December 9

1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.

5 And the glory of the LORD shall be re-

vealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the good lines thereof is as the flower of the field;

7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because the Spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass.

8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

9 O Zion, that indigest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain, O Jerusalem, that indigest good tidings, lift up thy voice with

35 strength; lift it up, be not afraid, say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!

10 Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the spun, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or bring his counsellor hath taught him?

14 With whom took he counsel, and took instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.

17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

"The word of our God shall stand for ever" (verse 8). "Amidst all the changes on earth; the revolutions of empires; the vanishing of kingdoms, God is the same, and His promises are unfailing. We see the grass wither at the return of autumn, or in the drought; we see the flower of the field lose its beauty and decay; we see man rejoicing in his vigor and his health, cut down in an instant; we see cities fail, and kingdoms lose their power and vanish from among nations, but God changes not. He presides in all these revolutions, and sits calm and unmoved amidst all these changes. Not one of His promises shall fail; and at the end of all the changes which human things shall undergo, JEHOVAH, the God of His people, will be the same."—Rev. Albert Barnes.

What a beautiful description is verse 11 of the character of the Redeemer! One day the children of a family were learning the twenty-third Psalm, and the mother was telling them of the Good Shepherd, and how He takes care of the sheep and the little lambs. Impetuous Mamie, eager to speak her one thought, said rapidly: "He feeds them, and drives away the hons and the bears." "Yes," said Tiny thoughtfully, "and He carries them up hill." "He carries them up hill!" The words come to our hearts with a strength and sweetness the little speaker did not dream of. Often their music has thrilled through the tired soul like an echo of the angel's song.

Closet Promise.—I, even I, am He that comforteth you.—Isa. li. 12.

"I journey through a desert dread and wild, Yet is my heart by such sweet thoughts beguiled Of Him on whom I lean, my strength, my stay, I can forget the sorrows of the way.

Christ comforts me.

"Thoughts of His love, the Root of every grace, Which finds in this poor heart a dwelling-place, The sunshine of my soul, than day more bright, And my calm pillow of repose by night.

Christ comforts me!"