The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 81

question, what it can do to quicken the coming of Its Lord in hiA redreming and regenerating power. And it may find its answer here. 1. Fill up thegulfa of unr,elicf; let not lack of faith on the part of Christ;an men hinder the putting forth of D, vine power (Matt. xiii. 58). 2. Uernove the hills of inconsi.~tency; let not profC8Hi,,n and exhortation be neutralized by immoralities in life, by wide departures from the will and Word of God. 8. Take up the atones of blemish; make a patient effort Lo cast aside lesser evils which, if not serious obstacles, do yet trouble and impede. 4. Lay down a highway by prayer and zeal.-C. Vcrs 6-8-The passing and the abiding . .We are so little affected by that with which we are most familiar, that we need to hear a voice crying in our ear and reminding ua of what we well know to be true. 'fo nothing is this more applicable than the transitory nature of our human life and our earthly interests. We want to he told- I. TrrAT HUMAN LIFE IB CONTINUALLY PABBING. We do well to walk in the city of lhe dead, and let the gravestones, with their names and date~, speak to us with simple eloquence of the passage of human life. We are wise when we take some measures to recall to our thought and write on the tablet of our souls the fact which care and plea.sure are so industriously trying to conceal, that, when a few more years have come and gone, we shall be numbered with the dead, and that the objects and the incidents which are everything to us now will be nothing to us soon. It is a real gain to us, in wi~dom, to be reminded that we are but passengers to the unseen world, and that every step wo take leaves us Jess of the journey to be pursuecL Human life is like a flower of the field, a little while ascending to its perfection, and then a little while descending to its doom. II. THAT ITB EXCELLENCY RAPIDLY DIBAPPEAD.~. ".All the goodliness" of human life disappears still more quickly than life itself. The most exquisite things are the most evanescent; the fairest are the frailest. The beauty, the strength, the glory of human Jife,-thcso last but a very little while; they appear above the surface and put forth their blossom; then comes the killing frost, and they perish. III. THAT THE TRUTH OF Goo IB RVEllLABTING. 1. Enlightening truth. .All that ho baa told us of himself and of ourselves, of our nature, character, destiny, wny of return, etc. 2. Oommandin,q and invitin.'f truth. He still snys impern.tively, "ltcturn unto me;" invitingly, "Como unto me." 3. Oomfortin,q truth. It will never cca,;e to be a euRtaining o.nd mitigBting fa.et that "God is our Refugo o.nd Strength," that he cha8tens us, not for his pleasure, but for our profit, that we mny bo mn<le "partakers uf hiM holiness." 4. Warning truth. It is as certain now, o.s it was in the earliest era, that "the ~oul that sinneth, it shall die." 6. H(lpe-giving truth. From generation to generation it shall be, as it has been, declared that "whosoever believeth in him hath everlasting life."---0. Vore. 9, 10.-God: hi, presence, power, and grace. Such good tidings are to bo brought to Zion thnt tho language used is that of exultation; the mceeengor is to stand upon a high mountain, to lift up hie voice with strength, to proclaim so that overy one, fo.r and near, shall bear. 'l'ho message to bo delivered is the preRonce of Jehovah, his everlasting power, hiR grace in bringing o. largo reward in his bountiful hnn,1. 'l'ho primo.ry reference is obvious (see previous homilies); the secondary ono is to Mcssiah's kingdom, and the glory which is yet to bo revealed. The moat striking applications a.re to- I. (]oo's PREBEN0JD IN JEsus C11n1sT ms SoN. '!'hen, when" God wae manifest in the flesh," when" the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," the "Bright.noes of the Fo.thor'e glory, and the express Imago of his Person," might these words be most appropriately used, "Behold your Goel." Thon One was present who (1) while he had in hie nature aml his cha.meter all Divine attributes (Divine knowledge, power, truth, purity, love, etc.), (2) was visible to the human eye, audible to the human eo.r, ncces~ible to the human rl\Ce; then he that was "above all" was "with us" nil, tho Immanuel. II. Goo's roWEn IN TilE EB'l'ADI,IBilMENT OF HIB KINGDOM OF UI0IITEOUBNEBS. No doubt it seemed to the Jew1 a very glorious illustration of Divine power to overcome all the obetnclce thl\t stood in the way of their return from exile-to i1,lide them into &nd  84 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [on. XL. 1-31,