t had in mind, the idea goes home to the
heart; somehow, undeserved sorrow borne blamelessly, bravely, even
gladly, since for love's sake, is to have a celestial fruitage.
"Despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief;" "he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,"--and at last
"he shall see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied." Then the
strain breaks into an exultant tenderness, weaving into one chord the
deepest griefs and consolations of woman, the sublimities of nature, all
the passion and all the peace of the heart. "Sing, O barren, thou that
didst not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, thou that didst
not travail with child, for more are the children of the desolate than
the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. Fear not, for thou
shalt not be ashamed. For thy Maker is thy husband, the Lord of hosts is
his name, and thy redeemer the Holy One of Israel. For a small moment
have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a
little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. The
mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall
not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,
saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with
tempest, and not comforted! I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and
lay thy foundations with sapphires; and all thy children shall be taught
of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children."

To such words men and women in all times have clung, and always will
cling. For, so first spoke a voice in some soul which in the heart of
the storm had found peace. He called it the voice of God. What better
name can we give it?

In the prophecies and the psalms we have seen the high-wrought poetry of
Israel's religion. For the requirements of daily life there needs a more
prosaic, definite, and minute guidance. This the Jew found in the body
of usages and precepts which gradually grew up under the care of the
priesthood. The prescriptive sanction of habit attached to these
observances was at certain memorable epochs exchanged for a belief in the
direct communication of the code from heaven. One such occasion was the
finding of the "book of the Law" by the high priest, and its presentation
and enforcement on king and people which is recorded in 2 Ki