Vera. 21-33.-Judgmene and joy. This forcible, energetic language, in which darkest ehe.dow and brightest sunshine very strikingly intermingle, may remind us- I. '11JJAT GOD DOES 0OME IN TERRIBLE JUD'1MENTS TO THE CHILDREN OP HEN. 1. Sometimes to men collectively-to societies, to cities, to nations. 2. At other times to individual men. In the special ordering or in the permission of bis Divine providence he sends the overwhelming loss and consequently reduced or even impoverished estate, or the wasting and consuming sickness, or the undermining and final destruction of influence, or the shattering of power, or sudden, perhaps violent, death. God lets such things overtake the guilty, that the pictorial and poetical language of the text is applicable. It is as if his "anger burned," e.s if his" lips were full of indignation;" his judgments come down as an overflowing stream, they cast forth the gnilty like a winnowing-shovel; his glorious voice is heard, bis arm descends in righteous retribution. II. 'I'HAT THE JUDOMENT OF Goo 18 ACCOMPANIED WITH THE JOY OF MAN. "Ye shall have a song, e.s in the night . . . and gladness of heart" (ver. 29); "in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, . . . it shall be with tabrets and harps" (ver. 32). Here and elsewhere the judgments of God are made the occasion of hnman thankfulness and joy. It is clear: 1. '!'hat in such joy there should be no element of vindictiveness. It would be positively unchristian to find a source of satis'action in the bodily or mental suffering of men because they have injured us (Rom. xii. 1(), 20). Christian magnanimity should rise to the height of earnestly desiring that i;s foe~ may be won to truth, wisdom, and eternal life. 2. That there may be in such joy the elemene of righteous satisfaction; not, indeed, that men suffer, but that their sin receives its appropriate mark of Divine disapproval; that the integrity of the Divine rule is vindicated; that God's presence and his holiness are seen to be near and not afar off. This is the spirit of the psalmist (Ps. xcvii. 1). 3. That there may be also the element of human sympaehy. Often at such times we have great gladness of heart, because, when he that once "smote with a rod" is himself "beaten down" (ver. 31), those who were smitten by the oppressor walk in liberty and security. The humiliation of the wrong-doer is the exalta.tioD of the righteous-is the enfranchisement of the holy and the wise. 4. '!'hat there will also be the element of holy expectation. When Sennacherib has God's bridle in his jaws and is co.used to wander far from his chosen path, Jerusalem is safe and Jehovah's service is secure, When the enemies of religion aro scattered, there is a goodly prospect of opened sanctuaries, of multiplied privileges, of increase of piety and virtue on every hand. When the persecutor perishes the minister of truth rejoices greatly, and there is music in the house of the Lord because there is every reason to hope that the Churches, having rest, will '' walk in the fear of God . . . and be multiplied" (Acts ix. 31). 1. It is well, in the time of danger or distress, to ask for Divine deliverance. 2. It is better to ask for Divine strength to be enabled to overcome the evil from which we suffer by the good which we do (Rom. xii. 21).-C. Ver. 1.-.Adding sin to sin. This prophetic warning seems to have been spoken when the embassy to seek offensive and defensive allia.nce with Egypt had actually started on its we.y. The sin of neglecting to seek direction from God in the time of national anxiety was now added to b)' the sin of openly seeking help from man. '!'here was a constant disposition on the po.rt of the Jews of the later monarchy to seek their safety in national alliances. When imperilled by the Israelites, they sought help from the Syrians. When threatened by the Syiians, they made treaties with the Assyrie.ns. When the Assyrians became their enemies, they tried to strengthen themselves with the support of hesitating, inactive Egypt. First men lose their faith in God; then they neglect to seek or obey him; and then they turn to mere human helpers. So sin follows on sin. Illustrating this from life and experience, with precise applications to each audience, it may be shown that- I. SIN IS ADDED TO SIN IN THE NATURAL ORDER OF EVENTS. It is but the simple fact of life that a sin never goes alone. It always has its companions and it~ f- ,llowers. It must, if for this one reason only-every sin is a disturbance of order by man's self- will; that self-will is sure to go OD sinning in the effort to get the order right. '!'he child who finds order disturbed by some wrong act, goes OD to tell lies in its vaiu effor, to get the order straight again. 606 THE BoOK OF THS rnol'IIE'l' 1SA1Alt. [cm. xxx.1-83,
II. SIN JS ADDED TO BIN BY TIIE IKFLUENCE OF HABIT. There is a l!trai:J.ge tcn<lency in us nil to do a second time what we have done once, This has not been sufficiently noticed, though it HI the bm,is on which· criminals are often detected, A 6in done once, we 11re actually disposed to do again ; and there seems to be even e. bodily hi!IS towarcls this formation of he.bits. Parents and teachers have to watch for it, thnt they may check and correct it. III. SIN IS ADDED TO SIN BY TIIE ENTICEMENTS OF SATAN, For an act of eln is giving &tan the advantage over us, puUing ourselves into his power. .And the increase of that power depends on lcndin~ us to do evil again. He will not let us stop 11n<l think. We must go on, as the g:tmbler does, until we are enslaved and ruined. 1 IV. SIN IS ADDED TO SIN AS A DEGIN1'ING OF PUNISHMENT. A man is usually "heady an~ high-minded" at the successful result of his first wrong; so, in order that he may be smitten and hum bled, God lets him go on from sin to sin, until shame whips him awake, so that be may see bis iniquity. The way round to right has often to be l1y the mire of sin addrd to sin. There is a gracious sense in which God lets wilful men alone awhile, as he left these Jewish leaders who advocated the Egyptian alliance, ihat they might convince themselves of their own wickedness and folly;-R. T.