Isaiah 1:2














Literally, the verse reads, "Sons I have made great and high, and they have broken away from me." The later conception of the Jewish covenant embraced the ideas of fatherhood and sonship, and thus prepared for the revelation of the fatherhood of God in the teachings of the Lord Jesus, and for the apprehension of the "sonship of men" through Christ's own sonship. It is the point of impression, that this relation intensifies the guilt of the people's unfaithfulness and rebellion, just as Absalom's relation, as son, to David aggravates the criminality of his deceptions and his revolt. In addition to the actual relation of father and son, the text suggests the exceptional goodness and considerateness of Israel's Father-God. He had brought the nation to its maturity, and given it a high place among the kingdoms. And still the extreme painfulness of sin is not its breaking of law, its insult to kingly majesty, or the necessarily bitter consequences that must attend upon it; it is its filial ingratitude, its dishonor of the sacred claims and duties of sonship. All heaven and earth may be called to see this shameful sight - children turning against their father.

I. THE SIN OF THE UNFILIAL SON. Dwell upon its characteristic features. We estimate the motive and spirit of the wrongs rather than the precise nature of the acts. Show the aggravations of such sin. Every persuasion of dependence, love, and duty must be pushed aside ere unfilial sin can become possible.

II. ITS POSSIBLE EXCUSE IN AN UNWORTHY FATHER. This is the only excuse that can be urged, and this does not count for much. The natural relation sustains the demand for obedience, and nothing can conflict with parental law save the supreme law of God. If even parents command what is contrary to God's revealed will, we must obey the Father in heaven rather than the father on earth. Illustrate how this conflict of the human and Divine law was the burden of the Greek dramas. Short of this, obedience must be fully rendered, even when fatherly requirements cannot be approved.

III. THE ABSENCE OF ALL SUCH EXCUSE WHEN THE FATHER IS GOD. His will is right, is love. Apprehend what he is. Apprehend what he has been to our forefathers and to us. Realize the "goodness" of him in whom our breath is, and whose are all our ways, and then the unspeakable iniquity must be to grieve him, disobey him, and revolt from him. - R.T.

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken.
I well remember two funerals going out of my house within a few brief months during my residence in London. There were cards sent by post and left at the door, in all kindliness; but one dark night when my grief overwhelmed me I looked at some of the cards and could find no vibration of sympathy there. I had not felt the touch of the hand that sent them. I went out into the storm that moaned and raged alternately, and walked round Regent's Park through the very heart of the hurricane. It seemed to soothe me. You troy I could not find sympathy there. Perhaps not, but I at least found affinity: the storm without seemed to harmonise with the storm within; and then I remembered that He who sent that storm to sweep over the earth loved the earth still, and then remembered that He who sent the storm to sweep over my soul, and make desolate my home, loved me still. I got comfort there in the darkness, and the wild noise of a storm on an autumn night, which I found not in cards of condolence, sincere as in many instances the sympathy of the senders was. Ah me! when man not only failed to sympathise, but also forgot all gratitude and rebelled against his Heavenly Father, I can imagine God looking out to His own universe, to the work of His own hand, and seeking vindication, if not sympathy, as He spoke of man, his rebellion and folly.

(D. Davies.)

Sermons by the Monday Club.
I. THE PRIVILEGES OF THE NATION. It was no mean prerogative to become the chosen people of God, but for what was that choice made? Not because of perfect characters surely; but rather to declare among the nations the messages of God; not a nation holy in character, but with a holy errand. When the ten tribes revolted, leaving only a remnant, that remnant must do the errand appointed. Thus did God speak of them as "My people," "My children." Our privileges cannot save us, and even our blessings may become a curse. God cannot give to us personally what we will not receive.

II. THE NATIONAL CORRUPTION. What the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans is in the New Testament, that is the first chapter of Isaiah's prophecy in the Old. Deeper degradation than that of Israel it would be hard to find. In Isaiah's time, gold and silver idols glittered on every street of Jerusalem. By royal authority, worship was given to the sun and moon. At the opening of each new season, snow-white horses, stalled in the rooms at the temple entrance, were driven forth harnessed to golden chariots to meet the sun at its rising. Incense ascended to heathen gods from altars built upon the streets. Vice had its impure rites in the temple itself. The valley of Hinnom echoed the dying screams of children offered as sacrifices in the terrible flames of the hideous Moloch. Words fail in depicting the deep corruption. There is the sting of sin in the plain statement of the awful history, "They have forsaken the Lord," etc.

