such visions DB those he gave to lsaiah, and which the prophet communicated to the people; by creating and ordaining men of illumination and leadership, such legislators 11B Moses nnd Nehemiah, such kings as David and Hezekiah, such prophets as Elijah and John Baptist; by the institutions and precepts of the Law; by parental chastise- ments. (2) At and in the Incarnation itself: when the eternal Father said to tlie human raoe, "This is my beloved Son, hear him;" by the words, the works, the sorrow, the death, the resurrection, of that Son of man who was the Son uf Gu,l. (3) From the Ascension to this present time: by the Word of his truth; by tl,c 111inist:_y of the gospel; by the corrections of his disciplinary hand; by the quickening influences of his Spirit. By these things "the Lord is speaking" to us still, is speaking to us all. II. HUMAN INGRATITUDE THE O00ASION OF THE DIVINE INTERVENTION'. What is it that calls forth the Divine utterance? It is the shameful ingratitude of his own sons. "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.'' There are great and terrible crimes which have to be recorded against the human race; there a.re evil and sh$meful wrong-doings which stain and darken many indi vidwi.l Jives; but there is one common and inexcusable wrong, to which all people and all souls must plead guilty, one common sin, with which we have all to reproach oursclves,--it is that with which God himself reproaches Israel-heinous and aggravated ingratitude. 1. God has done everything to attach us to himself. He has closely related WI to himself; he has made us his children; he has expended upon us the lavish love, the patient care, the multiplied bounties, of a Father's heart, of a Father's hand. 2. We have broken away from his benignant rule. We "have rebelled against him;" our rebellion includes forgetfulness, inattention, dislike, insubmissiveness, disobedience. To whom we owe everything we are and have, to him we have rendered nothing for which he has been looking, everything which has been grievous in his sight. III. OuB FITTING ATTITUDE WHEN Goo IS SPEAKING. When God speaks, let every voice be hushed; let all things everywhere, even the greatest and most majestic of all, lend their reverent attention. "Hear, 0 heavens, and give ear, 0 earth." There are (1) those who mock; (2) those who are deliberately deaf, who close their ears by filling them with noisy activities or absorbing pleasures; (3) those who are persistently uncon- cerned; (4) those who pay a passing and fruitless consideration; (5) those who bring a reverent and obedient inquiry.-C. Ver. 3.-0bligation and interest. 1. THE WEIGHTIEST OBLIGATION. Isaiah speaks of ownership as a relation existing between a brute beast and a, man; the "ox knoweth its owner." There is a legal and not unimportant sense in which a, man may own :m animal ; the creature is his in so far as this, that no one else can lay an equal claim to -its use, and no one can dispute his legal right to employ it in his service. In a far larger sense than this does man belong to God. God has that strong and indefeasible claim (1) which the Creator has on the creatw·e he has called into being; (2) whir.h the Divine Sustainer has on the one whom he bas been momentarily preserving in being; (3) which the generous Giver has on the one upon whom he is bestowing innumerable and invaluable benefactions; (4) which the merciful Judge has on the one he has spared again and again when life has been forfeited by wrong-doing; (5) which the Divine Friend has on the one whom he has delivered at the greatest possible cost to himself. Surely he is, in very deed, our Divine Owner: to him we belong; our lives, our powers, ourselves, are his. There is nothing which the brute of the field owes to his human master, there is nothing which man owes to man, that is comparable to that strong, supreme obligation under which we all rest to God. II. THEJ HIGHEST INTEREST, The ass or any other domestic animal has the gret1.test interest in his "crib: " there he finds food, rest, renewal,-life. The highest interest which man has is nbt in the place where he secures food Md rest. This is, indeed, necessary for his bodily well-being. But in gaining this he does not find his life. The life of man is in an instructed mind and, still more distinctively, in a well-ordered soul; in an intelligence that holds the highest truth it is capable of receiving; in a heart that fills and overflows with purest and holiest emotions; in a will that chooses the wisest courses; in a spiritual nature that rea.1izes and rejvices in its hi~hest relationships. A man who nets as if his chief interest were in a comfortable" crib," a well-stocked" stall," is s mBD who does 11ot know himself all!l his opportunities. 20 THE BOOK OF THE PROPllET ISAIAII, [oR, L 1-31,
III. THE Drvnrn REPROACH. "The ox knowcth hie owner, and the IUIB his m11Bter'11 crib," e~. The b~ut-e be.ast h~s sense enoug~ to recognize his master, discernmen·t enough t-0 percerve what.is best fo~ him t-0 d?, but mstructed and enlightened Israel, recipients of so many mercies, and with all their golden chances of enlargement and elevation did not. rC'Cognize thrir God nor understand their true and real interests. When wo Ji;e in ignorance of God and in pursuit of the lower instead of the higher blessedness we may see oUI'8elves e-0ndemned and feel ashamed in our soul as we look on the be~ts of the field, and see them using their humble powers to discharge their duties and to enjoy their heritage. A life of spiritual ignorance is (1) a shameful thing, rebuked by the "beasts t~at perish;'.' (2) a guilty thing, exciting the high displeasure of Almighty God, drawmg down his urgent and powerful remonstrance; (3) a n~less thing -it is in our power to rise above it, if we will and when we will. The last word of the text as rendered in our version, is suggestive of the true way of return. We have t~ "consider," to reflect upon our obligation and our interest; and honest and serious consideration must lead to self-condemnation, conviction will end in repentance, and repentance will issue in eternal life.-C.