Chapter VIII: Part 8

"The light of the Lord" streams upon us from His Word (Ps. cxix. 105). The knowledge of God and of His holy will which the Bible imparts to us is the meridian sun which casts his rays on the cold scenes of our earthly career. +I. The religion of the Bible illumines.+ Into how many errors did unaided human reason fall, when the nature of God and of His operations was the subject of its inquiries![1] Did not the wisest grope in darkness? Did they not conceive absurdities, even when man and his fate were the subject of their inquiries?[2] How full, clear, and steady is the light which the Scriptures cast upon these and other great subjects of human thought! +II. The religion of the Bible warms.+ That God is great and all-powerful some philosophers imagined before the divine light of inspired truth shone forth; but the human heart remained cold, and felt in itself no point of contact and union with so exalted a Being. Until God said, "I am your Father," we were as orphans in a strange land; but then at once the world became to us as a parent's dwelling, and our heart began to warm with love towards God and man. +III. The religion of the Bible vivifies.+ It animates and restores the weary, the dying! +IV. The religion of the Bible blesses+--now,[3] and for ever (1 Tim. iv. 8).--_G. Salomon, Twelve Sermons,_ pp. 1-24.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Men who seek God by reason and natural strength (though we
do not deny common notions and general impressions of a
sovereign power) are like mariners who voyaged before the
invention of the compass, who were but coasters, and
unwillingly left the sight of the land. Such are they who
would arrive at God by this world, and contemplate Him only
in His creatures and seeming demonstration. Certainly every
creature shows God, as a glass; but glimmeringly and
transitorily, by the frailty both of the receiver and
beholder; ourselves have His image, as medals, permanently
and preciously delivered. But by these meditations we get
no further than to know what He doth, not what He
is.--_Donne,_ 1573-1631.

None but the true God can discover [make known] what the
true worship of God is. As that glorious eye of heaven is
not to be seen but by its own proper light,--a million of
torches cannot show us the sun: so it is not all the
natural reason in the world that can either discover what
God is, or what worship He expects, without Divine and
supernatural revelation from Himself.--_Arrowsmith,_
1602-1659.

[2] Reason sees that man is ignorant, guilty, mortal,
miserable, transported with vain passions, tormented with
accusations of conscience, but it could not redress those
evils. Corrupt nature is like an imperfect building that
lies in rubbish: the imperfection is visible but not the
way to finish it; for through ignorance of the first design
every one follows his own fancy, whereas, when the
Architect comes to finish His own project, it appears
regular and beautiful. Thus the various directions of
philosophers to recover fallen man out of his ruins, and to
raise him to his first state, were vain. Some glimmerings
they had that the happiness of a reasonable nature
consisted in its union with God, but in order to this they
propounded such means as were not only ineffectual, but
opposite. Such is the pride and folly of carnal wisdom,
that to bring God and man together, it advances man, but
depresses God.--_Bates,_ 1625-1699.

All the days of sinful nature are dark night, in which
there is no right discerning of spiritual things: some
light there is, of reason, to direct natural and civil
actions, but no daylight. Till the sun rise it is night
still, for all the stars, and the moon to help
them.--_Leighton,_ 1611-1684.

[3] It is a peculiar advantage of piety, that it furnisheth
employment fit for us, worthy of us, hugely grateful, and
highly beneficial to us. Man is a very busy and active
creature, which cannot live and do nothing, whose thoughts
are in restless motion, whose desires are ever stretching
at somewhat, who perpetually will be working either good or
evil to himself: wherefore greatly profitable must that
thing be which determineth him to act well, to spend his
care and pain on that which is truly advantageous to him;
and that is religion only. It alone fasteneth our thoughts,
affections, and endeavours upon occupations worthy the
dignity of our nature, suiting the excellence of our
natural capacities and endowments, tending to the
perfection and advancement of our reason, to the enriching
and ennobling of our souls. Secluding that, we have nothing
in the world to study, to affect, to pursue, not very mean
and below us, not very base and unbecoming us, as men of
reason and judgment. What have we to do but to eat and
drink, like horses or like swine; but to sport and play,
like children or apes; but to bicker and scuffle about
trifles and impertinencies, like idiots? What but to scrape
or scramble for useless pelf, to hunt after empty shows and
shadows of honour, or the vain fancies or dreams of men?
What but to wallow or bask in sordid pleasures, the which
soon degenerate into remorse and bitterness? To which sort
of employments were a man confined, what a pitiful thing he
would be, and how inconsiderable would be his life! Were a
man designed only, like a fly, to buzz about here for a
time, sucking in the air and licking the dew, then soon to
vanish back into nothing, or to be transformed into worms,
how sorry and despicable a thing were he! And such without
religion we should be. But it supplieth us with business of
a most worthy nature and lofty importance; it setteth us
upon doing things great and noble as can be; it engageth us
to free our minds from all fond conceits, and cleans our
hearts from all corrupt affections,--to conform the
dispositions of our soul and the actions of our life to the
eternal laws of righteousness and goodness: it putteth us
upon the imitation of God, upon obtaining a friendship and
maintaining a correspondence with the High and Holy One,
upon filling our minds for conversation and society with
the wisest and purest spirits above, upon providing for our
immortal state, upon the acquist of joy and glory
everlasting. It employeth us in the divinest
actions--promoting virtue, performing beneficence, serving
the public, and doing good to all: the being exercised in
which things doth indeed render a man highly considerable
and his life excellently valuable.--_Barrow,_ 1630-1677.

