Chapter VI: Part 6

I. THE WONDERS OF DIVINE CONDESCENSION. 1. How marvellous that God should condescend to "reason" with sinful men! Not thus do human governments deal with rebels against their authority. The stern proclamation goes forth, "Submit, or die." To admit helpless rebels to a conference on equal terms (such as "reasoning" implies) is an idea that never occurs to earthly sovereigns; but (ch. lv. 8, 9)--2. How marvellous that God should invite sinful men to reason with Him, with a view to reconciliation with them! The result of such an investigation of their conduct could only be their condemnation; but this is not God's ultimate design. He does not desire to humiliate sinners, but to bring them to repentance and confession, in order that it may be possible for Him to pardon them. According to human standards, it would have been a great thing had God been willing to be reconciled to those who have offended Him so grievously; but how astonishing is this, that He, the offended party, should seek to reconcile the offenders to Himself. (2 Cor. v. 18, 19; John iii. 19).

II. THE POSSIBILITIES OF HUMAN SIN. "Though your sins be as scarlet . . . though they be red like crimson." Sins that take complete possession of a man, and that are conspicuous to the public eye, may be described as crimson and scarlet sins. How common such sins are! What a spectacle the human race must present to angelic eyes! Scarlet and crimson sins are more common than we are apt to suppose, because responsibility is in proportion to privilege. In proportion to the sinner's light is the sinner's guilt. Consequently that which is a trivial fault in one man may be a crimson sin in another. When an offence is contrary to a man's whole training, though it may be a small matter in the sight of man, it may be as scarlet and crimson sin in the sight of God. In these possibilities of human sin we have--+1. A reason for universal watchfulness.+ Taken even in its most obvious sense, the possibility of which our text speaks is the possibility of every man. There is no human being who may not fall into crime. Many men, after living half a century blamelessly in the sight of men, suddenly yield to temptation, and are consigned to felons' cells. David was no stripling when he committed his great transgression. Said Hazael, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?" Yet he did it! (2 Kings viii. 13, &c.) Peter rejected Christ's warning as incredible. Therefore (Rom. xi. 20; 1 Cor. x. 12).[2] +2. A reason for universal humiliation and prayer.+ Just because our privileges have been so great, God may put a very different estimate upon our transgressions than we are disposed to do. Therefore let us humbly seek pardon for the past, and preventing grace for the future (Ps. xix. 12, 13).

III. THE CERTAINTIES OF DIVINE GRACE. "They shall be as white as snow." Where sin abounds, grace shall more abound. In God there is mercy to pardon every sin,[3] and grace to cleanse from every form and degree of moral pollution. Here, then, we have--+1. A reason for repentance.+ There is no argument so powerful as this: God is ready to forgive. Many a prodigal has been deterred from saying, "I will arise and go to my father," by a remembrance of his father's sternness, and by a doubt as to whether his father would receive him. But no such doubt need deter _us._ We are not called to the exercises of a sorrow that will be unavailing. Our Father waits to be gracious.[4] Hear His solemn and touching message (ch. lv. 6, 7; TEXT). +2. An encouragement for those who are striving after moral purity.+ Many who try to live a Christian life grow discouraged. There are discouragements that come from _without:_ the unfavourable spiritual atmosphere in which they live, the glaring inconsistencies of some of the professing Christians by whom they are surrounded, the low tone of the spiritual life of those whose conduct is not so open to censure. Still sorer discouragements come from _within:_ the faults that will not be shaken off; the evil tendencies that will manifest themselves; the evil thoughts that will keep welling up from the fountain of the heart, revealing its intense depravity. These things are carefully hidden from men, but God knows them, and the believer knows them, and because of them is apt to grow discouraged. It seems to him that he can never be "made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light." But God has declared that he shall be: God has undertaken to perfect him in purity. "Be of good courage, all ye that hope in the Lord." God is able to make all grace abound toward you, and He is faithful to all His promises. See what He has promised in our text. He has already fulfilled this promise in innumerable cases (Rev. vii. 9), and He will fulfil it in yours. Be not discouraged because your moral progress is so slow. How long does the sun shine on the fruit seemingly in vain! All the summer the peach remains hard as a stone. But the sun is _not_ shining in vain. Some week in the autumn this is seen. All at once it softens and becomes ripe; not as a result of that one week's sun, but of all the sunlight and warmth of the preceding weeks. The chestnut opens in a night; but for months the opening process is going on. In a moment many chemicals seem to crystallise, but the process of crystallisation goes on long before it becomes apparent. So there is a ripening, a crystallising, a cleansing process going on in the heart of the believer: though we see it not now, yet we shall have ample proof of it by and by. In this matter walk by faith, not by sight. Be of good courage! We shall yet be "white as snow."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Jehovah here challenges Israel to a formal trial: _nocach_
is thus used in a reciprocal sense, and with the same
meaning as _nishpat_ in ch. xliii. 26 (Ges. § 51, 2). In
such a trial Israel must lose, for Israel's
self-righteousness rests upon sham righteousness; and this
sham righteousness, when rightly examined, is but
unrighteousness dripping with blood. It is taken for
granted that this must be the result of the investigation.
Israel is therefore worthy of death. Yet Jehovah will not
treat Israel according to His retributive justice, but
according to His free compassion. He will remit the
punishment, and not only regard the sin as not existing,
but change it into its very opposite. The reddest possible
sin shall become, through His mercy, the purest white. On
the two _hiphils_ applied to colour, see Ges. § 53, 2;
though he gives the meaning incorrectly, viz., "to take a
colour," whereas the words signify rather to emit a colour,
not _colorem accipere,_ but _colorem dare. Shâne, bright
red (the plural _shânim,_ as in Prov. xxxi. 21, signified
materials dyed with _shâni_) and _tolâ,_ warm colour, are
simply different names for the same colour, viz., the
crimson obtained from the cochineal insect, _color
coccineus._

