of lords, whom all the angels of God worship, made Himself so entirely of no reputation, that the basest of the people were not afraid to make Him the object of their derision, and to express their hatred in the most contemptuous manner.

1. They spat upon Him (Matt. xxvi. 66, xxvii. 30). Great as an insult of this kind would be deemed amongst us, it was considered as still greater, according to the customs prevalent in Eastern countries. There, to spit even in the presence of a person, though it were only on the ground, conveyed the idea of disdain and ab horrence. But the lowest of the people spat in the face-not of an Alexander or a Cæsar-but of THE SON OF GOD!

2. They buffeted Him on the face, and when He meekly offered His cheek to their blows, they plucked off the hair. The beard was in the East accounted honourable (2 Sam. x. 4, 5). With savage violence they tore off the hair of His beard; while He, like a sheep before the shearers, was dumb, and quietly yielded Himself up to their outrages.

3. His back they tore with scourges, as was foretold by the psalmist (Ps. cxxix. 3). The Jewish Council condemned Him to death for blasphemy, because He said He was the Son of God. Stoning was the punishment prescribed by the law of Moses, in such cases (Lev. xiv. 16). But this death was not sufficiently lingering and tormenting to gratify their malice. To glut their insatiable cruelty, they were therefore willing to own their subjection to the Roman power to be so absolute, that it was not lawful for them to put any one to death (John xvii. 31), according to their own judicial law; and thus wilfully, though unwillingly, they fulfilled the prophecies: they preferred the punishment which the Romans appropriated to slaves who guilty of flagitious crimes, and therefore insisted that He should be crucified. According to the Roman custom, those who were crucified were

were

previously scourged. It was not unfrequent for the sufferers to expire under the severity and torture of scourging. And we may be certain that Jesus experienced no lenity from their merciless hands. The ploughers ploughed His back. But more and greater tortures were before Him. He was engaged to make a full atonement for human sin by His sufferings; and as He had power over His own life, He would not dismiss His spirit until He could say, "It is finished!"

"Behold the Man!" Behold the Son of God mocked, blindfolded, spit upon, and scourged!

1. Shall we continue in sin, after we know what it cost Him to expiate our sins? God forbid! (H. E. I. 4589, 4590.)

2. Shall we refuse to suffer shame for His sake, and be intimidated by the frowns or contempt of men from avowing our attachment to Him? We are, indeed, capable of this baseness and ingratitude. But if He is pleased to strengthen us by the power of His Spirit, we will account such disgrace our glory. In this, as in all things, let our Lord be our exemplar. Let us neither court the smiles of men, nor shrink at the thought of their displeasure. Let it be our constant aim to glorify God. This is the secret of Christian heroism. True magnanimity is evidenced by the real importance of the end it proposes, and by the steadiness with which it pursues the proper means of attaining that end; undisturbed by difficulty, danger, or pain, and equally indifferent to the applause or the scorn of incompetent judges. How gloriously did it shine forth in our Saviour! In this let us strive to follow Him!-John Newton: Works, pp. 706-709.

(a) See Watts' great hymn

and various. 2. He willingly undertook to sustain them all (H. E. I. 913). II. His supports. 1. Assurance of effectual succour (ver. 7). 2. Assurance of a triumphant issue (ver. 7).

Contemplate the holy sufferer-1. As the predicted Saviour of the world. 2. As the great pattern of all holy obedience. Charles Simeon, M. A.

Of whom speaketh the prophet this? Of himself or of some other It is quite certain that Isaiah here wrote concerning the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke viii. 31). Of whom else could you conceive the prophet to have spoken if you read the whole chapter? (Luke xxiii. 11.) Pilate, the governor, gave Him up to the cruel process of Scourging. Behold your King! Turn hither all your eyes and hearts, and look upon the despised and rejected of men! The sight demands adoration.

I. Gaze upon your despised and rejected Lord as THE REPRESENTATIVE OF GOD. In Him God came into the world, making a special visitation to Jerusalem and the Jewish people, but at the same time coming very near to all mankind. He came to and called the people whom He had favoured so long, and whom He was intent to favour still (ver. 2).