THE WALK OF THE SOUL IN THE LIGHT OF THE LORD.

ii. 5. _O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the
light of the Lord._

There are many lights shining upon the paths of men in this world. There are the lights of science and philosophy; they beam out from the human mind, and are kindled by eager research and investigation. These have been advancing in splendour and in value, age by age, and will, no doubt, continue to do so to the end of time. Men walk in these lights, and vainly imagine that they have found the sun of the soul. They seek no higher illumination. They are mistaken. The lights of science are but little service to the moral nature; they cannot chase away its darkness, or open up to it a vision of destiny. The True Light cometh down from above, and is Divine in its origin. It is bright. It is beauteous. It is sufficient for the guidance of the soul. Wise men will walk in it. "O house of Jacob," &c.

+I. The walk of the soul.+ "Let us walk." 1. _The moral walk of the soul is a necessity._ The soul of man is endowed with certain convictions and activities which render inaction an impossibility. It must walk either in one direction or another; either toward moral purity or moral evil; either to Christ or to Satan. The moral sensibilities with which it is gifted, the laws under which it is placed, the influences to which it is subject and the prospects that are stretched out before the soul, render moral progress a necessity of being. 2. _The moral walk of the soul is educational._ Men gain knowledge in this world by travel. In this way they augment their mental stores. And the soul gains knowledge, strengthens its capabilities, and deepens its experience, by walking forth into the great moral universe in which it lives. Only the souls that have walked in the paths of truth and life know what things are, and they only are able to guide others. 3. _The moral walk of the soul is healthful._ Those who are inactive are always physically weak. The soul that never takes moral exercise, that never gets out into the broad acres of truth, and that never climbs the great mountains of God, will ever be sickly. If the soul is to be strong, equal to the duties of life, and to the demands of being, it must not indolently repose in its own quiet hiding-place. It must go forth to meet the External. 4. _The moral walk of the soul is often perilous._ The traveller has often to walk through dark places, along difficult paths, and near the deep precipice. He is in a strange country. And so in the walk of the soul. It is in a land of which it knows but little. It has to pass through the dark mystery of truth, to traverse the windings of intricate problems, and to find its way, through perplexing circumstances, to the throne of God.

+II. The light of the Lord.+ "In the light of the Lord." The soul of man was not constituted to walk in darkness. It was created with keen moral vision; but, alas! its eye is dimmed by sin, and is but seldom open to the light of heaven. 1. _This light is Divine in its origin._ It does not come from the orb in the heavens. It comes from beyond the clouds--from the Sun of Righteousness, whose rays are never lost in night. It is not the light of the finite, but of the Infinite. It is perennial and pure. It is unparalleled in beauty. It is unique in lustre. It is life-giving in its influence. The soul can walk in no better radiance. 2. _This light is clear in its revelation._ But for the sun we should know nothing of this world. And but for the light of the Lord we should be entirely ignorant of the moral world, in which the soul lives and has its being. This light which shines for the Spirit of God from the Bible, and from the enlightened conscience, reveals the existence of God, the spirituality of His nature, the purity of His character, and the devotion of which He is worthy. It reveals the soul to itself, and bends it in humility, but in joy, as it unfolds the forgiving mercy of the Cross. But for this light of the Lord we should be ignorant of the things of the moral universe. It illuminates the soul in its walk to the great and unknown future. 3. _This light is cheering in its influence._ The light of the sun is cheering to man, and is ever welcome to him. So the light of the Lord is cheering to the pure soul; it enlivens its energies, and lends new beauty to its visions. 4. _This light is abiding in its duration._ The light of the Lord will never go down from the pure soul, but will only brighten through death into the perfect day.--By what light do we walk? "Come ye," now, gladly, devoutly, "and let us walk in the light of the Lord."--_J. S. Exell._

A TERRIBLE PICTURE.

ii. 6-22.

