The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 550

of God now ea;tended to us in Jesus Christ; reaching to those who have gone furthc"t, in presumptuoll8 sin, in vice, in crime, in unspee.ke.ble enormities; extending to thone who have sinned age.inst the cloe.rest light and tho most gracious influences; touching those who ho.ve gone to the very verge of human life: what noble breadths, what far clist1mces, havo we here I 3. The patience of Christ with his erring and imperfect followers, 4. The mefulness of a devoted C1lfl,ri, generous Christian l,fe, ·who can ce.lcule.to the extent to which a life of holy love, of self-denying service, stretches out and flows on, out into the remote distance of space, on into the far future of time ? .. III. THE BREADTH OF THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM. We confidently expect to find in the heavenly country a "land of far distances." 1. In its .spacial dimensions; if, indee,1, that can be truly said to have dimensions which is boundless in its lengths and breadths. To no narrow sphere, reckoned in yards or miles, shall we there be limited. Our outlook will be one that is immeasurably large, for the country of the blessed is, "to our heart and to our hoping," a land of very far distances indeed. 2. In the ev:ellences and glories o/ the character of its King. When will the time come that we shall ha,·e covered e.11 the ground in that great exploration, that we shall have surveyecl all the heights and traversed all the breadths of the glorious and beautiful character of the Son of God? There are regions beyond regions, summits beyond summits, there. 3. In the capacities of its sub;"ects. There is something of great intorest and of genuine worth in the growth of the human mind from infancy to maturity; something well worthy c,f being watched and in every way to be desired. But there comes a point beyond which that development may not go; there is a meridian-line, reached e.t a different age by different men, a.cross which we may not step, at which it is imperative that we r.eturn, that we decline. We dare to hope that, in the "land of far distances," that boundary-line is indefinitely far off; that" age after age, for ever," we shall go on acquir- ing not only knowledge but power, the horizon-line of spiritual maturity continually receding e.s we advance in wisdom and strength. 4. Jn the range of its service. "His stirve.nts shall serve him;" and in what varieties of way may we not hope to serve him there? Here the service of God and of man takes many forms-we can serve by action and by suffering, by example and by persuasion, in word and deed, in things secular and in things sacred, alone and in company with others. We look for a land, we wait for a life, in which opportunities of serving the Eternal Father and of blessing his children will be far more numerous, far more varied, far greater and nobler iu , their nature. We hope for a land of such glorious breadth on every hand that, not only in our enlarged capacities, but e.lso in our multiplied and magnified opportunities, we shall find it e. "land of great distances." (1) Take care to be there. (2) Be ready to start well on the heavenly course, for according to our beginning will be our progress at every point in all succeeding e.ges.--C. Vera. 18-24.-Happy times. A very plee.sant picture is this of ·a nation or of a Church on which the full blessing of God is resting. There are several elements in its prosperity. I. A BENSE OF THE DIVINE MERCY, "The people ... shall be forgiven their iniquity" (ver. 24). A sense of pardoned sin and of reconciliation to God is at the foundation of e.11 true pee.ea, all sacred joy, and all holy usefulness. II. THE MAINTENANCE OF DEVOTIONAL HABITS. Zion is to be always known 3.~ "the city of solemnities" (ver. 20). There reverent prayer and grateful praise and earnest inquiry of the Lord are to be continually found. III. THE ABIDING PRESENCE AND FELT POWER OF Goo. The word that will most oommonly be heard on the lips, because most frequently rising from the soul, will be "the Lord." "Jehovah is our Judge." "Jehovah is,'' etc. (ver. 22). Everything is to suggest him, is to be referred to his will, is to be ascribed to his grace. IV. A PLEASANT RECOLLECTION OF EVILS THAT ARE OVER. (Ver. 18.) Happy tho Church or the man when the dark days that hl\ve been and are gone are sufficiently removed from present experience to make the memory of them a source of joy a.nu not of pain. Such a time does often come, and we may well rejoice and be glad in it, 'fhe home is the dearer and the moro delightful for the privations that have been passed through on the way. v. A.BUNDANOE FOR EVERY PURE DESIRE. 'l'\i.e "glorious Lord" will secure bountiL.u  554: 'l'HE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [cu. xnm. 1-24.