Isaiah (Sections 69-85)

Section 69

"Come now, and let us reason together. Saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."—Isaiah 1:18 The sinful condition of men is terrible in the extreme. This is set forth vividly in previous verses of the chapter. They are altogether alienated from their God.

God himself interposes to produce a change. The proposal of peace is always from his side.

He urges that a conference be held at once, "Come, and let us reason together." That conference is to be held at once: "Come now," for the danger is too great to admit of a moment's delay. God is urgent; let us not procrastinate. In our text we have,—

I. An invitation to a conference.

Sinful men do not care to think, consider, and look matters in the face, yet to this distasteful duty they are urged.

If they reason, they rather reason against God than together with him, but here the proposal is not to discuss, but to treat with a view to reconciliation. This also ungodly hearts decline.

1. They prefer to attend to ceremonial observances. Outward performances are easier, and do not require thought.

2. Yet the matter is one which demands most serious discussion, and deserves it; for God, the soul, heaven, and hell are involved in it. Never was wise counsel more desirable.

3. No good can come of neglecting to consider it. It is one of those matters which will never drift the right way of itself.

4. It is most gracious on the Lord's part to suggest a conference. Kings do not often invite criminals to reason with them.

5. The invitation is a pledge that he desires peace, is willing to forgive, and anxious to set us right.

6. The appointment of the immediate present as the time for the reasoning together is a proof of generous wisdom. "Just as thou art," come to God in Christ, just as he is. Love invites thee in all thy sin and misery.

II. A specimen of the reasoning on God's part.

1. The one main ground of difference is honestly mentioned,—"though your sins be as scarlet." God calls the most glaring sinners to come to him, knowing them to be such.

2. This ground of difference God himself will remove,— "they shall be as white as snow." He will forgive, and so end the quarrel.

3. He will remove the offense perfectly,—"as snow—as wool."

He will remove forever the guilt of sin.

He will discharge the penalty of sin.

He will destroy the dominion of sin.

He will prevent the return of sin.

4. He explains by his own Word how this is done.

Free forgiveness obliterating guilt.

Full atonement averting punishment.

Regeneration by the Spirit breaking the power of sin.

Constant sanctification forbidding its return.

See, then, the way of your return to God made easy.

Consider it carefully, and talk with God about it at once.

III. This specimen reasoning is an abstract of the whole argument.

Each special objection is anticipated.

1. The singular greatness of your sins,—"red like crimson." This is met by a great atonement, which cleanses from all sin.

2. The Jong continuance of your sins. Cloth dyed scarlet has lain long in the dye-vat. The blood of Jesus cleanses at once.

3. The light against which your sins were committed. This puts a glaring color upon them. But "all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men."

4. The grieving of the Holy Spirit. Even this is removed by Jesus.

5. The failure of your attempts to white your soul. Crimson and scarlet cannot be removed by the art of man; but the Lord saith, "I have blotted out thy sins."

6. The despair which your sins create: they are so glaring that they are ever before you, yet they shall be washed out by the blood of the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Come now. Your minister pleads with you on God's behalf. Can it be right to slight God's invitation?

What harm can come of a conference with him?

Must it not be right to be reconciled with your Maker?

What if this day should see you made "white as snow?"

Enforcements A husband and wife had parted, and had been for years separated. He on several occasions entreated her to meet him, and talk over their differences with a view to reconciliation. She steadily declined an interview, and would not enter upon the subject of their alienation. Are you surprised when we add that the fault from the beginning lay with her? You cannot doubt that the sin of their continued division was her's alone. The parable is easy to be interpreted.

Certain scarlet cloth is first dyed in the grain, and then dyed in the piece; it is thus double-dyed. And so are we with regard to the guilt of sin; we are double-dyed, for we are all sinners by birth, and sinners by practice. Our sins are like scarlet, yet by faith in Christ they shall be as white as snow: by an interest in Christ's atonement, though our offenses be red like crimson, they shall be as wool; that is, they shall be as white as the undyed wool.—"Friendly Greetings." When a dye enters into the very substance of the stuff, how can it be removed? Our own laundresses, by continually removing common stains, at length destroy the fabric of our linen; but what is to be done where art, and labor, and time have mingled the color and the cloth into one? With man this may be impossible, but not with God. When a man has taken up sin into him, till it is as much himself as his black skin is part and parcel of the Ethiopian, yet the Lord can put the sin away as thoroughly as if the negro became a fair Caucasian. He takes the spots out of human tigers, and leaves not one of them. Consider how the Tyrian scarlet was dyed; not superficially dipped, but thoroughly drenched in the liquor that colored it, as thy soul in custom of sinning. Then was it taken out for a time and dried, put in again, soaked and sodden the second time in the vat; called therefore twice-dyed; as thou complainest thou hast been by relapsing into the same sin. Yea, the color so incorporated into the cloth, not drawn over, but diving into the very heart of the wool, that, rub a scarlet rag on what is white, and it will bestow a reddish tincture upon it; as, perchance, thy sinful practice and precedent have also infected those which were formerly good, by thy badness. Yet such scarlet sins, so solemnly and substantially colored, are easily washed white in the blood of our Saviour.—Thomas Fuller

Section 70 "O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the Light of the Lord!"—Isaiah 2:5

Oh that the literal "house of Jacob" would walk in the light of Jehovah by acknowledging Jesus, who is the Day-spring from on high! Alas, they refuse the light, for the veil is upon their hearts! Let us pray for the ingathering of the tribes of Israel. Surely "it shall come to pass in the last days" (verse 2).

We will treat at this time of the spiritual Israel, even of the children of God at this hour.

I. Here is an invitation.

"Come ye, and let us walk in the light of Jehovah." It is singular that the people of Jehovah should need such an invitation, for it seems natural that they should live in him, rejoice in him, and learn of him, seeing he is their own God.

It is a still more singular invitation in that it comes from the nations to the house of Jacob. The word of the Lord goes forth from Jerusalem, converts the nations, and then returns to the people from whom it first came. The parallel is found when the invitation comes to those of us who are believers,—

1. From those to whom we have ministered. How it rewards and encourages us to hear such a call from those who once refused the invitations of the gospel! When there is a move among the dry bones, we hope for the best results.

2. From new converts, who in their burning zeal urge on older saints, and thus create joy, and hint a gentle rebuke.

3. From saints bent on mutual edification. "Come ye, and let us." Here are willing brethren calling to others who are equally willing. Would God we had more of this!

Such invitations as these are healthy signs. We should encourage their production by mutual intercourse upon holy things.

II. Let us accept this invitation.

"Let us walk in the light of the Lord." No other light is comparable to it; especially for the Lord's own people. Jehovah should be the light of Jacob. No other walking is so safe, so gladsome. No other people are so able to walk in the light of God: their eyes are opened, their feet are strengthened, their hearts are purified, their actions suit the day.

1. In this light we find certainty for the mind.

Reason makes guesses, or confesses that she knows nothing.

Fanaticism dotes on dreams and superstitions.

Human authority blunders.

Revelation alone is sure, infallible, unalterable. All other light is darkness when compared with it.

2. In this light we find rest for the conscience.

We see Jesus, his blood, and the perfect pardon which it procures.

We see his perfect righteousness covering us, and making us comely before God.

3. In this light we find direction for the judgment.

We see sin, love, providence, the future, etc., in their true colors, and know how to act in reference to them.

We learn to know the right way, and the wise course.

We discover the hidden snares, and are led to avoid them.

4. In this light we find delight for the soul. In the purposes of the Lord. "Predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son." In our personal condition in Christ. "Complete in him." In the dealings of our Father's hand. "All things work together for good to them that love God," etc. In the struggling which goes on within, which as a symptom of grace yields us comfortable hope. In the future of death and eternity, which else would distress us.

5. In this light we find communion for the heart.

We see God, and feel perfect peace.

We see grace within, and enjoy full assurance.

We see Jesus, and are in conscious union with him.

We feel the Spirit of God, and are workers with him.

We see the saints, and delight in their graces. Beloved hearers, may the Holy Spirit lead you— To enter into the light of God. To remain in it, walking therein quietly from day to day. To make progress in it, walking onward toward perfection.

Come ye, and let us even now walk together in this light.

It shines perpetually, and we are the children of light.

Living in it here will prepare us for enjoying it in all its glorious brightness, where "the Lamb is the light."

Oil for the Light A weary and discourged woman, after struggling all day with contrary winds and tides, came to her home, and flinging herself into a chair, said: "Everything looks dark, dark."

"Why don't you turn your face to the light, aunty dear?" said a little niece who was standing near. The words were a message from on high, and the weary eyes were turned toward him who is the Light and the Life of men, and in whose light alone we see light. A man who looks toward the light sees no shadow; a man who walks toward the light leaves darkness behind him. People get in darkness by turning away from the light. They hide in obscure corners, they bury themselves in nooks where the rays of the Sun of Righteousness cannot reach them; they close their blinds and shutters, and wonder that they have no light. A house may be dark, but it is not the fault of the sun. A soul may be dark, but it is not because the Light of the world does not shed beams abroad. He that followeth Christ "shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." But if our deeds are evil, we shall turn away from God, and love darkness rather than light; while if we are willing to be reproved, corrected and guided in the right way, we shall find that "light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." Walking in the light, as Christ is in the light, we have fellowship with the Father, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.—The Boston "Christian."

It is worth noting how plants and trees turn to the light; how bleached vegetation becomes if it be shut up in darkness. The utter dark is dreadful to men, it may even be felt, so does it press upon the mind. The dimness of a foggy day depresses many spirits more than trouble or pain. The cry of the sick man, "Would God it were morning!" is the groan of all healthy life when gloom surrounds it. What then can be said, if there be light, and we refuse it? He must have ill work on hand who loves the darkness. Only bats, and owls, and unclean and ravenous things are fond of the night. Children of light walk in the light, and reflect the light.

"Where the sun does not enter, the physician must"; so say the Italians, and their witness is true. Sunlight has not only a cheering but a health-giving influence. Along the Riviera, invalids owe everything to the sun; and when it is gone, they shrink into their own rooms. Chambers to which his warmth does not come are at a discount: the light is essential to restoration as well as to enjoyment.

Section 71 "I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it."—Isaiah 5:6

Rain essential for growth of seed and fruit, and its withdrawal for a length of time a terrible temporal judgment, especially in hot climates. The spiritual rain of the Holy Spirit's influence essential to a spiritual life, in its beginning, growth, ripening, perfecting. Its withdrawal the last and most terrible of judgments. (See whole verse.)

Especially is it a mark of anger for clouds to be overhead, and yet to drop no rain: to have the means of grace, but no grace with the means.

