one sense the whole material universe cost its Creator nothing, for its produc tion was to Him a thing of infinite ease; but this cannot be said of the Church. He spoke to bid the one, He died to make the other exist. When He beholds His Church, He sees in it the monument of His own inexpressible sorrows; He feels this offspring of His Divine agonies drawn closer to His eternal heart by the thought of all it cost to give her being. 2. In this Church of His is His own honour pledged. He hath not covenanted with the world that now is to immortalise it; but He has passed His own word for the perpetuity of His Church (Matt. xvi. 18; Isa. lx. 20, 21). 3. The Church, in its ultimate perfection, is set forth as the very reward of all the sorrows of its Lord. To "see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied" is His destined crown; this "joy set before Him" was that which enabled Him to "endure the cross, despising the shame." (See also Eph. v. 25-27.) Shall He be defrauded of His recompense? 4. There is more than creation to bind the Church to Christ, more than promise, more than reward; there is communion, oneness, identification. A man may desert his child; he cannot desert himself. Even though the Redeemer could forget His espoused bride; even though He could deny His plighted promise; yea, though He could abandon His own reward, He cannot abandon His own body (1 Cor. xii. 27; Eph. i. 23, v. 30). With such a union there can be no separation; if Christ be immortal, the Church is so; when He dies she shall perish, but not till then. II. THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. "The poor of His people shall trust in it.” The Church of Christ is one vast institute for the benefit of the poor. The poor were the special objects of Christ's solicitude and tenderness, and they have been, and should be, the special objects of the Church's care. Even in her worst days she has had an open hand for the poor. She should ever follow the example of her Lord in caring for their temporal needs. But it is in the doctrine she preaches, and the way she preaches it, that the Church is indeed the poor man's consoler (B).-William Archer Butler, M.A.: Sermons, Doctrinal and Practical, Second Series, pp. 227-237. (a.) See notes to outline: THE DUTY OF GLADNESS, chap. xii. 6. (8.) It is in meeting his sorrow with tidings of glory to come, in brightening the gloom of his humble home with the hallowed light of eternity, in soothing his days of hard and heavy toil with her peaceful Sabbaths, in watching over his bed of sickness with a patience as unwearied as if his poor chambers were gorgeous with gilded ceilings and silken tapestry; it is in these things that the Church carries on that loveliest attribute of Her Lord, "Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress."-Archer Butler. GOD'S OUTCASTS. xvi. 4. Let Mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab. I. In the most deserted condition of His people, God acknowledges them as His own. "Mine outcasts." Sennacherib thought them his; but though forsaken by all the world, God claims them as His own, and avows His interest in them. Men pursue an opposite course; when individuals sink in the social scale, the kindly warmth. of friendship is chilled, and the bond of intercourse broken (H. E. I., 23, 24. 2152-2157; P. D., 1422). But God is the friend who sticketh closer than any brother (a). True, they some times esteem themselves outcasts even from Him (Ps. xlii. 2), and still more frequently are thought to be so by the ungodly (Ps. xlii. 3); but in this the ungodly make a mistake which in their case is natural, and God's people should never wrong Him by suspecting Him of fickleness (chap. xlix. 15). II. God provides a refuge for His people when and where it might be least expected. "With thee, Moab." Moab was not a neutral, but a hostile state, one of Israel's most inveterate foes, always on the outlook for oppor tunities to display its hostility. Strange, therefore, that Moab should be selected as a protector for Jehovah's outcasts; strange, but not unexampled. God often raises up friends for His people in unexpected quarters, supplies their needs by unexpected means, or turns their foes into friends (Prov. xvi. 7). Esau's heart was suddenly changed; Joseph found favour in the eyes of the keeper of the prison; Elijah was fed by ravens; the hungry lions forbore to touch Daniel, &c. III. God would have His people to be only sojourners in Moab. His outcasts were merely to dwell there; they were not to be incorporated with the Moabitish nation; they were not to adopt either the social customs or the religious beliefs