me.y be the ea;perience of the individool. "Evil she.ll sle.y the wicked, and they the.t l1ate the righteous shall be desolate" (Ps. xxxiv. 21). Sin is likely, if indeed it is not sure, to lead down to this sad este.te. It manifests itself in folly 11J1d, through folly, conducts to loss, privation, loneliness, desolation. And the last scene of all is ono like this of the text; it resorts to unnatural and wholly unsatisfactory means to fill its hoe.rt and restore its life. II. A 8IGNIFIOANT PROVISION ORDERED IN THE PROVIDENCE OF GoD. The abnormal circumstance suggests the normal. In the absence of such a scourge as that of war- and for this our sin is entirely responsible-there would be found to be a virtual equality in the number of the sexes. For nearly every son of man a daughter is born into the world. Surely this points to the Divine intention that man and wife should dwell t.ogether in bonds of conjugal affection. It places no stigma on single life, but it indicates the purpose of our kind Creator, that one human heart should comfort and sustain another, with reciprocated love and complementary succour, along the path of human life. It says t.o those who have ears to hear it that polygamy is not according to the Divine will; that the celibacy of a class, or order, or community is not of Divine appointment; that the home where one husband and one wife dwell in undisturbed and ernr-decpening attachment-the providing hand of the one clasping the dispensing hand of the other-is the realization of the Divine design. Ill. A.N HONOURABLE INSTINCT PLANTED BY THE HAND OF GOD, Similar fassages (Gen. x.x.x. 23; 1 Sam. i. 6; eh. liv. 1; Luke i. 25) suggest that the "reproach which the women desired to have removed was that of childlessness rather than that of vir- ginity. Jewish women, we know, earnestly desired to be mothers; they may have cherished the hope that of them the Messiah would be born. In any case it was an honourable ambition. The real reproach rests with those who wish to be childless that they may be saved the anxieties, responsibilities, and labours that devolve on the faithful mother. There cannot be a more desirable or excellent aspiration for the parent to indulge than that of so training her (his) children that they shall become men and women whom the Lord will love, and for whom the Church and nation will give thanks.-C.
1 ers. 2-4.-.Rest01"ation. It is uncertain whether there is a secondary allusion here to t.he coming of the Messiah ; but it is certain that, in its primary sense, the passage refers to the condition of Judah after the return from exile. Treating it in this latter signification, we lee.m- l TH.AT THE END OF DIVINE JUDGHENT IB HUM.AN TBANSFOBMATION. (Ver. 4.) The Lord would•• wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion ... by the spirit [or,• power'] of jud,,,om.ent." It may be that the righteous Ruler, as such, is bound to make penalty follow sin, uihatever may be the consequence to the individool tran,gresBO'I". But it is ciear that, in the exercise of his judicial function, God seeks moral and spiritual renovation. He desires that the nation (the man) which is humbled and afflicted, shall be purified by the fires through which it (he) ie passing. In the midst of the fie.me the offender may hear the voice from above saying, " Put away thy sin ; return unto me; enter a new path; live the better life of righteousness, purity, devotion." II. TH.AT THE :t-""EW AND BETTER LIFE WILL BE AN ESSENTIALLY HOLY ONE. (Ver. 5.) "He that is left in Zion shall be called holy." Whether by him "that is left in Zion" we are to understand those that were never carried into captivity, or those that have returned, is of no importance; the reference is to Jews who have undergone humiliation and suffering, and who have been cleansed and purified thereby. These shall be possessors of life in its excellency and reality-" written among the living." Before, existence was nothing but existence; enlarged and ennobled by "the spirit of judgment," it has become life; and it "shall be called holy," because it has become holy. After a genuine re1,~nte.nce (national or individual) there comes a profound and enduring sanctity of spirit and of life. Old sin is abhorred, strenuously striven against, sedulously shunned. :l\ew graces and virtues are carefully cultivated and daily illustrated (see 2 Oor. vii. 10, 11; Ps. lL 7-11). III. THAT THIS NEW LIFE WILL BE NOT 0!o"LY ACCEP'l'ADJ,E TO GoD, BUT EVEN Al.lMIRADLE IN HIS BIGHT. (Ver. 4-.) 'l'he "branch of the Lord" ,.e. the outgrowth ol piety from the fallen nation, shall be" beauty and glory;" the produce of the land OIL IV, 1~.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 73