Ver. 13.-Restm·atiom prove Divine/ot-givenw. This is the answering truth to. that dwdt on above, in the homily on ver.. '9; God in his dealings with man never stops· with sentiment. We know that he forgives us, beoause with the forgiveness he grants us restoration to bis favour. Israel had grievonsly offended Jehovah by his unfaithful- ness. Divine indignations had put the offending child away. But the child learned the les.~ons of judgment. The child came, penitent and humble, seeking forgiveness ;,and the Lord heard, grantecl the forgiveness, and sealed it in a gracious restoration. • This i8 the Tision of that great restoring-day. "They shall come which were ready to :perish in the la.nd of Assyria., and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem." Our Lord presented this truth in his exquisite picture of the prodigal son. The father forgives the penitrnt, and we might say, "That is enough; such a son can expect no more and deserves no more; forgLven,, let him go away where he will." But love cannot stop at such lin_1itations; it cannot he content until it can restore: it wants to seal its forgivene.~s; it would make it the fullest bles~ing possible; so the forgiven son is in his old place at the home-table; nay, he is even decked in the joy-robe, and made the occasion of a ft'ast. He knows be is forgiven, for he is restored. In nothing do God's ways appear to be higher than man's ways than in this-God can restore when he forgives, ·and man halts a~ the .. re11tor-ing, wor~; he is seldom grand enough for that. We c,annot restor~. our criminals even: wp~,11 they are penitent. We cannot put back into he~ place in soojety th!l "woman a si1;1,qer,'' who bathes the feet of Jesns with penitential tears; 'J;'he apostle maltes .aa: ,almo11t overwhelming demand on us when he says, "Brethren, if a man be_overt.aken in a fault, ye which are spiritual .reswre snch an one in the spiri_t of meekness." How sol).ls yearn for this sealing of forgivrness is seen in David's prayer, "Ilegtpre unto me the je>y of thy galvation." The subject mny be treated under two division~. ,, - L DIVINE RESTORATION ASSURED IN EXAMPLES AND PROMISES. TheHe,assure us that it is God's way of dealing, and so they become a persuasion to. hope ev(!n iµ our.penitence, and in our prayer for forgiveness. . _ . . .. . . • • lL Drvn.'E llESTOIUTIOY REALIZED U ACTUAL CIR0UMSTANpi;:s, :Not fl-lw:aY.I!, 01!,,t- ward circumstances; -0nly so far as these may hnve been affe<;ted by the ~111. ·Alw,ay:s in inward circu1DJ1tances of mind and feeling.-R. T. •
SF.CTION "VIl. RENEWED DEN"tl'NCIA.TIOBB OF lsRAEL AND JUDAH (oH. xxvur.~:u.xL).
EXPOSITION. ,;. I to the ,:,ondition of things fa his• own tlmo CHAPTER XXVIU. and among his own people. After o. brief Vers. 1-4.-A WAnNING TO SAMABIA. warning, addressed to Samo.rio., he turns to The prophet hBS now caat hie eagle glance consider the <'On<lition of Judnh, which ho over the whole world and over all time. accuses of following the exo.mplo of Sa- He has denounceii woe upon all the prin- maria, of perishing through self-indulgence ~ipal nations or the earth (eh. xiii.-:u:iii.). and lack of knowleclge (vere. 7-12). Ha glanced at the destruction of the world itself then proceeds to expostulate seriously with (eh. :uiv. 17-20), and sung songs over the the" rulers of Jerusalem," on whom lies the establishment of Christ's kingdom, and the chief responsibility for its future. • ingathering of the nations into it (eh. uv.- Ver. 1.-Woe to the orown of pride, to :urii.). In the preaent chapter he returu the druDkardl ; rather, of the drunkard,. .oa. xxvm. 1-29.] THE. BOOK OF THE PROPHET L'11AIAH. 4-H