_Here_ is a "word" (vision) which Isaiah "saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem" (ver. 1). The prophet has been enraptured by the wondrous prospect of the distant future, when religion shall be the supreme force of life (ver. 2), and all men (vers. 2, 3), walking in "the light of the Lord," shall be at peace with each other (ver. 4): now he looks down to the present, and how dark and terrible is the picture which he sees before him! He sees--+I. A nation forsaken of God+ (ver. 6). One of the most awful of all spectacles: an engine of tremendous power, without a driver, rushing down a steep incline! +II. A nation pursuing childish superstitions+ (ver. 6): "They be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines." When a nation forsakes God, this is a common result (Rom. i. 21, 22). Witness the rapid spread in our own day of "spiritualism" among the sceptical and irreligious classes of England and America. +III. A nation seeking strength and safety in alliances with the enemies of God,+ allying itself with the very powers which Omnipotent Righteousness was pledged to crush! Instead of dwelling apart, as God intended (Num. xxiii. 9; Deut. xxxiii. 28, &c.), and in dependence upon His protection, the Israelites sought to strengthen themselves by alliances with surrounding nations. "They please themselves with the children of strangers." The same sin is repeated in these days, when God's people mix with worldly society for the sake of its "advantages." +IV. A nation blinded by external prosperity to its real condition and peril+ (ver. 7). Abounding with every evidence of prosperity, how could they suspect that they were forsaken of God, and that a terrible doom was hanging over them? What is our condition, and what are our prospects as a nation? Let us not lay too much stress upon our great national wealth. +V. A nation given over to a debasing idolatry+ (ver. 8; Rom. i. 23). A moral degradation extending to all classes (ver. 9). Just what we behold in Roman Catholic and ritualistic churches, where rich and poor alike prostrate themselves before the wheaten wafer which their priest has transformed into a god! The prophet himself now becomes part of the picture, and we have--+VI.+ The awful spectacle of +a good man invoking the vengeance of Heaven upon the nation to which he belongs+ (ver. 10): "Therefore forgive them not." This was the natural cry of the prophet's soul, filled with horror and indignation at what he saw. The imprecations of Scripture are the natural (and fitting) utterance of righteousness in view of wickedness. It is only because of the tone of our own spiritual life is so low that we are offended at them. From whom, among ourselves, does the cry of human law against the perpetrators of crimes of violence come? Not from the classes most likely to suffer for them, but from the refined and gentle, who, just because of their refinement and gentleness, are inspired by them with disgust and anger. So it is those who are most in sympathy with God who are most likely to burn with holy indignation against such things as the prophet saw. The men who offer such prayers as this, "Forgive them not," would be the first to reverse it did the offenders give any sign of repentance. +VII. A crushing doom impending over an unsuspecting nation.+ No sooner had the prophet uttered his prayer, than he sees it was needless, and that the thunderclouds of the Divine anger were already thickly massed over the guilty nation; without any visible sign there was gathering over them a storm that would suddenly break forth with destructive force. Therefore he breaks out into a strain of impassioned warning and appeal to the very men for whose punishment he had prayed (ver. 10, &c.)

What lessons shall we learn from our survey of this dark picture? 1. _Not to judge of the relations of nations, individuals, or ourselves to God by the test of temporal circumstances._ It is an old but gross fallacy that temporal prosperity is a sure sign of the Divine favour (Eccles. ix. 1-3; Job xxi. 7-15, &c.)[1] Let us not ask what our circumstances are, but what our character is, and what our conduct has been. If we are unrighteous, temporal prosperity should alarm us, as a sign that God has forsaken us (Heb. xii. 8). 2. _Not to be hasty to impute the temporal prosperity of the wicked to a slumbering of the Divine justice._ We need scarcely trouble ourselves to pray for a doom upon the ungodly (Exod. xxxiv. 7; 2 Pet. ii. 3; Job xxi. 17, 18; Ps. lxxiii. 18, 19; Isa. iii. 11). 3. _Let us remember that we ourselves, as sinners, are exposed to the Divine judgments, and let us "enter into the Rock"_--"the Rock of Ages," that, sheltered in Him, we may be safe when the storms of the final judgment shall burst upon our guilty world.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] When the Lord hath set thee up as high as Haman in the
court of Ahasuerus, or promoted thee to ride with Joseph in
the second chariot of Egypt; were thy stock of cattle
exceeding Job's, "seven thousand sheep, three thousand
camels, five hundred yoke of oxen;" did thy wardrobe put
down Solomon's, and thy cupboard of plate Belshazzar's when
the vessels of God's temple were the ornature,--yet all
these are but the gifts of Wisdom's left hand, and the
possessors may be under the malediction of God, and go down
to damnation.--_Adams,_ 1654.

The eagles and lions seek their meat of God. But though all
the sons of Jacob have good cheer from Joseph, yet
Benjamin's mess exceeds. Esau shall have the prosperity of
the earth, but Jacob goes away with the blessing. Ishmael
may have outward favours, but the inheritance belongs to
Isaac.--_Adams,_ 1654.

GOD'S PEOPLE FORSAKEN.

Heb. xiii. 5. _I will never leave thee nor forsake thee._
Isa. ii. 6. _Thou hast forsaken Thy people the house of
Jacob._

How comforting is the Apostle's assurance! But do not the hope and courage which it inspires die out of us, and testify, "Thou hast forsaken Thy people"? No! because before there is any light concerning this question in our understanding, our faith tells us there must be a way of harmonising these seemingly conflicting declarations. God must necessarily be faithful to His promise. "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Were God to forsake any of His believing, expecting people, He would do more than forsake them--He would forsake _Himself!_ He would put off His crown and lay aside His sceptre, and become one of ourselves. Then the whole universe would have cause to mourn in sackcloth and ashes; there would no longer be any GOD to whom we could make supplication in our sorrows.

+I. The first of these inspired declarations make it plain that God has a people who He will never forsake.+ In every distress and tribulation He will be with them. Though all other friends may fail them, God will continue faithful to them. When the most devoted of human friends _could_ not be of any avail, God will be their succour--when bereavement has broken their heart; when persecution or temptations are threatening to sweep them away; in the hour of death.

