts with lamentation over past sin. 2. True hearts also sorrow over their present imperfections. 3. The Christian mourner laments, also, because he cannot be more continuously in communion with God. A native of sunny Italy deplores the absence of heaven’ s bright blue, when made to dwell in this land of the fleecy clouds; and he who has dwelt in unclouded fellowship with the Lord bemoans his hard lot, if even for awhile he beholds not that face which is as the sun shining in its strength. 4. The real Christian mourns, again, because he cannot be more useful. 5. Moreover, like his Lord, he mourns for others. He mourns in Zion because of the deadness of the Christian Church, its divisions, its errors, its carelessness towards the souls of sinners. But he mourns most of all for the unconverted. III. WHAT IS THAT WHICH IS SPOKEN in the text to those that mourn? Come, mourning souls, who mourn in the way described: there is comfort appointed for you, and there is also comfort given to you. It is the prerogative of King Jesus both to appoint and to give. Observe the change Christ promises to work for His mourners. 1. Here is beauty given for ashes. In the Hebrew there is a ring in the words which cannot be conveyed in the English. The ashes that men put upon their head in the East in the time of sorrow made a grim tiara for the brow of the mourner; the Lord promises to put all these ashes away, and to substitute for them a glorious head-dress--a diadem of beauty. Or, if we run away from the words, and take the inner sense, we may look at it thus:--mourning makes the face wan and emaciated, and so takes away thebeauty; but Jesus promises that He will so come and reveal joy to the sorrowing soul that the face shall fill up again: the eyes that were dull and cloudy shaft sparkle again, and the countenance, yea, and the whole person, shall be once more radiant with the beauty which sorrow had so grievously marred. 2. Then, it is added, “ He will give the oil of joy for mourning. Here we have first beauty, and then unction. The Orientals used rich perfumed oils on their persons--used them largely and lavishly in times of great joy. Now, the Holy Spirit comes upon those who believe in Jesus, and gives them an anointing of perfume, most precious, more sweet and costly than the nard of Araby. “ We have an unction from the Holy One. 3. Then, it is added, to give still greater fulness to the cheering promise, that the Lord will give “ the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.’ The man is first made beautiful, next he has the anointing, then afterwards he is arrayed in robes of splendour. “ The garment of praise,” what a dress is this! When a man wraps himself about, as it were, with psalmody, and lives for ever a chorister, singing not with equal voice, but with the same earnest heart as they do who day and night keep up the never-ending hymn before the throne of the infinite! AM, what a life is his, what a man is he! 4. Notice what will be the result of this appointment, “ That they might be called trees of righteousness,” etc. The original is like “ oaks of righteousness,” that is, they shall become strong, firmly rooted, covered with verdure; they shall be like a well-watered tree for pleasantness. But the very pith of the text lies “ ,m, a little word to which you must look. “ Ye shall be called trees of righteousness. There are many mourning saints who are trees of righteousness, but nobody calls them so; they are so desponding that they give a doubtful idea to others. Observers ask, “ Is this a Christian?” But, O mourners I if Jesus visits you, and gives you the oil of joy, men shall call you “ trees of righteousness,” they shall see grace in you. I know some Christian people who, wherever they go, are attractive advertisements of the Gospel. Nobody could be with them for half-an-hour without saying, Whence do they gain this calm, this peace, this tranquillity, this holy delight and joy?” Many have been attracted to the Cross of Christ by the holy pleasantness and cheerful conversation of those whom Christ has visited with the abundance of His love. 5. The result of all this goes further, “ They shall be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord,” that is to say, where there is joy imparted, and unction given from the Holy Spirit, instead of despondency, men will say, “ It is God’ s work, it is a tree that God has planted, it could not grow like that if anybody else had planted it; this man is a man of God’ s making, his joy is a joy of God’ s giving.” 6. Another word remains, “ That He might be glorified.” That is the great result we drive at, and that is the object even of God Himself, “ that He might be glorified.” For when men see the cheerful Christian, and perceive that this is God’ s work, then they own the power of God. Meanwhile, the saints, comforted by your example, praise and bless God, and all the Church lifts up a song to the Most High. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Grief transformed There is a beautiful thing which comes out more distinctly if we follow the Revised Version, and read it as “ to give unto them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. There we have two contrasted pictures suggested, one of a mourner with grey ashes strewed upon his dishevelled locks, and his spirit clothed in gloom like a black robe; and to him there comes One who, with gentle hand, smoothes the ashes out of his hair, trains a garland round his brow, anoints his head with oil, and, stripping off the trappings of woe, casts about him a bright robe fit for a guest at a festival. That is the miracle that Jesus Christ can do for every one, and is ready to do for us, if we will let Him. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)The Joy-bringer I. JESUS CHRIST IS THE JOY-BRINGER TO MEN BECAUSE HE IS THE OF MEN. In the original application of my text to the deliverance from captivity, this gift of joy, and change of sorrow into gladness, was no independent and second bestowment, but was simply the issue of the one that preceded it, viz the gift of liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. The gladness was a gladness that welled up in the heart of the captives set free, and coming out from the gloom of the Babylonian dungeon into the sunshine of God’ s favour, with their faces set towards Zion “ with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads.” You have only to keep firm hold of this connection between these two thoughts to come to the crown and centre-point of this great prophecy, as far as it applies to us, and that is that it is Christ as the Emancipator, Christ as He who brings us out of the prison and bondage of the tyranny of sin, who is the great Joy-giver. For there is no real, deep, fundamental and impregnable gladness possible to a man until his relations to God have been rectified, and until, with the consciousness of forgiveness and the Divine love nestling warm at his heart, he has turned himself away from his dread and his sin, and has recognized in his Father God “ the gladness of his joy.” There are many: us who feel that life is sufficiently comfortable without any kind of reference to God at all. But about all that kind of surface joy, the old words are true, “ even in laughter the heart is sorrowful,” and hosts of us are satisfied with joys which Jesus has no part in brining, simply because our truest self has never once awakened. When it does you will find out “ that no one can bring real joy who does not take away guilt and sin. II. JESUS CHRIST SORROW BECAUSE HE THE MOURNER. All that this Joy-bringer and Transmuter of grief into its opposite is represented as doing, is on the man who feels the sorrow. In regard to the ordinary sorrows of life, He affects these not so much by an operation upon our circumstances as by an operation upon ourselves, and transforms sorrow and brings gladness, because He transforms the man that endures it. The landscape remains the same, the difference is the colour of the glass through which we look at it. How does He do it? 1. By giving to the man sources of joy, if he will use them, altogether independent of external circumstances. “ Although the fig-tree shall not blossom,” etc. The paradox of the Christian life is “ as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. 2. There is another way by which for us, if we will use our privileges, the sorrows of life may be transmuted, because we, contemplating them, have come to a changed understanding of their meaning. We shall never understand life if we class its diverse events simply under the two opposite categories of good--evil; prosperity--adversity; gains-losses; fulfilled expectations--disappointed hopes. Put them all together under one class--discipline and education; means for growth; means for Christlikeness. When we have found out, what it takes a long while for us to learn, that the lancet and the bandage are for the same purpose, and that opposite weathers conspire to the same end, that of the harvest, the sting is out of the sorrow, the poison is wiped off the arrow. 3. Here we may suggest a third way by which a transformation wrought upon ourselves transforms the aspect of our sorrows, and that is that possessing independent sources of joy, and having come to learn the educational aspect of all adversity, we thereby are brought by Jesus Christ Himself to the position of submission. That is the most potent talisman to transform mourning into praise. An accepted grief is a conquered grief; a conquered grief will very soon be a comforted grief; and a comforted grief is a joy. III. JESUS GIVES JOY AFTER SORROW. Jesus Christ, even here and now, gives these blessed results of our sorrows, if they are taken to the right place, and borne in the right fashion. For it is they “ that mourn in Zion that He thus blesses. There are some of us, I fear, whose only resource in trouble is to fling ourselves into some work, or some dissipation. And there are some of us whose only resource for deliverance from our sorrows is that, after the wound has bled all it can, it stops bleeding, and that grief simply dies by lapse of time, and for want of fuel. An affliction wasted is the worst of all waste. But if we carry our grief into the sanctuary, then, here and now, it will change its aspect, and be a solemn joy. I say nothing about the ultimate result, where every sorrow rightly borne shall be represented in the future life by some stage in grace or glory, where every tear shall be crystallized, if I might so say, into a flashing diamond, which flings off the reflection of the Divine light, where “ there shall be no sorrow nor sighing, nor any more pain,” for the former things are passed away. When the lesson has been learnt, God burns the rod. But there is another sadder transformation of joy into its opposite. I saw a few days ago, on a hill-top, a black circle among the grass and heather. There had been a bonfire there on Coronation night, and it had all died down, and that was the end--a hideous ring of scorched barrenness amidst the verdure. Take care that your gladnesses do not die down like that, but that they are pure, and being pure are undying. Separation from Christ makes joy shallow, and makes it certain that at last, instead of a garland, shall be ashes on the head, and that, instead of a festal robe, the spirit shall be wrapped in a garment of heaviness. (A. Maclaren, D. D.). Trees of RighteousnessTrees of righteousness Notice some points of comparison which this figure suggests when used to represent the redeemed. I. THEY ARE TREES. This indicates-- 1. That they have life. They are not inanimate objects. 2. That they have dependent life. They are planted in the ground- Their fertility depends on the soil. Those planted in Christ shall be fruitful. 3. That they have a life of growth. Spiritual life is a development. II. THEY ARE GOODLY TREES. “ Trees of righteousness.” Not poisonous or useless objects. The object of trees is-- 1. To afford shelter. They shade from the heat and the storm. 2. To adorn the world. They are the beauty of earth, its crown and delight. 3. To give fruit. They are the profit and sustenance of the sower. Trees of righteousness are all this in the spiritual world. (Homilist.)Trees of righteousness The imagery in the text, taken from trees, is very frequently used in the Bible (Psalms 1:3; Psalms 92:12; Jeremiah 17:8;Hosea 14:5-7; John 15:1-27.; Revelation 22:2). I. IN WHAT RESPECT DO TREES II. Trees contribute largely to keep the atmosphere pure and healthful. When human beings, and indeed all animals, breathe out, there is given off a gas which is injurious and destructive to animal life. But this deleterious air is needful to the life and growth of plants; so trees and vegetation eagerly appropriate the air which is hurtful to us. At the same time the leaves of trees give off oxygen, which tends to purify the air, and render it fit for us to breathe. When the air around us has passed through an extent of leaf surface it is pure and invigorating There is a moral atmosphere, and the presence of Christian people in that moral atmosphere contributes to make it pure. 2. Trees supply many articles which are most useful in commerce--such as food, clothing, medicine. These things, as products in which men trade, tend to the enrichment and general benefit of society. Trees yield timber, with which our houses are built and our furniture is made. Palms yield edible fruits, and a great quantity of oil. And so, like these trees, true Christians contribute in many ways to benefit society at large. Look around on our own country, and notice the immense number of charitable institutions, etc. To what do they owe their existence? Unquestionably to the power of Christian love. 3. Trees are objects of great beauty. Scripture and poetry recognize the beauty of trees, and every one who has any eye to enjoy the charm of the country will readily admit that trees are objects of indescribable beauty. So there is a beauty, a charm, in the graces of Christian character as seen in purity of life, a loving, self-denying spirit which lays out its powers for the good of others (1 Corinthians 13:4-8; Philippians 4:8). 4. Trees are endowed with great strength. There are grand old oaks which have stood for more than a thousand years. A friend told me that an engineer in his employ saw a cedar in Algiers which must have been more than two thousand years old. A writer in the Times gives the following calculation as to the age of the Mammoth pine of California. He says, “ A friend has sent me two specimens of the wood of the Wellingtonea gigantea. Of the timber sent there are two pieces: one a specimen of the older, or heart-wood; the other a specimen of the more recent, or sap-wood.” He then goes into a careful and elaborate calculation as to the age of the tree, and on the lowest estimate, he makes out that the tree was five thousand five hundred and forty-four years old. This long duration suggests how many storms and dangers the grand old tree has had to weather. So true Christians are possessed of great strength. Think of the many temptations, the many severe trials, through which such believers have had to pass! II. THE OF THESE TREES. They are not self-planted. They are not of man’ s planting. “ The planting of the Lord.” 1. Their nature in its fruit-bearing power and in its beauty and strength is given to them by the Lord. How did they become “ trees of righteousness?” Not by any serf-originated choice or act of their own. The Gentiles are spoken of by Paul as being “ cut out of the wild olive tree, which is wild by nature, and grafted contrary to nature into the good olive tree.” Here the scion of the wild olive is represented as grafted on the stock of the productive oil-bearing one; and they are called on to remember that they derive their life and nourishment from the root of the stock, which, being holy, makes the branches holy (Romans 11:16; Romans 11:18). All their life and sufficiency are from Christ alone. 2. The culture, as well as the nature, of these trees is of the Lord. “ My Father is the Husbandman.” “ Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” III. THE GREAT DESIGN AND END OF OUR BEING MADE TREES OF . “ That He might be glorified.” 1. The glory of the Lord and our spiritual welfare go together. The beauty of the flower, the fruitfulness Of the tree, are the glory of the gardener. 2. The glory of the Lord is the highest end which any created being can serve. This was the grand end Christ kept before Himself, and accomplished: “ I have glorified Thee on the earth.” This in the deepest desire of every saint in his holiest moments: “ that God in all things maybe glorified.” (G. W. Humphreys, B. A.)Trees of righteousness The passage takes in the whole family of God. Observe-- I. WHY THEY ARE CALLED TREES OF . 1. A tree is the beauty of the landscape. The Church of God is the beauty of the world. 2. A tree is remarkable for its strength. And there is that in the believer that gives one the conviction of strength. Where is his strength? He is united to Christ--“ Rooted in Him.” 3. A tree is fruitful (Philippians 1:9-11; John 15:5). II. THEY ARE AS “ THE OF THE LORD.” There are some trees that are not of His planting, and yet they seem for a time to be good trees. There is a good deal of outward acquaintance with Divine things, a good deal of outward change; yet, after all, it is not a tree of the Lord’ s right hand planting. It is a solemn truth--“ Every plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” It may look well for a time; it may be fair and promising to the outward eye; but not being rooted in Christ, not bringing forth fruit, it shall be destroyed. But these are trees of “ the Lord’ s planting.” He chose them for His own. And with His own hand He transplants them out of the “ waste howling wilderness, and plants them in His own garden. All the “ trees of righteousness” are transplants. The end for which the Lord did it was that they might be,” trees of righteousness.’ III. THE GREAT END. “ That He might be glorified. It shall be His Glory when they exhibit the beauty of a consistent profession. He shall be glorified especially by their fruitfulness. Concluding remarks: If you are trees of the Lord, do not be surprised if He should take His knife. You must be exposed to storms. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)Trees of righteousness I. HEN AS TREES. 1. As all trees have roots, so have all men. These roots are the principles which lie at the foundation of their character. These principles perform the same functions in the moral organism of a man as the root does in the material organism of a tree. The peculiar business of a tree-root is to collect the necessary food for sustaining the living body of the tree; and for this purpose it seems to be endowed with a kind of instinct which enables it to attract only those substances which correspond to the nature of the tree and will contribute to its growth, and to repel those which are different and would accordingly prove hurtful. Similarly, the principles which underlie human character are virtually the food-finders and life-sustainers of the soul, groping about among the scenes and circumstances and events by which they are surrounded, for such moral or immoral entertainment as is demanded by the nature of the being with which they are connected. 2. As all trees grow by assimilation from within, so do all men. You cannot build a tree, as you can build a house or construct a ship, by mechanical additions from without. The tree must build itself, by a delicate machinery of its own. In the same way does human nature grow by assimilation from within. 3. As all trees put forth leaves, so do all men. They put forth the leaves of an outward profession, not necessarily in words, but tacitly in external behaviour. A man without a profession is an impossibility. If there be vitality in a tree the annual approach of spring will make it bud and put forth tender sprouts; and so if there be vitality in a soul it will as surely clothe itself in a garment of speech and action. And as the leaves assume a shape and tint corresponding to the nature of the tree, so do the words and deeds of men contract a character from their souls. 4. As all trees produce fruit of some kind or other, so do all men. There is an endless variety among the fruits of the earth, but there are no trees that have not fruit of some kind; and there are no souls that are not continually producing fruit, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. II. SAINTS AS TREES. 1. The saints as trees differ from the rest of men as to the kind of fruit they produce. They are “ trees of righteousness, lit oaks of righteousness, a phrase susceptible of different renderings, though the obvious one is perhaps as good as any, “ oaks that bear the fruits of righteousness.” Saints are instruments of holy service “ created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” They produce good works by the very same necessity as an oak bears acorns--a necessity of nature. “ The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,” etc. 2. Saints as trees differ from the rest of men as to the special training or culture they receive. They are “ the planting of the Lord.” Other trees grow wild on the open common of an unprotected and sin-accursed world, enjoying no other culture than the laws of nature and the winds and rains of heaven are able to impart; but these have been uprooted from the sterile soil in which they grew and planted in the garden of the Church--uprooted by the skilful hand of the Great Husbandman of souls, and planted beside the gentle streams of grace that proceed from the throne of God, in some quiet and secluded corner, where they are carefully trained and tended. 3. Saints as trees differ from the rest of men as to the ultimate end for which they grow. Other trees have no end to serve beyond bearing their appropriate fruits, but these have a special view to the honour and reputation of the Husbandman who planted them; being “ the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified.” So does Christ say of saints, “ Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.” (W. Jones.)Tongues in trees 1. One thing which strikes us in connection with trees is their very small beginnings, e.g the oak. The trees of righteousness are small in their beginnings. Faith, as exercised at first, is only as a grain of mustard seed. Grace, as first experienced in the heart, is a very tender plant. Look at Paul, and Wesley, and Whitefield, and many others, who illustrate the perfection that is attainable here. And see what perfection these trees of righteousness may attain hereafter. 2. Trees are slow and progressive in their growth. The concentric circles that may be seen within certain kinds of trees, have come there by the annual addition of one; and in full-grown ones there may be counted as many as a hundred or more. Hence an idea may be gathered of the gradualness of development in tree life. The trees of righteousness are often similarly slow and progressive in their growth. We should not be discouraged because we do not reach perfection at once. Walking is a favourite Scriptural mode of describing the progress of a godly life. The believer is represented first as a babe, then as passing through a state of youthhood, and then as having reached the maturity of manhood in Christ Jesus. 3. Great varieties distinguish trees. Among the well-known kinds are the strong and kinglike oak, the lofty and aspiring pine, the graceful and lovely beech, the timid and trembling aspen, the unsocial thorn, the dependent ivy, and many others. There are equally great varieties within the sphere of religious life. Moses’ nature was equable, Elijah’ s stern, and inflexible, Isaiah’ s buoyant, Jeremiah’ s plaintive, Peter’ s impulsive, and John’ s amiable. And what varieties are met with in the sphere of modern religious life! We may be reminded, in relation to this fact, that we should not trouble ourselves because we are not like somebody else. 4. Observe in trees a dependence on external conditions for their growth and development. In all the stages of vegetable life the influences of the soil and of the atmosphere are necessary to a full and healthy growth. The trees of righteousness require certain outward conditions for their growth and development. Their spiritual vitality is not self-originated and underived. We should therefore not neglect communion with Him who is “ the fountain of life and of grace,” by the means which are intended to secure us these benefits. 5. Notice also the different effects upon trees of the sun’ s powerful influence at certain seasons of the year, and of the diminution of that influence at other seasons. When the sun comes forth “ as a bridegroom from his chamber,” and “ rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race,” as he does in the vernal season of the year, how beautifully the trees begin to exhibit signs of returning life! How they put forth shoots! How they cover themselves with foliage! And how, by and by, they are laden with fruits! But when his influence is partially withdrawn or modified, as in the autumnal season, how quickly there appear the tints which are sure signs of decay. God’ s people are similarly affected by the Sun of Righteousness. When they enjoy His radiant and genial beams, as they never fail to do when they do not interpose their own unbelief, how admirable is the effect! But when the Sun of Righteousness withdraws Himself, or hides His face from His people through their unfaithfulness, then there ensues a period of decay, and even death. 6. Trees arc useful. This is not merely the case with such trees as provide us with delicious fruit, or furnish us with materials for the manufacture of articles of clothing, or supply us with certain medicines, or yield us timber for the construction of our dwellings, it is the ease with all trees. A writer, who is an authority, tells us, “ Every tree in nature makes itself felt in the good it does the air.” The trees of righteousness arc useful. This is the case with all. We may not have the commanding abilities of some, nor occupy the positions of influence of others; but all who are living truly Christian lives, however hidden from public gaze, are helping to purify the moral atmosphere of society, and of the world. And this is usefulness that receives Divine approval. (J. A. Rimmer.)The forests and orchards of God I. THE OF THE OF GOD’ S PEOPLE AND OF THEIR TO HIM. “ Trees.” II. THE MANNER IN WHICH THIS IS TO BECOME THE OF MEN. “ The planting of the Lord.” God is His own gardener, and those who would know the blessedness of being “ God’ s husbandry” are to be in all things submitted to God’ s hand. 1. God chooses the position in which His trees are to be planted. 2. He hides the roots in life-giving soil. 3. He visits our life with the renewing power of His own life. “ As the rain cometh down and watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud,” so is the operation of the Holy Spirit upon the inner life of those who “ ask the Father” that it may be so. III. THE GREAT PURPOSE WHICH THIS IS TO SERVE. “ That He might be glorified.” Christians are called to increase the honour of the Divine name. 1. In the spiritual condition of their” own life. Trees of righteousness must exhibit, the beauty, and symmetry of a rightly-formed and healthily-developed spiritual life.. 2. This character has to be shown as the most truly living thing the world contains.. If you erect a building and fill it with industrious or noisy people, and by the side, of it plant a few elm trees, you will find that “ life’ s little day ebbs out” from within the house, that even the building crumbles towards decay, and that the trees, living and increasing in force of life, will run their roots beneath and through the foundations until they have warped the whole structure and brought it to its overthrow. One has standing room for its lifeless form on the earth, the other lives, and therefore overcomes. And the Christian has to show the world that though it may erect the sturdiest structures out of itself, there is a mightier presence in the character of godliness which by roots of living union gathers its power from Christ, and which will overthrow resistance and establish itself with the calm irresistibleness of eternal life planted and watched over by the almighty and unchangeable God. 3. Trees of righteousness must cause men to taste the fruit of righteousness and to live under its shadow. We all love shadow. None would like to be deprived of its beauty or of its refreshment. And even to think afar off of some fruit-trees is to experience real pleasure. Oh! for the spirit of Christ to dwell in us so richly that to have our society would be like walking beneath thickly overhanging trees in the noontide heat, or roaming at will in a well watered garden, and would cause men to give ungrudging testimony that Christian character was earth’ s true similitude of heaven. (W. H. Jackson.)“ Trees of righteousness Keeping to the natural figure under which the thing of God in man are described, these must be trees of beauty and symmetry, developed equally on all sides, with timber, twig, and foliage answering to the ideal in a mind which knows what a perfect tree would be. (W. H. Jackson.) Isaiah 61:4 And they shall build the old wastes Building the old wastes There are many wastes in the world, and there are all sorts of them. But of all sad and melancholy waste places, there is none so melancholy, so terrible, so desperate as a waste soul--a soul in which there is no sense of right and wrong in the tribunal of conscience; a soul where there is no distinct, manly, nobly inspiring purpose for spending and occupying life; a soul in which the mind is not instructed or Fed with useful knowledge, but which lies fallow; a soul where the heart is a cage of unclean birds. I. As to THE METHODS of building up these waste places. Let us honestly confess that there are many of them, and none of them to be despised; and each is to be put in its proper order, and none can be dispensed with--one comes first, another second, and another third. There are in this earth of ours whole nations which may be called waste places. 1. The first thing to be done with the waste place of a great nation is to bring civilization into it; then the soil of the heart is prepared for better things to come. 2. Then many of our missionaries have to form a language: there are many words missing in the people’ s dialect, without which they could not understand the truths of the Gospel. Then when a man is educated, he finds his imagination filled with new ideas; he feels he has taken his place in the great society of mankind, and is ready to listen to the truths which a little while before he trampled under his feet. 3. Another great means of building waste places is commerce and trade. 4. Good government is necessary. No man can receive the greatest and loftiest truths when they are living in a constant state of danger. 5. Preach the Gospel of Christ. II. THE . Whom does God use to build up the waste places? 1. His Sou is the great Builder (Luke 4:18, etc.). 2. Then as His representative, and, so to speak, in His place, His minister, His ambassador, His mouthpiece, HIS witness, the Church of God. Her great mission is to preach the Word of God, and administer the sacraments of Christ. Then there are other ways. The Church must try to enter into all the needs, and difficulties, and wants of those to whom she ministers. (A. W.Thorold, D. D.)Social needs: religious duties Our work is a work of restoration. This message is infinitely varied in its tone. If we are indeed to build the “ old wastes,” we must see what has made them wastes; and we shall find that there have been three great enemies that have done this--disease and ignorance and sin. I. We must bring a message of good news to THE BODY. We must recognize its needs--its need of pure air, and wholesome food, and healthy homes; and, also, its craving, especially in the days of youth, for leisure and amusement, and even excitement. We must meet these cravings, not with the forbidding frown of the Puritan, as though they were in themselves sinful, nor yet with the easy-going smile of the good-natured Epicurean, as though they were the all in all of human happiness, but with sympathy and good sense and forethought, in the belief that they represent one part of the Father’ s will for His human children. II. We must to the full recognize the rights of THE MIND. A Gospel that has no message of good news to the intellect of man is but a mutilated Gospel. Literature, art, science, music, have not, indeed, the last word to say on man’ s relation to God, but they have a mighty and a lovely word to say; and it ought to be the joy of all Christ’ s truest ministers, lay and clerical, to help in conveying such words to the ear and to the heart even of the poorest and dullest. Public libraries and museums, cheap concerts and cheap magazines, arc among the truest weapons of those who would in our day destroy the works of the devil. III. Chiefly must we come face to face with sin, not only with a message against sin; we must have a message of good tidings also to HUMAN SOULS. And when I say “ good tidings,” I do not necessarily mean agreeable and attractive tidings. When Jesus said, “ Repent ye and believe the Gospel,” the call to repent, though hardly attractive, was in itself a Gospel. We cannot build the waste places in England, in morals and social customs, in ways of thinking and talking and feeling, unless we very plainly denounce what is unchristian in contemporary life. The message of the Gospel is not only a soothing message of forgiveness to the sinner who is troubled in mind, nor a tender message of companionship to the lonely and the bereaved, nor a consoling message of eventual justice to the wronged and the overborne. But there is also the voice which convinces the world of sin, the voice which says to society, irrespective of class, to rich as well as to poor, to poor as well as to rich: “ In this and that you are wholly wrong; you are wrong in your expenditure of time, wrong in your expenditure of money, wrong in your estimate of the true prizes of life, wrong in your worship of comfort, wrong in your class isolation; wrong, many of you, in your very conception of religion.” We have, if we are indeed witnesses of our Master, a message of good tidings to all alike, to all classes, to the rich and to the poor, to the highly cultivated and-to the ignorant. (H. M. Butler, D. D.)Antiquities revived I. THE THAT ARE LAID WASTE. 1. Vital godliness. 2. Apostolic doctrine. The sovereignty of God, substitution, sanctity, etc. 3. Loyalty to Jesus. 4. The unity of the Spirit. II. THE PROMISE OF THE SPECIAL THAT TO TAKE PLACE. “ They shall build,” etc. (J. Irons.) Isaiah 61:6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord Israel’ s priesthood among the nations The meaning is simply that in relation to the Gentiles, Israel shall enjoy a position of priesthood analogous to the relation between priests and laymen. It was Israel’ s calling to be a “ kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19:6), and in the latter days this destiny will be fulfilled in their mediatorial relation to the outer world. Although prophecy in general accords a position of supremacy to Israelites in the future kingdom of God, the distinction is, perhaps, nowhere so definitely formulated as here. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)New Testament privileges expressed in Old Testament phraseology Regarding the position assigned to the Hebrew nation after it has become the teacher of other peoples and the leader of their worship, as here declared, we can form no conception that will harmonize with the spirit of New Testament liberty and the abolition of all dividing-walls between the nations,--the prophet predicts New Testament matters in Old Testament fashion. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)God’ s priesthood v man’ s priestcraft When Christ came, all earthly priesthoods were abolished, and of all members of His kingdom it was to be said, “ Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord.” I. HOW IS THE OFFICE OF THE ENTERED? Aaron and his sons are the types of Christ’ s high priesthood and the priesthood of all believers. The Holy Ghost has most clearly taught by this type the order of entrance into spiritual priesthood. 1. The priests become so by virtue of their union with the high priest (Exodus 28:1). And the call of Christ unto His high priesthood also includes the call of all His sons into their spiritual priesthood. 2. In the consecration of Aaron’ s sons to the priesthood there was also blood sprinkling. Christ’ s high priesthood rests on an accomplished sacrifice. What does my priesthood rest on? On blood, too. 3. The anointing gives the qualification for priesthood (1 John 2:20; 1 John 2:27). 4. The qualification of garments (Exodus 28:4; Exodus 28:40). II. THE AND DUTIES TO THIS . 1. To offer up spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2:5). Our bodies (Romans 12:1); our prayers; our praise; our intercessions. 2. It was the priest’ s duty and privilege to maintain the service of the sanctuary. Every believer, being a priest, has equal right with every other believer to engage in maintaining the service of the sanctuary. (A. G. Brown.) Isaiah 61:7 Everlasting joy shall be unto them The everlasting joy We pore with intense earnestness over the words which picture the joys of the future. Everlasting joy. What are its springs? I. THE INWARD HARMONY, THE PERFECT ORDER OF THE BEING, THE CONCERT OF EVERY FACULTY AND FORCE IN THE OF THE WILL OF GOD. That is the peace of God--the perfect peace. The redeemed man is the governed man; the man who has re-found the King who can evoke his loyal passions, and control and direct his manifold powers. This rule, the rule of his true King, has been lost to him through sin. This supreme, complete control of his being heaven will restore. An unsphered planet could be won back to the harmony of its sister planets only by the attraction of their common sun. The King has appeared and claimed His own. We know little of heaven’ s occupations, the aspect of its homes, the modes of its speech, the forms of its life. We know only that the God-man is there, and reigns. He whom we can love with intensest passion, and serve with exulting joy, will meet us on its threshold, will sweep the flood of His attractions round every limb and organ of our being, and thrill us in one intense moment with the sense that we are one, that we are blessed. II. THE FULL VISION OF THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE , the beholding of all that God has meant, and sin has marred, in the constitution of the worlds. III. THE OF THE BLESSED--the joy of fellowship when the struggle and toil are ended for ever--the companionship of the elect and beloved--intercourse with the elder spirits who are before the throne. (J. R. Brown, B. A.) Isaiah 61:9 And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles A blessed seed The children of these persons themselves, that are now the blessed of the Lord, or their successors in profession, the Church’ s seed, shall be “ accounted to the Lord for a generation” (Psalms 22:30). 1. They shall signalize themselves, and make their neighbours to take notice of them. They shall distinguish themselves by the gravity, seriousness, humility, and cheerfulness of their conversation, especially by that brotherly love by which all men shall know them to be Christ’ s disciples; and they thus distinguishing themselves, God shall dignify them by making then the blessings of their age, and instruments of His glory; and by giving to remarkable tokens of His favour, which shall make them eminent, and go them respect from all about them. 2. God shall have the glory of this, for eve:.” one shall attribute it to the blessing of God. (M. Henry.)The life-testimony of the Christian missionary The glorious fulfilment of this promise in its original and proper sense may be seen already in the influence exerted by the eloquent example of the missionary on the most ignorant and corrupted heathen, without waiting for the future restoration of the Jews to the land of their fathers. (J. A. Alexander.)The seed which the Lord hath blessedThe blessed seed I. THERE IS A SEED OR RACE WHICH THE LORD HATH BLESSED. Elsewhere it is described as “ the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16). But it is neither co-extensive with, nor confined to, the descendants of Jacob (Romans 9:6 - Galatians 3:28; Galatians 4:28; Ephesians 3:6; Philippians 3:3). This seed God hath blessed abundantly. 1. With peace. 2. With purity. 3. With strength. 4. With hope. 5. With joy. 6. With that which is the source of the peace and hope and joy--an assurance of HIS love. II. THERE ARE OUTWARD SIGNS BY WHICH THOSE WHO BELONG TO THE SEED WHICH THE LORD HATH BLESSED MAY BE KNOWN. God has distinguished HIS ancient people by certain physical characteristics which have survived through many generations and have proved indestructible by all changes of climate and condition, so that wherever any of them are found we may say with confidence, these are the children of Abraham. And there are certain marks by which all who belong to God’ s spiritual Israel are as clearly marked off from their fellow-men. Such as-- 1. Love for Christ. 2. Unworldiness. 3. Consistency. (J. Harris, M. A.) Isaiah 61:10I will greatly rejoice in the Lord The garments of salvation I. Here is a GLAD RESOLVE. “ I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God. 1. Where there is a will there is generally a way, and sad though you be, something is gained if you will resolve to rejoice. 2. It is always “ in the Lord” that we must rejoice. Friends are dying, helps are failing, hopes are being blasted. Rejoice in the Lord. 3. I further admire this resolve because we are by it determining to rejoice “ greatly” in the Lord. If He is worth rejoicing in at all, He is worth rejoicing in greatly. 4. We are bidden to rejoice as to our inmost souls. “ My soul” shall be joyful in my God. Soul-joy is the soul of joy, and there is no other joy worth the having. 5. The joy is in a personal God. “ My soul shall be joyful in my God.” I think the secret lies just there. It is one thing to rejoice in God, the God of nature, the God of providence, or, for that matter, the God of grace; but it is quite another thing to rejoice in “ my God.” II. There are RIGHT GOOD REASONS, the best of reasons, for this glad resolve. “ He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.” 1. “ He hath” done it. We may well say “ I will,” if we can already say “ He hath.” It is because “ He hath” that we will. 2. “ He hath clothed me.” 3. “ He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation.” This is an effectual way of saying, “ He hath saved me.” (1) He has made us holy. (2) We ought also to wear the garment of humility. (3) Nor are Christians properly attired till they are clad with zeal as with a cloak. (4) May we not reckon also among the garments of salvatin that “ garment of praise” of which we have read in the third verse? (5) But chief of all the garments of salvation is the one that is here specially named, “ He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.” But for this we could not know the others; this is both first and last of all. Whose righteousness? Not our own, but HIS. How, then, does it become ours? Just as a garment becomes ours. We put it on, we wear it, we bear it; it envelopes us. Believers are “ accepted in the Beloved.” (6) These garments of salvation are in our text associated with wedding robes. “ As a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels,” just so the Lord has clothed us with garments of salvation, i.e. He has married us. The Church is His spouse. (7) There is a reference here also, though it does not appear in our version, to the decking of the priest. The margin reads, “ As a bridegroom decketh as a priest,” and I believe the Revised Version refers to the garland or tiara that the priest wears when sacrificing. It is gloriously true that we are made both kings and priests unto God. If these robes are festal and bridal, they are sacerdotal too. (8) The closing verse of the chapter, though it seems to introduce another metaphor, is very closely allied to our text, “ As the earth bringeth forth her bud,” etc. It looks as if what the Lord did for His people is comparable not merely to the arraying of the bride, or the decking of the priest, but to the arraying of this our earth, which at time of spring puts on its beautiful array, its garments of salvation, from whose new-sprung flowers the fresh incense rises, as if a garlanded priest were offering sacrifice to God. (T. Spurgeon.)He hath clothed me with the garments of salvationDressed for eternity I. THE SACRED DRESS. “ The garments of salvation.” 1. Garments are used as a covering. Is a garment for the body more needed than one for the soul? Which of us could stand in the presence of an angel without sinking to the ground in very shame? I draw your attention to the glory of God’ s garments of salvation--they completely cover all your iniquity and blot out all your sin. 2. A garment is used to beautify, to adorn. The garment of salvation is an adornment, for it reveals God in you to your neighbours. What can be more beautiful than a man or woman or child who tries to bless another! That is the life of the angels; the life of God--ministering unto others. 3. Garments are used also as a sign one’ s condition or occupation. Monarchs, priests, judges, and officers of state wear robes to indicate their real or implied superiority. Shakespere says, “ the apparel oft proclaims the man.” You can generally tell something about a man’ s character and calling from his clothing. The world judges of Christian people by the garments of their conduct. II. THE GIVER OF THE . III. THE . “ He hath clothed me.” Where is salvation? In Christ, and Christ is in and for us. (W. Birch.) Isaiah 61:11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud God’ s Word as seed The Word in the mouth of the servant of Jehovah is the seed out of which great things are developed before all the world. The ground and soil of this development is mankind, the garden enclosed in it is the Church, and the great things themselves are righteousness as the present inner nature of His Church, and renown as its present outward manifestation. The impulsive force of the seed is Jehovah, but the bearer of the seed is the Servant of Jehovah, and the fact that it is possible to scatter the seed of a future so full of grace and glory is the ground of His festive rejoicing. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Certainty in redemption as in nature As surely as the seed germinates in the earth, so surely will Jehovah bring to pass the great redemption here promised through the self-fulfilling power of His Word (cf. Isaiah 55:10; Isaiah 42:9; Isaiah 43:19; Isaiah 58:8). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The springing forth of righteousness It is a great act that God performs before our eyes during the spring and summer. I. It is a that we see. A mystery hidden during the winter months is being revealed. As Nature hides and then reveals, “ So the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth.” 1. It is a great manifestation of power that we see. We more readily associate God’ s power with vast convulsions; but this is the continuously working and gentle power of the Most High. Mark the consummate case with which all is done. Yet not a sheath is split, not a flower starts from the earth, but it is moved to do so by some power. 2. Is not this putting forth of leaves a great manifestation of mind? Suppose we discard the word “ design ‘ and accept the word “ adaptation,” do we escape from the suggestion of mental action? It is not possible to describe the facts as they appear to us without using language that implies adjustment by means of mind. 3. It is something more than mind that is manifested in the beauty of nature. Beauty is only visible to reason, indeed to the higher kind of reason. Your horse sees nothing of the beauty of the landscape; your dog despises your flowers. The images of all these things are reflected on their eyes as on yours, but they produce no emotion. So that in nature, it seems, special provision is made for the peculiar gratification of the higher mind of man. Surely it must be reason that thus addresses itself to reason, and if reason, then benevolence. II. The prophet sees in this THE PARABLE OF ANOTHER --a great moral and spiritual manifestation. “ So the Lord God,” etc. It is pathetic that he should maintain this faith through the “ winter of his discontent.” All spiritual influences are treasured up, and there is a conservation of spiritual force as of natural. But the preparation is long, as the winter that precedes the spring. How great the joy of knowing that we may help to provide or strengthen the forces of the world’ s true vernal hour. III. Remember that WE SHALL BE (2 Corinthians 5:10). Forces arc gathering within us. When we “ awake, may our surprise, even in respect to ourselves, be like that with which we look upon the new heavens and the new earth! (A. H. Vine.)The reign of righteousness I. THE GOSPEL IS THE OF . The love it reveals is a just love; the love it requires is a just love. It is a righteous system on two accounts. 1. It defends the rights of man. It takes nothing from him but his sin. (1) Every man has a right over his own person. God has given him a body, and over its senses and members he has a sovereign right; and if he does not by the use, or rather by the abuse of this right, sin against the laws, order, and welfare of society, no one but God has any authority to take it away. But, alas! man is often robbed of his original right. There are two systems in the world, which, without shame or apology, perpetuate and sanction the guilty act; slavery and religious persecution. Now the Gospel detects, condemns, and in proportion to its progress destroys, these dark and direful systems. (2) Man has a right over his property. The Gospel, by prohibiting fraud, theft, robbery, and every form of dishonesty, defends this right. It teaches men to be righteous in the acquisition, the enjoyment, and the disposal of wealth. (3) Man has a right over his mind. And it is the mind, after all, that gives value to man. But it is injured, enslaved by ignorance, error and the world. For there is a slavery darker and deeper than that which tortures the flesh. A mind in chains is the greatest injustice and the greatest distress in the universe. It is painful to think how little real advantage the souls of men have derived from civilization, and its attendant blessings. There is nothing on earth that can give purity, freedom, righteousness, and comfort to the soul, except the truth and spirit of Christ. “ If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” 2. The Gospel also reveals a righteousness which God has provided for man as a guilty and lost sinner. It shows that God can save transgressors without transgressing Himself the eternal laws and the general interests of His government. To show this is its peculiar use. The chief object of the Gospel is not to prove that there is love in God, but to show the nature and extent of that love. Natural religion preaches the benevolence of God; revealed religion preaches the justice of His benevolence. The creation proves the existence of God’ s perfections; the cross of Christ harmonizes them. II. THE SPIRIT OF GOD ALONE CAN RENDER THIS SYSTEM AND IN THE WORLD. “ The Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” The process by which this is to be accomplished is figuratively described in the text: “ As the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,” so the Lord God will make the Gospel effectual to the salvation of men. The process is Divine, vivifying, progressive, and beautiful. (Caleb Morris.)Spring I. THE OF SPRING TEACHES THAT THERE IS A GOD. There is an invisible Creator, a reflection of whose thoughts and a product of whose power are all these magic spring wonders. II. Another lesson which spring particularly teaches is that THERE ARE SEASONS FOR CERTAIN TASKS. Our Saviour thus on several occasions speaks of “ times and seasons” ordained by God. And the Psalmist refers to this same arrangement when he says,: “ The Lord appointeth the moon for seasons, the sun knoweth his going down. In nature, therefore, spring holds an ordered place. As summer is for ripening and autumn for reaping, so is this season for planting. It is the season for beginnings, the time for casting in the seed. Just such an order there is in the vineyard of grace. There is a spring-time of the Gospel, when all the conditions are favourable to making secure our eternal interests. Let every one heed this period. For it is most critical. It is his accepted time; it it his day of salvation. Ordinarily, the spring season is your youth. But in some cases it, doubtless owing to unfavourable early circumstances, comes later. III. ANOTHER LESSON OF SPRING WE LEARN ALONE FROM . It is that taught by the prophet in the text: “ For as the earth bringeth forth her bud,” etc. That is, as Christians look upon nature putting on her flowery spring attire, and as they see a universal bursting forth of life, activity and joy, they are to behold in this a sign and a pledge of the progress, triumph and universal prevalence of the kingdom of God. IV. SPRING, , TEACHES THE DIVINE ORIGIN AND POWER OF BEAUTY. Does it not fulfil that Scripture which says “ He hath made everything beautiful in his time” ? And we learn therefrom that beauty is Divine. That we live not for blind utility and stern necessities alone. V. SPRING IS AN EMBLEM OF . This rejuvenation coming out of the icy tomb of winter shows us that Nature does not die--she only sleeps. Emerson puts this argument thus: “ The soul does not age with the body. On the borders of the grave the wise man looks forward with equal elasticity of mind and hope. For it is the nature of intelligent beings to be for ever new to life.” (J. B. Remensnyder, D. D.)Spring The teaching is that there is a spiritual spring-time appointed of God, and it will surely come. As certainly as spring comes to the earth physically, so surely will it come to the Church spiritually. I. THIS TRUTH IN TO THE BROAD FIELD OF THE WORLD. Let our meditations range through history and into prophecy. 1. This leads us to expect that there may be in God’ s work, and in our work for God, a period of unrequited labour. The analogy between the processes of nature and God’ s work in the Church holds good not only as to the revivals of spring, but as to the depressing incidents of winter. We must not always reckon to see nations converted the moment the Gospel is preached to them, and especially where new ground has been broken up James 5:7). While the seed is under the ground a thousand adversaries present themselves, all apparently in array against its ever rising from the earth. When we survey the condition of affairs apart from faith in God, it may even seem to us that, our cause is hopeless. 2. Our text excites the hope of a sacred spring-time. God’ s Gospel cannot perish. That which is sown in the garden springs up because there is vitality in it. Even so the truth of God is an incorruptible seed, which liveth and abideth for ever. Life in garden seeds may be destroyed; under certain influences the life-germ may perish, but the living truth of God is immortal and unconquerable (1 Peter 1:24-25). But seed springs up, not only because of its own vitality, but because of its surrounding circumstances. So we may rest assured that Godwill make all things propitious in His providence to the growth of His own truth. But the corn comes not up out of the earth because it is vital, or because of its surroundings merely, for, as we believe, there is the actual power of God at work throughout nature. And it is because God is at work in His Gospel--mysteriously at work, it is true, but certainly at work, for the Spirit of the living God which was given at Pentecost has never gone back to heaven--that we expect the Gospel to flourish. If at any time our mind should grow desponding concerning the progress of the Gospel, it ought to encourage us to remember that the Gospel will conquer, not because it looks as if it would, but because God has declared and decreed that it shall do so. The disheartening circumstances of the winter may have been, all of them, promotive of the success of the spring. Remember what sowing has already gone before. Christ sowed the earth with His own self. Remember, too, who is the Husbandman of this field. Moreover, there is the Spirit Himself, as well as the Father and the Son, and He has designed to dwell in the midst of the Church. II. THIS TRUTH IN TO THE GARDEN TO YOUR OWN CULTURE. As God’ s people you have all something to do for Him; I want you to do it in the best possible manner; but you will not do so unless you are of good heart. Be not impatient with regard to the result of what you are doing. Exercise faith as to results. III. THIS SAME TRUTH IN TO THE ’ S STATE. Do you not sometimes fall into a wintry condition? There are times when we feel as if we had no life at all. In such times as these we cannot make any change in ourselves. What we cannot do, God can do. Spring comes from yonder sun, and so must our revival in religion, and our restored joy and peace, come from God. IV. ALL THIS IN TO THOSE WHO ARE NEWLY . Those very desires of yours show that there is some good seed sown in you. It is winter-time with you; may that winter do you good. Your only hope of anything better than what you arc passing through lies in Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 62:1 For Zion’ s sake will I not hold my peace The Church blessed and made a blessing (Isaiah 62:1-12):--The words of the great Deliverer are continued from the foregoing chapter. 1. He will not rest until the glorious change in the condition of His people is accomplished (Isaiah 62:1). 2. They shall be recognized by kings and nations as the people of Jehovah (Isaiah 62:2-3). 3. She who seemed to be forsaken is still His spouse (Isaiah 62:4-5). 4. The Church is required to watch and pray for the fulfilment of the promise (Isaiah 62:6-7). 5. God has sworn to protect her and supply her wants (Isaiah 62:8-9). 6. Instead of a single nation, all the nations of the earth shall flow into her (verse ,10). 7. The good news of salvation shall no longer be confined, but universally diffused (Isaiah 62:11). 8. The glory of the Church is the redemption of the world (Isaiah 62:12). (J. A. Alexander.)The gradual development of the glory of Jerusalem “ For Zion’ s sake I shall not be silent, and for Jerusalem’ s sake I shall not rest, until her righteousness breaks forth like morning-splendour, and her salvation like a burning torch.” (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The moral illumination of the world I. THE PRESENT IMPLIED OF THE CHURCH. “ The righteous One and the Saviour” (Vulgate). Whenever the righteous One and Saviour are hidden there is obscurity. II. HER GLORY. The burning lamp is a symbol of the presence of Jehovah. Jesus is termed “ the brightness of His Father’ s glory and the express image of His person.” Connect both the figures in the text. The Sun of Righteousness shall go forth like the light of the morning. 1. Manifestly. Light maketh manifest. 2. Irresistibly, as the light of the morning. 3. Universally. As all the earth turns to the sun, all are visited by the morning light. “ Righteousness shall go forth as brightness” in all the earth. III. THE MEANS BY WHICH THE WORK IS TO BE . “ For Zion’ s sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’ s sake I will not rest.” Some think these are expressions of Jehovah. Correct or not, it is a Scriptural truth; it has long lain near the heart of God! Others, that Jesus is the speaker. The world is His purchased property, but His own world received him not. Yet the Father has pledged Himself to vindicate His right: “ Ask of me.” The most common opinion is that these words are Isaiah’ s, as a man of God and as a minister of God. It is proper to be used by all who mention the name of the Lord. Human agency, then, is the means employed. In providence God helps man by man. In grace the same. The Word of God is to be carried and held forth as light. The text indicates the manner also. 1. It shall be consistent--prayer and exertion. “ Not hold my peace, not rest.” 2. Affectionate exertions also--from a principle of love. “ For Zion’ s sake.” 3. Persevering. “ Until the righteousness go forth.” (J. Summerfield, M. A.)The extension of the Gospel I. THE OF THE GOSPEL AS APPLIED TO YOUR OWN SOULS. Two inclusive blessings, righteousness and salvation. II. THE OF THIS THE EARTH. It is evident that it is in the promise of God that it shall be so, because it is made the subject of the persevering intercession of Christ. “ For Zion’ s sake will I,” etc. III. THE GROUND OF OUR FOR THE OF THIS . What can be stronger? It is the grace of the intercession of the Son of God. (C. Bridges, M. A.)Divine unrest (with Isaiah 62:6-7):-- I. THE CAUSE OF DIVINE UNREST. The needs of the Church, Zion; the condition of the city, Jerusalem. It is in the lack of “ righteousness,” the need of “ salvation.” This is still true of our Churches and cities. The sin is pro found, the sorrow unfathomable. Yet there is not total darkness. There is twilight; but all the Divine yearning is, that the twilight may brighten into noon. II. THE NATURE OF THIS DIVINE UNREST. It is not chiefly that of indignation at wrong, but it is the unrest of anxiety for others, the unrest of pity. It is-- 1. Unselfish. 2. Universal. Even God will share it. III. THE OF THIS DIVINE UNREST. 1. In loud human proclamation of the truth. 2. In prayer to God. 3. In God’ s unrest, in which He gives Jesus to save and bless. Christ’ s piercing cry of grief, “ O Jerusalem,” utters the unrest in God. Learn-- (1) The remedy for all the unrest of the universe. “ Righteousness,” “ Salvation.” (2) The opportunity good men have for communion with God. Be unhappy because of the sin and sorrow in the world. Have fellowship with Christ. Share the Divine unrest. (U. R. Thomas, B. A.)The heavenly workers and the earthly watchers (with verses6, 7)-- 1. The preceding chapter brings in Christ as proclaiming the great work of deliverance for which He is anointed of God; the following chapter presents Him as treading the wine-press alone, which is a symbol of the future judgment by the glorified Saviour. Between these two prophecies of the earthly life and the still future judicial energy, this chapter lies, referring, as I take it, to the period between these two--i.e to all the ages of the Church’ s development on earth. For these Christ here promises His continual activity, and His continual bestowment of grace to His servants who watch the walls of Jerusalem. 2. Notice the remarkable parallelism in the expressions: “ I will not hold My peace;” the watchmen “ shall never hold their peace.” And His command to them is literally, “ Ye that remind Jehovah--no rest (or silence) to you! and give not rest to Him.” So we have here Christ, the Church and God, all represented as unceasingly occupied in the one great work of establishing “ Zion ‘ as the centre of light, salvation and righteousness for the whole world. I. THE CHRIST IS WORKING FOR HIS CHURCH. We are too apt to regard our. Lord’ s real work as all lying in the past, and, from the very greatness of our estimate of what He has done, to forget the true importance of what He evermore does.. He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. In that session on the throne manifold and mighty truths are expressed. It proclaims the full accomplishment of all the purposes of His earthly ministry; it emphasizes the triumphant completion of His redeeming work by His death; it proclaims the majesty of HIS nature, which returns to the glory which He had with the Father before the world was; it shows to the world, as on some coronation day, their King on His throne, girded with power. But whilst on the one side Christ rests as from a perfected work which needs no addition nor repetition, on the other He rests not day nor night. When the heavens opened to the rapt eyes of John in Patmos, the Lord whom he beheld was not only revealed as glorified in the lustre of the inaccessible light, but as actively sustaining and guiding the human reflectors of it. He “ holdeth the seven stars in HIS right hand,” and “ walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.” Not otherwise does my text represent the present relation of Christ to His Church. “ I will not rest.” Through all the ages His power is in exercise. He inspires in good men all their wisdom: and every grace of life and character. Nor is this all. There still remains the wonderful truth of His continuous intercession for us. In its widest meaning that word expresses the whole of the manifold ways by which Christ undertakes and maintains our cause. So we have not only to look back to the cross, but up to the throne. From the cross we hear a voice, “ It is finished.” From the throne a voice, “ For Zion’ s sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’ s sake I will not rest.” II. CHRIST’ S ON EARTH DERIVE FROM HIM A LIKE FOR THE SAME OBJECT. “ I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night. On the promise follows, as ever a command “ Ye that remind Jehovah, keep not silence.” There is distinctly traceable here a reference to a twofold form of occupation devolving on these Christ-sent servants. They are watchmen, and they are also God’ s remembrancers. In the one capacity as in the other, their voices are to be always heard. The former metaphor is common in the Old Testament, as a designation of the prophetic office, but, in accordance with the genius of the New Testament, as expressed on Pentecost, when the spirit was poured out on the lowly as well as on the high, on the young as on the old, and all prophesied, may be fairly extended to disignate not some select few, but the whole mass of Christian people. The remembrancer’ s priestly office belongs to every member of Christ’ s priestly kingdom, the lowest and least of whom has the privilege of unrestrained entry into God’ s presence-chamber, and the power of blessing the world by faithful prayer. 1. Our voices should ever he heard on earth. A solemn message is committed to us by the very fact of our belief in Jesus Christ and His work. 2. Our voices should ever be heard in heaven. They who trust God remind Him of His promises by their very faith; it is a mute appeal to His faithful love, which He cannot but answer. Beyond that, their prayers come up for a memorial before God and have as real an effect in furthering Christ’ s kingdom on earth as is exercised by their entreaties and proclamations to men. 3. These two forms of action ought to be inseparable. Each, if ,genuine, will drive us to the other, for who could fling himself into the watchman’ s work, with all its solemn consequences, knowing how weak his voice was, and how deaf the ears that should hear, unless he could bring God’ s might to his help? And who could honestly remind God of His promises and forget his own responsibilities? 4. The power for both is derived from Christ. He sets the watchmen; He commands the remembrancers. And, as the Christian power of discharging these twofold duties is drawn from Christ, so our pattern is His manner of discharging them, and the condition of receiving the power is to abide in Him. Christ asks no romantic impossibilities from us, but He does ask a continuous, systematic discharge of the duties which depend on our relation to the world, and on our relation to Him. III. THE OF THE OF CHRIST WILL SECURE THE OF GOD’ S POWER. “ Give Him no rest: “ let there be no cessation to Him. These are bold words. Those who remind God are not to suffer Him to be still. The prophet believes that they can regulate the flow of Divine energy, can stir up the strength of the Lord. It is easy to puzzle ourselves with insoluble questions about the co-operation of God’ s power and man’ s; but practically, is it not true that God reaches His end, of the establishment of Zion, through the Church? The great reservoir, is always., full to the brim; however much may be drawn from it, the water sinks not a hair’ s breadth; but the bore of the pipe and the power of the pumping-engine determine the rate at which the stream flows from it. “ He could there do no mighty works because of their unbelief.” (A. Maclaren, D. D. Hindrances to the spread of the Gospel Our particular inquiry is, What obstacles to the conversion of the world are found among those who, in different ways, are enlisted in the cause of foreign missions? I. THE DEFECT OF OUR , OR THE WANT OF A HIGHER DEGREE OF . II. THE DIRECT OF WHICH ARE SELFISH AND EARTHLY. III. AND STRIFE AMONG CHRIST’ S . IV. THE OF POPULAR . V. FALLING SHORT IN OUR DUTY IN REGARD TO THE USE OF . VI. THE WANT OF A PROPER FEELING AND OF OUR ON GOD FOR THE SUCCESS OF OUR EFFORTS. (Leonard Woods, D. D.)I. . The encouragements and duties of Christians 1. There are declarations respecting the character and essential attributes of God, as, for example, His sovereignty, His power, His justice, His wisdom, His love; even from which, if we had no express or specific direction, we might justly and safely infer that the Almighty cannot always permit His own world to remain the almost unmitigated form of general apostasy and wretchedness; and that for the sake of His own glory He will cause a vast and mighty change, by which the revolt of the world shall be terminated, and by which it shall be recovered and reclaimed to Himself., 2. There are declarations with regard to the sufficiency and design of our Saviour’ s sacrifice (John 1:29; John 12:32; Hebrews 2:9; 1 John 2:2). That the sacrifice of Christ, of which such is the declared sufficiency and design has hitherto but very partially and imperfectly accomplished its object is plain; that, so long as the world continues as it is, that partiality and imperfection must still continue is plain also; and we must therefore judge that it never can fulfil the objects for which it was originally offered, except in the final effusion of the Divine Spirit among all the nations of the earth. 3. There are declarations in regard to thee majesty and extent of the Saviour’ s exaltation and royalty. As the reward and the recompense of His sufferings, He has been made the possessor of a wonderful mediatorial kingdom, a kingdom in the gaining and maintaining of the authority of which the Spirit is the agent, and the Word is the instrument--that kingdom in which the Spirit, through the Word, is destined to maintain a universal sway (Psalms 2:7-8; Isaiah 9:6; Psalms 62:8, etc.). 4. There are those declarations with regard to the final and renovating change, as we find them expressed throughout the general structure of the prophetical writings. Because He who cannot lie has promised, therefore we believe. II. . 1. There are peculiar duties pressing upon the ministers and other public officers of the Church of Christ. The ministers are called upon to cultivate peculiar eminence in personal holiness; they ought to cultivate an enlarged and most accurate acquaintance with evangelical truth, an ardent zeal for the glory of God, a tender compassion for the souls of men! They ought to give themselves up wholly to their high vocation. They ought to labour with quenchless ardour and perseverance, while prayer ought to be, as it were, their very food, their very air, and their very being. As to the other public officers of the Church, their special duty appears to be the following--exemplary firmness in the belief of Christian doctrine, in the practice ofChristian precepts, and in the manifestation of a Christian spirit; fervent, brotherly love amongst themselves, towards all their fellow-Christians, and especially towards the poor, whose interest they are invoked to superintend; cheerful assistance to the pastors of the flock, in all measures which may be deemed proper for preserving the purity of the Church, and for the conversion of the ungodly; and an earnest endeavour with regard to all departments of Christian character, that they may shine as lights in the world. 2. But there are general duties which press upon all the members of a Christian Church. (1) A careful avoidance of all worldly conformity. (2) The practice of sincere brotherly affection towards all other followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. (3) Increased zeal in maintaining and extending that ministry which has been ordained for the conversion of men. (4) A strong mental confidence in the fact that the change upon which our aspirations have been fixed shall actually be accomplished. There is nothing by which God is so much dishonoured as unbelief. (5) There must also be the spirit of importunate prayer (Isaiah 62:1; Isaiah 62:6). (James Parsons.)Intercessory prayer and the Divine reapers The prophet here tells us-- I. WHAT HE WILL DO FOR THE CHURCH (Isaiah 62:1). II. WHAT GOD WILL DO FOR THE CHURCH (Isaiah 62:2-5). 