people to hear. He can help parents and children, teachers and scholars. Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ strengthening (or helping) me:" and we may say and do the same, if we look to Him for His help. III. Because He is always willing to help. We read in the Bible about the rich man and Lazarus: the rich man was able to help, but he was not willing. Jesus is always willing; He may not send the help just in the way we wish, but, in one way or other, He is sure to send it. He tells us that He is more willing to help those who come to Him than parents are to give bread to their children. IV. Because He is always kind in helping. There are some people who are willing and able to help others, and who do help them too, but it is done in a rough manner. On one occasion, while Jesus was on earth, the Pharisees brought to Him a woman who had been guilty of a great sin. They wanted Him to say that she ought to be stoned to death. Jesus said, "Let him that is without sin among you cast the first stone at her.” Their consciences smote them, and they went out one by one. And He said unto her, "Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee. Go, and sin no more." In that dark hour, near the Crucifixion, He took His disciples into the garden of Gethsemane, and asked them to watch while He went on to pray. When He returned, He found them sleeping, and all He said was, "What! could ye not watch with me one hour?" He tells us that He "will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax." He compares Himself to a good shepherd, "who carries the lambs in his bosom." If any came to Him for instruction, He taught them kindly; if any with troubles and afflictions, He sympathised with them and helped them. He gave health to the sicksight to the blind-strength to the feeble-comfort to the sorrowinglife to the dead. And what He gave was always given with kind, gentle, loving words. And even when reproof and rebuke were necessary, "the law of kindness still dwelt upon His tongue." And He is the same now; always near to help, always able, always willing, and always kind in helping.-Richard Newton, D.D.: Best Things, pp. 147–160. COURAGE-ITS SOURCE AND NECESSITY. xli. 13. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, &c. These words were spoken to the Jews in an age of national peril and dismay; they had slowly been losing their ancient strength through a spirit of indifference, and at length the alarm had come that awoke them from their dream. The Assyrian invasion had paralysed them with fear; no sooner had they been saved from it than the prophet was commissioned to announce an invasion from Babylon that would carry them into a strange land. Then it was that Isaiah proclaimed the source of courage, the power of which he himself had proved. The Jews might seem as nothing before the great surrounding nations; but the Lord was at their side; His voice was in their midst, crying, "Fear not; I will help thee." The words which give us the secret of the old Hebrew courage reveal the source of the courage we need as Christians. The notion, indeed, has gone forth that the ancient fortitude has no place in the life of the Christian,-it has declined before the gentler graces of spiritual life; but if this means that the Christian is to be only a loving, and not a righteous man, then the teaching of Christ Himself contradicts it. Not only so, but the gentler graces demand as much fortitude of soul as the stronger and sterner virtues; and, above all, steadfast obedience to God amid sorrows, and temptations, and failures, requires a courage more deep and real than that of the Jewish warrior. Our subject is-Courage, its source and necessity. I. ITS SOURCE. What a broad sense of the Divine presence and aid in the figure: "I will hold thy right hand!" The grasp of the hand is significant of close and present friendship; and that sense of God's presence-so near that our faith can touch His hand and hear the deep still music of His voice-realised as it may be in Christ, is the source of a courage which nothing can shake. Take the higher forms of courage seen among men, and it will be seen how this belief creates at once that state in which courage rises, and in which it attains its highest power. We may pass by animal courage-the bravery of instinct or temperament-as not proceeding from any principle, and so totally unlike courage of soul. The higher and true form of courage is of two kinds : 1. The courage of active resistance. Its great element is found in the fixed survey of the means of conquest; fear rises from the contemplation of difficulties-courage from the perception of the thing to be done. There is always a lion in the path of a man who expects to find one. Intense concentration on the means of action creates the courage that actively resists danger. This is especially true of spiritual courage. It is by the aid of God that we conquer in spiritual battle; and while our gaze is fixed on that, fear vanishes; with the sense of omnipotence grasping and cheering his spirit, a man can defy the world, and death, and hell to make him turn aside from the path of Divine duty (H. E. I. 1911-1919). 2. The courage needful for passive endurance. It is harder of attainment; for while there is anything to be done, we find relief in action; but when we can only be still and endure, then it is supremely difficult to resist the assaults of cowardice. The great feature of this aspect of spiritual courage is selfsurrender to the highest law of life; but if we could hear God's voice, amid the dismay and darkness, proclaiming "All is well," should we not be trustful, courageous, and strong? II. ITS NECESSITY. It is essential to Christian life for three reasons :— 1. It requires courage to manifest the Christian character before men (H. E. I. 1042-1046). Regarding the two sides of that character as seen in Christ-the strong and the tender, the severely true and the forbearing, sympathising, forgiving-we feel the incompleteness of any other character, and both of these aspects demand courage for their manifestation. What can give us courage to do the right regardless of consequences but the grasp of God's hand and the sound of His voice? 