Chapter VII: Part 7

_Application._--Now consider--1. That this is not the resolve of some feeble being destitute of resources for the accomplishment of his purposes. He who thus solemnly warns you is "the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel." 2. Whether you have resources that will enable you to cope with this adversary whose indignation you have aroused (Luke xiv. 31). If not, consider--3. What is the course that wisdom would suggest to you in your present circumstances (Luke xiv. 32).[3]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] If a king warns a city of traitors, and calls upon them to
search them out and send them away, and they never regard
the message, but willingly give them harbour and
entertainment, it is a sign that they are disaffected to
him: to cherish a sin after warning is open defiance of
God.--_Manton,_ 1620-1667.

[2] At this first step we might reason on the testimony if we
pleased, instead of accepting it, and raise the objection
that to imagine passion in God, especially so turbid a
passion as anger, conflicts with our notions of His
character, and degrades Him in our apprehensions. Beware!
remember that in forming an estimate of the character and
proceedings of God, we are but little children forming an
estimate of the character and proceedings of a man of
matured experience. Were it not more reasonable, as well as
more reverent, to accept what He says, and to leave Him
afterwards to clear up any mystery which may envelope His
nature? I can indeed conceive in Him nothing turbid,
impetuous, or impulsive, such as sullies the clearness of
the human will. But this I can conceive, that there is in
Him some high perfection (more incomprehensible to my
finite capacity than the speculations of an astronomer to a
peasant child), of which anger is the most adequate
exponent to my mind, and which I must be content to think
of and speak of as anger, or else to remain in total
ignorance of it. And this also I can--not only conceive,
but most readily assent to, that in an absolutely perfect
nature there should be an utter abhorrence of, and
antipathy to, moral evil, most justly represented to simple
minds by the terms "anger," "curse." We have never seen a
perfect character; no perfect character, save one, ever
moved upon the earth: but the righteous man, who is
striving after and approximating to perfection, has often
crossed our path; and surely we have marked in him, that
the more righteous he is, the more doth he abhor (in the
language of Holy Scriptures) everything that is evil. What
is the effect upon one who breathes habitually the
atmosphere of communion with God, of catching in the
current tidings of the day the intelligence of some awful
outburst of depravity? When such an one passes on an errand
of mercy through the crowded alleys of a great city, and
the shouts of malignant execration and profaneness ring in
his ear, or with what feeling does he encounter these
symptoms of human degradation? Are they not like a foul
odour to his nostrils, or a jarring note to his ear, or an
abortion to his sight? Does he not turn away with loathing,
and recoil from such scenes and such sounds with an
antipathy strong in proportion to his goodness? And is it,
then, so hard to conceive that in perfect goodness there
may be a recoil from moral evil, something similar in kind
to this, though infinitely stronger in degree? And is not
such a recoil righteous, and a token of
righteousness?--_Goulburn._

[3] Let us take heed, for mercy is like a rainbow, which God
set in the clouds to remember mankind: it shines here as
long as it is not hindered; but we must never look for it
after it is night, and it shines not in the other world. If
we refuse mercy here, we shall have justice there.--_Jeremy
Taylor,_ 1612-1667.

THE PURPOSE OF PUNISHMENT.

i. 24-27. _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: and I will turn
mine hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and
take away all thy tin: and I will restore thy judges as at
the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning:
afterwards thou shall be called, The city of righteousness,
The faithful city. Zion shall be welcomed with judgment,
and her converts with righteousness._

The denunciation of the iniquity of Jerusalem (vers. 21-23) is followed by a solemn announcement of God's determination to punish it. +I. God will certainly punish sin.+ "Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies." See preceding outline, and that on verse 20. +II. In punishing sin God is not moved by any vindictive purpose.+ True, He speaks here of taking vengeance upon His enemies, but these words coming from the lips of Jehovah must not be interpreted as we should have to interpret them if they came from the lips of a Genghis Khan or a Tippoo Saib. We must remember that this is the utterance of the Mighty One of Israel, who is infinitely uplifted above every unholy passion. Whatever misconstruction the phrase, taken alone, might be open to, is entirely obviated by the declarations which follow it, which teach us--+III. That God's aim even in the severest chastisements is the reformation of the offenders, and their restoration to true blessedness.+ For what purpose will He turn His hand upon Jerusalem? Not that He may destroy her, but that He may purify her, as silver is purified in the furnace; and through this painful process she is caused to pass, that she may be restored to her former dignity and blessedness. It is for these purposes that God chastises nations and individuals to-day.

