The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 90

burn up the vegetation in an hour, and change freshness and flowers into barrenness nnd death. The Word of God endures for ever. It cannot be likened to anything on which rests the earthly st.amp. It is not even like the giant trees, ,vhich grow on while the grass and the flowers of a hundred passing summers flourish and fade beneath them; for at last even the trees fail to respond to the wakening spring-breath, and the great trunks crumble down to dust, and pass Mvay. It is not even like the mighty hills, which, tol\·ering high over us, seem to have their foundations in the very centre of the earth, and t-0 outlast 1he generations; for they too are wearing down, and shall one day change and pass. It is not like the vast firmament, which keeps, through summer and wi,,tcr, its broad expanse of blue, though clouds all blackness and clouds sih·er-tinged sweep in ever-varying shapes across it; for at last even "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and_ the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therem shall be burned up." I. THE TRANSITORINESS OF ALL EARTHLY THINGS. All nature echoes the messaae ot the grass. The winter snow falls lightly, and lies in its white purity-mystic, wo;der- ful---over all the land; but too soon it soils, and browns, and sinks, and passes all a,vay. The spring flowers that come, responsive to the low sunshine and the gentle breath, are so fragile, they stay with us only such a little while, and then they pass away. The summer blossoms multiply and stand thick over the ground, and they seem strong, with their deep rich colouring; and yet they too wither and droop and pass away. The autumn fruits cluster on the tree branches, and grow big, and win their soft rich bloom of ripeness; but they too are plucked in due season, and pass away. The gay dress of varied leafage is soon stripped off with the wild winds; one or two trembling leaves cling long to the outmost boughs; but, by-and-by, even they fall and pass away. Down every channel of the hillsides are borne the crumblingR washed from the ererlasting hills, as we call them, that yet are passing away. And man-does be differ from the things in the midst of which be is set? Nay; be is but flesh. "He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not." It is even true of man's worlc. All the glory, all the goodliness, of man's genius and enterprise and effort-it is all as the "flower of the field." Man's strength, and wisdom, and riches, and learning, and brauty, and science, and art, all are subject to decay; the "moth and the rust eat into them, and the thief steals them away." It is even true of the very forms and modes in which one man strives to bless and help another. The forms are not the principal things; they are but the temporary human stamp; and God may remove or change them to make us feel our entire dependence on him. II. THE PEUMA.~'ENCE OF ALL DIVINE THINGS. More especially of all Divine revela- tions and declarations, for these are properly gathered up in the term, the "Word of God." Everything that speaks to our souls of God is a revelation to us. It may be a touch of nature. It may be only a pure white flower. It may be the pale gold and green of a late sunset. It may be the snowy crest of an Alpine mountain, lying soft and pure against the summer's deep blue sky. It may be the weird mbt of the gloaming creeping over the landscape. It may be the glimpse "down som,i woodland vale, of the many-twinkling sea." It may be the thunder-voice ~f God echoing among the hills, or it may be the voice of some fellow-man, translating mto human words for us the mysteries of Divine truth and love revealed to him for our sakes. Howsoever the \Vord of God may come into our souls, it is true for ever. All things tl1at our souls hear and feel and know are Divine, are permanent, eternal things. When God speaks to our souls by his providence, the message is permanent. The revelation of red"mption is permanent. Everything that pleads in us for duty is eternal, because it bears on the culture of character. All God's comforeings a.bide with us. And when God kindles hope, it is hope that cannot disappoint, that will never make a.shamed. In Dr. Bushnell's life is the followin~ passage, found pencilled by him on e. stray sheet of paper. Referring to the time of his infancy, when he "came out in this rough battle with winds, winters, and wickedness," he says, "My God and my good mother both heard the cry, and went to the task of strengthening me, and comforting me to2;ether, and were able ere long to get a smile upon my face . . . . Long years ago she vanished; but God stays by me still, embraces me in my grey he.ire as tenderly and carefully as she did in my infancy, and gives to me, as my joy and the principal glory of my life, that be lets me know him, and helps me with real confi.denco to call him my Father,"-R, T. OIL XL. 1-31.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 93