of that people. In like manner He would have His people remember always that in this world they are only sojourners (1 Pet. ii. 11; H. E. I., 5026-5065). IV. God is preparing to bring His outcast and scattered people home. He hath prepared for them a city, and He will bring them to the city He hath prepared for them (John xiv. 1). Let them recognise, rejoice in, and live in harmony with this gracious purpose (Phil. iii. 17-21). Samuel Thodey. (a.) Philip Henry says, "God's people may be an outcast people-cast out from men's love, their synagogue, their country; but God will own His people when men cast them out. They are outcasts, but they are His; and somehow or other He will provide a dwelling for them." He adds, that though many of the ejected ministers were brought very low, had many children, were greatly harassed by persecutors, and their friends were unable to support them, yet in all his acquaintance he never knew, nor had heard of, any Nonconformist minister being in prison for debt. FRUITLESS SUPPLICATIONS (a). xvi. 12. He shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail. In the profoundly affecting picture which the prophet draws of the calamities coming on the Moabites, he represents them as at length, every other means of relief being exhausted, coming with sad and weary hearts to their sanctuary to call upon their god for deliverance. Their supplications were destined to fail, for they were presented to that which had no power to hear or save (Ps. cxv. 4-8). This line in this dark picture reminds us of two facts in the life of the men of our own time, who see clearly the folly of idolatry. I. In times of sorrow they are often seen in the sanctuary. Many who at other times lead openly irreligious lives are then seen using the forms of devotion. This is natural (H. E. I., 3718); it is not wrong; that which is wrong is the infrequency with which the sanctuary is visited and prayer offered by them (H. E. I., 3878, 3879). It is natural and fitting that in time of trouble men should seek God in the sanctuary, for the sanctuary is the place-1. Of special promise (Exod. xx. 24; Deut. xii. 5; 1 Kings ix. 3; Matt. xviii. 20). 2. Of special means. Everything there tends to the production and increase of a devotional spirit (H. E. I., 5078). 3. Of special memory of memories of help obtained, of sorrows solaced in former times. II. But all this makes more remarkable the other fact of which these words may well remind us, that many of the supplications that are offered in the sanctuary are offered in vain. We know that this is a fact: how is it to be explained? In such ways as these-1. Many of the suppliants have little or no faith, and faith is the essential condition of blessing (H. E. I., 3827-3830). 2. Many of the suppliants are not really in earnest, and lukewarmness is an offence to the Divine Being (H. E. I., 3814, 3815, 3831-3838). 3. Many of the suppliants are not really penitent. Their prayers are mere calls for help in time of distress, and God has nowhere promised to help the impenitent and rebellious (H. E. L., 3846, 3858; P. D., 3595). To point out the causes of the weakness and failure of such prayers is also to point out the remedies that must be applied if the suppliants would have their prayers "prevail."-William Manning. In times of trouble, men-1. Feel their need of help. 2. Generally have, recourse to fallacious sources (H. E. I., 172–175). 3. Meet with disappointment, because God is forgotten or unknown.-J. Lyth, D.D.: Homiletical Treasury, part i. p. 23. (a.) See Outlines: WORTHLESS HUSIS, and REASONS FOR THE REJECTION OF PRAYER, chap. i. 15. DIMINUTIONS AND CHANGES OF LIFE xvii. 5-7. And it shall be as when the harvestman, &c. God's visitations of judgment are the subject of the prophet's burdens (ver. 1). So the text. Adversities and sorrows set in. Blessings gone, except a few. "Two or three berries," &c. I. The various illustrations of the text. 1. In the adverse changes of life. Many who were rich and prosperous are now poor. All gone, except two or three berries. Some so through their own folly, &c. ; others by the allotment of Providence, sickness, &c. (H. E. I., 4403-4406, 4975-4986). 2. In the failure of bodily health and vigour. Once strong and robust, &c.;_ now left but a few berries, &c. 3. In the bereavements of kindred and friends. Once a crowd of them — parents, brothers, sisters, children-but they have gone, one after another. 4. In the powers and capacities for useful ac tivity. Once active, useful, but now frailty and weakness have superseded. This is distressing to the sensitive, &c. Pushed aside by another generation. 