WE have used the first verses of this chapter in our last sketch, to set forth the aspects of a corrupt nation. The Israelitish people appear in that fragment of their history as an unfortunate inventor of wrong, a guilty worker of wrong, and a terrible victim of wrong. These nineteen verses, now under our notice, present to us three subjects of thought, a great national privilege, a great national wickedness, and national ruin.

a great

slaves of despots; but here we are told that God had "brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharoah, of Egypt." (Verse 7). When they crossed the Red Sea, entered the desert, and stepped into Palestine, they were civilly free; the chains that bound them so often then were completely broken, and each had the common rights of liberty. Political freedom is the inalienable right of all men, is one of the greatest blessings of a people, but one which in every age has been outraged by despots. The millions are groaning in every land still under political disabilities. He had given them

Secondly: A right to the land. Canaan was the common right of all; true, it was divided amongst the ten

tribes, but this, not for the private interests of any, but for the good of all. What we call "landlordism" existed not, nor, as Blackstone (as well as the greatest political scientists) has said, should it ever have existed; it is an outrage on the common rights of mankind. When one thinks that all the land in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and England is in the hands of 8,000 men, a number which could be crowded into Spurgeon's Tabernacle, and that thirty millions are dependent on them for the means of subsistence, it is impossible not to feel that Englishmen have a mighty wrong to crush. Archdeacon Paley, no mean authority, with his characteristic clearness and common sense, has the following remarkable words,-"If you should see a flock of pigeons in a field of corn, and if (instead of each one picking where and what it liked, taking just as much as it wanted and no more) you should see ninety-nine of them gathering all they got in a heap, reserving nothing for themselves but the chaff and the refuse, keeping this heap

for one, and that for the weakest, perhaps the worst pigeon of the flock, sitting round and looking on all the winter, whilst the one was devouring, throwing about, and wasting it; and if a pigeon more hardy or hungry than the rest, touched a grain of the hoard all the others instantly flying upon it and tearing it to pieces; if you should see this you would see nothing more than what is every day practised and established amongst men. Among men you see the ninety and nine toiling and scraping together a heap of superfluities for one (and this one too oftentimes the feeblest and worst of the whole set, a child, a woman, a madman, or a fool), getting nothing for themselves all the while but a little of the coarsest of the provision which their own industry produces, looking quietly on while they see the fruits of all the labour spent or spoiled, and if one of the number take or touch a particle of the hoard the others joining against him and hanging him for the theft." What boots collecting and publishing facts concerning the sufferings of

people and entitling the tractate the "Bitter Cry of Outcast London," unless something is done to put the land into the hands of the people, not by violence or spoliation, but by a calm and just legislation ? Alas, even good men, through a weakness of judgment and the workings of a traditional faith, dream that by multiplying Churches and Chapels and plying all the agencies of a conventional religion they will hush the "bitter cry." How absurd! It is as Douglas Jerrold somewhere suggests, giving waggon-loads of tooth-picks to men who have no meat to eat. "Is not this the fast that I have appointed, saith the Lord?" Instead of making denominational capital out of these cries of poverty, all ministers of Christ should unite to compel our legislators to do justice to the oppressed. He gave them

Thirdly: The highest spiritual teaching. "The Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to

all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets." (Ver. 13.) One of the fundamental needs of mankind is true ethical teaching, not the teaching of dogmas and ceremonies, but the teaching of immutable law, the "statutes of God."

These statutes are not only written on paper, but on every page of nature's magnificent volume, and on the tablets of human reason and conscience. 'Do unto others as ye would have others do unto you." Genuine disciples of such teaching will evermore act rightly towards themselves, towards their fellow men, and towards their God. Notice—

II.-A GREAT NATIONAL WICKEDNESS. Possessing all these privileges, how acted these people-not merely the people of Israel, but the people of Judah as well? Was the sentiment of worship and justice regnant within them? Were they loyal to all that is beautiful, true, and good? Nay.

First: They rejected God. "They would not hear, but hardened their necks, like

to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God," &c. (Verses 14, 15.) They declined the study of His statutes, and renounced His claim on their devotion.

Secondly: They adopted idols. Mark (1) the earnestness of their idolatry. With what unremitting zeal they promoted the cause of idolatry. "The children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities." (Ver. 9.) It is also stated, "They made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of Heaven, and served Baal." (Ver. 16.) Error on this earth is more active than truth, wrong is more industrious than right, the spirit of evil knows not rest, it goes to and fro on the face of the earth. Here, then is national wickedness. Are we, as a country, less wicked than the nation of Israel? I trow not. True, we are all, for the most part, theoretical Theists, but practical Atheists. For England ignores the Almighty. It

might be said of us, "God is not in all our thoughts."

With lips they own Him Master, in life oppose His Word, They ev'ry day deny Him, and yet they call Him Lord; No more is their religion like His in life and deed,

Than painted grain on canvas is like the living seed.

Mark (2) The cruelty of their idolatry. "And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, and used divinations, and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord." (Ver. 17.) Notice

III. GREAT NATIONAL RUIN. "Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of His sight." (Ver. 18.) "The Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until He had cast them out of His sight." (Ver. 20.)

First: Their ruin involved the entire loss of their

country. "So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria, unto this day." (Ver. 23.) Expatriation is an enormous trial.

Secondly: Their ruin involved the loss of their

national existence. "The Lord removed them out of His sight." (Ver. 18.) The ten tribes are gone, and

no

one knows whether they are now worth looking after, for they were a miserable type of humanity. "The kingdom of the ten tribes," says Dr. Blackie, “was never restored, nor did the dispersed of Israel ever attempt to return in a body to their land. More than two hundred years of idolatry and wickedness have been followed by more than two thousand years of dispersion and alienation. Having said in their hearts to God, 'Depart from us,' God said to them, 'Depart from Me.' The divorce was completed, and till a reconciliation shall take place, its sad, dark fruits must remain."

Thirdly: Their ruin involved the retributive agency of Heaven. The Assyrians were only the instruments. It is God's plan to punish the

wicked by the wicked. 'No wonder that amid so gross a perversion of the worship of the true God, and the national propensity to do reverence to idols, the Divine patience was exhausted, and that the God whom they had forsaken by violating the national covenant, an adherence to which formed their title to the occupation of Canaan, permitted them to go into captivity, that they might learn the difference between His service and that of their despotic conquerors."

LONDON.

DAVID THOMAS, D.D.