question as this, as to entertain such & thought &s this. With a faulty and incapable ministry you may have a Church ignorant of those elements of the gospel with which it seems impossible that men should not be familiar. II. 'l'ml DIVINE WARNING WBIOH 18 ALSO A DIVINE PROMISE. (Vers.16,17.) He says-You have perverted everything, turned everything upside down, made nothing of my Word when you Ahould have made everything of it, elevated the outward and visible above the inward and spiritual, acted as if you could conceal your doings from the all-beholding God, treated me as the clay might treat the potter, unworthily arnl irreverently. I will bring it to pass that things shall be turned upside down in your experience: "Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field," etc. The humble shall be exalted and the proud abased. Your false confidence shall be cast down, and that which you have neglected shall be honoured in the eyes of all. The Church that has lost its first estate of truth, spirituality, wisdom, must expect a terrible reversal. 1. Its mistaken notions will be.shaken from its mind to make way for God's living truth. 2. Its incapable leaders will be compelled to step down and give place to those whom they have arrogantly disregarded. 3. Its pompous but unspiritual rites will be exchanged for simpler and spiritual engagements. 1. Its luxurious religious enjoy- ments will be lost in earnest self-denying labours, or even in trying hardships. Thus will the fruitful field become a forest, while Lebanon is turned into a fruitful field. The revolution in the character and condition of the Church will be very intimately connected with, will be immediately followed by, a revolution in the character and condition of the world.-O. Vers. 18-24.-The hour of revival. I. ITS CHARACTERISTICS. 1. The spirit of dodlity. Those once deaf now "hear the words of the book" (ver. 18) ; "They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine" (ver. 24). It is one of the surest signs of the presence of God's Spirit that the attitude of insensibility or of captiousness is exchanged for the desire to learn the will of God -that those who once held aloof altogether or came to carp and quibble now lend a. reverent, inquiring ear, sit like Mary at the feet of Jesus, look heavenwards like Paul and say, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" 2. The power of spiritual per- ception. "The eyes of the blind shall see,'' etc. (ver. 18). God awakens human souls from the sleep of sin or the languor of spiritual decline. Theo, in the one case men see the guilt of continued rebellion against God's will, also the terrible risks they run who remain rebellious, and also the excellency and openness of the salvation which is in Jesus Christ, etc. ; in the other case they see the transcendent value of the human souls around them, the admirableness of Christian zeal, the desirableness of gainin~ the approval of Christ for carrying on his work of redeeming love, etc. 3. Gladness of heart in God and in man. (1) In God. "Joy in the Lord" (ver. 19) will be increased, not only on the part of the meek, but in the heart of all those who are affected by the action of Divine truth and the influence of the Divine Spirit. Men will realize the closeness, the blessedness, the nobility of their relation to God, as his children, friends, co-workers, heirs; and their souls will be lifted up and will swell witb. a sacred joy. (2) In man. Jacob "will not now be ashamed," his face will not "wax pale n (ver. 22) as he regards his children; on the contrary, he will behold them with unbounded joy when he sees them "sanctifying the Name of the Holy One" (ver. 23). The fathers and mothers in Israel, the leaders and teachers of the Church, will exult in the extension of piety and purity, of worth and wisdom, among all the people, and par- ticularly among the young. 4. The disappearance of iniquity. (Vers. 20, 21.) The oppressor, the scorner, the vicious, the unrighteous,-these and such as they are removed from the scene; they no longer linger about the gates or frequent the courts or walk the streets of Jerusalem. 'l'he force of sacred fervour, like the cleansing indignation of Christ himself, sweeps unholiness from the sanctuary; "tl·a.t which defileth" is cast out with the strong ,hand of reawakened purity. II. THE DIVINE SotmcE OF IT. .All those thus made true children of God aro "the work of mine hands" (ver. 23); everything, as every one, is his workmanship; it is all of God. It is his Spirit that" renews the faco of the earth," that also revives the souls of men and the condition of his Church. Ill. 'l'BE HOPE OF ITS COMING. 1. We may look to the promises of God's Word, 484 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [oa. xXix, 1-24-.
thnt lwld out to us the hope of better and brighter days in the fllture. 2, Or to thd g.,.ace and power of our Lord; for we cannot believe th11.t his yearning compassion and his mighty power "·ill leave outside for ever the multitudes th11.t are still afnr off. 3, But we do well to look to devout and earnest preparation on ou,• own part. Oan we not "prepare the Lord his way " by cleansing our hearts of selfishness and sin, of pride and unbelief; by devout expectation aud eager readiness for the sound of his chariot-wheels; hy earnest and believing prayer for the action of bis reviving Spirit ?-0,