III. THE RELATION OF RITUAL TO MORALITY. The more pronounced the ceremonial, the more tenaciously will men cling to it. Thus, in Isaiah's day, they who had swung their incense to the sun and moon; who had worshipped Baal upon the high places and in the groves; who had cast their children into the burning arms of Moloch, turned immediately from these heathenish practices to worship in the temple. Of burnt offerings and sacrifices there was no end. The purest spiritual worship, like that of Enoch and Abraham and Melchizedek, did not need it; it was given when a nation of slaves, degraded by Egyptian bondage, could appreciate nothing higher, and it was taken away when the true, light was come. There was neither perfection nor spirituality in such a ritual; yet in such a system God tried to elevate the nation to spiritual truths they could not yet apprehend. The ritual could not make morality.

IV. ANY WORSHIP TO PLEASE GOD MUST BE REASONABLE. The Divine appeal claims the undivided attention of the profoundest thoughts; "Come, now, and let us reason together."

(Sermons by the Monday Club.)

The message to the "sinful nation" with which the book of Isaiah begins has for ourselves the tremendous force of timeliness as well as truth.

I. We are led to consider, that STATE AND NATION ARE INVOLVED TOGETHER. The country is "desolate," the cities are "burned with fire, and the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city." We remember indeed that the saints have survived in "the dens and caves of the earth." But these victories of truth and righteousness — God's power to overrule wickedness — by no means contradict Isaiah's vision. If it is true that the Founder of the Church can maintain its strength notwithstanding civil turmoil and decay, let us also consider how God magnifies the Church through days of peace and virtue. Jesus Himself waited until the nations were still And what may be the possibilities for His kingdom of the continued growth and happiness of our own country, it is entrancing to contemplate. The treasuries of love, how full they may be! The pastors and teachers for every dark land, — what hosts there may be prepared!

II. Aroused to the consideration of such a problem, we readily appreciate the prophet's reference to THE RESPONSIBILITY OF RULERS (ver. 10). Our own happy visions of the future may all be over clouded if there be but one Ahab in authority. The exhortation, therefore, addresses those who as citizens are to be charged with the duty of placing men in power.

III. We find the prophet distinctly TRACING THE NATIONAL CALAMITIES TO THE NATION'S WICKEDNESS (Vers. 4-8).

IV. THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE TO HIS COUNTRYMEN IS PARTICULARLY DIRECTED AGAINST THEIR IMPIETY. They have forms of religion enough, indeed. But out of the people's worship the heart and life have departed. Only the husks remain. Perhaps it will be seen in the end that the Pharisee is not only as bad, but as bad a citizen too, as the glutton and the winebibber. The Pharisaic poison works with a more stealthy force and makes its attacks upon more vital parts. We are to look not only for a sinful nation's natural decay, but besides for those mighty interpositions of Providence in flood and famine, in pestilence and war, directly for its punishment and overthrow.

V. THE VALUE OF A "REMNANT." God has been saving remnants from the beginning — Noah, Abraham, Moses, Nehemiah — and the little companies of which such souls are the centre and the life in every age. God's plans are not spoiled by man's madness. If many rebel against Him, He saves the few and multiplies their power. The leaven leavens the whole lump again.

VI. Most impressive, therefore, is THE TENDER AND EMPHATIC PROCLAMATION OF MERCY AND PARDON in this chapter.

(Hanford A. Edson, D. D.)

I. THE WRITER (ver. 1).

II. THE CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE (vers. 2-6).

III. THE FRUITS OF THIS CHARACTER (vers. 7-9).

IV. FALSE EFFORTS TO OBTAIN RELIEF (vers. 10-15). Murderers may be found at church, making their attendance a cloak for their iniquity or an atonement for their crime. God cannot become a party to such horrible trading.

V. THE TRUE WAY OF DELIVERANCE (vers. 16-18). God not only describes the disease, but provides the remedy. The fountain is provided; sinners must wash in it — must confess, forsake, get the right spirit, and do right.

(J. Sanderson, D. D.)

