The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 116

of righ~cousness/' ·, This form of !li,n js .m familiar to need, much sugges~on l\8 to its tre~tment..J _Qpd r~~i~t~th those who are conc~ite? o~ their own wisdom and lean tJ t/1e.1r own:underatan<lmg.. "Seest tho~ a man wise m bis own eyes? tllere is more hope of a fool than of -l1im," •• ' •• • ; I'7. 'l'1rn ~i1( OF CQBRUPTIN~ ;ius111cE; (Ver. 23.) "Who clear the guilty for a brlp~, anq take _t11e rights of, wortli_y men _fr-0m the!Il." The idea is that j11Rtice is sacrificed to:meet the demands of an e1pens1ve luxuriousness. So men now grind the foe11s of tho;i.~:-vvho work. for,,tbem to support their own ext1avagancea. No greater evil can, OC!W~ u,pon.a Janel than the foisoning of the fountains of jnstice ;. and there is no more certain source.of uatjoaa .d.4conrent hastening' to rebellion. The prophet was himself deeply mo,·cJ by lhe picture of the evils of his time which rose op before l1im. ~owherc _\:(luld he look and gaia t,he relief of a hvpe. Such an utterly wicked people mus~ suffer. , Seaward be looked, but there was not one gleam of light. Landward be looked, )iut not one gleam of light. Such is the end of wicl,cdness. Bold though it may ~eem, defiant as. it may ijound, long a.'! it may appear to hold out, this is the issue of it-dark, 8:11" dark.. The very '" light is darkened in tlle heavens thereof."-R. T. :Ver. 20,-The importan::e of~deg_1iat~ impressions of sin. We seldom hear sin spoken about now as tjie old prophets spoke about it. We do not think ab-Out sin as the defiauce 9f.God, the attempted over.throw of his authority, the expression of the soul's hatred of Gcid, anil therefore. callhig for terrible vindications of the Divine power and claims. In reading'biogra.phiei;of yery holy and devoted Christians, we hav~ observed that they Lad deep. an~ o:.erwhelming .\n1pressions _of the evil of sin-impressions quite beyond the reach, of. our sympathy; Perhaps we have inclined to call them morbiJ, and to think 11uch views .~er" the rei;ult of diseased imaginations. The truth, however, is that these holy,men and women had visions of the in.finite holiness of God. They saw the "11:3ppbii:~ tbro_ne/' and they tremble.·d and veiled their faces before the exceeding majesty ~f ijie D\vfoe p1,uity. 'l'hey ~w t~emselves and sin ~~u.ly and worthily, because tiley saw these things in the full clear light of God. We do not so see them, becaus., we do not live nea.r, enor,gh to :~od. . 'l'ake as a specimen the following sentences of John Bunyan-surely as honest, and sincere 11 ,inan before God and his fellows as ever live,\: '.' M;y original, ani,l_inward poUution-t)lat was my plague an,1 affliction. That I saw at a _dreiidful ra,l.e, al"IV!lYB i,utting forth itself within me. That I had the guilt of to amazeme,n~. _By reason of that I was loathsome in my own eyes, and I thought I was in God'.~ qyes too~. SiI\, ~pd. corruption; I said, would as naturally bubble out of my heart as water ~u_t cif a f9untain. } thought that every one had a better heart than I bau; _I c1;mld, have cha11ged hearts with any~ody. I thought cone but the devil himself cou~4 equ'alize me for inward wickedness and pollution of mind. I Ml, therefore, at the, sight· of my _own vileness, deeply, into despair." Making all allowance for th11 quaintness (?f this language, and for the spirit of the age in which Bunyan lived, do we not feel ~hat bis Christian life became,_ s9 uoble because his foumlations bad been laid so lo'.IV? A.nli we need more worthy app1:ehensions of the essential hatefulness and evil of sin to lie as the fouudaticm-stones on which we may ;ear our godly life. 1. A.11 the great truths and doctrines of Divine revelation rest upon the fact of human sin. Re- pentance, justifictLLiou,. atonement, redemption, sanctificatiou, all assulllc the fact of our si!I,. It is too much the habi_t to discuss these doctrines as if they were merely questions of si;\ence, havjng a general intellectual interest; but with the smitings of guilt ou our hearts, and tjie a~·cnger of blood at ciur heels, they become intensely real; they are no less than the conditions of _the soul's safety in tlie city of refuge. We sbou!t.l under- stand them so much better if we had more soul-moving impre~srons of the evil and the guilt of our s!,ate !;)~fore God. 2. All the Christian graces depend on deep views of sin. '!'hat posses~es our souls with pity and charity and long-suffering towards others. That makes and keeps us 1b1J1nble. The believing. man is be who, in bis self-helplessness, bas learne\l to. lean wholly. The hopeful. man is he who has cried "out uf the depths" unto. the Lord. The man who feels for others is he who "knows the plague of his own hear~;, 3. .All the earnestness.and zeal of Christian work depend on worthy views of sin, Are men pedshing in sin? then we must rescue and save them. Johu Howe says, "S.hall our Uedeomer be left to weep alone over perishing souls? Have we no tear11 ~- 13pon~ upon this doleful subject? Oh that our hl'ads were waters, and our eyea 104