1. When our Lord came into this world as the representative of God, He came with all His divine power about Him. He fed the hungry, &c. He did equal marvels to those which were wrought in Egypt when the arm of the Lord was made bare in the eyes of all the people. He did the works of His Father, and those works bare witness of Him that He was come in His Father's name.

2. But when God thus came among men He was unacknowledged (ver. 2). A few, taught by the Spirit of God, discerned Him and rejoiced; but they were so very few that we may say of the whole generation that they knew Him not.

3. Yet our Lord, when He came into the world, was admirably adapted

to be the representative of God, not only because He was God Himself, but because as man His whole human nature was consecrated to the work, and in Him was neither flaw nor spot. His course and conduct were most conciliatory, for He went among the people, and ate with publicans and sinners; so gentle was He that He took little children in His arms, and blessed them; for this, if for nothing else, they ought to have welcomed Hin right heartily, and rejoiced at the sight of Him. This is especially the sin of those who have heard the Gospel and yet reject the Saviour, for in their case the Lord has come to them in the most gracious form, and yet they have refused Him. This is in reality a scorning and despising of the Lord God, and is well set forth by the insults which were poured upon the Lord Jesus.

II. See the Lord Jesus as THE SUBSTITUTE FOR HIS PEOPLE. When He suffered thus, it was not on His own account, nor purely for the sake of His Father; but He was "wounded for our transgressions," &c. There has risen up a modern idea which I cannot too much reprobate, that Christ made no atonement for our sin except upon the cross: whereas in this passage we are taught as plainly as possible that by His bruising and stripes, as well as by His death, we are healed. Never divide between the life and the death of Christ. How could He have died, if He had not lived? How could He suffer except while He lived? Death is not suffering, but the end of it. Guard also against the evil notion that you have nothing to do with the righteousness of Christ, for He could not have made an atonement by His blood, if He had not been perfect in His life. He could not have been acceptable, if He had not first been proven to be holy, harmless, and undefiled. The victim must be spotless, or it cannot be presented for sacrifice. Draw no nice lines and raise no quibbling questions, but look at your Lord as He is, and bow before Him. Jesus took upon Himself our sin, and being found bearing that sin, He had to be

All

treated as sin should be treated. this was voluntary. "He gave His back to the smiters." They did not seize and compel Him, or, if they did, yet they could not have done it with out His consent. That Christ should stand in our stead by force were a little thing, even had it been possible; but that He should stand there of His own free will, and that being there He should willingly be treated with derision, this is grace indeed. Here is matter for our faith to rest upon.

III. See the Lord Jesus Christ as THE SERVANT OF GOD. He took upon Himself the form of a servant when He was made in the likeness of man. This is to be the guide of our life.

1. As a servant, Christ was personally prepared for service. He was thirty years and more here below, learning obedience in His Father's house, and the after years were spent in learning obedience by the things which He suffered.

2. Our text assures us that this service knew no reserve in its consecration, We generally draw back. somewhere. Our blessed Master was willing to be scoffed at by the lewdest and the lowest of men. Such patience should be yours as servants of God.

3. Beside, there was an obedient delight in the will of the Father. How

could He delight in suffering and shame? These things were even more repugnant to His sensitive nature than they can be to us; and yet, "For the joy," &c.

4. There was no flinching in Him. Notice all the while the confidence and quiet of His spirit? He almost seems to say, "You may spit upon me, but you cannot find fault with me," &c.

IV. AS THE COMFORTER OF HIS PEOPLE. 1. Our blessed Lord is well qualified to speak a word in season to him that is weary, because He Himself is lowly, and meek, and so accessible to us. 2. Beside, He is full of sympathy. 3. Then there is His example. "I gave my back," &c. Cannot you do the like? &c. He was calm amid it all. Never was there a patience like to His. This is your copy. 4. Our Saviour's triumph is meant to be a stimulus and encouragement. "Consider Him that endured," &c. (Heb. xii. 3). Though once abased and despised, now He sitteth at the right hand of God, and reigns over all things; and the day is coming when every knee shall bow before Him, &c. like Him, then, ye who bear His name; trust Him, and live for Him, and you shall reign with Him in glory for ever. -C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No. 1486.

Be

been. A horror of great darkness fell upon Abraham. Job said, "My soul chooseth strangling rather than life." Paul complained of the messenger of Satan. Our Lord Himself said, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"-Let me specify some causes of this despondency; I cannot specify all. 1. When the course of God's Providence towards His Church is perplexed and clouded. This was the case here. The captives were overwhelmed with their calamities (ch. xlix. 14, l. 1, 2, 3).— When God does not interpose for His church or themselves as they expected, and comes not forward in the path

they had marked out for Him, they seem like prisoners in a dungeon without a lamp; or like midnight travellers in the wood and the thicket without a star (Job xxiii. 8; Ps. lxxvii. 7-9).—Again, when their own lot is privation and suffering; when long-continued affliction of body and mind is permitted; when hope after hope is disappointed, and plan after plan is broken; when the interests of others are involved in your own, and a succession of trials takes place each darker and more painful than before, then this sorrow and dejection is felt (Lam. iii. 1, &c.)

2. When, in conjunction with outward trials, there is a sense of sin upon the conscience, unaccompanied with adequate views of the power and grace of Christ to save. I lay great stress on this. A sense of sin is the heaviest part of the believer's burden: and it is the natural and proper tendency of affliction to bring sin to remembrance. Much of this darkness and depression may be intended to embitter sin; to arouse the recollection of past offences and neglects before conversion, or since (Job xiii. 26; Ps. xxvii. 7; 1 Cor. xv. 9; Ezek. xvi. 43 and 63). Of some sins of ungodly men, God says, "As I live, this iniquity shall not be purged away from you till ye die;" and there are provocations in His own people which He long remembers. The Jews said, "There was an ounce of the golden calf in all the afflictions Israel suffered." For instance, after signal enjoyments of God's love, or particular mercies of God's providence, if a man be negligent and inconsistent in his walk, it seems to carry an unkindness with it that shall not be forgotten. How suggestive the remark on the misconduct of Solomon: "God was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord, who had appeared to him twice!" All sins under or after special mercies will meet at one time or other with special rebukes. Nothing more distresses a believer than the remembrance in darkness of abused light, in desertion of neglected love. Then, the processes of sanctifi

cation are always incomplete. If not open sins, there may be secret departures from God: pride, bitterness, sins of the spirit.-Suppose these recollections to occur without adequate views of the power and grace of Christ, or without a consciousness of deep and often renewed repentance, dejection will occur.

3. When the promise is very long delayed, and answers to prayer seem to be withheld (Lam. iii. 8; Ps. lxxx. 4; 2 Cor. xii. 8).

4. When their religious state is after all doubtful. For the pardon may have passed the great seal of heaven, and yet the indictment be suffered to run on in the Court of Conscience. Real Christians have not at all times equal confidence in the integrity of their religious profession (H. E. I. 311-314, 323, 335-339). If you

doubt the reality of your conversion, be it far from me to say the doubt is unfounded; carry the apprehension to Him who alone is able to relieve it.

II. A SAFE DIRECTION GIVEN. 66 Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God."

1. Wait in the exercise of earnest, fervent, persevering prayer. Go to God as the man who had not a loaf of bread in the house went to his friend at midnight. Beware of the delusion of waiting passively for some strange manifestation. The blessing is to those who actively seek, not who remain passively content. "Blessed is the man that waiteth at the posts of my doors," not who lies down at the threshold like a drunkard, asleep. In the act of seeking God, we find. In flying for refuge, we meet the promise of strong consolation. As they went, the lepers were cleansed.

2. Strenuously abide by known duty. Resist all temptations to employ doubtful means to extricate yourself from calamity (H. E. I. 169–176). Still fear, still obey. Take care that speculative difficulties be not increased by moral causes.

3. Frequently review past experiences of God's mercy, enjoyed by yourself or others. In seeking the grace you want,

do not deny the grace you have (H. E. I. 330–334). This is to bear false witness, not against your neighbour, but against yourself and God. "If the Lord were pleased to kill," &c. (Jud. xiii. 23.) Gain the benefit of the darkness (H. E. I. 1649-1654).

