He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope." Sermons I. THE SAVIOUR AND DIVINE CERTAINTY. He is expecting. All the true triumphs of the ages have been victories for him. What elevation to humanity has come with his truth! What beneficent enterprises have all had their inspiration from his cross! What fetters he has snapped! What prisons he has opened! All the vital forces of to-day are the forces he started in Judaea eighteen centuries ago. "He shall not fail;" for he lives to-day in ever-growing influence over the hearts of men. Madagascar has recently even, been won for his crown. We must, of course, take time into our estimate. "A thousand years are with the Lord as one day." It is a great work. His empire is the world. His kingdom is everlasting. The law of preparation seems related to the law of duration. A gourd springs up in a night but it lasts only for a day; whereas the oak, that monarch of the centuries, attains its perfection through the long course of yearn. We need not wonder that an "immortal kingdom" is of steady growth. II. THE SAVIOUR AND TRIUMPHANT ENDURANCE. "He shall not... be discouraged." There is, indeed, much that might discourage, the slow victories of goodness, the enmity of the carnal mind! But Christ sees of the travail of his soul. He is not like us. We have need of the counsel, "Judge nothing before the time;" but he sees the end from the beginning. What comfort this should be to all Christians! Why should we be discouraged? If the Leader is consciously invincible, how valiant and constant ought his followers to be! Discouragement means, on our part, unbelief. - W.M.S.
He shall not fail nor be discouraged. — Our God is the God of hope; and the Bible is the book of hope. If we are to be true servants of God and disciples of Jesus Christ we must be partakers of this glowing hopefulness. To be discouraged is to fail. To hope is to be strong. The prayer of St. Paul for the Christians in Rome we need often offer for ourselves (Romans 15:13). This strong hope is essential to the successful worker. The good soldier of Jesus has for his helmet the hope of salvation. The Spirit of God comes to impart this gift. Hope grows strong as it feeds upon the promises. Of every one of us this word should be true — "He shall not fail nor be discouraged." The hope of the world is in Jesus Christ. It is well to begin a little farther back, at Isaiah 41:28. Man cannot find within himself the remedy for the ills of humanity. But when all is black and hopeless, there is another "Behold." The rosy morning fills the sky. "Behold My servant whom I uphold," etc. The hope of God is in Him whom He hath appointed the Saviour of the world. And our hope is in beholding Him. Here is the unfailing spring of our hope. "He shall not fail, nor be discouraged." Let us look at this hope of our Saviour. It is broad based, and its foundation is deep. The tower of His confidence stands four-square to all the winds of heaven and all the blasts of hell.I. IT IS THE HOPE OF ONE WHO KNOWS THE NEEDS OF HUMANITY. There is a shallow hope that thinks it can heal men's wounds by hiding them; or that they can banish ill by giving it some scientific name which quite satisfies everybody. But let the mind go on to think of the sin about us — the thousand shapes of ill that throng and crowd each life; the hidden sins; the sins of our great cities. He knows it all as none else can ever know it — He who was the naked conscience of the world, and upon whom was laid the iniquity of us all. Yet of Him it is written: "He shall not fail nor be discouraged." II. THIS IS THE HOPE OF ONE WHO HAS A MOST LOFTY IDEAL. There is a shallow hope that is easily able to fulfil itself by bringing down the ideal of life until it fits the case. If you would have men what they should be, it is easily done — bring down what they should be to the level of what they are. Love may afford to be blind, but the strength of hope is in its eyes. A hope that cannot see what is, and can only see what is not, is a false hope. Hope, true hope, must take the measure of what is, and the full measure of what should be. This is the hope of Jesus Christ. III. THIS IS THE HOPE OF ONE WHO COMES INTO CONTACT WITH THE WORST SIDE OF THE WORST PEOPLE. A policeman said to me one day, "It is a very easy thing for you to have faith in folks, sir: but it is very hard for me." "Why so, my friend?" I asked. "Well," said he, "you see the best of folks and you see them at their best: you see them because they are good. But I see folks because they are bad. And when you see nothing but badness it is hard to have any faith in any goodness anywhere." I sympathised deeply with that man and with thousands who are in like evil case. But this triumphant hope of Jesus Christ is the hope of One whose life and work is in relation to sin. He knows the force of adverse circumstances. IV. THE HOPE OF JESUS CHRIST ARISES FROM HIS ESTIMATE OF MAN'S WORTH. Jesus Christ alone has made man worth more than gain or pleasure: and Jesus Christ alone can keep man so. V. THE HOPE OF JESUS CHRIST IS SEEN IN HIS METHOD (vers. 2, 3). Gentleness is the token of assured power. Bluster is commonly the mask of weakness and fear. Coercion, compulsion, are the methods of a baffled or a bewildered authority. Patient hopefulness, gentleness, brotherliness — these are the Divine methods of uplifting men. VI. THE HOPEFULNESS OF JESUS CHRIST IS ROOTED IN RIGHTEOUSNESS. "He shall set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for His law." There are those who have sought to remedy our social ills by pity without judgment and without law. Their gifts have pampered the transgressor and pauperised the poor. But the remedy of Jesus Christ is in "a new heart and a right spirit." (M. G. Pearae.) I. I am not surprised, however, that MEN ARE READY TO SAY THAT THIS PURPOSE MUST BE A FAILURE; for — 1. The aim is so great, the project so vast, that it seems to man impossible. There have been great kingdoms set up on this earth of ours. But there was never a kingdom which reached to its utmost bounds. 2. Men think Christianity must be a failure because the agencies seem inadequate. 3. Because it has not accomplished its work. 4. They tell us that Christianity is likely to be a failure because, they say, there is a conflict between science and religion. II. NOW LET US LOOK AT THIS SUBJECT. It is one of the favourite expressions of these men that in the order of this world there shall be the "survival of the fittest" — that the weaker shall pass away, and the stronger shall remain. How, if we contrast Christianity with other forms of religion, where shall we find its failure? We may say to-day, simply as a fact, that it still remains, and, surpassing any other system in its strength and beauty, we shall see its survival over all. 1. Compare it with Paganism in its palmiest hours — the days of the philosophy of Greece and the power of Rome, when its temples shone with splendour, when its poets sang with grace, when sculpture and architecture gathered around it their forms of beauty; when it had its legends of mythology; when it had its men of strength and power to be as pillars for it. Scepticism then existed. But all the scepticism of Greece or Rome never closed one temple, never dethroned one of their imaginary deities. In the midst of scepticism popular faith went right on, and the temples had their devotees and worshippers. Judaism taught the knowledge of the one true God, yet it made no advances against idolatry. On the other hand, idolatry brought its terrible fruits into the midst of Judaism, and the people who had heard the voice of the living God turned and served idols. But what sceptical philosophy could not do, and what Judaism could not do, Christianity has accomplished. Men without earthly power, men persecuted, men in prison, men reproached, went telling the story of a living and dying and ascended Christ, and as they told this story, the temples became deserted and the idols fell, until to-day there is not a god worshipped on earth that was worshipped in the time of the philosophy and glory of Greece and Rome. Christianity is making inroads everywhere. Paganism has gone, Brahmanism is going, and Confucianism is going down. Christianity is just raising herself. 2. But you tell me there is infidelity! And what is infidelity? A negation — a something not a belief. It is a negation of system; it has no system. Where are its temples? Where are its schools? Where are its hospitals? Where were they ever? What did it ever try to do for man anywhere, or in any land, as an organised system? There have been men, strong men, learned men, wise men, who have been infidel; but they have never embodied their creed in an organisation; they have never worked together powerfully for the elevation of the race. I was in Berlin with the Evangelical Alliance. I went to Potsdam to the old palace of Frederick. There we were shown into a room where some of us held our consultations. This was the room where Voltaire studied and wrote part of his works, where he and Frederick deemed they were about to overthrow Christianity. And yet in that very hall we came to consult about the best means of spreading Christianity over the world. Voltaire said he lived in the "twilight of Christianity," and so he did. But it was not, as he fancied, a twilight deepening into darkness, it was a twilight opening up into the brighter day; and the Sun of Righteousness shines now in spiritual beauty over our entire world. 3. But they tell us sometimes that the discoveries which are being made are unsettling the foundations of Christianity. 4. They tell us that Christianity has not done its work in the time it has run. I admit it. But what about it? These men want time for making this earth. They say it took millions of years. Won't you give me as much time to cure this world and turn sinners into saints as you want to turn a monkey into a man? They demand ages for the one, but are not willing to give us time for the other. The times are full of promise. Christianity is growing stronger. (Bp. M. Simpson, D. D.) II. THE DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY. III. THE ASSURED VICTORY OF CHRIST. (J. Fleming, B. D.) I. THE GODLIKE WORK WHICH THIS GREAT SERVANT OF JEHOVAH UNDERTAKES.II. THE GODLIKE FAITH AND PATIENCE WITH WHICH HE PROSECUTES IT TO ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT. (J. Kennedy, D. D.) Here is a servant of God, before whose eye a future golden age is not a shadowy hope or vision, but a clearly defined reality; and who Himself undertakes to bring it to pass. He will set judgment in the earth. Is He beside Himself? Is He befooled by a benevolent