outward man, and leave "the hidden man of the heart" hungry and starven. Yet men spend their money-that is, their time, strength, enthusiasm, and energy-on sham bread. II. SouL-ATTENTION. "Hearken diligently unto me." For God has spoken-in nature, in conscience, by the prophets and by bis own Son, the express Image of bis Person. 1. God, who made the soul, knows all its mysterious depths and needs. 2. God, who redeemed the soul, knows that without pardon man knows no peace, and without life in God he knows no blessedneSB, The "delights" of a godly man attest the change in bis nature-be "joys in God, by whom he has received the atonement." -W.M.S. Ver. 5.-Man's true glory. "The Holy One of Israel, he bath F:lorified thee." We need to fill the word "glory," which often has such false renderings, with its true and ancient meaning. I. TRUE RELIGION GLORIFIES MAN. He cannot be really glorified by titles or splendours of fame, but only by beauty and majesty of being. God says, "I will make a man as the gold of Opbir." Man is only truly glorified as he fulfils the great end of bis bdng, which is to be in bis moral nature like God. IL THE HoLY ONE ACCOMPLISHES THIS. Christ took our manhood up into God. He redeemed body, soul, and spirit; so that all parts of our complex nature might be complete in all the will of God. 1. Christ glorified the body. He became man, not taking the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham. Thus be shows us bow to live a heavenly life in an earthly citizenship. False philosophies of religions had, in the East, pu~s the Manicbmans did-disdain on the body. 2. Christ glorified man's estate. He lived in humble estate, and showed that the poorest framework might enclose a Divine picture of character. 3. Christ glorified the soul. He lifted man as man above all grandeur of mere outward estate and honour, and propounded this great question, "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose bis own life 1" That life was to be supreme in grandeur as a God-like life. "And the glory which thou gavest me," said our Saviour, "I have given them."-W. M. S. Ver. 1.-17.e provision which cannot be purchased. In a country like our own we h11rdly know what thirst means. Few Englishmen have suffered from intense thirst. A man must live or travel in other latitudes to be exposed to this evil. But judging from the accounts of those who have suffered, we conclude that it is almost, if not abso- lutely, the severest and most intolerable sensation to which "flesh is heir." It may very well be taken as a picture of- I. THE UNSATISFIED CRAVING OF THE HUMAN SOUL, 'l'he hunger and thirst of the human heart must uecessarily be more serious by far than the cravin~s of the body; for they are the longing, the yearning, the keen and imperious demand of our higher and truer self, Man thirsts after God. Spite of all the downward tendencies, the earthward inclinations, the sensuous leanings of our human nature, it remains true that there is a profound, ineradicable crying of our soul after the living God (see Ps. xiii. 1 ; llliii. 1). 1. The intelligence of man thirsts for the ultimate Cause of all things. 2. The immortal spirit which man (not has, but) is, thirsts for the satisfying joy which is only found in his fellowship a.nd his service. 3. The guilty heart of man thirst~ for a thorough reconciliation with him. Man knows that he has sinned, that he is condemned, that his guilt stands as au impassable barrier between him and his God, and he earnestly longs to be forgiven and restored, so that he may again lift up his face to his Divine Father in filial confidence and joy, But he asks-How, "How shall man be just with God?" (Job ix. 2). "Wherewith shall we come before the Lord?" (Micah vi. 6, 7). Bene,ath all the louder cries that fill the air, deep in the soul of man is the demand- What shall we do that we may live before God and with him? There can be no final rest in our heart until this question has been answered in our experience. II. 'l'HE PnEcious PROVISION wmcH 1s OFFERED us. In the truth which God has revealed in his Word, and more particularly in that Son of God who is himself the great Revelation of the Father, we have that which satisfies our 11piritual need. 1. It is that which slake8 our spiritual thirst. "Come ye to the waters." Water relieves and removes thirst 1111 nothing else will. The forgiveness, the restoration, the reinstatement which 336 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [OH, LT, 1-13,
is in_ Jesus Christ perfectly satisfies _the intens~ craving_of the soul. It brlnge a sur- passrng, tr~~scendent pe~ce.,, 2. It 1~ that wh1?b nounshes ~be ~oul in all spiritual strength. Buy •• , milk. 3. It 1s that which gladden, 1t with true and abiding joy. "Buy wine." " III. ;;HE PBICELESSNE~s OF THIS DIVINE PROVISION. The prophet may indeed say, 13ny; for these prov1s10ns are w01th all the wealth that the most opulent can offer, llut be has to add, "without money and without price;" for these blessings cannot be ear_ned o~ purchased by us. God cannot sell his love, his mercy, his restoration of erring cb1lrlren. He does not meet us on the ground on which a creditor meets his Ol'btors. He is, indeed, a Divine Creditor; we owe him ten thousand talents of reverence and gratitude and service we have never paid. But he does not demand of us some pence in the pound before he certifies that we are free. We frankly confess that we ha,·e nothing to pay, and he "frankly forgives us all" (Luke vii. 42). God offers us l ,is r~deeming love, everlasting life, as the gift of his grace-a glorious gift, freely offered on his i,art, and to be gladly accepted on ours. He necessarily imposes conditions• but these are open to every soul, and none need reject them; they are the turning away oi our hrarts trom sin, and th_e acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Divine Saviour and Lord.-C.