+II. The second of these inspired declarations makes it plain that those who have been accounted the people of God may be forsaken by Him.+ This is a declaration that would smite us with dismay, and plunge us into saddest confusion, were we to put a full stop where the prophet has put a comma. Why had God forsaken His people, the house of Jacob? Because they had first forsaken Him: they had first voluntarily ceased to be His people. The truth in this matter may perhaps be best apprehended by means of a Scriptural symbol. God compares the union that exists between Him and His people to that which exists between a man and his wife. Will a good husband ever forsake his faithful wife? The bloom and beauty of her youth may have gone; a wasting sickness may have rendered her positively unlovely, but will he forsake her? Never! Her misfortunes will only cause him to cherish her with a tenderer love. But if she be unfaithful to him, what then? Why, then, the whole case may be altered. If he be a merciful as well as a just man, he may seek to reclaim her; but if she be "joined to her lovers," and persistently heedless of all his claims and her duties, the time will come when he will leave her to her fate. To him she will be as if she were dead. So God is wondrous in His forbearance towards His backsliding people; but if they persist in their apostacy, He will leave them to the gods whom they have chosen (Judges x. 13, 14; Jer. ii. 28). We see now that between these apostolic and prophetic utterances there is the most perfect harmony. Our discussion of this subject should teach us--1. _Not to found conclusions upon fragments of God's sayings or doings._ His words and His works are mutually explanatory; but we must not cut the explanations short! If we put periods where God has only put commas, we shall be plunged into frightful perplexities; with the words of Scripture on our lips, we shall have most damnable heresies in our hearts. Our study of God's word must be comprehensive. So also must our study of God's providence. Let us not be in a hurry to come to conclusions. Wait, and we shall have more light, because we shall not be looking at parts, but at wholes. Our life is being written in clauses, and not till the last is completed shall we be able to interpret the first aright.[1] 2. _Not to build too much upon past submissions to the Divine will and past enjoyments of the Divine favour._ "Once in grace always in grace" is an _ignis fatuus_ which has lighted many a soul down to hell. If after being fenced around as a garden of the Lord, and tilled by the great Husbandman, and watered by dews and rains from heaven, we relapse into mere desert ground, we may be sure we are nigh unto cursing (Heb. vi. 4-8). 3. _That those who are humbly and loyally faithful to their Heavenly Friend cannot be too confident of His faithfulness to them._ Assuredly He will never forsake them (Isa. xliii. 2). And His presence is all they need. Having Him they have all things (Ps. lxxxiv. 11, 12).

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The Lord has reasons far beyond our ken for opening a wide
door, while He stops the mouth of a useful preacher. John
Bunyan would not have done half the good he did, if he had
remained preaching in Bedford, instead of being shut up in
Bedford prison.--_Newton,_ 1725-1807.

However contradictory the designs of Providence at first
appear to be, if we set ourselves to watch God in His works
and ways, with care, we shall soon discover that He acts
according to some certain scheme or plan.

Were a person altogether unacquainted with architecture to
visit some splendid temple in the process of erection, and
observe the huge rough stones, and boards and timbers, iron
castings, bricks, lime, mortar, lying scattered in
confusion all around; were he to see one group of workmen
cutting up material here, another digging trenches there;
one party raising a staging on this side, another nailing
on some boards on that: were he to observe the blocks, the
fragments, all lying in disorder round about him, he might
truly say that he could see no plan or system in the
business; nor would he be likely to conceive or dream that
out of such a chaotic mass of raw material, out of such
contradictory labour, there could ever rise a magnificent
temple, to reflect undying honour on the architect, and
beautify the world!

But let the observer stop, and set himself to watch from
day to day this busy work as it goes on; let him patiently
examine, not only the minutest details, but also try to
obtain a view of the general scope and bearing of the
whole, and he will not be long in finding out that some
superior mind controls and regulates the movements in
accordance with some preconceived plan or system, which is
constantly developing itself; and that every stroke of
every workman is conducive to the same ultimate effort.

And when he comes to see the "beau ideal" of the builder
realised in the fair proportions, in the classic beauty of
the noble structure, he then perceives how inconsiderate,
how unfair it was in him to decide upon a work in its
incipient state, without some knowledge of the plan and the
design of it.

God is building up the Christian in accordance with a
perfect plan into a majestic temple for the decoration of
the eternal city. And though His dealings sometimes seem to
be mysterious; though He seems to cut down here and to
raise up there, to let the light into this part and to
leave it dark in that; though it is hard to tell at times
what such material is designed for, what this or that work
means, or to conceive how the structure when completed will
appear; it is nevertheless quite certain that God acts
according to a fixed and unalterable plan; that every
stroke we bear, or loss we mourn, is made subservient to
the end; and although it is given us here to see only in
part, whoever will take the pains to watch with care the
course of Providence, will be convinced that it does not
move along by chance, but that everything is done by a
prospective plan.--_E. Nason._

FORSAKEN OF GOD.

