time. IC we consider our finiteness and his infinity, our ignorance and his omniscience, we shall see that this must be so. If we consider how little we can understand of the great designs of the wisest of mankind when we have but a partial view of them, we shall ceafie to wonder at the mystery which attends the providence of God. How can we be otherwise than "blind" to the large and long purposes of him "whose way is in the sea," and to whom" a thousand years are aH one day"? The thought of the prophet is illustrated in- I. Goo's DEALINGS WITH HIS PEOPLE ISRAEL. At one period, when languishing in captivity, it was black night to the people of God. It was dark twilight to Isaiah, looking on and down from the peaks of prophecy. It was early morning when the Israelites entered Jerusalem on their return. It was later morning yet when Paul caught a glimpse of God's large purposes in all the way he led them (Rom. xi. 33). But all along he was leading the blind by a way they knew not. II. His DEALINGS WITH MANKIND. Through what dark days has the Church of Christ passed as it has come through the centuries I How many times has God seemed to have forsaken it, when it has undergone a threatening eclipse from: 1. Savage attack from outside; the trials and perils of unrelenting persecution. 2. Chilling coldneu within; spirituality of worship, consistency of life, evangelizing zeal, having declined and almost expired. 3. Depressing faithlessness around; a dark shadow of scepticism surrounding, and, at points, invading and infecting it. Yet out of these miseries and temporary defeats God has brought it, turning darkness into light and making the crooked things straight, III. His LEADING OF OUR INDIVIDUAL LIFE, Dark days come to us all ; we fail where we counted on success; they become unfriendly on whose faithfulness we bad confidently reckoned; the road which promised to lead up to prosperity and joy takes a sudden turn down ioto adversity and sorrow. We have been seeking Divine directioo, but the guiding hand seems to have been withheld; Gorl seems to have forsaken us. But we must not "speak thus, or we should offend agaiost" the truth of God's word and the ultimate experience of his children. Others before and beside us have gone down into the darkness and come up into the light. Once the Master himself went a. way he knew not; the Divine Father seemed to have forsaken him. And many a. one, since that scene at Calvary, has been inclined to cry out," My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me 1" It is for us to remember that we are as blind men before the a.II-seeing God, discerning but a mere speck of all that has to be surveyed. God is leading us by a way the.t we cannot recognize now; but soon the darkness will be light and the crooked straight. It is the houi· for trusting. Any one can trust God in the sunshine; we have to show our sonsbip by trusting him wholly in the deep shadows. " When we in da.rlmess we.Ik, Nor feel the heavenly flame, Then is the time to trust our God, And rest upon his Na.me." a. Vere. 19-25 (latter part).-The hidden hurl. L THERE ARE PENALTIES wmoH ABE PALPABLE TO EVERY EYE. When vice or crime leads down to poverty, or to serious sickness, or to desertion and consequent loneliness, or to confinement in prison, there is no possibility of mistake. God is "pouring out his e.ngor" against the transgressors of his Law; ho is "magnifying his Law, e.nd making it honourable" (ver. 21). But-- II. 'l'HEIIE ABE PENALTIES WHIOH ARE UNDETE0TED EVEN BY THOSE WHO PAY THEM, As bodily privations-deafness, blindness, feebleness,--come on and sometimes reach even a.n advanced point before their subjects will allow it to be true, so is it with mental aod moral evils, which a.re the righteous penalties of sin. 1. Mental. The gradual but serious decay of the intellectual powers-of memory, of judgment, of the creative faculty. 2. Moral and spiritual. Loss of self-control; an increased absorption in self; a growing eagerness for fleshly enjoyments or worldly adva.nta"'es; withdrawal of interest from those things which are spiritual and Divine; in fa.et, deterioration of soul. III. THIS UNDETE0TED PENALTY IB DE0IDEDLY THE MOST SERIOUS, For: 1. It is the most inward. It affects our very selves; it means that we, ourselves, a.re" set on fire,• IBALAB-IJ. K 130 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [oa. XLII, 1-26,
are being consumed, are peri~hing. 2, It is likely to be the most lasting, What evil thing a man _sec~ and recognize~ he take~ ea.re to expel; that. which escapes his notice he leaves to itself, and, left undisturbed, 1t spreads and grows, 1t becomes rank, ruinous, fatRJ. IV, IT IS A PENALTY PAID BY THE APPARENTLY GOOD AS BY THE AVOWEDLY EVIL. " Vi'"ho is blind, ~u_t my servant?" etc. (:vers. 19, 20), The sous of privilege, tho mc1_nbers of th~ _v1s1ble Church, are sometimes found to be sadly deceived respecting their own cond1t1on; they are on the borders of bankruptcy when they think themselves rich and strong (Rev. iii. 17). Pride, or worldliness, or indulgence, or covetousness, ho.~ eaten into their soul, and made them degenerate and unworthy before God and they '' know it not." ' V. IT IS A CASE WHICH CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE AND EARNEST EFFORT. When the truth discovered, or even suspected, it becomes us (1) to strive with all strenuousness is
to escape; and (2) to entreat Divine help in our great spiritual peril: "Search me 0 God," etc. (Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24).--C. '