1. The Church shall be greatly admired. “ And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness” etc. 2. She shall be truly admirable. “ Thou shalt be called by a new name, etc. Two names God shall give her. (1) He shall call her His crown (Isaiah 62:8). (2) He shall call her His spouse (Isaiah 62:4-5). (M. Henry.) Isaiah 62:2 And thou shalt be called by a now name The new name (with Isaiah 62:12):--According to the Hebrew idiom, the name which expresses the nature and character of a person is used as equivalent to that nature and character. The promises of these verses involve, accordingly, far more than appears upon the surface. I. THE NEW NAME THE OLD. In the prophetical writings Israel’ s sins are very plainly described and very faithfully upbraided. The favoured people are called rebels and traitors, idolaters and spiritual adulterers. Upon their repentance, the old reproach is wiped away, and the old appellations are discarded. This is how Divine mercy treats all true penitents and believers. Former sins are forgotten, former rebukes are reversed, former sentences of condemnation are cancelled. II. THE NEW NAME A NEW . The Christian dispensation, by peculiar agencies and spiritual powers, for the removal of the nature and life of men (2 Corinthians 5:17). In accordance with the fact is the expression of the fact; in accordance with the new nature, the new birth, the new life, is the new name. III. THE NEW NAME IS OF A NEW STATE OF FAVOUR AND . Especially those upon whom the great change has passed are the Lord’ s. His possession and property, His beloved and honoured, for whom no privileges are too great and no dignities too eminent. The new name is His name who confers it, and who delights to deem and to call His beloved ones His own. (Homiletical Library.) Isaiah 62:3-5 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory Zion a crown of glory God’ s hand It is only through figurative representations that prophecy here sees what Zion will be in the future; she becomes a crown of adornment, a tiara (the head-dress of the high priest, Exodus 33:4; Zechariah 3:5; and of the King, Ezekiel 21:26) of royal dignity in the hand of Jehovah her God. It is a leading feature in the picture that Jehovah holds the crown in His hand. Zion is not the ancient crown which the Eternal bears on His head, but she is the crown which He holds in His hand, because in Zion He is recognized by all creation; the whole history of redemption is the history of Jehovah’ s taking the kingdom and bringing it to perfection, in other words, the history of the working out of this crown. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 62:4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken A joyful change of condition “ No more shall it be called to thee (shalt thou be called) Azubah (Forsaken), and thy land shall no more be called Shemamah (Desolate); but thou shalt be called Hephzibah (My delight is in her), and thy land Beulah (Married), for Jehovah delights in thee, and thy land shall be married. The joyful change of condition is expressed in the prophet’ s favourite manner, by significant names. The common version not only mars the beauty of the passage, but renders it in some degree unintelligible to the English reader, by translating the first two names and retaining the others in their Hebrew dress. It is obvious that all four should be treated alike, i.e that all the Hebrew forms should be retained, or none. Henderson prefers the latter method, on the ground ,that “ the names are merely symbolical, and will, never be employed as proper names. It is probable, however, that they were all familiar to the Jews as female names in real life. This we know to have been the ease with two of them (1 Kings 22:42; 2 Kings 21:1). It is better, therefore, to retain the Hebrew forms, in order to give them an air of reality as proper names, and at the same time to render them intelligible by translation. In the last clause there is reference to the primary meaning of the verb, viz that of owning or possessing; and as the inhabitants of towns are sometimes called in Hebrew their “ possessors,” its use here would suggest, as at least one meaning of the promise, thy land shall be inhabited, and so it is translated in the Targum. (J. A. Alexander.)Spiritual espousal I invite your attention to some reflections on the Scriptural use of marriage, as a type of the mystical union betwixt Christ and His Church. This tender, beautiful image implies-- I. CHOICE. In all nations there has been the instinctive rule that the initiative choice is not with the bride, but with the bridegroom. Its spiritual parallel is in the declaration of Jesus to His disciples, “ Ye has not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” “ I am jealous over you,” said Paul, “ with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” At the same time all are bound, because all are invited, to “ seek the Lord while He may be found,” to “ choose this day whom ye serve;” then the farther element in the marriage symbol will be verified. II. . You will love Him because He first loved you. It is often observed in ordinary married life, how the mutual love of husband and wife enables them to bear, not only without bitterness or mutual recriminations, but with a greater clinging to, and confidence in each other, the trials, sorrows, and burdens of life. Love lightens the load, when each one, for the other’ s sake, cheerfully takes his or her share. The love of Christ endears Him to the believer, and the believer to Him. III. UNION. Earthly ties of man and wife are liable to many incidents of severance. Necessities of particular callings in life sometimes separate them, lands and seas asunder. Guilt, aversion, insanity, disease and death, often dissolve the union, which once bid fair to be firmly riveted “ till death them should part.” The believer’ s union with Christ is liable to no such disastrous issues. Not that this consolatory doctrine dispenses with the necessity of a faithful, obedient, and devout course of effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and in righteousness of life. The Divine idea of marriage is a united family, basing its bond of union on the unity of its parentage. “ For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother,” etc. True spiritual union with Christ involves an ascendency of affection. “ If any man love father or mother more than Me,” etc. In a deep sense it may be said of Christ and His disciple, “ They twain are one Spirit.” (J. B. Owen, M. A.)Thy land shall be married“ Thy land shall be married,” “ Thy land shall be married,” i.e it shall become fruitful again and be replenished. 1. Her sons shall heartily espouse the land of their nativity, and the interests of it, which they had for a long time neglected, as despairing ever to have any comfortable enjoyment of it. Thy sons shall marry thee, i.e they shall live with thee, and take delight in thee. When they were in Babylon, they seemed to have espoused that land, for they were appointed to settle, and to seek the peace of it (Jeremiah 29:5-7); but now they shall again marry their own land, “ as a young man marrieth a virgin” that he takes great delight in, is extremely fond of, and is likely to have many children by. It bodes well to a land when its own natives and inhabitants are pleased with it, prefer it before other lands; when its princes marry their country, and resolve to take their lot with it. 2. Which is much better, her God shall betroth her to Himself in righteousness (Hosea 2:19-20). (M. Henry.)Monopoly and communism I propose to name some of the suitors who are claiming the hand of this Republic. 1. There is a greedy, all-grasping monster who comes in as suitor seeking the hand of this Republic, and that monster is known by the name of Monopoly. His sceptre is made out of the iron of the rail-track and the wire of telegraphy. He does everything for his own advantage and for the robbery of the people. Such monopolies imply an infinite acreage of wretchedness. Great monopolies in any land imply great privation. 2. Another suitor claiming the hand of this Republic is Nihilism. He owns nothing but a knife for universal blood-letting and a nitro-glycerine bomb for universal explosion. He believes in no God, no government, no heaven, and no hell, except what he can make on earth. He slew the Czar of Russia, killed Abraham Lincoln, and would put to death every king and president on earth, if he had the power. (T. De W. Talmage, D. D.) Isaiah 62:5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin Fervid devotion to a cause It is difficult to see how any real parallel can exist between an intellectual interest or reasoned sense of duty to a public cause or institution, although prescribing exertion and even sacrifice, and the spontaneous, glowing, fervid devotion of a young man to his chosen bride. Say you so? Then let me say that as yet you know not some salient features of human nature. As a matter of fact abstractions, as we call them, do provoke passion; the passion of love and the passion of hate, no less truly than do concrete and visible objects. Millions of human beings have worked, suffered, fought and died for these very abstractions; for a political or social doctrine, for the fame of a fallen dynasty, for the credit of some secret club or association, for a country that has been crushed out of existence, for some wild undemonstrable theory, for some baseless or grotesque superstition, no less than for a true and soul-inspiring faith or principle. (H. P. Liddon, D. D.)Practical devotion to the Church of Christ Isaiah’ s comparison would suggest that the devotion of her sons to the city of God would have three characteristics. I. AN , WHOLE-HEARTED ; a devotion which bestows on its object its best and its all. “ With my body I thee worship; and with all my worldly goods I thee endow,” is the language not only of a Christian Church formulary, but of the human heart in its better mood, throughout all time; and it marks the first characteristic of that devotion to the Church of God which Isaiah saw in vision across the centuries. Undoubtedly a partial fulfilment of Isaiah’ s prophecy may be recognized in the love and service which Israel after the flesh received from a long line of patriot children. Noblest among them were the Maccabees; but they were only samples of a spirit which was shared, in their day and afterwards, by thousands of their countrymen. That temper was indeed too often mingled with moral alloy that sullied its purity. But the men who saved their country from the cultured Paganism of Antiochus Epiphanes, and who even after the utter ruin of their sacred house by Titus, rose once and again to pour out their blood like water in an unavailing struggle with Imperial Rome at the epoch of its greatest military power, were assuredly not men only under the sway of a common or sordid motive. In their love to “ Jerusalem the Holy,” whose name was stamped upon their coins, they surely exhibit the careless self-abandonment of the passion which gives itself without stint to the object of its choice. The Lord had chosen Zion to be a habitation for Himself, and this choice made her, to those who had faith in it, the object of a passionate attachment in some respects without a parallel in history. Now, our Lord proclaimed and founded, within the Jewish nation, yet with a capacity and, indeed, an internal necessity of passing beyond its bounds, a new Society, which was to be more to the intellect and heart of man than the Greek ðḯëéò, or the Roman World Empire, or the Jewish theocracy itself, ever had been or could be; yet which should sanction and satisfy, in ample measure, those instincts of union, brotherhood, improvement, order, of which earlier forms of association among men were the outcome and assertion. This Society, in virtue of its origin, its object, and its compass, He named the Kingdom of Heaven. Certain is it that the Church of Christ has inspired millions of Christians with mingled love and enthusiasm. If we believe that Christ’ s Church, though built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, has for the chief cornerstone, Himself; if we see in her, not a self-formed collection of individuals who agree in following Him, but, as Scripture says, His Body, instinct with His life; if for her He shed His most precious blood that He might present her glorious and immaculate in the realms of purity; then, in making much of her, we surely are doing no wrong to Him. Only because, notwithstanding the sears and stains which mark her sojourn here below, she is yet so intimately His, should she be so precious to His servants;--drawing the noblest souls into the highest paths of service. II. THE WHICH ISAIAH WILL BE . The truehearted bridegroom marries, not that he may win rank or wealth, or public recognition, or any outward advantages whatever., he weds his” bride” for her own sake, because she is what she is, because in wedding her he finds the joy and satisfaction of his heart. It is “ for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health.” So was it also to be with the espousals of the soul. The Holy Bride is wooed for her own sake, and not for anything that she may bestow on those who would win her. III. AND THE PROPHET’ S A THAT WILL LAST TILL DEATH. “ Till death us do part.” Weariness, impaired health, diminished opportunities for usefulness may come with years; but the tie of sacred service to the cause and Church of Christ can only end with life. (H. P.Liddon, D. D.) Isaiah 62:6-7I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem The watchman’ s call The prosperity of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, which teaches the Gentile world through Hebrew channels, depends on two conditions--watchfulness and prayer. To the latter of these subjects this discourse will be devoted. Let us dwell on importunity in prayer. “ And give Him no rest.” I. THIS IS A CALL TO THE , and to a particular duty. Personal devotion will largely relate to matters affecting the individual and the family, but it must not stop there. The Christian must not forget that he is a member of the great Catholic Church, and must bear its burdens on his spirit to God in prayer. II. THE CHURCH ALSO MUST MEET ON SPECIAL TO PRAY FOR A LARGER OF THE HOLY GHOST. III. BY A FEW WE WILL TO ENFORCE THE DUTY. 1. One is the fact that God has promised to meet us on the ground of earnest and constant prayer. 2. The history of importunate prayer is full of marvels. 3. If we survey the situation of the Church, and call to mind the responsibility which rests upon it, our own souls would be moved to greater earnestness. Precious souls are perishing around us; the Cross of Calvary, the love of God, the traditions of the Church, conscience, humanity, the judgment, heaven, hell, beseech us to rescue the perishing. There is but one power that will make the Church of Christ equal to every task which the Master has set before it--earnest prayer. 4. Importunate prayer ends in praise. Jerusalem will be established, and will become the praise--the glory--of the earth. 5. Although prayer in all its aspects is the inheritance of every Christian, yet every Christian is not a watchman. Therefore a word to Church leaders will be in place. Let them look round and survey the state of the Church. (T. Davies, M. A.)The saints’ importunity for Zion’ s prosperity It is a truth which holds good, both in Scripture and experience, that the care of Zion lies at the bottom of all God’ s powerful actings among the sons of men. All that He is and does, in the methods of His common and extraordinary providence, is for the sake of His Church, which is the principal cause and interest; He has in the world. I. WHAT ARE THOSE TO WHICH THE CAUSE AND CHURCH OF CHRIST ARE EXPOSED IN THE EARTH? 1. There are shakings to which the cause of Christ is exposed, which arise from outward violence (Psalms 2:2). 2. There are shakings which arise from inward decays A building will shake and totter and grow ruinous, without any outward violence, if the foundation is undermined ‘ ; or if the pins and fastenings, whereby it is held together, decay. This is the ease(l) When Gospel-truth is perverted or denied. (2) When Gospel-holiness is neglected. (3) When love is not cultivated. II. WHEN MAY GOD BE SAID SO TO HIS CHURCH AS TO MAKE IT A PRAISE IN THE EARTH? To make up this praise and renown there are four or five things. As-- 1. Abundance of light and knowledge. 2. High degrees of holiness. 3. Abundance of peace (Psalms 72:7). 4. A. multitude of converts. 5. A rich supply of all temporal good things. Men’ s natures shall be changed; their corrupt lusts and passions shall be subdued; and all their riches, honour, and power shall be employed for the support of Christ’ s cause and kingdom. III. THE DUTY OF SUCH AS MAKE ANY OF CHRIST WITH TO THIS GREAT AND DAY. “ Ye that make,” etc. 1. This day of Zion’ s establishment and praise should be uppermost in our thoughts. That which has no place in our thoughts and affections will have very little in our prayers. The Church of old deprecated this as an abominable sin; (Psalms 137:5-6). 2. It should be continually in our prayers. 3. Prayer for Zion’ s establishment must be with a holy importunity and constancy. It is not the work of one day, but of every day; the blessing prayed for has every other blessing and mercy in the bowels of 2:4. Zion’ s friends are called to pray and work. The former branch of the verse commands action: “ I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem. It is hypocrisy to ask in private what you would not be glad to do in public. Your time, gifts, substance and lives are God’ s.” (J. Hill.)Spiritual patriotism We propose to put this illustration of Jewish patriotism into another frame. For in the New Testament Jerusalem stands metaphorically for the Church of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 12:22; Galatians 9:26). The rebuilding of the Jewish capital will thus signify in Gospel speech the establishment of the Christian Church. I. A CALL TO . All through the second part of Isaiah Jerusalem is idealized, for Jerusalem, as the city actually was, presented small occasions for felicitation. But the Jerusalem “ the Servant of the Lord” saw was the world’ s centre--the capital of all the nations! It was “the city of the Great King,” and while the power and glory of other nations lay in their armies, their wealth, their population, their culture, the glory of Jerusalem was her religion. Now, what Jerusalem was to “ the Servant of the Lord” the Christian Church is to the Christian; he is a fellow-citizen with the saints, bound, therefore, to be a spiritual, patriot. Only the Christian Church is not limited to one nation. Above all, the Church is a spiritual metropolis among the world powers, a heavenly fatherland on earthly soil, an eternal State established amidst temporal surroundings. Thus the love of a Jew for Jerusalem comes to represent the solicitude of a Christian for the Church. The Jew never forgot his fatherland. II. THE OUTCOME OF IN AND PRAYER. Patriotism is hers set forth under two similes. 1. Spiritual patriots are to be sentinels. “ I have set watchmen upon thy walls, 2. Jerusalem. The godly life is ever a campaign, and spiritual men are “ men with an eye,” as Carlyle phrases it. When others cry, “ Peace, peace,” it is often their painful duty to be nonconformists to a general delusion and to sound an alarm. And how great a result may be produced by the faithfulness of even one man! On a dark night in December 1602, when the inhabitants of Geneva, lulled by peaceful professions, slept, but never dreamed of danger, a daring attempt known in history as the “ Escalade” was made by their foes. The Savoyards scaled the walls, and would have admitted their comrades but for the discharge of the musket of one of the sentries. He fell a martyr, but the crack of his piece brought the citizens from their beds, and the city was saved, while Beza, then eighty years of age, returned to God public thanksgiving, announcing the 124 th Psalm for singing. There is work for our sentinels to-day. 3. But spiritual patriots are also “ the Lord’ s remembrancers. The old State appointment is our illustration. In the Book of Esther the work of the remembrancer comes out in the chronicles which were read before the king on the occasion of his attack of insomnia; and the office, in a modified form, is known to us to-day in connection with our city councils. But there are elect souls who are the Lord’ s remembrancers. It may be that not every Christian has leisure of heart for this full consecration, for these remembrancers are such as make the progress of God’ s kingdom their prime solicitude. Eli could bear to hear of the ruin of his ,house in the death of his sons, but died on learning of the capture of God’ s ark. This is the highest style of patriotism. General Wolfe, in shattered health, led the handful of English that took Quebec from the French. Stricken down just as victory was assured, yet stimulated by the cry, “ They run,” he could just inquire who ran, and when told it was the French, forgetful of his own interests, he gasped, “ I die happy,” and closed his eyes. Shall spiritual patriots show less devotion? It is theirs to exercise unbounded faith in the Divine the text lies in its emphasis of urgent and perpetual prayer. Take ye no rest, and give Him no rest. This is the Old Testament anticipation of the parable of the importunate widow. When a lady appealed to the great Protector for the release of her husband, Cromwell preserved a stolid demeanour so long as the wife confined herself to the proprieties of measured speech, but directly she burst into tears her plea was granted. Prayer is the wireless telegraphy which unites heaven and earth; if only each heart be a “ receiver ‘ it shall never lack a message from on high, and there is always a great “ receiver” there in the heart of our God. III. FOR THE TRIUMPH OF THIS “ THE SERVANT OF THE LORD.” RENDERS HIMSELF . The prayers of the Church and the purpose of Jesus Christ run in parallel lines when the prayer-spirit is deep and real; or better, our prayer and His purpose are two streams that run into one channel with united force. True prayer is not the attempt to wring benediction from an unwilling hand. God is not in danger of forgetting His pledges only His pledges can scarcely take effect in spiritual benediction till the Church is ready to claim her own. There are millions of money in Chancery with no one to claim it; there is boundless grace in God waiting to be appropriated by man. While our prayers co-operate with God’ s purpose never may we forget that all real prayer has its origin in God: it is the Divine purpose struggling for expression in the human heart. This brings us to our point of rest. “ The Servant of the Lord” has rendered Himself responsible for His Church. The proof lies in His Cross, in His intercession, in the wonderful providence by which His Church has been preserved from extinction all along the ages, notwithstanding that she has lived all the while in the midst of foes. While we leave the responsibility of final issues with our Lord, we may share the glory and the joy of being “ workers together” with Him. How clearly this comes out “ this connection! For Zion’ s sake, says He, will I not hold my peace.” “ I have set watchmen upon thy walls or, they shall never hold their peace.” “ I will not rest.” “ Take ye no rest.” The Christ-spirit is thus the Christian spirit; the work of Christ is continued by His Church. Now look at the magnificent result anticipated! The Church is to become God’ s city of light (verse 1). The ideal is developed in the Revelation (Revelation 21:23-24). Whatever light stands for, whether revelation, or brightness, or beauty, or safety, or purity, all these are to find their home and sphere in Christ’ s Church. The Church of Christ is to be first a guiding light to men--but afterwards she is to be as a sunrise to the nations (Isaiah 9:2). For the Church is to be at once the expositor of God’ s righteousness and the channel of God’ s salvation. (J. T. Briscoe.)No rest for God or His people In its present position, Jerusalem is at once a witness for God and a type of man--a witness to God’ s truth and justice, and a type of man’ s sin and sorrow. Prayer to God is enjoined as a means to secure the renovation and blessing of the temporal Jerusalem; and prayer is still one of the mightiest forces which can be brought to bear on the waste places and ruined magnificence of man’ s spiritual nature. I. A WE MUST TO DESERVE. The prophet describes God’ s servants as those who “ make mention of the Lord,” or, in other words, are “ the Lord’ s rembrancers.” Not that they had need to remind Him of their needs or His fulness, but that their business was to bring Him to the remembrance of those about them. II. If we are thus to be the Lord’ s remembrancers THERE IS A DANGER WE MUST SEEK TO AVOID. This is, the danger of keeping silence, of withholding our testimony, or giving it half-heartedly and in a perfunctory manner. There are not a few roads which end at this habitation of “ silence. 1. Doubt. 2. Despair, whether it be despair of ourselves or of others. Hopefulness is as necessary as faithfulness. 3. We shall “ keep silence” if we grow weary in well-doing; if patience gives place to fretfulness, and love of ease cries out against the practice of self- denial; if the crown is longed for while the cross is shunned, and the reaping is desired while the sowing is neglected. III. In connection with all this, THERE IS A DUTY WE MUST PERFORM. “ Give Him no rest.” No rest for the servant, and no rest for the Master. Surely this means: “ Be earnest in supplication.” IV. A RESULT IN WHICH WE MUST BELIEVE. We are to be “ remembrancers” and “ pleaders” till He establish, and “ till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” That He will do these great things we are devoutly to believe; that He may do them we are earnestly to pray. The early verses of our chapter draw a picture already seen by the prophetic eye. Righteousness, bright as the light going forth with salvation, clear as the burning lamp. The new name given to betoken the new nature. The joy of wedding festivity celebrating the union of the once forsaken city- with her new-found Lord and King. Glowing picture this; yet to be fully realized in the capital of the Holy Land, and yet to be spiritually realized in the fulness of blessing which shall crown all faithful labour, and be the answer to every earnest prayer. (W. J. Mayers.)The Lord’ s rembrancers (R.V.):--It is hardly possible not to linger a little over this curious appellation, “ the Lord’ s remembrancers,” given in the margin of the Authorised Version, and in the text of the Revised. Several interpretations of it have been suggested. The original word itself has both the ordinary meaning of one who reminds another, and a technical meaning 2 Samuel 20:24) akin to, though not identical with, that of the English word. By some it is applied to the angels, who are also supposed to be the “ watchmen upon the walls, referred to in the preceding clause. But such an explanation lifts the passage entirely out of the sphere of human privilege and duty, and introduces into it allusions to matters about which very little is known. There may be in it a special reference to prophets, whose functions would naturally include that of leading the people in their supplications to God, as well as that of warning them of danger and inciting them to effort. But there is no need to confine the term to officials of any kind. The entire New Testament is a sufficient authority for applying it to all true Christians. If, indeed, there be truth in the tradition, in Judaism itself it was recognized in part of the sacrificial ritual that every man could be and ought to be the Lord’ s remembrancer. Psalms 44:1-26. describes some of the marvellous things done by Jehovah for Israel in the past, and the forsaken and oppressed condition of Israel in the present; and one of its closing verses is said to have been regularly sung for long in the temple worship--the one in which Jehovah’ s rembrancers, after having reminded Him of their need and of His promised help, call upon Him: “ Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord? Arise, cast us not off for ever.” John Hyrcanus is reputed to have abolished this custom, in spleen at the refusal of the Pharisees to let him reign in peace, or possibly, according to a more charitable conjecture, under the feeling that the idea of awakening and reminding Jehovah involves a defect of faith. The psalm, however, is entirely true to human nature. For when men are tempted to imagine themselves forsaken of God and begirt inextricably by perils, it is an immense stimulus and encouragement of faith to remind God of their needs and of His promises, of their present reliance upon Him, and even (for Scripture warrants it elsewhere) of the way in which His faithfulness and honour are concerned in their protection and deliverance. Jacob prayed in that way, when he trembled at the thought of his brother’ s probable rage, pleading God’ s actual words of promise: “ O God of my fathers, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:. . . Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother:. . . for (again) Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea. Two rembrancings, and between them a little prayer; and of course the result was that, when Esau came, instead of pouring his rough followers upon the struggling and indefensible caravan, he fell on his brother’ s “ neck and kissed him.” David was surprised and almost staggered in unbelief at the prospect of greatness and renown which the prophet Nathan opened up to him, but he recovered and fed his faith by reminding Himself and his God of the promise, and prayed, “ Now, O Lord God, the word that Thou hast spoken concerning Thy,, servant and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as Thou hast said. In this very prophecy Israel first of all reminds Jehovah of what He has been wont to do, anti what needs to be done now: “ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. The result is seen in vision at once: “ Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion;” and so all the watchmen lift up their voices: “ Break forth unto joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem: the Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. We shall never suffer much prolonged doubt as to our own establishment or the Church’ s, if we will only duly remember and exercise our high vocation, to remind God of our perils and needs and of His promised grace and help. (R. W. Moss.)Watchers Not watchmen as in Isaiah 52:8; Isaiah 56:10, but as in Isaiah 21:11; Son 5:7, lit. “ keepers,’ those who guard the city, especially dining the night. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Three kinds of ministers The ministers of the temple of truth, it has been said, are of three kinds: first, those stationed at the gate of the temple to constrain the passers-by to come in; secondly, those whose function is to accompany inside all who have been persuaded to enter, and display and explain to them the treasures and secrets of the place; and, thirdly, those whose duty is to patrol round the temple, keeping watch and ward and defending the shrine from the attacks of enemies. We are only speaking very roughly if we say that the first of these three functions is that of the Preacher, the second that of the Teacher, and the third that of the Controversialist. (J. Stalker, D. D.) Isaiah 62:10-12 Go through, go through the gates The conversion of the Jews I. THE EVENT TO BE (Isaiah 62:11). When the Divine Spirit would attract special attention to any subject, He prefixes “ Behold” to the truth revealed. We have here “ Behold thrice repeated. 1. The nature of the event. “ Thy salvation cometh. Thy salvation is rendered by the ancient versions (Syriac, Arabic, LXX, Chaldee, Vulgate) and the best modern interpreters, “ Thy Saviour;” and from the words, “ His reward is with Him,” it is clear that this is the intended meaning of the prophet. The glowing promises of our text, and the prophecies connected with it, were most manifestly never fulfilled at His first coming. The second coming of Christ as the Deliverer of His people Israel is then the event here foretold; an event yet before the Church (Romans 11:26-27). It is not enough to proclaim Christ crucified to the Jews; we must also proclaim the once crucified Immanuel speedily to appear in glory, to punish His rebellious subjects, and to save His people. 2. The things connected with this event. “ His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.” It is not quite clear whether “ His reward” refers to the reward which Christ receives or which He bestows. Our Lord is to “ see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied,” and He is to be “ glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe.” But I apprehend that the reward which He bestows is here intended (Revelation 22:12). He has also a work to perform. What that work is, we may learn from the following chapters. It comprehends, doubtless, a lengthened series of events. Notice these three--the overthrow of His enemies; the mercies in store for Israel; the establishment of His kingdom. 3. Its required proclamation. By “ the daughter of Zion ‘ is meant the Jewish nation. It is a solemnly announced command to all to tell the Jews of the Coming Saviour. But why should the Lord tell the ends of the world to care for Zion? He foresaw and foreordained that the Jews should be scattered everywhere, that there might not be a spot upon the earth uninterested in or unmoved by their return. It was always the duty of Christians to preach the Gospel “ to the Jew first,” and then to the Gentile. II. THE BLESSED RESULT OF THIS EVENT TO THE JEWS (Isaiah 62:12). The words apparently lead us to two classes of persons to be blessed at our Saviour’ s coming. 1. “ They shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord;” 2. “ Thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken?’ There may be a reference in the first class to the converted Gentiles (Justin Martyr), and in the second to the converted Jews. Through the chapter these are combined, while the Jews arc addressed by the personal pronoun (Isaiah 62:2). In this view, our text would contain a delightful reciprocation of congratulation between Jews and Gentiles. Yet, as the leading subject of the chapter is the restoration of the Jews, and as, in the preceding verse, the ends of the world are to be addressed on the subject, it is rather probable that the word “ they” may here refer to the admiring nations of the earth. They shall call them, i.e the Jews, the holy or consecrated people, the redeemed of the Lord;” and then the prophet himself, as if beholding Jerusalem thus glorious, changes the person and number of his language, and in the rapture of exultation exclaims, “ Thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.” III. THE. DUTIES TO “ WHICH WE ARE CALLED (Isaiah 62:10). Here the inhabitants of cities, where ever the Jews may be, are called to prepare roads for their return to their own land, that they and the nations at large may be ready to receive and welcome the great Lord and King of the whole earth. The general direction is to prepare the Jews, and thus also the Gentiles, for the coming Saviour. 1. Indifference is to be cast off. “ Go through, go through the gates.” The double direction shows the ardour of the Divine mind, the importance of the duty, how dull Christians in general would be to it, and how needful to rouse them by repeated exhortations. 2. A way is to be prepared. “ Prepare ye the way of the people,” etc. 3. A standard is also to be lifted up for the nations. “ Lift up a standard for the people.” This is added not only as a duty to be discharged, but as a great encouragement to fulfil duties to the Jews, by the blessed effect it will undoubtedly have upon all nations. The meaning of this standard will be more clear by referring to Isaiah 11:10-12. A standard is a token ofwar: it is to assemble, direct and encourage the army, and to animate them in proceeding against their enemies. To lift up this standard is to preach the Gospel. But for whom is this standard to be lifted up? “ For the people. The original is in the plural number, “ for the peoples,” and it is by the best translators rendered, “ the nations.” The restoration of the Jews, then, is a part of the Divine plan for attracting the attention of and for blessing the whole world. (E. Bickersteth.)Gather out the stonesClearing the road to heaven I. TO REMOVE SOME OF THE -BLOCKS OUT OF THE POOR ’ S WAY. 1. Let us begin with a very old and common difficulty, the doctrine of election. Many will say, “ Perhaps I am not one of God’ s chosen.” I know not any better way of practically treating the matter than of saying, “ I will go to Jesus because He bids me.’ When you are ill you do not know whether you are ordained to get well, but you send for the doctor; you cannot toll whether you are predestined to be rich, but you endeavour to make money; you do not know whether you will live through the day, but you work to provide yourself with bread; thus common-sense cuts the knot which mere theory can never untie. Leave the subtleties of argument alone, and act as sensible men. Go to Jesus and try whether He will reject you. 2. A deep sense of sin. If there had not been great sin, there would not have been need of a great Saviour. 3. A fear that the day of grace has passed. The Lord’ s grace can come to a man at any time, and at any hour. 4. A tendency to blasphemous thoughts. They should lead you to go and tell Jesus Christ about it, but they should not drive you to despair. 5. The absence of anything like a horrible thought, or a terror, or an alarm. If you arc allowed to come to Jesus without being so molested by the Evil One, do not fret about that, but rather rejoice. There is no need to go round by bell’ s gate to get to heaven. 6. A want of sensibility with regard to their sins. A man is saved by having his heart broken, and being led to cast himself upon Jesus; and if you have not yet received this part of salvation, your business is to come to Jesus for it, not to stay away till you get it of yourself, and then come to Christ with your feelings as a recommendation. 7. “ I cannot believe.” The smallest grain of saving faith will save a man. It is the object of faith we should look to. 8. “ I do not think I can be saved, because I am not like so-and-so.” Do be content to have nothing good in yourself, and to be nothing good, and to take all your good from Jesus Christ. 9. “ I never have any joy and peace.” You shall receive the joy when you exercise the faith. II. POINT YOU TO HIM WHO IS “ THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE” who has already cleared the stumbling-blocks out of the way. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 62:11-12 Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world Who is this? (with Isaiah 63:1):--As in God’ s immediate dealingswith men we usually see the Son of God most manifest, this passage may fitly represent the glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ whenever He has come forth to vindicate the cause of His people and to overthrow their enemies. This vision will be astoundingly fulfilled in the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The fourteenth and nineteenth chapters of the Book of Revelation give us parallel passages to this. The scene before us describes an interposition of the Messiah; the return of the Divinely-appointed Champion from the defeat of His enemies. As it is evidently picture of salvation rather than of damnation; as the main feature in it is that He is mighty to save; as the great and chief element of the whole thing is that the year of His redeemed is come, and that the Warrior’ s own arm has brought salvation to His people; I cannot question that this text is applicable to the first coming of Christ. Then He did battle with the hosts of sin and death and hell, and so vanquished them that in His resurrection He returned with the keys of death and hell at HIS girdle. Then was He seen as “ mighty to save.” I. THERE IS A (verses 11, 12). The commentators as a whole can see no connection between the sixty-third chapter and the preceding part of the Book of Isaiah; but surely that connection is plain enough to the common reader. In these verses the coming of the Saviour is proclaimed, and in the next chapter that coming is seen in vision, and the evangelical prophet beholds the Saviour so vividly that he is startled, and inquires, “ Who is this?’ 1. This great announcement tells you that there is a salvation from without. Within your heart there is nothing that can save you. The proclamation is, “ Behold, thy salvation cometh.” It comes from a source beyond yourself. 2. It is a salvation which comes through a person. “ Thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.” The great salvation which we have to proclaim is salvation by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 3. This salvation leads to holiness; for the text says of those who receive the Saviour, “ They shall call them, The holy people.” 4. It is salvation by, redemption; for it is written that they shall be called “ The redeemed of the Lord. In the sacred Scriptures there is no salvation for men except by redemption. 5. This salvation is complete. “ Thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.” See the beginning of it: “ Sought out,” See the end of it: “ Not forsaken.” You will not begin with God, but God will begin with you. You shall be sought out, and then you will seek Him. He seeks you even now. But suppose the Lord found you, and then left you; you would perish, after all. But it shall not be so; for the same Lord who calls you “ Sought out also calls you Not forsaken.” You shall never be forsaken of the grace of God, nor of the God of grace. II. THE , “ Who is this that cometh from Edom?” The prophet beholds in vision the Captain of salvation, returning from battle, arrayed like the warriors of whom we read, “ the valiant men are in scarlet.” He beholds the majestic march of this mighty Conqueror, and he cries, “ Who is this?” When a soul first hears the proclamation of God’ s salvation, and then sees Jesus coming to him, he says, “ Who is this?” 1. The question in part arises from anxiety, as if he said, “ Who is this that espouses my cause? Is He able to save?” 2. The question also indicates ignorance. We do not any of us know our Lord Jesus to the full yet. “ Who is this?” is a question we may still put to the sacred oracle. Paul, after he had known Christ fifteen years, yet desired that he might know Him; for His love passeth knowledge. 3. As the sinner looks, and looks again, he cries, “ Who is this?” in delighted amazement. Is it indeed the Son of God? Does He intervene to save me? The God whom I offended, does He stoop to fight and rout my sins? It is even He. 4. I think the question is asked, also, by way of adoration. As the soul begins to see Jesus, its anxiety is removed by knowledge, and is replaced by an astonishment which ripens into worship. 5. It appears from the question that the person asking it knows whence the Conqueror came; for it is written, “ Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?” Yes, our Redeemer has returned from death, as said the Psalmist, “ Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption” ? Next notice that the prophet in vision observes the colour of the Conqueror’ s garments. “ Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?” Red is not Christ’ s colour; hence the question arises, “ Wherefore art Thou red in Thine apparel. Our beloved’ s garments are whiter than any fuller can make them. The glory of His purity is such that we say to ourselves, “ Red, why, that is the colour of Edom, the adversary! Red, that is the colour of the earth of our manhood. Red is the colour of our scarlet sins. Why is He red? Although the text treats of the blood of His adversaries, yet I would have you devoutly think of our Lord literally as shedding His own blood, for His victory was thus accomplished. The text sets forth the result of that blood-shedding in the overthrow of His enemies and ours; but we cannot separate the effect from the cause. I remember how Rutherford seems to glow and burn when in his prose poetry he talks of “ the bonnie red man.” 7. But yet the question comes from one who perceives that the Conqueror is royally arrayed. “ This that is glorious in His apparel. The Jesus we have to preach to you is no mean Saviour; He is clothed with glory and honour because of the suffering of death. 8. The question ends with “ travelling in the greatness of His strength.” He did not come back from slaughtering our enemies feeble and wounded, but He returned in majestic march, like a victor who would have all men know that his force is irresistible. The earth shook beneath our Lord’ s feet on the resurrection morning, for “ there was a great earthquake.” The Roman guards became as dead men at His appearing. The Lord Jesus Christ is no petty, puny Saviour. As He travels through the nations it is as a strong man against whom none can stand, mighty to rescue every soul that puts its trust in Him. III. THE ANSWER. NO one can answer for Jesus: He must speak for Himself. Like the sun, He can only be seen by His own light. He is His own interpreter. Not even the angels could explain the Saviour: they get no further than desiring to look into the things which are in Him. He himself answers the question “ Who is this?” The answer which our Lord gives is twofold. He describes Himself-- IV. As a Speaker “ I that speak in righteousness.” Is He not the Word? Every word that Christ speaks is true. The Gospel which He proclaims is a just and righteous one, meeting both the claims of God and the demands of conscience. 2. Our Lord also describes Himself as a Saviour. “ I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Observe that the word “ mighty is joined with His saving, and not with his destroying.” Conclusion: Hearken to the proclamation, “ Behold thy salvation cometh.” Jesus can save you, for He is mighty to save! He has saved others like you. He can overthrow, all your enemies. He can do this alone. He is able to save you now. It is a sad wonder that men do not believe in Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 62:12 Thou shalt be called, Sought out “ Sought out” 1. The first meaning of our text is very clear. Here is a prophecy, that as Jerusalem, having been despoiled her beauty by her enemies, was for a long time forsaken and worthy to be called, “ A city which no man seeketh after,” so, in a brighter day, her glory shall return, she shall be an attraction to all lands, and the joy of the whole earth; multitudes of willing pilgrims shall seek her out that they may behold her beauty. She shall be a city greatly set by and greatly sought out by those who love the hallowed spots where the mighty deeds of the Lord were wrought, and the arm of Jehovah made bare. 2. The text, doubtless, has a similar reference to the Church of God. During many centuries the Church of Christ was hidden--a thing obscure, despised, unknown, abhorred; she concealed herself in the catacombs; her followers were the poorest and most illiterate of men, proscribed by cruel laws, and hunted by ferocious foes Although the royal bride of Christ, and destined to be the ruler of nations, she “ made no figure in the world’ s eye; she was but a little stone cut out of the mountain without hands. But the day is already come in which multitudes seek the Church of Christ. (C. H.Spurgeon.)Am I sought out? In a fuller and more spiritual sense the Church of God may well be called “ Sought out” ; and the like title may truthfully be applied to every single member of that dearly-loved and dearly-purchased family. I. THE NATURAL IMPLIED IN THE TITLE, “ SOUGHT OUT.” 1. If the Church of God has been “ sought out,” then it is clear enough that originally it was lost. 2. We were so lost that we did not seek the Lord. 3. As we had no thought of coming to God, so we never should have willed to return. 4. So far from seeking God, we did not desire Him to seek us. 5. Our being sought out, considering our condition, was one of the greatest wonders ever known or heard of. I have heard this expressed in words occasionally; when a man has come to join the Church, he has said to me, “ If any one had told me six months ago that I should make a profession of being a follower of Christ, I would have knocked him down.’ And yet the thing did occur. II. WE HAVE GRACE . This grace lies in several particulars. 1. That they were sought out at all. It is very wonderful grace on the part of God that He should plan a way of salvation; but there is something more gracious than this generous summons. One would have supposed that after the invitation had been freely given and the preparation for the feast had been generously made, the Lord would leave men to come or not as they willed. 2. But this grace appears even more conspicuous if you consider the persons sought out. That any should be sought out is matchless grace, but that we should be sought is grace beyond degree. 3. Nor must I fail to bring to your recollection, that the surpassing grace of God is seen very clearly in that we were sought “ out.” The word “ out” conveys a mass of meaning. Men go and seek for a thing which is lost upon the floor of the house, but in such a case there is only seeking, not seeking out. The loss is more perplexing, and the search more persevering, when a thing is sought out. We were mingled with the mire; we were as when some precious piece of gold falls into the sewer, and men have to gather out and carefully inspect a heap of abominable filth, to turn it over, and over, and over, and continue to stir and rake, and search among the heap until the thing is found. Or, to use another figure, we were lost in a labyrinth; we wandered hither and thither, and when ministering mercy came after us, it did not find us at the first coming; it had to go to the right hand and to the left, and search hither and thither, and everywhere, to seek us out, for we were so desperately lost, and had got into such a strange position, that it did not seem possible that ever grace could come to us. And yet we were sought out! No gloom could hide us, no filthiness could conceal us, we were found. The lives of some of God’ s people, if they could be written, would make you marvel. The romance of Divine grace is infinitely more interesting than the romance of imagination. 4. The grace of God is illustrious in the Divine Agent by whom we are sought out. It was not the minister; he might have sought thee year after year, and never have found thee. Thy tearful mother, with her many prayers, would have missed thee. Thine anxious father, with his yearning bowels of compassion, would never have discovered thee. Those providences, which like great nets were seeking to entangle thee, would all have been broken by thy strong dashings after evil. Who was it sought thee out? None other than Himself. The Great Shepherd could not trust His under-shepherds; He must Himself come, and oh! if it had not been for those eyes of omniscience, He never would have seen thee; He never would have read thy history and known thy ease: if it had not been for those arms of omnipotence, He never could have grasped thee; He never could have thrown thee on His shoulders and brought thee home rejoicing. 5. Remember that the glory of it is that we were sought out effectually. We are a people not sought out and then missed at the last. III. THE TITLE . How were we sought out?. Let us justify the name. 1. We are sought out in the eternal purposes and the work of Christ. 2. This seeking out, as far as we know it, began by gracious words of mercy. A godly mother told us the truth with weeping, a holy father set us a good example; we were sought out by that little Bible we were taught to read, and that hymn-book which was put into our hands. We were sought out when we were taken to the house of God. We were sought out while the preacher called the Sabbath-breaker, the hard-hearted, the hypocrite, the formalist, the abandoned, the profane. According to our case we felt that he was calling us, and the eyes of Jesus were looking on us, and His voice was bidding us repent and live. 3. Afflictions sought us out. The fever hunted us to the Cross. When the cholera came, it carried a great whip in its hand to flog us to the Saviour. We had serious losses, a decaying business, all which should have weaned us from the world. Our friends sickened; from their graves we heard the voice of invitation, “ Come unto Christ and live. ‘ We were disappointed in some of our fondest hopes, and our heart, riven for the time, yearned after a higher life and a deeper satisfaction. 4. Then came mysterious visitations. It was in the night season when all was still, we sat up in our bed, and solemn thoughts passed through us; the preacher’ s words which we had heard years ago came back fresh as when we heard them for the first time; old texts of Scripture, the recollection of a mother’ s tears, all these came upon us. Or it was in the midst of business, and we did not know how it was, but suddenly a deep calm came over us. 5. But after all, these visitations, these providences, these preachings, and so on, would all have been nothing, if it had not been for the appointed time when the Holy Spirit came and sought us out. IV. A SPECIAL DUTY UPON THOSE WHO WEAR THE TITLE, “ SOUGHT OUT.” If it be really so that you are such debtors to Divine seeking, ought you not to spend your whole lifetime in seeking others out? We are not to preach merely to those who come to listen. Let us hunt for souls by visitation. Where all other means fail, seek men by our prayers. As long as a man has one other man to pray for him, there is a hope of his salvation. (C. H. Spurgeon.)A city not forsaken“ A city not forsaken” 1. A forsaken city! What a picture it presents. Streets once crowded with life, left desolate. Halls once ablaze with light--darkened. Every voice of music hushed, every dancer gone. No man of wisdom to advise. No soldier to defend. No peopled homes. No schools with children. No trade. No port. No active work for God or man. A city forsaken! Bereft, indeed! 2. But “ A city not forsaken” ! How different I with its crowded streets; its marts of trade; its palace of legislature; its courts of administration and justice; its glory of magnificent architecture; its busy river; its turrets ablaze with the glory of their gold; its towers of strength; its bulwarks of defence; its processions of royalty; its merchants; its scholars; its citizens, good, bad and indifferent; its sanctuaries; its slums; its manifold life and stir. Ay, verily, “ a city not forsaken” is a place of interest and power; a place to live in; where the pulse beats; where men feel the blessings of community, and find the possibilities of success; where trade has its markets; where intellect is sharpened, and where extremes meet--the place of the temple, the arena, the theatre, the gymnasium, and the forum. (C. H. Kelly.)The Church, a city not forsaken The text is uttered respecting the Church of the Lord, and is true of every part of that Church. It is descriptive. It is historic. It is prophetic. (C. H. Kelly.)The presence of God in His Church If it was the delight of the ancient Jews to know that the Lord was in His temple in Jerusalem, it is also ours to know that He is with us. 1. His Church abounds in splendour; in numbers; in wealth; in structures. She is rich in schools and universities. Her sons are among the greatest scholars; the bravest soldiers; the most eloquent speakers. She is like the King’ s daughter, arrayed in costly attire, and all beautiful within, having external adornment and internal excellence; but what of all that, if that were all? What if she were forsaken of God? If there were no shout of the King in the camp? 2. But there is the presence of God--the Father in His family; the Captain with His hosts; the King in His city. 3. Having this truth, how rich is the Church of God! It involves the heritage of power, wisdom, love. 4. We will rejoice because, having God in the city, the commonwealth is safe; truth will be victorious; vice will be curbed; crime will cease; ignorance will be instructed; men and women will be saved; children will be nurtured and trained aright; true spiritual religion, as contrasted with mere conventional Churchism, will prevail; the love of worldliness will give place to spirituality of life; there will be honesty instead of theft; truthfulness instead of lies; purity instead of wickedness holiness instead of mere professional Church membership. (C. H. Kelly.)The Church, “ a city not forsaken” by its own people 1. Its numbers are larger to-day than ever. They help to constitute its wealth, to make it full of power; they make its defence stronger than walls of brick and stone; mightier than ramparts. The fellowship of believers; the communion of saints; the brotherhood of Christians is very real. It is found in this city--this Church of God. It is illustrated in the lives of myriads who dedicate their intellect, their love, to it. Verily, this city is not forsaken. Its dwellings are peopled. Its population increases. 2. And more are coming. One day Henry Clay stood on a peak on the Aleghany Mountains, with arms folded, and as though looking into the distance far beyond. Some one said to the rapt thinker, “ Mr. Clay, what are you thinking about?” He replied, “ I am listening to the ontramping of the feet of future generations of Americans. He knew they would come. So we. We rejoice in the millions of our city. But yet there is room. They come. They will continue to come. This is no forsaken spot. It never will be. Desolation does not belong to this Zion. 3. There are good reasons for its sons not forsaking it. In it they have found salvation. In it they have been made joyful. When they were pursued and troubled, it opened its gates to them, and gave them refuge and safety The walls which surround It can never be broken through by any foe; for God is the strength of those walls, and every citizen is absolutely safe. (C. H. Kelly.)Backslider’ s But have not any forsaken this city? The answer is, to their own sad sorrow, Yes! At this hour there are sheep that have strayed; prodigals that have wandered; backsliders that have fallen. They have forsaken purity; they have turned their backs on God. What has the City herald to proclaim to such? What is the message of the King? The proclamation is mercy; amnesty; full forgiveness. The message of the King is, Return. Will you come? The gates of the city are open: Will you enter? You have forsaken the Church; but God has not forsaken you. But, so far as you are concerned, the gates of the city will soon be closed. Take care that you are on the right side. One of our ministers said that one evening, after a day’ s excursion, he and his party were about to enter an Eastern city. They saw a horseman approach at a gallop. Our friend asked, “ Why does he ride so fast?” “ Because,” said the guide, “ he knows that in a few moments it will be sunset, and the city gate will be closed; and, if he is not in before that, he will be too late, and must remain outside in the dark.” It is nearly sunset with some of you who have forsaken the city; soon the gate will be closed; be quick and enter in! (C. H. Kelly.) Isaiah 63:1-6 Who is this that cometh from Edom?-- Jehovah’ s triumph over His people’ s foes A passage of unique and sublime dramatic power. The impotence of Israel’ s enemies to retard or interfere with their deliverance has been insisted on before (Isaiah 41:15 f., 49:25, 26, 51:23, 54:17); and it is here developed under a noveland striking figure. The historical fact upon which the representation rests is the long-standing and implacable enmity subsisting between Israel and Edom. The scene depicted is, of course, no event of actual history; it is symbolical; an ideal humiliation of nations, marshalled upon the territory of Israel’ s inveterate foe, is the form under which the thought of Israel’ s triumph is here expressed. The prophet sees in imagination a figure, as of a conqueror, his garments crimsoned with” blood, advancing proudly, in the distance from the direction of Edom, and asks, “ Who is this that cometh?” etc. In reply, he hears from afar the words, “ I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save,” i.e. I who have announced (Isaiah 45:19) a just and righteous purpose of deliverance, and am able to give “ it effect. The answer is not yet sufficiently explicit, so he repeats the question in a more direct form, “ Wherefore art Thou red in Thine apparel?’ etc. (Isaiah 63:2-3). Not Edom only, then, but other nations also have been trodden down and subdued (Isaiah 63:4-6). In the hour when the contest Israel contra mundum was to be decided, no human agent, willingly or consciously, came forward to assist; nevertheless, God’ s purposes were not frustrated: Israel’ s opponents were humbled and defeated; but human means, in so far as use was made of them, were the unconscious instruments of Providence. And thus the blood-stained colour of the Victor’ s garments is explained: it is a token of Jehovah’ s triumph over His people’ s foes, primarily, indeed, over those foes who would impede the release of the Jews from Babylon, or molest them when settled again in Palestine, but by implication also, over other foes who might rise up in the future to assail the people of God. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The Saviour--God of Israel The image presented is one of the most impressive and awe-inspiring in the Old Testament, and it is difficult to say which is most to be admired, the dramatic vividness of the vision, or the reticence which conceals the actual work of slaughter and concentrates the attention on the Divine Hero as He emerges victorious from the conflict. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Who is the Hero? It was a serious misapprehension of the spirit of the prophecy which led many of the Fathers to apply it to the passion and death of Christ. Although certain phrases, detached from their context, may suggest that interpretation to a Christian reader, there can be no doubt that the scene depicted is a “ drama of Divine vengeance” (G. A. Smith), into which the idea of propitiation does not enter. The solitary Figure who speaks in Isaiah 63:3-6 is not the servant of the Lord, or the Messiah, but Jehovah Himself (comp the parallel, Isaiah 59:16); the blood whichreddens His garments is expressly said to be that of His enemies; and the “ winepress” is no emblem of the spiritual sufferings endured by our Lord, but of the “ fierceness and wrath of Almighty God’ (Revelation 19:15) towards the adversaries of His Kingdom. While it is true that the judgment is the prelude to the redemption of Israel, the passage before us exhibits only the judicial aspect of the Divine dealings, and it is not permissible to soften the terrors of the picture by introducing soteriological conceptions which lie beyond its scope. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The Conqueror from Edom What does it mean--the prophetic Genius waiting, watching, and questioning; the mighty stranger coming fresh from victorious battle, with the robe red as if with the stain of grapes, coming up from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? Edom, remember, was the country where the Israelites’ most inveterate enemies lived. No other nation pressed on them so constantly or gave them such continual trouble as the Edomites. And Bozrah was the capital city of Edom, the centre of its power. When the conqueror comes from Edom, then, and finds Israel anxious and eager upon the mountain, and shows her his stained robe in sign of the struggle which he has gone through, and then tells her that the victory is complete, that because he saw that she had no defender he has undertaken her defence and trodden Edom under foot for her, we can -,understand something of the power and comfort of such a poetic vision to the Hebrew’ s heart. There may have been some special event which it commemorated. Some special danger may have threatened on the side of the tumultuous Edomites, and some special unexpected deliverer may have appeared who saved the country, and was honoured by this song of praise. But every such special deliverance to the deep religious and patriotic feeling of the Jew had a much wider meaning. Every partial mercy to his nation always pointed to the one great mercy which was to embrace all others, to the coming of the Messiah, whose advent was to be the source of every good, and the cure of every evil. And so these words of Isaiah mount to a higher strain than any that could have greeted an Israelite warrior who aright have made a successful incursion into Edomite soil. The prophet is singing of the victorious Messiah. This Hebrew Messiah has come, and is more than the Hebrew Messiah: He is the Christian’ s Christ, He is our Saviour. (Bp. Phillips Brooks.)Christ’ s struggle and triumph Very often now this sounds strange and incomprehensible; this absorption of every struggle between the good and the evil that is going on in the world into the one great struggle of the life and death of Jesus Christ; but it follows necessarily from any such full idea as we Christians hold of what Jesus Christ is and of what brought Him to this world. If He be really the Son of God, bringing in an utterly new way the power of God to bear on human life; if He be the natural-Creator-King of humanity, come for the salvation of humanity; then it would seem to follow that the work of salvation must be His, and His alone: and if we see the process of salvation, the struggle of the good against the evil, going on all over the world, we shall be ready still to feel that it is all under His auspices and guidance; that the effort of any benighted soul in any darkest heathen land to get away from its sins, and cast itself upon an assured mercy of its God, is part of His great work, is to the full intelligent faith of the well-taught Christian believer just what the struggle of a blind plant underground to reach the surface is to the free aspiration of the oak-tree, which in the full glory of the sunlight reaches out its eager branches toward the glorious sun--a result of the same power, and a contribution to the same victorious success. All forces strive after simplicity and unity. Operations in nature, in mechanics, in chemistry, which men have long treated as going on under a variety of powers, are gradually showing themselves to be the fruits of one great mightier power, which in many various forms of application is able to produce them all. This is the most beautiful development of our modern science. The Christian belief in Christ holds the same thing of the spiritual world, and unites all partial victories everywhere into one great victory which is the triumph of its Lord. On no other ground can Christianity stand with its exclusive claims, and Christianity is in its very nature exclusive. In the susceptibility of all men to the same influences of the highest sort, there comes out the only valuable proof of the unity of the human race, I think. Demonstrate what you may about the diversity of origin or structure of humanity, so long as the soul capable of the great human struggle and the great human helps is in every man, the human race is one, On the other hand, demonstrate as perfectly as you will the identity of origin and structure of all humanity, yet if you find men so spiritually different in two hemispheres that the same largest obligations do not impress and the same largest loves do not soften them, what does your unity of the human race amount to? Here, it seems to me, Christ in His broad appeal to all men of all races, is the true assorter of the only valuable human unity. If this be so, then wherever there is good at work in the world, we Christians may see the progress of the struggle, and rejoice already in the victory of Christ. (Bp. Phillips Brooks.)The method of Christ’ s salvation Let us go on and look, as far as we may, into the method of this salvation; first, for the world at large, and then for the single soul. And in both let us follow the story of the old Jewish vision. Who is this that cometh from Edom?” Sin hangs on the borders of goodness everywhere, as just across the narrow Jordan valley Edom always lay threateningly upon the skirts of Palestine. How terribly constant it was! How it kept the people on a strain all the while! The moment that a Jew stepped across the border, the Edomites were on him. The moment a flock or beast of his wandered too far, the enemy had seized him. If in the carelessness of a festival the Israelites left the border unguarded, the hated Edomites found it out and came swooping down just when the mirth ran highest and the sentinels were least careful. If a Jew’ s field of wheat was specially rich, the Edomite saw the green signal from his hilltop, and in the morning the field was bare. There was no rest, no safety. They had met the chosen people on their way into the promised land, and tried to keep them out; and now that they were safely in, there they always hovered, wild, implacable, and watchful. There could be no terms of compromise with them. They never slept. They saw the weak point in a moment; they struck it quick as lightning strikes. The constant dread, the nightmare, of Jewish history is this Edom lying there upon the border, like a lion crouched to spring. There cannot be one great fight, or one great war, and then the thing done for ever. It is an endless fight with an undying enemy! Edom upon the borders of Judah! 1. We open any page of human history and what do we see? There is a higher life in man. Imperfect, full of mixture, just like that mottled history of Hebrewdom; yet still it is in human history what Judea was in the old world--the spiritual, the upward, the religious element; something that believes in God and struggles after Him. Not a page can you open but its mark is there. “ Sometimes it is an aspiration after civilization, sometimes it is a doctrinal movement, sometimes it is a mystical piety that is developed; sometimes it is social; sometimes it is ascetic and purely individual; sometimes it is a Socrates, sometimes it is a St. Francis, sometimes it is a Luther, sometimes it is a Florence Nightingale. It is there in some shape always: this good among the evil, this power of God among the forces of men, this Judah in the midst of Asia. But always right on its border lies the hostile Edom, watchful, indefatigable, inexorable as the redoubtable old foe of the Jews. If progress falters a moment, the whole mass of obstructive ignorance is rolled upon it. If faith leaves a loophole undefended, the quick eye of Atheism sees it from its watch-tower and hurls its quick strength there, If goodness goes to sleep upon its arms, sleepless wickedness is across the valley, and the fields which it has taken months of toil to sow and ripen are swept off in a night. Is not this the impression of the world, of human life, that you get, whether you open the history of any century or unfold your morning newspaper? The record of a struggling charity is crowded by the story of the prison and the court. The world waits at the church door to catch the worshipper as he comes out. The good work of one century relaxes a moment for a breathing spell, and the next century comes in with its licentiousness or its superstition. Always it is the higher life pressed, watched, haunted by the lower: always it is Judah with Edom at its gates. No one great battle comes to settle it for ever: it is an endless fight with an undying enemy. 2. How is it in these little worlds, which we are carrying about? You have your good, your Spirituality, your better life; something that bears witness of God. How evil crowds you! You cannot fight it out at once and have it done. You go on quietly for days, and think the enemy is dead. Just when you are safest, there he is again, more alive than ever. We live a spiritual life like the life that our fathers used to live here in New England, who always took their guns to church with them and smoothed down the graves of their beloved dead in the churchyard that the hostile and watchful Indians might not know how weak they were. This is the great discouraging burden of our experience of sin. “ We look and there is none to help. We wonder that there is none to uphold.” No power of salvation comes out of the good half of the heart to conquer and to kill the bad. We grow not to expect to see the bad half conquered. Every morning we lift up our eyes, and there are the low, black hill-tops across the narrow valley, with the black tents upon their sides, where Edom lies in wait. Who shall deliver us from the bad world and our bad selves? What then? It is time for the sunrise when the night gets as dark as this. It is time for the Saviour when the world and the soul have learnt their helplessness and sin. “ Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength?” The whole work of the Saviour has relation to and issues from the fact of sin. If there had been no sin there would have been no Saviour. He comes from the right direction, and He has an attractive majesty of movement as He first appears. This, as to the watcher on the hill-tops of Judea, so to the soul that longs for some solution of the spiritual problem, some release from the spiritual bondage, is the first aspect of the approaching Christ. He comes from the right way, and He seems strong. (Bp. Phillips Brooks.)The righteous Saviour Let us look at what He says to His anxious questioner; what account of Himself He gives; what He has done to Edom; and especially what mean these blood-stains on His robes. 