Let us consider,—

I. What it means.

1. Ministers allowed to preach, but without power.

2. Ordinances celebrated, but without the benediction of the Lord.

3. Assemblies gathered, but the Lord not in the midst.

4. The Word read, but with no application to the heart.

5. Formality of prayer kept up, but no pleading with God.

6. The Holy Ghost restrained, and grieved. This has been the case full often, and may be again with any church or person if sin be tolerated after warning. Is it so in the present assembly, or with any one in it? The clouds, ordained to rain, are commanded not to do so; commanded by God himself, with whom is the key of the rain; commanded altogether to withhold their refreshing showers. There is no necessary connection between outward ordinances and grace; we may have clouds of the first, and no drops of the second.

II. What it involves.

1. No conversions, for these are by the Spirit.

2. No restorations of backsliders. Withered plants are not revived when there is no rain.

3. No refreshing of the weary: comfort and strength come not except by the dew of heaven.

4. No spiritual activities. Lukewarmness reigns through routine unto death. The workers move like persons walking in their sleep.

5. No holy joys, delights, triumphs. As everything pines when there is no rain, so do all good things suffer when there is a spiritual drought.

Nothing can make up for it.

Nothing can flourish without it.

III. How it manifests itself. A parched season spiritually has its own signs in the individual.

1. The soul experiences no benefit under the Word.

2. The man feels glutted with the gospel, and wearied with it.

3. He begins to criticize, carp, cavil, and despise the Word.

4. Soon he is apt to neglect the hearing of it.

5. Or he hears and perverts the Word, either to boasting, to ridicule, to controversy, or to ill-living.

It is a horrible thing when that which should be a savor of life unto life becomes a savor of death unto death, when even the clouds refuse to rain. Is it so with any one of us?

IV. How it can be prevented.

Let us humbly use the means without putting our trust in them, and then let us,—

1. Confess our ill-desert. The Lord might justly have withheld his grace from us.

2. Acknowledge our dependence upon the heavenly showers of spiritual influence.

3. Pray incessantly, till, like Elias, we bring down the rain.

4. Look alone to Jesus. "He shall come down like rain."

5. Value the least sign of grace, watching for it as the prophet did from the top of Carmel, till he saw the little cloud arise from the sea.

6. Use the blessing more diligently when it returns, bringing forth fruit unto God.

Let this act as an incentive to gratitude to those who are wet with showers of blessing. And as a warning to those who are losing their interest in the gatherings of the Sabbath.

Anecdotes and Aphorisms

God's grace can save souls without any preaching: but all the preaching in the world cannot save souls without God's grace.—Benjamin Beddome. The hearer sometimes complains that there is no food for his soul; when the truth is that there is no soul for the food. —Joseph Parker.

Every preacher must have felt that in certain places his labor is in vain. For some cause unknown to him, there is no response to his appeals, no fruit of his teaching. I knew a place from which Mr. Whitefield was chased away, and it was said of it that ever since there appeared to be a blight upon it; and indeed it seemed so. I have seen churches acting wrongly, and becoming withered from that time. On the other hand, we feel when there is dew about, and we know when there is a sound of abundance of rain. I have preached at times with the absolute certainty of success because a grace-shower was on saint and sinner, on preacher and people. In a newspaper we met with the following: —

"There was an old turnpike-man, on a quiet country road, whose habit was to shut his gate at night, and take his nap. One dark, wet midnight I knocked at his door, calling, 'Gate, gate!' 'Coming,' said the voice of the old man. Then I knocked again, and once more the voice replied, 'Coming.' This went on for some time, till at length I grew quite angry, and jumping off my horse, opened the door, and demanded why he cried 'Coming' for twenty minutes, and never came. 'Who is there?' said the old man, in a quiet, sleepy voice, rubbing his eyes. 'What d'ye want, sir?' Then awakening, 'Bless yer, sir, and ax yer pardon, I was asleep; I gets so used to hearing 'em knock, that I answer "Coming" in my sleep, and take no more notice about it.' "

Thus may the ministry accomplish nothing because the habitual hearer remains in a deep sleep, out of which the Spirit of God alone can awaken him. When the secret influence from heaven ceases to speak to the heart, the best speaking to the ear avails little.

Section 72

"What shall one then answer the Messengers of the nation? That the Lord hath
founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it."—Isaiah 14:32 It is clear that Zion attracts attention. The messengers of the nations enquire concerning her. The church excites attention by— The peculiarity of her people. The speciality of her teaching. The singularity of her claims. The greatness of her privileges.

It is so good a thing to have this attention excited, that one should be ever ready to give an answer, for this is the way by which the truth is spread in the earth.

Oh that all nations would send messengers to enquire concerning our King, and his reign! Perhaps they will when we are what we ought to be, and are ready to answer their enquiries.

I. What do the messengers ask?

They come as the ambassadors from Babylon to see everything.

They ask questions, as did the Queen of Sheba.

Concerning Zion, or the church, they ask:—

1. What is her origin? (Psalms 78:68-69.) 2. What is her history? (Psalms 87:3.) 3. Who is her king? (Psalms 99:2.) 4. What is her charter? (Galatians 4:26.) 5. What are her laws? (Ezekiel 43:12.) 6. What is her treasure? (Psalms 147:12-14, Revelation 21:21.) 7. What is her present security? (Psalms 48:13.) 8. What is her future destiny? (Psalms 102:16.) There is nothing about Zion which is unworthy of their enquiry.

There is nothing about Zion which is closed against enquiry.

II. Why do they ask?

1. Some from mere contempt. "What do these feeble Jews?" They would see the nakedness of the land. Perhaps when they know more their contempt will evaporate.

2. Some from idle curiosity. Yet many who come to us from that poor motive are led to Christ. Zaccheus comes down from his trees as he did not go up.

3. Some from hearty admiration. They enquire, "What is thy Beloved more than another beloved?" They have seen his star, and are come to worship, asking, "Where is he?"

4. Some from a desire to become citizens. How can they be initiated? What is the price of her franchise? What will be required of her burgesses? Is there room for more citizens?

They are wise thus to ask, and count the cost.

Men can hardly remain indifferent when the true Church of God is near them: for some reason or another they will enquire.

III. Why should they be answered?

1. It may silence their cavils.

2. It may win them to God.

3. It will do us good to give a reason for the hope that is in us.

4. It will glorify God to tell of what his grace has done for his church and of what it is prepared to do. The answers should be prudently suited to the enquirer.

They should be clear, bold, truthful, and joyous.

We should think before we give an answer. "What shall one answer?" Our manner in answering should be gracious. (1 Peter 3:15.) The answer should refer rather to God than to ourselves: it is so in the text now before us.

IV. What should be the answer?

1. That God is all in all to his church,—"The Lord hath."

2. That her origin is from him,—"The Lord hath founded Zion."

3. That his people are poor in themselves, and rely upon another. It is a city to which the poor flee for refuge, as many fled to the cave of Adullam who were in debt and discontented.

4. That their trust is in the foundation which the Lord hath laid.

5. That we resolve to abide in that trust,—"The poor of his people shall trust in it."

If you ungodly ones would only ask the righteous concerning their hope, it would be well.

If you godly ones would tell enquirers your experience, it might do a great good. "That we may seek him with thee" (Solomon's Song of Solomon 6:1).

Incentives

Visiting a vaulted passage in the palace of Nero, at Rome, we were shown certain frescoes upon the roof. To exhibit these a candle was lifted up upon a telescopic rod, and then moved along from picture to picture. Let the candle stand for the believer, and let him be willing to be so elevated in life as to shine upon those high mysteries of our holy faith which else had never been perceived by other men. Eminent saints in the past have served such a purpose: their lives have cast a light upon priceless truths, which else had been forgotten.

If a man should ask me, after I have recovered from an illness, by what means I had been healed, should I not tell him with pleasure? To monopolize such information would be monstrous. The church of Christ is not a close borough, or a club with exclusive rules. Its walls are for inclusion, not for exclusion; its gates shut out no refugees who would enter. All that we know we are glad to tell, for all that there is to tell is glad tidings to our fellow-men. A young Kaffir, who was brought to England to be educated for mission-work in his own country, when taken to St. Paul's Cathedral, gazed up into the dome for some time as if lost in wonder, and when at length he broke silence, it was to ask, "Did man make this?" Those who obtain a view of the grandeur and glory of the spiritual temple may ask a similar question. We can tell them that its "Builder and Maker is God."

Enquirers should be answered. It is never well to be dumb to attentive ears. As someone has wisely said, "We shall have to give an account of idle silence, as well as of idle speech." Our testimony should be bright and cheerful. The dismal tale some tell of trials and temptations is not likely to fetch home the prodigal from the far country: such lean and discontented followers will never make anybody say, "How many hired servants of my Father have bread enough, and to spare!" —Mark Guy Pearse. To the matter of the safety of the church, through the presence of the Lord, we may apply the following dialogue between a heathen and a Jew:—"After the Jews returned from captivity—all nations around about them being enemies to them—a heathen asked a Jew how he and his countrymen could hope for any safety, 'Because,' saith he, 'every one of you is as a silly sheep compassed about with fifty wolves.' 'Ay, but,' saith the Jew, 'we are kept by such a Shepherd as can kill all these wolves when he pleases and by that means preserve his sheep.' " —Thomas Brooks.

Section 73 "A man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest."—Isaiah 32:2 God's best blessings to men have usually come by men. When our Lord ascended on high, he received gifts for men, and these gifts were men. (Psalms 68:18. Ephesians 4:8; Ephesians 4:11).

Immense boons have come to nations by kings like David, prophets like Samuel, deliverers like Gideon, lawgivers like Moses. But what are all good men put together compared with The Man Christ Jesus?

We are now to view him as our shield against ten thousand ills: the hiding-place and covert of his people.

Let us consider that,—

I. This life is liable to storms.

1. Mysterious hurricanes within, which cause the most dreadful confusion of mind. Winds, whose direction is uncertain, shaking everything, creating unrest and distraction. Frequently no definite cause can be assigned for them; the cause may be constitutional, or physical, or circumstantial.

2. Overwhelming tempests of spiritual distress on account of sin, wrong desire, conscious declension, unbelief, etc.

3. Fierce blasts of temptation, insinuation, suggestion, denunciation, etc., from Satan.

4. Wild attacks from human enemies, who taunt, slander, threaten, etc. David was wont to use this refuge. He says, "I flee unto thee to hide me": Psalms 143:9.

5. Trying gales of temporal losses, bereavements, and other afflictions.

6. Above all, the storm of divine anger when we have grieved the Holy Spirit, and lost communion with God.

None of these winds and tempests are we able to bear: our only safety lies in getting out of them by finding a shelter where God has provided it. (Isaiah 25:4; Isaiah 26:20. Psalms 32:7).

II. From these storms the Man Christ Jesus is our hiding-place.

1. As truly man. Sympathizing with us, and Bringing God near to us.

2. As more than man, ruling every tempest, covering every feeble traveler, as within the cleft of a rock.

3. As Substitutionary Man, interposing, breasting the storm for us, hiding us by being weather-beaten himself.

4. As Representative Man, more than conqueror and glorified. In him we are delivered from divine wrath. In him we are covered from Satan's blasts. In him we dwell above trial by happy fellowship with him. In him we are victors over death.

