feet:

The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under

4. And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

5. In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,

6. And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

distinct images a hailstorm, a furious tempest of wind, and a violent inundation as though so only could its full horror be depicted. War is always a terrible scourge; but in ancient times, and with a people so cruel as the Assyrians, it was a calamity exceeding in terribleness the utmost that the modern reader can conceive. [NOTE. This was written before the great war in Europe. - ED.]

It involved the wholesale burning of cities and villages, the wanton destruction of trees and crops, the slaughter of thousands in battles and sieges, the subsequent massacre of hundreds in cold blood, the plunder of all classes, and the deportation of tens of thousands of captives, who were carried into hopeless servitude in a strange land." - Pulpit Commentary. Shall he cast down to the earth with the hand (margin, "with violence"). The picture is of the mighty king of Assyria rushing upon Samaria in the midst of his revels, snatching from his head its crown of flowers, and flinging it violently and contemptuously to the ground.

3. The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under foot. Not only shall the proud capital, Samaria, be overthrown, cast down like a dry garland, but it shall be trodden in the mire, as by the feet of the revellers fleeing from the wrath of Jehovah's terrible agent.

4. And the fading flower of his glorious beauty. . . shall be as the first-ripe fig before the summer, or fruit-harvest. "These early figs,' which might be found in the end of June, several weeks before the proper fig-season (in August), were esteemed a great delicacy; Hos. 9:10; Mic. 7:1; Nah. 3:12; Jer. 24: 2. Cambridge Bible. Which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. "Such a fig the passer-by seizes, and eagerly devours. So, the prophet says with a Dantelike homeliness of comparison, should the Assyrian king treat Samaria." - Ellicott. II. GOD'S BLESSING ON THE TEMPERATE, vs. 5, 6. "Isaiah never crushed men beneath the fear of judgment without revealing to them the possibility and beauty of victorious virtue." George Adam Smith. In these two verses he shows what God will do for those that do his will.

66

5. In that day. Pointing to the indefinite future of the Messianic age." Cambridge Bible. A common phrase in Isaiah. Shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory. Referring back to the doomed, inglorious crown of Samaria.

Illustration. Oh, that we were all invested with this crown of holiness, dignity, and beauty. How many are content with the gilded coronets and faded chaplets of the world. You remember the scene in Pilgrim's Progress, Part II., which has been made the subject of a painting by Sir Noel Paton the man raking straw while one held a glittering crown over his head.". William Guthrie.

And for a diadem of beauty. A ring or circle of beauty, more than taking the place of all the beauty the land would lose when overrun by the Assyrians. Unto the residue of his people. The righteous remnant preserved from both Ephraim and Judah. "The Lord will not leave the universe in the hands of drunken princes. When man fails, God seems to expand upon the vision of the universe with a new amplitude." - Joseph Parker.

6. And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment. "The injustice of corrupt judges was the crying evil of both Samaria and Jerusalem, and their place was to be taken by those who should be just and faithful.” — Ellicott. "There is not a thought in a hogshead of beer; there is not an idea in a whole brewery."

Theodore Roosevelt. And for strength to him that turneth back the battle at (or, 'to' R. V. margin) the gate. "The conception is that the enemy have penetrated into the town, and are driven back to and out of the town gates once more by the valor of the inhabitants." Century Bible. Justice and power, "the two great

7. But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

requisites of civil government, are here described as coming from Jehovah.”—J. A. Alexander.

On

ALCOHOL AND MARKSMANSHIP. In Sweden recently some experiments have been tried to discover the effect of alcohol on marksmanship. Six men were tested. certain days they shot without using a stimulant. On other days beer was given them, and on still other days a small amount of spirits. The experience was repeated over and over, and always with the same result: even the smallest amount of alcohol impaired the accuracy of the shooting, and this in spite of the fact that after they had been drinking they were always sure they could hit the bull's-eye. They had ample confidence, but their shaking nerves could not back it up.

BURBANK AND HIS MEN. Luther Burbank, the great "plant wizard," never uses either alcohol or tobacco. He has a force of twenty men to help him in the difficult work of budding, by which he accomplishes his wonders of plant-making. Occasionally he has to discharge men from this force as incompetent for the delicate and important task, and always -- though he makes no inquiries into the personal habits of the men - it is discovered that the men discharged are smokers or drinkers. EX-PRESIDENT TAFT'S ADVICE. "I can say with respect to the drinking of intoxicating liquor that, although never addicted to its use in any way, I gave it up six or eight years ago, and that I am better for it. I think, on the whole, the young men and women who make up their minds to let liquor alone will find it greatly to their advantage in life." - William H. Taft.

