Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls. For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. These verses have been thus translated: "Therefore will I lament and howl; I will go spoiled and naked; I will keep lamentation like the jackats, and mourning like the ostriches. For her stripes are malignant; for it comes to Judah, reaches to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem." Micah's intention is not only to exhibit publicly his mourning for the approaching calamity of Judah, but also to set forth in a symbolical form the fate that awaits the Judaeans. And he can only do this by including himself in the nation, and exhibiting the fate of the nation in his own person. "Wailing like jackals and ostriches is a loud, strong, mournful cry, those animals being distinguished by a mournful wail." We shall take these words as suggesting the subject of moral incurableness. Samaria and Jerusalem were, in a material and political sense, in a desperate and hopeless condition. Our subject is moral ineffableness, and we make two remarks concerning it.

I. IT IS A CONDITION INTO WHICH MEN MAY FALL.

1. Mental philosophy shows this. Such is the constitution of the human mind, that the repetition of an act can generate an uncontrollable tendency to repeat it; and the repetition of a sin deadens altogether that moral sensibility which constitutionally recoils from the wrong. The mind often makes habit, not only second nature, but the sovereign of nature.

2. Observation shows this. That man's circle of acquaintance must be exceedingly limited who does not know men who become morally incurable. There are incurable liars, incurable misers, incurable sensualists, and incurable drunkards. No moral logician, however great his dialectic skill, can forge an argument strong enough to move them from their old ways, even when urged by the seraphic fervour of the highest rhetoric.

3. The Bible shows this. What did Solomon mean when he said, "Speak not in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words" (Proverbs 23:9)? What did Christ mean when he said, "Give not that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine"? And again, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes"? We often speak of retribution as if it always lay beyond the grave, and the day of grace as extending through the whole life of man; but such is not the fact. Retribution begins with many men here; the day of grace terminates with many before the day of death. There are those who reach an unconvertible state; their characters are stereotyped and fixed as eternity.

II. IT IS A CONDITION FOR THE PROFOUNDEST LAMENTATION. At the desperate condition of his country the prophet is brought into the most poignant distress. "Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls." Christ wept when he considered the moral incurableness of the men of Jerusalem. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" etc. There is no sight more distressing than the sight of a morally incurable soul. There is no building that I pass that strikes me with greater sadness than the Hospital for "Incurables;" but what are incurable bodies compared to morally incurable souls? There are anodynes that may deaden their bodily pains, and death will relieve them of their torture; but a morally incurable soul is destined to pass into anguish, intense and more intense as existence runs on, and peradventure without end. The incurable body may not necessarily be an injury to others; but a morally incurable soul must be a curse as long as it lives. Were we truly alive to the moral state of wicked men around us, we should be ready to break out in the words of the prophet, "Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked," etc. - D.T.

Samaria and Jerusalem were, in a material and political sense, in a desperate and hopeless condition.

I. MORAL INCURABLENESS IS A CONDITION INTO WHICH MEN MAY FALL.

1. Mental philosophy shows this. Such is the constitution of the human mind, that the repetition of an act can generate an uncontrollable tendency to repeat it; and the repetition of a sin deadens altogether that moral sensibility which constitutionally recoils from the wrong. The mind often makes habit, not only second nature, but the sovereign of nature.

2. Observation shows this. That man's circle of acquaintance must be exceedingly limited who does not know men who become morally incurable. There are incurable liars, incurable misers, incurable sensualists, and incurable drunkards. No moral logician, however great his dialectic skill, can forge an argument strong enough to move them from their old ways, even when urged by the seraphic fervour of the highest rhetoric.

3. The Bible shows this. "Speak not in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words." "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes." We often speak of retribution as if it always lay beyond the grave, and the day of grace as extending through the whole life of man; but such is not the fact. Retribution begins with many men here.

II. IT IS A CONDITION FOR THE PROFOUNDEST LAMENTATION. "Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked. I will make a wailing like the dragons and mourning as the owls." Christ wept when He considered the moral incurableness of the men of Jerusalem. There is no sight more distressing than the sight of a morally incurable soul. There is no building that I pass that strikes me with greater sadness than the Hospital for "Incurables"; but what are incurable bodies, compared to morally incurable souls? There are anodynes that may deaden their pains, and death will relieve them of their torture; but a morally incurable soul is destined to pass into anguish, intense and more intense as existence runs on, and peradventure without end. The incurable body may not necessarily be an injury to others; but a morally incurable soul must be a curse as long as it lives.

(Homilist.)