use of our godly relations and friends while they live. 2. When our godly friends are "taken away," let us not sorrow as those who have no hope. 3. Let us make sure that we are gathered to Christ now, that we may be gathered to Him hereafter. - James Sherman : Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. iv. pp. 1-12.

The characteristics here described are those produced by the operation of God's grace in human hearts.

I. The prophet notices a familiar fact.

was

We find it difficult to regard death as other than an enemy. With the exception of Enoch, and Elijah, and perhaps Moses, and those who will be alive when the Lord comes, the reign of death is universal (Eccles. ix. 2; Rom. v. 12; H. E. I. 1536, 1537). God's people do not escape. Here a question arises: Since the redemption in Christ removes their sins, why should they be retained under the bondage of death? We suggest in answer-1. That possibly man never intended to abide perpetually on the globe, but after a lengthened probation to be removed to a higher existence. 2. The necessity for the removal of one generation to make room for another. 3. The wisdom of the arrangement by which old age is ultimately relieved of the weariness and infirmity incident to it. 4. The danger to the spiritual affections of the saints involved in a perpetuated residence on earth. 5. The exemption of believers from death would be an open declaration of and mark upon them; but such open destruction does not accord with the design of this world as a state of trial and discipline. 6. That by the grace of Christ the aspect of death is entirely changed to believers. 7. That the humiliation and sorrow of death are amply compensated by the glorious resurrection and immortal life.

II. The prophet laments the general indifference with which this familiar fact is treated.

This may refer specially to the time of Manasseh, but it is still true.

1. The world does not love the

righteous, because they are such. If they care for them at all, it is for other reasons. So far as what is peculiar to them severally is developed, it is antagonistic.

2. The world is indifferent to the fact that the death of the righteous is a public loss. Godly men in their families, neighbourhoods, the nation, by their character, prayers, public spirit are a preserving influence. Sodom could not be destroyed while Lot was in it.

3. The world does not consider the true import and consequence of the death of the righteous. It is not considered in relation to eternity; but only in relation to time. Such a one is dead, his new life is not considered.

III. The prophet suggests the sufficient consolation. To the righteous death is-1. Exemption from evil. Terrible evil was coming on Israel which those escaped who died at that time. There may be public, domestic, and personal evils impending, from which the Lord snatches His people away. 2. Enjoyment of good. The Gospel does not conduct its votaries to the bed of death, and then leave them there in dark uncertainty. The change that is made by death is their entrance into peace and rest. For there is final and undisturbed security, and the perpetual presence of the objects to which the believer's spirit has been most closely united; God in Christ, holy angels, glorified saints, perfect purity.

1. How interesting to those left behind, to think of them thus! 2. See that you are among those of whom such thoughts are suitable. 3. Beware of being among those who are indif ferent to the people of God and their fate. The world's indifference to the Church is the reflection of its indifference to Christ.-J. Rawlinson.

The visitations of death are frequently mysterious. Often the most talented, and pious, and useful are cut down, while mere cumberers of the ground are spared, &c. Piety exempts none from the arrests of death; it delivers from the sting of death, but

not from its stroke. How affecting the death of a statesman, a minister, an influential Christian, or a pious parent in the meridian of life and usefulness, &c. Isaiah was deeply moved in consequence of the death of good men, and the indifference of his countrymen, &c. It matters little that we cannot accurately determine who these good men were, or the manner of their death. Consider

I. The character of the good as here portrayed.

1. They are righteous. As none are so naturally, a real and radical change in the governing dispositions of the heart is implied, &c. Believing in the Lord Jesus, and being accepted righteous in Him, they come under an obligation to practise universal righteousness, and to present to the world a character of uniform and sustained holiness (Rom. vi. 18, 19; 1 John iii. 7). They are men of rectitude-men right in their moral relations and in their principles of action-right in heart, and habit, and life (1 John iii. 7). Such a man, however, will always feel that his claim to be regarded as a righteous man is not to be traced to what he is in himself, but to what he owes to the grace of God. 2. They are merciful. Not only the subjects of God's mercy, but merciful in their own dispositions-"men of kindness or godliness" (margin); forgiving offenders, compassionating the suffering, helping the weak and needy, and evincing kindness, consideration, and bountifulness towards all (Gen. xxxii. 10; Ps. cxix. 64; Joel ii. 13; Rom. xii. 8; Col. iii. 12). In nothing do we imitate God more than in showing mercy. And we have abundant opportunity to do it, for the world is full of sin and misery, which we may help to relieve, &c. 3. They walk in their uprightness. They avoid the crooked path of sin, and pursue the straight line of righteousness (Ps. cxxv. 5; Prov. ii. 15; Isa. lix. 8; Phil. ii. 15). The Christian life does not consist in mere sentiment or feel

ing, &c. Feeling and practice, like twin sisters, must go hand in hand.

