completeness. Before the central section Jehovah's Servant-the Nation of Israel-had a place of prominence which made it (so to speak) the hero of the rhapsody. After this central section the very phrase "Servant of Jehovah" entirely disappears. Its place of prominence is taken by another figure: THE REDEEMER. It is the sixth of our selections which brings out the link between the two ideas. We hear the Voice of Prophecy ministering to God's People, bringing home to them how it is their sins which have separated them from their God; Israel accepts the doctrine, with passionate repentance. Then it is said how Jehovah was "displeased" that for this repentant People there was "no judgement," "no intercessor." His own arm shall work salvation; and a REDEEMER shall come to Zion. Like the interrupting lyrics of the Doom prophecies, we have here interjected the glorious Song of Zion Redeemed. It is a double redemption. The Zion of geography is redeemed by seeing its captive exiles returning to it, and by the homage of the nations around. There is further a spiritual redemption for Zion, material prosperity changing to righteousness. Then it is that the climax is found with the REDEEMER entering Zion, meditating upon the blessedness of his redemptive work.

It will thus be noted how the end of the Old Testament joins it to the New Testament. The very words of this poem describing the entry of the Redeemer into Zion are, in the New Testament, adopted by Jesus Christ as the foundation of the spiritual mission of which he is the head. Compare Luke 4 16; or page 88 of the New Testament volume of this work.

SELECTIONS FROM ZION REDEEMED

I

Prelude.-A Cry of Comfort for Jerusalem

JEHOVAH

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; that she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

[Voices carry on the tidings across the desert to Jerusalem]

A VOICE OF ONE CRYING

Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of the LORD,

Make straight in the desert a high way for our God.
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:

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together:
For the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Cry!

A SECOND VOICE (in the distance)

A DESPAIRING VOICE

What shall I cry?

All flesh is grass,

And all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:

The grass withereth,

The flower fadeth,

Because the breath of the LORD bloweth upon it:

Surely the people is grass!

THE SECOND VOICE

The grass withereth,

The flower fadeth:

But the word of our God shall stand for ever.

FOURTH VOICE (still more distant)

O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion,

Get thee up into the high mountain;

O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem,
Lift up thy voice with strength;

Lift it up, be not afraid;

Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold, your God!

FIFTH VOICE

Behold, the Lord GOD will come as a mighty one,

And his arm shall rule for him:

Behold, his reward is with him,
And his recompence before him.

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd,
He shall gather the lambs in his arm,

And carry them in his bosom,

And shall gently lead those that give suck.

II

Jehovah and the Idols

Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgement, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? 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. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All the nations

are as nothing before him; they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The graven image, a workman melted it, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth for it silver chains. He that is too impoverished for such an oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to set up a graven image, that shall not be moved. Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: that bringeth princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they have not been planted; yea, they have not been sown; yea, their stock hath not taken root in the earth: moreover he bloweth upon them, and they wither, and the whirlwind taketh them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, that I should be equal to him? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not one is lacking.

Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgement is passed away from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.

III

Grand Scene: The Nations Summoned to the Bar of God

JEHOVAH.-Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the peoples renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgement.

Who hath raised up one from the east, whom he calleth in righteousness to his foot? he giveth nations before him, and maketh him rule over kings; he giveth them as the dust to his sword, as the driven stubble to his bow. He pursueth them, and passeth on safely; even by a way that he had not gone with his feet. Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last, I am he.

The isles saw, and feared; the ends of the earth trembled: they drew near, and came. They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage. So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.

JEHOVAH (to Israel).—But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend; thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the corners thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee and not cast thee away; fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

JEHOVAH (to the Nations).-Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and declare unto us what shall happen: declare ye the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or shew us things for to come. Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may look one upon another, and behold it together. (No response.) Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.

I have raised up one from the north, and he is come; from the rising of the sun one that calleth upon my name: and he shall come upon rulers as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay. Who hath declared it from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that sheweth, yea, there is none that