Chapter XXVII: Part 27

[1] In this parable the mystery of the Divine Providence is
laid open, its secret disclosed. _All ploughing is for
sowing; all threshing is intended for the preservation of
the grain._ When God chastens us, it is not that He means
to destroy us, but because He has set His heart on saving
us, because He has appointed us to life and not to death.
He works with discrimination. He employs various methods,
sends sorrows of all sorts and sizes, that He may adapt
Himself to every man's needs, and to all our varieties of
place, time, and circumstances. Just as the husbandman
varies his treatment of the soil, and allots to each kind
of seed a soil and place suitable to its kind; just as,
after the harvest has been gathered in, he employs only
such instruments as are best adapted for separating the
different kinds of grain from the straw and the chaff. With
like wisdom and discretion God deals with us, assigning to
each of us our proper station and lot, and, when we sin
against Him, adapting His judgments to our several needs.
The sorrows, losses, bereavements which befall us are but
as the sharp edge of the share, or the keen teeth of the
harrow, and are intended to prepare us to receive the good
seed, and to bring forth much fruit. Or again, they are
like the stroke of the flail, or the keen pressure of the
sledge, or the ponderous oppression of the waggon-wheel, or
the swift rattle of the horses' hoofs; and are designed to
separate the chaff from the grain, the worthless from the
worthy, the evil from the good in us, that we may be made
meet for the garner of God. "Cure sin and you cure sorry,"
say the reason and conscience of the world: _and the sorrow
comes that the sin may be cured,_ adds the prophet; the
very miseries that spring from evil are intended to
eradicate the evil from which they spring. The weeds call
for the plough; and the plough comes at their call; but it
comes and cuts up the weeds and the ground to which they
have taken root, only that the seeds of wholesome herbs and
the herbs of grace may be sown in the furrows. The chaff
calls for the flail, and the flail is sent, but sent only
to beat out the nourishing grain. Would that this
conception were as assured, and as familiar to us as to the
old Hebrew prophets! For, sooner or later, we shall all
have to endure sorrows, which rend our hearts as the
ploughshare rends the ground, or which bruise our hearts as
the flail bruises the corn.--_S. Cox, D.D.: Expositor,_
vol. i. pp. 89-98.

A FEAST FOR FAITH.

xxviii. 29. _This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts,
which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working._

The sentiment of the text is that _the art, and science, and skill of man are the gifts of God._ The prophet instances only agriculture, but the same principle applies to all the arts and manufactures, and in a higher degree still to those sublimer sciences which elevate the human mind, and make us acquainted with the majestic and mysterious powers of nature. The drift of the writer of the text is this, _if God thus instructs man in wisdom, how wise must He be Himself!_ If the mere rays which come from Him convey to us so much light that we are perfectly astonished at what man can do, what must be the infinite wisdom in counsel and the excellence of working which are to be discovered in God Himself! There are two things which shall occupy our attention. The first is, _the vision of God which the text presents to us;_ and the second is, _the lesson which such a vision is calculated to teach us._

+I. The vision of God which is presented to us in the text.+ The great principle of the text is that _God has a plan, and that this plan is wonderful in itself, and is found to be excellent when it is carried out._ This is illustrated 1. _in nature._ All creation is full of traces of design. "He weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance." Nothing was made without the most accurate calculation. The stars seem cast about on the floor of heaven as men might fling at random gold-dust from their hands; yet there is not a single star whose place might be altered without mischief to the whole arrangement. In the meanest animal and minutest insect there are the most admirable contrivances to suit its habits and make its condition happy. And apparent irregularity is only undiscovered order. 2. _From providence._ The great providential operations of God are all the results of His foredetermined purpose and decree. All through human history every lover of the Lord will see that the awful wheels of providence have worked with excellent regularity. Empires have fallen, but the truth has risen. Dynasties have perished, but immortal principles have conquered. 3. _Your own personal experience of that providence_ goes to prove this with equal clearness. How often have you seen that God overrules all things for your good! (H. E. I. 4015-4022). 4. The wonderful planning of the excellent Worker is seen in _the great economy of Redemption._ How marvellous that God, the Mighty Maker, should appear in human flesh and become a man, that so fallen, sinful, miserable man might be lifted up and become the son of God! When I see this great sight these words of Isaiah's ring with a bell-like music in my ears, "He is wonderful in counsel." 5. Then turning from Redemption itself, look at _the Gospel._ That Gospel is just the reverse of what human wisdom would advise. It is not "do and live," but "believe and live." 6. Then I might speak of God's plan and God's work _in inward experience._ The experience of every Christian is in some respects different from that of another, but it is always the result of God's plan. 7. Another illustration will be found _in the use of instrumentality._ It is a wonderful design of God to use one man in the conversion of another. The one is benefited while the other is blessed. 8. The grandest, illustration of all will be when, at last, _God's counsels shall be perfectly fulfilled._ Man shall burst forth into one mighty song, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!" (Rev. xix. 6).