imagination? Is He a visionary dreamer, without knowledge of Himself or of mankind? If ever there was a sound mind, a perfect mind, in a human body, it was that of Jesus Christ — His very enemies being judges. And yet, with full purpose of soul, and with clear consciousness of the difficulty of the task, He undertakes to set judgment in the earth. How vast the undertaking is — in its breadth covering all the nations of men, in its depth penetrating to the thoughts and innermost passions of the human soul, in its height rising to the claims of the Eternal God — may be learned from the prophet who ascribes it to Him. Isaiah had formed no superficial estimate of the wrongness of the world. Men were wrong utterly in their relations to one another; wrong utterly in their relation to God; and wrong utterly in themselves.(J. Kennedy, D. D.) This is our answer to those who examine us concerning this matter.1. The slowness of the progress of Christianity, even if exaggerated in the statement of it, does not stagger our faith; for we see in it God's own manner of working. 2. The progress, or rather, no progress, of the world's own thinking in the highest regions of thought, during the period of the existence of Christianity, proves the world to be as dependent on the light of Christianity as it was eighteen hundred years ago. 3. While Christianity is as needful as ever, happily we have evidence that it is as mighty for good as ever. Nothing has yet occurred to shake our faith in Christ; and while our faith in Him remains unshaken, we shall confide in the prophetic oracle which assures us that He shall set judgment in the earth. (J. Kennedy, D. D.) Previous verses at the close of chap. 41. indicate the utter failure of the hope of man from man. How often it is so in human history; man fails to find leadership and help in man! In expounding the text, I shall need to open up the whole passage. Follow me, therefore, and obey the first word of the chapter, which is, "Behold."1. We are commanded at all times to behold the Son of God. But specially in cloudy and dark days ought we to behold Him. When after having looked, and looked long, you see no man and no counsellor, then this precept has an emphatic force about it," Behold My Servant, whom I uphold," and, when all other saviours fail, look to the Saviour whom God has set up. 2. Our great comfort is that the Lord Jesus Christ is always to be beheld. Behold Him, and your fears and sorrows will fly away. The text leads us to consider what is the work which Jesus Christ has undertaken, in which He will not fail nor be discouraged. He has come to "set judgment in the earth," and "the isles shall wait for His law." The earth is to be delivered from misrule and sin, and men are to be submissive to His instruction and direction. Whatever He has undertaken, He will perform; whatever commission He has received, He will fulfil. "He shall not fail nor be discouraged" till all His work is done. I believe in the final perseverance of the Lord Jesus Christ. I. LET THIS TRUTH BE CONSIDERED AND BELIEVED. 1. It is certainly a very marvellous enterprise which our Lord Jesus Christ has under taken. The salvation of a single soul involves a miracle. The salvation of myriads upon myriads of the human race: What shall I call it but a mountain of marvels? The problem staggers us. The systems of evil are colossal. The hold of evil on the race is terrible. Man is inveterately a sinner. By the use of an accursed logic he puts darkness for light and light for darkness, and thus stultifies his conscience, and hardens his heart. If, perchance, you convince his judgment, you have not won his affection, you have not carried his will, you have not subdued his mind. Nothing but Omnipotence itself can save a single soul. What must be that mighty power which shall cause nations to run unto the Lord! 2. The task is rendered the more severe because our Lord Jesus at this present works largely by a Church, which is a poor and faulty instrument for the accomplishment of His purpose. Let this battalion and the other waver as it may, He who holds the banner in the very centre of the fight will never be moved: He will hold the field against all comers. 3. Notice who He is that hath undertaken all this. "Behold My Servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth." He who is thus spoken of will not fail nor be discouraged for —(1) He is God's own special Servant.(2) Then God says of Him, "My servant, whom I uphold." If God upholds Him, how can He fail? The text may be read, "Behold My Servant upon whom I lean," and the picture is of a great Oriental monarch Who comes forth leaning upon a favourite lord, whom honours by placing him in that position, indicating thereby that he trusts his affairs with him, and regards him as his right-hand man, a very pillar of the State. We say it with reverence, God the Father leans on Jesus the Christ. He rests His honour and glory with the person of the incarnate God.(3) Then the Scripture adds this very significant word, "Mine elect in whom My soul delighteth." The chosen of God, the most choice one that God knows, shall He prove a failure? God said of the world, that it was very good; but we read not that His soul delighted in it: but, see, the very soul of the God-head is moved and filled with delight because of the Saviour, commissioned to redeem.