The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 38

it, He is the miserable, pitiable slan of his own sin; it bears him down to the very ground in feebleness and humiliation, Yet there is one aspect of the course of sin which i.ii even worse. VI. IT CULMINATES IN THE PERPETBATlON OF' SPIRITUAL MISCHIEF'. The people laden with iniquity ere "children that are corrupters." The very darkest aspect of evil is that it communicates itself on every hand. It is a terribly infectious thing. Every corrupt man is a corrupter of souls. Who shall estimate the evil which one false life starts and spreads? Who shall calculate the distance, in space or time, which the consequences of one wrong action travel? 1. What need of mercy ! 2, What need of Divine direction and guardianship 1-C. Vere. 6-9.-Sin in its hopelessness. I. THAT BIN IS MORE OB LESS RECLAIMABLE. Whatever we might have antecedently expected, we find practically, that there are those on whom Divine truth is far more likely to tell than it is on others. Thus (1) youth is more impressionable than age; (2) poverty is more accessible than riches; (3) the unprivileged are more open to influence than the "children of the kingdom." Time, pleasure, the misuse of sacred opportunity,-these things indurate the soul and make it far less responsive than it once was; so that there are some that a.re more hope- less than others. II. THAT THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN UNCHANGED BY THE DISCIPLINE OF' Goo ARE THE MOST HOPELESS OF' ALL. Many things are effective as spiritual weapons-the Word of God, the ministry of the gospel, the entreaties of friendship, the influence of a go<lly home, sacred literature, etc.; but not one of them is so penetrating, so affecting, so reformative, as the discipline of the Divine hand. When God comes to a man in his providence; when he sends loss, disappointment, bereavement; when he lays his correcting hand on the man himself,-then there is the deepest silence in the soul, then the voices which are from heaven reach the inmost chambers of the spirit. And if these be felt and heard in vain, if the lessons which come thus be unlearned by the rebellious heart, then the last state of that man is about the worst that is imaginable : " There is more hope of a fool than of him." III. THAT THERE AilE THOSE UPON WHOM Goo SEEMS TO HAVE EXHAUSTED HIS DISCIPLINARY RESOURCES. The prophet says (,·er. 5), "The whole head is sick," etc., already. As it is, the entire body is covered with open, unhealed wounds (ver. 6); the nation (the body politic) was witnessing the most harrowing evils and the most humiliating indignities to which it could be subjected (vers. 7, 8). What further chastisement could the arm of the .Almighty inflict? By what severer blows could he recall his people to repentance and righteousness? So with individual men. God has sent them chastisement after chastisement, reminder on reminder ; he has touched them in one part of their nature, he has laid his correcting hand on another part ; he has visited them in many ways; he has multiplied his most solemn lessons unto them. What more can he do? ,vhere " can they be stricken any more "? In what other way shall he strike their follies and seek to save their souls? IV, 'l'HA.T IN THEIB CASE FURTHER SUFFERING WOULD PROBABLY RESULT IN AGGRA- VATED BIN. Isaiah might well ask (if that be not the precise point), " Why should ye be smitten any more?" (ver. 5); he certainly does say," Ye will revolt more and more." His thought apparently is that added blows will only mean increased rebelliousness. When a man (or a nation) has reached a certain depth in iniquity, the very thing (Divine chastisement) which ought to arrest and restore him will only goad liim tc> proceed with quickened step on his evil way. Thus are the purposes of love defeated and the mee.ns of recovery perverted. .And yet there remains one redeeming thought, 'f'iz.- ' V. THAT, THOUGH COMPARATIVELY, SIN IS NOT UTTERLY HOPELESS HERE. The " daughter of Zion " was little better than a " cottage in a vineyard," a " lodge in o. garden of cucumbers" (ver. 8); but it was left, to be at least as much as that. '!.'he Lord of hosts liad left a" remnant," though that was" very small" (ver. !J). Jerusalem had not yet become as " the cities of the plain." 'rhe penalty of sin is great : it reduces the sinner very low indeed; it robs him of his heritage; it leaves him almost nothing of the spiritual faculties, of the filial portion (Luke xv. 12), of the heavenly hopes with :whioh he was endowed. But it leaves something-soma sensibility to which we can  22 THTi: BOOK OF THE PROPIIE'l' ISAIAH. [oH, L 1-:U,