tyrants and other enemies, that they may not overthrow it or aucceed in accompliabing what they imagined to be in their powers. In order, therefore, to excite them to patience he not only distinguisbes them from the Ethiopians, but likewise reminds them that God m_it!gates his judgments for their preservation " (Calvin), 2. The inrkstrocUbil,itg of the spintual life. This must not be confounded with the institutions in which it dwells for a time. But, understanding the "Church" in the spiritual or mystioal sense, it oannot perish. Calvin wrote in his day, "'l'he Church is not far from despair, being plundered, scattered, and everywhere crushed and trodden underfoot. What must be done in straits so numerous and so distressing? We ought to lay hold on these pro- mises so as to believe that God will still preserve the Church. The body may be torn, shivered into fragments and scattered; still, by his Spirit, he will easily unite the mem- bers, and will never allow the remembrance and calling on his Name to perish." 3. The s~lf-conceal,ment of God. The trial of faith in all ao-es. Oh that he would show his face bare his arm, disclose his majesty, exert his powe~ appear as Judge to end once for all the strifes of the world I But we must learn to say, "God's in bis heaven all's right with the world." At the proper season he will come forth. "If he instanily cut the wicked down and took them away like a sprouting blade of corn, his power would not be so manife.st, nor would his goodness be so fully ascertained, as when he permits them to grow to a vast height, to swell and blossom, that they may afterwards fall by their own weight, or, like large and fat ears of corn, cuts them down with pruning-knives." 4. The unity of rdigiun the prophetic ideal. "Mount Zion" was its ancient symbol; for us it is not Rome, nor any other city or mount,-it is the human heart, with all its pathos, its faith, hope, and love, its regenerate life and aspirations, it is one spirit uni- versal in mankind.-J. '
Vera. 1-6.-The pa,tiena of power. The most striking and distinctive truth this chapter contains is that of the patience of Divine power, which permits evil to rise and to mature, and which, at the right moment, effectually intervenes. But there are other points beside this; they are- L THE MISDIRECTION OF HUMAN INTELLIGENCE. Whatever may be the right tre.1111- lation and the true application of these verses, it is clear that reference is made to a war- like people-a people "terrible" to their neighbours, a people" of command" or "tread- ing underfoot," aggressive and victorious. It shows how far we have fallen from our first estate and from the condition for which we were created, that it does not strike us as strange that this s'JwvJ,d, be the description of a people ; that the number of nations whom it characterizes is so great that we fail to identify the nation which is in the prophet's vision. Under sin it has become common, not to say natural, that a nation should be "terri hie," should be treading down or crushing, and full of commands to its neighbours. But to bow much better purpose might the strong peoples of the earth devote their strength ! God bas made rich provision for the peaceable and fruitful exercise of our largest powers. There are rivers and seas (ver. 2) for travelling, explo- ration, commerce; there is vegetation (bulrushes, papyrus), which may be made to carry men's bodies, or which, by the exercise of human ingenuity, may be made to convey their thoughts to distant lands and remotest times; there is land and there are seeds, there is sunshine and there is dew, which can be made to produce golden harvests that will satisfy man's wants and minister to his most refined tastes (vers. 4, 6); there are birds and beasts (ver. 6), with whose habits men may becomo intelligently familiar; there is wealth beneath the soil in precious metals, which can not only be raised and collected to enrich the homes of men, but which can be conveyed, as the tribute of piety, to the house of the Lord (ver. 7). But, despising and neglecting ■ uch materials and such ambitions as these, nations have aspired to rule over others-have perfected themselves in all the arts and enginery of war, have congratulated themselves on nothing so much as in being " terrible" to those on the other side the river or across the mountain range. ll. TIIE OOMPLETENESS OF HAN'B OVERTHROW IN THE DAY OF DIVINE ANGER, The destruction threatened (vers. 5, 6) probably refers to that of the a1my of Sennacherib; but if the reference be to some other national calamity, it certainly points to an over- throw, si,,,onal and fearful, from which the imagination turns away oppressed. So bae it been found, bot,h by individual men and nations, that when God arises to judgment. ott. %.vnt. 1-7.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 309