(4) Furthermore, our Lord is the abiding-place of the Holy Spirit. "I have put My Spirit upon Him." He who is owned, honoured, trusted, sustained, loved, and anointed of God cannot but be successful.(5) The success of Jesus is guaranteed by the decree of God. It is written, "He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." Oh, those blessed "shalls" and "wills"! 4. It may be that at times we fear that the Gospel is not prospering nor fulfilling the purpose for which God hath sent it. Possibly this may arise out of our Lord s way of working, which is so different from what our minds would choose. "He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street." You are in an awful hurry, are you not? But He is never in haste. You would make a great stir and noise, but Jesus will not thus spread the Gospel. You would go out and fight all the enemies of truth, and set clamour against clamour, cry against cry; but "He shall not strive." You would shout, and rage, and rave; but He shall not cry. You would advertise to the ends of the earth; but He shall not cause His voice to be heard in the street. When Mohammed commenced his enterprise he announced that Paradise was to be found beneath the shadow of swords, and numbers of brave men rushed to the battle; they swept everything before them, and stained continents with blood: they carried the name of Allah and Mohammed over Asia and Northern Africa, and seemed intent on conquering Europe: and yet the work done will not endure. The prophet and his caliphs did indeed strive, and cry, and cause their voices to be heard in the street: but Christ's system is the very reverse of that. Behold His battle-axe and weapons of war! Truth Divinely strong, with no human force at the back of it but that of holiness and love; a Gospel full of gentleness and mercy to men, proclaimed not by the silver trumpets of kings, but by the plain voices of lowly men. The Kingdom comes by the Holy Spirit dropping like dew on human hearts, and fertilising them with a Divine life. 5. Note well the spirit in which He works. "A bruised reed," etc. You cannot work in hot haste in this spirit. Gentleness makes good and sure speed, but it cannot endure rashness and heat. We know reformers who, if they had the power, would be like bulls in a china-shop; they would do a great deal in a very short time. But the world's best Friend is not given to quench and bruise. II. LET THIS TRUTH BE BELIEVED AND ENJOYED. 1. Enjoy it by recollecting that Jesus has finished the work for His people. 2. He will finish the work in His believing people. 3. He will finish His work by His people. If you have the Revised Version, the margin will give you some rather singular information. The text might be read thus: "A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: yet He shall not burn dimly nor be bruised." Though He deals with bruised reeds and smoking flaxes, yet He Himself is not crushed, nor does His light become a mere glimmer. 4. The text has in it great comfort to those of you who are as yet outside of the Church of God. Read the sixth and seventh verses — "He shall not fail nor be discouraged," till He has done, what? — the Divine will, and this is a part of it: "To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house." Turn your sightless eyeballs this way. "Ah!" saith one, "but I am worse than that, I am shut up in prison." Read the seventh verse again: — "To bring out the prisoners from the prison." "Oh, but," saith one, "in my case it is blindness and slavery united." Listen, then! He has come to "bring them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house." ( C. H. Spurgeon.) I. THE OBSTACLES WHICH JESUS CHRIST MEETS IN HIS WORK OF KINDNESS TO MAN.1. We may advert to these obstacles as they are general, as they attach to man under all circumstances. 2. But let us advert to the obstacles which any single human being presents to Christ when He comes forth in the power of His grace to seek and to save! Let any man look into his own heart, let him advert(1) To the nature and bent of his inclinations.(2) To his indisposedness to receive instruction.(3) To the use which he makes of that instruction when received; and he will be at no loss to discover the difficulties which lie in the path of his Deliverer. II. THE PATIENCE WITH WHICH HE ENCOUNTERS THOSE OBSTACLES. III. THE VICTORY OVER THEM WITH WHICH HIS EFFORTS WILL ULTIMATELY BE CROWNED. (G. T. Noel, M. A.) Original Secession Magazine. I. THE GREAT WORK WITH WHICH CHRIST, AS THE FATHER'S SERVANT, IS HERE DECLARED TO BE ENTRUSTED. It is the work of setting judgment in the earth, so that the isles shall wait for His law. As the Father's Servant in the economy of redemption, Christ has been set King upon the holy hill of Zion, and constituted Head over all things for the Church which is His body.1. What is it to set judgment in the earth? By "judgment" here and in the preceding verses, we are evidently to understand true religion — the faith of the Gospel — Christianity in its widest acceptation, as embodying the rule of Christ's righteous administration — the grand regulating principles of all His administrative acts. And so to set judgment in the earth means to establish the Christian religion throughout the world. The term "law" in the latter clause of the text, while it has much the same meaning as judgment, may be viewed as denoting, in particular, God's written Word, considered specially as a rule of life and duty. For this the "isles" — a poetical expression for the distant Gentile nations — "shall wait." That is, either they shall wait with a vague unconscious longing until it come to them, they remaining in darkness and spiritual death till its blessed life-giving light dawn upon them; or, the meaning more probably is, when judgment is being set in the earth, the nations shall embrace it as the means of their enlightenment and regeneration, and shall wait on Christ as their King, to receive and submit to His law as the supreme rule of all their conduct. So in Matthew we find this clause paraphrased thus — "In His name shall the Gentiles trust." 2. That there is most urgent need for this work of setting judgment in the earth, and bringing the isles to wait for Christ's law being done, is what none will question who believe that God made man upright, but that he hath sought out many inventions. Men individually in their natural condition, and the nations of the earth in their national capacity, are in a state of open determined revolt against the Most High. But has nothing been done in the way of fulfilling this hope-inspiring prediction? Since these words were uttered, not a little has been effected in this direction. Most evident it is, however, that aa yet it is but the day of small things in this work. 3. And truly a stupendous task this is — a task which none but He on whose shoulder the government has been laid, and to whom it has been entrusted, could ever hope to effect — the task of setting judgment "in the earth"; not in one land or over one continent only, but in every land and among every people under heaven, whatever their condition and character. 4. Not less beneficent in its character is this work than stupendous in its nature. For it involves the present highest well-being of men as individuals, as families, as Churches, and as nations, as well as the future eternal welfare of untold myriads of precious souls. This mighty, beneficent, God-glorifying work of setting judgment in the earth includes —(1) The world-wide diffusion of the Word of God and proclamation of the Gospel of Christ, and the needed opening up of the way for these.(2) The believing acceptance of the saving truths of the Gospel by those who hear it.(3) As the result of the universal diffusion of the Gospel, accompanied by the working of God's Spirit upon men's minds and hearts, there must come a world-wide profession of faith in Christ and subjection to His authority, along with practical godliness in the daily life.(4) "And the isles shall wait for His law." These words clearly teach us that the setting of judgment in the earth includes, or will issue in, the universal subjection of the nations to the law of Christ as the rule of their conduct. The Statute-books of the nations will be purged, and nothing but laws fully sanctioned by, and consistent with, the law of Christ shall find a place there. Regulated by Christ's law in all their national transactions, the nations in which judgment is set, will, out of regard to the honour of their Divine Governor, be solicitous to choose and appoint as rulers only those who possess the character and qualifications which God's Word prescribes. II. THE MANNER AND SPIRIT IN WHICH THIS STUPENDOUS WORK IS TO BE CARRIED ON AND THE CERTAINTY OF ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT. "He shall not fail nor be discouraged till He have set judgment in the earth." 1. How is all this to be brought about? Not miraculously, but through human instrumentality, accompanied by the prospering blessing of God's Spirit. As to the spirit in which this work was to be carried on by Him to whom it was entrusted, we learn something both from the text and the preceding context. But if this was the Messiah's spirit, as it is His spirit still, it was not because He lacked strength or courage to assert Himself against His enemies. As He does not conquer by violence, but by gentleness, so He shall not be arrested and conquered by violent opposition. No foe that comes against Him, and no weapon formed against His cause and kingdom, shall ever prosper. 2. Notice the blessed certainty of the accomplishment of this great work, which the emphatic form of expression here employed holds out to us. "He shall not fail nor be discouraged." And why shall He not fail? God has promised it and confirmed His promise with an oath, and what God has promised and sworn can never fail of accomplishment. All power has been given to Christ as Mediator for this very purpose. And He makes this cheering fact the foundation on which He rests the great commission to His Church. "All power is given unto Me — go ye therefore and disciple all nations." For the accomplishment of this blessed work on earth the whole Church has been looking and longing, praying and labouring, are after age, ever since she was called into existence; and these longing anticipations — these fervent prayers — these earnest labours, the result of supernatural influence, shall not be in vain. Conclustion —(1) This subject shows us what is the grand duty of the Christian Church as a whole, and in all her sections and members; it is just, as workers together with Christ, to labour zealously, unweariedly, in the noble enterprise of setting judgment in the earth.