Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

They helped every one his neighbor – The idolatrous nations. The idea is, that they formed confederations to strengthen each other, and to oppose him whom God had raised up to subdue them. The prophet describes a state of general consternation existing among them, when they supposed that all was in danger, and that their security consisted only in confederation; in increased attention to their religion; in repairing their idols and making new ones, and in conciliating the favor and securing the aid of heir gods It was natural for them to suppose that the calamities which were coming upon them by the invasion of Cyrus were the judgments of their gods, for some neglect, or some prevailing crimes, and that their favor could be secured only by a more diligent attention to their service, and by forming new images and establishing them in the proper places of worship. The prophet, therefore, describes in a graphic manner, the consternation, the alarm, and the haste, everywhere apparent among them, in attempting to conciliate the favor of their idols, and to encourage each other. Nothing is more common, than for people, when they are in danger, to give great attention to religion, though they may greatly neglect or despise it when they are in safety. Men fly to temples and churches and altars in the times of plague and the pestilence; and as regularly flee from them when the calamity is overpast.

Be of good courage – Margin, as Hebrew, Be strong. The sense is, Do not be alarmed at the invasion of Cyrus. Make new images, set them up in the temples, show unusual zeal in religion, and the favor of the gods may be secured, and the dangers be averted. This is to be understood as the language of the idolatrous nations, among whom Cyrus, under the direction of Yahweh, was carrying his conquests and spreading desolation.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Isa 41:6-7

They helped every one his neighbour.

—

Idolatry the subject of sarcasm:

The sarcasm consists in making the idolaters dependent upon idols which are themselves dependent upon common workmen and the most trivial mechanical operations for their form and their stability. Hence the particular enumeration of the different artificers employed in the manufacture of these deities. The last clause implies that the strength of the idol is not in itself, but in the nails that keep it in its place, or hold its parts together. (J. A. Alexander.)

Lessons from the idol-makers

Idolatry being threatened with an overthrow, their craft was endangered, and hence the earnestness and co-operation of these makers of idols. The text is suggestive.

I. It affords an illustration of THE WAY THE WICKED COMBINE IN THEIR FIGHT AGAINST THE RIGHT. Jeremiah gives us a picture of this combination in the family (Jer 7:17-18). Isaiah, carrying it up higher, here shows how the different crafts cheer and help each other. Take the history of the world; follow the struggle between the powers of light and the powers of darkness, and you will find that this has always been the case. When Jesus Christ made His appearance upon the earth for the purpose of inaugurating the overthrow of paganism and planting His kingdom on its ruins, witness what varied and unhallowed combinations arrayed themselves against Him. See how the liquor-dealers are now banded together in that strong association, which has for its object the protection and perpetuity of their iniquitous traffic. And if certain questions are touched there are manifested some strange combinations.

II. We see the importance of UNANIMITY OF FEELING AND CONCERT OF ACTION IN CHURCH WORK.

1. This should be true in the individual Churches. The various ages, classes, and organisations of a Church ought to work for the same ends.

2. On the great leading questions there must be co-operation between the various denominations.

III. We have a suggestion as to THE MUTUAL DEPENDENCE OF MEN. Notice how many crafts the idols passed through before they were finished. Take any article in your possession, and a great many different persons and trades have contributed to its production. No profession or trade is independent of other professions and trades; no class is independent of other classes.

IV. We are reminded that OUR AIM IN LIFE SHOULD BE TO HELP THOSE WITH WHOM WE COME IN CONTACT. They helped every one his neighbour. Jesus Christ came into this world not to seek His own ease or profit or pleasure, but to help the needy sons of men. Have we caught anything of His spirit? There are many ways in which we can help.

1. Like these idolaters, we can do it by our words of cheer. We are too chary with our praise.

2. Help by our deeds. (J. W. Rogan.)

Mutual encouragement

How much of mutuality there is in the teaching of the Bible! This is mutual encouragement, and applies to higher forms of service. The next verse reads, But thou, Israel, art My servant. To be a carpenter who works on wood is merely to do something outward, but thou art My servant introduces us into the moral sphere of action. Now encouragement is not flattery. You are not to forget the great ethical basis on which all our life must rest. It is not right to flatter. It is right to encourage, because there are always circumstances in human life that tend to depress, and there are specific temperamental constitutions that need a great deal of gladdening from without, for some are not easily inspired. I believe in encouragement all through. Many young people never play the piano well because their parents have not encouraged them. Sometimes we fail to encourage our servants.

I. ENCOURAGEMENT MUST BE LIVED AS WELL AS SPOKEN. We are to give courage through the possession of it. It will not do for those who are to inspire others to whimper over their troubles! If the general is beaten the army is often defeated.

II. ENCOURAGEMENT MUST BEGIN AT THE NEAREST POINT. Everyone said to his neighbour. The man next to me is to catch the influence. If I do not encourage him it is a poor compliment to encourage somebody in Spain or Jerusalem. It is of no use for me to write the foreign letter to my friend far away, if I do not encourage the charwoman who comes for a days work. All these splendid heroics of distance are mere romance. Your neighbour nigh you often needs encouragement, and God has placed you there to give it.

III. ENCOURAGEMENT MUST NOT BE MERELY SEASONAL. Because you do not know when a man wants you! It is to be the atmosphere of duty; you are to live in it. We need encouragement when things are bright with us to stimulate us to make a right and thankful use of our mercies. We need encouragement in adversity, for patience needs sustaining in long hours of pain, in mysteries we cannot fathom, in paths where we see no turning. You can encourage someone best of all when you can say, Thus and thus it has been with me.

IV. ENCOURAGEMENT MUST NOT BE WITHDRAWN BY FREQUENT FAILURES. Do not say, I will give it up, it is a bad job. As the R.V. says, Despairing of no man. What do you say? Am I to encourage the man who has broken so many vows? Yes. His next step may be on to the rock. Am I to be the one to bear upon my heart the responsibility of cheering those who never seem to cheer me? Yes. Your relation to me is not to affect my relation to you. Encourage the doubter, the erring, the deserter, as you would be encouraged yourself.

V. ENCOURAGEMENT MUST BE TRUE, BASED ON REASONS. No one can really encourage me unless he speaks on the ground of truth. For truth will not encourage me by hiding my symptoms and using soft, seductive words! Encourage one another, because the work in which we are engaged is the only immortal work of the ages, and to unite in Christian work is to lay hold of the everlasting. (W. M. Statham.)

Mutual help a law of nature

1. The commonwealth is not served till the different branches of industry merge their jealousies in goodwill.

2. The very composition of the earth we walk over offers a strong hint of this intention. You read it in the beautiful balancings of clouds and tides, the equations of astronomy, the adjustments of growth and climate, all the musical accord by which the Divine Spirit has attuned His creation to an everlasting anthem. Sky and water, vapour and vegetation, earth and sun are ever friendly and hospitable; they are perpetually running on some missionary errand on each others behalf.

