Ver. 4.- Ohristian patriotism. The profound concern which the prophet of the Lord displays for "the daughter of his people,'' showing us that the reception and the recoid of the prophetic vision did not ~n~erfere w!th. his stro~g. feelings as a He_br~w patriot, may sug~()st thoughts on Christian patriotism. Th1s,1s to be clearly distrn- guished from: 1. 'l'he e:r,aggerated self-consciousness or vain-gloriousness which some "patriots" exhibit. 2. The exclusiveness of spirit which others betray. 3. The diseased sensit·iveness which leads many to catch at the first apparent international wrong as a valid casus belli. A great deal passes current as patriotism which would have been allowable, if not creditable, under heathenism, but which is simply raise and guilty under the Divine teaching we have received who have learned of Christ. That. man is the true friend of his country who takes- I. A DEEP AND PRACTICAL INTEREST IN ITS POLITICAL WELFARE. A part of the "spoiling" to which Isaiah refers is to be found in the threatened seizure of hi, country's political independence, its being made subject and tributary to the invader; this could not be other than a calamity of the fir,;t consequence in his eyes. The Christian patriot, while he ought to oppose most strenuously all unright~ous projects on the 11art of his own peo11 le, does well to be earnestly concerned for the integrity, the independence, the reputat.i,m, of his native land. II. A PRACTICAL INTERES'l' IN ITS MATERIAL WELL-DEINO. No doubt this" spoiling" included, in the prophet's thought, the dcstrnction of its property 11nd the deportation of its w~nlth. Considering how all the citizens, the wage-receiving multitudes as well as the wealthier minority, are affected by the material prosperity of Lhe land, it is right and Christian for us to make this a matter of careful 11ud conscientious effort. Ill. A PROFOUND INTEREST IN ITS MORAL AND SPIRITUAL C0~DlTI0~. It was (1) 364 TtIE BOOK. OF THE PROPHET ISAIAIJ. [ou. nrr. l-25,
the mo111l condition of Jerusalem, feasting and making merry on the day of its humiliation (vers. 12, 13); and also (2) its spiritual condition, forgetting its true Deliverer (ver. 11), and slighting his discipline (ver. 12), which so much distressed the holy prophet. And it should be the moral and spiritual condition of our oountry which should create in us and call forth from us our most profound solicitude. And this because (1) that is the matter of most intrinsic importance; (2) that is the thing 011 which the Di ,·ine judgment and determination will depend; and (3) that will be ultimately decisive of our country's political and materinl interests. if we would do our whole duty in relation thereto, we shall: 1. Join in prayer for Divine mercies. 2. Be careful to exert the influence of a godly and irreproachable example, 3. Exert all our power as individual men 11.nd through useful organizations for the guidance and the elevation of the people.-C.
Vers. 15-25.-Human reckonir.g and Divine interroption. We have one Instance, if not two-according to the application we give to the" nail" of the twenty-fifth verse---of ill-founded security. It is a lesson very necessary to teach, for H seems to be one very hard to learn. I. HmuN RECKONING. Shebna had carefully and successfully built up his position in the state, and he made sure that he should keep it; he had not only "feathered his nest," but he had made up his mind that he should" die in his nest.." He had arranged beforehand the place of his sepulchre (ver. 16). "The nail was fastened in a sure place" (ver. 25). All his plans were drawn, and he confidently anticipated that they would be justified by the event. In this respect he was but a type and specimen of mankind; we do the Mme thing in our tum and in our way. 1. It may seem strange that it should be so. A modest view of our own capacities; the instruction we gain by reading what has happened to men in the past; the lessons we gather from our observation of human life ;-all these might save ns from the error, but they do not. 2. 'The fact is that men do indulge in this illusion: the boy counts on the prizes he will win at school, and the young man on the honours he will gain at college; the tradesman reckons on the profits he will make in business, and the professional man on the mark be will make in his vocation ; the minister anticipates the work he will accomplish in his sphere, and the statesman indulges the confident expectation that he will carry the measnres on which his heart is set. Others, we know, have failed, but we, we think, shall avoid their errors and escape their discomfiture. IL DIVINE INTEBRUl'TION. Shebna's calculations were to be entirely overthrown; instead of living on and dying in Jerusalem, and being buried in the sepulchre he had so elaborately prepared, he should be hurled away like a ball by the strong arm of Jehovah into a distant land, where he should live and die in inglorious exile. 1. It may be that Divine judgment will overtake us, as it evidently overtook and overwhelmed this prefect of the palace. His ostentation (ver. 16), his luxury (" the chariots of thy glory," ver. 18), his tyranny (implied in characterizing his successor "a. father to the inhabitants," in contrast to his own severities), brought down upon him the Divine displeasure and the prophetic denunciation. Sooner or later our sin will find us out. If we owe our elevation to our iniquity, or if, on the summit of our success, we fear not God, neither regard the claims of man, we may be sure that at some time and in some way defoat and dishonour will await us. 2. Or it must be that disciplinary changes will affect us. Whatever there is in sorrow which is not judgment is discipline. And of this latter, we must all have our share; we shall find that events will not fill up the outlines we draw, that our future will be very different from that which we picture it now: boyhood will not prove to be all that childhood imagines; still less will manhood be what youth supposes; friends will forsake us, schemes will be thwarted, hopes will be extinguished, props will be cut in twain, clouds will come up and rains will pour down, as we little think to-day. The hour will come when the nail that now.seems so fast will be removed, and all that hangs upon it be brought to the ground (ver. 25). (See Luke xii. 16-21; Jas. iv. 13-16.) Ill. THE GOOD ON WHICH WE Ml. Y BECKON WITHOUT FEAB OF INTERRUPTION. 1. Holy service, either in the form c,f action or endurance. 2. 'l'he favour of God, the friendship of Jesus Christ. 3. Eternal blessedness. Between the faithful soul and these hi6h hopes no power can intervene.-C. on. xxu. 1-26.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 866