The sermon which is contained in this chapter hath in it —

I. A HIGH CHARGE exhibited in God's name against the Jewish Church and nation.

1. For their ingratitude (vers. 2, 3).

2. For their incorrigibleness (ver. 5).

3. For the universal corruption and degeneracy of the people (vers. 4, 6, 21, 22).

4. For their rulers' perverting of justice (ver. 23).

II. A SAD COMPLAINT OF THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD which they had brought upon themselves by their sins, and by which they were brought almost to utter ruin (rots. 7-9).

III. A JUST REJECTION OF THOSE SHOWS AND SHADOWS OF RELIGION which they kept up among them, notwithstanding this general defection and apostasy (vers. 10-15).

IV. AN EARNEST CALL TO REPENTANCE AND REFORMATION, setting before them life and death (vers. 16-20).

V. A THREATENING OF RUIN TO THOSE THAT WOULD NOT BE REFORMED (vers. 24, 28-31).

VI. A PROMISE OF A HAPPY REFORMATION AT LAST, and a return to their primitive purity and prosperity (vers. 25-27). And all this is to be applied by us, not only to the communities we are members of, in their public interests, but to the state of our own souls.

( M. Henry.)

The prophets are God's storm signals. This was a crisis in Israel's history. Mercy and judgment had alike failed. The mass of the people had become more hardened. Judgment alone had now become the only real mercy. The prophet was sent to make a last appeal; to warn of judgment.

I. THE CHARGE. They have proved unnatural children. Have disowned their Father. Have failed to meet the claims due from them. Have frustrated the purpose of their national existence. Have, as a nation, wholly abandoned themselves to sin. In spite of exceptional privileges, they have lowered themselves beneath the level of the brutes. Nature witnesses against them, and puts them to shame.

II. THE DEFACE. The prophet imagines them to point to their temple services, — so regular, elaborate, costly, — in proof that their natural relations to their Father have been maintained. But this common self-delusion is disallowed, exposed, repelled. Not ritual, not laborious costly worship is required, but sincerity of heart, integrity of purpose, rightness of mind. Acceptable religious observance must be the spontaneous expression of an inward religious life.

III. THE OFFER OF MERCY. But the day of grace is not even yet past. One last attempt is yet made to arouse the sleeping spiritual sensibilities of the nation by the offer of pardon. Reconciliation is possible only upon amendment.

IV. THE THREAT OF JUDGMENT. Fire alone can now effect the change desired. God cannot be evaded. He is as truly merciful in threatening as in offering pardon. The nation shall be purged, yet not destroyed. Evil shall be consumed. But thereto who, like gold, can stand the fire and come out purified shall be the nucleus of an ideal society, and remodel the national life. All social amendment has its roots in complete purification of individual hearts. The prophet's dream was never realised. Yet it was not therefore wasted. It was an ideal, an inspiration to the good in after ages. It will one day be realised through the Gospel.

(Lloyd Robinson.)

I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me.
Israel is Jehovah's men (Exodus 4:22, etc.); all the members of the nation are His children (Deuteronomy 14:1; Deuteronomy 32:20); He is the Father of Israel, whom He has begotten (Deuteronomy 32:6, 18). The existence of Israel as a nation, like that of other nations, is effected, indeed, by means of natural reproduction, not by spiritual regeneration; but the primary ground of Israel's origin is the supernaturally efficacious word of grace addressed to Abraham (Genesis 17:15, etc.); and a series of wonderful dealings in grace has brought the growth and development of Israel to that point which it had attained at the Exodus from Egypt. It is in this sense that Jehovah has begotten Israel.

(F. Delitzsch.)

Two things that ought never to have been conjoined —

I. THE GRACIOUS AND FILIAL RELATION OF ISRAEL TO JEHOVAH.

II. ISRAEL'S BASE APOSTASY FROM JEHOVAH.

(F. Delitzsch.)

Sometimes we imagine that the Fatherhood of God is a New Testament revelation; we speak of the prophets as referring to God under titles of resplendent glory and overpowering majesty, and we set forth in contrast the gentler terms by which the Divine Being is designated in the new covenant. How does God describe Himself in this chapter? Here He claims to be Father: I have nourished and brought up sons — not, I have nourished and brought up slaves — or subjects — or creatures — or insects — or beasts of burden — I have nourished and brought up sons: I am the Father of creation, the fountain and origin of the paternal and filial religion.

(J. Parker, D. D.)

As the Dead Sea drinks in the river Jordan and is never the sweeter, and the ocean all other rivers and is never the fresher, so we are apt to receive dally mercies from God and still remain insensible to them — unthankful for them.

(Bishop Reynolds.)

We are obliged to speak of the Lord after the manner of men, and in doing so we are clearly authorised to say that He does not look upon human sin merely with the eye of a judge who condemns it, but with the eye of a friend who, while he censures the offender, deeply laments that there should be such faults to condemn. Hear, "O heavens, and give ear, O earth: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me," is not merely an exclamation of surprise, or an accusation of injured justice, but it contains a note of grief, as though the Most High represented Himself to us as mourning like an ill-treated parent, and deploring that after having dealt so well with His offspring they had made Him so base a return. God is grieved that man should sin. That thought should encourage everyone who is conscious of having offended God to come back to Him. If thou lamentest thy transgression, the Lord laments it too.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

(with ver. 3): — I look upon this text as a fragment of Divine autobiography, and as such possessing the greatest significance to us.

I. It presents to us in a striking manner THE SOCIAL SIDE OF GOD'S CHARACTER. It is well for us to remember that all that is tender and lovable in our social experience, so far as it is pure and noble, is obtained from God. The revelation which we have of God presents Him to us, not as isolated from all His creatures, but as finding His highest joy in perfect communion with exalted spirits whom He has created. I love to think that man exists because of this exalted social instinct in God. Further, when God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone," methinks I hear but the echo of a Divine, of a God. felt feeling. Among the mysteries of Christ's passion we find an element of suffering which, as God and man, He felt — "Ye shall leave Me alone"; "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me!" Our God is to us an object of supremest interest because He holds with us the most sacred relationship.

II. Our text represents GOD ON THE DOMESTIC SIDE OF HIS CHARACTER. It is the parental rather than the paternal that we see here. The word father does not express all that God is to us. The illustrations of this Book are not exhausted with those that refer to His fatherhood: "Can a woman forget her sucking child," etc. (Isaiah 49:15). All that is tender in motherhood, as well as all that is strong in fatherhood, is to be found in Him. It is as a parent that He speaks here: "I have nourished" — or "given nutriment." In other words, "Out of My rich resources of blessing have I provided for their need; I have nourished and brought up children." Here we have God's grief revealed in the light which can only come through such tender and loving channels as parental patience and wounded love.

III. Our text reveals GOD'S CHARACTER IN ITS REPROVING ASPECT. The folly is emphasised by the comparison with two creatures, by no means noted for their intelligence. Yet both are domesticated creatures, and feel the ties of ownership. What is it that domesticates a creature? The creature that recognises man as his master, by that very act becomes domesticated. The higher type of knowledge possessed by the domesticated animal is a direct recognition of its master. The finest creatures possess that. There is a lower grade of knowledge, but yet one which stamps the creature as domesticated. That is an acknowledgment, not of the master directly, but a recognition of the provision which the master has made for its need. "The ox knoweth his owner." The ass does not do that; but the ass knoweth "his master's crib." The ass knows the stall where it is fed, and it goes and is fed there. By that act it indirectly acknowledges the sovereignty of its owner, because it recognises his protection.

IV. The text presents to us THE TENDER AND PATHETIC SIDE OF GOD'S CHARACTER. This is God's version of human sin. His rebukes are full of pathos. With the great mantle of charity that covers over a multitude of sins, and with the Divine pity that puts the best construction upon human rebellion, He puts all down to ignorance and folly. Observe further, that although they have rebelled against Him, He does not withdraw the name He gave them, Israel — "Israel doth not know: My people doth not consider." He does not repudiate them. The last thing that love can do is that. There is something exceedingly pathetic in God here making an appeal to creation relative to His relationship with man. What if it gave a relief to the heart of God to exclaim to His own creation that groaned with Him over human sin, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!" Am I imagining? Do we not find a Divine as well as human feeling in Christ's going to the wilderness or the mountain top in the hours of His greatest need? There, amid God's creation, He found His Father very near. Here the fact that the child does not know his Heavenly Father is represented as the burden of God's grief. But in this case the ignorance was wilful This was the burden on the heart of Christ in His prayer (John 17). There everything is made to depend upon men knowing God as their Father. That is just why we preach. We seek to make it impossible for you to pass through God's world, and receive from His hands blessings great and boundless, and yet not know Him. We seek to make it impossible for you to look at the Cross and listen to the story of an infinite sacrifice, and yet forget that "God so loved the world," etc.

