Who was originally meant by the servant of Jehovah may remain obscure. We at least cannot but apply the representation to the Captain of salvation, the Leader and Finisher of faith, who endured the cross for the joy set before him. And also to every true servant or the Eternal, who feels that be was brought into the world to witness for the truth and devote himself in the cause of love, • This is he who, felled by foes, Sprang harmless up, refreshed by blows: He to captivity was sold, But him no prison-bars would hold; Though they sealed him in a rock, Molllltain-chains he can lllllock; Thrown to lions for their meat, The crouching lion kissed his feet; Bound to the stake, no flames appalled, But arched o'er him an honouring vault, This is he men miscall fate, Threading dark ways, arriving late, But e'er coming in time to crown The troth, and hurl wrong-doers down," J. Ver. 2.-The deprave,d eye. "No beauty that we should desire him." In this prophetic picture of the Christ the question arises, " Who hath believed our re~rt?" What wonderful attestation history gives to this I-" He came unto his own, and hie own received him not.n Whether the words, "he bath no form nor comeliness," apply to the physical features of Christ, we cannot say; for the J ewe ha~ no "art." T~ey interpreted the words, "Th~u shalt not make to,,thyself .. .' _the l(keness _of a~~thm§ that iij in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, not as an 1nJunct1on against idols oH. Lill, 1-12.] 'fll.E BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 303
Bloue, but Bgainst all statuary and all art. So, though we have the likenesses of the emperors on the Roman coins, and the Greek statues of Socrates and their wise men, we have no likeneee of Christ or his apostles. Bnt we do know the meaning of this, "There is no beauty that we shoul,l desire him." I. THE EYE ADMIRES ONLY WHAT THE JIEABT LOVES. The beauty that eye desired was quite different. It was superficial and carnal, not inward and spiritual. II. THE WORLD DOES NOT ALTER ITS TASTE, The classic virtues of paganism-pride, self-reliance, honour-are more prized by men of the world than patience, gentleness, pity, forbearance, and charity. Christ is not beautiful to tbe proud, nor to the selfish, nor to the ambitious and the vain. Only the pure in heart admire and love him!- W. M. S. Ver. 3.-The re;'ected Saviour. "He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." He! ,vho? The incarnate Lord, who has grown up in childhood as a" tender plant;" who is the one "living root," while all others are the dry soil of a decrepit and degenerate humanity. I. THIS REVEALS TO us WHAT THE HEBREW CHURCH WAS. Christ was the" touch- stone" of that Church. Its conduct to him made manifest to what a condition they had come. Think of the contrast. Pharisaism was triumphant-Christ was despised. The outward, the formal, the ritual, was preferred before the holy, the inward, and the spiritual. Christ was "rejected." They bad the first opportunity of welcoming the" Lord from heaven." "To the Jew first." How learned men may be in tradition! how well acquainted with the 'Mishna' and the 'Gemara,' and yet know ail of ancient revelation except its meaning! The great gates of prophecy open wide to let the true King through; and then treat him as a Pretender, and crown him with thorns. II. Tms REVEALS TO us WHAT CHRIST WAS ON THE RUMAN SIDE. "A Man of sorrows." Think of his exquisite moral sensitiveness in a world of sin. Think of his tender human sympathies in a world of sorrow. "Acquainted with grief." Not in one special form, but in all its spheres, that be might be a Brother born for a.dvcreity. Acquainted with it. So that he had daily fellowship with it; not passing through its transient experiences, but familiar with it as the companion of his life.-W. M. S. Ver, 6.-The Divine atonement. "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities," We shall never understand the atonement. From Anselm's day to our own there have been ever-changing theories of it. But tho fact remains; and, mysterious as it is, we learn that there was a God ward aspect of it, as well as a manward aspect. But into "the cup which my Father bath given me to drink" no man, no angel, can look. I, Tms IS THE REVELATION OF DIVINE SA0RIFIOE, "He gave himself." But he was more than wounded by the treatment of his character, aad by the contempt of his claims, and by the forsakings of bis own disciples. It is not enough to say that the pride of the Jew and the scorn of the Greek and the power of the Roman crucified him. He was "delivered up for our offences." So here "the chastisement of our .peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." II. Tms IS THE suBJEoT OF ETERNAL SONG. Heaven riugs with the grateful acclaim, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, . . . to him bo glory and dominion for ever and ever." Aud the presence of the redeemed there at all is distinctly stated to rest upon the sacrifice of Christ. Because " they have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, therefore are they before the throne of God." This, at all events, has been the Catholic teaching of Christendom in all ages; and fill the hymnology of the Church in all its various branches. Roman and Anglican, Lutheran and Puritan, have united in a common adoration of the cross and passion, thus antedating the praises of eternity.-W. M. S. Ver. 2.-The attractive and the unattractive in Jesus Ghrist. The whole passage is exceedingly remarkable in that it ascribes to one man qualities and surroundings which are so opposed to one another that they seem to be positively inconsislent with each other. And the difficulty has been to find a reconciliation. But all perplexity 80-1: THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [ou. Lm, 1-12,