The representation of the work of grace promised by God as
a change from red to white is founded upon the symbolism of
colours, quite as much as when the saints in the Revelation
(ch. xix. 8) are described as clothed in white raiment,
whilst the clothing of Babylon is purple and scarlet (ch.
xvii. 4). Red is the colour of fire, and therefore of life:
the blood is red because life is a fiery process. For this
reason the heifer, from which the ashes of purification
were obtained for those who had been defiled through
contact with the dead, was to be red; and the
sprinkling-bush, with which the unclean were sprinkled, was
to be tied around with a band of scarlet wool. But red, as
contrasted with white, the colour of light (Matt. xvii. 2),
is the colour of selfish, covetous, passionate life, is
which is self-seeking in its nature, which goes out of
itself only to destroy, and drives about with wild
tempestuous violence: it is therefore the colour of wrath
and sin. It is generally supposed that Isaiah speaks of red
as the colour of sin, because sin ends in murder; and this
is not really wrong, though it is too restricted. Sin is
called red, inasmuch as it is a burning heat which consumes
a man, and when it breaks forth consumes his fellow-man as
well. According to the biblical view, throughout, sin
stands in the same relation to what is well-pleasing to
God, and wrath in the same relation to love or grace, as
fire to light; and therefore as red to white, to black to
white, for red and black are colours which border upon one
another. In the Song of Solomon (ch. vii. 5), the black
locks of Shulamith are described as being "like purple,"
and Homer applies the same epithet to the dark waves of the
sea. But the ground of this relation lies deeper still. Red
is the colour of fire, which flashes out of darkness and
returns to it again; whereas white, without any admixture
of darkness, represents the pure, absolute triumph of
light. It is a deeply significant symbol of the act of
justification. Jehovah offers to Israel an _actio
forensis,_ out of which it shall come forth justified by
grace, although it has merited death on account of its
sins. The righteousness, white as snow and wool, with which
Israel comes forth, is a gift conferred upon it out of pure
compassion, without being conditional upon any legal
performance whatsoever.--_Delitzch, Commentary on Isaiah,_
vol. i. pp. 98, 99.

A subordinate point in the imagery is, that scarlet and
crimson were the _firmest_ of dyes, least capable of being
washed out.--_Dr. Kay._

[2] The strong men are fallen; even Solomon himself, and David,
and Noah, and Lot, and Samson, and Peter, the lights of the
world, fell like stars from heaven. These tall cedars,
strong oaks, fair pillars, lie in the dust, whose tops
glittered in the air; that "they which think they stand may
take heed lest they fall." Can I look upon these ruins
without compassion? or remember them without fear, unless I
be a reprobate, and my heart of flint? Who am I that I
should stand like a shrub, when these cedars are blown down
to the ground, and showed themselves but men? The best man
is but a man: the worst are worse than beasts. No man is
untainted but Christ. They who had greater gifts than we,
they who had deeper roots than we, they who had stronger
hearts than we, they who had more props than we, are fallen
like a bird which is weary of her flight, and turned back
like the wind, in the twinkling of an eye. What shall we do
then, when we hear of other men's faults? Not talk of them
as we do, but beware by them, and think--Am I better than
he? Am I stronger than Samson? Am I wiser than Solomon? Am
I chaster than David? Am I soberer than Noah? Am I firmer
than Peter? There is no salt but may lose its saltiness, no
wine but may lose its strength, no flower but may lose its
scent, no light but may be eclipsed, no beauty but may be
stained, no fruit but may be blasted, no soul but may be
corrupted. We stand all in a slippery place, where it is
easy to slide and hard to get up.--_Henry Smith,_ 1592.

[3] Man may be willing to forgive a mite, the Lord a million;
three hundred pence and ten thousand talents are all one to
His mercy.--_Adams_, 1653.

He is rich in mercy, abundant in goodness and truth. Thy
sins are like a spark of fire that falls into the ocean, it
is quenched presently; so are all thy sins in the ocean of
God's mercy. There is not more water in the sea than there
is mercy in God.--_Manton,_ 1620-1667.

Why dost thou not believe in God's mercy? Is it thy sins
discourage? God's mercy can pardon great sins, nay, because
they are great (Ps. xxv. 11). The sea covers great rocks as
well as lesser sands.--_Watson,_ 1696.

