ISHI AND BAALI.

In the second chapter of Hosea, occurs one of those bright little multum in parvo expressions, which is so characteristic of the Word of God.

"Thou shalt call me Ishi (that is, my husband), and shalt call me no more Baali (that is, my master)."

The term Baal is not only used to denote the false god of Sidon, but it is a word used in a general way in the Hebrew Scriptures. The root thought of the word Baal is to rule, to have do minion, to hold in subjection, as a civil ruler, master or military commander. The very word is tinged through and through with the dark hues of subjection and servitude. The term Ish is one of the very highest and brightest of all Hebrew words. The root thought of the term Ish is that of a divine-humanity. It is the term by which the Holy Ghost frequently designates the God-man. It is a phrase used to express all that is pure, affectionate, loyal and beautiful in godly men. The first place, if not the last place, in the Bible where this term is used, it denotes Jesus. When Cain was born, Eve supposed he was the promised Anointed, and she exclaimed, "I have gotten Ish" — the God-man! So that the word Ishi is radiant through and through with the soft, sweet light of a high and holier world. Of all the rich words in the Old Testament, none fell on a pure Hebrew maiden's heart so full of rich sunlight and love as the word Ish; for that dear old word expressed the compound idea of a bridegroom and a coming Christ. And it was the perpetual golden dream of a Hebrew maid to have a true husband and be the maternal ancestor of Messiah; and the whole of this dream was collected in Ishi.

Furthermore, the word Baali was not introduced into Jewish parlance and worship until after they had fallen from the singing, joyful, spiritual worship of David's time. The very use of the word Baali, like a tide-mark on the shore, proclaims that the people had gotten into a state of religious drudgery, where the yoke was rough and heavy.

The plain English thought of this passage is: I will take you from being a hired servant and make you my bride.

Baali is God's service under law, full of doubts and fears; wanting to do good, yet struggling with a tendency to do wrong.

The word Baali can not be applied to impenitent sinners, for they do not call Christ even Master; they do not even have a hired servant's place in the kingdom. But the word Baali does represent a large class of religious people, to whom religion is a groan, and a sweat, and tire some battle with the heart. There is no gush of golden gladness in the soul, and when they pray, they only get far enough to call God Master. But Ishi contains in it the full, tender, laughing, emancipated worship of love. The music of marriage bells, the joyousness of a nuptial banquet, the purity and bliss of holy wedded love, are all infolded in the rich Hebrew term Ishi! There is no other single word in the Old Scriptures which so delicately and forcibly expresses the celestial experience of — what shall I call it? It is an experience which, of its own richness, covers itself all over with radiant and holy names; but after we have gone over the names purity, sanctification, holiness, higher life, full salvation, perfection, there still seems a shade of the experience which nothing can express till we copy the words of Isaiah, Hosea, Paul and John, and call it the marriage of the soul to Jesus.

When Baali falls from our religious vocabulary and Ishi fills our mouths, we then rise from drudgery to delight, from law to love, from penance to purity, from poverty to power, from faintness to fullness, from sadness to sunlight, from indwelling sin to an indwelling Savior, from widowhood to wedlock, from heavy mourning to a heavenly marriage!

Not only do these two words represent the lower and higher experiences of Christian life, but they suggest a fact which we can all prove by noticing it, viz.: "that religious life and experience can be pretty accurately measured by the terms in which God is addressed! "

Those who never pray, refer to the Deity by the universal term God. Inside of this circle is another class who are not religious, but have an element of fear and reverence in them, who speak of him as their Maker. The next circle may represent the awakened and penitential class of character, who begin to use qualifying adjectives, as merciful God, etc. The next circle of spiritual character may be the new-born, who rise to the blessed use of the title Father.

With that great majority in the Church, who have been born of the Spirit, but who have staid around their Sinai, and have not gone on to perfection, we frequently note the divine titles Heavenly Father, Blessed Master, Gracious Lord, and often the grander but colder titles of Thou Al mighty Ruler, etc., etc.

But there is another circle of spiritual character into which the Holy Ghost leads those children of God who are perfectly humbled and perfectly consecrated, and this class of character will often address, in public, each Person of the Blessed Trinity, in just as endearing titles as good taste will permit. How natural it is for those who breathe the inner heart-life of Jesus, to open their mouths in prayer, with "Dear Jesus," and titles of that order. I know I am treading on delicate ground as well as holy ground, but the most delicate part of this theme is never heard in public; the purified soul does have a style of addressing itself to its Purifier, which is too personal and sacred for strange ears, and pours it self out only in the affectionate communings of the closet. But the word which the sanctified soul whispers to Jesus in the closet, is the very word which the sanctified Church will sing at the marriage supper of the Lamb; Ishi, my Hus band; my spouse, my Immortal Love! As a tree reveals its kind of life by the color and odor of its flower, so the life of the soul will unfold itself in the hue and fragrance of its prayers and words. The wedded heart will put itself in wedded phrase, and call its Lord by a new name which the Spirit alone can give.