ii. 6. _Therefore Thou hast forsaken Thy people, &c._

The doctrine of this verse is, that when men forsake God, God forsakes them. There is nothing arbitrary in such Divine withdrawals;[1] they have always a moral cause; and no man has any right to complain of them (Hosea xiii. 7). Consider +I. When men forsake God.+ Men forsake God--1. when they set their affection on forbidden things; 2. when they cease to seek Him in prayer and the other means of grace; 3. when they give themselves up to the practice of sin. +II. When men are forsaken of God.+ This doom befalls them--1. when they are left without that aid of the Holy Spirit, without which they cannot vividly apprehend the truth; 2. when they are left without the comfort of God's mercy; 3. when they are left without earnest distress after God, and consequently a prey to all the evil within and around them. +III. Men may be forsaken of God in the midst of temporal prosperity.+ There may be a terrible contrast between their spiritual and material condition (ver. 6, 7). Temporal prosperity is from God; it is designed to lead men to repentance (Rom. ii. 4); failing to accomplish this, it drives them further from God (Deut. viii. 11-14; Prov. xxx. 9; Neh. ix. 25); and when it has this effect upon them, the doom of which our text speaks to us is not far off (Deut. xxviii. 48).[2] +IV. No man need remain thus forsaken of God.+ 1. God desires to bring all men into fellowship with Himself (ver. 3, 4). 2. All are invited to come to Him (ver. 5). 3. The light of God's countenance is offered them, especially in Christ, who is "the light of the world."--_John Johnston._

FOOTNOTES:

[1] In common conversation, we frequently speak of solar
eclipses. But what is called an eclipse of the sun is, in
fact, an eclipse of the earth, occasioned by the moon's
transit between the sun and us. This circumstance makes no
alteration in the sun itself, but only intercepts our view
of it for a time. From whence does darkness of soul, even
darkness that may be felt, usually originate? Never from
any changeableness in our covenant God, the glory of whose
unvarying faithfulness and love shines the same, and can
suffer no eclipse. It is when the world gets between our
Lord and us, that the light of His countenance is
obstructed, and our rejoicing in Him suffers a temporary
eclipse.--_Salter._

[2] When the king removes, the court and all the carriages
follow after, and when they are gone, the hangings are
taken down; nothing is left behind but bare walls, dust,
and rubbish. So, if God removes from a man or a nation,
where He kept His court, His graces will not stay behind;
and if they be gone, farewell peace, farewell comfort: down
goes the hangings of all prosperity; nothing is left behind
but confusion and disorder.--_Staughton,_ 1628.

THE MATERIAL AND THE MORAL.

ii. 6-9. _They be replenished from the east, &c._

We have here the indictment which the prophet brings against Israel. It consists of three counts: 1. That the people had adopted the superstitions of the surrounding nations. 2. That the government had accumulated treasure and organized a cavalry force, in direct disobedience to well-known Divine injunctions (Deut. xvii. 16, 17). 3. That rich and poor alike had abandoned themselves to idolatry. But these verses may be taken also as Isaiah's _description_ of Judæa in his day; and so regarding them, we find in them an instructive combination of the material and the moral. According to modern ideas, so far as the description concerns the material, it is exceedingly bright. An observer who regarded only the material--such a man as we can conceive of as being sent out as a "Special Commissioner" by the _Daily Telegraph_ or the _New York Herald_--would have given a glowing account of Judæa at that period: an overflowing exchequer, a powerful army, evidences of wealth and prosperity on every hand, &c. But the prophet, looking only at what is moral, gives an account that is lurid and dark in the extreme: he sees only cause for lamentation and foreboding. So we reach the first of the lessons on which I intend to insist to-day, viz., +I. That the most diverse reports may be made truly concerning the same community.+ St. Paul visited Athens, and we have a touching account of the effect of that city upon him (Acts xvii. 16); to him it presented a pitiable spectacle; but what a different effect would have been produced upon a mere man of culture, and what a different account he would have given of that metropolis of art! What very different accounts might be given of our own country from these two standpoints, the material and the moral!

+II. When two reports of a community are given--one materially bright and the other morally dark--it is the latter only that a wise man will regard as important.+ For 1. _It is on the moral condition of a nation, and not on its material prosperity, that its happiness depends._ Increase of wealthy does not necessarily mean increase of happiness. Frequently it means destruction of happiness; it always does so, when wealth increases faster than intellectual culture and moral restraint. In the absence of this moral restraint, wealth is not a blessing, but a curse. 2. _The material disassociated from the moral is transient._ Vicious prosperity is short-lived. By the luxury born of prosperity and virtue of industry, foresight, and self-denial, on which prosperity depends, are sapped. The health of the nation is lowered. Commerce becomes a gigantic system of gambling. Ruin is soon reached. Hence,

+III. Our chief concern as patriots should be to promote the moral well-being of our nation.+ Those who uplift it in virtue are its true benefactors. All who minister to its material, intellectual, and artistic progress are worthy of gratitude; but most deserving of gratitude are those who inspire it with the fear of God, and with love for His laws. Hence,

+IV. Our chief concern as individuals should be for the moral and not for the material.+ It is a very small matter to add house to house, and field to field: it is a very great thing to add virtue to virtue until we have succeeded in building up a symmetrical and noble moral character. A man's life--his true well-being depends not upon what he _has,_ but upon what he _is_.[1] And upon this, too, depends his eternal destiny. How childish, therefore, is the almost universal concern for mere material improvement! And how little have those to complain of who find themselves unable to accumulate wealth! The millionaire has soon to leave all his stores, and he speedily reaches a point at which all his bonds and notes become wastepaper. What a contrast between his experience, and that of the man who, having employed his life in virtue, finds that all unconsciously he has been laying all up for himself treasures in heaven! These two courses are open to us--to live for the material, or to live for the moral: which will you choose?