[4] Joy is the highest testimony that can be given to our
complacency in any thing or person. Love or joy is a fuel
to the fire; if love lay little fuel of desires on the
heart, then the flame of joy that comes thence will not be
great. Now God's joy is great in pardoning poor sinners
that come in; therefore His affection is great in the offer
thereof. It is made the very motive that prevails with God
to pardon sinners, "Because He delighteth in mercy," "Who
is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and
passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His
heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, for He
delighteth in mercy." God doth all this, "because He
delighteth in mercy."

Ask why the fisher stands all night with his angle in the
river; he will tell you, because he delights in the sport.
Well, you know now the reason why God stands so long
waiting on sinners, months, years, preaching to them; it is
that He may be gracious in pardoning them, and in that act
delight Himself. Princes very often pardon traitors to
please others more than themselves, or else it would never
be done; but God doth it chiefly to delight and gladden His
own merciful heart. Hence the business Christ came about
(which was no other but to reconcile sinners to God) is
called "the pleasure of the Lord" (Isa.
liii. 10).--_Gurnall,_ 1617-1679.

Many people get a wrong idea of God by thinking of Him as
infinite only in justice and power; but infinite applies to
the feelings of God as much as to the stretch of His right
hand. There is nothing in His nature which is not
measureless. Many think God sits brooding in heaven, as
storms brood in summer skies, full of bolts and rain, and
believe that they must come to Him under the covert of some
apology, or beneath some umbrellaed excuse, lest the clouds
should break, and the tempest overwhelm them. But when men
repent towards God, they go not to storms, but to serene
and tranquil skies, and to a Father who waits to receive
them with all tenderness and delicacy and love. His eye is
not dark with vengeance, nor His heart turbulent with
wrath; and to repent towards His justice and vindictiveness
must always be from a lower motive than to repent towards
His generosity and love. When you wish to please God, treat
Him as one who feels sorry for sinners; treat Him as one
who longs to help those who need help; go to Him
confidingly. No matter how bad you are--the worse the
better. Old Martin Luther said, "I bless God for my sins."
He would never have had such a sense of the pardoning mercy
of God if he had not himself been sinful. But as much as
you are wicked, God is glorious in restoring you to purity.
Let Him do for you those things which are the most generous
and magnanimous, and that will please Him best. He is a
Being whose feelings and affections move on such vast lines
of latitude and longitude, that the more you presume upon
His goodness, and cast yourself before Him saying, "I need
a miracle of grace and mercy," the better He is pleased.

Now I beseech you to kindle up a thought of what your
mother would do if you were a sinful, heart-broken,
discouraged man, but repentant, saying, "I have trod the
thorny way of life, and learned its mischief, can you,
mother, help me to begin anew?" What mother would cast away
such a son? What father would not receive a son on such
terms? And if earthly parents can lift themselves up into
feelings of holy sympathy for a repentant child, what must
be the feelings of God when His children come to him for
help to break away from sin, and to lead lives of
rectitude? Read the 15th chapter of Luke, and find out what
God's feelings are; and then say, "I will arise, and go to
my Father."--_Beecher._

SELF-SCRUTINY IN GOD'S PRESENCE.

i. 18. _Come now, and let us reason together, saith the
Lord; Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall
be as wool._

The outflow of holy displeasure contained in the earlier portions of this chapter would prepare us to expect an everlasting reprobacy of the rebellious and unfaithful Church, but it is strangely followed by the most yearning and melting entreaty ever addressed by the Most High to the creatures of His footstool.

I. The text represents God as saying to the transgressors of His law, "Come and let us reason together." The first lesson to be learned, consequently, is +the duty of examining our moral character and conduct along with God.+ When a responsible being has made a wrong use of his powers, nothing is more reasonable than that he should call himself to account for this abuse. Nothing, certainly, is more necessary. There can be no amendment for the future until the past has been cared for. But that this examination may be both thorough and profitable, it must be made in company with the Searcher of hearts. For there are always two beings who are concerned with sin: the being who commits it, and the Being against whom it is committed. Whenever, therefore, an examination is made into the nature of moral evil as it exists in the individual heart, both parties concerned should share in the examination. Such a joint examination as this produces a very keen and clear sense of the evil and guilt of sin. Conscience, indeed, makes cowards of us all, but when the eye of God is felt to be upon us, it smites us to the ground. 1. When the soul is shut up along with the Holy One of Israel, there are great searchings of heart. Man is honest and anxious at such a time. His usual thoughtlessness and torpidity upon the subject of religion leave him, and he becomes a serious and deeply-interested creature. 2. Another effect of this "reasoning together" with God respecting our character and conduct is to render our views discriminating. The action of the mind is not only intense, it is also intelligent. The sinner knows that he is wrong, and his Maker is right--that he is wicked, and that God is holy. He perceives these two fundamental facts with a simplicity and a certainty that admit of no debate. The confusion and obscurity of his mind, and particularly the queryings whether these things are so, begin to disappear like a fog when disparted and scattered by sunrise. Objects are seen in their true proportions and meanings; right and wrong, the carnal mind and the spiritual mind, heaven and hell--all the great contraries that pertain to the subject of religion--are distinctly understood, and thus the first step is taken towards a better state of things in the soul.[1]

