In their latter end, So we may have faith in God concerning the nations ol the earth. 2. And we learn to have faith in God about a true and godly life. IC we only eee lives in the little, ae Aeaph did, who wailed out the seventy-third psalm, we ma.y easily be bewildered, But see lives in the large, in the mass, and then we are assured that iniquity never flourishes through; at the la..~t it always "biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like en adder." Many a. man dies without the suffering and punishment exhausting itself. But a. nation never dies without the sin-degradations and the sin-judgments being plain to view upon it. It is true, for ever true, tba.t "righteous- ness tendeth unto life." Sin is simply a tremendous, awful burden, more than any man can bear, such as no man can bear a.way. Kept, it must crush unto wounding and woe. Somehow, somewhere, outside ourselves, we must find a am-bearer, who can carry our sin awa.y.-R. T. Ver. 9.-The Hebrew conception of Shetil. Henderson ea.ye," In this verse the state of the dead is represented as thrown into great agitation, on its being announced that the mighty King of Babylon is about to enter. Persona.gee of the ea.me rank, as the :fittest to conduct the ceremony of his reception, and the most likely to sympathize with him, are selected to present themselves and address him on the occa.sion. They rise from their thrones of state on which they had b11en sitting-perpetuating in mock majesty the pageant which they had exhibited while on earth." "Sheol is here used collectively of the entire population of shades, The word means first a. grave, or indivic.ua.1 sepulchre, and then the grave as a. general receptacle, indiscriminately occupied by all the d~ad without respect to character." In its further signification it means the abor.e of disembodied souls, and these a.re regarded poetically as retaining not OJ:\lY a. form, but a. position also, analogous to that which they ha.d on earth. It is an interesting and important, though a difficult question, how far we may regard Holy Scripture as coloured by the common conceptions of a future state in ancient times. \Ve need not regard such conceptions as true, because they belonged rather to the imaginations of men than to the revelations of God. 'l'he subject may profitably be discussed under the following beadings; but little or no treatment is suggested, because clifferent conclusions are reached by different schools of theologians. I. On the nature and occupations of the future state, or condition of the dead, no precise revelations were made in olden times. II. Men seem to have been left to fashion the future by their own imaginations. The general line of thought seems to have been started by Egyptian notions concerning the dead; but ea.eh nation put its characteristic seal upon its eschatology. III. There is a very real sense in which" life and immortality have been brought to light" by Jesus Christ. IV. But the light he sheds falls rather on the character of the future than on tho form of it. He meets all that man actually requires to know; he satisfies man in nothing that he too curiously seeks to know. The essence of Christ's revelation of the future is, that moral goodness is crowned with everlasting blessedness.-R. T.
Ver. 12.-The ambitious 1pirit in man. The word "Lucifer" means the •• light- bringer," and so has beeu in modem times associated with our matches. As standing in this text, it has often been taken as a. synonym for Satan; but it really is a highly poetical description of the King of Babylon, and the Babylonian empire is in Scripturci represented as the type of the ambitions, aspiring, tyrannical, and self-idolizing power. Ver. 13 gives the supreme boasting of this king: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God." "Babylon had shone forth in the dawn of lhe world's history with surprising lustre, but was perverted by self-aJ.miration." 1t 1hould be remembered that the ancient Oriental notion was that kings were incarnation~ of the Divine, and everything was done to sustain this sentiment, We have evidence of this as regards Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia. Such a sentiment must have fostered national ambition to an extravagant height. Treating the King of Babylou as a. type, we consider the general subject of the "ambitious spirit in man," observing- !. THAT IT JB THE SPRING OF ENTERPRISE. 'l'be true spring of human enterpri~o ahould be loyalty and devotion to God. Next to that we place supreme desire for the well-bein6 of others, the "enthusiasm of humanity," But these have been made tu 266 THE BOOK OF 'l'HE PROPHET ISAIAR. [on; xtv.1.L.al!.