'll·as the promise of the old covenant (Numb. vl. 26; xxv. 12). .Beat was the offer of tbe great Teacher (Matt xi. 28, 29). Rest of heart In the favour and lovo·of God was the high and elevated hope held out for all who would learn. and be obedieht; aa.d this is still the desire aud the dcsigu of God in all his teaching and in all his correction. • II. MAN's OBJECTION TO Gon's METrron. "To whom," they complain, "shall he teach knowledge . . . to them that nre weaned . . . must it be precept uponjrecei:it ?" etc. (vers. fl, 10). Are we such little children that we are to be treatc thus by Jcho.ah? Meo. have always been found who object to God's ways of guiding them. It is too plain and palpable, 01· it is too mysterious; it dem~nds no effort of the intellect, ?r it t.'1.xes the thought too severely; it is too commonplace, or it is too startling, or i~ 1s too hard; were be to adopt some other method, to come to them in some other way, they would listen and obey; but as be speaks they will uot bear. Especially are men slow to learn the simple and repeated lessons by which God teaches them· in his pro'l"idencc-the lessons which come with every morning lig_ht and with every evenin~ shade, with the continued loving-kindnesses of the passing llour, with the change~ of the seasons, with the passage of .neighbours and friends to anotp.er' world; these reite- rated teachings are disregarded, and the one great lesson of reverence lllld of devotednejis is unlearned. • •• ' - .' III. Gon's INDIGNATION .AT .HUM.AN co:s-TuMAcY. The .strain of the prophet ia one outpouring of intense indignation and keen rebuke;; the anger of Jehovah is .kfodled against them. We may understand that persistent indocility is a very serious· si:idri the estimate of God. Not to hearken when he speaks to us, whether he 1sppaks in proTidence, in his Word, or in Christian ordinances, is to place ourselves ben'eath. his very high d1,plea.sure. . • •. •• , IV. DffIKE RETRIBUTION. 'l'he penalty of their pervers~ indocility shall be that they will ha'l"e to learn by far less agreeable methods than tlie'one which they despis~d; the repeated elementary instruction of the Hebrew pro_phet should give place to the barbarous sounds of a foreign tongue. Guilty folly often finds that punishment awaits it which corresponds only too painfully with the sin. 'lhe Jews demand a king because they prefer the visible to the invisible, the physical to the spiritual; and they gain one who is chosen on this cherished principle of theirs, and his bodily stature and visible form prove to be a sorry substitute for the wisdom of the invisible Sovereign: the penalty is paid in the same coin as the transgression. David's unholy interference .with domestic right is punished by saddest and most serious disappointments in his own family. Retribution, not general only, but that which is particularly appropriate to our sin, a waits us a little further on. Disobedience-and emphatically indocility-leads to misery and shame. Hearken intelligently, however and whenever God may speak, and hasten cheerfully to obey.-C. ••
Vers. 14, 15, 18-20.-~ infat'IJ,(J,tion of nn. In strong, pictorial language the prophet points out-- _ I. THAT SINFUL MEN ACT AS IF THEY COULD AVERT IMPENDING DOOM. They act as if they said, "We have made a covenant with death," etc. Every day the guilty and the foolish are living as if they were possessed with a. power to wrestle with and overcome approaching doom. The drunkard seems to say, ".I will drink, and not be ruined in health;" and the gambler to Bay, "I will stake money, and not be disap:- pointed; " and tbe rogue to fay, "I will defraud, and not be detected;" a.nd •the me who "mind earthly things" to say, "We will invest all our hopes and find all o heritage in this world, acd not be robbed of our portion," etc. Such men seem to bu tbe!llselves up with that which, to all that look on, is a transparent infatuation. JI. TH.AT SIKFUL MEN CONVINCE THEMSELVES OF THAT WHICH THEY MIGHT KNOW 'l'O nE WHOLLY FALSE. They "make lies their refuge, and hide themselves under falsehoods." 1. They choose the wrong course, and tell themselve~ they are acting uoder compulsion, and are guiltless. 2. They soften their sin by covering it with some pleasant euphemism. 3. They place between themselves and the condemnation of God the shield of human example, the frequency and popularity of their vice; they screen themselves behind their brethren, as if God <lid not see them, and did not bold them guilty, 4. They allow evil practice to beget such obliquity of mor"l vision that they 011. xxvm. 1-29.) THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 463