The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 25

ml\nnor in whioh they mRy be sccuroo, that is no r81\Son why wo should ignore thorn. "An interest in the prayers of good men," it is natural to seek, and biassed to have secured. The ll<'licf in the intercession of good men rests on the holief that some men stand nearer to G,xl than oth~rs. They have I\ firmer faith, 11, steadier insight Into tho methods of Pro\'i,lcnce, and theref0re a clonrer outlook into tho future, and 11, courRgo which is inspiring to others. On this occasion Is11iah is found to be calm and undis- t urllC'd by the rcYilings of the Assyrian. He can sponk of his officers with contempt as the "minions of the Ki11g of Assyria." He CI\D forotoll that a" spirit" will be put in the enemy-an impulse quite contrary to that now a.nimnting him; he will hear ill news, will return to bis own lnnd, and will fall by the sword. The prophet suste.ins the king; Hezekiah leans on Isaiah; true policy finds its inspiration in religion. The ministers of state, if wise, will own the worth of the service of the ministers of God. IT. BusrKESS LAID BEFOR& Goo. The threat of the Assyrian, the taunting argu- ments on which he had before relied, are repce.ted. Let Hezekiah bewnre of trusting in Jehovah, for be may pro,·e no better resource than the" gods of the nntionR" which have been subdued by the Assyrians. Hezekiah takes the letter, goes up into tbo house of Jeho,ah, e.nd spreads it open before Jehove.h. We may be reminded, as we read of the prayer-machines of the Buddhists; or of the waxen tablets hung upon the stat~es of the gods by the Romans. inscribed with prayers, as alluded to by Juvenal in his tenth Satire. But where the outward act is similar, the intention may be widely different. If we look to the essence of the act, there is nothing in itself more super- stitious in laying open 11, written letter before God, than in addressing him orally on its contents. lf the spreading out is a "prayer without words," the prayer with words follows. There is no external form which we me.y not fill out with the life of our spirit and make ,ital and real; none from which we may not witbdre.w thnt life, and so leave dead and cold. It is idle to suppose that the mere abandonment of certain forms will remove the foundations of superstition, which is certain to spring up in a meche.nical and liTeless state of mind. IIL HEZEKllH's PRAYER. His thoughts of God. He is revealed in nnture e.nd in human lire. He is entbront'd upon the cherubim-those mysterious creatures of poetic anil plastic fancy, representing spiritual power revealed in strong wind and cloud, and figured in the ark. Analogous figures are common in Oriental e.rt, J ehovab is the God of nature, the Creator of heavens e.nd earth. He is the only true Ruler of the kingdoms of the earth. The heathen believed that their gods swayed in the sphere both of nature and of human life--that their glory and power was revealed, not only in sun, nnd moon, and stars, and wind, but in the might of warriors and the ascendency of kings. But the contrast is that these pretensions were unreal, that of Jehovah alone founded on truth e.nd facts. Those "gods of tbe nations" who had been put into the ire by the Assyrian were no genuine gods, as the result has proved. When the idol was destroyed, the visible image of the god, the faith of tbe worshipper lost its visible support, and bis hope fled. There was no Saviour here. True faith is not dependent on such visible props; they may fail-it remains. The symbols of religion may che.nge; old sanctuaries may fall into decay; Jerusalem may be taken; the Shechinah-glory Ill&Y fade from the hallowed spot; but Jehovah remains. Jn superstition, when the idols &re broken, the false faith dies; in true religion, when the idols e.re broken, the true faith rises into new life. Adveraity, fntal to imposture, brings the genuine tradition to light. The true God is bound by his very nature to he the Saviour, the Deliverer of men. 'fhe cry for salvation must sooner or later, in one or another way, be 11,nswered from him. If the cry Le not e.nswered, it is 11, proof that we have not directed it to the true Object-- not to Jehovah, the Alone, the Eternal, but to some creature, the fabrice.tion, if not of our Lands, of our sensuous wd unspiritual fancy.-J. Ver. 6.-Caution agair,sifear. "Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard." We are often afraid of whispers; we often suffer severely through words. It is not surprising. W c,rds are winged, and fly across oceans. Words are penetrating, and enter into the secret places of the heart. Words are indestructi'ble, and, once uttered, who but God can restrain their power? I. THESE wt:RE woBos AGAINB'r Goo. Alns ! there have been many such in overy ago, 'l'bis is part of the perils of moral government, which lenves the crea! ure "free." But God ()If, lr.XXVII, 1--38.J THE DOOK Olt' THE £ROPHET ISAIAH. 27