5. As Ever-living Man: we live because he lives, and thus we defy the tempest of death. John 14:19.

6. As Interceding Man. He says, "I have prayed for thee," when Satan is seeking to destroy any one of us: Luke 22:32.

7. As the Coming Man. We dread no political catastrophes, or social disruptions, for "he must reign." The end is secured. "Behold, he cometh with clouds": Revelation 1:7.

III. Let us see to it that we take shelter in the Man.

1. Let him stand before us, interposing between us and the punishment of sin. Hide behind him by faith.

2. Let him daily cover us from all evil, as our Shield and Protector. Psalms 119:114.

3. Let us enter into him more and more fully, that we may be more hidden, that he may be more known to us, and that we may have a fuller sense of security.

O you that are out of Christ, the tempest is lowering! Come to this covert; hasten to this hiding-place!

He is an effectual shelter, tried and proved.

He is an open refuge, available now for you.

He is a capacious hiding-place: "Yet there is room." As in Adullam all David's army could hide, so is Jesus able to receive hosts of sinners.

He is an eternal covert: our dwelling-place throughout all generations.

He is an inviting shelter, because he is Man, and therefore has compassion towards men, and a joy in their salvation.

Instances and Instructions

Well do I remember being caught in the mistral at Hyeres, when it blew with unusual fury; it not only drove clouds of dust with terrible force, but boughs of trees, and all sorts of light material were propelled with tremendous force. One wondered that a tree remained upright, or a fence in its place. What a joy it was to hide behind a solid wall, and under its shelter to run along till we were safe within doors! Then we knew in some measure the value of a hiding-place from the wind. But what is that to a cyclone, which tears down houses, and lifts ships upon the dry land? Friends who have lived abroad have startled us with their descriptions of what wind can be, and they have made us cease to wonder that a hiding-place should be greatly prized by dwellers in eastern lands. The tempest's awful voice was heard, O Christ, it broke on thee!

Thy open bosom was my ward, It braved the storm for me.

Thy form was scarred, thy visage marred;

Now cloudless peace for me.

—Sacred Songs and Solos

I creep under my Lord's wings in the great shower, and the waters cannot reach me. Let fools laugh the fools' laughter, and scorn Christ, and bid the weeping captives in Babylon to sing them one of the songs of Zion. We may sing, even in our winter's storm, in the expectation of a summer's sun at the turn of the year. No created powers in hell, or out of hell, can mar our Lord's work, or spoil our song of joy. Let us then, be glad and rejoice in the salvation of our Lord, for faith had never yet cause to have tearful eyes, or a saddened brow, or to droop or die.—Samuel Rutherford. A shelter is nothing if we stand in front of it. The main thought with many a would-be Christian is his own works, feelings, and attainments: this is to stand on the windy side of the wall by putting self before Jesus. Our safety lies in getting behind Christ, and letting him stand in the wind's eye. We must be altogether hidden, or Christ cannot be our hiding-place.

Foolish religionists hear about the hiding-place, but never get into it. How great is the folly of such conduct! It makes Jesus to be of no value or effect. What is a roof to a man who lies in the open, or a boat to one who sinks in the sea? Even the Man Christ Jesus, though ordained of God to be a covert from the tempest, can cover none but those who are in him. Come then, poor sinner, enter where you may; hide in him who was evidently meant to hide you, for he was ordained to be a hiding-place, and must be used as such, or the very aim of his life and death would be missed.

Section 74 "A man shall be . . . as rivers of water in a dry place."—Isaiah 32:2 Our Lord Jesus is nearest and dearest to us as Man. His manhood reminds us of— His incarnation, in which he assumed our nature. His life on earth, in which he honored our nature. His death, by which he redeemed our nature. His resurrection, by which he upraised our nature.

Consider the Word made flesh, and you have before you "rivers of water." "It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell."

Though manhood seems to be a dry place, a salt and barren land, yet in the case of this Man it yields rivers of water,— numberless streams, abounding with refreshment.

Let us learn from the simile before us:—

I. That nature's drought does not hinder Christ's coming to men.

1. He came into the dry place of a fallen, ruined, rebellious world.

2. He comes to men personally, notwithstanding their being without strength, without righteousness, without desire, without life.

3. He flows within us in rivers of grace, though the old nature continues to be a dry and parched land.

4. He continues the inflowing of his grace till he perfects us, and this he does though decay of nature, failure, and fickleness prove us to be as a dry place.

"Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."

II. That nature's drought enhances the preciousness of Christ.

1. He is the more quickly discovered; as rivers would be in a desert.

2. He is the more highly valued; as water in a torrid clime.

3. He is the more largely used, as streams in a burning wilderness.

4. He is the more surely known to be the gift of God's grace. How else came he to be in so dry a place? Those who are most devoid of merit are the more clear as to God's grace.

5. He is the more gratefully extolled. Men sing of rivers which flow through dreary wastes.

III. That nature's drought is most effectually removed by Christ.

Rivers change the appearance and character of a dry place. By our Lord Jesus appearing in our manhood as Emmanuel, God with us,—

1. Our despair is cheered away.

2. Our sinfulness is purged.

3. Our nature is renewed.

4. Our barrenness is removed.

5. Our trials are overcome.

6. Our fallen condition is changed to glory. The desert of manhood rejoices and blossoms as the rose now that the Man Christ Jesus has appeared in it.

IV. That our own sense of drought should lead us the more hopefully to apply to christ.

He is rivers of water in a dry place. The dry place is his sphere of action. Nature's want is the platform for the display of grace.

1. This is implied in our Lord's offices. A Saviour for sinners. A Priest who can have compassion on the ignorant, etc.

2. This is remembered in his great qualifications. Rivers, because the place is so dry. Full of grace and truth, because we are so sinful and false. Mighty to save, because we are so lost, etc.

3. This is manifested by the persons to whom he comes. Not many great or mighty are chosen. "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." He calls "the chief of sinners." In every case the rivers of love flow into a dry place.

4. This is clear from the object which he aimed at, namely, the glory of God, and the making known of the riches of his grace. This can be best accomplished by working salvation where there is no apparent likelihood of it, or, in other words, causing rivers to water dry places.

Come to Jesus, though your nature be dry, and your case hopeless.

Come, for there are rivers of grace in him.

Come, for they flow at your feet,—"in a dry place."

Come, if you have come before, and are just now in a backsliding condition. The Lord Jesus is still the same; the rivers of mercy in him can never be dried up.

Christ never seems empty to any but those who are full of themselves. He is dry to those who overflow with personal fulness, but he floods with his grace all who are dried up as to all self-reliance.

Rivulets It is my sweetest comfort, Lord, And will for ever be, To muse upon the gracious truth Of thy humanity.

—Edward Caswall.

Men that have dry land spare no cost, refuse no pains, to bring rivulets of waters through it, that it may be moistened. It will, they know, in a little time, quit all their cost, and recompense all their labor. Oh, that men would be as careful that their dry hearts might be watered!—Ralph Robinson. The claims of Jesus Christ upon our gratitude and devotion are such that we gladly borrow language from any that may help us to utter his praise. Thus Dr. Marsh adopted Pope's lines, altering only the last words,— Not bubbling waters to the thirsty swain, Not rest to weary laborers, faint with pain, Not showers to larks, not sunshine to the bee, Are half so precious as thy love to me—

—My Saviour With what joy do travelers through the Bayuda desert come within sight of the Nile! While toiling over the burning sand they have dreamed of rivers, and the mirage mocks them with the image of their day-dream. The fiction enchants them because the fact would be so delightful. What must it be actually to drink of the stream after terrible hours of thirst? Hindus worship their rivers as gods, so precious do they conceive them to be. Do you wonder that the gratitude of the ignorant should take such a form? What would their hot country be without them? What would our hearts, our lives, our present, our future, be without Christ? What would be the outlook of the age—what the prospect of our nation—what the destiny of the world, without the Lord Jesus?

What we want in Christ, we always find in him. When we want nothing, we find nothing. When we want little, we find little. When we want much, we find much. But when we want everything, and get reduced to complete nakedness and beggary, we find in Christ God's complete treasure-house, out of which come gold and jewels to enrich us, and garments to clothe us in the richness and righteousness of the Lord.—Sears.

Section 75

"Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered
it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back."—Isaiah 38:17

Here is the case of a man who, as far as mortal help was concerned, was a dead man, and yet prayer prevailed for his recovery, and the lengthening of his life.

He records his experience for the glory of God, for his own refreshment, and for our encouragement. In our deep depressions we have the same God to help us.

Hezekiah sets before us in this verse,—

I. Healthful Bitterness.

"For peace I had bitter bitterness" (margin).

1. He had been in peace. Probably this had brought with it a dangerous state, in which the mind became carnally secure, self-contented, stagnant, slumbering, careless, worldly.

2. He underwent a change. It was sudden and surprising,— "Behold." It broke up all his peace, and took the place of it.

3. His new state was one of emphatic sorrow,—"Bitterness." "Great bitterness." In bodily condition and in mental emotion he tasted the wormwood and the gall. Read previous verses, and see how he mourned.

4. It wrought his health. "So wilt thou recover me" (verse 16).

It led him to repentance for the past. He speaks of "my sins."

It brought him to his knees in prayer.

It revealed his inward decline, and weakness of grace.

It made him put away his defilements.

It deepened his faith in God. "The Lord was ready to save me" (verse 20).

5. Peace came back again, and with it songs of joy.

If any are now drinking the bitter cup, let them be of good cheer, for there is a cup of salvation in God's hand.

II. Delivering Love.

"In love to my soul thou hast delivered it." In its first meaning we see recovery from sickness, but it intends much more: upon the surface lies benefit to his soul. Let us observe—

1. The deed of love. "Thou hast loved my soul from the pit" (margin). The Lord delivers the soul from the pit of hell, of sin, of despair, of temptation, of death. He alone can do this.

2. The love which performed the deed. Love suggested and ordained it.

Love actually performed it by its own hands. "In love to my soul thou has loved it from the pit."

Love breaks the heart, and binds it up.

Love sets us free, and then holds us captive.

We are by love loved out of sorrow, rebellion, despondency, coldness, and weakness. Acknowledge this heartily.

Measure this love by your demerit, your danger, your present complete safety, and by the greatness of the Deliverer, and what the delivery cost him.

Treasure this love, and sing of it all the days of your life.

III. Absolute Pardon.

"Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back."

1. This was the cause of his restored peace. He was burdened while sin remained, but when that was gone, peace returned.

2. This removed the whole burden. "Sins"; "my sins"; "all my sins."

3. This involved effort on God's part. "Thou has cast." We remember the more than herculean labors of Jesus, who has hurled our load into the bottomless deep.

