Since God has a people scattered over the face of the whole earth, he will now have his Church open for the admission of every child of man.
In making known these gracious purposes, the prophet sets before us,
I. The character which God approves —
At no period did God ever approve of those who confined their obedience to the observance of any rites or ceremonies : at all times he has spoken the same language ; " My Son, give me thy heart." Ac- cordingly in the description which is here given us of those who shall find acceptance with him, there are two marks whereby they are universally distin- guished ;
1. Their obedience to his will — [Whatever conflicts they may have sustained in the earlier stage of their Christian experience, the first act which truly and properly designates them the Lord's people is, their " joining of themselves to him" as his people. Till they have done this in sincerity and truth, they cannot be acknowledged as his. There may indeed be circumstances wherein a public devotion of themselves to him cannot be expected; but where the situation of the persons admits of it, there must be an union with the Lord's people, and an open acknowledgment of Christ as their only Lord and Saviour
Nor must this be a mere empty profession : those who are upright before God will join themselves to him " to love and serve him " with their whole hearts. All other lords must be renounced ; and God alone be honoured and obeyed.
Neither must this change be the result of fear alone : there must be a cordial consent of the will, and " a choosing of the things that please God." There will, it is true, be still " a law in their members warring against the law in their minds :" but the deliberate purpose of their hearts must be to please God ; God only, God universally, God always.
In one thing will they be particularly distinguished, that is, their reverence for the Sabbath, and their delight in sanctifying it to the Lord. This is twice mentioned in our text : and if we bear in mind, that the whole passage relates to the times of the Gospel, we shall see, that the sanctification of the Sab- bath is a duty of perpetual obligation ; and that, however some of the ceremonial observances relating to it under the Law are abrogated, the spiritual improvement of it will characterize the Lord's people to the end of time. Indeed this is one of the