but his loving-'kindness, On the other hand; i( these alone are set forth, if his justico is ignored, if the severity of bis judgments upon sinners i& concealed, a fce]jng of. over- confidence.is apt to be produced, and then careles~ness and general laxity of life follow. The wise preacher will steer clear of both dan'.sers, will avoid ali\rn Scylla and Charybdis. He will make his appeal in all cases to both motives, but will dwell upon the on~ or,upon.:the other, as the circumstances of the- case require. If he has reason to auspect over-confidence, which is the more usual peril, he will enlarge on the" terrors of the Lord; " if, on the contrary, he has to deal with tender consciences and souls too timid and distrustful, he will choose J;o,pics of a. cheerfw character, and make his com- fortable assurances preponderate ove:\' his warnings. L,· Vere. ~8.-National fudgments the. result of national sins, God's dealings with Israel are to be viewed as a pattern of his dealings with nations generally. He has not two standards,of right ,and wrong, or two. rules of action under like circumstances. He is "no respecte-r of persons." .As he dealt with his own peculiar people, so will he deal, ao has he always dealt, with the other nations of the world. L EVERY NATION BAB ITS PROBATION. God proved Israel during the space of above seven hundred years by the laws which he gave them, and the circumstances in which he caused them to be placed (Exod. xv. 25; xvi. 4; XL 20; Deut. viii. 2, 16; Judg. ii. 22; iii. 1, 4, etc.). He chastened them: by foreign enemies, comforted them -by deliverances, warned them by his. prophets, afflicted them by famine and pestilence, gave them." times of refreshing." .So long as ther.e was any hope of their repentance and r.eformation; he bore with them·, forga.ve their transgressions, prolonged their time of trial, "destroyed them not;" It WIUI oilly after all the resources of his mercy had been exhausted,'.and there was." ntuemedy" left (2 Chron. xxxvi. 16), that the destruction fell, and the,nation ceased: to exist. And so it was with the other nations of the earth. God ra.ised,them,up, set each a. work.to do, gave them laws, if not by revelation, at any rate through their conscience, and· proceeded to "prove them," whether they would work his will or no. Each fell in .its turn because it rebelled against God, and persisted in its rebellion, until (Jod could s4ffer it no more. (See the example of Assyria in eh. x. 5-19.) '• •• • · ' • II. THE PROBATION IS CARRIED ON PARTLY BY THE BESTOWAL OF FAVOURS. Peace, prosperity, good seasons and rich· bar.vests, a succession of capable monarchs or ministers, and,· again, success in war, victories, conquests, and the wealth that sometimes flows in through- conquests, are, all of them, blessings which God bestows on nations with the object of trying them. Will they be thankfw? Will they make a good use of the favours granted them'? Will: they maintain their equanimity, and not, like Ass.yria, be undttly puffed up ? The discipline• of prosperity is exceedingly trying ; and under it nations almoetin:variably wax wanton an<l proud. Israel was thus tried in the times of David and Solomon, and also under Uzziah and Jotham (2 Chron. xxvi. 6-16; xxvii. 3-G). Assyria· underwent• the probation for many centuries, from the time of the king contemporary with Ahab to the great blow received under Sennacherib. Egypt in eiirly days, and Rome in later ones, had eve-a longer periods of unmixed pros- perity, -and became proportionally " lifted up." It is rarely, indeed, that we :find any nation 'improve under this kind of probation. Almost invariably there is a rapid change for the worse. ill. THE PROBATION IS FURTHER CARRIED ON BY THE INFLICTION 011' JUDGMENTS. God has many arrows in bis quiver, many plagues whereby he can punish nations, as he showed in Egypt (Exod. vii.-xii.)-; but three of these stand out from the rest as th6 especial instruments of his wrath-the sword,famine, and pestilence. (See 2 Sam. xxiv. 13; r Chron. xxi. 12; Ezek. xxxiv. 17. In Ezek. xiv. 12-21, "four sore jud,,ament.~" are mentioned; but" the noisome beast" is clearly not on a par with the other three.) On the employment of the sword to chastise Israel, see Exod. xxii. 24 ; Lev. xxvi. 17- 33 ; Judg. iii. 8, 12 ; iv. 2 ; vi. 1,; xiii. 1 ; 2 Kings xvii. 20; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 17 ; tif famine, see Lev. xxvi. 19, 20, 26-29; Deut. xxviii. 22-24; 1 Kings xviii. 1-18; Joel L 4-20; ii. 3-11; of pestilence, see Numb. xvi. 46--49; 2 Sam. xxiv. 15; Ezek. xiv. 19; xxxviii. 22. Of theso three, famine and pestilence are the minor scourges, o.nd a.re employed to Wl\rn, to terrify, to arouso; wnr has sometimes the same object, but ill especially used to destroy. War destroyed Assyria (Nab. iii. 2-15), 36 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [OH, lL 1-22,
Bl\bylon (Jer. l. 2---87; Ii. l-08; Dan. v. 80, 81), Media (Herod., I. 127, 128)., Egypt (ibid., iii. 11-18), Persia (Dan. viii. 8-7, 20, 21), Greece, kome. War is still God's last, most terrible ecourge, and will remain such until the happy time, described by Isaiah in vere. 2--4, arrives.