+II. Some of the lessons from it.+--1. To the unconverted: seeing His counsel is so wondrous, I would to God _you would agree to it!_ 2. To the people of God: I want you _to agree to this in your own particular case._ 3. Brother workers, let us have a well-formed plan, and _let it be God's plan._ 4. When we know God's plan we _must remember to carry it out._ 5. When you are resolved to carry out God's plan, _joyfully expect singular assistance._--_C. H. Spurgeon._

ARIEL.

xxix. 1. _Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David
dwelt._

The word "Ariel" properly means "the Lion of God," and is elsewhere used of the great brazen altar on which the sacred fire blazed, and which might be said to devour as a lion the sacrifices presented on it to God. In our text, however, "Ariel" is used as a name for Jerusalem. The fact that David had dwelt in it is mentioned, not by way of historical reference, but as aggravating the guiltiness of the city, and as in some way proving that it might expect to be visited with more than common vengeance. In what way is the fact that Jerusalem could be described as "the city where David dwelt" a justification of the woes which the prophet was about to denounce against it? The answer is easy: _We are answerable to God for every blessing received at His hands, so that we cannot possess a single privilege which will not, if neglected or abused, be brought against us as a charge and heighten our condemnation._ This is as true of communities as of individuals: and the fact that Jerusalem had profited so little, morally and spiritually, from David's residence in it was a clear aggravation of its guilt.--1. +David had dwelt in Jerusalem as a king.+ As such, his authority and his example might have been expected to have made a deep impression on the religious life of the people. Consider how powerful is the example of men in exalted stations.--2. +David had dwelt in Jerusalem as a poet.+ Consider how powerful is the influence of song on national character, and how truly David's psalms were national songs. As every English child is taught loyalty by the notes of "God save the Queen," every Jewish child was instructed in piety by the well-known strains of the sweet singer of Israel. Surely if anything could have kept religion alive in Jerusalem, it would have been this writing it into the poetry this weaving it into the music of the nation. It was like taking possession of the strings of a nation's heart, and providing that their vibrations should respond only to truth.--3. +The memory of David had long been a blessing to Jerusalem.+ For his sake evil had been averted from it (2 Kings xix. 34). To pronounce a woe upon the Jerusalem or the city where David had dwelt was to tell the Jews that the conservative influence of that monarch's piety would no longer be of any avail for them; that even as children, though long spared in recompense by the righteousness of their fathers, may reach a point at which they have filled the measure of their guilt, and at which, therefore, they can receive no further favour as the offspring of those whom God hath loved; so their iniquity had reached such a height that forbearance, long manifested for the sake of the most pious of kings, was at length wearied out, and there remained no further place for intercession.

The principle involved in this passage is applicable alike to _communities_ and _individuals._ 1. It is made the charge against Jerusalem that it was the city where David had dwelt--the plain inference from this being that it was a great aggravation of the national wickedness that so righteous a prince, so zealous a supporter of true religion as David, had sat for years upon the throne of Judah. By parity of reasoning, if there have been raised up in our own country men mighty in the exhibiting and establishing truth, and if in the lapse of time we grow indifferent to the truth, and perhaps even half inclined to the errors which were exposed and expelled, will it not be made a matter of accusation against us that ours is the land in which those worthies dwelt? Suppose, for example, we were to undervalue the Reformation, suppose we were to think lightly of the errors of Popery, then might our text be regarded as denouncing special woe on ourselves--woe to England--to England, the country where Wickliffe, and Cranmer, and Ridley dwelt! For is it not to be questioned that we shall have much to answer for it, after God had raised up Reformers, and they, with incalculable labour and at incalculable cost, had cleansed our Church from the abominations of Popery, we should in any measure let go the truth and make alliance or truce with the tenets or practices of Rome. This same principle is applicable 2. to many a parish in which some devoted minister of Christ has laboured, and 3. to many a household in which the example and teaching of godly parents have been set at naught.--_H. Melvill, B.D.: Sermons Preached during the Latter Years of his Life,_ vol. i. pp. 125-140.

DREAMING.

xxix. 7, 8. _Shall be as a dream of a night vision, &c._

The reference in these two verses is to the threatened attack on Jerusalem by the Assyrian invasion in the reign of Hezekiah. They take us to the time the invader had taken all the other fortified places in the kingdom; and now his general, Rabshakeh, was encamped before the capital, with the confident expectation of easily taking it. It would seem as if, the requisite preparations having been made, that immense army had retired to rest, with the intention of making the assault on the next day. We can imagine them in their dreams picturing to themselves the scenes of the approaching capture, the shouting, the onset, the slaughter, the devastation, the prisoners, the booty, the triumph, the glory--scenes, however, _these_ which they were destined never to witness! For, in the dead of night, the Destroying Angel went forth, and in the morning nothing remained of 185,000 of them but their lifeless corpses. So ended their dreams!

Even as the army of Sennacherib was dreaming of a conquest which had no real existence, _so are there multitudes of persons now dreaming that they are accomplishing the great object of their existence who are no more doing so than if they lay wrapped in the slumbers of the night._ I propose to speak of such persons under three heads of PLEASURE, WORK, RELIGION.

I. PLEASURE. I am not condemning pleasure. Pleasure has its place in every human life, just as truly as work and religion. I am speaking of a life _devoted_ to pleasure. Nor do I speak of the grosser pleasures--these shock us at once, others delude us--but of those whose great aim in life is to please _themselves:_ who, in respect to any proposed course of action, never think of asking, "Is it my _duty?_" But what is there to show that such a life is only a dream-like substitute for real life? 1. _It leaves our best faculties unused._ Can it be believed that God made us "a little lower than the angels" that we might spend our lives in pursuits which hardly require the faculties of a man? 2. A life of pleasure is a _selfish life._ Where pleasure is the habitual object of pursuit there _must_ be selfishness. Wherever pleasure is the great object of life, _the interest of others will be held in low esteem._ 3. A life of pleasure also exposes to temptation. 4. It unfits men for another world. We shall never be ready for heaven if we never think seriously about it; and pleasure pre-eminently withdraws our thoughts from that world (H. E. I., 5059).

II. Another form of the dream is the impression that WORK, _i.e., secular occupation, is the great business of life._ Work is not to be spoken of without respect. 1. The _Bible praises work._ "Six days shalt thou labour." 2. _It keeps us from dependence on others._ 3. _It benefits those dependent upon us._ 4. It is good as enabling a man _to help his neighbours._ 5. Good as giving a man _influence_ by means of the wealth it produces. 6. Good _as keeping us out of much evil._ Intemperance is usually the vice of the idle. So of other vices. But still it has its dangerous side. It shuts out the other world by the undue prominence it gives to this. It diminishes our sympathy with the suffering, and makes us unconcerned about the kingdom of Christ. Noble as work is when compared with idleness, it is not the great business of life. God did not endow us with intellect, heart, and spirit, with relations to Himself, to our fellows, and to immortality, that we might spend our lives in a practical denial of them all. A life of mere work is a dream as truly as a life of pleasure.

III. Another thing which men are apt to consider the great business of life is RELIGION. In many cases "religion" is little more than amusement; in others superstition; in others mere sentiment. There is a "religion" which is merely an affair of the intellect; another where it is hereditary, where a man follows a form of religion because his fathers did so before him. It is forgotten that religion is a life. Religious knowledge, beliefs, feelings, exercises are but the scaffolding and not the building; means to an end, not the end itself. The great end of life is not to be _religious,_ but to be _good._ True religion has two sides: it first puts us right with God and then with our fellow-men. We love God first, and only then do we love man and work for his good.

The prophet tells us how the dreams of these Assyrians vanished. Even such will be the disappointment of those who are dreaming away the grand possibilities of the present life.--_B. P. Pratten, B.A.: Christian World Pulpit,_ vol. iii. pp. 187-191.

AWAKENED FROM THE DREAM.

xxix. 8. _It shall be even as when an hungry man dreameth,
and behold he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is
empty._

This passage describes the disappointment of the Assyrians, whose imagination had feasted on the conquest of Jerusalem. The simile is striking. A man in extreme hunger or thirst will dream that his craving is satisfied. He awakes to feel the privation more acutely. The text may be applied to the case of a man disappointed with the world, awakened to a sense of its emptiness, concerned for his soul. There is a sense of sin, danger, need. On the day of Pentecost the awakened cried, "What shall we do?" Thus the Philippian Jailor. We will address this state of mind--

+I. In words of sympathy.+ The awakened solicitude is justified by--1. the value of the soul; 2. the fact of sin; 3. the reality of danger; 4. the provision of the gospel; 5. the call of God; 6. the unsatisfactoriness of neglect; 7. the flight of time.

+II. In words of caution.+ 1. Beware of relapsing into indifference (H. E. I., 1479-1490). Many are awakened and anxious, but it does not endure. Herod heard John gladly and did many things. Transient impressions are like Ephraim's goodness (Hos. vi. 4). Some are excitable but fickle. When the charm of novelty departs, their enthusiasm departs. Religion experiences similar treatment. Nor is it from yourself alone that you are exposed to this peril. You will meet with those who will endeavour to repress your earnestness. They will commend a moderate attention to religion, but will counsel you to wait until you are older, &c. A quiet, sober, decent attention to religious duties is well enough, but they cannot see the necessity for making religion the primary concern. Beware of such advisers. This is a matter in which earnestness is demanded. Keep fresh and vigorous in your mind the considerations by which you were first awakened. Salvation is either the supremely important thing the gospel declares, or it is nothing. Is the sick man too anxious for health, too attentive to the physician's directions? When the starving man has dreamed of food, does any one repress his eagerness for the reality when, on awaking, he finds it was only a dream? Beware lest either unsympathising friends or your own weakness administer the opiate that will send you back into the slumber of indifference from which you have been awakened. 2. Beware of assuming that you are converted because you are awakened. Awakening is not conversion. Conviction is not conversion; it does not necessarily end up in it. Pharaoh said, "I have sinned." It is a hopeful circumstance; a step on the road; attention called to the disease; disappearance of the dream. The awakened on the day of Pentecost were directed respecting conversion. 3. Beware of finding comfort anywhere else than in the gospel. Performance of religious duties; prayers; peaceful feeling, you know not why; impression that you are forgiven. It is untempered mortar; it will not bind the walls. Nothing less than faith in Jesus.

+III. In words of counsel.+ Comply at once with the call of the Gospel. Christ's work is all-sufficient. Faith and repentance is submission at both points. The call is--1. Gracious. 2. Immediate. Do not delay; do not wait for the Spirit nor anything else. You are a man, not a machine. You must obey the Gospel. The Spirit is working with the Gospel.--_John Rawlinson._

THE FUTILITY OF FIGHTING AGAINST MOUNT ZION.

