Vers. 11-13.-Tize fovi11g-kindness of God shdwn 'in his Judgments; ":1 know,~O Lord, that thy judgments are right, arid that thou in' faitbfuh::ess hast afllicted Ine;'' says the psalmist (Ps. cxix. 75). No dO'Ubt, at Iast"God: must simplj punish' the obdurate and impenitent; but for the m~t ·part be serids hi{juag#ient' Upon m~n in mercy, ei'tber to torn them from their sins, or to refine and improve' t.heir char'acteni. L Evirn WHEN GOD 61:Ml'L'Y .PUNIB"lll!:B, IT 15 IN LOVJNG-KINDNES:S':ro MANKlND 'AT LARGE. Whena·nation, like Israel, as distinct from Jurlah;bas persisted.in evil~doing for centnrie~, in spite of wamings, teaching/re.monstrance, Jitipwledge of the truth/its case is hopeless-" there is no remedy''. (2 Ch:t:f.D, xxxvi. 16}) The' brow tl;int' tl:len falls upon the nation is penal and final-the requital of its ill desert • Bl1t if the blow is dealt to the nation ;tself in mere jastice, it 1.s also"struckfor the bJi,nefit of _all neighbouri~ nations, in mercy. It warns them from theit' evil ways;' it says tothetrl, in a voice which they can scarcely fail to_ hear, "'l'ake heed,'lest ye 'too petjsli'." : ' : '. ' II. MosT OF GoD ·s JUDG!IIBNTS ABE CHASTISEl1ENTS, SENT TO TURN MEN' FROM THEIR sINs. "We have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us" (Heh. xii. 9), vihen we bad done wrong, and strove thereby to deter u~ from evil. 'So 'God' acts 'i.vfth his children. So he chastened Judah, bringing calamity after calamity up\:iit her, 'tiri~ at lRSt there was a "remnant" which truly turned to him, and ·became the germ of the Christiau Church. Bo Le bas chastened many a nation besides. So, too, )ie'rchasfolis individu&ls, sending oa them sickness; and poverty, and loss of ·friends, a1;1d ot,her mis- fortunes, to check them in a career of sin, !llld cause them to· pause, and 'reflect, and tremble at his mighty hand, and humble tberoselves 'under it, and change· tlieir' course of life. In this war he chastened David bj the loss of Bathsheba's first child;-!md by the revolt of Absaiom and Adonijah; Hezekiah by war and sicknesii: '~olohiori_by " adversaries" at home and abroad. Of tb is kiud again are the na'.~ufal I pi.inlshmerits which he has attached to sins, -tbi, natural tendency of which 11 to d.eter Iplll from thelll. • · "' • • · ' · -, : • ' OH. VI, 1--13:] TaE •BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 111
III.ONE CLASS 011' B1il tt1DG1fEMTS A.IIE· TRiALB, BENT TO PROVE HEN, ANT> THEREBY TO rumn·T"fmM ANDTIAIBE THEM TO GREATF:n SAl~TLmEBB. •• 1'.:.very branch in me that liearoth fruit, he purgeth it, thBt it may bring forth more frnit" (,John xv. 2); "The trying of your faith worketh patience" (Jas. i, 3). • Christ himself, we are told, was in his human nature "made perfect thmugh suffering." The discipline of afHiction is needed for forming in us· many of the highest Christian grace~, a.s patience, resignation, forgivingness·, mi1dness·, long-sllffcring. 'J'he sons of God are taught to expect a. chasten- ing which shall be '' for their profit, that they may be partakers of his bolinPJIS" (Heb. xii.'10),