Christianity is pre-eminently a practical system. The doctrine of the kingdom is, that "faith without works is dead"-that faith contains a seed of virtue or holy living, so that good works are not an adjunct of faith, but a necessary fruit of faith. Light must shine, and where there are the principles of holiness there will be all the habits of holiness pervading the whole life.

Is this a description of your character? Have you sought and secured "the righteousness of faith;" are you showing mercy to all men, walking uprightly, &c. 1

II. The death of the good as here presented.

1. As the perishing of the body. The soul lives on, and will do for ever; but the mortal body decays, returns to its native dust, &c. The bodies of all the untold myriads of the human race have perished. The mightiest share the same fate as the meanest. Evident to all. Then why pamper the body, &c.

How

2. As disregarded by the vast majo rity. Only the few lay it to heartlament it as a public loss, and regard it as a public warning. soon the best are forgotten! How can we account for this? (1.) The commonness of the event. (2.) The thought of death is repugnant. (3.) The concerns of life engross both the time and attention of the multitude. This general disregard of the death of the good is to be lamented because it it implies-(1.) Painful ingratitude. Good men are the world's greatest benefactors, "the salt of the earth," &c. (2.) Deplorable moral insensibility. Their removal is a public calamity, for they are the strength of a nation and the safeguard of the land, &c. To treat their death with stolid indifference indicates the highest degree of moral blindness and perversity. Of such a state of things there is but one explanation-" God is not in all their thoughts." Little children least lament the death of their parents, because they know not what a loss it is to them, &c.

3. As a blessing to themselves. (1.)

1. As a frail, mortal, feeble creature, who is "crushed before the moth," humility is the proper temper for man before God. Even angels and archangels veil their faces with their wings in His presence.

2. As transgressors, it behoves us to be abased in the awful presence of the Most High. Something more than humility becomes man as an offender against his rightful Sovereign. Contrition is more; it is penitence for sin, brokenness of heart for having offended God. The first is always man's duty as a creature; the second, as a sinner. Two things contribute to real contrition (1) A sense of God's gracious, benignant character. Nothing sets man's frightful ingratitude in so odious and prominent a light as the unspeakable goodness of the great God. So long as man falsely conceives of Him as a hard master, he feels, he can feel, no contrition; but when he discerns that God is, and ever has been, infinitely good, and to him also, his heart bursts with ingenuous grief and selfabhorrence. (2) A perception of the inscrutable wickedness of the human heart, which, like the prophet Ezekiel's "chamber of imagery," discloses more and more of its interior abominations, the more closely it is examined. To produce this contrition of soul is one principle object of Divine teaching and grace (Ezek. xxxvi. 26; xii. 10; xvi. 63).

The presence in any man of this humility is certain to be manifested in an unmistakable manner, the manifestation itself further preparing him for the Divine mercy. A proud heart murmurs under rebuke, like the children of Israel in the wilderness; or rejects warnings like the men in the days of Noah and of Lot; or dares God to His face, like Pharaoh. So acted the majority of the men to whom Isaiah ministered (ch. ix. 13). But the contrite and humble in spirit receive the Divine rebukes, justify God in His righteous retributions, condemn themselves, and venture only to "hope in His mercy" (Job xxxiv. 32; xlii. 5, 6; Ps. cxix. 75; lxix. 20).

III. AN UNRIVALLED DESCRIPTION OF THE MARVELLOUS CONDESCENSION OF GOD TO THE MAN IN WHOM THERE IS THIS RIGHT TEMPER.

1. God adopts the heart of the penitent as His abode. The allusion is to the temple (ch. Ixvi. 1, 2; John xiv. 23). The humble and contrite heart is prepared to entertain the Divine Guest: it is emptied of pride and self, &c.

2. Observe the purpose for which He enters it: "to revive the spirit of the humble," &c. The image is drawn from the revival of the face of nature by refreshing rain after a long drought, or from raising to new life a dejected and desponding mind by joyful and unexpected tidings. Although penitence and contrition may have done their work, comfort is still wanting, so long as the inhabitation of God by His Spirit is wanting. The daily increasing perception of innate corruption weighs down the heart. Conscience accuses, the law condemns. The joy of pardon sometimes springs up, but it fades again. The hope of being a sincere penitent cheers at times; but it is difficult for the soul to discern, amidst its tears and dejection, the marks of repentance unto life. Afflictions add to the general woe-God seems armed against the soul. But at length it pleases God to "revive the spirit," &c. He sheds light amidst the gloom, &c. The prophet doubles the expression, to denote the certainty and magnitude of the blessing. The exhausted, dying traveller, plundered, wounded, and left for dead on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, was not more truly revived by the wine and oil of the good Samaritan, than the spirit of the contrite one is revived by the presence and indwelling of the Saviour in the heart (ver. 18, and ch. lxi. 3).

3. All this consolation flows from the view of the Divine greatness. The whole scope of the text is directed to this one point; and almost all similar descriptions of the majesty of the Almighty are given in connection with His condescension to man (Ps. cxiii. 4-6; cxxxviii. 6, &c.). Consolation flowing from God's goodness, mercy, compas