Ver. 2.-Tru.sting others than Jehovah. "Relying upon human aid, involving a distl'Ust of the Divine promises, was a crying sin of the ancient Church, not at one time only, but throughout her history." It is qnite as truly the crying sin of the modern Church\ and of the Christian individual. In every time of pressure and need we first fly to some form of human help. It is either the expression of "first simplicity," or else of "cultured sanctity," to act on the words, " Our help is in the Lord our God." I. THE DELUSIONS ON WHICH OUR TRUSTING OTHERS REST. Some of these take shape, and we can recognize them. Others lie down in men's souls, doing their -mis~ cbievous work, but never getting put into propositions, which can be fairly dealt with. 'fhey are such as the following : 1. God is far away, and hie help is not anything really practical. 2. God does not heed; he is so largely concerned in the great alTa.ira of the universe that it is only an imagination that he can take interest in an individual life. 3. God is so long about his work ; and impatient man cannot bear waiting-if be is in any trouble, he wants it dealt with at once. Compare the King of Israel, in the famine-time, saying pettishly to Elisha, " What should I wait for the Lord any longer?" 4. God makes such hard terms. He always wnnts ,repentance and Embmission, and letting our own hands bang down; he crushes .human energy and t:nterprise. The very statement of these cherished delusions -of men suggests their correctives. Surely to all who cherish them the great Father is an unknown God.. II. THE FORMS WHICH OUR TRUSTING OTIIERS HAY TAKE. The .Jewish nation leaned on the help of another nation in her extremity. We, in our individual life and experience, are in danger of some form of sacerdotalism; we pin our faith to soi-rie.sect• leader, Eome scientific teacher, some admired statesman, some popular prencber, some assertive priest. Thousands of people find individual responsibility in religion too heavy a burden for them to bear, and do not grasp the truth that ,God is with them-in the bearing, and that it is their dignity to stand under the yoke only with God, Sacerdotal1sm is jnst the" man-trust" which prophets denounce. In public life and association the tendency is to lean on, and worship material strength. .\Ve seek the help of riches for the carrying out of all our religious schemes. We fly to men rather than to God. . Ill. ilISTOBY AND EXPERIENCE ALIKE PBOVE THE PilA0TICAL FOLLY, AB WELL AR Tfil INGRATITUDE A:KD BEBELLIOUSNEBS, OF THUS FORSAKING GoD. Our trusts provo, like Ei[ypt, only shel,helh, inactive, do-nothings (see ver. 7). Egypt promised much, but failed utterly in the day of trial.-R. T. Ver. 15.-Quietness and amfi,d<fnCe. These terms ·a.re related. Quietness Is the result of confidence. Confidence is the secret of quietness. The quietness thought of by the prophet was the abandonment of the disquieting and distracting search for c-artlily aids, as in the case of seeking help from Egypt; the confidence he commends is that 1i~tieot waiting on God and \l'aiting for God, which are the necessary expressions of our faith in him. on, ttx. 1-83.] THE 1300K OF THE PROPHlT ISAIAH. 507
I. A OREAT A'l'l'AINMENT. Bo great, so nearly impossible for men whil!t on the earth, thnt, despairingly, men hnve thought of it as only reached in the grave whither man hastens. Byron says, "I found in the Certosa Cemetery such a beautiful inscrip- tion; in Italian the words are absolute music : 'Luigi Martini implore. eterna. quiete.' On the restless, tossing, changing earth who can be quiet?" "The word is like an angry sea. The vessel of our life is rocked and dashed hither and thither, as blast after blast assails it, and wave after wave comes rolling on. Think what that power must be which comes into a human life in such a condition as this, and gives 'quietness'- a quietness so deep that none can make trouble." Quietness never comes by the smoothing of circumstances. They never are smoothed for more than a very "little while." And fears of the clouds that are gathering disturb even the "little while." Quietness only comes by soul-mastery over circumstances. Hearts must win peace, and then only can they make peace. II. 'l'BE MEANS BY WHICH QUIETNESS MA y BE REACHED. Through confidence; heart-confidence-heart-confidence in God. "We must keep our spirits calm and sedate by a continual dependence upon God and his power and his goodness; we must retire into ourselves with a holy quietness, suppressing all turbulent and tumultuouH passions, and keeping the peace in our own minds. And we must rely upon God with a holy confidence that he can do what he will, and will do what iM best for his people. And this will be our strength; it will inspire us with such a holy fortitude as will c11.rry us with ease and courage through all the difficulties we may meet with" (Matthew Henry). In this matter the principle holds that our own endeavour must go along with God's bestowments. "Work out your own salvation, ... for it is God that worketh in you." Some of us make no effort to get outside the whirl of life. How can we expect God to give us quietness? III. TUE ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE USE OF BUCH MEANS. Found in God's gracious ways of giving his people heart-peace, and then peace in circumstances, when they have fully trusted in him.-R. T.