FOOTNOTES:

[1] A wise man looks upon men as he does upon horses; and
considers their comparisons of title, wealth, and place,
but as harness.--_Newton,_ 1725-1807.

In the library of the world, men have hitherto been ranged
according to the form, the size, and the binding. The time
is coming when they will take rank and order according to
their contents and intrinsic merits.--_E. Cook._

A man may be outwardly successful all his life long, and
die hollow and worthless as a puff-ball; and a man may be
externally defeated all his life long, and die in the
royalty of a kingdom established within him. That man is a
pauper who has only outward success; and that man may be a
prince who dies in rags, untended, and unknown in his
physical relations to this world. And we ought to take the
ideal in the beginning that a man's true estate of power
and riches is to be in himself: not in his dwelling; not in
his position; not in his external relations, but in his own
essential character. That is the realm in which a man must
live, if he is to live as a Christian man.--_Beecher._

THE SINNER'S DANGER AND REFUGE.

ii. 10. _Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust,
for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty._

This is the counsel which the prophet gives his fellow-countrymen, in view of the desolations which God was about to send upon their land on account of their sins. He sees God's judgments sweeping down upon them like an invading army, and therefore he cries to them, "Flee into the caverns in the mountains:" like the _Simoom,_ and therefore he cries to them, "Hide yourselves in the dust: bow down before the destroying blast from which it is impossible to escape. God has been silent, as if He were indifferent to your transgressions, but now He is coming forth, in all the terrors of His majesty to require the evil doers according to their works."[1] The counsel is, of course, metaphorical; the rocks and the dust could afford no refuge from an angry God. _The summons is to profound and penitential humility,_ the proper attitude of man to God. It is a summons, therefore, which may be fitly addressed to all men. +I. Profound humility in regard to God would be befitting in us as creatures, even were we absolutely without sin.+ Such humility is reasonable--1. In view of our relation to and dependence upon God. He is our Maker; we are daily pensioners on His bounty; we are the instruments with which He carries out His purposes (ch. x. 15). 2. In view of His position as the Ruler of the universe. 3. In view of the transcendent excellencies of His character. The pupils of a great artist, such as Raphael, the associates of a great patriot, such as Washington, are filled with involuntary admiration and veneration for him. They feel themselves to be as nothing in comparison with him. How much more should we feel so in comparison with God! Those sinless being who see Him as He is show us by their conduct what would be befitting in us even were we also without spot or stain (ch. vi. 2, 3). +II. But as sinners that which is befitting in us is, not only profound, but penitential humility.+ To live without any sense of guilt in our hearts--with indifference to the fact that we have broken God's laws and are exposed to His judgements--is itself a gross iniquity; it is an outrageous defiance of the majesty in whose presence we are. What would be said of a rebel who in the presence of his outraged sovereign should absolutely _ignore_ him? Would not this be regarded as a repetition of his offence in the most aggravated form? But is not this precisely the offence which every stout-hearted sinner daily commits? As sinners there are two things especially incumbent upon us. 1. _To humbly acknowledge that we are exposed to the Divine judgments, and need a refuge therefrom._ There are two ways of contemplating the Day of Judgment: (1) As a certain and solemn fact in the history of our race. Contemplating it thus, we may show argumentatively that such an event ought to occur; and we may anticipate to some extent the principles upon which the Judge, when He shall have summoned mankind before His bar, will proceed. We may do this, and be merely theological or rhetorical. Or (2) we may regard it as a certain and terrible fact in our _own_ history. And it is thus that we should regard it. It is _we_ who are to stand before the great White Throne. A realisation of this fact will powerfully affect our feelings and our conduct; we shall (1) acknowledge, at the least, that _we need a refuge._ And we shall be prepared (2) _thankfully to avail ourselves of the refuge which God in His mercy has provided for us._ With yet greater fulness and definiteness of meaning God's messengers can repeat the prophet's counsel, "Enter into the rock, &c." The sinner's refuge is the Son of God, "the Rock of our salvation." Our refuge from God as our Judge is God Himself as our Saviour. It is as such that He now reveals Himself to us. "Behold _now_ is the day of salvation;" but the day of judgment is at hand! Ere it burst upon us, let us flee unto "the Rock of Israel" (ch. xxx. 29) crying to Him, with penitent confession of our sins,

"Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] "The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, their sin is hid"
(Hosea xiii. 12). Not that his sin was hid from God, but
his sin is hid; that is, it is recorded, it is laid up
against a day of reckoning. That this is the meaning, is
clear by the foregoing words, his iniquity is bound up; as
the clerk of the assizes binds up the indictments of
malefactors in a bundle, and, at the assizes, brings out
the indictments, and reads them in court, so God binds up
men's sins in a bundle; and, at the day of judgment, this
bundle shall be opened, and all their sins brought to light
before men and angels.--_Watson,_ 1696.

