mea.ne, "Put God to 'the test, ail .if you•doubted him.• Dr. Ka.y, in 'Spea.ker's Cotn• men tary ,' f:ays, " In his estrangement of heart Ahaz had come to look on God 1111·, his enemy, a8 a dangerous person who W88 thwarting him in his most'oh~1•ished plans, ·and from whom, therefore, it were best to ste.nd entirely aloof, If he should e.sk a sil7n and it were to be granted him, would he not be bound by his own act and deed to confess the greatness of his past sins, to give up his politic plans for the future, to submit to the bonds and fetters of the old cycle of religious teaching from which he had shake~ hill;1self free?" Can we. find some searching: !est _by whi~h true humility ce.n be d1stmgmshecl from false? (It 1s assumed that humility 1s explamed and enforced as the proper attitude for man to talre, and spirit for man to cherish, in the presence of God.) • . . . , . I. TRUE IJUlllILlTT SUBMITS AND OBEYS. If Ahaz had been truly humble, he would have responded at once to the Divine i.nvitation. Illustrate from Moses shrinking from obedience 1:o the commands which God gave him. True humility wiU always say, "If G~ has cal_led me ~o do anything, -I_ must do it; I ~ d~ it, and I may be quite sure his grace will be with me for the domg." True humility 1s bold unto.obedience. II. F A.LSE H011fiLITY SUBMITS, BUT DOES NOT OBEY. This is precisely the attitude of Ahaz. He submits; he takes the humble posture; .he speaks the humble"w.ofds; l:mt he does not obey. Hill humility is but hypocrisy. Bishop Hall' liays,, ".A.rt imitates na.t,ure, ·a.nd the nearer it. comes to, nature in its effects; it ili'the more excellenf. Grace is the new na.ture of a Christian, and hypocrisy that art .that counterfeits it;. and the more exquisite it is in imitation it is the more plausible to men, but the-i:nore abominable to God. lt may frame a spiritual mRn in image so to the life ·that uot only others, but even the hypocrite himself; may admire it, and, favouricg'h,is own artifice; may be deceived so far as t.o say and to think it lives, and f~U in love with it l ·but be. is no less abhorred by the Searcher of hearts than,. pleasing to himself,". And Matthew Henry says, " A secret disaffection to God is often disguised with ·the specious· colotirs of respect to him; 11,Dd those who are resolved that they will not trustiGod yet pretend that they will not tempt him." It may be impressed that. the truly humble man is more jealous of God's honour than of his own, and therefore, promptly submits and obeys; but the ma.n who is not really humble is anxious. about 1iis own honour, and only makes 11 show of being jealoUB ,of God's. , Aha.z needed tbis cowisel,. a,nd so do we: " Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty .hand of Goo;: that he may exalt you in due time.'' ADd the greatest test of thm: great grace is-Does it ,lead its possessor' to follow and obey ?-R. T. • "": '; 1•! '1•1•'
Vers. 14-16.-fi,, ,w,tu1re 1'/ the MeBBianic prophecies. This l:Jeing the first. in the Book of Isaiah remgnized as Messianic, the general subject •may be illustrated in con• nection with it. Isaiah here gives a sign. Looking upon· some-woman iD the lking's presence who at the time was a virgin. he, in effect, says; '! You shall •know., that Jehovah is the living God, and the all-sufficient Helper of ·his people, by-this'.-13efore this woman ca.n bear a son, and that son grow old enougli to know good from e:vil; your land shall be delivered, and. your enemies overthrown." Many Chri11tian ilif.er- preters see in this a direct reference to Meslriah, all the Virgin's ·Son; a reference whlcQ) makes them quite indifferent to the connection of.the passage with· events tl;ien tran- spiring. There are some cases in which we must. admit that the prediction ,almost whoUy concerns the Mesaiah. It is nearly impossible· to exhaust eh. liii., for instance; by any local and historical- references. '. ,_But in most cases we shall find tliat the Messianic meaning of the passage is its second releience, its· inner and less evident teacbing. The words immediately relate to some existing condition or national pros- pects, a.nd through these· they iiave to rovea1 'the higher troth. •"We ought not. toi be surprised at this; we should ra'ther expect it, as in perfect harmony with the ·idea. of revelation to the-Jews. Their--hiBtory was' a series of deliverances and redemptions; a su<lCession of types of the coming spiritllirl redemption.. 1•Thek religion was a set oJ complicated signs, all more or less keeping up the expeetation of hiin who wlis·to come. What, then, could be more natural and proper than that the propheoies 11hould do, what the history and the religioJ:!. had befor<i. done,-bear within their external form a deep<'r meaning, and help to lift the soul of the nation on towards its great glory, the coming, as ·a member oC -the L!aiah moe, of the long-promised " Scad of the woman " 'PR.El )3(i)OK;,QF THE F:ROPHET ISAIAH. 143