Vel'II. 14-26.-.Despondency ccmforted. I. THE TEMPTATION. "Jehovah hath for- saken me, and the Lord bath forgotten me." 'l'he temptation is to ascribe the cause of freling in our own mind to a Being outside us ; forc,ettin" that "'tis in ourselveH that 1m are thus or thus." It does not follow, becau~e ou;' hearts are dry that the fonnt.ain of comfort is sea.led. It does not follow, because we feel ourselves l~~ely, that the good Goo has deserted us; nor, because we do not realize the Divine presence, that God _has fo~got.ten us. But th_e mind n~turally leans on signs and symbols and outward manifest~;1ons. The act ot: faith-so simple to speak about-the "walk by faith, not by sight, 1s really most difficult-. There are times when even the noblest of man- kind are unequal to such an effort. Reason win hardly meet the case. "He that despairs," it h_as been said, "limits an infinite Power to a finite apprehension, and measures Providence by bis own little contracted model." True· and the truth is not consoling. The sense and assurance of love alone can console. ' If. DESPO]sDENCY MET. Not by censure, not by argument, but by the assurance of nnin t.errupted and undying love. It is a Divine love; surpassing, therefore, the noblest manifestations of human love--that of father or mother. A woman may, like a Lady Macbeth, allow some mightier passion to get the better even of maternal love. But there is no mightier passion in the heart of God than the love to his chiidren. Human memory is infirm; but God cannot forget. The picture of Israel is graven on the palms of his hands. "It is indelible, like the sacred marks of devotees. Jehovah in,erts the usual order. A worshipper needs a consecrating mark to remind him of his relation to God. Zion's God, though not needing such reminder, has condescended to grave J ernsalem on the palms of his hands. The objects of human interest are changing; God conce1drates his thought on his people. "Thy walls are ever before me." The visible city was indeed destroyed, but God had his eye upon the preeervation of the spiritual building for eternity. "Dost thou think that that is the city of which I said, 'I engraved thee on the palms of my hands'? Nay; that building is not now built in the midst of you. It is that which shall be revealild in my presence; it was prepared from the time when I meditated to produce a Paradise, and I showed it to Adam before he sinned; when he cast away my co=a.nd, it was removed from him. And now, lo I it bath been kept by me, even as Paradise." Men's thoughts decline to the material; God is concerned with the ideal, and eternal. And in this truth lies profound encourage- ment. Forms decay, institutions come down with a mighty crash; the building of the ages iE ever goiug on. And it must go on by means of the labours of Zion's children. The desolate city will yet be clothed with ornaments like a lonely bride; and she who has been as a desolate widow will have a family too numerous to be containecl within present narrow bounds. III. UNFAILING HOPE IN JEHOVAH. At his bidding, a:1.d with the hearty aid of the Gentiles, the exiles shall return to their own houses, .as the foster-father carries the child in the bosom of his garment. The custom is Oriental (see on 2·Kings x.). The meaning is that the princes of the Gentiles shall favour and respect Israel. Some fulfilment may be seen in the conduct of the Persian kings, of Alexander and his successors towards the Jews; anot.her kind of fulfilment in the patronage of the Church by Constantine. But the full accomplishment of the prediction remains for the future. But incredulity breaks in. "Can the tyrant be made to disgorge his prey?" This shall take place. Jehovah shall appear in battle-might, as Avenger and Hero of Jacob, aud the foes shall be put to shame. Jehovah-those that hope in him shall not be as/,amed. The strain that began with the mutterings of despondeucy en<ls in the triumph of confidence and exultation. Hope in the Eternal-this must be our sure stay in the times of the nation's, the Church's, the individual's need. Our conduct cannot rise higher than our hopes, no more than the water in the pipe can rise higher than the spring-bean. He who lives by the hopes of the present and passing world, acts and suffers with a strength that is Jess than might be his. Nothing in this world can support us against trials which threaten the Joss of our worldly all. We can o!l-lY be borne up by something mightier and greater than this world, not to be found in 1t, but in the Eternal himself.-J.
Ver. 4.-.A mistalcen estimate. "Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain." Oft-repeated words. Human ignorance, as, XLIX, l-26,] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 239