THE SUPPOSED AND THE REAL CAUSE OF FAILURE IN THE CHURCH Isaiah 59:1. _Behold the Lord’s hand is not shortened, &c._ As the Church is essentially an aggressive institution, at some periods her success has been most marked; at other times her energies have seemed paralysed. It behoves us not only to... [ Continue Reading ]
WEBS BUT NOT GARMENTS Isaiah 59:6. _Their webs shall not become garments_ What a telling blow the prophet deals at the corruptions of his age! His illustration is homely, but, on that account, all the more forcible. The whole passage presents an appalling picture of the state of society,—powers per... [ Continue Reading ]
HELP FOR SEEKERS OF THE LIGHT Isaiah 59:9. _We wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness._ I. I address myself, through the words of the text, to persons who are desirous of obtaining the true and heavenly light, who have waited hoping to receive it, but instead... [ Continue Reading ]
ZEAL—THE BEST CLOAK Isaiah 59:17. _And was clad with zeal as a cloke_. The solitary champion here spoken of we cannot fail to recognise as the Prince of the house of David, our Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever may have been the first and primary meaning of the text, &c., of Him we may say beyond and ab... [ Continue Reading ]
SUPPORT AMIDST DANGER Isaiah 59:19. _When the enemy shall come in like a flood, &c._ Ever since the moment when the tempter appeared to the woman this world has been the battlefield of good and evil. It is so now. For God did not abandon man. We have here a vivid picture of these two forces. The s... [ Continue Reading ]