Divine dealiog~ be judgment or chaatisement ma.y depend on three tbioge: (1) the ~int from wbioh they are viewed; (2) the moral condition of those who suffer; and (3) the relations of God being regarded as go-vemmental or as paternal. II. THE PURPOSE OF JUDGMENT APPREHENDED AB OIIASTISEMENT. (Ver. 9.) Appre- hended as only judgment, our mind is o-verborne by our calamity. Apprehended as chastisement, the mind is started with new and trustful thoughts. The trouble may at first crush, but soon we learn to accept it calmly. That we are under fatherly chastise- ments puts the deepest solemnity into life and into sin; it helps us to lift our hearts away from the present and the seen to the future and the unseen. All deaths become gates of life when this sunlight streams on them. (For this fi7,ure see Noel Pa.ton's picture, 'Mors Janua Vita.') Prophecy then keeps before us this cheering fact-all anxieties and sufferings are fatherly. Their "fruit is to take away our sin.~ And as we so little know the subtleties of our sin, we need not wonder that we cannot understand either the subtleties or the severities necessary fur taking it away. Oor wonder ought to be that "refining :fires," so graciously tempered for us, are made to accomplish so great a cleansing.-R. T. Ver. 9.-Repentance proved in deeds. The first clause may be translated thus: "On these terms shall the guilt of Jacob be purged." There must be the signs of reformation-the actual destruction of idols and all idol-associations, as the proof and manifestation of the declared heart-surrender of idolatry. The child's verse is correct theology and practical godliness- ' "Repentance is to leave The sine we loved before ; And show that we in earnest grieve, By doing so no more.'' The very "atones of the altar " must be as "chalkstones that are beaten in snnder " if Jacob would ma.ke plain its repentance of its idolatries, and come to receive Divine forgiveness. Illustrations may be taken from the practical reformations on which Hezekiah and Josiah insisted as the outward signs of the national repentance. From this verse deal with the constant temptation to rest in mere sentiment, and impress the demand which God ever makes for proof in ace of the repentance, or the faith, or the humility, or the zeal, that may be possessed. As our Saviour expressrd the same point in another of its connections, " If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." I. Goon SENTIMENTS ARE GOOD BEGINNINGS. Therefore in preachings and teachings appeal is properly made to feeling; effort is made to arouse emotions and to persuade. By the way of the heart access can often be gained to a man; and Scripture provides mater.ial for emotional appeals. " Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.'' To move feeling, and to awaken good sentiment, is at least to make a breach in the walls. It is a beginning, and there is hope of what may be further accomplished when such a beginning is made. But we should be alive to the constant disposition of men to rest in sentiment. There is a subtle pleasure in feeling deeply. We easily get a kind of satisfaction in our good sentiments; and so Scripture roughly shakes down the satisfaction by calling such things " refuges of lies," or staffs that pierce the band that leans on them. II. Goon SENTIMENTS KAY BOON FADE, They always do when they remain as sentiments, and do not become motives to action. Our minds are constantly passing on to fresh things, and the older ones grow dim in the distance. If things are to keep up their interest, we must put continuous thought to them, and make them bear on daily conduct. We weep over a pathetic story-book, but in a little while all is forgotten as a dream when one awaketh. It would be a most humbling sight for us all if God were to show us the great heap of beautiful sentiments we once had and enjoyed. III. Goon SENTIMENTS HAVE NO VOICE THAT Goo CAN HEED. If we offer such things to him, he will entirely withdraw and hide himself within a cloud, and wait and see how long the good sentiment will last. Penitence that is only a sens~tinnal sio-h or tear he will not regard. It means nothing. It is but a passing ripple on a pool. Why should he turn aside to notice that? This thought will unfold into a practical dealing with the danger of forced emotions in revivalistic servicea ; or the THE -BOOK OF THE PROl)HET ISAIAH. [en, xxvm. 1-211,
strainin" of religious feeling in children and young people. M~re emotion is too lfght a thing to asoon<l as prayer to the throne of Goel. I'f. Goon SENTIMENTS MUST SPEAK TO Goo THROUGH DIJms. 'Yon 81\YfOU repent. lint the supreme question is--,Vhat has your repentance ma<le you do? You repent of that sin: then h:we you put it away? You repent of that 1vrong to your neighbour: then have you, as fur 11s possible, put the wrong right? Yo11 repent or your idolatry: then have you broken up your idol-altars? Correspondin~ actions," works meet for r,·pentanoe, "-t.hese are the terms of "purging; " this is the "fruit to take .away. all the sin."-R. T.