He understood the last line, and he waited for the minister in the vestry. " Sir," he said, " you read from the Psalm Book, ' None
ISAIAH 133
perish that Him trust.' Is that true ? " The man's heart was opened. Often afterwards as he pursued his business and passed through the little town he went to see the minister. Locking hand in hand, the one or the other broke the silence by just saying, " None perish that Him trust."
When I was in my native place, I went to see an old pupil who was on his death -bed, and I told him the story. A few days after my visit he died ; and his parents told me that many a time, when he thought no one was noticing, he was heard during these days softly murmuring to himself, " None perish that Him trust." He went into eternity leaning on that confidence.^
III.
His Name.
His name describes His character and work. It may be taken in four pairs of epithets.
1. Wonderful, Counsellor. — This means, says Skinner, either that He is a wonder of a counsellor, or else that He counsels wonderful things, according to the grammatical construction adopted. The meaning is the same as we find again in Isa. xxviii. 29, "This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." Now a counsellor does not counsel at random ; he works according to a plan. This Child came with a definite plan — to seek and to save the lost. It was an offence then. It is an offence to the Pharisees still. But it has been wonderful in its working. To prove successful, however, it has to be tried. The Gospel of the grace of God has never failed with those who have put it to the proof ; but it must be put to the proof.
IF A gentleman once visited a great jewelry store, owned by a friend. His friend showed him magnificent diamonds, and other splendid stones. Amongst these stones his eye lighted on one that seemed quite lustreless, and pointing to it, he said, " That has no beauty at all." But his friend put it in the hollow of his hand, and shut his hand, and then in a few moments opened it again. What a surprise ! The entire stone gleamed with all the splen- dours of the rainbow. " What have you done to it ? " asked the astonished gazer. His friend answered, " This is an opal. It is
^ Dr. Edmond, in Christian World Pulpit, ix. p. 145.
134 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
what we call the sympathetic jewel. It only needs to be gripped with the human hand to bring out its wonderful beauty." ^
2. Mighty Ood. — " Unto us a child is born — Mighty God " ; what a leap. How did Isaiah make it ? Ask rather, How did Thomas make it ? Is not this the carpenter ? Is not this Jesus of Nazareth, and can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? Yet Thomas, who knew all that, answered and said, " My Lord and my God." How did he know ? How do we know still ? We know from what He said, from what He did, from what He was, from what He is.
If Jesus Christ is a man —
And only a man — I say That of all mankind I cleave to him,
And to him will cleave alway.
If Jesus Christ is a God —
And the only God — I swear I will follow him through heaven and hell,
The earth, the sea, the air.^
3. Everlasting Father. — If " Mighty God " was amazing, this is more amazing still. It may have been easier for Isaiah than it is for us. For do we not keep Father and Son distinct ? But if they are distinct, they are yet one — I and the Father are one — they are one throughout all eternity. And to us the Son of the Father has all the attributes of Fatherhood. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord Jesus has compassion on the multitude. Isaiah's thought is very likelv that He is to be more than king, that He ia to be a father to His people, as the Eussians call their Tsar " little father." He is to gather the lambs in His arm and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
4. Prince of Peace. — " Think not," said Christ, " that I came to send peace on the earth ; I came not to send peace, but a sword." And so it has been suggested that the idea of Christ as a Prince of Peace is due not to the Gospels, but to this passage and to Milton —
But peaceful was the night
Wherein the Prince of Light
• His reign of peace upon the earth began.
1 A. 0. Price. 8 R W. Gilder.
ISAIAH 135
But there is no contradiction between Isaiah and St. Matthew. The first evidence of the gift of the Child is the sword. It is evident enough even in His lifetime. And it will be evident as long as good and evil exist together in the world. An older prophecy even than Isaiah's said, " I will put enmity between thee and the woman." Christ came to make that enmity real, and to make it last until the evil should be overcome by the good.