but well we know it is easier said than done.  We cannot say how men are to get faith.  It is God’s gift, almost in the same way that genius is.  You cannot work for faith; you must have it first, and then work from it.

But brethren beloved, we can say, Look up, though we know not how the mechanism of the will which directs the eye is to be put in motion; we can say, Look to God in Christ, though we know not how men are to obtain faith to do it.  Let us be in earnest.  Our polar star is the love of the Cross.  Take the eye off that, and you are in darkness and bewilderment at once.  Let us not mind what is past.  Perhaps it is all failure, and useless struggle, and broken resolves.  What then?  Settle this first, brethren, Are you in earnest?  If so, though your faith be weak and your struggles unsatisfactory, you may begin the hymn of triumph now, for victory is pledged.  “Thanks be to God, which” not shall give, but “giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 XVIII.

 Preached June 20, 1852.

 MAN’S GREATNESS AND GOD’S GREATNESS.

   “For thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity,
    whose Name is Holy.  I dwell in the high and holy place—­with him
    also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.”—­Isaiah lvii. 15.

The origin of this announcement seems to have been the state of contempt in which religion found itself in the days of Isaiah.  One of the most profligate monarchs that ever disgraced the page of sacred history, sat upon the throne of Judah.  His court was filled with men who recommended themselves chiefly by their licentiousness.  The altar was forsaken.  Sacrilegious hands had placed the abominations of heathenism in the Holy Place; and Piety, banished from the State, the Church, and the Royal court, was once more as she had been before, and will be again, a wanderer on the face of the earth.

Now, however easy it may be to contemplate such a state of things at a distance, it never takes place in a man’s own day and time, without suggesting painful perplexities of a twofold nature.  In the first place suspicions respecting God’s character; and, in the second place, misgivings as to his own duty.  For a faithless heart whispers, Is it worth while to suffer for a sinking cause?  Honour, preferment, grandeur, follow in the train of unscrupulous conduct.  To be strict in goodness, is to be pointed at and shunned.  To be no better than one’s neighbours is the only way of being at peace.  It seems to have been to such a state as this that Isaiah was commissioned to bring light.  He vindicated God’s character by saying that He is “the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity.”  He encouraged those who were trodden down, to perseverance, by reminding them that real dignity is something very different from present success.  God dwells with him, “that is of a contrite and humble spirit” We consider

    I. That in which the greatness of God consists. 
   II.  That in which man’s greatness consists.