The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 222

weak, the disregarded, the despised, the unbefriended, whom our Lord treated most graciously, and whom he specially commended to our sympathy and succo\ll' (see Me.tt. xii. 20)? Unto such, if they are his disciples, he will multiply his favours, and on them pour out his richest e.nd most abounding grace. There are "remnants,"" out- casts," of another kind-those who have gone down in the battle of temptation; who are bowed down with a sense of shame and dishonour, and who are cast off by their fellows as worsted and useless. Is there any hope for them in God? Yes, there is ample room in the promises, because in the heart of the Divine Saviour, for these. In his thought they are not remnants to be flung into the fire; driftwood on the river of fate, for which there is nothing but to be carried down the stream and cast over the cataracts; disinherited sons for whom there is nothing better than to forget the family to which they belong, and make themselves happy with the husks in the far country. No; in the heart and in the hope of J esns Obrist these are gold for his crown ; they are ships that, with chart and compll.'ls, may yet sail gallantly down the river of life, and out into the shoreless seas of a blessed immortality; they are sons and daughters that will be most warmly welcomed beneath the Father's roof, and seated at the Father's table. In this best sense may the remnant be rei;tored.-C. Vers. 13-16.-0onditions of victory. These verses probably point to the time when all Israel shall be gathered into the fold of the gospel, and when" their fulness" shall contribute largely to the conversion of the Gentile world (see Rom. xi.). But \\"e may take a more practical view of the subject if we regard it thus; we have pictures of- I. PRESENT SPIRITUAL ANARCHY. The people of God everywhere dispersed, the theocracy broken up, the temple destroyed, the Law unobserved, the bea.tben trium- pbant,-all this a vivid picture of the "kingdom of God" in a state of dissolution: truth unrecognized, commandments disobeyed, conscience perverted, the Divine will dis- regarded, God himself unknown in the world. II. THE ULTIMATE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DIVTh"'E KINGDOM. The restoration of Israel as depicted here, whether it be to their own land and their ancient institutions or whether it be to their true place in the spiritual purpose of God, m:iy speak to us of that grand consummation of human hope, when the kingdon:!. of our God shall be re-established upon earth; when that kingdom, which is not the enforcement of any ecclesiastical regime, or the observance of any rules of diet or of devution, but "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. xiv. 17), shall take the place of" the kingdom of this world," which is iniquity, unrest, and death. Ill. THE CONDITIONS OF lTS ATTAINMENT. These a.re threefold. 1. The disap- pearance offratricidal strife. (Ver. 3.) ·what J ndah and Ephraim were in old theo- cratic times, that neighbouring Churches or Christian comrades have been to one another all through these "Christian centuries." Sadly must the Lord of love have looked down on his heritage, the purchase of bis sorrow and bis death, and have seen the envies and the jealousies, the hatreds and the cruelties, which have marked and marred the intercourse of his disciples. No progress of his blessed kingdom can be expected in any community when they wbo~e relations should be beautified by concord are all disfigured by enmity and strife. Let Christian Churches cease to hope for any results from their preaching or their praying, so long as bitterness blights the heart, nnd contention characterizes the Church (see Matt. v. ::!4). 'l'here is no effort, there is no sacrifice, which it is not worth while for any Christian society to make in order that it may wrenr.h out "the root of bitterness" which, while it remains, will neutralize all devotion, and make all zeal to be "nothing worth." 2. .Active co-operation among the people of God. "They [Ephraim and J udab together] shall Jly ... they shall spoil ... they shall lay their band," etc. (ver. 14). 'l'heir united forces were to prevail over the bands of the enemy, and to secure victory on every side. So sha 11 it be in the spiritual campaign. It will be when all the Churches of Christ unite, not indeed in any one visible amalgam, but in well-concerted action, joining heartily against the common foe, going out together against ignorance, unbelief, ungodliness, vice, indecision, and all the long tmin of sin; it will then be found th:it the enemy will be subdued, and victory be secured. 3. Divine enP:rgy worl.ing on the sidtJ of tru,th. (Ver11, 15, 16.) As the Lord inttirposed on behalf ol' I~rael in one deliverance, and  2H THE aoolt OF '1'1IE PROPltE'l.' lSAlA'lt. Cctr. :tt. 1-Ut