\'ere. 17-19.-TJ,e possibiliti,es in the life of a good man, ".Although the fig treo shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stall~: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation," etc. "The desolation here so graphically and forcibly described is that which was to be effected by the Chaldeans, whose army would consume or destroy the best and most necessary productions of the land; not only seizing upon the cattle and dernurin~ the fruits of the earth, but so injuring the trees as to render them incnpable of yielding any produce. The passage contains the most beautiful exhibition of the power of true religion to be found in the Bible. The language is that of a mind weaned from earthly enjoyments, al:ld habituated to find the highest fruition of its <lesires in God. When every enrthly stream is dried up, it hns an infinite supply in his all-sufficient and exhaustless fulness." Our subject is-The possibilities in.the life of a good man. I. THE GREATEST MATERIAL DESTITUTION IS POSSIBLE TO A GOOD MAN, It is possible for the fig tree not to blossom, etc. Man lives by the fruits of the eiuth. These may fail from one of two reasons. 1. From human neglect. It is the P.ternal ordinance of God, that what man wants from the earth for his existence he must get from it by IRhonr-skilful, timely, persevering labour. The earth gives to the brute what he wants without his labour, because the brute is not endowed with qualifications for agricultural work. But man must labour, and this arrangement is wise and beneficent. It promotes health, imparts vigour, anci. develops faculties both intellectual and moral. Let man cease to cultivate the soil, and the earth will fa.ii to support him either with the right animal or vegetable productions, 2. From Divine visitation. The mighty Maker can, and sometimes does, wither the fruits of the earth, destroy the cattle of the fields. Be does this sometimes without instrumentality, by mere volition; some- times with the feeblest instrumentality-locnsts, worms, etc.; sometimes with human instrumentality-war, etc. We say the greatest material destitution is :possible to a good man. Possible? It is frequent. In all ages some of the best men have been found in the most destitute circumstances, Even Christ himself had nowhere to lay his head; and the apostles, what had they? IL TBE HIGHEST SPIRITUAL JOY IS POSSIBLE TO A GOOD MAN. "I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." "Spiritual joy," says Caleb Morris, "is a free, foll, and overflowing stream, that takes its rise in the very depth of the Divine essence, in the immutability, perfection, abundance, munificence, of the Divine nature. While there is a God, and that God is happy, there is no necessity that there should be any unhappy Christians." What is it to "joy in God"? 1. It is the foy of the higl,est contempl,a,tion. The joys of contemplation are amongst the most pure and elevating which intelligent creatures can experience. These rise in the character according to their subjects. The highest Rubject is God, his attributes and works. 2. It is the joy of the most elevating friendship. The joys of friendship are amongst the chief joys of earth; but the joys of friendship depend upon the purity, depth, constancy, reciprocity of love; and friendship with God secures all this in the highest degree. 3. It is the foy of the sublimest admiration. Whatever the mind admires it enjoys, and enjoys in proportion to its admiration, whether it be a landscape or a painting. Moral admiration is enjoyment of the highest kind, and this in proportion to the grandness of the character. Admiration of Divine excellence is the sublimest joy. "I will joy in God." To joy in God is to bask in sunshine, is to luxuriate in abundance, is to revel in the i=eneity of moral beauty, is to dwell with God. Ill. THE HIGHEST SPIRITUAL JOY IN THE MIDST OF TH.E GREATEST MATERIAL DESTITUTION 1s POSSIBLE TO A C'.OOD MAN "Although" every material blessing is l!"ne, "I will rejoice." Good meu have always been enabled to do so. They have b~en happy in poverty, ex:ultaut in prisons, and even ~riumphant in the martyr's flame~. Having God with them, they have had the reality without the forms, they have had the crystal fountain rather than the shallow and polluted streams. Like Paul they Lave "aloried in tribulation," etc. All things have been theirs. In UJ:1.,;rial destitution "they felt: 1. In God they bad strength. "The Lord God is my Stru.1'..'th." "A, thy day, so shall thy strength be." 2. In God they had swiftnes.•. "He ~l'iil make u,y feet like binds' feet." The reference is here, perhaps, to the swift, OU. Ill. 1-10.) THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK. 73
ness with which Goel would enable him to flee from the dangers which were overtakin~ bis country. H is, however, a universal truth that God gives to a good man a holy ulacrity in duty. Duty to him is not a clog or a burden, but a delight, 3. In God they had elevation. "He will make me to walk upon mine high places." " They that wait upon God shall renew their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles," etc., up ur,on the mountains, far too high for any enemies to scale. "God, willing more abundant y to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, con- firmed it by an oath : that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God w lie, we might have a ~trong consolation, who have B.ed for refuge to lay hold upou the hope set before us" (Heb. vi. 17, 18).-D. T. , HOMILETICAL INDEX ';:O
THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK.
OHAPTER I. TDXR P.lOK