concentrated on to-day. To-day is ours. To-night is not ours. To-morrow is not ours, No man has any to-morrow until God gives it to him, and then he must call it to-day. We cannot grasp a whole life; we can grasp the duties of to-day. What" grace" is for a long and changeful life we do not know, we cannot know. God offers UB grace for j1111t the day that begins with this morning. • And the arm of the Lord is precisely what we need day by day. Gathering up the scriptural associations of this figure, especially in the Book of Isaiah, the following points may be illustrated. I. EVERY MORNING WE NEED ASSURANCE OF Goo's ARM TO LEAN ON. The distinction between the godly and the ungodly man cannot bo more sharply defined than by saying, "'l'he ungodly man tries to stand by himself, and the godly man loves to lean on another." The change, the renewal, the new birth of a man, finds its expression in this "loving to lean." It is but the· gracious response of God to this gracfous disposition, that he offers his arm afresh every morning for the good man to lean upon. " On my arm shall they trust." II. EVERY MORNING WE NEED THE ASSURANCE OF Goo's ARM TO GUIDE us. It is the fact of life, but it is much more than that-it is the experience of life, that "it is not in .man that walketh to direct his steps." So Isaiah, speaking of the journeyings of God's people, refers to God who "led them with his glorious arm." That arm is like a signal held out, showing our daily path. It is even the arm and hand that keeps us steadily in the right, the narrow path. The figures of the unknown journey, or voyage, may be used. This journey is taken in stages, and every morning our wise, safe, strong Guide is waiting, ready to give us his good help. UI, EVERY MORNING WE NEED THE ASSURANCE OF GoD'tl ARM TO DEFEND US. "That arm is not shortened, that it cannot save." How little we realize our day-by- day dependence on Divine providence I "Dangers stand thick and hover round." By what we call "accidents," men and women about us are killed or wounded every day. &-me'one defends us. It would be well for us if we more clearly saw God's saving arm defending us continually. Then there are our enemies; some are by circumstance enemies, and some are by wilfulness enemies. But how little they ever do that really hurts us! Noisily they dwell around us, like the armies of Sennacherib, but our Defender is there every morning, Shield for each new day. But it i.:, more searching to think of our bad selves, and how we need defending from them. Every morning wakes the old self, with some of the old frailties, habits, prejudices, passions. Above all else we need, day by day, the presence and the power of him who alone can defend us from ourselve~.-R. T. Ver. 6.-The secret of stability fO'I' every age. This is presented by showing what would be the secret of stability in the kingdom of Hezekiah, when safety and peace were again restored. The prophet anticipates the removal of the great and serious national evils, which had brought on the people Divine judgments, and rejoices in the prospect that "righteousness would exalt the nation." We may well think that, in thought, he passed on to the times of Messiah, when alone his great hopes could be perfectly realized. We have four words given as the great sources of the national security and stability -" judgment, righteousness, wisdom, and knowledge." If we attach precise and appro- priate meanings to each of these, we shall learn what are the secrets of stability for all times. I. JuDGMENT, Not here equivalent to "wise decisions," "skilful plans," or" good counsels." The idea is rather that of strong and vigorous dealing with sin. There is no security for any community or society that is weak in its handling of sin. .And this is true also of the individual lil'e; we must be resolute and firm in mastering our own habits and passions, "cutting off right hands, and plucking ont right eyes." lf a nation is to prosper it must be strong and firm in its judgments. II. RIGHTEOUSNESS. Here ordering life and relations by good and wise principles and rules. Unrighteousness is disorder-the chaos which follows when "every man does that which is right in his own eyes." Righteousness, for a people, is rightness, com- formity to good rules, the copying of good models. Aud this is a. first and important sense of righteousness for the indiridnal. It is the righteousness which a man may attain; but there is the further righteousness which a man may receive from Jehovah Tsidkenu, "the Lord our Righteousness." 556 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISA.JAR. [M. xx'xm. 1-24,
III. WrsDOH. This, on its practical side, is the skilful ordering nnd rule of clrcnm• stances, so as to ~et the most and the best out of them, and resist the evils that may be connecteJ with them. "The wisdom profitable t-0 direct." The wisdom whioh may be illustrated for social and political life from the ever-watchful man of business, who 1'88ks to t.urn everything to good account; or from the anxious housewife, who tries to make the best of everything. ~V. KNOWLEDGE. Which, in this connection, is the careful adjustment of things which me~ may make on the basis of experience. Knowledge proving a practical help. The knowing man is the opposite of the simple, or inexperienced, man, who is bewil- dered and endangered by difficult circumstances.-R. T.