him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: that he would pour his Spirit upon his seed, and his blessing upon his offspring and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water-courses" (Isa. xliv. 3, 4). Amen.

XII.

THE WORD OF GOD SHALL ACCOMPLISH HIS OWN

PURPOSE.

"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not return unto me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."-ISA. Lv. 11.

THE grand point here to be distinctly borne in mind, is the truthfulness of God's promise, the stability of his word. God's promise had already been pledged to the returning penitent: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (ver. 7). That gracious promise the LORD now confirms by an illustration. He establishes the truth of his word, the veracity of his promise, by a comparison drawn from the laws of Nature, by a figure deduced from the general fixity of the seasons :

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

We have already considered some of the analogies between nature and grace in connexion with the words before us, but the figure here used, in its various accompaniments, "rain" and "snow," "bud" and blossom, "seed" and "bread," affords us scope for a fuller and more enlarged consideration.

May the Spirit of God be with us; may we feel convinced that, as surely as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and fulfil their mission in nature, so surely the word of God cannot return unto him void; fixed and certain, it must either be a savour of life unto life, or a savour of death unto death; that it shall accomplish whatever he pleases, whether conviction or

conversion, sanctification or comfort; and that it must prosper in the object for which God hath sent it, whether for the preaching of the everlasting gospel, or the nourishment and support of immortal souls; instinct with life and fruitfulness, the word of God is imperishable.

The

"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void." word of God must ever remain true, whether believed or not; it must either be a savour of life or a savour of death. The word of God, I say, must ever remain true, whether believed or not it cannot return unto him void.

'My counsel," says he," shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure" (Isa. xlvi. 10). "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever" (Isa. xl. 8). Men may treat it with carelessness, men may seldom read it, men may not believe it, but the word of God, fixed, stable, and unassailable, remains perpetually true. "All the promises of God in Christ are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us" (2 Cor. i. 20). God's promises are inviolable; he cannot deny himself. "God is not a

H

man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" (Deut. xxiii. 19.) Whatever man may think or do, the wisdom, power, and truthfulness of God remain pure and unimpeachable. Different effects may be produced upon men, but the word of God can never return void to God who gave it. In the language of the apostle, "We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish to the one, we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life; and who is sufficient for these things?" (2 Cor. ii. 15, 16.) The ministers of Christ, in the preaching of the gospel, are "a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved" by the efficacy of God's word on the souls of men. The whole word of God is like "the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed" (Gen. xxvii. 27). It quickens, enlivens, and refreshes all the faculties of the soul. In the hands of the eternal Spirit, it convinces of sin, it stirs up into spiritual life, it imparts holiness, it communicates comfort, it