"Come ye (he-each one-says) I will fetch wine, and we will intoxicate ourselves with strong drink, and like to-day (shall) to-morrow (be, of) exceeding great abundance," vs. 12. This addiction to intoxication and other debasing vices is indicated also in other passages. Chap. v. 11, 12, 22. Avarice, oppression, and sensuality are usually characteristics of religious teachers who make their office the mere instrument of their selfishness.

Chapter LVII. The prophet continues his delineation of the wickedness that was to prevail. He exhibits the people at large as depraved as the rulers and priests. The death of the righteous excited no alarm, no one regarded their removal as a blessing to them and a token that judgments were impending over the nation, vs. 1, 2. The boldest violators of the law abounded and perpetrated every species of wickedness without restraint and without shame, vs. 3-5. Idolaters especially descended to the most debasing of the practices of pagans, and displayed a frenzy in the service of their false deities, vs. 6, 11. Jehovah will manifest the worthlessness of their works and of their idols, vs. 12, 13. But he will be gracious to the humble and contrite who trust in him, though he will chastise them, vs. 14, 19. The wicked will never know peace, vs. 20, 21.

For

1. Hypocatastasis in substituting laying an event to heart, for considering the reason of it, or its import. "The righteous perisheth, and there is no man laying it to heart; and men of mercy are taken away, with none considering that the righteous is taken away from the presence of evil," vs. 1. Such insensibility at their departure indicates a total indifference to their character, and disbelief or forgetfulness that they are the objects of God's special care. their death at critical junctures, it is implied, is a deliverance to them; and is a signal that great evils are about to befall the community from which they are removed. The deluge was delayed till Noah had finished and entered into the ark. The tempest of fire and brimstone that fell on Sodom was not allowed to descend till Lot and his family had been led out of the city. The waters of the Red Sea, which withdrew on either side and gave a passage to the Israelites, did not, till they had reached the shore, recoil and overwhelm the Egyptians. And so of the

righteous who are taken from life; it is for their deliverance; it is often in order to special judgments on those who have no esteem of their character, or realization of their usefulness.

"He shall go in peace; they shall rest upon their beds. (who are) walking uprightly," vs. 12. They recognise the hand of God in the time and condition of their death, and know it is wisely and graciously ordered. They regard it as a summons to his presence, not a banishment from it, and they go in the calmness and serenity of perfect assurance; and their bodies rest in the grave in the promise of a resurrection at length to an immortal and glorious life.

2. Apostrophe. "But as for you, draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, seed of the adulterer and the harlot. Against whom do you sport yourselves? At whom do you spread the mouth, and extend the tongue?" vs. 3, 4. The people generally regarded the death of the righteous with indifference. These lawless and impious offenders openly mocked and jeered them; and doubtless because they worshipped Jehovah instead of the false gods to whom they paid their homage. Their mockery of them was therefore a mockery of him. And the representation that follows implies that they were very numerous. That they were sons of the sorceress and a seed of the adulterer, indicates that their ancestors were of the same debased and impious cast; and thence that these forms of gross sin had prevailed for a long period.

"Are you not children of rebellion, a seed of falsehood; inflaming yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree, slaughtering the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks," vs. 4, 5. They are themselves proper objects of contempt and scorn, for they are guilty of the most impious rebellion; they act the part of open apostates, in deserting the service of Jehovah, the god of their nation, to whom they have been consecrated, and offering worship to idols. The characteristics of their idolatry were, inflaming their sensual affections in the groves, where the idols were often stationed, and slaughtering children as victims, especially to Moloch, who was worshipped in that manner in the valley of Hinnom-rites at once the most polluted and the most cruel.

"Among the smooth (stones) of the valley (or stream) is thy portion; they are thy lot: Also, to them hast thou poured out a drink-offering, thou hast brought a meat offering. Shall I be satisfied for those (without vengeance)?" V. 6. By the smooth (stones) of the valley is meant, probably, their idols or representatives of their gods in the deep valley around Jerusalem. They were the portion, lot, or chosen place of worship to these idolaters, in contradistinction from the temple inclosure, which was consecrated to the worship of Jehovah. In that valley, a vast depository of carcases and other odious objects from the city; they offered their slaughtered children as victims to appease their gods, and there they presented offerings of bread, thereby falsely ascribing to Moloch, Baal, or Ashtaroth the gift of the fruits of the earth. Would Jehovah be pacified for these impious affronts, without any inflictions of vengeance?

