The Pulpit Commentary — Habakkuk — Section 50

sin, and which is repft'sented as excluding from the kingdom of heaven. The oovetous roan is a thief in spirit and in reality. ,2, Tntsting in false securities. So "that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil." The image is from an eagle (Job xxxix. 27). The royal citadel is meant. The Chaldeans bt1ilt high towers like the Babel-founders, to be delivered from the. power of evil. Theyl sought protection, not in the Creator but in the creature, not in moral means but in 1 material. Thus foolishly nations have always acted and are still aotino-; thoy trust' to armies and to navies, not to righteot1sness, truth, and God. A miral character' built on justice, purity, and universal benevolence is the only right and e1tfe defence 1 of nations. '' Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest' against the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord" (Obad. 4). 3. Sinning against tM souL "And hast siuned against thy soul," or against thyself. Indeed,' all wrong is a sin against one's self-a sin against the laws of reason, conscienc.e, and happiness. " He that sinneth against me wrougeth his own soul." Such are some of the wrongs implied by these verses. Alas I they are not confined to Babylon· or to any of the ancient kingdoms. They are too rife amongst aUthe modern kingdoms of the earth. II. THE NATIONAL WOES HERE INDICATED. "Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousoess to his housel" etc. What is the woe connected with these evils? It is contained in these words, "The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam. out of the timber shall answer it." Their guilty conscience will endow the dead materials of their own dwellings with the tongue to denounce in thunder their deeds of rapacity and blood. Startling personification tbis! Tbe ve1:y stones of thy palace and the beams out of the timber shall testify. "Note,". says Matthe1v Henry, "those that do wrong to their neighbour do a much greater wrong to their own .souls. But if the sinner pleads, 'Not guilty,' .and thinks he ha,s managed his frauds and violence with so much art and contrivance thst they cannot be proved upon him, let him know t]:iat if there be no other witnesses against him, the stone shall cry out rf IM wall against him, and the beam out ef tM timber in the roof shall answer it, shall second it, shall witness. it, that the money and materials wherewith he built the house were unjustly ·g<;>_tten (ver. 11). The stones and timber shall cry to Heaven for vengeance,-~ the ,whole creation groans uniier the sin of man, and waits to be delivered from thq,t. 'bondage .of corrwption." Observe: 1. 'l'hat mind gives to 11,ll the objects that,once impress~ it a. mystic power of suggestion. Who has not felt this? , W4o does, not (eal it. every ~ay? The tree, the house, the street, the lane, t!ie 11tream, the,J)le!l(iow, the mountain,.that once '°uched our consciousness, seldom. faij; to start .thoughts in, us .whenever we a~e brought into contact with them again. It seeqis, as µ the. mind gave part of itself..to all the objects that once impressed it. When we revisit, after years. of. absence, the scenes of childhood, all the objecl;JI which, impressed us in those early days seem to beat out and revive the thoughts 11nd feelings of our young hearts. Hence, when we leave a place which in person we may never revisit, we are still tied to it by an indissoluble bond. Nay, we carry it with us and reproduce it in memory. 2. 'l'hat miud gives to those objects that impressed us when in the commission ef any sin a. terrible power to start remorseful memories. This is a. fact. of which, alas .I all are conscious. ,And hence those stones and timber~, stolen from et.her people, that went to build the palaces, temples, and mansions in Babylon, would not fail to speak in thnnder to tbe guilty consciences of those who obtained them by violence or fraud. No intelligent personal witness is required to prove a sinner's guilt. All the scenes of bis conscious life vocalize bis guilt.-D. T. Vers. 12-14.-National wrongs ending in national woes. No, 3. "Woo to him that buildetb a town witb Llood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity I Behold, is it not of the Lord of bo~ts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. as the waters cover the sea." Notice- I. THE NATIONAL WBONGB INDICATED 11'1 THESE VERoES. The great wrong referred to in tl,ese verses is the accumulation of gain by wicked means. "Woe to him tlmt buildetb a town with blood, and etablisheth a city by iniquity I" Jn itself thero is D'Jtl,ing improper in building towns, establishiug cities, and accumulating wc11l11J, err. u. 1-20.) THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK.