The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 396

as I think, of a calmer joy; the blessedness of a being who, no longer vexed with anger, bate, or jealousy, no more burdened wit.h pride, or prejudice, or selfishness, sees and enjoys God in all around and all within him. Who-what shall disturb this joy? "Neither shall thy moon withdraw itself." IV. THE SUNSHINE OF REA VEN WILL BE COMMON TO ALL CHRISTIANS. Some of us here to-day may be for a time walking in darkness, whilst some are rejoicing in the light. There sits the sad widower, and there the joyful husband; there the pensive widow, there the glad wife; there the fatherless orphan, there the fond child. Yea, and deeper are the differences. There is one who, by the grace of God, has just conquered some besetting sin; bei;ide him, one who still indulges it. There, one whose co=erce with the court of heaven is small; and there, one who, like Enoch, walks with God. There, one who pitches his tabernacle with the open door towards the cross; there, one who has his tent open towards the world. Here are different phases of human experience, different states of physical health, and different degrees of the spiritual life. Consequently the sunshine ofone is not the sunshine of all. In heaven it will be common. I do not say all will have the same degree of blessedness. I believe they will not. But all will be at rest. There will be no such difference as between sorrow and joy. ..A.II will be happy up to the measure of their being ; all will participate in a joy of which the sublimest foretastings on earth are but the faintest shadows. Mark, then, the language. " Thy sun shall no more go down." It belongs to thee. We are not oj the night, as we are in the night. V. THE SUNSHINE OF HEAVEN SHALL NEVER REST ON GRAVES. "The days of thy mourning shall be ended." I have often thought on the brightest days of the many new tombs which the sun's light falls on. But e. few days since, closed eyes rejoiced in the light as well as mine. ..A.h! and there a.re eyes looking on the world which looked on it with them; scenes of sea and land, hill and vale, forast and flood, which photo- graphed themselves on both hearts alike. One is now e. clod of the valley. Much of the description of heaven, to inspirit our hearts, rests in what there is not there. And there are no more graves. There is no new tomb for Joseph in the garden of the better country. We shall bear no lamentation for the dead there-" Rachel weeping for her children, because they are not." We shall never, as did the disciples, stand with Jesus at the grave there. No voice will ever say, "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise I" "Lazarus, come forth I" No; there are no graves, neither in the see. nor in the rock ; for "the da.ys of thy mourning shall be ended."-W. M. S. Ver. 20.-Departed grief. "'l'he da.ys of thy mourning shall be ended." What a glorious perspective there is in these words I In the fairest skies we are accustomed to expect some clouds to start up from the bed of the sea, or to come suddenly across the blue firmament heralded by some fleecy outrider. Nor do we expect perpetuity of joy in human life. Life is ever the subject of risk and danger, We never pa.rt without uncertainty as to meeting again; we never know but our day of glory may set in tears. There comes, too, in time, to us a.II that "last glance of love which becomes the sharpest pang of sorrow." L KIGHT. On earth our experience is often that of mourning. We are sorrowful, 1. Over the ravages of sin in ourselves and in the world. 2. Over the contrast between our id,eals and our imperfections. 3. Over the influences of mutability and mortality. 4. Over the weakness of our faith and the coldness of our love to Ohrist. II. MoRNING. "Ended." Some things end for a time only. We are liable to them again. Fear returns. Disaffection of friends, awhile ago removed, recommences once more. Pain eased gives place to after-anguish. Friend after friend departs. After one victory over temptation comes another and a fiercer conflict. "Mourning ended." Why? God is our everlasting" Light;" for: 1. We are all righteous. (Ver. 21.) The new natnre is perfected in those who have the new name; there is no sorrow where there is no sin. 2. We are all at home. "They shall inherit the land for ever," ..A.t last the craving for rest is satisfied. ..A.t last what we have so long sought here we shall find there. All here mocks us with a sense of change, disruption, and death. There "thy sun shall no more go down."-W. M. B. Ver. 22.-MtdUplication, "A little one shall become a thousand," eto. Thla an. LX. 1-22.J TlIE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAll. 409