4. This is wonderfully described. "Behind thy back": this is —The place of desertion. God has gone from our sin never to return to it. He has left it for ever, and it will never cross his path again, for he never moves backward. The place of forgetfulness: he will not remember it any more. The place of nonentity: nothing is behind the back of God.

Therefore we will tell others our story, as Hezekiah has told us his. Let us seek out one or more who will hear us with attention.

"Therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments" (verse 20). At this hour let us lift up the voice of gratitude.

Enlargements

Thomas Bilney, the martyr, after his submission to the Papacy being brought again to repentance was, as Latimer reports, for a time inconsolable. "His friends dared not suffer him to be alone day or night. They comforted him as they could, but no comforts would serve; and as for the comfortable places of Scripture, to bring them to him was as though a man should run him through the heart with a sword.

Now friend, give me your answer: Is it best to see sin and guilt now, while you may see a Saviour also; or to see sin and a judge hereafter, but no Saviour? Sin you shall see, as we say, in spite of your teeth, will you, nil you. Oh, then, let me see sin and guilt now; Oh, now, with a sweet Saviour, that I may have this woeful sight past when I come to die.—Giles Firmin.

"Thou hast cast," etc. These last words are a borrowed speech, taken from the manner of men who are wont to cast behind their backs such things as they have no mind to see, regard, or remember. A gracious soul hath always his sins before his face. "I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me"; and therefore no wonder if the Lord cast them behind his back. A father soon forgets and casts behind his back those faults that the child remembers and hath always before his eyes, so doth the Father of spirits.—Thomas Brooks.

I have read somewhere of a great divine (I think it was Œcolanpadius), who being recovered from a great sickness, said, "I have learned under this sickness to know sin and God." Did he not know these before? Doubtless he could preach good sermons concerning God and sin; but the Spirit, it seems, in that sickness, taught him these otherwise than he knew them before.—Giles Firmin.

Some of the pits referred to in the Bible were prisons; one such I saw at Athens, and another at Rome. To these there were no openings, except a hole at the top, which served for both door and window. The bottoms of these pits were necessarily in a filthy and revolting state, and sometimes deep in mud. Isaiah speaks of "the pit of corruption," or putrefaction and filth.—John Gadsby.

Dr. Watts, from his early infancy to his dying day, scarcely ever knew what health was; but however surprising it may appear, he looked on the affliction as the greatest blessing of his life. The reason he assigned for it was, that, being naturally of a warm temper and an ambitious disposition, these visitations of divine providence weaned his affections from the world, and brought every passion into subjection to Christ. This he often mentioned to his dear friend, Sir Thomas Abney, in whose house he lived many years.—John Whitecross

Section 76

"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."—Isaiah 45:22 The nations have been looking to their idols for all these centuries, but in vain.

Many of them are looking to their boasted philosophies, and still in vain.

False religions, politics, alliances, theories, organizations, men—all will be in vain to save the nations.

Happy are we that we live in a time when God's command to the nations is proclaimed abroad. Be it ours to spread the saving truth, and bid men look and live. The same principle applies to individuals. If they would be saved they must look to the Lord.

If you, O hearer, would be saved, here is the only method,— "Look."

I. What means this word "look" in reference to god?

It includes many things; as for instance—

1. Admit his reality by looking to him. Consider that there is a God, and enthrone him in your mind as a real Person, the true God, and your Lord. Let the Invisible God be to you as real as that which you see with your eyes.

2. Address yourself to him by prayer, thanksgiving, thought, obedience, reverence, etc., looking to him so as to know him, and recognize his presence.

3. Acknowledge that from him only salvation can come. Regard him as the only possible Saviour. "There is none else."

4. Anticipate that HE will bless you: look for his interposition.

5. Abide alone in HIM for salvation. Keep your eyes fixed on him, as the Morning Star of your day.

II. For what part of salvation are we thus to look? For every part of it from beginning to end.

1. Pardon. This must be God's act, and it can only come through the atonement which he has provided in Christ Jesus.

2. Preparation for pardon, namely, life, repentance, faith. Grace must prepare us for more grace.

3. Renewal of heart is the Holy Ghost's work: look to him for it. Regeneration must be of the Lord alone.

4. Sustenance in spiritual life is of the Lord alone. All growth, strength, fruit, must be looked for from him.

5. Daily succor in common things is as much a divine gift as great deliverances. Our look should be constant, and it should comprise expectancy for time as well as eternity.

Any one matter left to self would ruin us altogether.

III. What is our encouragement to look?

1. His command. He bids us look, and therefore we may look.

2. His promise. He says, "Look, and be saved," and he will never run back from his own word.

3. His Godhead. "For I am God." All things are possible to him: his mercy is equal to our salvation, his glory will be manifest thereby.

4. His character, as "a just God and a Saviour." (See verse 21). This combination is seen by those who know the cross, and it is full of hope to sinners.

5. His broad invitation: "all the ends of the earth." Each seeking soul may be sure that he is included therein. Who will refuse so simple an act as to look?

IV. What is the best time in which to look?

Look now, at this very moment.

1. The command is in the present tense: "Look unto me,"

2. The promise is in the same tense: "and be ye saved." It is a fiat, like "light be." It takes immediate effect.

3. Your need of salvation is urgent: you are already lost.

4. The present time is yours, no other time is yours to use; for the past is gone, and the future will be present when it comes.

5. Your time may soon end. Death comes suddenly. Age creeps on us. The longest life is short.

6. It is the time which God chooses: it is ours to accept it. This is a great soul-saving text: give earnest heed to it.

All who have obeyed it are saved: why should you not at once be saved? This is the one command, "Look! Look!"

Stories and Brevities A striking example of prayer unto "gods that cannot save" is given by Miss Isabella Bird, who describes a service in a Buddhist temple in Japan, when a popular priest preached to a vast congregation on future punishment, i.e., the tortures of the Buddhist hells. When he concluded, the people, slightly raising the hands on which the rosaries were wound, answered with the roar of a mighty response, "Eternal Buddha, save!" To this text, under God, I owe my own deliverance from despair. An explanation of the work of Jesus, given by a humble, unlettered lay preacher, was followed by a direct appeal to me. "Young man, you are miserable, and you will never be happy unless you obey this message. Look! Look!" I did look, and in that instant lost my crushing load of guilt. It was all clear to me. Jesus had taken the sins of all believers. I believed, and knew that he had taken mine, and therefore I was clear. The matchless truth of the substitution of the divine Lord for me was light and liberty to my soul. A look saved me, and for my present salvation I have no other resort but still to look. "Looking unto Jesus," is a motto both for penitent and preacher, for sinner and saint.—C. H. S.

There is an affecting story of a celebrated literary man, Heinrich Heine, who was prematurely disabled by disease, and utterly heart-sick and weary. In one of the art-palaces of Paris there is the famous statue called the Venus of Milo, the bewitching goddess of pleasure, which, by the rude accident of time, has lost both her arms, but still preserves much of her supreme, enchanting beauty. At the feet of this statue Heine cast himself down in remorse and despair, and, to use his own words, "There I lay a long time, and wept so passionately that a stone must have had compassion on me. The goddess looked down compassionately upon me, but she was helpless to console me. She looked as if she would say—'See you not that I have no arms, and that therefore I can give you no help?' " So, vain and useless is it to look to any for spiritual help and comfort, except to him of whom it is declared, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save."

Some divines would need a week in which to tell you what you are to do to be saved: but the Holy Ghost only uses four letters to do it. Four letters, and two of them alike—"Look!" Be not like the man in the Interpreter's house, whose eyes were fixed on the ground where he was raking together straws and dust, and who would not look up to him who was offering him a celestial crown. Look up! Look up!

Section 77

"And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you:
I have made and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you."—Isaiah 46:4 The doctrine of the text is the unchanging nature of God, and the constancy of his kindness towards his people in providence and grace.

We need scarcely prove the unchanging nature of God's dealings with his people, during the short period of mortal life, when— In nature we see many things unchanged during seventy or eighty years: sun, ocean, rocks, etc.

We see his Word and gospel to be still the same.

Prayer, praise, communion, and holy service are the same. Our experience is similar to that of saints in the olden time.

Especially we remember that the very nature of God places mutability beyond the range of supposition. Of the Lord's dealings in providence and grace it is scarcely necessary to prove the immutability, when we remind you— That the mercies of one age are in the main identical with those of another; and the promises are altogether unaltered. That holy men are ready to testify to the faithfulness of God, and that both now and in the past the witnesses to his divine truth and immutability are many. That divine strength is not dependent on man's weakness; divine love is not changed by man's demerits; and divine truth is not affected by lapse of years. That the completion of the body of Christ requires the preservation of all the saints, and therefore the Lord must abide the same to every one of them.

Yet without doubt "old age" has it peculiarities, which do but serve to evidence the firmness of God's grace.

I. It hath its Peculiar Memories.

1. It remembers many joys, and it sees in them proofs of love.

2. It remembers many visits to the house of sickness, and it recollects how the Lord cheered its desolate chamber.

3. It remembers many trials in its loss of friends, and its changes of condition, but it sees HIM to have been ever the same.

4. It remembers many conflicts with temptation, doubt, Satan, the flesh, and the world; but it remembers how HE covered its head in the day of battle.

5. It remembers its own many sins; and it is not forgetful how many professors have made shipwreck of faith; but it clearly sees covenant faithfulness in its own preservation.

All our recollections are unanimous in their testimony to an unchanging God.

II. It hath its Peculiar Hopes.

It has now few things to anticipate; but those few are the same as in younger days, for the covenant abides unaltered.

1. The Ground of its hope is still Jesus, and not long service.

2. The Reason of its hope is still faith in the infallible Word.

3. The Preservation of its hope is still in the same hands.

4. The End of its hope is still the same heaven, the same crown of life and blessedness.

5. The Joy of its hope is still as bright and cheering as before.

III. It hath its Peculiar Solicitudes.

Cares are fewer, for business is curtailed, and the needs which remain only serve to show that God is the same.

1. The Body is infirm, but grace makes amends for the departed joys of youth, health, and activity.

2. The Mind is weaker, the memory less retentive, and the imagination less vivid; but gracious doctrines are more sweet than ever, and eternal verities sustain the heart.

3. Death is nearer, but then Heaven is nearer too. Earth may be less lovely, but the home-country is dearer, since more loved ones have entered it, and have left us fewer ties to earth.

4. Preparation by Examination is now more imperative, but it is also more easy, since repetition has removed its difficulties, faith has more constancy, and tried promises afford richer comfort.

All these prove God the same.

IV. It hath its Peculiar Blessedness.

Deprived of certain enjoyments, age is enriched with others.

1. It has a long experience to read, proving the promise true.

2. It has less wavering in its doctrines, knowing now what once it only guessed.

3. It has less to fear in the future of life, seeing the way is shorter.

4. It has more divine unveilings of the celestial regions, for it is now in the land Beulah.

5. It has less business on earth, and more in heaven, and hence it has an inducement to be more heavenly-minded.

Here is divine love made manifest as still the same.