(_Missionary Sermon._)

xxix. 8. _So shall the multitude of the nations be that
fight against Mount Zion._

Nothing tends to inspirit exertion in any great enterprise so much as the certain prospect of success. Hope is the spur of action, the very life of enterprise. Hence to encourage the fearful and animate the brave in the culture of their own piety, and especially in their efforts to extend the kingdom of the Redeemer, there are given in God's Word the amplest promises of Divine help and assurances of ultimate success. But for "the sure word of prophecy," the servants of God would long since have trembled for the ark of the Lord, and have despaired of the salvation of the race. But delays to us are not delays with God. Long ago He has declared, "Yet have I set my King on my holy hill of Zion." "But we see not as yet all things put under Him." The foot of His Providence falls too soft for mortal ear to mark. While He walks on the great ocean of human affairs as Jesus walked on the Galilean sea, His footsteps leave no traces behind. But yet He never stands still. "My father worketh hitherto." His progress is certain. In reference to the spread of His Gospel it may be said, "In such an hour as ye think not the Son of man shall come." At His approach all opposition is fruitless, all resistance vain. Every obstacle shall vanish, as a dream is forgotten when the dreamer awaketh.

This passage suggests--

+I. The number and might of the enemies of the Gospel.+ It is always unwise to underrate the forces of the enemy. Injury has been done to the cause of missions by this action. Good men in the ardour of their zeal seemed to speak as though heathendom was to be won by one new crusade, and that the walls of Satan's kingdom would fall flat at a single blast of their rams' horns. But Scripture takes opposite ground, and intimates that there must be a continuous and persistent struggle. Our great General does not conquer in a single campaign; He goes forth "conquering and to conquer." These numerous and powerful enemies of Christ's kingdom arise from our own corrupt nature; from the peculiar circumstances of the heathen world; from every class of society, and are perpetually set in motion by the powers of darkness. Though they are "the multitude of all the nations," they have one prince, "the prince of the powers of darkness." To prevent our forming exaggerated pictures of success, let us remember: 1. _That the original enmity of the human heart is always and everywhere the same._ Every sinful passion of the human heart starts up an armed enemy against Christ and His truth. If at home after centuries of Christian work, the obstacles to the gospel are so great, how much more formidable must they be in pagan lands! 2. _The power of Satan is at all times the same._ And if here he rules supreme in the children of disobedience, what must his power be in those heathen lands where he is so strongly entrenched in superstition, idolatry and prejudices, crimes and passions of men confederated with him since Adam fell! 3. _The world at large, in its spirit and pursuits, is decidedly hostile._ Even in our own country, how few can be looked upon as the genuine disciples of Christ, the true soldiers of the Cross! How mighty the forces sent out even here against the Lord and against His anointed! This part of the earth is still in the hands of the wicked.

+II. The utter futility and certain overthrow of their projects.+ 1. _Their schemes are all fallacious and visionary._ "It shall be as when a hungry man dreameth." What more delusive than a dream! 2. _Their disappointment is certain._ The history of the past is against them. Past history has verified the words of the Master, "And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. xvi. 18). The prophecy of the covenant of grace, the very progress of civilisation, but more than all the very existence of God, is against them. "The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice" (Ps. xcvii. 1).

+III. The glory that shall rise from thence to Zion's King+ (Ps. lxxii. 10, 11, 15). His wisdom will baffle all their designs, His power crush every hostile force, and His kingdom rise on the ruin of their dark confederacies (1 Cor. xv. 25).--_Samuel Thodey._

LIP-SERVICE INSTEAD OF HEART-WORSHIP.

xxix. 13, 14. _Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this
people drew near to Me with their mouth, &c._

The charge against the people is clear; it is that of a heartless religion, formal and full of hypocrisy. "Their fear toward me is taught by the _precept of men._" That is, their religion is a mechanical following of human directions, instead of the spontaneous uprising of a heart inspired with the fear and love of God.

+I. The charge against the Jews in Isaiah's day.+ It is twofold--the removal of the heart and the substitution of a lip-service. _The removal of the heart._ God demands the service of the heart (Prov. xxiii. 26; Jer. xxix. 13). The Psalmist felt how reasonable was this demand when he said, "I will praise Thee, O Lord, with the _whole heart_" (Ps. ix. 1). A man may do some things with a slack hand and yet be blameless, but to steer an Atlantic steamer in a storm, he needs the whole force of both hands. Unless our whole soul be in God's service, our worship will be thrown back upon us with the withering words, "Who hath demanded _this_ at your hands?" This worthless thing! "Bring no more vain oblations." How strikingly our Lord put this principle of supremacy (Luke xiv. 26): "In every man's heart I must be supreme, or therein I cannot dwell." Infidels must ignorantly misread this passage. One of their counts against Christianity is that it frowns on family joys; while every day's facts prove that the truest Christian is the best husband, father, &c. God being first in a man's heart, that heart is humanised, its generosity enlarged, so as to take in, not only the family, but "all mankind." But some, after having given their hearts to the Lord, withdraw them from His service (Matt. xiii. 22; 2 Tim. iv. 10).

+II. This charge has been true in every generation.+ The heart's weakness and the world's force are ever the same. This evil existed in our Lord's day (Matt. xv. 8, 9). For long years before the Reformation whole nations of Christendom presented to God a mere formal worship. And to-day, of how many congregations may the words of Ezekiel be said! (Ezek. xxxiii. 31).

