of prophesying rough things and bard things. Exactly what our over-civilized genera- tion needs is some prophet of God, who will tell us strongly, plainly, sternly, what God would have us do. But of thiA we may be quite sure, even in this enlightened nine- teenth century, such a prophet and teacher would have a hard time of it. IV. WHEN THE MESSAGE GOES AGAINST THE FASHION OF THE AGE. For there are fashions in thinking and religion, as well as in manners and dress. And none of us liko to be out of the thinking or religious fashion. But fashions may become slavery to us, and degrade us as slavery always does. Let a man of God come and ~how us the evils into which fashions-mental and religious-have brought us, and we hate tbe r,1an, we cry out against him, we are all alarm, because we have deluded ourselves with the notion that fashion is synonymous with truth. Urge that we are hound to te~t every public witness, and decide for ourselves whether he is of God. If he is, then to neglect his message is to sin against God, and to insult him is to insult God.-U. T. Ver. 6.-The u·orship of stones. "In the smooth stones of the valley is thy portion . . . even to them hast thou pourerl out drink offerings." A good deal of information is at command on this subject. Illustrative matter will be found in Kitto's • Daily Bible Illustrations,' vol. 'Isaiah,' p. 209. Matthew Arnold sums up the matter in the following note: "'!'he worship of stones is a very early form of idolatry, and originated, probably, in the veneraLion paid to meteoric stones-stones which, as the people said, 'fell down from heaven.' But the worship extended to other stones also. Traces of this worship occur in Genesis, in Jacob's consecration of the stones in his passage by Bethel (Gen. xuiii. 18). The Greeks, too, had this stone-worship. 'In the earlier times,' says the Greek traveller P,msanias, 'all the Greeks worshipped, in place of images of the gods, undressed stones.' We find the name Bretylia given to these stones, and it has even been conjectured that this name comes from Bethel." Smooth stones (named salagrams), chiefly from the river Gaudaki, are treated as sacred objects by the Vaishnavas all over North India. Dr. Turner writes, "I have several • smooth stones of the stream' from the New Hebrides, which were used as idols, and have heard of precisely similar stones being used in other parts of the Pacific." At Inniskea, off the coast of Mayo, a stone, carefully kept wrapped up in flannel, used to be brought out at certain periods to be adored; and when a. storm arises, this god is supplicated to send a wreck on their coast I It is narrated that there is a stone set up to the south of St. Columba's Church, in the island of Eriska, about eight feet high and two feet broail. It is called by the natives the bowing-stone; for when the inhabitants had the first sight of the church, they set up this stoue, and then bowed, and said the Lord's Prayer. Three points may be illustrated. I. Goo IS OFFENDED WHEN THINGS ARE PUT IN PLACE OF HIM. This is the coarser form of idolatry. Material things are superstitiously invested. with powers, and become actual idols. II. Goo IS OFFENDED WHEN THINGS ARE USED TO REPRESENT HIM. This is the refined form of idolatry which some thinking and rducated persons approve. The thing-stone or figure-becomes for them a mn.terial representation of the invisible Gull. This is offensive because of the limitations it puts on men's conceptions of the Divine Being. III. Gou IS OFFENDED WHEN THINGS ARE MADE THE MEDIUM FOB GETTING TO HIM. This is one phase of modern idolatry. It is an offence because the essence of the last, the Christian, revelation is that each individual soul can have direct and immediate access to God. There is no place for idol-mediators.-Il. T.
Ver. 10.-The weariness of sinful ways. Cheyne thinks the first reference of this verse is to the ceaseless quest of the nation, in this its trouhlons time, for help and protection, including,of courne, embassies to foreign kings, and also every other specimen of nntheocratic policy. "Nothing could convince these idolatrous Jews of the folly of their misplaced trust and vain confidence." Barnes gives the following suggestive note on the genera.I application of the passage: "This is a striking illustration of the conduct of men in seeking happiness away from God. They wander from object t.o object ; they become weary in the pursuit, yet they do not abandon it; they still cling to hope though often repulsed, and though the world gives them no permanent com- l>rt, though wealth, ambition, gaiety, aµd vice "11 fail ill im!)l\rting the happintsii UAIAll-~ a II 370 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [cH. Lvn.1-21.
which they sought, yet they do not give it up in despair. They still feel that it is to be found in some other way than by the disagreeable necessity of returning to God and t.hey wander from object to object, and from land to land, and become exhausted i~ the pursui~, and still are not ~eady ~o say, : ~'here is no hope; we give it up in despair, au<l we will now seek happmess m God. ' Matthew Henry keenly, if somewhat quaintly, says, "Prosperity in sin is a great bar to conversion from sin." Henderson puts in a good sentence the immediate and local association of the verse: "The idolatrous Jews wearied themselves with their unhallowed practices; but finding that they had not c11t1rely exhausted their strength, they would not give up their pursuits as hopeless b111 rather emboldened themselves in wickedness." ' 1. IT IS A ~:ACT--SINFUL WAYS no V.'EARY us. Ill~stmte the pursuit of pleasure by means of sdf-mdulgence. Or· the "quest of the clnef good" on purely human lines (illustrnte this from the Book of Ecclesiastes). Or the mastery of evil by effort of self- will. Or the effort to get eternal life by our own doings and strivings. In every case we are soon left wearied out an<l sick at heart. II. 'Tins FACT MEN ARE SLOW TO RECOGNIZE. They will not say," There is no hope." By -all kinds of delusions men persuade themselves to try once again. The last thing men will give up is hope in themselves and their own self-schemes. Ill. MAN'S CHAKCE 0OMES ONLY WHEN HE IS IlUMBLE ENOUGH TO RECOGNIZE THIS FACT. He must be willing to say, "Myself I cannot save." Then, turning to God, he will say, "'Thou canst save, and thou alone."-R. T. •