The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 449

Cea.re. Sensible of great national sins, but mindful of great mercies at the hand of God, he now feare lest Israel has gone beyond redemption, a.nd now praye for Divine rescue and restoration. We ha.v&- J. A BENSE OF GoD's OVERWHELMING POWER. Israel was brought very low; her land wa.s desolate, her people scattered, her ordinances unobserved; but let God once appear in his majesty and hie strength, and everything would be subdued before bim; the enemy would be utterly routed, the ea.use of truth a.nd piety would immediately triumph (verR. 1-3). Low a.s the Church ma.y be found a.t any time, it only needs that God's presence should be manifested, a.nd his power be exercised, and the stron"est mountains of difficulty will melt a.way, prejudice be uprooted, hatred be cast ~ut, unbelief be dblodged, indill'erence and indecision be consumed, earnest thought be enkindled, piety and virtue be made to burn and to enlighten. II. A RECOGNITION OF HIS RIGHTEOUBNES'I. (Ver. 5.) God meets with the tokens of his favour those that rejoice to work righteousness, that remember him in his appointed ways-in worship, in thanksgiving, in obedience, in filial submission; but he is wroth with Israel, and righteously so, for Israel has sinned. In every age and land he that works righteousness is accepted and blessed of God; at all times and in every place the man tbat sins against his conscience must confront the anger of God, showing itself in one or more of e. number of ways-in compunction, in ignominy, in desolation and ruin, in sickness, in desertiou and loneliness, or in early death. III. A CONSCIOUSNESS OF UTTER UNDESERVEDNEBS. "In those [sins] is con- tinuance;" or long have we continued in our sins, "and shall we be saved?" ( ver. 5). Is there salvation to be found for the nation that for whole generations has forsaken its God? is there mercy to be had for the individual soul that for whole periods of life has lived in guilty negligence of a Divine Father and Saviour? IV. A REMEMBRANCE OF RIB ABOUNDING GOODNESS, (Ver. 4.) It is "Jehovah of hosts" alone that wrought these marvellous deliverances for his expectant people. All other deities ignominiously and pitiably failed their devotees in the hour of trial. Their idols had mouths, but they spake not; they had hands, but they bandied not ; their voice could not command the storm, nor their arm arrest the tide. But the history of the people of God and of the Church of God is a history of Divine goodness and grace, of interposition in the time of peril, of redemption from ruin, of gracious and glorious manifestations of Divine affection and attachment. This encourages to-- V. A PRAYER FOR HIS EFFECTUAL INTERPOSITION. "Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens I that thou wouldest come down l" (ver. 1). Our unworthiness is very great, but thy mercy is large and free ; make thy presence known, thy power felt, in the Inidst of us.-C. Ver. 6.-Life as a kaf. There are three volumes in the great work of God by which he is educating us-the written Word, Divine providence, and the world in which he has placed us. There a.re many pages in this last volume, and we do well to read them with reverent spirit. We may learn many things from the vegetation which clothes and adorns the world, and which supplies us with food and medicine and shelter. The fading of the leaf is particularly suggestive; we are reminded that- I. ALL IS NOT LOST TO THE TREE WHEN THE LEAF FALLS. The leaf has been a recipient from the trunk, drinking in its vital juices, but it has been giving as well as receiving ; it has been absorbing sunshine and air and moisture, and has been passing these on to the trunk, doing this in the very act of decaying, so that when the leaf has fallen its most precious pa.rt remains behind. We are large recipients from the society to which we belong, but we should be continually giving as well as taking. Before we fe.11, and even as we fa.de, we may be, and should be, imparting wisdom and truth, aJ1 wholesome and helpful principles, a reverent and holy spirit, by which the community will be the better and the richer when we a.re no longer seen or even remembered. JL THERE 18 AN APPARENT BUT TREACHEROUS BEAUTY IN DECAY. The russet tints of autumn a.re very exquisite, but it is the beauty of decay. Each particular leaf ia pitted and spotted and torn, and it owes its colour to the decomposition which has begun. So is it with some fair_ human insti~utions: there may be the. grande~ or t~e brilliancy of external prosper1ty-superfic1ally regarded they are mterestmg, fa\!", IBAIAB-II, 2 H  466 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [oH, LXIV. 1-12.