Ver. 30.-Bpiritualfaintness. "Even the youths shall faint," etc. Then faintness is not a matter of age. Exhausted power may belong to youth. We are to learn that natural spirits are not enough for this great campaign. Health and energy will do much for the earthly soldier, and for the young mountaineer on the Swiss Alps. But it is otherwise here. From beginning to end of the Divine life we shall faint and fail unless God be with us to inspire and strengthen us. I. YoUNG EXPERIENCES. It is perhaps well that we should learn the great lesson early, so that we may never think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. There are doubtless joyful experiences in our first love to Christ; but Bunyan was right when he placed the Slough of Despond so near the starting-place. We soon meet with disappointments and disheartenments. We are soon face to face with temptations which well-nigh overcome us. The Philistines make us afraid. II. FALLEN FORTUNES. Not in houses or estates, but in hearts and lives. We fall -utterly fall. Se that there may be no excuse, no palliation, no pretence that it was only a stumble; we cannot gaily pick ourselves up and go on our way as though nothing had happened. We are told of our utter failure. But to fall, even, is uot to be lost. We may be maimed, bruised, broken, but God can lift us up. "Rejoice not over me, 0 mine enemy, for when I fall I shall arise." This is the victor-song of souls that trust not in themselves, but in him who is able to make all grace abound unto them. Never let the fallen, whether it be in faith, or creed, or character, be treated as lost.-W. M. S. Ver. 31.-Renewal of strength.. "They that wait upon the Lord." Here we have revealed to us the eecret of the soul's renewed energy. It is open to all. We are thus "changed men," for the Hebrew word here, "to renew," means "to change." Experiences like these alter alike character and countenance. God restores nnto us the joy of his anointed. I. A DIVINE PROMISE. Written in the book of inspiration? Yes; and embodied in the experience of a great multitude of souls. So attest the men of old, like Daniel and Nehemiah, who had each religious work to do in pagan courts. And so also must we. No philosophy of prayer may be possible to us, save that best of all philosophies, the philosophy of experience. And this we cannot set aside. As the Bible is its own best evidence concerning its inspiration, so is prayer its own best argument. 'l'hey that wait upon the Lord, in every age, whether in thti patriarchy, the theocracy, or the Christian age, have renewed their strength. II. A TRIPLE EXPERIEN0E. "They shall mount up with wings as eagles." True, there is a higher realm into which as we rise we are surprised that the cares and worries of this lower world should have such power to harass and overcome us. We do see light in God's light. The nearer we get to Jesus, the Sun of Ri hteousness, the more we feel this light and heat. "They shall run, and not be weary.' 9 Progress is made. Elasticity of heart is felt. We renew the youth of our souls. "They shall walk, and not faint." For we cannot always be in the enjoyment of swift progress. We have hills to climb and waters to ford, and what we call the commonplaces of life to attend to. Still, there is room for heroism here, and for gracious communiun with God and contentment with his will. To walk and not faint is sometimes wore diflicult than to run a!j.d not be weary.-W. M. S. Vere. 1, 2.-Pardon and penalty. Israel is to be comforted by her teachers nnd pastors, becaus<3 the time of her exile, which is the period of the Divine sentence, has nearly expired, and the hour of her redemption is consequeutly 11igh. If we ask what ground of comfort wo find here for the Christian Church, or for the chastened human soul, wo have to reply- I. THAT COMFORT IS NOT TO BE FOUND IN TilE SUPPOSED LENIEN0Y OF Gon. No thought can be more perilously false than the imagination that God is too great to concern himself with our misdeeds, or too " good" to take offence with our short- comings. Scripture, providence, and ~ so~nd philosophy alike :protest against that Jt!AlAH-U, G 82 TIIE DOOR OF TIIE PROPHET ISAIAH. [ou, XL. 1-31.
ruinous doctrine. Sin i~ clonrly a most serious thing, a· hcinouR and terrible departnro in the sighL of God. Let no man comfort his soul with tho hope that "Jo bon Dicu" will ororlook his life of impiety or hie various acts of iniquity. Goel does indeed, pardon sin on man's penitence and faith ; but even thon pardon does not absolutely exclude penalty. We may not press into our service horo tho word "pardoned" (vcr. 2), ae it may perhaps there 11ignify expiated; but elsewhere the ro,lcmption of Israel is treated as an act of Divine mel'cy. Yet here wo hnve judgment and mercy blt•nned. 'l'he guilty nation is not to be restored until "her warfare" (the time of her scr\'ice) hns been "accomplished," until sho hns received at the Lord'~ hand "double" (full nnd nmple cl1astisoment) for all her sine. And the fact is as we find in our daily ex1-crience, that when God now pardons and restores, ho lete'his reconciled children fcc·l the effects of their past folly and sin. The consequences of a vicious youth go far on into even Ohrutian manhood. The penalties of an unwise and irrevcrenL fatherhood follow the parent to the very foot of the grave. God's mercy cJoes not immediately arrest the tiJe of suffering and sorrow which flows from a long course of wrong-noing. The man "bears his penalty until his warfare" (his ti.mo of servitude) "is accomplished;" and that is often e. long time, covering me.ny years, extending over whole periods of human lire. II. TRAT COMFORT IS TO BE FOUND IN THE FACT OF A BEAT, BESTOBATION to the love and favo11r of God. In e. very true ~ense, when a man repents and seeks the Divine mercy in Christ Jesus, be is one of God's" people" (vcr. 1); God is his God, as he was not l,cfore (ver. 1). And the ills that he now suffers lose their stern nepect; pcne.lty becomes disciplinc--it is no longer tbo sentence of the Judge, it is the correc- tion of tho Fe.tlier. III. THAT COMFORT IS TO DE FOUND IN THE RELEASE OF DEATH and the freedom of the heavenly country. When the end of life's hard service comes, and the noto of the soul's return shall be sounded, then sbe.11 there be e. glorious delivere.nco from evil, and entrance on the highest good.--0.