III. STUMBLING LEADERS, vs. 7, 8. "But Isaiah has cast his pearls before swine. The men of Jerusalem, whom he addresses, are too deep in sensuality to be roused by his noble words." Expositor's Bible.

66

7. But these also. Even the people of Judah and Jerusalem, from whom better things might have been expected. Have erred (R. V. margin, “ reel ") through wine. Three times this word "reel" is repeated in these vivid verses, though our translation does not make this apparent.

THE REELING DRUNKARD. "If nothing worse could be said of strong drink than that it unsteadies a man's steps, that were enough. God made us to walk erect and promises to establish the goings of a good man. Drink unnerves us, enfeebles the cords of our strength, and sends us shuffling and stumbling like a fabric of loosejointed bones in a bag." David James Burrell, D.D.

And through strong drink are gone astray (R. V. margin, "stagger "). "The path of righteousness is a straight line, and a man must be master of himself to walk in it. A drunken man makes a laughing-stock of himself when he endeavors to walk along a straight line; but no more than when he would be regarded as a lover of truth and a friend of principle." Burrell. "Prison

ON GUARD. In place of a glass of wine with his bread a man chose water. fare," said his friend, sneeringly. "No," was the reply, "garrison fare. So, I'm never off my guard."

The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink. They "should have been the conscience of the city, responding immediately to the voice of God." Expositor's Bible. The priests were expressly forbidden to use wine or strong drink while on duty (Lev. 10: 1-9). They are swallowed up of (by reason of) wine. "They are submerged in that rolling sea of worldly enjoyment." Speaker's Bible. Men sometimes say that they swallow their wine; it were truer to say that their wine swallows them." It swallows up their goods, their health, their happiness, their home, their friends, their eternal life.

Illustration. "When Edward IV. condemned his own brother, George Duke of Clarence, to be killed, we are told that the Duke desired to be drowned in a butt of Malmsey, and the historian well adds,' as became so stout a drunkard.' To this end are men come who meant to show the world how easy it would be to toy with the devil." -Joseph Parker.

They err in vision. This refers especially to the prophets, who see visions, but have been made too stupid by their indulgences to interpret the visions correctly. They stumble in judgment. This refers to "the decision given by the priest, to whom ap

8. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

9. Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

10. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

66

peal was made in difficult cases (Ex. 22:8; 1 Sam. 225; Deut. 19 17; 21: 5), but his mind was too confused with drink to decide aright." Century Bible. Illustrations. A grave Senator of these United States has been known to scandalize the whole republic by a tirade of incoherent drivel for which he had borrowed inspiration at the wine-cup." Burrell.

The deadly influence of the glittering saloon is well typified by the Judas tree of South America, which has beautiful scarlet blossoms, but secretes a deadly opiate. The insects are allured by it, but millions of carcasses lie under and around the

tree.

8. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, or, filthy vomit, the consequences of drunkenness. The "tables are those of sacrificial feasts. The excesses that took place, especially at the Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering, when the vintage was ended, were no uncommon feature (1 Sam. 1: 13; Amos 2 : 8), and awakened Isaiah's wrath (Isa. 22: :13).". Century Bible. "Oh, the vile habit, the nasty habit, the loathsome habit! It makes a man look and behave like a four-footed thing. It reddens his eyes, be-pimples his face, clots his beard, soils his linen, crumples his coat, and makes him an abject, grovelling thing." Burrell.

Illustration. Doctor," said the patient, "there is something wrong with my stomach." "Not a bit of it," replied the doctor. "God made your stomach, and he knows how; but there is something wrong with the stuff you put into it." So that there is no place clean. The filthy condition of modern drinking places is a fit emblem of the unclean business itself. IV. THE COMING DOOM OF THE DRUNKARDS, vs. 9-13. "The occasion of this remarkable encounter was probably a feast held to celebrate the renunciation of allegiance to Assyria. Isaiah has surprised the drunkards over their cups and administered some such rebuke as we read in verses 7, 8." - Cambridge Bible.

