HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 1-11.-Lessoos from tlie past to the future. Those addressed are the people 11 named from Israel and sprun~ from Juda.h's spring;" who swear by Jehovab's Name and render homage to Israel's God-not, alas ! so sincerely as they should. Still, they have learned to find their true reliance in Zion and in Jahveh. Let them, then, hear the exhortation of Jehovah. I. THE ORACLE OF THE PAST. Jehovah has in former times predicted events by the mouth of his prophets which came to pass. Those predictions were disbelieved; the fulfilment was delayed; and yet suddenly the idea.I was translated into fact; aud the unexpected had come to pass. In general, history is the oracle of the Eternal. An empire founded ·on force or fraud cannot stan'cl; the kingdom which subsists by righteousness and for righteousness carries with it vitality and enduring dominion. It was said by a great statesman, "The unexpected always happens." Aud in truth the purposes of God are not seldom known by their fulfilment in sudden and surprising events. He thinb long, but acts promptly. As in Northern climates, the winter of human discontent breaks as if by magic into spring. Such experiences should tend to subdue the obstinacy of incredulity. God knew that tbo lsmelites were prone to unbelief and hardness of heart, and therefore had plied them with so m:rny proofs of his providence. George Herbert mentions, "Bibles laid open, millions of surprise~," among the means which God employs to bring the soul to himself. The "iron siuew and the brow of brass" are significant of the state of mind which he had to encounter in the people. "Some are so obstinately bad and confirmed in their vice, that judgments and afflictions are but thrown away upon them; and God's shooting at them is but shooting u.t a mark, which indeed receives tho arrow, but does not at all feol it.'' 220 THE BOOK OF 1'HE PROPHE'l' ISAIAH, [oH, nvui.1-22
II. NEw PBEDIOTIONS. Again, things hidden from human penetration shall be made known by the Divine oracles. The events could no more be anticipRted than could an act of creation from the operation of natural ca11ses. .And so the taking of Babylon by Cyrus, and the deliverance of the exiles from bondage, could be known by no human foresight or sagacity. But "their ears were not open." 'l'hey were infidel and rebellious at heai:t, The open ear means the affected heart., the awakened understanding, the cherishing memory, the steady, fruitful perseverance in action. lf there be defect of these, the soul is no better than if it had not heard at all. Nay, it may be worse (cf. John v. 26; vi. 4c5; Acts ii. 37). III. THE GREAT DIVINE MOTIVE. Not because the people have deserved it will Jehovah act thus, but for his honour's sake, because he is not yet known among the Gentiles. And it is through Israel that his pnrposes to the heathen must be carried out. Yet this people had not been found pure metal after their trial in the furnace of affliction. 'l'bey were wicked, sinful, and unbelieving. It is his glory, then, in the spread of true religion and justice in the earth, that is the principle and the end of the procedure of Jehovah. As he can swear by no higher, so he can work for no more majestic object, than himself. But he must have instruments, he must have men, however imperfect, to work out bis purposes. "God's glory is the motto inscribed upon every created being; and wheresoever God reAds, be owns this superscription. It is all the creature bas, under God's hand and seal, to show for its life. Wherever we a.re, we are nut our own, but his. .All men are by nature servants to the interest of his glory."-J.
Vera. 12-22.-The new revel-Ltion. The verses contain a summary of the conlents of eh. :xl.-xlvii. God is the First and the Last-the sole Creator. Prophecy is an evidence of his claims; and so is the mission of Cyrus. I. THE REVELATION CONCERNING GoD. First Jacob and Israel, the choHen people, are called to listen. Jehovah is the Alpha and the Omega. of the universe. The First Cause and Reasou of things; he gave the first impulse to their course, the goal of which will still be himself. Before the earth and the heavens were, his was the creative hand, guided. by the creative mind. Then the idolatrous nations are summoned to assemble, and challenged to produce a power of prophecy to rival that of Jehovah. IL CoNCERl,,NG CYRUS. "He whom Jehovah hath loved," to whom he bath spoken, whom he bath called, shall have a. prosperous career, performing the Divine pleasure on Babylon ar:d on Chaldell.. In ver. 20 the prophet sees the destruction of Babylon as an accomplished fact. Thence Jet a ringing cry go forth to the end of the earth I Jehovah bath redeemed the people! Already they have drunk of the refreshing wa.ters in the desert. .And that peace, which is the sum of all blessings, and which can never be the portion of the ungodly, is theirs. IIL .APPEAL TO coNscmNCE AND EXPERIENCE. Let the chosen people draw near and commune with their God. From the first he has spoken to them, not in dark and ambiguous oracles, but in words of clearness and unmistakable purport. And now he is to speak again by the mouth of his present servant, and to crown his revelations by the greatest of them all. And what of Isra.el? Doubly tender is the reproa.ch and the expostulation. Why have the people nut walked in the straight way in which lie would have led them? He is their "Teacher to their profit ; " why ha.ve they chosen what is unprofitable? and followed after the "not-profitable" gods (Jer. ii. 11 ; cf. Micah vi. 8; Ps. :x:xiii. 3)? He wnuld lead them in the straight path, but Israel has forced him, as it were, to lead them by the circuitous path of affliction. The appeal to experience turns upon this point-the profitableness of godliness, which ha.s the promise of-the life that now is, and of that which is to come. "Deep down in human nature lies the idea of a coveoa.nt between the worshipper and his god. In return for extema.l service, the god gives help and protection. The prophets, with a generous freedom, retain so much of this theory a-; ma.tche11 with the truths revealed to them. Jehovah's protection is still conditional, but the conditions extend to the inner e.e well as the outer man" (Cheyne). Obedience alone brings peace ind prosperity. If men had but hearkened to God, their peace would have been as the great volume of the Euphrates, and their blessedness, reflecting the fa.vour of Jehovah, as the IPultitudinous waves of the sea; its posterity as the sand of the sea, or as the fishes that .. warm in it1 oB, XLVIII, 1-22.] THE IlOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAII. 221