(D. Davies.)

The criminality of rebellion must, of course, be affected by the nature of the government and administration against which it is exerted. It must be measured by the mildness and propriety of the system whose authority it renounces, and by the patience, lenity, and wisdom with which that system is administered. If the government be despotic in its character, and administered with implacable or ferocious sternness, it can hardly be unlawful, and may be deserving of commendation. If the government be paternal in its character and administered with paternal sensibilities, then criminal to a degree absolutely appalling.

I. THE PATERNAL GOVERNMENT OF GOD. This is seen in —

1. The object of its precepts. The entire and simple aim of all and every one of His commands, and the motives by which He urges them, appear to be an advancement in knowledge, holiness, and felicity, that we may be fitted for His own presence and intimate communion; for the exalted dignities and interminable bliss of the realms where His honour dwelleth.

2. The length of His forbearance. Who but a father, surpassing all below that have honoured this endearing name, could have borne so long and so meekly, with the thankless, the wayward, the audacious, the provoking! Who but a father, such as Heaven alone can furnish, would return good for evil, and blessing for cursing, hundreds and thou. sands of years, and then, when any finite experimenter had utterly despaired, resolve to vanquish his enemies, not by terror, wasting and woe, but by the omnipotence of grace and mercy! Who but a GOD, and a paternal GOD, would have closed such a strange and melancholy history as that of Israel, by sending "His Son into the world, not to condemn the world," etc.

3. The nature of His tenderness. The philanthropist commiserates the distresses of his fellow creatures, and magnanimously resolves to meliorate them. But he is not animated by that lively, that overpowering, self-sacrificing tenderness which prompts the exertions of a father in behalf of his suffering child. No; that tenderness shrinks from no expenditure, falters before no obstacles. And such was the tenderness of God, for it is not said that He so pitied, but that "He so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son," etc.

II. IF SIN BE THE RESISTANCE OF THE COMMANDS AND CLAIMS, THE MOTIVES AND EXPOSTULATIONS, THE GRACE AND MERCY OF ONE WHO HAS GIVEN US SUCH ILLUSTRIOUS PROOFS OF HIS PATERNAL REGARD AND GOODNESS — CAN IT BE OTHER THAN REBELLION? Can it be other than rebellion of a most aggravated character? The consideration should silence every whisper of pretension to meritorious virtue, and stir up the sentiments of profound contrition. It should take every symptom of stubbornness away, and make us self-accusing, lowly, and brokenhearted.

(T. W. Coit.)

People
Ahaz, Amos, Amoz, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Jotham, Uzziah
Places
Gomorrah, Jerusalem, Sodom, Zion
Topics
Care, Ear, Hearts, Heavens, Listen, Nourished, O, Reared, Rebelled, Revolted, Sons, Speaks, Spoken, Till, Transgressed
Outline
1. Isaiah complains of Judah for her rebellion
5. He laments her judgments
10. He upbraids their whole service
16. He exhorts to repentance, with promises and threats
21. Bewailing their wickedness, he denounces God's judgments
25. He promises grace
28. And threatens destruction to the wicked

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 1:2

     5395   lordship, human and divine
     5764   attitudes, negative to God
     7021   church, OT anticipations
     7115   children of God

Isaiah 1:1-6

     8705   apostasy, in OT

Isaiah 1:2-3

     1210   God, human descriptions
     6183   ignorance, of God
     8764   forgetting God

Isaiah 1:2-5

     6223   rebellion, of Israel

Library
Useless Sacrifice
Preached at Southsea for the Mission of the Good Shepherd. October 1871. Isaiah i. 11-17. "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: . . . When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination to me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

The Stupidity of Godlessness
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider.'--ISAIAH i. 3. This is primarily an indictment against Israel, but it touches us all. 'Doth not know' i.e. has no familiar acquaintance with; 'doth not consider,' i.e. frivolously ignores, never meditates on. I. This is a common attitude of mind towards God. Blank indifference towards Him is far more frequent than conscious hostility. Take a hundred men at random as they hurry through
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Great Suit: Jehovah Versus Judah
'The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. I Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me. 3. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. 4. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

