which he bates. Thie is hie glory. But forma.n to abhM him, this is the grea.tsin, the fontal sin, the source of all other sins. To abhor the infinitely Loving a.nd Lovable is indeed, n moral enormity. They "hated me without a. cause." ' III. 'l'HIS MUTUAL MORAL ANTAGONISM EXPLAINS THE BIN AND WRETCHEDNESI! 01" THE WORLD. Why does the world a.bound with falsehoods, dishonesties, a.nd oppreBBions, unchastities, cruelties, and impieties? Because hum.an souls a.re not in supreme eympa.thy with the supremely Good, because they a.re a.t enmity with God, and not , "subject to the La.w of God." And why all the miseries of humanity? Bec:i.use God loathes sin. IV. THIS MUTUAL MORAL ANTAGONISM ARGUES THE NECESSITY l!'OR A RECONCILIA- TION. The grea.t want of the world is the reconciliation of ma.n to the character and the friendship of God. Such a reconciliation requires no change on God's part. His loathing is the Joa.thing of love-love loathing the wrong a.nd the self-made miserable. • The change must be on man's pa.rt. "God wa.s in Christ reconciling the world unto himself." Christ is the Atonement, the Reconcilia.tion.-D. T. Vars. 8-11.-Divine rejection. "My soul loathed them, a.nd their soul also abhorred me. Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another. And I took my sta.ff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had ma.de with all the people." The subject of these words is Divine rejection. A time comes in the history of incorrigible nation11 a.nd incorrigible individuals when they are rejected of Heaven. Da.vid said to Solomon, "And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a. perfect heart and with a. willing mind ; for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth a.11 the imaginations of the thoughts. If thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever" (1 Chron. xxviii. 9). The text gives us the cause, the result, a.nd the sign of this la.menta.ble event. I. THE CAUSE. " My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me." A mutual moral antagonism (as we have seen) between man and God. "Can two w:i.lk together except they be agreed?" The sinners' character becomes so repugnant to the Almighty that his patience is exhausted, and their rejection is the result. "My Spirit shall not always strive with ma.n;" "Ephraim is joined to his idols: let him alone." There is a limit to the Divine forbearance. "How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a. hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and y:e would. not!" "Depart from me, I never knew you;" "Because I have called. and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; . . . I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh." II. THE RESULT. The results here are threefold. 1. The cessation of Divine mercy. "I will not feed you." You are no longer my sheep; no longer will I minister to your needs. 2. .Abandonment to self-ru,in. " That that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off." "The wages of sin is death;" "Sin, when it is :finished, bringeth forth death." Let the elements of moral destruction do their work. 3. Deliver- ance to mutual t=entors. "And let the rest eat every one the flesh of another." All these results were realized in a material sense in the rejection of the Jewish nation. Josephus tells us that in the destruction of Jerusalem pestilence, famine, and intestine discord ran riot amongst the God-rejected people. These material evils are but faint emblems of the spiritual evils tha.t must be realized by every God-rejected soul. III. THE SIGN. ".And I t,ook my sta.ff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might brea.k my covenant which I ha.d made with all the people." The Divine Shepherd is represented as having two staves, or crooks; ordinary shepherds have only one. Expo- sitors, in their interpretation of these staves, differ here as in many places elsewhere in this book. Some sa.y they indicate the double care that the Divine Shepherd takes of his people; some, the different methods of treatment pursued by the Almighty Shepherd towards his people; some, that they refer to the house of J ndah and to the house of Israel, indicating tha.t neither wa.s to be left out in the mission of the work of the good Shepherd; o.nd some that the one called "Beauty "-which means grace-represents the merciful dispensation under which the Hebrew people had been placed; and the other staff, clllled ,, jJo,nds," the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. One thing see1u.s clear, tba.t tho 132 THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH. [err. xt, 1-17,
cutting of the stidf called "Beauty" asunder was a symbol of their rejection from all future grac,e and mercy. It may be stated, as a general truth, that all Heaven-reject-ed sl'uls have sigm of their miserable condition. The sign of Samson was loss of strength; "he wist not th_u.t the Lord was departed from him," until his strength was put to tho test and he fail_ed. What are the general signs? 1. Practical ignorance of God. 2. Utter subJect10n to the senses. 3. Complete devotion to selfish aims, 4, Insensi- bilitv of conscience. C~NCLUSION, Let us not trifle with the patience of God, lest he cast us off for over; but rather let us earnestly and perseveringly cultivate a stronger and more vital s_vmpathy with him, and a closer identification with his loving heart and benevolent aims.-D. T.