(2) In carrying on her great mission in the world, the Church in all her parts and members should seek to be brought into fuller sympathy with her living Head and to drink more and more deeply into His spirit.(3) Greater encouragement to take part in the on-carrying of this great work, and to persevere unweariedly and hopefully in it, in the face of all discouragement and opposition, we could not have, than what is here given us.(4) Is it so that Christ shall not fail nor be discouraged? And are we enlisted under His banner and leadership? Then surely we ought not faint-heartedly to fail or be discouraged in holding fast the truth as it is in Him, and in exhibiting a testimony in its behalf.(5) Nor should we fail or be discouraged in holding forth the Word of life to our benighted and .perishing fellow-men, but should persevere and abound yet more and more, in our missionary efforts at home and abroad.(6) He who as Lord of all is engaged in this mighty work of setting judgment in the earth, is also the Advocate with the Father, pleading His people s cause, and securing that their prayers shall be heard. (Original Secession Magazine.) 1. Christianity possesses the qualities which constitute it of right the universal religion.2. Its author has undertaken to make it the universal religion in fact. 3. He will be ultimately completely successful, as prophecy clearly declares. I. CHRISTIANITY HAS THE ELEMENTS OF TRUTH AND ADAPTATION IN SUCH PERFECTION AS TO BE SUFFICIENT FOR ALL RACES AND ALL TIMES. In making this claim it is not necessary to deny whatever of good may exist in other religions. If we contemplate the subject philosophically, judging of it by the wants of human nature, we reach the inevitable conclusion that it is fitted to be the universal religion. But we are here led to inquire: What is religion in its essential nature apart from all the forms in which it may incarnate itself? The universal religion, call it by what name you will, must give such a revelation of the Author and Ruler of all things, and of man's relations to Him here and hereafter, as to render it certain that man can, despite sin and death, attain to everlasting blessedness. 1. Its sufficiency must be settled by practical tests. The life after death must be made so certain as to be the chief and abiding source of man's present happiness, and motive in his greatest efforts and activities. This implies forgiveness of sin and victory over death, and also consciousness of obedience to God. This soul. rest from bondage to the fear of death the universal religion must provide. 2. It must provide for responsible man at every stage of his development — in its movements from deepest ignorance to the highest possible attainments of which he is capable. It must go to the sheerest idolater, to the lowest peasant, to him who is highest in authority; must meet the wants of the most enlightened sage. It must be the chief stimulus of civilisation. Science cannot overthrow it, civilisation cannot dispense with it. 3. It must meet the wants of every race. 4. This universal religion must have the power to renew itself from time to time, to prevent its becoming an empty form- a dead letter. However we may account for it, there is a strange power in Christianity to renew itself m great reformations and revivals- to renew itself in individuals and in the race. II. THE AUTHOR OF CHRISTIANITY HAS REVEALED IT AS HIS PURPOSE TO PUSH ITS CONQUESTS UNTIL IT SUPERSEDES ALL OTHER RELIGIONS. The living power by which this religion renews itself as perpetually as nature renews the face of the earth in every returning spring, the Messiah promised to pour out upon His disciples till all nations are instructed in His principles, and yield a hearty obedience to Him. The true conception of Christianity , therefore, is not that of a sage who proclaims a system, and, dying, leaves it to work its own way in a hostile world; but rather of One who has given His life to seal its truth, and, rising from the dead, comes back to His disciples to fill them with supernatural energy, that under His personal supervision they may go forward to its complete establishment. Thus the best test of the true Church is found in her members working along the line of this universal conquest. The Christian conquest is distinguished from any other which may bear a possible semblance to it, by the peculiar and subordinate sphere which all physical power in governmental relations must sustain to it. III. In ancient times, when the warrior returned from battle with his trophies, he adorned with them the heathen temples. Under this imagery THE HOLY PROPHETS FORETELL THE GOOD TIME COMING WHEN ALL NATIONS WILL ADORN THE TEMPLE OF CHRIST with all the boundless resources of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures. (C. Graham.) 1. It seems not unreasonable to think that, since the plan of redemption has been from the beginning of the world the great object of the Divine dispensations, and since means so very striking and unusual have been employed in brining it forward, it will surely produce effects, even in this world, proportionable to the magnitude of the preparation.2. But it will be said, if Christianity for so many ages has made little progress in the world, and if, even among its professing followers, its influence is far from being productive of universal holiness, what reason can we have for supposing that it will ever be otherwise? 