3. Indeed, It is most interesting to see how liberally the Creator has given hints and illustrations of this social principle by His own arrangements, even in what we call the humbler departments of His creation. For society does not stand apart from nature, but interlinks its laws with hers. Very wonderful it is, and very beautiful, to see how God twines together, into a system of mutual benefits, the operations that different creatures carry on for their own advantage, thus revealing His intention that they should be fellow-helpers, even these dumb and soulless things. He scarcely lets any good end with the being that produced it, but carries it over into some wider usefulness. He pushes out the doings of each animal and person into results that help other animals and other persons. The silkworm, with no thought of a charity, spins for himself an elaborate and complicated coffin, to hold the chrysalis, till its resurrection with wings. But the strands of that delicate fabric, the ingenuity of man winds off into the material of his costliest and most durable vestures. Coral insects build their reefs with the slow toil of ages, not certainly as philanthropists, but simply by the instinct that bids living things provide a habitation. Yet they are all the time laying the foundations of islands that men will some time inhabit, when overpopulated continents shall send out their swarming colonies, and thus God layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters. The spider weaves a web, out in the air, for certain economical purposes of his own. But God bathes it overnight in drops of dew, and in the morning sun it hangs like a silver shield, with miniature rainbows for its quarterings, a thing of beauty at which children clap their hands with rapture, and which every beauty-loving passenger is the better for. The spider had no thought of being an artist; but the Creator made him one to shed delight unconsciously. Or else astronomy stretches one of those slender fibres across the glass in her telescope to mark the passage of a star, and the little insect under a clover leaf gives a measuring line to science to tell the august motions of the constellations of the sky.

4. So in another and higher grade of creation. When men forget to help each other, God overrules their plans, and makes them do it, to a certain extent, in despite of themselves. He is for ever defeating the plots of selfishness. He suffers no immunities to be strictly personal. It is the settled policy of Providence, so to speak, to break up monopolies. He regards always the good, not only of the greatest number, but of the whole. He allows no mortal to live for himself alone, however much disposed to. A capitalist, without the remotest intention of being a public benefactor perhaps, founds a factory, to enlarge his private fortune. But the enterprise calls into employment an army of labourers, and the wages forestall their starvation. A few men, in a corporation, as the ease may be, build a railway, for the sake of the dividends; but it becomes an immeasurable facility of travel and transportation, and while it enriches a few is a convenience to millions. (F. D. Huntington, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

They encouraged and assisted one another in their idolatrous practices.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

6. Be of good courageBe notalarmed because of Cyrus, but make new images to secure the favor ofthe gods against him.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

They helped everyone his neighbour,…. By advice and counsel, by the best arguments they could make use of, to withstand the new religion, and defend the old one; to prevent the embracing the one, and relinquishing the other:

and everyone said to his brother, be of good courage: or, “be strong” m; they strengthened one another’s hands in their idolatrous worship, encouraged each other to oppose the prevailing doctrine; urging, that the craft of some was in danger, and the religion of them all at stake, and their gods like to fall into contempt. An instance of this may be seen in Demetrius the craftsman at Ephesus, when the Gospel mightily prevailed there, who stirred up the workmen of the same craft with himself and the like, suggesting the loss of their business, and the dishonour reflected on their goddess Diana, should the apostle go on as he did; by which we may judge how it was, more or less, in other parts of the world; see Ac 19:20.

m “fortis esto, vel sis strenuus”, Vatablus.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

6. Every one brought assistance to his neighbor. What now follows agrees well with what goes before, if you connect this verse with the last clause of the former verse, “They drew near, they were assembled, every one assisted his neighbor;” so that the meaning is, “Although the islands saw and knew my works, so that they trembled at them, yet they assembled in crowds to make a league among themselves.” Why? That they might encourage each other to frame new gods, and might confirm each other more and more in their blindness. He therefore aggravates the guilt of the Gentiles by saying, that “every one assisted his neighbor;” and indeed whoever shall make careful inquiry will find that this is the source of all superstitions, that men by mutual consent darken the light brought to them from heaven. But although the Lord here expostulates with idolaters, yet he does it for the sake of the Jews, that they may not fall into the impiety of the Gentiles, or permit themselves to be turned aside from God and from sincere faith. (138) On this account he brings forward the ingratitude of the Gentiles, that the Jews may not imitate it, but may remain steadfast in the true worship of God.

And said to his neighbor, Be courageous. Here we see, as in a mirror, how great is the wickedness of men, who profit nothing by considering the works of God, and are even rendered more rebellious, and harden themselves more and more; for they choose of their own accord to be blind, and to shut their eyes against the clearest light, rather than to behold God who manifests himself before their eyes. To blindness is added rage, in consequence of which they risc up against God, and. do not hesitate to wage war with him for defending their superstitions; so that this vice is not idol worship but idol madness. Isaiah describes this madness by saying, “Be bold, act courageously;” for he means that men have entered into a base conspiracy, by which they naturally encourage and inflame each other to the worship of idols, and to drive away the fear of God which his power might have led them to entertain.

(138) “ De la droite fiance en luy.” “From proper confidence in him.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

TWO KINDS OF HELP

Isa. 41:6. They helped every one his neighbour, &c.

Isa. 41:10. Fear not; I will help thee, &c.

It is manifestly the intention of the prophet to exhibit the contrast between Israel and the heathen nations. In contemplating the promise of the 10th verse, we may be so absorbed by its boundless wealth, so amazed by its condescension, so cheered by its comfort, that we fail to notice the sombre background against which it is placed. There is help in both cases, but how different! In one case it is the help and encouragement which men give to one another in a vain, foolish, and desperate course; in the other it is the help that cometh from above. The rapid conquests of Cyrus throw the nations into alarm. What shall they do in this extremity?
I. Look at the expedients to which idol-worshippers have recourse (Isa. 41:6). The carpenters and goldsmiths resolve to manufacture a strong set of gods, and to fix them securely. In the idol-factories the workmen stimulate one another. We may smile at such a gross delusion, as possible only among ignorant races in an age of superstition; but is there nothing corresponding to it among ourselves? We may regard image-worship with an air of scorn as too silly and infatuated ever to find place in Christianised communities; but there are many idols to which the unbelieving heart turns in the day of need and trial. The gods of our day have no outward embodiment, but not less loyal are their votaries to them. Idols are made of mammon and worldly ambitions, of services and ceremonies. Thus do the follies of a bygone age reproduce themselves in all their essential features. To see idolatry, you need not take a long journey to the South Sea Islands or Central Africa. In our scenes of commerce you may meet many a mammon-worshipper. In gay circles you may find crowds given up to the worship of fashion. In the very Church you may find the formalist who has made an idol of sacraments. These modern idolatries are godless and unbelieving; but while there is no faith in God, what an immense amount of faith of a different kind is exhibited! Believe! Why, they believe the most absurd things! e.g., they make gold their trust; they believe that they may lead Christless lives, and yet somehow get to heaven at last. We speak of them as unbelievers, yet what faith they have! They believe far more than the Christian can. To them Christianity is irrational, yet what irrationalities they entertain! O the credulity of unbelief, that accepts the most glaring absurdities to strengthen its position! And yet with all this rash credulity there is often an uneasy suspicion that all is not right and safe, and in a day of trouble they must help and encourage one another. Observe the power of association and example to blind men to the truth and strengthen them in bad principles. People think themselves all that is excellent if they do as others do, and are no worse than their neighbours; and so they keep each other in countenance, doing in company with each other what they would not do alone.