4. Revolve in your mind the great and distinguishing consolations of the bright economy in which you live. The grace and righteousness of Christ. The teaching and unction of the Holy Spirit. Not in vain is He revealed as

a Comforter.

III. A FEARFUL CONTRAST BETWEEN THE RIGHTEOUS AT THEIR WORST AND THE WICKED AT THEIR BEST. The wicked ironically counselled to walk by the light of their own fire. Antithesis between the light of God and the light of men. The faithful were to be delivered from captivity into light and liberty. But the wicked kindle a fire of their own, and are without God. Ver. 11 is not a first warning to repent, but a warning that destruction, darkness, endless sorrow, are about to descend upon them.-Samuel Thodey.

(a) I believe this passage has been generally, if not dangerously, misunderstood. It has been quoted, and preached upon, to prove that "a man might conscientiously fear God, and be obedient to the words of the law and the prophets; obey the voice of His servant-of Jesus Christ Himself; that is, be sincerely and regularly obedient to the moral law and the commands of our blessed Lord, and yet walk in darkness and have no light, no sense of God's approbation, and no evidence of the safety of his state." This is utterly impos sible; for Jesus hath said, "He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." If there be some religious persons who, under the influence of morbid melancholy, are continually writing bitter things against themselves, the word of God should not be bent down to their state. There are other modes of spiritual and scriptural comfort. But does not the text speak of such a case? And are not the words precise in reference to it? I think not; and Bishop Lowth's translation has set the whole in the clearest light, though he does not appear to have been apprehensive that the bad use I mentioned had been made of the text as it stands in our common version. The text contains two questions, to each of which a particular auswer is given :

Q. 1. "Who is there among you that feareth

Q. 2. "Who that walketh in darkness and hath no light?" A. "Let him trust in the name of Jehovah, and lean himself [prop himself] upon his God."

Now, a man awakened to a sense of his sin and misery, may have a dread of Jehovah, and tremble at His Word; and what should such a person do? Why, he should hear what God's Servant saith: "Come unto me, all ye who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." There may be a sincere penitent walking in darkness, having no light of salvation; for this is the case with all when they first begin to turn to God. What should such do? They should trust, believe on, the Lord Jesus, who died for them, and lean upon His all-sufficient merit for the light of salvation, which God has promised. Thus acting they will soon have a sure trust and confidence that God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven them their sin; and thus they shall have the light of life.-Adam Clarke, LL.D., F.A.S.

This representation of the text by this admirable commentator is here reproduced, in order that preachers may be warned against repeating it. Lowth's treatment of the text, on which it is founded, has been repudiated by all our most eminent scholars, with the exception of Matthew Arnold. Kay and Cheyne agree with Delitzsch in ending the question with the second clause: "Who is there among you that feareth Jehovah, that hearkeneth to the voice of His servant? He that walketh in darkness, and hath no light, let him trust in the Name of Jehovah, and rely upon his God (Cheyne).

Plumtre's comment on ver. 10 is excellent:"The words grow at once out of the prophet's own experience and that of the ideal Servant (ver. 6). All true servants know what it is to feel as if the light for which they looked had for a time failed them, to utter a prayer like Ajax, 'Give light, and let us die' (Hom. ll. xvii. 647). The Servant felt it when He uttered the cry, 'My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' (Matt. xvii. 46). For such an one there were the words of counsel, Trust, in spite of the darkness.' (8) So the cry of the forsaken Servant was followed by the word, 'Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit' (Luke xxiii. 46).”

(8) As it happened to the Saviour, so it will happen to His disciples, who are known by their fear of the Lord, and their obedience to the voice of His Son. There will be times when it may be said of them that they "walk in darkness, and have no light." The rule then is, after the example of Him who said, "The Lord will help me, therefore I shall not be confounded," to trust in the Lord; and if the blind man who walks in darkness trusts in the brute that guides him, and goes on his sightless way without a fear and without a doubt, how much more may the believer fear not with such a stay on which to lean!-Keith.