V. It hath its Peculiar Duties.

These are proofs of divine faithfulness, since they cause men to bring forth fruit in old age. They are—

1. Testimony to the goodness of God, the unchangeableness of his love, and the certainty of his revelation.

2. Comfort to others who are battling, assuring them that they will come off safely.

3. Warning to the wayward: such warnings coming with tenfold force from the aged saint.

4. And frequently we may add—

Instruction, since the old man's experience has opened up many a mystery unknown before. From the whole we gather— A lesson to the young to make this God their God, since he will never forsake his people. A Solace for men in middle life to persevere, for they shall still be carried in the arms of grace. A song for the aged, concerning undying love and unchanging mercy. With mellowed voice let it be sung. To the Point

Dr. O. W. Holmes says, "Men, like peaches and pears, grow sweet a little while before they begin to decay." This is true; but Christian men should be sweet from the hour that they are renewed in heart. Yet even then maturity brings a special mellowness. Of the Christian it has been said, "The decay and wasting and infirmities of old age will be, as Dr. Guthrie called these symptoms of his own approaching death, only 'the land-birds lighting on the shrouds, telling the weary mariner that he is nearing the desired haven.' "

It is a favorite speculation of mine that, if spared to sixty, we then enter on the seventh decade of human life, and that this, if possible, should be turned into the Sabbath of our earthly pilgrimage, and spent Sabbatically, as if on the shores of an eternal world, or in the outer courts, as it were, of the temple that is above, the tabernacle that is in heaven.—Dr. Chalmers.

Section 78

"The children which thou shalt have, after thou has lost the other, shall say again
in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.

"Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost
my children, and am desolate, a captive, and re moving to and fro? and who hath
brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?"—Isaiah 49:20-21 A hopeful mood becomes the church of god, for the memories of the past, the blessings of the present, and the promises of the future are full of good cheer.

"All the promises do travail with a glorious day of grace." The church lives, progresses, conquers by her faith; let her abandon despondency, as her weakness, her sin, her greatest hindrance. The prophet, to remove all fear, reminds us that—

I. In the church there are decreases.

"I have lost my children," etc. This is frequently the bitter cry of a church.

1. Death invades the house of God, and takes away those who were its pillars and ornaments. But those who depart go to swell the chorus of heaven.

2. Providence takes away useful persons by removal, or by excessive occupation which keeps them from holy service. The removed ones go to build up the church elsewhere: those who are lawfully detained by business are still doing the Lord's will.

3. Sin causes some to backslide, wander away, or become inactive. But they go from us because they are not of us. This decrease is painful, and it may go so far that a church may feel itself to be "desolate," and "left alone." Yet the Lord has not forgotten his church, for he is her Husband.

II. In the church we look for increase.

"The children which thou shalt have."

Let us not be absorbed in lamenting losses; let us rejoice by faith in great gains which are surely coming.

1. Increase is needful, or what will become of the church?

2. Increase is prayed for, and God hears prayer.

3. Increase can only come through God, but he will give it, and be glorified by it.

4. Increase is promised in the text, and in many other Scriptures.

5. Increase is to be labored for with agony of heart. "As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth children."

III. In the church increase often causes surprise. So narrow are our hearts, so weak our faith, that we are amazed when conversions are numerous.

1. Because of the time: "Behold, I was left alone."

2. Because of their number: "Who hath begotten me these?"

3. Because of their former character: "These, where had they been?" They were not after all so very far off.

Some of them were quite near to us and near to the kingdom, in the family, school, class, congregation, enquiry-room.

Others were far off in irreligion, and open sin.

Others were opposed through rationalism, superstition, or self-righteousness.

4. Because of their good nurture: "Who hath brought up these?"

5. Because of their eagerness and courage. "Shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me."

6. Because of their constancy. "Give place to me that I may dwell."

They come to remain. Where had they been? Say rather, "Where had we been?" that we had not long ago looked after them, and welcomed them.

IV. In the church increase should be prepared for.

We make ready for the coming of children. Is the church an unnatural mother? Will she not welcome new-born souls? We must prepare for an increase—

1. By intense united prayer for it.

2. By the preaching of the gospel, which is the means of it.

3. By every form of Christian effort which may lead to it.

4. By enlarging our bounds: "The place is too strait for me." To provide a larger audience-chamber may be a true act of faith.

5. By welcoming all true-born children of God: who say, each one, "give place to me that I may dwell."

Oh, for a triumphant faith that the little one shall become a thousand!

Oh, for grace to act upon such faith at once!

"Believe great things; attempt great things; expect great things."

Notes My observation leads me to believe that where churches are duly careful in the admission of members, they will find that their best converts come in flocks. My impression is that when very few come forward, everybody leans towards a less exact judgment than in times when many are forthcoming. Bad fish are more likely to be taken home when fish are scarce than when they are plentiful; for then the fisherman feels more free to make a rigid selection. I say nothing about the severity or laxity of a church in receiving members, but it is incidental to human nature that when we are in a revival we become more guarded, and in dull times we are more apt to look at a convert with a hope which is rather eager than anxious. Thus I account for what I believe to be a fact, that rare converts are frequently bare converts; and that the best sheep come to us in flocks.

Dr. Judson, the devoted missionary to Burmah, during his visit to Boston, was asked, "Do you think the prospect bright of the speedy conversion of the heathen?" "As bright," he replied, "as the promises of God."

Monday, December 22, 1800.—Creesturo, Gokol and his wife, and Felix Carey gave us their experience tonight. Brother C. concluded in prayer after we had sung, "Salvation, oh, the joyful sound!" . . . Brother Thomas is almost mad with joy.—Diary of the Rev. W. Ward, of Serampore.

"I am inclined to think that a single soul is never born again, apart from the tender concern and anxiety of some creaturely heart or hearts. . . . Probably Saul was converted in answer to the prayers of the disciples at Damascus.—John Pulsford.

Dr. Isaac Barrow, when a lad, was most unpromising. Such was his misconduct, and so irreclaimable did he seem, that his father, in despair, used to say that "if it pleased God to remove any of his children, he wished it might be his son Isaac." What became of the other and more hopeful children of the worthy linen-draper, we cannot tell; but this unworthy son lived to be the happiness and pride of his father's old age, to be one of the most illustrious members of the university to which he belonged, and one of the brightest ornaments of the church of which he became a minister.

Section 79

"Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer?
Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have 1 no power to deliver?
behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh,
because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. "I clothe the heavens with blackness,
and I make sackcloth their covering. "The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the
learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he
wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. "The
Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

"I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I
hid not my face from shame and spitting."—Isaiah 50:2-6

There was no one to take up the divine challenge: no one to answer for guilty man. To the call of God for one who could save, there was no answer but the echo of his voice.

See who it is that comes to rescue man! Jehovah interposes to save; but he appears in a special manner. The Lord himself draws the portrait. View it with solemn attention.

I. Behold the Messiah as God!

1. He comes in fulness of power. "Is my hand shortened at all?"

2. His power to save is equal to that with which he destroys. Let Egypt be the instance: "I dry up the sea," etc.

3. His power is that which produces the phenomena of nature. "I clothe the heavens with blackness."

4. This should excite deep gratitude, that he who rebukes the sea was himself rebuked; he who clothes the heavens with blackness was himself in darkness for our sake.

5. This should excite confidence; for he is evidently Lord of the sea and the sky, the dark and the gloom.

II. Behold him as the Appointed Teacher!

1. Instructed and endowed: "the Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned." He knows, and he imparts knowledge.

2. Condescending to the needy: "to him that is weary."

3. Watchful of each case: "that I should know how to speak a word in season." This is a rare gift: many speak, and perhaps speak in season, but have not learned the right manner.

4. Constantly in communion with God: "he wakeneth morning by morning." "He that hath sent me is with me." Should we not be heartily attentive to his teachings? "I will hear what God the Lord will speak."

III. Behold him as the Servant of the Lord!

1. Prepared by grace: "he wakenth mine ear to hear." He spoke not his own words, but those which he had heard of his Father.

2. Consecrated in due form: "hath opened mine ear," boring it to the door-post. This was publicly done in his baptism, when in outward symbol he fulfilled all righteousness.

3. Obedient in all things: "I was not rebellious." In no point did Jesus refuse the Father's will, not even in Gethsemane.

4. Persevering through all trials: "neither turned away back." He did not relinquish the hard task, but set his face as a flint to carry it through.

5. Courageous in it all: as we see in the verse following our text.

What a model for our service! Consider him, and copy him.

IV. Behold him as the Peerless Sufferer!

1. His entire submission; his back, his cheeks, his hair, his face.

2. His willing submission: "I gave my back to the smiters." "I hid not my face."

3. His lowly submission, bearing the felon's scourge, and the utmost of scorn, "shame and spitting."

4. His patient submission. Not a word of reproach, or resentment.

Grace had taught him effectually, and he suffered perfectly.

It may bring out important truths very vividly if we make combinations of the four subjects which have come before us.

Place the first and the last together: the God and the Sufferer. What condescension! What ability to save!

Place the two middle terms together: the Teacher and the Servant, and see how sweetly he serves by teaching, and teaches by serving.

Put all together, and let the blended characters ensure ardent affection, obedient reverence, and devout delight. A Golden Lecturer's Word

I imagine myself placed in the world at the time when the Christ was expected, commissioned to announce to it that God was about to send his own Son, having endowed him with the "tongue of the learned." What excitement in all the schools of philosophy! What gatherings of the sages of the earth! What expectations of the discoveries with which science was about to be enriched! "Now," say they, "shall long-hidden secrets be revealed; now shall we penetrate the laboratories of nature, and observe all those processes of which, at present, we see only the results. For what purpose can the tongue of the learned have been given to a Divine Person, if not that he may expound mysteries to the world, that he may tell us what the wise have been unable to detect, and the studious labored in vain to unfold? But this Divine person shall speak for himself to the assembled throng of philosophers and sages. "Yes, the Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned; and I have descended that I might speak with that tongue to every nation of the earth. But he hath not given me the tongue that I might tell how stars and planets roll, or settle the disputes of the wise. He hath not given me the tongue that I should know how to speak a word to you, ye disputers of this world; but simply that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary." Oh, how fallen are the expectant countenances of philosophers and sages! "Is this all?" they exclaim. "Was it only for this that the tongue of the learned was bestowed? Does this require, or can this employ, the tongue of the learned?"

Nay, men of science, turn not angrily away. With all your wisdom you have never been able to do this. The weary have sought to you in vain. They have found no "word in season," no word of comfort and sustainment; and why then should you be indignant at the province here assigned to "the tongue of the learned?"

What tongue but "the tongue of the learned" could speak "a word in season" to a world oppressed with this universal weariness? The tongue must be one which could disclose the mysteries of the Godhead, prove the immortality of the soul, and be charged with intelligence as to the pardon of sin, and the mode of reconciliation between man and his maker: things into which angels had in vain striven to look.—Condensed from Henry Melville.