II. Turn now to the other side, and contemplate the Divine help. Here is Israels confidence. It rests on the Almighty Helper.

1. It is help guaranteed by past experience (Isa. 41:8-9). How intimate the relation in which God stands to spiritual Israel! how gracious the acts He has done for them! how dear they were to Him! What a powerful argument for hope and trust! To cast them off would be the undoing of all that He had done. How securely, then, the promise stands on the foundation of past favours. To the tried, doubting believer there is encouragement here. Your God not only condescends to sustain you with a promise, but to encourage your faith He points to past acts of mercy. He has brought you near; He calls you by endearing names, and appeals to a long experience of His grace and love. The past may be full of unfaithfulness on your part, but amid all there shine out Gods acts of mercy. How can you reject the promise built on this experience? Help in the past guarantees help in the future.

2. Help against opposition (Isa. 41:11-12), and the reason is assigned (Isa. 41:13). Israels enemies will be frustrated. O Christian! what foes can harm you with God for your Almighty Helper? Plied with temptation, oppressed with fears, surrounded with dangers, you can yet say, None of these things move me. All the hosts of evil are passing on to confusion, and through them you are marching to victory. Outward losses cannot injure your real life. These onsets of the foe are for the trial of faith (1Pe. 1:7).

3. Help in weakness (Isa. 41:14-16). The names worm and me (i.e., mortals) are expressive of weakness and contempt. But how strong does the feeblest and meanest creature become when armed with a Divine commission and supported by Divine help! With what, it has been asked, may this new threshing instrument be armed but the Word of God? (Heb. 4:12). If God has a work to do, the unlikeliest instrument can be made sufficient for it. The worm is not the mean, feeble, and useless creature we think it. Darwin has shown us that earth-worms are the plowers of the soil and the producers of mould, thus by their combined labours fructifying the land. As in nature, so in grace (1Co. 1:27-29). Jesus became a worm and no man; and His people, few and weak, yet armed with His powerful help, go forth to the conquest of the world. Why, then, should you shrink from any mission on which He sends you, and why should you doubt of success? (2Ch. 14:11).

4. Help in want (Isa. 41:17-19). There is spiritual thirst quenched and spiritual refreshment provided. The desert becomes a lake, the wilderness a garden. God opens streams, not only in the valleys, but on the hills; high places. This points to something above Nature. The whole description is obviously figurative, representing comfort and refreshment and the largest spiritual blessings. As before there was an allusion to the call of Abraham and the exodus, so here to the journey through the desert when the rock was smitten. The words may include mercies shown to the exiles on their return; but their chief reference must be to the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and also in times to come (Birks).

Now, what is the intention of this promise of manifold help? Fear not, be not dismayed, or, as it has been rendered, Look not anxiously around you for help. Rather look up (Psa. 121:2). Vain is the inward look, for we have no help in ourselves; vain is the look around, for no man can redeem his brother; but look up (Psa. 60:11), and listen to the Divine promise.William Guthrie, M.A.

GODS FRIEND
(A Sermon to the Young.)

Isa. 41:8. Abraham, my friend.

God here puts a very great honour him His friend. What greater honour upon His servant Abraham. He calls could there be than this? Notice

I. How ABRAHAM CAME TO BE THE FRIEND OF GOD

Suppose you met on the street a poor, ragged boy, you would very likely pity him, and might say, That poor boy has got a bad home, and he will grow up a bad man, and will have no one to show him how to live an honest life. If you wished that you and he might become friends, what would be the first thing to do? Would you not have to tell him that you wanted to become his friend? He would no more think of asking you to be his friend than you would think of asking the Queen to be your friend. God wanted Abraham to be His friend, but how was Abraham to know that unless God told him? Abraham was in the midst of men who were worshippers of idols. As the Psalmist says, They have mouths, &c. (Psa. 135:16-17). God knew that Abraham would never come to be His friend unless He spoke to him first. (Read Gen. 12:1-3.)

II. THE TIME WHEN ABRAHAM BECAME GODS FRIEND.
It was at a time when God had very few friends in this world. No doubt He had many friends in other worlds, but He had not made many in this. How many had He in the days of Noah? It is possible that He had not even so many in the days of Abraham.

There are some parts of the world where you have no friends,in Patagonia, for instance, where all the people are savages. Some good missionaries went there once, and tried to teach the people about the Saviour; but they would not listen to Christs servants, and starved them to death. Suppose one of the wild savages had taken the missionaries part and become their friend, do you not think he would have been a brave man? But why do many people in this country dislike good people so much? It is just because they are good. Bad men do not want to be better; they love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. It is sad to think that even yet God has more enemies than friends in the world; but He has many more friends than in the day when He called Abraham, and told him to go and live amongst His enemies.

III. HOW ABRAHAM SHOWED THAT HE WAS A FRIEND OF GOD

1. He builded an altar to the Lord (Gen. 12:7-8). He was like a sailor or soldier who is not afraid to carry the Queens standard into the midst of her enemies.

2. He always believed what God told him. God promised him a son, and although he had to wait a very long time before he had the son, he never gave up believing in God; he said to himself, God would never have made me a promise if He did not mean to keep it; I am quite sure He is able to perform His promise, and that He will do so some day. True friends always believe each other.

3. Abraham always tried to do what God told him. He told him to offer up the beloved son, for whom he had waited so many years. And Abraham showed that he was willing to obey the voice of God. In the end he was taught a great lesson, viz., that God did not approve of human sacrificea thing commonly doneand so a ram was provided (Genesis 22.)

IV. LESSONS.

1. You can have Abrahams name. You, too, may be Gods friend. Remember what Jesus said (Joh. 15:14; Mar. 3:35).

2. If you wish to have Abrahams great name, you must often speak to God. The comfort of having friends is that we can talk to them, and tell them our troubles, and find that they share our joys.
3. If you choose God for your friend, you will have made the best possible choice. Whatever other friends you have, accept the loving invitation of your Heavenly Fatherlet Him be your dearest Friend; become, like Abraham, the friend of God.Sermons for Boys and Girls, pp. 8087.

(A Sermon for Adults.)

Much that is honourable is recorded of Abraham in the Holy Scriptures, but nothing equal to this. He was a man of extensive possessions, a venerable patriarch, the founder of two powerful nations, the ancestor of a double race of kings, the father of the faithful, but, as his highest distinction, he was called the friend of God (cf. 2Ch. 20:7; Jas. 2:23).

1. THE DISPOSITION AND CONDUCT OF GOD TOWARDS ABRAHAM

He distinguished him as His friend

1. By His large munificence. It is not perhaps too much to affirm that God gave to Abraham more than He ever gave to any beside. He gave him not only exceeding great and precious promises, but the actual fufilment of them in all their variety and extent, either to himself or his posterity. The grant of Jehovah to this patriarch included a son in his old age, and that his descendants should inherit the fertile land of Canaan; that he should become the father of many and mighty nations, and especially that in him all the families of the earth should be blessed. What does He give to others whom He designates His friends? His own Son, all spiritual blessings, a heavenly country, a crown of glory.

2. By His intimate communion with him. Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. In the plains of Mamre, as Abraham sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day, the Lord appeared to him in all the condescension of His favour, attended by two celestial messengers in visible form: there He conversed with him, and the communion He maintained was intimate and friendly in an unusual degree (Psa. 25:14; Isa. 57:15).

3. By His affectionate confidence in him. Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do? He meditated the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; but how can He conceal the intention from Abraham, His friend? He told him, therefore, of the judgment which He was about to execute on the guilty cities. The sentiment which Amos and our Lord express is remarkable (Amo. 3:7; Joh. 15:15).

4. By His sacred fidelity to him. At an early period Jehovah entered into covenant with His servant, as a man covenants with his friend; and He sware unto him because He loved him. He made the most solemn engagements to visit him with favour, and ratified these engagements in the most clear and condescending manner. Were they ever violated? No! As often, therefore, as the appellation the God of Abraham occurs, we have a recognition of covenant transactions and an appeal to testimony of inviolable faithfulness. The covenant of God is His solemn promise; and this He hath given not to Abraham only, but to every believer as His friend (Heb. 6:17-18).

II. ABRAHAMS DISPOSITION AND CONDUCT TOWARDS GOD.
Friendship ought to be mutual. Observe

1. Abrahams steady faith in God. He believed in God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God (Jas. 2:23). Faith was the grace for which he was most remarkable, and in which he particularly excelled. He is denominated faithful Abraham, and the father of the faithful. In hope he believed against hope, and was strong in faith, giving glory to God. In such degree as we live in the exercise of faith we are entitled to this honourable distinction, the friends of God. Faith in God is cordial reliance on His testimony. It is taking God at His word (H. E. I. 18771881).

2. Abrahams holy fellowship with God. He was much devoted to God, and enjoyed special nearness to Him. At the time when he removed from place to place, it is remarked that wherever he rested, there he built an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the Name of the Lord. We need only to instance his intercession on behalf of Sodom. (Read Genesis 18) Thus let your life be a life of fellowship with Heaven; and the closer this communion is maintained, the higher your enjoyment will rise. Friends love to converse with each other, and do you converse with God.

3. Abrahams cheerful obedience to God. We have many facts in proof of this assertion. When he went out not knowing whither he went, it was in obedience to the command of God. When he manifested such a temper of peace in the separation which occurred between him and Lot, it was in compliance with a heavenly ruling in his heart. But the most prominent act, the noblest proof of the patriarchs obedience, relates to the sacrifice of his son (Gen. 22:2; Heb. 11:17-19). Let it be remembered our obedience is the best proof of character, and the surest test of the disposition of the heart (Joh. 15:14).

IMPROVEMENT.

1. Learn the true dignity of man. It is to have fellowship with Heaven and friendship with God; being the children of God, &c.
2. Be thankful for the grace which you have found. Once you were children of wrath, &c., now friends.
3. Confide more implicitly and affectionately in Him who hath done so much for you. Friends have a mutual interest in what each other is.
4. Enjoy your comforts with grateful satisfaction. What a friend gives us he wishes us to enjoy (H. E. I. 307).
5. Learn to endure trials with calm submission. We can bear that from a friend which we cannot bear from an enemy.
6. Beware you offend not this Friend. I was wounded in the house of my friends. The question which Absalom put to Hushai is pointed and appropriate: Is this thy kindness to thy friend?Thornhill Kidd: Village Sermons, pp. 310318.

THE SWEET HARP OF CONSOLATION

Isa. 41:10. Fear thou not; for I am with thee.

Saul was subject to fits of deep despondency, but when David played on his harp the evil spirit departed, overcome by the subduing melody. The text is such a harp. Its notes quiver to the height of ecstasy, or descend to the hollow bass of the deepest grief.
I. NOTE THE TIMES WHEN ITS SWEET STRAINS ARE MOST NEEDED.

1. When we are racked with much physical pain.

2. In our relative sorrows, borne personally by those dear to us.

3. When all the currents of providence run counter to us; when, after taking arms against a sea of troubles, we are being swept down the stream.

4. In the midst of unusual responsibilities, heavy labours, and great enterprises.

5. When one stands alone in the midst of opposition.

6. When we go down to death.

Thus all through life the saints march to the music of this harp, as the Israelites set forward to the notes of the silver trumpets.
II. HEAR ITS NOTES DISTINCTLY.
Their sweetness melts into each other, but each string may be touched severally and by itself. Fear thou not; for I am with thee. What does it mean?

1. I am with thee in deepest sympathy. As Baxter puts it

Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Then He went through before.

2. The Lord is with us in community of interests. God Himself would be dishonoured if true believers should fail.

3. I am with thee in providential aid. We do not believe half enough in the providence of God. Providence is strikingly punctual.

4. God is with us in secret sustaining power. It is said of Christ, There appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him.

5. By sensible manifestations of His presence. These are made to the opening spiritual sense. This cannot be described. Who shall describe gleams of the sunlight of Paradise? But we can be as sure of them as we are sure that we are in the body, and see the rays of the sun. In such moments

Should earth against my soul engage,
And hellish darts be hurled,
Then I can smile at Satans rage,
And face a frowning world.

III. MEDITATE MUCH UPON THE SWEETNESS OF THOSE NOTES.

1. The comfort of the text excels all other comfort under heaven. Gods I am with thee is better than the kindest assurance of the best of friends.

2. There is here all the comfort that heaven itself could afford. We have the chariots of God, which are twenty thousand; but better than that, we have God Himself.

3. Here is something sufficient for all emergencies. In the subsequent part of this chapter we find one engaged in a service, and it is written, I will strengthen thee, &c.; then he is engaged in warfare (Isa. 41:15); then he becomes a traveller (Isa. 41:17-18); then a husbandman (Isa. 41:19); so, no matter where we may be, God is with us.

4. Divide the words, and view them separately. I am; here is self-existence, eternity, independence. I AM becomes the friend of His people. Note the tense of itnot I was, not I shall be; but I am. I amwhat? I am with thee, who art poor and feeble.

IV. THE TEXT NEEDS THAT THE EAR BE TUNED BEFORE ITS MUSIC CAN BE APPRECIATED.

It is not every one that understands the delights of harmony in ordinary music. You must have faith,the more faith, the sweeter music. You must believe in a real Godnot in a myth; your faith must give you eyes to see God. Such trust is human omnipotence. May God bless us with this faith!C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit (1867), pp. 385396.

Men are liable to be afraid whenever they find themselves in the midst of perils. They need a prescription against fear, not against feeling. Peril surrounds us like an atmosphere. Through much tribulation, of some sort, we must enter the kingdom of heaven (Joh. 16:33). The old Stoics believed that man became excellent in proportion as he became hardened. Christianity has no sympathy with this prescriptioninsensibility to pain or pleasure.

I. Some of the things of daily life that man is apt to fear. Take not a human catalogue, but a Divine one (Rom. 8:35). We find there the whole list of what man has more or less to go through. (Explain and dwell upon the perils in detail.)

II. The basis of our triumphs over every fear is God present with us. To be alone is to aggravate our grief. In every condition God says, I am with thee. What is the nature of this presence? It is not Gods essential, but His special presencecheering, protecting, preserving. Will inspire you with fearlessness. Mark the speciality of it, I am with theewith the individual Christian.J. Cumming, D.D.: The Daily Life, pp. 335360.

AWAY WITH FEAR

Isa. 41:10. Fear thou not, &c.

The later chapters of Isaiah are full of encouragement. Commotions may rend the nations, but Gods people shall abide in safety. Their safety in Him contrasts with the insecurity of those that trusted in idols, the work of their own hands. The Lord, moreover, had especially adopted and chosen Israel. He had called Abraham out of a distant land; had given him importance and influence; had settled the countrv on his posterity; had never cast them off, notwithstanding their frequent deviations from the line of fidelity to Him. In them the prophet sees the representatives of those whom at all times He will distinguish by His special regard. The truth contained in our text is applicable always. It is everlasting truth. It is the Christian antidote to fear. The Christians confidence is encouraged; his timidity is deprecated.
I. CONFIDENCE ENCOURAGED.
The encouragement is drawn

1. From Gods relation to His people. I am thy God. Dark is the lot of the man who has no God, who has lost faith. But there are many to whom God is intellectually a truth, to whom, nevertheless, He is not a reality. They live without Him. No praise, no prayer ascends to Him. There is no regard to Him in their daily life. His authority is a dead letter to them. The moral influence of this is perceptible in their indifference to spiritual influences; in the earthliness of their principles; in their low standard of obligation; in their helplessness when overtaken by calamity. In all this the Chiristian possesses an unspeakable advantage. With his faith in God he lives in a higher atmosphere of thought, and feeling, and moral impulse. In the deepest trouble, the fact that he has a God is a stay. For the Christian idea of God is not that of a cold abstraction or an object of awful dread. It is warmed and glorified by the assurance of personal interest. Reconciled to Him by faith in the death of His Son, consecrated by a complete surrender, devoted by a love that takes Him into their inmost heart, they appropriate to themselves all that God is. All His power, and love, and faithfulness is theirs. I am thy God.

2. From Gods presence with His people. I am with thee. Is He not everywhere? Throughout the universe no place can be found where God is not. By this assurance He means something more than the universally diffused presence of His personality. He is with them in a sense different and peculiar; as a Friend for the purpose of influence, animation, protection. We are morally stronger, happier, better because He is there. We feel that a blessing comes with Him.

3. From Gods promises to His people. How numerous are the promises! Gods Word is like a garden gay with flowers of every beauteous hue, which His children are at liberty to gather freely. We need strength; lifes battle must be fought; lifes work must be done. Sometimes we feel like men who have no power. But, as when we have addressed ourselves to some daily task, our energy was found equal to it, so in the spiritual conflict and work we have found ourselves supplied with energy and power from invisible sources. Was it not God who, according to His promise, invigorated mind and will? Was it not Christ who strengthened us? I will strengthen thee. Or suppose the burden has been too great for our unaided strength. One cannot carry the burden, but two may. One cannot accomplish the work, but a number can. One soldier cannot fight the battle, but the army may fight and win. I will help. Invisible hands take hold of the labour. Invisible armies range themselves in serried ranks at our side. Angelic hosts come flying down with aid to such as cry to heaven. Or are you sinking down beneath the floods of trouble? All power over yourself has gone. Already you are encircled in the arms of death. Unexpectedly you feel another arm underneath and around you. It lifts you above the wave. It is the everlasting arm. It is the right hand of Gods righteousness. It upholds and sustains you until the peril is overpast. It places your feet on a rock. Such are some of the promises. They are all Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus unto them that believe. In combination with their interest in God and His perpetual presence they are the grounds of their encouragement and the antidote to their fears.

II. TIMIDITY DEPRECATED.
Fear thou not; be not dismayed. The future is before us; we cannot be indifferent to it. The state of mind deprecated is that which is disturbed and anxious because calamity is apprehended. Dismay looks on every side anxiously, like one who thinks himself pursued. It destroys comfort and energy. The timid soldier is a coward when he should be courageous and brave. Timid Christians, whose faith is feeble, who are the victims of fear must be encouraged by the antidotes to fear that are found in the Divine relation to His people, in the Divine presence, in the precious promises.

1. Do you fear the non-performance of your duties? Such as holy obedience, self-discipline, the consistent walk of a Christian, the Christian work which the Lord calls on you to do. Be clear that it is your duty; that He calls you. And then address yourself boldly to it; not in your own strength, but looking for His help. I will strengthen. I will help.

2. Do you fear the power of temptation? Some unknown and undefined temptation in the future, or some known, present, easily besetting sin. Is your face against it? Keep it against it and fight. But seek His strength.

3. Do you fear the approach of trouble? The mysterious future. Some trouble looming. Jesus is near, though you may not perceive Him. As when He walked on the sea. It is I; be not afraid.

4. Do you fear the hour of death? It is a dark valley. It is a cold river. You shudder. Jesus removes the fear (Heb. 2:14-15). Your chariot waits.

This antidote to fear is addressed to faith. We are not to look at the seen, but at the unseen. Let fear be dismissed. Let Christian courage triumph.J. Rawlinson.

There is here strikingly brought before us the superiority of the religious man over the worldling. But even he is subject to fear. Idolatry and superstition have easily gained a footing in mans heart in all times. On account of these Gods people were about to be sent into captivity. The prophet is stirred up to cheer the faithful among them. Discrimination is the soul of instruction. There is an outward literal idolatry, and there is an inward spiritual idolatry. The text comes to cheer those amongst us who are determined to stand out against the latter, to which the temptation is as strong as ever. How are we to stand?
I. LOOK AT SOME OF THE REASONS WHY GODS SERVANTS HAVE OCCASION TO FEAR.

1. Our own nature is our enemy. The flesh lusteth against the spirit. But is not the believers nature a changed one? The believer is regenerated; but to grow from childhood to the manhood of faith implies vast experience. That experience declares that whilst we are justified through the righteousness of Christ, sanctification is a gradual work. There is the Christ aspect and the man aspect of this question. He who knows well what this means does not wonder that the Apostle feared lest he should be a castaway (H. E. I. 10531062).

2. The world is our enemy. To make the world subserve our highest interests is a lesson beyond the alphabet of the Christian life. The young Christian is exposed to fear of the worlds ridicule and opposition.

3. There is also the great enemy. In seeking to fulfil lifes duties, you will find this enemy, as Jesus did in the wilderness (1Pe. 5:8; H. E. I. 16661674).

4. The thought of fear. The very thought of it; the possibility of it (Jer. 12:5).

II. REGARD THE ENCOURAGEMENTS OF THE TEXT.

1. The first encouragement is found in the Divine presence: I am with thee. The first disciples had confidence and courage in Christs presence (John 14.) The soldiers of Napoleon felt no fear in his presence; but cried, Long live the Emperor! lead us, and we go to victory or death. The believer should dismiss his fears when he hears the Eternal say, I am with thee.

2. Here is the most endearing relationship in the universe. Be not dismayed; for I am thy God. Supreme and blessed assurance is found in being able to say, My Lord and my God! One of the finest things after affliction is to find strength returning and weakness departing. The downcast may know gladness and gratitude as they hear God saying, I will strengthen thee.

3. Here is a recognition of our need. I will help thee. This implies that we are known to be carrying a burden too heavy for us. We are tired; but there is a Traveller by our side, who seeks to help us.

4. He offers effectual support: Yea, I will uphold with the right hand of My righteousness. The burden-bearer is ready to fall by not allowing the Lord to take his heavy load; but the Lord is saying to him, I will uphold thee. Of what sort is this upholding? There is no left-hand work with God; no sinister work; it is all right-hand work. All that it brings is righteousness. To appreciate this encouragement is to know that there is none like it.

Carry the lesson to your own blessed experience. Fear not; care not for the worlds scorn or the worlds smile. Remember there is one thing needful, and hold it fast.A. Morton Brown, D.D.: Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv. pp. 353355.

To whom are these words spoken? for we must not steal from Gods Scripture any more than from mans treasury. We have no more right to take a promise to ourselves that does not belong to us than we have to take another mans purse. They were spoken

1. To Gods chosen ones (Isa. 41:8).

2. To those whom God has called (Isa. 41:9), effectually, personally called, as Mary was when Jesus said unto her, Mary, and that gracious voice thrilled through her soul, and she responded to Him and said to Him, Master!

3. They are Gods servants (Isa. 41:8), doing not their will, but His will.

4. They are those whom He has not rejected from His service, in spite of the imperfections of which they are penitently conscious (Isa. 41:9). To these every honey-dropping word of this text belongs.

I. A VERY COMMON DISEASE OF GOOD MENFEAR.

1. This disease came into mans heart with sin. Adam never was afraid of God till he had broken His commands, but then (Gen. 3:8). It is consciousness of sin that makes cowards of us all. Sin is the mother of the fear which hath torment.

2. Fear continues in good men because sin continues in them. If they had attained to perfect love, it would cast out fear. But this is not their blessedness yet, and they are often cast down (H. E. I. 10511062).

3. Fear coming in by sin, and being sustained by sin, readily finds food upon which it may live. When the believer looks within, he sees abundant reasons for fear. Grace is there, but fear is blind to the better nature, and fixes its gaze upon that which is carnal (H. E. I. 2680, 44704474).

4. If fear finds food within, it also very readily finds food without. Sometimes it is poverty, or sickness, or the recollection of the past, or dread of the future. Desponding people can find reasons for fear where no fear is. They have a little trouble-factory in their hearts, and they sit down and use their imaginations to meditate terror.

5. In certain instances the habit of fearing has reached a monstrous growth. Some think it a right thing to be always fearing, and are half suspicious of a man who has strong faith. They even call assurance presumption. Shun the unbelief that apes humility, and seek after that unstaggering faith in the naked promise of a faithful God which is the truest meekness in His sight. I would not blame all who are much given to fear, for in some it is rather their disease than their sin, and more their misfortune than their fault. In Gods family there are some who are constitutionally weak, and will probably never outgrow that weakness until they have entered into rest. I would give them just enough of the tonic of censure to make them feel that it is not right to be unbelieving, but I would not censure their despondency so much as to make them think they are not Gods children.

6. Even the strongest of Gods servants are sometimes the subjects of fear. His mightiest heroes sometimes have their fainting-fits. Elijah (1Ki. 19:4).

II. GODS COMMAND AGAINST FEAR.
Fear thou not; be not dismayed. That precept is absolute and unqualified; we are not to fear at all. Why?

1. Because it is sinful. It almost always results from unbelief, the sin of sins. Unbelief takes away the very Godhead from God; for if He be not true, if He be not fit to be believed, He is not God.

2. It feeds sin. The man who believes in God will fight with any temptation, but the man who does not believe in Him is ready to fall into any snare (H. E. I. 19201922). He who cannot trust God in times of difficulty soon begins to trust in the devil, and to adopt some of his expedients for relief; and he who trusts the devil soon finds himself in the snare.

3. It injures yourself. Nothing can weaken you so much or make you so unhappy as to be distrusting (H. E. I. 20502054).

4. Fear weakens the believers influence, and so causes mischief to others. Converts are not brought to Christ through unbelieving Christians. It is faith that wins souls (H. E. I. 1090). For your own sake, for your neighbours sake, fear not, neither be dismayed!

III. THE PROMISES WHICH GOD GIVES TO PREVENT FEAR AND DISMAY.

1. Many a man fears because he is afraid of loneliness. More or less we must be alone in the service of Godin sufferingin old ageor in a strange land. But, believer, you are not alone, because God is with you. Omnipotence will be with you to be your strength, omniscience to be your wisdom, immutability to be your succour, all the attributes of God to be your treasury. Fear thou not, for I am with thee (P. D. 3145).

2. Men fear they may lose all they have in the world, and they know very well that if they lose their property they usually lose their friends (H. E. I. 23, 24, 21512159). But here the second promise comes in, Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. Jonahs gourd was withered, but Jonahs God was not. Your goods may go, but your God will not; and having Him, you may laugh at penury and distress, for you shall lack no good thing (Psa. 84:11-12).

3. Fear sometimes arises from a sense of personal weakness. I have a battle to fight, and I am very weak; I have a work to do for God before I die, and I have not sufficient power to perform it. But here comes in the next word of the text: I will strengthen thee. God can, if He wills it, put Samsons strength into an infants arm. Transfer the figure to spiritual strength. The strength we need for our work does not lie in us, or it would be all over with us. It comes from God, and He will give it. Preacher, Sunday-school teacher, look up to Him and take courage. There was a bush in the wilderness, and it was nothing to look atnothing but a bush; but oh! how it glowed with splendour when God came into it; it burned with fire, and yet was not consumed. God can come into you, and can make you blaze with glory like the bush in Horeb.

4. Some fear that friendly succour will fail. A fear apt to trouble those who have large purposes of benevolence towards their fellow-men. The cooperation of others seems necessary to their accomplishment, and in the critical moment they may fall away. But let them note this word: I will help thee. [1348] If the work on which we have set our heart is Gods work, He will send to our aid all the succour we need.

[1348] You know what a grand matter is Gods help. A minister was one day bringing his books upstairs into another room, for he was going to have his study on the first floor instead of downstairs, and his little boy wanted to help father carry some of the books. Now, said the father, I knew he could not do it, but as he wanted to be doing something, to please him and to do him good by encouraging his industry, I told him he might take a book and carry it up. So away he went, and picked out one of the biggest volumesCaryl on Job or Poli Synopsis, I should thinkand when he had climbed a step or two up the stairs, down he sat and began to cry. He could not manage to carry his big book any further; he was disappointed and unhappy. How did the matter end? Why, the father had to go to the rescue, and carry both the great book and the little man. So, when the Lord gives us a work to do, we are glad to do it, but our strength is not equal to the work, and then we sit down and cry, and it comes to this, that our blessed Father carries the work and carries the little man too, and then it is all done, and done gloriously. It is a simple illustration, but may it comfort some desponding heart. Yea, I will help thee.Spurgeon.