+III. The worthless substitution presented to God.+ "And with their lips do honour Me." The instinct of worship is so strong within the soul that men everywhere worship something. It may be the hideous fetish of the African or the artistic statue of the refined Greek, but something the Greek and the barbarian must have. When that young mother, in the days of Solomon, arose in the morning and found a dead child by her side instead of her own living one, how severe must have been the shock! Had there been no child by her side, no dead substitute, she might have thought that her own child lived somewhere and might sometime be found. But that dead substitute at first nearly killed her by despair. It is bad to withdraw a living heart from the Lord, but to substitute a dead one is first to rob God and then wickedly insult Him (H. E. I., 5066-5070).

+IV. The threat+ (ver. 14). The threat is that of _cherished expectations bitterly disappointed._ In times of extremity, full of confidence in the wisdom of their leaders, they shall seek light and leading, and behold nothing but darkness and folly. How often have the leaders of a nation been stricken with folly, and, like a blinded steersman, have driven the ship to destruction! "The wisdom of their wise men shall perish." Disappointment! It is only another expression about the foolish man disappointed in his false security, his house resting on the sand, and of those who "make lies their refuge, and under falsehood hide themselves." The threat is that "the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place." Though men may not admit that their worship is mere lip-service, and their neighbours not see their hypocrisy, yet to the eye of God

"The painted hypocrites are known
Through the disguise they wear."

--_William Parkes, F.R.G.S._

Two conditions under which religion is in a declining state. 1. When the ordinances of Divine worship are generally neglected. 2. When the attendance on worship, however large, does not represent a religious state of mind, but is simply an outward performance. The latter was the state into which religion had fallen in Judea. The religious observances of the people were not inspired by knowledge of God's Word, but by human authority. The text--

+I. Describes a great privilege.+ "This people draw near me." God speaks after the manner of men. When we desire to speak closely to a friend we get near him. This is coming close to God (Ps. lxxiii. 28; Heb. x. 22; Heb. vii. 19; James iv. 8). Is it not a wonder that the Almighty permits us to draw nigh to Him? Men make it difficult for their inferiors to obtain access; but the Infinite and Eternal One makes Himself accessible to His creatures. Not only so; He has made a way for creatures stained by sin. The Lord Jesus Christ stands between God and man by virtue of His atoning death and interceding life. The guilty, condemned, utterly impure, have only to renounce their sinfulness and avail themselves of this new and living way. If there is truthfulness and sincerity, they will be welcome. In the sanctuary, in meeting for prayer, in the family, in the closet, in the round of daily duty, we may draw near to God. Do you know anything of the blessedness of this privilege? Enjoyment, comfort, purity, fitness for intercourse with men, for the battle of life, for the work of the world, do they not all come through this privilege?

+II. Points out a serious abuse+ (ver. 13). Their sin was not the abandonment of worship. That is a measure of ungodliness not reached without a long process. Unsettled faith, indifference to spiritual blessings, habits of sinful indulgence, conduct to it. What multitudes have reduced themselves to this predicament? But it was not their case. They had not relinquished the ordinances of worship; they observed them. But there was a twofold defect: the heart was absent and the motive was wrong. 1. _Something was present that ought to have been absent._ "Their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men." Their piety was only out of respect for some human authority. Our Lord quoted this part of the text in His exposure of externalism as exemplified by the Pharisees of His time (Matt. xv. 9). Human authority in religion is here distinctly denounced. One man may hand the Word of God to another, but no man must impose his notions of religion on another by his mere authority. A man's religious service must be the result of his personal conviction. If he is religious because some one else is, or because it is respectable, or because it may promote his worldly interest, or because it is recognised and imposed by the authority of the state, it is not really the honour and worship of God at all, but of man. 2. _Something was absent that ought to have been present._ "But have removed their heart far from Me." God must be worshipped with the heart. Apart from the outward expression of inward reality, the movement of the lips and the utterance of the mouth are nothing. Real worship is the consent of the understanding, will, affections, to the homage which is paid by the lips. Without this they are mockery, as when one who stands in the king's presence is alienated from his allegiance.

+III. Utters a solemn warning+ (ver. 14). Their religion was only the counsel of man. It was unavailing for its purpose, and would come to nothing (1 Cor. i. 19). Such worship is: 1. _Unacceptable._ God is not deceived. Realise the terribleness of being rejected. He says, "It is not the kind of worship I require." After all your wisdom (Isa. i. 11-15). 2. _Unsuccessful._ The prayers offered only by the lips are not heard. No answer comes, no blessing descends. This comes of the policy which followed the precepts of men. 3. _Unstable._ After such religion reaction may be expected. There is no inward life to sustain the outward exercises. Does not the test point to that deeper spiritual blindness which follows the attempt to put the wisdom of man in the place of the wisdom of God?