II. The second lesson taught in the text is, that +there is forgiveness with God.+ If mercy were not a manifested attribute of God, all self-examination, and especially all this conjoint Divine scrutiny, would be a pure torment and a pure gratuity. We have the amplest assurance in the whole written revelation of God, but no where else, that "there is forgiveness with Him, that He may be feared." The text is an exceedingly explicit assertion of this great truth. The very same Being who invites us to reason with Him and canvass the subject of our criminality, in the very same breath, if we may so speak, assures us that He will forgive all that is found in this examination. And upon such terms cannot the criminal well afford to examine into his crime? The Divine pity outruns and exceeds the crime. Paradoxical as it may appear, self-examination, when joined with a distinct recognition of the Divine character, and a conscious sense of God's scrutiny, is the surest means of producing in a guilty mind a firm conviction that God is merciful, and is the swiftest way of finding Him to be so. Abhorrent as iniquity is to the pure mind of God, it is nevertheless a fact that that sinner who goes directly into this Dread Presence with all his sins upon his head, in order to know them, to be condemned and crushed by them, and to confess them, is the one who soonest returns with peace and hope in his soul. For he discovers that God is as cordial and sincere in His offer to forgive as He is in His threat to punish; and having, to his sorrow, felt the reality and power of the Divine anger, he now, to his joy, feels the equal reality and power of the Divine love. And this is the one great lesson which every man must learn, or perish for ever.

From these two lessons of our text we deduce the following practical directions--1. _In all states of religious anxiety we should betake ourselves instantly and directly to God;_ there is no other refuge for the human soul but God in Christ. Are we sinners, and fear for the final result of our life? Though it may seem like running into fire, we must, nevertheless, betake ourselves first and immediately to that Being who hates and punishes sin (1 Chron. xxi. 13). 2. _In all our religious anxiety we should make a full and plain statement of everything to God._ Even when the story is one of shame and remorse, we find it to be mental relief, patiently, and without any reservation or palliation, to expose the whole, not only to our own eye, but to that of our Judge. For to this very thing have we been invited. This is precisely the "reasoning together" which God proposes to us. God has not offered clemency to a sinful world with the expectation or desire that there be, on the part of those to whom it is offered, such a stinted and meagre confession, such a glossing over and diminution of sin, as to make that clemency appear a very small matter. He well knows the depth and the immensity of the sin which He proposes to pardon, and has made provision accordingly. In the phrase of Luther, it is no painted sinner who is to be forgiven, and it is no painted Saviour who is offered. The transgression is deep and real, and the atonement is deep and real. The crime cannot be exaggerated, neither can the expiation. He, therefore, who makes the plainest and most childlike statement of himself to God, acts most in accordance with the mind and will and gospel of God. If man can only be hearty, full, and unreserved in confession, he will find God to be hearty, full, and unreserved in absolution.--_W. G. T. Shedd, D.D., The American Pulpit of the Day,_ vol. i. pp. 829-842.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Man is not straitened upon the side of the Divine mercy.
The obstacle in the way of his salvation is in himself; and
the particular, fatal obstacle consists in the fact that he
does not feel that he needs mercy. God in Christ stands
ready to pardon, but man, the sinner, stands up before Him,
like the besotted criminal in our courts of law, with no
feeling upon the subject. The Judge assures him that He has
a boundless grace and clemency to bestow; but the sinful,
hardened man is not even aware that he has committed a
dreadful crime, and needs grace and clemency. There is food
in infinite abundance, but no hunger upon the part of the
man. The water of life is flowing by in torrents, but men
have no thirst. In this state of things nothing can be done
but to pass a sentence of condemnation. God cannot forgive
a being who does not even know that he needs to be
forgiven. Knowledge, then, self-knowledge, is the great
requisite; and the want of it is the cause of perdition.
This "reasoning together" with God, respecting our past and
present character and conduct, is the first step to be
taken by any one who would make preparation for eternity.
As soon as we come to a right understanding of our lost and
guilty condition, we shall cry, "Be merciful to me, a
sinner; create within me a clean heart, O God." Without
such an understanding--such an intelligent perception of
our sin and guilt--we never shall, and we never
can.--_Shedd._

SINNERS SELF-DESTROYED.

i. 19-20. _If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the
good of the land; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be
destroyed with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it._

Delitsch translates--_"If ye then shall willingly hear, ye shall eat the good of the land; if ye shall obstinately rebel, ye shall be eaten by the sword: For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it."_

Stranchey translates--_"If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall feed on the good of the land; but if ye refuse and rebel, the sword shall feed on you,"_ which brings out one of the contrasts of the verse still more clearly. "The promise of eating, _i.e.,_ of the full enjoyment of domestic blessings, and therefore of settled, peaceful rest at home, is placed in contrast with the curse of being eaten with the sword."--_Delitsch._

Note the close connection between these verses and verse 18. God condescends to invite rebels to a conference with Himself, He is willing to grant them the fullest forgiveness; but it is on the condition of future obedience. On this condition He is prepared to do more than forgive them,--He will enrich them with all needful blessings, of which peaceful enjoyment of the fruits of the earth is here named as a symbol; but if they will not listen to His invitation, accept His gracious offer, and yield the obedience He righteously demands, then the vengeance they have deserved will come upon them. They have the matter entirely in their own hands; it rests with them to determine whether their future shall be one of happiness or misery. Thus we are led to the great doctrine of these verses, that _sinners are self-destroyed._