9. Whom will he (this Isaiah) teach knowledge? Verses 9 and 10 are supposed to be spoken by the drunkards, who answered Isaiah sneeringly. This sentence would come fittingly from the priests. And whom will he make to understand the message? This sentence the prophets may be supposed to speak. Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts ? "Does Isaiah think that we are boys just weaned, who are to be taught the first elements of the religion of the infant school? Ellicott. "Who that has ever undertaken to deal with a so-called moderate drinker has failed to meet with something like this?' He is no child in leading-strings; he wants none of your weary lessons out of the moral primer; he can take care of himself.'' Burrell.

10. For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept. "We can scarcely doubt that Isaiah was indignantly reproducing, as Saint Paul does in 2 Cor. 10: 10; II: 16, 17, the very words, almost the drunken accents, in which the priests and false Ellicott. prophets had spoken of him." "The original tzaw latzaw tzaw latzaw, kaw lakaw kaw lakaw is a mocking conformation of Isaiah's message to a nurse's childprattle. We might attempt to reproduce it by 'Law on law, law on law; saw on saw, saw on saw; a bittie here and a bittie there.' " Century Bible. "The true prophet can bear the mockery, because he is true." -Joseph Parker. Line (or "rule ") upon line, line upon line. "Endless, petty teasing." Delitzsch. Here a little, there a little. The definiteness of the prophet, his insistence upon homely virtues, and his persistence in repeating his great truths, were strong elements in his power. "Our perception of God's truth, our strength in God's service, our mastery over ourselves, our conviction of God's inexhaustible love, grows slowly, imperceptibly, unaccountably, just as our bodies grow, just as our understandings grow.' Bishop Temple. Illustrations. Perpora, the great Italian music master, kept one of his pupils learning the same lesson for three years. The pupil began to murmur, but the master was firm. Four, five, six years passed, and yet he was still at the same, until at last,

II. For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

12. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

weary

13. But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

when he began to fear he after all might be just at the beginning, the great teacher set him free with the words, ' Go, my son, for thou hast nothing more to learn,' and he found himself the first singer of Italy. So God keeps teaching us the same lesson over and over again." - Old Testament Anecdotes.

Professor George L. Raymond illustrates the principle by supposing himself to have climbed a mountain, and a friend at the bottom wants to know about the view. He may tell him about it; but how much better to lead him to the summit, step by step! So a teacher, having attained certain views of truth, may tell his pupils about them in learned discourses which will leave them little the wiser. How much better is Isaiah's way, to begin where the pupils are, and lead them up to his views step by step, precept upon precept, line upon line! Then they will come to a point from which they can see his view for themselves. 11. Nay, but by men of strange (or "stammering ") lips and with another tongue will he (Jehovah) speak to this people. Isaiah is now speaking. “The ‘stammering lips' are those of the Assyrian conquerors, whose speech would seem to the men of Judah as a barbarous patois." Ellicott. See also Isa. 33: 19. The people of Judah, says Isaiah, will not listen to God's message through his prophet; God will send a fierce and powerful messenger whom they must hear. They mock at the prophet's earnest words and liken it to a child's meaningless prattle; they will be punished by babbling barbarians.

12. To whom he said, This is the rest, give ye rest to him that is weary. Isaiah reminds his hearers that he had not always rebuked them, and foretold their ruin. He had set before them the peace and joy that would result from obedience to Jehovah, the rest that God alone could give, and on his own terms. And this is the refreshing, or the place of refreshment. Some think the prophet refers to the sacred city, Jerusalem. Yet they would not hear. This is the case with the saloon men of to-day. It is plain to every one else that their business is soon to be abolished, but they fight for it doggedly to the end. There are a few, however, who are exceptions to the rule. One is a saloon-keeper of Kansas City, Mo., who offered his place for sale at a bargain. "I believe," he says, "that the finish of the booze business is in sight, and I prefer to step from under before the roof falls in. I would not undertake to say when nation-wide prohibition will arrive, but it is not many years away. It is coming not so much as a result of feverish and hysterical agitation, but because the majority of the voters are making up their minds that boozing is a criminal waste of time and money, and booze a nuisance and a dangerous drug.'

