^ E. H. Griggs, Moral Education, p. 190.
ISAIAH 17
2. Take the virtue of sincerity. Some men are naturally theatrical ; they constantly catch themselves making postures ; their life is vitiated and disfigured by endless pretence, affectation, and unreality. Through repeated and bitter castigations of the soul, men master this passion for masquerading and attain sincerity, simplicity, and thoroughness of life.
IF There comes to me a thought of Carlyle's, which contains a world of wisdom : " The true merit of originality is not novelty ; it is sincerity." That, as a motto for all who think and speak, may be added to a theory of life, and become the hidden text of many a moral lesson indirectly conveyed through intellectual criticism to others. How cheerful it is to think upon! We can all bo sincere ; we can all be original.^
3. Take the virtue of veracity. How much it costs us to learn to speak the truth, to act the truth, to live the truth. We suppress, distort, exaggerate, colour and discolour.
U Instead of saying plain " yes," or plain " no," " it is so," " it is not the case," or some other simple, straightforward phrase of assent or denial, a man swears or protests in some foolish way, thereby weakening, not affirming, what he says. All these un- necessary enlargements show that he who uses them is aware that his simple word is not valuable. He distrusts his own honour. Jesus Christ's teaching in respect to this there can be no mistaking. Eliciting the spirit of the third commandment. He declares, " Let your communication be. Yea, yea ; Nay, nay : for whatsoever is more than these cometh of the evil one." He would abolish even the solemn oath of the Old Testament, " As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand." No man who respects himself, certainly no obedient copier of Jesus Christ, will consent to confirm his " yes " or " no," unless when the law, which knows him not, demands it.^
4. Take the virtue of courtesy. " Good breeding," says Carlyle, " consists in gracefully remembering the rights of others, high breeding in gracefully insisting on one's own." Thus there are three ways of it. There is the discourteous person whose only practice has been in selfishly saying and doing things that hurt others. There is the selfishly courteous person with the polish of a pagan. And there is the person who, having the
* S. Bryant, Studies in Character, p. 75.
" W. G. Rutherford, The Key of Knoidedge, p. 166,
i8 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
mind of Christ, learns to put the interests of others before his own. It is the " gift " that makes the difference.
1[ Courtesy is itself *a form of service. By gentleness of manner, by an unobtrusive sympathy, by thoughtfulness for others in little things, we may smooth the roughness of life for those with whom we live, soothe their vexations, and contribute more to their real happiness than by great and signal acts of generosity. On the other hand, a harsh, careless word may inflict a worse wound than a blow, and the discomfort created by habitual indifference to the convenience, tastes, opinions, and prejudices of those about us may be harder to bear than positive physical pain. Discourtesy occasions not merely suffering, but sin ; and Christian courtesy is a " means of grace " to all who have the happiness to receive it,^
They might not need me,
Yet they might; I'll let my heart be
Just in sight —
A smile so small
As mine might be Precisely their
Necessity.
*E. W. Dale, Lawi of Chrittfor Common Life, p. 121.
Reasoning with God.
3
Literature.
Armstrong (W.), Five-Minute Sermons, 123. Banks (L. A.), Hidden Wells of Comfort, 111. Cox (S.), Expositions, iii. 427. Finney (C. G.), Way of Salvcdion, 93. Jefferson (C. E.), Things Fundamental, 29. Kennedy (J. D.). Sermons, 191, 652. Knox-Little, (W. J.), Manchester Sermons, 1. Mackenzie (R.), Loom of Providence, 136. Maclaren (A.), Expositions (Isaiah i.-xlviii.), 1.- Morris (R. E.), in Welsh Pulpit of To-day, 295. Ovenden (C. T.), Enthusiasm of Christianity, 53, Parker (J.), People's Bible, xiv. 215.
„ „ Studies in Texts, v. 1. Robinson (S.), Discourses of Redemption, 193. Shedd (W. G. T.), Sermons to the Natural Man, 181. Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vii. No. 366;
xxii. No. 1278 ; xl. No. 2354 ; xlix. No. 2816. Stall (S.), Five- Minute Object Sermons, 203. Tinling (J. F. B.), Sermons on Isaiah, 4 (Stalker). Tyndall (C. H.), Object Sermons, 44. Vaughan (D. J.), The Present Trial of Faith, 11. Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), ii. 368. American Pulpit of the Day, ii. 829 (Shedd). Christian World Pulpit, xxxv. 67 (Rogers) ; xlix. 282 (Stalker) ; Iii.
19 (Perkins) ; Ixxvi. 1 (Percival) . Church Pulpit Year Booh, vii. (1910), 276. Contemporary Pulpit, 2nd Ser., v. 49 (Vaughan). Expository Times, viii. 405 (Lang). Homiletic Review, v. 50 (Peck) ; vi. 574 (Hemphill). Strmonsfor Christian Seasons, 1.
a
Reasoning with God.
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.— i. i8.
Isaiah was one of a group or succession of men who might fairly be described as perhaps the greatest teachers of political righteousness whom the world has ever seen — teachers who drank out of the heart of the people, and represented in their turn every section of them, Isaiah himself, if we are to believe tradition, was a man of high social rank, a member of the governing class. His colleagues, or brother prophets, might be like Micah, a man of the people ; or like Amos, a herdsman, a gatherer of sycamore fruits. Thus they represented every class, and they stood before their contemporaries, before kings, or nobles, or common people, before all alike, speaking the words of Divine inspiration and conviction. Their mission was simply to hold aloft, without fear of consequences and without thought of personal interest, the ideal national life of a God-fearing people. So they tried the life of those they addressed, their religious profession and their standards of conduct, as with the sword of the Spirit.