This is a doctrine frequently insisted on in Scripture (Ezek. xxxiii. 11; 2 Sam. xiv. 14; Hos. xiii. 9; 2 Pet. iii. 9). It is true in a twofold sense. +1. They sin voluntarily.+ God never foreordained any man to work iniquity.[1] Some are indeed surrounded from their birth by evil influences, and on this account, as well as on account of that corrupt nature which we all inherit, they do sinful acts from their infancy, but they do not _sin_ until the dawn of moral consciousness; and after that, every act of iniquity they perpetrate they perpetrate voluntarily. +2. They suffer voluntarily.+ They do not merely expose themselves to the penalty of sin, they take it upon them voluntarily. God offers to remit it, on condition of their repentance, but they reject the proffered boon; like a suicide who repels the surgeon who would close his bleeding wounds.

In this fact that sinners thus destroy themselves we have--+I. A terrible illustration of the depth of human depravity.+ Sinners not only hate God so much as to break His laws, but so much as to harden themselves against His love, and to reject His mercy. +II. A sufficient vindication of the severities of the Divine justice.+ 1. No sinner in hell will be able to reproach God for his misery. 2. We who contemplate the awful fact that human souls are suffering in hell have no right to reproach God for their sufferings. These sufferers deliberately turned their backs upon God and heaven, and went of their own accord to perdition.

_Application._--1. Before you to-day blessing and cursing, life and death are set; choose ye which ye will. 2. "If ye be _willing,_" God will open to you all the treasures of His grace. But not otherwise! He will compel no man to accept His mercy. 3. Whatever be your choice, God will ratify it. If you choose destruction, you shall have it, and then you will not be able to revoke your choice (Prov. i. 22-31).

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The argument which the fatalist bases upon organisation is
self-annihilating when applied to the common relations of
life. The fatalist himself does not believe in his own
doctrine; in speculative reasoning he is eager to charge
moral crime upon organic defect; yet, in practical
magistracy, he arraigns and condemns the criminal to
punishment. But how monstrous an outrage is this upon his
own creed! The criminal was compelled through stress of
organisation to commit the crime, yet the fatalist punishes
him for doing what he could not help! Let the principle of
the fatalist be admitted, and there is an end to all
legislation--an end, indeed, to the social compact itself.
All associated life is regulated by a system of restraints;
but restraint implies self-control, and self-control is
directly opposed to fatalism. Let a criminal plead that he
could not help committing a certain crime; and if the judge
allow the plea, he will at once treat the criminal as a
lunatic, and instruct the officers of justice accordingly.
Magistracy proceeds upon the principle that men can "help"
committing crime. All human legislation assumes a man's
power of self-regulation, and grounds itself on the grand
doctrine of man's responsibility to man. At this point,
upon the same principle in relation to God, Theology says,
You hold yourselves responsible to one another on all
social matters, you punish the criminal, you ignore the
plea of fatalism on all questions of property, order, and
security; now go further, heighten your own social base,
carry out to their logical issues your own principles and
methods, and you will reach all that God requires of man.
If it be urged that God gave the criminal his organisation,
the objection does not touch the argument. The argument is,
that in human consciousness the plea of fatalism is ignored
on all practical matters; away beyond all written statutes
there is a conviction that man can regulate his actions,
and ought to be held responsible for such regulation. Man
himself thus, by his own conduct and his own law, acquits
God of all charge upon this matter; the very recognition by
the magistrate of man's responsibility is itself a direct
acquittal of God from the accusations of fatalism. God need
not be interrogated upon the subject, for the magistrate
himself, faithful to the consciousness of universal
humanity, treats the fatalistic theory as an
absurdity.--_Joseph Parker._

THE CERTAINTY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE IMPENITENT.

i. 20. _If ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with
the sword; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it._

Let a man look steadily at the sun for a few moments, and for a long time afterwards he will see nothing else; whithersoever he turns, he will behold the sun. Some men have looked at God's wondrous mercy so exclusively, that they can see in Him and His Word nothing but mercy, and they doubt, and teach others to doubt, whether God will fulfil His threatenings against sin. Let such persons consider these three facts--+I. That God's justice requires that He should execute His threatenings against iniquity.+ He Himself would commit a frightful injustice, and would be the worst active promoter and abettor of evil in the universe, if He were to treat all men alike. His mere delay to take vengeance upon transgressors gives rise to some of the most perplexing of moral problems (Eccles. ix. 2, 3; Ps. lxxiii. 1-9, &c.), and if He were never to do so, the whole universe would be driven into atheism. This is the tendency even of His merciful delays (Ps. x. 11; lxxiii. 11, &c.) +II. That God's truth requires that He should execute His threatenings against iniquity.+ "The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it," and shall He not fulfil His Word? So settled is the conviction of the human mind that He must do so, that it has been found one of the greatest obstacles to the reception of the Gospel. How God can be truthful, and yet pardon the sinner, it has transcended the human mind to conceive. The atonement of Christ is the _practical_ solution of this mystery. +III. That the history of His ancient people shows that while in God there is a goodness most marvellous and tender, on account of which we should praise Him evermore, there is also a severity so terrible, that on account of it all the world should stand in awe of Him.+ Remember what frightful calamities (the sword, famine, pestilence, exile) God sent upon His ancient people in this world; and shall we imagine that He who displayed such a capacity for sternness in this world will be found incapable of it in the world which is to come? Let us dismiss this delusion which is at once utterly groundless and unspeakably dangerous.[1]