"The

13. Therefore shall the word of the Lord be unto them precept upon precept, etc. Since that is all the people can say, " Precept upon precept," God will give them their fill of it. God will now, Isaiah says, lay down through the Assyrians rule after rule, a constant series of minute injunctions, under which they will chafe and fret." Pulpit Commentary. "God speaks twice to men, first in words and then by deeds, but both times very simply and plainly." George Adam Smith. Lord knoweth how his servants are received and treated, and how his own word is regarded; and men who mock in drunkenness should themselves be mocked when they are sober." -Joseph Parker. That they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. "The preaching which might have led to rest and refreshing' would become to those who scorned it a stumbling stone' on which they would fall, a 'net,' in which they, who boasted of their freedom, would be entangled." Ellicott. If they would not accept it as a savor from life," it should be to them a savor from death" (2 Cor. 2: 16).

66

DRINK MEANS NATIONAL RUIN. "No man nor nation ever yet was able to walk securely along the paths of prosperity with dizzy brain and reeling steps. Rome died in the gutter. The chronicles of the nations that have risen to prominence and

passed on to decay and death are the story of a bacchanal procession in the night. Shall the nations of our day fall into line?" David James Burrell.

ΑΝ UNOBJECTIONABLE "SALOON. A beautiful little town in the State of Washington had never been cursed with a saloon. At last an evil man opened one there, and the village was in despair. But while others sorrowed over it, a brave woman went right to the saloon-keeper and begged him to give up his business. He said, "Madam, this is an entirely innocent place. I shall observe the law strictly and keep perfect order." She went on to point out the many inevitable evils that would grow up around such a place, but he interrupted her impatiently: "I want to tell you that nothing will be allowed here that would shock any woman." Like a flash she answered, "Then I suppose you would not mind if I, or some other woman, came and sat in one of these chairs?" The saloon-keeper could not well retreat. Certainly, madam," he said, come and sit in one of these chairs whenever you wish. You will see nothing wrong done here." That woman took him at his word, organized her woman friends, and kept two of them sitting in the saloon every hour it was open. Not a man would go there for liquor; but why not, if it was a proper thing to do? The whole town was laughing at the saloon-keeper, thus worsted by a woman, and before long he packed up and left town.

66

THE MONEY IN IT. When there is talk about driving the saloons out of business the tendency is to be too thoughtful of those whose money has been invested in those dens of iniquity. An Irishman told a saloon-keeper that at the coming election he was going to vote " dry." "You're joking, John,” said the saloon-keeper. "You're too good a friend of mine to do that. Just think, I've been here twenty years, and all the money I have made I've put into this business. How am I going to get my money The Irishman answered justly: "Well, Ben, I've been here twenty years, too, and all the money I have made I have put into your business. How am I going to get my money out?

back ?

SEVEN GOOD REASONS. A lawyer was speaking at great length and with a great display of learning in opposition to a prohibitory law. An old farmer, who had been listening quietly, shut up his knife with a snap and said, "I may not understand all the points of this question, but I have seven good reasons for voting for prohibition." "What are they?" asked the lawyer. The shrewd old farmer answered wisely, "Four sons and three daughters." Young People's Weekly.

EXTINGUISH IT. Neal Dow was lecturing one summer evening, and a lamp on the platform drew a large number of flies, gnats, moths, and beetles. They bothered General Dow so much that he took out his handkerchief and drove them away. They soon came back, and his handkerchief was again in action. This was repeated until he turned around and blew out the light; then the troublesome insects did not return. So it is not enough to warn silly people from the saloon; we must extinguish the drink traffic itself.

LESSON IX. May 27.

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK (Pentecost Lesson). -
John 15: 26-16:14.

PRINT John 15:26, 27; 16:7-14. COMMIT vs. 12, 13.
GOLDEN TEXT. - - He shall teach you all things. - JOHN 14: 26.

THE TEACHER AND HIS CLASS.

In teaching this lesson to the younger pupils, call the Holy Spirit by the name of Helper, which perhaps best translates the Greek word translated Comforter in our version. Try to make him very real

to the children as their unfailing, everpresent friend, doing for them all that Christ would do for them if he were now living in their house. In the intermediate classes you may introduce the great doctrine of the Trinity, showing how inevi

tably it follows from Christ's words here and elsewhere. In the adult classes an extended discussion of the Trinity would be in place, with especial reference to the importance of a vital recognition of the Holy Spirit in modern life, under the various aspects revealed in our Scripture passage.

LEARN BY HEART.
Vs. 12, 13; 1 John 5:7; Rom. 8: 26.