THE GREAT DETHRONEMENT.

ii. 18. _And the idols He shall utterly abolish._

There are a great number of things which would be incredible if they had not actually happened! Men who, like ourselves, boasted of "reason" and "common sense," sought to settle their disputes and to vindicate their honour by the duel; they have stoutly believed in witchcraft, in "touching for the king's evil," and in other absurdities. But surely the supreme folly of which men have been guilty is idolatry. That men should fashion an idol of wood or stone, and then bow down to worship _it,_ what absurdity is this! Yet +I. The idols have had a long reign in the earth.+ Trace human history back as far as all extant records will enable you to do so, and you will find idols enthroned in the affections of men. That they should ever have been set up there must be regarded as one of Satan's subtlest and greatest triumphs. The instincts that lead men to worship are so strong, that his only hope of preventing fallen men from returning to their allegiance to God lay in persuading them to worship some other thing or being. His difficulty and his device were those of Jeroboam (1 Kings xii. 26-28). He seems to have led men down step by step: stars, images as representatives, then the images themselves: first, natural principles, then living creatures in which these principles were supposed to be embodied, then the living creatures themselves. To have begun at the end would have been too great a shock; the absurdity as well as the wickedness of such worship would have been too obvious. Thus was the empire of the idols founded, and it continues to this day. +II. The empire of the idols has been world-wide.+ It might have been supposed to be a folly that could be imposed only on a few barbarous tribes, and that all civilised nations would have rejected it with distain; but as a matter of fact, it is precisely among these nations (Egypt, Greece, Rome, Judæa, India) that idolatry flourished most and in its basest forms. Hence the empire of idolatry was co-extensive with the globe. In Elijah's time even God thought it a great thing that He would assure His prophet that there were seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kings xix. 18). +III. The idols have been served with passionate devotion.+ In almost all ages worshippers of idols have put to shame the worshippers of God, by their fidelity to their convictions, the scrupulousness of their observance of the rites which they have esteemed religious, and the greatness of the cost at which they have done honour to their gods. +IV. The idols have had for their allies the most influential of social and moral forces.+ Their priests and dependents (Acts. xix. 25) have jealously watched every encroachment on the empire of their gods. Rulers, for political reasons, have strenuously endeavoured to uphold the national faiths. Custom and fashion have wrought in the same direction. But, above all, the idols have had their most powerful allies in the human breast--in the instinct of worship, and the craving for sensual indulgences. _Idolatry has combined these most powerful of all cravings_--has provided deities in whose worship the worst passions of man's animal nature have been gratified. +V. Nevertheless the empire of idolatry shall be utterly destroyed.+ It shall vanish as utterly as the great empire of Assyria. "The idols He shall utterly abolish." Already that empire has been overthrown where it seemed most firmly established, and the complete fulfilment of the prediction of our text is obviously now only a question of time. Even in heathen countries, men are becoming ashamed of their idols, and are representing them as merely the _media_ of worship. The victory of Christianity over idolatry is already assured. The struggles that are yet to shake the world will be, not between Christianity and idolatry; not even between Christianity and atheism, for atheism is necessarily merely a brief episode in human experience; but between Christianity and other forms of monotheism.

APPLICATION. 1. _In the wide-spread and long-continued empire of the idols we have a conclusive proof of man's need of a Divine revelation._ The natural progress of fallen man is not to light, but to darkness (Rom. i. 21-23; 1 Cor. i. 21). 2. _In the prediction of our text, we have a conclusive proof of that in the Bible we have such a revelation._ Consider the circumstances of the prophet: idolatry on every hand, corrupting even His own people. It was contrary to all experience; it must have seemed to many who first heard it as the ravings of a lunatic. Such a prediction, already so marvellously fulfilled, came from God! 3. _In the approaching complete fulfilment of the prediction of our text, let us rejoice._ And let us labour as well as pray, that the time may be hastened when by idolatry God shall be no longer dishonoured and man degraded.

MAN'S INSIGNIFICANCE AND GOD'S SUPREMACY.

ii. 22. _Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his
nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?_

In this verse the whole Bible is summed up. The folly of trusting in man, and the necessity of trusting in God alone, is its greatest lesson, from its commencement to its close. This is what we are taught--+I. By its record of God's providential dealings with the Jews and other nations.+ Continually He has accomplished His ends by very different means than man would have selected. Egypt saved from perishing by famine through the instrumentality of a young slave; Naaman delivered from his leprosy through the ministrations of a little maid; Israel rescued by Gideon and his three hundred soldiers; the boastful Philistines defeated by a young shepherd, &c. +II. By the grand scheme of human redemption which it discloses.+ In it God is everything, and man nothing. The only means by which man can be restored to holiness, to the Divine favour and life everlasting, were provided by God; man contributed nothing either to its completeness or efficiency. The benefit is man's, the glory all belongs to God. Nor in appropriating it does he do anything that is meritorious. In repentance there is no merit: it is simply that state of mind which is required of us in view of the sins we have committed. Nor in faith; it is simply the recognition of the ability of another, and the consequent entrustment of ourselves to Him, to do that for us which we confess our inability to do for ourselves.--Blessed is the man, and he only, who has learned these two things. So long as a man depends on his own wisdom, power, and goodness, or on the wisdom, power and goodness of other men, he must be disquieted and unhappy. We can attain to substantial quiet and an abiding satisfying peace only when we feel that our dependence is on a Being omnipresent, independent, and supreme, as well as abundant in truth and love (Isa. xxvi. 3).--_Joseph Holdech, D.D., American National Preacher,_ xxxvi. 255-265.