_Application._--1. Those who are living sinful lives may certainly expect severe judgments. Sin and sorrow are inseparably linked, and God is solemnly pledged not to "clear" the guilty. 2. Those on whom judgments on account of sin have fallen should neither despise them nor be driven by them to despair (Heb. xii. 5). These are two great evils. Indifference to chastisement brings on still severer strokes.[1] God will break the stubborn sinners who refuse to bend (ver. 28).[2] Despair defeats the very object for which our chastisements are sent, and is itself a grievous offence against God. Instead of yielding to despair, we should be filled with hope, for God has loving purposes towards us, and our prayer should be, not that the afflictions should be removed, but that God's purposes in them should be fulfilled. It is worth while to go into the furnace, if thereby we may be cleansed from the dross by which we are defiled.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The physician, when he findeth that the potion which he
hath given his patient will not work, seconds it with one
more violent; but if he perceive the disease to be settled,
then he puts him in a course of physic, so that _medicè
miserè_ (he shall have at present but small comfort of his
life). And thus doth the surgeon too: if a gentle plaster
will not serve, then he applies that which is more
corroding, and, to prevent a gangrene, he makes use of the
cauterising knife, and take off the joint or member that is
so ill affected. Even so God, when men profit not by such
crosses as He hath formerly exercised them with, when they
are not bettered by lighter afflictions, then He sends
heavier, and proceeds from milder to sharper courses. If
the dross of their sin will not come off, He will throw
them into the melting-pot again and again, crush them
harder in the press, and lay on such irons as shall enter
more deeply into their souls. If He strikes and they grieve
not, if they be so foolish that they will not know the
judgment of their God, He will bring seven times more
plagues upon them--cross upon cross, loss upon loss,
trouble upon trouble, one sorrow on the neck of
another--till they are, in a manner, wasted and
consumed.--_Firmicus._

[2] This we may rest satisfied of, that whensoever God's hand
is upon us, we must either yield a voluntary, or be forced
to a violent, submission. If our stubbornness is such that
we will not bend, it is certain that our weakness is also
such that we must needs break. If God's message will not
win upon Pharaoh, His plagues shall compel him, and
therefore, when He sent Moses to him, He put a rod into his
hand, as well as a word into his mouth. When God fully
purposes to afflict a man, he is like a bird in a net, the
more he strives and flutters, the more he is entangled; for
the Supreme Judge of all things is resolved to go through
with His great work of judgment, and to make all obstinate,
sturdy sinners know, that He has power to constrain where
His goodness will not persuade.--_South,_ 1633-1716.

THE DIVINE IDEA OF REDEMPTION.

i. 25, 26. _And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely
purge away thy dross, and take away thy tin: and I will
restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as
at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city
of righteousness, The faithful city._

We have here the promise of a redemption which God would accomplish for Jerusalem, and from the terms of the promise, especially taken in connection with the preceding statements (vers. 21-23), we may learn what God's idea of redemption is: it is to purge away all that debases and to restore all that is lost. In other words, _redemption consists in restoration to the Divine ideal._ Such was the redemption which God promises to accomplish for Jerusalem; such is the redemption which He offers to accomplish for us. Here we have--

+I. A correction of a common error.+ Most men, when they hear of redemption, think of it merely as salvation from suffering, rescue from the peril of hell. This is a _consequence_ of redemption, but redemption consists in the cleansing of our nature from all defilement, and in our restoration to the Divine ideal of humanity (Col. iii. 10; Eph. iv. 24, 13). God is going to do something grander for us than save us from hell. He is going to make us "meet" for heaven (1 John iii. 2). It would be truer to say that God's idea of redemption is "salvation _by_ suffering," than to say that it is "salvation _from_ suffering." The figure used in the text is expressive of the keenest suffering--"I will purge away thy dross." but dross is purged away by _fire!_ Suffering is one of the instruments which God most frequently uses to save men from sin.

+II. A model for preachers.+ Guided by a Divine interpreter, the prophet does not speak of happiness, but of purity and righteousness; he names these as the great favours which God was about to bestow upon His people. So should preachers to-day strive to make men understand that _these_ are the greatest blessings which God can confer upon man. All other blessings spring from them; as all social blessings are secured to a community when its "judges" are righteous and its "counsellors" fear God. Let preachers do their utmost to make it plain to the man of this generation, that just as if we have the sun we shall have light and heat, so if they have purity, they shall have peace; if they attain to holiness, they shall attain to a nobler and completer happiness than those who long for happiness merely ever dream.

+III. An ennobling ideal to be striven after by all men.+ Happy is the man who has a great purpose in life. And what is the purpose with which a study of our text should inspire us? Not merely to "flee from the wrath to come," but to become "partakers of the Divine nature," and so to attain to God's ideal of humanity. God is striving to restore us to His own likeness: let us do all that in us lies to help on this restoration (Phil. ii. 12, 13). The "salvation" we are to "work out" is not salvation from guilt (_that_ is Christ's work, accomplished by Him once for all on the cross), but from the indwelling corruption which is to us what dross is to the precious metals. Nor are we merely to seek to put away that which is evil;[1] we are to strive to set up in us all noblenesses which are to character what "judges" and "counsellors" are to a city (2 Pet. i. 5-7; Phil. iv. 8). Blessed is the man who has this ideal in life. 1. _He is saved from fear,_ the haunting dread of failure which oppresses those whose supreme desire is merely to be saved from hell. 2. _He has a sustaining hope,_ based upon the sure promises of God's Word (1 Pet. i. 10, 11). 3. He has a present and growing joy,_ such as can come only from self-conquest and moral progress. The joy of "the just," that is of the men whose steadfast aim is righteousness, is like "the path of the just" (Prov. iv. 18).

