The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 533

trivanoe, care, and eeH-deni&l fnt.o his service, And such a man "shall etand." "Tho pro,idence of God will reward him for his liberality with a settled prosperity and an estRblished reputation. The grace of God will give him abundance of satisfaction and c,>nfirmed peace in his own bosom" (comp. Ps. oxii. 6, 6).-•R, T. Ver. 11.-Folk wlw are at ease, Special reference is made to the women of the upper classes in Jerusalem, who were living in self-indulgence and extravagance, and setting mischievous example to a.11 the women of the land. 'Die coming woes would affect them all the more seriously because of the luxuries which they had gathered round themselves, and which had become to them fancied necessities. No doubt the idle, self-indulgent, and too often profligate conduct of these women greatly added to the pressure of the existing evils. It is suggested t.o us to consider how greatly, in every age, women represent a.nd augment the evils of their times. Many a man has been ruined by his efforts t.o feed the pride, vanity, and luxury of these ease-loving, ca.reless wives and daughters. And nations have lost their manhood in the moral decay of the "mothers" of the race. "When a land goes to ruin a great part of the blame of it rests upon the women. For they are more easily prompted to evil, as they a.re to good." But this "being at ease" describes the condition of what is called a "high state of civilization," when money is accumulated in the hands of the few, and these few, having no need to work, give themselves up to self-indulgence, manufacturing wants, and constantly craving for some excitement to relieve the dreadful ennui of life. I. MEN Ah"D WOMEN SHOULD NOT BE AT EASE. There is work to be done. Work for all. It is put close to our ha.nd. There are evils to fight-evils so gigantic that every man and woman may have a place in the soldier-ranks. God worketh hitherto; Christ works; and woe to all who, in negligence or in rebelliousness, refuse to bear the yoke! IL MANY MEN AND WOMEN MUST MASTER THEMSELVES AND THEIR omOUMSTANCES IF THEY ARE TO CEASE TO BE AT EASE. For careless ways may have become fixed habits. We may have deceived ourselves int.o the idea that our "doing nothing," our busy idleness, is really doing something. We begin to take life into our hands for ordering, when we face the question," What is life given me for?n "Life is real, life is earnest," III. Goo's WOE SURELY OOMEB ON .ALL WHO KEEP AT EASE. Our Lord pictured this in his parable of the "rich man and Lazarus." That rich man, living at ease, is not to be envied while he lived, for the woe of God lay on him, making bitterness for his many idle hours. Much less is he to be envied when his life is done, for the woe of God is on him there. "In hell he lift up his eyes, being in t.orments. n "Tremble, ye women that a.re at ease! "-R. T. Ver. 15.-The Spirit as a qui,ckening BUMt. The results produced by hea.vyrains in the East a.re so striking that these rains become e. suggestive figure of the influence of God's Spirit on souls and on Churches. In times of prolonged drought, the ground ill burnt 11p e.nd chapped, and every sign of vegetation is destroyed. Then come the rains, the life in the soil responds, a.nd in e. few hours the world is green a.gain. The figure of "pouring forth," or "pouring out," needs, however, to be very carefully used in relation to God's Spirit. It is only suited to the one aspect of the Spirit as e.n influence. It may be misconcei,:ed if applied to God the Spirit regarded !l'8 e. _Person. When we use this term "pourmg " nowadays, we should carefully keep m mmd the figure of the rains, with which it is properly associated. The Jewish Church thought of the Spirit as an influence. The Christian Church has received the larger revelation, and knows of the Holy Ghost as a Divine Person, "dwelling with us, and being in us." He comes to us. We may grieve him. He may depart. But only e.s a figure ce.n we now speak of him as being "poured on us." The figure of "pouring" is also given in Joel iii. 1. I. CHBIBT'B CHUBOH I8 '1'00 OFTEN AB A DEAD THING. illustrate from a parched field. Only noxious weeds can get vitality out of such a soil Fielde are dead.because God withholds his rains. Sou!J! a.re dead, Churches a.re dead, because God withholds his Spirit. Such withholding is done in judgment. The deadness of a Ohurch i:1 du. xxxrt.1--20,] T!IE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH.