The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 383

member of the most scripture.I Church, and yet be destitute of that which is vital and essential. "He is not e. Jew who is one outwe.rdly," etc. Christian profession is a poor thing for e. soul to hide in; it is no true refuge for the human heart; it is a "web that will not mo.ke a garment." 2. 'J'he web of ceremony e.nd ordinance. Many have an undefined but strong confidence in having passed through Christian ceremonies (Baptism and the Lord's Supper), or in having been conste.nt in attendance on Divine worship, or in having taken on their lips apostolic and evangelical language; but to trust in these things as garments of salvation is to put" confidence in the flesh" (Phil. iii. 1): they me.y exist without any faith or love prompting and vitalizing them. 3. The web of correct behaviour-abstinence from impurity, inebriety, untrmhfulness, trickery, pro- fanity. This is altogether and in every way desirable, and it may be eminently praise- worthy from a human standpoint; but it will not a.tone for the supreme omission- the failure to respond to a heavenly Father's love, to subject the will to the will of the Creator, to dedicate the life to the service of God. It, too, is a web that will not make a garment with which to cover e. sinful soul. III. THE ONE GARMENT THAT SUFFICES. What did Christ mean by that "wedding garment" without which the guest might not sit down to the marriage-feast (Matt. xxii. 11)? May it not have been the abounding mercy of God unto eternal life, received through faith in a. Divine Saviour (Rom. v. 1; viii. 1; Phil. iii. 7-9)? Men will be just with God, their sins will be covered and hidden for evermore, when, in the spirit of penitence and faith, they accept the Saviour of mankind as the Lord in whom they hide and to whom they yield themselves in glad surrender.-C. Vera. 9, 1O.-The goal of guilt. A course of conduct or a principle of action is rightly judged by the issue to which it tends. All is well that ends well, and all is ill that ends ill. If we look fsr enough and deep enough in our estimate of consequences, we shall always find that the goal of guilt is wretchedness and ruin. It ends in- I. A BENSE oF WRONG. The nation feels that "judgment and justice" are lacking and the enemy is triumphant; the individual feels that he is injured, that his rights are withheld from him, and he goes on his way dispirited and complaining. II. DEEP DISAPPOINTMENT. "\Ve wait for light, and behold obscurity," etc. Men who seek not their refuge and their portion in God and in his service are always subject to a profound dissatisfaction. Life does not yield the good they crave. They look for success, and behold failure; for joy, and behold weariness, hearacbe, ennui; for sweet communion, and behold isolation and loneliness; for laughter, and behold disgust. III. AGGRAVATED BLINDNESS. "We grope ... like the blind ... we stumble at noon- day," etc. It is one of the saddest consequences of sin that the power of spiritual per- ception continually lessens; the "eyesight" of the sonl becomes weaker and weaker. Great truths are less clearly apprehended. Confusion takes the place of distinctness, until at length good is mistaken for evil, and evil for good : " the light that is in us becomes darkness; " tl.ie very organ of spiritual understanding misleads us. And the aggravating circumstance is that this failure of the soul's sight takes place "e.t noon- day," when others are walking and rejoicing in the light of the Lord. IV. DEATHFULNESS. " In desolate places [ or perhaps rather, 'in luxuriant fields,'] we are as the dead." The thought of Christ and of his apostles is that to live in sel- fishness, in ungodly pleasure, is death in life. To exist apart from God; to be severed from him in thought and feeling, in speech and act; to be utterly regardless of his will and then defiantly antagonistic to his cause ;-this is death indeed, and it is consum- mated in the death which is eternal.-C. Vers. 15-17.-Human hopelessness and Divine redemption. This vivid picture of the nation's demoralization, e.nd of its incapacity to produce a citizen who could regene- rate and reform, may appropriately suggest- !. 'l'HE HOPELESS CONDITION OF THE HUMAN BA0E UNDER THE LONG TYRANNY OF SIN, Man had fallen so far that there wltl! not the smallest prospect of redemption from any- thing be could originate. '!'he all-seeing eye of God rested on "no man, no intercessor.n Reformer there might be, but Redeemer there was none. No human arm could uplift a sin-slain and fallen race from its degradation and ruin. Hence came- IL THB BBDB.lU&DIG POWEB OF ALMIGilTY Goo. " It disl)leased the Lord;" the 896 THE BOOK OF TRE PROPHET ISAIAH. [on. LIX. 1-21.