In religion and at its worship take care: 1. That there is _sincerity._ See that the heart is right with God. "Ye must be born again." 2. That there is _simplicity._ Let there be no superfluous externalism in worship; only what is necessary to the suitable expression of the heart's worship. 3. That there is _earnestness._

And if a merely formal worship is rejected, what is the predicament of those who do not even offer that, but who live without any acknowledgement of God?--_John Rawlinson._

THE JOY OF THE MEEK.

xxix. 19. _The meek also shall increase their joy in the
Lord._

I. THE PERSONS HERE DESCRIBED.

Meekness does not mean timidity (2 Tim. i. 7); not the craven spirit of the coward, but the quiet power of the strong man (Prov. xxviii. 1). It does not mean the absence of courage, but the absence of that ignorant and arrogant self-sufficiency which Peter showed when he said, "Though all men forsake Thee, yet will not I." It is that calmness of spirit which grows not out of reliance on self, but out of reliance on God. It is recorded of one whose courage at times had flashed up like a consuming fire, "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." His meekness was not feebleness, but a calm strength; quiet endurance in the doing of duty under difficulties. He was not provoked by the wrong-headedness or irritated by the ingratitude of the nation he wished to serve, but he quietly bore their stubbornness, and persisted in doing them good against their will. Hence a quiet doing and a quiet bearing of the will of God is one consistent in this quality of the mind "meekness." It does not mean that equableness of disposition which comes from nature, so much as that calmness of spirit which comes from grace. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. v. 23). This quality of mind in God's people is shown: 1. _In their intercourse with God._ In His presence they manifest "a humble, lowly, and contrite heart." Theirs is not the spirit of the Pharisee, but the lowly contrition of the publican. Not "Stand by, for I am holier than thou," but "I am not worthy," &c. In a ready acceptance of the doctrines of grace and salvation through a Saviour crucified. Not like the Pharisees, who scorned the Saviour "as a root out of a dry ground," but like those few elect souls, just and devout, who "were waiting for the consolation of Israel." Christianity is a discipline of humility. In making men Christ-like it makes them meek. Jesus was meek and lowly, and He promises to those like Himself rest of soul. 2. _In their submission to the allotments of Providence_ (Job xiv. 14, xiii. 15; Micah vii. 9; Lev. x. 3; 1 Sam. iii. 18; H. E. I. 157, 158, &c.) 3. _In their deportment before their fellow-men._ They do not arrogate to themselves that superiority which despises and neglects others, but obey the apostolic injunctions (1 Pet. ii. 17, iii. 8).

II. THE BLESSINGS GOD CONFERS UPON THEM.

1. _He saves them._ Often in outward troubles they become the charge and care of His providence (Zeph. ii. 3). How wonderfully was Moses saved from the strivings and rebellions of the people! Leaving his vindication in the hands of the Great Judge, God took up his cause; and when the whole camp was against him, God delivered him. How wonderfully was Joseph delivered from the pit and the prison, and Jeremiah in the siege! But always are they saved from soul-destruction. "Saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation." 2. _He beautifies them._ "He will beautify the meek with salvation." By the robe of righteousness, the inward adorning of the soul in every virtue, by the special manifestation of His mercy when most needed (chap. lxi. 3), by giving them that esteem and commanding influence which often attracts and impresses their fellow-men. 3. _He makes it appear that He delights in them._ "The Lord taketh pleasure in His people."

III. THEIR GRATEFUL RESPONSE.

"The poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." They rejoice in His salvation; they praise Him in voice, and heart, and life (Isa. lxi. 10).--_Samuel Thodey._

RELIGIOUS JOY.

xxix. 19. _The meek shall increase their joy._

It is commonly said that while religion is man's duty and his interest, it is not productive of enjoyment. Yet the Bible is full of joyful expressions, and of exhortations to joy. It even meets the sorrows of humanity and brings joy out of them. Its association of joy with conditions not joyful is remarkable (Matt. v. 3-5). Observe the contrasts in our passage (vers. 18, 19). Circumstances are mentioned which amount to the removal of all alarm (ver. 20). From the outward fact, the faith of the persons here described ruses to the hand that accomplished it.

Our subject is religious joy.

I. THE SOURCE WHENCE IT IS DERIVED.

"The Lord. The Holy One of Israel." We rejoice in what we have desired, hoped for, and obtained. This does not exclude enjoyment of the blessings of the present life. They are closely associated with it. They suggest it. We ask whence they come. The habit of regarding earthly advantage as gifts from the hand of God keeps the Divine character before us as that of a Being to be regarded with pleasure.

Thus, if we ascend to the spiritual region and contemplate the salvation of man, it includes the compassionate love of God, which gave His Son to impoverishment, suffering, and death; full forgiveness of sin; the various influences of the Divine Spirit; the elevated spiritual privileges and hopes bestowed on fallen men. All this came from the grace of God; it originated in His nature. "God is love." But the God whose nature can be read in this way is not a God to repel, but attract; not a god of whom to stand in terrified awe, but a God in whom to rejoice.

And this result emerges if we take a more direct look at the Divine character. We are supplied with verbal asservations as well as historical illustrations. We read of the Almighty, the All-wise, the All-righteous, the All-holy, as well as the All-loving. Power, even with justice, would fail to produce joy. But a God of power, and love, and holiness can be a delight, because He can be loved.

But no object of delight can be considered apart from its subject. Nothing is universally delightful. Before you can enjoy anything you must have sympathy with it, a taste for it. There are people who cannot enjoy the finest concert. There must be the heart that is capable of joy in the Holy One of Israel, the heart of "the meek, the poor among men;" the heart changed by the grace of God.

