Huntington (G.), Sermons for the Church's Seasons, 27.
Ingram (A. F. W.), Banners of the Christian Faith, 197.
Keble (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year, Christmas — Epiphany, 69.
M'Cheyne (R. M.), Additional Remains, 45.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions, Isaiah xlix.-lxvi. 176.
Newman (J. H.), Parochial Sermons, ii. 79.
Sellar (J. A.), Church Doctrine and Practice, 25.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metror)olitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xlv. No. 2617.
Webb-Peploe (H. W.), Galls to Holiness, 175.
Wilmot Buxton (H. J.), Sunday Lessons for Daily Life, i. 85.
American Jeioish Pulpit, i. (Kohler).
Sermons for Sunday Festivals and Fasts, 2nd Ser., i. 156.
Christian World Pulpit, xxxii. 232 (Maclaren) ; xxxv. 307 (Horton) ; xxxix. 24 (Holland) ; 1. 181 (Bradford) ; Ixii. 16 (Jowett).
Church of England Pulpit, Ivii. 2 (Davies).
Church Pulpit Year Book, vi, 9.
Thinker, i. 6 (Cheyne).
Treasury, (New York), xiv. 82 (Hallock).
ARISE! SHINE!
Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. — Ix. i.
The address is directed to Zion -Jerusalem, which is regarded as a woman. Stricken down by the punitive judgment of God, brought down by inward prostration, she lies on the ground : then the cry reaches her ears — " Arise ! " It is a strength- imparting word, which reanimates her frame, so that she can arise from the ground on which she is lying, as it were under the ban. The power-imparting word " Arise ! " is supplemented by a second, " be light ! " ^
The prophet is primarily addressing his speech to an awakening nation. Here is a people opening its eyes upon recovered sovereignty, stretching out its hands to a restored ministry, feeling out for enlarged dominion. And here is a statesman-prophet instructing the newly opened eyes, feeding and training the sight with large and healthy ideals. To direct a nation's views is to shape its policies, and to determine the trend and colour of its life.
But the glory of the ideal is still further enriched and intensified. Old Testament words must to us now receive New Testament contents. Old Testament visions must acquire New Testament significance. We cannot take Isaiah's ideal and employ it with Isaiah's limitation ; we must carry over his vocabulary into the fuller day and let it receive enlargement in the life and mind of Christ.
IF Those who have ever been privileged to see from the shoulder or the summit of a mountain in Switzerland the sun rise will never forget that wonderful sight. They will remember how, in the chill of the hour before dawn, great clouds had brooded down in the valley, roUing mists had lain beneath their ^ F. Delitzsch, Commentary on Isaiah, IL p. 382. 28
434 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
feet, and thick darkness had dwelt over the whole earth. Suddenly, as they stood there, there has been a faint flush of pink on one snowy summit, then another, then another. The pink has changed to a bright gold, then to a deeper gold, and then, suddenly, like a giant set free, up with great leaps and bounds and a most astonishing speed has come the sun and flooded the world with light; and as it has come up it has seemed to cry to the sleeping earth, " Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." ^
1[ Around is absolute blackness ; the valleys are in gloom ; trees, rivers, towns have been obscured ; nothing is visible but that dim shaft of granite rising into the silence of the sky. Suddenly we may imagine a spirit's voice crying, " The light has come." Instantly there is a glow on the mountain — trees, rivers, towns begin to take shape ; the whole world has changed. The point to be observed here is that the light was from God. The city was exhorted to be in a condition in which the glory of God might be reflected from it.^
Of our relation to the ancient prophecies, we can say, adapting words from Browning's Paracelsus, that we are " the heirs of hopes too fair to turn out false." It is precisely the fact that the colours of the prophet's palette are of such an unearthly fairness that justifies us in believing that our hopes will yet be fulfilled. The fact that the Perfect Man, the world's Saviour, has come is our warrant for this. If so un- expected an event has occurred, nothing is . now too great to hope for. Take Isa. Ix., which a great French scholar, who, in spite of his unbelief, continually falls into the language of faith, has finely called " a ray from the glances of Jesus." If Jesus once lived upon the earth, lifting up all those with whom He came vitally into contact, surely this most radiant prophecy, which ex- presses the undoubting belief, not only of the prophet, but of Jesus, must itself be fulfilled.^
Arise.
The word " Arise," or some word with the same meaning, is of great importance in Scripture, and occurs in several places.
^ Bishop A. F. W. Ingram. - A. H. Bradford.
8 T. K. Cheyne in The Thinker, Jan. 1892, p. 8.
ISAIAH 435
f There is a very remarkable correspondence reiterated in the text between the illuminating God and the illuminated Zion The word for shine is connected with the word for light, and may