candidate for eternity, "Dare I lose a day, when perhaps but few hours are left; when life is the alone season in which to gain a lofty place in the future kingdom of Christ, and life may be already contracted to a span, so that what I grasp not now may be for ever out of reach}" "What shall I say?" saith a voice from the firmament; the answer of the righteous man should be, "Oh! cry so as to make me feel that all flesh is grass; and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field."" II. A supernatural authority is needed to gain any practical hold for a truth which is so readily and universally acknowledged. We do not require a voice from heaven to make us know that such and such substances are poisonous, when all experience testifies that they are. And are not our churchyards filled with the old and the young? The Heavenly Voice bade a solemn proclamation to be made of the frailty of life; as though it were ascertained that observation and meditation would never bring it home to man; as though truth must be delivered with all the force and convincingness of a new revelation, ere there were likelihood of its gaining any practical hold. And if it be a thing for revelation, and therefore for prayer, all meditations amongst the tombs will be practically of no worth, except as they bring men to their knees. It is most important to remember that there is no inherent power in truth to work effectually on the soul. The power is in truth only as applied by the Spirit of God. We must not substitute the Gospel for the Saviour. A voice saith, "Cry!" Your anxiety must be that the thing cried-cried so as to come as a revelation from God-may be our own constant exposure to death (H. E. 1. 1557-1566). CONCLUSION.-Let this be part of your daily prayer to Almighty God (Ps. xxxix. 4). What we need is the being brought to feel old truth, rather than the being brought to recognise new. Oh! cry, cry earnestly, that God will proclaim so as to make you practically and permanently feel this simple, well-known truth" All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field."-Henry Melvill, B.D.: Golden Lectures, 1851, pp. 733-740. I. ISAIAH'S MESSAGE. "All flesh is grass." I also have the same message to publish to my hearers to-day. These words suggest 1. Our earthly origin. The earth. is the mother of us all. Every kind of grass has its roots in her, and the most beautiful flower is not ashamed to own its mother. But many conceited people, especially if they have risen in society, are ready to forget the lowliness of their origin. Their parents and the friends of their childhood they would gladly disown. What mean and ignoble vanity! 2. Our constant dependence upon the earth for our sustenance. 3. Our equality. Some flowers are fairer than others, yet they are made of the same matter. One may be in better soil than another, more sheltered by nature or man's device from the blasting north wind, and more open to the sunlight, but it is the same in substance. When we look round on society, we see men widely different in appearance from each other. How varied have been the circumstances of their birth, education, employment, opportunities, &c.! Yet they are all brethren. A common lot awaits them all (H. E. I. 1536, 1537; P. D. 677). 4. Our frailty and the uncertainty of our life. "As the flower of the field." Not the garden flower, defended from storms and intruders by the gardener's devices, but "as the flower of the field!" It opens with beauty in the morning and drinks in the warm rays of the sun; but there is no certainty that a burning tempest will not beat upon it or a beast trample it down before noon. Thus it is with us all. Confidently as the young reckon on seeing many years of happi"there is but a step between us ness, and death" (H. E. I. 1539-1516; surrounding him! Such are some of P. D. 705, 2225). you. Wonder not, then, that we "cry" to you. II. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE PROPHET WAS TO DELIVER HIS MES SAGE. "Cry!" Be stirring, earnest, urgent. Not that he who can cry the loudest is the best preacher. But the command suggests— 1. That there is danger. A vehement call is an indication of peril. There is danger to the sinner-not to his property, nor even to his body, but to his soul! 2. That the people do not see their danger. How true this is! How many are like a man sleeping soundly on the beach while the tide is rapidly 3. That the people and their danger are coming nearer to each other each moment. Many, like men working in a hayfield when a thunderstorm is gathering, postpone their escape to the last moment, and often find that the danger was nearer to them than they thought. 4. That the danger to which the people are exposed is very great. 5. That the people are unwilling to hear. Life and Works of the late Rev. David Rees, of Lanelly, pp. 87-94. THE IMPERISHABLENESS OF THE GOSPEL. xl. 8. But the Word of our God shall stand for ever. The A word is a spoken thought. God has spoken His thoughts to man. record of what He has said is contained in the volume of inspired Scripture. The text affirms that it shall stand for ever. It is appropriated and applied to the Gospel by Peter (1 Pet. i. 24, 25), who quotes this entire passage. The prophet's general affirmation respecting God's Word is applied to the Gospel in particular. It is imperish able. The grass withers. It is fresh and green when growing on the ground. In due time the mower cuts it down, and, lacking the supply of new life, it withers in the sun. The flower is beautiful in the garden. You cannot carry it away exactly as you plucked it. You have cut it off from the sources of its life; and, however carefully you keep it, in a few days it will begin to fade away. Man grows into health and vigour. He is cut down by an invisible hand in the midst of his life-work; or he accomplishes his life-work, and then sinks into decay and forgetfulness. "All flesh grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field." But