The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away. Sermons
I. THE FUTURE IS AGAINST THE HAUGHTY NATURALLY. Fortune tells upon precisely those things in which they pride themselves. The picture of trembling, suffering old age, given in the Book of Ecclesiastes, is designed as a warning to the proud. See what you are certainly coming to who admired your fine persons, made so much of your independence, and pampered your appetites and passions. The picture of old age is not that of the ordinary man, but of the haughty, masterful sensualist, the sinner of the high places of society, whose iniquity comes back upon him. It is enough for haughty folk to live; life becomes their humbling and their chastisement. II. THE FUTURE IS AGAINST THE HAUGHTY PROVIDENTIALLY. For they cannot win love. Everybody serves them in fear or for pay; and so, oftentimes, their very grandeur is undermined by those about them, their riches takes wings and fly away, their dependents take advantage of their times of weakness, and all are glad to see the haughty humbled. Striking illustration may be found in the career of Squire Beckford, of Fonthill. An insufferably austere and haughty man, the providences were against him. His mansion fell with a crash. His projects failed. He was humbled to the dust, and died almost a beggar. III. THE FUTURE IS AGAINST THE HAUGHTY JUDICIALLY. For God must punish pride. It cannot be allowed to lift up its bead. The Lord hath a controversy with it. Nebuchadnezzar eats grass like an ox. "Babylon is fallen, is fallen" - Babylon, the type of the haughty. Belshazzar sees the recording finger write the judgment of the proud. God will bring into contempt all the proud of the earth. "God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." Time is on the side of the meek. Time is against the haughty. The judgments of God gather, like black thunder-clouds, against those whose hearts are lifted up. The storm will burst in the ever-nearing future. The haughty man's prosperity may blossom as a garden of delights; but God will breathe his blight upon it, and behold, as in our text, "the haughty people of the earth do languish." Then, with a true fear, let us "humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God." - R.T.
And it shall be, as with the people, go with the priest. Homiletic Review. The minister makes the people and the people make the minister.I. THE MINISTER'S INFLUENCE. 1. As a preacher and teacher — upon the conceptions of truth and duty, the understanding of the Word of God, and the practical conduct of the people. 2. As a man, in his own example and life. 3. As a pastor, in his pastoral intercourse with his flock. 4. As a public leader of reforms, etc. II. THE PEOPLE'S INFLUENCE. 1. In getting him audience. Giving him their own ears and attention and gathering in others. 2. In making him eloquent. Gladstone says, "Eloquence is pouring back on an audience in a shower what is first received from the audience in vapour." 3. In making him spiritual. They can encourage him to spiritual growth and culture; to earnest and edifying preaching. They can pray for him and help him to feel that they want and wish only spiritual food. 4. In making him a power for good. says, "Truth is what a thing is in itself, in its relations and in the medium through which it is viewed." Goethe says, "Before we complain of the writing as obscure we must first examine if all be clear within." In the twilight a very plain manuscript is illegible. So the attitude of a hearer largely limits the power of a preacher; the cooperation of a Church member may indefinitely increase the effectiveness of a pastor's work. (Homiletic Review.) (R. W. Dale, LL. D.) As with the buyer, so with the seller. are of very ancient date. The earliest instance we read of occurs in the history of Abraham. The purchase made was a burying place; and is connected with the death of Sarah, Abraham's wife. Various nations and states have distinguished themselves at different times by their trade and commerce. In ancient times we may enumerate Arabia, Egypt, and especially Tyre — the crowning city where "merchants were princes — where traffickers were the honourable of the earth." In more modern times we may mention Greece, Rome, Venice, the Hanse, Spain, Portugal, and above all Great Britain. Well might Napoleon Buonaparte call us a nation of shopkeepers.(R. W. Overbury.) I. POINT OUT SOME OF THE EVILS BY WHICH THE RELATION BETWEEN BUYER AND SELLER IS VIOLATED. This relation is violated by every violation of those two important principles that lie at the foundation of all society — justice and truth. Justice consists in giving everyone his due; and truth or veracity in keeping our engagements, and avoiding lying and dissimulation. These principles and the relative duties arising out of them are violated —1. By the practice of any and every kind of fraud in the transaction of business. 2. By the contracting of debts without any reasonable prospect of being able to pay them.