hidden glory bebincl the veil of the meanest life. " For I have shown thee bidden things" may therefore suggest to us the reverence which we ougbt to entertain for the soul. Siu is not a subject for mere scorn; it is a subject for deepest sorrow. "When Jesus came near the city, be beheld it, and wept over it." Something more mag11ificent than the mnrble temple filled his vision; be wept onr souls where the altar was over- thrown o.nd the love of God cast out. Let preachers, teachers, authors, workers in the field of the Lord, realize once more the Divine grandeur of their work. The sublimest creation of this universe is bidden in the heart of man: "God made man in bis own image."-W. M. S. Vers. l-9.-'l'hings worth heeding concerning God and man. "Hear ye this:" this is something well worth the earnest attention of men; their truest worth and their lasting interests are bound up in the knowledge and regard of it. I. M.AN 1S CRIMINAL INCONSISTENCY WITH HIMSELF. (V ers. 1, 2.) Men may go very far in conduct which is quite at variance with "the spirit which is in them:" they may say or do one thing, and be the very opposite, One might think that though this were soin their dealings with one another, it would never be true in their attitude toward the heart-searching God. Yet in nothing is there more insincerity, more hypocrisy, than in religion. Men" swear by the Name of the Lord . . . but not in truth." To pretend before God, to affect a piety which is not felt, is not only useless and worthless; it is in the last degree offensive and perilous (see Matt. x.xiii.). II. MAN'S HARDENING OF HIMSELF. (Ver. 4.) Men are obstinate, or bard (marginal reading) : they harden their heart before God and against him, so that their neck is "an iron sinew, their brow brass." 1. They will not be what God requires that they should become-his children, his servants, bis friends, bis followers. 2. They will not do what he charges them·to do-will uot work righteousness, justice, equity; will not refrain from impurity, from intemperance, from dishonesty, etc. 3. They will not hear what he summons them to heed; they turn a deaf ear to bis entreaties and bis warn- ings (Prov. i.). They go so far in obduracy, in hardness, t.hat, though they know that their Divine Father, their gracious Saviour, is speaking to them, they close their souls to his mesrnge of truth and love. III. Goo's EVIDENCE OON0EBNING HIMSELF. (Vers. 3, 5-8.) God adduces proof from bis foreknowledge and revelation that be is unquestionably the true and living God-- that One in whom and in whom alone they should put their trust. It is not only by such proof as this, but by many evidences, that God establishes bis claims upon us. He "leaves not himself without witness;" he abundantly confirms bis truth : the material universe, with its beauty, its bounty, its order, its m,lgnificence; the spiritual nature of man, including his conscience ; the life, the works, the truth of Jesus Christ; the character and design of the gospel of peace and righteousness; its glorious achieve- ments, etc. IV. Goo's REASONS IN IDMSELP'. (Ver. 9.) 1. Ample reasons for Divine beneficence are to be found in the Divine nature-that God is what be is accounts for all the grace and mercy which abound in the earth. 2. In the interests of the universe God must act so that his children shall revere and praise him. Otherwise the most disastrous disbelief would prevail.-C.
Vers. 10, 11.-'1.7ie Divine aim in human affliction. We infer- I. THAT THE AFFLICTIONS OF 'l'HE RIGHTEOUS ARE OF Goo's SENDING. To the unrighteous they wear the aspect of inflictions, but to the servants of God they are chastisements or refining processes; either way, tl1ey are regarded as events which come in consequence of, or (at the least) in accordance with, the ordination of God (see eh. xiv. 7; Amos iii. 6). Jesus Christ bas taught us that the smallest incident cannot happen without Divine permission; much less (as be wishes us to infer) any serious trial to the people of God (Luke xii. 6). II. THAT THE DIVINE AIM: IS DOUBLY DENEFICENT, 1. Our refinement. "I have refined thee." God refines us by passing us through the furnace of afll.iction, and he does this not for his advantage-"not for silver"-but for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness (see Heb. xii. 10). By the distresses of the soul the dross of worldliness, of selfishness, of trust in temporal securities or in human alliances, of TIIE DOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH, [oH, uvm. 1-22.
sensuous indulgence, is purged away, and the pure gold of piety and purity is left. Our hea.ve~ly Father resorts to this refi11in~ process in one of two_ c~es. (1) When he sees us fallrng under the power of temptation, and finds our Clmsllan character becoming alloyed with error and evi!, (2) When he wants agents of the highest kind for the nob_lest work on earth ~r m heave~, and_ k:no~s that no abundance of privilege will purify and perfect as will the refinmg disc1plme of his own hand. It is a real and important feature of the Divine beneficence that in parental chastisement God is seek- ing: 2. His exaltation in the minds of men. "For mine own sake will I do it: for how should my Name be polluted," etc.? It is to the interest of his creation in the vc1 v highest degree, tb_at God's Name should be exalted, that the glory which is his aue should not be paid to another. For: (1) False worship shows a constant tenJencv to decline in the worthiness of its objects. When men abandon the service of the livmg God, and'.' go after Baal," they pursue a downward course; they go from the high to the less high, from the low to the lower,, from the lower to the lowest• until thev worship devils. (2) The character of the Deity men adore is always reflect~d in that of its devotees: as is the god so is the idolater. We have the highest interest in renderina o~r bom~e to the righteous Fa_ther of all,_and any discipline that weans us from any krnu of idolatry renders us priceless service. If God regards the well-being of bis creation, be cannot give bis glory to another. Ill. THAT WE MUST ACTIVELY CO-OPERATE WITH HIM, OR HIS PUBl'OBE WILL BB DEFEATED. (Sec 2 Cor. vii 10.)-C,