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Whilst the holy King and Judge rejects the mere service of the lip and of the hand, when unaccompanied by genuine piety, he desires above all things the prevalence of those practical principles of rectitude which are the secret, hidden power of an upright and acceptable life. In a very bold and beautiful metaphor the Divine wish and pleasure are declared. Let the hypocritical festivals, the unmeaning sacrifices, the hollow songs, be swept away, and let the river of righteousness roll through the land, and God shall be pleased, and his people shall be blessed.

I. ITS DIVINE SOURCE. The fountain of rectitude is not to be found in the arrangements of human society, in the laws of human device, in the expediency which aims at human pleasures. We are to look up to the hills, to the heavens, for its source. It wells from the eternal constitution of the moral universe, from the very nature, from the glorious government, of the Eternal.

II. ITS VAST VOLUME. There is no community of men, there is no social relationship, in which righteousness may not be exemplified. Even the heathen philosophers could say great things of justice.

"Nor morning star, nor evening star, so fair!" Ardent religionists sometimes lose sight of this principle and its necessity, thinking justice too sublunary and commonplace to be deserving of their attention. Such a practice is not sanctioned by Scripture, which from beginning to end lays stress upon the faithful and honourable discharge of human duty, as between man and man, in all the varied relationships of life.

III. ITS MIGHTY CURRENT. There is a power in righteousness which only the morally blind can overlook, which commands the homage of the observant and the thoughtful. For whilst it is not the kind of power that the worldly cannot but see, and the vulgar cannot but admire, it is nevertheless power - enduring, effective, undoubted power. The state is strong in which justice is administered, in which a high standard of uprightness is maintained in social and public life; whilst injustice, insincerity, oppression, corruption, and deceit are detrimental to the true interests of any community.

IV. ITS PERENNIAL FLOW. A river differs from a cistern, a reservoir, in this - that it does not run dry, that it is not exhausted, that it flows on from age to age. And the righteousness that the eternal King desires to see prevail in human society is an ever-flowing stream. Not like the mountain torrent, which is dried up in summer heat; but like the vast river, which is fed from the everlasting hills, and is replenished by many a tributary stream, is the course of Divine righteousness upon earth. Not in one nation, in one age, in one dispensation only, but in every time and place does this river of righteousness flow for the welfare of mankind.

V. ITS BENEFICENT RESULTS. From insincere religious observances no good can come; but from justice, from a proper discharge of duty, from right principles, we may look forevery good. God is pleased that his attribute becomes his creature's law. And righteousness exalts nations and establishes thrones. - T.

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Parallel Verses

KJV: But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

WEB: But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.