Further woes denounced, and a fearful invasion.

18 Woe unto them that draw people, and he hath stretched iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

19 That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!

20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!!

22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink :

23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

28 Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

29 Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.

30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof. LECTURE 1103.

25 Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his

The use we ought to make of God's forbearance.

To "draw iniquity with cords of vanity," probably means, to justify ourselves in sin with plausible excuses, and so to be the more hardened in transgression. Thus do sinners wilfully draw after them, and on them, like beasts of burden labouring at their load, the weight of guilt and vengeance. And one of the most audacious of their pleas is this, that God's judgment seems too distant to work upon their fears, and that if they do not serve

God truly, it is because He does not manifest his justice sufficiently. Let such know, that for them is reserved the woe denounced on those, who say, "Let him make speed and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it."

There is a woe for them also "that call evil good, and good evil;" a common abuse of language with the wicked; who by such means would fain palliate their wickedness, and throw discredit on the righteous. Let such know, that things are not what men choose to call them, but what God has pronounced them to be; and that there is, in spite of all their perverse sayings, a distinction between right and wrong, which, like unto God who has ordained it, is unchangeable and eternal. Further there is a "woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight." Their wisdom is foolishness with God. And when this everlasting woe shall overtake them, oh what folly, what madness, will it seem unto themselves! Once more there is woe denounced on those who are noted at once for their hard drinking and for their judging unjustly; men, who for a bribe acquit the guilty, and condemn the innocent; thus supplying the cost of their intemperance out of the wages of their corruption. These are not the same with the luxurious and careless livers spoken of before. Ver. 11, 12. But the end of both is woe. And it is hard to say which is the worst, that luxury which arises from forgetfulness of God, or that which is paid for by defrauding man. No wonder that when practices like these prevailed, God counted his people for despisers of his law, and smote them as here stated, and threatened, as He here threatens, to smite them yet more severely. Rather we may marvel, that He forbears so long, when practices the very counterpart of these still affront his divine majesty, in the realms enlightened by his Gospel. When we think of what Christendom long has been, and still is, how largely Christians have been addicted to all the sins here denounced, we may feel surprised, that no nations from far have been summoned by the voice of the Almighty, to overrun, and to overturn, and to destroy, as did they of old, with Babylon and Rome, with the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Oh that whilst God spares, his people may repent! Oh that whilst his dreadful judgments hang over our heads, we may all have grace to consider, that "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness but is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance!" 2 Pet. 3. 9.

;

Isaiah in a vision is commissioned to prophesy.

1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy

sin purged.

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send

me.

9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,

12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

LECTURE 1104.

The risk of being given up to an impenitent mind.

S. John refers in his Gospel to the commission here given to the prophet, and to the burden of woe here laid upon God's people, that they should be unwilling to believe, saying, "These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him;" John 12. 41; that is, when he saw Christ's glory, and spake of Christ. So that it is certain that Isaiah beheld in this vision the glory of our Saviour. And it is highly probable that this is one of the earliest visions, if not the very first, vouchsafed to this prophet. For it seems to relate to his most solemn divine commis

sioning to undertake the prophetic office. He saw, in the spirit, as it were a temple, and One seated on a throne therein; One whose train filled the temple; the Lord, whose glory fills his church. In a similar vision in the Book of Revelation, there appear four living creatures, with six wings each, of whom it is said, that "they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.' Rev. 4. 8. Like to these are the seraphim seen on this occasion; and their voices are heard singing the like hymn of praise. And if the temple of God's presence is moved at the sound, no wonder that the heart of the prophet fails within him; no wonder that the consciousness of his own sins, and of the sinfulness of those amongst whom he dwelt, should fill him with lively apprehensions upon beholding, after this lively sort, "the King, the Lord of hosts." But what a sudden refreshment of his spirits was this, which was ministered unto him by one of the seraphim! What a comfort to us, as we reflect on God's dread presence, and think how all our sins will stare us in the face, when we shall stand before his throne, what a comfort to hope, that the altar, whereof we have partaken, will suffice to purge away all our iniquity; not by its coals touching our lips, but by the virtue of the sacrifice offered thereon, being applied to purify our souls!

The spirits of the prophet being thus revived, he undertakes, at the divine invitation, the prophetic office. But most fearful is the tenour of his instructions. He was to tell the people of their wilful blindness to God's truth; and he was to warn them, that for their sins God would render them yet more blind, and deaf, and unbelieving. And this state of things was to last, he is told, until their cities were wasted, and their land made desolate, and their people removed far away. But at the same time he was to let them know, that a remnant would return, a remnant which after a while would be again devoured, of which there would however still be a "holy seed," even as of a teil tree or of an oak, “whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves," which are alive when they seem all dead. A dreadful message taken all together, though not unmixed with mercy! A profitable warning to those among ourselves, who hear, but understand not, and see, but perceive not. They think perhaps to repent ere it be too late. But if they wilfully put off repenting, the time may be more nigh at hand than they suppose, when the sentence shall go forth against them, that as they have begun so they must go on, impenitent and faithless to the end.

PART VII. O. T.

In the jeopardy of Judah the Lord himself giveth a sign.

1 And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.

2 And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. 3 Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field; 4 And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.

5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, 6 Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal:

7 Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall

it come to pass.

8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.

9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.

10 Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying,

11 Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. 12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD. 13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?

14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

LECTURE 1105.

The birth of Jesus our pledge of salvation.

This confederacy of the kings of Israel and Syria, against Ahaz king of Judah, is recorded in the books of Kings and Chronicles. See 2 Kings 16; 2 Chron. 28. There also we read how wicked Ahaz was, and how little deserving the protection of the Lord. Yet it pleased the Lord to protect him, out of regard to the promises made unto David his father. And it pleased God also to send by Isaiah an assurance of protection. At the very spot where the Assyrians in after times defied the city and people