The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 43

man or· for· a nation would be for God to lay down his chastening rod, and atop his judgmonts. There ie hope for ue eo long as he will smite.-R. T. Vere. 11-13.-Mere cerem(J'fl,ial an o_f!ence to God. What a painful sight it would be to see eome of our houeee with the fronts off I-to look into the abodes of vice; to witness the impurity and profanity, and wretchedness and wild licence, and seething corruption of our large towns I That eight we may e~cape; but- we must see ourselves with the fronts off-those false fronts with which self-worship hidee the truth from view. We must look behind the gaily painted scenes of a decent moral life and conformity with outward social laws. We must know our souls if we would know ourselves. Isaiah seeks to lay bare to the view of Israel their transgressions, by lifting off them that covering of religious service under which they tried to bide the truth of their moral state. That is the burden of this first chapter. The people drew near to God with the lip, but their heart was far from him. Their relations to the worship of God iu the temple were anxiously maintained, but with that they thought to be satisfied; and, while keeping up the ceremonials, they "followed the devices and ·desires of their own hearts." Jehovah declares that the merely formal service of the impure is an abomination unto him. Those very sacrifices and offerings which were his delh!ht, became hateful to him when offered with unclean hands, and when no loving, trusting, obedient hearts found expression through them. "I cannot away with iniquity and the solemn meeting." I. THE POSSIBILITY OF UNITING TOGETHER INIQUITY A.ND THE BOLE~ MEETING. At first. it may seem as if that were not possible.. Surely conscience will prevent men from joining in religious worship who are indulging in open sin. Perhaps this is the real reason why so many' people around us stay away from worship. But it is a fact that many of the worst men have kept, all through their lives, in outward association with religious worship. In the times of the old monasteries you might have listened to the solemn services and heard the monks breathe out strains of holy music set to holy words. You might have seen priests in gorgeous garments waving incense and uplifting the symbol of the Redeemer. They were precise in all prayers, minute in all ceremonial. And many of them were faithful and true men. But History writes one of het saddest .pages about many of them.· They were given over to gluttony, drunken- ness, and immorality, and were uniting "iniquity and the solemn meeting." This is even a possibility for our own times and for ourselves. Many of u~, if we were conscious of heart-sins and life-sins cherished and loved, would only become more exact in religious formalities, trying to cover up the wrong and hide it, as far as possible from our own view. We do religiously somewhat as Cain did when he hid bis murdered brother in the ground, and then set vigorously to work in hi~ fields, trying, by sheer earnestness in work, to persuade himself and to persuade others that he knew nothing whatever of his brother's blood. We are not, however, so likely to unite the open forms of iniquity with the solemn meeting as we are the more secret forms, the inner heart-sins, which may be cherished without disgracing us before God; such sins as : 1. The unforgiving spirit. To fail to forgive is to sin. 2. Backslidings ruid lustings of heart: proud, selfish, ~ensual, corrupting thoughts. ".As a man thinketh in his hear!, eo is he." And the God to whom we offer worship is the Heart-searcher, the Thought- s~archer. 3. Openness to the vanities of the world. 4. Occasional yieldings to tempta.- tion and self-indulgence. Many indulge the idea tbM, if their indulgences do not become habitual, they need not interfrre with their religious worship. Plead the Divine requirement as given in Ps. xxiv. 3-5. 1L.U'ni;: VIEW Gon TAKES OF UNITING UilQUITY AND THE SOLEMN lllEETmG. "I am weary to bear./' '' I cannot away with." "It ie an abomination to me." We should clearly distinguish what it is which is thus hateful to God. It is not the sacrifice, or the offering, :or the solemn meeting. Gou takes delight in those places and in those services in which his Name is recorded. 'l'hey are the highest things that can engage human ottention, the seasons in which man transcends the earthly and anticipates the hallowed ·occupations of heaven. 'l'hey are the times in which man ought to he the truest, the most sincere, the most himself; all clonks, all hoods, all masks, all pride, ou~ht to be laid nsido whenever we pass the threshold of God's sanctut\ry. Naked, guileless, onen sonls alone rnny stand beforn tlH\ all-holv Lord. The thing which is so 28 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [ou. 1. J-31.