The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 111

Ver. 20.-Spiri'.tu.al ~sity. Ant.ecedcntly we should hardly have expected that t1 being created in the image of God, a rational spiritual agent, would so far depart from all that is reasonable and right M to put evil for good, and good for evil, ete. Yot such is the case. We have to consider- !. THE FAOT OF SPIRITUAL PERVRRSlTY, Human perversity ia not found in the higher region only. We find it in thirigs physical,, notably in our treatment of the body. Men take noxious drugs, thinking that they "do them good," while they shrink from plain and wholesome food, as unpalatable and undesirable. In Chings economical. They shut their m~rket-8 ~inst t):i~ commodities of other nnt.io!ls,. suppos!ng that they ~ thereby benP.fitmg their own c1t1zens, when they are only 1nJur1ng their neighbours 11J1d impoverishing themselves thereby. And so in other spheres of activity. In things spiritual the fact is most painfully apparent. 1. In our direct relation to God. Some men are found who condemn all worship as superstition, all earnestness as fanaticism, all piety as hypocrisy; the same men speak of atheism under the euphe- mism of free-thought; with them godlessness is emancipation from spiritual bondage I 2. In our relation to our follow-men. There are those who call clemency weakness and oppre;sion vigour; who denounce considerat~~ess as mawkish sentimentality,' and honour a brutal selfishness as cleverness and spmtedness; who sneer at conscientious- ness as being" priggish," and talk of roguery 38 if it reflected honour on its agents. 3. In our relation to ourselves. There are too many, especially among the young, who consider dissipation to be another thing for "life," and who decry purity and self- restraint as du!ness and poverty of spirit; they have honourable terms for the vilest and fouJest sins, and terms of discredit for the cause of virtue and self-respect. Thus is everything misnamed, and not only misnamed but mistaken. These words are more than mere labels; they represent the thought which is beneath; they stand for false conceptions. All things, human and Divine, are seen in false lights, are regarded as other than they are, indeed as the very opposites of what they are; the evil and shameful thing is positively admired as well 38 praised; the holy and the beautiful thing is actn&ily hated as well as cursed I These are the sad facts which are before our eyes. IL 1TB EXPLiliATION. How can we account for such perversity as this, such a sad and disastrous revolution. in the mind? It is surely due to the deteriorating influence of sin npon the soul He that sinneth a!!Binst God wrongs his own spiritual nature. Sin blinds, distorts, discolours ; not, in;reed, suddenly and altogether, but gradually and constantly. A man who falls under the power of any temptation is something the worse in mind a.a well as in heart for bis sin; his mental conception 38 well as his moral habit is injured-imperceptibly, perhaps, but not unimportantly. And by slow degrees the mind is affected and the view is changed, until everything is reversed in thought and in language (see Matt. vi. 22, 23). UL !TB END. "Woe unto them I" But what worse penalty can be inflicted than this? Surely they have their reward, in the overthrow of their reason, in the darkening of their mind, in the deterioration of their soul Truly ; yet are there not other evils which must be endured? Will not the light of eternity flash into these guilty souls, showing them whereto they have fallen and wherein they-have erred, awakening the se11Sihilities which they have sent to slumber, stirring up in them the remorse which is due to those who have so wronged themselves, so ill-treated their fellows, so sinned against the Lord ?-C. Ver. 2L-.Tke pitiful estate of the proud. We may well commiserate those who are "wise in their own eyes," iD.llSmuch as- I. THEY HAVE A FALSE CONCEPTION A8 TO THEm OWN 0APAOlTY. They think themselves able to determine what is true and beautifuJ and good, when they are pain.fully and pitifully in need of guidance from without; their estimate of themselves is essentially wrong. They" live in a fool's paradise." lL THEY ABE BBOTTING OUT FB0M'. TBEm M'.INDB THE TBUTH WBI0ll WOULD BEDEEH ABD DllOBLE THEIL The blessing of the Lord is promised to the humble-hearted, to th011e who have the docility of the little child. It is they, and they only, who are wlllln.g to empty the11116lves of their own fancies and follies that they may receive the ewrn11,l truth of God. The meil who think ~emselve11 wi1111 c"ll liud uo room in their on. v., 1-ao.J THE BOOK OF THE •PROPHET ISAIAH. 1 97