What Sin Does to Men
'Ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. 31. And the strong shall be as tow, and His work as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.'--ISAIAH i. 30-31. The original reference of these words is to the threatened retribution for national idolatry, of which 'oaks' and 'gardens' were both seats. The nation was, as it were, dried up and made inflammable; the idol was as the 'spark' or the occasion for destruction. But a wider application,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

1St Day of Month. Pardoning Grace.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."--ISAIAH i. 18. Pardoning Grace. My soul! thy God summons thee to His audience chamber! Infinite purity seeks to reason with infinite vileness! Deity stoops to speak to dust! Dread not the meeting. It is the most gracious, as well as wondrous of all conferences. Jehovah himself breaks silence! He
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

Worship
ISAIAH i. 12, 13. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. This is a very awful text; one of those which terrify us--or at least ought to terrify us--and set us on asking ourselves seriously and honestly--'What do I believe after all? What manner of man am I after all?
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

"But we are all as an Unclean Thing, and all Our Righteousnesses are as Filthy Rags,"
Isaiah lxiv 6, 7.--"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," &c. This people's condition agreeth well with ours, though the Lord's dealing be very different. The confessory part of this prayer belongeth to us now; and strange it is, that there is such odds of the Lord's dispensations, when there is no difference in our conditions; always we know not how soon the complaint may be ours also. This prayer was prayed long before the judgment and captivity came
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Time of Doubting and of Spiritual Darkness Constitutes
another season when it is very difficult to keep the heart. When the light and comfort of the divine presence is withdrawn; when the believer, from the prevalence of indwelling sin in one form or other, is ready to renounce his hopes, to infer desperate conclusions with respect to himself, to regard his former comforts as vain delusions, and his professions as hypocrisy; at such a time much diligence is necessary to keep the heart from despondency. The Christian's distress arises from his apprehension
John Flavel—On Keeping the Heart

What are Consequences of Backsliding in Heart.
The text says, that "the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways." 1. He shall be filled with his own works. But these are dead works, they are not works of faith and love, which are acceptable to God, but are the filthy rags of his own righteousness. If they are performed as religious services, they are but loathsome hypocrisy, and an abomination to God; there is no heart in them. To such a person God says: "Who hath required this at your hand?" (Isaiah 1:12). "Ye are they which justify
Charles G. Finney—The Backslider in Heart

Works.
The extant works of St. Basil may be conveniently classified as follows: I. Dogmatic. (i) Adversus Eunomium. Pros Eunomion. (ii) De Spiritu Sancto. Peri tou Pneumatos. II. Exegetic. [302] (i) In Hexæmeron. Eis ten Exaemeron. (ii) Homiliæ on Pss. i., vii., xiv., xxviii., xxix., xxxii., xxxiii., xliv., xlv., xlviii., lix., lxi., cxiv. (iii) Commentary on Isaiah i.-xvi. III. Ascetic. (i) Tractatus prævii. (ii.) Prooemium de Judicio Dei and De Fide. (iii) Moralia. Ta
Basil—Basil: Letters and Select Works

"His Chains Fell Off. " Acts xii. 7
IN ANSWER TO PRAYER:--Do you know any one tied and bound? Have you prayed for them without ceasing? Are you conscious of the enemy putting YOUR hands or feet in fetters? Are you unable to reach that purse which was at one time always within your grasp, so that now you do not give to the poor as you once did? Are your feet prevented from going on errands of mercy? Do the manacles keep you at home on Sundays, instead of walking muddy lanes to preach? If so, how do you like it? Do you not think
Thomas Champness—Broken Bread

The Greater Prophets.
1. We have already seen (Chap. 15, Nos. 11 and 12) that from Moses to Samuel the appearances of prophets were infrequent; that with Samuel and the prophetical school established by him there began a new era, in which the prophets were recognized as a distinct order of men in the Theocracy; and that the age of written prophecy did not begin till about the reign of Uzziah, some three centuries after Samuel. The Jewish division of the latter prophets--prophets in the more restricted sense of the
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Synagogues in the City; and Schools.
"R. Phinehas, in the name of R. Hoshaia, saith, There were four hundred and sixty synagogues in Jerusalem: every one of which had a house of the book, and a house of doctrine," "A house of the book for the Scripture," that is, where the Scripture might be read: "and a house of doctrine for traditions," that is, the Beth Midrash, where traditions might be taught. These things are recited elsewhere, and there the number ariseth to four hundred and eighty. "R. Phinehas, in the name of R. Hoshaia, saith,
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

