from place to place, 1111d from period to period, in all the journey of our life. 5. It incapacitates, (Ver, 4.) 'fyre should lose her power to found colonies and to sustain cities; she would be reduced to helplessne~s and incapacity. This is the fate of those whom God's judgment overtakes. What they once did with pride and joy they can do no longer, though they put forth all their remaining powers; there is "no strength in their right hand." The energies of the mind, the vigour of the soul, the craft of the hnnd,-all is gone. • III. ITS REMOTE EFFEOTB, When Tyre fell, the ships of Tarshish would have occasion to lamnnt (vers. 1, 14), Zidon would have to be ashamed of her daughter (ver. 4), and Egypt would be sorely pained (ver. 5). Far across sea and land, and a loDg way down the coming and departing years, reach the sad consequences of guilt. The wisest moralist cannot point to the place where these will not be found, nor the cleverest calculator tell the time when these will not be felt. IV. 1-rs DIVINE MEANING. "The Lord of hosts bath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory," etc. (ver, 9), God sends punishment because it is due; because, in the exercise of his righteousnes~, sin must be marked with the signs of his deep displeasure; but he sends such penalties as he does send in order to compel his subjects to see and to feel that t!.e glory, of man can be scattered in a moment, and that over all his mag- nificence the shadow of death will be thrown whensoever the hand of Divine judgment is uplifted. God's visitations are man's opportunities; then may he learn and feel- as otherwise he. never would-that his only wisdom is in instant abandonment of every evil way, and immediate return, in penitence and faith, to a forgiving and restoring Saviour. 7 C. Ver. 18.-Gain and devotion. We are reminded that- . I. WE CANNOT D.EVOTE TO GoD'S SERVICE ANYTHING WE HAVE NOT HONOUBABLY GAINED. It may be said that the text, taken with its context (see ver. 17), does not sustain this thought; that, indeed, it points in the opposite direction. But in addition to such explicit prohibitions as that in Deut. xxiii. 18, we have the whole strain and spirit of the Law of God. It is the glory of that Law that it so states, establishes, guards, enforces, emphasizes, the purity of the Divine Lawgiver that if any solitary passage like this one seems to sanction that which is inconsistent with it, we a.re quite sure that·, either in its rendering or in our interpretation of it, there mmt be a ruistake. Everything was done that could be done to separate the people of God from the impnrities and iniquities into which other nations had fallen, and into the sanction of which they had pressed even their religious rites, ,ve may be uncertain about many things in Scripture, but we are quite sure of this, that no smallest countenance is meant to be given in any single part of it to the devotion of ill-earned gain to the service of the holy God (see Acts xix. 18, 19). Not only such "hire" as seems to be hinted at here, but all revenue that is obtained by unworthy, unprincipled, unconscientious means must be wholly unfit for an offei-ing on the altar of God. II. THAT WE HAVE NO RIGllT TO WITHHOLD FROM Goo's SERVICE THJ: RESOURCF.S w.E CAN CONTROL. They are not to be "treasured or laid up." To keep them back for use at some future time, to hold them in reserve for some possible emergency, is: 1. Disobedient. God plainly and repeatedly requires of us that we should put out our "talents" in his service and in that of our fellow-men; and all the resources we m:1_,. have at our disposal of every kind are talents committed to our charge. 2. Distrustful. It indicates a lack of faith in the readiness of God to provide for our returning want~, and to meet out necessities as they arise. 3, Selfish and unsympathizing. 1 t is the action of one who has no heart to feel the strong and pressing claims of ignorance, sorrow, and degradation on our pity and our help. 4. Wasteful. Jll, 'fHAT WE SHOULD DEVOTE SOME GOOD PART OF OUR SUBSTANCE TO THE MAINTEX- ANCE OF PUDLIC WORSHIP. "For them that dwell before the Lord," etc. 1. Alt our possessions are to be gained, held, end used religiously; they are to be "holiness to the Lord." 2. Much of what we have at our disposal should be spent in the furtherance of philanthropy: in the cause of edu_cation ; 'in the rcstorat)on _of the sick and suffering:; in the reclamation of the fallen; m the help and rehab1l1tat10n of the unfortunate, etc. 3. Some of our "means" we should apply specil\lly to the maintenance of Christian worship ,ilnd of the Christian ministry. It is, indeed, pos,ible to give han<lsorucly 380 THE BOOK OF THE l>R01>HE1' IS.A.1Ab:. [on. nm. 1-18.
toward ihe erection of sacred structur~s, and, in so doing, to be ministering to our own irnport,1mce; men may be magnifying themselves when they propose and pretend to be honouring God. But, on the other hand, we render true, acceptable, and lasting service when we give freely-and in such a way as to encourage similar generosity in others- towards the worship of God, towards the publication of redeeming truth at home or abroad, towards the support of those who employ all their time and expend all their Btrength in the noble work of saving men and training them for the kingdom of heaven.-C.