tlons dlreolocl at the very principle and seat of faith itself. Is this world governed ? Hae It a righteous constitution ancl administration? Does all repose upon the mind nnd will of a just and holy lleing? Thon faith may li~e, and the weakest may bo strong. Or le o.11 the effect of chnnce? and are we at the m~rcy of some blind and fatal power, which neither lovos nor knows? Then the stoutest knees will be loosened, and the bravest heart will quail. 8. lie hul,Js out enticing promises. Let the people mako n treaty with the Assyrian. Let them surrender to him, and he will secure them a. happy future. 'l'hey will be removed from their own la.nd, it is true; but they shall find anoLhcr home in a land equally goodly, abounding in corn and grapes, in bread- corn and orchards. 'l'hore each family shall possess its vine and it.~ fig tree and its cistern. Hero, agnin, wnrhlly hopes are mnde to take the field against the instincts of religious faith. Why cling to Judah? Because it was sacred soil-the land of the fathers, the land whoso holy centre was Jerusalem, the altar of God, the meeting-place of the tribes, the earthly mirror of heaven. But was not this mere charm of ima9:ina- tion? Were not other lands as fair and as fertile? Cou Id not a peaceful and a happy home be found in distant lands? Perhaps they are clingin~ to a pleasing illusion, a vain dream, and are blind to the good which lies at their feet. Perhaps they are defending themselves against their own happiness. 4. He appeals to seeming facl:J of history. The ";gods of the nations" appear to have gone down before the victorious Assyrian. They, in the struggle, he.d not manifested a power to save. In ancient thought, religion and political power were closely connected. If a city or a nation stood, it was because of the protecting presence of the national god; its wanderings were his wan,leri11gs, its victories the effect of hie prowess, its failures the signs of hid defeat. Now, the gods of Hamath were captive in Assyrian shrines. And what probability was there, from a heathen point of view, that it would be otherwise with Jehovah, the national God of Israel? Such a rivalry between the long-vanished power and religion of the Assyrian, and that of the living God, whom we at this day own, not only as national God of Israel, but e.s the Eternal himself-may seem strange. To the eye of the heathen, and from the bee.then view of politics and history, it we.s not so, Time alone can discover the short-sightedness of human calculation, and expose the superficiality of worldly views of history. III. THE ANSWER OF SILENCE. It was by Hezekie.b's command that no answer was returned. "For they had nothing that would seem, from an Assyrian point of view, a satisfactory answer." And the rent clothes of the Jewish officials confess the last extreme of helpless grief. And may not the facts of this situation remind us of ~piritual situations? There are hours of perplexed thought when the mind turns its own weapons against itself. All circumstances conspire n~11inst us, or seem to do so. We seek f.,r the "bright side" of the situation, but there is no bright side to look upoo. We turn to the east, hoping for a ray of light: all is darkness. The known is distinct and threatening; the unknown veilen. and, to the depressed imagination, more threatening still. We are cowed by our own reason, quelled by the pressure of our most fixed habits of thinking. The problem is without solution to the intellig~ncc. But there is a secret Rympathy of our being with the Unseen. There is a secret channel by which we may communicate with the Unseen, and pierce behind tho veil. When temptations close around us like the serried ro.nks of the Assyrian host, shutting out from view every possible way of escape, we may, nevertheless, believe that there is such a way-a passago into the clear light, which Jehovah has me.de, and which he will presently reveal.-J.
Ver. 6.-The broken staff. "Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it." Man must lean. He is constituted to rest on somo object outside himself, and it would be a wise though painful study to review the fnlse resting-places of the human heart. Egypt stands iu the Scripture for the world outside God-its pleasure, its skill, its science, its entire wealth o( means and appliances. For Egypt was once the repository of the world's weaHh, nml skill, and science, and beauty, and glory. I. Tms rs ms·ronIOAL TRUTH. How eagerly the Jews turned from the true God to idols I 'l'heir life was dishonoured during a long part of their hist0ry by idolatry, for which they were punished by captivities, and against which they were warned by prophets. Still they rebelled against God, and vexed and grieved his Holy Spirit. 10 'J'HE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH, [on, xxxvi, 1-22,
Delivered from Egypt and its elAveries and wrongs, llo8 their fathers were they yet turned in heart to all thAt wAs represented by Egypt. ' IT. THrs Is STMBOLIC 'l'RU'l'H. Men lean still on reeds, that in time become broken reC'ds. They trust in WCA\th, friendship, fortune; And these at last give way and the rl'ed pierces them to the heart. This is the story often told of the world's dis~ppointed conditions-broken health and lost fortunes. Having no God to turn to, men are left de$0\11te and deserted in the hour when heart and flesh faint and fail. We see 1111 this in Byron and Shelley, and in the "Mida.ses" of the world, who love wealth and all that wealth can bring. Nothing in the world answers to the deep necessities of man's immortal nature, and the "rest under the shadow of Egypt" is not broad and deep enough for the soul of man. Ill. THIS rs SURPRISING 'l'RUTB. "Lo!" we may well ea:claim. Is this world a lunatic asylum, aft<ir all, full of men and women who have lost the fine balances of judament? 0 or is it a blind asylum, where they have lost the clear vision of truth? After all the r?cords of observation _and of history, has it_ CJ?llle to this-that each succeeding genern.- t10n takes up the old he and forsakes the hvmg God? Even now and here where the Saviour says, "Come unto me and rest,'' how many seek "rest" out of God I' Some find human love itself a broken reed, and in their hours of sad discovery turn cynical and despairing, whilst to others friendship itself has proved superficial and fickle. There are man;, who ~ave drawn out the broken reed, and dr~sed the wound as well as they mo.y; but 1t remams unhealed. What they really want 1s the balm of Gilead and the great Physician. of souls.-W. M. S.