VER. 8.] Three essential Things 113 teaching; we have been made heirs of heaven. All along the way God has been with us to deliver and guide. We have been set in the strait road that leads to everlasting felicity. Are all these mercies to be passed by without a thought? Indeed, when I consider Thy great goodness, O God, and my own dulness of heart, I have reason to be ashamed. I fear lest justice should awaken me by a sharp rebuke. 6. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? 7. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Balak thrice erected seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.' Solomon, at the dedication of the Temple, offered 'sheep and oxen that could not be told nor numbered for multitude' (1 Kings viii. 5). Abraham offered his only son on whom all the promises hung. What have I got to offer to my God? how can I expiate my manifold transgressions? Throughout the whole world I notice this instinct of sacrifice, which has led men to bring their most precious things and give them up if thereby they might obtain peace with offended Deity. Often this instinct was superstitious, often wrongly directed, but it witnessed to a deep-rooted sense that a sacrifice was needed to restore us to God's favour. 8. He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? This verse is a summary of the moral teaching both of Old Testament and New Testament. It tells us there are three things necessary, doing justice, loving mercy, walking before God with a humble heart. O God, these are great requirements! who can come up to them? Indeed, the best of men fulfil them but imperfectly; but believers amidst all their shortcomings look up to a Divine Advocate, Who atones for their defects and gives them grace to do better. I desire to offer myself and all my doings as a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice.' God prefers this to the flesh of slain beasts. But I am not free to offer myself, being still tied and bound by sin. Neither can I persevere in obedience, or keep my heart tender, or pray devoutly. O Lord, undertake for me. I realise too well my own absolute insufficiency. Let me by Thy help so walk with Thee humbly on earth that I may stand before Thee securely in heaven. H 114 The Oppressor's Reward [MIC. VI. 9. The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. Here is the angry Judge wielding the rod of affliction. Yes, I recognise that it is no chance hand that smites me. May I have wisdom to understand the reason and intent of the chastisement. God has placed conscience within us as a sign of His judgment. He bids us heed this intimate voice which rebukes with authority and troubles our false peace. Conscience refers us to a judgment outside and above its own; we can stifle, but not alter its message. 10. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable? II. Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? 12. For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. Let me treat the poor with fairness, with courtesy, with sympathy. Let me treat God with due reverence and careful heed to His worship. Let me treat my brethren with kindness, never detracting nor envying. Let me treat my household with consideration and gratitude. So shall I be a lover and doer of truth, and escape the condemnation on deceit which these verses declare. 13. Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins. 14. Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shall not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword. 15. Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine. These are the curses which God said of old should overtake His disobedient people. These verses coincide with Leviticus xxvi. and Deuteronomy xxviii. as to the ruin which an offended God would bring. The curses are awakened out of the old books and begin to live afresh. Nor should we be wholly without apprehension in regard to them. Are not the extreme dulness of our communions, the failure of our cherished plans and hopes of doing good, the speedy alienation of youthful hearts over which we once had influence, are not all these calamities the just reward of our sins? We have sown selfishness and reap the bitter fruit. VII. 2.] Searching for Fruit 115 16. For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people. Omri was captain of the host of Israel, and was made king by the suffrages of his soldiers (1 Kings xvi. 16). He destroyed the murderous usurper Zimri. He founded strong and beautiful Samaria for his capital city. Under his dynasty Israel reached its highest point of power. Yet here he and his son Ahab are held up for reprobation as teachers of evil, examples of evil, sure to bring to ruin those who follow them. I am well aware that those who win glory before men do not necessarily win the approval of God. Far from it. He sees deeper into actions and further into their results than men do. It is of no avail to have a name amongst God's people, if life and works are inconsistent with His holy law. If I am called God's priest, it is an honourable name, but it is only a reproach to me who am so foolish and unworthy a priest. CHAPTER VII OE is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat my soul desired the first ripe fruit. God's true servants 'hunger and thirst' for their brethren's conversion and sanctification. It is meat and drink to them to promote the welfare of souls. To find those like-minded with themselves gives them strength and refreshment. They are like S. Paul when, accused and in chains, he drew near the world's great capital; loving souls came forth thence to meet him with tender sympathy (Acts xxviii. 15), 'and when he saw them, he thanked God and took courage.' S. Peter, at Joppa, praying on the house-top and pondering over new worlds to evangelise, was bidden to kill and eat.' But it was no literal meal that the Vision spoke of. Gentile hearts won to Christ were coming to satisfy the spiritual hunger of his soul. Nay, the Lord Himself, standing by the well at Sychar and asking the Samaritan woman for water, was thirsting for our faith. And when He went to the leafy fig tree and searched in vain, He was hungering for real fruits of good among His people. 2. The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; 116 Foes in the Household [MIC. VII. they hunt every man his brother with a net. 3. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. 4. The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. These sad words must be taken with qualification. No doubt God has His chosen friends in every age. His promises stand sure, His mercies fail not. But Prophets and Saints, speaking of the outward appearance of the Church of God, discern in it so great a confusion and corruption that they speak as if no good was left. S. Bernard says that the Church has more to suffer now from the evil example of Christians than ever it had from the persecution of heathens. He says that the seeming friends to religion are its real enemies, and peace is worse for the Church than war. God gave S. Bernard in his day (the twelfth century) a Prophet's voice to thunder against the worldliness and violence of Christians. 5. Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. 6. For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house. Our Lord employs these verses (S. Matt. x. 35) to express the discord which would arise between those who believed and those who disbelieved His Divine words. He had come, He said, to bring a sword, to kindle a fire, to divide nearest and dearest. He foresaw the power of faith penetrating the soul, claiming the whole man, putting an end to worldly peace. Here in Micah the words rather express a general untrustworthiness as a dread sign of the times. Home itself is not sacred, dearest ties do not bind. If I have a happier lot, and these words have no meaning for me who am wrapt round by steadfast love, then let me remember whence all my wealth comes. I must not prove a traitor to my best of friends, but thank Him for the loving hearts He sets round me. 7. Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. 8. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment VER. 13.] Humble Resignation 117 for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. Will that time come, O God, to Thy ancient Church? Will there indeed be a day when Thine own people, after long trial, will recognise all things restored in Christ Jesus? These verses seem to speak of long seeking ending in finding, of long darkness leading into light, of the ancient Church of God, long cast off by Him, but in the latter days recalled and brought home. Apostles and Saints have expected this. Will events justify them? Meanwhile, whatever way the course of Prophecy may tend, let me see here depicted the path of the soul through patience into comfort. I acknowledge that I have sinned against the Lord. I justify His ways and condemn my own. I am content to wait His time. When He pleases, light and peace and victory will be mine. It is He alone Who bestows them, and at His good pleasure. 10. Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets. As great powers of unbelief attack the Church in general, so great and subtle temptations surround the individual soul. They seem to triumph for a while, and faith remains as if crushed and silent. The tempter exaggerates the wide dominion of evil, the attractions of vice, the scoffs and blasphemies that abound. He would fain persuade us that it is no good to be peculiar and we had better go with the stream. Give us grace, O Lord, to cling to what is pure and true, though all things seem against us now. Thou wilt at last 'Before the universe confess II. In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed. 12. In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. 13. Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. O wide and spacious land, in which God's people shall again dwell at rest and security! Sea and river, mountain and desert, shall be its protecting ramparts. Exiles shall have returned, desolation passed, chastisement ended, new life begun. Give me, Lord, a hopeful heart such as Thy Saints had. They prayed and worked for |