Ver. 7. -The moral deteri'oration of self-t'.ndulgent habits. "They err in vision, they stumble in judgment." Isaiah treats wine and strong drink in much the same way as we do now. To him it was the prominent instance, and so it could be ma<le the type, of self-indulgence, which has many forms and many expressior:.s. Certain very manifest degradations follow on indulgence in strong drink, or in opium, or in morphia, and in these cases oppressive illustrations are given of the evils that attend lesser or less apparent indulgences. An ever-working law applies to all cases, small as well as great; but we may more easily trace the working in the great. This may be shown by some careful accounts of the deterioration of mind and character following on drink-indulgence in men, and even more painfully in women. 'ferrible stories of the ruin of character wrought by opium-smoking in China can be given. .And recently, very painful revela- tions have been made of the existEDce of a degrading morphio-mania, especially among the upper classes. Persons who have had morphia injected under the skin, to relieve pain, find a craving for it created; they indulge the passion, and the result is utter meutal and moral helplessness, and a certain, dreadful death. In measure, the law of deterioration applies to indulgence in eating, in drinking tea, in matters of sensual passion, in craving for newspapers, in seeking pleasure, and even in matters of play or of bobby. As soon as the indulgence in anything gets established it begins to degrade. A man loses bis manhood as soon as any thing is allowed to gain control over him; and with lost manhood comes dimmed vision and stumbling judgment. 'fhe moral consequences of self-indulgence may be fully treated under four divisions. I. PHYSICAL EFFECTS oN BODIES. This must be considered, because we are every day comina0 better to understand the close connection between bodily condition~ and moral states. The moral l1abit becomes tightly fixed by an actual bodily bias, an actual tendency of nerve and muscle to do again what has been done once. II. MoRAL EFFECT ON WILLS. 'l'bere is an actual weakening of will-force. The power to say "No" fades and dies out, and the will is borne away ':17heresoever mere appetite leads. lIL PRACTICAL EFFECT ON CONDUCT. Wherever moral control is limited conduot becomes da.ogerous or disgraceful. IV. FINAL EFFECT ON FATE. Whatever the view taken of the future state, they are at terrible disadvantage in it-even if it be a continuous reforming condition-'-who start on it degraded by self-indulgence.-R. T.
Ver. 10.-Need for (he reiteration of truth. "Line upon line." It is not difficult to set forth the practical applications of this passage ; but we cannot be quite sure that we know the exact original bearing of the words. Three suggestions have been made. 1. Ver. 9 may refer to God's favour to the Jews; then ver. 10 describes- the abundant revelation made to them, with rules and dutiPs related to all the conditions and emer• OH, um1. l-'29,) THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 467