(1) But what is an individual to do who in the course of regular business finds himself, through the fluctuation to which every branch of trade is liable, insolvent at the end of the year? If he be a man of an honourable character and standing in trade, he will not want friends who are willing to lend him a sufficient sum to extricate him from his present difficulties, and to enable him to make a fresh trial under the blessing of God to succeed in that line of business which he has hitherto followed. But if, after having renewed the attempt, Divine providence does not see fit to succeed his endeavours, then from a false shame of appearing what he is in worldly circumstances before his fellow men, to keep on in business till he involve many others in ruin is most unjustifiable.(2) Further, if an individual who has failed in another's debt, should at any future time possess the means of paying his debts, we hold it that justice requires that he should so pay them. 3. Another way in which the relation between buyers and sellers is violated is, by making ourselves responsible for the debts of others, when we are not in possession of sufficient capital to warrant it. 4. By the very prevalent practice of underselling. Where does the injury fall? First, upon the poor operatives, who labour day and night by the sweat of their brow, to furnish conveniences and luxuries for the higher ranks of society, whilst their labour is remunerated at a price that hardly keeps them and their families from starving. The other party upon whom the injury falls is other tradesmen in the same line, who, shrinking from the use of such unscrupulous and oppressive means of realising large profits, lose either a part or the whole of their custom. II. SHOW THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 1. In a secular view. The permanent prosperity of our trade, and consequently the temporal welfare of society depend upon the principles which pervade our business transactions. Every deviation from right principles inflicts injury somewhere, and in proportion to the extent of that deviation contributes to augment the sum of national distress. Nations, as such, are punished in this life — individuals hereafter. An invisible Being, too little recognised in the marts of trade, presides over our national affairs, and distributes or withholds national blessings in proportion as the principles of eternal truth and justice are practically acknowledged. 2. In a religious view. It has been well said, that "a Christian is the highest style of man."(1) A man who cares not by what means he obtains money, provided he succeeds in making a fortune, cannot be a Christian. The character and doom of such are too plainly written in Scripture to be mistaken for a single moment.(2) We do not, perhaps, sufficiently reflect that the predominance of the love of gain is equally incompatible with true piety; although a feeling of justice and benevolence, joined with self-respect, may lead us to abhor and reject all that is dishonourable in business.(3) Nor must we omit to observe, that whilst the habitual predominance of a worldly spirit is incompatible with personal piety, the too great prevalence of it is highly injurious. It either lifts a man up with vanity and pride, or it depresses him with anxiety and care; both of which unfit him for the service of God. In proportion as the spirit of the world prevails over the people of God, it stints their piety and usefulness, and counteracts the end for which they are constituted "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people," — "that ye should show forth the praises of Him, who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light." (R. W. Overbury.) People IsaiahPlaces Jerusalem, Mount Zion, TyreTopics Exalted, Fade, Faded, Fades, Fadeth, Fail, Faileth, Fainteth, Full, Grief, Haughty, Heavens, Languish, Languished, Languishes, Languisheth, Lofty, Mourned, Mourneth, Mourns, Nothing, Ones, Sorrowing, Wasting, WithersOutline 1. The doleful judgments of God upon the land13. A remnant shall joyfully praise him 16. God in his judgments shall advance his kingdom Dictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 24:1-5Library June the Twenty-Fifth Desolations Wrought by Sin"The Lord hath spoken this word." --ISAIAH xxiv. 1-12. "The Lord hath spoken this word," and it is a word of judgment. It unveils some of the terrible issues of sin. See the effects of sin upon the spirit of man. "The merry-hearted do sigh." Life loses its wings and its song. The buoyancy and the optimism die out of the soul. The days move with heavy feet, and duty becomes very stale and unwelcome. If only our ears were keen enough we should hear many a place of hollow laughter moaning with … John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year The Knowledge of God and of Ourselves Mutually Connected. --Nature of the Connection. The Life and Death of Mr. Badman, A Clearing-Up Storm in the Realm Isaiah Links Isaiah 24:4 NIVIsaiah 24:4 NLT Isaiah 24:4 ESV Isaiah 24:4 NASB Isaiah 24:4 KJV Isaiah 24:4 Bible Apps Isaiah 24:4 Parallel Isaiah 24:4 Biblia Paralela Isaiah 24:4 Chinese Bible Isaiah 24:4 French Bible Isaiah 24:4 German Bible Isaiah 24:4 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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