2. It requires courage to maintain steadfast obedience to the will of God. Christian life is more than visible Christ-like character; it means Christlike obedience amid the inner and unseen temptations of the soul. Every man has his own cross to bear. 3. It demands courage to hold fast to our highest aspirations. As Christian men, we are bound to aim at being our highest and best. The revelations of our aspirations must become our practical ideals; if we do not strive to realise them, we shall degenerate. If we would gain the far-off summits, we must keep our eye fixed on the gleaming heights. And can anything give us power and courage to do so but the knowledge that the Everlasting arms are round about us, and the voice of the Eternal cheering us onward? And here, as in all the storm and strife of our earthly pilgrimage, we are simply driven to the man Christ Jesus. He knows our weakness, and left us the legacy of everlasting power when He said, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."-E. L. Hull, B.A.: Sermons, Third Series, Pp. 157-167. THE WORM AND THE MOUNTAIN. xli. 14, 15. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, &c. - worm Though I have read to you only these verses, the treasury of truth upon which I intend to draw now is the whole paragraph in which they occur (vers. 10-16). In it the prophet comforts the Church by the promises wherewith he had been comforted by God. Before the captivity of God's people commences, he furnishes them with that which will cheer them while it lasts. In his prophetic vision he sees them in a prostrate and most depressed condition like a trodden under foot in Babylon. But he puts before them the support of their expiring hope, in the assurance of God's favour. His argument is, that He who redeemed their fathers from Egyptian slavery would redeem them. from Chaldean bondage. Mighty as their oppressors were, let them not fear; fast as their chains were riveted, let them not be dismayed; weak and defenceless as they were, let them not despair; for though the mountain threatened to crush the worm, the worm should be strengthened to thresh the mountain. The truths and promises in this paragraph are the heritage of God's people in all ages, and on them they may, and should, lay hold in every season of threatening and trouble. I. A VERY UNEQUAL CONTEST. The worm is called upon to thresh the mountain! Yea, not one mountain only, but many of them-"mountains." A hopeless encounter, a mad attempt! But the suggestions of sense and the reasonings of faith are widely different; "to do the greatest things and to suffer the hardest is all one to true faith." We may apply this representation variously 1. To the efforts needful to establish the kingdom of God in the world. The agency intrusted with the task often seems altogether inadequate. Was it not so when Moses stood before Pharaoh, and when the power and despotism of ancient Egypt seemed ready to destroy the infant Church; when Elijah stood on Carmel, all the power of Ahab and Jezebel, their court, and the priests of Baal against himone man against a world in arms; when the first disciples went forth to proclaim a crucified Saviour, with all the power of Judaism and all the arms and wealth of the ancient Roman empire against them; when Luther, a poor monk, challenged the Vatican, and stood solitary before the emperor and cardinals, saying, "Here stand I alone for the truth; God help me!" In each case, who would not have expected that the mountain would crush the worm? But in each case the worm prevailed. If we look at the obstacles still in the way Heathenism, Mahometanism, Popery, Infidelity, and all the forms of vice-they seem most formidable; but the "worm" shall thresh all the mountains! The corn of the Jews was threshed by drawing over it a sharp instrument-a cart with wheels encircled with iron spikes, thus cutting the straw very small, while the corn escaped through interstices left for the purpose. As complete shall be the breaking down of all the obstacles to the Saviour's glory by the Christian Church, weak as she is in herself. 2. To the cares and calamities of life. We are here in a state of exile, like that of the Jews in Babylon; and we often need encouragement. The frequent repetition of the charge,"Fear not," implies that there is much to fear. The greatness of the consolation offered proves the greatness of the impending danger. Fear is incident to our nature, for we are weak creatures; to our character, for we are guilty creatures; to our condition and circumstances, for we are the suffering inhabitants of a guilty world. And though it is true. that our hopes are greater than our fears, it is equally true that our faith is never so firm as not to be exposed to waverings, and our hope is never so strong as to be altogether above distrust. The path to heaven lies through an enemy's country; it is strait, narrow, and intricate; there are many turnings, windings, and bypaths in which pilgrims may be drawn aside, and, like Christian in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, we are not always favoured with daylight. We pursue it beset by trials and afflictions, and we are often confronted by mountains of care and sorrow, of disappointment and danger. But we need not fear any of them. The worm shall thresh the mountains. See also another great promise in which great perils are implied (ch. xliii. 