_The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them_ THE BLESSINGS OF THE GOSPEL The thirty-fourth and the thirty-fifth Chapter s of Isaiah are by the best scholars supposed to constitute one entire and complete prophecy, not connected specially, or at least organically, with what goes b... [ Continue Reading ]
_Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees._ WEAK HANDS AND FEEBLE KNEES I. I shall attempt to show THE IMPORTANCE OF HANDS AND KNEES IN GOING TO HEAVEN. The hands and knees are those parts of the body in which the effects of fear are the most easily seen. Of course, the root of d... [ Continue Reading ]
_Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not_ COMFORT FOR THE FEARFUL Presumption and fear are the Scylla and Charybdis of the Christian life, and it requires Divine guidance, together with all our own watchfulness, to steer safely between them. My object is, to suit the case of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened_ GOOD HOPE FOR THE AFFLICTED I. This joyful prediction was literally fulfilled in the MIRACULOUS CURES WHICH OUR LORD PERFORMED IN THE DAYS OF HIS FLESH. II. The cheering prediction is spiritually fulfilled, in THE EXPERIENCE OF SINNERS, IN THE DAY OF C... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then shall the lame man leap as an hart_ A THREEFOLD PROMISE 1. Banished crutch. 2. Accentuation of speechless tongue. 3. Irrigated Sahara. (_T. De Wilt Talmage, D. D_.) AND THE TONGUE OF THE DUMB SING Dumb singers I. NOTE THE PERSONS WHOM GOD HAS CHOSEN TO SING HIS SONGS FOR EVER. “The ton... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the parched ground shall become a pool_ THE MIRAGE OF THE DESERT We must understand these words as they would be understood in the East. The parched ground is rich in what is known as mirage--the image of water, a sheen that cheats the eye, and so successfully cheats it that the thirsty trav... [ Continue Reading ]
_And an highway shall be there_ HIGHWAYS Highways are among the characteristic features of civilisation in a country, since they are the means of regular and easy communication between the opposite parts, and especially of all with the capital; but in times of foreign invasion they fall first into... [ Continue Reading ]
_No lion shall be there_ HUMAN ANIMALNESS I. MAY NATURALLY POSSESSES SOMETHING OF THE ANIMAL NATURE. That man by nature has animal desires and passions is no fault of his own, nor is it a misfortune to the possessor if these are inherited in harmonious proportion with the mental and spiritual prop... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the ransomed of the Lord shall return_ MARCHING TO MUSIC My object will be to give the text its highest practical appropriation as setting forth in glowing language the return of God’s spiritual Israel, His ransomed ones, from every land. I. WHO THEY ARE. 1. “The ransomed of the Lord.” To r... [ Continue Reading ]