5. Many a child of God is afflicted with a fear that he shall one day, in some unguarded moment, bring dishonour upon the cross of Christ. This is a very natural fear, and in some respects a very proper fear. But grasp this precious word: I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. The self-same hand that spans both sea and shore bears up the unpillared arch of heaven and holds the stars in their place. Can it not bear you up? Oh, rest upon it, and you shall not be cast down! (H. E. I. 23632373, 2791).

Here you have angels food; nay, the very bread of life itself lies in these choice words. The only fear I have is lest you should miss them through unbelief. Go home, and take this text with you in the hand of faith. It shall prove to you like the widows barrel of meal and cruse of oil.C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No. 930.

I. There are fears which rise in the heart at the thought of God. Let a man confront himself even in imagination with Jehovah, and the first and strongest emotion within him is terror. We have all trembled when in darkness and solitude we have thought of God (Job. 4:13-17). An horror of great darkness creeps over us when first the truth takes possession of us that we shall stand naked and open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. The root of all this is our guilt. We have broken Gods law, and however we may forget that at other times, it is the first thing we remember when we feel that God is near, so that if we could, we would flee from His presence. How many illustrations of this we have in the Scriptures! (Gen. 3:8; Exo. 20:19; Jdg. 13:20; Isa. 6:5; Luk. 2:9; Luk. 5:8). Whenever in our own case anything occurs which seems to us to belong to that mystic borderland between the visible and the unseen, we have the same spirit-shudder, which must be traced to the same cause. The mercury becomes peculiarly sensitive when the thunder-cloud is overhead; the needle is most restless when some magnetic substance is near; and so when conscience, by reason of any occurrence in providence, feels God to be close at hand, it becomes most active and fills the soul with alarm. There are few who would not quake with fear if they could be compelled to think for but one short hour on God, judgment, and eternity.

Now see how the Gospel meets this dread with its benignant fear not. In all the cases in the Bible in which God is represented as coming to talk with men, He begins with these words, Fear not. He thereby says, in effect, that we have a wrong idea concerning Him when we think of Him with terror. We regard Him as an enemy, whereas He is our best friend. We run away from Him, when, if we really knew Him, we should betake ourselves to Him in the sure confidence that He will receive us. You ask me how I know all this. I point in answer to the cross of Christ, whereon our innocent Substitute gave Himself up to death for us, that we might be righteously forgiven. That cross, with all its mysterious accompaniments, was Gods great Fear not! spoken to the trembling heart of humanity. It is the declaration of His love to thee. Take hold of that, and thy fear will give place to gratitude, as His forgiveness comes into thy soul (H. E. I. 22332236, 23192321).

II. There are fears which arise in the heart as we think of our fellowmen. We have been often hampered in our discharge of duty by our regard to those who are around us (Pro. 29:25). There is a course of conduct which we clearly see that it is our duty to take, but if we follow it we shall forfeit the friendship of many whose esteem we have been accustomed to value, and so we pause and try to compromise with conscience. Or we are afraid of the opposition of our fellows, and so we are brought to a halt. We have many such cases described in Scripture. Abraham lying to preserve his life; Aaron making the golden calf to save himself from being stoned; Saul sinning because he feared the people and obeyed their voice; Herod beheading John the Baptist for his oaths sake and the sake of them that were with him; Peter vacillating at Antioch when he saw those who had come from Jerusalem. And we have been ourselves too often in the same condemnation.

Now see how the Gospel comes to us with its Fear not for this ensnaring trepidation. It assures us that God is on our side. It declares that He will never leave us nor forsake us. It does not declare, indeed, that we shall have exemption from suffering, but that we shall be upheld under it, and supported through it, and be at length more than conquerors. To die is oftentimes to conquer. Who was the real victor on Calvary? Was it not He who bowed His head and said, It is finished? Who was the conqueror when the proto-martyr

Heeded not reviling tones,
Nor sold his heart to idle moans,
Though cursed and scorned and bruised with stones?

This Fear not does not guarantee immunity from trouble, but it is Gods word of reassurance whispered into the ears of His tempted, tried, and sometimes weak and irresolute people; and when it is heard in faith, the timid one becomes courageous, and takes his place among the heroes of humanity. See the efficacy of this sovereign antidote to the fear of men on those valiant youths who stood before the monarch of Babylon (Dan. 3:16-18). Behold its power in the conduct of the Apostles when they stood before the Council (Act. 5:29). Behold its success in the aged Palissy, when the French monarch said to him in his cell in the Bastile, Palissy, if you do not recant, I shall be forced to give you up. And he replied, Forced, sire; this is not to speak like a king; but they who force you cannot force me. I can die. And what met the need of these great sufferers is surely sufficient to meet ours. Oh, ye timid ones, who are terrified by the men around you, hear a few reassuring words from God (Deu. 20:3-4; Neh. 1:8; Isa. 41:14-15, and also Isa. 41:10). There are multitudes of promises of this same character, and if we would but keep hold of them, no mortal influence would ever be able to move us from our purpose, and no storm of temptation would ever drive us from our anchorage. The Lord is on thy side, therefore go forward undauntedly, for He will make rough places smooth, and crooked things straight before thee (Rev. 2:10).

III. There are fears which spring up in the heart at the thought of the future. We know not what a day may bring forth, and whenever we permit ourselves to think of what may come upon us, except when we do so in the light of the Gospel, we become despondent and afraid. In all there is some anxiety. In some it may have regard to temporal concerns. In others it may respect their spiritual safety. In others it may centre in their children. In others, still, it may relate to the time and manner of their death. In many more it may be the future of the spirit-world that puts fear into their souls, and the thought of judgment and eternity may ride like a nightmare over their troubled breasts.

Each has his own dread, but see how, with its consoling Fear not, the Gospel hushes the heart of each to peace, even as a mother calms her troubled infant into quietness (Mat. 6:25-34). In so far as the future of this world is concerned Jesus says, Take no anxious thought for it. Learn a lesson here from the great German reformer, who, in a time of terrible perplexity and with a troubled heart, looked out into the twilight, and saw a bird hop into the shade of a thick tree. It stayed a few minutes on its first perch to sing its even-song, and then leaping upon a higher branch, it placed its head below its wing and went to sleep. Happy little bird, said Luther; he sings his song and goes to sleep, and lets God think for him; and I will do the same. Or is it your spiritual safety that disturbs you? Then hear what Jesus says (Joh. 10:27-29). Or are you anxious for your children? Then the promise is unto you and to your children; and if you will only do your present duty by them, and commit them in earnest prayer to God, all will yet be well with them. Or is it death you fear? Then for that there is a special assurance in these words addressed to the Patmos seer (Rev. 1:18): Fear not; I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of Hades and of death. Yes! at the girdle of the Son of man hang the keys of Hades and of death. The door for your departure will not open until He unlock it; and when He opens it, He will be there Himself to greet you. Why then be afraid? (H. E. I. 1634, 1642, 1643). Then as to judgment and eternity, why should we fear for them except for sin? and has not Jesus appeared already to take away sin by the sacrifice of Himself? So we come back to the great centre of the Gospel, the atoning death of Christ, through faith in which alone we shall have boldness in the day of judgment, and happiness throughout eternity. What has the Christian to fear from a Judge who is at the same time his Redeemer? And if Christ be with us through eternity, that is all we need.W. M. Taylor, D.D.

