no more tho.n o. crust put over e. state of uncleanness. Before God a man sees it to be no more than e. crust. A man's own goodness is a dainty garment, which makes a brave appee.raoce. Before God a me.n sees that it does but cover a foul person, and the foul person has polluted the dress. There is no place where we find out the worth• lessness of our own goodness like the place of prayer. II. THE BIN0ERE MAN IS IMPRESSED WITH ma OWN FRAILTY. It is not that he finds life fading; the thing that oppresses him is that he can never keep at a high level of goodness ; he is always fadin~ from his standards; he can no more keep on in goodness than the leaves can keep on the trees all autumn and winter through. One writer says, on the expression "we fade as a leaf," "This means that sin brings with it the curse of Goil, and deprives us of his blessing, both for the body and the soul, so that the heart is dissatisfied and distressed." III. THE SINCERE MAN RECOGNIZES JUDGMENT INF'LIOTED. The past calamities of life are read aright, and seen to be a man's iniquities taking him away from peace and prosperity. There is no standing steady for any of us who keep in our sins. If we cannot find out how our iniquities can be taken away, we shall be sure to find that our iniquities will take us away. When we are truly humbled under God's hand concern- ing ourselves, we are fitted to make confession before God in the name of our nation. -R.T. Ver. 8.-0ur Father and our Potter. "But now, 0 Lord, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou cur Potter; and we all are the work of thy hand." The prophet here is making no such assertion of the absolute sovereignty of God as we associate with the figure of the potter because of St. Paul's nse of it in Rom. ix. 20, 21. Here the power of the great Potter is made the ground of prayer. "The clay in treats him to fashion it according to his will, and has faith in his readiness, as well as in his power, to comply with that prayer. The thought of the 'potter' becomes, in this aspect of it, one with that of the fatherhood of God." Fausset says, "Unable to mould them- selves aright, they beg the sovereign will of God to mould them into salvation, even as he made them at first, and is their Father." The idea of the fatherhood of God, as held by the Jews, differs as materially from the idea held by us, as our impressions of human fatherhood differs from theirs. To us the association of " father" and " potter" is incongruous; but to Easterns, who hold the absolute rights of fathers, it was quite a natural association. What may we learn by the linking of the two terms together? I. Potter reminds us that God can answer our prayer BY THE MASTERY OF OUR CIRCUMSTANCES. The clay must yield under the potter's hands. He makes of it what vessel he pleases. He makes or roars as he pleases. So we say, " Our times are in thine hands." All belonging to us is fully within the Divine control. He can mould as he pleases the "clay " of our circumstances, so that our prayers shall be answered. The "we" of the text is not "we as individuals," but "we inclusive of all our surroundings and associations." II. Father reminds us that God can answer our prayers UPON DUE CONSIDERATION OF us. Father brings in the element of feeling and personal relationship. Beyond what God can do, we have the most gracious assurances as to what he will do. This should lead us on to the Christian conception of answer to prayer, based on our Lord's words, "If yo then know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him? "-R. T.
SECTION XI. GoD's ANSWER TO THE Exn.Es' PRAYER (en. Lxv.). EXPOSITION. OHAPTER LXV. offered to Isrnel, but Israel has rejected it. Ver11. 1-7.-IsRAEL's SuFFERmGe THE Their rebellion, their idolatries, and their JuBT MEED OF TBEIB SINS. God's meroy is pride have caused, and must continue to such that it even overflows upon those who oause, their punishment (vers. 2-7). are outside the covenant (ver. 1). It has been Ver. 1.-I am sought; rather, inquired of, 4i0 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [ott. txv. 1-20,