1. We ask Him, “ Who is this?” and He replies, “ I that come in righteousness, mighty to save.” That reassures us, and is good at the very outset. The Saviour comes in the strength of righteousness. Righteousness is at the bottom of all things. Any reform or salvation of which the power is righteousness must go down to the very root of the trouble; must extenuate and cover over nothing; must expose and convict completely, in order that it may completely heal. And this is the power of the salvation of Christ. Edom must be destroyed, not parleyed with; sin must be beaten down, not conciliated; good must thrive by the defeat, and not merely by the tolerance of evil. 2. The questioner wonders, as the Saviour comes nearer, at the strange signs of battle and agony upon His robes. “ Wherefore art Thou red in Thine apparel, and Thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat?” And the answer is, “ I have trodden the winepress:” “ I will tread them in Mine anger,” etc. It is no holiday monarch coming with a bloodless triumph. It has been no pageant of a day, this strife with sin. The robes have trailed in the blood. The sword is dented with conflict. The power of God has struggled with the enemy and subdued him only in the agony of strife. What pain may mean to the Infinite and Divine, what difficulty may mean to Omnipotence, I cannot tell. Only I know that all that they could mean they meant here. This symbol of the blood bears this great truth, which has been the power of salvation to millions of hearts, and which must make this Conqueror the Saviour of your heart too, the truth that only in self-sacrifice and suffering could even God conquer sin. Sin is never so dreadful as when we see the Saviour with that blood upon His garments. And the Saviour Himself, surely He is never so dear, never wins so utter and so tender a love, as when we see what it has cost Him to save us. Out of that love born of His suffering comes the new impulse after a holy life; and so when we stand at last purified by the power of grateful obedience, it shall be said of us, binding our holiness and escape from our sin close to our Lord’ s struggle with sin for us, that we have “ washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” 3. But He says something more. Not merely He has conquered completely and conquered in suffering: He has conquered alone. He brings out victory in His open hand. From His hand we take it by the power of prayer, and to Him alone we render thanks here and for ever. 4. Yet once more. What was the fruit of this victory over Edom which the Seer of Israel discovered from his mountain-top? It set Israel free from continual harassing and fear, and gave her a chance to develop along the way that God had marked out for her. Freedom! That is the word. It built no cities; it sowed no fields; it only broke off the burden of that hostile presence and bade the chosen nation go free into its destiny. And so what is the fruit of the salvation that the Divine Saviour brings to the souls of men? It does not finish them at once; it does not fill and stock their lives with heavenly richness in a moment. But it does just this. It sets them free; it gives them a new chance. 5. And notice that this Conqueror who comes, comes strong “ travelling in the greatness of His strength.” He has not left His might behind Him in the struggle. He is all ready, with the same strength with which He conquered, to enter in and rule and educate the nation He has saved. And so the Saviour has not done all when He has forgiven you. By the same strength of love and patience which saved you upon Calvary, He will come in, if you will let Him, and train your saved life into perfectness of grace and glory. (Bp. Phillips Brooks.)Mighty to save I. THE NATURE OF THE CHRIST WAGED IN OUR WORLD AMONG MEN. It was-- 1. Voluntary. Christ came joyfully, willingly, and self-forgetfully. 2. Sanguinary. The victory was not achieved without a severe struggle. 3. Substitutionary. The hero was travelling in his strength, and had wrought deliverance from the foe, had saved those for whom he had gone forth to the fray. So our Redeemer came to conquer sin and death, not for Himself, but for us. II. THE OF THE CHRIST IN THE . The victor from Edom was more than a conqueror. 1. He survived the fight. Many a warrior has won a victory, but has lost his life in winning it. Jesus laid down His life to conquer death, but He took it up again; “ and behold He is alive for evermore.” 2. lie subdued the foe. The hero from Edom was travelling peacefully, for the enemy had been completely vanquished, the conquest finally won of lords.” III. THE OF THE CROWN CHRIST SECURED BY HIS GREAT . The conqueror from Edom appeared clothed in glorious apparel and in great strength; there was a halo of glory around his head. In this aspect we get a picture of our triumphant Lord. He assumed the vestment of our poor humanity, and was “ as a root out of a dry ground;” yet He was clothed with the beautiful garments of grace and righteousness, of spotless purity. His crown of glory consisted in the following facts-- 1. That justice was satisfied. 2. That pardon was procured. The full price of redemption was paid. 3. That heaven was opened. (F. W. Brown.)The second advent I. The first thing is to determine the just answer to the question, “ Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? in other words, we have to ascertain who IS THE WARRIOR IN THIS . 1. The only endeavour to refer this prediction to another than Christ, appears to be that which would assign as its subject Judas Maccabeus, because this great Jewish captain who did so valiantly for the Jews in the days of Antiochus, overcame the Idumeans in battle; and if every circumstance favoured that interpretation (and we might, perhaps, suppose that this illustrious deliverer, in common with Moses, and Joshua, and other saviours of Israel, may be regarded as a type of the Messiah), still we could only plead for the accommodation, not for the completion of the prophecy. However splendid the achievements of Judas Maccabeus, there can be no sense, commensurate with the expression, in which the chieftain could describe himself as “ speaking in righteousness,” and assert that the year of his redeemed was come, or affirm that his own arm had brought salvation: so that were it allowed that the prediction had a primary fulfilment in Judas Maccabeus, we should still have to search for another accomplishment. It seems, however, satisfactorily established that Idumea or Edom at the prophet’ s time was a different country from that which Judas conquered. This circumstance excludes Judas Maccabeus from all share in the prophecy before us; and there remains none but the Redeemer of men in whom we can look for its accomplishment. 2. When it is admitted that the prophecy delineates Christ, we have to determine whether it be to an action already achieved or yet to be performed by the Saviour, that so sublime a description refers. It can only have been through inattention or oversight that any have supposed the prediction to relate to the death and passion of the Mediator. You observe that though the Redeemer is introduced as stained with blood, it is with the blood of His enemies, not with His own. There is a little obscurity in the answer arising from our translator having used the future tense instead of the past; and, according to Bishop Lowth, it should be, “ I trod them in anger, and trampled them in indignation, and their life blood was sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My apparel.” It was not, therefore, the winepress which He trod in His agony at the crucifixion, whence He brought these dyed garments; He must have been engaged in shedding the blood of others rather than pouring forth His own, ere He breaks forth on the seer’ s vision travelling in the greatness of His strength. The only circumstance associated with the first advent of Christ to which the prophecy can be fairly thought to refer, is the destruction of Jerusalem at that terrible visitation in which the Redeemer came down in vengeance, and dealt with His enemies with the strongest retribution. Yet, whatever there might have been in the desolations of Judea answering to the fearful expressions which Christ applies to this act, it certainly was not from Edom and Bozrah that He came, when returning from the overthrow of Jerusalem. Of course it was not from the literal Edom, and the literal Bozrah, but neither was it from the figurative. We believe that Edom and Bozrah are here used to denote nations that have been opposed to Christ and His people, and never was there a fiercer opposition than that of the Jews ere their city was destroyed; still it is quite at variance with the rules of Scripture metaphor, that the posterity of Jacob should be described by terms which belong rightly to the posterity of Esau. We may add that Christ’ s description of vengeance taken is immediately followed by thankful acknowledgments of great good to the house of Israel. If the prophecy have reference to the destruction of Jerusalem, how comes it to be instantly succeeded by a hymn of praise for God’ s mercy to the Jews? On these various accounts we do not hesitate to assert that the prediction finds no fulfilment in the events of past days; that the future must be charged with its accomplishment, and that the fearful form on which the prophet looked, the form of a warrior, fresh from the victory, must be that of Christ appearing, as He shall appear, at the close of this dispensation, when He has swept a clear scene for setting up His kingdom, and purged the earth from the pollutions of crime. And to those who are familiar with the prophecies which describe the last times, it will immediately suggest itself, that the sudden transition from the assertion of the destruction of antichristian powers, to the offering up of the thanksgiving of the Jews, is in admirable keeping with the whole tenor of prophecy. It seems clearly the import of yet unfulfilled predictions of Scripture, that the restoration of the Jews to their own laud, that great event on which hangs the conversion of the nations, shall not be accomplished without the opposition and overthrow of the confederated powers of antichrist. If, therefore, we consider the final destruction of the antichristian powers as the slaughter of Idumea, from which Christ is returning, it is quite natural that the praises of the house of Israel should immediately succeed the account of the overthrow. II. Our business is to show THE JUSTICE OF THE which would associate the prophecy with the Saviour’ s second advent. 1. We shall examine what Scripture makes known with regard to the second advent. 2. We shall endeavour to establish the thorough agreement between all we are thus taught, and the prophecy of ore” text. (1) This coming is represented as accompanied by terrific judgements. It appears from the Book of Revelation that immediately before the millennium, the scene that is to be introduced by the coming of Christ, there will be a gathering of the kings of the earth to battle for the great day of God Almighty. This is the confederacy of antichristian powers. We not only find that when Christ appears the second time it will be to take vengeance on His enemies, but we seem to be furnished with a thorough answer to the question, “ Who is this that cometh from Edom etc. (2) The only point which seems to need illustration, ere we proceed to fix the meaning of the text, is the use of the terms Edom and Bozrah, to denote the confederated powers of antichrist. It is common in Scripture to take the name belonging to some great foe, and to give it to others whose Isawickedness is the only connection with the parties so called (e.g. 1:10). The antichristian power which was allowed for years to persecute and to harass the Church, and is at last to be thrown down with violence, is expressly denominated “ Babylon.” In like manner, names such as Edom and Moab, belonging originally to the declared foes of God and His people, are used for others who imitate these foes in their enmity. If you examine the predictions which relate to these nations you will find prophecy, according to the character which it usually presents, passing on from the past to what we must believe yet to come; or, rather, describing the fall of those that first bore the name in language inappropriate, unless designed to apply to others who by their wickedness should deserve the same punishment. So far as Edom and Bozrah are concerned, the expressions are evidently too strong to refer to those places literally; and it is impossible to read them and not see that they relate to a yet future judgment. (3) As to the text, we must ascertain the period of the judgment it announces. No sooner has Isaiah asserted that the visited land is given up to Christ, as the avenger, than he breaks out into the exclamation, “ The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose;” and proceeds with a glowing account of the Mediator’ s kingdom. Hence it will appear evident that the judgments described are those which shall introduce the millennium, the thirty-fifth chapter having reference to this scene of blessedness; and, therefore, the thirty-fourth chapter delivering, as it does, a fearful visitation connected with subsequent happiness, must be expected to coincide with other predictions respecting Christ’ s second coming. But why are we anxious to prove that the thirty-fourth chapter of Isaiah predicts the judgment that attends the Redeemer’ s advent? Simply because, if this be proved, we shall also prove that by the names Edom and Bozrah are denoted those antichristian powers that shall be destroyed by the brightness of Christ’ s coming. In the fifth and sixth verses of the thirty-fourth chapter, it is on Idumea and Bozrah that the prophet fastens the calamity which forms the subject of his prophecy. Idumea and Bozrah denote the antichristian powers who shall be confederated when Christ shall appear. It may be contended that the prophecy was fulfilled in the destruction of the literal Edom. We know that Edom was laid waste by Nebuchadnezzar, but this event in no degree justifies so high-wrought a description. It cannot be without opposition and convulsions that Satan is driven from his usurped dominion. It is from Edom the warrior advances--the land in which dwelt the enemies of righteousness. We know this Mighty Being; we know the work with which He is busied. It is the Redeemer who was crucified in weakness; and who, after a display of marvellous forbearance, shall come forth to avenge His own elect, and destroy them that destroyed the earth. Therefore, we know what answer to give when the prophet demands, “ Who is this that cometh from Edom? (4) We have still to consider the answer in the text, and show its appropriateness as proceeding from Christ at His second appearing. When the prophet asks the name of the being whom he beheld travelling in the greatness of His strength, the reply is, “ I that speak in righteous” “ This reply is not only characteristic of the Redeemer, but peculiarly appropriate, as the Redeemer returns from the slaughter of His enemies. His actions have just proved Him mighty to destroy, and His words announce Him “ mighty to save,” so that He is able to confound every foe, and uphold every friend. “ Now it seems to us that in the reply given to the challenge of the prophet, there is a distinct assertion that He who comes with dyed garments from Bozrah maintains those principles of righteousness which cannot be maintained but by an infinite judge. I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. The time at which the answer is made can only be that of Christ’ s second appearing. (H. Melvill, B. D.)Christ has achieved salvation We behold here a new revelation of a blessed and startling fact. People talk of Christ as though He were going to do something grand for us after a while. He has done it. You might as well talk of Washington as though he were going to achieve our national independence in 1950 as to speak of Christ as though He were going to achieve our salvation in the future. He did it in the year of our Lord 33, on the field of Bozrah, the Captain of our salvation fighting unto death for our emancipation. All we have to do is to accept that fact in our heart of hearts, and we are free for this world, and for the world to come. (T. De W. Talmage, D. D.)Christ’ s victory I. TAKE THE WORDS OF THE VICTORY WON ON CALVARY, and how they bring home to us the greatness of our need and of our redemption! Nothing short of a Divine interposition could save us. There was an old rule of the poet’ s art which a heathen has left on record, which said that in the drama the intervention of a god was not to be made use of by the poet, except on an occasion worthy of it. And in the great drama of the world’ s redemption, wrought out in the presence of heaven and earth, God Himself may with all reverence be said to have acted upon this rule. God waited while human systems did what they could for the salvation of the world. God waited through the long ages while Edom--the power of the world--seemed to wax mightier and mightier. Each one of the centuries whichrolled on before the Incarnation only added to the hopelessness and despair of humanity. System after system of philosophy was tried. Each in its turn promised much, but performed little; until at length a dull, blank despair seemed to be settling down upon a decaying and dying world. And then, at length, God Himself intervened. And the work which the Son of God undertook in His infinite pity for man was no holiday task, to be entered upon with a light heart. II. WE MAY TAKE THE VISION AS A IN OUR OWN LIVES, whenever in the mercy of God we win a victory over the power of evil around us. There are times when we need some such vision as this to comfort and reassure us in the stress of the conflict. There is the Conqueror from Edom. His blood-stained garments are the pledge of His victory over your foe. And that victory which He won for you on Calvary He will repeat in you, if you will only yield yourself up to Him. III. BUT THE IS NOT YET. Victory after victory may be won; but there are gaps in the ranks of those who have fought; and we have sorrowfully to confess that the power of evil still remains in the world. Foiled in one quarter, it is successful in another. And so it goes on from generation to generation. The heart is made sad and the head grows heavy with the thought that, conquer evil in our own person as we may, yet, after all, it will outlive us. It will give our children after us just the same trouble that it has given to us. Yet, here too there is comfort for us in the vision of the prophet, if we only take in its full meaning, for it points forward to a final victory in the future when the power of evil is to be destroyed. (E. C. S. Gibson. M. A.)The Hero I. THE HERO HERE IS ONE WHO HAD FOUGHT IN THE MIDST OF ENEMIES. What Edom was to Israel, sin is to the universe. Christ fought in the midst of enemies; entered the very heart of this sinful world, battled with evil in all its forms. II. THE HERO HERE IS ONE WHO HAS BEEN DEEPLY WOUNDED. He returns from Bozrah with dyed garments. Christ was wounded-- 1. In HIS body. 2. In HIS reputation. He was represented as a blasphemer, as a political traitor, ,as the emissary of Beelzebub. 3. In His soul. “ My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, ‘ etc. III. THE HERO HERE IS ONE FROM BATTLE IN GREAT . “ Glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength.” With what magnificence Christ returned from the battle of earth to the scenes of heaven (Acts 1:9-11). IV. THE HERO HERE IS ONE WHOSE CAREER HAD BEEN BY . “ I that speak in righteousness. I, the declarer of righteousness (as some render it). Though a warrior, he had invented no stratagems to deceive, and had violated no rights. Christ was righteous in all His conflicts. He taught righteousness, He practised righteousness, He fought for righteousness, He died for righteousness. V. THE HERO HERE IS ONE, WHOSE IS TO SAVE. His form was the very embodiment of strength; but his strength was not to destroy, but to save. (Homilist.)1. “ I that speak in righteousness.” The very essence and being of Christ is righteousness. But the expression here seems to refer to the fact of His being the incarnate righteousness of God and the imputed righteousness of man. He speaks in our stead. He stands holy in place of our unholiness. 2. “ Mighty to save.” The victory was for man. He is mighty to save-- (1) From the vengeance of Divine justice. (2) From the malignity of Satan. (3) From the voice of an accusing conscience. (4) From the power and fear of death. (Homilist.)No man may punish Christ’ s enemies, but Himself 1. We have no authority. 2. We have no prescription, or rules authorized by custom. 3. Persecution does no good. 4. Christians are taught to love their enemies. 5. The certainty of the day of judgment deters good men from persecuting. It is not enough to persecute the enemies of Christ; we are bound by every solemn tie to perform every duty, yea more, every kind office of friendship towards them. (B. Robinson.)This that is glorious in His apparelThe glory of Christ in His humiliation I. IN WHAT THE GLORY OF OUR WAS EVEN IN HIS , and shone through the dark cloud that covered Him in His humiliation. 1. From His ready undertaking of the work of our redemption. There can be little honour to any man in submitting to what he cannot avoid, or doing what he dare not refuse; but the humiliation of Christ was perfectly” voluntary. 2. From the greatness of those sufferings which He endured. A weak person is crushed by a small weight; but he who is able to endure uncommon sufferings shows himself to be possessed of uncommon strength. Our blessed Lord, in His life in this world, endured the greatest and most dreadful sufferings. (1) His afflictions began early, with His first entrance into the world. (2) His afflictions were constant, without interruption. (3) Of the severest kind. (4) The afflictions of our Lord not only continued, but increased, through His life, till they at last issued in an extraordinary conflict with the powers of darkness, and an immediate subjection to the wrath of a sin-arching God. 3. From the purity of His carriage, and the perfection of His patience. 4. From the end He had in view in His sufferings, and which He so effectually obtained. The glory of God, and the salvation of sinners. II. . 1. We are here caned to admire and adore the unsearchable wisdom and unspeakable love of God. 2. The guilt and danger of all who are not reconciled to God. 3. The encouragement of sinners to return to God through Christ. 4. Be is able to uphold the weakest Christian in the midst of the most dangerous temptations, though He often suffers the self-sufficient to fall before His enemies. Wherefore believe in the almighty power of your Redeemer. 5. The comfort of every disconsolate soul. (J. Witherspoon.)Mighty to saveMight and mercy Most of our ideas of might are associated with the “ terrible majesty of God. E.g the deluge; destruction of the cities of the plain; earthquakes, etc. These show might in connection with judgment. The text directs our thoughts to might in connection with mercy. I. POWER IN THE WORKING OUT OF THE GREAT PLAN. 1. Typical sacrifices. 2. Prophetic ministry. 3. Christ’ s atonement and intercession. II. POWER IN THE SAVING AGENCY AT WORK IN THE WORLD. 1. The Divine Spirit. 2. The Church of Christ. III. POWER AS SEEN IN THE LIVES OF THOSE SAVED BY DIVINE MERCY. 1. Their numbers. “ A great multitude.” 2. Their characters. Mary Magdalene; Saul of Tarsus; the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 6:11). IV. POWER IN THE OF THE WORK OF MERCY. Resurrection of body, and eternal union of body and soul in glory. Conclusion: 1. The divine fight of mercy does not render personal effort unnecessary. 2. The fact that the Divine power and mercy are united in seeking our salvation should lead us to immediate and hearty surrender to God. (Julius Brigg.)Glorious Almightiness of the Redeemer The Redeemer’ s mightiness to save may be seen-- I. IN THE NATURE OF THE EVIL FROM WHICH HE saws. So we measure the success of a physician, a statesman, a warrior. Christ saves from sin, the most malignant disease--from sin, the wildest internal revolt--from sin, the strongest aggressive foe. In this saving work this “ Announcer of Righteousness is almighty in atonement and in redemption. He makes a man right with God, right with self, right with the universe. II. IN THE OF THOSE HE HAS SAVED. The Christ of the ages has transformed multitudes. His victory on the Cross over the heart of the dying thief is but a pledge and specimen of His victory by the Cross over a million others. Mary, Saul, Augustine, Bunyan, are but conspicuous instances out of a great multitude which no man can number. III. IN THE WORK HE HAS YET TO . The Divine predictions are, “ As I live, the whole earth shall be filled with My glory.” “ He must reign,” etc. How vast the work of the Redeemer yet to be done! Its vastness is illustrated in-- 1. Individual characters yet to be renewed and perfected. Introspection helps us to understand this. 2. The vast area of human lives to be regenerated. The redemptive work is to girdle the entire globe. 3. The ages through which this work will continue. For such stubborn, widely-extended, and long-enduring sinners, only He can be equal who is “ mighty to save.” (U. R. Thomas, B. A.)A mighty Saviour I. WHAT ARE WE TO BY THE WORDS “ TO SAVE” ? Something more than just delivering penitents from going down to hell. By the words “ to save, I understand the whole of the great work of salvation, from the first holy desire, the first spiritual conviction, onward to complete sanctification. All this done of God through Jesus Christ. II. HOW CAN WE PROVE THAT CHRIST IS “ MIGHTY TO SAVE” ? The argument is, that He has done it. We need no other; it were superfluous to add another. He has saved men in the full extent and meaning of the word, which we have endeavoured to explain. The best proof you can ever have of God’ s being mighty to save is, that He saved you. III. WHY IS CHRIST “ MIGHTY TO SAVE” ? 1. Because of the infinite efficacy of his atoning blood. 2. Because of the omnipotent influence of His Divine Spirit. IV. WHAT ARE THE TO BE DERIVED FROM THE FACT THAT JESUS CHRIST IS “ MIGHTY TO SAVE “ ? 1. Ministers should preach in faith. 2. There is encouragement for men and women who are praying to God for their friends. 3. Here is encouragement for the seeking sinner. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Omnipotent to save I. IN THE DIGNITY OF THE NATURE OF CHRIST, AND THE OF HIS PERSON WE HAVE THE BEST OF REASONS FOR THAT HE IS TO SAVE. II. IN THE TRIUMPH OF CHRIST OVER ALL HIS AND OUR ENEMIES WE HAVE ANOTHER REASON FOR THAT HE IS TO SAVE. III. IN THE OF CHRIST FROM THE STATE OF THE DEAD WE HAVE ANOTHER REASON TO BELIEVE THAT HE IS TO SAVE. IV. IN THE OF CHRIST TO GLORY WE HAVE ANOTHER AND A THAT HE IS MIGHTY TO SAVE. V. IN THE OF ON THIS SUBJECT, AND IN PLAIN MATTERS OF FACT, IN THESE , WE HAVE THE MOST THAT HE IS MIGHTY TO SAVE. VI. IN THEIR OWN ALL GOOD HAVE AN OF THE FACT THAT CHRIST IS TO SAVE. Conclusion: 1. Let us beware of trusting in any power but that of Christ. 2. Let us rejoice that He is in all points such a Saviour as we require. (W. Craig.)Christ’ s power to save I. SHOW THAT THIS IS A OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. II. THAT OF THE LORD JESUS TO WHICH THE TEXT REFERS. “ Mighty to save.” III. DRAW SOME . If Christ is mighty to save-- 1. Ministers have the best motives to preach the Gospel with unlimited freedom, energy and zeal. 2. Abundant encouragement is provided even for those who are ready to sink in despair. 3. Whatever disastrous events may come, the Church is secure. 4. If you have experienced His might and His mercy, let it be your uniform aim to show forth His praise both by your lips and by your life. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.) Isaiah 63:3I have trodden the winepress alone The single-handed conquest I. THE FIGURE . “ I have trodden the winepress.” This is Jesus speaking after HIS conquest over HIS foes, 1. This denotes the supreme contempt with which the mighty Conqueror regarded the enemies whom He had overcome. It is as if He had said, “ I compare My victory over them to nothing but the treading of the winepress.” 2. There is in the figure an intimation of toil and labour; for the fruit of the vine is not bruised without hard work. So the mighty Conqueror, though, in contempt, He says His foes were as nothing but the grapes of the vintage to His might; yet, speaking as a man like unto us, He had something to do to overcome His foes. 3. Moreover, there is an allusion to the staining of the garments. II. THE FACT STATED. “ I have trodden the winepress.” III. THE . “ I have trodden the winepress alone.” IV. SOME SWEET AND BY THIS SUBJECT. 1. The first inference is, there is no winepress of Divine wrath for thee, O believer, to tread. 2. There are winepresses of suffering, although not of punish ment, which thou wilt have to tread. But I want thee to remember that thou wilt; not have to tread these winepresses alone. 3. But since Jesus trod the winepress alone, I beseech you give all things to Him. Alone He suffered; will you not love Him alone? Alone He trod the winepress; will you not serve Him? Alone He purchased your redemption; will you not be His property, and His alone? (C. H. Spurgeon.)The lonely treader I. JESUS CHRIST WAS ABLE TO TREAD THE ALONE. This is characteristic of a great man, that he is able to stand alone. It does not follow that a man is great because he stands alone. He may be selfish; and not wishing to be pained by the sorrows of humanity, and not desiring to give his labour and substance for the alleviation of those evils which afflict humanity, he shuts himself off from society. Thus his self-inflicted loneliness will be self-inflicted torture. Greater would be his happiness if he had greater self-denial. The man who stands alone through nervous sensibility is in a measure to be pitied and to be helped. Every rough word strikes like a barbed arrow into the centre of his nature. But it was neither selfishness nor nervous sensibility which caused Jesus Christ to be a lonely man. The Saviour stood alone by reason of the sublime grandeur of His nature. The good man is satisfied from himself, and the Saviour was for Himself all-sufficient. Society was not needful to Him in the sense in which it is needful for other men. But it is when a man has to accomplish some vast enterprise that his power to stand alone is tested. The greatness of John the Baptist was revealed, not when the crowds thronged to his preaching, not when the multitudes flocked to his baptism; but when he was cast into prison, and alone he was left to ponder over the world’ s cruel baseness, and the difficulty of reforming sinning men. The greatness of Luther was seen, not when men admired his trenchant exposures of Romish errors, not when the crowds thronged his way and crowded the houses and windows to see him pass; but when he stood before that imposing gathering which held his life in its hands, and said, “ Here I stand, I can do no other; may God help me. Amen.” Only great men can do the world’ s greatest works alone. Now the greatest work of all was that which Jesus Christ accomplished when He trod the winepress alone. Some say that He was only a great Teacher. But it is difficult to utter new truths; and great teachers have found it needful for their success to surround themselves with sympathizing adherents. As a great Teacher Jesus was able to stand alone. The rude world was not ready for His moral lessons, and even His disciples could not appreciate the spirituality of His utterances. But He was more than a great Teacher. He came to give Himself to be the light and the life of men. And in carrying out the mediatorial purpose He was able to stand alone; for the indwelling Divinity imparted sublime power. And we, looking back to His finished work, resting upon it by faith, and deriving from it unspeakable blessings, can triumphantly declare that Jesus Christ was able to tread the winepress alone. II. JESUS CHRIST WAS WILLING TO TREAD THE ALONE. The perfectly-constituted and fully-developed man loves society. The great man loves solitude; but he also delights in social pleasures; and, though able to stand alone, may not be willing to do so to the extent that his circumstances demand. Or, again, a man may be able to do some great work for the world’ s benefit, but says, “ If there is no one to help, if there is no one with sufficient benevolence to sacrifice himself for the good of humanity, I shall not single-handed undertake the work. Now Jesus Christ did not move through this world as a gloomy recluse, and yet He did not give full play to the social part of His nature, because it was needful for Him to be much in solitude that His Divine mission might be successful. III. JESUS CHRIST WAS TO TREAD THE ALONE. By the sting of the lash the unwilling slave may be compelled to get into the winepress and tread out the grapes, but no such compulsion could be applied to the Redeemer. He had all power--power over Himself as well as over others; but He kept His power in check. He was compelled by the sweet force of His own great love. And the solitariness of Jesus brings to our view the greatness of His love most vividly. IV. JESUS CHRIST TO TREAD THE ALONE. He possessed a sympathetic nature, and He would be made sorrowful by the fact that His mission separated Him from the loves and the sympathies of mankind. V. JESUS CHRIST TO TREAD THE ALONE. There is great joy as well as great sorrow in all spiritual work; and Jesus tasted both in fullest measure. This is the climax of benevolence, that it can rejoice in suffering for the welfare of others. And Jesus rejoiced to tread the winepress alone, for He foresaw the beneficent and widespread results of His labours. The treader-out of grapes is producing a refreshing beverage for society; but Jesus Christ was producing not only a refreshing but a healing and reviving remedy for humanity to the very close of the world’ s history. Alone He trod the winepress, but not alone does He drink of the new wine, for He saves men in order that they may participate in the results of His solitary labours. Learn-- 1. To each man there is a winepress to tread. We must in a sense tread the winepress the Saviour trod, for we must be crucified together with Christ; we must penitently and believingly recognize the fact that He suffered for our sins. But more than that, each man will have his own winepress to tread. Each man has his own work to do, his own cup of sorrow to drink, his own besetting sin to conquer, his special thorn to endure. 2. This winepress must be trodden alone. We cannot be saved by proxy. Jesus Christ, even in the higher departments of HIS work--work which we cannot do--left us an Example, or indirectly taught us how we are to work. Alone each one must tread the winepress. The great works of life must be done alone. Moral victories must be gained when there are none present to applaud. 3. The blessed results of lonely treading will be diffusive. No man can do faithful soul-work without blessing others as well as himself. 4. The glorious rewards of lonely treading will be publicly bestowed. In a measure it is so in this world. In a complete measure it will be so in that world where rewards are rightly administered. The scholar works alone, but receives his prize in public. The investigator toils in solitude, but publicly his labours are acknowledged. We sow in the tears of solitary working but we reap in the joy of many approvals. The truth commands so few admirers in this world of error that we are often found almost alone in its defence and in its advocacy; but to every faithful defender of truth will Jesus Christ say in the presence of assembled nations, “ Well done, good and faithful servant.” (W. Burrows, B. A.)Christ’ s lonliness There is always a certain degree of solitariness about a great mind. What is thus true of all great minds must have been, beyond all others, characteristic of the mind of Him who, with all His real humanity, could “ think it no robbery to be equal with God.” You who are parents have, I dare say, often felt struck by the reflection, what a world of thoughts, and cares, and anxieties are constantly present to your minds into which your children cannot enter. Perhaps there is no spectacle so exquisitely touching as that which one sometimes witnesses in a house of mourning--the elder members of the family bowed down to the dust by some heavy sorrow, whilst the little children sport around in unconscious playfulness. What children are to the mature-minded man, the rest of mankind were to Jesus. Nay, such an illustration falls far short of conveying to us an adequate representation of the measureless inferiority of all other minds to that mighty, mysterious Spirit that dwelt in the bosom of Jesus. “ He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.” “ The light shone in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.” He had nothing in common with the spirit of the times in which He lived. His views, principles, motives, associations, object of life, were not those of His own nation, nor of any land or clime on earth: they were drawn from the infinite, the eternal. He moved among a narrow-minded, grovelling, sensual race, breathing a spirit of ineffable purity and holiness. (J. Caird, D. D.)The solicits of Christ’ s sufferings By this I mean not that they were solitary or peculiar as being propitiatory sufferings, though in this they were indeed distinguished from the sufferings of all other men. Nor do I mean merely that they were sufferings of extraordinary and unexampled severity, though that also is true. But there were connected with the nature of this mysterious Sufferer certain features or conditions which rendered His sorrows such as no other of our race could endure,--certain facts which gave to them, as to His whole history, a character of elevation and awfulness, beyond the range of mere human experience. Amid all the sons and daughters of sorrow that crowd the page of human history, Jesus yet stands forth “ the man of sorrows,” - the solitary Sufferer of humanity. I. ALL HIS WERE, LONG ERE THEIR ACTUAL , CLEARLY AND FULLY . II. THEY WERE THE SORROWS OF AN PURE AND PERFECT MIND. As it is the cup that is deepest that can be filled the fullest--as it is the tree that rears its head the highest that feels most the fury of the storm, so it is the soul that is largest and most exalted that is capable of the greatest sorrows. A little, narrow, selfish, uncultured mind is liable to comparatively few troubles. The range alike of its joys and its sorrows is limited and contracted. It presents but a narrow target to the arrows of misfortune, and it escapes uninjured where a broader spirit would be “ pierced through with many sorrows.” The insect, in the summer, breeze, brimful of mere animal happiness, is exposed to mere animal privation and pain. Its life is but one long sensation. The little child, again, has fewer capacities of suffering, fewer cares and anxieties, and troubles, than the mature-minded man,-the savage than the civilized being,--the ignorant, unrefined, unreflecting man, than the man of high intellectual and moral culture, of thoughtfulness and refinement Of taste and feeling. It is the great law of life that every advancing power, every improvement, physical, intellectual, moral or spiritual, which a man gains, carries with it, as the necessary penalty, an additional liability, a new degree of exposure to surrounding evils. Turn your thoughts to one who has begun to receive that highest of all culture, the renewing influence of Divine grace,--is it not so that he, too, becomes susceptible, in such a world as this, of pains and sorrows unfelt before? The blind know not the pains of sight, nor the deaf of sound, nor the dead and insensible of living ,and breathing men. And so the quickening touch of God’ s Spirit wakes the believer’ s soul from a state of moral insensibility and death, to one in which the inner eye can be pained by deformities, and the ear by discords, and the spiritual nature by sicknesses and troubles, of which hitherto it had been all unconscious. But if all this be so, how far beyond all human experience, how far even beyond all human comprehension, must have been the sufferings of the soul of Jesus. Conceive of the sun struck out of yonder heavens, and the world suddenly overwhelmed with the horror of perpetual darkness and cold. Imagine the sustaining providence of God withdrawn from the universe, and everything hurrying to desolation and ruin. But no emblem, no comparison can convey to us but the faintest conception of what it was for God’ s dear Son, as if God-deserted, to die. III. IT WAS THE SORROW OF A CREATOR AMID HIS RUINED WORKS, The feelings of Jesus in beholding and living amidst the moral ruin and degradation of mankind were not those merely of an exquisitely pure and sensitive human spirit: they flowed from a far deeper and more awful source. It was nothing less than the world’ s great Creator that, concealed in that humble guise, surveyed and moved for thirty years amidst the ruins of His fairest, noblest work, lying widespread around Him! (Genesis 6:5-6; Luke 19:41-42.) There is a sort of sentimental melancholy which gathers over the mind of one who surveys the scene of some great nation’ s bygone glory, now, it may be, strewn, only with wreck of departed, greatness. But surely an emotion of a far deeper kind may well be called forth in the thoughtful mind when contemplating the mournful moral and spiritual degradation of humanity, as contrasted with the glory of its original structure, and the splendours of that destiny for which it was created I Even the body, the mere tabernacle in which the soul resides, a work which only Deity could create, is a work over whose ruin even Deity might mourn. Yet every sick-bed by which Jesus stood, and every sufferer’ s cry He heard, and every bier and grave to which His steps were led, were to His eye the ruthless destruction of another and another glorious work of God--the proofs of the triumph of the destroyer over the results of infinite wisdom and skill. But the destruction of the body is insignificant in comparison with the ruin of the soul. Shall we wonder, then, that the Creator of such a work as this--so noble, so deathless, so Divine, should have experienced bitter grief for its ruin? Reflections: 1. All such views of the sufferings of Jesus are most obviously suggestive of gratitude for His marvellous self-devotion on our be if. 2. Is not this subject fraught with a most solemn warning to all who are living in carelessness or indifference to the spiritual interests of themselves and others? What more awful intimation could be conveyed to us of the evil of sin, and of the infatuation of those who are indifferent to its fatal consequences, than in the sorrow of Jesus? 3. Such views of the sufferings of Jesus afford to every penitent soul the strongest encouragement to rely on the Saviour’ s love. Your salvation was an object which even at such a fearful cost He was willing to seek; and think you He is less willing to seek it now (J. Caird, D. D.)The loneliness of Christ in His sufferings We behold the Redeemer-- I. BY HUMAN FRIENDS. No human friends could understand or sympathize in the work of Christ. It is the fate of many men to go through life alone. They may have many relatives, acquaintances, companions, and derive much ,,pleasure from their society; but they may never meet with a truly “ kindred spirit. Them are two kinds of loneliness--the isolation of distance and the loneliness of the heart; and the latter is the far more complete and sad of the two. The fisherman, alone at night upon the sea, with no other living being near, no sound but the plashing of the wavelets, no sight but of the occasional struggling of a star through the clouds, may be in spirit at his cottage home upon the beach, and space and time are annihilated, and his heart peopled with many a dear familiar form. But far different is the loneliness of the heart! What solitude is there comparable to the spiritual loneliness of him who, with a soul filled with sadness, finds himself jostled in the midst of a gay and pleasure-seeking crowd? So is it with the man of transcendent goodness or genius. Such a one must, to a greater or less extent, be lonely. This it was which constituted the peculiar bitterness of the trial of Elijah (1 Kings 19:14). It has often been said that the possession of a real and truehearted friend is at once the greatest and the rarest of earthly blessings; such a friend as was Jonathan to David. But if such friendships are rare among men, how utterly impossible was it that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, should find a friend and sympathizer, in the truest sense of those words, among the sons of men. Twelve chosen associates, indeed, He had, but they were utterly incapable, as long as He lived below, even of understanding Him, much less could they enter into, and sympathize with, the great work of His life and death. That work was essentially a lonely one. For-- 1. He alone could accomplish our redemption. 2. Christ was alone in His foreknowledge. We often hear those who have passed through some heavy trial say, “ If I had known beforehand what I had to endure, I could not have borne it; I should have sunk under the appalling prospect!” So mercifully has our Heavenly Father, knowing our frame, hidden the things that are to be from our eyes. But there was this ineffable aggravation of the grief of the “ Man of sorrows, that, to the suffering of the present, there was superadded the heavier prospect of the future. 3. Then, too, from the Divine purity and loftiness of His soul, Christ suffered far more than any mere man could suffer. The more refined and elevated a man’ s nature is, the more sensitive he is apt to he; the keener are his sorrows, and the more ecstatic his joys. But sin, and death its punishment, the whole world’ s burden of which rested upon the pure soul of the Redeemer, had for Him a dark and dreadful reality of horror, inconceivable by any of us whose innermost heart has been tainted with the love of sin. 4. Moreover, in another way, the grief of the Lord Jesus Christ in this world was what the sorrow of no mere man could be, the sorrow of the Creator in the midst of His mined works. 5. Yet again, in His power of omniscience He stood “ alone.” “ He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow.” If we could discern the secrets of all hearts, if the thoughts and desires of a crowd could be rendered audible to us, how continually should we be overwhelmed with shame and horror. But Christ knew all men. II. LEFT ALONE BY GOD. When He foretold to the disciples their desertion, He added, “ And yet I am not alone, because My Father is with Me.” But in the hour of His deepest agony there was an exception even to that companionship of eternity. Far otherwise has it been with the martyrs of Jesus, and with all His faithful people since, in the “ article of death.” Conclusion: 1. Christ “ trod the winepress alone” for you. Mourn, therefore, and rejoice. 2. Christ will “ tread the winepress alone” again: the winepress of the wrath of God. 3. It is oftentimes the lot of God’ s people to be called upon in some degree to “ tread the winepress alone.” Daniel had to do so. But remember for your encouragement that, in the highest sense, you never can be alone in the conflict. Your Saviour met the world, the flesh, and the devil alone, that you might never have to wage a single-handed warfare, never be left without a higher Presence in the good fight of faith. (H. E. Nolloth, M. A.)The solitude of Christ I. CHRIST WAS ALONE IN THE VIEW HE HAD OF THE WORK HE CAME TO . The people were looking for one thing, and He was labouring for another. Of all earthly beings His mother was, for a long season, the nearest to Him. She cherished in her heart, as amongst her choicest treasures, all the words which both human and angelic prophets had spoken to her. But we get a glimpse of a great gulf between even her and Him. All the sadness involved in this kind of solitude we cannot appreciate. We can only get some faint perceptions of it from illustrations drawn from human experience. We know that if a man have some loving purpose in his heart, and some great plan for achieving it, there is nothing so cheers him as to meet with some one who sees the matter very much as he sees it, and who will listen intelligently and with interest while he sets forth the wisdom of his plan and the worth of his purpose. Think of a Christian man going to a strange shore, where painted savages dwell. He sets his heart and his hands to the work of educating and evangelizing them. When he begins his work, who amongst them can understand what he wants to do? When he wants to feel that another heart beats in harmony with his own, he must turn from man to God. Inquire of him, and he will tell you that this is one of the heaviest trials he has to bear. Christ came from heaven to earth on the grandest errand that wisdom ever designed or mercy ever proposed. He saw this world wandering far away from God, to perish there. He set His heart on bringing back the soul from its wandering to the bosom of Him who made it; but, strange to say, He had suffered, died, come back from the dead, risen again to His native skies, before even His own disciples had clear ideas of why He had clothed Himself in mortal flesh, passed through a baptism of agony, and shed His blood on the Cross. II. HE WAS ALONE IN HIS BURNING ZEAL FOR THE OF HIS WORK. a child sees that his father is very earnest about some matter. He cannot see clearly what it is, still less can he explain it to others, and yet he catches the fire from his father’ s heart, and in his little way he is all burning with desire that his father may succeed in that about which he is so zealous. The heart may be quick to sympathize where the head is not wise enough to understand. Not even such help as this did Jesus have when He for us was leading the life of sorrow, when He for us was dying the death of shame. In this matter His own disciples were not much better than the carnal-minded multitude. Do not we too frequently leave the Saviour in the same solitude even now? We know what His desires are concerning us. “ This is the will of God, even our sanctification.” But, alas I how often it happens that while He looks and longs for that, our strongest desires and most diligent endeavours tend in another direction; while His Word and Spirit, while His providence and grace, arc striving for our holiness, how often we make some other thing supreme t III. JESUS WAS ALONE IN HIS AS TO THE MANNER OF HIS WORK. There was one thing the Saviour could not make His disciples clearly see--that He had come into the world to die, and that His death was to be the life of the world. This kind of solitude we may make the Saviour to suffer even now. We do in this same way put Him to shame when we think that His will can be done without uplifting His Cross, in the full and frequent setting forth of His atoning death. (C. Vince.)Christ alone I. A GENERAL VIEW OF THE , It stands by itself. The general subject of the chapter is the destruction of the enemies of God. The scene is one of surpassing sublimity, as one which tells of a conquering Messiah. Every enemy shall be trampled under foot; but it shall be Christ’ s own work, and one in which He will have no helper. II. THE LESSONS THAT MAY BE FROM THIS VIEW OF THE . 1. Christ is alone in His great work, as against all other mediators, all other saviours, all other intercessors, all who, whether as saint, angel, or glorified spirit, should be set up by a false theology to bridge over the infinite gulf between us and God. And therefore the work can be done by none but Christ. 2. The work of Christ is alone-has been supplemented and helped by no human works and services. 3. This repudiation of anything in ourselves that shares in the honour of Christ’ s mediation is to be extended to our faith. I believe there are very many persons who would have a holy and jealous shrinking from having a saviour in their works, who do not see how near they may go towards having a saviour in their faith; yet this they do when, as the ground of their justification, they trust on the realized experience of a strong personal confidence, and that because it is strong. The mistake arises from their not perceiving that they must be justified by something out of themselves, and not by anything in themselves--by what Christ has wrought for them, and not by anything which the Spirit may have wrought in them. This thought should be comforting to us under those fluctuations of trust and weakened hold upon the promises which may fall to the lot of every one of us. 4. This is said to exclude from all part or lot in Christ’ s work, those frames, feelings, convictions, emotions of the spiritual mind, which too many regard as indispensable to their salvation, and which therefore they do in effect put in Christ’ s place. (D. Moore, M. A.)Christ alone I. IN HIS OF THE WORK OF . II. IN THE DIVINE . III. IN THE PURITY OF HIS LIFE AND THE OF HIS . IV. IN HIS . YE IN HIS DEATH, VI. IN HIS AND WORK. Conclusion 1. He is the alone Saviour for us. 2. Without faith in Christ there is no salvation. 3. How great the guilt of the rejecter of Christ! 4. How glorious the prospect of the believer in Jesus! (S. D. Phelps.)Loneliness I. IT HAS MANY SENSES, INWARD AND OUTWARD. 1. There is what I may call the loneliness of simple solitude. Solitude which is first voluntary, and secondly occasional, is but half solitude. Solitude which we fly to as a rest, and can exchange at will for society which we love, is a widely different thing from that solitude which is either the consequence of bereavement or the punishment of crime; that solitude from which we cannot escape, and which perhaps is associated with bitter or remorseful recollections. 2. There is the loneliness of sorrow. Is not loneliness the prominent feeling in all deep sorrow? Is it not the feeling of loneliness which gives its sting to bereavement? 3. There is the loneliness of a sense of sin. Whatever duties may lie upon us towards other men, in our innermost relation to God we are and must be alone. When the sense of sin is heavy upon us, how incapable is the soul of anything but solitude! And if such be the loneliness of repentance, what must be the loneliness of remorse, which is repentance without God, without Christ, and therefore without hope. If repentance is loneliness, remorse is desolation. 4. There is the loneliness of death. 5. Can we follow the soul one step further, and see it standing in judgement before the throne of God? “ Every one shall give account of himself to God.” II. . There are two senses at least in which you ought to practise the being alone. 1. Being alone in prayer. I do not mean that you must necessarily be in a place by yourselves, in order to pray: if this were essential to prayer, then the poor and the young in most cases could never pray. But I mean that in praying, whether by yourselves (which is, no doubt, a great advantage) or in the presence of others, you should try to shut out the recollection of any other presence than that of God. 2. If you are to die alone, and if you are to be judged alone, be not afraid also to think alone, and, if necessary, to act alone. 3. If the view of life thus presented seem to any one to be fiat and dreary, let him remember that, though we must pray alone, and judge alone, and sometimes act alone, and certainly die alone, and be judged alone, yet there is a reality of sympathy still, which we may find and rejoice in if we will. It is a sympathy independent of sight and word, secret yet real, unchangeable and eternal. Sympathy with Him who so loved that He died for us, and who is the same yesterday and to-day and for ever. Sympathy with Him, and with God through Him, exercised by the intervention of the Holy Spirit. This is the Divine aspect of Christian sympathy. But there is a human side also. (Dean Vaughan.)Christian loneliness Every one of us probably takes the same impression from those words. What is the figure they summon up before us all? Probably that of a man left to solitary toil, deserted but not faithless, having a heavy burden to bear, and bearing it uncheered by social sympathy,--a hard and bitter work to do, yet nobly doing it alone. From this image our minds pass unconsciously over to the solitude of our spiritual strifes and reward sufferings. We instantly and universally recognize in Him who “ trod the winepress alone a representative of all our internal work. For a religious purpose, and as a part of God’ s spiritual discipline with us, our deepest experiences must be passed through in solitude. We must suffer alone, we must get wisdom alone, we must be renewed in the inmost spirit of our minds alone, we must resist temptation alone, we must meditate alone and pray alone, and we must pass through the valley of the shadow of death alone. It was a distorted perception of that truth that gave what value they had to the old systems of monasticism, or religious retirement. These ancient practices our modern times have, for the most part, reversed. If a man is much alone now, it must be rather by a direct effort to that end than by popular habits. Some such effort will be salutary to his virtue. Social habits may soften asperities, but it needs solitude to settle our principles. Social habits may make us good-natured, but to get certainty for our ideas, or assurance for our faith, we must be alone. The friction of society may smooth down individual peculiarities, but there are such things as a smoothness that is insipid, and a compliance that is so accommodating as to be cowardly. If constant intercourse with others neutralizes our prejudices, it may also undermine our simplicity, coax our kindly sentiments into vicious compromises, and tempt our integrity out of its self-possession into disgraceful bargains. If we learn amiability in the mixed company, so we do learn what staunch and steadfast convictions are by standing alone. If we form delightful connections in the one, so do we gain the nobler faculty of thinking, acting, believing for ourselves, in the other. At a period when the activities of associate enterprise threaten Christian individuality with so many perils, among customs where majorities take the place of single-headed tyrants, and the bribe of promotion bewilders the clear-sightedness of faith--let us look to our integrity. I do not forget the obvious arguments for association, nor the often quoted benefits of a union of minds. Let them stand for their undoubted worth. It is clear that Christian faith wins some of its noblest victories only in social revivals. But let it be also remembered that a concentration of the individual will upon its own chosen purpose, such as a man never gets except by isolating himself, is a matter of as much moment to the success of every good interest in the world as the contact of numbers. Who would not prize more highly the solemn determination of a single independent mind,-taken and weighed and perfected in solitude, unswayed by public dictation, and incorrupt from the hot breath of crowds, than the longest subscription-list to a set of written or concocted measures, or the enthusiastic “ resolutions” of the loudest caucus? Let it be further remembered, that if combinations of masses are promotive of good causes, they are also mighty facilities for bad ones. This truth may enter more readily if we remember that the higher intellectual qualities--those that are more intimately related to the moral, and thus have the largest agency in forming character--depend on solitude for their most successful cultivation. Judgment, imagination, clearness and consistency of thought, breadth of vision, whatever constitutes the originality and natural force of the mind--these are all nurtured in lonely studies. So, emphatically, of those best persons, who by the combined weight of intellectual and moral attributes have been the signal reformers or builders of institutions. Affecting society far and wide, they did not gather their best power in social resorts, but alone with heaven. Paul, three years in Arabia; Luther, in his cell; Alfred, in the Island of Nobles. Mohammed, Columbus, Washington--their youth was apart from men; their career was baptized and initiated in the air of retirement. And of the great Lord of all, the Divine ministry to the world must begin with forty days in the wilderness. If being alone is tributary to intellectual greatness, it is still more so to the proper symmetry and health of the moral principles. Still more strictly does this rule hold of the deeper emotions. The loftiest of all our possible emotions is religious reverence, expressing itself in worship, or prayer. Nature has herself given a broad hint of this truth, in making it absolutely impossible for us to express to any mortal the deepest feeling. Impatience of solitude is a bad religious sign. Whoever dreads to be alone has reason to dread the hereafter. If he is afraid of being left to himself, how shall he dare to meet the searching of his Judge? Something must have gone terribly wrong with us, if we are afraid to be shut up with none but God. This is demanded from us in mere fidelity to Truth herself; for when we begin to esteem her for the multitudes she fascinates, when we begin to count up her adherents and ask whether she draws large audiences, we have already broken from the true loyalty. Next to the sordidness of wedding Truth to her dowry, which Stillingfleet satirizes, is that of choosing her because all the world admires her. A Christian loneliness, the solitude that has Christ in it, renews man’ s strength. Human suffering, in all its forms, is solitary. (F. D. Huntington, D. D.)Duty pertains to the individual In the responsibilities of life we must tread the winepress alone. Duty is, in the last resort, to be determined by the individual conscience, and to his own Master must each one stand or fall. (A. P. Peabody.)The soul’ s solitude What are the appointed resources for this spiritual loneliness? 1. Christian fellowship. We are one in Christ. Our fellowship is with Him, and through Him with one another. 2. Direct communion with Christ. 3. We are not alone, for the Father is with us. 4. More intimate union than we can enjoy here is reserved for us in heaven: Shall not this hope bring us into nearer and happier fellowship even here? (A. P. Peabody.)Christ’ s solitariness in the work of atonement Look at the ancient institution of the annual day of atonement. On other occasions inferior priests slaughtered the animals and prepared the offering. But upon this anniversary, the high priest alone officiated. And all the drudgery, clear down to the lighting of the lamps and the kindling of fire for incense, a long work of preparation, requiring sometimes more than two weeks to complete it, so the Rabbins tell us, was undertaken by him. That day was a day of days to him. He was to put aside his jewelled mitre, and wear none of the so-called “ golden garments;” even his shining breastplate of precious stones had to be relinquished, his ephod and his bells. Clad in simple linen, a linen girdle, a linen coat, a linen mitre, he alone entered the Holy of holies, he alone laid the victim on the coals, and he alone led the people’ s scapegoat away into the wilderness. All this was typical of the solitary errand of our Lord Jesus Christ. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)Christ’ s solitariness in death Did you ever ponder the pertinency of the fact that none among all the disciples of our Lord, not one o fall the adherents who followed Him, was permitted to die with Him? He was condemned as a rebel; yet not a single man or woman who succoured Him, or sustained Him, in that so-called insurrection, suffered for it. A few of His friends talked about it; one of them said outright on a conspicuous occasion, “ Let us go and die with Him;” but none of them ever did. The meaning of this is very plain. It was an infinitely wise precaution against mistake. It would, without a doubt, have misled some feeble minds if, by any accidental confusion, another name had been coupled with His in the dying hour on the cross. It was just as well that all those disciples forsook Him and fled. One Priest, one Lamb, was all that was needed. (C. S.Robinson, D. D.) Isaiah 63:4 For the day of vengeance is in Mine heart “ The day of vengeance" “ The day of vengeance," announced in Isaiah 61:2. “ Is in Mine heart,” i.e in My purpose. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The Redeemer’ s vengeance upon the grand enemy of the redeemed These words are a material repetition of the first promise (Genesis 3:15). We have here-- 1. The designation of God’ s remnant of mankind--sinners. “ My redeemed.” They are Mine by election, Mine by My Father’ s donation, Mine by the purchase of My blood, and they are to be Mine by conquest. 2. The deep resentment that the glorious Redeemer has of the quarrel of the redeemed. “ The day of vengeance is mine heart.” 3. The stated time for the deliverance of the redeemed. “ The day. “ The year.” 4. The Redeemer’ s satisfaction with the view of all this. He speaks of it with a particular air of joy and triumph. (E. Erskine.)The annals of redeeming love I. THE GREAT AND . He is-- 1. A chosen Redeemer. “ Mine elect.” 2. A mighty Redeemer. “ Mighty to save.” 3. A Redeemer of great authority. “ The government shall be upon His shoulder.’ “ His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.” 4. A wealthy Redeemer. 5. An incomparable Redeemer. 6. A resolute and courageous Redeemer. II. THE . III. THE YEAR OF THE . There is-- 1. The year of purposed redemption. With respect to this year Christ is called “ a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” 2. The year of purchased redemption. This year the great God was incarnate; the great Lawgiver voluntarily subjected Himself to His own law; God blessed for ever was made a curse; everlasting righteousness was brought in; God actually laid the foundation of a throne of grace, in justice and judgment, etc. 3. The year of exhibited redemption. The year of a Gospel-dispensation among a people. 4. The year of applied redemption; under which may be comprehended the whole period of time from the soul’ s conversion unto the day of death. 5. The year of consummate redemption. This is a year which never, never ends. IV. THE YEAR OF THE , THE JOY OF THE ’ S HEART. V. . (E. Erskine.)The Redeemer’ s vengeance I. WHO IS THE GRAND ENEMY THAT THE HAS IN HIS VIEW? Satan. II. THE GROUND OF THE QUARREL THAT OUR HATH AGAINST THIS ENEMY. What injury hath Satan done to the redeemed? He hath deceived them; he defaced the image of God; he made them liable to the curse of the law; he made them his own slaves. III. WHAT IS IT THAT OUR TAKES UPON THIS ENEMY OF THE ? A bruising of his head (Genesis 3:15). A judging of the devil (Jonah 16:11). A destroying of the devil (Hebrews 2:14). A spoiling of principalities and powers (Colossians 2:15). Our glorious Redeemer-- 1. Invades Satan’ s usurped kingdom and government, which he had established in this world. Satan is called “ the god of this world.’ 2. Out-shoots the devil in his own bow--takes this wise spirit in his own craftiness. 3. Condemns sin, the first-born of the devil. 4. Wrests the keys of death and hell out of the devil’ s hand. 5. Lays a heavy chain upon the roaring enemy. 6. Takes those who were his slaves from under his power, and arms them with His truth, whereby they make war against him, under Christ as their Leader and Commander. 7. Makes a spectacle of him and all his legions (Colossians 2:15). 8. Makes a road between heaven and earth, by His ascension, through the very territories of the devil, who is called “ the prince of the power of the air. 9. Will, at the last day, make the poor believer, who was once under his power, and whom he many times harassed with his fiery darts, to judge and condemn him. “ Know ye not that the saints shall judge angels?” 10. Burns his galleries, where he has walked up and down. “ The earth . . . shall be burned up.” IV. THE STATED TIME OF , here called a “ day.” 1. There are some seasons of His taking vengeance upon him in his own person. (1) Upon the back of his first sin, when that proud spirit, swelled with ambition, attempted the throne of heaven, the Son of God, armed with His Father’ s power, turned Him and His apostate legions down from heaven to hell (2 Peter 2:4). (2) The day of Christ’ s incarnation. (3) Of Christ’ s death. (4) The last judgment. 2. When Christ is avenged upon this enemy in the redeemed. (1) The day of conversion. (2) The day of believing. (3) The renewed actings of faith under strong temptation. (4) The day of special nearness to God in His ordinances. (5) When the Redeemer brings multitudes of souls to yield themselves unto His obedience. (6) When an honourable testimony is given for Christ in a Church against errors and blasphemies that the devil and his emissaries have vented, to the darkening of the Redeemer’ s glory. (7) The day of death, when the poor believer is guarded to glory through his principality. V. WHY THIS DAY OF IS SAID TO BE IN THE ’ S HEART. 1. He had firmly purposed it. 2. The thoughts of it were a delight to Him. 3. He had not forgotten the quarrel he had with Satan and his works. 4. The stated time of final vengeance lay as a secret in His own breast. V. . (E. Erskine.)The year of my redeemed is comeThe “ year” of redemption A rendering preferred by many authorities is, “ the year of My redemption:” the plural being taken as expressing the abstract idea, in accordance with a common Hebrew usage. The year of redemption, is the same as the year of Jehovah’ s favour in Isaiah 61:2; it is the time of Israel’ s victory and salvation, a year that has no end. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The year of the redeemed I. THE PERIOD . The word “ year,” in such connections as this, is to be interpreted in a general sense as applying to a lengthened period of time. “ The year of the redeemed may not mean so much the year when Christ died, in order to redeem them, as the period when He should begin to win the victories of His grace among them; the period when He should be “ lifted up” by the preaching of the Gospel, and “ draw all men unto Him;” the period when the sign of the Son of Man, in the preaching of Christ and of Him crucified, should be visible in the ecclesiastical world, represented in the everlasting prophecy as heaven, and when by the preaching of a crucified Saviour, sinners, numerous as on the day of Pentecost and in succeeding times, should be won from darkness to light, and translated from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God’ s dear Son. II. THE OF ITS ARRIVAL. God has decreed it, and all its glories must be realized. It may be said to be come in the distinct and positive revelations of prophecy. In the prophecies of God, the decrees of God are unfolded. (W. H. Cooper.) Isaiah 63:5 And I looked, and there was none to help Man’ s extremity the Divine opportunity The doctrine of the text is, that salvation, of every kind and every degree, is from the Lord. I. THIS POINTS OUT TO US THAT ALL MEN ARE IN A . Why should man need salvation? He is lost. II. THE TEXT IMPLIES THE OF GOD. The Speaker is the great Messiah, and He speaks in righteousness. There are difficulties in the way of a sinner’ s recovery which none can remove but God. “ The righteousness by faith” is accompanied by the power of God, and this alone can save the soul. 1. This shows God’ s knowledge of the dreadful condition of the sinner. He lays help on One mighty to save. 2. It bespeaks His forbearance (Romans 3:25-26). 3. It implies the impossibility of man’ s being saved but by a Divine arm; and the all-sufficiency of God to save sinners, however deeply sunk in sin, misery,” and guilt.” 4. Here is the language of,, triumph, as though God delighted in this work of saving sinners: “ Mine own arm, etc. He had a sufficiency of wisdom to devise the plan; a fulness of merit to justify, of the Spirit to sanctify, of mercy to pity, and of grace that should abound, in the sinner’ s pardon, and in the purity and peace of his conscience. III. THE OF THIS . 1. The full character of God is displayed. Here I see God to be just and wise in pardoning the sin He punishes, and showing His abhor fence of the sin He forgives. 2. Salvation is secured to every believer. 3. This secures all the glory to God. 4. It is the most encouraging that could have been devised. 5. It binds the strongest obligation on us. If saved without any power or merit of my own, what shall I render for such a salvation to such a sinner (J. Cooke.) Isaiah 63:7I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord God’ s redemptive triumph evoking thanksgiving, prayer and confession The dialogue ended, the prophet’ s tone changes. In the assurance that the redemption, guaranteed by Jehovah’ s triumph, will be wrought out, he supplies faithful Israel with a hymn of thanksgiving, supplication and confession, expressive of the frame of mind worthy to receive it (Isaiah 63:7-19; Isaiah 64:1-12). In a stream of surpassing pathos and beauty the prophet, as it were, “ leads the devotions (Cheyne) of his nation, and lends words by his eloquence to their repentance. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)A chastened piety The passage (Isaiah 63:7-19; Isaiah 64:1-12) is one of themost instructive of Old Testament prayers, and deserves careful study as an expression of the chastened and tremulous type of piety begotten in the sorrows of the Exile. So far as the ideas of the passage are concerned, it might have been composed at any time from the Exile downwards. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The tender mercies of God To discover the heights or to fathom the depths of this grace, exceeds the power of men or angels; yet the view perhaps may be enlightened by some of the following reflections. 1. In purposing and planning the grit work of redemption, the Eternal Mind was self-moved, uncounselled, unsolicited. 2. This love was wholly disinterested, having no-reward in view but the pleasure of doing good. 3. This love is still more sublimely considered as acting towards inferiors. 4. Redeeming love is still more wonderful as exercised towards enemies. 5. This love appears altogether astonishing when we consider the greatness of the sacrifice it made. 6. The extent of redeeming love further appears in the magnitude of the blessings which it intended for a ruined race. 7. This mercy is heightened by the fact that the Saviour is so necessary, reasonable and all-sufficient. 