that nnswercd, leaping ,1pon the altar, crying and g&Shing themselves with I,nivG!I, so will the Moabites, in the ext1-emity of their despair, appeal •to Ohemosh., What is more sad in the life of superstition than th'is passionate resort to any me:1n11, however irrational, to wring a favour from the deitic-s of ~pedal shtinc.q and.eanotue.'l'ies.?' .Ail' if t.he true help were not ever near; as if, that being neglected, there could be hope. else- where! Calvin obsc,rves, "While idolat:ers have their urdina11y temples and place!!' of worship, if any tmoommon calamity befalls them, they go to another temple more ~,1cred. than the rest, :expecting t,hat there they ,viii be more abundantly favoured with the ('resencc of their god. In like manner, the Papists of the-present day, when they, are re_duced to any_ uncom;11011 <l_ang~r (for this f~ult_ has existed iu all al(es), think that they will more readily obtam the1r Wlsh by ronnmg to St-. Claude, or to Mary of Loretto. or t-0 any other celebrated idol, than if they assembled in .some neighbouring churoh. They resolve that their extraordinary prayers shall be offered up in a church at a great dis- tance. It is in this sense that the prophet applies the term sanctuary to that .most highly celebra.ted among the Moabites, a.nd says they will go to it without any advan- tage." One cannot help thinking of those melancholy pilgrimages to Lourdes, that focus of supen;tition in our own times. So do men continue to .hew out to themselves cisterns tha.t hold no water; and so necessary still is:the living word of prophecy, fo remind the world that only in a genuine spiritual relation to the Eternal, only in a faith and worship which is independent of place, because ever fixed in the. heart, can true comforL and help bo found. IV. RATIFICATION :OF THE Pr.orHECY, It is the word spoken 1ong ago. by·'Jehovah concerning Moab. And now ha ~punks to solemn effect, that in three years, like ·the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab· will be disgraced, toge:t};ler with all· the multitude or the great; only a very small remnant will be 1eft. , 'l'he days or years 0£ the.day- labourer or hireling, are those strictly measured, neither more nor less (so in eh. xxi. •16.; cf. xx. 3). "Of working time tha hirer remits nothing, and the labourer gives nothing in." The statement is to be taken in-its exactness. 'As the labourer kuows thakhis time is appointed, and may look for an end of his toil when· the shadow comes,(Job vii. 1, 2), as life itself must surely come to its close (Job xiv. 6), so with the long-suffering of God, so with the iniquity of nations and men, so with every abuse and oppression; nay, so with every nation and institution. •, ,. .. "They have iheir day and cease to be ; But ihou, 0 LOl'd, w:t more than they.n . , "After the lapse of aTmost three thousand years," ·says Barnes, "every successive tra- veller who visits :Moab, Idnmrea, or Palestine, does somethiug to confirm t):u~ l\ccuracy of Isaiah. -Towns bea,ring the same name, or. the ruius ,o( towns; are located in. t)lc same relative position he said they were; and the ruins of once sple.ndjdJ.,9itjes,_.br9ken columns, dilapidated walls, trodden-down vineyards, half-demolished temples, and frag- ments broken and consumed by time, proclaim to the world.- that those cities are what be said they would pe, and that he was under the iqspiration of God." And how powerfully come ):ia.c~ t.o µs from such scenes those" truths.which wake, to perish never!" Amidst the gloom the wo_rd of prophecy shines as a. .light in a dark place. Its _voice prevails over time; imparts warmth to the heart amidst the rigours of Provi- dence·; calls to mind with its persuasive strain long-slighted truths; _,teaches that while ·" Trade's proud empire hastes to swift d~cay, 'J As occo.ns sweep the labour'd, mole away," the state or the individual that is possessed o,f moral st1·ength ·ma.y .be blessed:'. in poverty; that there is a good which is not dependent on the fertility of a: laud, :or:·tlie titrength of its fortresses-which will _survive the desolation of it.s fields, the do_wnfall-of its kings, the overthrow of its idols.-J. ' 1' ) ·: ';'
Ver. 10.-.A harvfft failure. "I have 'made their vintage shouting to ·cease." Why? Because the harvest is fallen. In ·the viney11rds there is np·sl'ldhtilig, ·for nil the fruits are blighted aud withered. 'l'hue is it with every harvest whic~ is• _evi!, Men expect much, and lo I it often comes to nothing. 'l'he glory departs if Ood 1s forgotten. <lit. :t\tl. 1-14'.j 1'ltE BOOK' OF THE PRoPHElT ISA.IA.II. 283