The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 448

perversion I Is not the very test of their being Christ's at all something mor11 tlian present feeling; viz. that enrluring unto the end they shall be saved? '!'hen they find t.he Lord's Prayer a difficulty-'' Forgive us our trespasses;'' and they suggest that that was only a provisionary prayer, until the dispensation of the Spirit came! Such met.hods would de~troy the whole authority of Scripture. A man might hear me take a text 1rnd say," That was said to apostles," implying it was only meant for them. No! we sin every dny, and we need a fountain ever open for sin and uncleanness. We need a~ much the prayer for daily forgiveness as we do for daily bread, It is when sin is indulged in by us who profess to love him-when it becomes sweet, when it becomes habitual, when it has withdrawn us from the Divine fellowship-that God hides his face. II. Tms Is DETRIMENTAL TO ALL .TOY. We are made to enjoy nature and men. We are constituted. for ~'"ery variety of joy. But as one nerve in agony can destroy all the rest of night, so a sm that separates us from God can darken all other joy. Even in the sweet summer-time, when holiday comes, we still need him. The golden-sanded bay, the landscape full of greens and greys, the iridescence of light through the clouds above the mountains, the scent of the pines, the delicate harmonies of colour in the fields, the mossy carpet of the woods, the russet roofs of cottages half hidden in the blossoms of summer,-all these, so restful and refreshing, lose their charm if the Saviour's smile be absent, if we cannot hear bis voice amid the groves and hills, and at evening feel "we have walked with God to-day." It was true in the old dispensation, when the revelation was through patriarchs, and prophets, and symbols, and sacrifices; but it is intensely true now, that we have seen God in the face of Jesus Christ--that God's averted face is the soul's severest punishment. We have come very near to God. No human priesthood intervenes now. We have boldness of access by faith to the throne of God. Ko veil is over the holy of holies now. We draw near through the rent veil- that is to say, Christ's flesh. Consequently enjoyment deepens; consequently also the sorrow deepens when I sin. Why? Because the more clearly I have seen the face, the more I feel its averted glance. m THIS IS THE MOST SPIRITUAL OF ALL TESTS. It has to do with the life within as well as the conduct without. There, where no eye of man reaches-there, in the galleries where no foot of man ever treads--are the sights and sounds which may drive away the Divine Guest. Long before sin incarnates itself in deeds, before it becomes actual and open, the evil is at work. The tree is rotten while the bark is sound. First ma.ke the tree good. Yes; and remember that decay always begins at central points outside the reach of man ·s observation. Yes, and outside the reach of our own obser- vation sometimes. Bence the prayer, "Search me, 0 God, and !mow my heart; try me, and know my thoughts ; and see if there be any evil way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." 1. Men like other tests. Their "opinions," their attendance at sacraments, their absolution by confessors, their consistency of conduct. 2. Men realize the power of this in times of anxiety and trial. Now that they a.re brought low in sick- ness· now that friends are separated from them who used to cheer and inspire them; now 'that they a.re very near to the valley of the shadow of death-nothing will do but reality then. The words of others, their good opinions of us,-all these stand for lees than nothing then. May God's face shine in a.gain upon our souls now I That is heaven-at least, it is the premonition of it. All our worst sorrows will !lee like the weird shadows on the mountains before the bright bPa.ms of the Sun of Righteousness. It is pleasant for others to smile on us-to walk in the light of human appreciation and love. Households feel this; Churches feel it. Sometimes noble and valiant men in great Reformation eras have to do without it. The light varies so, too; it is so uncertain at the beet. But this shining of the face of God makes the heart restful and gladsome everywhere. We shall one day enjoy it to the full. No clouds of sin or doubt will intervene between us and God. So is it with the blessed dead. Many times the beautiful descriptions St. John gives of heaven in the Apocalypse are negative. "No curF;e" "no night" "no sorrow," "no more death." But once it is positive: "They shall 'see his face, ~nd his Na.me shall be in their foreheads."-W. M. S. Vers. 1-5.-Hope in God. The fervent language of the text is indicative of an in l/!T1Re spiritual struggle i the heart of the prophet is filled with conflicting hopes and ou. LXIV. 1-12.J 'l'ill~ DOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 465