while the grass withers, and the flower fades, and man dies, the Word of our God stands for ever. Our theme, therefore, is the imperishableness of the Gospel. is I. IT IS IMPREGNABLE IN ITS EVIDENCE. The assaults of infidelity have been unable to overthrow it. Its historical records receive confirmation from advancing knowledge. Its prophecies have been historically fulfilled in the most remarkable way. Its miracles are abiding evidence of Divine power brought to bear on the confirmation of its truth. Its moral teaching is exactly adapted to man's moral nature, and presents the loftiest ideal of possible humanity. Its conception of the great central figure, the Lord Jesus Christ, can only be accounted for by its truth. Its distinguishing doctrines are characterised by their clear perception of man's ruined condition, and their provision of what is necessary to his spiritual interest. Its continuance and gradual advancement in the world is a fulfilment of its own prediction, and a perpetual proof that God is with it. The grass has withered season by season; the flowers have faded one by one; the generations of men have followed each other to the land of forgetfulness; but it remains. The attacks upon it, made with fresh vigour and from new points of view, have left ita fortress often attempted, but never captured. As the sea flows up and threatens to overwhelm the land day after day, but retires again to its place, so the periodical assaults of infidelity retire like their predecessors, and leave the Gospel as it was (H. E. I. 24182427, 2451, 1165–1168). II. IT IS UNCHANGEABLE IN ITS NATURE. Notwithstanding the dangers around it, the Gospel continues the same. Human history flows on, like a stream with many variations and windings. Empires rise and fall. Cities grow to magnificence, and decline. Customs and habits change. Opinions become popular or drop into disuse. Physical science as taught in one age is entirely different from physical science as taught in another. Manufacturing processes give way to invention and improvement. New facts are discovered; new truths deduced from them. Human thought is in continual flux. Yet the facts remain. The crust of the earth and the substances it contains are the same. Change is not in the objects studied, but in the knowledge of the student. The same sun shines, the same atmosphere floats around the earth from the beginning; only both are better known. And God is the same, and the Gospel is the same. Different views may be held of some critical questions; more may be known now than formerly of the localities, the history, the customs referred to in Scripture. But Scripture remains. No criticism has expunged any important doctrine. Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." The same way of salvation, the same invitation to the sinful and weary. The Gospel of Paul and Peter and John is the Gospel still. The "faithful saying" is still true and "worthy of all acceptation." The justification by faith which Luther sounded over Europe is the way in which sinners are justified to-day. The need of regeneration with which Whitefield and Wesley awoke the slumbers of England still exists. Men may throw off or modify their opinions of many things, but the essential nature of the Gospel cannot be changed. It is God's final word respecting men's salvation. It must stand for ever. III. IT IS IMMORTAL IN ITS INFLUENCE. It stands for ever, not only in the written book, but in the living soul. When believed, it enters the soul as a living force. It completely changes the currents of life. Its influence pervades everything. It touches and turns into gold everything in the man's nature. It removes fear, brings consolation, sanctifies the heart and life. "Being born again." The And when they pass to the better land, it does not cease to live in them. They carry it with them into heaven. It was Christ in them "the hope of glory." They are now glorified together with Him. Christ will never be effaced from their memories. love of Christ which was felt below is perfected above. The praise of Christ, which was expressed in many a thankful strain, is the celestial song which embodies their living recollections of the Gospel (Rev. v. 9). The Word of God will stand for ever in the thoughts and affections of ransomed souls. Nor can it, as a vital power in human breasts, pass from the earth. "One generation passeth away and another cometh." The spiritual succession will be maintained to the end of time. Flowers drop their seed before they die, so that from them other flowers may spring. Every Christian desires to leave representatives behind him. Every Christian is an agent; parents, friends, Sabbath-school teachers, ministers. Thus the Gospel lives. Christians! how great the privilege of an interest in the everlasting Gospel! It nourishes your faith. It rests your soul. It brings daily comfort and strength. It sustains your dearest hopes when all earthly things fade. See that you discharge your duties to the Gospel. 1. Obey it as the practical expression of your faith. 2. Disseminate it. 3. Believe in its perpetuity and triumph. Away with the drivel about the decay of its influence. O sinner, consider the bearing of this on you. You are perishable. So is all around. The imperishable you neglect. Once more it invites. It will survive when you, as to this world, have perished. It is the winning side. THE CHURCH'S MISSION. xl. 9. 0 Zion, that bringest good tidings! &c. It is freely asserted that the influence of the Church of Christ is now extremely small. We have been made familiar with statements like these : "The pulpit has lost its power; the Church has lost its hold upon the people; multitudes are hopelessly alienated from the public services of religion." Consider I. The Church's place and function in the world. What have men a right to expect from her? The text represents the Church as a bearer of good tidings to men. 1. She is exhorted to get up on a high mountain where she will be conspicuous to all, and from which her voice shall reach over Judah's hills, along her vales, and to all her villages and towns. 2. To be courageous and energetic, full of faith, and action, and earnestness in fulfilling her work. 3. She is told what her message ought to be: "Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God !" Do not IL So long as the Church is faithful to her mission as the bearer of glad tidings about God, she will be prosperous and powerful. She is in the world not only to hold fast the truth, but also to hold it forth. She is to echo God's message in human language and with human tenderness. many churches fail in this respect? Some churches are turned into concerthalls, some into homes of priestcraft, some into theological arenas or intellectual gymnasia, and others into places where feeble platitudes about sin and grace, and faith and future happiness abound (H. E. I. 11841186). III. How much the world needs to hear the good tidings which have been intrusted to the Church of Christ. 1. One great and growing evil, threat ening us with infinite peril, is the cleaving or Socialism has tried to do it. but has 2. What a terrible fact sin is in human life! Where it does not transgress the decencies of society, what a disturbing, depressing, enfeebling fact it is in our existence ! The Church has here a noble field of influence. She ought to have glad tidings for hearts burdened with transgression, or gnawed by remorse, or wearied in the conflict with impurity, or depressed by the sense of helplessness. 3. What terrible facts suffering and sorrow are in human life! The Church's message to the suffering and sorrowful is an infinitely tender and precious one. These should go forth from her courts relieved and comforted. Her Lord and Master was a great suffererwas made perfect through suffering. "Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!" 4. What a terrible fact death is in human life! Where, how, when, shall we die? From whom can we learn anything of death? Science can explain the chemistry of our decay, can talk wisely about the conservation of energy; but we want something more. Philosophy has loved to speak of death; the Epicurean saying, "Let us eat," &c.; the Stoic, "Death is universal and inevitable; let us meet it bravely and with dignity." But we are only shocked and chilled. Poetry has sought to throw a charm around death; but even poetry cannot satisfy our yearning. It is reserved for the Church to justify her title as "the bringer of good tidings" by unfolding to men her God-given revelations concerning death. To her it has been given to take the sting from death, the triumph from the grave. She provides a Guide who never fails in the valley of the shadow of death. Pointing to One who hung upon the cross, lay in the grave, and rose through the clouds to heaven, she can say to all, "Behold your God!" (ch. xliii. 2, 3).—William Young, B.A.: Christian World Pulpit, xx. pp. 330–332. THE PREACHER'S TASK. (Ordination or Missionary Sermon.) xl. 9. 0 Zion, that bringest good tidings! &c. This chapter commences the second part of Isaiah's prophecies, in which the local and national is less prominent than in the former, and the visions are carried forward to the time of Messiah. The prophet hears voices, each of which contains a message of consolation. The first bids him announce the coming of the King and command the preparation of His way; the second affirms the everlasting duration of the Lord's Word; the third calls attention to the fact of His coming. The third is our text. It is differently rendered in the margin. "O thou that tellest good tidings unto Zion; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem." This version is adopted in Handel's Oratorio. It is generally preferred. It makes Zion and Jerusalem the recipients of the good tidings along with the cities of Judah. God's strong hand would terminate the long Babylonian captivity, and lead His people back, as a shepherd leads his flock. But beyond this is the great salvation the Messiah would accomplish. The call is addressed to those whose business is to proclaim that salvation. Their occupation is described; their challenge is dictated; their methods are prescribed; their sphere is defined. I. THEIR OCCUPATION IS DESCRIBED. They are evangelists: tellers of good tidings-a suitable description of the preachers of the Gospel, and their work. The Gospel contains the good news men need. The world lies in ruin. It is sick. It has no power of recuperation. Its disease produces a fatal unwillingness to be cured, if only its consequences may be escaped. The preacher is charged with the good news that the disease can be cured, its consequences averted, the dislike of recovery removed. God's love in Christ is the essence of the news (John iii. 16, 17). If it came to you for the first time, you would say it as the most astonishing statement possible. It involves the whole work of Christ. It involves the proclamation of God's readiness to forgive and cleanse the sinner. It is salvation. Whoever makes this known to any one previously ignorant of it is an evangelist-a teller of good tidings-a preacher of the Gospel. Conventionally this name is given to a professional class. There are many reasons for the existence of such a class. But serious loss is sustained, if the preaching of the Gospel is confined to them. Others should also preach. Parents, Sundayschool teachers, friends in conversation, letters, visitors of the ignorant and neglected, distributors of tracts and books. Every man who has heard and believed the glad tidings should himself be an evangeliser. Every Christian is such a man. He has not heard a secret, but a glorious truth which he is to proclaim. II. THEIR CHALLENGE IS DICTATED. The announcement of the glad tidings of salvation does not terminate in itself. It is proclaimed with a view to action. "Behold your God." Hence the Gospel is a manifestation of God |