Fear is very prevalent among Christian people, and is productive of very disastrous results. It seems to be the natural temperament of some and the easy habit of others. In the pious soul a more improper mental attitude could scarce be indulged; for of all men the Christian has the least to fear, as no ultimate injury can come to him, even though apparent dangers threaten him.
I. THE OCCASIONS OF FEAR.
Sometimes occasioned by

1. The circumstances of the Christian life (Mat. 14:30). Fear is often awakened by lifes physical necessities, by its secular conditions, by its intellectual anxieties, and by its moral inability to achieve duty in its highest method.

2. The phenomena of the material universe (Mar. 4:40). Man feels his weakness when brought into contact with the unyielding powers of nature; they heed not his cries, they care not for his rebuke. They are destructive. Man trembles before them. He fears lest they should lead him to the grave, or do him bodily harm. Such phenomena ought not to render timid the Christian heart, as the elements of nature are ruled by the Fathers hand.

3. The phenomena of the spirit-world. Sometimes men imagine that they see visitants from the other world of being; and these, coming in strange garb, with mysterious tidings and ghastly appearance, inspire the human heart with fear. Such timidity is a folly. Heaven has better missions for the immortal good than to send them to frighten the inhabitants of the earth; and hell takes better care of its unhappy crowd than to allow them a momentary release. Such visitations are imaginary. Only the superstitious are troubled with them.

4. Manifestations of the Divine presence (Luk. 5:8; Rev. 1:17). The soul of man is too weak and sinful to bear without fear the near and the immediate approach of God.

II. THE CONSEQUENCES OF FEAR.
It often causes men

1. To sink into the troubles of life (Mat. 14:31). Fear always makes men sink in their own estimation as valorous; in the estimation of others as cowards; and often into sore perplexities of circumstances.

2. To be anxious without true occasion. Gods ancient peoplethe disciples. Fear always makes men over-anxious, and makes them imagine danger when there is none. It makes them timorous in every enterprise, even though they have a refuge in the event of peril.

3. To be unfit for the duties intrusted to them (Rev. 1:19). It is not probable that a timid Christian will be very efficient in the public duties of life.

III. THE CURE OF FEAR.
Fear not? Fear will be cured by

1. A thorough reliance on the providence of God.

2. A complete knowledge of Christ (Rev. 1:17-18). The more we know of Christ in His offices and attributes, His holy sympathy with men, the less will be our fear.

3. A holy mastery over self, obtained by a consciousness of moral purity. A strong soul, well ruled by the will, will not often be timid, especially if it can fall back upon a pure inner life. Sin is the largest cause of fear.

LESSONS.

1. To trust God.
2. To know Christ.
3. To rule self.J. S. Exell: The Study, Third Series, p. 576.

THE BEST HELPER
(Sermon for the Young.)

Isa. 41:10. I will help thee.

Two persons are spoken of here: I and thee. I, the person speaking, is Jesus, our God and Saviour; and thee, the person spoken to, means everybody who needs His help and seeks it. In this passage, then, Jesus is presented to our notice as a Helper. We may have many helpers, but Jesus is the best. There are four reasons why Jesus is the best Helper. He is so

I. Because He is always near to help. If we were hungry, it would not help us to know that a hundred miles off there was a nice loaf of bread. If we were travelling in the desert of Arabia, would it help us any to remember that in England there were many cool and sparkling springs of water? God is always near when people are in trouble. He always could help them if He saw it best. But sometimes He sees good reasons for not helping those who are in need. E.g., there are the wicked men nailing Jesus to the cross. He is Gods own dear Son. God loves Him as no other father ever loved a son. God is near. He sees all His sufferings. The angels of heaven see them. Multitudes of them would fly in an instant to His relief, if God would let them. But no! And why was this? Ah! there was reason enough for it. If Jesus had not died, none of us would have been saved. And just so in every case; there is always a good reason for it, although we cannot always tell what the reason is.

II. Because He is always able to help. Sometimes there are many helpers, and they are near at hand, but they are not able to help. We read a great deal in the Bible about those whom Jesus has helped. There we find how He helped Abel when he offered an acceptable sacrifice to God. He helped Noah to build the ark which saved himself and his family. He helped Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. He helped David to slay the great giant with nothing in his hand but a sling and a stone. He helped Daniel when he was cast into the lions den. He helped Daniels three friends when they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. He helped Paul to preach the Gospel; and, in the days of cruel persecution, He helped the noble army of martyrs to bear with patience the chain and the dungeon; yea, and even to sing for joy when the flames were kindling around them and the fire consuming their bodies. Rich men can help us with their money, wise men with their counsels, and Christians with their prayers; but Jesus can help us in everything. He can help you in studying your lessons and in all your daily duties. He can help kings and governors to rule and subjects to obey. He can help ministers to preach and people to hear. He can help parents and children, teachers and scholars. Paul said, I can do all things through Christ strengthening (or helping) me: and we may say and do the same, if we look to Him for His help.

III. Because He is always willing to help. We read in the Bible about the rich man and Lazarus: the rich man was able to help, but he was not willing. Jesus is always willing; He may not send the help just in the way we wish, but, in one way or other, He is sure to send it. He tells us that He is more willing to help those who come to Him than parents are to give bread to their children.

IV. Because He is always kind in helping. There are some people who are willing and able to help others, and who do help them too, but it is done in a rough manner. On one occasion, while Jesus was on earth, the Pharisees brought to Him a woman who had been guilty of a great sin. They wanted Him to say that she ought to be stoned to death. Jesus said, Let him that is without sin among you cast the first stone at her. Their consciences smote them, and they went out one by one. And He said unto her, Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee. Go, and sin no more. In that dark hour, near the Crucifixion, He took His disciples into the garden of Gethsemane, and asked them to watch while He went on to pray. When He returned, He found them sleeping, and all He said was, What! could ye not watch with me one hour? He tells us that He will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax. He compares Himself to a good shepherd, who carries the lambs in his bosom. If any came to Him for instruction, He taught them kindly; if any with troubles and afflictions, He sympathised with them and helped them. He gave health to the sicksight to the blindstrength to the feeblecomfort to the sorrowinglife to the dead. And what He gave was always given with kind, gentle, loving words. And even when reproof and rebuke were necessary, the law of kindness still dwelt upon His tongue. And He is the same now; always near to help, always able, always willing, and always kind in helping.Richard Newton, D.D.: Best Things, pp. 147160.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(6) Be of good courage.Literally, Be strong: i.e., work vigorously.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Isa 41:6 They helped every one his neighbour; and [every one] said to his brother, Be of good courage.

Ver. 6. They helped every one his neighbour. ] Thus those desperate idolaters did from the first. Eusebius a telleth us, that in the seventh year of Abraham, Ninus, the founder of Nineveh, set up an image of his father Belus, which was worshipped after his death. So did other princes, by his example, not moved with God’s mercies showed to Abraham, who worshipped the true God alone, setting up altars to him wherever he came.

a In Chron.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)