3. Observe that the corruptions which have obscured the lustre of the Gospel, originally owing to the mixture of human speculations, were long fostered by a system of priestcraft, which, being once detected, is the less likely again to arise. Under that system men gradually acquired the power of shutting out from their brethren the pure sources of knowledge, and thus innumerable errors and prejudices were propagated, the effects of which have not wholly disappeared even in our own days. But the circumstances of the world are now so much improved, that it does not seem possible any such power will be ever again acquired, or at least retained for any considerable length of time. And further, there is in the mind of man so strong a thirst for knowledge, that some, according to their talents and opportunities, are always arising to search after it; and we may rest assured that this thirst for knowledge, aided by Christian zeal, will extend to the interesting truths of revelation, as well as to the various branches of human science. 4. But let it be granted that the Gospel, through the progress of inquiry, shall be restored even to its simplest form, and its excellence and truth clearly displayed; still, what reason have we to think that men's lives will be universally influenced by it, since hitherto that has been so far from being the case, that, on the contrary, infidelity seems to have kept pace with the increase of knowledge? With respect to increasing infidelity, it is nothing more than might naturally be expected when, after a long period of ignorance, prejudice, and even imposture, men first begin to inquire and discuss. The evil is only temporary, and will cease with the causes which lead to it. Men will at length return from the extremes into which they run. 5. With respect to the influence which pure Christianity may be expected to have on its votaries, we observe —(1) That a difference of circumstances may be expected to produce a difference of effects.(2) The more the native beauty of the Gospel appears, men will be the more likely to embrace it with sincerity, and for its own sake.(3) When Christianity is wholly disencumbered of the tenets and observances which obstruct its reforming power; when it is universally admitted to be a doctrine according to godliness; when the illusions by which men foster their negligence, and the pleas by which they lull asleep their consciences, are all given up; when the truth is clearly and fully understood, that without real, heartfelt holiness no man shall see God, — we may with safety conclude that then the moral and sanctifying spirit of the Gospel will acquire an influence far beyond anything we have yet seen. 6. It may perhaps be said that little hope can be entertained of so favourable a change on the hearts and lives of men, unless human nature be itself changed; since, in all past ages, mankind have been imperiously hurried away by the strength of their passions. But it is equally certain that these are not uncontrollable; since, though not wholly subdued, for that would be hurtful, they have been, at an earlier or later period of life, gradually brought under subjection by multitudes of good men in all ages. They are inflamed, besides, by example, and by the temptations which mankind throw in one another's way; and surely it is conceivable that these are circumstances which may not only gradually cease to inflame, but may come at length, in the progress of improvement, rather to check the undue indulgence of our passions. Consider, moreover, the power of habits formed before the heart be yet hardened, or the feelings blunted; and is it not possible that to the instruction of the young a growing attention may be paid, and endeavours be more earnestly and universally employed to instil into them from their tenderest years the habits of piety and virtue? Were this supposition realised, it alone, independent of all other circumstances, would powerfully contribute to that universal diffusion of the influence of Christianity which we are taught to expect. 7. We may appeal to experience. We know what the Gospel can accomplish, from the example of many individuals. Should it be admitted that the effects now enumerated may very naturally arise at length within the limits of the Christian Church, it will follow, as a just conclusion, that the Gospel may then be expected to spread over all lands. 8. There is a further consideration, of very high importance. It is, that by means of prophecy, there is an evidence for the truth of the Gospel provided, which will accumulate as ages advance. 9. We may add that, the world being wholly under the administration of that Divine Being who watches over the interests of Christianity, the ordinary course of human events will doubtless concur with the progress of the Gospel, and both tend to the same point. 10. Practical observations.(1) Next to heaven itself, there is not perhaps a more elevating subject of contemplation than the state of things which shall take place during the Messiah's reign on earth.(2) From what has been said, let us draw a confirmation of our faith. The present system of things will not be dissolved till the Gospel have wrought out its final triumph, and be preached for a witness to all nations.