II. THE ELEMENTS OF WHICH IT CONSISTS.

We know our feelings better by experience than by analysis. We can imagine a father so utterly unsatisfactory in his character and conduct that his own children are ashamed to mention his name. We can imagine one whose kindness, whose faultless conduct, whose commanding intellect render them proud of his name. They think of him with pleasure. Thus the poor among men rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

If you attempt to examine, you will find that your joy in God is compounded of several other feelings, which, like tributary streams, swell with the river of your pleasure. 1. _Gratitude._ For experience of the Divine goodness. It expresses itself in thanks and songs. You think with pleasure of one for whom you are grateful. 2. _Affection._ Love is closely akin to gratitude. And God has taken away all cause of alienation. The love of God in Christ possesses the heart. Love delights in its object (Rom. v. 11). 3. _Confidence._ We trust Him entirely. In present distresses or future fears. If distrust crosses our minds, we dismiss it as inconsistent with the truth of which we have satisfied ourselves. Now if there is perfect confidence in Him on whom we depend, we cannot fail to rejoice in Him. 4. _Approbation._ We find the Holy One of Israel a Being in whom we can be infinitely satisfied. At no point, in no respect, could we desire Him to be different from what He is. Nor is it the admiration sometimes expressed for characters there is no desire to imitate. Christians earnestly desire likeness to God. Putting all these together, there must be joy in the Lord.

III. THE AUGMENTATION WHICH IT RECEIVES.

"The meek shall increase their joy in the Lord." Earthly joy is short-lived. The objects from which it proceeds are liable to change and perish. Many of these, even if they continue, fall. They become flat by satiety and continuity. We outgrow them as a child outgrows his toys. But Christian joy is permanent and tends to increase, because its object remains the same for ever, while His fulness is ever unfolding itself. Knowing and experiencing more of God, there is more joy in Him. Thus there is a constant increase--in the _present_ world, and in the _world to come._

Would you enjoy this privilege? Then make it possible. Possess the character. Ye must be born again. Do not indulge sin. Keep Christ in your thoughts. Thus you will be superior to earthly enjoyments.--_John Rawlinson._

THE ORIGIN AND THE END OF SIN.

xxx. 1-3. _Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord,
that take counsel, but not of Me, &c._

The policy inculcated by the Divine Ruler on the Jewish nation was a policy of isolation. Now, this would be a self-destructive policy. But the circumstances of that nation were peculiar. It was not a missionary to the world, but it was a witness. When it formed alliances with surrounding nations, its witness became indistinct. It often dropped its testimony and adopted the idolatries against which its protest should have been uniform. This prophecy is against the alliance with Egypt. Assyria was about to invade that country. It was feared she would take Judea on the way. Now, the Lord was its defence; there was therefore no need to seek assistance from any other power whatsoever. It was a rebellious and unbelieving spirit that sought this alliance. The politicians sought a covering from the impending storm; but they did not seek it by Divine counsel. They were adding another sin to the number against them. It would be shame and confusion at the end. Egypt would be unwilling or unable to help.

Human nature is ever the same. Here is a representation of the way in which sinners act, and of its consequences.

+I. All sin proceeds from neglect and defiance of God's counsel.+

1. It is implied that God has counselled or may be consulted respecting human conduct. By the prophet He had declared against the alliance with Egypt. In the written word we have His will. It does not deal with our modern life and circumstances in detail. Impossible. But we have what is better; principles of action which we are to apply to circumstances. No one ever long in a moral difficulty, if he honestly apply these principles. Every act which is of the nature of evil is forbidden. Many sinful acts are forbidden by name. We have the example of the Son of God. We have the most inspiring motives; gratitude, love, hope, fear. A revolution of our nature in the direction of God's holiness is demanded. The ministry of the Word expounds and enforces these great principles. Men do not sin for want of counsel from God.

2. Our text charges men with acting on other counsel than the Divine. The charge is twofold. (1.) _Neglect of the counsel they ought to have sought._ Sincere desire to be right would apply to the Divine Word in relation to all the conduct of life. How many adopt and act upon the principle that it shall guide everything? Is not its authority discounted? When tempted to the questionable or sinful, but advantageous, how many, with steady clearness of moral vision, look straight at God's counsel? As to the ministry of the Word, one part of the function of which is to keep men's moral perceptions clear, how many absent themselves from it entirely! (2.) _Seeking the counsel they ought not to have sought._ They sought counsel of their own inclinations. It was a foregone conclusion. They _wished_ to go down into Egypt. If they consulted, it was, as often happens, with those inclined in the same way. Men are secretly conscious of alienation from God, which instinctively dislikes His recommendations. Man's moral nature is unhinged; and he turns from God anywhither. The maxims of the world, the opinions of associates, considerations of worldly interest, conspire to the rejection of His counsel. Micaiah must be imprisoned if he prophesy evil, although it be true.

