tokens of his presence are removed. There are times when even the noblest of mankind are unequal to such an effort" (Cheyne). So long as we arc dependent on the senses, and our knowledge is strictly limited, for disciplinary purposes, so long there is a good sense iu which it is reasonable for us to doubt. II. THE DIVINE UNREASONABLENESS OF DOUllT. Knowing what he is and what he is purposing and doing, man's doubt must always seem unreasonable to God• e.nd his one response to every doubter is, "Cannot you trust me 1" It is the love of 'God the unchangeable love of God, which puts our best-grounded doubts and fears to sh~me. E_xactly this is pressed on the attention of despondent Israel by God's comparing himself to a mother whose child is daily feeding on her own life. Such mothers have a most sacrificing, passionate love for their childreo, and no intenser simile could have been found. " Thou art more than mother dear;" then how can we doubt? Why not rest in the love, and be at peace? Illustrating the strength of mother-love, Lauder s11ys he frequently met, during his journey in Africa, with mothers who carried about their persons little wooden images of their deceased infants, to whose lips they presented a portion of food whenever they partook of it themselves, and nothing could induce them to part with these inanimate memorials.-R. T. Ver. 16.-The closeness of the Divine interest. The idea of the passage is that the plan of Jerusalem remained in God's sight, though the Chaldeans had devastated it, and even broken down its walls. It could all be bnilt again, after the plan in the Divine mind. Thus impressively it is suggested that nothing, no sort of outward circumstance or calamity, can remove us from God's thought and care. His supreme care is for us, and that abides through all conceivable changes of condition and circumstance. " It was the custom among the Hebrews and other Eastern nations to trace upon the palms of the hands the outlines of any object of affection or admiration. By this means the travf:ller always had before him a visible memorial of the city or place he had visited. The sketch, although necessarily imperfect, was nevertheless indelible, as it was produced by puncturing the skin with a sharp instrument, and introducing int.o the punctures a peculiar dye, very much in the same manner in which a sailor prints on bis arm the figure of an anchor or the initials of his own name. From the indestructible nature of the sketch the process might be called a species of engraving." Dean Plnmptre says, "The words point to the almost universal practice of tattooing. A man thus •engraved' the name of his god, or the outlines of his home, or the face of her he loved, upon his hands or arms. So, by a boldly anthropomorphic figure, Jehovah had •graven' Jerusalem on his hands. He could not act without being reminded of her;" Roberts says that "he never saw or heard of things being engraved on the palms of the hands. The palms are, however, believed to have written on them the fate of the individual, and from this, it is common to say, in reference to men or things, they are written on the palms of his hands." The assurance given in this figurative form may be opened in two directions. L ALWAYS IN BIGHT, TO BE CARED FOB. This is true of friends who truly love one another-of husband and wife, of parent and children. They may not be always in bodily sight; they are al ways in thought, which is soul-sight. Of God it is said, "He careth for you." We :i.re always in his thought. Round us, wherever we may be, are the "everlastina arms" II. ALwAYB 'iN srG~T, TO BE WORKED FOB. This is quite an additional idea. Others may care for us, who have nothing to do for us or can do nothing. God's care is an active care, finding due expression in tendings, watchings, providingB, and arrangings. He keeps us before him, in order that he may do for us exceeding abundantly more than we ask or thiuk.-R. T. Ver. 23.-No shaTM in waiting/or God. "For they shall not be ashamed that wait for me." Those who wait for him, in a dependence upon his promise and a resignation to bis will, shall not be made ashamed of their hope. Quaintly stating the reasons for God's withholding his blessings from us awhile, Thomas Brookes (1650) says, "God oftentimes delays, that his people may come to him with greater strength and importnnity. He puts them off, that they may put OD with more life and vigour. God seems to be cold, that he may make us the more hot; he seems to be slack, that he may make 011. L. 1-11.] 'l'HE BOOK OF THE PROPH F.T ISAIAR. 247
ue the more earnPet; be seemR to be backward, that he may make us the more forward in presMin~ upon him." 'l'be parLicular ~hame here referred to ill that which comes from disupp"intment of expectations and hopes. "The hope thBt's built upon his word Cdn ne'er be overthrown." The line of thought suggested is this: Find the various sources whence comes our disappointment with men, and show, in each case, that they cannot possibly apply to God. I. MEN PROMISE MORE THAN THEY CAN PERFORM. Often they do this in (1) gushing and impulsive generosity; or in (2) desire to produce an extravagant impression of thtir ability; or in (3) false estimat11 of their means; or in (4) simple but weak good nature. Such people are not thoroughly true; and we learn by experience never to trust their promises. We give them credit for meaning well, and then forget what they said. God's promises are strictly true to his intentions and his power. II. MEN PROMISE WHAT THEY NEVER INTEND TO PERFORM. .A. man who had just parted from a female friend was overheard to say, "I told her mnre in a minute than she will find come true in a twelvemonth." Men intentionally deceive, and then we cannot but be ashamed and disappointed in them. Of this we may be quite snre-God intends to fulfil everything be promises. "Hath be said, and shall he not clo it?" "If we believe not, yet be abideth faithful: be cannot deny himself." Ill. MEN PROMISE WHAT C!ItCUMSTANCES NEVER ALLOW THEM TO PERFORM. With the best intentions, and the best ability at the time of promising, men cannot anticipate the changes of life, and may disappoiot us through force of circumstances. But he who sees the end from the beginning makes his promises in view of every possible contingency; and " His very word of grace is strong As that which built the skies; The voice that moves the stars along Speaks nll the promises." R.T.