8. This mercy is still further heightened by the patience and condescending tenderness which He exercises towards His people. He calls them His friends, His brethren, His children, His spouse, the members of His body, the apple of His eye. 9. This wondrous mercy is further expressed in the gift of Sabbaths and sacraments, and especially the written Word. 10. Fresh evidence of this love springs up at every review of God’ s past providence towards the Church. 11. All these are the more affecting as being marks of distinguishing love. 12. The grace of God appears still greater as being abundant. (E. Griffin.)A song concerning loving kindnesses I. THE MERCIES TO BE . A complete summary we cannot give, for who can count the sands of the sea or the stars of the sky? 1. The list commences with special electing love. In the Hebrew the eighth verse runs, “ For He said, they only are My people.” 2. Pass on to the next sweet token of Divine lovingkindness which is found in the Fatherly confidence which the Lord has manifested towards His people. “ Children that will not lie. ‘ 3. His great sympathy with us. “ In all their affliction He was affected (Isaiah 63:9). 4. His intimate intercourse with us. “ The Angel of His presence saved them.” 5. The gracious interpositions of God on behalf of His people. “ In His love and in His pity He redeemed them.” 6. God provided for, led, protected and upheld His people by a wondrous special providence while they were in the wilderness. “ He bare them,” etc. (Isaiah 63:9). 7. The prophet further goes on to mention the Lord’ s chastening. It is to be sorrowed over that we need chastening, but God is to be praised that He does not withhold it from us (Isaiah 63:10). 8. The next thing the prophet sings about is God’ s faithfulness, for though He did smite His people, yet in a very short time we find that “ He remembered the days of old,” etc. (Isaiah 63:11-13). We will close this catalogue with one more choice mercy, for the prophet tells us of God’ s giving His people rest after all (Isaiah 63:14). II. CERTAIN POINTS WORTHY OF SPECIAL MENTION. 1. Whatever has been bestowed upon us by God reveals His lovingkindness. 2. The consequent praise which is due to God on account of this. 3. The uniform nature of all God’ s dealings with us. “ According to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us.” Let us praise Him according to all that the Lord hath bestowed upon us, blessing Him for bitters and sweets, for blacks and whites, for storms and calms. 4. The grandeur of the goodness which is shown in every mercy. “ The great goodness toward the house of Israel.” Ingratitude makes little of much, but gratitude sees much in little. 5. We ought to take peculiar note in our song of the condescending tenderness and pity of God, for such is the force of the next expression, “ which He hath bestowed on them according to His mercies,” --a clearer rendering would be, “ according to His compassion.” 6. One other special note demands to be heard, and that is the multitudinous displays of His love. “ According to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses,” of all shapes, and at all times, and in all ways, and from all points of the compass. III. REASONS WHY WE SHOULD THUS MENTION THE OF THE LORD. 1. That we may have pleas in prayer. This is the best way of praying: “ Lord, Thou hast done this for Thy servant, Thou hast done that for Thy servant, therefore I beseech Thee do more. This is not after the manner of men, for when we once relieve a man’ s necessities we say to him, “ Do not come again;” but every gift which God gives is an invitation to come again, and the best way in which we can show our gratitude is to seek for further gifts. 2. These memories will act as stays to your faith. 3. They will minister to your present comfort. 4. The thought of all this would make us love God more, and obey Him better. 5. To mention the Lord’ s goodness enables us to cheer others, for we do not know who may be standing by. 6. It will glorify Him, and this should always be your master motive. (C. H.Spurgeon.)A rinsed mouth The Lord rinse your mouths out if you have a bitter way of talking about other people, or about His providence, and lead you henceforth to glory in His holy name.(C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 63:8 Children that will not lie Sincerity toward God The Christian exemplifying the power of truth in his renewed nature, and in all the engagements and relations of life, is a phenomenon--a miracle of grace. A Christian Church, consisting of believers adorning, in all things, the doctrine of God our Saviour, are men “ wondered at. Yet, peculiar or eccentric as the course of such men may be deemed in the world, it is evident, from Scripture, that the people of God are expected to render practical homage to the truth no less habitual and profound. I. THEIR REGARD FOR TRUTH. “ Children that will not lie. 1. They estimate truth at its proper value. Buy the truth, but sell it not. Divine truth--the truth as it is in Jesus--is the greatest treasure our world contains. The full possession of this treasure cannot be secured with diligence and care. “ Search the Scriptures.” “ Prove all things.” “ So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding. Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” Yet no man ever reached a full and abiding conviction of Divine truth by a mere process of investigation. No one will ever come to the light until he feels that he is walking in darkness. No one will ever find the truth until he feels that he has everything to learn in order to life and salvation, and that Christ alone can teach him. “ All Thy children shall be taught of the Lord.” 2. When truth is sought from this Divine source it will be cordially welcomed. 3. They are concerned for the preservation of the truth in themselves. Not in the letter only, but in its spirit and power. The truth may be held in unrighteousness. The Gospel itself may become the savour of death unto death. What solemn words are “ those of Christ, “ If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” 4. They bear a distinct and consistent testimony for the truth. What we feel deeply we shall speak freely. We believe, said the apostle, and therefore speak. 5. If the truth be so valued, received, obeyed, and testified, it will exert a practical influence in all the relative duties and circumstances of life. II. HOW FAR IS THIS OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD? 1. Sincerity toward God--faith unfeigned--brings with it the conviction that the subjects of it are His people. They have the witness within themselves. They are the children of light. They that have known the truth in its power can say, “ The truth dwelleth in us, and shall be in us for ever.” 2. Their relation to God is made manifest to others. 3. Such sincere and faithful men have the strength of the people of God. If you would find the strongest men in the world’ s history you must not look for them in camps, in senates, or in palaces, but in dungeons, in exile, or at the stake. It was not Caesar, Alexander, Napoleon, or Wellington that affected the greatest changes in the world, but men who were made witnesses for the truth. “ Ye are strong, for the Word of God abideth in you; and ye have overcome the wicked one.” The spirit of faith alone is invincible. 4. Those who are faithful to the truth have the freedom of God’ s people. “ I will walk at liberty, for I seek Thy precepts.” 5. They have the peace of the people of God and the honour sure to arise from fidelity. (J. Waddington, D. D.)Fidelity between God and His people God deals fairly and faithfully with them, and therefore expects they should deal so with Him. (M. Henry.)“ Children that will not lie” God’ s people are children that will not lie, for those that will are not His children, but the devil s. (M. Henry.) Isaiah 63:9 In all their affliction He was afflicted God not impassive Just as a man may feel pain, whilst in his own person he is raised above it, so God feels pain without His blessedness suffering hurt; and so He felt His people’ s suffering; it did not remain unreflected in His own life; it moved Him inwardly. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)“ The Angel of His presence” 1. The “ Presence” of Jehovah is used elsewhere of His self-manifestation. The fundamental passage is Exodus 33:14-15. But compare also Deuteronomy 4:37; Lamentations 4:16. 2. An “ angel of the Presence,” on the other hand, is a figure elsewhere unknown to the Old Testament: the phrase would seem to be “ a confusion of two forms of expression, incident to a midway stage of revelation” (Cheyne). 3. The “ Face” of Jehovah, however, is not (as the LXX inferred) just the same as Jehovah Himself in person. It is rather a name for His highest sensible manifestation, and hardly differs from what is in other places called the Mal’ ak Yahveh (Angel of Jehovah). This is shown by the comparison Exodus 33:14 f with Exodus 23:20-23. The verse, therefore, means that it was no ordinary angelic messenger, but the supreme embodiment of Jehovah’ s presence that accompanied Israel in the early days. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The Angel in whom Jehovah was seen; who was Jehovah Himself in manifestation. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)Not some one of the “ ministering spirits,” nor some one of the angel-princes standing in God’ s immediate presence (archangels), but the one whom God makes the medium of His presence in the world for affecting the revelation of Himself in sacred history. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The Angel of His presence The great majority of men dread affliction more than they dread sin. And yet the two things are related--sometimes as cause and effect and sometimes by more distant connections. I. MAY BE DIVIDED INTO THREE CLASSES--the physical, the mental, and the emotional. Not that we can ever totally separate these three, but for purposes of consideration it may be practicable to do so. 1. It is very hard to resist a plea from physical disability. It is well that it should be so, for callous indifference to the causes of sorrow and pain found in the lives of others is surely a most unpromising state. Anything which will draw us out of ourselves, and keep us from being self-contained, must surely be, in some sort, a servant of God. Our Lord recognized the physical afflictions of men and entered sympathetically into them. 2. But physical afflictions, though more impressive, are oftentimes more endurable than mental afflictions. Indeed, when we come to the last analysis of the case, we find that the mental region is the region where pain reports itself. If we could totally separate the physical and mental, and keep the mind clear and calm while the body suffered its pains and penalties, affliction would be a very different matter from what it now is. Only that then physical affliction would lose its meaning and purpose, for everything physical is for the sake of the mental. But there are mental sufferings which do not report themselves in physical manifestations. The mind is often so tried with doubt and debate--so cast down by its own inability and decrepitude--that it is in a constant state of unrest, and no report thereof is made in the physical frame--no report anyway of such a nature that all can read it. 3. But back of the intellectual department of the mind is that other profounder realm covered by the word “ emotional.” This emotional region is the strangest and strongest of all. It is the realm of love, of joy, of peace--or of hatred, joylessness, discord. Without our emotions we should be not men and women, but stones, or at best animals. Our emotions gather around persons, places, objects, and these become to us of such transcendent worth that all the world seems poor in comparison with them. II. When we think of these things, HOW , HOW DOES THIS NATURE OF OURS SEEM! We become afraid of ourselves. To be owners of ourselves seems too great a responsibility. Does it not seem to us that the Creator, in giving us this nature, has taken upon Himself a responsibility so great and so fearful that none but Himself could bear it? We ask ourselves, in amazement, what must His own nature be? III. Is not this the revelation made by the prophet, that WE ARE NOT ALONE IN OUR . IV. As it was with the Israelites, so is it with all the Spiritual Israel; for they and we are not unlike. “ In all their affliction He was afflicted. ” He! Who? The Deliverer. The One who identified Himself with them. And His nature has not changed. We assume that Deity cannot suffer, but we do not know it. We suppose that Deity means perfection--impassive perfection. But is impassivity perfection? May there not be suffering which has in it more of perfection than imperfection, suffering which does not arise from sin, or from weakness, or from anything outside perfection V. Anyway, Jesus Christ has come between us and naked, unknowable Deity; He has united in some way the human and the Divine. And He is, in some mysterious manner, identified with us; and in all our afflictions He is afflicted, and inside all the affliction is “ the Angel of His presence” to save us. I can’ t tell you what this Angel of the presence means. But cherish faith in these unseen forces and powers--ay, in unseen personal ministries. (R. Thomas, D. D.)The spheres of compassion I. GOD’ S IN THE SPHERE OF HUMAN SORROW. We must not make too much of human sorrow. There is much else in the life of man. There is the joy of youth and the sober delights of age. Does any man really think that God looks down on all this welter and does not care--and, because He does not care, does not prevent it? God would not prevent it if He could, and He could not if He would. A world such as ours, and without suffering, is not possible to God. It is His sovereign will which has made every law under which we suffer, and His holiness which enforces every penalty. This compassion in the sphere of sorrow has been from the “ days of old” long before men had eyes to see it. But it reaches its highest manifestation in the life of Jesus our Lord. God’ s compassion is still working in the sphere of human sorrow, in the heart of the ascended Christ. Even now in all your affliction He is afflicted, and the angel of His presence is saving you, not from suffering, but from fall and shame. II. GOD’ S IN THE SPHERE OF SIN. The compassion of God has a greater work to do than to transform suffering, by grace, into nobility and strength. It has to go down into the depths of sin. Though the sin of the world lies behind all our suffering, there is much sorrow that is wholly pure. But when we come to sin, to the bondage of evil habit, the riot of wicked passion, to the indulgence of sloth and vanity and pride, ending in defiance of the Almighty and rebellion against His law, then compassion might well be exhausted. And then, indeed, holiness cannot but condemn, and sovereignty cannot but execute the decree; but compassion finds a way even in the sphere of,, sin, and so the prophet continues,” “ m” His” love and in His pity He redeemed them. But the compassion needs no words to make itself known. In the thorns on His brow, in the nails in His hands, in the prayer for human forgiveness, compassion proclaims its victory. This cross of Christ, just because it is so unlike man and is so like God, is the greatest mystery in the world. Whatever be your sin, whatever be your shame, whatever may have been your past lack of faith, come to-day again to the Cross, to find that sovereignty, holiness, and compassion have redeemed you. III. GOD’ S IN THE SPHERE OF HUMAN . Our human needs are not all supplied when our sufferings are borne with us, and our sins are pardoned. Though we cross our Red Sea, we have still the years of pilgrimage: though we lose our burdens at the Cross, we have still our cross to carry. Though we surrender ourselves to Christ, we have our warfare to accomplish. And who is there among us who knows the frailty of his past, the slips and falls of poor human nature, who does not feel the inspiration of the Word when it completes the revelation: “ He bare them and He carried them all the days of old.” There is no one so helpless as a disciple of Christ. Before we came to Christ, we could gird ourselves, and walk whither we would. Now we cannot take a step alone. Only by continually casting ourselves upon Him in our prayers, being led, guided, instructed, strengthened by HIS Spirit; only by clinging to Him in faith does our safety lie. (W. M. Clow, B. D.)Christ with His people in trouble We remember an old tale of our boyhood, how poor Robinson Crusoe, wrecked on a foreign strand, rejoiced when he saw the print of a man’ s foot. So is it with the Christian in his trouble; he shall not despair in a desolate land, because there is the foot-print of Christ Jesus on all our temptations and troubles. Go on rejoicing, Christian; thou art in an inhabited country; thy Jesus is with thee in all thy afflictions and in all thy woes. (C. H. Spurgeon.)In His love and in His pity He redeemed themDiscipline by chastisement “ In His love and His pity He redeemed them,” says Isaiah. These sharp and tragic punishments where with God visited His people were part of His redemptive work. God punished in order to redeem. He used the sword in order to deliver His people from the curse and doom of sin. It was “ love and pity” that prompted even His terrible judgments. God still sometimes inflicts upon His people great and sore troubles, so that we are tempted to think He has forgotten to be gracious. But in reality it is love that sends the trouble; it is pity that prompts the punishment. “ God’ s wrath,” somebody has said, “ is but His love on fire.” A God who never punished sin would not be a loving God. (J. D. Jones, B. D.)Divine discipline There can be no government, there can be no Church, save there be discipline. In the natural world we find this law. In the animal kingdom there is ruling and serving. In the vegetable kingdom superior vitality makes the weaker plants give room. Among men we witness this not alone where brute force is displayed and secures mastery. We see it in the intellectual and moral world. Each man has his sphere, his proper position. He must be held in that position, else there is chaos and utter waste--worse than utter waste, of all his power. The work of discipline is to restore and hold man to his proper sphere. We now behold man as fallen. See him in his pristine glory. See him as he falls. Even in his prostration he is not wholly without compensation, for he has gained a knowledge of good and evil. But now the tendency in man, which before was toward God, is downward. We see in fallen man attempts to recover himself a recognition of the necessity of Divine help. In Scripture, more especially, do we find it set forth that God is the Source of that help which can restore man. Here is sovereignty manifested in mercy. Observe the characteristics of this discipline. I. IT IS JUST. II. IT IS (Psalms 85:10). III. IT IS --designed, like a righteous, law, for good, not for punishment. -It is paternal, for it brings the wanderer home. IV. IT IS SPECIAL. It is adapted to each case. V. IT IS OF DIVINE HELP. You cannot think of any one thing which God has neglected to do that man might be saved. VI. IT THE EFFORTS OF THE HUMAN SOUL. Take away the beneficial effect of this Divine discipline, and the human soul sinks in anarchy and woe for evermore. Rightly improved, it lifts man to more than his pristine glory. (N. H. Schenck, D. D.) Isaiah 63:10 But they rebelled, and vexed His holy Spirit The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament Except here and in Isaiah 63:11 and Psalms 2:11 the predicate “ holy” is never in the Old Testament used of the Spirit of Jehovah. It is, perhaps, impossible to determine the exact connotation of the word in this connection. It cannot be accidental that in all three cases the holy Spirit is a principle of religious life; hence the phrase hardly signifies so little as merely “ His Divine Spirit’ ; as Jehovah’ s “ holy arm’ may mean no more than His Divine arm. Nor is it likely that it describes the Spirit as the influence that imparts to Israel the quality of holiness, i.e separateness from other nations, and consecration to Jehovah. The idea rather is that the Spirit is holy in the same sense as Jehovah Himself is holy--a principle which is both pure and inviolable, which resents and draws back from the contact of human impurity and especially of wilful opposition. This Spirit is a national endowment, residing in the community (verse 11); it is the Spirit of prophecy, resting on Moses, but manifesting its presence also through other organs of revelation Deuteronomy 34:9; Numbers 11:25 ft.). Hence it is said to have led the people (verse 14), and to “ vex” the Spirit is to resist His guidance by disobeying the Divine word which He inspires. The use of this verb marks the highest degree of personification of the Spirit attained in the Old Testament, preparing the way for the New Testament doctrine concerning Him. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The Holy Spirit The Spirit of [Jehovah’ s] holiness, as an existence capable of feeling, and therefore not a mere force, is distinguished from Him. For as the Angel, who is His countenance, i.e the representation of His nature, is described as a person, both by His name and the mediatorial work of redemption ascribed to Him, so the Spirit of Holiness, i.e holy in Himself and producing holiness (Psalms 143:10) is similarly described by the circumstance that He is grieved, and He can therefore feel grief Ephesians 4:30). Thus Jehovah and the Angel of His countenance and the Spirit of His holiness are distinguished as three existences, in such a way, indeed, that the latter two have their existence from the first; who is the primal ground of the Godhead and of everything Divine. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Rebellion against God The pronoun at the beginning is emphatic: they on their part, as opposed to God’ s forbearance and long-suffering. (J. A. Alexander.)The sin and consequence of vexing the Holy Spirit I. INQUIRE THE EVIL DONE. 1. The nature of it. We are not to understand it as if the blessed Spirit of God was capable of real perturbation or passion. That, common reason will tell us, the Divine nature is not capable of. But yet there is some great thing lies under this expression, which we may conceive of in these two particulars. (1) His will is really crossed. (2) He doth apprehend and resent this matter; though without any commotion, or perturbation. He resents it so as not to look upon it as a matter of indifference. This He keeps by Him as the just matter era controversy, which He will manage; and will animadvert upon it in His own time, and when a fit and proper season shall come. 2. The cause of this vexation. We may well understand in the general that sin does so; being in its own nature a direct contrariety to His good, and holy, and acceptable will. But especially rebellion against the Spirit of God is vexatious, which is a higher pitch of sin, and implies a continued course of disobedience. We may understand what sin is more especially vexing to the Spirit of God, if we allow ourselves to consider what the titles and attributes of this Spirit in Scripture are. (1) The Spirit of God is styled the Spirit of truth (John 14:17). It is therefore very grievous and vexing to this Spirit, to have a light esteem of Divine truth; to be indifferently affected towards it; to have a loose adherence to it; an easiness to part with it; and much more a proneness to oppose it, and run away from it. (2) The Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:29). It is therefore very vexing to this blessed Spirit when that grace, of which it is the Author, and which it is its office and business to convey and apply, or effectually to reveal, is rejected. (3) The Spirit of faith (2 Corinthians 4:13). When persons continue under the Gospel in obstinate unbelief; and the great things there revealed and discovered to us are but as a tale that is told, or regarded no more than we would regard the word of a child; a most vexing thing to the Spirit of God this must be understood to be. (4) A Spirit of contrition and repentance (Zechariah 12:10). We cannot conceive a greater vexation to Him than to find hearts hard as rocks and stones, under the dispensation of the everlasting Gospel. (5) The Spirit of love (2 Timothy 1:7); which is the great principle that disposes and inclines the soul towards God. A cold heart, then, towards God; a heart that is disaffected to Him, that keeps at a distance from Him, that will not be engaged in sweet communion with Him through love, is a most vexing thing to His Spirit. (6) A Spirit of power and of life (John 6:63; 2 Timothy 1:7). It is a very vexatious thing to this Spirit when any indulge themselves in deadness of heart; when they allow themselves to be formal, lukewarm, and indifferent. (7) The Spirit of holiness (Romans 1:4). Here it is said, “ They rebelled and vexed His holy Spirit. Thin is a most vexing thing, when persons professing the Christian name indulge themselves in a liberty to walk at random. (8) A heavenly Spirit, and the design of all its gracious operations upon souls is to fit them for heaven (2 Corinthians 5:5). A worldly heart, therefore, is a vexation to this Spirit. (9) A Spirit of prayer (Zechariah 12:10). It is the great business of this Spirit to actuate souls, and to raise them to God, in the way of prayer. It is a very great vexation, therefore, to the Holy Spirit, when persons grow to a prayerless disposition. (10) A Spirit of sincerity and uprightness; and wherever it obtains, it makes men upright and sincere. Thus it is called the Spirit of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). Hypocrisy, therefore, or a deceitful dealing with the blessed God in matters of religion, is a most vexatious thing to his Spirit. (11) A Spirit of union, peace and meekness, among them that belong to God. Animosities among the people of God are the most vexing things imaginable to the Spirit of God (12) A Spirit of sobriety and temperance, in opposition to grossly sensual lusts. It is a very vexatious thing to the Spirit of God, when among a people that profess His name, there is a general profusion, and running into vile sensual lusts (Jude 1:19). II. INQUIRE THE EVIL . Namely, His turning against them so as to become their enemy. 1. The nature of this evil. It is implied that He shall cease doing for such a people as He hath done. Have we vexed[ the Spirit of God? then it is natural to expect that the Spirit of God will retire. Then these words express some positive evils against such persons. 2. Consider how justly this penal evil does ensue in this case. (1) This is very despiteful dealing, to do that which will vex His very Spirit. (2) This is a wickedness wherein the most immediate kind of affront is offered unto God. (3) Sinning so as more directly to vex the Spirit of God, does carry with it a withstanding of the Spirit in that which is its proper office; which is a great aggravation of the wickedness. It is one thing when I withstand a person in a thing which he does casually and by the bye; and another when I withstand him in that which is his stated business. Inferences: 1. Among a people professing the name of God, the Spirit of God is wont to be at work; and where it is not doing any work, we cannot but suppose it to be thus vexatiously resisted and contended against. 2. Consider whether this may not be much our case and the case of the generality at this time, even thus like the Jews to have vexed the holy Spirit of God, which hath been for a long season dealing with us. 3. Let us be persuaded to hasten the taking up this controversy by humbling and abasing ourselves in the dust before the Lord; for ourselves on our own account, and on the behalf of the generality of those among whom we dwell. 4. Let us apply ourselves particularly and with great earnestness to supplicate the continuance of the Spirit, where it remains breathing in us; and the restoring it, where it had been in any measure restrained. (John Howe, M. A.)Vexing the Holy Spirit I. SOME OF THE WAYS IN WHICH MEN MAY BE SAID TO VEX THE HOLY SPIRIT. This sin is committed-- 1. When the all-important office executed by the Spirit in the Church, as sent by Christ to quicken, convert and sanctify the soul, is not duly recognized and honoured. 2. When the means and instruments by which He carries on His work are despised or abused. 3. By the unwarrantable doubts and fears which sometimes depress the minds of the people of God. 4. When any good motions or purposes which He excites in the heart are suppressed, or not followed out. 5. When the grace and energy which He imparts are not actively and faithfully exercised. II. THE OF VEXING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 1. One result of the Spirits “ turning against” any one would be His withdrawing altogether the instruments and means and opportunities of grace which men have despised or abused; and as they sought not to arrive at the knowledge of the truth, leaving them to perish in the darkness which they have loved. 2. Another thing obviously implied is, HIS ceasing to work and make the means of grace effectual for conviction and conversion. (A. B.Davidson, D. D.) Isaiah 63:11-14 Then he remembered the days of old Israel rembering God’ s dealings with His people It is possible that the words “ Moses” and “ His people” are marginal explanations, the former to “ shepherd” and the latter to “ he” : “ Then he” (Israel) “ remembered the days of old, saying, Where is He” (God). . . “ with the shepherd of flock” (Moses) . . . “ His holy Spirit within it!” (the flock). (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)Where is the Lord? I. A SACRED, LOVING . The people remembered what God did to them. What was it? 1. He gave them leaders. “ Where is He that brought them up out of the sea?” etc. Moses and Aaron, and a band of godly men who were with them, were the leaders of the people, through the sea and through the wilderness. We are apt to think too little of our leaders. First of all we think too much of them. We seem to swing like a pendulum between these two extremes. There have been epochs in history that were prolific of great leaders of the Christian Church. No sooner did Luther give his clarion call, than God seemed to have a bird in every bush; and Calvin, and Farel, and Melancthon, and Zwingle, and many besides joined him in his brave protest against the harlot-church of Rome. The Church remembers those happy days, with earnest longing for their return. 2. God put His Spirit within these shepherds. They would have been nothing without it. A man with God’ s Holy Spirit within him, can anybody estimate his worth? 3. Then there was, as a happy memory for the Church, a great manifestation of the Divine power. “ That let them by the right hand of Moses.” “ The right hand of Moses,” by itself, was no more than your right hand or mine; but when God’ s glorious arm worked by the right hand of Moses, the sea divided, and made a way for the hosts of Israel to pass over. What we want to-day is a manifestation of Divine power. 4. Then there came to God’ s people a very marvellous deliverance: “ That led them,, through the deep, as a horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble. Understand by the word “ wilderness here, an expansive grassy plain; a place of wild grass and Kerbs, for so it means. And as a horse is led where it is flat and level, and he does not stumble, so were the hosts of Israel led through the Red Sea. God has done so with His Church in all time. Her seas of difficulty have had no difficulty about them. 5. As a blessed ending to their trials, God brought them into a place of rest: “ As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord causeth him to rest: so didst Thou lead Thy people. In the desert they rested a good deal; but in Canaan they rested altogether. As the cattle come down from the mountains, where they have been picking up their food, when the plains are fat with grass, and they feed to their full, and lie down and rest, so did God deal with His people. I read it, first, literally as a sketch of Israel’ s history; next, as a sketch of the Church a history. The same thing has happened to us as individuals. II. AN OBJECT CLEARLY SHINING, like the morning star I see, through the text, God’ s great motive in working these wonders for His people. 1. It was God who did it all. But then, why had God done all this? Did He do it because of His peoples merits, or numbers, or capacities? 2. God works His great wonders of grace with the high motive of making known to His creatures His own glory, manifesting what He is and who He is, that they may worship Him. III. AN ANXIOUS INQUIRY, which I find twice over in my text. Believing in what God “ has done” and believing that His motive “ still” remains” the same, we begin to cry, Where as He that brought them up out of the sea with the she herd of His flock?” etc. 1. This question suggests that there is some faith left. “ Where is He?” He is somewhere, Then, He lives. 2. The question implies that some were beginning to seek Him. Where is He? 3. It shows that she has begun to mourn over His absence. I like the reduplicated word. “ Where is He? Where is He?” Not, “ Where is Moses? Where are the leaders? The fathers, where are they? But where is He that made the fathers? Where is He that sent us Moses and Aaron? Where is He that divided the waters, and led His people safely?” Oh, if He were here! One hour of His glorious arm; just a day of His almighty working, and what should we not see? 4. Where is He, then? Well, He is hidden because of our sins. 5. For your comfort, the next verse (Isaiah 63:15) tells you where He is. He is in heaven. They cannot expel Him from His throne. 6. “ Where is He?” Well, He is Himself making an inquiry; for, as some read the whole passage, it is God Himself speaking. He remembered the days of old, Moses and His people; and when He hid Himself, and would not work in wrath, yet He said to Himself, “ Where is He that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of His flock?” When God Himself begins to ask where He is and to regret those happier days, something will come of it. (C. H.Spurgeon.) Isaiah 63:12 That led them God and His people I. GOD LEADS HIS PEOPLE BY WHICH HE CHOOSES AND , II. HE DEFENDS THEM WITH THE ARM OF HIS POWER. III. HE REMOVES EVERY THAT THEIR COURSE. IV. HE HIS OWN NAME IN THEIR . (J. Lyth, D. D.)To make Himself an everlasting nameGod’ s glorious and everlasting name :--Manschief end is to glorify and enjoy God. God’ s greatest and highest object is to make to Himself a glorious and an everlasting name. Since God is God it must be so: for He is full of love and kindness to His creatures, and He cannot more fully bless His creatures than by making Himself known to them. Everything that is good, true, holy, excellent, loving, is in God. God may well desire to make to Himself a name--that is to say, to make Himself known--because He is worthy to be known. This knowledge of God is the heaven of the perfect. It is the help of the growing. Men can only get holier and better as they know more of God. It is also the great hope of sinners. If you knew Him better, you would fly to Him. If you understood how gracious He is, you would seek Him. If you could have any idea of His holiness, you would loathe your self-righteousness. If you knew anything of His power, you would not venture to contend with Him. If you knew anything of His grace, you would not hesitate to yield yourself to Him. I. GOD’ S DESIGN HAS BEEN . From everlasting He was God most glorious; He existed, but He had as yet no name. For a name is that by which any one is revealed, and until His power called into being the hosts of heaven, God was God alone, and there were none to whom He could be known. Then the angels lifted high His praise in their songs, and bowed low before His throne. In creation His name was manifested and magnified. But our subject is how God has made His name glorious amongst men. 1. The text speaks of God as making to Himself a great and glorious name, in redeeming Israel. 2. As God got to Himself a great name at the Red Sea, He has done much more by the great work of salvation in the gift of Jesus. 3. HIS design has been accomplished in the saints in glory. II. GOD’ S DESIGN IS BEING . In many ways the grand work is still going forward. God is carrying out His gracious plan. This purpose is being fulfilled-- 1. In sparing the provoking. 2. In turning the rebellious to Himself. 3. In forgiving the guilty. 4. In purifying the unholy. 5. In preserving the tempted. 6. In using weak instruments. 7. In doing great things for His people by sending very wonderful seasons of refreshing and reviving to His Church. III. GOD’ S DESIGN IS VERY . 1. Because it hides pride from men. 2. Because it opens a great door for sinners. 3. Because it gives comfort to strugglers. 4. Because it sustains in trying times. 5. Because it answers our chiefest prayers. “ Hallowed be Thy name, etc. (C. H Spurgeon.) Isaiah 63:15-16 Look down from heaven An appeal to God I. GOD’ S PEOPLE IN TROUBLE. II. THEIR . III. THEIR PLEA. Past interpositions. Past mercies. (J. Lyth, D. D.)I. OUR FATHER’ S HOUSE. Our Father--God 1. Heavenly. 2. Holy. 3. Glorious. II. OUR FATHER’ S . Strong; tender; compassionate. III. OUR FATHER’ S . Survives our ingratitude; vicissitude; time. IV. OUR FATHER’ S NAME. 1. Father. 2. Redeemer. 3. From everlasting. V. OUR FATHER’ S CLAIMS. Honour; obedience; love. (J. Lyth, D. D.)The habitation of Thy holiness and of Thy gloryWhither did our Lord ascend? :--What was the new scene into which our Lord was introduced? He went up into heaven. 1. What is heaven? The place where Almighty God is specially present John 14:2; John 16:28). But is not the Father present everywhere? Psalms 139:7-12). What means the being “ specially present? Has it any meaning? In the case of men they are present to us, or absent from us; but there is no medium between the two. Presence does not seem to admit of more or less. Either we are here or elsewhere. There are many doctrines of religion, and this is one of them, that can only be apprehended by analogy, or, as the apostle says, “in a glass darkly.” The union of body and soul furnishes in this case a very just analogy. There is no part of the human body in which the soul is not present. I mean by the soul simply the animating principle and the principle of sensation. Every member of the living body is endowed with feeling, or sensibility to pain. But that this sensibility resides not in the mass of matter, but in the soul or life, is, of course, clear from the fact that when death separates body and soul, the body has no longer any feeling. Yet, although the soul pervades the whole body, and resides even in its remotest extremities, it has a special connection with what are called the vital parts. A man may pluck out his right eye, and cut off his right hand, or his right foot, without ceasing to live. Assault the heart, and you assault the seat of life. Surely, then, there can be no objection to affirming as, on the one hand, a general residence of the soul in every member of the body, so, on the other, a special residence of the soul in the heart. There is the figure of the truth of which we are in search. Now, let us elicit the truth from it. No district of this fair, broad universe is without the presence of Almighty God. In that Presence stands the being of everything that is. Yet, although the presence of God in and under all things as their support is unquestionable, arc we, for this reason, to deny His special connection with a certain part of the universe above others? No? The earth is but the remote extremity of creation--the universe has a heart, the special seat, the royal residence of that God who quickens with His presence the entire framework of the world. This place, wherever it is locally situated, is the source of all movement in the world, just as the heart is the source of all movement in the natural body. Heaven! The region in which the hand of God immediately operates without any intervention of secondary causes, the region in which His fiat is issued to the firmament, and the firmament pours forth its rain upon the earth, and the earth yields her fruit to the inhabitants, and the heart of those inhabitants is filled with food and gladness; the region is called heaven. This is the region to which our blessed Lord’ s body was carried up on the day of His ascension; and into which, without seeing death, the patriarch Enoch and the Prophet Elijah were translated. 2. In what sense Christ’ s people are now with Him in heaven. The apostle intimates that Christians themselves, in their present state of existence, have undergone a similar translation. “ God,” says he, “ who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace we are saved), and hath raised us up together (mark, hath raised us up together), and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” How can language so strong be substantiated? Just consider prayer--prayer offered in the faith of Christ. It penetrates to these regions of which we have been speaking, and has its effect and operation there. A sublime thought indeed, and one of which we may make good use in stirring up ourselves to prayer I Prayer penetrates to a region beyond the stars, and, in the holy audacity of its enterprise, lays hold of that primary will of God from which proceed, through a long series of intermediate causes, all the movements of the universe. And prayer, if genuine, is the voice of the Christian’ s affections, the outpouring of his heart. Hence, because his thoughts are in heaven, his hope in heaven, his affections in heaven; the Saviour, around whom gather all his thoughts, and hopes, and affections, in heaven; because his prayers move in that sphere and touch the spring of God’ s will, he himself, according to the spiritual element of his nature, is said to “ sit together in heavenly places in Christ.” 3. Consider, that this region is “ the habitation of God’ s holiness and of His glory.” And here remark a striking and most instructive contrast between the two passages of which my text consists. It is said in the latter of them that “ the whole earth is full of God’ s glory.” The seraphim say nothing about holiness as witnessed upon the earth. Alas! what could they say? There is no spot upon the earth where an intelligent and devout eye may not see and adore the glory of the Divine Being. But when upon the stage of this earth we look “ for judgement, behold oppression; for righteousness, behold a cry.” Holiness, like Noah’ s dove upon the water, can find no resting-place for the sole of her foot upon this earth. But heaven is the habitation of God’ s holiness, no less than of His glory. Every heart admitted within its precincts is a mirror which gives back the holiness of the Most High, His hatred of sin, His stern and uncompromising righteousness, His exact justice, His fervent and all-embracing love. There shall in no wise enter into the heavenly, “ anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb’ s Book of Life.” 4. Heaven cannot possibly be accessible to any man without a congeniality of mind to its pursuits and employments. A tropical plant cannot possibly thrive in the bleak and raw atmosphere of the North; vegetation generally is blighted and killed by an atmosphere uncongenial to it. And he who loves not praise and thanksgiving, who turns away from the thought of God’ s presence as an intrusion on his peace, who regards sin with levity rather than with fear, and freely cherishes any animosity, or worldly or carnal lusts--that man’ s sentiments and character, quite irrespective of any Divine decree, must exclude him from the habitation of holiness to which he hath no affinity. 5. Our blessed Lord’ s presence in heaven is that which lends to it its great attraction in the eyes of the true Christian. (Dean Goulburn.) Isaiah 63:16 Doubtless Thou art our Father The Jewish Church a spiritual body The true sense of the verse, as it appears to me, is that the Church or chosen people, although once, for temporary reasons, co-extensive and coincident with a single race, is not essentially a national organization, but a spiritual body. The father is not Abraham or Israel, but Jehovah, who is and always has been its Redeemer, who has borne that name from everlasting. (J. A. Alexander.)God’ s fatherly regard for His people “ For Thou art our Father; for Abraham is ignorant of us, and Israel knows us not. Thou, Jehovah, art our Father; from of old our Redeemer is Thy name.” Jehovah is Israel’ s Father Isaiah 64:7), i.e begetter (Deuteronomy 32:6); His creative power and loving, merciful purpose called it into existence. The second “ for” justifies this confession, that Jehovah is Israel’ s Father, and that it can therefore look for fatherly care and help from Him alone; even the dearest and most honourable men, the nation’ s progenitors, cannot help it. Abraham and Jacob--Israel--have been taken away from this world, and are unable of themselves to intervene in the history of their people. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The Jewish sense of orphanhood These words came from the heart of the Jewish people when they felt themselves “ aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise.” They had wandered from the God of their fathers, and they feel as if their fathers had east them off. If Abraham were to appear on earth, he would not know them; if Jacob were to return, he would not acknowledge them; and what then can they do? They cannot endure life, cannot bear the burden of its sorrows and struggles without a father and a friend. What can they do but pass up beyond men, and seek a father in God? Their heart is an orphan everywhere, else, and is forced to this door of refuge; “ Doubtless Thou--Thou art our Father. (J. Ker, D. D.)The cry of the orphaned heart It has never died out, and is present still in many a spirit. I. THE WORDS EXPRESS A DEEP LONGING OF THE HUMAN HEART. With all its folly and frivolity and sin, the heart of man has been made to feel after these words: “ Our Father--our Father which art in heaven.” The lower creatures have not this cry, because they have not our wants, our aspirations, or the possibility of our hopes. There are wonderful instincts among them--most wonderful often in the most minute. But what curious microscope ever discovered among them a spire pointing heavenward, or tokens of prayer and praise? The magnet which is passed over the earth to draw things upward finds nothing in this world which trembles and turns to it save the human heart. It is very true that many hearts make little viable response, and seem to bear the want of a heavenly Father very lightly. But even in them there may be discerned the heart-hunger that shows itself in unnatural cravings which the lower creatures do not feel. The void may be discovered in the restless attempts men make to fill it. When we look at the length and breadth of man’ s history, it ,tells us that this cry constantly returns, “ O that I knew where I might find Him! There have been men in all ages to whom the answer of this cry has been the one necessity of life, and if you could convince them that is impossible to find a heavenly Father, they would smile no more. II. YET IT IS OFTEN TO SPEAK THESE WORDS WITH FULL . The struggle to reach them is evident in the men who use them here, and is felt in the very word “ doubtless,” with which they begin their claim. 1. There is one difficulty, which belongs specially to our time, in the mind of man as it deals with the universe and its laws. There is a form of science which says, “ I have ranged the world, and there is nothing in it but material law. There may be a heart in man, but there is no heart beyond to answer it; or, if there be, the heart of man can never reach it.” 2. Besides the mind, the heart finds difficulties in itself. There are so many things in life which make it hard to believe in the love of God. 3. And still beyond the mind and heart there is the conscience. When we think of a Father in heaven, we must think of a righteous Father, of One “ who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.” The weak, indulgent fatherhood, which is passed so lightly from hand to hand, will not fit into the parts of the world’ s history which show the terrible penalties of sin; it will not satisfy the soul when it is brought face to face with the majesty of God’ s law and the holiness of HIS character. III. WITH ALL THESE , IT IS A FEELING WHICH CAN BE AND HAS BEEN REACHED. There have been men who could look up and say, “ Doubtless Thou art our Father.” They have said it not only in sunshine, but in storm and in the shadow of death; have given up their lives that they might testify to it clearly and fearlessly; and have shut the door and said it to their Father who seeth in secret. But we are to, think of One, the greatest of all. Even those who take the lowest view of Jesus Christ will admit that He, beyond all others, taught men to think of God as a Father, and gave the example of it in His own life and death. How strong it made Him, and how patient, how active in doing good, how comforted in solitude, that His Father had sent Him, and was present with Him, putting the cup of suffering into His hand, and ready to receive Him when He said, Father, into Thy hands commend My spirit!” But His example, His influence, wonderful as they are, would not enable us to follow Him to God as a Father, unless there was something in His death which laid hold of us with stronger power. It is this which enables us to go to God the Judge of all with confidence, because we go through the blood of sprinkling. And when the conscience can say, My Father; the heart beans to say it also. When the heart has found a Father in God, all the world’ s laws cannot lay hand on it to imprison it; it moves “ through the midst of them, and so passes by.” IV. THIS FULL SENSE OF GOD’ S IS NOT GAINED AT ONCE. We do not say that the position is not gained at once. As soon as any one comes to God through Christ, he is no more a stranger and an enemy, but a child, and all the, dealings of God with him are paternal. But he may fail to recognize a Father’ s voice and hand. Think of the ways by which it may be gained. Come, first of all, by a more simple and loving faith to the death of Christ in the fulness of its meaning. Then seek more fully to give Christ entrance into your heart and life. As the-heart is purified we see God. To have God for our Father is not merely to be forgiven, it is not even to be sanctified; it is to be one with Him in thought and feeling, to listen to Him and speak with Him, as one speaks with a friend. It is peculiarly the work of the Holy Spirit to lead us into this inmost sanctuary of sonship. “ As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” But to be led by Him, we must not grieve Him by sin or neglect, but welcome His whispered admonitions; and then, as we listen and obey, we shall reach the innermost room where “ the Spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” V. TO USE THESE WORDS TRULY IS A MATTER OF MOMENT TO US ALL. Here is a Friend we need in every stage of life, and in every event of it. (J. Ker, D. D.)The assurance of God’ s Fatherhood There are three chambers by which we advance to the assurance of Fatherhood in God. The first is the upper chamber of Jerusalem, which comes to us ever and again in the Lord’ s table, with its offer of pardon and peace. The second is the chamber of the heart, to which we give Him admission in love and obedience. And the third is the home, where the Holy Spirit teaches us to cry, “ Abba, Father.” (J. Ker, D. D.)The creed of the optimist I. This noble utterance represents THE AND FINAL APPEAL OF TEE SPIRIT OF MAN, baffled and dissatisfied with what the poet calls “ the riddle of this painful earth,” or despised and rejected by his fellow-men; and that appeal is to the responsibility, omnipotence, unalterable love, and unerring justice of a Divine Father. II. The cry of Isaiah is THE TEXT OF THE , of the man who, in spite of the riddles and difficulties and waste and failure in a world teeming with injustice, persists in enthroning God alone behind all worlds, and saying to Him, “ Doubtless Thou art our Father, though scientific materialism be ignorant of us, and the facts of experience seem to be against us.” (Basil Wilberforce, D. D.)Our Redeemer,-- God the Redeemer “ God” signifies both a redeemer and an avenger, but the latter only as he is the former. Hence one reason for the close linking together of the two books of Isaiah. In the first Jehovah is the Avenger of the nation against the oppressor, of the poor against the godless rich, of the widow and fatherless against the unjust, of the outraged Theocracy against the no-gods which claim to be Jehovah’ s rivals and equals. In the second He is the Redeemer, who ransoms and delivers through the Nan of His choice. It is used in both senses throughout the Books of the Law, and in the Psalms. But in the writings of the prophets it is nearly confined to Isaiah. (F. Sessions.)Our Redeemer The Lord is our Redeemer for the soul. It is a great comfort to know that it is our heavenly Father who is our Redeemer. It is God in Christ. 1. Our Redeemer has suffered for us. 2. He is our Redeemer from the grave of sin. 3. He is our Redeemer, bringing us to God. 4. He is our Redeemer from our wicked self, and from the power of sin. (W. Birch.)The Redeemer of Israel “ Our Redeemer from everlasting is Thy name.” (A. B.Davidson, D. D.) Isaiah 63:17O Lord, why hut Thou made us to err from Thy ways?-- God’ s anger with His people Very singular is the plea that the sinfulness of the people is due to the excessive and protracted anger of Jehovah, who “ causes them to err from His ways” (cf. Isaiah 64:5; Isaiah 64:7).This feeling appears to proceed from two sources; on the one hand the ancient idea that national calamity is the proof of Jehovah’ s anger, and on the other the lesson taught by all the prophets, that the sole cause of Jehovah’ s anger is the people’ s sins. The writer seems unable perfectly to harmonize these principles. He accepts the verdict of Providence on the sins of the nation, but he feels also a disproportion between the offence and the punishment, which neutralizes all efforts after righteousness, unless Jehovah will relent from the fierceness of His wrath. The higher truth, that the Divine chastisement aims at the purification of the people, and is therefore a mark of love, is not yet grasped, and for this reason the Old Testament believers fall short of the liberty of the sons of God. Yet amid all these perplexities the faith of the Church holds fast to the truth of the Fatherhood of God, and appeals to the love which must be in His heart, although it be not manifest in His providential dealings. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)God’ s withdrawing His presence, the correction of His Church These are words that carry a great deal of dread in them: tremendous words as any in the Book of God. It is the true Church of God that speaks these words. They were “ all as an unclean thing,” and their “ holiness all faded away as a leaf” (Isaiah 64:6). Yet faith maintains a sense of a relation toGod; therefore they cry, “ Doubtless thou art our Father,” etc. (Isaiah 63:16). And if God would help us to maintain, and not let go our interest in Him as our Father by faith, we should have a bottom and foundation to stand upon. Observe, here, the condition of the Church at that time. 1. It was a time of distress and oppression (Isaiah 63:18). 2. A time of deep conviction of sin (Isaiah 64:6-7). Well, then, suppose it be a state of great oppression, and a state of great conviction of sin what is the course that we should take? We may turn ourselves this way and that way;, but the Church is come to this, to issue all in an inquiry after, and a sense of God’ s displeasure, manifesting itself by spiritual judgments. I. WHAT IS IT TO ERR FROM THE WAYS OF GOD? The ways of God are either God’ s ways towards us, or our ways towards Him, that are of His appointment. God’ s ways towards us are the ways of His providence. Our ways towards God are the ways of obedience and holiness. We may err in both. The ways that God hath appointed for us to walk in towards Him are these here intended. Now we may err from thence-- 1. In the inward principle. 2. In the outward order. II. WHAT IS IT TO HAVE OUR HEARTS FROM THE FEAR OF GOD? 1. There is a total hardening. 2. A partial hardening. III. HOW IS GOD SAID TO CAUSE US TO ERR FROM HIS WAYS, AND TO HARDEN OUR HEARTS FROM HIS FEAR? 1. God is said to do that (and it is not an uncommon form of speech in Scripture) whose contrary He doth not do, when it might be expected, as it were, from Him. If there be a prophet that doth prophesy so and so, “ I the Lord have deceived that prophet” (Ezekiel 14:9), that is, I have not kept him from being deceived, but suffered him to follow the imaginations of his own heart, whereby he should be deceived.” God may be said to cause us to err from HIS ways, and to harden our hearts from His fear merely negatively, in that He hath not kept us up to His ways, nor kept our hearts humble and soft in them. 2. God hardens men judicially, in a way of punish-meat. This is a total hardening. (1) The first thing God doth, when He hardens men’ s hearts penally, is to give them over to their own lusts (Romans 1:24). (2) Then He gives men up to Satan to blind them and harden them, for he is “ the god of this world that blinds the eyes of men. (3) God doth judicially give up men to hardness of heart by supplying therein His providence with opportunities to draw out their lusts. (4) In pursuit of all these, God gives them over to “ a reprobate mind” Romans 1:28), i.e a mind that can neither judge nor approve of anything that is good. 3. God may be said to cause men to err from His ways, and to harden their hearts from His fear, by withholding, upon their provocation, some such supply of His Spirit, and actings of His grace, as they have formerly enjoyed to keep up their hearts to the ways and in the fear of God. That is the hardening here intended. IV. WHY DOTH THE HOLY GOD DEAL THUS WITH A PEOPLE? 1. What provokes God to it. (1) Unthankfulness for mercy received (verses 8-10). (2) Inordinate cleaving to the things of the world at a most undue season. (3) Our unprofitableness, and unsuitableness to the means of grace we have enjoyed. 2. What does God aim at in such a dispensation? (1) To awaken us unto the consideration of what an all-seeing God He is, with whom we have to do. (2) To awaken us. V. WHAT WAY SHALL WE TAKE NOW FOR OUR SOULS OUT OF THIS STATE AND ? One way is prescribed here. It is by prayer: “ Return, O Lord.” The arguments here given are peculiar to the case; and we may plead them. 1. Sovereign mercy and compassion (verse 15). 2. Faith fulness in covenant (verse 16). (John Owen, D. D.) Isaiah 63:19 We are Thine The intimate relation subsisting between God and His people The intimate relation subsisting between God and His people suggests strong encouragement in their supplications at the throne of grace. The Lord God is more ready to give good things to them that ask Him than earthly parents are go give to their children. They may be poor, niggardly, or hard-hearted; whereas the treasures of our heavenly Father are inexhaustible, His liberality is unbounded, and His compassions never fail. (R. Macculloch.) Isaiah 64:1-2 Oh that Thou wouldest rend the heavens Prayer for Divine manifestation I. This is nothing less than A PRAYER THAT GOD WOULD HIMSELF AS A JUDGE--yes, and as a Destroyer. Isaiah craved for a man who should deliver men from the oppressions of the world’ s tyranny, from the storms which are raised by the passions of peoples and rulers, from the weariness and exhaustion which follows when they have accomplished their projects with great labour, and nothing comes out of them. He longed that the true man should appear, who would thoroughly manifest the ways ann purposes of the true God, who would remove the thick veil which had intercepted His light from reaching His creatures, who would make them know that He was present with them, that He was ruling and judging them. To long, then, for a Man who should be a hiding-place from the tempest and a covert from the storm or heat was the very same thing as to long that God would rend the heavens and come down. II. THERE IS A NATURAL HEART IN ALL OF US WHICH IS AVERSE FROM THIS PRAYER. And there is a natural religion which adapts itself to these cravings of ours, and supplies them with a language. To keep God at a distance from men is the end which it proposes to itself; to convert all persons who perform its offices, all prayers and dogmas, into barriers more or less secure against His appearing, and His vengeance, is its art. This religion expresses all different feelings of men, in different conditions of disease. It does not express the one common feeling of men, to be raised out of their diseases, to be made whole. The universal prayer--the prayer that goes up from the whole heart of humanity--is this of Isaiah. III. THE PROPHET HAD BEEN TO THAT MAN DOES NOT REQUIRE TO BE AGAINST GOD, but that God should protect him against himself, and should raise him out of the slavery which he invents for himself. Thus did he learn to rejoice, even while he trembled, at the convulsions in the outward world, or in human society. Thus did he understand that by all such signs God was avenging the cause of the poor, of those who had no helper, was shaking kings on their thrones, was surprising the hypocrites. Thus was Isaiah made into the evangelical prophet, the witness that unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, who can be a covert from the tempest, because He is both the Son of man and the Son of God; because God appearing in Him does indeed rend the heavens and come down. (F. D. Maurice, M. A.)The hearts cry Here is a voice, resonant, magnificent, full of heart-chords, that says, Break up the scheme of nature and rebuild it, only thou Heart of things come to us? We catch our best selves in our best reality when we are thus impassioned. The zoologist or physiologist tells us that animals can only move when they are warm; they can only move in proportion as the sun is in them. It is the sun that makes the bird fly, it is the sun that made the little serpent leap up into your way and flash into the woods like a glare of light in darkness. We move by the sun. So, in a higher sense, in the larger, richer realms of education and culture and growth, we are moved by inspiration, not by information. (J. Parker, D. D.)Irresistible Divine manifestation Jehovah is to descend with such irresistible force as fire exerts on brushwood and water, kindling the one, making the other boil, in order by such a display of power to impress His name (revealing itself judicially, therefore, “ in fire,” Isaiah 30:27; Isaiah 66:15) on HIS adversaries, and that,(idolatrous) nations may tremble before Him (cf. Psalms 68:2 f.). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 64:3 When Thou didst terrible things “ Terrible things” A standing phrase for the marvels of the Exodus, the type of the great final deliverance (Deuteronomy 10:21; 2Sa Psalms 106:22). (Prof. T. K. Cheyne, D. D.)Divine surprises Isaiah pleads with God to return to His chosen people, and restore their former peace and prosperity. He makes use of the past as an argument for the future, and recites the wonderful acts of God in days gone by as an encouragement to expect that He would do the like again. If it were not that God is unchangeable, no inference could be drawn from His past behaviour toward us; but inasmuch as He is immutably the same, we may safely infer that what He has done He will de again. I. Let us meditate upon the fact that THE DIVINE IS THE ONE HOPE OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD. The prophet shows that he believed this, for he commences the chapter by a most ardent cry to God that He would come into the midst of His people. A little before this (Isaiah 63:15) he had prayed, “ Look down from heaven;” but it is the characteristic of true prayer that it grows as it proceeds: he begins by asking God to look down; but he gathers intensity of desire and confidence of faith, and here he cries, “ Come down.” So eager is he that God should come, and come at once, that he speaks to Him as though addressing a warrior who lingered in his tent while a battle was raging, who would be so eager to rush to the help of his friends that he would not stay to remove the canvas or to lift the curtain, but would rend a way for himself through the canopy to come at once to the deliverance of those who called him to the rescue. It was through the open heavens that Christ went in where He now stands to plead for us, and by that open heaven the sacred Spirit descended to rest upon the Church. The impetuous character of the simile here used shows that the prophet looked upon the Divine visitation as the one thing needful for Israel. Is not this the prayer of every true heart that knows the need of the Church and the need of the age. We do not so much require more ministers, or more eloquent teachers, but more of the sacred presence. We do not want wealth in the Church, or magnificent buildings, but we crave above all things that the living God will refresh His people. The desire of the prophet in the present instance is abundantly justified by the history of God’ s people in all times: for when the tribes were in Egypt what could set them free from the iron bondage?--what but the presence of God? So was it when their marchings were through the lone wilderness. The favour of God is the hope of all HIS people. First, we see this in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world must have perished if God had not come down to it in the person of His dear Son. So, too, when the Lord Jesus comes to us by His Spirit our hope begins. And our hope of the perfection of our salvation still lies in the coming of Christ to us. Until our Lord’ s glorious advent, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church is our only dependence for success in air that we attempt. The presence of God is essential to each one of us if we are to be saved. II. WHEN THE LORD COMES HIS CREATES GREAT . “ When Thou didst terrible things that we looked not for, Thou earnest down.” It has always been so. Even the most expectant among men have found their expectations far exceeded; while those who have been depressed, and have prophesied things, have been altogether taken aback to see the goodness of the Lord. How is it that we continue to be surprised at what God does? First, because our largest conceptions of God fall short of the truth. Besides, our experience of God is very brief. We have lived as yet only for a span, or a hand’ s breadth. Besides that, our faith is shamefully weak, and does not look out for great things. Surprising mercies tend to rouse our gratitude. How much God is glorified by His people when He does things they looked not for. Their neighbours are surprised, III. THE OF GOD . “ The mountains flowed down at Thy presence.” Israel had enemies which were strong and powerful, nations and kings towered above them like great mountains, but whenever God came to help them the kingdoms dissolved, the people were conquered, and the mountains and hills were laid low. At this present time great systems of error oppose the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Church only needs the Divine presence in the midst of her, and all the systems of error will flow down at His feet like glaciers which dissolve in the summer sun. Many hearts arc hard as granite rocks; you may pray for them, talk to them, preach to them, but all in vain. What is required is the presence of God, and then hearts of stone are turned to flesh. Within our own selves also we may see mountains of difficulty, but if we go to Christ, and so obtain God’ s help, every mountain shall sink and every rock melt. IV. WE MAY EXPECT TO SEE THE SAME RESULTS FROM THE DIVINE TO-DAY, and to-morrow, and as long as we live. God is the same. There are things to be done yet by God which will astonish us beyond measure. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 64:4 Yet since the beginning of the world men have not heard God absolutely alone in His graciousness “ From of old men have not heard, nor perceived, nor has eye seen a God beside Thee, who acted for him that waits for Him. ” (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Mystery revealed There is perhaps, nothing more likely to withhold us from a diligent process of self-examination as to our position in reference to heaven, or to induce a sort of belief that such self-examination may safely be spared, because we have not sufficient material for conducting it, than the convenient supposition of the incomprehensibleness of heaven, and our utter incompetence with our present set of faculties to the understanding what heaven is. The words of our text are those which St. Paul quotes, when he says--“ Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” And there are no words more frequently or more unhesitatingly quoted than these, as if it were heaven which the writer had in view. This is only an instance of popular misapplication of Scripture. The words may, indeed, be accommodated to heaven; but as used, whether by Isaiah or St. Paul, they have nothing whatever to do with heaven; and it is nothing but by that common habit of detaching a text from the context, and thus suiting it to our own purpose without concern as to the drift of the writer, that the words are in every one’ s mouth whensoever discourse turns on the invisible world. I. WHAT IS THE TRUE IMPORT AND MEANING OF THE PASSAGE, whether as it occurs in the writings of Isaiah, or those of St. Paul. The chapter in which our text occurs contains an earnest prayer for the manifestation of God’ s power, and this prayer is generally considered as that of the first converts from among the dispersed Jews, when the nation of Israel shall be about to be reunited in the Church. It is a devout and most importunate call for some such mighty interference as had been vouchsafed to Israel in earlier days, when God made “ bare His holy arm, and wrought wondrously on behalf of His people.” Those words are a declaration that when God shall interfere, as we yet believe that He will, on behalf of His ancient people, gathering them from their dispersion, engrafting them into His Church, and reinstating them in the land from which they have so long been exiled, there will be such exhibitions of His greatness, and goodness, and awfulness, as shall immeasurably surpass the expectations even of those who, most diligent in remembering the marvels of old, have also been most patient in awaiting the fulfilment of the long-cherished promise. Without going more at length into an examination of the prayer recorded by Isaiah, we may safely say that it is not to heaven that the suppliants refer when they use the language “ Eye hath not seen,” etc. And if, as used by the prophet, the words do not refer to heaven, do they as thus used by the apostle? (1 Corinthians 2:1-16). You can hardly fail to perceive, if you look attentively at the context, that it is the Gospel of which St. Paul speaks--the plan of salvation through Christ, and Him crucified. And it is to this Gospel that he applies the words which are so commonly quoted, as though he spake of heaven. What are his next words? “ But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.” So, then, you see the mysteriousness of which St. Paul speaks was at an end. II. We wish to suppose that the words were used of heaven, and to EXAMINE WHETHER EVEN THEN THEY WOULD AT ALL WARRANT MEN IN NOT TO THEIR FITNESS FOR THE “ OF THE SAINTS.” We believe of heaven, that its joys far transcend our highest imaginations, and are only imperfectly, if at all, to be apprehended by our present senses and feelings, w e are not afraid to say of heaven--“ Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath laid up for the righteous,” but do the words prove that we can know nothing about heaven? Then, what mean the words which so immediately follow--“ But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit” ! Heaven is a mystery to the natural man. Its joys are such as lie beyond his comprehension; so that if described to him, they do not come home to his understanding. Its occupations are such that, when mentioned, they appear to him as if they must be burdens, so devoid are they of the elements for which he possesses any relish or taste. It is not, however, thus with the spiritual man. Unto him there hath come a revelation of the happiness of heaven, seeing that he has whisperings even now of that holiness which is happiness, and therefore can understand, and will be taught to feel that happiness is to be “ holy even as God is holy. We tell you of heaven as of that whereof there hath been made a revelation to every believer in the felt agreement between what is told him of happiness hereafter, and what is experienced by him of happiness here. And it is just one of the worst delusions to which any man can make himself a prey to suppose that he may have a place prepared for him in heaven, and yet be without proof that he is himself being prepared for that place. Heaven is not so much a place as it is a character; neither is hell so much a place as it is a character. You may already decide whether you are in possession of the tastes without which you could not enjoy heaven, without which you could not find it heaven, even if through some strange distribution you were admitted amongst its inmates. Submit yourselves to the Spirit; obey His impulses; follow His suggestions; cherish His presence; dread His absence. And thus may you become gradually fitted for that blessed abode which “ Eye hath not seen,” but which, nevertheless, may be so unfolded to those who are so growing in grace, that they can already,, drink of that river which proceedeth “ from the throne of God, and of the Lamb, and already join in the anthem of the redeemed. (H. Melvill, B. D.) Isaiah 64:5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth The godly man I. THE GODLY MAN’ S CONDUCT. 