+II. Sin is cumulative and growing.+

"That they may add sin to sin." Sin is rarely single (H. E. I., 4507-4509). A rope is twined from many threads. The Jewish people committed one sin by forsaking the counsel of God, another in trusting to the help of Egypt. Some substances have an affinity for each other. So have moral elements. Sins have a fearfully attractive and accumulative power. The youth wanders from the house of God. Conscience is stifled. Amusement is sought. Loose companions are cultivated. Restraint is gradually thrown off. Fraud is necessary. Fraud requires falsehood. One falsehood requires another. Sin is added to sin. Soon as a sin is committed it drops the seed of another, and so onward in terrible progression. Add grain of sand to grain until it becomes a mountain. Money is scraped together by care and labour, but sins rush to each other with mutual attraction. If you could have foreseen the growth of your own sins, surely you would have refrained. Count the sins of your life. They are added up in God's book.

+III. Every sin contains the germ of its own punishment.+

"Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion." Sin makes promises which it fails to perform. You are disappointed. This is part of the punishment. Punishment is often appropriate, growing out of the sin. Sometimes this is palpable, as in the case of sensual lusts. Oftener subtle. Punishment accumulates, as sin does. There is a treasuring up of wrath (H. E. I., 4603-4614). Will you continue to accumulate it? or will you pause, cease? You must repent. Do not hug your chains. You must cry for mercy. You must yield. You must repair to the cross.--_John Rawlinson._

STRENGTH IN QUIETNESS.[1]

xxx. 7. _Their strength is to sit still._

There is a sense in which "sitting still" is not our strength, but our destruction. To sit still in sin and unbelief is the practice and the ruin of the unconverted. To such men, exhortations of a precisely opposite character must be addressed. There is a sense too in which there is to be no "sitting still" even for the righteous (Phil. ii. 12, 13; 2 Pet. i. 5-10; Heb. iv. 11). To understand our text, we must acquaint ourselves with the circumstances which gave occasion to it. The Israelites were under the special protection and guardianship of God. Many and great were the deliverances which He wrought for them. Yet, when in difficulty and danger, they thought more of man's arm than of His. Now threatened by the Assyrians, where did they turn for help? To Egypt--to that very people who had once so cruelly oppressed their forefathers! To make sure of having it, they sent to Egypt large sums of money. It was in rebuke of such foolish ingratitude to God that our text was written. "Their strength," said the Lord, "is to sit still,"--to forbear, that is, from sending off for help to man, and to "sit still" quietly at home, relying on the help of God. This was their strength, for let them but do this and then they had a stronger with them than all that were against them.

To-day the believer in Christ Jesus is often tempted to a sin very similar to that of Israel, and to him this admonition is equally applicable and important. In a more especial manner than Israel of old he is hidden under the shadow of his Lord. And yet _he_ also is strongly tempted, in more ways than one, to make flesh his arm, whilst his heart departeth from the Lord. He is often tempted thus to do in reference--+I. To the everlasting salvation of his soul.+ Satan tempts him to look off to other confidences, as if Christ were insufficient; to look out for something in himself, which he may boast of and depend upon. But in Christ there is everything the sinner wants (Col. ii. 10; 1 Cor. i. 30). +II. To temporal difficulties and dangers.+ The Christian is authorised to use all proper means for his deliverance. It would be tempting God, not trusting Him, to neglect those remedies or those precautions which He has placed within our power, and expect to be delivered by a miracle (H. E. I., 169, 170). Yet he must, in a sense, "sit still." He must place his whole dependence on his God, and not on any plans which his own prudence may suggest to him; nor must he resort to any means of safety or deliverance which would be inconsistent with the rule of duty laid down for him in Scripture (H. E. I., 171-178). _Asa,_ 2 Chron. xiv. 11; _Jehoshaphat,_ 2 Chron. xx. 12; _Hezekiah,_ 2 Chron. xxxii. 7, 8. Let these worthies of old teach us what a blessed thing it is, in times of difficulty and of danger, to wait calmly upon God; using means, indeed, such as God may put within our reach, yet not abusing them by making them our staff. +III. To seasons of affliction.+ Then it is most eminently true that the believer's strength is to "sit still." How is he to do so? By submitting himself patiently and humbly to the chastening rod without a murmuring word upon his lips, or a murmuring thought within his heart; by acknowledging the faithfulness and wisdom of the dispensation; and by waiting the Lord's time for the removal of it. _Job,_ Job i. 21; _Eli,_ 1 Sam. iii. 18; _David,_ Ps. xxxix. 9. Not to "sit still" under the chastening rod will only make our case the worse; but he who waits upon God has a way of comfort and deliverance opened to him (Isa. xli. 10, xxvi. 3). +IV. To time of provocation.+ He is affronted and injured. Shall he turn himself about to see how he may revenge himself? No; his strength is to "sit still," to forbear for recompensing evil with evil, and to commit his cause patiently and calmly to his God. David did so in more instances than one; and the Lord took up the quarrel of His servant, avenged him of his adversaries, and set him up on high above them (Rom. xii. 19-26).

In regard to all these things we must "sit still" in faith, in hope, in resignation to the blessed will of God. For the grace that is needed to enable us to do so, let us have recourse to Him who can teach us "quietness and confidence," to the Spirit who gives faith and consolation, who can make the soul to rest in Christ, and say to all its troubled feelings, "Peace, be still!"--_Arthur Roberts, M.A.: Plain Sermons, Second Series,_ vol. i. pp. 31-39.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See also CHRISTIAN QUIETNESS, verse 15.

DISLIKE TO MINISTERIAL FIDELITY.

xxx. 9-11. _This is a rebellious people, &c._