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Christianity ends not in negatives. No man clears his
garden of weeds but in order to the planting of flowers or
useful herbs in their room. God calls upon us to dispossess
our corruptions, but it is for the reception of new
inhabitants. A room may be clean, and yet empty; but it is
not enough that our hearts be swept, unless they be also
garnished, or that we lay aside our pride, our luxury, our
covetousness, unless humility, temperance, and liberality
rise up and thrive in their places. The design of religion
would be very poor and short should it look no further than
only to keep men from being swine, goats, and tigers,
without improving the principles of humanity into positive
and higher perfections. The soul may be cleansed from all
blots, and yet still be left but a blank. But Christianity
is of a thriving and aspiring nature, and requires us to
proceed from grace to grace (2 Pet. i. 5-7), ascending by
degrees, till at length the top of the ladder reaches
heaven, and conveys the soul so qualified into the mansions
of glory.--_South,_ 1633-1716.

SOCIAL REGENERATION.

i. 26. _And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and
thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shall
be called, The city of righteousness, The faithful city._

We have in the contest a picture of a dismantled city, a disorganized community; and here God tells us that He will undertake the work of its reconstruction. +I. All the arrangements of society are absolutely in God's hands.+ "_I_ will restore," &c. No man can overturn, or build up, but by His permission. On Him all projects of national, social, or ecclesiastical reconstruction depend for their success. That on which He smiles flourishes; that on which He frowns withers away. Let reformers and reconstructors of society remember and recognise this great fact, that God rules on earth as in heaven. +II. All interruptions of social order are under the control of God.+ Revolutions occur not by chance, nor by the will of man, but by the will of God. They occur only when, and continue only as long as He pleases. By Him judges and counsellors are swept away, and by Him they are restored. No nation is so broken that it cannot be uplifted by Him to power and glory, "as at the first." +III. No social state can be purified but by religious processes.+ There are many philanthropic and political projects which have for their aim national regeneration, but they are all foredoomed to come to nought, because they lack the religious element. Moral reformation must go before social advancement: a return to righteousness is the first step to national exaltation.[1] +IV. The great name will follow the true regeneration.+ "_Afterward_ thou shall be called, The city of righteousness, The faithful city." Not first the exalted title, but the illustrative character; not first the splendid renown, but the glorious achievement!--_Joseph Parker, D.D._

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Think not that any change in the form of government would
cure that which is caused by the people's sin, or the
common depravity of human nature. Some think they can
contrive such forms of government as that the rulers shall
be able to do no hurt; but either they will disable them to
do good, or else their engine is but glass, and will fail
or break when it comes to execution. Men that are
themselves so bad and unhumbled as not to know how bad they
are, and how bad mankind is, are still laying the blame
upon the form of government when anything is amiss, and
think by a change to find a cure. As if when an army is
infected with the plague, or composed of cowards, the
change of the general or form of government would prove a
cure. But if a monarch be faulty, in an aristocracy you
will have but many faulty governors for one, and in a
democracy a multitude of tyrants.--_Baxter,_ 1615-1691.

THE TWOFOLD EFFECT OF DIVINE JUDGMENTS.

i. 27, 28. _Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her
converts with righteousness: and the destruction of the
transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and
they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed._

These verses are closely and vitally connected: it is a mistake to separate them, as in the Authorised Version. Their meaning would be conveyed to the English reader, if they were translated--_"Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness; and thereby also the transgressors and sinners shall be destroyed, yea they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed."_[1] By judgment is meant the doom which in the preceding verses had been threatened against guilty Jerusalem (_e.g.,_ vers. 18): this "judgment" would be a manifestation of God's punitive righteousness, and the declaration is that the infliction of this "judgment" would have a twofold effect--it would redeem Zion and her converts, and it would destroy the transgressors and sinners.

_The diverse effects of Divine judgments_ is a matter well worthy of our study. +I. One effect of those judgments by which God manifests His righteous indignation against sin is to redeem His people from their transgressions.+ A prolonged period of peace and prosperity such as the Jews enjoyed under Uzziah is always perilous to the vital religion of a nation. Formalism is apt to prevail. The lines of demarcation between the Church and the world are apt to be effaced; "Zion" is apt to become merged in "Jerusalem." In love to His people, God is therefore compelled to send upon their nation great calamities. These lead to searchings of heart, and reformations of conduct and character. Men learn again to wait upon God, and reverently to regard His will (ch. xxvi. 9). The Church shines once more with the glory of spiritual conformity to God, and the result is that she is increased by converts from the world: to these also the season of judgment is also the season of redemption. But, +II. Another effect of God's judgments is to harden the obdurate.+ His chastisements lead some men to further acts of rebellion against Him (ver. 8). Like Pharaoh, they harden themselves more and more as God sends plague after plague upon them (Exod. viii. 19, 32, &c.) Hence seasons of public calamity (such as that of the plague in London, &c.) have always been seasons of public crime. Transgressors madly dare Omnipotence to a trial of strength, and the result is their utter destruction.

Our object as thus unfolded gives rise to the following practical reflections--1. In a season of national or individual prosperity we should be especially watchful and prayerful against conformity to the world.[2] 2. We should not regard judgments that come upon our nation or ourselves merely as calamities: they may be God's angels sent in truest mercy, and they bring with them to the people of God great moral and spiritual compensations. 3. Judgments, when they come upon us, afford us an admirable test of our real character: if we be indeed the people of God, they will lead us to submission and to more earnest strivings after holiness; but if they awaken within us a spirit of murmuring, of repining, of resentment against God, we have good cause to suspect that our religion has never been the work of God in our hearts.[3] 4. In the season of judgment we really have only one alternative before us--to turn or burn. No stoutness of heart will enable us to resist God's consuming wrath against iniquity (Mal. iv. 1).

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The world "together" does not mean that the transgressor
shall be destroyed _together with_ the sinner; but that the
destruction of this one class, called both transgressors
and sinners, shall come in close connection, "together
with," the salvation of the penitent who are brought back
to God by correction, as is said in the previous verses.
The same sort of infliction that reclaimed the "converts"
(ver. 27), hardened and sealed over to ruin those who would
still "forsake the Lord."--_Cowles._

[2] How often does worldly prosperity tend to this lapsing of
the soul from God! How often do our very outward mercies
and blessings superinduce this spiritual languor and decay!
It is with believers individually as with the Church
collectively--they are never in a condition less favourable
to spiritual health and advancement than when they have no
trial or cross to brace their energies and invigorate their
graces. The soldier gets supine after battle. History tells
us how the bravest veterans of the great Carthaginian
general got demoralized and degenerate when, victory over,
they sat down to rejoicing and revelry, before the gates of
Capus; they never were the same heroes again.--_Macduff._

[3] As it is easy to know a piece of gold from a piece of brass
when they come both to the anvil and be stricken with the
hammer, for brass will not be handled, but when it cometh
to the beating breaketh and maketh a sharp din and irksome,
but gold soundeth sweetly, and is pliable; so when the
hypocrite cometh between the anvil and the hammer of
affliction, he breaketh with impatience, and lamenteth in
blasphemies against God; whereas a faithful Christian
praiseth God, and layeth out his heart, submitting himself
willingly under the Lord's hand that striketh
him.--_Cowdray,_ 1598-1684.

FORSAKING THE LORD.

i. 28. _They that forsake the Lord shall be consumed._

+I. The guilt of forsaking the service of the Lord.+ 1. Man is bound by the law of his nature to obey that Almighty Being by whom he was made an intelligent and immortal creature. Every discovery which reason opens to him of the transcendent perfections of the Lord of the universe urges the duty of offering the homage of his heart and life. Every day's preservation increases his obligation to serve his gracious Preserver. 2. Many in forsaking the Lord violate their own express and solemn engagements (Heb. x. 29). +II. The folly of forsaking, &c.+ If we do so, we shall 1. incur the reproaches of our own mind; 2. forfeit the esteem and confidence of all good men; 3. forfeit the favour and incur the wrath of God. And for what are all those tremendous sacrifices made? For "the pleasures of sin," which are but "for a season"! +III. The danger of forsaking,+ &c.--"shall be consumed." The threatened doom is 1. awful, 2. certain.--_J. H. Hobart, D.D., Posthumous Works,_ ii. 220-229.

THE DOOM OF THE APOSTATES.

i. 28-31. _They that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
For they[1] shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye[1] have
desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye
have chosen. For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth,
and as a garden that hath no water. And the strong shall be
as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both
burn together, and none shall quench them._

In modern days, when men "forsake the Lord," they become simply irreligious--practical atheists; but in ancient times such men became idolaters, they became worshippers of idols set up under the "oaks" planted on the hilltops, or in gardens.[2] It is almost impossible for us to understand the fascination of idol-worship, but it was very powerful, and the idols were made objects of passionate trust. They were regarded as the strength of those who served them. Trusting in their protection their votaries went forth confidently to battle. Defeat did not dispel this delusion; it was interpreted to mean merely that the god of the victors was mightier than the god of the vanquished. To men glorying in their protection, the prophet predicts utter destruction. You shall be consumed, he says; the day is at hand when ye shall be caused to blush for your gods; you yourselves shall be withered oaks, and gardens without water; yea, your idols, and ye who have made them, for they are but things, the work of your hands, shall be burned together in unquenchable fire.[3] The theme of these verses is therefore _the doom of the apostates, and the objects of their trust._

+I. Idolatry is still the sin of our race.+ It is not confined to "heathen" lands. There is no need in this land for a proclamation of the first commandment. For what is idolatry in the essence? It is loving and trusting some being or thing more than God. Every man's god is what he lives for. Hence the declaration that "covetousness is idolatry;" it is _one_ form of the widespread sin. +II. The confidence of men in their idols is still limitless and exultant.+ Every idolater is persuaded that that which he lives for is worth living for; this is the conviction of the miser, the ambitious man, &c. +III. The time is at hand when the falsity of this confidence shall be exposed.+ There are coming upon those who cherish it calamities amid which they will seek in vain for comfort from their "idols." How often this is verified in daily life! In the withered, desolate condition of those who have forsaken the Lord how awfully is their folly demonstrated! +IV. Yea, there is a day appointed in which all idolaters and their idols shall be consumed together.+ In the day of judgment the worshippers of Dagon, of Astarte, of Baal, and of Brahm will not be the only persons on whom utter destruction shall come: those who have made gold their confidence, &c., shall be burned up, together with their "gods." The objects of their trust shall be as powerless as is "tow" to resist flame, and they themselves shall be but as "sparks," swept away by the blast of the Divine indignation.

_Application._--1. The day of judgment is a great reality; it is no mere dream of theologians, it is A TREMENDOUS FACT with which we shall soon be brought face to face. 2. This fact should govern us in selecting the object of our supreme love and trust. 3. It should prevent us from envying those who have forsaken the Lord, because of the temporary prosperity in which they are rejoicing.[4] 4. It should make us earnest in our endeavours to reclaim them from their apostacy while the day of Divine long-suffering and mercy still continues.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] In verse 29 is an instance of what seemed to Lowth's
classical taste a corrupt reading--"They shall be ashamed
of the oaks which ye have desired." But this variation of
the persons of the verb is not unusual in Hebrew, and
certainly no corruption. Indeed, if we look at Psalm xci.,
which is very artistically constructed, we shall see reason
to think that what jars so harshly on a classically trained
ear was a beauty to the Hebrew poets.--_Strachey._

"Which ye have desired." He was speaking of "the sinners,"
he suddenly turns round to the men of his own generation,
and says, "_You_ are the men who are thus storing up shame
and confusion."--_Kay._

[2] In the judgments and the restoration which the prophet
foretells, he declares that the people shall learn the
worthlessness of the idols which they have been worshipping
under the oak-trees, and in the sacred groves and gardens.
The worship of the high places was partly a local worship
of Jehovah, which only became irregular and blameable in
later times; but there was also a widespread worship of
Baal, Astarte, and Molech, the old gods of the Canaanites
and other nations, in sacred groves and gardens, as well as
on the hill-tops--a worship of impersonated and defiled
sensuality and cruelty--which sometimes even established
itself within the precincts of the temple itself, and was
still more readily blended with, or substituted for, the
worship of Jehovah in the high places. And this idolatrous
worship was going on in Judæa during the reigns of Uzziah
and Jotham, at the same time with the temple services, as
appears from 2 Kings xv. 3, 4, compared with 2 Chron.
xxvii. 2. In the day of judgment and restoration, says the
prophet, these men who have been flourishing in their sin
like the oaks, and living in pleasures like those of their
well-watered gardens, shall find that the idols to which
these oaks and gardens are dedicated have no power to save
them from a destruction which shall make them "as an oak
whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water,"
images which will be the more forcible if we remember that
in a southern climate trees fade rather from excessive heat
than from seasonable cold, and a garden without water is a
mere desert of sand. Then shall the strong, the mighty, and
the unjust ruler become tow, and his idols, the work of his
hands, a spark; and shall both burn together, and no man
shall quench them.--_Strachey._

[3] The interpretation of verse 31 on which the above outline
is based is that of Calvin and the earlier Protestant
commentators. That which in modern days has been almost
universally adopted, is given in the preceding extract from
Strachey, and the homiletic use to which it may be put is
indicated in the next outline: "The Tow and the Spark." We
are persuaded, however, that the earlier interpretation is
that which is most in harmony with the scope of the whole
passage. All the ancient versions treat חָסֹן as an
abstract, meaning _strength,_ and Dr. Alexander admits that
"this agrees well with its form, resembling that of an
infinitive or verbal noun." Latterly it has become the
fashion to translate it "strong man," but the harmony of
the whole passage is best maintained by rendering it
_"their strength,"_ that is, that which the idolaters have
regarded as their "strength," the deity in whose protection
they have trusted.

[4] O sirs! do wicked men purchase their present pleasures at
so dear a rate as eternal torments, and do we envy their
enjoyment of them so short a time? Would any envy a man
going to execution because he saw him in a prison nobly
feasted, and nobly attended, and bravely courted? or
because he saw him go up the ladder with a gold chain about
his neck, and a scarlet gown upon his back? or because he
saw him walk to the execution through pleasant fields or
delightsome gardens? or because there went before him drums
beating, colours flying, and trumpets sounding? &c. Surely
no! Oh, no more should we envy the grandeur of the men of
the world, for every step they take is but a step to an
eternal execution.--_Brooks,_ 1628-1680.

What reason have we to envy the wicked in their riches and
prosperity? If a man be standing firmly on a river's bank,
and sees another gliding gaily but inevitably down to a
tremendous precipice below, shall he be envious of the
pleasant sail that intervenes before the dread catastrophe?
Shall he stand and envy him, and wish to exchange places
with him? Oh no, but let him rather cry aloud, and warn him
of his danger. Let him hasten to the rescue; throw out his
arms with right good-will, and if it may be, save a soul
from death.--_Nason._

THE TOW AND THE SPARK.

i. 31. _And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it
as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none
shall quench them._

For the phrases "and the maker of it," the margin reads, "and his work." So Alexander and Henderson. This reading renders the passage intelligible in meaning and terrible in import. It then in simple, vivid manner sets forth the reciprocal influence of the sinner and his sin. The man in committing sin degrades and enfeebles himself, and then the sin he has committed reacts upon his degraded and enfeebled nature to kindle in it the fire of its corruption. It is worth observing that these terrible words of warning are not levelled 1. against _low and vile people._ The term "strong" precludes that opinion. They are spoken against those who have been, or are still, esteemed, exalted, and powerful,--presumably against the princes, the judges, the counsellors of the nation (vers. 23-26). Nor are they spoken 2. against _the avowedly irreligious._ The people addressed performed a multitude of sacrifices (ver. 11), were punctilious in their attendance on the house of God, &c. (vers. 12-14), were full of apparent devotion (ver. 15). Nor 3. do they refer to _the grosser forms of sin._ These would of course come under the same condemnation. But spiritual sins, though more refined to our perception, are more fatal even than sensual sins. It is pre-eminently a spiritual sin in root, however sensual in fruit, that is here arrived at. It is all summed up in the one evil, "forsaking the Lord" (ver. 28). It is important to bear these considerations in mind if we would obtain personal and profitable application of these words. Consider--

