The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 110

aching heart. "The honoumble !Tien are famished, and the multitude dried np with thirst" (ver. 13). Not knowing Goel and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, depriving themselves of the deep and l:isting satisfactions of his l'l!.vonr and friendship, men find all material sources of joy utterly unsatisfying; they eat, and hun,ger still; they drink, but" thi'rsH 'again." 3. Impoverishment. (Ver. 4.) The uation that does not act up to the height of its knowledge and its opportunity, tl,at is not governed by its srnse of right and duty, but· by its inclination to pride and pleasure, is a nation that will decline; it will soon be stripped of its power. "Had, s will open its mouth without measul'e," and "swallow up" its glory, its eminence, its joy; it will be btreft of all of which it boasts; for the hand of the Lord will be against it, and his rip;hteous judg- ments w~ll overtake it (ver. 16). 4. Humi"liation. (Ver. 15.) 5. Mort,ji,cativn,. How uti~peakably m·ortified would those Jewish ccip!ives be to find themselves pining in a foreign land ·when their own fields nt borne were unoccupied, the spoil of the roving flock, tlie prey of the marauding stranger (ver. 17) ! And how bitter must be the mortification and self-reproach which they must feel who have to rralize the results of their guilty spiritual ignorance; who have to see that, afar off and beyonc! their reach, are joys which they· might have shared, honours which they might have won, sphere■ which they might have filled, a large heritage which was their own but which will never be theirs again !-C. Vers. 18, 19....:..Sin in its strength. We have here some thoughts about sin. I. Irs EVIl, GROWTH. Whatever the precise thought of the prophet, his words (ver. 18) are strongly suggestive of the fact that sin gradually attains a terrible power. Its "pull" may at first be that of a· silken thread; presen'tly it becomes that of a strong string; then it is found to be that of a hard wire; finally it reaehes that of a " cart- rope." And this, whether we regard the sinner as (1) the man no whom iniquity act.o, oi: as (2} the agent through whom its force is exerted on others. In the one cnse he is moved only with great difficulty, and often the bond which is thrown about him snaps in twain; but, in time, sin gains strength, and it pulls him as with a rope that cannot be broken. In the other case-probably the one here intended-he himself haidly succeeds, sometimes fails, in leading 'men astray; but in course of time he dr:i.ws his neighbours along the road of wrong~doing with ease; the tie by which he holds and by which he ·constrains them is stout and strong. He draws sin "as it were with a cart- rope." 1. Shun the first overtures of tbe ungodly; have nothing to do, in the way of friendship, with the enemies of trnth and righteousness. 2. If men have ncquired a fascinating power over you, there is no delh-erance from their evil grasp save by genuine penitence and an earnest appeal to the Almighty Friend; his hand can cut the strongest cords of sin. II. !Ts FEARFUL CULMINATION. Sin reaches its summit when it stands on the height of impious defio.nce of the living God (ver. 19). Reverence shrinks with a holy reluctance from taking such wurds into its lips, even when it simply quotes the utterance of impiety. Yet men are found in the path of sin who will employ such language without remorse! In the earlier stages of ungodliness men would be shocked at the idea of doing and being that to which a continuance in irreligion naturally lead~ up. That puny man shoul<l positively defy his Maker seems antecedently unlikely, if not impossible. Yet g\nring facts too plainly prove that an evil course does not stllp short of even this extreme. What awful possibilities of evil reside within a huma11 soul I How unrneasurably wise it is to place ourselves under the guidance of the great Teacher, to have our hearts the residence of the Holy Spirit! Then, but only then, are we safe from moral enormities which are a thousand times more to be dreau.ed than the extinction of our being. Ill. ITS RiGUTEOUS DOOM. "Woe unto them!" And they shall have woe! They may say in their shai:neless 'arroganc_e, "Let us break their bands asunder," etc.; but " the Lurd shall have them in derision . • . he shall vex them in his sore displeasure" (Ps. ii. 3-5). 'l'hey may "set their mouth against the heavens," and may say, "How doth God know?" but "how aro they·brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors" (Ps. lxxiii. 9, 11, 19). God will overturn their purposes; he will scatter their friendships and leave them in helpless loneliness; he will bring them into nn inlolcrnble humiliatiun; he will condemn them o.t his judg- mcnt-bar; he will sentence them to eternal cxilc.-C.  116 THE DOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [oll, V, 1-30.