Section 80

"For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be con founded: therefore
have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed."—Isaiah 50:7

There was no flint in the heart of Jesus, but there was much in his face. He was as resolute as he was submissive. Read verse 6 and this verse together—"I hid not my face from shame and spitting . . . I have set my face like a flint." Gentleness and resolve are married. In Luke 9:51, we read, "he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem." In our Lord there was no turning aside, though none helped him, and every one hindered him. He was neither confounded by thoughts within his own soul, nor rendered ashamed by the scorn of others.

Let us consider our Lord's stern resolution, thus,—

I. His steadfast resolve tested.

He declared his determination in the language of our text, and by many an ordeal this declaration was justified. He was tried—

1. By the offers of the world. They would make him a king. His triumphant ride into Jerusalem proved how easily he could have become a popular leader. By a little compromise he might have won an enthusiastic following as a religious teacher.

2. By the persuasions of friends. Peter rebuked him. All the disciples marveled at his determination. His relatives sought a very different career for him. Many yield to well-meaning friends; but Jesus set his face like a flint.

3. By the unworthiness of his clients.

He that ate bread with him betrayed him. His disciples forsook him and fled. The whole race conspired to put him to death.

4. By the bitterness which he tasted at his entrance upon his great work as a substitutionary sacrifice. Gethsemane, the betrayal, the false accusation, the mockery: these were sharp commencements, and many have shrunk when the fire has begun to kindle upon them; but Jesus stood firm.

5. By the ease with which he could have relinquished the enterprise.

Pilate would have released him had Jesus pleaded.

Legions of angels would have come to his rescue.

He might himself have come down from the cross.

He was not held to his work by inability to quit, but only by that love which is strong as death. He said, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me": the impossibility lay in his resolve to redeem his people.

6. By the taunts of those that scoffed. The people: "Let us see whether Elias will come to save him." The priests, etc.: "If he be the King of Israel," etc. The thieves: "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us."

Strong men have been overcome by ridicule; but not so Jesus.

7. By the full stress of the death-agony. The pain, thirst, fever, fainting, desertion, death: none of these moved him from his invincible resolve.

II. His steadfast resolve sustained. As man, our Lord owed his glorious steadfastness to several things, and he gives us in the text two "therefores." It was due—

1. To his divine schooling. See verse 4.

2. To his conscious innocence. "I know that I shall not be ashamed." See verse 5.

3. To the joy that was set before him. He would overcome for his people. "Who will contend with me?" See verse 8.

4. Specially to his unshaken confidence in the help of the Lord God. We have this both in the text and in verse 9.

Even to his cry of "It is finished" he never flinched, but held to his grand purpose.

III. His steadfast resolve imitated.

1. Our purpose must be God's glory, as his was.

2. Our education must be God's teaching, as his was.

3. Our life must combine active and passive obedience, as his did. See verses 5 and 6.

4. Our strength must lie in God, as his did.

5. Our path must be one of faith, as his was. Note verse 10, and its remarkable connection with the whole subject.

6. Our resolve must be carefully made, and steadily carried out till we can say, "It is finished," in our manner and degree.

Close with a warning to the men of this world from verse 11. The ungodly must have present light, from earth, from a fire of their own kindling, from mere momentary sparks. Their resolve will end in eternal regrets; they shall lie down as for the night; their bed shall be sorrow; they shall never rise from it.

Addenda A secret divine support was rendered to the human nature of our Redeemer; for the great work in which he was engaged required abundant strength. One has well said that "it would have broken the hearts, backs, and necks of all the glorious angels in heaven, and all the mighty men upon earth, had they engaged in it." Upon the Father's aid the Lord Jesus relied, according to our text; and this enabled him to contemplate the tremendous woes of the passion with a resolve of the most steadfast kind. Faith in God is the best foundation for a firm resolution, and a firm resolution is the best preparative for a great undertaking. There is nothing so hard but that it can be cut by that which is harder; against his hard labor our Lord set his harder determination. His face was as a flint; you could not turn him to leave his work, nor melt him to pity himself. He was set upon it: he must die because he must save his people; and he must save his people because he loved them better than himself. The saints endeavor to imitate the strong resolve of their Lord to yield themselves up. For instance, a Scottish peasant, dying as a martyr on the scaffold, said, "I came here to die for Christ, and if I had as many lives in my hand as I have hairs on my head, I would lay them all down for Christ."

Oh, what a sea of blood, a sea of wrath, of sin, of sorrow and misery, did the Lord Jesus wade through for your internal and eternal good! Christ did not plead, "This cross is too heavy for me to bear; this wrath is too great for me to lie under; this cup, which hath in it all the ingredients of divine displeasure, is too bitter for me to sup off, how much more to drink the very dregs of it!" No, Christ stands not upon this; he pleads not the difficulty of the service, but resolutely and bravely wades through all, as the prophet shows. Christ makes nothing of his Father's wrath, the burden of your sins, the malice of Satan, and the rage of the world, but sweetly and triumphantly passes through all. Ah, souls, if this consideration will not raise up your spirits above all the discouragements that you meet with, to own Christ and his service, and to stick and cleave to Christ and his service, I am afraid nothing will! A soul not stirred by this, not raised and lifted up by this, to be resolute and brave in the service of God, notwithstanding all dangers and difficulties, is a soul left of God to much blindness and hardness.—Thomas Brooks.

Section 81 "With his stripes we are healed."—Isaiah 53:5 What a chapter! A Bible in miniature. The Gospel in its essence. When our subject brings us near to the passion of our Lord, our feelings should be deeply solemn, our attention intensely earnest.

Hark, the scourge is falling! Forget everything but "his stripes."

We have each one a part in the flagellation: we wounded him, for certain; is it as certain that "with his stripes we are healed?"

Observe with deep attention,—

I. That God here treats sin as a disease.

Sin is a great deal more than a disease, it is a wilful crime; but the mercy of our God leads him to consider it under that aspect, in order that he may deal with it in grace.

1. It is not an essential part of man as he was created: it is abnormal, disturbing, and destructive.

2. It puts the faculties out of gear, and breaks the equilibrium of the life-forces, just as disease disturbs the bodily functions.

3. It weakens the moral energy, as disease weakens the body.

4. It either causes pain, or deadens sensibility, as the case may be.

5. It frequently produces visible pollution. Some sins are as defiling as the leprosy of old.

6. It tends to increase in the man, and it will prove fatal before long.

Sin is a disease which is hereditary, universal, contagious, defiling, incurable, mortal. No human physician can deal with it. Death, which ends all bodily pain, cannot cure this disease: it displays its utmost power in eternity, after the seal of perpetuity has been set upon it by the mandate: "He that is filthy, let him be filthy still."

II. That God here declares the remedy which he has provided.

Jesus is his Son, whom he freely delivered up for us all.

1. Behold the heavenly medicine: the stripes of Jesus in body and in soul. Singular surgery, the Healer is himself wounded, and this is the means of our cure!

2. Remember that these stripes were vicarious: he suffered in our stead.

3. Accept this atonement, and you are saved by it.

Prayer begs for the divine surgery.

Belief is the linen cloth which binds on the plaster.

Trust is the hand which secures it to the wound.

Repentance is the first symptom of healing.

4. Let nothing of your own interfere with the one medicine. You see the proper places of prayer, faith, and repentance; do not misuse them, and make them rivals of the "stripes." By the stripes of Jesus we are healed, and by these alone.

One remedy, and only one, is set forth by God. Why seek another?

III. That this remedy is immediately effective. To the carnal mind it does not appear to touch the case. But those of us who have believed in the stripes of Jesus are witnesses to the instant and perfect efficacy of the medicine, for we can speak from experience, since "We are healed."

1. Our conscience is healed of its smart: eased but not deadened.

2. Our heart is healed of its love of sin. We hate the evil which scourged our Well-Beloved.

3. Our life is healed of its rebellion. We are zealous of good works.

4. Our consciousness assures us that we are healed. We know it, and rejoice in it. None can dispute us out of it.

IV. Application.

1. Friend, you are by nature in need of healing.

You do not think so; this disease affects the mind, and breeds delusions.

You ridicule such teaching: your disease leads to madness.

You oppose it. Thus do the sick refuse medicine, and the insane hate their friends.

2. Friend, you are either healed or sick. Do you know which is your condition?

You ought to know. You may know.

3. Why are you not healed?

There is power in the remedy, for you, for you now.

4. If you are healed, behave accordingly.

Quit diseased company. Do a healthy man's work.

Praise the Physician, and his singular surgery.

Publish abroad his praises.

Suggestive Paragraphs The Balsam-tree sheds its balm to heal the wounds of those that cut it; and did not our blessed Saviour do the like? They mock him, and he prays for them; they shed his blood, and he makes it a medicine for their healing; they pierce his heart, and he opens therein a fountain for their sin and uncleanness. Was it ever heard, before or since, that a physician should bleed, and thus heal his patient; or that an offended prince should die to expiate the treasons of his rebellious subjects? Our heavenly Balsam is a cure for all diseases. If you complain that no sins are like yours, remember that there is no salvation like Christ's. If you have run the complete round of sin, remember that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all. No man ever perished for being a great sinner, unless he was also an unbelieving sinner. Never did a patient fail of a cure who accepted from the great Physician the balm of his atoning blood.

See how Christ, whose death was so bitter to himself, becomes sweetness itself to us. Rejection was his, but acceptance is ours; the wounding was his, but the healing is ours; the blood was his, but the balm is ours; the thorns were his, but the crown is ours; the death was his, but the life is ours; the price was his, but the purchase is ours. There is more power in Christ's blood to save than in your sin to destroy. Do but believe in the Lord Jesus, and thy cure is wrought.—Modernized from Spurstow's "Spiritual Chymist." The Hebrew word here, and the Greek word the Apostle Peter uses in his quotation of this passage which we render "stripes" (1 Peter 2:24), denote properly the marks which stripes or wounds leave upon the body, or as we say, scars. The scars in his hands, feet, and side, and perhaps other marks of his many wounds, remained after his resurrection. And John saw him in vision, before the throne, as "a Lamb as it had been slain." All these expressions and representations, I apprehend, are designed to intimate to us that, though the death of the Messiah is an event long since past, yet the effects and benefits are ever new, and to the eye of faith are ever present. How admirable is this expedient, that the wounds of one, yea of millions, should be healed by beholding the wounds of another! Yet this is the language of the gospel,—"Look, and live!" "Look unto me, and be ye saved!" Three great wounds are ours, guilt, sin, and sorrow; but by contemplating his weals, or scars, with an enlightened eye, and by rightly understanding who was thus wounded, and why, all these wounds are healed.