LESSONS FROM A NATIONAL BEREAVEMENT.

(_Sermon preached on the Sunday after the death of
President Harrison._)

ii. 22. _Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his
nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?_

The event which has just befallen us as a nation is fitted to teach--+I. The vanity of human dependence.+ The atheism of the human heart displays itself in a disposition to confide entirely in an arm of flesh. This is so in the family, the church, the nation. In various ways God endeavours to teach nations their real dependence upon Himself--by famine, by pestilence, by commercial disasters, by the death of their rulers. What "fools" we must be, and how "brutish" must be our understanding, if we do not lay to heart the lesson which He has now given us (Ps. cxlvi. 3). +II. The pettiness of party strife.+ How much of selfishness, unkindness, anger, and untruthfulness does the spirit of party give birth to! How seldom politicians of opposite parties do each other common justice! How fierce are their rivalries! But how mean, how worthless, how unworthy appear the objects of their strife when death enters the arenas and waves his skeleton arm! What a great calm falls upon the agitated spirits of men! How noise is hushed and excitement subdued! How like do the flushed and eager politicians seem then to silly children quarrelling for the possession of a bubble that has just been blown into the air, and that will disappear the moment it is grasped![1] +III. The vanity of the world, the certainty of death, and the nearness of eternity.+ These lessons are _taught_ when a beggar dies, but are more likely to be _laid to heart_ when a prince is laid low.[2] +IV. The supreme importance of a right moral character.+ Most instructive is the interest felt by survivors in the moral character of the departed, in the evidences of his preparation for death, in the manner in which the great summons affected him. This is the testimony of the human conscience, that in comparison with a fitness to appear before the tribunal of God, everything else loses its importance. When was the amount of a man's _possessions_ inscribed on his tombstone? The bare suggestion of such a thing would be construed as a mockery of death, under whose denuding hand the rich man leaves the world naked as he entered it. But if, in all his life, there was one virtue in his moral character, one trait which can afford satisfactory evidence of God's approval, this, be sure, you will find sculptured in conspicuous characters on his monumental marble. One thing alone can prepare any for their last account--the belief and practice of the Gospel of God. Have _you_ the great calm which is inspired by the confidence of being prepared for the great change?--_W. Adams, American National Preacher,_ xv. 97-105.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Here, like a shepherd gazing from his hut,
Touching his reed, or leaning on his staff,
Eager Ambition's fiery chase I see;
I see the circling hunt of noisy men
Burst law's enclosure, leap the mounts of right,
Pursuing and pursued, each other's prey;
As wolves for rapine; as the fox for wiles;
Till Death, that mighty hunter, earths them all.
Why all this toil for triumphs of an hour?
What though we wade in wealth, or soar in fame?
Earth's highest station ends in "Here he lies"--
And "Dust to dust" concludes her noblest song.--_Young._

[2] The glories of our birth and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against fate:
Death lays his icy hand on kings;
Sceptre and crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

Some men with swords may reap the field,
And plant fresh laurels where they kill;
But their strong nerves at last must yield:
They tame but one another still;
Early or late
They stoop to fate,
And must give up their murmuring breath,
When they, pale captives, creep to death.

The garlands wither on your brow;
Then boast no more your mighty deeds;
Upon death's purple altar, now,
See where the victor victim bleeds!
All heads must come
To the cold tomb!
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.--_Shirley._

THE DEATH OF STATESMEN.

(_Funeral Sermon for the Right Hon. George Canning._)

iii. 1-3. _For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth
take away from Jerusalem and from Judah . . . the
counsellor, . . . and the eloquent orator._

By the death of a great statesman at the head of a government, we are reminded.--+I.+ Of +the weight of government in a fallen world.+ It is a burden that has crushed many, and has brought them to an untimely grave. +II.+ Of +the weakness of the shoulders of mortal men.+ The government of a single country, especially in troublous times, has proved a burden too great for the courage and the endurance of the strongest of men. +III.+ Of +the uncertainty of all human affairs.+ Often does the statesman think of the uncertainty of arriving at the object of his ambition, but seldom of the uncertainty of his remaining there, except when he recollects how many are struggling to replace him. Little does he think of another foe, who lurks behind, and who in some unexpected moment will hush his eloquent tongue, and turn his fertile brain to dust. +IV.+ Of +our absolute dependence on the Supreme Governor.+ We are apt to think that it is on the profound counsellor and mighty orator that the nation's welfare depends, and to think little of Him who made them what they are, to be employed as He pleases, laid aside when He pleases, and replaced if He pleases, by others as richly endowed. +V.+ Of +the necessity of personal preparation for death.+[1]--_J. Bennett, D.D., The British Pulpit,_ i. 297-304.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] So live, that, when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, that moves
To that mysterious realm where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not like the quarry slave at night
Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.--_Bryant._

NATIONAL GREATNESS.

iii. 1-8. _For, behold, &c._