people. Whatever practical lessons may result from the chapter applicable to us, the original story, the thread of the narrative, is unquestionably Jewish. God begins the chapter, or rather the appeal, by saying: "Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord;" an appeal to all Christian people in the midst of that nation to consider the rock whence they were hewn; that is to say, to remember that once they were a mere handful, that once Abraham was a stranger in the land, and that the only freehold he could purchase in the midst of it was a grave for the bones of Sarah under the oaks of Mamre. Well then, he argues, if from so small a beginning so vast and powerful a nationality has sprung, is it unreasonable that you should expect that those grand and glowing predictions of the future glory that is to overtake you will all be fulfilled and realised in your experience also? Look to Abraham, once alone; and yet I have fulfilled the promise I made to him, so far at least that your children shall be as the stars in the firmament, and as the sand by the sea-shore in number. Then having thus shown them that he out of a small spring has produced a grand river, that out of a tiny seed has grown a magnificent harvest, he calls upon them to listen to his predictions, and not to doubt that he, whose power has been so signally exemplified in the past, retaining that power, will exemplify it to all the extent and fulness of his promise in days that are yet to come : For the Lord shall comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord." Then he addresses them

66

again: "Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation;" and he informs them: "My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust." This language is used also in the Psalms: " Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land." But here there is connected with it the conversion of the isles, or of the Gentiles; in fulfilment of that command given to the apostles: "Go and teach all nations; preach the Gospel unto every creature."

He then bids them lift up their eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth, and infer that all these are transient, but his word is immutable and everlasting. The grandest work that man can create is poor and perishing; the least word that God has spoken is enduring as himself. Our blessed Lord seems to allude to these words when he says, "Heaven and earth shall pass away; but one jot or one tittle shall not pass from my word till all be fulfilled." And Peter tells us that this shall be literally accomplished; that the heavens and the earth shall pass away with a great noise; but that we, according to his promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. It is one of the great lessons constantly taught in this inspired book that all you see is the transient; that what you believe on the authority of God is the permanent and the eternal. Now here is the distinction between faith and sight-sight must see, the hands must feel, the ears must hear, or 'to sense there is no reality; but faith embarks upon and trusts to a promise, and

leans upon the unseen, but not the unknown, which God has spoken or revealed in his own inspired word.

Then, speaking to his people he says, Why should you be afraid of the reproach of men? Why should you be afraid of their reviling? The moth shall eat them up like a garment." Yet how much are men moved and influenced by what other people will say of them. How many people do a thing because the world applauds it! and how many more refrain from doing a thing because the world condemns it! If the thing be wrong, do not do it at all; if the thing be right, do it, if the whole world should reproach you; for, says an apostle, "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of God and of glory resteth upon you." Now we must always expect in passing through this world that we shall meet with reproaches. Man is so uncharitable in his unsanctified and unregenerate state, that if it be possible to put a bad construction upon anything, he is sure to do it; whereas an enlightened and a Christian mind will always act upon that magnificent grace delineated in 1 Corinthians xiii.; if there be any chance for a good construction being put upon the course that a public character, a statesman, a Member of Parliament, or any other pursues, that good construction he will put upon it, and that good motive he will assign to it. Never assign a bad motive if there be room for a good one; the charity of the Gospel believeth all things, hopeth all things; and if we had more of that charity we should less delight in picking out the flaws in each other's character, and we should

more delight in picking out the excellences; giving man the credit, and God the glory and the praise.

Then he represents God's people, when they are doubting or hesitating, or thinking these promises are too grand ever to be realized; he represents them thus addressing God: "Art thou not he that dried the sea?" You recollect when the Israelites came to the Red Sea they heard the chariots of Pharaoh thundering in their rear, and they saw the great sea waves rising up before them in their van; they were at their wits' end; and Moses said, "Stand still, and see the salvation of God." We then read that God cleft the ocean in twain; so that the sea stood like a crystalline wall on each side of the advancing host; and that very ocean that was a splendid promenade for the children of Israel, collapsed and became the grave of all the warriors of Pharaoh. Well, says Isaiah, art thou not the same God now, armed with the same power? "Art thou not he that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?" Then if this be so, why should we hesitate in believing the promise that "the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and shall come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head; they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away?" Next he appeals to those who were hesitating, and says, "Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass ?" Why should we fear man's censure? It is changeable. Why should we so covet man's praise? It is given to-day; it is withheld to-morrow. Why should we not rather look for the praise of Him whose

praise is real, whose approbation is enduring? He adds, "I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared; the Lord of hosts is his name."

He anticipates the time when Jerusalem shall rise, and, in the language of another chapter, shall put on her beautiful garments, and shall no more be the city for the unclean to pass through; that though there be none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth, though her sons have fainted, yet the Lord pleadeth the cause of his people; he will take out of her hand the cup of trembling, and he will put that cup into the hands of those that persecute and hate her.

How splendid are the words of this prophecy! how cheering to every Christian to believe that this is but a faint photograph, sketched on a misty day, of the splendour of that new city that cometh down from heaven, whose builder and whose maker is God! What a pity that the Jew, who has such a magnificent heritage in reversion, does not see and now flee to Him who died upon the cross for our sins! for the only way from Paradise lost to Paradise regained is through Gethsemane; the only way to a crown of glory is by a cross of suffering and of shame. We pray that the day may come when God's ancient people shall perceive the truth of these things; and no longer write upon their synagogues, as I have read upon their walls in this very city: "May the Messiah soon come to his people;" but may they learn that he has come, the light that lightens the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel.