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." 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 The 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 Cospel 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 prac tical 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. O 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!" II. 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. Do not 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 of society into two great classes-the rich und the poor. While forces like these drive different classes apart, what is there to draw them together? Higher secular education does not do it. Politics will not do it. Communism or Socialism has tried to do it, but has failed, and must ever fail. It fights against inevitable inequalities. Men, divided from one another in various ways, must be brought under one roof before God (Prov. xxii. 2). 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. Lord and Master was a great sufferer— was made perfect through suffering. "Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!" Her 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. THE PREACHER'S TASK. 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 was 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 and a summons to man. 1. A manifestation of God. He is the Author of the salvation, the Doer of the great and gracious things announced. When surveying a manufactory and its machinery, your thoughts turn to the manufacturer and the engineer. Going over a hospital, you think of the benevolence of the man by whom it was built and endowed. Studying the heavens and the earth, you think of their Maker's power and skill. So when you think of the Gospel, think of God. It is the medium through which He is best known. His full manifestation waited for the incarnation of His Son (H. E. I. 855-857). "The world by wisdom knew not God." That was true of the ancient world. It is true still. Men think and dream about God. But they do not know Him until they come in humility to the Cross. It reveals His holiness and His love. It shows Him righteous, yet delighting in mercy. And this representation of Him has ever been most effective in the reclamation of the heathen from idolatry. Judaism was comparatively uninfluential. When Christianity arose, the idols fell (1 Thess. i. 9, 10). The overthrow of ancient idolatry was the work of two or three hundred years. dern heathenism is falling in like manner before the manifestation of God in Christ as the redeeming God. 2. A summons to man. "Behold your God!" This is the action required on the part of those to whom the Gospel is addressed. Men must not turn away from the manifestation of God. If a prince were to show himself in an impoverished part of his dominions for the purpose of relieving the people's wants, would indifference become them? Would they not look to him? This is the look the Gospel demands. Behold Him with the eye Mo of faith. When you carry the Gospel to others, call upon them thus to behold Him. If there are those here who are not saved, we call on you thus to behold Him. As the Israelites, when bitten by the serpents, were told to look to the serpent of brass, we tell you to look to Jesus (John i. 29; Isa. xlv. 22). Helpless and ruined without Him, we proclaim salvation by Him, and call upon you to look and live. III. THEIR METHODS ARE PRESCRIBED. 1. For the message they must endeavour to secure publicity. "Get thee up into the high mountain," where you can be seen and heard. Go where the people are; seek the centres of population; avail yourselves of all circumstances to attract attention. 2. The message must be delivered with energy. "Lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up.' As if you believed in it, realised its importance, sympathised with its gladness. Bring into the announcement the vigour of mind and body that is born of earnest ness. " 3. The message must be proclaimed with courage. "Be not afraid." Fearless preaching carries authority and weight. The Gospel has never wanted men of such courage. And it is displayed. Recent offer of Christian young men in South Sea island to take the place of the teachers massacred in New Guinea. IV. THEIR SPHERE IS DEFINED. "Zion, Jerusalem, the cities of Judah." Every one must have a definite work. It will gradually expand from nearest relations and friends to neighbours, our country, the world. Tell it, brethren, because-1. It is time. 2. It is needed. 3. Its pro clamation is commanded. 4. Success is assured. 5. Faithful service will be rewarded.-J. Rawlinson. THE GOOD SHEPHERD. xl. 11. He shall feed His flock, &c. The Hebrews were, for the most part, a nation of shepherds. To them especi ally these declarations must have appeared full of beauty, tenderness, and life. I. THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 1. Who is this Shepherd? He who was foretold by the prophets (Ezek. xxxiv. 23; Micah v. 4, vii. 14). In the New Testament it is declared that these prophecies were fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Pet. v. 4; Heb. xiii. 20; John x. 11). 2. What is He? God as well as man (ver. 10; Zech. xiii. 7; Micah v. 4). Being truly God, He is well qualified to be "the Good Shepherd." He never slumbers nor sleeps. His knowledge is infinite, His power almighty, His resources limitless. He has in His heart infinite tenderness, which He manifested by dying for His flock. II. THE FLOCK FOR WHICH HE CARES. His flock? The people of God (Ps. c. 3). Weak, wandering, defenceless in themselves, they depend entirely upon Him for succour and safety. to save. The whole flock of Christ is known by distinct marks. 1. It is a little flock. Small compared with the great assembly of saints in heaven, or with the multitudes led captive by Satan. Not because He is unable or unwilling His fold is large enough for the whole world; its door is open for all mankind, and He stands at it inviting all to enter. The real reason (John iii. 19, v. 40). 2. It is a united flock. Its members live by "one faith" in "one Lord," and are united in principles, in affection, in conduct, in devotion, in destiny (H. E. I. 1202, 1203). 3. It is a holy flock. Holy in heart, in conversation, in conduct (H. E. I. 2831, 2856). Besides the marks which distinguish the whole flock of Christ, others distinguish its individual members. 1. A death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness (John iii. 5). 2. Hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd (John x. 3). 3. Following Him (John x. 4). III. HIS CARE FOR IT. Mark-1. His general care for His people. "He shall feed His flock like a shepherd." His eye watches over them; His arm protects them; His grace supplies their need (Ezek. xxxiv. 11-16). But 2. His peculiar tenderness to the young. "He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom." His tender care for children (Mark x. 13-16; Prov. viii. 17). For young converts. A lamb just dropped on a bleak mountain, where the cold wind rages, where the stormy rain descends, where the wolf, gaunt and grim, prowls around for prey;-such a lamb in such a state is a figure of young Christians in this wicked world. the Good Shepherd, who watches over them with infinite tenderness night and day, will support them in all their weakness and dangers, and succour them in all their wants and sorrows. When a shepherd sees a young lamb so weak that it cannot keep up with the rest of the flock, he does not leave it behind to die, but takes it up and carries it. Thus does Jesus (text). He pardons their sins, gives them peace, invigorates their souls, and enables them to go on their way (H. E. I. 961). 3. His singular compassion for the feeble and the burdened. "He shall gently lead those that are with young." Almighty, all-wise, all-merciful, He is well qualified to lead the afflicted. He will lead them in the right way, in the best way, gently. His sympathy and His succour will never fail them.-John Cawood, M.A.: Sermons, vol. i. pp. 363-378). JESUS AND THE LAMBS. xl. 11. He shall gather the lambs with His arm, &c. Greatness in league with gentleness, and power linked with affection pass before us in this chapter (vers. 10, 11). I Who are the lambs our Lord is said to gather and carry in His bosom ? 1. In a certain sense we may affirm that all His people are lambs. In so far |