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The First Sunday after the Epiphany.

EVENING SERVICE.-First Lesson: Isaiah xlvi.

Verse 13.-"I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory."

THE promises of God in scripture are variously uttered, and variously applied, according to the circumstances of the times, and the position of the persons for which and for whom they were intended. The application of some of those promises may not be so well understood as that of others. Some are so direct in their reference that we cannot mistake their object, whilst others seem to be involved in ambiguity, leaving us doubtful of the exact meaning to be attached to them. One of the latter is the promise recorded in our text. The question presents itself, "To what does the sacred writer under the guidance of the Holy Spirit refer?" "Is it to temporary providental circumstances, or does it comprehend a permanent spiritual application ?" My answer would be, that it includes both. The primary reference, I understand to be the deliverance of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity; whilst the supplementary reference would be, to gospel times and spiritual manifestations through Christ. God, by the prophet, declares in this chapter, that He intended to deliver His people from their captivity, and prepares them for that deliverance, by possessing their minds with a detestation of idols, and with a believing confidence in the living and true God. They were not to be afraid of the idols of Babylon as if they could obstruct their deliverance; for they should be powerless before the God of Israel. "Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth." Bel and Nebo were the chief gods of the Babylonians, and were to them what Jupiter and

Mercury were to some other heathen nations. Those gods they had long worshipped. They praised them in their revels, and exulted over Israel as if Bel and Nebo were too hard for Jehovah, and should retain them in captivity in defiance to their God. That this might be no discouragement to the poor captives, God tells them the doom of those idols. When Cyrus should take Babylon the idols should become a prey to his army, and being adorned with costly ornaments, they should be borne away "upon the beasts, and upon the cattle." In the course of the chapter He exposes the folly of those who made such idols, and then prayed to them, and produces incontrovertible proofs that He is God, and there is none else. The Babylonians may trust in their idols, they may praise and adore them; but I have called "the man (who was Cyrus) that executeth my counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will do it. Heaven and earth shall pass away sooner than one tittle of God's word shall fail. The stouthearted that are far from righteousness may doubt it. Both the proud and obstinate Babylonians who are far from doing justice, or showing mercy to those who are under their power; and the unbelieving, unhumbled Jews who have been long under the hammer but not broken, long in the furnace but not melted, may disbelieve the accomplishment of the events. Whatever they may think, the one in presumption, the other in despair, salvation shall be certainly wrought for God's people. If men will not shew them justice God will, and His righteousness shall effect that for them, which men's righteousness could not reach. This promise still holds good in behalf of God's people. He will manifest His righteous. ness in their deliverance. He, who caused the light to shine upon them in the appearance of the star of Bethlehem, will allow no obstacle to prevent the fulfilment of His designs.

"The feeblest saint shall win the day,

Though earth and hell obstruct the way."

Let us now First inquire, What is to be understood by God's

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righteousness, salvation, and glory? Secondly, The encouraging promise contained in the text.

I. What is to be understood by God's righteousness, God's salvation, and God's glory?

1. His righteousness, which I take to mean, first, the just claim which He has to the devotional reverence and services of His creatures, in contradistinction from the heathen idols. The Babylonians framed images which they called gods; to them they paid divine honours, and devoted themselves to their worship. What claim had they to such honours? What were they? They were mere blocks of wood or of stone cut out into certain shapes, and in some instances coated over with silver or gold. What were they able to do for their votaries? The sequel proved that they were not able even to save themselves, much less to hear the prayers of their worshippers, and to deliver them from distress.

Have persons not idols still which occupy the proper place of God in their hearts? One man makes an idol of riches; another makes an idol of rank and position; another makes an idol of pleasure; another makes an idol of a child; another makes an idol of a friend. Those idols monopolize the honour and services which ought to be rendered exclusively to God; they occupy all the thoughts. And what right have they to such a position? What can they do for their votaries in time of trouble? Nothing. They will leave them plunged in the depths of despair, and never give them a helping hand. God, on the contrary, has a righteous claim to our profoundest reverence, and our most persevering services. This is vindicated by His own nature, as a Being of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, and also by the assistance which He is able to render all who put their trust in Him.

God's righteousness also means here the benevolent declaration of His designs to defend the rights of His people. Others may oppress them, and act unjustly towards them: others may be unfaithful to fulfil their stipulated engage

ments or at the best, others may forsake and neglect them in their calamities: but His word will never fail. "God is not unrighteous," declares an inspired apostle, "that he will forget your works and labour that proceedeth of love." Yes, He declares Himself, "And even to your old age I am he, and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear, even I will carry, and will deliver you." He never will forsake the innocent. They who trust in Him shall not miscarry. "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills shall be removed: but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee."

2. We have here also God's salvation, which means deliverance, and refers primarily to the deliverance of the Jews from Babylon through the agency of Cyrus, and secondarily, to the deliverance of all His people from the oppression of Satan, of sin, of the world, and of death, through the agency of Christ. The first we know was accomplished at the close of the appointed seventy years: the second we know is, and shall be accomplished at the expiration of the time which God reserves in His own hand. Everything in the nature of God, in the arrangements of Providence, and in the economy of redemption tends to further the final deliverance of the saints. As in the case of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, and their ultimate settlement in the promised land, nothing could frustrate the designs of the Almighty. The Egyptians might persecute and pursue; the Red Sea might present an insurmountable barrier in the way; the difficulties of the wilderness might be fatal under any other circumstances; the Amalekites, the Moabites, and the Ammonites might obstruct their progress; but God was bent upon their salvation, and their salvation was effected: so in the case of His spiritual Israelites, not one shall be lost, not one shall be left behind.

3. There is God's glory connected with all this.

The glory of God is the bright display of His perfections. His justice, His holiness, His power, His wisdom, His

goodness, His truth-all of which are essential to His nature as an infinite and eternal Being-are included in this; such is the glory which the "heavens declare," and such we find manifested in all His works, both physical and moral.

There is another glory belonging to God, to which I believe He refers more especially in the text, which is the glory of His grace and mercy in the manifestation of His righteousness and salvation in behalf of His people. It is the glory of the power that was and is displayed in the crushing of every yoke, in the subversion of every power, in the overthrow of every opposition, in the removal of every obstacle that stood in the way of the deliverance from Babylon, and that stands in the way of the deliverance of His people in every age. When there is a disposition to save, the great difficulty is to overcome the opposing elements placed in the way to render that disposition effective. Those elements were insuperable to any finite power on the way of man's salvation: but God removed them all by the power of His love. The glory of that power was revealed in the manifestation of His only begotten Son in the flesh, and is still revealed by the application of His power to the soul of man through His Son by the Gospel. We observe

II. The promise of the text, "I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory."

This promise was given by way of assurance to the Jews, to sustain their faith and hope in respect to their final deliverance from captivity. In comparing the power of their enemies with their own inability, deliverance appeared to them very improbable; but, however improbable, God assured them that He would effect it. How often are such assurances repeated to His people in both the Old and New Testaments? From the first promise that He gave to Adam after his fall in Eden, He continued to sustain the hope of His believing