we are called to be critics of the age in which we live; and then men pass us by because wo annoy them by showing up their faults. And sometimes we are before our age, and prepare for the changes that are to come; and then men pass us by, with a smile at our unpractical talk, and call us "foolish dreamers." But we must witneBB on, whether men will or will not hear; and God will be sure to keep us cheerful. II. WE MAY MEET WITH OPPOSITION, Messengers for God usually do. It is a bad sign when 1111 men speak well of them. God's messages are always likely to offend self-seeking men, and, as a consequence, God's messengers have to suffer. But God's help will tide us over all times of trial. We only have to learn the holy lesson " how great things we must suffer for his sake." God's help is our unfailing support-a" rock that cannot move." The help of God stands always waiting for us as promise. It never actually comes to us until the need has arrived for it. Then we find it is always ready. The grace is there, for the day, for every day. " We can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us."-R. T. Ver. 8,-77ie Justifier's protection. "Near is he that justifieth me." Reference is to the Servant of Jehovah, whom we identify as the Messiah. The. associations of our Lord's trial and death may suggest that he was a malefactor. Go<l allows no such impression to remain. He justifies him, by raising him from the dead and granting him full acceptance, He declares him to have been innocent and righteous. The security of those who have a standing in Christ lies in the plea made for them by their Justifier (see Rom. viii. 33, 34). (For the earlier form of appeal to God as Justifier, see Job and David: Job xxvii. 5; Ps. xxviii. 20, etc.) Compare the expressions, "It is God that justifieth;" "Raised again for our justification;" "Justified in the Spirit." "The Father justified him when he accepted the satisfaction he made for the sin of man, and constituted him 'the Lord our Righteousness,' who was made sin for us." It is not, however, the doctrine of justification which is first suggested by the text. Its reference is to the confidence which a wronged, slandered, persecuted good man may have, that God will stand by him, and in due time justify him, bringing forth his righteousness as the light. Our Lord and his servants may say, with misrepresented Job, "I know that" God, my Goel, "my Redeemer, liveth." I. GOD JUSTIFIES BY GIVING THE INWARD WITNESS OF IIIS A.CCEPTANCE, It is plain that he gave such witness to Christ in his last hours. Even in the dreadful sense of "being forsaken," our Lord could say, "My God, my God," and commit himself into the Father's hands. Before Pilate he held such confidence in God's approval that he could calmly reply to him, "Thou couldest have no power at all against me unless it were given thee from above," A divinely whispered "Fear not," from our Justifier, enables us to bear all things, II. GoD JUSTIFIES BY THE LASTING IMPRESSION THE GOOD 11.A.N PRODUCES. Illustrate from the exclamation of the centurion, "Truly this was the Son of God." A careful estimate of the inward struggles of Saul of 'l'arsus brings to view a deep feeling that the claims of Jesus of Nazareth possibly might be true. The good man only gains more power when his goodness is shown on a background of persecutions, III. GOD JUSTIFIES DY THE FINAL RESULTS OF THE GOOD MAN'S WORK. The slll.Ilder- ing and tho suffering pass, but the work a man does, und the witness a man makes, abide. Men mistook the Christ, We know the results of his work, and they become the fullest justification of him.-R. T.
Ver. 10.-Oounselfor those who walk in the dark. "Let him trust in the Name of the Lord, and stay upon his God." Christians " walk in darkness when their evidences for heaven are clouded, their joy in God is interrupted, the testimony of the Spirit is suBpended, and the light of God's countenance is eclipsed." The first reference of this passage is to the anxieties of the latter part of Hezekiah's reign, when national dangers were great, and many political parties existed, one recommending one course, and one another. It was very difficult to decide what course to take. Good men, who wanted to do right, "walked in darkness," Use the figure of going an unknown path on a dark night. We only feel safe as we hold some one's hand, and let him guide us. God is the true Guide, and darkness and light are both alike to him. '!'here is a sense in which one must always be walking in the dark, "We are not sufficient of ourselves ISAIAil-II, S 258 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [en, L, 1-11.
even to think anything &s of ourselves." "It is not in man that walketh to direct hie steps." We CHU never see more than one step at a time. The future is altogether unknown. If we were sure of ourselves, we can never be sure of others, There is no possibility of our. knowing how they will act under given circumstances. Only in v:1g11c and uncertain ways can we ever plan, for all our plans are formed in the dark. It. is God's law for us that we shall walk through life in the dark. The question is- J,fost we walk a.lone 1 That question our text answers. No; we may stay ourselves on our God. Illustrate by the artistic conception of Noel Paton concerning the guide through the death-valley, in his •Mors Janua Vitro' picture. God would have us cherish the spirit which says-- "rd rather walk in the dark with God Thau go a.lone in the light." The "Name of God," in which we are to trust, is the name of a safe Guide-so the ages say, so the saints of all the ages say. He is the Grtlat-Heart for pilgrims, whether they walk on the hill-ridges of prosperity in the light, or along the valleys of fear and trouble, where the shadows lie thick and heavy.-R. T.