2). the 3. To the Christian conflict· struggle which the Christian has to sustain against the evil of his own heart, the seductive influences of the world, and the artifices and wiles of the powers of darkness (Eph. vi. 12; H. E. I. 1059-1062). II. AN ANIMATING PROMISE. "Fear not, thou worm Jacob. True, thou art a worm-weak and low in thine own eyes, small and contemptible in the eyes of others; but thou shalt be strengthened for the warfare and successful in the conflict; for I, the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, engage myself on thy side, and will be answerable for the result." In view of this promise there can be no doubt that grace, though weak, shall be victorious. Great consolation is to be derived— 1. From the near relation which God sustains to His people. "Thy Redeemer," &c. 2. From the perpetual presence of God with His Church. "I will hold thee," &c. 3. From the manner in which He adapts the instrumentality He employs to the end He proposes. "I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth." 4. From the way in which He identifies His glory with our success. In order to enjoy the consolation of this promise-1. There must be in us a well-founded hope of acceptance and reconciliation with God. 2. We must seek to possess the character to which this and all such promises are made. 3. We must be much in the exercise of that faith which honours God in all His attributes. 4. We must cultivate the expectation of nothing less than final triumph for the cause of God, and for the individual believer, the recipient of His mercy. The history of the past proves that this expectation is reasonable. How often the worm has threshed the mountain! The captives were delivered from their captivity. The Apostles triumphed over the Roman empire. Luther and his associates did accomplish the Reformation. That which has been is that which shall be; in the future there will be still greater victories for the Church of God.-Samuel Thodey. CHEER FOR THE CHURCH OF GOD. The first reference of these words may be to the dejected feeling of the Jews in the captivity of Babylon, and they were recorded in order to encourage them in their low condition; but to understand them as referring only to the temporal state of the Jews in Babylon and their deliverance from their captivity would be nothing better than to reduce this sublime inspired record to the level of the writings of Josephus or any other un inspired Jewish historian. The chief and the ultimate reference of the words is evidently to the condition of the spiritual Church in the various ages of the world. Taking the verses in this sense, we are led to consider— I. THE WEAKNESS OF THE CHURCH. "Thou worm Jacob." A worm is a weak and despised thing. 1. The Church of God in itself is weak and helpless. Its most useful and godly members have described themselves as "worms (Ps. xxii. 6). It has generally been made up of such persons as the world looked upon with contempt (1 Cor. i. 26-28.) 2. It has always been despised by the ungodly. The apostles of Christ were regarded by the world as "the filth of the world and the offscouring of all things," and eminently godly people have been treated thus in every age. II. THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH. The weak and despised worm is to be converted into "a new, sharp, new, sharp, threshing instrument having teeth." The Orientals used to thresh their corn with heavy rollers with sharp iron teeth, which separated the corn from the ears, and cut the straw to be fodder for the cattle. The Church is compared here to such a powerful machine. 1. The holiness of God's people makes them strong and effective to do good (Matt. v. 16; Phil. ii. 15). 2. Their activity and devotedness make them like sharp threshing instruments. 3. Their prayers also have in all ages produced wonderful effects. III. THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CHURCH. "Thou shalt thresh the mountains," &c. By the mountains and the hills we are to understand the sinful habits of mankind, such as their commercial frauds, their warlike dispositions, their drunkenness, their lasciviousness, &c., and all the false religions which prevail throughout the world. All these formidable obstructions are to be removed through the instrumentality of God's people. IV. THE JOY OF THE CHURCH. "Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord," when all the mountains and the hills shall be removed and made as chaff. 1. The temporal condition of the world will be happy and glorious. 2. Its spiritual condition will be heavenly. It will then be the days of heaven upon earth. 3. And the Church will attribute all the glory to the Holy One of Israel, and not to itself.Thomas Rees, D.D. Supposed to be an interval of twelve or fourteen years between the first part of the book and that part beginning at chap. xl. The prophet is fast growing an old man. In mind he throws himself into the future, and places himself in the midst of the Jews in Babylon. He supposes their captivity to be nearing its end; but, to the heart yearning so painfully after Jerusalem, it seems without termination. To cheer them, this and the preceding chapter ring with rallying-cries, repeated again and again: "Fear not;" "Be not dismayed." The text is a remarkable assurance that though their difficulties be as "mountains," Jacob should rise and "beat them small." I. GOD'S OWN RECOGNITION OF THE FEEBLENESS OF HIS PEOPLE. "Fear not, thou worm Jacob and ye men of Israel," or "few men of Israel." It is His epithet, as well as flung at them by their conquerors; but it is not used in their spirit. It is only when the insect of a man struggles defiantly against his Maker that God says in ineffable contempt, "Let the potsherds," &c. This is a pitiful remembrance of their weakness. Illustrates His infinite condescension. In deigning to ally Himself to men, in inviting us to share His thoughts and counsels, He has not overrated the worth of the creature He receives to such high dignity. Marvellous that He who has in His majesty and glory from everlasting stood alone, and must be for ever the solitary God, without an equal in His universe, welcomes to His heart those who are impotent as a "worm" (Job xxv. 5, 6). II. GOD'S RECOGNITION OF THE HUGE DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF HIS PEOPLE. He speaks of them as "mountains," "hills." Babylon, with its strong walls, vast army, the desert reaching away weary miles between His people and their country; all is gauged exactly. For them to try and overcome would be like a worm attempting to attack the mountains. III. CONSIDER THE "WORM" AS THE "MOUNTAIN THRESHER." |