5. It will apply to times and seasons of probation. How wise was old Barzillai! (2 Sam. xix. 31). The indications of age, &c. (Eccl. xii. 1). Few years left, &c., or even days. II. The uses we should make of the subject. 1. It should impress us with the vanity of earthly things. All fleeting, all retiring; like the seasons, like streams. 2. The folly of earthly-mindedness. How extreme! Grasping shadows, resting on the moving wave, building castles in the air, &c. 3. The necessity of wisely using our opportunities. For the best ends. Working while it is day-now, while we have light and life. 4. Seeking a fitness for the world of the future (Heb. x. 34; xi. 13-16). 5. Believing and devotional confidence in God. Application:-Christ is ever the same. In all His offices, work, and graciousness, He is without a shadow. of turning.-Jabez Burns, D.D.: 150 Sketches of Sermons, pp. 296, 297. This striking passage depicts the process of God's judgments upon Israel. We may take it as suggestive I. Of the sweeping destructiveness of calamities in human life (ver. 5). How often has the picture been realised -1. In the history of nations. The process of the depopulation and misery with which Israel was threatened, may be imagined from the view given in chap. iii. 1-8. Modern parallels may easily be found, the wars of the Roses, the plague of London, &c. 2. In the social calamities of families. One after another is broken up, one relationship after another is severed, until only an "outmost" branch is left as a remnant. Widow, orphans, friendless. Such are those who remain to tell the tale. 3. In the physical calamities of individuals. 4. In the degradation of the soul through the deceitfulness of sin. In some extreme cases, what a sad undermining of character and destruction of capacity do we behold. II. Of the hopefulness of human life even when it is at its worst (ver. 6). Though the reaper has made sure work, yet enough remains to give. hope. There is here true gospel, suggesting such thoughts as these:-I. Begin at the point of your ability, however low it may be. Every man is rightly expected to make use of whatever power he has. If it is only sight, or only hearing, or only one hand, one talent out of ten, he must use it. The loss of the other nine will not excuse his neglect of the one he has. 2. Beginning thus low down, yet in earnest, we have the assurance of improvement and progress. We have abundant illustration of this in the history of the "remnant" that was left in Israel (2 Chron. xxx. 11; xxxiv. 6, 9, &c.). We see here an encouragement for every sinner who will awake, though late, to the true purposes of life. Redemption is the favourite work of God. He is on the side of feeble, struggling men, and delights to encourage and help "the remnant " which is spared (H. E. I., 934-941, 956, 958, 2368, 4790-4792; P. D., 474). The very purpose for which Christ came into the world was to help the struggling, to save the lost. Those who have been brought down to the extremity of need and the verge of despair may find friendship and help in Him (H. E. I., 928, 929).—William Manning. SANCTIFIED AFFLICTION. xvii. 7, 8. At that day shall a man look, &c. In the prophecies of terror to guilty nations there is always some provision of comfort for God's faithful and penitent people. His prophets were commissioned to minister hope to His friends, while they foretold misery to His enemies. In the text Isaiah, predicting the overthrow of the ten tribes, furnishes consolation to the faithful remnant who had not yielded to the prevalent idolatry (ver. 6), and declares that the judgments he announced would result in the conversion of many who had been ensnared by it. We are thus led to consider the designs of God in the afflictions of His people. I. To recall their wandering hearts to Himself. "At that day shall a man look to his Maker" (H. E. I., 56-59, 66-70). This is the result of sanctified affliction. Whenever it is seen, it shows that the processes of grace have been combined with the trials of providence, and that the health of the spirit has been restored by the Physician of souls. Otherwise affliction hardens, and the man goes back with greater eagerness to worldliness or iniquity, as the retreating wave presently rolls back upon the beach with greater velocity than before (H. E. I., 223-228). But not so if the healing influence has been sought and found. Then "a man will look to his Maker" -1. With a suppliant eye, to find in Him sources of consolation and a rock of defence such as the world cannot furnish (Ps. cxxiii. 1, 2; Jonah ii. 1). 2. With a penitent eye (Luke xxii. 62; Zech. xii. 10). 