You who live by this medicine, speak well of it. Tell to others, as you have opportunity, what a Saviour you have found. It is usual for those who have been relieved in dangerous and complicated diseases by a skilful physician, to commend him to others who are laboring under the like maladies. We often see public acknowledgments to this purpose. If all the persons who have felt the efficacy of a dying Saviour's wounds, apprehended by faith, were to publish their cases, how greatly would his power and grace be displayed!—John Newton.

He cures the mind of its blindness, the heart of its hardness, the nature of its perverseness, the will of its backwardness, the memory of its slipperiness, the conscience of its benumbness, and the affections of their disorder, all according to his gracious promises. Ezekiel 36:26-27.—John Willison.

Trajan, it is said, rent his clothes to bind up his soldiers' wounds. Christ poured out his blood to heal his saints' wounds, and tears his flesh to bind them up.—Gurnall.

Dr. Cheyne was an eminent as well as a pious physician; but he was supposed to be severe in his regimen. When he had prescribed, and the patient began to object to the treatment, he would say, "I see you are not bad enough for me yet." Some are not bad enough for Christ yet—we mean in their own apprehension; but when they find and feel that they are entirely lost, and have no other help or hope, they will cordially acquiesce in his recommendations, however mysterious, however humbling, however trying.—Jay.

Four travelers, not very well acquainted with the cross-road over which they were journeying, began to look out for a finger-post. Soon after this, one of them cried out, "I think. I can see one yonder in the distance"; and "I believe that I can see it too, about half a mile off," rejoined another; and "I am almost certain that I can see it," added a third, "it stands up higher than the hedges." "Well, well," said the fourth, "you may be right, or you may be wrong; but we had better make the best of our way to it, for while we keep at such a distance, whether it be a finger-post or not, it will be of little use to us."

Now I want you all to draw near to the Saviour of sinners, and not be satisfied with "thinking," or "believing," or "being almost certain," that he is your Redeemer; and I want you to see him as your Saviour, as distinctly as you can see the sun in the skies, and to break out with all the conviction and fervency of Thomas, the Apostle, "My Lord, and my God!"—George Mogridge.

Section 82 "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.

"In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. "For this is as
the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be
wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee."—Isaiah 54:7-9 This text is the property of all believers. Their title to it is seen at the end of the chapter (verse 17). Let them not fail to enjoy it. It follows upon the prophecy of their Lord's great griefs. (Isaiah 53). We are never so able to believe a great promise as when we have been at the cross. The people of God are often greatly tried, and their griefs are sometimes spiritual, and more deep than those of the wicked. Their grand comfort lies in this, that in all their afflictions there is no penal wrath, no great indignation, no final judgment from the Lord.

We shall speak upon,—

I. The little wrath, and its modifications. The Lord calls it "a little wrath," and speaks of the time of its continuance as "a moment," "a small moment."

1. Our view of it differs from the Lord's. To us it appears to be an utter forsaking, and the hiding of his face for ever.

We are too foolish, too agitated, too unbelieving, to judge aright.

God's view is truth itself, therefore let us believe it.

2. The time of it is short. What is less than "a small moment?" As compared with eternal love. When looked back upon in after years of holy peace. In reality it only endures for a little while.

It will soon be over if we repent and pray.

3. The recompense is great. Jehovah vows to give "mercies," many, divine, everlasting, great, effectual: "with great mercies will I gather thee."

4. The wrath itself is little. A Husband's wrath, a Redeemer's wrath; a Pitier's wrath; wrath occasioned by holy love.

5. The expression of it is not severe. Not set my face against thee; nor change my mind. But hide my face, and that only for a moment.

Thus God views the matter of our chastisement, seeing the end from the beginning.

6. It is quite consistent with eternal love. This love will endure for ever, is present during the little wrath, is the cause of the wrath, and will continue unchanged for ever. The chastened child is none the less loved.

7. It does not change our relationship to the Lord. He is still our Redeemer (verse 8), and we are still the redeemed of the Lord. Our duty is to grieve because of the Lord's anger; to be humbled and sanctified by it; but not to faint, or despair under it.

II. The great wrath, and our security against it.

1. The wrath of God against his people can no more break out upon them than can Noah's flood return to go over the earth. That flood has not returned during these many centuries, and it never will. Seed-time and harvest continue, and the bow is in the cloud. We have no dread of another universal deluge of water, nor need believers fear a return of divine wrath. (Enlarge on verse 9).

2. The great flood of wrath has broken forth once for all. On our Lord it has burst, and thus it has been ended for ever.

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us": Galatians 3:13. "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us": Psalms 103:12. "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died": Romans 8:34. "The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found": Jeremiah 50:20. This is real, true, effectual, eternal atonement.

3. We have the oath of God that it shall not return: "so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." In a way of punishment there shall not even be a hard word uttered—"nor rebuke thee."

4. We have a covenant of peace as sure as that made with Noah, and of a higher order, for it is made with Jesus our Lord.

5. We have pledges of immutable, immovable mercy: "the mountains and the hills" (verse 10). These may depart and be removed, but never the kindness of the Lord.

6. All this is spoken to us by Jehovah the Merciful: "saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee."

How wicked it is to doubt and distrust!

How safe is the condition of the covenanted ones!

How glorious is our God of everlasting kindness!

How careful we should be that we do not grieve him!

Cheering Words Ah, Sion's daughters! do not feare The crosse, the cords, the nailes, the speare The myrrhe, the gall, the vinegar; For Christ, your loving Saviour, hath Drunk up the wine of God's fierce wrath;

Only there's left a little froth Less for to taste, than for to shew What bitter cups had been your due, Had he not drunk them up for you.—Herrick. The darkness of sorrow has often been shown to be "the shadow of God's wing as he drew near to bless."

We cannot have fertilizing showers on the earth without a clouded heaven above. It is thus with our trials.

O Lord! let me have anything but thy frown; and anything with thy smile.—R. Cecil. A learned minister, attending an aged Christian in humble life, when in his last illness, remarked that the passage in Hebrews 13:5, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," was much more emphatic in the original language than in our translation, inasmuch as it contained no fewer than five negatives in proof of the validity of the divine promise, and not merely two, as it appears in the English version; intending by this remark, to convey to him that, in consequence of the number of negatives, the promise was expressed with much greater force in the original language than in the English. The man's reply was very simple and striking: "I have no doubt, sir, that you are quite right, but I can assure you that if God had only spoken once, I should have believed him just the same."

Section 83

"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts:
and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him."—Isaiah 55:7 This is the great chapter of gospel invitation. How free! How full! How plain and pressing are the calls to receive grace! Yet the necessity of repentance in its most practical form, is not cast into the background. Turning, or conversion, is insisted on.

Gospel provisions are presented freely (Isaiah 55:1-2). A Saviour is provided and proclaimed (Isaiah 55:3-4).

Saved nations are absolutely promised to him (Isaiah 55:5).

Men are encouraged to seek and find the Lord (Isaiah 55:6). But the call to conversion follows close after, and is intended to be the necessary inference from all that preceded it. Men must return to God: his very mercy makes it imperative.

Very earnestly, therefore, let us turn our thoughts to,—

I. The necessity of conversion. The text makes this clear, but it may also be inferred from—

1. The nature of God. How can a holy God wink at sin, and pardon sinners who continue in their wickedness?

2. The nature of the gospel. It is not a poclamation of tolerance for sin, but of deliverance from it. It contains no single promise of forgiveness to the man who goes on in his iniquity.

3. The facts of the past. No instance has occurred of pardon given to a man while obstinately persisting in his evil way. Conversion always goes with salvation.

4. The needs of society. It would be unsafe to the common weal of the universe to show mercy to the incorrigible offender. Sin must be punished, or else virtue will perish.

5. The well-being of the sinner himself requires that he should quit his sin, or feel its penalty. To be favored with a sense of divine pardon, while obstinately abiding in sin, would confirm the man in sin; and sin itself is a worse evil than its penalty.

6. The work of the Holy Spirit would be set aside, for he is the Sanctifier.

7. The design of our Lord Jesus would be overborne, for he comes to save from sin.

8. The character of heaven requires that a sinner's nature be renewed, and his life purged, ere he can enter the holy place where God, and holy angels, and perfect saints abide.

"Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven": Matthew 18:8.

II. The nature of conversion.

1. It deals with the life and conduct. The man's "way." His natural way; that into which he runs when left to himself. His habitual way; to which he is accustomed. His beloved way; wherein his pleasures lie. The general way; the broad road in which the many run.

This, our text says, he must "forsake." He must have done with sin, or he will be undone. It will not suffice for him to—

Own that it is wrong;

Profess to be sorry for following it;

Resolve to leave it, and end in resolve, or Move more cautiously in it.

No, he must forsake it, altogether, at once, and for ever.

2. It deals with the "thoughts." A man must forsake— His unscriptural opinions, and self-informed notions—

About God, his law, his gospel, his people.

About sin, punishment, Christ, self, etc. His contemplations, so far as they lead him— To find pleasure in evil; To indulge in conceit and self-sufficiency or, To harbor wrong thoughts of God. His evil resolves:— To continue in sin, to delay repentance, to be a freethinker, to be his own master, to defy God, etc.

Such thoughts are to be forsaken; he must flee from them.

3. It deals with the man in reference to God.

"Let him return unto the Lord."

It bids him cease from pride, neglect, opposition, distrust, disobedience, and all other forms of alienation from the Lord. He must turn and return: wandering no further, but coming home.

III. The gospel of conversion.

1. A sure promise is made to it. "He will have mercy upon him."

2. Divine power is exercised to effect it. "Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned": Lamentations 5:21. A man converts when grace converts him.

3. It is itself promised to faith in Jesus. Acts 5:31; Acts 13:38-39.

4. The pardon which comes with it is the result of a full atonement, which renders the pardon abundant, just, safe, and easy of belief to the awakened conscience.

Oh, that the sinner would consider the need of a total change of thought within, and way without! It must be thorough and radical or it will be useless.

Total and terrible ruin must ensue if you continue in evil. May this hour see the turning-point in your life's course! God saith, "Let him return." What doth hinder you? A Story

William Burns was preaching one evening in the open air, to a vast multitude. He had just finished, when a man came timidly up to him, and said, "O Sir! will you come and see my dying wife?" Burns consented; but the man immediately said, "Oh! I am afraid when you know where she is you won't come." "I will go wherever she is," he replied. The man then tremblingly told him that he was the keeper of the lowest public-house in one of the most wretched districts of the town. "It does not matter," said the missionary, "come away." As they went, the man, looking up in the face of God's servant, said earnestly, "O Sir! I am going to give it up at the term." Burns replied, "There are no terms with God." However much the poor trembling publican tried to get Burns to converse with him about the state of his soul, and the way of salvation, he was unable to draw another word from him than these—"There are no terms with God." The shop was at last reached. They passed through it in order to reach the chamber of death. After a little conversation with the dying woman, the servant of the Lord engaged in prayer, and while he was praying the publican left the room, and soon a loud noise was heard, something like a rapid succession of determined knocks with a great hammer. Was this not a most unseemly noise to make on such a solemn occasion as this? Is the man mad? No. When Burns reached the street, he beheld the wreck of the publican's sign-board strewn in splinters upon the pavement. The business was given up for good and all. The man had in earnest turned his back on his low public-house, and returned to the Lord, who had mercy upon him, and unto our God, who abundantly pardoned all his sins. Nothing transpired in his after-life to discredit the reality of his conversion.—William Brown, in "Joyful Sound."

