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Jehovah offereth to reason with his people.

16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for

the widow.

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.

19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:

23 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.

the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies : 25 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:

26 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.

27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.

28

And the destruction of

the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.

30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.

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

24 Therefore saith the Lord, them.

LECTURE 1098.

God at once merciful and terrible.

How wonderfully is the gracious forbearance of the Lord here united with his just abhorrence of iniquity! How free and full is his forgiveness for penitent offenders! How sure and terrible his visitation for obstinate transgressors! Repentance, amendment of life, are these things possible? Can he that has loved sin love holiness? Can he who has been accustomed to do evil learn to do good? Are these things possible? Yes, they are, with the help of God. With man they are impossible; but with

God all things are possible, even to changing the hardest hearts, even to breaking off the most settled habits. And then, oh glad tidings for contrite sinners, then, "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 good of all the land is ours again; reconciliation unto God, renewal of his favour, reestablishment in faith, and hope, and love, and in the willing obedience of the heart. And to convince us that this is true, to bring home these good tidings, so almost past belief, to the heart of every sinful child of Adam, God vouchsafes to represent Himself as reasoning with man: "Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord!" God reasoning with man! What kind consideration for our case! What merciful condescension to our nature! Oh when God vouchsafes to reason, may we be careful to attend, swift to hear, slow to speak, and willing, yea glad, to be convinced!

But God not only thus mercifully reasons, He also knows how to reprove severely, and to threaten terribly. And when the faithful city had become an harlot, when, as the natural consequence of apostasy from God, dishonesty, and oppression, and bloodshedding had taken the place of truth, justice, and mercifulness, when instead of the precious metal of pure religion, there was only the tinsel of hypocrisy, and the dross of iniquity, then He declared, in the most awful terms, that He would do away with the wicked from amongst his people; and that in order to a renewal of their grace and glory, as a righteous and faithful nation, He would thoroughly put them to shame for their idolatry, and would thoroughly consume from amongst them all the doers and abettors of ungodliness. An awful sentence; once signally fulfilled in the carrying away of his people into captivity, and in the return and reestablishment of those only from among them, whose hearts clave unto the God of their fathers. An awful sentence, once more, as we may well believe, to be accomplished, when there shall be "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.' 2 Pet. 3. 13. For then also will it surely come to pass, that however stoutly the wicked now uphold themselves in sin, "The strong shall be as tow, and his work as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them." (See Margin.) May we all consider, whilst we yet have time, how terrible a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, when He is justly angry with us for our sins! May we all accept thankfully his proffered mercy; humbly acknowledging our sins past, and heartily renouncing them for the time to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord!

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Glory promised. Judgments threatened.

1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

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 shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

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5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

6 Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.

7 Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots:

8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:

9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.

10 Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.

11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

12 For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: 13 And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,

14 And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,

15 And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, 16 And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.

17 And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

18 And the idols he shall utterly abolish.

19 And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

20 In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship,

to the moles and to the bats;
21 To go into the clefts of the
rocks, and into the tops of the
ragged rocks, for fear of the
LORD, and for the glory of his

majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

22 Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

LECTURE 1099.

The perilous condition of the proud and idolatrous. Here first it is testified, that the worship of the true God, then confined to the temple of Jerusalem, should hereafter be spread abroad among all nations. Many should go forth preaching the truth of God's word, "beginning at Jerusalem." Luke 24. 47. All should be invited to draw nigh to "the God of Jacob." All should be assured of his willingness to teach them his ways; all be exhorted to walk in his paths. And He, convincing them of sin, should be acknowledged by many for their Lord and God; they, in compliance with his word, and in the apprehension of his judgments, renouncing their evil practices, discontinuing their wars and fightings, having been "taught of God," as the apostle says "to love one another." 1 Thess. 4. 9. In the prospect of this happy state of things, the prophet calls out to the people, "O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord." We, who ought to be as here described, we who live in the full "light of the glorious gospel of Christ," 2 Cor. 4. 4, need almost as much as the Jews in the time of Isaiah, to be exhorted to walk in the light vouchsafed to us.

For have not Christians also been greatly addicted to lying vanities? Have they not been apt to be superstitious, prone to multiply riches, ambitious of rank and titles, distinguished for the prowess of their arms, and even so infatuated as to worship the work of their own hands? And if the Jews were brought low for sins like these, if their nobles and their people have been again and again reduced by judgments the most awful, to misery the most abject; what have not those Christian communities to look for, who have turned the truth of God into a lie, and exalted themselves to the dishonour of their Lord? what must not those Christians, of whatsoever communion, apprehend, who under the profession of Christianity harbour a spirit of pride, strife, covetousness, self dependence, or idolatry? Let such take warning, that whether they be high or low in this world, the day is coming, when they must be finally put down by One higher than the highest of them, mightier than the mightiest. Let such now abase themselves in fear and trembling, in godly sorrow and effectual repentance, lest when it shall be too late they in vain seek for shelter, saying to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Rev. 6. 16, 17.

The judgments of God, and the grounds of them. 1 For, behold, the Lord, the their doings. LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

2 The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,

3 The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.

4 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.

5 And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable. 6 When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand: 7 In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing make me not a ruler of the people.

8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

9 The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. 10 Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of

11 Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him : for the reward of his hands shall be given him. 12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

13 The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.

14 The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

15 What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GoD of hosts.

16 Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:

17 Therefore the LORD will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts.

18 In that day the LORD will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon,

19 The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,

20 The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings,

21 The rings, and nose jewels,

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