(3) Since we know that righteousness and truth are finally to prevail, let it encourage us to promote that great object.(4) The prophecies of Scripture are partly given, that they who believe may possess their souls in patience. (T. S. Hardie, D. D.) Homilist. I. MORAL RECTITUDE IS THE GREAT WANT OF THE WORLD. We take the words "judgment" and "law" as expressing the same generic idea — rectitude; that is, a rightness in man in all the powers and operations of his soul, and in all his relations to God and the universe. This rectitude is his want of wants. The want of it involves the want of all other good.1. Rectitude will put an end to all the painful feelings which afflict the individual soul. Conflict of passions — fear — jealousy — envy — ambition — remorse; these, and kindred feelings which torment the individual soul, will all disappear when rectitude is established. 2. Rectitude will put an end to all the social evils which afflict the state. Monopoly — injustice — oppression — cupidity — the source of poverty and feuds — would all go were rectitude established. 3. Rectitude would put an end to all religious evils which afflict the world. Rectitude is the panacea; it will heal all the evils. Well may the "isles wait" for it. Universal conscience is crying out for rectitude. The fact that they wait for it implies — (1) (2) (3) II. THERE IS A GLORIOUS BEING ENGAGED TO ESTABLISH RECTITUDE IN THE WORLD. "He shall not fail." Who is He? The "Servant," the "Elect" of Jehovah. Christ's work is to establish rectitude. He died, and lives again, "to put away sin." 1. His life gives the highest expression of rectitude. 2. His death gives the highest motives to rectitude. 3. His Spirit supplies the highest helps to rectitude. III. THIS WORK OF ESTABLISHING RECTITUDE IS CARRIED ON WITH INVINCIBLE PERSEVERANCE. "He shall not fail," etc. There are four things which cause men to fail and be discouraged in an enterprise — 1. The want, at the outset, of a full appreciation of all the difficulties that would arise in the working of it out to completion. But Christ saw the end from the beginning. All the arguments of infidelity, all the efforts of persecutors, all the opposition which prejudice, craft, and depravity would ever raise in any age, He foresaw, and was prepared to meet. 2. The want of a thorough sympathy with the undertaking. Men sometimes begin a work from certain motives — gain or fame, or it may be from benevolence-but with no hearty sympathy; and the consequence is that their little interest in it gradually decreases, until at last they give it up altogether; they "fail" and are "discouraged." Will Christ never "fail or be discouraged "on this account? Never! His whole heart is in it. He has proved His interest in it by giving His life to promote it. 3. The want of a thorough acquiescence of the conscience in the undertaking. Men sometimes begin a work, and they find that it is not such that their conscience approves of. Though it may be lucrative — though it may lead them to fortune and fame — yet their conscience disapproves it; and by its constant rebukes they are forced to give it up. But Christ will never "fail nor be discouraged" on this account. It is a righteous enterprise; it is fulfilling the will of Heaven. 4. The want o f time to complete the undertaking. Men often begin a work to which they attach vast importance, and which meets the entire sympathies of their hearts and consciences, and fail in its accomplishment for the want of time. Death comes and breaks our purposes, and leaves our work undone. But Christ will never "fail nor be discouraged" on this account. He is alive to live for ever. Let us have faith in the work of establishing rectitude in the world. (Homilist.) (H. Macmillan, D. D.) (H. Macmillan, D. D.) (H. Macmillan, D. D.) (H. Macmillan, D. D.) (H. Macmillan, D. D.) 4248 islands 2042 Christ, justice of 6641 election, responsibilities How to Make Use of Christ as the Truth, when Error Prevaileth, and the Spirit of Error Carrieth Many Away. Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant Words of Counsel. The Blessed Journey China Evangelized. The Prophet Hosea. Prayer Taught and Encouraged. Book ix. Epistle i. To Januarius, Bishop of Caralis (Cagliari). "But if we Walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, we have Fellowship one with Another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His "And He is the Propitiation," The Introduction, with Some General Observations from the Cohesion. 1872-1874. Letter from Rev. A. M. W. Christopher --Letter from Gulf of St. Lawrence-Mrs. Birt's Sheltering Home, Liverpool --Letter to Mrs. Merry --Letter from Canada --Miss The Credibility of Scripture Sufficiently Proved in So Far as Natural Reason Admits. The Purpose in the Coming of Jesus. How to Make Use of Christ, as Truth, for Comfort, when Truth is Oppressed and Born Down. Jesus Heals Multitudes Beside the Sea of Galilee. Messiah the Son of God God's Glory the Chief End of Man's Being "We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. " Of the Unity of the Godhead and the Trinity of Persons Covenanting Provided for in the Everlasting Covenant. Covenanting Adapted to the Moral Constitution of Man. |
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