3. With a confiding and believing eye (chap. viii. 17). 4. With a rejoicing eye (Rom. v. 11; Hab. iii. 18). II. To raise their estimate of the holiness of the Divine character and the rectitude of the Divine dispensations. "Shall have respect unto the Holy One of Israel." Sin begins with a diminished sense of God's holiness, and conversion is marked by a renewed impression of it (Ps. li. 4). III. To separate them from all sinful and idolatrous dependencies. "He shall not look," &c. The sin of the ten tribes was idolatry (2 Kings xvii. 16), but here it is foretold that it shall be brought to an end. Those who had been guilty of this folly and this sin would not even look at the altars and the images they had fashioned with such care. So God aims by His afflictive providences to separate His people from everything in which they put an exaggerated and unworthy trust (H. E. I., 110, 111). IV. To endear the mercy that mingles with the trials. This appears -1. In the moderate degree in which God's people are corrected, compared with the final and exterminating judg ments which fall upon the wicked. Damascus was to be utterly destroyed (ver. 1), but a remnant was to be left to Israel (ver. 5; see also chap. xxvii. 7-9). God's people always see that He has afflicted them less than they deserve (Lam. iii. 22) (a). 2. In the alleviations of their trials (H. E. I., 117-121). 3. In the triumphant issue of the whole. They are delivered from the idolatry by which they were degraded (H. E I., 116).—Samuel Thodey. (a.) See Outline: GOD'S RELUCTANCE TO PUNISH, chap. i. 9. FORGETFULNESS OF GOD. xvii. 10, 11. Because thou hast forgotten, &c. I It is possible to forget the God of our salvation. 1. The majority of men habitually forget Him. He very seldom holds a real and commanding place in the hearts of any of us. We are all prone to have our hearts wholly filled with the cares or pleasures of life. Even if our aims be in themselves lawful, we seldom recognise God in framing or prosecuting them. Hence the shock which the thought of God's nearness gives us in times of calamity, sickness, or expected death. The very shock shows that we are open to the prophet's charge. 2. This forgetfulness of God, to which we are all so prone, should be recognised to be a state of peril and guilt. Who is so near to us as God who so essential to us who has so many claims upon our grateful and continued remembrance? To be forgetful of Him is a sin of which we should think with shame. II. This forgetfulness of God leads to false trusts. The throne of our heart cannot remain vacant; if God be not there, unworthy objects will surely take His place. The "pleasant plants" and foreign shoots (or "strange slips") here represent the pursuit of lust and idolatry, and that fatal reliance on human help which is so often denounced (chap. ii. 22; Jer. xvii. 5). The sin denounced by the prophet has not become obsolete. All round about us are men who have forgotten God, and are seeking and putting their trust in pleasure, pomp, money, or knowledge. There is a pursuit of knowledge, even a "science falsely so called that deliberately ex cludes God from its range, and pronounces Him unknowable! These are the things for which men live, to which they devote all they are and have, from which they look for the happiness for which their hearts crave; these are their gods! Forgetfulness of God necessarily leads to idolatry in some form or other; desires and tendencies, in themselves right when under right control, become occasions of guilt; God is shifted from the centre of operations, and the trust of men fixes itself inevitably on unworthy objects (H. E. I., 39). III. These false trusts lead to bitter disappointments. "The harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow." At the very time when abundance of fruit was expected, nothing awaits the anxious toiler but disappointment and failure. Mildew, or blight, or drought, or fire has done its deadly work, and nothing is left but rotting masses, heaps of useless and decaying vegetation. What a sad picture! barrenness and dearth where there should be life and plenty ! Yet this is a true picture of the fate of many who have persisted in their rejection of God, and in their clinging to false hopes. A life dedicated to fashion, pleasure, money-getting, or worldly ambition, necessarily ends in a reaping-time of blighted hopes, of darkened prospects, of remorse and despair (H. E. I., 246-248, 5021-5025; P. D., 138, 162, 255, 3592). 1. This result of a godless life will be found even in those cases where all the good that was striven after has been realised; the heart is still left unsatisfied (Eccl. |