_Application._--1. True reverence for God will lead us to accept with equal implicitness all the disclosures which He has been pleased to give of His character He will be to us neither a God all mercy nor a God all justice. In Him both these high qualities are found in equal perfection: they are not opponents, but allies. Each is always in absolute harmony with the other. 2. True reverence for God will lead us to tremble in view of His threatenings, as well as to rejoice in view of His promises. 3. It is with the God of the Bible, and not with the God of our own sentimental fancies, that we shall have to deal with at the last. 4. If we take nature as our guide to the interpretation of revelation, we shall find it easier to believe in God's severity than in His benignity. In nature there are appalling indications of sternness. The world in which we now are is full of suffering.[2] 5. It is in mercy that the threatenings of God's justice are now set forth.[3]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] If Scripture be certainly true, then the most terrible
passages in it are certainly true; nothing is more hardly
believed by men than that which will be most tormenting to
their minds, when it is believed that none shall be saved
but the regenerate and holy; and those that live not after
the flesh, but the Spirit, and love God in Christ above all
the world, even their own lives; and that, besides these
few, all the rest shall be tormented in hell for ever. This
is the doctrine that flesh and blood will hardly down with.
They say or think they will never believe that God will be
so unmerciful; as if God must needs be less merciful than
man, because He is more just and holy, and will not be so
indulgent to their flesh and sin as they are themselves,
and would have Him to be. And I have known even godly men,
through the remnant of their corruption and darkness in the
things of God, and the violence of temptation, much
troubled with their unbelief in this particular. But God
cannot lie the Scripture being true, and the Christian
religion certainly true, every part of it must needs be
true. But because sensual nature looks for sensible
demonstration or proof, let me ask the unbelievers this one
question--"Do you believe that which you see and feel, and
all the world feels as well as you?" You know that all
mankind liveth here a life of trouble and misery; we come
into the world in a very poor condition, and we pass
through it in daily labour and sorrow, and we pass out of
it through the dreadful pangs of death. What incessant
labour have the most of them, how much want and misery, how
much care and grief! Do you not see and feel how sicknesses
do torment us? When one pain is over, another is at hand.
Have you not seen some under such terrible fits of the
gout, or stone, or other diseases, that they thought no
torment could be greater; some with their legs rotting and
must be cut off; some with loathsome cancers and leprosies
on them many years together; some that have lost their
eyesight, have lost almost all the comfort of life; some
that never could see; some that never could hear or speak?
I have known some in such pain that they have cried out
they did not believe there was greater in hell; some are
mad, and some idiots: are not all these in a very miserable
case? Now I would ask you further if God may, without any
unmercifulness, do all this to men, and that as a
chastisement in the way to bring them to repentance; if He
may, without unmercifulness, make a David cry out in
misery, and wash his couch with his tears; and make a Job
to lie scraping his sores on a dunghill; why should you
think he cannot, without unmercifulness, torment incurable
sinners in hell? Further, I would ask you this question;
suppose you had lived in Adam's paradise, or some condition
of pleasure and rest, where you never had tasted of
sickness, or labour, or want, or feared death, if God's
Word had there told you, but that man shall endure so much
misery as I have mentioned and men daily suffer, and should
die at last for his sin, would you have said, "I will never
believe God would be so unmerciful?" You that say so now,
would likely have said so then in this case; for feeling
the pleasure yourselves, you would on the same ground have
said, "God is unmerciful if He should make man so
miserable;" and yet you see and feel that God doth it, and
we know that He is not unmerciful.--_Baxter,_ 1615-1691.

[2] Suffering comes to us through and from our whole nature. It
cannot be winked out of sight. It cannot be thrust into a
subordinate place in the picture of human life. It is the
chief burden of history. It is the solemn theme of one of
the highest departments of literature, the tragic drama. It
gives to fictions their deep interest: it wails through
much of our poetry. A large part of human vocations are
intended to shut up some of its avenues. It has left traces
on every human countenance over which years have passed. It
is not to a few the most vivid recollection of
life.--_W. Ellery Channing._

[3] God indeed tells us of Hell, but it is to persuade us to
flee to heaven; and as a skilful painter fills the
background of his picture with his darker colours, God
introduces the smoke of torment, and the black
thunderclouds of Sinai, to give brighter prominence to
Jesus, the Cross of Calvary, and His love to the chief of
sinners.

His voice of terror is like the scream of the mother-bird
when the hawk is in the sky. She alarms her brood, that
they may run and hide beneath her feathers; and as I
believe that God hath left that mother dumb unless He had
given her wings to cover them, I am sure that He, who is
very "pitiful," and has no pleasure in any creature's pain,
had never turned our eyes to the horrible gulf unless for
the voice that cries, "Deliver from going down to the pit,
for I have found a ransom."

