ages ago just as it flows now; it will flow still, when we have "had our little day and cease to be." Bo nothing can occur to stop the current of true prosperity in the obedient. "Patient continue.nee in well-doing" involves continued conditions of well- being. "He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." II. POWER AB A RESULT OF OBEDIENCE. The steady advance of the tide is an impressive illustration of quiet, persistent power. The rush of the wind-driven wave is the illustration of majestic masterful power. He that does the will of God over- comes himself; and he who overcomes himself need never fear that he will meet a mightier foe.-R. T. Ver. 18.-0hrist's peace and righteousness. IIIU8trating the meditative and spiri- tualizing method of treating prophetic Scripture, the following outline, after R. M. McCheyne, is given. I. TREIB PEACE WOULD HAVE BEEN AB A RIVER. 1. It has a source. It begins at the fountain of Christ's blood. 2. It is fed from above. Rains and showers feed the rivers. The shower of grace feeds the rivers of peace. 3. It has inundations, as the Nile. An awakening providence often makes it overBow. Afflictions and the consolations under them always, if the sufferings are the sufferings of Christ. Sacra- mental times also; hence the desirableness of frequency in the administration of the Lord's Supper. 4. It gets broader and broader to the sea. Illustrate by such a river as the Tay. "The path of the just is like the shining light." 5. It is fertilizing. It conveys nourishment. Egypt owes all its fertility to the Nile. The peace of Christ makes every grace grow. Holiness always grows out of a. peaceful breast. II. TREIB RIGHTEOUSNESS WOULD HAVE BEEN AB THE WAVES OF THE SEA. The righteousness of Christ is compared to the waves of the sea, because: 1. It covers over the highest sins. 2. It covers again and again. 3. It is infinite righteousness. You cannot count the waves of the sea. ..tl.pplication. God wants men to be saved. God sometimes pleads with men to be saved for his own pleasure; it would be pleasant to him; it would make him glad, as in the parable of the lost sheep. Sometimes he pleads for his own glory (Jer. xiii. 16; Mai. ii. 1). But here it is for the happiness of sinners themselves (Ps. lxxxi. 13). And he pleads with men, because unwilling that any should perish (2 Pet. iii. 9).-R. T. Ver. 22.-The unrest of the wicked. "There is no peace, saith Jehovah, to the ungodly." There may be what the world calls success and prosperity, without peace. Peace is an inward state and condition. It is not a matter of circumstance, but of mood. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee." It is not a specially sent threatening, that there shall be no peace to the wicked ; it is the permanently appointed Divine arrangement. By the constitution of things there can be no peace to the wicked-" no peace with God, or their own consciences, no real good, whatever is pretended to." It may be urged that the ungodly have no inward peace, because- !. OF THE DISSATISFACTION WHICH WI0KED~"ESS BRmGs. Bad men cannot rest in their badness, cannot regard it with pleasure. They want to get away from it to something else. A new excitement alone can clear away the thought of old sins. That is the saddest thing for the wilful and wayward man-he can never be happy in his wrong-doing. Excited he may be, never restful. II. OF THE SMITINGS WHICH CONSCIENCE GIVES. For though a man may gag and stifle Conscience, she will find her way to speak. The one thing absolutely impossible to the most wilful man is the silencing of Conscience. She has a way of waking up, and looking daggers when we think she is dead. If a man will force his own way against God, he must take into account that, as long as he lives, be shall have no peace; for he shall fight daily against his own conscience. It will lie down with him; it will go forth with him. III. OF THE FEARS WHI0H WICKEDNESS SUGGESTS. There are always consequences to actions. Every act is a cause. Every result is appropriate to its cause. Sow to the flesh, and you m\l.St reap corruption. The bad man fears (1) the circumstances which his wilfulness mRy create; (2) the enmities which his wilfulness may excite; (8) the future in which all the power may-nay, must-lie in the hands of the God he 230 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [oH. xux. 1-26.
insults. Wherever the ungodly man walks he ca.n know no real peace; "fears e.re in the way." IV. OF THE DISTURBANCES OF THE DIVINE ORDER WHICH HIS SELF-WILL O0OASIONB, There is a. Divine order; and it involves the very highest well-being-up to its capacity --of every creature, great and small. That order is based upon man's obedient and submissive harmony with God's will. This the wicked man' refuses and so this order t~e wicked man breaks. Alas! spoiling the peace, not for himself a.lone, but for e.ll with whom he has to do. The everlasting peace will come when we are "all righteous," end not a moment before.-R. T.
8EOTION IIl THE MISSION OF TBE SERVANT OF THE LORD (OH, XLIX.-Lm,),