1. He worketh righteousness. He does not confine himself to any department of action, it may be manual, commercial, literary, scientific, professional; but in all he “ worketh righteousness.” He is right in all; rectitude, and not expediency, is his law. 2. He is happy in his work. He “ rejoiceth and worketh.” A man that worketh righteousness is sure to be happy; his affections will be harmonious, his conscience will smile on him, his God will bless him. There is no happiness, “ but in work; and there is no happiness in work that is not the work of Thy ways.” God has His ways and His methods of action, and they are manifold. He remembers God in His ways in nature, in the government of man, in the dispensations of redeeming grace. II. THE GODLY MAN’ S . “ Thou (i.e. God) meetest him that rejoiceth.” Such men have meetings with God. 1. Conscious meetings. All men meet with God, but they, are unconscious of it. The good man knows it; he can say, “ God is in this place. 2. Loving meetings. He meets him as the father met the prodigal son on his return, overflowing with love and joy. 3. Preparatory meetings. He meets them to prepare them for a meeting with Him that shall be uninterupted, beatific, and eternal. Conclusion: What a noble life is the life of godliness! Godliness is “ profitable unto all things, etc. (Homilist.)How to meet God In these ancient words, in very different phraseology indeed, we see a strikingly accurate and full anticipation of the very central teaching of Paul and his brother apostles, as to the way by which God and man come into union with one another. “ Thou meetest him that rejoiceth” --that joy is to be manifested by “ working righteousness,” but the joywhich is the parent of righteousness is the child of something else--“ those that remember Thee in Thy ways.” If we ponder these words, and carefully mark their relation to each other, we may discern, as it were, a great staircase with three flights in it, and at the top God’ s face. I. WE HAVE TO BEGIN WITH THE LAST CLAUSE OF OUR TEXT. “ Thou meetest him . . . that remembers Thee in Thy ways.” The first stage on the road which will bring any man into, and keep any man in, contact with God, and loving fellowship- with Him, is the contemplation of His character, as it is made known to us by His acts. God, like man, is known by His “ fruits.” You cannot get at a clear conception of God by speculation, or by thinking about Him or about what He is in Himself. Lay hold of the clue of His acts, and it leads you straight into His heart. But the act of acts, in which the whole Godhead concurs, in which all its depths and preciousness are concentrated, like wine in a golden cup, is the incarnation and life and death of Jesus Christ our Lord. But note that word “ Remember,” for it suggests the warning that such contemplation of the ways of the Lord will not be realized by us without effort. There are so many things within us to draw us away; the duties and joys and sorrows of life so insist upon having a place in our hearts and thoughts, that assuredly, unless by resolute effort, frequently repeated, we clear a space in this crowded and chattering marketplace of life, where we can stand and gaze on the white summits far beyond the bustling crowd, we shall never see them, though they are visible from every place. Unless you try to remember, you will certainly forget. II. THE SECOND FLIGHT OF THIS GREAT IS POINTED OUT IN THE FIRST CLAUSE OF MY TEXT, “ Thou meetest him that rejoiceth.” That meditative remembrance of the ways of God will be the parent of holy joy which will bring God near to our heart. Alas, it is too often the very opposite of true that men’ s joys are such as to bring God to them. The excitement and often the impure elements that mingle with what the world calls “ joy” are such as to shut Him out from us. But there is a gladness which comes from the contemplation of Him as He is, and as He is known by His “ ways” to be, which brings us very near to God, and God very near to us. I think that we have largely lost the very thought that gladness is a plain Christian duty, to be striven after in the appropriate manner which my text suggests, and certainly to be secured if we seek it in the right way. III. THE THIRD STAGE IS WORKING BECAUSE OF SUCH JOY. “ Thou meetest him that rejoiceth, and” --because he does--“ worketh righteousness.” Every master knows how much more work can be got out of a servant that works with a cheery heart than out of one that is driven reluctantly to his task. You remember our Lord’ s parable where He traces idleness to fear: “ I knew thee that thou wast an austere man, gathering where thou didst not strew, and I was afraid, and I went and hid thy talent.” No work was got out of that servant because “ there was no joy in him. The opposite state of mind--diligence in righteous work, inspired by gladness which in its turn is inspired by the remembrance of God’ s ways--is the mark of a true servant of God. And the gladness which is wholesome and blessed, and is “ joy in the Lord, will manifest itself by efflorescing into all holiness and all loftiness and largeness of obedience. IV. WE HAVE THE LANDING-PLACE TO WHICH THE STAIR LEADS. God comes to such a man. He meets him indeed at all the stages, for there is a blessed communion with God that springs immediately from remembering Him in His ways, and a still more blessed one that springs from rejoicing in His felt friendship and Fatherhood, and a yet more blessed one that comes from practical righteousness. For if there is anything that breaks our communion with God, it is that there linger in our lives evils which make it impossible for God and us to come close together. Remember if there is the practice of evil there cannot be the sunshine of the presence of God. But remember, too, that the commonest, homeliest, smallest, most secular tasks may become the very highest steps of the staircase that brings us into His presence. Conclusion: There are two kinds of meeting God. “ Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness,” and that is blessed, as when Christ met the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. There is another kind of meeting with God. “ Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness,” and that is blessed, as when Christ met the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. There is another kind of meeting with God. “ Who, making war, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? (A. Maclaren, D. D.)Behold, Thou art wrothAn obscure passage Text obscure. Possibly, “ Behold Thou wast wroth, and we sinned; Thy wrath was for ever, and we became transgressors.” The general idea is that, through God’ s wrath long continued, the people have sunk ever deeper into sin (cf. Isaiah 57:17; Isaiah 63:17; Koran, 27:4). (A. B.Davidson, D. D.)Behold, Thou, Thou wast entered, and we stood as sinners; already we have long been in this state; and shall we be saved?” (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 64:6-8 But we are all as an unclean thing Israel’ s uncleanness “ And we are all become as one unclean” --in a ceremonial sense, like the leper. (Prof. Skinner, D. D.)Lamentations of Isaiah You have read some of the lamentations of Jeremiah; here is one of the lamentations of Isaiah. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The Church’ s complaint and confidence I. A HUMBLE OF SIN. 1. Of the sins of their nature, of their persons themselves. “ We are all as an unclean thing.” 2. Of the sins of actions. “ All our righteousness is as filthy rags.” 3. Of the sin of non-proficiency, of obscuration, and senselessness, that notwithstanding the corrections of God, they were little the better. “ There is none that calleth upon Thy name, or that stirs up himself to take hold of Thee.’ II. A HUMBLE OF THE ESTATE THEY WERE IN BY THEIR SINS. “ We all fade as a leaf,” etc. III. A HUMBLE AND TO GOD (Isaiah 64:8, etc.). (R. Sibbes, D. D.)A comprehensive confession This brief prayer is a combination of many types. Natural analogies are piled upon each other. The confession consists of six several but consecutive and closely connected parts. There is much meaning in each separate ingredient of this confession considered by itself, and more in the relations and union of the whole. I. THE TAINT OF SIN, that from the springs of humanity has poisoned all its streams. “ We are all as an unclean thing.” When who has been convinced by the Spirit takes words and turns to God, he begins at the heart, as the spring whence the many unclean streams of thoughts and words and deeds flow out in the daily life. This simplicity is a mark of truth. II. THE AND OF ALL THE EFFORTS WHICH A SINFUL MAN CAN MAKE TO SET HIMSELF AT FIRST RIGHT WITH GOD. “ All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” Most naturally this ingredient of the confession comes next in order. He looked first to his sins, and told what he thought of them; he next looks to his righteousness. III. THE FRAILTY, , AND OF HUMAN LIFE. “ We all do fade as a leaf.” IV. THE POWER AND SUCCESS OF IN THE MAN INTO ACTUAL SIN. “ Our” iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” It is a mark Of true repentance when the penitent lays all the blame upon himself V. THE AND OF THESE SINNERS, AS THEY ARE DOWN THE STREAM OF SIN TOWARDS THE GULF OF , TO LIFT UP AND TAKE HOLD ON GOD. “ There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee.” VI. GOD’ S METHOD OF DEALING WITH SUCH UP CASE. “ Thou hast hid Thy face from us.” The Holy One hides His face from His creatures while they live in sin. “ And hast consumed us because of our iniquities.” I prefer to take this clause in its most literal sense, as it is given in the margin--“ Thou hast melted us by the hand of our iniquities.” God melts the hardest sinners, and He employs their own sins to make the flinty hearts flow down. If this melting take effect in the day of grace, it is repentance unto life. But if the sinful are not so melted in the day of grace, they will be melted when that day is done. Their own sins on their own heads will be at least a material part of the doom of the lost in the great Day. After having looked to the text, we shall look at that which touches it, before and behind. The gem is the chief object of attraction, but its setting may be both beautiful and precious. The word that touches it on the one side (end of Isa 64:5) is, “ We shall be saved;” the word that touches it on the other side (beginning of Isa 64:8) is, “ But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father. It is not by chance that this great deep confession lies between these two words--is held up and held out in these two tender, loving hands. “ We are saved by hope,” not by terror. (W. Arnot, D. D.)The banefulness of sin I. SIN IS A POWER. “ We are all as an unclean thing.” Sin makes the soul as unlovely as a man in filth. The soul ought not to be unclean. The stain of sin does not belong to it, it is separable from it. Once the soul had no stain. II. SIN IS AN POWER. “ All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” Moral character is indeed the garment of the soul, the garment which it weaves out of its thoughts, emotions, purposes, and actual deeds. This garment ought to be one beautiful whole, and clean also. But through sin it is all in “ rags.” There is no unity, no wholeness, no completeness. It is all in tatters, and filthy tatters too. Sin indeed makes the soul ugly and hateful. How unlovely is every aspect of sin. III. SIN IS A POWER. “ We all do fade as a leaf.” Sin blasts the hopes, pollutes the loves, curtails the liberty, dims the vision, deadens the conscience, and enfeebles all the faculties and powers of the soul., IV. SIN IS A VIOLENT POWER. “ Our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Homilist.)A sight of self I. I HAVE TO THE VIEW WHICH EVERY TRULY SOUL WILL TAKE OF HIMSELF. 1. Every gracious soul who is truly enlightened by the Spirit has a clear sense of the root of all his guiltiness. He knows the plague of his own heart, and cries, “ We are all as an unclean thing. He discovers that not merely his outward acts, but his very person is essentially sinful in the sight of God. 2. The spiritually enlightened man then perceives that all his actions are evil. “ All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” If our righteousnesses are so bad, what must our unrighteousnesses be? 3. The enlightened heart into which the candle of the Lord hath shone, is led to see the failure and futility of all its resolutions to be better. “ We all do fade as a leaf.” Our best professions, hopes, resolutions, and pretensions--all of them fade like shadows, dreams, and fancies of the brain. 4. But the truly awakened soul knows a fourth thing, namely, that he is not in himself able to stand against the invasions of temptation, for the text has put it--“ Our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. When men find that their vows wither, yet they will still hang to their hopes, and to their moralities; but some strong temptation comes unexpectedly upon them just at the moment when their mind is susceptible of its power, and where are they? The temptation comes like a howling north wind at an unexpected moment, and where is your man now? Unable to resist, carried away by the very vice which he thought he had renounced. 5. Those souls upon whom God’ s sunlight had once shone are also painfully aware of their own natural weakness and slothfulness in prayer. “ There is none that calleth upon Thy name,’ etc. 6. That soul which has once perceived itself in the black colours of its iniquity, has discovered that through sin it has lost all the favour and love of God which might have come if it had been without sin, for so saith the text, “ For Thou hast hid Thy face from us, etc it is no thing to play with that hiding of God’ s face. When the prophet says, “ Thou hast consumed us, it is a dreadful word. II. There is a danger I must warn you of, and that is--DO NOT BE CONTENT WITH THE MERE THAT IT IS SO. You must not merely know that you are lost, but you must feel it. Do not be content with simply feeling that it is so, but mourn before God that it is so, and hate yourself that it is so. Do not look upon it as being a misfortune, but as being your own wilful sin, and look upon yourselves, therefore, as being sinners, condemned already, not only for all this, but condemned because you believe not on Christ, for that after all is the crowning condemnation. And when you really feel your sinfulness, and mourn it, do not stop here; never give yourself any rest till you know that you are delivered from it. III. THE TEXT SEEMS TO SUGGEST SOME PLEAS. Poor troubled soul, I am afraid thou canst not use the first one mentioned in the text--“ Thou art my Father! “ I am half afraid you have not faith enough for that, but if you have, what a prevailing plea it is! “ My Father, I have sinned, but I am Thy son, though not worthy to be so called; my Father, by a father’ s love forgive, forgive Thine erring one; by the bowels of Thy compassion have mercy upon me! “ You who have backslidden can plead this, for you know your adoption. But if that should be too hard for you, take the next plea. Say, “ Lord, I am the clay and Thou the potter; I am helpless like the clay which cannot fashion itself; I am worthless like the clay that is of no value; I am filthy, Lord, like clay! I am only worthy to be trodden under foot, but Thou art the potter, and potters can make fine things even of clay. Here I am, Lord; I put myself into Thy hand. I am nothing; make me what Thou wouldst have me to be.’ Will not that plea suffice? But hark thee, sinner. There is a sweeter plea than any in the verse before us, for this is an Old Testament text; but I must take thee to the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for the plea that never fails. It is this, “ Lord, it is written that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; if there was never a sinner in the world but one, that sinner I am. I trust myself in His hands to save me.” It is done, it is done. You are saved; you are “ accepted in the Beloved.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)Confession of sin 1. The greatest and noblest souls, striving after the loftiest and divinest aims, have been most sensible of fault and failure in their lives, and have in their confessions borne hardest upon the weakness and sinfulness of human nature. Not when men are sunk in depths of vice and sensuality; but when they are struggling upwards to difficult, impossible heights of virtue and nobleness, are they seized with the “ strong crying and tears” which pours itself forth in such language as this, in David’ s fifty-first psalm, in Paul’ s “ I am the chief of sinners.” It is not the utter depravity of human nature, but rather a rare goodness and nobleness which expresses itself in the language of confession, of which this is a specimen. 2. Read it thus, and it is true and simple. Apparently when the prophet wrote these words his countrymen had just returned from captivity, and were again established at Jerusalem--Jerusalem laid waste, and its crown and ornament, “ the holy and beautiful house of God,” trampled in the dust. Something had been learned by the captives in their long and miserable exile. There was a lesson taught them now by their desolate homes and overturned altars. But still, to an earnest and far-seeing mind, there was manifest the need of a much wider and deeper religious reformation than had yet been accomplished. Before the nation could be again what it once was, it had much to learn and much to unlearn. It was a superficial and partial work which adversity had yet done in the way of curing the evils which had brought adversity in their train. With painful certainty and distinctness this was evident to the prophet. His soul was burdened to think of it, and he burst out, in his grief, with the confession as for himself and his country--“ We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. 3. It is easy to imagine a prophetic mind of our own country and our own time using similar language to express similar feelings. We have a great deal to be proud of as a nation. Much that is British is great and noble. On the surface of things we appear to be a very religious, as well as an industrious and prosperous people. Our Protestant institutions are, no doubt, many of them admirable. But can you imagine any very sincere, penetrating, religious mind, one impressed little by material prosperity and sensitive to moral and spiritual conditions, looking beneath the surface of our national life, contemplating all the dishonesty in trade and manufactures, the corruption of morals among the rich, the low intelligence, superstition, vile tastes of the mob, the religious cant and conventionality, the bitter rivalry of sects, which exist along with our Protestant institutions, and not be forced to say--“ We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away ‘ --we are not a great and glorious people; “ we all do fade as a leaf” ? As the language of confession--confession being the act not of the vile, but of the noble--we read thislanguage, and the application of it to national life is plain. 4. In this light it is no less easy to apply it to individual life and conduct. Strive to be true and good after the example of Christ, and it will be easy, perhaps, to satisfy both the world and the Church that you are successful in the endeavour; but if your aim is really to live Christ’ s life you will not so easily satisfy yourself--you will only at the best succeed far enough to be conscious of immeasurable failure. Compared with the good you ought to win, any good to which you attain will appear to you miserable failure. Thus, this language in its own light is easily seen to be true. In any other light it is false. He that doeth righteousness is righteous. I know that right things may be done from wrong motives, and with inferior views, and I know that they are not then of the same quality or value as if they were done from right impulses and with the highest aims. I know, too, that if a man breaks one of the commandments he is in a sense guilty of all, and cannot set himself up as a perfect man, or as a more deserving man than another who has broken all the ten. But then right is right, and wrong is wrong, be it in saint or sinner, and nothing can make these two opposites change places, or have the same character or issues. Wrong is eternally to be feared and hated; right is eternally to be loved and sought after. Suppose you know you are wrong in much, if there is anything in which you are right, do not consider that to be filthy rags--die rather than surrender it to force or fraud. It was not to render our righteousness superfluous, or to certify that any of our righteousness is worthless, that Christ lived and died; it was to make us truly righteous, to bind us in a new covenant with God our Father, to be the servants only of righteousness. (J. Service, D. D.)All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags“ Filthy rags “ Rags” is a word that applies to worn and torn bits of cloth; when used otherwise to designate apparel, contempt is implied. The word employed by Isaiah has no such import. It is the same word that describes part of what Abraham’ s steward presented to Rebekah--“ jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment.” Are we to imagine that rags have any similarity to the gold and silver jewels, or are likely to be among the gifts offered in the name of a wealthy sheik to a gentle lady whose favour is sought as the bride of the son of promise? Besides, when a Hebrew meant “ rags” he had a word for it A proverb tells how drowsiness shall clothe one with rags; and here the word is very different from Isaiah’ s. Hence it is well that the revisers put “ garment” instead of “ rags” in the prophet’ s phrase, which may thereby become less striking and splenetic, but is certainly truer to the prophet’ s thought. It is not for translators to inject their own feelings into their author’ s words. Equally erroneous is the adjective “ filthy,” or even “ polluted,” as the revisers have it. It is, of course, admissible, and may be elegant to construe a governed noun as an adjective, as is the case here; but the adjective should be a congruous one at least Isaiah’ s governed word has no reference whatever to filth. Had the expression been Zechariah s, where he speaks, with more force than courtesy, of Joshua’ s “ dungy robes ‘ no fault could be found with filthy as a rendering; for there is no question that either Joshua’ s robes are represented as literally smeared with filth, or else the prophet held them in as great disgust as if it had been so, just as Paul scorned even his privileges as “ dung” compared with the blessings he enjoyed in Christ. If Isaiah had expressed the like scorn, it would have been fair so to put it; but as the translators had to add the contempt, it is plain they imported into their original what was not there. The word chosen by Isaiah denotes something over and above. Proof is something beyond one’ s bare word; and an ornament is something over and above what is plain. Our word, then, means proof, evidence, or witness, and also display or ornament. Besides, being plural, it has special emphasis. The literal rendering, then, is “ a garment of testimonies, or of infallible proof;” or “ a garment of ornaments, or of great display.” To suggest adjectives for the governed nouns, the translation comes to be “ an evidential article of clothing,” or “ a showy dress.” The first of the these interpretations was adopted by Aquila, a very old and apparently well-skilled translator, who improved upon the Septuagint. He gives “ marturion” as the Greek equivalent; and on this Jerome has a note in which he observes, “ This is testimoniorum,” which means “ of testimonies,” and then goes on to refer to the Deuteronomic enactment concerning the scandal raised by a husband accusing his wife on the score of impurity before marriage. In such a case, a cloth smeared with blood, as it came from the injured woman’ s person, was a sufficient proof of pre-nuptial purity as well as of the consummation of matrimony. Looked at in this light. Isaiah’ s phrase has great capacity of suggestiveness. Our good deeds attest our “ inward and hidden intercourse with the Lord, and prove that with Him only in all purity we have had to do, But there is a stain even on our purest thoughts and deeds. Our second interpretation, however, yields” the better sense. It takes into account,, the previous clause; and, in the light of it, both clauses are thus paraphrased: We are all like an unclean woman, and all our righteous acts like her showy attire.” The meaning is simple and clear. Outward show takes the place of inward reality. Perhaps their loathing of the strumpet’ s airs begot contempt in the translators’ hearts for anything that is describable in those terms. Their rendering reminds us of Zephaniah’ s indignant description of degenerate prophets: “ Her prophets are debauched wretches--cloaks!” This corresponds with the old Scottish definition of a formal clergy--“ toom tabards,” that is, empty gowns, all cloak and nothing inside. The life is taken out of Zephaniah’ s fierce protest when it is smoothed down to “ light and deceitful persons,” as in the ordinary version. When David invites Israel’ s daughters to weep for Saul, he reminds them of the fashions of Saul’ s period, “ with delights,” referring to the modiste’ s art with a fine appreciation of a woman’ s weakness for finery; and the word is akin to Isaiah’ s “ clothing of dazzling display.” Here is “ devotion’ s every grace, except the heart.” The prophet seeks more heart and clean. (H. Rose Rae.)We all do fade as a leafThe lesson of the leaf As Christ drew a lesson from the lily, so may we from the leaf. Yet the words of the prophet, “ We all do fade as a leaf,’ may lead our thoughts in a different way from his. These words were originally spoken in lamentation over the wrecked glory of the temple and city of David, as devastated by Nebuchadnezzar with fire and sword. No fitter similitude of the sad change could the mourning prophet find than the faded leaf. Those dilapidated walls, those fire-scarred ruins of Jerusalem and Zion, brought to his mind the magnificent creations of the shepherd king and his illustrious son, only as the crushed and blackened leaf recalls the image of the glorious crown of spring. But to us the lessons of the fading leaf become spiritually instructive, as we bring to bear the light which science has afforded us respecting the nature and the uses of its short life, the meaning of its fading, and the real significance of its death. We learn that the reality is different from the seeming, both as regards the life of the leaf and its death. We find a-nobler meaning in the life of the leaf, and that imparts a nobler meaning to its death. And the lesson thus derived brings us consolation and strengthening as we apply it to some of the sadder experiences of mortal life. (J. M. Whiton, D. D.)Usefulness of the leaf For the tree itself, says the botanist, the leaf is both stomach and lungs. 1. A single elm has been computed to possess in one summer five acres of leaves; each leaf a wonderful tissue of nerves and pores and cells and veins. In these countless cells, invisible to the unassisted eye, the sunlight enables the living plant to do its work. In these cells the mineral matter ascending from the roots dissolved in the sap, and the gaseous matter drunk in through the pores from the air, are mingled, and converted by the chemistry of the sunbeam into food for the tree. This then is carried by the leaf-veins into the twigs, adown the branches and the trunk, and is deposited under the bark in a ring of woody fibre. Another portion also goes to form the nutritious fruit and another the reproductive seed. Thus the frail leaf, gay, beautiful, musical as it is, is yet ever at God’ s work, providing man with material for the necessities, comforts and luxuries of his life. Most true, in creation as well as in redemption, is the apostle’ s saying, that “ God hath chosen the weak things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen.” 2. But this is not all of the useful duty to which God has chosen the fair and short-lived leaf. The gas which the leaf-cell sucks from the air, and helps to change into fibre, is poisonous to animal life, and must not accumulate in the atmosphere. The same office that the coral insect performs for the sea, to keep the great fountain of waters pure, the leaf performs for that aerial ocean from whose pure tides we drink our life. A mark of dignity has the Creator bestowed on all useful labour, however humble, by giving the glory of the forest, and the beauty of the many-coloured coralline gardens beneath the waves, to organisms that discharge for Him the duty of scavengers! The carbonic acid gas produced by all our fires, and by the myriads of breathing creatures, is absorbed from the air by the leaf through its countless pores. In the leaf-cells, this noxious element is decomposed; part is worked up into food for the tree, and the residue, containing all that is fit for animals to breathe again, is given back to the vital air. Measure, if it were possible, by cubic feet of wood, all the trees upon the globe. Forty-five per cent of the whole mass is the solidified poison of the atmosphere, extracted by the subtle chemistry of the leaf. How grandly beneficent is its humble life? 3. The leaf draws water from the ground through the thousands of tubes in its stem--eight hundred barrels, says a scientist, from every leaf-covered acre every twenty-four hours. This it gives out to the atmosphere in the form of invisible vapour, to be condensed into clouds and fall in showers--the very water which, were it not for the leaf, would either escape infreshets or filter through the ground to the caverns below. Thus the leaf works to bring upon the earth the early and the latter rain. 4. And now comes on its change. It is a change that comes most naturally and honourably as the leaf fulfils its beneficent tasks. It is in and by its useful work that the leaf changes from the pulpy thing it was in May to a thing of firmer texture. And so we learn to look upon it rather as a ripening than a decaying, when, as its work draws near the end, it begins to borrow less from earth and more from heaven. The splendours of October, surpassing the tenderness of May, and the sober dignity of August, fitly crown the close of a life that has been so useful. (J. M. Whiton, D. D.)Life and death Let us now take up the truth taught us by the leaf into the higher regions of the experience of the soul. There, too, the reality may be other than the seeming. There, too, to rectify our view of life will be to rectify our view of death. What is the life of the leaf? The child replies: To dance in the sun, to play with the breeze, to listen idly to the song of birds. What, then, is its death! The loss of all for which it lived, faded beauty, a broken form, hurled from a proud and peaceful height into the mire of the street, a dishonoured and pitiable wreck. Nay, what is the life of the leaf? The teacher tells the child: To nourish the stock that bore it; to prepare abundant supplies for the life and the labours of man; the fuel that warms, the fruit that feeds, the roof that shelters, the vehicles of commerce by land and sea, that draw the nations into one, the sanctuaries vocal with a nobler praise than that which is warbled through the forest arches. It is to cleanse and vivify the vital air, and thus preserve in healthy vigour the blood of man and beast. It is to send the rain upon the pastures, that feed the cattle on a thousand hills, and on the cornfields that nourish the great family of mankind. What, then, is its death? It is the fulfilment of the good end it lives for, a growing hard and brown in beneficent work, a ripening through constant usefulness into the many-coloured tints of splendid autumn, a putting on of the God-given decorations of ennobled labour; it is a settling into an honoured grave all purpled like a king; it is a resigning of an outworn form to that Providence which treasures up each particle of faithful dust to enter into fresh forms of life and beauty in coming springs. How plainly we see here that different ideas of the purpose of the life lead to different ideas of what the death really is. If we would transform our thought of death, we must transform our thought of life. (J. M.Whiton, D. D.)Lessons from the leaves Three applications of the prophet’ s language-- I. TO MAN, AS HE IS A SINNER. Man’ s condition through sin is the primary idea. “ Our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” 1. The fading leaves are separated from the source of their life and growth and beauty. They are no longer in vital union with the root of the tree. They may hang for a while, but are sure speedily to fall. Any passing gust may carry them away. The soul of man through sin has, lost spiritual with God, the source of its true life, and has become faded and shrivelled through the separation. 2. The fading leaves yield no response to, receive no benefit from, the natural influences that act upon them for their life and growth. The prophet says of Israel, “ There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee.” 3. The fading leaves, as they fall from the tree, are out of their true sphere, and exposed to all degrading forces. The prophet has in his mind leaves that had faded unnaturally, and that should still have lived in greenness and beauty upon the tree. Lying on the ground, trampled down by man and beast, when they should have been waving high like a warrior’ s plume. Man through sin has fallen from his true sphere. He is the sport of evil passions, subject to all degrading and hurtful forces. The emblem of his condition is a faded, fallen leaf, whirled about by the winds, trampled down and tossed about by man and beast. 4. The fading leaves are practically useless and worthless. They are of no value to the tree, nor yet to man. A sinner is one who renders no true and intelligent service to his God, and brings no real benefit to the great tree of humanity. II. TO MAN, AS HE MORTAL. In man, as in nature, the same law of decay is acting. III. TO MAN, AS HE IS A . Reversing the picture, and excluding the prophet’ s application, there is hope and consolation spoken by the fading leaves. 1. The fading ]eaves have fulfilled the purpose of their being and life. The Christian, whether he fade soon or late, has not lived in vain. 2. The fading leaves are clothed with the richest and most varied colours. The Christian, us life is closing, often shines with a spiritual richness and lustre never seen before. 3. The fading leaves tell of the infinite skill and care of the Creator. Wonderful is the interest God takes in His people. “ Not one faileth to the ground without your Father.” 4. The fading leaves do not perish. They come back in other forms, and serve other uses. The Christian can take higher and surer ground. He shall live again, live the being he now is, live never again to fade. (Homiletic Magazine.)Fading leaves I. LEAVES FADE . The whole foliage of a tree does not fade and pass away at one time. Some leaves droop and wither even in spring, when the rest of the foliage is in its brightest and most luxuriant beauty. Some are torn away in summer, while green and full of sap, by sudden and violent storms. The great majority fade and fall in autumn; while a few cling to the branches all through the cold and desolation of winter, and are at last pushed off by the unfolding buds of the following spring. And is it not so with every generation? Decay and death everywhere and always reign. But all do not fade at the same time. Sonic die in the spring of life; some are cut off’ suddenly, by accidents and fatal diseases, in ripe manhood; some fade naturally in the autumn of old age. A few survive their generation, like the last red leaves that rustle mournfully in the winter wind on the topmost bough of the tree. Friend after friend departs, family after family disappears, until the mournful record shall be written of us as it was written of the Hebrews of old--“ And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.” II. LEAVES FADE . All the processes of nature are silent and secret. It is God’ s glory to conceal a matter. And so silently do we all fade. III. LEAVES FADE . The autumnal foliage is very varied. No two species of trees exhibit the same appearance. And are there not similar differences in the way in which men fade and die? In the hey-day of life and happiness they may seem all alike, uniformly fair and attractive. But when death comes, it shows the true character of each. Its approach makes some men gloomy and sombre. It invests them with a dark and repulsive aspect. It clothes them with despair. But how widely different is the dying of the Christian! The idea of death to them has nothing death-like in it. IV. LEAVES FADE . The foliage that is gloomiest in its unfolding, is most unsightly in its decay; and the leaves that have the richest and tenderest shade of green in April, have the most brilliant rainbow hues in October. The leaf of the sad and sullen ash is the last to kindle its bud, and the first to wither and fall; and its colour, always sombre, becomes blackened and disfigured in decay. The leaf of the linden tree, on the contrary, is beautiful from first to last; softly green in spring; fragrant in summer with delicate frankincense, and musical with the hum of bees, revelling in the honey-dew bloom; and gorgeous as a sunset-cloud in autumn. And so is it with man. “ He dies as he lives. A life of godliness ends in a saintly death; and a career of worldliness and sin terminates in impenitence and despair. And as the fading itself is characteristic, so also are the results of the fading. The leaves of some trees when they fall, leave no trace what ever behind. The scar left by their removal heals immediately; and on the smooth, naked bark of the bough, in winter, there is no mark to indicate that it was once covered with foliage. There are other trees, however, on which the scars are permanent. Many of the characteristic markings on the stems of palm-trees and tree-ferns are due to the permanence of these scars, when their leaves have decayed and dropped off. And is not the lesson of analogy here very clear and impressive? How many there are who fade and drop off from the tree of humanity, and leave no trace of their existence behind. Others there are, large-minded and large-hearted men, who live not for themselves, but for the glory of God and the good of their fellow-creatures; these when they fade and drop off the tree of life, leave behind them an impression which time will only make deeper. V. LEAVES FADE . No leaf falls from the tree--unless wrenched off suddenly and unexpectedly in early growth by external violence--without making due preparation re its departure. Before the slightest discoloration is seen upon it, there is a secret adequate provision made by nature for the inevitable hour of its passing away. Side by side with it, even in its summer beauty and luxuriance, it carries the memorial at once of its death and of a new birth. It bears the young bud that is to usurp its place in its bosom, and nourishes it with its own expiring life. This law of the vegetable kingdom is one that knows no exception. No leaf drops till a new one is prepared to take its place; no flower perishes till its house is made ready and filled with seeds. Alas, how different is it in human economy! Provision for the future is with man not the law, but the exception, of his conduct. Should we not imitate the example of the leaf in which the process of preparation for the future keeps pace with the process of decay? (H. Macmillan, D. D.)Leaves I. THIS LEAF TEACHES US THE GOSPEL OF SERVICE. It has lived, it has had its day. It falls to perish by the wayside, but it has not lived in vain. When that leaf breathes it takes up carbon and exhales oxygen. When we breathe we take in oxygen. You could not live without the leaf. It keeps the atmosphere pure. It prevents it from becoming poisonous. You are indebted to the leaf for your life. But you say, “ That, after all, is but a selfish life; the leaf takes up what it requires, and it throws off what it does not require. Where is your gospel of service in that?” Yes; but it does something else; while feeding itself, it also feeds the tree upon which it grows. It is making the timber as well as satisfying its own needs. Without leaves we should have no wood for our houses, our furniture, or our fires. They die, leaving others to carry on their uncompleted work, but they always build firm, and straight and beautiful. So this little preacher says to us, “ Live for great purposes, build for the future. You are but one unit in the great mass of living, toiling men, but remember that you can do a work for the generations to come. Leave the world fairer, and better, and stronger, and sweeter because you have lived. Men die, but man remains. You will go as your fathers have gone before you, but Society will remain behind.” And then there is such a thing as service continuing after death. “ Dead and done with is not true of a leaf, much less of a man. The scientist tells us how by its decay the leaf is changed into vegetable mould, indispensable for the life of other leaves. Thus the decay of vegetation prepares the way for a new vegetation, and death prepares for life. So also is not a man done with when he is dead. There are many who rule from their graves. II. THIS LEAF ALSO TO MEN THE GOSPEL OF A DEATH. How beautiful Nature is, even in decay i Like an Indian warrior chief, she gathers around her her finery in order to meet death. So the gospel that the leaf has to teach us is a hopeful and a bright one. It is the lesson of triumphant death. After this life, another. “ How are the dead raised, and with what manner of body do they come?” is an old question. Where will the leaves of next spring come from T Is it a more wonderful thing to clothe the living soul with a new body than to clothe the apparently dead tree with a new and beautiful foliage? (S. Horton.)Withered leaves I. THE LEAF FADES SURELY. If there is one thing more absolutely and infallibly certain than another, it is that we all die (Genesis 3:19; Hebrews 9:27). We die at every age. II. THE LEAF FADES SOON. Some kinds of leaves last longer than others; but, as a class, their natural life is a single summer. There is prodigality in this. If economy of life were aimed at, the leaf might last much longer than it does. So might the May-fly. So might man. 1. What a testimony to the wealth of creative energy! 2. What an argument in favour of economizing time! 3. What a spur to the life of watchfulness! III. THE LEAF FADES WHEN THE ENDS OF ITS HAVE BEEN SERVED. “ None of us liveth to himself;” nor could we if we would. IV. WHEN THE LEAF FALLS IT FOR THE FOLIAGE OF ANOTHER YEAR. The fall of a leaf and its decay are not the end of it or of its work. There is something still for it to do, and which it never could do till then. Decaying leaven are the earth’ s great fertilizers. The thing we do is immortal whatever its moral quality. The father, the mother, live again in children moulded by their influence. Of all responsibilities there is none so terrible as this. We are contributing, by our life, a poison or a honey drop to the life-cup of posterity. (J. Edgar Henry, M. A.)The frailty of man I. LET US . TO WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THE OF DEATH GIVEN US IN THESE WORDS. 1. We fade, like the leaves, soon. 2. Quickly. 3. The approaches of death may be lovely. The woods are never more beautiful than during the brief period of autumnal change. So our time of decay may be more beautiful than our summer time of health and activity, and “ nothing in our life become us like the leaving of it.” The hoary head becomes a crown of glory,--the patience of’ the Christian vanquishing the temptations to petulance and repining that affliction presents,--the hope of the believer shining clear and steady when he knows that he must soon depart,--are things that often give to the approaches of death more interest and loveliness than life has enjoyed. 4. “ We all do fade as u leaf” in point of certainty. 5. How wide is the empire of death, and how many he has brought into his dark dominions; in every track the leaves are falling, and no favoured portion of the country escapes the general desolation. How many autumns has death had among men since first his reign began! Our fathers, where are they? Where are those hordes of painted barbarians, whose savage courage stayed so long the progress of the Roman legions? Where are those who erected in our land those ancient piles that were dedicated to the worship of God amid the darkness of the Middle Ages Where are those who led the devotions there, and those who joined in them? Where are they who but a hundred years ago ploughed the fields that you now cultivate, listened to the Gospel that is now proclaimed to us, and walked in the paths that we are accustomed to tread? They are gone, and we arc going fast. II. THE USE THAT SHOULD BE MADE OF THE TRUTH BROUGHT BEFORE US IN THE TEXT. The great lesson we should learn is to make ready for our fading time. But there are various circumstances that go far to account for this very common, almost universal forgetfulness of death. First, one cause may be that we see little of the sick and dying. In the next place, death has no periods corresponding to the general fall of the leaf. Again, when we are in the enjoyment of good health, we feel nothing death-like about us. Then our worldly employments accustom our minds to a different train of thinking from that more serious one which brings death to our view, and tend to turn our thoughts from it. But the chief cause of the forgetfulness of death is to be found in the systematic attempt that is made by most men to banish the remembrance of it from their minds. (W. Jackson.)We natural frailty and moral instability of man This affecting declaration of the prophet may be considered with reference-- I. TO THE NATURAL VIGOUR OF MAN. II. TO THE MORAL BEAUTY OF MAN. That goodness which natural conscience, enlightened by the words of revelation, produces; that goodness which is the effect of imitation, and the offspring of moral rather than pious principles; and of conviction rather than conversion; is fading as the frailest leaf of the frailest plant, and transient as the morning cloud and the early dew. Let it be exposed to the wintry blasts of adversity, or to the scorching sun of persecution; place it in the cold atmosphere of the world; and let the chilling influence of the world’ s indifference be felt by it--and what appearance does it assume? It is fading as a leaf. If your goodness fades as a leaf, have you not much need of being born of that incorruptible seed which liveth and abideth for ever? But even then you will feel yourselves subject to a measure of the same instability and decay. For the words of the text and the whole passage in which they are found seem to be a description, not of careless sinners without grace, but of the people of God, in all the declensions to which they are liable in their best estate. (M. Jackson.)I. OF THE ABIDING OF GOD. “ Leaves have their time to fall.” They do not come and go at haphazard. They have lived, and now they fade and die, subject to His laws who sweetly ordereth all that is. The orderly return of the seasons tells how this is no haphazard world. God keeps His hand on all forces, material and spiritual. Autumn The falling leaves speak to us--II. OF PURPOSE. Just as neither their rise nor fall, their springing nor fading was accidental, so their life is not a vague, aimless thing. There was design in their creation, and as they silently sink to the earth they speak to us of a life’ s work done. What have they done? 1. They have given added charm and beauty to the world. Here is a mission we may all well covet to fill, and which we may all fill. Whatever our position in life, however poor or lowly, we may so be and live that this shall be morally a fairer world because we are in it. 2. By their shade and shelter they have rendered valuable service to man and beast. So many around us arc weary under the burden and heat of life’ s day. Many a struggling man, and many a frail, lonely, overwrought woman knows all too well what this life-weariness means. Let the mission of the leaves be ours. 3. They have played an important part in purifying the atmosphere. They say to us, “ So live that when you fade and fall like us you may have done your part to make the world purer.” III. OF LIFE’ S CLOSE. (R. M. Spoor.)Autumn And how often does a leaf fade sooner than it falls! And is it not so with man? If spared, how soon does he begin to discover infirmities! But to enable us to judge properly in this case, and to vindicate the Divine perfections and providence, let us remember-- 1. That this state of frailty and vanity was not the original state of man, but the consequence of transgression. 2. That it is not his only state. There is another life to which the present is introductory, and in connection with which it should always be considered. 3. The vanity and brevity of the present life, if wisely improved, is advantageous with regard to the future. It furnishes us with no inconsiderable proof of a world to come. 4. This frail life, too, is continually guarded by a wise and tender Providence. Reflections: If life be like a fading leaf, let us regard it accordingly. Let it prevent despair. If life be short, thy troubles cannot, O Christian, be long. Let us also repress fear. It is little the most powerful can do, and before they strike they may fall. (W. Jay.)“ Hints of failing health” In the preface to his “ Data of Ethics,” Mr. Herbert Spencer says (1879) that he has been led to deviate from his original plan and publish this volume rather than go on with his general system of philosophy. Why? Because “ hints of failing health” remind him that he may not be able to finish the entire work, and he therefore wishes to make sure of the most important part. Oh that men would act on this principle as regards the salvation of their souls! (T. R. Stevenson.)“ We all fade as a leaf” 1. He means, first, in regard of ceremonial performances that were without vigour and spirit of true devotion. There was no spirit in their legal performances. They were dead, empty things. Therefore when judgment came they were as leaves. So an idle, careless hearer, when judgment comes, all is as leaves. 2. So it is true in regard of mortality, the vanity of health and strength. We all as a leaf fade away when God’ s judgments come to nip us. Men are as leaves; as the leaves now in autumn fall, and there is a new generation in the spring. 3. For all idle performances, that have not a foundation in substantial piety, they are all as leaves. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)“ As the leaf” I. LIKE THE FOLIAGE, WE FADE . Little by little. Pain by pain. Less steady of limb. Sight not so clear. Ear not so alert. After awhile we take a staff. Then, after much resistance we come to spectacles. Instead of bounding into a vehicle, we are willing to be helped in. At last the octogenarian falls. II. LIKE THE LEAF WE FADE, TO MAKE ROOM FOR OTHERS. Next year’ s forests will be as grandly foliaged as this. So, when we go others take our spheres. Do not be disturbed as you see good and great men die. When God takes one man away, He has another right back of him. III. AS WITH THE LEAVES WE FADE AND FALL AMID MYRIADS OF OTHERS. IV. AS WITH VARIETY OF THE LEAVES DEPART, SO DO WE. You have noticed that some trees, at the first touch of frost, lose their beauty. So death smites many. There is no beauty in their departure. One sharp frost of sickness, or one blast of the cold waters and they are gone. No tinge of hope. No prophecy of heaven. Their spring was all abloom with bright prospects; their summer thick foliaged with opportunities; but October came and their glory went. But, thank God, that is not the way people always die. Tell me, on what day of all the year the leaves of the woodbine are as bright as they are to-day? So Christian character is never so attractive as in the dying hour. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)Fading away But although spiritual decay may be the literal application of these words, they truly express the universal law of our mortal life. I. THE LEAF FADES BY A LAW. There is no power that can keep the foliage on the tree. So we must decay. Man may and does dread death; he may and does seek to prolong life; but he cannot by any invention or art counteract that resistless law of decay that has swept all past generations to the dust, and that is day after day, and hour after hour, working out his dissolution. II. THE LEAF FADES BY A GRADUAL PROCESS. So it is with life. In infancy, childhood, manhood, as well as old age, the fading process goes on. The gradualness of decay is a blessing. It allows time to prepare for the future. It prevents a stand-still in the machinery of the world’ s work. III. THE LEAF FADES INTO ITS . It is only organized dust. It falls and to dust it returns. So it is with man. These bodies will in a few years be trodden on by the beast or borne away by the winds. What a great variety there is in the foliage of nature. Some leaves are larger and decked in more lovely hues than others. Some grow in a richer soil, and are breathed on by more salubrious winds than others. But let a few weeks pass away and all these distinctions will be lost, all will be dust. It is ever so in society. We see there great variety. Some are in wealth, some in poverty; some in velvet, some in fustian; some in beauty, some in deformity; some in the pomp of power, and some in the misery of oppression. But let a few years pass round, and our princes and peasants, sovereigns and subjects, despots and serfs, masters and menials will be dust. IV. THE LEAF FADES AS TO A NEW LIFE. The leaf falls, but its place is soon supplied. It falls, in fact, because the new life, rising from the root, has pushed it off. So with us. We die, but others will step into our place, and the world will go on. The race will carry on its governments, its commerce, its literature, its religion, without our help. It may require our death, make our very death serve its interests. Let us, then, not be proud of our position. V. THE LEAF FADES AS A STAGE OF LIFE. The tree from which the leaf fell is not dead. It threw off the sere leaf to put on another and lovelier garment. As the vitality of the tree continues when the leaf falls, the life of man will remain when the body dies. And like the tree, that life will dress itself in another garb. I would call your attention to four states of mind existing in relation to this fact, one of which must be yours-- 1. Unreasoning indifference. “ Oh that men were wise that they would consider their latter end!” 2. Intellectual stoicism. There are some who look at death as the end of existence. It must be done, by reasoning down reason into folly, mind into matter, God into nature. How few can do this; and when they do it, have they rest? 3. Terrible foreboding. 4. Christian composure. Which of these states of mind in relation to our approaching mortality is the rational one? I need not ask which is the happiest one; that is obvious. (Homilist.)Fading and changing (with 1 Corinthians 15:51):--We know how many signs and symptoms there are in life which suggest the truthfulness of the figure. You cannot take a hill now as once you could. It makes your breathing v, burden, and the slightest incline wearies and tires you out. It all means the fading leafs Your eyes are giving you trouble. The glasses that served you ten years ago are of little use to you now. It is the fading leaf! You very frequently have to ask your friends to repeat their words. You are inclined to think it is because they mumble and murmur their speech. Nay, it is the fading leaf! There is your memory. Lately it has begun to play tricks with you, a thing it has never done before. It is the fading leaf! All these are signs, common signs, that the prime has been reached, that the leaf has begun to fade. “ We all do fade as a leaf!” Such is the Old Testament conception of life--a fading leaf. Is it a complete conception, or is it only partial and fragmentary? It is the conception of the Old Testament, is it the conception of the New? So far I have only given you one half of my text. Now let me give you the other half. I have taken it from Paul’ s Epistle to the Corinthians: “ We shall all be changed.” Now put the two conceptions side by side. “ We all do fade as a leaf; “ We shall all be changed.” The Old Testament prophet looked upon men and women who were beginning to feel the weaknesses and infirmities of age, and he said, “ They are beginning to fade.” The New Testament prophet looked upon men and women becoming burdened with similar weaknesses, and he ,s, aid, “ They are beginning to change.” “ Fading” is the Old Testament word; changing is the word of the New; and in the two words you will find the characteristic differences in the two conceptions. One looks at the body; the other looks at the soul. Here is a flower-bud, in its early stages encased in its wondrous sheath of green. After a while the sheath begins to open, to turn back, to droop and to die. Isaiah looks at the drooping sheath, and says, “ Fading.” Paul looks at the unfolding flower, and says, “ Changing.” One looks at the body which can fade; the other looks at the soul, the unfolding life, which can change but never fade. One looks at the vesture, the other looks at the man. Now we know which is the Christian standpoint. Christianity warns us again and again not to confuse the man’ s body with the man, but always to distinguish between them, and to make the distinction a vital and influential article of our faith. When some, one has passed away, the inquiry is often made by one friend of another, When are they going to bury him? Bury him? Never! He cannot be buried! He is not here to be buried; he is risen! Bury him? No, you bury it; you bury his body, you bury that which has faded; you cannot bury the man. “ Well, why not make that distinction as real in speech, as it ought to be real in faith? I am told that “ Mr. So-and-So is in a decline. What do you mean? Do you mean that the man’ s body is declining, or the man? Immediately you reply, “ The man’ s body.’ Then why not keep the distinction to the front, that when little children hear you speak, they may catch one of the cardinal doctrines of your faith. The New Testament always keeps the two distinct. It speaks of the body, the flesh, as a house; it speaks of the spirit, the soul, as its tenant. The same distinction is made by another figure. The New Testament describes my body as a robe. Look at that. Here are outer garments of cotton and wool. Then there is another garment of flesh. And then there is the soul, the man, the woman! That is the Christian conception--the flesh is the garment, it is not the man! Tell your children that growing old and infirm just means that the flesh garment is getting worse for wear, and that the soul is preparing for itself another garment that will never wear out, a spiritual garment, a garment of immortality and light! Tell them that death just means that the spirit has dropped its old clothes, its robe of flesh, and has clothed itself with the garment that is from heaven. This is a beautiful conception, this apostolic conception of change. It takes our eyes away from the temporal and fixes them upon the eternal. It takes the emphasis away from the fading body and fixes it upon the changing spirit. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)Autumnal characteristics I. IN THE MUTE ORGANS OF THE FADED LEAVES IS A TENDER WARNING. God turns every hill-side and meadow into an allegory. The tiny little monarch grappled with life, captured the forces of nature, and vigorously ministered all summer. But feebleness is creeping over it, it grows weary, its lustre is fading, nerves waxing weak. It rustles, it trembles in the gentle zephyr, and the, falls. “ As the flowers of the field, so man floursheth.” How tenderly God begins to warn us of the coming king of terrors. Each leaf carries its own secrets, giving no premonition which shall first fade. So tender is God’ s mighty providence I No harsh voice calls out, Set throe house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. The messenger comes in a little rheum, a periodic pain, a little exhaustion of breath, fainting moments, the love of ease, the failing of memory, and little changes in the disposition. God hides the grim visage of fatality under shadows. But the angel of death is absolutely there. II. ON THE LEAF TWO FORCES ARE EVER AT WORK: THE OR , AND THE OR . The coal-beds of the earth tell the story of the battles of these powers contending for the supremacy. There are the generations of the faded and fallen, metamorphosed, petrified, stratified. There are some leaves whose very luxury causes them to decay. This is one of the mysteries of life among men. The brilliant geniuses endowed with courage to inspire, intelligence to enlighten, and sensibility to refine, being first misunderstood and then misrepresented, contradicted, or embittered by neglect, their very richness of soul and fatness of mind cause them to sicken under the pale hand of languor. There are some gorgeous leaves which carry in themselves the beauty of the blossom and leaf together. They die early. There is the young scholar, gorgeous in intellect, prematurely ripening. His youth is adorned with loveliness. Of the wealth of his graces we have but the prophecy in the bud. He has a face like a cherub, and God sends His angel to pluck it while it is unsullied by the scorching sun or the chills of autumn. At the other extreme is gorgeous old age. III. There is a process of--injecting colour into the fibres of plants to make them bright or sombre, as one may wish. Thus affected, THE LEAVES FADE . There in also a method of inoculating the life of man. To the character can be given the bright tints of pleasure as of those who delight in goodness. When the heart is inoculated with the graces of Christ the perspective of the character is determined, the somber shades of despondency are transfigured. Some leaves are flabby and develop a gloomy, morbid colour. They wither and decay as unsightly things. Except for the grace of God, men born in a murky moral atmosphere gather cloudiness and opacity as they grow older and perish in gloom. Some leaves are beautiful from first to last. Like Samuel, they are dedicated from birth to a whole life in the ministry of goodness. Such is many a Christian life. The innocency of youth is beautified b a gracious spirit. Middle life comes on in the strength of a righteous character. IV. LEAVES IN FADING DEVELOP . Each species has its peculiar tints. This represents the racial types of men in the development of their spiritual or mental traits. When they come to fade and to die the individual trends of character come forth in colours widely differing. The fatalism of the Chinaman is joyless and fearless, a dogged indifference. The pantheism of the Brahmin brings its devotee to sink into a gradual sleep, a dull withering. The Mohammedan, whose heaven is sensual, has spasms of fearful passion. The Catholic, who has been taught that ceremonies save him, in dying eagerly longs for a priest, a cross, or extreme unction. The agnostic comes to his end glowing in the white heat of apprehension. The true Christian has the face of one going home. Again, family groups have their differentiation. On a given tree, all the leaves are fashioned after a common type in colour, form, and texture. But as they grow they acquire individual oddities. Even so, one family of people, nurtured by the sap of a common civilization, develop the most striking idiosyncrasies. V. THERE IS NO IN FADING. Grey hairs area crown of glory when they are anointed with goodness. If we have made good use of the sunshine, if the fruit of our labour hangs in clusters on the vine, if in God’ s vineyard we have faithfully ministered, then the fading tints are our laurels. The fading shows two powers. The spirit that animates the form is preparing the old trunk for dissolution. Yet while it unties the twisted cords of earthly life it lifts up the affections, dislodging the corruptible from the incorruptible, the mortal from the immortal, and spiritualizes the mind. In one case the man goes on walking with God until the fire of the flesh dies out, and the spirit is left aglowing. In the other, passions may burn the soul into a cinder. Richness in fading leaves is not an accident. It depends on sunshine, atmosphere and soil. The beauty of age is the fruit of right character. It is the result of effort. VI. The leaf fades, falls, and becomes buried. But IN THE CORE OF THE RIPE LEAF WHILE IN THE , A JOYOUS YET PASSES THROUGH THE STEM TO THE TWIG UPON THE STURDY BOUGH. It leaves there a scar, the sign of the leafs immortality, a nucleus of the new life to bud in the resurrection of the spring. Among leaves are four degrees of future life. The first but lightly marks the place of its departure, a mere trace as of a tear on a cheek not washed. Inward life swells the branch and its memory is blotted out. The second class leaves a scar which is not effaced, but no active life will come out of its grave. The third will raise a little knoll and stamp its epitaph indelibly as by a signet. No luxury of growth or biting frost can remove it. These little monuments are the geometric scales on the bark of the palm and the fern. The fourth class not only scar the tree, but leave behind the conditions of a new germ which will bud and become a new branch. Here is a perfect emblem of four classes of men. The first is the class who live only to themselves. The second class are generous, liberal-hearted, and full of noble deeds. They have a memory in their own times, but die with those who had personal knowledge of them. The third class send down their roots into the soil of future generations. They in-web their deeds in the fibre of history. They build institutions of charity, bequeath to posterity resources which will develop a better manhood. They are a sort of lepidodendron leaves. Their scale-marks are fixed. The fourth class inspire new buds. They are the great thinkers. Out of them come new branches of civilization. But some leaves have a small eternity. Thousands of years ago they built great forests and bogs. They faded and fell. Earthquake catastrophes buried them, and their graves are the coal-beds. To-day they have a resurrection. The sun-power caught by the leaves millions of years ago, to-day warms our homes, lights our streets, and creates thousands of industries for the elevation of man. (T. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/bi/ Isaiah 64:7 And there is none that calleth upon Thy name Neglected religion 1. There is a confession of neglected privilege and duty. “ There is none that calleth upon Thy name.” 2. There is a definition of true and saving religion. “ That stirreth himself up to take hold of Thee.” This latter is the most striking and important, for it shows what a man must do in order to approach God, the act requiring exertion and activity. Multitudes of so-called Christians live on without the semblance of devotion, while with many more this worship is a mere matter of form. I. WHAT ARE THE CAUSES? There are many things which operate to make a man neglect God. 1. Devotion to the world. No man can serve two masters, and he who loves the world cannot consistently love God. 2. Selfish indulgence. There are many who do not, strictly speaking, love the world, who nevertheless so pamper their bodies with temporal comforts that they sink down into a dreamy sloth. 3. Want of desire. Deadness of soul makes a man sluggish. If we keep out of the sunshine, we cannot feel its warmth. If men hide from God, they can neither desire nor love Him. II. WHAT ARE THE ? A terrible roll-call of iniquity and sin. Evil rolls on like the waves of the troubled sea. Prayer-less souls are marching on to perdition; Satan triumphs over the ungodly world; God is dishonoured; angels weep. III. WHAT IS THE REMEDY? Such reflections ought-- 1. To arouse us to new efforts in prayer. 2. To excite us to greater personal efforts. We can all do something. Many can do much. 3. To awaken us to indirect work. We can send others to preach and to labour. 4. To see that we ourselves are not among those who fail to take hold, and that our personal example is not hindering the progress of the truth. (Homilist.)Neglect of prayer This chapter may be considered as an act of humiliation and confession by the prophet, in behalf of the Jews, similar to that in the ninth chapter of Daniel. In the text he aggravates their other crimes by that of hypocrisy, for he does not mean by the expression that none called upon or prayed to God at all, but that they did not do it spiritually, heartily, fervently. The last clause in the sentence explains (as is common in the prophetic writings) the former. “ None calleth upon Thy name;” that is, “ None stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee.” I. PRAYER, SO CALLED, IN CERTAIN OF THE MIND. 1. Attention to our wants. Without this, prayer is vain babbling. Our wants arise from our sinful conduct--our unholy nature--powerful opposition--daily circumstances in our experience. Our state ought to be asdiligently attended to as the most assiduous tradesman attends to his business--as the humane physician attends to the symptoms of disease in his patient. 2. Regard to God as the Being who alone can relieve us. 3. Strong and fervent desire. 4. Affiance in God. 5. Humble and patient expectation. II. HOWEVER OR WE PRAY, IF OUR PRAYERS ARE AND FROM THESE , WE SHALL BE BY GOD AS THOUGH WE NEVER PRAYED AT ALL--THAT IS, WE SHALL DERIVE NO BENEFIT FROM OUR . 1. This will appear from the ancient Jews, who drew near to God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. 2. That prayer must be distinguished hi right dispositions of the mind, is evident from the very design of prayer Consider its parts--Adoration; thanksgiving; confession: Intercession. The whole of this duty is designed to promote piety, by working certain holy dispositions in our hearts, by the help and blessing of God. Will not these remarks account for the barrenness of mere professors? Christians, stir up the gift of God that is within you. (J. Walker, D. D.)Universal forgetfulness of God Universal forgetfulness of God was the consequence of self-incurred abandonment by God. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The dully of taking hold of God I. IT IMPLIES TO TAKE HOLD OF GOD IN THE OF SAVING FAITH. Expressions almost the same occur in this sense in two other parts of Isaiah Isaiah 27:5; Isaiah 56:6). To take hold of God, to take hold of His strength, to take hold of His covenant, to join ourselves to Him, all imply the one act of a sinner taking hold of Christ, or of God in Christ in the exercise of saving faith. But this first and essential exercise of saving faith is not what is principally referred to in our text. There is, then-- II. A further exercise implied in taking hold of God, one which true believers alone can engage in, and one in which they may be very deficient. This exercise is alluded to by the apostle Paul, in Philippians 3:12, where he Bays of himself, “ Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. The Greek word translated “ apprehend,” corresponds, with the Hebrew word in our text translated “ take hold of.” Therefore, we Infer, that the second exercise implied in taking hold of God, is TO HIS MORAL IMAGE. Those who are engaged in this exercise are blessings to the world and to the Church, and are objects of complacency to God. III. The third great exercise implied in taking hold of God is , , PRAYER. It is not every kind even of acceptable prayer that deserves the name of taking hold of God. Five ways may be mentioned in which a soul, through pleading prayer, taketh hold of God. 1. By taking hold of or pleading His perfections. God call do nothing contrary to His perfections. All His actings are the immediate result of them. But it pleaseth Him that His saints should plead His perfections, and, as it were, take hold of them in holy, humble, fervent importunity. 2. By pleading His relations to His people as Father, Creator, Preserver and Redeemer. 3. By pleading His promises, declarations and engagements. 4. By pleading His past dealings. Thou hast begun a good work in my soul; carry it on. Thou hast delivered Thy Church and people of old; do it now. Thou hast shamed and confounded Thine enemies, when their pride and their might were at the highest; shame and confound them now. Thou hast planted a vine in our land; look down from heaven; revive and quicken this Thy vine. 5. By acquiescing in the sovereignty, and looking to the unsearchable mercies of God. Conclusion: How lofty an exercise of soul it is to take hold of God. How marvellous the thought, a worm of the dust to influence the thoughts and operations of the Almighty God! It is a work too mighty for the feeble powers of man. No creature ever did or could accomplish it, except so far as strengthened by the Spirit. (W. Mackenzie.)Lethargy in prayer I. WE HAVE A OF TRUE PRAYER. It is a taking hold of God, in no material sense, but by a spiritual apprehension so real and vivid that we seem to touch the Angel of the Covenant and say, with realizing perception of His Presence: “ We will not let Thee go, except Thou bless us.’ This definition greatly helps us-- 1. When, for instance, men insist that prayer is only acceptable as it arises from special fanes, we can reply that the hand of faith may feel after, find, and grasp the hand of God in the press of the busy street, the woodland glade, and the sequestered chamber. Since God is everywhere we may take hold of Him anywhere. 2. Again, when men tell us that prayers must be uttered in words of solemn grandeur and rhythm, we may remind them that prayer is a taking hold of God, and that it may exist in its intensest, truest form when not a word is uttered. 3. When, again, men suggest that priestly intervention is necessary to present our supplications, let us find refuge in this definition; for surely God will as much allow Himself to be grasped by the ungloved hand of the labourer, as by the dimpled hand of the little child. We need none to instruct us how to take hold; and each can best take hold for his own preservation. The intervention of a third person is indeed a source of weakness when it comes between us and the gracious Hand which reaches down to draw us out of many and deep waters. II. THE . “ There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee.” Why this fatal lethargy? 1. In the case of some, it no doubt arises from the stupefying effect of worldliness and self-indulgence. If the unwary traveller sits down to rest in the forest or the cave, where gases lie heavily on the ground, they may so invade his sense and benumb his mind that he will be presently unable to arouse himself to further exertion. This is the state of the opium-eater and the drunkard, of all who, like Tennyson’ s Lotus-eaters, come under the fatal spell of the narcotic. And is there not a mephitic poison issuing always from worldly amusements and society? 2. In the case of others, lethargy in prayer arises from a mistaken idea of the privilege of the child of God. They say that God is so wise and good, that it is a mistake and a sin to seek to impose our will on Him; that it is enough to take what He sends, and to bear what He imposes, without attempting to interfere by the urging of our desires. But there is nothing of this in the teachings of our Saviour. He perpetually says, Ask, seek, knock. He evidently would have us regard prayer as a means of obtaining blessings which otherwise we would altogether miss. 3. Others yield to this lethargy because they have intellectual difficulties in respect to prayer. They point to the majestic reign of law, the unbroken chain of cause and effect, the unalterable plan of the Divine procedure. How can God rule the realm (and prayer is one of these) may be used to cancel and overcome those of the lower. Besides, is it not enough that Jesus prayed, and so unmistakably taught His disciples to do the same? 4. Yet others, again, do not stir themselves up to pray, because they say that they have prayed so long in vain. Prayer, they say, is so irregular and uncertain. There is no counting on it. Why, then, they argue, should they waste time and energy on that which is as likely to disappoint as to help them This latter difficulty is possibly the most common of all, and does more than any other to relax men’ s energy in prayer. It in of the utmost importance, therefore, to insist that prayer has a law as constant and unchangeable as gravitation, and if we do not succeed, it is because we are ourselves to blame. Nay, more, if we seldom obtain answers to our prayers, we must examine carefully into the cause; because, almost certainly, there is some flaw or fault in our own character, by reason of which our prayers are as missives lost in the post, or ships that have gone down at sea. III. THE LAMENT OVER THIS IN PRAYER. 1. It is very dangerous. The first step in spiritual declension is almost invariably in the closet. The whole stress of Satanic temptation is to induce us to relax our prayerfulness; and perhaps there is no time when we need to pray more than when this fatal disinclination begins to creep over us. 2. It is very sinful. Is it not wrong to reject the advances of our God, and refuse to comply with His commands to pray? This surely is a dishonour, a slight, a crime. 3. It is very strange. It must be the wonder of the angels, as they look on our tired and perplexed faces, amid our complicated cares, that we are so slack in our approaches to the strongest, wisest, gentlest Being in the universe, and are so reluctant to stir ourselves up to take hold of God. (Ills of Faith.)Self-influence I. CERTAIN TRUTHS WHICH THIS IMPLIES. 1. That God was ready to receive them graciously. 2. That man is prone to be slow of heart to seek unto God. 3. That man may oppose that slowness of heart--may stir himself up to take hold on God. Such was the view of Joshua when he said, “ Incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel” (Joshua 24:23). This truth wasregarded by the Lord Himself when He proclaimed, “ Incline your ear,” etc. Isaiah 55:8). With a view to this, man may stir up-- (1) The memory. (2) The imagination. (3) The reason. (4) The will. II. THE ITSELF. Of it we may emphatically say (Ezekiel 19:14), This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.” Why? 1. On account of present loss. They “ forsake their own mercies,” wrong their own selves as to present good. 2. On account of the uncertainty of life on earth. 3. On account of the force of habit (Jeremiah 13:23). Through the force of habit conscience may become so seared and the heart so hardened that the likelihood may rapidly lessen of the deteriorated mind ever stilting itself up to take hold on God. Let not the peculiarly encouraging character of the kind call be overlooked--“ Let him take hold of My strength.” (J. Elliot.)No man to pray (with Isaiah 62:1):--The general condition of the nation was deplorable enough (Isaiah 64:6). But there was one vein of sadness lying deeper than the sadness which filled the prophet’ s heart because of the condition of the people generally; he knew not of any man who was ,wounded and oppressed and driven to prayer as his only refuge, and as the peoples only hope,, by this grievous state of things. One man may be a Church’ s, a city’ s, a nation’ s saviour. Indifference to all interests but our own is a powerful narcotic which may put a Church or a nation to sleep. Perfect is the picture of this luxurious, cynical indifference drawn by the prophet Amos (Amos 6:1-6). This very indifference to things not directly our own, to things not reckoned our own according to conventional standards, is again and again spoken of in Scripture as a cause of great astonishment to God; as if there was something too selfish, too cruel, too unbrotherly in it to be believed; as if men could not be so careless of what was good and right. “ The Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment, and He saw there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. He says, And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold. He says again, “ The People of the land have used oppression,” , etc. (Ezekiel 22:29-30). And here it should be--distinctly observed that the taking an interest In things beyond the narrow limits of our own personal affairs is an interest full of tender concern, of self-abnegation, of brotherly love. Many a harsh man can look over his own boundary walls to grumble and find fault; but it was not the want of that of which Isaiah complained. Many can sit in judgment and condemn; but it was not judgment of that kind, that he wanted. He did not want any one bitterly to point out the Church’ s faults, heartlessly to mock at her nakedness and poverty, self-righteously to cry shame upon her sir--he wanted a man to pray for her. When there was no man who could or would shake off his selfish indolence to pray for the Church, the prophet himself said, “ For Zion’ s sake I will not hold my peace,” etc. Then, as if he were confident of success, and saw the fruits of his prayers, and tears, and toils, he says, “ And the Gentiles shall see Thy righteousness, and all kings Thy glory,” etc. (Isaiah 62:2-4). Howdifferent this attitude towards the Church to the cold selfishness which stands aloof altogether, or comes from its seclusion only to complain, and, by disturbance, to make bad worse! How different from the worldliness which is content for the Church also to be worldly; for her glory to be hidden by carnal pleasures and carnal things! How different from the mere denominational fervour--the fervour for church or chapel, which is satisfied with outside show and with prosperity that can be measured, and cares little or nothing for the growth of faith, hope and love, for the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and for the salvation of souls ] For Isaiah is bent upon seeing a Church whose righteousness should go forth as brightness, whose salvation should go forth as a burning lamp; on whose glory the Gentiles and kings should look; which should be named by a new name by the mouth of the Lord Himself, a name indicating the delightful change that has passed over her, and the new relation in which she stands to God and man. And surely it is worth any Christian’ s while to take up any good cause, in this sympathetic way; to identify himself with it; to become responsible for it before God and man and his own conscience. To do so is to follow the example of all the noblest and holiest of our race, it is to follow the example of “ Him who, though He was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we, through His poverty, might be rich, identifying Himself in the most absolute manner with our nature and our condition, until He redeemed us from all our sins, and raised us to sit at His right hand in His kingdom. (J. P. Gladstone.)Taking hold upon God The prophet reveals the very essence and soul of prayer. It is a stirring up of one’ s self to take hold of God. The very soul of devotion lies in realizing the Divine presence, in dealing with God as a real person, in firm confidence in His faithfulness,--in a word, in “ taking hold of Him.” Men do not take hold of a shadow, they cannot grasp the unsubstantial fabric of a dream. Taking hold implies something real which we grasp; and there is wanted to make” prayer truthful and acceptable with God the grip and grasp of a tenacious faith, which believes the fact that God is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Taking hold implies a reverent familiarity with the Lord, by which we use a holy force to win a blessing from His hand. Laying hold upon God is not the act of a dead man, neither is it the deed of one who is destitute of spiritual perception; it is the act of one who is quickened and kept alive by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Men will do anything sooner than stir up themselves to take hold of God: they will build churches, and rear altars, and say masses and perform pilgrimages, and a thousand other things, but they do not want God, and will not have Him. It is great condescension on the Lord’ s part that He should permit it to be so, but so it is, and when He bares His right arm to smite you your safety lies in grasping that very hand which apparently is lifted for your destruction. I. The first form of taking hold, that which is intended in the text, is that in which THE SINNER TAKES HOLD UPON GOD. II. We very greatly need to have among us many WHO TAKE HOLD UPON GOD BY TO HIM. I have seen applied to Calvin the motto, “ He took fast hold.” If ever a man did take fast hold on invisible things, it was that famous reformer. What he grasped he held with force of clear conviction, intelligent apprehension, and devout reverence. Such a man opens his Bible and resolves to find out what God’ s will is, and be judges for himself, for he knows that he will have to render a personal account. Such a man sets himself to extend the kingdom of Christ, impelled by inward zeal. Having obtained a solid fulcrum of assured knowledge, he now begins to use his lever and work upon others. He knows that he cannot be placed where God is not, and therefore he feels that his best Friend is always near. He is a man that calleth upon God, not merely in prayer, but by confessing His name, and owning His cause; and he stirs up himself to take hold upon God in the doing of all these things. III. We take a step further in advance when we mention a third form of this taking hold of God: We need a development in the form of THE PLEADER. The expression is borrowed from Jacob at the brook of Jabbok. A man who can take hold of God in prayer will be of the utmost value to the Church. IV. The fourth point is THE TAKING HOLD OF GOD BY THE : the man who has got beyond doubts and fears, and grasped the eternal verities. No question now as to whether there is a God or no: he knows Him, speaks with Him, walks with Him, He is quite sure about God’ s keeping His promises, he dares not doubt that, for he has had too many proofs already of the faithfulness of God for him to distrust Him. Now, see how steadily that man moves about: trial does not bow him down, he expected it, and he expects to be delivered out of it. If you rush in upon him with the most terrible information it does not distress him, for “ he is not afraid of evil tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.” (C. H.Spurgeon.)Delivered unto iniquity For “ hast consumed,” read “ hast delivered us into the hand of our iniquities.” Their sin has been allowed by God to breed deeper sin. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)Melted into the hands of iniquity We may suppose with Rosenmuller that the phrase strictly means, Thou dost melt us into the hand of our iniquities, i.e subject us to them, make us unable to resist them, and passively submissive to their power. (J. A. Alexander.) Isaiah 64:8 But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father God our King-Father (“ Our Lord, Thou art our Father” with “ the Lord is our King,” Isaiah 33:22). That conviction of a living God, as distinguished from the lifeless one, which is all that many have, made up of a mere bundle of catechetical doctrines, will create a demand for many other convictions besides. For, mark what question presses, so soon as God has been revealed to the soul; it is the deeply self-interested one, In what relation, or relations, does this almighty and glorious One stand to the individual’ s self? The answer given by our two texts, and much of the Scripture besides, is, that He is related to each of us both as a Father and a King. Now, not only is there no contrariety betwixt the ideas of these two relations; but, properly, there is no sentiment in the one which the other does not contain in some degree. Nevertheless, the idea of a Father contains more prominently the sentiment of bountiful and tender cherishing; when that of a King contains more prominently that of regulation and control; and it is not till we have combined them that we can form an adequate conception of the relation in which He stands to us. (W. Anderson, LL. D.)Our King-Father or Father-King the memorial of God Some may say they are identical; nor would I deny, with much warmth, they are. But when the better mode of impressing the heart is the subject of inquiry, not a little depends, I am persuaded, on the order in which the two ideas of the complex relation are presented. 1. Even metaphysically He is first our Father and then our King: the idea of the Divine paternity is the principal one, and that of the royalty the subordinate and qualifying one: He begets us as children before He rules us as subjects. 2. But, whatever may be the state of the question metaphysically, there can be no doubt that, in respect of practical and salutary effect on the heart, the assigning of the place of primary consideration to the relation of Father has a decided advantage. When men ask you, Who is God? let your reply be, He is our Father. And when they say, Is He not your King also? let your reply again be, He is; but first our Father, and more our Father than anything else. Even a heathen could say, as an apostle has approvingly told us, “ We are also His offspring.” Although, in respect of our corporeal frames, we are in the predicament of the inferior animals; yet in respect of the nobler part of our constitutions--the immortal soul--in virtue of which, especially, we bear the Divine image, that has been communicated to us directly, by the breath of the Almighty (Ecclesiastes 12:7). 3. The thought is both solemnizing and animating; let us improve it to the ends of having our sense of responsibility deepened for filial reverence and obedience--for upholding the honour of God’ s family, by the purity, the elevation, and dignity of our characters--and, also, for our treatment of all mankind as being of a Divine parentage. 4. But it is especially in respect of confidence in His loving-kindness, that I call at present for improvement of the meditation. (W. Anderson, LL. D.)God the Father-King in redemption 1. Who is so ignorant as not to know that cold parental displeasure and warm parental affection arc frequently found co-existent; and who cannot easily conceive the truth of the following case? I knew a father who, after having long remonstrated in vain with a profligate son--from abhorrence of the sight and hearing of his abominations and profanities, and from respect to his own and family’ s peace and honour, turned him out of his house, and would not acknowledge him when he met him on the street. All the time he wept and prayed for him in secret, and gave directions to a friend to take care that his wretched boy should never suffer from want. Is the paternity of the human father more tender and amiable than that of the Divine? Hear how He himself vindicates His parental character: “ How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?” etc. (Hosea 11:8). 2. And yet hitherto I have not, properly, announced one syllable of the tidings of the Gospel. Nature and reason might have sufficed for conducting us all the length we have gone. We need other guidance for proceeding further. I stopped short in my simple story about that young man. What became of him? Well, he repented; returned to his father’ s door, with humble confessions, and earnest promises of future well-doing; was taken in; and great was the joy that night throughout that dwelling. Now observe, that though the parallel does not terminate here, when tracing the analogy of the recovery of an outcast from the family of’ God, yet both lines receive the accession of new elements. On the part of God, there is the accession of the element of His royal character: and on the part of the sinner, the accession of the element of faith in a Mediator. The explanation is most important: it contains the secret of our salvation. Mark, therefore, that God does not re-admit the prodigal to His family, as an earthly father does, merely on account of his repentance; because, beside being a Father, He is a King. Consider, then, how this additional relationship of royalty is produced, and how it affects the Divine procedure. An earthly father’ s administration of his family is a matter of privacy. Public interests are not concerned in it; and he may do with his own what pleases his humour. He may open his door and re-admit the prodigal, even without any repentance or confession, if he choose. But God’ s family being the Public--the universal Public of created, moral intelligence; though this does not affect the personal love of the administrator, yet does it materially affect the mode of the administration. The family of children has enlarged into a kingdom of subjects; and though it be a Father’ s heart, it must be a King’ s policy by which the administration is conducted. David’ s parental heart said, Spare the young man Absalom; his royal policy commissioned the army to fight him down as a rebel 3. What, then, is the state of our parallel now? It was sufficient for the re-admission of the prodigal into the earthly father’ s house that he should be penitent. But the order of all good government of a kingdom is, that the violation of the laws shall be visited with penal suffering, before there be a restoration to the privileges of citizenship. Behold the mystery of our redemption! And see the advantage of our having assumed the paternity of God as His primary and most characteristic relationship. It is this paternity which, humanly speaking, goes in quest of means for saving us; and returns, exclaiming in triumph, “ Save from going down to the pit, for I have found a ransom.” When we commence with the royal relationship, and make that the primary characteristic, there is danger that God may appear as being but coldly passive in the work of our salvation. But when we commence with the paternity of God, we more easily discover Him warmly active in the work of our salvation; with all a Father’ s self-interested love devising and executing its scheme. Having found the means of ransom in the substitutionary death of His Son incarnated, He brings it to us, that we may carry it away for presentation at the tribunal of His government. 4. This representation will explain, as clearly as any other, the nature, the necessity, and the efficacy of faith. As being that principle which gives credit to the Divine testimony, it lays hold of the sacrifice which God’ s paternal mercy has provided, and pleads with His royal justice that it be accepted as compensation for our transgressions. Mark the necessity of such faith. The gift which God has made of Christ to “ sinners of mankind” universally is not the gift of pardon, but of the means of pardon, to be used to that end; and used by the sinner himself: for it would be unholy government to pardon a rebel, whatever might be the amplitude of satisfaction proffered on his behalf by another, if he himself despised or made light of the transaction. 5. Observe, now, a second time, the advantage of giving the paternal relation of God the first place in our meditation on His character. In virtue of this, the proclamation of the Gospel is not so much the proclamation of a King, declaring that no man shall be saved except through faith in that sacrifice; as it is the earnest entreaty of a Father that His children should believe, so as to be saved; when His paternal love shall enjoy them in their recovery to His home; yea, enjoy them. It is much for a child to enjoy his parent; but it is more for a parent to enjoy his child, as an object on which he may lavish his affection; and with all the yearnings of His paternity does God beseech the sinner to afford Him this Divine satisfaction. 6. Having explained the doctrine of God’ s paternal love, I now call for its correlative duty, filial confidence on the part of His children. 7. When this first principle of ]parental honour, confidence in God, is secured, the honouring of Him, which consists in obedience, follows naturally and necessarily. (W. Anderson, LL. D.)We are the clay and Thou our PotterClay and Potter The nearest parallel to this application of the common image of clay and potter is, perhaps, Job 10:9. It is the plea of thecreature against seeming unreasonableness on the part of the Creator. Can the Potter allow the work on which He has lavished His utmost skill and care to be broken in pieces? (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Lessons from a pottery Many years ago it was my privilege to visit the porcelain works at Worcester, and there I learned most of what I know about the potter and his art. We were first taken into a large showroom, where there were displayed the finished products of the potter’ s skill and labour. Here we were glad to spend some time in looking upon the beauty and loveliness which the potter had created. In thinking upon what was exhibited there, what can be learned about the potter and his art with a view to understanding the work and grace of our heavenly Father as our Potter? There were two things that deeply impressed me. The first was the almost unlimited variety secured by the potter in his workmanship. There were not two pieces exactly alike. Everywhere you perceived the mind of the potter on the stretch, seeking to attain all possible variety of form, design and ornamentation. I said to myself. “ Well, there is one thing very clear about the earthly potter--he has determined that in his work there shall be an utmost absence of repetition, monotony, similarity. By infinite variety he reveals his skill and the fruitfulness of his mind.” If God is our Potter, are we to think of Him in this respect as like unto the earthly potter? Go to His work in Nature. How much of monotony is there in any department of God’ s creation? What does that mean for us? It means a very great deal for Christian life. As a young Christian, I had a way of greatly admiring other people. If I saw any person of decided and beautiful Christian character, my heart was impressed. But the mistake was that I also wanted to be like them! And if I saw any one doing a particular work for God I wanted to do something similar. This longing to be like other people became a great curse and hindrance. Then God had pity upon me, and showed me the mistake of it all, and said to me: “ I do not want to make you like anybody else in the universe; I want to make you something different from everybody else;” and He graciously persuaded me to give myself up to Him, to let Him make me the one thing He wished to see me. No greater deliverance ever came into my life than that. Do not try to be like anybody. Do not be one of a set. It would be a thousand pities to go to heaven, and for the angels to say: “ We have seen this sort before!” It will not be Christ’ s fault if that should happen in your case. There is something that God wants to make each one of us that shaft reveal His glory in a way that nobody else does. The second thing to be noted about the work of the potter is this: His whole aim is to make of the clay, not a vessel for its own use, but a vessel for the joy and service of others. Let us realize that Christ is in our lives to turn them outward! When we had spent some time in the showroom, our guide bade us follow him. He at once led us through a door out into the works. What a change! We were now amid the noise and splash and dirt. First of all he directed our attention to a shelf, on which were some half-dozen lumps of what might be described as glass and chalk and clay. As a matter of fact, they were different kinds of clay. “ All you have just seen inside there has been made out of such materials.” Who had bridged the gulf between the shapeless clay and the beautiful vessel? The potter--that is what he is for. “ We are the clay” --the thing of possibility only. The Lord is the Potter; and He can take the clay, and by His skill and power and grace, make it into a thing of joy and beauty for evermore. But our guide soon led us on, and we saw something of the processes of the potter’ s art. One of the first things he did with the clay was to put it into a mill, where it was ground for a week, ground until it was so fine that it would pass through silk with hundreds of meshes to the square inch. If the clay could have thought, how puzzled it would have been! It would have said: “ There was something of me once, but I am coming to nothing now. I caught a glimpse through that open door of all those lovely vessels and vases, and I thought the potter was going to make me into one such as they; but here it is only grind! grind! grind! What does it all mean?” Experiences very much like that come to the soul that has surrendered itself to God. The methods and processes of the heavenly Potter are at times very perplexing, and in no discerned relation to the desired end. Be quite sure that God understands His own work! Trust Him. The next thing that struck me was the large use which the potter made of fire. I cannot tell you how many times the porcelain was put into the fire before it was finished. But there was this remarkable thing: it was never put into the fire unshielded. It was always enclosed in a strong outer vessel, closely sealed, so that the fire did its work, and yet no hurt came to the porcelain. Into the fire of trial and suffering God, our Potter, puts us all; but He never puts us in unshielded. When this white porcelain had been taken through a great many processes, it was put into the hands of skilful artists, whose work it was to adorn it with the glory of colour and design with which we are all familiar. When the porcelain left the hands of the artist, the finger of a child could have brushed away all that he had painted upon it. But our guide explained that the porcelain would go into the fire, and that the fire would open its “ pores, and take in the colouring, so that what the painter had put on it would become part of the very vessel itself. That illustrated to me this great truth, that we never become better people by merely knowing more. New truth in the mind is like the colouring upon the porcelain, and some failure of memory may remove it. But God’ s way is, when we have got a new truth, to lead us into some trial, some fire, that will make that truth part of our very manhood. Lastly, we were taken into another room, and there the artists were all busy working with a black fluid, which they were putting on the beautiful, pure, white porcelain. I said to our guide, “ What are they doing here? Apparently they were disfiguring the porcelain. His answer was: “ They are putting on the gilt! When the porcelain goes into the fire, this black that you see upon it now will be transformed into Gilt.” There are times when God seems to be disfiguring the lives of his people. What is He doing? Putting on the gilt. (G. C. Moore.) Isaiah 64:9 Be not wroth very sore, O Lord God’ s wrath deprecated I. THE EVIL . God’ s anger. 1. Merited. 2. Acknowledged. II. THE TERMS IN WHICH IT IS . 1. Imply the justice of God’ s procedure. 2. Beseech a limitation of its severity. III. THE PLEA BY WHICH IT IS . 1. Humble. 2. Confident. 3. Founded on God’ s covenant relation to His people. (Homiletic Commentary.) Isaiah 64:11 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up with fire The burnt temple I. HERE IS . 1. The children of Israel regarded the temple as their own house. They spoke of it as God’ s house. But because it was God’ s it was their own, for they were God’ s; and all that particularly belonged to Him had a special interest for them, and they had a special claim in it. 2. This temple was sacred in the people’ s eyes. The prophet calls it, “ our holy house.” It was really so. 3. The Jews, exiled abroad, thought of yonder ruined house where their fathers praised the Lord. There is no attachment stronger than that which exists between men and women, sons and daughters of Christian fathers and mothers, who are worshipping in the place where their predecessors worshipped. 4. All their pleasant things were laid waste. II. HERE IS . “ Wilt Thou refrain Thyself?” etc. The plain English of it is, “ Canst Thou bear to see this, Lord? Does it not affect Thee as it does us? Hast Thou no sighs, no groans, no tears? And if Thou hast, wilt Thou not pluck Thy hand from out Thy bosom and help us? Wilt Thou not open Thy lips and speak a word of peace? We cannot bear Thy silence, Lord. Wilt Thou hold Thy peace, and afflict us very sore? (T. Spurgeon.)All our pleasant things are laid wasteReligious thing, pleasant things The ordinances of religion are, to the Israel of God, “ pleasant things.” I. WHAT ARE THEY? 1. In the number of their pleasant things, they include the sanctuary. To them the temple is not a ]prison, a place of confinement and correct!on; but the house of their heavenly Father, their “ holy and beautiful house; beautiful because holy. 2. In the number of their “ pleasant things they include Sabbaths. To many, indeed, God’ s holy day is uninviting, and even irksome. But the Christian “ calls the Sabbath a delight, and considers the holy of the Lord honourable.” To him it is a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; a weekly jubilee: and, wearied with the toils, and follies, and vexations of the world, he hails a day of seclusion from it. 3. Are not the Scriptures some of their “ pleasant things” ? 4. This too will apply to the preaching of the Word. 5. They find it a pleasant thing to approach God in prayer, and to “ come before His presence with singing” --a pleasant thing to surround His table, and to refresh their minds with the memorials of a Saviour’ s dying love--to be in the circle of pious friends, and hear from their lips “ what God has done for their souls. II. HOW THEY BECOME SO . For it is certain they are not so universally: by numbers they are not only neglected, but despised. Whence, then, do real Christians find them so pleasing? 1. There is in them a suitableness to their dispositions. Thus we know music charms those who have an ear for it. Money is a pleasant thing to the covetous; honour to the ambitious; scandal to the slanderous. In all these instances there is something that meets the taste; and that which gratifies always delights. So it is here. The pleasure of the Christian does not depend upon persuasion--but inclination. 2. experience is another source of this pleasure. 3. Continual need also renders them pleasant things. III. REVIEW WHAT WE HAVE SAID--and learn-- 1. To justify religion from the reproaches of the world. The world pretends that the services which religion demands of us are all slavery and gloom. But if you are willing to enter in, “ let no man’ s heart fail him.” 2. Let us try ourselves by this rule. A man may want assurance and still be in a state of safety: but if he be habitually a stranger to pleasure in Divine things, and can pass through all the services of religion as a mere formalist, it is an awful proof that “ he has no part nor lot in the matter; his heart is not right in the sight of God.” A number of speculative opinions, cold ceremonies, cheap moralities, in which the affections have no share, can never be a substitute for real devotion. 3. What an affliction do Christians sustain when they are deprived of their” pleasant things” ! This may be done in two ways. (1) By the removal of these privileges from them. Thus persecution has sometimes forbidden them to assemble together, and has silenced their preachers, destroyed their sanctuaries, and banished all religious ordinances from a neighbourhood. God sometimes inflicts His judgments upon a place for neglect and abuse of Gospel privileges. (2) By removing Christians from these privileges. Thus business may call them away from a favoured situation, accidents or sickness may detain them prisoners from the courts of the Lord. 4. Let us be very thankful that these “ pleasant things” are within our reach--that we have been so long favoured with them--that we have them in so rich an abundance--that we have liberty to partake of them--and strength to go forth and enjoy them. 5. Let us raise our thoughts and desires after the “ pleasant things of heaven.” Philip. Henry often, said, when he had finished the delightful exercises of the Sabbath, Well, if this be not the way to heaven, I know not what is.” These are introductory to the glory that shall be revealed: they are foretastes to endear it, and earnests to insure it. (W. Jay.) Isaiah 64:12 Wilt Thou refrain Thyself for these things, O Lord?-- Self-restraint and silence, as applied to God Self-restraint and silence, as applied to God are common figures for inaction and apparent indifference to the interests, and especially the sufferings, of His people. (J. A. Alexander.)Jehovah’ s mercy Jehovah’ s mercy cannot violently restrain itself longer; it must burst forth, like Joseph’ s tears in the recognition scene (Genesis 45:1). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Isaiah 65:1I am sought of them that asked not for Me Jehovah’ s answer to the prayer of the Church The supplication is ended; and chap. 65. appears to be intended as the answer--an answer, however, in which a distinction is drawn between worthy and unworthy members of Israel, and a different prospect is held out to each. God has ever, He says, been accessible to His people, He has ever been ready to renew intercourse with them: it was they who would not respond, but provoked Him with their idolatries. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)A nation that was not called by My name “ A nation that called not on My name.” The reference is to those among the people who, after the Restoration, still practised the idolatries of their pre-exilic forefathers. (A. B.Davidson, D. D.)The very bold prophecy We learn on inspired authority that this is a very bold passage (Romans 10:20); it required much courage to utter it at the first, and in Paul’ s day it needed still more to quote it and press it home upon the Jews around him. He who protests against a self-righteous people, and angers them by showing that others whom they despised are saved while they themselves are being lost, will have need of a dauntless spirit. This text has the clear ring of free grace about it; and for this reason it may be called bold. I. THE OF GOD IN THE WORK OF HIS GRACE. This is remarkably prominent in the work before us. 1. The personality of God comes forth in that He Himself is observant of all that is done. Do any seek him? He saith, “ I am sought. De any find him? He saith, “ I am found. Is there any preaching of the Gospel? The Lord declares, “ Behold Me, behold Me.” 2. He Himself in the great object of desire where grace is in operation. When men are savingly aroused, they seek--what? Religion? By no means. They seek God, if they seek aright. The Lord saith, “ I am found.” If men do not find God they have found nothing. God Himself fills the vision of faith; observe the words, “ Behold Me, behold Me.” We look to God in Christ, and find all that our soul needs. 3. He Himself is the Speaker of that call by which men are saved. Here are the words: “ I said, Behold Me, behold Me.” The Lord Himself speaks the effectual word. 4. He Himself is the director of the message., “ I said, Behold Me, behold Me, unto a nation that was not called by My name. ‘ Not only does God speak the Gospel, but He speaks it home to those whom He appoints to hear it. This surrounds the Gospel with a strange solemnity: if the Gospel blesses us, it is not it, but God that blesses: God Himself has come unto us. This fact has another aspect to it; for if the Gospel be rejected, it is God that is rejected. Read the next verse: “ I have spread out My hands all the day unto a rebellious people. II. THE DELIGHT WHICH GOD TAKES IN THE WORK OF GRACE. God is glad to be sought and found by those who once were negligent of Him. 1. It is evident that He rejoices in contrast to the complaint of the next verse. 2. The Lord rejoices in each step of the process. There is a poor soul beginning to cry,, “ Oh that I knew where I might find Him!” and lo the Lord says, “ I am sought. A man has only just begun to attend the House of Prayer; he has only lately commenced the earnest study of the Bible; the Lord sees it, and He says, “ I am sought. As when a fisherman smiles because a fish has begun to nibble at the bait, so the Lord notes the first movings of the heart towards Himself, and He says, “ I am sought.” The very next sentence is, “ I am found.” 3. The Lord also rejoices in the persons who seek Him. He says, “ I am sought of them that asked not for Me. He will be glad for any heart to keep on seeking that has begun to seek; but He is best pleased when non-seekers become seekers. 4. The Lord rejoices in the numbers who seek and find Him. “ I said, Behold Me, behold Me, unto a nation.” When shall the day come that nations shall be born at once? III. THE WHICH GOD HIMSELF GIVES OF THE WORK OF GRACE. 1. The Lord tells us where He finds the objects of His grace. He says, “ They asked not for Me; they sought Me not; they were not called by My name.” What a mercy it is that He comes to us in our sin and misery; for assuredly we should not else come to Him. 2. He next describes that Gospel which comes to them as the power of God. Here are His own words: “ I said, Behold Me, behold Me.” The way of salvation is, “ Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” 3. Then the Lord goes on to mention the converts which the Gospel makes. The careless become seekers, the ungodly finders, the prayerless behold their God and live. 4. The Lord also describes the experience of the saved. God comes to us that we may come to Him. IV. THE USE WHICH GOD MAKES OF ALL THIS. The Lord here took care that when He said, “ I am sought of them that asked not for Me,” His words should be written down, and that they should be made known to us. It is not everything that God may say to Himself that He will afterwards repeat to us; but here these private utterances of the Divine heart are spoken out to us by Isaiah, and left on record in this inspired Book. To what end d-o you think it is so? 1. That he may excite in us wonder and admiration. 2. To destroy pride and self-esteem. 3. To encourage you who are seeking Him: for if those who do not seek Him often find Him, why, you that do seek Him are sure to find Him. 4. To encourage workers. Go to work among the worst of the worst; for since God is found of those who seek Him not, there is hope for the vilest. 5. That he may convict those who do not come to Him of the greatness of their sin. Look, saith He, those who never heard of Me before have found salvation, while you who have been instructed, and invited, and impressed, have still held out and resisted My Spirit. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 65:3-5A people that provoked Me to anger Obstinacy provokes God’ s wrath By rejecting His love with stiff-necked obstinacy, they have incurred wrath, which, though long and patiently restrained, now bursts out with uncontrolled violence. “ The people that continually provokes Me to My face, sacrificing in the gardens, and burning incense on the tiles, who sit in vaults and pass the night in retired places, who eat flesh of swine, and broken pieces of abominable things are in their dishes, who say: Halt: Come not too near me! For I am holy to thee,--these are a smoke in My nose, a fire blazing continually.” (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Illegal and superstitious cults The reference to “ bricks” remains unexplained; sitting in the graves was for the purpose of obtaining oracles or dreams from the dead - the so-called “ incubation.” (A. B.Davidson, D. D.)“ Broth of abominable things” Such creatures as are enumerated in Isaiah 66:17. The “ sacrifices are boiled and yield a magical hell-broth” (W. Robertson Smith). (Pro/. J. Skinner, D. D.) Isaiah 65:5 Which may, Stand by thyself “ I am holier than thou” For “ I am holier read, probably, else I will make thee holy. ” The practices referred to were “ mysteries,” and the initiated would communicate his “ holiness” to others by contact with them, and so unfit them for all the ordinary uses of life (cp. Ezekiel 44:19). (A. B.Davidson, D. D.)Verse 5 alludes to those who claimed superior sanctity in virtue of certain rites into which they had been initiated. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)Self-righteousness,--a smouldering heap of rubbish The application of the passage to Israel is just thus. Year after year God dealt with great patience towards His chosen people, but they seemed to be desperately set upon idolatry in one form or another. Sometimes they worshipped Jehovah, but then they did it under figure and symbol, whereas He has expressly forbidden that even His own worship should be thus celebrated. At other times they altogether rejected Jehovah, and worshipped Baal and Ashtaroth, and whole troops of the gods of the heathen, and thus they provoked the Lord exceedingly. They also practised necromancy, or pretended communion with the dead, and witchcraft and sorcery, and all manner of abominable rites, like the depraved nations around them. When this open rebellion was given up, as it was after the captivity--for the Jews have never been guilty of idolatry since that day--they fell into another form of the same evil, namely, self-righteousness: so that when our Lord came He found self-righteousness to be the crying sin of Israel, the Pharisees carrying it to such a pitch as to render it utterly ridiculous. They reckoned that the touch of a common person polluted their sacredness, so that they needed to wash after walking down a street. When they traversed the ways they took the edge of the pavement, so that they might not brush against the garments of the passers-by, and even in the temple in prayer they stood by themselves lest they should be defiled. Their whole spirit is expressed in the words of the text--“ Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou.” This God declares to be as obnoxious to Him as smoke in a man’ s nose. Self-righteousness is rampant in our own day. I. THE SIN OF SELF- GROWS UP AMONG PEOPLE. It is not always the sin of the outside world, for many outsiders do not pretend to any righteousness at all, and I fancy they think all the better of themselves for that. This is an idle plea which it needs not many words to expose. “ I make no profession,” says one. This is about as honour-able a confession as if a thief should, boast when caught at picking pockets, “ I do not make any pretence to be honest,’ or a liar when detected should turn round and cry, “ I never professed to speak the truth.” Among those who profess to be religious, self-righteousness very frequently comes in, because they have not truly received the religion of Jesus Christ; if they were true believers they would be humble and contrite, for self-righteousness and faith in Christ are diametrically opposed. Many who mingle with Christians, and are religious in a certain sense because they practise the forms of religion, are wont to put the form into the place of the spirit. These persons, too, even when they do not join the Christian Church, but only worship or seem to worship with Christians, are very apt to think that they must be better than other people because they do so. It is the danger of outwardly religious people, who are not savingly converted, to dream that they are somewhat advantaged by a mere attendance on the means of grace. Should an Egyptian rub his shoulders against an Israelite, would it turn him into an Israelite? Will living near a rich man make you rich? Do you forget that cry of our Lord, “ Woe unto thee, Chorazin. Woe unto thee, Bethsaida? II. THIS IS A SIN WHICH WHERE OTHER SINS ABOUND. We read of these people that they did evil before the eyes of God, and chose that wherein He delighted not. They blasphemed God, and polluted themselves with unhallowed rites, communing with demons and the powers of darkness, and pretending to speak with departed spirits; and yet for all that they said--“ Stand by thyself, I am holier than thou.” Self-righteousness is never more ridiculous than in persons whose conduct would not bear scrutiny for a moment. Self-righteous men, like foxes, have many tricks and schemes. They condemn in other people what they consider to be very excusable in themselves. These people will make a righteousness this way--they plead that if they do wrong yet there are some points in which theyare splendid fellows. Some one thing in which the unconverted man may excel is put in to make up for his deficiencies in a hundred other ways. By hook or by crook a man will make out that he is not so bad as he seems to be; the inventiveness of self-esteem is prodigious. No heap of rubbish is too rotten for the accursed toadstool of proud self to grow upon. III. IT IS IN ITSELF A GREAT SIN. One is almost startled to find self-esteem placed after such a list of sins as this chapter records. To the Jew the eating of swine’ s flesh and broth of abominable things was a great pollution, but self-righteousness is classed with it; it is even placed with necromancy and witchcraft. Drunkenness and swearing are sin in rags, but self-righteousness is sin in a respectable black coat. It is an aristocratic sin, and does not like to be put down with the common Tuck; and if we call it sin, yet many will plead that it is only so in a very refined sense. But God does not think so; He classes it with the very worst, and He does so because it is one of the worst. For a man to be self-righteous is in itself a sin of sins. For, first, it is blasphemy. God is holy. Here comes this base impostor and boasts, “ And I am holy too. Is not that a ludicrous and contemptible form of blasphemy? It is profanity in its very essence. More, this self-righteousness is idolatry, for the man who counts himself to be righteous by his own works worships himself. Practically, the object of his adoration is his own dear, delectable, excellent self. Then, again, it is profanity, for it gives God the distinct lie. The Lord declares that no man is righteous. IV. SELF- IS THE FRUIT OF MAN’ S OWN . Look at Isaiah 65:2. Those who have high thoughts of themselves do not walk according to God’ s commandments, but according to their own notions. If any man thinketh himself to be righteous in himself, he has never derived that idea from God’ s law, and certainly not from the Gospel, for the Gospel knows no man after the flesh as righteous, but it regards all men as sinners, and comes to them with pardon; it treats men as lost and comes to save them. Self-righteous people are not much inclined to search the Scriptures, they do not read them with an understanding heart, so as to get the meaning; they rather make the Bible say their own meaning, and twist it to support their own pleasing dream. V. SELF- HAS THIS VICE ABOUT IT, THAT IT ALWAYS LEADS TO OTHERS. That is the pith of the text. VI. SELF- IS MOST IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. What does He compare it to? He says, “ It is a smoke in My nose, a fire that burneth all the day. At the bottom of the garden we gather together the dead leaves, and all the rubbish of the garden, and the heap is lighted, and it keeps on burning and smouldering all the day; and if you go and stand in the eye of the wind your eyes will smart, your nose will be offended, and you will feel that you cannot bear it. We do not wonder that He thus scorns and abhors proud selfrighteousness, for God is a God of truth, and truth cannot bear a lie, and selfrighteousness is a mass of lies. Moreover, self-righteousness is such a proud thing. God is always provoked with pride. Self-righteousness also denies the wisdom of God’ s plan, and is utterly opposed to it. God’ s present plan of working in the world goes upon the theory that we are guilty; being guilty, He provides a Saviour for us, and sends us a Gospel full of grace. VII. SELF- MOST BARS A MAN FROM ALL HOPE OF . We cannot be saved unless we become truly holy, but no man ever becomes truly holy who is content with a false holiness. Self-righteousness prevents repentance. You will never believe in Jesus Christ while you believe in yourself. What is the remedy for all this? God saith, “ Behold Me” ; that is to say, He bids thee cease from doting upon thine own fancied beauties and worshipping thine own foolish image. Look first to the holy God and tremble. Canst thou, of thyself, ever be like Him, pure, spotless, glorious? Look to Him and despair. Then comes the second, “ Behold Me. See Jesus Christ on the cross dying, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. As thou seest Him dying thy self-righteousness will die. (C. H.Spurgeon.)False grounds of superiority in holiness The disposition to arrogate the dignity of religious worth and excellence has never become extinct among men, nor the quite consistent disposition to turn it to the use of pride. 1. In some instances, an assumption of superior holiness has been made upon the ground of belonging to a certain division or class of mankind; a class having its distinction in the circumstance of descent and nativity, or in some artificial constitution of society. Thus the ancient Jews,--in virtue merely of being Jews. Imagine the worst Jew comparing himself with Aristides, Phocion or Socrates. The Brahmins, in virtue of a pretended pre-eminently holy descent; an emanation from the head of their creating god. In popish countries, the numerous ecclesiastical class. Something of this even in protestant England. In these instances there has been an assumption of holiness independently of individual personal character. What an infamy to perverted human reason, that anything which might leave the individual evidently bad, in heart and life, could yet be taken as constituting him the reverse of bad, that is, holy! 2. In many periods and places men have reputed themselves “ holy” on the ground of a punctilious observance of religious forms and ceremonies whether of Divine appointment or human invention. This took the place of the true religious sanctity among the Jews. It is a grand characteristic of paganism. It actually stands instead of religion and morality among the far greater part of the people under the dominion of the Romish Church. It is to be feared there are some among us who venture a delusive assumption on the ground of a regular attention to the external services of religion. But we have cause to know that all this may be, and yet no vital transforming prevalence of religion in the heart. 3. Another ground of such assumption is general rectitude of practical conduct, separate from the true religious principle of moral excellence. 4. The pride of self-estimation for holiness is apt to be betrayed by persons who have preserved a character substantially free from reproach, against those who have, in some known instance, fallen into great sin. It might have been a case in which they were encountered by sudden, or complicated, or very extraordinary temptation, such as all should pray earnestly to be saved from. The delinquent may have penitently deplored the transgression through many subsequent years. But it has been often enough seen that another person, who has been happy enough not to incur any such marked blemish on his character, will assume a tone of high superiority against him, though he may never have had the same strength of temptation to combat with; may never think of ascribing his exemption to any higher cause than his own good principles; and may be quite destitute of some valuable qualities the other possesses. The whole life of this self-applauder may have been little better than a series of negatives. His faulty, penitent brother may have done much good. 5. A man may have had his mind directed to a speculative knowledge of religious doctrine; and we will suppose that it is valuable knowledge that he has gained. All this ma be, and yet the man feel little or nothing of the sanctifying power of religious truth. Yet, so ready is the speculatist to take to himself all the dignity and excellence of his subject and his cause, that this man may take up a lofty pretension--if not strictly and formally to “ holiness,” yet to some meritorious relation to truth and religion; something which authorizes him in a high contempt,--not only of those who know nothing about religion, but also of those who feel its genuine influence and power, when they are feeble in the speculative intelligence of it. He accounts himself to be, as it were, in the confidence of religion, and that he must be invested with something of its venerable character, when he can so authentically declare its mind. 6. There is such a thing as a factitious zeal in the active service of religion; and that forms a ground of high pretension. Men in restless activity; hill of scheme, and expedient, and experiment, and ostentatious enterprise. But an attentive observer could easily descry that the cause of God was a very secondary concern with them, even at the best interpretation. Their grand object (whether they were conscious of it or not) was their own notoriety; and the cause of religion happened to be that which would most effectually serve this purpose. 7. There are a number of persons among professing Christians whose minds are almost ever dwelling on certain high points of doctrine, sought chiefly in the book of God’ s eternal decrees. And it is on these doctrines that they found, in some manner, an absolute assurance of their being in the Divine favour. God forbid that we should deny or doubt that there is a firm and rational assurance of salvation attainable in this life. But such persons as we are referring to betray that their assurance, which takes its stand on so lofty a position, independent of a faithful estimate of the heart and life, has an unsanctifying effect; it slackens and narrows the force and compass of the jurisdiction of conscience; and, especially, cherishes in them the spirit of our text. 8. We may name as one of the things made a ground of pretension and pride, the experience of elated, ardent, enthusiastic feelings, in some semblance of connection with religion, bat not really of its genuine inspiration. (John Foster.) Isaiah 65:8 Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster.God’ s regard far the faithful remnant of His people As one does not destroy a cluster consisting of good and bad berries, because one would also destroy the Divine blessing contained in it, so Jehovah for His servants’ sake will not annihilate Israel. He will not destroy all indiscriminately; the sense is not” the sap along with husk and shell (Knobel, Hahn), but: the berries having good sap along with the preponderant bad berries (J. H. Michaelis, Seinecke). (F. Delitzsch, D.D.) It is an application to new circumstances of Isaiah’ s doctrine of the remnant (Isaiah 6:13). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Destroy it not“ Destroy it not” View the passage in reference to-- I. GOD’ S ANCIENT PEOPLE, THE JEWS. II. CITIES AND NATIONS . III. THE STATE OF . IV. BACK SLIDERS. V. YOUNG . VI. THOSE WHO ARE CALLED MOST . (J. G.Pearsall.)Little things Here we have four lessons taught us by a bunch of grapes. I. THAT GREAT GOOD MAY BE STORED IN LITTLE THINGS. A bunch of grapes is a little thing, and yet there is a blessing in it. With a heart given to Jesus, a child is a sun which cannot but shine, a fountain which cannot but send out streams, a flower which cannot but fill the air with sweetness. II. GOD ALONE PUTS THE INTO LITTLE THINGS. In this He displays-- 1. His wisdom. 2. His omnipotence 3. His condescension and compassion. III. LITTLE THINGS ARE TO BE SPARED FOR THIS IN THEM. There are plenty of little things which you are apt to despise because they are little, and yet, destroy them not, says God, for a blessing is in them. 1. Your vows and resolutions. 2. Your principles. 3. Your habits. 4. Your character. 5. Your friendships. 6. Your interest in the heathen. IV. IF THE IS LACKING IN THEM THEY WILL BE UNDONE FOP. EVER. “ Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it.” As if it were said, If there were no blessing in it, then it might be destroyed. It is the blessing which delivers. If there is no blessing in us, we are doomed. The unprofitable servant hid his talent in the napkin, but he could not hide himself from his master’ s indignation. (J. Bolton.) Isaiah 65:11-12 That prepare a table for that troop Luck and Fortune Among Orientals the planets Jupiter and Venus were worshipped as the Larger and the Lesser Luck. They were worshipped as Merodach and Istar among the Babylonians. Merodach was worshipped for prosperity. It may be Merodach and Istar to whom are here given the names Gad (or Luck) and Meni, or Fate, Fortune. There was in the Babylonian Pantheon a “ Manu the Great, who presided over fate.” (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The “ lectisternia” : The rites described are the lectisternia, well known throughout the ancient world, in which a table was spread, furnished with meats and drinks as a meal for the gods. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)God or chance? Let us give the passage its true rendering, and it may convey to us a very solemn lesson. It is, “ That as for you that forsake His service, that prepare a table for fortune, and pour out the wine for destiny, I have destined you for the slaughter. Behold, My servants shall eat; but ye who prepare a table for fortune shall be hungry. Behold, My servants shall drink; but ye who pour out libations to destiny shall be thirsty. Behold, My servants shall rejoice; but ye who believe in luck shall be ashamed. Ye shall leave your name for a curse. My servants shall bless themselves, and shall swear by the God of Amen--that is, the God of verity and of faithfulness. The apostate Jews were beginning to trust in the gods of the nations, to make banquets to the planet Jupiter, which they regarded as the star of fortune, and to pour libations to the planet Venus, which they regarded as the star of luck. Therefore God tells them that not these stars, not these idols, not these imaginary entities; but that He would be their destiny, and that He would deliver them, because fortune and destiny which they worshipped could guide them only to hunger and thirst, and ruin; but His servants, they who trusted in Him, should never be ashamed; they should find Him to be their God, a God of blessing, a God of amen--yea, a faithful witness. (F. W. Farrar, D. D.)The temptation to ignore God Have we no similar temptation? The passage is full of the deepest lessons. It touches upon the very first commandment - “ Thou shalt have none other gods but Me.” It emphasizes the very first chapter o Genesis - “ It is God that hath mad us, and not we ourselves.” It is nothing short of a whole philosophy of history and a whole philosophy of life. The terms, “ accident,” “ fortune,” “ luck,” play a vast part in the customs and literature of the world, but no part at all in Scripture. The very word “ chance,” properly speaking, is entirely absent alike from the Old and New Testament. It is, I suppose, belief in chance that gives its terrible fascination to that pestilent folly of gambling which has ruined so many thousands of Englishmen. But let us look at this subject of the supposed government of life by chance from far wider points of view than these. 1. For instance, it very closely affects our human history. The ancient nations believed in chance. They called it “ chance,” or “ fortune, if one man got a crown as the prize of his wickedness and the other got a gibblet; they called it “ chance” if a battle lost, which raised one ruler from a dungeon to a throne, cut down another form the throne to a dungeon. In this way they, as the prophet says, raised a table to fortune. Do you look at the history of mankind in this way or not? What is history to you? Is it a mere ghastly phantasmagoria of human passions struggling together, or is it the unfolding of a great Divine drama to a merciful issue? Neither in national life nor individual life can we pretend to understand the dealings of God. We cannot tell why the career of a great man is cut short just when he might seem to have been most able to save his country, and why the life of a villain is not cut short before he has done thousands into misery and ruin. We are like a deaf man watching the angers of the harpist as they dance over the strings. 2. But now, turning from history in general to the individual lives of each of us, I can hardly exaggerate the difference which it will make to us whether we regard our lives as being guided by God or as being guided by accident. Nominally, I suppose, we all profess that it is God who is weaving the pattern of our little clay; but do we truly believe it, and do we behave as if we did? Take, for instance, the events of which we habitually speak as the accidents of life. If we can think that these things happen simply by chance, what misery it may cause us! How do men and women thus painfully stricken sometimes curse the day of their life I But what a difference when they have the grace to recognize that this may be in their own life but bitter aloes from the gentle hand of God! As this thought, that it is God and not chance who “ shapes our ends,” touches even the most imperfect characters with the glory of resignation, how may it give to the whole course of our daily, life the grace of contentment! (F. W.Farrar, D. D.)I wish to emphasize the prophet’ s warning against the counter sin of pouring out spiced wine for destiny--in other words, of regarding all life as though we were the helpless victims of blind necessity, of irreversible laws, of passionless and adamantine forces, which we can neither modify nor resist. The forms taken by this view of destiny are sometimes religious and sometimes irreligious. 1. One of them pro-Ceases to be very religious indeed--it is Calvinism. 2. Another form of this worship of destiny is fatalism--the notion that as God has decreed everything in this life, nothing will happen except what He has decreed, and therefore that it is quite useless for men to stir. When, in the conquest of Mexico, the unhappy emperor, Montezuma, was crushed with blow after blow of disaster, he made use of this proverb, “ We are born; let that come which must come.” Fatalism, like Calvinism, is founded on misapprehended truths, and issues in deplorable results; and it, too, must be flung away as being, for all practical purposes, absurd and false. 3. But there is one more form of “ preparing a table for fortune, and pouring out spiced wine for destiny.” It is materialism, which denies the existence of God altogether, or treats Him, at the best, as an unproved hypothesis. It makes its God of science, of nature, of material laws, of man himself. It makes man a mere machine. It destroys at a touch all responsibility. It makes suicide a perfectly permissible resource. It says, to quote its own votaries, that nothing is worthy our efforts, our struggles, or our energies--that the world is a bankrupt in all quarters, and life a business which does not pay its expenses, and annihilation preferable to existence, and the world fundamentally something which ought not to exist. Well, as long as there is such a thing as Christianity, we must brand the insolent, aspiring brow of these spurious notions. (F. W.Farrar, D. D.) Isaiah 65:12-14 Therefore will I number you to the sword.- The declaration of God against the disobedience of Israel I. THE . A guilty inattention to the voice of God. II. THE THREAT (Isaiah 65:13-14). (R. G. Buddicomb, M. A.)God’ s call despised I. THE CALL OF GOD. II. THE OF MANY. III. THE RESULT. (J. Lyth, D. D.) Isaiah 65:13-14 Behold, My servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry The better feast It is observable how frequently in Holy Scripture mankind are divided into two classes. In the text, the Lord God Himself clearly distinguishes between His servants and others. The one shall eat, drink, and rejoice; the other shall hunger, thirst, and be sorrowful. I. THE OF THE LORD’ S . II. THE MISERY OF THOSE WHO DISOBEY HIM. (W. Mudge.)Incentives to religious decision I. FROM THE OF THE LIFE BEYOND ALL THE BOASTED OR OF WORLDLY AND UNGODLY MEN. 1. They have a better Master and portion. 2. They have better resources and supplies. 3. They have better enjoyments. 4. They have better prospects. II. FROM THE SOURCES OF AND TO WHICH YOU ARE EXPOSED. (S. Thodey.) Isaiah 65:14 Behold, My servants shall sing Joys Heathenism knows nothing of the gladness described in oar text, But in this life every man may sing for joy of heart. 1. God makes His servants sing for joy of heart. There was once a famous musician who could bring out the most charming music from one string of a violin. Like that violin, many of us have only one string, and that a cracked one; but our God can make it sound forth perfect praise. 2. You may recognize a servant of God by his joyous face. We do not see many joyous faces, except in little children; and only then at odd times. The human race is born to trouble; but God can turn our sorrow into joy. How pleasant to look on a glad and joyous face I Nightingales do not often come so far north as Manchester; but last year one of those birds built its nest outside our city, and dozens of people went out to hear the sweet singer of the night. Letters were written to the newspapers about it, and everybody thought it a remarkable thing. How sweet it was to hear the warble of that bird in the darkness of the night! If the nightingale sang in the day-time, we might not notice it any more than the melody of the lark or the music of the wren; it is delightsome to us because it is a song in the night. Likewise, a joyous face and joyous words are equally remarkable. In this world of dark doubts and fears, let the singing of the joy in your heart be seen in your face and heard in your words. 3. The servants of God are also known by their joyous disposition. Live temperately, be home in good time every evening, rise early; and the joyousness of life shall enter your heart. 4. The servants of God have the joy of knowing Him. 5. There is the joy of pardon. 6. There is the joy of salvation. 7. We have also the joy of faith. How blessed to be able to trust God’ s care! In the long roads of the East, where people have to travel wearily on foot for many miles, it is the custom of kindly-hearted people to put on the road-side a pitcher of water, so that the thirsty traveller may freely drink. Likewise, God puts blessings and comforts for us on our pathway; and such tokens of His goodness cause us to sing for joy. 8. We have the joy of His presence. One day, when the Grecian army was near the enemy’ s camp, Alexander the Great slept very peacefully; and when he awoke, one of his friends said--“ Alexander, how is it you slept so well?” The king replied, “ Slept so well? Of course I can sleep well. Does not Parmenio watch?” Does not God watch over you? 9. There is the joy of His promises. Lord Chatham one day promised his son that when the garden wall was pulled down, he should be present to see it fall. But forgetting has promise, he gave orders for the wall to be taken down in the absence of his son. He remembered it the next day, and at once ordered it to be rebuilt, in order that the promise might be kept. But God never forgets His promise. 10. There is the joy of the future. You may ask, “ Is there any joy in death? Yes! One day, a sculptor was near death; pain shot through his frame; and when his wife’ s tears dropped on his face, he said, “ My dear, have patience; this pain is only the chiselling!” So, when death comes to you, you shall have the joy of knowing that your pain is God’ s kindly hand dealing very gently with you. (W. Birch.) Isaiah 65:17-25 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth “ New heavens and a new earth,” “ New heavens and a new earth,” i.a new universe, Hebrew having no single word for the Cosmos. The phrase sums up a whole aspect of the prophetic theology. The idea of a transformation of nature so as to be in harmony with a renewed humanity has met us several times in the earlier part of the book (Isaiah 11:6-9; Isaiah 29:17; Isaiah 30:23 ff, Isaiah 32:15; Isaiah 32:35, etc.), and is a frequent theme of prophecy, but the thought of a new creation is nowhere expressed so absolutely as here. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The state of the Church during the millennium. The heavens and the earth mean the New Testament Church. There are beauty and propriety in the figure employed; for, not to speak of the manner in which the state of the world is affected by the state of religion, the dependence of the Church upon spiritual and heavenly influences is as immediate as that which our earth has upon the surrounding atmosphere. When the sky is filled with dark clouds and pours forth incessant rains, or when it emits a continued and scorching heat, the fruits of the field are destroyed; but when it diffuses genial influences, and gives sunshine and rain, in just proportions, fertility and abundance are the results. In like manner the state of the Church depends upon the influences which God is pleased to communicate: should these be rich and gracious, the Church is prosperous-and happy; but should these be scanty and afflictive, the interests of religion languish and decay. When, therefore, it is said that God will create new heavens and a new earth, we are to explain the words as referring to the beneficial change which is to be effected upon the state of the Church. This change will be so great, and so blissful, as to merit the name--a new creation. It will introduce so many bleasings, and unfold so many beauties, and diffuse such universal joy, that the former state of affliction, sorrow, and danger shall not be remembered nor come into mind. To what period in the history of the Church does this prediction (Isaiah 65:17) refer? Many of the early Christian writers regarded it as descriptive of the state of the Church in heaven, and supported their view by the words of Peter, that after the earth and atmosphere have been destroyed by fire, there will be formed new heavens and a new earth, in which the righteous shall dwell. But the verses assert that, in the time to which this prediction refers, there will be sin and death, and that men shall build houses and inhabit them; and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. Others, again, have viewed the predictions as pointing out the change which took place upon the Church and world, when the Jewish State was overthrown, and the Gospel was preached to all nations. At this time the relations which existed between heaven and earth underwent a great alteration. The worship of the sun, moon, and stars was abolished in many places, the false gods with which they had filled heaven were set aside, and just views of the supreme Being were attained by many, while God lifted the covering of darkness which had been spread over all nations, offered Himself to them as their gracious God, and invited them, as His people, to come into the communion of the Church. But though the change which then happened was great--so great as to be set forth by such terms as God’ s shaking the heavens and the earth--yet it does not correspond to the magnificence of the scene delineated in the words before us. The seeds of prosperity and coming happiness were then sown. But then judgment kept pace with mercy. The word was received in much affliction; and nearly all the Churches had to endure severe and fiery trials, while on the literal Jerusalem the wrath of God fell and consumed it. We agree, therefore, with those who look upon the text as character izing the state of the Church in the millennium. The glory of the Church will then outshine and eclipse all the happiness that has ever been seen on earth, and exceed the loftiest expectations of the saints. 