We had never heard of sin had there been no Saviour. We had
never heard of hell had there been no heaven. "Sufficient
for the day is the evil thereof." And never had Bible light
flashed before the eyes of the sleeping felon, to wake him
from his happy dream, but that he might see the smiling
form of Mercy, and hear her as she says, with finger
pointing the way, "Behold I have set before thee an open
door."--_Guthrie._

MORAL DECLENSION.

i. 21-23. _How is the faithful city become an harlot![1] It
was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now
murderers.[2] Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed
with water: thy princes are rebellious, and companions of
thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after
rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the
cause of the widow come unto them._

+I. Moral declensions may take place in the best of men.+ "The faithful city--silver--wine--princes," the very best things depraved. +II. There are no limits to the moral declensions that may take place in the best of men.+ "The faithful city is become an _harlot_," &c. We have here an argument--1. For universal _humility_ (1 Cor. x. 12; Gal. vi. 1). 2. For universal _watchfulness_ (Mark xiv. 38). 3. For universal _prayer_ (Ps. xix. 12, 13; cxxxix. 23, 24).

FOOTNOTES:

[1] "The faithful city is become an harlot:"--Jerusalem, the
daughter of Zion, the wife of the Holy One of Israel, has
broken the bond of her covenant with Him, has set at nought
the Divine constitution and order in which He originally
placed, and has continued to sustain her: and, as the
outward consequence and sign of this spiritual defection,
has actually fallen to the worship of other gods.
Throughout this prophecy Isaiah dwells chiefly on the sins
of the princes and rulers of the nation, and only
incidentally on those of the people; and accordingly he now
dilates on the characteristic vices of the former, which
are the fruits of their national unfaithfulness. Social and
political morality have vanished along with religious
faith; thieves and murderers are found instead of virtuous
citizens; the nobles and men in authority are the first to
break the laws they should enforce; the administration of
justice is so corrupt that the judges take bribes, connive
at the robbers whose booty they share, and permit the rich
man to pervert the law for the oppression of the fatherless
and widow, who have no patrons to demand, and no money to
buy, justice: and thus the aristocracy, setting aside all
belief that they hold their wealth and power in trust from
God for the benefit of the people under them, do but employ
these as irresistible engines for breaking down all rights
that can oppose them in their pursuit of luxury and
vice.--_Strachey._

[2] Jerusalem was once full of such right; and Righteousness
was not merely there in the form of a hastily-passing
guest, but had come down from above to take up her
permanent abode in Jerusalem: she tarried there day and
night, as if it were her home. The prophet had in his mind
the times of David and Solomon, and also more especially
the time of Jehoshaphat (about one hundred and fifty years
before Isaiah's appearance), who restored the
administration of justice, which had fallen into neglect
since the closing years of Solomon's reign and the time of
Rehoboam and Abijah, to which Asa's reformation had not
extended, and reorganized it entirely in the spirit of the
law. It is possible also that Jehoiada, the high priest in
the time of Joash, may have revived the institutions of
Jehoshaphat so far as they had fallen into disuse under his
three godless successors; but even in the second half of
the reign of Joash the administration of justice fell into
some disgraceful state, at least as compared with the times
of David, Solomon, and Jehoshaphat, as that in which Isaiah
found it. The glaring contrast between the present and the
past is indicated by the expression _"and
now."_--_Delitzch._

AN ILLUSTRIOUS INHABITANT.

i. 21. _Righteousness lodged in it._

+I. A High Commendation.+ Righteousness lodged in the city--not merely visited it as a passing guest, but dwelt in it as a permanent abode [Alexander and Kay--"had its _home_ there"]. No greater praise could be spoken of any city, nor can be uttered of any man. +1.+ _Let us do what we can to make our city worthy of this high commendation._ Much can be done in this direction by the combined, resolute, and persevering efforts of godly men. +2.+ _Let us try to deserve it individually._ This may involve many sacrifices, but they will be more than compensated. Righteousness is a royal guest, ennobling and enriching those with whom she dwells, and peace, prosperity, and joy invariably follow in her train. +II. A mournful condemnation.+ Righteousness _lodged_ in the city; lodged, not lodges! That noble and Divine inhabitant is departed. The palace in which she dwelt is in ruins. 1. Of how many _cities_ may this mournful declaration be made! The cities in which Christianity achieved some if its first and noblest triumphs are now Mohammedan and semi-heathen. They did not hold fast the truth, and now they are given over to error. We boast that this is a Christian land, but its relapse into practical heathenism is not impossible. In every action there is a constant gravitation towards evil, which can only be resisted and overcome by constant effort and earnest prayer. Let the churches of this land lay this solemn fact to heart. 2. Of how many _men_ may this declaration be made! How many even of the openly vicious and criminal were once respectable members of society--yes, even honoured members of churches! They were men "subject to like passions as we are;" and in what they are we have solemn warnings as to what we may become. Let those who are most exalted, not in privileges only, but in moral excellence, also watch and pray, lest sin enter even their hearts, and expel that Divine guest whose presence secures so many blessings and warrants so many hopes.

