bly, where the Divine Preacher spoke the Beatitudes. Not from an ivory throne on golden pavement, beneath a roof of carved cedar, and surrounded by admiring courtiers, but on the hill-top, — the green sod beneath, the skies above, and the unhonored band of peasant disciples around, the Divine Preacher discoursed of the Heavenly Father, the worth of a loving spirit, the reality of the eternal life, the benignity of Divine Providence. He himself could not but think of the contrast, not reminded of it by any palace seen afar, or any robes of Tyrian dye in the assembly. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, not even Solomon, in all his glory, was arrayed like one of these."

Holy Teacher of a divine faith and Giver of an immortal hope, thou greater than Solomon, we need thy heavenly ray, or wisdom becomes folly, and knowledge dispels the illusions of ignorance, and brings no joy like the charm that has gone. Sadly have the learned of our own day, who have severed science from faith, had reason to repeat the Hebrew. lament:

"For in much wisdom is much grief:

And he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." Melancholy indeed is much of the noted wisdom of this century and the last. What darkness in the boasted light that beams from maxims like Rochefoucauld's, and theories like D'Holbach's! What desolation in many of the noted oracles of our time! — the serpent hiss of Mephistopheles' whisper, not the still, small voice of the Eternal Word. O, let the Greater than Solomon be our interpreter of life, nature, man, God, and light eternal beams upon all things, and the

Proverbs of the sage, thus irradiated, consummated, like the Psalms of the bard, breathe a divine spirit, and are filled as with living water. In the Proverb as in the Psalm we recognize a presence of the Eternal Word greater even than their authors' thought, since for us the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

VII.

ISAIAH AND THE PROPHETS.

WE close, in this essay, our survey of the representative men among the ancient Hebrews. Our aim has been to portray the leading character in each class of the Hebrew fathers. Abraham, Moses, Aaron, Saul, David, Solomon, the patriarch, lawgiver, priest, king, poet, sage, have passed before us in brief review. We add, now, one name more, the chief of a renowned and mighty class, the man first among the prophets in the Scriptural canon, first, too, in elevation of soul, range of vision, extent of influence. Last, not least, Isaiah now claims our attention. Man of the future as he eminently was, he should be regarded with new interest, as opening ages reveal things to

come.

Yet there is a great difficulty in the way of treating this subject duly. There is little of personal adventure, nay, little of personal history, in the record of his career. He seems more like a voice than a personage, a spirit without embodiment, like the bird unseen in the upper air, enchanting the earth below with melody.

66 Higher still and higher

From the earth thou springest,

Like a cloud of fire;

The deep blue thou wingest,

And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest."

We deal now, therefore, with no romantic adventurer, no stories of life amid the perils of the camp or the pageants of the court. Isaiah was the voice of God to his own age, and to his age the interpreter of futurity. The first point, then, needed to be considered, in order to the right understanding of his mission, is the state of the nation in his time.

From the age of Solomon to that of Isaiah, the interval is great, but greater far when measured by the revolution and wreck of the empire than by the lapse of more than two centuries. Upon the death of Solomon the kingdom had been divided, and the ten tribes of Israel had separated themselves from the two tribes of Judah, from the city, altar, and throne of David. The burden of the Hebrew annals becomes now the record of the fortunes of these rival powers. With the temple, the tombs of kings, and peculiar associations with the golden age of the theocracy, the little kingdom of Judah inherited most of the ancient enthusiasm for the Law. Her priesthood, although far from being spotless, were most faithful to their calling, less prone to idolatry, whilst, so far as the Scriptures indicate, to her sons, with but a single exception, the sacred fire of prophecy alone was given. By the prophets, Judah gained a sway over mankind beyond all that she lost by the revolt of the ten tribes under the infatuated son of Solomon.

The great prophets were trained up in dark times, and their words of hope are as nightingale notes. The glory of the empire had been broken. In Israel the

rites of Baal and Astarte not seldom were celebrated on hills of old consecrated to Jehovah. Nor was Judah exempt from shame and harm. Jehoram was not much better than Ahab, and Athaliah, the queen usurper, with a passion for intrigue and bloodshed like the infamous Catherine de Medicis, rivalled in wickedness Jezebel, the wife of Ahab and daughter of the idolatrous Sidonian. The empire, thus severed and corrupted, became a tempting prize to the surrounding nations, so long kept at bay by the arms of David and the policy of Solomon. Assyria, Syria, and Egypt lead the host of enemies, whilst Philistia, Edom, Moab, follow in their train.

Such was the age in which the prophet, so fitly styled evangelical, was called to his work. In some respects a period of decay, it was in other respects a forming period. During the prophet's life, the great empire of Babylon was founded upon the wreck of the Assyrian; Rome, too, then had her beginning, whilst Carthage and Macedon, the nations of Hannibal and Alexander, were not a century old. The date of the prophet's call is the last year of Uzziah's reign, the year 759 B. C.

What was the nature of his call, the source of his inspiration, is obvious at once, if we apply the simplest principles of interpretation to his own statement of the event. He had a vision in his early years, when not more than twenty years old, one of those daydreams which so often decide a man's destiny. He realized as never before the providence of God in the fortunes of the chosen nation. Jehovah appeared to him, attended by the hallowed images connected with the temple worship. The seraphim, whose sculptured