Vers. 10-14.-Sympathy with the Church's joy. I. SYMPATHY SHOULD BE FELT WITH THE PROSPERITY OF THE CHURCH. Zion stands for the Church of the ages; in her weal is wre.ppcd up the weal of the world. If we love hume.nity, we love the institution created for the good and salvation of humanity. Every revival of religion at home, every fresh conquest in the fields of heathendom, e.lfords fresh occasion of such joy. " Those who have no true joy ,;vhen souls are born into the kingdom of God; when he pours down hi~ Spirit, and in a revival of religion produces changes as sudden and transforming as if the earth were suddenly to pass from the desolation of winter to the verdure and bloom of summer; or when the gospel makes sudden e.nd rapid e.d ve.nces in the heathen world,-have no true evidence that they love God or his cause. They have no religi, n. Such scenes are fitted to excite the highest joy and praise. They awaken deep interest in the bosoms of angels, and of God the Saviour, and they v.•ho love that God and Saviour will rejoice at such scenes, and mingle their joys and thanksgivings with those of the converted and s,wed" (Barnes). II. THE IDF.AL OF THE CHURCH. She is like a mother, and the blessings she imparts are like mother's milk ( cf. eh. xlix. 23; Ix. 16). "They who sympathize with her shall be nourished by the same truth and comforted with the same sources of consola- tion." She is a mother full of tenderness, even of caressing, towards her children; full also of sweetest power to comfort. Such is in every age the true ideal of the Church. All that- is rich and sweet, deep and tender, should be associated with her; and in her the hearts of weary men should find full expansion and rest. Peace is also strongly associated with the Church; and that in the comprehensive sense in which the prophet uses the word-for all manner of prosperity (eh. ix. 6, 7; xxvi. 12; xxxii. 17; xlv. 7; xlvi. 16; Iii. 7; liv. 13; Iv. 12; lvii. 19). The image seems to be that of a broad majestic river, like the Nile, overflowing its banks, and producing prosperity on every hand. Another image is that of the bones, dried up like the branches of a withered tree, now full of sap and \'igour (eh. lviii. 11; Prov. iii. 8; xv. 20; xvi. 24). It is true religion which causes the family, the home, the ecclesiastical institution, the state, to fl.onrish. Religion stimulates all that it touches-morality, art, political life; and decay of patriotism and of morals may be traced to the languor of religious life.-J.
Vers. 15---24.-71.e manifestation of Jehovah. l. IT IS A MANIFESTATION IN FIRE. Very common is the representation of this coming by or in the element of fire. Its associations are of jud_qment, vengeance-devouring fire (Ps. I. 3). So it is associated with the pestilence (Hab. ii. 5). It consumes God's enemies (Ps. xcvii. 3). Nor can we deny that such representations do in part enter into Christianity (2 Thess. i. 8; Heh. L 27; 2 Pet. iii. 7; cf. also Ps. xviii. 8; eh. xxix. 6; xxx. 30). The whirlwind is poetically congruent with the fire: a swift and sudden descent is thought of (Ps. civ. 3; Jer. iv. 13). The image of the charioteer is full of warlike energy (cf. Hab. iii. 8), and the furious and fiery anger of bis advance points to the same conception; and the slain will fall before him in multitudes. Do these figures strike us as inconsistent with the Christian conception of God-the" Father of Jesus, God of love"? How are we to reconcile them ? If there is a Providence in the violent revolutions of the nations ; if "the wrath of man praises him; " if no terrible war but becomes the means of a purification ·-then these :figures may be taken as the poetic representation of e. great truth. We' can hardly conceive deep-rooted evils giving way except to some violent agency of change. II. THE DE~"UNCIATION OF IDOLATRY, 'l'bis is the great evil, in all its forms, which draws down God's fulminations. Men are seen undergoing purifications preparatory to initiation into heathen mysteries, probably of some licentious god or goddess. Unclean things have been iudulged in, contrary to the Law of Moses. We may, perhaps, take the general description of idolatry and of idolaters as pointing to the enemies of God, who are destined to be consumed by his vengeance. 'l'bese enemies are to be gathered together-in some valley, perhaps (Joel iii. 2); and the glory of hie ju~icial splendour will be unveiled to them. The section closes with vague adumbrations of coming judgments. III. VISIONS OF FUTURE WORSHIP. Amid all that is obscure in the imagery, we may discuvrr some greHt leading thoughts. 1. '!'here is the universal effulgen_ce of Jehovah's glory, which is to ~hine among distant lands, and those that have not hitherto heard of oe. LXVI, 1-24.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 495