THE POSSIBLE DEGENERACY OF VALUABLE THINGS.

i. 22. _Thy silver is become dross._

There are many valuable and good things in the world that through varied causes are rendered comparatively useless. They once were silver, but now they are dross. +I. The silver of thy character has become dross because of little failings.+ There have been men known to all of us, of good moral characters, of lofty and heroic soul, but they were betrayed into occasional faults,[1] which many condoned, which others magnified, but which they themselves did not correct, until at last their silver became dross. The character depreciated in moral worth. It was no longer current as a thing of beauty. It had lost its value. +II. The silver of thy service has become dross because of unholy motives.+ Christian service is a good and precious thing, but how frequently is it rendered useless and vain by pride, by thoughts of self, and by secular motive.[2] It is, indeed, as silver when rendered by a pure and loving heart, but alas! it too often becomes dross because of the unhallowed sentiment of the soul. The mite of the widow cast into the treasury was as silver, but the munificent gifts of the Pharisees were as dross. How much of the service rendered to the great God in the pulpit, pew, and school, is but dross! This is a solemn thought. +III. The silver of thy money has become dross because of selfishness.+ We cannot estimate the wealth of a man by the money he has in possession, but often far better by the money he gives away. When men keep their riches to themselves, solely for their own use, they cease to be rich--they are laden with coin that is not current; their silver has become dross. Liberality makes money worth its value.[3] Generosity preserves wealth from all degenerating influences. How many so-called rich men have more dross than silver in this world. +IV. The silver of thy talents has become dross because of indolence.+ Silver is bright when kept in use. Talents are valuable when active. The mind has talents of thought and sympathy and love. The hand has talents of help. The mouth has talents of blessing. Take care that thy silver does not become as dross.--_J. S. Exell._

FOOTNOTES:

[1] You need not break the glasses of a telescope, or coat them
over with paint, in order to prevent you from seeing
through them. Just breathe upon them, and the dew of your
breath will shut out all the stars. So it does not require
great crimes to hide the light of God's countenance. Little
faults can do it just as well. Take a shield, and cast a
spear upon it, and it will leave in it one great dent.
Prick it all over with a million little needle shafts, and
they will take the polish from it far more than the
piercing of the spear. So it is not so much the great sins
which take the freshness from our consciences, as the
numberless petty faults which we are all the while
committing.--_Beecher._

[2] Our end or motive in acting determines more than anything
the quality of our actions. Not that a good end will
sanctify a bad action, but a bad end will vitiate every
action connected with it. If, for instance, in our
religious services we seek the applause of men, we must
expect no reward from God, the gratification of our pride
and vanity is all the reward that such polluted services
can obtain. In the account which is given of Jehu, we find
that the very same action which was rewarded on account of
its outward conformity with God's command, was punished on
account of the base principle by which he was influenced in
performing it. He did well in extirpating the seed of Ahab,
and was rewarded for it to the fourth generation: the blood
which was shed was imputed to him as murder. Nor is there
anything more common than for even religious persons to
mistake the path of duty through an inattention to their
own spirit. The disciples doubtless thought themselves
under the influence of a commendable zeal when they would
have called fire from heaven to consume a Samaritan
village; as did Peter, also, when he cut off the ear of
Malchus. We should therefore be peculiarly cautious with
respect to this, lest by the mixture of any selfish motive
or base affection we offend Him whom it is our desire and
endeavour to please.--_Simeon._

[3] If we so love our riches that we would eternally possess
them, let us not hoard them up in the earth, where we are
sure to leave them, carrying nothing with us but the canker
of our coin, which shall bear witness against us at the Day
of Judgment; but let us send them before us into heaven,
delivering them unto the poor, who are God's factors and
receivers; and so having conveyed and made over our goods,
as it were by bills of exchange, we shall find the Lord a
sure and all-sufficient paymaster, who will give us more
than double usance, and yet pay us at the first sight. If
we would have our coin continue sweet and good for a good
space, let us know that there are for this purpose no
garners comparable to poor men's stomachs, which will
preserve our grain for our use unto life eternal. If we
would have our clothes preserved from moths, and to last
long, the backs of the naked are our safest
wardrobes.--_Downame,_ 1644.

A TERRIBLE RESOLVE.

i. 24. _Therefore thus saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine
adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies._

Concerning many men, we may offer Christ's prayer, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." They sin in ignorance, or rather without thought of their character and relation to God, and of the doom which they are bringing upon themselves. There may be such persons before me now. Acting, then the part of a true and faithful friend, I warn you--+I. That God counts you as His enemies.+ By cherishing your sins you defy His authority, and place yourself in a position of hostility to Him.[1] +II. That God feels Himself, injured, oppressed, and as it were hemmed in by your iniquities.+ Note this most suggestive phrase, "I will _ease me_ of mine adversaries," and see outline on verse 14. God's laws are His territories, and by your transgressions you invade them. Your sins are _trespasses._ God feels toward you as the French feel towards the Germans who have taken possession of and settled down in Alsace and Lorraine; you put upon God an indignity which He cannot and will not bear. +III.+ That while God endures your trespasses for a time, in the merciful hope that by His forbearance you may be led to repentance, +He will not restrain His anger for ever,+ but will presently give free vent to it,[2] and sweep you into that place where, though you may retain the disposition to sin against Him, you will not have the power.