April 10

Isaiah liii. -1. Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? 2. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and, when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid, as it were, our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions: he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted; yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.

From the tone of hope and exaltation in which the prophet had proclaimed the coming of Christ, he now drops into the minor key of lamentation as he foresees the reception that is given him by the people whom he comes to save. Seven hundred years after, John recorded the fact that "he came unto his own, and his own received him not." Though divine tokens heralded his coming, and his works revealed the arm of the Lord attesting his mission, he is not recognized in the lowliness of his advent, is not received in the spirituality of his life and teaching. This man of Nazareth, of so mean birth, without pretence of royalty or power to assume it, is despised like a root of feeble growth that gives no promise of beauty or of fruitfulness. "This is not the object of desire and trust for whom the people have been waiting: nay, his low condition, and especially his sufferings, make him rather an object of con-

8. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

tempt. Even they for whom he suffers mistake his person and his office."

Yet these very sufferings are the key to his character, the prelude and the means to his triumph. Voluntarily assumed, meekly borne for the sins and woes of others, these identify him with our humanity, and work out our redemption: through souls redeemed by his sacrifice, he who seemed so suddenly and hopelessly cut off from men prolongs his days in an ever-multiplying seed. His meekness before Pilate, his crucifixion between the thieves, his burial in the rich man's tomb, are pictured as graphically as if the prophet were an eye-witness of these events. But he looks through and beyond them to their issue in the numbers of the saved; and so this wondrous elegiac strain emerges at last into the triumphal march of the world's redemption.

APPROPRIATE HYMNS.]

Prayer.

[Nos. 177, 189, 195.

O Lord Jesus, who for our sakes didst endure such contradiction of sinners against thyself! grant us grace, that, like thee, we may be meek and lowly of heart. When offended and wronged by others, may we remember Him, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again, and who from the cross prayed for the forgiveness of his enemies!

Our Father in heaven, as we pray thee to forgive our manifold offences, may we ever show the spirit of forgiveness toward all who do us harm! Set a watch, O Lord! at the door of our lips, that we offend not in word; and, while bold and firm for thy truth and cause, in all that concerns ourselves may we study the things that make for peace! Help us this day to resist temptation, to walk uprightly, to do good as we have opportunity, to relieve the suffering and the needy, to be kind toward all, and to overcome the world.

Father of all mercies, we commend this household to thy loving care. [Oh! take these children into thine arms; defend them from the power of evil; draw them to the cross of Christ, that they may there be baptized into the love of Him who died for them.] Grant us, O Lord! such prosperity as shall please thee; yet, in all that we possess and enjoy, help us ever to remember that we are not our own, but are bought with a price, — even the precious blood of Christ. We pray for thy Church which thou hast redeemed: grant her peace and unity. And, oh! hasten the ingathering of the nations, that thou mayest see of the travail of thy soul, and be satisfied. Heavenly Father, we bless thee for the mercy that has brought us to the beginning of this day; we supplicate thy favor upon all our friends; and, O Lord! have mercy upon us, and upon all men, for Christ's sake. Amen.