+I. The radical change sin works in the constitution of the sinner.+ Sin is lawlessness, an outbreak of self-will (1 John iii. 4). It is conscious wrongdoing (James iv. 17). And sin, the prophet says in effect, has a disintegrating, deteriorating, degrading influence upon the man's nature who yields to it. "The strong shall be as _tow." Tow_ is the coarse, broken part of flax or hemp--waste, refuse. Used here in contrast to that which is strong. Used also as pattern of that which is inflammable. 1. _Sin lowers the tone and tenor of our nature._ Man's nature is originally a very high nature. "A little lower than the angels" (Ps. viii. 5); a little lower than _Divinity_ (see Alexander and Thrupp _in loc._). Originally a king with all highest forms of existence grouped around his throne (Ps. viii. 6-8). He falls by sin. How low? To the level of beasts that perish? (Ps. xlix. 20). Lower than that (Isa. i. 3). To level of trees and shrubs? Lower than that. See, that heap of coarse and tangled refuse was a plant once, a living thing. Now it is cut down, dried, dead; choicest parts gone, wasted! _"Tow"_--that is the symbol of the sinful man. The height from which he has fallen measures the degradation incurred. To that which is by nature "tow," it is no degradation to be "tow." But for that which is "strong" to become "tow"--for the highest of God's creations to become as the lowest--this is disgraceful, dreadful. 2. _Sin, depraving and degrading the type and tenor of our nature, enfeebles our powers of resistance to the assaults of external evil._ Sin is weakness as well as wickedness; weakness as the result of wickedness. The "strong" becomes as "tow," becomes _weak._ Hard to tell which is the worse to bear, the paroxysms of remorse, or the paralysis of power which the habit of sin engenders.[1] To feel that when some "temptation comes and calmly states itself before us" we are helplessly a prey to it, is terrible indeed. The first sin of any kind greatly facilitates a second commission of the same;[2] and every repetition increases that facility till the ease of doing it almost amounts to a practical inability to abstain from doing it.[3] Sin gets _dominion_ over us. Men are "sold under sin." 3. _Sin imparts to us an increased susceptibility to evil_--makes us more inflammable. And Satan's "fiery darts" striking, inflame us.[4] Some counsellors advise young people to indulge in a certain measure of sin as a remedy for its enkindling impulses; they call it "sowing their wild oats." A figure is sometimes the best vail for a fact. One would think that "sowing" would of itself suggest reproduction and multiplied reproduction (Gal. vi. 7, 8) If you wish your nature to become hopelessly inflammable, utterly uncontrollable, give way to the indulgence of its hot impulses while you are young.

+II. The way in which the sinner and his sin co-operate for their common destruction.+ We all know the influence of coming into contact with the instruments, the companions, the locality even, of a former sin. They stir up in us the memories, the emotions, the impulse to the same transgression. So the sinner goes about the world setting new snares for his feet at every turn as he sins. The relation of sin to the sinner and to his sinful deed is like that of a lamp placed between two mirrors, which reflect and reflect the light, till both the mirrors seem full of lamps. Sin is ever more multiplying itself between the sinner and his sinful deed. And the issue is irremediable ruin. "They shall both burn together, and none shall quench them." And the moral is, that if we would keep out of hell, we must keep out of sin.--_W. Roberts, B.A._

FOOTNOTES:

[1] One of the affecting features in a life of vice is the
longing, wistful outlooks given by the wretches who
struggle with unbridled passions towards virtue which are
no longer within their reach. Men in the tide of vice are
sometimes like the poor creatures swept down the stream of
mighty rivers, who see people safe on shore, and trees and
flowers, as they go quickly past, and all things that are
desirable gleam upon them a moment to heighten their
trouble, and to aggravate their swift-coming
destruction.--_Beecher._

[2] A brand that has been once in the fire easily catches the
second time.--_Flavel,_ 1630-1696.

Every commission of sin imprints upon the soul further
disposition and proneness to sin; as the second, third, and
fourth degrees of heat are more easily introduced than the
first. Every one is both a preparative and a step to the
next. Drinking both quenches the present thirst and
provokes it for the future. When the soul is beaten from
its first station, and the mounds and earthworks of virtue
are once broken down, it becomes quite another thing from
what it was before. In one single eating of the forbidden
fruit, when the act is gone, yet the relish remains; and
the remembrance of the first is an easy allurement to the
second. One visit is enough to begin an acquaintance; and
this point is gained by it, that when the visitant comes
again, he is no more a stranger.--_South,_ 1633-1716.

[3] Sin is like the descent of a hill, where every step we take
increase the difficulty of our return. Sin, in its habits,
becomes stronger every day--the heart grows harder, the
conscience grows duller, the distance between God and the
soul grows greater, and like a rock hurled from a
mountain's top, the further we descend we go down, and
down, and down, with greater and greater
rapidity.--_Guthrie._

[4] It is in our own bosom that the power of temptation is
found. Temptation is but a spark; and if a spark fall upon
ice, if it fall upon snow, if it fall upon water, what is
the harm of a spark? But if it fall upon powder--the powder
is yours, the spark only is the devil's.--_Beecher._

The power of temptation is in proportion to the nature of
the soul tempted. A thoughtless miner takes an uncovered
light into the mine: where there is but little gas, there
is but a wavering and flickering of a transient
flame,--hardly flame, indeed; but where there is an
accumulation of gas, the uncovered light occasions an
explosion which shivers the rocks and brings swift
destruction upon all who are in the mine. In both cases it
was the same mine, the same miner, but the condition of the
air was different. So is it with the fiery darts of the
wicked one; they are shot into all human hearts, and just
in proportion to the materials, so to speak, which are to
be found there, will be the success or failure of the
enemy.--_Dr. Parker._

ISAIAH'S VISION OF THE LAST DAYS.

ii. 1-5. _The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw, &c._

1. The marvellous power of the ancient prophets in giving embodiment and figure to the Word of God. It was a "word" that Isaiah saw; not that he heard, but that shaped itself before his vision, and made him glad, as if a new star had arisen to guide him. 2. Isaiah speaks with magnificent confidence as to the summing up of earthly dispensations. Casting his eye over all the uproar and tumults of intervening time, he sees a heavenly repose settling on the engagements and destinies of mankind. Herein is the peculiar power of the old prophets, viz., that they did not confine their attention within a brief and inadequate period, but projected their minds over historic spaces within which, so to speak, God had room to disclose somewhat of the proportions and significance of His plans. The whole year can never be judged from any one season. The prophets seemed to see things in their _wholeness,_ and this made them calm in the midst of transitory confusion and distress. 3. The house of the Lord is to be exalted above all rivalry. The strength of the hills is to be a pedestal for the sanctuary. At the last right shall be uppermost, and holiness supreme. In the "last days" the house of the Lord shall exert a universal fascination; nation shall challenge nation to go up in holy and triumphant procession to the heights of Zion; and the voice of other allurements shall be lost in the infinite charm of the invitation. 4. Nor is this to be the indulgence of a mere sentiment; it will be the expression of a desire to be spiritually right, and thus to be spiritually secure: "He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths." Lawless sentiment is to have no place in spiritual discipline. We are not called to a high revel, but to a pure and tender obedience to an unchangeable law. 5. The house of the Lord is to be a centre of judgment and rebuke towards people who are living in impiety and political corruption. The consequence of this judgment, if properly received, will be the establishment and perpetuation of righteous peace. When the nations are right with God, they will be right with each other. Merely negative peace may be disturbed, but the peace which comes by righteousness will be its own guarantee of completeness and continuity. 6. All these blissful anticipations should constrain towards present obedience, and be fruitful of present joy. So the prophet thought when he exclaimed, O house of Jacob, come ye, &c. Those who have great prospects should even now show themselves to be the heirs of glory. Christian joy is not all future. Even now, though we have to complain of so much of cloud and storm, there is a light that is distinctively divine, and under its benign rays we ought to walk until the fuller glory is revealed.--_Joseph Parker, D.D._

THE LATTER-DAY GLORY.

ii. 2-5. _And it shall come to pass in the last days, &c._

Theme: _The Glory of the Latter Days._ "The last days," when men shall no longer need to offer the prayer, "Thy kingdom _come._" The glory of the latter days will consist--+I. In the exaltation of the Lord's house above all other institutions+ (ver. 2). Now the Exchange, the Senate, the University, &c., are the great "mountains" of society; then the sanctuary will be supreme. In other words, religion will be the ruling force in society, dominating and directing all the others. This is the truth set forth by the figure of the upraising of Mount Zion above all the other mountains, "so as to be visible in all directions." +II. In universal submission to the authority of God+ (ver. 3). Not by the Jews only (as in Isaiah's time), but by "_all_ nations,"[1] and not (as now) by some individuals merely, but by "all _nations,_" will this authority be recognised and obeyed. Sin will be the exception, righteousness the rule. And so, as a consequence of this--+III. In universal peace among men+ (ver. 4).[2] All contentions necessarily cease when men know and do the will of God. James iii. 14--iv. 1. Love towards man always results from genuine love toward God.

A contemplation of their glorious future is calculated--1. _To sustain us amid the sins and sorrows of our time._ When we look at the condition of the world as it is, we are tempted to despair. But there is a better day to come. In the widening diffusion of Christian truth, and in the growing power of Christian principle, even now we may see at least streaks of light which tell that the dawn is near. 2. _To animate us in our efforts to regenerate society._ These efforts are not in vain, though they sometimes seem so. We are working in the line of victory (1 Cor. xv. 58). 3. _The blessing of the future we can make our own now._ "O house of Jacob, come _ye,_ and let _us_ walk in the light of the Lord," that is, "in His paths" (ver. 3). We can make religion the supreme force of our life, and can act with a constant recognition of God's authority; and doing this, _we_ shall have peace--with God, with ourselves, and in our homes (Isa. xxxii. 17, 18).

FOOTNOTES:

[1] What words are these! What ideas! What radiances of glory
and hope for the long-afflicted Church! Nations abolishing
war and crimes, to cultivate righteousness and peace!
nations emerging from ignorance and idolatry, to join
themselves to the Church, and to walk in the light of the
Lord! _How marvellous that words like these should proceed
from the Hebrew prophets!_ that men of the most confined
education with regard to the Gentiles should thus lose the
glory of Israel in the overflowing glory of the converted
world! Can we ask for clearer proof that these holy men
were purely the organs of the Holy Ghost, and transported
in spirit to publish the righteousness of God to every
nation and language of the earth?--_Sutcliffe._

I would urge the thoughtful consideration of these verses
(2-9) on any one who is perplexed by the confident
assertion of writers who prefer vague declamation to close
investigation and reasoning, that the Hebrew prophets were
actuated by a bitter hatred of foreigners. He will, I
think, discover (from this and such like study) that they
were possessed by views and hopes of a philanthropy which
even our own times have not been able to extend: they
longed for fellowship with all men, under the only
conditions in which fellowship is possible; they desired an
universal communion of virtue, humanity, and goodness, and
could not be content to have a general license of vice,
brutality, and wickedness instead; and they advocated what
they saw, and what all history has proved, to be the only
way of avoiding the one and securing the other.--_Strachey._

[2] This verse shows that there will come a time when men shall
have found out that they are men and not brutes, and when
they shall settle matters, not by the force of their animal
powers, but by the force of superior intelligence.--_James
Wells._

THE FUTURE TRIUMPHS OF THE GOSPEL.

ii 2. _And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the
mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the
top of the mountains, and all nations shall flow unto it._

The poetic imagery delineates the final and universal prevalence of religion. Christianity is a temple majestic and conspicuous, and all nations crowd its courts in united adoration. _There are many interesting indications that this prophecy is soon to be fulfilled,_ such as--+I. The political aspect of the globe.+ The vast political changes that have taken place during the last four centuries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America have all been favourable to the extension of Christianity. The area of Christian knowledge and influence has been steadily extending.[1] +II. The progress of civilisation and of the arts.+ A few years ago it required the painful labour of years to copy a Bible, and the wealth of a prince to purchase one: now the art of printing scatters the Word of God like autumn leaves, and it is found in the humblest dwelling. Then none could read but the learned few; now knowledge is becoming like sunlight, everywhere diffused. War has long been one of the greatest obstacles in the way of human improvement; now various causes are operating to render it less frequent, such as 1. the rapid extension of piety, carrying with it the principles of peace; 2. the extension of enlightened views of national policy; 3. the transference of power from kings and nobles to the people, the victims of war, who will become its powerful opponents; 4. the invention of terrible engines of destruction, which will tend to deter nations from plunging into war. Slavery, too, is rapidly disappearing from the earth. The wonderful facilities of intercommunication which now exist are weakening and effacing national prejudices. All these causes are hastening on the promised millennium. +III. The present state of the sciences.+ This statement seems to be contradicted by the attitude of many students of science towards Christianity. But we must remember that all the sciences in their infancy have been arrayed as hostile to scriptural truth--astronomy, geology, physiology, chronology; but one by one each of these sciences, as it developed and attained maturity, has passed over to the side of Christianity, and has powerfully helped to build up what it feebly and impotently laboured to destroy. That which hath been is that which shall be. In science the cause of revealed truth will continue to find one of her most ready and efficient helpers. +IV. The past achievements of Christianity foreshadow its eventual and perfect triumph.+ The hostility of earth has marshalled every possible power, in every possible combination, against Christianity--the persecution of political power, the arguments of philosophy, satire, learning, poetry, wealth--and all in vain. The past triumphs of the religion of Christ show that it possesses an inherent energy which must inevitably make it triumphant over the world. The mighty influence which swept away the gods of Greece and Rome will not be baffled by the mud-idols of India. +V. The triumphant advances Christianity is now making indicate its universal extension.+ _Application._--What are _you_ doing to hasten this certain and glorious triumph?--_J. S. C. Abbott, American National Preacher,_ xvii. 169-176.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] All the might of the world is now on the side of
Christianity. Those barbarous, inchoate powers which still
cling to heathenism are already trembling before the
advancing strides of the Christian nations; Christian just
enough to rouse all their energies and to make them
intensely ambitious, and on the alert to increase their own
dominion, without having learned Christianity's highest
lesson, the lesson of love.

Even that heathenism which seems to have some power is only
waiting for its time of decay. In vast, undisturbed
forests, whose interlacing branches exclude the light,
moisture is generated, and rills, fed by marshes and quiet
pools, united to form running rivers. But let the trees be
cut down, and the ground be laid open to the sun, and the
swamps will dry up, and the rivers run no more. So is it
with the Brahmins, and all the effete teachers of
heathenism. As long as the dense shadows of ignorance brood
over the people, they will possess some little trickling
power; but let the light of knowledge shine in upon the
masses, and the channels of their influence will dry up and
be forgotten.--_Beecher._

THE LIGHT OF THE LORD.

ii. 5. _O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the
light of the Lord._