The Massacre
Your hands are full of blood.--Isaiah i. 15. Foiled at every turn, Gaïnas began to feel that his star was no longer in the ascendant; that fortune had abandoned him; that in the game of ambition he had been finally defeated; that Nemesis was but awaiting her opportunity. Tormented more and more by indecision and disappointment, and seeing in their effects the anger of a besetting demon, he gave out that he was ill, and that he should resort to the Chapel of St. John the Baptist at the Hebdomon.
Frederic William Farrar—Gathering Clouds: A Tale of the Days of St. Chrysostom

Fresh Troubles
The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and festering sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with oil.--Isaiah i. 5-6. We have already seen enough to show the intense and all but universal corruption which ruined the true work of the Church in Antioch, and still more in Constantinople. It is distressing to find the same moral apostasy, the same revolting unreality,
Frederic William Farrar—Gathering Clouds: A Tale of the Days of St. Chrysostom

Self-Righteousness Insufficient.
1 "Where are the mourners, [1] (saith the Lord) "That wait and tremble at my word, "That walk in darkness all the day? "Come, make my name your trust and stay. 2 ["No works nor duties of your own "Can for the smallest sin atone; "The robes [2] that nature may provide "Will not your least pollutions hide. 3 "The softest couch that nature knows "Can give the conscience no repose: "Look to my righteousness, and live; "Comfort and peace are mine to give.] 4 "Ye sons of pride that kindle coals "With your
Isaac Watts—Hymns and Spiritual Songs

Confession and Prayer. December 13, 1776

John Newton—Olney Hymns

The Expositor's Bible.
Crown 8vo, cloth, price 7s. 6d. each vol. FIRST SERIES, 1887-8. Colossians. By the Rev. A. MACLAREN, D.D. St. Mark. By the Right Rev. the Bishop of Derry. Genesis. By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D. 1 Samuel. By Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D. 2 Samuel. By the same Author. Hebrews. By Principal T. C. EDWARDS, D.D. SECOND SERIES, 1888-9. Galatians. By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A., D.D. The Pastoral Epistles. By the Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D. Isaiah I.-XXXIX. By Prof. G. A. SMITH, D.D. Vol. I. The Book of Revelation.
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

"The Dust of the Actual"
"This may be counted as our richest gain, to have learned afresh one's utter impotency so completely that the past axiom of service, 'I can no more convert a soul than create a star,' comes to be an awful revelation, so that God alone may be exalted in that day." Rev. Walter Searle, Africa. WE have just come back from a Pariah village. Now see it all with me. Such a curious little collection of huts, thrown down anywhere; such half-frightened, half-friendly faces; such a scurrying in of some
Amy Wilson-Carmichael—Things as They Are

If it is Objected, that the Necessity which Urges us to Pray is not Always...
If it is objected, that the necessity which urges us to pray is not always equal, I admit it, and this distinction is profitably taught us by James: " Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms" (James 5:13). Therefore, common sense itself dictates, that as we are too sluggish, we must be stimulated by God to pray earnestly whenever the occasion requires. This David calls a time when God "may be found" (a seasonable time); because, as he declares in several other
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

How those are to be Admonished who Abstain not from the Sins which they Bewail, and those Who, Abstaining from Them, Bewail them Not.
(Admonition 31.) Differently to be admonished are those who lament their transgressions, and yet forsake them not, and those who forsake them, and yet lament them not. For those who lament their transgressions and yet forsake them not are to be admonished to learn to consider anxiously that they cleanse themselves in vain by their weeping, if they wickedly defile themselves in their living, seeing that the end for which they wash themselves in tears is that, when clean, they may return to filth.
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

"And There is None that Calleth Upon Thy Name, that Stirreth up Himself to Take Hold on Thee,"
Isaiah lxiv. 7.--"And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold on thee," &c. They go on in the confession of their sins. Many a man hath soon done with that a general notion of sin is the highest advancement in repentance that many attain to. You may see here sin and judgment mixed in thorough other(315) in their complaint. They do not so fix their eyes upon their desolate estate of captivity, as to forget their provocations. Many a man would spend more affection,
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

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