The prophet next describes their idolatrous rites in another favorite scene: "On a high and elevated mountain hast thou placed thy bed; also there hast thou gone up to offer sacrifice. And behind the door, and the doorpost hast thou placed thy memorial: Far away from me thou hast uncovered and hast gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and hast covenanted with them: thou hast loved their bed, thou hast provided room," vs. 7, 8. Here the impure rites of idolatry are exhibited as the chief elements of the worship offered on the high mountains, and as contemplated by

the Israelites with desire.

"And thou hast gone to the king anointed, and hast multiplied thine unguents, and hast sent them ambassadors even to a far-off (land), and hast gone down even to hell," v. 9. Whether the aim of these measures was to render the rites more attractive to votaries, or more acceptable to the deities worshipped, or to gain the sanction of some monarch who was a worshipper of the same gods, and draw visitors and offerings from a distance, they bespoke extreme zeal.

"In the greatness of thy way thou hast labored: Thou hast not said There is no hope. Thou hast the (means of) life. of thy hands, therefore thou art not weak," vs. 10. That is, like a sorceress, you have employed every art within your power, you have never despaired, you have gained the means of subsistence, and therefore you are bold and strong.

3. Hypocatastasis in the use of laying to heart, for considering." And whom hast thou feared and been afraid of, that thou shouldst lie? And me thou hast not remembered, thou hast not laid to heart. Is it not (because) I hold my peace, and that of old, that thou wilt not fear me?" vs. 11. Who is it that they had so feared as to resort to such lying, as was involved in their worship of idols, while they still retained the name and profession of being Jehovah's people? Not their idols; for if they had truly regarded them as supreme deities, entitled to their homage, they ought not to have felt any hesitation in openly renouncing allegiance to Jehovah! And not Jehovah, for they had not remembered him, religiously, nor had any care for him. Whence, then, was this monstrous contradiction in their conduct? Was it not because he had delayed to avenge himself that they would not fear him? If so, he would soon judge them for their offences.

"I will declare thy righteousness and thy works; and they shall not profit thee. In thy crying, let thy gatherings save thee: But all of them the wind shall take up, and a breath shall take away," vs. 12, 13. To declare their righteousness and their works, will be to unfold the true character of their false religion and its effects. That manifestation will be made by inflicting judgments on them, from which it will be seen that their idols cannot deliver them. When in their anguish they cry for succor, Jehovah will leave them to learn, by experiment, the nothingness of their gods; instead of deities who defend their votaries, they will be like chaff which the wind bears away. Not so he who trusts in Jehovah. He shall be kept securely and crowned with salvation.

4. Apostrophe. "But he who trusts in me shall inherit the land, and possess my holy mountain. And he shall say, Cast up, cast up, clear the way, take up the stumbling block from the way of my people," vs. 13, 14.

5, 6, 7. Hypocatastases in the use of casting up earth, to form a road, clearing the way, and removing a stumbling block, for analogous measures for the preparation of the people for the coming of the Messiah. The figure is the same as is employed (chap. xl. 3-5,) to foreshow the office of John the Baptist, who was to announce the approach of

the Messiah and call the nation to prepare themselves, by repentance, for receiving him. While Jehovah will overwhelm the votaries of idols, and drive them into lasting exile, he will not desert those who trust him, but will recall them from banishment, and give them again to inherit the land of their ancestors, and to possess his holy mountain, Zion, which is consecrated for his worship.

"For thus saith the High and Exalted One, inhabiting eternity, and Holy is his name, in the high and holy (place) will I dwell; and with the broken and humble of spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the broken. For not to eternity will I contend, and not to perpetuity will I be wroth; for the spirit from before me will faint, and the souls I have made," vs. 15, 16. This implies that a long season of anger and chastisement was to pass before he would thus interpose to restore those who trust him to their ancestral land; and during that period of wrath the nation was to be in exile. It implies, also, that at its close, he will bring many of them to contrition for their sins, and will descend and impart a new life to them and dwell with them. It indicates, also, that his avenging judgments are then to cease: they are to be smitten no more, but restored to his favor. And this is in harmony with other predictions of his grace to them at that period. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned," chap. xl. 1, 2. "Behold I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again," li. 22.

8, 9. Hypocatastases in the use of turning away-an act of the body, for apostasy, and the way-the path of the heart for its mode of acting. "For his covetous iniquity I am wroth, and will smite him, (I will) hide me and be wroth; for he has gone on turning away in the way of his heart,” vs. 17. The judgments with which they are to be smitten will be because of their sins, and will be carried no further than to demonstrate the nothingness of their false gods, make a just expression of Jehovah's anger, and show that their salvation must come from him. He will not discontinue the tempest of vengeance which was to beat on them-the