Section 84

"Let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him;
and to our God for he will abundantly pardon."—Isaiah 55:7 The prophet is setting forth the mission of Jesus (Isaiah 55:4-5).

Straightway he makes an appeal to sinners, for Jesus comes to sinners. He proclaims pardon to them, for this Jesus brings: his coming is as the morning, bedewing the earth with delight. The call is practically to faith and repentance; immediate, frank, spiritual, complete. The inducement presented is an abundant free grace pardon: "he will abundantly pardon."

There is no more likely argument wherewith to persuade souls.

I. Let us contemplate the abundance of divine pardon.

We may do so the better if we consider,—

1. The abundance of the attribute from which it springs. All the attributes of God are infinite and harmonious, but we are told that "God is love," and this is not said of justice, or power. "Thy mercy is great above the heavens": Psalms 108:4. "The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy": Psalms 119:64. "His mercy endureth forever." Psalms 136.

2. The abundance of the objects of the pardon. Since the days of Adam and even until now God has pardoned multitudes among all nations, classes, and ages.

We quickly lose patience when many offend, but it is not so with our God. "Thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now": Numbers 14:19.

3. The abundant sins which are pardoned. Who can count the thoughts, words, and deeds which are pardoned!

These repeated ad nauseam. Isaiah 43:24, Revelation 3:16.

Sins against law and gospel, light and love, in youth and old age.

Yet these God removes, like the countless locusts blown away by the wind, or as the drops of dew exhaled by the sun.

4. The abundant sin of the sins which are pardoned.

Some sins are planned and deliberated on and each plotting and devising entails sin.

Some are a spider's nest, swarming with many sins.

Some are proud, wanton, cruel, blasphemous, impudent.

Some are repeated, aggravated, and persisted in.

Yet the intensified venom of epitomized sin the Lord removes.

5. The abundant means of pardon. The atonement of his Son, and his righteousness. The infinite merit of the ever-living Advocate. The Holy Spirit ever present to apply gospel provisions.

6. The abundant ease of the terms of pardon. No hard conditions of penance or purgatory.

Only ask and have, repent and trust.

Even the repentance and faith required are also given.

7. The abundant fullness of the pardon.

It covers all sin, past, present, and to come.

It is most effectual, and sure.

It is perpetual, and irreversible.

It is accompanied with imputed righteousness.

Pardon washes, and justification clothes and beautifies.

8. The abundant blessings which attend it.

Liberation from spiritual prison, legal bonds, etc.

Freedom from the reigning power of inbred sin.

Adoption into the heavenly family.

Acceptance so full that we may challenge accusers.

Employment in services of trust.

Communion with the thrice-holy God.

Reception of answers to our prayers, as true and certain as if we were perfectly pure.

Ultimate admission into glory itself with the perfect ones.

II. Let us consider its proper inferences: And these shall furnish the practical conclusion of our discourse.

1. Then there is no room for despair. If the Lord only pardoned now and then, it were well to seek his favor even on the bare chance of obtaining it; but now let us return unto him in sure and certain hope of pardon.

2. Then there is a loud call to repent, for who would offend so good, so kind a lord? Let our relentings be kindled, since he is so forward to promise us pardon.

3. Here is a special call to the greatest sinners, since abundant mercy is most appropriate to their case: and no less should the less guilty come, since there must be room for them.

4. Such a much-forgiving God deserves to be much loved, and the lives of the pardoned should prove that to whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much.

5. If such mercy be slighted, we may be sure it will entail great wrath.

Inviting Sounds That sin which is not too great to be forsaken, is not too great to be forgiven.

Mercy in us, it is no more than a drop; but in God it is an ocean; in us it is no more than a little stream; in God it is a springing and flowing fountain. A spring continually runs, an ocean is never drawn dry. What is a little sparkle of fire, if it fall into the main sea? The same are the sins of a penitent person when dealt with by the mercy of God.—Thomas Horton.

One of the captive followers of the Duke of Monmouth was brought before James the Second. "You know it is in my power," said the king, "to pardon you." "Yes," said the man, who well knew his cruel character, "but it is not in your nature." However unwise this answer was, its truth was soon seen. Happily, we know that God has not only the power but the disposition to show mercy. "Also, unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy."

Mr. Fleming, in his "Fulfilling of the Scriptures," relates the case of a most hardened sinner who was put to death in the town of Ayr. It pleased the Lord to bring him to repentance when in prison, and so full was his assurance of pardoning mercy that, when he came to the place of execution, he could not help crying out to the people, under the sense of pardon, "Oh, he is a great Forgiver! He is a great Forgiver!" and he added, "Now hath perfect love cast out fear. I know God hath nothing to say against me, for Jesus Christ hath paid all; and those are free whom the Son makes free."—G. S. Bowes.

Lord, before I commit a sin, it seems to me so shallow that I may wade through it dry-shod from any guiltiness; but when I have committed it, it often seems so deep that I cannot escape without drowning. Thus I am always in extremities: either my sins are so small that they need not any repentance, or so great that they cannot obtain thy pardon. Lend me, O Lord, a reed out of thy sanctuary, truly to measure the dimension of my offenses. But O! as thou revealest to me more of my misery, reveal also more of thy mercy; lest, if my wounds, in my apprehension, gape wider than thy tents (plugs of lint), my soul run out at them. If my badness seem bigger than thy goodness but one hair's breadth, but one moment, that is room and time enough for me to run to eternal despair.—Thomas Fuller.

Section 85 "Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?"—Isaiah 60:8 In the days when the Lord shall visit his church, multitudes will come to seek him.

It is a great blessing when they do so: a matter for admiring praise.

They will come from far to learn of Jesus, flying in a straight line, as pigeons when they return to their homes.

Jesus is the great attraction, and when he is faithfully lifted up, men will hasten to him in flocks, flying like clouds before a gale.

Yet will it astonish those who see it, and they will ask questions such as those which follow.

I. Who are these converts that they should be so many?

"As a cloud." The answers are many and easy.

1. Are not sinners many?

2. Is not Christ's redemption great?

3. Are not his blessings attractive?

4. Shall Satan have the pre-eminence in numbers at the last? We cannot think it will be so.

5. Is not the Spirit of God able to draw many?

6. Is not heaven great, and is there not room for hosts of souls?

Naturalists tell us of vast clouds of pigeons in America. Oh, to see such a cloud of converts!

II. Who are they that they should fly?

Why are they in such eager haste as to speed like doves when coming homeward to their cotes? This also is plain.

1. They are in great danger.

2. Their time is very short.

3. They are driven by a great wind. The Spirit, like a heavenly breath, impels souls to seek salvation.

4. They are moved by strong desire: a great hunger is on them to reach their home, where they shall be fed and housed.

Doves fly straight, swiftly, surely. They neither linger nor loiter, but hasten home.

III. Who are they that they should fly together?

They fly in such a flock that they appear like a cloud: why is this?

1. They are all in one common danger.

2. They have no time to quarrel while seeking safety.

3. They have one common object: they seek one Saviour.

4. They are wafted by the same heavenly wind. The Spirit works in each according to his own will.

5. They find comfort in each other's society.

6. They hope to live together forever above.

IV. Who are they that they should fly this way?

They are doves, and so they come to their usual abodes in the clefts of the rock, or to the openings of the dove-house.

1. Seeking safety in Jesus, from the hawks which pursue them.

2. Desiring rest in his love, for they are wearied, and find no other rest for the soles of their feet.

3. Finding a home in his heart. Swallows go to another home in winter, but saints abide in Christ for ever.

4. Their companions are there: doves congregate, and so do saved sinners love fellowship with each other.

5. Their young are there. "The swallow hath found a nest for herself, where she may lay her young": Psalms 84:3. Believers love to have their children housed in Christ.

6. Their food is there. Where else can we find provender?

7. Their all is there. Christ is all.

V. But who are they individually?

1. Some are our own children.

2. Some are from the Sabbath-school.

3. Some are old hearers, who were gospel-hardened.

4. Some are quite strangers, outsiders.

5. Some are backsliders returning.

6. Some are those whom we sought in prayer, and personal address.

Dear hearer, are you one of them? Have you not reason to fly from the wrath to come?

Fly first to Jesus, and then without delay hasten to his church.

Feathers This text has been well illustrated by Morier. "In the environs of the city (Ispahan), to the westward, near Zainderood, are many pigeon-houses, erected at a distance from habitations. They are large, round towers, rather broader at the bottom than at the top, and crowned by conical spiracles, through which the pigeons descend. The interior resembles a honeycomb, pierced with a thousand holes, each of which forms a snug retreat for a nest. The extraordinary flights of pigeons, which I have seen upon one of these buildings, afford perhaps a good illustration of the passage. The great numbers, and the compactness of the mass, literally looked like a cloud at a distance, and obscured the sun in their passage." What gives an additional value to this illustration is the probability that similar dove-houses were in use among the Hebrews, for they certainly were so among their Egyptian neighbors.—Kitto's Pictorial Bible.

God's children love communion and fellowship one with another, that they may mutually be comforted and edified in faith: "they fly like a cloud, and as doves to their windows"; that is, to the house or church of God.—Benjamin Keach.

Those that are weak want supply and support from others. Nature teacheth this lesson. The weakest creatures amongst fish, or fowls, or beasts, go usually in flocks and companies.—G. Swinnock.

Birds of a feather flock together.

Everybody knows that large flocks of pigeons assemble at the stroke of the great clock in the square of St. Mark, Venice. Believe me, it is not the music of the bell which attracts them, they can hear that every hour. They come, Mr. Preacher, for food, and no mere sound will long collect them. This is a hint for filling your meeting-house; it must be done not merely by that fine, bell-like voice of yours, but by all the neighborhood's being assured that spiritual food is to be had when you open your mouth. Barley for pigeons, good sir; and the gospel for men and women. Try it in earnest, and you cannot fail; you will soon be saying, "Who are they that fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows?"—From "Feathers for Arrows," by C. H. Spurgeon. A writer in "Nature" states that the small birds that are unable to fly the three hundred and fifty miles across the Mediterranean Sea, are carried over on the backs of cranes. When the first cold weather comes, the cranes fly low, making a peculiar cry. Little birds of every species fly up to them, while the twittering of those already settled may be distinctly heard. But for this provision, many species of small birds would become extinct. So, many converts that are young and feeble need much assistance in seeking Christ. Let those that are strong help the weaker ones in their spiritual flight.