The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 308

see Rom. iii. 29, "God of the Gentiles also.") 2. The relation of marriage in its Di'<'ine _appiication ~ints to an indi.~soluble and eternal union. The Church may appear m times of distress as "an outcast and downcast woman," divorced from her God. But "even many an earthly husband cannot bear to see the misery of his divorced wife, an<l therefore at length recalls her: how much more, then, Jehovah I " In a "gush of wrath" it was that his face was hidden from her. In everlasting kind- ness he will have mercy; the sea being contrasted with the momentary outburst or "gush" of displensure. Never shall this dispensation of wrath be repeated, no ~ore than that of Noah's floods. Mountains are symbolic of the unchangeableness of the Eternal (cf. Ps. xxxvi. 6; lxv. 6). They seem to be the solid pillars and foundations of the earth. They may totter; but the loving-kindness of God must be like himself eternal. The covenant of peace, which has been ratified between him and his people' will abide amidst all vicissitudes of nature and of history. The love of the Eternal is: then, the first and last secret of all things. At the basis of the universe lies law and law itself is the expression of love. Law wears to us often a stern face; it i~ the expression of wrath. But a holy wrath is itself the expression of a loving heart. He who has made the world cannot hate it. He who is the Author of the soul is its affianced Spouse and self-constituted Protector. Language and imagination labour in vain with so immense a conception as that of the Divine love. It must follow from this that the Church, as a spiritual and mystical community, must be aa.fe through all the change of time. IV. THE FUTURE GLORY OF THE CHURCH. She appears under the figure of a city, the new Jerusalem. Her brilliant stones will be set in a beautifying cement. Her battlements will be of rubies, her gates of carbuncles, her outer walls of precious stones. Yet this will only be the outward manifestation of an inward and spiritual glory. 'l'he people will be disciples of Jehovah (cf. Numb. xi. 29; Joel ii. 28, 29), that is, in effect, prophets, filled with utterance as with inspiration. Her constitution will rest upo □ a sound, because a moral basis-on righteousness, on fidelity to her covenant with God. Not being built, like the cities of the heathen, of fraud and rapine, oppression and destruction will be far from her thoughts. She will enjoy security. Should any foe presume to molest her, he will stumble-he will be like a blind traveller who falls headlong over an obstacle. For all the agencies which work either a people's weal or woe are in the hands of the Eternal. He is the Creator of the smith, and so mediately of the destroying weapon he for~es. So the great Oriental kings are his tools. But no weapon turned against Israel shall succeed in its aim; and every abusing tongue shall be pronounced guilty in the day of judgment. Such is the spiritual inheritance of the servants of Jehovah, such their justification at his hands. "It is not gold and the triumph of battle. It is not the laurel won in fields of blood. The inheritance is the protection of God in all times of trouble; his friendship in all periods of activity; com- plete victory in all the contests with error and false systems of religion ; and prevention when foes rise up in any form and seek to destroy the Church, and to blot out its exist- ence and its name." "God defend the right I" has been an ancient prayer in times of anxiety and conflict. He does defend the right and the righteous at all times, the prophet declares.-J. Ver. 10.-Perennial kindneu. "My kindness shall not depart from thee." Much kindness does. It is fervid, but fickle, and is too often conditioned by mood and temper and circumstance. Moreover, it may depart through lack of power and opportunity. L THE SA v10tra's KINDNEBB lB TRUE KINDNEBB, He knows what kindness is. We too often mistake favour and indulgence for kindness. God is often kindest when he is most severe. II. THE SA VIOUB's KINDNESS 18 MANIFESTED KINDNESS. It costs him something. Much kindness evaporates in sentiment and speech. It does not impinge on the ease and the comfort of our friends. Jesus Christ said," Lo, I come to do thy will, 0 God I" and, "although he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor." His kindness was tested: 1. By the treatment he received. 2. By the nature that suffered. So deep in feeling; so infinite in its capacity for enduring sorrow. 3. By the sacrifice he offered. 4. By the permanence of his work, as "H~ad over all things to the Church." Then let the faint-hearted rest on the promise, "It shall not depart."-W. M. B. UH. LIV. 1-17.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 319