1. It will be a period of unparalleled gracious communications on the part of God. The heavens will then seem to be opened, and the Divine Persons to smile on man. The whole of that time shall be a season of gracious refreshing from the presence of the Lord. 2. It will be a period of clear and universal knowledge. 3. Of extraordinary holiness. This is the result which sanctified knowledge invariably produces. 4. It will be a period of unprecedented joy. In Isaiah 65:16 it is said, that “ the former troubles shall be forgotten;” and in Isaiah 65:18 God says, “ be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.” The state of the Church will be so prosperous, and the benefits conferred upon its members so full and so gracious, as to afford to all the highest causes of gladness. There will be a joy derived from clear and exalted views of Divine truth; from sin overcome, grace imparted, and holiness promoted; from realized communion with God, and from heavenly contemplations. 5. It will be a time of cordial union and love. 6. Of universal peace and liberty. 7. Of remarkable outward prosperity, 8. All things shall be subordinated to the interests of religion. The world and its engagements are now too frequently injurious to the growth of piety. But, then, the service of God will be the one grand business that will engage all hearts and all hands. (A. Somerville.)God rejoicing is the new creation This passage, like the rest of Isaiah’ s closing chapters, will have completest fulfilment in the latter days when Christ shall come. But the work which is spoken of is begun already among us. There is to be a literal new creation, but that new creation has commenced already; therefore, even now we ought to manifest a part of the joy. Do you know what this work of creation is, which is here thrice promised in the words, “ I create . . . I create . . . I create It is evidently a second creation, which is altogether to eclipse the first, and put it out of mind. Concerning the joy to which we are called, we would say-- I. IT IS A JOY IN . “ Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.” It is a most right and excellent thing that you and I should rejoice in the natural creation of God. The man who is altogether bad seldom delights in nature, but gets away into the artificial and the sensual. One of the purest and most innocent of joys, apart from spiritual things, in which a man can indulge, is a joy in the works of God. Much more is there something bright and pure and spiritually exhilarating in rejoicing in God’ s higher works, in God’ s spiritual works, in God’ s new creation. There is no one of the attributes of God which has not its illustration under the economy grace; and blessed shall your whole being be if you can to the full rejoice in that which God creates. There is one reason why you are called upon to rejoice in it, namely, that you are a part of it. When I lay sore sick and tormented in body, it seemed always to be such a joy to me that I myself, my inner self, my spirit, had been new-created, and that my nobler part could rise above the suffering, and soar into the pure heavens of the spiritual realm; and I said of this poor body, “ Thou hast not yet been new-created; but thou shalt yet be delivered.” II. IT IS A JOY WHICH WILL ECLIPSE ALL THAT HAS GONE BEFORE. “ And the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” God’ s great new-creating work ought to fill us with such joy as to make us forget the old creation, as though we said to ourselves:--What are the sun and the moon? We shall not have need of these variable lights in the perfection of the new creation, for in heaven, “ they need no candle, neither light of the sun.” What is the sea, though it be the very mirror of beauty In that new creation there will be no more sea, and storms and tempests will be all unknown. What are these luxuries of sight and hearing? We shall not want them when our eyes shall behold the King in His beauty in the land that is very far off. The joy of the spiritual is such that, while it admits the joy of the natural, yet, nevertheless, it swallows it up as Aaron’ s rod swallowed up the rods of the magicians. As an instance of the expulsive powers of a new delight, we all know how the memory of the old dispensation is gone from us. Did any one of you ever weep because you did not sit at the Passover? Did you ever regret the Paschal lamb never, because you have fed on Christ. I want you to feel just the same with regard to all your former life as you now feel towards that old dispensation. The world is dead to you, and you to the world. You have a higher pleasure now which enchants your soul. III. IT IS A PRESENT AND A LASTING JOY. “ Be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create.” Be glad in anything that the Lord has created in you. Find your joy, also, in the new creation of God, as you see it in others. I think it is very beautiful where John Bunyan represents Christiana and Mercy as admiring each other. They had both enjoyed a wash in that wonderful beauty-giving bath, and Mercy said to Christiana, “ How beautiful you are! I never saw any one look so lovely as you are.” But Christiana said that she was not beautiful at all; she could not see anything about herself to admire, while in Mercy she saw everything to esteem and love. Oh, to have an eye for the work of God in other people, and to rejoice in it! Such an eye sees not itself, and yet it is itself one of God’ s loveliest works. IV. IT IS A JOY WHICH GOD FOR US. “ For, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.” He has made the new city, the new people, the new world to be a source of joy. Take Jerusalem as the emblem of the Church of God. God always intended that His chosen, called, and converted people should be a rejoicing. God intended not only that we should have joy, but that we should spread it among others. As soon as ever we are converted, what is one of the first things that comes of it? Why, joy. But by-and-by, there will be a still greater joy. We shall enter into heaven, and there will be joy among the angels, and joy in our heart over God’ s new-creation work, which will proceed at a glorious rate. Then the nations will be converted to Cod. I know not when, nor exactly how but the day shall come when Christ shall reign from pole to pole. V. IT IS A JOY IN WHICH WE SHALL SHARE WITH GOD. “ And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people.” (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 65:20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days Longevity The whole is a highly poetical description of longevity, to be explained precisely like the promise of new heavens and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17). (J. A. Alexander.)The child shall die an hundred years oldYouth and age There is promised a practical annihilation of the line which divides youth and age. Youth shall be wise and age shall be ardent. We are to study the spirit of youth in history and in the Church. Hope, enthusiasm, energy, and audacity are elemental forces in youth. Youth makes mistakes, but age magnifies difficulties. Age regards that impossible which to youth presents the prospect of success. Most of the leaders of our American Revolution were under forty, and the same fact appears in European history,” so that Disraeli was right in saying, The history of heroes is the history of youth “ So in art. Raphael died at thirty-seven, Keats at twenty-two, Shelley before thirty, and Professor Clifford at thirty-five. The time for action is the morning! There is a fiery enthusiasm in youth. It is to be utilized. Luther was but twenty-four when he denounced the Papa! Church, and Calvin twenty-six when he wrote his great work, “ The Institutes. So with Wesley and Summerfield, who made themselves felt in early manhood. Robertson, of Brighton, died at thirty-four. Though preaching to but few, he has influenced the world by his broad and catholic views. Henry Martyn died at thirty-two, and Harriet Newell when hardly out of girlhood. Is youth blind? It is sometimes good to be blind to danger and difficulty, uninfluenced by discouragements, if only awake to the grandeur of the work and the promised alliance of God! I. THE ELDER SHOULD NOT BE JEALOUS OF THE YOUNGER. It is pitiful to see a cynical spirit shown toward those who are coming to take our places. Better imitate the magnanimous temper of John, who said, as he saw the growing popularity of the Master, “ He must increase, I must decrease.” The coming generation must do their own thinking and make their own philosophies. Wisdom was not born with us. It will not die with us. God honours individuality. He makes faces unlike and minds unlike. II. THE CHURCH SHOULD BE ALERT TO TRAIN YOUTH TO BE EQUAL TO THE DEMANDS OF THE AGE. its offices of trust should not be wholly in the hands of old persons. III. SOME PEOPLE NEVER SEEM TO LOSE THEIR YOUTH. It is a lovely sight to see the youthful spirit strong at seventy. It is like seeing a river pouring its life through a desert. IV. WE LEARN HOW TO TO BE . If linked to Christ, how can we be otherwise than glad and growing, hopeful and purposeful? A vital, vivid, constant faith in God feeds enthusiasm with perpetual strength. Suffering often brings a deep, quiet joy. Shrink not from it. Moreover, we can cultivate this youthful spirit. We can compel ourselves to look on the bright side of things. They who believe that all things work together for good to those who love God ought to be continually young. (A. H Bradford,. D. D.)“ The child shall die an hundred years old” The verse is a puzzling one. But none the less it is true. The more Christlike men and women become, the nearer they grow to absolute childlikeness. It is with them as with the ripe corn in the autumn; the corn bends its head down again to the ground out of which it sprang in the spring. Just so the saints of God, in their maturity, in their noblest and wisest and heavenliest estate here on earth, resemble most the children--resemble them in their trustfulness and teachableness and lowliness. (A. Smellie, M. A.)A child-man When James Clerk Maxwell, loaded as he was with his scientific learning, lay dying, these were his last words: “ Lay me down lower, for I am very low myself, and it suits me to lie low; and then, with a long, loving look at his wife, he went home to God. He was a man, but he died as a child. (A. Smellie, M. A.)But the sinner, being an hundred years old, shall be accursedThe aged sinner I. IT IS NOT USUAL FOR A MAN TO LIVE TO THE AGE OF A HUNDRED YEARS. Some, indeed, have lived so long, but their number has been very small, and he who flatters himself that he shall do so is both vain and foolish. II. As it is not usual for any man to live to the age of a hundred years, so IT IS LESS LIKELY THAT THE SINNER SHOULD LIVE SO LONG. The way of a sinner is such as naturally tends to shorten his days, and provoke God to destroy him. III. IF A WICKED MAN SHOULD LIVE TO BE A HUNDRED YEARS OLD, YET HE MUST DIE AT LAST. IV. WICKED MEN DIE, WHETHER IT BE IN YOUTH OR EXTREME OLD AGE, THEY DIE . Some of them are cursed by their fellow-creatures, whom they have injured or oppressed; but, above all, they are under the curse of God. It is a dreadful thing to live under a curse, but it is far worse to die under one; yet this is the awful condition of such as live and die in their sins. They may possess much, and have their houses, lands and estates, but it is with a curse; they may also hope for more, but when it comes it is with a curse. (B. Beddome, M. A.) Isaiah 65:22 As the days of a tree Trees Of all natural objects trees have the closest fellowship with man. When growing together in dense primeval forests they indeed exclude his presence, and the gloom and solitude produce an awe as of the supernatural world. But in the open cultivated spaces around his home they become domesticated, and are regarded with a sentiment akin to affection. God first talked with man under their shadow; man’ s first worship was helped, if not inspired, by the solemn sights and sounds of the grove, the flitting lights and shades as of mysterious shapes, and the whispered secrets of the leaves; and the pillared aisles and groined interlacing of branches first suggested to him the ideas of architectural beauty which grew into permanent shape in the house of prayer. The heart twines around them some of its most fragrant memories; and at the end of every vista of the vanished years we see through the golden light a favourite tree associated with some cherished Incident of the past. Trees are often planted as memorials of visits to celebrated scenes, or at the birth of an heir to an estate. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)As the days of a tree These human associations give to the emblem of the prophet a touching significance. It is a very appropriate emblem. The comparison between the two kinds of life is very close. In every particular connected with organic existence, in the laws of their development, decay and reproduction, trees and human beings are complete counterparts of one another. Even their structure to a certain extent is similar. The leaves correspond to the lungs and digestive organs; the blossoms represent the distinctions of sex; and the names of trunk, arms, and limbs are given indiscriminately to similar parts of both organisms. But if we inquire what a tree really is, we shall find in the emblem a correspondence still more profound. A tree is generally supposed to be a single individual, in the same sense that a man is an individual. It passes through a period of youth, maturity and old age. It has a fixed limit of size and age. It gradually loses its vital properties, and ceases to perform its vital functions. But this popular view is altogether erroneous. A tree is not a single individual; it is an aggregate of separate, independent individuals, a composite organism in which there is no centralization of life, and all the parts are frequently repeated: there being as many lungs as there are leaves, and as many organs of reproduction as there are blossoms. Each shoot is a distinct plant performing the functions of nutrition and propagation by and for itself, but, by virtue of its organic union with the rest of the tree, contributing to the general welfare, and helping to build up the common fabric. Cut off--its removal would not virtually injure the tree, nor impair its own vitality; and planted in the soil, it would strike root and in course of time grow to the same size as its parent. A tree may thus be said to be a colony of plants growing vertically instead of horizontally. Regarding a tree, then, as a body corporate, consisting of an aggregate of living and dead plants, the dead enclosed and preserved in the tissues of the living, and the living continually reproducing and grafting themselves upon one another, it follows necessarily that there is no physical limit to the size it may attain, or to the age it may reach. From its very nature a tree is immortal. It may go on growing and enlarging for ages, and after thousands of years be still in the full vigour of its existence. Even in Europe, where man has so long held sway, and has ever been destroying the woods and forests, individual trees have survived since the commencement of the Christian era, and their vigorous hold of life seems to secure them a longevity in comparison with which the period already passed may be no more than their early youth; while in other less-known parts of the world trees are to be found whose enormous size would indicate that they reached back to the origin of the existing state of the globe. From the nature of a tree as a composite social organism, it also necessarily follows that it is exempt from death by old age. The individual plants whose combination constitutes the corporate body, being only annuals, may be said to die of old age in autumn, when the leaves fade and fall. But as regards the whole organism there is no such thing as old age. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)The tree of life These considerations help us to understand more clearly why a tree should have been chosen as the sacrament or symbol of immortality in Eden, and why it should represent the eternal felicity of the redeemed in the heavenly paradise. The expression “ tree of life,’ acquires a new and deeper significance when we remember that there is nothing else with life that bridges across the centuries, connects departed dynasties and systems of religion with modern governments and fresh creeds and binds the sympathies of the human heart with the sorrows and joys of other ages dead and gone. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)“ As the days of a tree: the Jews How truly applicable to the marvellous history of the Jews! As trees are the oldest of living organisms, so the Jews are the oldest of living races. Though the least of all people, unable to compete in the arts of life with the nations of antiquity, they have outlived the wisest and most powerful of them. The people that oppressed and led them captive have perished, leaving behind only a few nameless ruins; the kingdoms whose glory overshadowed theirs have vanished, and left not even a wreck behind. But the Jews have still lived on. Like their own cedars of Lebanon they have survived the storms and vicissitudes of ages, and endured while all else has perished around them. Although the trunk and main stem of the Jews may be withered away, and only a fragment remain, yet this fragment is as full of life, is as green and flourishing, as in the brightest days of prosperity. And from this fragment will spring up a new and glorious tree. The tree, rather than the “ everlasting ,hills, ‘ may have been chosen by the prophet as the symbol of the perpetuity of God’ s people, not only because it has life, and is therefore a more appropriate emblem of life, not only because of its power of indefinite longevity and increase, but also, as Dr. Harvey has suggested, because it is possessed only of a contingent perpetuity. In its own nature a tree is immortal, but it is subject to accidents which impair its vitality and lead to decay and death. Most trees die of mechanical injuries; a storm breaks off a branch and inflicts a wound which exposes the inner heart-wood to the weather, decay takes place, the inside of the trunk becomes hollow, and, incapable of offering resistance, it is hurled to the ground by a fiercer blast of wind than usual. Many trees are placed in unsuitable situations, where they are too much crowded by other trees, or too much exposed to the wind, or where the soil does not afford sufficient nourishment to them, and they die of hunger. Their own growth, by hardening and compressing their tissues, prevents the roots of the young shoots from growing, and the sap from rising freely upwards, and thus they are choked out of life. Add to these causes the manifold destructive influences of nature and the necessities and caprices of men, and it will be at once seen that the great majority of trees must perish ere they have reached their prime, and that even the oldest and largest must finally disappear. This circumstance may have been meant to infuse a salutary warning into the gracious assurance of the text. The days of God’ s people would be like the days of a tree so long as they obeyed the laws of truth and righteousness, by which the stability of a nation is maintained; but, like the tree, their days would be cut short prematurely, if they exposed themselves by disobedience to the forces which inevitably bring all that is evil to an end. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)The tree of life Many of the ablest scholars, ancient and modern, hold to the opinion that the true rendering of the passage is this: “ As the days of the tree, are the days of My people” --“ as the days,” that is, of the “ tree of life!” And there is very much to be said in favour of this rendering. The Tree of Life in Eden--that first of sacraments--was designed to sustain and refresh the life infused into man at his creation. To us, however, there is another Tree of Life, even the Cross of Christ. The body broken, and the blood shed upon that Tree, are to us the means of resurrection and immortality. And, again, there is another Tree of Life, to which as yet we can only look in faith, that, namely, which is fast beside the river that issues forth beneath the throne of God and of the Lamb--which bears its twelvefold fruit twelve times within the twelvemonth, and whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. “ As the days of the Tree, are the days of My people.” Their destiny is to feed on the Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God; and as the days of that Tree are never ending, never darkened, so shall the days of God’ s people be. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)Christian life imaged by the trees of the earth I. THE OF THE CHURCH, of which the Saviour has said, “ The gates of hell, of death, shall not prevail against it. That which is true of the Church collectively is true of the humblest living member of the Church; for he shall reign, shall share in the rule of his Saviour, for ever and ever. II. THE OF THE CHURCH AND OF EVERY IS TO BE ONE OF DAILY, GROWTH. Nurtured by the sunshine and the rain, by sorrow and joy, by temptation and quiet, exposed to all, and strengthened by all, flourishing like a palm-tree amidst the summer heats, and growing amid snows like a cedar in Lebanon (Psalms 92:12). III. NOT ONLY GROWING AMID THE CHANGES OF EARTH, BUT DRAWING FROM ALL. The Christian is planted here, has his allotted duties here (Psalms 92:13), as the tree is rooted in earth. Both derive nourishment from the earth. Trials, affliction, spiritual and fleshly temptations, and the winds of false doctrine, should but strengthen the Christian. IV. IT IS FRUIT-BEARING. (W. Denton, M. A.) Isaiah 65:24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer.The Church in harmony with God’ s will The will of the Church of the new Jerusalem will be Jehovah’ s will to such a degree that he already hears and fulfils the slightest movement of prayer in the heart, the prayer but half-uttered. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The Divine willingness to hear prayer. I. MAN NEEDS TO CALL UPON AND SPEAK TO GOD. What is man’ s greatest need? To him who believes in a future world--eternal life. To whom shall he go for this? He must call upon God. This is shown-- 1. From the consciousness of an existing want which cannot be supplied. (1) By himself. (a) From within. (b) From without. (2) By the world. (a) Its inhabitants. (b) Its wealth. (c) Its pleasures. 2. From the fact that light, pardon, guidance, comfort, heaven, can only be had from God. II. MAN IS TO CALL UPON AND SPEAK UNTO GOD. This is shown by four considerations of God’ s dealings with man-- 1. Opening the way of approach to Himself by His Word. 2. Teaching the way by His servants. 3. Directing in the way by His Spirit. 4. Distinctly promising to bless all who come in the way. But from the text we learn explicitly that man is encouraged to call upon and speak unto God. “ Before they call, I will answer.’ God perceives and realizes the desires of the Christian heart. Amid all the complex movements of the universe, He sees the unfolding of the praying heart, and, swifter than the lightning flash, the answer comes. David found it so (Psalms 32:5), so did Daniel (Daniel 10:12), and we have found it so (Matthew 6:8). “ And while they are yet speaking I will hear. God is willing to listen to the articulated wish of the Christian hearts. Amid the clash of nations’ strife, the busy hum of struggling humanity, the hoarse cries for sensual pleasure, the blasphemies of the lewd, the groans of the crushed and disappointed, He listens to the speaking of His children, and hears the faintest whispered want. Illustrations: The Israelites at Mizpeh (1 Samuel 7:1-17.); David’ s triumph over his enemies (Psalms 6:8-9); Daniel and the seventy weeks Daniel 9:21); Cornelius (Acts 10:3). (J. E. Hargreaves.) Isaiah 66:1-2 Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is My throne The eternal blessedness of the true Israel; the doom of the apostates This chapter continues the antithesis that runs through chap. 65., carrying it onward to its eschatological issues. The connection of ideas is frequently extremely difficult to trace, and no two cities are agreed as to where the different sections begin and end. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Temple building Hitzig thinks (and with him Knobel, Hendewerk) that the author here begins quite abruptly to oppose the purpose of building a temple to Jehovah; the builders are those who meditated remaining behind in Chaldea, and wished also to have a temple, as the Jews in Egypt, at a later time, built one in Leontopolis. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The offerings of the impenitent offensive to God The address, directed to the entire body ready to return, says without distinction that Jehovah, the Creator of heaven and earth, needs no house made by men’ s hands; then in the entire body distinguishes between the penitent and those alienated from God, rejects all worship and offering at the hand of the latter, and threatens them with just retribution. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The inward and spiritual preferred by God to the outward and material [These great words] are a declaration, spoken probably in view of the approaching restoration of the temple (which, in itself, the prophet entirely approves, Isaiah 44:28, and expects, Isaiah 56:7; Isaiah 55:7; Isaiah 62:9),reminding the Jews of the truth which a visible temple might readily lead them to forget, that no earthly habitation could be really adequate to Jehovah’ s majesty, and that Jehovah’ s regard was not to be won by the magnificence of a material temple, but by humility and the devotion of the heart. How needful the warning was history shows. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:1-15) argues at length against those who pointed, with a proud sense of assurance, to the massive pile of buildings that crowned the height of Zion, heedless of the moral duties which loyalty to the King, whose residence it was, implied. And at a yet more critical moment in their history, attachment to the temple, as such, was one of the causes which incapacitated the Jews from appropriating the more spiritual teaching of Christ: the charge brought against Stephen (Acts 6:13-14)is that he ceased not “ to speak words against this holy place and the law;” and, the argument of Stephen’ s defence (Acts 7:1-60.) is just to show that in the past God’ s favour had not been limited to the period during which the temple of Zion existed. Here, then, the prophet seizes the occasion to insist upon the necessity of a spiritual service, passing on (verses 3-5) to denounce, in particular, certain superstitious usages which had apparently, at the time, infected the worship of Jehovah. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The inwardness of religion 1. The tendency to make religion consist in external actions, apart from the inward dispositions which should accompany them, is very common. The reason for this is discovered from the fact that outward actions are easier than inward. It is easier, for instance, to become outwardly poor than to become poor in spirit; easier to adore with the body than to worship with the soul. The tendency is observable in all dispensations. For instance, whatever other differences there may have been between the sacrifices of Cain and Abel, we are expressly told that it was “ by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice ‘ (Hebrews 11:4). The outward act was linked with the right inward disposition. So, again, in the time of the Levitical Law, the tendency often manifested itself to put ceremonial above moral obligations (Psalms 1:1-6.). And Isaiah, in his first chapter (verses 11-18), shows how an outward service, without the putting away of evil, is an abomination to God. In the same way our Lord condemned the Pharisees Matthew 15:8). 2. This closing prophecy of Isaiah seems to contain a warning against formalism. It is not that the outward is unimportant, for this would be to run from one extreme to the other, but that the outward will not avail. The return of Israel from captivity will be followed by the building of a new temple, as the event has shown; and the warning of the text is twofold--one, to remind the Israelites that Jehovah had no need of a temple; the other, to impress them with a truth they were very apt to forget, that religion must be a matter of the heart. I. A OF GOD. “ Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool.” 1. These words, or the substance of them, are again and again repeated in Holy Scripture (1 Kings 8:27; Matthew 5:34; Acts 7:49). Repetitions in the Bible show the importance of a truth, or our difficulty in remembering it. 2. What is the truth? That God is incomprehensible. He is everywhere and cannot be localized (Jeremiah 23:24). There is nowhere where Cod’ s power and essence and presence do not reach. He knows no limit of space or time, of knowledge or love. II. THE TO THE TEMPLE. “ Where is the house that ye build unto Me?” 1. These words are not intended to deter Israel from building a material temple when they had returned to their own land. The prophet would be contradicting himself (Isaiah 56:5-7; Isaiah 60:7); and he would be running counter to the solemn injunctions of other prophets, such as Haggai and Zechariah, who were in part raised up by God to further the work of building the temple. What the words are intended to rebuke is the falseness of the ideas that God requires a temple, and that His presence can be restricted to its walls. God does not need a temple, but we do. In heaven there will be no necessity for any temple (Revelation 21:22), where the glory of God and of the Lamb floods with its radiance the whole place. 2. Here the church, with its sacred objects and associations, appeals to us and excites our devotion; here in the sacred place there is a distinct promise to prayer; here God acts upon us, and we upon God, through prescribed ordinances; here He promises to be present in some especial manner; here we act upon one another, and kindle fervour, and therefore must not forsake “ the assembling of ourselves together” in the house of Heb 10:25). III. BUT THE TEXT ALLUDES TO THE TEMPLE--THE OF THE SOUL OF THE , WHICH ATTRACT THE FAVOUR OF GOD. “ To this man will I look,. . . who is poor,. . . contrite, and who trembleth at My word.” 1. Poor, not merely outwardly, but poor in spirit (Psalms 138:6). The man who at all realizes the Divine majesty will have a sense of his own nothingness. 2. Of a contrite spirit. A perception” of the Divine holiness brings self-humiliation by force of contrast (Job 42:6). 3. “ Trembleth at My word. Fear is ever an element of the spirit of worship. A sense of the Divine justice and judgments fills the soul with awe in approaching God. The Word or revelation of God is received, not in the spirit of criticism, but with reverence and godly fear. IV. LESSONS. 1. The remembrance of the all-pervading presence of God should be a deterrent from evil, and an incentive to good. 2. The obligation of regularity in attendance at Divine worship ought to be insisted upon, both as a recognition of God and our relations with Him, and for the sake of the subjective effects on human character. 3. But outward worship is of no avail without inward. There are tests, in the text, of the presence of the spirit of worship--lowliness, contrition, and awe, as products of the realization of God’ s presence and perfections. (The Thinker.)God’ s elevation and condescension 1. The subject of remark--God Himself. “ Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is My throne, the earth is My footstool.” The attention is turned simply to God--His grandeur, His magnificence, His immensity, His omnipresence. He abides in heaven, He puts the earth under His feet. 2. The manner in which the remark about God is conducted, is that of a kind of contrast betwixt Him and men. “ Where is the house that ye build unto Me, and where is the place of My rest?” God is unlike man. He challenges any comparison. “ The heaven, even the heaven of heavens, cannot contain Him. Ancient kings aimed often to Impress their subjects with an idea of their magnificence, and surrounded themselves with a solemn and salutary awe, by rearing palaces of the most imposing splendour and magnificence. They wished to overawe the multitude. On this ground, God Himself, seems to have ordered the unequalled grandeur of the ancient temple. But in doing it, He took care that its dazzling beauty and stateliness should only be an aid, a stepping-stone, to assist the imagination in its upward reach towards the grandeur of God. In the prayer of the dedication, Solomon’ s devotion soars infinitely above the temple. Here, the majesty of God, and the littleness of man, stand side by side. After mentioning the earth and the heaven, God says, “ All these things hath My hand made.” 3. But yet, lest dread should too much terrify the worshipper, or a high and just idea of God’ s infinite majesty lead the humble into the error of supposing that such an august Being would not regard such an insignificant creature as man, he adds, “ To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word.” A turn of thought well worthy of our admiration. A contrite sinner has nothing to fear from God. His very majesty need not terrify him. Indeed, His majesty constitutes the very ground for his encouragement. It can condescend. Just as much does the King of kings and Lord of lords glorify Himself, when He consoles, by the whisperings of His Spirit, the poorest and most unworthy sinner that ever felt the pangs of a bruised heart, as when He thunders in the heavens as the most High, and gives His voice, hail-stones and coals of fire. With this idea, sinners should-approach Him and meditate His grandeur. (I. S. Spencer, D. D.)The magnificence of God I. THE STYLE OF THE TEXT. God speaks of Himself. “ The heaven is My throne, the earth is My footstool.” This style of religious address is especially common in the Scriptures (Psalms 137:1-9.; Job 11:7-8; Job 26:6-14; Isaiah 40:1-31.). These passages all speak of God in a style which we cannot attempt to analyze. Their aim appears to be twofold. 1. To lead us to make the idea of God Himself the leading idea in religion. 2. To have this idea, which we are to entertain about God, an idea of the utmost grandeur, of the most amazing magnificence, and solemn sublimity. II. THE DESIGN IN VIEW CANNOT EASILY BE . They would give us just ideas of God. The impression they aim to make is simply this, that God is incomparably and inconceivably above us--an infinite and awful mystery! III. THE OF THIS MAY EXIST OH GROUNDS. 1. Our littleness. In the nature of the case, there can be no comparison betwixt man and God. All is contrast--an infinite contrast. 2. Our sinfulness. Sin never exists aside from the mind’ s losing a just impression of the Deity; and wherever it exists, there is a tendency to cleave to low and unworthy ideas of Him. 3. Our materiality, the connection of our minds with material and gross bodies. This connection renders it difficult for us to soar beyond matter. We are in danger of introducing the imperfections of our existence into our religion, even into our ideas of God. Consequently, when God speaks to us of Himself, He speaks in a manner designed to guard us from error. He says to us, “ The heaven is ,My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house ye build unto Me? We are limited to the world. We cannot get foothold anywhere else. We are circumscribed within very narrow limits. But God asks, “ Where is the place of My rest?” He would elevate our conceptions of Him beyond matter, out of the reach of its bounds. 4. The nature of God. Man is only a creature. He owes his existence to a cause without him. That cause still rules him. That cause allows him to know but little, and often drops the veil of an impenetrable darkness before his eyes just at the point, the very point, where he is most desirous to look further, and it drops the veil there, in order to do him the twofold office of convincing him of the grandeur of God and his own littleness, and of compelling him, under the influence of those convictions, to turn back to a light which concerns him more than the darkness beyond the veil can, to a light where are wrapped up the duties and interests of his immortal soul. God would repress his curiosity, and make him use his conscience. Therefore, He makes darkness preach to him. IV. . 1. Let us be admonished to approach the study of religion with a solemnity of mind which belongs to it. It is the study of God. The voice comes from the burning bush, “ Draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the ground whereon thou standest is holy ground.’ How unlike all other subjects is religion! How differently we should approach it! 2. This mode in which God teaches us--this grandeur and magnificence which belong to Him--ought to remove a very common difficulty from our minds, and prepare us to receive in faith, those deep and dark doctrines, whose mystery is so apt to stagger us. What can we expect? 3. Since God is so vast a being, how deep should be our humility! 4. How deep should be our homage.! 5. The greatness of God should gauge the depth of our repentance. Our sin is against Him. 6. The greatness of God should invite our faith. “ If God be for us, who can be against us?” 7. The magnificence of God should be a motive to our service. He is able to turn our smallest services to an infinite account. 8. The greatness of God ought to encourage the timid. Because He is great, His regard reaches to every one of your annoyances. Your enemies cannot hurt you. 9. The grandeur of God ought to rebuke our reliance upon creatures. (I. S. Spencer, D. D.)What God does not, and what He does, regard I. WHAT THE LORD DOES NOT REGARD. He speaks quite slightingly of this great building. But is it not said elsewhere that “ the Lord loved the courts of Zion” ? Did He not expressly tell King Solomon when his temple was completed, “ Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be on it perpetually” ? He did; but in what sense are we to understand those words? Not that He delighted in the grandeur of the house, but in as much of spiritual worship as was rendered there. The temple itself was no otherwise well pleasing to Him than as it was raised in obedience to His orders, and as it served, in its fashion and its furniture, for “ an example and a shadow of heavenly things;” but the Lord “ loved the gates of Zion” because the prayers of Zion were presented there. He points out to us two things--His throne, and His footstool! and then He leaves it to ourselves to say whether any building man can raise to Him can be considerable in His eyes. II. Hear from the Lord’ s own lips THE OF THE MAN WHO DRAWS HIS EYE. “ To this man,” etc. 1. The sort of character described. (1) He is “ poor” --humble towards God. He is humble, too, towards his fellow-creatures; carrying himself meekly towards all men, and “ in lowliness of mind, esteeming others better than himself.” He is “ slow to wrath” --patient under provocation--anxious not to be “ overcome of evil” but rather to “ overcome evil with good.” (2) Another quality which marks the man to whom the Lord looks is contrition. (3) He “ trembleth at My word.” But what kind of trembling is meant? Felix trembled at God’ s word; and many a wicked man from his days to the present has trembled at it also. And yet it has been but a momentary pang--a sudden fright that has come over them, but which they have soonlaughed off again. Now it is certainly not this sort of trembling which the Lord regards. The man who “ trembleth” at God’ s word is one who entertains a deep and abiding reverence for every word which hath proceeded from God’ s lips. 2. What does the Lord mean when He saith, “ To this man will I look? He evidently means, “ To this man will I look with an eye of notice and regard.” The Lord’ s favourable look, be it remembered, is quite another thing from man’ s; there is help, and comfort, and support conveyed by it Isaiah 57:15). The Lord but looked on Gideon, and Gideon, weak before, was wonderfully strengthened (Judges 6:14). (A. Roberts, M. A.)God’ s greater glory Here are described two phases of the Divine greatness, one material, and the other moral; the superiority of the latter being clearly implied. I. THE OF GOD. “ Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool.” Here God represents Himself as a mighty potentate, leaving us to infer the measure of His kingly glory and the extent of His dominion from these two things--His throne and His footstool. Thus the glory of the whole is indicated by the glory of the part. 1. The throne. We must note carefully the full extent and purport of the figure, “ The heaven is My throne. It is not that the heaven is the place of His throne, but that the heaven is itself the throne. The conception, bold as it is, strikingly agrees with another figure used by inspiration to set forth the transcendent majesty of God, “ Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee.” The figure is a bold one. The human imagination, daring as its flights often are, could never have conceived it. It is purely a Divine conception, and the text is careful to say so, “ Thus saith the Lord.” 2. His footstool. “ The earth. ‘ We know very little of the heaven. We know a great deal about the earth. Men have taken its dimensions, explored its resources, and discovered its glories. Yet this magnificent object is but His footstool. The footstool is the humblest article of furniture in the household; so needless is it deemed that thousands of houses dispense with it altogether. Others easily convert the thing nearest to hand into a footstool, as occasion may require. Nevertheless, some have expended no little skill and expense upon the construction even of footstools. There is preserved as a relic in Windsor Castle such an article, once belonging to the renowned Hindoo prince, Tippoo Sahib. It is in the form of a bear’ s head, carved in ivory, with a tongue of gold, teeth of crystal, and its eyes a pair of rubies. This article is adjudged worth £10,000. It is after all but a footstool. If Tippoo Sahib’ s footstool were so magnificent, what must have been the splendour of his throne! Yet, were all the thrones of the world collected together into one vast pile, they would form but a heap of rubbish as compared with God’ s footstool. II. THE TEXT US WITH ANOTHER PHASE OF HIS GLORY--THE MORAL, WHICH IS ALSO HIS GREATER GLORY. “ But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word.” What a contrast we have presented to us here. God, the Mighty Potentate, from the height of His heavenly throne, looking down with yearning, compassionate regard upon such objects as are here described, the very dust of His footstool. There is a moral grandeur in this far transcending the power of language to describe. In order to appreciate fully the beauty and glory of this act, we must notice particularly the characters which are its special objects. They are described as those who are “ poor” and are “ of a contrite spirit,” and that “ tremble at His word.” These several expressions do not describe one and the same condition. They indicate three distinct and progressive stages of spiritual experience. 1. Destitution. “ Poor.” It is not physical poverty that is meant, for the wealthiest, those who abound most in worldly possessions, are equally with the most destitute in the condition here indicated by the term “ poor. It describes a spiritual condition--the spiritual poverty into which all men are reduced through sin--the wretched, the miserable, the oppressed of sin and guilt--the poor in the sense of being without hope, destitute of true peace and happiness. 2. The second stage indicated is one of conviction--the misery becoming a felt fact. “ And of a contrite spirit.” In these words we have indicated that condition of the mind when the all-crushing fact of its poverty and wretchedness has come home with overwhelming conviction. 3. The third stage is one of hope. “ Trembleth at My word.” God, out of the infinite depth of His compassion, hath spoken to this poor, wretched, sin-convicted creature, and the word spoken is a word of hope. The “ trembling” at the word does not mean regarding it with fear, terror, or dismay, but solemnly, feelingly, and trustingly. It is the trembling of gratitude and of an awakened hope--an exquisite thrill of gratitude piercing the whole soul, causing it to vibrate with responsive joy to the message of hope. This wonderful condescension of God in relation to sinful men is His greater glory, it redounds to His honour far more than His conversion of the heavens into His throne and of the earth into His footstool. (A. J. Parry.)Worship and ritual The desire for Divine communion has ever been strong in man. This desire was originated by God Himself. If not from God, whence could it come? We have no right to suppose it to be self-originated. That finite man should conceive an infinite Deity is an incredible supposition, for, to use the words of Pascal, “ the infinite God is infinitely inconceivable.” The manner in which God has thus revealed Himself in response to the passionate desire which He originated in man is a study fraught with a singular interest. He made Himself known to our first parents in Eden’ s garden, and in our first Scriptures we have several examples recorded of revelations made by Him after the banishment to the fathers of our race. By tradition these revelations were spread throughout the earth, and so we find the earliest religious faiths of our world abounding in sublime truths. But He specially revealed Himself to a chosen people. Israel lived under the very shadow of Jehovah, for God dwelt in that temple ann specially manifested His presence in it. But that presence did not restrain the people from rebellion. When not open followers of the idolatries of the surrounding nations, they left worship for ritual and forsook God for observances, and so made that temple to be at once their glory and their shame. It was at such time as this that the words of our text were uttered. Thus are we taught that Divine worship is not material, but spiritual, and that the habitation of God is not the building, but the soul. I. THE NATURE OF THE BEING WHOM WE WORSHIP. Our text brings before as His omnipresence. He is in heaven, and He is on earth. We have a revelation also of the Divine omnipotence. Not only is He in heaven, not’ only is He on earth, but He has a throne. Of course the one includes the other. If He be the omnipresent One, He is also the omnipotent One. That which is Infinite must be Absolute. We, however, distinguish, so as to obtain clearer conceptions. We are in danger of supposing that amidst all this vastness we can be but of little consequence. But mind is greater than matter, and such ideas immediately vanish when we remember that the vastest material substance can never outweigh a holy thought, a feeling of devotion, a thrill of love. The man who can tell the motions of the stars is greater than the stars. And thus looking at the question, what shall we say of that man in whom God dwells? He who lives in a palace is greater than the palace, no matter how gorgeous it may be; and in the presence of a holy man the whole material creation is dwarfed into nothingness. II. THE NATURE OF THAT WORSHIP WHICH THIS GREAT GOD . It must be something more than outward. Of all ceremonialism the Jewish was the most gorgeous. It was also of Divine appointing. The temple was built according to Divine plan and under Divine direction. The services were divinely commanded. The priests belonged to a Divinely set apart; tribe. Tokens of the Divine presence were given. But although this ceremonial was thus gorgeous, and of Divine appointment, yet God rejected it so soon as it lost its spiritual significance. All true religion begins in poverty of spirit. There must be a sense of natural defect and a consciousness of our own inability either to atone for the past or to deliver in the future. And with this poverty of spirit there must be contriteness. The heart needs to be broken before it can be bound up. (Allan Rees.)A transcendent existence and a transcendent doctrine I. AN THAT STANDS IN WITH ALL THAT IS CREATED. 1. Here is an omnipresent Existence. One whose throne is heaven, whose footstool is earth, and to whom all places are alike. One who fills heaven and earth, not merely with His influence, but with His actual presence, as much at all times in one point of space as in another. The incommensurable One, not only everywhere, as the pantheists teach, as a substance, but everywhere as a Personality, free, conscious, active. All created existences are limited by the laws of space, and those that occupy the largest space are mere specks in immensity. Concerning the stupendous fact of God’ s Omnipresence, observe-- (1) This fact is agreeable to reason. The denial of it would involve a contradiction. It enters into our very conception of God. A limited God would in truth be no God. (2) This fact is essential to worship. It is essential to the spirit of worship. Worship implies mystery. It is essential to constancy of worship. True worship is not an occasional or specific service confined to times and places, it is an abiding attitude of the soul. “ God is a Spirit,” etc. (3) This fact is promotive of holiness. Let men realize the constant presence of God, and how strongly will they feel restraint from sin and stimulation to virtue and holiness. (4) This fact is assurative of retribution. Who can hide himself from the Lord? (5) This fact is illustrative of heaven. There is nothing local or formal in the worship of heaven. “ I saw no temple in heaven, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. He is felt to be everywhere, and He is worshipped everywhere. 2. Here is a creative Existence. “ For all those things hath Mine hand made,” etc. Because He made all, He owns all. Creatorship implies Eternity, Sovereignty, Almightiness, and Proprietorship. II. A THAT HUMAN . “ To this man will I look,” etc. The doctrine is this,--that this Infinite Being, who is everywhere, who created the universe and owns it, feels a profound interest in the individual man whose soul is in a humble, contrite, and reverent state. Could reason ever have discovered such a truth as this? Never. Although this doctrine transcends reason it does not contradict it. (Homilist.)Living temples for the living God I. GOD’ S OF ALL TEMPLES. There was a time when it could be said that there was a house of God on earth. That was a time of symbols, when as yet the Church of God was in her childhood. She was being taught her A B C, reading her picture-book, for she could not as yet read the Word of God, as it were in letters. She had need to have pictures put before her, patterns of the heavenly things. Even then, the enlightened amongst the Jews knew well that God did not dwell between curtains, and that it was not possible that He could be encompassed in the most holy place within the veil It was only a symbol of His presence. But the time of symbols is now passed altogether. In that moment when the Saviour bowed His head, and said “ It is finished! “ the veil of the temple was rent in twain, so that the mysteries were laid open. So, one reason why God saith He dwelleth not in temples made with hands, is, because He would have us know that the symbolical worship is ended and the reign of the spiritual worship inaugurated at this day (John 4:21; John 4:23). But our text gives,from God’ s own mouth, reasons why there can be no house at the present time in which God can dwell; and, indeed, there never was any house of the kind in reality--only in symbol For, say now, where is the place to build God a house? In heaven? It is only His throne, not His house! On earth? What, on His footstool? Will ye put it where He shall put His foot upon it and crush it? Fly through infinite space, and ye shall not find in any place that God is not there. Time cannot contain Him, though it range along its millenniums! Space cannot hold Him, for He that made all things greater than all the things that He has made. Yea, all the things that are do not encompass Him. But then, the Lord seems to put it,--What kind of a house (supposing we had a site on which to erect it) would we build God? Sons of men of what material would ye make a dwelling-place for the Eternal and the Pure? Would ye build of alabaster? The heavens are not clean in His sight, and He charged His angels with folly! Would ye build of gold? Behold, the streets of His metropolitan city are paved therewith, not indeed the dusky gold of earth, but transparent gold, like unto clear glass. And what were gold to Deity? Find diamonds, as massive as the stones whereof Solomon built his house on Zion, and then lay on rubies and jaspers - pile up a house, all of which shall be most precious. What were that to Him? God is a Spirit. He disdaineth your materialism. And yet men think, forsooth, when they have put up their Gothic or their Grecian structures, “ This is God’ s house.” And then the Lord shows that the earth and the heavens themselves, which may be compared to a temple, are the works of His hand. How often I have felt as if I were compassed with the solemn grandeur of a temple, in the midst of the pine forest, or on the heathery hill, or out at night with the bright stars looking down through the deep heavens, or listening to the thunder, peal on peal, or gazing at the lightning as it lit up the sky! Then one feels as if he were in the temple of God! Afar out on the blue sea, where the ship is rocking up and clown on the waves foam--then it seems as if you were somewhere near to God--amidst the sublimities of nature. But what then? All these objects of nature He has made, and they are not a house for Him. II. GOD’ S CHOICE OF TEMPLES. “ To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word.” III. THOSE THAT ARE OF THIS SECURE A GREAT . God says He will “ look” to them. That means several things. 1. Consideration. 2. Approbation. 3. Acceptance. 4. Affection. 5. Benediction. (C. H. Spurgeon.)The greatness and condescension of God That is an excellent answer which was given by a poor man to a sceptic who attempted to ridicule his faith. The scoffer said, “ Pray, sir, is your God a great God or a little God? The poor man replied, “ Sir, my God is so great that the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him; and yet He condescends to be so little, that He dwells in broken and contrite hearts. Oh, the greatness of God, and the condescension of God! (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 66:2 To this man will I look God’ s regard for the humble I. THE . II. JEHOVAH’ S TO SUCH AN ONE. (H. Davis.)Religious affections attended with humility Those that are destitute of true humility have no true religion. It is the object of the Gospel to produce this effect in the heart. I. LEGAL . This attends the natural workings of the conscience, and the perception of God’ s greatness, power and terrible majesty. It has in it no virtue; but yet it may be useful as a means to produce what is gracious. II. . This arises from a “ sense of the transcendent beauty of Divine things in their moral quality, and a sense that a Christian has of his own utter insufficiency, despicableness and odiousness, with an answerable frame of mind. 1. It is the chief part in the doctrine of the Christian duty of self-denial. 2. Many hypocrites profess great humility and are loud in declaring their vileness. Yet, if a minister were to use, as Edwards suggests, the same language to them in private, and should signify that he feared they were very low and weak Christians, they would feel themselves highly injured, and ever after cherish a deep-rooted prejudice against that minister. 3. It is flee from the spirit of pride in one’ s own righteousness, goodness and the like. Some think themselves very humble and make a boast of it. This is spiritual pride. III. SOME . 1. True humility is fundamental to the Christian life. 2. It is a bad sign to think we are better Christians than others. 3. If we think “ none are so bad as I, ‘ then have a care lest you think yourself better than others on this account. 4. Have a care also of self-conceit, lest you think too highly of your humility. 5. Let us think meanly of our attainments in religion and in humility. 6. Blessed are the poor in spirit. (Homiletic Review.)The contrite heart 1. Such a spirit is the very essence of the religion of Christ. 2. There is no surer test of the genuineness of one’ s religious experience. 3. The exceeding value of this spirit in God’ s sight, and the imperative duty of cultivating it, are too much lost sight of in this age of the world. (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.)Poor and contrite spirits the objects of Divine favour I. THE POOR MAN. This does not principally refer to those that are poor in this world: for though it be very common that “ the poor of this world are chosen to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom,” yet this is not an universal rule. The “ poor” here signifies such as Christ characterizes more fully by “ the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). And this character implies the following ingredients. (1) The poor man to whom Jehovah looks is deeply sensible of his own insufficiency, and that nothing but the enjoyment of God can make him Psalms 4:6-7; Psalms 73:25-26; Psalms 18:15). (2) This spiritual poverty implies deep humility and self-abasement. (3) He who is poor in spirit is sensible of his need of the influences of Divine grace to sanctify and enrich him. (4) He is deeply sensible of the absolute necessity of the righteousness of Christ for his justification. (5) He is an importunate beggar at the throne of grace. II. OF SPIRIT. The word “ contrite” signifies one that is beaten or bruised with hard blows, or a heavy burden. And it belongs to the mourning penitent whose heart is broken and wounded for sin. Sin is an intolerable burden that crushes and bruises him, and he feels himself pained and sore under it. III. Consider the remaining character of the happy man to whom the Lord will look: “ HIM THAT AT MY WORD.” This character implies a tender sense of the great things of the Word, and a heart easily impressed with them as the most important realities. This was remarkably exemplified in the tender-hearted Josiah (2 Chronicles 34:19-28). The threatenings of the Word do not appear vain terms, nor great swelling words of vanity, but the most tremendous realities. Such an one cannot bear up under them, but would tremble, and fall, and die away, if not relieved by some happy promise of deliverance. (S. Davies, M. A.)God’ s look towards the humble 1. He looks upon you with acceptance. 2. He looks to you so as to take particular notice of you. He sees all the workings of your hearts towards Him. 3. He looks to you so as to look after you, as we do after the sick and Psalms 84:11). (S. Davies, M. A.)Humility essential to success in prayer The “ Times” once, in recording petitions presented to the House of Lords, mentioned one which was rejected on account of an omission--the word “ humble” was left out. How many petitions to a higher tribunal must be rejected for lack of humility in the hearts of those presenting them! (Free Methodist.)The humility of Godliness In the evening of the morning that Gordon, when in Palestine, received a telegram from England, asking him to undertake a mission which he had all his life longed to undertake, he was found outside the city wall, kneeling in prayer. When remonstrated with on account of the place being dangerous from Arabs, he replied, “ The telegrams from England this morning filled me with such elation, I felt I might get into trouble by being proud, and I thought I would just get upon my horse and go away by myself and humble myself before God.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)And trembleth at My wordTrembling at the word of the Lord I. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE THAT TREMBLE AT GOD’ S WORD. 1. Who they are not. (1) They are not a proud people: they do not cry, “ Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice? ‘ , (2) They are not a profane people: they neither make a mock at sin nor at God’ s word. (3) They are not indifferent people. (4) They are not a critical, sceptical people. (5) They are not presumptuous people, who derive fictitious comfort from it. 2. Who they are. (1) They are people who do believe that there is a Word of God. (2) They are acquainted with God’ s Word. II. WHY DO THEY TREMBLE!, 1. Because of His exceeding majesty. 2. Because of the searching power of God’ s Word. 3. They tremble at the word when it is in the form of threatening. 4. They tremble with fear lest they should break God’ s law. 5. They tremble lest they should miss the promises when they are spread out before them. We hear of some who “ could not enter in because of unbelief;” and we are taken with trembling lest we should be like them. III. WHAT DOES GOD COMPARE THEM TO? To a temple (Isaiah 66:1-2). He prefers us to the temple; and, further, He prefers us even to the great temple of the universe, not made with human hands, which He Himself sets so much above the house that Solomon built. (C. H. Spurgeon.)Trembling at God’ s Word What meaneth this trembling? It does not mean a slavish fear. They that tremble at God’ s Word at the first may do so, because the word threatens them with death. But afterwards as they advance, and become familiar with the God of love, and enter into the secret of His covenant, they tremble for a very different reason. They tremble because they have a holy reverence of God, and consequently of that Word in which resides so much of the power and majesty of the Most High. (Ibid.)Trembling at God’ s Word It was our privilege once to witness a very curious experiment by a scientific lecturer on the effects of musical sounds. The lecturer showed a disc of thin glass, delicately poised on a suitable apparatus. On this disc was spread a thin layer of very rink dust. A musical note was sounded underneath the disc, and the waves of sound caused the glass to vibrate, which again caused the fine dust on its surface to tremble and form itself into every conceivable shape of exquisite beauty, much after the manner of frost on the window pane. Thus, we presume, it is with the “ poor” of the text, the dust of God’ s footstool. The musical note of hope will cause them to vibrate and tremble and throb into the various forms of reverence, hope, joy, and gratitude. It implies precisely a similar attitude to that manifested on the memorable day of Pentecost. Here we have the multitude as “ the dust of the balance,” and Peter, the Gospel experimentalist, sounding the musical note of Gospel hope, and behold! how the dust trembles and vibrates into such forms of spiritual beauty as faith and hope and gratitude and obedience. (A. J. Parry.) Isaiah 66:3 He that killeth an ox Worship and wickedness Our prophet affirms, that the sacrifices offered by the wicked and hypocritical among the Jews, being attended with enormous crimes and profane rites, and not presented with pure hearts, according to the Divine appointment, were an abomination to the Lord. They intermixed impious ceremonies and odious superstitions with the sacrifices which they offered to the Most High. (R. Macculloch.)Hateful sacrifices The first part of the verse runs literally thus: “ The slaughterer of the ox, a slayer of a man; the sacrificer of the sheep, a breaker of a dog’ s neck; the offerer of an oblation, swine’ s blood; the maker of a memorial of incense, one that blesseth vanity (i.e an idol);” four legitimate sacrificial acts being bracketed with four detestable idolatrous rites. The first member of each pair is probably to be taken as subject, the second as predicate, of a sentence. But this leaves open a choice between two interpretations. 1. That the legal sacrificial action is as hateful in the sight of God as the idolatrous rite, so long as it is performed by unspiritual worshippers. 2. That he who does the first series of actions does also the second, i.e combines the service of Jehovah with the most hateful idolatries. It is extremely difficult to decide which is the true sense. The words “ as if” in E.V. are, of course, supplied by the translators, but the rendering is aperfectly fair one. The one fact that favours the second explanation is that the latter part of the verse speaks of those who “ delight in their abominations. Unless there be a complete break in the middle of the verse, which is unlikely, this would seem to imply that the abominations enumerated were actually practised by certain persons, who at the same time claimed to be worshippers of Jehovah (cf Isaiah 66:17, Isaiah 65:3-5; Isaiah 57:3-9). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)Unacceptable sacrifices I regard Vitringa’ s exposition as the most exact, profound and satisfactory. He agrees with Gesenius in making the text the general doctrine that sacrifice is hateful in the sight of God if offered in a wicked spirit, but with a special reference to those who still adhered to the old sacrifices after the great Sacrifice for sin was come and had been offered once for all. Thus understood, this verse extends to sacrifices that which the foregoing verse said of the temple, after the change of dispensation. (J. A. Alexander.)As if he slew a man The reference may be either to murder merely or to human sacrifice; most probably the latter, since every other member of the sentence expresses a religious act. That human sacrifice was actually perpetrated by those spoken of may be safely inferred from Isaiah 57:5.(Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)“ As if he cut off (breaketh) a dog’ s neck” This sacrifice . . . seems . . . to be alluded to as a Punic rite in Justin 18. I. 10, where we read that Darius sent a message to the Carthaginians forbidding them to sacrifice human victims and to eat the flesh of dogs. In the connection a religious meal must be understood. (W. Robertson Smith.)Formal worship I. ITS . II. ITS TO GOD. III. ITS UTTER . (Homiletic Commentary.) Isaiah 66:4I also will choose their delusions Sin and penalty I. THE OFFENCE. Impenitence, aggravated transgression, wilful contempt. II. THE . Delusion, fear, ruin. (J. Lyth, D. D.) Isaiah 66:5 Hear the word of the Lord A godly minority From the majority of the whole body, godless and heathen in character, the prophet now turns to the minority, who tremble with reverence when they hear God’ s word. Let them hear how Jehovah will help them against their persecutors. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Hatred of the godly They who hate them are their own brethren and, what aggravates the sin still more, Jehovah’ s name is the ground (cf. Luke 21:12) on which they are hated by them. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)“ Let the Lord be glorified” “ Be glorified” means, Show His glory. They speak in incredulous mockery. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)Acceptable worship I. THE OF . They “ tremble at His word.” This fear arises from-- 1. Their tender love and reverence for the Author of the Word. 2. A settled delight in the holiness of that Word. 3. Produced alike by the terror of the threatenings and the sweetness of the promises. II. THE REGARD WHICH GOD PAYS TO THEM. 1. He looks upon them. 2. He dwells with them. 3. He vindicates their cause from the rebuke of enemies. 4. He brings them for ever to dwell with Him. (S. Thodey.) Isaiah 66:6A voice of noise from the city Social degeneracy, national apostasy, and the voice of God It is well for us to look around upon the things that are done in the midst of us as a people; well, because we must give no connivance at evil thinking or teaching or doing; well, because we must be careful about ourselves; well, because we must be truthful towards our neighbours; well, because we must be faithful toward our God. This text suggests three different voices which thoughtful men should hear: “ A voice of noise from the city,” etc. In other words, our ear must listen to the state of society and the state of religion amongst us, and then consider what the Lord has to say concerning both. 1. What is the voice which comes from the city, from the secular pursuits, the social habits, the business transactions, the political doings of men? There is a voice of noise, as of men that laugh, as of men that strive, as of men that boast. Luxury, with all its attendant evils, has come up as a cry from all our land, into the ears of earnest and anxious men, who know how foolish it is to be “ lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” It has carried with it a hasting to be rich; and out of that has grown a covetousness, a cold system of reckless speculation, a hard system of indifference, to the ruin of many for the enrichment of a few, which have made our age and our country a by-word amongst men. What awful accounts of utter contempt for human sufferings! What sad chronicles of entire forgetfulness of human wrongs have become the familiar subjects of every-day knowledge amongst us! These are crying evils in our days; the voice of noises from the city, symptoms of our social life, of which all true patriots ought to be blushingly ashamed. Yet, over the moanings of the oppressed, and the sorrows of the forsaken, the roar still rises. I ask every pious parent to keep a jealous and watchful eye upon the children growing in their simplicity at home, and to protect them against the strange fascination which has come over the land. I call upon all true servants of Christ to come out and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing. The Lord’ s people should be often with their God, seeking protection against the prevailing current of evil in men’ s hearts, minds, and ways. Expect no sympathy, because everything seems to say that faithful men must suffer for their faithfulness in the evil day. Fall back upon the right, the true, the good, the pure; fall back upon the oath and covenant and power and promise of God; but make no compromise with Satan. 2. But the prophet heard a voice out of the temple, and so may we. The luxury of the nation has had its influence upon the nation’ s faith. Men who will not shape their conduct by God’ s law will soon find means of accommodating their creed to their conduct. The pure Gospel is too plain-spoken for the consciences of men who desire to quarrel with God rather than with themselves. What is the voice from the temple in this our day? The great feature is a real indifference, not an avowed unbelief, not a bold blasphemy, not a studied contempt, not an entire ignoring of religious things, but a real indifference. There is an evil spirit abroad which takes to itself the blessed name of charity. It has always an excuse for evil, but it has little patience with truth. It has no strong convictions and no real love. There is a voice to be heard from the temple which may well make thoughtful people tremble. Men are falling again to their old and mischievous work of tampering with God’ s Word. Multitudes, it is to be feared, have lost their reverence, if not their faith. 3. This brings me to the third voice, which the prophet heard in the days of Israel’ s decline and fall: “ A voice of the Lord that rendereth recompence to His enemies.” In the written Word we have warning about evil time. (1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1.) The voice of God is against all such evil 2 Timothy 4:1-4). “ The voice of Him that rendereth recompense unto His enemies is, Woe unto you.” What, then, should God’ s servants do? The voice from the city suggests that they must make their healthy influence felt in social life by a solemn and sacred protest against things which frivolize, secularize, materialize men’ s minds and ways. The voice from the temple suggests that all who love the pure Gospel truth must search it out so as to boldly set it forth, stand by it, speak for it, identify themselves with its honour, its advance, its defence. And the voice of the avenging God suggests that all who know Him should humble themselves before Him, and plead with Him that He would have mercy. (J. Richardson, M.A.) Isaiah 66:7-9 Before she travailed, she brought forth The new Israel The predictive message of our prophet is now so far advanced that the future promised is at the door; the Church of the future is already like a child ripe for birth, and about to separate from the womb of Zion hitherto barren. The God, who has already prepared everything so far, will suddenly make Zion a mother; a man-child, i.e a whole nation after Jehovah’ s heart, will suddenly lie in her lap; and this new-born Israel, not the corrupt mass, will build Jehovah a Temple. