Ver. 4.-God can wait. "I will rest." God was apparently inactive and unobser~ vant, while the Assyrian was maturing hie plans and taking all his first steps. • But God watches the influences gathering round the growing-time of the trees, though men trace his working ~!most only in their fruitage. ·The words of-this passage '-' ~iiint with marvellous vividness the calmness and deliberation of the workings of Divine judgments. God is at once unhasting and unresting. He dwells in his resting-place (i.e. his palace or throne) and watches the ripening of the fruit which 'he is about t-0 gather. While there is a clear beat in sunshine, while there is a-dew~cloud in harvest- heat, through all phenomenal changes, he waits still" (Dean Plumptre). The figure ofa cloud of dew in the heat of barvest is well illustrated by Thomson, in·' The Land and the Book,' who writes of a cloud which u absolutely reposed upon the;vast harvest-fields'.of Philistia, lying on the corn serene and quiet as infancy asleep. I have never seen such a, cloud in this country except in the heat of harvest." Cheyne. brings out the point of this verne. "In the midst of all the excitement-, of the .A.ssyrians on the one hand, and of the Ethiopians on the other, Jehovah is <:almly waiting till the fruit of Assyrian arrogance is all but ripe. Favouring circumstances are hastenin9; the process (clear heat, etc.), and when perfection seems just within reach, God will interpose in judg- ment." God can wait-quietly wait-until the fulness of time has come. God reproaches our restlessness by his example, for our time is" always ready," and by our impatience and failure in self-control we spoil a thousand things. This subject may be opened in the followinr,?; way. I. IN 6ECURIKG MATERIAL ENDS THERE IS OFTEN GREAT NEED FOB WAITING; Illus- trate from the failure of the genernl, because he did not wait until preparations were complete; or from the farmer who loses his crops by cutting them too soon, before the weather has become settled; or the artist who cannot wait to give his work, the per- fecting touches of his own criticism ; or the pastor who injures the· youog. bla<le •by worryiag anxiety over it, and cannot wait to let young soul-life g11,ther quiet strength in its own simple ways. The wisdom of waiting is harder to learn and practise than the wisdom of acting and working. Yet the motto, by no means untruthfullyi says, "A.II things come round to him who can waiill." IL IN SECURING MORAL E1''DS THERE IB OFTEN ABSOLUTE NEED 'FOB WAITL'fG. Because moral processes can never bear- forcing. They vary in different individuals. The lesson of virtue which one person learns at once, another grasps only as ·a final result of the training of a long life. 'l'his poiut may be opened up in relation to the .itt,; nm. 1~7.] -THE BOOK OF THE PROPHE'tf ISAIAH. 311
wol-k-of mothers and teachers. They seek moral errds. They are often ·distressed by the ~lownoaa of the approach to the end. They must learn· the importance of ·sctive, watchful waiting. And in the highest sense, in rclatior.t to God's moral working; we nil need to hear the voice that pleads, "Wait thou his time." Marvellous is the long- suffering patience of him who w,1ited ·w:~il,;, thl' ,a,rk was building, and waited through the ages until the "fulness of times" for his Christ had come. ·' III. [JN, ,HAN [WA1TmG,' MAY JJE' EITHF.R STRENGTH -0:R WE,\IU.TESS. It may be 1'.••mastetly inactivity,'' and it, may,· be that "procrastination" which loses golden