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The birth of the Gentile Church It is perfectly sufficient to understand the parturition as a figure for the whole eventful crisis of the change of dispensations, and the consequent change in the condition of the Church. This indestructible ideal person, when she might have seemed to be reduced to nothing by the defection of the natural Israel, is vastly and suddenly augmented by the introduction of the Gentiles, a succession of events which is here most appropriately represented as the birth of a male child without the pains of child-birth. (J. A. Alexander.)The birth of the Christian Church The children born to Christ were so numerous, and so suddenly and easily produced, that they were rather like the dew from the morning’ s womb than like the son from the mother’ s womb (Psalm Exodus 3:1-22). (M. Henry.) Isaiah 66:8 Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day?--The acceleration of God’ s movements We are taught that in these latter days God is to shorten normal processes, accelerate events, and so “ make a short work in righteousness.” I. THE TRUTH OF GOD HAS WEIGHT, . II. THIS WITH THE OF GOD’ S TRUTH, IN HARMONY WITH THE NATURAL LAW OF FORCES. III. GOD IS TO GIVE IT NOW AN ADDED . (E. W.Thwing, M. D.)As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her childrenTravailing for souls I. THERE MUST BE TRAVAIL BEFORE THERE WILL BE BIRTH. 1. Let me, first, establish this fact from history. Before there has fallen a great benediction upon God’ s people, it has been preceded by great searchings of heart. Israel was so oppressed in Egypt, that it would have been very easy, and almost a natural thing for the people to become so utterly crushed in spirit as to submit to be hereditary bondslaves, making the best they could of their miserable lot: but God would not have it so; He meant to bring them out “ with a high hand and an outstretched arm.” Before, however, He began to work He made them begin to cry. Let us take a long leap in history to the days of David. The era of the son of Jesse was evidently a time of religious revival. But David was the subject of spiritual throes and pangs of the most intense kind. What petitions he poured forth that God would visit Zion, and make the vine which He had planted to flourish once again. Now, David was only the mouth of hundreds of others, who with equal fervency cried unto God that the blessing might rest upon His people. Remember also the days of Josiah, the king. The book of the law was found neglected in the temple, and when it was brought before the king, he rent his clothes, for he saw that the nation had revolted, and that wrath must come upon it to the uttermost. The young king’ s heart, which was tender, for he feared God, was ready to break with anguish to think of the misery that would come upon his people on account of their sins. Then there came a glorious reformation, which purged the land of idols, and caused the passover to be observed as never before. Travail of heart among the godly produced the delightful change. It was the same with the work of Nehemiah. In the early dawn of Christian history, there was a preparation of the Church before it received an increase. The like living zeal and vehement desire have always been perceptible in the Church of God before any season of refreshing. Think not that Luther was the only man that wrought the Reformation. There were hundreds who sighed and cried in secret. And this, while true on the large scale, is true also in every individual case. As a rule, those who bring souls to Christ are those who first of all have felt an agony of desire that souls should be saved. This is imaged to us in our Master’ s character. His ministering servants who have been most useful have always been eagerly desirous to be so. 2. The reasons for it. Why is it that there must be this anxiety before desirable results are gained? It might suffice us to say that God has so appointed it. It is the order of nature. The child is not born into the world without the sorrows of the mother, nor is the bread which sustains life procured from the earth without toil. As it is in the natural, so is it in the spiritual; there shall not come the blessing we seek, without first of all the earnest yearning for it. It is so even in ordinary business. We say, “ No sweat no sweet,” “ No pains no gains,” “ No mill no meal.” But better still, He has ordained this for our good. Every grace within the man is educated and increased by his travail for souls. Besides, the zeal that God excites within us is often the means of effecting the purpose which we desire. The Holy Ghost usually breaks hard hearts by tender hearts. Besides, the travail qualifies for the proper taking care of the offspring. Who is so fit to encourage a new-born believer as the man who first anguished before the Lord for his conversion? The Church that never travailed, should God send her a hundred converts, would be unfit to train them. Once more, there is it eat benefit in the law which makes travail necessary to spiritual birth, because It secures all the glory to God. Your longing that others should be saved, and your vehemence of spirit, shall secure to God all the glory of His own work. 3. Notice how this travail shows itself. Usually when God intends greatly to bless a Church, it will begin in this way: Two or three persons in it are distressed at the low state of affairs, and become troubled even to anguish. Perhaps they do not speak to one another, or know of their common grief, but they begin to pray with flaming desire and untiring importunity. The passion to see the Church revived rules them. They suffer great heaviness and continual sorrow in heart for perishing sinners; they travail in birth for souls. By degrees the individuals are drawn together by sacred affinity, and the prayer-meetings become very different. Meanwhile, not with the preacher only will be the blessing, but with his hearers who love the Lord. One will be trying a plan for getting in the young people: another will be looking after the strangers in the aisles, who come only now and then. One brother will make a vehement attempt to preach the Gospel at t e corner of the street; another will open a room down a dark court; another will visit lodging-houses and hospitals: all sorts of holy plans will be invented, and zeal will break out in many directions. All this will be spontaneous, nothing will be forced. II. THE RESULT IS OFTEN VERY . 1. Frequently for rapidity. “ As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” During the ten years which ended in 1870 such wondrous changes were wrought throughout the world that no prophet would have been believed had he foretold them. Reforms have been accomplished in England, in the United States, in Germany, in Spain, in Italy, which, according to ordinary reckoning, would have occupied at least one hundred years. 2. For the greatness of it. It is said, “ Shall a nation be born at once?” for as soon as ever Zion was in distress about her children, tens of thousands came and built up Jerusalem, and re-established the fallen state. So in answer to prayer, God does not only give speedy blessings, but great blessings. There were fervent prayers in that upper room “ before the day of Pentecost had fully come, and what a great answer it was when, after Peter’ s sermon, some three thousand were ready to confess their faith in Christ, and to be baptized. III. THIS TRAVAIL AND ITS RESULT ARE . There is no hope for China, for the world, for our own city, while the Church is lethargic. It is through the Church the blessing is bestowed. Besides this, when a Church is not serving God, mischief is brewing within herself. The Church must either bring forth children unto God, or die of consumption: she has no alternative but that. A Church must either be fruitful or rot, and of all things a rotting Church is the most offensive. And then, worst of all, God is not glorified. IV. THE WOE WHICH WILL SURELY COME TO THOSE WHO HINDER THE TRAVAIL OF THE CHURCH, and so prevent the bringing forth of her children. An earnest spirit cannot complete its exhortations to zeal without pronouncing a denunciation upon the indifferent. What said the heroine of old who had gone forth against the enemies of Israel, when she remembered coward spirits? “ Curse ye, Meroz, saith the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, against the mighty.” Some such curse will assuredly come upon every professing Christian who is backward in helping the Church in the day of her soul’ s travail. Who are they that hinder her Every worldly Christian hinders the progress of the Gospel. They are also guilty who distract the mind of the Church from the subject in hand. Above all, we shall be hindering the travail of the Church if we do not share in it. Many Church-members think that if they do nothing wrong, and make no trouble, then they are all right. Not at all. V. I shall close with A WORD OF . There shall come a great blessing to any who feel the soul travail that brings souls to God. Your own heart will be watered. Moreover, will it not be a joy to feel that you have done what you could? (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 66:10 Rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her A dirge for the down-grade, and a song for faith A mourner is always an interesting person. The highest style of mourner is one whose griefs are neither selfish nor grovelling. He who bears spiritual sorrow on account of others is of a nobler order than the man who laments his personal woes. The most excellent style of mourner is the mourner in Zion, the mourner for Zion, the mourner with Zion. I. WHO ARE THOSE THAT MOURN WITH ? Those that love the Church of God, and desire her prosperity; and when they do not see that prosperity, are depressed in spirit. 1. nothing can make the heart of the people of God more heavy than to think that the Gospel glory of the Church is declining. 2. Another cause of mourning is when we see the holiness of the visible Church beclouded. 3. Moreover, we see her sacred ardour is cooling. 4. There is grave cause of mourning in Zion because the services of God’ s house are neglected. 5. Another very grave cause for mourning to all true Christians is the multitude of sinners that remain unsaved. II. WE MAY YET REJOICE WITH . 1. When we remember that God has not changed, either in nature or in love to His people, or in the purpose of His grace. 2. We may expect the Lord to appear. “ He shall appear to your joy, etc. (Isaiah 66:5.) 3. When the Lord shall put on strength, then shall His Church be aroused. 4. Then shall the Church have many converts. 5. Then shall she nourish them well. 6. At such times there is an abundant degree of peace and joy in all believing hearts (Isaiah 66:12). 7. God will raise up men fitted to do His work (Isaiah 66:21). III. WHY SHOULD WE BE OF THE NUMBER THAT’ MOURN WITH THE CHURCH, AND THAT REJOICE WITH HER? 1. There is our own sin and ruin to mourn over. 2. We might wisely become mourners when we think of our own want of zeal. 3. May we not add to this our own failures in the matter of holiness? 4. We have all a great concern in this matter, and we ought, therefore, to join with the Church in all her griefs. If the ministry of our pastors be not successful, we shall lose by its want of power. If the Gospel is not preached our souls will not be fed. Suppose the Gospel is not preached with saving power, then we shall have our children unconverted, and they will not be our joy and crown. There cannot be a deficiency in the pulpit without its bringing mischief to our households. We are members of one body, and if any part of the body suffers, every other part of the body will have to suffer too. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 66:12 For thus saith the Lord, Behold I will extend peace to her like a river The Church in peace and prosperity The members of the Church can then revel in peace and wealth, like a child on its mother’ s breast; the world belongs entirely to the Church, for the Church belongs entirely to God. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The peace of the river The illustrations which Grace borrows from Nature are strikingly appropriate. The history of this appropriateness is that Nature and Grace proceed from one and the same Hand, are children of one and the same Parent. You have in the text two objects compared and put side by side--the peace of God’ s Church and a river. The quietness of a river is perhaps the most obvious ground of the comparison. The peace of God’ s Church resembles a river-- I. IN ITS SOURCE. The source of a river is hidden. It wells up from the fountains of the great deep beneath the earth. And even the spot where it first rises is often inaccessible, being situated in the heart of tangled brushwood, or beneath the perilous vault of an ice-cave. The source of peace to God’ s children is God Himself. And God is a God who hides Himself--a God who is apprehended only by those into whose hearts the light of the glorious Gospel has shined. And the spot, too, whence the peace of God’ s children takes its rise lies not open to the scrutiny of man’ s eye, or the passage of man’ s footstep. That spot is the heart, the inmost spirit. Accordingly, men can see that peace only in its effects. And there is yet another sense in which the source of the Christian peace is hidden. The events, the great historical facts, which lie at the root of it--the means by which God ministers it--are by-gone and accomplished. The great central facts of the death and resurrection of Jesus are now, if I may say so, buried and out of sight, and centuries are piled upon them, like rocks and icebergs on the soot where some mighty river takes its rise. But these events, nevertheless, are God’ s instruments, whereby He exerts a mighty influence on many a heart even at the present day. II. IN THE METHOD OF ITS . It is true that rivers are fed perpetually by their springs. But an external nourishment is also supplied to them by occasional rains and land floods. The river of the Christian’ s peace--I do not say flows from, but is augmented by contrition. Strangeparadox this, that what seems to destroy peace should promote it! But so it is. III. IN ITS COURSE. 1. A river in its course is quietly progressive. Its quietness is not the quietness of stagnation, but of advancement. The Christian’ s peace is a peace of progress in grace. It is not a peace which leaves him where it found him, but a peace which bears him on silently towards the bosom of his God. 2. It is exceeding deep. And the peace of God is said to “ pass all understanding.” This may be understood in two ways. The nature and character of this peace is unintelligible to those who have not tasted it, and by those who have tasted it its depth is unfathomable. 3. It is fertilizing and enriching. The country smiles with plenty along its banks. It is also the great medium of commerce and traffic, whereby men are made rich and their estate and substance is increased. It is a means of communication for those who live on its margin with the ocean and with one another. The peace of God is at the root of all holy fruitfulness. Many people accept the truth that “ the fruit of righteousness is peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever,” while they discard the truth--equally important and Scriptural--that peace is the root, as well as the fruit of righteousness, and that the Lord Jesus Christ promises to give rest to the weary and heavy laden, before they can and in order that they may, submit themselves to His yoke. At the root of the Christian’ s love is peace--at the root of his joy is peace--at the root of his long-suffering, gentleness and goodness is peace--at the root of his meekness and temperance is peace. Peace it is which, like the broad bosom of a fair river, quietly undulates along and ministers nourishment to the roots of all these graces, nor is it possible that the leaf of any of them should be green, were the streams of this river diverted another way. This peace is enriching as well as fertilizing, because it opens into the ocean; it is the medium of communicating with God and with the saints of God. It is on the broad bosom of this peace--even because it is through Jesus Christ alone that our prayers float towards our heavenly Father. And I need not tell you what a peculiarly rich traffic is the traffic with heaven. Then, again, this peace of God is enriching, in that it is a medium of communication between us and those who have obtained like precious faith with ourselves. It is a pleasant river, on whose margin both I and my brother dwell--and which conveys from me to him sympathies, and prayers, and outgoings of the heart, and brings back the same from him to me. And when my prayers and missives are sent forth on their way towards heaven, my brother’ s meet and join them--and both perform the voyage side by side--and no sooner shall both return than he shall send me notice of the treasure he hath acquired, and demand on his part an account of mine. Such is in a figure that doctrine which we profess, when we say/’ I believe in the communion of saints.” 4. It is clean and cleansing. And we need not to be told that the peace of God’ s Church is a clean and holy (because a living) peace--clear as crystal and perfectly alien from all defilement. The slightest allowed filthiness of flesh or spirit is abhorrent to the nature of this peace. “ There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” And as this peace is clean, so also it makes clean. As soon as it enters into the conscience, it cleanses it:5. It bears burdens. Barges and ships of many tons’ weight float on its bosom down to the ocean. It is one of the most delightful characteristics of the Christian’ s peace that its buoyancy supports many and grievous burdens. Into God’ s bosom they are carried in the exercise of confession and faithful repentance; in His breast they must be lodged, if we desire them to be finally obliterated and annulled. But surely, if it were not for His peace within, we could neither have courage to lodge them there, nor strength to support the burden of them ourselves. IV. AT ITS MOUTH It expands. For the last few miles of its progress, the distance between its banks becomes wider, till at length it pours itself with a full flood into the ocean. So it is as a matter of fact in the Christian’ s experience. The peace of the true believer is enlarged as he draws near to the heavenly goal, and accordingly the country of his soul is more abundantly fertilized. Who shall say how wide its flood may not extend, when it pours itself into His bosom in eternity, from whom it issued forth in time? (Dean Goulburn, D. C. L.) Isaiah 66:13 As one whom his mother comforteth Isaiah’ s figure of motherhood (verses 7-13):--The prophet reawakens the figure, that is ever nearest his heart, of motherhood--children suckled, borne and cradled in the lap of their mother fill all his view; nay, finer still, the grown man coming back with wounds and weariness upon him to be comforted of his mother. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)The exiles’ horns in Jerusalem Israel then will be like a man returned from foreign soft, escaped from captivity, full of sad remembrances, whose echoes, however, completely vanish in the mother-arms of Divine love in Jerusalem, the beloved home that was the home of their thoughts even on foreign soil. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)The Motherhood of God God is Creator, Preserver, Father, but something more. I. A good mother has a wonderful fund of ; so has God. II. Motherhood is wonderful in its ; so is God. III. Motherhood is GRIEVED OVER SIN; So is God. IV. A mother’ s love is often ; God’ s love is redemptive ten thousand times more. (D. J. Rounsefell.)Divine comfort most endearing and efficient God will comfort His people-- 1. With all the affection and solicitude of a mother. See the mother how she loves, strives, labours, suffers, and sacrifices for her child. 2. With all the long-suffering and forbearance of a mother. 3. With all the forgiveness and consolation of a mother. How ready to forgive her erring, wandering child--and ready to console in trouble. 4. With all the instruction and correction of a mother. God teaches in various ways, and whom He loveth He chasteneth. 5. With all the constancy of a moter. (Helps for the Pulpit.)Divine consolation I. THE . “ I will comfort you.” It is the character of Divine promises that they apply to real cases they meet the condition and circumstances of man. Are we ignorant? “ I will instruct thee.” Are we weak? “ I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee.” Are we in danger? “ I will deliver thee.” Are we disconsolate? “ I will comfort you.” The discouragements of life are many, trials are various: the fears to which we are subject, and the sins which easily beset us, who can number? These all impair our comfort, and have a natural tendency to sink us in despondency. But the Gospel provides a cordial. 1. This consolation is Divine in its origin. It springs not from creatures, not from earthly good, or from carnal gratifications. The Most High claims the prerogative as His own. 2. It is rational in its nature; not consolation visionary and enthusiastic, but intelligent, consistent with reason as well as according to faith. 3. Free in its bestowment. 4. It is select in its subjects. All are not partakers of heavenly consolation, for all are not qualified to enjoy it. Penitence of disposition is requisite: “ Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. ‘ Earnest desire also is implied; for who can be supposed to possess Divine comfort who are indifferent about it, who are living without prayer, or whose petitions are languid and lifeless? “ Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.” Holy- watchfulness is likewise supposed; for whoever is careless and slothful must be deceived if he imagine himself to be comforted of the Lord. The Holy Spirit is “ the Comforter,” but “ grieve” Him not; otherwise He with draws His influence, and all is darkness or delusion. II. THE MANNER IN WHICH IS . “ as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.” A stranger may administer comfort, but it is in a distant way; a friend may console us, and this with kindness; a father also, with tenderness still more impressive; but none comforts like a mother. 1. The affection of a mother is warm; she loves her child, loves it as part of herself. 2. The care of a mother is indulgent. 3. The condescension and self-denial of a mother are not small. 4. The assiduity of a mother is unwearied. III. THE MEANS BY WHICH IS ENJOYED, “ Ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” The pious Jews were comforted when in Babylon, and during their dispersion among the nations; but their comfort in such circumstances was attended with much affliction: it was when returned to Jerusalem, when resettled in their own country, and among their own people, that their enjoyment rose the highest, and was most regular. This teaches-- 1. The importance of separation from an ensnaring world. 2. The propriety of regular attendance on religious worship. It was a high privilege to dwell in Jerusalem, because of attendance on religious worship. 3. The duty of Church-membership. Jerusalem was not only the scat of Divine worship, but an emblem of the Christian Church, and they who constitute this Church are particularly authorized to plead the promise of the text, “ You shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” 4. It suggests the worth of a right spirit in attending Christian ordinances. The form of godliness is nothing. (Anon.)The Motherhood of God Readers of such writers as Theodore Parker, Frances Power Cobbe, and Chunder Sen must often have been struck with the frequency with which these theists address invocations or prayers to God as the Father and Mother of our spirits. Why should they not? There are surely as valid reasons for our thinking and speaking of God as our Perfect Mother as there are for claiming Him as the Perfect Father of us all. 1. Even if there were no hint or smile to this effect in the Scriptures we should still find it necessary to predicate it of God in order to perfect our conceptions of Him. What these conceptions are will best be understood by a disclosure of their basis. To our thinking, the ultimate source of our knowledge of God is the intuitions of the human heart. The instincts, the qualities, the affections in human nature (though these are at a very great remove from those in God) are the truest indications and interpretations to us of what God is; if the revelation recorded in the Bible be the light (as it undoubtedly is), these things in us are the eye to which that light appeals and by which we see; in fact, if we cannot argue from our own spiritual natures up to God’ s, then, all metaphysical reasoning and the Christian Scriptures notwithstanding, we have no reliable knowledge of God, faith is presumptuous, worship delusive, and the ground of personal responsibility crumbles away- from under our feet. Further, a philosophical interpretation of the person of the Christ, as well as the Scriptural declaration that man is made in the image of God, warrants the assertion that in a very true sense one of the worthiest conceptions of the Divine nature is that of a fully-developed, completely perfected, human nature. On this ground we believe we are justified in regarding God as our Father; or, to put conversely what this implies, we do right in assuming the fatherly elements in men to be the best index or guarantee of what God is. But whilst the Fatherhood of God is the perfection of our human nature, so far as man is concerned, it is not the crown of our humanity in its totality, that is to say, so far as human nature includes womanhood as well as manhood. God, in the very nature of the case, must gather up in Himself all the essential qualities of the mother no less than of the father. That this is so, is in a measure evidenced by the facts of our human experience. Take, for example, the evidence deducible from the case of a family where the children have been deprived of either parent, say the mother; in this instance, not only do the boys lose the beneficial effect of the softening and refining atmosphere of their mothers presence, but the girls also, however wise and fond their father may be, become prudish and unnaturally grave. In like manner, if the children are left fatherless, both sons and daughters suffer from the loss of their father’ s sobering, restraining influence, while the daughters especially miss the strengthening force derivable from acquaintance with his life and character. Yes, that child only is rightly trained and fully educated who has had the good fortune to know both the gentler sway of a mother’ s and the severer rule of a father’ s nature. We see, then, that in actual life only that parentage is normally complete which is the blending of the two complementing sides, the fatherly and the motherly. And since of necessity the ideal in heaven cannot be less perfect than the actual on earth, and since, moreover, God is the source whence all the phases of our humanity have sprung, we may reverently address God in our prayers as being both the Perfect Father and Mother in whom we confide. 2. Nor is this idea of the Divine Motherhood as unserviceable as at first sight it may seem. It may be urged as affording one practical way of escape from the beautiful but blinding web, so to say, which the thoughts of many are busily weaving. It not unfrequently occurs that men, whose scientific tastes or pursuits change rather than destroy their hold on religion, find their thoughts of nature, life, and God taking a purely pantheistic colouring. To highly imaginative minds, to devout poetic temperaments, this habit of deifying everything is not a little fascinating. If God be thought of as He who is nature itself, then the more sensuous sides of our being will be appealed to and quickened, we grant, as will our intellectual needs in many respects be met and fostered. But the deep hunger and thirst of our more human natures will be unappeased, the more spiritual and practical cravings of our personal life will be slighted and wronged. For how little will such a pantheistic faith, beautiful as it is, and true in part though it be, serve and console the heart when it is beset with agonizing doubt or disheartened by the strength and shame of its sin, or well-nigh crushed by a fatalistic sense of the hard, merciless rule of the inevitable! Nature in some of her moods is anything but pitiful. Besides, what does a religion of this kind avail for those who have not been endowed with a lively imagination, or with poetic insight, or with mental vigour; what will or can it mean to those whose ideas and impressions of life are chiefly toned and tempered by poverty or pain or thankless toil, or misery or crime? With such an abstract God as this, we shall feel ourselves before long like to one wearied, oppressed with all the recherche elegance of a palace, and yearning for the real and simple comfort of a home. See now the remedy the truth under discussion affords. Let it be granted that God is the stun total of all the beauty and order, and music and life of the universe, but then surely He is more than this. He is the source and crown of all the human affections that have scattered themselves like so many sun’ s rays throughout the fatherhoods and motherhoods, and childhoods and friendships of the world. These intensely real elements in our,, experience must have a living background m” God from whom all things issue. He that made the ear, shall He not hear; He that made the eye shall He not see J” and shall not He who bestowed on us so personal and potent a divinity as our mother, “ the holiest thing on earth,” be Himself equally personal and motherly? (J. T. Stannard.)Divine comfort I. A DIRE . Comfort. II. A . We are helpless as babes. III. AN . A babe does not know its griefs. It can only realize a sense of discomfort. Its complaints are often unmeaning, foolish, needless. In this way many of us live and die. IV. A . What a charm there is in the mother’ s voice! So in the Divine voice of the Holy Spirit He comforts-- 1. With the solicitude of a mother. How a mother loves, strives, labours, and sacrifices for her child. 2. With the forgiveness and consolation of a mother. 3. With the instruction and correction of a mother. A good and wise mother will instruct and correct. 4. With the constancy of a mother (Isaiah 49:14-15). God loves to the end. V. AN MEANS. “ Ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” The promise is not without limitations. This expression means that the consolations of God come to those who are in His Church, who are in Christ Jesus. This is the place for us to rest in. 1. It is the place which He has appointed. 2. The place where He delights to dwell. 3. The place where His spirit is poured out. 4. The place where, by our own acts of devotion and hearing, we derive peace and rest. (Homilist.)The Divine Motherhood Is not the highest use of human relationships to reveal God? Are not the genuine king, judge, friend, father, so many mirrors in which the Divine character is, in some degree, reflected? And if this be true of all other human relationships, especially of those most natural and elemental, is it not emphatically thus in the unique, peerless one of mother Indeed, since there is need of all human relationships combined to reveal God, it is most clear that this one cannot be omitted. And if even idolaters have ever fell they must select the best material at their command to adumbrate the deity they worship, we may surely lay our hands on this highest thing we call motherhood, to illustrate something of the attributes and the ways of “ our own God.” His love transcends all motherhood. It is a relationship marked by-- I. CLOSEST . The child’ s life, especially at its beginning, is a part of its mother’ s life. Supported by maternal sustenance, watched by maternal wisdom, embosomed in maternal love, the child has more from its mother, and owes, more to her, than science can analyze or poetry,, describe. Thus intimate is Gods relationship to us. “ We are His offspring. II. INTENSE . In two aspects there is an individualizing element and habit in motherhood that is on the very surface of the relationship, and that yet is one of its profoundest realities. 1. The mother individualizes her child. So both the Old and New Testament revelation, and indeed all His dealings with us, discover how individual all men arc to God. 2. Then, the child individualizes its mother. “ Our own God.” III. OF CARE. The devotion of a mother is not that of hours, but of days--not of days only, but of nights also. It is not exhausted when its object has passed through infancy, but is active and anxious over its youth; yearns fondly, even when it can accomplish little, over its manhood or womanhood; lives and reigns in the heart till the mother herself dies; and--who can tell?--perhaps may still watch and guide and bless from the world of spirits. All human history gives emphasis to the question, “ Can a woman forget her child?” Others may degrade and desecrate the meaning of the word “ love,” by saying profanely, “ I loved once.” The mothers of the world are the monuments of the perpetuity--one had almost said, of the eternity--of love. Yet the highest authority says, they may forget, yet will not God. IV. OF LOVE. Probably all true love is sacrificial. Anyway, it is beyond contradiction that a mothers love is. Conclusion: 1. Lessons for parents. (1) Here is a word of instruction for those who, whether as fathers or mothers, are not fulfilling the highest duty of their relationship, namely, revealing God to their children. (2) Here is a word of consolation. Motherhood means a life of sacrificial, often unhonoured, often unrequited love. But what if that love is revealing God? What if it is fulfilling some of the functions of the Cross at Calvary? Is any endurance too heavy, any toil too irksome, any anguish too keen, if thereby God’ s heart is unveiled as it never otherwise could have been? 2. Remonstrance with sinners. The most heinous sins are sins against love. All transgression against this God of Divine motherliness, is such sin. It is folly to rebel against the God of all wisdom; the rebellion will ultimately he thwarted. It is madness to rebel against the God of all power He must reign till His enemies be made His footstool. But it is darkest sin to rebel against “ the God of all comfort.” (U. R. Thomas, B. A.)God comforting as a mother 1. God comforts like the ideal mother. The only perfect mother is in the mind and heart of God. And He comforts as that image might be expected to comfort and would be capable of comforting. 2. God comforts as the mothers comforted of whom the prophet spoke. No mother is perfect, but every true and good mother is a great consoler. God comforts. (1) Naturally. (2) Personally. (3) Lovingly. (4)Practically. (5)Broadly. (6)Constantly. (7) Effectually. (S. Martin.)God our Mother The Bible is a warm letter of affection from a parent to a child; and yet there are many who see chiefly the severer passages. As there may be fifty or sixty nights of gentle dew in one summer, that will not cause as much remark as one hailstorm of half-an-hour; so there are those who are more struck by those passages of the Bible that announce the indignation of God than by those that announce His affection. 1. God has a mother simplicity of instruction. A father does not know how to teach a child the A B C. Men are not skilful in the primary department. But a mother has so much patience that she will tell a child for the hundredth time the difference between F and G and between I and J. She thus teaches the child, and has no awkwardness of condescension in so doing. So God, our Mother, stoops down to our infantile minds. God has been teaching some of us thirty years, and some sixty years, one word of one syllable, and we do not know it yet--f-a-i-t-h, faith. When we come to that word, we stumble, we halt, we lose our place, we pronounce it wrong. Still, God’ s patience is not exhausted. God, our Mother, puts us in the school of prosperity, and the letters are in sunshine, and we cannot spell them. God puts us in the school of adversity, and the letters are black, and we cannot spell them. If God were merely a king, He would punish us. If He were simply a father, He would whip us. But God is a mother, and so we are borne with and helped all the way through. A mother teaches her child chiefly by pictures. God, our Mother, teaches us almost everything by pictures. Is the Divine goodness to be set forth? How does God teach us? By an autumnal picture. The barns are full. The wheat-stacks are rounded. The orchards are dropping the ripe pippins into the lap of the farmer. Does God, our Mother, want to set forth what a foolish thing it is to go away from the right, and how glad Divine mercy is to take back the wanderer? How is it to be done? By a picture. 2. God has a mother’ s favouritism. A father sometimes shows a sort of favouritism. Here is a boy--strong, well, of high forehead and quick intellect. The father says, “ I will take that boy into my firm yet; or, “ I will give him the very best possible education. There are instances where, for the culture of the one boy,, all the others have been robbed. A sad favouritism; but that is not the mother’ s favourite. I will tell you her favourite. There is a child who, at two years of age, had a fall. He has never got over it. The scarlet fever muffled his hearing. He is not what he once was. The children of the family all know that he is the favourite. So he ought to be; for if there is any one in the world who needs sympathy more than another, it is an invalid child. Weary on the first mile of life’ s journey; carrying an aching head, a weak side, an irritated lung. So the mother ought to make him a favourite. God loves us all; but there is one weak, and sick, and sore, and wounded, and suffering, and faint. That is the one who lies nearest and more perpetually on the great,, loving heart of God. There is not such a watcher as God. 3. God has a mother’ s capacity for attending to little hurts. The father is shocked at the broken bone of the child, or at the sickness that sets the cradle on fire with fever, but it takes the mother to sympathize with all the little ailments and little bruises of the child. If the child has a splinter in its hand, it wants the mother to take it out, and not the father. So with God our Mother: all our annoyances are important enough to look at and sympathize with. 4. God has a mother’ s patience for the erring. If one does wrong, first his associates in life cast him off; if he goes on in the wrong way, his business partner cuts him off; if he goes on, his best friends cast him off. But after all others have cast him off, where does he go? Who holds no grudge, and forgives the last time as well as the first? Who sits by the murderer’ s counsel all through the long trial? Who tarries the longest at the windows of a culprit’ s cell? Who, when all others think ill of a man, keeps on thinking well of him? It is his mother. 5. God has a mother’ s, way of putting a child to sleep. You know there is no cradle-song like a mother s. The time will come when we will be wanting to be put to sleep. Then we want God to soothe us, to hush us to sleep. (T. De W. Talmage, D. D.)God’ s motherly comfort A mother comforts-- 1. By her presence. It is always to her children a benediction--a comfort. 2. By her love. Of a mother’ s love the child becomes deeply conscious as she strokes gently his fevered brow, or lifts upon him the light of her loving eyes. 3. By her food. She knows their needs and their tastes, and she gives nourishing and satisfying food. 4. By her words. There are three different kinds of experience common to men in this life which seem to require the presence of our mothers, and in each of these God has promised to be near us. 1. When troubles come. 2. When we are sick. 3. When death is nigh. (Christian Age.)God both Father and Mother Broadly we may state the contrast of these relations in two well-known and exceeding precious Old Testament sayings “ Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.” “ As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.” The father pities, the mother comforts, her children. The father in his strength stoops in gracious kindliness to succour them in their need; the mother holds them in a warm, eager embrace to comfort them in their pain. So we come to speak amongst ourselves of the father’ s hand, but always of the mother’ s arms. The father leads by the hand; the mother soothes and carries in her arms. Jesus did both. He was in His own person the perfect revelation at once of the Father-God and the Mother-God. He took God’ s little ones up into His arms, laid His hands upon them, and blessed them--blessed them with the double blessing of hand and arms. We find it easy to speak of the Almighty Father, but we are conscious of a dissonance of thought in saying the Almighty Mother. Almightiness is not an attribute of motherhood. But “ everlastingness is; and the “ everlasting arms are the arms of the Mother-God. There is, therefore, the rare insight of truth as well as rich beauty and pathos in Isaiah’ s imagery, “ As one whom his mother comforteth.” The glorious prophecies of evangelical blessedness which Isaiah proclaimed had reached their close. The final results to faithful and unfaithful of the revelation of the grace of God mingle in the last two chapters. As we read especially Isaiah 65:17-25; Isaiah 66:10-13, we feel that this figure of theMotherhood of God touches the climax of the writing. The prophet’ s swift imagery halts here. It has no farther flight. The evolution of a mother is the vanishing-point in nature and art, where human comfort melts away into the infinite comfort of the Divine. (F. Platt.)The Mother-God in Scripture The Mother-God in Scripture several great Oriental scholars believe that in the earliest times the Semitic religions had a goddess, but no god. The matriarchal state of society came before the patriarchal. Whatever historic value this opinion may have, there can be little doubt, to a careful reader, that much of the Old Testament imagery and poetry, which seek to cheer the hearts of men with promises of Divine comfort, can be best realized as we read into them the idea of the Motherhood of God. There is a New Testament reference to those wilderness ways in which the children of God were led in ancient days which at least suggests a lingering recognition of this idea. The margin of Act 13:18 reads--and the reading has considerable support: “ About the time of forty years He bore or fed them as a nurse beareth or feedeth her child.” Much more definite, however, is Deuteronomy 32:11 : “ As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her ,wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him.’ We scarcely need to remind ourselves that it is the mother-eagle that fluttereth over her young, and beareth them in safety on her broad pinions whither she will. A similar fidelity to nature should always be borne in mind that we may interpret the inner meaning of the well-known psalms of comfort, which tell us of a hiding-place and a refuge beneath the shadow of God’ s wings, or under the covering of His feathers (Psalms 18:8; Psalms 57:1; Psalms 61:4; Psalms 91:1-4). It is of course the mother-bird that gathers her brood under her wings, and hides them in warmth and safety beneath her fluffy feathers. Nor can we ever forget that when our Lord was leaving the great city of human sorrow He had yearned in vain to comfort, when He strove in His anguish of weeping to leave some picture in the mind of her people of the infinite wealth of the Divine tenderness of comfort to which they had been blind, the passion of the great mother-soul within Him could find no more perfect imagery than that familiar to them and their fathers in the psalmists of Israel: “ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not! All nature is plaintive with an instinctive mother-cry, from the bleating cry of the lost lamb to the lonely cry of the lost child of the Mother-God. And instinct should count for something in interpreting the God whose children we are. The lad dying of fever in some rude, rough shanty at the gold diggings, or tossing in thirst in the hospital of a far-off foreign port, cries in his delirium for his mother. It is his deepest instinct. It wasalways his mother’ s touch which brought coolness to his brow, and his mother’ s voice that had a witchery of comfort in its whisper in the old village home. And in that other sickness of the mind, in the soul’ s day of fever and fret, it is a true spiritual instinct we obey as our lonely or wearied spirits cry aloud for the arms of the Mother-God. (F. Platt.)Paul’ s conception of the Motherhood of God There are glimpses here and there in the writings of St. Paul, revealed by subtle delicacies of speech, which more than suggest that the Motherhood of God was a flitting presence of grace and tenderness in his thought. We recall how when he wrote to the Thessalonian Church, he turned for a time from ministering the needed tonic of rebuke to the sweeter ministry of the comfort of hope. Our version reads: “ Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” St. Paul wrote: “ Them also which have been laid to sleep by Jesus will God bring with Him.” “ Laid to sleep by Jesus.” There is a picture in the words--a homely and familiar one. The day is done. The tiny feet of children, which all day long have pattered to and fro within the home, are tired. As the darkness falls their prattle grows drowsy. Then they are hushed to sleep in the mother’ s arms, and laid in their cradle-bed until morning. We see it all. We are God’ s children of an older growth. While it is called day we spend our strength in toils and journeyings. As the shadows lengthen we grow aweary. It is time to rest. In the arms of the Mother-God, who stoops over us in the Saviour’ s condescending ways, we arc put to sleep, and laid in stillness to rest “ until the day break, and the shadows flee away.” Perhaps even more literally than we thought, our dead “ die into the arms of God.” (F. Platt.)The Motherhood of God There are old lessons of the love of God we may learn in a fresh light as we interpret them through the thought of the Motherhood of God. 1. The intensity of the Divine self-sacrifice grows keener through it. All love gives itself, but its climax of self-renunciation is motherhood. 2. The sense of the inalienableness of the Divine love is deepened also by the thought of the Motherhood of God. Does a mother’ s love ever die? When every other love expires, it lives its secret life. Its patience is infinite. A mother may forget. Her motherhood may prove false. But it is not likely. It is the most unnatural thing in nature. It is as if the sun should rise in the west, and set in the east. A lioness will fight to the death for her whelps, and the she-bear for her cubs. It is the first and last instinct creation knows. But let nature have denied herself, let her have given the lie to her primal instincts, let the stars have gone backward in their courses, and all the settled order of the universe have returned to chaos, yet even then, saith the Lord, will I not forget thee 3. Possibly also the Divine yearning over the wayward and prodigal may find a fresh setting in the idea of the Motherhood of God. When a father’ s love does not easily forgive, because his sense of justice and order and true discipline in the family, of which he is the responsible governor, are hindrances, the mother’ s love deviseth prevailing persuasions, and intercedes with tears. And in unknown depths of a common love of the prodigal the justice and the mercy somehow meet and are reconciled. Evangelical theologians arc ever conscious of two elements in the character of God, whose nature and whose name is Love. The law of righteousness and the ministry of mercy are always present. And the problem of their reconciliation is the problem so much profound and noble thought has striven to solve in the doctrine of atonement. They arc both true. The Lord our God is one God; but He is Father-God and Mother-God. We wonder at times whether the prodigal son of our Lord’ s parable had a mother. It is not difficult to suggest reasons why, in an Oriental country, where the position of woman is so different from her place in our own, the father’ s love should wisely be Christ’ s type of the Divine. But there is a fragment of further meaning hidden in the story for these who remember that the prodigal may not have been motherless. Certain it is that, if his father climbed to the house-top to gaze expectant in the direction of the far country, his mother crept into her chamber alone to pray. As the father commands, “ Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him,” the mother’ s eyes are homes of silent tears. And who shall say that the rejoicing of the home-coming was not tenderer in the mother’ s heart, and that tender joy the last balm of healing to the prodigal son? (Ibid.)The craving for the feminine in God The Rev. John Watson (In Maclaren)--he told me the story himself--was once in a Roman Catholic church in Italy. Before the altar to the Virgin knelt a woman, her lips moving devoutly- in prayer, her eyes alight with wondering worship and love. As she was making her way to the door, after ending her devotion, Dr. Watson asked her in Italian some question about the points of interest in the building. The woman seemed pleased to find an English visitor (or perhaps I should say a Scot) who could converse in her own language, and the two fell to chatting about the scenery and show-places of the neighbourhood. By and by the conversation turned upon the differences between the Roman Catholic and Protestant religions, especially in regard to the fact that Protestants do not address prayers to the Virgin. “ Don t you ever pray to the Mother of God?” she asked. “ No,” said Dr. Watson, very gently, “ for it seems to me that all you find which is holy and helpful and adorable in the character of that most revered and beautiful of women--all that, and infinitely more, I find in her Divine Son.” “ Yes, sir,” shesaid,, wistfully. “ I understand that for you, but you see you are a man, and you don t know how a woman needs a woman to pray to.” “ And although I should be the last man in the world ever to become a Roman Catholic,” said Dr. Watson, when telling the story, “ you’ ll believe me when I assure you that I hadn’ t the heart to add another word.” (Coulson Kernahan.)“ As one whom his mother comforteth” At a summer resort a clergyman and a lady sat on the piazza of the hotel. The lady’ s heart was heavily burdened, and she talked of her sorrows to the aged minister, who tried to lead her in her hour of need to the Great Comforter. His efforts seemed to be in vain; the lady had heard all her life of the promise that if a tired soul casts its burden on the Lord it will be sustained, no matter how heavy that burden may be, but she seemed to lack the faith to thus cast herself upon the Lord. A half-hour afterward a severe thunderstorm came up in the western sky. With the first flash of lightning the mother jumped out Of her chair and ran up and down the piazza, exclaiming: “ Where is Freddie? Where is Freddie? He is so terribly frightened in a thunderstorm I don’ t know what he will do without me.” In a few moments afterward her boy came running up the walk, almost breathless, and his face plainly showing the great fear that was in his heart. “ Oh, mother,” he exclaimed, “ I was so frightened, I ran just as fast as ever I could to get to you.” The mother sat down and took the frightened child into her arms. She allayed his fear and quieted him, until his head rested calmly on her loving heart. The good clergyman stepped up gently, and, putting his hand on the mother’ s shoulder, he whispered: “ As one Whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.” “ I understand it now,” she replied, as she looked up with tearful face. “ I will throw myself into His arms as a little child, and remember His promise. I never felt the depth of Divine love as shown in that promise before.” (Susan T. Perry.)A mother’ s self-sacrificing love In the buried city of Pompeii, that was destroyed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, I was shown a place where had been found the remains of a lady and her three children. She had tried to gather two of her little ones in her arms, and the babe was hid on her breast in the folds of her robe. And when the scorching dust came down, every one fled; but the mother could not leave her children, and she died with them. A mother would give her own life to save her child. The Lord is as a mother. He did die to save you! And He now lives to comfort you as a mother comforteth her child. (W. Birch.) Isaiah 66:14 The hand of the Lord shall be known toward His servants The Lord’ s hand revealed I. SOME OF THE WAYS THE HAND OF THE LORD MAKES ITSELF KNOWN TOWARDS HIS . 1. In the character they bear. 2. In the work they do. 3. In the sufferings they endure. 4. In all the triumphs of their faith and patience. II. THE OF THIS VISIBLE DISPLAY OF GOD’ S POWER. Simply to let it operate upon us and through us. We can, and often do, prevent His hand from being known. There must be humble recptiveness, believing prayer. III. THE EFFECTS OF THIS OF THE LORD’ S HAND. 1. It encourages the Lord’ s servants. 2. It rebukes the unbelief of the ungodly. Conclusion: Unconverted sinner I the Lord desires to show forth the power of His grace in you. Will you not allow Him to work upon you this miracle of His saving power? (W. Guthrie, M. A.) Isaiah 66:18-24 It shall some, that I will gather all nations and tongues.The conversion of the world I. FUTURE OF THE WORK OF THE OF THE WORLD TO CHRIST. II. THE MEANS BY WHICH IT SHALL BE . III. THE EXTENT TO WHICH IT SHALL REACH. IV. THE HOLY AND BLESSED EFFECTS WHICH SHALL BE BY IT. (J. Snodgrass, D. D.)The Gospel to be preached to the uncivilized No regard seems here to be paid to that favourite maxim with many, that the Gospel can only be successfully preached to a people already in a civilized state. It is certain that the first preaching of the Gospel to the nations of the world was not conducted upon any such narrow principle. On the contrary, it is mentioned by some of the early apologists for Christianity, as one of its honourable achievements, that it has turned even the most cruel and barbarous people into mildness and docility. If any intimation is given, in prophecy, upon this point, it seems rather to reverse the above-mentioned maxim. Were Pul and Lud, and Tubal and Tarshish, civilized countries in the days of this prophet T yet God is represented as sending messengers to them, to declare His glory among the Gentiles. Is there a more unfavourable manner of life for receiving instruction than that of a people wandering about, without any fixed residence? or is there any state of society more base than that of men living in eaves and rocks of the earth? yet the glad tidings of the Gospel will make the villages, or clustered tents, of Kedar to rejoice, and the inhabitants of the rock to sing. (J. Snodgrass, D. D.) Isaiah 66:19 And I will set a sign among them Missions I. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE NATIONS WERE TO BE INTO THE CHURCH OF GOD. II. THE TO RE IN THIS GREAT WORK. (R. Macculloch.)Tarshish . . . Javan That is, to far Spain, and the distances of Africa, towards the Black Sea, and to Greece, a full round of the compass. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)“ The isles afar off” Coastlands (Isaiah 40:15). This distinctionbetween the nearer nations who have experienced something of the greatness of Jehovah through contact with His people Israel, and the remoter nations who have not heard His name, orginates with the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 38:1). But while the distinction is common to the two prophets, the development of the idea is strikingly different. In Ezekiel Gog’ s Ignorance of Jehovah tempts him to an act of sacrilege on the land of Israel which is avenged by the annihilation of him and his host. The spirit of this passage is more evangelical. Jehovah sends missionaries from the nearer nations to those who have not heard His fame nor seen His glory; and the report carries conviction to their minds, so that they restore the Israelites exiled amongst them, as an offering to the Lord. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)And they shall declare My glory among the GentilesMissionary responsibility I. THE STATE OF THE HEATHEN WHO KNOW NOT GOD. 1. Their present state. They know nothing of the God of love. The weary and heavy-laden among them never heard Christ’ s “ Come unto Me. The sorrowful among them never heard His “ Blessed are they that mourn.” They know nothing of the Paraclete, the Comforter, the Strengthener, although their need as urgent aa ours, of comfort and of strength. They do not know what prayer is. They do but send up deprecations to demons. They, as we, are bereaved of dear ones; but the grand music of those words, “ I am the Resurrection and the Life,” - never hushed the discords of their wailing, nor lifted the darkness of their silent despair. 2. Their future. All is to them wrapt in gloom impenetrable. II. OUR . Imagine the plague once more devastating our cities. Suppose you knew of an infallible remedy. Then suppose utter indifference on your part in imparting it. What a monster you would be! No one really loves the Lord Jesus who is not zealous to make others love Him. If you do love Him, and are anxious to make others love Him, what are you doing for the spread of His kingdom? III. WHAT CAN WE DO? We can pray for the full coming of Christ’ s kingdom, for the sending more labourers into the harvest. We can provoke others to pray. We can try to realize this truth, that our Lord makes the evangelization of the world to depend, in we know not what degree, upon faithful, earnest prayer. (J. R. Vernon, M. A.) Isaiah 66:21 And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites Taken for priests and for Levites Those taken to be priests and Levites might be the Gentiles who bring back the dispersed of Israel, or the restored Israelites themselves. The latter is the more probable meaning. (A. B.Davidson, D. D.)“ From them” refers to the converted heathen, by whom the Israelites were brought back to their home. (F. Delitzsch,. D.D.)Incorporated in Jehovah’ s priestly Church (Isaiah 61:6), the heathen are not now excluded even from priestly and Levitical service in the temple. (F. Delitzsch,. D.D.)A new order of priests and Levites Under the Gospel dispensation God will select both out of Jews and Gentiles a chosen people, who shall stand before Him spiritually as the priests and the Levites stood before him typically. The connection leads us to see that not only a great promise but likewise a great privilege is herein implied. It is that we shall be priests and Levites. Now, the priests or Levites were persons set apart to be God’ s peculiar property. Being thus set apart they lived only for Divine service. Further, they enjoyed the privilege of drawing near to God--nearer than the rest of people in that typical dispensation. In like manner there is a people to be found on earth at this day whom God has chosen to draw near unto Him. But priests and Levites had two works to do. They were engaged to do something towards God for men, and so they offered the sacrifices that were brought to the door of the tabernacle, whether according to the general ordinances, or to any special vows. Spiritually minded, they much engaged in intercession for the rest of Israel. So there is a people to be found this day who offer unto God acceptable prayer and praise, and in answer to their prayer, unnumbered blessings come down upon the sons of men. Another ,part of their office consisted in speaking for God to the people: “ For the priest’ s lips should keep knowledge.” As for the Levites, they were as ushers in the schools and tutors in the families of Israel. Amongst the Levites were found those scribes who became the instructors of the people, the copyists of the law, and the expounders of its statutes and ordinances; ministers who opened up to the people, as Ezra did, the knotty points of the old covenant, and expounded the Word. So, not all of us in the same degree, but all of us in a measure, are to be teachers of God’ s revealed truth, even as He has taught us. The great point is this. It seems to be mentioned here as a matter of surprise that God should take any of the persons here mentioned--of the sinful, backsliding, transgressing Jews, or of the blinded, dark, benighted, heathen Gentiles--and make them to be priests and Levites before Him. That is parallel to the fact that God does take some of the most unlikely persons, who seem to be the most unsuitable of all, and make these to be His faithful and honoured servants among the sons of men. I. THE FACT. According to the text, men have nothing to do with the selection; for it is said, “ I will also take of them” --not, “ their parents shall bring them up to it;” not, “ those who shall be looked out as the most fit and proper men on account of some natural bent and bias, or gift and talent,” but, “ I will take.” God’ s priesthood in the world is a priesthood of’ His own choosing, of His own setting apart, of His own anointing. “ He hath made us kings and priests unto God. ‘ In their case, it appears that whatever was unfit in their character has been overcome by Divine grace. If God takes them for Levites, He makes them Levites; if He chooses them for priests, He makes them priests. II. THE REASON OF THE FACT. Does not He do this to display His infinite mercy? And His power? And His sovereignty? Does He not thereby secure to Himself the most loving service? Another reason why the Lord takes the vilest of men to make them the saintliest is, that He might openly triumph over Satan. And do not you think this is done very much for the encouragement of the Church of God? III. WHAT IS THE LESSON FROM THIS? Remember what state you were in before God’ s grace took you in hand. Then consider what you are called to be; you are made priests and Levites. Then ask yourself what you would soon become if His grace were to depart from you. And what humility this vocation of God should produce! However high we may be raised, we must remember whence the honour cometh. And since He hath taken us for priests and for Levites, let us do every office heartily as unto the Lord. Let us serve Him with great thankfulness and joy. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Isaiah 66:22 For as the new heavens and the new earth The perpetuity of the true Israel The bulk of the heathen world and also of Israel perish, but Israel’ s name and seed, i.. Israel as a nation with the same ancestors and an independent name, remains for ever (cf. Jeremiah 31:35 f.; 33:20-26), as the new heaven and the new earth. And just because Israel’ s calling in regard to the heathen world is now fulfilled and all things are made new, the old fencing off of Israel from the heathen now comes to an end; and what qualifies for priestly and Levitical service in God’ s temple is no longer mere natural descent, but inner nobility The prophet thus represents to himself the Church of the future on a new earth and under a new heaven; but he is unable to represent the eternal in the form of eternity; he represents it to himself merely as an unending continuation of temporal history (Isaiah 66:23). (F. Delitzch, D. D.)A figure of the spiritual The thought of Isa 56:7 is here (verse 23) expressed by a figure, which, understood literally, involves a physical impossibility; but the prophet cannot altogether emancipate himself from the forms of the Jewish economy, and clothes a spiritual truth in a garb which in strictness is too narrow for it (cf. Zechariah 14:16-19). (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)The stability of the Christian Church (with Isaiah 60:20-21):--The Christian Church is not the conqueror of the Jewish polity, but the heir and successor. The new covenant has been developed out of the old. There was no break when Christ came, but a fulfilment and a completion. And so the promises were handed down in the Christian line, among which these from the latter part of Isaiah, relating to the “ stability’ of the ancient Church, are not the least remarkable. They declare that God is an “ everlasting” light to His people, that their permanence is like the permanence of the creation of God. (T. D. Woolsey.)The Christian Church not a human institution The permanence of the Christian Church in the world, if it be a fact, is unlike all facts of history. Everything human decays and passes away. All institutions, forms of government, civilizations, have their day and decline. No one doubts that the old religions of India and its castes are doomed to perish. We cannot, therefore, be assured from history that Christianity may not perish also. Still when you look at its origin, its power of growth, its vitality, when everything around was dead; its changes of form joined to unchangeableness of principle; its power to correct evils within its pale; its predominance among the influences that act on mankind; its universal character, and its consciousness--so to speak--that the world is its own, you cannot feel it to be otherwise than quite probable that it is to be man’ s guide to the end of time. (T. D. Woolsey.)The history of the Church augurs its permanence Though history is not prophecy, though it cannot with authority predict the universal and final sway of Christ’ s Gospel and of Christian institutions, it reveals, at the least, a working power, a tenacity of life, a hopefulness, a benevolent energy which are not inconsistent with stability and with continuance until the end of time. (T. D. Woolsey.)The stability of the Christian Church I. WE SHALL LOOK AT SEVERAL CAUSES TO WHICH IT IS NOT DUE: but to which, on a superficial view, it might be ascribed. 1. It is not owing to strength borrowed from governments, the Church grew without help from the government; it grew also in spite of long efforts of the government to destroy it. 2. For is the stability of the Church due to the stability of its forms of discipline and order. These have passed through a great variety of changes, from the times of the nascent Church, when there was little of established order, down through the ages of hierarchy, to our times, when the Church thrives in a great variety of forms, and with varied theories of government. 3. Nor yet is the stability of the Church owing to the stability of theological systems. It grew, it almost reigned, before any received dogmatic statements of its sacred truth were current. It has outlived theories and expositions innumerable, and indeed nothing connected with Christianity has been more changing than the scientific arrangements of its truths. 4. Nor can the stability of the Church be explained by saying that it got the control of opinion and kept thought in leading strings, so that when science was emancipated, new conditions full of danger to the Church began. It arose in spite of a reigning heathen opinion and philosophy, which it overthrew and put another in the place. It has in its healthiest state favoured all knowledge in the confidence of being itself together with every other true thing from God. 5. Nor can the stability of the Church be attributed to the condescending patronage of large-minded men, who saw in its justice and humanity a help for the world to be found nowhere else, but yet did not believe in it themselves. II. TO WHAT, THEN, IS THE OF THE CHURCH DUE? To this question it is no sufficient answer that the Holy Spirit is ever in and with the Church. For the Spirit’ s office is to act on men according to the laws of character by Divine realities. It is due-- 1. To this: that the Gospel, on which the Church is built, works out some of the great problems which lie on the heart of man, in a way to give lasting peace and satisfaction to the soul. I refer to practical rather than to intellectual problems, although even the restless questionings of the mind either meet with an answer from the Divine oracles, or are carried up into a higher realm of truth. The power inherent in Christianity itself, as a way of reconciling God and man, and of raising man above sin by great truths and great hopes, is a real and permanent power. It is suited to all natures and capacities, to all races and times. 2. To those permanent features of the Gospel, which bind men together in a brotherhood pervaded by the spirit of love and fellowship. 3. To its self-reforming capacity. The human and the Divine have ever mingled and will ever mingle in the historical progress of Christianity, as they mingle in the development of a Christian life. There are unavoidable sources of corruption in the revolutions of society, in the growth of wealth, in the love of self-gratification, in the increase of worldly comforts. There are other sources in the ignorance of untrained Christians, in the ambition of the clergy and their love of dominion, in the rewards offered within the Church to the aspiring, in formalism, in a dead orthodoxy. At the lowest ebb of Christian life and knowledge there remain within the reach of the Church the sources of a better spiritual state, so that it can reform itself as it has done more than once. (1) As long as the Bible is acknowledged as an authority, there is an appeal to it from all other authorities, from popes, and councils, and philosophers, and the current opinion of the time. (2) There are at the times of greatest declension men who arc somehow led, as we believe, by the Divine Spirit concurring with the Word, into a deeper experience; they rise above their times, they reach convictions which are irrepressible, they must proclaim to the world at any cost what they found out as the resting-places of their souls; they become the starting-points of a reform which sweeps over all Christian nations. 4. The stability of the Church is ensured by the stability of Christ. “ Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day and for ever.” Doubt is of to day, but He is of all time. He is a permanent possession for the soul. He does not wear out in a lifetime. He is the permanent possession of the Church in all its ages and changes He does not wear out while there are men to long for redemption. (T. D. Woolsey.) Isaiah 66:24 And they shall go forth Transgressors punished Those that transgressed or “ rebelled” against the Lord are the obstinate idolaters referred to in chaps, 65. , 66. Their carcasses lie’ s spectacle to all who come up to worship at Jerusalem, subject to never-ending corruption and never-ending burning. According to the prophet’ s conception, the scene takes place on the earth, in me vicinity of Jerusalem, probably in the Valley of Hinnom, but the language may have suggested a punishment by everlasting fire in the world to come. (A. B.Davidson, D. D.)Gehenna This verse is the basis of the later Jewish conception of Gehenna as the place of everlasting punishment . Gehenna is the Hebrew Ge-Hinnom (Valley of Hinnom), the place where, of old, human sacrifices were offered to Moloch, and for this reason desecrated by King Josiah (2 Kings 23:10). Afterwards it became a receptacle for filth and refuse, and Rabbinical tradition asserts that it was the custom to cast out unclean corpses there, to be burned or to undergo decomposition. This is, in all probability, the scene which had imprinted itself on the imagination of the writer, and which was afterwards projected into the unseen world as an image of endless retribution. The Talmudic theology locates the mouth of hell in the Valley of Hinnom. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)The eternal imaged by the temporal The prophet blends temporal and eternal This world and the next coalesce to his view. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)Hell Hell is of both worlds, so that in the same essential sense, although in different degree, it may be said both of him who is still living but accursed, and of him who perished centuries ago, that his worm dieth not and his fire is not quenched. (J. A. Alexander.)Doom following unfaithfulness and transgression 1. It is a terrible ending, but it is the same as upon the same floor Christ set to His teaching--the Gospel net cast wide, but only to draw in both good and bad upon a beach of judgment; the wedding feast thrown open and men compelled to come in, but among them a heart whom grace so great could not awe even to decency; Christ’ s Gospel preached, His example evident, and Himself owned as Lord, and nevertheless some whom neither the hearing nor the seeing nor the owning with their lips did lift to unselfishness or stir to pity-. Therefore He who had cried, “ Come all unto Me,” was compelled to close by saying to many, “ Depart.” 2. It is a terrible ending: but one only too conceivable. For though God is love, man is free--free to turn from that love; free to be as though he had never felt it; free to put away from himself the highest, clearest, most urgent grace that God can show. But to do this is the judgment. 3. “ Lord, are there few that be saved?” The Lord did not answer the question but by bidding the questioner take heed to himself “ Strive to enter in at the strait gate,” (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)Eternal punishment I. THE OF THE WICKED. II. ITS . Certain. Terrible. Without alleviation or hope. III. THE OF ITS MORAL LESSONS. (J. Lyth, D. D.)The goodness and severity of God The public reading of the synagogue repeats once more after Isaiah 66:24, on account of its terrible import, the encouraging words of Isa 66:23 “ in order to conclude with words of comfort.” (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)